842 



TURKEY. 



The plundering system of public finance is 

 one of the chief causes of the dissolution of the 

 Turkish Empire. The burdens of the Russian 

 wars, the commercial privileges exacted by the 

 European nations after they got Turkey in 

 their grasp, and the exorbitant profits of the 

 European and Greek money-lenders and finan- 

 cial go-betweens, all combined, have not been 

 as exhaustive as the financial drain on the re- 

 sources of the people caused by the legal and 

 illegal extortions of the effendi officials. The 

 Mohammedan races are beginning to long for 

 release from the yoke of the sultanate as ear- 

 nestly as the Christians ; and when the belief 

 that the Sultan is powerless in the hands of 

 the Giaours, to which the frequent interven- 

 tion of the powers has given rise, once be- 

 comes settled, then the reverence for the Ca- 

 liph will vanish, and the last prop full from 

 under tho Ottoman Empire. 



The creditors of the Turkish Government 

 organized an onset, under the auspices of 

 British diplomacy, for the purpose of obtain- 

 ing substantial guarantees for the payment of 

 the interest and principal of their bonds. A 

 meeting of the largest bondholders was held in 

 London, and a committee appointed to go to 

 Constantinople and secure or obtain the ac- 

 ceptance of a scheme of liquidation. The com- 

 mittee suggested to the Porte that certain rev- 

 enues should be reserved for the payment of 

 the interest. It was proposed to apply the 

 receipts from customs and monopolies to this 

 object. The Turkish Government raised no 

 serious objections; but the creditors found, on 

 examining the matter, that there were no 

 assets in the Treasury. Russia raised an ob- 

 jection to the appropriation of the Bulgarian 

 tribute to this purpose, claiming that it was 

 reserved for the payment of the war indem- 

 nity. The committee finally proposed that the 

 supervision of the collection of the taxes and 

 the general administration of specific provinces 

 be given to them. This was tantamount to 

 the system of comptrol introduced in Egypt. 

 Russia, to checkmate any design of the British 

 Government to establish such an administrative . 

 control in any part of Turkey, now made a 

 formal demand that terms should definitely be 

 made for the payment of the Russian war in- 

 demnity of 35,000,000, and proposed, in lieu 

 of other guarantees, to administer some prov- 

 ince of Turkey Armenia, for example and 

 collect the taxes for the payment of her 

 claim. 



The first question which came up between 

 the bondholders and the Porte was the amount 



of the debt. The amount of the funded debt 

 is 191,000,000, without deducting the portions 

 which fall to the share of Greece and the de- 

 tached provinces. The Porte demanded that 

 the interest should be reckoned only on the 

 portion which properly belongs to Turkey, 

 which is .165,000,000. The conclusion of tho 

 negotiations was an agreement of the Porte to 

 place certain revenues at the disposition of the 

 bondholders, and to allow them a portion of 

 the proceeds of the salt and tobacco monopo- 

 lies. The nominal value of the debt was 

 scaled down to about 100,000,000, some of 

 the loans being reckoned at fifty per cent or 

 less of their face value, to wit, the Dette Ge- 

 nerale and the lottery loan, while the loan of 

 1873 was rated at 55J per cent of its nominal 

 value. The interest to be paid on the reduced 

 nominal value of the debt was fixed at a maxi- 

 mum rate of four per cent, and the maximum 

 annual reduction of principal at one per cent. 

 The specifications of the agreement are to be 

 executed under the direction of an administra- 

 tive council representing the bondholders at 

 Constantinople. 



The Albanian League, which constituted the 

 rebel organization, first appeared on the scene 

 during the negotiations preceding the Treaty of 

 San Stefano in 1878. The Mussulman Arnauts of 

 the Sandjak of Prizrend, perturbed at the pros- 

 pect of the enlargement of Montenegro, Servia, 

 and Bulgaria at the expense of Albania, met to 

 consider what course they would take. The 

 heads of the clans took the national oath the 

 Vessa together in April, that no acts of blood- 

 revenge would be committed, and all quarrels 

 should have a truce till St. Demetrius's Day ; 

 that every clan should get together sufficient 

 quantities of arms, munitions, and provisions, 

 and that for the present no recruits should be 

 furnished to the Government or taxes paid. In 

 Prizrend a grand council of all the chiefs was 

 held, and the constitution of the League was 

 drawn up and signed by forty-seven Mussul- 

 man delegates, calling themselves the Commit- 

 tee of National Defense. This document stated 

 that the League was formed for the purpose 

 of defending the integrity of the national ter- 

 ritory, and of excluding every government ex- 

 cept that of the Sublime Porte. The League con- 

 stituted itself a provisional government, which 

 superseded the authority of the Sultan where 

 necessary. All who opposed its purposes, and 

 all who deserted it, were threatened with pun- 

 ishment. Some conflicts followed upon the 

 movements of this League, and much excite- 

 ment, but no important results were effected. 



