“HIGHNESS,—After you had left the Palace, His Majesty sent for me and questioned me as to the cause of the delay in the nomination of Edhem Pasha as President of the Council of State. I told His Majesty that the Irade (order) relative to that appointment had been communicated to your Highness yesterday, and that probably the visit of the French Envoy to your Highness was the cause of the delay in my receiving an answer to the communication, and I told His Majesty that the only motive of your opposition to the appointment was the incapacity of Edhem Pasha to fulfil the duties of a post to which were confided the constitutional functions of elaborating the laws; that as for Sadik Pasha, whom you proposed for that post, there could be no doubt that his nomination would add a useful person to the Ministerial Councils. At that moment Damad Mahmoud Djelaleddin was called in, and he expressed the same opinion, but proposed that Djevdet Pasha should be appointed President of the Council, and that Edhem Pasha, whose incompetency you objected to, might fill the post of Minister of Justice. On this His Majesty made the following declaration: ‘I am not acquainted with Edhem Pasha, in spite of his services to my father, but I have now learned to appreciate his abilities; I intend therefore to profit by everybody’s capacities, and _although Edhem Pasha is not quite the person to occupy a very high position_, I think nevertheless he is capable of performing the duties of President of the Council of State. The knowledge and learning of Djevdet Pasha are very limited, whereas the accomplishments and capacity of Edhem Pasha are great in comparison with his. In a word, I shall be glad if His Highness the Grand Vizier will acquiesce in my wishes, and will to‐morrow propose his nomination to me. Write and tell him so.’ This is the reason why I have written at length to you on the subject.—I have the honour to be, “(Signed) SAÏD. “6 _Zilhidje_, 1293, 1 _o’clock, Hegira_.” (22_nd December_ 1876.) Another and still more serious difference of opinion, relative to persons, arose concerning Zia Bey. This person, one of the most distinguished litterateurs and poets Turkey possessed, who had been appointed private Secretary of the Sultan Murad, and whose nomination to the same post by the present Sultan had been made an article of the treaty between Midhat and Prince Hamid at Muslou‐Oglou, was suspected of inspiring certain articles in the Turkish paper _Istikbal_ which threw doubts on the Sultan’s sincerity with reference to the Constitution. These articles gave great offence at the Palace, and were considered of dangerous tendency. The Sultan determined not only to proceed against the paper, but also to remove Zia Bey, at any price, from the capital. The accompanying letter will show the feelings of the Sultan on the subject: _To Midhat Pasha._