TREASURY OF THE SULTAN

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 19, 22 January 1921, Page 7

TREASURY OF THE SULTAN

IA STOREHOUSE OP VALUABLES

INTERESTING OBJECTS IN CONSTANTINOPLE.

John P. Young writes in the San Francisco Chronicle; —

Nothipg is better calculated to shake confidence in. popular beliefs than an investigation of the- assumption that tjip East is incredibly wealthy. It' scarcely demands an inquiry on the spot to satisfy economists that ..Turkey is not rich in the same of making use of its vast resources, hut th6se \yho form their opinions after reading, about. Oriental treasures without, asking themselves what realiy constitutes wealth, are very apt to bo misled into thinking that Constatinople must be the home,of luxury. It is nof extraordinary that we should think of the countries where some of our' most admired articles of luxury originate as lands steeped in riches. It is. natural to suppose that the people who ■Cvoiive the beautiful rugs upon which we dote have an abundance of them for their own use, but such-' a supposition ignores the possibility that-the admired thing does not represent a, surplus pro? duct, but is produced to prpcuro the . necessaries of life. J4ke thp wheats growers of Southern Russia, who .export great quantities of that cereal and eat black bread, the fashioners of the beaur tifiil carpete of the Orient ship them to others and live oiv bare floors, often onthe stamped earth, innopent of. all coyer-, ing except the daily accumulations of dirt. ...

The romance in which harems and odalisqu.es figure conveys the impression that Turkish homes, ai-e luxurious affairs. Doubtless there are some such. There are palates where rugs of fabulous value are heaped up to form. couches Mr indolent beauties, who weir flashing gems worth a; prince's ransom, but a moderate familiarity, with modem conditions will warn any one a-gaiust basing an estimate of wealth on. $ucU things. It is not. uncommon, for a man practically bankrupt to possess valua-We -'articles. In such pases jewels, rich rugs, end eimilar. Juxuries are the symbols of wealth without having the wealth back of them. 1 -,''/ THE TREASURE-HOUSE. The-most .striking illustration. o£ th& truth of tliis observation is furnished by. what is known as the treasure-t)ouse of Turkey, which contains ' heaps of precious-gems, gold plate, and valuabia articles of all kinds, while its nominal owner is a- beggar in the, mcftiey markets of Europe. ■ ». . , This treasure-house is now a pelect museum, the exhibits of which-may only be seen by consent of the Ppi'te, Wld far a consideration. This latter is not in the nature of a fee; it professes to be a niero reimbursement of. the caretakers for the trouble Ho which they are put in uncovering the cases in which the ! valuables are kept and for watching the visitors who are permitted to examine i them. ■. t

Ido not know bow much.is exacted for the privilege.of inspecting the extra, ordinary collection, for the .passengers of the "Augusta Victoria were indebted to the considerate attention of Minister. Leishman, who made all the- > neqessary arrancem«nta and relieved us p<f tiie.vu]gar necessity of going down irt our pockets, not to speak of the trouble, saved us by iis kindness. ''We were 100 big a party to enter the museum in a bunch, and were accordingly told off into squr,ds. This arrangement meant an allotted time, for each group, and the amount was so limited that handling was out of the question, ■inspecting a museum is usually a perfunctory performance! even ■ when the visitor has an unlimited amount of time at his command. A sight oi the Sultan's treasure-house is even less than perfunctory and leaves nothing but a confused impression o"f useles riches piled up in a place where they do pot even serve the purpose of ministering to the love of the beautiful.

The treasury house is a very ordinary' building, situated in an enclosure, entered through «' 4 rather . stately portal, which, howevei*, is destitute of architectural beauty. Within the walls is what appeared to be a parade ground; at least it had all the unlovely characteristica of the places where troops are putJ through their manoeuvres. Near the gate was a. range of lean-tos, whose roofs furnishedi a- grateful shade, although il> was a, March day, and had been snowing a couple of days before our visit. When our turn came we prepared to exhibit uur credentials, but once again we were disappointed, with the result that the impression wo had formed that passports and such things are merely devices to extract fees, and that they are, not used, after you get them, was indelibly confirmed, We had been told that every precaution, would be taken, to pre^ vent any depredations upon the Sultan's treasures, but the Minister's voucher eyi^ dently satisfied the Turkish officials that there was no one in our crowd who would make a raid on the jewels and other valuable objects.

Perhaps I oven-state tile degree of confidence reposed in us. The presence of an undue number of attendants suggests that there was no disposition, to allow things to lie around loose. At nearly every case and on ©very, gallery these attendants were stationed,, and. their morose countenance suggested that they had their opinion of us, and that it did not harmonise with that of th« Sultaji. ' The rooms of the museums are small and the cases are large, and there is not much space left for sightseers, who, when they visit. it> in force, ar« compelled to circulate jn an qrd«rly. manner. This^ militates against leisure study, for men's interests in objects such as are, here housed vary greatly, and the person who is in the lead sets the pace for the rest. . . .

