MONTENEGRO DECLARES WAR

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1566, 9 October 1912, Page 7

MONTENEGRO DECLARES WAR

HOSTILITIES IN THE BALKANS. POWERS JOIN \n WARNINGS TO ALL PARTIES. TURKEY PROMISES REFORMS. . . ■ By Teleerapn—Prees Association—Copyrieht

(Rec. October 9, 0.15 a.m.) • London, October 8. ' Reuter's correspondent states that Montenegro has officially declared war on. Turkey. THE POWERS' ACTION. CONCERTED, BUT NOT COLLECTIVE. (Rec. October 8, 10.5 a.m.) Paris, October 8. . The Turkish Ambassador has informed ',the Prime Minister, M. Poincare, that Turkey has decided to apply the Villayets Law of 1880 to the Rumelinn districts of European Turkey. Sir Francis Bertie, the British Ambassador in Paris, in conveying Great Britain's assent to the proposed action in tho Balkans, indicated the preference of tho British Foreign Office for individual, rather than collective representations, on the ground of tho latter being unusual, and likely to have the aspect of a threat. The point was apparently conceded, as the "Temps" regrets that tho Powers' action is to be concerted, instead of collec-' .tivc. It fears that in the course of the isolated diplomatic conversations Turkey iiif.y find divergent views, tending to diminish the authority of the advice given. BRITAIN'S ATTITUDE.. WORDING OF NOTE OBJECTED TO. Paris, October 7. ' It is reported that Sir Edward Grey has taken exception to.a statement in the proposed Joint Note from tho Powers to the Balkan States and Turkey, that tho Powers have resolved to assist in the realisation of reforms which M. Poincarc and , M. Sazanoff deem essential. Sir Ed- • ward Grey considers tho wording incompatible with Turkey's independence,, as it reduces her to the level of Persia. T*he newspaper "Le Temps" criticises England's attitude at the present juncture, which it says is so different from the humanitarian enthusiasm displayed by that country in 1876. ADVICE TO BALKAN STATES, AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA TAKE LEAD. Constantinople, October 7. It is reported that the Porte will apply to Macedonia tho reforms drawn up in 1860 for Oriental Rumelia. Austria and Russia, on behalf nf the .Powers, aro making joint representations to the.Balkan States, and tho Powers are making collective representations to tho Porte. : Tho outlook fo'r peace is now. more hopeful. ITALY'S POSITION. • NO ACTION REGARDING TURKEY. Rome, October 7. Italy will join with the other Powers in making representations to tho 'Balkan States, but declines to interfere with regard to Turkey until peace between herself and that country has been concluded. AUSTRIAN POLICY. DISLIKES ROLE OF POLICEMAN. , Vienna, October 7. ' Austria desires to substitute in the joint representations the word "Macedonia" for "Christian population." Sho preferred verbal representations to tho Porte to written communications. Newspaper comment suggests that Austria dislikes the role of .policeman, which I might prove expensive;, and tend to_ruin Austrian trade with the Balkans. "She could prevent Servia annexing Turkish territory, but ,who could make Bulgaria withdraw if the latter State, was victorious? Certainly not Russia." Tho newspaper adds: "Austria is apprehensive of a Servian invasion of Novi Bazar, and fears the Greeks would land troops at Salonika." TURKEY AND REFORM. STATEMENT BY. SIR EDWARD GREY. London, October 7. In the House of Commons to-day, Sir Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in reply to Mr. Bonar Law, Leader of the Opposition, said it was difficult for Turkey to proceed with the carrying out of Teforms, in view of mobilisation of the armies of the Balkan States. It was likewise difficult to convince the Balkan States that tho promised reforme would be effective in promoting tho welfare of Macedonia. Hence the Powers hsd agreed to take collective steps to overcomo theso difficulties by means of representations to the Balkan States and Turkey. He believed that if peace, were broken none of the great Powers would bo involved. GREEK SHIPS DETAINED. RUSSIAN THREATS. Constantinople, October ". Eleven Greek merchantmen detained in the Dardanelles have been allowed to proceed on their way. Russia is threatening to demand an indemnity from Turkey for detaining Russian grain carried in Greek ships. A. court-martial condemned a Moslem to death for participation in the massacre, nnd another io penal servitude. Several minor sentences werp also passed. INDIAN MOSLEM PROTEST. Calcutta, October 7. An enormous meeting of Moslems adopted violent resolutions regnrding the position in the Balkans. Speakers accused the Christian Powers of conspiring to rob the Moslems of their territories, and added: "Let the. cry 'Allah, Akb'ar!' resound throughout the world." A MINIATURE KINGDOM. Montenegro is a kingdom, lying between Northern Albania on the south nud Herzegovina on tho north, ander the rule nf Nicholas I (who in December, IMO, assumed the title of Royal llighncs.and iu \u<m-t, IfllO, that of King), 1). October 7. 1811. The country i>' iliridcrl info firp <li«Irir.ts under (.-ovnninrM thn ili'trirU nrc 1 subdivided, ill SG "cwitanals." u-luch ore .

