THE NEW TURKEY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10064, 4 February 1909, Page 4

THE NEW TURKEY.

(By Charles Roden Buxton, in the London Daily Chronicle.) Constantinople, December 16. When the ultimatum demanding a Constitution within a week, reached the Palace, the favorites debated, it is said, as to who should announce the unwelcome news to his Majesty. At last one, bolder than the rest-, entered the Imperial presence, carrying, as he thought-, his life in his hand. To his astonishment, the Sultan.replied that the news, gave him great pleasure, a 6 this was the object which he had" labored throughout his whole reign to acliieve. And : in a sense he was right. "The real author of the Revolution," I have heard it said more than once, "is Abdul Hamid.''

A mild tyranny would' not have sufficed to provoke a docile and loyal people. But the Sultan's tyranny was not mild. At a modera'te estimate, 10,000 persons have suffered death for purely political offences in the last thirty years, apart-altogether from massacre and civil war. What was even more effective, the most intelligent and disinterested men have for years been exiled.—not to remotersteppes, where their influence would: have been wasted, but to •populous cities all over the provinces, where they have become centres for the propagation of Liberal • ideas. Men of independence and character might have sought compensation in quiet and obscurity. It was not permitted. The director of the museum had his books and jiapers seized and destroyed ; a remnant of them he sent to Europe, and now, since the Revolution, he has received them •back—"two boxes full/' lie exclaims with beaming face. .His brother, an archaeologist, was forbidden to visit the Royal archives and. treasury. A professor of my acquaintance taught the principles of Free Trade: he found himself suddenly removed from his jiost for speaking of "freedom."' A lecturer on constitutional law was not allowed to pronounce the word "constitution." A distinguished lawyer told me that he had written a book on the social life of Turkey : fearing detection and possible persecution, he had burned - the manuscript. -Men could not dine together-without being "reported on.*' There was no end to the odious and often absurd activity of the 'Sultan's spies. A few days ago there was .published the text of a letter, dated August 11, 1905, .from one Yamik-Chukri Hey, an oilhial in the Ministry of the Interior, who deems it his duty' to. draw his superiors* attention to a. newspaper article, on the Russo-Afghan war. The town-of Ivhiva, He says, • obviously stands for the celebrated liberal priest'Chiva, and' the- defeated Afghans are in reality the Turks! TAXED A FOURTH TIMK.

Nor did the common.people escape. rr he taxes, nominally light, were increased, by the extortion of the tax farmers. Sometimes they would refuse a receipt, and then collect the tax a second, a third, and oven a fourth time; and' the utmost, brutality wjis used. Then, wherever there were national rivalries to be excited, the setting of race against race was raised into one of the fine - arts of government, and robber Kurds or Albanians/ whose military support • was valuable, were encouraged to enrich themselves at the expense of the peaceful and industrious. To prevent the'unity' of tlie people consistent effort of the despotism. And' its weight often fell heaviest of all on the army, so dear to the hearts, so.,interwoven with the life, of the- 'Turkish people The unwisdom of thus, straiiting 'loyalty to .the breaking-point- seems so.ob.vious': that it almost justifies 1 the Sultans claim to .be the arch-revolutionist.

An officer told me .that, being.-ordered to drive out 'a "band" from-the marshes of Yenidje, he asked for some iron plates to be fixed on the punts, so that the sol'diers, might be .protected from fire in-ap-proaqhirfg'the rehel position. He ~was contemptuously refused. , .He reported, that the.serious pursuit of'the bands-required camping out for many nights at a time in .the .Kills, but that' the' soldiers had: ro blankets or warm clothes. He -was told that the .soldiers'- must do their -work, and 'not grumble. .Pay was constantly' in ' arrear—which explains, if-it cannot justify, the terrible looting o'f -villages whose traces I ' have seen in Macedonia. Men were kept with the colors' for as long ,as ..twice the legal period. The Young Turk officers did.not-fail to .{Joint the moral.' The belief in. the " Padisfiah " was'slowly.; but surely sapped, among t-lie only. men who could support his' Government. - Meanwhile, the seed' of liberty was germinating in other ground. : Kvery man who" had suffered every mail who'had studied in Europe, or secretly consorted with' Europeans, or heard .'strange doctrine from' the lips of innocent teachers of, the -French language ; every man who ,; had once- glowed' with enthusiasm for the short-lived Constitution of 1576, or;, had passed -through the ! Civil School, '-where' the tradition of-thu.se- day.s has never-been wholly .suppressed, was a potential reformer. -

How could all-this, activity r remain-un-known to the outside world t The answer is 'that' its continued' existence depended entirely on its secrecy. ."We could,'-not communicate i with you," said the Young Turks to' the; Balkan Committee, "though we knew-that'your objects' were really .'the same 1 as ours so we resolved? to convince you by our deeds." ORGANISED DISCONTENT. - . A-few,foreigners, .'both ."here and:in-Eu-•rope, dimly saw that discontents-was beginning to. take a more'organised, form, .an.d-'prophesied / 6ome great change, on the death of the Sultan. I\ look ba'ck"at the notes I made here last, year: "Disaffection rife. . . . . New theology movement, liberal. . . . lie cent ■- events at Erze- - rou'm,-refusal to .payvtaxes, recall of Vali, , etc. - . . . . Definite organisation *of Liberal Turks in Anatolia. . . . Turks, talk' sedition freely-in'; private. , . . . ■ does iiot' think 'any substantial change will /take place on Sultan's death. . . . Opinion' widespread- that no great ,im--1 provement ■.will ■ be effected without- war." But for the most part, "."those who-knew" were'taken entirely by surprise; and to

