Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1890-05-08


fortress, would occasionally arrive
empty-handed, having in some way
contrived en- route to disembarrass them
selves Of the culprits. The story usual
ly was that they had attempted an es-
cape, and had been shot or pitched over
board in self-defense. We all know that
''one story is good till another is told;"
there was never any one to tell that
other story. Needless to say, no indis-
Greet or inconvenient questions were
asked, so the system, tacitly adopted,
worked fairly well, to the satisfaction
of all parties concerned excepting the
victims-not usually deserving of much
commiseration.
Excepting some pirates in Rhodes,
who were found hanging on trees in
front of the landing-place Cafes one
fine morning, shortly before my arrival
in the island, and whose case was Qike
themselves), fancy promptly disposed
Of without reference to Constantinople,
am not aware of any execution hav-
ing taken place in Turkey since the
hanging of Hassan Bey, the mad officer
who ran amuck, Malay fashion, among
the ministers of state in the palace
yard. He was very speedily and un-
tremendously suspended to lamp
post on the Stamboul bridge over the
Golden Horn. They did not even
trouble themselves to cover his face;
eye-witnesses told me that the circum-
stance that attracted the most general
attention was the preposterous length
of his tongue, which protruded from his
mouth and stiffened so protruding,
after the fashion of some of the gro
tesque gargoyles that adorn early
Gothic cathedrals.
In the event, then, of the removal
of any public parsonage being deemed
by the Sultan's advisers matter of
state exigency, cup Of coffee obviates
all necessity for scandal, and all occa-
sion for the possible popular excite
ment--to say nothing of European
criticism that would be provoked by
an execution, public or private, in due
course of law or by order of the Sultan.
A prominent statesman dies suddenly,
or after short and unaccountable ill
ness; and you hear his friends remark
ing under their breath, that the pacha
had taken cup of coffee"
The poisons used vary according to
the Importance Of the case, and the need
for concealment or the reverse.
No great skill is required if the party
to be removed" be comparatively un-
known, or if no reasons exist for avoid
ing an immedia denouement. But in
the case of parsonage possibly OF Eu-
ropean celebrity, the cause must not be
too rapidly followed by, or too clearly
connected with, the effect. Some of the
eunuchs of The palace are credited with
the secret of drug (the knowledge
very probably brought by them from
Africa, whence they were purchased as
slaves), often used in cases of impor-
tance, the catastrophe produced by
which does not come to pass for couple
of months after the fatal cup of coffee
has been rendered and swallowed. 1t
was thus that was compassed the death
of Midhat Pasha the able and honest,
but too hasty and inconsiderate reform
er, who gave Turkey her first brief Par
lament, very soon and very rightly
suppressed by the Sultan as totally un-
fitted to the circumstances of the EN-
pire, and incompatible with the princi-
pies of Ottoman government. Not
long before his death, poor Mid
hat, most estimable and pleas
ant Turk, and like "Arabi the
Egyptian" true patriot, wrote from
! his exile in Syria to friend of mine at
: Constantinople, mentioning the setting
} in of the rapidly-increasing corpulence
which is an unmistakable symptom that
this drug is at work, and saying that he
knew he had but a few weeks to live.
The Turk never indulges in unseemly
struggles against kisae (fate) his des-
) tiny is always accepted with the most
: exemplary resignation. From the COM
mencement of his exile it was matter
of notoriety that the 'cup of coffee"
would be given, sooner or later; so tina.
, his many friends took it as a matter of
course when the end came. None of the
, European powers whose light and lead
ing he strove to follow, interfered to get
the place OF exile of their fallen disciple
changed to Europe and to comparative
safety. After all, half century earlier,
? so complete political downfall as was
his would inevitably have entailed his
: being bow-strung or beheaded; so that
the Turks must not be too harshly
judged for the shifts and expedients to
: which the daily increasing force Of pub
, lie opinion has driven them.
/ While my yacht was lying off Smyrna,
: in 1887, took advantage of the oppor-
7 tunity to travel in the interior of Asia
: Minor, in the old kingdom of Cresus,
: passing close to the tomb of his father,
3 Alyaltes. On my way overland to Sar-
r dis l visited the city of Manissa, the
5 ancient Magnesia, once the cradle and
3 the capital of the Ottoman Turks.
On paying my respects to the Gov
| ernor, since promoted to the Governor.
| shipof Trebizond, / found myself very
f courteously received by no less remark
Q able a parsonage than at once the Wig,
g orious principal political opponent of
t Midhat Pasha and the presiding judge
3 at his trial, probably also the actual
: contriver of his final disappearance from
: this worlds shifting stage. Evidently
man of first-rats ability, crafty and
? astute far beyond the average even o.
? orientals, stepped as they are from the
o cradle IN dissimulation, he gave me the
v idea of an enemy to be dreaded, no mat
/ ter how long he might have to bide hi:
q time-a foe mot to be denied" as ''tht
fancy" say of fighting bull-terrier.
. However, felt perfectly safe in tn,
: consciousness of my own insignifcance
q and had no fear or hesitation in com
$ plying as gracefully as in me lay, which
; / remember was precious awkwardly'
e with the customary formalities of Turk
: ish reception etiquette.
# So, before bowling my farewell, | duly
~ \ E..11 l.. IL.