fate of all its heirs, and not allowed to this, told me that he could not get his mix in affairs of state till he came to the steam-launch repaired in the Turkish throne, it is extraordinary that he has dockyard, at his own expense, without the acquired such skill as he has, and should matter going before the sultan for his be so completely master of his people. approval. Another ex-ambassador said He must be a man of great natural capac- that in an interview at the palace the ity and intelligence; very skilful in play- sultan complained of over- work, and ing off one set of people against another, pointed to a great heap of papers on his whether they be ambassadors or his own table on which his decision was required. ministers; a very hard worker in the de- The ambassador, glancing his eye at the tails of his government. By dint of these papers, observed that the first of them qualities he has achieved a power over consisted of proposed regulations for a every one and everything in his empire café chantant in Pera. It naturally folsuch as very few of his predecessors in lows that, the sultan being overwhelmed modern times have enjoyed. Most hos- with such petty details, important quespitable and courteous to foreigners tions get shelved and intermediate delays whether royal persons, whom he enter- occur, fatal to the administration and to tains with lavish splendor, ambassadors, the improvement of the country. The or passing strangers- and frequently receiving ladies at dinner, he has broken down the old barriers between his court and the outward world more than any sultan before him. He appears to be sim ple and unostentatious in his personal anxious to be held in esteem in western babits, without religious fanaticism, and Europe.

These qualities, however, must not deter one from recognizing other defects, which, it is to be feared, nullify many of his good intentions and preclude the successful administration of the empire. It is universally imputed to him that he has one of the gravest defects which an arbitrary ruler can have, namely, that of trusting no one, of being suspicious and showing his suspicion of all who come near him, whether his ministers, or the people about the palace, or the representatives of foreign powers; that he is in constant fear of plots against his life and government; and that he allows these fears to be played upon by designing persons. It is said of him that if two people advise him in the same direction he begins to suspect a combination and to fear a plot; that he bears with alarm of even a meeting and conversation between two of his ministers, and demands an explanation; that he discourages or forbids any large gathering of Turks, even to celebrate such family events as marriages.

Another main defect of his administration, arising largely out of that already alluded to, is that he insists upon doing everything himself, and will trust no one of his ministers with responsibility and power. 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

ministers are reduced to the position of mere clerks, without responsibility or sense of power, feeling that they are not trusted, and the more anxious therefore to shirk any difficulty. The sultan may fancy that he decides on every question that comes before him free from influence; but influences are necessarily brought to bear upon him in a hundred indirect ways. He must be dependent for his facts upon some one, however much he may distrust every one. The entourage of the palace, the favorite aide-de-camp for the time being, the chief of the eunuchs (always an important person in the sultan's court), the ladies of the harem, the astrologers, some fanatics who have obtained access to him, may all have their turn in influencing the supreme head of the State.

The sultan is also said to employ an army of spies, who make known to him everything that takes place in Constantinople, and much more, probably, that does not take place. His ministers abroad are sometimes watched by spies. These people have access to his person, and are believed to supply him with pretended or got-up plots against his person at critical moments when decisions on important points are requisite, and when it is desired to deter him from some course he appears bent on. It is certain, then, that chance must have more to do with the decisions arrived at than any other factor.

The sultan is known to keep an attentive eye to everything that appears in print about himself in any part of Europe; there is an officer whose special duty it is to collect these notices and to bring them before him. He often attributes to obscure prints an importance far beyond their desert, and cannot believe, when attacks are made on him, that the government of the country in which they appear,

change of air, and to drive about the country. On her departure he is reported to have said, "What harm have I done that this woman should desire my death? Why does she advise me to run into such dangers?"

It has already been said that the sultan's income is enormous; besides half a million of English pounds from the State taxes he is said to draw two or three times as much from the crown property. He owns a very large number of palaces on the Bosphorus, and a great proportion of the best kiosks and villas on its northern banks, which he grants during his pleas ure to ministers and favorites, or to persons who have married members of his family. He is, in fact, the sole fountain

