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FORTY-FOUR   MONTHS   IN 
GERMANY     AND     TURKEY 


Forty-four  Months 

IN   ^ 

Germany  and  Turkey 

FEBRUARY  1915  to  OCTOBER  1918 
A    RECORD    OF     PERSONAL     IMPRESSIONS 


BY 

HAR   DAYAL,   M.A. 


yi 


LONDON 

P.   S.   KING  &  SON,   LTD. 
ORCHARD   HOUSE,   WESTMINSTER 
1920 


PREFACE 

The  author  of  the  following  pages  has  been  well 
known  for  the  last  ten  years  as  one  of  the  most  active 
leaders  of  the  Indian  revolutionary  party.*  Born  of 
a  Kayasth  family  in  Delhi  in  1884,  he  was  educated 
in  St.  Stephen's  College,  until  he  took  the  B.A.  degree 
of  the  Punjab  University  and  was  awarded  a  scholar- 
ship tenable  in  the  Government  College,  Lahore.  In 
1904  he  stood  first  in  the  list  of  the  successful  candi- 
dates for  the  M.A.  degree  in  English  literature,  and 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  Punjab  University 
was  given  a  State  scholarship  of  £200  a  year  by  the 
Government  of  India.  He  entered  St.  John's  College, 
Oxford,  in  1905,  and  began  to  read  for  the  Honours 
School  of  Modern  History,  but  in  1907  resigned  his 
Government  scholarship  and  removed  his  name  from 
the  college  books.  He  associated  himself  with 
Shyamji  Krishnavarma,  who  was  at  that  time  the 
recognised  leader  of  the  Indian  revolutionary  move- 
ment, and  in  his  journal.  The  Indian  Sociologist 
(October,  1907),  stated  that  HarDayalhad  re  ignedhis 
scholarship,  "as  he  holds  that  no  Indian  who  really 
loves  his  country  ought  to  compromise  his  principles 
and  barter  his  rectitude  of  conduct  for  any  favour 
whatever  at  the  hands  of  the  alien  oppressive  rulers 
of  India." 

*  Further  details  of  the  history  of  this  movement  may  be 
found  in  the  Report  of  the  East  India  Sedition  Committee. 
1918,  especially  paras.  130  and  132  :  price  gd. 


vi  PREFACE 

After  a  visit  to  India,  where  he  spread  the  doctrine 
of  active  hostility  to  the  British  Government,  Har 
Dayal  in  1908  rejoined  Shyamji  Krishnavarma  in 
Paris,  but  finding  him  unwilling  to  adopt  violent 
methods  in  the  furtherance  of  political  ends,  he  deter- 
mined to  transfer  the  centre  of  his  activities  to 
America,  and  in  191 1  settled  in  San  Francisco.  Here 
he  published  in  several  Indian  languages  a  newspaper 
called  Ghadr  ("  Mutiny "),  in  which  he  advocated 
murder  and  revolution,  the  formation  of  secret  societies, 
and  the  adoption  of  every  possible  means  of  violence 
for  the  expulsion  of  the  British  from  India.  He  also 
addressed  meetings  in  various  towns  in  America  in 
support  of  the  Indian  revolutionary  movement,  until 
in  March,  1914,  he  was  arrested  by  the  authorities  of 
the  United  States  Government,  with  a  view  to  his 
deportation  as  an  undesirable  alien.  Released  on 
bail,  he  escaped  to  Switzerland,  and  after  the  war 
broke  out,  joined  the  Indian  National  Party,  which 
worked  in  Berlin  under  the  directions  of  the  German 
Foreign  Ofiice.  In  the  following  pages  he  has 
described  his  experiences  and  the  reasons  that  have 
led  him  to  change  his  attitude  towards  British  rule 
in  India. 


A'. 


^y 


CONTENTS 


SECTION  VKOZ 

I.    General  Impressions       .         .        .        i 


11.    In  Constantinople  .         .        .         .29 

III.  "  Asia  Minor  '*  in  Berlin        .        .      55 

IV.  The  Germans  in  Asia      ...      78 
Conclusion 97 


FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS   IN 
GERMANY    AND    TURKEY 

SECTION   I 

GENERAL  IMPRESSIONS 

"A  mad  world,  my  masters." 

Shakespeare. 

