TURKEY AND TRIBUTARY STATES. (OTTOMAN EMPIRE.) Reigning Sultan. Abdul-Hamid II., born September 22, 1842 (15 Shaban 1245), the second son of Sultan Abdul Medjid; succeeded to the throne on the deposition of his elder brother, Sultan Murad V., August 31, 1876. Children of the Sultan. I. Mehemmed-Selim Effendi, born January 11, 1870. II. Zekić Sultana, born January 12, 1871. III. Naïmé Sultana, born August 5, 1876. IV. Abdul-Kadir Effendi, born February 23, 1878. V. Ahmed Effendi, born March 14, 1878. VI. Naïlé Sultana, born 1883. VII. Mehemmed Burhaneddin Effendi, born 1885. Brothers and Sisters of the Sultan. I. Mohammed Murad Effendi, born September 21, 1840; proclaimed Sultan of Turkey on the deposition of his uncle, Sultan Abdul-Aziz, May 30, 1876; declared by the Council of Ministers to be suffering from idiocy, and deposed from the throne, August 31, 1876. II. Djémilé Sultana, born August 18, 1843; married, June 3, 1858, to Mahmoud-Djelal-Eddin Pasha, son of Ahmet Feti Pasha. III. Mehemmed-Reshad Effendi, born November 3, 1844; heir-apparent to the throne. IV. Medihié Sultana, born November 21, 1851; married to the late Mahmud Pasha, son of Halil Pasha. V. Suleiman Effendi, born November 21, 1860. The present sovereign of Turkey is the thirty-fourth, in male descent, of the house of Othman, the founder of the empire, and the twenty-eighth Sultan since the conquest of Constantinople. By the law of succession obeyed in the reigning family, the crown is inherited according to seniority by the male descendants of Othman, sprung from the Imperial Harem. The Harem is considered a permanent State institution. All children born in the Harem, whether offspring of free women or of slaves, are legitimate and of equal lineage. The Sultan is succeeded by his eldest son, but only in case there are no uncles or cousins of greater age. It has not been the custom of the Sultans of Turkey for some centuries to contract regular marriages. The inmates of the Harem come, by pur chase or free will, mostly from districts beyond the limits of the empire, the majority from Circassia. From among these inmates the Sultan desig nates a certain number, generally seven, to be 'Kadyn,' or Ladies of the Palace, the rest, called Odalik,' remaining under them as servants. The superintendent of the Harem, always an aged Lady of the Palace, and bearing the title of Haznadar-Kadyn,' has to keep up intercourse with the outer world through the Guard of Eunuchs, whose chief, called ‘KyzlarAgassi,' has the same rank as the Grand Vizier, but has the precedence f present on state occasions. We first hear of the Turks in the year 844 A.D., when they migrated from Tartary into Armenia, but they only came into prominence abor 1030 A.D. Under Othman, the founder of the present dynasty, they, under the name of Othman Turks, made themselves masters of several places in Asia, captured Nicea, and made Brussa their capital (1326). The first appearance of the Turks in Europe was in 1080, when a body of 2,000 crossed the Bosphorus to assist the Emperor Botoniates against his rival. By the end of the fourteenth century they reduced Thessaly Macedonia, and Bulgaria, and were acknowledged the rulers of nearly all Western Asia. Constantinople was first besieged by the Turks in 1392 by Mohammed II., but was not taken till 1453. It has since been the capital of the Turkish Empire. Mohammed then proceeded to conquer Trebizond, Wallachia, Bosnia, Illyria, and the Morea. Under Bajazet II. and Selim I. Egypt was totally subdued, and Syria Circassia, and Moldavia passed under Turkish rule. In 1522 Solyman L subdued Rhodes, and in 1525 invaded Hungary and invested Vienna. This siege had to be raised, and was followed by a series of reverses. The terrtory under Turkish rule in Europe alone then extended over 230,000 square miles. Ever since, the glory of the empire has waned. In 1595 the Turks were driven out of Upper Hungary and Transylvania, and for a time out of Moldavia and Wallachia. In 1769 war broke out against Russia, ending in the expulsion of the Turks from the Crimea, the extension of the Russian frontier to the Bug and Dnieper, the partial independence of the Danubian principalities, and the acquisition by Russia of the right of a free passat for their fleet through the Dardanelles. In 1806 war with Russia was again resumed, and resulted in the exten sion of the Russian frontier to the Pruth (1812). The Greek war for independence (1822-28) ended, owing to the interference of the foreign Powers, in the loss of that kingdom. In 1833 Russia was successful in arresting the progress of Mehemet Ali Pasha of Egypt, but the hold of Turkey over Egypt was from that time nominal. By the Treaty of 1841, Turkey was virtually placed under the protection of the Great Powers, who guaranteed its integrity and independence. In 1854 war was declared by Russia, bat although assisted by England and France, and successful in its warlike operations, Turkey derived no benefit from it. In 1858 Moldavia and Wallachia united to declare what was practically their independence. The war against Russia in 1876 resulted in the loss of Bulgaria, Eastern Roumelia, Thessaly, and a strip of Eastern Armenia, also in the entire independence of Roumania, Servia, and