The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-05-31

Perhaps in all the parts Of the world
where the English language is spoken
people had in their minds yesterday the
same little pleasantly. Millions OF men IN
Europe, America and Australia reminded
one another of Penchs famous classitca-
ton Of the Abduls into Abdul Aziz and
Abdul as was, though they applied it to
case somewhat different from that in which
it was made. This shows not simply the
vitality of joke, but the precise character
of the impression made upon the civilized
world by the dethronement of an Emperor
of Turkey Abdul, in black frockcoat
and fez cap, passes out of view at one side,
and from the other side advances, drawn
forward by the same cord, Murad, in an
other blackfrock coat and another fez; and
there is SO little distinction between these
two puppets, they arc SO much, as to all
that is apparent, the mere repetition OF the
same fact, that people see no reason for a
change, and turn to the fancy that the
most substantial difference between them is
in the lenses in which they must be re-
spectively named.
But one Sultan Of Turkey has been thrust
from the throne and another Sultan OF Tur-
key is in his place. One padishah is dis
mantled and another is ready. not ITO be
crowned, rs they say in Europe, but ITO
take the SABRE" as they say in Asia and It's
purlieus AS republicans it has moments
interest for MS that this sudden substitution
has taken place in what is called an absolute
monarchy. There have never been any
sovereigns more deliberately hedged with di-
vinity than the padshahs. Prerogative, as
imagined and acted upon in Western Eu-
rope, is a trivial pretence compared to the
similar application of personal will as it sup
posititiously exists in the Ottoman ruler; yet
this presumed commander of a savage SOL
querors, whose word is law by the mere ne
cessities of military discipline, as well as be-
cause he is the interpreter of the will of God;
this man who stands at the highest conceiv-
able point of sovereign authority comes
down as readily when the string is pulled
as if he were only painted ogre in panto-
mime.
But who pulls the string? 1t will be
noticed that the Grand Vizier says that the
Sultan was dethroned by 'the unanimous
will Of oil the people," which implies popu-
lar sovereignty and delegated authority.
Even the unanimous will of all the people"
cannot remove the President of the United
States except once in four years; but this
will, if we accept the Vizier's theory, can
arise at any moment and remove sovereign
who holds at once by the theories of mill
tary and religious ascendancy, who is only
represented to the world by the sadiazam and
the multi, who is the fountain from which
the Grand Vizier derives a secular and the
Standardization religious sanction. 1t is one
of the quaint points of the case that, while in
theory the Ottoman Empire is monarchy
thus absolute, it is also in theory democ-
racy. This, of course, is not a new but a
very old pretence even though it resemble
the theory of. such imperial rulers as Louis
Napoleon, who held that democracy was the
government of one by the will of oil. tits, in
fact, the phase at which democracy in its
extremity touches upon the form of military
tyranny. Thus the Sultan is the COM
mander of the horde. He leads it to do its
own will, and he is at the head only that
this will may be done more effectively, and
because of the advantages of an undivided
command. Though it is the will of the
horde that is to be done-the will of the
many-the will, in Short of the democracy
in arms, the Sultan is the judge primarily of
the detail by which that will is to be carried
out and in any emergency, in any point of
doubt he is the sole judge as to what is the
stances, sultans have sometimes fallen into
error and acted on their own will rather than
on the will of the nation, we may reflect that
that has happened also in other democracies
of more elaborate type.
But the Sultan is not the sole judge of
democracy, and in later centuries has not
been even the most important judge. In
every Oriental State the priestly and military
elements have become alternately great, as
the growth of either was favored by the facts
of the nations life With the more deeply
cOuteiu pittANc uuu SupciSsiCiou5 Peopics the
priest was the ruler and named q lieutenant
to command the troops with the more war
like soldier ruled and delegated priest.
In Japan the Mikado was sovereign and the
Tycoon was the commander of his guard !:
but many wars made the Tycoon at one time
supreme. With the Ottomans the soldier
has been always nominally supreme, and
the sceptre is even formally o sword but
the Sheikh-ul-Islam, always OF great au-
thority has become the real depository of
the national will since the attempt to become
European potentates has de-Ottomanized the
sultans. This functionary casts all the
votes of the Moslem democracy, and that
accounts for the facility with which they
ascertained ''the will of the people"
1t is from the mosques, therefore, that
x1x;. v,racapf cbaDua comac Tho foof 10