The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-26
THE WRETcHED SULTAN.
An ACCOUNT or Abdul HAND, THE
SHADOW OF GOD"

His Ministers ard Receives His
Guests-IIfs Fcar-EIis -Four Conf
dantS. One OF Them His Chief
Eunuch-Horrors Of NiIdis Palace.
From the New York sun.
The character of the Sultan Of Turkey
IS the most profound my stery Of our time.
Some or us have seen him. We know his
origin and history. we have studied bis
rule ia his own capital We are acquainted
with the facts OF his reign. and We have
questioned the few men who during rr-
cent years have talked intimately with
him face to face. But all this affords no
clue 10 the mystery. Here is an Asiailc,
first a debauchee. and later religious
fanatic. who has hardly seen a civilized
city or had a civilized man for his friend;
who lives in the strictest seclusSn, fear
ing instant assassi nation who rules over
a people nlne-tenths OF whom look upon
him as a political and religious usurperi
who has seen during his reign vast terri
tories detached from his kingdom; who
has been crushed ia "a great war; who
has let a powerful fleet go TO utter ruin
and a splendid army totally degenerate;
who, finally, was once the ally of Great
Britain and France and is now withou-
supporter among all nations. Yet he is
able TO defy Europe. with impunity 10
outrage the conscience Of the civilized
world; TO trample under foot every sol
emn engagement that has been wruns
from him; 10 score one diplomatic VIC
tory after another over six of the most
experienced and willy ambassadors liy-
ing: to laugh at the pressure Of powers
whose bsttleships could lay every coast
town ln Turkey in ashes in a few hours
and who could set in motion l0,019,OO0 men;
and. fianally. when he has al last been
constrained TO promise life ana liberty TO
an oppressed people. deliberately set about
10 eNtcrminate them. This man, / say, Il
the greatest mystery of our time More
over, 1 do not believe anybody lives who
can explain him. Certainly, / make no
pretense to do so, but ! have been study
ing him recently at rather close range,
and that l am not without some intimate
knowledge of his movements is perhaps
proved by the fact that ! knew and puu-
lished in the London Chronicle his ac-
forms "A hours before any one else in
Europe Therefore / may perhaps throw
little light upon the mystery
Take the outward man first. Abdul
Hamid III is short bent in the back. Ian
guild I'm movement, with occasional par
eNysms Of nervous activity. He has
large ears, a large nose, large lips. large
hands. and large feet His eyes are gray
ISL, his hair is thin and dark like his
beard. his teeth are long and yellow, and
his complexion is like parchment that
has been roughly folded a dozen times.
That is, everything in his appearance
contradicts the idea that he is an Osman-
liza pure Turk. In fart, he is an Arme-
MAN His mother was an Armenian
slave, and, unless all tradition lies, his
father was not the Sultan Abdul Meiid.
but the latters Armenian gardener. The
Turks to man call him the astard,"
and tell you with many circumstantial
details how his mother lavished upon
the plebeian of her own race the favors
which she succeeded in Withholding from
her alien If august lord and master. In
qhis fact of his origin is to be found the
secret OF the sultan's intense and unreas-
oning hatred of the Armenian race, and
also the explanation of many practical
qualities of craftsmanship in which he
excels the Turk. For the Armenians are
the Jews of Turkey, the buyers and sell
ers, the money lenders and usurers the
bookkeepers, the Spectators. the COM
merciai parasites. Thus, though Abdul
Hamid ii has played with success many a
game in which a Turk would have been
utterly wOrsted, and though he is i'm name
and position the thirty-fourth man who
has girded on the sword of Osman in the
waters OF Europe, he does not really be-
long to that race which Freeman de-
ers OF men than any other that has ever
existed. he IS 50 years old, and he sue
ceeded his elder brother, the deposed
Murad V, three months after the latter
succeeded his uncle, the deposed Abdul
Aziz namely, on Aug. 81, 1876. at the mo-
ment when Servia was waging war
against Turkey and only eight months
Defore the car would be doing so, too.
lie reJoices in the official titles Of Sui
tan OF Sultans, King of Kings, Bestower
OF Crowns Upon the Princes of the
World, Shadow of God Upon Earth, EN-
peror and Sovereign Lord of the White
Sea and the Black Sea, of Roumelia and
Anatolia, and a dozen places, including
an Infinity of Other Provinces Gloriously
acquired. According to the theology Of
Islam, God casts a very dark shadow.
from the man. let us turn to his daily
life on the Bosphorus a few miles above
Sonstantinople, is the palace of Dolma-
baghcheh. 1t is a dream of white mar
bic, a perfect fairy creation, glittering
like a row of Alpine SUBMITS, so gossa-
mer in design that one is tempted to think
a rough wind would blow it away. With
IN, everything is of superlative beauty
ana OF the purest eastern art. Every rare
wood, every beautiful stone, every deli
cacy OF faience, every skill of carving
every conceivable luxury, has been Law
ished upon it. No other sovereign in the
world has the chance Of inhabiting such
a gem. OF course, Abdul Hamid lives
mere. Far from it. He only sets foot in
II once year, TO receive the homage and
the allegiance of his subjects He lives
In plain white marble building. of com
mon modern shape, on the highest point
of the city-Yidiz Kiosk, "the palace of
the star, a name il does not deserve
The ground Of his choice is simple, but
ChlilAtht- At ltDlIidDdSuCHen ne Would
be close to the water which might bear
boat loads of conspirators to his very
door, and there, too. the gates Of his
dwelling would be passed by the crowds.
among whom assassins might Turk. All
YildiZ he is far from the dangerous wa
ters which have drowned so many of
those upon whom his displeasure has fall
len. Nobody can even approach his
gates, for he surrounds himself with
thousands of troops, the only ones well
paid in his whole empire, whose loyalty
is assured by ceaseless favors and pres
ents. If you wish to convince yourself
of the reality of his seclusion, walk uT
the hill toward the gates of Yildiz You
will not have got far before a warning
cry of ''Yasak-it is forbidden reaches
you. A second later the CLEAN of a SEN
tfy's bayonet and the rattle of the lock
of his rifle bid you pause, and if you ap-
pear to show the slightest hesitation the
next morning will probably find you lying
stiff and cold in some remote Stun of Ga.
lata, having obviously been killed in 4
midnight brawl by some of the human
scum with whom the city sWarmS-onf
man added to the thousands of unex.
planned mysteries of the Ottoman cant
tai For uppermost in the mind of the
sultan at every moment of day and night
is his dread of assassination. The water
he drinks is brought from a safe distance
in sealed casks. His food is prepared with
unimagnable precautions and tasted bN
others before il reaches his lips. Ii;
never sleeps in the same place for two
at 10