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ABDUCTION (Lat. abductio, abducere, t...

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 37 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ABDUCTION (See also:Lat. abductio, abducere, to See also:lead away) , a See also:law See also:term denoting the forcible or fraudulent removal of a See also:person, limited by See also:custom to the See also:case where a woman is the victim. In the case of men or See also:children, it has been usual to substitute the term See also:kidnapping (q.v.). The old See also:English See also:laws against abduction, generally contemplating its See also:object as the See also:possession of an heiress and her See also:fortune, have been repealed by the Offences against the Person See also:Act 1861, which makes it See also:felony for any one from motives of See also:lucre to take away or detain against her will, with See also:intent to marry or carnally know her, &c., any woman of any See also:age who has any See also:interest in any real or See also:personal See also:estate, or is an heiress presumptive, or co-heiress, or presumptive next of See also:kin to any one having such an interest; or for any one to cause such a woman to be married or carnally known by any other person; or for any one with such intent to allure, take away, or detain any such woman under the age of twenty-one, out of the possession and against the will of her parents or guardians. By s. 54, forcible taking away or detention against her will of any woman of any 'age with like intent is felony. The same act makes abduction without even any such intent a See also:misdemeanour, where an unmarried girl under the age of six-teen is unlawfully taken out of the possession and against the will of her parents or guardians. In such a case the girl's See also:con-sent is immaterial, nor is it a See also:defence that the person charged reasonably believed that the girl was sixteen or over. The Criminal Law See also:Amendment Act 188.5 made still more stringentprovisions with reference to abduction by making the See also:procuration or attempted procuration of any virtuous See also:female under the age of twenty-one years a misdemeanour, 'as well as the abduction of any girl under eighteen years of age with the intent that she shall be carnally known, or the detaining of any female against her will on any premises, with intent to have, or that another person may have, carnal knowledge of her. In See also:Scotland, where there is no statutory See also:adjustment, abduction is similarly dealt with by practice. ABD-UL-AZIZ (1830-1876), See also:sultan of See also:Turkey, son of Sultan Mahmud II., was See also:born on the 9th of See also:February 1830, and -succeeded his See also:brother Abd-ul-Mejid in 1861. His personal interference in See also:government affairs was not very marked, and extended to little more than taking astute See also:advantage of the See also:constant issue of See also:State loans during his reign to acquire See also:wealth, which was squandered in See also:building useless palaces and in other futile ways: he is even said to have profited, by means of " See also:bear" sales, from the See also:default on the See also:Turkish See also:debt in 1875 and the consequent fall in prices. Another source of See also:revenue was afforded by See also:Ismail See also:Pasha, the See also:khedive of See also:Egypt, who paid heavily in bakshish for the See also:firman of 1866, by which the See also:succession to the khedivate was made hereditary from See also:father to son in See also:direct See also:line and in.See also:order of See also:primogeniture, as well as for the subsequent firmans of 1867, 1869 and 1872 extending the khedive's prerogatives.

It is, however, only See also:

fair to add that the sultan was doubtless influenced by the See also:desire to " bring about a similar See also:change in the succession to the See also:Ottoman See also:throne and to ensure the succession after him of his eldest son, Yussuf Izz-ed-din. Abd-ul-Aziz visited See also:Europe in 1867. being the first Ottoman sultan to do so, and was made a See also:Knight of the Garter by See also:Queen See also:Victoria. In 1869 he received the visits of the See also:emperor of See also:Austria, the .Empress See also:Eugenie and other See also:foreign princes, on their way to the opening of the See also:Suez See also:Canal. and See also:King See also:Edward VII., while See also:prince of See also:Wales, twice visited See also:Constantinople during his reign. The mis-government and See also:financial straits of the See also:country brought on the outbreak of Mussulman discontent and fanaticism which eventually culminated in the See also:murder of two consuls at See also:Salonica and in the " Bulgarian atrocities," and cost Abd-ul-Aziz his throne. His deposition on the 3oth of May 1876 was hailed with joy through-out Turkey; a fortnight later he was found dead in the See also:palace where he was confined, and trustworthy medical See also:evidence attributed his See also:death to See also:suicide. Six children survived him: Prince Yussuf Izz-ed-din, born 1857; Princess Saliha, wife of Kurd Ismail Pasha; Princess Nazime, wife of Khalid Pasha; Prince Abd-ul-Mejid, born 1869; Prince Seif-ed-din, born 1876; Princess Emine, wife of Mahommed See also:Bey; Prince Shefket, born 1872, died 1899. ABD-UL-HAMID I. 1(1725-1789), sultan of Turkey, son of - Ahmed III., succeeded his brother Mustafa III. in 1773. See also:Long confinement in the palace aloof from state affairs had See also:left him pious, See also:God-fearing and pacific in disposition. At his See also:accession the financial straits of the See also:treasury were such that the usual donative could not be given to the See also:janissaries. See also:War was, how-ever, forced on him, and less than a See also:year after his accession the See also:complete defeat, of the See also:Turks at Kozluja led to the treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji (21st See also:July 1774), the most disastrous, especially in its after effects, that Turkey has ever been obliged to conclude. - (See TURKEY.) Slight successes in See also:Syria and the Morca against rebellious outbreaks there could not compensate for the loss of the See also:Crimea, which See also:Russia soon showed that she meant to absorb entirely.

