Evening star., 1901-04-30
THE SULTAN At HOME.
Personal Life of the Monarch Who
Never Pays and Always Owes.

From the London News. ,.
The secrets of an oriental despot are
usually more worthy of the name than
Political secrets as western peoples under
stand the term. Under governments more
o. less popular an inkling of what is eo-
ing on behind the scenes is pretty sure to
get about; and, indeed, the backstairs deal
ings of those in power are usually open
and palpable enough. But in countries
where all government is one huge con-
spracy of a few against the interests of
the subject another state of things pre-
walls. All who have q foot in the house of
power 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 foOtbOy of the palace We are
some centuries past the time when a man
of the royal household was everybody's
enemy and a progress of Henry Plantage-
net was more dreaded than the descent of
a gang of outlaws. But in the east that
time continues and when the Shah of Per-
sa comes to England he leaves a trail of
beggared people on his road to the sea-
port. SO the people of the palace must
always stand or fall together; and secrecy
to what goes on under the shadow of
the throne is not hard to maintain.
Some interest, therefore, attaches to a
little work about to be issued in Paris
under the title of abdul Hamid H." We
have reasons for believing it's statements
to be authentic and We venture to think
some of them may interest English read
erS.
The Sultan of Turkey and his surround
ings have become perfOrce a little west
ernized' on the surface. The ladies of the
palace make use of Partisan dress ma
teriaiS; the commander of the faithful buys
the latest invented guns for the armory
of the Yildz kiosque. But beneath the
skin there is no more of civilization. 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 subject to oriental
pate ring Let them steal so long as
they serve me- is the imperial motto,
and so long as the minister or courtier does
not make himself so obtrusively rich as to
inyit the jealous scrutiny of the ruler he
is free to make his profit from either pub
lie or private purse
The personal life of Abdul Hamid. how
ever is one of the most striking illustra-
tions of this phenomenon of a light veneer
of western habit overlaying core of things
totally oriental. A tyranny is the natural
system of poiity i'll the east. and in Turkey
it is not dissembled but the personal ex-
istence 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 Europe but newspaper cuttings
are the form of information with which he
most likes them to furnish 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 necessarily, 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 moment of
time. very little of his energy is directed
toward national affairs. and public bus
mess is nowhere more DELAYED and ne
elected than under this busy ruler.
Concerts, plays and kinematograph enter
tainments are fayorite means with the SUI
tan of dispelling the cares of throne. as
they are with most crowned heads. The
services of his own dramatic and opera tit.
troupes are often in request, and any COM
pany that may be visiting ConstantinopIe
is usually commanded TO favor him with a
istic of the eastern notion of royal dignity
that all mention of these entertainments Is
strictly forbidden in the Turkish press
and it is rarely that any one outside the
family of the sultan is invited to witness
them. And, surrounded as Abdul Hamid is