“The day after the issue of the Imperial Irade approving this decision, His Excellency Damad Mahmoud Djelaleddin Pasha advised us to recommend Galib Pasha for some other post; but it so happens that not only are the accounts in the treasury with reference to this paper money defective, but whereas we thought that only one million of paper money out of the proposed seven millions had actually been issued, we now find that two millions have in point of fact been issued.
“I thought it therefore proper, as I informed you in my letter of the 14 Moharem, 1294, to keep Galib Pasha in the office of Finance until all his accounts were put into proper order. In the discussion on these matters in the Council of Ministers, on the 6th day of Moharem, Galib Pasha informed us that he had made arrangements with some private bankers for the purchase of £T90,000 in gold against £T210,000 paper. This enormous depreciation, which could be accepted only in the event of the extremest urgency, seemed to us beyond all limits of reason.
“Whatever may be the personal honesty of an official, yet when such irregularities take place in his Office, it would seem more proper to request him first to put his accounts in order before appointing him off‐hand to another position of trust, such as the Senate.
“On consideration of the whole matter, we are convinced that just as Galib Pasha’s incompetence involves no reflection on his honesty and probity, so the matter of the £T90,000 which I have just mentioned is far from revealing any desire on his part to conceal the real situation of affairs.
“Hence the only reasons why we have requested a delay in the nomination of Galib Pasha to the Senate are founded on his own declarations last Wednesday before the Council of Ministers.
“Although this little matter is scarcely worthy of so lengthy an explanation, I have made it simply on the demand addressed to me to furnish explanations on the subject, and in order to comply with the Imperial commands.
“I will only, in conclusion, beg you very particularly to be good enough to bring these details to the notice of His Majesty, if he should express his desire to be made acquainted with them.
“Receive, Excellency, etc.,—
“Midhat.
“9 Moharem 1293, Hegira.”
xxx(25th January 1877.)
The other question held in reserve was that of the mixed schools, a measure to which, as we have seen on several occasions, Midhat attached the greatest importance, as a means of welding together the different elements of the nation. He desired to make a beginning by applying it to the military academies of the Empire. The eve, possibly, of a great war, in which the nation might require the service of all her sons, seemed to him the most opportune moment conceivable for the application of this most important reform. He accordingly pressed it on the Sultan. He was met by the ordinary Fabian tactics of the Palace—procrastination, promises, delay. The Sultan demurred, temporised, first gave and then withdrew his consent, and a long discussion ensued between them on the subject. The dispute culminated in the following Memorandum, addressed by Midhat in the name of the Ministry, to the Sultan, through the usual channel:—