Skip to main content

Full text of "Ambassador Morgenthau's story"

See other formats 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcli  ive.org/details/ambassadormorgenOOmorguoft 


HENRY  MORGENTHAU 
American  Ambassador  at  Constantinople  from  1913  to  1916 


Mcnt 


AMBASSADOR 

MORGENTHAU'S 

STORY 


BY 
HENRY  MORGENTHAU 

Formerly  American  Ambassador  to  Turkey 


ILLUSTRATED 


1 


^i 


^;->' 
v^^ 


Garden  City  New  York 

DOUBLED  AY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

1919 


i. 


IP 

€'7.0 


COPTHIGIIT,  1918,  BY 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED,  INCLUDING  THAT  OP 

TRANSLATION  INTO  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES, 

INCLUDING  THE  SCANDINAVIAN 


TO 
WOODROW  WILSON 

THE  EXPONENT  IN  AMERICA  OF  THE  ENLIGHTENED  PUB- 
LIC OPINION  OF  THE  WORLD,  WHICH  HAS  DECREED  THAT 
THE  RIGHTS  OF  SMALL  NATIONS  SHALL  BE  RESPECTED 
AND  THAT  SUCH  CRIMES  AS  ARE  DESCRIBED  IN  THIS  BOOK 
SHALL  NEVER  AGAIN   DARKEN  THE  PAGES  OF    HISTORY 


PREFACE 

BY  THIS  time  the  American  people  have  proba- 
.  bly  become  convinced  that  the  Germans  dehb- 
erately  planned  the  conquest  of  the  world. 
Yet  they  hesitate  to  convict  on  circumstantial  evi- 
dence and  for  this  reason  all  eye  witnesses  to  this,  the 
greatest  crime  in  modern  history,  should  volunteer 
their  testimony. 

I  have  therefore  laid  aside  any  scruples  I  had  as  to 
the  propriety  of  disclosing  to  my  fellow  countrymen 
the  facts  which  I  learned  while  representing  them  in 
Turkey.  I  acquired  this  knowledge  as  the  servant  of 
the  American  people,  and  it  is  their  property  as  much 
as  it  is  mine. 

I  greatly  regret  that  I  have  been  obliged  to  omit  an 
account  of  the  splendid  activities  of  the  American 
Missionary  and  Educational  Institutions  in  Turkey, 
but  to  do  justice  to  this  subject  would  require  a  book 
by  itself.  I  have  had  to  omit  the  story  of  the  Jews 
in  Turkey  for  the  same  reasons. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  my  friend,  Mr.  Burton  J. 
Hendrick,  for  the  invaluable  assistance  he  has  ren- 
dered in  the  preparation  of  the  book. 

Henry  Morgenthau. 
October,  1918. 


CONTENTS 


FAOa 


I.    A  German  superman  at  Constantinople  .         3 

n.  The  "Boss  System"  in  the  Ottoman  Em- 
pire and  how  it  proved  useful  to  Ger- 
many     20 

rH.  "The  personal  representative  of  the 
Kaiser.'*  Wangenheim  opposes  the 
sale  of  American  warships  to  Greece    .       41 

IV.    Germany  mobilizes  the  Turkish  army     .       61 

V.    Wangenheim   smuggles   the  Goehen  and 

the  Breslau  through  the  Dardanelles  .       68 

VI.  Wangenhei  n  tells  the  American  Ambas- 
sador how  the  Kaiser  started  the  war .       82 

Vn.     Germany's  plans  for  new  territories,  coal- 
ing stations,  and  indemnities     ...       90 

VlU.    A  classic  instance  of  German  propaganda      96 

IX.     Germany  closes  the  Dardanelles  and  so 

separates  Russia  from  her  Allies     .      .     105 

X.  Turkey's  abrogation  of  the  capitula- 
tions. Enver  living  in  a  palace,  with 
plenty  of  money  and  an  imperial  bride    112 

XI.    Germany  forces  Turkey  into  the  war      .     123 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEB 

XII. 


XIII. 
XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 
XX. 

XXI. 

xxn. 
y;  1  xxni. 


The  Turks  attempt  to  treat  alien  en- 
emies decently,  but  the  Germans 
insist  on  persecuting  them  .      .      .     130 

The  invasion  of  the  Notre  Dame  de 
Sion  School 147 

Wangenheim  and  the  Bethlehem  Steel 
Company.  A  "Holy  War"  that 
was  made  in  Germany    ....     157 

Djemal,  a  troublesome  Mark  Antony. 
The  first  German  attempt  to  get  a 
German  peace 171 

The  Turks  prepare  to  flee  from  Con- 
stantinople and  establish  a  new  cap- 
ital in  Asia  Minor.  The  Allied  fleet 
bombarding  the  Dardanelles      .      .     184 

Enver  as  the  man  who  demonstrated 
"the  vulnerability  of  the  British 
fleet.'*  Old-fashioned  defenses  of 
the  Dardanelles 202 

The  Allied  armada  sails  away,  though 
on  the  brink  of  victory   .      .      .      .217 

A  fight  for  three  thousand  civilians    .     232 

More  adventures  of  the  foreign  resi- 
dents      253 

Bulgaria  on  the  auction  block       .      .     262 

The  Turk  reverts  to  the  ancestral  type    274 

The  "Revolution'*  at  Van       ...     293 


CHAPTEB 

XXIV. 
XXV. 


XXVI. 
XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 


CONTENTS 


The  murder  of  a  nation 


FAGI 

301 


Talaat  tells  why  he  deports  the  Arme- 
nians      326 

Enver  Pasha  discusses  the  Armenians     343 

"I  shall  do  nothing  for  the  Armenians," 
says  the  German  Ambassador  .      .     364 

Enver  again  moves  for  peace.    Fare- 
well to  the  Sultan  and  to  Turkey   .     385 

Von  Jagow,  Zimmermann,  and  German- 
Americans       397 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Henry  Morgenthau Frontispiece 

FACINQ  PAGE 

Mrs.  Henry  Morgenthau  with  Soeur  Jeanne  .      .  8 

Constantinople  from  the  American  Embassy   .      .  9 

Beylerbey  palace  on  the  Bosphorus     ....  16 

The  American  Embassy  at  Constantinople    .      .  16 
Henry  Morgenthau,   American  Ambassador  to 

Turkey,  1913-1916 1*^ 

Talaat  Pasha,  ex-Grand  Vizier  of  Turkey ...  48 

Turkish  infantry  and  cavalry 49 

Bustany  Effendi ^^ 

Mohammed  V,  late  Sultan  of  Turkey  ....  57 

Wangenheim,  the  German  Ambassador    ...  68 
The  Sultan,  Mohammed  V,  gomg  to  his  regular 

Friday  prayers '^^ 

Talaat  and  Enver  at  a  military  review    ...  73 
Baron  Von  Wangenheim,  German  Ambassador  to 

Turkey ^^ 

Djemal  Pasha,  Mmister  of  Marine 81 

The  Marquis  Garroni,  Italian  Ambassador  to  the 

Sublime  Porte  in  1914 H^ 

M.  Tocheff ,  Bulgarian  Minister  at  Constantinople  112 

The  American  summer  Embassy  on  the  Bosphorus  113 


XUl 


xiv  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FAcrao  PAoa 

En ver  Paslia,  Minister  of  War 120 

Said  Halim,  Ex-grand  Vizier 121 

Sir  Louis  Mallet  and  M.  Bompard       ....  136 

Gen.  Liman  von  Sanders 137 

German  and  Turkish  officers  on  board  the  Goeben  144 

Bedri  Bey,  Prefect  of  PoHce  at  Constantinople    .  145 

Djavid   Bey,   Minister  of  Finance   in   Turkish 

Cabinet I45 

The  British  Embassy 17^ 

Robert  College  at  Constantinople 177 

The  American  Embassy  Staff 184 

The  Modem  Turkish  soldier 185 

The  Mmistry  of  War gOO 

The  Mmistry  of  Marine 200 

Hahl  Bey  in  Berlin 201 

Talaat  and  Kiihlmann gOl 

General  Mertens  .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     ,  goi 

The  Red  Crescent 208 

Enver  Pasha 209 

Turkish  quarters  at  the  Dardanelles   ....  240 

Looking  north  to  the  city  of  Gallipoli  ....  241 

The  British  ship  Albion 248 

The  Dardanelles  as  it  was  March  16,  1915     .      .  249 

Tchemenlik  and  Fort  Anadolu  Hamidie    ...  264 

Fort  Dardanos 265 


ILLUSTRATIONS  xv 

FACniO  PAGE 

The  American  ward  of  the  Turkish  hospital    .     .  272 

Students  of  the  Constantinople  College    ...  273 

Abdul  Hamid ^^* 

A  characteristic  view  of  the  Armenian  country    .  305 

Fishing  village  on  Lake  Van 312 

Refugees  at  Van  crowding  around  a  public  oven, 

hoping  to  get  bread ^^^ 

"Kaiser  William  II,  in  the  uniform  of  a  Turkish 

Field  Marshal         ^^^ 

Interior  of  the  Armenian  church  at  Urfa    .      .      .  329 

Armenian  soldiers ^^^ 

Those  who  fell  by  the  wayside 337 

A  view  of  Harpoot 337 

View  of  Urfa 368 

A  relic  of  the  Armenian  massacres  at  Erzingan     .  368 

The  funeral  of  Baron  von  Wangenhehn    .     .     .  369 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU^S 
STORY 

CHAPTER  I 

A   GERMAN   SUPERMAN  AT   CONSTANTINOPLE 

WHEN  I  began  writing  these  reminiscences  of 
my  ambassadorship,  Germany's  schemes  in 
the  Turkish  Empire  and  the  Near  East 
seemed  to  have  achieved  a  temporary  success.  The 
Central  Powers  had  apparently  disintegrated  Russia, 
transformed  the  Baltic  and  the  Black  seas  into  German 
lakes,  and  had  obtained  a  new  route  to  the  East  by  way 
of  the  Caucasus.  For  the  time  being  Germany  domi- 
nated Serbia,  Bulgaria,  Rumania,  and  Turkey,  and  re- 
garded her  aspirations  for  a  new  Teutonic  Empire,  ex- 
tending from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  as 
practically  realized.  The  world  now  knows,  though  it 
did  not  clearly  understand  this  fact  in  1914,  that  Ger- 
many precipitated  the  war  to  destroy  Serbia,  seize  con- 
trol of  the  Balkan  nations,  transform  Turkey  into  a 
vassal  state,  and  thus  obtain  a  huge  oriental  empire  that 
would  form  the  basis  for  unUmited  world  dominion. 
Did  these  German  aggressions  in  the  East  mean  that 
this  extensive  programme  had  succeeded? 

As  I  picture  to  myself  a  map  which  would  show 
Germany's  military  and  diplomatic  triumphs,  my 
experiences  in  Constantinople  take  on  a  new  meaning. 
I  now  see  the  events  of  those  twenty-six  months  as 


4        AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

part  of  a  connected,  definite  story.  The  several  in- 
dividuals that  moved  upon  the  scene  now  appear  as 
players  in  a  carefully  staged,  suj)erbly  managed  drama. 
I  see  clearly  enough  now  that  Germany  had  made  all 
her  plans  for  world  dominion  and  that  the  country 
to  which  I  had  been  sent  as  American  Ambassador  was 
one  of  the  foundation  stones  of  the  Kaiser's  whole  politi- 
cal and  military  structure.  Had  Germany  not  acquired 
control  of  Constantinople  in  the  early  days  of  the  war, 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  hostilities  would  have  ended  a  few 
months  after  the  Battle  of  the  Mame.  It  was  certainly 
an  amazing  fate  that  landed  me  in  this  great  head- 
quarters of  intrigue  at  the  very  moment  when  the  plans 
of  the  Kaiser  for  controlling  Turkey,  which  he  had  care- 
fully pursued  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  were  about  to 
achieve  their  final  success. 

For  this  work  of  subjugating  Turkey,  and  transform- 
ing its  army  and  its  territory  into  instruments  of  Ger- 
many, the  Emperor  had  sent  to  Constantinople  an 
ambassador  who  was  ideally  fitted  for  the  task.  The 
mere  fact  that  the  Kaiser  had  personally  chosen  Baron 
Von  Wangenheim  for  this  post  shows  that  he  had  accu- 
rately gauged  the  human  qualities  needed  in  this  great 
diplomatic  enterprise. 

The  Kaiser  had  early  detected  in  Wangenheim  an  in- 
strument ideally  qualified  for  oriental  intrigue;  he  had 
more  than  once  summoned  him  to  Corfu  for  his  vacations, 
and  here,  we  may  be  sure,  the  two  congenial  spirits  had 
passed  many  days  discussing  German  ambitions  in  the 
Near  East.  At  the  time  when  I  first  met  him,  Wangen- 
heim was  fifty-four  years  old;  he  had  spent  a  quarter  of 
a  century  in  the  diplomatic  corps,  he  had  seen  service  in 
such  different  places  as  Petrograd,  Copenhagen,  Madrid* 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY        5 

Athens,  and  Mexico,  and  he  had  been  charge  at  Con- 
stantinople, several  years  afterward  coming  there  as  am- 
bassador. He  understood  completely  all  countries, 
including  the  United  States;  his  first  wife  had  been  an 
American,  and  Wangenheim,  when  Minister  to  Mexico, 
had  intimately  studied  our  country  and  had  then 
acquired  an  admiration  for  our  energy  and  progress. 
He  had  a  complete  technical  equipment  for  a  diplomat; 
he  spoke  German,  English,  and  French  with  equal 
facility,  he  knew  the  East  thoroughly,  and  he  had  the 
widest  acquaintance  with  public  men.  Physically  he 
was  one  of  the  most  imposing  persons  I  have  ever  known. 
When  I  was  a  boy  in  Germany,  the  Fatherland  was 
usually  symbolized  as  a  beautiful  and  powerful  woman — 
a  kind  of  dazzling  Valkj^ie;  when  I  think  of  modem 
Germany,  however,  the  massive,  burly  figure  of  Wangen- 
heim naturally  presents  itself  to  my  mind.  He  was  six 
feet  two  inches  tall;  his  huge,  soHd  frame,  his  Gibraltar- 
like  shoulders,  erect  and  impregnable,  his  bold,  defiant 
head,  his  piercing  eyes,  his  whole  physical  structure  con- 
stantly pulsating  with  life  and  activity — there  stands, 
I  would  say,  not  the  Germany  which  I  had  known,  but 
the  Germany  whose  limitless  ambitions  had  transformed 
the  world  into  a  place  of  horror.  And  Wangenheim's 
every  act  and  every  word  typified  this  new  and  dreadful 
portent  among  the  nations.  Pan-Germany  filled  all 
his  waking  hours  and  directed  his  every  action.  The 
deification  of  his  emperor  was  the  only  religious  in- 
stinct which  impelled  him.  That  aristocratic  and  auto- 
cratic organization  of  German  society  which  represents 
the  Prussian  system  was,  in  Wangenheim's  eyes,  some- 
thing to  be  venerated  and  worshipped;  with  this 
as  the  groundwork,  Germany  was  inevitably  destined, 


6         AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

he  believed,  to  rule  the  world.  The  great  land-owning 
Junker  represented  the  perfection  of  mankind.  "I 
would  despise  myself,"  his  closest  associate  once  told 
me,  and  this  represented  Wangenheim's  attitude  as 
well,  "if  I  had  been  born  in  a  city."  Wangenheim 
divided  mankind  into  two  classes,  the  governing  and 
the  governed;  and  he  ridiculed  the  idea  that  the  upper 
could  ever  be  recruited  from  the  lower.  I  recall  with 
what  unction  and  enthusiasm  he  used  to  describe  the 
Emperor's  caste  organization  of  German  estates;  how 
he  had  made  them  non-transferable,  and  had  even 
arranged  it  so  that  the  possessors,  or  the  prospective 
possessors,  could  not  marry  without  the  imperial 
consent.  "In  this  way,"  Wangenheim  would  say, 
"we  keep  our  governing  classes  pure,  unmixed  of  blood." 
Like  all  of  his  social  order,  Wangenheim  worshipped 
the  Prussian  military  system;  his  splendid  bearing 
showed  that  he  had  himself  served  in  the  army,  and, 
in  true  German  fashion,  he  regarded  practically  every 
situation  in  life  from  a  military  standpoint.  I  had  one 
curious  illustration  of  this  when  I  asked  Wangenheim 
one  day  why  the  Kaiser  did  not  visit  the  United  States. 
"He  would  like  to  immensely,"  he  replied,  "but  it 
would  be  too  dangerous.  War  might  break  out 
when  he  was  at  sea,  and  the  enemy  would  capture 
him."  I  suggested  that  that  could  hardly  happen  as 
the  American  Government  would  escort  its  guest  home 
with  warships,  and  that  no  nation  would  care  to  run 
the  risk  of  involving  the  United  States  as  Germany's 
ally;  but  Wangenheim  still  thought  that  the  military 
danger  would  make  any  such  visit  impossible. 

Upon    him,    more    than    almost    any    diplomatic 
representative  of  Germany,  depended  the  success  of 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY         7 

the  Kaiser's  conspiracy  for  world  domination.  This 
German  diplomat  came  to  Constantinople  with  a  single 
purpose.  For  twenty  years  the  German  Government 
had  been  cultivating  the  Turkish  Empire.  All  this 
time  the  Kaiser  had  been  preparing  for  a  world  war, 
and  in  this  war  it  was  destined  that  Turkey  should 
play  an  almost  decisive  part.  Unless  Germany  should 
obtain  the  Ottoman  Empire  as  its  ally,  there  was  little 
chance  that  she  could  succeed  in  a  general  European  con- 
flict. When  France  had  made  her  alliance  with  Russia, 
the  man  power  of  170,000,000  people  was  placed  on  her 
side,  in  the  event  of  a  war  with  Germany.  For  more 
than  twenty  years  Germany  had  striven  diplomatically 
to  detach  Russia  from  this  French  alUance,  but  hadf  ailed. 
There  was  only  one  way  in  which  Germany  could  make 
valueless  the  Franco-Russian  Alliance;  this  was  by 
obtaining  Turkey  as  an  ally.  With  Turkey  on  her 
side,  Germany  could  close  the  Dardanelles,  the  only 
practical  line  of  communication  between  Russia  and 
her  western  allies;  this  simple  act  would  deprive  the 
Czar's  army  of  war  munitions,  destroy  Russia  economi- 
cally by  stopping  her  grain  exports,  her  greatest  source 
of  wealth,  and  thus  detach  Russia  from  her  partners 
in  the  World  War.  Thus  Wangenheim's  mission  was 
to  make  it  absolutely  certain  that  Turkey  should  join 
Germany  in  the  great  contest  that  was  impending. 

Wangenheim  believed  that,  should  he  succeed  in 
accomplishing  this  task,  he  would  reap  the  reward  which 
for  years  had  represented  his  final  goal — the  chancellor- 
ship of  the  Empire.  His  skill  at  establishing  friendly 
personal  relations  with  the  Turks  gave  him  a  great 
advantage  over  his  rivals.  Wangenheim  had  precisely 
that  combination  of  force,  persuasiveness,  geniality,  and 


8         AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

brutality  which  was  needed  in  dealing  with  the  Turkish 
character.  I  have  emphasized  his  Prussian  qualities; 
yet  Wangenheim  was  a  Prussian  not  by  birth  but  by 
development;  he  was  a  native  of  Thiiringen,  and,  to- 
gether with  all  the  push,  ambition,  and  overbearing  traits 
of  the  Prussian,  he  had  some  of  the  softer  characteristics 
which  we  associate  with  Southern  Germany.  He  had 
one  conspicuous  quality  which  is  not  Prussian  at  all 
— that  is,  tact;  and,  as  a  rule,  he  succeeded  in  keep- 
ing his  less-agreeable  tendencies  under  the  surface 
and  showing  only  his  more  ingratiating  side.  He  domi- 
nated not  so  much  by  brute  strength  as  by  a  mixture 
of  force  and  amiabiHty;  externally  he  was  not  a  bully; 
his  manner  was  more  insinuating  than  coercive;  he 
won  by  persuasiveness,  not  by  the  mailed  fist,  but  we 
who  knew  him  well  understood  that  back  of  all  his 
gentleness  there  lurked  a  terrific,  remorseless,  and 
definite  ambition.  Yet  the  impression  left  was  not  one 
of  brutality,  but  of  excessive  animal  spirits  and  good 
nature.  Indeed,  Wangenheim  had  in  combination  the 
jovial  enthusiasm  of  a  college  student,  the  rapacity  of 
a  Prussian  oflficial,  and  the  happy-go-lucky  qualities 
of  a  man  of  the  world.  I  still  recall  the  picture  of  this 
huge  figure  of  a  man,  sitting  at  the  piano,  improvising 
on  some  beautiful  classic  theme — and  then  suddenly 
starting  to  pound  out  uproarious  German  drinking 
songs  or  popular  melodies.  I  still  see  him  jumping  on 
his  horse  at  the  polo  grounds,  spurring  the  splendid 
animal  to  its  speediest  efforts — the  horse  never  making 
sufficient  speed,  however,  to  satisfy  the  ambitious  sports- 
man. Indeed,  in  all  his  activities,  grave  or  gay,  Wangen- 
heim displayed  this  same  restless  spirit  of  the  chase. 
Whether  he  was  flirting  with  the  Greek  ladies  at  Pera,  or 


MRS.  HENRY  MORGENTHAU 

(On  the  right).     Wife  of  the  American  Ambassador  at  Constantinople  from 
1913  to  1916,  with  Soeur  Jeanne  (on  the  left),  head  of  the  French  Hospital 


1                          Mi  .wf  ;"^;«?;an.flf 

^ 

« 

i'^fl 

1 .  f  fl 

ttl 

.^ 

Jl^HHft^ 

f 

'^   ^^Bri 

MM-                                    '         .  i 

» 

^-jBaHMj^^M 

,    ■    ^         -'-■     .i^^^j^JaB^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

^Br -S^ 

^^^V       T'  "^"^H 

f                 1  '  1^ 

^B   '^l^ 

lj^^  ' 

I^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY         9 

spending  hours  over  the  card  table  at  the  Cercle 
d'  Orient,  or  bending  the  Turkish  officials  to  his  will  in 
the  interest  of  Germany,  all  life  was  to  him  a  game,  which 
was  to  be  played  more  or  less  recklessly,  and  in  which 
the  chances  favoured  the  man  who  was  bold  and  auda- 
cious and  willing  to  pin  success  or  failure  on  a  single 
throw.  And  this  greatest  game  of  all — that  upon  which 
was  staked,  as  Bernhardi  has  expressed  it,  "World 
empire  or  downfall" — Wangenheim  did  not  play  lan- 
guidly, as  though  it  had  been  merely  a  duty  to  which  he 
had  been  assigned;  to  use  the  German  phrase,  he  was 
"fire  and  flame"  for  it;  he  had  the  consciousness  that 
he  was  a  strong  man  selected  to  perform  a  mighty  task. 
As  I  write  of  Wangenheim,  I  still  feel  myself  affected  by 
the  force  of  his  personality,  yet  I  know  all  the  time  that, 
like  the  government  which  he  served  so  loyally,  he  was 
fundamentally  ruthless,  shameless,  and  cruel.  But  he 
was  content  to  accept  all  the  consequences  of  his  policy, 
however  hideous  these  might  be.  He  saw  only  a  single 
goal,  and,  with  the  realism  and  logic  that  are  so 
characteristically  German,  Wangenheim  would  brush 
aside  all  feelings  of  humanity  and  decency  that  might 
interfere  with  success.  He  accepted  in  full  Bismarck's 
famous  dictum  that  a  German  must  be  ready  to  sacri- 
fice for  Kaiser  and  Fatherland  not  only  his  life  but  his 
honour  as  well. 

Just  as  Wangenheim  personified  Germany,  so  did  his 
colleague,  Pallavicini,  personify  Austria.  Wangen- 
heim's  essential  quality  was  a  brutal  egotism,  while 
Pallavicini  was  a  quiet,  kind-hearted,  delightfully 
mannered  gentleman.  Wangenheim  was  always  look- 
ing to  the  future,  Pallavicini  to  the  past.  Wangenheim 
represented  the  mixture  of  commercialism  and  medie- 


10       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

val  lust  for  conquest  which  constitute  Prussian  welt- 
politik;  Pallavicini  was  a  diplomat  left  over  from  the 
days  of  Metternich.  "Germany  wants  this!"  Wan- 
genheim  would  insist,  when  an  important  point  had 
to  be  decided;  "I  shall  consult  my  foreign  office,"  the 
cautious  Pallavicini  would  say,  on  a  similar  occasion. 
The  Austrian,  with  little  upturned  gray  moustaches, 
with  a  rather  stiff,  even  slightly  strutting,  walk,  looked 
like  the  old-fashioned  Marquis  that  was  once  a  stock 
figure  on  the  stage.  I  might  compare  Wangenheim 
with  the  representative  of  a  great  business  firm  which 
was  lavish  in  its  expenditures  and  unscrupulous  in  its 
methods,  while  his  Austrian  colleague  represented  a 
house  that  prided  itself  on  its  past  achievements  and 
was  entirely  content  with  its  position.  The  same 
delight  that  Wangenheim  took  in  Pan-German  plans, 
Pallavicini  found  in  all  the  niceties  and  obscurities  of 
diplomatic  technique.  The  Austrian  had  represented 
his  country  in  Turkey  many  years,  and  was  the  dean 
of  the  corps,  a  dignity  of  which  he  was  extremely 
proud.  He  found  his  delight  in  upholding  all  the 
honours,  of  his  position;  he  was  expert  in  arranging 
the  order  of  precedence  at  ceremonial  dinners,  and 
there  was  not  a  single  detail  of  etiquette  that  he  did 
not  have  at  his  fingers'  ends.  When  it  came  to  affairs 
of  state,  however,  he  was  merely  a  tool  of  Wangenheim. 
From  the  first,  indeed,  he  seemed  to  accept  his  position 
as  that  of  a  diplomat  who  was  more  or  less  subject  to 
the  will  of  his  more  powerful  ally.  In  this  way  Palla- 
vicini played  to  his  German  colleague  precisely  the 
same  part  that  his  emperor  was  playing  to  that  of  the 
Kaiser.  In  the  early  months  of  the  war  the  bearing 
of  these  two  men  completely  mirrored  the  respective 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       11 

successes  and  failures  of  their  countries.  As  the  Ger- 
mans boasted  of  victory  after  victory  Wangenheim's 
already  huge  and  erect  figure  seemed  to  become  larger 
and  more  upstanding,  while  Pallavicini,  as  the 
Austrians  lost  battle  after  battle  to  the  Russians, 
seemed  to  become  smaller  and  more  shrinking. 

The  situation  in  Turkey,  in  these  critical  months, 
seemed  almost  to  have  been  purposely  created  to  give 
the  fullest  opportunities  to  a  man  of  Wangenheim's 
genius.  For  ten  years  the  Turkish  Empire  had  been 
undergoing  a  process  of  dissolution,  and  had  now  reached 
a  state  of  decrepitude  that  had  left  it  an  easy  prey  to 
German  diplomacy.  In  order  to  understand  the  situa- 
tion, we  must  keep  in  mind  that  there  was  really  no 
orderly,  established  government  in  Turkey  at  that 
time.  For  the  Yomig  Turks  were  not  a  government; 
they  were  really  an  irresponsible  party,  a  kind  of  secret 
society,  which,  by  intrigue,  intimidation,  and  assassina- 
tion, had  obtained  most  of  the  oflSces  of  state.  When 
I  describe  the  Young  Turks  in  these  words,  per- 
haps I  may  be  dispelling  certain  illusions.  Before  I 
came  to  Turkey  I  had  entertained  very  different  ideas 
of  this  organization.  As  far  back  as  1908  I  remember 
reading  news  of  Turkey  that  appealed  strongly  to  my 
democratic  sympathies.  These  reports  informed  me 
that  a  body  of  young  revolutionists  had  swept  from 
the  mountains  of  Macedonia,  had  marched  upon  Con- 
stantinople, had  deposed  the  bloody  Sultan,  Abdul 
Hamid,  and  had  established  a  constitutional  system. 
Turkey,  these  glowing  newspaper  stories  told  us,  had 
become  a  democracy,  with  a  parliament,  a  responsible 
ministry,  universal  suffrage,  equality  of  all  citizens 
before  the  law,  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press, -and 


12       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

all  the  other  essentials  of  a  free,  liberty-lovmg  common- 
wealth. That  a  party  of  Turks  had  for  years  been 
struggling  for  such  reforms  I  well  knew,  and  that  their 
ambitions  had  become  realities  seemed  to  indicate 
that,  after  all,  there  was  such  a  thing  as  human  prog- 
ress. The  long  welter  of  massacre  and  disorder  in 
the  Turkish  Empire  had  apparently  ended;  '*the  great 
assassin",  Abdul  Hamid,  had  been  removed  to  solitary 
confinement  at  Saloniki,  and  his  brother,  the  gentle 
Mohammed  V,  had  ascended  the  throne  with  a  pro- 
gressive democratic  programme.  Such  had  been  the 
promise;  but,  by  the  time  I  reached  Constantinople, 
in  1913,  many  changes  had  taken  place.  Austria  had 
annexed  two  Turkish  provinces,  Bosnia  and  Herzego- 
vina; Italy  had  wrenched  away  Tripoli;  Turkey  had 
fought  a  disastrous  war  with  the  Balkan  states,  and  had 
lost  all  her  territories  in  Europe  except  Constantinople 
and  a  small  hinterland.  The  aims  for  the  regeneration 
of  Turkey  that  had  inspired  the  revolution  had  evi- 
dently miscarried,  and  I  soon  discovered  that  four  years 
of  so-called  democratic  rule  had  ended  with  the  nation 
more  degraded,  more  impoverished,  and  more  dis- 
membered than  ever  before.  Indeed,  long  before  I 
had  arrived,  this  attempt  to  establish  a  Turkish  democ- 
racy had  failed.  The  failure  was  probably  the  most 
complete  and  the  most  disheartening  in  the  whole 
liistory  of  democratic  institutions.  I  need  hardly 
explain  in  detail  the  causes  of  this  collapse.  Let  us 
not  criticize  too  harshly  the  Young  Turks,  for  there  is 
no  question  that,  at  the  beginning,  they  were  sincere. 
In  a  speech  in  Liberty  Square,  Saloniki,  in  July,  1908, 
Enver  Pasha,  who  was  popularly  regarded  as  the  chival- 
rous young  leader  of  this  insurrection  against  a  century- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       13 

old  tyranny,  had  eloquently  declared  that,  "To-day 
arbitrary  government  has  disappeared.  We  are  all 
brothers.  There  are  no  longer  in  Turkey  Bulgarians, 
Greeks,  Servians,  Rumanians,  Mussulmans,  Jews. 
Under  the  same  blue  sky  we  are  all  proud  to  be  Otto- 
mans." That  statement  represented  the  Young  Turk 
ideal  for  the  new  Turkish  state,  but  it  was  an  ideal  which 
it  was  evidently  beyond  their  ability  to  translate  into  a 
reality.  The  races  which  had  been  maltreated  and  mas- 
sacred for  centuries  by  the  Turks  could  not  transform 
themselves  overnight  into  brothers,  and  the  hatreds, 
jealousies,  and  religious  prejudices  of  the  past  still 
divided  Turkey  into  a  medley  of  warring  clans.  Above 
all,  the  destructive  wars  and  the  loss  of  great  sections 
of  the  Turkish  Empire  had  destroyed  the  prestige  of 
the  new  democracy.  There  were  plenty  of  other 
reasons  for  the  failure,  but  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
discuss  them  at  this  time. 

Thus  the  Young  Turks  had  disappeared  as  a  positive 
regenerating  force,  but  they  stiU  existed  as  a  political 
machine.  Their  leaders,  Talaat,  Enver,  and  Djemal, 
had  long  since  abandoned  any  expectation  of  reforming 
their  state,  but  they  had  developed  an  insatiable  lust 
for  personal  power.  Instead  of  a  nation  of  nearly 
20,000,000,  developing  happily  along  democratic  lines, 
enjoying  suffrage,  building  up  their  industry  and 
agriculture,  laying  the  foundations  for  universal  educa- 
tion, sanitation,  and  general  progress,  I  saw  that  Turkey 
consisted  of  merely  so  many  inarticulate,  ignorant,  and 
poverty-ridden  slaves,  with  a  small,  wicked  oligarchy 
at  the  top,  which  was  prepared  to  use  them  in  the  way 
that  would  best  promote  its  private  interests.  And 
these  men  were  practically  the  same  who,  a  few  years 


14       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

before,  had  made  Turkey  a  constitutional  state.  A  more 
bewildering  fall  from  the  highest  idealism  to  the  crassest 
materialism  could  not  be  imagined.  Talaat,  Enver, 
and  Djemal  were  the  ostensible  leaders,  yet  back  of 
them  was  the  Committee,  consisting  of  about  forty  men. 
This  committee  met  secretly,  manipulated  elections, 
and  filled  the  offices  with  its  own  henchmen.  It 
occupied  a  building  in  Coristantinople,  and  had  a  supreme 
chief  who  gave  all  his  time  to  its  affairs  and  issued 
orders  to  his  subordinates.  This  functionary  ruled  the 
party  and  the  country  something  like  an  American  city 
boss  in  our  most  unregenerate  days;  and  the  whole 
organization  thus  furnished  a  typical  illustration  cf 
what  we  sometimes  describe  as  "invisible  government." 
This  kind  of  irresponsible  control  has  at  times  flourished 
in  American  cities,  mainly  because  the  citizens  have 
devoted  all  their  time  to  their  private  affairs  and  thus 
neglected  the  public  good.  But  in  Turkey  the  masses 
were  altogether  too  ignorant  to  understand  the  meaning 
of  democracy,  and  the  bankruptcy  and  general  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  country  had  left  the  nation  with  practically 
no  government  and  an  easy  prey  to  a  determined  band 
of  adventurers.  The  Committee  of  Union  and  Prog- 
ress, with  Talaat  Bey  as  the  most  powerful  leader, 
constituted  such  a  band.  Besides  the  forty  men  in 
Constantinople,  sub-committees  were  organized  in  all 
important  cities  of  the  empire.  The  men  whom  the 
Committee  placed  in  power  "took  orders"  and  made 
the  appointments  submitted  to  them.  No  man  could 
hold  an  office,  high  or  low,  who  was  not  indorsed  by  this 
committee. 

I  must  admit,  however,  that  I  do  our  corrupt  Ameri- 
can gangs  a  great  injustice  in  comparing  them  with 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       15 

the  Turkish  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress.  Ta- 
laat,  Enver,  and  Djemal  had  added  to  their  system  a 
detail  that  has  not  figured  extensively  in  American 
politics — that  of  assassination  and  judicial  murder. 
They  had  wrested  power  from  the  other  factions  by  a 
deed  of  violence.  This  coup  d'etat  had  taken  place  on 
January  26,  1913,  not  quite  a  year  before  my  arrival. 
At  that  time  a  political  group,  headed  by  the  venerable 
Kiamil  Pasha,  as  Grand  Vizier,  and  Nazim  Pasha,  as 
Minister  of  War,  controlled  the  Government;  they  repre- 
sented a  faction  known  as  the  "Liberal  Party,"  which 
was  chiefly  distinguished  for  its  enmity  to  the  Young 
Turks.  These  men  had  fought  the  disastrous  Balkan 
War,  and,  in  January,  they  had  felt  themselves  com- 
pelled to  accept  the  advice  of  the  European  powers  and 
surrender  Adrianople  to  Bulgaria.  The  Young  Turks 
had  been  outside  the  breastworks  for  about  six  months 
looking  for  an  opportunity  to  return  to  power.  The 
proposed  surrender  of  Adrianople  apparently  furnished 
them  this  opportunity.  Adrianople  was  an  important 
Turkish  city,  and  naturally  the  Turkish  people  regarded 
the  contemplated  surrender  as  marking  still  another 
milestone  toward  their  national  doom.  Talaat  and  Enver 
hastily  collected  about  two  hundred  followers  and 
marched  to  the  Sublime  Porte,  where  the  ministry  was 
then  sitting.  Nazim,  hearing  the  uproar,  stepped  out 
into  the  hall.  He  courageously  faced  the  crowd,  a  ciga- 
rette in  his  mouth  and  his  hands  thrust  into  his  pockets. 

"Come,  boys,"  he  said,  good  humouredly,  "what's 
all  this  noise  about?  Don't  you  know  that  it  is 
interfering  with  our  deliberations  .J'" 

The  words  had  hardly  left  his  mouth  when  he  fell 
dead.    A  bullet  had  pierced  a  vital  spot. 


16       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

The  mob,  led  by  Talaat  and  Enver,  then  forced  their 
way  into  the  council  chamber.  They  forced  Kjamil, 
the  Grand  Vizier,  to  resign  his  post  by  threatening  him 
with  the  fate  that  had  overtaken  Nazim. 

As  assassination  had  been  the  means  by  which  these 
chieftains  had  obtained  the  supreme  power,  so  assassina- 
tion continued  to  be  the  instrument  upon  which  they 
depended  for  maintaining  their  control.  Djemal,  in 
addition  to  his  other  duties,  became  Military  Governor 
of  Constantinople,  and  in  this  capacity  he  had  control 
of  the  police;  in  this  office  he  developed  all  the  talents  of 
a  Fouche,  and  did  his  work  so  successfully  that  any 
man  who  wished  to  conspire  against  the  Young  Turks 
usually  retired  for  that  purpose  to  Paris  or  Athens. 
The  few  months  that  preceded  my  arrival  had  been  a 
reign  of  terror.  The  Young  Turks  had  destroyed 
Abdul  Hamid's  regime  only  to  adopt  that  Sultan's 
favourite  methods  of  quieting  opposition.  Instead 
of  having  one  Abdul  Hamid,  Turkey  now  discovered 
that  she  had  several.  Men  were  arrested  and  deported 
by  the  score,  and  hangings  of  political  offenders — 
opponents,  that  is,  of  the  ruling  gang — were  common 
occurrences. 

The  weakness  of  the  Sultan  particularly  facilitated 
the  ascendancy  of  this  committee.  We  must  remember 
that  Mohammed  V  was  not  only  Sultan  but  Caliph — 
not  only  the  temporal  ruler,  but  also  head  of  the 
Mohammedan  Church.  As  religious  leader  he  was 
an  object  of  veneration  to  millions  of  devout  Moslems,  a 
fact  which  would  have  given  a  strong  man  in  his  posi- 
tion great  influence  in  freeing  Turkey  from  its  op- 
pressors. I  presume  that  even  those  who  had  the 
most  kindly  feelings  toward  the  Sultan  would  not 


BEYLERBEY  PALACE  ON  THE  BOSPHORUS 

Where  Abdul  Hamid  was  confined  from  the  time  when  he  was  taken  from 
iloniki  until  his  recent  death — a  photograph  taken  from  the  launch  of  the 
'orpion,  the  American  guardship  at  Constantinople 


THE  AMERICAN  EMBASSY  AT  CONSTANTINOPLE 
Where  Ambassador  Morgenthau  conducted  American  diplomatic  affairs 
rom  the  fall  of  1913  to  the  spring  of  1916.     After  Turkey  came  into  the  war 
It.  Morgenthau  accepted  charge  of  the  affairs  of  nine  other  nations 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       17 

have  described  him  as  an  energetic,  masterful  man. 
It  is  a  miracle  that  the  circumstances  which  fate  had 
forced  upon  Mohammed  had  not  long  since  completely 
destroyed  him.  He  was  a  brother  of  Abdul  Hamid — 
Gladstone's  "great  assassin" — a  man  who  ruled  by 
espionage  and  bloodshed,  and  who  had  no  more  con- 
sideration for  his  own  relatives  than  for  the  massacred 
Armenians.  One  of  Abdul  Hamid's  first  acts,  when 
he  ascended  the  throne,  was  to  shut  up  his  heir  apparent 
in  a  palace,  surrounding  him  with  spies,  restricting  him 
for  society  to  his  harem  and  a  few  palace  functionaries, 
and  constantly  holding  over  his  head  the  fear  of  assassi- 
nation. Naturally  Mohammed's  education  had  been 
limited;  he  spoke  only  Turkish,  and  his  only  means  of 
learning  about  the  outside  world  was  an  occasional 
Turldsh  newspaper.  So  long  as  he  remained  quiescent, 
the  heir  apparent  was  comfortable  and  fairly  secure, 
but  he  knew  that  the  first  sign  of  revolt,  or  even  a  too 
curious  interest  in  what  was  going  on,  would  be  the 
signal  for  his  death.  Hard  as  this  ordeal  was,  it  had 
not  destroyed  what  was  fundamentally  a  benevolent, 
gentle  nature.  The  Sultan  had  no  characteristics  that 
suggested  the  "terrible  Turk.'*  He  was  simply  a  quiet, 
easy-going,  gentlemanly  old  man.  Everybody  liked 
him  and  I  do  not  think  that  he  harboured  ill-feeling 
against  a  human  soul.  He  could  not  rule  his  empire, 
for  he  had  had  no  preparation  for  such  a  difficult  task; 
he  took  a  certain  satisfaction  in  his  title  and  in  the 
consciousness  that  he  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  the 
great  Osman;  clearly,  however,  he  could  not  oppose 
the  schemes  of  the  men  who  were  then  struggling  for  the 
control  of  Turkey.  In  the  replacement  of  Abdul  Hamid, 
as  his  master,  by  Talaat,  Enver,  and  Djemal,  the  Sultan 


18       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

had  not  greatly  improved  his  personal  position.  The 
Committee  of  Union  and  Progress  ruled  him  precisely 
as  they  ruled  all  the  rest  of  Turkey — by  intimidation. 
Indeed  they  had  already  given  him  a  sample  of  their 
power,  for  the  Sultan  had  attempted  on  one  occasion  to 
assert  his  independence,  and  the  conclusion  of  this 
episode  left  no  doubt  as  to  who  was  master.  A  group  of 
thirteen  "conspirators"  and  other  criminals,  some  real 
ones,  others  merely  political  offenders,  had  been  sen- 
tenced to  be  hanged.  Among  them  was  an  imperial 
son-in-law.  Before  the  execution  could  take  place  the 
Sultan  had  to  sign  the  death  warrants.  He  begged  that 
he  be  permitted  to  pardon  the  imperial  son-in-law, 
though  he  raised  no  objection  to  viseing  the  hangings 
of  the  other  twelve.  The  nominal  ruler  of  20,000,000 
people  figuratively  went  down  upon  his  knees  before 
Talaat,  but  all  his  pleadings  did  not  affect  this  deter- 
mined man.  Here,  Talaat  reasoned,  was  a  chance  to 
decide,  once  for  all,  who  was  master,  the  Sultan  or 
themselves.  A  few  days  afterward  the  melancholy 
figure  of  the  imperial  son-in-law,  dangling  at  the  end 
of  a  rope  in  full  view  of  the  Turkish  populace,  visibly 
reminded  the  empire  that  Talaat  and  the  Committee 
were  the  masters  of  Turkey.  After  this  tragical  test 
of  strength,  the  Sultan  never  attempted  again  to 
interfere  in  affairs  of  state.  He  knew  what  had  hap- 
pened to  Abdul  Hamid,  and  he  feared  an  even  more 
terrible  fate  for  himself. 

By  the  time  I  reached  Constantinople  the  Young 
Turks  thus  completely  controlled  the  Sultan.  He  was 
popularly  referred  to  as  an  "irade-machine,"  a  phrase 
which  means  about  the  same  thing  as  when  we  refer 
to  a  man  as  a  "rubber  stamp."    His  state  duties  con- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       19 

sisted  merely  in  performing  certain  ceremonies,  such 
as  receiving  ambassadors,  and  in  affixing  his  signature 
to  such  papers  as  Talaat  and  his  associates  placed  be- 
fore him.  This  was  a  profound  change  in  the  Turkish 
system,  since  in  that  country  for  centuries  the  Sultan 
had  been  an  unquestioned  despot,  whose  will  had  been 
the  only  law,  and  who  had  centred  in  his  own  person  all 
the  power  of  sovereignty.  Not  only  the  Sultan,  but 
the  Parliament,  had  become  the  subservient  creature 
of  the  Committee,  which  chose  practically  all  the  mem- 
bers, who  voted  only  as  the  predominant  bosses  dic- 
tated. The  Committee  had  already  filled  several 
of  the  most  powerful  cabinet  offices  with  its  followers, 
and  was  reaching  out  for  the  several  important  places 
that,  for  several  reasons,  still  remained  in  other  hands. 


CHAPTER  n 

THE  "boss  system"  IN  THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE  AND  HOW 
IT   PROVED   USEFUL  TO   GERMANY 

TALAAT,  the  leading  man  in  this  band  of 
usurpers,  really  had  remarkable  personal  qual- 
ities. Naturally  Talaat's  life  and  character 
proved  interesting  to  me,  for  I  had  for  years  been 
familiar  with  the  Boss  system  in  my  own  country,  and 
in  Talaat  I  saw  many  resemblances  to  the  crude  yet 
able  citizens  who  have  so  frequently  in  the  past  gained 
power  in  local  and  state  politics.  Talaat's  origin  was 
so  obscure  that  there  were  plenty  of  stories  in  circulation 
concerning  it.  One  accoimt  said  that  he  was  a  Bulgarian 
gipsy,  while  another  described  him  as  a  Pomak — a 
Pomak  being  a  man  of  Bulgarian  blood  whose  ancestors, 
centuries  ago,  had  embraced  the  Mohammedan  faith. 
According  to  this  latter  explanation,  which  I  think  was 
the  true  one,  this  real  ruler  of  the  Turkish  Empire  was 
not  a  Turk  at  all.  I  can  personally  testify  that  he 
cared  nothing  for  Mohammedanism  for,  like  most  of 
the  leaders  of  his  party,  he  scoffed  at  all  rehgions.  "  I 
hate  all  priests,  rabbis,  and  hodjas,"  he  once  told  me — 
hodja  being  the  nearest  equivalent  the  Mohammedans 
have  for  a  minister  of  religion.  In  American  city  politics 
many  men  from  the  humblest  walks  of  life  have  not  un- 
commonly developed  great  abiUties  as  politicians,  and 
similarly  Talaat  had  started  life  as  a  letter  carrier.  From 
this  occupation  he  had  risen  to  be  a  telegraph  operator 

20 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       21 

at  Adrianople;  and  of  these  humble  beginnings  he  was 
extremely  proud.  I  visited  him  once  or  twice  at  his 
house;  although  Talaat  was  then  the  most  powerful  man 
in  the  Turkish  Empire,  his  home  was  still  the  modest 
home  of  a  man  of  the  people.  It  was  cheaply  fur- 
nished; the  whole  establishment  reminded  me  of  a 
moderately  priced  apartment  in  New  York.  His 
most  cherished  possession  was  the  telegraph  instrument 
with  which  he  had  once  earned  his  living.  Talaat  one 
night  told  me  that  he  had  that  day  received  his  salary  as 
Minister  of  the  Interior;  after  paying  his  debts,  he  said, 
he  had  just  one  hundred  dollars  left  in  the  world.  He 
liked  to  spend  part  of  his  spare  time  with  the  rough-shod 
crew  that  made  up  the  Committee  of  Union  and  Prog- 
ress; in  the  interims  when  he  was  out  of  the  cabinet  he 
used  to  occupy  the  desk  daily  at  party  headquarters, 
personally  managing  the  party  machine.  Despite  these 
humble  beginnings,  Talaat  had  developed  some  of  the 
qualities  of  a  man  of  the  world.  Though  his  early 
training  had  not  included  instruction  in  the  use  of  a  knife 
and  fork — such  implements  are  wholly  unknown  among 
the  poorer  classes  in  Turkey — Talaat  could  attend 
diplomatic  dinners  and  represent  his  country  with  a 
considerable  amount  of  dignity  and  personal  ease.  I 
have  always  regarded  it  as  indicating  his  innate  clever- 
ness that,  though  he  had  had  little  schooling,  he  had 
picked  up  enough  French  to  converse  tolerably  in  that 
language.  Physically,  he  was  a  striking  figure.  His 
powerful  frame,  his  huge  sweeping  back,  and  his  rocky 
biceps  emphasized  that  natural  mental  strength  and 
f  orcef  ulness  which  had  made  possible  his  career.  In  dis- 
cussing matters  Talaat  liked  to  sit  at  his  desk,  with  his 
shoulders  drawn  up,  his  head  thrown  back,  and  his  wrists,'' 


22       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

twice  the  size  of  an  ordinary  man's,  planted  firmly  on  the 
table.  It  always  seemed  to  me  that  it  would  take  a 
crowbar  to  pry  these  wrists  from  the  board,  once  Ta- 
laat's  strength  and  defiant  spirit  had  laid  them  there. 
Whenever  I  think  of  Talaat  now  I  do  not  primarily 
recall  his  rollicking  laugh,  his  uproarious  enjoyment 
of  a  good  story,  the  mighty  stride  with  which  he  crossed 
the  room,  his  fierceness,  his  determination,  his  remorse- 
lessness — ^the  whole  life  and  nature  of  the  man  take 
form  in  those  gigantic  wrists. 

Talaat,  like  most  strong  men,  had  his  forbidding, 
even  his  ferocious,  moods.  One  day  I  found  him  sitting 
at  the  usual  place,  his  massive  shoulders  drawn  up,  his 
eyes  glowering,  his  wrists  planted  on  the  desk.  I 
always  anticipated  trouble  whenever  I  found  him  in 
this  attitude.  As  I  made  request  after  request,  Talaat, 
between  his  puffs  at  his  cigarette,  would  answer  "No!" 
"No!"     "No!" 

I  slipped  around  to  his  side  of  the  desk. 

"I  think  those  wrists  are  making  all  the  trouble. 
Your  Excellency,"  I  said.  "Won't  you  please  take 
them  off  the  table?  " 

Talaat's  ogre-like  face  began  to  crinkle,  he  threw 
up  his  arms,  leaned  back,  and  gave  a  roar  of  terrific 
laughter.  He  enjoyed  this  method  of  treating  him  so 
much  that  he  granted  every  request  that  I  made. 

At  another  time  I  came  into  his  room  when  two 
Arab  princes  were  'present.  Talaat  was  solemn  and 
dignified,  and  refused  every  demand  I  made.  "No,  I 
shall  not  do  that";  or,  "No,  I  haven't  the  slightest  idea 
of  doing  that,"  he  would  answer.  I  saw  that  he  was 
trying  to  impress  his  princely  guests;  to  show  them  that 
he  had  become  so  great  a  man  that  he  did  not  hesitate 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       23 

to  "turn  down"  an  ambassador.  So  I  came  up  nearer 
and  spoke  quietly. 

"I  see  you  are  trying  to  make  an  impression  on  these 
princes,'*  I  said.  "Now  if  it's  necessary  for  you  to 
pose,  do  it  with  the  Austrian  Ambassador — he's  out 
there  waiting  to  come  in.  My  affairs  are  too  important 
to  be  trifled  with." 

Talaat  laughed.  "Come  back  in  an  hour,"  he  said. 
I  returned;  the  Arab  princes  had  left,  and  we  had  no 
difficulty  in  arranging  matters  to  my  satisfaction. 

"Someone  has  got  to  govern  Turkey;  why  not  we?" 
Talaat  once  said  to  me.  The  situation  had  just  about 
come  to  that.  "I  have  been  greatly  disappointed," 
he  would  tell  me,  "at  the  failure  of  the  Turks  to  appre- 
ciate democratic  institutions.  I  hoped  for  it  once,  and 
I  worked  hard  for  it — ^but  they  were  not  prepared 
for  it."  He  saw  a  government  which  the  first  enter- 
prising man  who  came  along  might  seize,  and  he  deter- 
mined to  be  that  man.  Of  all  the  Turkish  politicians 
whom  I  met  I  regarded  Talaat  as  the  only  one  who  really 
had  extraordinary  native  ability.  He  had  great  force  and 
dominance,  the  ability  to  think  quickly  and  accurately, 
and  an  almost  superhuman  insight  into  men's  motives. 
His  great  geniality  and  his  lively  sense  of  humour 
also  made  him  a  splendid  manager  of  men.  He  showed 
his  shrewdness  in  the  measures  which  he  took, 
after  the  murder  of  Nazim,  to  gain  the  upper  hand 
in  this  distracted  empire.  He  did  not  seize  the  govern- 
ment all  at  once;  he  went  at  it  gradually,  feeling 
his  way.  He  realized  the  weaknesses  of  his  position; 
he  had  several  forces  to  deal  with — the  envy  of  his 
associates  on  the  revolutionary  committee  which  had 
backed    him,    the    army,    the   foreign    governments, 


24       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

I 
and  the  several  factions  that  made  up  what  then 

passed  for  public  opinion  in  Turkey.  Any  of  these 
elements  might  destroy  him,  politically  and  physically. 
He  understood  the  dangerous  path  that  he  was  treading, 
and  he  always  anticipated  a  violent  death.  "I  do  not 
expect  to  die  in  my  bed,"  he  told  me.  By  becoming 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  Talaat  gained  control  of  the 
police  and  the  administration  of  the  provinces,  or  vila- 
yets; this  gave  him  a  great  amount  of  patronage,  which 
he  used  to  strengthen  the  power  of  the  Committee. 
He  attempted  to  gain  the  support  of  all  influential 
factions  by  gradually  placing  their  representatives  in 
the  other  cabinet  posts.  Though  he  afterward  be- 
came the  man  who  was  chiefly  responsible  for  the  massa- 
cre of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Armenians,  at  this 
time  Talaat  maintained  the  pretense  that  the  Committee 
stood  for  the  unionization  of  all  the  races  in  the  em- 
pire, and  for  this  reason  his  first  cabinet  contained 
an  Arab-Christian,  a  Deunme  (a  Jew  by  race,  but 
a  Mohammedan  by  religion),  a  Circassian,  an  Ar- 
menian, and  an  Egyptian. 

He  made  the  latter  Grand  Vizier,  the  highest  post 
in  the  Government,  a  position  which  roughly  corres- 
ponds to  that  of  Chancellor  in  the  German  Empire. 
The  man  whom  he  selected  for  this  oflSce,  which 
in  ordinary  times  was  the  most  dignified  and  important 
in  the  empire,  belonged  to  quite  a  different  order  of 
society  from  Talaat.  Not  uncommonly  bosses  in 
America  select  high-class  figureheads  for  mayors  or 
even  governors,  men  who  will  give  respectabiHty  to 
their  faction,  yet  whom,  at  the  same  time,  they  think 
they  can  control.  It  was  some  such  motive  as  this 
which  led  Talaat  and  his  associates  to  elevate  Said 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       25 

Halim  to  the  Grand  Vizierate.  Said  Halim  was  an 
Egyptian  prince,  the  cousin  of  the  Khedive  of  Egypt, 
a  man  of  great  wealth  and  great  culture.  He  spoke 
English  and  French  as  fluently  as  his  own  tongue 
and  was  an  ornament  to  any  society  in  the  world. 
But  he  was  a  man  of  unlimited  vanity  and  ambition. 
His  great  desire  was  to  become  Khedive  of  Egypt, 
and  this  had  led  him  to  trust  his  political  fortunes 
to  the  gang  that  was  then  ascendant  in  Turkey.  He 
was  the  heaviest  "campaign  contributor,"  and,  in- 
deed, he  had  largely  financed  the  Young  Turks  from 
their  earliest  days.  In  exchange  they  had  given  him 
the  highest  oflfice  in  the  empire,  with  the  tacit 
understanding  that  he  should  not  attempt  to  exercise 
the  real  powers  of  his  office,  but  content  himself  with 
enjoying  its  dignities. 

Germany's  war  preparations  had  for  years  included 
the  study  of  internal  conditions  in  other  countries; 
an  indispensable  part  of  the  imperial  programme 
had  been  to  take  advantage  of  such  disorganizations 
as  existed  to  push  her  schemes  of  penetration  and 
conquest.  What  her  (emissaries  have  attempted  in 
France,  Italy,  and  even  the  United  States  is  apparent, 
and  their  success  in  Russia  has  greatly  changed  the 
course  of  the  war.  Clearly  such  a  situation  as  that 
which  prevailed  in  Turkey  in  1913  and  1914  provided 
an  ideal  opportunity  for  manipulations  of  this  kind. 
And  Germany  had  one  great  advantage  in  Turkey  which 
was  not  so  conspicuously  an  element  in  other  countries. 
Talaat  and  his  associates  needed  Germany  almost  as 
badly  as  Germany  needed  Talaat.  They  were  alto- 
gether new  to  the  business  of  managing  an  empire. 
Theu:  finances  were  depleted,  their  army  and  navy 


26       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

almost  in  tatters,  enemies  were  constantly  attempt- 
ing to  undermine  them  at  home,  and  the  great  powers 
regarded  them  as  seedy  adventurers  whose  career  was 
destined  to  be  brief.  Without  strong  support  from  an 
outside  source,  it  was  a  question  how  long  the  new  re- 
gime could  survive.  Talaat  and  his  Committee  needed 
some  foreign  power  to  organize  the  army  and  navy, 
to  finance  the  nation,  to  help  them  reconstruct  their 
industrial  system,  and  to  protect  them  against  the 
encroachments  of  the  encircling  nations.  Ignorant 
as  they  were  of  foreign  statecraft,  they  needed  a  skilful 
adviser  to  pilot  them  through  all  the  channels  of  inter- 
national intrigue.  Where  was  such  a  protector  to  be 
obtained  .f*  Evidently  only  one  of  the  great  European 
powers  could  perform  this  oflSce.  Which  one  should 
it  be?  Ten  years  before  Turkey  would  naturally  have 
appealed  to  England.  But  now  the  Turks  regarded 
England  as  merely  the  nation  that  had  despoiled  them 
of  Egypt  and  that  had  failed  to  protect  Turkey  from 
dismemberment  after  the  Balkan  wars.  Together  with 
Russia,  Great  Britain  now  controlled  Persia  and  thus 
constituted  a  constant  threat — at  least  so  the  Turks 
believed — against  their  Asiatic  dominions.  England 
was  gradually  withdrawing  her  investments  from 
Turkey,  English  statesmen  believed  that  the  task  of 
driving  the  Turk  from  Europe  was  about  complete, 
and  the  whole  Near-Eastern  policy  of  Great  Britain 
hinged  on  maintaining  the  organization  of  the  Balkans 
as  it  had  been  determined  by  the  Treaty  of  Bucharest 
— a  treaty  which  Turkey  refused  to  regard  as  binding 
and  which  she  was  determined  to  upset.  Above  all, 
the  Turks  feared  Russia  in  1914,  just  as  they  had  feared 
her  ever  since  the  days  of  Peter  the  Great.    Russia 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       27 

was  the  historic  enemy,  the  nation  which  had  given 
freedom  to  Bulgaria  and  Rumania,  which  had  been 
most  active  in  dismembering  the  Ottoman  Empire, 
and  which  regarded  herself  as  the  power  that  was  ulti- 
mately to  possess  Constantinople.  This  fear  of  Russia, 
I  cannot  too  much  insist,  was  the  one  factor  which, 
above  everything  else,  was  forcing  Turkey  into  the 
arms  of  Germany.  For  more  than  half  a  century 
Turkey  had  regarded  England  as  her  surest  safeguard 
against  Russian  aggression,  and  now  England  had  be- 
come Russia's  virtual  ally.  There  was  even  then  a 
general  belief,  which  the  Turkish  chieftains  shared, 
that  England  was  entirely  willing  that  Russia  should 
inherit  Constantinople  and  the  Dardanelles. 

Though  Russia,  in  1914,  was  making  no  such  preten- 
sions, at  least  openly,  the  fact  that  she  was  crowding 
Turkey  in  other  directions  made  it  impossible  that 
Talaat  and  Enver  should  look  for  support  in  that 
direction.  Italy  had  just  seized  the  last  Turkish 
province  in  Africa,  Tripoli,  at  that  moment,  was  holding 
Rhodes  and  other  Turkish  islands,  and  was  known  to 
cherish  aggressive  plans  in  Asia  Minor.  France  was 
the  ally  of  Russia  and  Great  Britain,  and  was  also 
constantly  extending  her  influence  in  Syria,  in  which 
province,  indeed,  she  had  made  great  plans  for  "pene- 
tration" with  railroads,  colonies,  and  concessions.  The 
personal  equation  played  an  important  part  in  the  en- 
suing drama.  The  ambassadors  of  the  Triple  Entente 
hardly  concealed  their  contempt  for  the  dominant 
Turkish  politicians  and  their  methods.  Sir  Louis 
Mallet,  the  British  Ambassador,  was  a  high-minded  and 
cultivated  English  gentleman;  Bompard,  the  French 
Ambassador,  was    a    similarly  charming,  honourable 


28       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

Frenchman,  and  both  were  personally  disqualified 
from  participating  in  the  murderous  intrigues  which 
then  comprised  Turkish  politics.  Giers,  the  Russian 
Ambassador,  was  a  proud  and  scornful  diplomat  of  the 
old  aristocratic  regime.  He  was  exceedingly  astute,  but 
he  treated  the  Young  Turks  contemptuously,  mani- 
fested almost  a  proprietary  interest  in  the  country, 
and  seemed  to  me  already  to  be  wielding  the  knout  over 
this  despised  government.  It  was  quite  apparent 
that  the  three  ambassadors  of  the  Entente  did  not 
regard  the  Talaat  and  Enver  regime  as  permanent,  or 
as  particularly  worth  their  while  to  cultivate.  That 
several  factions  had  risen  and  fallen  in  the  last  six  years 
they  knew,  and  they  likewise  believed  that  this  latest 
usurpation  would  vanish  in  a  few  m.onths. 

