THE REFORM IN ASIA MINOR.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1567, 26 February 1879, Page 4

THE REFORM IN ASIA MINOR.

[London “ Times.”] As was long ago intimated, our Government have abstained from recommending the general introduction into Asiatic Turkey of any such schemes for representative institutions as have been adopted with some success in the Lebanon and elsewhere. Neither the character of the people nor the heterogeneous mixture of races and religions they present w'ould admit of such experiments. All that would be practicable would bo to provide the elementary conditions for order and for industry. These would consist in the protection of life and properly by an effective gendarmerie, in the efficient and incorrupt administration of justice, and in the substitution of some regular method of taxation for the wasteful and oppressive system of tithe-farming. For each of these purposes Lord Salisbury urged on the Porte the necessity of availing itself of the services of Europeans. Ho takes care to guard himsell aganst being supposed by this recommendation to be aiming at the acquisition of any special privilege tor England, and he is scrupulous to show that he is anxious for the authority of the Sultan to be maintained intact. That authority, as he says, is the sole bond which now holds together the shattered fabric of society in Asiatic Turkey, and to weaken it would be to destroy the only instrument on which we can depend. But, without in the least degree infringing upon this authority Europeans might be employed to organise the gendarmerie. As officers in it, European assessors might bo appointed to the superior provincial tribunals, whose consent should be requisite to the validity of their judgments ; and in place of tithe farming some arrangement like a ten years’ settlement might be introduced under European advice and guidance. As a necessary accompaniment of those reforms, the provincial governors should hold office by a stable tenure, and though the power of removing them in exceptional cases must remain with the Sultan, there ought to be some authority which could check tne exercise of this power. The reply of the Porte admits in principle the necesoiiy of the reforms specified by Lord Salisbury, and accepts in the main the methods of the procedure he suggests. But it points out certain difficulties, which must be allowed to be in some respects real, in the specific proposals he has made. With regard, for instance, to the administration of justice, it would be an extremely strong measure to give to any European assessor a right of veto on all the decisions of the tribunal of which he was a member. It would, in fact, render him superior in authority to all the native judges. It would probably, moreover, be impracticable at the outset to find Europeans who would possess an acquaintance with the Turkish language, laws, and customs sufficient to quality them tor sitting hs assessors on Turkish tribunals. The Porte accordingly proposes to appoint Europeans to act as Inspectors of the Administration of Justice, and’ Lord Salisbury agrees that, if they are duly supported and invested with sufficient authority, this plan will be an improvement upon his own. In respect to the collection of taxes, the Porte urges that so radical a change must be gradually introduced, and proposes, accordingly, to begin with one or two provinces in which the new system may have the fairest chance and may be brought into working order. With respect to the gendarmerie, the reply is less satisfactory. The Porte is willing to employ European officers to organise the force, but is unwilling that they should hold regular commands in it. Lord Salisbury expresses considerable dissatisfaction with this hesitation. He points out that the creation of an effective force of this kind is perhaps the most urgent of all the reforms required, while in the employment of foreign officers the Sultan would be following a precedent set by other Sovereigns, whose authority has been in no way compromised by it. But we are indebted to the Saltan’s own initiative for the introduction of a provision which may go some way to compensate for this mistaken jealousy. There will be a central council of administration for the gendarmerie, of which ■ experienced European officers will be members. There seems some reason to believe that as a first step this measure may be more prudent than the general admission of Europeans to commands in the force. Sir Henry Layard is of opinion that the mai■> essential is to have secured the admission of Europeans into the administration, even if not as fully as could be wished; and that wt-en once they have made their usefulness and influence felt, they will gradually gain increased authority and win the confidence of the Turkish Government. Similarly, with respect to the Valis, we must needs be content with somewhat less than could in the abstract be desired. It would be well if some independent body could check the exercise of the Sultan’s right of dismissal. But no such body exists in the Turkish State, and the Sultan must be left in the full possession of his supreme executive authority, checked only by the right of foreign Powers to claim his fulfilment of the conditions to which he has engaged himself by treaty. On the whole, therefore, we have obtained from the Porte an agreement to accept the advice and services of Europeans, in greater or less degree, in the execution of those reforms in its administration which are indispensable. Taking into account all the circumstances, this must be regarded as a great concession, and as containing the germs from which a satisfactory system may gradually be developed. But everything will depend, as Lord Salisbury points out, on the loyalty and energy with which these proposals are carried into effect. It is, as he admits, lamentably true that their introduction on a large scale at the present moment is rendered impracticable by the state of Turkish finances. When the pay of the present officials of the Porte is months in arrear, the general appointment of Europeans can hardly be contemplated. But a beginning may be m »do at once, and in proportion to the sincerity and energy thus dis- 1 played may the Porte expect to regain the ; general cnnfidence which will enable it to re organise its finances The bes* hope that this course will be pursued is afforded by the vigorous and intelligent conduct which ap-p-ars to have been adopted throughout these discussions by the Sultan. To him above all we appear to owe the degree of success which has been attained, and there is, therefore, good reason for relying on his determination to maintain the same course. The Ministry ho has lately appointed appears to offer a fresh pledge of his good intentions, and we have thus considerable reason to hope that Turkey has at last really entered upon a New Year.