St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-01

All attempts made by former friends
and adherents of Ismail to obtain an
audience or even glimpse OF him are
INSTRUCTED 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 conversation of clever
European friends and acquaintances,
is reduced to the sole society of
the stupid Levantine women who
compose his harem and to that OF the
eunuchs in attendance. Neither En-
peror William, the Duke of EdeDburg,
The Duke Of Genoa, nor any other of
his former intimates and friends has
been allowed either to see him or even
to take any notice of his existence
during their visits to Constantinople,
and his imprisonment in his palace is
quite as strict as that Of the eX-Sultan
Murad, who was Abdul Hamid's prede-
cesSor.
Murad succeeded to the throne June
l, 1876, on the deposition of Abdul AZlZ,
who four days later was aSSassinated.
Murad is absolutely free from any sus-
piciOn of cOgnlZance OF the murder, the
tragical circumstances of which almost
entirely shattered his nerves. No
notice, however, would have been taken
of his disturbed condition of mind had
he not attempted to introduce reforms,
especially in the expenditures of the i'm
periaI household. One of his first acts,
indeed, was to reduce the monthly ex-
penditure of the palace and Of the sera-
Clio to 100000 a month instead OF
double and even treble that amount,
which had until then and con-
tinues to be now the sum needed
for the purpose. Economy on the part
of a sultan of the Ottoman empire
seemed unnatural and uncanny, and
when the numerous parasites and
hangers-on of the imperial household
realized that their interests would suffer
by the reform, they at once persuaded
the Kislar Aghassi, or grand chief OF the
eunuchS-and as such one OF the highest
officials Of the realm-to proceed to the
Sheik-ul-Islam and inform him that Mu-
rad had become insane.
Now, the Sheik-ul-Islam, as the chief
ecclesiastical dlgnitary of the empire,
has power to depose a sultan from the
throne whenever he deems that insan-
ity deprives his majesty of the power of
administering the government. Accord
ingly Aug. 81, 1876, palace revolution
took place, and Murad was deposed in
favor of his younger brother, Abdul
Hamid, the present sultan. Since then,
thatiS during almost sixteen years, Mu-
rad, who is far more sane than Abdul
Hamid, has remained strictly confined
in the Palace of Tcheragan on the
shores of the Bosphorus. His only
companions are the ladies OF his harem,
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 Khedive Ismail, armed men patrol
the water front of the palace, warning
off all boats from approaching within
several hundred yards of the shore.
Until three months ago Murad's
mother, the Sultana Nadine, lived with
him and watched over him with the
most maternal solicitude. No mouthful
would she permit him to eat or drink
without having herself superintendent
its preparation and tasted it previous to
it's being set before him. Unfortunately
for the prisoner, she died in October,
and with her demise vanished 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-cathedra the notori-
Gus fact that Murad has recovered his
full mental powers. The day that such
a proclamation is made Murat will be
restored ipse facto to power and Abdul
Hamid deprived of the throne OF which
he is de jure merely vekil, or regent.
pending his elder brothers mental
maIady. 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 the visit OF the Ger
man emperor, his relations with the
Sheik-ul-Islam have been exceedingly
strained. The sheik, whose name is Omar
Lufti, is a tall lank man, with repel-
lent parchment-coIored face, and stern
ly opposed to everything foreign. Both
he and his fanatical clergy were OPP
posed to the visit of the German en-
peror, and were Mortified by the sultan's
public attentions to the empress. In
deed Omar alone, of all the great dig
nitaries of the Ottoman empire, refused
to put in an appearance at any of the
ceremonies or functions during his Ger
man majesty's presence in the city.
In view of the above circumstances
the deaths of both Murad and Khedive
IsmaiI may be expected to occur at any
moment. Inc IOrmeT is dangerous 10
Abdul Hamid on account of his claims
to the throne, and the latter on account
of his vast wealth and cleverness. In
the case of each the death will be due
to something in the Coffee" which
was one of Khedive IsmaiPs favorite
methods of getting rid of persons whom
he regarded as obnoxious to his pro-
jects. If those methods should
appear medieval aud improbable
to those who regard Constantinople
as a European capital, within few
hours distance by rail from Paris, vi
emma, and Berlin, it is only necessary to
recur to the case of the famous states
man and reformer, Midhat Pasha, and
of Sadyka Pasha, both men as well
known on the Paris boulevard and in
the London salons as at Constantinople.
The autopsles in such cases are always
performed by Italian or Levantine ply
sicians belonging to the palace, who
are in the pay Of the sultan. Hence
the official diagnosis of the death never
mentions the fact that it was due to
ttsOmnthinp in the cOffnAn