Montenegro, and in the adminis tration of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria and of Cyprus by England. The following is a list of the names, with date of accession, of the thirty-four sovereigns who ruled Turkey since the foundation of the empire and of the reigning house : House of Othman. Mohammed IV.. 1649 Bajazet I., The Thunder The civil list of the Sultan is variously reported at from one to two millions sterling. To the Imperial family belong a great number of crown domains, the income from which contributes to the revenue. The finances of the civil list have of late been put into order, but are still reported to be insufficient to cover the expenditure of the Court and Harem, numbering altogether over five thousand individuals. The amount charged to the Budget of 1880 was P. 62,747,116 for the Palace, and P. 23,750,212 for the Crown princes. Total, about 785,0007. Constitution and Government. The fundamental laws of the empire are based on the precepts of the Koran. The will of the Sultan is absolute, in so far as it is not in opposition to the accepted truths of the Mahometan religion as laid down in the sacred book of the Prophet. Next to the Koran, the laws of the 'Multeka,' a code formed of the supposed sayings and opinions of Mahomet, and the sentences and decisions of his immediate successors, are binding upon the Sovereign as well as his subjects. Another code of laws, the 'Cahon nameh,' formed by Sultan Solyman the Magnificent, from a collection of 'hatti-sheriff's,' or decrees, issued by him and his predecessors, is held in general obedience, but merely as an emanation of human authority. The legislative and executive authority is exercised, under the supreme direction of the Sultan, by two high dignitaries, the 'Sadr-azam,' or Grand Vizier, the head of the temporal Govern ment, and the 'Sheïk-ul-Islam,' the head of the Church. Both are appointed by the Sovereign, the latter with the nominal concurrence of the 'Ulema,' a body comprising the clergy and chief functionaries of the law, over which the 'Sheik-ul-Islam 'presides, although he himself does not exercise priestly functions. Connected with the 'Ulema' are the 'Mufti,' the interpreters of the Koran. The Ulema comprise all the great judges, theologians, and jurists, and the great teachers of literature and science who may be summoned by the Mufti. The principal civic functionaries bear the titles of Effendi, Bey, or Pasha. Forms of constitution, after the model of the West European States, were drawn up at various periods by successive Ottoman Governments, the first of them embodied in the Hatti-Humáyoun' of Sultan Abdul-Medjid, proclaimed February 18, 1856, and the most recent in a decree of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II., of November 1876. But the carrying out of these projects of reform appears entirely impossible in the present condition of the Ottoman Empire. The Grand Vizier, as head of the Government and representative of the Sovereign, is President of the Medjliss-i-Hass, or Privy Council, which corresponds to the British Cabinet. The Medjlissi-Hass consists of the following members, besides the Prime Minister, namely:-1. The Sheïk-ul-Islam; 2. The Minister of the Interior; 3 The Minister of Foreign Affairs; 4. The Minister of War; 5. The Minister of Finance; 6. The Minister of Marine; 7. The Minister of Commerce; 8. The Minister of Public Works; The Minister of Justice; 10. The Minister of Public Instruction; 11. The Minister of Evkaf (fondations pieuses); 12. The President of the Council of State; 13. The Grand Master of Artillery. The whole of the empire is divided into Vilayets, or governments, and subdivided into Sanjaks, or provinces, and Kazas, or districts. A Vali, or governor-general, who is held to represent the Sultan, and is assisted by a provincial council, is placed at the head of each Vilayet. The provinces and districts are subjected to inferior authorities, under the superintendence of the principal governor. The division of the country into Vilayets has been frequently modified of late for political reasons. subjects, however humble their origin, are eligible to, and may fill, the highest offices in the State. All Under the capitulations foreigners residing in Turkey are under the laws of their respective countries, and are amenable for trial (in cases in which Turkish subjects are not concerned to a tribunal presided over by their consul. Foreigners who ow real property are amenable to the Ottoman civil courts in ques ions relative to their landed property. Cases between foreig and Turkish subjects are tried in the Ottoman courts, a dragoman of the foreign consulate being present to see that the trial be according to the law; the carrying out of the sentence, if against the foreigner, to be through his consulate. Cases between two foreign subjects of different nationalities are tried in the court of the defendant. Area and Population. The total area of the Ottoman Empire (including States nominally subject) may be estimated at 1,652,542 miles, and its total population at about 33,360,000, viz. : The census of the population taken up in 1885, but still incomplete for the provinces marked with an asterisk, gives the following results : |