LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE INADEQUACY OF LORD DERBY'S OUTLINE OF.
REFORMS.
(TO THE Berme OF THE "SPECTAT011.1
SI11,—There is probably by this time a general agreement that the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina are not yet competent to administer a system of "local institutions," as proposed by Lord Derby last September, in such a way as to give them an effectual "control over their own local affairs," and to exclude the misrule of Ottoman agents and the tyranny of local Mussnlman magnates ; and that such institutions, though more adapted to the Bulgarian standard of intelligence and character, must., even in Bulgaria, be limited in their scope, and cannot be expected to give "guarantees against the exercise of arbitrary authority." The truth must be recognised that the only way of maintaining the integrity of the Sultan's empire, and at the same time introducing good govern- ment, is by putting the administration into European bands, for at least (say) ten years, and for as much longer as may be necessary to train native administrators with the ideas and the standard of conduct that prevail in Western Europe. Note, in the roughest manner, some of the things necessary to be done, omitting all consideration of the relation of the Sultan's Cabinet to the Great Powers :--1. Village-Corporations. Probably in many parts of Turkey the population are -fit for such institutions. But the proper franchises, and the mode of choosing village officers, could only be settled after local inquiry by:a mainly European Commis- sion. It would perhaps be found that two or more types of village-corporation would be needed. The franchises, the organi- sation, the duties, &c., of the village-corporations, when fixed, should be expressed in a chapter of a code. The boundaries of the village-authority in each case, and the quit-rent to be paid to the Porte in lieu of all taxes and tithes, would also have to be fixed by a Commission mainly of European officers,—the quit- rent to be resettled after a given term of years.
2. In each province, outside the village limits, and within them for certain purposes, should be the absolute authority of a Governor-General, holding office for a fixed term of years ; re- movable during the term, for misconduct or incapacity, only with the consent of the Powers ; and master of both the troops and the police. In Bulgaria and Bosnia, moreover, the Governor- General should be named by the Powers, and should probably not be a Turkish subject.
3. Provincial Councils elected by the villages to represent their wishes to the Governors.
4. Commissions, mainly European, to make,—(a), the necessary agrarian reforms in Bosnia and the Herzegovina, so as to put an end to the tyranny of the Agas, and give security to the cultiva- tors; (b), the necessary reforms in the constitution of the Greek Church in the various provinces ; (c), provision for securing to Europeans the right of buying land and mines, making tram- ways, &c., and of settling, in all parts of Turkey ; and (d), most important of all, a Code.
5. Provisional judicial arrangements would have to be made by Europeans; and a High Court of Justice, mainly of Europeans, established, with, among other duties, that of trying all infractions of the law regarding the rights and duties of village-corporations, and that of trying officers of the Porte charged with illegal acts.
The above is of course hazarded as the roughest sketch of the sort of reforms which offer a chance of saving the Turkish Empire and giving prosperity to its provinces,—reforms which, if imposed by the will of united Europe, would probably be accepted by the Porte without the need of a military occupation.—I am, Sir, &c., [But why save the Turkish Empire ?—En. Spectator.]
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