There would appear to be trouble coming in Constantinople. According
to both Russian and German journals, the Sultan has fallen into a state of melancholia, or even madness, which at times so incapacitates him for business that there is talk of a Regent, a most dangerous question to raise in Turkey. There could be no Regent except the heir according to the family law of the
House of Othman ; but the Sultan, whose fixed idea is that the suc- cession should be direct, might resist that, and possibly be obeyed. A Khalifate in commission also is rather an innovation. Again, the well-known sign of Stamboolee discontent, fire-raising, is causing daily losses in the capital, and will before long produce either concessions or insurrections. Reading quietly all the stories, we should be tempted to imagine that a change in the succession is not far off.
