march into the border provinces on the melting of the snow. The belligerent sentiment was stronger in the country districts than at Athens.

The Chamber resumed its sessions after the holiday recess in the first week of February. The Opposition leader, Trikoupis, stormed the ministry with questions regarding the diplomatic negotiations, the military preparations, etc. The Opposition had been re-enforced by several seceders from the ranks of the ministerialists. The more moderate and pacific tone which Coumoundouros had lately taken, under the influence of foreign diplomatists, was prejudicial to his popularity. The Minister of Finance, Sotiropoulos, had sent in his resignation upon the rejection by the budget committee and a Cabinet council of a proposition to substitute a land-tax for the tax on live animals, but remained in office at the solicitation of his colleagues and the King.

The Greek army mustered not more than 7,000 men in the middle of 1880, before preparations began for a war with Turkey. Before the end of the year there were twenty-three battalions of infantry ready to march, containing 28,750 men, and a rifle corps of 9,600 men, besides two regiments of cavalry, sixteen batteries of artillery, and three engineer battalions, giving a total fighting strength of 44,830 men, not counting 4,000 gendarmes, 4,000 non-combatants, and 9,000 reserves. The discipline and efficiency of the Greek army were astonishing, considering the brief period of training it had. The Greeks boasted that they could throw 60,000 men into the border provinces. Turkey had, meantime, been arranging her finances and organizing her army for defense, and claimed to have ready 60,000 troops to hold the Thessalian plain, and 40,000, besides the local Arnaut irregulars, for the protection of Epirus. The actual Turkish garrisons in the provinces at the beginning of the year were only about one quarter as strong, being some 11,200 men of all arms in Epirus, and probably a slightly stronger force in Thessaly.

In the beginning of March, just before the opening of the conference in Constantinople, war material was landed at Volo, and preparations were made for a strong defense of Thessaly in case the Greeks crossed the border. No such precautions were necessary for the defense of Epirus. The Greek Thessalians were quiet, but there was no doubt that they would rise in a mass at the first approach of the Greek battalions. The Turkish troops in Thessaly had been increased to 29,700, with 42,000 more ready to march at the first call. Every menacing move on the part of Greece was met by counter-preparations as effective. The Greek Government issued an order calling out the National Guard on the 7th of February. When mustered at Athens they displayed great enthusiasm.

Strategical considerations had much weight with the Porte to deter it from granting terri

torial cessions, except under extreme outside pressure, to the despised Greek nation. If it parted with Mezzovo, in the Pindus, it would relinquish an important military point, which commands not only the whole of Epirus, but Southern Albania as well. If Larissa were given up, one of the most important provinces of the southwestern Balkan region would lie at the mercy of an invading army. Janina was the most important strategic position of all. Macedonia would remain to Turkey, but, shut in between the enlarged Greece and Bulgaria, with a preponderant Bulgarian population, and with Austria reaching out to acquire the Salonica Railway line, which extends through the length of the province, it also seemed to be doomed if Thessaly and Epirus were given up.

The Treaty of Berlin fixed the two extremities of the new boundary-line at the mouths of the Kalamos and the Salambria Rivers, and directed that it should follow the general course of the two valleys. The after-conference settled on a line with curves, extending northward of a straight line between the two points, and giving to Greece Larissa, Janina, and Mezzovo. The Porte insisted on retaining these places, at the conclusion of the Berlin Conference, but appeared to be reconciled later to the cession of Larissa.

Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, dispatched about the beginning of the year a circular note to French representatives at European courts, in which he appealed to foreign cabinets, and to the Greek Government and the Porte, to have the Greek boundary dispute referred to the arbitration of the European powers. He pictured the dangers of a conflict between Greece and Turkey in terms more earnest and graphic than are customary in diplomatic documents. The slumbering passions and ambitions of the other races of European Turkey would be kindled by the example of Greece, and the whole Balkan Peninsula would soon be aflame with war. Europe would be obliged to intervene, and the resulting complications would involve the continent in the horrors and devastations of a general European war. The claims of Greece to the enforcement by the powers of the delimitation of the boundary proposed at the Berlin Conference, the French minister denied. The powers agreed in the Berlin Treaty to intermediate for the settlement of the boundary between Turkey and Greece, if invited. When Turkey and Greece had failed to come to an agreement at Prevesa and at Constantinople, in 1879, the intermediation of the powers was appealed to, and their engagement was discharged by the conference at Berlin in 1880, at which a boundary-line was recommended to the disputants to serve as a basis for specific negotiations. Greece accepted the counsel of the mediators, but Turkey rejected their proposals, which she was entirely free to do. The French note was dated December 24, 1880.

