Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1432

 1076

TURKEY AND TRIBUTARY STATES

House of Othman.

Othman .... 1299 Orclian. . .1326

Murad 1 1359

Bajazet I., 'The Thunder- bolt' .... 1389 Interregnum. . . 1402 Mohammed I. .. 1413

Murad II 1421

Mohammed II., Conqueror

of Constantinople. . 1451

Bajazet II. ... 1481

Selim 1 1512

Solyman I., 'The Magni- ficent' .... 1520

Selim II 1566

Murad III. . . . 1574

Mohammed III. . . 1595

Ahmet 1 1603

Mustapha I. .. .1617

Othman II. . Murad lY., 'The Intre^ Ibrahim Mohammed lY. Solyman II. . Ahmet II. Mustapha II. Ahmet III. . Mahmoud I.. Othman III.. Mustapha III. Abdul Hamid I. Selim III. . Mustapha lY. Mahmoud II, Abdul-Medjid Abdul-Aziz. Murad Y. Abdul-Hamid II

id'

1618 1623 1640 1648 1687 1691 1695 1703 1730 1754 1757 1773 1789 1807 1808 1839 1861 1876 1876

The civil list of the Sultan is variously reported at from one to two millions sterling. To the Imperial family belong a great number of crown domains, the income from which contributes to the revenue. The amount charged to the Budget of 1897-98 was £T882 550.

Constitution and Government.

The fundamental laws of the empire are based on the precepts of the Koran. The will of the Sultan is absolute, in so far as it is not in opposition to the accepted truths of the Mahometan religion as laid down in the sacred book of the Prophet. Next to the Koran, the laws of the ' Multeka,' a code formed of the supposed sayings and opinions of Mahomet, and the sentences and decisions of his immediate successors, are binding upon the Sovereign as well as his subjects. Another code of laws, the ' Cahon nameh,' formed by Sultan Solyman the Magnificent, from a collection of ' hatti-sherift's,' or decrees, issued by him and his predecessors, is held in general obedience, but merely as an emanation of human authority.

The legislative and executive authority is exercised, under the supreme direction of the Sultan, by two high dignitaries, the Sadr-azam,' or Grand Vizier, the head of the temporal Govern- ment, and the ' Sheik-ul-Islam,' the head of the Church. Both are appointed by the Sovereign, the latter with the nominal concurrence of the ' Ulema,' a body comprising the clergy and chief functionaries of the law, over which the * Sheik-ul-Islam ' presides, although he himself does not exercise priestly functions. Connected with the ' Ulema ' are the ' Mufti,' the interpreters of