p. 264 | CONDITION OF TURKEY

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 10, 1880

CONDITION OF TURKEY.

A LETTER from Constantinople dated April 6, gives the following as the state of things in that city. It is easy to foresee that such a travesty of government cannot long endure.

"At Constantinople all is quiet. The Sultan has managed to concentrate the whole government in his own hands. No minister has any power, and even ordinary police regulations must go to the palace to be examined and approved by the Sultan himself. This has caused a complete dead lock in the government. The council of ministers has now some 4,000 items of unfinished business on hand and the number increases every day. There is much distress among the common people and a complete stagnation of business. Robbery and murder are every-day occurences and it is unsafe to go far outside the city, but there are no signs of any active discontent. People use very violent language, even in public places; but we have 40,000 troops in the city and no one seems inclined to stir up rebellion. Government officers are not paid, but most of them manage to live on plunder of some kind and they submit to their fate. Still there is a general feeling of uneasiness and there is an impression that we shall have a European intervention within a few months."