Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-03-24
THE OLD YIZIER AND THE NEW
YiZIER.
ONCE Seeking in the East.

of Midhat Pasha as Grand Vizier and
the installation of his successor Edhen
PaSha togeth.r with the consterna-
ton of Office holders and the excite
ment of Office seekers on the occasion
Of course We have nothing of this
sort here, being a Republican country
and yet, when Pasha Key makes his
tour among the post offices this Spring,
we have a shrewd suspicion that he
will be attended by professions of ex-
pectant postmaster>, who will make
their obeisances as reverentially as did
the State officials of the Ottoman en-
pire before Edhem Pasha:
Of the vicissitudes Of life much has
been written; the ups and downs of
this singular existence have been food
for comment for thousands of years.
Yet, since the days when the good
Caliph Haroun al Raschid made and
unmade Viziers till now, have never
been witnessed such reckless expert
meuts in statecrait as have taken place
in these latter days vas sitting in
the room of the MutesSarif Alexan-
drine Caratheodory, Uu'ler Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, about eleven
o'clock on Monday morning, when his
ExcelleBcy entered, aud, offering me a
cigarette, began TO chat about Turkish
affairs. what news have you to give
me, Monsieur p he demanded, as he
lit his tobacco and lounged back langu-
idly in his chair. That is my ques-
ton, Excellency, was my reply.
What have you to tell me p "Rien,
absolument rien, said the Minister.
"All goes we'll, mon ami. We have
told Servia that all we require of her
is fair guarntee that in future she
will not misbehave herself. We have
forgone the six points which we at one
time demand, and in which we asked
for money indemnity, the surrender
of their fortresses, and the mlnution of
their armies, together with other things.
We shall send equally favorable condi-
tions to Montenegro to-day. In fine,
all is as satisfactory as could be wish
ed" At this moment there entered
the room the Russian First Dragoman,
accompanied by Blacque Bey. Each
made a salaam, each took chair. For
a moment neither spoke; but at
length the Russian broke silence.
Have you heard the news? ?" said he.
What news ?" replied Nj. Caratheo-
dory. why, that Midhat Pasha is
embarking at this very moment for the
Archipelago ?" What" cried the
Mutessarif. Have you not heard it ?"
calculated Blacque Bey. 1T is impos-
slble that you know nothing about it, )"
added the Russian Il have not heard
a word" rejoined Caratheodory; tell
me what has happened. Well"
said the Dragoman, 1T is this: Mid
hat Pasha has been sent for to the
palace; in a few moments he will be
exiled, aud Edhem Pasha will take
his place" | have been present before
at strange incidents, but never have |
seen such faces as of those who at this
moment sat on the chairs and divan of
Caratheodory's house. For myself, |
at once left the room and went into the
corridor, where | received confrma-
tion of the strange news from one of
the English dragomans. Without a
moments hesitation | dashed down
the staircase to the street, where a
horse was waiting, and, jumping into
the saddle, directed my course for the
telegraph station for Pera. But [ had
very nearly reckoned without my host;
in an instant, [ found myself arrested
by an officer, who demanded wither |
was going. 1t was then that | per-
] ~ ! i
by troops that more soldiers were
marching up every moment; that, in
fact, the gate which is called Sublime"
was besieged. Fortunately, [ was re-
cognised by an influential friend and
was enabled to pass, after some parley.
Riding over the old bridge of boats. /
now met thousands Of people pressing
toward Stamboul. Women are in every
crowd. Why should they not be in
attendance when Turkeys last anchor
was haulded up, and the Moslem ship
of State cast finally adrift? They
came by hundreds, accompanied by
their husba nds and sons, veiled, inquis-
tive, voluble, over the rickety bridge,
paying the toll with complacency in the
hope of seeing some great catastrophe.
"Hasten ! hasten T. cried one of them
ut will all be over when we get there.
Allah grant that we may see the new
Vizier y
My object. of course. was the tele-
graph office, in the hope of sending
word of the event, but official wisdom
had already blocked the wires, and I
had to forward d message in cipher to
a district Office before | could be GER
tain that the intelligence would be
sent. Then | galloped back to Siam
boul in order to witness the installa-
ton of the new Grand Vizier. Again
fortune favored me. l was passed
through the crowd, admitted into the
corridor, and thence taken into the
great audience chamber, where almost
all the dignitaries and funotionaries of
the Empire waited the advent of the
new Premier.
Who was it that remarked, "A
throne supported by hayonets is after
all, but an insecure seat ?" For the
moment, | forgot; yet to me the idea
came back as 1 passed through the
long lines of troops which held the ap-
proaches OF the Porte. Rifles bayo-
neted, at attention, were everywhere
the soldiers were taking prominet
part in the proclamation of the new
Minister-so did the PrBtorian Guards
before the final fall of the great Ro-
man Empire Perhaps it was needful,
for the crowd which stood close by was
excited to a degree | have seldom be-
fore witnessed in Turkey. They
pressed against the armed men they
struggled and fought, they did their
utmost to enter the room; 4; it was just
as we'll that there were plenty of troops
In readiness. cannot say what would
have happened had they succeeded in
getting there As it was, they had to
content themselves with waiting out
side till the Grand Vizier should come.
But what a crowd it wasl Greeks,
Armenians, Turks, and Englishmen,
oddly attired Mohsmmeden women and
Greek danes, all huddled together in
the entrance hall. Yet, strange as they
appeared, far more curious throng
was to be witnessed in the room itself,
where the Grand Vizier's arrival was
being awaited by the dignitaries of the
Empire. | am afraid to try to say who
was there. As | looked over that lit
tie sea Of anxious faces could scarce
ly miss one Of all my acquaintanees at
the Porte-chiefs of departments, Sec
retaries, people who had charge of
offices, and those who had long waited
for such posts; all Midhat's prOteges,
his secretaries, his friends, his right
hand men, in waiting no longer for the
l.. hn1 al