The ground is evidently hot in Constantinople. On May 20th,
Ali Suavi, a man unfavourably known in London, but once tutor to Sultan Murad's children, headed a crowd of armed refugees in a desperate effort to deliver Sultan Murad from the Tcheragan Palace. The attempt was resisted by the guard, and All Suavi, with some twenty of his followers, were shot ; but it might very easily have succeeded, and if Murad had once appeared in the streets, the capital would have been in insurrection. Indeed, it is stated in the Daily News that it would have succeeded, but that Murad only begged his liberators to spare his life. Strict inquiries are being made into the affair, which is believed to have been promoted by the War party, in the hope that Murad would be a passive instrument in their hands, but intrigue in Con- stantinople is too multiform to be punished. The parties are nearly desperate, each faction wishing for a new Sultan, rather than a new Prime Minister ; and we may hear, the moment external pressure is removed, of a series of revolutions. In the meantime, the old peculation goes on. Loans raised at enormous interest reach the Treasury half-absorbed, and the Porte is at its wits' end to provide funds from week to week. It will yet make a desperate attempt to obtain them from Egypt, where they are publishing rose-coloured statements, which will be so many incentives to interference. A Khedive who would bleed freely would be a godsend to the Porte just now.
