The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-02
PAGES 9 TO Il.


| by the officials whom Abdul Hamid
has attached to his person, and
| this man who, more than any one
| else, finds pleasure and amusement in the
association and conve satiou of clever Ed
! ropean friends and acquainiances, is re-
| duced TO the sole society Of the stupid
| Lsvantine women who compose lis harem
aud TO that Of the eInuchs in Attendance.
| Neither Emperor William. the Duke OF
| Edinburgh, the Duke OF Genoa, nor any
other of his former in'imates and friends
has been allowed either TO SCI hun or even
| to take any notice of his existence during
their visits to T. lnstaltinope, and his in-
prisonment in his palace Is quite as strict az
that of the ex-SuItan Murad, WAC was
| Abdul Hands pred scessor.
Murad succeeded to tho throne on June l.
| 1876, on the deposition Of Abdul Azz. who
| four days later was assassinate1. Aurad is
| absolutely free from any sus 9icion of cog
| nizance Of the murder. the trag.cal circum-
stances Of which almost eatrely shattered
| his nerves. No notice, however, would have
| been taken Of his disturbed condition OF
| mind had he not attempted to INTRODUCES re-
| forms, especially in the expenditures OF the
imperial household. One of his very q ST
| acts, indeed, was TO reducs the monthly ex-
| penditures Of the palace and Of the ser Clio
to 100000 a month instead of double
| and even treble that amount, which had
until then and continues to bs now the SUN
| nee led for the purpose. Economy on the
| part of a sultan OF the Ottoman empire
seemed unnatural aud uncanny, and when
| the numerous parasites AMI hangeTs-on OF
the imper al household realized hat their
Interests would suffer by the reforms, they
at once persuaded tho X STAR Aghass, or
grand chief of he eunuchs-and as such
one of the highest officials Of the rea MO
proceed TO tue Sheik- il-Islam and inform
him that Murad had become insane
hn NIL I'll he
ecclesiastical dignitary OF the empire, has
power to Oppose a sultan from the throne
whenever he deems that iGsan ty deprives
his majesty of the power Of administering
the government. Acc 1rdingly on Aug. 81,
1875, palace revolution took place, aud
Murad was depo.ed in favor of his younger
brother, Abdu Hami |, tho present sultan.
Since then, that is during almost sixteen
years, Murad, who is far mora sane than
Abdul Hamid, has remained strictly conhled
in the Palace # Teheragan on the shores of
Bospho us. His only c,mpanlons are the
ladle' Of his haren, all Of whom are kept as
close prisoners within the palace precincts
as himself. No one has seen him since the
day of his deposition, and, as in the case of
the Kbedive Ismail, armed mel patrol the
water front Of the palace, warning off all
boats from Apr aching within the several
hun ired varis Of the S lore.
Until three months ago Murad's mother.
watched over him with the most maternal
solicitude. Not mouthful would she per-
NIT him to eat or drink without having
herself superintendent its preparation and
tasted 1t previous to its being set before
him. Unfortunately for the prisoner, she
| died In October, and with her demise van
| ished all hopes of his recovering either his
| liberty or his throne; for the present
| Sultan is in mortal dread lest the
| Sheik-ul-Islam should proclaim ex
! catheIra the not rious fact that
Murad has recovered his full mental
| powers. On the day that such proclama-
zion is made Murad will be restored iptso
facto to power and Abdul Hamid deprived
Of che throne, Of which he IS de jure merely
a vakil, or rege t., pendiug his cider
brothers mental malady. Indeed, until the
day Of Murad's death the present Sultan's
claim TO the throne will be neither complete
nor secure.
At the present moment Abdul Hamid's
position Is more than usually critical: for,
since tue visit Of 10 German emperor, his
relations with the Shiek-ul-Islam have been
exceedingly strained. Toe sheik, whose
name is Omar Lufti. is a tall, lank man
with repellant, parchmeat-c )lored face,
and sternly opposed t) everything foreign.
Both he and his fanatical clergy were
opposed to the visit of tue German emperor,
and were horrih9d by tho sultan's public
attentions to the empress Indeed, Omar
alone, of all the great dgnitaries of the
Ottoman empire, refused to put Ia an ap-
pearance at any Of the ceremonies or func-
tons during his German majesty's presence
In the city.
In view Of the above circumstances, the
deaths Of both Murad and Khedive Ismail
may be expected to occur at any moment.
The former Is dangerous to Abdul Ha mid
on account of his claims to the throne, and
the latter on account Of his vast wealth and
cleverness. La the case of each, the death
will be due to something in the coffee,n
which was one Of Khedive Ismais favorite
methods OF getting rid of persons
whom he regarded as obstructive to
his projects. IL these methods should
appear medi9val and improbable to
those who regard nstantinople al
European capital, within few hours
distance by rail from Paris, Vienna and
Berlin, it is only necessary 10 recur to the
case OF the famous statesman and reformsr,
Midhat Pasha, and of Sadyk Pas1a, both
me as well-known on the Paris boulevard.
and in the London salons as at Constanti-
nople. The autopsies In such cases are
always performed by Italian or Levautine
physicians belonging to the palace, VINO are
ia the pay of the sultan. Hence the official
diagnosis of the death never mentions ths
fact that 1t was due TO something ia the
coffee"