The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-06-10 00:00:00

THE NEW SULTAN AND HIS FAMILY.

A letter from Constantinople in the Economists Francais
contains a-reference to the present Sultan, the more interest-
ing because written before his accession to the Throne.
Ater giving a list of the 21 members of the Imperial family,
with their pensions, amounting to close on £21C,000 a year.
the writer says :

"Of all these Princes and Princesses only the sons
of Abdul Medjid, brother and predecessor of Abdul
Assz, live in the palace. The others reside in splendid
habitations on the Bosphorus. The heir to the Throne
,
Murad Effendi, the eldest of these eons of Abdul
Medjid, who has about £ll,OOO sterling per annum,
and his brothers live in strict seclusion. They see the
Sultan only once a year at the festival of Bairam.
They appear neither in public ceremonies nor at the re-
ceptions of foreign Sovereigns or Ambassadors. None
of them possesses any rank or title. These young men
however, are distinguished by real excellences. Murad
Effendi reads and writes French; he is studious; the
psople round him praise the sagacity of his mind and
the goodness of his heart. The humiliating position of
these Princes is the more striking by comparison with
the honours showered by the Sultan on his sons.
There are four of these—Youssouf, aged 19, Djemal,
13, Mehemed, 9, and Abdul Medjid, 5, with a daugh-
ter aged 4. At 15, Youssouf was Marshal of the
Empire and Commander-in-Chief of the Imperiil
Guard. He is not at all prepossessing and of an
ignorance rare even in Turkey. The second son, muck
better gifted, physically and morally, is an Admiral;
the third an Artillery Colonel, and the fourth a Major
in the Navy."

• Toe following items are given of the late Sultan's
expenditure
"There are, or, rather, there were, between five and six
thousand people employ.ed in one way and another in looking
utter his Sublime Highness's personal wants. In the stables
alone 935 equerries, grooms, &c, were occupied in the care
of 625 saddle-horses On the average, twenty-five carriages
were yearly bought for him in Europe, some of which coat
as much as 100,0001., and this item alone is estimated at two
and a half millions. The private menagerie contains more
than 160 lions, tigers, &a., and costs a million a year. The
Sultan's harem contains 1,500 women, and the single item
of sweetmeats for their consumption amounts to 400,000 f.
yearly. What is called tne bench du palais, or butcher and
' baker account, devours more than 12 millions. Ms 48 doctors
and apothecaries receive 657,0001. a year. But his 12
muezzins get only 62,0001., though his " astrologer " alone is
paid 13,000 f. His private band of 301 musicians receive
always double pay. Since he came to4he throne the Sultan
built two palaces and six new klosques, the former of which
are of the dimensions of a small town, and the latter fur-
nished hi the highest style of modern luxury, elegance, and
expense He was also building a new mosque, with seventy
houses for the attendant priests. It is estimated that the
Sultan's establishment would have required in France, three
hundred millions a year to keep it up in the same style and
dimensions.