, 1877-01-27

will obey, and they can only be punished by a
resort to arms. They are forbidden to
plumber the Provinces, yet one clear third
Of the whole revenue-which, if the scheme
succeeds at all, will rapidly increase-is to he
assigned to them, and expended nominally upon
tbs general defence of The Empire. but really,
50 far as they can manage, upon themselves
and their nominees. The Governor.G General is
not to be q Turk. which, if a Turk has a moral
right to rule any bat Turks, is unfair, yet at
the same time he may be one Of those Chris
tians, whom Turkey knows how to select, who
are more Turkish than Turks, and whose single
object in governing is 10 make government pro-
ftabia 10 themselves and their dependents.
That is the old arrangement for the HoSpoda-
riAts, which was found to be absolutely intole'
rable. The Provinces are to be- I" occupied
by foreign troops. but in insufficient numbers
to suppress Instruction if fomented by the
P0rte-whicb could order the CircaSsians to
kill out the gendarmerie-unlesS they are sup
ported by Europe, that is, by the very display
of Western force which all these fusbIe devices
are intended to avert. And finally, the Pro-
yincos are placed under a reformed Govern
ment, which is to regenerate them, to give
their civilization scope, and to create conf
dence in lis subjects, and yet is to bs consider
ell Notwithstanding which may end,
leaving the Turks to avrnge themselves on
every Christian "dog" who has dared to plead
before an Inf lei judge that he also is a verte.
brate animal, and that he defended his house
against Turkish soldiers under recognised law.
He would be executed, if ii were twenty years
afterwards, and the dread Of that vengeance will
ksep the whole population what they are now,
submissive servants of every Turk who
chooses to address them in the toae of a mas.
ter. There is no provision. that We see,
for the disarmament of the M4h0mmedans,
which would, no doubt, b9 a difficult operation,
and none for the armament of the Christians,
which would be comparatively easy, and per.
haps more %tfectual. There is. 10 fact, no
material guarantee for the security Of the peo.
pie except the chance that Russia may pro.
teot thu Commission by force, or that
Great Britain, when the next great a'rocity
occurs. may be governed by a Liberal Ministry,
not intent for the moment on reducing mill.
tary expenditure.
1t is quite clear the Powers could not have
asked less, ifthey asked anything at all but
notwithstanding the weakness Of the proposal.
the Turkish Ministry resist it, seeing in it q
general humiliation to the State which, of
course, it involves, and must necessarily in.
volve-and also certain points Of danger to
themselves. The powers may under it quietly
insist upon foreign Governors General, in which
event the reforms, being acceptable to the
population. and carried out by an International
Commission, might become real enough to pre-.
vent Europe from ever allowing the Provinces
to pass back under Turkish direct authority.
Moreover, the foreign g%endarmerie may be
drawn from races so powerful that open insult
or outrage upon them might involve immediate
war, and thus become SO difficult that it could
not be allowed and the Pashas would then be
powerless to interfere, as powerlsss as they
are in Roumania, where q Turk, though vel.
come to settle, is only an ordinary subject of
the State. And finally, the financial clauses
might be carried our. and then wha: would the
Pashas gain by their nominal authority over
Bosnia and the two Bulgariasl A certain sum-,
possibly large, paid into the central Treasury /;
but then the Sultan would want some of that,
and the troops some, and perhaps even those
simple wretches, the foreign bondholders,
might Glamour for some. and the share of the
oligarchy would be reduced to imperceptible
proportions. The Porte, therefore. objects to
the proposal. desiring, of course, first of all to
get rid of ito one substantial feature,-the
foreign troops, in whose safety Europe would
be directly interested, and who. if protected,
might maintain such order that the experiment
would be seen TO be successful. Once free of
the occupation, and with the National Guard
commanded by Turkish officers, the Pashas
would be nearly as powerful as ever, and might.
on tbo Grst occnrranea Ofa EurODean comma.