is not responsible for them. He was greatly annoyed by a recent article in this review on the death of his uncle, Abdul Assiz, written by Sir Henry Elliot, formerly ambassador at his court, in which it was sought to prove that Abdul Assiz really committed suicide, and that the subsequent judicial proceedings were for the purpose of making away with Midhat and other pashas. The sultan communicated with the present British ambassador on the subject of this article, and asked whether he had read it; when the ambassador replied in the negative, the sultan again sent word, specially desiring him to read the article and to say what he thought of it. Later he again reverted to the subject; he said that he had known several British ambassadors during his reign; of honor, wealth, and distinction in his that there had been two of them with whom he had had exceptionally friendly relations, and whom he believed to be his personal friends; that one of them, Sir Henry Layard, on his recall, had written a despatch reflecting, in the severest terms, on his the sultan's conduct, and the other, Sir Henry Elliot, had now written an article containing a most serious accusation against him. He desired to be informed "whether these are the ways of British ambassadors." It will be admitted the question was one which could be answered with difficulty.

The sultan is equally well informed of the political views of all foreigners who come to see him. He is said to have drawn out an eminent British statesman, once a leader of the Radical party, as to what he considered the danger of Home Rule for the Irish, and on the reply that it would not stop there, and would lead to the independence of Ireland, fatal to the empire, the sultan said that was precisely the reason why he could not give autonomy to Macedonia. When asked why he was so civil to some foreigner of distinction, he replied that there was a line in the Koran which said, "Be charitable to your friends, and be friendly to your enemies."

The sultan very rarely or never leaves the grounds of Yildiz Kiosk, except to go once a week to a mosque just outside, when the very striking ceremony known as the Selamlick takes place; once a year, also, he pays a visit to Stamboul, but the route there and returning is never known in advance. He is in constant fear of assassination. Some grand duchess whom he received at his court, on his complaining that his health was indifferent, ad vised him to take more exercise and

He

country; every Turk depends on him for
position and fortune; his expenditure is
enormous; his charities are said to be
very great; his gifts and benevolences are
equally so; he complains that no one ever
comes near him who does not want some-
thing; it is said that three thousand per-
sons are fed daily in his palace, and that
he sends out dinners to a vast number of
others by way of charity. Of his private
life in the harem little is known. His
official life is one of incessant labor.
is the first ruler of Turkey who has shown
interest in art. For the first time the in-
teresting contents of his treasury have
been arranged, and, under special permits,
are open to inspection. He has also es-
tablished 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 preserva-
tion. This alone makes the fortune of the
museum, and must attract every sculptor
in Europe. He has formed a school of
art, at which are students both Moslem
and Greek. A technical college and sev-
eral industrial schools have recently been
established at the capital and elsewhere.

It is also greatly to the credit of the sultan that he has established and maintained several girls' schools at Constantinople and other towns - an innovation of the utmost importance. Apart from this there is improvement in the status of women at the capital. The number of cases of po

dred in number, and they will not leave again till reduced to that number. The navy, on the other hand, has been completely neglected-it is believed by many that the sultan has a prejudice against it, arising from the fact that it took an active part in the deposition of Abdul Assiz. The ironclads were then moored in front of the palace, and were ready to fire into it if there had been need. Whether this be the cause, or whether it be from want of means only, the navy has been neg

lygamy are comparatively rare. Monog-
amy is the rule, partly, it is said, because
there are very few Turks rich enough to
afford the separate establishments they
are obliged by law to keep for several
wives, and partly because the women will
not submit to the old system. They have
become acquainted with the condition of
women in western Europe, largely, it is
said, through French novels; and if the
morality of these books is of a low order,
at least it is based on equality of the two
sexes. Probably the best hope for Turkey|lected to a point where it can scarcely be
is that the rising generation of men may
be brought up by educated mothers and
not under the debasing influences which
in the past have too often surrounded
them.

said to exist. The ironclads, most of which are now completely obsolete, have not left the Golden Horn for twelve years. When the Greeks receive from the contractors in France the three ironclads nearly completed, they will be masters of the gean Sea; the Turks will have nothing fit to cope with them - the Greek government, if left to itself, will be able to prohibit the landing of troops in Crete. It will depend on England and the great powers whether another Turkish army will land there.

The sultan is said to be most strict in fulfilling the obligations of his Civil List. It is also due to him that eight years ago the Porte came to terms with its external creditors and hypothecated to an international commission revenues amounting to two millions of pounds a year for payment of a greatly reduced interest, and for a gradual redemption of the debt. The commission has worked well and smoothly. It collects the revenues as signed to it, mainly through Turkish officials, with regularity, and for eight years faith has been kept. As a result confidence is being restored, and in recent transactions conversions have been effected on comparatively easy terms; fresh revenues have been assigned to the commission in trust for them; and the money market shows that, subject to this hypothecation of revenues to an international commission, the Turkish government can borrow money at little over five per cent. The commission has also proved that if Turkish officials are well and punctually paid they can be relied on for efficient and honest service. It would seem that this commission may be the germ of some-bassadors. thing in the nature of an international administration, and may point the way to a solution of the Egyptian difficulty.

