The Constantinople correspondent of the Daily Mail states that the
Sultan, tormented by fears of rebellion and assassina- tion, has quietly executed his brother, Raschid Pasha, who, according to Mahommedan law, ranks before the Sultan's own children in the succession. The statement is, of course, possible, as Raschid has been undoubtedly an object of Abd- ul-Hamid's jealousy, but we should on the whole think it im- probable. Raschid is a man of little nerve, ability, or presence, and there seems no reason why conspirators should not accept a son of the Sultan as readily as a brother. It should be care- fully noted that all accounts from Constantinople repeat the same story of the Sultan's ceaseless watchfulness, and of incessant arrests and executions which sometimes strike very high indeed. Is it not at least possible that Abd-ul-Hamid, who has one of the keenest brains in Europe and unlimited means of espionage, is unusually well informed, and that there really exists a plot against his throne or his life which becomes from time to time active, and is then brought sum- marily to an end ? We rather distrust the notion that a man like the Sultan is a mere plaything of the delatores whom, like Tiberius Caesar, he encourages and pays.
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