The position taken by France, repudiating the idea that France or Europe had promised or guaranteed to Greece the boundary proposed by the conference of the signatory powers held in June, 1880, at Berlin, was formally declared to the Greek Government in a dispatch of Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire to the French minister at Athens, Count Mony, dated December 28th. He appealed to the Greeks to submit the dispute to arbitration. The conference had suggested an extension of Greek territory of 20,000 square kilometres, and a court of arbitration could not be expected to reduce it by as much as 2,000 or 3,000 square kilometres. If Greece should reject the valuable accession of territory which would certainly be decreed to her without cost by the arbitrators, and should elect to plunge into war for the sake of a small additional extension, when the whole of the territory claimed now belongs in fact and of right to Turkey, then the civilized world would do best to leave to Greece the entire responsibility for the terrible consequences. In the complications which would result, the national existence of the Greek monarchy would not, improbably, be blotted out.

In a dispatch, dated January 7th, Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire again reviewed the situation, and emphasized his construction of the relations of the powers to the Greek question.

On the 20th of January Premier Coumoundouros addressed to the powers a circular note on the Greek claims. The Berlin Congress, recognizing the precarious state of feeling in Epirus and Thessaly, and the danger to the peace of the Orient arising from the existing condition, adopted the thirteenth protocol, relating to the rectification of the boundary. The Porte endeavored to circumvent the decision of the international Areopagus, after signifying its acceptance in principle. The negotiations over the particulars were continued over three years without results, so that the supplementary conference became necessary. The conference of 1880 settled upon a boundary-line which satisfied the requirements of the Treaty of Berlin. The Porte then recognized the authority of the decision, which was spoken of as assigning important provinces to Greece. Now it is sought to interpret it as a mere recommendation, the execution of which might be refused or deferred indefinitely. The Turkish policy of procrastination has no other aim than to stir up race passions in the border provinces, for the purpose of changing the -proportions of the different nationalities in the population, and to tire out the Hellenic kingdom, which had made military preparations to occupy the territory assigned to it by the decree of Europe, and to restore order there. Europe ought to take measures to carry out the decision, and remove the cause of the strained and embittered state of feeling which was continually growing worse, and the dangers to the border provinces, to Greece, and to Turkey, which were imminent.

In a letter of instructions to Turkish embassadors, dated the 14th of December, the Porte offered to confer with the great powers concerning the Greek boundary, through their embassadors at Constantinople, but refused to submit the matter to a court of arbitration. The government at Athens likewise rejected the proposal for a new arbitration.

The preliminaries to the conference proposed by the Porte were protracted till March. The Greek and Turkish Governments were prevailed upon to engage that no offensive steps would be taken before the negotiations with the powers were ended. Greece was informed that no aid would be extended by the powers, in case she refused to accept the boundary agreed upon. The Cabinets of Berlin and Vienna were in accord with the position taken by the French Government. To this the British ministry also gave a formal adherence, in order to not break the European concert, but was inclined to uphold the guarantee of the Berlin Conference, and anxious to safeguard the interests of Greece.

Messinesis, of Ægion, interpellated the government in the Chamber, February 24th, with reference to the diplomatic steps taken. He dilated upon the wrongs committed upon the Greeks in Thessaly, the severity with which the poll-tax was being collected, and the imprisonment, proscription, and barbarous treatment of the Hellenes. In Epirus and Albania as well, the Greek population was driven into banishment and thrown into prison by thousands, and whole towns were destroyed through the atrocities of the irregular soldiery from Asia, which had been let loose upon the land.