the outsider, warned as he so often is of the danger of deception, it is some consolation that at auy rate he cannot be more profoundly mistaken than Were the experts themselves. We knew, in a general way, the Young Turk policy; but the actual Young Turks whom we met were too often of an unimpressive type, rest-less, dissatisfied, denationalised, frequenters of cafes-chan-tants, ashamed rather of the primitiveness and ignorance of their Government than of its inhumanity and corruption. The force of übiquitousness, the elaborate organisation, -were all hidden from us. 't is only now, after tbe event-, that we can begin to piece together the history of this amazing revolution. And we see that the Sultan's remark was not so very wrong after all. The "driving force of the movement, without which all the ideas of all the sages would have achieved nothing, was the misery wlueh lie himself created, the common round of ingenious oppression which he dealt out- to every class and every race in his afflicted Empire. The Young Turks, be their intentions what- they may, cannot shake themselves free from history. Let it be admitted that, whether Islam does or does not teach political equality for Moslem and Christian, no Turkish Government has ever granted it. The idea of justice in the minds of the Turkish people must inevitably be colored by this unalterable fact. Yet the Turks have granted some privileges to the Christians which, from a legal point of view, display an advanced form of toleration. They have allowed them to form their own churches, largely selfgoverning in matters of education and of private property, as well as of religion. These advantages, originally granted 1 to •avoid a too close contact between .Moslem and Christian, contain great possibilities of development. The Christians have suffered in the past, not so much from legal inequality as from disorder, sometimes permitted and often deliberately fomented, from lawless persecution, and from the abuses of a corrupt fiscal system. POLITICAL JUSTICE. It is the firm aim, and in my belief the absolutely genuine desire, of the reform party to establish order and secure the regular administration of tbe law. Further, it is beyond question tbat Western ideas of political justice have sunk deep into the minds of the educated class, 6ince the ill-fated Constitution of 1876. They have been silenced, but they have studied and reflected, and it is now their turn to act. The idea of Nationalism, indeed, in its full, modern development, they have not really grasped. But it is only fair to say that complete autonomy for the different nations of the Empire is for the time being impracticable. Some of these nations are inextricably mingled. Others are situated on the frontiers of kindred independent nations. In the first case, autonomy is impossible. In the second, it would spell annexation or war. It is, of course, quite arguable that such might- be in the long run the best solution ; but it is not compatible with the Young Turk ideal. The Young Turks claim, and have only succeeded because they claim, to be more patriotic than the Sultan's camarilla, and to offer a better chance of maintaining the strength of the empire. Thus the statesman of to-day in Turkey lias only two alternatives to choose from. Either he must refuse to grant national autonomy, and try to reform the empire on the basis simply of personal security and equality before the law ; or, by granting such autonomy, he must risk a reactionary movement, and the restoration of the hated despotism. The danger of the latter course is vividly present to every Turkish reformer's mind. On the other hand, the former counse is full of promise. If successful, if even partially successful, it means at least a measure of prosperity and contentment for 18 millions of the human race. Whereas the violent disruption of European Turkey could, at the most, benefit 6 millions, while it would plunge the. remaining .12 millions back into the night of cruelty and turmoil. "OTTOMAN" PATRIOTISM. The Young Turks, however, know from the bitter experience of Macedonia the strength ■of national sentiment. They khow that- it must be conciliated. They are under no illusion as to the difficulties ; but they are prepared to undertake the task. They distinguish sharply between aTurkish, or racial, patriotism and ;an "Ottoman" patriotism. Side by side with the cultivation of national sentiment, they hope for the sense of a common interest and common pride among all the peoples represented in a single Parliament; and, as ■ has often been noted tu their credit, the Turks in uenoral are singularly ■ free from mere racial prejudice, whatever evil they may have done under the inJiuoncc of religious fanaticism. To-day I was accompanying a mixed procession of. Turks, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, engaged in a "manifestation,'' as they call it, before the British Embassy—flags, speeches, hurrahs, and all the rest of it. As we retired, a half-tipsy Austrian somewhat rudely accosted my Young Turk friend with the question, "Who are these? Turks?" "No." "Who are they, then?" "Ottomans," was the (iiiiet reply. 'The general feeling of the Young Turks is. I think, this : "The old despotism has made life unendurable, progress impossible. oiir nation ■ tbe laughing-stock of Europe, and the speedy disruption ol' our empire almost certain. Liberty of speech and'actioii, government in accordance with public opinion, order in the provinces, are the supreme necessities of the moment. Every sensible man is with us. 'This is our last chance of putting thinas right. And we must do it thoroughly.' If we-are to survive, we must enter into the Comity of European nations; and we can only do it by adopting their political principle." - FOREIGN OUTLOOK. . A word must be added-about the foreign policy of the Young Turks. Friendship towards England holds the first place. England's moral support at a dangerous and critical moment-has deeply impress-ed-them, and will not soon be forgotten. They understand, and appreciate, her hos-tility-to the old regime, and compare her attitude favorably' with that of other Powers, which-, - while professing friendship, took care-to . make it the mean 6of material profit. Feeling towards Austria is,"'of course, very bitter. -The boycott is unabated, and is immensely popular, in spite, of the sacrifices it entails. There is less hostility, expressed. towards Bulgaria, , tliqugh the ■ protracted financial negotiations have-kept the sore open. The populace, of course, is easily misled, but the leaders know that England cannot be counted on as a military ally ; that Austria, with, the backing'of Germany,'is. not a Power to be trifled with; and,"' further, that once the. present dispute with her is settled,-there, may, perhaps, be nothing further to quarrel over. Above all, they,:know' well that peace is Turkey's highest interest; that if war broke out,, the brightest hopes of internal reform might- be suddenly and' irretrievably blighted. .