GREECE. 



GREGORIAN CALENDAR. 371 



Government, and insisted on the extreme pre- 

 tensions of Greece in the boundary dispute 

 with Turkey. Coumoundouros sacrificed the 

 remainder of his popularity by breaking his 

 promises during the vacation of the Legisla- 

 ture, in yielding more to the pressure of the 

 powers than the temper of the country would 

 suffer. He used the patronage and influence 

 of the Government in the January elections to 

 the fullest extent, in order to preserve his posi- 

 tion ; but the Opposition secured a majority of 

 60 in a House of 245, though the pressure used 

 by the Government resulted in the invalidation 

 of twelve candidates returned on the Govern- 

 ment side. The resignation of Coumoundou- 

 ros depended only on his choice as to the time 

 and manner. When the Chamber met at the 

 end of January, the King's speech was received 

 in absolute silence. In March Coumoundouros 

 took the occasion of a defeat in the election of 

 the Speaker to resign, and Tricoupis formed 

 his Cabinet. 



TURKISH BOUNDARY. The new Prime Min- 

 ister was less disposed than his predecessor to 

 agree to any compromise of the disputes with 

 Turkey, and insisted on the fulfillment of the 

 final award of the Delimitation Commission. 

 The Turks still held three places which lay 

 within the Greek boundary drawn by the 

 commission in accordance with the terms of 

 the Treaty of Berlin. These were the strategi- 

 cal points which the Porte represented to be 

 invaluable for the defense of the Turkish terri- 

 tory, but which were of still greater defensive 

 value to Greece. The points retained by Tur- 

 key were Karalik Dervend, the point on the 

 coast of Thessaly where the boundary was to 

 begin, Kotzoukhero, or Zarcos, and Kritzo- 

 vali. At Nezeros, Analipsis, or in Turkish 

 Godaman, the Turkish Government also de- 

 sired a variation of the boundary ; but it had 

 evacuated this point with the rest of the terri- 

 tory the preceding year. The Greeks finally 

 concluded that the only way to obtain the dis- 

 puted points was by the means which were 

 successful in obtaining the award. A collision 

 between the military of the two nations was 

 threatened for some weeks before, finally, 

 August 27th, the Greeks marched into Zorbas, 

 a place near Karalik Dervend, lying within the 

 awarded boundary, and had a pitched battle 

 with the Turkish garrison. Fighting was re- 

 sumed the next day. Skirmishes took place at 

 other points. Both governments concentrated 

 troops on the frontier, the Greeks collecting 

 at once an army of over 10,000 men on the 

 spot. There were 400 or 500 killed on both 

 sides in the engagements. Then the powers 

 took cognizance of the question, which entered, 

 upon an armistice being arranged, into the 

 diplomatic phase. Tricoupis dispatched a tru- 

 culent circular to the powers. An informal 

 conference of the embassadors was held at 

 Constantinople, on September 24th. The ef- 

 forts of the powers were directed to obtaining 

 a compromise. The Porte offered to give up 



the three positions it still held in consideration 

 of the retrocession of Nezeros. Tricoupis kept 

 up his menacing attitude. Finally, the Porte 

 gave way, and yielded up the disputed districts 

 to the Greeks. 



Greece has strong motives to assert herself 

 in the Eastern question, and put forward her 

 traditional claims upon Europe, however in- 

 convenient they may be in the momentary 

 diplomatic situation. There are good reasons 

 why these demands should be accompanied by 

 a movement for the purification of Greek poli- 

 tics. In the beginning of the century Greece 

 was treated as the natural heir to the "sick 

 man." The Roumanians, Bulgarians, Albani- 

 ans, and all the rayas of the Turkish Empire 

 were then dominated by Greek thought, called 

 themselves Greeks, and partook of the aspi- 

 rations for the establishment of the Byzan- 

 tine Empire. The political incapacity and 

 corruption displayed by the Hellenes after 

 they obtained their independence, and the 

 gradual development of national aspirations 

 among the Roumanians and Bulgarians, en- 

 couraged by the Russians and often by the 

 Ottomans, narrowed the prospects of Greece. 

 The ecclesiastical separation of Bulgaria from 

 the Phanas, and the bestowal of self-govern- 

 ment on the two divisions of Bulgaria, have 

 finally brought the Hellenes to a point where 

 they must either display extraordinary vigor 

 and virtue to preserve their succession to 

 Byzantium, or sink forever into the position 

 of a third-rate power. 



GREGORIAN CALENDAR. The 15th of 

 October, 1882, was the tercentenary of the aban- 

 donment of the Julian Calendar, and the in- 

 troduction of the calendar named after Pope 

 Gregory XIII. It seems fitting, therefore, in 

 noting the events of the year, to make this 

 the occasion of recalling the main features 

 of these systems of time-computation. The 

 history and origin of both calendars are worth 

 looking into, as being of common interest 

 to all civilized peoples. Both the Julian and 

 Gregorian systems have their roots in times 

 far older than the eras of their commencement. 

 The Julian can not be considered apart from 

 the earlier Roman calendar or calendars ; the 

 Gregorian is not only based, as to the solar 

 year, upon the Julian, but borrows its lunar 

 calendar from the system of the Greeks Me- 

 ton and Calippus. But, before entering upon 

 a comparison of these, it is desirable to obtain 

 a clear idea of what we mean by a calendar. 

 The scientific sense of the word (in which we 

 here use it) is not affected by the starting-point 

 whence it begins, whether Jewish, Christian, 

 Mohammedan, or any other; properly it de- 

 notes any one of the modes in which time is 

 divided by the different peoples of the earth 

 in short, the punctuation of time. 



It is clear that time can be punctuated both 

 naturally i. e., in conformity with celestial 

 phenomena and artificially. There is nothing 

 which would absolutely prevent the framing ot 



