The intelligence from Constantinople is as gloomy as ever. The
Empire is still governed by a Council of Pashas, who are co- optative, who have nothing to lose by defying civilisation, and who are determined not to allow their own power to be restrained. The Sultan is still incapable of giving orders, but as the Divan cannot pass over the next heir without provoking armed insur- rection, and as it is difficult to suicide him, and as he has defi- nitively refused to degrade the Khalifate by signing fictitious "constitutions," the Divan will not depose their lunatic master. An order has therefore been issued threatening persons who discuss reforms, and particularly their relation to the Holy Law, and this is supposed to indicate that the Old Turkish party is in the ascendant. If it were, Abdul Hamed would be proclaimed at once, and the order is really levelled at all who assert that the present state of things is not in accord- ance with Mahommedan tradition. The situation ought, by all precedent, to terminate in bloodshed, but the Pashas control the Treasury and the troops. No effort appears to have been made to pay England and France the guaranteed interest.
