The Sultan is striking down the great Pashas, one after
another. Mahmond Darned is in prison, and it is doubtful if he is still alive, as he has had " a stroke of apoplexy,"—a disease of Turkish prisons—and Midhat Pasha is a prisoner under trial, His palace at Smyrna was on Tuesday surrounded by troops, ordered to arrest him on a charge of complicity in the murder of Abdul Aziz, and he fled for refuge to the French Consulate. The French Government declined to protect him, and he sur- rendered himself, under promise of an open trial, which he will, doubtless, obtain,—should residence in prison not prove fatal to his constitution. Blows at the Palace Pashas are easy, but before the Sultan struck at Midhat, who has the support of very formidable intriguers, he must have been deeply terrified ; and we have little doubt, on the evidence, that he either has, or believes he has, proof that the old design of deposing the House of Oilman and electing a new Khalif is still in the air. We doubt if arrests or executions will suppress it. The great Mussulmans are weary of a dynasty which never wins, and the loss of Tunis may prove the last blow to its prestige.
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