The Red Cloud chief., 1877-10-25
in The Sultan's Palace.

A Pee y at a Dinner ~Pariy-The Etiquette
ofthe OTTOMAN Court-The Sultan's Do
Inestic Life, Etc.
A correspondent of the London Times
writing from Therapia, gives the fol-
lowing concerning the dinner recently
given ty the Sultan in honor of Mrs.
Layard, tie wife of the English Embas-
sadoT:
The dinner party here consisted of the
Sultan, the Grand V.zier, MahmOud
Damad Pasha, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, and the two Said Pashas, n
the Chief Secretary of the Sultan, the
other Marshal of the Palace, whose
similarity of name causes them to be
f~Iquently COMPOUNDED together, and each
TO come in occasionally in the European
press for praise or censure obviously
meant for the other. The dinner was
G wed in the French style, and Is said
tC have been a very pleasant one. Wine
was put upon the table for the guests,
but the Sultan only drank sherbet. He
proposed the health of the Queen of
England, expressing his gratitude for
the kind interest which Her Majesty
had shown in tie Turkish wounded 10y
sending bandages to be distributed 10y
Mrs. Layard among the sufferers, and
to Mrs. Layard herself for her indefatl-
gable eXertions in the same good cause.
That the Sultan should have sat down
at the same table with the wife of Her
Britanic Majesty's Representative at
ConstantinOple, though ii may not ap-
pear anything very remarkable to PEG
in England unfamiliar with the strin-
gent rules of Oriental Court etiquette.
is here considered 81 startllngly unusu-
al as to have excited more attention
than would be bestowed Oh a Turkish
victory or defeat. | Was severely cross
questioned this afternoon as to whether
Mrs. Layard had dined in the "Harem-
lyk" or the "Selamlyk" by All English
lady long resident in this country. who
seemed to think it difficult to believe
that the Sultan could possibly entertain
a lady in the "selamlyk." Let me ex-
plain that 10y "Haremlyk' is meant that
portion of a Turkish house set apart for
the women. and 10y "Selamlyk" that for
the men. No Turk would ever think
of allowing alady of his own household
to come into the "Selamlyk," and it Is
only very recently that the more ad-
yanced and daring Radicals have ven.
tured, 10 the disgust of the old Tory
party, to dine occasionally with their
wives in the harem. In a Turkish
house, if fact, there are always two din
ners served, one for the husband and
his guests, who. in the true spirit OF
Turkish hos pitality. sit down to the Ia
bic as a matter of course, when they hap
pen to be in the house at the dinner
hour, and an other for the wife and her
female friends, who would no more Join
he male dinner party i'll the 'Selamlyk
than the husbands friends could join
the ladies in the harem. the threshold OF
which even the wite's brother cannot
cross.
In spite, however of all these cogent
q priori reasons TO prove the impossl'
bility of so mopstrous a departure from
Mussulman custom-and custom to a
Mussulman, like caste to a Brahmin. is
the chief part of his religion-it never,
theless is a matter of fact that Mrs
Layard did dine il the "Selamlyk." II
is doubtless the most striking, but by
no means the first, proof that the pres
ent Sultan has given of his desire Il
emancipate Himself from the tradition
and p~rejudices of the Ottoman Court
Ii may make English readers smile, but
here it is noted as a matter of grave
Importance, that his Imperial Majesty
offers cigarettes to his favored guest.
with his own hand from his W case
that he allows ministers 10 drive in tn,
same carriage with him; that he actu
ally returns the salute of his subject
in the streets, and does not expect then
todismount from their horses or get on
of their carriages when he drives by
nor to prcstrate themselves on tt
ground when admitted to his presence
Some of them are even allowed TO 81
down before him. Your readers ma
remember that in a recent letter l de
scribed the surprise and gratitude of n
less a personsge than bis Holiness tn
Armenian Patriarch when the Sulta
prevented him from STOPPING low i
humble obeisance to the ground an