The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-02
HEIRS TO THE suLTANATE.
Something About the brothers of
Abdul Hamid, Who Are prison
erS" of Stnfe.
From the Westminster Gaz6tts,

ers' OF state.
From the Westminster GazettS
Sultan Abdul Hamid II. has four Ivy
ing brothers. and not one only. These
princes are the deposed and insane sui
tan Murad V, who is his maicstys sem
Tor by four years; Rechad Enendi mot
Raschid. which is another and distinct
name), the heir apparent; and two much
younger brothers-Wared-dln Emendi and
Suleiman Efendi. Prince Selim-Or. as
the Turks say. Selim Sultan--is the present
sultan's eldest son, but he stands no
chance Of succeeding TO the throne until all
his uncles and the three sons OF his eld-
est uncle Murad Y. are dead because the
succession in the Ottoman imperial FAM
lily passes to the eldest survivor, and not
from father to son as with other Euro
pean and eastern dynastes. Should
Rechad succeed, on his death the crown
does not go to his children, but TO his
next brother. If War-ed-in Effend be
dead, Suleiman will succeed and II he has
shuffied Off this mortal COLL the sceptre
then falls TO the eldest son Of Murad ",
and so on from brother to brother in that
branch of the family until there are no
more of them left; then, and then only,
VIII Selim Sultan and his brothers have
a chance. In former times matters were
considerably simplified by general mas
sacre, on the accession of a sultan OF all
the males who stood In the way of his di-
rect issue When you visit the Tubeh, or
tombs of the imperial family which sur
round the seven imperial mosques, you
may observe that certain OF the collins
some OF them OF mere infants-have the
turbans affixed to their heads slightly in
clined to the left. This means that the
body beneath is that of a prince who
died a violent death-was murdered.
The following description OF Prince
Rechad dhe actual heir-apparenO was
Is about 50 years of age. tail and well
proportional but inclined TO stoop. His
features are regular; his nose, Ike that
shape, hooked eyes blue and hair and
beard light red. His manners are very
gracious and easy. and he Is exceedingly
generous and kind. He is probably not
mid, but he is nothing like so nervous, al
though obliged to live a sequestrated ex-
istence, in obedience TO the absurd regula-
tons and traditions of the Ottoman court,
and he is fairly well Informed as to what
is taking place in Europe and in the en-
pire. He is not at all fanatcal, but sin
cerely religious. He has two wives, both
highly educated ladies, who speak French
German and English. They are well born
being the daughters of distinguished
pashas, and have had foreign goVernesses
They dress in the house like French wo-
men. His highness has several children
of whom three are boys. Reehad plays
great admirer of classical music. Like
Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz, he is good
draughtsman, and sketches very nicely |
have seen some of his drawings, and they
much above the average of amateur per-
formances. Ahmel Pasha CChelIir, or Su-
gar Pasha, as he is called on account of
his very agreeable manners) showed me-
when was in Constantinople, a very Gu
rious collection of sketches by Abdul
Aziz,, mostly caricatures, Of exceptional
excellence.
The brothers of Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid
are dressed as effendi, or gentlemen: but
as a kind of concession to the Altman
ach de Gotha," and to modern ideas.
they are invariably styled by European
diplomattsts in the Lavantine papers i'm
perlal highnesses. / was assured that
Rechad is a capital farmer, taking a
practical interest in his farm up the
Bosphorus, which he visits daily, his only
relaxation in life of stupendous mo.
notony. When he drives out II is in
Variably in a closed brougham, escorted
and surrounded by at least a dozen
armed horsemen All visitors even his
medical man. are searched on entering
the Cheragan palace, where he resides
as kind of state prisoner for book and
papers, which are taken from them and
only returned when they leave the place
Thus is an intelligent and well-intentioned
prince kept in utter ignorance of those
very things which he ought to best ac-
quainted with in order to qualify himself
to occupy the throne should he be destined
to ascend its weary stems