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With this, he thought that he discerned in Germany, whose supremacy was evidenced in his eyes by her capital being selected as the meeting-place of the Congress, the future friend of his empire. He employed Germans for the reorganization of his finances and his army, and set to work in the determination to maintain his empire, to resist the encroachments of foreigners, and to take gradually the reins of absolute power into his own hands (for he rightfully distrusted his mimisters). Financial embarrassments forced him to consent to a foreign control over the national debt, and the decree of December 1881, whereby many of the revenues of the empire were handed over to the Public Debt Administration for the benefit of the bondholders, was a sacrifice of principle to which he could only have consented with the greatest reluctance. Trouble in Egypt, where a discredited khedive had to be deposed, trouble on the Greek frontier and in Montenegro, where the European powers were determined that the decisions of the [Berlin Congress]? should be carried into effect, were more or less satisfactorily handled. In his attitude towards Arabi?, the would-be saviour of Egypt, Abd-ul-Hamid showed less than his usual astuteness, and the resulting consolidation of England's hold over the country contributed still further to his estrangement from Turkey's old ally. The union in 1885 of Bulgaria with Eastern Rumelia?, the severance of which had been the great triumph of the Berlin Congress, was another blow. Few people south of the Balkans dreamed that Bulgaria could be anything but a Russian province, and apprehension was entertained of the results of the union until it was seen that Russia really and entirely disapproved of it. Then the best was made of it, and for some years the sultan preserved towards Bulgaria an attitude skilfully calculated so as to avoid running counter either to Russian or to German wishes. Germany's friendship was not entirely disinterested, and had to be fostered with a railway or loan concession from time to time, until in 1899 the great object aimed at, the [Baghdad railway]?, was conceded. |
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With this, he thought that he discerned in Germany, whose supremacy was evidenced in his eyes by her capital being selected as the meeting-place of the Congress, the future friend of his empire. He employed Germans for the reorganization of his finances and his army, and set to work in the determination to maintain his empire, to resist the encroachments of foreigners, and to take gradually the reins of absolute power into his own hands (for he rightfully distrusted his mimisters). Financial embarrassments forced him to consent to a foreign control over the national debt, and the decree of December 1881, whereby many of the revenues of the empire were handed over to the Public Debt Administration for the benefit of the bondholders, was a sacrifice of principle to which he could only have consented with the greatest reluctance. Trouble in Egypt, where a discredited khedive had to be deposed, trouble on the Greek frontier and in Montenegro, where the European powers were determined that the decisions of the [Berlin Congress]? should be carried into effect, were more or less satisfactorily handled. In his attitude towards Arabi?, the would-be saviour of Egypt, Abd-ul-Hamid showed less than his usual astuteness, and the resulting consolidation of England's hold over the country contributed still further to his estrangement from Turkey's old ally. The union in 1885 of Bulgaria with Eastern Rumelia?, the severance of which had been the great triumph of the Berlin Congress, was another blow. Few people south of the Balkans dreamed that Bulgaria could be anything but a Russian province, and apprehension was entertained of the results of the union until it was seen that Russia really and entirely disapproved of it. Then the best was made of it, and for some years the sultan preserved towards Bulgaria an attitude skilfully calculated so as to avoid running counter either to Russian or to German wishes. Germany's friendship was not entirely disinterested, and had to be fostered with a railway or loan concession from time to time, until in 1899 the great object aimed at, the [Baghdad railway]?, was conceded. |
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The correct attitude of the sultan did not save him from the suspicion of intriguing with the powerful reactionary elements in the state, a suspicion confirmed by his attitude towards the counter-revolution of the 13th of April, when an insurrection of the soldiers and the Moslem populace of the capital overthrew the committee and the ministry. The comittee, restored by the Salonica troops, now decided on Abd-ul-Hamid's deposition, and on the 27th of April his brother Reshid Effendi was proclaimed sultan as [Mahommed V]?. The ex-sultan was conveyed into dignified captivity at Salonica. |
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The correct attitude of the sultan did not save him from the suspicion of intriguing with the powerful reactionary elements in the state, a suspicion confirmed by his attitude towards the counter-revolution of the 13th of April, when an insurrection of the soldiers and the Moslem populace of the capital overthrew the committee and the ministry. The comittee, restored by the Salonica troops, now decided on Abd-ul-Hamid's deposition, and on the 27th of April his brother Reshid Effendi was proclaimed sultan as [Mahommed V]?. The ex-sultan was conveyed into dignified captivity at Salonica. |
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