and begin anew the friendly relations of yore. The following extract is from an editorial article published in the Ikdam of Constantinople on Aug. 17:

From today the regeneration of our fleet begins. From today Ottoman hearts must again rejoice. We must work hard now for the strengthening of our navy. We must know that our fleet, which till yesterday was lifeless, is no longer in incompetent hands and under the leadership of lazy minds. New Turkey has intrusted her navy to iron hands. At the head of our fleet is Djémal Pasha, whose naval successes it is unnecessary to mention. The commander of the fleet is the Chief of the Naval Staff, Arif Bey, and in command of the light flotilla is Capt. Muzzafer Bey. Likewise the commanders and the other officers of the two new battleships are chosen among the fittest. This is the beginning of a new era for our navy. In addition to this we must say that we are expecting good results from our political activity. Talaat Bey and Halil Bey have left for Bucharest, where they will try to find a solution of outstanding serious questions. At the same time they will have an opportunity to exchange views with Rumanian statesmen. It is unnecessary, in our belief, to exalt the significance of this mission. We think, however, that a wise and moderate policy, strengthened by a good army and navy, will go far in bringing good results.

On Sept 10 an official announcement from the Sublime Porte was handed to the representatives of the powers in Constantinople and communicated to the press. This declaration ran as follows:

As an expression of the sentiments of hospitality and friendship on the part of the Ottoman Government toward the European populations of the empire there were instituted long ago certain regulations to which Europeans coming to the Levant for commerce would be subjected, these same regulations having been duly communicated to the respective Governments of those Europeans.

These regulations, adopted by the Porte on its own initiative and considered entirely as privileges, and having

been strengthened and made more general through certain acts, have continued to be in force up to this time under the name "Old Treaties," (in Turkish "Ouhout-i Atikah.") These privileges, however, are wholly incompatible with the legal status of recent years, and especially with the principle of national sovereignty. In the first place, they became a hindrance to the progress and development of the Imperial Government, while in the second, by creating misunderstandings in its relations with the foreign Governments, they formed a barrier preventing these relations from becoming more harmonious and more sincere.

The Ottoman Empire continues to advance in the path of regeneration and of reforms, overleaping many obstacles, and in order to acquire the position due to it in the civilized family of Europe it adopted modern principles of government and has not deviated from its programme of having the State conducted on these principles.

The founding of the constitutional form of government is in itself a proof that the efforts of the Ottoman Empire for its regeneration have been fully crowned with success. Certain exceptions, however, based on the capitulations, such as the participation of foreigners in the administration of justice, which is an all-important prerogative of national sovereignty, the limitations imposed on the legislative rights of the State, based on the argument that certain laws cannot be applied to foreigners, the injustice inflicted on common right from the impossibility of convicting a delinquent who disturbs the safety of the country merely because he happens to be a foreigner, or because the prosecution against him must be subjected to certain limitations and particular conditions; and likewise the difference in the competency of the various courts dealing with cases where the capitulations are involved; all these constitute impregnable barriers against every effort of the country toward progress in the administration of justice.

From another point of view, the fact that foreigners living in the Ottoman

Empire are exempt from taxation, in accordance with the capitulations, makes it impossible for the Sublime Porte to procure the indispensable means for the carrying out, not only of the reforms but of its everyday needs.

The impossibility of increasing the indirect taxation is bringing about the increase of direct taxes and therefore makes the burden on the Ottoman taxpayers all the heavier. The fact that foreigners who enjoy in the Ottoman Empire every protection and every privilege as well as freedom in their business transactions are exempt from taxation constitutes in itself an intolerable injustice and creates at the same time a situation detrimental to the independence and prestige of the Government.

While the Imperial Government was firm in its resolution to continue its efforts regarding the reforms, the general war broke and increased the financial difficulties of the country in such a degree that all the innovations and all the reforms which have been decided upon and actually begun are threatened to remain without effect.

The Sublime Port feels convinced that the only way toward salvation for the Ottoman Government lies in the realization of the necessary reforms in the least possible time. In the same way the Porte feels that every encouragement will be shown her in the decisive steps to be undertaken for this end.

