The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-09-15
AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
Official and Business Life in the
City of the Sultan.
WHAT TURKISH OFFICIALS GET.
The Soldiers Get Three Cents a DaV-The
Secretary of State Sends His COmpli-
ments to Blaine.

Especial Correspondence OF LHE HERALD.
! write this letter in the capital Of the
Ottoman empire If Paris is France Con-
stautinople is Turkey. 1t is here that the
Sultan lives. Here are the headquarters
of the Turkish army, and from the govern
ment offices here 60 out the wires of politi-
cal appointment which control the lives
and property of more
THIRTY THREE MILLION PEOPLE.
Constantinople is the centre of Turkish
business, and it is the pivot around which
the whole Mohammedan world reYolves.
Situated as it is, partly in Asia and partly
in Europe, it forms the connecting link of
the two great civilizations, and its popula-
ton is the most cosmopolitan on the face of
the globe. The straits of the Bosphorus,
which connect the big Black sea with the
little sea of MarmOra, wind in and out like
a wide river between Europe and Asia.
They are bOrdered by beautiful hills which
slope down in places almost precipitOusly
to the water, and their natural scenery
compares very favOrably with the best bits
along the Rhine and the Danube. At the
beginning Of these straits there is lofty
peninsula containing the area of two or
three good sized farms, the greater part of
the northern side of which is separated
from the main body of Europe by long
inlet of water which winds around like
horn, and which is known as the famous
GOLDEN HORN OF CoNsTANTINoPLE.
The lower side of the peninsula is washed
by the sea of MarmOra and its upper edge
blocks the waters of the Bosphorus
Standing upon its shores you can almost
throw stone into Asia, and by turning
around you could, with a revolver, shoot
bullet deep into the body of Europe. 1t is
upon this peninsula that the greatest part
of Constantinople is built This part is
known as Stamboul, and it belongs almost
exclusively to the Turks. Upon it stands
the great bazaars above its thousands of
Turkish houses rise the tall minarets OF
hundreds of mosques, and the cries of its
turbanned peddlers are mixed with the
shrill tenor of the MueZzins who five times
each day stand upon the balconies of these
towers and sing out the hours Of prayers.
A bridge of boats about a mile long and as
wide as Pennsylvania avenue in Washing
ton connects this Turkish quarter of the
city with the European shore, and over this
bridge their is constantly passing a throug
of Turks and Christians, of Jews and
Greeks, of brOWn-gOwned men from Per
STA, and broad-clO traders from Europe
An italian writer in Constantinople saws
day, and one new idea crosses it about |
every ten years
THIS BRIDGE LEADS TO PERA.
which is the European quarter of Constan- !
tinople. The hills on the north side of the |
Golden Horn are as steep as those Of San |
Francisco, or of the bluffs on which Kansas |
City is built. Pera has covered these hills, |
and the palaces of the foreign legation, the |
kosks of the Sultan and the homes of the |
swell Turkish officials stand high above
STEAMBOAT and command extensive land and |
water views of Asia and Europe. Pera it
self is more of a European town than
Turkish one 1t has business buildings
like those Of Paris, its stores are filled with
European goods, tastefully shown behind
plate glass windows, and a good street car
line carries you from one part of il to the
other. 1t has an underground cable rail
road from the shores of tae Golden Horn
TO the top of the bluff upon which the city
is built, and the incline of this is as steep
as that of the bluff of Kansas City. The
road is well patronized, and it ought to be
a paying investment Pera has European
hotels with Swiss servants, French cooks
and electric bells, in which you can be as
as in any hotel in New York
And the
SOCIAL DINNERS OF ITS PEOPLE
would compare favorably with those of
the other capitals of Europe. AS a diplo-
matte post the city of the Sultan is one
of the most important capitals of Europe |
The complications which are at any time
liable to arise with Russia leads the Eng
fish, the French and the German to keep
immense establishments here and the eX-
penses of the foreign ministers for enter
tanning runs into the tens of thousands of
dollars year. One of the legations uses
at its state dinners gold and silver plates
which are worth Sl0O,000, and the Sultan
fcaSts the diplomats on gold plates and
furnishes them Turkish coffee in gold cups.
During the past four years the American
minister has entertained very largely, and
Mr. Straus has. | doubt not, spent several
times the amount of his salary in keeping
up UncleSam's end of diplomatic entertain
ment. He is one of the most popular min
listers America has ever sent to Turkey,
and his diplomatic career has been a great
success.
THE TURKS THEMSELVES
are very hospitable, and many of the Turk
ISL officials have part of their houses fur
nished in European style. The better
class of them are well educated, and there
are hundreds of Turks in the employ of
the Sultan who can speak French, English
and German, and who are as thoroughly
posted on the leading subjects of the day as
the most cultured men of the courts of ,
Europe. ] dined last night with Balsa-
mideS Bey, who is well-known to everyone
who has read Marion Crqwford's novel. II
paul Patoff" This man is intimately :
with the Sultan, and he is, :
Judge, not much over thirty years of age.
He was educated in one of the great Mo
hammedan schools, and his life has been !
spent almost altogether in Constantinople | b,
he speaks English perfectly, I
can talk French like a Partisan, and is one :
Of the best posted men 1 have ever met on
the history of the world. He seems to have
every event in our national life at his !
tongues end. He knows all of the Ameri-
Fan authors. and can talk by the hour on
English literature. He is as well upon 9
public men as he is on public matters, and t
he is one of the most agreeable converse S
| have met. He is the best type
IF the advanced Turk Of today, and like l
many of his kind, his life is more like that I
IF a European than Turk. All of the
government officials of Turkey dress in '
European costume, save that their black S
JrOad-clOth cos is are cut high at the neck /
aud that their heads are always covered in I
he house and out with the red-fezzed I
cap.
THE SULTAN HAS HIS GREAT GOVERNMENT
departments like those we have at Wash 1
ngton. There is department of state or
Orelgu ONCE. war department, a depart
neut of public works and department of S
,ducation, of the interior and of justice t
4 large number of these departments are il
n the vast building known as the Sublime s
Porte. which is located near the great b
,alace of the Sultan in STEAMBOAT. known as c
he Old Seralgio. I visited the Sublime
Porte yesterday, and met number of the
eading Turkish officials. I found that k
nanv of them spoke English, and that all Il
ould converse in French. The secretary Ia
.r1-nd mo 70 rive his com nj 81