But  there  was  one  active  man  in  Turkey  then  who 
had  no  nice  scruples  about  using  such  agencies  as  were 
most  available  for  accomphshing  his  purpose.  Wan- 
genhelm  clearly  saw,  what  his  colleagues  had  only 
faintly  perceived,  that  these  men  were  steadily  fasten- 
ing their  hold  on  Turkey,  and  that  they  were  looking 
for  some  strong  power  that  would  recognize  their  posi- 
tion and  abet  them  in  maintaining  it.  In  order  that 
we  may  clearly  understand  the  situation,  let  us  trans- 
port ourselves,  for  a  moment,  to  a  country  that  is 
nearer  to  us  than  Turkey.  In  1913  Victoriano  Huerta 
and  his  fellow  conspirators  gained  control  of  Mexico  by 
means  not  unlike  those  that  had  given  Talaat  and  his 
Committee  the  supreme  power  in  Turkey.  Just  as 
Huerta  murdered  Madero,  so  the  Young  Turks  had 
murdered  Nazim,  and  in  both  countries  assassination 
had  become  a  regular  political  weapon.  Huerta  con- 
trolled the  Mexican  Congress  and  the  oflSces  just  as 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      29 

Talaat  controlled  the  Turkish  Parliament  and  the  chief 
posts  of  that  state.  Mexico  under  Huerta  was  a  poverty- 
stricken  country,  with  depleted  finances,  exhausted  in- 
dustries and  agriculture,  just  as  was  Turkey  under 
Talaat.  How  did  Huerta  seek  to  secure  his  own  posi- 
tion and  rehabilitate  his  distracted  country  .f^  There  was 
only  one  way,  of  course — that  was  by  enlisting  the 
support  of  some  strong  foreign  power.  He  sought 
repeatedly  to  gain  recognition  from  the  United  States 
for  this  reason  and,  when  we  refused  to  deal  with  a 
murderer,  Huerta  looked  to  Germany.  Let  us  suppose 
that  the  Kaiser  had  responded;  he  could  have  reorgan- 
ized Mexican  finances,  rebuilt  her  railroads,  reestablished 
her  industries,  modernized  her  army,  and  in  this  way 
obtained  a  grip  on  the  country  that  would  have 
amounted  to  virtual  possession. 

Only  one  thing  prevented  Germany  from  doing  this 
— the  Monroe  Doctrine.  But  there  was  no  Monroe 
Doctrine  in  Turkey,  and  what  I  have  described  as  a 
possibility  in  Mexico  is  in  all  essentials  an  accurate  pic- 
ture of  what  happened  in  the  Ottoman  Empire.  As  I  look 
back  upon  the  situation,  the  whole  thing  seems  so  clear, 
so  simple,  so  inevitable.  Germany,  up  to  that  time,  was 
practically  the  only  great  power  in  Europe  that  had 
not  appropriated  large  slices  of  Turkish  territory,  a 
fact  which  gave  her  an  initial  advantage.  Germany's 
representative  at  Constantinople  was  far  better  qualified 
than  that  of  any  other  country,  not  only  by  absence  of 
scruples,  but  also  by  knowledge  and  skill,  to  handle  this 
situation.  Wangenheim  was  not  the  only  capable 
German  then  on  the  ground.  A  particularly  influential 
outpost  of  Pan-Germany  was  Paul  Weitz,  who  had 
represented   the  Frankfurter   Zeitung  in   Turkey  for 


30       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

thirty  years.  Weitz  had  the  most  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  Turks  and  Turkish  affairs;  there  was  not  a 
hidden  recess  to  which  he  could  not  gain  admittance. 
He  was  constantly  at  Wangenheim's  elbow,  prompting, 
advising,  informing.  The  German  naval  attache, 
Humann,  the  son  of  a  famous  German  archaeologist,  had 
been  born  in  Smyrna,  and  had  passed  practically  his 
whole  life  in  Turkey;  he  not  only  spoke  Turkish,  but 
he  could  also  think  like  a  Turk,  and  the  whole  psychol- 
ogy of  the  people  was  part  of  his  mental  equipment. 
Moreover,  Enver,  one  of  the  two  main  Turkish  chief- 
tains, was  on  friendly  terms  with  Humann.  When  I 
think  of  this  experienced  trio,  Wangenheim,  Weitz, 
and  Humann,  and  of  the  charming  and  honourable 
gentlemen  who  were  opposed  to  them.  Mallet,  Bom- 
pard,  and  Giers,  the  events  that  now  rapidly  followed 
seem  as  inevitable  as  the  orderly  processes  of  nature. 
By  the  spring  of  1914  Talaat  and  Enver,  representing 
the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress,  practically 
dominated  the  Turkish  Empire.  Wangenheim,  al- 
ways having  in  mind  the  approaching  war,  had  one 
inevitable  purpose:  that  was  to  control  Talaat  and 
Enver. 

Early  in  January,  1914,  Enver  became  Minister  of 
War.  At  that  time  Enver  was  thirty- two  years  old; 
like  all  the  leading  Turkish  politicians  of  the  period  he 
came  of  humble  stock  and  his  popular  title,  "Hero  of 
the  Revolution,"  shows  why  Talaat  and  the  Committee 
had  selected  him  as  Minister  of  War.  Enver  enjoyed 
something  of  a  military  reputation,  though,  so  far  as  I 
could  discover,  he  had  never  achieved  a  great  military 
success.  The  revolution  of  which  he  had  been  one  of  the 
leaders  in  1908  had  cost  very  few  human  lives;  he  com- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       31 

manded  an  army  in  Tripoli  against  the  Italians  in  1912 
— but  certainly  there  was  nothing  Napoleonic  about 
that  campaign.  Enver  himself  once  told  me  how, 
in  the  Second  Balkan  War,  he  had  ridden  all  night  at 
the  head  of  his  troops  to  the  capture  of  Adrianople,  and 
how,  when  he  arrived  there,  the  Bulgarians  had  aban- 
doned it  and  his  victory  had  thus  been  a  bloodless  one. 
But  certainly  Enver  did  have  one  trait  that  made  for 
success  in  such  a  distracted  country  as  Turkey — and 
that  was  audacity.  He  was  quick  in  making  decisions, 
always  ready  to  stake  his  future  and  his  very  life  upon 
the  success  of  a  single  adventure;  from  the  beginning, 
indeed,  his  career  had  been  one  lucky  crisis  after  an- 
other. His  nature  had  a  remorselessness,  a  lack  of 
pity,  a  cold-blooded  determination,  of  which  his  clean- 
cut  handsome  face,  his  small  but  sturdy  figure,  and  his 
pleasing  manners  gave  no  indication.  Nor  would  the 
casual  spectator  have  suspected  the  passionate  personal 
ambition  that  drove  him  on.  His  friends  commonly 
referred  to  him  as  "Napoleonlik'* — the  little  Napoleon — 
and  this  nickname  really  represented  Enver's  abiding 
conviction.  I  remember  sitting  one  night  with  Enver, 
in  his  house;  on  one  side  hung  a  picture  of  Napoleon; 
on  the  other  one  of  Frederick  the  Great;  and  between 
them  sat  Enver  himself!  This  fact  gives  some  notion 
of  his  vanity;  these  two  warriors  and  statesmen  were 
his  great  heroes  and  I  believe  that  Enver  thought  fate 
had  a  career  in  store  for  him  not  unlike  theirs.  The  fact 
that,  at  twenty-six,  he  had  taken  a  leading  part  in  the 
revolution  which  had  deposed  Abdul  Hamid,  naturally 
caused  him  to  compare  himself  with  Bonaparte;  sev- 
eral times  he  has  told  me  that  he  believed  himself 
to  be  "a  man  of  destiny."    Enver  even  affected  to  be- 


32       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

lieve  that  he  had  been  divinely  set  apart  to  reestablish 
the  glory  of  Turkey  and  make  himself  the  great  dicta- 
tor. Yet,  as  I  have  suggested,  there  was  something  al- 
most dainty  and  feminine  in  Enver's  appearance.  He 
was  the  type  that  in  America  we  sometimes  call  a  mat- 
inee idol,  and  the  word  women  frequently  used  to  de- 
scribe him  was  "dashing."  His  face  contained  not  a 
single  line  or  furrow;  it  never  disclosed  his  emotions  or 
his  thoughts;  he  was  always  calm,  steely,  imperturbable. 
That  Enver  certainly  lacked  Napoleon's  penetration 
is  evident  from  the  way  he  had  planned  to  obtain 
the  supreme  power,  for  he  early  allied  his  personal  for- 
tunes with  Germany.  For  years  his  sympathies  had 
been  with  the  Kaiser.  Germany,  the  German  army 
and  navy,  the  German  language,  and  the  German  auto- 
cratic system  exercised  a  fatal  charm  upon  this  youthful 
preacher  of  Turkish  democracy.  After  Hamid  fell, 
Enver  went  on  a  military  mission  to  Berlin,  and 
here  the  Kaiser  immediately  detected  in  him  a  possible 
instrument  for  working  out  his  plans  in  the  Orient,  and 
cultivated  him  in  numerous  ways.  Afterward  Enver 
spent  a  considerable  time  in  Berlin  as  military  attache, 
and  this  experience  still  further  endeared  him  to  Ger- 
many. The  man  who  returned  to  Constantinople  was 
almost  more  German  than  Turkish.  He  had  learned 
to  speak  German  fluently,  he  was  even  wearing  a  mous- 
tache slightly  curled  up  at  the  ends;  indeed,  he  had  been 
completely  captivated  by  Prussianism.  As  soon  as 
Enver  became  Minister  of  War,  Wangenheim  flattered 
and  cajoled  the  young  man,  played  upon  his  ambitions, 
and  probably  promised  him  Germany's  complete  sup- 
port in  achieving  them.  In  his  private  conversation 
Enver  made  no  secret  of  his  admiration  for  Germany. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       33 

Thus  Enver's  elevation  to  the  Ministry  of  War  was 
virtually  a  German  victory.  He  immediately  insti- 
tuted a  drastic  reorganization.  Enver  told  me  himself 
that  he  had  accepted  the  post  only  on  condition  that  he 
should  have  a  free  hand,  and  this  free  hand  he  now  pro- 
ceeded to  exercise.  The  army  still  contained  a  large 
number  of  officers,  many  of  whom  were  partisans  of  the 
murdered  Nazim  and  favoured  the  old  regime  rather 
than  the  Young  Turks,  Enver  promptly  cashiered  268 
of  these,  and  put  in  their  places  Turks  who  were  known 
as  "U.  and  P."  men,  and  many  Germans.  The  Enver- 
Talaat  group  always  feared  a  revolution  that  would  de- 
pose them  as  they  had  thrown  out  their  predecessors. 
Many  times  did  they  tell  me  that  their  own  success  as 
revolutionists  had  taught  them  how  easily  a  few  deter- 
mined men  could  seize  control  of  the  country;  they  did 
not  propose,  they  said,  to  have  a  little  group  in  their' 
army  organize  such  a  cowp  d'etat  against  them.  The 
boldness  of  Enver *s  move  alarmed  even  Talaat,  but 
Enver  showed  the  determination  of  his  character  and  re- 
fused to  reconsider  his  action,  though  one  of  the  officers 
removed  was  Chukri  Pasha,  who  had  defended  Adrian- 
ople  in  the  Balkan  war.  Enver  issued  a  circular  to  the 
Turkish  commanders,  practically  telling  them  that  they 
must  look  only  to  him  for  preferment  and  that  they 
could  make  no  headway  by  playing  politics  with  any 
group  except  that  dominated  by  the  Young  Turks. 

Thus  Enver's  first  acts  were  the  beginnings  in  the 
Prussffication  of  the  Turkish  army,  but  Talaat  was 
not  an  enthusiastic  German  like  his  associate.  He  had 
no  intention  of  playing  Germany's  game;  he  was  work- 
ing chiefly  for  the  Committee  and  for  himself.  But  he 
could  not  succeed  unless  he  had  control  of  the  army; 


34       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

therefore,  he  had  made  Enver,  for  years  his  intimate 
associate  in  "U.  and  P."  politics.  Minister  of  War.  Again 
he  needed  a  strong  army  if  he  was  to  have  any  at 
all,  and  therefore  he  turned  to  the  one  source  where  he 
could  find  assistance,  to  Germany.  Wangenheim  and 
Talaat,  in  the  latter  part  of  1913,  had  arranged  that  the 
Kaiser  should  send  a  military  mission  to  reorganize  the 
Turkish  forces.  Talaat  told  me  that,  in  calling  in  this 
mission,  he  was  using  Germany,  though  Germany 
thought  that  it  was  using  him.  That  there  were  definite 
dangers  in  the  move  he  well  understood.  A  deputy 
who  discussed  this  situation  with  Talaat  in  January, 
1914,  has  given  me  a  memorandum  of  a  conversation 
which  shows  well  what  was  going  on  in  Talaat's  mind. 

"Why  do  you  hand  the  management  of  the  country 
over  to  the  Germans?"  asked  this  deputy,  referring  to 
the  German  military  mission.  "Don't  you  see  that 
this  is  part  of  Germany's  plan  to  make  Turkey  a  Ger- 
man colony — that  we  shall  become  merely  another 
Egypt?" 

"We  understand  perfectly,"  replied  Talaat,  "that 
that  is  Germany's  programme.  We  also  know  that  we 
cannot  put  this  country  on  its  feet  with  our  own  re- 
sources. We  shall,  therefore,  take  advantage  of  such 
technical  and  material  assistance  as  the  Germans  can 
place  at  our  disposal.  We  shall  use  Germany  to  help 
us  reconstruct  and  defend  the  country  until  we  are  able 
to  govern  ourselves  with  our  own  strength.  When  that 
day  comes,  we  can  say  good-bye  to  the  Germans  within 
twenty-four  hours." 

Certainly  the  physical  condition  of  the  Turkish  army 
betrayed  the  need  of  assistance  from  some  source.  The 
picture  it  presented,  before  the  Germans  arrived,  I 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       35 

have  always  regarded  as  portraying  the  condition  of  the 
whole  empire.  When  I  issued  invitations  for  my  first 
reception,  a  large  number  of  Turkish  officials  asked  to  be 
permitted  to  come  in  evening  clothes;  they  said  that 
they  had  no  uniforms  and  no  money  with  which  to  pur- 
chase or  to  hire  them.  They  had  not  received  their 
salaries  for  three  and  a  half  months.  As  the  Grand 
Vizier,  who  regulates  the  etiquette  of  such  functions, 
still  insisted  on  full  uniform,  many  of  these  officials  had 
to  remain  absent.  About  the  same  time  the  new  German 
mission  asked  the  commander  of  the  second  army  corps 
to  exercise  his  men,  but  the  commander  replied  that  he 
could  not  do  so  as  his  men  had  no  shoes! 

Desperate  and  wicked  as  Talaat  subsequently  showed 
himself  to  be,  I  still  think  that  he  at  least  was  not  then 
a  willing  tool  of  Germany.  An  episode  that  involved 
myself  bears  out  this  view.  In  describing  the  relations 
of  the  great  powers  to  Turkey  I  have  said  nothing 
about  the  United  States.  In  fact,  we  had  no  important 
business  relations  at  that  time.  The  Turks  regarded  us 
as  a  country  of  idealists  and  altruists,  and  the  fact  that 
we  spent  millions  building  wonderful  educational  insti- 
tutions in  their  country  purely  from  philanthropic  mo- 
tives aroused  their  astonishment  and  possibly  their  ad- 
miration. They  liked  Americans  and  regarded  us  as 
about  the  only  disinterested  friend  whom  they  had 
among  the  nations.  But  our  interests  in  Turkey  were 
small;  the  Standard  Oil  Company  did  a  growing  busi- 
ness, the  Singer  Company  sold  sewing  machines  to  the 
Armenians  and  Greeks;  we  bought  a  good  deal  of 
their  tobacco,  figs,  and  rugs,  and  gathered  their  licorice 
root.  In  addition  to  these  activities,  missionaries  and 
educational  experts  formed  about  our  only  contacts  with 


36       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

the  Turkish  Empire.  The  Turks  knew  that  we  had  no 
desire  to  dismember  their  country  or  to  mingle  in 
Ballvan  poKtics.  The  very  fact  that  my  country  was 
so  disinterested  was  perhaps  the  reason  why  Talaat 
discussed  Turkish  affairs  so  freely  with  me.  In  the 
course  of  these  conversations  I  frequently  expressed  my 
desire  to  serve  them,  and  Talaat  and  some  of  the  other 
members  of  the  Cabinet  got  into  the  habit  of  consulting 
me  on  business  matters.  Soon  after  my  arrival,  I 
made  a  speech  at  the  American  Chamber  of  Commerce 
in  Constantinople;  Talaat,  Djemal,  and  other  import- 
ant leaders  were  present.  I  talked  about  the  backward 
economic  state  of  Turkey  and  admonished  them  not  to 
be  discouraged.  I  described  the  condition  of  the 
United  States  after  the  Civil  War  and  made  the  point 
that  our  devastated  Southern  States  presented  a  spec- 
tacle not  unlilie  that  of  Turkey  at  that  present  moment. 
1  then  related  how  we  had  gone  to  work,  developed  our 
resources,  and  built  up  the  present  thriving  nation.  My 
remarks  apparently  made  a  deep  impression,  especially 
my  statement  that  after  the  Civil  War  the  United  States 
had  become  a  large  borrower  in  foreign  money  markets 
and  had  invited  immigration  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
This  speech  apparently  gave  Talaat  a  new  idea.  It 
was  not  impossible  that  the  United  States  might  fur- 
nish him  the  material  support  which  he  had  been  seeking 
in  Europe.  Already  I  had  suggested  that  an  American 
financial  expert  should  be  sent  to  study  Turkish 
finance  and  in  this  connection  I  had  mentioned  Mr. 
Henry  Brucre,  of  New  York — a  suggestion  which  the 
Turks  had  received  favourably.  At  that  time  Turkey's 
greatest  need  was  money.  France  had  financed  Tur- 
key for  many  years,  and  French  bankers,  in  the  spring 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       37 

of  1914,  were  negotiating  for  another  large  loan.  Though 
Germany  had  made  some  loans,  the  condition  of  the 
Berlin  money  market  at  that  time  did  not  encourage 
the  Turks  to  expect  much  assistance  from  that  source. 

In  late  December,  1913,  Bustany  Effendi — a  Christian 
Arab,  and  Minister  of  Commerce  and  Agriculture,  who 
spoke  English  fluently  (he  had  been  Turkish  commis- 
sioner to  the  Chicago  World's  Fair  in  1893) — called  and 
approached  me  on  the  question  of  an  American  loan. 
Bustany  asked  if  there  were  not  American  financiers 
who  would  take  entire  charge  of  the  reorganization  of 
Turkish  finance.  His  plea  was  really  a  cry  of  despair 
and  it  touched  me  deeply.  As  I  wrote  in  my  diary  at 
the  time,  "They  seem  to  be  scraping  the  box  for  money." 
But  I  had  been  in  Turkey  only  six  weeks,  and  obviously 
I  had  no  information  on  which  I  could  recommend  such 
a  large  contract  to  American  bankers.  I  informed 
Bustany  that  my  advice  would  not  carry  much  weight  in 
the  United  States  unless  it  were  based  on  a  complete 
knowledge  of  economic  conditions  in  Turkey.  Talaat 
came  to  me  a  few  days  later,  suggesting  that  I  make  a 
prolonged  tour  over  the  empire  and  study  the  situation 
at  first  hand.  He  asked  if  I  could  not  arrange  meanwhile 
a  small  temporary  loan  to  tide  them  over  the  interim. 
He  said  there  was  no  money  in  the  Turkish  Treasury; 
if  I  could  get  them  only  $5,000,000,  that  would  satisfj^ 
them.  I  told  Talaat  that  I  would  try  to  raise  this 
amount  for  them,  and  that  I  would  adopt  his  suggestion 
and  inspect  his  Empire  with  the  possible  idea  of  inter- 
esting American  investors.  After  obtaining  the  con- 
sent of  the  State  Department,  I  wrote  to  my  nephew  and 
business  associate,  Mr.  Robert  E.  Simon,  asking  him  to 
sound  certain  New  York  institutions  and  bankers  on 


38       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

making  a  small  short-time  collateral  loan  to  Turkey. 
Mr.  Simon's  investigations  soon  disclosed  that  a  Turk- 
ish loan  did  not  seem  to  be  regarded  as  an  attractive 
business  undertaking  in  New  York.  Mr.  Simon  wrote, 
however,  that  Mr.  C.  K.  G.  Billings  had  showTi  much  in- 
terest in  the  idea,  and  that,  if  I  desired,  Mr.  Billings 
would  come  out  in  his  yacht  and  discuss  the  matter 
with  the  Turkish  Cabinet  and  with  me.  In  a  few  days 
Mr.  Billings  had  started  for  Constantinople. 

The  news  of  Mr.  Billings's  approach  spread  with 
great  rapidity  all  over  the  Turkish  capital;  the  fact 
that  he  was  coming  in  his  own  private  yacht  seemed 
to  magnify  the  importance  and  the  glamour  of  the  event. 
That  a  great  American  millionaire  was  prepared  to 
reinforce  the  depleted  Turkish  Treasury  and  that  this 
support  was  merely  the  preliminary  step  in  the  reor- 
ganization of  Turkish  finances  by  American  capitalists, 
produced  a  tremendous  flutter  in  the  foreign  embassies. 
So  rapidly  did  the  information  spread,  indeed,  that  I 
rather  suspected  that  the  Turkish  Cabinet  had  taken 
no  particular  pains  to  keep  it  secret.  This  suspicion 
was  strengthened  by  a  visit  which  I  received  from  the 
Chief  Rabbi  Nahoum,  who  informed  me  that  he  had 
come  at  the  request  of  Talaat. 

"There  is  a  rumour,"  said  the  Chief  Rabbi,  "that 
Americans  are  about  to  make  a  loan  to  Turkey.  Talaat 
would  be  greatly  pleased  if  you  would  not  contradict  it." 

Wangenheim  displayed  an  almost  hysterical  interest: 
the  idea  of  America  coming  to  the  financial  assistance 
of  Turkey  did  not  fall  in  with  his  plans  at  all,  for  in  his 
eyes  Turkey's  poverty  was  chiefly  valuable  as  a  means 
of  forcing  the  empire  into  Germany's  hands.  One  day 
I  showed  Wangenheim   a  book  containing  etchings 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       39 

of  Mr.  Billings's  homes,  pictures,  and  horses;  he  showed 
a  great  interest,  not  only  in  the  horses — Wangenheim 
was  something  of  a  horseman  himself — but  in  this  tan- 
gible evidence  of  great  wealth.  For  the  next  few  days 
several  ambassadors  and  ministers  filed  into  my  office, 
each  solemnly  asking  for  a  glimpse  at  this  book!  As 
the  time  approached  for  Mr.  Billings's  arrival,  Talaat 
began  making  elaborate  plans  for  his  entertainment;  he 
consulted  me  as  to  whom  we  should  invite  to  the  pro- 
posed dinners,  lunches,  and  receptions.  As  usual  Wan- 
genheim got  in  ahead  of  the  rest.  He  could  not  come 
to  the  dinner  which  we  had  planned  and  asked  me  to 
have  him  for  lunch,  and  in  this  way  he  met  Mr.  Bill- 
ings several  hours  before  the  other  diplomats.  Mr. 
Billings  frankly  told  him  that  he  was  interested  in 
Turkey  and  that  it  was  not  unlikely  that  he  would  make 
the  loan. 

In  the  evening  we  gave  the  BiUings  party  a  dinner, 
all  the  important  members  of  the  Turkish  Cabinet 
being  present.  Before  this  dinner,  Talaat,  Mr.  Billings, 
and  myself  had  a  long  talk  about  the  loan.  Talaat  in- 
formed us  that  the  French  bankers  had  accepted  their 
terms  that  very  day,  and  that  they  would,  therefore, 
need  no  American  money  at  that  time.  He  was  ex- 
ceedingly gracious  and  grateful  to  Mr.  Billings,  and  pro- 
fuse in  expressing  his  thanks.  Indeed,  he  might  well 
have  been,  for  Mr.  Billings's  arrival  enabled  Turkey  at 
last  to  close  negotiations  with  the  French  bankers. 
His  attempt  to  express  his  appreciation  had  one  curious 
manifestation.  Enver,  the  second  man  in  the  Cabinet, 
was  celebrating  his  wedding  when  Mr.  Billings  arrived. 
The  progress  which  Enver  was  making  in  the  Turkish 
world  is  evidenced  from  the  fact  that,  although  Enver, 


40       MiBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

as  I  have  said,  came  of  the  humblest  stock,  his  bride 
was  a  daughter  of  the  Turldsh  Imperial  House.  Turk- 
ish weddings  are  prolonged  affairs,  lasting  two  or  three 
days.  The  day  following  the  Embassy  dumer,  Talaat 
gave  the  Billings  party  a  luncheon  at  the  Cercle  d'Ori- 
ent,  and  he  insisted  that  Enver  should  leave  his  wedding 
ceremony  long  enough  to  attend  this  function.  Enver, 
therefore,  came  to  the  luncheon,  sat  through  all  the 
speeches,  and  then  returned  to  his  bridal  party. 

I  am  convinced  that  Talaat  did  not  regard  this  Billmgs 
episode  as  closed.  As  I  look  back  upon  this  transac- 
tion, I  see  clearly  that  he  was  seeking  to  extricate  his 
country,  and  that  the  possibility  that  the  United  States 
would  assist  him  in  performing  the  rescue  was  ever 
present  in  his  mind.  He  frequently  spoke  to  me  of 
Mr.  "Beelings,"  as  he  called  him,  and  even  after  Tur- 
key had  broken  with  France  and  England,  and  was 
depending  on  Germany  for  money,  his  mind  still  re- 
verted to  Mr.  Billings's  visit;  perhaps  he  was  thinking 
of  our  country  as  a  financial  haven  of  rest  after  he  had 
carried  out  his  plan  of  expelling  the  Germans.  I  am 
certain  that  the  possibility  af  American  help  led  him, 
in  the  days  of  the  war,  to  do  many  things  for  me  that 
he  would  not  otherwise  have  done.  "  Remember  me  to 
Mr.  Beelings'*  were  almost  the  last  words  he  said  to 
me  when  I  left  Constantinople.  This  yachting  visit, 
though  it  did  not  lack  certain  comedy  elements  at  the 
time,  I  am  sure  ultimately  saved  many  lives  from  star- 
vation and  massacre. 


CHAPTER  m 

"the  personal  representative  of  the  kaiser" — 

wangenheim  opposes  the  sale  of 

american  warships  to  greece 

BUT  even  in  March,  1914,  the  Germans  had 
I  pretty  well  tightened  their  hold  on  Turkey. 
Liman  von  Sanders,  who  had  arrived  in  Decem- 
ber, had  become  the  predominant  influence  in  the 
Turkish  army.  At  first  Von  Sanders'  appointment 
aroused  no  particular  hostility,  for  German  missions 
had  been  called  in  before  to  instruct  the  Turkish  army, 
notably  that  of  Von  der  Goltz,  and  an  English  naval 
mission,  headed  by  Admiral  Limpus,  was  even  then 
in  Turkey  attempting  the  difficult  task  of  reorganizing 
the  Turkish  navy.  We  soon  discovered,  however,  that 
the  Von  Sanders,  military  mission  was  something  quite 
different  from  those  which  I  have  named.  Even  before 
Von  Sanders'  arrival  it  had  been  announced  that  he 
was  to  take  command  of  the  first  Turkish  army  corps, 
and  that  General  Bronssart  von  Schnellendorf  was  to 
become  Chief  of  Staff.  The  appointments  signified 
nothing  less  than  that  the  Kaiser  had  almost  com- 
pleted his  plans  to  annex  the  Turkish  army  to  his  own. 
To  show  the  power  which  Von  Sanders'  appointment 
had  given  him,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  the  first 
army  corps  practically  controlled  Constantinople. 
These  changes  clearly  showed  to  what  an  extent 
Enver  Pasha  had  become  a  cog  in  the  Prussian  system. 

41. 


42       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

Naturally  the  representatives  of  the  Entente  Powers 
could  not  tolerate  such  a  usuq^ation  by  Germany. 
The  British,  French,  and  Russian  Ambassadors  im- 
mediately called  upon  the  Grand  Vizier  and  protested 
with  more  warmth  than  politeness  over  Von  Sanders' 
elevation.  The  Turkish  Cabinet  hemmed  and  hawed 
in  the  usual  way,  protested  that  the  change  was  not 
important,  but  finally  it  withdrew  Von  Sanders* 
appointment  as  head  of  the  first  army  corps,  and  made 
him  Inspector  General.  However,  this  did  not  greatly 
improve  the  situation,  for  this  post  really  gave  Von 
Sanders  greater  power  than  the  one  which  he  had  held 
before.  Thus,  by  January,  1914,  seven  months  before 
the  Great  War  began,  Germany  held  this  position  in 
the  Turkish  army:  a  German  general  was  Chief  of 
Staff;  another  was  Inspector  General;  scores  of  German 
officers  held  commands  of  the  first  importance,  and  the 
Turkish  politician  who  was  even  then  an  outspoken 
champion  of  Germany,  Enver  Pasha,  was  Minister  of 
War. 

After  securing  this  diplomatic  triumph  Wangenheim 
was  granted  a  vacation — he  had  certainly  earned  it — 
and  Giers,  the  Russian  Ambassador,  went  off  on  a  vaca- 
tion at  the  same  time.  Baroness  Wangenheim  ex- 
plained to  me — I  was  ignorant  at  this  time  of  all  these 
subtleties  of  diplomacy — precisely  what  these  vacations 
signified.  Wangenheim's  leave  of  absence,  she  said, 
meant  that  the  German  Foreign  Office  regarded  the 
Von  Sanders  episode  as  closed — and  closed  with  a 
German  victory.  Giers*s  furlough,  she  explained, 
meant  that  Russia  declined  to  accept  this  point  of  view 
and  that,  so  far  as  Russia  was  concerned,  the  Von 
Sanders  affair  had  not  ended.    I  remember  writing 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       43 

to  my  family  that,  in  this  mysterious  Near-Eastern 
diplomacy,  the  nations  talked  to  each  other  with  acts, 
not  words,  and  I  instanced  Baroness  Wangenheim's 
explanation  of  these  diplomatic  vacations  as  a  case  in 
point. 

An  incident  which  took  place  in  my  own  house 
opened  all  our  eyes  to  how  seriously  Von  Sanders 
regarded  this  military  mission.  On  February  18th, 
I  gave  my  first  diplomatic  dinner;  General  Von  Sanders 
and  his  two  daughters  attended,  the  General  sitting 
next  to  my  daughter  Ruth.  My  daughter,  however, 
did  not  have  a  very  enjoyable  time;  this  German  field 
marshal,  sitting  there  in  his  gorgeous  uniform,  his 
breast  all  sparkling  with  medals,  hardly  said  a  word 
throughout  the  whole  meal.  He  ate  his  food  silently 
and  sulkily,  all  my  daughter's  attempts  to  enter  into 
conversation  evoking  only  an  occasional  surly  mono- 
syllable. The  behaviour  of  this  great  military  leader 
was  that  of  a  spoiled  child. 

At  the  end  of  the  dinner  Von  Mutius,  the  German 
charge  d'affaires,  came  up  to  me  in  a  high  state  of  excite- 
ment. It  was  some  time  before  he  could  sufficiently 
control  his  agitation  to  deliver  his  message. 

"You  have  made  a  terrible  mistake,  Mr.  Am- 
bassador," he  said. 

"What  is  that.?*"  I  asked,  naturally  taken  aback. 

"You  have  greatly  offended  Field  Marshal  Von 
Sanders.  You  have  placed  him  at  the  dinner  lower  in 
rank  than  the  foreign  ministers.  He  is  the  personal 
representative  of  the  Kaiser  and  as  such  is  entitled 
to  equal  rank  with  the  ambassadors.  He  should  have 
been  placed  ahead  of  the  cabinet  ministers  and  the 
foreign  ministers." 


k 


44       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

So  I  had  affronted  the  Emperor  himself !  This,  then, 
was  the  explanation  of  Von  Sanders'  boorish  behaviour. 
Fortunately,  my  position  was  an  impregnable  one. 
I  had  not  arranged  the  seating  precedence  at  this 
dinner;  I  had  sent  the  list  of  my  guests  to  the  Marquis 
Pallavicini,  the  Austrian  Ambassador  and  dean  of  the 
diplomatic  corps,  and  the  greatest  authority  in  Con- 
stantinople on  such  delicate  points  as  this.  The  Mar- 
quis had  returned  the  list,  marking  in  red  ink  against 
each  name  the  order  of  precedence — 1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  etc. 
I  still  possess  this  document  as  it  came  from  the 
Austrian  Embassy,  and  General  Von  Sanders'  name 
appears  with  the  numerals  "13"  against  it.  I  must 
admit,  however,  that  "the  13th  chair"  did  bring  him 
pretty  well  to  the  foot  of  the  table. 

I  explained  the  situation  to  Von  Mutius  and  asked 
M.  Panfili,  conseiller  of  the  Austrian  Embassy,  who 
was  a  guest  at  the  dinner,  to  come  up  and  make  every- 
thing clear  to  the  outraged  German  diplomat.  As  the 
Austrians  and  Germans  were  allies,  it  was  quite  ap- 
parent that  the  slight,  if  slight  there  had  been,  was  unin- 
tentional. Panfili  said  that  he  had  been  puzzled  over 
the  question  of  Von  Sanders's  position,  and  had  sub- 
mitted the  question  to  the  Marquis.  The  outcome 
was  that  the  Austrian  Ambassador  had  himself  fixed 
Von  Sanders'  rank  at  number  13.  But  the  German 
Embassy  did  not  let  the  matter  rest  there,  for  afterward 
Wangenheim  called  on  Pallavicini,  and  discussed  the 
matter  with  considerable  liveliness. 

"If  Liman  von  Sanders  represents  the  Kaiser,  whom 
do  you  represent?"  Pallavicini  asked  Wangenheim. 
The  argument  was  a  good  one,  as  the  ambassador  is 
always  regarded  as  the  alter  ego  of  his  sovereign. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       45 

'*It  is  not  customary,"  continued  the  Marquis,  "for 
an  emperor  to  have  two  representatives  at  the  same 
court.'* 

As  the  Marquis  was  unyielding,  Wangenheim  car- 
ried the  question  to  the  Grand  Vizier.  But  Said 
Halim  refused  to  assume  responsibiHty  for  so  momen- 
tous a  decision  and  referred  the  dispute  to  the  Council 
of  Ministers.  This  body  solemnly  sat  upon  the  ques- 
tion and  rendered  this  verdict:  Von  Sanders  should 
ra;nk  ahead  of  the  ministers  of  foreign  countries, 
but  below  the  members  of  the  Turkish  Cabinet.  Then 
the  foreign  ministers  lifted  up  their  voices  in  protest. 
Von  Sanders  not  only  became  exceedingly  unpopular  for 
raising  this  question,  but  the  dictatorial  and  autocratic 
way  in  which  he  had  done  it  aroused  general  disgust. 
The  ministers  declared  that,  if  Von  Sanders  were  ever 
given  precedence  at  any  function  of  this  kind,  they 
would  leave  the  table  in  a  body.  The  net  result  was 
that  Von  Sanders  was  never  again  invited  to  a  diploma- 
tic dinner.  Sir  Louis  Mallet,  the  British  Ambassador, 
took  a  sardonic  interest  in  the  episode.  It  was  lucky, 
he  said,  that  it  had  not  happened  at  his  Embassy; 
if  it  had,  the  newspapers  would  have  had  columns  about 
the  strained  relations  between  England  and  Germany! 

After  all,  this  proceeding  did  have  great  international 
impKjrtance.  Von  Sanders's  personal  vanity  had  led 
him  to  betray  a  diplomatic  secret;  he  was  not  merely 
a  drill  master  who  had  been  sent  to  instruct  the  Turkish 
army;  he  was  precisely  what  he  had  claimed  to  be — 
the  personal  representative  of  the  Kaiser.  The  Kaiser 
had  selected  him,  just  as  he  had  selected  Wangenheim, 
as  an  instrument  for  working  his  will  in  Turkey. 
Afterward  Von  Sanders  told  me,  with  all  that  pride 


46       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

which  German  aristocrats  manifest  when  speaking 
of  their  imperial  master,  how  the  Kaiser  had  talked 
to  him  a  couple  of  hours  the  day  he  had  appointed  him 
to  this  Constantinople  mission,  and  how,  the  day  that 
he  had  started,  Wilhelm  had  spent  another  hour  giving 
him  final  instructions.  I  reported  this  dinner  incident 
to  my  government  as  indicating  Germany's  growing 
ascendancy  in  Turkey  and  I  presume  the  other  am- 
bassadors likewise  reported  it  to  their  governments. 
The  American  military  attache,  Major  John  R.  M. 
Taylor,  who  was  present,  attributed  the  utmost  signifi- 
cance to  it.  A  month  after  the  occurrence  he  and 
Captain  McCauley,  commanding  the  Scorpion,  the 
American  stationnaire  at  Constantuiople,  had  lunch  at 
Cairo  with  Lord  Kitchener.  The  luncheon  was  a  small 
one,  only  the  Americans,  Lord  Kitchener,  his  sister,  and 
an  aide  making  up  the  party.  Major  Taylor  related 
this  incident,  and  Kitchener  displayed  much  interest. 

"What  do  you  think  it  signifies.''"  asked  Kitchener. 

"I  think  it  means,"  Major  Taylor  said,  "that  when 
the  big  war  comes,  Turkey  will  probably  be  the  ally  of 
Germany.  If  she  is  not  in  direct  alliance,  I  think  that 
she  at  least  will  mobihze  on  the  line  of  the  Caucasus 
and  thus  divert  three  Russian  army  corps  from  the 
European  theatre  of  operations." 

Kitchener  thought  for  a  moment  and  then  said, 
"I  agree  with  you." 

And  now  for  several  months  we  had  before  our  eyes 
this  spectacle  of  the  Turkish  army  actually  under 
the  control  of  Germany.  German  oflScers  drilled  the 
troops  daily — all,  I  am  now  convinced,  in  preparation 
for  the  approaching  war.  Just  what  results  had  been 
accomplished  appeared  when,  in  July,  there  was  a 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       47 

great  military  review.  The  occasion  was  a  splendid 
and  a  gala  affair.  The  Sultan  attended  in  state;  he 
sat  under  a  beautifully  decorated  tent  where  he  held  a 
little  court;  and  the  Khedive  of  Egypt,  the  Crown  Prince 
of  Turkey,  the  princes  of  the  imperial  blood  and  the 
entire  Cabinet  were  also  on  hand.  We  now  saw  that, 
in  the  preceding  six  months,  the  Turkish  army  had  been 
completely  l*russianized.  What  in  January  had  been 
an  undisciplined,  ragged  rabble  was  now  parading 
with  the  goose  step;  the  men  were  clad  in  German  field 
gray,  and  they  even  wore  a  casque-shaped  head  cover- 
ing, which  slightly  suggested  the  German  pickelhaube. 
The  German  officers  were  immensely  proud  of  the  exhi- 
bition, and  the  transformation  of  the  wretched  Turkish 
soldiers  of  January  into  these  neatly  dressed,  smartly 
stepping,  splendidly  manoeuvring  troops  was  really  a 
creditable  military  achievement.  When  the  Sultan 
invited  me  to  his  tent  I  naturally  congratulated  him 
upon  the  excellent  showing  of  his  men.  He  did  not 
manifest  much  enthusiasm;  he  said  that  he  regretted 
the  iK)ssibility  of  war;  he  was  at  heart  a  pacifist.  I 
noticed  certain  conspicuous  absences  from  this  great 
German  fete,  for  the  French,  British,  Russian,  and 
Italian  ambassadors  had  kept  away.  Bompard  said 
that  he  had  received  his  ten  tickets  but  that  he  did 
not  regard  that  as  an  invitation.  Wangenheim  told 
me,  with  some  satisfaction,  that  the  other  ambassadors 
were  jealous  and  that  they  did  not  care  to  see  the  prog- 
ress which  the  Turkish  army  had  made  under  German 
instruction.  I  did  not  have  the  slightest  question  that 
these  ambassadors  refused  to  attend  because  they  had 
no  desire  to  grace  this  German  holiday;  nor  did  I 
blame  them. 


48       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

Meanwhile,  I  had  other  evidences  that  Germany  was 
playing  her  part  in  Turkish  politics.  In  June  the  rela- 
tions between  Greece  and  Turkey  approached  the  break- 
ing point.  The  Treaty  of  London  (May  30, 1913)  had  left 
Greece  in  possession  of  the  islands  of  Chios  and  Mity- 
lene.  A  reference  to  the  map  discloses  the  strategic 
importance  of  these  islands.  They  stand  there  in  the 
^gean  Sea  like  guardians  controlling  the  bay  and  the 
great  port  of  Smyrna,  and  it  is  quite  apparent  that  any 
strong  military  nation  which  permanently  held  these 
vantage  points  would  ultimately  control  Smyrna  and 
the  whole  iEgean  coast  of  Asia  Minor.  The  racial 
situation  made  the  continued  retention  of  these  islands 
by  Greece  a  constant  mihtary  danger  to  Turkey.  Their 
population  was  Greek  and  had  been  Greek  since  the 
days  of  Homer;  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor  itself  was  also 
Greek;  more  than  half  the  population  of  Smyrna,  Tur- 
key's greatest  Mediterranean  seaport,  was  Greek;  in 
its  industries,  its  commerce,  and  its  culture  the  city 
was  so  predominantly  Greek  that  the  Turks  usually 
referred  to  it  as  giaour  Ismir — "infidel  Smyrna.** 
Though  this  Greek  population  was  nominally  Ottoman  in 
nationality  it  did  not  conceal  its  affection  for  the  Greek 
fatherland,  these  Asiatic  Greeks  even  making  contribu- 
tions to  promote  Greek  national  aims.  The  iEgean 
islands  and  the  mainland,  in  fact,  constituted  Graecia 
Irredenta;  and  that  Greece  was  determined  to  redeem 
them,  precisely  as  she  had  recently  redeemed  Crete, 
was  no  diplomatic  secret.  Should  the  Greeks  ever  land 
an  army  on  this  Asia  Minor  coast,  there  was  little  ques- 
tion that  the  native  Greek  population  would  welcome 
it  enthusiastically  and  cooperate  with  it. 

Since  Germany,  however,  had  her  own  plans  for 


TALAAT  PASHA,  EX-GRAND  VIZIER  OF  TURKEY 

In  1914,  when  the  war  broke  out,  Talaat  was  Minister  of  the  Interior  and 
the  most  influential  leader  in  the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress,  the  secret 
organization  which  controlled  the  Tiu-kish  Empire.  A  few  years  ago  Talaat 
was  a  letter-carrier,  and  afterward  a  telegraph  operator  in  Adrianople.  His 
talents  are  those  of  a  great  political  boss.  He  represented  Tin-key  in  the 
peace  negotiations  with  Russia  and  his  signature  appears  on  the  Brest- 
Litovsk  treaty 


TURKISH  INFANTRY  AND  CAVALRY 
In  January,  1914,  the  Turkish  Army  was  a  ragged,  undisciplined  force. 
These  troops,  drilled  by  German  military  instructors,  show  the  result  of  six 
months'  training 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       49 

Asia  Minor,  inevitably  the  Greeks  in  this  region  formed 
a  barrier  to  Pan-German  aspirations.  As  long  as  this 
region  remained  Greek,  it  formed  a  natural  obstacle 
to  Germany's  road  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  precisely  as 
did  Serbia.  Any  one  who  has  read  even  cursorily  the 
literature  of  Pan-Germania  is  familiar  with  the  pecu- 
liar method  which  German  publicists  have  advo- 
cated for  dealing  with  populations  that  stand  in  Ger- 
many's way.  That  is  by  deportation.  The  violent 
shifting  of  whole  peoples  from  one  part  of  Europe  to 
another,  as  though  they  were  so  many  herds  of  cattle, 
has  for  years  been  part  of  the  Kaiser's  plans  for  German 
expansion.  This  is  the  treatment  which,  since  the 
war  began,  she  has  applied  to  Belgium,  to  Poland,  to 
Serbia;  its  most  hideous  manifestation,  as  I  shall 
show,  has  been  to  Armenia.  Acting  under  Germany's 
prompting,  Turkey  now  began  to  apply  this  principle 
of  deportation  to  her  Greek  subjects  in  Asia  Minor. 
Three  years  afterward  the  German  admiral,  Usedom, 
who  had  been  stationed  in  the  Dardanelles  during  the 
bombardment,  told  me  that  it  was  the  Germans  "who 
urgently  made  the  suggestion  that  the  Greeks  be  moved 
from  the  seashore."  The  German  motive.  Admiral 
Usedom  said,  was  purely  military.  Whether  Talaat 
and  his  associates  realized  that  they  were  playing  the 
German  game  I  am  not  sure,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  Germans  were  constantly  instigating  them  in  this 
congenial  task. 

The  events  that  followed  foreshadowed  the  policy 
adopted  in  the  Armenian  massacres.  The  Turkish 
officials  pounced  upon  the  Greeks,  herded  them  in 
groups  and  marched  them  toward  the  ships.  They  gave 
them  no  time  to  settle  their  private  affairs,  and  they 


k 


50       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU*S  STORY 

took  no  pains  to  keep  families  together.  The  plan 
was  to  transport  the  Greeks  to  the  wholly  Greek  islands 
in  the  iEgean.  Naturally  the  Greeks  rebelled  against 
such  treatment,  and  occasional  massacres  were  the 
result,  especially  in  Phocaea,  where  more  than  fifty 
people  were  murdered.  The  Turks  demanded  that  all 
foreign  establishments  in  Smyrna  dismiss  their  Greek 
employees  and  replace  them  with  Moslems.  Among 
other  American  concerns,  the  Singer  Manufacturing 
Company  received  such  instructions,  and  though  I 
interceded  and  obtained  sixty  days'  delay,  ultimately 
this  American  concern  had  to  obey  the  mandate.  An 
official  boycott  was  established  against  all  Christians, 
not  only  in  Asia  Minor,  but  in  Constantinople,  but  this 
boycott  did  not  discriminate  against  the  Jews,  who  have 
always  been  more  popular  with  the  Turks  than  have 
the  Christians.  The  officials  particularly  requested 
Jewish  merchants  to  put  signs  over  their  doors  indicat- 
ing their  nationality  and  trade — such  signs  as  "Abra- 
ham the  Jew,  tailor,"  "Isaac  the  Jew,  shoemaker," 
and  the  like.  I  looked  upon  this  boycott  as  illustratmg 
the  topsy-turvy  national  organization  of  Turkey,  for 
here  we  had  a  nation  engaging  in  a  commercial  boycott 
against  its  own  subjects. 

This  procedure  against  the  Greeks  not  improperly 
aroused  my  indignation.  I  did  not  have  the  slightest 
suspicion  at  that  time  that  the  Germans  had  instigated 
these  deportations,  but  I  looked  upon  them  merely  as 
an  outburst  of  Turkish  ferocity  and  chauvinism.  By 
this  time  I  knew  Talaat  well;  I  saw  him  nearly  every 
day,  and  he  used  to  discuss  practically  every  phase  of 
international  relations  with  me.  I  objected  vigorously 
to  his  treatment  of  the  Greeks;  I  told  him  that  it  would 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       51 

make  the  worst  possible  impression  abroad  and  that  it 
affected  American  interests.  Talaat  explained  his 
national  policy:  these  different  blocs  in  the  Turkish 
Empire,  he  said,  had  always  conspired  against  Turkey; 
because  of  the  hostility  of  these  native  populations, 
Turkey  had  lost  province  after  province — Greece, 
Serbia,  Rumania,  Bulgaria,  Bosnia,  Herzegovina,  Egypt, 
and  Tripoli.  In  this  way  the  Turkish  Empire  had 
dwindled  almost  to  the  vanishing  point.  If  what  was 
left  of  Turkey  was  to  survive,  added  Talaat,  he  must 
get  rid  of  these  alien  peoples.  "Turkey  for  the  Turks'* 
was  now  Talaat's  controlling  idea.  Therefore  he 
proposed  to  Turkify  Smyrna  and  the  adjoining  islands. 
Already  40,000  Greeks  had  left,  and  he  asked  me 
again  to  urge  American  business  houses  to  employ  only 
Turks.  He  said  that  the  accounts  of  violence  and  mur- 
der had  been  greatly  exaggerated  and  suggested  that  a 
commission  be  sent  to  investigate.  "They  want  a 
commission  to  whitewash  Turkey,"  Sir  Louis  Mallet,  the 
British  Ambassador,  told  me.  True  enough,  when  this 
commission  did  bring  in  its  report,  it  exculpated  Turkey. 
The  Greeks  in  Turkey  had  one  great  advantage  over 
the  Armenians,  for  there  was  such  a  thing  as  a  Greek 
government,  which  naturally  has  a  protecting  interest 
in  them.  The  Turks  knew  that  these  dejwrtations 
would  precipitate  a  war  with  Greece;  in  fact,  they 
welcomed  such  a  war  and  were  preparing  for  it.  So 
enthusiastic  were  the  Turkish  people  that  they  had 
raised  money  by  popular  subscription  and  had  pur- 
chased a  Brazilian  dreadnaught  which  was  then  under 
construction  in  England.  The  government  had  ordered 
also  a  second  dreadnaught  in  England,  and  several 
submarines  and  destroyers  in  France.    The  purpose 


52       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

of  these  naval  preparations  was  no  secret  in  Constanti- 
nople. As  soon  as  they  obtained  these  ships,  or  even 
the  one  dreadnaught  which  was  nearing  completion, 
Turkey  intended  to  attack  Greece  and  take  back  the 
islands.  A  single  modern  battleship  like  the  Sultan 
Osman — this  was  the  name  the  Turks  had  given  the 
Brazilian  vessel — could  easily  overpower  the  whole 
Greek  navy  and  control  the  ^Egean  Sea.  As  this  power- 
ful vessel  would  be  finished  and  commissioned  in  a  few 
months,  we  all  expected  the  Greco-Turkish  war  to 
break  out  in  the  fall.  What  could  the  Greek  navy 
possibly  do  against  this  impending  danger? 

Such  was  the  situation  when,  early  fn  June,  I  received 
a  most  agitated  visitor.  This  was  Djemal  Pasha, 
the  Turkish  Minister  of  Marine  and  one  of  the  three 
men  who  then  dominated  the  Turkish  Empire.  I  have 
hardly  ever  seen  a  man  who  appeared  more  utterly 
worried  than  was  Djemal  on  this  occasion.  As  he 
began  talking  excitedly  to  my  interpreter  in  French, 
his  whiskers  trembling  with  his  emotions  and  his  hands 
wildly  gesticulating,  he  seemed  to  be  almost  beside 
himself.  I  knew  enough  French  to  understand  what 
he  was  saying,  and  the  news  which  he  brought — ^this 
was  the  first  I  had  heard  of  it — suflBciently  explained 
his  agitation.  The  American  Government,  he  said, 
was  negotiating  with  Greece  for  the  sale  of  two  battle- 
ships, the  Idaho  and  the  Mississippi.  He  urged  that 
I  should  immediately  move  to  prevent  any  such  sale. 
His  attitude  was  that  of  a  suppliant;  he  begged,  he 
implored  that  I  should  intervene.  All  along,  he  said, 
the  Turks  regarded  the  United  States  as  their  best 
friend;  I  had  frequently  expressed  my  desire  to  help 
them;  well,  here  was  the  chance  to  show  our  good  feel- 


i 


J 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       53 

ing.  The  fact  that  Greece  and  Turkey  were  practically 
on  the  verge  of  war,  said  Djemal,  really  made  the  sale 
of  the  ships  an  unneutral  act.  Still,  if  the  transaction 
were  purely  a  commercial  one,  Turkey  would  like  a 
chance  to  bid.  "We  will  pay  more  than  Greece,"  he 
added.  He  ended  with  a  powerful  plea  that  I  should 
at  once  cable  my  government  about  the  matter,  and 
this  I  promised  to  do. 

Evidently  the  clever  Greeks  had  turned  the  tables 
on  their  enemy.  Turkey  had  rather  too  boldly  adver- 
tised her  intention  of  attacking  Greece  as  soon  as  she 
had  received  her  dreadnaughts.  Both  the  ships  for 
which  Greece  was  now  negotiating  were  immediately 
available  for  battle!  The  Idaho  and  Mississippi  were 
not  indispensable  ships  for  the  American  navy;  they 
could  not  take  their  place  in  the  first  line  of  battle; 
they  were  powerful  enough,  however,  to  drive  the 
whole  Turkish  navy  from  the  ^Egean.  Evidently  the 
Greeks  did  not  intend  politely  to  postpone  the  impend- 
ing war  until  the  Turkish  dreadnaughts  had  been  finished, 
but  to  attack  as  soon  as  they  received  these  American 
ships.  Djemal's  point,  of  course,  had  no  legal  validity. 
However  great  the  threat  of  war  might  be,  Turkey  and 
Greece  were  still  actually  at  peace.  Clearly  Greece  had 
just  as  much  right  to  purchase  warships  in  the  United 
States  as  Turkey  had  to  purchase  them  in  Brazil  or 
England. 

But  Djemal  was  not  the  only  statesman  who  at- 
tempted to  prevent  the  sale;  the  German  Ambassador 
displayed  the  keenest  interest.  Several  days  after 
Djemal's  visit,  Wangenheim  and  I  were  riding  in  the 
hills  north  of  Constantinople;  Wangenheim  began  to 
talk  about  the  Greeks,  to  whom  he  displayed  a  violent 


54       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

antipathy,  about  the  chances  of  war,  and  the  projected 
sale  of  American  warships.  He  made  a  long  argument 
about  the  sale,  his  reasoning  being  precisely  the  same  as 
Djemal's — a  fact  which  aroused  my  suspicions  that  he 
had  himself  coached  Djemal  for  his  interview  with  me. 

"Just  look  at  the  dangerous  precedent  you  are  es- 
tablishing," said  Wangenheim.  " It  is  not  unlikely  that 
the  United  States  may  sometime  find  itself  in  a  posi- 
tion like  Turkey's  to-day.  Suppose  that  you  were 
on  the  brink  of  war  with  Japan;  then  England  could 
sell  a  fleet  of  dreadnaughts  to  Japan.  How  would  the 
United  States  like  that.?" 

And  then  he  made  a  statement  which  indicated  what 
really  lay  back  of  his  protest.  I  have  thought  of  it 
many  times  in  the  last  three  years.  The  scene  is 
indelibly  impressed  on  my  mind.  There  we  sat  on  our 
horses;  the  silent  ancient  forest  of  Belgrade  lay  aroimd 
us,  while  in  the  distance  the  Black  Sea  glistened  in  the 
afternoon  sun.  Wangenheim  suddenly  became  quiet 
and  extremely  earnest.  He  looked  in  my  eyes  and 
said: 

"I  don't  think  that  the  United  States  realizes  what 
a  serious  matter  this  is.  The  sale  of  these  ships  might 
be  the  cause  that  would  bring  on  a  European  war.'* 

This  conversation  took  place  on  June  13th;  this  was 
about  six  weeks  before  the  conflagration  broke  out. 
Wangenheim  knew  perfectly  well  that  Germany  was 
rushing  preparations  for  this  great  conflict,  and  he  also 
knew  that  preparations  were  not  yet  entirely  complete. 
Like  all  the  German  ambassadors,  Wangenheim  had 
received  instructions  not  to  let  any  crisis  arise  that 
would  precipitate  war  until  all  these  preparations  had 
been  finished.    He  had  no  objections  to  the  expulsion 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       55 

of  the  Greeks,  for  that  in  itself  was  part  of  these  prepara- 
tions; he  was  much  disturbed,  however,  over  the 
prospect  that  the  Greeks  might  succeed  in  arming 
themselves  and  disturbing  existing  conditions  in  the 
Balkans.  At  that  moment  the  Balkans  were  a  smoulder- 
ing volcano;  Europe  had  gone  through  two  Balkan  wars 
without  becoming  generally  involved,  and  Wangenheim 
knew  that  another  would  set  the  whole  continent  ablaze. 
He  knew  that  war  was  coming,  but  he  did  not  want  it 
just  then.  He  was  simply  attempting  to  influence  me  at 
that  moment  to  gain  a  little  more  time  for  Germany. 

He  went  so  far  as  to  ask  me  to  cable  personally  to 
the  President,  explain  the  seriousness  of  the  situation, 
and  to  call  his  attention  to  the  telegrams  that  had 
gone  to  the  State  Department  on  the  proposed  sale  of 
the  ships.  I  regarded  his  suggestion  as  an  impertinent 
one  and  declined  to  act  upon  it. 

To  Djemal  and  the  other  Turkish  oflBcials  who  kept 
pressing  me  I  suggested  that  their  ambassador  in 
Washington  should  take  up  the  matter  directly  with 
the  President.  They  acted  on  this  advice,  but  the 
Greeks  again  got  ahead  of  them.  At  two  o'clock, 
June  22d,  the  Greek  charge  d'affaires  at  Washington 
and  Commander  Tsouklas,  of  the  Greek  navy,  called 
upon  the  President  and  arranged  the  sale.  As  they 
left  the  President's  office,  the  Turkish  Ambassador 
entered — ^just  fifteen  minutes  too  late! 

I  presume  that  Mr.  Wilson  consented  to  the  sale 
because  he  knew  that  Turkey  was  preparing  to  attack 
Greece  and  believed  that  the  Idaho  and  Ilississippi 
would  prevent  such  an  attack  and  so  preserve  peace 
in  the  Balkans. 

Acting  under  the  authorization  of  Congress,  the 


1 56       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

administration  sold  these  ships  on  July  8,  1914,  to 
Fred  J.  Gauntlett,  for  $12,535,276.98.  Congress  im- 
mediately voted  the  money  realized  from  the  sale  to 
the  construction  of  a  great  modern  dreadnaught,  the 
California.  Mr.  Gauntlett  transferred  the  ships  to 
the  Greek  Government.  Rechristened  the  Kilhis 
and  the  Lemnos,  those  battleships  immediately  took 
their  places  as  the  most  powerful  vessels  of  the  Greek 
Navy,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Greeks  in  obtaining 
them  was  unbounded. 

By  this  time  we  had  moved  from  the  Embassy  to 
our  summer  home  on  the  Bosphorus.  All  the  summer 
embassies  were  located  there,  and  a  more  beautiful 
spot  I  have  never  seen.  Our  house  was  a  three-story 
building,  something  in  the  Venetian  style;  behind  it 
the  cliff  rose  abruptly,  with  several  terraced  gardens 
towering  one  above  the  other;  the  building  stood  so 
near  the  shore  and  the  waters  of  the  Bosphorus  rushed 
by  so  rapidly  that  when  we  sat  outside,  especially  on 
a  moonlight  night,  we  had  almost  a  complete  illusion 
that  we  were  sitting  on  the  deck  of  a  fast  sailing  ship. 
In  the  daytime  the  Bosphorus,  here  little  more  than 
a  mile  wide,  was  alive  with  gaily  coloured  craft;  I 
recall  this  animated  scene  with  particular  vividness 
because  I  retain  in  my  mind  the  contrast  it  presented  a 
few  months  afterward,  when  Turkey's  entrance  into  the 
war  had  the  immediate  result  of  closing  this  strait. 
Day  by  day  the  huge  Russian  steamships,  on  their 
way  from  Black  Sea  ports  to  Smyrna,  Alexandria, 
and  other  cities,  made  clear  the  importance  of  this 
little  strip  of  water,  and  explained  the  bloody  contests 
of  the  European  nations,  extending  over  a  thousand 
years,  for  its  possession.    However,  these  early  summer 


BUSTANY  EFFENDI 

Ex-Minister  of  Commerce  and  Agriculture  in  the  Turkish  Cabinet.  He 
came  to  Mr.  Morgenthau  in  January,  1914,  seeking  American  assistance  in 
financially  rehabilitating  Turkey 


I 


MOHAMMED  V,  LATE  SULTAN  OF  TURKEY 
His  majesty  was  a  kind-hearted  old  gentleman,  entirely  ignorant  of  the 
world  and  lacking  in  personal  force  and  initiative.      The  lower  picture  shows 
the  Sultan's  carriage  at  the  American  Embassy,  waiting  to  take  Mr.  Mor- 
gentbau  to  an  imperial  audience 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       57 

months  were  peaceful;  all  the  ambassadors  and  minis- 
ters and  their  families  were  thrown  constantly  together; 
here  daily  gathered  the  representatives  of  all  the  powers 
that  for  the  last  four  years  have  been  grappling  in 
history's  bloodiest  war,  all  then  apparently  friends, 
sitting  around  the  same  dining  tables,  walking  arm  in 
arm  upon  the  porches.  The  ambassador  of  one  power 
would  most  graciously  escort  to  dinner  the  wife  of 
another  whose  country  was  perhaps  the  most  antago- 
nistic to  his  own.  Little  groups  would  form  after 
dinner;  the  Grand  Vizier  would  hold  an  impromptu 
reception  in  one  corner,  cabinet  ministers  would  be 
whispering  in  another;  a  group  of  ambassadors  would 
discuss  the  Greek  situation  out  on  the  porch;  the  Turk- 
ish officials  would  glance  quizzically  upon  the  animated 
scene  and  perhaps  comment  quietly  in  their  own 
tongue;  the  Russian  Ambassador  would  glide  about 
the  room,  pick  out  someone  whom  he  wished  to  talk 
to,  lock  arms  and  push  him  into  a  corner  for  a  surrepti- 
tious tete-a-tete.  Meanwhile,  our  sons  and  daughters, 
the  junior  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  and  the 
officers  of  the  several  stationnaires,  dancing  and  flirting, 
seemed  to  think  that  the  whole  proceeding  had  been 
arranged  solely  for  their  amusement.  And  to  realize, 
while  all  this  was  going  on,  that  neither  the  Grand 
Vizier,  nor  any  of  the  other  high  Tm*kish  officials, 
would  leave  the  house  without  outriders  and  body- 
guards to  protect  them  from  assassination — whatever 
other  emotions  such  a  vibrating  atmosphere  might 
arouse,  it  was  certainly  alive  with  interest.  I  felt  also 
that  there  was  something  electric  about  it  all;  war  was 
ever  the  favourite  topic  of  conversation;  everyone 
seemed  to  realize  that  this  peaceful,  frivolous  life  wa? 


58       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

transitory,  and  that  at  any  moment  might  come  the 
spark  that  was  to  set  everything  aflame. 

