The life of Midhat Pasha 8

The life of Midhat Pasha 8

The key of all these reforms, and the cardinal principle of this

administration, was to work hand in hand with the local authorities.

By their aid the valuation of all property held in the respective

districts was carried out equitably and fairly, and taxes founded

on this assessment were levied without complaint; and although the

salaries of responsible officials, such as the police and judges, were

considerably increased, and many vexatious taxes abolished, the new

revenue of the province showed a considerable and increasing surplus.

 

The prosperity of this large province under its new administrator could

not fail to attract the attention of the authorities at Constantinople,

and Midhat now received the congratulations both of the Sultan and

of the Sublime Porte. An Imperial Irade, moreover, enjoined all the

governors of the other provinces of the empire to apply in their

respective vilayets the same reforms that Midhat had introduced in

that of the Danube, a detailed plan and description of which had been

forwarded to Constantinople by Rifat Effendi, the secretary of the

vilayet (subsequently Grand Vizier).

 

So far everything seemed to go well, and a new era of prosperity seemed

about to dawn for the provinces of the empire generally. It is worth

while for those who really desire to obtain an inside view of the

working of Turkish absolutism, and to discern the secret springs that

move the Government of Turkey, and make themselves acquainted with the

hidden causes that have time after time wrecked the hopes of Turkish

reformers, to follow attentively what we are now about to relate, on

the authority, be it noted, of one in a position, if any one was, to

know the truth and put his fingers on the plague‐spot.

 

Midhat felt that his work would not be complete, nor would the return

of material prosperity suffice to attach his province permanently

to the Government of the Sultan, unless he applied himself as well

to the moral side of the problem and succeeded in counteracting the

manœuvres of the enemies of the empire to sow disaffection in the

minds of the youth of the province. One of the most effective devices

contrived by them with this view was the plan, pursued for many

years, of sending large numbers of Bulgarian youths to carry on their

studies at the Russian universities of Odessa, Kharkoff, and Kieff,

and these, on their return, became the chiefs of the staffs of the

active propagandists of Panslavic ideas among the youths of Bulgaria.

These missionaries of disaffection constituted one of the most serious

dangers to Ottoman sovereignty, and one of the most difficult problems

to deal with. Midhat determined to grapple with it, and with this view

he determined to establish in the principal centres of the province

schools and universities where the Bulgarian youths, Christians and

Mussulmans alike, should enjoy all the advantages of a first‐class

modern education without having to seek it abroad. The incidental

advantage of a fusion of Christian and Mussulman elements in the

country, under the inspiring influence of a common education, at an

age when friendships are most easily formed and generous sentiments

evoked, did not escape the sagacity of Midhat. The whole project

was explained by him in a detailed report to the Sublime Porte, the

expenses being provided half by the surplus revenues of the province,

and the rest by voluntary subscriptions.

 

When this project was made known at Constantinople, the person who most

readily seized the full import of it was General Ignatieff, the Russian

ambassador. It went directly counter to all the most cherished plans

and projects of the Panslavic party, of which he was the moving spirit.

There was nothing that he did not do to wreck the plan and upset the

Pasha. Unfortunately the nature of an absolute government and the

character of an Eastern autocrat afforded him ample means of action.

The interference of a foreign ambassador in the internal economy of a

province of the empire had nothing in it which appeared abnormal or

impertinent; such interference was consecrated by long usage and had

become chronic and accepted. Ignatieff began by representing to the

sovereign that the spirit of the reforms effected by Midhat in his

vilayet, especially the institution of local councils (which was of

the very essence of the reforms introduced), were in direct opposition

to the spirit of absolutism, and that the result would infallibly be

that little by little the province itself would become detached from

the body of the empire, and would claim its entire independence, as had

already happened in the case of Egypt. It is not certain, however, that

the ambassador would have gained his point, even with a sovereign so

tenacious of his prerogatives as was Abdul Aziz, had not an unfortunate

error of typography, eagerly seized on and exploited by Ignatieff,

played into the hands of the ambassador. In a passage of the official

journal of the province, the term “deputies” was inadvertently applied

to the members of the chief council of the vilayet. This apparently

trivial circumstance, the slip of a typographist, was sufficient to

turn the scale in the Sultan’s mind and to wreck the project. Abdul

Aziz refused his consent to the proposal, on the obviously insincere

pretext of the expense connected with it. Thus this crowning act of

Midhat’s work, the reform which above all others was calculated to

attach the Bulgarians to the central government and to destroy a

nest of disaffectation in the province, was defeated by a foreign

ambassador playing on the ignorant susceptibilities and autocratic

instincts of the sovereign of the country. If this were a single and

exceptional example of the working of autocracy, it might be passed

over in comparative silence, however regrettable it was in this

particular instance; but the whole modern history of Turkey shows

that such intervention was nothing less than a system of statecraft

whereby autocracy was cunningly worked for the ruin of the country in

as certain and deadly a way as was the _Liberum Veto_ of the Polish

constitution. The spontaneous caprices and whims of an autocrat are the

least part of the baneful effects of autocracy; it is in the shadows

that flit behind the throne, stronger than the throne itself, working

systematically on the ignorance and fears of the autocrat, with settled

purpose and in pursuit of settled plans, that lies, in the East at any

rate, the real curse of absolutism.

