The importance attached by Midhat and Rushdi to this last condition was very great. It afforded a guarantee against those intrigues of the Palace which had ship‐wrecked so many schemes of reform, and prevented, so far as was possible, a renewal of that mute opposition between the Palace and the Porte which had existed for centuries, and had paralysed the efforts of so many Ministers.
At this historical interview at Muslou‐Oglou Prince Hamid evidently “played a deep game” with Midhat Pasha. He promised all and more than all that was asked of him. He pretended to opinions more advanced than the most advanced of his Ministers, and in favour of even a more democratic Constitution than the one elaborated. The other condition he accepted without demur.
On receiving these clear and emphatic declarations, Midhat returned to Stamboul and reported the result of his interview to the assembled Ministers, who thereupon resolved to take the decisive step and put Prince Hamid on the throne in the place of his brother Murad.
As on the occasion of the dethronement of the Sultan Abdul Aziz, it was necessary to obtain a Fetva from the Sheik‐ul‐Islam to the effect that the contemplated step was in accordance with the Sacred Law. Mehemet Rushdi thereupon demanded an official report from six principal physicians in Constantinople—of whom four belonged to the Embassies of the Great Powers—who, after examination of Murad, handed to him the following certificates:—
“On the 31st of the month August, 1876, Chaban 11: 1293 Hegira, we have made a report on the health of His Majesty Sultan Murad, and come to certain conclusions which we hereby confirm, and add thereto the following opinion, viz. that even should the Sultan Murad after a long lapse of time, contrary to expectation, recover his intellectual faculties, these can never recover their normal condition.”
“(Signed) Castro.
Akif.
Dickson, Physician to English Embassy.
Marroin, Physician to French Embassy.
Muhlig, Physician to German Embassy.
Sotto, Physician to Austro‐Hungarian Embassy.”
Thereupon Mehemet Rushdi made a speech to the people gathered together to hear the report of these physicians at the Palace of Top‐Kapou.
“Our sovereign, the Emperor Murad,” he said, “has been enabled to reign for only twelve days, but during that time he has been afflicted with an illness which, in spite of all the efforts of human science, has shown no amendment. His intellectual faculties are in a state of great feebleness, and the physicians pronounce them incurable. Nevertheless we have waited for the expiration of the legal delay, and this delay has now expired. This is the sum total of the truth of the matter. Let us be informed of what, under such circumstances, the law of the Cheri dictates.”
The assembled crowd expressed its sense of the justice of these words, and the Sheik‐ul‐Islam, Hassan Hairullah, gave the following Fetva:—