New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-05-11

The brief ceremony Of yesterday In the Sc
Cluded Mosque Of Ay0ub completed the instaiEI-
ton of Reshad Effend as Sultan, fddishah ana
Calnh under the name and style Of Mehemed v.
He had. of course been dc fdctO Sultan from
the very moment in which Abdul Hamd was
deposed since Moslem Law. in common Win
most other monarchical codes abhors an inter
regDum 1t needed. however that the new SOW
ereign should he GRIT with the scimitar Of 9th
man in order TO perfect his de- ire title. This
function. which corresponds with the coronation
Of Western monarch was performed by the
Chelphi the head of the sect of Mevlevt. or
NhirIine DervisheS who after days of special
ratification came from Konia. the ancient leo
MUM, for the purpose. and it occurred in the
one mosque in STEAMBOAT which Is considered 50
peculiarly sacred that no non-Moslem Is ever
permitted to enter it
The ceremony was brief but significant. In
a place reserved exclusively for Moslems, sur
roun led by many ulema and other representa-
tives Of Islam. the new Sultan was girt with the
identical scimitar which the mighty Gilman
bore in the creation of the empire, and he drew
ii from its scabbard and raised il in token Of
his succession to the imperial sovereignty. Yet
only a little before he had sworn obedience TO
popular constitution and had declared himself
the first constitutional sovereign ef the empire,
and Immediately after the ceremony he was
greeted with the choral strains of Il Hymn of
Liberty" 1t was fitting sequel 10 bis first
Seiamik after his accession, when he went to
the mosque attired in brand new khaki uni
form. The old and the new, the thirteenth cen
turv and the twentieth were strangely commin-
gled. But while the letter is largely-not en-
tirey-that of old times, the spirit is chiefly
not wholly-of the present day.
Similarly significant, too was the manner Of
the deposition Of the sovereign who had for
many years been the most autOcratic in the
world. There was no indictment or trial
There were no direct charges against him.
mere was no explicit decree of deposition. The
fetva Of the Cheri, as the writ is called, was
what our lawyers would call a hypothetical
question. If, II demanded. the Commander OF
the Faithful does thus and thus. and thus and
commits such and such high crimes and misde-
meanors. and If the competent persons-to wit,
the ulpma-iudge It necessary for his reign to
he ended, can abdcation or dethronement be
proposed TO him? This was submitted TO the
Sleik-ul-Islam. who wrote at its foot in reply
the one word. "Olur' ct cam. Then a parlia-
mentary committee went to Abdul Hamid, and
its spokesman said: I'VE have come to inform
you that. in virtue Of a fetva Of the Cheri the
nation dethrones you" Not the ulema. not tue
army. but the nation. And 10 that strangely ex-
pressed decree Of the people the Sultan yielded
without uenluT- Never elStN mere WIS SUN Il
deed performed in such way.
Mehemed is thus not merely a new Sultan.
Padishah and Caliph. He is. he himself has
said the first constitutional Sultan, the begin
ner of new era in Ottoman history. How he
will bear himself is 10 bes seen. His life has
been spent in enforced secusion, apart from
and largely I'm ignorance Of affairs Of state and
devoted chiefly 10 literary researches and en-.
gagements Obviously he could not reasonably
he expected to display the Consummate political
knowledge and skill Of his predecessor, or to at
tempt to impress his own personality upon the
government. Perhaps that is for the best. \
man of good morals, OF cultivated mind and Of
amiable disposition, whose own misfOrtunes
have inclined him To an appreciation of the
blessings of freedom, he may prove well fitted 10
be a constitutional emperor, not personally
ruling but rather reignng through his ministers
and parliament. How promptly and perfectly
conformity can he established between such a
system and the traditional system Of Islam Is a
question Of supreme interest, which time alone
can answer