_THE NEW SULTAN_
The greater part of this book was in the press, and the preceding
chapter, which was to have been the final one, lacked but a few
concluding paragraphs to bring my work to a close, when the news
reached London that a revolution had broken out in Constantinople. On
that eventful thirteenth of April I was lunching in a literary club off
the Strand with two well-known members of the Young Turk party. The
information conveyed by an early issue of a so-called evening paper
was scanty, and we hoped that nothing worse had occurred than one of
those mutinous demonstrations on the part of the Sultan’s pampered
Body-guard which the Young Turks have already proved themselves capable
of suppressing with promptitude and vigour. But later and fuller
information brought anger and sorrow to the friends of Turkey: nearly
the whole garrison of the capital had risen against the Government; the
soldiers were killing their young officers; fanatical mobs were hunting
out the members of the Young Turk party to murder them; the Committee
of Union and Progress, in Constantinople at any rate, was at the feet
of its enemies.
The members of the Committee were fleeing for their lives from their
fellow-countrymen, whom they had saved from a hated despotism. A
few months ago I heard these same Constantinople mobs shouting
themselves hoarse with cries of “Long live the Committee of Union and
Progress!” and all seemed grateful to this band of men who, animated by
single-minded patriotism and a spirit of self-sacrifice, had organised
the revolution. But a large portion of the population of Constantinople
is a very vile thing; it is made up of everything that is worst of the
various races of the Levant and of regions farther east. The fanatical
Kurds are ever ready to join in any rising that gives them the
opportunity of pillage and murder; the greater part of the Christian
population is too cowardly to defend itself; here, too, are collected
all the ex-spies and other corrupt products of the old _régime_. One
is inclined to think that one of the chief lessons to be learnt by the
Young Turks from the counter-revolution is that the seat of Government
might with advantage be removed from Constantinople to some place at a
considerable distance from it. My Turkish friends, I may state here,
were perfectly confident, through those mid-April days when Turkey’s
future seemed so dark, that the triumph of the reactionaries would be
but short-lived, that right would prevail, and that within a few days
the provinces, strongly supporting the Young Turk cause, would compel
the capital to submit to their will.
I have postponed the writing of this final chapter until the last
possible moment, in order that I might obtain a perspective view of
these strange happenings in the Turkish capital. As may be gathered
from the preceding chapter, there was a good deal of uneasiness in
Constantinople for some time before the outbreak of the 13th. The
bitter strife between the Committee of Union and Progress and the
Liberal Union weakened the constitutional cause. A newly formed society
called the Jemiyet-Mohammedieh (the League of Mohammed) was obtaining
a hold upon the Moslem population. It professed to be in favour of the
Constitution, but called for a strict application of the Sheriat or
Sacred Law. It was the enemy of the Committee of Union and Progress,
maintaining that the members of the Committee, including the young
army officers, did not observe the precepts of the Koran, and by
their irreligious ways set a bad example to the rank and file. These
movements afforded an opportunity for mischief to the reactionaries,
the men who cared little for religion or country, but desired the
return of the absolutism with the corruption on which they had lived.
So men from the Palace, together with ex-spies and dishonest Government
_employés_ who had been deprived of their posts by the new _régime_,
began to intrigue with success, and were much helped by the fact that
many of their own base order had wormed themselves both into the
Liberal Union and the Mohammedan League.
The Liberal Union apparently took the lead in the plot against the
Government, and it became obvious that it was well provided with
funds. I am told that for a considerable time before the outbreak the
members of this association used to frequent the principal hotel in
Pera, and made of it a sort of head-quarters. Here, spending plenty of
money, they used to converse plausibly with foreign visitors, including
the correspondents of newspapers; for it was part of their aim to gain
foreign sympathy—and especially English sympathy—for their cause;
their efforts were attended with some success, for while plotting with
reaction they prated of liberty, and their arguments to the effect
that in the Committee of Union and Progress Turkey had but found a new
despotism in place of the old one were convincing to many.
The acrimony of the strife between the two parties was much intensified
by the assassination of the editor of a Liberal newspaper, presumably
by some one in sympathy with the Committee; and as it became clear
that the loyalty of the First Army Corps, forming the garrison of
Constantinople, was being undermined by the agents of reaction,
General Mukhtar Pasha, who was in command of that army corps, began
to take due precautions; on April 12 he issued most stringent orders
to his men, explaining to them that they were to shoot down even
_softas_ and other civilians if ordered to do so by their officers.
