But a second and more dangerous evil was this:—The self-exclusion of any right of interference on the part of the Powers threw the control of affairs into the hands of a ring in whose power the Sultan has been but little more than a puppet as the events of recent years have clearly shown.
In 1875 the situation was thus reviewed by Gladstone, sincerely penitent for the part he had taken in the Crimean War. “Twenty years ago,” he said, “France and England determined to try a great experiment in remodeling the administrative system of Turkey with the hope of curing its intolerable deficiencies. For this purpose having defended her integrity they made also her independence secure, and they devised at Constantinople the reforms which were publicly enacted in an imperial Firman or Hati Humayoun.”
“The successes of the Crimean War purchased * * * by a vast expenditure of French and English life and treasure gave to Turkey, for the first time, perhaps, in her blood-stained history, twenty years of repose not disturbed either by herself or by any foreign power. The Cretan insurrection imparted a shock to confidence but it was composed and Turkey was again trusted. The insurrections of 1875, much more thoroughly examined, have disclosed the total failure of the Porte to fulfil the engagements which she had contracted under circumstances peculiarly binding on interest, on honor and on gratitude.”
So totally, indeed, had the Turks failed to keep any of their promises of reform and so hopeless did the condition of these hapless Christians appear, that they at first refused the mediation of the Powers, declaring that they preferred death to Turkish rule.
“If you are not willing to help us to attain our liberty,” they said, “at least you can not compel us to enter into slavery again. We will never fall into the hands of the Turks alive.”
About this time Turkey partially repudiated her national debt, pledging for the payment of the interest for some five years the tribute from Egypt and the tobacco revenue. Bondholders became aroused. Commercial interests, not interests of humanity, prompted some action; for if the Christians, who are the cultivators of the soil, were exterminated, what would become of their per cents.?
The Powers intervened by the Protocol, known as the Andrassy Note, which proposed among others the following measures:—
1. Religious liberty, full and entire.
2. Abolition of the farming of taxes.
3. A law to guarantee that the direct taxation of Bosnia and the Herzegovina should be employed for the immediate interests of the provinces.