Convinced of this, the Imperial Government has decided to abolish, on Oct. 1, 1914, the capitulations, and all conventions, concessions, and privileges emanating therefrom, which have become an iron ring around the State, making it impossible for it to progress.

At the same time the Ottoman Government engages to treat with foreign countries in accordance with the rules of international law. While I have the honor of communicating to your Excellency this decision, which opens a new and happy era in the life of the Ottoman Empire, an event which undoubtedly will please your Excellency, I consider it my duty to add that the Porte in abolishing the capitulations does not harbor any

hostile feeling against any of the foreign States, but is acting solely in the highest interests of the empire. At the same time, the Porte is ready to begin pourparlers for the conclusion of commercial treaties in accordance with the principles of international law.

The Turkish press made little mention of the manner in which Europe took notice of the important step taken by the Porte, and the Ministerial Tasfiri Efkiar was the only one to express the feelings of the Government on this occasion, saying:

It is not proper for us to expect a unanimous and speedy satisfaction from all the European powers; but, on the other hand, we must welcome every objection and every discussion from whatever source it comes, as in this way we shall know who are our friends and who our enemies.

APPROACHING THE CRISIS

The events covering the period from Sept. 10, when the abolition of the capitulations was decided upon, till Oct. 29, when the Turkish fleet attacked Russian ports and shipping in the Black Sea, were confined mostly to hasty and all-absorbing warlike preparations on the part of the Turkish Government, assisted by the German military mission. The Constantinople correspondent of The Daily Atlantis of New York wrote on Sept. 17:

We are daily approaching a crisis. The Government has not swerved from its warlike attitude, and is threatening not only Greece, but Russia and the Triple Entente as well, while, on the other hand, it has failed to secure Rumanian or Bulgarian co-operation in its militant policy. At the same time, the Porte has learned that efforts are being made in the Balkans for common action against Turkey. It also became known that the Governments of London and Petrograd agreed to indemnify Bulgaria by giving her Adrianople and Thrace, while Greece was to have Smyrna, with a considerable hinterland.

During this period the Turkish press maintained an active campaign against

England and the Allies. The following extract from an editorial article published in the Terdjumani-Hakkikat thus characterizes the situation:

Everybody knows that the Balkan States are traversing a period of doubts, and that the belligerent parties are doing their best in order to secure the sympathies and the assistance of the Balkan States.

The

To begin with, the idea of reconstructing the Balkan League came under consideration. In this way the Balkan States think they will become strong enough to impose their will at the final settlement that will follow the war. This idea, however, based as it is on the nullification of the Treaty of Bucharest, and on certain sacrifices on the part of Rumania and Greece, proved to be a failure. In the course of the discussion between the two States it was shown that neither · Greece nor Rumania was willing to make any sacrifice in favor of Bulgaria. Balkan Alliance, being thus unpracticable, the belligerent powers of Europe attempted to attract Rumania and Bulgaria only, and to this end they made every sort of promise to the two Governments of Sofia and Bucharest. The President of the London Balkan Committee, Mr. Noel Buxton, went to Bulgaria and made certain promises to Mr. Radoslavoff, the Bulgarian Premier, in the name of Sir Edward Grey. He promised the restitution to Bulgaria of the EnosMidia line, including Adrianople. The Bulgarians, however, are not to be fooled in this way by promises at the expense of third parties, and especially when the eventual cost of these gifts might be a heavy one. We must not forget that Bulgaria wants not Thrace, but Macedonia. If Great Britain had promised Bulgaria Macedonia, including Saloniki, and the Bulgarian Government was convinced beforehand of the fulfillment of the promise, then it is certain that the proposal would be accepted. But this is not in line with England's interests, because in that case she would lose her two other customers-Greece and Servia. And so there goes Mr. Buxton making offers out of our own pocket.

But we Turks have been used to injustices; and it has become an axiom in history that whenever there is trouble in any part of the world we must be the ultimate sufferers. It seems that this time, too, our friends" felt like repeating the same story; but now we are not to be caught napping, and the Government, having in time mobilized the army, is ready for every emergency.

