File No. 10044/288.
Ambassador Leishman to the Secretary of State.
Constantinople, June 8, 1909.
Sir: There has been very little change in the general situation during the past fortnight, and, although alarming rumors are not lacking, fairly normal conditions continue to prevail, and while troubles of more or less importance may naturally be anticipated from time to time in a country that is passing through a crucial period consequent to a revolution it is not very probable that the serious events of the past few months will be repeated.
Genuine progress has been made at the capital in the matter of public security by the creation of a well-disciplined gendarmerie which supplements a very much improved police force, and this service will be extended to other districts as rapidly as circumstances will permit.
The present state of siege will probably be continued for a long time to come, at least in practice if not in name, as the necessity of keeping the city under strong control is fully appreciated.
Much remains to be done, and it will take time to straighten out the tangled meshes.
So much depends upon the manner in which matters may be conducted that it would be rather venturesome to hazard an opinion as to the near future, as many of the troubles experienced by the French during the first few years following the revolution may be repeated here; but as my previous dispatches will have indicated I am disposed to take a rather hopeful view regarding the final outcome and will be surprised if Turkey does not eventually emerge from her present difficulties and assume her proper place in the congress of [Page 580] nations, although it may require a decade or two for her to accomplish this very formidable task.
I have, etc.,