Yet,  when  the  crisis  came,  it  produced  no  immediate 
sensation.  On  June  29th  we  heard  of  the  assassination 
of  the  Archduke  of  Austria  and  his  consort.  Every- 
body received  the  news  calmly;  there  was,  indeed,  a 
stunned  feeling  that  something  momentous  had  hap- 
pened, but  there  was  practically  no  excitement.  A  day 
or  two  after  tliis  tragedy  I  had  a  long  talk  with  Talaat 
on  diplomatic  matters;  he  made  no  reference  at  all  to 
this  event.  I  think  now  that  we  were  all  affected  by 
a  kind  of  emotional  paralysis — as  we  were  nearer  the 
centre  than  most  people,  we  certainly  reaHzed  the 
dangers  in  the  situation.  In  a  day  or  two  our  tongues 
seemed  to  have  been  loosened,  for  we  began  to  talk — 
and  to  talk  war.  When  I  saw  Von  Mutius,  the  German 
charge,  and  Weitz,  the  diplomat-correspondent  of  the 
Frankfurter  Zeitung,  they  also  discussed  the  impending 
conflict,  and  again  they  gave  their  forecast  a  character- 
istically Germanic  touch;  when  war  came,  they  said, 
of  course  the  United  States  would  take  advantage  of 
it  to  get  all  the  Mexican  and  South  American  trade! 

T\Tien  I  called  upon  Pallavicini  to  express  my  con- 
dolences over  the  Archduke's  death,  he  received  me 
with  the  most  stately  solemnity.  He  was  conscious 
,that  he  was  representing  the  imj)erial  family,  and  his 
grief  seemed  to  be  personal;  one  would  think  that  lie 
had  lost  his  own  son.  I  expressed  my  abhorrence  and 
that  of  my  nation  for  the  deed,  and  our  sympathy  with 
the  aged  emperor. 

'*Ja,  Ja,  es  ist  sehr  schrecJclick"  (yes,  yes,  it  is  very 
terrible),  he  answered,  almost  in  a  whisper. 

"Serbia    will    be    condemned    for    her    conduct^" 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       59 

he  added.  "She  will  be  compelled  to  make  repara- 
tion." 

A  few  days  later,  when  Pallavicini  called  upon  me, 
he  spoke  of  the  nationalistic  societies  that  Serbia  had 
permitted  to  exist  and  of  her  determination  to  annex 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina.  He  said  that  his  government 
would  insist  on  the  abandonment  of  these  societies  and 
these  pretentions,  and  that  probably  a  punitive  expedi- 
tion into  Serbia  would  be  necessary  to  prevent  such  out- 
rages as  the  murder  of  the  Archduke.  Herein  I  had  my 
first  intimation  of  the  famous  ultimatum  of  July  22d. 

The  entire  diplomatic  corps  attended  the  requiem 
mass  for  the  Archduke  and  Archduchess,  celebrated  at 
the  Church  of  Sainte  Marie  on  July  4th.  The  church 
is  located  in  the  Grande  Rue  de  Pera,  not  far  from  the 
Austrian  Embassy;  to  reach  it  we  had  to  descend  a 
flight  of  forty  stone  steps.  At  the  top  of  these  stairs 
representatives  of  the  Austrian  Embassy,  dressed  in 
full  uniform,  with  crepe  on  the  left  arm,  met  us,  and 
escorted  us  to  our  seats.  All  the  ambassadors  sat  in 
the  front  pew;  I  recall  this  with  strange  emotions  now, 
for  it  was  the  last  time  that  we  ever  sat  together. 
The  service  was  dignified  and  beautiful;  I  remember 
it  with  especial  vividness  because  of  the  contrasting 
scene  that  immediately  followed.  When  the  stately, 
gorgeously  robed  priests  had  finished,  we  all  shook 
hands  with  the  Austrian  Ambassador,  returned  to  our 
automobiles,  and  started  on  our  eight-mile  ride  along 
the  Bosphorus  to  the  American  Embassy.  For  this 
day  was  not  only  the  day  when  we  paid  our  tribute 
to  the  murdered  heir  of  this  medieval  autocracy;  it 
was  also  the  Fourth  of  July.  The  very  setting  of  the 
two  scenes  symbolized  these  two  national  ideals.     I 


60       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

always  think  of  this  ambassadorial  group  going  down 
those  stone  steps  to  the  church,  to  pay  their  respect  to 
the  Archduke,  and  then  going  up  to  the  gaily  deco- 
rated American  Embassy,  to  pay  their  resi>ect  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  All  the  station  ships 
of  the  foreigil  countries  lay  out  in  the  stream,  decorated 
and  dressed  in  honour  of  our  national  holiday,  and 
the  ambassadors  and  ministers  called  in  full  regalia. 
From  the  upper  gardens  we  could  see  the  place  where 
Darius  crossed  from  Asia  with  his  Persian  hosts  2,500 
years  before — one  of  those  ancient  autocrats  the  line  of 
which  is  not  yet  entirely  extinct.  There  also  we  could 
see  magnificent  Robert  College,  an  institution  that 
represented  America's  conception  of  the  way  to  "pene- 
trate" the  Turkish  Empire.  At  night  our  gardens 
were  illuminated  with  Chinese  lanterns;  good  old  Amer- 
ican fireworks,  lighting  up  the  surrounding  hills  and  the 
Bosphorus,  and  the  American  flag  flying  at  the  front  of 
the  house,  seemed  almost  to  act  as  a  challenge  to  the 
plentiful  reminders  of  autocracy  and  oppression  which  we 
had  had  in  the  early  part  of  the  day.  Not  more  than  a 
mile  across  the  water  the  dark  and  gloomy  hills  of  Asia,  for 
ages  the  birthplace  of  military  despotisms,  caught  a  faint 
and,  I  think,  a  prophetic  glow  from  these  illuminations. 
In  glancing  at  the  ambassadorial  group  at  the  church 
and,  afterward,  at  our  reception,  I  was  surprised  to 
note  that  one  familiar  figure  was  missing.  Wangenheim, 
Austria's  ally,  was  not  present.  This  somewhat  puz- 
zled me  at  the  time,  but  afterward  I  had  the  explanation 
from  Wangenheim's  own  lips.  He  had  left  some  days 
before  for  Berlin.  The  Kaiser  had  summoned  him  to 
an  imperial  council,  which  met  on  July  5th,  and  which 
decided  to  plunge  Europe  into  war. 


CHAPTER  IV 

GERMANY   MOBILIZES   THE   TURKISH   ARMY 

IN  READING  the  August  newspapers,  which  de- 
scribed the  mobiHzations  in  Europe,  I  was  par- 
ticularly struck  with  the  emphasis  which  they 
laid  upon  the  splendid  spirit  that  was  overnight  chang- 
ing the  civilian  populations  into  armies.  At  that  time 
Turkey  had  not  entered  the  war  and  her  political 
leaders  were  loudly  protesting  their  intention  of  main- 
taining a  strict  neutrality.  Despite  these  pacific  state- 
ments, the  occurrences  in  Constantinople  were  almost 
as  warlike  as  those  that  were  taking  place  in  the  Euro- 
pean capitals.  Though  Turkey  was  at  peace,  her 
army  was  mobilizing,  merely,  we  were  told,  as  a  pre- 
cautionary measure.  Yet  the  daily  scenes  which  I 
witnessed  in  Constantinople  bore  few  resemblances  to 
those  which  were  agitating  every  city  of  Europe.  The 
martial  patriotism  of  men,  and  the  sublime  patience 
and  sacrifice  of  women,  may  sometimes  give  war  an 
heroic  aspect,  but  in  Turkey  the  prospect  was  one  of 
general  listlessness  and  misery.  Day  by  day  the  mis- 
cellaneous Ottoman  hordes  passed  through  the  streets. 
Arabs,  bootless  and  shoeless,  dressed  in  their  most 
gaily  coloured  garments,  with  long  Hnen  bags  (contain- 
ing the  required  five  days'  rations)  thrown  over  their 
shoulders,  shambling  in  their  gait  and  bewildered  in 
their  manner,  touched  shoulders  with  equally  dispirited 
Bedouins,  evidently  suddenly  snatched  from  the  desert. 

61 


62        AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

A  motley  aggregation  of  Turks,  Circassians,  Greeks, 
Kurds,  Armenians,  and  Jews,  showing  signs  of  having 
been  summarily  taken  from  their  farms  and  shops, 
constantly  jostled  one  another.  Most  were  ragged  and 
many  looked  half -starved;  everything  about  them 
suggested  hopelessness  and  a  cattle-lilie  submission  to  a 
fate  which  they  knew  that  they  could  not  avoid.  There 
was  no  joy  in  approaching  battle,  no  feeling  that  they 
were  sacrificing  themselves  for  a  mighty  cause;  day  by 
day  they  passed,  the  unwilling  children  of  a  tatter- 
demalion empire  that  was  making  one  last  despairing 
attempt  to  gird  itself  for  action. 

These  wretched  marchers  little  realized  what  was  the 
power  that  was  dragging  them  from  the  four  comers 
of  their  country.  Even  we  of  the  diplomatic  group  had 
not  then  clearly  grasped  the  real  situation.  We  learned 
afterward  that  the  signal  for  this  mobilization  had  not 
come  originally  from  Enver  or  Talaat  or  the  Turkish 
Cabinet,  but  from  the  General  Staff  in  Berlin  and  its  rep- 
resentatives in  Constantinople.  Liman  von  Sanders  and 
Bronssart  were  really  directing  the  complicated  oper- 
ation. There  were  unmistakable  signs  of  German  activ- 
ity. As  soon  as  the  German  armies  crossed  the  Rhine, 
work  was  begun  on  a  mammoth  wireless  station  a  few 
miles  outside  of  Constantinople.  The  materials  all  came 
from  Germany  by  way  of  Rumania,  and  the  skilled  me- 
chanics, industriously  working  from  daybreak  to  sunset, 
were  unmistakably  Germans.  Of  course,  the  neutrality 
laws  would  have  prohibited  the  construction  of  a  wireless 
station  for  a  belligerent  in  a  neutral  country  like  Tur- 
key; it  was  therefore  oflficially  announced  that  a  German 
company  was  building  this  heaven-pointing  structure 
for  the  Turkish  Government  and  on  the  Sultan's  own 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       63 

property.  But  this  story  deceived  no  one.  Wangen- 
heim,  the  German  Ambassador,  spoke  of  it  freely  and 
constantly  as  a  German  enterprise. 

"Have  you  seen  our  wireless  yet.^*"  he  would  ask  me. 
"Come  on,  let's  ride  up  there  and  look  it  over." 

He  proudly  told  me  that  it  was  the  most  powerful 
in  the  world — powerful  enough  to  catch  all  messages 
sent  from  the  Eiffel  Tower  in  Paris!  He  said  that  it 
would  put  him  in  constant  communication  with  Berlin. 
So  little  did  he  attempt  to  conceal  its  German  owner- 
ship that  several  times,  when  ordinary  telegraphic  com- 
munication was  suspended,  he  offered  to  let  me  use  it 
to  send  my  telegrams. 

This  wireless  plant  was  an  outward  symbol  of  the 
close  though  unacknowledged  association  which  then 
existed  between  Turkey  and  Berlin.  It  took  some  time 
to  finish  such  an  extensive  station  and  in  the  interim 
Wangenheim  was  using  the  apparatus  on  the  Corcovado, 
a  German  merchant  ship  which  was  lying  in  the  Bos- 
phorus  opposite  the  German  Embassy.  For  practical 
purposes,  Wangenheim  had  a  constant  telephone  con- 
nection with  Berlin. 

German  officers  were  almost  as  active  as  the  Turks 
themselves  in  this  mobilization.  They  enjoyed  it  all 
immensely;  indeed  they  gave  every  sign  that  they  were 
having  the  time  of  their  lives.  Bronssart,  Humann, 
and  Lafferts  were  constantly  at  Enver's  elbow,  advising 
and  directing  the  operations.  German  officers  were 
rushing  through  the  streets  every  day  in  huge  automo- 
biles, all  requisitioned  from  the  civilian  population; 
they  filled  all  the  restaurants  and  amusement  places 
at  night,  and  celebrated  their  joy  in  the  situation  by 
consuming  large  quantities  of  champagne — also  requisi- 


64       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

tioned.  A  particularly  spectacular  and  noisy  figure 
was  that  of  Von  der  Goltz  Pasha.  He  was  constantly 
making. a  kind  of  viceregal  progress  through  the  streets 
in  a  huge  and  madly  dashing  automobile,  on  both  sides 
of  which  flaring  German  eagles  were  painted.  A 
trumpeter  on  the  front  seat  would  blow  loud,  defiant 
blasts  as  the  conveyance  rushed  along,  and  woe  to  any 
one,  Turk  or  non-Turk,  who  happened  to  get  in  the 
way!  The  Germans  made  no  attempt  to  conceal  their 
conviction  that  they  owned  this  town.  Just  as  Wan- 
genheim  had  established  a  little  Wilhelmstrasse  in  his 
Embassy,  so  had  the  German  military  men  established 
a  sub-station  of  the  Berlin  General  Staff.  They  even 
brought  their  wives  and  families  from  Germany;  I 
heard  Baroness  Wangenheim  remark  that  she  was  hold- 
ing a  little  court  at  the  German  Embassy. 

The  Germans,  however,  were  about  the  only  people 
who  were  enjoying  this  proceeding.  The  requisitioning 
that  accompanied  the  mobilization  really  amounted 
to  a  wholesale  looting  of  the  civilian  population.  The 
Turks  took  all  the  horses,  mules,  camels,  sheep,  cows, 
and  other  beasts  that  they  could  lay  their  hands  on; 
Enver  told  me  that  they  had  gathered  in  150,000 
animals.  They  did  it  most  unintelligently,  making  no 
provision  for  the  continuance  of  the  species;  thus  they 
would  leave  only  two  cows  or  two  mares  in  many  of 
the  villages.  This  system  of  requisitioning,  as  I  shall 
describe,  had  the  inevitable  result  of  destroying  the 
nation's  agriculture,  and  ultimately  led  to  the  starva- 
tion of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people.  But  the 
Turks,  like  the  Germans,  thought  that  the  war  was 
destined  to  be  a  very  short  one,  and  that  they  would 
quickly  recuperate  from  the  injuries  which  their  meth- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       65 

ods  of  supplying  an  army  were  causing  their  peasant 
population.  The  Government  showed  precisely  the 
same  shamelessness  and  lack  of  intelligence  in  the  way 
that  they  requisitioned  materials  from  merchants  and 
shopmen.  These  proceedings  amounted  to  little  less 
than  conscious  high  way  manship.  But  practically  none 
of  these  merchants  were  Moslems;  most  of  them  were 
Christians,  though  there  were  a  few  Jews;  and  the 
Turkish  officials  therefore  not  only  provided  the  needs 
of  their  army  and  incidentally  lined  their  own  pockets, 
but  they  found  a  religious  joy  in  pillaging  the  infidel 
establishments.  They  would  enter  a  retail  shop, 
take  practically  all  the  merchandise  on  the  shelves,  and 
give  merely  a  piece  of  paper  in  acknowledgment.  As 
the  Government  had  never  paid  for  the  supplies  which 
it  had  taken  in  the  Italian  and  Balkan  wars,  the  mer- 
chants hardly  expected  that  they  would  ever  receive 
anything  for  these  latest  requisitions.  Afterward 
many  who  understood  officialdom,  and  were  politically 
influential,  did  recover  to  the  extent  of  70  per  cent. — 
what  became  of  the  remaining  30  per  cent,  is  not  a 
secret  to  those  who  have  had  experience  with  Turkish 
bureaucrats. 

Thus  for  most  of  the  population  requisitioning  sim- 
ply meant  financial  ruin.  That  the  process  was  merely 
pillaging  is  shown  by  many  of  the  materials  which  the 
army  took,  ostensibly  for  the  use  of  the  soldiers.  Thus 
the  officers  seized  all  the  mohair  they  could  find;  on 
occasion  they  even  carried  off  women's  silk  stockings, 
corsets,  and  baby's  slippers,  and  I  heard  of  one  ease  in 
which  they  reinforced  the  Turkish  commissary  with 
caviar  and  other  delicacies.  They  demanded  blankets 
from  one  merchant  who  was  a  dealer  in  women's  under- 


66       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

-\ 

wear;  because  he  had  no  such  stock,  they  seized  what 
he  had,  and  he  afterward  saw  his  appropriated  goods 
reposing  in  rival  establishments.  The  Turks  did  the 
same  thing  in  many  other  cases.  The  prevailing  sys- 
tem was  to  take  movable  property  wherever  available 
and  convert  it  into  cash;  where  the  money  ultimately 
went  I  do  not  know,  but  that  many  private  fortunes 
were  made  I  have  little  doubt.  I  told  Enver  that  this 
ruthless  method  of  mobilizing  and  requisitioning  was 
destroying  his  country.  Misery  and  starvation  soon 
began  to  afflict  the  land.  Out  of  a  4,000,000  adult  male 
population  more  than  1,500,000  were  ultimately  en- 
listed and  so  about  a  million  families  were  left  without 
breadwinners,  all  of  them  in  a  condition  of  extreme 
destitution.  The  Turkish  Government  paid  its  soldiers 
25  cents  a  month,  and  gave  the  families  a  separation 
allowance  of  $1.20  a  month.  As  a  result  thousands 
were  dying  from  lack  of  food  and  many  more  were  en- 
feebled by  malnutrition;  I  believe  that  the  empire 
has  lost  a  quarter  of  its  Turkish  population  since  the  war 
started.  I  asked  Enver  why  he  permitted  his  people  to 
be  destroyed  in  this  why.  But  sufferings  like  these  did 
not  distress  him.  He  was  much  impressed  by  his  suc- 
cess in  raising  a  large  army  with  practically  no  money 
— something,  he  boasted,  which  no  other  nation  had  ever 
done  before.  In  order  to  accompHsh  this,  Enver  had 
issued  orders  which  stigmatized  the  evasion  of  military 
service  as  desertion  and  therefore  punishable  with  the 
death  penalty.  He  also  adopted  a  scheme  by  which  any 
Ottoman  could  obtain  exemption  by  the  payment  of 
about  $190.  Still  Enver  regarded  his  accomplishment  as 
a  notable  one.  It  was  really  his  first  taste  of  unUmited 
power  and  he  enjoyed  the  experience  greatly. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       67 

That  the  Germans  directed  this  mobilization  is 
not  a  matter  of  opinion  but  of  proof.  I  need  only 
mention  that  the  Germans  were  requisitioning  mate- 
rials in  their  own  name  for  their  own  uses.  I  have  a 
photographic  copy  of  such  a  requisition  made  by  Hu- 
mann,  the  German  naval  attache,  for  a  shipload  of  oil 
cake.  This  document  is  dated  September  29,  1914. 
"The  lot  by  the  steamship  Derindje  which  you  men- 
tioned in  your  letter  of  the  26th,"  this  paper  reads, 
"has  been  requisitioned  by  me  for  the  German  Govern- 
ment.'* This  clearly  shows  that,  a  month  before 
Turkey  had  entered  the  war,  Germany  was  really  exer- 
cising the  powers  of  sovereignty  at  Constantinople. 


CHAPTER  V 

WANGENHEIM     SMUGGLES     THE     "gOEBEN'*     AND     THE 
"bRESLAU"  through  the  DARDANELLES 

ON  AUGUST  10th,  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  son-in-law  and  daughter,  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  ex- 
cited, for  they  had  witnessed,  the  day  before,  a  naval 
engagement  in  the  Ionian  Sea. 

"We  were  lunching  yesterday  on  deck,"  my  daugh- 
ter told  me,  "when  I  saw  two  strange-looking  vessels 
just  above  the  horizon.  I  ran  for  the  glasses  and  made 
out  two  large  battleships,  the  first  one  with  two  queer, 
exotic-looking  towers  and  the  other  one  quite  an  or- 
dinary-looking battleship.  We  watched  and  saw  an- 
other 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  realize  what  it  was  all  about,  and  then 
it  burst  upon  me  that  we  were  actually  witnessing  an 
engagement.  The  ships  continually  shifted  their  posi- 
tion but  went  on  and  on.  The  two  big  ones  turned  and 
rushed  furiously  for  the  little  one,  and  then  appar- 

68 


.-  c 
Mi! 

C    to 

:§  § 

^    4) 

•3:3 

en  .4J 

9  ^^ 
2  o 

n^ 

O   3 


be  C3 

<3  s 


a*" 

o  ^ 

a-g 

4,   V 


^a 

W)r£ 

•2  ^ 


*  2-2 
a  S  9» 

0-5 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       69 

ently  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  sig- 


THE  DARDANELLES  AND  THE  SLACK  SEA 


nailed  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  said  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  sup-' 
pose  the  British  fleet  is?" 

A  few  hours  afterward  I  happened  to  meet  Wangen- 
heim.    When  I  told  him  what  Mrs.  Wertheim  had 


70       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

seen,  he  displayed  an  agitated  interest.  Immediately 
after  lunch  he  called  at  the  Ammcan  Embassy  with 
Pallavicini,  the  Austrian  Ambassador,  and  asked  for  an 
interview  with  my  daughter.  The  two  ambassadors 
solemnly  planted  themselves  in  chairs  before  Mrs. 
Wertheim  and  subjected  her  to  a  most  minute,  though 
very  polite,  cross  examination.  "I  never  felt  so  im- 
portant in  my  life,"  she  afterward  told  me.  They  would 
not  permit  her  to  leave  out  a  single  detail;  they  wished 
to  know  how  many  shots  had  been  fired,  what  direc- 
tion the  German  ships  had  taken,  what  everybody  on 
board  had  said,  and  so  on.  The  visit  seemed  to  give 
these  alhed  ambassadors  immense  relief  and  satisfac- 
tion, for  they  left  the  house  in  an  almost  jubilant  mood, 
behaving  as  though  a  great  weight  had  been  taken  oflf 
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  Goehen  and  the  Breslau 
had  escaped  the  British  fleet  and  were  then  steaming 
rapidly  in  the  direction  of  the  Dardanelles. 

For  it  was  those  famous  German  ships,  the  Goehen 
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  Ger- 
man 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  Bos- 
phorus,  where  his  private  wireless  station,  the  Corcovado, 
lay  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  away.  Wangenheim's 


J 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       71 

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  Httle  forecast  of  Ger- 
many'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  Germany!  If  you  will  only  remain  for  a 
few  minutes  you  will  hear  a  great  piece  of  news — some- 
thing that  has  the  utmost  bearing  upon  Turkey's  rela- 
tion 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  Ambas- 
sador's dock.  Wangenheim  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  en- 
thusiasm 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  under- 
stand that  we  have  sold  those  ships  to  Turkey! 

"And  Admiral  Souchon,"  he  added  with  another 
wink,  "will  enter  the  Sultan's  service!" 

Wangenheim  had  more  than  patriotic  reasons  for 


72       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

this  exultation;  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  Mediterra- 
nean. By  safely  getting  the  Goeben  and  the  Breslau  into 
Constantinople,  Wangenheim  had  definitely  clinched 
Turkey  as  Germany's  ally.  All  his  intrigues  and  plot- 
tings  for  three  years  had  now  finally  succeeded. 

I  doubt  if  any  two  ships  have  exercised  a  greater  in- 
fluence upon  history  than  these  two  German  cruisers. 
Few  of  us  at  that  time  realized  their  great  importance, 
but  subsequent  developments  have  fully  justified  Wan- 
genheim*s  exuberant  satisfaction.  The  Goeben  was  a 
powerful  battle  cruiser  of  recent  construction;  the  Bres- 
lau  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  ha\'ing  a  greater  speed  than  any  French  or  Eng- 
lish ships  in  the  Mediterranean,  should  have  been  lying 
not  far  from  Turkey  when  war  broke  out.  The  selec- 
tion of  the  Goeben  was  particularly  fortunate,  as  she 
had  twice  before  visited  Constantinople  and  her  officers 
and  men  knew  the  Dardanelles  perfectly.    The  behav- 


r                  Jl 

1^ 

iL 

a 
--< 
d 

Q 
3 

p 

o 

I— I 

a 
o 

H 

^; 

o 

o 


a 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       73 

iour  of  these  crews,  when  the  news  of  war  was  received, 
indicated  the  spirit  with  which  the  German  navy  began 
hostilities;  the  men  broke  into  singing  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  precarious  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  im- 
portant stations,  where  could  they  flee  for  safety? 
Several  Italian  destroyers  were  circling  around  the  Ger- 
man ships  at  Messina,  enforcing  neutrality  and  occa- 
sionally reminding  them  that  they  could  remain  in 
port  only  twenty-four  hours.  England  had  ships  sta- 
tioned 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  disap- 
peared 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 


74       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

her  neutrality.  The  Treaty  of  Paris,  which  was  signed 
in  1856,  as  well  as  the  Treaty  of  London,  signed  in  1871, 
provided  that  war  ships  should  not  use  the  Dardanelles 
except  by  the  special  permission  of  the  Sultan,  which 
could  be  granted  only  in  times  of  peace.  In  practice 
^e  government  had  seldom  given  this  permission 
sxcept  [for  ceremonial  occasions.  Under  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  \heBreslau  to  remain  in  Turkish  waters 
for  more  than  twenty-four  hours  would  have  been  noth- 
ing less  than  a  declaration  of  war.  It  is  perhaps  not  sur- 
prising 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  Dardanelles  and  Constan- 
tinople. Relying  upon  the  sanctity  of  these  interna- 
tional regulations,  the  British  navy  had  shut  off  every 
point  through  which  these  German  ships  could  have 
escaped  to  safety — except  the  entrance  to  the  Darda- 
nelles. 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  on 
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 


A31BASSAD0R  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       75 

messages  to  the  Germans,  instructing  them  to  rush 
for  Pola.  With  bands  playing  and  flags  flying,  the 
oflScers  and  crews  having  had  their  spirits  fired  by 
oratory  and  drink,  the  two  vessels  started  at  full 
speed  toward  the  awaiting  British  fleet.  The  little 
Gloucester,  a  scout  boat,  kept  in  touch,  wiring  con- 
stantly the  German  movements  to  the  main  squad- 
ron. 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  mes- 
sages. Then  the  German  cruisers  turned  southward  and 
made  for  the  iEgean  Sea.  The  plucky  little  Gloucester 
kept  close  on  their  heels,  and,  as  my  daughter  had  re- 
lated, once  had  even  audaciously  offered  battle.  A  few 
hours  behind  the  British  squadron  pursued,  but  use- 
lessly, 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  Ger-f 
man  plans.  The  German  ships  might  get  first  to  the 
Dardanelles,  but  at  that  point  stood  international  law 
across  the  path,  barring  the  entrance. 

Meanwhile  Wangenheim  had  accomplished  his  great 
diplomatic  success.  From  the  Corcovado  wireless 
station  in  the  Bosphorus  he  was  sending  the  most  agree- 
able 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  inter- 
national prohibitions  did  not  apply.  These  cruisers 
were  no  longer  the  Goeben  and  the  BreslaUy  for,  like  an 
oriental  magician,  Wangenheim  had  suddenly  changed 


76       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  dread- 
naughts  under  construction  in  England  when  the  war 
broke  out.  These  ships  were  not  exclusively  govern- 
mental enterprises;  their  purchase  represented  what, 
on  the  surface,  appeared  to  be  a  popular  enthusiasm 
of  the  Turkish  people.  They  were  to  be  the  agencies 
through  which  Turkey  was  to  attack  Greece  and  win 
back  the  islands  of  the  ^gean,  and  the  Turkish  people 
had  raised  the  money  to  build  them  by  a  so-called  pop- 
ular subscription.  Agents  had  gone  from  house  to 
house,  painfully  collecting  these  small  sums  of  money; 
there  had  been  entertainments  and  fairs,  and,  in  their 
eagerness  for  the  cause,  Turkish  women  had  sold  their 
hair  for  the  benefit  of  the  common  fund.  These  two 
vessels  thus  represented  a  spectacular  outburst  of 
patriotism  that  was  unusual  in  Turkey,  so  unusual, 
indeed,  that  many  detected  signs  that  the  Government 
had  stimulated  it.  At  the  very  moment  when  the  war 
began,  Turkey  had  made  her  last  payment  to  the  Eng- 
lish shipyards  and  the  Turkish  crews  had  arrived  in  Eng- 
land prepared  to  take  the  finished  vessels  home.  Then, 
a  few  days  before  the  time  set  to  deliver  them,  the 
British  Government  stepped  in  and  commandeered 
these  dreadnaughts  for  the  British  navy. 

There  is  not  the  slightest  question  that  England  had 
not  only  a  legal  but  a  moral  right  to  do  this;  there  is  also 
no  question  that  her  action  was  a  proper  one,  and  that, 
had  she  been  dealing  with  almost  any  other  nation,  such 
a  proceeding  would  not  have  aroused  any  resentment. 
But  the  Turkish  people  cared  nothing  for  distinctions 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       77 

of  this  sort;  all  they  saw  was  that  they  had  two  ships  in 
England,  which  they  had  greatly  strained  their  re- 
sources to  purchase,  and  that  England  had  now  stepped 
in  and  taken  them.  Even  without  external  pressure 
they  would  have  resented  the  act,  but  external  pressure 
was  exerted  in  plenty.  The  transaction  gave  Wangen- 
heim  the  greatest  opportunity  of  his  life.  Violent  at- 
tacks upon  England,  all  emanating  from  the  German 
Embassy,  began  to  fill  the  Turkish  press.  Wangen- 
heim  was  constantly  discoursing  to  the  Turkish  leaders 
on  English  perfidy  and  he  now  suggested  that  Germany, 
Turkey's  good  friend,  was  prepared  to  make  compensa- 
tion for  England's  "unlawful"  seizure.  He  suggested 
that  Turkey  go  through  the  form  of  "purchasing"  the 
Goeben  and  the  Breslau,  which  were  then  wandering 
around  the  Mediterranean,  perhaps  in  anticipation  of 
this  very  contingency,  and  incorporate  them  in  the 
Turkish  navy  in  place  of  the  appropriated  ships  in 
England.  The  very  day  that  these  vessels  passed 
through  the  Dardanelles,  the  Ikdam,  a  Turkish  news- 
paper published  in  Constantinople,  had  a  triumphant 
account  of  this  "sale,"  with  big  headlines  calling  it  a 
"great  success  for  the  Imperial  Government." 

Thus  Wangenheim's  manoeuvre  accomplished  two 
purposes:  it  placed  Germany  before  the  populace  as 
Turkey's  friend,  and  it  also  provided  a  subterfuge  for 
getting  the  ships  through  the  Dardanelles,  and  enabling 
them  to  remain  in  Turkish  waters.  All  this  beguiled 
the  more  ignorant  of  the  Turkish  people,  and  gave 
the  Cabinet  a  plausible  ground  for  meeting  the  objection 
of  Entente  diplomats,  but  it  did  not  deceive  any  in- 
telligent person.  The  Goeben  and  Breslau  might  change 
their  names,  and  the  German  sailors  might  adorn  them- 


78       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

selves  with  Turkish  fezzes,  but  we  all  knew  from  the 
beginning  that  this  sale  was  a  sham.  Those  who  under- 
stood the  financial  condition  of  Turkey  could  only  be 
amused  at  the  idea  that  she  could  purchase  these  modern 
vessels.  Moreover,  the  ships  were  never  incorporated 
in  the  Turkish  navy;  on  the  contrary,  what  really 
happened  was  that  the  Turkish  navy  was  annexed 
to  these  German  ships.  A  handful  of  Turkish  sailors 
were  placed  on  board  at  one  time  for  appearance  sake, 
but  their  German  officers  and  German  crews  still 
retained  active  charge.  Wangenheim,  in  his  talks 
with  me,  never  made  any  secret  of  the  fact  that  the 
ships  still  remained  German  property.  *'I  never  ex- 
pected to  have  such  big  checks  to  sign,"  he  remarked 
one  day,  referring  to  his  expenditures  on  the  Goeben 
'and  the  Breslau.  He  always  called  them  "our"  ships. 
Even  Talaat  told  me  in  so  many  words  that  the  cruisers 
did  not  belong  to  Turkey. 

"The  Germans  say  they  belong  to  the  Turks,"  he 
remarked,  with  his  characteristic  laugh.  "At  any  rate, 
it's  very  comforting  for  us  to  have  them  here.  After 
the  war,  if  the  Germans  win,  they  will  forget  all  about 
it  and  leave  the  ships  to  us.  K  the  Germans  lose, 
they  won't  be  able  to  take  them  away  from  us!" 

The  German  Government  made  no  real  pretension 
that  the  sale  had  been  bona  fide;  at  least  when  the 
Greek  Minister  at  Berlin  protested  agamst  the  trans- 
action as  unfriendly  to  Greece — naively  forgetting  the 
American  ships  which  Greece  had  recently  purchased — 
the  German  officials  soothed  him  by  admitting,  sotto 
voce,  that  the  ownership  still  remained  with  Germany. 
Yet  when  the  Entente  ambassadors  constantly  pro- 
tested against  the  presence  of  the  German  vessels. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       79 

the  Turkish  officials  blandly  kept  up  the  pretence 
that  they  were  integral  parts  of  the  Turkish  navy! 

The  German  officers  and  crews  greatly  enjoyed  this 
farcical  pretence  that  the  Goeben  and  the  Breslau  were 
Turkish  ships.  They  took  delight  in  putting  on  Turkish 
fezzes,  thereby  presenting  to  the  world  conclusive  evi- 
dence that  these  loyal  sailors  of  the  Kaiser  were  now 
parts  of  the  Sultan's  navy.  One  day  the  Goeben  sailed  up 
the  Bosphorus,  halted  in  front  of  the  Russian  Embassy, 
and  dropped  anchor.  Then  the  officers  and  men  lined 
the  deck  in  full  view  of  the  enemy  embassy.  All 
solemnly  removed  their  Turkish  fezzes  and  put  on 
German  caps.  The  band  played  "Deutschland  iiber 
Alles,"  the  "Watch  on  the  Rhine,"  and  other  German 
songs,  the  German  sailors  singing  loudly  to  the  accom- 
paniment. When  they  had  spent  an  hour  or  more  sere- 
nading the  Russian  Ambassador,  the  officers  and  crews 
removed  their  Germjtn  caps  and  again  put  on  their 
Turkish  fezzes.  The  Goeben  then  picked  up  her  anchor 
and  started  southward  for  her  station,  leaving  in  the  ears 
of  the  Russian  diplomat  the  gradually  dying  strains  of 
German  war  songs  as  the  cruiser  disappeared  down 
stream. 

I  have  often  speculated  on  what  would  have  happened 
if  the  English  battle  cruisers,  which  pursued  the  Bres- 
lau and  the  Goeben  up  to  the  mouth  of  the  Dardanelles, 
had  not  been  too  gentlemanly  to  violate  international 
law.  Suppose  that  they  had  entered  the  Strait,  at- 
tacked the  German  cruisers  in  the  Marmora,  and  sunk 
them.  They  could  have  done  this,  and,  knowing  all 
that  we  know  now,  such  an  action  would  have  been 
justified.  Not  improbably  the  destruction  would  have 
kept  Turkey  out  of  the  war.    For  the  arrival  of  these 


80       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

cruisers  made  it  inevitable  that  Turkey,  when  the 
proper  moment  came,  should  join  her  forces  with  Ger- 
many. With  them  the  Turkish  navy  became  stronger 
than  the  Russian  Black  Sea  Fleet  and  thus  made  it 
certain  that  Russia  could  make  no  attack  on  Constan- 
tinople. The  Goehen  and  the  Breslau,  therefore,  practi- 
cally gave  the  Ottoman  and  German  naval  forces  control 
of  the  Black  Sea.  Moreover,  these  two  ships  could 
easily  dominate  Constantinople,  and  thus  they  furnished 
the  means  by  which  the  German  navy,  if  the  occasion 
should  arise,  could  terrorize  the  Turks.  I  am  convinced 
that,  when  the  judicious  historian  reviews  this  war  and 
its  consequences,  he  will  say  that  the  passage  of  the  Strait 
by  these  German  ships  made  it  inevitable  that  Turkey 
should  join  Germany  at  the  moment  that  Germany 
desired  her  assistance,  and  that  it  likewise  sealed 
the  doom  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  There  were  men 
in  the  Turkish  Cabinet  who  perceived  this,  even  then. 
The  story  was  told  in  Constantinople — though  I  do  not 
vouch  for  it  as  authentic  history — that  the  cabinet 
meeting  at  which  this  momentous  decision  had  been 
made  had  not  been  altogether  harmonious.  The 
Grand  Vizier  and  Djemal,  it  was  said,  objected  to  the 
fictitious  "sale,"  and  demanded  that  it  should  not  be 
completed.  When  the  discussion  had  reached  its  height 
Enver,  who  was  playing  Germany's  game,  announced 
that  he  had  already  practically  completed  the  transac- 
tion. In  the  silence  that  followed  his  statement  this 
young  Napoleon  pulled  out  his  pistol  and  laid  it  on 
the  table. 

"If  any  one  here  wishes  to  question  this  purchase," 
he  said  quietly  and  icily,  "I  am  ready  to  meet  him." 

A  few  weeks  after  the  Goehen  and  the  Breslau  had 


f\RON  VON  WANGENHEIM,  GERMAN  AMBASSADOR  TO  TURKEY 

He  was  personally  selected  by  the  Kaiser  to  bring  Turkey  into  line  with 
(ermany  and  transform  that  country  into  an  ally  of  Germany  in  the  forth- 
oming  war — a  task  at  which  he  succeeded.  Wangenheim  represented 
lerman  diplomacy  in  its  most  ruthless  and  most  shameless  aspects.  He 
elieved  with  Bismarck  that  a  patriotic  German  must  stand  ready  to  sacri- 
jce  for  Kaiser  and  Fatherland  not  only  his  life,  but  his  honour  as  well, 
i^ith  wonderful  skill  he  manipulated  the  desperate  adventurers  who 
DUtrolled  Turkey  in  1914  into  instruments  of  Germany 


DJEMAL  PASHA,  MINISTER  OF  MARINE 

In  1914  Dj'emal  headed  the  Police  Department;  it  was  his  duty  to  i- 
down  citizens  who  were  opposing  the  political  gang  then  controlling  Turk 
Such  opponents  were  commonly  assassinated  or  judicially  murdered.  Af  I 
ward  Djemal  was  Minister  of  Marine,  and  as  such  violently  prot< 
against  the  sale  of  American  warships  to  Greece.  Then  he  was  sen 
Palestine  as  Commander  of  the  Fourth  Army  Corps,  where  he  distingui>i 
himself  as  leader  in  the  wholesale  persecutions  of  the  non- Moslem  popula  t  i 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       81 

taken  up  permanent  headquarters  in  the  Bosphorus, 
Djavid  Bey,  Minister  of  Finance,  happened  to  meet  a 
distinguished  Belgian  jurist,  then  in  Constantinople. 

*'I  have  terrible  news  for  you,"  said  the  sympathetic 
Turkish  statesman.  "The  Germans  have  captured 
Brussels.'* 

The  Belgian,  a  huge  figure,  more  than  six  feet  high, 
put  his  arm  soothingly  upon  the  shoulder  of  the  diminu- 
tive Turk. 

"I  have  even  more  terrible  news  for  you,"  he  said, 
pointing  out  to  the  stream  where  the  Goehen  and  the 
Breslau  lay  anchored.  "The  Germans  have  captured 
Turkey." 


CHAPTER  VI 

WANGENHEIM  TELLS  THE  AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR  HOW 
THE  KAISER  STARTED  THE   WAR 

BUT  there  was  one  quarter  in  which  this  transac- 
tion produced  no  appreciable  gloom.  That 
was  the  German  Embassy.  This  great  "suc- 
cess'* fairly  intoxicated  the  impressionable  Wangen- 
heim,  and  other  happenings  now  aroused  his  furor 
Teutonicus  to  a  fever  heat.  The  Goeben  and  the  Breslau 
arrived  almost  at  the  same  time  that  the  Germans 
captured  Liege,  Namur,  and  other  Belgian  towns. 
And  now  followed  the  German  sweep  into  France  and 
the  apparently  triumphant  rush  for  Paris.  In  all  these 
happ>enings  Wangenheim,  like  the  militant  Prussian 
that  he  was,  saw  the  fulfilment  of  a  forty-years'  dream. 
We  were  all  still  living  in  the  summer  embassies  along 
the  Bosphorus.  Germany  had  a  beautiful  park,  which 
the  Sultan  had  personally  presented  to  the  Kaiser's 
government;  yet  for  some  reason  Wangenheim  did  not 
seem  to  enjoy  his  headquarters  during  these  summer 
days.  A  little  guard  house  stood  directly  in  front  of 
his  embassy,  on  the  street,  within  twenty  feet  of  the 
rushing  Bosphorus,  and  in  front  of  this  was  a  stone 
bench.  This  bench  was  properly  a  resting  place  for 
the  guard,  but  Wangenheim  seemed  to  have  a  strong 
liking  for  it.  I  shall  always  keep  in  my  mind  the  figure 
of  this  German  diplomat,  in  those  exciting  days  before 
the  Marne,  sitting  out  on  this  little  bench,  now  and  then 

82 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       83 

jumping  up  for  a  stroll  back  and  forth  in  front  of  his 
house.  Everybody  passing  from  Constantinople  to  the 
northern  suburbs  had  to  pass  along  this  road,  and  even 
the  Russian  and  French  diplomats  frequently  went  by, 
stiffly  ignoring,  of  course,  the  triumphant  ambassadorial 
figure  on  his  stone  bench.  I  sometimes  think  that 
Wangenheim  sat  there  for  the  express  purpose  of  puffing 
his  cigar  smoke  in  their  direction.  It  all  reminded  me 
of  the  scene  in  Schiller's  Wilhelm  Tell,  where  Tell  sits 
in  the  mountain  pass,  with  his  bow  and  arrow  at  his 
side,  waiting  for  his  intended  victim,  Gessler,  to  go  by: 

"Here  through  this  deep  defile  he  needs  must  pass; 
There  leads  no  other  road  to  Kiissnacht.'* 

Wangenheim  would  also  buttonhole  his  friends,  or 
those  whom  he  regarded  as  his  friends,  and  have  his 
little  jollifications  over  German  victories.  I  noticed 
that  he  stationed  himself  there  only  when  the  German 
armies  were  winning;  if  news  came  of  a  reverse,  Wan- 
genheim was  utterly  invisible.  This  led  me  to  remark 
that  he  reminded  me  of  a  toy  weather  prophet,  which 
is  always  outside  the  box  when  the  weather  is  fine  but 
which  retires  within  when  storms  are  gathering. 
Wangenheim  appreciated  my  little  joke  as  keenly  as 
the  rest  of  the  diplomatic  set. 

In  those  early  days,  however,  the  weather  for  the 
German  Ambassador  was  distinctly  favourable.  The 
good  fortune  of  the  German  armies  so  excited  him  that 
he  was  sometimes  led  into  indiscretions,  and  his  exuber- 
ance one  day  caused  him  to  tell  me  certain  facts  which, 
I  think,  will  always  have  great  historical  value.  He 
disclosed  precisely  how  and  when  Germany  had  pre- 


84       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

cipitated  this  war.  To-day  his  revelation  of  this  secret 
looks  like  a  most  monstrous  indiscretion,  but  we  must 
remember  Wangenheim's  state  of  mind  at  the  time. 
The  whole  world  then  believed  that  Paris  was  doomed 
and  Wangenheim  reflected  this  attitude  in  his  frequent 
declarations  that  the  war  would  be  over  in  two  or  three 
months.  The  whole  German  enterprise  was  evidently 
progressing  according  to  programme. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  the  German  Ambassa- 
dor had  left  for  Berlin  soon  after  the  assassination  of  the 
Grand  Duke,  and  he  now  revealed  the  cause  of  his 
sudden  disappearance.  The  Kaiser,  he  told  me,  had 
summoned  him  to  Berlin  for  an  imperial  conference. 
This  meeting  took  place  at  Potsdam  on  July  5th.  The 
Kaiser  presided  and  nearly  all  the  important  ambassa- 
dors attended.  Wangenheim  himself  was  summoned 
to  give  assurance  about  Turkey  and  enlighten  his  as- 
sociates generally  on  the  situation  in  Constantinople, 
which  was  then  regarded  as  almost  the  pivotal  point 
in  the  impending  war.  In  telling  me  who  attended 
this  conference  Wangenheim  used  no  names,  though  he 
specifically  said  that  among  them  were — ^the  facts  are 
so  important  that  I  quote  his  exact  words  in  the  German 
which  he  used — "dieHdupterdes  Generalstabs  undder  Ma- 
rine**— (The  heads  of  the  general  staff  and  of  the  navy) 
by  which  I  have  assumed  that  he  meant  Von  Moltke 
and  Von  Tirpitz.  The  great  bankers,  railroad  directors, 
and  the  captains  of  German  industry,  all  of  whom  were 
as  necessary  to  German  war  preparations  as  the  army 
itself,  also  attended. 

Wangenheim  now  told  me  that  the  Kaiser  solemnly 
put  the  question  to  each  man  in  turn:  "Are  you  ready 
for  war?"    All  replied  "yes"  except  the  financiers. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       85 

They  said  that  they  must  have  two  weeks  to  sell  their 
foreign  securities  and  to  make  loans.     At  that  time  few 
people  had  looked  upon  the  Sarajevo  tragedy  as  some- 
thing that  would  inevitably  lead  to  war.  This  conference, 
Wangenheim  told  me,  took  all  precautions  that  no  such 
suspicion  should  be  aroused.    It  decided  to  give  the 
bankers  time  to  readjust  their  finances  for  the  coming 
war,  and  then  the  several  members  went  quietly  back 
to  their  work  or  started  on  vacations.     The  Kaiser  went 
to  Norway  on  his  yacht.  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  left 
for  a  rest,  and  Wangenheim  returned  to  Constantinople. 
In  telling  me  about  this  conference  Wangenheim,  of 
course,  admitted  that  Germany  had  precipitated  the 
war.     I  think  that  he  was  rather  proud  of  the  whole 
performance,  proud  that  Germany  had  gone  about  the 
matter  in  so  methodical  and  far-seeing  a  way,   and 
especially  proud  that  he  himself  had  been  invited  to 
participate  in  so  epoch  making  a  gathering.  I  have  often 
wondered  why  he  revealed  to  me  so  momentous  a 
secret,  and  I  think  that  perhaps  the  real  reason  was 
his  excessive  vanity — his  desire  to  show  me  how  close 
he  stood  to  the  inner  counsels  of  his  emperor  and  the 
part  that  he  had  played  in  bringing  on  this  conflict. 
Whatever  the  motive,  this  indiscretion  certainly  had 
the  effect  of  showing  me  who  were  really  the  guilty 
parties  in  this  monstrous  crime.    The  several  blue, 
red,  and  yellow  books  which  flooded  Europe  during 
the  few  months  following  the  outbreak,  and  the  hun- 
dreds of  documents  which  were  issued  by  German 
propagandists  attempting  to  establish  Germany's  inno- 
cence, have  never  made  the  slightest  impression  on  me. 
For  my  conclusions  as  to  the  responsibility  are  not 
based  on  suspicions  or  belief  or  the  study  of  circum- 


86       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

stantial  data.  I  do  not  have  to  reason  or  argue  about 
tlie  matter.  I  know.  The  conspiracy  that  has  caused 
this  greatest  of  human  tragedies  was  hatched  by  the 
Kaiser  and  his  imperial  crew  at  this  Potsdam  con- 
ference of  July  5,  1914.  One  of  the  chief  participants, 
flushed  with  his  triumph  at  the  apparent  success  of 
the  plot,  told  me  the  details  with  his  own  mouth. 
Whenever  I  hear  people  arguing  about  the  responsibility 
for  this  war  or  read  the  clumsy  and  lying  excuses  put 
forth  by  Germany,  I  simply  recall  the  burly  figure  of 
Wangenheim  as  he  appeared  that  August  afternoon, 
puffing  away  at  a  huge  black  cigar,  and  giving  me  his 
account  of  this  historic  meeting.  Why  waste  any  time 
discussing  the  matter  after  that? 

This  imperial  conference  took  place  July  5th  and 
the  Serbian  ultimatum  was  sent  on  July  22d.  That  is 
just  about  the  two  weeks'  interval  which  the  financiers 
had  demanded  to  complete  their  plans.  All  the  great 
stock  exchanges  of  the  world  show  that  the  German 
bankers  profitably  used  this  interval.  Their  records 
disclose  that  stocks  were  being  sold  in  large  quantities 
and  that  prices  declined  rapidly.  At  that  time  the 
markets  were  somewhat  puzzled  at  this  movement  but 
Wangenheim's  explanation  clears  up  any  doubts  that 
may  still  remain.  Germany  was  changing  her  securi- 
ties into  cash  for  war  purposes.  If  any  one  wishes  to 
verify  Wangenheim,  I  would  suggest  that  he  examine 
the  quotations  of  the  New  York  stock  market  for  these 
two  historic  weeks.  He  will  find  that  there  were 
astonishing  slumps  in  prices,  especially  on  the 
stocks  that  had  an  international  market.  Between 
July  5th  and  July  22d,  Union  Pacific  dropped  from 
155|  to  127|,  Baltimore  and  Ohio  from  91|  to  81, 


I 


I 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       87 

tlnited  States  Steel  from  61  to  50^,  Canadian  Pacific 
from  194  to  185|,  and  Northern  Pacific  from  lllf  to 
108.  At  that  time  the  high  protectionists  were  blaming 
the  Simmons-Underwood  tariff  act  as  responsible  for 
this  fall  in  values,  while  other  critics  of  the  Administra- 
tion attributed  it  to  the  Federal  Reserve  Act — which  had 
not  yet  been  put  into  effect.  How  little  the  Wall  Street 
brokers  and  the  financial  experts  realized  that  an  im- 
perial conference,  which  had  been  held  in  Potsdam  and 
presided  over  by  the  Kaiser,  was  the  real  force  that  was 
then  depressing  the  market! 

Wangenheim  not  only  gave  me  the  details  of  this 
Potsdam  conference,  but  he  disclosed  the  same  secret 
to  the  Marquis  Garroni,  the  Italian  Ambassador  at 
Constantinople.  Italy  was  at  that  time  technically 
Germany's  ally. 

The  Austrian  Ambassador,  the  Marquis  Pallavicini, 
also  practically  admitted  that  the  Central  Powers  had 
anticipated  the  war.  On  August  18th,  Francis  Joseph's 
birthday,  I  made  the  usual  ambassadorial  visit  of 
congratulation.  Quite  naturally  the  conversation 
turned  upon  the  Emperor,  who  had  that  day  passed 
his  84th  year.  Pallavicini  spoke  about  him  with  the 
utmost  pride  and  veneration.  He  told  me  how  keen- 
minded  and  clear-headed  the  aged  emperor  was,  how 
he  had  the  most  complete  understanding  of  interna- 
tional affairs,  and  how  he  gave  everything  his  personal 
supervision.  To  illustrate  the  Austrian  Kaiser's  grasp 
of  public  events,  Pallavicini  instanced  the  present  war. 
The  previous  May,  Pallavicini  had  had  an  audience 
with  Francis  Joseph  in  Vienna.  At  that  time,  Palla- 
vicini now  told  me,  the  Emperor  had  said  that  a  Euro- 
pean war  was  unavoidable.    The  Central  Powers  would 


88       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

not  accept  the  Treaty  of  Bucharest  as  a  settlement  of 
the  Balkan  question,  and  only  a  general  war,  the 
Emperor  had  told  Pallavicini,  could  ever  settle  that 
problem.  The  Treaty  of  Bucharest,  I  may  recall,  was 
the  settlement  that  ended  the  second  Balkan  war. 
This  divided  the  European  dominions  of  Turkey, 
excepting  Constantinople  and  a  small  piece  of  adjoining 
territory,  among  the  Balkan  nations,  chiefly  Serbia 
and  Greece.  That  treaty  strengthened  Serbia  greatly; 
so  much  did  it  increase  Serbia's  resources,  indeed,  that 
Austria  feared  that  it  had  laid  the  beginning  of  a  new 
European  state,  which  might  grow  sufficiently  strong  to 
resist  her  own  plans  of  aggrandizement.  Austria 
held  a  large  Serbian  population  under  her  yoke  in 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  and  these  Serbians  desired, 
above  everything  else,  annexation  to  their  own  coun- 
try. Moreover,  the  Pan-German  plans  in  the  East 
necessitated  the  destruction  of  Serbia,  the  state  which, 
so  long  as  it  stood  intact,  blocked  the  Germanic  road 
to  the  Orient.  It  had  been  the  Austro-German  expecta- 
tion that  the  Balkan  War  would  destroy  Serbia  as  a 
nation — that  Turkey  would  simply  annihilate  King 
Peter's  forces.  This  was  precisely  what  the  Germanic 
plans  demanded,  and  for  this  reason  Austria  and  Ger- 
many did  nothing  to  prevent  the  Balkan  wars.  But 
the  result  was  exactly  the  reverse,  for  out  of  the  conflict 
arose  a  stronger  Serbia  than  ever,  standing  firm  like  a 
breakwater  against  the  Germanic  flood. 

Most  historians  agree  that  the  Treaty  of  Bucharest 
made  inevitable  this  war.  I  have  the  Marquis  Palla- 
vicini's  evidence  that  this  was  likewise  the  opinion  of 
Francis  Joseph  himself.  The  audience  at  which  the 
Emperor  made  this  statement  was  held  in  May,  more 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       8& 

than  a  month  before  the  assassination  of  the  Grand 
Duke.  Clearly,  therefore,  we  have  the  Austrian  Em- 
peror's assurances  that  the  war  would  have  come 
irrespective  of  the  assassination  at  Sarajevo.  It  is 
quite  apparent  that  this  crime  merely  served  as  the 
convenient  pretext  for  the  war  upon  which  the  Central 
Empires  had  already  decided. 


CHAPTER  VII 

Germany's   plans   for   new   territories,   coaling 
stations,  and  indemnities 

A  LL  through  that  eventful  August  and  September 
/~\  Wangenheim  continued  his  almost  irresponsible 
-*-  -^  behaviour — ^now  blandly  boastful,  now  de- 
pressed, always  nervous  and  high  strung,  ingratiating 
to  an  American  like  myself,  spiteful  and  petty  toward 
the  representatives  of  the  enemy  powers.  He  was 
always  displaying  his  anxiety  and  impatience  by  sitting 
on  the  bench,  that  he  might  be  within  two  or  three 
minutes'  quicker  access  to  the  wireless  communications 
that  were  sent  him  from  Berlin  via  the  Corcovado. 
He  would  never  miss  an  opportunity  to  spread  the 
news  of  victories;  several  times  he  adopted  the  imusual 
course  of  coming  to  my  house  unannounced,  to  tell 
me  of  the  latest  developments,  and  to  read  me  extracts 
from  messages  which  he  had  just  received.  He  was 
always  apparently  frank,  direct,  and  even  indiscreet. 
I  remember  his  great  distress  the  day  that  England 
declared  war.  Wangenheim  had  always  professed  a 
great  admiration  for  England  and,  especially,  for  Amer- 
ica. "There  are  only  three  great  countries,"  he 
would  say  over  and  over  again,  "Germany,  England, 
and  the  United  States.  We  three  should  get  together; 
then  we  could  rule  the  world."  This  enthusiasm  for 
the  British  Empire  now  suddenly  cooled  when  that 
power  decided  to  defend  her  treaty  pledges  and  declared 

80 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       91 

war.  Wangenheim  had  said  that  the  conflict  would 
be  a  short  one  and  that  Sedan  Day  would  be 
celebrated  in  Paris.  But  on  August  5th,  I  called  at  his 
embassy  and  found  him  more  than  usually  agitated 
and  serious.  Baroness  Wangenheim,  a  tall,  handsome 
woman,  was  sitting  in  the  room  reading  her  mother's 
memoirs  of  the  war  of  1870.  Both  regarded  the  news 
from  England  as  almost  a  personal  grievance,  and  what 
impressed  me  most  was  Wangenheim's  utter  failure 
to  miderstand  England's  motives.  "It's  mighty  poor 
pohtics  on  her  part!"  he  exclaimed  over  and  over  again. 
His  attitude  was  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg  with  the  "scrap  of  paper." 

I  was  out  for  a  stroll  on  August  26th,  and  happened 
to  meet  the  German  Ambassador.  He  began  to  talk 
as  usual  about  the  German  victories  in  France,  repeat- 
ing, as  was  now  his  habit,  his  prophecy  that  the  German 
armies  would  be  in  Paris  within  a  week.  The  deciding 
factor  in  this  war,  he  added,  would  be  the  Krupp  ar- 
tillery. "And  remember  that  this  time,"  he  said, 
"we  are  making  war.  And  we  shall  make  it  riicksickt- 
slos  (without  any  consideration).  We  shall  not  be 
hampered  as  we  were  in  1870.  Then  Queen  Victoria, 
the  Czar,  and  Francis  Joseph  interfered  and  persuaded 
us  to  spare  Paris.  But  there  is  no  one  to  interfere  now. 
We  shall  move  to  Berlin  all  the  Parisian  art  treasures 
that  belong  to  the  state,  just  as  Naj)oleon  took  Italian 
art  works  to  France." 

It  is  quite  evident  that  the  battle  of  the  Mame  saved 
Paris  from  the  fate  of  Louvain. 

So  confidently  did  Wangenheim  expect  an  immediate 
victory  that  he  began  to  discuss  the  terms  of  peace. 
Germany  would  demand  of  France,  he  said,  after  de- 


92       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

feating  her  armies,  that  she  completely  demobilize 
and  pay  an  indemnity.  "France  now,"  said  Wan- 
genheim,  "can  settle  for  $5,000,000,000;  but  if  she 
persists  in  continuing  the  war,  she  will  have  to  pay 
$20,000,000,000." 

He  told  me  that  Germany  would  demand  harbours 
and  coaling  stations  "everywhere."  At  that  time, 
judging  from  Wangenheim's  statements,  Germany 
was  not  looking  so  much  for  new  territory  as  for  great 
commercial  advantages.  She  was  determined  to  be 
the  great  merchant  nation,  and  for  this  she  must  have 
free  harbours,  the  Bagdad  railroad,  and  extensive 
rights  in  South  America  and  Africa.  Wangenheim  said 
that  Germany  did  not  desire  any  more  territory  in 
which  the  populations  did  not  speali  German,  for  they 
had  had  all  of  that  kind  of  trouble  they  wanted  in 
Alsace-Lorraine,  Poland,  and  other  non-German  coun- 
tries. This  statement  certainly  sounds  interesting 
now  in  view  of  recent  happenings  in  Russia.  He 
did  not  mention  England  in  speaking  of  Germany's 
demand  for  coaling  stations  and  harbours;  he  must 
have  had  England  in  mind,  however,  for  what  other 
nation  could  have  given  them  to  Germany  "every- 
where?" 

All  these  conversations  were  as  illuminating  to  me  as 
Wangenheim's  revelation  of  the  conference  of  July  5th. 
That  episode  clearly  proved  that  Germany  had  con- 
sciously started  the  war,  while  these  grandiose  schemes, 
as  outlined  by  this  very  able  but  somewhat  tallcative 
ambassador,  showed  the  reasons  that  had  impelled 
her  in  this  great  enterprise.  Wangenheim  gave  me  a 
complete  picture  of  the  German  Empire  embarking 
on   a  great  buccaneering   expedition,   in   which    the 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       93 

spoUs  of  success  were  to  be  the  accumulated  riches  of 
her  neighbours  and  the  world  position  which  their 
skill  and  industry  had  built  up  through  the  cen- 
turies. 

If   England    attempted   to    starve    Germany,    said 
Wangenheim,  Germany's  response  would  be  a  simple 
one:  she  would  starve  France.     At  that  time,  we  must 
remember,  Germany  expected  to  have  Paris  within  a 
week,  and  she  believed  that  this  would  ultimately  give 
her  control  of  the  whole  country.     It  was  evidently 
the    German   plan,   as   understood   by   Wangenheim, 
to  hold  this  nation  as  a  pawn  for  England's  behaviour, 
a  kind  of  hostage  on  a  gigantic  scale.   In  that  case, 
should  England  gain  any  mihtary  advantage,  Germany 
would  attempt  to  counter-attack  by  torturing  the  whole 
French   people.     At   that   moment    German   soldiers 
were  murdering  innocent  Belgians  in  return  for  the 
alleged  misbehaviour  of  other  Belgians,  and  evidently 
Germany  had  planned  to  apply  this  principle  to  whole 
nations  as  well  as  to  individuals. 

All  through  this  and  other  talks,  Wangenheim  showed 
the  greatest  animosity  to  Russia. 

"We've  got  our  foot  on  Russia's  com,"  he  said, 
"and  we  propose  to  keep  it  there." 

By  this  he  must  have  meant  that  Germany  had  sent 
the  Goeben  and  the  Breslau  through  the  Dardanelles  and 
that  by  that  master-stroke  she  controlled  Constantinople. 
The  old  Byzantine  capital,  said  Wangenheim,  was  the 
prize  which  a  victorious  Russia  would  demand,  and 
her  lack  of  an  all-the-year-round  port  in  warm  waters 
was  Russia's  tender  spot— her  "com."  At  this  time 
Wangenheim  boasted  that  Germany  had  174  German 
gunners  at  the  Dardanelles,  that  the  strait  could  be 


94       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

closed  in  less  than  thirty  minutes,  and  that  Souchon, 
the  German  admiral,  had  informed  him  that  the  strait 
was  impregnable.  "We  shall  not  close  the  Darda- 
nelles, however,"  he  said,  "unless  England  attacks 
them." 

At  that  time  England,  although  she  had  declared 
war  on  Germany,  had  played  no  conspicuous  part  in 
the  military  operations;  her  "contemptible  little  army" 
was  making  its  heroic  retreat  from  Mons.  Wangen- 
heim  entirely  discounted  England  as  an  enemy.  It 
was  the  German  intention,  he  said,  to  place  their  big 
guns  at  Calais,  and  throw  their  shells  across  the  English 
Channel  to  the  English  coast  towns;  that  Germany 
would  not  have  Calais  within  the  next  ten  days  did 
not  occur  to  him  as  a  possibility.  In  this  and  other 
conversations  at  about  the  same  time  Wangenheim 
laughed  at  the  idea  that  England  could  create  a  large 
independent  army.  "The  idea  is  preposterous,"  he 
said.  "It  takes  generations  of  mihtarism  to  produce 
anything  like  the  German  army.  We  have  been  build- 
ing it  up  for  two  hundred  years.  It  takes  thirty  years  of 
constant  training  to  produce  such  generals  as  we  have. 
Our  army  will  always  maintain  its  organization.  We 
have  500,000  recruits  reaching  military  age  every  year 
and  we  cannot  possibly  lose  that  number  annually,  so 
that  our  army  will  be  kept  intact." 

