The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-10-01
TURKISH LIFE REVEALED.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A TURKISH
WOMAN OF HIGH RANK.

HOmA0 Ut hxuH hA4s
The Wonderful Woman. OF meiek-
Hanum, the VITO OF mehemet-
Pasha.
In a volume Just issued by Harper d Broth
era. entitled s'Thirty Years In the Harem; or,
the Autobiography of Melek-Hanum, Wife OF
q. a. Kibrlzli-M ehemet.P asha," we have a
,rue story of Oriental lite, replete with incl
dents and adventures as strange as anything
In the "ArabIan Nights" The book reads like
an extrayaganS romance, and yet the charac-
ters to whom 1t introduces US are, many OF
them, personages of historical celebrity. while
some of the events described In Its pages form
the foundation of one of the most extraordi-
nary lawsuits on record, q case which Is now
pending In the courts.
The authoress, who In this book tells the
story ola most eventful life, was born IN Con'
stantlnople. Her mother was a Turkish Wo-
man of Georgian ancestry; her father was a
French merchant, who, at the time OF his mar
rlage, was engaged In business In Constantl-
NOBLE Melek-Hanum, the brilliant and gifted
lady, who has taken the world into her conf
dence BY the publication of this autobiogra-
ply, at the early age Of thirteen was inVelgleo
into matrimohy by an English doctor attached
TO the household of the Sultan, q man twenty
wears older than herself, and an inveterate
miser. For FIVE years che was q slave 10 tne
~carrices Of this individual, after which, at
his suggestion, she was Induced to make a
Journey to Rome, in order to enjoy the felicity
of forming the acquaintance of her moiher'ln-
law. The results of her meeting with her
mother.in-law were numerous domestic mis-
understandings, resulting In a divorce. The
mother-in-law succeeded In retaining the con-
troll of Melek-Hanum's two children, a son
and daughter. Melek- Hanum, after her d.
yorce, departed tor France, being escorted 10
the frontier by the sbirri, at the instigatlon OF
her motherinlaw.
When Melek.H anum arrived In Paris, Fety-
pasha was ambassador for Turkey at the court
of Louis Philippe. She was presented to ais
Excellency by q relative. At the same lime
shc made the acquaintance of Kibrizll-hehe-
met,Paeha, who was then military dtache TO
the legation. At the first interview between
the lady and Kibrizli- Mehemet, the Turkish
official fell q willing victim to the charms of
his countrywomsn, and, as she t%estihes, chow
ed himself full Of attentions and regard for
her. These advances were soon followed by
an offer of marriage, which she was well dis
posed to accept. Both shortly aiterward re-
turned to C~onstantlnople, where the marriage
of the lovers was celebrated. Among The
Turks the nuptisl ceremony is very simple In
the case OF those who have been married be-
foreS The lady draws near to the door OF the
haren, the bridegroom and the imam or priest
are on the other side. The latter asks each OF
the partise three times whether he or she, re-
spectively, will take the other In marriage; on
receiving q response In the affirmative, thrice
repeated, he recites a few prayers, and retires
after taking q glass of sherbet- The Witnesses
Than fnre fi,rtr fsaua the husband enters the.
harem, offers his hand to his bride, and re-
mains alone with her.
Soon after this wedding Mehemet-Pasha
was promoted to be Governor Of Jerusalem,
which. opened & field suited to the ambitious
designs of his wife. I. appears that The prac-
tice of present-taklng had prevailed to 30
great an extent In Jerusalem under previous
administrations ss 10 have caused some scam
dial even in Co%nstantinople, where the civil
service Is VIGOROUSLY corrupt In thess.treme..
On this subject the authorizes says:
Before we left C%onstantinople, Reshid-Pa'
aha. NV husbands patron, whose
he shared, had spoken to me In the following
terms: "You are going to Arabia; 90 not
$1,000 INV nrn0nnf WA nlUQ
promised upon oath That nothing more shall
Be received BY the governors and other OIL
cials on the part Of their subordinates. 1
trust, therefore, thst you will give no cause OF
complaint on that score"
'Surely not" ! replied;" my husband shall.
not receive any present, Aimee you have for
hidden him; but you cannot oblige me 10 re-
fuse what the ladies' may choose TO offer me;
that has nothing to do with politics or With
the administration"
!a0f course not,n he rejoined, with q smile.
Mehemet-P ashs, therefore, refused all the
presents that were offered to him, and aohen
This Dds ascertatned they toere dt'odys sent
to me.
Mehemet-P asha having been fairly Installed
as governor OF Jerusalem, his wife began TO
Improve the opportunities afforded for increas-
Ing the family property to the best of her
ability. The candor with which she explains
the manne in which the habit of present.
taking was practiced, and that of present
giving was encouraged under her adroit man
sgement, is really refreshing. For instance, to
quote her own language:
There were three principal conyentsi in Jeru-
salem at that period-the Franciscan, the
Greek and the Armenian. No repairs nor any
change could be Effected In either OF them
without the permission OF the Pasha; and ne,
having pledged himself to accept no presents,
was never Ia q hurry to accede to their de-
mands; 30 the good fathers adopted the exPe-
dent or applyiog to me, and endeavorlng TO
secure my favor In their interest. One or
other Of these bodies would send me, some.
times q beautiful watch, sometimes q diamond
pin erpearl necklace; In fact, they seemed 10
be rivalllDg each other In their mania for
making presents. :
Agaln she says with charming frankness:
The Jews, as natural, remained at the tall Of
the presents-ofaring multitude. The steward
OF our household, q man who knew the secret
OF extracting money from peoples pockets,
came one day TO say that, If he pleased, he
wouta find the means of getting me lar more
from the Jews than I had obtained from all the
others. "Do whatever you think it," re-
piled.
BE went, upon this, and told the rabbis that
ba warned them, In their own interest, the
4I4 chow, nt4 arrN1