The Times special correspondent in Northern Mesopotamia —the borderland between
Arabia and Kurdistan, covering the vilayets of Mosul, Diarbekr, and the eastern part of that of Aleppo—contributes a remarkable account, in Monday's issue, of the downfall of Ibrahim Pasha, the hereditary chief of the Milli tribe, composed of both Kurds and Arabs. After spending half his life in exile, Ibrahim Pasha was restored to favour by the Sultan, entrusted by him with the command of the irregular cavalry known as the Hamidieh, and soon consolidated his power over all the tribes of Northern Mesopotamia. As the head of the "Milli Confederation," a sort of buffer-State' between the administered portion of the Turkish Empire and the marauding Bedouin of Arabia proper, Ibrahim maintained law and order throughout his domains, abstained from persecuting Christians, giving refuge to the survivors of the Armenian massacres, and raised his capital, Viranshehr, from a small hamlet to a flourishing town. His success, however, earned the envy and hostility of the notables and Government officials of the neighbouring Turkish towns, whose exactions he had resisted, and last summer he became involved in a quarrel with the Porte.
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