The New York herald., 1874-08-25
HUSSEIN AVN.
His Preposterous Proposals TO the
Roumelian Railway Company.
Examination of the American COL
lege In Constantiuople.
THE FAMINE IN CEsAREA.
CoNsrAsrnorLE, July 80. 1874.


CoNsr AsrINoPLE, July 80, 1874
Though there Is scarcely Q divergence OF optn-
ION in all Constsntinople regarding the estimation
In which the Grand vlzer s held-one and all
agreeing that he Is q very disagreeable person.
age-yet, IN oil fairness where praise Is due We
should not withhold 1t, and His Highness certainly
deserves credit for the pleasant SURPRISES he
has Afforded the creditors Of the Turkish govern
ment by the unexpected fulfiment OF more than
one OF It's pecuniary engagements. Again, the
other day the short delay In settling for the loan
OF 40,00Q000L, falling due on the goth inst, had
created great uneasiness but the minds OF the
apprehensive pubic were speedily set at rest.
Hussein Avni mad again shown himself equal to
the occasion, and week later he was prepared,
through the medium Of the Imperial Ottoman Bank.
to take up the amount due.
THE RAILWAY sYsrEx
The churlishness OF the Grand vizier's nature,
however. breaks out once more in his dealings
with Baron Hirsch on the Roumeian Railway
question. new attempt had been made lately to
bring about an understanding between the impe-
rial government ana Baron Hrsch. According to
former convention, made IN 1872, the term fixed
for The completion OF the llnes-which the govern
ment, in order to form junction between
the Turkish and Austrian and Servlan railways,
had engaged to construct and deliver to the Hrsch
working companY-expires In the month Of Nay
next As It Is impossible to execute the works In
this short space OF time, ana the Turks have more
over no money with which 10 carry them out, they
must either obtain an extension OF time or pay an
indemnity to the working company. Losing sight
as is their won't that they are not In position to
dictate terms, they not only demand the extern
sion, but the necessary capital as well for COM
pletng the lines; and, further, they ask the work
ing company to give up all Its claims against che
| imperial government. The Hirsch company, how
ever, having failed to discover any advantages to
themselves in these one-sded proposals. and the
Grand vizier holding to his own view, the negotia-
tions were broken on almost as soon as tney we're
begun.
THE AMERICAN COLLEGE ON TIE BospHoRUs.
The annual examination OF the classes attend
ing the American "Robert College" on the Bospho-
rus took place last week. The attendance OF the
friends and relatives OF the students was very
numerous 1t is impossible TO overesttmate the
service which this institution Is rendering to the
highest interests-inteectual moral and sociaI--or
the Turkish Empire. The examination OF the va
rious classes was highly satisfactory. and rejected
great credit on all the professors who, with one
or two exceptions, are natives Of the United
States. the college closes this session with Ito
st1dents of whom So are Americans, SO Buiga-
rians SO Greeks, 10 English and 10 Israeltes, while
the remainder are made up OF seven different
nationalit1es. Owing to the system OF
perfect equality and lmpartialtty observed
toward all the students the greatest cor
dialitY and brotherly feeling reigns within the
walls OF the college. On inquiry learn that the
seniors or graduating class consisted OF Ave STU
dents, the juniors OF ten; that the intermediate
ana collegiate departments comprised one hun
dred students and the preparatory department
forty-six. 1t would thus appear that while not o
! lew commence course OF study at Robert Col
| lege, but comparatively small portion persevere
to the end which may be accounted for by the fact
| that In commercial cities boys are often removed
from school too early to perfect themselves Ia any
of the higher branches OF knowledge. 1t is inter-
esting to observe that though the Bulgarian ma
tion is not SO numerously represented IN the col
lege as the Armenlans, ana only equally 80 with the
! Greeks, yet the graduating class is entirely CON-
posed this year OF Bulgarian youths. After the
examinations were concluded the candidates
ior the prize declamations entertained
the audience with rectauons in French
and English Then followed the orations
| composed by the members Of the graduating class.
The subjects well chosen and ceverly handled.
The degree of Bachelor OF Arts was then conferred
! on the graduating class. The Rev. George WASH
! burn then made touching reference to the ab-
! sence oil the Rev. Mr.. Hamlin the President whose
! critical state Of health gave much anxiety to his
! friends Mr. Washburn then explained the mode
/ adopted by the college for estimating the moral
and intellectual proficiency of the students and
! maintaining wholesome discipline. He then gave
the names of the students to whom the prizes for
4 declamations had been awarded by q committee
chosen from among the audience. and, in conclu-
sion, Mr.. Goodenow, United States Consul General
and acting Charge d'Anairesin in MIR. Bohn's absence
! was called upon by MIR. Washburn to address the
! college, and he did 30.
I THE FAMINE IN cAEsAREA.
| series OF interesting letters on the horrors of
! the famine have appeared In tha Levant Herald.
They are from the Rev. W. A. Farnsworth, attached
y to the American mission at Casarea. He takes q
J very gloomy view OF the iuture. 1 make several
! extracts -
| There is really a great deal OF sunering from
the lack OF necessary food In C@sarea and the
| large towns near tnat city. The same Is true Of
| Everek and Of Nigde, but when We compare these
| leel that, as yet, they have hardly been touched
by the famine. In all the villages very many,
| PROBABLY much more than one-hal the population
are destitute OF bread. and Tor many weeks have
| lived almost entirely on such Wild herbs as they
| From the AK Dagh and the Bozook regions very
many have ned to Svas and regions TO the east
and there beg their miserable living from door to
door, while large numbers OF people from the
! Keskin and the Kir shehir regions have in the
same way thrown themselves upon Cesarea and
the surrounding towns, and the people from the
vicinity OF Nlgde have gone In crowds to the re-
| gions OF Tarsus and Ardana TO secure more
honorable living BY gleanngin the very rich grain
| fields OF Cilcia. Thus this whole district Is IN
great measure depopulated. While these people
thus become q great burden In the regions to
! which they have fed their own houses ana
| vineyards and fields 90 to run. Sad in
deed Is the destruction OF houses. Built or
1 mud. with earth roofs, they have q little tim
! ber that may be used for fuel In many cases
the owners, driven TO the last extremity tore
| down their houses before leaving them, and used
the imbers for iue or sold them TO procure bread.
Many others left their homes uninjured; but no
sooner ia house deserted than the neighDors dig
into the roofs for the timber Multitudes OF these
people, were they now TO return to their villages,
! would find their houses nninhabitable. D..
TERRIBLE STATE OP THINGS.
SOongoOrOo Is o town OF about ZOO houses, and
y the residence OF cdt1nacQDl. The scenes here
past winter nave almost II not altogether, egualed
the worst oi the Persian famine. The Governor
told me tnat the statistics which they mad gathered
! showed some 5000 deaths from starvation IN that
kaZa Were those included who have cOme In