Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-08-01
THE SULTAN AT HOME:
Something About the Private
Life of Turkeys Ruler.
FEARS DARKNESS LIKE A CHILD.

satisfactorily Settled the American
Indemnity Claims, Are Brilliantly
as Soon as the Light Fails.
Now that the long standing contro-
versy with Turkey over American in
demnity claims has been settled salts
Tactorily to the state department at
Washington by the payment of $3.50
to Mr.. Leishman, the United States
minister at C~onstantinople, the follow
ing facts about the sultan's private life.
taken from a little work recently issued
in Paris under the title Of abdul Ham
id H." are Of timely interest. We have
reasons for believing it's statements
to be authentic, says the London Daily
News.
The sultan of Turkey and his sur
roundings have become perforce a lit
tie "westernized" on the surface. The
ladies Of the palace make use of Pari-
sian dress materials. The commander Of
the faithful buys the latest invented
guns for the armory of the Yildiz
kiosk. But beneath the skin there
is no more Of civilization, as we under
stand it, than ever there was. The roy
al income, for example, which is one Of
the largest in Europe, is collected by
oriental methods and subject to orien-
tai offerings. Let them steal SO long
as they serve me-" is the imperial mot
to, and so long as the minister or court
fer does not make himself SO obtrusive-
ly rich as to invite the jealous scrutiny
of the ruler he is free to make his prof
1t from either public or private purses.
The personal life Of Abdul Hamid,
however, is one of the most striking il
Illustrations of this phenomenon Of a
light renee Of western habit overlay-
ing a score of things totally oriental. A
tyranny is b natural system Of polity
in the east, and in Turkey it is not dis
Sembled. But the personal existence Of
the tyrant is passed in doing eastern
things in a western way. Among the
most important Of the sultan's labors
is the hearing Of the reports Of his spies
in all parts of Europe, but newspaper
cuttings are the form Of information
with which he most likes them to fur
nish him.. His staff of secretaries is
large enough for the most hard worked
and devoted guardian of the state, but
they are principally employed, and in
cessantly, too, with the private con-
Germs, whims, suspicious and fancies of
their master. Tireless as his activity
is, and careful as he is of each mo-
ment of time, very little Of his energy ]
is directed toward national affairs, and
public business is nowhere more de-
layed and neglected than under this
busy ruler.
Conaop4o -1o-r onI ACKNOWLEDGEMENT |
entertainments are favorite means
with the sultan Of dispelling the cares |
Of a throne, as they are with most
crowned heads. The services of his
own dramatic and operate troupes are
often in request, and any company that |
may be visiting Constantinople is usu-
ally commanded to favor him with a
private performance. But it is charac-
t~eristic Of the eastern notion of royal
dignity that all mention Of these enter
tainments is strictly forbidden in the
Turkish press, and it is rare that any |
n outside the family of the sultan is
invited to witness them.
1t is said that he habitually drinks
some cordial before receiving embassa- /
doris and visitors in order to give a tenn |
porary brilliance to his eyes and COM
plexion, for the "Sick Man. cannot |
bear to be thought an invalid and has |
never yet allowed his severest attacks |
CT illness to be publicly announced. |
lie even goes so far as to doctor him |
self for most of his ailments. The pit
liable state Of his nerves makes the |
night a recurring terror to him. He |
fears darkness like a child, and the
whole of the apartments occupied by |
him, with the, surrounding gardens, are |
brilliantly lighted up from the mo- |
Elent the light fails. Silence, too, Is
terrible to him, and he can only sleep |
with the noise Of his guard tramping |
before the palace in his ears. From |
Ills sleep he will start up to summon |
en- interpreter for a dream or to go out
0nd sweep the horizon with strong |
glasses. Usually he is sent with diff |
Guilty to sleep by the reading aloud of |
his brother or a favorite servant. Next |
to the reports of his spies, the litera-
ture hat appeals most strongly to his |
taste is hat of the sensational novel, |
AID the more horror there is to stimu-
late a morbid taste the better is he
pleased. 1t is characteristic of him |
t,iat the only sport in which he excels |
l. rifle and pistol practice. At this he
could show the way to most men.
These are a few of the details regard |
irg the life Of Abdul Hamid which we
L3 We gathered from the work of Ados- |
sides Bey. He has no cause to love the
sultan, whose persecution of the young |
Turks drove him from his country, but
we believe his account to be faithful,
and we have selected only such matter
IS seemed unlikely to be tinged by
prejudice.
Chinese Go Slow.
Professor Starr states that the edu-