The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1895-12-06
BRITISH BACK DOWN.
THE SULTAN FORCED THEM TO
TAKE WATER"
British Guardship Dryad Made To Turn
Back After She Had Started to Pass
Through the Dardanelles-The Powers
Divided situation In Turkey.

bNlueh me- Dituatioh w iufhe!s
Sleeping over the crater of tempo
rarily quiet volcano might be called
comfortable position when compared
with the situation in Turkey in gen
eral and in Constantinople in partic-
ular. To be an ambassador of one
powers to the porte is at present not
what might be termed snap" and
within the past week those officials
have not been resting on 'flowery
beds of ease. This Is especially the
case with Sir Philip Currie, the British
ambassador This gentlemen took the
lead of the representatives of the pow
crs in demanding of the porte
that each of the powers be granted
firmans (passorts) for at least
one more guardship each to pass
through the Dardanelles and be
stationed before Constantinople for
the purpose of protecting foreign resi-
dents. Abdul Hamid, the sultan, and
his ministers consulted and Twefik
Pasha, minister of foreign affairs, in
formed Sir Philip Currie that the re-
quest would be granted This eased
matters up somewhat, as the ambassa-
doris had begun to feel that it would be
refused and crisis was felt to be
imminent. Acting on the report of
TweflI Pasha the British am
bassador ordered the gunboat Dryad
to make the passage from Sa-
lonica bay, where the fleets of the
powers were stationed, through the
the Dardcnelles. This was to be fol-
lowed by guardships of Russia, Italy
and Austria at least. But In the
meantime the palace party" consist
ing of the priests, chamberlains, Wallets,
etc, who are the sultan's real advisors,
had taken a hand and made Abdul
Hamid believe that the gathering of
any more foreign warships in the
Bosphorous would be equivalent to a
naval demonstration before CONSTANT
nople. and as such would SO inflame
the MussulmanS that they would
regard it as an affront TO their sultan
and resent it by terrible carnage of
bloodshed in which no Christian would
be safe. This had the effect the
palace party" desired and the sultan
hurriedly called Twefik Pasha and sent
him to Sir Philip Currie with in
structions to do everything possible to
induce the British ambassador to
countermand his order for the gun
boat. Sir Philip, however. refused to
do So saying that he was tired of being
triilcd with. Tewfill Pasha returned
to the palace in very unenviable
frame of mind and announced the
failure Of his mission. The sultan is
said TO have been frantic with rage
and drove TweiiI from his presence
with fierce revilings. The president
of the state council, Said Pasha, who
is supposed TO have some influence
with Sir Philip Currie, was thereupon
hurriedly sent for and Abdul Hamid
eagerly besought him to go i'm
mediately TO the British ambassador
and spare no effort TO induce him IN
order the recall of the Drvad. The
entreaties of Said Pasha seem to have
had weight with the ambassador, for
Sir Philip finally consented to place tho
whole matter, at that late hour, once
more before his government, and to
await further instructions, although
he is understood To have carte blanche
as to what steps he thinks it neces-
sary to take in treating with the
sultan. There was some DELAY in OBJ
tanning a reply TO the message TO Lord
Salisbury, but it finally became
apparent that Great Britain would
not do anything calculated in any way
to hinder the efforts of the sultan To
restore order and put in force the
reforms advocated by the powers, and
! therefore. in view of Abdul Hamid S
strong objections, the demand for the
extra guardships would not be carried
to the extreme of forcing the passage
of the Dardcnelles. Therefore the
| Dryad was ordered to return to Sa-
| lonica bay.
This was, to the diplomatic corps,
quite an unexpected dcnoucment of a
situation which had assumed n most
dangerous aspect, and the general
opinion is that the powers have been
| placed in n somewhat ridiculous posi-
ton. Following the repeated threats
of forcing the passage of the Dardanel-
les if the sultan persisted in refusing
to allow the gunboats to enter the
Bosphorus, this looks very much as il
| Abdul Hamid and his advisers were
well informed when they persisted in
holding out against the demands OF
the representatives of Great Britain.
Russia, Italy and Austria for addi'
tional guardships, believing that
they were justified in SO doing on the
ground that the powers are not in ac-
cord, as so frequently claimed and
officially stated, and that the dissent
ing powers were behind Abdul Hamid
in the stand he has taken. However
Sir Philip strongly impressed upon the
mind of the sultan that any further
disturbances which would threaten
the lives of foreigners would be the
signal for the enforcement of the
treaty rights of the powers regarding
the extra guardships even If Great
Britain had to act alone in the matter.
Meanwhile the palace party" is
triumphant, and the impression is be-
ing conveyed TO the Turkish public
that the sultan has won a great victory
over the powers. This tends to make
the matter more delicate to handle. "a:
to demonstrate that such is not the
case is almost certain to lead TO ar
| outbreak.