A REFORMED SULTAN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 396, 4 January 1909, Page 5

A REFORMED SULTAN.

' BANQtETS HIS DEPUTIES. ABDUL CONSTITUTIONAL RULER. ;' TE(f N3SW PARLIAMENT. ! (Br TELEOBAPH— PBDSS ASSOCIATION—CorYIUOIIT,) • Constantinople, January.l. ' The' Sultan'-BCiVt 120 ' carriages to bring members of .I'arliwnont to'-a.banquet at the palaco. >.:' .. . ■ ■ ■ ■ ■'-.-' His MwWy.-.ooßiTeracd with the deputies with the greatest intimacy. '■'■. THE TWO 1 ABDUL-HAMIDS. Tf- is hard to'reconcile tho two Abdufc day h« hobnobswith h.s deputies; but what /'Happened Hurt? years ago when the' Midhat Constitution (now revived) was young?'An account of those times makes strange reading.// According to one writer, his (the Jnltan's) predecessors, .Abd-ul-Aziz and Abd-uLMedjid, had only enjoyed -the shadow p{ powers the aotnal government of the cquutrAid. been in ■ the hands of vuws and minisewi amolg whom ,Midhat. Pasha.and Fuad Pasha were ■ the: most prominent at the time nf w«■■nnoeMidu. , ' •He resolved to free himself toW&fl' mnto;MmKlf absMute. For a time he played with the ministers who had nut him on. fte throne, even going to the lenttl of Womulgating a Constitution drawn up by Midhat Pasha. But he got rid of them one filled the offices of State with of his own. Hidlmt Pasha, whom he fowodthb roost, was, after some yearsi of fancied security, exiled-to Arabia and thevo murdered: The Porte, the responsible Government of the eonatry.became a.mere machine for carrying ! ou.t the Imperial ,will, The Sultan's pa 6 siqn for'undivided power went so far asbW him' intolerant of any influence which, an however, elisW a degree, might im.. pose a oheok on his arbitrary rule. The possession of popularity, of oharaoter, or of ability, at once rendered, a» official suspect. ■ A reputation: for' liberal .opinions was fatal.,, -, But an older-in foot, aged-Sultan, with the bayonets of 300,000 idtaatisfieel soldierj-turned against him, 'has .recalled the Constitution XoU brought■■:to:its original, author onto: Milnnnd death -Mundii Bey, the new Turkish United gates, has no fear that the 'pendulum will -im Wγ >|j recent artMe, he. .wrote: .?Wiat could the Sult£n have done? Albania bad a beady revolted, Aniitb'lia was in disturbance, the Kurds L Dersinv-nggressive and general discontent growing, so he, was' compelled to yield. Said Pasha and-KaroilPaeha, the liberals of olcen timee, were/oalled from their seolusion to the Yildiz Kiosk B nd upon; their advice the, con ititutiou was proclaimed on July 24, the day ■ whioU we will celebrate as the day .of. Otto,; man independence; -Now, since the> coMtlta- . tion is a foct, it.'is not possible that will gobnck on.hi? word, no.matter how reWctanthe'may be. Hip life 13 in danger tie moment he turns his back qn the Young Ottomans This Constitutioa means a.great.deal to ail Ottomans, without discrimination on aooount:of;race;.or:roligioii. It means the.freedom of the press, safety of life and property, freedom of icpmmerce.-equality.of all. before the law.' It means union, brotherhood and prowess: in fine.'it is the peaoe so long cherished, which.will. open ,, jhe- path of civilisation, :