ABDUL HAMID.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 91, 13 May 1909, Page 4

ABDUL HAMID.

*» I PERSONAL SKETCH OF iliE LATE SULTAN, (By the Rev. Haskell Smith, M.A., F.U.G.S.) It is now nearly a quarter of a century since the world in general, ami Constantinople in particular, was stai-tteu by tin? intelligence that Abdul Aziz, % Sultan of Turkey, having been deposeql4'rom Ins imperial throne, had been found dead one morning on the lloor of his bedroom, in his iiiagmlicieiit marble palate un the shores of the Jiosphorus, toe arteries of his arm having been raid open wicu a pair of jewel-haudied scissors, which were still grasped in his right hand.

'The ollicial verdict was one of "suicide," and thus it was reported by the Ottoman authorities to the other Governments of the world. Many people at the time were noubuul as lo tne truth of this statement, and it was darkly hinted in many quarters that treachery and assassination laid Hi reality been at work. It is now an open secret, or, rather, it is no secret at all, at Constantinople that poor Abdul Aziz was done to death in the silence of ihe night b.. c«o of his principal Ministers of .Mate, tae Grand S'izier and the Siiiek-el-lslani, who had fore d their way into his private bad-chamber. And thus, as Punch tersely put it, the Sultan Aziz, became the Sultan As U'as ! He was succeeded to the throne oy his nephew Murad; the eldest surviving son of hU brother and predecessor, the famous Abdul Medjid, who was reigning over Turkey at the time m the Crimean War. Murad's rcigu, however, was destined to be but ol a very short duration, for it was speedily discovered that he was insane, and consequently incapable of occupying the Imperial throne, and in less man three months after his elevation he was In turn deposed.

It might appear strange that the insanity of -Murad had not been discovered before lie was made Sultan at all; hut it must be remembered that m .ttuurdance with'a very harsh and cruel custom in the Ottoman Empire, the nearest relations and heirs of the reigning Sulfa l are-kept in virtual confinement as political prisoners, and live in total senns.-o.i from their fellow men in one or another of the marble palaces on the Gosphortis. It is true that they are not actually called prisoners, and i„at due deference is shown to their rank and position; but, as a matter of fact, their close confinement within the walls of their sumptuous palaces, and their seclusion from all intercourse with the outer worul, constitute them perpetual prisoners in the truest sense of tne term. From such an enforced retirement Murad was suddenly brought forth and placed upon the exalted throne of Constantinople, finding himself confronted, without any preparation, with the cares, responsibility, power, anil perils attaching to the Ottoman Crown. His intellect, undermined by long confinement and isolation, was unable to.resist the terrible strain to which it was thus suddenly I and unexpectedly exposed. So the unfortunate Murad, having

tasted the brief respite from coulinenient, was again immured within the prison walls of his JJosphoius palace, and iiis brother, Abdul llamid, became Sultan in his place. This is the man who

has ruled the destines of the Ottoman Empire, through good report and evil, in prosperity and in adversity, since the year 1877, and who until a week or two ago occupied the throne of Constantinople. 1 have had the privilege of being present as an invited guests at six differ cut Selamliks of the Sultan Abdul J lamid, and on each ot these occasions 1 have consequently been brought face to face with his Imperial Majesty. The Turkish Selamlik corresponds to the Queen's Dra wing-Room in London, in so far as it is the official functiou by which the Sultan formerly admits the invited guests into " society," though ot course tile person received are of th" male se.x only. A person who has received an invitation to the Selamlik is in the same position in Constantinople as th,, person who has been "presented" at Court in London. The Selamlik

is, in reality, the Sultan's state visit to the Mosque on Friday. Jn former reigns it has been the custom of the Sultan to attend different mosques on each succeeding Friday ; going, for example, to the Mosque of St. Sophia one Friday : to the Ahniedieh, or .Mosque of Aiiiued 11., the next week; to the Sulennajieh. or Mosque of Solieman the Maguiticcnt, the; next week, and so lorth. Once a month the ceremony took place oy water, the state Moslem service being held at the exquisitely lovely .Mosque of Orlakeni, oa the European shores ot the Hosphorus. The .pageant on mis occasion was maguiliciciit and picturesque in the extreme, the Imperial barge, which conveyed the Sultan down Hi; I.mile,i horn and up the llosplionis being attended by gaily decorated aim gorgeously upholstered vessels of every imaginable lorm and appearance, anil followed by hundreds oi elegant cinques, as the liglit Turkish skill's of Constantinople are called.

