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 :HIBALD j. DUNN, F',S.S,, F.R,HIST.S 
 
 Member of the Central Aston Secitty* 
 
 fce One '.Shilling: 
 
TURKEY 
 
 AND ITS FUTURE 
 f 
 
 BY 
 
 ARCHIBALD J. j DUNN, F.S.S., F.R.Hisx.S. 
 
 Member of the Central Asian Society. 
 
 LONDON : 
 EFFINGHAM WILSON. 
 
 1905. 
 
I 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY ST. VINCENT'S PRESS, 
 333, HARROW ROAD, W. 
 
ID'S 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 I. AWAKENING OF TURKEY 8 
 
 II. GERMAN ENTERPRISE IN TURKEY . . ... .7 
 
 III. FINANCES 16 
 
 IV. RAILWAYS 23 
 
 V. RESOURCES 33 
 
 VI. RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE 38 
 
 VII. BRITISH TRADE WITH TURKEY . . . . . .46 
 
 VIII. THE FUTURE OF TURKEY 50 
 
 IX. CONCLUSION 58 
 

 f 
 
. TURKEY AND ITS FUTURE 
 
 , 
 

TURKEY AND ITS FUTURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE AWAKENING OF TURKEY. 
 
 THE nineteenth and twentieth centuries will probably be noted in 
 future history as an age of fundamental changes, both in the 
 political and scientific worlds. It has been an age which has 
 witnessed a marvellous increase in scientific discoveries and in their 
 adaptation to the well-being of the human race. It has also been an 
 age of revivals, of the awakening into life of races which had been 
 long considered as somnolent, if not dead. 
 
 The changes which have taken place in the East have startled 
 the Western world as something almost supernatural in their sudden- 
 ness. Who could have thought, fifty years ago, that Japan would 
 spring in so short a time from semi-barbarism, as was supposed, to 
 be one of the strongest Powers in the world ? We have at last- 
 recognised the fact that the best results of Western civilisation, and 
 a knowledge of applied science in all its forms, can be acquired and 
 even improved upon by Oriental peoples. We must admit that what 
 has been accomplished by Japan may, in time, be also effected by 
 other Eastern nations, with results that no man can foresee ; and 
 that it was from no lack of mental capacity or intelligence that the 
 East has, for so many ages, looked upon Western civilisation with 
 haughty indifference, if not contempt. The learning and traditions 
 of the Eastern sages of the past were considered sufficient wisdom for 
 the happiness of the human race. 
 
 Nevertheless, India has been conquered and reorganised by 
 Western civilisation under British rule, while Japan, by an almost 
 miraculous adaptation of Western science, has defeated the mighty 
 Empire of Russia, 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 It is a revolution in political history, and we are only witnessing 
 the first scenes in it. The leaven is working in other Asiatic States, 
 such as Afghanistan, Burmah, Siam, and Tonquin. China is being 
 zealously educated by Japan in all that Western science adapted to 
 Oriental methods can teach, and the next century will no doubt show 
 extraordinary results, which will change the face of the world. 
 
 For this reason it seems to me that the vital interests of the 
 British Empire are involved in the future development of Persia and 
 Turkey, the two Empires which alone could threaten our communi- 
 cations with India. Russian intrigue is already busy with the former, 
 and German ambition with the latter. 
 
 I wish, in this pamphlet, to call attention to some facts with 
 regard to Turkey which are too often overlooked. 
 
 The first is that from the accession of the present Sultan, Abdul 
 Harnid II. , a new era of improvement has commenced in the Ottoman 
 Empire. He is an enlightened Sovereign, who is striving to raise the 
 condition of his subjects up to the level of other States. From the 
 first he cut down the expenses of his palace at Constantinople, and 
 he corrected many of the abuses among the functionaries of the 
 Government. Commissions were appointed to regulate the finances 
 of the Empire. Concessions were granted to foreign capitalists to 
 construct railways and other public works, as also to develop the 
 enormous riches of the country. Eeligious freedom has been granted 
 to Jews and Christians alike. Schools, orphanages, hospitals, &c., 
 have been established and subsidised by the Sultan out of the income 
 of his Civil List, at the grave risk of alienating the respect of his 
 Moslem subjects. He has had enormous difficulties to contend with ; 
 if he has not been able as yet to achieve complete success, let us 
 make allowances, bearing in mind how many years it has taken us 
 in this England of ours to overcome the resistance of " vested 
 interests " to the introduction of desirable reforms ; for in such 
 matters the Moslem is even more conservative than the Christian. 
 
 Turkey is still socially and religiously in much the same 
 condition as England was in the reign of Elizabeth. In each case 
 we find the existence of a hierarchical autocracy, ruled by a Sovereign 
 who is head of both Church and State, very slightly fettered by the 
 national representatives. In both cases we find the Sovereigns 
 animated by the same desire to advance the material prosperity of 
 the peoples they govern. There is one difference, however, which. 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 < 
 
 although important, is often ignored. The Sultan has granted more 
 
 freedom to his Christian subjects than Elizabeth ever granted to the 
 Nonconformists or the Catholics in her reign. Turkey will improve , 
 in course of time, as England has. 
 
 But the Sultan is suffering from the effects of the misdeeds of 
 his predecessors, and this suffering takes the form chiefly of financial 
 embarrassment. The Western Powers to whom he has appealed for 
 advice and assistance have consolidated his debts, but in doing so 
 they have loaded him with the payment of a heavy annual interest 
 which almost strangles him. And yet the lands which he governs 
 are as rich as any upon the earth's surface. The present financial 
 position of Egypt shows what can be done by the intelligent develop- 
 ment of the material resources of a country. The riches of Turkey 
 are far greater than tbj>se of Egypt, and are only awaiting develop- 
 ment. 
 
 It is clear that the independence of the Ottoman Empire as a 
 State is of supreme importance to the world generally, and to the 
 balance of power among the Western nations. Russia has been 
 striving for more than a century to establish her capital at Con- 
 stantinople, and to assume the position formerly possessed by the 
 Emperors of the East at Byzantium. France, under the Napoleonic 
 Dynasties, claimed the Protectorate of the Christians of the East. 
 Now comes Germany, who, under the leadership of an ambitious and 
 energetic ruler, makes a very bold bid for the Protectorship of the 
 Christians in the whole of the Near East, upon the plea of protecting 
 German commercial interests. If and when the Baghdad Railway 
 shall have been built, Germany's claims to paramount influence in 
 Asia Minor, from the Bosphorus to the Persian Gulf, will be indis- 
 putable. 
 
 It is surely impossible that Great Britain should be a passive 
 witness of such an eventuality. The Suez Canal is the high road to 
 India and our Eastern possessions. It is of great importance to us 
 that it should continue free from foreign interference, as it is at 
 present, thanks to British preponderance in Egypt, which commands 
 the Western coast of the Red Sea. The Eastern coast, however, is 
 Arabian territory, and therefore under the control of the Sultan. As 
 long as he is our friend we shall have nothing to fear from him. 
 But he has his own troubles in this region, from the Bedaween who 
 constantly harry and rob the pilgrimage caravans from Jeddah to 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 Mecca, and from the semi-independent tribes of the Yemen and the 
 Aden Hinterland, whose recent insurrection has been so quickly 
 suppressed. 
 
 There is always a danger to be feared from the well-known 
 " sentimentalism " of Germany for struggling nationalities, as was 
 evidenced, for example, by the famous telegram of the Kaiser to 
 Kruger at the beginning of the South African campaign. Who can 
 say whether he might not find it to his advantage to offer even now 
 his assistance to the local Sheikhs of Arabia, to protect them against 
 their Suzerain ? 
 
 The subject of the protection of British interests in the Near 
 East, together with the safety of our route to India, has claimed the 
 attention of our Ministers for many years. In 1872 a Select Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons was appointed to study the project 
 of the Euphrates Valley Railway. It comprised members possessing 
 the highest authority upon questions relating to India, Asia Minor 
 and Persia. Evidence was given by Sir H. Eawlinson, Sir Bartle 
 Frere, Lord Strathnairn, Sir Donald McLeod, Lord Stratford de 
 Redcliffe, Sir H. Green, &c., who were all agreed upon the para- 
 mount importance of our guarding the route to India against any 
 other Power. 
 
 It is characteristic of British apathy or indolence that now, after 
 more than thirty years' delay, during which the world has not stood 
 still, though we have ; while Germany is building a railway across 
 Asia Minor to Baghdad, and is negotiating for the control of the rich 
 oilfields on the Tigris, we have done nothing. We cannot blame the 
 Kaiser for his ambition to further develop German trade in the East 
 in competition with British trade it is a perfectly legitimate object. 
 Lord Lansdowne admitted in his speech in the House of Lords last 
 year, that in this region " we are feeling very keenly the competition 
 of other Powers." Quite so; but this admission should lead to action 
 of some sort, and this is just what the Government will not do. 
 "Leave it to our successors!" is always the cry, if any decisive 
 action is required of them, for action means the expenditure of 
 money, and the eyes of the Opposition are upon them. 
 
 It was not by this kind of policy that the British Empire has 
 been made and will be consolidated. India was not won thus, nor 
 South Africa either. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 GERMAN ENTERPEISE IN TURKEY. 
 
 DID we think a year ago, when our English capitalists refused to 
 assist the German group of bankers who were so intent upon the 
 construction of the Baghdad Railway, that the project was killed and 
 would be abandoned ? 
 
 Nothing of the kind ecce iterum Crispinus! and even more 
 vigorous than before. 
 
 Germany has the advantage of possessing a Government which 
 keenly appreciates the results of extended commerce as an aid to 
 political influence, and in consequence it encourages national enter- 
 prise by means which it would shock the dignity of our own 
 uncommercial rulers even to contemplate. 
 
 As late as February, 1905, a shipload of German bankers, 
 capitalists, merchants, and contractors arrived at Constantinople, 
 under the guidance of an official of the German Ministry of Com- 
 merce, with the object of studying the means of developing German 
 commerce in the Ottoman Empire. Simultaneously with their 
 arrival, the Kaiser sent decorations of the highest class to the 
 Grand Vizier and to the Private Secretary of the Sultan; a very 
 business-like proceeding, but one which would scarcely commend 
 itself to the dignity of our own Government. It was Do ut des, 
 as Bismarck said. Napoleon's gibe that we were a " nation of shop- 
 keepers " seems to have frightened our rulers from appearing to show 
 any interest in the advancement of British commerce. Not so the 
 German Government, who leave nothing undone to encourage the 
 extension of the trade of their own countrymen in regions where 
 they hope to increase German political influence in the future. 
 
 The most notable example of this far-sighted policy was the 
 project of the Baghdad Railway, which was so warmly supported by 
 the Kaiser, who recognised that the construction of that famous line 
 by German capital would not only open a practically unlimited 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 market for German trade in Asia Minor, but would necessarily entail 
 in the Jong run the predominance of German influence from the 
 Bosphorus to the Persian Gulf. And the results which have followed 
 its construction, so far as it has been completed, have amply justified 
 his anticipations. The consumption of German manufactures has 
 greatly increased, to the detriment of those of other countries, as is 
 shown by our own consular reports. It is this fact which has 
 probably suggested the deputation of German capitalists to which 
 I have referred. 
 
 As Sir Charles Dilke has sensibly remarked, we need not imagine 
 that the withdrawal of British capital from the enterprise would stop 
 the completion of the Baghdad Railway, though it might delay it for 
 a time ; the project was too practical and too certain in its results to 
 be easily abandoned. The line traverses in its course some of the 
 richest lands in the world, abounding in every kind of agricultural 
 and mineral wealth, which only await the aid of railway transport to 
 produce an enormous revenue. Therefore we can only admire the 
 intelligence of the Kaiser in encouraging the enterprise of his subjects 
 in opening up this land of promise. 
 
 The advantages which must accrue to German commerce by the 
 construction of the railway were ably set forth by Dr. Paul Eohrbach, 
 in a pamphlet published in 1902, entitled "Die Baghdadbahn." In 
 it he lays particular stress upon the vast agricultural resources of 
 the Mesopotamian Valley, which was once the granary of the whole 
 world, and in early ages supported a population of many millions. 
 He also calls attention to the great deposits of petroleum which exist 
 at Mosul, Kerkuk, Tegrit, &c., on the banks of the Tigris and the 
 Euphrates, which he says are superior, both in quantity and quality, 
 to those of Baku and Batoum. In the development of these he sees 
 the possibility of providing the guarantee required for the capital of 
 the Baghdad Railway. In this pamphlet he strongly urged his fellow- 
 countrymen to lose no time in securing concessions from the Turkish 
 Government to work and develop these oilfields, for which he pre^ 
 dieted a future as great as those of Pennsylvania. 
 
 It is evident that his suggestions have been adopted, for we are 
 told by the Frankfurter Zeitung that the deputation referred to 
 "have applied to the Sultan for concessions to work and develop 
 the oilfields on the Tigris and the Euphrates." 
 
 I wish here also to call attention to a fact which is very signifi- 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 cant, but which has been little noticed in this country. It is worthy 
 of record, as showing the thoroughness with which the plans for the 
 future development of the Baghdad Railway have been studied and 
 prepared. 
 
 A group of German capitalists, represented by the Deutsche Bank 
 of Berlin, have very cleverly secured the control of the " Mahsousse 
 Shipping Company," which constitutes the mercantile marine of the 
 Turkish Admiralty. This company possesses a practical monopoly 
 of the Government traffic between Constantinople and the ports of 
 Asia Minor, Egypt, the Eed Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Northern 
 coasts of Africa. It owns nearly all the wharves, landing stages, 
 warehouses, &c., at the various harbours, and possesses certain 
 privileges with regard to goods, &c., landed or shipped at them. 
 The manner in which the Garmans secured the control of this 
 important line of steamers is worth telling. A few years ago, the 
 Mahsousse Shipping Company got into financial difficulties, as 
 Turkish companies often do. The steamers were old and slow and 
 out of repair ; the service was irregular and dear, and notwithstanding 
 all its advantages, was unable to cope with the superior accommoda- 
 tion and lower rates offered by competing lines. The Admiralty 
 could not bear the expenses of building or purchasing new vessels, 
 and were compelled to borrow money to pay for necessary repairs. 
 The Anatolian Kailway offered to assist, and advanced to the 
 Mahsousse Shipping Company 45,000 for the purpose. This 
 enabled it to carry on its business for a time after a fashion, but 
 the traffic did not improve, and, in fact, the steamers did not pay 
 expenses, owing to inefficient management. After a time the 
 Anatolian Eailway, which, it must be remembered, forms a section 
 of the projected Baghdad Eailway, began to press the company for 
 the repayment of its loan. The company appealed to the Govern- 
 ment for help, but without avail, and the Eailway threatened to 
 foreclose the mortgage and to seize the fleet. 
 
