Abdul Hamid [r. 1876-1909]
Abdul Hamid was the son of an Armenian slave-girl converted to Islamism ; it is said that he was not his reputed father's son at all. but the illegitimate child of an Armenian lackey in the palace. Abdul Hamid was slender, with dark gray eyes, large and penetrating, pale complexion, wrinkled large features, dark hair and beard, a hooked nose, large mouth and long ears. He was low-voiced and languid in manner, but when excited would speak and move quickly, and was personally very democratic. On account of his early delicate constitution, his education was neglected. His dress was plain ; he usually wore a frock coat of black broadcloth, buttoned to his neck.
By 1876 the combined crisis of domestic rebellion and peripheral war with which the Ottoman empire was afflicted was so severe that once again the question was raised whether the empire could survive the strain. Seized with sudden alarm, a small group of high-placed officials at Constantinople, constituting a party of reform, took matters into hand. As a preliminary step toward the execution of their program, they deposed (May 30, 1876) Abdul Aziz, who, a light-hearted wastrel, was wholly unequal to the gravity of his task and of the hour. A few days after his disgrace the erratic man graciously saved his country further trouble by committing suicide. His nephew, Murad V, whom the reformers placed on the throne, proved even less capable than his predecessor, and, after three feverish months, was in his turn deposed in favor of his younger brother, Abdul Hamid II.
In choosing Abdul Hamid II, the conspirators, all men of a liberal disposition, unwittingly dug their own graves, for Abdul Hamid turned out to be as reactionary as he was cunning and able. For a while indeed he permitted the political group, to which he owed his elevation to the throne, to lord it over him and the empire. Then quietly he laid his plans to recover the reins and, having once again got them in hand, he clung to them with so set and autocratic a will that he gradually became the single center of authority throughout his dominions.
Hamid was a firm believer in himself. When he ascended the throne his court was composed of officials who had betrayed his uncle and his brother; in consequence of which he soon decided never to trust anyone, and this policy he always followed. There was no detail of his administration too small for his personal supervision. Everywhere there were spies, with spies to spy on them, who belonged to all kinds of people, from the lowest class to the highest class of the state.
Among the many crimes that Abdul Hamid committed during his reign, the saddest and most atrocious one was that of a little girl, most probably his daughter, who entered his room while he was there ; the child, perceiving a shining revolver on the table and taking it for a toy, grasped and examined it. The Sultan, seeing this and thinking that the child was the instrument of his enemies and wanted to kill him, instantly drew his own revolver and killed the child.
Notwithstanding all this, he was an indefatigable worker; he rose early and worked late. All documents brought to him were first thrown into a disinfecting box, and then given to him by the first secretary. He communicated at any time with the governors of provinces, commandants of the army and representatives of Turkey abroad, through the central telegraph station, which was connected with Yildiz. He has done much for the disciplining and equipment of the army.
He always ate alone, except on special occasions when he received royal visitors. The dining-room was lavishly decorated and supplied with every European luxury; the waiters were all dressed in showy scarlet uniforms. The heaviest charge on his income was his kitchen, from which hundreds of trays were sent out every day. Abdul Hamid occasionally employed foreigners in the army, navy or any other high Government position with a high salary, when he wanted to be friendly to another nation.
He coped successfully with insurrection, treason, assassination, bankruptcy and war; but little was done for the fleet, for he has never trusted it since the conspiracy against his uncle Abdul Aziz ; except the imperial yacht " Izzeddin,'' which was always ready to convey to exile (to Beirout, or any other remote place) either a pasha or any other high official on suspicion of treasonable action; of the exile no more was heard. On the return of the " Izzeddin " from her secret duty all her officers were either promoted or bribed. During the last few years before his abdication he built war vessels in different parts of Europe.
He set his face against all reforms; he secured the good will of the Ulema and of the fanatical element of his people by tolerating persecutions and massacres of Christians in his dominions, to such an extent that he has been denounced by one of the most illustrious of English statesmen as "the great assassin." It is estimated that over 150,000 innocent Christians were assassinated in his dominion with or without his knowledge.
Abdul Hamid was a man of wonderful activity; he was cruel, crafty, suspicious of his own shadow, and generous. His whole policy has been one of shifts and makebelieves, of intrigue and deceit. From his poverty-stricken empire he wrested a tremendous fortune, which he had deposited in the banks of London, Paris and Berlin. During the long period of his reign nothing was more marked than the skill with which he succeeded in playing off the powers of Western Europe against each other.
On the 26th of April, 1909, the National Assembly sat in secret session, and decided upon the dethronement of the Sultan, and appointed a commission to come to an agreement on the point with the Sheik-ul-Islam. He, with the support of all the high dignitaries of the church, prepared the fetva the same night for the deposition of the Sultan. Abdul Hamid accepted the fetva and replied : " I expected this ; it is Fate." The question having been put in canonical form before the Sheik ul-Islam and his associates, as to whether Abdul Hamid had not forfeited the right to rule over the faithful, they had decided " Yes." Abdul Hamid bowed his head, saying, "It is the will of Allah." At Salonica, Abdul Hamid was kept prisoner in the Villa Alattini, which was transformed into a royal prison.
Abdul Hamid had over 200 women in his harem, that is, wives and slavegirls of all ranks; they demanded from the ex-Sultan's successor compensation for their living. Some of these slave girls were given back to their parents or relatives, and some were distributed among the harems of the imperial princes. His household spies, eunuchs, executioners and many others were arrested ; several were found guilty and punished accordingly.
During his reign he never slept in the same room twice, but changed his room every night, and in every part of his private rooms there were to be found loaded revolvers.
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