Roumelian Powers and Turkish Plenipotentiaries, which, with an intermission of Chap. I. four months, had been sitting at Constantinople during the continuance of the movement in Eastern Roumelia, adopted a protocol, by which (1) the Governor-Generalship of Eastern Roumelia was to be entrusted Eastern to the Prince of Bulgaria, in accordance with Article XVII. of the Protocol. Treaty of Berlin; (2) as long as the administration of Eastern Roumelia and that of the Principality of Bulgaria should remain in the hands of one and the same person, the Mussulman villages situated in the Canton of Kirdjali, as well as the Mussulman villages situated in the Rhodope district, were to be separated from Eastern Roumelia; and this in lieu of the right of the Sublime Porte, as laid down in the first paragraph of Article XV. of the Treaty of Berlin (y); the necessary delimitation to be carried out by a Turco-Bulgarian Commission; (3) a Turco-Bulgarian Commission was to be directed to examine the Organic Statute of Eastern Roumelia, and to modify it, with due regard to the exigencies of the situation and local requirements. All the interests of the Imperial Ottoman treasury were likewise to be taken into consideration. The labours of this latter Commission were to be completed in four months, and the result submitted to the sanction of the Conference. Until these modifications should have been sanctioned, the task of administering the province, in accordance with the forms demanded by the then present condition of affairs, was to be entrusted to the wisdom and fidelity of the Prince; (4) all other dispositions of the Treaty of Berlin relative to the Principality of Bulgaria and to Eastern Roumelia were declared maintained and in force (z). A few days later Prince Alexander, who had contended for a personal Later history nomination of himself in place of "the Prince of Bulgaria," but had of Bulgaria. been defeated in this respect by Russian opposition, announced his submission to the international act, and his readiness to nominate delegates to the commissions (a). The state of siege in Eastern Roumelia was raised, and preparations for the elections were proceeded with. The Special Budget drawn up by the Sophia Government, however, was the cause of much discontent in Roumelia; the Prince's civil list being increased by the addition of the salary before paid to the Governor-General, and the total expenditure of the province showing a large increase, exclusive of the tribute to the Porte. The Prince did not disguise his intention, so far as lay in his power, to amalgamate and render homogeneous the Bulgarians north and south of the Balkans; and in his speech delivered at the opening of the Sobranje in June, alluded to the complete union of the two provinces, as proved by the meeting of a single Chamber. The Turkish Commissioners for the revision of the Organic Statute arrived at Sophia in the beginning of August. The first meeting of the Commission took place on the 12th (y) That is, of the right to garrison the Balkans. (z) Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 2 (1886); Hertslet, Map of Europe, No. 611. (a) Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 2 (1886); Ibid. Turkey, No. 1 (1887). Part II. § 70k. Greece. of that month; but there seemed little likelihood of agreement. Military preparations were once more renewed in both Servia and Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian troops were sent to the frontier. On the 22nd a coup d'état was perpetrated at Sophia. The Prince was seized by a party of military rebels and forcibly removed to Russian territory. The Porte announced that it held the authors of any disturbance responsible for events, and declared its intention to decide and act in concert with the Great Powers. The Prince, being released by the orders of the Russian Government, returned to Bulgaria, but resigned his position and retired from the country on the 7th September: declaring that the Protocol of Constantinople had broken his back, and had given the opposition an opportunity of working against him, by the fact of his having been made a Turkish functionary (b). The Powers were agreed that a successor should be chosen in accordance with the provisions of the Berlin Treaty. Elections were held in both Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia for a Great National Assembly. In the opinion of Russia these elections were illegal, and that country consequently ignored both the Assembly and the Government. On the 29th October diplomatic intercourse was resumed between Belgrade and Sophia (c). In November the Russian agent and consuls quitted Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia. After much correspondence between the Powers and the Porte, and tentative movements in other directions, the Sobranje, on 4th July, 1887, elected Prince Ferdinand of Coburg as Prince of Bulgaria (d). The Prince, shortly afterwards, accepted the position and entered the country, where