Coumoundouros answered that all had been done which a Greek Government could do for their oppressed brothers; that they knew nothing about negotiations in Constantinople, and acknowledged only one decision of Europe, that of the Berlin Conference.

About the 1st of March, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Premier, Coumoundouros, was visited by the ministers of the treaty powers in a body. In answer to an interrogatory in the Chamber regarding the circumstance, he gave the information that it was to notify him that fresh negotiations for a peaceful compromise had been entered upon at Constantinople, and that the Porte had promised not to commence hostilities pending the consultations, and to obtain from him a like assurance; to which request he gave the following answer: "The King's government will be guided by the wishes of the powers, as it always has, in the past. It will abstain from any hostile act against the neighboring state, in the hope that the negotiations commenced in Constantinople will speedily confirm and regulate the execution of the award of Europe."

The first proposition made by the Porte to the conference was the transfer of Crete, and the cession of the portion of Thessaly between the existing boundary and the Peneus.

This arrangement was warmly approved by Count Hatzfeld, the German embassador, and favored by all the others except the British representative. The latter would not hear of the substitution of the great island which guards the Egean, just as Beaconsfield and Salisbury opposed its cession when demanded at the Berlin Congress by the Greek delegates, Brailas and Delijannis, and approved by Waddington. The Porte now withdrew this proposition, and promised to grant nearly the whole of Thessaly and a small strip of Epirus, including a part of the coast of the Gulf of Arta, but retaining Prevesa as well as Janina and MezZOVO. Goeshen insisted upon the cession of the entire Gulf of Arta. The embassadors, after prolonged discussion of the arrangement to which the Porte had been induced to accede, and after modifications favorable to Greece were agreed to, all concurred in the settlement and obtained the approval of their governments. The acceptance of the compromise by Greece was then all that was wanting. The unanimous agreement of the powers in the new settlement had the legal effect of annulling the former decision. The conclusions were communicated to the Greek Government in an identical note from all the powers. The Porte announced that in case Greece rejected the offer it would recall its proposal. The note expressly declared that Greece, if she refused the conditions which the powers had procured on her behalf, and should proceed to enforce her demands with arms, would stand entirely alone and must bear the consequences. Coumoundouros, before the reception of the identical note, sought to rob it of a part of its force, and leave the way open for further pretensions to Epirus, by a circular to the powers.

The new boundary-line adopted by the Constantinople Conference commences at the Ægean coast a little to the north of Kara Dervent, curves slightly to the southward, and ascends again, striking the line of the Berlin Conference in the vicinity of Tchula, which it follows for 30 or 35 miles in a westerly direction, then trends southward, leaving Mezzovo and Janina on the Turkish side, striking the Arta River, which it follows to its mouth. The fortress of Punta is given to Greece; Prevesa remains in Turkish hands, but its fortifications are to be razed; while the navigation of the Gulf of Arta is to be free. These latter conditions were imposed upon the Porte by the powers. The powers engaged to see that the arrangement was carried out, and the territory given over to Greek possession.

The extent of the ceded territories is about two thirds of the area awarded by the Berlin Conference. It contains 265 geographical square miles. The Turkish official almanac gives the male population of the ceded districts in Thessaly as 20,000 Mohammedans and 150,000 nonMohammedans, composed of Greeks and Pindus Wallachians, and the male population of the district of Arta as 4,000 Mohammedans and

Of

20,000 non-Mohammedans, the latter consisting of Græco-Wallachians, Pindus Wallachians, and Zinzarians or Macedo-Wallachians. the 140,000 Christian inhabitants about 114,000 are of pure Greek blood, 14,000 are of mixed Greek and Wallachian descent, and 12,000 are pure Wallachians. The Mohammedan element is most thickly settled in and about Larissa and Phersala, occupying the most productive portions of the annexed territory. The Wallachians are thickest in the southern parts of the Pindus Mountains, in the northern end of the Arta Valley, and on the southwestern slope of Olympus. The Græco-Wallachians are found everywhere in the border-lands between Greek and Wallachian settlements.