It has already been pointed out that the sultan has shown great skill in playing off one foreign power against another. In the last instance it is the power which threatens, the one who is most feared at the time, which wins in the diplomatic game with the Porte, and obtains acquiescence to its demands. There is no doubt that Russia is at the moment the most powerful, for it is better able to threaten, and can also press its claims for payment of the indemnity which was imposed as a condition of peace in 1877. In ordinary times the Germans, supported by Austria, have the most influence; and it can scarcely be denied that the influence of England has for years past since, in fact, the cession of Cyprus-been very small in spite of a succession of able am

The sultan affects to be more concerned about the occupation of Egypt by English troops than any other losses of his. It is also generally admitted that the Shrewd men, however, who have had condition of the army, or of such part of means of sounding him, say that his conit as is concentrated at Constantinople, is cern is rather of a theoretical kind, and greatly improved. German officers have that he finds it a convenient stick to beat been employed for the drill of these men, England with, and the means of stirring and invariably give a good report of the up mischief against her whenever he depersonnel of the troops and of the younger sires to do so, and that in this view he officers. To what extent this improve- would regret the evacuation. Looking ment extends to the provinces is unknown. back at the conduct of our government of But it is certain that the Turks will not late years to Turkey, one can scarcely finally cross the Bosphorus without a good wonder if he fails to take our professions fight for Constantinople. It has been said at our own value, or to believe in our disof them that they first crossed it five hun-interestedness. We failed to support him

in the last war with Russia. The indigna- | resources, but in the interior of the country, among the peasantry, who constitute nine-tenths of the population, and especially among the Turkish peasantry. All accounts of independent witnesses from every quarter of the empire concur that the condition of the peasantry is not only no better but is worse than it was; that they are poorer, and are more heavily taxed; that life and property are no safer than formerly in rural districts; that brigandage, a sure sign of poverty and misgovernment, is increasing in many districts. I select a few out of many testimonies to this effect.

tion meetings in England on the Bulgarian atrocities had much to do with the ultimate liberation of this province. It was not the fear of offending England, but the promises made to Austria before the war, which induced the czar to refrain from ordering his troops to enter Constantinople. The stand made by England at Berlin for the separation of Roumelia from Bulgaria, the boast of Lord Beaconsfield, has proved to be of no value. On the other hand, we took advantage of his weakness to compel him to surrender Cyprus; and we are in practical occupa tion of Egypt. What more could his worst enemy have done?

It is reported that on some occasion the sultan said that "he disliked the English more than any other people, for they never seemed to be interested in his dynasty. Their ambassador was always addressing him on the subject of the condition of his people and never had any. thing to say about his dynasty. It was different with other powers. Even Russia, though very much to be feared in time of war, was at other times most friendly to his rule, and supported him against his internal foes, and never troubled him about his people." The saying has the true ring of personal government, and gives the clue perhaps to much of the sultan's policy. If I have written so much about him, it is because at the present there is no other personality at Constantinople. He dismissed and abolished the representative assembly which in the first year of his reign had been created by Midhat Pasha, the moment it began to make inquiries about the Civil List and to question his policy. Since then he has aimed at preventing any one acquiring influence or reputation, with the result that he fulfils the ideal of an absolute monarch, and has reduced every other aspirer to influence to the level of the common herd. Even the ambassadors hold a totally different position from that which they held under Abdul Medjid.

