The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-04-06
THE SULTAN AT HOME.
Personal Life of Abdul Hamid, the
Monarch Who Never Pays and Al
ways Owes.
From the London News,

pOlHlcal secrets as w eSleIn pSOplSS
derstand the term. Under governments
more or less popular an inkling OF what
is going on behind the scenes is pretty
sure to get about and, indeed, the back
stairs dealings of those in power are usu-
ally open and palpable enough. But in
countries where all government is one
huge conspiracy of a few against the IN
terests of the subject another state of
things prevails. All who have foot in
the house of powers are in the plot, and
the merest love of life will keep them
standing shoulder to shoulder, from the
crowned king down to the smallest foot
boy of the palace. We are some centuries
past the time when a man of the royal
household was everybody's enemy, and
progress of Henry Plantagenet was more
dreaded than the descent of a gang OF
outlaws. But in the East that time con-
tinues, and when the Shah of Persia
comes to England he leaves a trail OF
beggered people on his road to the sea-
port. So the people of the palace must
always stand or fall together; and secrecy
as to what goes on under the shadow OF
the throne is not hard to maintain
Some interest therefore, attaches to
little work about to be issued in Paris
under the title of abdul Hamid H..
We have reasons for believing its state
ments 90 be authentic, and we venture to
think some of them may interest English
readers.
The Sultan of Turkey and his surround
ings have become perforce little West
ernized' on the surface. The ladies of
the palace make use of Partisan dress
materials; the Commander of the Faith
full buys the latest invented guns for the
armory of the Yildiz Kiosque. But be-
meath the skin there is no more of civil
ization, as we understand it, than ever
there was. The royal income, for example,
which is one of the largest in Europe, IS
collected by Oriental methods and sub
tect to Oriental pilferings. LET them
steal so long as they serve me-" is the
imperial motto, and so long as the Min
lister or courtier does not make himself
so obtrusively rich as to invite the jeal-
Gus scrutiny of the ruler he is free to
make his profit from either public or
private purse.
The personal life of Abdul Hamid, how
ever, is one of the most striking illus
trations of this phenomenon of a light
veneer of Western habit OVERLAPPING a
core of things totally Oriental. A tyranny
is the natural system of polty in the
East, and in Turkey it is not dissembled,
hut the personal existence of the tyrant
is passed in doing Eastern things in
Western way. Among the most important
of the Sultan's labors is the hearing of
reports of his spies in all parts of Eu-
rope, but newspaper cuttings are the form
of informatio with which he most likes
them to furnish him. His staff of Secre-
| taries is large enough for the most hard
worked and devoted guardian of the
| State, but they are principally employed
| and necessarily, too-with the private
| concerns, whims, suspicious, and fancies
of their master. Tireless as his activity
| is, and careful as he is of each moment
Of time, very little of his energy is d-
rected toward national affairs, and pub
| lie business is nowhere more delayed and
neglected than under this busy ruler.
Concerts, plays, and kinematograph en-
| tertainments are favorite means with the
| Sultan of dispeling the cares of a throne,
! as they are with most crowned heads.
| The services of his own dramatic and
| operatic troupes are often in request, and
| any company that may be visiting Con-
! stantinople is usually commanded to
| favor him with a private performance.
But ii is characteristic of the Eastern
notion of royal dignity that all mention
of these entertainments is strictly for
| hidden in the Turkish press, and it is
rarely that any one outside the family
| of the Sultan is invited 10 witness them.
| And, surrounded as Abdul Hamid is with
| every kind of object of use and luxury
| that Europe can supply, he passes among
| them an existence harassed by every kind
| of suspicion and fear that could assail
a potentate of the Arabian Nights. The
elaborate ceremony of precaution with
| which his meals are prepared engages
the attention of the highest and most
trusted of his officials. The cooking is
| done in a separate and strongly guarded
chamber, and the chef does everything
beneath the eye of the Sultan's servant.
| A solemn procession conveys the food and
water to the sale a Manager, the carafe
being sealed, and the dishes covered
with cloths which are also sealed upon
them. These precautions against poison
| nv no means satisfy the Sultan. At any
| moment he may command the official who
overlooks the cookery to taste dish, and
| n number of pet animals are kept, to
which the first morsels are given by the
! royal hand. In his tastes the Commander
of the Faithful is prudently abstemious.
| No man could watch his health more
closely in this respect, and TO put on
flesh is the dream of his existence. But
a man so much victim to nervous worry
| can hardly look 20 get fat, and to what
ever food Abdul Hamid treats himself,
| his frame continues shrunken and debii-
tated.
| In the taste for tobacco, on the other
hand, he practices no modera ton; this is
i a craving stronger lndu any fdSle lot
food, and the cigarette that is between
his lips from morning till night can do
| little TO improve a nervous system al
ready shattered by anxietes. In the mat
Ter Of liquor the Sultan Is no strict Mus
sulman, and pleads his health as an ex-
cuse for the indulgence In an occasional
glass Of champagne. II is said that he
| habitually drinks some cordial before re-
| ceiving Ambassadors and visitors. Ia or
der 10 give "A temporary brilliance 90 his
eyes and complex lon; for the Sick Man"
/ cannot bear 20 be thought an invalid. ami
| has never yet allowed his seyerest at
/ tscks Of Illness 20 be publicly announced.
/ re even goes 20 far a. 20 doctor himself
i Cor most ~ his ailments. The pitiable
| state Of he nerves makes the night
| recurring terror 90 him lie fears dark
] ross like child. ana the whole 81 the
apartments occupied by him, with the
surrounding RardenF, nre brilliantly D
/ 20 from the moment the hKht falls.
Silence, TOO, IL terrible " him, aud hs