. \ k > WANGENHEIM SMUGGLES THE " GOEBEN AND THE " BRESLAU " THROUGH THE DARDANELLES On August ioth I went out on a little launch to meet the Sicilia, a small Italian ship which had just arrived from Venice. I was especially interested in this vessel because she was bringing to Constantinople my daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Wertheim, and their three little daughters. The greeting proved even more interesting than I had expected. I found the passengers considerably excited, for they had witnessed, the day before, a naval engagement in the Ionian Sea. " We were lunching yesterday on deck," my daughter told me, " when I saw two strange-looking vessels just above the horizon. I ran for the glasses and made out two large battle- ships, the first one with two queer exotic-looking towers, and the other one quite an ordinary-looking battleship. We watched and saw another ship coming up behind them and going very fast. She came nearer and nearer, and then we heard guns booming. Pillars of water sprang up in the air and there were many little puffs of white smoke. It took me some time to realise what it was all about, and then it burst upon me that we were actually witnessing an engagement. The ships continually shifted their position, but went on and on. The two big ones turned and rushed furiously for the little one, and then apparently they changed their minds and turned back. Then the little one turned around and calmly steamed in our direction. At first I was somewhat alarmed at this, but nothing happened. She circled around us with her tars excited and grinning, and somewhat grimy. They signalled to our captain many questions, and then turned and finally disappeared. The captain told us that the two big ships were Germans which had been caught in the Mediterranean and which were trying to escape from the British fleet. He says that the British ships are chasing them all over the Mediterranean, and that the German ships are trying to get into Constantinople. Have you seen anything of them ? Where do you suppose the British fleet is ? " A few hours afterward I happened to meet Wangenheim. The " Goeben " and the " Breslau " 45 When I told him what Mrs. Wertheim had seen, he displayed an agitated interest. Immediately after lunch he called at the American Embassy with Pallavicini, the Austrian Ambassador, and asked for an interview with my daughter. The two Am- bassadors solemnly planted themselves in chairs before Mrs. Wertheim and subjected her to a most minute, though very polite, cross-examination. " I never felt so important in my life," she afterwards told me. They would not permit her to leave out a single detail ; they wished to know how many shots had been fired, what direction the German ships had taken, what everybody on board had said, and so on. The visit seemed to give these allied Ambassadors immense relief and satisfaction, for they left the house in an almost jubilant mood, behaving as though a great weight had been taken off their minds. And certainly they had good reason for their elation. My daughter had been the means of giving them the news which they had desired to hear above everything else — that the Goeben and the Breslau had escaped the British fleet and v/ere then steaming rapidly in the direction of the Dardanelles. For it was those famous German ships, the Goeben and the Breslau, which my daughter had seen engaged in battle with a British scout ship ! The next day official business called me to the German Embassy. But Wangenheim's animated manner soon disclosed that he had no interest in routine matters. Never had I seen him so nervous and so excited. He could not rest in his chair more than a few minutes at a time ; he was constantly jumping up, rushing to the window, and looking anxiously out toward the Bosphorus where his private wireless station, the Corcovado, lay about three-quarters of a mile away. Wangenheim's face was flushed and his eyes were shining ; he would stride up and down the room, speaking now of a recent German victory, now giving me a little forecast of Germany's plans, and then he would stalk to the window again for another look at the Corcovado. " Something is seriously distracting you," I said, rising. " I will go, and come again some other time." " No, no ! " the Ambassador almost shouted. " I want you to stay right where you are. This will be a great day for Ger- many ! If you will only remain for a few minutes you will hear a great piece of news— something that has the utmost bearing upon Turkey's relation to the war." Then he rushed out on the portico and leaned over the balustrade. At the same moment I saw a little launch put out from the Corcovado toward the Ambassador's dock. Wangenheim 46 Secrets of the Bosphorus hurried down, seized an envelope from one of the sailors, and a moment afterward burst into the room again. " We've got them ! " he shouted to me. " Got what ? " I asked. " The Goeben and the Breslau have passed through the Dardanelles ! " He was waving the wireless message with all the enthusiasm of a college boy whose football team has won a victory. Then, momentarily checking his enthusiasm, he came up to me solemnly, humorously shook his forefinger, lifted his eyebrows, and said, " Of course, you understand that we have sold these ships to Turkey ! " And Admiral Souchon," he added with another wink, " will enter the Sultan's service ! " Wangenheim had more than patriotic reasons for this exulta- tion ; the arrival of these ships was the greatest day in his diplomatic career. It was really the first diplomatic victory which Germany had won. For years the Chancellorship of the Empire had been Wangenheim 's laudable ambition, and he behaved now like a man who saw his prize within his grasp. The voyage of the Goeben and the Breslau was his personal triumph ; he had arranged with the Turkish Cabinet for their passage through the Dardanelles, and he had directed their movements by wireless in the Mediterranean. By safely getting the Goeben and the Breslau into Constantinople, Wangenheim had definitely clinched Turkey as Germany's ally. All his intrigues and plottings for three years had now finally succeeded. I doubt if any two ships have exercised a greater influence upon history than these two German cruisers. Not all of us at that time fully realised their importance, but subsequent develop- ments have fully justified Wangenheim 's exuberant satisfaction. The Goeben was a powerful battle-cruiser of recent construction, the Breslau was not so large a ship, but she, like the Goeben, had the excessive speed that made her extremely serviceable in those waters. These ships had spent the few months preceding the war cruising in the Mediterranean, and when the declaration finally came they were taking on supplies at Messina. I have always regarded it as more than a coincidence that these two vessels, both of them having a greater speed than any French or English ships in the Mediterranean, should have been lying not far from Turkey when war broke out. The selection of the Goeben was particularly fortunate, as she had twice before visited Con- stantinople and her officers and men knew the Dardanelles perfectly. The behaviour of these crews, when the news of war The " Goeben " and the " Breslau " 47 was received, indicated the spirit with which the German Navy began hostilities ; the men broke out into song and shouting, lifted their admiral upon their shoulders, and held a real German jollification. It is said that Admiral Souchon preserved, as a touching souvenir of this occasion, his white uniform bearing the finger-prints of his grimy sailors ! For all their joy at the prospect of battle, the situation of these ships was still a pre- carious one. They formed no match for the large British and French naval forces which were roaming through the Mediter- ranean. The Goeben and the Breslau were far from their native bases ; with the coaling problem such an acute one, and with England in possession of all important stations, where could they flee for safety ? Several Italian destroyers were circling around the German ships at Messina, enforcing neutrality and occasion- ally reminding them that they could remain in port only twenty- four hours. England had ships stationed at the Gulf of Otranto, the head of the Adriatic, to cut them off in case they sought to escape into the Austrian port of Pola. The British Navy also stood guard at Gibraltar and Suez, the only other exits that apparently offered the possibility of escape. There was only one other place in which the Goeben and the Breslau might find a safe and friendly reception. That was Constantinople. Apparently the British Navy dismissed this as an impossibility. At that time, early in August, international law had not entirely dis- appeared as the guiding conduct of nations. Turkey was then a neutral country, and, despite the many evidences of German domination, she seemed likely to maintain her neutrality. The Treaty of Paris, which was signed in 1856, as well as the Treaty of London, signed in 1871, provided that warships should not use the Dardanelles except on the special permission of the Sultan, which permission could be granted only in times of peace. In practice the Government had seldom given this permission except for ceremonial occasions. In the existing conditions it would have amounted virtually to an unfriendly act for the Sultan to have removed the ban against war vessels in the Dardanelles, and to permit the Goeben and the Breslau to remain in Turkish waters for more than twenty-four hours would have been nothing less than a declaration of war. It is, perhaps, not surprising that the British in the early days of August, 1914, when Germany had not completely made clear her official opinion that "international law had ceased to exist," regarded these treaty stipulations as barring the German ships from the Dar- danelles and Constantinople. Relying upon the sanctity of these international regulations, the British Navy had shut off every 48 Secrets of the Bosphorus point through which these German ships could have escaped to safety — except the entrance to the Dardanelles. Had England, immediately on the declaration of war, rushed a powerful squadron to this vital spot, how different the history of the last three years might have been ! " His Majesty expects the Goeben and the Breslau to succeed in breaking through ! ' Such was the wireless that reached these vessels at Messina at five o'clock in the evening of August 4th. The twenty-four hours' stay permitted by the Italian Government had nearly expired. Outside, in the Strait of Otranto, lay the force of British battle-cruisers, sending false radio messages to the Germans instructing them to rush for Pola. With bands playing and flags flying, the officers -and crews having had their spirits fired by speeches and champagne, the two vessels started at full speed head on toward the awaiting British fleet. The little Gloucester, a scout boat, kept in touch, wiring constantly the German movements to the main squadron. Suddenly, when off Cape Spartivento, the Goeben and the Breslau let off into the atmosphere all the discordant vibrations which their wireless .could command, jamming the air with such a hullabaloo that the Gloucester was unable to send any intelligible messages. Then the German cruisers turned south and made for the iEgean Sea. The plucky little Gloucester kept close on their heels, and, as my daughter had related, had even once audaciously offered battle. A few hours behind the British squadron pursued, but uselessly, for the German ships, though far less powerful in battle, were much speedier. Even then the British admiral probably thought that he had spoiled the German plans. The German ships might get first to the Dardanelles, but at that point stood international law across the path and barring the entrance ! Meanwhile Wangenheim had accomplished his great diplo- matic triumph. From the Corcovado wireless station in the Bosphorus he was sending the most agreeable news to Admiral Souchon. He was telling him to hoist the Turkish flag when he reached the Strait, for Admiral Souchon 's cruisers had suddenly become parts of the Turkish Navy, and, therefore, the usual international prohibitions did not apply ! These cruisers were no longer the Goeben and the Breslau, for, like an oriental magician, Wangenheim had suddenly changed them into the Sultan Selim and the Medilli. The fact was that the German Ambassador had cleverly taken advantage of the existing situation to manufacture a " sale." As I have already told, Turkey had two dreadnoughts under construction in England c3 u O - Xfl c o O «. £ a u O B a ii i- keeping our word. We do it as individuals and as a nation. We n In e to deal with people as equals who do not do this. You might as well understand now that we can do no business with each other unless I can depend on your promises." Treatment of Alien Enemies 93 : ' Now, this isn't my fault," Talaat answered. " The Germans are to blame for stopping that train. The German Chief of Staff has just returned and is making a big fuss, saying that we are too easy with the French and English and that we must not let them go away. He says that we must keep them for hostages. It was his interference that did this." That was precisely what I had suspected. Talaat had given me his promise, then Bronssart, head of the German Staff, had practically countermanded his orders. Talaat 's admission gave me the opening which I had wished for. By this time my relations with Talaat had become so friendly that I could talk to him almost as I could talk to my own son. " Now, Talaat, ' I said, " you have got to have someone to advise you in your relations with foreigners. You must make up your mind whether you want me or the German Staff. Don't you think you will make a mistake if you place yourself entirely in the hands of the Germans ? The time may come when you will need me against the Germans." " What do you mean by that ? " he asked, watching for my answer with intense curiosity. ' The Germans are sure to ask you to do many things you don't want to do. If you can tell them that the American Ambassador objects, my support may prove useful to you. Besides, you know we all expect peace in a few months. You know that the Germans really care nothing for Turkey, and certainly you have no claims on the Allies for assistance. There is only one nation in the world that you can look to as a dis- interested friend, and that is the United States." This fact was so apparent that I hardly needed to argue it in any great detail. However, I had another argument that struck still nearer home. Already the struggle between the war depart- ment and the civil powers had started. I knew that Talaat, although he was Minister of the Interior and a civilian, was determined not to sacrifice a little of his authority to Enver, the Germans, and the representatives of the military. ' If you let the Germans win this point to-day," I said, " you are practically in their power. You are now the head of affairs, but you are still a civilian. Are you going to let the military, represented by Enver and the German Staff, over-rule your orders ? Apparently that is what has happened to-day. If you submit to it, you will find that they will be running things from now on. The Germans will put this country under martial law ; then where will you civilians be ? " I could see that this argument was having its effect on Talaat. 94 Secrets of the Bosphorus He remained quiet for a few moments, evidently pondering my remarks. Then he said, with the utmost deliberation : " I am going to help you." He turned around to his table and began working his telegraph instrument. I shall never forget the picture ; this huge Turk, sitting there in his grey pyjamas and his red fez, working in- dustriously his own telegraph key, his young wife gazing at him through a little window, and the late afternoon sun streaming into the room. Evidently the ruler of Turkey was having his troubles, and, as the argument went on over the telegraph, Talaat would bang his key with increasing irritation. He told me that the pompous major at the station insisted on having Enver's written orders, since orders over the wire might easily be counterfeited. It took Talaat some time to locate Enver, and then the dispute apparently started all over again. A piece of news which Talaat received at that moment over the wire almost ruined my case. After a prolonged thumping of his instrument, in the course of which Talaat 's face lost its geniality and became almost savage, he turned to me and said : " The English bombarded the Dardanelles this morning and killed two Turks ! " And then he added : " We intend to kill three Christians for every Moslem killed ! " For a moment I thought that everything was lost. Talaat's face reflected only one emotion — hatred of the English. After- ward, when reading the Cromer report on the Dardanelles, I found that the British Committee stigmatised this early attack a mistake, as it gave the Turks an early warning of their plans. I can testify that it was a mistake for another reason, for I now found that these few stray shots almost destroyed my plans to get the foreign residents out of Turkey. Talaat was enraged, and I had to go over much of the ground again, but finally I succeeded in pacifying him once more. I saw that he was vacillating between his desire to punish the English and his desire to assert his own authority over that of Enver and the Germans. Fortunately the latter motive gained the ascendancy. At all hazard, he was determined to show that he was boss. We remained there more than two hours, my involuntary host pausing now and then in his telegraphing to entertain me with the latest political gossip. Djavid, the Minister of Finance, he said, had resigned, but had promised to work for them at home. The Grand Vizier, despite his threats, had been persuaded to retain his office. Foreigners in the interior would not be molested unless Beirut, Alexandretta, or some unfortified port were Treatment of Alien Enemies 95 bombarded, but, if such attacks were made, they would exact reprisals of the French and English. Talaat's conversation showed that he had no particular liking for the Germans. They were overbearing and insolent, he said, constantly interfering in military matters, and treating the Turks with disdain. Finally the train was arranged. Talaat had shown several moods in this interview ; he had been by turns sulky, good- natured, savage, and complaisant. There is one phase of the Turkish character which Westerners do not comprehend, and that is its keen sense of humour. Talaat himself greatly loved a joke and a funny story. Now that he had re-established friendly relations and redeemed his promise, Talaat became jocular once more. " Your people can go now," he said with a laugh. " It's time to buy your candies, Mr. Ambassador ! " This latter, of course, was a reference to the little gifts which I had made to the women and children the night before. We immediately returned to the station, where we found the dis- consolate passengers sitting around waiting for a favourable word. When I told them that the train would leave that evening, their thanks and gratitude were overwhelming. CHAPTER XIII THE INVASION OF THE ZION SISTERS* SCHOOL Talaat's statement that the German Chief of Staff, Bronsart, had really held up this train was a valuable piece of information. I decided to look into the matter further, and, with this idea in my mind, I called next day on Wangenheim. The Turkish authorities, I said, had solemnly promised that they would treat their enemies decently, and certainly I could not tolerate any interference in the matter from the German Chief of Staff. Wangenheim had repeatedly told me that the Germans were looking to President Wilson as the peacemaker, and I therefore used the same argument with him that I had urged on Talaat. Proceedings of this sort would not help his country when the day of the final settlement came. Here, I said, we have a strange situation ; a so-called barbarous country, like Turkey, attempting to make civilised warfare and treat their Christian enemies with decency and kindness, and, on the other hand, a supposedly cultured and Christian nation, like Germany, which is trying to dissuade them from this resolve. " What sort of an impression do you think that will make on the American people ? " I asked Wangenheim. He expressed a willingness to help, and suggested, as my consideration for such help, that I should try to persuade the United States to insist on free commerce with Germany, so that his country could receive plentiful cargoes of copper, wheat, and cotton. This was a subject to which, as I shall relate, Wangenheim constantly returned. Despite Wangenheim's promise, I had practically no support from the German Embassy in my attempt to protect the foreign residents from Turkish ill-treatment. I realised that, owing to my religion, there might be a feeling in certain quarters that I was not exerting all my energies in behalf of these Christian peoples and religious organisations— hospitals, schools, monas- teries, and convents— and I naturally thought that it would strengthen my influence with the Turks if I could have the support of my most powerful Christian colleagues. I had a long discussion on this matter with Pallavicini, himself a Catholic and the representative of the greatest Catholic Power. Pallavicini frankly told me that Wangenheim would do nothing that would The Invasion of the Zion Sisters' School 97 annoy the Turks. There was then a constant fear that the English and French fleets would force the Dardanelles, capture Constantinople, and hand it over to Russia, and only the Turkish forces, said Pallavicini, could prevent such a calamity. The Germans therefore believed that they were dependent on the good graces of the Turkish Government, and would do nothing to antagonise them. Evidently Pallavicini wished me to believe that Wangenheim and he really desired to help. Yet this plea was hardly disingenuous, for I knew all the time that Turkey, if the Germans had not constantly interfered, would have behaved decently. I found that the evil spirit was not the Turkish Government, but von Bronsart, the German Chief of Staff. The fact that certain members of the Turkish Cabinet who represented European and Christian culture — men like Bustany and Oskan — had resigned as a protest against Turkey's action in entering the war, made the situation of foreigners even more dangerous. There was also much conflict of authority ; a policy decided on one day would be reversed the next, the result being that we never knew where we stood. The mere fact that the Government promised me that foreigners would not be mal- treated by no means settled the matter, for some underling, like Bedri Bey, could frequently find an excuse for disregarding instructions. The situation, therefore, was one that called for constant vigilance ; I had not only to get pledges from men like Talaat and Enver, but I had personally to see that these pledges were carried into action. I awoke one November morning at four o'clock ; I had been dreaming, or I had had a " presentiment," that all was not going well with the Sion Sceurs, a French sisterhood which had for many years conducted a school for girls in Constantinople. Madame Bompard, the wife of the French Ambassador, and several ladies of the French colony, had particularly requested me to keep a watchful eye on this institution. It was a splendidly- conducted school ; the daughters of many of the best families of all nationalities attended it, and when these girls were assembled, the Christians wearing silver crosses and the non-Christians silver stars, the sight was particularly beautiful and impressive. Naturally the thought of the brutal Turks breaking into such a community was enough to arouse the wrath of any properly constituted man. Though we had nothing more definite than an uneasy feeling that something might be wrong, Mrs. Morgenthau and I decided to go up immediately after breakfast. As we approached the building we noted nothing particularly sus- picious ; the place was quiet and the whole atmosphere was one H 98 Secrets of the Bosphorus of peace and sanctity. Just as we ascended the steps, however, five Turkish policemen followed on our heels. They crowded after us into the vestibule, much to the consternation of a few of the Sisters, who happened to be in the waiting-room. The mere fact that the American Ambassador came with the police in itself increased their alarm, though our arrival together was purely coincidental. ' What do you want ? " I asked, turning to the men. As they spoke only Turkish, naturally they did not understand me, and they started to push me aside. My own knowledge of Turkish was extremely limited, but I knew that the word " Elchi " meant " Ambassador." So, pointing to myself, I said 'Elchi Americaner." This scrap of Turkish worked like magic. In Turkey an Ambassador is a much revered object, and these policemen im- mediately respected my authority. Meanwhile the Sisters had sent for their Superior, Mere Elvira. This lady was one of the most distinguished and influential personages in Constantinople. That morning, as she came in quietly and faced these Turkish policemen, showing not a sign of fear, and completely overawing them by the splendour and dignity of her bearing, she represented to my eyes almost a supernatural being. Mere Elvira was a daughter of one of the most aristocratic families of France ; she was a woman of perhaps forty years of age, with black hair and shining black eyes, all accentuated by a pale face that radiated culture, character, and intelligence. I could not help thinking, as I looked at her that morning, that there was not a diplomatic circle in the world to which she would not have added grace and dignity. In a few seconds Mere Elvira had this present dis- tracting situation completely under control. She sent for a Sister who spoke Turkish, and queried the policemen. They said that they were acting under Bedri's orders. All the foreign schools were to be closed that morning, Ihe Government intending to seize all their buildings. There were about seventy-two teachers and Sisters in this convent ; the police had orders to shut all these into two rooms, where they were to be held practically as prisoners. There were about two hundred girls ; these were to be turned out into the streets, and left to shift for themselves. The fact that it was raining in torrents, and that the weather was extremely cold, accentuated the barbarity of this proceeding. Yet every enemy school and religious institution in Constan- tinople was undergoing a similar experience at this time. Clearly this was a situation which I could not handle alone, and I at once telephoned my Turkish-speaking legal adviser. Herein is The Invasion of the Zion Sisters' School 99 another incident which may have an interest for those who believe in providential intervention. When I arrived in Con- stantinople telephones had been unknown, but, in the last few months, an English company had been introducing a. system. The night before my experience with the Sion Soeurs, my legal adviser had called me up and proudly told me that his telephone had just been installed. I jotted down his number, and this memorandum I now found in my pocket. Without my inter- preter I should have been hard pressed, and without this telephone I could not have immediately brought him to the spot. While waiting for his arrival I delayed the operations of the policemen, and my wife, who fortunately speaks French, was obtaining all the details from the Sisters. Mrs. Morgenthau understood the Turks well enough to know that they had other plans than the mere expulsion of the Sisters and their charges. The Turks regard these institutions as repositories of treasure ; the valuables which they contain are greatly exaggerated in the popular mind, and it was a safe assumption that, among other things, this expulsion was an industrious raiding expedition for tangible evidences of wealth. " Have you any money and other valuables here ? " Mrs. Morgenthau asked one of the Sisters. Yes, they had in fact quite a little ; it was kept in a safe upstairs. My wife told me to keep the policemen busy and then she and one of the Sisters quietly disappeared from the scene. Upstairs the Sister disclosed about a hundred square pieces of white flannel into each one of which had been sewed twenty gold coins. In all, the Sion Sceurs had in this liquid form about fifty thousand francs. They had been fearing expulsion for some time, and had been getting together their- money in this form, so that they could carry it away with them when forced to leave Turkey. Besides this, the Sisters had several bundles of securities and many valuable papers, such as the charter of their school. Certainly here was something that would appeal to Turkish cupidity. Mrs. Morgenthau knew that if the police once obtained control of the building there would be little likelihood that the Sion Sisters would ever see their money again. With the aid of the Sisters, my wife promptly concealed as much as she could on her person, descended the stairs, and marched through a line of gendarmes out into the rain. Mrs. Morgenthau told me after- ward that her blood almost ran cold with fright as she passed by these guardians of the law ; from all external signs, however, she was absolutely calm and collected. She stepped into the waiting auto, was driven to the American Embassy, placed the money in ioo Secrets of the Bosphorus our vault, and promptly returned to the school. Again Mrs. Morgenthau solemnly ascended the stairs with the Sisters. This time they took her to the gallery of the Cathedral, which stood behind the convent, but could be entered through it. One of the Sisters lifted up a tile from a particular spot in the floor, and again disclosed a heap of gold coins. This was secreted in Mrs. Morgenthau's clothes, and once more she filed past the gen- darmes, out into the rain, and was driven rapidly to the Embassy. In these two trips my wife succeeded in getting the money of the Sisters to a place where it would be safe from the Turks. Between Mrs. Morgenthau's trips Bedri had arrived. He told me that Talaat had himself given the order for closing all the institutions, and that they had intended to have the entire job finished before nine o'clock. I have already said that the Turks have a sense of humour, but to this statement I should add that it sometimes manifests itself in a perverted form. Bedri now seemed to think that locking more than seventy Catholic Sisters in two rooms and turning two hundred young and carefully- nurtured girls into the streets of Constantinople was a great joke. " We were going at it early in the morning, to have it all over before you heard anything about it," he said, with a laugh. " But you seem never to be asleep." " You are very foolish to try to play such tricks on us," I said. " Don't you know that I am going to write a book ? If you go on behaving in this way, I shall put you in as the villain." This remark was an inspiration of the moment ; it was then that it first occurred to me that these experiences might prove sufficiently interesting for publication. Bedri took the statement seriously, and it seemed to have a sobering effect. " Do you really intend to write a book ? " he asked, almost anxiously. " Why not ? ' I rejoined. " General Lew Wallace was minister here — didn't he write a book ? ' Sunset ' Cox was also minister here — didn't he write one ? Why shouldn't I ? And you are such an important character that I shall have to give you a part. Why do you go on acting in a way that will make me describe you as a very bad man ? These Sisters here have always been your friends. They have never done you anything but good ; they have educated many of your daughters ; why do you treat them in this shameful fashion ? " This plea produced an effect ; Bedri consented to postpone execution of the order until we could get Talaat on the wire. In a few minutes I heard Talaat laughing over the telephone. " I tried to escape you," he said, " but you have caught me The Invasion of the Zion Sisters' School lot again. Why make such a row about this matter ? Didn't the French themselves expel all their nuns and monks ? Why shouldn't we do it ? " After I had remonstrated over this indecent haste, Talaat told Bedri to suspend the order until we had had a chance to talk the matter over. Naturally this greatly relieved Mere Elvira and the Sisters. Just as we were about to leave, Bedri suddenly had a new idea. There was one detail which he had apparently forgotten. " We'll leave the Sion Sisters alone for the present," he said, " but we must get their money." Reluctantly I acquiesced in his suggestion — knowing that all the valuables were safely reposing in the American Embassy. So I had the pleasure of standing by and watching Bedri and his associates search the whole establishment. All they turned up was a small tin box containing a few copper coins, a prize which was so trifling that the Turks disdained to take it. They were much puzzled and disappointed, and from that day to this they have never known what became of the money. If my Turkish friends do me the honour of reading these pages they will find that I have explained here for the first time one of the many mysteries of those exciting days. As some of the windows of the convent opened on the court of the Cathedral, which was Vatican property, we contended that the Turkish Government could not seize it. Such of the Sisters as were neutrals were allowed to remain in possession of the part that faced the Vatican land, while the rest of the building was turned into an engineers' school. We arranged that the French nuns should have ten days to leave for their own country ; they all reached their destination safely, and most are at present engaged in charities and war-work in France. My jocular statement that I intended to write a book deeply impressed Bedri, and in the next few weeks he repeatedly referred to it. I kept banteringly telling him that, unless his behaviour improved, I should be forced to picture him as the villain. One day he asked me, in all seriousness, whether he could not do something that would justify me in portraying him in a more favourable light. This attitude gave me an oppor- tunity I had been seeking for some time. Constantinople had for many years been a centre for the white slave trade, and a par- ticularly vicious gang was then operating under cover of a fake synagogue. An international committee, organised to fight this crew, had made me chairman. I told Bedri that he now had the chance to secure a reputation. Because of the war, his powers as Io2 Secrets of the Bosphorus Prefect of Police had been greatly increased, and a little vigorous action on his part would permanently rid the city of this disgrace. The enthusiasm with which Bedri adopted my suggestion and the thoroughness and ability with which he did the work entitle him to the gratitude of all decent people. In a few days every white slave trader in Constantinople was scurrying for safety. Most were arrested, a few made their escape ; such as were foreigners, after serving terms in gaol, were expelled from the country. Bedri furnished me with photographs of all the culprits, and they are now on file in our State Department. I was not writing a book at that time, but I felt obliged to secure some public recognition for Bedri's work. I therefore sent his photo- graph, with a few words about his achievement, to the New York Times, which published it in a Sunday edition. That a great American newspaper had recognised him in this way delighted Bedri beyond words. For months he carried in his pocket the page of the Times containing his picture, showing it to all his friends. This event ended my troubles with the Prefect of Police ; for the rest of my stay we had very few serious clashes. CHAPTER XIV WANGENHEIM AND THE BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY — A HOLY WAR THAT WAS MADE IN GERMANY All this time I was increasing my knowledge of the modern German character, as illustrated in Wangenheim and his associates. In the early days of the war the Germans showed their most ingratiating side to Americans ; as time went on, however, and it became apparent that public opinion in the United States almost unanimously supported the Allies, and that the Washington Administration would not disregard the neu- trality laws in order to promote Germany's interest, this friendly attitude changed and became almost hostile. The grievance to which the German Ambassador constantly returned with tiresome iteration was the old familiar one — the sale of American ammunition to the Allies. I hardly ever met him that he did not speak about it. He was constantly asking me to write to President Wilson, urging him to declare an embargo. Of course, my contention that the commerce in munitions was entirely legitimate made no impression. As the struggle at the Dardanelles became more intense, Wangenheim's insistence on the subject of American ammunition grew. He asserted that most of the shells used at the Dardanelles had been made in America and that the United States was really waging war on Turkey. One day, more angry than usual, he brought me a piece of shell. On it clearly appeared the inscription, " B.S.Co." 'Look at that!" he said. "I suppose you know what ' B.S.Co.' means ? That is the Bethlehem Steel Company ! This will make the Turks furious. And remember that we are going to hold the United States responsible for it. We are getting more and more proof, and we are going to hold you to account for every death caused by American shells. If you would only write home, and make them stop selling ammunition to our enemies, the war would be over very soon." I made the usual defence, and called Wangenheim's attention to the fact that Germany had sold munitions to Spain in the Spanish War ; but all this was to no purpose. All that Wangen- heim saw was that American supplies formed an asset to his 104 Secrets of the Bosphorus enemy ; the legalities of the situation did not interest him. Of course, I refused point-blank to write to the President about the matter. A few days afterward an article appeared in the Ikdam discussing Turkish and American relations. This contribution, for the greater part, was extremely complimentary to America ; its real purpose, however, was to contrast the present with the past, and to point out that our action in furnishing ammunition to Turkey's enemies was hardly in accordance with the historic friendship between the two countries. The whole thing was evidently written merely to get before the Turkish people a statement almost parenthetically included in the final paragraph : " According to the report of correspondents at the Dardanelles, it appears that most of the sheUs fired by the British and French during the last bombardment were made in America." At this time the German Embassy controlled the Ikdam, and was conducting it entirely in the interest of German propaganda. A statement of this sort, instilled into the minds of impressionable and fanatical Turks, might have the most deplorable con- sequences. I therefore took the matter up immediately with the man whom I regarded as chiefly responsible for the attack — the German Ambassador. At first Wangenheim asserted his innocence ; he was as bland as a child in protesting his ignorance of the whole affair. I called his attention to the fact that the statements in the Ikdam were almost identically the same as those which he had made to me a few days before ; that the language in certain spots, indeed, was almost a repetition of his own conversation. \ \ " Either you wrote that article yourself," I said, " or you called in the reporter and gave him the leading ideas." Wangenheim saw that there was no use in further denying the authorship. ' Well," he said, throwing back his head, " what are you going to do about it ? " This Tweed-like attitude rather nettled me, and I resented it on the spot. "I'll tell you what I am going to do about it," I replied, " and you know that I will be able to carry out my tlireats. Either you stop stirring up anti-American feeling in Turkey or I shall start a campaign of anti-German sentiment here. ' You know, Baron," I added, " that you Germans are skating on very thin ice in this country. You know that the Turks don't love you any too well. In fact, you know that Americans are more popular here than you are. Supposing that Wangenheim and the Bethlehem Steel Company 105 I go out, tell the Turks how you are simply using them for your own benefit — that you do not really regard them as your allies, but merely as pawns in the game which you^are playing. Now, in stirring up anti-American feeling here you are touching my softest spot. You are exposing our educational and religious institutions to the attacks of the Turks. No one knows what they may do if they are persuaded that their relatives are being shot down by American bullets. You stop this at once, or in three weeks I will fill the whole of Turkey with animosity toward the Germans. It will be a battle between us, and I am ready for it." . Wangenheim 's attitude changed at once. He turned round, put his arm on my shoulder, and assumed his most conciliatory, almost affectionate, manner. " Come, let us be friends," he said. " I see that you are right about this. I see that such attacks might injure your friends the missionaries. I promise you that they will be stopped." From that diy the Turkish Press never made the slightest unfriendly allusion to the United States. The abruptness with which the attacks stopped showed me that the Germans had evidently extended to Turkey one of the most cherished ex- pedients of the Fatherland — absolut Government control of the Press. But when I think of the infamous plots which Wangen- heim was instigating at that moment, his objection to the use of a few American shells by English battleships —if English battle- ships used any such shells, which I seriously doubt — seems almost grotesque. In the early days Wangsnh m had explains d to me one of Germany's main purjoses in forcing Turkey into the conflict. He made this explanation quietly and nonchalantly, as though it had been quite the most ordinary matter in the world. Sitting in his office, puffing away at his big black German cigar, he unfolded Germany's scheme to arouse the whole fanatical Moslem world against the Christians. Germany had planned a real " holy war " as one means of destroying English and French influence in the world. " Turkey herself is not the really important matter," said Wangenheim. " Her army is a small one, and we do not expect it to do very much. For the most part it will act on the defensive. But the big thing is the Moslem world. If we can stir the Mohammedans up against the English and Russians we can force them to make peace." What Wangenheim evidently meant by the " big thing " became apparent on November 13th, when the Sultan issued his declaration war. This declaration was really an appeal for a Jihad, or a" Holy War " against the infidel. Soon afterward io6 Secrets of the Bosphorus the Sheik-ul-Islam published his proclamation, summoning the whole Moslem world to arise and massacre their Christian oppressors. " O Moslems ! " concluded this document, " Ye who are smitten with happiness and are on the verge of sacrificing your life and your goods for the cause of right, and of braving perils, gather now around the Imperial throne, obey the com- mands of the Almighty, who, in the Koran, promises us bliss in this and in the next world ; embrace ye the foot of the Caliph's throne, and know ye that the State is at war with Russia, England, France, and their allies, and that these are the enemies of Islam. The Chief of the believers, the Caliph, invites you all as Moslems to join in the Holy War ! " The religious leaders read this proclamation to their as- sembled congregations in the mosques ; all the newspapers printed it conspicuously ; it was spread broadcast in all the countries which had large Mohammedan populations — India, China, Persia, Egypt, Algeria, Tripoli, Morocco, and the like. In all these places it was read to the assembled multitudes and the populace was exhorted to obey the mandate. The Ikdam, the Turkish newspaper which had passed into German ownership, was constantly inciting the masses. ' The deeds of our enemies," wrote this Turco-German editor, " have brought down the wrath of God. A gleam of hope has appeared. All Mohammedans, young and old, men, women, and children, must fulfil their duty so that the gleam may not fade away, but give light to us forever. How many great things can be accomplished by the arms of vigorous men, by the aid of others, of women and children ! . . . The time for action has come. We shall all have to fight with all our strength, with all our soul, with teeth and nails, with all the sinews of our bodies and of our spirits. If we do it, the deliverance of the subjected Mohammedan kingdoms is assured. Then, if God so wills, we shall march unashamed by the side of our friends who send their greetings to the Crescent. Allah is our aid and the Prophet is our support." The Sultan's proclamation was an official public document, and dealt with the proposed Holy War only in a general way, but about this same time a secret pamphlet appeared which gave instructions to the faithful in more specific terms. This paper was not read in the mosques ; it was distributed stealthily in all Mohammedan countries — India, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and many others — and it was significantly printed in Arabic, the language of the Koran. It was a lengthy document — the English translation contains 10,000 words — full of quotations from the Koran, and its style was frenzied in its appeal to racial and Wangenheim and the Bethlehem Steel Company 107 religious hatred. It described a detailed plan of operations for the assassination and extermination of all Christians — except those of German nationality. A few extracts will fairly portray its spirit : " Oh ! people of the faith and Oh ! beloved Moslems, consider, even though but for a brief moment, the present condi- tion of the Islamic world. For if you consider this but for a little you will weep long. You will behold a bewildering state of affairs which will cause the tear to fall and the fire of grief to blaze. You see the great country of India, which contains hundreds of millions of Moslems, fallen, because of religious divisions and weaknesses, into the grasp of the enemies of God, the infidel English. You see forty millions of Moslems in Java shackled by the chains of captivity and of affliction under the rule of the Dutch, although these infidels are much fewer in number than the faithful and do not enjoy a much higher civilisation. You see Egypt, Morocco, Tunis, Algeria, and the Sudan suffering the extremes of pain and groaning in the grasp of the enemies of God and His apostle. You see the vast country of Siberia and Turkestan, and Khiva and Bokhara, and the Caucasus and the Crimea, and Kazan and Ezferhan and Kosa- hastan, whose Moslem peoples believe in the unity of God, ground under the feet of their oppressors, who are the enemies already of our religion. You behold Persia being prepared for partition, and you see the city of the Caliphate, which for ages has un- ceasingly fought breast to breast with the enemies of our religion, now become the target for oppression and violence. Thus, wherever you look, you see that the enemies of the true religion, particularly the English, the Russian, and the French, have oppressed Islam and invaded its rights in every possible way. We cannot enumerate the insults we have received at the hands of these nations who desire totally to destroy Islam and drive all Mohammedans off the face of the earth. This tyranny has passed all endurable limits ; the cup of our oppression is full to overflowing. ... In brief, the Moslems work and the infidels eat, the Moslems are hungry and suffer and the infidels gorge themselves and live in luxury. The world of Islam sinks down and goes backward, and the Christian world goes forward and is more and more exalted. The Moslems are enslaved and the infidels are the great rulers. This is all because the Moslems have abandoned the plan set forth in the Koran and ignored the Holy War which it commands. . . . But the time has now come for the Holy War, and by this the land of Islam shall be forever freed from the power of the infidels who oppress it. This Holy War has now become a sacred duty. Know ye that the blood of io8 Secrets of the Bosphorus infidels in the Islamic lands may be shed with impunity — except those to whom the Moslem power has promised security and who are allied with it. [Herein we find that Germans and Austrians are excepted from massacre.] The killing of infidels who rule over Islam has become a sacred duty, whether you do it secretly or openly. As the Koran has decreed : ' Take them and kill them whenever you find them. Behold we have delivered them unto your hands and given you supreme power over them.' He who kills even one unbeliever of those who rule over us, whether he does it secretly or openly, shall be rewarded by God. And let every Moslem, in whatever part of the world he may be, swear a solemn oath to kill at least three or four of the infidels who rule over him, for they are the enemies of God and of the faith. Let every Moslem know that his reward for doing so shall be doubled by the God who created heaven and earth. A Moslem who does this shall be saved from the terrors of the Day of Judgment, of the resurrection of the dead. Who is the man who can refuse such a recompense for such a small deed ? . . . Yet the time has come that we should rise up as the rising of one man ; in one hand a sword, in the other a gun, in his pocket balls of fire and death- dealing missiles, and in his heart the light of the faith, and that we should lift up our voices, saying — India for the Indian Moslems, Java for the Javanese Moslems, Algeria for the Algerian Moslems, Morocco for the Moroccan Moslems, Tunis for the Tunisan Moslems, Egypt for the Egyptian Moslems, Iran for the Iranian Moslems, Turan for the Turanian Moslems, Bokhara for the Bokharan Moslems, Caucasus for the Caucasian Moslems, and the Ottoman Empire for the Ottoman Turks and Arabs." Specific instructions for carrying out this holy purpose follow. There shall be a " heart war " — every follower of the Prophet, that is, shall constantly nourish in his spirit a hatred of the infidel ; a " speech war " — with tongue and pen every Moslem shall spread this same hatred wherever Mohammedans live ; and a war of deed— fighting and killing the infidel wherever he shows his head. This latter conflict, says the pamphlet, is the "true war." There is to be a " little holy war" and a " great holy war " ; the first describes the battle which every Mohammedan is to wage in his community against his Christian neighbours, and the second is the great world-struggle which united Islam, in India, Arabia, Turkey, Africa, and other countries, is to wage against the infidel oppressors. " The Holy War," says the pamphlet, " will be of three forms. First the individual war, which consists of the individual personal deed. This may be carried on with cutting, killing instruments, like the Wangenheim and the Bethlehem Steel Company 109 Holy War which one of the faithful made against Peter Galy, the infidel English governor, like the slaying of the English chief of police in India, and like the killing of one of the officials arriving in Mecca by Abi Busir (may God be pleased with him)." The document gives several other instances of assassination which the faithful are enjoined to imitate. The believers are told to organise " bands," and to go forth and slay Christians. The most useful are those organised and operating in secret. " It is hoped that the Islamic world of to-day will profit very greatly from such secret bands." The third method is by "organised campaigns," that is, by trained armies. In all parts of this incentive to murder and assassination there are indications that a German hand has exercised an editorial supervision. Only those infidels are to be slain " who rule over us " — that is, those who have Mohammedan subjects. As Germany has no such subjects this saving clause was expected to protect Germans from assault. The Germans, with their usual interest in their own well-being and their usual disregard of their ally, evidently overlooked the fact that Austria had many Mohammedan subjects in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moslems are instructed that they should form armies, " even though it may be necessary to introduce some foreign elements " — that is, bring in German instructors and German officers. " You must remember " — this is evidently intended as a blanket protection to Germans everywhere — " that it is absolutely unlawful to oppose any of the peoples of other religions between whom and the Moslems there is a covenant, or those who have not mani- fested hostility to the seat of the Caliphate, or those who have entered under the protection of the Moslems." ' Even though I had not had Wangenheim 's personal statement that the Germans intended to arouse the Mohammedans every- where against England, France, and Russia, these interpolations would clearly enough have indicated the real inspiration of this amazing document. At the time Wangenheim discussed the matter with me his chief idea seemed to be that a " Holy War " of this sort would be the quickest means of forcing England to make peace. According to this point of view, it was really a great peace offensive. At that time Wangenheim reflected the conviction, which was prevalent in all official circles, that Ger- many had made a mistake in bringing England into the conflict, and it was evidently his idea now that if back-fires could be started against England in India, Egypt, [the Sudan, and other places, the British Empire would withdraw. Even if British Mohammedans refused to rise, Wangenheim believed that the no Secrets of the Bosphorus mere threat of such an uprising would induce England to abandon Belgium and France to their fate. The danger of spreading such incendiary literature among a wildly fanatical people is apparent. 