Evening star., 1901-02-23
The Sultan of Turkey is a Victim of
Melancholia.
EVER FEARFUL FOR his LIFE
His Only Pleasures Are Flowers
and MournfuI Music.
LIFE DES CRIB ED
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

DlHltTl AfSyTOpOuio' VIM, iiNO many oA
his countrymen, held for years an i'm
portant place of trust at the Yildiz
| Kiosk. He was, up to the time of
his resignation, chief clerk Of the perma-
nent staff of the foreign office. Mr.. Argy-
| ropoulo knows probably as well as any man
| living who dares tell what he knows, the
| terrible Red Sultan-"Abdul the Damned,
| touuote the English poet-and he speaks with
| q freedom which, If exercised in Turkey
! would probably result in his abrupt and
| final disappearance
| "Abdul is neither demon escaped from
| the pit" says he, nor an angel of light
and mercy He is just an eastern despot
| surrounded by eastern counsellors. To-
| gether they govern much as the Cahphs
| of the Arabian Nights did; that is to say
| with no sense of the rights of the people or
| OF the sanctity of human life when it
Stands in the way of their will. They pre-
| fer to do good, as long as there is no state
| reason or dynastic necessity for oolns
| HARM ,., 49,,
| s1Itan,s memory will be forever stained in
history are to his mind only an unpleasant
| necessity of the art OF governing tne east
says Mr. Argyropoulo. Apdui hahliu soso
| erns in his own way, the only way ne
knows. the way of Mahomet and or all
| the Ottoman rulers who followed him.
BAD and Good Qualities.
The reforming sultan, Mourad, whom ADJ
dul Hamid replaced, would have been
| constant and most serious menace to the
peace of the state. Abdul keeps him Tor
| ever imprisoned, or, as some say, mas hao
| him secretly assassinated and heaved from
| the bridge of Galata to float away down
| the deep, dark flowing Bosphorus The Ar,
| menians were turbulent, so ne dld not 1iiiliu W
| hon
| own Janissaries helping the murderers'
People who irritated him personally or VINO
| conspired to alter the condition OF thlnSs
| in the government were py that very - iaE
| dangerous to the country; 1t was nol9
| and wholesome thought to have them Dag
| gered or poisoned and flung to the SHARKS
| before they could do harm. Ihese are tne
| ideas that justify the sultan to hlmsel1.
| And they do not prevent him from show
| ing a most paradoxcal tenderness of heart
| in affairs where his political ideas and MS
| personal safety are not involved
| For instance this terrible potentate, De-
| fore whom his most trusted ministers trem-
| BILE, is often, says Mr.. Argyropoulo, moved
| to tears by some piteous letter from peas
ant of the far interior whose VINE crop i,ais mas
| been blasted and who has hired the village
scribe TO recount his misfortune to the
| ''King Lord Protector of the Falthful ana
Doing-Hand of Allah" And the Dong
| Hand''-does The grim sultan. touched by
the misery and the simplicity of his petit
| toner, sends orders that the man be re
lieyed mentioning the sum to be given. II
| is estimated that the sultan SPENDS IN thls
way some $500. 900 from out of his private
purse yearly. He contributes also large sums
| every year to hospitals and schools main
| tained by Creeks Armenians and Jews IN
ConstantinoDe and Smyrna. A former sui
| tan of Turkey by the way, sent a shipload
! of wheat and figs to Ireland In AZ the ter
| rfble famine year When black misery
| brooded over the scarcely known lana lar
| away in the "unbelievinS north.
| Both Generous and Suspicious.
To his servants and attendants also Abb
| dull is very generous when he does not think
| they are hankerng to assassinate him. If
| that idea gets into his mind they are likely
to drop out unobtrusively from circulation.
| but otherwise he strews their path with
| flowers; or, to speak directly he presses
| Jewels, money, honors and kind words upon
| them whenever the occasion presents itself.
Probably the best-paid private functlonary
| in the world is the faster of the suitan,s
| table, the important sinecurist intrusted with
| the task Of slipping spoonful OF everything.
his master is to drink and munching
| mouthful of every article of solid food set for
| his eating. this parsonage receives the salary
| of a cabinet minister, and Is Kept IN gooo
| humor by valuable presents. rings, Jewels
and priceless silks, from the disposal OF
which he may treble his revenues or
! course, that is not all pure-souled gener-
| osity on the sultan's part. AS he lives in
abject, daily fear of assassination, he has
| an interest in feeling sure that his faster
| will play no tricks on him. 1t would OBJ
viously be quite easy for this d1gnltary TO
absorb an uncontaminated spoonful care
| fully marked dish, and allow his mas
! ter to swallow cheerfully a substantial and
| effective dose of arsenic in the rest.
A Melancholy Ruler.
The red sultan's'' daily dread of violent
death is a whispered commonplace in Tur-
| key But my Greek friend declares that the
miserable monarch's brain has finally turn
ed through fear. The sultan, according to
| him, is really insane, victim Of homieidal
| mania, which perpetually incites him to
deeds Of blood
He Is certainly the most melancholy of
rulers. No has ever seen him smile
since he quite a boy, when he first
| mounted his deposed brothers throne HIS
eyes are always full of broodfng sadness.
Almost the only amusement he allows hinl-
self Is to sit in a darkened room OF the
Yildiz Kiosk, smoking cigarettes for hours
at time while afar off at the extreme end
Of the apartment couple OF singers chant
in the gloom some Of those long, monoto-
nous Turkish songs whose strange cadences
rise and fall with hypnotic erect the
singers have often thought they heard him
sobbing to himself in the intervals OF the
chant. When he gives the signal and the
lights are turned up his eyes are seen to be
shining like stars in his sailow face and he
retires to his private apartment with the
tottering steps Of man plunged In
dream. 1t is strange pleasure.
His Love followers.
a more normaIis lasts exhibited by the
silent. brooding Padisthah is the love of
flowers. 1t is the brightest side to his La
trre. He has a passion for roses, as in
deed most orientals have. Every room and
corridor of the private apartments at the
Yildiz Kiosk is filled with superb rose trees
in full bloom at ALI seasons of the year.
And when the sultan gives audience to
ambassadors or other distinguished visitors
in the reception palace at the other end Of
the imperial gardens, ten minutes walk
from the kiosk, the throne room is all aglow
with the same gorgeous plants, and i'm
mense golden vases flisd with the lovely
bic ssoms are set around the steps of the
cs csnopied divan. Persian gardeners. who by
tradition are the most highly skilled In the
art. are imported to keep the palaces stock
ed with the most perfect blooms that can
be obtained. Every morning some hum
dreds are brought from the gardens for the
palace use. and of these the most beautiful
and the most odorous are placed in the
sultan's own working room to give pleasure
to his weary eyes.
This study" by the way, Is otherwise
furnished simply enough. 1t is, excepting
the harem where the beautiful Cfrcassian
ma &C bo Aov