The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-11-22
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SuItdn'S Black Romance
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is said, led to a secret treaty with
Abdul Hamid whereby his tenure of the
throne was assured if he consented to
abolish the Turkish parliament.
Be this as it may, it is certain that
the parliament at Constantinople was
prOrogued-not dissolved-and Abdul
Hamid began to reign as despot, bend
ing his great powers primarily to secur-
ing his tenure of the throne. The
Turkish parliament stands prorogued.
and in theory and in law the constitu-
ton which Abdul Hamid had sworn to
protect has remained in force through
out the whole period since in 1876
The Berlin treaty in the summer of
1878 dismembered the Turkish empire,
but Abdul Hamid seems to have taken
rather lightly the loss of so much of
his empire or his brother s empire. The
treaty had reaMnized him as the ruler
lament. And in all ways his position
was strengthened rather than weaken
ed by the war.
The Turks are a race of warriors,
among the bravest and best soldiers in
the world But whether it be his mixed
blood or his innate superstition, or that
conscience which makes towards. Abdul
Hamid wholly lacks that physical eour-
age which is ingrained in the Turkish
nature.
! The bravery of Turkish sultans in
i the past has been magnificent. Abdul
Hamid in 1877 boosted that the mantle
of courage had descended on him and
that he would lead his warriors against
infdel Russia. He boosted and then
i stayed behind, hiding in his fortress on
the Yildiz hill. And when the Russian
armies drew near Constantinople in
stead of putting himself at the head of
his troops to defend his capital he made
all preparations for ignominiOus flight
and kept gunboat under full steam
ready to carry him through the Bos,
phorus and off to some safe retreat in
Tripoli or Arabia.
As soon as he had set his heel on the
! Turkish parliament. and determined to
turn the constitution into a mockery,
the true character of the man began to
come out. In nothing did his real ma
ture appear more conspicuOusly than in
the fate of Midhat Pasha, the great lib
eral who had drawn up the Turkish con-
stitution. Midhat was the representa-
tive of popular liberty. Midhat knew
( of his usurpation. Midhat knew the
truth about the legitimate sovereign.
Therefore Midhat suddenly and silent
ly disappeared, spirited away from Con-
stantinople to the station of Taft in the
Arabian desert
He was not secure even in that dis
tant solitude. For he was presently
seized by Abdul Hamid S orders. we
are told. and strangled with his secrets
/ "nrevealed. Now comes the browning
touch. The head of Midhat, carefully
packed, was forwarded, our informant
says. to Abdul Hamid. labeled "Ivory
Curios for his Imperial Majesty
The stranglng of Midhat struck the
keynote of a long reign of terror An
army of spies, with spies to spy on
them, was gathered around the timorous
tyrant at Yildiz and a large body of
special troops was quartered in the bar
racks round his palace, mixed host of
Albanians under Turkish officers and
Turks under Albanian officers, each Sec
ton being well paid to report on every
movement of the other
The sultan had steel vaults made
with secret doors, of which he alone
knew the combination. In the base.
ment Of the Yildiz kiosk, and there
with his revolver ever beside him and
guarded by eunuchs devoted to his per
son. he felt reasonably safe against as
sassinatiOn. His swarm of spies did
their best to earn his gratitude Denun
citation became a regular business, az
in the terror of the French revolution
or the worst days of the inquisition OF
Spain.
We have in general the idea that thu
Turks are a backward and barbarOu!
nation. The Turks are really one of thu
manifest races in Europe, and among
the finest soldiers in the world. TIL,
Turks, as a nation. and not only tn,
Osmanlis, but the best men among tn,
score of peoples governed from Con
stantinople, whether of Greek, Slavonic
Armenian or Semitic race. have Ions
striven for good government in tn,
modern sense; and the fight for Iibert7
/ and civilized rule has as long and nobl
| an array of martyrs in Turkey as il
l any nation in the world. It is to thi
: widespread liberal movement. now for
time triumphant. that the name of tn
" Young Turk party is, popularl,
: given.
The name ''Young Turks is a para
dox. Many of them are not Turks
Many of them are no longer young