It  is  not  easy  to  discuss  within  the  limits 
of  a  short  essay  the  sahent  characteristics 
of  German  society  as  it  presented  itself  to 
an  Oriental  traveller  during  the  war.  I 
have  spent  about  three  and  a  half  years  in 
Germany  and  Turkey  during  the  war  ;  and 
I  now  jot  down  my  personal  impressions 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  India  and 
Egypt.  I  speak  from  direct  personal  ex- 
perience. I  shall  not  quote  from  books  and 
newspapers.  I  relate  what  I  have  seen  with 
my  own  eyes  and  heard  with  my  own  ears. 
The  history  of  Germany  during  the  last 
forty-eight  years  has  been  a  record  of  folly 


2  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

ending  in  failure  ;  and  this  war  has  been  a 
German  crime  ending  in  a  German  catas- 
trophe. My  personal  views  and  reflections 
may  be  useful  to  the  educated  classes  of 
India,  Egypt,  and  other  Oriental  countries. 

Oriental  readers  may  ask  how  it  was 
possible  that  such  an  active  and  well- 
instructed  nation  should  have  made  the 
mistakes  and  committed  the  sins  which 
have  brought  a  just  Nemesis  on  it.  I  shall 
try  to  answer  this  question,  extenuating 
nothing  and  setting  down  naught  in  malice. 
I  am  a  cosmopolitan  in  spirit,  and  can  judge 
and  criticise  with  an  unbiassed  mind. 

The  Germans  are  intellectually  not  behind 
the  other  European  nations,  but  they  are 
morally,  socially,  and  politically  in  a  lower 
stage  of  development.  They  are  a  well- 
instructed,  semi-barbarous  nation,  and  re- 
semble a  Berber  or  a  Kurd,  who  should 
somehow  acquire  a  knowledge  of  advanced 
science  and  literature  without  thereby 
divesting  himself  of  his  primitive  habits  and 
ideas.  In  Germany  one  finds  a  strange  and 
startling  mixture  of  rampant  mediaeval 
barbarism  and  up-to-date  modern  civilisa- 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  3 

tion.  Intellectually  the  Germans  belong 
to  the  twentieth  century.  Morally,  socially 
and  politically  they  are  still  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  That  is  the  reason  why  they  are 
despised  and  hated  by  all  foreigners,  and 
why  they  must  suffer  for  their  numerous  sins 
of  omission  and  commission.  Purged  and 
purified,  they  can  rise  to  the  level  of  con- 
temporary civilisation,  for  progress  is  the 
law  of  social  evolution  everywhere.  The 
Germans  to-day  have  nothing  to  give  to  the 
world  except  their  books  and  their  inven- 
tions ;  but  they  must  learn  a  great  deal 
from  England,  France,  Italy,  and  America 
before  they  can  call  themselves  a  civilised 
people. 

The  most  noticeable  feature  of  German 
society  as  a  whole  is  the  spirit  of  excessive 
megalomania  that  pervades  it.  This  atmo- 
sphere poisons  the  whole  life  of  the  nation. 
The  Germans  believe  that  they  are  the 
greatest,  wisest,  bravest,  ablest,  noblest  and 
best  people  on  earth.  They  not  only  be- 
lieve it  but  also  say  so,  and  proclaim  it  in 
their  writings  and  discourses .  As  a  corollary 
they  despise  all  other  peoples  as  incapable 


4  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

and  worthless.  Even  a  noted  scientist  like 
Professor  Oswald  speaks  of  the  Germans  as 
the  "  chosen  people  "  ("  das  aus6rwahlte 
Volk  ").  Of  course,  he  cannot  tell  by  whom 
and  for  what  this  people  has  been  "  chosen  "; 
but  such  is  the  childish  vanity  of  this  well- 
instructed  nation.  I  remember  reading  this 
sentence  in  a  book  about  the  future  of 
Germany  :  "  We  are  the  best-educated  and 
the  bravest  nation  in  the  world."  I  need 
not  quote  from  the  rabid  effusions  of  the 
Pan-Germans,  with  which  we  are  now  suffi- 
ciently familiar. 

I  was  at  first  at  a  loss  how  to  explain  that 
strange  declaration  of  the  King  of  Bavaria 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war  :  "  We  shall  win, 
whatever  may  be  the  number  of  enemies  "  ! 
But  I  found  that  every  German,  high  and 
low,  rich  and  poor,  suffers  from  this  curious 
mental  derangement.  It  is  not  easy  to 
understand  how  this  psychological  con- 
dition has  arisen.  The  Germans  have  no 
reason  to  have  such  a  high  opinion  of  them- 
selves. They  have  not  achieved  more  than 
the  other  civilised  nations  of  the  world. 
Their  position  does  not  warrant  such  absurd 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  5 