 It was a difficult position, for the finances of the Turkish 
 Government were strained by the expenses entailed by the dis- 
 turbances in Bulgaria and Macedonia. Under these circumstances 
 Germany came to the rescue as amicus curia. The Deutsche 
 Bank offered to finance the Mahsousse Shipping Company and 
 to free it from its troubles upon certain terms. These were as 
 follows : 
 
 3 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 1. The Deutsche Bank was to repay to the Anatolian Railway 
 
 Company the 45,000 borrowed, &c. 
 
 2. It would also pay for the construction of six new steamers by 
 
 the Danube Shipbuilding Company, one of its own concerns. 
 
 3. The entire management and control of the Mahsousse 
 
 Shipping Company were to be handed over to German 
 officials appointed by the Deutsche Bank. 
 
 4. The interest on the loan, which was estimated to amount to 
 
 125,000, was to be 5 per cent, per annum, and an addi- 
 tional 3 per cent, was to be paid for the amortisation of the 
 capital. 
 
 The terms were onerous, but the needs of the Shipping Company 
 were very pressing, and the bargain was carried out in July, 1902. 
 The Berlin papers were in ecstasies, for they saw in it the acquisition 
 of a link between the Anatolian Railway and the European railway 
 system. By means of the Mahsousse vessels, trains carrying goods 
 from Germany could be landed on the Asiatic coast without breaking 
 bulk, a very valuable condition. 
 
 In a very short time German captains and engineers replaced 
 the Turks upon all the vessels ; German receivers were installed at 
 all the booking-offices ; the wharves and warehouses passed into 
 German hands; the rates of freight, landing charges, &c., were 
 revised in favour of German commerce; the services of the fleet 
 were improved and their punctuality secured. 
 
 Everything has been done in Germany to popularise and 
 encourage the settlement of Germans in Palestine, both by the 
 Government and the banks. German colonies have been estab- 
 lished at many points along the track of the Anatolian Railway, and 
 have prospered, as was expected. Indeed, how could it be otherwise? 
 Soil, climate, means of communication by railway with good markets 
 had been provided, and the colonists enjoyed the protection of an 
 energetic Empire, with which it behoved Turkey to remain friendly. 
 There is little doubt that these colonies will increase and multiply 
 along the route of the Baghdad Railway as it is pushed forward. It 
 is the same policy as Russia has pursued in the construction of the 
 great Trans-Continental Railway to the Far East, and will probably 
 be attended by similar results. 
 
( 11 ) 
 
 Dr. Kohrbach states that the Russian colonists along the line in 
 Turkestan established cotton plantations, and now despatch to Russia 
 no less than seven million poods of raw cotton, of a value of 
 150,000,000 marks, annually. The lands which will be traversed 
 by the Baghdad Railway are immeasurably more fertile than those 
 in Turkestan, and are capable of producing sufficient grain, cotton, 
 fruits, wool, &c., to supply the markets of the world. In a recent 
 pamphlet on this subject, Dr. Hugo Grothe says : 
 
 " May the new century not finish without a proper settlement 
 of the colonisation question in Mesopotamia, so that near German 
 villages, German ploughs and spades may do their work ; that in the 
 plains which adjoin the Euphrates and the Tigris, in the country 
 lying between Aleppo, Urfa, Mardin, and Nisebin, German hands 
 may raise cornfields, such as those of the South of Russia ; that 
 German vineyards may be cultivated in the valleys of the numerous 
 rivers that flow from the Taurus Mountains, similar to those in 
 Palestine and the Caucasus, and may it help to the economical 
 welfare of Turkey and our own progressive growth." (" Die 
 Baghdadbahn.") 
 
 This is a very laudable aspiration, and it is one which will 
 probably be fulfilled before long. I do not see any reason, how- 
 ever, why English hands and English agricultural machinery should 
 not be allowed to help in the development. 
 
 It will be observed that the suggestions of Dr. Rohrbach have 
 been speedily adopted by his practical fellow-countrymen. 
 
 Now it appears to me that this concession, if granted, must 
 inevitably be followed by very serious political consequences. One 
 of these will be the firm establishment of German influence in the 
 northern part of Asia Minor and over the rivers Tigris and Euphrates 
 in their course to the Persian Gulf, which will then be a natural 
 highway for a German commercial fleet, and doubtless a station for 
 a German squadron to protect them. If we may assume that Dr. 
 Rohrbach's estimate of the value of the petroleum deposits at Mosul 
 are correct, then we shall witness the establishment of a German 
 Baku and Batoum in the very position which is most threatening to 
 British interests in Central Asia. Concessions for the canalisation 
 and improvement of the navigation on the Tigris and Euphrates must 
 inevitably follow, and will be granted, no doubt, to German capitalists 
 and German engineers, if Sir W. Willcocks should fail in his 
 
 3A 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 application for irrigation concessions. The growing use of petroleum 
 as fuel for steamships and factories will make the acquisition of the 
 Turkish oilfields of immense value to the nation which owns them. 
 To obtain access to them was avowedly one of the principal objects 
 of the promoters oE the Baghdad Railway. It is a common saying 
 that " commerce follows the flag "; it is equally true that " the flag 
 follows the commerce," as, indeed, our own experience has proved in 
 many parts of the world. We cannot blame the Germans for having 
 followed our example. We have only ourselves to blame if we allow 
 them to outstrip us in the race. 
 
 Now, the commercial interests of Great Britain are at present 
 much greater in Turkey than those of Germany, and this fact should 
 move us to draw closer the bonds of our alliance with the Sultan. 
 
 The general expression of public opinion in Great Britain and 
 France has always been opposed to Germany securing the control of 
 so important a line across Asiatic Turkey, but statesmen in both 
 countries, recognising that it must be constructed ultimately, urge 
 the advisability of England and France securing some influence over 
 the line. 
 
 The project, although at first favourably considered by the 
 British Government, was strongly opposed in the House of Commons. 
 Mr. Balfour expressed his views upon it in the following words : 
 
 " Whatever course the English Government may pursue, sooner 
 or later this undertaking will be carried out. There is no difficulty 
 in regard to money. Whether the English Government do or do not 
 assist, it is undoubtedly in the power of the British Government to 
 hamper and impede and inconvenience any project of the kind ; but 
 that the project will be ultimately carried out, with or without our 
 having a share in it, there is no question. Therefore, the point 
 upon which His Majesty's Government will have ultimately to 
 decide, and which the Government may safely and wisely take into 
 consideration, is whether it is desirable or not, that if this railway 
 connecting the base of the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf is 
 to be constructed, British capital and British interests should be as 
 largely represented in it as the capital of any foreign Power." 
 
 The French Chambers were also strongly opposed to the project. 
 Upon the motion that French capital should be prevented by law 
 from joining the enterprise, the Chamber expressed its opinion 
 emphatically by 398 votes for and 72 against the motion. 
 
( 18 ) 
 
 In England it was felt that the terms proposed by the German 
 syndicate to British capitalists were unfair and inadequate. We 
 were expected to provide 30 per cent, of the capital ; we were to 
 consent to an increase in the Turkish tariffs ; to supply a suitable 
 port on the Persian Gulf for the terminus of the railway. But we 
 were to have only a small representation on the Direction of the 
 railway, and the important questions of equal treatment for British 
 and German traffic and of spheres of influence were left undecided. 
 It was felt in the City by all except the group of Jewish bankers in 
 connection with the Deutsche Bank that the proposition was 
 altogether one-sided in favour of the Germans, and the Press gave 
 forcible expression to these views. 
 
 It is probable that in course of time some compromise may be 
 arrived at, such as that the construction of the line from Baghdad 
 to the Persian Gulf should be undertaken by British capitalists and 
 remain under British control, while the northern portion from 
 Baghdad to Constantinople should be constructed by the Germans 
 and controlled by them. This would seem to be a just and equitable 
 arrangement. 
 
 I think it will be interesting here to quote some of the opinions 
 which have been expressed by prominent writers regarding the great 
 international importance of the Baghdad Eailway. 
 
 Mr. Chirol, in his book on the " Middle Eastern Question," 
 says that in 1899 the right was accorded to the Anatolian Kailway 
 Company to extend their system from Konia to the Persian Gulf. 
 The negotiations resulted in 1903 in a Convention giving to the 
 "Imperial Ottoman Baghdad Railway Company" the right of con- 
 structing railways to the Gulf in extension of the Anatolian Railway 
 system. 
 
 " This Convention not only assured to German enterprise a 
 monopoly in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, but added thereto a 
 predominance in Syria. The Baghdad Railway, as at present traced, 
 is to run from Konia through the Taurus, whence it descends by 
 the fertile plains of Southern Cilicia to Adana, where it joins the 
 Mersina- Adana line ; from Adana to Kilis and Tel Habesch, thence 
 east across the Euphrates to a point 20 kilometres south of Birejik 
 by Haran, Ras-el-Ain, and Nisebin to Mosul, and so to Baghdad and 
 the Persian Gulf. Branch lines are to run to Aleppo, Urfa, Khanakin, 
 a.nd to a point of the Gulf from Zubeir. 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 " The line has been divided, for financial reasons, into sections of 
 200 kilometres, each of which will benefit, when constructed, by a 
 kilometric guarantee from the Turkish Government. Before the 
 ratification of the Convention, the Deutsche Bank, representing the 
 financial interests of the Baghdad Eailway Company, addressed 
 themselves to the Ottoman Bank, as representing French interests, 
 with a view of obtaining their co-operation in the undertaking. The 
 Ottoman Bank would, it was hoped, ensure the political support of 
 the French Government, as well as the financial support of the 
 French public. Later, similar advances were made to financial 
 houses in Great Britain, with the same objects in view. Both 
 advances were met in the first instance favourably, if without 
 enthusiasm. The Governments of France and Great Britain 
 expressed their general acquiescence by supporting the scheme, but it 
 is said they took no active part in the negotiations between the 
 principal parties concerned. That the German syndicate wished to 
 internationalise the scheme certainly in a measure tended to advance 
 its interests. France had been one of the first in the field in both 
 Syria and Asia Minor. It was plain that if they did not march with 
 the times they would be driven out of the field, to find themselves in 
 the same position towards Germany in Asiatic Turkey as they are 
 towards Great Britain in Egypt." 
 
 In a paper read before the Central Asian Society in 1904, the 
 
 Earl of Ronaldshay said : 
 
 
 
 " I should view with so much dismay Germany or any other great 
 Continental Power exercising the dominating influence in that part of 
 the Near East which stretches from Constantinople to the Persian 
 Gulf which the sole ownership of such a railway would inevitably 
 confer upon them . . . that I advocate the participation of the 
 country, upon certain conditions, in the Baghdad Railway scheme. . . . 
 I should prefer to see an ultimate solution of the question which would 
 display this country in possession of the section from Baghdad to 
 the Persian Gulf. Under such circumstances the ' German road,' to 
 quote so high an authority as Captain Mahan, ' would find its 
 terminus in a British system, a not unusual international rela- 
 tion.' . . . It is important that that portion of the dominions 
 of the Sultan which lies between Baghdad and Koweit should be 
 preserved free from the control of a great Continental Power. . . . 
 
 "I need not recapitulate all the recent acts of benevolent 
 
( 15 ) 
 
 neutrality which Germany has perpetrated in the interests of Russia, 
 whereby she is laying up for herself a rich credit account with that 
 country, which will some day have to be paid off. But I would direct 
 your attention to the shape which that payment may not improbably 
 assume. Is it not probable that Russia's co-operation in the 
 Baghdad Railway scheme may at some future time figure as part 
 payment of Germany's little bill? And when this country finds 
 herself alone of all the Powers in opposition to the scheme, will she 
 be prepared to prevent its consummation ? And if she is not, will 
 she look on with satisfaction at a Persia and a Turkey dominated by 
 the diplomatists and Ministers of a hostile Russo- German combina- 
 tion ? . . . Judging by the methods of German diplomacy in 
 the past, there would be nothing in the least surprising in finding 
 her at some future time walking hand-in-hand with Russia towards 
 the Persian Gulf. . . . 
 
 "As an example of what has already been effected by railways 
 in Asia Minor, I may call to witness the report published by the 
 Public Debt Administration in 1903, wherein it is stated that the 
 tithes of the district traversed or affected by the railway have 
 increased in the last twelve years by 46 per cent., and the statement 
 by Consul Waugh that the Angora district, which exported no grain 
 before the railway was opened, now has an annual export of wheat 
 and barley valued at from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000. 
 
 " There are in Upper Chaldoea, according to Sir Wm. Willcocks, 
 no less than 1,280,000 acres of first-class land waiting only for water 
 to yield at once a handsome return. ' Of all the regions of the 
 earth,' he writes, 'no region is more favoured by nature for the 
 production of cereals than the lands of the Tigris. . . . Cotton, 
 sugar-cane, Indian corn, Egyptian clover, opium, and tobacco will 
 find themselves at home as they do in Egypt.' ' 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 TURKISH FINANCES. 
 
 IT is sad to think that the destinies of States and peoples depend 
 in so great a degree upon the financial resources of a country ; but 
 so it is. The debts of a State can only be paid by the taxes wrung 
 from the inhabitants in one way or another. If the governing powers 
 are extravagant, fond of glory and conquest, millions are spent on 
 the army and navy, which must be provided by the poor agriculturist 
 or manufacturer. 
 
 After a series of * brilliant campaigns, extending over many 
 centuries, the Ottoman Empire has abandoned its career of con- 
 quest and has settled down on the lands it has acquired. The tide 
 of victory has ebbed, and during the last century the Sultans have 
 experienced the result of the reaction. Province after province has 
 been wrested from the Empire, and the Government has been brought 
 face to face with the unpleasant financial results. 
 
 In order to understand clearly the exact position of the Ottoman 
 Empire, it will be necessary to examine here the present state of the 
 finances. And, first, I would premise that it is extremely difficult 
 for a Western mind to understand that of an Oriental. The indolence 
 of the Turk so far exceeds that of any European race, that we must 
 have recourse to one of his own words to express it. He calls it 
 khef, which indicates an extreme listlessness and indifference to 
 everything a state of beatitude in which all desire is dead. This is 
 the effect of the doctrine of Fatalism, which has altogether paralysed 
 the people of the Ottoman Empire. It is not surprising, therefore, 
 that with such dispositions the troublesome and wearying subject of 
 finance should have been so sedulously avoided by the Turkish 
 Sultans. Whenever war broke out, or rebellions occurred, and in 
 consequence more money was required by the army, the Sultan 
 borrowed it upon any terms asked, from any banker who woulcl 
 lend it. 
 
