A DISAPPEARING SULTAN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 487, 21 April 1909, Page 7

A DISAPPEARING SULTAN.

ABDICATION PREPARING. THIRD ARMY CORPS AT THE GATES OF IHE CAPITAL RESHAD TO SUCCEED.

THE MEN FROM SALONIKA. .. CLOSING IN ON CONSTANTINOPLE. (in TEI.KUUirU—I'UKSa ISSOCUTIHN — CUI'YICI'iIIT.I. London, April 19. , . It is reported that the advance.guard of the troops from Salonika, marching on tho capital under tho orders of tho reconstituted Young . Turk Committee, has reached Kut-chuk-Tchokmedjo, on. tho Soa of Marmora, 10 miles west by south of Constantinople. It is said that the advance guard\ numbers 680.

' Another, report states that the Committee's advanco guard numbers 3000, and that it has reached San Stefano (a holiday resort of >tho capital, situated only seven miles away, on the Sea of Marmora). Tho Salonika battalions were able to slip through/ the - fortifications, , and to reach Spartalceni and - Kutchuk-Tchekmedjo, because of tho absence of the Hademkani artillerists,; who loft their gims in order to visit tho capital; to sec' if the Sultan was alive, and the .Constitution maintained. As reported yesterday, the art-illorißts: returned by train to Hademkani, after listening to a reassuring spoech by the Acting-President of tho Council of Stato. In the meantime the men from-Salonika had passed the guns. Young Turk Committee's Attitude. ■ The Young ,Turk- Committee at Salonika is,pursuing firm and moderate plans. It is anxious, to avoidi civil war and to prevent foreign, intervention..' : '■

: Husni Pasha, .commander of tho Salonika troops, has telegraphed to tho Foreign Embassies that his. soldiers are marching' to. Constantinople with the - dosiro to definitely re-establish; tho'Constitutidn and to punish the 'authors-of bloodshed and disorder. .The lives, and property of foreigners will bo safeguarded, - • ' -

Mombers of the Constantinople Committee of Union .; and; Progres^.' (recently '.reported as dissolved) explain that tho fall in Fobruary. last of tho first Grand -Vizier, Kiamil

a thousand persons were killed at Adana, including seven hundred Armenians. Fire destroyed half tho : town/ The situation .is now, better. .. .• ■ ■ At Tarsus affairs aro still critical. Twenty persons were killed; at Marash (about:,l2o' miles north-east: of Adana),; where there-is an important American mission. THE CAPITAL'S CARRISON. •, PALLING BACK. INSTRUCTED TO AVOID COLLISION. (Rec. April 21, 1.5 a.m.) . Constantinople, April 20. ' Widespread rumours of tho deposition, of tho Sultan Abdul Hamid caused great excitement in Constantinople, with an' ultimate feeling of relief in view of tho' apparent inovitablcness of that event. A' force of 36,000 men, .with a large contingent of artillery, is concentrated, at Hademkani, and hold tlio railway lino from Aansto Famoto Dandpadho Barracks. > Tho outposts of tho Constantinople .garrison aro falling back on the capital or are surrendering..'; Mahmud Shevket Pasha, commands the I Third 'Army' Corps, and directs the opera-, i tions of the' advancing troops. Naziui i Pasha has ordered tho First ' Army Corps I (tho Constantinople troops) to avoid a colI lision with tho advancing forces unless attacked. . ' ' - Somo of the Macedonians with tho Third Army : Corps: insist on the Sultan's abdication ais preliminary, to any negotiations with Nazim and the Government. Speaking in the Chamber, the Grand Vizier (Tcwfik Pasha) explained that he had assumed office in order to savo tho country and tho Constitution,, which, everybody believed jto have, been endangered by recent events. ' . ■ .'

; - The> • Chamber unanimously, postponed discussion on TewfikV: programme,'-

Pasha,'was due to his subservience .to his son, Said Pasha, who was a Palace favourite under the old reginifc., -Tlio .mombers empha- ! siso the contention that tho outbreaks in Asia .Minor .aro tho result -of tho overthrow of tho authority of the Committee ,of Union and progress. ..- 1 Several . thousand of the forces controlled by tho Young Turk Committee, including the contingent/ also twenty-four Maxims and field batteries, aro at Spartakeni. With them are a thousand men from Kemikjia, under the command of General Sandansky. . .