he still remains. His election was not confirmed by the Porte and the Signatory Powers until March, 1896. The representations of the Signatory Powers did little to hinder the warlike preparations of Greece (e), whose attitude constituted a menace to the peace of Europe, and, but for the strenuous appeals of the Powers to the Porte to maintain a pacific and conciliatory attitude, was likely to precipitate a war, the consequences of which, however incalculable in other directions, could not fail to be calamitous to Greece (ƒ). On the morning of 24th January, 1886, the Greek squadron left Salamis Bay. On the following day a collective note was delivered at Athens stating that, in the absence of any just cause for war on the part of Greece against Turkey, and in view of the injury which would be caused by it to the commerce of other nations, a naval attack by Greece on Turkey would not be permitted by the Great Powers. Austria-Hungary, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia sent ships of war to Suda Bay to compel conformance with the note. France agreed in the general policy, but could not contemplate acts of hostility by French ships against Greece, and opined that a clear (b) Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 1 (1887). (d) Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 2 (1887). Ibid. No. 2 (1886); Ibid. No. 1 (1887); (f) Parl. Papers, Greece, No. 2 (1886); Ibid. No. 3 (1886). intimation to Greece that if she wore out the patience of the Ottoman forces she would be left to face the result unaided in any way, would be sufficient to induce a return to a peaceful demeanour. The Greek reply to the note protested against any limitation of the free disposition of their naval forces as incompatible with the independence of the State and the rights of the Crown. On the 13th April, the conclusion of the arrangement with regard to Eastern Roumelia (g) was communicated to the Greek Premier, with the expression of a hope that Greece would comply with the unanimous wish of Europe for the maintenance of peace. The disarmament being still delayed, certain ships of the allied squadron were sent to the Piræus. On the 6th May, a final note was presented inviting the assurance, in the course of a week, that orders had been promulgated to place the Hellenic land and sea forces on a peace footing. The answer being unsatisfactory, the representatives of the Powers and the Turkish Minister left Athens on the following day. On May 8th, the Chargés d'Affaires communicated a notice of the blockade of the east coast of Greece and the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth against all ships under the Greek flag. Any ship under the Greek flag endeavouring to violate the blockade was to be liable to detention (h). The Greek troops having retired from the frontier by the end of the month, and Greece having notified her Ministers at the Courts of the Powers of her actual proceedings in the way of disarmament, and the process of demobilization proceeding rapidly, the blockade was raised on June 7th. Shortly afterwards the Ministers of the Powers returned to Athens (i). Chap. I. § 701. On 6th March, 1889, Milan, King of Servia, abdicated in favour of Servia. his son, Alexander, a boy of twelve, and resigned his power into the hands of a council of regency. Since that date the kingdom has been in a disturbed and unsettled condition, culminating in the atrocious murder of King Alexander and his consort Queen Draga by the chiefs of a military conspiracy on the 29th day of May, 1903. The present occupant of the Servian throne, King Peter Karageorgévitch, is believed to hold it on a tenure scarcely more secure than his predecessor. in the § 70m. During the Servo-Bulgarian war 300,000 Turkish troops stood idle on European the frontiers of Roumelia. If the Sultan had not been condemned to intervention inactivity by the fear of complications with the Great Powers, and by Balkans and public opinion in both Russia and Great Britain, which would not Greece. have tolerated the entry of Ottoman troops into the provinces as contemplated by the XVIth Article of the Berlin Treaty, there is little doubt but that he could have compelled both the population of the province and Prince Alexander to the observance of the Treaty (k). In the same way, if uncontrolled by Europe, the animosities and (9) Ante, § 70j. (h) Parl. Papers, Greece, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 (1886). (i) Parl. Paper, Greece, No. 4 (1886). (k) Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 1 (1886); Ibid. No. 2 (1886); Ibid. No. 1 (1887); Ibid. No. 2 (1887). Part II. jealousies of Greeks, Bulgars, Serbs, and Macedonians preventing them from acting in concert and leading to internecine conflicts, might quickly lead to the re-imposition of the Turkish yoke upon her former provinces, or, more probably, to an international conflict for the partition of Turkey, disturbing the peace of the world, and fatal to the independence