reed or race. Many of them were, in fact, in favor of
a republic. It was not long before their leaders came in contact
with the leaders of the committee. And for some years they worked
quietly together. The Young Turks, it should be remembered, were
especially active in the army.

CHAPTER XVII

CRISIS IN TURKEY

Then, suddenly, in 1908, occurred what was probably the most
alarming event that had yet happened, from the point of view of
Austria and Russia. The sultan had decided to begin taking more
severe measures with the Young Turks, with the result that he
precipitated a crisis. Enver Bey and Niazi Bey, two of the Young
Turk leaders, openly revolted in Monastir and took to the near-by
mountains, calling on all Turkish subjects to support them. The
revolt spread rapidly. The Young Turks captured the city of Monastir
and then the garrison at Saloniki handed that city over to them. The
sultan, seeing that the whole army was against him, suddenly decided
to temporize and finally agreed to proclaim a constitution for
Turkey.

In November of 1908 elections were held for the new Parliament and
all the various nationalities were given an opportunity to send in
their deputies.

But Abdul Hamid was not going to accept the new regime without
another effort to regain his old control. The following winter,
after the Parliament had met, he gathered together his old
supporters and, having made sure that he could count on the loyalty
of the garrison in Constantinople, suddenly abolished all that he
had proclaimed and declared the old regime restored.

Then Mahmud Shevket Pasha, the military leader of the Young Turks,
established himself in Macedonia and called on all the people to
support him.

The events which followed will ever rank as among the most dramatic
and picturesque of recent Turkish history. First of all the fighting
bands of the committee, which had already laid down their arms,
reorganized again and came down from the mountains to join Shevket's
army. At their head marched Yani Sandanski, the leader of the
committee and the hated enemy of Prince Ferdinand. The comitajis,
however, were not the only ones to respond. When Shevket finally
began to march on the capital, he had in his army whole brigades of
Greeks, Jews, Vlachs as well as Turks and Bulgars.

When this army finally appeared outside the gates of Constantinople,
the sultan and his soldiers realized that all was lost, but it was
now too late