The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-02-01
GERMANY TO DESERT RUSSIA
TO JOIN ENGLAND, ITALY AND AUS. TRlA IN COERCfNG THE SULTAN.


 The Kaiser Evidently Piqued at the Close Ties Existing Between France and Rus-
 sia-Reforms in Turkey Embrace an En-
 tire Change in the Present System of Government.
 Berlin, Jan 31.-The Berlin newspa- pers, noticing the visit to the German capital of Count Muravieff, the Rus- sian foreign minister, contrast the gen. eral indifference shown to his presencs in the city with the interest taken in the recent sojourn of Count Golouchow- ski. Brief as the latter's stay in Ber- lin was, it resulted in an important change in Germans policy towards the sultan and probably also in the Ball. kans.
 The Austrian government has long maintained that the objects of the drei- bund, and especially of the dual alli- ance, could only be obtained by concert | of policy at Constantinople. The adhe- sion of Germany to the Russian schemes of reform without coercion. while Austria and Italy supported Eng | land in insisting upon coercion if nec- essary. was held by the Austrian min- 1 ister to menace the stability of the al- | liance
 | Count Golouchowski is understood to have made the all important declara- tion to the kaiser and Prince Hohen- 1 lohe that Austria and Italy would join England in imposing by force the need- full reforms upon the sultan, even if they had to act without the co-opera~ tfon of France and Russia a | Nothing but defeat in diplomacy and | disappointment of aim has resulted from the attempts of Germany to cul- l tivate the friendship of Russia. The \ Russo-French entente has grown in | closeness, while the understanding be- tween the dreibund powers has been subjected to some strain.
 l Count Golouchowski has now suc- ceeded in obtaining such full agree ment with the kaiser as will enable l the ambassadors of the three powers to work in perfect harmony. If the Turkish correspondence issued by the English foreign office had been com pleted up to date instead of finishing at the close of December the modifica- tion in Germany's policy would have been seen to alter the position in the l east.
 l The kaiser is no longer hard and fast opponent of coercion, but has agreed to join if the other powers are unanimous Europe is thus within view of pre- senting the sultan with a program of reform under compulsion, not the nlor- l al pressure the. Russian government still holds out for, but the material en- forcement which Austria, Italy and England have for some time been agreed upon. A draft of the reform de- mands has at last been presented to the sultan through Baron Calico, the ences. Some serni-official idea of the scheme of the powers has been receiv- ed here from Constantinople.
 The provinces, Asiatic as we'll as Eu-. ropean, are to have some sort of elec- tive councils with administrative gov- ernments. A council of state, conpos- ed of members representing the prov- inces and members appointed by the sultan, is to sit for stated annual peril ods in Constantinople. This council ] will have voice in the appointment l of ministers and in the regulation of | the finances. The sultan is to govern | through his ministers and not through l the palace functionaries, and the ad-' l ministration of justice is also to be re- 1 formed.