ATTITUDE OF THE POWERS. 97 



that such guarantee can only be found from an increase 

 of the import duties, which increase cannot be secured 

 without the contraction of new commercial treaties. 

 Any such increased revenue could now be applied to 

 any purpose the Sultan thought fit, since under the con- 

 version and unification scheme, recently consummated, 

 the bondholders gave up the exclusive lien on any fresh 

 revenue resulting from any increase in the import duty 

 which was theirs by right of article viii. of the Decree 

 of Moharrem (December 8, 1881). 



At the present time we may safely assume that 

 Germany is the only Power that has signified her 

 acquiescence in a revision of the existing commercial 

 treaty, and that while France, Austria, and Italy are 

 willing to do so, England and Russia object. There is 

 no occasion to discuss the attitude of Russia beyond 

 remarking that a due consideration paid to her large 

 export of corn and oil, when any future tariif is framed, 

 will probably suffice to obtain her consent to it. Eng- 

 land, whose trade with Turkey is far larger than that 

 of any other single country, has reasonable grounds for 

 raising objection to any alteration in the existing fiscal 

 arrangements which may affect her trade adversely. 

 But let it not be forgotten that such a scheme as this 

 must be looked at from the broader point of view of 

 imperial policy, and it is to be hoped that it will be 

 found possible for us to pursue a course of cordial 

 co-operation given in return for certain privileges — 

 in other words, that, in return for our waiving all 

 objections to a revision of the customs tariff, and for 

 our providing facilities for the acquisition of a terminus 

 on the Gulf, we are allotted an equal share of the capital, 

 and receive adequate representation on the Board. 



It is of course impossible to be blind to the fact that 

 there is in England at the present time a certain school 



G 



