Safvet Pasha, Foreign Minister of Turkey, has addressed a circular -
to the representatives of his country abroad explaining the decree of repudiation. fre states that the Sultan has abolished the a addition to the tithe and forgiven all- arrears,- and intends to transmute the tithe into a land-tax, and reform the Provincial Councils. Overburdened, however, with the task of providing for ' the Debt, he has, "with the traditional honesty of the Sublime Porte, particularly in all that concerns the fulfilment of its obliga- tions to the public creditors," and out of unwillingness to increase uselessly the burdens on his people, taken the step just aneounced. That is to say, the Turkish Government, out of itis " traditional honesty," takes half the money due to the public creditor. Safvet Pasha promises that the remainder shall be paid, but a telegram has been published which, if not a forgery, shows the straits to which the Turkish Exchequer is reduced. A sum of £40,-000 was due to complete the payment for an ironclad, and this money was raised by a loan, specially guaranteed upon some lighthouse receipts. When a man has to borrow sixpence, and pledge his spectacles for the money, his bond for a thousand pounds can scarcely be considered first-class security.
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