of these little States. It is upon these and similar considerations that the intervention in the affairs of, and dominant control by Europe of the former provinces of Turkey, which owe their existence as States to European treaties, is now, for the most part, justified (7). Greek war of 1897. The inability of the Porte to maintain order in Crete, and to restrain the Christian and Mohammedan from cutting one another's throats, led, in February, 1897, to the intervention of Greece, which, in spite of the protests of the Powers, landed an armed force on the island, and established a local administration in the name of the King of the Hellenes. By a joint note the Powers assured Greece that, while Crete could not be annexed in the present circumstances, they were resolved, since Turkey had delayed the execution of the reforms settled in concert with them, to endow Crete with an effective local autonomy, which should ensure her a separate government under the suzerainty of the Sultan. Greece declined to withdraw her troops so long as the Christian population was in danger, and the Powers replied by proclaiming a blockade of the Cretan ports, and despatching (March 18) a mixed force of 3,600 men to occupy the island. Meanwhile war was becoming imminent on the Thessalian frontier, and the Powers warned both governments that if either country assumed the aggressive in no case would the aggressor be allowed to derive any permanent advantage from the result of his action. On April 8, Greek bands crossed the frontier; on the 11th Turkey declared war, and was completely victorious in a succession of engagements, re-occupying practically the whole of Thessaly. Thereupon the Powers compelled the Sultan to grant an armistice, and further intervened to carry out what has become an unwritten law-that territory once wrenched from the Turk can never be permitted to revert to Mohammedan jurisdiction. Though she had not been the aggressor in the terms of the note of the Powers, Turkey was not allowed to retain her conquests in Thessaly, but some slight strategic modifications of frontier, in favour of the Ottoman Empire, were allowed. The sole penalty enforced upon Greece was the payment of a moderate indemnity and the temporary occupation of her territory until its payment. The Treaty of Peace made no provision for the settlement of Crete, which was placed under a temporary administrative Commission, consisting of the admirals of the French, English, Russian and Italian fleets. Anarchy and disorder, however, continued to reign until in 1898 the Porte was finally compelled to withdraw the whole of its troops and functionaries. In (1) Parl. Papers, cited preceding note; Parl. Paper, Greece, No. 2 (1886); Ibid. No. 4 (1886). the same year the four Powers constituted the island an autonomous State under a High Commissioner appointed by them, subject to the suzerainty of the Sultan, but without tribute. Prince George of Greece was the first Commissioner, appointed for a term of three years, which was renewed in 1901. The steps which are now being taken by Russia and Austria, with the sanction of the other Great Powers, to enforce a scheme of reforms in Macedonia form the latest instance of European intervention on behalf of the subjects of the Porte and of the maintenance of peace in the south-east of Europe (m). Chap. I. $ 71. of the five pean powers 1830. The interference of the five great European powers Interference represented in the conference of London, in the Belgic great EuroRevolution of 1830, affords an example of the application Belgie of this right to preserve the general peace, and to adapt Revolution of the new order of things to the stipulations of the treaties of Paris and Vienna, by which the kingdom of the Netherlands had been created. We have given, in another work, a full account of the long and intricate negotiations relating to the separation of Belgium from Holland, which assumed alternately the character of a pacific mediation and of an armed intervention, according to the varying circumstances of the contest, and which was finally terminated by a compromise between the two great opposite principles which so long threatened to disturb the established order and general peace of Europe. The Belgic Revolution was recognized as an accomplished fact, whilst its legal consequences were limited within the strictest bounds, by refusing to Belgium the attributes of the rights of conquest and of postliminy, and by depriving her of a great part of the province of Luxembourg, of the left bank of the Scheldt, and of the right bank of the Meuse. The five great powers, representing Europe, consented to the separation of Belgium from Holland, and admitted the former among the independent States of Europe, upon conditions which were accepted by her and have become the bases of her public law. These conditions were subsequently incorporated into a definite treaty, concluded (m) See Annual Register, 1897; Statesman's Year Book, 1903. |