A  few  weeks  later  civilization  was  outraged  by  the 
German  bombardment  of  English  coast  towns,  such  as 
Scarborough  and  Hartlepool.  This  was  no  sudden 
German  inspiration,  but  part  of  their  carefully  con- 
sidered plans.  Wangenheim  told  me,  on  September 
6, 1914,  that  Germany  intended  to  bombard  all  English 
harbours,  so  as  to  stop  the  food  supply.     It  is  also  ap- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       95 

parent  that  German  ruthlessness  against  American  sea 
trade  was  no  sudden  decision  of  Von  Tirpitz,  for,  on  this 
same  date,  the  German  Ambassador  to  Constantinople 
warned  me  that  it  would  be  very  dangerous  for  the 
United  States  to  send  ships  to  England! 


CHAPTER  Vm 

A   CLASSIC  INSTANCE  OF  GERMAN  PROPAGANDA 

IN  THOSE  August  and  September  days  Germany  had 
no  intention  of  precipitating  Turkey  immediately 
into  the  war.  As  I  then  had  a  deep  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  the  Turkish  people  and  in  maintaining 
peace,  I  telegraphed  Washington  asking  if  I  might 
use  my  influence  to  keep  Turkey  neutral.  I  received  a 
reply  that  I  might  do  this  provided  that  I  made  my 
representations  unofficially  and  piu'ely  upon  humani- 
tarian grounds.  As  the  English  and  the  French  am- 
bassadors were  exerting  all  their  efforts  to  keep  Turkey 
out  of  the  war,  I  knew  that  my  intervention  in  the  same 
interest  would  not  displease  the  British  Government. 
Germany,  however,  might  regard  any  interference  on 
my  part  as  an  unneutral  act,  and  I  asked  Wangenheim 
if  there  would  be  any  objection  from  that  source. 

His  reply  somewhat  surprised  me,  though  I  saw 
through  it  soon  afterward.  "Not  at  all,"  he  said. 
**  Germany  desires,  above  all,  that  Turkey  shall  remain 
neutral." 

Undoubtedly  Turkey's  policy  at  that  moment  pre- 
cisely fitted  in  with  German  plans.  Wangenheim  was 
steadily  increasing  his  ascendancy  over  the  Turkish 
Cabinet,  and  Turkey  was  then  pursuing  the  course  that 
best  served  the  German  aims.  Her  policy  was  keeping 
the  Entente  on  tenterhooks;  it  never  knew  from  day  to 
day  where  Turkey  stood,  whether  she  would  remain 

96 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       97 

neutral  or  enter  the  war  on  Germany's  side.  Because 
Turkey's  attitude  was  so  uncertain,  Russia  was  com- 
pelled to  keep  large  forces  in  the  Caucasus,  England 
was  obliged  to  strengthen  her  forces  in  Egypt  and 
India,  and  to  maintain  a  considerable  fleet  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Dardanelles.  All  tliis  worked  in  beautifully 
with  Germany's  plans,  for  these  detached  forces  just 
so  much  weakened  England  and  Russia  on  the  Euro- 
pean battle  front.  I  am  now  speaking  of  the  period 
just  before  the  Marne,  when  Germany  expected  to  de- 
feat France  and  Russia  with  the  aid  of  her  ally,  Austria,  \ 
and  thus  obtain  a  victory  that  would  have  enabled  her 
to  dictate  the  future  of  Europe.  Should  Turkey  at  that 
time  be  actually  engaged  in  military  operations,  she 
could  do  no  more  toward  bringing  about  this  victory 
than  she  was  doing  now,  by  keeping  considerable  Rus- 
sian and  English  forces  away  from  the  most  important 
fronts.  But  should  Germany  win  this  easy  victory  with  ;- 
Turkey's  aid,  she  might  find  her  new  ally  an  embar- 
rassment. Turkey  would  certainly  demand  compen- 
sation and  she  would  not  be  particularly  modest  in  her 
demands,  which  most  likely  would  include  the  full  con- 
trol of  Egypt  and  perhaps  the  return  of  Balkan  terri- 
tories. Such  readjustments  would  have  interfered  with 
the  Kaiser's  plans.  Thus  he  had  no  interest  in  hav- 
ing Turkey  as  an  active  ally,  except  in  the  event 
that  he  did  not  speedily  win  his  anticipated  triumph. 
But  if  Russia  should  make  great  progress  against 
Austria,  then  Turkey's  active  alliance  would  have 
great  value,  especially  if  her  entry  should  be  so 
timed  as  to  bring  in  Bulgaria  and  Rumania  as  allies. 
Meanwhile,  Wangenheim  was  playing  a  waiting  game, 
making  Turkey  a  potential  German  aHy,  strengthening 


k 


98       AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

her  army  and  her  navy,  and  preparing  to  use  her,  when- 
ever the  moment  arrived  for  using  her  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage. If  Germany  could  not  win  the  war  without 
Turkey's  aid,  Germany  was  prepared  to  take  her  in  as  an 
ally;  if  she  could  win  without  Turkey,  then  she  would 
not  have  to  pay  the  Turk  for  his  cooperation.  Mean- 
while, the  sensible  course  was  to  keep  her  prepared  in  case 
the  Turkish  forces  became  essential  to  German  success. 

The  duel  that  now  took  place  between  Germany  and 
the  Entente  for  Turkey's  favour  was  a  most  unequal 
one.  The  fact  was  that  Germany  had  won  the  vic- 
tory when  she  smuggled  the  Goeben  and  the  Breslau 
into  the  Sea  of  Marmora.  The  English,  French,  and 
Russian  ambassadors  well  understood  this,  and  they 
knew  that  they  could  not  make  Turkey  an  active 
ally  of  the  Entente;  they  probably  had  no  desire  to 
do  so,  but  they  did  hop>e  that  they  might  keep  her 
neutral.  To  this  end  they  now  directed  all  their  ef- 
forts. "You  have  had  enough  of  war,"  they  would  tell 
Talaat  and  Enver.  "You  have  fought  two  wars  in 
the  last  four  years;  you  will  ruin  your  country  abso- 
lutely if  you  get  involved  in  this  one."  The  Entente 
had  only  one  consideration  to  offer  Turkey  for  her  neu- 
trality, and  this  was  an  offer  to  guarantee  the  integrity 
of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  The  Entente  ambassadors 
showed  their  great  desire  to  keep  Turkey  out  of  the 
war  by  their  disinclination  to  press  to  the  Umit  their 
case  against  the  Breslau  and  the  Goeben.  It  is  true 
that  they  repeatedly  protested  against  the  continued 
presence  of  these  ships,  but  every  time  the  Turkish 
oflBcials  maintained  that  they  were  Turkish  vessels. 

"If  that  is  so,"  Sir  Louis  Mallet  would  urge,  and 
his  argument  was  unassailable,  "why  don't  you  re- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY       99 

move  the  German  officers  and  crews?"  That  was  the 
intention,  the  Grand  Vizier  would  answer;  the  Turkish 
crews  that  had  been  sent  to  man  the  ships  which  had 
been  built  in  England,  he  would  say,  were  returning  to 
Turkey  and  they  would  be  put  on  board  the  Goeben 
and  the  Breslau  as  soon  as  they  reached  Constantinople. 
But  days  and  weeks  went  by ;  these  crews  came  home, 
and  still  Germany  manned  and  officered  the  cruisers. 
These  backings  and  fillings  naturally  did  not  deceive  the 
British  and  French  foreign  offices.  The  presence  of 
the  Goeben  and  the  Breslau  was  a  standing  casus  belli, 
but  the  Entente  ambassadors  did  not  demand  their 
passports,  for  such  an  act  would  have  precipitated  the 
very  crisis  which  they  were  seeking  to  delay,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, to  avoid — Turkey's  entrance  as  Germany's  ally. 
Unhappily  the  Entente's  promise  to  guarantee  Turkey's 
integrity  did  not  win  Turkey  to  their  side. 

"They  promised  that  we  should  not  be  dismem- 
bered after  the  Balkan  wars,"  Talaat  would  tell  me, 
"and  see  what  happened  to  European  Turkey  then." 

Wangenheim  constantly  harped  upon  this  fact. 
"You  can't  trust  anything  they  say,"  he  would  tell 
Talaat  and  Enver,  "didn't  they  all  go  back  on  you  a 
year  ago?"  And  then  with  great  cleverness  he  would 
play  upon  the  only  emotion  which  really  actuates  the 
Turk.  The  descendants  of  Osman  hardly  resemble 
any  people  I  have  ever  known.  They  do  not  hate, 
they  do  not  love;  they  have  no  lasting  animosities  or 
affections.  They  only  fear.  And  naturally  they  at- 
tribute to  others  the  motives  which  regulate  their  own 
conduct.  "How  stupid  you  are,"  Wangenheim  would 
tell  Talaat  and  Enver,  discussing  the  English  attitude. 
"Don't  you  see  why  the  EngHsh  want  you  to  keep  out? 


100     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

It  is  because  they  fear  you.  Don't  you  see  that,  with 
the  help  of  Germany,  you  have  again  become  a  great 
miHtary  power?  No  wonder  England  doesn't  want  to 
fight  you ! "  He  dinned  this  so  continually  in  their  ears 
that  they  finally  believed  it,  for  this  argument  not  only 
completely  explained  to  them  the  attitude  of  the  En- 
tente, but  it  flattered  Turkish  pride. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  attitude  of  Enver  and 
Talaat,  I  think  that  England  and  France  were  more 
popular  with  all  classes  in  Turkey  than  was  Germany. 
The  Sultan  was  opposed  to  war;  the  heir  apparent, 
Youssouff  Isseddin,  was  oj)enIy  pro-Ally;  the  Grand 
Vizier,  Said  Halim,  favoured  England  rather  than  Ger- 
many; Djemal,  the  third  member  of  the  ruling  trium- 
virate, had  the  reputation  of  being  a  Francophile — he 
had  recently  returned  from  Paris,  where  the  reception 
he  had  received  had  greatly  flattered  him;  a  majority 
of  the  Cabinet  had  no  enthusiasm  for  Germany;  and 
public  opinion,  so  far  as  public  opinion  existed  in  Tur- 
key, regarded  England,  not  Germany,  as  Turkey's  his- 
toric friend.  Wangenheim,  therefore,  had  much  opposi- 
tion to  overcome,  and  the  methods  which  he  took  to 
break  it  down  form  a  classic  illustration  of  German 
propaganda.  He  started  a  lavish  publicity  campaign 
against  England,  France,  and  Russia.  I  have  de- 
scribed the  feelings  of  the  Turks  at  losing  their  ships 
in  England.  Wangenheim's  agents  now  filled  columns 
of  purchased  space  in  the  newspapers  with  bitter  at- 
tacks on  England  for  taking  over  these  vessels.  The 
whole  Turkish  press  rapidly  passed  under  the  control 
of  Germany.  Wangenheim  purchased  the  Ikdam,  one 
of  the  largest  Turkish  newspapers,  which  immediately 
began  to  sing  the  praises  of  Germany  and  to  abuse  the 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     101 

Entente.  The  Osmanischer  Lloyd,  published  in  French 
and  German,  became  an  organ  of  the  German  Em- 
bassy. Although  the  Turkish  Constitution  guaran- 
teed a  free  press,  a  censorship  was  estabhshed  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  Central  Powers.  All  Turkish  editors  were 
ordered  to  write  in  Germany's  favour  and  they  obeyed 
instructions.  The  Jeune  Turc,  a  pro-Entente  news- 
paper, printed  in  French,  was  suppressed.  The  Turk- 
ish papers  exaggerated  German  victories  and  com- 
pletely manufactured  others;  they  were  constantly 
printing  the  news  of  Entente  defeats,  most  of  them 
wholly  imaginary.  In  the  evening  Wangenheim  and 
Pallavicini  would  show  me  official  telegrams  giving 
the  details  of  military  operations,  but  when,  in  the 
morning,  I  would  look  in  the  newspapers,  I  would  find 
that  this  news  had  been  twisted  or  falsified  in  Ger- 
many's favour.  A  certain  Baron  Oppenheim  travelled 
all  over  Turkey  manufacturing  public  opinion  against 
England  and  France.  Ostensibly  he  was  an  archseolo- 
gist,  while  in  reality  he  opened  offices  everywhere  from 
which  issued  streams  of  slander  against  the  Entente. 
Huge  maps  were  pasted  on  walls,  showing  all  the  terri- 
tory which  Turkey  had  lost  in  the  course  of  a  century. 
Russia  was  portrayed  as  the  nation  chiefly  responsible 
for  these  "robberies,"  and  attention  was  drawn  to  the 
fact  that  England  had  now  become  Russia's  ally.  Pic- 
tures were  published,  showing  the  grasping  powers 
of  the  Entente  as  rapacious  animals,  snatching  at 
poor  Turkey.  Enver  was  advertised  as  the  "hero", 
who  had  recovered  Adrianople;  Germany  was  pictured 
as  Turkey's  friend;  the  Kaiser  suddenly  became  "Hadji 
Wilhelm,"  the  great  protector  of  Islam,  and  stories 
were  even  printed  that  he  had  become  a  convert  to 


V 


102     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

Mohammedanism.  The  Turkish  populace  was  in- 
formed that  the  Moslems  of  India  and  of  Egypt  were 
about  to  revolt  and  throw  off  their  English  "tyrants." 
The  Turkish  man-on-the-street  was  taught  to  say,  **GoU 
Strafe  England,"  and  all  the  time  the  motive  power  of 
this  infamous  campaign  was  German  money. 

But  Germany  was  doing  more  than  pK)isoning  the 
Turkish  mind;  she  was  appropriating  Turkey's  military 
resources.  I  have  already  described  how,  in  January, 
1914,  the  Kaiser  had  taken  over  the  Turkish  army  and 
rehabilitated  it  in  preparation  for  the  European  war. 
He  now  proceeded  to  do  the  same  thing  with  the  Turk- 
ish navy.  In  August,  Wangenheim  boasted  to  me 
that,  "We  now  control  both  the  Turkish  army  and 
navy."  At  the  time  the  Goeben  and  Breslau  arrived, 
an  English  mission,  headed  by  Admiral  Limpus,  was 
hard  at  work  restoring  the  Turkish  navy.  Soon  after- 
ward Limpus  and  his  associates  were  unceremoniously 
dismissed;  the  manner  of  their  going  was  really  dis- 
graceful, for  not  even  the  most  ordinary  courtesies  were 
shown  them.  The  English  naval  officers  quietly  and 
unobservedly  left  Constantinople  for  England — all 
except  the  Admiral  himself,  who  had  to  remain  longer 
because  of  his  daughter's  illness. 

Night  after  night  whole  carloads  of  Germans  landed 
at  Constantinople  from  Berlin;  the  aggregations  to  the 
population  finally  amounted  to  3,800  men,  most  of 
them  sent  to  man  the  Turkish  navy  and  to  manufacture 
ammunition.  They  filled  the  cafes  every  night,  and 
they  paraded  the  streets  of  Constantinople  in  the  small 
hours  of  the  morning,  howling  and  singing  German  pa- 
triotic songs.  Many  of  them  were  skilled  mechanics, 
who  immediately  went  to  work  repairing  the  destroyers 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      103 

and  other  ships  and  putting  them  in  shape  for  war. 
The  British  firm  of  Armstrong  &  Vickers  had  a  splendid 
dock  in  Constantinople,  and  this  the  Germans  now 
appropriated.  All  day  and  night  we  could  hear  this 
work  going  on  and  we  could  hardly  sleep  because  of  the 
hubbub  of  riveting  and  hammering.  Wangenheira 
now  found  another  opportunity  for  instilling  more  poi- 
son into  the  minds  of  Enver,  Talaat,  and  Djemal.  The 
German  workers,  he  declared,  had  found  that  the  Turk- 
ish ships  were  in  a  desperate  state  of  disrepair,  and  for 
this  he  naturally  blamed  the  English  naval  mission. 
He  said  that  England  had  deliberately  let  the  Turkish 
navy  go  to  decay  and  he  asserted  that  this  was  all  a 
part  of  England's  plot  to  ruin  Turkey!  "Look!"  he 
would  exclaim,  "see  what  we  Germans  have  done  for 
the  Turkish  army,  and  see  what  the  English  have  done 
for  your  ships!"  As  a  matter  of  fact,  all  this  was  un- 
true, for  Admiral  Limpus  had  worked  hard  and  con- 
scientiously to  improve  the  navy  and  had  accomplished 
excellent  results  in  that  direction. 

All  this  time  the  Germans  were  working  at  the  Dar- 
danelles, seeking  to  strengthen  the  fortifications,  and  pre- 
paring for  a  possible  Allied  attack.  As  September 
lengthened  into  October,  the  Sublime  Porte  practically 
ceased  to  be  the  headquarters  of  the  Ottoman  Empire. 
I  really  think  that  the  most  influential  seat  of  authority 
at  that  time  was  a  German  merchant  ship,  the  General. 
It  was  moored  in  the  Golden  Horn,  at  the  Galata 
Bridge,  and  a  permanent  stairway  had  been  built, 
leading  to  its  deck.  I  knew  well  one  of  the  most  fre- 
quent visitors  to  this  ship,  an  American  who  used  to 
come  to  the  embassy  and  entertain  me  with  stories 
of  what  was  going  on. 


104      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

TheG^eweraZ,  this  American  now  informed  me,  was  prac* 
tically  a  German  club  or  hotel.  The  officers  of  the 
Goeben  and  the  Breslau  and  other  German  officers  who 
had  been  sent  to  command  the  Turkish  ships  ate  and 
slept  on  board.  Admiral  Souchon,  who  had  brought 
the  German  cruisers  to  Constantinople,  presided  over 
these  gatherings.  Souchon  was  a  man  of  French  Hugue- 
not extraction;  he  was  a  short,  dapper,  clean-cut  sailor, 
very  energetic  and  alert,  and  to  the  German  passion 
for  command  and  thoroughness  he  added  much  of  the 
Gallic  geniality  and  buoyancy.  Naturally  he  gave 
much  liveliness  to  the  evening  parties  on  the  General^ 
and  the  beer  and  champagne  which  were  Hberally 
dispensed  on  these  occasions  loosened  the  tongues  of 
his  fellow  officers.  Their  conversation  showed  that 
they  entertained  no  illusions  as  to  who  really  controlled 
the  Turkish  navy.  Night  after  night  their  impatience 
for  action  grew;  they  kept  declaring  that,  if  Turkey  did 
not  presently  attack  the  Russians,  they  would  force  her 
to  do  so.  They  would  relate  how  they  had  sent  Ger- 
man ships  into  the  Black  Sea,  in  the  hope  of  provoking 
the  Russian  fleet  to  some  action  that  would  make  war 
inevitable.  Toward  the  end  of  October  my  friend 
told  me  that  hostilities  could  not  much  longer  be 
avoided;  the  Turkish  fleet  had  been  fitted  for  action, 
everything  was  ready,  and  the  impetuosity  of  these 
Jcriegslustige  German  officers  could  not  much  longer 
be  restrained. 

"They  are  just  like  a  lot  of  boys  with  chips  on  their 
shoulders!  They  are  simply  spoiling  for  a  fight!"  he 
said. 


CHAPTER  IX 

GERMANY  CLOSES  THE  DARDANELLES  AND  SO  SEPARATES 
RUSSIA   FROM  HER   ALLIES 

ON  SEPTEMBER  27th,  Sir  Louis  Mallet,  the 
British  Ambassador,  entered  my  office  in  a 
considerably  disturbed  state  of  mind.  The 
Khedive  of  Egypt  had  just  left  me,  and  I  began  to 
talk  to  Sir  Louis  about  Egyptian  matters. 

"Let's  discuss  that  some  other  time,"  he  said.  "I 
have  something  far  more  important  to  tell  you.  They 
have  closed  the  Dardanelles.'* 

By  "they"  he  meant,  of  course,  not  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment, the  only  power  which  had  the  legal  right  to 
take  this  drastic  step,  but  the  actual  ruling  powers  in 
Turkey,  the  Germans.  Sir  Louis  had  good  reason  for 
bringing  me  this  piece  of  news,  since  this  was  an  out- 
rage against  the  United  States  as  well  as  against  the 
Allies.  He  asked  me  to  go  with  him  and  make  a  joint 
protest.  I  suggested,  however,  that  it  would  be  better 
for  us  to  act  separately  and  I  immediately  started  for 
the  house  of  the  Grand  Vizier. 

When  I  arrived  a  cabinet  conference  was  in  session, 
and,  as  I  sat  in  the  anteroom,  I  could  hear  several  voices 
in  excited  discussion.  Among  them  all  I  could  distinctly 
distinguish  the  familiar  tones  of  Talaat,  Enver,  Djavid, 
the  Minister  of  Finance,  and  other  members  of  the 
Government.  It  was  quite  plain,  from  all  that  I  could 
overhear  through  the  thin  partitions,  that  these  nomi- 

105 


106     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

nal  rulers  of  Turkey  were  almost  as  exasperated  over 
the  closing  as  were  Sir  Louis  Mallet  and  myself. 

The  Grand  Vizier  came  out  in  answer  to  my  request. 
He  presented  a  pitiable  sight.  He  was,  in  title  at 
least,  the  most  important  official  of  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment, the  mouthpiece  of  the  Sultan  himself,  yet 
now  he  presented  a  picture  of  abject  helplessness  and 
fear.  His  face  was  blanched  and  he  was  trembling 
from  head  to  foot.  He  was  so  overcome  by  his  emo- 
tions that  he  could  hardly  speak;  when  I  asked  him 
whether  the  news  was  true  that  the  Dardanelles  had 
been  closed,  he  finally  stammered  out  that  it  was. 

"You  know  this  means  war,"  I  said,  and  I  protested 
as  strongly  as  I  could  in  the  name  of  the  United  States. 

All  the  time  that  we  were  talking  I  could  hear  the 
loud  tones  of  Talaat  and  his  associates  in  the  interior 
apartment.  The  Grand  Vizier  excused  himself  and 
went  back  into  the  room.  He  then  sent  out  Djavid 
to  discuss  the  matter  with  me. 

"It's  all  a  surprise  to  us,"  were  Djavid's  first  words — 
this  statement  being  a  complete  admission  that  the 
Cabinet  had  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  I  repeated 
that  the  United  States  would  not  submit  to  closing  the 
Dardanelles;  Turkey  was  at  peace,  the  Sultan  had  no 
legal  right  to  shut  the  strait  to  merchant  ships  except 
in  case  of  war.  I  said  that  an  American  ship,  laden 
with  supplies  and  stores  for  the  American  Embassy, 
was  outside  at  that  moment  waiting  to  come  in.  Dja- 
vid suggested  that  I  have  this  vessel  unload  her  cargo 
at  Smyrna:  the  Turkish  Government,  he  obligingly 
added,  would  pay  the  cost  of  transporting  it  overland 
to  Constantinople.  This  proposal,  of  course,  was  a  ri- 
diculous evasion  of  the  issue  and  I  brushed  it  aside. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      107 

Djavid  then  said  that  the  Cabinet  proposed  to  inves- 
tigate the  matter;  that,  in  fact,  they  were  discussing 
it  at  that  moment.  He  told  me  how  it  had  hapj)ened. 
A  Turkish  torpedo  boat  had  passed  through  the  Darda- 
nelles and  attempted  to  enter  the  iEgean.  The  British 
warships  stationed  outside  hailed  the  ship,  examined 
it,  and  found  that  there  were  German  sailors  on  board. 
The  English  Admiral  at  once  ordered  the  vessel  to  go 
back;  this,  under  the  circumstances,  he  had  a  right 
to  do.  Weber  Pasha,  the  German  general  who  was 
then  in  charge  of  the  fortifications,  did  not  consult 
the  Turks  but  immediately  gave  orders  to  close  the 
strait.  Wangenheim  had  already  boasted  to  me,  as 
I  have  said,  that  the  Dardanelles  could  be  closed  in 
thirty  minutes  and  the  Germans  now  made  good  his 
words.  Down  went  the  mines  and  the  nets;  the  lights 
in  the  lighthouses  were  extinguished;  signals  were  put 
up,  notifying  all  ships  that  there  was  "no  thorough- 
fare" and  the  deed,  the  most  high-handed  which  the 
Germans  had  yet  committed,  was  done.  And  here  I 
found  these  Turkish  statesmen,  who  alone  had  author- 
ity over  this  indispensable  strip  of  water,  trembling 
and  stammering  with  fear,  running  hither  and  yon  like 
a  lot  of  frightened  rabbits,  appalled  at  the  enormity 
of  the  German  act,  yet  apparently  powerless  to  take  any 
decisive  action.  I  certainly  had  a  graphic  picture  of 
the  extremities  to  which  Teutonic  bullying  had  re- 
duced the  present  rulers  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  And 
at  the  same  moment  before  my  mind  rose  the  figure  of 
the  Sultan,  whose  signature  was  essential  to  close 
legally  these  waters,  quietly  dozing  at  his  palace,  entirely 
oblivious  of  the  whole  transaction. 

Though    Djavid    informed    me    that    the    Cabinet 


108     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

might  decide  to  reopen  the  Dardanelles,  it  did  not  do 
so.  This  great  passageway  has  now  remained  closed  for 
more  than  four  years,  from  September  27, 1914.  I  saw, 
of  course,  precisely  what  this  action  signified.  That 
month  of  September  had  been  a  disillusioning  one  for 
the  Germans.  The  French  had  beaten  back  the  inva- 
sion and  had  driven  the  German  armies  to  entrench- 
ments along  the  Aisne.  The  Russians  were  sweeping 
triumphantly  through  Galicia;  already  they  had  cap- 
tured Lemberg  and  it  seemed  not  improbable  that 
they  would  soon  cross  the  Carpathians  into  Austria- 
Hungary.  In  those  days  Pallavicini,  the  Austrian 
Ambassador,  was  a  discouraged,  lamentable  figure. 
He  confided  to  me  his  fears  for  the  future,  telling  me 
that  the  German  programme  of  a  short,  decisive  war 
had  clearly  failed  and  that  it  was  now  quite  evident 
that  Germany  could  win,  if  she  could  win  at  all, 
which  was  exceedingly  doubtful,  only  after  a  protracted 
struggle.  I  have  described  how  Wangenheim,  while 
preparing  the  Turkish  army  and  navy  for  any  eventual- 
ities, was  simply  holding  Turkey  in  his  hand,  intending 
actively  to  use  her  forces  only  in  case  Germany  failed 
to  crush  France  and  Russia  in  the  first  campaign.  Now 
that  that  failure  was  manifest,  Wangenheim  was  in- 
structed to  use  the  Turkish  Empire  as  an  active  ally. 
Hitherto,  this  nation  of  20,000,000  had  been  a  passive 
partner,  held  back  by  Wangenheim  until  Germany  had 
decided  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  pay  the  price  of 
letting  her  into  the  war  as  a  real  participant.  The  time 
had  come  when  Germany  needed  the  Turkish  army, 
and  the  outward  sign  that  the  situation  had  changed 
was  the  closing  of  the  Dardanelles.  Thus  Wangen- 
heim had  accomplished  the  task  for  which  he  had  been 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      109 

working,  and  in  this  act  had  fittingly  crowned  his 
achievement  of  bringing  in  the  Goeben  and  the  Breslau. 
Few  Americans  reaHze,  even  to-day,  what  an  over- 
whelming influence  this  act  wielded  upon  future  military 
operations.  Yet  the  fact  that  the  war  has  lasted  for 
so  many  years  is  explained  by  this  closing  of  the  Dar- 
danelles. 

For  this  is  the  element  in  the  situation  that  separated 
Russia  from  her  allies,  that,  in  less  than  a  year,  led  to 
her  defeat  and  collapse,  which,  in  turn,  was  the  reason 
why  the  Russian  revolution  became  possible.  The  map 
discloses  that  this  enormous  land  of  Russia  has  just 
four  ways  of  reaching  the  seas.  One  is  by  way  of  the 
Baltic,  and  this  the  German  fleet  had  already  closed. 
Another  is  Archangel,  on  the  Arctic  Ocean,  a  port  which 
is  frozen  over  several  months  in  the  year,  and  which 
connects  with  the  heart  of  Russia  only  by  a  long, 
single-track  railroad.  Another  is  the  Pacific  port  of 
Vladivostok,  also  ice  bound  for  three  months,  which 
in  connection  with  Russia  only  by  the  thin  line  of  the  Si- 
erian  railway,  5,000  miles  long.  The  fourth  passage  was 
that  of  the  Dardanelles;  in  fact,  this  was  the  only  practic- 
able one.  This  was  the  narrow  gate  through  which  the 
surplus  products  of  175,000,000  people  reached  Europe, 
and  nine  tenths  of  all  Russian  exports  and  imports  had 
gone  this  way  for  years.  By  suddenly  closing  it,  Ger- 
many destroyed  Russia  both  as  an  economic  and  a 
military  power.  By  shutting  off  the  exports  of  Russian 
grain,  she  deprived  Russia  of  the  financial  power  es- 
sential to  successful  warfare.  What  was  perhaps  even 
more  fatal,  she  prevented  England  and  France  from 
getting  munitions  to  the  Russian  battle  front  in  suf- 
ficient quantity  to  stem  the  German  onslaught.     As 


110     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

soon  as  the  Dardanelles  was  closed,  Russia  had  to 
fall  back  on  Archangel  and  Vladivostok  for  such  sup- 
plies as  she  could  get  from  these  ports.  The  cause  of 
the  military  collapse  of  Russia  in  1915  is  now  well 
known;  the  soldiers  simply  had  no  ammunition  with 
which  to  fight.  The  first  half  of  the  year  1918  Germany 
spent  in  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  drive  a  "  wedge  "  be- 
tween the  French  and  English  armies  on  the  western 
front;  to  separate  one  ally  from  another  and  so  obtain 
a  position  where  she  could  attack  each  one  separately. 
Yet  the  task  of  undoing  the  Franco-Russian  treaty,  and 
driving  such  a  "wedge"  between  Russia  and  her  west- 
ern associates,  proved  to  have  been  an  easy  one.  It 
was  simply  a  matter,  as  I  have  described,  of  controlling 
a  corrupt  and  degenerate  government,  getting  posses- 
sion, while  she  was  still  at  peace,  of  her  main  executives, 
her  army,  her  navy,  her  resources,  and  then,  at  the 
proper  moment,  ignoring  the  nominal  rulers  and  closing 
a  little  strip  of  water  about  twenty  miles  long  and  two 
or  three  wide!  It  did  not  cost  a  single  human  life  or 
the  firing  of  a  single  gun,  yet,  in  a  twinkling,  Ger- 
many accomplished  what  probably  three  million  men, 
opposed  to  a  well-equipped  Russian  force,  could  not 
have  brought  to  pass.  It  was  one  of  the  most  dramatic 
military  triumphs  of  the  war,  and  it  was  all  the  work  of 
German  propaganda,  German  penetration,  and  German 
diplomacy. 

In  the  days  following  this  bottling  up  of  Russia,  the 
Bosphorus  began  to  look  like  a  harbour  which  has  been 
suddenly  stricken  with  the  plague.  Hundreds  of  ships 
arrived  from  Russia,  Rumania,  and  Bulgaria,  loaded 
with  grain,  lumber,  and  other  products,  only  to  discover 
that  they  could  go  no  farther.     There  were  not  docks 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      111 

enough  to  accommodate  them,  and  they  had  to  swing  out 
into  the  stream,  drop  anchor,  and  await  developments. 
The  waters  were  a  cluster  of  masts  and  smoke  stacks,  and 
the  crowded  vessels  became  so  dense  that  a  motor  boat 
had  difficulty  in  picking  its  way  through  the  tangled 
forest.  The  Turks  held  out  hopes  that  they  might 
reopen  the  water  way,  and  for  this  reason  these  vessels, 
constantly  increasing  in  number,  waited  patiently  for  a 
month  or  so.  Then  one  by  one  they  turned  around, 
pointed  their  noses  toward  the  Black  Sea,  and  lugubri- 
ously started  for  their  home  ports.  In  a  few  weeks  the 
Bosphorus  and  adjoining  waters  had  become  a  desolate 
waste.  What  for  years  had  been  one  of  the  most  ani- 
mated shipping  ports  in  the  world,  was  ruffled  only  by 
an  occasional  launch,  or  a  tiny  Turkish  caique,  or  now 
and  then  a  little  sailing  vessel.  And  for  an  accurate 
idea  of  what  this  meant,  from  a  military  standpoint,  we 
need  only  call  to  mind  the  Russian  battle  front  in  the 
next  year.  There  the  peasants  were  fighting  German 
artillery  with  their  unprotected  bodies,  having  few  rifles 
and  few  heavy  guns,  while  mountains  of  useless  am- 
mimition  were  piling  up  in  their  distant  Arctic  and 
Pacific  ports,  with  no  railroads  to  take  them  to  the 
field  of  action. 


CHAPTER  X 

turkey's  abrogation  of  the  capitulations — ENVER 

LIVING  IN  A   PALACE,   WITH   PLENTY   OF 

MONEY   AND   AN   IMPERIAL   BRIDE 

14N0THER  question,  which  had  been  under 
/Jk  discussion  for  several  months,  now  became  in- 
X  ^  volved  in  the  Turkish  international  situation. 
That  was  the  matter  of  the  capitulations.  These  were 
the  treaty  rights  which  for  centuries  had  regulated  the 
position  of  foreigners  in  the  Turkish  Empire.  Turkey 
had  never  been  admitted  to  a  complete  equality  with 
European  nations,  and  in  reality  she  had  never  been 
an  independent  sovereignty.  The  Sultan's  laws  and 
customs  dijffered  so  radically  from  those  of  Europe  and 
America  that  no  non-Moslem  country  could  think  of 
submitting  its  citizens  in  Turkey  to  them.  In  many 
matters,  therefore,  the  principle  of  ex-territoriality 
had  always  prevailed  in  favour  of  all  citizens  or  sub- 
jects of  countries  enjoying  capitulatory  rights.  Almost 
all  European  countries,  as  well  as  the  United  States,  for 
centuries  had  had  their  own  consular  courts  and  prisons 
in  which  they  tried  and  punished  crimes  which  their 
nationals  committed  in  Turkey.  We  all  had  our  schools, 
which  were  subject,  not  to  Turkish  law  and  protection, 
but  to  that  of  the  country  which  maintained  them.  Thus 
Robert  College  and  the  Constantinople  College  for  Wo- 
men, those  wonderful  institutions  which  American  phi- 
lanthropy has  erected  on  the  Bosphorus,  as  well  as  hun- 

112 


AlVIBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     113 

dreds  of  American  religious,  charitable,  and  educational 
institutions,  practically  stood  on  American  territory  and 
looked  upon  the  American  Embassy  as  their  guardian. 
Several  nations  had  their  own  post  offices,  as  they 
did  not  care  to  submit  their  mail  to  the  Ottoman  postal 
service.  Turkey  likewise  did  not  have  unlimited  power 
of  taxation  over  foreigners.  It  could  not  even  increase 
their  customs  taxes  without  the  consent  of  the  foreign 
powers.  In  1914  it  could  impose  only  11  per  cent,  in 
tariff  dues,  and  was  attempting  to  secure  the  right  to 
increase  the  amount  to  14.  We  have  always  regarded 
England  as  the  only  free-trade  country,  overlooking 
the  fact  that  this  limitation  in  Turkey's  customs  dues 
had  practically  made  the  Ottoman  Empire  an  unwilling 
follower  of  Cobden.  Turkey  was  thus  prohibited  by 
the  Powers  from  developing  any  industries  of  her  own; 
instead,  she  was  forced  to  take  large  quantities  of  in- 
ferior articles  from  Europe.  Against  these  restrictions 
Turkish  statesmen  had  protested  for  years,  declaring 
that  they  constituted  an  insult  to  their  pride  as  a  nation 
and  also  interfered  with  their  progress.  However, 
the  agreement  was  a  bi-lateral  one,  and  Turkey  could 
not  change  it  without  the  consent  of  all  the  contracting 
powers.  Yet  certainly  the  present  moment,  when 
both  the  Entente  and  the  Central  Powers  were  culti- 
vating Turkey,  served  to  furnish  a  valuable  opportunity 
to  make  the  change.  And  so,  as  soon  as  the  Germans 
had  begun  their  march  toward  Paris,  the  air  was 
filled  with  reports  that  Turkey  intended  to  abrogate 
the  capitulations.  Rumour  said  that  Germany  had 
consented,  as  part  of  the  consideration  for  Turkish  aid  in 
the  war,  and  that  England  had  agreed  to  the  abrogation, 
as  part  of  her  payment  for  Turkish  neutrality.    Neithet 


114     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

of  these  reports  was  true.  What  was  manifest,  liow- 
ever,  was  the  panic  which  the  mere  suggestion  of  abro- 
gation produced  on  the  foreign  population.  The  idea 
of  becoming  subject  to  the  Turkish  laws  and  perhaps 
being  thrown  into  Turkish  prisons  made  their  flesh 
creep — and  with  good  reason. 

About  this  time  I  had  a  long  conference  with  Enver. 
He  asked  me  to  call  at  his  residence,  as  he  was  laid  up 
with  an  infected  toe,  the  result  of  a  surgical  operation. 
I  thus  had  an  illuminating  glimpse  of  the  Minister  of 
War  en  famille.  Certainly  this  humble  man  of  the 
people  had  risen  in  the  world.  His  house,  which  was 
in  one  of  the  quietest  and  most  aristocratic  parts  of 
the  city,  was  a  splendid  old  building,  very  large  and 
very  elaborate.  I  was  ushered  through  a  series  of  four 
or  five  halls,  and  as  I  went  by  one  door  the  Imperial 
Princess,  Enver's  wife,  sUghtly  opened  it  and  peeked 
through  at  me.  Farther  on  another  Turkish  lady 
opened  her  door  and  also  obtained  a  fleeting  glimpse 
of  the  Ambassadorial  figure.  I  was  finally  escorted 
into  a  beautiful  room  in  which  Enver  lay  reclining  on  a 
semi-sofa.  He  had  on  a  long  silk  dressing  gown  and 
his  stockinged  feet  hung  languidly  over  the  edge  of  the 
divan.  He  looked  much  younger  than  in  his  uniform; 
he  was  an  extremely  neat  and  well-groomed  object, 
with  a  pale,  smooth  face,  made  even  more  striking  by 
his  black  hair,'and  with  delicate  white  hands,  and  long, 
tapering  fingers.  He  might  easily  have  passed  for 
under  thirty,  and,  in  fact,  he  was  not  much  over  that 
age.  He  had  at  hand  a  violin,  and  a  piano  near  by 
also  testified  to  his  musical  taste.  The  room  was 
splendidly  tapestried;  perhaps  its  most  conspicuous 
feature  was  a  dais  upon  which  stood  a  golden  chair; 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     115 

this  was  the  marriage  throne  of  Enver*s  imperial  wife. 
As  I  glanced  around  at  all  this  luxury,  I  must  admit 
that  a  few  imcharitable  thoughts  came  to  mind  and 
that  I  could  not  help  pondering  a  question  which  was 
then  being  generally  asked  in  Constantinople.  Where 
did  Enver  get  the  money  for  this  expensive  establish- 
ment? He  had  no  fortune  of  his  own — ^his  parents  had 
been  wretchedly  poor,  and  his  salary  as  a  cabinet  minis- 
ter was  only  about  $8,000.  His  wife  had  a  moderate 
allowance  as  an  imperial  princess,  but  she  had  no  private 
resources.  Enver  had  never  engaged  in  business,  he  had 
been  a  revolutionist,  military  leader,  and  politician  all 
his  life.  But  here  he  was  living  at  a  rate  that  demanded 
a  very  large  income.  In  other  ways  Enver  was  giving 
evidences  of  great  and  sudden  prosperity,  and  already 
I  had  heard  much  of  his  investments  in  real  estate, 
which  were  the  talk  of  the  town. 

Enver  wished  to  discuss  the  capitulations.  He 
practically  said  that  the  Cabinet  had  decided  on  the 
abrogation,  and  he  wished  to  know  the  attitude  of  the 
United  States.  He  added  that  certainly  a  country 
which  had  fought  for  its  independence  as  we  had  would 
sympathize  with  Turkey's  attempt  to  shake  off  these, 
shackles.  We  had  helped  Japan  free  herself  from  simi- 
lar burdens  and  wouldn't  we  now  help  Turkey?  Cer- 
tainly Turkey  was  as  civilized  a  nation  as  Japan? 

I  answered  that  I  thought  that  the  United  States 
might  consent  to  abandon  the  capitulations  in  so  far 
as  they  were  economic.  It  was  my  opinion  that  Turkey 
should  control  her  customs  duties  and  be  permitted  to 
levy  the  same  taxes  on  foreigners  as  on  her  own  citi- 
zens. So  long  as  the  Turkish  courts  and  Turkish 
prisons  maintained  their  present  standards,  however. 


116     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

we  could  never  agree  to  give  up  the  judicial  capitula- 
tions. Turkey  should  reform  the  abuses  of  her  courts; 
then,  after  they  had  established  European  ideas  in  the 
administration  of  justice,  the  matter  could  be  discussed. 
Enver  replied  that  Turkey  would  be  willing  to  have 
mixed  tribunals  and  to  have  the  United  States  designate 
some  of  the  judges,  but  I  suggested  that,  inasmuch  as 
American  judges  did  not  know  the  Turkish  language 
or  Turkish  law,  his  scheme  involved  great  practical 
difficulties.  I  also  told  him  that  the  American  schools 
and  colleges  were  very  dear  to  Americans,  and  that 
we  would  never  consent  to  subjecting  them  to  Turkish 
jurisdiction. 

Despite  theprotestsof  all  the  ambassadors,  the  Cabinet 
issued  its  notification  that  the  capitulations  would  be  ab- 
rogated on  October  1st.  This  abrogation  was  all  a  part 
of  the  Young  Turks'  plan  to  free  themselves  from  foreign 
tutelage  and  to  create  a  new  country  on  the  basis  of 
"Turkey  for  the  Turks."  It  represented,  as  I  shall 
show,  what  was  the  central  point  of  Turkish  policy,  not 
only  in  the  empire's  relations  to  foreign  powers,  but  to 
her  subject  peoples.  England's  position  on  this  ques- 
tion was  about  the  same  as  our  own;  the  British  Govern- 
ment would  consent  to  the  modification  of  the  economic 
restrictions,  but  not  the  others.  Wangenheim  was 
greatly  disturbed,  and  I  think  that  his  foreign  office 
reprimanded  him  for  letting  the  abrogation  take  place, 
because  he  blandly  asked  me  to  announce  that  I  was 
the  responsible  person !  As  October  1st  approached,  the 
foreigners  in  Turkey  were  in  a  high  state  of  apprehen- 
sion. The  Dardanelles  had  been  closed,  shutting  them 
off  from  Europe,  and  now  they  felt  that  they  were  to 
be  left  to  the  mercy  of  Turkish  courts  and  Turkish 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      117 

prisons.  Inasmuch  as  it  was  the  habit  in  Turkish 
prisons  to  herd  the  innocent  with  the  guilty,  and  to 
place  in  the  same  room  with  murderers,  people  who 
had  been  charged,  with  minor  offenses,  but  not  convicted 
of  them,  and  to  bastinado  recalcitrant  witnesses,  the 
fears  of  the  foreign  residents  may  well  be  imagined. 
The  educational  institutions  w  ere  also  apprehensive,  and 
in  their  interest  I  now  appealed  to  Enver.  He  assured 
me  that  the  Turks  had  no  hostile  intention  toward 
Americans.  I  replied  that  he  should  show  in  unmis- 
takable fashion  that  Americans  would  not  be  harmed. 

"All  right,"  he  answered.  "What  would  you 
suggest?" 

"Why  not  ostentatiously  visit  Robert  College  on 
October  1st,  the  day  the  capitulations  are  abrogated.'^'* 
I  said. 

The  idea  was  rather  a  unique  one,  for  in  all  the  history 
of  this  institution  an  important  Turkish  official  had 
never  entered  its  doors.  But  I  knew  enough  of  the 
Turkish  character  to  understand  that  an  open,  cere- 
monious visit  by  Enver  would  cause  a  pubKc  sensation. 
News  of  it  would  reach  the  farthest  limits  of  the  Turkish 
Empire,  and  it  was  certain  that  the  Turks  would  inter- 
pret it  as  meaning  that  one  of  the  two  most  powerful 
men  in  Turkey  had  taken  this  and  other  American 
institutions  under  his  patronage.  Such  a  visit  would 
exercise  a  greater  protective  influence  over  American 
colleges  and  schools  in  Turkey  than  an  army  corps. 
I  was  therefore  greatly  pleased  when  Enver  promptly 
adopted  my  suggestion. 

On  the  day  that  the  capitulations  were  abrogated, 
Enver  appeared  at  the  American  Embassy  with  two 
autos,  one  for  himself  and  me,  and  the  other  for  his 


118     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

adjutants,  all  of  whom  were  dressed  in  full  uniform. 
I  was  pleased  that  Enver  had  made  the  proceeding  so 
spectacular,  for  I  wished  it  to  have  the  widest  pub- 
licity. On  the  ride  up  to  the  college  I  told  Enver  all 
about  these  American  institutions  and  what  they  were 
doing  for  Turkey.  He  really  knew  very  little  about 
them,  and,  like  most  Turks,  he  half  suspected  that  they 
concealed  a  political  purpose. 

"We  Americans  are  not  looking  for  material  advan- 
tages in  Turkey,"  I  said.  "We  merely  demand  that 
you  treat  kindly  our  children,  these  colleges,  for  which 
all  the  people  in  the  United  States  have  the  warmest 
affection."  ^ 

I  told  him  that  Mr.  Cleveland  H.  Dodge,  President 
of  the  trustees  of  Robert  College,  and  Mr.  Charles  R. 
Crane,  President  of  the  trustees  of  the  Women's  College, 
were  intimate  friends  of  President  Wilson.  "These," 
I  added,  "represent  what  is  best  in  America  and  the 
fine  altruistic  spirit  which  in  our  country  accumulates 
wealth  and  then  uses  it  to  found  colleges  and  schools. 
In  establishing  these  institutions  in  Turkey  they  are 
trying,  not  to  convert  your  people  to  Christianity,  but 
to  help  train  them  in  the  sciences  and  arts  and  so  pre- 
pare to  make  them  better  citizens.  Americans  feel 
that  the  Bible  lands  have  given  them  their  religion 
and  they  wish  to  repay  with  the  best  thing  America  has 
— its  education."  I  then  told  him  about  Mrs.  Russell 
Sage  and  Miss  Helen  Gould,  who  had  made  large  gifts 
to  the  Women's  College. 

"But  where  do  these  people  get  all  the  money  for 
such  benefactions?"  Enver  asked. 

I  then  entertained  him  for  an  hour  or  so  with  a  few 
pages  from  our  own  "American  Nights."    I  told  him 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     119 

how  Jay  Gould  had  arrived  in  New  York,  a  penniless 
and  ragged  boy,  with  a  mousetrap  which  he  had  in- 
vented, and  how  he  had  died,  almost  thirty  years 
afterward,  leaving  a  fortune  of  about  $100,000,000. 
I  told  him  how  Commodore  Vanderbilt  had  started  life 
as  a  ferryman  and  had  become  America's  greatest  rail- 
road "magnate";  how  Rockefeller  had  begun  his  career 
sitting  on  a  high  stool  in  a  Cleveland  commission  house, 
earning  six  dollars  a  week,  and  had  created  the  greatest 
fortune  that  had  ever  been  accumulated  by  a  single 
man  in  the  world's  history.  I  told  him  how  the  Dodges 
had  become  our  great "  copper  kings"  and  the  Cranes  our 
great  manufacturers  of  iron  pipe.  Enver  found  these 
stories  more  thrilling  than  any  that  had  ever  come  out 
of  Bagdad,  and  I  found  afterward  that  he  had  retold 
them  so  frequently  that  they  had  reached  almost  all  the 
important  people  in  Constantinople. 

Enver  was  immensely  impressed  also  by  what  I  said 
about  the  American  institutions.  He  went  through  all 
the  buildings  and  expressed  his  enthusiasm  at  every- 
thing he  saw,  and  he  even  suggested  that  he  would  like 
to  send  his  brother  there.  He  took  tea  with  Mrs.  Gates, 
wife  of  President  Gates,  discussed  most  intelligently  the 
courses,  and  asked  if  we  could  not  introduce  the  study 
of  agriculture.  The  teachers  he  met  seemed  to  be  a 
great  revelation. 

"I  expected  to  find  these  missionaries  as  they  are 
pictured  in  the  Berlin  newspapers,"  he  said,  "with 
long  hair  and  hanging  jaws,  and  hands  clasped  con- 
stantly in  a  prayerful  attitude.  But  here  is  Dr.  Gates, 
talking  Turkish  like  a  native  and  acting  like  a  man  of 
the  world.  I  am  more  than  pleased,  and  thank  you 
for  bringing  me." 


120     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

We  all  saw  Enver  that  afternoon  in  his  most  de- 
lightful aspect.  My  idea  that  this  visit  in  itself  would 
protect  the  colleges  from  disturbance  proved  to  have 
been  a  happy  one.  The  Turkish  Empire  has  been  a 
tumultuous  place  in  the  last  four  years,  but  the  Ameri- 
can colleges  have  had  no  difficulties,  either  with  the 
Turkish  Government  or  with  the  Turkish  populace. 

This  visit  was  only  an  agreeable  interlude  in  events 
of  the  most  exciting  character.  Enver,  amiable  as  he 
could  be  on  occasion,  had  deliberately  determined  to 
put  Turkey  in  the  war  on  Germany's  side.  Germany 
had  now  reached  the  point  where  she  no  longer  con- 
cealed her  intentions.  Once  before,  when  I  had  inter- 
fered in  the  interest  of  peace,  Wangenheim  had  en- 
couraged my  action.  The  reason,  as  I  have  indicated, 
was  that,  at  that  time,  Germany  had  wished  Turkey  to 
keep  out  of  the  war,  for  the  German  General  Staff  ex- 
pected to  win  without  her  help.  But  now  Wangenheim 
wanted  Turkey  in.  As  I  was  not  working  in  Germany's 
interest,  but  as  I  was  anxious  to  protect  American  insti- 
tutions, I  still  kept  urging  Enver  and  Talaat  to  keep  out. 
This  made  Wangenheim  angry.  "I  thought  that  you 
were  a  neutral.'^"  he  now  exclaimed. 

"I  thought  that  you  were — in  Turkey,"  I  answered. 

Toward  the  end  of  October,  Wangenheim  was  leaving 
nothing  undone  to  start  hostihties;  all  he  needed  now 
was  a  favourable  occasion. 

Even  after  Germany  had  closed  the  Dardanelles,  the 
German  Ambassador's  task  was  not  an  easy  one.  Ta- 
laat was  not  yet  entirely  convinced  that  his  best  policy 
was  war,  and,  as  I  have  already  said,  there  was  still 
plenty  of  pro- Ally  sympathy  in  official  quarters.  It  was 
Talaat's  plan  not  to  seize  all  the  cabinet  offices  at  once. 


ENVER  PASHA,  MINISTER  OF  WAR 

A  man  of  the  people,  who,  at  26,  was  a  leader  in  the  revolution  which  de- 
posed Abdul  Hamid  and  established  the  new  regime  of  the  Young  Turks. 
At  that  time  the  Young  Turks  honestly  desired  to  establish  a  Turkish  de- 
mocracy. This  attempt  failed  miserably  and  the  Young  Turk  leaders  then 
ruled  the  Turkish  Empire  for  their  own  selfish  purposes,  and  developed 
a  government  which  is  much  more  wicked  and  murderous  than  that  of  Abdul 
Hamid.  Enver  is  the  man  chiefly  responsible  for  turning  the  Turkish  army 
over  to  Germany.  He  imagines  himself  a  Turkish  combination  of  Na- 
poleon and  Frederick  the  Great 


SAID  HALIM,  EX-GRAND  VIZIER 

Said  is  an  Egyptian  prince,  who  provided  campaign  money  for  the  political 
activities  of  the  Young  Turks,  and,  as  a  reward,  was  made  Grand  Vizier. 
In  this  position  he  was  not  permitted  to  exercise  any  real  authority.  He  was 
promised  that  when  the  Young  Turks  succeeded  in  expelling  England  from 
Egypt,  he  should  become  Khedive 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      121 

but  gradually  to  elbow  his  way  into  undisputed  control. 
At  this  crisis  the  most  popularly  respected  members 
of  the  Ministry  were  Djavid,  Minister  of  Finance,  a 
man  who  was  Jewish  by  race,  but  a  Mohammedan  by 
religion;  Mahmoud  Pasha,  Minister  of  Public  Works, 
a  Circassian;  Bustany  Effendi,  Minister  of  Commerce 
and  Agriculture,  a  Christian  Arab;  and  Oskan  Effendi, 
Minister  of  Posts  and  Telegraphs,  an  Armenian — and  a 
Christian,  of  course.  All  these  leaders,  as  well  as  the 
Grand  Vizier,  openly  opposed  war  and  all  now  informed 
Talaat  and  Enver  that  they  would  resign  if  Germany 
succeeded  in  her  intrigues.  Thus  the  atmosphere  was 
exciting;  how  tense  the  situation  was  a  single  episode 
will  show.  Sir  Louis  Mallet,  the  British  Ambassador, 
had  accepted  an  invitation  to  dine  at  the  American 
Embassy  on  October  20th,  but  he  sent  word  at  the  last 
moment  that  he  was  ill  and  could  not  come.  I  called 
on  the  Ambassador  an  hour  or  two  afterward  and  found 
him  in  his  garden,  apparently  in  the  best  of  health. 
Sir  Louis  smiled  and  said  that  his  illness  had  been  purely 
political.  He  had  received  a  letter  telling  him  that 
he  was  to  be  assassinated  that  evening,  this  letter  in- 
forming him  of  the  precise  spot  where  the  tragedy  was 
to  take  place,  and  the  time.  He  therefore  thought 
that  he  had  better  stay  indoors.  As  I  had  no  doubt 
that  some  such  crime  had  been  planned,  I  offered  Sir 
Louis  the  protection  of  our  Embassy.  I  gave  him  the 
key  to  the  back  gate  of  the  garden;  and,  with  Lord 
Wellesley,  one  of  his  secretaries — a  descendant  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington — I  made  all  arrangements  for  his 
escape  to  our  quarters  in  case  a  flight  became  necessary. 
Our  two  embassies  were  so  located  that,  in  the  event  of 
an  attack,  he  might  go  unobserved  from  the  back  gate 


122     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

of  his  to  the  back  gate  of  ours.  "These  people  are 
relapsing  into  the  Middle  Ages,"  said  Sir  Louis,  "when 
it  was  quite  the  thing  to  throw  ambassadors  into  dun- 
geons," and  I  think  that  he  anticipated  that  the  present 
Turks  might  treat  him  in  the  same  way.  I  at  once 
went  to  the  Grand  Vizier  and  informed  him  of  the 
situation,  insisting  that  nothing  less  than  a  visit  from 
Talaat  to  Sir  Louis,  assuring  him  of  his  safety,  would 
undo  the  harm  already  done.  I  could  make  this  demand 
with  propriety,  as  we  had  already  made  arrangements 
to  take  over  British  interests  when  the  break  came. 
Within  two  hours  Talaat  made  such  a  visit.  Though 
one  of  the  Turkish  newspapers  was  printing  scurrilous 
attacks  on  Sir  Louis  he  was  personally  very  popular 
with  the  Turks,  and  the  Grand  Vizier  expressed  his 
amazement  and  regret — and  he  was  entirely  sincere — 
that  such  threats  had  been  made. 


CHAPTER  XI 

GERMANY    FORCES    TURKEY    INTO    THE    WAR 

BUT  we  were  all  then  in  a  highly  nervous  state, 
because  we  knew  that  Germany  was  working 
hard  to  produce  a  casus  belli.  Souchon  fre- 
quently sent  the  Goehen  and  the  Breslau  to  manceuvre 
in  the  Black  Sea,  hoping  that  the  Russian  fleet  would 
attack.  There  were  several  pending  situations  that 
might  end  in  war.  Turkish  and  Russian  troops  were 
having  occasional  skirmishes  on  the  Persian  and  Cauca- 
sian frontier.  On  October  29th,  Bedouin  troops  crossed 
the  Egyptian  border  and  had  a  little  collision  with 
British  soldiers.  On  this  same  day  I  had  a  long  talk 
with  Talaat.  I  called  in  the  interest  of  the  British 
Ambassador,  to  tell  him  about  the  Bedouins  crossing 
into  Egypt.  *'I  suppose,"  Sir  Louis  wrote  me,  "that 
this  means  war;  you  might  mention  this  news  to  Talaat 
and  impress  upon  him  the  possible  results  of  this  mad 
act."  Already  Sir  Louis  had  had  difficulties  with 
Turkey  over  this  matter.  When  he  had  protested  to 
the  Grand  Vizier  about  the  Turkish  troops  near  the 
Egyptian  frontier,  the  Turkish  statesman  had  pointedly 
replied  that  Turkey  recognized  no  such  thing  as  an 
Egyptian  frontier.  By  this  he  meant,  of  course,  that 
Egypt  itself  was  Turkish  territory  and  that  the  English 
occupation  was  a  temporary  usurpation.  When  I 
brought  this  Egyptian  situation  to  Talaat's  attention 
he  said  that  no  Ottoman  Bedouins  had  crossed  into 

123 


124     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

Egypt.  The  Turks  had  been  building  wells  on  the 
Sinai  peninsula  to  use  in  case  war  broke  out  with 
England;  England  was  destroying  these  wells  and  the 
Bedouins,  said  Talaat,  had  interfered  to  stop  this  de- 
struction. 

At  this  meeting  Talaat  frankly  told  me  that  Turkey 
had  decided  to  side  with  the  Germans  and  to  sink  or 
swim  with  them.  He  went  again  over  the  familiar 
grounds,  and  added  that  if  Germany  won — and  Talaat 
said  that  he  was  convinced  that  Germany  would  win — 
the  Kaiser  would  get  his  revenge  on  Turkey  if  Turkey 
had  not  helped  him  to  obtain  this  victory.  Talaat 
frankly  admitted  that  fear — the  motive,  which,  as  I 
have  said,  is  the  one  that  chiefly  inspires  Turkish  acts — 
was  driving  Turkey  into  a  German  alliance.  He 
analyzed  the  whole  situation  most  dispassionately; 
he  said  that  nations  could  not  afford  such  emotions  as 
gratitude,  or  hate,  or  afiection;  the  only  guide  to  action 
should  be  cold-blooded  policy. 

"At  this  moment,"  said  Talaat,  "it  is  for  our  interest 
to  side  with  Germany;  if,  a  month  from  now,  it  is  our 
interest  to  embrace  France  and  England  we  shall  do 
that  just  as  readily." 

"Russia  is  our  greatest  enemy,"  he  continued; 
"and  we  are  afraid  of  her.  If  now,  while  Germany  is 
attacking  Russia,  we  can  give  her  a  good  strong  kick, 
and  so  make  her  powerless  to  injure  us  for  some  time, 
it  is  Turkey's  duty  to  administer  that  kick!" 

And  then  turning  to  me  with  a  half-melancholy, 
half-defiant  smile,  he  summed  up  the  whole  situation. 

"7cA  mit  dieDeutschen,"  he  said, in  hisbroken  German. 

Because  the  Cabinet  was  so  divided,  however,  the 
Germans  themselves  had  to  push  Turkey  over  the  preci- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      125 

pice.  The  evening  following  my  talk  with  Talaat, 
most  fateful  news  came  from  Russia.  Three  Turkish 
torpedo  boats  had  entered  the  harbour  of  Odessa,  had 
sunk  the  Russian  gunboat  Donetz,  killing  a  part  of  the 
crew,  and  had  damaged  two  Russian  dreadnaughts. 
They  also  sank  the  French  ship  Portugal^  killing  two  of 
the  crew  and  wounding  two  others.  They  then  turned 
their  shells  on  the  town  and  destroyed  a  sugar  factory, 
with  some  loss  of  life.  German  oflScers  commanded 
these  Turkish  vessels;  there  were  very  few  Turks  on. 
board,  as  the  Turkish  crews  had  been  given  a  hohday  for 
the  Turkish  religious  festival  of  Bairam.  The  act  was 
simply  a  wanton  and  unprovoked  one;  the  Germans 
raided  the  town  deliberately,  in  order  to  make  war  in- 
evitable. The  German  oflBcers  on  the  General^  as  my 
friend  had  told  me,  were  constantly  threatening  to 
commit  some  such  act,  if  Turkey  did  not  do  so;  well, 
now  they  had  done  it.  When  this  news  reached  Con- 
stantinople, Djemal  was  playing  cards  at  the  Cercle 
d'Orient.  As  Djemal  was  Minister  of  Marine,  this 
attack,  had  it  been  an  oflficial  act  of  Turkey,  could  have 
been  made  only  on  his  orders.  When  someone  called 
him  from  the  card  table  to  tell  him  the  news,  Djemal 
was  much  excited.  "I  know  nothing  about  it,"  he 
replied.  "It  has  not  been  done  by  my  orders."  On 
the  evening  of  the  29th  I  had  another  talk  with  Talaat. 
He  told  me  that  he  had  known  nothing  of  this  attack 
beforehand  and  that  the  whole  responsibility  rested 
with  the  German,  Admiral  Souchon. 

