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Show I f Secrets of the Court of Sultan Mahmud V. IISffffiSMisasd ll Bi T. . a., -iu , Not Assert His Personality. By James Ramsd ell mU BR 1 (Copyrighted by tho Wietner Agency, XJmltod. All rights reserved.) J jaiuco ixamsucu Hrl j A Often in the history of Europe a caro ls )esa or untrlod princo has mounted a I r thro no and soon the -whisper has run ; around the capitals: "He has become a ! . king Indcod!" For InHtanco, tho Into ;. King Edward was a gay prince, but as ; ; king ho becamo a serious monarch and . : l stickler for dignity and etiquette With : Bultan Mahmud V., ruler of the Ottoman ; i,- empire, It Is different. Power, perhaps. : came too late to mako such Imprint on ' ; . his character Anyway, he Is much as ; . before. Tho main alteration 13 that, t " whereas magnificence .and ceremony wore I the essence of the old life at Ylldlz Kl- 1 osk. simplicity 13 tho rule of existence ! at Dolma Bagtcho. ! Slxly-tlvo years old. 3tout, round s', shouldered and gray-haired, he looks ' more like a .good-natured professor than ; sultan and caliph. He has the kindest 1 z of blue eyes and dresses in the fashion' K f , of thirty years ago. ml " Abdul Hamld, afraid some party might fi T put him on the throne, Imprisoned him Jn the palace of Dolma Bngtche, and un- til he was choyen as sultan, eighteen months ago, Mahmud V. had never ? spoken to any European. ! His real namo Is Reszad Mahmud.. J f Those who frequent the court constantly t will tell you that. Intellectually, he stands far lower than Abdul Hamld. In Turkey, wr the heir apparent is not the reigning ; sultan's eldest son, but his next younger i brother. Thus' the Young Turks made ; i lieszad sultan because he stood In that I '. relationship to Abdul. That was a good ; ; reason In Mohammedan eyes, but cour-Mors cour-Mors know there was a second reason Reszad Is phlegmatic and weak-willed. ' f This fact gives the key to court life at . f. Constantinople today. Mahmud V. has : ,'; the best of hearts, but no ambition, no 'A vca- wish to assert his personality. Ho mw. ' does all the Young Turks tell him and JEr that is good enough for them. He ha four children, three sons and one daughter. Zla-Eddln, his eldest son, is G.! and will never become sultan. His : J daughter, Princess Refia, is fond of ' studying English and French. She takes : ' photographs In the garden of the harom 'r at Dolma Bagtche, and roads the worst , trash In the shape of French novels she ! can lay hands on. Quito happy with her : aimless style of life, sho looks vipon a visit to the mosque on Selamlk day as ! the greatest excitement a woman can f-41 wish for. Sho is short and stout, like her father, and her character is weak y mid amiable. She shared her father's lm-K lm-K prlsonment from birth and It is charac- Hv teristic of them that they both wished to stay on at Dolma Bagtcho even after ' his accession. They had grown to llko ' their prison. 1 t- So Dolma Bogtcho became tho real- denco of tho court It Is a very different place to Ylldlz iKosk, with Its hundred i: pavilions, menageries, vast stableH and : f ' countless treasures. But there Is one I charm a magnlilcent view of tho Bos- ; phorus. "When Abdul Hamld reigned l' Reszad was imprisoned in an annex which, Instead of facing the Bosphorus, 1 looked on tho avenue called Bechltach, which again was separated from tho i palace by an enormously high wall. Tho rest of the palace was closed, and Reszad and his family were only allowed to see S the park at statod intervals. 1 Their existence was burdened by all ' sorts of restrictions and when summer came they wore only allowed to exchauga Dolma Ba-gtcho. for a farm near Constantinople Con-stantinople at Machlok. Reszad was strictly forbidden to attend a mosque, because ho might seo people there. When ho drove out it was always In a closed carrlago and the noraes were kept at a sharp trot all tho time. After every drive Sultan Abdul Hamld received a detailed report, containing not only an account of tho route token, but of -every gesturo tho prince made. In his own rooms ho was spied on, day and night, by Abdul Hamld's servnntB. Except Ex-cept for his own wives and children, tho tailor, doctor and an occasional Jeweler, he was allowed to see nobody. Many believe Abdul Hamld foresaw his deposition, for during those thirty years ho seemed bent on making Reszad suffer as much as possible before ho reigned. L.ittlo wonder that Reszad, with his gentle and retiring disposition, soon ceosod to caro even to drive about. Ho spent hours composing Persian poems, an occupation he Is still very fond of. Has Oriental Taste. But though his majesty has Oriental rather than western tastos, he Is by no means averuo to European ideas. In fact, the court 1b far more European than In Abdul Hamld's time. For Instance, a llttlo while ago he held a lovoo for tho wives of his ministers, whom he ordered to appear unveiled. This command created creat-ed a sensation In the