Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-05-05
HOW the sultan GOes 10 Church.

~~N" WV RNAN0h UWOo W NhNNNns
Frederick T. Martin writes to the Troy
Times from Constantinople, giving an
account ofthe spectacle presented during
the Sultan's passage from his palace to
the Mosque. He says: After breakfast
we repaired to'the shore of the Bospho-
rus, and threaded our way as best we
could through the dense masses of peo-
pie, and by the aid Of great good fortune
managed to get upon one of the project
ing docks or jetties which run out from
the shore, thereby getting an unexcep-
tionally good view. Picture to yourself
a lovely, cloudless day the banks of the
rushing Bosphorus lined with one seeth-
ing mass of human beings, kept back by
a continuous line of troops, with bands
Of music stationed at short intervals.
From our standing T5int we could com
mand the marble z ,ps of the Saltan s
palace, and we : ID not heen standing
many minutes before the sound of great
trumpet was to be heard, and we knew it
was announcing the opening of the doors
OF the Sultan 8 palace, and that he was
about TO descend TO his barge The pro-
cession had no sooner commenced to
move from the palace than the firing Of
guns commenced from fort situated
above the palace, which was Immediate
ly taken up and answered by the men-of-
war in the bay, and amid the shouts of
the populace, strains of music and the
boom of many guns, the most imposing
spectacle that ever expect to see com
menced its progress. AS it passed on,
the different bands struck up, and felt
| had never been present at such a won
derful sight before | will describe as
we'll as | can the order of the procession.
The barges we're all of FURNISHED gold
and glittered in the sun, the bows and
sterns sloping gracefully up. There were
five in all, The first was rowed by twelve
men and occupied by only single aid
dc-camp, who stood motionless with his
arms crossed Upon his breast, and his
head bowed towards the boat of the Sal
tan, The second was rowed by sixteen
men, and contained two OF the Sultan's
staff, standing in the same manner as the
first, motionless as a statue. The follow
ing and third barge contained His Ma
jesty the Sultan, and | shall ever retain
vivid remembrance of the spleudor of
this sight. This barge was rowed by
twenty-four men, and their motions were
q perfect wonder to me. Atevery stroke
they rose and stepped forward, and then
receded to their seats with wonderful
precision and regularity. The Sultan
sat in the stern, under magnificent
canopy Of crimson velvet, the deep
fringes of gold rejecting the rays Of the
sun. Two of his staff stood motionless
before him, with their arms folded across
their breasts and their heads bowed low,
aud they did not alter positions in the
slightest all the time they we're in sight.
The only contrast to all this splendor
was the Sultan himself. A Republican
President could rot have made less pre-.
tension to state and show than did this
shadow of God upon earth" One order
only glittered upor his breast and he
wore the usual Turkish fez The Sultan s
barge was followed by two others, similar
to those that preceded it, but, instead of
bowing towards his face, the officers were
obliged to bow towards his back. We
stood watching the procession until it
was quite out Of sight, and we could but
see that we had seen something we should
never see again in our lives. The sur
roundings, the brilliant sky above our
heads, the crowds Of shipping of every
nation, and the people in their pictur-
esque costumes, the music and the roar
of the guns, all conduced to deepen the
impression on our minds