NEWS OF THE WEEK.
fr HE assassinations at Constantinople, which we were only able 1 to mention last week, have been confirmed. Hassan Bey, a Circassian officer, in high favour with the late Sultan and his son, had been heard to utter threats against those who deposed his master, and was in consequence ordered to Bagdad, where the plague is raging. Irritated by this order, and perhaps excited by the friends of the late monarch, Hassan resolved on a striking revenge. Arming himself with revolvers and a dagger, he presented himself on the night of Thursday, the 15th inst., at Midhat Pasha's villa, where the Ministers were assembled, and pleading a message from the Sultan, Was admitted. The moment he was in the Council-room he shut down Hussein Avni, the Minister of War, who fell dead ; and Reschid Pasha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who also died instantly ; wounded Kaiserli Pasha, the Minister of Marine, with a dagger, and killed an aide-de-camp of Midhat Pasha, who tried to arrest him. After a desperate resistance, he was secured, and two days afterwards hanged before the Ministry of War. It was at first supposed that Midhat Pasha would profit by the murder, and it was, therefore, assumed that he had instigated it ; but there is no trustworthy evidence against him, and the probability is that Hassan Bey was avenging his own injuries and his master's fall. The murder has, as yet, had no political -consequences.