I have already explained that the fidelity to the Constitution of
this army corps, which included the pampered Palace Guards, had been
doubtful from the beginning. The Young Turks, after the mutiny in
November, had removed some of the least reliable battalions and had
replaced them with troops from Salonica. They had intended greatly to
reduce the Imperial Guard itself, but had refrained from doing so at
the earnest wish of the Sultan. I have pointed out that before the
revolution these Palace troops were officered with men risen from their
own ranks—_alaili_—ignorant and faithful men who could be relied on
to support their benevolent master, the Sultan. The Young Turks had
removed these rankers, replacing them with _mekteblis_, officers who
have passed through the military schools, and therefore to a man are
supporters of the Young Turk party, many of them being members of the
Committee. There is no doubt that the rank and file bitterly resented
this innovation, and there grew up a sullen discontent, which subtle
agitators who appealed to Mussulman fanaticism could easily fan into
a flame. The _hodjas_ and _softas_ were assiduously preaching in the
barracks that the Committee was endangering the Moslem faith, and the
minds of the men became poisoned against their officers.
But though there was uneasiness in the capital, the counter-revolution
came to the citizens as a complete surprise. In the afternoon of the
12th a British officer, who had just arrived in the capital, visited
the various barracks, and found the troops peacefully drilling or
performing their other ordinary duties, the officers and men alike
seeming happy and contented, and an Inspector of Police of great
experience informed him that the city had never been more quiet and
orderly. During the early hours of the 13th, while it was still
dark, people were awakened by the tramp of soldiery in the streets
(successive bodies of men marching in silence), wondered a little what
these unwonted movements signified, and then went to sleep again. When
they went out a few hours later the citizens found the whole city at
the mercy of nearly twenty thousand mutinous troops. The plot had
been carefully organised with the same extraordinary secrecy that had
characterised the Young Turk revolution of the previous July, and no
one save those concerned had any suspicion as to what was about to
happen.
Before dawn the troops, after shooting some of their officers and
binding and imprisoning others, marched through the streets under the
command of their non-commissioned officers, and concentrated in the
neighbourhood of the House of Parliament. The Salonica Chasseurs, who,
as Macedonian troops, had been regarded as being wholly loyal to the
Young Turk cause, took a leading part in the revolt. A large number of
marines also joined the mutineers and were guilty of the murder of many
officers. When the sun rose the square outside the Parliament House
and the Mosque of St. Sophia was packed with the mutineers and a great
number of _softas_ and _hodjas_ in their turbans and flowing robes,
who harangued the soldiers and inflamed their fanatical zeal. In front
of St. Sophia waved the red and green banner of the Sheriat. Brave
officers who occasionally arrived to remonstrate with their men were
immediately killed.
It was apparent that the revolt had been very carefully planned, and
that the troops had received detailed instructions which they obeyed
to the letter, and there can be no doubt that they were assured that
they were doing as the Padishah wished them to do. Bodies of troops
were detached to seize the bridges and the telegraph offices, and
dispositions were made to meet resistance from any point. It was
made quite clear that the main object of the counter-revolution was
the destruction of the Committee of Union and Progress; for, while
killing officers and others who belonged to that association, the
soldiers preserved order, in no way interfered with the civilian
population, and spoke reassuring words to the Christians whom they
met. But notwithstanding this, there was, of course, a panic in the
city, and all the shops put up their shutters. Mobs of Mussulmans of
the dangerous class, Kurds and Lazes, armed with pistols and clubs,
and in many cases with rifles, joined the soldiery; but even these had
apparently been given the word that excesses would damage the cause
of the faithful, for the massacres and pillage which might have been
expected from this rough and fanatical element of the population did
not occur.
The conspirators had not secured the support of the entire garrison of
Constantinople; for troops loyal to the Government—cavalry, artillery,
and infantry—were holding the Ministry of War on the morning of the
13th. General Mukhtar Pasha, the commander of the First Army Corps,
was on duty on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, and he has told
an interviewer that the signal for revolution had been purposely
given while he was absent. So soon as he was informed as to what was
happening he hurried back to Stamboul, and on reaching head-quarters
on the morning of the 13th found the Ministry of War surrounded by a
wildly excited mob. He collected the troops who had not joined the
mutineers and dispersed the crowd with his cavalry. He states that had
he been given full powers he could have nipped the revolt in the bud,
and that had the Ministry taken the proper measures in time the mutiny
could have been mastered without bloodshed. But Mukhtar was expressly
impeded from taking energetic action and, as the natural result, his
own troops began to desert him. When Mukhtar heard that the Sultan had
issued an amnesty to the mutineers he realised that he could do no
more, and resigned his command. He only escaped the death that had been
prepared for him by taking a circuitous route, and ultimately found a
refuge on a foreign man-of-war.
The demands that were made by the mutineers showed pretty conclusively
that the plot had been arranged by the Liberal Union working hand in
hand with reactionaries and fanatics. The troops cheered loudly for
the Sultan, called for the strict application of the Sacred Law, the
overthrow of the Government, the destruction of the Committee, and
the removal of the officers of the Salonica Chasseurs and the marines.
