THE YOUNG TURK 
47 
and child, lest an indiscreet word should 
bring- death from the edict of the despot 
whose bloody sword was ever suspended 
over his trembling subjects. 
No member of this committee was 
ever permitted to know more than four 
others. Five was the maximum num- 
ber allowed to meet together in a single 
group ; but the secret chain leading up to 
the central figure or group, which was all 
supreme, was so carefully concealed that 
no one to this day has been able to dis- 
cover the ultimate source of that won- 
derful power. 
No one who has not been an eye- . 
witness to the effect of both the old and 
new regimes in Turkey upon its people 
can realize the change that now took 
place. 
RETURN OF THE EXIEES 
The announcement that constitutional 
government had been granted to Turkey 
soon spread to all parts of the world; 
aged exiles and those who had fled from 
the dread machinations of Abdul Hamid 
returned and filled the capital to its ut- 
most capacity ; and as they were all mem- 
bers of the Young Turk party, the power 
that this remarkable secret organization 
wielded over the people became the prime 
factor in the administration of the gov- 
ernment. 
The people of the nation, who were at 
first stunned by the suddenness of the 
change, began to shout the new word 
"liberty," which had just entered their 
vocabulary, with all the changes that 
could be played upon it, and in every 
quarter of the Empire celebrations took 
place, the inhabitants simply going wild 
with joy for their deliverance from 
slavery. 
Addresses were made by Moham- 
medan and Christian speakers in streets, 
in squares, in mosques, and in churches. 
Fraternity became for the first time the 
sentiment which seemed to bind all 
creeds, races, and tongues together in 
harmonious accord. Moslem and Chris- 
tian leaders embraced and kissed each 
other in public, while tears rolled down 
the cheeks of thousands as they took part 
in the festivities. 
Burial services were performed for 
the Armenian martyrs of 1896, which 
were taken part in by Mohammedans 
and Christians alike. Crowds of former 
conflicting religious sects formed vast 
parades, led by their priests ; and, al- 
though the followers of Islam greatly 
exceeded all other sects in numbers, 
Christian fathers were invariably given 
the seat of honor in the carriages which 
accompanied them. 
All looked to the Committee of Union 
and Progress for guidance, and these 
men worked with great circumspection, 
Abdul Hamid was distinctly told that as 
long as he ruled according to the consti- 
tution his life would be spared, but that 
he would be held to a strict accounta- 
bility for his actions. He was, neverthe- 
less, promptly put under surveillance to 
insure his good behavior. Naval vessels, 
which had been left to rot in the port, 
because this wily ruler feared that some 
one might do as he had done with the 
fleet, in making it the means to drive his 
own brother off the throne of Turkey, 
were put in commission and moved to an 
anchorage in the Bosphorus, where the 
guns bore directly on Yildiz, and thus 
the Sultan became practically a prisoner 
in his own palace. 
PROMINENT PART PERFORMED BY 
AMERICANS 
Americans little realize what an im- 
portant influence their countrymen and 
countrywomen have exerted in bringing 
about constitutional government in Tur- 
key. Talcott Williams, LL.D., in an ad- 
dress in Brooklyn, N. Y., October 15, 
1908, stated: "Many causes have com- 
bined, many factors are present, many 
influences have turned the hearts of men 
in that Empire ; but, if we ask ourselves 
what the governing and final factor is 
which has brought about the first of the 
world's bloodless revolutions, which has 
seen a people divided and dissevered by 
creed, by race, by language, by every- 
conceivable difference which can sepa- 
rate the sons and daughters of men,, 
suddenly act together, we do ill if we 
forget that for 80 years the American 
missionaries have been laying the foun- 
dations and preaching the doctrine which 
makes free government possible." 