( 17 ) 
 
 The circumstances which preceded and followed the Russo- 
 Turkish War in the Crimea loaded Turkey with an oppressive 
 debt, which it was of vital importance to meet. Hence, in 1854, 
 Great Britain guaranteed a Loan of ,3,000,000 based upon the 
 Egyptian Tribute. It was a six per cent, loan, and was issued 
 at 80. In the following year, 1855, England and France guaranteed 
 a further Loan of 5,000,000. 
 
 The fatal facilities of Finance which were afforded the Sultan 
 Abdul Aziz by the German capitalists encouraged the expenditure 
 of vast sums by the favourites of the Palace in every kind of luxury. 
 
 In 1860 the floating debt amounted to 350,000,000 francs, for 
 which the Government had not received 50 per cent, of value, and 
 in some cases less. And so the debts of the Empire went on 
 increasing year by year, the Ministers contenting themselves with 
 paying the coupons of the Loans and such other debts as became 
 unpleasantly pressing, putting off the others to a future date when 
 it was possible to do so. Sir E. Malet, in his "Memoirs" gives an 
 amusing example of this habit of the Turkish Ministers. Lord 
 Lyons once asked Ali Pasha why he so often put off the payment 
 of an indemnity due by the Government to a British subject. The 
 Minister replied : " Well, the matter troubles me, but, you see, if we 
 were to pay this claim at once, we should open the door to many 
 other claims, so we prefer to delay payment as long as possible." 
 
 M. Charles Moravitz, to whose able work, " Les Finances de la 
 Turquie," I am indebted for the following statistics on Turkish 
 Finance, says : 
 
 " The present generation of Turks are bearing the results of 
 the imprudence of their rulers in the past. War, pestilence, and 
 corruption have entailed upon the country the burden of a debt 
 which would have crushed any other nation similarly situated, or 
 moved it to repudiate its liabilities, as Christian States have 
 frequently defaulted." 
 
 But Turkey has never done so, for the Moslem, with all his 
 faults, is truthful and honest, unlike the Christian Slav. In 1897, 
 when a severe financial crisis prevailed throughout Europe, notwith- 
 standing a violent outbreak of cholera throughout the Empire, and 
 the occurrence of the massacres of the Armenians by the rebellious 
 Kurds, Turkey continued to pay her debts ; the interests upon the 
 
 4 
 
( 18 ) 
 
 Loans were punctually paid. The Council of the Public Debt calmly 
 continued its operations. In 1894 and 1895 it bought up Bonds to 
 the amount of T1,273,822 ; in 189596 : Tl,221,(Xfo, in addition 
 to 35,633 Lottery Bonds, and at the same time increased the Eeserve 
 Fund by T182,121. This is a fact most honourable to Turkey, and 
 should be remembered to her credit. But what is less known and is 
 a fact which will surprise many people, is that during the last twenty 
 years the Ottoman Empire has much diminished its debts. We can 
 scarcely ever open a newspaper without reading an announcement 
 that Turkey is negociating a Loan of several hundred thousand 
 pounds with some financial house, or has just concluded one. This 
 is what we see ; but what we do not see is that these are generally 
 only temporary advances in anticipation of amounts maturing within 
 a brief period ; that they are usually repaid in the course of a few 
 months, and therefore do not increase the amount of the permanent 
 National Debt. As to the Loans contracted and issued since the 
 Decree of Mouharrem, the list is a short one : 
 
 L~ The Customs Loan, 1886, has increased the nominal 
 
 amount of debt by T6,500,000 
 
 The Fisheries Loan, 1888, by 1,650,000 
 
 The Consolidation Loan, 1890, by 4,999,500 
 
 The Tombak Loan, 1893, by 1,000,000 
 
 Railway Loans. 1894, by ... 1,760,000 
 
 Five per Cent. Loan, 1896, by 3,272,000 
 
 T19,181,500 
 
 It is true that through the conversion operations of 1891 and 
 1894, the Treasury took advantage of the reduction of the amount 
 payable for interest, and capitalising the economy made, by obtaining 
 an advance of about T2,000,000, but as this did not affect the 
 amount required for the service of the debt, we need not notice the 
 fact further at present. 
 
 Let us turn next to the total amount paid towards amortisation. 
 As regards the debt covered by the Decree of Mouharrem, the 
 calculation is easily made. That decree devoted to amortisation one 
 fifth of the product of the revenues conceded, plus the interest due 
 upon Bonds already redeemed: therefore the additions to the Sinking 
 Fund increase rapidly year by year. It is well known that the 
 sums thus devoted to the extinction of the debt are used in the 
 purchase of Bonds of the various series upon the Bourses of the 
 world. Hence the amount of the nominal capital of the Loans. 
 
( 19 ) 
 
 diminished rapidly. Series A has already disappeared. Series B 
 will be extinguished in eight or nine years. 
 
 At the end of January, 1902, the Bonds amortised since the 
 issue of the different series and the Lottery Loan, amounted to 
 T23,332,000, or 20'09 per cent, of the total amount of the 
 converted debt covered by the Decree of Mouharrem. 
 
 As regards the other Loans, their amortisation, regulated by the 
 different contracts relating to them, has proceeded regularly ; it had 
 resulted in January, 1902, in a reduction of the nominal amount of 
 the debt by T4,500,000. Finally, of the war indemnity payable to 
 Russia, upwards of T7, 000,000 have been paid off. 
 
 These various amortisations amount to a total of T34, 832,000. 
 Deducting the amount of fresh loans issued since the publication of 
 the Decree, there remains over a balance in favour of the amortisation 
 of 115,650,500. 
 
 How many European States can boast of having reduced their 
 public debt during the past twenty years ? 
 
 At the present moment the annual charges for the service of the 
 Consolidated and Floating Debt figure out as follows : 
 
 Loans converted by the Decree of Mouharrem and Francs. 
 
 Priority Bonds 49,650,000 
 
 Ditto guaranteed by Egyptian Tribute 17,250,000 
 
 Customs 8,863,000 
 
 Fisheries 2,625,000 
 
 Consolidated 5,682,000 
 
 Tombak 1,136,000 
 
 Railways 1,740,000 
 
 1896 4,140,000 
 
 Russian War Indemnity 7,875,000 
 
 Railway Subventions 15,000,000 
 
 Floating Debt (approximate) 10,000,000 
 
 Total Francs ... 123.961,000 
 
 From this amount we should deduct the following, which are not 
 derived from taxes paid by Ottoman subjects : 
 
 Francs 17,250,000 paid by Eygpt. 
 
 3.150,000 Eastern Roumelia. 
 
 1,740,000 ,, Eastern Railway Companies. 
 
 Francs 22,140,000 
 
 There remains consequently a direct charge on the Budget, or in 
 other words, the taxpayers, yearly of 102,000,000 francs. Dividing 
 this amount by the population of Turkey, which is estimated at 18 
 
 4A 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 millions, we find it comes to an annual charge of 5 francs 50 centimes 
 per head. This sum, though small in comparison with the 32 francs 
 per head paid by the French, presses much more heavily upon the Turk. 
 The French National Debt, as shown by the last Budget, amounted 
 to thirteen and a half milliards of francs, or 100 francs per head 
 of the population. The Ottoman Public Debt amounts in all to 
 400,000,000 francs, or 23 francs per head. 
 
 Mr. H. Babington Smith, the late president and British repre- 
 sentative on the Council for the Administration of the Ottoman 
 Public Debt, estimated the revenue for the year 1902-3 would 
 stand approximately as follows : 
 
 Five revenues T1,200,000 
 
 Tobacco tithe and sundries 180,000 
 
 Kegie .... - ... 761,000 
 
 Eastern Roumelian Annuity 342,000 
 
 Customs Bills... 152,000 
 
 T2,635,000 
 
 The chief desideratum for the Ottoman Empire is, not to increase 
 its debt, but to pay it off as quickly as possible, and thus shake off the 
 tribe of Jewish, Greek, and Armenian moneylenders, who are draining 
 the life-blood of the nation. Hitherto the practice has been to borrow 
 money at any price when an emergency arises, and when the interest 
 falls due to raise another loan on exorbitant terms to pay it. The 
 consequence has been a constantly increasing indebtedness to foreign 
 creditors, who have an inconvenient way of suddenly demanding 
 immediate payment backed by a foreign fleet. It is no wonder 
 that the Sultan wishes to free himself from the persecutions of these 
 troublesome creditors as soon as possible. 
 
 It is with nations as with individuals ; in all cases happiness and 
 comfort depend on financial ease. If a man lives above his income 
 he is on the road to ruin and bankruptcy. And a nation is in exactly 
 the same position. When the expenditure exceeds the revenue, the 
 balance must be met by borrowing, and thus it happens that 
 improvident States burden themselves with liabilities for money 
 which they have but little prospect of being able to pay. For the 
 nation, as for the man, there is always the tempter at his elbow the 
 Jew banker with bursting money bags, the produce of usury and 
 many ruined homes. And so the ruler yields to the tempter, and 
 borrows from him the money needed to stave off the evil day. Thus 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 it is that the Jew banker, generally of German nationality, 
 accumulates millions, purchases a title, and poses as a philanthropist. 
 
 Now the Turk has never been at any period of his existence an 
 economist. He has always been a soldier and a conqueror, and cares 
 little for money until he finds he has need of it, and will then borrow 
 upon any terms proposed. So he is an ideal prey for the Jewish 
 moneylender, for he always forgets the date at which his liability 
 falls due until it arrives, and then he raises another loan. 
 
 Of two alternatives, one must be accepted if we wish to see the 
 Turkish Budget properly balanced to equilibrium. Either the 
 expenditure must be reduced, or the Imperial revenue increased. 
 Now, it is not possible to economise to any considerable extent in the 
 expenditure of the Army and Navy; rather these should be 
 strengthened instead of weakened improved instead of abolished 
 as being the sole means of defence for the Empire. There is 
 certainly room for economy in the Civil Service Department, the 
 collection of taxes, &c. 
 
 The following statistics respecting the Import and Export trades 
 of Turkey for 1903, furnished by the British Consul at Constantinople 
 and published by our Foreign Office, prove that Great Britain is still 
 the largest commercial customer of the Ottoman Empire. They are 
 somewhat reassuring in view of the pessimistic reports which certain 
 of our newspapers publish from time to time. Nevertheless, I must 
 call special attention to the grave warning added by Mr. Consul 
 Waugh : 
 
 IMPORTS, 1903. 
 
 Great Britain 5,701,000 
 
 Austria-Hungary 3,256,000 
 
 Germany 2,511,000 
 
 Italy 2,268,000 
 
 France 1,832,000 
 
 In 1904 the sales of British goods to Turkey advanced to 
 6,750,000. 
 
 EXPORTS FROM TURKEY, 1903. 
 
 Great Britain 6,370,000 
 
 France 4,060,000 
 
 Germany 1,881,000 
 
 Austria-Hungary 1,995,000 
 
 Italy 1,906,000 
 
 Mr. Consul Waugh says : " As regards percentages, it is un- 
 
( 22 ) 
 
 deniable that some of our rivals who started comparatively recently 
 from very small beginnings, are advancing rapidly. But they are 
 still far behind, and it is no service to British manufacturers to 
 exaggerate the progress made by their competitors, nor to encourage 
 people at home in the belief that the scientific and laborious efforts 
 of German and Italian manufacturers on this market can be met by 
 anything but similar efforts in the United Kingdom." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 RAILWAYS. 
 
 As I have said, the present Sultan has from the first shown a practical 
 interest in the development of his territories by the construction of 
 Railways to open up the hinterlands to agriculture and commerce. 
 
 It has been a very difficult task, for foreign capitalists seemed at 
 first chary of venturing upon the experiment of railway building in 
 Turkey, in the fear that their capital might be sunk for a long period 
 without hope of profitable results. Hence, in most cases, they have 
 insisted upon the Turkish Government guaranteeing a certain amount 
 of subsidy for each kilometre opened. This " kilometric guarantee," 
 as it is called, has constituted a heavy charge upon the finances of the 
 Empire, already overburdened by the interest payable upon the 
 General Debt and the indemnity to Russia for the last war. 
 
 Nevertheless, many lines of railway have been built and opene'd 
 as I will show, and a glance at the map will prove the great advantage 
 they have been in opening up the country. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the Sultan, in granting concessions 
 for railways, naturally looks first to the strategic value to himself of 
 the lines proposed, and after that to the convenience of foreign 
 commerce. 
 
 SMYRNA TO AID IN. 
 
 On the 23rd of September, 1856, the Turkish Government 
 granted a concession to an English syndicate for the construction 
 and working of a line from Smyrna to Aidin, traversing a rich and 
 well-peopled district. The duration of the concession was for fifty 
 years with a guaranteed interest of 6 per cent, per annum, up to a 
 maximum total of T72,000. 
 
 At the end of eleven years, in 1867, the company finally completed 
 this short line of 130 kilometres. Then differences arose with the 
 
(24 ) 
 
 Government concerning the amount of capital on which interest was 
 to be paid, and which was claimed to amount to T100,000 per 
 annum. The working expenses of the line were 71 per cent. 
 In 1896, Major Low, who reported on the line, said : 
 "It is the only railway in Asiatic Turkey which, on its own 
 merits, has proved a profitable concern, whilst Government revenue 
 and the prosperity of the population have been greatly increased by 
 the remarkable development of the fertile districts opened up. The 
 mileage has gradually been extended eastward to Dinez and Chivril, 
 tapping further rich districts. The latest reports are extremely 
 satisfactory, and within its present restricted area it continues to 
 prosper; but the dream of the promoters of a future extension to 
 the Euphrates Valley has definitely vanished, owing to the advance of 
 the Anatolian Railway to Konia." 
 
 Mr. Whigham says that this line " has turned the famous valley 
 of the Meander into a smiling garden." (Persian Gulf.) 
 
 SMYKNA TO CASSABA. 
 
 In 1863 a concession was granted to an English syndicate for a 
 line from Smyrna to Cassaba, 93 kilometres in length, and a branch 
 from Smyrna to Bournabet, with a guarantee of five per cent, on a 
 capital of T800,000. The results of this concession were very 
 unsatisfactory to the Government. In 1893, 105 miles in all had 
 been constructed, but financial difficulties occurred, and in 1894 the 
 line was sold to a French syndicate, who now work it under a 
 Government guarantee. Owing to engineering difficulties the cost of 
 construction has been much greater than was anticipated. It will 
 probably be absorbed later on by the Anatolian Railway. 
 
 CASSABA TO ALACHEIB. 
 
 In 1871 the Ottoman Government formed a plan for an extensive 
 network of railways to be constructed in Asia Minor. After careful 
 studies made by Mr. Pressel, a German engineer, detailed plans were 
 drawn up, and an Imperial Irade was issued on the 4th October, 1871, 
 ordering the construction of certain of the projected lines. A 
 commencement was made by prolonging the line from Cassaba to 
 Alacheir or Philadelphia, the principal depot for the carpet industry. 
 It was completed in 1875, and its working was entrusted to the 
 Smyraa-Cassabe Railway Company. The concession was granted for 
 sixteen years without any payments to the Government, but the latter 
 
( 25 ) 
 
 was to become, at the expiration, proprietor of the Smyrna to Cassaba 
 Railway. 
 
