The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-02-01

King of Kings, Besto wer of Crowns
Upon the Princes of the World, Shadow
of God Upon Earth, Emperor aad Soyer-
eign Lord of the White Sea and the
Black Sea, of Roumelia and Anatolia, %
and dozen places. including Jerusalem
the Holy, and Manager of an Infinity Of
Other Provinces Gloriously Acquired.
According to the theology of Islam, God
casts very dark shadow.
HIS DAILY LIFE.
From the man, let us turn to his daily
life On the Bosporus, q few miles above
Constantinople, is the palace of Dolma-
baghcheh. 1t is a dream of white mar
BILE. perfect fairy creation glittering
like row of Alpine SUBMITS, so gossa-
mer in design that one is tempted to
think rough wind would blow it away.
Within, everything is of superlativs
beauty, and is of the purest Eastern art.
Every rare wood. every beautiful stone
every delicacy of faienoe, every skill Of
carving, every conceivable luxury, has
been lavished upon it. No other sover-
eign in the world has the chance of in
habiting such gem. OF course, Abdul
Hamid lives here. Far from it. He
only sets foot In it once year, to receive
the homage and the allegiance of his sub
jects. He lives in plain white marble
building, of common modern shape, on
the highesJ 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 sufficient At Dali
magbagoheh he would be close to the
water, which might bear boat loads Of
conspirators to his very door, and there,
too. the gate Of his dwelling would be
passed by the or owds. among whom as
sassins might Turk At Yildiz he is far
from the dangerous waters which have
drowned so many of those upon whom
his displeasure has fallen. Nobody can
even approach his gates, for he surrounds
himself with thousands of troops, the
only ones we'll paid in his whole empire,
whose loyalty is assured by oeaseless
favors and presents. If you wish to con-
vince yourself of the reality of his seclu-
sion, walk up the hill toward the gates
of Yildiz. You will not have got far
before warning cry of "Yasak-it is
forbidden % reaches you. A second later
the CLEAN Of a sentry's bayonet and the
rattle of the lock of his rifle bid you
pause, and if you appear to show the
slightest hesitation, the next morning
will probably find you lying stiff and cold
in some remote slum of Galata, having
obviously been killed in "a midnight
whom the city swarms-one man added
TO the thousands of unexplained myster-
les of the Ottoman capital. For upper
most in the mind of the Sultan at every
moment of day and night is his dread of
assassination. The water he drinks is
casks His food is prepared with unim-
aginable precautions and tasted by others
before it reaches his lips. He never sleeps
in the same place for two nights running
He has bedroom to which he asoends by
ladder, pulling it up after him. When
sver he receives foreigner he wears
white gloves, lest infection should be con-
yeyed by touch Of the hand. Let the
chief eunuch but whisper that a certain
minister or officer is plotting against his
lite, and that man finds himself in life
long exile on the confines of the empire
| tortured, shot, hung, guillotined, and
beheaded, but have never seen such ter
ror Turk in human eyes as was betrayed
by this liking of kings" as he drove
through the ranks of thousands of SOL
diers on his way to pray in his mosque.
1t was the look on the face Of q rat upon
whom the cage door has just sprung when
he is lifted up to the light to be exam
ined.
AT YILDIZ PALACE.
1t is this same dread that has allotted
| their respective uses to the three floors
of Yildiz. ION the ground floor are secre-
taries and their offices; above them Os-
man Pasha, who held Pleyna so splendid
~ against the Russians, the Grand
Chamberlain and the chief of the secret
police; in the top story live the Sultan
and the favorite ladies of his hareln.
When an Ambassador presents his creden-
tisls he is received in an imposing recep-
ton room, he makes his speech to his
own dragoman, or official interpreter,
the latter repeats it in Turkish to the
Sultan's cham berlain, who in low, re-
spectful tones passes it on to his impsri-
al master The imperial reply reaches
the Ambassador in the same roundabout
way, and then the visitors are conducted
away to be entertained with cigarettes,
ga oh accompanied by delicate amber
mouthpieoe. and coffee served in jewelled
CUPS. When diplomatists are invited to
dine at Yildiz it occasionally happens
that the Sultan sits ut the same table
with them, but more often he sits in his
own apartment, sending his guestsoertain
dishes from his own table as a mark of
special courtesy, and receives them after.
ward.