Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1899-08-03
HE WANTS JUSTICE.
AS AN AMERICAN SAW THE
SULTAN.
He, Seems to Think Himself Cruelty
Misunderstood Quick at Repartee.
Which Has to Be Translated. and Full
of His Excuses. ~ .

Which Has to Be Translated, and Full
OF A'' Excuses t3i s
From T. P. O'Connor's Mainly
About People: I had talk a few days
ago with a, young American; who had
spent several years In Constantinople
as secretary of legation, and he gave
me some interesting glimpses into the
character of the sultan. 1 should say
that, unlike myself-unlike most peo-
pie in England-this young American
was rather an admirer personally of
the ruler of the Turkish empire, and
what he said must be taken with that
deduction. AS to the sultan's dread
Of assassination there is not the small
est doubt. His visits once year to
the city-even his weekly visits to the
pared with an elaborateness that dis
plays the most constant dread of con-
spiracy and conspirators.' Thus 1t is,
for instance, that all the streets along
the land route are arranged in the
most careful manner for the passing
of the sultan. The banners are out,
the roads made smooth-everything is
done which seems to prove that the
sultan is certain to go that way and to
return by the water route. At the
last moment the sultan goes by the
water route and returns by land. These
terrors are largely due to the fact that
the Armenians are the most capable
and reckless throwers of bombs in the
world. The Armenians in CONSTANT
nople are a strange mixture. While
they are ready to do such desperate
deeds, and to take all the consequences
to themselves as to others, they have
no power of making open resistance,
and apparently even little will to do
so. For instance, in that terrible riot
in which 1000 Armenians were killed
b couple of years ago, eleven Armen-
ians were standing in the streets, all
armed with crowbars. Nine Turks
with nothing but clubs came up. They
killed all the Armenians, who did not
If they had made any such attempt
they would undoubtedly have proved
the stronger. When my friend dis
cussed the extraordinary action of the
Armenians with an Armenian banker
he expressed no surprise. All he could
feel was admiration for the men who
had thus allowed themselves to be
massacred like sheep. They were pa
triots, he said; they wished to make
the massacres as bad as possible, so
as to bring about the Intervention of
Europe. Although the sultan does
stand in fear of assassination, and al
though he is undoubtedly guarded
carefully, there are few if any signs of
this in his immediate neighborhood.
1t is difficult to get access to the pal
ace, but once you are in there you see
fewer soldiers and fewer signs of pre-
cautions than in Russia, or even in
Germany. You see nothing but OBJ
sequious servants. The sultan i'm
presses immensely by his ability every
body who is brought into close contact
with him. In all the years he had seen
him my American friend had never, he
said, seen him taken aback; never
without an answer, even when things
were hottest and darkest against him.
He has always specious argument; a
historical illustration-sometim a
sly national recrimination-to urge in
defense of his own acts, and even of
the worst barbarities in his own king
dom. And he says all these things
with perfect calm and possession;
indeed, as a gentleman who is pain
fully misunderstood. His repartees
are, perhaps, the easier to make be-
cause he takes plenty of time to pre-
pare them. For though undoubtedly
he understands French fairly we'll, it
is contrary to court etiquette that he
should speak in any language but
Turkish. Everything has to be in
terpreted. And yet now and then the
sultan, when he is taken off his guard.
utters "Merci, monsieur" or some
other short word in French, which
shows that his pretended inability to
converse in French is like Dom Paul's
professed ignorance of the English lam
guage.