The Sultan was restive under the constitution and the Pashas, against whose cruelty and extortion the most of the reforms were aimed, sided with their sovereign. In 1875, Midhat Pasha had outlined the situation thus to the English Ambassador:
“The Sultan’s Empire is being rapidly brought to destruction; corruption has reached a pitch that it has never before attained. The service of the state is starved, while untold millions are being poured into the palaces and the provinces are being ruined by the uncontrolled exactions of the Governors who purchase their appointments at the palace: and nothing can save the country but a complete change of system.”
And the very worst governed portion of all his Empire was Armenia. We are officially told that its government for the last thirty years has been horrible.
In an Armenian village recently plundered by bandits, the famous Hungarian Professor, Arminius Vambery, an intimate friend of the Sultan, once asked, “Why do you not get help from the Governor of Erzeroum?” “Because,” answered the villagers, “he is at the head of the robbers. God alone and his representative on earth—the Russian Czar, can help us.” This brigandage, is one of the greatest curses of the Turkish Empire, exercising a rule of terror and oppression, and now legalized, apparently, by the transformation of the Kurdish horsemen—robbers—into the Hamidieh—the Sultan’s own Cavalry.
Types and Costumes—Kurdish Gentlemen.
Such being the spirit of the Pashas who had grown rich by plunder and official theft, of course they were opposed to the Constitution, and by the will of the Sultan it was abrogated after two sessions had been held. This was soon followed by the dismissal of the Ministers who had formed the triumvirate, and the Sultan resumed his despotic and absolute sway. Assured that England would not suffer the dismemberment of his Empire we have seen him refusing to guarantee the enforcement of promised reforms and provoking the war with Russia; but as we have already told this story, we will give some pictures of the Sultan as drawn by his admirers; leaving the horrors of the Armenian massacres to bear witness as to the honesty of his professed devotion to the welfare of his Christian subjects and his promises to observe the terms of said treaty in the amelioration of the condition of all who were suffering under the murderous oppression of Kurds and Circassians.
Professor Vambery, a most remarkable linguist who writes and speaks all the languages of Europe like a native, spent some time in Turkey a few years ago and was received into closest conference by the Sultan.—Here are extracts from what he has written of him:
“I must own that the education of Abdul Hamid, like that of all Oriental princes was defective, very defective indeed; but an iron will, good judgment and rare acuteness have made good this short-coming; and he not only knows the multifarious relations and intricacies of his own much tried Empire but is thoroughly conversant with European politics: and I am not going far from fact when I state that it has been solely the moderation and self-restraint of Sultan Abdul Hamid which has saved us hitherto from a general European conflagration. As to his personal character, I have found the present ruler of the Ottoman Empire of great politeness, amiability and extreme gentleness. When sitting opposite to him during my private interviews, I could not avoid being struck by his extremely modest attitude, by his quiet manners and by the bashful look of his eyes. * * At his table, though wine is served to European guests, it is not offered to the Sultan or any other Mohammedan.
“His views on religion, politics and education have a decidedly modern tone, and yet he is a firm believer in the tenets of his religion, and likes to assemble around him the foremost Mollahs and pious Sheiks on whom he profusely bestows imperial favors; but he does not forget from time to time to send presents to the Greek and the Armenian patriarchates, and nothing is more ludicrous than to hear this prince accused by a certain class of politicians in Europe of being a fanatic and an enemy to Christians,—a prince who by appointing a Christian for his chief medical attendant and a Christian for his chief minister of finance, did not hesitate to intrust most important duties to non-Mohammedans. * * *”