Whether  Djemal  and  Talaat  were  telling  the  truth  in 
thus  pleading  ignorance  I  do  not  know;  my  opinion  is 
that  they  were  expecting  some  such  outrage  as  this. 
But  there  is  no  question  that  the  Grand  Vizier,  Salid 


126     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

Halim,  was  genuinely  grieved.  Wlien  M.  Bompard 
and  Sir  Louis  Mallet  called  on  him  and  demanded  their 
passports,  he  burst  into  tears.  He  begged  them  to  de- 
lay; he  was  sure  that  the  matter  could  be  adjusted.  The 
Grand  Vizier  was  the  only  member  of  the  Cabinet 
whom  Enver  and  Talaat  particularly  wished  to  placate. 
As  a  prince  of  the  royal  house  of  Egypt  and  as  an  ex- 
tremely rich  nobleman,  his  presence  in  the  Cabinet,  as  I 
have  already  said,  gave  it  a  certain  standing.  This 
probably  explains  the  message  which  I  now  received. 
Talaat  asked  me  to  call  upon  the  Russian  Ambassador 
and  ask  what  amends  Turkey  could  make  that  would 
satisfy  the  Czar.  There  is  httle  likelihood  that  Talaat 
sincerely  wished  me  to  patch  up  the  difficulty;  his 
purpose  was  merely  to  show  the  Grand  Vizier  that  he 
was  attempting  to  meet  his  wishes,  and,  in  this  way,  to 
keep  him  in  the  Cabinet.  I  saw  M.  Giers,  but  found 
him  in  no  submissive  mood.  He  said  that  Turkey  could 
make  amends  only  by  dismissing  all  the  German  offi- 
cers in  the  Turkish  army  and  navy;  he  had  his  mstruc- 
tions  to  leave  at  once  and  he  intended  to  do  so.  How- 
ever, he  would  wait  long  enough  in  Bulgaria  to  receive 
their  reply,  and,  if  they  accepted  his  terms,  he  would 
come  back. 

"Russia,  herself,  will  guarantee  that  the  Turkish 
fleet  does  not  again  come  into  the  Black  Sea,"  said  M. 
Giers,  grimly.  Talaat  called  on  me  in  the  afternoon, 
saying  that  he  had  just  had  lunch  with  Wangenheim. 
The  Cabinet  had  the  Russian  reply  under  consideration, 
he  said;  the  Grand  Vizier  wished  to  have  M.  Giers's 
terms  put  in  writing;  would  I  attempt  to  get  it?  By 
this  time  Garroni,  the  Italian  Ambassador,  had  taken 
charge  of  Russian  aflFairs,  and  I  told  Talaat  that  such 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      127 

negotiations  were  out  of  my  hands  and  that  any  further 
negotiations  must  be  conducted  through  him. 

"Why  don't  you  drop  your  mask  as  messenger  boy 
of  the  Grand  Vizier  and  talk  to  me  as  Talaat?  "  I  asked. 

He  laughed  and  said:  "Well,  Wangenheim,  Enver, 
and  I  prefer  that  the  war  shall  come  now." 

Bustany,  Oskan,  Mahmoud,  and  Djavid  at  once 
carried  out  their  threats  and  resigned  from  the  Cabinet, 
thus  leaving  the  government  in  the  hands  of  Moslem 
Turks.  The  Grand  Vizier,  although  he  had  threatened 
to  resign,  did  not  do  so;  he  was  exceedingly  pompous 
and  vain,  and  enjoyed  the  dignities  of  his  office  so  much 
that,  when  it  came  to  the  final  decision,  he  could  not 
surrender  them.  Thus  the  net  result  of  Turkey's  en- 
trance into  the  war,  so  far  as  internal  politics  was  con- 
cerned, was  to  put  the  nation  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
Committee  of  Union  and  Progress,  which  now  controlled 
the  Government  in  practically  all  its  departments. 
Thus  the  idealistic  organization  which  had  come  into 
existence  to  give  Turkey  the  blessings  of  democracy  had 
ended  by  becoming  a  tool  of  Prussian  autocracy. 

One  final  picture  I  have  of  these  exciting  days.  On 
the  evening  of  the  30th  I  called  at  the  British  Embassy. 
British  residents  were  already  streaming  in  large  num- 
bers to  my  office  for  protection,  and  fears  of  ill  treat- 
ment, even  the  massacre  of  foreigners,  filled  every- 
body's mind.  Amid  all  this  tension  I  found  one  im- 
perturbable figure.  Sir  Louis  was  sitting  in  the  chan- 
cery, before  a  huge  fireplace,  with  large  piles  of  docu- 
ments heaped  about  him  in  a  semi-circle.  Secretaries 
and  clerks  were  constantly  entering,  their  arms  full 
of  papers,  which  they  added  to  the  accumulations  al- 
ready surrounding  the  Ambassador.     Sir  Louis  would 


128     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

take  up  document  after  document,  glance  through  it 
and  almost  invariably  drop  it  into  the  fire.  These 
papers  contained  the  embassy  records  for  probably  a 
hundred  years.  In  them  were  written  the  great 
achievements  of  a  long  line  of  distinguished  ambassa- 
dors. They  contained  the  story  of  all  the  diplomatic 
triumphs  in  Turkey  of  Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  the 
"Great  Elchi,"  as  the  Turks  called  him,  who,  for  the 
greater  part  of  almost  fifty  years,  from  1810  to  1858, 
practically  ruled  the  Turkish  Empire  in  the  interest 
of  England.  The  records  of  other  great  British  am- 
bassadors at  the  Sublime  Porte  now  went,  one  by  one, 
into  Sir  Louis  Mallet's  fire.  The  long  story  of  British 
ascendency  in  Turkey  had  reached  its  close.  The 
twenty-years*  campaign  of  the  Kaiser  to  destroy  Eng- 
land's influence  and  to  become  England's  successor 
had  finally  triumphed,  and  the  blaze  in  Sir  Louis's 
chancery  was  really  the  funeral  pyre  of  England's  van- 
ished power  in  Turkey.  As  I  looked  upon  this  dignified 
and  yet  somewhat  pensive  diplomat,  sitting  there  amid 
all  the  splendours  of  the  British  Embassy,  I  naturally 
thought  of  how  once  the  sultans  had  bowed  with  fear 
and  awe  before  the  majesty  of  England,  in  the  days 
when  Prussia  and  Germany  were  little  more  than  names. 
Yet  the  British  Ambassador,  as  is  usually  the  case  with 
British  diplomatic  and  military  figures,  was  quiet  and 
self-possessed.  We  sat  there  before  his  fire  and  dis- 
cussed the  details  of  his  departure.  He  gave  me  a  list 
of  the  English  residents  who  were  to  leave  and  those 
who  were  to  stay,  and  I  made  final  arrangements  with 
Sir  Louis  for  taking  over  British  interests.  Distressing 
in  many  ways  as  was  this  collapse  of  British  influence 
in  Turkey,  the  honour  of  Great  Britain  and  that  of  her 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      129 

ambassador  was  still  secure.  Sir  Louis  had  not  pur- 
chased Turkish  officials  with  money,  as  had  Wangen- 
heim;  he  had  not  corrupted  the  Turkish  press,  trampled 
on  every  remaining  vestige  of  international  law,  fra- 
ternized with  a  gang  of  political  desperadoes,  and  con- 
ducted a  ceaseless  campaign  of  misrepresentations  and 
lies  against  his  enemy.  The  diplomatic  game  that  had 
ended  in  England's  defeat  was  one  which  English 
statesmen  were  not  qualified  to  play.  It  called  for 
talents  such  as  only  a  Wangenheim  possessed — it 
needed  that  German  statecraft  which,  in  accordance 
with  Bismarck's  maxim,  was  ready  to  sacrifice  for  the 
Fatherland  "not  only  Hfe  but  honour." 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  TURKS  ATTEMPT  TO  TREAT  ALIEN  ENEMIES  DECENTLY 
BUT  THE  GERMANS  INSIST  ON  PERSECUTING  THEM 

SOON  after  the  bombardment  of  Odessa  I  was 
closeted  with  Enver,  discussing  the  subject 
which  was  then  uppennost  in  the  minds  of  all 
the  foreigners  in  Turkey.  How  would  the  Government 
treat  its  resident  enemies?  Would  it  intern  them,  es- 
tabhsh  concentration  camps,  pursue  them  with  Ger- 
man malignity,  and  perhaps  apply  the  favourite  Turk- 
ish measure  with  Christians — torture  and  massacre? 
Thousands  of  enemy  subjects  were  then  living  in  the 
Ottoman  Empire;  many  of  them  had  spent  their  whole 
lives  there;  others  had  even  been  bom  on  Ottoman  soil. 
All  these  people,  when  Turkey  entered  the  war,  had  every 
reason  to  expect  the  harshest  kind  of  treatment.  It  is 
no  exaggeration  to  say  that  most  of  them  lived  in  con- 
stant fear  of  murder.  The  Dardanelles  had  been 
closed,  so  that  there  was  little  chance  that  outside 
help  could  reach  these  aliens;  the  capitulatory  rights, 
under  which  they  had  lived  for  centuries,  had  been  abro- 
gated. There  was  really  nothing  between  the  foreign 
residents  and  destruction  except  the  American  flag. 
The  state  of  war  had  now  made  me,  as  American  Am- 
bassador, the  protector  of  all  British,  French,  Serbian, 
and  Belgian  subjects.  I  realized  from  the  beginning 
that  my  task  would  be  a  diflScult  one.  On  one  hand 
were  the  Germans,  urging  their  well-known  ideas  of 

130 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      131 

repression  and  brutality,  while  on  the  other  were  the 
Turks,  with  their  traditional  aversion  to  Christians  and 
their  natural  instinct  to  maltreat  those  who  are  help- 
lessly placed  in  their  power. 

Yet  I  had  certain  strong  arguments  on  my  side  and 
I  now  had  called  upon  Enver  for  the  purpose  of  laying 
them  before  him.  Turkey  desired  the  good  opinion  of 
the  United  States,  and  hoped,  after  the  war,  to  find 
support  among  American  financiers.  At  that  time  all 
the  embassies  in  Constantinople  took  it  for  granted 
that  the  United  States  would  be  the  j>eacemaker;  if  Tur- 
key exp>ected  us  to  be  her  friend,  I  now  told  Enver,  she 
would  have  to  treat  enemy  foreigners  in  a  civilized  way. 

"You  hope  to  be  reinstated  as  a  world  power,"  I 
said.  "You  must  remember  that  the  civilized  world 
will  carefully  watch  you;  your  future  status  will  depend 
on  how  you  conduct  yourself  in  war."  The  ruling  classes 
among  the  Turks,  including  Enver,  realized  that  the  out- 
side world  regarded  them  as  a  people  who  had  no  respect 
for  the  sacredness  of  human  life  or  the  finer  emotions 
and  they  keenly  resented  this  attitude.  I  now  reminded 
Enver  that  Turkey  had  a  splendid  opportunity  to  dis- 
prove all  these  criticisms.  "  The  world  may  say  you  are 
barbarians,"  I  argued;  "show  by  the  way  you  treat 
these  aUen  enemies  that  you  are  not.  Only  in  this 
way  can  you  be  freed  permanently  from  the  ignominy 
of  the  capitulations.  Prove  that  you  are  worthy  of 
being  emancipated  from  foreign  tutelage.  Be  civilized 
— be  modern!" 

In  view  of  what  was  happening  in  Belgium  and 
northern  France  at  that  moment,  my  use  of  the  word 
"modern,"  was  a  little  unfortunate.  Enver  quickly 
saw  the  point.    Up  to  this  time  he  had  maintained  his 


132     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

usual  attitude  of  erect  and  dignified  composure,  and  his 
face,  as  always,  had  been  attentive,  imperturbable,  al- 
most expressionless.  Now  in  a  flash  his  whole  bearing 
changed.  His  countenance  broke  into  a  cynical  smile, 
he  leaned  over,  brought  his  fist  down  on  the  table,  and 
said: 

"Modern!  No;  however  Turkey  shall  wage  war,  at 
least  we  shall  not  be  'modem.'  That  is  the  most  bar- 
baric system  of  all.  We  shall  simply  try  to  be  de- 
cent!" 

Naturally  I  construed  this  as  a  promise;  I  understood 
the  changeableness  of  the  Turkish  character  well 
enough,  however,  to  know  that  more  than  a  promise  was 
necessary.  The  Germans  were  constantly  prodding  the 
Turkish  oflScials,  i>ersuading  them  to  adopt  the  favour- 
ite German  plan  against  enemy  aliens.  Germany  has 
revived  many  of  the  principles  of  ancient  and  medi- 
eval warfare,  one  of  her  most  barbaric  resurrections  from 
the  past  being  this  practice  of  keeping  certain  repre- 
sentatives of  the  population,  preferably  people  of  dis- 
tinction and  influence,  as  hostages  for  the  "good  be- 
haviour" of  others.  At  this  moment  the  German  mili- 
tary staff  was  urging  the  Turks  to  keep  foreign  residents 
for  this  purpose.  Just  as  the  Germans  held  non- 
combatants  in  Belgium  as  security  for  the  "friendliness** 
of  the  Belgians,  and  placed  Belgian  women  and  children 
at  the  head  of  their  advancing  armies,  so  the  Germans 
in  Turkey  were  now  planning  to  use  French  and  British 
residents  as  part  of  their  protective  system  against  the 
AlHed  fleet.  That  this  sinister  influence  was  constantly 
at  work  I  well  knew;  therefore  it  was  necessary  that 
I  should  meet  it  immediately,  and,  if  possible,  gain  the 
upper  hand  at  the  very  start.    I  decided  that  the  de- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     133 

parture  of  the  Entente  diplomats  and  residents  from 
Constantinople  would  really  put  to  the  test  my  ability 
to  protect  the  foreign  residents.  K  all  the  French  and 
English  who  really  wished  to  leave  could  safely  get  out 
of  Turkey,  I  believed  that  this  demonstration  would 
have  a  restraining  influence,  not  only  upon  the  Ger- 
mans, but  upon  the  underlings  of  the  Turkish  official 
world. 

As  soon  as  I  arrived  at  the  railroad  station,  the  day 
following  the  break,  I  saw  that  my  task  was  to^^e  a  diffi- 
cult one.  I  had  arranged  with  the  Turkish  authori- 
ties for  two  trains;  one  for  the  English  and  French  resi- 
dents, which  was  to  leave  at  seven  o'clock,  and  one  for 
the  diplomats  and  their  staff,  which  was  to  go  at  nine. 
But  the  arrangement  was  not  working  according  to 
schedule.  The  station  was  a  surging  mass  of  excited 
and  frightened  people;  the  police  were  there  in  full 
force,  pushing  the  crowds  back;  the  scene  was  an  inde- 
scribable mixture  of  soldiers,  gendarmes,  diplomats,  bag- 
gage, and  Turkish  functionaries. 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  figures  was  Bedri  Bey, 
prefect  of  police,  a  lawyer  politician,  who  had  recently 
been  elevated  to  this  position,  and  who  keenly  realized 
the  importance  of  his  new  office.  Bedri  was  an  inti- 
mate friend  and  political  subordinate  of  Talaat  and  one 
of  his  most  valuable  tools.  He  ranked  high  in  the  Com- 
mittee of  Union  and  Progress,  and  aspired  ultimately 
to  obtain  a  cabinet  position.  Perhaps  his  most  im- 
pelling motive  was  his  hatred  of  foreigners  and  foreign 
influence.  In  his  eyes  Turkey  was  the  land  exclusively  of 
the  Turks;  he  despised  all  the  other  elements  in  its  popu- 
lation, and  he  particularly  resented  the  control  which 
the  foreign  embassies  had  for  years  exerted  in  the  do- 


1S4     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

mestic  concerns  of  his  country.  Indeed,  there  were 
few  men  in  Turkey  with  whom  the  permanent  aboli- 
tion of  the  capitulations  was  such  a  serious  matter. 
Naturally  in  the  next  few  months  I  saw  much  of  Bedri; 
he  was  constantly  crossing  my  path,  taking  an  almost 
maHcious  pleasure  in  interfering  with  every  move  which 
I  made  in  the  interest  of  the  foreigners.  His  attitude 
was  half  provoking,  half  jocular;  we  were  always  trying 
to  outwit  each  other — I  attempting  to  protect  the 
French  and  British,  Bedri  always  turning  up  as  an 
obstacle  to  my  efforts;  the  fight  for  the  foreigners, 
indeed,  almost  degenerated  into  a  personal  duel  be- 
tween the  Prefect  of  Police  and  the  American  Embassy. 
Bedri  was  capable,  well  educated,  very  agUe,  and  not 
particularly  ill-natured,  but  he  loved  to  toy  with  a 
helpless  foreigner.  Naturally,  he  found  his  occupation 
this  evening  a  congenial  one. 

"What's  all  the  trouble  about?"  I  asked  Bedri. 

"We  have  changed  our  minds,"  he  said,  and  his 
manner  showed  that  the  change  had  not  been  displeas- 
ing to  him.  "We  shall  let  the  train  go  that  is  to  take 
the  ambassadors  and  their  staffs.  But  we  have  de- 
cided not  to  let  the  unofficial  classes  leave — the  train 
that  was  to  take  them  will  not  go." 

My  staff  and  I  had  worked  hard  to  get  this  safe 
passage  for  the  enemy  nationals.  Now  apparently 
some  influence  had  negatived  our  efforts.  This  sudden 
change  in  plans  was  producing  the  utmost  confusion 
and  consternation.  At  the  station  there  were  two 
'groups  of  passengers,  one  of  which  could  go  and  the 
other  of  which  could  not.  The  British  and  French 
ambassadors  did  not  wish  to  leave  their  nationals  be- 
hind, and  the  latter  refused  to  believe  that  their  train. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      135 

Y/hich  the  Turkish  officials  had  definitely  promised, 
would  not  start  sometime  that  evening.  -I  immedi- 
ately called  up  Enver,  who  substantiated  Bedri's  state- 
ment. Turkey  had  many  subjects  in  Egypt,  he  said, 
whose  situation  was  causing  great  anxiety.  Before 
the  French  and  English  residents  could  leave  Turkey, 
assurances  must  be  given  that  the  rights  of  Turkish 
subjects  in  these  countries  would  be  protected.  I  had 
no  difficulty  in  arranging  this  detail,  for  Sir  Louis  Mal- 
let immediately  gave  the  necessary  assurances.  How- 
ever, this  did  not  settle  the  matter;  indeed,  it  had  been 
little  more  than  a  pretext.  Bedri  still  refused  to  let 
the  train  start;  the  order  holding  it  up,  he  said,  could 
not  be  rescinded,  for  that  would  now  disarrange  the 
general  schedule  and  might  cause  accidents.  I  recog- 
nized all  this  as  mere  Turkish  evasion  and  I  knew  that 
the  order  had  come  from  a  higher  source  than  Bedri; 
still  nothing  could  be  done  at  that  moment.  Moreover, 
Bedri  would  let  no  one  get  on  the  diplomatic  train  imtil 
I  had  personally  identified  him.  So  I  had  to  stand 
at  a  little  gate,  and  pass  upon  each  appKcant.  Every- 
one, whether  he  belonged  to  the  diplomatic  corps  or 
not,  attempted  to  force  himself  through  this  narrow  pas- 
sageway, and  we  had  an  old-fashioned  Brooklyn  Bridge 
crush  on  a  small  scale.  People  were  running  in  all 
directions,  checking  baggage,  purchasing  tickets,  argu- 
ing with  officials,  consoling  distracted  women  and 
frightened  children,  while  Bedri,  calm  and  collected, 
watched  the  whole  pandemonium  with  an  unsympa- 
thetic smile.  Hats  were  knocked  off,  clothing  was 
torn,  and,  to  add  to  the  confusion.  Mallet,  the  British 
Ambassador,  became  involved  in  a  set-to  with  an  offi- 
cious Turk — the  EngHshman  winning  first  honours 


136      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

easily;  and  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  Borapartl,  the  Frenc': 
Ambassador,  vigorously  shaking  a  Turkish  policeman. 
One  lady  dropped  her  baby  in  my  arms,  later  another 
handed  me  a  small  boy,  and  still  later,  when  I  was 
standing  at  the  gate,  identifying  Turkey's  departing 
guests,  one  of  the  British  secretaries  made  me  the  cus- 
todian of  his  dog.  Meanwhile,  Sir  Louis  Mallet  be- 
came obstreperous  and  refused  to  leave. 

"I  shall  stay  here,"  he  said,  "until  the  last  British 
subject  leaves  Turkey." 

But  I  told  him  that  he  was  no  longer  the  protector 
of  the  British;  that  I,  as  American  Ambassador,  had 
assumed  this  responsibility;  and  that  I  could  hardly 
assert  myself  in  this  capacity  if  he  remained  in  Con- 
stantinople. 

"Certainly,"  I  said,  "the  Turks  would  not  recognize 
me  as  in  charge  of  British  interests  if  you  remain  here." 

Moreover,  I  suggested  that  he  remain  at  Dedeagatch 
for  a  few  days,  and  await  the  arrival  of  his  fellow  Brit- 
ish. Sir  Louis  reluctantly  accepted  my  j>oint  of  view 
and  boarded  the  train.  As  the  train  left  the  station  I 
caught  my  final  glimpse  of  the  British  Ambassador, 
sitting  in  a  private  car,  almost  buried  in  a  mass  of 
trunks,  satchels,  boxes,  and  diploniatic  pouches,  sur- 
rounded by  his  embassy  staff,  and  sympathetically 
watched  by  his  secretary's  dog. 

The  unofficial  foreigners  remained  in  the  station  sev- 
eral hours,  hoping  that,  at  the  last  moment,  they  would 
be  permitted  to  go.  Bedri,  however,  was  inexorable. 
Their  position  was  almost  desperate.  They  had  given 
up  their  quarters  in  Constantinople,  and  now  found 
themselves  practically  stranded.  Some  were  taken  in 
by  friends  for  the  night,  others  found  accommodations 


SIR  LOUIS  MALLET 

'  hi  the  left.)     British  Ambassador  in  Constantinople  when  the  war  began. 
To  the  right  is  M.  Bompard,  the  French  Ambassador 


GENERAL  LIMAN  VON  SANDERS 

This  is  the  head  of  the  military  mission  sent  by  the  Kaiser  to  Constan- 
tinople in  the  latter  part  of  1913,  to  reorganize  the  Turkish  army  in  prepa- 
ration for  the  coming  war.  He  really  directed  the  Tm-kish  mobilization  in 
August,  1914 — three  months  before  Tm-key  declared  war 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      137 

in  hotels.  But  their  situation  caused  the  utmost 
anxiety.  Evidently,  despite  all  oflScial  promises,  Tur- 
key was  determined  to  keep  these  foreign  residents 
as  hostages.  On  the  one  hand  were  Enver  and  Talaat, 
telling  me  that  they  intended  to  conduct  their  war 
in  a  humane  manner,  and,  on  the  other,  were  their 
underhngs,  such  as  Bedri,  behaving  in  a  fashion  that 
negatived  all  these  civiKzed  pretensions.  The  fact 
was  that  the  officials  were  quarrelling  among  themselves 
about  the  treatment  of  foreigners;  and  the  German 
General  Staff  was  telling  the  Cabinet  that  they  were 
making  a  great  mistake  in  showing  any  leniency  to  their 
enemy  aliens.  Finally,  I  succeeded  in  making  ar- 
rangements for  them  to  leave  the  following  day.  Bedri, 
in  more  complaisant  mood,  spent  that  afternoon  at  the 
embassy,  viseing  passports;  we  both  went  to  the  sta- 
tion in  the  evening  and  started  the  train  safely  toward 
Dedeagatch.  I  gave  a  box  of  candy — "Turkish  De- 
lights," to  each  one  of  the  fifty  women  and  children  on 
the  train;  it  altogether  was  a  happy  party  and  they 
made  no  attempt  to  hide  their  relief  at  leaving  Turkey. 
At  Dedeagatch  they  met  the  diplomatic  corps,  and  the 
reunion  that  took  place,  I  afterward  learned,  was  ex- 
tremely touching.  I  was  made  happy  by  receiving 
many  testimonials  of  their  gratitude,  in  particular  a 
letter,  signed  by  more  than  a  hundred,  expressing  their 
thanks  to  Mrs.  Morgenthau,  the  embassy  staff,  and  my- 
self. 

There  were  still  many  who  wished  to  go  and  next 
day  I  called  on  Talaat  in  their  behalf.  I  found  him  in 
one  of  his  most  gracious  moods.  The  Cabinet,  he  said, 
had  carefully  considered  the  whole  matter  of  English 
and  French  residents  in  Turkey,  and  my  arguments,  he 


138     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

added,  had  greatly  influenced  them.  They  had  reached 
the  formal  decision  that  enemy  aHens  could  leave  or 
remain,  as  they  preferred.  There  would  be  no  con- 
centration camps,  civilians  could  pursue  their  usual 
business  in  peace,  and,  so  long  as  they  behaved  them- 
selves, they  would  not  be  molested. 

"We  propose  to  show,"  said  Talaat,  "by  our  treat- 
ment of  aliens,  that  we  are  not  a  race  of  barbarians.'* 

In  return  for  this  promise  he  asked  a  favour  of  me: 
would  I  not  see  that  Turkey  was  praised  in  the  Ameri- 
can and  European  press  for  this  decision? 

After  returning  to  the  embassy  I  immediately  sent 
for  Mr.  Theron  Damon,  correspondent  of  the  Associ- 
ated Press,  Doctor  Lederer,  correspondent  of  the 
Berliner  Tageblatt,  and  Doctor  Sandler,  who  repre- 
sented the  Paris  Herald,  and  gave  them  interviews, 
praising  the  attitude  of  Turkey  toward  the  foreign  resi- 
dents. I  also  cabled  the  news  to  Washington,  London, 
and  Paris  and  to  all  our  consuls. 

Hardly  had  I  finished  with  the  correspondents  when 
I  again  received  alarming  news.  I  had  arranged  for 
another  train  that  evening,  and  I  now  heard  that  the 
Turks  were  refusing  to  vise  the  passports  of  those  whose 
departure  I  had  provided  for.  This  news,  coming 
right  after  Talaat's  explicit  promise,  was  naturally  dis- 
turbing. I  immediately  started  for  the  railroad  station, 
and  the  sight  which  I  saw  there  increased  my  anger  at 
the  Minister  of  the  Interior.  A  mass  of  distracted  peo- 
ple fiUed  the  inclosure;  the  women  were  weeping,  and 
the  children  were  screaming,  while  a  platoon  of  Turkish 
soldiers,  commanded  by  an  undersized  popinjay  of  a 
major,  was  driving  everybody  out  of  the  station  with 
the  flat  sides  of  their  guns.    Bedri,  as  usual,  was  there. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      139 

and  as  usual,  he  was  clearly  enjoying  the  confusion;  cer- 
tain of  the  passengers,  he  told  me,  had  not  paid  their 
income  tax,  and,  for  this  reason,  they  would  not  be 
permitted  to  leave.  I  announced  that  I  would  be  per- 
sonally responsible  for  this  payment. 

"I  can't  get  ahead  of  you,  Mr.  Ambassador,  can  I?" 
said  Bedri,  with  a  laugh.  From  this  we  all  thought 
that  my  oflFer  had  settled  the  matter  and  that  the  train 
would  leave  according  to  schedule.  But  then  suddenly, 
came  another  order  holding  it  up  again. 

Since  I  had  just  had  a  promise  from  Talaat  I  de- 
cided to  find  that  functionary  and  learn  what  all  this 
meant.  I  jumped  into  my  automobile  and  went  to  the 
SubUme  Porte,  where  he  usually  had  his  headquarters. 
Finding  no  one  there,  I  told  the  chauffeur  to  drive  di- 
rectly to  Talaat's  house.  Sometime  before  I  had  visited 
Enver  in  his  domestic  surroundings  and  this  occasion 
now  gave  me  the  opportunity  to  compare  his  manner 
of  life  with  that  of  his  more  powerful  associate.  The 
contrast  was  a  startling  one.  I  had  found  Enver  living 
in  luxury,  in  one  of  the  most  aristocratic  parts  of  the 
town,  while  now  I  was  driving  to  one  of  the  poorer  sec- 
tions. We  came  to  a  narrow  street,  bordered  by  little 
rough,  unpainted  wooden  houses;  only  one  thing  dis- 
tinguished this  thoroughfare  from  all  others  in  Con- 
stantinople and  suggested  that  it  was  the  abiding  place 
of  the  most  powerful  man  in  the  Turkish  Empire.  At 
either  end  stood  a  poUceman,  letting  no  one  enter  who 
could  not  give  a  satisfactory  reason  for  doing  so.  Our 
auto,  Hke  all  others,  was  stopped,  but  we  were  promptly 
permitted  to  pass  when  we  explained  who  we  were.  As 
contrasted  with  Enver's  palace,  with  its  innumerable 
rooms  and  gorgeous  furniture,  Talaat's  house  was  an 


140     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

old,  rickety,  wooden,  three-story  building.  All  this,  I 
afterward  learned,  was  part  of  the  setting  which  Talaat 
had  staged  for  his  career.  Like  many  an  American 
pohtician,  he  had  found  his  position  as  a  man  of  "the 
people"  a  valuable  pohtical  asset,  and  he  knew  that  a 
sudden  display  of  prosperity  and  ostentation  would 
weaken  his  influence  with  the  Union  and  Progress  Com- 
mittee, most  of  whose  members,  like  himself,  had  risen 
from  the  lower  walks  of  life.  The  contents  of  the 
house  were  quite  in  keeping  with  the  exterior.  There 
were  no  suggestions  of  Oriental  magnificence.  The 
furniture  was  cheap;  a  few  coarse  prints  hung  on  the 
walls,  and  one  or  two  well-worn  rugs  were  scat- 
tered on  the  floor.  On  one  side  stood  a  wooden  table, 
and  on  this  rested  a  telegraph  instrument — once  Talaat 's 
means  of  earning  a  living,  and  now  a  means  by  which 
he  communicated  with  his  associates.  In  the  present 
troubled  conditions  in  Turkey  Talaat  sometimes  pre- 
ferred to  do  his  own  telegraphing! 

Amid  these  surroundings  I  awaited  for  a  few  minutes 
the  entrance  of  the  Big  Boss  of  Turkey.  In  due  time 
a  door  opened  at  the  other  end  of  the  room,  and  a  huge, 
lumbering,  gaUy-decorated  figure  entered.  I  was 
startled  by  the  contrast  which  this  Talaat  presented  to 
the  one  who  had  become  such  a  familiar  figure  to  me 
at  the  Sublime  Porte.  It  was  no  longer  the  Talaat  of 
the  European  clothes  and  the  thin  veneer  of  Europ>ean 
manners;  the  man  whom  I  now  saw  looked  like  a  real 
Bulgarian  gypsy.  Talaat  wore  the  usual  red  Turkish 
fez;  the  rest  of  his  bulky  form  was  clothed  in  thick  gray 
pajamas;  and  from  this  combination  protruded  a  ro- 
tund, smiling  face.  His  mood  was  half  genial,  half 
deprecating;   Talaat   well   understood   what  pressing 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      141 

business  had  led  me  to  invade  his  domestic  privacy,  and 
his  behaviour  now  resembled  that  of  the  unrepentant 
bad  boy  in  school.  He  came  and  sat  down  with  a 
good-natured  grin,  and  began  to  make  excuses.  Quietly 
the  door  opened  again,  and  a  hesitating  little  girl  was 
pushed  into  the  room,  bringing  a  tray  of  cigarettes  and 
coffee.  Presently  I  saw  that  a  young  woman,  appar- 
ently about  twenty-five  years  old,  was  standing  back  of 
the  child,  urging  her  to  enter.  Here,  then,  were  Talaat's 
wife  and  adopted  daughter;  I  had  already  discovered 
that,  while  Turkish  women  never  enter  society  or  act  as 
hostesses,  they  are  extremely  inquisitive  about  their 
husbands'  guests,  and  like  to  get  surreptitious  glimpses 
of  them.  Evidently  Madame  Talaat,  on  this  occa- 
sion, was  not  satisfied  with  her  preliminary  view,  for,  a 
few  minutes  afterward,  she  appeared  at  a  window  di- 
rectly opposite  me,  but  entirely  unseen  by  her  husband, 
who  was  facing  in  the  other  direction,  and  there  she 
remained  very  quiet  and  very  observant  for  several 
minutes.  As  she  was  in  the  house,  she  was  unveiled; 
her  face  was  handsome  and  intelligent;  and  it  was  quite 
apparent  that  she  enjoyed  this  close-range  view  of  an 
American  ambassador. 

"Well,  Talaat,"  I  said,  realizing  that  the  time  had 
come  for  plain  speaking,  "don't  you  know  how  foolishly 
you  are  acting?  You  told  me  a  few  hours  ago  that  you 
had  decided  to  treat  the  French  and  English  decently 
and  you  asked  me  to  publish  this  news  in  the  American 
and  foreign  press.  I  at  once  called  in  the  newspaper 
men  and  told  them  how  splendidly  you  were  behaving. 
And  this  at  your  own  request!  The  whole  world  will 
be  reading  about  it  to-morrow.  Now  you  are  doing 
your  best  to  counteract  all  my  efforts  in  your  behalf; 


142     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

here  you  have  repudiated  your  first  promise  to  be  de- 
cent. Are  you  going  to  keep  the  promises  you  made 
me?  Will  you  stick  to  them,  or  do  you  intend  to  keep 
changing  your  mind  all  the  time?  Now  let's  have  a 
real  understanding.  The  thing  we  Americans  particu- 
larly pride  ourselves  on  is  keeping  our  word.  We  do  it 
as  individuals  and  as  a  nation.  We  refuse  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." 

"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  with  the  utmost  frankness. 

"Now,  Talaat,"  I  said,  "you  have  got  to  have  some- 
one 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  them.'* 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that?"  he  asked,  watching 
for  my  answer  with  intense  curiosity. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      143 

"  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  you  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  disinter- 
ested 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  department  and  the  civil 
powers  had  started.  I  knew  that  Talaat,  although 
he  was  Minister  of  the  Interior,  and  a  civilian,  was  de- 
termined not  to  sacrifice  a  tittle  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,  overrule  your  orders?  Appar- 
ently 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.  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 


144     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

his  telegraph  instrument.  I  shall  never  forget  the 
picture;  this  huge  Turk,  sitting  there  in  his  gray 
pajamas  and  his  red  fez,  working  industriously  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  Tur- 
key 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  En- 
ver'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  be- 
came almost  savage,  he  turned  to  me  and  said: 

"The  English  bombarded  the  Dardanelles  this  morn- 
ing 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.  Afterward,  when  reading  the  Cromer  report 
on  the  Dardanelles,  I  found  that  the  British  Committee 
stigmatized  this  early  attack  as  a  mistake,  since  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  strange  shots  almost  destroyed 
my  plans  to  get  the  foreign  residents  out  of  Turkey. 
Talaat  was  enraged,  and  I  had  to  go  over  much  oi  the 


Underwood  &  Underwood 

GERMAN  AND  TURKISH  OFFICERS  ON  BOARD  THE 
"GOEBEN" 

All  the  men,  except  the  ones  at  the  extreme  left  and  extreme  right,  are 

iermans.     Two  months  before  Turkey  entered  the  European  war.  Admiral 

souchon — the  central  figure  in  this  group — controlled  the  Turkish  navy. 

Ul  this  time  the  German  Government  maintained  that  it  had  "sold"  the 

oeben  and  the  Breslau  to  Turkey 


AIVIBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      145 

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  in- 
voluntary 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  bombarded,  but,  if  such  attacks  were  made,  they 
would  exact  reprisals  of  the  French  and  Enghsh.  Ta- 
laat'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  reestablished  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  childree 


146     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

the  night  before.  We  immediately  returned  to  the 
station,  where  we  found  the  disconsolate  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  Xm 

THE    INVASION   OF  NOTRE   DAME   DE   SION 

TALAAT'S  statement  that  the  German  Chief  of 
Staff,  Bronssart,  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  lookmg 
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 
civilized  warfare  and  treat  their  Christian  enemies 
with  decency  and  kindness,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
supposedly  cultured  and  Christian  nation,  like  Ger- 
many, which  is  trying  to  persuade  them  to  revert  to 
barbarism.  "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  coimtry  could 

147 


k 


148     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

receive  plentiful  cargoes  of  copper,  wheat,  and  cotton. 
This  was  a  subject  to  which,  as  I  shall  relate,  Wangen- 
heim  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  realized  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 
rehgious  organizations — hospitals,  schools,  monasteries, 
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, 
himseK  a  Catholic  and  the  representative  of  the  greatest 
Catholic  power.  Pallavicini  frankly  told  me  that 
Wangenheim  would  do  nothing  that  would  annoy  the 
Turks.  There  was  then  a  constant  fear  that  the  Eng- 
lish and  French  fleets  would  force  the  Dardanelles, 
capture  Constantinople,  and  hand  it  over  to  Russia, 
and  only  the  Turkish  forces,  said  Pallavicini,  could  pre- 
vent such  a  calamity.  The  Germans,  therefore,  be- 
lieved that  they  were  dependent  on  the  good  graces  of 
the  Turkish  Government,  and  would  do  nothing  to 
antagonize  them.  Evidently  Pallavicini  wished  me 
to  believe  that  Wangenheim  and  he  really  desired  to 
help.  Yet  this  plea  was  hardly  frank,  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  Govern- 
ment, but  Von  Bronssart,  the  German  Chief  of  Staff. 
The  fact  that  certain  members  of  the  Turkish  Cabinet, 
who  represented  European  and  Christian  culture — men 


AINIBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      149 

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  maltreated  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  Soeurs,  a 
French  sisterhood  which  had  for  many  years  conducted 
a  school  for  girls  in  Constantinople.  Madame  Bom- 
pard,  the  wife  of  the  French  Ambassador,  and  several 
ladies  of  the  French  colony,  had  particularly  requested 
us  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.  Nat- 
urally 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 


150     AMBASSADOR  IMORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

approached  the  building  we  noted  nothing  particularly 
suspicious;  the  place  was  quiet  and  the  whole  atmos- 
phere was  one  of  peace  and  sanctity.  Just  as  we  as- 
cended 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  accidental. 

"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  "Ambassa- 
dor."    So,  pointing  to  myself,  I  said, 

"Elchi  American." 

This  scrap  of  Turkish  worked  like  magic.  In  Turkey 
an  ambassador  is  a  much-revered  object,  and  these 
policemen  immediately  respected  my  authority.  Mean- 
while 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  super- 
natural being.  Mere  Elvira  was  a  daughter  of  one  of 
the  most  aristocratic  families  of  Fraece;  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, 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     151 

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  distract- 
ing situation  completely  under  control.  She  sent  for  a 
sister  who  spoke  Turkish  and  questioned  the  policemen. 
They  said  that  they  were  acting  under  Bedri's  orders. 
All  the  foreign  schools  were  to  be  closed  that  morning, 
the  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  Con- 
stantinople 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  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 
interpreter  I  should  have  been  hard  pressed,  and  with- 
out this  telephone  I  could  not  have  immediately  brought 
him  to  the  spot. 


152     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  exagger- 
ated in  the  popular  mind;  and  it  was  a  safe  assumption 
that,  among  other  things,  this  expulsion  was  an  indus- 
trious 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  quite  a  large  amount;  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  disap- 
peared 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  Soeurs  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  pai>ers,  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  Soeurs  would 
ever  see  their  money  again.  With  the  aid  of  the  sisters, 
my  wife  promptly  concealed  as  much  as  she  could  on 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     153 

her  person,  descended  the  stairs,  and  marched  through 
the  hne  of  gendarmes  out  into  the  rain.  Mrs.  Morgen- 
thau  told  me  afterward  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  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 
on  Mrs.  Morgenthau's  clothes,  and  once  more  she 
walked  past  the  gendarmes,  out  into  the  rain,  and  wa« 
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  in- 
tended 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  Cathohc  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  and  have 
it  all  over  before  you  heard  anything  about  it,"  he 
said  with  a  laugh.     "But  you  seem  never  to  be  asleep." 


154     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

"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  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  experi- 
ences might  prove  suflBciently  interesting  for  publica- 
tion. Bedri  took  the  statement  seriously,  and  it  seemed 
to  have  a  sobering  effect. 

"Do  you  really  intend  to  write  a  book.f*"  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  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 


AlVIBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     155 

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  Amer- 
ican 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  copi>er  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  prop- 
erty, 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  rej>eatedly  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 


156     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

me,  in  all  seriousness,  whether  he  could  not  do  some- 
thing that  would  justify  me  in  portraying  him  in  a 
more  favourable  light.  This  attitude  gave  me  an 
opportunity  I  had  been  seeking  for  some  time.  Con- 
stantinople had  for  many  years  been  a  centre  for  the 
white-slave,  trade  and  a  particularly  vicious  gang  was 
then  operating  under  cover  of  a  fake  synagogue.  A 
committee,  organized  to  fight  this  crew,  had  made  me 
an  honorary  chairman.  I  told  Bedri  that  he  now  had 
the  chance  to  secure  a  reputation;  because  of  the  war, 
his  powers  as  Prefect  of  Police  had  been  greatly  in- 
creased and  a  little  vigorous  action  on  his  part  would 
permanently  rid  the  city  of  this  disgrace.  The  enthu- 
siasm 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  jail,  were  expelled  from  the  country.  Bedri 
furnished  me  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  photograph,  with  a  few  words  about  his  achieve- 
ment, to  the  New  York  Times,  which  pubHshed  it  in  a 
Sunday  edition.  That  a  great  American  newspaper 
had  recognized  liim  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 

)1  LL  this  time  I  was  increasing  my  knowledge 
l\  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,  how- 
ever, 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  neutrality  laws  in  order  to  promote  Ger- 
many's interest,  this  friendly  attitude  changed  and  be- 
came 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  AUies.  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,  Wan- 
genheim's  insistence  on  the  subject  of  American  ammu- 
nition 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. 

157 


158     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  Com- 
pany! This  will  make  the  Turks  furious.  And  re- 
member 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  ammuni- 
tion to  our  enemies,  the  war  would  be  over  very  soon." 

I  made  the  usual  defense,  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  Wangenheim  saw  was  that  American 
supplies  formed  an  asset  to  his  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  Ik- 
dam  discussing  Turkish  and  American  relations.  This 
contribution,  for  the  greater  part,  was  extremely  com- 
plimentary 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  shells  fired  by  the  British  and  French 
during  the  last  bombardment  were  made  in  America." 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      159 

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  consequences. 
I  therefore  took  the  matter  up  immediately  with  the 
man  whom  I  regarded  as  chiefly  responsible  for  the  at- 
tack— 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  threats.  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 


160     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

than  you  are.  Supposing  that  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 
around,  put  his  arm  on  my  shoulder,  and  assumed  a 
most  conciliatory,  almost  alBFectionate,  manner. 

"Come,  let  us  be  friends,*'  he  said.  *'I  see  that  you 
are  right  about  this.  I  see  that  such  attacks  might 
injure^our  friends,  the  missionaries.  I  promise  you 
that  they  will  be  stopped.** 

From  that  day  the  Turkish  press  never  made  the 
sHghtest  unfriendly  allusion  to  the  United  States.  The 
abruptness  with  which  the  attacks  ceased  showed  me 
that  the  Germans  had  evidently  extended  to  Turkey 
one  of  the  most  cherished  expedients  of  the  Fatherland 
— absolute  government  control  of  the  press.  But  when 
I  think  of  the  infamous  plots  which  Wangenheim  was 
instigating  at  that  moment,  his  objection  to  the  use  of  a 
few  American  shells  by  English  battleships — ^if  English 
battleships  used  any  such  shells,  which  I  seriously 
doubt — seems  almost  grotesque.  In  the  early  days 
Wangenheim  had  explained  to  me  one  of  Germany*s 
main  purposes  in  forcing  Turkey  into  the  conflict.    He 


I 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     161 

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  influ- 
ence 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  of  war;  this  declaration 
was  really  an  appeal  for  a  Jihad,  or  a  "Holy  War'* 
against  the  infidel.  Soon  afterward  the  Sheik-ul- 
Islam  published  his  proclamation,  summoning  the  whole 
Moslem  world  to  arise  and  massacre  their  Christian  op- 
pressors. "Oh,  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  commands  of  the  Al- 
mighty, 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 
Cahph,  invites  you  all  as  Moslems  to  join  in  the  Holy 
War!" 


162     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

The  religious  leaders  read  this  proclamation  to  their 
assembled  congregations  in  the  mosques;  all  the  news- 
papers printed  it  conspicuously;  it  was  spread  broad- 
cast in  all  the  countries  which  had  large  Mohammedan 
populations — India,  China,  Persia,  Egj^pt,  Algiers, 
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  Turk- 
ish newspaper  which  had  passed  into  German  owner- 
ship, 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  accom- 
plished 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  faith- 
ful in  more  specific  terms.  This  paper  was  not  read 
in  the  mosques;  it  was  distributed  stealthily  in  all  Mo- 
hammedan countries — ^India,  Egypt,  Morocco,  Syria, 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      163 

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  rehgious  hatred. 
It  described  a  detailed  plan  of  operations  for  the  assas- 
sination and  extermination  of  all  Christians — except 
those  of  German  nationality.  A  few  extracts  will  fairly 
portray  its  spirit:  "O  people  of  the  faith  and  O  beloved 
Moslems,  consider,  even  though  but  for  a  brief  moment, 
the  present  condition  of  the  Islamic  worid.  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 
liundreds  of  millions  of  Moslems,  fallen,  because  of  re- 
ligious divisions  and  weaknesses,  into  the  grasp  of  the 
enemies  of  God,  the  infidel  Enghsh.  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  civiliza- 
tion. 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  Kosahastan,  whose  Mos- 
lem peoples  believe  in  the  unity  of  God,  ground  under 
the  feet  of  their  oppressors,  who  are  the  enemies  al- 
ready of  our  religion.  You  behold  Persia  being  pre- 
pared for  partition  and  you  see  the  city  of  the  Caliphate, 
which  for  ages  has  unceasingly  fought  breast  to  breast 


164      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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,  particu- 
larly the  English,  the  Russian,  and  the  French,  have 
oppressed  Islam  and  invaded  its  rights  in  every  possible 
way.  We  camiot  enumerate  the  insults  we  have  re- 
ceived 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  endur- 
able limits;  the  cup  of  our  oppression  is  full  to  over- 
flowing. ...  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  Chris- 
tian 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  aban- 
doned the  plan  set  forth  in  the  Koran  and  igno'-ed  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  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  ex- 
cepted 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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      165 

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  ene- 
mies 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  shaU  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  pur- 
pose follow.  There  shall  be  a  "heart  war" — every  fol- 
lower 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  pamph- 
let, is  the  "true  war."     There  is  to  be  a  "Httle  holy 


166     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

war"  and  a  "great  holy  war";  the  jSrst  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  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  in- 
stances of  assassination  which  the  faithful  are  enjoined 
to  imitate.  Second,  the  believers  are  told  to  organize 
"bands,"  and  to  go  forth  and  slay  Christians.  The 
most  useful  are  those  organized  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  "organized  campaigns,"  that  is,  by  trained 
armies. 

In  all  parts  of  this  incentive  to  murder  and  assassina- 
tion there  are  indications  that  a  German  hand  has  ex- 
ercised 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  pro- 
tect 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  Bos- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      167 

nia  and  Herzegovina.  Moslems  are  instructed  that 
they  should  form  armies,  "even  though  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  introduce  some  foreign  elements" — that  is, 
bring  in  German  instructors  and  German  ojQBcers. 
"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  of  those  who  have  not  manifested  hos- 
tility 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  everywhere  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  olBScial  circles,  that  Germany  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  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.    I  was  not  the  only  neutral  diplomat 


168     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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 
time  Bulgaria  was  neutral,  and  M.  Tocheff  used  to 
tell  me  that  his  country  hoped  to  maintain  this  neu- 
trality. 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, 
Algiers,  and  Morocco  knew  that  they  were  getting  far 
better  treatment  than  they  could  obtain  under  any 
other  conceivable  conditions.  Moreover,  the  simple- 
minded  Mohammedans  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  associa- 
tion 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  Mo- 
hammedan, 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  gravi- 
tation or  the  nebular  hypothesis.    The  German  failure 


1 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     169 

to  take  this  into  account  is  only  another  evidence  of 
the  fundamental  German  clumsiness  and  real  ignorance 
of  racial  psychology.  The  only  tangible  fact  that 
stands  out  clearly  is  the  Kaiser's  desire  to  let  loose 
300,000,000  Mohammedans  in  a  gigantic  St.  Bartholo- 
mew massacre  of  Christians. 

Was  there  then  no  "holy  war"  at  all?  Did  Wan- 
genheim'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  qakes,  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  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  Kttle 
mob  is  making  demonstrations  against  certain  foreign 
establishments.  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  Tokat- 
lian's,  the  most  important  restaurant  in  Constantinople. 


170     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

i 

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  ma,rble  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  animosity  to- 
ward the  Christian  which  is  the  fundamental  fact  in  his 
strange  emotional  nature,  and  thus  started  passions 
aflame  that  afterward  spent  themselves  in  the  mas- 
sacres of  the  Armenians  ^nd  other  subject  peoples. 


CHAPTER  XV 

DJEMAL,    A    TROUBLESOME    MARK    ANTONY — THE    TTRST 
GERMAN  ATTEMPT   TO   GET   A   GERMAN   PEACE 

IN  EARLY  November,  1914,  the  railroad  station  at 
Haidar  Pasha  was  the  scene  of  a  great  demonstra- 
tion. 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  Constantinople  assembled  to  give  this  depart- 
ing satrap  an  enthusiastic  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  some- 
what bombastic.  Inevitably  it  called  to  mind  the  third 
member  of  another  bloody  triumvirate  who,  nearly  two 
thousand  years  before,  had  left  his  native  land  to  be- 
come the  supreme  dictator  of  the  East.  And  Djemal 
had  many  characteristics  in  common  with  Mark  An- 
tony. 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 

171 


i 


172     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  ex- 
pected that  the  military  expedition  on  which  he  was 
now  starting  would  make  him  not  only  the  conqueror 
of  Turkey's  fairest  province,  but  also  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  own  orders,  dispensing  freely  his 
own  kind  of  justice,  and  often  disregarding  the  authori- 
ties at  Constantinople. 

The  applause  with  which  Djemal's  associates  were 
speeding  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  per- 
fectly 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  Constan- 
tinople. 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  special- 
ized in  the  study  of  physiognomy  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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      173 

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 
sold.  His  eyes  were  black  and  piercing;  their  sharp- 
ness, the  rapidity  and  keenness  with  which  they  darted 
from  one  object  to  another,  taking  in  apparently  every- 
thing with  a  few  lightning-like  glances,  signalized  cun- 
ning, 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  vise-like  grasp  and  look- 
ing 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  assassina- 
tion 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, 
fDjemal  had  become  Military  Governor  of  Constanti- 
lople,  his  chief  duty  in  this  post  being  to  remove  from 
Ithe  scene  the  opponents  of  the  ruling  powers.     This 
pcongenial  task  he  performed  with  great  skill,  and  the 
reign   of   terror   that   resulted   was  largely   Djemal's 


174     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

handiwork.  Subsequently  Djemal  became  a  member  of 
the  Cabinet,  but  he  could  not  work  harmoniously  with 
his  associates;  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  En- 
tente, 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;  it  was 
his  determination  to  Turkify  the  whole  empire.  His 
personal  ambition  brought  him  into  frequent  conflict 
with  Enver  and  Talaat,  who  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  to  capture  the  Suez  Canal 
and  drive  the  English  out  of  Egypt.  Incidentally,  this 
appointment  fairly  indicated  the  incongruous  organiza- 
tion that  then  existed  in  Turkey.  As  Minister  of 
Marine,  Djemal's  real  place  was  at  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment; instead  of  working  in  his  official  field  the  head  of 
the  navy  was  sent  to  lead  an  army  over  the  bummg 
sands  of  Syria  and  Sinai. 

Yet  DjemaFs  expedition  represented  Turkey's  most 
spectacular  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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      175 

the  greater  part  of  her  dominions,  and  nothing  had 
more  pained  the  national  pride  than  the  EngHsh  occu- 
pation of  Egypt.  All  during  this  occupation,  Turkish 
suzerainty  had  been  recognized;  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  Russia 
certain  rich  territories  between  the  Caspian  and  the 
Black  seas,  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 
preparations  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  headquarters  of  peace. 
The   English   fleet   was   constantly   threatening   the 


176     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

Dardanelles  and  every  day  Turkish  troops  were  passing 
through  the  streets.  Yet  these  activities  did  not  chiefly 
engage  the  attention  of  the  German  Embassy.  Wan- 
genheim  was  thinking  of  one  thing  and  of  one  thing  only; 
this  fire-eating  German  had  suddenly  become  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  ob- 
tain a  settlement  that  would  reinstate  his  fatherland  in 
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  completely  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  be- 
ginning 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.  Ger- 
many had  immediate  reasons  for  desiring  the  end  of 
hostilities,  and  Wangenheim  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  to  the  point  of 


i.2 


■13   3 
3-0 


.S-a 


J.       oc    eg 

<    <u  a 

•^  CO 


a 


■5.9 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      177 

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  Mame,  he  made  no 
attempt  to  conceal  the  fact  that  the  great  rush  cam- 
paign had  collapsed,  that  all  the  Germans  could  now 
look  forward  to  was  a  tedious,  exhausting  war;  and 
that  all  they  could  obtain  from  the  existing  situation 
would  be  a  drawn  battle.  "We  have  made  a  mistake 
this  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  giving  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  his  ally  might  succeed.  A  victorious  Turkish 
campaign  in  Egypt,  Wangenheim  explained,  might 
seriously  interfere  with  Germany's  plans.  Should  Tur- 
key 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 
reestablishment  of  the  Turkish  Empire.    At  that  time 


178      AMBASSADOR  IMORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  indispensable 
part  of  her  Hamburg-Bagdad  scheme.  In  return  for 
this,  she  was  prepared  to  give  her  endorsement  to  Eng- 
land's annexation  of  Egypt.  Thus  it  was  Germany's 
plan  at  that  time  that  she  and  England  should  divide 
Turkey's  two  fairest  dominions.  This  was  one  of  the 
proposals  which  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  car- 
rying 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  1914 
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  peace- 
maker; indeed,  they  never  for  a  moment  thought  of  any 
one  else  in  this  capacity.  The  only  point  that  remained 
for  consideration  was  the  best  way  to  approach  the 
President.  Such  negotiations  would  most  likely  be 
conducted  through  one  of  the  American  ambassadors 
in  Europe.  Obviously,  Germany  had  no  means  of  ac- 
cess to  the  American  ambassadors  in  the  great  enemy 
capitals,  and  other  circumstances  induced  the  German 
statesmen  to  turn  to  the  American  Ambassador  in  Turkey. 

At  this  time  a  German  diplomat  appeared  in  Cod- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      179 

stantinople  who  has  figured  much  in  recent  history — 
Dr.  Richard  von  Kuhlmann,  afterward  Minister  for  For- 
eign Affairs.  In  the  last  five  years  Dr.  Von  Kuhlmann 
has  seemed  to  appear  in  that  particular  part  of  the 
world  where  important  confidential  diplomatic  nego- 
tiations are  being  conducted  by  the  German  Empire. 
Prince  Lichnowsky  has  described  his  activities  in 
London  in  1913  and  1914,  and  he  figured  even  more 
conspicuously  in  the  infamous  peace  treaty  of  Brest- 
Litovsk.  Soon  after  the  war  started  Dr.  Von  Kuhlmann 
came  to  Constantinople  as  Conseiller  of  the  German 
Embassy,  succeeding  Von  Mutius,  who  had  been  called 
to  the  colours.  For  one  reason  his  appointment  was 
appropriate,  for  Kuhlmann  had  been  born  in  Constan- 
tinople, and  had  spent  his  early  life  there,  his  father 
having  been  president  of  the  Anatolian  railway.  He 
therefore  understood  the  Turks  as  only  one  can  who 
has  lived  with  them  for  many  years.  Personally,  he 
proved  to  be  an  interesting  addition  to  the  diplomatic 
colony.  He  impressed  me  as  not  a  particularly  ag- 
gressive, but  a  very  entertaining,  man;  he  apparently 
wished  to  become  friendly  with  the  American  Embassy 
and  he  possessed  a  certain  attraction  for  us  all  as  he 
had  just  come  from  the  trenches  and  gave  us  many 
vivid  pictures  of  life  at  the  front.  At  that  time  we  were 
all  keenly  interested  in  modem  warfare,  and  Kuhlmann's 
details  of  trench  fighting  held  us  spellbound  many 
an  afternoon  and  evening.  His  other  favourite  topic 
of  conversation  was  Welt-Politikf  and  on  all  foreign 
matters  he  struck  me  as  remarkably  well  informed. 
At  that  time  we  did  not  regard  Von  Kuhlmann  as  an 
important  man,  yet  the  industry  with  which  he  at- 
tended,, to  his  business  attracted  everyone's  attention 


180     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

even  then.  Soon,  however,  I  began  to  have  a  feeling 
that  he  was  exerting  a  powerful  influence  in  a  quiet, 
velvety  kind  of  way.  He  said  little,  but  I  realized  that 
he  was  listening  to  everything  and  storing  all  kinds  of 
information  away  in  his  mind;  he  was  apparently 
Wangenheim's  closest  confidant,  and  the  man  upon 
whom  the  Ambassador  was  depending  for  his  contact 
with  the  German  Foreign  Office.  About  the  middle 
of  December,  Von  Kiihlmann  left  for  Berlin,  where  he 
stayed  about  two  weeks.  On  his  return,  in  the  early 
part  of  January,  1915,  there  was  a  noticeable  change 
in  the  atmosphere  of  the  German  Embassy.  Up  to 
that  time  Wangenheim  had  discussed  peace  negotia- 
tions 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  back- 
ground; at  one  most  important  conference  he  was  pres- 
ent, though  he  participated  hardly  at  all  in  the  conver- 
sation, but  his  role,  as  usual,  was  that  of  a  subordinate 
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  ex- 
pected that  their  waiting  attitude  would  last  forever. 
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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     181 

that  the  German  armies  would  meet  disaster.  The 
British  and  French  warships  were  gathering  at  the 
Dardanelles;  and  the  German  General  Staff  and  prac- 
tically 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  might  make  a  separate  peace.  Af- 
terward I  discovered  that  whenever  the  military  situa- 
ation  looked  ominous  to  Germany,  she  was  always 
thinking  about  peace,  but  that  if  the  situation  im- 
proved 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  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 


182     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  which  the  other 
side  would  regard  as  ridiculously  extravagant.  The 
Entente  would  state  terms  which  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  Mesopotamia,  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  ^11  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 — per- 
haps Brussels — in  return  for  the  payment  of  an  in- 
demnity. 

Wangenheim  requested  that  I  should  place  Ger- 
many's case  before  the  American  Government.  My 
^letter  to  Washington  is  dated  January  11,  1915.     It 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      183 

went  fully  into  the  internal  situation  which  then  pre- 
vailed and  gave  the  reasons  why  Germany  and  Turkey 
desired  peace. 

A  particularly  interesting  part  of  this  incident  was 
that  Germany  was  apparently  ignoring  Austria.  Pal- 
lavicini,  the  Austrian  Ambassador,  knew  nothing  of 
the  pending  negotiations  until  I  myseK  informed  him  of 
them.  In  thus  ignoring  his  ally,  the  German  Ambas- 
sador 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  absorption  of  Austria-Hungary,  but  that 
Wangenheim  should  have  made  so  important  a  move  as 
to  attempt  peace  negotiations  and  have  left  it  to  Pallavi- 
cini  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  Gov- 
ernment declined  to  take  action,  evidently  not  regard- 
ing the  time  as  opportune.  Both  Germany  and  Tur- 
key, 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  entertain- 
ing, and  as  debonair  as  ever.  His  last  words,  as  he 
shook  my  hand  and  left  the  building,  were — subsequent 
events  have  naturally  caused  me  to  remember  them : 

"We  shall  have  peace  within  three  months.  Ex- 
cellency!" 

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  Ger- 
man desire  for  peace  was  the  situation  at  the 
Dardanelles.  In  early  January,  when  Wan- 
genheim  persuaded  me  to  write  my  letter  to  Washing- 
ton, Constantinople  was  in  a  state  of  the  utmost  excite- 
ment. It  was  reported  that  the  Allies  had  assembled 
a  fleet  of  forty  warships  at  the  mouth  of  the  Darda- 
nelles and  that  they  intended  to  attempt  the  forcing 
of  the  straits.  What  made  the  situation  particularly 
tense  was  the  belief,  which  then  generally  prevailed 
in  Constantinople,  that  such  an  attempt  would  suc- 
ceed. Wangenheim  shared  this  belief,  and  so  in  a 
modified  form,  did  Von  der  Goltz,  who  probably  knew 
as  much  about  the  Dardanelles  defenses  as  any  other 
man,  as  he  had  for  years  been  Turkey's  military  in- 
structor. I  find  in  my  diary  Von  der  Goltz's  precise 
opinion  on  this  point,  as  reported  to  me  by  Wangen- 
heim, 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." 

Ift4 


r'-  -  • 

1 

1 

1 

1  1 

^ 

w 

^^  ^Y^" 

^w  1,    ~ 

^                / 

•  ^  1^ 

i 

1 

f 

V   1 

5  1  ^1  '^, 

•       -A 

w 

^ 

THE  AMERICAN  EMBASSY  STAFF 
under  the  Ambassadorship  of  Mr.  Morgenthau 


THE  MODERN  TURKISH  SOLDIER 

In  the  uniform  and  equipment  introduced  by  the  Germans.     The  fez — ^the 

immemorial  symbol  of  the  Ottoman — is  replaced  by  a  modern  helmet 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      185 

The  very  day  that  Wangenheim  gave  me  this  expert 
opinion  of  Von  der  Goltz,  he  asked  me  to  store'several 
cases  of  his  valuables  in  the  American  Embassy.  Evi- 
dently he  was  making  preparations  for  his  own  de- 
parture. 

