THE SULTAN AND THE SUBLIME PORTE.
Church and State are one and inseparable in Turkey. The Sultan of the
empire is also Calif of the Mohammedan religious world. He cannot
abdicate either office, if he would, without vacating the other by the
same act. In fact, herein lies the secret of the present Sultan’s
policy, which seems suicidal on general principles of government. He
has, on the one hand, been lavish in the building and repairing of
mosques, and in establishing Moslem schools throughout his dominions. On
the other hand, he has infringed and ignored the ancient rights and
privileges of the Christian Patriarchates which were guaranteed by
Mohammed II., and have hitherto been regarded as sacred. He has blocked
the erection of new Christian schools and churches, and even the
repairing of such as are falling into decay. There were formerly
thousands of non-Moslems in civil positions, faithfully serving the
government; under the new régime, however, they have been systematically
removed and excluded. And why has all this been done? Because the Sultan
is a good conscientious Mohammedan, it is only fair to believe. Even if
he were not a sincere believer, he would still feel compelled to adopt
the same course, as a matter of internal political necessity. The Moslem
population look to him as the Defender of the Faith, girded with the
sword of the Prophet. He feels it imperative at all hazards to regain
lost prestige over his fanatical subjects, especially in the south,
where rumblings of discontent and disloyalty are ominous.[30]
Let us be reasonable and practical. Why longer exact or accept from the
Sultan promises which he cannot make without doing violence to his own
conscience and to his office, and which he cannot execute without
imperilling his throne? You might as well ask the Pope to abandon the
doctrines of temporal sovereignty and of infallibility, which to him are
fundamental. If the situation in Turkey demands that anything be done,
and if the rest of humanity and civilization have any responsibility in
the matter, let practical statesmen proceed to business. All hope of
reform from within depends on the distrustful, distracted, hoodwinked
Sultan, who is clearly, in the circumstances, a helpless and pitiable
object. But he should no more be allowed to stand in the way of the
emancipation of Turkey, than the Pope was allowed to impede the making
of Italy. “The Prisoner of the Vatican” has still abundant scope for his
great and beneficent spiritual projects; and the Captive at Yildiz
Palace—for such he has for years constituted himself—may also be allowed
a sphere in which his personal virtues and ability shall shine forth,
unobscured by the clouds and darkness that surround him now. He
certainly would be better off, and his subjects also—Moslem no less than
Christian.
The shrieks of ten thousand slaughtered Armenians pierce for the moment
above the groans of others. But it should not be forgotten that all the
races in Turkey are under the same curse, and that the present is a
chance to help them as well as the Armenians.
According to the Koran, which is the basis and ultimate authority of
Mohammedan law—Code Napoleon, treaty stipulations, and Imperial _Iradés_
notwithstanding,—the whole non-Moslem population of Turkey are outlaws.
The millions of ancient, hereditary inhabitants, whether Greek,
Armenian, Nestorian, Jacobite, Jew, or Syrian, are considered aliens.
Their legal status is that of prisoners of war, with corresponding
rights and responsibilities.[32] Not one of them is expected or even
allowed to serve in the army. Non-Moslems, whose services are
indispensable to the government, are, in rare cases, put in civil
offices, especially financial, for which no Mohammedan of sufficient
integrity or ability can be found.
It cannot be denied that the above is true in theory, and it is equally
true that the theory is carried out so far as fear of intervention by
Christian nations permits.
But in this hour, when our hearts are stirred by the lot of our
co-religionists under the Crescent, let us not forget that the Moslem
population almost equally is cursed and impoverished by Turkish misrule,
venality, and taxation. They drink the cup of woe, all but the more
bitter dregs of religious persecution, which is reserved for Christian
lips. Their benumbed condition, natural stolidity, and unquestioning
obedience to Islam, a creed whose cardinal principle is submission,[33]
accounts for the fact that they do not appear as a factor of the
problem. Yet even Mohammedans often secretly come pleading that Europe
take some interest in their case too. In the name of humanity, yes, of
Christianity, let them not be forgotten.
“An Eastern Resident,” writing from Constantinople, in an article
entitled “Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid,” in _The Contemporary Review_, January,
1895, gives an able analysis of the Sultan’s position and policy,
showing at the same time great appreciation of His Majesty as a man. His
position and relations to the Sublime Porte are not well understood by
the public, and could hardly be better stated than in these extracts:
[Illustration:
H. I. M. ABD-UL-HAMID KHAN, THE SULTAN OF TURKEY.
]
“So far as we can judge, the Sultan is a sincere and honest Mohammedan,
and regards himself as a true Caliph—a successor of the Prophet—the
chief defender of the faith, under God the absolute arbiter of its
destinies. He has undoubtedly done his best to reconcile the interests
of the Caliphate with those of the Empire....
“In one particular it [the policy of the Sultan] is condemned by most
enlightened Mohammedans as strongly as by Christians. His attempt to
concentrate the whole administration of the Empire in his own hands has
led to the establishment of a dual government—that of the Palace and the
Porte. The whole machinery of a government exists at the Porte. There
are Ministers and fully organized departments. There is a Council of
Ministers and a Council of State. All business is supposed to pass
through their hands, and the whole administration is supposed to be
subordinate to them. All is, of course, subject to the supreme will of
the Sultan, but his official advisers and his official agents are at the
Porte.
“In fact, however, there is another government at the Palace of Yildiz,
more powerful than the official government, made up of chamberlains,
mollahs, eunuchs, astrologers, and nondescripts, and supported by the
secret police, which spares no one from the Grand Vizier down. The
general policy of the Empire is determined by this government, and the
most important questions of state are often treated and decided, while
the highest officials of the Porte are left in absolute ignorance of
what is going on. It is needless to add that the Porte and the Palace
are at sword’s-point, and block each other’s movements as far as they
can....
“The Sultan evidently believes that he is equally independent of both
these governments, and decides all questions, great and small, for
himself. In form he does so, but no man can act independently of all his
sources of information, and of the personal influence of his
_entourage_. Under the present system he makes himself responsible for
every blunder and every iniquity committed in the Empire, but he has
disgraced three distinguished Grand Viziers for telling him so, and
seems to have no idea of the causes of the intense dissatisfaction with
his government which prevails among his Mohammedan subjects. The Turks,
as well as the Christians, also condemn the laws restricting personal
freedom, which have increased in severity every year. In many ways these
laws are more galling to the Turks than the Christians....
“There is another evil connected with this system which may lead to
serious difficulties with foreign Powers. All foreign relations are
supposed to be managed through the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the
Grand Vizier, but these officials have no power and but little
influence. They can promise nothing and do nothing. But in all delicate
diplomatic questions it is essential to treat with responsible agents,
and to discuss them with such agents in a way in which it is impossible
to treat with the Sovereign himself. The present system has been a
serious injury to Turkey. It has roused the hostility of all the
Embassies and led them to feel and report to their governments, that
there is no use in trying to do anything to save this Empire; that it is
hopelessly corrupt, and the sooner it comes to an end the better for the
world. There is no longer any concerted action of Europe at
Constantinople for the improvement of the condition of the people....
“If Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid would come out of his palace, restore to the
Porte its full responsibility, disband its secret police, trust his
Mohammedan subjects, and do simple justice to the Christians, his life
would be far more secure than it is to-day, with all precautions; his
people and all the world would recognize the great and noble qualities
which they now ignore, and welcome him as the wisest and best of all the
Sultans....
“The sad pity of it is that he will never do it. It is too late. The
influence of the Palace favorites is too strong. He will appear in
history not as the Sultan who saved the Empire, but as the one who might
have saved it and did not.”