 MAGNESIA TO SOMA. 
 
 The Smyrna to Cassaba Railway Company was authorised in 
 1888 to construct and work without guarantee a branch line, 92 
 kilometres in length, from Magnesia to Soma, which was opened in 
 1890. But the concessions for the former lines were to end in 1891, 
 on condition that the State settled its accounts with the Company. 
 The debt amounted in 1890 to 30,000,000 francs; and this fact 
 formed the basis of the negotiations opened with Monsieur 
 Nagelmakers later on. It is stated that a concession is to be granted 
 for the construction of a short line from Soma to Panderma, and for 
 tramway lines from Soma to Ayvali, and from Manemen to Pargaina, 
 with the object of increasing the traffic from surrounding districts to 
 the railway. 
 
 MOUDANIA TO BROUSSA. 
 
 The Irade of 4th August, 1871, stipulated also for the construc- 
 tion of two lines, one from Moudania, a small port on the Sea of 
 Marmora, to the town of Broussa, 45 kilometres in length, and the 
 other from Haidar-Pacha on the Bosphorus, opposite Constantinople, 
 towards Baghdad. The earthworks for the first-named of these lines 
 were completed as far as Broussa in 1874; the rails were laid for 
 some distance at a gauge of 1 metre 10 c. only, when, after having 
 expended T 185, 000, the works were suddenly suspended through 
 lack of money, and the line was abandoned by the Government. 
 Seventeen years later, in 1891, M. Nagelmakers took up a concession 
 for the completion of the railway, without Government guarantee, 
 with the right to extend it to Tchitli, he paying the Government for 
 the line and what was left of the material 500,000 francs. He 
 formed a company called " Societe Ottomane du Chemin de Fer 
 Moudania-Broussa," which opened the line to traffic in 1892. The 
 receipts amounted in 1890 to 6,156 francs per kilometre. 
 
 In the report of the Council of Administration of the Ottoman 
 Public Debt, the following statements were made respecting the 
 results of the working of the Turkish railways : 
 
 " The marked improvements in the results attained by the 
 Anatolian Railway still continues. The receipts of the Haidar-Pacha 
 Angora line have almost reached the sum necessary for meeting the 
 
 5 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 kilometric guarantee of 10,300 francs for the section of the Haidar- 
 Pacha-Ismidt, and 15,000 francs for the section Ismidt-Angora, which 
 are together equal to a kilometric guarantee of 14,252 francs for the 
 whole line from Haidar-Pacha to Angora. This section should, 
 therefore, next year be entirely independent of its guarantee, an 
 event unprecedented in the history of guaranteed railways in Turkey, 
 and of favourable augury for the future. 
 
 "As regards the Eski-Shehr-Konia section, there is no reduction 
 in the guarantee payable until the receipts exceed the sum of 
 6,750 francs per kilometre. The increase of traffic is more rapid than 
 I expected; but the kilometric receipts for 1902 have not quite 
 reached 6,750 francs, and there will, therefore, be no diminution in 
 the sum of T131,744, the amount payable so long as the receipts 
 remain inferior to the above-mentioned sum. The saving to the 
 Government on the guarantee of the Anatolian system is therefore 
 ;T27,509 as compared with the previous year. 
 
 "The two railways, whose terminus is at Salonica namely, the 
 Salonica-Monastir and Salonica-Constantinople Junction do not 
 show any great variation on the r.esults of last year. The receipts of 
 both show a slight improvement, but the amount payable in respect 
 of the two railways is only reduced by T3,850. 
 
 " The Smyrna-Cassaba Eailway also has a slight improvement to 
 report, and there is a reduction in the amount payable, both for the 
 old line and the extension, amounting to T2,674. 
 
 " During the current year the Rayak-Hama Railway has been 
 opened to traffic, the total length being 188 kilometres. It has a 
 kilometric guarantee of 15,000 francs. The sum payable in respect 
 of the current year is T44,992, and this is amply provided for by 
 the tithes of the Sanjaks of Damascus and St. Jean d'Acre, which 
 have been handed over to the Administration of the Debt for 
 collection. 
 
 " It will be seen that the total amount payable in respect of all 
 these guarantees is less by T5,531 than the sum paid last year, in 
 spite of the new charge undertaken for the guarantee of the Rayak- 
 Hama line. 
 
 " It has been frequently stated that the burden laid upon Ottoman 
 finances by the kilometric guarantees is largely or entirely compensated 
 by the increased yield of the taxes in the districts traversed by the 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 railways, owing to the agricultural and industrial development which / 
 the railways inevitably produce. 
 
 " It is interesting to examine, with the aid of such figures as are 
 available for the purpose, to what extent this theory is borne out by 
 facts. The taxes which are most effected by such development are 
 the Customs duties and the tithes. As regards the Customs, increased 
 agricultural production does not produce any important direct effect, 
 since the state of the duties on export and internal transit from port 
 to port is low compared with the rate of the import duties. But the 
 indirect effect, in increasing the purchasing power of the population, 
 and therefore the imports which they consume is undoubtedly con- 
 siderable. It is not, however, easy to trace statistically, since in the 
 first place there is a complete absence of trustworthy statistics, and 
 in the second place, even if accurate figures were available, it would 
 be difficult to separate the effects produced by the development of 
 which we are speaking from the effects produced by other causes of 
 a general or special nature, such as the variation of the seasons, 
 or political events." 
 
 Mr. Whigham writes in his interesting work, " The Persian 
 Gulf:"- 
 
 " The material change which has come over Asia Minor since 
 railways were introduced into the coast fringe is indisputable. The 
 British Railway, called the Smyrna-Aidin line, turned the famous 
 valley of the Meander into a smiling garden, and the Kassaba line, 
 originally British also, but now a French concern, has developed 
 
 similar agricultural riches a little to the north The line 
 
 from Haida Pacha to Angora earns a handsome profit, and is no 
 longer a burden on the Sultan's exchequer, while the later extension 
 from Eski Shehr to Konia, though still dependent on the Government 
 guarantee for payment of interest on capital outlay, is fast emanci- 
 pating itself, so that in a few years it will be entirely self-supporting. 
 Thanks to the Anatolian Railway system, the Anatolian plateau is 
 becoming the great granary which it ought always to have been. 
 Every year fresh land is brought under cultivation, and between 
 Eregli and Konia I passed through miles of standing wheat in a 
 district which a year or two ago was as innocent of the plough as 
 Sahara. . . . The extension of railways will double the trade of / 
 Asia Minor within ten or fifteen years." 
 
 *a^*^ t * 5A 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 SYRIA OTTOMAN RAILWAY. AKKA TO DAMASCUS. 
 
 In 1891 a concession was granted to Mr. Pilling for the con- 
 struction of a line from Akka (St. Jean d'Acre) on the Mediterranean 
 to Damascus, 253 kilometres in length. A company was formed in 
 London for the purpose ; it was called the " Syria Ottoman Railway 
 Company Limited." It was unsuccessful, from causes unnecessary to 
 enter into, and went into liquidation. During the twelve years of its 
 existence it had only built about 12 kilometres of line, from Akka to 
 Haifa, and embanked several further kilometres. In December, 1902, 
 the Sultan purchased the concession, works, &c., from the liquidators 
 of the company, and under the direction of a German engineer, 
 completed the line as far as Beisan, near to which a large steel 
 railway bridge has been thrown across the Jordan at Jizr-el- 
 Majamieh. The works are now being rapidly pushed on, and it is 
 expected that the railway will be publicly opened to traffic before 
 Christmas. It was at first proposed that it should terminate at 
 Damascus, but the course has since been altered on account of 
 engineering difficulties, and it will now join the Hedjaz Railway at 
 another point. A glance at the map will show the great importance 
 and interest attaching to this line. 
 
 Starting from the historic port of Acre or Akka the Accho of 
 the Bible the fortifications of which have been taken, re- taken, 
 destroyed, and re-built during successive ages, until their final 
 destruction by our own countrymen, the line proceeds through the 
 valley of Esdraelon, until it reaches the point at which the Jordan 
 flows into the Sea of Galilee. 
 
 The port of Akka is about to be re-constructed, its harbour 
 enlarged and deepened to admit the entrance of ocean going steamers, 
 and its wharves fitted with up-to-date appliances for the handling of 
 freight, &c. When these improvements have been effected the former 
 importance of the port and town will be revived, as it will be the 
 terminus of a branch of the Hedjaz Railway, by which access will be 
 provided to the interior for goods and passengers to the Holy 
 Places. 
 
 Mr. Consul Devey, in his last report to the Foreign Office, 1905, 
 
 says : 
 
 " The Damascus-Mecca Railway was finished as far as Maan in 
 September last, and has been pushed forward since into the Hejarz to 
 
( 29 ) 
 
 the distance of 100 kiloms., with another 100 kiloms. ready to receive 
 metal. The telegraph now unites Maan with Acaba. 
 
 " There are also rumours that a railway will before very long be 
 built from Jeddah to Mecca, the distance being about forty-five miles, 
 and a maximum height of 1,970 feet, although native reports go to 
 show that the height need only be about 700 feet. 
 
 " As the Suakim-Berber line will be completed by the end of the 
 current year, those who have been employed upon its construction 
 might, one would anticipate, have an opportunity of further work 
 on this side of the Bed Sea, the climate and conditions not being 
 dissimilar." 
 
 A recent correspondent in The Times wrote : 
 
 "Early in October the Deraa-Haifa branch of the line, the only 
 section which is likely to be of much economic importance, will be 
 completed, and the Turkish military authorities and Herr Meissner, 
 the able German engineer who is responsible for the construction of 
 the line, will be able to look with satisfaction on a successful year's 
 work. South of Maan the engineering difficulties are not great. 
 There is nothing to match the series of steep gradients which the 
 railway climbs above 'Amman, or the ravines crossed by a huge 
 viaduct on the east bank of the Jordan, and all railway material 
 required for the south extension of the Hamidieh-Hedjaz Railway 
 will be sent up to railhead far more cheaply and rapidly than in the 
 past, when every sleeper came up from Beirut by the French com- 
 pany's Lebanon railway to Damascus, and paid a rather heavy freight 
 charge into the bargain. 
 
 " The railway will reach the Hedjaz in another three years, 
 unless the prophecies of an Arab upheaval are fulfilled, and though, 
 taken as a whole, it will never pay, its military importance, more 
 especially when it is linked with the Anatolian and Baghdad systems, 
 must be obvious to any student of Eastern politics. Its defensive 
 value in the case of an outbreak in the Hedjaz, will be immense; it 
 may perhaps .be used for offensive purposes, and even to-day, after 
 making every deduction for bad management on the part of ignorant 
 or venal subordinates, it can transport a fully equipped division to 
 railhead in less than a month. About 20,000 Syrian Redifs (reserve) 
 and Nizam (regulars) were entrained at Damascus or 'Amman, con- 
 centrated at Maan, and marched to Akaba in little over a month this 
 
( 30 ) 
 
 spring. The French company's Damascus-Mezerib line supplied any 
 deficiencies in rolling stock, the German railway officials successfully 
 averted collisions, and though the Eedifs lacked equipment and 
 suffered, as Turkish reservists alone can suffer, the line was shown 
 to be a valuable military asset." 
 
 THE HEDJAZ RAILWAY. 
 
 Comparatively little attention has been given in this country 
 to the very remarkable line of railway which the Sultan is build- 
 ing at the present time, and which illustrates what I have 
 said as to the inducements which move him to railway con- 
 struction. This line, commonly known as the Hedjaz Railway, 
 will, when completed, be called the Hamidiyeh Railway in 
 honour of the Sultan himself, whose favourite project it has 
 always been. 
 
 As the chief Ruler of the Moslem world, he has always 
 been desirous of facilitating and encouraging the visits of the 
 faithful to the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina, and thus 
 handing down his name to posterity as one of the greatest bene- 
 factors to Islam. 
 
 The Pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the sacred institutions 
 ordained by Mahomet, and its departure from Constantinople is 
 annually witnessed by the entire Mussulman population. It takes 
 place on the 15th of Chaban, the ninth lunar month of the 
 Mahometan year. It is carried out with great pomp in the presence 
 of the Sultan, and is one of the principal fetes of the city. The 
 whole of the clergy, bearing the costly presents of the Sultan, sur- 
 round the Sacred Camel, which carries the traditional presents ; 
 the Carpet for prayer ; the Kesna, the black veil which is to cover 
 the Kadba during the coming year, with the exception of the 
 fortnight during which the Pilgrims remain at Mecca ; and the 
 Sacred Banner, which represents the glorious Standard of the 
 Prophet. 
 
 The money expended annually by the Pilgrims to the Holy Cities 
 is said to amount to over 50,000,000 francs. Only silver money is 
 current in the Hedjaz, so that all gold must be changed beforehand 
 into either Austrian or Spanish dollars, the only recognised coinage 
 at Mecca. 
 
 The number of Pilgrims varies annually. In 1901 they were 
 
( 31 ) 
 
 said to amount to 100,000; but no reliance can be placed upon 
 Turkish statistics. In 1897 there were about 70,000, according to a 
 reliable estimate, divided as follows : 
 
 From the Indies 18,024 
 
 From the Persian Gulf 3,566 
 
 From the Red Sea 3,307 
 
 From Turkey by the Suez Canal 3.271 
 
 From Egypt 7,599 
 
 From other countries 8,951 
 
 By land about 25,000 
 
 The British Consular Report for 1901 states that in 1900 the 
 number of Pilgrims landed at Jeddah was 49,000. 
 
 Assuming, however, the figures supplied by the Turkish 
 authorities to be correct, it must be admitted that they fall far short 
 of the numbers which might have been anticipated from the well- 
 known religious zeal of the Moslems. For in India alone they are 
 estimated at sixty millions ; in Egypt at twelve millions ; in the 
 States bordering upon the Mediterranean, fifteen millions ; in Persia 
 about nine millions ; and, finally, in the Ottoman Empire about 
 twenty millions. 
 
 There is little doubt that the comparative paucity of Pilgrims 
 is chiefly owing to the great expense, fatigue, and danger attending 
 so grave an undertaking as a Pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Prophet. 
 
 There can be no doubt whatever that as soon as railway facilities 
 have been provided for the journey to Mecca, the number of Pilgrims 
 will be greatly increased and the revenue of the Hedjaz Railway 
 benefited in a corresponding degree. 
 