aristocratic harems of the capital. No woman had been received re-ceived at court for over flvo and thirty years. Their surprise was still greater when tho chamberlain of tho court gavo ordora that the women were to appear In, Parisian evening dresses with low necks. Constantinople shops wore ransacked for the smartest gowns obtainable. When the evening for tho reception arrived, ar-rived, some twenty ladles drove to Doliha Bagtche. They were received all together, to-gether, after their husbands. Tho sultan sul-tan shook hands with oach, asking such questions as "ITow aro your children?" "How many sons and daughters have you?" And ho smiled so benignly on them all that they wore perfectly charmed with him. Some of them, Said -PaRha'H wife In particular, were covered with beautiful jewels, but the dresses were not a success. suc-cess. None of them fitted really well and the colors chosen were decidedly oriental. orien-tal. The fact is, theso women, who had never soen Europeans, except for ono or: two embassadors wives, had not the least Idea of what should bo worn and therefore there-fore made funny mistakes. Only tho "first" wives of the ministers wore received re-ceived that Is, daughters of noblemen. Most of tho men about court prefer to marry slaves, because It is far less expensive. ex-pensive. If a courtier marries a pasha's daughter ho must scttlo a largo fortune upon her; If a slave, no such provision Is necessary. But the wives who have been Blavo3 cannot bo received at court. Sultan a Polygamist. Though the sultan is supposed to have but one wife, this is not tho case. It was given out at the time of his accession acces-sion In order to make him popular abroad. Ho has only ono noble wife, who Is now, for a Turk, quite an old woman. But ho has also two or three favorites, who. quarrel among themselves and Intrigue In-trigue for the sultan's recognition. Only tho other day the lavorlto of tho sultan, sul-tan, a very beautiful young woman of 17. aroused tho Jealousy of tho mother of tho Princess Refia, and tho noble rival determined to put an end to tho privileges privi-leges of tho odalisque, Sho concocted n plot, In which tho head librarian was to gain tho girl's affection, whereby tho sultan would bo mado very angry and dismiss her. Tho girl, however, learned of the plot In time and told her Imperial master, who was, for him, furiously enraged. en-raged. Ab ho could not get rid of his noble wife, he showed his displeasure by refusing: to visit her,' and dismissed tho librarian. In Abdul Hamld's day both tho wifo and librarian would have been flung, with stones around their necks, into tho Bosphorus. But royal displeasure Is shown nowadays in another way. So far, however, tho women of tho court play no RToat part In its life, though, of course, they aro an important factor in tho palace undercurrents. One does not yet see them at receptions, because, in spite of tho lovoo of the ministers' wives, women aro not supposed to talk to any men but their husbands, sons td brothers, and they ore always veiled except ex-cept In tho hnrem. The sultan is in favor of abolishing the thick veil or tchar tchaft. but tho Young Turks havo advised him not to do bo. oven in his own household, because public opinion is so strongly against such an inno'ation that Mohammedan women appearing in public without the vol! would bo mobbed at onco. Whero tho women havo to veil in the presence of mon. of course there can bo no court life, as Europeans understand It. So tho wives receive their women friends In their own apartments, hoping all the time the sultan will soon be able to abolish tho wearing of the veil. Meanwhile Mean-while dinners and receptions are attended attend-ed only by men. Ono great Innovation under tho now rcglmo Is the establishment establish-ment of a private theater at Dolma Bagtche. a thing unheard of Jn tho last sultan's time. But Mahmud V. Is verv fond of this, to him, -novel form o'f amusement. Not only arc his own poems recited, but Turkish dramas and com-cclles com-cclles aro played, boys taking tho parts ol women nnd wearing tho veil. Most of the princes of tho Imperial family aro invited to look on. Tho sultan rises at six or oven earlier, but goes to bed long before midnight. He generally sleeps in tho middle of the uay as well. Ills apartments are connected con-nected with tho harem by a small door. lor tho main entrance to the two quarters quar-ters are so far apart that to tho outsider out-sider they seem to have no communication communica-tion at alL Probably because of his long imprisonment, impris-onment, he dislikes to seo foreigners and strangers, but he Is most amiable to those fortunate enough to obtain an audience. au-dience. Shyness is still a characteristic or his temperament, but his wish to be popular has now overcome this to a great extent. He has given most of his large private fortune to the nation nnd only takes about S4000 a month for the !up-kcop of his palace. Palace Simply Furnished. Bl7Ja BaBtchL Is vcry