MILITARY POLITICS IN TURKEY AND GREECE. T HE Turkish Army imposed
on itself a mission, and now that the Constitution is apparently secure is publicly divesting itself of the powers temporarily assumed f 3r a purpose. For this is the meaning of the news that Committee of Union and Progress is no longer to be a smret body ; the Turkish Revolution was a military revolu- tion, and it was directed by the secret Committee, which contained the best elements in the Army. Events have clearly shown that the best elements in the Army are also the best elements in the whole of Turkish public life. The Committee is only acting up to the reputation it has earned; it perceives that Parliamentary govern- ment can have no reality so long as all the strings are pulled by unknown persons, and so it comes into -the open, announces the names of its members, and promises that in future its influence shall be exercised in public, and in accordance with Constitutional forms. All sympathisers with reformed Turkey will be delighted to hear of the wise act of these leading Young Turks. We have not concealed our anxiety lest an anonymous body, wielding more power than Parliament itself, should be the ruin of the Constitution. So far as we were informed of the membership of the Committee of Union and Progress, it contained several of the most high-minded persons in Turkey ; but there was never any guarantee that the membership would not change in time, and meanwhile the existence of such an irregularity within the borders of a formally drafted Constitution was a confession that real Constitutionalism was postponed. We imagine, neverthe- less, that the members of the Committee kept to secrecy no longer than they believed it necessary, and that they have removed the irregularity at the first possible moment. We freely admit that if the Committee had not been behind the scenes ready to act swiftly and resolutely at the time of the counter-revolution last April, there very likely would not be a Parliament in Constantinople to-day. The• Chamber was scattered and impotent; it was the Committee, and the Committee alone, which mobilised the forces loyal to the Constitution. The anxiety excited in this country by two or• three acts of the Committee has only been the measure of the intense desire that the Turkish Constitution should succeed. In every case the Committee has been justified. We have there- fore some title to assume that it is right now, and that it ceases to be an anonymous body only because it is convinced that the Constitution is able to stand alone. We congratulate the Young Turks on this happy state of affairs. We hope that the change in the Committee's methods does not mean that the services of its members will be less effectually used for Turkey. We do not know exactly how their influence will be exerted, except that it will be in an open and Constitutional manner, but obviously it will be to the advantage of the country to keep such cool and sagacious minds actively at work. There is one great danger which Turkey will have to avoid, and one great benefit she may be able to confer on Europe. But we will come to these later.
Before we do so, let us glance at the spectacle—similar to the military revolt in Turkey, yet much leas reassuring— of the dictation of the Military League in Greece.
• M. Mavromichaeli, the Prime Minister, knows well that the Military League is his master. He admitted that • when he accepted office on terms which made him an agent instead of an independent Minister. The military conspiracy has, of course, been conducted in slavish imita- tion of the Turkish Revolution. Yet how different are the • -circumstances ! The Turkish officers rose against a cruel • and hopelessly corrupt autocracy ; the Greek officers, though • they deny that the conspiracy is directed against the Throne, do as a fact bring a deep humiliation on a King who for nearly fifty years has faithfully represented the cause of Greece before the Powers and has procured for her one advantage after another. As for the League's demands that the Chamber and the Civil Service shall be purified, they are excellent in themselves. But we cannot bring our- selves to believe that a Deputy is purified by being required to renounce all the deliberative and critical duties for which he was sent to Parliament. The Deputies have signalised the fact that they are being purified against their will by voting a heavy programme of new measures without discussion. So complete has been their submission that the Military League has even been offended by the sinister aspect of their glum and silent acquiescence, and has issued orders for the importation into the " debates " of a reason- able amount of vivacity and cheerfulness. Behind the League there is said to be a mysterious power, an all- directing " somebody " ; and we can only hope that he may have some shadow of the good sense which has piloted the Turkish Committee through many dangerous waters. Whoever the guiding spirits may be, they should com- plete their imitation of the Turks, and come into the open as soon as possible. When Pride " purged " the House of Commons he came in person to do the job, and when challenged by Prynne he pointed to his musketeers and said that they were his commission. There was need for secrecy in Turkey, no doubt, but there is no more need for it in Greece than there was in England in Cromwell's day.
We beg those who desire to see the House of Lords abolished to attend to the phenomenon in Greece of a single-Chamber Constitution at the beck and call of a group of insurgent officers. A single-Chamber Constitu- tion is a building without buttresses or any reinforcement; it can be knocked down like a house of cards. The ease with which the Military League has done just what it liked has encouraged some junior officers of the Navy to behave likewise. They have called upon the Minister of Marine to remove their seniors. The reason given is the incom- petence of the seniors, which we can readily believe in, and which may well be the true reason. But there is no guarantee that it is the true reason. The Minister of Marine refused to do as he was bidden, and the young officers thereupon appealed to the Prime Minister, who has most obediently promised that the senior officers shall be removed. Anything may happen at this rate. The present junior officers will be seniors in their turn, and there will be juniors under them who will be free to promote themselves in like manner .— "So, naturalists observe, a flea lath smaller fleas that on him prey ; And these have smaller still to bite 'em, And so proceed ad infinitum."
Meanwhile the cold fit is upon the Athenian citizens who so hotly recorded their desire for reform the other day. Reform, particularly of the Army and Navy, means more taxes, and we foresee that no cause will be popular for long which raises the present high level of Greek taxation. Here is the reason for the impulsive and futile proposal of the Greek Minister of War that Greece should make a military alliance with Turkey. He wants an accession of strength by means of a diplomatic arrangement, instead of by the ordinary means of spending money. But what would a Turco-Greek army be used for in the Balkans ? It could be employed to only one end,—in an anti-Slav cause. That would be fatal, however gratifying in certain immediate senses. We are quite sure that Turkey will not walk into this snare which is spread in her sight by the Greek Minister of War, and put her Army at the disposal of more nimble-minded Greek politicians. And here we come to the subject of the danger which lies before Turkey, and of the benefit she could confer upon Europe. The danger is that the Young Turks may lose the essential part of their independence by being drawn into the orbit of this or that European Power. If they are influenced unduly by any European Power, they are certain to be used, however insensibly at first, to advance some cause in the Balkans which they had much better let alone. To govern the Turkish Empire well is a tremendous task without the additional cares of aiding an anti-Slav policy, or any other policy, in the Balkans. In whatever degree the attention of the Young Turks is diverted from strictly Turkish affairs, in that degree will the Constitution suffer. We believe the danger will be avoided, because we have a' considerable and increasing his Budget by a special Income-tax on the owners of faith in the discrimination.of the minds which are directing Consols, he could also get an increased revenue with very Turkish policy. The benefit which Turkey could. confer little cost. The actual sum obtained by all these Land- upon Europe is the- maintenance of the status quo in the taxes is, however,. quite 'insignificant when we are dealing Balkans. If this is preserved, peace will also be preserved. ; with a Budget of X162,000,000. According to the revised Anti-Slav, Pan-German, and. all other ambitions whatso- estimate, the total yield of all the Land-taxes—namely, ever will most likely pass harmlessly across the stage. the Increment Value Duty, the Undeveloped Land Duty, This is indeed a mission for Turkey worth thinking of,— the Reversion-duty, and the Mineral Rights Duty—will be not only to recreate herself, but by her restraint and. £600,000. Out of this £300,000 is to go to the local detachment to secure to Europe the inestimable blessing authorities. The cost of collecting the taxes, which will be
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