THE SULTAN OF TURKEY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 91, 7 October 1911, Page 10

THE SULTAN OF TURKEY.

AN INTKUYIKW. il'.v \"v. T. Mead ill Hie Review of Ueviews). (Mi M(mda\. -lilly -H, I w:b Mimiiioueil in ihe I'iiiiin- hi Donna liay'ulie lo an .lUUirlli/e Willi the ft una ii. I was dul} uanieil beluieliaiul, an J wan Oeiure 1 „,,n id i.ai-clmia lu .see Uie Czar .\u\amiei 111., Unit 1 must not expect lu na\e am tiling inn the most lurmal conii.Wilhiii. "j lie Czar never talks to

i lii' L/.ar never talks lu an, lorcigucr. i.-a-ii of all lu a journalist. Hi' v\ill make a remark about the wraiiiei. i>ax a compliment or two, and i lieu llit- audience will be over.'* 1 dill not lind U no. -No mail ever spoke more iini\ and mule frankly to man than did Hie I'.mpcioi Alexander 111., when m a iiuwdcd liau lioiir wu passed in review evert question upon which there might In riahi-r arise points of iru-liuii between Jjiilaiii and Kiissia. ISut 1 luul a imin ol decided character, an autocrat wlio rnii'il at ui'il as reigned. -No one questioned liis ability to talk if lie elio.su, they only doubted ilis will. Willi the Gillian it* was dillereiil. it was not that lie ,aeked the will; I was assured that ne nuked the intelligence to converse on mailers ol .Slate. A man who has ueeii kept a virtual prisoner lor thirty ,ears, and who was over sixty years when lie was called to a Ihroiie which he w;is allowed to occupy in order that others might rule iu lus name, was a very dillerent person U'olii the Russian tzar. .Besides this, the Czar talked English, so that our conversation look place between four eyes, whereas the Sulton onlv speaks Tin Kish. and the presence ol an interpreter was indispensable. The latter dillieulty was, however, minimised ■'-indeed, altogether removed—by |the kind ollices ol Loutfi Key, the Court Chamberlain, who speaks English admirably, and lo whose courtesy I am deeply' indebted. I have seldom hud n more careful and sympathetic interpreter. Loutti Bey—or Sir Loutii, as he told me. with some amusement, he was entitled to be called, owing to his possession of the Victorian Order, bestowed on him by our King on his last official visit to London-was one of the few Court officials who served both Abdul liainid and his successor. He is a pleasantspoken man, with a keen sense of humor ami ready wit.

Having* finished coiTce, which was served in cups set in silver holders thickly crusted with diamonds, 1 was summoned to the presence. An officer in khaki uniform conducted me to the door of the Sultan, to whom I was at once presented to Sir Loutfi. His Majesty advanced a step or two to meet me, shook hands, and motioned me to a chair. As he resumed his own, I scrutinised him with interest and curiosity. The Sultan is a man somewhat below the middle height, somewhat past tlie prime of life, slightly stout in body, and somewhat slow in his movements and in his speech. He was older than any Sovereign I had previously met. and with a less mobile countenance. lie wore the inevitable r(lf l fez—an institution with which not

even the Parliament dares to intermeddle—and beneath his grey eyebrows his eyes blinked with a somewhat vacuous expression. He wore a moustache, and his beard was trimmed short. He did not strike me as being a nervous man. neither did he give me the impression either of an alert mind or of resolute will. A somewhat dull, colorless face with a curious suggestion in it of the old Land Leaguer. Matt Harris of liallinasloe. Il seeuied to me that he had the somewhat shy reserve of a prisoner not vet fully accustomed to liberty; a man, T should say, naturally of a kindly disposition, but of somewhat confused mind, who has not yet got his bearings or felt his footing firm enough to show his own leanings. But I did not feel quite sure that there was not in him something more than appears on the surface, and that if his life be spared his Ministers may find that he has a will of his own. There is a good deal of dogged obstinacy behind that apparent timidity. It is not the timidity of temperament. It is only the timidity of a landsman who has not got his sea-legs. As I looked at him I could not help feeling a certain sense of responsibility and even of awe. For whatever might be the volue or the valuelessness of the the man before me represented one of the few factors that count in the ordering of the future of the Near East. After deducting HO per cent, from the nonsense that is talked about the Caliphate, there stil] remains sufficient residuum to make him far more than an ordinary Sovereign. The conversation began with a few pleasant words of compliment from the Sultan, in which it was not difficult to detect the skilful hand of Sir Loutfi. who had long been a reader of the Review of Reviews. I replied by expressing my sense of the high honor conferred upon me by being admitted to the presence of bis Majesty. He bowed slightly. 1 went on, "May I take the liberty of expressing to your Majesty my profound sympathy with the unfortunate victims of the terrible conflagration which has devastated Stamboul?''

"I thank you." he replied. "I have telegraphed to America an account of the sufferings of thousands who have been rendered homeless, and have urged the American people to raise subscriptions for the poor sufferers." The Sultan's eyes gleamed for a little. Then he spoke slowly, "f thank vou for your expression of sympathy. Such sentiments not only do you honor, but they show that despite all difference lmmanitv is one."

