THE FAILINGS OF ABDUL AZIZ.
A. Frenchman is sending strange correspondence from Constantinople to Paris, to show up the extravagance of the old Sultan. He had, says this correspondent -who is named Wsestyne, seven hundred cooks, who served up to him at each repast thirty kinds of pilaffs that he scarcely touched, and would frequently throw in the faces of his attendants for the least cause. Aziz was very violent, and would thrash even his Grand Viziers. They could only soothe his ire "by promising him money; and apropos to silver, here is what was found in his palaces. First, jewels estimated at twenty-four millions; then obligations or shares representing a value of eleven millions ; and, finally, a hundred and three millions in gold. Recollect, these millions are in francs. M. de Wsestyne says the new ships ordered in England have been sold to the British Government. Ironclads were a hobby with the late Sultan, and he loved to look at them out of the window. But the French correspondent gives a deplorable account of the ignorance of the Turks in seamanship, and tells a story in proof, which I imagine I have read somewhere before, besides in the tale of " Barney O'Biordan, the Navigator." Still a good thing may be once repeated in translation. "The Sultan was so proud of his new fleet that he ordered one of his captains to take an ironclad into the English waters. As long as the captain commanded the venturous ship in. the Mediterranean, all went well. They hugged the coasts, and pilots were always available. But when once Gibraltar was left behind matters changed. The last pilot, however, said to the captain who had privately intimated to him his embarrassment — 'Follow that ship you see before you ; it is going to England. Yours is a better sailer than she is, so you need only slacken speed and keep her in view.' The pilot left him, and the captain followed his advice, and never troubled his head about conipass or bearings. All went well till night, which came on dark and foggy. But at dawn they saw the smoke of a steamer, which they considered must be the guide of yesterday, and they stuck more closely than ever to her, following her lights each night. One day passed, two days passed, then four, then eight. Land was no longer anywhere visible, but the guiding steamer was ever in front. ' Faith ! ' said the Turkish captain, • I never thought England was so far off.' At last, on the twelfth day, they entered an immense port, and some custoin-hot:se officers came out and were received on board the Turkish man-of-war — ' What brought you here ? ' said one of them bluntly to the captain in English. ' I came to present the homages of the Sultan to your Queen.' • What Queen ? ' ' Queen Victoria ; ami not in England ? ' • T guess not, stranger ; you are in New York. 3 "
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New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 180, 8 September 1876, Page 14
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488THE FAILINGS OF ABDUL AZIZ. New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 180, 8 September 1876, Page 14
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