THE PERILS OF SULTANSHIP.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13750, 12 September 1908, Page 5

THE PERILS OF SULTANSHIP.

The "attempt to kill the Sultan as he was leaving his mosque" evidently refers to the throwing of a bomb on July 21, 1905, which killed 24 persons anc[ wounded 57. The Sultan was standing at the time on the steps of tlw mosque, which he had constructed w/rthin the enclosure of the Yildiz Kiosk grounds, so that lie may go on Fridays to the weekly prayer, or Selamlik, with greater safety than in the days when he crossed the Golden Horn to the mosque at the Old Seraglio. Notwithstanding precautions, tho bomb-throwers of 1905 got within the grounds of Yildiz Kiosk and to the stops of the little mosque, called "Hamicly**h Mosque" after the Sultan. The bomb fell short of Abdul Ham id, but destroyed enough of human life to make Constantinople a somewhat risky place of abode for a conspirator, even under a constitutional regime. Karly in August it was reported that a minor official had attempted to stab the Sultan in Yildiz Kiosk, but that Abdul rlamid's coat of mail deflected the blow. According to the Daily Mail, personal fear played a large part in the Sultan's recent submission to constitutionalism. ".Reports poured in of the spread of the rebellion, and of the intended advance of the mutinous troops upon the capital. At the same, time I telegrams and petitions from all parts of the Empire demanding reforms were continually arriving / at the palace. Thoroughly alarmed, his Majesty called a Council of Ministers. All night they deliberated, the Sultan obstinate, the Ministers urging him to save his throne and his life by yielding. So great was the strain that his Majesty fainted before the Council. Recovering, he consented to proclaim the Constitution of 1876 and to abolish the censorship of the press aud the secret police system. A transformation scene followed.*'