TURKEY. 



801 



of that year the Government established an in- 

 ternational post-office. The number of letters 

 in 1874 was 2,439,000, including postal-cards; 

 of printed inclosures, 75,000; of newspapers, 

 1,250,000. 



ARMY. A plan for the reorganization of the 

 army was confirmed by the Padishah in the 

 latter part of May, 1880. According to this 

 scheme, which is being carried out as rapidly 

 as possible, the army i& divided into the Ni- 

 zam, or active army, the two bans of the 

 Eedif, corresponding to the German Land- 

 wehr, and the Mustafiz, corresponding to the 

 Landsturm. The total period of military ser- 

 vice is twenty years: three years of active 

 service in the regular infantry, and four in 

 the other arms; three and two years respect- 

 ively in the active army reserve ; four years 

 in each ban of the Redif; and six years in the 

 Mustafiz. The empire is divided, as formerly, 

 into seven military districts. Each of these fur- 

 nishes a corps in the active army, and one in 

 each ban of the Redif, except 'the seventh, 

 Yemen, which furnishes the active corps only, 

 and that only for service within the boundaries 

 of the province. The militia forces of Crete 

 and of Tripoli are not embraced in the organ- 

 ization. Each of the 18 corps consists of 2 

 divisions of infantry, 2 brigades of 2 regiments 

 in each division; 2 battalions of riflemen; 1 

 division of cavalry, consisting of 3 brigades of 

 2 regiments each ; 1 regiment of field artillery ; 

 and 1 battalion of pioneers, besides the train, 

 a company of telegraphists, and the commissary 

 and sanitary services. Each infantry and cav- 

 alry regiment has its depot. The full, war 

 effective of the active army, when completely 

 organized, will be, excluding the depot and 

 local troops, as follows : 



NIZAM. 



Infantry 



Cavalry 



Artillery 



Pioneers .... 

 Train . . . 



Total. 



War footing. 

 . . . 468,000 

 . . . 64,800 

 . . . 67,600 

 . . . 10,800 

 9,000 



, . . 610,200 



The actual strength of the active army, as 

 far as the organization had proceeded in 1881, 

 was 10,311 officers, 150,106 men, 26,140 horses 

 and beasts of burden, and 650 pieces of artil- 

 lery. Of the two Redif armies only 40 of the 

 384 battalions existing in cadre were under 

 arms. The total nominal strength of the army, 

 according to the new organization scheme, is 

 1,208,000 men. The Christian population are 

 not liable to arms, and the inhabitants of the 

 district of Constantinople, on both sides of the 

 Bosporus, are by prescriptive right exempt 

 from military service. In the last Russian War 

 the extreme efforts of the Government could 

 not bring, according to the official figures, over 

 490,000 men into the field, or 4-3 per cent of 

 the population subject to military service. 

 Taking into consideration the facts that the 

 Albanians have lost all feeling of fidelity to 

 the Caliph, and are clamoring for autonomy ; 

 VOL. xxn. 51 A 



that the Arabs of Mesopotamia and Syria are 

 no more to be depended upon, while* Y.-HK-II 

 needs Turkish garrisons to keep it in subjec- 

 tion ; that the Kurds will not serve the Sultan, 

 having furnished for ample pay scarcely 6,000 

 troopers in the Russian War, and that the 

 Greek islands and Tripoli require troops from 

 without to maintain the Sultan's authority, it 

 is not likely that the Padishah will ever com- 

 mand an army of anything like the proportions 

 set down on paper. To put 400,000 men in the 

 field is probably the extent of his resources. 



(For an account of the Turkish navy, see 

 NAVIES OF EUROPE.) 



FINANCES. The finances of the Ottoman 

 Government have been in a state of confusion 

 since the issue of the first foreign loans to meet 

 the expenses of the Crimean War. Before 1873 

 the budget estimates were drawn up to exhibit 

 a surplus or an even balance, although large 

 deficits occurred annually. Since then the 

 budgets have shown deficits, but are no indica- 

 tion of the actual amounts. No accounts of 

 actual receipts and expenditures are published. 

 The expenditures are supposed to have exceed- 

 ed the receipts of recent years 10,000,000 or 

 more. In 1878-79 the deficit, owing to the 

 Russian War, rose to 36,000,000. The rev- 

 enue of that year was not over 14,000,000. 

 Since the war, and the loss of some of the 

 richest provinces, the revenue is not more than 

 10,000,000 or 12,000,000. The Turkish for- 

 eign debt consisted mostly, before the recent 

 conversion, of 5 and 6 per cent bonds. The 

 large loans of 1865 and 1874 were issued at less 

 than 50 per cent of their face value. 



In 1876 the payment of interest was stopped 

 entirely. The internal and floating debt was 

 reported in the budget of 1874-'75 to be not 

 over 13,000,000. According to some esti- 

 mates, it amounted in 1878 to 75,000,000; but 

 in the debt statement made on the occasion of 

 the recent settlement with the foreign credit- 

 ors it is declared not to exceed 20,000,000. 

 From 1876 to 1881 the Government raised 

 money for its present needs by the issue of a 

 vast quantity of paper currency. At the end 

 of 1878 there were said to be over 90,000,000 

 of paper money in circulation. Its value de- 

 clined until eventually it was refused in com- 

 mercial transactions altogether. 



The Turkish Government, by a note dated 

 October 23, 1880, invited the holders of Turk- 

 ish bonds to choose delegates to consult with 

 the Government regarding the settlement and 

 future payment of the debt. The compromise- 

 effected with the representatives of the bond- 

 holders was sanctioned by a decree of the Sul- 

 tan promulgated December 28, 1881. The 

 total amount of the bonds was 190,997,980 ; 

 of the unpaid interest up to March, 1882, 61,- 

 803,905; total debt, 252,801,885. This sum 

 was reduced to 106,437,234. For the service 

 of the debt certain revenues were placed at 

 the disposition of the bondholders from Janu- 

 ary 13, 1882, until the debt shall be extinguished, 



