, 1890-11-26

RSo1A AAAN0OC " VIZ CoAASA UAA AAttA VA NAAD
result with regret. The late Prime Minister
is a man of good character and high %cultiva-
ton, who gradually drew the Greeks away
from a policy Of petty provocation, and devot-
ed their attention to internal development and
financial reform. The, expenditure, which,
in 1886, amounted to one hundred and twenty
nine million d~rachmai, was reduced in the f)I-
lowing year to eighty-two millions, while the
Budget for this year was only ninety-one mil
lions, although there had been a considerable
and special outlay on the Fleet. As a conse.
q" ence of these economics, the credit Of Greece
has risen in the money markets of the world.
Loans bearing eight and nine per cent interest
have been paid off by the creation Of a four per
cent. stock-a rate at which Greece, ungua-
ranteed, never borrowed money before. This
process would problbIy have been applied to
other portions Of tn. debt had NJ. Tricoupis re-
manned in power; his successor, NJ. Delyannis,
who has been charged with the formation Of a
new Ministry; is little likely to be able to car
ry it out. Why the elections went against a
national and respected statesman, and in Ia
YOUR of a heterogeneous Opposition, foreign
observers cannot accurately determine. No
doubt the passivity Of NJ. Tricoupis as regards
'unredeemed Greece had a great deal to do
with it.: 1t is also probable that he was nc as
INSCRIPTIONS as some of his predecessors in
bringing ot1ci al pressure to bear on the pro-
vincial electors. In Bulgaria NJ. Stamboulof
has secured a Chamber to his liking by sup.
pressing newspapers, imprisoning leading mem
bers of the local Opposition, warning of sus-
pected peasants from the polls, and manipulat-
ing the ballot-boxes when needful. The But
garians-a stolid, practical, prosaic people
tolerate this kind of interference so long as
they are let alone in their houses and fields;
and are not taxed too much. They are glad
enough to be governed, and to be spared the
trouble of governing themselves. The Greeks
more spirited, more restless, more sophistic,.t-
ed, more acute prefer politics to industry,
and revel in free elections. They are as COM
bati3e as Frenchmen, and as ready at all times
for a change of Government. They cling, too;
to the Pan Hellenic idea, for which their fore.
fathers fought, and which is still a factor in
politics as long as the Turks, an unprogressive
people, rule a Certain number of Greeks, q
sharper and in many. though not all respects
a superior race.
This Greek "idca" has undergone many vicis-
STUDIES since Byron devoted his energies, and
finally his life, to the emancipation Of Hellas.
Sixty or seventy years ago all the Christie
inhabitants of Turkey were roughly styled
Greeks" The foundation of tn error was
that all the nationalities belongc,- to What was
called the Greek Church. At that time Rou-
mania and Bulgaria were alike unknown, for
the old Bulgarian history was forgotten, and
the two Danubian Principalities we're not
united. The H~ospodars Of WaElachia & d
Moldavia were frequently Greek subjects of
the Porte, and Greek was the only Language in
which a Bulgarian could acquire education.
When Greece became a kingdom it's friends in
the West hid vague dreams Of its gradual
absorption of all the European territories Of
Turkey, perhaps acquiring Jonstantinople it.
self, and restoring the mass to St. Sophia.
Russian jealousy and the rise Of rival nation
@alities, however, frustrated these wild hopes.
The Gears had no idea of creating strong
States on their traditional road to Stamboul
they preferred divided provinces. Hence
their successive patronage Of Roumania, Ser
via, and Bulgaria. In all these countries
scattered Greeks had played important parts,
but they soon lost hold of public opinion the
rising tides Of new nationalities swamped them.
The Servians recalled the old glories of their
ancient Princes, the Roumanians had new
hopes, and Russia itself might almost be said
to have invented Bulgaria. Thus the success
sion to the lands now ruled by the Turks is
holly disputed. The Greeks are forced to ad-'
NIT rivalry in the old field, but they protest
against the encroachments of the Bulgarians
and Servians in a province which by name be-
longs, they say, to them alone. They declare