pride  and  self-esteem.  They  have  not  been 
the  pioneers  of  human  civiHsation,  Uke  the 
Egyptians  or  the  Chinese.  They  have  not 
promulgated  great  religions,  like  the  Jews, 
the  Arabs,  and  the  Hindus.  They  have  not 
created  the  noblest  art,  philosophy  and 
literature,  like  the  Greeks.  They  have  not 
discovered  and  colonised  vast  continents, 
like  the  Spaniards.  They  have  not  led  the 
way  in  founding  democratic  institutions, 
Jike  the  English  and  the  French.  They  have 
not  organised  wonderful  empires,  like  the 
English  and  the  Romans.  They  are  not  the 
creators  of  modern  art  and  literature,  like 
the  Italians.  The  Germans  have  also  con- 
tributed their  quota  to  human  culture,  but 
they  have  not  done  more  than  other  nations. 
They  cannot  even  claim  to  be  the  first 
among  equals.  In  fact,  they  have  accom- 
plished less  than  other  ancient  and  modern 
nations,  though  it  is  of  course  impossible  to 
compare  such  different  culture-values  as 
Buddhism,  Greek  sculpture,  Beethoven, 
Shakespeare,  and  the  American  Declaration 
of  Independence.  The  world  to-day  bears 
the  impress  of  Rome,  Greece,  India,  Spain, 


6  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

France,  and  England;  but  the  German 
language  practically  is  not  known  beyond 
the  frontiers  of  Germany  and  Austria. 
England  has  organised  a  vast  system  of 
government  in  Asia  and  Africa  for  the 
ultimate  benefit  of  backward  tribes  and 
races.  French  is  the  second  language  of  the 
educated  classes  in  all  countries.  Italy  has 
given  us  Dante  and  the  great  artists  of  the 
Renaissance.  But  Germany's  achievements 
have  been  more  modest,  and  cannot  be  said 
to  have  conquered  the  world.  Why  are  the 
Germans,  then,  so  vain  and  silly  ?  Why  do 
they  lack  "  self-knowledge,"  which  is  the 
foundation  of  true  virtue  in  man  ?  I  have 
been  able  to  discover  only  one  cause  of  this 
distemper ;  it  is  the  delirium  of  the  parvenu, 
the  arrogance  of  the  upstart,  the  self- 
importance  of  the  nouveau  riche,  the  intoxi- 
cation of  an. American  "  potato-king."  The 
Germans  have  been  spoiled  and  ruined  by 
their  success  in  the  war  of  1 870-1.  They 
had  been  accustomed  only  to  defeat  and 
disaster  for  a  long  time.  They  had  been 
beaten  on  many  battlefields  in  their  own 
country.   Their  history  had  been  a  miserable 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  7 

record  of  disunion,  inefficiency  and  humilia- 
tion. But  the  war  of  1 870-1  suddenly 
wrought  a  change  in  their  fortunes.  They 
defeated  the  leading  nation  of  Europe  and 
had  their  fill  of  vengeance  against  the 
ancestral  ioe.  They  established  a  powerful 
national  State,  which  they  had  never  been 
able  to  do  since  the  days  of  Charlemagne. 
They  thus  emerged  from  age-long  obscurity 
and  feebleness  and  became  a  force  in  world- 
politics.  Their  success  has  "  turned  their 
heads,"  for  who  can  bear  prosperity  well  ? 
It  has  blinded  them  to  the  facts  and  realities 
of  the  life  of  the  world.  It  has  filled  their 
shallow  minds  with  the  fumes  and  vapours 
of  puerile  pride  and  reckless  ambition.  It 
has  warped  their  moral  sense  and  hardened 
their  hearts  in  sin.  It  has  been  their  curse 
during  the  last  forty-eight  years.  This 
poison  has  permeated  every  nerve  and  fibre 
of  the  social  system,  and  can  be  eliminated 
only  through  suffering  and  expiation. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  megalomania, 
the  Germans  have  been  further  demoralised 
by  their  new  cult  of  Force.  They  have 
now  unlimited  faith  in  brute  Force.    They 


8  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

believe  only  in  Might,  and  idolise  the  soldier 
and  the  military  officer.  The  nation  which 
was  noted  for  its  idealism  a  hundred  years 
ago  has  fallen  so  low  that  it  can  understand 
only  the  law  of  the  mailed  fist.  It  is  one  of 
the  saddest  tragedies  in  the  social  history 
of  the  world.  The  war  of  1870-1  has  re- 
sulted in  the  moral  suicide  of  a  whole  people. 
At  present  the  Germans  are  hopelessly 
materialistic  in  this  respect.  They  know 
that  they  won  the  victories  of  1870-1  and 
proclaimed  the  new  German  Empire  at 
Versailles  because  they  were  superior  to  the 
French  in  force.  They  believe  that  they 
owe  their  present  security  and  prosperity  to 
Moltke,  and  not  to  Goethe  and  Kant.  They 
have  learned  that  Force  alone  can  protect 
a  nation  against  its  enemies.  This  ex- 
perience has  led  them  to  exaggerate  the 
virtue  of  Force  as  a  necessary  factor  in 
evolution  in  the  present  imperfect  condition 
of  human  society.  They  have  learned  a 
great  truth,  but  they  have  so  distorted  and 
misinterpreted  it  that  it  has  become  a 
venomous  lie  in  their  hands.  They  have 
glorified  Force  and  offered   incense  to  this 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  9 

