Sultanate

“ Amongst the rest, some officers came on board, desiring to speak with the merchants in the name of the sultan. The merchants appearing, one of the officers told them, 'The sultan, our master, hath commanded us to acquaint you that he is glad of your safe arrival, and prays you to take the trouble, every one of you, to write some lines upon this roll of paper. You must know that we had a prime vizier who, besides having a great capacity to manage affairs, understood writing to the highest perfection. ”

“ He said that he looked on the Sultan as his lord—as the head of his religion—and that he was bound to do so; that the dominions of the Sultan were like a great palace, in which the different nations had each one its own chamber, suited to its wants, and arranged according to its own manner; that to introduce other persons into those chambers would be to upset the arrangements, to annoy and dispossess the occupants, and to do an unjust act ”

“ When the sultan heard the above from his daughter, he returned to the divan, and calling the prince before him, said, "Young man, I grant thee thy pardon; art thou he who destroyed the monster?" "I am," replied the prince. The sultan would instantly have summoned the cauzee to perform the espousals; but the prince said, "I have a friend to consult; permit me to retire, and I will soon return." The sultan consented, saying, "Thy request is but reasonable; but come back quickly." ”

“ And the vizirs said, "We have given it you in truth." And he asked, "What pleases me, does it please you also?" And they answered, "It pleases us."
And he said, "It pleases me that this man should be our sultan." And they answered, "We consent." And they asked, "Who is this man?" And he said, "This is my rightful master and sultan there at home, but this is God's ordering."
And those that were in the town had great joy. And that Bedouin was drowned, and all his property was given to the poor. And they lived in peace and enjoyment till the end. ”

“ At last the sultan and the young prince began their journey, with a hundred camels laden with inestimable riches from the treasury of the young king, followed by fifty handsome gentlemen on horseback, well mounted and dressed. They had a very happy journey; and when the sultan, who had sent couriers to give notice of his delay, and of the adventure which had occasioned it, came near his capital, the principal officers he had left there came to receive him, and to assure him that his long absence had occasioned no alteration in his empire. ”

“ When the sultan had heard their adventures, he sympathized with their misfortunes, and was astonished at the fortitude with which they had borne their afflictions, saying to his vizier, "How sad has been their lot! but blessed be Allah, who, as he separateth friends, can, when he pleaseth, give them a joyful meeting." He then caused the sultana and the princesses to be conveyed to his palace, appointed them proper attendants and apartments suitable to their rank, and despatched couriers to inform the sultan their father of their safety. ”

“ No hereditary aristocracy was allowed to soften the descent, and interpose a protecting barrier for the people. All power was derived from the sovereign, and, on the death of its proprietor, returned to him. In the eye of the sultan, his vassals were all equal, and all equally his slaves.
The theory of an absolute government would seem to imply perfection in the head of it. But, as perfection is not the lot of humanity, it was prudently provided by the Turkish constitution that the sultan should have the benefit of a council to advise him. ”

“ When messengers of foreign countries come before him, the sultan's people, when the strangers speak to him, stand round the sultan with drawn swords and gysarmes and axes, their arms raised up on high with their weapons, to smite them, if they say any word that is displeasing to the sultan. Neither does any stranger come before him without receiving a promise and grant of what he asks reasonably, if it be not against his law ”

“ So he said to her: ‘There are plenty of things, but they all taste of fish.’ She replied: ‘O sultan, we also, we women, are all just the same.’ He answered: ‘I have never done anything in the world at all naughty.’ Then when the vizier is come, he heard that the sultan has come to (his) house ”

“ Are ye not, however, fearful lest the sultan should hear you on his rounds, and punish you for an infringement of the laws?" "How should the sultan hear us?" answered the fisherman; "he is in his palace, and we in our own house, though, perhaps, much merrier than he, poor fellow, with the cares of state upon his mind, notwithstanding his splendour."
"How comes it," rejoined the sovereign, "that you have not visited the sultan? for you are merry fellows, and I think he would encourage you." "We fear," replied the fisherman, "his guards would beat us away." "Never mind them," said the sultan ”

“ The sultan, still counterfeiting the pronunciation of the black, said: "What you have now done is by no means sufficient for my cure; you have only removed a part of the evil; you must cut it up by the root." "My lovely black," resumed the queen, "what do you mean by the root?" "Wretched woman," replied the sultan, "understand you not that I allude to the town and its inhabitants, and the four islands, destroyed by thy enchantments? The fish every night at midnight raise their heads out of the lake, and cry for vengeance against thee and me. ”

“ We are acting with a Power, let me remind the House, which is an independent Power—the Sultan—and we can decide nothing but with his consent and sanction. We have been in communication with that prince—who, I may be allowed to remind the House, has other things to think about, even than Asia Minor; for no man was ever tried, from his accession to the throne till this moment, so severely as the Sultan has been; but he has invariably during his reign expressed his desire to act with England and to act with Europe, and especially in the better administration and management of his affairs. ”

“ The sultan then said, "My will is, that the eldest be sovereign in my room; that the second possess my treasures; and the third every description of animals. Let no, one encroach upon another, but all assist each other." ”

“ And the sultan's vizir there arose in the audience and said, "O our lord, I know the meaning of these words." And the sultan answered and said to him, "If you know the meaning of these words, except by asking Ali, to know them by your own understanding, I, the sultan, will give you my sultanship, and what speaks, and what speaks not of my possessions, I, the sultan, have given you as yours. And if you know not the meaning of these words by your own understanding, I shall take all your property, but you shall not ask Ali." ”

