_EARLY REFORMERS_
It is about a century ago that Western ideas began to influence the
better Turkish statesmen and efforts were made to reform the system of
government and bring it into harmony with modern civilisation. Mahmud
II, who came to the throne in 1808, and his successor, Abd-ul-Mejid,
who died in 1861, were wise and reforming monarchs, who were advised
by enlightened statesmen such as Reshid Pasha, at whose instance, in
1839, the edict known as the Hatti-Sherif of Gulhane was promulgated.
This edict, which has been called the Magna Charta of Turkey, promised
many useful administrative and judicial reforms, and secured to
the Christian as well as Mussulman subjects of the Sultan security
for their lives, honour, and property. Again, in 1856, after the
Crimean war, the Hatti Houmaioum Firman announced among other things
the complete equality in the eyes of the law of the Christians and
Mussulmans in Turkey. I need scarcely say that these solemn engagements
have been wholly ignored by Turkey’s recent rulers.
In 1861, on the death of Abd-ul-Mejid, Abd-ul-Aziz succeeded to the
throne of Othman. He was assisted by a group of patriotic and able
statesmen, among whom were Fuad Pasha, Rushdi Pasha, Aali Pasha, and
Midhat Pasha; and for the first ten years of his reign he ruled his
country well. He made the Turkish navy one of the most formidable in
Europe; he organised the army that fought so stubbornly at Plevna;
justice was administered, and the press was free to criticise the
Government. But this promising monarch, unfortunately for his country,
broke away from the tutelage of wise men and fell under the influence
of evil advisers. On the death of Aali Pasha in 1872, Mahmud Nedim
Pasha, a man who was fanatically anti-European and uneducated, became
the chief adviser of the Sultan, and was soon created Grand Vizier. The
character of the Sultan seemed now to undergo a complete change; his
policy became retrograde and reactionary; he drove from his side the
good and wise and surrounded himself with corrupt parasites, who were
in many cases the ready tools of Ignatieff; for the Russian diplomacy
had gained the ascendency in Constantinople, and, as usual, was
employed in intriguing against the party of reform and organising the
disruption of the Ottoman Empire.
And now commenced that final struggle between the Palace and the
Sublime Porte which has resulted in the overthrow of the Despotism.
The Sultan, though the absolute head of the Church and State, had
hitherto left the administration of the Empire to his Cabinet of
Ministers chosen by himself, whose office is known as the Sublime
Porte. Abd-ul-Aziz attempted to break down this system, and to centre
in himself the entire rule of the country; soon the ministers became
mere puppets, and the Palace was made paramount. The Sultan assumed
the complete control of the Treasury, and refused to give any account
of the public revenues which he wasted. He contracted loans in Europe
under onerous conditions that endangered the very independence of the
Empire.
The patriots among the Turkish statesmen, who had been cast out from
all direction of public affairs, almost despaired of their country, and
the risings in Herzegovina and Bosnia, presaging European intervention,
seemed to many to be the beginning of the end. The great Midhat Pasha,
whom the Young Turks speak of as the first martyr of their cause, had
the temerity to seek a two-hours’ private audience of the Sultan, and
pointed out to him with such forcible eloquence the corruption of his
administration, the incapacity of his Grand Vizier, and the certain
destruction to which he was dragging his country, that Abd-ul-Aziz was
terrified, his eyes were for a moment opened, and he saw the dreadful
truth; so deposing Mahmud Nedim he appointed Midhat and Rushdi as his
principal ministers and advisers. For three months only these reforming
statesmen were left in power, for Midhat Pasha was suddenly disgraced
because he had expressed indignation when a favourite odalisque of
the monarch had sent a negro to him to ask him to appoint one of her
servants to a provincial vice-governorship. The system of Mahmud Nedim
was reintroduced; things went from bad to worse; justice became openly
venal; ranks in the services were sold by Palace favourites; the entire
administration became grossly corrupt and disorganised; and at last, in
1875, the Turkish Government had to declare itself insolvent.