new  god,  which  has  rescued  them  from  their 
Egyptian  bondage  of  past  centuries.  They 
have  jumped  from  one  extreme  to  another, 
as  they  have  forgotten  that  virtue  lies  in  the 
mean.  They  have  at  last  come  to  know  the 
use  of  Force,  but  they  are  also  eager  to  pro- 
ceed to  its  abuse.     I  was  talking  at  an 

evening  party  to  Graf  X ,  and  explaining 

to  him  the  importance  of  securing  the  good- 
will of  the  Oriental  nations  for  the  German 
cause,  when  he  suddenly  said  (in  English)  : 
"  We  must  hack  our  way  through."  A 
Persian  gentleman  assured  a  German  diplo- 
mat that  the  Persian  people  sympathised 
with  Germany  !  but  the  latter  replied : 
"  Two  machine-guns  would  be  more  useful 
than  sympathy  "  !  A  German  journalist 
said  to  me  :  "  Everything  in  this  country 
turns  round  war  and  '  soldiering.'  "  The 
most  favourite  toy  for  German  children  dur- 
ing the  war  was  the  "  dicke  Bertha"  ("  fat 
Bertha"), as  the  42-centimetre  gun  employed 
by  the  Germans  at  the  seige  of  Antwerp  was 
christened.  Models  of  this  gun  were  bought 
and  kept  by  German  families  with  great 
piety,  like  the  figure  of  a  tutelary  goddess. 


lo  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

All  Germany  seemed  to  accept  it  as  the 
greatest  emblem  of  virtue  and  glory.  In 
Germany  the  universal  faith  in  Force 
obtrudes  itself  on  the  attention  of  a  foreigner 
at  every  step.  This  war  must  now  teach  the 
Germans  that  those  who  take  up  the  sword 
shall  perish  by  the  sword. 

The  cult  of  Force  has  naturally  led  to 
dreams  of  world-conquest.  The  Germans 
had  developed  such  excessive  political 
ambition  before  this  war  that  they  aimed 
at  nothing  more  or  less  than  a''  Weltreich." 
Megalomania  and  the  faith  in  Force  must 
breed  such  monstrous  progeny.  The  Ger- 
mans believed  that  they  could  easily  defeat 
England,  France,  Russia,  and  the  whole 
world  put  together.  A  German  official  said 
to  me  :  "  What  can  America  do  to  us  ?  " 
The  remark  convinced  me  that  this  nation 
was  doomed,  as  blindness  and  vanity  could 
not  go  further.  As  the  German  regards  all 
other  nations  with  utter  contempt,  he  draws 
the  necessary  conclusion  that  he  must  rule 
over  them.  A  German  gentleman,  whom  I 
met  in  a  boarding-house  in  Wiesbaden,  said : 
"  We  must  either  win  a  world-empire,  or 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  ii 

perish."  I  said  to  myself:  "The  latter 
alternative  is  certainly  preferable."  A  Ger- 
man lady,  who  was  more  modest  than  the 
majority  of  her  countrymen,  said  :  "  We 
must  not  think  that  we  can  defeat  England. 
If  we  make  peace  with  England,  Germany 
and  England  can  dominate  the  whole  world 
between  them."  A  Spanish  student,  who 
was  present,  said :  "  That  would  be  very  sad 
for  the  whole  world,  I  think."  The  Germans 
actually  believed  that  they  would  crush  all 
their  enemies  within  three  months,  and 
celebrate  the  Christmas  of  1914  at  home  as 
undisputed  masters  of  Europe  !  This  is  not 
a  joke,  but  a  real  fact  of  German  life,  how- 
ever incredible  it  may  seem  to  all  of  us.  As 
the  war  dragged  on,  and  the  pinch  of  hunger 
began  to  be  felt,  I  heard  this  plaint  very 
often  :  "  We  thought  that  the  war  would 
last  only  three  months,  or,  at  the  most, 
half  a  year.  But  it  has  turned  out  other- 
wise." In  contrast  to  such  fatal  folly, 
which  was  due  to  sheer  megalomania,  we 
may  remember  Lord  Kitchener's  forecast 
that  the  war  would  last  three  years,  though 
the  Germans  laughed  at  this  prophecy  at  the 


