The correspondent of the Times in Paris states in Thursday's
issue that the French Press is just now devoting a good deal of attention to the possibility of a vacancy in the Turkish Throne, and to canvassing the chances of the possible successors of Abd-ul-Hamid. Germany, it is stated, was until recently favourable to Prince Burhan-Ed Din, the younger son of the Sultan, who was educated by German tutors and imbued with German ideas. Britain and France, on the contrary, are said to desire that the legitimate heir—that is, the eldest male of the house of Othman—Prince Rechad, should succeed, or, if he should predecease Abd-ul-Hamid, that the next in the strict line of succession—viz., Prince Ynssuf Izzeddin—should mount the throne. The Times corre- spondent goes on to state, however, that, according to his information, both Germany and the Sultan have begun to realise that the project for placing Burhan-Ed Din on the throne has little chance of success, and, accordingly, that Germany is looking out for another string to her bow, and is now inclined to favour, not the candidate of the Arab and Kurd clique at Yildiz Kiosk, but that of their opponents, men for the most part now in exile in different parts of the Continent. The Times correspondent also hints that Ger- many's policy is largely influenced by her desire to prosecute the project of the Baghdad Railway, whoever may be the ruling power in Turkey.
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