ABSTRACT
The last eight or nine years have not witnessed any event of particular importance in Turkey. This does not mean that nothing has happened. Every twelve months or so the Ottoman dominions are the scene of some disturbance, crisis or ultimatum which would convulse an ordinary state, but hardly disturbs the Sublime Porte. Such things suit its constitution. It has no nerves to be upset, and a little stimulus quickens its torpid circulation. I have had some difficulty in finding out how often the Porte has been coerced or menaced with coercion in the seven years of this century which have elapsed. Apparently Mitylene has been twice occupied, while on two other occasions serious threats that “measures of a material character” would be employed have been sufficient. But these proceedings, whether threats or performance, have been so often repeated that they have ceased to produce any moral effect. The inconvenience of pressure may force the Porte to yield for a moment, but no feeling of shame or fear of repetition makes it careful to avoid similar incidents in the future. On the contrary, it appears to calculate, and with perfect justice, that the more thorny questions it can raise to occupy and embarrass the Powers, the oftener it is likely to have its own way and be left alone.
