The Irish standard., 1915-09-18
Cnronicled By ALLEN UPWARD


the full moonlight, and drew forth
what, it contained.
do not ask me to describe the sight
which met my eyes. and which com.
pleted the horror of the entire incident.
The foot which held in my hand was
unlike any other foot which had ever
eeen-unlike any human foot.
dropped the frightful thing on to the
ground. averted my eyes. and fed
from the accursed place"
At this point the ambassador inter
rupted himself to order the waiter;
who had already served our coffee. to
bring cognac as well
II had retraced my steps almost as
far as the Golden Horn. he proceeded,
''when discovered that was still car.
fying the slipper in my hand. Think,
ing that it might yet prove to be Of i'm,
portance, thrust it hastily inside the
folds of my Turkish robe before pro-
ceeding. At the same time I began to
observe that there was a certain move,
ment in the streets, which was not
common at that hour of the night.
saw soldiers about, and, unless my,
eyes deceived me. there were more
lights than usual on board the Turk
ish warships anchored opposite the
Dolmabacheh palace.
! Il might have stopped to investigate
these symptoms Of disturbance, but fol-
q sudden change which now took place
I'm the atmosphere. The great black
clouds which had been gathering from
one corner Of the sky massed them,
selves overhead, and then suddenly
split in binding fssure Of forked
lightning, while crash of thunder
shook the towers and roofs of STAN
boul like an earthquake. Immediately
the rain began to descend with the
weight Of an avalanche, and huge pools
instantly formed themselves along the
roads. I rushed through the storm az
best I could. and reached the embassy
in safety.
even then, however, the alarms Of
that fearful night were not at an end.
! had been lying in bed, unable to
sleep. for an hour or two. when all at
once I heard the well-known boom Of
cannon answering the thunder over
head. listened and again and again
the sound was repeated, till a hundred
cannon had gone of in the darkness;
and. finally. the storm passed away
like a routed army, and the gray dawn
came stealing over the Black sea.
"That night has since become his.
torical. It was the night of the 29th
Of May, on which Abdul-Aziz Khan,
tbs Refuge Of the World and the
Shadow of God, was forcibly deposed
from the sultanate and made q cap.
tive in his own palace.
"As soon as morning had come, the
news of what had taken place was all
over Constantinople. It did not take
the diplomatists in Pera wholly by sur.
prise. For some time past Abdul-Aziz
had been unpopular with his subjects,
To him had been attributed the mis-
fortunes which were gathering round
Turkey, and which seemed to threaten
the dissolution Of the empire. There
had been more than one armed out!
break in the capital, ministry after
ministry had been set up only to be-
thrown down, and feeling of unrest
was in all mems minds. :.
1T appeared that this state Of things
had culminate1 in the meeting of d
secret council Of the great pashas al
the seraskierate, which is, as you are
aware. the headQuarters of the army
! 1.-THE council had been called sud,
denly, in the dead Of night, by Me-
hemed Rushdi Pasha, the grand vizier:
but for whom, it was said, the revolu,
ton would have taken place before.
AT this council the principal ule,
mas Of the Moslem faith attended, and
the head Of their body, the sheik-uL
Islam. officially pronounced that com,
mander of the faithful might be law:
fully deposed. Thereupon. the agents
OF the conspiracy received their or:
ders, the palace was surrounded with
troops. and the men-of-war, which ]
had seen Illuminated, prepared to cut
OF all egress on the water side.
"These arrangements completed,
messengers were sent secretly into the
quarter of the palace in which Me.
hemed Murad Enendi, the sultan'a
nephew. was kept a prisoner by his
suspicious uncle. The prince was
smuggled ont in safety, escorted Il, the |
serasderate. and there proclaimed a.
sultan. to the sound Of hundred guns.
"tn this way was the monarch Of q
great empire dethroned. and his crown
given to another, without the loss Of
. single life. and with hardly com.
motion in the street. Believe me. my
friend. we have yet much to Learn
from these oriental peoples. II
sConstantinople was settling down
again aftey its excitement, and was
to believe that nothing moro
would happen, when the news Of the
arrived. About midday &
steam launch left the Dolmabachet
palace, and came down the Bosphorusi
stopping at the residences Of the am!
and bearing suleiman Bey3
the secretary Of the grand vizier. WHO
communicated to each Of the foreign
representatives in turn the tragic It'd:
lngs that Abdul,Aziz had refused I'd
survive his deposition, and had died
by his own hand.
7 was with my chief when suleimad
Boy reached the French embassy. and