Evening star., 1896-01-18

but haHS nSvsr kSen ssek ferror luz 81
human eyes as was betrayed by this king
of kings" as he drove through the serrfed
ranks of thousands OF saluting soldiers on
his way to pray In his private mosque. 1t
was the look on the face of a rat upon
whom the cage door has Just sprung when
he is lifted up to the light to be examined.
At Yildiz Palace.
1t is this same dread that has allotted
their respective uses to the three floors OF
Yildiz. On the ground floor are secretaries
and their offices: above them Osman
Pasha, who held Pleyna so splendidly
against the Russians. the grand chamber
lain and the chief of the secret police; in
the top story live the sultan and the ia
Yorite ladies of his harem.
It Is not at all difficult to secure an audi
ence-ininttely easier, in fact, than in any
other European capital. One condition only
is necessary-that you be known as friend
of Turkey and a defender of Turkish rule.
Any journalist of position. for instance,
who could point to articles he had written
let it be known that he was prepared to
continue on the same lines, would be quite
safe to have his request for an audience
granted More than this, il he would send
his newspaper-always supposing it to be
one which the sultan knew and feared
certain statements of alleged fact and
opinion which the sultan would dictate to
him, representing them as derived from his
own knowledge and experiepee, he could
have much more than an audience. A bag
of gold. diamond brooch for his wife.
Turkish decorat ton for his buttonhole-he
s.ou1o ccn1y hs.oe to drop a veiled hint and
the thing would be done. But he would be
wise to leave ~Gonstan,t ttnople soon after
ward. for secrets are s ksS. =, In Fl orien- en-
ders at the club. In fact, Turkish money
smells. and soon betrays its presence In
anybody's pocket.
Abdul Hamid n Hard Worker.
To do the sultan Justice he is a very hard
working man. His ministers and creatures
are liable to be summoned to Yildiz at any
hour Of the day or night For instance.
when I was last IN Constantiiiople Kiamn
Pasha mad not been able to secure an au-
| dience for many days. He had been re-
peatet1ly to the palace, sent in written re-
ports. been kept waiting several hours. and
then dismissed with \ conteznptu3us verbal
message brought to him by a eunuch. 1t
must be borne in mind that whereas pre-
viously ministers of state, gathered in cOun-
| ell at the sublime porte, the headquarters
of the Ottoman government in Stamboul.
used to exercise real powers. the sultan act
| ing upon their advice. Abdul Hamid has
| taken the reins OF authority entirely into
| his own hands and most Of the ministers to-
| day are the merest fgureheads, having lit
| tie real influence over Turkish affairs than
| any readers of these lines. They are ap-
pointed and dismissed in accordance with
petty personal motives, or in order to throw
| dust in the eyes of Europe. A set ofNwax
| images could do their work. The sultan
\ does everything himself. An acquaintance
of mine saw him one day deeply immersed
! in voluminous document. A few days af-
| terward he had the opportunity of inspect
| ing the document at the Office of Nozim
| Pasha minister of police. 1t was the official
| report upon scuf1e that had taken place
| in cafe chantant between d Greek and a
| Jew. The shadow of God was giving hours
| of mis- time to a miserable incident that in
London New York a police magistrate
| would have dismissed in Ave minutes.
The Sultan's -Four Couasellors.
There are four people in the Turkish
empire with whom the sultan takes coun-
sci. They are. first. osman Pasha. of
whom 1 have already spoken, and who sits
in the same carriage as his master when
the latter Is driven, at every Fridays Selanl-
| hk, 200 yards from the palace gate to
the private mosque for prayer, while 5000
| troops fill the streets all around and rend
the air with two savage simultaneous
| shouts of elcome. The second is Hassan
Pasha, minister Of marine, who has shared
| with the sultan the peculations which have
| reduc ID the once fine Turkish fleet to a
mass of fusting iron and rotting wood, un-
able ever again to leave its moorings in
the Go1dea Horn. The third is his own
/
ton. The fourth is hts private Ynollah OF
priest. creature Of the profoundest ie.
norance and fanattcisn. AID the two lat
ter are far more influential than the two
| former. If to these be added the name OF
''his excellency, Yefsr Agha, chief eunuch, -
there fs nobody else in the whole Turkish
empire who counts. must pay this man
the compliment of saying that ne is the
most repaIsive object in human shape tina,
| have ever set eyes upon.
The Sultan's Mute Eunuehs.
There Is something at Yildiz, however
worse even than these intriguing keeper.
of the pearls of the harem. Hidden away
/ from common sight and hearing are tn,
mute eunuchs. rendered also speechess IL
earliest childhood These are the peopi,
of the dagger, the pillow. the bowstrint
and the swift-running river. In the OLE
were thrust into the imperial presence will
the cry, Let the dogs come and be fed,
cannon doomed from seragllo battle
ments as the strangIed corpses of the vic
Bosphoras. No cannon nowadays an
nounces the tragedies of the Palace OF tn
Star, but they occur all the same. Their
are plenty Of dungeons there, and the,
. | have been full lately. Men told in whisper
in ConstantfEople the other day how seven
teen naen had been bowstrung there in
single night. And any Turk who trust
| you can tell you of score Of men VIII
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