The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-02-29
They Want a Constitution and
a Parliament.
Two Hundred Arrests of Agita-
tors Made Today.
Liberty Breaths in the Soul of
the Turk.
SULTAN is UNPOPULAR
His Thirteenth Century Govern
ment Out of Date.
"YOung Turks Want the Bene-
fits of Civilization,
GcOpyrighted 1886 by the Associated Press.I

Copyrighted 1896 by the Associated Press
CoNsTANTINoPLE, via Sofia, Bulgaria,
Feb. 29.-The police and military au-
thorities have been taking steps for some
time past to get at the facts in what
seems to be a widespread conspiracy with
headquarters in this city and branches
in many parts of the Ottoman empire.
Affairs yesterday and today reached
point whore it was judged that energetic
action could no longer be delayed, and
over 200 Armenians and numbers of
Turks have been arrested. The Turkish
officials claim that the arrests are made
simply as precaution against
the possibility of hostile manifesto
tion against the sultan, Abdul Hamid,
upon the occasion of his visit to the
Topkapon palace. the Stamboul quarter,
today upon the occasion of the Midrama-
zah festival.
Extensive military and police prepara-
tions have also been taken. The route
to be followed by the sultan will be lined
on both sides by picked troops; behind
the soldiers will be the uniformed police,
and mingling with the crowds will be
swarms of secret police who have in
structions to arrest any person, Armeni-
an, or Turk, who may act in a manner
calculated to arouse suspicion.
Thus many more arrests will be made
before the sultan passes through the
streets and the authorities will be greatly
relieved if the day passes without a
serious disturbance.
There is no denying that the Turks are
rapidly becoming far more dangerous TO
the FuIeaef@ Abdul Hamid that ethe half
crushed Arme mans, although the revo-.
lutionary agents of the latter are still
busily at work, but their plan of cam
i
change, for they appear to have become
convinced that their only hope of any
kind of redress in the nature of partial
self-government lies in the young Turkish
party.
This continually strengthening party
is becoming bolder as time elapses, the
mourning among the populace is more
distinct and it has reached the ears of
the palace officials in an unmistakable
manner, causing the utmost uneasiness
and anxiety. Outwitting the hostile
powers when secretly backed up by Rus
sia, is a comparatively easy task when
compared with confronting a possible
uprising of a strong section of the Turks
themselves.
The Turks are incensed against the
Armenians for the agitation which they
have fostered, but they are also very
bitter against the long continued misrule
of tho palace people. Thus the Armen-
ian agitators have really been playing
into the hands of the government and it
is only now, when the disturbances and
their sequences have subsidized that the
real situation is becoming apparent.
Therefore the feeling among the
Turks against the sultan has nothing
to do with the Armenians, the treat
ment they have been subjected to or
their alleged grievances. 1t is due to
the wrongs suffered by the Turks them
selves and the terrible oppression of the
secret police and tax gatherers. Among
the lower classes here, the matter might
not go further than the pIundering OF
the palaces, etc, the ousting of the
palace favorites and probable improve
ment thereby in the general situation. 1t
takes good deal of abuse of power how
ever, to arouse the Moslem population to
this pitch of revolt.
But among other classes of the popu-
lation the feeling of discomfort is far
deeper and much more serious, The
softas and the ulemah, the army and the
navy are fairly ripe for an outbreak, as is
well known at the palace. The army and
navy, il should be added, may be calcu-
lated to follow the lead of the ulemah
and softas in anything, and when it is
admitted that the two latter classes are
dangerously discontented the situation is
indeed critical
Then again among the official classes
generally the deposition of the sultan is
eagerly looked forward to now no longer
as vague possibility, but as a decided
proba bility.
The young Turk party demands con-
situtlon, parliament, and free institu-
tions, and there are people bold enough
to predict that they will get their de-
mands.