tlEurltrii.—AbdulMedjid, thirty-first Sultan, expired in his palace on the 25th
instant, and was succeeded by his brother, Abdul Aziz. Under the Ottoman law of succession the eldest male of the House of Othman is the rightful heir of the Throne. The rule has been oc- casionally set aside in favour of some popular or powerful member of the House, but only once, we think in favour of a child. There has Inever been an instance in Turkey of a revolt intended to place on the Throne a scion of any other lineage. The cause of this abstinence in a country of revolutions is the fixed belief of the Turks that the fate of the Mussulman creed is bound up with that of the descendants of -Othman, and the destruction of collaterals has always sufficed to pre- serve the Sultan both from revolt and assassination. Another fixed belief, that death by order of the Khalif ensures heaven, secures an obedience to any command distinctly emanating from the Sultan 'which is unequalled in Europe. Abdul Aziz is little known ; but he is a man of thirty, hale and active, with only one wife, and no tendency to drink, the curse of the high class Turks. His friends in Constan- tinople declare that he is a genuine Mussulman, with a dislike to European influence and some contempt for European reforms. His first act has been a proclamation promising to continue in the path .of improvement, but he has not yet had time to select new Ministers.
Previous page
