File No. 10044/38.
Ambassador Leishman to the Secretary of State.
Constantinople, August 3, 1908.
Sir: With further reference to my several dispatches of recent date on the subject of the present crisis in Turkey, I have the honor to report the latest developments for the department’s information.
Yesterday the announcement was made of the formation of a new cabinet But, with hardly an exception, its members have all been officials of the old régime, and while certain of them are men [Page 747] of integrity and ability, the majority do not differ enough from their predecessors to betoken any signal change The situation at the present time may best be described as simmering, but any trifling event may cause it to break into violence Demonstrations are of daily occurrence; and while hitherto fairly orderly, the crowd has now begun to handle roughly the objects of its dislike Yesterday one of the adherents of Izzet Pasha died from the effects of injuries received by the mob, which was incensed by the flight of that individual on board an English vessel Others of the palace camarilla have also escaped.
The chiefs of the Young Turkish Party have hitherto refrained from coming here, preferring to remain at Monastir, Salonica, and Adrianople, where they keep their hold on the army While the Stamboul garrison is probably won over to the reform movement, the palace guard, a force variously estimated at between ten and twenty thousand men, remains an uncertain quantity, but, like the rabble of the city, probably sympathizes with the Sultan.
I have, etc.,