Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-12-28
ABDUL HAMID.
a sultan Who Presents a Pitiable
Spectacle-ln Constant Terror.


Spectacular Constant Terror.
From the London Times.
me present Sultan is a man who sits
quaking in his kiosk at Yildiz, with his
nerves all unstrung, from fear of plots,
ana MIS- ears wide open to every sugges-
ton for securing, not the safety OF his
commons, but his own personal safety.
10 see him go to the mosque on Friday
IN closed carriage is a humiliating spec
tacle to old Turkish officers who re-
member how proudly Abdul Mediid
ana Abdul AZiz used to ride on
horseback through crowded streets
TO st. Sophia. Abdul Hamid never let's
ANYBODY know an hour beforehand
10 which mosque he will go for the Selam-
Tx. Visitors who have been invited to
view the sight from the corps de garde OPP
poslte the new mosque, which stands close
10 the palace gates, watch regiment after
regiment march up the hill 10 Yildiz with
out any certainty that the ceremony will
De ned at this particular mosque, after
all. 1t often happens that, OF a sudden,
cavalry and infantry, visitors in cabs and
carriages, and sightseers on foot have to
make stampede down hill, and race off
10 some other mosque mile away. Yet,
II there Ia any danger for the Sultan's
life or liberty, 1t can only be in his own
palace, and not in the open streets.
wherever he goes men bow down before
him with abject reverence. He could
ride through any part of the city with
out risk OF harm, and ii by mischance
some mailman were to raise q voice
against him, the insult would be instantly
avenged by any Mussulman standing
near. Faith in the Sultan's power and
justice is kept up among the people by
the privilege which the humblest folk en-
JOY OF presenting petitions to his majesty.
W lille the troops are being marshaled for
the Selamlik you may see small crowd
OF wretched looking people OF both sexes
with petitions in their hands, who are be-
ing ranged by court official in q con-
spicuous position on the road which the
Sultan hae to pass. Flourisbes OF trum-
pets announce his msjesty's coming !;
thousands of0soidiers in fez, caftan and
turban--blaek troops from Nubia and
brcwn.faeedH soldiers from Thrace-
present arms and raise cultural
cheers lsDoet a hundred field marshals,
Observation-Disclosures officers, blazing with
stars and walking eight abreast, precede
his N Jesby 'sfcarrisge, and then the Sui
tan hlmself is seen for just q few seconds.
Though it may be a beautiful autumnal
day, neither cold nor hot, he sits either in
q btQugham or IN an open carriage with
the hood up. III there be visitors of dis
tinction in the corps de garde he leans
forward for an instant and makes sign
of the hand. Again he is seen for half a
minute as he descends from his carriage
and mounts the steps OF the mosque,
where he turns round and salutes the
whole crowd by lifting two fingers to his
fez. Meanwhile an aide-de-camp, has
been forced to collect all the petitions,
which are placed in one of the imperial
carriages, and it seems that these petitions
are always read, and that many of
them are granted to the full In a high
handed, lordly, capricious way, which
makes the dispensation OF imperial grace
something like the drawing Of prize in
a lottery. However, every case of lavish
bounty or of wrong redrt ssed-and there
are some such cases every week--strikes
deep on popular imagination, and serves
in clumsy fashion to keep official extor-
TONERS and DULLES in order. One hears
of pashas dismissed through the petitions
of old women who have tramped to Yildiz
from the most distant villages in Arabia.
These things are not fiotfons; and in all
that relates to the sudden setting up and
setting down of placemen, the rule Of
Abdll Hamid differs little from that OF
Haroun- AL .Raschid.