The new boundary-line starts from Kara Dervent, on the Gulf of Salonica, 54 miles below Platamana, and on the northern edge of the bottom-land at the mouth of the Salambria. It follows the southernmost ridge of the Olympus, passing north of Lividaki Lake and over the heights of Analipsis and Hodaman. From here it takes first a southwesterly direction, crossing the summit of Meluna, afterward a southerly one along the Kritiri chain to the Xeria River. Elassona, the industrial town Cherichina, and the mountainous district to the north, which were given to Greece by the Berlin Conference, remain Turkish. The line takes a westerly direction between the Salambria and Xeria Rivers, passing the villages of Flamuristi and Gavronon, and merges in the line of the Berlin Conference five kilometres northwest of the latter place. It diverges from this again in order to leave on the Turkish side the important strategic point of Mezzovo with the Zygos Pass, and is marked by the summits of Mavromuni, Doshimi, and the gigantic Peristeri. It then passes into Epirus, following a mountain creek, the Kalarytes, down to the Arta, near the village of Michalici, and transects the valley of the Arta down to the Ambrakian Gulf. Two thirds of the drainage basin of the Arta fall to the share of Greece. The peak of Actium, or Punta, is on the Greek side, and its fortifications must be dismantled.

The intensest excitement prevailed throughout Greece when the news came that the powers had approved, with some modifications, the boundary-line proposed by the Porte, instead of maintaining the frontier adopted by the Berlin Conference. The "on" newspaper struck a note to which every heart responded when it called to arms and appealed to the Panhellenic idea:

Europe, which has torn up its own work, may not philippies are written fulminating wrath, if the will seem to be the friend and well-wisher of Greece, and of Europe is defied and its decree set at naught.

But the essence of the matter is, that Europe, even against its will, is on our side, and can not act otherwise than in our favor. Though a thousand protocols and declarations be written down; though warnings, ay threats, be denounced against us, all will vanish like bubbles at the first breath, so soon as we

on our part adopt a firm policy and a manly determination to tread without deviation the path of national duty and of sacred interests. After Turkey has carried her arrogance and her contempt for Europe to the point of dragging Europe to Constantinople to tear up the decision of the Berlin Congress-who will maintain that Greece will be punished by Europe, when Europe has not punished Turkey ?

Europe can not come out as our opponent if we proceed to the execution of its own decision, and supplement and complete it if possible. True, no treaty has been signed which guarantees us the alliance of Europe, and we have no protocol which assures us of aid and support in our struggle. But let us not forget that the true international treaties are not those written with ink and paper-the latest treaty, that of Berlin, shows us clearly how much weight written treaties possess. The true treaties of lasting value are the unwritten treaties of national rights and international interests, and these neither personal cavils nor diplomatic artifices can destroy or impair. Such true and irreversible compacts subsist between us and Europe, between us and the whole civilized world. Greece represents in the Orient, not conquest, but liberation; not robbery and extortion, but creative effort and peaceful industry; not misery and decay, but progress and liberty.

It was feared that the dissatisfaction of the Greeks at the change in the boundary arrangement would still prevent a peaceful settlement; that they would either reject the offer outright or delay their answer so long that Turkey would withdraw her propositions. Within the proper time Coumoundouros returned, April 7th, a cautiously worded note in which he accepted the promised territory, demanded that the powers should secure its evacuation, and committed the welfare of the Epirotes to the guardianship of Europe, without renouncing the prospects held out by the Berlin decision of the amalgamation of Epirus with Greece. The accept ance of the proffered cession was couched in the following words:

Greece, though pained to see substituted for the decision of the Conference of Berlin another boundaryline, hastens nevertheless to thank the powers for their benevolent interest. She desires to know what term will be set for the occupation, and what guarantee will be offered that the occupation will be accomplished

without bloodshed.

