Midhat Pasha and the other persons accused of having ordered
the execution of Abdul Aziz are not to be executed, but are sentenced to perpetual exile instead. The Sultan, it appears, summoned a Council to take the responsibility of the final decision off his own shoulders ; but as fourteen voted for the execution of the sentence and only ten against it, and the Sultan had made up his mind not to execute it, a new meeting of the Council was convened, at which a majority voted for ,commuting the sentence, and this decision the Sultan con- firmed. The difficulty now is to know where to send them. Midhat is too important a man not to acquire influence where- ever he goes, and there is danger in having strong personal enemies at a distance from Constantinople, no less than in having them in the capital itself. It is said that Lord Dufferin's representations in favour of clemency have had great weight with the Sultan, and that he is already a favourite at the Palace. Has he, we wonder, already begun to play lawn-tennis, ride, and dine with the other Ambassadors as sedulously as Mr. Goschen
Previous page
