The life of Midhat Pasha 15

The life of Midhat Pasha 15

Suleiman Pasha, marshal in the army and director‐in‐chief of the school

of military cadets at Pancaldi, the trusted lieutenant and right‐hand

man of Hussein Avni, himself a strong partisan of Midhat Pasha and

the young hope of the Reform Party, was the very man to carry out an

operation requiring careful preparation and unflinching resolution for

its successful execution.

 

The troops in the barracks of Tash‐Kishla and Kumuch‐Suyou had already

received their orders from Redif Pasha, the commander of the _corps

d’armée_ of Constantinople, and had been so posted as to blockade all

approaches by land. The fleet of ironclads under the personal command

of Kaiseli Ahmed, the captain Pasha, had taken the same precautions by

sea, so that nothing remained but to disarm the sentinels and _corps de

garde_ along the immediate approaches to the Palace. Suleiman, taking

with him a selected body of military students from Pancaldi, under the

command of Ahmed Bey (colonel) and Bedry and Rifat Beys (captains),

after successfully performing, without disturbance but not without some

opposition, the delicate operation of disarmament, hastened to the

apartments of Prince Murad. Although the Prince had been made aware of

the intentions of the Ministers, and had acquiesced in their general

arrangements, it had been found impossible to acquaint him with the

change of date resolved upon. He, therefore, fearing some surprise or

treachery, hesitated for some time before he could be induced to comply

with Suleiman’s urgent request that he should immediately join Hussein

Avni, who was waiting for him in a carriage at the gates of the Palace

to drive him to the Seraskierat, where his proclamation and investiture

as the new sovereign were to take place. At one moment it looked as if

the solemn drama about to be enacted would have to be played out with

the part of the “Prince of Denmark” omitted.

 

Having surmounted this unexpected difficulty and despatched Murad on

his way to the Seraskierat, Suleiman proceeded to discharge the second

and more distasteful part of the mandate confided to him. Making his

way to the Imperial apartments, and overcoming the hesitation of

the attendants by presenting an order signed by all the Ministers,

he peremptorily demanded to be immediately led into the presence of

the Sultan. The demand being at last complied with, he proceeded to

communicate to Abdul Aziz the justification of his intrusion, and read

to him the _fetva_ of the deposition. Whilst the Sultan and Suleiman

were engaged in parleying, the big guns of Ahmed’s ironclads were heard

booming in the distance. Abdul Aziz at once took in the import of the

firing, and from that moment yielded to the inevitable. He prepared

to comply with the order communicated to him to quit the Palace of

Dolma‐Bagtche for that of Top‐Kapou, which had been assigned as a

residence for him.

 

The new Sultan confirmed all his Ministers in their posts, addressing

the following letter to the Porte:—

 

 

_To my Grand Vizier and very patriotic Mehemet Rushdi Pasha_—

 

“By the favour of the Almighty and the will of my subjects, we

have ascended the throne of our ancestors, and by reason of your

patriotism and ability in the discharge of your duties as Grand

Vizier, we confirm you and all your colleagues in your former posts.

The numerous difficulties experienced for some time past both in our

domestic affairs and foreign relations, have produced uneasiness in

the public mind, and caused detriment to the material and territorial

interests of the country. The necessity of amending this state of

things and of adopting remedial measures such as shall insure the

happiness and secure the confidence of our subjects, imposes itself

imperatively upon us; and to effect these purposes, it is absolutely

necessary to organise the administration of the State on a basis

of stability and justice. Our exclusive attention will be directed

to this end, and for this purpose we desire that our Ministers,

after due deliberation, shall submit to us for our approbation their

views on the means by which, whilst respecting the laws of the Cheri

and of Justice, the organisation of our Empire in accordance with

the wants and requirements of our people can be effected, with the

view of procuring to all our subjects alike, without distinction

or restriction, the completest liberty compatible with order; and,

moreover, that our Ministers shall communicate to us their views

on the application of such just laws and regulations as shall be

calculated to consolidate and unify the national and patriotic

sentiments of all our subjects. It is clear, moreover, that in order

to obtain these objects, it is indispensable to reorganise the

Council of State, the Ministers of Justice, as well as of public

Institutions and of the Finances, as well as other departments

of State; and it is, moreover, evident that one of the principal

reforms of all will consist in establishing on a sound foundation

the financial situation of the Empire, and in taking steps that no

expenditure shall be tolerated that shall not have been provided for

by the Budget of the State, by which measures it may be hoped that

public credit and confidence will be restored. In order to help to

obtain this result, we hereby diminish our Civil list by the sum of

£T300,000, and surrender to the State the coal‐mines of Heraclia and

the other mines and manufactories appertaining to the Civil list; and

we recommend that like economies shall be effected in all the various

branches of the administration, so as to establish an equilibrium in

our finances. Our liveliest desire is for a continuance of intimate

relations with all the friendly Powers, by the strictest observance

of treaty obligations, and all our efforts will be directed to this

end, and we pray the Almighty to crown them with success.

 

“9 _Djemaziel Evel_, 1293, _Hegira_.”

(2_nd June_ 1876.)

 

 

Besides the retention of their portfolios by all the Ministers, Kemal

Bey (the best known and most distinguished poet and litterateur

of Turkey) and Zia Bey (equally celebrated as a poet and patriot)

were appointed as his private secretaries, and Sadullah Bey (well

known for his liberal sympathies and opinions) made chief of the

Sultan’s secretariat—important guarantees for the smooth working of

the machinery of State, and security against the revival of the old

pernicious intrigues of the Palace against the Ministers of the Porte.

