The Viennese, it is stated, are making a fuss over
the con- vention between Austria and Turkey as to the occupation of Novi Bazar. In that instrument, although it is admitted that the Austrian Government is in occupation of Bosnia and Herze- govina, and although no date is fixed for the end of such occu- pation, it is still mentioned that the "sovereign rights of the Sultan" are reserved. The Viennese think this is less than an- nexation, and are aggrieved. A formal annexation would have been much better, because it would have established the precedent that Turkish territory could be distributed by Europe without either conquest or insurrection, but the Viennese are a little over-punctilious. If Turkey could conquer Bosnia, she would not need pretexts, and the sove- reignty of the Sultan will do no more harm in Bosnia than the sovereignty of the English Kings did in France, or than that of the King of Naples did in Jerusalem. Spain considers Great Britain to be in military occupation of Gibraltar,. and the Queen either does not or did not hold the Orkneys by perpetual right; but what difference does all that make ? The King of Greece, if a wise man, will accept the "military occu- pation " of Thessaly and Epirus, or for that matter, the Here- ditary Pashalic, and leave the Sultan to enforce his "reserved rights" as he may. It would be far more frank to claim the- territories in perpetuity, but the difference is not worth a war,. or an hour's delay in the extinction of Turkish rule.
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