Late in 1902 a plan for administrative reform in the Adrianople, Salonica, and Monastir Provinces of European Turkey was published. These included Macedonia where disorders and atrocities had become chronic. Under this measure the valis or governors were given new powers and an inspector general was appointed reporting directly to the grand vizier. The Powers compelled the addition of a financial commission representing them, which should examine the budget of the three vilayets and recommend improvements. With the aid of three Ottoman inspectors, the commission was to supervise the provincial finances and in other ways bring relief to the untoward conditions of the inhabitants. The gendarmerie was put under a foreign officer with an Italian general in command, and much improved in efficiency.

A three per cent increase in the customs duties provided funds for securing other reforms. These, however, it must be said, existed largely upon paper. While the Powers ostensibly had some responsibility and authority in the administration of affairs in Macedonia, the sultan was able in ways so well known to himself to thwart their exercise of it while the discordant elements in Albania and Macedonia made conditions for all classes more intolerable than ever.

Again, early in 1908, the Powers gave hesitating attention to this plague-spot of Europe as one united cry of distress arose from all tongues, the Turkish, Greek, Bulgarian, and Albanian alike. It is impossible to say which race was the greatest sufferer or which the freest from oppression. Practically the entire country was in a state of anarchy and there was none to deliver. On March 13, 1908, the Porte reluctantly consented to the British proposal that the mandates of foreign officials in Macedonia be renewed for a period of seven years. A budget was adopted for the support of the army, the civil list, and the railway, which threatened a deficit of nearly $4,000,000. With all these arrangements no party to the transaction was satisfied, except those European Powers that hoped, in the end, to make political capital out of Macedonia’s affliction. These entered reluctantly into agreement as did also the sultan, who saw his personal power in the three provinces gradually wane; but his former experiences made him quick to read the signs of the times.

In the meantime the army in those provinces had been reenforced. Monastir, upon the border of Albania and connected by rail with Salonica, was made an important military post. The people themselves had no faith that these measures would assure them of safety of life and property, while the representatives of the Porte were anxious to demonstrate that the scheme of the Powers was not calculated to restore and maintain order. Matters went on from intolerable to worse until plunder, robbery, brigandage and murder became daily occurrences in practically all parts of the country. These were the conditions that prevailed in Macedonia the latter part of July, 1908.

What were some of the general conditions in Turkey which led directly to the uprising in Macedonia soon after the 20th of July, 1908, resulting in the revival of the constitution for all Turkey which had remained inactive since 1877? Sultan Hamid II has been an absolute ruler. His pride has centered in his complete personal mastery over every department of government and all officials, both civil and military. As he advanced in years, he became increasingly suspicious of every one holding office or occupying a position of influence. He seemed so morbidly afraid of a popular uprising that any mention of an Armenian revolution or reference to a constitutional government or suggestion of a Young or New Turkey party, threw him into a state of nervous panic. In order to protect his own person, to guard his administration from corruption by men who thought in terms of modern government, and to suppress any and all movements toward reform, he gradually built up about him a cumbersome, cruel and expensive system of espionage. Every official from the grand vizier at the Porte to the postmaster in a remote inland village was watched and reported upon. One official was directed to make secret reports upon a colleague and all men of wealth and consequent influence, and especially all who had received a degree of modern education were always under sleepless surveillance from the watch-dogs of the palace.

No one knows how many of these men were engaged in the secret service, but there were undoubtedly many thousands. Some drew salaries of large proportion while others were paid according to the service rendered. These spies well knew that they too were under observation by others who had been commissioned to see that they were loyal to their chief. The gates of the foreign embassies were guarded, and the names of all Ottoman subjects who entered them were reported to the police. Everywhere these sleuth-hounds of Yildez were doing their best to justify their appointment, and, if possible, to secure a rise in salary or a handsome bonus. It is reported that this large corps of secret service men were the only officials who received liberal pay and who got it regularly and in cash.

