CHAPTER VIII
THE RETURN OF MIDHAT PASHA TO TURKEY
After having received the most sympathetic welcome in Europe, and above all, in London, during a period of seventeen months, Midhat Pasha yielded to the Sultan Abdul Hamid’s invitation and returned to Turkey, thereby disregarding the wise advice given him by his friends both at home and abroad, but declaring that he would sooner die in his own country than in a foreign land. He refused to accept any office, and only desired to be allowed to live quietly with his family, far from all politics and public affairs. He fixed upon Crete as his place of residence. During his exile in Europe he had seen the Sultan Abdul Hamid enter into the paths of despotism—giving power to those men who had done nothing in the past, and banishing from the capital all those who were his partisans and who had striven to establish a rule of justice and of progress. He had seen his country menaced by every danger, and had observed the manœuvres of those ambitious statesmen who only sought for their own personal interests in the Sultan’s despotism and in their country’s decadence. He had seen the destruction of all he had worked for, had seen the Constitution he had done so much to establish deprived of every authority, and become only a name in the official records.
The position that Midhat occupied after his return to Turkey, may be considered as an exile imposed upon him by the Sultan. Abdul Hamid was anxious to keep him in Turkey, but at the same time did not dare to keep him there in inactivity, fearing lest the leader of the Liberal Party should once more begin to occupy himself in obtaining the necessary measures for opening the Chamber of Deputies. He was well aware that Midhat, as the Governor of a province, would devote himself entirely to its re‐organisation, and would therefore have no time in which to concern himself with central administration. Thus, in accepting the Governor‐Generalship of Syria and of Smyrna, it will be seen that Midhat played no political rôle. Forced as he had been to accept these posts, he occupied himself completely in their administration and in the good management of their current affairs, thoroughly realising his position as an exile.
Before returning to Turkey, Midhat Pasha went to the Island of Crete, as his future residence. The Sultan granted his request, and sent a cruiser of the Turkish Fleet to Syria, which landed him at Candia on 11th September 1878; the Imperial yacht Fuad was also commanded to transport his family to the island.
The Cretan population, Mussulmans and Christians alike, gave him the warmest and most cordial of welcomes; the foreign fleets which were in the bay fired salutes when he disembarked.
This enthusiastic reception, this spontaneous manifestation on the part of the foreign fleets, made the very worst of impressions on Abdul Hamid, whose fears were, moreover, increased by the continual intrigues of Midhat’s enemies. At one time there was some question at Constantinople of nominating Midhat Pasha as Governor‐General of the Island of Crete. One of his friends (an English subject, whose name we may not divulge) sent him the following letter, written at the invitation of the British Ambassador, Sir Henry Layard:—
“Constantinople, 3rd October 1878.
“Your Highness,—I have had an interview with our Ambassador this morning. His Excellency assures me that for the last four months he has tried by every means in his power to act on the Sultan’s mind, in order to persuade His Majesty to believe in your fidelity and devotion to his throne. Sir Henry Layard has assured me that he has incontestable proofs, that whilst Your Highness was in power, a certain individual, who dined every evening at your table, was in the pay of General Ignatieff, and repeated to the General every day all that you had said the night before. His Excellency has asked me to tell you that His Majesty is always surrounded by Russian emissaries, who do all in their power to influence him against you, and therefore he is obliged to use the greatest prudence in speaking to His Majesty of Your Highness. The Ambassador expressed to me his very great regret that you had refused to accept the thousand pounds that the Sultan had offered you. He also wished me to tell you, in strictest confidence, that there had been some question of nominating you Governor‐General of Crete, and that he prevented this nomination, being convinced that you would do no good in the Island, and that the insurrection instead of diminishing will only increase later on. Besides this, he told me that his desire is that Your Highness should occupy a higher post, where you would render very great services to the Government. He said that he was very anxious to meet you somewhere and to speak with you, but that at the present moment he sees no possibility of such an interview; in the meanwhile, if Your Highness would put yourself into correspondence with him, there is nothing that would give him greater pleasure than to receive news of you.
“Such, Your Highness, is the résumé of our conversation. I left with the conviction that the Ambassador sees the immense difficulty of introducing any reforms into the country without Your Highness’ co‐operation. Your opinion on the policy of England, and on the manner of introducing reforms into this country, would, I am sure, be very much appreciated by his Excellency, and therefore, if you see fit to write to the Embassy, you may count on my honour that no one in the world will know that you are in correspondence with Sir Henry Layard.—I am, etc.”
No event worthy of record took place during the short time that Midhat passed in the island of Crete. As he had wished, he lived peacefully in the midst of his family, not occupying himself directly with the affairs of State.