In 1787 war was again declared against Russia, joined in the following year by Austria, See also:

Joseph II. being entirely won over to See also:Catherine, whom he accompanied in her triumphal progress in the Crimea. Turkey held her own against the Austrians, but in 1788 See also:Ochakov See also:fell to the Russians. Four months later, on the 7th of See also:April 1789, the sultan died, aged sixty-four. . ABD-UL-HAMID II. (1842– ), sultan of Turkey, son of Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid, was born on the 21st of See also:September 1842, and succeeded to the throne on the deposition of his brother Mtn-ad V., on the 31st of See also:August 1876. He accompanied his See also:uncle S,ultaf Abd ul-Aziz on his Visit to See also:England and See also:France in 1867. At his accession spectators were struck by the fearless manner in which he rode, practically unattended, on his way to be girt with the See also:sword of Eyub. He was supposed to be of liberal principles, and the more conservative of his subjects were for some years after his accession inclined to regard him with suspicion as a too ardent reformer. But the circumstances of the country at his accession were See also:ill adapted for liberal developments. Default in the public funds and an empty treasury, the insurrection in Bosnia and the Herzegovina, the war with See also:Servia and See also:Montenegro, the feeling aroused throughout Europe by the methods adopted in stamping out the Bulgarian See also:rebellion, all combined to prove to the new sultan that he could expect little aid from the See also:Powers. But, still clinging to the groundless belief, for which See also:British statesmen had, of See also:late at least, afforded Turkey no See also:justification, that See also:Great See also:Britain at all events would support him, he obstinately refused to give See also:ear to the pressing See also:requests of the Powers that the necessary reforms should be instituted. The See also:international See also:Conference which met at Constantinople towards the end of 1876 was, indeed, startled by the salvo of guns heralding the promulgation of a constitution, but the demands of the Conference were rejected, in spite of the See also:solemn warnings addressed to the sultan by the Powers; Midhat Pasha, the author of the constitution, was exiled; and soon afterwards,his See also:work was suspended, though figuring to this See also:day on the See also:Statute-See also:Book.

Phoenix-squares

See also:

Early in 1877 the disastrous war with Russia followed. The hard terms, embodied in the treaty of See also:San Stefano, to which Abd-ul-Hamid was forced to consent, were to some extent amended at See also:Berlin, thanks in the See also:main to British See also:diplomacy (see EUROPE, See also:History); but by this See also:time the sultan had lost all confidence in England, and thought that he discerned in See also:Germany, whose supremacy was evidenced in his eyes by her See also:capital being selected as the See also:meeting-See also:place of the See also:Congress, the future friend of Turkey. He hastened to employ Germans for the reorganization of his finances and his See also:army, and set to work in the determination to maintain his See also:empire in spite of the difficulties surrounding him, to resist the encroachments of foreigners, and to take gradually the reins of See also:absolute See also:power into his own hands, being animated by a profound distrust, not unmerited, of his ministers. Financial embarrassments forced him to consent to a foreign See also:control over the Debt, and the See also:decree of See also:December 1881, whereby many of the revenues of the empire were handed over to the Public Debt See also:Administration for the benefit of the bondholders, was a See also:sacrifice of principle to which he could only have consented with the greatest reluctance. Trouble in Egypt, where a discredited khedive had to be deposed, trouble on the See also:Greek frontier and in Montenegro. where the Powers were determined that the decisions of the Berlin Congress should be carried into effect, were more or less satisfactorily got over. In his attitude towards Arabi, the would-be saviour of Egypt, Abd-ul-Hamid showed less than his usual astuteness, and the resulting consolidation of England's hold over the country contributed still further to his estrangement from Turkey's old ally. The See also:union in 1885 of See also:Bulgaria with Eastern See also:Rumelia, the severance of which had been the great See also:triumph of the Berlin Congress, was another See also:blow. Few See also:people See also:south of the Balkans dreamed that Bulgaria could be anything but a See also:Russian See also:province, and See also:apprehension was entertained of the results of the union until it was seen that Russia really and entirely disapproved of it. Then the best was made of it, and for some years the sultan preserved towards Bulgaria an attitude skilfully calculated so as to avoid See also:running See also:counter either to Russian or to See also:German wishes. Germany': friendship was not entirely disinterested, and had to be fostered with a railway or See also:loan concession from time to time, until in 1899 the great object aimed at, the See also:Bagdad railway, was con-ceded. Meanwhile, aided by docile See also:instruments, the sultan had succeeded in reducing his ministers to the position of secretaries, and in concentrating the whole administration of the country into his own hands at Yildiz. But See also:internal dissension was not thereby lessened.

See also:

Crete was constantly in turmoil, the Greeks were dissatisfied, and from about 1890 the Armenians began a violent agitation with a view to obtaining the reforms promised them at Berlin. See also:Minor troubles had occurred in 1892 and 1893 at Marsovan and See also:Tokat. In 1894 a more serious rebellion in the mountainous region of Sassun was ruthlessly stamped out; the Powers insistently demanded reforms, the eventual See also:grant of which in the autumn of 1895 was the See also:signal for a See also:series of massacres, brought on in See also:part by the injudicious and threatening acts of the victims, and extending over many months and throughout See also:Asia Minor, as well as in the capital itself. The reforms became more or less a dead See also:letter. Crete indeed profited by the grant of extended privileges, but these did not satisfy its turbulent See also:population, and early in 1897 a Greek expedition sailed to unite the See also:island to See also:Greece. War followed, in which Turkey was easily successful and gained a small rectification of frontier; then a few months later Crete was taken over " en See also:depot " by the Four Powers—Germany and Austria not participating,—and Prince See also:George of Greece was appointed their mandatory. In the next year the sultan received the visit of the German emperor and empress. Abd-ul-Hamid had always resisted the pressure of the See also:European Powers to the last moment, in order to seem to yield only to overwhelming force, while posing as the See also:champion of See also:Islam against aggressive Christendom. The Panislamic propaganda was encouraged; the privileges of foreigners in the Ottoman Empire—of ten an obstacle to government—were curtailed; the new railway to the See also:Holy Places was pressed on, and emissaries were sent to distant countries See also:preaching Islam and the See also:caliph's supremacy. This See also:appeal to Moslem sentiment was, however, powerless against the disaffection due to perennial misgovernment. In See also:Mesopotamia and See also:Yemen disturbance was endemic; nearer See also:home, a semblance of See also:loyalty was maintained in the army and among the Mussulman population by a See also:system of delation and espionage, and by whole-See also:sale arrests ; while, obsessed by terror of assassination, the sultan withdrew himself into fortified seclusion in the palace of Yildiz. The See also:national humiliation of the situation in See also:Macedonia (q.v.), together with the resentment in the army against the palace spies and informers, at last brought matters to a crisis.