Turks who had the welfare of their country at heart felt that it
was necessary to put a forcible end to this state of things. On May
22, 6000 Softas, the theological students attached to the mosques,
invaded the Sublime Porte and clamoured for the deposition of the
Grand Vizier, while some thousands of others demonstrated in front of
the Palace. The Sultan, terrified, yielded to these demands, deposed
Mahmud Nedim, recalled Rushdi Pasha; and a Cabinet of reforming
statesmen, including Midhat Pasha, was formed. Then came the famous
_coup d’état_. The ministers, having reason to doubt the good faith of
the monarch, decided to depose him. In the night of May 30, 1876, the
Palace was surrounded by troops, the Chief Eunuch was called up and was
ordered to awake his master and hand him the _fetva_, or decree of the
Sheikh-ul-Islam, Hairoullah Effendi, in his capacity of chief expounder
of the sacred law, a decree to which even a Sultan must submit. The
_fetva_ was set forth in the form of a question and answer as follows:
“If the Head of the Believers has so lost his reason as to ruin the
State, which God has confided to his care, by foolish expenditure, by
wild caprices, and if the continuation of this misrule is likely to
bring on a situation which will destroy the sacred interests of the
country, is it permissible to leave that man at the head of affairs,
or ought one to deprive him of his power? The answer is, that he ought
to be deprived of his power.” Thus the Sheikh-ul-Islam, in the name of
the Mohammedan religion, approved of the revolution of 1876, even as
did another Sheikh-ul-Islam declare himself in favour of the recent
Young Turk revolution and the granting of the Constitution. It is
important to remember that despotism is not (as many suppose that it
is) in accord with the teachings of the Koran, and that constitutional
government ought not to be acceptable to good Mussulmans. Islam, as
the Young Turks point out, condemns tyranny and encourages peoples to
rule themselves. The following, for example, are passages from the
Koran which have been much quoted in Turkey of late: “God loveth not
tyrants”; “When a people direct their affairs by consulting among
themselves they shall get their reward.”
So Abd-ul-Aziz was deposed and Murad V became Sultan in his place. The
new monarch issued a proclamation by which he promised to carry out the
reforms advocated by his minister, Midhat Pasha; and the well-wishers
of Turkey rejoiced. But unhappy Turkey was not to be freed yet, and
an event happened that turned hope into despair. Four days after his
deposition Abd-ul-Aziz either committed suicide or was assassinated in
the palace to which he had been removed. If he was murdered, he who
committed the crime must have been the greatest enemy of Turkey, and
none of the ministers could have had anything to do with a deed that
upset all their plans for the regeneration of their country. So soon
as Abd-ul-Aziz was found dead his Circassian _aide-de-camp_, Hassan,
rushed to Midhat Pasha’s house, where the ministers were assembled, and
assassinated two of these whom Turkey could ill spare, Avni Pasha and
Rechid Pasha. This succession of tragic events so shook the weak mind
of the new Sultan that he became hopelessly insane. After a reign of
only three months it became necessary to depose him, and the legitimate
heir, his brother, Abdul Hamid, the present Sultan of Turkey, ascended
the throne in the autumn of 1876.
Abdul Hamid, however, was not permitted to grasp the sceptre until he
had signed a document by which he undertook to grant a Constitution to
his people and to rule with justice. Indeed, he was ready to make any
promises, and accepted without reserve the liberal principles of Midhat
Pasha and the reformers. No one in Turkey believes that he was sincere,
and Sefer Bey recounts in _La Revue_ how, on the very day of his
succession, Abdul Hamid, on his return to the Palace, after having gone
through the traditional ceremony of buckling on the sword of Othman,
spoke in the following words to a well-known Turkish general of his
_entourage_: “It is Reshid Pasha who is responsible for everything that
has happened; it is that great criminal who made my father sign that
accursed firman under the pressure of Europe, and by giving stupid
illusions to the Turkish people has led them into wrong ways. The
government which our nation needs is an absolute despotism, and not the
pernicious _régime_ of liberty which Europe practises. I shall know how
to put order in the ideas of the people, but before all, I must make my
position secure and get rid of the wretches who deposed my uncle.”
