Palace Coup in Istanbul

On May 29th the grand vizier, the Sheik-ul-Islam, Midhat Pacha, and the Minister of War resolved to dethrone this worthless and dissipated Sultan.

Continuing Russo-Turkish War 1877,
our selection from Political History of Recent Times by Wilhelm Mueller published in 1882. The selection is presented in twelve easy 5-minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Russo-Turkish War 1877.

Time: 1877-1878
Place: Balkans

While England and (following her lead) Austria were throwing all their influence into the scale against the insurgents, Russia stood forth as in a sense the champion of their just claims. On April 5th Vesselitzky, a private agent of Prince Gortschakoff, arrived in the Suttorina, and entered into negotiations with the insurgents. They demanded, as before, some guarantee for the execution of the promised reforms. Vesselitzky constituted himself their plenipotentiary and set out for Berlin to present in person the address of the insurgents at the conference about to be held there.

Before the close of the armistice in the south an insurrection broke out in the northwest, in Turkish Croatia, the center of the movement being the little garrison town of Bisca. This new re volt was liberally supplied with men and arms from Serbia, and a force of ten thousand rebels, some of them Muslims, was soon brought together. Ibrahim Pacha, the Governor- General of Bosnia, found the force of fifteen thousand men at his disposal inadequate for the suppression of the revolt. On April 1st and 6th, at Palanka and Yagrenitza, his troops were defeated by the insurgents, the latter fighting under the battle-cry “Long live the Emperor of Austria!”

In the south, on the close of the armistice, Mukhtar Pacha set out from Gacko, through the Duga Pass, to provision the hard- pressed fortress of Niksic, but was defeated and driven back with great loss. Mukhtar represented to his Government that seven thousand Montenegrins took part in this battle, and orders were thereupon issued to establish a camp at Scutari, with a view to an invasion of Montenegro. Russia, whose protege Prince Nikita was, called upon the other great Powers to assist her in averting war, and General Ignatieff and Count Zichy, the Russian and Austrian ambassadors at Constantinople, denied absolutely the credibility of Mukhtar’s report. The Sultan finally yielded to their representations and professedly countermanded his orders. The same pressure was not brought to bear in behalf of Serbia, and before the close of April forty thousand men were assembled in the Turkish camp at Nish, on the southern border of that principality.

On May 10th Gortschakoff had a meeting with Bismarck and Andrassy in Berlin and laid before them a memorandum based upon the Andrassy note. A truce of two months was to be proclaimed in order to settle the points in dispute with the insurgents; the execution of the promised reforms was to be supervised by the consuls of the great Powers and an international fleet was to be dispatched to the support of the consuls. “More effectual” measures were held in view, in case nothing had been accomplished before the expiration of the two months. This memorandum was adopted by the three emperors and communicated to the other three great Powers. France and Italy accepted it without reserve but England refused her assent on the ground that the Porte had not yet had sufficient time in which to carry out the reforms, and that the suggestion of “more effectual” measures would lead the rebels to persist in their rebellion, while the supervision by foreign consuls was an inadmissible interference with the sovereign rights of the Sultan. The English Cabinet even went so far as to communicate the contents of the memorandum to the Porte, and in effect advised resistance to the will of Europe by means of a dilatory policy — adding, however, that Turkey could rely on nothing more than moral support from England. The memorandum itself was never presented to the Turkish Government, the course of events rendering it superfluous.

In the meantime, an event had occurred at Saloniki which involved the Porte in threatening complications with two of the neutral or disinterested great Powers. A mob of Turkish fanatics murdered the German and French consuls, on May 6th, by the command or at the instigation of the chief of police, the disturbance which led to their interference having originated in an attempt on his part to carry off a Bulgarian maiden for his harem. Germany and France at once demanded satisfaction, and French, German, Italian, Russian, Austrian, and Greek ships-of-war appeared in the harbor of Saloniki to protect the foreign residents; whereupon England dispatched twelve ironclads to Besika Bay to guard the mouth of the Dardanelles. The peremptory attitude of the injured Powers compelled the Porte, after some shambling and delay, to punish, not merely, according to its usual custom, ignorant tools and inoffensive lookers-on, but even pachas and a chief of police.

Of a sudden great excitement displayed itself among the sojtas (or students), of whom there were about ten thousand at mosques in Constantinople. Providing themselves with arms, they marched in crowds through the city, and drew up a program, in which they demanded, among other things, an assembly of notables, and the recall of Ignatieff by the Russian Government. They likewise clamored for the annihilation of the revolt in Herzegovina, and for war with Montenegro. On May nth they presented themselves before the palace with arms in their hands and demanded the removal of Mahmoud Pacha and the Sheik-ul-Islam. Their demands were granted; but, instead of Midhat Pacha, the man of their choice, Mehemed Rushdi Pacha was made grand vizier. This was counterbalanced, however, by the appointment of Hussein Avni Pacha, the soul of the movement, as Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the army. This was only a beginning. Abdul- Aziz was not the man for the energetic policy required by his new counselors. His greed, his extravagance, his leanings toward Russia, had long since deprived him of all respect. On May 29th the grand vizier, the Sheik-ul-Islam, Midhat Pacha, and the Minister of War resolved to dethrone this worthless and dissipated Sultan, and place the legitimate heir, Amurath, eldest son of the deceased Sultan, Abdul-Medjid, on the throne in his stead. Their plan was carried out, and the deposed monarch was forthwith removed to the kiosk Top-Capu, thence to the Palace of Therragan, where he appears to have committed suicide a few days later.

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