Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

ruin which menaced it. But if

[ocr errors]

of

house of Othman has many virtues, but those of constitutional kingship were not of them. The founder of the dynasty and all his most famous descendants had been men of personal initiative. They not only reigned, but ruled. They first carved out their realms for themselves with their own scimitars, and then governed it by their own autocratic theocratic will. To Abdul Hamid, who believed only in two things-in God and in his house-the very idea of a parliament or of any limitation on the sovereign power the Sultan partook of the nature of a blasphemy. Not by such means would Allah deliver the Faithful. Abdul Hamid would stand in the ancient ways, walk by the ancient light, and trust in the God of his fathers to deliver him from the perils that encompassed him round about. For a time, in deference to Midhat, he tolerated the theatricality of the Constitution, hoping that it might delude the infidel and deliver Turkey from war.

[graphic]

[November 10, 1895.

FAR AWAY IN TURKEY. The Liliputians have taken possession of Gulliver, who had fallen asleep.

it was the will of Allah that such a deliverance should be wrought, then it was not for him, Abdul Hamid, to tremble or to escape from the task laid upon him by providence. Years before, when he was still a young man, he had accompanied his uncle on the famous European tour, in the course of which Abdul Aziz visited London and was banqueted by the Lord Mayor. In those days it was noted that Abdul Hamid was of a very shy and retiring disposition. It was reported that when he was in the gardens at Buckingham Palace he would always slink behind the bushes and conceal himself if he saw any one approaching. By constitution he was not self-assertive, and, like Hamlet, he regarded it as a cursed spite that he was told off to put to right times so cruelly out of joint. But, unlike Hamlet, Abdul Hamid is a Moslem, and a prince of the house which generation after generation produced warriors and statesmen who were the terror of Christendom and the object of the envious admiration of the Eastern world. Hence he did not hesitate when the call fairly came to shoulder his burden, and to undertake the task of saving the Empire with qualifications almost as scanty as those of Tommy Atkins for commanding an army corps.

MIDHAT AND HIS CONSTITUTION.

When he became Sultan, Midhat had conceived the idea of throwing dust in the eyes of Europe by proclaiming a Constitution. The Sultan assented to it, as he would probably have assented to any other expedient which the Grand Vizier proposed at that time. But he never liked it, and took the first opportunity of dissolving the Parliament and putting the Constitution on the shelf. Parliaments indeed were not in his line. The

But when it failed, and the infidel would not be deluded, and the Russian armies crossed the Danube and invaded Armenia, then the time for such fooling was past. Midhat was banished to Arabia, where he shortly afterwards died, the Parliament. was dissolved, and the Constitution vanished in thin air.

THE ONE MAN POWER.

And for

Henceforth the Sultan was to be the Sultan. nearly twenty years Abdul Hamid has been the Sultan and no mistake. Believing in no one but himself, he trusted no one but himself. Surrounded by men who had betrayed his uncle and his brother, living in an atmosphere malarious with corruption and saturated with intrigue, he early decided to trust no one, and to govern single-handed. And hopeless though the enterprise appeared, Abdu! Hamid may at least claim that whatever may be said in criticism of his policy, it has at least achieved one great and indisputable success. has enabled him to survive. And that is more than most people believed possible. Not only has he survived for nearly twenty years, but he has, until quite recently, been regarded as one of the ablest and most successful rulers of our time.

It

The worst enemy of Abdul Hamid cannot deny that he is one of the most industrious of sovereigns. He toils early and late, seventeen and eighteen hours a day. Neither can it be imputed to him that he has not always laboured for what he believed to be the real interest of the great trust which Allah has committed to his hands. He has worked like a galley slave in the peopled solitude of his palace. An Imperial convict sentenced to hard labour for life, with constant liability to capital punish

[graphic][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed]

ment, he has scorned delights and lived laborious days. He is not a genius, but he has held his own; not a hero, but he has borne the heat and burden of a long and toilsome day without complaining, and if he were gathered to his fathers to-morrow, he would have a record of which, when due allowance is made for his environment, no Sultan of his line need be ashamed.

COURAGE WITH SELF-RELIANCE.

