Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-10-29
SULTAN ABDUL HAND.
SOME CHARACTERISTICS or THE Po-
TENTATE OF TURKEY.
Ruled BY Homiciai Mania..-Thls Insanity
Has Been Frequent In kings--.The De.
fusion of Persecution.

naS ooeu crequent IN kingS.s- NO bos
iusion of Persecution.
The present Sultan OF Turkey, Abdul
Hamid, succeeded his brother Murad
twenty years ago when the latter was
deposed on account OF insanity.
Murad's insanity was in the nature OF
an enthusiastic young reformer eagerly
starting his rule In corrupt and semi
civilized government He tried for tho
few months OF his reign to correct
.abuses and grant new liberty to his
subjects. Whether actually insane or
not. he was deposed and confined In
palace under the care OF his mother.
III not really crazy at the time, he
probably became so eventually and has
for twenty years led the life OF Il HARM
less. unambitious lunatic.
Abdul Hamid. the great Sultan.
seems TO have been ut first a man of
naturally kindly and enlightened in
stincts. He was for a long time I:
monogamist and devoted to his one
wife and his children. lie was pas
sionately devoted to music. spending
hours playing duets on the piano with
members of his family.
His character has always borne Il
striking resemblance to that of Louis
XVI. of France in both lis private and
public life. The most predominant cle-
merit in Abdul Hamid's character has
been his extreme timidity. When his
brother was deposcd he did not wish
TO be appointed his successor. much
preferring the quieter position OF
prince without the responsibility. He
accepted the position of Sultan only
with The greatest reluctance when
urged and forced by the priests or
sheiks of the Mahommctan religion
whose power over nj Moslem is abso-
lutte.
After his first refusal al the princi-
pal priests visited him in body.
Sheik nj Islam, the primlte, made this
speech: 1T is decrecd and registered
in heaven that you are TO be Kaliph
OF Islam and Prince Of the Faithful.
You cannot disobey the command and
will of God and the Prophet The
rest re-echoed the words. Abdul yield
cd TO their orders and has always been
practically Il tool in the hands of these
willy ecclesiastics ever since. especial
Iy in religious matters and in his treat
ment of all iniidels and unbelievers.
He knows that IL the chief sheik should
chose 10 say ut any time that the ex-
sultan, Murad, had recovered his rea-
son that his own career as sultan would
come TO sudden end.
The sultan always has lived Sc
cluded life. lie rises every day at q
O'Clock and spends the entire morning
with his ministers. who, with their as
sistants, form what is known as the
palace gang" lie rarely sees any peo-
pie from the outside world. reads ONLY
the most carefully eXpurgated Turkish
newspapers and practically is limited
in his information of what is going on
In the outside world and about the con-
dition of his subjects To what his house
hold choose to tell him. AS time has
gone on. his one and all-absorbing fear
has been that he is in constant danger
Of assassination. What was ut first
merely a natural nervousness. has now
become a monomania with him. and his
fears have been aggravated and worked
upon by willy ministers and unscrupu-
lcCs servants.
IL a Sheik wishes ut any time to dis
pose Of any obnoxious Armenian Chris
tians. the narration Of some fictitious
plot against the sultan's life has been
sufficient to procure IN order for their
suppression by Imprisonment. private
execution or wholesale massacre.
Greater even than his hatred of the
Armenians las been his dread of the
so-called Young Turkey party, who rep
resents all there is of progress and pa
triOtism in Turkey. 1t Is this party
that the eX-sultan Murad represented
before his abdication and alleged in
sanity. 1t includes the students, doc
tors, and most of the educated men and
numbers of the best army officers. cspc.
cially the young men. Here Is an in
stance of the insane dread the sultan
holds against this Young Turkey party.
4 year or two ago party of students
from the military school came to the
palace TO complain to the sultan OF the
dishonesty and acknowledgements of the
head of their school. At the suggestion
of the minister Of war. tie chief of the
palace gang" that they were all mem
bers Of the Young Turkish party, the
sultan ordered the entire party. sixteen
in all. to he dragged into an adjacent
room and bastinadoed on the abdomen
until they died, all OF which was done
without delay.
To one studying the history of Turkey
for the last year. the ''homicidal
mania becomes almost unmistakable.
With n natural character undoubtedly
mild, gentle and benevolent, the sultan
Abdul Hamid has become as eager i'm
his thirst for the blood of his subjects
as any tyrant In history.
His frank and open letter to Lord
Salisbury last November, requesting
him to use his influence i'm England for
Turkey and making excuses for recent
events, was written the same week
fhIt some OF the most atrocious Ar
inenian. massacrcs took place, which
mass.icres have proved almost certain
ly TO have been authorized by the sui
tan himself. New York Press.