The: army in Macedonia demands guaranr tees for tho maintenance of the Constitution. Many telegrams from tho provinces; including Anatolia,' have been read in the Chamber protesting against an anti-Constitutional Cabinet; . ' '"' - ." Router's agent 'states ..that the .Young Turk. Committee has. telegraphed to. the Sultan upbraiding him with tho violation of his oath to maintain the Constitution. Attack on Llboral Union. ' Envor Boy, one of the Young Turk Committee's-, leaders, who was a leader in tho original resolution last July under the Com- , mitteo of Union and. Progress, declares that , the Liberal Union at Constantinople must 1 bo coiirt-martiallcd. " Other loaders of tho Committee's forces, „ interviewed ;at Salonika, threaten a military dictatorshipVuntil tho country . is tranquil. Stamboul/. they i say, will be swept of tho fanatical element at any cost. ' : ■ "The 'Times", states, that the upper and t educated Mohammedan clergy - joined the i Liberal Union for the preservation, of order and tho restoration - of the Constantinople! garrison,'which had become repentant. Tho j : Liberal Union separated from tho reactiou- |, aries owing to tho brutality of, tho latter - in killing sixteen !. officers; : The Sultan and his Ministry are said' to , bo. almost panic-stricken. I Tho Vienna newspilper "Nouo Wiener . Tageblatt" publishes a ;report that the Suli tail is in negotiation with the Liberal Comj mitteo in regard to his abdication. The re- . port, however, is unconfirmed. ' , - ': The reported murder of Izzet Fuad Pasha, 5 Minister of War, is donied by; tho "Daily Telegraph." Mustafa Effendi, deputy for Aleppo, has -been appointed President of the Chamber, ■ In conneotion with tho anti-Armenian and '' anti-Christian outrages in Asia Minor, oyer

Tho Sultan :'s prostrated and expressed a desiro to abdicate:;. :A. proclamation announcing the change on . the throne is being drafted in tho presence of Prince Mehemmcd-Rcshad, the heir presumptive.'- ■ : ' 1 , THE HEIR PRESUMPTIVE. Mehenimed-Reshad Effendi, Abdul Hamid's brother, is the-rightful heir to the thine of Turkey in accordance with the. tradition, dating back as far as 1017, that the eldest member of the Imperial family shall always occupy the throne. That is to say, the Sultan is .succeeded by his eldest son only in case there-is no uncle nor cousin of greater age. Reshad EfTtndi was born in XBM, and the Sultan's eldestson (Jlehemmecl-Selim Effendi) was born in 1870. Besido Ileshtul EfEeadi, the Sultan has two other brothers both older than his eldest sol. The question pf the Turkish succession has 'been a very important one in European diplomaoy. It has long been said that ho favoured the Constitution, and for that reason .was a favourite with the young Turks; For the same reason ha jvas for years under the ban of tho Sultan Abdul Ilamid. " . < ABDiCTION CONFIRMED. THE NEW, RULER GUIDABLE AND JUST. ' OFFICERS' BITTERNESS. : (Rec. April 21, 1.25 a.m.) ' London, April 20. ' The Vienna correspondent of "The Times" confirms the report, that the Sultan is abdicating in favour of Reshad, This is generally expected, to be the natural epilogue to the failure of Tuesday's coup against the Young; Turk Comihitte'e, who are not expected to allow Abdul Hamid a- further opportunity of undermining their position. Therq now appears an element, of bitterness in the minds of members of tho Committee which was absent from the peaceable revolution in July last. Many of tho officers now at the gates of Constantinople will he eager to avenge the blood of their murdered comrades. ' An official telegram mentions a report from military sources that 220 Young Turk officers, including all tho officers of one cavalry regiment,- wero murdered'last woek by their men. Reshad is described as just, temperate, and inexperienced,, but honest, and susceptible of guidance. St. Petersburg, April 20. Opinion in Russia is entirely, favourable to tho constitutional cause in Turkey. • ' Sofia, April £o. . The Turko-Bulgarian Protocol, settling tho question of independence and. of matter»m dispute,lw boen. signed. J..