ABD-UL-AZIZ, b. Feb. 9, 1830 ' • d. June 4, 1876; second son of Mahmoud II., and thirty-second sultan of the Turkish empire. In early life he had a fondness for agricul ture, and established a model farm. On succeeding his brother Abd-ul-Medjid, June 25, 1861, he gave many promises of reform, and was thought to be brave and patriotic. Ile began by reducing his own civil list to $3,000,000, and dismissing his brother's seraglio. But his reforms achieved nothing, and dissatisfaction at home and abroad became intense. In 1807 he made a tour of Europe, visiting the Paris exhibition and several capitals, in which he spent a vast amount of money to little purpose. The knowledge of better civilization determined him to do something practical, and in 1868 he changed the formation of the council of state, which he wished to make the central government for the empire. To his new council of thirty-four Mohammedans and sixteen Christians he promised more reform and an attempt to assimilate with western civilization; but the war in Candia took his attention, and a war with Greece was probable. The Greek difficulty was arranged by a conference at Paris, and the sultan turned his attention to Egypt, where the Khedive, Ismail Pasha, contemplated casting off Turkish allegiance; but instead of rebelling Ismail visited Constantinople to effect an arrangement.. Learning the sul
tan's financial embarrassment, he got important concessions, among them a new law of succession for his house, and nearly all the prerogatives of an independent sovereign. The sultan's affairs grew desperate; one ministry followed another at short intervals, and Ignatieff, the Russian ambassador became all-powerful with the distressed ruler. When the revenues were so low as barely to pay interest on the public debt, a revolt began in Herzegovina, and soon spread over all Bosnia. With an empty treasury, the sultan could not properly meet this rebellion, and the saltas (theological students) demanded his abdi cation; the council of ministers determined upon his removal, and made his nephew, Murad V., his successor. A few days after his deposition (June 4, 1876), Abdul was found dead in his apartments. A jury of physicians decided that he died from severing the arteries of his arms, and it waa believed that he committed suicide. Ile had five recognized children: Yusef, whom he meant should be his successor; Sultana Salikke, Mahmoud Mehmed Selim, and Alid-ul-Medjid.