THE
A Weekly Newspaper and Review.
E
D u m VO B IS G R A TU LAM U R , AN IM O S ET IAM ADDIMUS U T IN INCCEPTIS V E STR IS CONSTAN TER M AN EA T IS .
From the Brief of H is Holiness to T h e T a b l e t , Junt 4, 1870.
Vol. 47. No. 1886. L o n d o n , J u n e 3, 1876.
P r ice 5d. B y P o st 5%d.
[R eg iste r ed a t th e G en e r a l P o st O f f i c e a s a N ew spaper
C h ro n ic le o f t h e W e e k :—
Page
Dethronement of the Sultan.— The Management o f the Conspiracy.— Proclamation o f Murad V .— The Destiny of Abdul Aziz.— The New Sultan.— The Action of France.— The Policy of England and of the New Turkish Government.—Attitude of Germany and Russia.— Danger from the Principalities.— Turkey and the Berlin Memorandum.— England and the other Powers.— Preparations of the great Powers.— The Saloniki Trials.— France, Egypt, and the East.— Lord Granville on Conservatives and Liberals.— The County Franchise.— The Basque “ Fueros,” &c., &c. . . . . 705
C O N T
E N T S .
L e a d e r s :
The Revolution at Constanti
Page nople .. .. .. . . 709 The Irish Domesday Book ' .. 709 The Albanians . . . . .. 710 Sketches of the Reformation—
X V ..................................................679
P ictures :
Royal A c a d e m y .........................713 R ev iew s :
The Quarterly Review . . .. 714 1 Physics and Politics . . . . 715| Mr. Gray and his Neighbours . . 716 I S hort N o t ic e :
Memorials of a Quiet Life . . 717^
C o r r e s p o n d e n c e : Mgr. Fessier and the Syllabus .. 717
The “ Saturday Review ” .. 717 Professor Mayor on Catholic
Eschatology .. .. .. 717 “ Our Lord” in the “ Hail Mary” .. ..................... 717 Denominationalism and Dises
tablishment .. .. .. 718 An Appeal .. .. .. .. 718 P a r l ia m e n t a r y S ummary . . 718 *R ome :—Letter from our own Cor
respondent .. .. ..721 D io cesan N ew s :— Westminster............................... 723
Southwark .. .. .. .. 723 Beverley .. .. .. .. 723
D io cesan (continued) ;
Page
Clifton . . . . . . . . 724 Scotland—Western District . . 724 I r e lan d :
Letter from our Dublin Corre
spondent .. .. . . . . 724 From an Occasional Cor
respondent.. . . .> . . 725 F oreign N ews
Germany .. . . . . . . 725 Austria . . . . . . . . 726 M em oranda :—
Educational . . . . .. 726 Literary .. . . . .. 727 Cricket . . .. . . . . 727 G en er a l N ews ........................... 728
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
SULTÁN. N
DETHRONEMENT OF THE
EWS has arrived which may con
siderably affect the course of events in Turkey. The Sultan has been deposed in favour of his nephew, the heir whom he has been so persistently endeavouring to set aside. We say that it may affect the course of events, because it is of course quite uncertain as yet whether the professions of the new dominant party, the Softas, in favour of reform and equal rights for the Christians, are genuine or not, or whether, now that they have attained to power, they may not kick down the ladder which helped them to rise. Telegrams stating that the Abdul Aziz had been dethroned and Murad Effendi had been proclaimed Sultan were received on Tuesday from Berlin, Paris, and Constantinople, the despatch from Constantinople further stating that the deed had been done “ at the unanimous wish of the people.” The telegram from Paris mentioned the news of disturbances which had broken out in Pera, and the receipt of further despatches announcing the fall of the Sultan and his flight from Constantinople. Other reports, it was added, state that the Sultan has abdicated in favour of his son ; and other rumours are current that he has been assassinated. The fact is, however, that Abdul Aziz has neither fled nor been assassinated, but is placed under a guard in the Kiosk at the end of the Seraglio, for which he will not get very much pity, as for some weeks past he has kept his nephew and successor shut up in a kind of cellar. The news o f the Sultan’s deposition cannot be very surprising to any one ; the events of last week were a sufficient preparation for it. As soon as it was known that the Softas espoused the cause of Murad against the Sultan, Yusuf Izzeddin, and Mahmoud Pasha, and that they were strong enough to force the Commander of the Faithful to dismiss his favourite Minister, it became clear that they had the game in their hands, and that if they chose to settle the question at issue by putting Murad on the throne at once, it was quite in their power to do so. A Vienna telegram published in the Temps and dated the 24th stated that the Softas had required the Sultan to deposit five millions sterling in the Public Treasury, to reduce the Civil List to one million sterling, to abandon the title of Khalif— which gives him a quasi-sacred character and justifies his despotic authority— and to institute a National Council, and place a European in the Ministry of Finance. Abdul Aziz was certainly not likely to accede to these demands, and particularly unlikely to consent to the first two. Whenever there has been a public loan, or any money passing through the hands of the Finance Minister, he is believed to have always laid an embargo on a considerable lump for his private store in the cellars of the Palace. He is said to have lately produced one month’s pay towards payment of eight months’ arrears to the troops, whose disaffection was getting noisy, but a self-denying ordinance of the extent demanded by the Softas was hardly likely to be extracted from him. Perhaps, if he is allowed to live, he may now come to the conclusion that he had better have made even that sacrifice.
THE MANAGEMENT OF THE CONSPIRACY.
The revolution of Monday night was effected in the following manner. The Softas and “ Old “ Turkish” party formed the strength of the movement, and it is reported that the principal managers were Midhat Pasha, Hussein Avni Pasha, and Khalil Pasha. The Softas first called upon the Sultan to divest himself of his sacred character by renouncing the title of Khalif, and when this was done summoned him to abdicate. He seems to have complied— thus saving the fdrms— for Sadyk Pasha, the Ambassador in Paris, brought the Due Decazes a copy of a decree beginning thus : “ We, Abdul “ Aziz, in pursuance of the wish of the majority of our “ subjects, abdicate in favour of our nephew, Mahomed “ Murad Effendi.” But there are slight divergences in the statements respecting these memorable proceedings. All agree that the deposition was the act of the Ministers, who, having come to a resolution to that effect, went to the Palace, and were actually present when the Sultan was called upon to resign his throne. The Vienna and Pest accounts say that the new Sheik-ul-Islam„ Heirullah Effendi, was the spokesman, and “ suddenly informed his Majesty that the “ people were not satisfied with his government, and that he “ was therefore deposed.” “ Matters,” adds the Vienna Politische Correspondenz, “ were only pushed to that extre“ mity upon the Sultan absolutely refusing to advance money “ for the exhausted War Treasury from his private purse.” It is probable that this was not the least cogent of the reasons which dictated the resolution, of which, according to the Special Correspondent of the dimes at Constantinople, the Grand Vizier himself, Hussein Avni Pasha, and Midhat Pasha were the chief instigators. The authority last quoted, however, represents Suleiman Pasha, attended by “ soldiers “ and officers,” as intimating to Abdul Aziz “ that the na“ tion deposed him, and that he should deliver up the “ Palace to his successor.”
On Tuesday morning the Softas, headed by
TION OF MURAD V.
proclam a - q i e jr professors, and followed by the four guilds of workmen, marched in procession to the Palace of Dolmabaghtche', reinforced as they went by thousands of the populace. The palace was surrounded by land and sea troops, and Murad having been brought from his place of confinement, and informed by the Sheik-ul-Islam of the deposition of his uncle and his
New Series, j Vol. XV. No. 395.