teamship Company at Mersina, and
had been summarily expelled from the city by order of the officials.

The Austrian consul at once interfered, and was grossly insulted by the
Mutessarif, who is a sort of mayor, and also by the Vali, or governor,
of Adana, in which province Mersina is situated. Adana is one of the
Turkish provinces on the Mediterranean Sea, and Mersina is one of its
chief seaport towns.

The incident being exactly what Austria had been wishing for, a great
deal was made of it. The Austrian ambassador at Constantinople sent word
that his flag had been insulted, and demanded that Turkey should
formally salute the Austrian flag, that both of the offending officials
must be immediately dismissed, and the agent given money damages.

The ambassador informed the Sultan that, in case of refusal, he should
leave Constantinople, and sever all diplomatic relations with Turkey,
and that warships should proceed to Mersina and bombard it.

The Sultan did not like to be treated in this way, and took time to
decide what he should do.

The ambassador sent a second letter, when he had waited as long as he
thought right for an answer to his first, with the added demand that
Turkey should also pay the claims of the Oriental Railroad Company, and
that the matter should be decided inside of eight days.

The claim of this railroad company was for carrying troops during the
war, and the bill for this service had not been paid.

Now the Oriental Railroad Company is not owned by Austria, but by
Austrian citizens, and it was an unheard-of thing for a government to
seek to collect the private debts of her citizens at the cannon's mouth.
Europe has, however, been doing remarkable things to Turkey for many
years past.

The Sultan dared not refuse Austria, any more than Bulgaria, until the
peace with Greece was signed, and so was forced to agree to all of
Austria's demands.

In six days he had made up his mind, and a polite message was sent by
the Porte (the Turkish Government) to Austria, that the ill-treatment of
the Austrian citizen was a matter of deep regret, and that the Porte
would pay the required money damages, would discharge the offending
officials, and send warships to salute the Austrian flag; and last, but
not least, the Porte would pay the railroad company's bill, which
amounted to the nice little sum of $1,250,000.

The letter concluded by stating that the Sultan desired the good will of
the Emperor of Aust