The life of Midhat Pasha; a record of his services, political reforms, banishment, and judicial murder — Reading Companion

A Son's Exile and the Duty to Publish

Ali Haydar Midhat Bey opens with a personal confession: he spent fifteen years in forced residence in Smyrna before fleeing Ottoman territory. The preface is written from England, a "hospitable land" among a "great and free people," contrasting sharply with the "Reign of Terror" he claims Turkey then endured. He presents the book as a long-overdue obligation, based on his father's private documents and notes. The author's position is unusual—he is both a grieving son and a political exile, and he explicitly separates his respect for the Imperial Throne from his condemnation of the Sultan's methods. This tension between loyalty to an institution and opposition to its current occupant runs through the framing of the work.

The Sultan's Reluctant Constitution

The excerpts include a speech attributed to Sultan Abdul Hamid II, delivered at the opening of the Chamber of Deputies. In it, the Sultan acknowledges the "imperative necessity of continuing the efforts for progress" and refers to reforms since the Tanzimat. He mentions a special school for administrative officials, to be open "without distinction of religion." Yet the author's commentary immediately undercuts this: "Thus, against his will, the Sultan had been obliged to keep his word and to open the Chamber of Deputies, but he now left no means untried in order to deprive the people of the privilege." The speech itself is a document of official promise; the surrounding narrative frames it as a coerced concession. The author notes that the Sultan exploited subsequent events "with the greatest astuteness" to undermine the very reforms he had proclaimed.

The Fall of Midhat and the Russian War

The narrative connects Midhat Pasha's dismissal directly to international crisis. The author states that the Porte's refusal of Conference propositions placed Turkey in a "critical position," but argues that the civilized world (except Russia and the Sultan) saw the Constitution as sufficient guarantee of reform. "Nevertheless, the fall of Midhat, of the very man to whom the empire owed this Constitution, gave rise to doubt." Within days, Prince Gortchakoff issued his circular, and Russia began hostilities. The author presents a causal chain: the Sultan's betrayal of his own reformer led to loss of credibility abroad, which in turn enabled Russian aggression. This section illustrates how domestic political maneuvering is portrayed as having direct, disastrous consequences for the empire's international standing.

Readers should approach this text as a partisan document—a son's defense of his father and an indictment of a regime. The author is explicit about his aims and his limitations, including the deliberate omission of certain sensitive documents. The narrative weaves together personal grievance, political analysis, and documentary evidence. Those interested in late Ottoman reform, the mechanics of autocratic backlash, or the genre of political biography from exile will find this a richly layered, if necessarily partial, account.