The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1908-09-02
Tho Revolutionary Movement In Tur.
key.

key.
A cable dispatch from London print
ed In Wednesday mornings papers
announced that the leaders OF the
Young Turk party will meet In Gene
va about the end Of the month to dis
cuss the question Of deposing the
present Sultan Of Turkey. and. in the
event Of an affirmative decision. to
select q successor. The publication
OF this dispatch may serve to direct
attention to the fact that the present
movement In Turkey has been to a
large extent the result Of meetings
held outside the boundaries Of Tur-
key itself. An interesting account Of
some Of these Is given In an article
contributed to the Independent Of
August 13 by Mundji Bey, the Tur-
kish consul-general at New York.
This writer says that the his
tory Of the Young Turkish
party II to be traced back to
the times Of Sultan Abdul Axiz. the
uncle Of the present ruler Of the Otto
man empire. During his reign Prince
Mustaffa Fazil Pasha. who occupied
many important positions in Turkey.
took with him to Paris q few bright
young Turks to be educated. They
soon imbibed western notions and
started q Turkish weekly to propagate
those ideas among their compatriots
In Constantinople. Il was to these
men. while still students at Paris. that
the phrase "Youns Turks" was first
applied.
Sultan Abdul Axis was deposed In
Nay. 1s7e. and was succeeded by his
nephew. Afursd ". who II turn was
dspossd at the end OF August In the
same year, The latter was succeeded
BY hb brother. Abdul Hamid II. the
present sultan In December OF the
same year new Constitution was
proclaimed. and tho arst Parliament
chosen under Il met In March Of the
followins year. This Parliament was
dissolved BY the Sultan In February.
1878. Prom that time until the grant
OF the new Constitution. on July a.
last. Turkey passed through some
very humiliating experiences. The
prestige Of the nation was weakened.
abuses grew steadily greater. the peo-
pie Iansuished In poverty and the
troops were badly paid. The Young
Turkish party became very active
and began to smuggle revolutionary
publications into the country. The
people became enlightened and a rev.
olution became inevitable. The nrst
alarm cali came from Paris. where, In
December. 1907. Representatives Of the
evolutionary and progressive parties
among the Turks. Armenians. Greeks.
Bulgarians. Jews. Kurds and all other
subject nations Of the Ottoman en-
pire assembled In q congress. The
participants pledged themselves to lay
aside all racial strife, to unite against
the tyranny Of the Sultan's absolute
monarchy. and to establish q consti-
tutional regime In Turney. To bring
about those results they decided upon
armed resistance. persuadins oflicials
and police to resign under the exist.
Ing regime. refusal to pay taxes. prop
aganda In the army 90 as to persuade
soldiers not to open fire on the people
or the revolutionlsts. and q general
insurrection. other measures to he
adopted according to circumstances
The president Of this congress was
Prince sebahsddin Bey. a nephew of
the Sultan.
As the result Of the work Of the
Paris congress. secret workers went
into Turkey and found many promi-
nent oficials and military leaders
ready to welcome the call of the con-
sress and only waiting for an oppcr-
tune moment to put Its recommended
tions into effect. Two OF the military
leaders who. favored the revolution
were Enver Bey and Niazi Bey. The
anniversary Of the Sultan's accession
to the throne was chosen as the date
for a coup d'etat and general insur-
rection. The movement was precipi-
tated by recent visit Of King Ed
ward the Gar. when the Macedo-
nian question was up for considera-
ton. The revolutionists felt that the
loss Of Macedonia would mean the
end Of European Turkey and the be-
ginning OF the end OF the Ottoman
empire. Advised by the officers above
metioned. the army In Macedonia re-
voited. and an envoy was dispatched
to Constantinople to demand that