12  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

time.  The  English  knew  that  they  would 
win  the  war  in  the  end,  but  they  did  not 
underrate  their  adversaries,  as  they  had  a 
closer  grasp  of  realities  and  a  better  know- 
ledge of  the  world-situation.  The  Germans 
really  "  ran  amok,"  for  they  went  forth  to 
fight  in  a  fit  of  madness.  During  my 
sojourn  in  Germany  I  saw  that  the  whole 
country  was  a  political  Bedlam,  and  nothing 
more.  I  found  no  trace  of  wisdom,  insight 
or  sound  judgment  anywhere. 

It  is  a  wrong  idea  that  only  a  certain  class 
or  a  few  statesmen  entertained  such  wild 
schemes.  The  Prussian  Junker  was  the  first 
to  covet  his  neighbour's  goods,  but  now  the 
whole  nation  is  infected  with  such  fatuous 
ambition.  I  listened  to  a  discussion  on  the 
Belgian  question  in  a  village  public-house 
near  Wiesbaden  in  January,  1917.  The 
general  opinion  seemed  to  be  summed  up  at 
the  end  by  a  middle-aged  farmer  in  these 
words  (spoken  in  dialect)  :  "  Well,  if.  we 
give  up  Belgium,  all  this  blood  has  been 
shed  in  vain."  A  learned  professor,  who  is 
loved  and  respected  by  all  his  friends  for  his 
noble  character,  said  in  the  spring  of  1918  : 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  13 

''  If  this  great  offensive  succeeds,  there  must 
be  no  more  talk  of  evacuating  Belgium.  All 
that  must  be  kept.  It  was  part  of  the  old 
German  Empire."  A  German  general, 
whom  I  met  in  a  sanatorium  in  the  autumn 
of  1917,  delivered  a  speech  on  Hindenburg's 
birthday,  and  said:  "Belgium  is  a  holy 
land  to  us  now,  as  it  has  been  watered  by 
the  blood  of  thousands  of  our  heroic  sons.  It 
is  foolish  to  talk  of  giving  it  up."  These 
opinions,  uttered  at  wide  intervals  by  repre- 
sentatives of  different  classes  of  society^ 
proved  to  me  that  German  imperialism 
really  menaced  Europe  with  servitude,  and 
converted  me  to  President  Wilson's  view  of 
the  aims  and  designs  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment. But  I  saw  that  the  whole  nation  was 
to  blame,  and  not  merely  the  Government, 
which  executed  the  will  of  the  people.  The 
German  press  was  unanimous  in  its  ap- 
proval of  the  policy  of  the  Government; 
and  even  the  Socialists  voted  all  the  war 
credits  up  to  the  last  moment.  The 
Germans  clung  to  their  delusions  with 
desperate  tenacity  till  the  final  catastrophe 
came.     In  the  summer  of  1918  a  Berlin 


14  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

professor  wrote  to  a  colleague  that  the 
people  were  following  with  keen  anxiety 
the  course  of  the  offensive  on  the  Western 
front,  from  which  they  all  hoped  for  "  final 
victory  and  a  German  peace  "  {"  endgiiltigen 
Sieg  und  den  deutschen  Frieden  ").  The 
peculiar  phrase,  "  a  German  peace,"  meant 
that  Germany  should  keep  all  that  she  had 
conquered  since  August,  1914.  This  was  the 
cherished  aim  of  all  Germans,  without  dis- 
tinction of  class  or  party,  throughout  the 
war.  I  know  that  it  was  so,  whatever  the 
hypocritical  politicians  may  have  said  in 
their  public  speeches. 

The  Germans  think  that  they  are  really 
so  superior  to  other  nations  that  they  may 
regard  themselves  as  beings  of  a  different 
order  altogether.  They  are  the  real  Men  ; 
all  others  are  specimens  for  zoological 
museums.  They  deny  the  existence  of  a 
common  bond  of  humanity  between  them- 
selves and  other  peoples,  as  the  gulf  between 
them  and  the  rest  of  mankind  cannot  be 
bridged  by  such  superficial  characteristics  as 
an  erect  posture  and  other  peculiarities  of 
human  anatomy.     A  morbid  sense  of  racial 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  15 

superiority  can  deaden  our  finer  feelings  and 
blunt  our  sympathy  with  our  fellow-men. 