1 was not the only neutral diplomat who feared the most serious consequences. M. Tocheff, the Bulgarian Minister, one of the ablest members of the diplomatic corps, was much disturbed. At that tune Bulgaria was neutral, and M. Tocheff used to tell me that his country hoped to maintain this neutrality. Each side, he said, expected that Bulgaria would become its ally, and it was Bulgaria's policy to keep each side in this expectant frame of mind. Should Germany succeed in starting a " Holy War," and should massacres result, Bulgaria, added M. Tocheff, would certainly join forces with the Entente. We arranged that he should call upon Wangenheim and repeat this statement, and that I should bring similar pressure to bear upon Enver. From the first, however, the " Holy War " proved a failure. The Mohammedans of such countries as India, Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco knew that they were getting far better treatment than they could obtain under any other con- ceivable conditions. Moreover, the simple-minded Mohamme- dans could not understand why they should prosecute a holy war against Christians and at the same time have Christian nations, such as Germany and Austria, as their partners. This association made the whole proposition ridiculous. The Koran, it is true, commands the slaughter of Christians, but that sacred volume makes no exception in favour of the Germans, and, in the mind of the fanatical Mohammedan, a German rayah is as much Christian dirt as an Englishman or a Frenchman, and his massacre is just as meritorious an act. The fine distinctions necessitated by European diplomacy he understands about as completely as he understands the law of gravitation or the nebular hypothesis. The German failure to take this into account is only another evidence of the fundamental German clumsiness and real ignor- ance of the world situation. The only tangible fact that stands out clearly is the Kaiser's desire to let loose 300,000,000 Mo- hammedans in a gigantic St. Bartholomew massacre of Christians. Was there, then, no " Holy War " at all ? Did Wangenheim 's " big thing " really fail ? Whenever I think of this burlesque " Jihad " a particular scene in the American Embassy comes to my mind. On one side of the table sits Enver, most peacefully sipping tea and eating cakes, and on the other side is myself, engaged in the same unwarlike occupation. It is November 14th, the day after the Sultan has declared his Holy War ; there have been meetings at the mosques and other places, at which the Wangenheim and the Bethlehem Steel Company in declaration has been read and fiery speeches made. Enver now assures me that absolutely no harm will come to Americans ; in fact, that there will be no massacres anyway. While he is talking, one of my secretaries comes in and tells me that a little mob is making demonstrations against certain foreign establish- ments. It has assailed an Austrian shop which has unwisely kept up its sign saying that it has " English clothes " for sale. I ask Enver what this means ; he answers that it is all a mistake, there is no intention of attacking anybody. A little while after he leaves I am informed that the mob has attacked the Bon Marche, a French dry-goods store, and is heading directly for the British Embassy. I at once call Enver on the telephone ; it is all right, he says, nothing will happen to the Embassy. A minute or two after, the mob immediately wheels about and starts for Tokatlians, the most important restaurant in Con- stantinople. The fact that this is conducted by an Armenian makes it fair game. Six men who have poles, with hooks at the end, break all the mirrors and windows, others take the marble tops of the tables and smash them to bits. In a few minutes the place has been completely gutted. This demonstration comprised the " Holy War," so far as Constantinople understood it. Such was the inglorious end of Germany's attempt to arouse 300,000,000 Mohammedans against the Christian world ! Only one definite result did the Kaiser accomplish by spreading this inciting literature. It aroused in the Mohammedan soul all that intense hatred of the Christian which is the fundamental fact in his strange emotional nature, and thus started passions aflame that afterward spent themselves in the massacres of the Annenians and other subject peoples. CHAPTER XV DJEMAL, A TROUBLESOME MARK ANTONY — AN EARLY GERMAN ATTEMPT TO GET A GERMAN PEACE In early November, 1914, the railroad station at Haidar Pasha was the scene of a great demonstration. Djemal, the Minister of Marine, one of the three men who were then most powerful in the Turkish Empire, was leaving to take command of the Fourth Turkish Army, which had its headquarters in Syria. All the members of the Cabinet and other influential people in Con- stantinople assembled to give this departing satrap an en- thusiastic farewell. They hailed him as the " Saviour of Egypt," and Djemal himself, just before his train started, made this public declaration : " I shall not return to Constantinople until I have conquered Egypt ! " The whole performance seemed to me to be somewhat bombastic. Inevitably I called to mind the third member of another bloody triumvirate who, nearly two thousand years before, had left his native land to become the supreme dictator of the East. And Djemal had many characteristics in common with Mark Antony. Like his Roman predecessor, his private life was profligate ; like Antony, he was an insatiate gambler, spending much of his leisure over the card-table at the Cercle d'Orient. Another trait which he had in common with the great Roman orator was his enormous vanity. The Turkish world seemed to be disintegrating in Djemal's time, just as the Roman Republic was dissolving in the days of Antony. Djemal believed that he might himself become the heir of one or more of its provinces and possibly establish a dynasty. He expected that the military expedition on which he was now starting would not only make him the conqueror of Turkey's fairest province, but make him one of the powerful figures of the world. Afterward, in Syria, he ruled as independently as a medieval robber baron, whom in other details he resembled ; he became a kind of sub-sultan, holding his own court, having his own selamlik, issuing his orders, dis- pensing freely his own kind of justice, and often disregarding the authorities at Constantinople. The applause with which Djemal's associates were speeding Enver Pasha, Minister of War. Talaat Pasha, Grand Vizier. {To face p. 112 'Bustany Effendi, ex-Minister of Commerce and Agriculture in the Turkish Cabinet. Djemal Pasha, Minister of Marine. A Troublesome Mark Antony 113 his departure was not entirely disinterested. The fact was that most of them were exceedingly glad to see him go. He had been a thorn in the side of Talaat and Enver for some time, and they were perfectly content that he should exercise his imperious and stubborn nature against the Syrians, Armenians, and other non- Moslem elements in the Mediterranean provinces. Djemal was not a popular man in Constantinople. The other members of the triumvirate, in addition to their less desirable qualities, had certain attractive traits— Talaat his rough virility and spon- taneous good nature, Enver his courage and personal graciousness —but there was little about Djemal that was pleasing. An American physician who had specialised in the study of phy- siognomy had found Djemal a fascinating .subject. He told me that he had never seen a face that so combined ferocity with great power and penetration. Enver, as his history showed, could be cruel and bloodthirsty, but he hid his more insidious qualities under a face that was bland, unruffled, and even agreeable. Djemal, however, did not disguise his tendencies, for his face clearly pictured the inner soul. His eyes were black and pierc- ing ; their sharpness, the rapidity and keenness with which they darted from one object to another, taking in apparently every- thing with a few lightning-like glances, signalised cunning, remorselessness, and selfishness to an extreme degree. Even his laugh, which disclosed all his white teeth, was unpleasant and animal-like. His black hair and black beard, contrasting with his pale face, only heightened this impression. At first, Djemal's figure seemed somewhat insignificant — he was undersized, almost stumpy, and somewhat stoop-shouldered ; as soon as he began to move, however, it was evident that his body was full of energy. Whenever he shook your hand, gripping you with a vice-like grasp and looking at you with those roving, penetrating eyes, the man's personal force became impressive. Yet, after a momentary meeting, I was not surprised to hear that Djemal was a man with whom assassination and judicial murder were all part of the day's work. Like all the Young Turks, his origin had been extremely humble. He had joined the Committee of Union and Progress in the early days, and his personal power, as well as his relentlessness, had rapidly made him one of the leaders. After the murder of Nazim, Djemal had become Military Governor of Constantinople, his chief duty in this post being to remove from the scene the opponents of the ruling powers. This congenial task he performed with great skill, and the reign of terror that resulted was largely Djemal's handiwork. Subsequently Djemal became Minister of Marine, 1 t!4 Secrets of the Bosphorus but he could not work harmoniously in the Cabinet ; he was always a troublesome partner. In the days preceding the break with the Entente he was popularly regarded as a Francophile. Whatever feeling Djemal may have entertained toward the Entente, he made little attempt to conceal his detestation of the Germans. It is said that he would swear at them in their presence —in Turkish, of course — and he was one of the few important Turkish officials who never came under their influence. The fact was that Djemal represented that tendency which was rapidly gaining the ascendancy in Turkish policy— Pan-Turkism. He despised the subject peoples of the Ottoman country — Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Circassians, Jews ; his ambition was to Turkify the whole Empire. His personal ambition brought him into frequent conflict with Enver and Talaat ; they told me many times that they could not control him. It was for this reason that, as I have said, they were glad to see him go— not that they really expected him 40 capture the Suez Canal and drive out the English. Incidentally this appointment fairly indicated the incongruous organisation that then existed in Turkey. As Minister of Marine, Djemal's real place was at the navy depart- ment ; instead of that, the head of the navy was sent to lead an army over the burning sands of Syria and Sinai. Yet Djemal's expedition represented Turkey's most spec- tacular attempt to assert its military power against the Allies. As Djemal moved out of the station, the whole Turkish populace felt that an historic moment had arrived. Turkey in less than a century had lost the greater part of her dominions, and nothing had more pained the national pride than the English occupation of Egypt. All during this occupation, Turkish suzerainty had been recognised ; as soon as Turkey declared war on Great Britain, however, the British had ended this fiction and had formally taken over this great province. Djemal's expedition was Turkey's reply to this act of England. The real purpose of the war, the Turkish people had been told, was to restore the vanishing empire of the Osmans, and to this great undertaking the recovery of Egypt was merely the first step. The Turks also knew that, under English administration, Egypt had become a prosperous country, and that it would, therefore, yield great treasure to the conqueror. It is no wonder that the huzzahs of the Turkish people followed the departing Djemal. About the same time, Enver left to take command of Turkey's other great military enterprise — the attack on Russia through the Caucasus. Here also were Turkish provinces to be " redeemed." After the war of 1878, Turkey had been compelled to cede to A Troublesome Mark Antony 115 Russia certain rich territories between the Caspian and the Black Sea, inhabited chiefly by Armenians, and it was this country which Enver now proposed to reconquer. But Enver had no ovation on his leaving. He went away quietly and unobserved. With the departure of these two men the war was now fairly on. Despite these martial enterprises, other than warlike prepara- tions were now under way in Constantinople. At that time — in the latter part of 1914 — its external characteristics suggested nothing but war, yet now it suddenly became the great head- quarters of peace. The English fleet was constantly threatening the Dardanelles, and every day Turkish troops were passing through the streets. Yet these activities did not chiefly engage the attention of the German Embassy. Wangenheim was thinking of one thing, and one thing oniy ; this fire-eating German suddenly became a man of peace. For he now learned that the greatest service which a German Ambassador could render his Emperor would be to end the war on terms that would save Germany from exhaustion, and even from ruin ; to obtain a settlement that would reintroduce his Fatherland to the society of nations. In November Wangenheim began discussing this subject. It was part of Germany's system, he told me, not only to be com- pletely prepared for war, but also for peace. " A wise general, when he begins his campaign, always has at hand his plans for a retreat, in case he is defeated," said the German Ambassador. ' This principle applies just the same to a nation beginning war. There is only one certainty about war — and that is that it must end some time. So, when we plan war, we must consider also a campaign for peace." But Wangenheim was interested then in something more tangible than this philosophic principle. Germany had im- mediate reasons for desiring the end of hostilities, and Wangen- heim discussed them frankly and cynically. He said that Germany had prepared for only a short war because she had expected to crush France and Russia in two brief campaigns, lasting not longer than six months. Clearly this plan had failed, and there was little likelihood that Germany would win the war. Wangenheim told me this in so many words. Germany, he added, would make a great mistake if she persisted in fighting the war to exhaustion, for such a fight would mean the permanent loss of her colonies, her mercantile marine, and her whole economic and commercial status. " If we don't get Paris in thirty days, we are beaten," Wangenheim had told me in August, and, though his attitude changed somewhat after the battle of the Marne, he made n6 Secrets of the Bosphorus no attempt to conceal the fact that the great rush campaign had collapsed, that all the Germans could now look forward to was a tedious, exhausting war, and that all which they could obtain from the existing situation would be a drawn battle. " We have made a mistake tins time," Wangenheim said, " in not laying in supplies for a protracted struggle ; it was an error, however, that we shall not repeat ; next time we shall store up enough copper and cotton to last for five years." Wangenheim had another reason for wishing an immediate peace, and it was a reason which shed much light upon the shamelessness of German diplomacy. The preparation which Turkey was making for the conquest of Egypt caused this German Ambassador much annoyance and anxiety. The interest and energy which the Turks had manifested in this enterprise were particularly causing him concern. Naturally I thought at first that Wangenheim was worried that Turkey would lose, yet he confided to me that his real fear was that their ally would succeed. A victorious Turkish campaign in Egypt, Wangenheim explained, might seriously interfere with Germany's plans. Should Turkey conquer Egypt, naturally Turkey would insist at the peace table on retaining this great province, and would expect Germany to support her in this claim. But Germany had no intention then of promoting the re- establishment of the Turkish Empire. At that time she hoped to reach an understanding with England, the basis of which was to be something in the nature of a division of interests in the East. Germany desired above all to obtain Mesopotamia as an in- dispensable part of her Hamburg-Bagdad scheme. In return for this, she was prepared to give her endorsement to England's annexation of Egypt. Thus it was Germany's plan at that time that she and England should divide Turkey's two fairest do- minions. This was one of the proposals winch Germany intended to bring forth in the peace conference which Wangenheim was now scheming for, and clearly Turkey's conquest of Egypt would have presented complications in the way of carrying out this plan. On the morality of Germany's attitude to her ally, Turkey, it is hardly necessary to comment. The whole thing was all of a piece with Germany's policy of "realism" in foreign relations. Nearly all German classes, in the latter part of 19 14 and the early part of 1915, were anxiously looking for peace, and they turned to Constantinople as the most promising spot where peace negotiations might most favourably be started. The Germans took it for granted that President Wilson would be the V o ■-> e +» . » >> "3 O a ^ S H a 3 £ H n 2 « o S to "« & £ -° £ s « < s aj 3 O J S-l tn c -, >> -( o 4> ^ - — 3 c — T — I <1> O _o r: o 3 ca « 3 — o t-1 - M n 1 X 1- .- Bedri Bey, Prefect of Police at Constantinople. Ti laat and von Kiihlmann. A Troublesome Mark Antony "7 ^SSmatic colony He impressed me as not a particularly S^3fbS a very Intertaining, man ; he apparently wished toKne friendly with the American Embassy, and he possessed a certain attraction for us all, as he had just come from the Lncte and gave us many vivid pictures of life at the front At tW time we were aU keenly interested in modern warfare, and KShlmannrdetails of trench fighting held us spe lbound many ai ateno n on and evening. ^^M^^^^ts tion was Welt-Politik, and on all foreign matters he struck me as remaTkably well-informed. At that lime we did ^not £**£*£ Kuhlmann as an important man, yet the industry with which ne ^nded^o his business arrested evexyoneW^^ even he Soon, however, I began to have a fee ^ that he was exerting a powerful influence in a quiet, velvety kind of way. He said HttTe but I realised that he was listening to everything and storing all kinds of information away m his mind. He was apparently Wangenheim's closest confidant and the man upon Xm tire" Ambassador was depending for his contact with the GeSnan Foreign Office. About the middle of December Von n8 Secrets of the Bosphorus Kiihlmann left for Berlin, where he stayed about two weeks. On his return, in the early part of January, 1915, there was a notice- able change in the atmosphere of the German Embassy. Up to that time Wangenhefm had discussed peace negotiations more or less informally, but now he took up the matter specifically. I gathered that Kiihlmann had been called to Berlin to receive all the latest details on this subject, and that he had come back with the definite instructions that Wangenheim should move at once. In all my talks with the German Ambassador on peace Kiihlmann was always hovering in the background ; at one most important conference he was present, though he participated hardly at all in the conversation, but his role, as usual, was that of a sub- ordinate and quietly eager listener. Wangenheim now informed me that January, 1915, would be an excellent time to end the war. Italy had not yet entered, though there was every reason to believe that she would do so by spring. Bulgaria and Rumania were still holding aloof, though no one expected that their waiting attitude would last for ever. France and England were preparing for the first of the " spring offensives," and the Germans had no assurance that it would not succeed ; indeed, they much feared that the German armies would meet disaster. The British and French warships were gathering at the Dardanelles, and the German General Staff and practically all military and naval experts in Constantinople believed that the Allied fleets could force their way through and capture the city. Most Turks by this time were sick of the war, and Germany always had in mind that Turkey would make a separate peace. Afterward I discovered that whenever the military situation looked ominous to Germany she was always thinking about peace, but that if the situation improved she would immediately become warlike again ; it was a case of sick- devil, well-devil. Yet, badly as Wangenheim wanted peace in January, 1915, it was quite apparent that he was not thinking of a permanent peace. The ? greatest obstacle to peace at that time was the fact that Germany showed no signs' that she regretted her crimes, and there was not the slightest evidence of the sackcloth in Wangenheim 's attitude now. Germany had made a bad guess, that was all. What Wangenheim and the other Germans saw in the situation was that their stock of wheat, cotton, and copper was inadequate for a protracted struggle. In my notes of my conversations with Wangenheim I find him frequently using such phrases as the " next war," " next time," and, in confidently looking forward to another greater world cataclysm than the present, he merely reflected the attitude of A Troublesome Mark Antony 119 the dominant junker-military class. The Germans apparently wanted a reconciliation — a kind of an armistice — that would give their generals and industrial leaders time to prepare for the next conflict. At that time, nearly four years ago, Germany was moving for practically the same kind of peace negotiations which she has suggested many times since and is suggesting now. Wangenheim's plan was that representatives of the warring Powers should gather around a table and settle things on the principle of " give and take." He said'^that there was no sense in demanding that each side state its terms in advance. " For both sides to state their terms in advance would ruin the whole thing," he said. " What would we do ? Germany, of course, would make claims that the other side would regard as ridiculously extravagant. The Entente would state terms that would put all Germany in a rage. As a result, both sides would get so angry that there would be no conference. No — if we really want to end this war we must have an armistice. Once we stop fighting, we shall not go at it again. History presents no instance in a great war where an armistice has not resulted in peace. It will be so in this case." Yet, from Wangenheim's conversation I did obtain a slight inkling of Germany's terms. The matter of Egypt and Meso- potamia, set forth above, was one of them. Wangenheim was quite insistent that Germany must have permanent naval bases in Belgium with which her navy could at all times threaten England with blockade, and so make sure " the freedom of the seas." Germany wanted coaling rights everywhere ; this demand looks absurd, because Germany has always possessed such rights in peace times. She might give France a piece of Lorraine and a part of Belgium — perhaps Brussels — in return for the payment of an indemnity. Wangenheim requested that I should place Germany's case before the American Government. My letter to Washington is dated January, 1915. It went fully into the internal situation which then prevailed and gave the reasons why Germany and Turkey desired peace. A particularly interesting part of this incident was that Germany was apparently ignoring Austria. Pallavicini, the Austrian Ambassador, knew nothing of the pending negotiations until I myself informed him of them. In thus ignoring his ally, the German Ambassador meant no personal disrespect ; he was merely treating him precisely as his Foreign Office was treating Vienna — not as an equal, but practically as a retainer. The world is familiar enough with Germany's military and diplomatic 120 Secrets of the Bosphorus absorption of Austria-Hungary. But that Wangenheim should have made so important a move as to attempt peace negotiations, and have left it to Pallavicini to learn about it through a third party, shows that, as far back as January, 1915, the Austro- Hungarian Empire had ceased to be an independent nation. Nothing came of this proposal, of course. Our Government declined to take action, evidently not regarding the time as opportune. Both Germany and Turkey, as I shall tell, recurred to this subject afterward. This particular negotiation ended in the latter part of March, when Kuhlmann left Constantinople to become Minister at The Hague. He came and paid his farewell call at the American Embassy, as charming, as entertaining, and as debonair as ever. His last words, as he shook n^ hand and left the building, were — subsequent events have naturally caused me'to remember them : " We shall have peace within three months, Excellency ! ' This little scene took place and this happy forecast was made in March, 1915 ! CHAPTER XVI THE TURKS PREPARE TO FLEE FROM CONSTANTINOPLE AND ESTABLISH A NEW CAPITAL IN ASIA MINOR — THE ALLIED FLEET BOMBARDING THE DARDANELLES Probably one thing that stimulated this German desire for peace was the situation at the Dardanelles. In early January, when Wangenheim persuaded me to write my letter to Washing- ton, Constantinople was in a state of the utmost excitement. It was reported that the Allies had assembled a fleet of forty war- ships at the mouth of the Dardanelles and that they intended to attempt the forcing of the strait. What made the situation particularly tense was the belief, which then generally prevailed in Constantinople, that such an attempt would succeed. Wangen- heim shared this belief, and so, in a modified form, did von der Goltz, who probably knew as much about the Dardanelles defences as any other man, as he had for years been Turkey's military instructor. I find in my diary von der Goltz s precise opinion on this point as reported to me by Wangenheim, and I quote it exactly as written at that time : " Although he thought it was almost impossible to force the Dardanelles, still, if England thought it an important move of the general war, they could, by sacrificing ten ships, force the entrance, and do it very fast, and be up in the Marmora within ten hours from the time they forced it." The very day that Wangenheim gave me this expert opinion of von der Goltz, he asked me to store several cases of his valu- ables in the American Embassy. Evidently he was making preparations for his own departure. Reading the Cromer Report on the Dardanelles bombard- ment, I find that Admiral Sir John Fisher, then First Sea Lord, placed the price of success at twelve ships. Evidently von der Goltz and Fisher did not differ materially in their estimates. The situation of Turkey, when these first rumours of an Allied bombardment reached us, was fairly desperate. On all hands there were evidences of the fear and panic that had seized not only the populace, but the official classes. Calamities from all sides were apparently closing in on the country. Up to January i, I22 Secrets of the Bosphorus 1015 Turkey had done nothing to justify her participation in the war ; on the contrary, she had met defeat practically every- where Djemal, as already recorded, had left Constantinople as the prospective " Conqueror of Egypt," but his expedition had proved to be a bloody and humiliating failure. Enver's attempt to redeem the Caucasus from Russian rule had resulted in an even more frightful military disaster. He had ignored the advice of the Germans, which was to let the Russians advance to Sivas and make his stand there, and, instead, he had boldly attempted to gain Russian territory in the Caucasus. This army had been defeated at every point, but the military reverses did not end its sufferings. The Turks had a most inadequate medical or sanitary service ; typhus and dysentery broke out in all the camps, the deaths from these diseases reaching 100,000 men. Dreadful stories were constantly coming in telling of the sufferings of these soldiers. That England was preparing an invasion of Mesopo- tamia was well known, and no one at that time had any reason to believe that it would not succeed. Every day the Turks expected *he news that the Bulgarians had declared war and were marching on Constantinople, and they knew that such an attack would necessarily bring in Rumania and Greece. It was no diplomatic secret that Itaby was waiting only for the arrival of warm weather to join the Allies. At this moment the Russian fleet was bom- barding Trebizond, on the Black Sea, and was daily expected at the entrance to the Bosphorus. Meanwhile the domestic situa- tion was deplorable ; all over Turkey thousands of the populace were daily dying of starvation ; practically all able-bodied men had been taken into the army, so that only a few were left to till the fields; the criminal requisitions had almost destroyed all business ; the Treasury was in a more exhausted state than normally, for the closing of the Dardanelles and the blockading of the Mediterranean ports had stopped all imports and customs dues ; and the increasing wrath of the people seemed likely any day to break out against Talaat and his associates. And now, surrounded by increasing troubles on every hand, the Turks learned that this mighty armada of England and her allies was approaching, determined to destroy the defences and capture the city. At that time there was no force which the Turks feared so greatly as they feared the British fleet. Its tradition of several centuries of uninterrupted victories had completely seized their imagination. It seemed to them superhuman — thegone over- whelming power which it was hopeless to contest. ..,. . Wangenheim and also nearly all of the German military and naval forces not only regarded the forcing of the Dardanelles as The Turks Prepare to Flee from Constantinople 123 nossible but they believed it to be, inevitable. The possibility of Brit sh success was one of the most familiar topics of discussion, and the weight of opinion, both lay and professional, inclined in favour o7 the Allied fleets. Talaat told me that an attempt to orce the strait would succeed-it only depended on England s Shngness to sacr ifice a few ships. The real reason why Turkey Tad sent a force against Egypt, Talaat added was to divert England from making an attack on the Gallipoh Peninsula. The Sate of mSS Sat existed is shown by the fact that on January isf the Turkish Government had made preparations for two trains one of which was to take the Sultan and his suite to Asia Minor while the other was intended for Wangenheim, Mavicmi, S the rest of the diplomatic corps. On January 2nd .1 had an iltoinating talk with Pallavicini. He showed me a certificate S him W Bedri, the Prefect of Police, passing him and his fecTetaries and servants on one of these emergency trains^ He also had seat tickets for himself and all of his suite. He said that each train would have only three cars, so that it could make great speed 'heTad been told to have everything ready to start at an hour's' notice Wangenheim made little attempt to conceal his aoDrehensions He told me that he had made all preparations t??end h s w^fe to Berlin, and he invited Mrs. Morgenthau to accompany her, so that she, too, could be removed from the S zone. Wangenheim showed the fear which was hen the prevafling one, that a successful bombardment would lead to fires and massacres in Constantinople, as well as in the rest of Turkey In anticipation of such disturbances he made a cWacteristic suggestion. Should the fleet pass the Dardanelles, he saTd The life ofno" Englishman in Turkey would be sal g-4g would all be massacred. As it was so difficult to tell an English man from an American, he proposed that I j^&™™ Americans a distinctive button to wear, which would protect S Turkish violence. As I was convinced t^t Wangen- heim's real purpose was to arrange some sure means of identifying thrEnghsh P an P d of so subjecting them to Turkish ^-treatment. I refused to act on this amiable suggestion. . Another incident iUustrates the nervous tension which preyed in those January days. As I noticed that : «™ shuttos at the British Embassy were open, Mrs. Morgen thau and I went un to investigate. In the early days we had sealed this building, which tad bSrTeft in my charge/and this was the tot time we had broken the seals to enter. About two hours after we re- tnied from this torn of inspection, Wangenheim came^ office in one of his now familiar agitated moods, It had been 124 Secrets of the Bosphorus reported, he said, that Mrs. Morgenthau and I had been up to the Embassy getting it ready for the British Admiral, who expected soon to take possession ! All this seems a little absurd now, for, in fact, the Allied fleets made no attack at that time. At the very moment when the whole of Constantinople was feverishly awaiting the British dreadnoughts, the British Cabinet in London was merely con- sidering the advisability of such an enterprise. The record shows that Petrograd, on January 2nd, telegraphed the British Govern- ment, asking that some kind of a demonstration be made against the Turks, who were pressing the Russians in the Caucasus. Though an encouraging reply was immediately sent to this request, it was not until January 28th that the British Cabinet definitely issued orders for an attack on the Dardanelles. _ It is no longer a secret that there was no unanimous confidence in the success of such an undertaking. Admiral Carden recorded his belief that the strait " could not be rushed, but that extended operations with a large number of ships might succeed." The penalty of failure, he added, would be the great loss that England would suffer in prestige and influence in the East ; how true this prophecy proved I shall have occasion to show. Up to this time one of the fundamental and generally accepted axioms of naval operations had been that warships should not attempt to attack fixed land fortifications. But the Germans had demonstrated the power of mobile guns against fortresses in their destruction of the emplacements at Liege and Namur, and there was a belief in some quarters in England that these events had modified this naval principle. Mr. Churchill, at that time at the head of the ' Admiralty, placed great confidence in the destructive power of a new superdreadnought which had just been finished — the Queen Elizabeth — and which was then on its way to join the Mediter- ranean fleet. We in Constantinople knew nothing about these deliberations then, but the result became apparent in the latter part of Febru- ary. On the afternoon of the 19th, Pallavicini, the Austrian Ambassador, came to me with important news. The Marquis was a man of great personal dignity, yet it was apparent that he was this day exceedingly nervous, and, indeed, he made no attempt to conceal his apprehension. The Allied fleets, he said, had reopened their attack on the Dardanelles, and this time their bombardment had been extremely ferocious. At that time things were going badly for the Austrians : the Russian armies were advancing victoriously ; Serbia had hurled the Austrians over the frontier, and the European Press was filled with prognostica- The Turks Prepare to Flee from Constantinople 125 * ^ hrpak uo of the Austrian Empire. Pallavicini's tions of the break-up 01 uie reflection of the dangers attitude this afternoon ^^.P^.^ £ \vas a sensitivelnd that were then encompassgg ^ ^^oud of what he regarded proud man— proud of ms Empemi anu P appeared to as the great Austro-Hunganar jEmp ^ and ^ e * ^ fabrkj be overburdened by the fear that this extensive p 5 which had withstood the a,s^ of somany c^ ^ rapidly being overwhelmed with ruin . u™ frQm Pallavicini yearned ^/^f ^-^X h is confidence and Wangenheim, who seldom t >ok ^ mto to co x consistently treated him as the repr«entat Per . was compelled to submit t oth overWsln P ^ bassado / use d to haps that was the reason why ^Austrian AmDa^ ^ pour out his heart to me. And now this Allied Domoa t P he Dardanelles came as the culmination of all Ins troub les^ tins time the Central Powers beh< ^^J^ndles, she bottled up ; that ^^^ y m ^et nor import the munitions . could neither get her wheat to ^Let nor imp had needed for carrying on the war. ^rmany and^ ^ could astrai^e.hddonttog|^fo^ ; ^^ would be be maintained indefinitely, the collapse >.™ maki inevitable. At present 1 : *tn£ th Czar s toes ^.^ Mffi Mfc J^P^s .war ^tenals would tions needed for warfare on the largest scaie anu STSl Powers might j— f/ fe t"serio^ta defeat Pallavicim well understood, would Deiar n Austria than for Germany. W^Jg^J^j^dfa- was Germany's -plan, m case the Aus tro "o^™ t j/ Hohe n- integrated, to incorporate her 12.000,000 G ™^™ ^ this sollern ^J*™£*% heT—es^s meant to stantinople, that snch an attack would succeed Wangenheim's existence was mad «t thTbottling-up haunting conviction. As I have alreaay s , Amb assador's yStr^S *— ^ 2^S the M into 126 Secrets of the Bosphorus Constantinople, and by tins manoeuvre had precipitated Turkey into the war. The forcing of the strait would mean more than the transformation of Russia into a permanent and powerful participant in the war ; it meant — and this was by no means an unimportant consideration with Wangenheim — the undoing of his great personal achievement. Yet Wangenheim showed his apprehensions quite differently from Pallavicini. In true German fashion, he resorted to threats and bravado. He gave no external signs of depression, but his whole body tingled with rage. He was not deploring Iris fate ; he was looking for ways of striking back. He would sit in my office, smoking with his usual energy, and teU me aU the terrible things which he proposed to do to his enemy. The thing that particularly preyed upon Wangenheim 's mind was the exposed position of the German Embassy. It stood on a high hill, one of the most conspicuous buildings in the town, a perfect target for an enterprising English admiral. Almost the first object the British fleet would sight, as it entered the Bosphorus, would be this yeUow monument of the Hohenzollerns, and the temptation to shell it might prove irresistible. " Let them dare destroy that Embassy ! " Wangenheim said. " I'll get even with them ! If they fire a single shot at it we'll blow up the French and the English Embassies ! Go tell the Admiral that, won't you ? Tell him also that we have the dynamite ready to do it ! " Wangenheim also showed great anxiety over the proposed removal of the Government to Eski-Shehr. In early January, when everyone was expecting the arrival of the Allied fleet, preparations had been made for moving the Government to Asia Minor ; and now again, at the hrst rumbling of the British and French guns, the special trains were prepared once more. Wan- genheim and Pallavicini both told me of their unwillingness to accompany the Sultan and the Government to Asia Minor. Should the Allies capture Constantinople, the Ambassadors of the Central Powers would find themselves cut off from their home countries and completely in the hands of the Turks. " The Turks could then hold us as hostages," said Wangenheim. They urged Talaat to establish the emergency Government at Adrian- ople, from which town they could motor in and out of Con- stantinople, and then, in case the city were captured, they could make their escape home. The Turks, on the other hand, refused to adopt this suggestion because they feared an attack from Bulgaria. Wangenheim and Pallavicini now found themselves between two fires. If they stayed in Constantinople they would The Turks Prepare to Flee from Constantinople 127 naturally become prisoners of the English and: French ; on the other hand, if they went to Eski-Shehr, it was not unlikely that they would become prisoners of the Turks. Many evidences of the flimsy basis on which rested the German and Turkish alliance had come to my attention, but this was about the most illuminat- ing. Wangenheim knew, as did everybody else, that, in case the French and English captured Constantinople, the Turks would vent their rage not mainly against the Entente, but against the Germans who had enticed them into the war. It all seems so strange now, this conviction that was upper- most in the minds of everybody then — that the success of the Allied fleets against the Dardanelles was inevitable and that the capture of Constantinople was a matter of only a few days. I recall an animated discussion that took place at the American Embassy on the afternoon of February 24th. The occasion was Mrs. Morgenthau's weekly reception — meetings which furnished almost the only opportunity in those days for the foregathering of the diplomats. Practically all were on hand this afternoon. The first great bombardment of the DardaneUes had taken place five days before ; this had practically destroyed the fortifications at the mouth of the strait. There was naturally only one subject *of discussion : Would the Allied fleets get through ? What would happen if they did ? Everybody expressed an opinion, Wangenheim, Pallavicini, Garroni, the Italian Am- bassador, D'Anckarsvard, the Swedish Minister, Koloucheff, the Bulgarian Minister, Kiihlmann, and Scharfenberg, First Secre- tary of the German Embassy, and it was the unanimous opinion that the Allied attack would succeed. I particularly remember Kuhlmann's attitude. He discussed the capture of Constan- tinople almost as though it was something which had taken place already. The Persian Ambassador showed great anxiety ; his Embassy stood not far from the Sublime Porte. He told me that he feared that the latter building would be bombarded and that a few stray shots might easily set afire his own residence, and he asked if he might move his archives to the American Embassy. The wildest rumours were afloat ; we were told that the Standard Oil agent at the Dardanelles had counted seventeen transports loaded with troops, that the warships had already fired 800 shots and had levelled all the hills at the entrance, and that Talaat's bodyguard had been shot — the implication being that the bullet had missed its intended victim. It was said that the whole Turkish populace was aflame with the fear that the English and the French, when they reached the city, would celebrate the event by a wholesale attack on Turkish women. The latter 128 Secrets of the Bosphorus reports were, of course, absurd ; they were merely characteristic rumours set afloat by the Germans and their Turkish associates. The fact is that the great mass of the people in Constantinople were probably praying that the Allied attack would succeed, and so release them from the control of the political gang that then ruled the country. And in all this excitement there was one lonely and despon- dent figure — 'this was Talaat. Whenever I saw him in those critical days, he was the picture of desolation and defeat. The Turks, like most primitive peoples, wear their emotions on the surface, and with them the transition from exultation to despair is a short one. The thunder of the British guns at the strait apparently spelled doom to Talaat. The letter-carrier of Adrianople seemed to have reached the end of his career. He again confided to me his expectation that the English would capture the Turkish capital, and once more he said that he was sorry that Turkey had entered the war. Talaat well knew what would happen as soon as the Allied fleet entered the Sea of Marmora. According to the report of the Cromer Commission, Lord Kitchener, in giving his assent to a purely naval expedition, had relied upon a revolution in Turkey to make the enterprise successful. Lord Kitchener has been much criticised for his part in the Dardanelles attack ; I owe it to his memory, however, to say that on this point he was absolutely right. Had the Allied fleets once passed the defences at the strait, the administration of the Young Turks would have come to a bloody end. As' soon as the guns began to fire, placards appeared on the hoardings denouncing Talaat and his associates as responsible for all the woes that had come to Turkey. Bedri, the Prefect of Police, was busy collecting all the unemployed young men and sending them out of the city ; his purpose was to free Constantinople of all who might start a revolution against the Young Turks. It was a common report that Bedri feared this revolution much more than he feared the British fleet. And this was the same Nemesis that was every moment now pursuing Talaat. A single episode illustrates the nervous excitement that prevailed. Dr. Lederer, the correspondent of the Berliner Tageblatt, made a short visit to the Dardanelles, and, on his return, reported to certain ladies of the diplomatic circle that the German officers had told him that they were wearing their shrouds, as they expected any minute to be buried there. This statement went around the city like wildfire, and Dr. Lederer was threatened with arrest for making it. He appealed to me for help ; I took him to Wangenheim, who refused to have anytliing The Turks Prepare to Flee from Constantinople 129 to do with him. Lederer, he said, was an Austrian subject, although he represented a German newspaper. His anger at Lederer for this indiscretion was extreme. But I finally succeeded in getting the unpopular journalist into the Austrian Embassy, where he was harboured for the night. In a few days^ Lederer had to leave town. In the midst of all this excitement there was one person who was apparently not. at all disturbed. Though ambassadors, generals, and politicians might anticipate the worst calamities, Enver's voice was reassuring and quiet. The man's coolness and really courageous spirit never shone to better advantage. In late December and January, when the city had its' first fright over the bombardment, Enver was fighting the Russians in the Caucasus. His experiences in this campaign, as already described, had been far from glorious. Enver had left Constantinople in November to join his army an expectant conqueror ; he returned in the latter part of January, the commander of a thoroughly beaten and demoralised force. Such a disastrous experience would have utterly ruined almost any other military leader, and that Enver felt his reverses keenly was evident from the way in which he kept himself from public view. I had my first glimpse of him, after his return, at a concert given for the benefit of the Red Crescent. At this affair Enver sat far back in a box, as though he intended to keep as much as possible out of sight ; it was quite apparent that he was uncertain as to the cordiality of his reception by the public. All the important people in Con- stantinople, the Crown Prince, the members of the Cabinet, arid the Ambassadors attended this function, and, in accordance with the usual custom, the Crown Prince sent for these dignitaries, one after another, for a few words of greeting and congratulation. After that the visiting from box to box became general. The heir to the throne sent for Enver as well as the rest, and this recognition evidently gave him a new courage, for he began to mingle with the diplomats, who also treated him with the utmost cordiality and courtesy. Enver apparently regarded this favourable notice as having re-established his standing, and now once more he assumed a leading part in the crisis. A few days afterward he discussed the situation with me. He was much astonished, he said, at the fear that so generally prevailed, and he was disgusted at the preparations that had been made to send away the Sultan and the Government and practically leave the city a prey to the English. He did not believe that the Allied fleets could force the Dardanelles ; he had recently inspected all the fortifications and he had every confidence in their ability'tq K 130 Secrets of the Bosphorus resist successfully. Even though the ships did get through, he insisted that Constantinople should be defended to the last man. Yet Enver's assurance did not satisfy his associates. They had made all their arrangements for the British fleet. If, in spite of the most heroic resistance the Turkish armies could make, it still seemed likely that the Allies were about to capture the city, the ruling Powers had their final plans all prepared. They proposed to do to this great capital precisely what the Russians did to Moscow, when Napoleon appeared before it. "They will never capture an existing city," they told me, " only a heap of ashes." As a matter of fact, this was no idle threat. I was told that cans of petroleum had been already stored in all the police stations and other places, ready to fire the town at a moment's notice. As Constantinople is largely built of wood, this would have been no very difficult task. But they were determined *to destroy more than these temporary struc- tures ; the plans aimed at the beautiful architectural monuments built by the Christians long before the Turkish occupation. The Turks had particularly marked for dynamiting the Mosque of Santa Sophia. This building, which had been a Christian church centuries before it became a Mohammedan mosque, is one of the most magnificent structures of the vanished Byzantine Empire. Naturally the suggestion of such an act of vandalism aroused us all, and I made a plea to Talaat that Santa Sophia should be spared: He treated the proposed destruction lightly. " There are not six men in the Committee of Union and Progress," he told me, " who care for anything that is old. We all like new things ! " That was all the satisfaction I obtained in this matter at that time. Enver's insistence that the Dardanelles could resist caused his associates to lose confidence in his judgment. About a year afterward, Bedri Bey, the Prefect of Police, gave me additional details. While Enver was still in the Caucasus, Bedri said, Talaat had called a conference, a kind of council of war, on the Dardanelles. This had been attended by Liman von Sanders, the German General who had reorganised the Turkish Army; Usedom, the German Admiral who was the Inspector-General of the Ottoman coast defences, and Bronsart, the German Chief of Staff of the Turkish Army, and several others. Every man present gave it as his opinion that the British and French fleets could force the strait ; the only subject of dispute, said Bedri, was whether it would take the ships eight or twenty hours to reach Constantinople after they had destroyed the defences. Enver's The Turks Prepare to Flee from Constantinople 131 position was well understood, but this council decided to ignore him and to make the preparations without his knowledge— to eliminate the Minister of War, at least temporarily, from their deliberations. In early March, Bedri and Djambolat, who was Director of Public Safety, came to see me. At that time the exodus from the capital had begun ; Turkish women and children were being moved into the interior; all the banks had been compelled to send their gold into Asia Minor ; the archives of the Sublime Porte had already been carried to Eski-Shehr, and practically all the Ambassadors and their suites, as well as most of the Govern- ment officials, had made their preparations to leave. Many of Constantinople's finest works of art had been buried in cellars or covered for protection, the Director of the Museum being one of the six Turks to whom Talaat had referred as liking " old things." Bedri came to arrange the details of my departure. As Am- bassador I was personally accredited to the Sultan, and it would obviously be my duty, said Bedri, to go wherever the Sultan went ; the train was all ready, he added. He wished to know how many people I intended to take, so that sufficient space could be. reserved. To this proposal I entered a flat refusal. I informed Bedri that I thought that my responsibilities made it necessary for me to remain in Constantinople. Only a neutral Ambassador, I said, could forestall massacres and the destruction of the city, and certainly I owed it to the civilised world to prevent, if I could, such calamities as these. If my position as Ambassador made it inevitable that I should follow the Sultan, I would resign and become honorary Consul-General. Both Bedri and Djambolat were much younger and less experienced men than I, and I therefore told them that they needed a man of maturer years to advise them in an inter- national crisis of this kind. I was not only interested in protect- ing foreigners and American institutions, but I was also inter- ested, on general humanitarian grounds, in safeguarding the Turkish population from the excesses that were generally expected. The several nationalities, many of them containing elements which were given to pillage and massacre, were causing great anxiety. I therefore proposed to Bedri and Djambolat that the three of us form a kind of committee to take control in the approaching crisis. They consented, and we sat down and decided on a course of action. We took a map of Con- stantinople and marked the districts which, under the exist- ing rules of warfare, we agreed that the Allied fleet would have the right to bombard. Thus, we decided that the War 132 Secrets of the Bosphorus Office, Marine Office, telegraph offices, railroad stations, and all public buildings could quite legitimately be made the targets for their guns. Then we marked out certain zones which we should insist on regarding as immune. The main residential section, and the part where all the Embassies are located, is Pera, the district on the north shore of the Golden Horn. This we marked as not subject to attack. We also delimited certain residential areas of Stamboul and Galata, the Turkish sections. I tele- graphed to Washington, asking the State Department to obtain a ratification of these plans and an agreement to respect these zones of safety from the British and French Governments. I received a reply endorsing my action. All preparations had thus been made. At the station stood trains which were to take the Sultan and the Government and the Ambassadors to Asia Minor. They had steam up, ready to move at a minute's notice. We were all awaiting the triumphant arrival of the Allied fleet. CHAPTER XVII ENVER AS THE MAN WHO DEMONSTRATED " THE VULNERABILITY OF THE BRITISH FLEET " — OLD-FASHIONED DEFENCES OF THE DARDANELLES When the situation had reached this exciting stage Enver asked me to visit the Dardanelles. He still insisted that the fortifications were impregnable, and he could not understand, he said, the panic which was then raging in Constantinople. He had visited the Dardanelles himself, had inspected every gun and every em- placement, and was entirely confident that his soldiers could hold off the Allied fleet indefinitely. He had taken Talaat down, and by doing so he had considerably eased that statesman's fears. It was Enver's conviction that, if I could visit the fortifications, I would be persuaded that the fleets could never get through, and that I would thus be able to give such assurances to the people that the prevailing excitement would subside. I disregarded certain natural doubts as to whether an Ambassador should expose himself to the dangers of such a situation — the ships were bombarding nearly every day — and promptly accepted Enver's invitation. On the morning of the 15th we left Constantinople on the Yuruk. Enver himself accompanied us as far as Pandemia, an Asiatic town on the Sea of Marmora. The party included several other, notables : Ibrahim Bey, the Minister of Justice, Husni Pasha, the General who had commanded the army which had deposed Abdul Hamid in the Young Turk revolution, and Senator Cheriff D'jafer Pasha, an Arab and a direct descendant of the Prophet. A particularly congenial companion was Fuad Pasha, an old Field-Marshal, who had led an adventurous career. Despite his age, he had an immense capacity for enjoyment, was a huge feeder and a capacious drinker, and had as many stories to tell of exile, battle, and hair-breadth escapes as Othello. All of these men were much older than Enver, and all of them were descended of far more distinguished lineage, yet they treated this stripling with the utmost deference. • Enver seemed, particularly glad of this opportunity to discuss the situation. Immediately after breakfast he took me aside, and together we went up to the deck. The day was a beautiful 13 4 Secrets of the Bosphorus sunny one, and the sky in the Marmora was that deep blue which we find only in this part of the world. What most impressed me was the intense quiet, the almost desolate inactivity of these silent waters. Our ship was almost the only one in sight, and this inland sea, which in ordinary times was one of the world's greatest commercial highways, was now practically a primeval waste. The whole scene was merely a reflection of the great triumph which German diplomacy had accomplished in the Near East. For nearly six months not a Russian merchant snip had passed through the straits. All the commerce of Rumania and Bulgaria, which had normally found its way to Europe across this inland sea, had long since disappeared. The ultimate significance of all this desolation was that Russia was blockaded and completely isolated from her allies. How much that one fact has meant in the history of the world for the last three years ! And now England and France were seeking to overcome this disadvantage ; to link up their own military resources with those of their great eastern ally, and to restore to the Dardanelles and the Marmora the thousands of ships that meant Russia's existence as a military and economic, and even, as subsequent events have shown, as a political, Power. ' We were approaching the scene of one of the great crises of the war. Would England and her allies succeed in this enterprise ? Would their ships at the Dardanelles smash the fortifications, break through, and again make Russia. a permanent force in the war ? That was the main subject which Enver and I discussed, as for nearly three hours we walked up and down the deck. Enver again referred to the " silly panic " that had seized nearly all classes in the capital. "Even though Bulgaria and Greece both turn against us," he said, "we shall defend Constantinople to the end. We have plenty of guns, plenty of ammunition, and we have these on terra-firma, whereas the English and French batteries are floating ones. And the natural advantages of the straits are so great that the warships can make little progress against them. I do not care what other people may think. I have studied this problem more thoroughly