Evening star., 1896-01-18

town in Turkey in ashes in a few hours,
and who could set in motion ten millions oe
men; and. finally, when he has at last been
cons trained to promise life ard liberty to
oppressed people, deliberately set about to
exterIniHate them This man, say, is the
greatest mystery Of our time. Moreover, I
do not believe any body lives who can ex-
e,ain him. Certainly, / make no pretense
10 do 50, but have recently been studying
him at rather close range, and that I am
rot without some intimate knowledge OF his
movements is perhaps proved by the fact
that I knew, and published in the London
Chronicle, hts acceptance of the project of
Armenian reforms twenty-four hours before
anyone else IN Europe. Therefore, I may
perhaps throw a little light upon the niys-
terry.
The Person Of Abdul HamiA.
Take the outward man first Abdul
Hamid II Is short, bent in the back, Ian
guid In movement, with occasional par
oxysms of nervous activity. He has large
ears, large nose, large hps, large hands
and large feet. His eyes are grayish, his
hair is thin ard dark, like his beard, his
teeth are long and yellow, ard his COM
plexion is like parchment that has been
roughly folded dozen times That is, ev-
erythinS in his appearance contradicts the
idea that he is an Osman-a pure Turk.
In fact, he Is an Armenian. His mother
was an Armenian slave and unless I'll ira
dition lies, his father was not the Sultan
Abdul Mejid. but the latter's Armenian
gardener. In this fact of his origin is to be
found the secret of the sultan's intense
and unreasonable hatred of the Armenian
race, and also the explanation of many
practical qualities of craftsmanship In
which he exceIs the Turk. For tine Armeni-
ans ere the buyers and sellers, the money
lenders and usurers, the bookkeepers. the
spectators, the commercial parasites
Thus, though Abdul Hamid III has played
with success many a game In which .
Turk would have been utterly worsted,
and though he is in name and position the
thirty-fourth man who has gfrded on the
sword of Osman in the sacrosanct Mosque
of Eyoub on the Sweet Waters Of Europe
he does not really belong to that race
watch Freeman declares to have produced
more great leaders of men than any other
that has ever existed He is fffty-three
years old.
His Daily Life.
From the man let us turn to his daily
life. On the Bosphorus, a few miles above
COnstantinople, Is the palace of DoIma-
baghcheh. 1t is a dream of white marble.
a perfect fairy creation, gllttering like a
row of Alpine SUBMITS, so gossamer in de-
sign that one is tempted TO think a rough
wind would blow II away Within, every
thing is of superlative beauty, and of the
pufest eastern art. Every rare wood,
every beautiful stone, every delicacy of
faience. every skill of carving, every con-
ceivahle luxury, has been layished upon
it. No sovereign in the world has the
chance of inhabiting such a gem. OF
course. you say. Abdul Hamid lives here.
Far from it, He only sets foot in it once
a year. to receive the homage and the al
legiance OF his subjects. He lives in a
plain white marble building, of common
modern shape, on the highest point of the
city-Yildiz Kiosk, ''the Palace of the
Star" a name it does not deserve The
ground of his choice is simple but suffi-
cient. AT DolHabaghcheh he would be close
to the water. which might hear boat loads
of couspirators to his very door, and there
too. the gates of his dwelling would be
passed by the crowds, among whom as
sassns might lurk. At Yildiz he is fan
from the dangerous waters which have
drowned 50 many of those upon whom his
nispleasure has fallen. Nobody can ever
approach his gates, for he surrounds him
self with thousands of troops, the only
ones we'll paid In his whole empire, whose
loyalty is assured by oeaseless favors and
presents. u you wish to convince your.
self of the reality of his seclusion, walk
up the hill toward the gates of Yildiz
cry OF "fasak-it is forbidden reaches
you. A second later the gleam of a sen
trys bayonet and the rattle OF the lock Of
MS ms riiie NJ & 9:ds you you pause pause. and If you ap
next morning will probably find you 1yins
stin and cold in some remote sium of Gala
ia, having obviously been killed in mid
night brawl by some of the human scum
with whom the city swarms-one man add
ed to the thousands of unexplained mys
teries of the Ottoman capital. For upper
most in the mind Of the sultan at ever,
moment of day and night is his dread o
assassination. The water he drinks Il
brought from a safe distance in sealed
casks. His food is prepared with unimag
Unable precautions and tasted by other
before 1t reaches his lips. He never sleep
IN the same place for two nights running
He has bed room to which he ascends b,
ladder, pulling 1t up after him. When
ever he receives foreigner he wear
white gloves, lest infection should be con
yeyed by a touch of the hand Let tn
chief eunuch but whisper that certain
minister or officer is plotting against hi
life. and that man finds himself In life
long exile on the confines of the empire be
fore he is much older. I have seen men tor