“ We, Sultan favoured of God, sustained by his special grace, victorious Sultan, have gratified with our favours and our benevolence such an one, son of such an one, and have given to him a salatieh to conduct an expedition into Dar-Fertyt, and make a Ghazwah, in the direction of such a tribe. All those who may accompany him in his enterprise shall be free from blame on our part—in testimony of which the present firman has emanated from our sublime generosity and our noble bounties. ”

“ Thereupon he asked her, "What hath been thy business with this young man?" So she told him her tale from first to last and he said, "O my lady, the King commandeth that he enter and quit the premises as before and that he come hither without his eyes being bandaged with the kerchief." She obeyed and said, "The commandments of our lord the Sultan shall be carried out." Such was the history of that youth whom the Sultan heard reading the Koran in the Máristán, the public madhouse: but as regards the second Lunatic who sat listening, the Sultan asked him, "And thou, the other, what be thy tale?" ”

“ It used to be, and will probably be again after the present sultan’s death, a punishable offence for a person of inferior rank to pass the palace steps with his umbrella spread, or to sit in the after-part of a boat, that being the place for nobles. A man wearing yellow would be punished, while even the slave girls may dress in that colour. The distinctions of rank are kept up with great strictness, yet the sultan will talk to the people with perfect familiarity, but they always reply in a most respectful tone ”

“ The sultan had no control over their lives or property. The subjects who tilled the productive lands of the valleys were suitably rewarded for their labor. The happiest and wealthiest peasants of the empire were found among the vassals of the beys, to whom they showed great devotion. These feudal lords, at a moment's warning, could summon twenty thousand men before their palace gates. They furnished the greater part of the sultan's cavalry force in war; and, unlike the pashas, had never raised the standard of rebellion ”

“ I was overcome with astonishment; but said, "Of what use is all this wealth in a depopulated city? and how can I be a sultan without subjects?" The old man smiled, and said, "Have patience, my son; this evening a numerous caravan will arrive here composed of emigrants, who are in search of a settlement, and they will elect thee their sovereign." His words proved true; the caravan arrived, when the old man invited them to inhabit the city; his offer was gladly accepted, and by his direction they declared me their sultan. ”

“ The sultan proceeds every morning, with sunrise, immediately after prayers, into the divan, hears all causes himself, and issues his decision immediately. He is fond of hunting, and of his women, three [176] hundred of which he is said to keep in his harem, a stone building, situate on the summit of a rock at Tassin, very difficult of access, which has, moreover, only one approach. The brother of the Sultan of Takele, whom a Djelabi of my acquaintance brought to my house at Lobeid, wore merely a blue shirt, and sandals, and not even a Táckeyeéh [47] on his head. ”

“ In the troubles which agitated Western Europe in 1848 and 1849, the Sultan acted a noble part in refusing to deliver up, at the dictation of Russia, certain Hungarian and other refugees, who had fled to him for shelter. In this firm course he was supported, both by his own people, and also by France and England.
In Turkey, the Sultan is the supreme and absolute ruler; there exists no one but himself who can be said to possess any power. He issues his edicts, which have the force of laws. He commands the whole naval and military power of the country. ”

“ When a sultan succeeds to the throne, instead of the ceremony of European sovereigns, placing a crown on the head, his dignity is conferred by the more appropriate one of girding a sword on the thigh. To this end, the mufti, vizir, and other officers, on horseback, assemble at the seraglio, from whence, accompanied by the sultan, they proceed to the mosque of Eyoub. When they arrive, some celebrated imaum delivers a discourse, exciting the sultan to the vigorous propagation of Islamism and the extirpation of infidels. ”

“ The other enquired, "And if the Sultan summon us what wilt thou say to him?" "By Allah, I will tell him a tale which befel myself and crave of him ten Faddahs wherewithal to buy Bhang!" "And hast thou any skill in tale-telling?" "In good sooth I have!" "But how wilt thou despose the Sultan and reign in his stead?" "I will say to him 'Be off!' and he will go." "He will strike thy neck." "Nay, the Sultan is pitiful and will not punish me for my words." ”

“ The government of the Sultan is one thing, the Mahommedan population of the Levant, and of the East generally, another. The Sultan and his advisers have not the strength, if they have the desire, to restrain the fierce fanatics of their creed from deeds of violence. ”

“ The sultan, who had felt little interest in the inmates of his harem, and was anxious for novelty, ordered the sum to be paid, and I was conducted to the seraglio in a royal litter.
That I was anxious to be purchased by the sultan I confess: my pride rebelled at the idea of being a slave, and if I was to be so, at least I wished to be the slave of the sultan. I indulged the idea that I should soon bring him to subjection, and that the slave would lord it over her master, and that master the dispenser of life and death, honour and disgrace, to millions. ”

“ Moreover, the agents of the student-sultan levy fines on the shopkeepers and householders, against whom they trump up various humorous charges. The temporary sultan is surrounded with the pomp of a real court, and parades the streets in state with music and shouting, while a royal umbrella is held over his head. With the so-called fines and free-will offerings, to which the real sultan adds a liberal supply of provisions, the students have enough to furnish forth a magnificent banquet; and altogether they enjoy themselves thoroughly, indulging in all kinds of games and amusements. ”

“ The Sultan gets such obedience as he can. He governs with a loose rein, that he may govern at all: and the whole of the force and vigour of his authority in his centre, is derived from a prudent relaxation in all his borders. ”

“ This speech was accompanied by a wave of the hand, which precluded all reply, and the troubled patriarch silently and slowly withdrew.
'My children,' said the patriarch on his way home, addressing the two young men who were supporting him, 'the sultan has resolved to destroy us, and all the Christians in his dominions. He is seeking occasion against us. He does not make open war upon us; but he secretly commands us to do what is impossible, in order that he may have a pretext for our destruction. ”