The life of Midhat Pasha 17

The life of Midhat Pasha 17

In these circumstances, it was resolved by Ministers that Midhat should

go to Muslou‐Oglou, where Prince Hamid, heir presumptive to the throne,

resided, in order to ascertain by a personal interview with him whether

Ministers could rely on his co‐operation to carry out the important

reforms that they had in hand, should it become absolutely necessary to

remove Murad from the throne, and in that event, to agree to certain

clear and definite stipulations with the Prince as conditions of their

support.

 

These stipulations were the following:—

 

1. To promulgate without delay the new Constitution.

 

2. To act in matters of State only with the advice of his responsible

advisers.

 

3. To appoint Zia Bey and Kemal Bey his private secretaries, and to

make Sadullah Bey the head of the Palace Secretariat.

 

The importance attached by Midhat and Rushdi to this last condition

was very great. It afforded a guarantee against those intrigues of

the Palace which had ship‐wrecked so many schemes of reform, and

prevented, so far as was possible, a renewal of that mute opposition

between the Palace and the Porte which had existed for centuries, and

had paralysed the efforts of so many Ministers.

 

At this historical interview at Muslou‐Oglou Prince Hamid evidently

“played a deep game” with Midhat Pasha. He promised all and more than

all that was asked of him. He pretended to opinions more advanced

than the most advanced of his Ministers, and in favour of even a more

democratic Constitution than the one elaborated. The other condition he

accepted without demur.

 

On receiving these clear and emphatic declarations, Midhat returned

to Stamboul and reported the result of his interview to the assembled

Ministers, who thereupon resolved to take the decisive step and put

Prince Hamid on the throne in the place of his brother Murad.

 

As on the occasion of the dethronement of the Sultan Abdul Aziz, it was

necessary to obtain a _Fetva_ from the Sheik‐ul‐Islam to the effect

that the contemplated step was in accordance with the Sacred Law.

Mehemet Rushdi thereupon demanded an official report from six principal

physicians in Constantinople—of whom four belonged to the Embassies of

the Great Powers—who, after examination of Murad, handed to him the

following certificates:—

 

 

“On the 31st of the month August, 1876, Chaban 11: 1293 Hegira, we

have made a report on the health of His Majesty Sultan Murad, and

come to certain conclusions which we hereby confirm, and add thereto

the following opinion, viz. that even should the Sultan Murad after a

long lapse of time, contrary to expectation, recover his intellectual

faculties, these can never recover their normal condition.”

 

“(Signed) CASTRO.

 

AKIF.

 

DICKSON, _Physician to English Embassy_.

 

MARROIN, _Physician to French Embassy_.

 

MUHLIG, _Physician to German Embassy_.

 

SOTTO, _Physician to Austro‐Hungarian Embassy_.”

 

 

Thereupon Mehemet Rushdi made a speech to the people gathered together

to hear the report of these physicians at the Palace of Top‐Kapou.

 

 

“Our sovereign, the Emperor Murad,” he said, “has been enabled

to reign for only twelve days, but during that time he has been

afflicted with an illness which, in spite of all the efforts of human

science, has shown no amendment. His intellectual faculties are

in a state of great feebleness, and the physicians pronounce them

incurable. Nevertheless we have waited for the expiration of the

legal delay, and this delay has now expired. This is the sum total

of the truth of the matter. Let us be informed of what, under such

circumstances, the law of the Cheri dictates.”

 

 

The assembled crowd expressed its sense of the justice of these words,

and the Sheik‐ul‐Islam, Hassan Hairullah, gave the following _Fetva_:—

 

 

“If the Commander of the Faithful is suffering from mental

alienation and if the exercise of his function is thereby rendered

impracticable, can he be deposed?

 

“Answer: The Cheri says ‘Yes.’

 

“(Signed) HASSAN HAIRULLAH,

 

“To whom God grant His indulgence.

 

“12 _Chaban_ 1293, _Hegira_.”

(1_st September_ 1876.)

