Show qa as personalities behind the transformed ottoman empire the young turk organization really a masonic movement the sultan as a tool by WILLIAM T ELLIS constantinople at tho the back ot of every movement aust be men inen the transformation of turkey from a mediaeval media eval absolutism to a constitutional government was waa not wrought thit without hout human agencies who did it at the time of the constitution and the r revolution there were stories of a romantic secret committee in paris with a chief possessed of greater creator statesmanship and more dictatorial powers than any crowned head in europe the present paris committee la is disgruntled and in opposition and it la Is rather generally admitted that there was considerable romancing about the original committee admittedly the young turk movement was waa a bit of successful opportunism its leaders were quick to take advantage of favorable events which is certainly nothing to their dis credit the men were ready for their chance when it came A german on top but now after the lapse of many months who Is the top roan man in tur keyl amid all the person alid ea here which one towers above all oil others lers it Is in none other than baron von bee ber beritela berst stela eln the german ambassador one searches in vain for this thin omnis vecient omnipotent young turk of whom we read so BO much at the time lime of the passing of the old order instead ho he finds behind the forces at work here this shrewd old diplomat the ablest in europe who has within a year recovered all the prestige that the german causo cause lost with the fall of abdul humid in domestic affairs as well as in foreign relationships the hand of von beeberstein may be traced by those whose business it is to know the inwardness ward ness of current events here since this wise old german la Is an extra turkish personality perhaps it is not fair to consider him in looking for the most influential figure in the present regime A glimpse of the sultan it Is easier to say who this man I 1 Is not than who he be Is first of all it is not tho the sultan he may be bb eliminated at the outset A high diplomat who has had bad to converse with the present sultan says that the ordeal is like talking to a wooden man one encounters various terms in the diplomatic circles to describe the nonentity of mohammed momammed V doubtless many of these are exaggerated like tho the stories of his devotion to the flowing bowing bowl the sultan sees no foreigners but anybody may seo see him at the the weekly function ahen he goes to the mosque to pray with abdul this was an ordeal to be dreaded and ho he sat cowering in his carriage in a coat of mall mail apparently his brother Is glad to have this weekly outing for the poorest hamal that totters tatters over the galata bridge beneath his monstrous load sees more of life than does his royal hoyal highness flightless lie likes tho the pomp of the lines of soldiers who line the highway for the short distance from the palace to the mosque the day I 1 saw the sultan an amerlean american girl in the carriage next mine was aiming a camera at him ire he was attracted by the fresh young figure and obligingly turned his face toward her and smiled and then kept on smiling and craning hla his nock toward her like a gay old flerl it was not very dignified or royal but it was decidedly revealing especially when one remembers that this man Is king of 0 kings commander ot of tho falth faith ful and the shadow of 0 godon karth incidentally lie ho la Is a political cipher the prisoner of salonica nor la Is abdul hamid any longer a possible factor in turkish affairs wild rumors fly around occasionally of hla his escape from his bis imprisonment in the garb of a woman servant and of his being at the bottom of revolutionary lutio nary plots this Is tho the last of the contingencies that the present government has lio to face the best beat advised say aay that while abdul Is morose and sleepless ho he none the less Is too fond of life to take any chances with this committee his supreme passion Is to bo be permitted to di atit a a natural death for a generation he has been haunted by the nightmare oi of a violent death now he Is guarded by the most moat trusted representatives of the committee of union and progress I 1 am told by ono one whose knowledge of turkish affairs has proved correct on other points that the jailers of abdul hamid are men who have blood feuds feuda with him whose relatives the deposed sultan has slain and who would be A 2 41 X r q M A R pa n awn N m the sultan on a visit to the mosque glad of an excuse to square their accounts I ants with him moreover salonica la Is the center of young turk sentiment and the most moat difficult soil for the growth of a reactionary plot A masonic and jewish body everybody in constantinople seems to know that tho the committee which overthrew abdul hamid and brought in the now new day dai for the empire la Is really a masonic organization it differs from the masonry of the west in that it la Is nonreligious non religious the name of the deity Is hot bot mentioned in its documents it la Is affiliated with the italian masons and not with the british or american this fact has incurred the special hostility of orthodox mo hamm hammo edans dans who dislike the masonic order even more than they detest christianity this fact may be borne in mind in any study of present conditions dit ions lons for it Is likelier to be a factor in the developments than some more apparent causes another charge brought against the committee of union and progress Is that its membership la Is largely jewish here one must try to master a n strange condition possible only in this romantic east where the improbable and the incongruous are matters of every day this particular story barks back more than years when the son of a salonica rabbi announced himself as the messiah and got a considerable sid erable following ilia his cause was so portentous that he be was ai arrested rested and taken before the sultan where in hla his extremity he renounced his bis claims and accepted islam so great was the confidence of his bis fol followers lowerr in this messiah that they too obeyed his lead and became moslems during the ensuing centuries they have remained a distinct community with their own mosque they never intermarry with alth other moslems and the genuineness and depth of their fidelity to islam Is a subject ol of among the faithful gainly this moslem jewish community has furnished some of the most ag gresslee gress gres lve sive men in the empire and far more mora than KB its proportion of the leaders ers of the young turk movement the tha military dictator I 1 have interviewed many of the leaders of the turkish government and shall have occasion to duoto some of them here it must suffice to give as representative the one most picturesque figure in the government man alah moud pasha the mint minister atee of war tho the supreme commander of the turkish armies the saviour of constantinople stantin ople and tho the man who has frequently been said to bo be the real dictator of the present regime in turkey cleall ideally gen shevket Is practically subordinate to one of his bis own alda aids and associates ile he Is not in the inner circle of the committee of union and progress although a genuine young turk it Is in perhaps an inconsiderate si way of putting the case but J 1 am credibly informed that he la Is only a sort of puppet in the hands bands of stronger men How however eXer he be looks tho the part of a popular idol tall bearded with small black eyes that I 1 flash he Is in a veritable beau brummel brummet he could readily be a cruel man and a dictator if he be had bad the power else I 1 misread physiognomy while we talked he twirled his nose glasses by the handle bandl or rolled them on hla his fingers oil or cald aled his nose the right side of which bears a large vaccination mark frequently he tilted aside his green astrachan fez and scratched his iron gray hair the governments many critics so much for one cabinet ministers view that he be and many like him in office and out are real patriots cannot he be dented denied there are many disaffected persons in turkey and for various reasons some of them obvious the foreigner to la displeased as an he ha chronically Is with any government carried on by those whom he likes to call hla his inferiors there are various portentous elements of disintegration at work in the empire I 1 question whether it will ever bo be possible to have a homogeneous baus nation here the new order of things has brought in a now new restlessness among all classes of people and turkey be it ever remembered to Is a hodgepodge hodge bodge podge of nationalities on one occasion I 1 counted at least fifteen distinct and different peoples that go to make up this strange government the turkish ship of state was never so difficult to navigate as just now copyright 1911 by joseph B bowles |