The North Cumberland Reformer. — 1891-01-22 (Carlisle, Cumbria, England)

DEATH OF A TURKISH AMBASSADOR. The Turkish Ambassador in Vienna, Saadoullah Pasha, died on Sunday morning at a quarter past one. The Astsr Frei, Pram announced that the deceased diplomatist had committed suicide, but the doctors who attended Saadoullah Pasha certify that he died of paralysis caused by the inhalation of gas. According to the version of suicide the Ambassador, who had been in low spirits for some time first made an ineffectual attempt to hang himself and then asphyxiated himself by inhabit". gas through an India - rubber tube which he had fastened to a gas bracket. That Saadoullah's death was caused by the means just described is now acknowledged, but it is declared at the Embassy and by the doctors that the Ambassador, having suffered from sleeplessness, and finding no relief in opiates, was induced to try gas from a misapprehension as to its properties. The story that Saadoullah tried to hang himself rests on nothing more than the fact that an ecchymosis was found on his neck, but this is said to have been the scar of an old wound. Altogether, the doctors assert that while several circumstances point distinctly against the probability of suicide, there is nothing in favour of that version, except the singularity of the deceased's death. It remains true nevertheless,that Saadoullah Pacha was a very unhappy man. He had the ill-luck to be appointed Secretary to the Sultan Murad, and when Abdul Harald came to the throne he fell under suspicion, like all the other servants of the deposed monarch. The lowlier of these were scattered right and left by the private edicts of banishment; but Murad's confidants, like Mahmoud Pacha and Saadoullah, obtained high posts which obliged them to live abroad. Saadoullah was first sent to Berlin, and in 1883 he was transferred to Vienna. But he could never obtain leave to return to Constantinople and visit his family, who, with the exception of his eldest son, continued to live there. Abdul Humid has always entertained a ferr lest the friends of the insane Murad should plot for the latter's restoration, and, to put the case plainly, Saadoullah's wife and daughters were detained at Constantinople as hostages. Again and again the Ambassador applied for leave to go and see his family, or for permission that his wife and children might remove to some place where he could see them, but he only received complimentary letters assuring him that the Sultan set the highest value on his services and had graciously resolved to consider his requests at some future time. Years wore on in this way, and Saadoullah lost all hope. A few days ago he received the news that his daughter was seriously ill, and he made one more imploring appeal for leave to go to Constantinople, if it were only for one day, but again he was put off with phrases,and this seems to havebroken his heart. Whether he died by his own hand or succumbed to accident, his life had become a burden to him when he escaped from it. Saadoullah was a shy, silent man, with a pale face and a nervous, almost convulsive smile. He was able and accomplished, read a great deal, and kept an observant eye on everything that went on around him ; int, suspected himself, he was suspicious of others, and never opened his mind. He did not shun society, but he fastened on people who would talk to him rather than on those who expected him to speak, and he listened with evident pleasure, and for any length of time, to light gossip. But any allusion to polities brought a shade to his face, and sent him away scared. Saadoullah's last appearance in public was at the diplomatic reception given by the Emperor and Empress last Friday week. On that occasion ho seemed to be in his usual health. A few days before this, on the 6th of January, I had called upon him and had a long conversation witii him on every subject except politics in his study in the old Hatzfelt Palace in the Wallner Strome. He had lately removed to this house, which stands ill a dark narrow street, and the gloom of it pressed dreadfully ou his spirits.  SCHOOL CHILDREN _ATTACKED BY A