than any of them, and I feel that I am right. As long as I am at the head of the War Department we shall not give up. Indeed, I do not know just what these English and French battleships are driving at. Suppose that they rush the Dardanelles, get here into the Mar- mora, and reach Constantinople, what good will that do them ? They can bombard and destroy the city, I admit, but they " The Vulnerability of. the British Fleet" 135 cannot capture it, as they have no troops to land. Unless they do bring a large army, they will really be caught in a trap. They can perhaps stay here for two or three weeks, until their food and supplies are all exhausted, and then they will have to go back — rush the straits again, and again run the risk of annihilation. In the meantime we would have repaired the forts, brought in troops, and made ourselves ready for them. It seems to me to be a very foolish enterprise." I have already told how Enver had taken Napoleon as his model, and in this Dardanelles expedition he now apparently saw a Napoleonic opportunity. As we were pacing the deck he stopped a moment, looked at me earnestly, and said : " I shall go down in history as the man who demonstrated the vulnerability of England and her fleet. I shall show that her Navy is not invincible. I was in England a few years before, the war, and discussed England's position with many of her leading men, such as Asquith, Churchill, Haldane. I told them that their course was wrong. Winston Churchill declared that England could defend herself with her Navy alone, and that she needed no large Army. I told Churchill that no great empire could last that did not have both an army and a navy. I found that Churchill's opinion was the one that prevailed everywhere in England. There was only one man I met who agreed with me — that was Lord Roberts. Well, Churchill has now sent his fleet down here — perhaps to show me that his Navy can do all that he said it could do. Now we'll see." Enver seemed to regard his naval expedition as a personal challenge from Mr. Churchill to himself — almost like a. continua- tion of their argument in London. " You, too, should have a large army," said Enver, referring to the United States. " I do not believe," he went on, " that England is trying to force the Dardanelles because Russia has asked her to. When I was in England I discussed with Churchill the possibility of a general war. He asked me what Turkey would do in such a case, and said that, if we took Germany's side, the British fleet would force the Dardanelles and capture Constantinople. Churchill is not trying to help Russia — he is carrying out the threat made to me at that time." Enver spoke with the utmost determination and conviction ; he said that nearly all the damage inflicted on the outside forts had been repaired, and that the Turks had methods of defence the existence of which the enemy little suspected. He showed great bitterness against the English ; he accused them of attempting !36 Secrets of the Bosphorus to bribe Turkish officials, and even said that they had instigated attempts upon his own hie. On the other hand, he displayed no particular friendliness toward the Germans. Wangenheim's overbearing manners had caused him much irritation, and the Turks, he said, got on none too well with the German officers. " The Turks and Germans," he added, " care nothing for each other. We are with them because it is our interest to be with them ; they are with us because that is their interest. Germany will back Turkey just so long as that helps Germany ; Turkey will back Germany just so long as that helps Turkey." Enver seemed much impressed at the close of our interview with the intimate personal relations which we had estabhshed with each other. He apparently believed that he, the great Enver, the Napoleon of the Turkish Revolution, had unbended in discussing his nation's affairs with a mere Ambassador ; colossal vanity, as 1 have before remarked, was one of his strong points. " You know," he said, " that there is no one in Germany with whom the Emperor talks as intimately as I have talked with you to-day." We reached Pandemia aboui two o'clock. Here Enver and his auto were put ashore, and our party started again, our boat arriving at Gallipoli late in the afternoon. We anchored in the harbour and spent the night on board. All the evening we could hear the guns bombarding the fortifications, but these reminders of war and death did not affect the spirits of my Turkish hosts. The occasion was for them a great lark ; they had spent several months in hard, exacting work, and now they behaved like boys suddenly let out for a vacation. They made jokes, told stories, sang the queerest kinds of songs, and played childish pranks upon each other. The venerable Fuad, despite his nearly ninety years, developed great qualities as an entertainer, and the fact that his associates made him the butt of most of their horse-play apparently only added to his enjoyment of the occasion. The amusement reached its height when one of his friends surrepti- tiously poured him a glass of eau-de-cologne.. The old gentleman looked at the new drink a moment and then diluted it with water. I was told that the proper way of testing reiki, the popular Turkish tipple, is by mixing it with water ; if it turns white under this treatment it is the real thing, and may be safeiy drunk. Ap- parently water has the same effect upon eau-de-cologne, for the contents of Fuad's glass, after this test, turned white. The old gentleman, therefore, poured the whole thing down his throat without a grimace — much to the hilarious entertainment of liis tormentors. "The Vulnerability of the British Fleet" 137 In the morning, we started again. We had now fairly arrived in the Dardanelles, and from Gallipoli we had a sail of nearly twenty-five miles to Tchanak Kale. For the most part this section of the strait is uninteresting, and, from a military point of view, it is unimportant. The stream is about two miles wide, both sides are low-lying and marshy, and only a few scrambling villages show any signs of life. I was told that there were a few ancient fortifications, 'their rusty guns pointing toward the Marmora, the emplacements having been erected there in the early part of the nineteenth century for the purpose of preventing hostile ships entering from the north. These fortifications, however, were so inconspicuous that I could not see them. My hosts informed me that they had no fighting power, and that, indeed, there was nothing in the northern part of the straits, from Point Nagara to the Marmora, that could offer resistance to any modern fleet. The chief .interest which I found in this part of the Dardanelles was purely historic and legendary. The ancient town of Lampsacus appeared in the modern Lapsaki, just ( across from' Gallipoli, and Nagara Point is the site of the ancient Abydos, from which village Leander used to swim nightly across the Hellespont to Hero — a feat which was repeated about one hundred years ago by Lord Byron. Here, also, Xerxes crossed from Asia to Greece on a bridge of boats, embarking on that famous expedition which was to make him master of the world. The tribe of Xerxes, I thought, as I passed the scene of his exploit, is not yet entirely extinct ! The Germans and Turks had found a less romantic use for this, the narrowest part of the Dardanelles, for here they had stretched a cable and anti- submarine barrage of mines and nets-^-a device which, as I shall describe, did not keep the English and French underwater boats out of the Marmora and the Bosphorus. It was not until we rounded this historic point of Nagara that the dull monotony of flat shores gave place to a more diversified landscape. On the European side the cliffs now began to descend precipitously to the water, reminding me of our own Palisades along the Hudson, and I obtained glimpses of the hills and mountain ridges that afterward proved such tragical stumbling-blocks to the valiant Allied armies. The configuration of the land south of Nagara, with its many hills and ridges, made it plain why the military engineers had selected this stretch of the Dardanelles as the section best adapted to defence. Our boat was now approaching what was perhaps the most commanding point in the whole strait, the city of Tchanak, 138 Secrets of the Bosphorus or, to give it its modern European name, of Dardanelles. In normal times this was a thriving port of • 16,000 people, its houses built of wood, the headquarters of a considerable trade in wool and other products, and for centuries it has been an important military station. Now, excepting for the soldiers, it was deserted, the large civilian population having been moved into Anatolia. The British fleet, we were told, had bombarded this city ; yet this statement seemed hardly probable, for I saw only a single house that had been hit, evidently by a stray shell which had been aimed at the near-by fortifications. Djevad Pasha, the Turkish Commander-in-Chief at the Dardanelles, met us and escorted our party to headquarters. Djevad was a man of culture and of pleasing and cordial manners ; as he spoke excellent German, I had no need of an interpreter.* I was much impressed by the deference with which the German officers treated him. That he was the Commander-in-Chief in this theatre of war, and that the Generals of the Kaiser were his subordinates, was made plainly apparent. As we passed into his office, Djevad stopped in front of a piece of a torpedo, mounted in the middle of the hall, evidently as a souvenir. " There, is the great criminal ! " he said, calling my attention to the relic. About this time the newspapers were hailing the exploit of an. English submarine, which had sailed from England to the Dardanelles, passed under the minefield, and torpedoed the Turkish warship Mesudie. " That's the torpedo that did it," said Djevad. " You'll see the wreck of the ship when you go down." The first fortification I visited was that of Anadolu Hamidie (that is, Asiatic Hamidie), located on the water's edge just outside of Tchanak. My first impression was that I was in Germany. The officers were practically all Germans, and everywhere Ger- mans were building up buttresses with sacks of sand and in other ways strengthening the emplacements. Here German, not Turkish, was the language heard on every side. Oberst Wehrle, who conducted me over these batteries, took the greatest delight in showing them. He had the simple pride of the artist in his work, and told me of the happiness that had come into his days when Germany had at last found herself at war. All his life, he said, he had spent in military practices, and, like most Germans, he had become tired of manoeuvres, sham .battles, and other forms of mimic hostilities. Yet he was approaching fifty, he had become a colonel, and lie was fearful that his career would close without actual military experience— and then the' splendid thing "The Vulnerability of the British Fleet" 139 had happened, and here he was, fighting a real English enemy, firing real guns and shells ! There was nothing brutal about Wehrle's manners ; he was a " gemiitlich " gentleman from Baden, and thoroughly likeable ; yet he was all aglow with the spirit of " Der Tag." His attitude was simply that of a man who had spent his lifetime learning a trade and who now rejoiced at the chance of exercising it. But he furnished an illuminating ' light on the German military character and the forces that had really caused the war. Feeling myself so completely in German country, I asked Colonel Wehrle why there were so few Turks on this side of the straits. " You won't ask me that question this afternoon," he said, smiling, " when you go over to the other side." The location of Anadolu Hamidie seemed ideal. It stands right at the water's edge, and consists — or it did then — of ten guns, every one completely sweeping the Dardanelles. Walking upon the parapet, I had a clear view of the strait, Kum Kale, at the entrance, about fifteen miles away, standing out conspicu- ously. No warship could enter these waters without immediately coming within complete sight of her gunners. Yet the fortress itself, to an unprofessional eye like my own, was not particularly impressive. The parapet and traverses were merely mounds of earth, and stand to-day practically as they were finished by their French constructors in 1837. There is a general belief that" the Germans had completely modernised the Dardanelles defences, but this was not true at that time. The guns defending Fort Anadolu Hamidie «were more than thirty years old, all being the Krupp model of 1885, and the rusted exteriors of some of them gave evidence of their age. Their extreme range was only about nine miles, while the range of the battleships opposing them was about ten miles, and that of the Queen Elizabeth was not far from eleven. The figures which I have given for Anadolu Hamidie apply also to practically all the guns at the other effec- tive fortifications. So far as the advantage of range was con- cerned, therefore, the Allied fleet had a decided superiority, the Queen Elizabeth alone having them all practically at her mercy. Nor did the fortifications contain very considerable stores of ammunition. At that time the European and American papers were printing stories that trainloads of shells and guns were coming by way of Rumania from Germany to the Dardanelles. From facts which I learned on this, trip and subsequently, I am convinced that these reports were pure fiction. A number of " red heads " — that is, non-armour-piercing projectiles, useful only for fighting landing parties — had been brought from 140 Secrets of the Bosphorus Adrianople and were reposing in Hamidie, at the time of my visit, but these were small in quantity, and of no value in fighting ships. I lay this stress upon Hamidie because this was the most im- portant fortification in the Dardanelles. Throughout the whole bombardment it attracted more of the Allied fire than any other position, and it inflicted at least 60 per cent, of all the damage that was done to the attacking ships. It was Ariadolu Hamidie which, in the great bombardment of March 18th, sank the Bouvet, the French battleship, and which in the course of the whole attack had disabled several other units. All its officers were Germans and 85 per cent, of the men on duty came from the crews of the Goeben and the Breslau. Getting into the automobile, we sped along the military road to Dardanos, passing on the way the wreck of the Mesudie. The Dardanos battery was as completely Turkish as the Hamidie was German. The guns at Dardanos were somewhat more modern than those at Hamidie — they were the Krupp model of 1905. Here also was stationed the only new battery which the Germans had established up to the time of my visit ; it consisted of several guns which- they had taken from the German and Turkish warships then lying in the Bosphorus. A few days before our inspection the Allied fleet had entered the Bay of Erenkeui and had submitted Dardanos to a terrific bornbardment, the 'evidences of which I saw on every hand. The land for nearly half a mile about seemed to have been completely churned up ; it looked like photographs I had seen of the battlefields in France. The strange thing was, that, despite all this punishment, the batteries themselves remained intact ; not a single gun, my guides told me, had been destroyed. " After the war is over," said General Mertens, " we are going to establish a big tourist resort here, build a hotel, and sell rehcs to you Americans. We shall not have to do much excavat- ing to find them — the British fleet is doing that for us now." This sounded like a passing joke, yet the statement was literally true. Dardanos, where this emplacement is located, was one of the famous cfties of the ancient world ; in Homeric times it was part of the principality of Priam. Fragments of capitals and columns are still visible. And the shells from the Allied fleet were now ploughing up many relics which had been buried for thousands of years. One of my friends picked up a water-jug which had perhaps been used in the days of Troy. The effectiveness of modern gunfire in excavating these evidences of a long-lost civilisation was striking, though, unfortunately, the rehcs did not always come to the surface intact. ' "The Vulnerability of the British Fleet " 141 The Turkish Generals were extremely proud of the fight which this Dardanos battery had made against the British ships. They would lead me to the guns that had done particularly good service and pat them affectionately. For my benefit Djevad called out Lieutenant Hassan, the Turkish officer who had de- fended this position. He was a little fellow, with jet-black hair, black eyes, extremely modest and almost shrinking in. the presence of these great Generals. Djevad patted Hassan on both cheeks, while another high Turkish officer stroked his hair ; one would have thought that he was a faithful dog who had just performed some meritorious service. "It is men like you of whom great heroes are made," said General Djevad. He asked Hassan to describe the attack and the way it had been met. The embarrassed lieutenant quietly told his story, though he was moved almost to tears by the appreciation of his exalted chiefs. " There is a great future for you in the Army," said General Djevad, as we parted from this hero. Poor Hassan's " future " came two days afterward, when the Allied fleet made its greatest attack. One of the shells struck his dugout, which caved in, killing the boy. Yet his behaviour on the day I visited his battery showed that he regarded the praise of his General as sufficient compensation for all that he had suffered or all that he might suffer. I was much puzzled by the fact that the Allied fleet, despite its large expenditures of ammunition, had not been able to hit this Dardanos emplacement. I naturally thought at first that such a failure indicated poor marksmanship, but my German guides said that that was not the case. All this misfire merely illustrated once more the familiar fact that a rapidly-manoeuvring battleship is under great disadvantage in shooting at a fixed fortification. But there was another point involved in the Dardanos battery. My hosts called my attention to its location ; it was perched on the top of the hill, in full view of the ships, itself forming a part of the skyline. Dardanos was merely five steel turrets, each with a gun, approached by a winding trench. " That," they said, " is the most difficult thing in the world to hit. It is so distinct that it looks easy, but the whole thing is an illusion." I do not understand completely the optics of the situation, but it seems that the skyline creates a kind of mirage, so that it is practically impossible to hit anything at that point, except by accident. The gunner might get what was apparently a perfect sight, yet his shell would go wide. The record of Dardanos had 142 Secrets of the Bosphorus been little short of marvellous. Up to March 18th, the ships had fired at it about 4,000 shells. One turret had been hit by a splinter, which had also scratched the paint, another had been hit and slightly bent in, and another had been hit near the base and a piece about the size of a man's hand had been. knocked out. But not a single gun had been even slightly damaged. Eight men had been killed, including Lieutenant Hassan, and about forty had been wounded. That was the extent of the destruction. ' It was the optical illusion that saved Dardanos," one of the Germans remarked. CHAPTER XVIII THE ALLIED ARMADA SAILS AWAY, THOUGH ON THE BRINK OF VICTORY Again getting into the automobile, we rode along the shore, my host calling my attention to the minefields, which stretched from Tchanak southward about seven miles. In this area the Germans and Turks had scattered nearly 400 mines, They told me with a good deal of gusto that -the Russians had furnished a considerable number of these destructive engines. Day after day Russian destroyers sowed mines at the Black Sea entrance to the Bosphorus, hoping that they would float down-stream and fulfil their appointed task. Every morning Turkish and German mine-sweepers would go up, fish out these mines, and place them in the Dardanelles. The battery at Erenkeui had also been subjected to a heavy bombardment, but it had suffered little. Unlike Dardanos, it was situated back of a hill, completely shut out from View. In order to fortify this spot, I was told, the Turks had been com- pelled practically to dismantle the fortifications of the Inner Straits — that section' of the stream which extends from Tchanak to Pomt Nagara. This Was the reason why this latter part of the Dardanelles was now practically unfortified. The guns that had been moved for this purpose were old-style Krupp pieces of the model of 1885. South of Erenkeui, on the hills bordering the road, the Germans had introduced an innovation. They had found several Krupp howitzers left over from the . Bulgarian war and had installed them on concrete foundations. Each battery had four or five of these emplacements, so that, as I approached them, I found several substantial bases that apparently had no guns. I was mystified further at the sight of a herd of buffaloes — I think I counted sixteen engaged in the operation — hauling one of these howitzers from one emplacement to another. This, it seems, was part of the plan of defence. As soon as the dropping shells indicated that the fleet had obtained the range, the howitzer would be moved, with the aid of buffalo teams, to another concrete emplacement. " We have even a better trick than that," remarked one of 144 Secrets of the Bosphorus the officers. They called out a sergeant, and recounted his achievement. This soldier was the custodian of a contraption which, at a distance, looked like a real gun, but which, when I examined it near at hand, was apparently an elongated section of sewer pipe. Back of a hill, entirely hidden from the fleet, was placed the gun with which this sergeant had co T operated. The two were connected by telephone. When the command came to fire, the gunner in charge of the howitzer would discharge his shell, while the man in charge of the sewer pipe would burn several pounds of black powder and send forth a conspicuous, cloud of inky smoke. Not unnaturally, the Englishmen and Frenchmen on the ships would assume that the shells speeding in their direction came from the visible smoke-cloud, and would proceed to centre all their attention upon that spot. The space around this burlesque gun was pock-marked with shell-holes ; the sergeant in charge, I was told, had attracted more than 500 shots, while the real artillery piece still remained intact and undetected. From Erenkeui we motored back to General Djevad's head- quarters, where we had lunch. Djevad took me up to an observation post, and there before my eyes I had the beautiful blue expanse of the iEgean. I could see the entrances to the Dardanelles, S'edd-ul-Bahr, and Kum Kale standing, like the guardians of a gateway, with the rippling sunny waters- stretching between. Far out I saw the majestic ships of England and France sailing across the entrance, and, still farther away, I caught a glimpse of the island of Tenedos, behind which we knew that a still larger fleet lay concealed. Naturally this prospect brought to mind a thousand historic and legendary associations, for there is probably no single spot in the world more crowded . with poetry and romance. Evidently my Turkish escort, General Djevad, felt the spell, for he took a telescope and pointed at a bleak expanse, perhaps ten miles away. "Look at that spot," he said, handing me the glass. " Do you know what that is ? " I looked, but could not identify this sandy beach. " Those are the plains of Troy," he said. " And the river that you see winding in and out," he added, " we Turks call it the Mendere, but Homer knew it as the Scamander. Back of us, only a few miles away, is Mount Ida." Then he turned his glass out to sea, swept the field where the British ships lay, and again asked me to look at an indicated spotg I immediately brought within view a magnificent English war- ship, all stripped for battle, quietly steaming along like a man walking on'patrol duty. e o o S3 ■fl < o c a r3 O fa The Allied Armada Sails Away 145 " That," said General Djevad, " is the Agamemnon ! Shall T fire a shot at her ? " he asked me. " Yes' if vou'll promise me not to hit her," I answered. We lunched at headquarters, where we were joined by Admkal Usedom, General Mertens, and General Pomrankowsky the Austrian Military Attache at Constantinople. The chief note n the conversation was one of absolute confidence in the future. Whatever the diplomats and politicians in Constantinople may have thought, theL men, Turks and Germans had no expe^tat^n . —at least, their conversation betrayed none-^that the Allied neets would pass their defences. What they ^ ****£*££ everything was that their enemies would make another attack. hi we could only get a chance at the Qttee n Ehzabeth /said one eager German, referring to the greatest ship in the British Navv then lying off the entrance. As the Rhein wine began to disappear, their eagerness for the combat increased. ^ ^^ ^ make & ^^ , „ exdaimed ^^^SAte*. -deed, seemed to vie with each otheHn expressing their readiness for the fray. Probably a good deal of this was "bravado, intended for my consumption-- Ldeed I had private information that their real estimate of the station was much less reassuring. Now, however, they declared That the war had presented no real opportunity for the German and EnglTsh Navies to measure swords, and for this reason he German! at the Dardanelles welcomed this chance to try the iSSU Having visited all the important places on the Anatolian side we took a launch and sailed over to the Galhpoh Pemnsula^ We almost had a disastrous experience on this trip. As we ap- proached the Gallipoli shore, our helmsman was asked if he knew thetaation of the minefield and if he could steer through he channel He said "yes," and then steered directly for the mines I Fortunately the other men noticed the mistake in time, Sndlo" we aSved Jafely at Kilid-ul-Bahr. The batteries here were of about the same character as those on the other side ; they toned one of the main defences of the straits Here every- SKf so far as a layman could judge, was in excellent condition barring the fact that the artillery pieces were of old design and the ammunition not at all plentiful Ur , nlon , N The batteries showed signs of a heavy bombardment None had been destroyed, but shell-holes surrounded the fortification. My Turkish and German friends looked at these evidences of I46 Secrets of the Bo«phorus destruction rather seriously, and they were outspoken in their admiration for the accuracy of the Allied fire. " How do they ever get the range ? ' This was the question they were asking each other. What made the shooting so remarkable was the fact that it came, not from Allied ships in the straits, but from ships stationed in the iEgean Sea, on the other side of the Gallipoli Peninsula. The gunners had never seen their target, but had had to fire at a distance, of nearly ten miles, over high hills, and yet many of their shells had barely missed the batteries at Kilid-ul-Bahr. When I was there, however, the place was quiet, for no fighting was going on that day. For my particular benefit the officers put one of their gun-crews through a drill, so that I could obtain a perfect picture of the behaviour of the Turks in action. In their minds' eyes these artillerists now saw the English ships advancing within range, all their guns pointed to destroy the followers of the Prophet. The bugleman blew his horn, and the whole company rushed to their appointed places. Some were bringing shells, others were opening the breeches, others were taking the ranges, others were straining at pulleys, and others were putting the charges into place. Everything was quickness and alertness ; evidently the Germans had been excellent instructors, but there was more to it than German military precision, for the men's faces lighted up with all that fanaticism which supplies the morale of Turkish soldiers. These gunners momentarily imagined that they were shooting once more at the infidel English, and the exercise was a congenial one. Above the shouts of all I could hear the sing-song chant of the leader, intoning the prayer with which the Moslem has rushed to battle for thirteen centuries. " Allah is great, there is but one God, and Mohammed is his Prophet ! " When I looked upon these frenzied men, and saw so plainly written in their faces their uncontrollable hatred of the un- believers, I called to mind what the Germans had said in the morning about the wisdom of not putting Turkish and German soldiers together. I am quite sure that, had this been done, here, at least, the " Holy War " would have proved a success, and that the Turks would have vented their hatred of Christians on those who happened to be nearest at hand, for the moment overlooking the fact that they were allies. I returned to Constantinople that evening, and two days afterward, on March 18th, the Allied fleet made its greatest attack. As all the world knows, that attack proved disastrous The Allied Armada Sails Away 147 to the Allies. The outcome was the sinking of the Bouvet, the Ocean, and the Irresistible, and the serious crippling of four other vessels. Of the sixteen ships engaged in this battle of the 18th, seven were thus put temporarily or permanently out of action. Naturally the Germans and Turks rejoiced over this victory. The police went around and ordered householders each to display a prescribed number of flags in honour of the event. The Turkish people have so little spontaneous patriotism or en- thusiasm of any kind that they would never decorate their establishments without such definite orders ! As a matter of fact, neither Germans nor Turks regarded this celebration too seriously, for they were not yet persuaded that they had really won a victory. Most still believed that the Allied fleets would succeed in forcing their way through. The only question, they said, was whether the Entente was ready to sacrifice the necessary number of ships. Neither Wangenheim nor Pallavicini believed that the disastrous experience of the 18th would end the naval attack, and for days they anxiously waited for the fleet to return. This was the general expectation, for no one believed that the Allies, after making this great demonstration, would accept defeat after the loss of only three ships. The high tension lasted for days and weeks after the repulse of the 18th.* We were still momentarily expecting the renewal of the attack. But the great armada never returned. Should it have come back ? Could the Allied ships really have captured Constantinople ? I am constantly asked this question. As a layman my own opinion can have little value, but I have quoted the opinions of the German Generals and Admirals, and of the Turks — practically all of whom, excepting" Enver, believed that the enterprise would succeed, and I am half inclined to believe that Enver's attitude was merely a case of graveyard whistling. In what I now have to say on this point, therefore, I wish it understood that I am giving, not my own views, but merely those of the officials then in Turkey who were best qualified to judge. Enver had told me, in our talk on the deck of the Yuruk, that he had "plenty of guns, plenty of ammunition." But this statement was not true. A glance at the map will show why Turkey was not receiving munitions from Germany or Austria at that time. The fact was that Turkey was just as completely isolated from her allies then as was Russia. There were two railroad fines leading from Constantinople to Germany. One went by way of Bulgaria and Serbia. Bulgaria was then not an 14S Secrets of the Bosphorus ally. Even though she had winked at the passage of guns and shells, this line could not have been used, since Serbia, which controlled the vital link extending from Nish to Belgrade, was still intact. The other railroad line went through Rumania, by way of Bucharest. This route was independent of Serbia, and, had the Rumanian Government consented, it would have formed a clear route from the Krupps to the Dardanelles. The fact that munitions could be sent oft with the connivance of the Rumanian Government perhaps accounts for the suspicion that guns and shells were going by that route. Day after day the French and British Ministers protested at Bucharest against this alleged violation of neutrality, only to be met with angry denials that the Germans were using this line. There is no doubt now that the Rumanian Government was perfectly honourable in making these denials. It is not unlikely that the Germans themselves started all these stories, merely to fool the Allied fleet into the belief that their supplies were inexhaustible. Let us suppose that the Allies had returned, say, on the morning of the 19th, what would have happened ? The one overwhelming fact is that the fortifications were very short of ammunition. They had almost reached the limit of their resisting powers when the British fleet passed out on the afternoon of the iSth. I had secured permission for Mr. George A. Schreiner, the well-known American correspondent of the Associated Press, to visit the Dardanelles on this occasion. On the night of the 18th this correspondent discussed the situation with General Mertens, who was the chief technical officer at the Straits. General Mertens admitted that the outlook was very discouraging for the defence. ' We expect that the British will come back early to-morrow morning," he said, " and if they do we may be able to hold out for a few hours." General Mertens did not declare in so rqany words that the ammunition was practically exhausted, but Mr. Schreiner dis- covered that such was the case. The fact was that Fort Hamidie, the most powerful defence on the Asiatic side, had just seventeen armour-piercing shells left, while at Kilid-ul-Bahr, which was the main defence on the European side, there were precisely ten. ' I should advise you to get up at six o'clock to-morrow morning," said General Mertens, " and take to the Anatolian Hills. That's what we are going to do." The troops at all the fortifications had their orders to man the The Allied Armada Sails Away 149 guns until the last shell had been fired and then to abandon the forts. Once these defences became helpless, the problem of the Allied fleet would have been a simple one. The only bar to their progress would have been the minefield, which stretched from a point about two miles north of Erenkeui to Kilid-ul-Bahr. But the Allied fleet had plenty of mine-sweepers, which could have made a channel in a few hours. North of Tchanak, as I have already explained, there were a few guns, but they were of the 1878 model, and could not discharge projectiles that could pierce modern armour-plate. North of Point Nagara there were only two batteries, and both dated from 1835 ' Thus, once having silenced the outer straits, there was nothing to bar the passage to Constantinople except the German and Turkish warships. The Goeben was the only first-class fighting ship in either fleet, and would not have lasted long against the Queen Elizabeth. The disproportion in the strength of the opposing fleets, indeed, was so enormous that it is doubtful whether there would ever have been an engagement. Thus the Allied fleet would have appeared before Con- stantinople on the morning of the 20th. What would have happened then ? We have heard much discussion as to whether this purely naval attack was justified. Enver, in his conversation with me, had laid much stress on the absurdity of sending a fleet to Constantinople, supported by no adequate landing force ; and much of the criticism passed upon the Dardanelles expedition since has centred on that point. Yet it is my opinion that this purely naval attack was justified. I base this judgment upon the political situation which then existed in Turkey. Under ordinary circumstances such an enterprise would probably have been a foolish one, but the political conditions in Constantinople then were not ordinary. There was no solidly-established Government in Turkey at that time. A political committee, not exceeding forty members, headed by Talaat, Enver, and Djemal, controlled the Central Government, but their authority through- out the Empire was exceedingly tenuous. As a matter of fact, the whole Ottoman State, on that 18th day of March, 1915, when the Allied fleet abandoned the attack, was on the brink of dissolution. All over Turkey ambitious chieftains had arisen, who were momentarily expecting the fall, and who were looking for the opportunity to seize their parts of the inheritance. As previously described, Djemal had already organised practi- cally an independent Government in Syria. In Smyrna, Rahmi Bey, the Governor-General, had often disregarded the authorities 150 Secrets of the Bosphorus in the capital. In Adrianople, Hadji Adil, one of the most courage- ous Turks of the time, was making his plans to set up an inde- pendent Government. Arabia was already practically an independent nation. Among the subject races the spirit of revolt was rapidly spreading. The Greeks and the Armenians would also have welcomed an opportunity to strengthen the hands of the Allies. The existing financial and industrial conditions seemed to make revolution inevitable. Many farmers went on strike ; they had no seeds, and would not accept them as a free gift from the Government because, they said, as soon as their crops should be garnered the Armies would im- mediately requisition them. As for Constantinople, the populace there and the best elements among the Turks, far from opposing the arrival of the Allied fleet, would have welcomed it with joy. The Turks themselves were praying that the British and French would take their city, for this would relieve them of the con- trolling gang, emancipate them from the hated Germans, bring about peace, and end their miseries. No one understood this better than Talaat. He was taking no chances on making an expeditious retreat, in case the Allied fleet appeared before the city. For several months the Turkish leaders had been casting envious glances at a Minerva automobile that had been reposing in the Belgian Legation ever since Turkey's declaration of war. Talaat finally obtained possession of the coveted prize. He had obtained somewhere another automobile, which he had loaded with extra tyres, gasolene, and all the other essentials of a protracted journey. This was evidently intended to accompany the more pretentious machine as a kind of " mother ship." Talaat stationed these automobiles on the Asiatic side of the city with chauffeurs constantly at hand. Everything was prepared to leave for the interior of Asia at a moment's notice. But the great Allied armada never returned to the attack. About a week after this momentous defeat, I happened to drop in at the German Embassy. Wangenheim had a dis- tinguished visitor whom he had asked me to meet.' I went into his private office, and there was von der Goltz Pasha, recently returned from Belgium, where he had served as Governor. I must admit that, meeting Goltz thus informally, I had difficulty in reconciling his personality with all the stories that were then coming out of Belgium. That morning this mild-mannered, spectacled gentleman seemed sufficiently quiet and harmless. Nor did he look his age — he was then about seventy-four ; his The Allied Armada Sails Away 151 hair was only streaked with grey, and his face was almost un- wrinkled. I should not have taken him for more than sixty-five. The austerity, brusqueness, and ponderous dignity which are assumed by most highly-placed Germans were not apparent. His voice was deep, musical, and pleasing, and his manners were altogether friendly and ingratiating. The only evidence of pomp in his bearing-was his uniform ; he was dressed as a Field-Marshal, his body blazing with decorations and gold braid. Von der Goltz explained and half-apologised for his regalia by saying that he had just returned from an audience with the Sultan. He had come to Constantinople to present to His Majesty a medal from the Kaiser, and was taking back to Berlin a similar mark of con- sideration from the Sultan to the Kaiser, besides an Imperial present of 10,000 cigarettes. The three of us sat there for some time, drinking coffee, eating German cakes, and smoking German cigars. I did not do much of the talking, but the conversation of von der Goltz and Wangen- heim seemed to me to shed much light upon the German mind, and especially on the trustworthiness of German military reports. The aspect of the Dardanelles fight that interested them most at that time was England's complete frankness in publishing her losses. That the British Government should issue an official statement, saying that three ships had been sunk and that four others had been badly damaged, struck them as most remarkable. In this announcement I merely saw a manifestation of the usual British desire to make public the worst — the policy which we Americans also believe to be the best in war-time. But no such obvious explanation could satisfy these wise and solemn Teutons. No, England had some deep purpose in telling the truth so unblushingly ; what could it be ? " Es ist ausserordentlich ! " (" It is extraordinary ! ") said von der Goltz, referring to England's public acknowledgment of defeat. " Es ist unerhdrt ! " ("It is unheard of ! ")" declared the equally astonished Wangenheim. These master diplomatists canvassed one explanation after another, and finally reached a conclusion that satisfied the higher strategy. England, they agreed, really had had no enthusiasm for this attack, because, in the event of success, she would have had to hand Constantinople over to Russia — something which England really did not intend to do. By publishing the losses, England showed Russia the enormous difficulties of the task ; she had demonstrated, indeed, that the enterprise was impossible. After such losses, England intended Russia to understand that 152 Secrets of the Bosphorus she had made a sincere attempt to gain this great prize of war and expected her not to insist on further sacrifices. The sequel to this great episode in the war came in the winter of 1915-16. By this time Bulgaria had taken sides with the Entente, Serbia had been overwhelmed, and the Germans had obtained a complete unobstructed railroad line from Constan- tinople to Austria and Germany. Huge Krupp guns now began to come over this line, all destined for the Dardanelles. Sixteen great batteries, of the latest model, were emplaced near the entrance, completely controlling Sedd-ul-Bahr. The Germans lent the Turks 500,000,000 marks, much of which was spent defending this indispensable highway. The thinly-fortified straits through which I passed in March, 1915, are now as impregnably fortified as Heligoland. It is doubtful if all the fleets in the world could force the Dardanelles to-day. CHAPTER XIX A FIGHT FOR THREE THOUSAND CIVILIANS On May 2nd, 1915, Enver sent his aide to the American Embassy, bringing a message which he requested me to transmit to the French and British Governments. About a week before, the Allies had made their landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula. They had evidently concluded that a naval attack by itself could not destroy the defences and open the road to Constantinople, and they had now adopted the alternative plan of despatching large bodies of troops, to be supported by the guns of their warships. Already many thousands of Australians and New Zealanders had* entrenched themselves at the tip of the Peninsula, and the excitement that prevailed in Constantinople was almost as great as that which had been caused by the appearance of the fleet two months before. Enver now informed me that the Allied ships were bombarding t in reckless fashion, and ignoring the well-established international rule that such bombardments should be directed only against fortified places. British and French shells, he said, were falling everywhere, destroying unprotected Moslem villages and killing hundreds of innocent non-combatants. Enver asked me to inform the Allied Governments that such activities must im- mediately cease. He had decided to collect all the British and French citizens who were then living in Constantinople, take , them down to the Gallipoli Peninsula, and scatter them in Moslem villages and towns. The Allied fleets would then be throwing their projectiles not only against peaceful and unprotected Moslems, but against their own countrymen. It was Enver's idea that this threat, communicated by the American Ambassador to the British and French Governments, would soon put an end . to " atrocities " of this kind. I was given a few daj^s' respite to get the information to London and Paris. At that time about 3,000 British and French citizens were living in Constantinople. The great majority belonged to the class known as Levantines ; nearly all had been born in Turkey, and in many cases their families had been domiciled in that country for two or more generations. The retention of their 154 Secrets of the Bosphorus European citizenship is almost their .onlv contact with the nation from which they have sprung. Not uncommonly we meet in the larger cities of Turkey men and women who are English hv race and nationality, but who speak no English, French being the usual language of the Levantine. The great majority have never set foot in England, or any other European country ; thev have only one home, and that is Turkey. The fact that the Levantine usually retains citizenship 'in the nation of his origin was now apparently making him a fitting object for Turkish vengeance. Besides these Levantines, a large number of English and French were then living in Constantinople as teachers in the schools, as missionaries, and as important business men and merchants. The Ottoman Government now proposed to assemble all these residents, both those who were immediately and those who were remotely connected with Great Britain and France, and to place them in exposed positions on the Gallipoli Peninsula as targets for the Allied fleet. Naturally my first question when I received the startling information was whether the warships were really bombarding defenceless towns. If they were murdering non-combatant men, women, and children in this reckless fashion, such an act of reprisal as Enver now proposed would probably have had some justification. It seemed to me incredible, however, that the English and French could commit such barbarities. I had already received many complaints of this kind from Turkish officials which, on investigation, had turned out to be untrue. Only a little while before, Dr. Meyer, the first assistant to Suley- man Nouman, the Chief of the Medical Staff, had notified me that the British fleet had bombarded a Turkish hospital and killed 1,000 invalids. When I looked into the matter, I found that the building had been but slightly damaged, and only one man killed. I now naturally suspected that this latest tale of Allied barbarity rested on a similarly flimsy foundation. I. soon discovered, indeed, that this was the case. The Allied fleet was not bombarding Moslem villages at all. A number of British warships had been stationed in the Gulf of Saros, an indentation of the ^Egean Sea, on the western side of the Peninsula, and from this vantage point they were throwing shells into the city of Gallipoli. All the " bombarding" of towns in which they were now engaging was limited to this one city. In doing this the British Navy was not violating the rules of civilised warfare, for Gallipoli had long since been evacuated of its civilian population, A Fight for Three Thousand Civilians 155 and the Turks had established military headquarters in several of the houses, which had properly become the object of the Allied attack. I certainly knew of no rule of warfare which prohibited an attack upon a military headquarters ! As to the stones of murdered civilians— men, women, and children— these proved to be gross exaggerations ; as almost the entire civilian population had long since left, any casualties resulting from the bombardment must have been confined to the armed forces of the Empire. I now discussed the situation for some time with Mr. Ernest Weyl, who was generally recognised as the leading French citizen m Constantinople, and with Mr. Hoffman Philip, the Conseiller of the Embassy, and then decided that I would go immediately to the Sublime Porte and protest to Enver. The Council of Ministers was sitting at the time, but Enver came out. His mood was more demonstrative than usual As he described the attack of the British fleet he became extremely angry ; it was not the imperturbable Enver with whom I had become so familiar. ' These cowardly English ! " he exclaimed. " They tried for a long time to -get through the Dardanelles, and we were too much for them ! And see what kind of a revenge they are taking. Their ships sneak up into the outer bay, where our guns cannot reach them, and shoot over the hills at our little villages, killing harmless old men, women, and children, and bombarding our hospitals. Do you think we are going to let them do that ? And what can we do ? Our guns don't reach over the hills, so that we cannot meet them in battle If we could we would drive them off, just as we did at the straits a month ago. We have no fleet to send to England to bombard their unfortified towns as they are bombarding ours so we have decided to move all the English and French, we can find Ito Gallipoh. Let them kill their own people as well as ours." I told him that, granted that the circumstances were as he had stated them, he had grounds for indignation. But I called his attention to the fact that he was wrong ; that he was accusing the Allies of crimes which they were not committing. This is about the most barbarous thing that you have ever contemplated," I said. "The British have a perfect right to attack a military headquarters like Gallipoli." + u ??* 1 ? Y ar S ument did not move Enver. I became convinced that he had not decided on this step as a reprisal to protect his own countrymen, but that he and his associates were really looking for revenge. The fact that the Australians and New 156 Secrets of the Bosphorus Zealandcrs had successfully effected a landing had aroused their most barbarous instincts. Enver referred to this landing in our talk. Though he professed to regard it lightly, and said that he would soon push the French and English into the sea, I saw that it was causing him much concern. The Turk, as I have said before, is psychologically primitive ; to answer the British landing at Gallipoli by murdering hundreds of helpless British who were in his power would strike him as perfectly logical. As a result of this talk I gained only a few concessions. Enver agreed to postpone the deportation until Thursday — it was then Sunday — to exclude women and children from the order, and to take none of the British and French who were then connected with American institutions. " All the rest will have to go," was his final word. " More- over," he added, " we don't purpose to have the English ships fire at the transports we are sending to the Dardanelles. In the future we shall put a few Englishmen and Frenchmen on every ship we send down there as a protection to our own soldiers." When I returned to our Embassy I found that the news of the proposed deportation had been published. The amazement and despair that immediately resulted were unparalleled, even in that city of constant sensations. Europeans, by living for many years in the Levant, seem to acquire its emotions, particularly its susceptibility to fear and horror, greatly accentuated by their deprivation of the protection of their Embassies. A stream of frenzied people now began to pour into the Embassy. From their tears and cries one would have thought that they were immediately to be taken out and shot ; that there was any possibility of being saved seemed hardly to occur to them. Yet all the time they insisted that I should get individual exemptions. One could not go because he had a dependent family ; another had a sick child; another was ill himself. My ante-room was full of frantic mothers, askirig me to secure exemption for their sons, and of wives who sought special treatment for their husbands. They made all kinds of impossible suggestions. I should resign my ambassadorship as a protest ; I should even threaten Turkey with war by the United States ! They con- stantly besieged my wife, who spent hours listening to their stories and comforting them. In all this exciting mass there were many who faced the .situation with more courage. The day after my talk with Enver, Bedri, the Prefect of Police, began to arrest some of the victims. The next morning one of my callers made what would ordinarily have seemed to be an obvious suggestion. This A Fight for Three Thousand Civilians 157 visitor was a German. He told me that Germany would suffer greatly in reputation if the Turks carried out this plan ; the world would not possibly be convinced that Germans had not devised the whole scheme. He said that I should call upon the German and Austrian Ambassadors ; he was sure that they would support me in my pleas for decent treatment. As I had made appeals to Wangenheim several times before on behalf of foreigners, without success, I had hardly thought it worth while to ask his co-operation in this instance. Moreover, the plan of using non-combatants as a proteetive screen in warfare was such a familiar German device that I was not at all sure that the German Staff had not instigated the Turks. I decided, however, to adopt the advice of my German visitor and seek Wangen- heim 's assistance. I must admit that I did this as a forlorn hope, but at least I thought it only fair to Wangenheim to give him a chance to help. I called upon him in the evening at ten o'clock and stayed with him until eleven. I spent the larger part of this hour in a fruitless attempt to interest him in the plight of these non- combatants. Wangenheim said point-blank that he would not assist me. 'It is perfectly proper," he maintained, " for the Turks to establish a concentration camp at Gallipoli. It is also proper for them to put non-combatant English and French on their transports and thus insure them against attack." As I made repeated attempts to argue the matter, Wangenheim would deftly shift the conversation to other topics. According to my record of this talk, written out at the time, the German Am- bassador discussed almost every subject except the one upon which I had called. ' This act of the Turks will greatly injure Germany " I would begin. " Do you know that the English soldiers at Gaba Tepe are without food and drink ? " he would reply. ' They made an attack to capture a well and were repulsed. The English have taken their ships away so as to prevent their soldiers from retreating " " But about this Gallipoli business," I interrupted. " Ger- mans themselves here in Constantinople have said that Germany should stop it " " The Allies landed 45,000 men on the Peninsula," Wangen- heim answered, " and of these 10,000 were killed. In a few days we shall attack the rest and destroy them." When I attempted to approach the subject from another angle, this master diplomatist would begin discussing Rumania 158 Secrets of the Bosphorus and the possibility of obtaining ammunition by way of that country.