AFFAIRS IN TURKEY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5545, 24 November 1879, Page 3

AFFAIRS IN TURKEY.

Tho late war with Russia has apparently not diminished the gross luxury of the Sultan and his Sultanas in Constantinople. Then- extravagance is as notorious as ever, their harems being crowded with slaves. The Constantinople correspondent of tho Cologne Gazette draws a sad picture of the present state of affairs in the Turkish War Office. He says, writing on the 25th August, that the square in front of the Seraskierate and its corridors and halls are filled from early morning with women and children, mostly the widows and wives of officers and soldiers, who cry for bread and arrears of pay and pensions, and heap curses on the Sultan and his Minister, Osman Pasha. The soldiers on guard do not interfere, since they also are incensed against the Government, and are only prevented by a sense of discipline from loudly expressing their dissatisfaction. The officials in the Ministry pay no attention to the clamour around them, and when they are addressed they invariably answer : " What can we do 1 We have nothing ourselves ! You must apply to the Minister." At length Osman Pasha's gilded carriage appears at the entrance of the Seraskierate. Crowds of women instantly surround it, and epithets quite the reverse of complimentary are hurled at the " Lion of Plevna." "Dog, villain, thief," they exclaim, " we die of hunger, and you build palaces. Give us bread ! Those who supported us have died for their country, and you leave us to die of hunger." The coachman then descends from his box and leads the horses with difficulty through the raging crowd. Stones are thrown at the carriage, and in the midst of curses and reproaches the Pasha, without looking to the right or to the left, goes quietly into his room. Such is the scene, asserts the correspondent, which harf been repeated daily since the beginning of the Bamazan.