It is the fashion nowadays to denounce Abdul Hamid as an abject coward. Cowardice has never been a note of the house of Othman. The breed is brave by heredity, and Abdul Hamid has given enough proof of his courage to show that he belongs to the Imperial line. Almost immediately after his accession he had to face the Russian invasion. On both eastern and western frontiers burst the storm of Russian war. His arsenals were almost empty, his treasury was bankrupt. Even the rifles for his legions had to be bought in hot haste across the Atlantic. Of his pashas, some of the most highly placed were believed to be in Russian pay. There was no one in Camp or Cabinet who was of proved genius and who could command the confidence either of his Sovereign or of Europe. Among the great Powers, there was not one which could be relied upon for a cartridge or a sou. England, which in olden days had been the sworn ally of his predecessors, had taken offence about the suppression of the Bulgarian insurrection, an inscrutable piece of squeamishness on her part which Abdul Hamid to this day finds impossible to understand. As if the Ottoman Empire could exist without such suppression of rebellions! For the Turk without atrocities is as the leopard without his spots, and a sudden qualm of conscience as to the existence of spots cannot be understood by the leopard with whom we had been in alliance, spots and all, for more than the lifetime of a generation. France, prostrate after the German conquest, was useless. Abdul Hamid had to depend on himself alone, as his ancestors had done before him- -on himself, on the swords of the Faithful, and on Allah, the all-powerful, who at the eleventh hour might make bare his arm and overwhelm the hosts of the Infidel.

THE DEFENCE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

So argued the forlorn Sultan, and without more ado he set himself to beat back the tide of Russian war. The terrible year that followed added its deep impress to those of the tragedies which had preceded it. The heroic defence of Plevna by Osman Pasha was a solitary gleam of light amidst the ever deepening gloom of military defeat. Alike in Europe and in Asia, the crusading Russians pressed slowly but steadily onward. Kars fell in Armenia. Plevna at last surrendered in Europe, and then the Russian army, like a long dammed-up flood, surged irresistibly over the Balkans, and rushed foaming up to the very gates of Stamboul. Then it was that the Sultan showed that he possessed some of the old military instincts and the fighting spirit of his race. Panic reigned at the Porte, and the pashas, appalled by the sudden collapse of their armies, were counselling a hasty retreat to Broussa on the other side of the Sea of Marmora. Abdul Hamid, calm and undismayed, concentrated all his energies upon the preparations for the defence of Constantinople. Mouktar Pasha was placed in command of the lines, behind which the wreck of the Ottoman armies was mustered for a last stand.

HE VETOES THE FLIGHT TO BROUSSA, While still absorbed in the preparations for the defence of his capital against the Russians, Abdul Hamid was

suddenly startled by an intimation that the British fleet, which all the autumn had lain sullenly vigilant in Besika Bay, was about to force the passage of the Dardanelles. Orders were given to the forts to resist the naval invasion, and the gunners in the forts that command the Straits made ready to try conclusions with Admiral Hornby's ironclads. At the last moment, however, the ships were allowed to pass.

Lord Beaconsfield undoubtedly intended the advance of the fleet to be a demonstration against the Russians. But it so happened that it created more consternation amongst the Turks, who seemed to feel themselves suddenly assailed in front and rear by a fresh enemy. It was just about the time when the British fleet had forced the Dardanelles and anchored at Prince's Island within a day's steaming of Stamboul, that a council was held in the capital to consider the Grand Vizier's proposal for an immediate retreat to Asia. The assembly of ministers and pashas was numerous and influential. The prevailing opinion was that as the capital lay now between the Russians at San Stefano and the British fleet at Prince's Islands, nothing remained but flight into Asia. Then it was that the Sultan showed himself a true descendant of Othinan. Confronted by the craven crew of his own council, urging instant flight, Abdul Hamid calmly, but resolutely, refused to abandon the capital. Come what might he would remain in Constantinople, and share the fate of the city that for four hundred years had been the throne of his dynasty. The word of the Sultan prevailed. The flight to Broussa was countermanded, and Abdul Hamid, amid his craven councillors, kept the Crescent above the Cross on the great cathedral of St. Sophia.

