GREECE. 



377 



This arrangement was warmly approved by 

 Count Hatzfeld, the German embassador, and 

 favored by all the others except the British 

 representative. The latter would not hear of 

 the substitution of the great island which 

 guards the ^Egean, just as Beaconsfield and 

 Salisbury opposed its cession when demanded 

 at the Berlin Congress by the Greek delegates, 

 Brailas and Delijannis, and approved by Wad- 

 dington. The Porte now withdrew this prop- 

 osition, and promised to grant nearly the whole 

 of Thessaly and a small strip of Epirus, includ- 

 ing a part of the coast of the Gulf of Arta, but 

 retaining Prevesa as well as Janina and Mez- 

 zovo. Goeshen insisted upon the cession of 

 the entire Gulf of Arta. The einbassadors, 

 after prolonged discussion of the arrangement 

 to which the Porte had been induced to accede, 

 and after modifications favorable to Greece 

 were agreed to, all concurred in the settlement 

 and obtained the approval of their govern- 

 ments. The acceptance of the compromise by 

 Greece was then all that was wanting. The 

 unanimous agreement of the powers in the new 

 settlement had the legal effect of annulling the 

 former decision. The conclusions were com- 

 municated to the Greek Government in an iden- 

 tical note from all the powers. The Porte an- 

 nounced that in case Greece rejected the offer 

 it would recall its proposal. The note express- 

 ly declared that Greece, if she refused the con- 

 ditions which the powers had procured on her 

 behalf, and should proceed to enforce her de- 

 mands with arms, would stand entirely alone 

 and must bear the consequences. Coumoundou- 

 ros, before the reception of the identical note, 

 sought to rob it of a part of its force, and leave 

 the way open for further pretensions to Epirus, 

 by a circular to the powers. 



The new boundary-line adopted by the Con- 

 stantinople Conference commences at the JSge- 

 an coast a little to the north of Kara Dervent, 

 curves slightly to the southward, and ascends 

 again, striking the line of the Berlin Confer- 

 ence in the vicinity of Tchula, which it follows 

 for 30 or 35 miles in a westerly direction, then 

 trends southward, leaving Mezzovo and Janina 

 on the Turkish side, striking the Arta Eiver, 

 which it follows to its mouth. The fortress of 

 Punta is given to Greece ; Prevesa remains in 

 Turkish hands, but its fortifications are to be 

 razed ; while the navigation of the Gulf of Arta 

 is to be free. These latter conditions were 

 imposed upon the Porte by the powers. The 

 powers engaged to see that the arrangement 

 was carried out, and the territory given over to 

 Greek possession. 



The extent of the ceded territories is about 

 two thirds of the area awarded by the Berlin 

 Conference. It contains 265 geographical square 

 miles. The Turkish official almanac gives the 

 male population of the ceded districts in Thes- 

 saly as 20,000 Mohammedans and 150,000 non- 

 Mohammedans, composed of Greeks and Pindus 

 Wallachians, and the male population of the 

 district of Arta as 4,000 Mohammedans and 



20,000 non- Mohammedans, the latter consist- 

 ing of Graeco-Wallachians, Pindus Wallachians, 

 and Ziuzarians or Macedo- Wallachians. Of 

 the 140,000 Christian inhabitants about 114,- 

 000 are of pure Greek blood, 14,000 are of 

 mixed Greek and Wallachian descent, and 12,- 

 000 are pure Wallachians. The Mohammedan 

 element is most thickly settled in and about 

 Larissa and Phersala, occupying the most pro- 

 ductive portions of the annexed territory. The 

 Wallachians are thickest in the southern parts 

 of the Pindus Mountains, in the northern end 

 of the Arta Valley, and on the southwestern 

 slope of Olympus. The Gra3co-Wallachians 

 are found everywhere in the border-lands be- 

 tween Greek and Wallachian settlements. 



The new boundary-line starts from Kara 

 Dervent, on the Gulf of Salonica, 5 miles be- 

 low Platamana, and on the northern edge of 

 the bottom-land at the mouth of the Salambria. 

 It follows the southernmost ridge of the Olym- 

 pus, passing north of Lividaki Lake and over 

 the heights of Analipsis and Hodaman. From 

 here it takes first a southwesterly direction, 

 crossing the summit of Meluna, afterward a 

 southerly one along the Kritiri chain to the 

 Xeria Eiver. Elassona, the industrial town 

 Cherichina, and the mountainous district to the 

 north, which were given to Greece by the Ber- 

 lin Conference, remain Turkish. The line takes 

 a westerly direction between the Salambria 

 and Xeria Rivers, passing the villages of Flam- 

 uristi and Gavronon, and merges in the line of 

 the Berlin Conference five kilometres northwest 

 of the latter place. It diverges from this again 

 in order to leave on the Turkish side the im- 

 portant strategic point of Mezzovo with the 

 Zygos Pass, and is marked by the summits of 

 Mavromuni, Doshimi, and the gigantic Peris- 

 teri. It then passes into Epirus, following a 

 mountain creek, the Kalarytes, down to the 

 Arta, near the village of Michalici, and tran- 

 sects the valley of the Arta down to the Am- 

 brakian Gulf. Two thirds of the drainage 

 basin of the Arta fall to the share of Greece. 

 The peak of Actium, or Punta, is on the 

 Greek side, and its fortifications must be dis- 

 mantled. 



The intensest excitement prevailed through- 

 out Greece when the news came that the pow- 

 ers had approved, with some modifications, the 

 boundary-line proposed by the Porte, instead 

 of maintaining the frontier adopted by the 

 Berlin Conference. The "yEon" newspaper 

 struck a note to which every heart responded 

 when it called to arms and appealed to the 

 Panhellenic idea : 



Europe, which has torn up its own work, may not 

 seem to be the friend and well-wisher of Greece, and 

 philippics are written fulminating wrath, if the will 

 of Europe is defied and its decree set at naught. 



But the essence of the matter is, that Europe, even 

 against its will, is on our side, and can not act other- 

 wise than in our favor. Though a thousand proto- 

 cols and declarations be written down ; though warn- 

 ings, av threats, be denounced against us," all will 

 vanish like bubbles at the first breath, so Boon as we 



