In these circumstances, it was resolved by Ministers that Midhat should go to Muslou‐Oglou, where Prince Hamid, heir presumptive to the throne, resided, in order to ascertain by a personal interview with him whether Ministers could rely on his co‐operation to carry out the important reforms that they had in hand, should it become absolutely necessary to remove Murad from the throne, and in that event, to agree to certain clear and definite stipulations with the Prince as conditions of their support. These stipulations were the following:— 1. To promulgate without delay the new Constitution. 2. To act in matters of State only with the advice of his responsible advisers. 3. To appoint Zia Bey and Kemal Bey his private secretaries, and to make Sadullah Bey the head of the Palace Secretariat. The importance attached by Midhat and Rushdi to this last condition was very great. It afforded a guarantee against those intrigues of the Palace which had ship‐wrecked so many schemes of reform, and prevented, so far as was possible, a renewal of that mute opposition between the Palace and the Porte which had existed for centuries, and had paralysed the efforts of so many Ministers. At this historical interview at Muslou‐Oglou Prince Hamid evidently “played a deep game” with Midhat Pasha. He promised all and more than all that was asked of him. He pretended to opinions more advanced than the most advanced of his Ministers, and in favour of even a more democratic Constitution than the one elaborated. The other condition he accepted without demur. On receiving these clear and emphatic declarations, Midhat returned to Stamboul and reported the result of his interview to the assembled Ministers, who thereupon resolved to take the decisive step and put Prince Hamid on the throne in the place of his brother Murad. As on the occasion of the dethronement of the Sultan Abdul Aziz, it was necessary to obtain a _Fetva_ from the Sheik‐ul‐Islam to the effect that the contemplated step was in accordance with the Sacred Law. Mehemet Rushdi thereupon demanded an official report from six principal physicians in Constantinople—of whom four belonged to the Embassies of the Great Powers—who, after examination of Murad, handed to him the following certificates:— “On the 31st of the month August, 1876, Chaban 11: 1293 Hegira, we have made a report on the health of His Majesty Sultan Murad, and come to certain conclusions which we hereby confirm, and add thereto the following opinion, viz. that even should the Sultan Murad after a long lapse of time, contrary to expectation, recover his intellectual faculties, these can never recover their normal condition.” “(Signed) CASTRO. AKIF. DICKSON, _Physician to English Embassy_. MARROIN, _Physician to French Embassy_. MUHLIG, _Physician to German Embassy_. SOTTO, _Physician to Austro‐Hungarian Embassy_.”