There has evidently been a fierce underground struggle in Constantinople,
ending in a decision to make no peace. As we read the very obscure reports which reach the West, the Sultan and his chief adviser, Mahmoud Damad, had resolved to treat with Russia, the intermediary being Mr. Layard, who wants peace in order to save the Turks, when an explosion of popular feeling showed them that peace would be unsafe. There was a plot to recall Murad—met by his rigorous imprisonment—a shower of placards inveighing against the Palace as treacherous, and an attempt on the life of Mahmoud Damad. The Sultan, therefore, and probably the favourite too, yielded, and the cue was given to all friends of Turkey to praise the unalterable resolution of the Ottoman leaders. The war party in the capital is still, however, suspicious, and though a large garrison of good troops is retained in Constantinople, the situation on the fall of Plevna may become serious. If the fanatics could find a Sultan--which is diffi- cult, for Murad is imprisoned, the Sultan's brothers are watched, and the ameutiers cannot step beyond the line of Othman—the soldiery might be persuaded to accede. Note the story about
Mahommed having appeared to the Sultan in a dream, and com- manded peace. A dream can only be related by the dreamer.
