Two very singular and, we suspect, true stories have been
published about the inquiry into the death of Sultan Abdul Aziz, now going on in Constantinople. One is that an order was extracted from Sultan. Murad, which will, of course, pro- tect all participators in the plot; and another is that the plotters intended to slaughter out the Imperial House, and call Ismail Pasha, of Egypt, to the Khalifato. Years since, it was understood that the alternative Khalif was Ismail; he is even now actively prosecuting his claim through pamphlets, denounc- ing Abdul Humid as unorthodox; and we venture to say that if the trial proceeds, the motive of the Sultan in ordering it will be found to be this. He has discovered that the plot is not dead, and is striking in a very timid, but still very direct, way at its authors. Ismail, perhaps the ablest and most unscrupulous Mussulman alive, is still formidable ; and so, in spite of all his reticent submissiveness, is Tewfik, He is the only reigning Mahommedan not of the House of Othman, he is thoroughly and sincerely orthodox, and he has money, and guards who place him beyond a secret sentence of death. The doubtful question is whether he has nerve for a very great enterprise. His father used to fail there.
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