The representatives of the powers objected to the form of the acceptance, and on the 13th of April Coumoundouros substituted the following document, which was approved as a formal acceptance of the conditions:

When the Greek Government accepted the serious decree of the Berlin Conference, the Government considered, as it considers to-day, that the decision of the great powers of Europe created rights and obligations affecting both Turkey and Greece, and the inhabitants of the provinces which were awarded to Greece as well as Europe. To-day the great powers come forward to inform Greece that since, through the force of circumstances, the conclusions laid down in the Berlin decision can no longer attain the peaceable fulfillment which the Cabinets had in view, these have instructed their ministers in Greece that they should consider and establish among themselves the boundary-line which best suits the requirements of the situation. The conclusions of the embassadors, which Europe has adopted and expressly substituted for those of the decree of July 1, 1880, alter in a radical manner the boundary-line of the Berlin Conference; they put in the place of it a new boundary-line, the

main positions on which afford no sort of security and lack every requirement for natural defenses. This line, whose defects must occasion inevitable difficulties in the present and danger for the future, Greece is expected, according to the dispatch which has been received, to accept at once. In regard to this invitation of the powers, Greece could not avoid reflecting as to whether its acceptance would bring the question nearer to a conclusion, whether it would insure the complete, rapid, and peaceful solution of the difficulty. The experience of the past, the fate of the arrangement concluded in Berlin, the effect of the acquiescence expressed by Greece in the conclusions of the conference-all this has not encouraged the Hellenic Government to give an affirmative reply. Hence it is of importance to her to learn when the new decision of Europe shall be carried out; whether the peaceable delivery of the territories ceded to Greece will be effected immediately, or within a stated, brief period ; and finally, to be enlightened as to the guarantees which the powers would give that it would take place. The Greek Government is pained to learn that the prospect of a breach of the peace has been sufficient to impel Europe to modify the decision reached in Berlin. Greece would never have supposed that Turkey would refuse to submit to the arbitration of the great powers in such manner as to oppose their firm and unalterable will and expose herself to all the eventualities of a war whose consequences and extent she herself could not calculate. Greece desires peace; she rests in the hope that the great powers will take into serious consideration her appeal to their sense of right, that they will weigh it in the same spirit of good-will which has ever guided them in their decisions upon Greece and the Hellenes. Greece is grateful to Europe for the peaceful solution of the question of the Greek boundaries. She will therefore hasten to take possession of the territories which she is to re

ceive, and to offer all guarantees that may be desired

for the benefit of the Mussulmans of the annexed prov inces, both with regard to their religion and respect for their rights of property. But though resolved to take the peaceful course which has been pointed out been accustomed to respect, Greece believes it to be to her by Europe, whose counsels she has at all times neither a dignified nor an honorable proceeding on her part toward children who remain on the other side of the new boundary, and whose rights Europe solemnly acknowledged at Berlin, and has repeatedly confirmed, to leave them to their fate.

COUMOUNDOUros.

As soon as the conditions of the new adjustment were made public, the military ardor of the Greeks abated. In the country demonstrations in favor of war took place, but at Athens the party of Trikoupis as well as the adherents of the Government approved the tranquil acceptance of the situation. There was a party which would have embraced the opportunity afforded by any wavering on the part of Turkey to agitate in favor of breaking off from the agreement. The powers addressed a collective note to the Porte, urging that the terms of the settlement should be drawn in a formal convention without delay. The Greek frontier commission met to arrange the terms of the convention in the middle of May. The convention between the Porte and the powers was concluded and signed at Constantinople, May 24th. The Ottoman delegates on the commission presented stipulations for insuring the religious, civil, and property rights of Mussulmans in the ceded provinces. The Porte demanded among other terms that Mussulman communities should choose their own officials,