Some  Americans  defended  slavery  on  the 
ground  that  the  negroes  really  belonged  to 
a  different  species,  and  could  therefore  be 
treated  like  animals.  The  Germans  look 
upon  all  other  nations,  European  and 
Oriental,  in  much  the  same  way.  They 
fancy  that  they  are  as  superior  to  the  other 
European  nations  as  these  latter  are  above 
the  semi-civilised  Asiatics  in  the  scale  of 
civilisation.  As  a  consequence  of  this  strange 
aberration  the  Germans  hold  themselves 
bound  by  no  law  of  humanity  in  their  deal- 
ings with  other  nations.  They  do  not 
observe  the  rules  and  practices  enjoined  by 
"  international  law,"  for  this  law  has  been 
made  by  creatures  who  are  no  better  than 
animals.  The  lords  of  creation  are  not  to  be 
controlled  by  such  irrelevant  enactments  ! 
The  Germans  have  committed  the  atrocities 
which  have  exposed  them  to  the  wrath  of  the 
entire  world  because  they  have  learned  to 
despise  all  men  as  brutes.  This  explanation 
at  least  deserves  careful  consideration. 
They  are  cruel  and  brutal  towards  the  con- 


i6  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

quered,  as  we  are  cruel  to  animals,  which  we 
slaughter  without  remorse  or  compunction 
for  our  advantage.  They  violate  the  honour 
of  respectable  ladies  in  occupied  territory 
because  they  look  upon  all  non-German 
women  only  as  females.  They  burn  and 
devastate  like  the  Huns  and  the  Mongols 
because  they  have  no  pity  for  the  sufferings 
of  others.  A  German  lady  bewailed  the  hard 
lot  of  her  countrymen  in  the  regions  now 
occupied  by  the  armies  of  the  Entente.  A 
friend  remarked  :  "  But  the  German  officers 
have  .been  quartered  on  the  people  of 
Belgium  and  France  during  four  years." 
The  lady  replied  :  "  Well,  a  German  officer, 
that  is  a  different  thing  altogether." 

A  Persian  gentleman  said  to  a  German 
lady  in  Berlin  :  "I  am  deeply  touched  at 
the  sight  of  the  wounded  soldiers.  Can  I  do 
something  for  them  ?  "  She  said  :  "  Why 
do  you  feel  for  them  ?  You  are  not  a  Ger- 
man." This  remark  reveals  the  depths  of 
moral  insensibility  to  which  the  Germans 
have  sunk  during  the  last  fifty  years.  Even 
a  woman  could  not  understand  why  a 
foreigner  pitied  wounded  German  soldiers  ! 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  17 

I  am  sure  that  this  typical  German  woman 
was  incapable  of  feeling  or  showing  any 
sympathy  for  sick  and  wounded  English, 
French  or  Italian  soldiers.  She  could  judge 
the  Persian  gentleman  only  by  the  moral 
standards  in  which  she  herself  was  trained. 
I  am  not  inditing  a  libel  on  the  German 
people  when  I  assert  that  they  regard  all 
non-Germans  as  sub-human  creatures.  I 
myself  was  loth  to  believe  it  at  first,  but  I 
was  compelled  to  bow  to  the  logic  of  facts. 
We  think  that  the  Germans  are  men  ;  but 
they  don't  think  that  we  are  men.  It  is 
desirable  and  necessary  that  all  Europeans, 
Americans,  Asiatics  and  Africans  should 
know  this  fact. 

It  would  not  be  out  of  place  to  mention  at 
this  point  that  I  am  opposed  to  German 
colonisation  in  Africa  and  Asia  even  on  a 
small  scale.  The  Germans  are  morally  unfit 
to  administer  colonies,  because  they  do  not 
recognise  our  common  human  nature  at  all. 
In  the  colonies  the  Europeans  are  absolute 
masters  of  the  native  population.  They 
have  weapons,  organisation  and  scientific 
knowledge,  and  their  will  is  law.    The  abuse 


i8  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

of  their  giant  strength  is  fraught  with  the 
most  terrible  consequences  to  the  poor 
aborigines,  who  are  Uke  children  or  sheep 
in  the .  hands  of  men  wielding  irresistible 
power.  There  is  no  champion  of  the  natives 
but  the  moral  law  in  the  soul  of  the  European 
rulers  and  settlers.  The  weak  and  helpless 
Africans  can  only  say  :  "  We,  too,  are  men, 
brothers,  and  Christians."  This  appeal  is 
their  only  refuge.  The  European  settler  can 
do  good  to  the  natives  only  in  so  far  as  he 
obeys  his  own  moral  code.  The  moral 
standards  of  the  colonising  nation  deter- 
mine the  fate  of  the  inferior  race.  For  this 
reason  the  Germans  must  not  be  allowed  to 
rule  over  the  primitive  tribes  of  Africa  or 
Asia,  for  they  can  manage  a  colony  only  as 
a  meat-packing  company  manages  its  cattle 
farms.  When  they  treat  European  peoples 
like  the  Belgians  and  the  French  in  this 
spirit,  how  would  they  behave  towards  the 
Herreros  and  other  African  tribes,  with 
which  they  have  nothing  in  common  ? 
Colonisation  is  a  sad  affair,  even  under  the 
best  circumstances.  There  is  much  cruelty, 
exploitation,  suffering  and  injustice  in  all 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  19 