 The strategical and commercial advantages provided by the 
 Hedjaz Railway are no less important and obvious. The recent 
 rebellion in the Yemen, suppressed with so much difficulty, proves 
 the necessity for the speedy transmission of troops, arms, and 
 ammunition to the distant provinces when required. However 
 great the fanaticism of the rebel tribes, it was clear from the first 
 that they were doomed to destruction as soon as the Sultan's troops 
 had succeeded in reaching the scene with their modern arms and 
 artillery. That portion of the Hedjaz Railway already opened as 
 far as Maan rendered conspicuous service by conveying the troops 
 and armaments through the very difficult and mountainous country 
 between Damascus and Maan, for it saved many weeks of delay at 
 a time when every day counted, 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 Great anxiety is now expressed for the speedy completion of 
 the railway. Pending this, however, the Sultan has invited tenders 
 for the construction of a short line of about 50 miles, from Maan to 
 Akabah, situated at the head of the gulf of that name, which washes 
 the shore of the Sinai Peninsula and communicates with the Red 
 Sea. By this- means the tedious and expensive journey through the 
 Suez Canal will be avoided and troops landed many days earlier than 
 before. 
 
 He has also ordered surveys to be made for a line from Jeddah 
 across the mountains to Mecca. This will be a great boon to the 
 Indian Pilgrims who arrive at Jeddah every year in such large 
 numbers en route for the Holy Places. 
 
 My reason for dwelling at so much length upon this railway 
 and its branches is that it seems to me to be a matter of very high 
 importance to British interests. A very large trade is now being 
 carried on between India and Syria, as is shown by our Consular 
 Reports. It is reasonable to suppose that this will be considerably 
 increased when the great cost of freight carried through the 
 Suez Canal is lessened. The completion of the Egyptian Railway 
 system with Berber will also no doubt provide a large amount of 
 traffic to the Hedjaz Railway, as affording the shortest and cheapest 
 route to the Mediterranean through its branch to Akka (St. Jean 
 d'Acre). It is possible also that the branch referred to will be con- 
 siderably used by passengers and Pilgrims from European and Indian 
 ports to the Holy Places of both Christians and Moslems. 
 
( 33 ) 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 RESOURCES. 
 
 IT seems to me that the remedy for Turkey's impecuniosity lies 
 in the development of the natural resources of the country. These 
 are enormous, as all history has shown and travellers have testified. 
 Why, then, are they not turned to account when an increase in the 
 wealth of the nation is of such vital importance at the present time ? 
 
 A recent writer has stated that within five years 240,000 Syrians 
 have emigrated, chiefly to the United States and the South American 
 Republics. What are the causes of this ? No richer land on the 
 earth's surface can be found than that of Syria. 
 
 Dr. Paul Rohrbach, quoting many ancient authorities, states 
 that Babylonia in the sixth century produced annually ten million 
 tons of wheat. Also that in the eighth century Babylonia, Assyria, 
 Northern Mesopotamia, and the Valley of the Euphrates had a popu- 
 lation of six millions ; they number now a million and a half. 
 
 These lands would resume their former fertility if cultivated and 
 protected from the attacks of the Bedouin. Foreign capital alone is 
 wanted to develop them. 
 
 The ancient canals should be cleared ; the Tigris rendered 
 navigable up to Mosoul and the Euphrates up to Biredjik. The* 
 country would then resume its former prosperity, for there would be 
 cheap freights for all produce from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf. 
 
 Syria was once the granary of Europe ; her silks, wines, fruits, 
 and manufactures were in the Middle Ages renowned throughout the 
 known world. Even now she exports coffee, dates, wheat, cotton, 
 barley, tobacco, indigo, sugar, fruits of many kinds, gums, spices, 
 sheep, horses, camels, &c. ; also manufactures of wool, leather, 
 perfumes, &c. 
 
 She imports corn, rice, butter, &c., from Egypt, Abyssinia, India, 
 and the Malay States, There are annual fleets from Bombay, Calcutta, 
 
 6 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 Surat, &c., bringing piece goods, Cashmere shawls, drugs, hardware, 
 cutlery, pipes, beads, &c., &c. From European States, chiefly 
 England and Germany, she imports large quantities of manufactures 
 of all kinds. 
 
 If agriculture were to be encouraged by the Sultan in co-opera- 
 tion with colonies financed by a banking syndicate, the profits of 
 which were shared with the Ottoman Government, the port of Akka 
 improved, and the railway from thence to the Hedjaz Eailway com- 
 pleted and opened, the rich plains and valleys of Syria alone would 
 in a few years yield a revenue to the State which would enable it to 
 free the country from the claims of Russia and Germany. After 
 that the necessary railways and public ' works could be constructed 
 in the manner most suited to Turkey's own requirements and under 
 her own control. 
 
 One of the most important and valuable cultivations which 
 could be introduced into the Ottoman Empire is the growth of fibrous 
 plants. There are large districts of land in Arabia which are 
 sterile and waterless. Although absolutely valueless at the present 
 time, because unproductive, they could be cultivated to great advan- 
 tage by the planting of sisal hemp (Agave SisalanaJ, which is so 
 extensively grown in Yucatan, or the Agave Ixtle, which flourishes 
 so well on the sterile and dry lands of San Luis Potosi. These are 
 now two of the most flourishing states in Mexico. There is a practi- 
 cally unlimited market for these and other species of fibres at high 
 prices. As they require no water and but little care, their introduction 
 would be of great value to Turkey. 
 
 Rhea or Ramie, commonly known as China grass, could also be 
 grown to great advantage and profit in all the provinces of the 
 Empire. 
 
 The extensive lands on either bank of the great rivers could 
 easily be restored to cultivation at very little cost, as has been the 
 case in India and in Egypt. There is no reason why Turkey should 
 not rival either of those countries in the cultivation of cotton, if the 
 State would only encourage and protect the industry. 
 
 What has been done in India and in Egypt could also be done in 
 Turkey, if the Government would consent to allow Englishmen to 
 devote their energy and their money to the work. And if His 
 Imperial Majesty the Sultan would grant the necessary protection 
 to life and property, there is plenty of capital lying idle in Great 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 Britain which bankers would gladly invest in reproductive works, 
 such as railways, harbours, irrigation works, the clearing out of old 
 canals, the deepening of rivers, the plantation of olives, vines, orange 
 and lemon trees, &c., &c. The principal difficulty, of . course, would 
 be the supply of labour ; but this is more imaginary than real. It is 
 true that the working of the military law, which makes every male 
 Moslem liable to serve in the army, active or reserve, for twenty 
 years, withdraws a large part of the population from agriculture ; 
 but this does not apply to the Christian inhabitants, who are not 
 called to military service, and they form the bulk of the agriculturists 
 of the Empire. Again, it is certain that any quantity of unskilled 
 labour could be attracted from Egypt, Italy, Abyssinia, or India, if 
 remunerative work were offered. 
 
 It is wonderful that these great potentialities of wealth should be 
 so much neglected when the financial position of the Empire is con- 
 sidered. But it is not more strange than the fact that so many 
 millions of acres of good land in Great Britain should remain un- 
 cultivated, when we import so many millions sterling worth of food 
 from foreign countries, while having vast numbers of unemployed 
 and almost starving workpeople on our hands. In the case of Turkey, 
 however, there are many causes which contribute to this backward- 
 ness, in addition to the want of enterprise. 
 
 The first -of these is the deficiency of means of transport. The 
 making of public roads has been neglected for many centuries, and 
 the only means of communication has been by caravans of camels 
 and mules. Most of the rivers and canals are too shallow for 
 navigation ; even the once magnificent rivers Tigris and Euphrates 
 have become of little use for transport. The once flourishing ports 
 on the coasts of Syria and the Red Sea have become silted up and 
 almost closed to commerce. 
 
 Now all of these deficiencies are easily reparable, and of this 
 fact the present Sultan and his Ministers are fully cognisant, and he 
 has granted many concessions to carry out the necessary works. 
 
 Sir William Willcocks has recently applied for an Irade for 
 restoring the canals and irrigation works for which Babylonia was 
 once celebrated. The very report that he had made such an applica- 
 tion has aroused a storm of indignant protest in the German Press, 
 who evidently regard the fertile valleys of Mesopotamia as being 
 already within the borders of exclusively German influence. It is 
 
( 36 ) 
 
 to be hoped, however, that the Sultan will give due weight to the 
 immense services which Sir William Willcocks has rendered to India 
 and to Egypt by the great irrigation works which he has already 
 established in those countries, and which will make his name 
 illustrious in history. 
 
 Such works as he now proposes, if carried out in Mesopotamia, 
 would before long restore it to the eminent renown which it enjoyed 
 in the ancient world. 
 
 If the Sultan would also grant to English capitalists a concession 
 for the development and exploitation of the valuable petroleum wells 
 at Mosoul, Kerkuk, &c., on the Tigris, the revenue which he would 
 derive from this source alone would go far to make him independent 
 of foreign financial help. 
 
 There are many other valuable deposits of mineral oil, bitumen, 
 &c., in other provinces, notably at Alexandretta, but none are so 
 important or so interesting to us as those on the Tigris, in conse- 
 quence of their connection by the river with the Persian Gulf. 
 
 The mineral deposits of Syria have been renowned in all ages for 
 their riches. In all parts there are found the ruins of old workings, 
 showing the importance attached to the mining wealth of Asia Minor. 
 In the Smyrna district alone, we are told by our Consul's Report, 
 there are 53 mines worked under firmans and 72 under licences. 
 
 The coalfields of Heraclea, on the Black Sea, are very extensive 
 and valuable on account of their position. We learn from Consular 
 Reports that they export at present over half-a-million tons a year. 
 Bat their product could be increased tenfold if properly developed 
 upon a modern system and by scientific methods, for they are of vast 
 extent. Here is another potential source of great wealth, for they 
 belong to the State. 
 
 Among the natural riches with which the Ottoman Empire is 
 endowed are the forests, which are of very great extent in all the 
 provinces. They abound in timber of the most valuable kinds 
 cedar, cypress, boxwood, the " Aleppo pine," oak, larch, &c. In the 
 Vilayet of Aidin (Smyrna), for instance, the forests and woodlands 
 cover 1,600,000 acres, or nearly one-eighth of its whole area. The 
 forests in the Vilayet of Adana cover 1,213,000 acres. 
 
 " The fir and pine forests of Aleppo," says Mr. Consul Barnham, 
 " have been the most famous in the world, and still produce mag- 
 nificent timber, The cedars of the Cilician Taurus to the north of 
 
( 8? ) 
 
 Adana supplied the markets of Home in the days of Cleopatra, and 
 up to recent times a remnant of their former splendour existed, but, 
 as everywhere else, they are fast being exterminated. . . ." 
 
 " Lieut. -Col. Massy gives the average annual value of timber 
 exported from the Adana district at 20,000; while about 6,000 worth 
 of tar and resin is shipped from Mersina, but there is no export at 
 all from the Vilayet of Aleppo, the distance to Alexandretta from the 
 forests being too far, and the means of transport too difficult and 
 expensive to make it pay. . . . Immense quantities of good 
 wood are consumed in the manufacture of charcoal. . . ." 
 
 In the Vilayet of Trebizond, the Consul reports that there are 
 1,434,300 acres of forest lands, totally neglected save by the charcoal 
 burners, who recklessly destroy the most valuable timber in their 
 work. As the forests are principally situated upon Crown lands, it 
 will be seen how valuable an asset of national wealth they constitute. 
 There are also a large number of forests or groves containing 
 millions of old olive trees, which have been suffered to go out of 
 cultivation. This has been owing in great part to the rapacity of 
 former Governors of the provinces, who, having purchased their 
 appointments at high prices from the Palace, were compelled to 
 impose excessive taxation on their subjects in order to recoup their 
 outlay. In one vilayet the Governor imposed an annual tax of 25 
 francs upon each olive tree. The consequence was that the peasants 
 either cut down their trees, or allowed the olive groves to go out of 
 cultivation altogether. 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 RELIGIOUS TOLERATION. 
 
 So much has been said of late in the Press, in pulpits, and on 
 public platforms respecting the oppression of Christians in the 
 Ottoman Empire, that it has become almost an article of political 
 faith to believe that the Sultan is an inhuman monster, whose chief 
 pleasure is to torture and persecute the Christians under his sway. 
 No cruelty is too horrible, no accusation too wild to be believed 
 against the "Unspeakable Turk," the "Man of Sin," &c. The 
 Sultan has been treated as an outlaw, and his Empire as an 
 anachronism to be swept out of existence as soon as possible. 
 
 Although it seems almost heresy to doubt the truth of the 
 accusations so glibly made, or to plead extenuating circumstances 
 for the existing conditions of Christians in Turkey, I submit that 
 it is only fair that we should examine the foundation upon which 
 they rest. This is the more necessary as there are a considerable 
 number of English and American missionaries working in Turkey, 
 who seem to have little or no complaints to make as to their treat- 
 ment by the authorities there. There are Christian schools, colleges, 
 and churches supported by our great missionary societies, and served 
 by English and American clergy, whose sole complaint seems to be 
 the paucity of converts. They make none against the Government, 
 although they preach zealously against the teachings of Islam, the 
 established religion of the country. In Constantinople itself there 
 are no less than one hundred Christian churches, of which sixty are 
 Greek and forty Armenian, served by their respective clergy of the 
 various rites. This does not look like intolerance on the part of 
 the Government, prima facie. Later on I will show how carefully 
 the rights and privileges of the various communities are protected 
 by the Turkish law. 
 
 But first of all I should like to say something regarding the 
 present Sultan. 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 In all justice it must be acknowledged that Abdul Hamid II., on 
 coming to the throne, inherited a most difficult and unenviable 
 position. The Ottoman Empire was practically bankrupt ; the 
 reckless extravagance of his predecessor, Sultan Abdul Aziz, and his 
 Court had left the finances of the Empire in hopeless embarrassment. 
 Corruption reigned supreme in every department of the State. The 
 Governorships of the provinces had frequently been sold at enormous 
 prices to men who were utterly corrupt and unfitted for their positions, 
 who oppressed the unfortunate populations under their charge, 
 extorting from them, often by torture, the profits of their industry. 
 Justice was shamelessly bought and sold in every tribunal. There 
 was no uniform system of taxation ; every governor fixed his own 
 tariff and enforced its collection, however unjust and oppressive it 
 might be. 
 
 It was a terrible responsibility imposed upon a young and 
 inexperienced Prince, for Abdul Hamid was only thirty-two years of 
 age when he succeeded to the throne, which was still reeking with 
 the blood of Abdul Aziz. Disorder reigned in all the provinces. 
 Bosnia, Hertzegovina, Servia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro were all in 
 open rebellion, and, incited by Eussia, declared war against their 
 Suzerain. The demands of the States practically amounted to 
 independence and autonomy. Eussia backed up their demands by 
 moving six Corps d'Armee to the banks of the Pruth and declared 
 war. In January, 1878, Turkey submitted, and peace was signed. 
 