Reading  the  Cromer  report  on  the  Dardanelles 
bombardment,  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  desper- 
ate. On  all  sides  there  were  evidences  of  the  fear 
and  panic  that  had  stricken  not  only  the  populace,  but 
the  official  classes.  Calamities  from  all  sides  were  ap- 
parently closing  in  on  the  coimtry.  Up  to  January 
1,  1915,  Turkey  had  done  nothing  to  justify  her  par- 
ticipation in  the  war;  on  the  contrary,  she  had  met 
defeat  practically  everywhere.  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  at- 
tempt 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  in- 
adequate medical  and  sanitary  service;  typhus  and 
dysentery  broke  out  in  all-the  camps,  the  deaths  from 
these  diseases  reaching  100,000  men.    Dreadful  stories 


186     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

were  constantly  coming  in,  telling  of  the  sufferings  of 
these  soldiers.  That  England  was  preparing  for  an  in- 
vasion of  Mesopotamia  was  well  known,  and  no  one  at 
that  time  had  any  reason  to  believe  that  it  would  not 
succeed.  Every  day  the  Turks  expected  the  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  Italy  was  waiting  only 
for  the  arrival  of  warm  weather  to  join  the  Allies. 
At  this  moment  the  Russian  fleet  was  bombarding 
Trebizond,  on  the  Black  Sea,  and  was  daily  expected  at 
the  entrance  to  the  Bosphorus.  Meanwhile,  the  do- 
mestic situation  was  deplorable:  all  over  Turkey  thou- 
sands 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  busi- 
ness; 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 
Taalat  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  defenses  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  unmterrupted 
victories  had  completely  seized  their  imagination.  It 
seemed  to  them  superhuman — the  one  overwhelming 
power  which  it  was  hopeless  to  contest. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      187 

Wangenheim  and  also  nearly  all  of  the  German 
military  and  naval  forces  not  only  regarded  the  forcing 
of  the  Dardanelles  as  possible,  but  they  believed  it  to 
be  inevitable.  The  possibility  of  British  success  was 
one  of  the  most  familiar  topics  of  discussion,  and  the 
weight  of  opinion,  both  lay  and  professional,  inclined 
in  favour  of  the  Allied  fleets.  Talaat  told  me  that  an 
attempt  to  force  the  straits  would  succeed — it  only 
depended  on  England's  willingness  to  sacrifice  a  few 
ships.  The  real  reason  why  Turkey  had  sent  a  force 
against  Egypt,  Talaat  added,  was  to  divert  England 
from  making  an  attack  on  the  Gallipoli  peninsula. 
The  state  of  mind  that  existed  is  shown  by  the  fact  that, 
on  January  1st,  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,  Pallavicini,  and  the 
rest  of  the  diplomatic  corps.  On  January  2d,  I  had 
an  illuminating  talk  with  Pallavicini.  He  showed  me 
a  certificate  given  him  by  Bedri,  the  Prefect  of  Police, 
passing  him  and  his  secretaries  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;  he  had  been  told  to  have  everything  ready  to 
start  at  an  hour's  notice.  Wangenheim  made  little 
attempt  to  conceal  his  apprehensions.  He  told  me 
that  he  had  made  all  preparations  to  send  his  wife  to 
Berlin,  and  he  invited  Mrs.  Morgenthau  to  accompany 
her,  so  that  she,  too,  could  be  removed  from  the  danger 
zone.  W^angenheim  showed  the  fear,  which  was  then 
the  prevailing  one,  that  a  successful  bombardment 
would  lead  to  fires  and  massacres  in  Constantinople 


188     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

as  well  as  in  the  rest  of  Turkey.  In  anticipation  of 
such  disturbances  he  made  a  characteristic  suggestion. 
Should  the  fleet  pass  the  Dardanelles,  he  said,  the  life 
of  no  Englishman  in  Turkey  would  be  safe — they 
would  all  be  massacred.  As  it  was  so  diflicult  to  tell 
an  Englishman  from  an  American,  he  proposed  that 
I  should  give  the  Americans  a  distinctive  button  to 
wear,  which  would  protect  them  from  Turkish  violence. 
As  I  was  convmced  that  Wangenheim's  real  purpose 
was  to  arrange  some  sure  means  of  identifying  the  Eng- 
lish and  of  so  subjecting  them  to  Turkish  ill-treat- 
ment, I  refused  to  act  on  this  amiable  suggestion. 

Another  incident  illustrates  the  nervous  tension 
which  prevailed  in  those  January  days.  I  noticed  that 
some  shutters  at  the  British  Embassy  were  open,  so 
Mrs.  Morgenthau  and  I  went  up  to  investigate.  In 
the  early  days  we  had  sealed  this  building,  which  had 
been  left  in  my  charge,  and  this  was  the  first  time  we 
had  broken  the  seals  to  enter.  About  two  hours  after 
we  returned  from  this  tour  of  inspection,  Wangenheim 
came  into  my  office  in  one  of  his  now  familiar  agitated 
moods.  It  had  been  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  fever- 
ishly awaiting  the  British  dreadnaughts,  the  British 
Cabinet  in  London  was  merely  considering  the  ad- 
visability of  such  an  enterprise.  The  record  shows 
that  Petrograd,  on  January  2d,  telegraphed  the  British 
Government,  asking  that  some  kind  of  a  demonstration 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      189 

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  confi- 
dence in  the  success  of  such  an  undertaking.  Admiral 
Garden  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  suflFer  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  beHef  in  some  quarters  of  England  that 
these  events  had  modified  this  naval  principle.  Mr. 
Churchill,  at  that  time  the  head  of  the  Admiralty, 
placed  great  confidence  in  the  destructive  power  of  a 
new  superdreadnaught  which  had  just  been  finished — ■ 
the  Queen  Elizabeth — and  which  was  then  on  its  way 
to  join  the  Mediterranean  fleet. 

We  in  Constantinople  knew  nothing  about  these  de- 
liberations then,  but  the  result  became  apparent  in 
the  latter  part  of  February.  On  the  afternoon  of  the 
nineteenth,  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. 


190     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  hour  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  prognostications  of  the  break  up  of  the 
Austrian  Empire.  Pallavicini's  attitude  this  afternoon 
was  a  perfect  reflection  of  the  dangers  that  were  then 
encompassing  his  country.  He  was  a  sensitive  and 
proud  man;  proud  of  his  emperor  and  proud  of  what 
he  regarded  as  the  great  Austro-Hungarian  Empire; 
and  he  now  appeared  to  be  overburdened  by  the  fear 
that  this  extensive  Hapsburg  fabric,  which  had  with- 
stood the  assaults  of  so  many  centuries,  was  rapidly 
being  overwhelmed  with  ruin.  Like  most  human 
beings,  Pallavicini  yearned  for  sympathy;  he  could 
obtain  none  from  Wangenheim,  who  seldom  took  him 
into  his  confidence  and  consistently  treated  him  as  the 
representative  of  a  nation  that  was  compelled  to  sub- 
mit to  the  overlordship  of  Germany.  Perhaps  that 
was  the  reason  why  the  Austrian  Ambassador  used  to 
pour  out  his  heart  to  me.  And  now  this  Allied  bom- 
bardment of  the  Dardanelles  came  as  the  culmination 
of  all  his  troubles.  At  this  time  the  Central  Powers 
believed  that  they  had  Russia  bottled  up;  that  they  had 
sealed  the  Dardanelles,  and  that  she  could  neither  get 
her  wheat  to  market  nor  import  the  munitions  needed 
for  carrying  on  the  war.  Germany  and  Austria  thus 
had  a  stranglehold  on  their  gigantic  foe,  and,  if  this 
condition  could  be  maintained  indefinitely,  the  collapse 
of  Russia  would  be  inevitable.     At  present,  it  is  true. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     191 

the  Czar's  forces  were  making  a  victorious  campaign, 
and  this  in  itself  was  sufficiently  alarming  to  Austria; 
but  their  present  supplies  of  war  materials  would  ulti- 
mately be  exhausted  and  then  their  great  superiority 
in  men  would  help  them  little  and  they  would  inevitably 
go  to  pieces.  But  should  Russia  get  Constantinople, 
with  the  control  of  the  Dardanelles  and  the  Bosphorus, 
she  could  obtain  all  the  munitions  needed  for  warfare 
on  the  largest  scale,  and  the  defeat  of  the  Central 
Powers  might  immediately  follow;  and  such  a  defeat, 
Pallavicini  well  understood,  would  be  far  more  serious 
for  Austria  than  for  Germany.  Wangenheim  had  told 
me  that  it  was  Germany's  plan,  in  case  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Empire  disintegrated,  to  incorporate  her 
12,000,000  Germans  in  the  Hohenzollem  domain,  and 
Pallavicini,  of  course,  was  familiar  with  this  danger. 
The  Allied  attack  on  the  Dardanelles  thus  meant  to 
Pallavicini  the  extinction  of  his  country,  for  if  we  are 
properly  to  understand  his  state  of  mind  we  must  re- 
member that  he  firmly  believed,  as  did  almost  all  the 
other  important  men  in  Constantinople,  that  such  an 
attack  would  succeed. 

Wangenheim's  existence  was  made  miserable  by  this 
same  haunting  conviction.  As  I  have  already  shown, 
the  bottling  up  of  Russia  was  almost  exclusively  the 
German  Ambassador's  performance.  He  had  brought 
the  Goeben  and  the  Breslau  into  Constantinople,  and 
by  this  manceuvre  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 


192     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

achievement.  Yet  Wangenheim  showed  his  apprehen- 
sions quite  differently  from  Pallavicini.  In  true  Ger- 
man 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  his  fate; 
he  was  looking  for  ways  of  striking  back.  He  would 
sit  in  my  office,  smoking  with  his  usual  energy,  and 
tell  me  all  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  harbour,  would  be  this  yellow  monu- 
ment of  the  Hohenzollems,  and  the  temptation  to  shell 
it  might  prove  irresistible. 

"Let  them  dare  destroy  my  Embassy!"  Wangen- 
heim 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  all 
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, 
at  the  first  rumbling  of  the  British  and  French 
guns,  the  special  trains  were  prepared  once  more, 
Wangenheim  and  Pallavicini  both  told  me  of  their 
unwillingness  to  accompany  the  Sultan  and  the  Govern- 
ment to  Asia  Minor.    Should  the  Allies  capture  Con- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     193 

stantinople,  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  Wangen- 
heim.  They  urged  Talaat  to  establish  the  emergency 
government  at  Adrianople,  from  which  town  they  could 
motor  in  and  out  of  Constantinople,  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  Bul- 
garia. Wangenheim  and  Pallavicini  now  found  them- 
selves between  two  fires.  If  they  stayed  in  Con- 
stantinople, they  might  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  Germano-Turkish 
alKance  had  come  to  my  attention,  but  this  was  about 
the  most  illuminating.  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 
uppermost  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  dis- 
cussion that  took  place  at  the  American  Embassy  on 
the  afternoon  of  February  24th.  The  occasion  was  Mrs. 
Morgenthau's  weekly  reception — meetings  which  fur- 
nished almost  the  only  opportunity  in  those  days  for 
the  foregathering  of  the  diplomats.    Practically  all 


194     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

were  on  hand  this  afternoon.  The  first  great  bombard- 
ment of  the  Dardanelles  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?  Every- 
body expressed  an  opinion,  Wangenheim,  Pallavicini, 
Garroni,  the  Italian  Ambassador;  D'Anckarsvard,  the 
Swedish  Minister;  Koloucheff,  the  Bulgarian  Minister; 
Kiihlmann;  and  Scharfenberg,  First  Secretary  of  the 
German  Embassy,  and  it  was  the  unanimous  opinion 
that  the  Allied  attack  would  succeed.  I  particularly 
remember  Kiihlmann's  attitude.  He  discussed  the 
capture  of  Constantinople  almost  as  though  it  was  some- 
thing which  had  taken  place  already.  The  Persian 
Ambassador  showed  great  anxiety;  his  embassy  stood 
not  far  from  the  SubHme  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  reports  were,  of  course, 
absurd;  they  were  merely  characteristic  rumours  set 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      195 

afloat  by  the  Germans  and  their  Turkish  associates. 
The  fact  is  that  the  great  mass  of  the  people  in  Con- 
stantinople 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  despondent  figure — this  was  Talaat.  Whenever 
I  saw  him  in  those  critical  days,  he  was  the  picture  of 
desolation  and  defeat.  The  Turks,  Hke  most  primitive 
peoples,  wear  their  emotions  on  the  surface,  and  with 
them  the  transition  from  exultation  to  despair  is  a  rapid 
one.  The  thunder  of  the  British  guns  at  the  straits 
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  EngUsh  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  criticized  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  defenses  at  the  straits,  the  ad- 
ministration 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 


196      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

them  out  of  the  city;  his  purpose  was  to  free  Con- 
stantinople 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  Tagehlatt,  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  wild  fire,  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  anything  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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     197 

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  demoralized  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  bene- 
fit 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  pubhc.  All  the  important  people  in  Constanti- 
nople, the  Crown  Prince,  the  members  of  the  Cabinet, 
and  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 
reestablished  his  standing,  and  now  once  more  he  as- 
sumed a  leading  part  in  the  crisis.  A  few  days  after- 
ward 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 


198     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

could  force  the  Dardanelles;  he  had  recently  Inspected 
all  the  fortifications  and  he  had  every  confidence  in 
their  ability  to  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  Turk- 
ish 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 
had  done  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  tempo- 
rary structures;  the  plans  aimed  at  the  beautiful  archi- 
tectural monuments  built  by  the  Christians  long  before 
the  Turkish  occupation.  The  Turks  had  particularly 
marked  for  dynamiting  the  Mosque  of  Saint  Sophia. 
This  building,  which  had  been  a  Christian  church  cen- 
turies 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  Saint  Sophia  should  be  spared.  He 
treated  the  proposed  destruction  lightly. 

"There  are  not  six  men  in  the  Committee  of  Union 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      199 

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  reorganized  the  Turkish 
army;  Usedom,  the  German  admiral  who  was  the  in- 
spector-general of  the  Ottoman  coast  defenses,  Brons- 
sart,  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  straits;  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  defenses.  Enver's  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  de- 
liberations. 

In  early  March,  Bedri  and  Djambolat,  who  was  Di- 
rector of  PubUc  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 


200     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

the  government  officials,  had  made  their  preparations 
to  leave.  The  Director  of  the  Museum,  who  was  one 
of  the  six  Turks  to  whom  Talaat  had  referred  as  "liking 
old  things"  had  buried  many  of  Constantinople's  finest 
works  of  art  in  cellars  or  covered  them  for  protection. 
Bedri  came  to  arrange  the  details  of  my  departure.  As 
ambassador  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  neces- 
sary for  me  to  remain  in  Constantinople.  Only  a  neu- 
tral ambassador,  I  said,  could  forestall  massacres  and 
the  destruction  of  the  city,  and  certainly  I  owed  it  to 
the  civihzed  world  to  prevent,  if  I  could,  such  calamities 
as  these.  If  my  position  as  ambassador  made  it  inevit- 
able 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  international  crisis  of  this  kind.  I  was  not  only 
interested  in  protecting  foreigners  and  American  insti- 
tutions, but  I  was  also  interested,  on  general  humani- 
tarian grounds,  in  safeguarding  the  Turkish  population 
from  the  excesses  that  were  generally  expected.  The 
several  nationalities,  many  of  them  containing  ele- 
ments 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  a 
committee  to  take  control  in  the  approaching  crisis. 


i 


iJtl|MwmBp 


|^«-»M»i«AiiIr" 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  WAR 
This  was  the  headquarters  of  Enver  Pasha.  It  was  in  this  building  that 
Euver  gave  Mr.  Morgenthau  his  promise  not  to  ill-treat  enemy  aliens. 
"Will  you  be  modern?"  asked  the  American  Ambassador.  "No — not 
modern,"  said  Enver,  probably  thinking  of  Belgium,  "that  is  the  most 
barbaric  system  of  all — Turkey  will  simply  try  to  be  decent!" 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  MARINE 

Headquarters  of  Djemal,  who,  soon  after  war  started,  went  to  Syria  as 
commander  of  the  Fourth  Army  Corps.  Later  Enver  occupied  this  office  in 
addition  to  that  of  Minister  of  War.  The  position  was  not  an  onerous  one, 
as  the  Turkish  navy  played  little  part  in  the  war 


HALIL  BEY  IN  BERLIN 

President  of  the  Turkish  Parlia- 
ment and  a  leader  of  the  Young 
Turks — afterward  Minister  for  For- 
eign Affairs 


TALAAT  AND  KUHLMANN 

Kiihlmann,  now  Foreign  Minister, 
was  in  1915  in  Constantinople, 
acting  as  go-between  in  peace  ne- 
gotiations 


©  Underwood  &  Underwood 

GENERAL  MERTENS 

The  German  chief  technical  officer  at  the  Dardanelles  and  Admiral  Von 

Usedom,  inspector  general  of  Ottoman  coast  defenses 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     201 

They  consented  and  the  three  of  us  sat  down  and  de- 
cided on  a  course  of  action.  We  took  a  map  of  Con- 
stantinople and  marked  the  districts  which,  under  the 
existing  rules  of  warfare,  we  agreed  that  the  Allied  fleet 
would  have  the  right  to  bombard.  Thus,  we  decided 
that  the  War  Office,  Marine  Office,  telegraph  offices, 
railroad  stations,  and  all  public  buildings  could  quite 
legitimately  be  made  the  targets  for  their  guns.  Then 
we  marked  put  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  telegraphed  to  Wash- 
ington, asking  the  State  Department  to  obtain  a  rati- 
fication of  these  plans  and  an  agreement  to  respect  these 
zones  of  safety  from  the  British  and  French  govern- 
ments.    I  received  a  reply  indorsing  my  action. 

All  preparations  had  thus  been  made.  At  the  sta- 
tion stood  the  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  no- 
tice. We  were  all  awaiting  the  triumphant  arrival  of 
the  Allied  fleet. 


CHAPTER  XVn 

ENVER   AS   THE   MAN   WHO   DEMONSTRA.TED    "tHE  VUL- 

j  NERABILITY  op  the  BRITISH  FLEET" — OLD-FASHIONED 

DEFENSES   OF   THE  DARDANELLES 

WHEN  the  situation  had  reached  this  exciting 
stage,  Enver  asked  me  to  visit  the  Darda- 
nelles .  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  emplacement,  and  he  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  should  visit  the  forti- 
fications, 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  nat- 
ural doubts  as  to  whether  an  ambassador  should  ex- 
pose 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  Panderma,  an  Asiatic  town  on  the  Sea  of  Marmora. 
The  party  included  several  other  notables:  Ibrahim 
Bey,  the  Minister  of  Justice;  Husni  Pasha,  the  general 

202 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     203 

who  had  commanded  the  army  which  had  deposed  Ab- 
dul Hamid  in  the  Young  Turk  revolution ;  and  Senator 
Cheriff  Djafer  Pasha,  an  Arab  and  a  direct  descend- 
ant of  the  Prophet.  A  particularly  congenial  compan- 
ion wa;^  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  from  far  more  .distinguished  an- 
cestors, 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  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  ship  had  passed  through  the  straits.  All  the 
commerce  of  Rumania  and  Bulgaria,  which  had  nor- 
mally 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 


204     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  shoT^Ti,  as  a  political  power.  We  were  ap- 
proaching the  scene  of  one  of  the  great  crises  of  the  war. 
Would  England  and  her  allies  succeed  in  this  enter- 
prise? 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  wallced  up  and  down  the  deck.  Enver 
again  referred  to  the  "silly  panic"  that  had  seized 
nearly  all  classes  in  the  capital.  "Even  though  Bul- 
garia and  Greece  both  turn  against  us,"  he  said,  "we 
shall  defend  Constantinople  to  the  end.  We  have 
plenty  of  gims,  plenty  of  ammunition,  and  we  have  these 
on  terra  firma,  whereas  the  English  and  French  bat- 
teries 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  De- 
partment, 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  Darda- 
nelles, get  into  the  Marmora  and  reach  Constantinople; 
what  good  will  that  do  them?  They  can  bombard  and 
destroy  the  city,  I  admit;  but  they  cannot  capture  it. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     205 

as  they  have  only  a  few  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  Napoleom'c  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  demon- 
strated 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  coidd  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  continuation  of  their  argument  in  London. 


206     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

"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  Constanti- 
nople. 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  con- 
viction; he  said  that  nearly  all  the  damage  inflicted  on 
the  outside  forts  had  been  repaired,  and  that  the  Turks 
had  methods  of  defense  the  existence  of  which  the  en- 
emy little  suspected.  He  showed  great  bitterness 
against  the  English;  he  accused  them  of  attempting  to 
bribe  Turkish  oflicials  and  even  said  that  they  had  in- 
stigated attempts  upon  his  own  life.  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 
Icwig  as  that  helps  Germany;  Turkey  will  back  Germany 
just  so  long  as  that  helps  Turkey." 

Enver  seemed  much  impressed  at  the  close  of  our  in- 
terview with  the  intimate  personal  relations  which  we 
had  established  with  each  other.  He  apparently  be- 
lieved that  he,  the  great  Enver,  the  Napoleon  of  the 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     207 

Turkish  Revolution,  had  unbended  in  discussing  his 
nation's  affairs  with  a  mere  ambassador. 

"You  know,"  he  said,  "that  there  is  no  one  in  Ger- 
many with  whom  the  Emperor  talks  as  intimately  as 
I  have  talked  with  you  to-day." 

We  reached  Panderma  about  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  cracked  jokes,  told  stories,  sang  the 
queerest  kinds  of  songs,  and  played  childish  pranks  upon 
one  another.  The  venerable  Fuad,  despite  his  nearly 
ninety  years,  developed  great  qualities  as  an  enter- 
tainer, 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  rakiy  the  popular  Turkish  tipple,  is  by 
mixing  it  with  water;  if  it  turns  white  under  this  treat- 
ment, it  is  the  real  thing  and  may  be  safely  drunk. 
Apparently  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 


208     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

— much   to   the   hilarious   entertainment   of  his   tor- 
mentors. 

In  the  morning  we  started  again.  We  now  had  fairly 
arrived  in  the  Dardanelles,  and  from  Gallipoli  we  had 
a  sail  of  nearly  twenty-five  miles  to  Tehanak  Kale. 
For  the  most  part  this  section  of  the  strait  is  uninter- 
esting and,  from  a  military  point  of  view,  it  is  unim- 
portant. The  stream  is  about  two  miles  wide,  both 
sides  are  low-lying  and  marshy,  and  only  a  few  scram- 
bling 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  hos- 
tile ships  entering  from  the  north.  These  fortifications, 
however,  were  soinconspicuous  thati  could  notsee  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  Darda- 
nelles 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  mankind. 
The  spirit  of  Xerxes,  I  thought,  as  I  passed  the  scene 
of  his  exploit,  is  still  quite  active  in  the  world !  The  Ger- 
mans and  Turks  had  found  a  less  romantic  use  for  this. 


H  .s 

-a 


H 


ENVER  PASHA 
"I  shall  go  down  in  history,"  this  Turkish  leader  told  Mr.  Morgenthau 
"as  the  man  who  demonstrated  the  vulnerability  of  England  and  her  fleet 
I  shall  show  that  her  navy  is  not  invincible" 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     209 

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  defense. 
Our  boat  was  now  approaching  what  was  perhaps  the 
most  commanding  point  in  the  whole  strait — the  city 
Tchanak,  or,  to  give  it  its  modern  European  name, 
Dardanelles.  In  normal  times  this  was  a  thriving 
port  of  16,000  people,  its  houses  built  of  wood,  the  head- 
quarters of  a  considerable  trade  in  wool  and  other  prod- 
ucts, and  for  centuries  it  had  been  an  important  mili- 
tary 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 


210     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  tliis  theatre  of  war,  and  that  the  generals  of  the 
Kaiser  were  his  subordinates,  was  made  plainly  appar- 
ent. 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  mine 
field,  and  torpedoed  the  Turkish  warship  MesudiL 

"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  impres- 
sion was  that  I  was  in  Germany.  The  officers  were 
practically  all  Germans  and  everywhere  Germans  were 
building  buttresses  with  sacks  of  sand  and  in  other 
ways  strengthening  the  emplacements.  Here  German, 
not  Turkish,  was  the  language  heard  on  every  side. 
Colonel  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 
bpttles,  and  other  forms  of  mimic  hostilities.    Yet  he 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     211 


PUn  ,r  ANADOLU  HflMIDIEH   BATTERY.  March I9I5. 


was  approaching  fifty,  he  had  become  a  colonel,  and  he 
was  fearful  that  his  career  wpuld  close  without  actual 
military  experience — and  then  the  splendid  thing  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  '' gemiitlick'* 
gentleman  from  Baden,  and  thoroughly  likable;  yet  he 
was  all  aglow  with  the  spirit  of  "Der  Tag.'*  His  atti- 
tude was  simply  that  of  a  man  who  had  spent  his  life- 
time 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  strait.  "You  won't  ask  me  that  ques- 
tion this  afternoon,"  he  said,  smiling,  "when  you  go 
over  to  the  other  side.'* 


212     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

The  location  of  Anadolu  Hamidie  seemed  ideal.  It 
stands  right  at  the  water's  edge,  and  consists — of  it 
did  then — of  ten  guns,  every  one  completely  sweeping 
the  Dardanelles.  Walking  upon  the  parapet,  I  had  a 
clear  view  of  the  strait,  and  Kum  Kale,  at  the  entrance, 
about  fifteen  miles  away,  stood  out  conspicuously. 
No  warship  could  enter  these  waters  without  immedi- 
ately coming  v/itliin  complete  sight  of  her  gunners. 
Yet  the  fortress  itself,  to  an  unprofessional  eye  Hke  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  modernized  the  Dardanelles 
defenses,  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  evidences  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  effective  fortifications.  So  far  as  the 
advantage  of  range  was  concerned,  therefore,  the 
Allied  fleet  had  a  decided  superiority,  the  Queen  Eliza- 
beth alone  having  them  all  practically  at  her  mercy. 
Nor  did  the  fortifications  contain  very  considerable 
supplies  of  ammunition.  At  that  time  the  European  and 
American  papers  were  printing  stories  that  train  loads 
of  shells  and  guns  were  coming  by  way  of  Rumania  from 
Germany  to  the  Dardanelles.  Prom  facts  which  I 
learned  on  this  trip  and  subsequently  I  am  convinced 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     213 

that  these  reports  were  pure  fiction.  A  small  number  of 
"red  heads" — that  is,  non-armour-piercing  projectiles 
useful  only  for  fighting  landing  parties — ^had  been 
brought  from  Adrianople  and  were  reposing  in  Ha- 
midie  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  import- 
ant fortification  in  the  Dardanelles.  Throughout  the 
whole  bombardment  it  attracted  more  of  the  Allied  fire 
than  any  other  position,  and  it  infiicted  at  least  60  per 
cent,  of  all  the  damage  that  was  done  to  the  attacking 
ships.  It  was  Anadolu  Hamidie  which,  in  the  great 
bombardment  of  March  18th,  sank  the  Bouvet,  the 
French  battleship,  and  which  in  the  course  of  the  whole 
attack  disabled  several  other  units.  All  its  officers 
were  Germans  and  eighty-five  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  MesudiS.  The  Dardanos  battery  was  as 
completely  Turkish  as  the  Hamidie  was  German.  The 
guns  at  Dardanos  were  somewhat  more  modem  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  bombardment,  the 
evidences  of  which  I  saw  on  every  hand.  The  land 
for  nearly  half  a  mile  about  seemed  to  have  been  com- 
pletely churned  up;  it  looked  like  photographs  T  had 


214      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  relics  to  you  Americans.  We  shall  not 
have  to  do  much  excavating  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  cities  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  ex- 
cavating these  evidences  of  a  long  lost  civilization  was 
striking — though  unfortunately  the  relics  did  not  al- 
ways come  to  the  surface  intact. 

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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     215 

thought  that  he  was  a  faithful  dog  who  had  just  per- 
formed 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  em- 
barrassed 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  young  man.  Yet  his  behaviour  on  the  day  I  visited 
his  battery  showed  that  he  regarded  the  praise  of  his  gen- 
eral 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  nat- 
urally thought  at  first  that  such  a  failure  mdicated 
poor  marksmanship,  but  my  German  guides  said  that 
this  was  not  the  case.  All  this  misfire  merely  illus- 
trated once  more  the  familiar  fact  that  a  rapidly  ma- 
noeuvring battleship  is  under  a  great  disadvantage  in 
shooting  at  a  fixed  fortification.  But  there  was  an- 
other 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,  forming 
itself  a  part  of  the  skyline.  Dardanos  was  merely  five 
steel  turrets,  each  armed  with  a  gun,  approached  by  a 
winding  trench. 

"That,"  they  said,  "is  the  most  difficult  thing  in 


216     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  any- 
thing at  that  point,  except  by  accident.  The  gunner 
might  get  what  was  apparently  a  perfect  sight,  yet 
his  shell  would  go  wild.  The  record  of  Dardanos  had 
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  spUnter,  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  Has- 
san, 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  XVm 

THE    ALLIED    ARMADA    SAILS    AWAY,     THOUGH    ON    THE 
BRINK   OF  VICTORY 

ilGAIN  getting  into  the  automobile,  we  rode 
L\  along  the  shore,  my  host  calling  my  attention  to 
-^  J^  the  mine  fields,  which  stretched  from  Tchanak 
southward  about  seven  miles.  In  this  area  the  Ger- 
mans 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  compelled  practically  to 
dismantle  the  fortifications  of  the  inner  straits — that 
section  of  the  stream  which  extends  from  Tchanak  to 
Point  Nagara.  This  was  the  reason  why  this  latter 
part  of  the  Dardanelles  was  now  practically  unforti* 
fied.  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 

£17 


218     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

the  Germans  had  introduced  an  innovation.  They  had 
found  several  Krupp  howitzers  left  over  from  the  Bul- 
garian war  and  had  installed  them  on  concrete  founda- 
tions. Each  battery  had  four  or  five  of  these  emplace- 
ments 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 
defense.  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  the  oflScers.  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- 
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  bum  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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     219 

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 
headquarters,  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  ^gean.  I  could 
see  the  entrances  to  the  Dardanelles,  Sedd-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.  Natur- 
ally 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.  Gen- 
eral Djevad,  felt  the  spell,  for  he  took  a  telescope 
and  pointed  at  a  bleak  expanse,  perhaps  six  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  distant, 
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  spot.  I  immediately  brought 
within  view  a  magnificent  English  warship,  all  stripped 


220      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

for  battle,  quietly  steaming  along  like  a  man  walking 
on  patrol  duty. 

"That,"  said  General  Djevad,  "is  the  Agamemnon  "/ 

"Shall  I  fire  a  shot  at  her?"  he  asked  me. 

"Yes,  if  you'll  promise  me  not  to  hit  her,"  I  answered. 

We  lunched  at  headquarters,  where  we  were  joined 
by  Admiral  Usedom,  General  Mertens,  and  General 
Pomiankowsky,  the  Austrian  MiUtary  Attache  at 
Constantinople.  The  chief  note  in  the  conversation 
was  one  of  absolute  confidence  in  the  future.  Whatever 
the  diplomats  and  politicians  in  Constantinople  may 
have  thought,  these  men,  Turks  and  Germans,  had  no 
expectation — at  least  their  conversation  betrayed  none 
— that  the  Allied  fleets  would  pass  their  defenses. 
What  they  seemed  to  hope  for  above  everything  was 
that  their  enemies  would  make  another  attack. 

"If  we  could  only  get  a  chance  at  the  Queen  Eliza- 
beth! "  said  one  eager  German,  referring  to  the  greatest 
ship  in  the  British  navy,  then  lying  off  the  entrance. 

As  the  Rhein  wine  began  to  disappear,  their  eagerness 
for  the  combat  increased. 

"If  the  damn  fools  would  only  make  a  landing!"  ex- 
claimed one — I  quote  his  exact  words. 

The  Turkish  and  German  oflScers,  indeed,  seemed 
to  vie  with  each  other  in  expressing  their  readiness  for 
the  fray.  Probably  a  good  deal  of  this  was  bravado, 
intended  for  my  consumption — indeed,  I  had  private 
information  that  their  exact  estimate  of  the  situation 
was  much  less  reassuring.  Now,  however,  they  de- 
clared that  the  war  had  presented  no  real  opf>ortunity 
for  the  German  and  English  navies  to  measure  swords, 
and  for  this  reason  the  Germans  at  the  Dardanelles 
welcomed  this  chance  to  try  the  issue. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTIIAU'S  STORY     221 

Having  visited  all  the  important  places  on  the  Anato- 
lian side,  we  took  a  launch  and  sailed  over  to  the  Galli- 
poli  peninsula.  We  almost  had  a  disastrous  experience 
on  this  trip.  As  we  approached  the  Gallipoli  shore, 
our  helmsman  was  asked  if  he  knew  the  location  of  the 
minefield,  and  if  he  could  steer  through  the  channel. 
He  said  "yes"  and  then  steered  directly  for  the  mines! 
Fortunately  the  other  men  noticed  the  mistake  in 
time,  and  so  we  arrived  safely  at  Kilid-ul-Bahr.  The 
batteries  here  were  of  about  the  same  character  as 
those  on  the  other  side;  they  formed  one  of  the  main 
defenses  of  the  straits.  Here  everything,  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. 

The  batteries  showed  signs  of  a  heavy  bombardment. 
None  had  been  destroyed,  but  shell  holes  surrounded 
the  fortifications.  My  Turkish  and  German  escorts 
looked  at  these  evidences  of  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  particu- 
lar benefit  the  officers  put  one  of  their  gun  crews 


222      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

through  a  drill,  so  that  I  could  obtain  a  perfect  picture 
of  the  behaviour  of  the  Turks  in  action.  In  their 
mind's  eye  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  eager- 
ness and  activity;  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  Turldsh  soldiers.  These  gunners  momentarily  im- 
agined 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  singsong  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!" 

AVhen  I  looked  upon  these  frenzied  men,  and  saw 
so  plainly  written  in  their  faces  their  uncontrollable 
hatred  of  the  unbeliever,  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. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY  t^  223 

I  returned  to  Constantinople  that  evening,  and  two 
days  afterward,  on  March  18th,  the  AUied  fleet  made 
its  greatest  attack.  As  all  the  world  knows,  that  attack 
proved  disastrous  to  the  Allies.  The  outcome  was  the 
sinking  of  the  Bourety  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  each 
householder  to  display  a  prescribed  number  of  jBags 
in  honour  of  the  event.  The  Turkish  people  have  so 
little  spontaneous  patriotism  or  enthusiasm  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  be- 
lieved that  the  disastrous  experience  of  the  18th 
would  end  the  naval  attack,  and  for  days  they  anxiously 
waited  for  the  fleet  to  return.  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 — • 


224     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

practically  all  of  whom,  except  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 
YuruJc,  tliat  he  had  "plenty  of  guns — ^plenty  of  ammu- 
nition." But  this  statement  was  not  true.  A  glimpse 
at  the  map  will  show  why  Turkey  was  not  receiving 
mimitions  from  Germany  or  Austria  at  that  time. 
The  fact  was  that  Turkey  was  just  as  completely  iso- 
lated from  her  alUes  then  as  was  Russia.  There  were 
two  railroad  lines  leading  from  Constantinople  to 
Germany.  One  went  by  way  of  Bulgaria  and  Serbia. 
Bulgaria  was  then  not  an  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  Govern- 
ment consented,  it  would  have  formed  a  clear  route 
from  the  Krupps  to  the  Dardanelles.  The  fact  that 
munitions  could  be  sent  with  the  connivance  of  the 
Rumanian  Government  perhaps  accounts  for  the  sus- 
picion that  guns  and  shells  were  going  by  that  route. 
Day  after  day  the  French  and  British  ministers  pro- 
tested 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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     225 

that  the  Rumanian  Government  was  perfectly  honour- 
able in  maldng  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  nineteenth,  what  would  have  hap- 
pened? The  one  overwhelming  fact  is  that  the  forti- 
fications were  very  short  of  ammunition.  They  had 
almost  reached  the  limit  of  their  resisting  power  when 
the  British  fleet  passed  out  on  the  afternoon  of  the  18th. 
I  had  secured  permission  for  Mr.  George  A.  Schreiner, 
the  well-known  American  correspondent  of  the  Associ- 
ated 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  ad- 
mitted that  the  outlook  was  very  discouraging  for 
the  defense. 

"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  many  words 
chat  the  ammunition  was  practically  exhausted,  but 
Mr.  Schreiner  discovered  that  such  was  the  case.  The 
fact  was  that  Fort  Hamidie,  the  most  powerful  defense 
on  the  Asiatic  side,  had  just  seventeen  armour-piercing 
shells  left,  while  at  Kilid-ul-Bahr,  which  was  the  main 
defense  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." 


226     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

'  The  troops  at  all  the  fortifications  had  their  orders 
to  man  the  guns  until  the  last  shell  had  been  fired  and 
then  to  abandon  the  forts. 

Once  these  defenses  became  helpless,  the  problem 
of  the  Allied  fleet  would  have  been  a  simple  one.  The 
only  bar  to  their  progress  would  have  been  the  mine- 
field, 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,  thfere  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  war- 
ships. The  Goeben  was  the  only  first-class  fighting  ship 
in  either  fleet,  and  it  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  en- 
gagement. 

Thus  the  Allied  fleet  would  have  appeared  before 
Constantinople  on  the  morning  of  the  twentieth. 
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  since  passed  upon 
the  Dardanelles  expedition  has  centred  on  that  point. 
Yet  it  is  my  opinion  that  this  exclusively  naval  attack 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     227 

was  justified.  I  base  this  judgment  purely  upon  the  po- 
litical 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  Tur- 
key at  that  time.  A  political  committee,  not  exceeding 
forty  members,  headed  by  Talaat,  Enver,  and  Djemal, 
controlled  the  Central  Government,  but  their  authority 
throughout  the  empire  was  exceedingly  tenuous.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  whole  Ottoman  state,  on  that  eigh- 
teenth 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  its  fall,  and  who  were  look- 
ing for  the  opportunity  to  seize  their  parts  of  the  inheri- 
tance. As  previously  described,  Djemal  had  already 
organized  practically  an  independent  government 
in  Syria.  In  Smyrna  Rahmi  Bey,  the  Governor-Gen- 
eral, had  often  disregarded  the  authorities  at  the  capital. 
In  Adrianople  Hadji  Adil,  one  of  the  most  courageous 
Turks  of  the  time,  was  believed  to  be  plotting  to  set  up  his 
own  government.  Arabia  had  already  become  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  opportun- 
ity 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 
immediately  requisition  them.    As  for  Constantinople, 


228     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  reUeve  them  of  the 
controlling  gang,  emancipate  them  from  the  hated  Ger- 
mans, 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 
tires,  gasolene,  and  all  the  other  essentials  of  a  pro- 
tracted 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  con- 
stantly at  hand.  Everything  was  prepared  to  leave  for 
the  interior  of  Asia  Minor  at  a  moment's  notice. 

But  the  great  AUied  armada  never  returned  to  the 
attack. 

About  a  week  after  this  momentous  defeat,  I  hap- 
pened to  drop  in  at  the  German  Embassy.  Wangen- 
heim  had  a  distinguished  visitor  whom  he  asked 
me  to  meet.  I  went  into  his  private  oflBce  and  there 
was  Von  der  Goltz  Pasha,  recently  returned  from  Bel- 
gium, 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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     229 

were  then  coming  out  of  Belgium.  That  morning  this 
mild-mannered,  spectacled  gentleman  seemed  suf- 
ficiently quiet  and  harmless.  Nor  did  he  look  his  age — 
he  was  then  about  seventy-four;  his  hair  was  only 
streaked  with  gray,  and  his  face  was  almost  un wrinkled; 
I  should  not  have  taken  him  for  more  than  sixty-five. 
The  austerity  and  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  bear- 
ing was  his  uniform;  he  was  dressed  as  a  field  marshal, 
his  chest  blazing  with  decorations  and  gold  braid.  Von 
der  Goltz  explained  and  half  apologized  for  his  regalia 
by  saying  that  he  had  just  returned  from  an  audience 
with  the  Sultan.  He  had  come  to  Constantinople  to 
present  his  majesty  a  medal  from  the  Kaiser,  and  was 
taking  back  to  Berlin  a  similar  mark  of  consideration 
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  Wangenheim  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  in- 
terested them  most  at  that  time  was  England's  com- 
plete frankness  in  pubKshing  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 


230     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

manifestation  of  the  usual  British  desire  to  make  public 
the  worst — the  policy  which  we  Americans  also  believe 
to  be  the  best  in  war  times.  But  no  such  obvious  ex- 
planation 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  I"  (It  is  extraordinary) 
said  Von  der  Goltz,  referring  to  England's  public 
acknowledgment  of  defeat. 

"Es  ist  unerhort!"  (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  Eng- 
land really  did  not  intend  to  do.  By  publishing  the 
losses,  England  showed  Russia  the  enormous  diflBculties 
of  the  task;  she  had  demonstrated,  indeed,  that  the 
enterprise  was  impossible.  After  such  losses,  England 
intended  Russia  to  understand  that  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 
joined  the  Central  Powers,  Serbia  had  been  over- 
whelmed, and  the  Germans  had  obtained  a' complete, 
unobstructed  railroad  line  from  Constantinople  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  em- 
placed  near  the  entrance,  completely  controlling  Sedd- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     231 

ul-Bahr.  The  Germans  lent  the  Turks  500,000,000 
marks,  much  of  which  was  spent  defending  this  indis- 
pensable highway.  The  thinly  fortified  straits  through 
which  I  passed  in  March,  1915,  is  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  THE  second  of  May,  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  this  visit  the  Allies  had  landed  on  the  Galli- 
poK  peninsula.  They  had  evidently  concluded  that  a 
naval  attack  by  itself  could  not  destroy  the  defenses 
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  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  activi- 
ties must  immediately  cease.  He  had  decided  to 
collect  all  the  British  and  French  citizens  who  were  then 

jess 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     233 

living  in  Constantinople,  take  them  down  to  the  Galli- 
poli  peninsula  and  scatter  them  in  Moslem  villages  and 
towns.  The  Allied  fleets  would  then  be  throwing 
their  projectiles  not  only  against  peaceful  and  unpro- 
tected 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  days'  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  bom  in  Turkey  and  in  many  cases  their 
families  had  been  domiciled  in  that  country  for  two 
or  more  generations.  The  retention  of  their  European 
citizenship  is  almost  their  only  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  by  race  and  nationality,  but  who  speak  no 
English,  French  being  the  usual  language  of  the  Levan- 
tine. The  great  majority  have  never  set  foot  in  Eng- 
land, or  any  other  European  country;  they  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  Levan- 
tines, 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 


234     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  this 
startling  information  was  whether  the  warships  were 
really  bombarding  defenseless  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  justi- 
fication. 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  oJBBcials  which,  on  investigation,  had 
turned  out  to  be  untrue.  Only  a  little  while  before 
Dr.  Meyer,  the  first  assistant  to  Suleyman  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  dam- 
aged, and  only  one  man  killed.  I  now  naturally  sus- 
pected 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  iEgean  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 
civilized  warfare,  for  Gallipoli  had  long  since  been 
evacuated  of  its  civilian  population,  and  the  Turks  had 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     235 

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  headquar- 
ters. As  to  the  stories  of  murdered  civilians,  men, 
women,  and  children,  these  proved  to  be  gross  exag- 
gerations; as  almost  the  entire  civilian  population  had 
long  since  left,  any  casualties  resulting  from  the  bom- 
bardment 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  recognized  as^the 
leading  French  citizen  in  Constantinople,  and  with  Mr. 
Hoffman  Philip,  the  Conseiller  of  the  Embassy,  and 
then  decided  that  I  would  go  immediately  to  the  Sub- 
lime Porte  and  protest  to  Enver. 

The  Council  of  Ministers  was  sitting  at  the  time,  but 
Enver  came  out.  His  manner  was  more  demonstrative 
than  usual.  As  he  described  the  attack  of  the  British 
fleet,  he  became  extremely  angry;  it  was  not  the  imper- 
turbable 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  bombard- 
ing our  hospitals.  Do  you  think  we  are  going  to  let 
them  do  that?  And  what  can  we  do.f*  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 


236     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  to  Galli- 
poli.     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." 

But  my  argument  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  blindly  venting  their  rage.  The 
fact  that  the  Australians  and  New  Zealanders  had  suc- 
cessfully 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  dep>ortation  until  Thurs- 
day— it  was  then  Sunday;  to  exclude  women  and  chil- 
dren from  the  order,  and  to  take  none  of  the  British  and 
French  who  were  then  connected  with  American  insti- 
tutions. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     237 

"All  the  rest  will  have  to  go,"  was  his  final  word, 
"Moreover,"  he  added,  "we  don't  purpose  to  have  the 
enemy  submarines  in  the  Marmora  torpedo  the  trans- 
ports 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  sensa- 
tions. Europeans,  by  living  for  many  years  in  tha 
Levant,  seem  to  acquire  its  emotions,  particularly  its 
susceptibility  to  fear  and  horror,  and  now,  no  longer  hav- 
ing the  protection  of  their  embassies,  these  fears  were  in- 
tensified. A  stream  of  frenzied  people  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,  and  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  depen- 
dent family;  another  had  a  sick  child;  another  was  ill 
himself.  My  ante-room  was  full  of  frantic  mothers, 
asking  me  to  secure  exemption  for  their  sons,  and  of 
wives,  who  sought  special  treatment  for  their  hus- 
bands. 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  constantly  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. 


238     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  visitor  was  a  German.  He  told  me  that  Germany 
would  suffer  greatly  in  reputation  if  the  Turks  carried 
out  their  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  ap- 
peals to  Wangenheim  several  times  before  in  behalf  of 
foreigners,  without  success,  I  had  hardly  thought  it 
worth  while  to  ask  his  cooperation  in  this  instance. 
Moreover,  the  plan  of  using  non-combatants  as  a  pro- 
tective 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  Wan- 
genheim'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  per- 
fectly proper,"  he  maintained,  "for  the  Turks  to  estab- 
lish a  concentration  camp  at  Gallip>oli.  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,  Wan- 
genheim would  deftly  shift  the  conversation  to  other 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     239 

topics.  According  to  my  record  of  this  talk,  written  out 
at  the  time,  the  German  Ambassador  discussed  almost 
every  subject  except  the  one  upon  which  I  had  called. 

"This  act  of  the  Turks  will  greatly  injure  Ger- 
many  "  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. 
"  Germans  themselves  here  in  Constantinople  have  said 
that  Germany  should  stop  it " 

"The  Allies  landed  45,000  men  on  the  peninsula," 
Wangenheim  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  an- 
other angle,  this  master  diplomatist  would  begin  dis- 
cussing Rumania  and  the  possibility  of  obtaining  ammu- 
nition by  way  of  that  country. 

"Your  Secretary  Bryan,"  he  said,  "has  just  issued  a 
statement  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  Ruman- 
ians; if  it  is  unneutral  not  to  sell  ammunition,  it  is 
certainly  unneutral  to  refuse  totransport  it ! " 

The  humorous  aspects  of  this  argument  appealed  to 
Wangenheim,  but  I  reminded  him  that  I  was  there  to 
discuss  the  lives  of  between  2,000  and  3,000  non-com- 
batants. As  I  touched  upon  this  subject  again,  Wan- 
genheim replied  that  the  United  States  would  not  be 
acceptable  to  Germany  as  a  peacemaker  now,  because 


240     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  fight  Italy  than  have  her  for  our 
ally,"  he  said. 

At  another  time  all  this  would  have  greatly  enter- 
tained me,  but  not  then.  It  was  quite  apparent  that 
Wangenheim  would  not  discuss  the  proposed  deporta- 
tion, further  than  to  say  that  the  Turks  were  justified. 
His  statement  that  it  was  planned  to  establish  a  "con- 
centration camp"  at  Gallipoli  unfolded  his  whole  atti- 
tude. 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,  ex- 
cept a  German  or  a  Turk,  ever  conceived  of  establishing 
one  right  in  the  field  of  battle?  Let  us  suppose  that 
the  English  and  the  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  a  "con- 
centration camp"  which  the  Turks  and  Germans  now 
intended  to  establish  for  the  resident  aliens  of  Constanti- 
nople— ^for  my  talk  with  Wangenlieim  left  no  doubt  in 
my  mind  that  the  Germans  were  parties  to  the  plot. 


^ 


TURKISH  QUARTERS  AT  THE  DARDANELLES 

These  dugouts,  for  the  most  part,  were  well  protected.     The  Turks  defended 
their  batteries  with  great  heroism  and  skill 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      241 

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  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  stif- 
fened my  determination  to  defeat  this  enterprise.  I 
also  called  upon  Pallavicini,  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't  stop  it.** 

"But  you  know  that  is  perfectly  useless,"  I  answered. 
"The  Grand  Vizier  has  no  power — ^he  is  only  a  figure- 
head.    Only  one  man  can  stop  this,  that  is  Enver." 

Pallavicini  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  con- 
duct all  his  negotiations  with  the  Grand  Vizier,  who  was 
also  at  that  time  Minister  for  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  diplo- 
matic intercourse. 

"I  must  go  strictly  according  to  rules  in  this  matter," 
he  said.    And,  in  the  goodness  of  his  heart,  he  did 


242     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

speak  to  Said  Halim.  Following  this  example  Wangen- 
heim  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  Am- 
bassador, "but  you  know  that  speaking  to  the  Grand 
Vizier  in  this  miatter  is  of  about  as  much  use  as  shouting 
in  the  air." 

However,  there  was  one  member  of  the  diplomatic 
corps  who  worked  wholeheartedly  in  behalf  of  the 
threatened  foreigners.  This  was  M.  KolouchefF,  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  an- 
nounced his  intention  of  going  immediately  to  the  source 
of  authority,  Enver  himself.  Koloucheff  was  an  ex- 
tremely 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 
some  of  the  doomed  English  and  French.  The  depor- 
tation was  arranged  to  take  place  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  Em- 
bassy. 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  j)erson- 
ally  held  their  fates  in  my  hand;  in  their  agony  of 
spirit  some  even  denounced  me,  insisting  that  I  was 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     243 

not  exerting  all  my  powers  in  their  behalf.  When- 
ever 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  fright- 
ful; I  seized  the  telephone,  called  up  Enver,  and  de- 
manded an  interview. 

He  replied  that  he  would  be  happy  to  receive  me 
on  Thursday.  By  this  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  cabinet  room  at  four  o'clock.  If 
you  refuse  to  receive  me  then,  I  shall  insist  on  oing 
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." 


244     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

It  seemed  to  me  that  I  could  almost  hear  Enver  gasp 
over  the  telephone.  I  presume  few  responsible  minis- 
ters of  any  country  have  ever  had  such  an  astounding 
propK)sition  made  to  them. 

"If  you  will  meet  me  at  the  Sublime  Porte  at  3:30,'* 
he  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  con- 
ference with  Enver.  Naturally  I  was  willing  to  wait, 
for  I  knew  what  the  two  men  were  discussing.  Pres- 
ently 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  my- 
self 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  con- 
centration 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  other- 
wise.    Why  do  you  destroy  all  the  good  effect  this  has 


AlVIBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     245 

produced  by  now  making  such  a  fatal  mistake  as  you 
propose?" 

But  Enver  insisted  that  the  Allied  fleets  were  bom- 
barding 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  in- 
terests. 

"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  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  an- 
swered. "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  ser- 
vice and  I  refused.  The  Grand  Vizier  asked  exemption 
for  his  secretary,  and  I  refused  him,  because  I  had  given 


246     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  already  discovered  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
traits  in  the  Turkish  character:  its  tendency  to  com- 
promise and  to  bargain.  Enver's  request  for  a  sug- 
gestion 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  repHed.  "You  have 
prevented  me  from  making  a  mistake  this  afternoon; 
now  let  me  prevent  you  from  making  one.    If  you  se- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     247 

led  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."  This  caused  me  some  uneasiness;  I 
knew  that  Enver's  modification  of  his  order  would  dis- 
please 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]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, 

f  An  American  would  regard  it  as  nothing  wonderful  to 

pbe  seen  publicly  riding  with   an   ambassador,  or  to 

take  tea  at  an  embassy.     But  this  is  a  distinction  which 

tnever  comes  to  a  minor  functionary,  such  as  a  Prefect 

of  Police,  in  the  Turkish  capital.     Possibly  I  lowered 


248     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  throwing  themselves  on 
their  knees,  seizing  both  my  hands,  and  covering  them 
with  kisses.  Mature  men,  despite  my  violent  protesta- 
tions, 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. 

"You  can  have  all  who  are  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 


THE  BRITISH  SHIP  "ALBION" 

Shelling  the  fortifications  at  the  Inner  Strait.     The  splashes  near  the  ship 
show  that  the  Turks  are  replying  vigorously 


piac<rH<nt 

^i,  Silenced  tartywfeK-rtb.li" 
«X  OtJioWte  oiMisamied 

p    H«<iv  )*  A"^  Fairly  moacNi 

5l    (5-CW4.  modern 

Tot-pedo  batter"^ 
Wiwtcss 

OjfvAa  fbcha 
0<pfch  c^  itMit  m  fabtcms 
Current  average  JmiC<% 
/  >  Itf.OCO 


THE  DARDANELLES  AS  IT  WAS  MARCH  16,  1915 

When  Ambassador  Morgenthau,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment, visited  all  the  batteries.  He  found  the  batteries  well  defended, 
but  short  of  ammunition  and  completely  outranged  by  the  guns  of  the  AlUed 
fleets.  On  March  19th  the  Germans  and  Turks  were  prepared  to  retreat 
to  Anatolia  and  leave  Constantinople  at  the  mercy  of  the  British.  The 
Allies  abandoned  the  attack  at  the  precise  moment  when  complete  victory 
was  in  their  grasp 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     249 

that  he  might  be  permitted  to  go  with  the  hostages  and 
furnish  them  such  consolation  as  rehgion  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 
manifestation  of  a  fine  humanitarian  spirit  was  nothing 
new  in  Mr.  Philip.  Although  not  in  good  health, 
he  had  returned  to  Constantinople  after  Turkey  had 
entered  the  war,  in  order  that  he  might  assist  me  in 
the  work  of  caring  for  the  foreign  residents.  Through  all 
that  arduous  p>eriod  he  constantly  displayed  that  sym- 
pathy 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  of  Collier's  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,  he, 
with  his  p>olice,  visited  their  houses  at  midnight,  and 
routed  them  all  out  of  bed.  The  crowd  that  assembled 
at  the  dock  the  next  morning  looked  somewhat  weather- 
beaten  and  worse  for  wear.    Bedri  was  there,  superin- 


250     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

tending  tlie  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  be- 
haved very  decently,  though  he  could  not  refrain  from 
telling  the  hostages  that  the  British  airplanes  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  "French- 
men'* only  two  who  had  been  born  in  France.  They 
carried  satchels  containing  food  and  other  essentials, 
their  assembled  relatives  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  excitement  of  the  last  few  days  and  in  no  particu- 
larly gracious  humour  for  the  honour  which  now  awaited 
me.  For  I  had  been  there  only  a  few  minutes  when 
His  Excellency,  the  German  Ambassador,  was  an- 
nounced. 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  Galh- 
poli  hostages  reduced  to  fifty!  In  view  of  the  actual 
happenings  this  request  was  so  preposterous  that  I  could 
scarcely  maintain  my  composure.  I  had  known  that,  in 
going  through  the  form  of  speaking  to  the  Grand  Vizier, 
Wangenheim  had  been  manufacturing  his  protest  for 
future  use,  but  I  had  not  expected  him  to  fall  back  upon 
it  so  soon. 

"Well,"  said  Wangenheim,  "at  least  telegraph  your 
government  that  I  didn't  *hetz*  the  Turks  in  this 
matter." 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     251 

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  tele- 
gram to  Washington.  I  told  him  that  if  he  desired 
credit  for  assistance  in  matters  of  this  kind,  he  should 
really  exert  himself  and  do  something. 

The  hostages  had  an  uncomfortable  time  at  GaUi- 
poli;  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  re- 
quest 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  on  May 
9th.  I  had  seen  Enver  in  many  moods,  but  the  unbrid- 
led 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  sedu- 
lously acquired  dropped  like  a  mask;  I  now  saw  him  for 
what  he  really  was — a  savage,  bloodthirsty  Turk. 


252     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

"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  always  used 
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  re- 
turned. The  Turks  had  moved  their  military  head- 
quarters from  Gallipoli  and  the  English  fleet,  therefore, 
ceased  to  bombard  it.  All  came  back  in  good  condi- 
tion and  were  welcomed  home  with  great  enthusiasm. 


CHAPTER  XX 

MORE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  FOREIGN  RESIDENTS 

THE  Gallipoli  deportation  gives  some  idea  of 
my  diflBculties  in  attempting  to  fulfil  my  duty  as 
the  representative  of  Allied  interests  in  the 
Ottoman  Empire.  Yet,  despite  these  occasional  out- 
bursts of  hatred,  in  the  main  the  Turkish  oflScials  them- 
selves 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  accustomed  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  English- 
man, 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  malevo- 
lent force  was  constantly  manifesting  itself.  In  a  letter 
to  the  State  Department,  I  described  the  influence  that 
was  working  against  foreigners  in  Turkey.  "The  Ger- 
man Ambassador,  "I  wrote  on  May  14, 1915,  "keepspress- 
ing  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  en- 

858 


254     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

deavouring  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  light  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  re- 
ceiver. 

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  Constanti- 
nople. For  forty  years  he  had  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  appear- 
ance. 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  sp>oke  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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     255 

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 
methods  of  operation.  When  Bedri  really  wished  to 
be  reached  on  the  telephone,  he  was  the  most  acces- 
sible 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  preferred  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  office  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  situa- 
tion; 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 
telephoile  rang.  It  was  Bedri.  I  told  Talaat  to  tell 
him  that  I  was  going  to  the  prison  in  my  own  automo- 
bile to  get  Sir  Edwin  Pears. 


256     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

**  Please  don't  let  him  do  that,"  replied  Bedri.  "  Such 
an  occurrence  would  make  me  personally  ridiculous  and 
destroy  my  influence." 

"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  in  his  behalf.  He  told  me 
that  the  German  Ambassador  had  also  worked  for 
his  release.  This  latter  statement  somewhat  surprised 
me,  as  I  knew  no  one  else  had  had  a  chance  to  make  a 
move,  since  everything  transpired  while  I  had  been  in 
Talaat's  office.  Half  an  hour  afterward  I  met  Wangen- 
heim  himself ;  he  dropped  in  at  Mrs.  Morgenthau's  recep- 
tion. I  referred  to  the  Pears  case  and  asked  him 
whether  he  had  used  any  influence  in  obtaining  his  free- 
dom.    My  question  astonished  him  greatly. 

"  What?  "  he  said.  "  I  helped  you  to  secure  that]man's 
release!  Der  alte  Gaunert  (The  old  rascal.)  Why,  I 
was  the  man  who  had  him  arrested ! " 

"What  have  you  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  1876,  Sir  Edwin  wrote  several  articles  for  the  London 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     257 

Daily  Newst  describing  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  EngUsh-speak- 
ing  peoples,  and  had  much  to  do  with  the  emancipation 
of  Bulgaria  from  Turkish  rule.  This  act  of  humanity 
and  journalistic  statesmanship  had  brought  Sir  Edwin 
much  fame  and  now,  after  forty  years,  Germany  pro- 
posed 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  promi- 
nent English-speaking  barrister  in  Constantinople  was 
Dr.  Mizzi,  a  Maltese,  70  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 
criticizing  the  Union  and  Progress  Committee.  On  the 
very  night  of  the  Pears  episode,  Bedri  went  to  Dr.  Miz- 
zi'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 
triumphant  laugh.  He  was  as  good-natured  about  it 
and  as  pleased  as  a  boy.  At  last  he  had  "  put  one  over '* 
on  the  American  Ambassador,   who  had  been   un- 


258     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

guardedly  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  my- 
self were  a  Kttle  better  than  even. 

Early  in  January,  1916,  word  was  received  that  the 
EngUsh  were  maltreating  Turkish  war  prisoners  in 
Egypt.  Soon  afterward  I  received  letters  from  two 
Australians,  Commander  Stoker  and  Lieutenant  Fitz- 
gerald, telling  me  that  they  had  been  confined  for 
eleven  days  in  a  miserable,  damp  dungeon  at  the  War 
Oflfice,  with  no  companions  except  a  monstrous  swarm 
of  vermin.  These  two  naval  officers  had  come  to 
Constantinople  on  one  of  that  famous  fleet  of  Ameri- 
can-built submarines  which  had  made  the  daring  trip 
from  England,  dived  under  the  mines  in  the  Darda- 
nelles, and  arrived  in  the  Marmora,  where  for  several 
weeks  they  terrorized  and  dominated  this  inland  sea, 
practically  putting  an  end  to  all  shipping.  The  par- 
ticular submarine  on  which  my  correspK)ndents  arrived, 
the  E  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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     259 

prisoners  to^  see  which  two  should  be  taken  to  Con- 
stantinople and  imprisoned  in  reprisal.  Stoker  and 
Fitzgerald  drew  the  unlucky  numbers,  and  had  been  ly- 
ing in  this  terrible  underground  cell  for  eleven  days. 
I  immediately  took  the  matter  up  with  Enver  and  sug- 
gested that  a  neutral  doctor  and  officer  examine  the 
Turks  in  Egypt  and  report  on  the  truth  of  the  stories. 
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  to  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,"  I 
answered.  "Do  you  know  that  he  is  in  a  dungeon  in 
Constantinople  this  very  moment  .f* " 

Naturally  M.  Dolci  was  much  disturbed  but  I 
reassured  him,  saying  that  his  protege  would  be  re- 
leased in  a  few  days. 

"You  see  how  shamefully  you  treated  these  young 
men,"  I  now  said  to  Enver,  "you  should  do  some- 
thing 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 


260     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

to  the  prison  camp  after  being  released  from  their  dun- 
geon. I  now  proposed  that  Enver  should  give  them  a 
vacation  of  eight  days  in  Constantinople.  He  entered 
into  the  spirit  of  the  occasion  and  the  men  were  re- 
leased. 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  life.  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,  notwithstand- 
ing 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  at  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 
one  kindly  recollection  of  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  sweetheart?  " 

The  proposition  immediately  appealed  to  Enver's 
sentimental  side. 

"I'll  do  it,"  he  replied,  "if  he  will  give  me  his  word  of 
honour  not  to  fight  against  Turkey  any  more." 

Fitzgerald  naturally  gave  this  promise,  and  so  his 
comparatively  brief  stay  in  the  dungeon  had  the  result 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY    .  261 

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  Constanti- 
nople. Naturally  the  Turks  and  the  Germans 
felt  immensely  relieved  when  the  fleet  sailed  away. 
But  they  were  by  no:  means  entirely  easy  in  their  minds. 
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  mili- 
tary support  of  Bulgaria." 