that the formalities of the Ottoman law should be observed in the case of any person changing his religion, and that questions of marriage or succession between Mussulmans should be judged by Mohammedan tribunals, which should retain their connection with the Sheik-ul-Islam. Some of the demands were rejected, as not transferring in full sovereignty of the province. The delegates of the powers added to the document the line of the new frontier, and conditions as to the time and mode of evacuation. The transfer of the territory was to begin immediately, under the superintendence of an international military commission. The Turkish authorities proceeded leisurely to prepare for the evacuation. A convention identical in substance with that made with the powers was concluded between the Porte and the Hellenic Government. This document was signed July 2d. The direction of the evacuation was intrusted to Dervish Pasha, the officer who effected the transfer of Dulcigno to Montenegro. Arta was handed over to the Greek authorities on the very last day allowed by the terms. Punta had been evacuated by Hidayet Pasha through a mistake the preceding day, but being reoccupied before the entry of the Greeks a possible collision was averted. There was a considerable exodus of Mohammedans previous to the occupation, but this soon stopped, and inany of those who left returned. Excellent discipline was maintained in the occupation by the military of the successive zones evacuated according to the stipulations of the convention, and ready money was paid for all supplies. The Turkish officials had collected the taxes for the current year before leaving. A difference arose between the Turkish members of the commission and the representatives of the powers regarding the delimitation of the new frontier in Thessaly. The latter maintained that the line should run, according to the convention, between Hritiri and Zarko along a crest of hills northward of the Salambria, while the Turkish representatives insisted on carrying it across the river. This was made the subject of a note from the embassadors to the Porte.

The special Turkish post-office at Larissa was abolished by the Greek Government. The Ottoman Government thereupon addressed a note to the Greek Government demanding that all the Greek post-offices in the Turkish Empire should be closed. The Greek minister to Turkey, Condouriotis, replied that the Hellenic Government maintained separate postoffices in Turkey, the same as the other powers, and under the most-favored-nation clause in the treaty of commerce, whereas the operation of foreign posts in Greece was forbidden by the Constitution.

GUATEMALA (REPÚBLICA DE GUATEMALA), one of the five independent states of Central America, has still to settle the old question of limits with Mexico, and determine the ownership of the territory of Soconusco, which has

long been administered by and regarded as forming a part of the Republic of Mexico. In 1881 Guatemala applied for the friendly intervention of the United States; but Mexico refused to submit to arbitration or even discussion of the question, asserting her right to the disputed territory by option of the inhabitants themselves, and an undisturbed possession for fifty years.

Statistics concerning area, territorial division, population, etc., will be found in the "Annual Cyclopædia " for 1875 and 1880. In the late census returns, published on October 31, 1880, the population of the republic was set down at 1,400,000, against 1,197,054 in 1872; and the population of the capital at 62,186. The civil registry office recorded during the year 1880, 31 marriages; 165 naturalizations; 18 strangers domiciled in the city; 54 men and 69 women recognized as legitimate children; 755 men and 751 women died; and 634 male and 556 female children born. number of births for the whole republic was 48,927; that of the deaths, 23,346; increase, 25,581.

The

The President of Guatemala is General Rufino Barrios, elected May 7, 1873, for a period of six years. His term of office was prolonged by decree of the Constitutional Assembly under date of October 23, 1876; and he was re-elected March 15, 1880, for a period of six years. The Cabinet was composed of the following ministers: Foreign Affairs, Dr. Lorenzo Montúfar; Interior, Dr. F. Cruz; War, Señor J. M. Barrundia; Public Instruction, Señor Delfino Sanchez; Agriculture, Señor A. Peña; Public Works, Señor M. Herrera.

The Guatemalan Minister to the United States is Señor Don A. Ubico; and the ConsulGeneral (for the Union) at New York, is Señor Don Jacobo Baiz.

The United States Minister to the five Central American republics (and resident in Guatemala) is Dr. Cornelius A. Logan; and the United States Consul at Guatemala City, Mr. J. F. Medina.

The armed force of the republic comprises 2,180 men in active service and 33,229 militia.

The organization of a police force has been reported, under the direction of an ex-police official from New York, who appears also to have been intrusted with the framing of a special code for the regulation of the force.

The report of the Inspector of Public Instruction for 1880 shows decided progress in educational affairs. In six of the superior institutions of learning the cost to the public Treasury was $104,393.96, in addition to considerable sums received from pupils and for examinations and degrees. The schools were in a high state of efficiency, increasing attendance, and the appropriations for school funds on a correspondingly higher scale than for any other year. The fostering of education has been one of the constant cares of the Presi* See "Annual Cyclopædia" for 1880, p. 850.