ABDUL HAMID'S NEW QUARTERS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1634, 28 December 1912, Page 12

ABDUL HAMID'S NEW QUARTERS.

THE JOURNEY FROM SALONIKA. A correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" at Constantinople, who accompanied the ex-Sultan Abdul Hamid on board the Lorelei from • Salonika to hra dow quarters, send-3 the following account of tlia voyage:— "The Government, when the possibility of the evacuation of Salonika becamo apparent,/ decided to bring Abdul awuy. Broussi was assigned first as his future residence, but the old. Sultan evidently had a very keen idea as to the real position of things, and started to dictate to his former conquerors. He expressed bis unwillingness at first to leave the Villa 'Allatini, but when that objection was overcome he flatly refused to go anywhere but to som© place on his beloved; Bosphorus. : ~ , "The Imogens was mentioned as tne vessel which wasto bring him away, but her sleeping accommodation being inadequate, and her sea-going qualities being next to nothing, the German ship was selected. (It was really quaiilt how solicitcua tho Young Turks had suddenly be,come for the comfort of the Old Tyrant.) "Arrangements were made quickly. Two of Abdul's sons-in-law, the 'Damads Cherif and Arif Hikmet Pa3ha, were appointed to represent the Government, and the Lorelei left on tho 3rd. 'When Abdul came on board I must confess his condition was a surprise to.all of us. Rumour has had it 'that 'his'.general health was very . bad, and that his mental faculties in short, that he was little better than an enfeebled idiot. Though we had allowed a little discount for rumour, we did not expect to find that our old Master was m first-rate health, as good as could be expected. for a man or his ; age, while his brain is as clear and alert as ever it was. "Cautious as usual, the ex-Sultan would 'Hot come aboard until he received - what he regarded, as adequate assurances as to his safety, but that business over, he came readily enough. With him, in addition to attendants, were twelve ladies of his harem,- two of them "Mines' or wives, the other ten being their attendants, and his youngest and favourite son. The last was a bright little chap, some seven years old, who .was' all over. tne ship, enjoying himself immensely, and became everybody's favourite. "Abdul Hamid bore himself with extreme dignity.. He shook hands with the captain and some of the otberofficers, and conversed a little while in French, and then went below to the 'Ambassador s quarters,' the ladies gowfr to tho. ward room and the officers' cabins. Abdul remained below aU the voyage, but when the vessel reached its destination, he came quietly on deck, and in quite an Imperial manner bade farewell' to tne offioers of the ship. It was difficult to believe that this man was deposed a little over three years ago when I saw giving souvenirs to the officers of tne Lorelei; ono would,have thought that he was still the Sultan. He gave the captain a magnificent cigarette case, while to each of the officers he presented a diamond Bcarf-pin. ■ ■ ~ . "He is lodged now, with his family, in the Beyler-Bey Pasha, on the Asiatic side of tho Bosphorus, almost immediately opposite Dolma-Bagtche, the residence ot the reigning Sultan, and it is strange how, in this their moment of anguish, tne hearts and thoughts of the Tujks go out to the 'King across the water.