774 



UNITED STATES. 



tween England and the Porte, concluded prior 

 to the Berlin Congress, treats of the reform of 

 Turkish administration throughout Asia Minor. 

 The interest of England in Armenia is chiefly 

 negative. It is to prevent the advance of the 

 Eussians, who crossed the Caucasus in the be- 

 ginning of the century and established their 

 power in ancient Georgia, and then acquired 

 successively the Persian khanate of Erivan, 

 Turkish Georgia, and after the last war a part 

 of Turkish Armenia. They not only have a 

 large army within striking distance, but have 

 acquired great influence over the Armenians. 

 Upon their approach, the Armenian question 

 loomed up, ancient history was searched for 

 records of the kingdom of Armenia, grievances 

 became chronic, and soon the Sultan had an 

 "Asiatic Bulgaria" to reckon with. Belying 

 on the sympathies of the Russians and of the 

 English, a party in Armenia conceived that, if 

 they showed the proper degree of spirit and 

 resolution, their rival protectors would force 

 the Sultan to grant them an independent gov- 

 ernment. The revolutionary agitation ad- 

 vanced at the close of 1882 to the stage of in- 

 surgency, and an attempted rising took place 

 at Erzerum. The Ottoman Government, which 

 has really lived in the best accord with the 

 Armenians for centuries, proceeded energeti- 

 cally to crush the incipient revolution. The 

 leaders were put on trial for high treason. 

 Authors of revolutionary songs and other ap- 

 peals were imprisoned or banished. The trial 

 for treasonable conspiracy resulted in the con- 

 viction of the prisoners, but the Porte, deem- 

 ing the sentences too severe, and moved by the 

 intercessions of the foreign patrons of the Ar- 

 menians, ordered a new trial. The Moham- 

 medan brigands took license from the new 

 condition of affairs, and committed many out- 

 rages on Armenians and Greeks. The English 



Government renewed its efforts to secure Ar- 

 menian reforms, and, before Lord Dufferin's de- 

 parture for Egypt, representations were made 

 to the Porte. The Turkish Government, more 

 reluctant even than usual to submit to foreign 

 dictation in its internal affairs, evaded action 

 by the old device of promising to consider the 

 question of a comprehensive reform in all the 

 Asiatic provinces. 



Cretan Troubles. The spirit of rebellion, which 

 is always latent in Crete, owing to the large 

 degree of autonomy already extorted by insur- 

 rection and foreign pressure, came to an out- 

 burst again in 1883, as it usually does after a 

 period of prosperity. The immediate cause of 

 the ferment was a controversy over the Vacouf 

 taxes. About half the real estate of the island 

 is affected to the mosques, partly by the as- 

 signment of the revenues of certain villages by 

 the Sultan, and partly by the bequest of pro- 

 prietors. The imperial taxation was aban- 

 doned by the convention of 1878, which con- 

 ferred practical autonomy on the island, to the 

 Assembly. The Vacouf taxes amount to about 

 one sixth of the total obligations of the island. 

 The diversion of so much of the revenue to the 

 support of the Mohammedan religion, which is 

 professed by only one fifth of the population, 

 is a cause of dissatisfaction. The Assembly, 

 on June 8, 1883, passed a resolution declaring 

 that the religious taxes would no longer be 

 paid, distinguishing the taxes from the rents 

 from property given to the mosques. Photia- 

 des Pasha, the governor, was directed to col- 

 lect the taxes, by force if necessary. After 

 appealing to the people in vain, he sent a body 

 of troops into Apokorona; but the whole 

 population rose against the military demon- 

 stration and drove out the troops, and, when 

 he ordered another force into the province of 

 Canea, the officers resigned. 



U 



UNITED STATES. There were comparatively 

 few important official changes under the United 

 States Government during the year. Post- 

 master-General Timothy O. Howe died on 

 March 25th, and on April 4th Judge Walter 

 Q. Gresham, of Indiana, was appointed to the 

 vacant place, it having been decided by the 

 Attorney-General that under the law the duties 

 of the office could be performed by a person 

 temporarily designated for a period of ten days 

 only. Mr. Gresham was born at Corydon, 

 Ind., March 17, 1833. He was graduated from 

 Bloomington University, and entered upon the 

 practice of law in his native county. He served 

 in the State Legislature prior to 1861, and after 

 the outbreak of the civil war entered the mili- 

 tary service as lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty - 

 eighth Indiana Regiment. He was a brigadier- 

 general under Grant in the Vicksburg cam- 

 paign of 1863, and was in command of a division 

 under Sherman before Atlanta in 1864, where 



he received a severe wound in the leg. The 

 brevet title of major-general was given him in 

 1865. He took a somewhat prominent part in 

 politics after the war, and was twice a candi- 

 date for Congress against the late M. C. Kerr, 

 but was defeated. Judge William C. Woods, 

 of the Supreme Court of Indiana, was appointed 

 to succeed Judge Gresham as United States Dis- 

 trict Judge on the 2d of May. Gen. Green B. 

 Raurn, Commissioner of Internal Revenue for 

 nearly seven years, resigned on April 28th, 

 and on May 21st Walter Evans, of Kentucky, 

 was appointed as his successor. United States 

 Treasurer James Gilfillan resigned on April 1st, 

 and the Assistant Treasurer, A. U. Wyman, was 

 appointed to the place. Edward O. Graves, 

 chief of the Redemption Bureau, was made 

 Assistant Treasurer. Pierre C. Van Wyck, 

 Superintendent of the Assay-Office in New 

 York, died in April, and on the 24th of that 

 month, Andrew Mason, previously the melte' 



