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Show THE MAN OF THE HOUR Abdul Hamld Is sixty-seven years old and has ruled Turkey for thirty-three of its most disastrous years, during which it has lost' half its area and population In Europe. Yet he Is admitted ad-mitted to be one of the most astute politicians of his time, says tho New York World. Turkey has Indeed lost little territory since the first two years of his reign. No good portrait of Abdul Is known to exist, though he has been snapshotted snap-shotted by tourists, who thus affronted affront-ed the religion of their hosts. In figure fig-ure and face he Is not unlike Gen. Grant, but he has the more aquiline nose of the high-born Turk. He dyes his full beard black. His deep-set eyes look tired but keen. His face Is severely se-verely lined. He wears a fez and a plain stambouline or Turkish coat, and at an official reception shares with the American Ambassador tho distinction distinc-tion of being the plainest-dressed mart in the room.. Until last summer the Sultan had not for ' years been In his jeapltal at Stamboul, but stayed In the Vlldiz palace on tnc . hill above Pera, the European quarter. Many have considered con-sidered him cowardly, but last summer during the revolution ho showed himself him-self freely, listened to delegations and made brief addresses. He swore unreserved un-reserved fealty to the constitution. No one knew his thoughts no one ever has; but he would probably break his oath, or even keep It, abdicate or fight, as he judged best. Is he at heart, as some claim, with the Young Turks? If he were,, he would be no greater marvel of Oriental Occidentalism than Mutsuhito of Japan. But it Is very unlikely. An excitable poet called hlra "Abdul the Damned," much as Mr. Swinburne explained that a former Czar was called "the white," because he was a murderous moral leper. This is overemphasis. over-emphasis. He is simply a Turk, a believer be-liever in predestination. If a thousand thous-and Armenians arc massacred kismet! kis-met! Why should poets rave? They do; and that also is kismet and must be borne. If circumstances demand of Abdul great physical daring he will probably accept that also as destiny, and obey. He Is by western standards unscrupulous. To make way for Abdul Ab-dul Hamld, his brotherAbdul Aziz was murdered and his nephew Murad Imprisoned Im-prisoned as am Imbecile, which some think he was not. Abdul probably aided aid-ed In these strokes and certainly rose by them to power. Queer crimes are said to have continued to take place behind the uncommunicative walls of his palaces; the east is not the west. Besides being the wily ruler of a diminishing Asiatic empire In Europe, with a majority of Christian subjects, Abdul Hamld Is the religious head of the strongest branch of the great Mo-hammedlan Mo-hammedlan faith, with about as many devoted followers as combine In all the Protestant churches of the world. This Is not the least of the circumstances circum-stances that make the old man whom tho Young Turks Intend to shape to their will the man of the hour. |