The life of Midhat Pasha 30

The life of Midhat Pasha 30

Before returning to Turkey, Midhat Pasha went to the Island of Crete,

as his future residence. The Sultan granted his request, and sent a

cruiser of the Turkish Fleet to Syria, which landed him at Candia on

11th September 1878; the Imperial yacht _Fuad_ was also commanded to

transport his family to the island.

 

The Cretan population, Mussulmans and Christians alike, gave him the

warmest and most cordial of welcomes; the foreign fleets which were in

the bay fired salutes when he disembarked.

 

This enthusiastic reception, this spontaneous manifestation on the

part of the foreign fleets, made the very worst of impressions on

Abdul Hamid, whose fears were, moreover, increased by the continual

intrigues of Midhat’s enemies. At one time there was some question at

Constantinople of nominating Midhat Pasha as Governor‐General of the

Island of Crete. One of his friends (an English subject, whose name

we may not divulge) sent him the following letter, written at the

invitation of the British Ambassador, Sir Henry Layard:—

 

 

“CONSTANTINOPLE, _3rd October 1878_.

 

“YOUR HIGHNESS,—I have had an interview with our Ambassador this

morning. His Excellency assures me that for the last four months he

has tried by every means in his power to act on the Sultan’s mind,

in order to persuade His Majesty to believe in your fidelity and

devotion to his throne. Sir Henry Layard has assured me that he has

incontestable proofs, that whilst Your Highness was in power, a

certain individual, who dined every evening at your table, was in the

pay of General Ignatieff, and repeated to the General every day all

that you had said the night before. His Excellency has asked me to

tell you that His Majesty is always surrounded by Russian emissaries,

who do all in their power to influence him against you, and therefore

he is obliged to use the greatest prudence in speaking to His Majesty

of Your Highness. The Ambassador expressed to me his very great

regret that you had refused to accept the thousand pounds that the

Sultan had offered you. He also wished me to tell you, _in strictest

confidence_, that there had been some question of nominating you

Governor‐General of Crete, and that he prevented this nomination,

being convinced that you would do no good in the Island, and that

the insurrection instead of diminishing will only increase later on.

Besides this, he told me that his desire is that Your Highness should

occupy a higher post, where you would render very great services

to the Government. He said that he was very anxious to meet you

somewhere and to speak with you, but that at the present moment he

sees no possibility of such an interview; in the meanwhile, if Your

Highness would put yourself into correspondence with him, there is

nothing that would give him greater pleasure than to receive news of

you.

 

“Such, Your Highness, is the _résumé_ of our conversation. I left

with the conviction that the Ambassador sees the immense difficulty

of introducing any reforms into the country without Your Highness’

co‐operation. Your opinion on the policy of England, and on the

manner of introducing reforms into this country, would, I am sure, be

very much appreciated by his Excellency, and therefore, if you see

fit to write to the Embassy, you may count on my honour that no one

in the world will know that you are in correspondence with Sir Henry

Layard.—I am, etc.”

 

 

No event worthy of record took place during the short time that Midhat

passed in the island of Crete. As he had wished, he lived peacefully

in the midst of his family, not occupying himself directly with the

affairs of State.

 

At the end of a month, Midhat Pasha received a telegram from the

Palace, which nominated him Governor‐General of the vilayet of Syria.

He was compelled to accept this new post, and embarked with his family

on board the Imperial yacht _Fevayid_ for Beyrout.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER IX

 

MIDHAT PASHA, GOVERNOR‐GENERAL OF SYRIA

 

 

The arrival of Midhat Pasha in Syria was greeted by the population

with as much enthusiasm and sympathy as in Crete. Compelled to

accept this new position, Midhat, without losing hope of obtaining

better results, and without taking into consideration that this

post of Governor‐Generalship was a distinct loss of position after

the high posts which he had occupied, began at once to study the

general situation of the country, and the improvement which it would

be possible to introduce there, as he had already done in the other

vilayets. He introduced the most urgent reforms in the administration,

which he discovered to be in a state of complete anarchy. He founded a

School of Arts and Crafts, and an Orphanage, he increased the public

safety, constructed high‐roads, which diminished the long distances

that separated the capital of the vilayet from the outlying districts,

and contributed to the construction of a line of tramways which

connected the town of Tripoli, in Syria, to the port of Mina.

 

However, the population of Syria, composed as it is of people

of diverse races and religions, who are always at enmity with

each other, had preserved their ancient manners and customs. The

overwhelmingly difficult task of creating a complete union between all

these jarring elements, and of strengthening the Ottoman Supremacy

in the country—where the minds of the populace were excited by

foreign influences—consisted at first in the re‐organisation of the

administration, in Judicial and Financial Reforms, and, finally, in

insisting upon the absolute integrity of the officials.