Through information thus obtained, strange things took place. Of course there were never any hearings or trials. None were necessary when trusted spies had reported adversely. Groups of students in the government schools disappeared and the parents even did not dare ask a question. Men of wealth found themselves bundled off to Arabia in poverty, and officials in honor on one day were in exile, if not in their graves, on the next. The only thing certain about the life of an influential and intelligent Ottoman subject was his being under strict surveillance by those who were mainly concerned to satisfy their chief of their own efficiency.

During recent years the one horror of the sultan has been the “Young Turks,” which meant Turkish subjects who know about good government and are eager to see it tried in Turkey. All who were suspected of harboring such ideas were summarily treated. Many such have been banished into interior provinces such as Macedonia, Asia Minor, Armenia and Syria. Some were given minor offices in their place of banishment, but all have been diligent in promoting their ideas. There is hardly a town of importance in Turkey to which one or more of these intelligent, thinking Ottoman subjects has not been exiled and where they have not propagated their principles of reform as opportunity offered. This seed-sowing of modern ideas has been broadcast, and the seed has fallen into rich soil. During these years, secretly and in the dark, multitudes of Ottoman subjects have been studying the science of government with the best educated in the empire as instructors. The lesson has not been the less impressive because secret and the teacher none the less in earnest because his profession was perilous. Wherever these exiles went they found the people writhing under injustice. Excessive taxes were assessed and then collected by extortionate officials who, in the name of the sultan, carried on a system of public robbery. Taxes paid in the spring were again demanded in the autumn, the peasant having no defense in the absence of tax receipts. These teachers of a possible new order of things did not need to take time to persuade their hearers that a change was desirable. Restlessness, approaching a state of sheer desperation, everywhere prevailed. In the meantime, revolutionary committees or organizations among Armenians and perhaps other nationalities had identified themselves sympathetically, if not formally, with the New Turkey party.

Government by espionage and instruction of the masses by banished reformers have been going on in all parts of Turkey for many years, no one can say with certainty how many. It was inevitable that a crisis must come. The additional fact that all public officials, especially the army, were poorly paid on paper, if at all, brought things to a pass that seemed to be waiting only for a leader or an occasion to precipitate concerted action.

Such was the situation in Macedonia the latter part of July, 1908. The large army, half starved and underpaid, was sent into the country to put down lawlessness among a people made desperate by prolonged oppression. Previous experiences had satisfied the soldiers that in battling with the hardy mountaineers, many of whom were fighting for their homes, they had little chance of success. Why should they throw their lives away in a useless conflict with people of their own blood, and for a sovereign who appeared scarcely grateful. This was indeed an opportune hour to strike a blow for liberty. It is not yet known how completely the New Turks—called in Macedonia, the “Committee of Ottoman Union and Progress”—had organized, but subsequent events show an excellent degree of cooperation.

In Monastir the army took oath of allegiance to this committee; the troops in Salonica, Kortcha and other parts of the country followed in their lead. A few officers who hesitated were summarily shot. Proclamations in the name of the committee were posted in the leading cities asking all to join the society. At Kortcha in Albania, for instance, a time limit was set for joining the movement, after which all outside were to be regarded as traitors. In all Macedonia there seemed to be little hesitation. Other proclamations enjoining orderly conduct were posted, and within five days Macedonia was more quiet and life and property safer than for twenty years previously.

In the meantime, the leaders were in telegraphic communication with the sultan at Constantinople. What had taken place was reported to him, and he was asked to declare a constitutional government without delay. It was intimated that the army was ready to march on Constantinople if he refused. He hesitated for a while, but when he learned that the Albanians were in the forefront of the movement, and that he could not depend upon the troops, he yielded to a demand he could not resist. Ferid Pasha, his Albanian grand vizier, was summarily dismissed. Said Pasha was appointed to succeed him and Kiamil Pasha was placed upon the Council of Ministers; both men of liberal ideas who had been saved by Great Britain when there was a price upon their heads. Stormy debates followed in the palace at Constantinople as to what could be done to meet the demands of the formidable committee in Macedonia. Honeyed words and paper promotions had proved unavailing and repeated telegrams from the front spoke of urgency. At last the sultan yielded and, on Friday, the 24th of July, issued an irade restoring the constitution of 1876 that had been suspended since 1877.

