THRONE OF TURKEY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13939, 21 April 1909, Page 2

THRONE OF TURKEY.

SULTAN ABDICATES liV FAVOUR

OF HIS BKOTHEK

30,000 TROOPS AT HADCMKOI

By Electric Telegraph. — Copyright. CONSTANTINOPLE, April 20. Widespread tumours of the deposition oi»tlio Sultan caused great excitement in Constantinople, and an ultimate feeZmy; of relief m vi«\v of its apparent mevitableuess. 'i he Sultan is prostrated. He expiessi'd his desire to abdicate, and the proclamation announcing the change ot the throne was diafted in the presence oi' his brothor. Prince Mehommed Reshad Effendi, the heir presumptive. Ihirty thousand troops, with a large contingent of artillery, are concentrated at Hademkoi, and hold tho line from Aan&to Famo to the Dandpadhe barracks. The outposts are falling back on Constantinople, or surrendering Mahmud Shevket Pasha commands the Third Army Corps and directs oporations. Nazim Pasha, assistant Minister for War, ordered tbe First Army Corps to in oid collision with the advancing force, unless attacked. Some Macedonians insist on the Sul* tan's abdicati >v as preliminary to negotiation-, with Nassi-n Pasha and the Government. Towfik Pasha, in the Chamber, explained that he had assumed office as Grand Vizier in order to save the conntry and constitution, which everybody believed to be endangered by recent events. The Chamber unanimously postponed discussion of his programme.

f According to Hazell's Abd-ul-tfamid 11., the Sultan of Turkey, was born in 1842, and next September w ill be 67 years of age. He was proclaimed Sultan in succession to his brother, Murad V., who was deposed in consequence of his mental incapacity on August 31, 1876. Tbe succession to the throne, according to Turkish custom, vests in the senior male descendant of the house of Othman, sprung from the Imperial Harem. The Sultan does not innrry, Hut from the inmates of the Harem, selects a certain number who are known as Ladies of the Palace, the others occupying positions subordinate to them. The eldest son of the Sultan only succeeds when there are no uncles or cousins of greater age than himself. The Sultan has several children, the eldest being Selim-Effendi, born 1870. His brothers are the heirpresumptive Roshed, who was born in , 1844, and is thus 65 years of age. Suleiman, born in 1860, and Wahid-Uddm. born in 1881. The Sultan's Civil List is estimated at from €1,000,000 to £2,000.000. Under the rule of Abd-ul-Ha-mid the Ottoman Empire has been dismembered of some of its fairest regions. The Berlin Treaty, concluded after the disastrous war with Russia in '78. practically deprived the Sultan of Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Herzegovina in Europe, and of Ardahan, Kars, and Batoum in Asia.]