Murad had, moreover, undertaken to promulgate the Constitution prepared

by Midhat and his colleagues at the earliest date compatible with the

despatch of urgent public business.

 

So far everything seemed to favour the Reformers. A revolution of the

most fundamental character, involving the destruction of autocratic

power in Turkey, and carrying the promise of a Constitution which would

lay the foundations at any rate of stable government in the country,

effected not only without bloodshed or disturbance of any kind, but

with the assent and approval of all classes and creeds in the land, and

with a new sovereign on the throne known sincerely to share the views

of his Ministers and the aspirations of his people, all this seemed to

ensure the prospect of healing the wounds of the much afflicted land of

the Osmanli, and of opening up a new era of progress and prosperity in

the East.

 

But suddenly a cloud, not bigger than a man’s hand, lowered over the

destinies of the country, and from this time the stars in their courses

fought against Turkey, and violently set back the date of the promised

era of prosperity.

 

On the eventful night of the 30th‐31st May, during the drive with

Murad to the Seraskierat, Hussein Avni had perceived that the Prince

was suffering from violent nervous excitement, and these symptoms

were still further accentuated in the return journey to the Palace of

Dolma‐Bagtche after the ceremony of investiture was over—so much so

that Midhat Pasha, who accompanied him, thought it prudent to remain in

the Palace, without quitting it, for three days. The physicians called

in consultation did not at first take a grave view of the case, and

sanguine hopes were entertained that, in a short time, by pursuing

the regimen of repose and hygiene recommended by these authorities,

Sultan Murad would rapidly recover his health and be able to discharge

the duties incumbent on him. Dr Lamsdorf of Vienna, the celebrated

specialist, made a very favourable diagnosis of the case. A happy issue

of this most unfortunate and inopportune malady was now generally

hoped for and expected, when two startling events occurred in rapid

succession, each seriously aggravating and affecting the Sultan Murad’s

nervous condition of health, and together fatally compromising the hope

of rapid recovery.

 

The first of these tragedies referred to was enacted in the Palace of

Tcheragan, five days after the dethronement of the late Sultan. Abdul

Aziz, whose imperious temper could ill brook the change of destiny

that had overtaken him, had already made one or two unsuccessful

attempts, which were with difficulty thwarted, to throw himself out of

the windows of the Palace. On the morning of the 5th June, he asked

for a pair of scissors with which to trim his beard. On the attendants

demurring to comply with this request, the Valide Sultan ordered the

scissors to be given to her son. Shortly after this, the ladies of her

suite, looking out of a window of a corridor that commanded a view on

the room occupied by the late Sultan, saw him sitting quietly in an

armchair with his back turned to the window; but shortly afterwards,

perceiving that his head had dropped on his lap, they ran to the door

and tried to open it. Finding it locked, and fearing a catastrophe,

they ran screaming to the Valide Sultan and informed her of what they

suspected. Orders being given to break into the room, they found Abdul

Aziz sitting in the posture already described, and in a pool of blood

flowing from two wounds in his arms, evidently caused by the scissors,

which had fallen beside him on the floor. The physicians, who were

hastily summoned, could only confirm the apprehension that life was

extinct, and the Ministers, immediately apprised of the fact of the

tragedy, ordered an immediate examination of the body to be made by

all the available medical men in Constantinople, hastily summoned to

draw up an official report on the subject. Seventeen medical men of

all nationalities, comprising all the most distinguished in the city

and in the Embassies of the great Powers, signed a unanimous report to

the effect that death was undoubtedly due to suicide, and handed the

following certificate:—

 

 

“The year 1876 A.D., on the 23rd of May, O.S., the 4th of June, N.S.,

or the year of the Hegira, the 11th of the month of Djemazi‐el‐ewel

1293, Sunday, at 11 o’clock A.M., we, the undersigned doctors of

medicine, namely, Marco Pasha, Nouri Pasha, Julius Millingen,

Caratheodori, Sotto, Dickson, Marroin, Nouridjian, Spadare, Vitalis,

S. Spagnolo, Marc Markel, Jatropoulo, Miltiadi Bey, Abdinour Effendi,

Mustafa Effendi, Servet Bey, Mehmed Bey and Jacques de Castro,

being summoned by the ministry by order of His Imperial Majesty

to ascertain the cause of the death of the ex‐Sultan Abdul Aziz,

proceeded to the guard‐house situated near the Imperial Palace

of Tcheragan. There we were ushered into a chamber on the ground

floor and found a body lying on a mattress on the floor. The body

was covered with a new white linen cloth. On removing this cloth

we recognised the ex‐Sultan Abdul Aziz. All the parts of the body

were cold and bloodless, pale, or covered with coagulated blood.

The corpse was not rigid, the eyelids were partially unclosed, the

corneæ were slightly opaque, the mouth partly open. Linen cloths,

soaked in blood covered the arms and legs. On lifting the linen

coverings on the arms we discovered a gash near the joint of the left

arm five centimetres long and three centimetres deep. The edges of

the wound were hacked and irregular. The direction of the wound was

from above to below, and from inside to outside. The veins of this

region were cut, and the cubital artery at its emerging point was

three‐fourths severed. At the joint of the right arm we discovered a

wound, slightly oblique, also hacked, two centimetres long and one

centimetre deep. On this side the wounds were only in the smaller veins; the arteries were intact.