 Constitutional governments were granted to the several States, 
 subject to the payment of heavy annual tributes to the Sultan; while, 
 on the other hand, Turkey was compelled to pay to Eussia all the 
 costs of the war. 
 
 The Christians in the Balkan States are in a worse position now 
 than they were while under Turkish rule, for the Eussian Greek 
 Church is paramount and there is little tolerance for other creeds. 
 In fact, the States are practically provinces of Eussia. 
 
 All religions are tolerated by the law of Turkey, and those who 
 profess them are granted the fullest liberty to practise them. The 
 only condition exacted by the State is that each religious body must 
 be duly authorised, and that a responsible chief be appointed, with 
 whom the Government can treat in case of need. 
 
 These spiritual heads enjoy several very remarkable privileges. 
 They are ex officio members of the Councils of the Provinces and 
 
( 46 ) 
 
 Communes in which they live, and are thus enabled to protect the 
 interests and rights, spiritual and temporal, of the members of their 
 communion. 
 
 The internal administration of all matters spiritual and temporal 
 connected with their respective communities are entrusted by the 
 Turkish law to the jurisdiction of the Patriarch, Grand Kabbi, Vekel, 
 or Sheikh, as the case may be. They also are members of the Grand 
 Council of the nation sitting at Constantinople, which regulates and 
 prescribes the rights of the various religious communities. 
 
 The communities recognised by the State, and who enjoy the 
 privileges I have named, as well as perfect liberty, are the following : 
 
 (1) Orthodox Turks, Orthodox Bulgarians, Armenians, Syrians, 
 
 Jacobites, Copts, and Chaldean Nestorians. 
 
 (2) Bites in communion with Home, viz. : Latin Catholics, 
 
 Uniate Armenians, Uniate or Melchite Greeks, Uniate 
 Chaldeans, Uniate Syrians, Uniate Copts, Uniate Bul- 
 garians, and Maronites. 
 
 (3) Protestants of every description Anglicans, Presbyterians, 
 
 English and American Methodists, Baptists, &c. 
 
 (4) Four different types of Jews, five of Metoualis, and six of 
 
 Druses. 
 
 The Moslem finds it most difficult to understand and distinguish 
 the difference between the, to him, amazing variety of sects, all 
 professing the Christian faith; this is one of the causes of the 
 sterility of Christian missions in the East. The Turk lumps them 
 all together as Giaours, and regards them all with the same 
 contemptuous indifference, wondering, indeed, why they did not 
 remain in their own countries to convert each other, or at least to 
 arrive at a common agreement as to what is the Christian faith, 
 before thrusting their antagonistic creeds upon the contented Moslem. 
 Nevertheless, he is very tolerant of what he considers their eccen- 
 tricities, and provides a guard at the Holy Sepulchre at Eastertide, 
 to prevent the Greek and Latin Christians from massacring one 
 another for the love of God. 
 
 In travelling through Palestine there are everywhere to be seen 
 the evidences of religious liberty. Christian churches, monasteries, 
 and convents, which have existed for a thousand years unmolested, 
 crown every hill, surrounded with the peaceful Christian populations 
 whose fathers have worshipped there without interference for ages. 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 It is the same in every Vilayet in Asia Minor ; the Christians are as 
 free as they are in any of our Indian provinces. The laws may not 
 be perfect very few are, but they are found adequate in most cases 
 to protect life and property. It is true that they were not always so. 
 About a hundred years ago, and, indeed, until the middle of the nine- 
 teenth century, there was as little liberty in Turkey for the Christians 
 as there is at the present day in Russia, except for the Greeks. But 
 all that system has long been changed in the Ottoman Empire. 
 Seventy years ago the Sultan Mahmoud thus publicly expressed 
 himself : 
 
 " I desire that in future a Moslem shall only be distinguished as 
 such at his mosque, the Christian at his church, and the Jew at his 
 synagogue." 
 
 In these words he manifested his intention to regenerate the 
 Empire by the complete emancipation and assimilation of the races 
 under his rule; he announced the inauguration of the new era of 
 reform. But it was his son and successor, Abdul Medjid, who 
 actually introduced the new system, the " Tanzimat," by the pro- 
 clamation of the " Hatti-Sherif of Gulhane " on the 9th of November, 
 1839. This was followed by the establishment of the Criminal Code 
 in 1840, and the Commercial Code of 4850. Both of these were 
 chiefly based upon the Code Napoleon, and have worked well. But 
 the most important enactment of all was the publication of the 
 Firman of 1854, which established the perfect equality of Christians 
 and Moslems before the law. These were the first fruits of the 
 Sultan's efforts to carry into effect the reforms promised by the Hatti- 
 Sherif of Gulhane. 
 
 The next stage of the Tanzimat was reached after the Crimean 
 war by the Hatti-Humayoun of 1856, which extended the reforms to 
 the civil and military administration, &c. 
 
 When we consider the conservative ideas of Orientals generally 
 and their hatred of any innovations upon their national practices 
 and traditions, it is truly wonderful that the changes brought about 
 in the internal politics of the Empire by these decrees have not 
 resulted in a revolution and a general massacre of the unarmed 
 Christians by the Moslem population. It is a remarkable proof of 
 the respect and veneration in which the Sultan is held by his subjects, 
 that they should have submitted so peacefully to so startling an 
 alteration in the national life. 
 
 7 
 
y 
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 It must be remembered that the Theocratic Moslem law called 
 the Cheri is based upon the Koran, and the Sunni, or tradition, which 
 relates the deeds and sayings of Mahomet. In addition to these there 
 is the Idjma-i- Ummet, the decisions of the companions and disciples 
 of the Prophet. This fact has made the application of many of the 
 well-meaning reforms recommended by the Powers exceedingly 
 difficult, as some of them appear to be opposed to the prescriptions of 
 the Koran. 
 
 For example, the Koran prohibits the insertion in contracts of 
 stipulations for the payment of interest on money. Another is that 
 an insolvent debtor must not be prosecuted by law, but pardoned by 
 his creditor. This difficulty is partly surmounted by the regulation 
 that civil cases between Christians are pleaded before a jury of their 
 <own community under the presidency of the Patriarch, or other 
 religious head. If between a Moslem and Christian, however, they 
 must be tried by the ordinary Turkish tribunals. 
 
 A further complication in the law arises from the many 
 different races who compose the population of the Ottoman Empire. 
 They are Ottomans, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Slavs, Koumanians, 
 Albanians, Tartars, Arabs, African races, Syrians, Chaldeans, Druses, 
 Kurds, Turcomans, and Gypsies. 
 
 I think I have shown, therefore, that Christian races living under 
 the rule of the Sultan possess as much liberty of conscience and 
 worship as they do in any other country, and very much more than 
 those under the sway of the Czar of Eussia, 
 
 The stories of Turkish oppression over the Christians are as 
 baseless as those manufactured by the Bulgarian Committees of the 
 atrocities said to have been committed, in Macedonia by the Turkish 
 troops. But, curiously enough, our evangelical friends seem to be 
 more attracted by a picturesque and sensational falsehood than by 
 the colourless and unemotional truth. 
 
 These busybodies are among the most dangerous members 
 of the body politic. They are noisy and self-assertive ; they 
 deluge the press with their hysterical protests particularly the 
 religious press ; they harass their representatives in Parliament, 
 especially previous to a general election ; they hold meetings hallowed 
 by the approval of the Clergy, and even sometimes of the Episcopacy, 
 and pass resolutions condemning in unmeasured terms the rule of the 
 Sultan, of which they know nothing, and accepting as true the 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 unproved stories of atrocities said to have been committed by his 
 troops. If, as has frequently happened, these have been proved to be 
 fictitious, the fact is ignored ; it has served to feed the flame of 
 prejudice for which it was manufactured. 
 
 These eminently virtuous and philanthropic Christians, models 
 no doubt of piety in their own circles, are curiously ignorant of 
 politics. Surely they should know that if their views were carried 
 out, the Turkish Empire would have to be destroyed after such a 
 religious war as the world has never seen. On one side a crusade by 
 nations who are only Christians in name ; and on the other hand a 
 " Jehad," a Holy War, which would claim the support of every 
 Moslem throughout the world. 
 
 I am not concerned to defend the doctrines of Mahomet, but at 
 least it must be conceded that his followers pay more deference to the 
 teachings of the Koran, than Christians show to the precepts of the 
 Gospel. Also, the Turk has the courage to practise the outward 
 observances of his Faith before strangers, which is more than can be 
 said of many Christians. His faith in the Koran is full and perfect, 
 for he finds its ordinances practical, and he cares little for the "higher 
 criticism " which so much disturbs the minds of our English clergy. 
 The Turkish Ulema who ventured to call in question the inspiration 
 of the Koran, would be quickly assisted by his fellow Moslems to visit 
 the next world personally, and argue out his doubts with the Prophet 
 himself. 
 
 The interests of our Indian Empire are too great and too vital to 
 permit us to imperil them by interfering with the Supreme Kuler of 
 Islam. For there are more than thrice as many Moslems in India 
 than there are under the personal sway of the Sultan in Turkey, to 
 say nothing of the 12,000,000 under our protection in Egypt. 
 
 When talking of Turkish intolerance, we should bear in mind 
 certain facts which are too often ignored. The first is that the Turk 
 proves his tolerance practically, by providing an armed force to 
 protect the Holy Sepulchre, and to prevent the various Christian 
 sects from mutilating and massacring one another for the love of God 
 in the celebration of Easter ! The fact is that prejudice and lying, 
 the twin children of ignorance, have combined to embitter the minds 
 of -Englishmen and women against Islam. It has been instilled into 
 the minds of children that the Sultan for the time being is always a 
 kind of ogre, whose chief employment and pas.time was to torture 
 
 7A 
 
( 44 ) 
 
 and persecute the Christians of his dominions. It is a waste of time 
 to enquire or discuss the question. The Sultan is the man of sin. 
 That settles the matter ; away with him ! 
 
 The correspondent of The Times at Beirut, speaking of the 
 results of missionary work in Turkey, wrote recently : 
 
 " The American missionaries in Turkey make no attempt to con- 
 vert the Mussulman population to Christianity, which, of course, the 
 Government would not allow them to do, but confine their evangelistic 
 labours to the native Christians, although the benefits of their medical 
 charities are open to all, without distinction of race or creed. The 
 outsider may be permitted to doubt whether their actual missionary 
 work has been productive of unmixed good. The Greeks, who are 
 proud of their race and of their ancient Church, have been practically 
 unaffected by their teaching. Their only success has been among the 
 Armenians, who have seceded in large numbers from the Gregorian 
 Church, and have founded Protestant communities in nearly all the 
 towns and larger villages of Asia Minor. . . . But the secession, 
 like the movement towards Catholicism which began in the early part 
 of last century, has had the unfortunate effect of weakening the 
 Armenian race, which is now split up into three mutually hostile 
 communities Gregorians, Armenian Catholics, and Armenian 
 Protestants. . . . 
 
 " The responsibility falls upon the earlier missionaries, for some 
 of them were men of narrow views, who knew nothing of the history, 
 the doctrines, or the practices of the Eastern Churches, and who were 
 intolerant of every form of religion which did not coincide with their 
 own evangelical Protestanism. . . . 
 
 " Doubts are entertained in many quarters as to the sincerity of 
 the conversions to Protestantism. The missionaries themselves are 
 convinced that the great majority of the converts are moved by 
 genuine religious conviction. But one cannot close one's eyes to the 
 fact that Armenians have a keen eye to their own personal interests, 
 and that, from a worldly point of view, it is often better to be a 
 Protestant than a Gregorian. The convert is frequently able to 
 secure employment or other advantages through the missionary body, 
 and he is sure of powerful protection in case of oppression." 
 
 These latter reflections entirely correspond with the reports of 
 the great majority of travellers in the East. The fact is that the 
 presence of Protestant missionaries at all in Asia Minor seems a 
 
( 45 ) 
 
 great anomaly and an impertinence. Christianity was preached there 
 in the first century by the Apostles and Disciples of Christ, and the 
 various Eastern Churches now existing there claim to teach the same 
 doctrines and to observe the same rites as were taught by them and 
 their successors. They point to the writings of the early Fathers of 
 the Church in proof of this. St. Ephrem, St. Ireneeus, St. Polycarp, 
 St. Chrysostom, and St. Basil are all witnesses to their unity of faith 
 with the early Christians, and to the authority of the Patriarchs of 
 Antioch and Jerusalem and Constantinople. How can it be expected 
 that these venerable Churches, with their ancient traditions and 
 cherished liturgies, will be won over by the cold crudities of 
 Calvinism, or by the blatant bigotry of John Knox ? 
 
 I have been informed by residents in Asiatic Turkey that the 
 effects of the teaching of English and American missionaries there 
 have been mainly to shake the belief of native Christians in any 
 form of religion, and to cause them to scoff at Revelation altogether. 
 A Maronite stated not long ago that the teachings of the American 
 missionaries had convinced him that there was no truth in the 
 Scriptures, and that Presbyterianism was a mixture of Judaism and 
 Freethought. Herbert Spencer, whom he curiously called a Protestant 
 Saint (!), was henceforth to be his guide. 
 
 It is impossible to deny that the colleges and medical missions 
 established by the American missionaries at Beirut and elsewhere 
 have contributed greatly to the advancement of scientific knowledge 
 in Turkey, and therefore to the awakening of the nation, but at the 
 same time it has aroused a spirit of unrest and dissatisfaction with 
 the present regime, which is recognised by the Government as a most 
 dangerous symptom. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 BEITISH TRADE WITH TURKEY. 
 
 ALTHOUGH as I have shown, the trade between Great Britain and 
 Turkey remains at present greatly superior to that of other Powers, 
 being, in fact, about one-third of the total trade of Turkey with 
 foreign nations, yet I feel that the proportion is very inferior to what 
 might have been expected. 
 
 For, first of all, the fact that Great Britain possesses the greatest 
 mercantile fleet trading with the Levant, justifies the anticipation 
 that the import and export trade of Turkey with Great Britain 
 should bear a just proportion to the trade of other countries. As 
 we hold the carrying trade of the world by our shipping, one would 
 think that British manufactures and goods would figure to a larger 
 extent than they do in the commercial tables published in our 
 Consular Reports. 
 
