There is little time to portray the many dramatic scenes connected with the signing of the treaty of San Stefano. March 3d was the anniversary of the Czar's accession to the throne. There was to be a grand review. At four o'clock the Grand Duke galloped towards the hill where the army was drawn up; then up dashed a carriage from the village. General Ignatieff was in it and when he approached he rose and said: "I have the honor to congratulate Your Highness on the signature of peace." Then the Grand Duke to the army: "I have the honor to inform the army that with the help of God we have concluded a treaty of peace." A shout, swelling and triumphant, rose from the throats of twenty thousand men, some of them the most famous regiments of Russia's favored troops. After the review the Grand Duke spoke briefly, "To an army which has accomplished what you have, my friends, nothing is impossible." Then all dismounted, uncovered and a solemn service was held, the soldiers all kneeling, even the wife of General Ignatieff was seen kneeling on a fur rug beside her carriage. The religious ceremony over, the Grand Duke took his stand and the army began to file past with a swinging, rapid stride. The night was falling, darkness settling over all. Still the Grand Duke sat motionless on his horse, the troops still were passing; the joyous shouts grew fainter and the measured tramp, tramp died out on the ear and the war of 1877-78 had entered into the history of the struggle of humanity for religious life and freedom. The history of the treaties of San Stefano and of Berlin will be told in the chapter that records the greatest crime of the century against the life and freedom of a still suffering and outraged humanity under the curse of Islam. CHAPTER VIII. THE SULTAN ABDUL HAMID. It does not lie within the plan of this volume to review at any length the history of Turkey, or to sketch the lives of the Sultans who have reigned during the century; it will answer, however, to make our work intelligible and clear, if the life of the reigning Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid II. is presented briefly.