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.
At the end of a month, Midhat Pasha received a telegram from the
Palace, which nominated him Governor‐General of the vilayet of Syria.
He was compelled to accept this new post, and embarked with his family
on board the Imperial yacht _Fevayid_ for Beyrout.