again divided into communes. For 400 years tho principality maintained its independence against Turkey, and in '78 thin independence was recognised by tho Treaty of Berlin. The waters of Montenegro were by the Treaty closed to tho ships of war of all nations, Austria administering tlie maritime and sanitary police on. the Montenegrin coast; hiifc ns tho result of subsequent negotiations between the Powers the limitations placed upon Montenegro have been modified, so as to open the Port of Antivari to ships of war. The erection of forts there or along the River Doynna remains prohibited. Russian financial help is given in regard to military and educational matters. The Montenegrins belong to the Servian branch of the Slav race. Tho army is on a militia basis. Every Montenegrin subject is liable to military service from January 1 of the year in which ho completes the 18th to December 31 of that in lVhicli he completes the Kind year of his for a total period of 15 years. This period is divided into two years in the recruits class, with n maximum of six months' training each year, 33 years 4n the activo army, and ten years in the reserve. There are four divisions, three of three brigades and one of two brigades, with a total of 57 battalions. The permanent troops are four nucleus battalions at Cellinje, l'odgoritza, Niksitch, and Kolashine. Total war strength estimated at from 30,000 to 50,000 men. Area (including town and district of Dulcigno, ceded by Turkey in 18S0). 3,030 square miles; population, 225,000. Capital, (VUinje (population 1500). Other towns are Podgoritza, population 10,000; Dulcigno, population 5000; and Antivari, population 25H. Revenue and expenditure, about .£130,000; public debt, 11)10, JC250.000. Imports, 1907, .£201,000; exports, ■£515,000. FOUR YEARS OF MISRULE. THE YOUNG TURKS AND THEIR ■ . RECORD. AN UNREALISED DREAM. , •It,is just a little over four years since tho announcement was received at Salonika and the other Macedonian towns that the Sultan Abdul Hamid, yielding to tho demands of the Army and the ioung Turk Committee, had decreed the revival of the Turkish Constitution of 1876. The scenes which followed (wrote the Balkan correspondent of "Tho Times" recently) will never be forgotten by those who witnessed them. 'Die enemies of centuriesTurks, Greeks, Bulgarians, Albanians, Jews—fell upon each other's necks and embraced; the cries of "Liberty," "Equality," "fraternity," "Justice," resounded on all sides; the heads of the warring religious communities traversed the streets arm in arm; the leaders of the Christian bauds, wild, hirsute figures armed cap-a-pio and clothed in shaggy sheepskins, came down from the , mountains and were welcomed by the multitudes ns the protagonists of freedom 'and(crowned with wreaths of flowers. It was a moving spectacle, and even those who knew how dcep_ was the cleavage engendered by ages of deadly feud wero fain to banish their forebodings and to join in tho general enthusiasm. It seemed indeed like a dream, but dreams sometimes come true; tho millennium had arrived in the twinkling of an eve, and the Moslem liou lay down tfith the Christian lamb. Macedonia To-day. To-day Macedonia presents a , very different spectacle. Not. only the Bulgarians and Greeks, tho Christian element par excellence,' but the Albanians, whether Christian or Moslem, are bitterly hostile to those who organised the great revolution of 1008, or rather to tho coterie which has issued from their midst, while tho Army, which shaved the glory of their achievement, has turned against them. The days of the nil-powerful caucus are apparently numbered. What aro . the causes of its fall? Broadly speaking, it may be said that Turkey is not yet ripo for the application of Constitutional principles, and that in her present condition any attempt to conduct a Government based on representative institutions .must bo'attended with many difficulties. These difficulties are enormously increased owing to the diversity of races and creeds within tho Empire and to the inferior culture of the race which has hitherto held tho dominant position. The realisation of the programme announced with so much fervour on July 24, l!)0S, and welcomed with enthusiasm 'by the outer i world, would bring about a complete reversal of positions, and in Europe, at least • place tho Turk at the mercy of his more numerous and morn progressive Christian fellowcountrymen. Of this the Turk himself is perfectly aware, and when, on that memorable occasion, a committee and a corps of officers composed exclusively of Moslems proclaimed tho doctrine of equality it is only reasonable to conclude that they did so with certain mental reserves. The Powers and Macedonia. In point of fact, the Turk was resolved to be master in his own house, and the proclamation of the Constitution was in large measure a device for the purpose of enabling him to strengthen his position. Tin , Constitution of Midhat Pasha had been proclaimed in 187G with the sole object of baffling European intervention, and it was revived with a similar intention. This, indeed, has been openly state.l by the leaders of the revolution, in 1901 the Powers had sent their officers into Macedonia and had doubled their number in the following year; in IMG they imposed a financial control, and in W8 Greet Britain mid Russia projected a scries of reforms which practically foreshadowed the introduction of autonomous institutions. It was clear that at this rate of progression the supreme authority would soon pass from the hands of tho dominant race; a counter-stroke became necessary, and a few weeks after the meeting of King Edward and the T6ar at Royal the Constitution was once more proclaimed. The main object of the movement was almost immediately achieved, and tho Powers withdrew their officers from Macedonia, thus sacrificing gratuitously a position which had been attained with infinite difficulty and no little risk. Tho abandonment ( of the control iu Macedonia was a serious political error, due in part to unreflecting enthusiasm, hut still more to the- eogerness of tho various Cabinets to make favour with tho coming power at Constantinople. The chorus of approlMition with which their exploit was greeted in Western Europe somewhat turned the heads of tho leaders of I lie movement, ti'lio soon began to display a tendency to Chauvinistic intolerance which wn's littlo in harmony witfi their loud profession of liberal doctrines. Their' nianiwr of conducting the general election, which took place some tlrroe months after the proclamation of the Constitution, revealed unmistakably their determination to keep the supreme power in Turkish hands, or rather m the hands of their oivii partisan*, and brought home for the first time to the subject races the unsiibulnntia! character of the- privileges accorded to them. The results were grotesquely out of proportion with I lie real state of parties anil Urn numerical strength of the Christian populations, and Ihe'consequent discontent was incmi.-rd when, «f(«r (lie failure of t]ir> riw'.ioii.iry nicivcmcnl: in tin; spring of lOH',I, the Young Turk coterie, niiw ven-ro nf power, began to trample not only on (h» newly.nwordrd privilege? of llu> Constitution, but on the ancient rights of tho subject popiihilion*. The mippiTvion of the Constitutional club* ami of tho right of public mtetiae followed; discontent wsa driven