colonies.  But  a  German  colony  would  cer- 
tainly be  a  dreadful  inferno.  There  is  no 
more  diabolical  ogre  than  a  German  in 
power.  The  German  is  utterly  unfit  to  be 
entrusted  with  power  over  weaker  fellow- 
men.  The  English,  French,  American  and 
Italian  colonists  also  make  mistakes,  and  are 
often  guilty  of  injustice  ;  but  they  recognise 
the  law  of  humanity  and  can  never  trans- 
gress certain  well-defined  limits.  A  Swedish 
gentleman,  who  has  spent  twenty  years  in 
Algeria,  said  to  me  :  "  Les  Fran9ais  sont  tres 
humains  "  ("  The  French  are  very  humane 
people  ").  The  English  are  known  all  the 
world  over  to  be  "  gentlemen."  The  Ameri- 
cans bear  with  their  negro  fellow-citizens, 
and  even  work  for  their  advancement.  In 
all  English,  French,  American  and  Italian 
colonies  the  civil  rights  of  the  population 
and  the  elementary  laws  of  morality  are 
scrupulously  respected  by  the  white  rulers. 
But  such  would  not  be  the  case  in  a  German 
colony,  as  the  German  does  not  believe  that 
non-Germans  or  animals  have  any  "  rights  " 
or  "  moral  laws."  So  long  as  the  German 
nation    has    this  psychology  it  must  not 


20  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

receive  a  mandate  to  administer  a  colony. 
If  the  Germans  think  we  are  animals,  we 
think  they  are  fiends.  So  we  are  quits,  at 
least  for  the  present. 

Imperialism  has  begotten  many  vices  in 
the  German  character,  but  avarice  is  the 
ruling  passion  of  the  German's  soul.  Gold 
is  his  god  in  public  and  private  life.  In  this 
respect  the  aims  of  the  State  coincide  with 
the  tendencies  of  the  individual  citizen.  All 
Germans  are  mad  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth. 
They  are  all  in  a  hurry  to  amass  a  fortune. 
I  think  that  this  trait  explains  why  the 
Germans  are  unpopular  in  other  countries. 
All  men,  everywhere,  wish  to  earn  money, 
and  it  is  a  duty  to  work  honestly  for  economic 
gain.  But  the  Germans  are  very  mean, 
avaricious,  stingy,  unscrupulous  and  selfish. 
Every  foreigner  is  struck  with  this  character- 
istic of  all  Germans  without  distinction  of 
class.  Stones  may  yield  oil,  but  no  generous 
action  can  be  expected  from  a  German.  If 
he  can  save  a  shilling  by  sponging  on  others 
or  abusing  their  confidence,  he  will  surely 
do  so.  He  has  the  very  disgusting  habit  of 
enjoying  hospitality  without  thinking  of 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  21 

returning  it.  He  is  very  willing  to  eat  your 
cakes,  but  he  cannot  waste  his  own  cakes  on 
you.  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  dis- 
tinguished German  scholar,  whom  I  also 
agreed  to  help  in  his  literary  work.  I  pre- 
sented him  with  two  boxes  of  good  cigars, 
and  tried  to  win  his  friendly  sympathy  in 
other  ways.  I  used  to  visit  him  almost 
every  afternoon.  He  never  offered  me  a  cup 
of  tea,  though  he  had  received  my  gifts  and 
was  always  very  affable  and  talkative.  I 
noticed  that  he  had  his  afternoon  tea  just 
before  I  called.  It  never  occurred  to  him 
that  he  should  at  least  once  or  twice  ask  me 
to  drink  a  cup  of  tea  with  him.  He  did  not 
consider  it  safe  even  to  mention  it,  as  the 
experiment  was  too  risky.  Supposing  I  had 
actually  accepted  the  invitation  !  It  would 
have  meant  an  economic  catastrophe  for 
him.  Some  German  politicians  visited  Con- 
stantinople and  invited  a  few  Turkish  poli- 
ticians to  see  them.  It  is  reported  that  they 
did  not  offer  even  a  cup  of  coffee  to  the 
Turkish  colleagues  because,  of  course,  a  cup 
of  coffee  costs  a  penny,  and  the  German 
cannot  make  such  a  sacrifice.    Such  melan- 


