THE SULTAN IN PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5081, 6 July 1877, Page 3

THE SULTAN IN PARLIAMENT.

(From London Truth, March 28.)

How I got into the Palaco of Dolma Bagtehd to see the ceremony of inaugurating the new Parliament is my secret. There I was, however, in the gallery of the north transept of the great hall, almost alone, and with a perfect view of the magnificent proportions of that most splendid of throne-rooms. Like a tessellated pavement below me was a crowded massof humanity, whose many-colored garments produced an effect which, if not exactly picturesque, was quaint and new. A word first about the hall. I calculate that it is about 220 ft. long by 140 ft. wide, and very lofty. Tall, light columns, quasi- lonian, seem to support an architrave, from which spring the arches which support the ceiling, the centre of which rises in a vast dome. Up to the architrave all is white and gold, the coloring giving amplitude to the splendid proportions. The dome and ceiling are disfigured with the most execrable attempts at perspective painting, representing a mixture of hanging chandeliers, flowerbaskets, drapery, and every hideous and incongruous combination of which painted upholstery is capable. This painting is the one blot of this stately hall. In the centre hangs a crystal chandelier of leviathan dimensions, containing COO candles, and at intervals along tho sides arc crystal candelabra, at least twenty-five feethigh, matching with the centrepiece. Yesterday tho solid gold throne was brought out and placed at tho west end of the hall; it is a square sofa, its sides, back and front quite plain, except here and there indented at equal distances, and with a red cushion upon it, the whole conveying no idea of its vast value. I

watched the gradual gathering in the hall; it reminded me of the filling of the stage in the second act of “ Aida, 1 ’ but we missed the trumpets and would have been thankful for something to break the dead gloom of a spectacle, which, despite its grandeur, signally failed to be imposing. Eirst came the 200 halberdiers of the Sultan in scarlet tunics, with rich gold embroideries, and blue trousers with black stripes ; the effect spoiled, like that of the hall, by the upper adornment, consisting of a red velvet saucepan, to which is appended a tall bottlebrush plume of sea-green and white. A few of the officers wore a palm-striped plume sweepiqg back, more hideous than the upright feather of the men. These formed in single line round the hall. Behind them was ranged a line of riflemen in dark green. After them poured in general officers in blue coats and red trousers; the ecclesiastical pierarchy of Islam in green and gold embroidered robes and white turbans striped with gold; followed by Ministers and functionaries in dark blue with profuse gold embroidery ; then patriarchs and bishops, with their crepe weepers, accompanied by the priesthood of their respective churches; last, not least, the diplomatic body, which, in the absence of ambassadors, presented a naked and half-fledged appearance. When all these were ranged in their places the door of the Sultan’s apartment opened, and the Padishah came out preceded by little Riamn walking backward on the tips of his little toes. More years ago than I care to count I saw the father of the present Sultan, when on a visit to the second city of his Empire, descend from his carriage and enter the house of a prosperous English merchant, under whose roof Abdul Medjib had condescended to take a few hours’ rest. I was a child then, but I was struck by that monarch’s uncertain gait, by his downcast eyes, his depressed and timid look, bespeaking indifference so profound that I would have given anything to catch hold of him and shake him up into even momentary effervescence. When I saw Abdul Hamid come out yesterday, “ his father’s son,” I said. He swayed on his stem, so to say, just as his father did, like a reed shaken by the wind ; there was no more expression on his countenance than on the egg I cracked at breakfast. Wearily he took his place. With downcast eyes, with a weary gesture he summoned the Grand Vizier to his side, aud with a languid hand he thrust a scroll into the Sadrazan’s hand —the scroll which contained his speech—without betraying the slightest interest; and so he stood during the twenty minutes which were occupied in reading the verbose document. A dead stillness reigned in the hall, aud, but for my extreme anxiety lest one of the haldberdiers should drop asleep and poke his eye out with the spike of his battle-axe, I should have taken forty winks. When the monotonous voice of Said Pasha was hushed, Abdul Hamid, who had stood all the time, swaying like a tulip on its stem, made an awkward temana to the assembly, and with duck-like steps regained his apartments. The whole ceremony was simply death-like ; not a smile nor a gesture relieved it. Nothing was to be seen but the whites of thousands of eyes turned upwards, sideways—etiquette forbidding to look full upon the sovereign—and when the door closed behind the august Prince, the gilded and bedizened throng melted silently away, and in ten minutes the vast hall was empty.