 

Simultaneously with this diplomatic action at Constantinople, order

was given to the Panslavic Committees established at Bucharest and

Kichenew to prepare for action in the field. Midhat’s agents had kept

him informed of the revival of agitation entertained by the agents of

these committees among the Bulgarian peasants, and he lost no time in

transmitting this information to the Porte.

 

[Illustration: 6 7 4 2 1 3 5

 

MIDHAT PASHA AND HIS SUITE IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCE OF THE

DANUBE.

 

1. Midhat Pasha.

2. “Inspecteur de la Cour Judiciare.”

3. “Juge du Cheri.”

4. Adib Effendi, Minister of Customs (1889).

5. Rifat Pasha, Grand Vizier (1897).

6. Raïf Pasha, Minister (1890).

7. Chakir Pasha, “Maréchal” (1878).]

 

On the 2nd May, 1867, Midhat received the following telegram from

Sistovo:—“Last night numerous armed bands crossed the frontier close

to Sistovo, and were immediately joined by other bands who were waiting

for them on this side of the frontier, and early this morning they

commenced operations by the horrible mutilation of five Mussulman

children, aged from eight to twelve, who were tending sheep on the

plains.”

 

The object and purpose of these barbarities was obvious: it was to

excite reprisals on the part of the Mussulman population, which would

afford a pretext to the enemies of the empire to fill Europe with an

outcry against Turkish barbarity and fanaticism. The same policy,

heralded by the same acts, ruthlessly pursued later on, did produce the

desired effect, and Bulgarian atrocities became a proverb and byword in

the world; but on this occasion the energy of Midhat, and the patience

and forbearance of the Mussulman population, defeated the purpose of

the conspirators. Midhat, immediately on receiving the above telegram,

embarked two companies of regulars on board a steamer and despatched

them to Sistovo, whither he accompanied them himself. He found the

whole population, Christian and Mussulman, in a state of the greatest

excitement, and his first care was to calm the effervescence and to

inspire confidence in the energy and resolution of the authorities.

 

The plan of the insurgents was to push on as rapidly as they could to

the Balkans, increasing their forces as they went along by the native

levies which had been organised by the committees for this purpose,

until they reached the monastery of Kapanbova, where a large _dépôt_ of

arms had been collected, and which was intended to be the headquarters

of the insurrection.

 

The presence of four battalions of regulars at Capriova prevented

the execution of this plan, and after suffering several defeats in

the field, the bands dispersed in various directions, closely pursued

by the troops and the local levies that had joined them. Midhat now

instituted a special tribunal, composed of six Mussulmans and six

Christian judges, to try the rebel prisoners, and the evidence given by

the prisoners themselves, clearly demonstrated that the invading bands

had been equipped and sent out by the Slav Committees of Bucharest

and Kichenew, and were acting in unison with corresponding committees

established throughout the province. By the unanimous vote of this

tribunal, sentences of death were passed on the leaders, and penal

servitude and minor punishment, according to their status and degree of

culpability, on all the rebels taken in arms. By these energetic means

the insurrection was effectually stamped out and tranquillity restored

to the province.

 

An outcry, however, was quickly raised in the European Press against

the “methods of barbarism” adopted to repress the insurrection, and the

Pasha was accused of ultra severity against Christian insurgents and

reprehensible leniency towards Mussulman offenders.

 

So far from this latter accusation having any real foundation, the

very composition of the special tribunal appointed to deal with

these troubles was a guarantee of its impartiality. Moreover, the

following fact will afford an example of the impunity enjoyed by the

Mahomedan criminals. In the course of these troubles two dead bodies of

Christians were found in a field near Biscara; a judicial investigation

was immediately ordered on the spot, and the result was that the

evidence pointed to a sergeant of _gendarmerie_, a Mussulman of the

name of Mehemet Tchavouch, as having committed the murder. Pressed

by questions Mehemet made a full confession, and he was thereupon

condemned to death and forthwith executed.

 

Midhat now turned his attention to the best means of anticipating

and guarding against similar raids and insurrections in the future.

He knew well that the central revolutionary committees at Bucharest

and Kichenew would not disarm, but would simply watch for a more

favourable opportunity to put their plans into execution. To garrison

the whole frontier with regular troops would expose the province

to large expenditure, and the troops, when called upon to act, to

calumny and misrepresentation. He accordingly conceived the plan of

organising a local militia of 40,000 men, recruited from all classes

of the population, Christian and Mussulman alike, to whom the defence

of their own localities should be entrusted, and they were to be

indemnified if called upon to act beyond the boundaries of their

district. By this means a cheap and effective force was provided

against all contingencies, and at the same time the confidence reposed

in the loyalty of the population generally received a conspicuous

demonstration. The defence of the line of the Danube was secured

in a similar manner. A succession of guard‐houses was established

throughout the length of the river, and their defence confided to a

river‐guard recruited equally from the Christian and Mussulman riverine population.