AND SAVES THE TURKISH FLEET.

Nor was this the only trial of his nerve. When the negotiations were going on between General Ignatieff and the Turkish plenipotentiaries at San Stefano, the Russians demanded as one of the prizes of war the whole Turkish fleet. Achmet, Vefyk and Safvet Pashas, the strongest members of the ministry, urged compliance with the Russian demands. Turkey, they held, was powerless to resist. To refuse the Russian terms would be to renew the war. If the war was renewed the Cossacks would canter almost unopposed to the palace of the Sultan, and the Ottoman Empire would not survive the capture of its capital. But here again the indomitable spirit of Abdul Hamid burst out. Never," he exclaimed"never," and with his own hand he wrote a letter to the Grand Duke Nicholas declaring it was impossible to give up the fleet. He added, with an emphasis unusual to him, that he would prefer to see the vessels blown up with himself on board rather than that they should fall into the hands of Russia. This might be bluff, but it was bluff of the supreme sort, the bluff of a monarch on the edge of the abyss, and above all it was bluff that succeeded. The Russians waived their demand: the Turkish fleet, like the Turkish capital, was saved by the Sultan, and the Sultan alone.

[ocr errors]

L'ÉTAT C'EST MOI.

And

It is enough to recall these two severe crises to understand how it is that the Sultan feels that it is he and no other, he the Commander of the Faithful, to whom Allah has entrusted the responsibility of government. so it has come to pass that ever since that time Abdul Hamid has insisted upon governing himself alone. In small things as in great, in the appointment of a policeman in Erzeroum, or in the regulation of a theatre in Stamboul, equally as in the great affairs of State, the

Sultan is supreme. He alone must order everything, sanction everything, superintend everything. As in the eyes of Allah there is nothing great or nothing small, but all things are of equal importance, so it is with the chosen of Allah who reigns and rules at Stamboul.

III.-WHAT HE HAS DONE OF GOOD.

What has Abdul Hamid done for the Empire over which he reigns? First and foremost, he has kept it in existence for twenty years. He has survived war, insurrection, treason, attempted assassination, bankruptcy. And that in itself is no mean achievement. There seemed but a forlorn hope that he would succeed. But he has succeeded -so far at least as a man may be said to succeed who succeeds in evading the continual menace of annihilation.

HIS FOREIGN POLICY.

Secondly, he has, on the whole, been more reasonable and practical in his dealings with the Powers than he might have been. He was slow to give up Dulcigno to Montenegro and Epirus to Greece. His resolution needed to be quickened by a naval demonstration in the Adriatic and a threatened descent on the custom-houses of Smyrna, but in the end he gave way. In his dealings with Bulgaria he was more reasonable than anyone anticipated. When Eastern Roumelia tore up the Berlin treaty and joined herself to the principality of Bulgaria, the Suitan would have been within his treaty rights, and he would probably have had, to say the least, no opposition from Russia, if he had invaded the rebellious province and re-established his authority at Philippopolis. But he refrained from interfering, and as the net result of twenty years' diplomacy he is probably on better terms with the Bulgarians than are the Russians, to whom they owe their emancipation. Thirdly, he has not done anything like the mischief he might have done in Egypt. He might have complicated things terribly if he had accepted our proposal for a joint occupation. He refused, and although he may have been regretting it ever since, he has in reality contributed mightily to establish English authority in Cairo. Rumour says that he encouraged Arabi to revolt. If so, we owe him only one more good turn. For if Arabi had not revolted, the British redcoat would never have been established in the barracks at Cairo. Fourthly, he has had to face a very dangerous revolt in Arabia. He quelled it by a policy of concession, which warded off a serious peril to the Empire and gave to the Arabs securities against oppression.

RESTORATION OF FINANCES AND ARMY REFORM.

