The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-08-02

| Western scribes, regarded as high author
tiles on Eastern questions, are the points
which really constitute his titles to the re-
| spect and consideration of the civilized
| world, of which European Turkey is an
outpost, and the sultan . recently ad-
United honorary member, minus the re-
| hgion, the culture and the morals of his
Western brethren in the purple.
That the sultan has done something to-
wards the education of his people, even if
on very small scale, Immediately under
the eyes of the foreign ambassadors at Con-
stantinople, Is TO his credit. But even in
this, the bitter drop of fanaticism is per-
| ceptible, in the girls school at Stamboul,
which Is especially patronized by his i'm
| perial majesty-devoted TO the teachings
| OF the higher elasses-in which no lam
| guage but Turkish is allowed to be taught
| or used by pupils or teachers. That he
| observes the precepts of his religion, and
| drinks no wine, nor disregards the in
| functions of the prophet. whose rep
resentative on earth he claims to be, is
also to his credit; for the few of his semi
| educated subjects who have been in
structed in Europe, while losing their old
! religion, have generally acquired no sub
stitute for il, and are less to be depended
| upon than the old-fashioned "believers."
The reason for the sultan's employment
of Christians in public offices, which is ex-
ultingly cited as an evidence of his to!er-
ant spirit, can easily be accounted for by
the impossibility of his finding substitutes
for them, among his own co-rehglonists,
under the new relations with foreign gov
ernments imposed on Turkey by the Eu-
ropean powers; on whose mutual jeal-
ousies it is his policy to play, for his own
preservation, and that of his European
possessions, gradually slipping from his
grasp.
His own apology for "not loosening the
grip OF his government, spread like net
@l1sav- t@-fs. l.
tenn, as reported by the professor in his
own words, is plausible and ingenious, but
1t is the plea of all despots, and If adopt
ed as conclusive, would shut and bar the
door TO reform everywhere, that tyranny
and misgovernment had degraded and
brutaliZed people.
1t was the plea set up by king and mobiles
in France in 17S9-but it was effectually
answered there and blown to the winds by
the great revolution of that year, in the
train of whose horrors and terrors came
the liberation of people and the
ylndlcatlon of the rights of man;
Professor Vambery says: "He said
to me one day, In Europe the
soil was prepared centuries ago for liberal
institutions, and now | am asked to trans
plant sapling to the foreign, stony and
rugged ground of Asiatic life. Let me
clear away the thistles and stones; let me
till the soil and prepare for irrigation be-
cause rain is very scarce in Asia. and then
We may transplant the new plant; and be-
Heve me, nobody will be more delighted at
its thriving than myself.
These be brave words-if too metaphori-
cal. But actions speak louder than words
or metaphors and the acts of this absolute
ruler, who, even more truly than Louis
XIV, can say, 81 am the state" and
whose will is law, belle these professions.
Under his rule of fifteen years, ssthe
stony and rugged ground" has become
more hopelessly stony and rugged still;
and the thistles and stones usurp the
places formerly under cultivation; while
a hideous carnival of violence, rapine,
murder and lust have reused the con-
science of Christendom, firstly into parti-
tioning out large portions of his empire
and giving them back into Christian
hands-even if nominally subject to the
Porte; and secondly, rousing Christian
nations TO an uneasy consciousness that
they are accomplices in permitting the
Turks-for purely selfish reaSons-to con-
tinue still encamped in Europe which he
never can or will permanently settle in or
affiliate sincerely with; his creed, his life,
his social system preventing.
Professor Vambery's own picture of the
present condition of the Turkish empire,
drawn by friendly hand, truly paints the
actual scenes which meet the eye of the
stranger everywhere outside OF the show
places at Constantinople, and he admits
he says:
"We must not shut our ewes to the de-
plorable condition under which Turkey is
laboring; we must not lose sight of ruined
villages, neglected roads, decaying towns,
choked harbors and an impoverished pop
ulation."
If tree must be known by its fruits,
then this one, like the barren fig tree of
the Scriptures, surely should be cut down
and cast into the fire. For if this be the
result of fifteen years rule. what will be
the fruits of thirtyP And what must we
think of the character and capacity of the
absolute ruler, who has wrought such
widespread ruin and desoluhon? Not the
hundredth part of the whole truth has
been told by Professor Vambery in the
lines of accusation we have cited, and
which is in strange contradiction to his
eulogies.
For, in fact, the condition of things at
Constantinople and the provinces, has been
steadily going from bad to worse for sue
cessive years, and decay and dilapidation
are plainly visible at Stamboul, AID on
the fairy-iike banks of the Bosphorus, as
well as in places remote from the royal
eye. For fifteen years the sultan's brother,
Mourad, who was deposed and dethroned,
lest he might sit in his seat-has been
kept state prisoner in the palace of Cher
aqua, under the eye of the sultan. As no
one OF his friends (if any remain) is per-
mltteu TO see or correspond with nm,
whether he still survives is state secret.
But his fate does not indicate that
sensibility and gentleness, attributed to
the sultan by his eulogist. Ifhe still lives.
pining for liberty and the outer air, in the
royal bastile. the inscription placed by
Dante at the mouth of hell might well be
applied here, where he has languishingly
lived for almost fourth of mans allotted
time on earth. If mental alienation really
were the cause of his being ''interned" all
these years, there could be no reason for
preventing his friends from seeing him.
But this IS a palace mystery into which
the eyes of the ''profane vulgar" ought
not perhaps to pry.
From the domestic relations of the sui
tan let US pass to his public administra-
ton. What as to the finances? Do not
bankruptcy and exhaustion stare Turkey
in the face until Turkish credit has be-
come a byeword? Are not the employees.
both civil and military only paid inter-
mittently--if ever2 and the dues of many
months always in arrears until they have
to resort TO extraordinary devices and cor
rupt practices in office so as to live? Have
/ not myself seen a Turkish finance min
lister beaten and buffetted by crowd
of angry women, assembled at the gate
of his ministry, clamoring for their hus-
bands wages, which for many months had
been withheld from them until their fam
lies were starving, and this was at STAIN
boul, under the eye of the sultan If the
heart be thus diseased what must the
members be2 And what the state of
things outside of Constantinople?
Meanwhile the profuse personal ex-
pendIture of the sovereign and his
prodigalities in lavishing costly gifts on
all foreign princes or distinguished visitors