- " Your secretary, Bryan," he said, " has just issued a state- ment showing that it would be unneutral for the United States to refuse to sell ammunition .to the Allies, so we have used this same argument with the ..Rumanians ; if it is unneutral not to sell ammunition, it is certainly unneutral to refuse to transport it ! " The humorous aspects of this argument appealed to Wangen- heim, but 1 reminded him that I was there to discuss the lives of between 2,000 and 3,000 non-combatants. As I touched upon this subject again, Wangenheim replied that the United States would not be acceptable to Germany as a peacemaker now, because we were so friendly to the Entente. He insisted on giving me all the details of recent German successes in the Carpathians and the latest news on the Italian situation. " We would rather hght Italy than have her for our ally," he said. At another time all this would have greatly entertained me, but not then. It was quite apparent that Wangenheim would not discuss the proposed "deportation further than to say that the Turks were justified. His statement that it was planned to establish a " concentration camp " at Gallipoli unfolded his whole attitude. Up to this time the Turks had not established concentration camps for enemy aliens anywhere. I had earnestly advised them not to establish such camps, thus far with success. On the other hand, the Germans were protesting that Turkey was '' too lenient," and urging the establishment of such camps in the interior. Wangenheim 's use of the words " concentration camps in Gallipoli " showed that the German view was at last prevailing and that I was losing my battle for the foreigners. An internment camp is a distressing place under the most favourable circumstances, but who, except a German or a Turk, ever conceived of establishing onr right in the field of battle ? Let us suppose that the English and ifie French should assemble all their enemy aliens, march them to the front, and place them in a camp in No Man's Land, directly in the fire of both armies. That was precisely the kind of " concentration camp " which the Turks and Germans now intended to establish for the resident aliens of Constantinople — for my talk with Wangenheim left no doubt in my mind that the Germans were parties to the plot. They feared that the land attack on the Dardanelles would succeed, just as they had feared that the naval attack would succeed, and they were prepared to use any weapon, even the A Fight for Three Thousand Civilians 159 • lives of several thousand non-combatants, in their efforts to make it a failure. My .talk with Wangenheim produced no results, so far as enlisting his support was concerned, but it stiffened my determina- tion to defeat this enterprise. I now called upon Pailavicini, the Austrian Ambassador. He at once declared that the proposed deportation was " inhuman." " I will take up the matter- with the Grand Vizier," he said, " and see if I can stop it." " But you know that is perfectly useless," I answered. " The Grand Vizier has no power — he is only a figurehead. Only one man can stop this ; that is Enver." Pailavicini had far finer sensibilities and a tenderer conscience than Wangenheim, and I had no doubt that he was entirely sincere in his desire to prevent this crime. But he was a diplomat of the old Austrian school. Nothing in his eyes was so important as diplomatic etiquette. As the representative of his Emperor, propriety demanded that he should conduct all his negotiations with the Grand Vizier, who was also at that time Minister of Foreign Affairs. He never discussed State matters with Talaat and Enver — indeed, he had only limited official relations with these men, the real rulers of Turkey. And now the saving of 3,000 lives was not, in Pallavicini's eyes, any reason why he should disregard the traditional routine of diplomatic intercourse. " I must go strictly according to rules in this matter," he said. And, in the goodness of his heart, he did speak to Said Halim. Following this example, Wangenheim also spoke to the Grand Vizier. In Wangenheim's case, however, the protest was merely intended for the official record. ' You may fool some people," I told the German Ambassador, ' but you know that speaking to the Grand Vizier in this matter is as inconsequential as shouting in the air." However, there was one member of the diplomatic corps who worked whole-heartedly on behalf of the threatened foreigners. This was M. Kolouchetf, the Bulgarian Minister. As soon as he heard of this latest Turco-German outrage, he immediately came to me with offers of assistance. He did not propose to waste his time by a protest to the Grand Vizier, but announced his intention of going immediately to the source of authority, Enver himself. Kolouciiefi was an extremely important man at that particular time, for Bulgaria was then neutral and both sides were angling for her support. Meanwhile Bedri and his minions were busy arresting all the doomed English and French. • The deportation was arranged to 160 Secrets of the Bosphorus take place on Thursday morning. On Wednesday the excitement reached the hysterical stage. It seemed as if the whole foreign population of Constantinople had gathered at the American Embassy. Scores of weeping women and haggard men assembled in front and at the side of the building ; more than three hundred gained personal access to my office, hanging desperately upon the Ambassador and his staff. Many almost seemed to think that I personally held their fates in my hand ; in their agony of spirit some even denounced me, insisting that I was not exerting all my powers on their behalf. Whenever I left my office and passed into the hall I was almost mobbed by scores of terror-stricken and dishevelled mothers and wives. The nervous tension was frightful ; I seized the telephone, called up Enver, and demanded a:i interview. He replied that he would be happy to receive me on Thursday. ]£y tins time, however, the prisoners would already have been on their way to Gallipoli. " No," I replied, " I must see you, this afternoon." Enver made all kinds of excuses ; he was busy, he had appointments scheduled for the whole day. " I presume you want to see me about the English and French,'' he said. ' If that is so, I can tell you now that it will be useless. Our minds are made up. Orders have been issued to the police to gather them all by to-night and to ship them down to-morrow morning." I still insisted that I must see him that afternoon, and he still attempted to dodge the interview. " My time is all taken," he said. ' The Council of Ministers sits at four o'clock, and the meeting is to be a very important one. I can't absent myself." Emboldened by the thought of the crowds of women that were flooding the whole Embassy, I decided on an altogether unprecedented move. " I shall not be denied an interview," I replied. " I shall come up to the Council Room at four o'clock. If you refuse to receive me then, I shall insist on going into the Council Room and discussing the matter with the whole Cabinet. I shall be interested to learn whether the Turkish Cabinet will refuse to receive the American Ambassador." It seemed to me that I could almost hear Enver gasp over the telephone. I presume few responsible Ministers of any country have ever had such an astounding proposition made to them. " If you will meet me at the Sublime Porte at 3.30," he A Fight for Three Thousand Civilians 161 answered, after a considerable pause, " I shall arrange to see you." When I reached the Sublime Porte I was told that the Bulgarian Minister was having a protracted conference with Enver. Naturally, I was willing to wait, for I knew what the two men were discussing. Presently M. Koloucheff came out ; his face was tense and anxious, clearly revealing the ordeal through which he had just passed. ' It is perfectly hopeless," he said to me. " Nothing will move Enver ; he is absolutely determined that this thing shall go through. I cannot wish you good luck, for you will have none." The meeting which followed between Enver and myself was the most momentous I had had up to that time. We discussed the fate of the foreigners for nearly an hour. I found Enver in one of his most polite but most unyielding moods. He told me before I began that it was useless to talk — that the matter was a closed issue. But I insisted on telling him what a splendid impression Turkey's treatment of her enemies had made on the outside world. " Your record in this matter is better than that of any other belligerent country," I said. " You have not put them into concentration camps, you have let them stay here and continue their ordinary business, just as before. You have done this in spite of strong pressure to act otherwise. Why do you destroy all the good effect this has produced by now making such a fatal mistake as you propose ? " But Enver insisted that the Allied fleets were bombarding unfortified towns, killing women, children, and wounded men. ' We have warned them through you that they must not do this," he said, " but they don't stop." This statement, of course, was not true, but I could not persuade Enver that he was wrong. He expressed great appreciation for all that I had done, and regretted for my sake that he could not accept my advice. I told him that the foreigners had suggested that I threaten to give up the care of British and French interests. " Nothing would suit us better," he quickly replied. " The only difficulty we have with you is when you come around and bother us with English and French affairs." I asked him if I had ever given him any advice that had led them into trouble. He graciously replied that they had never yet made a mistake by following my suggestions. 'Very well, take my advice in this case, too," I replied. " You will find later that you have made no mistake by doing H 162 Secrets of the Bosphorus • so. I tell you that it is my positive opinion that your Cabinet is committing a terrible error by taking this step." " But I have given orders to this effect," Enver answered. " I cannot countermand them. If I did, my whole influence with the Army would go. Once having given an order I never change it. My own wife asked me to have her servants exempted from military service, and I refused. The Grand Vizier asked exemption for his secretary, and I refused him, because I had given orders. I never revoke orders, and I shall not do it in this case. If you can show me some way in which this order can be carried out, and your proteges still saved, I shall be glad to: listen.*" I had alre'ady discovered one of the most conspicuous traits in the Turkish character : its tendency to compromise and to bargain. Enver's request for a suggestion now gave me an opportunity to play on this characteristic. " All right," I said. " I think I can. I should think you could still carry out your orders without sending all the French and English residents down. If you would send only a few you would still win your point. You could still maintain discipline in the Army, and these few would be as strong a deterrent to the Allied fleet as sending all." It seemed to me that Enver almost eagerly seized upon this suggestion as a way out of his dilemma. " How many will you let me send ? " he asked quickly. The moment he put this question I knew that I had carried my point. " I would suggest that you take twenty English and twenty French — forty in all." " Let me have fifty," he said. " All right,- we won't haggle over ten," I answered. " But you must make another concession. Let me pick out the fifty who are to go." This agreement had relieved the tension, and now the gracious side of Enver's nature began to show itself again. " No, Mr. Ambassador," he replied. " You have prevented me from making a. mistake this afternoon ; now let me prevent you from making one. If you select the fifty men who are to go you will simply make fifty enemies. I think too much of you to let you do that. I will prove to you that I am your real friend. Can't you make some other suggestion ? " " Why not take the youngest ? They can stand the fatigue best." " That is fair,' answered Enver. He said that Bedri, who was in the building at that moment, would select the " victims." A Fight for Three Thousand Civilians 163 This caused me some uneasiness. I knew that Enver's modifica- tion of his order would displease Bedri, whose hatred of the foreigners had shown itself on many occasions, and that the head of the police would do his best to find some way of evading it. So I asked Enver to send for Bedri and give him his new orders in my presence. Bedri came in,, and, as I had suspected, he did not like the new arrangement at all. As soon as he heard that he was to take only fifty, and the youngest, he threw up his hands and began to walk up and down the room. " No, no, this will never do ! " he said. " I don't want the youngest ; I must have the notables ! " But Enver stuck to the arrangement and gave Bedri orders to take only the youngest men. It was quite apparent that Bedri needed humouring, so I asked him to ride with me to the American Embassy, where we would have tea and arrange all the details. This invitation had an instantaneous effect which the American mind will have difficulty in comprehending. An American would regard it as nothing wonderful to be seen publicly riding with an Ambassador, or to take tea at an Embassy. But this is a distinction which never comes to a minor functionary, such as a Prefect of Police, in the Turkish capital. Possibly I lowered the dignity. of my office in extending this invitation to Bedri — Pallavicini would probably have thought so — but it certainly paid, for it made Bedri more pliable than he would otherwise have been. When we reached the Embassy we found the crowds still there, awaiting the results of my intercession. When I told the besiegers that only fifty had to go, and these the youngest, they seemed momentarily stupefied. They could not understand it at first ; they believed that I might obtain some modification of the order, but nothing like this. Then, as the truth dawned upon them, I found myself in the centre of a crowd that had apparently gone momentarily insane, this time not from grief, but from joy. Women, the tears streaming down their faces, insisted on throw- ing themselves on their knees, seizing both my hands, and covering them with kisses. Mature men, despite my violent protestations, persisted in hugging me and kissing me on both cheeks. For several minutes I struggled with this crowd, embarrassed by its demonstrations of gratitude, but finally I succeeded in breaking away and secreting myself and Bedri in an inner room. " Can't I have a few notables ? " he asked. " I'll give you just one," I replied. " Can't I have three ? " he asked again. 164 Secrets of the Bosphorus " You can have all who arc under fifty," I answered. But that did not satisfy him, as there was not a solitary person of distinction under that age limit. Bedri really had his eye on Messieurs Weyl, Rey, and Dr. Frew. But I had one " notable " up my sleeve whom I was willing to concede. Dr. Wigram, an Anglican clergyman, one of the most prominent men in the foreign colony, had pleaded with me, asking that he might be permitted to go with the hostages and furnish them such consolation as religion could give them. I knew that nothing would delight Dr. Wigram more than to be thrown as a sop to Bedri's passion for " notables." " Dr. Wigram is the only notable you can have," I said to Bedri. So he accepted him as the best that he could do in that line. Mr. Hoffman Philip, the Conseiller of the American Embassy — now American Minister to Colombia — had already expressed a desire to accompany the hostages, so that he might minister to their comfort. This was nothing new in the manifestation of a fine humanitarian spirit in Mr. Philip. Although not in good health, Mr. Philip had returned to Constantinople after Turkey had entered the war in order that he might assist me in the work of caring for the refugees. Through all that arduous period he constantly displayed that sympathy for the unfortunate, the sick, and the poor which is innate in his character. Though it was' somewhat irregular for a representative of the Embassy to engage in such a hazardous enterprise as this one, Mr. Philip pleaded so. earnestly that finally I reluctantly gave my consent. I also obtained permission for Mr. Arthur Ruhl and Mr. Henry West Suydam, of the Brooklyn Eagle, to accompany the party. At the end Bedri had to have his little joke. Though the fifty were informed that the boat for Gallipoli would leave the next morning at six o'clock, Bedri, with his police, visited their houses at midnight, and routed them all out of bed. The crowd that assembled at the dock the next morning looked somewhat weatherbcaten and worse for wear. Bedri was there, superin- tending the whole proceeding, and when he came up to me he good-naturedly reproached me again for letting him have only one " notable." In the main he behaved very decently, though he could not refrain from telling the hostages that the British aeroplanes were dropping bombs on Gallipoli ! Of the twenty- five " Englishmen " assembled, there were only two who had been born in England, and, of the twenty-five " Frenchmen," only two who had been born in France ! They carried satchels containing food and other essentials, their assembled relatives A Fight for Three Thousand Civilians 165 had additional bundles, and Mrs. Morgenthau sent several large cases of food to the ship. The parting of these young men with their families was affecting, but they all stood it bravely. I returned to the Embassy, somewhat wearied by the excite- ment of the last few days and in no particularly gracious humour for the honour which now awaited me. For I had been there only a few minutes when His Excellency the German Ambassa- dor was announced. Wangenheim discussed commonplaces for a few minutes and then approached the real object -of 'his call. He asked me to telegraph to Washington that he had been ' helpful ' : in getting the number of the Gallipoli hostages reduced to fifty ! In view of the actual happenings, this request was so preposterous that I almost laughed in his face. I had known that, in going through the fonn of speaking to the Grand Vizier, Wangenheim had been manufacturing an alibi for future use, but I had not expected him to fall back upon it so soon. ' Well," said Wangenheim, " at least telegraph your Govern- ment that I didn't ' hetz ' the Turks in this matter." The German verb " hetzen " means about the same as the English " sic, "in the sense of inciting a dog. I was in no mood to give Wangenheim a clean bill of. health, and told him so. In fact, I specifically reported to Washington that he had refused to help me. A day or two afterward Wangenheim called me on" the telephone and began to talk in an excited and angry tone. His Government had wired him about my telegram to Washing- ton. I told him that if he desired credit for assistance in matters of tins kind he should really exert himself and do something. The hostages had an uncomfortable time at Gallipoli ; they were put into two wooden houses, with no beds, and no food except that which they had brought themselves. The days and nights were made wretched by the abundant . vermin that is a commonplace in Turkey. Had Mr. Philip not gone with them, they would have suffered seriously. After the unfortunates had been there for a few days I began work with Enver again to get them back. Sir Edward Grey, then British Secretary for Foreign Affairs, had requested our State Department to send me a message with the request that I present it to Enver and his fellow Ministers. Its purport was that the British Government would hold them personally responsible for any injury to the hostages. I presented this message to Enver en May 9th. I had seen Enver in many moods, but the unbridled rage which Sir Edward's admonition now caused was something entirely new. As I read the telegram his face became livid, and he absolutely lost control of himself. The European polish which Enver had sedulously 1 66 Secrets of the Bosphorus acquired dropped like a mask ; ' I now saw him for what he really was — a savage, blood-thirsty Turk. ' They will not come back ! "he shouted. " I shall let them stay there until they rot ! " I would like to see those English touch me!" he continued. I saw that, the method which I had adopted with Enver, that of persuasion, was the only possible way of handling him. I tried to soothe the Minister now, and, after a while, he quieted down. " But don't ever threaten me again ! " he said. After spending a week at Gallipoli, the party returned. The Turks had moved their military headquarters from Gallipoli, and the English fleet, therefore, ceased to bombard it. All came back in good condition and were welcomed home with great enthusiasm. CHAPTER XX MORE ADVENTURES OF THE FOREIGN RESIDENTS The Gallipoli deportation gives some idea of my difficulties in attempting to fulfil my duty as the representative of Allied interests in the Ottoman Empire. Yet, despite these occasional outbursts of hatred, in the main the Turkish officials themselves behaved very well. They had promised me at the beginning that they would treat their alien enemies decently, and would permit them either to remain in Turkey, and follow their accus- tomed occupations, or to leave the Empire. They apparently believed that the world would judge them, after the war was over, not by the way they treated their own subject peoples, but by the way they treated the subjects of the enemy Powers. The result was that a Frenchman, an Englishman, or an Italian enjoyed far greater security in Turkey than an .._ Armenian, a Greek, or a Jew. Yet against this disposition to.be decent a persistent malevolent force was constantly . manifesting itself. In a letter to the State Department I described the influence that was working against foreigners in Turkey. " The German Ambassador," I wrote in substance, " keeps pressing on the Turks the advisability both of repressive measures and of detaining as hostages the subjects of the belligerent Powers. I have had to encounter the persistent opposition of my German colleague in endeavouring to obtain permission for the departure of the subjects of the nationalities under our protection." Now and then the Turkish officials would retaliate upon one of their enemy aliens, usually in reprisal for some injury, or fancied injury, inflicted on their own subjects in enemy countries. Such acts gave rise to many exciting episodes, some tragical, some farcical, all illuminating in the fight they shed upon Turkish character and upon Teutonic methods. One afternoon I was sitting with Talaat, discussing routine matters, when his telephone rang. " Pour vous," said the Minister, handing me the receiver. It was one of my secretaries. He told me that Bedri had arrested Sir Edwin Pears, had thrown him into prison, and had seized all his papers. Sir Edwin was one of the best-known British residents of Constantinople. For forty years he had 1 68 Secrets of the Bosphorus practised law in the Ottoman capital ; he had also written much for the Press during that period, and had published several books which had given him fame as an authority on Oriental history and politics. He was about eighty years old and of venerable and distinguished appearance. When the war started I had exacted a special promise from Talaat and Bedri that in no event should Sir Edwin Pears and Prof. Van Millingen, of Robert College, be disturbed. This telephone message which I now received — curiously enough, in Talaat's presence — seemed to indicate that this promise had been broken. I now turned to Talaat and spoke in a manner that made no attempt to conceal my displeasure. " Is this all your promises are worth ? •". I asked. " Can't you find anything better to do than to molest such a respectable old man as Sir Edwin Pears ? What has he ever done to you ? " " Come, come, don't get excited," rejoined Talaat. ' He's only been in prison for a few hours, and I will see that he is released." He tried to get Bedri on the wire, but failed. By this time I knew Bedri well enough to understand his method of operation. When Bedri really wished to be reached on the telephone he was the most accessible man in the world ; when his presence at the other end of the wire might prove embarrassing the most painstaking search could not reveal his whereabouts. As Bedri had given me his solemn promise that Sir Edwin should not be disturbed, this was an occasion when the Prefect of Police pre- ferred to keep himself inaccessible. " I shall stay in this room until you get Bedri," I now told Talaat. The big Turk took the situation good-humouredly. We waited a considerable period, but Bedri succeeded in avoiding an encounter. Finally I called up one of my secretaries and told him to go out and hunt for the missing Prefect. " Tell Bedri," I said, " that I have Talaat under arrest in his own officej and that I shall not let him leave it until he has been able to instruct Bedri to release Sir Edwin Pears." , Talaat was greatly enjoying the comedy of the situation. He knew Bedri's ways even better than I did, and he was much interested in seeing whether I should succeed in finding him. But in a few moments the telephone rang. It was Bedri. I told Talaat to tell him that I was going to the prison in my own automobile to get Sir Edwin Pears. • " Please don't let him do that," replied Bedri. " Such an occurrence would make me personally ridiculous and destroy m\ T influence." More Adventures of the Foreign Residents 169 " Very well," I replied, " I shall wait until 6.15. If Sir Edwin is not restored to his family by that time I shall go to the Police Headquarters and get him." As I returned to the Embassy I stopped at the Pears' residence and attempted to soothe Lady Pears and her daughter. "If your father is not here at 6.15," I told Miss Pears,' " please let me know immediately." Promptly at that time my telephone rang. It was Miss Pears, who informed me that Sir Edwin had just reached home. The next day Sir Edwin called at the Embassy to thank me for my efforts on his behalf. He told me that the German Am- bassador had also worked for his release. This latter statement naturally surprised me ; I knew no one else had had a chance to do anything, as everything transpired while I was in Talaat's office. Half an hour afterward I met Wangenheim himself; he dropped in at Mrs. Morgenthau's reception. I referred to the Pears case and asked him whether he had used any influence in securing his release. My question astonished him greatly. " What ? " he said. "I helped you to secure his release ! Der cite gauner ! (The old rascal.) Why, I was the man who had him arrested ! " " What have vou got against him ? " I asked. " In 1876," Wangenheim replied, " that man was pro-Russian and against Turkey ! " Such are the long memories of the Germans ! in 1870 bir Edwin wrote several articles for the London Daily News des- cribing the Bulgarian massacres. At that time the reports of these fiendish atrocities were generally disbelieved, and Sir Edwin's letters placed all the incontrovertible facts before the English-speaking peoples and had much to do with the emancipa- tion of Bulgaria from Turkish rule. This act of humanity and journalistic statesmanship had brought Sir Edwin much fame, and now, after forty years, Germany proposed to punish him by casting him into a Turkish prison ! Again the Turks proved more considerate than their German allies, for they not only gave Sir Edwin his liberty and his papers, but permitted him to return to London. Bedri, however, was a little mortified at my successful intervention in this instance/ and decided to even up the score. Next to Sir Edwin Pears, the most prominent English-speaking barrister in Constantinople was Dr. Mizzi, a Maltese, seventy years old. The ruling powers had a grudge against him, for he was the proprietor of the Levant Herald, a paper which had published articles criticising the Union and Progress Committee. 170 Secrets of the Bosphorus On the very night of the Pears episode Bedri went. to Dr. Mizzi's house at eleven o'clock, routed the old gentleman out of bed, arrested him, and placed him on a train for Angora, in Asia Minor. As a terrible epidemic of typhus was raging in Angora, this was not a desirable place of residence for a man of Dr. Mizzi's years. The next morning, when I heard of it for the first time, Dr. Mizzi was well on the way to his place of exile. ' This time I got ahead of you ! " said Bedri, with a trium- phant laugh. He was as good-hatured about it and as pleased as a boy. At last he had " put one over " on the American Ambassador, who had been unguardedly asleep in his. bed when this old man had been railroaded to a fever camp in Asia Minor. But Bedri 's success was not so complete, after, all. At my request Talaat had Dr. Mizzi sent to Konia, instead of to Angora. There one of the American missionaries, Dr. Dodd, had a splendid hospital! I arranged that Dr. Mizzi could have a nice" room in this building, and here he lived for several months, with congenial associates, good food, a healthy atmosphere, all the books he wanted, and one thing without which he would • have been utterly miserable — a piano. So I still thought that the honours between Bedri and myself were a little better than even. When the English authorities arrested the Turkish Consul and his staff at Saloniki, the Turks promptly imprisoned nine leading members of the French colony. It took me nearly three weeks to have them released. Early in January, 1916, word was received that the English were maltreating Turkish war prisoners in Egypt. Soon afterward I received letters from two Australians, Commander Stoker and Lieutenant Fitzgerald, telling me that they had been confined for eleven days in a miserable, damp dungeon at the War Office, with no companions except a mon- strous swarm of vermin. These two naval officers had come to Constantinople in submarines which had made the daring trip from England, dived under the mines in the Dardanelles, and arrived in the Mannora, where for several weeks they terrorised and dominated this inland sea, practically putting an end to all shipping. The particular . submarine in which my correspondents arrived, the £15, had been caught in the Dardanelles, and its crew and officers had been sent to the Turkish military prison at Afium Kara Hissar in Asia Minor. When news of the alleged maltreatment of Turkish prisoners in Egypt was received, lots were drawn among these prisoners to see which two should be taken to Constantinople and imprisoned in reprisal. Stoker and Fitzgerald drew the unlucky numbers, and had been lying in this More Adventures of the Foreign Residents 171 terrible underground cell for eleven days. I immediately took the matter up with Enver and suggested that a neutral doctor and officer examine the Turks in Egypt and report on the truth of the stones. We promptly received word that the report was false and that, as a matter of fact, the Turkish prisoners in English hands were receiving excellent treatment. About this time I called on Monsignor Dolci, the Apostolic Delegate in Turkey. He happened to refer to a Lieutenant Fitzgerald, who, he said, was then a prisoner of war at Afium Kara Hissar. "I am much interested in him," said Monsignor Dolci because he is engaged to the daughter of the British Minister to the Vatican. I spoke to Enver about him, and he promised that he would receive special treatment." " What is his first name ? " I asked " Jeffrey." "He's receiving 'special treatment' indeed," ,1 answered Do you know that he is in a dungeon in Constantinople this very moment ? " Naturally M. Dolci was much disturbed,' but I reassured him saying that his protege would be* released in a few days. ' You see how shamefully you treated these young men " I now.said to Enver ; " you should do something to make amends." . All right; what would you suggest ? " Stoker and Fitzgerald were prisoners of war, and, according to the usual rule, would have been sent back to the prison camp after being released from their dungeon. I now proposed that Enver should give them a vacation of eight days in Constanti- nople. He entered into the spirit of the occasion, and the men were released. They certainly presented a sorry sight ; they had spent twenty-five days in the dungeon, with no chance to bathe or to shave, with no change of linen or any of the decencies of lite But Mr. Philip took charge, furnished them the necessaries and in a brief period we had before us two young and handsome British naval officers. Their eight days freedom turned out to be a triumphal procession, notwithstanding that they were always accompanied by an English-speaking Turkish officer Monsignor Dolci and the American Embassy entertained them at dinner, and they had a pleasant visit to the Girls' College. When the time came to return to their prison camp, the young men declared that they would be glad to spend another month in dungeons if they could have a corresponding period of freedom in the city when liberated. In spite of all that has happened I shall always have a kindly 172 Secrets of the Bosphorus feeling toward Enver for his treatment of Fitzgerald. I told the Minister of. War about the lieutenant's engagement. "Don't you think he's been punished enough? " I asked. " Why don't you let the boy go home and marry his sweet- heart ? " The proposition immediately appealed to Enver's senti- mental side. "I'll do it," he replied, " if he will give me his word of honour not to fight again,st Turkey any more/' Fitzgerald naturally gave this promise, and so his com- paratively brief stay in the dungeon had the result of freeing him from imprisonment and restoring him to happiness. As poor Stoker had formed no romantic attachments that would have justified a similar plea in his case, he had to go back to the prison in Asia Minor. He did this, however, in a genuinely sporting spirit that was worthy of the best traditions of the British Navy. . CHAPTER XXI BULGARIA ON THE AUCTION BLOCK The failure of the Allied fleet at the Dardanelles did not definitely settle the fate of Constantinople. Naturally the Turks and the Germans felt immensely relieved when the fleet sailed away. But they were by no means entirely easy in their mind. The most direct road to the ancient capital still remained available to their enemies. In early September, '1915, one of the most influential Germans in the city gave me a detailed explanation of the prevailing military situation. He summed up the whole matter in the single phrase : " We cannot hold the Dardanelles without the military support of Bulgaria." This meant, of course, that unless Bulgaria adopted the cause of Turkey and the Central Powers, the Gallipoli expedition would succeed, Constantinople would fall, the Turkish Empire would collapse, Russia would be recreated as an economic and military power, and the War, in a comparatively brief period, would terminate in a victory for the Entente. Not improbably the real neutrality of Bulgaria would have had the same result. It is thus perhaps not too much to say that, in September and October of 1915, the Bulgarian Government held the duration of the war in its hands. This fact is of such pre-eminent importance that I can hardly emphasise it too strongly. I suggest that my readers take down the map of a part of the world with which they are not very familiar — that of the Balkan States, as determined by the Treaty of Bucharest. All that remains of European Turkey is a small irregular area stretching, perhaps, one hundred miles west of Constantinople. The nation whose land is contiguous every- where to Turkey is Bulgaria. The main railroad line to Western Europe starts at Constantinople and runs through Bulgaria, by way of Adrianople, Phillipopolis, and Sofia. At that time Bulgaria could create an army of 500,000 well-trained, completely organised troops. Should these once start marching toward Constantinople there was practically nothing to bar their^way. Turkey had a considerable army, it. is true, but it was then 174 Secrets of the Bosphorus finding plenty of employment repelling the Allied forces at the Dardanelles and the Russians in the Caucasus. With Bulgaria hostile, Turkey could obtain neither troops nor munitions from Germany. Turkey would have been completely isolated, and, under the pounding of Bulgaria, would have disappeared as a military force, and as a European State, in one very brief campaign. I wish to direct particular attention to this railroad, for it was, after all, the main strategic prize for which Germany was contending. After leaving Sofia, it crosses north-eastern Serbia, the most important stations being at Nish and Belgrade. From the latter point it crosses the River Save and, later, the River Danube, and thence pursues its course to Budapest and Vienna and thence to Berlin. Practically all the military operations that took place in the Balkans in 1915-16 had for their ultimate object the possession of this road. Once holding this line. Turkey and Germany would no longer be separated ; economic- ally and militarily they would become a unit. The Dardanelles, as I ' have described, was the link that connected Russia with' her allies ; with this passage closed, Russia's collapse rapidly followed. The valley of the Morava and the Maritza, in which this railroad is laid, constituted for Turkey a kind of waterless Dardanelles. In her possession it gave her access to her allies ; in the possession of her enemies, the Ottoman Empire would go to pieces. Only the accession of Bulgaria, to the Teutonic cause could give the Turks and Germans this advantage. As soon as Bulgaria entered, that section of the railroad extending to the Serbian frontier would at once become available. If Bulgaria joined the Central Powers as an .active participant, the conquest of Serbia would inevitably follow, and this would give the link extending from Nish to Belgrade to the Teutonic Powers. Thus the Bul- garian alliance would make Constantinople a suburb of Berlin, place all the resources of the Krupps at the disposal of the Turkish Army, make inevitable the failure of the Allied attack on Gallipoli, and lay the foundation of that Oriental Empire which had been for thirty years the mainspring of German policy. It is thus apparent what my German friend meant when, in early September, he said that, "without Bulgaria we cannot hold the Dardanelles." Everybody sees this so clearly now that there is a prevalent belief that Germany had arranged this Bulgarian alliance before the outbreak of the war. On- this point I have no information. That the Bulgarian King and the Bulgaria on the Auction Block 175 Kaiser may have arranged this co-operation in advance is not unlikely. But we must not make the mistake of believing that this settled the matter, for the experiences of the last few years show us that treaties are not always lived up to. Whether there was an understanding or not, I know that the Turkish officials and the Germans by no means regarded it as settled that Bulgaria would take their side. In their talks with me they constantly showed the utmost apprehension over the outcome ; and at one time the fear was general that Bulgaria would take the side of the Entente. I had my first personal contact with the Bulgarian negotia- tions in the latter part of May, when I was informed that M. Kolbucheff, the Bulgarian Minister, had notified Robert College that the Bulgarian students could not remain in Constantinople until the end of the college year, but would have to return home by June 5th. The College for Women had also received word that all the Bulgarian girls must return at the same time. Both these American institutions had many Bulgarian students, in most cases splendid representatives of their country ; it is through these colleges, indeed, that the distant United States and Bulgaria had established such friendly relations. But they had never had such an experience before. Everybody was discussing the meaning of this move. It seemed quite apparent. The chief topic of conversation at that time was Bulgaria. Would she enter the war ? If so, on which side would she cast her fortunes ? One day it was reported that she would join the Entente ; the next day that she had decided to ally herself with the Central Powers. The prevailing belief was that she was actively bargaining with both sides and looking for the highest terms. Should Bulgaria go with the Entente, however, it would be undesirable to have any Bulgarian subjects marooned in Turkey. As the boys and girls in the American colleges usually came from important Bulgarian families — one of the girls was the daughter of General Ivanoff, who led the Bul- garian Armies in the Balkan Wars — the Bulgarian Government might naturally have a particular interest in their safety. The conclusion reached by most people was that Bulgaria had decided to take the side of the Entente. The news rapidly spread throughout Constantinople. The Turks were particularly impressed. Dr. Patrick, President of Constantinople College, arranged a special hurried gathering for her Bulgarian students, which I attended. It was a sad occasion, more like a funeral than the festivity that usually took place. I found the Bulgarian girls almost in a hysterical state ; they all believed 176 Secrets of the Bosphorus that war was coming immediately, and that they were being bundled home merely to prevent them from falling into the clutches of the Turks. My sympathies were so aroused that we brought them down to the American Embassy, where we all spent a delightful evening. After dinner the girls dried their eyes and entertained us by singing many of their beautiful Bulgarian songs, and what had started as a mournful day thus had a happy ending. Next morning the girls all left for Bulgaria. A few weeks afterwards the Bulgarian Minister told me that the Government had summoned the students home merely for political effect. There was no immediate likelihood of war, he said, but Bulgaria wished Germany and Turkey to understand that there was still a chance that she might join the Entente. Bulgaria, as all of us suspected, was apparently on the auction block. The one fixed fact in the Bulgarian position was the determinatfon to have Macedonia. Everything, said Koloucheff, depended upon that. His conversations reflected the general Bulgarian view that Bulgaria had fairly won this territory in the first Balkan War, that the Powers had unjustly permitted her to be deprived of it, that it was Bulgarian by race, language, and tradition, and that there could be no permanent peace in the Balkans until it was returned to its rightful possessors. But Bulgaria insisted on more than a promise, to be redeemed after the war was over ; she demanded immediate occupation. Once Macedonia was turned over to Bulgaria, she would join her forces to those of the Entente. There were two great prizes in the game then being played in the Balkans : one was Macedonia, which Bulgaria must have, and" the other Constantinople, which Russia was determined to get. Bulgaria was entirely willing that Russia should have Constantinople if she herself could obtain Macedonia. I was given to understand that the Bulgarian General Staff had plans all completed for the capture of Constantinople, and that they had shown these plans to the Entente. Their pro- gramme" called for a Bulgarian army of 300,000 men advancing upon Constantinople twenty-three days from the time the signal to start should be given — but promises of Macedonia would not suffice ; they must have possession. Bulgaria recognised the difficulties of the Allied position. She did not believe that Serbia and Greece would voluntarily surrender Macedonia, nor did she believe that the Allies would dare to take this country away from them by force. In that event, she thought that there was a danger that Serbia might H Cm O cS ■m in T3 s s < e ttrrWiTT— u. - ■eg*,- Bulgaria on the Auction Block 177 make a separate peace with the Central Powers. On the other Mnd BnTgaria would object if Serbia received Bosnia and Herzegovina as compensation for the loss of Macedonia , she FeirSTen^argedLrbia would be.a consul ^men ace to , hg and hence a future menace to peace in the Balkans, thus tne situation was extremely difficult and complicated Onp of the best informed men in Turkey was raui vveiw, the coLspondent of the Frankfurter Zeitung. Weitz was more toT&ist ; he had spent thirty j jars in C^^ had the most intimate personal knowkdge of ^™ s ^ and he was the confidant and adviser of the Ge ™\^™ D r ^f ' His duties there were really semi-diplomatic. Weitz had really Bulgaria Germany's ally. n«i««,ria bv doing ££& 3&& ; W^ the othef hand ^ had now . Steals as ssE^^ssfe had great strategic advantages and represented a genuine SaC fhe e M y aritzfliver, a few miles north of Enos , bends to the east to the north, and then to the west again creating a block of territorv with an area of nearly 1,000 q^liL^cluding the important cities of ^£&£ agatch, and half of Adrianople. ™^t ^es^J^J™ ticular v important is that it contains about fifty milesottne railroad which runs from Dedeagatch to Sofou AU ton* road, that is except this fifty miles, is laid m Bulganan ternary , this short strip, extending through Tur^Bgg communications with the Mediterranean. Nati^aUy ^mgan«i yenned for this strip of land, and Turkey now handed it over 178 Secrets of the Bosphorus to her. This cession cleared up the whole Balkan situation and made Bulgaria an ally of Turkey and the Central Powers. Besides the railroad, Bulgaria obtained that part of Adrianople which lay west of the Maritza River. In addition, of course, Bulgaria was to receive Macedonia as soon as that province could be occupied by Bulgaria and her allies. I vividly remember the exultation of Weitz when this agree- ment was signed. " It's all settled," he told me. " Bulgaria has decided to join us. It was all arranged last night at Sofia." The Turks also were greatly relieved. For the first time they saw the way out of their troubles. The Bulgarian arrange- ment, Enver told me, had taken a tremendous weight off their minds. " We Turks are entitled to the credit," he said, " of bringing Bulgaria in on the side of the Central Powers. She would never have come to our assistance if we hadn't given her that slice of land. By surrendering it immediately, and not waiting until the end of the war, we showed our good faith. It was verj^ hard for us to do it, of course, especially to give up part of the city of Adrianople, but it was worth the price. We really surrendered this territory in exchange for Constantinople, for if Bulgaria had not come in on our side we would have lost this city. Just think how enormously we have improved our position. We have had to keep more than 200,000 men at the Bulgarian frontier, to protect us against any possible attack from that quarter. We can now transfer all these troops to the Gallipoli Peninsula, and thus make it absolutely impossible that the Allies' expedition can succeed. We are also greatly hampered at the Dardanelles by the lack of ammunition. But Bulgaria, Austria, and Ger- many are to make a joint attack on Serbia and will completely control that country in a few weeks, so we shall have a direct railroad line from Constantinople into Austria and Germany and can get all the war supplies which we need. With Bulgaria on- our side no attack can be made on Constantinople from the north ; we have created an impregnable bulwark against Russia. " I do not deny that the situation has caused us great anxiety. We were afraid that Greece and Bulgaria would join hands, and that would also bring in Rumania. Then Turkey would have been lost ; they would have had us between a pair of pincers. But now we have only one task before us, that is to drive the English and French at the Dardanelles into the sea. With all the soldiers and all the ammunition which we need, we shall do Bulgaria on the Auction Block 179 this in a very short time. We gave up that piece of land because we saw that that was the way to win the war." The outcome justified Enver's prophecies in almost everjr detail. Three months after Bulgaria accepted the Teutonic bribe the Entente admitted defeat and withdrew its forces from the Dardanelles, and with this withdrawal Russia, which was the greatest potential source of strength to the Allied cause, and the country which, properly organised and supplied, might have brought the Allies a speedy triumph, disappeared as a vital factor in the war. When the British and French withdrew from Gallipoli they turned adrift this huge hulk of a country to flounder to anarchy, dissolution, and ruin. The Germans celebrated this great triumph in a way that was characteristically Teutonic. In their minds, January- 17th, 1916, stands out as one of the great dates in the war. There was great rejoicing in Constantinople, for the first Balkan express — or, as the Germans called it, the Balkanzug — was due to arrive that afternoon. The railroad station was decorated with flags and flowers, and the whole German and Austrian population of Constantinople, including the Embassy staffs, assembled to welcome the incoming train. As it finally rolled into the station, thousands of " hochs " went up from as many raucous throats. Since that January 17th, 1916, the Balkanzug has run. regularly from Berlin to Constantinople. The Germans believe that it is as permanent a feature of the new Germanic Empire as the line from Berlin to Hamburg. CHAPTER XXII THE TURK REVERTS TO THE ANCESTRAL TYPE The" defeat of the English fleet at the Dardanelles had con- sequences which the world does not yet completely understand. The practical effect of the event, as I have said, was to isolate the Turkish Empire from all the world, excepting Germany and Austria. England, France, Russia, and Italy, which for a century had held a threatening hand over the Ottoman Empire, had now lost all power to influence or control. The Turks now perceived that a series of dazzling events had changed them from cringing dependents of the European Powers into free agents. For the first time in two centuries they could now live their national life according to their own inclinations and govern their peoples according to their own will. The first expression of this rejuvenated national life was an episode which, so far as I know, is the most terrible in the history of the world. New Turkey, freed from European tutelage, celebrated its national rebirth by murdering not far from a million of its own subjects. I can hardly exaggerate the effect which the repulse of the Allied fleet produced upon the Turks. They believed that they had won the really great decisive battle of the war. For several centuries, they said, the British fleet had victoriously sailed the seas, and, had now met its first serious reverse at the hands of the Turks. In the first moments of their pride the Young Turk leaders now saw visions of the complete resurrection of their Empire. What had for two centuries been a decaying nation had suddenly started on a mew and glorious life. In their pride and arrogance the Turks began to look with disdain upon the people who had taught them what they knew of modern warfare, and nothing angered them so much as any suggestion that they owed any part of their success to their German allies. " Why should we feel any obligation to the Germans ? ' Enver would say to me. " What have they done for us which compares with what we have done for them ? They have lent us some money and sent us a few officers, it is true, but see what we have done ! We have defeated the British fleet — something which the Germans and no other nation could do. We have The Turk Reverts to the Ancestral Type 181 stationed large armies in the Caucasus, and so have kept busy large bodies of Russian troops that would have been used on the Western front. Similarly we have compelled England to keep large armies in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and in that way we have weakened the Allied armies in France. No, the Germans could never have achieved their military successes without us ; ! the shoe of obligation is entirely on their foot." This conviction possessed all the leading men in Turkey, and now began to have a determining effect upon Turkish national life and Turkish policy. Essentially the Turk is a bully and a coward ; he is as brave as a lion when things are going his way, but cringing, abject, and nerveless when reverses are overwhelming him. And now that the fortunes of war were apparently favour- ing the Empire, I began to see an entirely new Turk unfolding before my eyes. The hesitating and fearful Ottoman, feeling his way cautiously amid the mazes of European diplomacy, and seeking opportunities to find an advantage for himself in the divided counsels of the European Powers, now gave place to an upstanding, almost dashing, figure, proud and assertive, deter- mined to live his own life, and absolutely contemptuous of his Christian foes. I was really witnessing a remarkable development in race psychology — an almost classical instance of reversion to type. The ragged, 'unkempt Turk of the twentieth century was vanishing, and in his place was appearing the Turk of the fourteenth and the fifteenth, the Turk who had swept out of his Asiatic fastnesses, conquered all the powerful peoples in his way, and founded in Asia, Africa, and Europe one of the most extensive empires that history has known. If we are properly to appreciate this new Talaat and Enver, and the events which now took place, we must understand the Turk who, under Osman and his successor, exercised this mighty but devastating influence in the world. We must realise that the basic fact underlying the Turkish mentality is its utter contempt for all other races. A fairly insane pride is the element that largely explains this strange human species. The common term applied by the Turk to the Christian is " dog," and in his estimation this is no mere rhetorical figure ; he actually looks upon his European neighbours as far less worthy of consideration th,an his own domestic animals. " My son," an old Turk once said, " do you see that herd of swine ? Some are white, some are black, some are large, some are small ; they differ from each other in some respects, but thev are all swine. So it is with Christians. Be not ?°2 Secrets of the Bosphorus deceived, my son. These Christians may wear fine clothes, their women may be very beautiful to look upon ; their skins are white and splendid ; many of them are very intelligent, and they build wonderful cities and create what seem to be great States. But remember that underneath all this dazzling exterior they are all the same — they are all swine." I have talked with many of the splendid men and women whom America has sent as missionaries to Turkey. They tell me that, in the presence of a Turk, they are always conscious of this attitude. The Turk may be obsequiously polite, but there is invariably an almost unconscious feeling that he is mentally shrinking from his American friend as something unclean. And this fundamental conviction for centuries directed the Ottoman policy toward its subject peoples. This wild horde swept from the plains of Central Asia and, like a whirlwind, overwhelmed the nations of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, conquered Egypt, Arabia, and practically all of Northern Africa and then poured into Europe, crushed the Balkan nations, occupied a large part of Hungary, and even established the outposts of the Ottoman Empire in the southern part of Russia. So far as I can discover, the Ottoman Turks had only one great quality, that of military genius. They had several military leaders of commanding ability,and the early conquering Turks were brave, fanatical, and tenacious fighters, just as their descendants are to- day. I think that these old Turks present the most complete illus- tration in history of the brigand idea in politics. They were lacking in what we may call the fundamentals of a civilised community. They had no alphabet and no art of writing, no books, no poets, no art, and no '' architecture ; they built no cities and thus established no orderly state. They knew no law except the rule of might, and they had practically no agriculture and no in- dustrial organisation. They were simply wild and marauding horsemen, whose one conception of tribal success was to pounce upon people who were more civilised than themselves and plunder them. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries these tribes overran the cradle of modern civilisation, which has given Europe its religion and, to a large extent, its civilisation. At that time these territories were the seats of many peaceful and prosperous nations. The Mesopotamian valley supported a •large industrious agricultural population ; Bagdad was one of the largest and most flourishing cities in existence; Constan- tinople had a greater population than Rome, and the Balkan region and Asia Minor contained several powerful States. Over The Turk Reverts to the Ancestral Type 183 ,11 this Dart of the world the Turk now swept like a huge, dcstruc- dvetrS Mesopotamia iu a few years became a Resort ; the great cities of the East were reduced to misery, and the subject ^^^Hsation as the Turk has acquired in five centuries have practically all been taken from the ubie opts whom he.so greatly despises.. His religion cSs fr P om P the Arabs; his language^ acquirec a «ta tSs Val and hfs S?A* C^A^f Lnvd tom Se ByzaZe. The mechanism of busmess and SS3 &£**l*££& ha^eltablished very few ^I^hTcours" TZl these Turks might learn certain things f rorn n thdrEur S opean and Arabic ^^^ZZ mWMBM human beings Of all these Jiving jni g ; , ^ as the nhvsicallv most resembled themselves tney ic ? to the Christian was rayah— meaning cattle it sir 184 Secrets of the Bosphorus contact with the Ottoman administrative and judicial system. The Sultans similarly erected the several peoples each as the Greeks and Armenians into separate " millets," or nations, not because they desired to promote their independence and welfare, but because they regarded them as vermin, and therefore dis- qualified for membership in the Ottoman State. The attitude of the Government toward their Christian subjects was illustrated by certain regulations which limited their freedom of action. The buildings in which Christians lived should not be conspicuous, and their churches should have no belfry. Christians were not permitted to ride a horse, for that was the exclusive right of the noble Moslems. If a Turk in the street should, ask a Christian to clean his shoes, the latter must do so under penalty of death. The Turk had the right to test the sharpness of his sword upon the neck of any Christian. One of the most remarkable official documents ever devised is the burial permit which the Ottoman Govern- ment used to issue, up to a hundred years ago, for the interment of its Christian subjects. The following is a literal translation:— "Oh thou irreligious prielt, who hast been expelled from the presence of God, thou that wearest the crown of the devil and black raiments, so andfso of your congregation of polluted infidels having died— although his desecrated corpse is not acceptable to the earth, yet as its terrible stench will become a public nuisance, take the polluted dead one, open a ditch, throw him in it, trample him under foot, and come back, thou infidel swine \ " Imagine a great Government, year in and year out, maintaining this attitude toward many millions of its own subjects ! And for centuries the Turks simply lived like parasites upon these overburdened and industrious people. They taxed them to economic extinction, stole their most beautiful daughters and forced them into their harems, took Christian male infants by the hundreds of thousands and brought them up as Moslem soldiers. I have no intention of describing the terrible vassalage and oppression that went on for five centuries ; my purpose is merely to emphasise this innate attitude of the Moslem Turk to people not of his own race and religion— that they are not human beings with rights, but merely chattels, which may be permitted to live when they promote the interest of their masters, but which may be. pitilessly destroyed when they have ceased to be useful. This attitude is intensified by a disregard for human life and an intense delight in physical human suffering which are the not unusual attributes of primitive peoples. The Turk Reverts to the Ancestral Type 18= Such were the mental characteristics ©f the Turk in his days of military greatness. In recent times his attitude toward foreigners and his subject peoples had superficially changed His own military decline, and the ease with which the infidel nations defeated his finest armies, had apparently given the haughty descendants of Osman a respect at least for their prowess. The rapid disappearance of his own Empire in a hundred years the creation out of the Ottoman Empire of new States like Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Rumania, and the wonderful improvement which had followed the destruction of the lurkish yoke in these benighted lands, may have increased the Ottoman hatred for the unbeliever, but at least they had a certain influence in opening his eyes to his importance. Many Turks also now . received their education in European universities, they studied in their professional schools, and they became physicians, surgeons, lawyers, engineers, and chemists of the modern kind. However much the more progressive Moslems might despise their Christian associates, they could not ignore the fact that the finest things in this temporal world at least, were the products of European and American civilisation. And now that one development of modern history which seemed to be least under- standable to the Turk began to force itself upon the consciousness of -the more intelligent and progressive. Certain leaders arose who began to speak surreptitiously of such things as Con- stitutionalism/' "Liberty," " Self-Government," and to whom the Declaration of Independence contained certain truths that might have a value even for Islam. These daring spirits began to dream of overturning the autocratic Sultan and of substituting a parliamentary system for his irresponsible rule. I have already described the rise and fall of this Young Turk movement under such leaders as Talaat, Enver, Djemal, and their associates m the Committee ol Union and Progress. The point which I am emphasising here is that this movement presupposed a complete transformation of Turkish mentality, especially in its attitude toward subject peoples. No longer, under the reformed Turkish State, were Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, and Jews to be regarded as " filthy Giaours/' All these peoples were henceforth to have equal rights and equal duties. A general love-feast now followed the establishment ol the new regime, and scenes of almost frenzied reconciliation, m which Turks and Armenians embraced each other publicly, apparently signalised the absolute union of the once an- tagonistic peoples. The Turkish leaders, such as Talaax and Enver visited Christian churches and sent forth prayers of i86 Secrets of the Bosphorus thanksgiving for the new order, and went to Armenian cemeteries to shed tears of retribution over the bones • of the martyred Armenians who lay there. Armenian priests reciprocally paid their tributes to the Turks in Mohammedan mosques. Enver Pasha visited several Armenian schools, telling the children that the old days of Moslem-Christian strife had passed for ever and that the two peoples were now to live together as brothers and sisters. There were cynics who smiled at all these demonstrations, and yet one development encouraged even them to believe that an earthly Paradise had arrived. All through the period of domina- tion only the master Moslem had been permitted to bear anus and serve in the Ottoman Army. To be a soldier was an occupa- tion altogether too manly and glorious for the despised Armenian. But now the Young Turks encouraged all Armenians to arm, and enrolled them in the Army on an equality with Moslems. These Armenians fought, both as officers and soldiers, in the Italian and the Balkan Wars, winning high praise from the Turkish Generals for their valour and skill. Armenian leaders had figured conspicuously in the Young" Turk movement ; these men apparently believed that a constitutional Turkey was possible, and they preferred such a Turkey to the suzerainty of the great European Powers or even to an independent State of their own. They were conscious of their own intellectual and industrial superiority to the Turks, and knew that they could prosper in the Ottoman Empire if left alone, whereas, under European control, they would have greater difficulty in meeting competition of the more rigorous European colonists who might come in. With the deposition of the Red Sultan, Abdul Hamid, and the establishment of a constitutional system, the Armenians now for the first time in several centuries felt themselves to be free men. But, as I have already described, all these abpirations vanished like a dream. Long before the European war began the Turkish democracy had disappeared. The power of the new Sultan had gone, and the hopes of regenerating Turkey on modern fines had disappeared, leaving only a group of individuals, headed by Talaat and Enver, actually in possession of the State. Having lost their democratic aspirations, these men now supplanted it with a new national conception. In place of a democratic constitutional State tbey resurrected the idea of Pan-Turkism ; in place of equal treatment of all Ottomans they decided to establish a country exclusively for Turks. I have called this a new conception ; yet it was new only to the individuals who then controlled the destiny of the Empire, for, in reality, it was merely The Turk Reverts to the Ancestral Type 187 on attempt to revive the most barbaric ideas of. their ancestors. It represented, as I have said, merely an atavistic reversion to the original Turk. , . . ' We now saw that the Turkish leaders, m talking about liberty, equality, fraternity, and constitutionalism, were merely children repeating phrases ; that they had used the word " democracy " merely as a ladder by which to climb to power. After five hundred years' close contact with European civilisation the Turk remained precisely the same individual as the one who had emerged from the steppes of Asia in the Middle Ages. He was clinging just as tenaciously as his ancestors to that con- ception of a State as consisting of a few master individuals whose right it is to enslave and plunder and maltreat any peoples whom they can subject to their military control. Though Ta,aat, Enver and Djemal all came of the humblest families the same fundamental ideas of master and slave possessed them that formed the statecraft of Osman and the early Sultans. We now discovered that a paper constitution, and even tearful visits to Christian churches and cemeteries, could not uproot the inborn preconception of this nomadic people, that there are only two kinds of people in the world— the conquering and the conquered. When the Turkish Government abrogated the capitulations, and in this way freed themselves from the domination of foreign Powers, they were merely taking one step toward realising this Pan-Turkish ideal. I have told of the difficulties which I had with them over the Christian schools. Their determination to uproot these, or at least to transform them into Turkisn institutions, was merely another detail in. the same racial progress. Similarly, they attempted to make all foreign business houses ' employ only Turkish labour, insisting that they should discharge then Greek, Armenian, and Jewish clerks, stenographers, work- men and other employees. They ordered foreign business houses to keep their books in Turkish, and I had some difficulty in arranging a compromise by which they could keep them m both ^ r !nch and Turkish. The Ottoman Government even refused to have any dealings with the representative of the largest Austrian munition maker unless he admitted a iurk as a mrtner They developed a mania for suppressing all languages except Turkish For decades French had been the accepted language of foreigners in Constantinople ; all street signs were Printed in both French and Turkish. One morning tne aston- ished foreign residents discovered that all these French signs had been removed and that the names of streets the directions on street cars, and other public notices, appeared only m these Secrets of the Bosphorus -ii, i ago Turkish characters, which very few of them understood. Great confusion resulted from this change, but the ruling powers refused to restore the detested foreign language. These leaders not only reverted to the barbaric conceptions of their ancestors, but they went to extremes that had never entered the minds of the wary Sultans. Their .fifteenth- and sixteenth-century predecessors treated the subject peoples as dirt under their feet, yet they believed that they had a certain usefulness and did not disdain to make them their serfs. But this Committee of Union and Progress, led by Talaat and Enver, now decided to do away with them altogether. The old conquer- ing Turks had made the Christians their servants, but their parvenu descendants bettered 'their instruction, for they deter- mined to exterminate them wholesale and Turkify the Empire by massacring the non-Moslem elements. Originally this was not the statesmanlike conception of Talaat and Enver ; the man who first devised it was one of the greatest monsters known to history, the " Red Sultan," Abdul Hamid. This man came to the throne in 1876, at a critical period in Turkish history. In the first two years of his reign he lost Bulgaria, as well as important provinces in the Caucasus, his last remaining vestiges of sovereignty in Montenegro, Serbia, and Rumania, and all his real powers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Greece had long since become an independent nation, and the processes that were to wrench E^ypt from the Ottoman Empire had already begun. As the Sultan took stock of his inheritance, he could easily -foresee the day when all the rest of his domain would pass into the hand of the infidel. What had caused this disintegration of this extensive Turkish Empire ? The real cause, of course, lay deep in the character of the Turk, but Abdul Hamid saw only the more obvious fact that the intervention of the great European Powers had brought relief to these imprisoned nations. Of all the new kingdoms which had been carved out of the Sultan's dominions, Serbia — let us remember this fact to her everlasting honour — is the only one that has conquered her own independence. Russia, France, and Great Britain have set free all the rest. And what had happened several times before might happen again. There still remained one compact race in the Ottoman Empire that had national aspirations and national potentialities. In the north-eastern part of Asia Minor bordering on Russia there were six provinces in which the Armenians formed the largest element in the population. From the times of Herodotus this portion of Asia has borne the name of Armenia. The Armenians' The Turk Reverts to the Ancestral Type 189 of the present day are the direct descendants of the people who in- habited the country three thousand years ago. Their origin is so ancient that it is lost in fable and mystery. There are still undeciphered cuneiform inscriptions on the rocky hills of Van, the largest Armenian city, that have led certain scholars — though not many, I must admit it — to identify the Armenian race with the Hittites of the Bible. What is definitely known about the Armenians, however, is that for ages they have constituted the most civilised and most industrious race in the eastern section of the Ottoman Empire. From their mountains they have, spread all over the Sultan's dominions, and form a considerable element in the population of all the large cities. Everywhere th^ey are known for their industry, their intelligence, and their decent and orderly lives. They are so superior to the Turks intellectually and morally that much of the business and industry had passed into their hands. With the Greeks, the Armenians constitute the economic strength of the Empire. These people became Christians in the fourth century and established the Armenian Church as their State religion. This is said to be the oldest State Church in existence. In face of persecutions which have no parallel elsewhere, these people have clung to their early Christian faith with the. utmost tenacity. For fifteen hundred years they have lived there in Armenia, a little island of Christians surrounded by backward peoples of hostile religion and hostile race. Their long existence has been one unending martyrdom. The territory which they inhabit forms the connecting link between Europe and Asia, and all the Asiatic invasions — Saracens, Tartars, Mongols, Kurds, and Turks — have passed over their peaceful country. For centuries they have thus been the Belgium of the East. Through all this period the Armenians have regarded them- selves not as Asiatics, but as Europeans. They speak an Indo-European language, their racial origin is believed to be by scholars Aryan, and the fact that their religion is the religion of Europe has always made them turn their eyes westward ; and out of that western country, they have always believed, would some day come the deliverance that would rescue them from their murderous masters. And now, as Abdul Hamid in 1876 sur- veyed his shattered domain, he saw that its most dangerous spot was Armenia. He believed, rightly or wrongly, that these Armenians, like the Rumanians, the Bulgarians, the Greeks, and the Serbians, aspired to restore their -independent individual nation, and he knew that Europe and America sympathised with this ambition. ' iqo Secrets of the Bosphorus i» The Treaty of Berlin, which had definitely ended the Turco- Russian War,, contained an article which gave the European Powers a protecting hand over the Armenians. How could he free himself permanently from this danger ? An en- lightened administration, which would have transformed the Armenians into free men and made them safe in their lives and property and civil and religious rights, would probably have made them peaceful and loyal subjects. But no Turk could rise to such a conception of statesmanship as this. Instead, Abdul Hamid decided that there was only one way of ridding Turkey of the Armenian problem— and that was to rid.her of the Armenians. The physical destruction of 2,000,000 men, women, and children by massacres, organised and directed by the State, seemed to be the one sure way of forestalling the further disruption of the Turkish Empire. One day Abdul Hamid sent for the Armenian Patriarch, the head of the Armenian Church. He received him in his palace directly overlooking the Bosphorus. The Sultan pointed to this stream and said : "If your Armenians do not stop agitating, I will make their blood flow like the Bosphorus out there ! ' And now for nearly thirty years Turkey gave the world an illustration of government by massacre. We in Europe and America heard of these events when they reached especially monstrous proportions, as they did in 1895-96, when nearly 200,000 Armenians were most atrociously done to death. But through all these years the existence of the Armenians was one continuous nightmare. Their property was stolen, their men were murdered, their women were ravished, their young girls were kidnapped and forced to live in Turkish harems. All these things happened daily. Yet Abdul Hamid was not able to accomplish his full purpose ; had he had his will, he would have massacred the whole nation in one hideous orgy. He attempted to do this in 1895, but found certain insuperable obstructions to his plan. Chief of these were England, France, and Russia. These atrocities called Gladstone, then eighty-six years old, from his retirement, and his speeches, in which he denounced the Sultan as "the Great Assassin " and "Abdul the Damned," aroused the whole world to the enormities that were taking place. It became apparent that, unless the Sultan desisted, England, France, and Russia would intervene, and the Sultan •well knew that, in case this intervention took place, such rem- nants of Turkey as had survived earlier partitions would dis- appear. Thus Abdul Hamid had to abandon his satanic enter- prise cf destroying a whole race by murder; yet Armenia The Turk Reverts to the Ancestral Type 191 continued to suffer the slow agony of pitiless persecution. Up to the outbreak of the European war not a day had passed in the Armenian vilayets without its outrages and its murders. The Young Turk regime, despite its promises of universal brotherhood, brought no respite to the Armenians. A few months after the love-f eastings already described, one of the worst massacres took place at Adana, in which 35,000 people were destroyed. And now the Young Turks, who had adopted so many of Abdul Hamid's ideas, also made his Armenian policy th'eir own. Their passion for Turkifying the nation seemed to demand logically the extermination of all Christians— Greeks, Syrians, and Armenians. Much as they admired the Mohammedan conquerors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, they now perceived that these great warriors had made one fatal mistake, for they had had it in their power completely to obliterate the Christian populations and had neglected to do so. This policy, in their opinion, was a fatal error of statesmanship, and explained all the woes from which Turkey has suffered in modern times. Had these old Moslem chieftains, when they conquered Bulgaria, put all the Bulgarians to the sword, and peopled the Bulgarian country with Moslem Turks, there would never have been any modern Bulgarian problem, and Turkey would never have lost this part of her Empire. Similarly, had they destroyed all the Rumanians, Serbians, and Greeks, the provinces which are now occupied by these races would still have remained integral parts of the Sultan's domain. They felt that the mistake had been a terrible one, but that something might be saved from the ruin. They would destroy all Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, and other Christians, move Moslem families into their homes and into their farms, and so make sure that these territories would not similarly be taken away from Turkey. In order to accomplish this great reform it would not be necessary to murder every living Christian. The most beautiful and healthy Armenian girls could be taken, converted forcibly to Mohammedanism, and made the wives or concubines of devout followers of the Prophet. Their children would then automatically become Moslems and so strengthen the Empire as the Janissaries did in former years. These Armenian girls represent a high type of womanhood, and the Young Turks, in their crude, intuitive way, recognised that the mingling of their blood with the Turkish population would exert a eugenic influence upon the whole. Armenian boys of tender years could be taken into Turkish families and be brought up in ignorance of the fact that they were anything but Moslems. ioj Secrets of the Bosphorus These were about the only elements, however, that could make any valuable contributions to the new Turkey which was now being planned. Since all precautions must be taken against the development 61 a new generation of Armenians, it would be necessary to kill outrighl all men who were in their prime and thus capable of propagating the accursed species. Old men and women formed no great danger to, the future of Turkey, for they had already fulfilled their natural fun< I ion of leaving descendants ; still, they wen- nuisances and therefore should be disposed of. tJrilikc Abdul Hamid, the Young Turks found themselves in a position where they could carry ouf this " holy" enterprise. Greal Britain, France, and Russia had stood in the way of their predei essor. But now these obstacles had been removed. The Young Turks, as I have said, believed that while they were at war wiih these nations they had no representatives in Turkey who ( on Id interfere with their interna] affairs. Only one Power could successfully raise objections, and that was Germany. But < rermany had never attempted to stop massacres in Turkey. In [898, when all the rest of Europe was ringing with Gladstone's denunciations and demanding intervention, Kaiser Wilhclm the Second had gone to Constantinople, visited Abdul Ilamid, pinned his finest decorations on that bloody tyrant's breast, and kissed Jiim on both checks. The same Kaiser who had done this in 1898 was still sitting on the throne in 1915, and was now Turkey's ally. Thus for the first time in two centuries the Turks, in 1915, had their Christian populations utterly at their mercy.* The time had finally come to make Turkey exclusively the country of the Turks. * a 73 D 73 8 a, a i— I 3 jjj 03 0> o a 5 v *a O o K CHAPTER XXIII THE " REVOLUTION " AT VAN The Turkish province of Van lies in the remote north-eastern corner of Asia Minor ; it touches the frontiers of Persia on the east and its northern boundary looks toward the Caucasus. It is one of the most beautiful and most fruitful parts of the Turkish Empire and one of the richest in historical associations. The city of Van, which is capital of the vilayet, lies on the eastern shores of the lake of the same name ; it is the one large town in 'Asia in which the Armenian population is larger than the Moslem. In the fall of 1914, its population of about 30,000 people repre- sented one of the most peaceful, happy, and prosperous com- munities in the Turkish Empire. Though Van, like practically every other section where Armenians lived, had had its periods of oppression and massacre, yet the Moslem yoke, comparatively speaking, rested upon its people rather lightly. Its Turkish Governor, Tahsin Pasha, was one of the more enlightened type of Turkish officials. Relations between the Armenians, who lived in the better section of the city, and the Turks and the Kurds, who occupied the mud huts in the Moslem quarter, had been tolerably agreeable for many years. The location of this vilayet, however, inevitably made it the scene of military operations, and made the activities of its Armenian population a matter of daily suspicion. Should Russia attempt an invasion of Turkey one of the most accessible routes lay through this province. The war had not gone far when causes of irritation arose. The requisitions of army supplies fell far more heavily upon the Christian than upon the Mohammedan elements in Van, just as they did in every other part of Turkey. The Armenians had to stand quietly by while the Turkish officers appropriated all their cattle, all their wheat, and ail their goods of every kind, giving them only worthless pieces of paper in exchange. The attempt at general disarmament that took place also aroused their apprehensions, which were increased by the brutal treatment visited upon Armenian soldiers in the Caucasus. On the other hand, the Turks made many charges against the Christian population, and, in fact, they o ig4 Secrets of the Bosphorus attributed to them the larger share of the blame for the reverses wliich the Turkish Armies had suffered in the Caucasus. The fact that a considerable element in the Russian forces was composed of Armenians aroused their unbridled wrath. Since about half the Armenians in the world inhabit the Russian provinces in the Caucasus, and are liable, like all Russians, to military service, there was certainly no legitimate grounds for complaint, so far as these Armenian levies were bona fide subjects of the Tsar. But the Turks asserted that large numbers of Armenian soldiers in Van and other of their Armenian provinces deserted, crossed the border, and joined the Russian Army, where their knowledge of roads and the terrain was an important factor in the Russian victories. Though the exact facts are not yet ascertained, it seems not unlikely that such desertions, perhaps a few hundred, did take place. At the beginning of the war Turkish officials appeared in this neighbourhood and appealed to the Armenian leaders to go into Russian Armenia and attempt to start revolutions against the Russian Government, and the fact that the Ottoman Armenians refused to do this contributed further to the prevailing irritation. The Turkish Government has made much of the ' treasonable ' : behaviour of the Arme- nians of Van, and have even urged it as an excuse for their subsequent treatment oi the whole race. Their attitude illustrates once more the perversity of the Turkish mind. After massacring hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the course of thirty years, outraging the women and girls, and robbing and maltreating them in every conceivable way, the Turks still apparently believed that they had the right to expect from them the most enthusiastic " loyalty." That the Armenians all over Turkey sympathised with the Entente was no secret. : ' If you want to know how the war is going," remarked a humorous Turkish newspaper, " all you need to do is to look in the face of an Armenian. If he is smiling, then the Allies are winning ; if he is downcast, then the Germans are successful." If an Ottoman Armenian soldier should desert and join the Russians that would unquestionably constitute a technical crime against the State, and might be punished without violating the rules of all civilised countries. Only the Turkish mind, however — and possibly the German — could regard it as furnishing an excuse for the terrible barbarities that now took place. Though the air all during the autumn and winter of 1914-15 was filled with premonitions of trouble, the Armenians behaved with remarkable self-restraint. For years it had been the The " Revolution " at Van 195 Turkish policy to provoke the Christian population into com- mitting overt acts, and then seizing upon such misbehaviour as an excuse for massacres. The Armenian clergy and political leaders saw many evidences that the Turks were now up to their old tactics, and they therefore went among the people, cautioning them to keep quiet, to bear all insults, and even outrages,,patiently, so as not to give the Moslems the opening which they were seeking. " Even though they burn a few of our villages," these leaders would say, " do not retaliate, for it is better that a few be destroyed than that the whole nation be massacred." When the war started, the Central Government recalled Tahsin Pasha, the conciliatory Governor of Van, and replaced him with Djevdet Bey, a brother-in-law of Enver Pasha. This act in itself was most disquieting. Turkish officialdom has always contained a minority of men who do not believe in massacres as a State policy and who cannot be depended upon to carry out strictly the most bloody orders of the Central Govern- ment. Whenever massacres have been planned, therefore, it has been customary first to remove such : ' untrustworthy " public servants and replace them with men who are regarded as more reliable. The character of Tahsin 's successor made his displacement still more alaiming. Djevdet had spent the larger part of his life at Van ; he was a man of unstable character, friendly to non-Moslems one moment, hostile the next, hypo- critical, treacherous, and ferocious according to the worst traditions of his race. He hated the Armenians and cordially sympathised with the long-established Turkish plan of solving the Armenian problem. There is little question that he came to Van with definite instructions to exterminate all Armenians in this province, but for the first few months conditions did not facilitate such operations. Djevdet himself was absent fighting the Russians in tne Caucasus, and the near approach of the enemy made it a wise policy for the Turks to refrain from maltreating the Armenians of Van. But early in the spring the Russians temporarily retreated. it is generally recognised as good military tactics for a vic- torious army to follow up the retreating enemy. In the eyes of the Turkish generals, however, the withdrawal of the Russians was a happy turn of war mainly because it deprived the Armenians of their protectors and left them at the mercies of the Turkish Army, instead of following the retreating foe, therefore, the Turks' Army turned aside and invaded their own territory of Van. Instead of fighting the trained Russian Army of men, they turned their riiles, machine guns, and other weapons upon the Armenian women, 196 Secrets of the Bosphorus children, and old men in the villages of Van. Following their usual custom, they distributed the most beautiful Armenian women among the Moslems, sacked and burned the Armenian villages, and massacred uninterruptedly for days. On April 15th about ^00 young Armenian men of Akantz were_mustered to hear an order of the Sultan ; at sunset they were marched outside the town and every man shot in cold blood. This procedure was repeated in about eighty Armenian villages in the district north of Lake Van, and in three days 24.000 Armenians were murdered in this atrocious fashion. A single episode illustrates the unspeakable depravity of Turkish methods. A conflict having broken out at Shadak, Djevdet Be}', who had meanwhile returned to Van, asked four of the lead- ing Armenian citizens to go to this town and attempt to quiet the multitude. These men made the trip, stopping at all Armenian villages along the way, urging everybody to keep public order. After completing their work these four Armenians were murdered in a Kurdish village. And so when Djevdet Bey, on his return to his official post, demanded that Van furnish him immediately 4,000 soldiers, the people were naturally in no mood to accede to his request. When we consider what had happened before, and what happened subsequently, there remains little doubt con- cerning the purpose which underlay this demand. Djevdet, acting in obedience to orders from Constantinople, was preparing to wipe out the whole population, and his purpose in calling for 4,000 able-bodied men was merely to massacre them, so that the rest of the Armenians might have no defenders. The Armenians, parleying to gain time, offered to furnish 500 soldiers and to pay exemption money for the rest. Now, however, Djevdet began to talk aloud about " rebellion," and his deter- mination to " crush " it at any cost. ' If the rebels fire a single shot," he declared, " I shall kill every Christian man, woman, and child up to here," pointing to his knee. For some time the Turks had been constructing entrenchments around the Armenian quarter and filling them with soldiers, and, in response to this provocation, the Armenians began to make pre- parations for a defence. On April 20th a band of Turkish soldiers seized several Armenian women who were entering the city; a couple of Armenians ran to their assistance and were shot dead. The Turks now opened fire on the Armenian quarters with rifles and artillery ; soon a large part of the town was in flames and a regular siege had started. The whole Armenian fighting force consisted of only 1,500 men ; they had only 300 rifles and a The " Revolution " at Van 107 most inadequate supply of ammunition, while Djevdet had an army of 5,000 men, completely'equipped and supplied ; vet the Armenians fought with the utmost heroism and skill. They had little chance of holding off their enemies indefinitely, yet they knew that a Russian Army was fighting its way to Van, and their utmost hope was that they would be able to defy the besiegers until these Russians arrived. As I am not writing the story of sieges and battles, I cannot describe in detail the numerous acts of individual heroism, the co-operation of the Armenian women, the ardour and energy of the Armenian children, the self-sacrificing zeal of the American missionaries — especially Dr. Usher and his wife and Miss Grace H. Knapp — and the thousand other circum- stances that make this terrible month one of the most glorious pages in modern Armenian history. The wonderful thing about it is that the Armenians triumphed. After nearly five weeks of sleepless fighting, the Russian Army suddenly ap- peared, and the Turks fled into the surrounding country, where they found appeasement for their anger by again massacring unprotected Armenian villages. Dr. Usher, the American medical missionary, whose hospital at Van was destroyed by bombardment, is authority for the statement that, after driving off the Turks, the Russians began to collect and to cremate the bodies of Armenians who had been murdered in the province, with the result that 55,000 bodies were burned. I have told this story of the " revolution " in Van not only because it marked the first stage in this organised attempt to wipe out a whole nation, but because these events are always brought forward by the Turks as a justification of their subsequent crimes. As I shall relate, Enver, Talaat, and the rest, when I appealed to them on behalf of the Armenians, invariably instanced the "revolutionists " of Van as a sample of Armenian treachery. The famous " revolution," as this recital shows, was merely the determination of the Armenians to save their women's honour and their own lives, after the Turks, by massacring thousands of their neighbours, had shown them the fate that awaited them. CHAPTER XXIV THE MURDER OF A NATION The destruction of the Armenian race in 1915 involved certain difficulties that had not impeded the operations of the Turks in the massacres of 1895 and other years. In these earlier periods the Armenian men had possessed little power or means of resistance. In those days Armenians had not been permitted to have military training, to serve in the Turkish Army, or to possess arms. As I have already said, these discriminations were withdrawn when the revolutionists obtained the upper hand in 1908. Not only were the Christians now permitted to bear arms, but the authorities, in the full flush of their enthusiasm for freedom and equality, encouraged them to do so. In the early part of 1915, therefore, every Turkish city contained thousands of Armenians who had been trained as soldiers and who were supplied with rifles, pistols, and other weapons of defence. The operations at Van disclosed that these men could use their munitions to good advantage. A similar " rebellion ,: at Zeitoun also proved that these despised merchants and traders of the Empire possessed energetic fighting power. It was thus apparent that an Armenian massacre this time would generally assume more the character of warfare than those wholesale butcheries of defenceless men and women which the Turks had always found so congenial. If this plan of murdering a race was to succeed, two preliminary steps would therefore have to be taken : it would be necessary to render all Armenian soldiers powerless and to deprive of their arms the Armenians in every city and town. Before Armenia could be slaughtered, Armenia must be made defenceless. In the early part of 1915 the Armenian soldiers in the Turkish Army were reduced to a new status. Up to that time most of them had been combatants, but now they were all stripped of their arms and transformed into workmen. Instead of serving their countrymen as artillerymen and cavalrymen, these former soldiers now discovered that they had been transformed into road labourers and pack animals. Army supplies of all kinds were loaded on their backs, and stumbling under the burdens, The Murder of a Nation 199 and driven by the whips and bayonets of the Turks, they were forced to drag their weary bodies into the mountains of the Caucasus. Sometimes they would have to plough their way, burdened in this fashion, almost waist-high through snow. They had to spend practically all their time in the open, sleeping on the bare ground — whenever the ceaseless prodding of their taskmasters gave them an occasional opportunity to sleep. They were given only scraps of food ; if they fell sick they were left where they had dropped, their Turkish oppressors perhaps stopping long enough to rob them of all their possessions — even of their clothes. If any stragglers succeeded in reaching their destinations they were not infrequently massacred. In many instances Armenian soldiers were disposed of in even more summary fashion, for it now became almost the general practice to shoot them in cold blood. In almost all cases the procedure was the same. Here and there squads of fifty or a hundred men would be taken, bound together in groups of four, and then marched out to a secluded spot a short distance from the village. Suddenly the sound of rifle-shots would fill the air, and the Turkish soldiers who had acted as the escort would sullenly return to camp. Those sent to bury the bodies would find them almost invariably stark naked, for, as usual, the Turks had stolen all their clothes. In cases that came to my attention, the murderers had added a refinement to their victims' sufferings by compelling them to dig their graves before being shot. Let me relate a single episode which is contained in one of the reports of our Consuls and which now forms part of the records of the American State department. Early in July 2,000 Armenian " ameles " — such is the Turkish word for soldiers who have been reduced to workmen — were sent from Harpoot to build roads. The Armenians in that town under- stood what this meant and pleaded with the Governor for mercy. But this official insisted that the men were not to be harmed, and he even called upon the German missionary, Mr. Ehemann, to quiet the panic, giving that gentleman his word of honour that the ex-soldiers would be protected. Mr. Ehemann believed the Governor and assuaged the popular fear. Yet practically every man of these 2,000 was massacred, and his body thrown into a cave. A few escaped, and it was from these that news of the massacre reached the world. A few days afterward another 2,000 soldiers were sent to Diarbekir. The only purpose of sending these men out in the open country was that they might be massacred. In order that they might have no strength to resist 200 Secrets of the Bosphorus and to escape by flight, these poor creatures were sys- tematically starved. Government agents went ahead on the road, notifying the Kurds that the caravan was approaching and ordering them to do their congenial duty. Not only did the Kurdish tribesmen pour down from the mountains upon this starved and weakened regiment, but the Kurdish women came with butchers' knives in order that they might gain that merit in Allah's eyes that comes from killing a Christian. These mas- sacres were not isolated happenings ; I could detail many more episodes just as horrible as the one related above. Throughout the Turkish Empire a systematic attempt was made to kill all able-bodied men, not only for the purpose of removing all males who might propagate a new generation of Armenians, but for the purpose of rendering the weaker part of the population an easy prey. Dreadful as were these massacres of unarmed soldiers, they were mercy and justice themselves when compared with the treatment which was now visited upon those Armenians who were suspected of concealing arms. Naturally, the Christians became alarmed when placards were posted in the villages and cities ordering them to bring all their arms to headquarters. Since this order applied only to Christians, the Armenians well understood what the result would be should they be left defence- less while their Moslem neighbours were permitted to retain their arms. In many cases, however, the persecuted people patiently obeyed the command, and then the Turkish officials almost joyfully seized their rifles as evidence that a " revolution " was being planned, and threw their victims into prison on a charge of treason. Thousands failed to deliver arms simply because they had none to deliver, while an even greater number tenaciously refused to give them up, not because they were plotting an uprising, but because they proposed to defend their own lives and their women's honour against the outrages which they knew were being planned. The punishment inflicted upon these [recalcitrants forms one of the most hideous chapters of modern history. Most of us believe that torture has long ceased to be an administrative and judicial measure, yet I do not believe that the darkest ages ever presented scenes more horrible than those which now took place all over Turkey. Nothing was sacred to the Turkish gendarmes ; under the plea of searching for hidden arms they ransacked churches, treated the altars and sacred utensils with the utmost indignities, and even held mock cere- monies in imitation of the Christian sacraments. They would The Murder of a Nation 201 beat the priests into insensibility, under the pretence that they were the centres of sedition. When they could discover no munitions in the churches, they would sometimes arm the bishops and priests with guns, pistols, and swords, then try them before court-martials for possessing weapons against the law, and march them in this condition through the streets, merely to arouse the fanatical wrath of the mobs. The gendarmes treated women with the same cruelty and indecency as their husbands. There are cases on record in which women accused of concealing weapons were stripped naked and whipped with branches freshly cut from trees, and these beatings were even inflicted on women who were with child. Violations so commonly accompanied these searches that Armenian women and girls, on the approach of the gendarmes, would flee to the woods, the hills, or to mountain caves. As a preliminary to the searches everywhere, the strong men of the villages and towns were arrested and taken to prison. Their tormentors here would exercise the most diabolical ingenuity in their attempt to make their victims declare them- selves to be " revolutionists " and to tell the hiding-places of their arms. A common practice was. to place the prisoner in a room, with two Turks stationed at each end and each side. The examination would then begin with the bastinado. This is a form of torture not uncommon in the Orient ; it consists of beating the soles of the feet with a thin rod. At first the pain is not marked, but as the process goes slowly on it develops into the most terrible agony, the feet swell and burst, and not in- frequently, after being submitted to this treatment, they have to be amputated. The gendarmes would bastinado their Armenian victim until he fainted ; they would then revive him by sprinkling water on his face and begin again. If this did not succeed in bringing their victim to terms, they had numerous other methods of persuasion. They would pull out his eyebrows and beard almost hair by hair ; they would extract his finger- nails and toe-nails ; they would apply red-hot irons to his breast ; tear off his flesh with red-hot pincers, and then pour boiled butter into the wounds.- In some cases the gendarmes would nail hands and feet to pieces of wood — evidently in imitation of the crucifixion, and then, while the sufferer writhed in his agony, they would cry : " Now let your Christ come and help you ! " These cruelties — and many others which I forbear to describe — were usually inflicted in the night time. Turks would be stationed around the prisons, beating drums and blowing 202 Secrets of the Bosphorus whistles, so that the screams of the sufferers would not reach the villagers. In thousands of cases the Armenians who endured these agonies had refused to surrender their arms simply because they had none to surrender. However, they could not persuade their tormentors that this was the case. It therefore became custom- ary, when news was received that the searchers were approaching, for Armenians to purchase arms from their Turkish neighbours so that they might be able to give them up and escape these frightful punishments. One day I was discussing these proceedings with Bedri Bey, the Constantinople Prefect of Police. With a disgusting relish Bedri described the tortures inflicted. He made no secret of the fact that the Government had instigated them, and, like all Turks of the official classes, he enthusiastically approved this treatment of the detested race. Bedri told me that all these details were matters of nightly discussion at the headquarters of the Union and Progress Committee. Each new method of inflicting pain was hailed as a splendid discovery, and the regular attendants were constantly ransacking their brains in the effort to devise some new torment. Bedri told me that they even delved into the records of the Spanish Inquisition and other historic in- stitutions of torture, and adopted all the suggestions found there. Bedri did not tell me who carried off the prize in this gruesome competition, but common reputation throughout Armenia gave a pre-eminent infamy to Djevdet Bey, the Vali of Van, whose activities in that section I have already described. All through this country Djevdet now became known as the '" marshall blacksmith of Bashkale," for this connoisseur in torture had invented what was perhaps the masterpiece of all — that of nailing horseshoes to the feet of his Armenian victims. Yet these happenings did not constitute what the newspapers of the time commonly referred to as the Armenian atrocities ; they were merely the preparatory steps in the destruction of a race. The Young Turks displayed greater ingenuity than their predecessor, Abdul Hamid. The injunction of the deposed Sultan was merely " to kill, kill," whereas the Turkish democracy hit upon an entirely new plan. Instead of massacring outright the Armenian race, they now decided to deport it. In the south and south-eastern section of the Ottoman Empire lies the Syrian desert and the Mesopotamian valley. Though part of this area was once the scene of a flourishing civilisation, for the last five centuries it has suffered the plight that becomes the lot of any country that is subjected to Turkish rule ; and it is now a dreary, The Murder of a Nation 203 desolate waste, without cities and towns or life of any kind, populated only by a few wild and fanatical Bedouin tribes. Only the most industrious labour, expended through many years, could transform this desert into the abiding-place of any con- siderable population. The Central Government now announced its intention of gathering the 2,000,000 or more Armenians living in the several sections of the Empire and transporting them to this desolate and inhospitable region. Had they undertaken such a deportation in good faith it would have represented the height of cruelty and injustice. For a large part the Armenians are not agriculturists ; their talents are chiefly for business and commercial life ; though many of them do cultivate farms and engage in sheep-herding, many lived in cities and large towns, and, as I have already said, they represent the economic force of the country. To seize such peoples by the million and send them into one of the most barren parts of Asia would have been an act of the most inhuman spoliation. As a matter of fact, the Turks never had the slightest idea of re-establishing the Ar- menians in this new country. They knew that the great majority would never reach their destination and that those who did would either die of thirst and starvation, or be murdered by the wild Mohammedan desert tribes. The real purpose of the deportation was robbery and destruction ; it really represented a new method of massacre. When Talaat, as Minister of the Interior, gave the orders for these deportations, he was merely giving the death-warrant to a whole race ; he understood this well, and in his conversations with me he made no particular attempt to conceal the fact. All through the spring and summer of 1915 the deportations took place. Of the larger cities, only Constantinople, Smyrna, and Kutahia were spared ; practically all other places where a single Armenian family lived .now became the scenes of these unspeakable tragedies. Scarcely a single Armenian, whatever his education or wealth, or whatever the social class to which he belonged, was exempted from the order. In some villages placards were posted ordering the whole Armenian population to present itself in a public place at an appointed time — usually a day or two ahead, and in other places the town-crier would go through the streets delivering the order vocally. In still others not the slightest warning was given. The gendarmes would appear before an Armenian house and order all the inmates to follow them. They would take women engaged in their domestic tasks without giving them the chance to change their clothes. The police fell upon them first as the eruption of Vesuvius fell 204 Secrets of the Bosphorus upon Pompeii ; women were taken from the wash-tubs, children were snatched out of bed, the bread would be left half-baked in the oven, the family meal would be abandoned partly eaten, the children would be taken from the schoolroom, leaving their books open at the daily task, the men would be forced to abandon their plough in the fields and their cattle on the mountain-side. Even women who had just given birth to children would be forced to leave their beds and join the panic-stricken throng, their sleeping babies in their arms. Such things as they hurriedly snatched up — a shawl, a blanket, perhaps a few scraps of food — was all that they could take of their household belongings. To their frantic question, " Where are we going ? " the gendarmes would vouchsafe only one reply : " To the interior." In some cases the refugees were given a few hours, in ex- ceptional instances a few days, to dispose of their property and household effects. But the proceeding, of course, amounted simply to robbery. They could sell only to Turks, and since both buyers and sellers knew that they had only a day or two to market the accumulations of a lifetime, the prices obtained represented a small fraction of their value. Sewing-machines would bring one or two dollars — a cow would go for a dollar, a houseful of furniture would be sold for a pittance. In many cases Armenians were prohibited from selling or Turks from buying even at these ridiculous prices ; under pretence that the Govern- ment intended to sell their effects to pay the creditors whom they would inevitably leave behind, their household furniture would be placed in stores or heaped up in public places, where it was usually pillaged by Turkish men and women. The Government officials would also inform the Armenians that, since their deportation was only temporary, the intention being to bring them back after the war was over, they would not be permitted to sell their houses. Scarcely had the former possessors left the village, when Mohammedan Mohadjirs — immigrants from other parts of Turkey — would be moved into the Armenian quarters. Similarly all their valuables, money, rings, watches, and jewellery, would be taken to the police-stations for " safe keeping " pending their return, and then parcelled out among the Turks. Yet these robberies gave the refugees little anguish, for far more terrible and agonising scenes were taking place under their eyes. The systematic extermination of the men continued ; such males as the^ persecutions which I have already described had left, were now. violently dealt with. Before the caravans were started, it became" .'the regular practice to separate the young men from the families, tie them together in groups of four, lead them to the The Murder of a Nation 205 outskirts, and shoot them. Public hangings without trial — the only offence being that the victims were Armenians — were taking place constantly. The gendarmes showed a particular desire to annihilate the educated and the influential. From American Consuls and missionaries I was constantly receiving reports of such executions, and many of the events which they described will never fade from my memory. At Angora all Armenian men from fifteen to seventy were arrested, bound together in groups of four, and sent on the road in the direction of Csesaria. When they had travelled five or six hours and had reached a secluded valley, a mob of Turkish peasants fell upon them with clubs, hammers, axes, scythes, spades, and saws. Such instruments not only caused more agonising deaths than guns and pistols, but, as the Turks themselves boasted, they were more economical, since they did not involve the waste of powder and shell. In this way they exterminated the whole male population of Angora, including all its men of wealth and breeding, and their bodies, horribly mutilated, were left in the valley, where they were devoured by wild beasts. After com- pleting this destruction, the peasants and gendarmes gathered in the local tavern, comparing notes and boasting of the number of " giaours " that each had slain. In Trebizond the men were placed in boats and sent out en the Black Sea ; gendarmes would then come up in boats, shoot them down, and throw their bodies into the water. When the signal was given for the caravans to move, there- fore, they almost invariably consisted of women, children, and old men. Anyone who could possibly have protected them from the fate that awaited them had been destroyed. Not infrequently the prefect of the city, as the mass started on its way, would wish them a derisive " pleasant journey." Before the caravan moved the women were sometimes offered the alternative of becoming Mohammedans. Even though they accepted the new faith, which few of them did, their earthly troubles did not end. The converts were compelled to surrender their children to a so-called " Moslem Orphanage," with the agreement