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER IV

 

ABDUL HAMID SULTAN

 

 

The act of dethronement of Sultan Murad V. was now accomplished. On

Thursday, 1st September 1876, Prince Hamid, surrounded by all the great

Civil and Military dignitaries of the State, descended the Grand Rue

of Pera on horseback, on his way to Top‐Kapou at Stamboul. The people

thronged in large crowds to see the procession, but dazed by the series

of dramatic events that were so rapidly succeeding one another, they

viewed the spectacle with silence and without enthusiasm. There seemed

a feeling of anxiety in the air as of the prescience of future evils.

 

From Stamboul the Prince passed in a State _caïque_ to the Palace of

Dolma‐Bagtche. Monday, the 15th of the month Chaban, was fixed for

the reception of the Biat (first ceremony of the investiture), and on

that day a deputation of notabilities of Finance, accompanied by the

chiefs of the five non‐Mussulman communities, headed by Jean Lorando,

presented the Sultan elect with an address of congratulation in the

name of the city of Galata, and to this the Sultan made the following

reply:—

 

 

“I thank you for your congratulations; I have only one desire, and

that is the progress of our country and peace for all our subjects.

They will perceive by the logic of facts the fulfilment of the

promise of the reforms made to them. They, too, on their part,

must, in order to enjoy these privileges, give proof of the strict

observance of the duties incumbent on them.”

 

 

To his Ministers he made a short speech, counselling union and

agreement among themselves as the condition and symbol of union among

all the subjects of the empire, and “counselled and ordered” them to

prove their union by their acts.

 

The following Thursday, 18th of the month Chaban, was fixed for the

great ceremony of investiture. On the morning of that day Abdul Hamid

embarked in a _caïque_ for Eyoub, the suburb on the Golden Horn, where

the sword of Osman and the other sacred relics are kept, and on his

passage thither he was saluted by the guns of the fleet anchored there,

and the shout of the sailors manning the yards, “Padishahim tchok

Yasha!”

 

After the important ceremony here was over, and the investiture of the

new Padishah was thus completed, he proceeded, according to usage, to

the mausoleum of Selim I., the founder of the Ottoman Caliphate, and

thence to the mausoleum of Abdul Medjid, his father and the father

of Murad, and lastly to the Palace of Top‐Kapou, where the mantle of

the Prophet and the sacred Banner are deposited; and at night, the

ceremony of this important day being over, he returned to the Palace of

Dolma‐Bagtche, where the ceremony of the investiture was completed.

 

Girt with the sword of Osman, Hamid II. reigned over Turkey, and the

dark gloom of the Hamidian epoch was now about to settle over the land

of the Osmanli.

 

On leaving the Palace of Dolma‐Bagtche that night old Mehemet Rushdi,

turning to his colleagues, said to them: “We have been in a great hurry

to get rid of Murad. May we never have cause to repent what we have

done.”

 

With these quasi‐prophetic words on his lips, feeling no doubt that

a new era of struggles was about to open for which younger men were

required, the veteran Grand Vizier, who had piloted the country

through one _coup d’état_, and had very unwillingly assisted at a

second dethronement, in consideration of his great age and feeble state

of health, requested to be relieved of the duties of Grand Vizier.

His request was granted, but three months after, Midhat, universally

designated for the post, was nominated as his successor. These three

months were passed under the Grand Vizierate of Mehemet Rushdi Pasha,

but it was Midhat who was leader of the Cabinet, and Mehemet Rushdi was

only the mouthpiece of Midhat, until the latter finally replaced him on

the 16th December 1876.

 

The first audience accorded by the new sovereign to foreign envoys

was to Count Zichy, the Austro‐Hungarian Ambassador, accompanied by

the Secretary of his Embassy. Safvet Pasha, the Minister of Foreign

Affairs, was present. The audience lasted one hour, and turned

exclusively on the affairs of Herzegovina, the ambassador laying

stress on the gravity of the events passing there, the anxiety and

expenses that disturbances on its borders caused the Dual Empire,

and exhortations to the new sovereign to listen to the advice of the

friendly Powers. All this was, as we have seen, in the strictest

conformity with the _rôle_ that Austria had been playing for two years.

Having set light to the gunpowder in her neighbour’s house, she quoted

to that neighbour the familiar proverb, “Proximus ardet Ucalegon,” and warned him of the consequences.