The following specific demands, which could never have been thought
out by the ignorant soldiers, who know nothing of politics, were also
put forward by them—demands which had obviously been prompted by the
Liberal Union—the dismissal of the Grand Vizier, the Ministers of War
and Marine, the commander of the First Army Corps, and the President
of the Chamber of Deputies; the removal from Constantinople of the
editor of the Young Turk newspaper, the _Tannin_, and the expulsion of
Rahmi Bey and Djavid Bey, Deputies for Salonica, and members of the
Committee of Union and Progress. The soldiers also asked that Ismail
Kemal Bey, the leader of the Liberal Union, and his supporter, Zohrab
Bey, should be made President and Vice-President of the Chamber of
Deputies. Their acts as well as their words proved who had instigated
them to revolt; they murdered Nazim Pasha, the Minister of Justice, and
wounded the Minister of Marine; they killed the Emir Mohammed Arslan,
a highly respected Deputy, as he was entering the House, mistaking him
for the editor of the _Tannin_, and they destroyed the offices of the
Committee of Union and Progress, as well as those of its organs, the
_Shura-i-Ummet_ and the _Tannin_.
During April 13 the reactionaries ruled Constantinople; the members
of the Committee of Union and Progress had to take to flight or hide
themselves, and several of the Generals crossed the Bosphorus and
took refuge in the house of a well-known British merchant. The Liberal
Union, which had let loose the forces of disorder, enjoyed but a short
triumph. In the evening of the 13th some Deputies met in the House
and elected the Liberal Union leader, Ismail Kemal Bey, as President
of the Chamber—an illegal proceeding, as there was no quorum, and the
Young Turk members who represented the parliamentary majority naturally
were not present. In the course of the day Ismail Kemal and some
members of the Liberal Union went to the Yildiz and begged the Sultan
to appoint Kiamil Pasha, who was a supporter of the Union, as Grand
Vizier, but the Sultan refused to listen to their advice. From this
time the Liberal Union lost its hold on the people, and was deserted
by many members of the party who were good patriots and adherents
of the Constitution, for these recognised and were horrified at the
mischief that had been wrought by the self-seeking wire-pullers of this
so-called “Liberal” organisation.
And in the meanwhile all eyes were turned anxiously to the Yildiz to
discover what would be the attitude of the inscrutable monarch at this
crisis. In the evening of the 13th, when the Sultan granted an amnesty
to the mutineers, called them his children, and yielded to many of
their demands, there were lovers of liberty who feared the worst; but
when it became known that the Sultan had not taken immediate advantage
of the situation to restore absolutism, but, on the contrary, on
the resignation of the Young Turk Ministry in the afternoon, had
appointed Tewfik Pasha as Grand Vizier and Edhem Pasha as Minister of
War, great relief was felt; for these were two trusted and able men,
who, though they were no partisans of this or that political group,
were undoubtedly men of Liberal principles and no creatures of the
Despotism. So the Constitutionalists took heart, and they were still
more reassured when on the 15th Nazim Pasha was appointed Commander of
the First Army Corps and Assistant Minister of War. The appointment
of Nazim Pasha as Minister of War in February last had roused the
opposition of the Committee of Union and Progress, and was one of the
chief causes of the fall of Kiamil Pasha; but, as the Young Turks
clearly explained at the time, it was with Kiamil’s policy that they
found fault; Nazim himself was admired and respected by them as a fine
soldier and a man of distinctly Liberal views, for which the Palace had
made him suffer in his time. It was therefore recognised that the newly
created temporary Government was at any rate not a reactionary one, and
that the cause of liberty, though still in great peril, was not yet
lost.
For twenty-four hours the soldiers celebrated their victory by firing
off their rifles in the streets, thereby accidentally killing and
wounding a good many people. It was noticed that they had plenty of
money to spend, and it was evident that a large sum had been provided
by the organisers of the conspiracy to buy the support of the army.
As many of the men confessed afterwards, they had succumbed to gifts
of money and had been misled by lying preachers who approached them
in the name of religion. On April 15 Nazim Pasha, who is popular with
the army, though a strict disciplinarian, announced that the severest
punishment would be inflicted on any soldiers who fired in the streets,
and explained that the Sultan’s amnesty only protected them from
punishment for crimes committed during the two previous days. Next
he released all officers who had been imprisoned by the mutineers,
and warned the soldiers that no mercy would be shown to those who
molested these officers or any of the civilian population. The bulk
of the troops now returned to their barracks, order was restored, and
outwardly Constantinople was once again a city of peace.
