Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/127

Rh porte, Council of Ministers and Council of State. All business is supposed to pass through their hands, and the whole administration subordinates to them; still all being subject to the supreme will of the Sultan. Any decision issued from the porte must be carried by the grand vizier to "the foot of the throne" and the Sultan's arbitrary utterance in positive or negative must be regarded as a "firman," the command of "God's shadow upon the earth." The palace is another center of authority more powerful than the official government, made up of chamberlains, mollahs, eunuchs, astrologers and nondescripts, and supported by the secret police. The general policy of the empire is determined by this party, and the most vital questions of the State are often treated and decided here, while the highest officials of the porte are left in absolute ignorance of what is going on. This party (palace), composed of the representatives of the most fanatic Moslems and the meanest adventurers, native or foreign, have the greatest influence upon the will and deeds of the Sultan. Not a single communication passes to or from the Sultan but by their agency, and with frequent modification or total fabrication.

2. The Government and the Christian Subjects. The inhabitants of Turkey, consisting of about fifteen different races or nationalities, are, in the sight of the government and law, divided into two essential classes under the official names of "Moslem" and "non-Moslem." Turks, Arabs, Kurds, Albanians, Tartars, Circassians and Africans belong to the