Rangitikei Advocate. SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9421, 17 April 1909, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

THE state of affairs iu Turkey does not look very hopeful for the permanent establishment of constitutional government. The recent peaceful revolution and the election of a Par-

Lament led some to consider that Turkey had at last taken her place among the progressive nations and that the establishment of democratic institutions would speedily bring about ail the good results usually associated with the change from tyranny .'to popular government. Better inlormed observers, although they hoped for the best, doubted whether a country which had never had any experience of Parliamentary rale was ripe for such a ✓ sudden development. The , revolution was almost entirely the work of the army and to this day no one except those immediately concerned knows the names of the committee who engineered the revolt so snocssfully. Unfortunately this committee showed no signs of willingness to relax its hold on the control of affairs, and Kiamil Pasha, 'the veteran who became Premier, found that the leaders of the revolutionary committee were the real rulers and that, be was merely a figurehead. The Minister for War refused to carry out Kiamil’s instructions and was, therefore, asked to resign, but the Premier very quickly discovered that the Minister he had dismissed had the Committee of Progress behind him, and that the committee had secured the support of practically the whole of the deputies. Kiamil was, therefore, compelled to resign after little more than a month’s tenure of office and Hilmi Pasha succeeded him, with the dismissed Minister for War reinstated in the Cabinet. For a time all went well, but within the fjlast few days another revolution has taken place. The army has taken command, surrounded the House of Parliament, and secured the resignation of the Ministry. The Chamber of Deputies thinking discretion the better part, pardoned the mutineers and was cheered for its surrender to the forces of disorder. The causes of the new crisis are not clear, but we are informed that the control of the Union of Progress had been thrown off and that the League of Mahomed, backed by the army and a large majority of faithful Moslems, Is dominating the situation. It seems not improbable that the Sultan is the real inspiration of this 'pew revolution. He took the establishment of the constitution very calmly and promised to give the new institutions his hearty support, but it cannot be supposed that after years of despotism he either welcomed the change or was content to make no endeavours to recover his lost power. Divisions'among the friends of freedom would give him an opportunity which such a past master of intrigue would be quick to seize and religious questions would also serve as another lever for displacing the popular representatives. ,