He paused. T asked Sir Loufi. "May I speak freely?" "Certainly," said the Chamberlain, "liis Majesty desires it."

Here. then, was the open door and the

wished-for opportunity. "I wish to congratulate his Majesty upon being the lir.,t of (he line of Constitution sovereigns in Turkey, to be followed, I hope, bv a long line of monarchs who will excel in glory the greatest of their predecessors."

Again a pause. The Sultan brought

his fingers together across his breast, and answered. "1 thank you for your good "'ishes. T have always desired the estab'.st nient of the Constitution in Turkey. i-ml now that it is established I shall maintain the Constitution." Il was evident Ilia! those who told me i 1,,. si,,ii., n wiiii).l not talk were misinformed, lb' was not eager to speak, lie always paused a little before he framed his sentences, But he answered in a way that showed he was listening attentively, and was sometimes reliediug -hrcwilly.

From this point the conversation went mi freely. The opporl unit v given me of speaking freely was one which 1 took advaniaii,. of to Ihe uttermost. I coo fe-- 1 was more than once in doubt as io wheth. r 1 had not ventured too far. mid lieiiL'ed Sir Lonlli to abstain from iran-hitiiiL' iiiivihinir if he thought that 0 intirtit .'-liy offence. Sir Lonlli invariable replied Oial there need be no cause for'npprehen-ion. The Sultan wished to hear, and r could sav what T liked. And 1 did.

It would not lie ri,i;li(, to publish :i faithful transcript of a conversation so intimate, which, amonjr other subjects tonchod upon, dealt with the functions of Constitutional sovereigns in the modern State, the advantages of their posi-

linn as compared with that of aulocrufs,l ill,. doctrine of Ministerial li'sponsibility, and tin- danger of confounding tin' pcr-!-,.n uf tin' monarch with tin: policy of hi, adviser.. H whs i<> me an inti'rcstin<.- iiml to tl»' Sultan an unprecedented, experience to hear the most advanced ilni Irincs of proper Imperialism discussed in tlie Dolma ISagtchc Palace. That line lovalt.Y to his Majesty might sometime, iie licst shown by offering a resolute opposition to evil advisers why might ill limes surround his throne was obviously to him something of a paradox. Not less interesting was the discussion as to Ihe best ways of treating dUatl'ection. The South African Union on one side and the Albanian rising on lainlv interesteil. I had not bored him, The 'Sultan deplored the censures pronounced upim his troops and his generals in the English press. I said that in future we should have a double reason for eeiistiriiur atrocities, for not only were tliev had in themselves, but I now knew from his Majesty's own lips that Ihev were direct nets of disobedience to his commands. I assured him that I should deal as faithfully with all Turkish generals as 1 had done with British commanders, no more and no less. Then we discussed Turkey's relations with England. Germany and Russia. Here we were on safer ground than in discussing atrocity campaigns. The Sultan exclaimed with some vehemence, after | hearing what 1 said about Germany, •■Now 1 see that you are a man of good conscience." The doctrine of alliances I I,l'om.dit up the analogy of polygamy, and the wittiest thing the Sultan said was that it was usual in a harem to have a favorite wife, but in international all'airs he tried to treat all Powers with equality . The conversation, which lasted more than an hour, did not come to a close before I hud a full opportunity of bearing strong testimony to the fatal and suicidal policy of attempting to govern Turkey on principles of centralisation and o'ttoiniinisation. which, if applied to the hritisli or Herman Empires, would split them to pieces in six weeks. The Sultan repudiated emphatically any desire to pursue such a policy which, as I said on leaving, showed once more howl much wiser he was than some of his Ministers. We shook hands and parted. J II was a somewhat pathetic figure, of a] man which I looked upon as f backed out of the Imperial presence. He was, I think, somewhat bewildered, but certainly interested. I had not bored him, which is always the first thing to be dreaded when saying things. I hail occasionally amused him. and possibly I had succeeded in conveying to a mind not i|iiickly receptive some dim inkling of what I was driving at. 'T thank you," he said as we parted. "I thank you 1 very much for all you have said to me. j I hope that I shall profit by your words." | Sir Lontfi took me back to his room, where we had a lively discussion about i the Sultan and the interview. "He is such an intelligent man.'' said the Chamberlain; "he is so much interested in all the things you have said." I expressed satisfaction, not unmixed with surprise, for J had certainly "said things." "The Sultan has never had such a conversation before with anyone in his life." said Sir Loutfi.

He told me many things about the Sultan's kind heart, of his ready sympathy with distress. lie was much upset bv the lire in Stamboul; he had ordered that there should be no music in the pnlaee for three days, and had subscribed (J2500 to the 'relief fund. During his (our in the provinces he delighted to gather the children of various nationalities around him and stand in I heir midst like a father. "Indeed," said the enthusiastic Chamberlain, "his Majesty is the real father of his people." "I am delighted to hear it," T replied,

••and most happy to believe it. But, then, you know, we so often heard just the same thing about Abdul Humid." "Oil, but that is quite a different man!" exclaimed Sir Loutfi. Which is true.