The Sultan has issued a decree ordering a poll-tax of
five piastres—a shilling—a head to be levied on the Mussulman population, and increasing the tax on sheep. Both imposts will be excessively unpopular, and are therefore explained as necessary in order to pay for military preparations. It is believed in Constantinople that the decree will greatly in- crease Mussulman indignation against infidels, and especially against Armenians as the origin of all the troubles, and that this result is intended at Yildiz Kiosk. It is more probable that the Palace, which is in extremity for want of money, hopes to borrow upon the new security, but the limitation of the tax to Mu- snlmans is an extraordinary departure from precedent, indicating some secret design. The tax belongs to a list of taxes which unite the maximum of irritation with a minimum of profit, as the revenue can be collected only by a house-to-house visitation by the police. The Ambassadors have remonstrated angrily this week on behalf of a particular Armenian whom the police had promised to set free, but of any plan for restraining the Sultan there is as yet no sign.
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