A movement, described in some quarters as a "revolution," has
occurred in Constantinople. The mollahs, students, and dependents of the mosques, numbering 20,000, and described under the name "Softas," are allied with the war party and the fanatics, and are very angry at the Western pressure and the general condition of affairs. They are said to have threatened for some time past to change the Sultan, and on the 11th inst. the agitation became so formidable, the Softas parading_the city and calling on the Faithful to rise, that the Sultan had to choose between concession and resistance. He chose the latter at first, but being probably advised of the doubtful disposition of the troops, thought better of it, and yielded. He dismissed Mahmoud Pasha, who, up to the moment of dismissal, had no idea of his danger, and appointed Mahommed Rushdi Grand Vizier, and Hussein Avni Generalissimo, both being persons acceptable to the Softas. The movement then ended, but it is said the Softas are still discontented, and it is certain that great excitement exists, Professor Bonainy Price, for example, while visiting a mosque with his wife, having been attacked, and only rescued by the police. The legal heir, Murad, has, it is rumoured, been ordered into retirement.