On Sept. 27 a Turkish destroyer having been stopped by a British destroyer

outside the Dardanelles, the Turkish Government ordered the straits closed to all shipping.

The Turkish Government tried to justify in the official press of Constantinople the measure of closing the straits by declaring that this important step was undertaken only after a FrancoBritish fleet had established an actual blockade of the straits to the detriment of Turkish commerce and neutral navigation. The Government organ, The Tasfiri-Efkiar, said:

The powers are trying to justify the mobilization of Switzerland, and are making a great case of Belgian neutrality, but meantime they consider our mobilization as having no other purpose than an aggression against our neighbors.

Now, if the neutrality of Switzerland, which is guaranteed by all the powers, is likely to be endangered, how is it possible for us to remain calm and undisturbed in this universal upheaval, so long as we know that to annoy and continually harass Turkey according to the fancies of Europe has well-nigh become a sort of fashion?

Those powers that are dissatisfied at our mobilization are eager to find our anxiety as without foundation for the mere reason that our territorial integrity remains under the guarantee of all the powers. But where was that guarantee when Tripoli and Cyrenaica were attacked in a way little differing from open brigandage? And was it not the same powers who forgot their guarantees in the Balkan Peninsula when they abolished the famous status quo? With such facts before us is it not ridiculous to speak of European guarantees? While we have now before us what happened to Belgium, why should our mobilization excite such widespread indignation? All we are trying to do is to safeguard and protect our interests and protect ourselves from aggression on the part of the Balkan States.

WAR DECLARED

On Oct. 29, 1914, the attack of the Turkish forces upon Russia and England was delivered. Following is the

official Turkish version of the events lending to the rupture of diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Triple Entente, contained in the first Turkish communiqué of the war, appearing in the Turkish press on Oct. 31, 1914:

While on the 27th of October a small part of the Turkish fleet was manoeuvring in the Black Sea, the Russian fleet, which at first confined its activities to following and hindering every one of our movements, finally, on the 29th, unexpectedly began hostilities by attacking the Ottoman fleet.

During the naval battle which ensued the Turkish fleet, with the help of the Almighty, sank the mine-layer Pruth, displacing 5,000 tons and having a cargo of 700 mines; inflicted severe damage on one of the Russian torpedo boats, and captured a collier.

A torpedo from the Turkish torpedo boat Gairet-i-Millet sank the Russian destroyer Koubanietz, and another from the Turkish torpedo boat Mouavene-iMillet inflicted serious damage on a Russian coastguard ship.

Three officers and seventy-two sailors, rescued by our men and belonging to the crews of the damaged and sunken vessels of the Russian fleet, have been made prisoners. The Ottoman imperial fleet, glory be given to the Almighty, escaped injury, and the battle is progressing favorably for us.

The Imperial Government will no doubt protest most energetically against this hostile action of the Russian fleet against a small part of our fleet.

Information received from our fleet now in the Black Sea is as follows: From accounts of Russian sailors taken prisoners and from the presence of a mine-layer among the Russian fleet, evidence is gathered that the Russian fleet intended closing the entrance to the Bosporus with mines and destroying entirely the imperial Ottoman fleet after having split it in two. Our fleet, believing that it had to face an unexpected attack, and supposing that the Russians had begun hostilities without a formal declaration of war, pursued the scattered Russian fleet, bombarded the port of Sebastopol, destroyed in the city of

Novorasiysk by petroleum depots. fourteen military transports, some granaries, and the wireless telegraph station.

In addition to the above, our fleet has sunk in Odessa a Russian criser and damaged severely another. It is believed that this second boat was likewise sunk. Five other steamers full of cargoes lying in the same port were seriously damaged. A steamship belonging to the Russian volunteer fleet was also sunk, and five petroleum depots were destroyed.

In Odessa and Sebastopol, the Russians from the shore opened fire against our fleet.

The officers and crews of the minelayer Pruth were subjected to a rigid examination.