This  meant,  of  course,  that  unless  Bulgaria  aligned 
herself  with  Turkey  and  the  Central  Empires,  the  Gal- 
lipoli  expedition  would  succeed,  Constantinople  would 
fall,  the  Turkish  Empire  would  collapse,  Russia  would 
be  reestablished  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  preeminent  importance  that  I 
can  hardly  emphasize  it  too  strongly.     I  suggest  that 

262 


^AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     263 

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  Bucha- 
rest. All  that  remains  of  European  Turkey  is  a  small 
irregular  area  stretching  about  one  hundred  miles 
west  of  Constantinople.  The  nation  whose  land  is 
contiguous  to  European  Turkey  is  Bulgaria.  The 
main  railroad  line  to  Western  Europe  starts  at  Con- 
stantinople and  runs  through  Bulgaria,  by  way  of 
Adrianople,  Phihppopolis,  and  Sofia.  At  that  time 
Bulgaria  could  muster  an  army  of  500,000  well-trained, 
completely  organized  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  finding  plenty  of 
employment  repelling  the  Allied  forces  at  the  Dar- 
danelles 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  northeastern  Serbia,  the  most  important  sta- 
tions 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  Ger- 


264     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

many  would  no  longer  be  separated;  economically  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  col- 
lapse rapidly  followed.  The  valleys  of  the  Morava  and 
the  Maritza,  in  which  this  railroad  is  laid,  constituted  for 


Turkey  a  kind  of  waterless  Dardanelles.  In  her  posses- 
sion 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  be- 
come available.  If  Bulgaria  joined  the  Central  Powers 
as  an  active  participant,  the  conquest  of  Serbia  would 


■9  So 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     265 

inevitably  follow,  and  this  would  give  the  link  ex- 
tending from  Nish  to  Belgrade  to  the  Teutonic  powers. 
Thus^the  Bulgarian  alliance  would  make  Constanti- 
nople a  suburb  of  Berlin,  place  all  the  resources  of  the 
Krupps  at  the  disposal  of  the  Turkish  army,  make  in- 
evitable 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  Bul- 
garia 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  definite  knowledge.  That  the  Bulgarian  king  and 
the  Kaiser  may  have  arranged  this  cooperation  in  ad- 
vance is  not  unlikely.  But  we  must  not  make  the 
mistake  of  believing  that  this  settled  the  matter,  for 
the  experience  of  the  last  few  years  shows  us  that  trea- 
ties are  not  to  be  taken  too  seriously.  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  ap- 
prehension 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 
negotiations  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  when  I  was  in- 
formed that  M.  Koloucheff,  the  Bulgarian  Minister,  had 
notified  Robert  College  that  the  Bulgarian  students 
could  not  remain  until  the  end  of  the  college  year,  but 


266     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

would  have  to  return  home  by  June  5th.  The  Con- 
stantinople 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  representa- 
tives of  their  country;  it  is  through  these  colleges,  in- 
deed, that  the  distant  United  States  and  Bulgaria  had 
estabHshed  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  Bul- 
garia go  with  the  Entente,  however,  it  would  be  un- 
desirable to  have  any  Bulgarian  subjects  marooned  in 
Turkey.  As  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  American 
colleges  usually  came  from  important  Bulgarian  fam- 
ilies— one  of  them  was  the  daughter  of  General  Ivanoff , 
who  led  the  Bulgarian  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  for  Women,  ar- 
ranged a  hurried  commencement  for  her  Bulgarian 
students,  which  I  attended.    It  was  a  sad  occasion,  more 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     267 

like  a  funeral  than  the  festivity  that  usually  took  place. 
I  found  the  Bulgarian  girls  almost  in  a  hysterical  state; 
they  all  believed  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  afterward  the  Bulgarian  Minister  told 
me  that  the  Government  had  summoned  the  students 
home  merely  for  political  effect.  There  was  no  im- 
mediate 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  determination  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  were  turned  over  to  Bulgaria,  she  would 
join  her  forces  to  those  of  the  Entente.    There  were 


268     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  Con- 
stantinople, and  that  they  had  shown  these  plans  to 
the  Entente.  Their  programme  called  for  a  Bulgarian 
army  of  about  300,000  men  who  would  besiege  Con- 
stantinople twenty-three  days  from  the  time  the  sig- 
nal to  start  should  be  given.  But  promises  of  Macedonia 
would  not  suffice;  the  Bulgarian  must  have  possession. 

Bulgaria  recognized  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  make 
a  separate  peace  with  the  Central  Powers.  On  the 
other  hand,  Bulgaria  would  object  if  Serbia  received 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  as  compensation  for  the 
loss  of  Macedonia — she  felt  that  an  enlarged  Serbia 
would  be  a  constant  menace  to  her,  and  hence  a  future 
menace  to  peace  in  the  Balkans.  Thus  the  situation 
was  extremely  difficult  and  complicated. 

One  of  the  best-informed  men  in  Turkey  was  Paul 
Weitz,  the  correspondent  of  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung, 
Weitz  was  more  than  a  journalist;  he  had  spent  thirty 
years  in  Constantinople;  he  had  the  most  intimate 
personal  knowledge  of  Turkish  affairs,  and  he  was  the 
confidant  and  adviser  of  the  German  Embassy.     His 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     269 

duties  tliere  were  actually  semi-diplomatic.  Weitz  had 
really  been  one  of  the  most  successful  agencies  in  the 
German  penetration  of  Turkey;  it  was  common  talk 
that  he  knew  every  important  man  in  the  Turkish 
Empire,  the  best  way  to  approach  him,  and  his  price. 
I  had  several  talks  with  Weitz  about  Bulgaria  during 
those  critical  August  and  early  September  days.  He 
said  many  times  that  it  was  not  at  all  certain  that  she 
would  join  her  forces  with  Germany.  Yet  on  Sep- 
tember 7th  Weitz  came  to  me  with  important  news. 
The  situation  had  changed  over  night.  Baron  Neu- 
rath,  the  ,Conseiller  of  the  German  Embassy  at 
Constantinople,  had  gone  to  Sofia,  and,  as  a  result  of 
his  visit,  an  agreement  had  been  signed  that  would 
make  Bulgaria  Germany's  ally. 

Germany,  said  Weitz,  had  won  over  Bulgaria  by 
doing  something  which  the  Entente  had  not  been  able 
and  wilhng  to  do.  It  had  secured  her  the  possession 
at-  once  of  a  piece  of  coveted  territory.  Serbia 
had  refused  to  give  Bulgaria  immediate  possession  of 
Macedonia;  Turkey,  on  the  other  hand,  had  now  sur- 
rendered a  piece  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  The  amount 
of  land  in  question,  it  is  true,  was  apparently  insig- 
nificant, yet  it  had  great  strategic  advantages  and 
represented  a  genuine  sacrifice  by  Turkey.  The 
Maritza  River,  a  few  miles  north  of  Enos,  bends  to 
the  east,  to  the  north,  and  then  to  the  west  again,  creat- 
ing a  block  of  territory,  with  an  area  of  nearly  1,000 
square  miles,  including  the  important  cities  of  Demo- 
tica,  Kara  Agatch,  and  half  of  Adrianople.  What 
makes  this  land  particularly  important  is  that  it  con- 
tains about  fif^  y  miles  of  the  railroad  which  runs  from 
Dedeagatch  to  Sofia.    All  this  railroad,  that  is,  except 


270     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 


lebibtnevo 


ustafa  Pasha 

DRIANOPLE 
agatch 


^AEGEAN 


this  fifty  miles,  is  laid  in  Bulgarian  territory;  this  short 
strip,  extending  through  Turkey,  cuts  Bulgaria's 
communications  with  the  Mediterranean.  Naturally 
Bulgaria  yearned  for  this  piece  of  land;  and  Turkey 
now  handed  it  over  to  her.    This  cession  changed 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     271 

the  whole  Balkan  situation  and  it  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 
agreement  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  arrangement,  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  till  the  end  of  the  war, 
we  showed  our  good  faith.  It  was  very  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  Constanti- 
nople, 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  quar- 
ter. We  can  now  transfer  all  these  troops  to  the  Gal- 
lipoH  peninsula,  and  thus  make  it  absolutely  impos- 
sible that  the  Allies'  expedition  can  succeed.  We 
are  also  greatly  hampered  at  the  Dardanelles  by  the 


272     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

lack  of  ammunition.  But  Bulgaria,  Austria,  and 
Germany  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  Constanti- 
nople 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  had  caused  us 
great  anxiety.  We  were  afraid  that  Greece  and  Bul- 
garia 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  this  in  a  very  short  time. 
We  gave  up  a  small  area  because  we  saw  that  that 
was  the  way  to  win  the  war." 

The  outcome  justified  Enver's  prophecies  in  almost 
every  detail.  Three  months  after  Bulgaria  accepted 
the  Adrianople  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  organized  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  that  action  turned  adrift  this 
huge  hidk  of  a  country  to  flounder  to  anarchy,  dissolu- 
tion, and  ruin. 

The  Germans  celebrated  this  great  triumph  in  a 
way  that  was  characteristically  Teutonic.    In  their 


< 

O 

a 

w 

a 

H 

o 
o 

<! 

w 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     273 

minds,  January  17,  1916,  stands  out  as  one  of  the  big 
dates  in  the  war.  There  was  great  rejoicing  in  Con- 
stantinople, 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  Aus- 
trian 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  17,  1916,  the  Balkanzug  has  run 
regularly  from  Berlin  to  Constantinople.  The  Ger- 
mans believe  that  it  is  as  permanent  a  feature  of  the 
new  Germanic  Empire  as  the  line  from  Berlin  to  Ham- 
burg. 


h 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  TURK  REVERTS  TO  THE  ANCESTRAL  TYPE 

THE  withdrawal  of  the  Allied  fleet  from  the  Darda- 
nelles had  consequences  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  restraining  hand  over  the 
Ottoman  Empire,  had  finally  lost  all  power  to  influence 
or  control.  The  Turks  now  perceived,  that  a  series  of 
dazzling  events  had  changed  them  from  cringing  depen- 
dents of  the  European  Powers  into  free  agents.  For  the 
first  time  in  two  centuries  they  could  now  Jive  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  sub- 
jects. 

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 

874    •' 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     275 

the  Turks.  In  the  first  moments  of  their  pride,  the 
Young  Turk  leaders  saw  visions  of  the  complete  res- 
urrection of  their  empire.  What  had  for  two  cen- 
turies been  a  decaying  nation  had  suddenly  started  on 
a  new  and  glorious  life.  In  their  pride  and  arrogance 
the  Turks  began  to  look  with  disdain  upon  the  people 
that  had  taught  them  what  they  knew  of  modern  war- 
fare, and  nothing  angered  them  so  much  as  any  sug- 
gestion that  they  owed  any  part  of  their  success  to  their 
German  allies. 

"Why  should  we  feel  any  obligation  to  the  Ger- 
mans.'^" Enver  would  say  to  me.  "What  have  they 
done  for  us  which  compares  with  what  we  have  done 
for  them.f*  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  neither 
the  Germans  nor  any  other  nation  could  do.  We  have 
stationed  armies  on  the  Caucasian  front,  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,  in 
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  the  leaders  of  the  Union  and 
Progress  Party  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  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  appar- 
ently favouring  the  empire,  I  began  to  see  an  entirely 


276      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

new  Turk  unfolding  before  my  eyes.  The  hesitating 
and  fearful  Ottoman,  feeling  his  way  cautiously  amid 
the  mazes  of  European  diplomacy,  and  seeking  oppor- 
tunities to  find  an  advantage  for  himself  in  the  divided 
counsels  of  the  European  powers,  gave  place  to  an 
upstanding,  almost  dashing  figure,  proud  and  assertive, 
determined  to  live  his  own  life  and  absolutely  con- 
temptuous of  his  Christian  foes.  I  was  really  witness- 
ing 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  successors,  exercised  this  mighty  but 
devastating  influence  in  the  world.  We  must  realize 
that  the  basic  fact  underlying  the  Turkish  mentality 
is  its  utter  contempt  for  all  other  races.  A  fairly  in- 
sane 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  esti- 
mation this  is  no  mere  rhetorical  figure;  he  actually 
looks  upon  his  European  neighbours  as  far  less  worthy  of 
consideration  than  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  they  are  all  swine.    So  it  is  with 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     277 

Christians.  Be  not  deceived,  my  son.  These  Chris- 
tians 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." 

Practically  all  foreigners,  while  in  the  presence  of  a 
Turk,  are  conscious  of  this  attitude.  The  Turk  may 
be  obsequiously  polite,  but  there  is  invariably  an 
almost  unconscious  feeling  that  he  is  mentally  shrink- 
ing from  his  Christian  friend  as  something  un- 
clean. 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;  it  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  dis- 
cover, the  Ottoman  Turks  had  only  one  great  quality, 
that  of  military  genius.  They  had  several  military 
leaders  of  commanding  ability,  and  the  early  conquer- 
ing Turks  were  brave,  fanatical,  and  tenacious  fighters, 
just  as  their  descendants  are  to-day.  I  think  that 
these  old  Turks  present  the  most  complete  illustra- 
tion in  history  of  the  brigand  idea  in  politics.  They 
were  lacking  in  what  we  may  call  the  fundamentals  of 
a  civilized  community.  They  had  no  alphabet  and  no 
art  of  writing;  no  books,  no  poets,  no  art,  and  no  arrbi- 


278     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

tectiu'e;  they  built  no  cities  and  they  estabhshed  no 
lasting  state.  They  knew  no  law  except  the  rule  of 
might,  and  they  had  practically  no  agriculture  and 
no  industrial  organization.  They  were  simply  wild 
and  marauding  horsemen,  whose  one  conception  of 
tribal  success  was  to  pounce  upon  people  who  were 
more  civilized  than  themselves  and  plunder  them. 
In  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  these  tribes 
overran  the  cradles  of  modern  civilization,  which  have 
given  Europe  its  religion  and,  to  a  large  extent,  its 
civilization.  At  that  time  these  territories  were  the 
seats  of  many  peaceful  and  prosperous  nations. 
The  Mesopotamian  valley  supported  a  large  indus- 
trious agricultural  population;  Bagdad  was  one  of 
the  largest  and  most  flourishing  cities  in  existence; 
Constantinople  had  a  greater  population  than  Rome, 
and  the  Balkan  region  and  Asia  Minor  contained  sev- 
eral powerful  states.  Over  all  this  part  of  the  world 
the  Turk  now  swept  as  a  huge,  destructive  force. 
Mesopotamia  in  a  few  years  became  a  desert;  the  great 
cities  of  the  Near  East  were  reduced  to  misery,  and  the 
subject  peoples  became  slaves.  Such  graces  of  civili- 
zation as  the  Turk  has  acquired  in  five  centuries  have 
practically  all  been  taken  from  the  subject  peoples 
whom  he  so  greatly  despises.  His  religion  comes  from 
the  Arabs;  his  language  has  acquired  a  certain  literary 
value  by  borrowing  certain  Arabic  and  Persian  ele- 
ments ;  and  his  writing  is  Arabic.  Constantinople's  finest 
architectural  monument,  the  Mosque  of  St.  Sophia,  was 
originally  a  Christian  church,  and  all  so-called  Turkish 
architecture  is  derived  from  the  Byzantine.  The  mech- 
anism of  business  and  industry  has  always  rested  in  the 
hands  of  the  subject  peoples,  Greeks,  Jews,  Armenians, 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     279 

and  Arabs.  The  Turks  have  learned  little  of  European 
"art  or  science,  they  have  established  very  few  educa- 
tional institutions,  and  illiteracy  is  the  prevailing  rule. 
The  result  is  that  poverty  has  attained  a  degree  of 
sordidness  and  misery  in  the  Ottoman  Empire  which 
is  almost  unparalleled  elsewhere.  The  Turkish  peasant 
lives  in  a  mud  hut;  he  sleeps  on  a  dirt  floor;  he  has  no 
chairs,  no  tables,  no  eating  utensils,  no  clothes  except 
the  few  scant  garments  which  cover  his  back  and  which 
he  usually  wears  for  many  years. 

In  the  course  of  time  these  Turks  might  learn  cer- 
tain things  from  their  European  and  Arab  neighbours, 
but  there  was  one  idea  which  they  could  never  even 
faintly  grasp.  They  could  not  understand  that  a 
conquered  people  were  anything  except  slaves.  When 
they  took  possession  of  a  land,  they  found  it  occupied 
by  a  certain  number  of  camels,  horses,  buffaloes,  dogs, 
swine,  and  human  beings.  Of  all  these  living  things 
the  object  that  physically  most  resembled  themselves 
they  regarded  as  the  least  important.  It  became  a 
common  saying  with  them  that  a  horse  or  a  camel  was 
far  more  valuable  than  a  man;  these  animals  cost 
money,  whereas  "infidel  Christians"  were  plentiful  in 
the  Ottoman  countries  and  could  easily  be  forced  to 
labour.  It  is  true  that  the  early  Sultans  gave  the  sub- 
ject i>eoples  and  the  Europeans  in  the  empire  certaia 
rights,  but  these  in  themselves  really  reflected  the  con- 
tempt in  which  all  non-Moslems  were  held.  I  have 
already  described  the  "Capitulations,"  under  which 
foreigners  in  Turkey  had  their  own  courts,  prisons,  post- 
offices,  and  other  institutions.  Yet  the  early  sultans 
gave  these  privileges  not  from  a  spirit  of  tolerance,  but 
merely  because  they  looked  upon  the  Christian  nations 


280     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

as  unclean  and  therefore  unfit  to  have  any  contact  with 
the  Ottoman  administrative  and  judicial  system.  The 
sultans  similarly  erected  the  several  peoples,  such  as 
the  Greeks  and  the  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  disqualified  for  member- 
ship in  the  Ottoman  state.  The  attitude  of  the 
Government  toward  their  Christian  subjects  was  illus- 
trated by  certain  regulations  which  limited  their  free- 
dom of  action.  The  buildings  in  which  Christians  lived 
should  not  be  conspicuous  and  their  churches  should 
have  no  belfry.  Christians  could  not  ride  a  horse  in 
the  city,  for  that  was  the  exclusive  right  of  the  noble 
Moslem.  The  Turk  had  the  right  to  test  the  sharpness 
of  his  sword  upon  the  neck  of  any  Christian. 

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  upwn  these  overburdened  and 
industrious  i>eople.  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  de- 
scribing the  terrible  vassalage  and  oppression  that  went 
on  for  five  centuries;  my  pmpose  is  merely  to  empha- 
size this  innate  attitude  of  the  Moslem  Turk  to  p)eople 
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  in- 
terest of  their  masters,  but  which  may  be  pitilessly 
destroyed  when  they  have  ceased  to  be  useful.     This 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     281 

attitude  is  intensified  by  a  total  disregard  for  human  life 
and  an  intense  delight  in  inflicting  physical  human 
suffering  which  are  not  unusually  the  quaUties  of  prim- 
itive peoples. 

Such  were  the  mental  characteristics  of  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  de- 
scendants of  Osman  a  respect  at  least  for  their  prowess. 
The  rapid  disappearance  of  his  own  empire  in  a  hun- 
dred 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  Turkish  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  Chris- 
tian associates,  they  could  not  ignore  the  fact  that  the 
finest  things,  in  this  temporal  world  at  least,  were  the 
products  of  Euroj>ean  and  American  civilization. 
And  now  that  one  development  of  modem  history 
which  seemed  to  be  least  understandable  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    "Constitutionalism,"    "Liberty,"     "Self -govern- 


282     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

ment,"  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  irresjwnsible  rule.  I 
have  already  described  the  rise  and  fall  of  this  Young 
Turk  movement  under  such  leaders  as  Talaat,  Enver, 
Djemal,  and  their  associates  in  the  Committee  of 
Union  and  Progress.  The  point  which  I  am  emphasiz- 
ing here  is  that  this  movement  presupj)osed  a  com- 
plete 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  of  the  new  regime,  and  scenes  of 
almost  frenzied  reconciliation,  in  which  Turks  and 
Armenians  embraced  each  other  publicly,  apparently 
signalized  the  absolute  union  of  the  long  antagonistic 
peoples.  The  Turkish  leaders,  including  Talaat  and 
Enver,  visited  Christian  churches  and  sent  forth  prayers 
of  thanksgiving  for  the  new  order,  and  went  to  Arme- 
nian 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 
forever  and  that  the  two  peoples  were  now  to  live  to- 
gether as  brothers  and  sisters.  There  were  cynics  who 
smiled  at  all  these  demonstrations  and  yet  one  develop- 
ment encouraged  even  them  to  believe  that  an  earthl/ 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     283 

paradise  had  arrived.  All  through  the  period  of  domi- 
nation only  the  master  Moslem  had  been  permitted 
to  bear  arms  and  serve  in  the  Ottoman  army.  To  be  a 
soldier  was  an  occupation  altogether  too  manly  and 
glorious  for  the  despised  Christian.  But  now  the 
Young  Turks  encouraged  all  Christians  to  arm,  and 
enrolled  them  in  the  army  on  an  equality  with  Moslems. 
These  Christians  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.  They  were 
conscious  of  their  own  intellectual  and  industrial  superi- 
ority to  the  Turks,  and  knew  that  they  could  prosper  in 
the  Ottoman  Empire  if  left  alone,  whereas,  under  Euro- 
pean control,  they  would  have  greater  difficulty  in  meet- 
ing the  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  aspirations 
vanished  like  a  dream.  Long  before  the  European  War 
began,  the  Turkish  democracy  had  disappeg,red.  The 
power  of  the  new  Sultan  had  gone,  and  the  hopes  of 
regenerating  Turkey  on  modern  lines  had  gone  also, 
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  sup- 
planted them  with  a  new  national  conception.  In  place 
of  a  democratic  constitutional  state  they  resurrected  the 


284     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

idea  of  Pan-Turkism;  in  place  of  equal  treatment  of  all 
Ottomans,  they  decided  to  establish  a  country  ex- 
clusively for  Turks.  I  have  called  this  a  new  con- 
ception; yet  it  was  new  only  to  the  individuals  who 
then  controlled  the  destiny  of  the  empire,  for,  in 
reality,  it  was  simply  an  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,  in 
talking  about  liberty,  equality,  fraternity,  and  consti- 
tutionalism, 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  Euroj>ean  civilization,  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  conception  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  Talaat 
and  Enver  and  Djemal  all  came  of  the  humblest  fam- 
ilies, 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  chur- 
ches and  cemeteries  could  not  uproot  the  inborn  pre- 
conception of  this  nomadic  tribe  that  there  are  only 
two  kinds  of  people  in  the  world — the  conquering 
and  the  conquered. 

When  the  Turkish  Government  abrogated  the  Capitu- 
lations, and  in  this  way  freed  themselves  from  the 
domination  of  the  foreign  powers,  they  were  merely 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     285 

taking  one  step  toward  realizing  this  Pan-Turkish 
ideal.  I  have  alluded  to  the  difficulties  which  I  had  with 
them  over  the  Christian  schools.  Their  determination 
to  uproot  these,  or  at  least  to  transform  them  into 
Turkish  institutions,  was  merely  another  detail  in 
the  same  racial  progress.  Similarly,  they  attempted 
to  make  all  foreign  business  houses  employ  only  Turk- 
ish labour,  insisting  that  they  should  discharge  their 
Greek,  Armenian,  and  Jewish  clerks,  stenographers, 
workmen,  and  other  employees.  They  ordered  all  for- 
eign houses  to  keep  their  books  in  Turkish;  they  wanted 
to  furnish  employment  for  Turks,  and  enable  them  to  ac- 
quire modem  business  methods.  The  Ottoman  Govern- 
ment even  refused  to  have  any  dealings  with  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  largest  Austrian  munition  maker  unless 
he  admitted  a  Turk  as  a  partner.  They  developed  a 
mania  for  suppressing  all  languages  except  Turkish.  For 
decades  French  had  been  the  accepted  language  of  for- 
eigners in  Constantinople;  most  street  signs  were  printed 
in  both  French  and  Turkish,  One  morning  the  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  in  those  strange  Turkish  characters,  which 
very  few  of  them  understood.  Great  confusion  resulted 
from  this  change,  but  the  ruling  powers  refused  to  re- 
store 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  early  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 


286     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

and  did  not  disdain  to  make  them  their  slaves.  But 
this  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress,  led  by  Talaat 
and  Enver,  now  decided  to  do  away  with  them  alto- 
gether. The  old  conquering  Turks  had  made  the  Chris- 
tians their  servants,  but  their  parvenu  descendants 
bettered  their  instruction,  for  they  determined  to  ex- 
terminate 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  loiown  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  impor- 
tant 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  in- 
dependent nation,  and  the  processes  that  were  to 
wrench  Egypt  from  the  Ottoman  Empire  had  already 
begun.  As  the  Sultan  took  stock  cf  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  won  her  own  independence. 
Russia,  France,  and  Great  Britain  have  set  free  all 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     287 

the  rest.  And  what  had  happened  several  times  be- 
fore 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  time  of 
Herodotus  this  portion  of  Asia  has  borne  the  name  of 
Armenia.  The  Armenians  of  the  present  day  are  the 
direct  descendants  of  the  people  who  inhabited  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 — to  identify  the  Armenian  race  with  the  Hit- 
tites  of  the  Bible.  What  is  definitely  known  about 
the  Armenians,  however,  is  thai  for  ages  they  have  con- 
stituted the  most  civilized  and  most  industrious  race 
in  the  eastern  section  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  From 
their  mountains  they  have  spread  over  the  Sultan's 
dominions,  and  form  a  considerable  element  in  the 
population  of  all  the  large  cities.  Everywhere  they 
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  eco- 
nomic 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  Christian  Church  in  existence. 
In  face  of  persecutions  which  have  had  no  parallel  else- 


288     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

where  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  Unk  between 
Europe  and  Asia,  and  all  the  Asiatic  invasions — 
Saracens,  Tartars,  Mongols,  Kurds,  and  Turks — have 
passed  over  their  j>eaceful  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  by  scholars  to  be  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  hoped,  would  some  day 
come  the  deliverance  that  would  rescue  them  from  their 
murderous  masters.  And  now,  as  Abdul  Hamid,  in 
1876,  surveyed  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  medie- 
val'nation,  and  he  knew  that  Euroj>e  and  America 
sympathized  with  this  ambition.  The  Treaty  of  Ber- 
lin, which  had  definitely  ended  the  Turco-Russian  War, 
contained  an  article  which  gave  the  Europ>ean  Powers  a 
protecting  hand  over  the  Armenians.  How  could  the 
Sultan  free  himself  permanently  from  this  danger?  An 
enlightened  administration,  which  would  have  trans- 
formed the  Armenians  into  free  men  and  made  them 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     289 

safe  in  their  lives  and  property  and  civil  and  religious 
rights,  would  probably  have  made  them  peaceful  and 
loyal  subjects.  But  the  Sultan  could  not  rise  to  such  a 
conception  of  statesmanship  as  this.  Instead,  Abdul 
Hamid  apparently  thought  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,  organized  and  directed  by  the  state,  seemed 
to  be  the  one  sure  way  of  forestalling  the  further  dis- 
ruption of  the  Turkish  Empire. 

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  contin- 
uous nightmare.  Their  property  was  stolen,  their  men 
were  murdered,  their  women  were  ravished,  their  young 
girls  were  kidnapped  and  forced  to  Hve  in  Turkish 
harems.  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  exterminate  the  Armenians  in  1895  and 
1896,  but  found  certain  insuperable  obstructions  to  his 
scheme.  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," 
aroused  the  whole  world  to  the  enormities  that  were 
taking  place.  It  became  apparent  that  unless  the 
Sultan  desisted,  England,  France,  and  Russia  would 


290     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

intervene,  and  the  Sultan  well  knew,  that,  in  case  this 
intervention  took  place,  such  remnants  of  Turkey  as 
had  survived  earlier  partitions  would  disappear.  Thus 
Abdul  Hamid  had  to  abandon  his  satanic  enterprise  of 
destroying  a  whole  race  by  murder,  yet  Armenia  con- 
tinued 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  res- 
pite 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  f>olicy 
their  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  stupidly  believed 
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  pohcy  in  their  opinion  was  a  fatal  error  of  states- 
manship 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  Bulgar- 
ian country  with  Moslem  Turks,  there  would  never 
have  been  any  modern  Bulgarian  problem  and  Turkey 
would  never  have  lost  this  part  of  her  empire.  Simi- 
larly, had  they   destroyed   all   the   Rumanians,   Ser- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     291 

bians,  and  Greeks,  the  provinces  which  are  now  occu- 
pied 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  Janis- 
saries had  strengthened  it  formerly.  These  Armenian 
girls  represent  a  high  type  of  womanhood  and  the  Young 
Turks,  in  their  crude,  intuitive  way,  recognized  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.  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  of  a  new  generation  of 
Armenians,  it  would  be  necessary  to  kill  outright  all 
men  who  were  in  their  prime  and  thus  capable  of  propa- 
gating the  accursed  species.  Old  men  and  women 
formed  no  great  danger  to  the  future  of  Turkey,  for 
they  had  already  fulfilled  their  natural  function  of  leav- 


292     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

ing  descendants;  still  they  were  nuisances  and  therefore 
should  be  disposed  of. 

Unlike  Abdul  Hamid,  the  Young  Turks  found  them- 
selves in  a  position  where  they  could  carry  out  this 
holy  enterprise.  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Russia 
had  stood  in  the  way  of  their  predecessor.  But  now 
these  obstacles  had  been  removed.  The  Young  Turks, 
as  I  have  said,  believed  that  they  had  defeated  these 
nations  and  that  they  could  therefore  no  longer  inter- 
fere with  their  internal  affairs.  Only  one  power  could 
successfully  raise  objections  and  that  was  Germany. 
In  1898,  when  all  the  rest  of  Europe  was  ringing 
with  Gladstone's  denunciations  and  demanding  in- 
tervention. Kaiser  Wilhelm  the  Second  had  gone  to 
Constantinople,  visited  Abdul  Hamid,  pinned  his  finest 
decorations  on  that  bloody  tyrant's  breast,  and  kissed 
him  on  both  cheeks.  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  Chris- 
tian populations  utterly  at  their  mercy.  The  time  had 
finally  come  to  make  Turkey  exclusively  the  country 
of  the  Turks. 


CHAPTER  XXm 

THE   "revolution"   AT  VAN 

THE  Turkish  province  of  Van  lies  in  the  remote 
northeastern  comer  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  the  capital  of  the 
vilayet,  lies  on  the  eastern  shores  of  the  lake  of  the  same 
name;  it  is  the  one  large  town  in  Asia  Minor  in  which 
the  Armenian  population  is  larger  than  the  Moslem. 
In  the  fall  of  1914,  its  population  of  about  30,000  peo- 
ple represented  one  of  the  most  peaceful  and  happy 
and  prosperous  communities  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  speak- 
ing, rested  upon  its  people  rather  lightly.  Its  Turkish 
governor,  Tahsin  Pasha,  was  one  of  the  more  enlight- 
ened 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  agree- 
able 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 

2d3 


294     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

suspicion.  Should  Russia  attempt  an  invasion  of  Tur- 
key 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  appro- 
priated all  their  cattle,  all  their  wheat,  and  all  their 
goods  of  every  land,  giving  them  only  worthless  pieces 
of  paper  in  exchange.  The  attempt  at  general  dis- 
armament that  took  place  also  aroused  their  apprehen- 
sion, which  was  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  attributed 
to  them  the  larger  share  of  the  blame  for  the  reverses 
which  the  Turkish  armies  had  suffered  in  the  Caucasus. 
The  fact  that  a  considerable  element  in  the  already 
changed  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  were  certainlyno  legitimate  grounds  for  complaint, 
so  far  as  these  Armenian  levies  were  bona  fide  subjects  of 
the  Czar.  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  fac- 
tories. 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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     295 

v/ar.  Union  and  Progress  agents  appeared  in  Erzeroum 
and  Van  and  appealed  to  the  Armenian  leaders  to  go 
into  Russian  Armenia  and  attempt  to  start  revolu- 
tions against  the  Russian  Government;  and  the  fact 
that  the  Ottoman  Armenians  refused  to  do  this  con- 
tributed further  to  the  prevailing  irritation.  The 
Turkish  Government  has  made  much  of  the  "trea- 
sonable" behaviour  of  the  Armenians  of  Van  and  have 
even  urged  it  as  an  excuse  for  their  subsequent  treat- 
ment  of  the  whole  race.  Their  attitude  illustrates 
once  more  the  perversity  of  the  Turkish  mind. 
After  massacring  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Arme-  ^ 
nians  in  the  course  of  thirty  years,  outraging  their 
women  and  girls,  and  robbing  and  maltreating 
them  in  every  conceivable  way,  the  Turks  still  ap- 
parently believed  that  they  had  the  right  to  expect 
from  them  the  most  enthusiastic  "loyalty".  That  the 
Armenians  all  over  Turkey  sympathized  with  the 
Entente  was  no  secret.  "If  you  want  to  know  how  the 
war  is  going,"  wrote  a  humorous  Turkish  news- 
paper, "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  pun- 
ished without  violating  the  rules  of  all  civiHzed  coun-  J 
tries.  Only  the  Turkish  mind,  however — and  pos- 
sibly the  Junker — 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. 


296     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

For  years  it  had  been  the  Turkish  policy  to  provoke 
the  Christian  population  into  committing  overt  acts,  and 
then  seizing  upon  such  misbehaviour  as  an  excuse  for 
massacres.  The  Armenian  clergy  and  pohtical  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  in- 
sults 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  retahate,  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  conciHatory  governor  of 
Van,  and  replaced  him  with  Djevdet  Bey,  a  brother- 
in-law  of  Enver  Pasha.  This  act  in  itself  was  most 
disquieting.  Turkish  oflScialdom  has  always  con- 
tained a  minority  of  men  who  do  not  believe  in  mas- 
sacre as  a  state  policy  and  cannot  be  depended  upon 
to  carry  out  strictly  the  most  bloody  orders  of  the  Cen- 
tral Government.  Whenever  massacres  have  been 
planned,  therefore,  it  has  been  customary  first  to  re- 
move such  "untrustworthy"  public  servants  and 
replace  them  by  men  who  are  regarded  as  more  reli- 
able. The  character  of  Tahsin's  successor  made  his 
displacement  still  more  alarming.  Djevdet  had  spent 
the  larger  part  of  his  life  at  Van;  he  was  a  man  of  un- 
stable character,  friendly  to  non-Moslems  one  mo- 
ment, hostile  the  next,  hypocritical,  treacherous,  and 
ferocious  according  to  the  worst  traditions  of  his  race. 
He  hated  the  Armenians  and  cordiallv  sympathized 
with  the  long-established  Turkish  plan  of  solving  the 
Armenian  problem.    There  is  httle  question  that  he_ 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     297 
came  to  Van  with  definite  instructions   to  extermi- 


nate  all  Armenians  in  this  province,  but,  for  the  first 
few  months,  conditions  did  not  facilitate  such  opera- 
tions. Djevdet  himself  was  absent  fighting  the  Rus- 
sians in  the  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  recognized  as  good  mihtary  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  be- 
cause 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  rifles,  machine  guns,  and  other 
weapons  upon  the  Armenian  women,  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  uninter- 
ruptedly for  days.  On  April  15th,  about  500  young  Ar- 
menian 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  pro- 
cedure 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  Bey,  who  had  mean- 


298     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

while  returned  to  Van,  asked  four  of  the  leading  Ar- 
menian citizens  to  go  to  this  town  and  attempt  to 
quiet  the  multitude.  These  men  made  the  trip,  stop- 
ping 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  hapj>ened  subsequently, 
there  remains  little  doubt  concerning  the  purpose 
which  underlay  this  demand.  Djevdet,  acting  in 
obedience  to  orders  from  Constantinople,  was  pre- 
paring to  wipe  out  the  whole  population,  and  his  pur- 
pose 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  five  hundred  soldiers 
and  to  pay  exemption  money  for  the  rest;  now,  how- 
ever, Djevdet  began  to  talk  aloud  about  "rebellion," 
and  his  determination  to  "crush"  it  at  any  cost.  "If 
the  rebels  fire  a  single  shot,"  he  declared,  "I  shall  kill 
every  Christian  man,  woman,  and"  (pointing  to  his  knee) 
"every  child,  up  to  here."  For  some  time  the  Turks  had 
been  constructing  entrenchments  around  the  Armenian 
quarter  and  filling  them  with  soldiers  and,  in  resjwnse 
to  this  provocation,  the  Armenians  began  to  make  prepa- 
rations for  a  defense.  On  April  20th,  a  band  of  Tur- 
kish 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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     299 

fire  on  the  Armenian  quarters  with  rifles  and  artillery; 
soon  a  large  part  of  the  town  was  in  flames  and  a  regu- 
lar siege  had  started.  The  whole  Armenian  fighting 
force  consisted  of  only  1,500  men;  they  had  only  300 
rifles  and  a  most  inadequate  supply  of  ammunition, 
while  Djevdet  had  an  army  of  5,000  men,  completely 
equipi>ed  and  supplied.  Yet  the  Armenians  fought 
with  the  utmost  heroism  and  skill;  they  had  little  chance 
of  holding  off  their  enemies  indefinitely,  but  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  de- 
scribe in  detail  the  numerous  acts  of  individual  heroism, 
the  cooperation  of  the  Armenian  women,  the  ardour  and 
energy  of  the  Armenian  children,  the  self-sacrificing 
zeal  of  the  American  missionaries,  especially  Doctor 
Ussher  and  his  wife  and  Miss  Grace  H.  Knapp,  and  the 
thousand  other  circumstances  that  made  this  terrible 
month  one  of  the  most  glorious  pages  in  modern  Arme- 
nian history.  The  wonderful  thing  about  it  is  that 
the  Armenians  triumphed.  After  nearly  five  weeks  of 
sleepless  fighting,  the  Russian  army  suddenly  apj)eared 
and  the  Turks  fled  into  the  surrounding  country,  where 
they  found  appeasement  for  their  anger  by  further  mas- 
sacres of  unprotected  Armenian  villagers.  Doctor 
Ussher,  the  American  miedical  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 


300     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

.  r  only  because  it  marked  the  first  stage  in  this  organized 
attempt  to  wipe  out  a  whole  nation,  but  because  these 
events  are  always  brought  forward  by  the  Turks  as  a 

I  justification  of  their  subsequent  crimes.  As  I  shall 
relate,  Enver,  Talaat,  and  the  rest,  when  I  appealed  to 
them  in  behalf  of  the  Armenians,  invariably  instanced 
the  "revolutionists"  of  Van  as  a  sample  of  Arme- 
nian 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  diflSculties  that  had  not  im- 
peded the  operations  of  the  Turks  in  the  mas- 
sacres 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  sup- 
plied with  rifles,  pistols,  and  other  weai>ons  of  defense. 
The  operations  at  Van  once  more  disclosed  that  these 
men  could  use  their  weapons  to  good  advantage.  It 
was  thus  apparent  that  an  Armenian  massacre  this  time 
would  generally  assume  more  the  character  of  warfare^, 
than  those  wholesale  butcheries  of  defenseless  men  and 
women  which  the  Turks  had  always  found  so  congenial. 
If  this  plan  of  murdering  a  race  were  to  succeed,  two  pre- 
liminary steps  would  therefore  have  to  be  taken:  it 
would  be  necessary  to  render  all  Armenian  soldiers 

301 


-1 


302     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

powerless  and  to  deprive  of  their  arms  the  Armenians 
in  every  city  and  town.  Before  Armenia  could  be 
slaughtered)  Armenia  must  Ee  made  defenseless." 

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  country  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  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  fash- 
ion, almostwaistE^^t^ou^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  Turk- 
ish 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  sum- 
mary  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  50  or  100  men  would  be  taken,  bound  to>gether  in 
groups  of  four,  and  then  marched  out  to  a  secluded 
spot  a  short  distance  from  the  village.   Suddenly  the 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      303 

sound  of  rifle  shots  would  fill  the  air,  and  the  Turkish 
soldiers  who  had  acted  as  the  escort  would  sullenly  re- 
turn 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  re- 
finement to^  Iheir  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^  Americati  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  understood  what  this 
meant  and  pleaded  with  the  Governor  for  mercy.  But 
this  oflScial  insisted  that  the  men  were  not  to  be  harmed, 
and  he  even  called  ujxm  the  German  missionary,  Mr. 
Ehemann,  to  quiet  the  panic,  giving  that  gentleman 
his  word  of  honour  that  the  ex-soldiers  would  be  pro- 
tected. 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  Diarbe- 
kir.  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 
or  to  escai)e  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  con- 


304      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

genial  duty.  Not  only  did  the  Kurdish  tribesmen  pour 
down  from  the  mountains  upon  this  starved  and  weak- 
ened regiment,  but  the  Kurdish  women  came  with 
butcher's  knives  in  order'  that  they  might  gain  that 
merit  in  Allah's  eyes  that  comes  from  killing  a  Chris- 
tian. These  massacres  were  not  isolated  happyenings;  I 
could  detail  many  more  episodes  just  as  hon-ible  as 
the  one  related  above;  throughout  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire 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  Ar- 
menians, but  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  the  weaker 
part  of  the  population  an  easy  prey. 

Dreadful  as  were  these  massacres  of  unarmed  sol- 
diers, they  were  mercy  and  justice  themselves  when 
compared  with  the  treatment  which  was  now  visited 
upon  those  Armenians  who  were  suspected  of  con- 
cealing arms.  Naturally  the  Christians  became  alarmed 
when  placards  were  posted  in  the  villages  and  cities 
ordering  everybody  to  bring  their  arms  to  headquarters. 
Although  this  order  applied  to  all  citizens,  the  Arme- 
nians well  understood  what  the  result  would  be,  should 
they  be  left  defenseless  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  joy- 
fully 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 


I 


C    4?  cS 

|»  5 

=8         9 


3 

a 

^2 


g  11  il 

Q     C3    4J   §   g 

<3  .£P  t>c  ^  >> 

rj-d  ~"    CO 

t«     ^     T'     V 

CB    3    g    y 
C   .    ^    CO 

^  P.S  s 

c«  g  g  a 


<u 


E  =s 


C8   C   S   2 

o  V  .^  a 

>       5P 

c  f^  IS  £ 
ft.  si  ,5 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     305 

and  their  women's  honour  against  the  outrages  which 
they  knew  were  being  planned.  The  punishment  in- 
flicted upon  these  recalcitrants  forms  one  of  the  most 
hideous  chapters  of  modern  history.  Most  of  us  be- 
lieve that  torture  has  long  ceased  to  be  an  adminis- 
trative and  judicial  measure,  yet  I  do  not  beheve  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  indignity,  and  even  held  mock  ceremonies  in 
imitation  of  the  Christian  sacraments.  They  would 
beat  the  priests  into  insensibility,  under  the  pretense' 
that  they  were  the  centres  of  sedition.  When  they 
could  discover  no  weapons  in  the  churches,  they  would 
sometimes  arm  the  bishops  and  priests  with  guns, 
pistols,  and  swords,  then  try  them  before  courts-martial 
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  gen- 
darmes  treated  women  with  the  same  cruelty  and  in- 
decency  as  the  men.  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  exer- 


306     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

cise  the  most  diabolical  ingenuity  in  their  attempt  to 
make  their  victims  declare  themselves  to  be  "revohi- 
tionists"  and  to  tell  the  hiding  places  of  their  arms. 
A  common  practice  was  to  place  the  prisoner  in  a  room, 
with  two  lurks  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  infrequently,  after  being 
submitted  to  this  treatment,  they  have  to  be  ampu- 
tated. The  gendarmes  would  bastinado  their  Arme- 
nian 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  Crucifibdon,  and  then,  while  the  suf- 
ferer writhed  in  his  agony,  ^ey  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  whistles,  so  that  the  screams  of  the 
sufferers  would  not  reach  tlievillagers. 

In  thousands  of  cases  the  Armenians  endured  these 
agonies  and  refused  to  surrender  their  arms  simply  be- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      307 

cause  they  had  none  to  surrender.  However,  they 
could  not  persuade  their  tormentors  that  this  was  the 
case.  It  therefore  became  customary,  when  news  was 
received  that  the  searchers  were  approaching,  for  Ar- 
menians 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 
a  responsible  Turkish  oflScial,  who  was  describing  the 
tortures  inflicted.  He  made  no  secret  of  the  fact  that 
the  Government  had  instigated  them,  and,  like  all  Turks 
of  the  oflBcial  classes,  he  enthusiastically  approved  this 
treatment  of  the  detested  race.  This  oflacial  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.  He  told  me  that  they 
even  delved  into  the  records  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition 
and  other  historic  institutions  of  torture  and  adopted  all 
the  suggestions  found  there.  He  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  de- 
scribed. All  through  this  country  Djevdet  was  gen- 
erally ^^ownas  the  "horseshoer  of  Bashkale"  for 
tfcis  connoisseur  in  torture  had  invented  what  was 
pferhaps  the  masterpiece  of  all — that  of  nailing  horse- 
shoes to  the  feet  of  his  Armenian  victims. 

Yet  these  happenings  did  not  constitute  what  the 
newspapers  of  the  time  commonly  referred  to  as  the 


308      AISIBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 


RUSSIA 


Armenian  atrocities;  they  were  merely  the  preparatory 
steps  in  the  destruction  of  the  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  democ- 
racy hit  upon  an  entirely  new  plan.  Instead  of  mas- 
sacring outright  the  Armenian  race,  they  now  decided 
to  deport  it.  In  the  south  and  southeastern  sec- 
tion of  the  Ottoman  Empire  lie  the  Syrian  desert  and 
the  Mesopotamian  valley.  Though  part  of  this  area 
was  once  the  scene  of  a  flourishing  civilization,  for  the 
last  five  centuries  it  has  suffered  the  blight  that  be- 
comes the  lot  of  any  country  that  is  subjected  to  Tur- 
kish rule;  and  it  is  now  a  dreary,  desolate  waste,  with- 
out cities  and  towns  or  life  of  any  kind,  populated  only 
by  a  few  wild  and  fanatical  Bedouin  tribes.     Only  the 


AMBASSADOR  ISIORGENTHAU'S  STORY     309 

most  industrious  labour,  expended  through  many  years, 
could  transform  this  desert  into  the  abiding  place 
of  any  considerable  population.  The  Central  Govern- 
ment now  announced  its  intention  of  gathering  the 
two  million  or  more  Armenians  living  in  the  several 
sections  of  the  empire  and  transporting  them  to  this 
desolate  and  inhospitable  region.  Had  they  un- 
dertaken such  a  deportation  in  good  faith  it 
would  have  represented  the  height  of  cruelty  and 
injustice.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Turks  never 
had  the  slightest  idea  of  reestablishing  the  Armenians 
in  this  new  country.  They  knew  that  the  great  major- 
ity  would  never  reach  their  destination  and  that  those 
who  did  would  either  die  oi  tturst  and  starvation,  or 
be  murdered  by  the  wild  ISIohammedan  desert  tribes. 
The  real  purpose  of  the  deportation  was  robbery  and 
destruction;  it  really  represented  a  new  method  of 
massacre.  When  the  Turkish  authorities  gave  the 
orders  for  these  deportations,  they  were  merely  giving 
the  death  warrant  to  a  whole  race;  they  understood 
this  well,  and,  in  their  conversations  with  me,  they 
made  no  particular  attempt  to  conceal  the  fact. 

All  through  the  spring  and  summer  of  1915  the 
deportations  took  place.  Of  the  larger  cities,  Con- 
stantinople, Smyrna,  and  Aleppo  were  spared;  prac- 
tically 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. 


310      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

and  ill  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  wom- 
en engaged  m  their  domestic  tasks  without  giving 
them  the  chance  to  change  their  clothes.  The  police 
fell  upon  them  just  as  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius 
fell  upon  Pompeii;  women  were  taken  from  the  wash- 
tubs,  children  were  snatched  out  of  bed,  the  bread  was 
left  half  baked  in  the  oven,  the  family  meal  was  aban- 
doned partly  eaten,  the  children  were  taken  from  the 
schoolroom,  leaving  their  books  open  at  the  daily  task, 
and  the  men  were  forced  to  abandon  their  ploughs  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 — were  all  that  they  could 
take  of  their  household  belongings.  To  their  frantic 
questioiis  "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 
exceptional  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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     311 

for  a  pittance.  In  many  cases  Armenians  were  pro- 
hibited from  selling  or  Turks  from  buying  even  at  these 
ridiculous  prices;  under  pretense  that  the  Government 
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  per- 
mitted to  sell  their  houses.  Scarcely  had  the  former 
possessors  left  the  village,  when  Mohammedan  mohad- 
jirs — 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  keep- 
ing, "  pending  their  return,  and  then  parcelled  out  among 
the  Turks.  Yet  these  robberies  gave  the  refugees 
little  anguish,  for  far  more  terrible  and  agonizing  scenes 
were  taking  place  under  their  eyes.  The  systematic 
extermination  of  the  men  continued;  such  males  as  the 
persecutions  which  1  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  outskirts,  and  shoot 
them.  Public  hangings  without  trial — the  only  offense 
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  con- 
stantly receiving  reports  of  such  executions,  and  many  of 


312     AlVIBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

the  events  which  they  described  will  never  fade  from  my 
memory.  At  Angora  all  Armenian  men  from  fifteen  to 
seventy  werearrested,  bound  together  in  groups  of  four, 
and  sent  on  the  road  in  the  direction  of  Caesarea. 
When  they  had  travelled  five  or  six  hours  and  had 
reached  a  secluded  valley,  a  mob  of  Turkish  peasants 
fell  upon  them  with  cluBs,  nammers,  axes,  scythes, 
spades,  and  saws.  Such  instruments  not  only  caused 
more  agonizing  deaths  than  guns  an3  pistols,  but,  as 
the  Turks  themselves  boasted,  they  were  more  eco- 
nomical,  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  muti- 
lated, were  left  in  the  valley,  where  they  were  devoured 
by  wild  beasts.  After  completing  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  on  the  Black  Sea; 
gendarmes  would  follow  them  in  boats,  shoot  them 
down,  and  throw  their  bodies  mto  the  water. 

When  the  signal  was  given  for  the  caravans  to  move, 
therefore,  they  almost  invariably  consisted  of  women, 
children,  and  old  men.  Any  one  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  alter- 
native of  becoming  Mohammedans.  Even  though 
they  accepted  the  new  faith,  which  few  of  them  did, 
their  earthly  troubles  did  not  end.     The  converts  were 


<1 


> 

< 

o 
w 

t— I      -4-1 

I— I      o 

fa  ^ 


K    S'^ 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      313 

com})elled  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  abandonmg  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  departing  throngs.  The  oflBcers 
usually  divided  them  into  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  gen- 
darmerie 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,  oc- 
casionally a  farmer  had  rescued  a  cow  or  a  sheep,  which 
would  trudge  along  at  his  side,  and  the  usual  assort- 
ment of  family  pets — dogs,  cats,  and  birds — became  parts 
of  the  variegated  procession.  From  thousands  of  Ar- 
menian cities  and  villages  these  despairing  caravans 
now  set  forth;  they  filled  all  the  roads  leading  southward ; 
everywhere,  as  they  moved  on,  they  raised  a  huge  dust, 
and  abandoned  debris,  chairs,  blankets,  bedclothes, 
household  utensils,  and  other  impedimenta,  marked  the 
course  of  the  processions.     When  the  caravans  first 


314     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  slovrly  advancmg 
mobs,  frequently  bent  with  fatigue  and  crazed  by  the 
brutality  of  their  "protectors,"  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,  imder  the  dis- 
tressing circumstances  already  detailed.  In  these  six 
months,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  about  1,200,000 
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  lost 
contact  with  their  families  and  became  exhausted  and 
footsore.  The  Turkish  drivers  of  the  ox-carts,  after 
extorting  the  last  coin  from  their  charges,  would 
suddenly  dump  them  and  their  belongings  into  the 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     315 

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  any  one  who  showed  any  tendency 
to  slacken  the  pace.  Those  who  attempted  to  stop 
for  rest,  or  who  fell  exhausted  on  the  road,  were  com- 
pelled, with  the  utmost  brutahty,  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,  notifymg  the  Kurdish  tribes  that  their  victims 
were  approaching,  and  Turkish  peasants  were  also  in- 
formed that  their  long-waited  opportunity  had  arrived. 
The  Government  even  opened  the  prisons  and  set 
free  the  convicts,  on  the  understanding  that  they  should 
behave  like  good  Moslems  to  the  approaching  Arme- 
nians. Thus  every  caravan  had  a  continuous  battle  for 
existence  with  several  classes  of  enemies — their  ac- 
companying gendarmes,  the  Turkish  peasants  and 
villagers,  the  Kurdish  tribes  and  bands  of  CliStes  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  work- 
men, and  that  the  exiles  themselves  had  been  syste- 
matically deprived  of  all  weapons  before  the  journey  be- 
gan. 
When  the  victims  had  travelled  a  few  hours  from 


316     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  hopeless  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  women  and  old  men  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  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.  Frequently  any  one  who  dropped  on  the  road  was 
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  their  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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     317 

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  privations,  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  of  women  dying  in  the  last  stages  of  typhus, 
dysentery,  and  cholera,  of  little  children  lying  on  their 
backs  and  setting  up  their  last  piteousVails  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  pur- 
chasers, 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  rave- 
nous dogs,  fighting  one  another  for  the  bodies  of  the 
dead,  constantly  pursued  them.  The  most  terrible 
scenes  took  place  at  the  rivers,  especially  the  Euphrates. 
Sometimes,  when  crossing  this  stream,  the  gendarmes 
would  push  the  women  into  the  water,  shooting  all  who 
attempted  to  save  themselves  by  swimming.  Fre- 
quently the  women  themselves  would  save  their  honour 
by  jumping  into  the  river,  their  children  in  their  arms. 


318     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

"In  the  last  week  in  June,"  I  quote  from  a  consular 
report,  "several  parties  of  Erzeroum  Armenians  were 
deported  on  successive  days  and  most  of  them  mas- 
sacred 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  cling- 
ing to  a  boulder  in  the  river.  She  succeeded  in  ap- 
proaching 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  re- 
call how  hundreds  of  children  were  bayoneted  by  the 
Turks  and  thro\Mi  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  Eu- 
phrates 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  Arme- 
nians 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  revoltmg  conditions 
ever  reached  their  destinations?  The  experiences  of 
a  single  caravan  show  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  m 
the  State  Department  at  Washington.  On  the  first  of 
June  a  convoy  of  three  thousand  Armenians,  mostly 
women,  girls,  and  children,  left  Harpoot.  Following 
the  usual  custom  the  Government  provided  them  an 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     319 

escort  of  seventy  gendarmes,  under  the  command  of 
a  Turkish  leader,  a  Bey.  In  accordance  with  the  com- 
mon experience  these  gendarmes  proved  to  be  not 
their  protectors,  but  their  tormentors  and  their  execu- 
tioners.    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  travel- 
lers was  one  prolonged  horror.  The  gendarmes  went 
ahead,  informing  the  half -savage  tribes  of  the  moun- 
tains 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,  violating  and  killing  the  women,  and  the 
gendarmes  themselves  joined  in  the  orgy.  One  by  one 
the  few  men  who  accompanied  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  violated 
and  killed  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  15  to  90,  years,  and  these  they 
promptly  took  away  and  butchered  to  the  last  man. 
But  that  same  day  another  convoy  from  Sivas  joined 


320     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  them  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  marchers,  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; 
and  the  larger  part  of  the  convoy  marched  for  five  days 
almost  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  poHcemen  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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     321 

there  were  wells,  some  women  threw  themselves  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.  Some- 
times, when  the  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 
themselves  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  convoy  of  18,000  souls  just  150 
women  and  children  reached  their  destination.  A  few 
of  the  rest,  the  most  attractive,  were  still  living  as  cap- 
tives 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  wo- 
men were  the  victims  can  never  be  printed  in  an 
American  publication.  Whatever  crimes  the  most  per- 
verted instincts  of  the  human  mind  can  devise,  and 
whatever  refinements  of  persecution  and  injustice  the 
most  debased  imagination  can  conceive,  became  the 
daily  misfortunes  of  this  devoted  people.     I  am  con- 


322     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

fident  that  the  whole  history  of  the  human  race  con- 
tains  no  such  horrible  episode  as  this.  The  great  mas- 
sacres and  persecutions  of  the  past  seem  almost  insigni- 
ficant when  compared  with  the sufferinffs  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  Hves.  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  Span- 
ish 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  deporta- 
tions was  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Spain  by 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  According  to  Prescott  160,000 
were  uprooted  from  their  homes  and  scattered  broad- 
cast over  Africa  and  Europe.  Yet  all  these  previous 
persecutions  seem  almost  trivial  when  we  compare 
them  with  the  sufiFerings  of  the  Armenians,  in  which 
at  least  600,000  people  were  destroyed  and  perhaps 
as  many  as  1,000,000.  And  these  earher  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  T  urk- 
ish  and  Kurdish  rabble  who  slew  Armenians   as  a 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      323 

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  cold-blooded,  calculating  state  policy. 

The  Armenians  are  not  the  only  subject  people  in 
Turkey  which  have  suffered  from  this  policy  of  making 
Turkey  exclusively  the  country  of  the  Turks.  The 
story  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  nationalizing  idea.  I  have  already  described 
how,  in  the  few  months  preceding  the  European  War, 
the  Ottoman  Government  began  deporting  its  Greek 
subjects  along  the  ccast  of  Asia  Minor.  These  out- 
rages aroused  httle  interest  in  Europe  or  the  United 
States,  yet  in  the  space  of  three  or  four  months  more 
than  100,000  Greeks  were  taken  from  their  age-long 
homes  in  the  Mediterranean  littoral  and  removed  to  the 
Greek  Islands  and  the  interior.  For  the  larger  part  these 
were  bona-fide  deportations;  that  is,  the  Greek  inhabi- 
tants were  actually  removed  to  new  places  and  were  not 
subjected  to  wholesale  massacre.  It  was  probably  for 
the  reason  that  the  civilized  world  did  not  protest  against 
these  depK)rtations  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  exj>elled  the 
Greeks  so  successfully  that  they  had  decided  to  apply 
the  same  method  to  all  the  other  races  in  the  empire. 
The  martyrdom  of  the  Greeks,  therefore,  comprised 


324     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

two  periods:  that  antedating  the  war,  and  that  which 
began  in  the  early  part  of  1915.  The  first  affected 
chiefly  the  Greeks  on  the  seacoast  of  Asia  Minor.  The 
second  affected  those  Hving  in  Thrace  and  in  the 
territories  surrounding  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  the  Dar- 
danelles, 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  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  transforming  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  hidden  weapons  took  place 
in  the  Greek  villages,  and  Greek  men  and  women  were 
beaten  and  tortured  just  as  were  their  fellow  Arme- 
nians. 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  whole- 
sale scale.  The  Turks  attempted  to  force  the  Greek 
subjects  to  become  Mohammedans;  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, 
and  that  they  also  looked  forward  to  the  day  when  the 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     325 

Greeks  inside  of  Turkey  would  become  part  of  Greece. 
These  latter  charges  were  unquestionably  true;  that  the 
Greeks,  after  suflFering  for  five  centuries  the  most  un- 
speakable 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  transj>orted,  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  unquestionably  have  produced  such 
a  state  of  mind  in  Greece  that  its  pro-German  king 
would  have  been  unable  longer  to  keep  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  of  crimes  for  which  civilization 
will  hold  the  Turk  responsible. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

TALAAT   TELLS   WHY   HE   "  DEPORTS "   THE  ARMENLA.NS 


r 


T  WAS  some  time  before  the  story  of  the  Armenian 
atrocities  reached  the  American  Embassy  in  all  its 
horrible  details.  In  January  and  February  frag- 
mentary reports  began  to  filter  in,  but  the  tendency  was 
at  first  to  regard  them  as  mere  manifestations  of  the 
disorders  that  had  prevailed  in  the  Armenian  provinces 
for  many  years.  When  the  reports  came  from  TJrumia, 
both  Enver  and  Talaat  dismissed  them  as  wild  exag- 
gerations, 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, 
V   as  long  as  possible,  from  the  outside  world.     It  was 

/'clearly  the  intention  that  Europ>e  and  America  should 
hear  of  the  annihilation  of  the  Armenian  race  only 
jj,  after  that   anniliilation  had  been  accomphshed.     As 

^  the  country  which  the  Turks  particularly  wished  to 

keep  in  ignorance  was  the  United  States,  they  resorted 
to  the  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  de- 
ported were  educational  and  social  leaders  and  men  who 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     327 

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-defense.  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  insurrection 
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  popu- 
lation, and  insisted  that  the  Armenian  masses  in  Con- 
stantinople would  not  be  disturbed. 

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  impedi- 
ments were  placed  to  travelling,  certain  Americans; 
chiefly    missionaries,    succeeded    in   getting    through. 


328     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

For  hours  they  would  sit  in  my  oflSce  and,  with  tears 
streaming  down  their  faces,  they  would  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  narrations  and 
adding  many  unprintable  details.  The  general  pur- 
port of  all  these  first-hand  reports  was  that  the  utter 
depravity  and  fiendishness  of  the  Turkish  nature,  al- 
ready sufficiently  celebrated  through  the  centuries,  had 
now  surpassed  themselves.  There  was  only  one  hope  of 
saving  nearly  2,000,000  p>eople  from  massacre,  starva- 
tion, 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  de- 
stroying arm,  the  whole  Armenian  nation  would  dis- 
appear. 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  denounc- 
ing their  own  fatherland.  They  did  not  conceal  the 
humiliation  ^hich  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, 


©  Underwood  »S:  Underwood 

KAISER  WILLIAM  II,  IN  THE  UNIFORM  OF  A  TURKISH  FIELD 

MARSHAL 

\  He  remained  acquiescent,  refusing  to  intercede,  while  his  allies,  the 
^  lurks  murdered  anywhere  from  600,000  to  1,000,000  Armenians.  This 
'  jP^tlbijIlialioii  uf  a  whole  people  was  the  worst  (JUlL'UHie  uf  Iht;  Prussian  doc- 
uuie,— tnai  anyihmg  is  justified  which  promotes  the  success  of.  German 
arms.  After  the  massacre  was  over,  the  Kaiser  decorated  the  Sultan 
precisely  as  in  1898,  after  Abdul  Hamid  had  just  massacred  200  000 
Christians,  he  visited  that  potentate  and  publicly  embraced  him 


"«*i!iijji»'jrifff'£ 

•:;BIL    ■■■If)      IHlllli    IllUJ.    I''"' 


INTERIOR  OF  THE  ARMENIAN  CHURCH  AT  URFA 
Where    many    Armenians   were    burned.     The    Armenian    Chiu-ch   was 
established  in  the  fourth  century;  it  is  said  to  be  the  oldest  state  Christian 
church  in  existence 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     329 

the  treatment  of  Turkish  subjects  by  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment was  purely  a  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  hap- 
penings at  Konia.  After  listening  to  their  stories,  I 
could  not  restrain  myself,  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  one 
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  about  his 
absent  friends  that  we  usually  referred  to  these  manifes- 
tations 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. 


