British Back Down

Sleeping over the cráter of temporarily quiet v Icano might be called a coiufortable p itkm beu compared with the sitúa' ion in Turkey in general and in Constantinople in particular. To be an ambassador oí one power to the porte is at present not ivliat uiig-ht be Vorined a "snap' and ivithin the past week those officials have not been rating on "flowery hoii.-, ni caso.'1 This is especiaily the itii iSir I'hiiip Currie, the British ambassador. This gentlemen took the f the represen tatives of the powei"8 in demauding of the porte Lhat each of the powers be grautel tiruians Ipassorte) for at least oue more goardship each to pas. through the Dardanelles and be stationed U'l'ore Constantinople for the jiurpose of protecting foreign residents. Abdul iiuiuid, the sultan, and bis niinistri's coiisulted and Twefik Pasha, minister of foreign alïairs, in(erined Sir Philip Cnrrie that the request would be granted. This eased t ra np somewhat, as the amb;is.-;idors had begun to feel that it vvould be refused ;uul a cribia was feit to be imminent Acting on the report of l'wefik Pasba the British ainbassador ordered the gun boa t Dryad to make tho passage from .salonica bay, where the fleets of the powers were station ed, through tlie the Dardenelles. This was to be followed by guardships of Kussia, Italy and Austria at U-ast. Hut in the mean time the 'palace party," consistir, ui' thepriests, chainberlains, valets, etc, who are the sultau'sreal advisors, had taken a hand and made Abdul liamid believe that the gathering ót auy inore foreign warships in the ihorona would be equivalent to a naval deinonstration before Constantisuch would so inllame the Mnssulmans that they would regard H as an affront to their sultan and resent it by a terrible caruage of ; in vhich no Christian would be s:i;o. Tiiis liad the effect the "palace party" desired and the sultan hurriedly calledïvvefik Pasha and sent him to Sir l'hilip Currie with insi ons to do everythinjf possible to induce the British ambassador to countermand his ordor ior the gunboat. bir Philip, however, refused to do so, saying that be was tired of bein trifled with. Tewük Pasha returned to the p"ulace in a very unenviable frame of mind and announced the failure of his missiOD. The sultan is said to have been frantic with rage and drove Twefik from his presence with lierce revilinga. The president of the state council, Said Pasha, who is supposed to have some intluenee with -ir l'hilip Currie, was thereupon hurriedly sent for and Abdul Hamicl irly besought hiin to go imiately to the British umbassador and spare no effort to induce hini to order the recall of tlie Dryad. The entreaties of Said l'asha seem to have had vveighE uith the ambassador. for sir 1'liilip tmally consented to place Die whole matter, at that late liour, once before his government, and to await further instructions, although he is understood to have carte blanebe as to what sU-ps he thinks it necesto take in treating with the in. There was some delay in obtaining a reply to the message to Lord Salisbury, but it iinally b apparent that Great liritaiu "would not do anything calculated in any ivay to hinder the efforts of the sultan to restore order and put in force the reforins udvocated by the powers, and fore, iu view of Abüul Batnid's BtrODCT objectiODS, the demand for the extra guardships would not be earried to the extreme of foroing the passage of the Dardeuelles. " There fore the Dryad waa ordcred to return to Salónica ba y. Th is was, to the diplomatic corps, quite an unexpected denouement of a situation which had assumed a most . aspect, and the general !i is that the powers have been placed in a Eomewhat ridiculoua position. Following the repeated tbreats rcir.g1 the passage of the Dardanel!es if the sultan persisted in refusing1 to allow the gunboata to enter the horus, this looks very mach as if Abdul llamid and his advisers wero woll ioformed when they persisted in holding out against the demainl.s oí itives of Great ISritain, Russia, italv and Austria for additional guardships, beüeving that thi y weré justified in so doing on the ground that the powers are not in aecord, as .so írequently claimed and d, and that the dissenting powers were behind Abdul llamid in the staml he has taken. However i?ir Philip strongly impressed upon the miiiil of the sultan that any further disturbances which would threaten the livcs of foreigners would be the signa! for the enforcement of the treaty rig-hts of tlie powers regarding tlie extra guar Iships even if Great Britain had to act alone in the matter. awhile the '"palace party" is triumphant, and the impression is being- conveyed to the Turkish public that the sultan has won a great victory over the power-. This tends to make the matter more delicate to handle, as itrate that suoh is not the aas is almost certain to lead to an outbreak.