below tli(! surface; political agitation becnine confined to i-ecrct conclaves; bands reappeared in the mountains, nml eventually (ho famous "lnlcrnnl Organisation" ill , tli" Bulgarians was revived. The systematic assassination or judicial prosecution of tile former voiovodes, or chiefs of bands, who in virtue of tho amnesty had returned to their villages, led to tho flight iif many threatened poisons to tho niiMiiiluins, and tho bands rapidly increiis-i-il. lly tho end of Hie first year of Youne Turk rule, the state of Macedonia showed !>»»t slender improvement compared with its forii».M - condition under tlio llamiiliun administration,

Otfomanisation in Albania. The iiolicy of Otloinanisntion—in other words, the effort to obliterate the national sentiments of the non-Turkish people!:, to extinguish local privileges, and to impose, by force, if necessary, an artificial .. and nun-racial patriotism—is, in tho main) respunsiblu for tho troubles and incessant struggles of tho last four years, which havo culminated in the downfall of tho Young Turk regime. A series of profitless and inglorious campaigns have wearied and disgusted tho Army, while draining the treasury and further alienating tho subject populations. Nothing, indeed, could bo inoro sad than tho history of Macedonia under tho unsympathetic ruio of tho committee.—tho dawn of liberty, tho extinction of political freedom, the disarmament in 1910, with all its attendant horrors, so carefuly concealed from tho outer world that for many months nothing was known of them in Europe; the illegal application of the merciless law of brigandage, under which the families, relatives, and neighbours of the insurgents were vicariously punished and in some wises transported to Asia Minor; the "plantation" of Christian districts with Moslems "mohagirs," or immigrants, a measure recalling tlio barbarous days of the Ottoman conquest; the formation of semi-authorised bands composed of • tho "fedais" of the Committee; and, lastly, the elections of last winter, at which tho peasants were driven like sheep to tlio polls, and compelled by every method of chicanery, intimidation, and violence to vole for their oppressors. The effort to apply a. similar policy in Albania resulted in complete failure, and four successive revolts bore witness to the determination of the tribesmen, who in point of fact had never submitted to Turkish domination in tho past, to escape the Procrustean bed prepared for '.hem by the Committee. Albanian discontent was aggravated by the unwise attempt to substitute the Arabic for the Latin alphabet, which a congress of native savants had decided to adopt; and still more, perhaps, by the flogging of some elrefiains during the disarmament. Tho revolts of 11)10 and 1011 were not suppressed until armies of some GO.OOO or 70,000 men had been dispatched to the Albanian mountains. The outbreak of this year was tho beginning of the. end; if the struggle has been of a less sanguinary character than its predecessors, it is only because tho Government, under pressure from other quarters, found it necessary to i adopt a conciliatory attitude. Symptoms of an unwillingness to act ngainst the Albanian rebels, and oven of a tendency to fraternise, with therii, were the first, open indications of (lie hostile feeling of the Army towards the Committee. The mutiny of Tayar Bey and his companions bore an ominous re.-emblance to that of Niazi Bey at Resna in 1808, and the evident inability of the Government to take measures foi' its suppression showed that (lie power was already passing from their hands. TELEGRAPHS OBSTRUCTED. Tho Telegraph Office reports that Berne advises that all land-lines in Turkey in Europe aro obstructed. Communication is maintained with Constautza, Odessa, and Batouin.