752 



TURKEY. 



the center, from Strumitza to Ueskub, 48,000 

 men with 90 guns; and in the west, in the vicinity 

 of Prishtina. 15,000 men and 90 guns. The troops 

 guarding the Greek frontier were strengthened 

 with redifs from Asia till they numbered 22,- 

 000 men with 86 guns. The mustahfiz in Alba- 

 nia and Macedonia were called out, and 60,000 

 Martini-Henry rifles were distributed among 

 them. The Government had in the summer 

 bought of Krupp 7 very heavy guns for the 

 defense of the Dardanelles and Bosporus, 22 

 large fortress- guns, and 400 field-pieces and 

 mountain - cannon. There were now deliv- 

 ered 150 field-guns. The mobilization of the 

 army on so large a scale was undertaken in or- 

 der to be prepared for all eventualities, and for 

 the purpose of demonstrating to Europe that 

 the military power of Turkey was as formida- 

 ble as ever. 



In the latter part of December the Fifth or 

 Syrian Army Corps was ordered to be mobilized 

 to garrison the capital. The soldiers already 

 under arms were called away from their homes 

 when it was harvest-time in Asia Minor, where 

 the impoverishment resulting from the Russian 

 War was just beginning to give place to re- 

 newed prosperity; and they suffered priva- 

 tions and exposure in the inclement season as 

 severe as they would have to endure in actual 

 war. The officers and soldiers complained bit- 

 terly that they were not sent against the Bul- 

 garians. 



Cretan Troubles. On May 16, 1885, Photiades 

 Pasha, Governor-General of Crete, resigned in 

 consequence of a vote in the Assembly in which 

 the Mussulmans and the majority of the Chris- 

 tian deputies joined in demanding his resig- 

 nation. He was requested to remain until his 

 successor arrived ; and the delay in selecting a 

 man for the post caused dissatisfaction among 

 the Cretans ; and when the Sultan finally chose 

 Savas Pasha, formerly Minister of Foreign Af- 

 fairs, they were displeased. He nevertheless 

 entered upon his functions in the beginning of 

 June, and, after some disturbance, was accept- 

 ed by the House of Deputies, on his signing a 

 declaration that he would govern strictly in 

 accordance with the provisions of the organic 

 statute. 



Disturbances in Albania. The insurrection in 

 Albania was renewed in March. Two agita- 

 tors of the tribe of the Lyumese, who acted as 

 spokesmen for the Mussulman population, were 

 arrested and taken to Prisrend by the Turkish 

 soldiery. Their whole tribe thereupon rose 

 and marched upon Prisrend ; but they were 

 beaten after a sharp skirmish by the Ottoman 

 troops, who pursued them and dislodged them 

 from the mountain defile in which they took 

 refuge. The agitation spread into other parts 

 of Albania. Massacres occurred in the Bielo- 

 polje district, and Osman Pasha was sent with 

 three regiments to punish the perpetrators in 

 July. The Albanian brigand Sul Huppi ex- 

 tended his depredations from the vilayets of 

 Kossovo and Monastir into the vilayet of Salo- 



nica, and the redifs were called out to defend 

 the town of Tirana from his band of 700 men. 

 The Turkish garrisons in Albania were aug- 

 mented, and energetic action was taken by 

 Veissel Pasha to crush the revolt. A large 

 number of Arnauts were killed in encounters 

 with the Turkish troops, and several of their 

 leaders were captured and hanged. In the 

 north a league was formed to resist all attempts 

 at innovation on the part of the Government. 

 The disturbances continued until the outbreak 

 of the Roumelian revolution. Then the Mo- 

 hammedan Albanians, who were chiefly con- 

 cerned in the insurrectionary proceedings, 

 showed a desire to fight for the Sultan against 

 a common foe. In a conference between 

 Veissel Pasha and the rebel chiefs a truce was 

 arranged. In October the Turkish commander 

 reported that he was able to spare a large part 

 of his force, and that a considerable proportion 

 of the late rebels were desirous of joining the 

 Turkish standard in order to fight against the 

 Bulgarians. 



The Conference of Ambassadors* On Nov. 5 the 

 representatives of the great powers met at 

 Pera to consider the Bulgarian question. Rus- 

 sia was the first to suggest the conference, but 

 found it difficult to get the powers to agree to 

 the bases proposed by her. The Czar's Gov- 

 ernment was desirous of either undoing the 

 revolution, or accepting the accomplished 

 fact, but deposing Prince Alexander. Ger- 

 many and Austria wished to act in concert 

 with Russia in order to preserve the three em- 

 perors' league, but England, and to a certain 

 extent France, would not enter the conference 

 on these conditions. Finally, accord was es- 

 tablished on the bases of the formal restoration 

 of the status quo, a personal union of Bulgaria 

 and Eastern Roumelia under Prince Alexan- 

 der, a common code of laws for the two states, 

 to be framed by a European commission, but 

 separate military budgets, the preservation of 

 the Roumelian militia organization, and the 

 interdiction of the Bulgarian military forces 

 from entering Eastern Roumelia. Lord Salis- 

 bury, while accepting the status quo ante as 

 the point of departure, entered the conference 

 with a reservation as to the method of carry- 

 ing out the decisions of the conference, such 

 as by the dispatch of Turkish troops to Rou- 

 melia, and stipulated that the deliberations 

 should be restricted to the Bulgarian question. 



In the third sitting, held Nov. 9, all the 

 powers agreed to a declaration in favor of the 

 restoration of the status quo ante in conformity 

 with the Treaty of Berlin and under the suze- 

 rainty of the Sultan. The British plenipoten- 

 tiary, Sir William White, caused a clause to be 

 inserted stipulating that the means adopted 

 should be sanctioned by his Government. The 

 Marquis de Noailles made a similar reservation 

 on behalf of the French Republic. The British 

 ambassador proposed that an international 

 commission should proceed to Philippopolis to 

 carry out the resolution. 