The remarkable revolution associated with the names of Niazi Bey and Enver Bey, the See also:

young Turk leaders, and the See also:Committee of Union and Progress is described elsewhere (see TURKEY: History) ; here it must suffice to say that Abd-ul-Hamid, on learning of the See also:threat of the Salonica troops to See also:march on Constantinople (July 23), at once capitulated. On the 24th an irade announced the restoration of the suspended constitution of 1875; next day, further irades abolished espionage and the censorship, and ordered the See also:release of See also:political prisoners. On the loth of December the sultan opened the Turkish See also:parliament with a speech from the throne in which he said that the first parliament had been " temporarily dissolved until the See also:education of the people had been brought to a sufficiently high level by the See also:extension of instruction throughout the empire." The correct attitude of the sultan did not See also:save him from the suspicion of intriguing with the powerful reactionary elements in the state, a suspicion confirmed by his attitude to-wards the counter-revolution of the 13th of April, when an insurrection of the soldiers and the Moslem populace of the capital overthrew the committee and the See also:ministry. The committee, restored by the Salonica troops, now decided on Abd ul-Hamid's deposition, and on the 27th of April his brother Reshid See also:Effendi was proclaimed sultan as Mahommed V. The ex-sultan was conveyed into dignified captivity at Salonica. ABD-UL-MEJID (1823-1861), sultan of Turkey, was born on the 23rd of April 1823, and succeeded his father Mahmud II. on the 2nd of July 1839. Mahmud appears to have been unable to effect the reforms he desired in the mode of educating his children, so that his son received no better education than that given, according to use and wont, to Turkish princes in the See also:harem. When Abd-ul-Mejid succeeded to the throne, the affairs of Turkey were in an extremely See also:critical state. At the very time his father died, the See also:news was on its way to Constantinople that the Turkish army had been signally defeated at Nezib by that of the See also:rebel See also:Egyptian See also:viceroy, Mehemet See also:Ali; and the Turkish See also:fleet was at the same time on its way to See also:Alexandria, where it was handed over by its See also:commander, Ahmed Pasha, to the same enemy, on the pretext that the young sultan's advisers were sold to Russia. But through the intervention of the European Powers Mehemet Ali was obliged to come to terms, and the Ottoman empire was saved. (See MEHEMET ALL) In compliance with his father's See also:express instructions, Abd-ul-Mejid set at once about carrying out the reforms to which Mahmud had devoted himself. In See also:November 1839 was proclaimed an See also:edict, known as the Hatt-i-sherif of Gulhane, consolidating and enforcing these reforms, which was supplemented at the dose of the See also:Crimean war by a similar statute issued in February x856.

By these enactments it was provided that all classes of the sultan's subjects should have See also:

security for their lives and See also:property; that taxes should be fairly imposed and See also:justice impartially administered; and that all should have full religious See also:liberty and equal See also:civil rights. The See also:scheme met with keen opposition from the Mussulman governing classes and the See also:ulema, or privileged religious teachers, and was but partially put in force, especially in the remoter parts of the empire; and more than one See also:conspiracy was foamed against the sultan's See also:life on See also:account of it. Of the other See also:measures of reform promoted by Abd-ul-Mejid the more important were—the reorganization of the army (1843–1844), the institution of a See also:council of public instruction (1846), the abolition of an odious and unfairly imposed capitation tax, the repression of slave trading, and various See also:pro-visions for the better administration of the public service and for the See also:advancement of See also:commerce. For the public history of his times-the disturbances and insurrections in different parts of his dominions throughout his reign, and the great war successfully carried on against Russia by Turkey, and by England, France and See also:Sardinia, in the interest of Turkey (1853–1856)—see TURKEY, and CRIMEAN WAR. When See also:Kossuth and others sought See also:refuge in Turkey, after the failure of the Hungarian rising in 1849, the sultan was called on by Austria and Russia to surrender them, but boldly and determinedly refused. It is to his See also:credit, too, that he would not allow the conspirators against his own life to be put to death. He See also:bore the See also:character of being a See also:kind and See also:honourable See also:man, if somewhat weak, and easily led. Against this, however, must be set down his excessive extravagance, especially towards the end of his life. He died on the 25th of See also:June 1861, and was succeeded by his brother, Abd-ul-Aziz, as the See also:oldest survivor of the See also:family of See also:Osman. He left several sons, of whom two, See also:Murad V. and Abd-ul-Hamid II., eventually succeeded to the throne. In his reign was begun.the reckless system of foreign loans, carried to excess in the ensuing reign, and culminating in default, which led to the See also:alienation of European sympathy from Turkey and, indirectly, to the dethronement and death of Abd-ul-Aziz.

End of Article: ABDUCTION (Lat. abductio, abducere, to lead away)

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