“6 Zilhidje, 1293, 1 o’clock, Hegira.”
xxxx(22nd December 1876.)
Another and still more serious difference of opinion, relative to persons, arose concerning Zia Bey. This person, one of the most distinguished litterateurs and poets Turkey possessed, who had been appointed private Secretary of the Sultan Murad, and whose nomination to the same post by the present Sultan had been made an article of the treaty between Midhat and Prince Hamid at Muslou‐Oglou, was suspected of inspiring certain articles in the Turkish paper Istikbal which threw doubts on the Sultan’s sincerity with reference to the Constitution. These articles gave great offence at the Palace, and were considered of dangerous tendency. The Sultan determined not only to proceed against the paper, but also to remove Zia Bey, at any price, from the capital.
The accompanying letter will show the feelings of the Sultan on the subject:
To Midhat Pasha.
“Highness,—The Imperial Irade (written order) relative to the nomination of Zia Bey to the post of Ambassador at Berlin, was communicated to your Highness yesterday evening, and His Majesty has just asked me if the proposed nomination had arrived, and on my reply in the negative His Majesty ordered me to insist upon it, adding the following observation: ‘Zia Bey is very ambitious, and if he had known how to profit by this quality with a view to his advancement and his future, he would have succeeded in obtaining a post here suited to his capacity; but this person has never yet shown any stability of character or fixity of purpose, and when anything occurs contrary to his views and wishes, he is in the habit of weaving intrigues in the matter, which is not favourable to his prolonged sojourn in Constantinople. His removal, moreover, from the capital cannot but facilitate for the Grand Vizier the exercise of his functions in freeing him from this kind of obstacle. These observations of mine are no exaggerations; but if on the one hand Zia Bey’s individual merit is only mediocre, the people are naturally attracted by these critics and attend to their criticisms, and in this way lend an importance to these polemics which they do not intrinsically deserve. As for the despatch of Zia Bey to Berlin, the Government is resolved to take the same steps at Berlin as it has determined to take at Paris, London, and Vienna, and to endeavour to gain the sympathies of Prince Bismark (sic), and if Zia Bey succeed in this, he will have shown his savoir faire, earned the gratitude of the State, and by the fact itself shown his aptitude for foreign affairs, and then his further promotion will be justified. Moreover, his selection will provoke no opposition on the part of the Court of Berlin.’ On account of these considerations His Majesty orders this nomination to be submitted to him as soon as possible. It is, moreover, by Imperial command that I have written to you at such length on the subject, and have repeated what has already been said; and His Majesty desires that you will carry out these injunctions by to‐morrow at the audience you will have with His Majesty.
“I have the honour to be,
“(Signed) Saïd.
“12 Zilhidje, 1293, Hegira.”
xxx(28th December 1876.)
In the meantime the population of Constantinople, who have been represented by interested critics as indifferent about the Constitution and reform, hearing of the proposed exile of this champion of the Constitution and reform, determined to prevent his departure from the capital by electing him as one of their representatives in the new Parliament. Consternation is not too strong a term to describe the feelings that this proposal excited in the Palace. Zia Bey had an influence among the people of the capital. What if his presence among them in the Parliament should checkmate all the plans of a carefully hatched conspiracy? The following letter clearly reveals this consternation:—
To Midhat Pasha, Grand Vizier.