But a crime had been committed with what far-reaching evil results to
Turkey no man knows yet. This wanton conspiracy, doomed to failure
from the beginning, not only threatened the destruction of the
Constitution, but, stirring up all the forces of reaction, sent a wave
of fanaticism sweeping through Asia that it will be difficult indeed
to stem. It has brought about the massacre of Christians, civil war,
the fratricidal fighting between Turkish armies, the menace of foreign
intervention, and the possibility of the disintegration of the Empire
itself. The counter-revolution soon bore its evil fruit. On April 15,
telegrams from Mersina, in Asia Minor, announced the beginning of
those massacres which have cost the lives of thousands of Armenians.
It is probable that the reactionaries planned these massacres, for the
fact that certain notable Armenians were warned as to what was about
to happen by their Moslem friends, disproves the theory that a chance
affray was responsible for all this slaughter; at any rate the outbreak
of murderous fanaticism would have been suppressed speedily had not
the authority of the Government officials on the spot been destroyed
by the revolt in the capital. Then came the news of a rising of the
Moslem Albanians, whom the agents of reaction had converted into the
bitter enemies of the Young Turks. During these days of doubt and fear
for patriotic Turks, but one event of hopeful augury occurred. On April
19 the Turko-Bulgarian Protocol, by which Turkey recognised Bulgaria’s
independence, was signed. The provisional Government had acted wisely,
for thus was removed the danger of a war with Bulgaria at this very
critical time.
A member of the Young Turk party said to me: “If the reactionaries
imagine that we will take this lying down they will find themselves
much mistaken. We are very strong: practically all European Turkey is
on our side, and you will see that we will now set to work to crush
the power of the reactionaries once and for all.” And so indeed it has
come to pass. When the news of the counter-revolution reached Salonica,
the city that is proud that it was the cradle of Turkey’s liberty, the
inhabitants—Moslems, Christians, and Jews—were infuriated, and called
for an immediate march upon Constantinople. To Salonica flocked the
officers and other members of the Committee who had escaped from the
capital, and thither, too, hurried the two gallant young leaders of
the July revolution, Enver Bey and Hakki Bey, who at the time were the
Turkish military _attachés_ in Berlin and Vienna respectively. Niazi
Bey, too, in Monastir, sent the word to his Albanian and Bulgarian
friends to collect volunteers, and he himself, with the regulars under
his command, took train to Salonica. And now it was made manifest that
Macedonia, at any rate, remained faithful to the Constitution and to
the Young Turk party. The men of the Third Army Corps were eager to be
led against the traitorous reactionaries of the capital; the civilian
Moslems formed themselves into bands of _fedais_; all the Bulgarian
clubs in Macedonia declared themselves the supporters of the Young Turk
cause, and their members expressed their readiness to die in defence
of the Constitution, and this despite the fact that the Bulgarians
had not been treated fairly during the Parliamentary elections; the
famous Bulgarian chiefs, Sandansky and Panitza, and other Bulgarian
leaders, brought their bands of enthusiastic mountaineers to Salonica;
the Albanian Christian mountain tribes, including my old friends the
Miridites, sent their armed men to fight for the cause; the Jews
volunteered in numbers; indeed, of the various elements composing the
population of Macedonia the Greeks alone appear to have held aloof.
In Constantinople the reactionaries, notwithstanding the appointment of
a Ministry that supported the Constitution, had taken it for granted
that the success of their cause was assured, and, having seduced the
garrison to their side, they but awaited the order of the Sultan to
complete their work and give the _coup de grace_ to the _régime_ of
liberty. They had apparently omitted to consider whether the rest of
Turkey would support their action; for the news from Macedonia came as
a shocking surprise to them, and irritated the well-named _Volkan_, the
organ of the League of Mohammed, into an eruption of furious articles
of a highly inflammatory and dangerous character. First came the news
from Salonica that the Committee of Union and Progress refused to
acknowledge the new Government, and that the Macedonians intended to
march upon Constantinople. On April 16 a telegram announced that the
first sixteen battalions of the Constitutional army (the Third Army
Corps) had already entrained at Salonica. Next it became known that
the Second Army Corps at Adrianople had agreed to support the Salonica
force. On the 19th the advanced patrols of the avenging Macedonian army
were at St. Stefano within two leagues of the capital. It was all in
vain that the Government sent telegrams and deputations to Salonica to
reassure the Young Turks and to explain that the Constitution was in no
danger, and would be respected by the Sultan and his new Ministry, for
the Young Turks could not be brought to believe that the Constitution
was secure while the capital was full of triumphant reactionaries and
troops who had been bought over to their cause, acting in the name of a
Sultan whom it would be folly to trust again.