The main test, however, of the success of such a ruler is whether the people of his country have progressed under him, and whether their material condition is better. There have been twelve years of profound peace since the last Russian war, and it was to be hoped that in this time signs of improvement in the material condition of the people would be observable. The test of such improvement is not to be taken at Constantinople, for which the whole empire is drained of its

The peasant, in the interior, has reduced his wants to their simplest expression, and signs are to hand which show him to be less and less able to purchase the few necessaries he requires. For instance, a few years ago in any decent peasant household copper cooking Now they are utensils were to be seen. scarcely to be found, and they have been sold to meet the pressing needs of the moment. Their place has been taken by clay utensils, and, in the case of the more affluent, by iron. The peasant's chief expenses lie in his womenfolk, who require print stuffs for their dresses and linen for their underclothing; but of these he gets as little as possible, since, as often as not, he cannot pay for them. The smallness of margin is one of the reasons why the amount of importation increases so slowly. chases in cash; what little he has goes in The peasant hardly ever pays for his purtaxes. He effects his purchases by barter. Another significent sign is the increase of brigandage which has taken place. bands of brigands are continually springing up; reports from the interior are ever bringing to our knowledge some fresh acts of violent robbery. This simply means that men desperately poor, and refusing to starve, take to brigandage as a means of living.

New

These

murders and violating the women. Kurds are predatory tribes and traditional robbers, not actuated so much by fanaticism as by desire for plunder, often extending their operations to the Turkish peasantry, but giving their preference to the Armenians, for the reason that they know that they will in such case find immunity from the valis and other Turkish authorities. The beys of these Kurdish tribes, he said, are often men of large means, and are able to bribe the Turkish authorities. My informant reckoned the murders of Armenians in the Van district as averaging one per diem. The Armenians, he added, also complained that no improvements of any kind were made or allowed to be made, and no roads or railthat they were not even allowed

in politics, employed by a society of antiquaries in the United States to make researches for them, and who had spent two years in the provinces of Bagdad and Syria, gave the same account of the general condition of the people. He said that nothing could exceed the hatred of the people for the Turks. The people are Mussulmans by creed, but not of the Turkish race. The true Turks there are merely the governing classes, and are very few in number; they have made themselves execrated by their exactions. He confirmed the statement as to the extension lately of the sultan's property. More than half of the landed property of the province of Bagdad, he said, has passed into his hand; and he has possessed himself of the whole of the valley of the Jor-waysdan. One effect of this was, that the to establish a line of small steamers on province no longer paid its way in the Lake Van. On crossing the Russian fronsense of returning a surplus income to tier into the province annexed by Russia the treasury, as the sultan's lands and after the last war, the contrast, he said, those cultivating it were not subject to was most striking. The Armenians entaxation. joyed there security for life and property. Improvements were being effected by the government in the way of roads, and generally there was every indication of an improving peasantry.

The Armenians in Turkey, this gentleman said, were looking with anxious hope for the intervention on their behalf of England. They have no desire to be subject to Russians, but sooner than endure the present state of things they would welcome their advance. This view was confirmed by a statement made to me in another quarter by an American gentleman who has the means of communicating confidentially with the leading Armenians in the east of Asia Minor. He told me that he was requested a few years ago by an eminent English statesman to inquire confidentially from the Armenians of that district whether they would prefer remaining under Turkish rule or being annexed to Russia. My friend made the inquiry in an influential quarter, and the reply was that "the Armenians would prefer to remain under the Turks if England would hold a big stick over the sultan, but if England would not do this they would prefer Russia, or the devil himself, to the Turk."

Another American gentleman, employed for two years at a college established at Karput, in the centre of Asia Minor, for the education of Armenian teachers, who took no interest in political questions, gave much the same account of the condition of the peasantry in that district. A large majority of the population there is purely Turk, but there are here and there Armenian villages. Extreme poverty prevails among both. The Turks are more to be pitied than the Armenians in this district, as they are subject to conscription, and every year a large proportion of their young men are taken for the army, to be returned, if at all, after five years, greatly deteriorated and worn out by disease and insufficient food. My informant said that in these districts the Turks and the Armenians in ordinary times get on fairly well together, and there are seldom outbreaks of fanaticism on the part of the former, though there is often brigandage. He had recently been in the districts of Van and Erzeroum and had seen much of the condition of the Armenian villages there. In these districts the Armenians are far more numerous, but still not in the majority of the population of any welldefined district or province. Their vil- It is by no means certain that Russia in lages are mixed up with those of Turks, any future advance into Asia Minor would and there is no active hostility to them on find itself strongly opposed even by the the part of the indigenous Turks. The Turkish peasantry, who have only too Kurds, however, from the mountains come many reasons to complain of their pres down and make continual raids on the ent condition. I have been informed that Armenian villages, pillaging their houses, the Russians, with very good policy, made robbing their cattle, often committing a very favorable impression upon the vast