Fifthly, he established an International Commission for the payment of the interest on the debt. This required considerable nerve. He had seen in Egypt what International Commissions came to. He naturally shrank from establishing an Imperium in Imperio at his own door. But when convinced that it was necessary, he bowed to the will of Allah, and was rewarded for his self-sacrifice by the re-establishment of the credit of the Empire in the Stock Exchanges of Europe. When he came to the throne Turkey was bankrupt. Her last loan had been floated at 12 per cent. To-day the treasury, although not overflowing, is able to meet its obligations, and with such punctuality and despatch as to enable a Turkish loan to be floated at 5 per cent. Sixthly, he has done a great deal for the improvement of the discipline and the equipment of the army. He placed it under German direction, and, according to Captain Norman, who recently wrote on the subject in the United Service Magazine, he has done a kyards making it a

valuable fighting force. He has replenished the batteries of artillery, provided his troops with magazine rifles, and can now, it is said, put 500,000 men into the field.

EDUCATION AND ART.

Seventhly, Abdul Hamid has shown a praiseworthy appreciation of the importance of education. When the Russians were in full march upon Adrianople, he was busily engaged in founding the Mulkieh school, a preparatory college for the civil service. After the war was over-inter arma silent leges-he founded a school of law at the capital-a measure of reform in which, it is to be hoped, his example will be followed with the necessary interval by Great Britain. Many other special schools have been founded by him, and more than 2,000 elementary schools, attended by 100,000 scholars, have been opened since he ascended the throne. Eighthly, Abdul Hamid deserves credit for his interest in the education of women. He has taken a notable step in advance by establishing various girls' schools in Constantinople and other towns. Ninthly, Abdul Hamid has taken a new departure in bestowing some attention on art. There is more treasure-trove within his Empire than exists elsewhere on the world's surface. But hitherto sultans have concerned themselves as much with the priceless remains of Greek art as an Ashantee concerns himself about the higher mathematics. Abdul Hamid has broken with this barbarous tradition. Mr. Shaw Lefevre, who visited Turkey in 1890, says:

For the first time the interesting contents of his treasury have been arranged, and, under special permits, are open to inspection. He has also established a museum of antiquities, under the care of Hamdi Bey, a very competent antiquarian, a Moslem by religion, but the son of a Greek who was stolen as a boy from Scio. There has been a recent find of three splendid sarcophagi at Sidon, one of which is believed to have contained the remains either of Alexander or one of his generals; it has bas-reliefs of the very best period of Grecian art-equal in merit, in the opinion of many, to the Elgin marbles, and far more perfect in preservation. This alone makes the fortunes of the museum, and must attract every sculptor in Europe. He has formed a school of art.

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM.

Tenthly, he has busied himself very much about the reorganisation of the judicial administration. As to the value of this I am sceptical. But it is probable that the Sultan means to do the best he can. He has certainly taken no end of trouble about it. According to Hakki Bey the reign of the Sultan has—

witnessed the most effective improvements in this respect. The reorganisation of provincial tribunals, the nomination of procurators and advocates-general, the establishment of a regular system of advancement for judges, and a firm guarantee insuring their trustworthiness and impartiality, the institution of criminal and civil procedures, are samples of this reforming policy applied to the administration of justice, besides the creation of a law school destined to furnish the department of justice with able and well-instructed functionaries. The reorganisation of the police took place during this reign, which has witnessed so many acts for the welfare of the Ottoman people. The ancient confusion between the duties of the police, gendarmerie and department of penal jurisdiction ceased, and the gendarmerie as an armed force being attached to the War Department, the ministry of police remained with its essential attributes with regard to public safety.

Eleventhly, he has paid some attention to the construction of railways, the making of roads, and the supply of the necessary appliances of civilisation to the cities of his Empire. It is true that. all these are but mere fragmentary trifles. Still, such as they are, they must be taken into account.

SISYPHUS ON THE BOSPHORUS.

Abdul Hamid has at least maintained his Empire in peace. He might so easily have involved it in war. He has remained proof against all temptations of a warlike nature. He was not responsible for the Russian war. He inherited it, and he did the best he could. Since then he has succeeded in avoiding all armed collision with his neighbours, and has devoted his whole energies to what he regards as the true welfare of his people. Arminius Vambery, who recently paid a visit to the Sultan, bears emphatic testimony to the zeal with which he labours in the public service. He says:

The Sultan has got hardly the time to undertake a walk in his garden; how could he allow to himself the luxury of a longer holiday? To Sultan Abdul Hamid the throne is not at all a resting-place, and, having the honour to be his guest a few weeks ago, I can state from what I see that there has never been an Asiatic Prince who devoted all his energies to the welfare of his country like the present ruler of Turkey.