So the Parliamentary troops began to concentrate round the capital,
and the reactionaries lost heart. The Palace spies and other deeply
compromised persons thought it prudent to flee from the capital. A
friend of mine, writing from Constantinople, tells me that a panic
seized the people, including many Europeans, and that their hurried
departure to catch any steamer in the port, bound for no matter
where, was comic, but lacking in dignity. On the other hand, the
different Liberal political groups, Moslem, Christian, and Jew, agreed
to put aside their party differences and to unite in upholding the
Constitution. The Committee of Union and Progress recovered much of the
influence and popularity that it had lost, for it was recognised that
this organisation alone had the power behind it to enforce the will of
the people and defeat the reactionaries. It became plain, too, that the
Ministry itself was co-operating with the leaders of the Macedonian
army, so as to come to some arrangement that would safeguard the
Constitution and at the same time prevent, if possible, the shedding
of blood. As for the Sultan, he remained in the Yildiz, inscrutable
as ever, and had frequent conferences with Tewfik Pasha, his Grand
Vizier, who announced that “His Sublime Majesty awaits benevolently the
arrival of the so-called constitutional army. He has nothing to gain
or fear, since His Sublimity is for the Constitution and is its supreme
guardian.”
No preparations for defence or resistance of any sort were made by
the Government, and Nazim Pasha and the other Generals in the capital
confined themselves to maintaining order in the garrison and preventing
any fanatical outbreak on the part of the rough element of the
Moslem population. Of the troops forming the garrison a considerable
proportion repented that they had taken part in the mutiny, and,
acknowledging that they had been misled by lies, were ready to take the
oath of fidelity to the Constitution; but, on the other hand, a great
many, including the six thousand who were guarding the Yildiz, were
faithful to those who had deceived and bribed them, and were prepared
to die for the Sultan.
General Husni Pasha rapidly brought up the troops that were to
invest the capital, the bulk of them belonging to the Third Army
Corps; but the force also included contingents from the Second, or
Adrianople, Army Corps and numbers of volunteers, for the most part
Moslem Macedonians, Bulgarians, and Albanians, wild-looking men from
the mountains clad in their picturesque native dress. General Mahmut
Shevket Pasha, the commander of the Third Army Corps, directed the
operations, and on the 21st he left Salonica for the front to take
over the supreme command of the army of investment. Foreign military
observers have spoken in terms of highest praise of the rapidity with
which the Third Army Corps was mobilised, the admirable organisation,
the discipline, _morale_, and excellent condition of the troops, the
arrangements for the supply of food, the completeness of the equipment
of the force, which included field hospitals, field telegraphs, and
other details. The Turkish army has profited much by the splendid
training of Baron von der Goltz and the German officers under him, and
has become a fighting machine which will be able to give a very good
account of itself if the enemies of Turkey venture to attack her.
It is unnecessary to give an account here of the various negotiations
which were carried on between the Ministry in Constantinople and the
advancing army, for it is clear that these were mostly simulated
with the object of keeping the capital quiet and gaining time until
Shevket Pasha had collected a force sufficiently large to overawe
the reactionary portion of the garrison and so secure the entry and
occupation of Constantinople with as little bloodshed as possible.
Of the many statements made at this time by the Ministry and the
Young Turk leaders, one stands out as important and significant. The
Committee of Union and Progress, recognising that this was no time
for any political party to assert itself, and that all friends of
liberty should unite to save the Constitution, announced its intention
of remaining completely in the background and not intervening in
any way, while the army, acting quite independently, would free the
Constitution from the fetters which traitors had placed upon it. The
army, it was maintained, had nothing to do with politics or parties. It
was the army of the nation, and it was for Shevket Pasha, representing
the army, to redeem its honour by entering the capital, proclaiming
martial law, and severely punishing the traitors who had corrupted the
soldiers and used them to forward their reactionary schemes.
The army of investment increased in numbers daily, and on April 22
a semi-circle of thirty thousand men enclosed Constantinople on its
land side while men-of-war guarded its sea approaches. On that day a
National Assembly, composed of Senators and Deputies, with Said Pasha
as President, held a secret session at St. Stefano, within the lines
of the investing army, and apparently agreed on the deposition of the
Sultan. On Friday, April 23, Abdul Hamid, for the last time, was the
central figure of the Selamlik and drove to the mosque between faithful
Guards and a crowd of many thousands of his subjects. Only ten days had
passed since the counter-revolution had restored to him much of his
former despotic power, but the action of the Young Turks was quick and
decisive, and this was to be the last day of his long and calamitous
reign.
