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Show THE FOXY OLD SULTAN. . Abdul Hamil II., Sultan of Turkey, who has just conceded the demand! of the French government, thus sav- - ABDUL HAMID. lng the seizure of Smyrna by the French fleet in the Smyrna Gulf, is now In the sixtieth year of his life, and probably a sicker man than ever before. The sultan's sickness is not merely metaphorical; it is literal. For years he has been in bad health, and while he has had to face constant political po-litical menace from blustering powers abroad, he has been threatened with assassination and revolution at home, together with all the other evils flowing flow-ing from the despotic form of government. govern-ment. It is now twenty-five years since he ascended the throne of his . ancestors, and although he is the most execrated monarch on the face of the globe he has many warm sympathisers sympathis-ers and friends among the foreign diplomats dip-lomats who have visited his court and have learned the exasperating trials of which the sultan is the victim. It Is only within the past few years that he took to wearing a full beard. Formerly he wore a mustache only. |