The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-13 00:00:00

dead, the fact is that the late Sim-TlN—for whom

on account perhaps of his relations with Russia,
we were disposed to believe all the go6d we could

—was, beyond all comparison, the most extrava-
gant Sovereign in Europe in regard to his personal
expenses. Of course we reckon among these the
sums wasted on favourites of all classes. ABDUL

Aziz has, beyond doubt, reversed all this. There
may be, as Lord STRATFORD pointed out last night,
gross exaggerations in some details; it is little
likely that the late SULTAN, for instance, so out-
stripped the most splendid Sovereign of Jewish
history as to have a seraglio of 2,000
ladies; but that he had, even for Tur-

key, a very large one is undoubted, and
there seems to be as little doubt that ABDUL

Aziz seeks his domestic felicity in the society of bIL
one wife. The luxurious wishes of ABDUL MEDJID'S
wives, combined with his own, pressed also very
heavily on the finances of Turkey, while his brother
is content with a very moderate establishment.
ABDUL Aziz is a staunch Mahommed an, but he
seems to combine orthodoxy with prudence. He
does not regard as part of his religion the tradi-
tionary practices of the Turkish court where they
would entail a heavy burden on his Exchequer.
It seems to have been the custom to provide splen-
didly at the public cost for the numerousamong them.
widows,
many of them really unwedded widows, of the
departed Sultans. Wch ehiladvleess seen how he
has provided for the
Wealthy Mahometans may have the honour of
adding to their seraglios, doubtless at a handsome
price, these wives of the representative of the
prophet; they are to be made a profit rather than 1
an encumbrance to the State. Then as to the
widows who have children, the charge for them is
to be met by the sale of the late SULTAN'S jewels,
which will, it is expected, be sufficient for that pur-
pose. The spirit of economy is to be carried out in
every possible way, and the hitherto beggared army
and navy is to be the first to feel the advantage of a
ruler whose indulgences are to lie in promoting the
prosperity of his subjects. The Imperial stables
themselves are to sacrifice four hundred horses for
the artillery. It seems indeed singular, that a
Sovereign who could not sit a horse securely with-
out precautions to prevent his falling from it, should
have such a stud ; but so it was ; extravagance for
its own sake—extravagance without any direct
gratification from it, seems to have been one of the
pleasures of the late Monarch. His Artillery are to
get now the benefit of it.
It is, of course, too early yet to predict the future
course of a Sultan who has at least started well.
In the East the personal character of the Sovereign,
both through its direct action and through the men
whom it selects as Ministers, is of far more import-
ance than that of a constitutional Sovereign.
If ABDUL Aziz persists in his financial Lcourse
till he has compelled every Pasha throughout his
Empire to follow his example, Turkey will soon
have one of the safest Exchequers in Europe. No
one denies that her resources are immense. Her
debt is really" a flea bite," under a vigorous Govern-
ment. By creating security for the production of
agricultural wealth especially, and opening up the
country by roads, the revenue of Turkey would be
such as soon to give her a comparatively strong
position. She may have an army and navy
with which Russia could not trifle. One
which would always easily sustain the first
brunt of war, and enable allies to aid her effec-
tually. So far as can be known at present, the 1
SULTAN is quite sincere in promising to fulfil all
the treaties with European Powers, by which he is I
pledged to the equal treatment of his subjects of all
religions. Nothing can be more to his interest.
The old Mallommedans will not dare to give
trouble under a firm hand, moreover they believe
in the present SULTAN'S orthodoxy; he will thus
also avoid any pretext for humiliating interference
by the ambassadors, while his various Christian
subjects will, when well protected, become in-
creasingly a source of commercial profit to his
empire. If ABDUL Aziz proceeds according to his
early promise, he 'a ill give a fresh lease of life to
the " sick man."

The resignation of Lord HERBERT SO frequently
rumoured of late appears to be now imminent. It
is matter of regret to all those who have marked
the career of this accomplished administrator.
Yet we cannot for an instant induce ourselves to
believe that it is a permanent withdrawal from
public life—that it is anything more in fact than a
very prudent temporary arrangement. Remember-
ing Lord HERBERT'S age, remembering that he is
yet but in the prime of his manhood, and that so far
as mere years go ho stands very early indeed upon
the list of our leading statesmen—it would be diffi-
cult to view this retirement of the Secretary of
State for War from the Cabinet as anything else
than a judicious determination to lay by for awhile,
with a view to the readier conquest of a long
threatening, but we rejoice still to think, in no way
apparently serious indisposition.

The majority of our principal statesmen are
Lord HERBERT'S seniors, they are, for the most
part, many of them old meta, several among
them septuagenarians, a few of them even
octogenarians. Insomuch that it is difficult to
believe a man like Lord HERBERT, still merely
in middle life, one, moreover, who is happily not
prostrated by disease upon a bed of sickness, but
who is simply ailing, as already positively superan-
nuated. We remember bow illness—an illness in
each instance, far more serious, apparently, than
any that has yet fastened upon Lord HERBET'S
constitution—compelled two of our leading public
men to
liferet :ire, for a lengthened period, into
—permanently at the time it even seemed
to
of Parliament, withdrew from the arena
Neither of these eminent
persons to
of ow hthomemwheaad held
are alluding
what
th he F
had
r beenene
h i n
speakoffi ce
of as the portfolio—neither of them had ever been,
hare ever been, enrolled among the number of her
MAJESTY'S Privy Councillors. Mr. DISRAELI has
said in the House of Commons that nothing tries
the nervous system more seriously than leading the
House of Commons—and we even imagine it to be
so. But while the two distinguished men of whom
we are now writing nevteirlledsenthsee Hoonudsethoaft
the Co-
mmons, save in the oraca
have, no doubt, each of them done
sat
try frequently),anywhere
though they have never
on the front Treasury bench—though they have
of them sat anywhere in the House cf
Com-
mons but " below the gangway," now on the Oppo-
sition side of the House, now on the side of the
Government—they have both so nobly and reso-
lutely toiled in their capacity as Chiefs among the
Tribunes of the People, that each in turn was in
the end almost, as a matter of course, physically
prostrated, completely and alarmingly prostrated.
It was thought in turn by those who honoured
them the most, that when at one time Mr. BRIGHT,
and at another time Mr. ROEBUCK, withdrew from
the House of Commons, in all probability they
would never be enabled to resume their places
among the national representatives. How
fallacious in each instance was this dread
the public now knows fall well. A timely and
judicious interval of repose fortunately enabled
both Mr. ROEBUCK and Mr. BRIQHT to resume