The Sick Man of Europe
Punch Cartoon of August 12, 1908
Shah of Persia. "Go on in, Abdul — just for the look of the thing. You can always come out if you don't like it."
Sick Man of Europe. "Yes, I know. But one gets so wet!"
(The Turk makes another specious effort to amend his constitution.)
Drawn by Bernard Partridge.
This is a commentary on the 1908 amendments to the Ottoman constitution, originally promulgated in 1877 and afterwards suspended at the sultan's pleasure. The British humor magazine maintains its ironic skepticism of Ottoman promises to reform. Sultan Abdülhamid II is seen reluctant to dip his toes in the waters of the cure (labeled "Constitution"). This refers to the restoration of constitutional rule in 1908, under heavy pressure from the ultra-nationalist Young Turks. In his 33-year reign, Abdülhamid proved a master manipulator, playing off one faction or foreign power against the others. Although he was not above having rivals strangled in the night, the sultan was not nearly the savage butcher portrayed in many other Punch cartoons over the years ("the Unspeakable Turk", actually a different character from the Sick Man drawn here). But when provinces were in open revolt, Abdülhamid responded with time-honored brutality. The Armenian genocide of 1915 was preceded by many lesser pogroms in Armenia during Abdülhamid's tenure, to take one deplorable example. To take another, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-79, Ottoman provinces making a bid for independence included Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Wallachia, and Moldova. This gives one an appreciaton of the scope of difficulties facing the final few sultans.
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