The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1909-04-29
The Sultan's DOWNFALL.

Sultan Abdul Hamid H. OF Turkey
after a reign Of thirty-three years,
marked by atrocities almost ua-
believable in this enlightened day.
has met the fate which sooner or
later confronts the monarch who
: stands in the way of the progress OF
his subjects. =.
-. Ascending the throne at the age
Of thirty-four, the Sultan exerted
during his reign an influence over
the Rffairs of Europe greater, in it's
way, than that of any monarch since
Napoleon. Scarcely a year passed
that the civilized world was not
shocked by reports of massacres of
" his christian subjects, uprisings
among his people or assassinations
of the powerful who incurred his
displeasure. He was the bugaboo of
every chancellery or the old world,
and his Vaccinations were response
BILE for more than one rupture which,
at the time, threatened to involve
the great powers in a disastrous
=. Wpr,-..-1
Despite the abuses of his auto
cratic powers, and no autocrat
ever abused his powers more; re-
CARELESS of the fact that his govern
meat or subject repudiated, time af-
t.: time, contracts with other govern
Mr|ts or their subjects, and that
" '" flags and representatives were
o: uesly insulted, Abdul was immune
from punishment. He was the
ahrewd diplomatist who played one
nation against another and worked
upon the fears of all.
Looking backward, the Sultan's
protypes may be found in Charles I
and James II of England. In the
present day he is approached near
est by Nicholas of Russia, the last OF
the absolute rulers, for whom the
future may hold a similar fate.
Like that Of Charles, his. rule, was
ended because he opposed the will of
the people. Last summer, he swore
by his religion and the high office
held that he. would support the con-
stitution, but, like other absolute
rulers, his word was given only to
be broken. He hoped through the
chain of spies, thirty-three years in
the forging, binding the whole en-
p1re with Constantinople, where he
sat directing ever move to thwart the
peoples will and to regain his van
lshlng powers. The successful rebel
lion or his provinces did not turn him
from his course, but he stirred up his
country with fire, massacre, rapine
and plumber by appealing to the
fanatfcism of the lowest dregs of his
subjects, oven to the extent that
bribed soldiers killed their officers in
apparent rebuke> for their ALLEGIANCE
10 the constitutional party.
This last stroke was the Sultan's
undoing. Fearing lest the fate of
their comrades would be their own
the surviving officers threw off the
tyrants yoke, marched upon the
capital, and Abdul, Hands years OF
m1srule were ended. The chief
criminal of the century met his fate
at last
In his spectacular fight for sur
ViVal, the Sultan undoubtedly had
the assistance of the rulers Of
Germany, Austria and Russia. who
there are good reasons to believe.
exerted every effort to safeguard him
IN the continuance of his reign of
perhdy, perjury and assassination be-
cause he was "a ruler. licensed to
these instruments Of oppression bv
the hereditary rights of kings"
There will doubtless be some
.maudltn sentiment expressed over his
downfall, because we are wont I'd
applaud him who fights to the bitter
end however unjust his cause. but
turkey and the world can well dis
pense with Abdul Hamid, and his
tory Will give no less praise to those
who deposed him than to the "red.
coated round heads who stood in sill
emit lines about the black scaffold Of
whitehall, where another faith1ess
king paid with his life for his per-
4 ndy perjury and n1otc
- II e2---4~----------------.
- Public Taxation and tho Negro.