TURKEY. 



819 



46,498 tons. There were 14,753 vessels, of 11,- 

 450,178 tons, entered and cleared at Constanti- 

 nople during 1897, and of these 11,140, of 11,183,- 

 508 tons, were in the foreign trade, comprising 

 2,007 sailing vessels, of 310,126 tons, and 8,479 

 steamers, of 10,807,382 tons. 



Railroads and Telegraphs. Railroad com- 

 munication between Turkey and other European 

 countries was first established in 1888. The total 

 length of railroads in operation in 1897 was 2,542 

 miles. The Government pays about T. 050,000 

 of guaranteed interest each year. In September, 

 1898, the length of railroads was 2,807 miles, of 

 which 1,247 miles were in Europe, 1,347 miles in 

 Asia Minor, and 213 miles in Syria. 



The telegraph lines have a total length of 21,800 

 miles, with 33,760 miles of wire. The annual re- 

 ceipts are 21,359,000 piasters; expenses, 7,237,000 

 piasters. 



Political Events. The agitation that is 

 started in Macedonia nearly every spring was 

 more actively pursued by the Macedonian com- 

 mittees in the early part of 1899 than usual, be- 

 cause the approaching peace conference at The 

 Hague raised hopes of European intervention. It 

 was stimulated also by seeing a Greek prince 

 chosen as ruler of Crete, indicating ultimate an- 

 nexation to the Hellenic Kingdom in spite of the 

 warning of the powers that neither belligerent 

 should profit by the Greco-Turkish War. The 

 Bulgarian and Servian governments discouraged 

 any popular agitation, having no desire to enter 

 upon a conflict with Turkey or with one another, 

 and being warned anew by Russia and Austria 

 acting in concert. The Turkish Government, in 

 order to avert all danger, strengthened the already 

 enormous military force that it had maintained 

 in Macedonia since the Greek war until there 

 were 200,000 soldiers within striking distance of 

 the border. The Albanian Mohammedans had 

 received arms from the Government when the 

 attitude of the Balkan states became threatening 

 duririg the Greek war, and now the Vali pro- 

 posed to the chiefs that they should give them 

 up, as they seemed likely to prove a troublesome 

 element. The chiefs replied that they saw no 

 reason why their people should be disarmed. 



The activity of the Roumanians in establish- 

 ing schools in Macedonia roused the jealousy of 

 the Bulgarians, and the direct action of the Rou- 

 manian Minister of Public Instruction in appoint- 

 ing teachers for the Roumanian schools in Mo- 

 nastir, Salonica, and Kossovo was regarded as 

 inadmissible by the Grand Vizier, who refused 

 to recognize the professors appointed by a for- 

 eign government, and ordered the schools to be 

 placed in the hands of Ottoman subjects of proved 

 loyalty, appointed in the country itself, as had 

 been formerly customary. The Greek schools, 

 while still the most numerous, have receded be- 

 fore the later Bulgarian movement. The whole 

 Christian population, in spite of acute rivalry 

 among the various nationalities, is represented by 

 the Macedonian committees as united in the de- 

 sire for liberation from the Turkish yoke and as 

 capable of harmonious self-government. The 

 Central Committee in January addressed a me- 

 morial to the representatives of the powers at 

 Constantinople calling upon Europe to rescue 

 2.000.000 Christians from cruel Mussulman fanat- 

 icism, and reiterating the demand made in 1896 

 for a Christian governor general at Salonica to 

 rule over the vilayets of Salonica, Monastir, and 

 Uskub Avith the aid of a General Assembly of 

 representatives elected by the people. An encoun- 

 ter occurred in February between a Christian 

 Albanian tribe and the Mohammedan inhabitants 



of Mitrovitza. The Arnauts in Old Servia had 

 numerous conflicts with the Serbs. Serious dis- 

 turbances in Kossovo caused the Turkish au- 

 thorities to re-enforce the garrisons in that vila- 

 yet. On May 17 a fight between Albanians and 

 Serbs near Vronya led to the interference of the 

 Servian frontier guard. On June 13 a collision 

 took place between the Servian frontier guard and 

 Turkish Nizams in the district of Jabldnitza. 



The Armenians about Van and down the val- 

 ley of the Tigris suffered extreme distress in the 

 early part of 1899, owing to a bad harvest, and 

 contributions were collected abroad to relieve 

 them. Some of the orphanages that had been 

 opened by English and American missionaries 

 were closed by the authorities on the alleged 

 grounds that they harbored seditious persons or 

 were used for proselyting. As the result of repre- 

 sentations made by the British and American 

 ambassadors, the Porte ordered that the orphan- 

 ages be reopened. On Oct. 11, by recommendation 

 of a commission appointed to investigate the 

 Armenian question, it was ordered in an imperial 

 irade that the special measures for preventing 

 the free movement of Armenians in the provinces 

 be abolished except in the case of suspected per- 

 sons; that churches, schools, and monasteries 

 * destroyed during the Armenian troubles be rebuilt 

 with Government assistance; that the sums due 

 to Armenian Government officials who were killed 

 or expelled be paid; that an orphanage be built 

 at Yedikule, near Constantinople; and that 54 

 Armenian prisoners be pardoned and 24 who were 

 sentenced to death have their sentence commuted 

 into imprisonment for life. 



The condition of the Mohammedans in Crete 

 was so unendurable that all emigrated who could. 

 The Sultan gave T. 100,000 from his privy 

 purse to enable others to escape the oppression 

 of their Christian fellow-countrymen. The Turk- 

 ish authorities conveyed them to Asia Minor 

 and left them in most cases to shift for them- 

 selves. In the vilayet of Adana, where 3,000 of 

 them were located, they terrorized the popula- 

 tion by their depredations. In Smyrna there were 

 24,000 in the summer, and it was decided to dis- 

 tribute them all over the Asiatic vilayets. The 

 plan of sending them to Armenia, and the Arme- 

 nian refugees from Russia to Crete, was regarded 

 with favor. The Druses in Hauran gave trouble 

 by withholding their taxes, and the Government 

 was unwilling to proceed to coercion because of 

 their determined attitude. Arms and ammunition 

 were smuggled into Syria. European influence 

 has gained a foothold in Palestine through the 

 Jewish colonies established there, which rear silk- 

 worms, raise grapes, olives, and almonds, and 

 make^wine, and have infused a love of agricul- 

 ture into the Oriental Jews, who were formerly 

 content to live on charity while studying the 

 Talmud. The immigrants are already twice as 

 numerous as the original Jewish population, and 

 of the 200,000 inhabitants of the country one 

 fifth are now Jews. 



The German concessionaries who built the 

 Anatolian railroads obtained permission to build 

 a harbor at Haidar Pasha. A German firm ob- - 

 tained a concession for a telegraph cable between 

 Kustendji and Constantinople, which is to be 

 extended through Bucharest to Berlin, forming 

 an alternative line of telegraphic communication 

 with western Europe. The Germans, the English, 

 the French, and the Russians competed for a con- 

 cession to build a railroad through Asia Minor 

 and Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf. The Ger- 

 man and French united their interests, and the 

 Anatolian Railroad Company obtained the con- 



