All the Signs which presage Revolution in the East are
present in Constantinople just now. The Sultan, if not actually mad, has completely lost his head with terror and iudeoision, and removes his highest Ministers and ablest Generals on the most transient impulses. He doubts his personal guard, makes his own coffee, and distrusts even the women of the Seraglio, of whom many have been banished to their homes. He patronises the very men he suspects, and while disgracing Fund Pasha, tells him ho has all his confidence. On the other hand, the streets are full of murmurs, coming this time from Old Turks, who are silent till they mean mischief; placards appear on the walls declaring the Sultan "incapable of reigning ;" and the garrison, 60,000 strong, is raging for want of pay; while the guard round the Palace, some 10,000 men, is paid and comfort- able. An outbreak is expected every hour, and the Sultan, with all his cunning, is not the man to reduce malcontents to order. The fact which protects him is the want of any member of his House in whom the soldiery have confidence, and their lingering belief that with the House the Ottoman Dominion must end. That belief, however, has been greatly shaken among leading Turks, and if, as is rumoured, it is dis- appearing among the soldiers, the end of this reign is very near at hand. The Sultan's one chance is the old one, to break out of the ring of Pashas, and snatching some man competent to rule, make him Grand Vizier ; but unlike any predecessor, he is jealous of his personal power.
