Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-09-05
FROM TURKEY.
An Interesting Letter from the PARKWAY
Land.
TREBlZoND, TURKEY, Aug. I, 1884.

hfBlIoNb, ! l fh E1 aug. !, 1901.
Eight years ago this month Abdul .
IIamid became Sultan of Turkey. He .
was then thirty-four years of age, II sufIi- .
GENTLY mature period of life to assume
the responsibilities of royalty, provided .
he had had experience of affairs previous .
ly. But he had not. Ottoman princes
are kept in the background and when they
come to the throne they come as inexpe-
rienced as children. IIamd had, how
ever, enjoyed more exceptional advan-
tages In 1867, when Sultan Aziz made
his tour, quite unprecedented in the an
nails of Sultans, to Paris and London, he
took his nephew, ITamd, with him, then
Il bright, quick-witted young man of
twenty-five. His older brother, Monrad,
as the oldest member of the royal family,
was then heir to the throne, and Aziz
probably little thought that Hamid would
so soon be welding the power then in his
hands
lIamid came to the throne at very
stirring period. The profligate reign of
Aziz had been brought to IL sudden ter
mination by his deposition in May 1876
and he was succeeded by Monrad the
oldest son of Mediid. brother and prede-
CesSor of AZiz. But the events of the
revolution which brought Monrad so sud
denly to the throne, intensified by the
tragic end of Aziz, so agitated the quiet
temperament of MOnrad that he became
unbalanced and after three months reign
was deposed as incompetent. and succeed
ed by his brother
Well might IIamd shrink from assum-
Within three months he had seen his un-
Gle suddenly dethroned and soon after as
sassinated in his own room He had seen
his brother debased almost as soon as he
had become seated on his throne What
might he his own fate he could not guess
Who of those around him would prove
faithful, and who treachcrOus. he could
not tell. Which course to pursue. what
policy to adopt, in order to establish him
self III power he had no means to deter
mine. Nor could he trust any one rs an
adviser. he must do the best alone and I'M
advised.
The problem was further complicated
10y the threatening aspect of the political
horizon. The herzegovina instruction
the SerVian war, and the Bulgarian mas
sacrcS, largely tomented by Russian in
trigueS, had already occurred and Wer.
leading the way for the conflict of ISIS
Immediate and vigorous measures must
be adopted to defend his throne from for
eign as well as domestic foes. In the
opinion of many it was impossible foI
him, whatever policy he might have
adopted to have averted the war, am i'll
clined to think, however, that had he pos
sessed his present experience and policy
he would have avcrted the war. But tn,
giving him his present experience so tn,
proposition rests on impossible condi
lions.
But the war came and passed, Leaving
behind it il country reduced in territory
and exhausted in resources. As the gov
+ eminent had no credit at the beginning o
the war, the whole war expense must b,
met by the issue of II paper currency
This for the moment CAUSED Il fCtitiuu!
prosperity, but when the paper, rapid,
depreciating, finally became worthless
the people indirectly were compelled t,
assume the whole financial burden of the
war, aS they had previously furnished tn,
muscle and sinew to carry it on. Imagin,
what distress would have resulted in tn,
United States if the grecnbacks instead
of rallyng from their lowest point of de
probation, had gone on from bad to WOrs,
until they had become worthless. Sucl
was the commOtiOn and suffering cause,
rcncy.
AS if this exhaustion were not sufficient
the government allowed the copper cur
rency to follow after the paper until tina
too disappeared from circulation. Thi
came about because the government re
fused to receive it in paymento of any dues
OF course, the copper currency could nev
er fall below the intrinsic value of TIN
metal. This disappearance of copper ha
not only been great loss but ii is II grea
Inconvenience as now small change is yer.
scarce indeed.
There was another kind of coin whicl
the government attacked, kind with
history which should have entitled it t,
respect. In the Russo-Turkish war o
lS2S30, when the Russians had thorough
~ worsted the Turks and had reache,
Adrianople, the Turks began to sue TO
be impossible for the Turks to save the
capital with gold, demanded of them
large sum of money or the surrender o
this star of the Bosphorous on which the.
: have long been looking with covetou
eyes. Sultan Mahmood, grandfather o
the present Sultan well known as tn
great reformer, who was then on tn
throne, was driven to his wits end. In hi
trouble he turned to his American Bank
ers for advice. One of them proposed tn
issue of debased coin with which gol,
could be purchased of loyal subjects, an,
palu To tnt hlSSldnS. ne pan WAS uuolJl
ed and proved successful, saving Con
, stantinople to the Turks. This debase,
. coin held its inflated value for fifty year
and was very useful and highly priced b.
the people, not only for trading but ais
for boarding purposes. This value WA
maintained because the government re
ceived it at its full face value in paymen
of all dues.
Suddenly the government discovered, II
if ii were new revelation, that this coli
was not worth its face value, and set abou
removing such il stain from its otherwis
immaculate integrity. If its virtue ha'
been sufficient To lead to Il little sacrifice
would have broken up the debased coli
MS it was received for taxes, and sold it fo
old metal But no, the treasury must b
carefully guarded from all loss and tn
patient people must be saddled with tn
burden. So by one stroke of the pen i
was decreed that this coin, called bash
Xix" should be received for only one-hal
its face value, except for limited perio
in payment of arrearages of taxes. Tn
blow was terrible one to the alread
PROSTATE people. 1t was not enough tina
| they settle the bills for the war of 1877
by the loss of the paper currency, the
4 IA 10 ala Off .,,l