 The causes which can account for this remarkable failure to keep 
 pace with foreign commercial competition in the Levant trade have 
 been admirably summarised by Lieut.-Colonel P. H. H. Massy, His 
 Majesty's Vice-Consul at Adana, who in his report to the Foreign Office 
 for 1901, writes: "British merchants we never see in Asia Minor; 
 agents are Levantines, and commercial travellers are Germans for 
 the most part, with no sentiments of British interests about them. 
 Some half a dozen or more such men passed through my district 
 last winter, all representing British houses. No one called on me, 
 all went straight to the German Consulate, where I saw some of 
 them by chance when calling ; they represented German or Austro- 
 Hungarian houses as well as British, and it can easily be imagined 
 which interests they were pushing. . . . One member of any firm 
 trading abroad, with a knowledge of, at least, French, should travel 
 annually for a short time in this country to establish agencies and to 
 study on the spot local trade requirements. ... A chief agency, 
 jf established at Constantinople under the management of an English- 
 
( 47 ) 
 
 man, not a Levantine . . . would greatly advance our trade 
 interests. We no longer hold a monopoly of trade. . . . Austria- 
 Hungary almost exclusively supplies cloth to the Erzeroum market. 
 A German firm will sell a small quantity as a speculation. It will 
 also endeavour to meet the requirements of the Levant merchants 
 who can only sell moderate priced goods, and not try to force certain 
 wares upon them because they obtain a ready market in wealthier 
 countries. Cheap goods sell best in this country. ... Belgian 
 iron holds this Eastern market almost entirely owing to the lower 
 price at which it sells. . . . The trade in agricultural machinery 
 is now going to America, etc., etc." 
 
 Colonel Massy concludes : . " Complaints are sometimes made of 
 the British Consul by commercial houses for not giving advice and 
 information. Is that information and advice which is given acted 
 upon ? I fear not often, and this is not encouraging to us to again 
 volunteer our ideas, based upon local experience, to those who, having 
 perhaps never set foot out of the United Kingdom, are fully convinced 
 that their goods and trade methods must command success because 
 they are British." 
 
 Our Consular Keports from all the Turkish provinces tell the 
 same tale of increased foreign competition. Thus, Mr. Consul Devey 
 in his report for 1904, on the Red Sea Trade, says that although 
 there has been an increase in the tonnage of British vessels, it 
 has " not been accompanied by an increase of direct trade with 
 the United Kingdom : ten years ago the home imports were about 
 130,000 out of the total for all countries of 320,000; they are now 
 reckoned at 120,000 out of the total 861,000 .... the 
 decline is from 40 to 20 per cent. Meanwhile, the trade between 
 Hejaz and India, as compared with that of all other countries, 
 maintains its pre-eminent position, and has steadily advanced, despite 
 the depression of Bombay, which began with the original appearance 
 of plague in serious dimensions, and of which the re-action was felt 
 here some years ago." Mr. Devey proceeds to account for this 
 singular state of affairs as follows : 
 
 " The interdependence of British shipping and British trade 
 which has been remarked upon above, affords serious food for 
 reflection as to the commercial interests of Jeddah ; here is to be seen, 
 not as at Hong Kong, Singapore or Hamburg, an actual increase (with 
 gain both positive and relative) in shipping, but with no corresponding 
 
( 48 ) 
 
 benefit to the trade. The reason thereof as has been noted before 
 to-day is simple ; the freight for one ton of merchandise from the 
 British Isles to India would be roughly about 16s., and thence to 
 Jeddah 12s., making a total of 1 8s. ; from London to Jeddah, via 
 Alexandria, it would be about lls. to Egypt, and about 1 4s. thence 
 on, making 1 15s. ; and from Liverpool to Jeddah direct about 2. 
 Thus only valuable merchandise, in respect of which loss of time 
 means loss of interest, or which the cost and danger of transhipping 
 would seriously affect, can be shipped direct from the United 
 Kingdom." 
 
 As a contrast to the flagging interest of British traders with the 
 East, which has called forth these Consular rebukes, it is interesting 
 to read the following extracts from a German work just published, 
 .which show the remarkable increase in the volume of German trade 
 with the Far East which has taken place within the last few years. 
 The remarks are equally true with regard to the trade with the 
 Levant : 
 
 " The remarkable development of German commerce, and 
 especially of the German shipping trade, in the Far East has been 
 the cause of great surprise to many foreigners, who still entertained 
 the idea that England's supremacy in this field of activity was 
 absolute. 
 
 " The time has gone by when British ships were the only means 
 of communication between Europe and the Far East. Germany now 
 possesses a number of large mail steamships which attract a great 
 proportion of the British travelling public. 
 
 " The good name which these German ships enjoy, on account of 
 their speed and punctuality, causes the Governments concerned to 
 entrust them with a third of the mails to and from India and the Far 
 East, and many British firms in Shanghai and Hong Kong prefer to 
 despatch their letters by German rather than by English or French 
 mail steamships. 
 
 " The steamships of the North German Lloyd Company have 
 successfully competed with those of the celebrated British lines. 
 German commerce is being rapidly developed in Central and 
 Northern China. German settlements have been established in 
 recent years in Hankau, in the Yangtse Valley, and in Tientsin. 
 
 " German Consuls are stationed at all important centres of trade 
 in China, The German Association at Shanghai and the newspaper 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 Ostasiatische Lloyd are strong supports of German interests. German 
 newspapers are also published at Tientsin and Tsingtau. 
 
 " Another important institution is the German Asiatic Bank, 
 with its headquarters at Shanghai, and branches at Hong Kong, 
 Hankau, Tsingtau, Tientsin, Tsinanfu, and Calcutta. This bank 
 exercises a great influence in China and in all parts of the Far East. 
 
 " The progress of German trade in the East is due to the 
 energy and adaptability of German merchants. The British, who 
 formerly looked down with contempt upon their German competitors, 
 have learned to their cost that they cannot live on the traditions of 
 the past. German firms are as successful in British Colonies as in 
 other parts of the Far East. 
 
 " The Straits Settlements belong to Britain, but their trade is 
 dominated by Germans and Chinese. Germans predominate in the* 
 commerce and shipping trade of Siam. Siamese railways are largely 
 controlled by Germans. Even in Hong Kong, there are now three 
 times as many German as British firms. 
 
 " In the Yangtse Valley, which the British have designated as 
 their own sphere of influence, German trade is continually growing, 
 and half of the imported goods are now obtained from Germany. 
 
 " During the last five years the tonnage of British ships entering 
 and leaving Chinese ports increased by approximately 30 per cent. 
 During the same period the tonnage of German ships entering and 
 leaving Chinese ports increased approximately by 450 per cent. 
 
 " During the year 1898 the port of Hamburg alone despatched 
 exports to the value of one million sterling to China. In 1902 the 
 value of the exports from Hamburg had increased to .1,650,000, and 
 in 1903 to 2,500,000. The same growth of German commercial 
 activity in China can be traced in all directions." 
 
( 50 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 THE FUTUKE OF TURKEY. 
 
 THE conclusion of the Russian-Japanese War has quite transformed 
 the political position of the East. Japan has now become the 
 predominant Power in the Pacific, and will henceforth control and 
 profit by the development of the far eastern nations. L'Asiafara 
 da se, will be their cry in future. 
 
 Russian and German ambition for Eastern empire has been 
 foiled for the present, at least, but their land-hunger has not been 
 assuaged. Events in the near future will prove beyond doubt that it 
 is only the direction which has changed, not the desire of conquest 
 and glory. 
 
 In the opinion of the Czar, the prestige of Russia, which has 
 been growing for more than a century, must be re-established at 
 whatever cost. Her career of conquest has been unchecked until 
 now in Asia, and it is necessary that it should still be continued in 
 other directions. There is little doubt that it will follow the line of 
 least resistance, as a stream does. Her dominating ambition has 
 always been to possess an open harbour free from ice at all times, 
 giving uninterrupted access to the outer world for her fleet. With 
 this object the attacks upon China and Japan were commenced, and. 
 in pursuance of it she has squandered hundreds of millions of money, 
 and has sacrificed hundreds of thousands of the lives of her best 
 soldiers. This ambition has been hopelessly defeated as regards the 
 Far East ; a humiliating Peace has been signed, and her defeated 
 battalions must be withdrawn across Central Asia. 
 
 But whither? I cannot think that the Czar or his advisers 
 would be mad enough at such a time, and after such experiences as 
 they have had, to venture an attack upon either Afghanistan or India. 
 The alliance between Great Britain and Japan, so happily effected, 
 would make such an attempt foolhardy and disastrous. It is probable, 
 
( 51 ) 
 
 I think, that the Eussian forces will be directed rather against the 
 line which offers least resistance, namely Persia. 
 
 The Shah could offer little serious opposition to the Kussian 
 troops, and the conquest of Southern Persia would realise the great 
 ambition of the Slavonic race, and land them on the Persian Gulf. 
 It is true that this move would bring Kussia face to face with Great 
 Britain, a very serious contingency if we remember the grave words 
 of Lord Lansdowne and Lord Lamington last year. I do not see, 
 however, that this move would necessarily amount to a casus belli, 
 especially if the Shah should be a consenting party under an 
 agreement with the Czar. It is probable that some prospective 
 understandings, if not arrangements, of this nature have been already 
 arrived at between the two Monarchs. 
 
 In any case it is evident that Russia, at least, has been steadily 
 and stealthily preparing for many years for some movement of the 
 sort. In return for a loan to the Shah of 2,500,000, Russia has 
 obtained many valuable advantages which will prepare the way for 
 future action. 
 
 A recent correspondent to the Times writes : 
 
 " The Russian report of railways completed in 1904 is interesting 
 reading. . . . The total length of line in the Russian Empire is 
 61,800 versts, say 35,000 English miles, of which 51,587 versts are in 
 European and 10,213 in Asiatic Russia. . . . 
 
 " A pamphlet was for sale some three years ago at the Govern- 
 ment Topographical Department in St. Petersburg, entitled ' Railways 
 across Persia.' It contained a map, on which are shown two lines 
 eventually to be constructed. One of these is that from Kara-Kliss, a 
 station midway between Tiflis and Erivan, which was then the ter- 
 minus of the line, to Tabriz, Teheran, Shahrud, and Meshed. The 
 mileage, cost, and names of stations were all laid down in this inter- 
 esting, if not absolutely official, paper. The two first great stations 
 on the way to Tabriz were Erivan and Julfa. This last place is on 
 the Russo-Persian frontier, in sight of the lesser Ararat. At this 
 moment trains run from Tiflis to Erivan in some eighteen or twenty 
 hours. By next year the line to Julfa, only thirty-five miles further on, 
 will be completed. From this town, which is close to Nakhitchevan, 
 in Russian territory, there is a fairly good carriage road to Tabriz. 
 The manner of fts construction was qurious. The Russian Govern- 
 
( 52 ) 
 
 ment, when it lent a few millions to the Shah for his first journey to 
 Contrexeville, stipulated for the construction of this road by Persian 
 labour within a given period. If by the specified date it should not 
 be completed, the contract was to pass into the hands of a Kussian 
 firm. Nothing was simpler or more above board. The agreement 
 was in writing, the time allowed for the work ample. But nothing 
 was more certain, to those who knew their Persia, than that on the 
 specified date the road would be still unfinished. So, as foreseen, the 
 contract passed into Russian hands, and the road is, I am told, a 
 fairly good one for the country. Thus the railway from Kara-Kliss 
 to Tabriz, Teheran, and Meshed is in somewhat more than an 
 incipient stage, for the first hundred miles of it are open to traffic, 
 and thirty-five more will be finished this year. At present the Shah 
 stands pledged to Russia not to permit any railways to be built within 
 his dominions. But how long it may suit Russia to uphold, or other 
 Powers to respect, this agreement it is not very easy to say. 
 
 " The object of running a line to Meshed is plain enough. It is 
 a milestone either to Herat or towards the south of Persia. Russia has 
 for some years considered the possibility of reaching the Persian Gulf, 
 or the Mekrani coast, by a railway passing through Seistan from 
 Meshed. Our maps of South-East Persia are very untrustworthy, 
 and it would appear that there are few, if any, great engineering 
 difficulties to prevent the completion of such a task. Should it, for 
 instance, be decided to join Bandar Abbas to Kirman the distance is 
 only 430 miles. The journey has lately been performed by that 
 distinguished traveller, Mr. Herbert Sykes. It is the only one 
 possible for a railway. The ground rises gradually from the sea 
 to 1,700 feet at Bijenabad. The Gishen Pass is traversed at 4,100 
 feet. Bam Town, 3,600 feet, is reached by a fair road over a sandy 
 plateau, on which are the towns of Rigan, 2,200 feet, and Muhammed- 
 abad. . . . 
 
 " Of course, before Russia can pass this way the coast must be 
 clear, and the inhabitants prepared by bounty-fed goods to receive 
 her wares. The mission of Major MacMahon to Seistan was not at 
 all to her taste. It is to be hoped that Russian ambitions will not 
 force her to seek an outlet at Minab or Shahbar on the Indian Ocean, 
 though the latter place has a tempting bay for fleets that love shelter. 
 But it is a curious answer to those who declare that Russia has no 
 intention of constructing railways in Persia, that her own people. 
 
( 53 ) 
 
 should publish a plan of one from Kara-Kliss to Meshed. What is 
 more interesting still is that the first 130 miles of that railway have 
 already been constructed. Ararat now looks down on the steam 
 horse, puffing between Erivan and Julfa." 
 
 So it is clear that we must make up our minds to seeing Russian 
 troops occupying Bandar Abbas before very long, and the Russian 
 flag flying upon the citadel there. And if we are informed that the 
 Shah has granted a lease for 99 years of the harbour of Bandar 
 Abbas and the land upon either side of the railway which terminates 
 there, to his dear brother the Czar of Russia, who shall say him 
 nay ? The plan of " leasing " Port Arthur and Dalny succeeded 
 admirably for the time, and if it had not been for that venemous 
 little yellow race " with the bodies of monkeys and the heads of 
 birds," as the Japanese were humorously described in Russian 
 journals at the commencement of the late war, Slavonic "civilisa- 
 tion " would now be firmly established throughout the Far East. 
 The policy which has so lamentably failed in Manchuria and the 
 Korea may be more successful in enervated and emasculated Persia. 
 
 It is an unpleasant prospect for British Imperial interests, but 
 it is a position which has been brought about by our own inaction 
 in the past. 
 
 It should be our care now to see that what has happened, and 
 is happening, with regard to Persia by Russian diplomacy may not 
 happen also with regard to Turkey through German enterprise. It 
 is time that we should consider what policy the British Government 
 should adopt under the circumstances. 
 
 Among the many changes of character by which the versatile 
 Kaiser has astonished and amused the diplomatic world, none has 
 been more successful than his most recent one, that of " Commercial 
 Traveller," or rather I should say in deference to his exalted 
 character, "Ambassador of Commerce" for German goods. I do 
 not think he should be laughed at for this, although it does seem 
 rather incongruous in a Hohenzollern, for the first care of a ruler 
 should be the welfare of the subjects whom he governs, and this 
 welfare is most surely secured by increasing their commerce with 
 foreign markets. 
 
