“9 Zilkade, 1293, Hegira.”
(25th November 1876.)
Reply.
To the First Secretary of His Majesty.[12]
“Excellency,—As it was impossible for me to thank His Majesty for the favours and the many proofs of goodwill with which he overwhelms me every day and every moment, I am entirely unable to testify my gratitude for the signal honour, so disproportionate to my deserts, which I have received in the reply of an autograph letter from His Majesty, inviting me to furnish certain explanations of the text of the Constitution unofficially forwarded to His Majesty. As to the contents of the report which has been submitted, I myself also recognise that the majority of the articles require to be modified and changed, and I think it is not necessary to say that if this text has been submitted to His Majesty as an incomplete rough draft, it was simply with the intention of correcting it later according to the views and wishes of His Majesty. This report has been drawn up and completed by the Commission convened for the purpose by Imperial command, and, as the time has come when the text should be studied by the Council of Ministers, the terms of the Imperial Irade have been communicated to His Highness the Grand Vizier. Now, urged by fidelity to my Sovereign and my love for my country, I feel it incumbent upon me, and have the courage to be of opinion that there are two methods of extrication from our present position. The first consists in putting into execution, before the meeting of the Conference, the reforms for our home government that were promised and proclaimed to all the Powers, and the time needed for so doing would be three or four days at the outside. The second method is to accept the proposals formulated by the Powers, and to make up our minds to live henceforth and for ever under their tutelage. If the first method is not adopted, or even if its promulgation is delayed and retarded until after the meeting of the Conference, the second becomes inevitable. My attachment to my Sovereign and my love for my country force me to give utterance to these ideas.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx“I am....
“Midhat.
“11 Zilkade, 1293, Hegira.”
(27th November 1876.)
The inner meaning of the words “safeguarding the Sovereign rights” contained the pith and kernel of the conspirators’ views and intentions. It had direct reference to a clause which the Sultan desired to have inserted in the text of the Constitution, or rather (and the difference is very material) to a rider which he desired to be added to a clause (the 113th), referring to the declaration of a state of siege in disturbed districts. The purport and intention of the clause would naturally govern its different branches. It could not possibly be supposed to apply to Ministers themselves, inasmuch as the Constitution specially and elaborately provided for their trial and punishment in clauses 31, 32, and 34 of the text. In spite, however, of the provisions and safeguards which were to hedge and limit the exercise of this prerogative, Midhat had long combated the insertion of this rider to the 113th article. Anxious above all things, however, to get the Constitution promulgated not later than the first sitting of the Conference, and not as yet fully grasping the character of the man he was dealing with, he listened to the explanations and glosses offered with reference to this rider, and finally, though reluctantly, consented to its insertion in the text of the Constitution.
It is easy to see now that this was the second error of tactics committed by Midhat. “Put not your trust in princes” is an especially wise injunction when you do not know the character of the princes you are dealing with. If Midhat had forced the Sultan Hamid—as he might have done, if he had been less trustful and more strenuous—to observe strictly the terms of the treaty of Muslou‐Oglou that Prince Hamid had agreed to as a condition of his mounting on the throne at all, Midhat would never have been banished, and the Constitution would never have been strangled. Good men are rarely as determined and strenuous as bad men. It is a pity, for half the political ills of the world come from this weakness on their part.