The Greek Manuscripts in the Old Seraglio at Constantinople

they knew perfectly well who the assassin was, and were neglecting the Shariat Islamic religious law. by refusing to bring him to justice and execution.

Most of the next morning—Wednesday—I spent inside the Seraglio grounds. However, before going in, I spent an hour or so driving around Stamboul. No officers had appeared, and the soldiers were still quite wild. They were mostly walking through the streets in groups of three or four—some, I regret to say, partly intoxicated (where was the Shariat now?)—firing their rifles into the air. It was this indiscriminate firing that caused most of the damage. Late the night before, it is true, a short engagement had taken place between the mutineers and three regiments who had been kept loyal to the Committee by Mahmoud Mukhtar Pasha, the son of the old representative of Turkey in Egypt. He had returned from the Asiatic side and held the War Office against the mutinying troops. In the exchange of shots, seven soldiers were killed and three wounded, while there were more than sixty casualties among civilians in the surrounding streets. So small a body could, of course, do nothing against 20,000, and the three regiments soon yielded. Mahmoud had a very narrow escape, and his life was in danger for the next twenty-four hours. On Wednesday evening, his house was surrounded by 200 soldiers with orders to shoot him on sight. Hearing of this, the British and German Embassies did their best: the first Dragoman An interpreter or guide in countries where Turkish, Arabic, or Persian is spoken. of the British Embassy went first to the new Minister of War, who said that he was not yet firmly in control and was powerless. He then went directly to the Sultan, who sent him up to the beleaguered house with an order to the effect that the soldiers were to disperse. They did not seem anxious to obey, and meanwhile, Mahmoud’s English neighbors smuggled him through their houses onto a yacht, from which he was transferred first to a pinnace A small boat. and then to the German warship lying in the Bosphorus, which took him on board.

There was a short list of some kind which assisted me in going through the collection, and the