 We have seen the results of his policy in Asia Minor ; how 
 German colonies have sprung into existence along the course of every 
 railway built, and, how the commerce of every province penetrated by 
 
( 54 ) 
 
 them has flourished and increased the well-being of the colonists, 
 the native population, and the State. 
 
 Almost every month we hear of some new development of this 
 untiring German diplomacy. 
 
 Under the title of "German Expansion in the East," the 
 Courrier Europeen publishes the following information : 
 
 " Noiselessly German diplomacy has just added two important 
 successes to those which have already crowned its action at Yildiz 
 Kiosk. On the one hand, Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, the 
 German Ambassador, has returned from a long ' excursion ' in the 
 island of Thasos, where he has examined mines which are very 
 numerous and very valuable. He succeeded in inducing the Turkish 
 Government to give the concession of these mines to a German 
 company. Germany will establish a naval station on the island, the 
 political importance of which cannot escape anybody, considering 
 that the island of Thasos is very near the entrance to the Dardanelles. 
 On the other hand, negotiations are going on just now between the 
 Porte and the German Anatolian Kailway Company in view of a loan 
 of nearly 100,000, which the Turkish Government wants in order 
 to cover the expenses which will shortly be required for the grand 
 fetes in honour of Abdul Hamid's anniversary, and to pay a month's 
 salary to various State employes." 
 
 An announcement of this kind should surely open the eyes of 
 British diplomatists to the danger which threatens our interests in 
 Turkey. A German naval base commanding the Dardanelles ! 
 Shades of Disraeli and Stratford de Redcliffe ! 
 
 It is very clear that the main object of German diplomacy is to 
 secure, at least, a preponderance, if not a monopoly, of commercial 
 interests in Asiatic Turkey. In the Northern Provinces her object 
 has been practically attained through the advantages and privileges 
 attending the construction of the Anatolian Eailway, and through 
 the temporary control of the Mahsousse Shipping Company the 
 mercantile marine of the Turkish Admiralty. 
 
 The final links in the chain will be completed by the construction 
 of the Baghdad Railway by German capital, the acquisition of the 
 rich oilfields at Mosoul, Kerkuk, &c., on the Tigris, and the 
 establishment of petroleum distilleries there. The oil wells at Baku 
 having been destroyed by the Russian revolutionaries, an oil- 
 producing property .on the Tigris, when properly developed 
 
( 55 ) 
 
 equipped, will very soon produce an annual income more than 
 sufficient to provide the guarantee required for the cost of completing 
 the Baghdad Railway to Koweit. Then the struggle for the mastery of 
 the Persian Gulf will commence. A Russian railway terminating at 
 Bander Abbas and a German railway at Koweit on the opposite 
 shore will form a grave combination of antagonistic interests which 
 we shall have much difficulty in opposing. 
 
 But there is yet another claimant whose pretensions to an 
 interest in Asia Minor cannot be ignored, for they are both his- 
 torical and religious, as well as commercial. From the days of the 
 Crusades until the present time, France has always asserted her 
 claims to a solid influence in Asia Minor. Her sons were Kings 
 of Jerusalem and of Cyprus. She expended in the defence of 
 Palestine and the Holy Sepulchre, against the Turk, the blood of 
 thousands of her highest nobles and soldiers and many millions of 
 money. And France has ever since regarded herself as the champion 
 par excellence of Latin Christianity, and has gloried in the title of 
 " Eldest Daughter of the Church," bestowed upon her by the Pope, 
 and upon her mission as Protector of the Christians of the East. 
 
 Accordingly, when fifty years ago an outbreak of religious bigotry 
 took place in Syria, followed by a pitiless massacre of the native 
 Christians, it was neither Holy Russia nor Christian England nor 
 Germany which hastened to their rescue ; it was France who sent a 
 Corps d'Armee to their aid. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that modern France, although 
 she has broken with her historic past in many matters, under the 
 influence of an anti-Christian and Jewish Government, has aban- 
 doned her protectorate of the Christians of the East, or that she will 
 permit Protestant and infidel Germany to usurp her position in Asia 
 Minor in that character. Humiliated though she has been by the 
 brutality of the Teuton, the vast majority of Frenchmen still cherish 
 the memory of the former influence of their country in the world. 
 Perhaps, also, they look forward to regain it some day, and even the 
 dearly loved lost Provinces, perchance through the aid of the nation 
 they once called "Perfide Albion.' " 
 
 There are many evidences that French diplomatists are watching 
 with keen hopes the development of political events in Asiatic Turkey. 
 A correspondent at Beirut of the Paris Journal recently remarked 
 that " the journey to Rome of Mgr. Elias Huayek, Patriarch of the 
 
( 56 ) 
 
 Maronites, had a political object. It was the result of ' a vast intrigue 
 against France by several of her rivals, who desire to take advantage 
 of our rupture with the Vatican to secure the succession of the pro- 
 tectorate which we exercised, and to supplant the preponderant 
 influence in the country which we have possessed for centuries.' The 
 Gaulois states that this visit is of great importance, as it indicates that 
 the Pope does not intend to transfer the French protectorate over the 
 Catholics of the East to any other Power. 
 
 " The keen interest with which the Arab revolt in Yemen has 
 been followed in France is explained by an instructive article pub- 
 lished in the Depeche Coloniale, in which the writer, M. G. Ribes, 
 calls attention to the French interests involved in the regions affected 
 by the present revival of Arab national sentiment. He points out 
 that the manifesto recently addressed to the Powers by the Arab 
 national party, as developed in M. Negib Azoury's work, * Le Reveil 
 de la Nation Arabe,' appeals for the benevolent neutrality of the 
 Powers towards the movement for separating from Constantinople 
 ' twelve million Arabs oppressed by some hundreds of Turco-Cir- 
 cassian officials,' and the foundation with the people thus detached 
 from the Ottoman Empire of an Arab Empire extending from the 
 Tigris and the Euphrates to the Suez Canal, and from the Medi- 
 terranean to the Gulf of Oman. M. Negib Azoury argues that 
 Russia has long pursued a policy aiming at the seizure of the Holy 
 Places, and that the Jews are now endeavouring to reconstitute for 
 their own advantage a Palestine more extensive than they ever 
 possessed during their historic existence. He considers, however, 
 that England, the United States, France, Italy, and even Germany 
 must favour the effort to form a * new Empire governed by the con- 
 stitutional and liberal monarchy of an Arab Sultan.' 
 
 " The author of ' Le Reveil de la Nation Arabe ' reproaches 
 France with her indifference to Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia, 
 which he says constitute an Empire greater than all France 
 forming a link between three continents and three seas the pos- 
 session of which is assWed to France by the preponderant position 
 which she holds there. While declining to cherish dreams which 
 would probably be as difficult to realise as the aspirations of the 
 Arab national party and for similar reasons, M. Ribes says that 
 France should not forget her real interests in Turkey in Asia, and 
 particularly in Syria. ' Everything which affects the Arabs ought 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 to interest us. It does not follow ^Irom the fact that we have 
 renounced a situation in Egypt which the events of a whole century 
 seemed to reserve for us that we should renounce in the Arab regions 
 of the East, particularly in Syria and Turkey in Asia, the role for 
 which our long and glorious past has so admirably prepared us. ... 
 As to the creation of an Arab Empire, has not France already con- 
 stituted one in Africa? To consolidate that Empire we must not 
 enter into chimerical combinations, . . . but simply by our 
 treatment of our Mussulman subjects prove to the whole Arab world 
 in Syria, as well as in Egypt or at Mecca, that the natives in Algeria 
 and Tunis are governed justly, that their religious sentiments are 
 respected, that their material interests are always and everywhere 
 well defended, and that the Arabs . . . whom the vicissitudes of 
 life and of politics have put, or will in future place, under our 
 dominion and in our Empire will be happy to find themselves there.' ' 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that the claims of France to her historic 
 influence in Syria cannot be ignored or brushed aside in favour of 
 Germany. During the long period which has elapsed since the great 
 humiliation of Sedan, France has been steadily recovering her proud 
 consciousness of her great resources and the memory of her historic 
 glories. The imperfections in her military organisation and armament 
 have been amended, and her commissariat service improved. The 
 day is not far distant when she will prove these facts to the world. 
 Meantime she is content to wait for her opportunity, which may, 
 perhaps, be found in Syria. 
 
( 58 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 IN the foregoing pages I have endeavoured to set forth certain facts 
 respecting Turkey in Asia, which it behoves us to bear in mind. 
 
 First, it must be recognised that Turkey is awakening from her 
 long sleep, slowly but steadily, and that there can be no retrogression. 
 We have no longer to do with " a sick man," but one who is con- 
 valescent and who is gradually gaining strength. 
 
 Secondly, that the financial position of the Ottoman Empire has 
 much improved during the past half century, owing to the construc- 
 tion of railways, and as a consequence the increased area brought 
 into profitable cultivation. 
 
 I have also shown that the immense natural resources of the 
 Empire in agricultural and mineral wealth are only awaiting suitable 
 development, to yield to the Turkish Government a revenue which 
 would easily provide for a Public Debt of many times the present 
 amount. The financial embarrassments of the country have hitherto 
 been owing in great measure to the corrupt system^f administration, 
 but not to that alone. The greatest proportion of the Public Debt 
 has been incurred by military expenditure in the many wars forced 
 upon Turkey in defence of her suzerainty in the Balkan Peninsula by 
 the hypocritical interference of Kussia on behalf of her Slavonic 
 brethren and co-religionists. But, as I have shown, the Sultan is 
 gradually reforming the abuses of the executive. 
 
 Thirdly, I have shown that the interests of the British Empire 
 in Turkey, both political and commercial, are far greater than those 
 of any other European Power. One-third of the import and export 
 trade of the Ottoman Empire is with Great Britain and India, and 
 although it is considerably threatened by German and other com- 
 petition, we may easily preserve and even augment it by the exercise 
 of a little judicious care. 
 
< 69 ) 
 
 The political importance of Asiatic Turkey to us is greater still, 
 for its provinces form a valuable link in the chain which unites us to 
 our Indian Empire, and we could never tolerate that any foreign 
 Power should possess a predominant influence over them. Recent 
 events have shown how easily the Suez Canal can be blocked by even 
 the accidental sinking of a large ship. At a meeting of the New- 
 castle Chamber of Commerce recently, Sir Charles Mark Palmer, M.P., 
 said: "In my opinion we cannot entirely rely upon the Suez Canal 
 to cope with the increased trade with the East, and in view of the 
 fact that the dues are heavy, it is open to doubt whether it would 
 not be cheaper to send vessels round the Cape." This would be a 
 very serious contingency in case of war, and it would be prudent to 
 study whether an alternative route could be found. It would not, I 
 fear, be practicable to cut another canal to the Bed Sea, even if time 
 were given us. If we could establish friendly relations with the 
 Sultan, we might possibly enter into certain arrangements with him 
 which would be of advantage to both parties, both politically and 
 commercially. For instance, the Turkish Government is much 
 troubled from time to time by the disturbances which are raised by 
 the semi-independent tribes in Southern Arabia. Sometimes they 
 break out into open rebellion against his rule, both religious and 
 temporal, as was the case in the recent rising in the Yemen, when the 
 disaffected Sheikhs seized several important towns, and even 
 threatened to march upon Mecca under the leadership of a Mahdi. 
 That they succeeded as far as they did was owing to the great 
 distance which separates Southern Arabia from the central power, 
 with which the communications were few and costly. As I have said, 
 it is partly as a strategic work that the Sultan is now pushing forward 
 the construction of the Hedjaz Railway to Mecca. He is now about 
 to build a branch line from Maan, the present terminus of the line, 
 to the Gulf of Akabah. 
 
 It seems possible, therefore, that he might consent to grant a 
 concession for the continuation of the railway from Akabah, running 
 along the East Coast of the Red Sea to Aden, we on our side 
 guaranteeing to uphold his authority in the regions traversed. The 
 increased traffic which would be attracted to the Hedjaz Railway of 
 goods and passengers to and from India, would ensure the financial 
 success of that line, while providing speedy access in case of need to 
 any disturbed district. The trade between India and Turkey is 
 
( 60 ) 
 
 already considerable, as I have shown ; it would be speedily increased 
 ten-fold if the line which I suggest were built. 
 
 On the side of Great Britain the advantages would be no less 
 striking. The journey to India for goods and passengers would be 
 shortened by four days, while the expensive and trying passage via 
 Suez Canal and the Eed Sea would be avoided. Passengers from 
 Europe could travel without changing carriages from St. Jean d'Acre 
 (Akka) on the Mediterranean, along the Hedjaz Railway and the 
 proposed line to Aden, whence they could proceed by ocean steamers 
 to Indian ports or to China. 
 
 I maintain that the growing preponderance of German influence 
 in Asiatic Turkey is a very grave danger to British interests and to 
 those of France, whether political or commercial, in those regions. 
 For Germany is no friend in practice to the "open door" for other 
 nations, however strongly she may clamour for it against others. A 
 Bismarckian policy of selfishness rules her policy, especially where 
 commerce is concerned. It is, therefore, necessary for other nations to 
 look keenly after their own interests at the present time. 
 
 The independence of the Ottoman Empire is essential for the 
 peace of the world and the freedom of commerce, and these cannot 
 be secured if either Russia or Germany be permitted to obtain a 
 predominate influence in the dominions of the Sultan. 
 
 It seems to me that the very best method of effecting these 
 desiderata would be by the formation of a treaty of alliance between 
 Turkey, France, and Great Britain for the defence of common 
 interests, and guaranteeing the independence of the Ottoman Empire 
 and the rights and privileges of the Sultan himself. It is probable 
 that in return for so valuable a guarantee as such an alliance would 
 imply, the Sultan would be glad to grant important concessions and 
 privileges to his new allies, which would permit the development of 
 the vast resources of his Empire. 
 
 In any case it would go far to prevent the outbreak of another 
 disastrous war. 
 
 The restlessness and the spirit of enterprise which the Kaiser 
 has exhibited of recent years have disturbed the minds of all the other 
 European Powers, and Germany now finds herself practically isolated 
 in their midst. The Kaiser's proffers of alliance, or friendship, or 
 even of co-operation, have been coldly rejected by both France and 
 Russia, and the Czar has even turned to Great Britain with offers 
 
( 61 ) 
 
 of friendly co-operation in Central Asia. It is to be hoped that our 
 statesmen will not be misled, nor their watchfulness disarmed by 
 Muscovite professions. They should not forget that the political 
 machine is like a kaleidoscope ; the next turn of the instrument may 
 show Kussia and Germany closely allied together in their designs 
 upon Persia and Turkey, and in opposition to the interests of France 
 and Great. Britain in those countries. 
 
 It is a critical period in the history of Asia, the future of which 
 will largely depend upon the firmness of British and French 
 Ministers at the present time. 
 
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