The constitution which is now revived was sanctioned by Sultan Hamid II soon after he came to the throne in 1876. At that time a European Commission met in Constantinople to suggest methods by which the sultan might set in order his European provinces. He desired to show Europe that he was able to work out reforms of his own. He therefore appointed a well-recognized reformer as grand vizier and proclaimed a constitution. This provided for a responsible ministry, a senate, a chamber of deputies, the right of public meeting, freedom of the press, the appointment of judges for life, compulsory intermediate education, religious liberty, and a long list of other rights and privileges belonging to an enlightened and free government. Within two months, Midhat Pasha, who drafted the constitution, was banished.

An election, however, was held and, in 1877, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies met in a Parliament House that had been fitted up by the sultan in Constantinople. At that time in his speech from the throne, he repeated his promise for social reforms and a reorganization of the army and navy. The two houses were discussing this address when war broke out in Russia. Martial law was proclaimed in May, and in June parliament was adjourned. Once again that year it was assembled but the sultan was not pleased with the independence exhibited, so in February, 1878, it was dissolved or “suspended” as he preferred to call it. It never met again.

This is the constitution to which the thoroughly alarmed sultan turned as the demand came up from his trusted troops, beloved Albanians and faithful Moslems in Macedonia, for immediate and effectual reforms.

To this he solemnly swore fidelity in the most sacred way known to the Moslem, namely, upon the Koran. The Sheik-ul-Islam, the supreme high priest of the Mohammedan faith, exhibited to the people in Constantinople the book upon which this oath was taken, and made public declaration that it is the purpose of the sultan faithfully to carry out his pledge. He even went further than this and said that it is the spirit of Islam to give the fullest religious freedom to all subjects of the empire and to guarantee constitutional justice and liberty. All this committed the sultan to the constitution far more irrevocably than he was committed in 1876. It made also the Sheik-ul-Islam witness and sponsor to the people of the sultan’s promise.

The announcement that a constitutional government was granted was wired to the impatient leaders in Macedonia and published in the papers in Constantinople. The result was unparalleled in the history of any country in any age. All Turkey gave way to a carnival of joy. An order was issued abolishing the secret service, and freedom of the press was guaranteed by the constitution. All political prisoners were released and those in exile were invited back to their homes. Incidentally the prison doors were thrown wide open and the criminal shared the common joy of all. The occupation of the censors of the press was gone and every paper in the empire spread the glad news that a new day had dawned. New papers started like mushrooms in a night. Representatives from the committee in Macedonia proceeded to Constantinople and apparently came to an understanding with the sultan as to the situation. He was plainly told, it is persistently rumored, that if he did not appoint as ministers men of their choosing, his only safety would lie in abdication. The old members of the cabinet, representing the rÉgime of oppression, disappeared or were imprisoned, and the new men quietly stepped into their places. Isset Pasha, the much hated secretary of the sultan, in spite of efforts by the new party to retain him, succeeded in boarding a British vessel at Constantinople and escaping to England.

The people of Turkey, with centuries of repressive discipline in the political school of the empire, were supposed to have lost the faculty of spontaneous exultation or general demonstration of joy. But impelled by a sense of liberty never before experienced, the entire population broke into an outburst of appreciation for the new order of things such as Turkey had never before witnessed.

The people gathered by thousands and by tens of thousands in the public squares of their cities to listen to the proclamation of liberty and the firing of salutes in honor of the occasion. These crowds were composed of Christians and Moslems, who only a few days before had seemed to hate each other with deadliest hatred. Now they clapped their hands and joined their voices in shouting “Long live the Fatherland,” “Long live the People,” “Long live Liberty,” “Long live the Constitution.” Christian and Moslem leaders embraced and kissed one another in public while tears rolled down the cheeks of thousands as they took part in the festivities. Great assemblies were addressed by Mohammedan and Christian speakers, all of whom exhorted the people to unity and the maintenance of order, declaring that religious distinctions were now done away, as all pledged their allegiance to the new constitution and to the Ottoman empire. In an immense procession in Salonica a float was drawn upon which rode a girl dressed as the Goddess of Liberty. At Constantinople in one of the large Gregorian churches, the assembly was addressed by both Mohammedans and Christians and the Moslem band played the Armenian national air. For an Armenian to have sung this air one month before would have meant exile or death.

