'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎138] (147/568)

138 ADMINISTRATION
of the nineteenth century, and were confirmed and amplified by the
Hat-i-Himimjun of 1856, after the Crimean War Equal cm,
political, and religious rights were promised, if not actually granted,
to all the inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire without distinction ot
race or creed. A Penal Code, a Commercial Code, a Vilayet Law,
and other such modern changes were instituted by Imperial decree,
while a regular Ministry of twelve members, inclusive ot the Grand
Vjzifrand the Sheikh el-Islam, was formed, and a Council ot State
was established. These changes did not materially alter the cnaracter
of the Turk or of his administrative methods. Ihey were honoured
more in the breach than in the observance. Fresh disorders and
massacres of Christians occurred, and the Serbian and Russo-l ui is i
wars (1875 -8) ensued. A desperate effort was made to modernize
Turkey by introducing representative institutions in lo/b, in the
shape of a Senate and Chamber of Deputies with a Ministry respon
sible to the Sultan. This system was soon found unworkable and
unpalatable to the new Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, who in 18
prorogued Parliament indefinitely and governed through the Palace
and Porte for over thirty years. The abuses and disorders continued
and culminated in the Macedonian agitation during the first eight
years of this century. In Jnly 1908 the Tnrkish army took the
situation in hand, forced the ex-Sultan to revive the Constitution of
1876, dethroned him, installed the Young Turk Government m
uower with the present Sultan as their nominee and creature, and
modified the Constitution by introducing Parliamentarism, or re
sponsibility of the Ministry to the Chamber. The Sultan and Senate
were shorn of all power, and, as the people were totally lacking in
political instinct or education, the Young Turks, who constituted
but an infinitesimal minority of the population, found that they
could govern only by putting the Chamber of Deputies under the
shadow and terrorism of the court martial and the state of siege
which they established in the Capital in 1909 and have maintained
till the present day. . 1 ,
All real power was vested in this secret court martial, whose pro
ceedings were manipulated by the central office of the irresponsible
Committee of Union and Progress. This body established branches
in all the provincial centres to control the action of the official focal
authorities, i.e. the valis, mutessarifs, kaimmakams, &c. As the
central court martial was composed of officers who, either from
having studied in Germany or for other reasons, were under German
influence, the German Ambassador and his military attache became
the real arbiter# of Turkey, and the directors of its central and
provincial administration.