Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/487



(Ottoman Empire.)

Reigning Sovereign and Family.

Sultan of Turkey, born Feb. 9, 1830 (15 Shaban 1245), the second son of Sultan Mahmoud II.; succeeded to the throne at the death of his elder brother, Sultan Abdul-Medjid, June 25, 1861.

Children of the Sultan.—1. Yussvf Izzeddin Effendi, born Oct. 9, 1857. 2. Salihe Sultana, born Aug. 10, 1862. 3. Mahmoud Djemil Eddin Effendi, born Nov. 20, 1862. 4. Mechmed Selim Effendi, born Oct. 8, 1866. 5. Abdul-Medjid, born June 27, 1868.

Nephews and Nieces of the Sultan.—1. Amurath Murad Effendi, Heir Presumptive, born Sept. 21, 1840. 2. Fatimé Sultana, born Nov. 1, 1840; married, Aug. 11, 1854, to Ali-Ghalib Pasha, third son of Rescind Pasha; widow, Oct. 30, 1858; remarried, March 24, 1859, to Mehemed Noury Pasha. 3. Refigé Sultana, born Feb. 6, 1842; married, July 21, 1857, to Etham Pasha, son of Mehemed Ali Pasha. 4. Abdul-Hamid Effendi, born Sept. 22, 1842. 5. Djémilé Sultana, born Aug. 18, 1843; married, June 3, 1858, to Mahmoud-Gelal- Eddin Pasha, son of Ahmet Feti Pasha. 6. Mohammed-Reschad Effendi, born Nov. 3, 1844. 7. Ahmet-Kemaleddin Effendi, born Dec. 3, 1847. 8. Béhigé Sultana, born July 16, 1848; married, Oct. 11, 1859, to Husni Pasha, son of Mustapha Pasha. 9. Mohammed-Buhran-Uddin Effendi, born May 23, 1849. 10. Nur-Eddin Effendi, born April 14, 1851. 11. Seniché Sultana, born Nov. 21, 1851. 12. Fehimé Sultana, born Jan. 26, 1855. 13. Chehimé Sultana, born March 1, 1855. 14. Solyman Effendi, born Jan. 12, 1861.

The present sovereign of Turkey is the thirty-third, in male descent, of the house of Othman, the founder of the empire, and the twenty-sixth sultan since the conquest of Constantinople. By the law of succession obeyed by the reigning family, every sovereign has the right to nominate his successor to the throne, within the circle of his own blood relations; but custom has changed this rule, to the effect that not the nearest, but the eldest male heir, may lay claim to the crown. Thus the late Sultan Abdul-Medjid, although he left fourteen children, six sons and eight daughters, was succeeded, not by his eldest son—twenty-one years of age at the date of his death—but by his brother, the present sovereign. GG2