330     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

"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  Americans  as  Americans,"  I  replied. 

"That  may  be,"  rejoined  the  Minister,  "but  a 
promise  is  not  made  to  be  kept  forever.  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  meta- 
physical interest,  but  I  had  more  practical  matters 
to  discuss  at  that  time.  So  I  began  to  talk  about  the 
Armenians  at  Konia.  I  had  hardly  started  when  Talaat 's 
attitude  became  even  more  belligerent.  His  eyes  lighted 
up,  he  brought  his  jaws  together,  leaned  over  toward 
me,  and  snapped  out: 

"Are  they  Americans.'' " 

The  implications  of  this  question  were  hardly  diplo- 
matic; 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,  "be- 
sides, 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  in 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     331 

behalf  of  another  British  subject  who  was  not  being 
treated  properly. 

"He's  EngHsh,  isn't  he?"  answered  Talaat.  "Then 
I  shall  do  as  I  like  with  him ! " 

"Eat  him,  if  you  wish! "  I  replied. 

"No,"  said  Talaat,  "he  would  go  against  my  diges- 
tion." 

He  was  altogether  in  a  reckless  mood.  ^'Gott  strafe 
England!^'  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  heart,  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.  McNaugh- 
ton. 

"He's  not  American,"  said  Talaat,  "he's  a  Cana- 
dian." 

"It's  almost  the  same  thing, "  I  said. 

"Well,"  rephed  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  always  steal  something  from  me.  All  right,  you 
can  have  your  McNaughton! " 

Certainly  this  interview  was  not  an  encouraging  be- 
ginning, so  far  as  the  Armenians  were  concerned. 
But  Talaat  was  not  always  in  an  "Ayoub  Sabri  mood.** 


332     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  accommodating 
the  next.  Prudence  indicated,  therefore,  that  I  should 
await  one  of  his  more  congenial  moments  before  ap- 
proaching him  on  the  subject  that  aroused  all  the 
barbarity  in  his  nature.  Such  an  opjx)rtunity  was 
soon  presented.  One  day,  soon  after  the  interview 
chronicled  above,  I  called  on  Talaat  again.  The  first 
thing  he  did  was  to  oj>en  his  desk  and  pull  out  a  hand- 
ful of  yellow  cablegrams. 

*'Why  don't  you  give  this  money  to  us?"  he  said, 
with  a  grin. 

"  What  money.?  "  I  asked. 
^^'<^'  "Here  is  a  cablegram  for  you  from  America,  sending 

'**4*^'^  yo^  ^  ^^^  o^  money  for  the  Armenians.  You  ought  not 
7^**^*p*^to  use  it  that  way;  give  it  to  us  Turks,  we  need  it  as 
y*^^'      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,  you  know.  After  I 
have  finished  reading  them  I  send  them  around  to 
you." 

This  statement  was  the  literal  truth.  Every  morn- 
ing all  uncoded  cablegrams  received  in  Constantinople 
were  forwarded  to  Talaat,  who  read  them,  before 
consenting  to  their  being  forwarded  to  their  des- 
tinations. Even  the  cablegrams  of  the  ambassadors 
were  apparently  not  exempt,  though,  of  course,  the 
ciphered  messages  were  not  interfered  with.  Ordina- 
rily I  might  have  protested  against  this  infringement 
of  my  rights,  but  Talaat's  engaging  frankness  about 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     333 

pilfering  my  correspondence  and  in  even  waving  my 
own  cablegrams  in  my  face  gave  me  an  excellent  open- 
ing to  introduce  the  forbidden  subject. 

But  on  this  occasion,  as  on  many  others,  Talaat 
was  evasive  and  non-committal  and  showed  much  hos- 
tility to  the  interest  which  the  American  people  were 
manifesting  in  the  Armenians.  He  explained  his 
policy  on  the  ground  that  the  Armenians  were  in  con- 
stant correspondence  with  the  Russians.  The  definite 
conviction  which  these  conversations  left  upon  my  mind 
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  3d, 
"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  ofiicially  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  deliberation.  To  my 
repeated  appeals  that  he  should  show  mercy  to  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  so  interested  in  the  Armenians,  any- 
way?" 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 


334     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

of?  "Why  can*t  you  let  us  do  with  these  Christians  as 
we  please?" 

I  had  frequently  remarked  that  the  Turks  look  upon 
practically  every  question  as  a  personal  matter,  yet  this 
point  of  view  rather  stunned  me.  However,  it  was  a 
complete  revelation  of  Turkish  mentality;  the  fact  that, 
above  all  considerations  of  race  and  rehgion,  there  are 
such  things  as  humanity  and  civilization,  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  realize,"  I  replied,  "that  I  am  not 
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  modem  progressive  world.  The 
way  you  are  treating  the  Armenians  will  not  help  you 
to  reahze  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  by  your  persecutions 
of  the  Armenians,"  I  replied.  "You  must  base  your 
principles  on  humanitarianism,  not  racial  discrimina- 
tion, or  the  United  States  will  not  regard  you  as  a  friend 
and  an  equal.  And  you  should  understand  the  great 
changes  that  are  taking  place  among  Christians  all 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     335 

over  the  world.     Tliey  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 

religious  work,  as  well  as  their  educational  institutions. 

Americans  are  not  mere  materialists,  always  chasing 

money — they  are  broadly  humanitarian,  and  interested 

in  the  spread  of  justice  and  civiUzation  throughout 

the  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^    7  t**^'"^'^ 

They  will  always  resent  thg-wholpsale  dprtmrtion  of    '      "^tl 

Christians  in  Turkey.     They  will  look  upon  it  as  nothing 

but  wiKul  murder  and  will  seriously  condemn  all  the 

men  who  are  responsible  for  it.     You  will  not  be  able 

to  protect  yourseK  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  some- 
thing 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. 
"Is  that  a  reason  for  destroying  a  whole  race?    Is  that 


336     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S'STORY 

an  excuse  for  making  innocent  women  and  children 
suffer?" 

"Those  things  are  inevitable,"  he  replied. 

This  remark  to  me  was  not  quite  so  illuminatiug  as 
one  which  Talaat  made  subsequently  to  a  reporter  of  the 
Berliner  TageblatU  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  ^M 

Une  reason  why  Talaat  could  not  discuss  this  matter 
with  me  freely,  was  because  the  member  of  the  embassy 
staff  who  did  the  interpreting  was  himself  an  Armenian. 
In  the  early  part  of  August,  therefore,  he  sent  a  personal 
messenger  to  me,  asking  if  I  could  not  see  him 
alone — he  said  that  he  himself  would  provide  the  in- 
terpreter. This  was  the  first  time  that  Talaat  had 
admitted  that  his  treatment  of  the  Armenians  was  a 
matter  with  which  I  had  any  concern.  The  interview 
took  place  two  days  afterward.  It  so  happened  that 
since  the  last  time  I  had  visited  Talaat  I  had  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  go  to  you  for 
advice  any  more." 

"I  have  shaved  my  beard,"  I  replied,  "because  it 
had  become  very  gray — made  gray  by  your  treatment 
of  the  Armenians." 

After  this  exchange  of  compliments  we  settled  down 
to  the  business  in  hand.  "  I  have  asked  you  to  come 
to-day,"  began  Talaat,  "so  that  I  can  explain  our 


13-3 

<D 

a> 

M 

a 

a 

o 

u 

.y 

c3 

T! 

T) 

>,a 

Bl 

,X) 

THOSE  WHO  FELL  BY  THE  WAYSDDE 

Scenes  like  this  were  common  all  over  the  Armenian  provinces,  in  the 
spring  and  summer  months  of  1915.  Death  in  its  several  forms — massacre, 
starvation,  exhaustion — destroyed  the  larger  part  of  the  refugees.  The 
Tiu"kish  policy  was  that  of  extermination  under  the  guise  of  deportation 


A  VIEW  OF  HARPOOT 
Where  massacres  of  men  took  place  on  a  large  scale 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     337 

position  on  the  whole  Armenian  subject.  We  base  "Xcjtt 
our  objections  to  the  Armenians  on  three  distinct 
grounds.  In  the  first  place,  they  have  enriched  them- 
selves at  the  expense  of  the  Turks.  In  the  second  _ 
place,  they  are  determined  to  domineer  over  us  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  argu- 
ments in  rebuttal.  Talaat's  first  objection  was 
merely  an  admission  that  the  Armenians  were  more 
industrious  and  more  able  than  the  dull-witted  and 
lazy  Turks.  Masgacre  as-^L  means  of  destroying  busi- 
ness competition  was  certainly  an  original  conception! 
His  general  charge~tEat  the  Armenians  were  "con- 
spiring" against  Turkey  and  that  tiiey  openly  sym- 
pathized 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  most  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  equality,  and  in  which  all 
offenses  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 


338     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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.  If  we  don't,  they  will  plan  their 
revenge." 

*'If  you  are  not  influenced  by  humane  considera- 
tions," I  replied,  "think  of  the  material  loss.  These 
people  are  your  business  men.  They  control  many  of 
your  industries.  They  are  very  large  tax-payers.  What 
would  become  of  you  commercially  without  them?" 

"We  care  nothing  about  the  commercial  loss,"  re- 
plied 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  treat- 
ment of  the  Armenians  was  destroying  Turkey  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  and  that  his  country  would  never  be 
able  to  recover  from  this  infamy. 

"You  are  making  a  terrible  mistake,"  I  said,  and  I 
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  to  the  slightest  degree. 
He  always  came  back  to  the  points  which  he  had  made  in 
this  interview.  He  was  very  willing  to  grant  any 
request  I  made  in  behalf  of  the  Americans  or  even 
of  the  French  and  English,  but  I  could  obtain  nft 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     339 

general  concessions  for  the  Armenians.  He  seemed  to 
me  always  to  have  the  deepest  personal  feeling  in  this 
matter,  and  his  antagonism  to  the  Armenians  seemed  to 
increase  as  their  sufferings  mcreased.  One  day,  dis- 
cussing 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  this  people 
insured  their  Hves  was  merely  another  mdication  of  their 
thrifty  habits. 

"I  wish,"  Talaat  now  said,  "that  you  would  get  the   |  <uu^ 
American  Ufe  insurance  companies  to  send  us  a  com-jLx<^^^t 
plete  list  of  their  Armenian  policy  holders.     They  are' j  ' 

practically  all  dead  now  and  have  left  no  heirs  toj 
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  list  from  me,"  I  said,  and  I 
got  up  and  left  him. 

One  other  episode  involvmg  the  Armenians  stirred 
Talaat  to  one  of  his  most  ferocious  moods.  In  the 
latter  part  of  September,  Mrs.  Morgenthau  left  for 
America.  The  sufferings  of  the  Armenians  had  greatly 
preyed  upon  her  mind  and  she  really  left  for  home  be- 
cause she  could  not  any  longer  endure  to  live  in  such  a 
country.    But  she  determined  to  make  one  last  in- 


340     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

tercession  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  condition  of  the  poor  in 
Bulgaria.  She  knew  all  about  social  work  in  Ameri- 
can cities,  and,  a  few  years  before,  she  had  made  all 
her  plans  to  visit  the  United  States  in  order  to  study 
our  settlements  at  first  hand.  At  the  time  of  Mrs. 
Morgenthau's  visit  the  Queen  had  two  American 
nurses  from  the  Henry  Street  Settlement  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  prepared  to  make  con- 
cessions to  gain  her  as  an  ally.  It  was  therefore  a  pro- 
pitious 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  on  this  subject,  and  Queen  Eleanor 
was  precisely  the  kind  of  woman  from  whom  the  truth 
would  be  concealed  as  long  as  possible.  Mrs.  Mor- 
genthau gave  her  all  the  facts  about  the  treatment  of 
Armenian  women  and  children  and  asked  her  to  inter- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     341 

cede  in  their  behalf.  She  even  went  so  far  as  to  sug- 
gest that  it  would  be  a  terrible  thing  if  Bulgaria,  which 
in  the  past  had  herself  suffered  such  atrocities  at  the 
hands  of  the  Turks,  should  now  become  their  allies  in 
war.  Queen  Eleanor  was  greatly  moved.  She  thanked 
my  wife  for  telling  her  these  truths  and  said  that  she 
would  investigate  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  attempt- 
ing to  arrange  for  Bulgaria's  participation  in  the  war. 
The  Queen  introduced  him  to  Mrs.  Morgenthau;  His 
Highness  was  polite,  but  his  air  was  rather  cold  and 
injured.  His  whole  manner,  particularly  the  stem 
glances  which  he  cast  on  Mrs.  Morgenthau,  showed  that 
he  had  heard  a  considerable  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  plea  which  Mrs.  Morgenthau  was  making 
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  mono- 
syllables, and  I  was  afterward  told  that  Mrs.  Morgen- 
thau's  intercession  with  the  Queen  had  put  him  into 


342     AMBASSx\DOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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: 
*^  have  accompUshed  more  toward  solving  the  Armenian 
problem  in  three  'months  than  Abdul  Hamid  accom- 
plished in  thirty  years!" 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

ENVER  PASHA   DISCUSSES   THE  ARMENIANS 

^LL  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  scrupulously  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  attempt- 
ing to  deceive  me,  he  was  making  open  admissions  to 
other  people — a  fact  of  which  I  was  aware.  In  par- 
ticular he  made  no  attempt  to  conceal  the  real  situa- 
tion 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  con- 
siderable 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  in  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 

343 


344     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

Dr/Lepsius  obtained,  largely  from  German  missionaries 
in  the  interior,  left  no  doubt  in  his  mind  as  to  the 
policy  of  the  Turks.  His  feelings  were  aroused  chiefly 
against  his  own  government.  He  expressed  to  me 
the  humiliation  which  he  felt,  as  a  German,  that  the 
Turks  should  set  about  to  exterminate  their  Chris- 
tian subjects,  while  Germany,  which  called  itself  a 
Christian  country,  was  making  no  endeavours  to  pre- 
vent it.  From  him  Enver  scarcely  concealed  the  oflSicial 
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  to  attempt  to  conceal  the  true  situa- 
tion 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  I  told  him  that  if  the  Armenians  at- 
tempted to  start  a  revolution  or  to  assist  the  Russians, 
I  would  be  unable  to  prevent  mischief  from  happening 
to  them.  My  warning  produced  no  effect  and  the 
Armenians  started  a  revolution  and  helped  the  Rus- 
sians. 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   up- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     345 

risings  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  coimtry  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  sympathizing  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  out- 
side 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  revolution- 
ary programme.  I  am  sure  that  if  these  outside 
countries  did  not  encourage  them,  they  would  give  up 
all  their  efforts  to  oppose  the  present  government  and 
become  law-abiding  citizens.  We  now  have  this 
coimtry  in  our  absolute  control  and  we  can  easily 
revenge  ourselves  on  any  revolutionists." 

"After  all,"  I  said,  "suppose  what  you  say  is  true. 


346     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

why  not  pimisli  the  guilty?  Why  sacrifice  a  whole 
race  for  the  alleged  crimes  of  individuals?" 

"Your  point  is  all  right  during  peace  times,"  re- 
plied 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  inde- 
pendent 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  Armenians  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 
Dashnagpsts  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  state- 
ment. At  the  time  that  he  was  speaking,  massacres 
and  deportations  were  taking  place  all  over  the  Arme- 
nian provinces  and  they  went  on  almost  without  inter- 
ruption for  several  months. 

As  soon  as  the  reports  reached  the  United  States 
the  question  of  relief  became  a  pressing  one.    In  the 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     347 

latter  part  of  July,  I  heard  that  there  were  5,000 
Armenians  from  Zeitoim  and  Sultanie  who  were  receiv- 
ing 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  twenty -eight  million  people  in  Turkey  and  one 
million  Armenians,  and  we  do  not  propose  to  have  one 
million  disturb  the  peace  of  the  rest  of  the  population. 
The  great  trouble  with  the  Armenians  is  that  they  are 
separatists.  They  are  determined  to  have  a  king- 
dom  of  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 
shall  behave  just  as  Turks  do.  You  must  remember  that 
when  we  started  this  revolution  in  Turkey  there  were 
only  two  hundred  of  us.  With  these  few  followers  we 
were  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  vv  e  esta^^!'  Led  the  Constitution.  It  is  our  own 
experience  with  revolutions  which  makes  us  fear  the 
Armenians.  K  two  hundred  Turks  could  overturn 
the  Government,  then  a  few  hundred  bright,  educated 
Armenians  could  do  the  same  thing.  We  have  there- 
fore 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 


348     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

Armenians  attacked  us  while  we  were  engaged  in  a 
foreign  war,  that  we  Turks  would  hit  back  and  that 
we  would  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  Armen- 
ians themselves,  therefore,  that  the  American  mission- 
aries 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,  every- 
thing 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,  but  Enver  still 
insisted  that  Americans  should  keep  away  from  the 
Armenian  provinces. 

"How  can  we  furnish  bread  to  the  Armenians," 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     349 

Enver  declared,  "when  we  can't  get  enough  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  Constanti- 
nople." 

I  said  that  I  had  the  money  and  that  American 
missionaries  were  anxious  to  go  and  use  it  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  refugees. 

"We  don't  want  the  Americans  to  feed  the  Armen- 
ians," 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  Govern- 
ment 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  them  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 
all  their  household  possessions,  of  all  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  pro- 
posed that  we  give  our  American  money  to  these  same 


350     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

guardians  of  tlie  law  for  distribution  among  their 
charges !    However,  I  had  to  be  tactful. 

"K  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.  K  they  can  only  be  convinced 
that  they  have  no  friends  in  other  countries,  then  they 
will  settle  down,  recognize  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  Tur- 
key 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  hypocritical  plea  that 
he  was  really  a  friend  of  this  distracted  nation  and 
that  even  the  severity  of  the  measures  which  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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     351 

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  this 
suffering  as  much  as  possible,  and  that  for  that  purpose 
he  should  appoint  a  special  committee  of  Armenians 
to  assist  him  and  send  a  capable  Armenian,  such  as 
Oskan  Effendi,  formerly  Minister  of  Posts  and  Tele- 
graphs, 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 
Dashnaguist  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  su- 
bordinates have  gone  much  further  than  you  have  ever 
intended.  I  realize  that  it  is  not  always  easy  to  con- 
trol 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 


352     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

country  absolutely  under  our  control.  I  have  no 
desire  to  shift  the  blame  on  to  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.  X_am  convinced  that 
we  are  completely  justified  in  doing  this  owing  to  the 
hostile  attitude  of  the  Armenians  toward  the  Otto- 
man 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  my  efforts  to  stop  the  programme 
of  wholesale  massacre,  but  I  did  save  a  few  Armenians 
from  death.  One  day  I  received  word  from  the  Ameri- 
can Consul  at  Smyrna  that  seven  Armenians  had  been 
sentenced  to  be  hanged.  These  men  had  been  accused 
of  committing  some  rather  vague  political  offense  in 
1909;  yet  neither  Rahmi  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  illus- 
trated the  extent  to  which  the  rights  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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     353 

mth  Christmas,  for  on  that  day  it  is  customary  for 
Mohammedans  to  exchange  small  presents,  usually 
sweets.  So  after  the  usual  remarks  of  felicitation,  I 
saidtoEnver: 

"To-day  is  Bairam  and  you  haven't  sent  me  any 
present  yet." 

Enver  laughed. 

"What  do  you  want.''  Shall  I  send  you  a  box  of  can- 
dies?" 

"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 
refuse." 

He  immediately  sent  for  his  aide  and  telegraphed 
to  Smyrna,  setting  the  men  free. 

Thus  fortuitously  is  justice  administered  and  decision 
involving  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  be- 
cause 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  of  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 


354     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

Belgrade  forest.  As  I  was  losing  no  opportunities 
to  influence  him,  I  accepted  this  invitation.  We 
autoed  to  Buyukdere,  where  four  attendants  with 
horses  met  us.  In  our  ride  through  the  beautiful  forest, 
Enver  became  rather  more  communicative  in  his 
conversation  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  Imi>erial 
Princess,  he  disclosed  a  much  softer  side  to  his  nature 
than  I  had  hitherto  seen.  He  spoke  of  the  dignity  with 
which  she  graced  his  home,  regretted  that  Mohamme- 
dan ideas  of  propriety  prohibited  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  Armen- 
ian. 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. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     355 

"You  said  that  you  wanted  to  protect  women  and 
children,"  I  remarked,  "but  I  know  that  your  orders 
are  not  being  carried  out." 

"Those  stories  can't  be  true,"  he  said.  "I  cannot 
conceive  that  a  Turkish  soldier  would  ill-treat  a  woman 
who  is  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  afterward  borrowed  it,  had  one  made  exactly  like 
it  for  himself — even  including  the  number  in  one  corner-^ 
and  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  speculation.  He  even  sug- 
gested that  he  and  I  join  hands  in  buying  land  that 
was  sure  to  rise  in  value!  But  I  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, 
while  our  companions  brought  up  the  rear.  These 
Turkish  officials  are  exceedingly  jealous  of  their  pre- 
rogatives, and,  since  the  Minister  of  War  is  the  ranking 


356     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  dis- 
pleasure, whereat  Talaat  paused,  reined  up  his  horse, 
and  passed  submissively  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  distinctions  in  official  etiquette;  I  was 
determined  to  talk  about  the  Armenians.  But  again 
I  failed  to  make  any  progress.  Enver  foimd  more 
interesting  subjects  of  discussion. 

He  began  to  talk  of  his  horses,  and  now  another  inci- 
dent 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. 

This  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. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     357 

On  this  same  ride  Enver  gave  me  an  exhibition  of 
his  skill  as  a  marksman. 

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.  Immediately  Enver  dismounted, 
whipped  out  his  revolver,  and,  thrusting  his  arm  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  fired — 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  con- 
vincing explanation  for  the  influence  which  he  exer- 
cised with  the  piratical  crew  that  was  then  ruling  Tur- 
key. 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 
these  anecdotes  were  I  do  not  know,  but  I  can  cer- 
tainly testify  to  the  high  character  of  his  marksmanship. 

Talaat  also  began  to  amuse  himself  in  the  same 
way,  and  finally  the  two  statesmen  started  shooting  in 
competition  and  behaving  as  gaily  and  as  carefree  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.     Sev- 


358     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

cral  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  p>ower- 
ful  Turks  of  their  day  in  the  fate  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  imjwrtant  in  the  empire; 
actually,  the  Grand  Vizier  was  a  mere  place-warmer, 
and  Talaat  and  Enver  controlled  the  present  incum- 
bent, 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  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  him  greatly.  Evidently  he  did  not 
care  to  have  his  elegant  ease  interfered  with  by  such 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     359 

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  more  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,  in  behalf  of  the  British,  French, 
and  Russian  governments,  a  notification  that  these 
Powers  would  hold  personally  responsible  for  the 
Armenian  atrocities  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,  Djemal  and  their  companions 
as  ordinary  murderers.  As  I  came  into  the  room  to 
discuss  this  somewhat  embarrassing  message  with  this 
member  of  the  royal  house  of  Egypt,  he  sat  there, 
as  usual,  nervously  fingering  his  beads,  and  not  in  a 
particularly  genial  frame  of  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"  had  killed 
120,000  Turks  at  Van.  This  and  other  of  his  state- 
ments 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  charge  that  our  sympathy  with  the 
Armenians  was  largely  responsible  for  all  their  troubles. 

Soon  after  this  interview  Said  Halim  ceased  to  be 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs;  his  successor  was  Halil 


360     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

Bey,  who  for  several  years  had  been  Speaker  of  the 
Turkish  Parliament.  Halil  was  a  very  different  type  of 
man.  He  was  much  more  tactful,  much  more  intelli- 
gent, 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  Turkish  politicians  of  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  dis- 
covered, to  defend  them.  Soon  after  obtaining  his 
Cabinet  pK)st,  Halil  called  upon  me  and  made  a  some- 
what rambling  explanation  of  the  Armenian  atrocities. 
I  had  already  had  experiences  with  several  official 
attitudes  toward  the  persecutions;  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  equanimity  in  the  least.  He  began 
by  admitting  that  nothing  could  palliate  these  mas- 
sacres, but,  he  added  that,  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  whichhave 
been  committed.  I  wish  to  present  to  you  the  view 
of  the  Sublime  Porte;  I  admit  that  this  is  no  justffica- 


MIBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     361 

tion,  but  I  think  there  are  extenuating  circumstances 
that  you  should  take  into  consideration  before  judg- 
ment 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  afterward  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  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  them- 
selves. The  Government  will  naturally  do  its  duty! 
Besides,  the  twenty  thousand  pounds  that  you  have  is 
in  reality  nothing  at  all." 


362     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

"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  are.  Enver  says  that  the 
Armenians  are  idealists,  and  that  the  moment  foreigners 
approach  and  help  them,  they  will  be  encouraged  in 
their  national  aspirations.  He  is  utterly  determined 
to  cut  forever  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,  Halil's  genial  retort  certainly  had  one 
virtue  which  most  of  his  other  statements  in  this  inter- 
view 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  ap- 
proximate 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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     363 

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  meas- 
ures," I  said. 

"I  do  not  deny  it,"  replied  the  ever-accommodating 
Halil,  as  he  bowed  himself  out. 

Enver,  HalU,  and  the  rest  were  ever  insistent  on  the 
point  which  they  constantly  raised,  that  no  foreigners 
should  furnish  relief  to  the  Armenians.  A  few  days 
after  this  visit  the  Under-Secretary  of  State  called  at 
the  American  Embassy.  He  came  to  deliver  to  me  a 
message  from  Djemal  to  Enver.  Djemal,  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  oflBcials  "to  stop  busying  themselves  in 
Armenian  affairs."  Djemal  could  not  distinguish 
between  the  innocent  and  the  guilty,  this  messenger 
said,  and  so  he  had  to  punish  them  all !  Some  time  after- 
ward 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  information — and  I  did  not  stop. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

"l   SHALL  DO   NOTHING   FOR   THE  ARMENIANS*'    ^^^ 

SAYS   THE   GERMAN  AMBASSADOR  P^^ 

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  slaughter 
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  responsi- 
ble for  many  of  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  particular 
phrases  used  by  Enver  and  other  Turks  while  discuss- 
ing the  Armenian  massacres:  "The  Armenians  have 
brought  this  fate  upon  themselves."  "They  had  a  fair 
warning  of  what  would  happen  to  them.'*  "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."  "  The  only  thing  we  have  on  our  mind 
is  to  win  the  war." 

These  phrases  somehow  have  a  familiar  ring,  do  they 
not?  Indeed,  I  might  rewrite  all  these  interviews  with 
Enver,  use  the  word  Belgium  in  place  of  Armenia,  put 

364 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     365 

t 

the  words  in  a  German  general's  mouth  instead  of 
Enver's,  and  we  should  have  almost  a  complete  ex- 
position 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  an  entirely  new  mentality.  This  new 
conception  was  that  of  deportation.  The  Turks,  in 
five  hundred  years,  had  invented  innumerable  ways  of 
physically  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 
thousands  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 
^gean.  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  modem  times,  ex- 


366      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

clusively  Germanic.  Any  one  who  reads  the  literature 
of  Pan-Germany  constantly  meets  it.  These  enthu- 
siasts 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  establish- 
ment 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  actu- 
ally been  doing  it  in  the  last  four  years.  They  have 
moved  we  do  not  know  how  many  thousands  of  Belgians 
and  French  from  their  native  land.  Austria-Hungary 
has  killed  a  large  part  of  the  Serbian  j)opulation  and 
moved  thousands  of  Serbian  children  into  her  own 
territories,  intending  to  bring  them  up  as  loyal  sub- 
jects 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  ex- 
tensively. 

Certain  German  writers  have  even  advocated  the 
application  of  this  policy  to  the  Armenians.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Paris  Temps,  Paul  Rohrbach  "in  a  con- 
ference held  at  Berlin,  some  time  ago,  recommended 
that  Armenia  should  be  evacuated  of  the  Armenians. 
They  should  be  dispersed  in  the  direction  of  Mesopo- 
tamia and  their  places  should  be  taken  by  Turks,  in 
such  a  fashion  that  Armenia  should  be  freed  of  all 
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 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     367 

desert.  This  was  an  essential  detail  in  the  achieve- 
ment of  the  great  new  German  Empire,  extending  from 
Hamburg  to  the  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  Armen- 
ian was  made  of  just  the  kind  of  stuff  which  this  enter- 
prise needed.  It  was  entirely  in  accordance  with  the 
German  conception  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  temper- 
ate climate  would  furnish  no  impediment  in  Pan- 
German  eyes.  I  found  that  Germany  had  been  sowing 
those  ideas  broadcast  for  several  years;  I  even  found 
that  German  savants  had  been  lecturing  on  this  sub- 
ject in  the  East.  "I  remember  attending  a  lecture 
by  a  well-known  German  professor,"  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  insure  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  con- 
siderable detail  with  the  Armenian  massacres  of 
1895-96.     I  need  only  quote  a  few  passages  to  show  the 


368      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

attitude  of  German  state  policy  on  such  infamies: 
"If  we  should  take  into  consideration  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  vehem- 
ence both  the  assassins  and  their  instigators.  They 
have  perpetrated  the  most  abominable  massacres  upon 
^masses  of  people,  more  numerous  and  worse  than  those 
inflicted  by  Charlemagne  on  the  Saxons.  The  tor- 
tures which  Lepsius  has  described  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 
which  the  bloody  Mohammedan  barbarism  arouses 
in  us,  that  the  Turks  are  defending  themselves  legiti- 
mately, and  before  anything  else  we  see  in  the  Arme- 
nian question  and  Armenian  massacres  a  matter  of 
internal  Turkish  policy,  merely  an  episode  of  the  agony 
through  which  a  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  Tur- 
key. In  accordance  with  this,  they  demand  for  the 
subject  peoples  of  Turkey  the  rights  of  man,  or  of 
hmnanity,  or  of  civilization,  or  of  political  liberty — 
in  a  word,  something  that  will  make  them  the  equals 
of  the  Turks.  But  just  as  little  as  the  ancient  Roman 
despotic  state  could  tolerate  the  Nazarene's  religion, 
just  as  little  can  the  Turkish  Empire,  which  is  really 
the  political  successor  of  the  eastern  Roman  Empire, 


VIEW  OF  URFA 
One  of  the  largest  towns  in  Asia  Minor 


A.  fiELIC  OF  THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  AT  ERZINGAN 
Such  mementos  are  found  all  over  Armenia 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     369 

tolerate  any  representation  of  western  free  Chris- 
tianity among  its  subjects.  The  danger  for  Turkey  in 
the  Armenian  question  is  one  of  extinction.  For  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^  hor- 
rible act,  certainly^n  act  of  political  despair,  shameful 
m  its  details,  but  still  a  piece  of  i>olitical  history,  in  »^  I?*l>  ^*'*''^' 
the  Asiatic  manner.  ...  In  spite  of  the  dis- 
pleasure 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  deeds  of  charity  do  not  take 
the  form  of  political  acts  which  are  likely  to  thwart 
our  German  policy.  The  internationalist,  he  who  be- 
longs 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  Eng- 
land, 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 
tlie  profound  moral  reason  why  we  must,  as  statesmen, 
show  ourselves  indifferent  to  the  sufferings  of  the 
Christian   peoples  of  Turkey,   however  painful   that 


370     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

may  be  to  our  human  feelings.  .  .  .  That  is 
our  duty,  which  we  must  recognize  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  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 
impK)rtant  moral  duty.  Once  we  have  made  such  a 
choice  we  must  not  hesitate.  William  II  has  chosen. 
He  has  become  the  friend  of  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  observ- 
ing German  practice  as  well.  As  soon  as  the  early 
reports  reached  Constantinople,  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  Government. 
I  approached  Wangenheim  on  this  subject  in  the  latter 
part  of  March.  His  antipathy  to  the  Armenians  be- 
came immediately  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/^* 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     371 

Wangenheim  pretended  to  regard  the  Armenian  ques- 
t  ion  as  a  matter  that  chiefly  affected  the  United  States. 
My  constant  intercession  in  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  Ameri- 
can matter.  How,  then,  can  you  expect  me  to  do  any- 
thing as  long  as  the  United  States  is  selling  ammuni- 
tion 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  chil- 
dren. But  that  was  about  as  much  progress  as  I 
made  with  Wangenheim  at  that  time.  I  spoke  to  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  be- 
tween us  soon  afterward,  the  result  of  my  refusal  to 
give  him  "credit"  for  having  stopped  the  deportation 
of  French  and  British  civilians  to  the  Gallipoli  pen- 
insula.   After  our  somewhat  tart  conversation  over 


372      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  Con- 
stantinople 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  Wan- 
genheim  constantly  looked  to  Weitz  for  information, 
he  did  not  always  take  his  advice.  Weitz  did  not 
accept  the  orthodox  imperial  attitude  toward  Armenia, 
for  he  believed  that  Germany's  refusal  effectively  to 
intervene  was  doing  his  fatherland  everlasting  injury. 
Weitz  was  constantly  presenting  this  view  to  Wan- 
genheim,  but  he  made  little  progress.  Weitz  told  me 
about  this  liimseK,  in  January,  1916,  a  few  weeks  be- 
fore I  left  Turkey.  I  quote  his  own  words  on  this  sub- 
ject: 

"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 
threw  me  twice  out  of  the  room!'* 

Another  German  who  was  opposed  to  the  atrocities 
was  Neurath,  the  Conseiller  of  the  German  Embassy. 
His  indignation  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. 


ll 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      373 

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  Wangen- 
heim  had  no  desire  to  stop  the  deportations.  He  ap- 
parently wished,  however,  to  reestablish  friendly 
relations  with  me,  and  soon  sent  third  parties  to  ask 
why  I  never  came  to  see  him.  I  do  not  know  how  long 
this  estrangement  would  have  lasted  had  not  a  great 
personal  affliction  befallen  him.  In  June,  Lieutenant 
Colonel  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  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  San- 
ders. Leipzig  was  one  of  Wangenheim's  intimate 
friends;  as  young  men  they  had  been  officers  in  the 
same  regiment,  and  at  Constantinople  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  flood- 
ing Germany  with  reports  about  the  Armenians  and 
calling  upon  the  Government  to  stop  the  massacres. 
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  after- 
ward, when  he  returned  my  visit,  he  asked: 


374     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

"\Miere'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  Bel- 
gians, taking  the  Congo  in  exchange." 

I  then  made  another  plea  in  behalf  of  the  persecuted 
Christians.     Again  we  discussed  this  subject  at  length. 

"The  Armenians,"  said  Wangenheim,  "have  shown 
themselves  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  drop  their  Zionist 
schemes." 

Again,  although  I  spoke  with  unusual  earnestness, 
the  Ambassador  refused  to  help  the  Armenians. 

Still,  on  July  4th,  Wangenheim  did  present  a  formal 
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  inci- 
dent had  precisely  the  same  character  as  his  fro- 
forma  protest  against  sending  the  French  and  British 
civilians  down  to  Gallipoli,  to  serve  as  targets  for  the 
Allied  fleet.  Its  only  purpose  was  to  put  Germans 
oflicially  on  record.  Probably  the  hypocrisy  of  this 
protest  was  more  apparent  to  me  than  to  others,  for, 
at  the  very  moment  when  Wangenheim  presented  this 
so-called  protest,  he  was  giving  me  the  reasons  why 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      375 

Germany  could  not  take  really  effective  steps  to  end 
the  massacres.  Soon  after  this  interview,  Wangen- 
heim  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  in  Constantinople,  Humann. 
This  person  was  generally  regarded  as  a  man  of  great 
influence;  his  position  in  Constantinople  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.  I  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  prob- 
lem 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 
so. 


376     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

I  expressed  my  horror  at  such  sentiments,  but  Hu- 
mann  went  on  abusing  the  Armenian  people  and  ab- 
solving the  Turks  from  all  blame. 

"It  is  a  matter  of  safety,"  he  replied;  "the  Turks 
have  got  to  protect  themselves,  and,  from  this  j>oint  of 
view,  they  are  entirely  justified  in  what  they  are  doing. 
Why,  we  found  7,000  guns  at  Kadikeuy  which  be- 
longed 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, 
which  had  been  insisting  all  along  that  it  should  protect 
its  rear.  The  Committee  decided  upon  the  deporta- 
tions and  Enver  reluctantly  agreed.  All  Armenians 
are  working  for  the  destruction  of  Turkey's  power — 
and  the  only  thing  to  do  is  to  deport  them.  Enver  is 
really  a  very  kind-hearted  man;  he  is  incapable  per- 
sonally of  hurting  a  fly!  But  when  it  comes  to  de- 
fending an  idea  in  which  he  believes,  he  will  do  it  fear- 
lessly 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.  Every- 
where else  the  people  are  strongly  'Old  Turk'.  And 
these  old  Turks  are  all  fanatics.  These  Old  Turks 
are  not  in  favour  of  the  present  government,  and  so 
the  Committee  has  to  do  everything  in  their  pK)wer  to 
protect  themselves.  But  don't  think  that  any  harm 
will  come  to  other  Christians.  Any  Turk  can  easily 
pidk  out  three  Armenians  among  a  thousand  Turks!" 

Humann  was  not  the  only  important  German  who 
expressed  this  latter  sentiment.     Intimations  began 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     377 

to  reach  me  from  many  sources  that  my  "meddling" 
in  behalf  of  the  Armenians  was  making  me  more  and 
more  unpopular  in  German  oflScialdom.  One  day  in 
October,  Neurath,  the  German  Conseiller,  called  and 
showed  me  a  telegram  which  he  had  just  received  from 
the  German  Foreign  OflSce.  This  contained  the  in- 
formation that  Earl  Crewe  and  Earl  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  insti- 
gated and  even  led  the  attacks,  and  particularly  men- 
tioned Resler  of  Aleppo.  Neurath  said  that  his 
government  had  directed  him  to  obtain  a  denial  of 
these  charges  from  the  American  Ambassador  at  Con- 
stantinople. I  refused  to  make  such  a  denial,  saying 
that  I  did  not  feel  called  upon  to  decide  officially 
whether  Turkey  or  Germany  was  to  blame  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  Mor- 
genthau,  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  headquarters  when  an  officer 
came  up  to  him  and  said : 

"Those  are  very  interesting  articles  on  the  Armenian 


378     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

question  which  your  father  is  writing  in  the  American 
newspapers." 

"My  father  has  been  writing  no  articles,"  my  son 
replied. 

"Oh,"  said  this  oflficer,  "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  Constanti- 
nople 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  min- 
utes, 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  indefi- 
nite, 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  close  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  oflFended  if  I  presume  upon  this  to  give 
you  a  little  advice.  You  are  very  active  in  the  interest 
of  the  Armenians  and  I  do  not  think  you  realize  how 
very  unpopular  you  are  becoming,  for  this  reason,  with 
the  authorities  here.    In  fact,  I  think  that  I  ought  to 


AIMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     379 

tell  you  that  the  Turkish  Government  is  contemplat- 
ing asking  for  your  recall.  Your  protests  for  the  Annen- 
ians  will  be  useless.  The  Germans  will  not  interfere  for 
them  and  you  are  just  spoiling  your  opportunity  for 
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  we  would  hate  to  see  your 
career  end  disastrously." 

"Then  you  go  back  to  the  German  Embassy,"  I 
said,  "  and  tell  Wangenheim  what  I  say — to  go  ahead 
and  have  me  recalled.  If  I  am  to  suflFer  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,  have  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  next  I  met  Enver  I  told  him 
that  there  were  rumours  that  the  Ottoman  Government 
was  about  to  ask  for  my  recall.  He  was  very  emphatic 
in  denouncing  the  whole  story  as  a  falsehood.  "We 
would  not  be  guilty  of  making  such  a  ridiculous  mis- 
take," 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  changes  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 


380     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

right  eye,  and  he  seemed  unusually  nervous  and  de- 
pressed. He  told  me  that  he  had  obtained  little  rest; 
that  he  had  been  obliged  to  spend  most  of  his  time  in 
Berlin  attending  to  business.  A  few  days  after  his 
return  I  met  him  on  my  way  to  Haskeuy;  he  said  that 
he  was  going  to  the  American  Embassy  and  together 
we  walked  back  to  it.  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  Wan- 
genheim  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  Secre- 
tary of  State  tells  them  that  you  say  that  more  Armen- 
ians than  ever  have  been  massacred  since  Bulgaria 
has  come  in  on  our  side." 

"No,  I  did  not  cable  that,"  I  replied.  "I  admit 
that  I  have  sent  a  large  amount  of  information  to  Wash- 
ington. I  have  sent  copies  of  every  report  and  every 
statement  to  the  State  Department.  They  are  safely 
lodged  there,  and  whatever  happens  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  is  not  quite  accurate. 
I  merely  informed  Mr.  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. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     381 

"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  forever.  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 
them.  But  she  is  responsible  in  the  sense  that  she  had  the 
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  some  day 
call  your  government  to  account.  You  are  a  Christian 
people  and  the  time  will  come  when  Germans  will 
realize  that  you  have  let  a  Mohammedan  people  de- 
stroy another  Christian  nation.  How  foolish  is  your 
protest  that  I  am  sending  information  to  my  State 
Department.  Do  you  suppose  that  you  can  keep  secret 
such  hellish  atrocities  as  these?  Don't  get  such  a 
silly,  ostrich-like  thought  as  that — don't  think  that 
by  ignoring  them  yourselves,  you  can  get  the  rest  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  government?  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 
Ambassador,  "but  the  big  problem  that  confronts  us  is 
to  win  this  war.  Turkey  has  settled  with  her  foreign 
enemies;  she  has  done  that  at  the  Dardanelles  and  at 
Gallip>oli.  She  is  now  trying  to  settle  her  internal 
affairs.  They  still  greatly  fear  that  the  Capitulations 
will  again  be  forced  upon  them.     Before  they  are  again 


382     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

put  under  this  restraint,  they  intend  to  have  their  in- 
ternal problems  in  such  shape  that  there  will  be  little 
chance  of  any  interference  from  foreign  nations.  Ta- 
laat  has  told  me  that  he  is  determined  to  complete^his 
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  Armenian 
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  ambas- 
sador from  Russia  or  from  any  other  country  shall 
have  such  an  opportunity  in  the  future.  The  Armen- 
ians anyway  are  a  very  poor  lot.  You  come  in  contact 
in  Constantinople  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  Turk- 
ish 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  impracticable. 

** Never  mind  all  these  considerations,"  I  said. 
"Let  us  disregard  everything — military  necessity,  state 
policy,  and  all  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," 
Wangenheim  replied,  "I  shall  not  intervene." 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     383 

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  imder  him.  I 
jumped  and  caught  the  man  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  down  stairs,  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  he  never  regained  consciousness.  On  October  24th, 
I  was  officially  informed  that  Wangenheim  was  dead. 
And  thus  my  last  recollection  of  Wangenheim  is  that 
of  the  Ambassador  as  he  sat  in  my  office  in  the  Amer- 
ican Embassy,  absolutely  refusing  to  exert  any  in- 
fluence to  prevent  the  massacre  of  a  nation.  He  was  the 
one  man,  and  his  government  was  the  one  government, 
that  could  have  stopped  these  crimes,  but,  as  Wan- 
genheim told  me  many  times,  "our  one  aim  is  to  win 
this  war." 

A  few  days  afterward  official  Turkey  and  the  diplo- 
matic force  paid  their  last  tribute  to  this  perfect 
embodiment  of  the  Prussian  system.  The  funeral 
was  held  in  the  garden  of  the  German  Embassy  at 
Pera.  The  inclosure  was  filled  with  flowers.  Practi- 
cally the  whole  gathering,  excepting  the  family  and 
the  ambassadors  and  the  Sultan's  representatives, 
remained  standing  during  the  simple  but  impressive 
ceremonies.    Then   the   procession   formed;    German 


•384     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

sailors  carried  the  bier  upon  their  shoulders,  other 
German  sailors  carried  the  huge  bunches  of  flowers, 
and  all  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps  and  the  offi- 
cials of  the  Turkish  Government  followed  on  foot. 

The  Grand  Vizier  led  the  procession;  I  walked  the 
whole  way  with  Enver.  All  the  officers  of  the  Goeben 
and  the  Breslau,  and  all  the  German  generals,  dressed 
in  full  uniform,  followed.  It  seemed  as  though  the 
whole  of  Constantinople  lined  the  streets,  and  the  at- 
mosphere had  some  of  the  quahty  of  a  holiday.  We 
walked  to  the  grounds  of  Dolma  Bagtche,  the  Sultan's 
Palace,  passing  through  the  gate  which  the  ambassa- 
dors enter  when  presenting  their  credentials.  At  the 
dock  a  steam  launch  lay  awaiting  our  arrival,  and 
in  this  stood  Neurath,  the  German  Conseiller,  ready 
to  receive  the  body  of  his  dead  chieftain.  The 
coffin,  entirely  covered  with  flowers,  was  placed  in 
the  boat.  As  the  launch  sailed  out  into  the  stream 
Neurath,  a  six-foot  Prussian,  dressed  in  his  military 
uniform,  his  helmet  a  waving  mass  of  white  plumes, 
stood  erect  and  silent.  Wangenheim  was  buried  in  the 
park  of  the  summer  embassy  at  Therapia,  by  the  side 
of  his  comrade  Colonel  Leipzig.  No  final  resting-place 
would  have  been  more  appropriate,  for  this  had  been 
the  scene  of  his  diplomatic  successes,  and  it  was  from 
this  place  that,  a  little  more  than  two  years  before,  he  had 
directed  by  wireless  the  Goeben  and  the  Breslau^  and 
safely  brought  them  into  Constantinople,  thus  making 
it  inevitable  that  Turkey  should  join  forces  with  Ger- 
many, and  paving  the  way  for  all  the  triumphs  and  all 
the  horrors  that  have  necessarily  followed  that  event. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

ENVER  AGAIN  MOVES  FOR  PEACE — FAREWELL  TO  THE 
SULTAN  AND  TO  TURKEY 

MY  failure  to  stop  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  reelection  of  President  Wilson.  I  could  imagine 
no  greater  calamity,  for  the  United  States  and  the 
world,  than  that  the  American  nation  should  fail  to 
indorse  heartily  this  great  statesman.  If  I  could  sub- 
stantially assist  in  Mr.  Wilson's  reelection,  I  concluded 
that  I  could  better  serve  my  country  at  home  at  this 
juncture. 

385 


386     AMBiVSSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  in- 
formation as  I  possessed  on  the  European  situation. 
It  was  especially  imf>ortant  to  give  them  the  latest 
side  lights  on  the  subject  of  peace.  In  the  latter  part 
of  1915  and  the  early  part  of  1916  this  was  the  upper- 
most topic  in  Constantinople.  Enver  Pasha  was  con- 
stantly asking  me  to  intercede  with  the  President  to 
end  the  war.  Several  times  he  intimated  that  Turkey 
w^as  war-weary  and  that  its  salvation  depended  on  get- 
ting an  early  peace.  I  have  already  described  the 
conditions  that  prevailed  a  few  months  after  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  but,  by  the  end  of  1915,  they  were 
infinitely  worse.  When  Turkey  decided  on  the  de- 
portation and  massacre  of  her  subject  peoples,  especially 
the  Armenians  and  Greeks,  she  had  signed  her  own 
economic  death  warrant.  These  were  the  people,  as 
I  have  already  said,  who  controlled  her  industries  and 
her  finances  and  developed  her  agriculture,  and  the 
material  consequences  of  this  great  national  crime  now 
began  to  be  everywhere  apparent.  The  farms  were 
lying  uncultivated  and  daily  thousands  of  peasants 
were  dying  of  starvation.  As  the  Armenians  and 
Greeks  were  the  largest  taxpayers,  their  annihilation 
greatly  reduced  the  state  revenues,  and  the  fact  that 
practically  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  exhaustion.  In  these  facts  Tur- 
key had  abundant  reasons  for  desiring  a  speedy  peace. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     387 

Besides  this,  Enver  and  the  ruling  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  re- 
tain their  power." 

Still  I  did  not  take  Enver's  importunities  for  peace 
any  too  seriously. 

"Are  you  sp>eaking  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  them  about  this.'*" 

"No,"  Enver  replied,  "but  I  know  how  they  feel." 

' '  That  is  not  sufficient, ' '  I  answered .  ' '  You  had  better 
communicate  with  them  directly  through  the  German 
Embassy.  I  would  not  be  willing  to  submit  a  proposi- 
tion that  was  not  indorsed  by  all  the  Teutonic  Allies." 

Enver  thought  that  it  would  be  almost  useless 
to  discuss  the  matter  with  the  German  Ambassador. 
He  said,  however,  that  he  was  just  leaving  for  Orsova, 
a  town  on  the  Hungarian  and  Rumanian  frontier,  where 
he  was  to  have  a  conference  with  Falkenhayn,  at  that 
time  the  Gennan  Chief-of-Staff.  Falkenhayn,  said 
Enver,  was  the  imp>ortant  man;  he  would  take  up  the 
question  of  peace  with  him. 

"Why  do  you  think  that  it  is  a  good  time  to  dis- 
cuss peace  now.^*"  I  asked. 

"Because  in  two  weeks  we  shall  have  completely 
annihilated  Serbia.  We  think  that  should  put  the  Allies 
in  a  frame  of  mind  to  discuss  peace.  My  visit  to  Fal- 
kenhayn is  to  complete  arrangements  for  the  invasion  of 
Egypt.  In  a  very  few  days  we  expect  Greece  to  join 
us.    We  are  already  preparing  tons  of  provisions  and 


388     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

fodder  to  send  to  Greece.  And  when  we  get  Greece,  of 
course,  Rumania  will  come  in.  When  the  Greeks  and 
Rumanians  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  at  his  proposed  interview,  and  report 
to  me  when  he  returned.  In  some  way  this  conver- 
sation came  to  the  ears  of  the  new  German  Ambassador, 
Graf  W^olf-Metternich,  who  immediately  called  to  dis- 
cuss the  subject.  He  apparently  wished  to  impress 
upon  me  two  things:  that  Germany  would  never  sur- 
render Alsace-Lorraine,  and  that  she  would  insist  on  the 
return  of  all  her  colonies.  I  replied  that  it  was  ap- 
parently useless  to  discuss  peace  until  England  first  had 
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  con- 
sider peace.  But  I  think  that  you  are  wrong.  It 
is  a  mistake  to  say  that  Great  Britain  has  not  already 
won  great  victories.  I  think  that  she  has  several  very 
substantial  ones  to  her  credit.  Just  consider  what  she 
has  done.  She  has  established  her  unquestioned  su- 
premacy of  the  seas  and  driven  off  all  German  com- 
merce. 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  con- 
quered all  the  German  colonies.  She  is  in  possession 
of  a  considerable  part  of  Mesopotamia.  How  absurd 
to  say  that  England  has  gained  nothing  by  the  war!" 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     389 

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  ad- 
vance, as  such  an  action  would  be  generally  interpreted 
as  a  sign  of  weakness.  But  one  thing  could  be  de- 
pended on;  the  Allies  could  obtain  far  more  favourable 
terms  at  that  moment  than  at  any  future  time.  Enver 
told  me  that  the  Germans  would  be  willing  to  sur- 
render all  the  territory  they  had  taken  from  the  French 
and  practically  all  of  Belgium.  But  the  one  thing  on 
which  they  had  definitely  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  retained;  that  is,  Serbia  would  be- 
come a  much  smaller  country  than  she  had  been  before 
the  Balkan  wars,  and,  in  fact,  she  would  practically 
disappear  as  an  independent  state.  The  meaning  of 
all  this  was  apparent,  even  then,  Germany  had  won 
the  object  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  "Mit- 
tel  Europa"  had  thus  become  an  accomplished  mili- 
tary fact.  Apparently  Germany  was  willing  to  give 
up  the  overrun  provinces  of  northern  France  and  Bel- 
gium, provided  that  the  Entente  would  consent  to  her 
retention  of  these  conquests.  The  proposal  which  Fal- 
kenhayn made  then  did  not  materially  differ  from  that 
which  Germany  had  put  forward  in  the  latter  part  of 
1914.  This  Enver-Falkenhayn  interview,  as  reported  to 
me,  shows  that  it  was  no  suddenly  conceived  German  plan, 
but  that  it  has  been  Germany's  scheme  from  the  first. 


390    AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

In  all  this  I  saw  no  particular  promise  of  an  early 
peace.  Yet  I  thought  that  I  should  lay  these  facts  be- 
fore 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  the  thirteenth  of  January.  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  mo- 
ment 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,  the  conquerors — absurdly  enough  they  so 
regarded  themselves — of  the  British  navy.  At  this 
moment  of  their  great  triumph — the  Allied  expedition 
to  the  Dardanelles  had  evacuated  its  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  reelect  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, 
in  the  polite  (and  insincere)  manner  of  the  oriental.  You 
and  we  have  really  grown  up  together;  you  came  here 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     391 

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  re- 
spect American  policy  in  Turkey  as  you  have  repre- 
sented 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  an- 
swered. "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  easy  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  use- 
less, 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  Hghted  up  his 
eyes  once  more. 


392      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

"Wliat*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 
whom  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  min- 
utes, and  discussed  among  other  things  the  pleasant  re- 
lations 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  approves  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  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  civihzed  and  flourish- 
ing country  like  America  wants  peace,  and  she  should 
exert  all  her  efforts  to  bring  about  a  peace  that 
shall  be  permanent.'* 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     393 

One  of  the  Sultan's  statements  at  this  mterview 
left  a  lasting  impression.  This  was  his  assertion  that 
"Russia  attacked  us."  That  the  simple-minded  old 
gentleman  believed  this  was  apparent;  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  mterview  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  had  been 
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.  This  morning,  when  we  were  leaving  for 
Berlin,  the  Crown  Prince  was  found  lying  on  the  floor 
in  his  villa,  bathed  in  a  pool  of  blood,  with  his  arteries 
cut.     Youssouf  was  the  son  of  Abdul-Aziz,  Sultan  from 


394      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

1861  to  1876,  who,  gruesomely  enough,  had  ended  his 
days  by  openmg  his  arteries  forty  years  before.  The 
circumstances  surrounding  the  death  of  father  and  son 
were  thiis  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  was  extremely  antagonistic  to  the  Committee  of 
Union  and  Progress  gave  rise  to  many  suspicions.  I 
know  nothmg  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  Va  suicidSr'  (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  Constan- 
tinople, but  the  journey  proved  to  be  full  of  interest. 
I  was  now  on  the  famous  Balkanzug,  and  this  was 
only  the  second  trip  which  it  had  made  to  Berlm. 
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  compartment  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  Hohenzollem, 
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  defenses.  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  at- 
tack would  succeed. 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     395 

"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,  dis- 
passionately, 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  devas- 
tated districts  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  several  centuries,  she  had  stood  as  a 
bulwark  against  the  onslaughts  of  the  Turks.  And 
she  had  paid  the  penalty.  Many  farms  we  passed 
were  abandoned,  overgrown  with  weeds  and  neg- 
lected, and  the  buildings  were  frequently  roofless  and 


396      AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

sometimes  razed  to  the  ground.  Whenever  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  the  ranks  of  Serbia's 
still  existing  and  valiant  little  army.  All  this  time 
trains  full  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,    ZIMMERMANN,    AND    GERMAN-AMERICANS 

OUR  train  drew  into  the  Berlin  station  on  the 
evening  of  February  2,  1916.  The  date  is 
worth  mentioning,  for  that  marked  an  import- 
ant 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  Ger- 
many 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  something  which  her  own  govern- 
ment 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  with  Zimmermann  and  Von  Jagow,  and 
perhaps  you  can  give  them  a  new  point  of  view.'* 

397 


398     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

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  the  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  Ambas- 
sador 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  Von  Jagow's 
house  and  we  spent  more  than  an  hour  there  with  the 
Foreign  Minister.  Von  Jagow  was  a  small,  slight  man 
of  nervous  disposition.  He  lighted  cigarette  after  cig- 
arette during  our  interview.  He  was  apparently  greatly 
worried  over  the  American  situation.  Let  us  not  suppose 
that  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  con- 
trast between  these  journalistic  vapourings  and  the 
anxiety,  even  the  fear,  which  this  high  German  oflScial 
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  Lusitania  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 
cbout  the  precise  terms  that  you  use.     But  you  must 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     399 

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  opin- 
ion 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  Httle 
time  but  certainly  you  can  change  public  sentiment  so 
that  it  would  approve  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  neces- 
sity 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  coun- 
try. 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 


400     AIMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

the  Scotch  side  of  him.  That  makes  him  very  cau- 
tious, makes  him  weigh  every  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  provoca- 
tions but  no  farther.  You  are  also  greatly  deceived 
because  certain  important  members  of  Congress,  per- 
haps 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  impres- 
sion 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,  "be- 
cause I  am  one  of  them  myseK.  I  was  bom  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  German- Americans." 
I  could  not  reveal  to  him  my  own  state  of  miad,  as  I 
was  still  ambassador,  but  I  could  and  did  say: 

"Take    my   own    children.      Their   sympathies  all 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     401 

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  im- 
mediately. Do  you  suppose,  in  case  we  should  go  to 
war  with  Germany,  that  they  would  side  with  you? 
The  idea  is  simply  preposterous.  And  the  overwhelm- 
ing 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  sentiment  here.  There  are  two  par- 
ties here,  holding  diametrically  opposed  views  on  sub- 
marine 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  oflSce  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 


402     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

in  here  men  who  will  make  war  inevitable  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  declaration?" 

"  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  men  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  realize  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  constantly  interfering  with  that  right  and 
murdering  our  citizens.  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  ap- 
parently have  forgotten  that  all  our  wars  have  been 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY      403 

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.** 

"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  Govern- 
ment 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  con- 
ditional 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  Mr.  Gerard  and  I  cabled 
immediately. 

At  four-thirty  o'clock  I  had  an  engagement  to  take  tea 


404     AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

with  Dr.  Alexander  and  his  wife  at  their  home.  I  had 
been  there  about  fifteen  minutes  when  Zimmermann  was 
announced!  He  was  a  different  kind  of  man  from  Von 
Jagow.  He  impressed  me  as  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. 

Zimmermann,  discussing  the  German- American  situ- 
ation, 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  treated  in  Germany  than  they  have  been." ! 

Zimmermann  told  me  that  Von  Jagow  had  told  him 
about  our  talk  and  asked  me  to  repeat  part  of  it. 
,^e  was  particularly  interested,  he  said,  in  my  state- 
ments about  the  German-Americans,  and  he  wished  to 
learn  from  me  himself  the  facts  upon  ?^rhich  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-Ainericans 
would  be  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  j)opulation,"  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  purchase  a  few  here  ^ 
and  there,  who  will  make  a  big  noise  and  shout  for^ 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     405 

Germany,  but  I  am  talking  about  the  millions  of 
Americans  of  Gennan  ancestry.  These  people  regard 
themselves  as  Americans  and  nothing  else.  The  sec- 
ond 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-Ameri- 
cans prefer  to  belong  to  the  clubs  of  general  member- 
ship 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  Ger- 
man 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  p>oint;  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 
Zimmermann  now  thinks  of  my  statements. 

After  the  explanation  Zimmermann  began  to  talk 
«bout   Turkey.      He  seemed  interested  to  find  out 


406     AlVIBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY 

whether  the  Turks  were  likely  to  make  a  separate 
peace.  I  bluntly  told  him  that  the  Turks  felt  them- 
selves 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  mis- 
take 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." 

"But  the  German  Government  is  not  responsible," 
said  Zimmermann.     "We  know  nothing  about  it." 

Of  course  I  could  not  accept  that  statement  on  its 
face  value — recent  developments  have  shown  how  men- 
dacious it  was — but  we  passed  to  other  topics.  The 
matter  of  the  submarine  came  up  again. 

"We  have  voluntarily  interned  our  navy,"  said 
Zimmermann.  "  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  oppos- 
ing the  submarine.  You  have  a  long  coast  line  and 
you  may  need  the  U-boat  yourself  some  day.  Sup- 
pose one  of  the  European  Powers,  or  particularly 
Japan,  should  attack  you.  You  could  use  the  sub- 
marine 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." 

Zimmermann  now  returned  again  to  the  situation  in 
Turkey.  His  questions  showed  that  he  was  much  dis- 
pleased with  the  new  German  Ambassador,  Graf  Wolf- 


r- 


AMBASSADOR  MORGENTHAU'S  STORY     407 

Mettemich.  Metternich,  it  seemed,  had  failed  in  his 
attempt  to  win  the  good  will  of  the  ruling  powers 
in  Turkey  and  had  been  a  trial  to  the  German  Foreign 
Office.  Mettemich  had  shown  a  different  attitude 
toward  the  Armenians  from  Wangenheim,  and  he  had 
made  sincere  attempts  with  Talaat  and  Enver  to  stop 
the  massacres.  Zimmermann  now  told  me  that  Metter- 
nich had  made  a  great  mistake  in  doing  this  and  had  de- 
stroyed his  influence  at  Constantinople.  Zimmermann 
made  no  effort  to  conceal  his  displeasure  over  Metter- 
nich*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  Ger- 
many had  acquiesced  in  those  deportations. 

In  a  few  days  we  had  taken  the  steamer  at  Copen- 
hagen, and,  on  February  22,  1916,  I  found  myself  once 
more  sailing  into  New  York  harbour — and  home. 


THE  END 


1HE  COUNTRY  LIFE  PRESS 
GARDEN   CITY,   N.  Y. 


BINDING  SECT.  JUL  26  1972 


PLEASE  DO  NOT  REMOVE 
CARDS  OR  SLIPS  FROM  THIS  POCKET 

UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO  LIBRARY 


D  Morgenthau,  Henry 

520  Ajabassador  Morgenthau' s 

T8M65  story