Shevket Pasha, having completed his dispositions, lost no time in
further parleying, recognising that to do as speedily as possible what
had to be done would probably save much bloodshed in the capital, and
prevent the further spreading of the dangerous reactionary movements
in Asia Minor and Albania. At three in the morning of April 24 the
Macedonian troops, regulars and volunteers, began to work their way
into the city from all sides, and proceeded to occupy Stamboul,
Galata, and Pera. They entered Stamboul by the principal gates that
pierce the ancient walls, encountering resistance at one gate only.
Near the Sublime Porte a portion of the garrison offered a determined
resistance, which was overcome by Niazi Bey, at the head of the
Resna battalion, and a band of Macedonian volunteers. Some of the
guard-houses had to be taken at the point of the bayonet. The entry
into Stamboul of the Parliamentary troops seems to have taken a great
part of the garrison by surprise, for Shevket Pasha, in his official
report, states that “the troops quartered at the Ministry of War were
compelled to surrender before they had time to defend themselves.”
On the farther side of the Golden Horn the fighting was more severe
than in Stamboul. Shortly after 5 A.M. firing commenced in the
outskirts of Pera. The Macedonian troops attacked the Taksim and
Tashkishla barracks, which were defended in most stubborn manner
by desperate men who thought that they would receive no mercy, and
there was fierce street fighting in the European quarter, where the
guard-houses were bravely held by the misguided men of the First Army
Corps. From the Tashkishla barracks a heavy fire was opened upon
the advancing troops, and the barracks had to be shelled and almost
destroyed by the artillery on the heights above, before the garrison,
after several hours’ fighting and heavy losses, surrendered.
Equally desperate was the defence of the Taxim barracks, the attack on
which was led by Enver Bey. This young officer, who, during the months
that preceded the revolution, had wandered, disguised and at great risk
to his life, through the Macedonian garrison towns, and there, though
surrounded by spies, had successfully won officers and men over to the
cause, like his friend Niazi desired no recognition of his patriotic
work, and, modest as he is able, was glad to accept the simple post of
military _attaché_ at Berlin. Recalled by his country’s danger when
the counter-revolution broke out, he joined the army at Salonica, and
now, on April 24, he was leading across the Taxim Square a charge of
regular troops and volunteers—Moslems, Christians, and Jews—fighting
shoulder to shoulder against a Moslem foe, a strange thing, indeed, to
come about in Turkey. These men fought splendidly under their young
leader, but so deadly a fire was opened upon them from the loopholed
barracks that here, too, artillery had to be employed to overpower the
defence. Guns were dragged up the steep, narrow streets by the willing
populace and opened fire at very short range upon the barracks and the
Taxim guard-house. Then there was a rush of the Turks, Bulgarians,
and white-capped Albanians, and the defenders, after a three hours’
resistance, which cost the attacking force many casualties, hoisted the
white flag and surrendered.
While barracks were being thus assaulted, and there was hand-to-hand
fighting in the streets of Pera, the commander-in-chief of the
Macedonian forces had made most careful dispositions to preserve order
in the great city and protect the civilian population. A detachment
of troops was sent to guard each embassy. Bodies of regulars, cadets
and volunteers patrolled the streets of Pera and Galata, shooting down
such Marines and Kurds as were attempting to loot the shops, and making
prisoners of all the soldiers belonging to the garrison whom they came
across. In Stamboul the troops seized hundreds of spies, _softas_ and
_hodjas_, who, after stirring up the evil passions of the garrison and
the populace, had taken refuge in the mosques. By noon, quiet had been
restored in Constantinople, and in the evening the troops quartered
in the Selimieh barracks at Scutari surrendered to the Macedonian
regiments which had been transported across the Bosphorus to compel the
submission of these men, and to intercept fugitives from the capital.
These operations were all planned and carried into execution with a
wonderful skill. The discipline, courage, and irreproachable conduct of
the Macedonian troops aroused the admiration of all foreign observers.
The wild-looking volunteers from the mountains fought as bravely as the
regulars, and their behaviour was exemplary. That evening nearly twenty
thousand fighting men, flushed with victory, were scattered through the
great city, and yet there appear to have been no cases of drunkenness
or irregularities of any description. It was the triumph of the right
cause—the cause that represents enlightenment, justice, liberty, and
true patriotism—as opposed to tyranny, corruption, fanaticism, and
ignorance.
The capital was in the hands of the Young Turks; the forces of reaction
had been crushed; a state of siege was proclaimed; some thousands of
arrests were made; the more guilty received the punishment which they
deserved, and the others were treated with leniency, for, while justice
was administered, anything that savoured of vengeance was disallowed;
the First Army Corps was disbanded and the mutinous soldiers were sent
to Macedonia, to be employed in constructing roads; Tewfik Pasha and
his ministers consented to carry on the government provisionally.