IV. WHAT HE HAS DONE OF ILL.

If these be the good deeds of Abdul Hamid, what are his evil deeds?

From the point of view of the House of Othman his evil deeds are two, neither of which count for much with his most acrimonious critics, and both of which can be explained and excused as the natural result of the circumstances under which he came to the throne.

HIS NEGLECT OF THE FLEET. First and foremost, and worst of all, he has neglected the Fleet. He imperilled his Empire in order to prevent it passing into the hands of the Russians. He has allowed it to perish of red rust and decay. The ironclads are still anchored in the Bosphorus, but they can neither fight nor steam. When the Kiel canal was opened and the warships of all nations were assembled in honour of the new international highway, the Sultan found that in all his navy there was only one ironclad whose boilers could be trusted to hold out for so long a voyage as that from Constantinople to Kiel and back. As the result of this neglect of the navy, his capital is to day at the mercy of the Tzar. The Russian Black Sea fleet could any night force the entrance to the Bosphorus, and place Constantinople under the fire of their guns. Constantinople is now to all intents and purposes the fief of Russia. The Sultan, as the Russians say, is the Tzar's dvornik or concierge, the keeper of the back door of the Russian Empire. The Sultan has to pay Russia for seventy years to come a tribute of £350,000 per annum. Whenever he fails to pay up, Russia can levy execution; nor is there an ironclad in the Turkish fleet to say the Russian nay. Even Greece is able nowadays to hold her own against the once

KHALIL RIFAAT PASHA, GRAND VIZIER.

puissant Ottoman. Turkey, once one of the greatest of sea powers, has now ceased to be a power at all, even in her own waters. To allow the fleet to moulder down into rusty ruin, that is the worst offence to be alleged against the Sultan from the point of view of an Ottoman.

WHY?

[graphic]

It may be explained, although not justified, by recalling the sombre memories of the previous reign. When the conspirators deposed Abdul Aziz, they first of all made sure of the fleet. When the luckless Sultan threatened resistance, the conspirators pointed through the windows to the Bosphorus, where in battle array the great ironclads lay ready to shell the palace on the first sign of resistance. It was the fleet which made the conspiracy safe and successful. Abdul Hamid has never trusted his navy since. It was the instrument which ruined his uncle. Who could say how soon it might be turned against him? So, lest the ironclads should depose the Sultan, the Sultan has virtually deprived the Empire of the protection of the ironclads. It was foolish policy. For an ironclad, which is of no use against a hostile fleet, is still quite powerful enough to shell the palace of the Sultan. Nevertheless, the factis undisputed. The Sultan has now no fleet worth speaking of, and when we say that we say everything. For sea power has always been the foundation of Empire, and when the Turk ceases to be "king of the two seas" he will not long remain

TAHSIN BEY, THE SULTAN'S CHIEF SECRETARY. Emperor of the

[graphic]

East.

PARALYSIS FROM OVER-CENTRALISATION.

The second great fault of Abdul Hamid has been the paralysis of his administration due to the congested centralisation of his empire. As he persists in doing everything himself, things don't get done. There is a vast accumulation of arrears of work always before him. It used to be said of our Lords of the Admiralty that they were kept so busy signing papers all day, they had no time left in which to think of the fleet at all. So it is with the Sultan. Mr. Shaw Lefevre says:

There is no detail of administration of his Government so small or trivial that it does not come before him personally for his approval and signature. The British Ambassador, as an illustration of this, told me that he could not get his steamlaunch repaired in the Turkish dockyard, at his own expense, without the matter going before the Sultan for his approval. Another ex-ambassador said that in an interview at the palace the Sultan complained of over-work, and pointed to a great heap of papers on his table on which his decision was required. The ambassador, glancing his eye at the papers, observed that the first of them consisted of proposed regulations for a café chantant in Pera.

« PreviousContinue »