Evening star., 1909-05-05
DOWNFALL OF SULTAN
Very Little Sympathy for Him
at London.
GOSSIP OVER HIS FUTURE
British Interested in His Location
in Egypt.
NAZIM PASHA A STRONG FACTOR
Kings Messenger Busy Keeping
Sovereign Posted on Turkish Sit
uation While on a Cruise.
GOSSIP OVER HIS FUTURE
AIM PASHA A STRONG FACTOR
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

over the downfall OF the Sultan OF Tur-
key. For years he has been known as
abdul the Damned" by majority Of
| English people, and not only Armenian
| massacres but wholesale crimes in Con-
| stantinople have been credited to his di-
rect connivance. 1t would be worse than
| folly for the constitutional party again to
| trust him, and their wisdom is shown in
| the vote of deposition given at San
| Stefano.
| The great question is what will be done
with Abdul He has never been ten miles
away from Constantinople since he came
to the throne. thirty-three years ago. His
own country is terra incognita to him, let
alone other lands. A processing MosIem.
he has never undertaken the pilgrimage
to Mecca He has never made the few
| hours journey across to Broussa to visit
/ the tombS of the founders of his dynasty
F; 1t Is unlikely that the Young Turks will
suffer him to remain in Turkey. They
know that there will be no peace while
| he is on his native soil.
( Abdul Hamid might do worse than come
to England following the example of so
| many of the dispossessed of the earth.
He would be safe, at any rate. But a
non -Mussulman country would be an
being out of the question, there are
| Egypt. Tunis, Algeria and Morocco.
Among these his choice would certainly
be Egypt. which is nearest and Of which
| his house is nominally suZerain. His
henchman, Izzet Pasha. is already there,
as well as one or two other members OF
that too famous company at Yildiz.
But the British government would sure
visibility of allowing two such choice
| spirits as Abdul Hamid and Izzet Pasha
to foregather in Egypt. There is too
much tinder about. To be sure. there is
Ceylon, where Arab dwelt so long. 1t
| is not Moslem. but 1t is near to large
Moslem populations. The question sof
| Abdul Hamid's destination is one that
| will have to be considered If his life be
| spared, which is by no means certain
| now.
| Melmed Reshed. who has been pro-
| claimed sultan. is the brother of Abdul
| and the next eldest male of the house of
| Osman. He is sixty-fve years DID, or
| two years younger than Abdul. He has
| for the last thirty-three years, surrounded
| by spies. and like the rest of the Turkish
| s-presumptive is almost an unknown
| quantity. But the few who have had
access to him speak we'll of him. He
| is said to be amiable. and certainly will
| be more liberal than his brother. In spite
| of his fearful existence he has made some
progress in education. He knows Persian
| well enough to write verse in 1t, for one
| thing.
| Abdul Hamid is quite innocent Of Per-
sian, though that tongue is indispensable
| to a cultured Osmanli Reshed Effendi.
unlike his brother again. has decided
preference for things English and French
| over things German.
| l see that a section of the Young Turks
favored the succession of Burhan-ed-Din,
the sultan's third son. He will be twen-
ty-four next December, so he is young
favorite son. and the only one whom he
! introduced to European sovereigns, and
notably to the kaiser. He is fond Of
music and plays the piano passably well.
l am told by those who have heard him
play. His manners are said to be en-
Kaging, but all the sultan's children
have perfect manners. Burhan-ed-Din
| used to cycle good deal and row on the
artificial lake in Yildiz Park. He was
very rarely allowed outside the gates be-
| fore last July.
A great deal depends just now in Tur-
key upon the manner I'm which Nazim
Pasha, the newly appointed commandant,
handles the Constantinople garrison.
Nazm Pasha is at one and the same time
the cleverest and most popular soldier in
| Turkey. Not even his worst enemy can
accuse the pasha of being reactionary,
as he has suffered more at the hands of
| the present sultan than any other man
of his rank.
| Deposed and discharged from high mil
| itary command because of the reforms he
suggested twenty-five years ago. he was
| cast into prison and incarcerated in
| Erzerum. In the far-off Van district. Es-
Gaping from here in January last year.
| he worked his way as laborer into
| central Asia. Hearing of the revolution
when he was in the Russian Caucasus, he
| Immediately made his way ~own to Ba-
| tum, and worked his passage to the
Bosphorus as a coal trimmer on Black
sea steamer.
knowing that no one would recognize
| him in such a guise as the great paSha
who had once ruled the war office, he
made inquiries about the foreigners in
| Constantinople. and discovered in Sir
| Adam Block of the Ottoman debt an old
friend. He revealed himself to Sir Adam
| and asked the loan Of eight Turkish
pounds to buy a generals uniform. Hav-
| ing found tailor to supply the uniform,
he appeared again under the general am
nesty as Nazim Pasha.
| No Mohammedan Clergy.
References are constantly made in the
papers to the Mohammedan priesthood
and the Mohammedan clergy. AS a mat
| ter OF fact there are no clergy in the
Christian sense, and Islam recognizes no
priesthood. The word ulema plural Of
alim meaning learned) corresponds in
way to graduate, and a sofia Is an under
| graduate From this class are drawn the
| three offices of imam, mufti and cadi
| The imam is leader Of prayer He
| may be attached to a mosque, but not
| necessarily. If company of five say
| their prayers under a tree or on a boat.
| one of them is chosen as the imam. or
| leader When an imam is permanently
attached to mosque he Is chosen by
| the congregation. any one of whom may
replace him temporarily. for his func-
| tions imply no priestly powers not pos
sessed by the laity. boy is very often
/ employed to call the hours of prayer
| from the minaret.
| A hojah is teacher. In villages he
is also usually the imam of the mosque.
| A mufti decides difficult questions in law.
a sadi administers the law-he is a
magistrate, in short. There is really no
| distinction between the clerical and legal
| profession for law is included in theology.
and the two are constantly mixed up
| For instance, it is usual for the cadi to
lead prayer at funerals
| King Edward, ! understand. is keeping
very closely In touch with the crisis in
| Constantinople, and lengthy dispatches on
the subject left London last night for his
| information. The lot Of a kings messen-
ger from the foreign office. when the king
| is on a yachting cruise, is not to be en-
yied. They often have long and weary
| chases before they are able to reach the
royal yacht and hand over their dis
patches.
One of the most experienced officers
was recently telling me of some OF these
| ed to convey some important papers to
his majesty, who was expected to put into
Gibraltar. When he arrived there absO-
lutey nothing was known of any such in
| tention on the part OF the king, and the
| messenger at once proceeded to Malta
Here he missed the royal yacht by few
hours. and was told that the kings fu-