It is said that the Sultan has two motives for
his action. One, no doubt, is the belief that if all Armenians were dead or cowed, there would be no Armenian question ; the other is fear of the roused temper of the Mahommedans. The priests say that he yields too much to Christian advice; and it is more than probable that he has been personally threatened for his laxity. He wishes, therefore, to prove that he is a Mussulman of the old type. There is, it is known, great dis- content among Mahommedans, and when the Sultan went forth to prayer last week, he was specially guarded. The Ambassadors, it is evident, are not at ease, for they keep their guardships close to their quarters ; and Sir P. Currie re- tains the British fleet, seventeen fighting-ships, at Lemnos. If a Mussulman rising against the Sultan occurred simul- taneously with a massacre of Christians, the end of the Ottoman dominion might be very near at hand. It is pro- bable, however, that Osman Ghazi and the staff know that, and that at the last moment Constantinople would be plao3d under strong military control. The difficulty in forming an opinion is to know the judgment formed by the soldiery, who could at once create a vacancy in the throne. There is un- happily no competent man to fill it, the next heir having been bred up in the strictest seclusion.
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