"Abdul the Damned."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 77, 5 April 1904, Page 4

"Abdul the Damned."

AN UNHAPPY DESPOT. Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey— Galdstone's "Abdul the Uamned " is not a man whom many people people would envy ; but,if a writer in "Good Words" is to be trusted, his life is even more miserable than is generally supposed. Since the unfortunate ending of the UussoTurkish war, for which hx.' felt that he was largely responsible, the "Defender of the Faithful" lias kept himself away from his capital, anil ha 9 lived in a fortress on the heights of Yildiz, surrounded by thick walls, barracks, and bodyguards. There, despite the extraordinary precautions with which he is surrounded, he supports with difficulty the burden of an existence filled with suspicion ami terror. The blackest day on his calendar is that |on which he has to pay his annual | visit to the capital in order to attend the ceremony of "Ilirkai-Cher- | if," or adoration of the Cloak of the Prophet and other sacred relies. Then he is obliged to drive through the crowded streets, and he submits to the ordeal with a terror that Is almost pitiful. "Crouching at the back of a victoria," to quote the "Good Words" article, "Hie raised hood of which conceals a steel shield between the outside leather and the cloth lining, the Sultan with his two magnincant horses at full gallop, passes like the wind, surrrounded by a living fortress of aides-de-camps and eourtiers, who hide him almost completely from the "uze of the crowd. The luxury and beautv of the carriages and liveries, the glittering uniforms of the horsemen acting as escort, form a striking contrast with the look of consternation impressed on the face of the un- «""■!* Pilgrim. lient double h,s shoulders sloping, his consumptive body buned in the loose fokI s „ ~ long, dark overcoat his thin r„" i nnii«» .u . ""«•■ ma win face ot a pallor that even rou R e cannot entirely conceal, his e»„,mo„s " , ' ' pulled down over his ev s hi i hooked nose, his >,»,y u u,"^' tf«**s.. uneasy am! fugitive ',. Sultan is that day part in I, ~|, pelient-looking.ani 1 ;" 1 y '- Po«ng nor « oyal demean, "^ his home, ,f it can be called a hoi, i, of hi*" ' iVl ' S »'«'««>„ i°" '