TURKEY. 



773 



metres, including 310 kilometres in Eastern 

 Roimielia. In Asia Minor there were four 

 lines of the total length of 462 kilometres in 

 the neighborhood of Smyrna, a line 93 kilo- 

 metres long, between Haidar Pasha and Ismid, 

 and one of 35 kilometres running from Mer- 

 sina to Tarsus. The extension of the Ismid 

 railroad to Diarbekir was sanctioned in Au- 

 gust, 1887, and plans have been approved for 

 the continuation of the main line through An- 

 gora to Bagdad, and the completion of an 

 Asiatic network. English and French capi- 

 talists were rival bidders for the concessions, 

 the former proposing to build broad-gauge 

 roads and the latter a narrower track. The 

 broad-gauge of 1'44 metre was adopted, arid 

 the concession for the trunk line was given to 

 the English syndicate. The entire scheme for 

 Asiatic railroads embraces the purchase and 

 extension of the existing lines and the building 

 of others, involving the expenditure of $150,- 

 000.000 altogether. The railroads will not 

 only subserve strategical and commercial pur- 

 poses, but will help to prevent the periodical 

 famines that periodically decimate the brave 

 and virtuous race of peasantry inhabiting the 

 plains of Anatolia. 



The inny. The active army numbers about 

 12,000 officers and 170,000 men, with 30,000 

 horses and pack-animals, 1,188 field-guns, and 

 2,374 fortress guns. The army is organized 

 into 80 regiments of infantry, 39 regiments of 

 cavalry, 198 batteries of field artillery, 8 bat- 

 talions of fortress artillery, and 6 battalions of 

 engineers. There are besides 96 regiments of 

 Kedifs, and 48 regiments of Mustafiz. The new 

 conscription law requires all Mussulman sub- 

 jects to be enrolled between the ages of seven- 

 teen and forty. Notwithstanding the financial 

 straitsof the Government the War Department 

 has begun to arm and equip the army on an ex- 

 tensive scale of expenditure. The Government 

 ordered 500,000 rifles of the new Mauser pat- 

 tern, besides 60,000 carbines. A part of these 

 were delivered and distributed among the sol- 

 diers in 1887. 



Palace lotrignes. A plot to dethrone the Sul- 

 tan in favor of one of his nephews, either Selim 

 or Sala Eddin, was discovered or suspected in 

 May, 1887. There were many officials dis- 

 graced, and the cabal of politicians that ob- 

 tained the credit of revealing the conspiracy, 

 had, as usual, an opportunity to remove 

 their rivals and enemies. Among the persons 

 who fell into disgrace were the chief eunuch, 

 and Osman Pasha, the victor of Plevna. 



The (Ecumenical Patriarchate. After an ex- 

 citing contest, the Bishop of Adrianople was 

 on Feb. 4, 1887, elected Greek Patriarch over 

 the other candidates. He was the most popu- 

 lar of them on account of his liberal ten- 

 dencies, and was supported by the influence of 

 the Greek Government, but was strongly op- 

 posed by Russian diplomacy. 



Crete. The Christian population of Crete in 

 1886 made a demand that two thirds of the cus- 



toms revenue should be ceded to the autono- 

 mous legislature. The Porte then refused to con- 

 sider such a proposition. In March, 1887, the 

 assembly again raised the question, and Cos- 

 taki Pasha, the new governor, reported that 

 the Cretans would not cease to agitate till the 

 point had been settled. It was thereupon re- 

 ferred to a commission at Constantinople, and 

 Savas Pasha, the former governor, was sent 

 to Crete to study the situation. The Christians 

 in the Assembly presented an address to the 

 Ottoman Government, asking, in addition to 

 two thirds of the customs duties the entire 

 stamp duties, as well as the salt and tobacco 

 monoplic's, and demanding that laws should be 

 enacted by an absolute, instead of by a two- 

 thirds majority, and that the Sultan should 

 forego his right of veto, and exercise only a 

 suspensive veto for the period of three months; 

 also that deputies should be elected in propor- 

 tion to the population of each religious com- 

 munity. At the end of April disturbances 

 broke out in the island. French and English 

 ironclads were sent to Suda Bay. A conflict 

 took place in the outskirts of Canea between 

 Turks and Christians, in which several persons 

 were killed. Order was restored, and the 

 Porte sent a circular note to the powers denying 

 that this incident had any serious political sig- 

 nificance. Troops and war-ships were ordered 

 to the island. When the Assembly met, May 

 11, the Christian deputies refused to take part 

 in the proceedings until their grievances had 

 been redressed. Collisions took place between 

 troops, some of whom could not be restrained 

 by their officers, and armed bands of Chris- 

 tians, who were finally driven into the mount- 

 ains. The deputies voted a resolution declaring 

 that tithes should not be paid by the people 

 until one half of the customs receipts for the 

 past year should be paid into the local treasury, 

 according to agreement. The Greek Govern- 

 ment, some time before, had solicited the sup- 

 port of the great powers in demanding new con- 

 cessions for the Cretans, but its representations 

 had been coldly received. Some of the cab- 

 inets not only refused to interfere in the in- 

 ternal affairs of Turkey, but intimated that 

 the Hellenic Government could put a stop to 

 the Cretan agitation. The revenue which the 

 Cretans demanded for their own uses barely 

 sufficed for the maintenance of the Turkish 

 garrison on the island. A Cretan deputation 

 conferred with the Grand Vizier, and with the 

 Ottoman commission. The Greek Government 

 was seconded by the powers in asking that 

 the demands of the deputation should be 

 treated with moderation. Mahmoud Pasha 

 president of the legislative section of the 

 Council of State, was appointed an extraordi- 

 nary commissioner, with power to settle tin- 

 question on the spot. He went to Crete in the 

 early part of July, accompanied by the Chris- 

 tian deputation and a Mohammedan deputa- 

 tion of Cretans that had come to Constanti- 

 nople to present the side of the town popula- 