Jiut ull IJiU has been altered since Alidul iiainid nunc to the throne. Xlioujfh Nominally holding tlio proud title uf " Father of the Faithful," ami officially esteemed the head of the -Mos lt-ni world, tlio present Sultan lias ever been in shell tenor of violence or treachery at the hand* of his -Moslem subjects that he has only once crossed the Galata Bridge over tile' Golden Horn, which connects Stuinboul, the .Moslem quarter o' the city, with Ualatu and I'ora, the Christian ([iiarters. One of his lirst acts on coming to the throne was to erect and occupy a palace on the heights of I'cra. preferring to trust himself to the European Christian inhabitants of Constantinople rather than to the native .Moslems of his own race and blood. This palace is called the " Yildiz Kiosk," and just outside the principal gateway which leads into the grounds of the kiosk lis has created a handsome marble mosque, called after him, the "llumidich." It is to this mosque, immediately adjoining his palace, ami far removed from the crowded haunts of the city, that the pultun makes his state visit every Friday, never patronising any other. A substantial and elaborately furnished mansion, witli a magnificent balcony and verandah in front, has been erected directly facing this mosque, and on the other side of the broad roadway along which the (sultan drives to tlie mosque from his palace; and here it is that the guest' who have been formerly invited to the Selamlik are received on His Majeslys behalf by his principal officers of State. From the windows of the mansion, or from its balcony and verandah, they view the great procession and witness all the details of the imposing and picturesque ccrcnionv. a Uodv of IH,UOO Turkish soldiers, all arrayed'in spotless-

ly clean uniforms and admirably drilled, line the roadway on either side, and at the further end, remove lrom the palace, keep in check the thousands of natives and visitors to Constantinople who have not received the coveted invitation to the Selamlik, __ As the Sultan passes the Selamlik Pal-

ace lie pauses for a'lew moments to salute his guests, uml it is then, whilst lie s ; >s upright in .hi* carriuyv..with his hand raised to liin forehead in military salutation, that one is able to gaze umcseiTcdly iijion his face ami figure, anil endeavour lo read the workings of the mind within. The impression whieli that face and ligurc produced i.poii me the first

time that J thus gazed U]ion them has been deepened and intensilied on eacn subsequent occasion. A thin, spare man, with liollow sunken cheeks, a sallow, wan face, a pensive and melancholy mein of countenance, and a kindly and by no means stern look in his eyes without the slightest apparent truce of anything martial or despotic in his bearing, yet withal, with a certain instinctive and indefinable dignity in his demeanour, Abdul Han'id attract';

and rivets tile attention of the spectator, not so much by any of the traits abovementioned as by 2111 unmistakably sad

and.pathctic expression of loneliness. As lie gazes around at his .Ministers, officials and the invited guests of the Sekimlik, at the splendid looking troops which attend to liim homage ; at the vast crowd beyond, which have come in curiosity to look at liim ; or at the gilded domes and minarets which stand out on the skyline in the far dis-

lance ;' the blue waters of the Bospnorus and the Sea of Marmora, with their crowded shipping, glimpses of which can be obtained from the spot as his eye seems to ruve round every detail of the stirring and suggestive scene, his heart appears to be yearning f<"' confidence and friendship, and one almost lancies one can read the cry of his soul, " Would to God that of the teeming millions who uwn my sway there was one single soul upon whom 1 could honestly rely." 1 never snw so lonely-looking a man, and the feeling in my mind towards Abdul Haniid, through my personal view of His Majesty, has ueen, *nd still, is. in no respect one uf awe, of distrust of terror, or even of homage, it is one of unalloyed and heartfelt pity. The' Sultan takes all his meals alone, attended only by one high official, who for many years was the late Osman Pasha, the renowned and heroic defender of Plevna. His duties were to taste every article of food and drink before it was presented to the Sulta' : lest perchance there should oe poison I'l It is an awful satire upon the despotism of autocracy that the two greatest autocrats of the world at the present day, Czar of Russia and the Sultan of Tn'rkev, should be at the same tune the most abject slaves in existence ; the slaves to a daily, constant, never-ceasing dread of secret treaci-wry and assassination.