Eight or ten days ago the Pruth, lying in the roadstead of Sebastopol, received a cargo of mines and was put under the command of officers who for a number of years past had been training on board the Russian depot ship in Constantinople and therefore had become familiar with the ins and outs of the Bosporus.

As soon as it became known that a small part of the Turkish fleet went out to the Black Sea, the Russian fleet sailed from Sebastopol, leaving only an adequate squadron for the protection of the city, and on Oct. 27 put to sea, taking a southerly direction with the rest of its forces. On the next day the minelayer Pruth left Sebastopol and steamed southward.

The Russian fleet, acting in different ways, intended to fill with mines the entrance of the Bosporus, attack the weak squadron of the Ottoman fleet, at that time on the high seas, and cause the destruction of the rest of the Turkish fleet, which, being left in the Bosporus, would rush to the assistance of the light flotilla, and, encountering the mines, would be destroyed.

Our warships manoeuvring on the high seas met the mine-layer Pruth as well as the torpedo boats accompanying her, and thus took place the events already known from previous communications.

The rescued Russian officers are five

in number, one of them a Lieutenant Commander. The prisoners have been sent to Ismid.

This successful action on the part of our squadron, which only by chance came to be on the high seas at the time of the naval battle, is itself one of the utmost importance for us, as it assures the future of our fleet.

THE SULTAN'S PROCLAMATION

As soon as war was declared against Russia, England, and consequently France, the Sultan issued the following proclamation to his troops:

To my army! To my navy!

Immediately after the war between the Great Powers began I called you to arms in order to be able in case of trouble to protect the existence of empire and country from any assault on the part of our enemies, who are only awaiting the chance to attack us suddenly and unexpectedly, as they have always done.

While we were thus in a state of armed neutrality, a part of the Russian fleet, which was going to lay mines at the entrance of the straits of the

Black Sea, suddenly opened fire against a squadron of our own fleet at the time engaged in manoeuvres.

While we were expecting reparation from Russia for this unjustified attack, contrary to international law, the empire just named, as well as its allies, recalled their Ambassadors and severed diplomatic relations with our country.

The fleets of England and France have bombarded the straits of the Dardanelles, and the British fleet has shelled the harbor of Akbah on the Red Sea. In the face of such successive proofs of wanton hostility we have been forced to abandon the peaceful attitude for which we always strove, and now in common with our allies, Germany and Austria, we turn to arms in order to safeguard our lawful interests.

The Russian Empire during the last three hundred years has caused our country to suffer many losses in territory, and when we finally arose to that sentiment of awakening and regeneration which would increase our national wel

fare and our power, the Russian Empire made every effort to destroy our attempts, either with war or with numerous machinations and intrigues. Russia, England, and France never for a moment ceased harboring ill-will against our Caliphate, to which millions of Mussulmans, suffering under the tyranny of foreign domination, are re-ligiously and whole-heartedly devoted, and it was always these powers that started every misfortune that came upon

us.

Therefore, in this mighty struggle which now we are undertaking, we once for all will put an end to the attacks made from one side against the Caliphate, and from the other against the existence of our country.

The wounds inflicted, with the help of the Almighty, by my fleet in the Black Sea, and by my army in the Dardanelles, in Akbah, and on the Caucasian frontiers against our enemies, have strengthened in us the conviction that our sacred struggle for a right cause will triumph. The fact, moreover, that today the countries and armies of our enemies are be

ing crushed under the heels of our allies is a good sign, making our conviction as regards final success still stronger.

My heroes! My soldiers! In this sacred war and struggle, which we began against the enemies who have undermined our religion and our holy fatherland, never for a single moment cease from strenuous effort and from self-abnegation.

Throw yourselves against the enemy as lions, bearing in mind that the very existence of our empire, and of 300,000,000 Moslems whom I have summoned by sacred Fetwa to a supreme struggle, depend on your victory.

The hearty wishes and prayers of 300,000,000 innocent and tortured faithful, whose faces are turned in ecstasy and devotion to the Lord of the universe in the mosques and the shrine of the Kaabah, are with you.

My children! My soldiers! No army in the history of the world was ever honored with a duty as sacred and as great as is yours. By fulfilling it, show