that they should be trained as devout followers of the Prophet. They themselves must then show the sincerity of their conversion by abandoning their Christian husbands and marrying Moslems. If no good Mohammedan offered himself as a husband, then the new convert was deported, however strongly she might protest her devotion to Islam. At first the Government showed some inclination to protect these deporting throngs. The officers usually divided them into 206 Secrets of the Bosphorus convoys, in some cases numbering several hundred, in others several thousand. The civil authorities occasionally furnished ox-carts which carried such household furniture as the exiles had succeeded in scrambling together. A guard of gendarmerie accompanied each convoy, ostensibly to guide and protect it. Women, scantily clad, carrying babies in their arms or on their backs, marched side by side with old men hobbling along with canes. Children would run along, evidently regarding the procedure, in the early stages, as some new lark. A more prosperous member would perhaps have a horse or a donkey, occasionally a farmer had rescued a cow or a sheep, which would trudge along at his side, and the usual assortment of family pets, dogs, cats, and birds, became parts of the variegated precession. From thousands of Armenian cities and villages these despairing caravans now set forth ; they filled all the roads leading south ; everywhere, as they moved on, they raised a huge dust, and abandoned debris, chairs, blankets, bedclothes, household utensils, and other impediments, marked the course of the processions. When the caravans first started, the individuals bore some resemblance to human beings ; in a few hours, however, the dust of the road plastered their faces and clothes, the mud caked their lower members, and the slowly-advancing mobs, frequently bent with fatigue and crazed by the brutality of their " pro- tectors," resembled some new and strange animal species. Yet for the better part of six months, from April to October, 1915, practically all the highways in Asia Minor were crowded with these unearthly bands of exiles. They could be seen winding in and out of every valley and climbing up the sides of nearly every mountain — moving on and on, they scarcely knew whither, except that every road led to death. Village after village and town after town was evacuated of its Armenian population, under the distressing circumstances already detailed. In these six months, as far as can be ascertained, about 1,200,060 people started on this journey to the Syrian desert. " Pray for us," they would say as they left their homes — the homes in which their ancestors had lived for 2,500 years. " We shall not see you in this world again, but sometime we shall meet. Pray for us ! " The Armenians had hardly left their native villages when the persecutions began. The roads over which they travelled were little more than donkey-paths ; and what had started a few hours before as an orderly procession soon became a dishevelled and scrambling mob. Women were separated from their children and husbands from their wives. The old people soon The Murder of a Nation 207 lost contact with their families and became exhausted and footsore. Ihe Turkish drivers of the ox-carts, after extorting the last penny from their charges, would suddenly dump them and their belongings into the road, turn around and return to the village for other victims. Thus in a short time practically everybody, young and old, was .compelled to travel on foot. The gendarmes whom the Government had sent supposedly to protect the exiles, in a very few hours became their tormentors. They followed their charges with fixed bayonets, prodding anyone who showed any tendency to slacken the pace. Those who attempted to stop for rest, or who fell exhausted on the road, were compelled, with the utmost brutality, to rejoin the moving throng. They even prodded pregnant women with bayonets ; if one, as frequently happened, gave birth along the road, she was immediately forced to get up and rejoin the marchers. The whole course of the journey became a perpetual struggle with the Moslem inhabitants. Detachments of gendarmes would go ahead notifying the Kurdish tribes that their victims were approaching, and Turkish peasants were also informed that their long-waited opportunity had arrived. The Government even opened the prisons and set free the convicts, on the under- standing that they should behave like good Moslems to the approaching Armenians. Thus every caravan had a continuous battle for existence with several classes of enemies — their accompanying gendarmes, the Turkish peasants and villagers, the Kurdish tribes and bands of CJietes or brigands. And we must always keep in mind that the men who might have defended these wayfarers had nearly all been killed or forced into the army as workmen, and that the exiles themselves had been systematically deprived of all weapons before the journey began. When they had travelled a few hours from their starting-place, the Kurds would sweep down from their mountain homes. Rushing up to the young girls, they would lift their veils and carry the pretty ones off to the hills. They would steal such children as pleased their fancy and mercilessly rob all the rest of the throng. If the exiles had started with any money or food, their assailants would appropriate it, thus leaving them a hope- less prey to starvation. They would steal their clothing, and sometimes even leave both men and women in a state of complete nudity. All the time that they were committing these deprada- tions the Kurds would freely massacre, and the screams of old men and women would add to the general horror. Such as escaped these attacks in the open would find new terrors awaiting them in the Moslem villages. Here the Turkish roughs would 2o 8 Secrets of the Bosphorus fall upon the women, leaving them sometimes dead from their experiences or sometimes ravingly insane. After spending a night in a hideous encampment of this kind, the exiles, or such as had survived, would start again the next morning. The ferocity of the gendarmes apparently increased as the journey lengthened, for they seemed almost to resent the fact that part of their charges continued to live. Anyone who dropped on the road was frequently bayoneted on the spot. The Armenians began to die by hundreds from hunger and thirst. Even when they came to rivers, the gendarmes, merely to torment them, would sometimes not let them drink. The hot sun of the desert burned their scantily-clothed bodies, and the bare feet, treading the hot sand of the desert, became so sore that thousands fell and died or were killed where they lay. Thus, in a few days, what had been a procession of normal human beings became a stumbling horde of dust-covered skeletons, ravenously looking for scraps of food, eating any offal that came their way, crazed by the hideous sights that filled every hour of their existence, sick with all the diseases that accompany such hardships and deprivations, but still prodded on and on by the whips and clubs and bayonets of their executioners. And thus, as the exiles moved they left behind them another caravan — that of dead and unburied bodies, of old men and women in the last stages of typhus, dysentery, and cholera, of little children lying on their backs and setting up their last piteous wails for food and water. There were women who held up their babies to strangers, begging them to take them and save them from their tormentors, and failing this, they would throw them into wells or leave them behind bushes, that at least they might die undisturbed. Behind was left a small army of girls who had been sold as slaves — frequently for a medjidie, or about eighty cents —and who, after serving the brutal purposes of their purchasers., were forced to lead lives of prostitution. A string of encampments filled by the sick and the dying, mingled with the unburied or half-buried bodies of the dead, marked the course of the advancing throngs. Flocks of vultures followed them in the air, and ravenous dogs, righting one another for the bodies of the dead, constantly pursued them. The most terrible scenes took place at the rivers, especially the Euphrates. Some- times, when crossing this stream, the gendarmes would push the women into the water, shooting all who attempted to save themselves by swimming. Frequently the women themselves would save their honour by jumping into the river, their children in their arms. " In the last week in June," I quote from an The Murder of a Nation 209 authentic report, " several parties of Erzeroum Armenians were deported on successive days and most of them massacred on the way, either by shooting or drowning. One, Madame Zarouhi, an elderly lady of means, who was thrown into the Euphrates, saved herself by clinging to a boulder in the river. She suc- ceeded in approaching the bank and returned to Erzeroum to hide herself in a Turkish friend's house. She told Prince Argoutinsky, the representative of the ' All-Russian Urban Union ' in Erzeroum, that she shuddered to recah how hundreds of children were bayoneted by the Turks and thrown into the Euphrates, and how men and women were stripped naked, tied together in hundreds, shot, and then hurled into the river. In a loop of the river near Erzinghan, she said, the thousands of dead bodies created such a barrage that the Euphrates changed its course for about a hundred yards." It is absurd for the Turkish Government to assert that it ever seriously intended to " deport the Armenians to new homes " ; the treatment which was given the convoys clearly shows that extermination was the real purpose of Enver and Talaat. How many exiled to the south under these revolting conditions ever reached their destinations ? The experiences of a single caravan shows how completely this plan of deportation developed into one of annihilation. The details in question were furnished me directly by the American Consul at Aleppo, and are now on file in the State Department at Washington. On the first of June a convoy of 3,000 Amenians, mostly women, girls, and child- ren, left Harpoot. Following the usual custom the Government provided them an escort of seventy gendarmes, under the command of a Turkish leader — Bey. In accordance with the common experience these gendarmes proved to be not their protectors, but their tormentors and their executioners. Hardly had they got well started on the road when . . . Bey took 400 liras from the caravan, on the plea that he was keeping it safely until their arrival at Malatia ; no sooner had he robbed them of the only thing that might have provided them with food than he ran away, leaving them all to the tender mercies of the gendarmes. All the way to Ras-ul-Ain, the first station on the Bagdad line, the existence of these wretched travellers was one prolonged horror. The gendarmes went ahead, informing the half-savage tribes of the mountains that several thousand Armenian women and girls were approaching. The Arabs and Kurds began to carry off the girls, the mountaineers fell upon them repeatedly, killing and violating the women, and the gendarmes themselves joined in the orgy. One by one the few men that accompanied p 2io Secrets of the Bosphorus the convoy were killed. The women had succeeded in secreting money from their persecutors, keeping it in their mouths and hair ; with this they would buy horses, only to have them repeatedly stolen by the Kurdish tribesmen. Finally the gendarmes, having robbed and beaten and killed and violated their charges for thirteen days, abandoned them altogether. Two days afterward the Kurds went through the party and rounded up all the males who still remained alive. They found about 150, their ages varying from fifteen to ninety years, and these they promptly took away and butchered to the last man. But that same day another convoy from Sivas joined this one from Harpoot, increasing the numbers of the whole caravan to 18,000 people. Another Kurdish Bey now took command, and to him, as to all men placed in the same position, the opportunity was regarded merely as one for pillage, outrage, and murder. This chieftain summoned all his followers from the mountains and invited these to work their complete will upon this great mass of Armenians. Day after day and night after night the prettiest girls were carried away ; sometimes they returned in a pitiable condition that told the full story of their sufferings. Any stragglers, those who were so old and infirm and sick that they could not keep up with the marches, were promptly killed. Whenever they reached a Turkish village all the local vagabonds were permitted to prey upon the Armenian girls. When the diminishing band reached the Euphrates they saw the bodies of 200 men floating upon the surface. By this time they had all been so repeatedly robbed that they had practically nothing left except a few ragged clothes, and even these the Kurds now took, the con- sequence being that the whole convoy marched for five days completely naked under the scorching desert sun. For another five days they did not have a morsel of bread or a drop of water. " Hundreds fell dead on the way," the report reads ; " their tongues were turned to charcoal, and when, at the end of five days, they reached a fountain, the whole convoy naturally rushed toward it. But here the policemen barred the way and forebade them to take a single drop of water. Their purpose was to sell it at from one to three liras a cup, and sometimes they actually withheld the water after getting the money. At another place, where there were wells, some women threw them- selves into them, as there was no rope or pail to draw up the water. These women were drowned and, in spite of that, the rest of the people drank from that well, the dead bodies still remaining there and polluting the water. Sometimes when the The Murder of a Nation 2 it wells were shallow and the women could go down into them and come out again, the other people would rush to lick or suck their wet, dirty clothes, in the effort to quench their thirst. When they passed an Arab village in their naked condition the Arabs pitied them and gave them old pieces of cloth to cover them- selves with. Some of the exiles who still had money bought some clothes ; but some still remained who travelled thus naked all the way to the city of Aleppo. The poor women could hardly walk for shame ; they all walked bent double." On the seventieth day a few creatures reached Aleppo. Out of the combined convey of 18,000 souls just 150 women and children reached their destination. A few of the rest, the most attractive, were still living as captives of the Kurds and Turks ; all the rest were dead. My only reason for relating such dreadful things as this is that, without the details, the English-speaking public cannot understand precisely what this nation is which we call Turkey. I have by no means told the most terrible details, for a complete narration of the sadistic orgies of which these Armenian men and women were the victims can never be printed in an American publication. Whatever crimes the most perverted instincts of the human mind can devise, and whatever refinements of persecu- tion and injustice the most debased imagination can conceive, became the daily misfortunes of this devoted people. I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no . uch horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecu- tions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915. The slaughter of the Albigenses in the early part of the thirteenth century has always been regarded as one of the most pitiful events in history. In these outbursts of fanaticism about 60,000 people were killed. In the massacre of St. Bartholomew about 30,000 human beings lost their lives. The Sicilian Vespers, which has always figured as one of the most fiendish outbursts of this kind, caused the destruction of 8,000. Volumes have been written about- the Spanish Inquisition under Torquemada, yet in the eighteen years of his administration only a little more than 8,000 heretics were done to death. Perhaps the one event in history that most resembles the Armenian deportations was the expulsion of the Jews from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella. According to Prescott 160,000 were uprooted from their homes and scattered broadcast over Africa and Europe. Yet all these previous persecutions seem almost trivial when we compare them with the sufferings of the Armenians, in which at least 600,000 people 2i2 Secrets of the Bosphorus were destroyed and perhaps as many as 1,000,000. And these earlier massacres, when we compare them with the spirit that directed the Armenian atrocities, have one feature that we can almost describe as an excuse : they were the product of religious fanaticism, and most of the men and women who instigated them sincerely believed that they were devoutly serving their Maker. Undoubtedly religious fanaticism was an impelling motive with the Turkish and Kurdish rabble who slew Armenians as a service to Allah, but the men who really conceived the crime had no such motive. Practically all of them were atheists, with no more respect for Mohammedanism than for Christianity, and with them the one motive was a cold-blooded, calculating state policy. The Armenians are not the only subject people in Turkey who have suffered from this policy of making Turkey ex- clusively the country of the Turks. The stow which I have told about the Armenians I could also tell with certain modifications about the Greeks and the Syrians. Indeed, the Greeks were the first victims of this nationalising idea. I have already described how, in the few months preceding the European war, the Ottoman Government began deporting its Greek subjects along the coast of Asia Minor. These outrages aroused little interest in Europe or the United States, yet in the space of three or four months about 400,000 Greeks were taken from their age-long homes in the Mediterranean littoral and removed to the Greek Islands in the yEgean Sea. For the larger part these were bona fide deporta- tions ; that is, the Greek inhabitants were actually removed to new places and were not subjected to wholesale massacre. It was probably for the reason that the civilised world did not protest against these deportations that the Turks afterward decided to apply the same methods on a larger scale not only to the Greeks but to the Armenians, Syrians, Nestorians, and others of its subject peoples. In fact, Bedri Bey, the Prefect of Police at Constantinople, himself told one of my secretaries that the Turks had expelled the Greeks so successfully that they had decided to adopt the same method to all the other races in the empire. The martyrdom of the Greeks therefore comprised two periods, that antedating the war, and that which began in the early part of 1915. The first affected the Greeks living on the sea-coast of Asia Minor. The second affected those living in Thrace and in the territories surrounding the Sea of Marmora, the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus, and the coast of the Black Sea. These latter, to the extent of several hundred thousand, were sent to the interior of Asia Minor. The Turks adopted almost The Murder of a Nation 213 identically the same procedure against the Greeks as that which they had adopted against the Armenians. They began by incorporating the Greeks into the Ottoman Army and then trans- forming them into labour battalions, using them to build roads in the Caucasus and other scenes of action. These Greek soldiers, just like the Armenians, died by thousands from cold, hunger, and other privations. The same house-to-house searches for liidden weapons took place in the Greek villages, and Greek men and women were beaten and tortured just as were their fellow Armenians. The Greeks had to submit to the same forced requisitions, which amounted in their case, as in the case of the Armenians, merely "to plundering on a wholesale scale. The Turks attempted to force the Greek subjects to become Moham- medans ; Greek girls, just like Armenian girls, were stolen and taken to Turkish harems, and Greek boys were kidnapped and placed in Moslem households. The Greeks, just like the Arme- nians, were accused of disloyalty to the Ottoman Govern- ment ; the Turks accused them of furnishing supplies to the English submarines in the Marmora and also of acting as spies. The Turks also declared that the Greeks were not loyal to the Ottoman Government, but that they also looked forward to the day when the Greeks outside of Turkey would become part of Greece. These latter charges were unquestionably true ; that the Greeks, after suffering for five centuries the most unspeakable outrages at the hands of the Turks, should look longingly to the day when their territory should be part of the Fatherland, was to be expected. The Turks, as in the case of the Armenians, seized upon this as an excuse for a violent onslaught on the whole race. Everywhere the Greeks were gathered in groups and, under the so-called protection of Turkish gendarmes, they were transported, the larger part on foot, into the interior. Just how many were scattered in this fashion is not definitely known, the estimates varying anywhere from 200,000 up to 1,000,000. These caravans suffered great privations, but they were not submitted to general massacre as were the Armenians, and this is probably the reason why the outside world has not heard so much about them. The Turks showed them this greater consideration not from any motive of pity, The Greeks, unlike the Armenians, had a Government which was vitally interested in their welfare. At this time there was a general apprehension among the Teutonic Allies that Greece would enter the war on the side of the Entente, and a wholesale massacre of Greeks in Asia Minor would un- questionably have produced such a state of mind in Greece that its pro-German king would have been unable longer to have kept 214 Secrets of the Bosphorus his country out of the war. It was only a matter of state policy, therefore, that saved these Greek subjects of Turkey from all the horrors that befell the Armenians. But their sufferings are still terrible, and constitute another chapter in the long story cf crimes for which civilisation will hold the Turk responsible. CHAPTER XXV TALAAT TELLS WHY HE " ANNIHILATES " THE ARMENIANS It was some time before the story of the Armenian atrocities reached the American Embassy in all their horrible details. In January and February fragmentary reports began to filter in, but the tendency was at first to regard them as mere manifesta- tions of the disorders that had prevailed in the Armenian pro- vinces for many years. When the reports came from Urumia both Enver and Talaat dismissed them as wild exaggerations, and when for the first time we heard of the disturbances at Van, these Turkish officials declared that they were nothing more than a mob uprising which they would soon have under control. I now see what was not apparent in those early months, that the Turkish Government was determined to keep the news, as long as possible, from the outside world. It was clearly the intention that Europe and America should hear of the annihilation of the Armenian race only after that annihilation had been accomplished. As the country which the Turks particularly wished to keep in ignorance was the United States, they resorted to most shameless prevarications when discussing the situation with myself and with my staff. In early April the authorities arrested about two hundred Armenians in Constantinople and sent them into the interior. Many of those who were then deported were educational and social leaders and men who were prominent in industry and in finance. I knew many of these men and therefore felt a personal interest in their misfortunes. But when I spoke to Talaat about their expulsion, he replied that the Government was acting in self-defence. The Armenians at Van, he said, had already shown their abilities as revolutionists ; he knew that these leaders in Constantinople were corresponding with the Russians, and he had every reason to fear that they would start an in- surrection against the Central Government. The safest plan, therefore, was to send them to Angora and other interior towns. Talaat denied that this was part of any general concerted scheme to rid the city of its Armenian population, and insisted that the Armenian masses in Constantinople would not be disturbed. 2i 6 Secrets of the Bosphorus \ But soon the accounts from the interior became more specific and more disquieting. The withdrawal of the Allied fleet from the Dardanelles produced a distinct change in the atmosphere. Until then there were numerous indications that all was not going well in the Armenian provinces ; when it at last became definitely established, however, that the traditional friends of Armenia, Great Britain, France, and Russia, could do nothing to help that suffering people, the mask began to disappear. In April I was suddenly deprived of the privilege of using the cipher for communicating with American Consuls. The most rigorous censorship also was applied to letters. Such measures could mean only that things were happening in Asia Minor which the authorities were determined to conceal. But they did not succeed. Though all sorts of impediments were placed to travelling, certain Americans, chiefly missionaries, succeeded in getting through. For hours they would sit in my office and, with tears streaming down their faces, tell me of the horrors through which they had passed. Many of these, both men and women, were almost broken in health from the scenes which they had witnessed. In many cases they brought me letters from American Consuls, confirming the most dreadful of their narra- tions and adding many unprintable details. The general purport of all these first-hand reports was that the utter depravity and fiendishness of the Turkish nature, already sufficiently celebrated through the centuries, had now surpassed itself. There was only one hope of saving nearly 2,000,000 people from massacre, starvation, and even worse, I was told — that was the moral power of the United States. These spokesmen of a condemned nation declared that, unless the American Ambassador could persuade the Turk to stay his destroying arm, the whole Armenian nation must disappear. It was not only American and Canadian missionaries who made this personal appeal. Several of their German associates begged me to intercede. These men and women confirmed all the worst things which I had heard, and they were unsparing in denouncing their own Fatherland. They did not conceal the humiliation which they felt as Germans in the fact that their own nation was allied with a people that could perpetrate such infamies, but they understood German policy well enough to know that Germany would not intercede. There was no use in expecting aid from the Kaiser, they said — America must stop the massacres, or they would go on. Technically, of course, I had no right to interfere. According to the cold-blooded legalities of the situation, the treatment of Turkish subjects by the Turkish Government was purely a Talaat tells why he « annihilates " the Armenians 217 domestic affair ; unless it directly affected American lives and American interests it was outside the concern of the American Government. When I first approached Talaat on the subject he called my attention to this fact in no uncertain terms. This interview was one of the most exciting which I had had up to that time. Two missionaries had just called upon me, giving the full details of the frightful happenings at Konia. After listening to their stories I could not restrain mj'self, and went immediately to the Sublime Porte. I saw at once that Talaat was in one of his most ferocious states of mind. For months he had been attempting to secure the release of two of his closest friends, Ayoub Sabri and Zinnoun, who were held as prisoners by the English at Malta. His failure in this matter was a constant grievance and irritation ; he was always talking about it, always making new suggestions for getting his friends back to Turkey, and always appealing to me for help. So furious did the Turkish Boss become when thinking abcut his absent friends that we usually referred to these manifestations as Talaat in his " Ayoub Sabri moods." This particular morning the Minister of the Interior was in one of his worst " Ayoub Sabri moods." Once more he had been working for the release of the exiles, and once more he had failed. As usual, he attempted to preserve outer calm and courtesy to me, but his short, snappy phrases, his bull- dog rigidity, and his wrists planted on the table showed that it was an unfavourable moment to stir him to any sense of pity or remorse. I first spoke to him about a Canadian missionary, Dr. McNaughton, who was receiving harsh treatment in Asia Minor. ' The man is an English agent," he replied, " and we have the evidence for it." " Let me see it," I asked. " We'll do nothing for any Englishman or any Canadian," he replied, " until they release Ayoub and Zinnoun." " But you promised to treat English in the employ of Ameri- cans as Americans," I replied. ' That may be," rejoined the. Minister, " but a promise is not made to be kept for ever. I withdraw that promise now. There is a time limit on a promise." " But if a promise is not binding, what is ? " I asked. " A guarantee," Talaat answered quickly. This fine Turkish distinction had a certain metaphysical interest, but I had more practical matters to discuss at that time. So I began to talk about the Armenians at Konia. I had started, when Talaat 's attitude became even more belligerent. His eyes 218 Secrets of the Bosphorus lighted up, he brought his jaws together, leaned over toward me, and snapped out : " Are they Americans ? The implications of this question were hardly diplomatic ; it was merely a way of telling me that the matter was none of my business. In a moment Talaat said this in so many words. " The Armenians are not to be trusted," he said ; " besides, what we do with them does not concern the United States." I replied that I regarded myself as the friend of the Armenians and was shocked at the way that they were being treated. But he shook his head and refused to discuss the matter. I saw that nothing could be gained by forcing the issue at that time. I spoke on behalf of another British subject who was not being treated properly. " He's English, isn't" he ? " answered Talaat. ' Then I shall do as I like with him ! " " Eat him, if you wish ! " I replied. " Oh." said Talaat, " he would go against my digestion." He was altogether in a reckless mood. " Gott strafe Eng- land ! " he shouted, using one of the few German phrases that he knew. " As to your Armenians, we don't give a rap for the future ! We live only in the present ! As to the English, I wish you would telegraph Washington that we shall not do a thing for them until they let out Ayoub Sabri and Zinnoun ! ' Then, leaning over, he struck a pose, pressed his hand to his head, and said in English — I think this must have been almost all the English he knew : " Ayoub Sabri — he — my — brudder ! " Despite this, I made another plea for Dr. McNaughton. " He's not American," said Talaat, " he's a Canadian." " It's almost the same thing," I said. " Well," replied Talaat, " if I let him go will you promise that the United States will annex Canada ? " " I promise," said I, and we both laughed at this little joke. " Every time you come here," Talaat finally said, " you alwavs steal something from me. All right, you can have your McNaughton ! " Certainly this interview was not an encouraging beginning, so far as the Armenians were concerned. But Talaat was not always in an " Ayoub Sabri mood." He went from one emotion to another as lightly as a child ; I would find him fierce and unyielding one day, and uproariously good-natured and accom- modating the next. Prudence indicated, therefore, that I should await one of his more congenial moments before approaching him Talaat tells why he *< annihilates " the Armenians 219 on the subject that aroused all the barbarity in his nature. Such an opportunity soon presented itself. One day, soon after the interview chronicled above, I called on Talaat again. The first thing he did was to open his desk and pull out a handful of yellow cablegrams. ' Why don't you give this mone}' to us ? " he said, with a grin. " What money ? " I asked. ' Here is a cablegram for you from America, sending you a lot of money for the Armenians. You ought not to use it that way ; give it to us Turks, we need it as badly as they do." " I have not received any such cablegram," I replied. " Oh no, but you will," he answered. ' I always get all your cablegrams first, ycu know. After I have finished reading them I send them around to you." This statement was the literal truth. Every morning all the open cablegrams received in Constantinople were forwarded to Talaat, who read them all before consenting to their being forwarded to their destination. Even the cablegrams of the Ambassadors were apparently not exempt, though, of course, the ciphered messages were not interfered with. Ordinarily I might have protested against this infringement of my rights, but Talaat 's engaging frankness in pilfering my correspondence, and in even waving my own cablegrams in my face, gave me an excellent opening to introduce the forbidden subject. I thought I would be a little tactful, and so began by suggest- ing that the Central Government was probably not to blame for the massacres. But on this occasion, as on many others, Talaat was evasive and non-committal, and showed much hostility to the interest which the American people were manifesting in the Armenians. He explained his policy on the ground that the Armenians were in constant correspondence with the Russians. The definite impression which these conversations left upon me was that Talaat was the most implacable enemy of this persecuted race. " He gave me the impression," such is the entry which I find in my diary on August 3rd, " that Talaat is the one who desires to crush the poor Armenians." He told me that the Union and Progress Committee had carefully considered the matter in all its details, and that the policy which was being pursued was that which they had officially adopted. He said that I must not get the idea that the deportations had been decided upon hastily ; in reality they were the result of prolonged and careful delibera- tion. To my repeated appeals that he should show mercy to 220 Secrets of the Bosphorus these people he sometimes responded seriously, sometimes angrily, and sometimes flippantly. " Some day," he once said, " I will come and discuss the whole Armenian subject with you," and then he added in a low tone in Turkish, " But that day will never come.'' ' Why are you interested in the Armenians, anyway ? " he said on another occasion. ' You are a Jew ; these people are Christians. The Mohammedans and the Jews always get on harmoniously. We are treating the Jews here all right. What have you to complain of ? Why can't you let us do with these Christians as we please ? " I had always remarked that the Turks regard practically every question as a personal matter, yet this point oi view rather stunned me. It was, however, a complete revelation of Turkish mentality ; the fact that, above ah considerations of race and religion, there are such things as humanity and civilisation never for a moment enters their mind. They can understand a Christian fighting for a Christian and a Jew fighting for a Jew, but such abstractions as justice and decency form no part of their conception of things. " You don't seem to realise," I replied, " that I am net here as a Jew, but as American Ambassador. My country contains something more than 97,000,000 Christians and something less than 3,000,000 Jews. So, at least in my ambassadorial capacity, I am 97 per cent. Christian. But, after all, that is not the point. I do not appeal to you in the name of any race or any religion., but merely as a human being. You have told me many times that you want to make Turkey a part of the modern progressive world. The way you are treating the Armenians will not help you to realise that ambition ; it puts you in the class of backward, reactionary peoples." " We treat the Americans all right, too," said Talaat, " I don't see why you should complain." " But Americans are outraged at your persecutions of the Armenians," I replied. ' You must base 3'our principles on humanitarianism, not racial discrimination, or the United States will not regard you as a friend and an equal. And }^ou should understand the great changes that are taking place among Christians all over the world. They are forgetting their differences and all sects are coming together as one. You look down on American missionaries, but don't forget that it is the best element in America that supports their work, especially their educational institutions. Americans are not mere materialists, always chasing money— they are broadly humanitarian, and interested in the spread of justice and civilisation throughout the Talaat tells why he » annihilates " the Armenians 221 world. After this war is over you will face a new situation. You say that if victorious you can defy the world, but you are wrong. You will have to meet public opinion everywhere, especially in the United States. Our people will never forget these massacres. They will always resent the wilful destruction of Christians in Turkey. They will look upon it as nothing but wilful murder, and will seriously condemn all the men who are responsible for it. You will not be able to protect yourself under your political status and say that you acted as Minister of the Interior and not as Talaat. You are defying all ideas of justice as we understand the term in our country." Strangely enough, these remarks did not offend Talaat, but they did not shake his determination. I might as well have been talking to a stone wall. From my abstractions he immediately came down to something definite. " These people," he said, " refused to disarm when we told them to. They opposed us at Van and at Zeitoun, and they helped the Russians. There is only one way in which we can defend ourselves against them in the future, and that is just to deport them." " Suppose a few Armenians did betray you," I said. " Ts that a reason for destroying a whole race ? Is that an excuse for making innocent women and children suffer ? " " Those things are inevitable," he replied. This remark to me was not quite so illuminating as one which he made subsequently to a reporter of the Berliner Tageblatt, who asked him the same question. " We have been reproached," he said, according to this interviewer, " for making no distinction between the innocent Armenians and the guilty ; but that was utterly impossible in view of the fact that those who were innocent to-day might be guilty to-morrow " ! My repeated protestations evidently persuaded Talaat that at least I was entitled to an explanation of the official attitude of the 'Ottoman Government. In the early part of August, there- fore, he sent a personal messenger to me, asking me if I could not see him alone, as he wished to go over the whole Armenian situation. This was the first time that Talaat had admitted that his treatment of the Armenians was a matter with which I had anj' concern. The interview took place two days afterwards. It so happened that since the last time I had visited Talaat I had 1 shaved my beard. As soon as I came in the burly Minister began talking in his customary bantering fashion. ' You have become a young man again," he said ; " you are so young now that I cannot come to you for advice any mote." " I have shaved my beard," I replied, " because it had 222 Secrets of the Bosphorus become very grey — made grey by your treatment of the Armenians." After this exchange of compliments we settled down to the business in hand. " Whenever you have any Armenian matters to discuss," Talaat began, " I should always prefer that you see me alone. I have asked you to come to-day so that I can explain our position on the whole Armenian subject. We base our objections to the Armenians on three distinct grounds. In the first place, they have enriched themselves at the expense of the Turks. In the second place, they are determined to domineer over u and to establish a separate State. In the third place, they have openly encouraged our enemies. They have assisted the Russians in the Caucasus, and our failure there is largely explained by their actions. We have therefore come to the irrevocable decision that we shall make them powerless before this war is ended." On every one of these points I had plenty of arguments and rebuttal. Talaat 's first objection was merely an admission that the Armenians were more industrious and more able than the thick-witted and lazy Turk. Massacre as a means of destroying business competition was certainly an original conception ! His general charge that the Armenians were "' conspiring " against Turkey, and that they openly sympathised with Turkey's enemies, merely meant, when reduced to its original elements, that the Armenians were constantly appealing to the European Powers to protect them against robbery, murder, and outrage. The Armenian problem, like all race problems, was the result of centuries of ill-treatment and injustice. There could be only one solution for it, the creation of an orderly system of government, in which all citizens were to be treated upon an equalit}", and in which all offences were to be punished as the acts of individuals, and not as of peoples. I argued for a long time along these and similar lines. " It is no use for you to argue," Talaat answered, "we have already disposed of three-quarters of the Armenians ; there are none at all left in Bitlis, Van, and Erzeroum. The hatred between the Turks and the Armenians is now so intense that we have got to finish with them. It we don't, they will plan their revenge." " If you are not influenced by humane considerations," I replied, " think of the material loss. These people are your business men. They control many of 3'our industries. They are your largest tax-payers. What would become of you com- mercially without them ? " Talaat tells why he " annihilates " the Armenians 223 " We care nothing about the commercial loss," replied Talaat. " We have figured all that out and we know that it will not exceed five million pounds. We don't worry about that. I have asked you to come here so as to let you know that our Armenian policy is absolutely fixed and that nothing can change it. We will not have the Armenians anywhere in Anatolia. They can live in the desert, but nowhere else." I still attempted to persuade Talaat that the treatment of the Armenians was destroying Turkey in the eyes of the world, and that Ids country would never be able to recover from this infamy. " You are making a terrible mistake," I said, and repeated the statement three times. " Yes, we may make mistakes," he replied, " but " — and he firmly closed his lips and shook his head — " we never regret." I had many talks with Talaat on the Armenians, but I never succeeded in moving him in the slightest degree. He always came back to the points which he made in this interview. He was very willing to grant any request I made on behalf of the Ameri- cans, or even of the French and English, but I could obtain no general concessions for the Armenians. He seemed to me always to have the deepest personal feeling in this matter. His antagonism to the Armenians seemed to increase as their suffer- ings increased. One day, discussing a particular Armenian, I told Talaat that he was mistaken in regarding this man as an enemy of the Turks ; that in reality he was their friend. " No Armenian," replied Talaat, " can be our friend after what we have done to them." One day Talaat made what was perhaps the most astonishing request I had ever heard. The New York Life Insurance Company and the Equitable life of New York had for years done considerable business among the Armenians. The extent to which they insured their lives was merely another indication of their thrifty habits. " I wish," Talaat now said, " that you would get the American life insurance companies to send us a complete list of their Armenian policy-holders. They ate practically all dead now, and have left no heirs to collect the money. It, of course, all escheats to the State. The Government is the beneficiary now. Will you do so ? " This was almost too much, and I lost my temper. " You will get no such lists from me," I said, and got up and left him. One other episode involving the Armenians stirred Talaat to 224 Secrets of the Bosphorus one of his most ferocious moods. In the latter part of September Mrs. Morgenthau left for America. The sufferings of the Arme- nians had greatly preyed upon her mind, and she really left for home because she could not any longer endure to live in such a country. But she determined to make one last intercession for this poor people on her own account. Her way home took her through Bulgaria, and she had received an intimation that Queen Eleanor of that country would be glad to receive her. Perhaps it was Mrs. Morgenthau's well-known interest in social work that led to this invitation. Queen Eleanor was a high- minded woman, who had led a sad and lonely existence, and who was spending most of her time attempting to improve the con- dition of the poor in Bulgaria. She knew all about social work in the American cities, and a few years before she had made all her plans to visit the United States in order to study our settle- ments at first hand. At the time of Mrs. Morgenthau's visit the Queen had two American nurses from the Henry Street Settle- ment of New York instructing a group of Bulgarian girls in the methods of the American Red Cross. My wife was mainly interested in visiting the Queen in order that, as one woman to another, she might make a plea for the Armenians. At that time the question of Bulgaria's entrance into the war had reached a critical stage, and Turkey was pre- pared to make concessions to gain her as an ally. It was therefore a propitious moment to make such an appeal. The Queen received Mrs. Morgenthau informally, and my wife spent about an hour telling her all about the Armenians. Most of what she said was entirely new to the Queen. Little had yet appeared in the European Press en this subject, and Queen Eleanor was precisely the kind of woman from whom the truth would be concealed as long as possible. Mrs. Morgenthau gave her all the facts about the treatment of Armenian women and children and asked her to intercede on their behalf. She even went so far as to suggest that it would be a terrible thing for Bulgaria, which in the past had herself suffered such atrocities at the hands of the Turks, now to become their allies in war. Queen Eleanor was greatly moved. She thanked my wife for telling her these truths and said that she would intercede immediately and see if something could not be done. Just as Mrs. Morgenthau was getting ready to leave she saw the Duke of Mecklenburg standing near the door. The Duke was in Sofia at that time attempting to arrange for Bulgaria's partici- pation in the war. The Queen introduced him to Mrs. Morgen- thau ; Ms Highness was polite, but his air was rather cold and Talaat tells why he « annihilates " the Armenians 225 injured. His whole manner, particularly the stern glances which he cast on Mrs. Morgenthau, showed that he had heard a con- siderable part of the conversation ! As he was exerting all his efforts to bring Bulgaria in on Germany's side, it is not surprising that he did not relish the hope which Mrs. Morgenthau expressed to the Queen that Bulgaria should not ally herself with Turkey. Queen Eleanor immediately interested herself in the Armenian cause, and, as a result, the Bulgarian Minister to Turkey was instructed to protest against the atrocities. This protest accomplished nothing, but it did arouse Talaat 's momentary wrath against the American Ambassador. A few days afterward, when routine business called me to the Sublime Porte, I found him in an exceedingly ugly humour. He answered most of my questions savagely and in monosyllables, and I was afterward told that Mrs. Morgenthau's intercession with the Queen had put him into this mood. In a few days, however, he was as good- natured as ever ; for Bulgaria had taken sides with Turkey. Talaat 's attitude toward the Armenians was summed up in the" proud boast which he made to his friends : " I have accom- plished more toward solving the Armenian problem in three months than Abdul Hamid accomplished in thirty years ! " Q CHAPTER XXVI ENVER PASHA DISCUSSES THE ARMENIANS All this time I was bringing pressure upon Enver also. The Minister of War, as I have already indicated, was a different type of man from Talaat He concealed his real feelings much more successfully ; he was usually suave, cold-blooded, and scrupu- lously polite. And at first he was by no means so callous as Talaat in discussing the Armenians. He dismissed the early stories as wild exaggerations, declared that the troubles at Van were merely ordinary warfare, and attempted to quiet my fears that the wholesale annihilation of the Armenians had been decided on. Yet all the time that Enver was attempting to deceive me he was making open admissions to other people— a fact of which I was aware. In particular, he made no attempt to conceal the real situation from Dr. Lepsius, a representative of German missionary interests. Dr. Lepsius was a high-minded Christian gentleman. He had been all through the Armenian massacres of 1895, and he had raised considerable sums of money to build orphanages for Armenian children who had lost their parents at that time. He came again in 1915 to investigate the Armenian situation on behalf of German missionary interests. He asked for the privilege of inspecting the reports of American Consuls, and I granted it. These documents, supplemented by other information which Dr. Lepsius derived largely from German missionaries in the interior, left no doubt in his mind as to the policy of the Turks. His feelings were aroused chief!}/ against his own Government. He expressed to me the humilia- tion which he felt, as a German, that the Turks should deliberately set about to exterminate their Christian subjects while Germany, ostensibly a Christian country, was making no endeavours to prevent it. To him Enver scarcely concealed the official purpose. Dr. Lepsius was simply staggered by his frankness, for Enver told him in so many words that they at last had an opportunity to rid themselves of the Armenians and that they proposed to use it. By this time Enver had become more frank with me — the circumstantial reports which I possessed made it useless for him Enver Pasha Discusses the Armenians 227 to attempt to conceal the true situation further — and we had many long and animated discussions on the subject. One of these I recall with particular vividness. I notified Enver that I intended to take up the matter in detail, and he laid aside enough time to go over the whole situation. " The Armenians had a fair warning," Enver began, " of what would happen to them in case they joined our enemies. Three months ago I sent for the Armenian Patriarch and told him that if the Armenians attempted to start a revolution, or to assist the Russians, I would be unable to prevent mischief from happen- ing to them. My warning produced no effect, and the Armenians started a revolution and helped the Russians. You know what happened at Van. They obtained control of the city, used bombs against Government buildings, and killed a large number of Moslems. We knew that they were planning uprisings in other places. You must understand that we are now fighting for our lives at the Dardanelles, and that we are sacrificing thousands of men. While we are engaged in such a struggle as this we cannot permit people in our own country to attack us in the back. We have got to prevent this, no matter what means we have to resort to. It is absolutely true that I am not opposed to the Armenians as a people. I have the greatest admiration for their intelligence and industry, and I should like nothing better than to see them become a real part of our nation. But if they ally themselves with our enemies, as they did in the Van district, they will have to be destroyed. I have taken pains to see that no injustice is done ; only recently I gave orders to have three Armenians who had been deported returned to their homes when I found that they were innocent. Russia, France, Great Britain and America are doing the Armenians no kindness by sympathising with and encouraging them. I know what such encouragement means to a people who are inclined to revolution. When our Union and Progress Party attacked Abdul Hamid we received all our moral encouragement from the outside world. This encouragement was of great help to us and had much to do with our success. It might similarly now help the Armenians and their revolutionary programme. I am sure that, if these outside countries did not encourage them they wouid give up their efforts to oppose the present Government and become law-abiding citizens. We now have this country in our absolute control,and we can easily revenge ourselves on any revolutionists.' ' 'After all," I said, " suppose what you say is true, why not punish the guilty ? Why sacrifice a whole race for the alleged crimes of individuals ? 228 Secrets of the Bosphorus ' Your point is all right during peace times," replied Enver. : ' We can then use Platonic means to quiet Armenians and Greeks ; but in time of war we cannot investigate and negotiate. We must act promptly and with determination. I also think that the Armenians are making a mistake in depending upon the Russians. The Russians really would rather see them killed than alive. They are as great a danger to the Russians as they are to us. If they should form an independent government in Turkey, the Armenians in Russia would attempt to form an independent government there. The Armenians have also been guilty of massacres. In the entire district around Van only 30,000 Turks escaped ; all the rest were murdered by the Arme- nians and Kurds. I attempted to protect the non-combatants at the Caucasus ; I gave orders that they should not be injured, but I found that the situation was beyond my control. There are about 70,000 Armenians in Constantinople, and they will not be molested, except those who are Dashnaguists and those who are plotting against the Turks. However, I think you can ease your mind on the whole subject, as there will be no more massacres of Armenians." I did not take seriously Enver 's concluding statement. At the time that he was speaking massacres and deportations were taking place all over the Armenian provinces, and they went on almost without interruption for several months. As soon as the reports reached the United States the question of relief became a pressing one. In the latter part of July I heard that there were 5,000 Armenians from Zeitoun and Sultanie who were receiving no food whatever. I spoke about them to Enver, who positively declared that they would receive proper food. He did not receive favourably any suggestion that American representatives should go to that part of the country and assist and care for the exiles. " For any American to do this," he said, '" would encourage all Armenians and make further trouble. There are about 28,000,000 people in Turkey, and 1,000,000 Armenians, and we do not propose to have 1,000, ceo disturb the peace of the rest of the population. The great trouble with the Armenians is that they are separatists. They arc determined to have a kingdom cf their own, and they have allowed themselves to be fooled by the Russians. Because they have relied upon the friendship of the Russians they have helped them in this war. We are determined that they beha ve just as Turks do. You must remember that when we started this revolution in Turkey there were onlv 200 of us. With these few followers we were Enver Pasha Discusses the Armenians 229 able to deceive the Sultan and the public, who thought that we were immensely more numerous and powerful than we were. We really prevailed upon him and the public through our sheer audacity, and in this way established the Constitution. It is our own experience at revolution which makes us fear the Armenians. If 200 Turks could overturn the Government, then a few hundred bright, educated Armenians could do the same thing. We have therefore deliberately adopted the plan of scattering them so that they can do us no harm. As I told you once before, I warned the Armenian Patriarch that if the Armenians attacked us while we were engaged in a foreign war we Turks would hit back, and that we should hit back indiscriminately." Enver always resented any suggestion that American missionaries or other friends of the Armenians should go to help or comfort them. ' They show altogether too much sympathy for them," he said over and over again. I had suggested that particular Americans should go to Tarsus and Marsovan. " If they should go there, I am afraid that the local people in those cities would become angry, and they would be inclined to start some disturbance which might create an incident. It is better for the Armenians themselves, therefore, tha t the American missionaries should keep away from them." " But you are ruining the country economically," I said at another time, making the same point that I had made to Talaat. And he answered it in almost the same words, thus showing that the subject had been completely canvassed by the ruling powers. " Economic considerations are of no importance at this time. The only important thing is to win. That's the only thing we have on our mind. If we win, everything will be all right ; if we lose, everything will be all wrong, anyhow. Our situation is desperate, I admit it, and we are fighting as desperate men fight. We are not going to let the Armenians attack us in the rear." The question of relief to the starving Armenians became every week a more pressing one. Enver still insisted that Americans should keep away from the Armenian provinces. " How can we furnish bread to the Armenians," Enver declared, " when we can't get it for our own people ? I know that they are suffering and that it is quite likely that they cannot get bread at all this coming winter. But we have the utmost difficulty in getting flour and clothing right here in Constan- tinople." 