The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-11-25 00:00:00

THE DEMANDS OF RUSSIA.

The Prussian Correspondent of The Times telegraphs that
General Ignatieff will be instructed to submit t 2 the con-
ference the following progrimine
1. G-cneral disarmament of Turks and Christians in
Bosnia Herzegovina, and Bulgaria; 2, the election
of all Officers by the parishes, name but natives being
eligible; 3, the formation of a militia .and a police,
to consist of Christians and Mussulmans, in propor-
tion to the numerical strength of each denomination;
4, the concentration of the Turkish troops in certain
towns, to be fixed in advance; 5, the disbanding of
the irregular troops, and the return of the Circa-sians
to the purely Mussulman provinces; 6, the abolition
of the practice of farming out taxes and the replace-
ment of tithes by pecuniary impests, to be
fixed with the concurrence of the ratepayers;
7, the we by the courts and administrative
authorities of the several Slavonic languages
spoken in the various provinces; 8, the convening of
an Amembly of Notables, to advise the ConferenAs
Upon the administrative reforms to be introduced. (It
seems intended that a special Assembly is to be con-
vened for each province, and that the Bulgarian bishop
Is to preeide over the eittiegs of the Bulgarian
Notables.) 9, Caristian Governors to be appointed by
the Porte, with the consent of the Powers, for the
three Provinces, to officiate five or six years; 10, the
Ptu4shment of all persons concerned in the late horrors
and the indemnification of the families who have
suffered; 11, the institution of Consular Commissions
to superintend the carrying out of the above reforms.
This programme the correspondent consilers to be
satisfactory in two respects :
It contains nothing about the occupation of Turkish
Provinces by foreign troops, and it leaves it undecided
Whether the interference of the Powers is to be em-
ployed only in the beginning or is .to assume a perma-
nent character. Turkish sovereignty being preserved
in both respects, the rest admits of discussion, and in a
modified form will, perhaps, be accepted by the Porte.
The modifications sure to be demanded by Turkey will
refer chiefly to the relation between the central and
local Governments, and between the Governrpent
troops and the militia. If these relations are th be
arranged in such a way that anarchy and civil war
must ensue, the Turkish Government, rather than
admit a state of things for which they will
be held responsible while they cannot prevent
it, are determined to put the matter at once
to the issue of tbe sword. For this purpose
they have assembled over 200,000 troops in Bul-
garia and about 150,000 in Asia Minor. They have
armed both the Danubian and the Balkan fortresses
and prepared Erzeroum and Kars. They have their
fleet ready, and are in a position to call out any num:-
ber of men provided the means are at hand. Their
European line of defence is considered to be tolerably
safe, being formed by the Danube and the Balkan,
Supported by formidable fortresses. In Asia their
Position is less hopeful; but even there a hard care-
Paign in a hilly country would be in store for the
Russians before tl•ey could achieve victory. As
regards the condition of the two armies, both are
indifferently good, though the Russians have, no
doubt, the advantage of possessing a small number
of well-informed officers, while the Turks have soa:coly
any.

The Times, in a leader commenting upon the demands of
Russia, sey, :
The programme of General Ignatieff, as it is called,
fa before the world. This comprises the substance of
the Russian demands derived from indications made by
the ambassador in his pourparlers with his colleagues.
There are eleven points of varying importance, some
of which will, no doubt, be insisted upon at all aoets,
While others may be abandoned or transformed, the
suggestions of the neutral powers being substituted
for them. But, on the whole, there is nothing
unreasonable in them as a-baais of negotiation. They
do not offend against either of the two principles which
the Powers are bound to maintain—the integrity of
the Sultan's Empire in the sense which must now
be given to that phrase, and the exclusion of Russia
from any preponderant influence either in securing
the reforms or in the subsequent administration of
the country. But it cannot be doubted that
there is a good deal that will be found inadmis-
sible, or at least inexpedient in the demands as
Sketched by our Correspondents. The general dis-
armament of both Christians and Mussulnuans in
1305015, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria is a measure of
Precaution which, if it can be duly carried out, will
have its advantages during the process of pacifica-
tion ; but, on the other hand, the third point de-
toands the institution of a Militia and local police
into which the Clbristians shall be admitted, the relative
Proportion of. Christians and Mahomedans serving as
the basis of this force. The two proposals,' therefore,
Inalify each other, unless we look upon the disarms-
toent as a merely temporary expedient. Undoubtedly
there are disorderly populations, like the country
Mahomedans who joined in the Bulgarian massacres,
and 'these might be properly made to give up their
arms ; but as for the rest it will probably be found that
the giving of arms to the Christians, under proper
!egulations, and the enrolling of them into a regular
loree will give aufficient security against oppression. It is
not in the lowering the dominant class, but in raising
,the subject class that the solution of the difficulty will
I'4' found. lithe great reform were accomplished whiah
ums been so often urged upon the Porte, the admission,
gradual or otherwise, of Christians to the Army, there
Would be no longer an Eastern Qtestion. A provincial
anplication of the same remedy would have its salutary
effect, and the Christian, capable of defending himself
and forming part of the levy of the Province, would
soon be treated with respect by his Mahomedan neigh-
bour.

The exclusion of non-natives from employment wad
the use of the local language in the tribunals are reforms
useful so far as they era practicable. It is expedient
that thfi Provinces should be protected from the swarm
of officials of various grades who follow in the train of
each incoming Governor and seek only to make as much
as possible out of the inhabitants in the shortest space
of time. But the Governor himself might perhaps ad-
vantageously be a stranger, and it is more important
that he should be an able man, chosen where he can
be found, and sanctioned by the Powers, than that
he should be a native of the Province which he is
called upon to administer. As for the use of the local
languages, there is nothing to be said against it.
Though Turkish is very well known in some districts,
as, for instance, in the parts where the late massacres
occurred, the alternative of the second language ought
to be everywhere allowed. The demands include the
abolition of the farming of the tithe and the gradual
transformation of the titheinto a regular tax, the assess-
Meat of which should be left to the taxpayers. Some-
thing ing like this was one of the first recommendations at
,fle time of the Consular Commission, and the settle-
Ment of the financial system will be the most important
arid useful work of tke Conference. The last point in the
Version of the demands as at pre i ,ent published is the n-
ocluction oi direct control by a Consular Commission,
In order to superintend the execuOon of all the former
Points. This, we suppose, mint be under.tood rai in-
volved in the very notion of an union of the Powers as
Ruardians of the Ottoman State. If there be anything
en which all the world, whether favourable to the
Turks or not, is nnitad, it is that the permanent paci-
fication of these Provinces depends upon the vigilant
control of Europe. Such are the Russian demands,
and though they, no doubt do interfere largely with the
Sultan's authority, yet there is not one of them which
naaY not be fairly examined. It is their number and
variety which make the acceptance of the programme
Problematical. But if there be a desire on the part of
the Russian Government to spare the world the horrors
of war, the essential principles of pacification may be
evellthallY arrived at.