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AASSIM BEY. The Editor of the Shura-i-Ummet, the official organ of the Committee of Union and Progress. As a Member of the Secret Society in Salonika he took a leading part in preparing the Revolution of July, 1908. During the counter-revolution in April, 1909, the Constantinople offices of the Shura-i-Ummet were destroyed by the reactionary mob. The words written by Aassim Bey on his portrait signify: "To my esteemed friend, Mr. Knight, a souvenir of

fraternity, from his brother Mason, Mustafa Aassim Bey."

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organs of the Committee strike hard in return, with the unfortunate result that on either side an intense hatred has been engendered which cannot but be injurious to the country's interests, imperils the Constitution, and plays into the hands of Turkey's external foes.

The Committee of Union and Progress is not rich and has not attempted to enrich itself; but it appears that the Liberal Union is well supplied with funds wherewith to carry on its campaign, purchase newspapers, and buy the consciences of men. It is known that the Greeks have been the largest contributors to these funds. The Palace gang is also said to have supplied its share. When I was in Constantinople I was informed that the Committee had intercepted correspondence between the Palace and a certain Pasha-who was then an exile in England passing under various aliases-and had obtained proof that this notorious person was the trustee of large sums lying in London banks which were intended to meet the expenses of intriguing for the restoration of the old régime. Certain foreign Powers, which have no love for the Young Turk régime, have also been openly accused of intriguing with the reactionaries. If they are innocent of this they have but themselves to blame for the suspicion that attaches to them, for one can only judge of their present policy by regarding their past. How unscrupulously Germany exploited the old régime

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