 

Meanwhile, the Sultan Abdul Hamid allowed his original bitterness

against Midhat Pasha to increase, and although addressing the most

flattering words to him, he refused to sanction every single scheme of

reform brought forward by him. The more the people showed their very

great sympathy towards the Governor‐General, so much the more furious

was the Sultan at his growing popularity. In order to prevent Midhat

from gaining the friendship of the people by introducing the required

improvements, Abdul Hamid took care to appoint as officials in Syria

those men who would be capable of opposing his projects on every side.

Such was the hostile conduct of the Marshal Ahmed Eyoub Pasha, who was

in command of the Fifth Army Corps, and also of General Djémil Pasha.

 

The absence of harmony which existed between the officials of the

province, and the Sultan’s delay in sanctioning his schemes, finally

obliged Midhat to tender his resignation in the following telegrams, to

which the Sultan replied in the most hypocritical language.

 

 

_To Ali Fuad Bey, H.M. First Secretary._

 

 

“Worn out, physically and mentally, by a service to the State which

extends over nearly forty years, and taking into consideration my

old age, which renders me incapable of serving any longer, I beg

His Majesty, as a favour, graciously to accept my resignation of

the Governorship of Syria, and to allow me to return, as soon as

possible, to my house at Constantinople, or to Metelin, or else to

some habitable district of the Syrian coast, where I may settle down

with my family and spend my remaining years.—I am, etc.,

 

“(Signed) MIDHAT.

 

“_7th October 1295, O.S._”

(_19th October 1879._)

 

 

_To the Grand Vizier, Saïd Pasha._[22]

 

 

“Having reached a condition, when mentally and physically I can

render no further services to the State, I had some weeks ago

prepared my resignation and was going to send it in, for urgent

reasons, when your nomination to the Grand‐Vizierat retarded my

action. But the appointment of Mahmoud Nedim Pasha[23] to the

Ministry of the Interior has decided me to present it at the Palace.

I inform you of this in advance, so that my resignation, following

on your appointment as Prime Minister, may not be misinterpreted. I

beg you will support my petition, and be my intermediary in helping

me to get permission to end my days in some suitable place, with my

family.—I am, etc.,

 

“(Signed) MIDHAT.”

 

 

_Reply from H.M. First Secretary._

 

 

“YOUR HIGHNESS,—His Majesty has taken note of Your Highness’

resignation of the Governorship of Syria.

 

“The success which has attended Your Highness in the vilayet of Syria

has been reported to His Majesty by Sir Henry Layard, who has just

returned from his travels in Syria. His Majesty was on the point of

sending you his congratulations, and of asking you what measures

should be taken for the application of those reforms in which you

encounter some obstacles. The arrival of your resignation has caused

regret to His Majesty. You declare that the principal reason of

your resignation is your advanced age, but as Your Highness is well

aware, the longer an official has served, so much the greater will

be his experience and his competency. Now, just at the moment when

the State is on the point of reaping the fruits of Your Highness’

long experience and high efficiency, your decision to withdraw from

public affairs cannot agree with the sentiments of your well‐known

patriotism, and His Majesty would not, at present, be able to

reconcile himself to placing on the unattached list, a servant as

capable and experienced as Your Highness. Consequently, the reasons

of your resignation are not admissible. His Majesty orders me to beg

that you will address yourself directly to the Palace, if you have

complaints to formulate.—I am, etc.,

 

 

“(Signed) ALI FUAD.

 

“_10th October 1295, O.S._”

(_22nd October, 1879._)

 

 

_Reply._

 

_To Ali Fuad Bey, H.M. First Secretary._

 

“EXCELLENCY,—I have received the cipher telegram of the 10th

October, 1295, and I humbly thank His Majesty for the questions

which he has deigned to address to me; my request is occasioned by

the weakness of my body and by the responsibility imposed upon me

by the state of the vilayet. All the services of the vilayet are in

disorder; the localities, as well as the population on the coast, are

almost entirely under foreign influences, and the interior of the

country, ever since the war, has been undermined by insurrections,

which paralyse all the efforts of the State to bear on the abolition

of the dissensions and revolts, in order to secure to the population

a measure of repose and justice under the ægis of the State, by

taking into consideration the exigencies of the localities and the

requirements of the inhabitants. While this state of affairs exists,

the enforced application in this vilayet of such reforms as those

imposed in the vilayets of Konia and of Angora has only succeeded

in alienating still further the population from the Government, and

caused it to sympathise still more strongly with the foreigners.

Moreover, even the power to assure the security of the Province is

in the hands of the Military Administration, yet the responsibility

thereof has been assumed by the Vali, which is not in the least in

agreement with any known rule, and the disputes which may arise from this system can only add to the other mismanagements, and as the vilayet cannot go on for more than six months or a year in this manner, I find myself obliged to resign my functions.