In one of the principal mosques of the capital a memorial service for the Armenians slain in the massacre of 1896 was held in which Moslems and Christians fraternally joined. This was followed by a similar mass meeting in an Armenian church in memory of the Mohammedans who had laid down their lives for the freedom of their country. All united in the declaration that the massacred Armenians and the Moslems dying in exile were brothers in their common sacrifice for the freedom of Turkey.

These scenes of spontaneous celebration enacted in the great centers of population indicated the universal readiness of the people for the proclamation and their unanimity in the reforms. It is indeed an uprising of the people for liberty and, by meeting their demands, the sultan, for the time, has made himself the most popular ruler sitting upon any throne. The carnival of joy gives hint of what their disappointment will be should there be any breach of good faith in securing to them all the privileges granted by the constitution. Not the least of their joy is in the marvel that this revolution has been brought about almost without the shedding of blood. A few in Macedonia who hesitated to join the new party were executed, but in Constantinople there was no loss of life in completing the transfer from the old to the new rÉgime.

The masses of Turkey know little of the duties and responsibilities of a parliament. They are launching out upon an experiment, unknown and untried. It remains to be seen how they will meet their own expectations in the measure of self-government which the constitution grants. There are many able, educated men among the Turks, Armenians, Greeks, Bulgarians, and Albanians. The question is: Will these, laying aside all national and religious jealousies, be able to work together in the creation of a new government, and all under the leadership of Sultan Hamid? It is also an open question whether the sultan himself, after a life of absolutism, can adapt himself to the new order and execute it in a way to insure a sympathetic following and substantial success.

There is danger that the people may be unreasonable in their demands and rebel against the collection of taxes adequate for the proper conduct of the government. Only a beginning has yet been made. Much remains to be done.

In all the history of Turkey a reform has never been inaugurated with the same solemnity and religious sanction that attended the recent declaration of constitutional government. The highest sanction of Islam has been accorded it, and, so far as we can see, the sultan could not materially alter his course without bringing himself personally in the eyes of the people into open conflict with his own religion and the faith of the great majority of his subjects. It is conceivable that, if he should find it impossible faithfully to carry out the provisions of the constitution, he will be asked to step aside and permit his constitutionally proclaimed successor to fulfil his oath of loyalty.

Under a constitutional government well established and righteously administered, there are boundless possibilities for the material, intellectual, political, and moral advance of the empire, so long regarded as decadent. This can be accomplished only by tireless labors and great sacrifices upon the part of those who bear the responsibility. But it can be done if all national and traditional differences are buried, in the one patriotic purpose to restore the country to something of its former power and glory, and to weld the masses of its divergent population into a homogeneous nation.

It is to be sincerely hoped that the European Powers will not interfere with this endeavor upon the part of the people of Turkey to establish for themselves a safe and just government. They have the right to a free hand in working out the problem of government for themselves, so long as they do not plunge the country into anarchy.

There has never been a time when Western peoples have had a greater opportunity to aid materially in making stable the new order of things in the Ottoman empire. Under the Constitution, with compulsory education and a free press, Turkey will require aid from without in organizing and establishing schools all over the country, and in the preparation of a literature of the widest range. These needs are at once apparent. The colleges in the country should be immediately enlarged and strengthened that they may be able to meet the demands that will be made upon them. The entire country is in need of normal schools to train teachers for educational institutions of the preparatory grades. Turkey needs and deserves the sympathy and cooperation of other nations, not by way of interference, but by way of fraternal assistance and genuine help to the full realization of all the benefits of a representative and a constitutional government. The motto which seems to have been adopted by common consent is, “Liberty, Justice, Equality and Fraternity.” Every friend of constitutional government can sympathetically join with the people of Turkey in their honest endeavor to establish a new order for themselves upon these four corner-stones as their basis of union and mutual well-being.