A PEACEFUL REVOLUTION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 143, 16 December 1908, Page 7

A PEACEFUL REVOLUTION.

THE NEW ORDER IN TURKEY. GREETINGS FROM THE MOTHER OF PARLIAMENTS. By Tdegrnpn.— Press Association.— Copyright. LONDON, 15th December. Three bundled and seventy-six members of ihe House of Commons, including Mi\ Asquith, the Prime Minister, and jilr. Balfour, leader of the Opposition, sent cordial greetings to the Turkish Parliament on its opening. They referred to it us "the child j of a peaceful revolution." Esper Nassoor Bey, Consul for Turkey in Australia, made a statement last week to this Sydney Herald relating to the Sultan's attitude towards the Constitutional movement, and the influence of the Young Turkey Party in bringing about the present condition of affairs. The Consul attributed the recent changes to the Young Turkey Party, ! which had its headquarters ac Salonica. The whole of Europe had expressed its admiration of the Young Turkey Party for the manner in which it had brought about responsible government. The reform was the result of evolution, and not revolution. Recent cables confirm-* ed the reports as to the orderliness of th>, elections, and tell how the different religious bodies, headed by their pa"triarchs and leaders, marched in a procession over two miles long in support I of the Constitution. The Christians throughout the Sultan's dominions cooperated heartily in the movement. In America the Christians (Syrian Otto- I mans) had collected so tar £400,000 I among themselves towards building a new battleship, the Syria, a very tangible proof of their support of the Government. The Turkish papers praised their patriotism, and rejoiced that the Empire boasted such citizens. The Sultan himself, said the Consul, had given tho reform movement his whole-souled approval and support. Not only his words, bat his actions showed that. He recently said : "I am only the head of the Government, and a working member of the Constitution." In support of that attitude he had given some of his private estates, with an income of £400,000 annually. He had also given £25,000 towards furnishing the present Houses of Parliament, and had promised to build tho new headquarters of the Empire's Legislature entirely out of his own pocket. To demonstrate his practical sympathy with the objects and aims of the Young Turkey Party, ne had provided a splendid palace at Salonica as offices for the Young Turkey leaders. When Murad Bey, one of the most powerful of the reactionary leaders, came to the Sultan with 15,000 men behind him, and threatened to revolt if the Sultan supported the granting of a Constitution, he and several of his leaders were immediately arrested.