In short, the Young Turk _régime_ was firmly reestablished by men
who acted with discretion and decision after a crisis that perhaps
has cleared the atmosphere and effected a reconciliation between
such political foes as have in common the love of country and the
determination to uphold the Constitution.
Early in the morning of April 27 Reshad Effendi left his residence,
the Dolma Baghche Palace, and drove to the War Office, where he was
proclaimed Sultan with a salvo of 101 guns. After thirty-three years of
luxurious but depressing isolation he now changes places with his elder
brother, the former going from captivity to a throne, the latter from
a throne to captivity. The new Sultan is an amiable man, beloved by
his _entourage_, and he has already produced a favourable impression on
such foreigners as have been received by him.
INDEX
Aali Pasha, 26.
Aassim Bey, 248.
Abd-ul-Aziz, accession of, 25;
deposed, 29.
Abdul Hamid, accession of, 30.
Abdul Houda, 205.
Abd-ul-Mejid, 25.
Administration by the Young Turks, 214.
Ahmed Riza, 248;
and the Central Committee, 102;
in London, 76, 78.
Albania, revolt in, 66-70.
Albanian chiefs, the, 154;
horrors, 22.
Albanians support the Committee, 169-194.
Ali Bey, 69.
Ameer Ali, 61.
Anatolian troops, 169-184.
Anti-Christian feeling, 10.
Animals, kindness to, 8.
Army, the, 40;
a strong, needed, 261, 280;
and the Revolution, 113-115;
discontent in the, 87-100;
and the Committee, 224;
mutinous, 300;
Young Turks and, 89-100.
Astrologer at Court, an, 205.
Atrocities, 15-24.
Austria’s annexations, 238;
trade, boycott of, 218.
“Awakening of Turkey,” play, 257.
“Bag and Baggage” policy, the, 21.
Balance of Power, the, 36.
Bloodless Victory, a, 185, 197.
Boer War and the Turks, 47.
Bosnia, annexation of, 238;
risings in, 27.
Boycott of Austrian trade, 218.
Brigands, Macedonian, 18;
Turkish, 7.
British, hatred of the, 45.
Bulgarian Atrocities, 18;
insurrection, 152-158.
Bulgarians and Greeks, 93;
friendly, 169-184.
Camarilla, dispersal of, 232.
Causes of revolt, 49.
Censorship, the, 41.
Central Committee, the, 101, 117, 119, 132, 199, 224, 246.
Characteristics of Turks, 5.
Christian propagandists, 94.
Congress at Salonica, 252;
of 1907, 85.
Constantinople after the revolt, 211.
Constitution granted, 205;
proclaimed, 200;
suspended, 33.
Corruption in Constantinople, 294;
spread of, 35-53.
Counter-revolution, the, 297-320.
_Coup d’état_, of 1876, 28.
Crawford, Mr., 235.
Customs, reorganisation of, 235.
Czar, the, and Edward VII, 122.
Death of Shemshi Pasha, 168.
Demonstrations, 209.
Despotism, final efforts of, 169-184.
“Diary of a Young Turk,” 115.
Discontent in the Army, 87-100.
Dismemberment of Turkey, 1.
Disunion, 299.
Djavid Bey, 248.
Dogs in Constantinople, 8.
Domination of the Committee, 224.
Early Reformers, 25-34.
Education, spread of, 54-63.
Edward VII and the Tsar, 122;
congratulations from, 231.
Elections, the, 273-280.
Electoral law, the, 270.
Enemies of the Young Turks, 284.
England and Turkey, 4;
friendship with, 229.
Enver Bey, 125, 130, 169, 248.
European assistance, 227-237;
influence, 13.
Exile of leaders, 31.
Exiles, return of the, 208.
Eyoub Effendi, 188.
Faik Bey, 248.
Fehim Pasha, 42.
Ferid Pasha dismissed, 204.
Finances, organisation of, 235.
Fraternising, 209.
Freemasonry, 101.
French influence, 13.
Fuad Pasha, 26.
Geneva, Young Turks at, 72.
German influence, 45, 93, 295.
Greek influence, 253-277;
Patriarchate influence of, 221.
Greeks and Bulgarians, 93.
Guards, the Palace, 238-248.
Halil Halid, 19.
Hamidian _régime_, the, 35-53.
Hatti-Sherif of Gulhane, the, 25.
Herzegovina, annexation of, 238;
risings in, 27.
Hilmi Pasha, 202, 234.
_Hurriet_, newspaper, the, 64.
Ignatieff, 26.
Influence, European, 13;
German, 45, 93, 295.
Insurrection, in Bulgaria, 152, 158;
the Macedonian, 90.
Intermarriage with Westerns, 57.
Internal dissensions, 281-296.
Interregnum, the, 222.
Ismail Pasha, 131.