230 Secrets of the Bosphorus I said thai I had the money and that American missionaries W ere anxious to go and use it for the benefit of the refugees. "We don', want the Americans to leed the Armenians,' he flatly replied. ' That is one of the worst things that could happen to them. I have already said that it is their belief that they have friends in other countries, which leads them to oppose the Government and so brings down upon them all their miseries. If you Americans begin to distribute food and clothing among them, they will then think that they have powerful friends in the United States. This will encourage them to rebellion again, and then we shall have to punish L hem still more. If you will give such money as you have received to the Turks, we shall see that it is used for the benefit of the Armenians." Enver made this proposal with a straight face, and he made it not only on this occasion but on several others. At the very moment that Enver suggested this mechanism of relief, the Turkish gendarmes and the Turkish officials were not only robbing the Armenians of ail their household possessions, of ail their food and all their money, but they were even stripping women of their last shreds of clothing and prodding their naked bodies with bayonets as they staggered across the burning desert. And the Minister of War now proposed that we give, our American money to these same guardians of the law for distribu- tion among their charges ! However, I had to be tactful. " If you or other heads of the Government would become personally responsible for the distribution," I said, " of course we would be glad to entrust the money to you. But, naturally, you would not expect us to give this money to the men who have been killing the Armenians and outraging their women." But Enver returned to his main point. " They must never know," he said, " that they have a friend in the United States. That would absolutely ruin them ! It is far better that they starve, and in saying this I am really thinking of the welfare of the Armenians themselves. If they can only be convinced that they have no friends in other countries, then they will settle down, recognise that Turkey is their only refuge, and become quiet citizens. Your country is doing them no kindness by constantly showing your sympathy. You are merely drawing upon them greater hardships." In other words, the more money which the Americans sent to feed the Armenians, the more Armenians Turkey intended to massacre ! Enver 's logic was fairly maddening ; yet. he did relent at the end and permit me to help the sufferers through certain missionaries. In all our discussions he made this hypo- Enver Pasha Discusses the Armenians 231 critical plea that he was really a friend of this distracted nation, and that even the severity of the measures winch he had adopted was mercy in disguise. Since Enver always asserted that he wished to treat the Armenians with justice — in this his attitude to me was quite different from that of Talaat, who openly acknowledged his determination to deport them — I went to the pains of preparing an elaborate plan for bettering their condition. I suggested that if he wished to be just he should protect the innocent refugees and lessen the suffering as much as possible, and that for that purpose he should appoint a special Com- mittee of Armenians to assist him, and send a capable Armenian, such as Oskan Effendi, formerly Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, to study conditions and submit suggestions for remedying the existing evils. Enver did not approve either of my proposals ; as to the first, he said that his colleagues would misunderstand it, and, as to Oskan, he said that he admired him for his good work while he had been in the Cabinet and had backed him in his severity toward the inefficient officials, yet he could not trust him because he was a member of the Armenian Dashuaguist Society. In another talk with Enver I began by suggesting that the Central Government was probably not to blame for the massacres. I thought that this would not be displeasing to him. " Of course, I know that the Cabinet would never order such terrible things as have taken place," I said. " You and Talaat and the rest of the Committee can hardly be held responsible. Undoubtedly your subordinates have gone much further than you have ever intended. I realise that it is not always easy to control your underlings." Enver straightened up at once. I saw that my remarks, far from smoothing the way to a quiet and friendly discussion, had greatly offended him. I had intimated that things could happen in Turkey for which he and his associates were not responsible. "You are greatly mistaken," he said, "we have this country absolutely under our control. I have no desire to shift the blame on our underlings and I am entirely willing to accept the responsibility myself for everything that has taken place. The Cabinet itself has ordered the deportations. I am convinced that we are completely justified in doing this owing to the hostile attitude of the Armenians toward the Ottoman Government, but we are the real rulers of Turkey and no underling would dare proceed in a matter of this kind without our orders." Enver tried to mitigate the barbarity of his general attitude by showing mercy in particular instances. I made no progress in 232 Secrets of the Bosphorus my efforts to stop the programme of wholesale massacre, but I did save a few Armenians irom death. One day I received word from the American Consul at Smyrna that seven Armenians had been sentenced to be hanged. These men had been accused of committing some rather vague political offence in 1909, yet neither Kahmi Bey, the Governor-General of Smyrna, nor the Military Commander believed that they were guilty. When the order for execution reached Smyrna these authorities wired Constantinople that under the Ottoman law the accused had the right to appeal for clemency to the Sultan. The answer which was returned to this communication well illustrated the extent to which the lights of the Armenians were regarded at that time : " Technically you are right ; hang them first and send the petition for pardon afterward." I visited Enver in the interest of these men on Bairam, which is the greatest Mohammedan religious festival ; it is the day that succeeds Ramazan, their month of fasting. Bairam has one feature in common with Christmas, for on that day it is customary for Mohammedans to exchange small presents, usually sweets. So after the usual remarks of felicitation, I said to Enver : " To-day is Bairam and you haven't given me any present yet." Enver laughed. " What do you want ? Shall I send you a box of candies ? ' " Oh no," I answered, " I am not so cheap as that. I want the pardon of the seven Armenians whom the court-martial has condemned at Smyrna." The proposition apparently struck Enver as very amusing. '" That's a funny way of asking for a pardon," he said. •' However, since you put it that way, I can't leluse." He immediately sent for his aide and telegraphed to Smyrna, setting the men free. Thus fortuitously is justice administered and decision involv- ing human lives made in Turkey ! Nothing could make clearer the slight estimation in which the Turks hold life, and the slight extent to which principle controls their conduct. Enver spared these men not because he had the slightest interest in their cases, but simply as a personal favour to me and largely because of the whimsical manner in which I had asked it ! In all my talks on the Armenians the Minister of War treated the whole matter more or less casually ; he could discuss the fate 01 a race in a parenthesis and refer to the massacre of children as nonchalantly as we would speak of the weather. One day Enver asked me to ride with him in the Belgrade Enver Pasha Discusses the Armenians 233 forest. As I was losing no opportunities to influence him, I accepted this invitation. We motored to Buyukdeie, where four attendants with horses met as. In our ride through the beautiful forest Enver became rather more communicative in his con- versation than ever before. He spoke affectionately of his father and mother. When they were married, he said, his father had been sixteen and his mother only eleven, and he himself had been born when his mother was fifteen. In talking of his wife, the Imperial Princess, he disclosed a much softer side to his nature than I had hitherto seen. He spoke 01 the dignity with which she graced his home, regretted that Mohammedan ideas of propriety pro- hibited her from entering social life, but expressed a wish that she and Mrs. Morgenthau could meet. He was then furnishing a beautiful new palace on the Bosphorus ; when this was finished, he said, the Princess would invite my wife to breakfast. Just then we were passing the house and grounds of Senator Abraham Pasha, a very rich Armenian. This man had been an intimate friend of the Sultan Abdul Aziz, and, since in Turkey a man inherits his father's friends as well as his property, the Crown Prince of Turkey, a son of Abdul Aziz, made weekly visits to this distinguished Senator. As we passed through the park, Enver noticed with disgust that woodmen were cutting down trees, and stopped them. When I heard afterward that the Minister of War had bought this park I understood one of the reasons for his anger. Since Abraham Pasha was an Armenian, this gave me an opportunity to open the subject again. I spoke to him of the terrible treatment from which the Armenian women were suffering. ' You said that you wanted to protect women and children," I remarked, " but I know that your orders are not bein^ carried out." ' Those stories can't be true," he said, " I cannot conceive that a Turkish soldier would ill-treat a woman with child." Perhaps, if Enver could have read the circumstantial reports which were then lying in the archives of the American Embassy, he might have changed his mind. Shifting the conversation once more, he asked me about my saddle, which was the well-known " General McClellan " type. Enver tried it, and liked it so much that he afterwards borrowed it, had one made for his own use — even including the number in one corner— and he adopted it for one of his regiments. He told me of the railroads which he was then building in Palestine, said how well the Cabinet was working, and pointed out that there were great opportunities in Turkey now for real estate specula 234 Secrets of the Bosphorus tion. He even suggested that he and I join hands in buying land that was sure to rise in value ! But 1 insisted in talking about the Armenians. However, I made no more progress than before. ' We shall not permit them to cluster in places where they can plot mischief and help our enemies. So we are going to give them new quarters." This ride was so successful from Enver's point of view that we took another a few days afterward, and this time Talaat and Dr. Gates, the President of Robert College, accompanied us. Enver and I rode ahead, whale our companions brought up the rear. These Turkish officials are exceedingly jealous of their prerogatives, and, since the Minister of War is the ranking member of the Cabinet, Enver insisted on keeping a decorous interval between ourselves and the other pair of horsemen ! I was somewhat amused by this, for I knew that Talaat was the more powerful politician ; yet he accepted the discrimination, and only once did he permit his horse to pass Enver and myself. At this violation of the proprieties, Enver showed his displeasure, whereat Talaat paused, reined up his horse, and passed sub- missively to the rear. ' I was merely showing Dr. Gates the gait of my horse," he said, with an apologetic air. But I was interested in more important matters than such fine distinction in official etiquette ; I was determined to talk about the Armenians. But again I failed to make any progress. Enver found more interesting discussions. He began to talk of his horses, and now another incident illustrated the mercurial quality of the Turkish mind — the readiness with which a Turk passes from acts of monstrous criminality to acts of individual kindness. Enver said that the horse-races would take place soon and regretted that he had no jockey. "I'll give you an English jockey," I said. " Will you make a bargain ? He is a prisoner of war ; if he wins will you give him his freedom ? " " I'll do it," said Enver. Tiiis man, whose name was Fields, actually entered the races as Enver's jockey, and came in third. He rode for his freedom, as Mr. Philip said ! Since he did not come in first, the Minister was not obliged, by the terms of his agreement, to let him return to England, but Enver stretched a point and gave him his liberty. On this same ride Enver gave me an exhibition of his skill as a marksman. Enver Pasha Discusses the Armenians 235 At one point in the road I suddenly heard a pistol-shot ring out in the air. It was Enver 's aide practising on a near-by object. Suddenly Enver reined up his horse, whipped out his revolver, and, thrusting his aim out rigidly and horizontally, he took aim. " Do you see that twig on that tree ? " he asked me. It was about thirty feet away. When I nodded, Enver tired — and the twig dropped to the ground. The rapidity with which Enver could whip his weapon out of his pocket, aim, and shoot gave me one convincing" explanation for the influence which he exercised with the piratical crew that was then ruling Turkey. There were plenty of stories floating around that Enver did not hesitate to use this method of suasion at certain critical moments of his career ; how true they were I do not know, but I can certainly testify concerning the high character of his marksmanship. Talaat also began to amuse himself in the same way, and finally the two statesmen dismounted, began shooting in competition and behaving as gaily and as care-free as boys let out of school. " Have you one of your cards with you ? " asked Enver. He requested that I pin it to a tree which stood about fifty feet away. Enver then fired first. His hand was steady ; his eye went straight to the mark, and the bullet hit the card directly in the centre. This success rather nettled Talaat. He took aim, but his rough hand and wrist shook slightly- -he was not an athlete like his younger, wiry, and straight-backed associate. Several times Talaat hit around the edges of the card, but he could not duplicate Enver's skill. " If it had been a man I was firing at," said the bulky Turk, jumping on his horse again, " I would have hit him several times." So ended my attempts to interest the two most powerful Turks of their day in the destruction of one of the most valuable elements in their Empire ! I have already said that Said Halim, the Grand Vizier, was not an influential personage. Nominally his office was the most important in the Empire ; actually the Grand Vizier was a mere place-warmer, and Talaat and Enver controlled the present incumbent precisely as they controlled the Sultan himself. Technically, the Ambassadors should have conducted their negotiations with Said Halim, for he was Minister for Foreign Affairs. I early discovered, however, that nothing could be accomplished this way, and, though I still made my Monday calls as a matter of courtesy, I preferred to deal directly with the men 236 Secrets of the Bosphorus who had the real power to decide all matters. In order that I might not be accused of neglecting any means of influencing the Ottoman Government, I brought the Armenian question several times to the Grand Vizier's attention. As he was not a Turk, but an Egyptian, and a man of education and breeding, it seemed not unlikely that he might have a somewhat different attitude toward the subject peoples. But I was wrong. The Grand Vizier was just as hostile to the Armenians as Talaat and Enver. I soon found that merely mentioning the subject irritated rum greatly. Evidently he did not care to have his elegant ease interfered with by such disagreeable and unimportant subjects. The Grand Vizier showed his attitude when the Greek Charge d'Affaires spoke to him about the persecutions of the Greeks. Said Halim said that such manifestations did the Greeks mere harm than good. ' We shall do with them just the opposite from what we are asked to do," said the Grand Vizier. To my appeals the nominal chief Minister was hardly more statesmanlike. I had the disagreeable task of sending him, on behalf of the British, French, and Russian Governments, a notification that these Powers would hold personally responsible for the Armenian atn cities the men who were then directing Ottoman affairs. This meant, of course, that in the event of Allied success, they would treat the Grand Vizier, Talaat, Enver, DjemaJ, and their companions as ordinary murderers. As 1 came into the room to discuss this somewhat embarrassing message to this member of the royal house of Egypt, he sat there, as usual, nervously fingering his beads, and not in a particularly genial frame oi mind. He at once spoke of this telegram, his face flushed with anger, and he began a long diatribe against the whole Armenian race. He declared that the Armenian " rebels ' killed 120,000 Turks at Van. This and other of his statements were so absurd that I found myself spiritedly defending the persecuted race, and this aroused the Grand Vizier's wrath still further, and, switching from the Armenians, he began to abuse my own country, making the usual charges that our sympathy with the Armenians w 7 as largely responsible for all their troubles. Soon after this interview Said Halim ceased to be Minister for Foreign Affairs. His successor was Halii Bey, who for some yoars had been Speaker of the Turkish Parliament. Halil was a very different type of man. He was much more tactful, much more intelligent, and much more influential in Turkish affairs. He was also a smooth and oily conversationalist, good-natured and fat, and by no means so lost to all decent sentiments as most Enver Pasha Discusses the Armenians 237 Turkish politicians ot the time. It was generally reported that Halil did not approve the Armenian proceedings, yet his official position compelled him to accept them, and even, as I now discovered, to defend them. Soon after obtaining his Cabinet post, Halil called upon me and made a somewhat rambling explanation of the Armenian atrocities. T had already had experiences with several official attitudes toward the persecu- tions ; Talaat had been bloodthirsty and ferocious, Enver subtly calculating, while the Grand Vizier had been testy. Halil now regarded the elimination of this race with the utmost good humour. Not a single aspect of the proceeding, not even the unkindest things I could say concerning it, disturbed his equan- imity in the least. He began by admitting that nothing could palliate these massacres, but, he added, in order to understand them, there were certain facts that I should keep in mind. " I agree that the Government has made serious mistakes in the treatment of the Armenians," said Halil, " but the harm has already been done. What can we do about it now ? Still, if there are any errors we can correct, we should correct them. I deplore as much as you the excesses and violations which have been committed. I wish to present to you the view of the Sublime Porte. I admit that this is no justification, but I think there are extenuating circumstances that you should take into consideration before judgment is passed upon the Ottoman Government." And then, like all the others, he went back to the happenings at Van, the desire of the Armenians for independence, and the help which they had given the Russians. I had heard it all many times before. " I told Vartkes " (an Armenian deputy who, like many other Armenian leaders, was afterwards murdered) " that, if his people really aspired to an independent existence, they should wait for a propitious moment. Perhaps the Russians might defeat the Turkish troops and occupy all the Armenian provinces. Then I could understand that the Armenians might want to set up for themselves. Why not wait, I told Vartkes, until such a fortunate time had arrived ? I warned him that we would not let the Armenians jump on our backs, and that, if they did engage in hostile acts against our troops, we would dispose of all Armenians who were in the rear of our army, and that our method would be to send them to a safe distance in the south. Enver, as you know, gave a similar warning to the Armenian Patriarch. But, in spite of these friendly warnings, they started a revolution." I asked about methods of relief, and told him that already 238 Secrets of the Bosphorus twenty thousand pounds ($100,000) had reached me from America. ' It is the business of the Ottoman Government," he blandly answered, " to see that these people are settled, housed and fed until they can support themselves. The Government will naturally do its duty ! Besides, the twenty thousand pounds that you have is in reality nothing at all." ' That is true," I answered, " it is only a beginning, but I am sure that I can get all the money we need." " It is the opinion of Enver Pasha," he replied, " that no foreigners should help the Armenians. I do not say that his reasons are right or wrong. I merely give them to you as they ate. Enver says that the Armenians are idealists, and that the moment foreigners approach and help them they will be en- couraged in their national aspirations. He is utterly determined to cut for ever all relations between the Armenians and foreigners." " Is this Enver's way of stopping any further action on their part ? " I asked. Halil smiled most good-naturedly at _this somewhat pointed question, and answered : ' The Armenians have no further means of action whatever !" Since not far from 500,000 Armenians had been killed by this time, Hahl's genial retort certainly had one virtue which most of his other statements in this interview had lacked —it was the truth. " How many Armenians in the southern provinces are in'need of help ? " I asked. ' I do not know ; I would not give you even an approximate figure." " Are there several hundred thousand ? " " I should think so," Halil admitted, " but I cannot say how many hundred thousand. '' A great many suffered," he added, "' simply because Enver could not spare troops to defend them. Some regular troops did accompany them and these behaved very well ; forty even lost their lives defending the Armenians. But we had to withdraw most of the gendarmes for service in the Army and put in a new lot to accompany the Armenians. It is true that these gendarmes committed many deplorable excesses." " A great many Turks do not approve these measures," I said. " I do not deny it," replied the ever-accommodating Halil, as he*bowed himself out. ;.^ Enver, Halil, and the rest were ever insistent on the point which they constantly raised, that no foreigners should furnish Enver Pasha Discusses the Armenians 239 relief to the Armenians. A few days after this visit the Under- Secretary of State called at the American Embassy. He came to deliver a message from Djemal to Enver. Djernal, who then had jurisdiction over the Christians in Syria, was much annoyed at the interest which the American Consuls were displaying in the Armenians. He now asked me to order these officials " to stop busying themselves in Armenian affairs." Djemal could not distinguish between the innocent and the guilty, this messenger said, and so had to punish them all ! Some time afterward Halil complained to me that the American Consuls were sending facts about the Armenians to America and that the Government insisted that they should be stopped. As a matter of fact, I was myself sending most of this in- formation, and 1 did not stop. CHAPTER XXVII " I SHALL DO NOTHING FOR THE ARMENIANS," SAYS THE GERMAN AMBASSADOR I suppose that there is no phase of the Armenian question which has aroused more interest than this : Had the Germans any part in it ? To what extent was the Kaiser responsible for the wholesale sly ue bier of this nation ? Did the Germans favour it, did they merely acquiesce, or did they oppose the persecutions ? Germany, in the last four years, has become responsible for many (.f the blackest pages in history ; is she responsible for this, unquestionably the blackest of all ? I presume most people will detect in the remarks of these Turkish chieftains certain resemblances to the German philosophy of war. Let me repeat certain phrases used by Enver while discussing the Armenian massacres. " The Armenians have brought this fate upon themselves." " I explicitly warned them myself." " We were fighting for our national existence." "We were justified in resorting to any means that would accomplish these ends." "We have no time to separate the innocent from the guilty." " At the present time Turkey has only one duty ; that is to win the war." These phrases somehow have a familiar ring, have they not ? Indeed, I might rewrite all these interviews with Enver, use the word Belgium in place of Armenia, put the words in a German general's mouth instead of Enver's, and we should have almost a complete exposition of the German attitude toward subject peoples. But the teachings of the Prussians go deeper than this. There was one feature about the Armenian proceedings that was new, that was not Turkish at all. For centuries the Turks have ill-treated their Armenians and all their other subject peoples with inconceivable barbarity. Yet their methods have always been crude, clumsy, and unscientific. They excelled in beating out an Armenian's brains with a club, and this unpleasant illustration is a perfect indication of the rough and primitive methods which they applied to the Armenian problem. They have understood the uses of murder, but not of murder as a fine art. But the Armenian proceedings of 1915 and 1916 evidenced *« I shall do nothing for the Armenians " 241 an entirely new mentality. This new conception was that of deportation. The Turks, in 500 years, had invented innumer- able ways of physicaity torturing their Christian subjects, yet never before had it occurred to their minds to move them bodily from their homes, where they had lived for many thou- sands of years, and send them hundreds of miles away into the desert. Where did the Turks get this idea ? I have already described how, in 1914, just before the European war, the Government moved not far from 100,000 (?) Greeks from their age-long homes along the Asiatic littoral to certain islands in the iEgean. I have also said that Admiral Usedom, one of the big German naval experts in Turkey, told me that the Germans had suggested this deportation to the Turks. But the all-" important point is that this idea of deporting peoples en masse is, in modern times, exclusively Germanic. Anyone who reads the literature of Pan-Germany constantly meets it. These enthusiasts for a German world have deliberately planned, as part of their programme, the ousting of the French from certain parts of France, of Belgians from Belgium, of Poles from Poland, of Slavs from Russia, and other indigenous peoples from the territories which they have inhabited for thousands of years, and the establishment in the vacated lands of solid honest Germans. But it is hardly necessary to show that the Germans have advocated this as a state policy ; they have actually been doing it in the last four years. They have moved we do not knew how many thousands of Belgians and French from their native land. Austria-Hungary has killed a large part of the Serbian population and moved thousands of Serbiau children into her own territories, intending to bring them up as loyal subjects of the Empire. To what degree this movement of populations has taken place we shall not know until the end of the war, but it has certainly gone on extensively. Certain German writers have even advocated the application of this policy to the Armenians. According to the Paris Temps, Paul Rohrbach, "ina conference held at Berlin some time ago, recommended that Armema should be evacuated by the Arme- nians. They should be dispersed in the direction of Meso- potamia, and their places should be taken by Turks in such a fashion that Armenia should be freed of al! Russian influence and that Mesopotamia might be provided with farmers which it now lacked. ' The purpose of all this was evident enough. Germany was building the Bagdad railroad across the Mesopotamian desert. This was an essential detail in the achievement of the great new German Empire, extending from Hamburg to the R 242 Secrets of the Bosphoi us Persian Gulf. But this railroad could never succeed unless there should develop a thrifty and industrious population to feed it. The lazy Turk would never become such a colonist. But the Armenian was made of just the kind of stuff which this enterprise needed. It was entirely in accordance with German concepfious of statesmanship to seize these people in the lands where they had lived for ages and transport them violently to this dreary, hot desert. The mere fact that they had always lived in a temperate climate would furnish no impediment in Pan-German eyes. I found that Germany had been sowing these ideas biuadcast for several years ; I even found that German savants had been lecturing on this subject in the East. ' I remember attending a lecture by a well-known German prufessor," an Armenian tells me. " His main point was that throughout their history the Turks had made a great mistake in being too merciful toward the non-Turkish population. The only way to ensure the prosperity of the Empire, according to this speaker, was to act without any sentimentality toward all the subject nationalities and races in Turkey who did not fall in with the plans of the Turks'." The Pan-Germanists are on record in the matter of Armenia. I shall content myself with quoting the words of the author of " Mittel-Europa," Friedrich Naumann, perhaps the ablest propagator of Pan-German ideas. In his work on " Asia," Naumann, who started life as a Christian clergyman, deals in considerable detail with the Armenian massacres of 1895-96. I need only quote a few passages to show the attitude of German state policy on such intamies. "If we should take into con- sideration merely the violent massacre of from 80,000 to 100,000 Armenians," writes Naumann, "we can come to but one opinion — we must absolutely condemn with all anger and vehemence both the assassins and their instigatcis. They have perpetrated the most abominable massacres upon masses of people, more numerous and worse than those inflicted by Charle- magne on the Saxons. The tortures which Lepsius has etc scribed surpass anything we have ever known. What, then, prohibits us from falling upon the Turk, and saying to him : ' Get thee gone, wretch ! ' Only one thing prohibits us, for the Turk answers : ' I, too, I fight for my existence ! ' — and, indeed, we believe him. We believe, despite the indignation winch the bloody Moham- medan barbarism arouses in us, that the Turks are defending themselves legitimately, and, before anytiiing else, we see in the Armenian question and Armenian massacres a matter of internal Turkish policy, merely an episode of the agony through which a 44 I shall do nothing for the Armenians " 243 great empire is passing which does not propose to let itself die without making a last attempt to save itself by bloodshed. All the great Powers, excepting Germany, have adopted a policy which aims to upset the actual state of affairs in Turkey. In accordance with this, they demand for the subject peoples of Turkey the rights of man, or of humanity, or of civilisation, or of political liberty — in a word, something that will make them the equals of the lurks. But just as little as the ancient Roman despotic state could tolerate the Nazarene's religion, just as little can the Turkish Empire, wliich is really the political successor of the Eastern Roman Empire, tolerate any representation of Western free Christianity among its subjects. The danger for Turkey in the Armenian quesuon is one of extinction. Per this reason she resorts to an act of a barbarous Asiatic state ; she has destroyed the Armenians to such an extent that they will not be able to manifest themselves as a political force for a considerable period. A horrible act, certainly, an act of political despair, shameful in its details, but still a piece of political history, in the Asiatic manner. ... In spite of the displeasure which the German Christian feels at these accomplished facts, he has nothing to do except quietly to heal the wounds so far as he can, and then to let matters take their course. For a long time our policy in the Orient has been determined : we belong to the group that protects Turkey, that is the fact by which we must regulate our conduct. . . . We do not prohibit any zealous Christian from caring for the victims of these horrible crimes, from bringing up the children and nursing the adults. May God bless these good acts like all other acts of faith. Only we must take care that acts of charity do not take the form of political acts which are likely to thwart our German policy. The internationalist, he who belongs to the English school of thought, may march with the Armenians. The nationalist, he who does not intend to sacrifice the future of Germany to England, must, on questions of external policy, follow the path marked out by Bismarck, even if it is merciless in its sentiments. . . . National policy : that is the profound moral reason why we must, as statesmen, show ourselves indifferent to the sufferings of the Christian peoples of Turkey, however painful that may be to our human feelings. . . . That is our duty, which we must recognise and confess before God and before man. If for this reason we now maintain the existence of the Turkish state, we do it in our own self-interest, because what we have in mind is our great future. . . . On one side lie our duties as a nation, on the other our duties as men. There are times when, in a conflict of duties, we 244 Secrets of the Bosphorus can choose a middle ground. That is all right from a human standpoint, but rarely right in a moral sense. In this instance, as in all analogous situations, we must clearly know on which side lies the greatest and most important moral duty. Once we have made such a choice we must not hesitate. William II. has chcscn. He has become the friend ot the Sultan, because he is thinking of a greater, independent Germany." Such was the German state philosophy as applied to the Armenians, and I had the opportunity of observing German practice as well. As soon as the earty reports reached Con- stantinople it occurred to me that the most feasible way of stopping the outrages would be for the diplomatic representatives of all countries to make a joint, appeal to the Ottoman Govern- ment. I approached Wangenheim on tins subject in the latter part of March. His antipathy to the Armenians became im- mediately apparent. He began denouncing them in unmeasured terms ; like Talaat and Enver, he affected to regard the Van episode as an unprovoked rebellion, and, in his eyes, as in theirs, the Armenians were simply traitorous vermin. " I will help the Zionists, " he said, thinking that this remark would be personally pleasing to me, " but I shall do nothing whatever for the Armenians." Wangenheim affected to regard the Armenian question as a matter that chiefly affected the United States. My constant intercession on their behalf apparently created the impression, in his Germanic mind, that any mercy shown this people would be a concession to the American Government. And at that moment he was not disposed to do anything that would please the American people. " The United States is apparently the only country that takes much interest in the Armenians," he said. " Your missionaries are their friends and your people have constituted themselves their guardians. The whole question of helping them is therefore an American matter. How then, can you expect me to do anything as long as the United States is selling ammunition to the enemies of Germany ? Mr. Bryan has just published his Note, saying that it would be unneutral not to sell munitions to England and France. As long as your Government maintains that attitude we can do nothing for the Armenians." Probably no one except a German logician would ever have detected any relation between our sale of war materials to the Allies and Turkey's attacks upon hundreds of thousands of Armenian women and children. But that was about as much progress as I made with Wangenheim at that time. I spoke to *« I shall do nothing for the Armenians " 245 him frequently, but he invariably offset my pleas for mercy to the Armenians by references to the use of American shells at the Dardanelles. A coolness sprang up between us soon afterward, the result of my refusal to give him " credit " for having stopped the deportation of French and German civilians to the Gallipoli Peninsula. After our somewhat tart conversation over the telephone, when he had asked me to telegraph Washington that he had not " hetzed " the Turks in this matter, our visits to each other ceased for several weeks. There were certain influential Germans in Constantinople who did not accept Wangenheim's point of view. I have already referred to Paul Weitz, for thirty years the correspondent of the Frankfurter Zeitung, who probably knew more about affairs in the Near East than any other German. Although Wangenheim constantly looked to Weitz for information, he did not always take his advice. Weitz did not accept the orthodox imperial attitude towards Armenia, for he believed that Germany's refusal effectively to intervene was doing his Fatherland everlasting- injury. Weitz was constantly presenting this view to Wangen- heim, but he made little progress. Weitz told me about this himself, in January, 1916, a few weeks before I left Turkey. I quote his own words on this subject : " I remember that you told me at the beginning," said Weitz, " what a mistake Germany was making in the Armenian matters. I agreed with you perfectly, but when I urged this view upon Wangenheim he twice threw me out of the room ! " Another German who was opposed to the atrocities was Neurath, the Conseiller of the German Embassy. His indigna- tion reached such a point that his language to Talaat and Enver became almost undiplomatic. He told me, however, that he had failed to influence them. " They are immovable and are determined to pursue their present course," Neurath said. Of course, no Germans could make much impression on the Turkish Government as long as the German Ambassador refused to interfere, and, as time went on, it became more and more evident that Wangenheim had no desire to stop the deportations. He apparently wished, however, to re-establish friendly relations with me, and soon sent third parties to ask why I never came to see him. It is doubtful whether we would have met again had not a great personal affliction befallen him. In June Lieut. -Col. Leipzig, the German Military Attache, died under the most tragic and mysterious circumstances in the railroad station at Lule Bourgas. He was killed by a revolver-shot. One story said 246 Secrets of the Bosphorus that the weapon had been accidentally discharged, another that the Colonel had committed suicide ; still another that the Turks had assassinated him, mistaking him for Liman von Sanders. Leipzig was one of Wangenheim's intimate friends ; as young men they had been officers in the same regiment, and at Con- stantinople they were almost inseparable. I immediately called on the Ambassador to express my condolences. I found him very dejected and careworn. He told me that he had heart trouble, that he was almost exhausted, and that he had applied for a few weeks' leave of absence. I knew that it was not only his comrade's death that was preying upon Wangenheim's mind. German missionaries were flooding Germany with reports about the Armenians and calling upon the German Government to stop them. Yet, overburdened and nervous as Wangenheim was this day, he gave many signs that he was still the same unyielding German militarist. A few days afterward, when he returned my visit, he asked : " Where's Kitchener's Army ? " We are willing to surrender Belgium now," he went on. ' Germany intends to build an enormous fleet of submarines with great cruising radius. In the next war we shall therefore be able completely to blockade England, so we do not need Belgium for its submarine bases. We shall give her back to the Belgians, taking the Congo in exchange." I then made another plea on behalf of the persecuted Chris- tians. Again we discussed this subject at length. " The Armenians," said Wangenheim, " have shown them- selves in this war to be enemies of the Turks. It is quite apparent that the two peoples can never live together in the same country. The Americans should move some of them to the United States, and we Germans will send some to Poland, and in their place send Jewish Poles to the Armenian provinces — that is, if they will promise to djop their Zionist schemes." Again, although I spoke with unusual earnestness, the former Ambassador refused to help the Armenians. Still, on July 4th, Wangenheim did present a fornial note of protest. He did not talk to Talaat or Enver, the only men who had any authority, but to the Grand Vizier, who was merely a shadow. The incident has precisely the same character as his " pro forma " protest against sending the French and British civilians down to Gallipoli to serve as targets for the British fleet. Its only purpose was to pat Germans officially on record. Probably the hypocrisy of this protest was more apparent to me than to others, for, at the very moment when Wangenheim '* I shall do nothing for the Armenians " 247 presented this so-called protest, he was giving me the reasons why Germany could not take really effective steps to end the mas- sacres ! Soon after this interview Wangenheim received his leave and went to Germany. Callous as Wangenheim showed himself to be, he was not quite so implacable toward the Armenians as the German Naval Attache at Constantinople, Humann. This person was generally regarded as a man of great influence : his position in Constanti- nople corresponded to that of Boy-ed in the United States. A German diplomat once told me that Humann was more of a Turk than Enver or Talaat. Despite this reputation, I attempted to enlist his influence. T appealed to him particularly because he was a friend of Enver, and was generally looked upon as an important connecting link between the German Embassy and the Turkish military authorities. Humann was a personal emissary of the Kaiser, in constant communication with Berlin, and undoubtedly he reflected the attitude of the ruling powers in Germany. He discussed the Armenian problem with the utmost frankness and brutality. " I have lived in Turkey the larger part of my life," he told me, " and I know the Armenians. . I also know that both Armenians and Turks cannot live together in this country. One of these races has got to go, and I don't blame the Turks for what they are doing to the Armenians. I think that they are entirely justified. The weaker nation must succumb. The Armenians desire to dismember Turkey ; they are against the Turks and the Germans in this war, and they therefore have no right to exist here. I also think that Wangenheim went altogether too far in making ?a protest ; at least, I would not have done this." I expressed my horror at such sentiments, but Humann went on abusing the Armenian people and absolving the Turks from all blame. " It is a matter of safety," he replied ; " the Turks have got to protect themselves, and, from this point of view, they are entirely justified in what they are doing. Why, we found 7,000 guns at Kadikeuy which belonged to the Armenians. At first Enver wanted to treat the Armenians with the utmost moderation, and four months ago he insisted that they be given another opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty. But after what they did at Van he had to yield to the Army, who had been insisting all along that they should protect their rear. The Committee decided upon the deportations and Enver reluctan + ly agreed. All Armenians are working for the destruction of Turkey's power, 248 Secrets of the Bosphorus and the only thing to do is to deport them. Enver is really a very kind-hearted man ; he is incapable personally of hurting a fly, but when it comes to defending an idea in which he believes, he will do it fearlessly and recklessly. Moreover, the Young Turks have to get rid of the Armenians merely as a matter of self -protection. The Committee is strong only in Constantinople and a few other large cities. Everywhere else the people are strongly ' Old Turk,' and these Old Turks are all fanatics. The Old Turks are not in favour of the present Government, and so the Committee has to do everything in its power to protect itself. But don't think that any harm will come to other Christians. Any Turk can easily pick out three Armenians among a thousand Turks " ! Humann was not the only important German who expressed this latter sentiment. Intimations began to reach me from many sources that my " meddling " on behalf of the Armenians was making me more and more unpopular in German officialdom. One day in October, Neurath, the German Conseiller, called and showed me a telegram which he had just received from the German Foreign Office. This contained the information that Lord Crewe and Lord Cromer had spoken on the Armenians in the House of Lords, had laid the responsibility for the massacres upon the Germans, and had declared that they had received their information from an American witness. The telegram also referred to an article in the Westminster Gazette, which said that the German Consuls at certain places had instigated and even led the attacks, and particularly mentioned Resler of Aleppo. Neurath said that his Government had directed him to obtain a denial of these charges from the American Ambassador at Constantinople. I refused to do this, saying that I did not feel called upon to decide officially whether Turkey or Germany was responsible for these crimes. Yet everywhere in diplomatic circles there seemed to be a conviction that the American Ambassador was responsible for the wide publicity which the Armenian massacres were receiving in Europe and the United States. I have no hesitation in saying that they were right about this. In December my son, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., paid a visit to the Gallipoli Peninsula, where he was entertained by General Liman von Sanders and other German officers. He had hardly stepped into German head- quarters when a General came up to him and said : " Those are very interesting articles on the Armenian question which your father is writing in the American newspapers." " My father has been writing no articles," my son replied. " I shall do nothing for the Armenians " 249 " Oh," said this officer, " just because his name isn't signed to them doesn't mean that he is not writing them." Von Sanders also spoke on this subject. " Your father is making a great mistake," he said, " giving out the facts about what the Turks are doing to the Armenians. That really is not his business." As hints of this kind made no impression on me, the Germans evidently decided to resort to threats. In the early autumn a Dr. Nossig arrived in Constantinople from Berlin. Dr. Nossig was a German Jew, and came to Turkey evidently to work against the Zionists. After he had talked with me for a few minutes describing his Jewish activities, I soon discovered that he was a German political agent. He came to see me twice ; the first time his talk was somewhat rambling, the purpose of the call apparently being to make my acquaintance and insinuate himself into my good graces. The second time, after discoursing vaguely on several topics, he came directly to the point. He drew his chair closely up to me and began to talk in the most friendly and confidential manner. " Mr. Ambassador," he said, " we are both Jews, and I want to speak to you as one Jew to another. I hope you will not be offended if I presume upon this to give you a little advice. You are very active in the interests of the Armenians, and I do not think you realise how very unpopular you are becoming for this reason with the authorities here. In fact, I think that I ought to tell you that the Turkish Government is contemplating asking for your recall. Your protests will be useless. The Germans will not interfere on behalf of the Armenians, and you are just spoiling your opportunities of usefulness and running the risk that your career will end ignominiously." " Are you giving me this advice," I asked, " because you have a real interest in my personal welfare ? " " Certainly," he answered, " all of us Jews are proud of what you have done and would hate to see it end disastrously." " Then you go back to the German Embassy," I said, " and tell Wangenheim that I said, to go ahead and have me recalled. If I am to suffer martyrdom, I can think of no better cause in which to be sacrificed. In fact, I would welcome it, for I can think of no greater honour than to be recalled because I, a Jew, had been exerting all my powers to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Christians." Dr. Nossig hurriedly left my office and I have never seen him since. When I next met Enver I told him that there were rumours that the Ottoman Government was about to ask for my 250 Secrets of the Bosphorus recall. He was very emphatic in denouncing the whole story as a falsehood. " We would not be guilty of making such a ridiculous mistake," he said. So there was not the slightest doubt that this attempt to intimidate me had been hatched at the German Embassy. Wangenheim returned to Constantinople in early October. I was shocked at the change that had taken place in the man. As I wrote in my diary, " he looked the perfect picture of Wotan." His face was almost constantly twitching, he wore a black cover over his right eye, and he seemed unusually nervous and de- pressed. He told me that he had obtained little rest, but had been obliged to spend most of his time in Berlin attending to business. A few days after his return I met him on mv way to Haskeuy ; he said that he was going to the American Embassy, and together we walked there. I had been recently told by Talaat that he intended to deport all the Armenians who were left in Turkey, and this statement had induced me to make a final plea to the one man in Constantinople who had the power to end the horrors. I took Wangenheim up to the second floor of the Embassy, where we could be entirely alone and uninterrupted, and there, for more than an hour, sitting together over the tea- table, we had our last conversation on this subject. " Berlin telegraphs me," he said, " that your Secretary of State tells them that you say that more Armenians than ever have been massacred since Bulgaria has come in on our side." " No, I did not say that," I replied. " I admit that I have sent a large amount of information to Washington. T have sent copies of every report and every statement to the State Depart- ment. They are safe^ lodged there, and, wha f ever happen^ to me, the evidence is complete and the American people are not dependent on my oral report for their information. But this particular statement you make ; s not quit- 1 accurate. I merely informed M \ Lansing that any influence Bulgaria might exert to stop the massacres has been lost now that she has become Turkey's ally." We again discussed the deportations. « ' Germany is not responsible for this,'- Wangenheim said. " You can assert that to the end of time," I replied, " but nobody will believe it. The world will always hold Germany responsible ; the guilt of these crimes will be your inheritance for ever. I know that you have filed a paper protest. But what does that amount to ? You know better than I do that such a protest will have no effect. I do not claim that Germany is responsible for these massacres in the sense that she instigated 11 I shall do nothing for the Armenians " 251 them : but sh^ is responsible in the sense that she had power to stop them and did not use it. And it is not only America and your present enemies that will hold you responsible. The German people will themselves some day call you to account. You are a Christian people, and the time will come when Germans will realise that you have let a Mohammedan people destroy another Christian nation. How foolish is your protest that I am sending information to my State Department ! Do you suppose that you can keep things like these atrocities secret ? Don't get such a foolish, ostrich-like thought as that — don't think that by ignoring them yourselves you can get the re^t of the world to do so. Crimes like these cry to heaven. Do you think I could know about things like this and not report them to my Govern- ment ? And don't forget that German missionaries, as well as American, are sending me information about the Armenians." "All that you say may be true," replied the German Am- bassador, " but the big problem that confronts us is to win this war. Turkev has settled with her foreign enemies ; she has done that at the Dardanelles and at Gallipoli. She is now trying to settle her internal affairs. They still greatly fear that the capitulations will be forced upon them again. If they should again be put under this restraint, they intend to have their internal problems in such shape that there will be little chance of any interference from foreign na f: ons. Talaa f has told me that he is determined to complete this task before peace is declared. In the future they don't intend that the Russians shall be in a position to say that they have a right to intervene about Arme- nian matters because there are a large number of * Armenians in Russia who are affected by the troubles of their co-religionists in Turkey. Giers used to be doing this all the time, and the Turks do not intend that any Ambassador from Russia, or from any other country, shall have such an opportunity in the future. The Armenians, anyway, are a very poor lot. You come in contact in Constant mople with Armenians of the educated classes, and you get your impressions about them from these men, but all the Armenians are not of that type. Yet I admit that they have been treated