* * * The name of Tahsin Pasha, who has
died in poverty
in Stamboul, means little to the modern generation, and was never generally known even when he was at the height of his power. Yet he more than any other man helped to prolong the ill-starred despotism of the notorious Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid. He made it his study to remain obscure, knowing that the surest way to win- the ill-will of his master was to become famous. Abdul Hamid developed the most completely centralised system of government that has ever controlled a vast Empire. None of the provincial governors was allowed to come to a decision on a matter of moderate importance without reference to the Sublime Porte, and the man who kept the threads • of this, complicated web together was Chief- Secretary Tahsin: He served- his master faithfully, laboriously and—a rare thing in the old Turkey—without
even feathering his own nest. JaNus.
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