simply furnished and fitted up. There wero neither telephones tele-phones nor electric lights till eight months ago. Most of the furniture Is In the st3il0, and.,the walls and ceilings are decorated In light and cheerful tints. The palaco contains nothing remarkable in the way of equipment, and what rcallv )ii!i!.ab4-G., nI?r01??,rty. t,,ere 18 was brought rrom .Ylldlz Kiosk after Abdul Hamld's departure. Some of the candelabra are very magnificent and in one or Iwo rooms the walls are decorated with beautiful beau-tiful mosaics. But the prevailing note . a,t"J.nl'clt' Etiquette has also been simplified. Unlike his predecessor, Mahmud Mah-mud talks to embassadors and other distinguished dis-tinguished strangers without the intervention inter-vention of a dragoman a thing Abdul Hamld ceased to do years ago. -He has also Introduced tho European method of shaking hands and lias issued an edict that those who approach him need no longer fall on their faces or kiss his hands. He never touches wlno and prefers pre-fers a vegetarian to a flesh diet. He Is the real father of the members of his household, takes a personal Interest In all who servo him and is always pleased to discover somebody whom he can help. Prince Suleyman Favorite. A great favorite at court Is Prince Suleyman, who is four years vounger than tho sultan. Suleyman spends most of his tlmo on his estate in the country, and takes a keen interest in agriculture, for which ho has Just ordered several American machines. His story is a sad one. Years ago he had a beautiful wife, whom ho adored. Hearing of tho process of photography, ho thought It would bo splendid if he could havo his rooms full of her photographs, so that when he mWM could not bo with her ho would still see mmm her face. So he sent her to a phologra- . i mmM Pher. Abdul Hamld's spies who woro 1 ; mWM everywhere, brought tho siory of tho :i ; WmWM Photographs to Ylldiz Kiosk. Abdul was '. muM furious sent for Suleyman and accused -) ', mwrnm him of breaking tho sacred law by ol- I'l lowing his wife to uncover her faco to ilmwM a stranger. '.'She is not lit to be tho l :mmmm wife of a sultan's brother." he said. Ho .1 mmmm had her arrested, divorced her from ' mwM Suleyman. and sent her as a present to fmWmm one of his favorites. The poor woman t" mWM died of grlff a few months later nnd ? '.WEWM huleymnn has never consoled himself 1 J for her loss. He Is always adVlsIng tho sultan to liberate Turkish women from H their present position Striking Member of Eoyal Family. t' Another striking member of the royal ! family Is the sullan's slater. Princess ;iH Senlke. This remarkable woman was ''1 married to Damad Mahmoud Pasha, a mWM distinguished Turkish diplomat, with whom she spent much of her life abroad. j'H After his death ut Brussels in 1003 she mwM returned to Turkey. Her customs are 3 thoroughly European. She lives at Pen- ) muM dlk. her country place near the capital, ? and superintends her estate herself. She IH speaks English and French quite fluent- .'iiH ly and reads deeply. In spite of the fact ' IH that she is GO years old, she rides on ' tmWM horseback every day, accompanied only 'H by a groom. Ono morning recently her , mwM horse bolted and threw her. The sul- i , mWm tan, wlu-ri he heard the news, was very ! much alarmed nml went to Pendlk at ! 'mmM once. But he found the indefatigable 'mWm princess, with her left arm bound up ' and her face badly bruised, transacting ' business from a couch In her cabinet- ll "You ought to have been a sultan," he exclaimed. She replied: "No! Iam too : ''mwM energetic. The Young Turks would not rmWm relish my activity for long." Princess ; muM Senlke Is more like her other brother. mwM Prince Youssouf Ezzedine. who is heir - I to the throne a man of great character : and energy. He is a good soldier and. 1 .mmm from his apartments at Dolma Bagtche, lmwm sees more of tho Young Turks' govern- -mmm ment than they like. Though he Is too muM clever to Interfere with so strong a ' party, it Is an open secret at court that he dislikes them. Ho often gives Ida brother advice, which, however, the poll- tlclans nullify. More than once when a -'1 parliamentary crisis has been on. Yous- ' souf's name has appeared on posters, stuck up all over Constantinople, calling muM upon tho people to overthrow tho present 'H government and make Youssouf sultan. IIo himself Is not openly in favor of - these uppcals, but relations between the : muM two brothers are, In consequence, some- what lll-deflned. . muM Many courtiers affirm that Youssouf . would not hesitate to dethrone his brother mWmm if tho Young Turks were not so strong. , mwM and it is an open secret that he has a large following, oven among tho officers, 1 though the army is the Young - Turks : mWM stronghold. Few at Dolma Bagtche doubt , 1 muM that if another real crisis arose the rest- less Youssouf would try his luck. His ; Balkan tour has added to his prestige. mWM But these things aro, as yet, only whi3- :. mwm pored. f |
