THE SULTANA OF TURKEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XV, Issue 5173, 15 June 1878, Page 6

THE SULTANA OF TURKEY.

The present Sultan of Turkey has but one wife, a Belgian by birth, named Flora Cordier, the daughter of a laborer residing at Bracquegnies. while her brother works in a Charleroi colliery. An address of congratulation was recently forwarded the Sultana by her family and former neighbours. It is also stated that the Sultana was once engaged at the establishment of Maie. Elise, the wellknown fashionable modkte of London. A good trait of Abdul Hainid is his kindness to Shefket Effendi and his two little sisters. These are the last children of Abdul-Aziz, whose mother died three years ago, and who were swept away from the palace with the rest of the contents of the fallen monarch's harem when Murad was placed on the throne. The Sultan has found them out, has brought them back to the palace, and is having his little cousins brought up with his own children, of whom he has three.

THE DEFENDER OF PLEVNA. Constantinople has only one military hero—the heroic defender of Plevna. When he returned to the city on March 27th, the Saltan received him with tears in his eyes, kissing him several times, and saying, " You have shed a lustre over th» Ottoman arms ; you have raised our already high military honour and glory in the eyes of the world. I swore before God that I would do you high honour the day I should see you. I will perform that oath to day, my gaUaut hero." The Sultan conferred on him the Order of the Osmanli, first class, with star and brilliants, presenting hi mat the same time with an ancient sword which had belonged to Sultan Hamid I. The words "To the Ghazi" were engraved on the sabre, and his Majesty remarked that the precious sword belonged by right to the defender of Plevna. As soon as Osman left the Palace, the crowd, as a correspondent of the London Globe describes the scene, threw itself upon his carriage, with shoats of " Long life to the Ghazi." The enthusiasm at this moment was intense. Old men, who were not strong enough to fight their way to the carriage, implored ** Allah" to bless the man who had saved their national honour. Women lifted their children in their arms to look upon their country's saviour. Curiously enough, in the same building where Osman was receiving an ovation, there lay as prisoner his colleague Sulieman.