I am not stating this fact with a. view of presenting' it as a grievance, for we really had all the time we needed to inspect the eolleption, and vlain quite certain that if .the length of our visit hadibeen extended by hours we should have no better impression of it than was, derived during the hour or so spent in its examination. - DIPLOMACY AND PRESENTS. . Much has been written of _thisjextras ordinary , collection, which '■' represents •■several centuries of accumulation of gifts/ The practice of backing up a diplomatic effort with a- costly present ha<3 9. great vogue at one time, and the, Turkish rulers were larger beneficiaries from it than those of any other country^, perhaps because their truculent course had in;' spired Europe, with > fear which prompted the Christian kings to make propi^ tiatory offerings. . '. '"'.'' We can afford to be lenient in our judgments .of. men. wljo sought to avert the' wra-th of a, cpriqiierpr by presents,' but it takes a great' deal of philosophy to enable one to' complacently consider the estimates niajjo by historians of men who, while professing to be defenders of the Christian fap, sought tp induce the Mohammedan to join : forces with them against ' fellow Christians.' There are some reminders of statesmanship.' of that kind in the Sultan's treasury, and''wKen their mesnins' is fully .ipprebemjed it 'is not difficult to accept the consoling-ret flection that modern methods are not much worse thar those of the age in which muoh .was made o| deration to i

religion, and when the, pJißuest boast of kings was that they were defenders of the faith.

There are several presents in the collection from Louis XIV. of France, who wjm. given to intrigue with the Mohammedan, and whp hoped by his aid to bring brother Christian kings to terms. I do not recall what they are, and it is not worth whilo digging in a guidebook to ascertain; all that I remember about them is that they seemed designed to impress by their barbaric and cpstly magnificence, and that the art consideration was not the uppermost one in the mind of the designer or donor.'

A TAWDRST APPEARANCE. Indeed the wh.ple collection presents a tawdry appearance. There is no reason to doubt the genuineness of the begemmed stuff with which the cases are filled, or that the plate is what it pretends to be; but a sword encrusted with emeralds or diamonds, or the caparisons of horses literally covered with rubies and pearls, when neglected, do not make as brave a showing as. well T cared-for paste. I have seen more than one display window filled witli the mock jewellery "worn by 'make-believe kings which presented a far more attractive appearance than the Turkish assortment so carefully preserved in Constantinople. I say there is no reason to suspect that the gems aa>e anything else than what they purport tq be,.because if the temptation to substitute paste for the real thing had been yielded to, the imposition would have been exposed. Substitutions of this character could -not be effected without letting several persons into the Secret, apd that must inayitably have resulted in leaks. As there are no scandals of that kind, it is, reasonable to assume that\ the precious stones which are seen here in such lavish quantity are immensely valuable, and that the" Sultan of Turkey, if he wished to rig himself out in the regalia- at his command, could make $n appearance almost as magnificent as ft stage emperor or king—that j s , ho could if. he would have the stuff cleaned.

RELICS Of A BARBAROUS TASTE.

Unquestionably.the cliiesf attraction of the. museum is these relics of a barbarous taste! . They appeal to/the imagination in a far more-forcible"to^tiner than the more artistic a^rticjes, of which there are many. Our minds are so saturated ..with the romances of the Crusading, period, and of the Middle Ages generally, that it is not difficult to conjure up pictures _of pranoinjf steeds, with their glittering coverings, bestrode by men with jewelled scimitars and encased in dazzling armour. Or we.can fill the places at the board spread with the massive gold plate, the jewelled chalices, and the gorgeous epergnes, and thus make almost material what in the nature of things must seem like a figment of the imagination until we ha-ye evidence of tho kind whig!} this singular display presents. It is not only in ' tho overloaded swortjs', and. caparisons, in tho jewelled tunics and scarfs, and the ponderous plate, that we find testimony to the' ' prevalence of the belief that the Turkish Sultans could best ha reached through their loye of barbarous magnificence. It is also witnessed in the extraordinary number of clocks of cunning contrivance, astronomic?.!, musical,, and chiming. They proclaim unmistakably the existence of an opinion that the leader of the faithful could be charmed by a toy, and that a sure wa-y to get into his good graces was to minister to. his loye of the curipua, . ' .

While the barbarous,and the meritor-' ipus articles of the collection are the most impressive, it cannot be denied that there are many really beautiful things which, however, would Ihave to be, detached from their present surroundings to be appreciated. ■ There, are specimens of porcelain calculated to excite t the ■envy of ceramip admirers who usually desire what they see, ans some of the pieces are rivals of the best .in the museums of Europe. ' .;