St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-05-04

ing" of taxes; applying the revenue
from direct taxation in Bosnia and
Herzegovina to those provinces, and
that from indirect taxation only to the
Ottoman Empire allowing portions of
the public land to be purchased by the
Christians on easy terms, etc. 1hls
note was adopted by the Powers; Eng
land giving her support at the request
of the Porte. The document was pre-
scented to the Porte Jan. |, 1876, and'all
of its demands were acceded to except
that concerning the disposition OF the
revenue of the revOlted provinces. A
reply to this effect was sent by Turkey
to the Powers, and the matter was
dropped for time.
The rebels continued their fighting,
and refused amnesty from the Governor
General of Herzegovina, March "a. Six
days later ten days armistice was
agreed upon, and an envoy of Austria
endeavOred to negotiate with the in
surgents. The latter demanded Il third
of the land, the rebuilding of the houses
and churches burned by the MOhamme-
dams, food and agricultural implements
for Il year, freedom from taxation for
three years, the privilege of keeping
their arms, etc. The negotiation failed
and the rebellion continued to spread.
On May 6, 1876, the MOhammedans
murdered the French and German con-
suls in SalOnica, and it was so generally
feared that general massacre of Chris
tians was imminent that the British
May "a.
On May 30, Sultan Abdul Aziz was
dethrOned and succeeded by his nephew
Mulad. Abdul Aziz committed suicide
June 4, and on Aug. 81, his successor
was in turn dethroned and succeeded
by his brother, the present Sultan.
THE BERLIN NOTE.
On May II, GortschakOtf, Bismark
and Andrassy framed the "Berlin note"
which in brief and peremptory terms
stated that as the Porte had given the
Powers pledge to execute the reforms
specified in the Andrassy note, it had
at the same time given them moral
right to insist that its word should be
kept. A suspension of arms for two
months was demanded, and if at the
end of that time peace was not restored
''the three imperial courts are of opinion
that it would become necessary to sup
plement their diplomatic action by the
sanction of an agreement, with view
to such etficaciOus measures as might
appear to be demanded, in the interests
of general peace, to check the evil and
prevent its development" France and
Italy agreed to support the note but
England declined to accept plan in
the preparation of which she had not
been consulted, aud which she believed
would not succeed.
Meanwhile rebellion had broken out
in Bulgaris, and the Christians there
were the victims of the most horrible
atrocities of modern times. Public
opinion was aroused by the reports of
the crimes committed, and Oh Sept. 81,
Lord Derby sent dispatch to the
Porte calling for the punishment of the
offenders. They were, however, never
punished.
On June 30, Prince Milan formally
proclaimed that Servia's aims would he
joined to those of Herzegovina and
Bosnia to secure the liberation of the
SlavOnic Christians from the yoke of
the Porte; and at the same time Mon
tenegro went to war with Turkey. From
that date to September desultory fight
ing resulted in no marked success to
either side. Early in September Eng
land proposed an armistice, which the
Porte declined, offering instead peace
on conditions declared inadmiSsible by
the Powers. Another basis of discus
sion was proposed by Lord Derby on
Sept. 81, but this time Prince Milan Te-
.iected it. War broke out again re-
Inducements from Russia arrived in
Servia and General Tchernay eff resisted
the Turkish troops until Oct. 81, when
AleXinatz fell and Russia interviewed
with IN ultimatum.
PROPOSALS OF THE POWERS.
Before this, however, England was
informed that Russia believed force
should be used to stop the war and put
an end to Turkish misrule. 1t was pro-
posed that Russian troops should oc-
cupy Bulgaria and Austrian troops
BOSNIA, and the united fleets of the
Powers should enter the Bosphorus
On Oct. 3D., England gave notice that it
would not support this plan, but would
sustain months armistice. On the
9Th the British Ambassador was in
structed to leave ConstantinOple if the
Porte wonld not agree to such an armis-
tice. Turkey then surprised all the
Powers 10y offering an armistice of six
months for the PRONUNCIATION of sys-
TEN of reform. England, France and
Austria accepted the offer, but Russia
held that Servia could not accept so
long Il truce, as she could not maintain
her army on ii war footing that length
of time Italy nnnrnNeh RnSSiu' = cnn1Se