Turkey; the Awakening of Turkey; the Turkish Revolution of 1908Knight, E. F. (Edward Frederick)
History
Turkey; the Awakening of Turkey; the Turkish Revolution of 1908
Knight, E. F. (Edward Frederick)
Eastern question (Balkan); Turkey -- History -- 1878-1909; Turkey -- Politics and government -- 1878-1909
Midhat Pasha, the greatest of the Turkish reformers, as an exile,
lived in several European capitals, studied on the spot the principles
of decent government, and formed plans for the amelioration of the
condition of his unfortunate country when the opportunity should
arrive. The Sultan appears to have come to the conclusion that his
ex-Grand Vizier might be as dangerous to the Despotism while in
Europe as he had been in Turkey. A plot, the details of which are
well known, was laid to bring about Midhat’s destruction. He was led
to believe that the Sultan had repented of his injustice, had come
to see the errors of his illiberal policy, and desired that the able
statesman should return to Turkey to give his valuable assistance in
the reorganisation of the Empire. So, after a long exile, Midhat,
accepting a treacherous invitation, came back to his native land,
and was made Governor of Syria. Shortly after his appointment he was
denounced to the Palace by false accusers, who were prepared to prove
that Abd-ul-Aziz had been assassinated by Midhat’s orders. After
an iniquitous trial, by judges who pretended to credit the obvious
inventions of suborned witnesses, he was found guilty, and as it might
have been dangerous to execute a man so much beloved and respected, he
was condemned to imprisonment in a fortress in Arabia. There he was
treated with great inhumanity and deprived of all the comforts and some
of the necessaries of life. As his strong constitution resisted these
privations for three years, he was strangled in May, 1884, by order of
his persecutors, and his head was sent to the Palace, so that there
should be no doubt about his death.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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