The Times published on Thursday a singularly interesting account, forwarded
by its correspondent at Constantinople, of Ahmed Izzet Bey, the favourite adviser of the Sultan. He was a lawyer, and has been a Judge, and since his introduc- tion to the Palace has gained influence partly by intelligence, partly by working upon the Sultan's singularly apprehensive and melancholy disposition. Recently he has ceased report- ing plots and menaces, and has confined himself to advice that his master should take better care of his health, and in particular should avoid fatiguing his mind by State cares and conversations on State affairs with disagreeable people. Kings, like very rich people, are always slightly valetu- dinarian, the Sultan is not strong, and he has accepted this advice with a readiness which makes Ahmed Izzet the virtual master in Turkey. He issues the Palace orders, which are much more important than the orders of the Porte. He is a man of ability, it is his interest that Turkish policy should succeed, and he is free from the " morbidity " which characterises the Sultan. He is, however, a man of limited knowledge, and he has certainly not restrained his master, even if he has not instigated his master, in his career of massacre. Intelligence is not much guarantee against _cruelty anywhere, and in the East it is none at all.
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