terribly. I sent a man to make investigations, and he reported that the worst outrages have, not been committed by Turkish officials but by brigands." Wangenheim again ' suggested that the Armenians be taken to the United States, and once more I gave him the reasons why this would be impossible. " Never mind all these considerations," I said. " Let us disregard everything— military necessity, State policy, and all 252 Secrets of the Rosphorus else — and let us look upon this simply as a human problem. Remember that most of the people who are being treated in this way are old men, old women, and helpless children. Why can't you, as a human being, see that these people are permitted to live ? " " At the present stage of internal affairs in Turkey," Wangen- heim replied, " I shall not intervene." I saw that it was useless to discuss the matter further. He was a man who was devoid of sympathy and human pity, and I turned from him in disgust. Wangenheim rose to leave. As he did so he gave a gasp, and his legs suddenly shot from under him. I jumped and caught him just as he was falling. For a minute he seemed utterly dazed ; he looked at me in a bewildered way, then suddenly collected himself and regained his poise. I took the Ambassador by the arm, piloted him downstairs and put him into his auto. By this time he had apparently recovered from his dizzy spell and he reached home safely. Two days afterward, while sitting at his dinner-table, he had a stroke of apoplexy ; he was carried upstairs to his bed, but never regained consciousness. On October 24th I was officially informed that Wangenheim was dead. And this, my last recollection of Wangenheim, is that of the Ambassador as he sat in my office in the American Embassy, absolutely refusing to exert any influence to prevent the massacre of a nation. He was the one man who could have stopped these crimes, and his Government the one Government, but, as Wangenheim told me many times, " our one aim is to win this war." A few days afterward official Turkey and the diplomatic force paid their last tribute to this finished embodiment of the Prussian system. Wangenheim was buried in the Park of the Summer Embassy at Therapia, by the side of his comrade Col! Leipzig. No resting-place could have been more appro- priate, for this had been the scene of his diplomatic successes, and it was from here that, a little more than two years before, he had directed by wireless the Goeben and the Breslau, safely brought them into Constantinople, made it inevitable that Turkey should join forces with German}', and paved the way for all the triumphs and all the horrors that had necessarily followed that event. CHAPTER XXVIII ENVER AGAIN MOVES FOR PEACE — FAREWELL TO THE SULTAN AND TO TURKEY My failure to prevent the destruction of the Armenians had made Turkey for me a place of horror, and I found intolerable my further daily association with men who, however gracious and accommodating and good-natured they might have been to the American Ambassador, were still reeking with the blood of nearly a million human beings. Could I have done anything more, either for Americans, enemy aliens, or the persecuted peoples of the Empire, I would willingly have stayed. The position of Americans and Europeans, however, had now become secure, and, so far as the subject peoples were concerned, I had reached the end of my resources. Moreover, an event was approaching in the United States which, I believed, would inevitably have the greatest influence upon the future of the world and of democracy — the presidential campaign. I felt that there was nothing so important in international politics as the re-election of President Wilson. I could imagine no greater calamity for the United States and the world than that the American nation should fail to heartily endorse this great statesman. If I could substantially assist in Mr. Wilson's re-election, I concluded that I was certainly wasting valuable time in this remote part of the world. I had another practical reason for returning home, and that was to give the President and the State Department, by word of mouth, such first-hand information as I possessed on the Euro- pean situation. It was especially important to give them the latest sidelights on the subject of peace. In the latter part of 19 15 and the early part of 19 16 this was the uppermost topic in Constantinople. Enver Pasha was constantly asking me to intercede with the President to end the war. Several times he intimated that Turkey was war- weary and that its salvation depended on getting an early peace. I have already described the conditions that prevailed a few months after the outbreak of the war, but by the end of 1915 they were infinitely worse. When Turkey decided on the deportation and massacre of her subject peoples, especially the Armenians and Greeks, she had signed her own economic death warrant. These were the people, 254 Secrets of the Bosphorus as I have already said, who controlled her industries and her hnance and developed her agriculture, and the material con- sequences of this great national crime now began to be every- where apparent. The farms were lying uncultivated and thousands of peasants were daily dying of starvation. As the Armenians and Greeks were the largest taxpayers, their annihila- tion greatly reduced the State revenues, and the fact that prac- tically all Turkish ports were blockaded had shut off customs collections. The mere statement that Turkey was barely taking in money enough to pay the interest on her debt, to say nothing of ordinary expenses and war expenses, gives a fair idea of her advanced degree of bankruptcy. In these facts Turkey had abundant reasons for desiring a speedy peace. Besides this, Enver and the uling party feared a revolution unless the war quickly came to an end. As I wrote the State Department about this time, " these men are willing to do almost anything to retain their power." Siill, I did not take Enver 's importunities for peace any too seriously. " Are you speaking for yourself and your party in this matter," I asked him, " or do you really speak for Germany also ? I cannot submit a proposition from you unless the Germans are back of you. Have you consulted tnem about this ? " " No," Enver repned, " but I know how they feel." ' That is not sufficient," 1 answered ; " you had better communicate with them directly through the German Embassy. I would not be willing to submit a proposition that was not endorsed by ah the Teutonic Aides." Enver replied that he did no . think it worth while to discuss the matter with the German Ambassador. He said, however, that he was just leaving for Orsova, a town on the Bulgarian and Rumanian frontier, where he was to have a conference with Falkenhayn, at that time the German Chief-of-Staff. Falken- hayn, said Enver, was the important man ; he would take up the question ox peace with him. ' Why do you think that it is a good time to discuss peace now ? " 1 asked. " Because in two weeks we shall have completely annihilated Serbia. We think ,that whl put the Allies in a frame of mind to discuss peace. My visit to Ealkenhayn is to complete arrange- ments ior the invasion of Egypt. In a very few days we expect Greece to join us. We are already preparing tons oi provisions and fodder to send to Greece. And when we get Greece, of course, Rumania whl come in. When the Greeks and Rumanians Farewell to the Sultan and to Turkey 255 join us we shall have a million fresh troops. We shall get all the guns and ammunition we need from Germany as soon as the direct railroad is opened. All these things make it an excellent time for us to take up the matter of peace." I asked the Minister of War to talk the matter over with Falkenhayn in his proposed interview, and report to me when he returned. -In some way this conversation came to the ears of the new German Ambassador, Graf von Metternich, who im- mediately called to discuss the subject. He apparently wished to impress upon me two things : that Germany would never surrender Alsace-Lorraine and that she would insist on the return of all her colonies. I replied that it was apparently useless to discuss peace unless England hrst won some great military victory. ' That may be so," replied the Graf, " but you can hardly expect that Germany shall let England win such a victory merely to put her in a frame of mind to consider peace. But I think that you are wrong. It is a mistake to say that Great Britain has not already won great victories. 1 think that she has several very substantial ones to her credit. Jn=t consider what she has done. She has established her unquestioned supiemacy of the seas and driven off all German commerce. She has not only not lost a foot of her own territory, but she has gained enormous new domains. She has annexed Cyprus and Egypt and has conquered all the German colonies. She io in possession ot a con iderable part of Mesopotamia. How absurd to say that England has gained nothing by the war ! " On December 1st Enver came to the American Embassy and reported the results of his interview with Falkenhayn. The German Chief-of-Staff had said that Germany would very much like to discuss peace, but that Germany could not state her terms in advance, as such an action would be generally interpreted as a sign of weakness. But one thing could be depended on : the Allies could obtain far more favourable term^ at that moment than at any future time. Enver told me that the Germans would be willing to surrender all the territory they had taken from the French and practically all of Belgium. But the one thing on which they had dehnitely settled was the permanent dismemberment of Serbia. Not an acre of Macedonia would.be returned to Serbia, and even parts of old Serbia would be re- tained ; that is, Serbia would become a much -mailer country than she had been before the Balkan Wars and, in fact, she would practically disappear as an independent State. The meaning of all tins was apparent, even then. Germany had won th.: object 256 Secrets of the Bosphorus for which she had really gone to war : a complete route from Berlin to Constantinople and the East. Part, and a good part, of the Pan-German " Mittel Europa " had thus become an accom- plished military fact. Apparently Germany was willing to give up the overrun provinces of Northern France and Belgium, provided that the Entente would consent to her retention of these conquests. The proposal which Falkenhayn made then did not materially differ from that which he put forward in the latter part of igi8(?). This Enver- Falkenhayn interview, as reported to me, shows that it is no suddenly conceived German plan, but that it has been Germany's scheme from the first. In all this I saw no particular promise of an early peace. Yet I thought that I should lay these facts before the President. I therefore applied to Washington for a leave of absence, which was granted. I had my farewell interview with Enver and Talaat on January 13th. Both men were in their most delightful mood. Evidently both were turning over in their minds, as was I, all the momentous events that had taken place in Turkey and in the world since my first meeting with them two years before. Then Talaat and Enver were merely desperate adventurers who had reached high position by assassination and intrigue. Their position was insecure, for at any moment another revolution might plunge them into the obscurity from which they had sprung- But now they were the unquestioned despots of the Ottoman Empire, the allies of the then strongest military power in the world, and the conquerors — at least, they so regarded themselves — of the British Navy. At this moment of their great triumph — the Allied expedition to the Dardanelles had evacuated their positions only two weeks before — both Talaat and Enver regarded their country again as a world power. " I hear you are going home to spend a lot of money and re-elect your President," said Talaat — this being a jocular reference to the fact that I was the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Democratic National Committee. "That's very foolish ; why don't you stay here and give it to Turkey ? We need it more than your people do. " But we hope you are coming back soon," he added. " We feel almost as though you were one of us. You and we have really grown up together ; you came here about the same time that we took office and we don't know how we could ever get so well acquainted with another man. We have grown fond of you, too. We have had our differences, and pretty lively ones at times,but we have always found you fair, and we respect American Farewell to the Sultan and to Turkey 257 policy in Turkey as you have represented it. We don't like to see you go, even for a few months." I expressed my pleasure at these words. " It's very nice to hear you talk that way," I answered. " Since you flatter me so much, I know that you will be willing to promise me certain things. Since I have you both here together, this is my chance to put you on record. Will you treat the people in my charge considerately, just the same as though I were here ? " As to the American missionaries and colleges and schools," said Talaat, and Enver assented, " we give you an absolute promise. They will not be molested in the slightest degree, but can go on doing their work just the same as before. Your mind can rest easily on that score." " How about the British and French ? " I asked. " Oh, well," said Talaat, smiling, " we may have to have a little fun with them now and then, but don't worry. We'll take good care of them." And now for the last time I spoke on the subject that had rested so heavily on my mind for many months. I feared that another appeal would be useless, but I decided to make it. " How about the Armenians ? " Talaat's geniality disappeared in an instant. His face hardened, and the fire of the beast lighted up his eyes once more. " What's the use of speaking about them ? " he said, waving his hand. ' We are through with them. That's all over." Such was my farewell with Talaat. " That's all over " were his last words to me. The next day I had my farewell audience with the Sultan. He was the same gracious, kindly old gentleman that I had first met two years before. He received me informally, in civilian European clothes, and asked me to sit down with him. We talked for twenty minutes, discussing, among other things, the pleasant relations that prevailed between America and Turkey. He thanked me for the interest which I had taken in his country and hoped that I would soon return. Then he took up the question of war and peace. " Every monarch naturally desires peace," he said. " None of us approve the shedding of blood. But there are times when war seems unavoidable. We may wish to settle our disputes amicably, but we cannot always do it. This seems to be one of them. I told the British Ambassador that we did not wish to go to war with his country. I tell you the same thing now. But Turkey had to defend her rights. Russia attacked us, and s 258 Secrets of the Bosphorus naturally we had to defend ourselves. Thus the war was not the result of any planning on our part, it was an act of Allah — it was fate." I expressed the hope that it might soon be over. " Yes, we wish peace also," replied His Majesty. " But it must be a peace that will guarantee the rights of our Empire. I am sure that a civilised and flourishing country like America wants peace, and she should exert all her efforts to bring about a peace that shall be permanent." One of the Sultan's statements in this interview left a lasting impression. This was his assertion that " Russia attacked us." That the simple-minded old gentleman believed this was ap- parent ; it was also clear that he knew nothing of the real facts — that Turkish warships, under German officers, had plunged Turkey into the war by bombarding Russian seaports. Instead of telling him the truth, the Young Turk leaders had foisted upon the Sultan this fiction of Russia as the aggressor. The interview showed precisely to what extent the ostensible ruler of Turkey was acquainted with the crucial facts in the government of his own Empire. In our interview Talaat and Enver had not said their final farewells, telling me that they would meet me at the station. A few minutes before the train started Bedri came up, rather pale- faced and excited, and brought me their apologies. ' They cannot come," he said, " the Crown Prince has just committed suicide ! " I knew the Crown Prince well and I had expected to have him as a fellow-passenger to Berlin ; he was about to make a trip to Germany, and his special car was attached to this train. I had seen much of Youssouf Izzeddin ; he had several times invited me to call upon him, and we had spent many hours talking over the United States and American institutions, in which subject he had always displayed the keenest interest. Many times had he told me that he would like to introduce certain American governmental ideas in Turkey. The morning when we were leaving for Berlin the Crown Prince was found lying on the floor in liis villa, bathed in a pool of blood, with his arteries cut. Youssouf was the son of Abdul- Aziz, Sultan from 186 1 to 1876, who, gruesomely enough, had ended his days by opening his arteries forty years before. The circumstances surrounding the death of father and son were thus precisely the same. The fact that Youssouf was strongly pro-Ally, that he had opposed Turkey's participation in the war on Germany's side, and that he wab extremely antagonistic to the Committee of Union and Farewell to the Sultan and to Turkey 259 Progress gave rise to many suspicions. I know nothing about the stories that now went from mouth to mouth, and merely record that the official report on the death was that it was a case of " suicide." " On I' a suicide " (they have suicided him !), remarked a witty Frenchman, when this verdict was reported. This tragic announcement naturally cast a gloom over our party as our train pulled out of Constantinople, but the journey proved to be full of interest. I was now on the famous Balkan- zug, and this was only the second trip which it had made to B rlin. My room was No. 13 ; several people came to look at it, telling me that, on the outward trip, the train had been shot at, and a window of my apartment broken ! Soon after we started I discovered that Admiral Usedom was one of my fellow-passengers. Usedom had had a distinguished career in the Navy ; among other things he had been captain of the Hohenzollern, the Kaiser's yacht, and thus was upon friendly terms with His Majesty. The last time I had seen Usedom was on my visit to the Dardanelles, where he had been Inspector- General of the Ottoman defences. As soon as we met again the Admiral began to talk about the abortive Allied attack. He again made no secret of the fears which he had then entertained that this attack would succeed. " Several times," he said, " we thought that they were on the verge of getting through. All of us down there were very much distressed and depressed over the prospect. We owed much to the heroism of the Turks and their willingness to sacrifice an unlimited number of human lives. It is all. over now — that part of our task is finished." The Admiral thought that the British landing-party had been badly prepared, though he spoke admiringly of the skill with which the Allies had managed their retreat. I also obtained further light on the German attitude toward the Armenian massacres. Usedom made no attempt to justify them ; neither did he blame the Turks. He discussed the whole thing calmly, dispassionately, and merely as a military problem, and one would never have guessed from his remarks that the lives of a million human beings had been involved. He simply said that the Armenians were in the way, that they were an obstacle to German success, and that it had therefore been necessary to remove them, just like so much useless lumber. He spoke about them as detachedly as one would speak about removing a row of houses in order to bombard a city. Poor Serbia ! As our train sped through her devastated 260 Secrets of the Bosphorus valleys I had a picture of what the war had meant to this brave little country. In the last two years this nation had stood alone, practically unassisted by her allies, attempting to stem the rush of Pan-German conquest, just as, for three centuries, she had stood as a bulwark against the onslaughts of the Turks. And she had paid the penalty. Practically every farm we passed was abandoned, overgrown with weeds and full of debris, and the build- ings were usually roofless and sometimes razed to the ground. When- ever we crossed a stream we saw the remains of a dynamited bridge ; in all cases the Germans had built new ones to replace those which had been destroyed. We saw many women and children, looking ragged and half -starved, but, significantly, we saw very few men, for all had either been killed or they were in 1 he ranks of Serbia's still existing and valiant little army. All this time trainloads of German soldiers were passing us or standing on the switches at the stations where we slowed up, a sufficient explanation for all the misery and devastation we saw on our way. CHAPTER XXIX VON JAGOW, ZIMMERMAN, AND GERMAN-AMERICANS Our train drew into the Berlin station on the morning of Feb- ruary 3rd, 1916. The date is worth mentioning, for that marked an important crisis in German-American relations. Almost the first man I met was my old friend and colleague, Ambassador James W. Gerard. Mr. Gerard told me that he was packing up, and expected to leave Berlin at any moment, for he believed that a break between Germany and the United States was a matter only of days, perhaps of hours. At that time Germany and the United States were discussing the settlement of the Lusitania outrage. The negotiations had reached a point where the Imperial Government had expressed a willingness to express her regrets, pay an indemnity, and promise not to do it again. But the President and Mr. Lansing insisted that Germany should declare that the sinking of the Lusitania had been an illegal act. This meant that Germany at no time in the future could resume submarine warfare without stultifying herself and doing some- thing which her own Government had denounced as contrary to international law. But our Government would accept nothing less, and the two nations were therefore at loggerheads. ' I can do nothing more," said Mr. Gerard. : ' I want to have you talk to Zimmerman and von Jagow, and perhaps you can give them a new point of view." I soon discovered from my many callers that the atmosphere in Berlin was tense and exceedingly anti-American. Our country was regarded everywhere as practically an ally of I he Entente, and I found that the most absurd ideas prevailed concerning the closeness of our relations with England. Thus it was generally believed that Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, the British Ambassador in Washington, met regularly with President Wilson's Cabinet and was consulted on all our national policies. At three o'clock Mr. Gerard took me to the Foreign Office and we spent an hour there with von Jagow. von Jagow was a small, slight man of nervous disposition. He lighted cigarette after cigarette during our interview. He was apparently greatly worried over the American situation. Let us not suppose that 262 Secrets of the Bosphorus the German Government regarded lightly a break with the United States. At that time their newspapers were ridiculing and insulting us and making fun of the idea that Uncle Sam would go to war. The contrast between these journalistic vapourings and the anxiety, even the fear, which this high German official displayed much impressed me. The prospect of having our men and our resources thrown on the side of the Entente he did not regard indifferently, whatever the Berlin Press might say. " It seems to us a shame that Mr. Lansing should insist that we declare the Lusilania sinking illegal," von Jagow began. " He is acting like a technical lawyer." " If you want the real truth," I replied, " I do not think that the United States is particular or technical about the precise terms that you use. But you must give definite assurances that you are sorry for the act, say that you regard it as an improper one, and that it will not occur again. Unless you do this, the United States will not be satisfied." " We cannot do that," he answered. " Public opinion in Germany would not permit it. If we should make a declaration such as you outline the present Cabinet would fall." " But I thought that you had public opinion here well under control," I answered. " It may take a little time, but certainly you can change public sentiment so that it wouldfapprove such a settlement." " As far as the newspapers are concerned," said von Jagow, ' that is true. We can absolutely control them. However, that will take some time. The newspapers cannot reverse themselves immediately ; they will have to do it gradually, taking two or three weeks. We can manage them. But there are members of Parliament whom we can't control, and they would make so much trouble that we would all have to resign." " Yet it seems to me," I rejoined, " that you could get these members together, explain to them the necessity of keeping the United States out of the war, and that they would be convinced. The trouble is that you Germans don't understand conditions in my country. You don't think that the United States will fight. You don't understand President Wilson ; you think that he is an idealist and a peace man, and that under no circumstances will he take up arms. You are making the greatest and most costly mistake that any nation could make. The President has two sides to his nature. Do not forget that he has Scotch- Irish blood in him. Up to the present you have seen only the Scotch side of him. That makes him very cautious, makes him weigh every Von Jagow, Zimmerman, and German-Americans 263 move, makes him patient and long-suffering. But he has also all the fire and combativeness of the Irish. Let him once set his jaws and it takes a crowbar to open them again. If he once decides to fight, he will fight with all his soul, and to the bitter end. You can go just so far with your provocations but no farther. You are also greatly deceived because certain important members of Congress, perhaps even a member of the Cabinet, have been for peace. But there is one man who is going to settle this matter — that is the President. He will settle it as he thinks right and just, irrespective of what other people may say or do." Von Jagow said that I had given him a new impression of the President. But he still had one more reason to believe that the United States would not go to war. " How about the German-Americans ? " he asked. " I can tell you all about them," I answered, " because I am one of them myself. I was born in Germany and spent the first nine years of my life here. I have always loved many things German, such as its music and its literature. But my parents left this country because they were dissatisfied and unhappy here. The United States gave us a friendly reception and a home, and made us prosperous and happy. There are many millions just like us ; there is no business opportunity and no social position that is not open to us. I do not believe that there is a more contented people in the world than the so-called German- Americans. We have one loyalty and one love, and that is for the United States. Take my children — they are German- Americans of the second generation. Their sympathies all through this war have been with England and her Allies. My son is here with me ; he tells me that if the United States goes to war he will enlist immediately. Do you suppose in case we should go to war with Germany that they would side with you ? The idea is simply laughable. And the overwhelming mass of German- Americans feel precisely the same way." " But I am told," said von Jagow, " that there will be an insurrection of German-Americans if your country makes war on us." " Dismiss any such idea from your mind," I replied. ' The first one who attempts it will be punished so promptly and so drastically that such a movement will not go far. And I think that the loyal German-Americans themselves will be the first to administer such punishment." " We wish to avoid a rupture with the United States," said von Jagow, " but we must have time to change public senti- ment here. There are two parties here, holding diametrically 264 Secrets of the Bosphorus opposed views on submarine warfare. One believes in pushing it to the limit, irrespective of consequences to the United States or any other Power. The present Cabinet takes the contrary view ; we wish to meet the contentions of your President, but the militaristic faction is pushing us hard. They will force us out of office if we declare the Lusitania sinking illegal or improper. I think that President Wilson should understand this. We are working with him, but we must go cautiously. I should suppose that Mr. Wilson, since he wishes to avoid a break, would prefer to have us in power. Why should he take a stand that will drive us out of office and put in here people who will make war inevit- able between Germany and the United States ? " Do you wish Washington to understand," I asked, " that your tenure of office depends on your not making this declara- tion ? " " We certainly do," replied von Jagow. ' I wish that you would telegraph Washington to that effect. Tell the President that, if we are displaced now, we shall be succeeded by people who advocate unlimited submarine warfare." He expressed himself as amazed at my description of President Wilson and his willingness to fight. " We regard him," said von Jagow, " as absolutely a man of peace. Nor do we believe that the American people will fight. They are far from the scene of action, and what, after all, have they to fight for ? Your material interests are not affected." " But there is one thing that we will fight for," I replied, " and that is moral principle. It is quite apparent that you do not understand the American spirit. You do not realise that we are holding off, not because we have no desire to fight, but because we wish to be absolutely fair. We first wish to have all the evidence in. I admit that we are reluctant to mix in foreign disputes, but we shall insist upon our right to use the ocean as we see fit, and we don't propose to have Germany tell us how many ships we can sail and where they are to go. The American is still, perhaps, a great powerful youth, but, once he gets his mind made up that he is going to defend his rights, he will do so irrespective of consequences. You seem to think that Americans will not fight for a principle ; you apparently have forgotten that all our wars have been over matters of principle. Take the greatest of them all — the Civil War, from 1861 to '65. We in the North fought to emancipate the slaves ; that was purely a matter of principle, our material interests were not involved. And we fought that to the end, although we had to fight our own brothers." Von Jagow, Zimmerman, and German-Americans 26^ ' We don't want to be on bad terms with the United States," von Jagow replied. " There are three nations on whom the peace of the world depends — England, the United States, and Germany. We three should get together, establish peace and maintain it. I thank you for your explanation ; I understand the situation much better now. But I still don't see why your Government is so hard on Germany and so easy with England." I made the usual explanation that we regarded our problem with each nation as a distinct matter, and could not make our treatment of Germany in any way conditional on our treatment of England. "Oh yes," replied von Jagow rather plaintively. "It reminds me of two boys playing in a yard. One is to be punished first and the other is waiting for his turn. Wilson is going to spank the German boy first and, after he gets through, then he proposes to take up England. ' However," he concluded, " I wish you would cable the President that you have gone over the matter with me and now understand the German point of view. Won't you please ask him to do nothing until you have reached the other side and explained the whole thing personally ? " I made this promise and cabled immediately. At three o'clock I had an engagement to take tea with a director of the Orient Bank and his wife. I had been there only a few minutes when Zimmerman was announced. He was a different kind of man from von Jagow. He impressed me as being much stronger, mentally and physically. He was tall, even stately in his bearing, masterful in his manner, direct and searching in his questions, but extremely pleasing and insinuating. Zimmerman, discussing the German-American situation, began with a statement which I presume he thought would be gratifying to me. He told me how splendidly the Jews had behaved in Germany during the war and how deeply under obligations the Germans felt to them. " After the war," he said, " they are going to be much better reated in Germany than they have been." Zimmerman told me that von Jagow had told him about our talk, and asked me to repeat part of it. He was particularly interested, he said, in my statements about the German- Americans, and he wished to learn from me himself the facts upon which I based my conclusions. Like most Germans, he regarded the Germanic elements in our population as almost a part of Germany. " Are you sure that the mass of German- Americans would be 266 Secrets of the Bosphorus loyal to the United States in case of war ? " he asked. " Aren't their feelings for the Fatherland really dominant ? " " You evidently regard those German- Americans as a distinct part of the population," I replied, " living apart from the rest of the people and having very little to do with American life as a whole. You could not make a greater mistake. You can pur- chase a few here and there who will make a big noise and shout for Germany, but I am talking about the millions of Americans of German ancestry. These people regard themselves as Americans and nothing else. The second generation particularly resent being looked upon as Germans. It is practically impossible to make them talk German ; they refuse to speak anything but English. They do not read German newspapers and will not go to German schools. They even resent going to Lutheran churches where the language is German. We have more than a million German-Americans in New York City, but it has been a great struggle to keep alive one German theatre ; the reason is that these people prefer the theatres where English is the language. We have a few German clubs, but their membership is very small. The German-Americans prefer to belong to the clubs of general membership, and there is not a single one in New York, even the finest, where they are not received upon their merits. In the political and social life of New York there are few German- Americans who, as such, have acquired any prominent position, though there are plenty of men of distinguished position who are German in origin. If the United States and Germany go to war, you will not only be surprised at the loyalty of our German people, but the whole world will be. Another point : if the United States goes in, we shall fight to the end, and it will be a very long and a very determined struggle." After three years I have no reason to be ashamed of either of these prophecies. I sometimes wonder what Zimmerman now thinks of my statements. After the explanation, Zimmerman began to talk about Turkey. He was very interested in finding out whether the Turks were likely to make a separate peace. I bluntly told him that the Turks felt themselves to be under no obligations to the Germans. This gave me another opportunity. " I have learned a good deal about German methods in Turkey," I said. " I think it would be a great mistake to attempt similar tactics in the United States. I speak of this because there has been a good deal of sabotage there already. This in itself is solidifying the German-Americans against you, and is, more than anything else, driving the United States into the arms of England." Von Jagow, Zimmerman, and German-Americans 267 " But the German Government is not responsible," said Zimmerman. " We know nothing about it." Naturally I could not accept that statement on its face value — recent developments have shown how mendacious it was — but we passed to other topics. The matter of the submarine came up again. ' We have voluntarily interned our Navy," said Zimmerman. " We can do nothing at sea except with our submarines. It seems to me that the United States is making a serious mistake in so strongly opposing the submarine. You have a long coast- line and you may need the U-boat yourself some day. Suppose one of the European Powers, and particularly Japan, should attack you. You could use the submarine to good purpose then. Besides, if you insist on this proposed declaration in the Lusitania matter, you will simply force our Government into the hands of the Tirpitz party." Zimmerman now returned again to the situation in Turkey. His questions showed that he was much displeased with the new German Ambassador, Graf von Metternich. Metternich, it seemed, had not made a success of winning the goodwill of the reigning powers in Turkey and had been a trial to the German Foreign Office. Metternich had shown a different attitude toward the Armenians from Wangenheim, and he had made sincere attempts with Talaat and Enver to stop them. Zimmer- man now told me that Metternich had made a great mistake in doing this and had destroyed his influence at Constantinople. Zimmerman made no effort to conceal his displeasure over Metternich 's manifestation of a humanitarian spirit. I now saw that Wangenheim had really represented the attitude of official Berlin, and I thus had confirmation, from the highest German authority, of my conviction that Germany had silently acquiesced in those deportations. In a few days we had taken the steamer at Copenhagen, and on February 22nd I found myself once more sailing into New York Harbour. INDEX INDEX Abdul-Hamid, 6, 9, 186, 188 Adrianople, 9, 19, 173, 178 .ZEgean Coast, Greek population of, 30 ^Egean Coast deportations, 31 Alsace-Lorraine, 59 American ammunition for Allies, 103 American and Turkish relations, 103 Angora deportations, 205 Angora, Typhus at, 170 Archangel, 70 Armenians, American assistance of, 227-239 Armenians, Destruction of, 211 Armenians, History of, 188 Armenians massacred, in, 189, 198 Armenian politics, 186, 191 Armenian soldiers, 186, 198 Armenian State Church, 189 Arrogant Turks, 180 Assassination of Austrian Heir, 37 Assassination of Nazim, 9 Bagdad, 182 Bagdad Railway, 59, 241 Balkans smouldering, 35 Balkanzug, The, 179, 259 Baltic, The, 70 Bastinado, The, 201 BedriBey,87, 97, 100, 123, 163, 167, 204 Berlin, February. 1916, 261 Bethlehem Steel Co., 103 Bethmann-Hollweg, 55 Billings, C. K., 9, 23 Black Sea, Control of, 51 "Blacksmith of Bashkale," 202 Bompard, 17, 82 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 7, 37, 57, 177 Bosphorus, The, 36, 53, 71 " Boss System " in Turkey, 12 Bouvet, The, 140, 147 Breslau, The, 45, 63, 140, 252 Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of, 117 British Records, Burning of, 83 Bronsart, 40, 96, 130 Bruere, Henry, 23 Bulgaria, 118, 147, 159, 173 Bulgaria up for auction, 176 Bulgaria joins Central Powers, 177 Burial permits, 184 Burlesque gun, A, 144 Bustany Effendi, 23, 78 Cabinet Council, A Turkish, 160 Calais, 60 Caliph, The, 10 Capitulations, The, 73, 183 Capitulations, Abrogation of, 74 Churchill, Winston, 124, 135 Commander Stoker, 170 Committee of Union and Progress, 8, 10, 18, 82, 113, 130, 188, 204, 231 Constantinople, Control of, 1 Constantinople, Coup d'Etat, 8 Constantinople, Decorations to order, 146 Constantinople, Eve of war in, 39 Constantinople, Exodus from, 13! Constantinople, Germans in, 66 272 Index Constantinople, Panic in, 123, 129 Constantinople, Peace negotiations (1915), 116 Constantinople, Street signs in, 1S7 Concentration Camp, A, 158 Corcovado, The, 40, 45, 48, 58 Crisis, The German-American, 261 Cromer Commission, The, 128 Crown Prince Youssouf, 258 Dardanelles, The, 3, 47, 51, 60, 67 Dardanelles, Closing of the, 70 Dardanelles closed by Germans, 68 Dardanelles defences inspected, 133 Dardanelles, Fortifications of the, 137. 152 Dardanelles, First bombardment of, 94 Dardanelles, Further bombard- ments of, 121, 124, 130 Dardanelles, Land attack on, 155, 158 Dardanelles, Mines in the, 143 Dardanelles, Withdrawal from the, 179 Dedeagatch Railway, 173, 177 Deportations of Armenians, 202 Deportations of Greeks, 31 Deportations from Angora, 205 Deportations from Harpoot, 209 Deportations as a policy, 241 Der Tag, 139 Diplomatic conversation, A, 157 Djavid Bey, 52, 68, 78, 94, 138, 141, 144 Djemal Pasha, 7, 9, 33, 64, 81 Djemal Pasha's personality, 112-3, 187, 239 Djevdet Bey, 195, 202 Dolci, Monsignor, 171 £15. 17° Eau-de-Cologne, 136 England's Declaration of War, 58 Enver Pasha, 7, 64, 68, 85, 113, 129, 133. 153- 165, 171, 187 Enver Pasha at home, 74 Enver Pasha's German sympathies, 20 Enver Pasha's wedding, 25 Enver Pasha raises an army, 42 Enver Pasha's personality, 19 Enver Pasha's visit to Robert College, 76 Enver Pasha and Armenian Mas- sacres, 226 Enver Pasha's marksmanship, 235 Failure of "Holy War," no Falkenhayn interview, 254 Farewell to Talaat and Enver, 256 Farewell to the Sultan, 257 Fisher, Admiral , 121 Fitzgerald, Lt., 170 Foreigners, Deportations of, 160 Foreigners leave Turkey, 87, 95 Foreigners, Treatment of, 97, 156 Fourth of July, 191 4, 38 Fourth Turkish Army, 112 Franco-Russian Alliance, 3 Fuad Pasha, 133, 136 Gallipoli, 145, 153 Garroni, Marquis, 56 General, The, 67, 81 Gerard, James W., 261 German Caste organisation, 3 German Imperial Conference, 54 German Incentive to murder, 109 German Military Mission, 21, 26 German propaganda, 65, 71, 10 4 German responsibility for war, 55 German scheme to rouse Islam, 105 German Wireless Station in Turkey f 4° Germans disillusioned, 70 Germany and Armenian Massacres, 240 Index 273 Germany and International Law, 47 Germany's first Peace Terms, 119 Germany precipitating the War, 5^ 59 German-Americans, 263, 265 Giers, M. de, 17, 27, 82 Gloucester, H.M.S., 44, 48 Goeben, The, 45, 63, 140, 149, 252 Goltz, von der, 41, 121, 150 Grand Vizier, The, 28, 51, 64, 68, 79, 81, 94. 159. 235 Greek deportations, 31, 212 Greek Islands, 30, 49 Greek purchase of Dreadnoughts, 35 Greeks, Treatment of, 32, 213 Grey, Sir Edward, 165 " Hadji Wilhelm," 65 HalilBey, 236 Hamidie, Fort, 140, 148 Hoffman, Philip, 164 " Holy War," The, 105, in, 146 Hostages on Gallipoli, 165 Humann, 18, 40, 43 Humann and the Armenians, 247 Ikdam, The, 104-6 Isolation of Turkey, 147, 180 Jagow, von, 261 January, 1915, 118 January, 1916, 179 Jihad, The, 105, no Junkers, The, 3, 119 Kaiser, The, 192 Kiamil Pasha, 9 Kilid-ul-Bahr, 146, 148 Kitchener, Lord, 29 Koloucheff, 159. 175 Konia, 170 Kiihlmann, von, 117, 120 Kum Kale, 139, 144 Landing on Gallipoli, The, 155 Leipzig, Lt.-Col., Death of, 245 Lepsius, Dr., 226 Lev ant Her aid, The, 169 Levantines, 153 Lichnowsky, Prince, 117 Liman von Sanders, 26, 28, 40, 130 Limpus, Admiral, 26, 66 London, Treaty of, 30 Lusitania, The, 261 Macedonia, 176 Mallet, Sir Louis, 17,29, 68, 79, 83 Mark Antony, 112 Marne, Battle of the, 1 59 Massacre of Armenians, in, 180 Medilli, The, 48 Mere Elvira, 98 Mesopotamia, 182, 202 Messina, 47 Mesudie, The 138 Metternich, Count, 255, 267 Mexico, 17 Millets, 184 Mizzi, Dr., 169 Mobilisations, 39 Mohammed V., 7 Mohammed V.'s personality, 10 Mosque of Santa Sophia, 130, 183 Murder of a Nation, The, 198 Mutius, von, 28, 37, 117 Nagara Point, 137, 149 Napoleon, 19 Naval preparations, 33 Navy, Turkish, 66 Nazim Pasha, 9 New Turkey, 180 Nossig, Dr., 249 274 Index Odessa raided by Turks, 81 Oppenheim, Baron, 65 Optical illusion, 141 Otranto, 48 Ottoman Empire, 3, 15, 147, 180, 188 Ottoman Turks, 182 Pallavicini, 37, 56, 70, 96, 119, 123, 159 Pallavicini's personality, 5-6 Pan-Germany, 2, 31, 241 Pan-Turkism, 114, 186 Peace Campaign, 115, 254 Pears, Sir Edwin, 167 Pola, 47 Poland, 59 Policy, Turkish, 76 President Wilson, 117 Prince Lichnowsky, 117 Propaganda, German, 65, 71 Prussian Military System, 3 Prussian Teachings, 240 Queen Elizabeth, The, 139, 145, 149 Race psychology, 181 Rayah, 183 Red Sultan, The, 186, 188 Religious hatred, 106 Reprisals, 170 Requiem Mass, 37 Requisitions in Turkey, 41 Retreat from Mons, 60 " Revolution " at Van, 193 Robert College, 38, 73, 76 Rumania, 118 Rumania, Neutrality of, 148 Russia, 4 Russia, Isolation of, 70, 134 Russia, Strangling of, 125 Said Halim, 15, 28, 51, 64, 81, 235 St. Bartholomew's Eve, 211 Sanders, Liman von, 26, 28, 40, 130, 248 Santa Sophia, 130, 183 " Saviour of Egypt," 112 Scrap of Paper, A, 58 Secret Pamphlet, The, 106 Sedd-ul-Bahr, 144, 152 Serajevo, 37, 55, 57 Serbia, 37, 57, 148, 152, 177. * 88 . 260 Sheik-ul-Islam, The, 106 Siberian Railway, The, 71 Sicilian Vespers, The, 211 Simon, Robert E., 23 Smyrna, 30 Souchon, Admiral, 46, 67, 81 Stock Exchanges, 56 Stoker, Commander, 170 Sublime Porte, The, 9. 67. 127, 160 Submarine war, First warning of, 61 Submarine war, Unlimited, 264 Sultan Selim, 48 Tahsin Pasha, 193 Talaat Bey, 7, 8, 22, 50, 113, i28 # 150, 167, 187, 203, 217 Talaat Bey and Armenian Mas- sacres, 213 Talaat Bey at home, 91 Talaat Bey's first Cabinet, 15 Talaat Bey as Minister of War, 20 Talaat Bey's personality, 12 Talaat Bey's policy, 64-79 Taylor, Major John, 29 " Three Thousand Civilians," 153 Tocheff, M., no Treaty of Bucharest, 56 Tripoli, 7, 17 Troy, Plains of, 144 Turk, The, 181 Turk as torturer, 201 Turk, Attitude to Christians, 83 Turk, Pride of the, 181 Index 275 Turkey on the eve of war, 80, 82 Turkey declares war, 85 Turkey, Isolation of, 147, 180 Turkey, Situation of (1915), 122, 128, 149 Turkish Army, 21, 28 Turkish Army review, 29 Turkish bankruptcy, 254 Turkish deportations, 159, 224 Turkish Dreadnoughts, 49 Turkish Empire, 3, 6, 32 Turkish Empire, Reforms in, 6 Turkish Expedition against Egypt, 114 Turkish Expedition against Egypt, Failure of, 121 Turkish Expedition in Caucasus, 114 Turkish Expedition in Caucasus, Failure of, 121 Turkish fears of Russia, 16 Turkish finances, 23 Turkish Government, Preparations for flight of, 122 Turkish mobilisation, 39 Turkish Navy, 50, 66 Turkish neutrality, 63 Turkish peace overtures (191 6), 253 Turkish plots against Greece, 33 Turkish policy, 76 Turkish Press, 65, 104 Turkish requisitions, 41 Ultimatum of July, 191 4, 37, 55 Usedom, Admiral, 259 Usher, Dr., 197 Van, 193 Vladivostock, 70 " Vulnerability of British Fleet," 135 Wangenheim, Baron von, 2, 27, 34 38, 45. 5°. 53. 70. 151 Wangenheim's ambition, 5 Wangenheim 's confidence in vic- tory, 59 Wangenheim and American am- munition, 103 Wangenheim and Armenian Mas- sacre, 245 Wangenheim, A last appeal to, 251 Wangenheim "between two fires," 127 Wangenheim's peace overtures, 118 Wangenheim's personality, 3-4 Wangenheim's plot against British, 123 Wangenheim's principles, 115 Wangenheim's promise, 96 Wangenheim's vanity, 55 Wangenheim, death of, 252 War-weariness, 253 Weber Pasha, 69 Wehrle, Oberst, 138 Weitz, Paul, 18, 37, 177, 245 Welt-Politik, 117 Wertheim, Maurice, 44 White Slave Gang, 10 1 Wigram, Dr., 164 Wilson, President, 253 Wireless Station, A, 40 " World Empire or Downfall," 5 Young Turks, 6, 11, 17, 75, 128 180, 185, 192 Youssouf, Suicide of, 258 Zimmerman, 261, 265 Zion Sisters' School, 97 Zion Sisters' treasure saved, 100 Zionists, The, 249 Messrs. Hutchinson & Co. kra pleased to announce Novels for the Autumn of 1918 by the following LEADING AUTHORS, particulars of which will be found in the ensuing pages J MARIE CORELLI ARNOLD BENNETT E. F. BENSON CYNTHIA STOCKLEY H. de VERE STACPOOLE HAROLD BEQBIE MRS. B. M. CROKER BARONESS VON HUTTEN SIR GILBERT PARKER DOROTA FLATAU E. TEMPLE THURSTON BEATRICE HARRADEN GABRIELLE VALLINGS MAXWELL GRAY M. P. WILLCOCKS EDGAR JEPSON PEGGY WEBLING BURTON E. STEVENSON HELEN PRO 1 HERO LEWIS DOUGLAS SLADEN G. B. BUROIN CECILIA HILL AUTHOR OF "THE POINTING MAN" CURTIS YORKE F. BANCROFT MRS. CHASTEL de BOINVILLE New Novels, Autumn 1918. Where Your Treasure Is By BEATRICE HARRADEN A long novel by the favourite authoress of " Ships that Pass in the Night," which requires no recommendation. It is full of the charm and tenderness peculiar to Beatrice Harraden, and the background of the war to a touching love-story provides an atmosphere of pathos and deep feeling. The Black Opal By MAXWELL GRAY Anyone who has read "The Silence of Dean Maitland," as well as all those who have not, will be delighted with this new story by Maxwell Gray. In Our Street By peggy webling Under this unassuming title the authoress hides a love-story in which the occult plays a prominent part, and which is original both as regards plot and treatment. A book that is bound to have a large sale, in view of the burning interest aroused by the war in the question of communication with the unseen world, Fair Inez By douglas sladen An enchanting novel of Anstralian life forms the background to the central figure of the heroine, Inez Gordon. A story that will grip the reader and enchant all those who know and love Australia and the Australians. A book that will cement the feelings of close friendship the war has roused between the Commonwealth and the Mother Country. L 2002 By EDGAR JEPSON A story of love and mystery that is thrilling from beginning to end, and will be a godsend to those who desire to seek forget- fulness from reality in the exciting realities of fiction. New Novels, Autumn 1918. The Young Diana By MARIE CORELLI The long and engrossing story, told by Marie Corelli in her usual original way. Decidedly one of her most fascinating books. An immense First Edition has been printed. David and Jonathan By E. TEMPLE THURSTON Undoubtedly one of Temple Thurston's strongest books. A problem novel on the theme: "Passing the love of women," which carries the reader in the company of two men and one woman into remote haunts and back to civilisation, where at last the question is definitely solved. Up and Down By e. f. benson This is a book written in Mr. Benson's most reflective mood- Fact and fiction are skilfully interwoven around the central lives of two men and their friendship. From the romantic haunts of an Italian island, we see as in a kaleidoscope events of the great war. A touching story of friendship and patriotism. The Man Who Lost Himself By H. DE VERE STACPOOLE A most delightful novel — on entirely new lines — by this well-known writer. Brim full of action, humour and pathos, and clever characterisation. A relief to the war-weary. Yellow English By dorota flatau This is one of the most remarkable novels of the year — a first book on the topic of the moment : the hidden German hand in England. The importance and success of the book may be gauged by the fact that four large editions were called for within a fortnight of publication. A book that will stir every man and woman of British birth to the core, and do its share in British Empire-building. New Novels, Autumn 1918. Blue Aloes By cynthia stockley By the well-known authoress of " Poppy " (22nd edition), "The Claw," etc., this book is one more eloquent proof of her intimate knowledge of South Africa It carries in its pages the subtle charm and tragedy of the veldt. Bridget s y b. m. croker Mrs. Croker's studies of Irish life and character are no less brilliant than her Anglo-Indian stories. Possessing a genius for story-telling, she has a gift of humour seen at its best in the Irish novels, of which the present is one. Tumult By GABRIELLE VALLINGS (Grand- daughter of Charles Kwgsley) Authoress of " Bindweid." As the title denotes, a novel full of excitement and action. The srene is laid in Paris, and the story tells of the experiences of an Australian girl and her lovers. Joyce By CURTIS YORKE A charming novel in Curtis Yorke's best style — true to life, as all her men and women are. The hero and heroine find happiness after estrangement and disappointment. Wings Triumphant By CECILIA HILL This is a most remarkable novel, original in everyway. The plot is conceived, developed and brought to a conclusion in a highly ingenious fashion, and all the characters in the book live The Man from Trinidad By the Author of "The Pointing Man" This is essentially a man's book, though written by a woman, showing an extraordinary power of depicting the life of seafaring men and their experiences and haunts in the East and at home. New Novels, Autumn 1918. The Roll Call Arnold bennett Author of " Clayhanger." A new long novel, interwoven with love themes and vivid pictures of life in London and Paris. Mr. Bennett tells the romance of George Connor in his well-known masterly way. Under Blue Skies By H. de VERE STACPOOLE „" Under Blue Skies," like "In Blue Waters" and "The Blue Lagoon," is a big sunlit book, a tonic book, full of the freshness of the sea. The Sleeping Partner By M. P. WILLCOCKS Both in scene and atmosphere, an entirely new departure of Miss Willcock's. A story with a most original plot, told in such a delightful manner that the readers' interest is held and kept in suspense until the very end — a pyschological surprise. The Silver Bridge By HELEN PROTHERO LEWIS A charming story written with a practised hand by the author of "Love and the Whirlwind," "Hooks of Steel," etc. A love story full of romance and " mystery, "j An Armed Protest By f. Bancroft A story that will appeal to all who realise the problems matrimony presents to every thoughtful, right-thinking man and woman. A woman's protest against the two-standard view, with an ending that is true to life. 5 New Novels, Autumn 1 918. An English Family By HAROLD BEGBIE "The Memoirs of Hugh Frothingham of Longworthy," a novel characteristic of all that is best in English fiction, as full of incident, reflection and romance as the history of "The Newcomes." O'Reilly of the Glen By Mrs. CHASTEL de BOINVILLE A thrilling story of Ireland in the throes of sedition and rebellion. A thoroughly up-to-date novel, written with power and an intimate knowledge of Ireland. The moving story of a girl's struggle between love and patriotism. Wild Youth By SIR GILBERT PARKER A novel of prairie life, portraying characters and incidents of the Canadian West. This novel, together with "Jordan is a Hard Road," represents the author in his most fertile, spirited and original mood. There is humour, individuality and charm in every paragraph, and both stories are founded upon actual fact. The Throw Back By g. b. burgin This is a delightfully-told romance, of which the scene is laid in Turkey. The story centres around Lancelot Graves, whom disappointment in love causes to become a follower of the Prophet. A tale full of excitement and originality. Recent Successful 6/- net Novels. A King in Babylon By BURTON E. STEVENSON Author of "The Little Comrade." Miss Pirn's Camouflage By lady Stanley The Lyndwood Affair By una l. silberrad By The Bag of Saffron .baroness von hutjen Author of ' Sharrow. " IMPORTANT FORTHCOMING BOOKS "The Brood of False Lorraine" The History of the House of Guise Ther« rode the Brood of false Lorraine, the tunes of our land." — MAO-lOIiAT. "Ivrp." With numerous illustrations By H. NOEL WILLIAMS Author of *' Five Fair Sisters, ' " Unruly Daughters," •' Rival Sultanas, etc., etc. In two vols, demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 24s. net r In this volume Mr. Noel Williams relates the early history of the famous House of Guise, the most interesting and eventful of any family not actually a royal one in Europe. The story of the Guises, brave, talented, open-hearted and magnificent, but insatiably ambitious, un- scrupulous, cruel, vindictive, and licentious, is one long tissue of con- spiracies, assassinations, duels, love intrigues, escapes from prison, and romantic adventures of all kinds, and written as it is with that lightness of touch and accuracy of detail which have secured the author so many readers, eannot fail to make a wide appeal. Eighty-Six Years 9 Memories By HENRIETTA WARD 16s. net Profusely illustrated with original drawings, by Morland, Cruickshank, James Ward, R.A., etc., etc. A book of extra- ordinary interest covering practically the whole of the 19th century. The authoress forms the connecting link between four generations of famous painters. 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