At the opening of the new reign, however, the reformers looked to
the future with hope. Midhat Pasha was appointed Prime Minister, and
began to work out his scheme for the regeneration of Turkey. He framed
his Constitution, which established the equality of all races and
creeds, and took steps to crush the rebellion in European Turkey that
was threatening to bring about a European war. Midhat was beloved by
educated and patriotic Turks, and was strongly supported by the people;
his position seemed unassailable. But before he had been four months
on the throne Abdul Hamid struck his first blow at liberty, and showed
what manner of man he was. Midhat was suddenly summoned to the Palace,
and on arriving there was informed that his exile had been determined
upon and that he must forthwith board a vessel that was awaiting him in
the Bosphorus with steam up, and betake himself beyond the confines of
the Ottoman Empire. Then the Sultan set himself to put out of the way
the other men who had taken a part in the deposition of Abd-ul-Aziz.
Rushdi Pasha and the Sheikh-ul-Islam were exiled to remote parts of
the Empire, while many less distinguished Liberals disappeared, being
either killed or imprisoned.
Midhat Pasha, the greatest of the Turkish reformers, as an exile,
lived in several European capitals, studied on the spot the principles
of decent government, and formed plans for the amelioration of the
condition of his unfortunate country when the opportunity should
arrive. The Sultan appears to have come to the conclusion that his
ex-Grand Vizier might be as dangerous to the Despotism while in
Europe as he had been in Turkey. A plot, the details of which are
well known, was laid to bring about Midhat’s destruction. He was led
to believe that the Sultan had repented of his injustice, had come
to see the errors of his illiberal policy, and desired that the able
statesman should return to Turkey to give his valuable assistance in
the reorganisation of the Empire. So, after a long exile, Midhat,
accepting a treacherous invitation, came back to his native land,
and was made Governor of Syria. Shortly after his appointment he was
denounced to the Palace by false accusers, who were prepared to prove
that Abd-ul-Aziz had been assassinated by Midhat’s orders. After
an iniquitous trial, by judges who pretended to credit the obvious
inventions of suborned witnesses, he was found guilty, and as it might
have been dangerous to execute a man so much beloved and respected, he
was condemned to imprisonment in a fortress in Arabia. There he was
treated with great inhumanity and deprived of all the comforts and some
of the necessaries of life. As his strong constitution resisted these
privations for three years, he was strangled in May, 1884, by order of
his persecutors, and his head was sent to the Palace, so that there
should be no doubt about his death.
The Sultan had rid himself of all the chief friends of liberty
immediately after his accession to the throne, but, cautious and
fearful by nature, he took no further immediate steps to impose
absolute despotism upon his people. Mainly with the object of
hoodwinking England and winning her good-will at the critical period
preceding the outbreak of the war with Russia, he proclaimed the
Constitution of Midhat Pasha, and a Turkish Parliament was allowed to
meet. The Sultan imposed his will upon the Parliament and reduced it
to impotence; but there were many patriotic deputies who spoke their
minds freely and defied the monarch’s wrath. At last, in February,
1878, shortly before the conclusion of the treaty of peace with Russia
at St. Stephano, the Sultan dissolved both Houses, and, with pretended
reluctance, suspended the Constitution. He next proceeded to deprive
the Sublime Porte of all power and to make the Palace supreme. The
ministers became mere puppets, whose submission was bought by the
license that was allowed to them to embezzle the public funds. The
control of the army and navy, of foreign affairs, of the finances of
the Empire, every branch of the administration, the appointment of
every official were in the hands of the Sovereign and his corrupt
Camarilla. Having a pampered Prætorian Guard to enforce his will, he
held Constantinople under martial law. It was a reign of terror; he
spared none who were not for him. From the dissolution of Turkey’s
first Parliament in 1878 until the proclamation of the Constitution
in 1908 Turkey was oppressed by one of the most demoralising and
destructive tyrannies that the world has known. For the Ottoman Empire
those thirty years were the most unhappy and disastrous of its long
history.