Istarova, Niazi at, 172.
Japan-Russo War, influence of, 54.
Jews and the Young Turks, 83.
Kemil Bey, poet, 57.
Kermanle Metre, 139.
Kiamil Pasha, 39, 230;
resignation of, 287.
Labcha, 156.
Laurent, Monsieur, 235.
Liberal Union, the, 290.
Liberty secured for all, 225.
Literature, Turkish, 13.
Macedonia, in 1908, 133;
pacification of, 227;
partition of, 2.
Macedonian brigands, 18;
Committees, 84;
insurrection, 90.
Magna Charta of Turkey, the, 25.
Mahmud II, 25.
Mahmud Nedim Pasha, 26-27.
Manifesto of Central Committee, 120.
Mascot, a, 191.
Mehemet Ali, murder of, 69.
Midhat Pasha, premier, 26, 31;
exile and death, 33.
Military and the Revolution, 113;
condition of the, 50-53.
Mohammedans and the Committee, 224.
Monastir 152;
capture of, 192, 194;
Vali of, 169, 184.
Mongolians, the, 5.
Moslem reformation, the, 60.
Murad V, 29.
Mussulman, the, 5;
influence, 154.
Nationalist parties, 288.
Navy, decay of the, 36.
Nazim Bey, Colonel, sent to Salonica, 127.
Niazi Bey, 133-138, 141;
called to Ochrida, 185;
letters of, 116;
revolt of, 125;
work in Bulgaria, 160;
at Velijon, 166;
manifesto, 164.
Ochrida, 186;
the march on, 190.
Osman Pasha, a prisoner, 195.
Ottoman Committee, the, 75-97.
Palace, corruption at, 6;
and the Greeks, 159, 184.
Pan-Islamic schemes, 38.
Pan-Islamism, repudiated, 58.
Paris, Young Turks at, 72.
Parliament, dissolved, 65;
opening of, 281-296;
the new, 249, 260, 276, 280, 287.
Parties in Parliament, 287.
People, the Turkish, 1.
Police, secret, 42.
Polygamy, 11.
Poole, Stanley Lane, 13.
Power, the balance of, 36.
Press, liberty of, 41;
and the Committee, 224.
Proclamation to the Greeks, 182.
Programme of Young Turk party, 261.
Reactionary intrigues, 239, 293.
Reformation, the Moslem, 60.
Reformers, early, 25-34.
Religious questions, 9.
Reshad Effendi proclaimed Sultan, 319.
Reshid Pasha, 25.
Resources, development of, 264.
Revolt, causes of, 49;
standard of, 133.
Revolution, after the, 207-221;
beginning of, 117-132;
of 1907, 54.
Rise of the Young Turks, 64-86.
Resna, the rising of, 146.
Russia, peace of 1878, 33.
Russian influence, 16.
Russo-Turkish War, the, 16.
Sabah-ed-Din, Prince, 76.
Said Pasha, Grand Vizier, 204, 229.
Salonica, Central Committee at, 103;
Congress at, 252;
Ottoman Committee at, 97-100.
Sandansky, king of the mountains, 211.
Secret police, the, 42.
Secret proceedings, 105.
Sefer Bey, 30.
Selamlik, the, 243.
Self-rule, preparing for, 249-260.
Sheik-ul-Islam, the, 11.
Shemshi Pasha, 126-152;
assassinated, 168.
Shura-i-Ummet journal, the, 248.
“Sick man of Europe,” the, 21.
“Silistria,” the, 57.
Softas, the, 28.
Spies in Turkey, 20;
system of, 41, 44, 66.
Spread of Corruption, the, 35-53.
Spread of Education, 54-63.
Spy system, the military, 89.
Standard of Revolt, the, 133-151.
“Story of the Nations,” the, 13.
Sultan, character of the, 37;
the new, 297-320.
Taxation, re-adjustment of, 265.
Theatre, influence of the, 257.
Tolerance of the Young Turks, 59.
Treachery against Turkey, 3.
Troops, the palace, 242.
Tsar, the, and Edward VII, 122.
Ulemas, the, 11, 61.
Ultimatum of the Committee, 198-206.
Union and Progress, Committee of, 261, 280, 284.
“Unspeakable Turks,” the, 15.
Vali of Monastir, the, 169, 184.
Velijon, Niazi at, 166.
Victory, a Bloodless, 185-197.
Von der Goltz, Baron, 103.
Western ideas, influence of, 56.
Whittall, Sir William, 7.
Women, in the Revolution, 112;
status of, 12.
Yildiz soldiers, the, 239.
Young Turk party, the, 3, 55, 59-63, 86;
programme, 261;
movement of, 79;
administration by, 214;
rise of the, 64-86.