22  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

choly  meanness  throws  some  light  on  the 
real  character  of  the  average  German.  A 
Swedish  journalist  related  how  the  German 
guests  at  a  party  took  away  all  the  cigars. 
I  have  forgotten  the  details  of  the  story,  but 
he  ended  with  these  words  :  "  An  English- 
man never  does  this  sort  of  thing."  The 
Germans  have  really  a  genius  for  petty 
selfishness  of  this  kind.  It  is  impossible  for 
a  German  to  make  friends.  He  is  an  anti- 
social, egotistic  and  unlovable  creature.  At 
present  he  is  interested  chiefly  in  money.  A 
German  gentleman  said  to  me  :  "  This 
time  France  must  pay  us  an  indemnity  of 
45  milliards.  We  took  too  little  in  1871."  I 
mentioned  to  a  professor  of  philosophy  the 
news  that  the  Bolshevik  Government  had 
delivered  to  the  German  officials  the  first 
instalments  of  the  indemnity  in  gold  bars. 
He  asked  me  to  read  the  newspaper  to  him, 
and  said  :  "  What  does  it  say  ?  Have  the 
gold  bars  been  actually  delivered  ?  "  I 
replied  :  "  Yes.  They  have  been  deposited 
in  the  -Reichsbank."  The  exponent  of 
philosophy  gave  a  grunt  of  satisfaction  at 
this  news,  and  I  could  see  that  he  was  trying 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  23 

to  visualise  the  glittering  bars  of  gold  which 
Germany  had  gained  as  booty.  Avarice 
has  corroded  the  soul  of  this  nation  and 
made  it  unfit  for  the  common  offices  of 
courtesy  and  friendship.  I  don't  know  how 
it  can  be  cured  of  this  vice. 

While  the  Germans  threaten  the  whole 
world  with  conquest  and  "  Kultur,"  their 
social  and  political  institutions  at  home  are 
of  the  mediaeval  and  reactionary  type. 
Slaves  are  proper  instruments  for  enslaving 
others.  Despotism,  bureaucracy  and  caste 
are  the  foundations  of  German  society. 
When  I  was  there  the  air  reeked  with  ser- 
vility and  snobbery.  Those  who  had  lived 
in  England,  France,  America  or  Switzerland 
found  life  in  Germany  altogether  insup- 
portable. The  worship  of  the  Kaisex  was 
the  creed  of  half  Germany.  Fulsome  flattery 
of  the  monarch  was  considered  a  mark  of 
patriotism,  and  reminded  me  of  the  age  of 
the  Tudors.  The  bust  of  the  Kaiser  was  a 
pestilential  nuisance  in  Berlin.  It  was 
crowned  with  wreaths  and  flowers  in  the  big 
concert  house  in  Mauerstrasse,  like  the  statue 
of  a  heathen  god.     I  entered  a  chemist's 


24  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

shop,  and  there  it  was  on  the  shelf,  with  its 
repellent  expression  of  insolent  braggadocio. 
Go  where  you  would  you  could  not  escape 
this  ubiquitous  bust.    The  royal  family  was 
also  on  sale  in  pictures  and  cards  of  all  sorts. 
The  Empress,  the  Crown  Prince,  his  children, 
their  cousins,  their  nurses  and  the  relatives 
of  the  nurses  were  all  very  much  in  evidence 
in  the  bookshops  and  at  the  street  corners. 
The  whole  show  was  very  disgusting  and 
ludicrous.    But  it  was  an  important  social 
institution  of  Germany.    Let  us  hope  that 
the    Germans   have   now   got  rid   of   the 
Hohenzollerns  for  ever.    The  monarchy  may 
be  abolished,  but  German  society  cannot  be 
freed  so  easily  from  bureaucracy  and  the 
spirit  of  caste.    In  Germany  everything  is 
done  for  the  people,  and  nothing  by  the 
people.    As  there  are  no  democratic  institu- 
tions, the  functionaries  fear  no  control  or 
criticism.     They  meddle  with  everything, 
and  plague  the  people  in  a  thousand  different 
ways.     All  Germans  who  have  lived   for 
some  time  in  England  or  America  refuse  to 
return  to  their  native  land.     They  have 
breathed  the  free  atmosphere  of  English  and 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  25 

American  society,  and  detest  the  bureau- 
cratic system  of  Germany.  I  met  a  German 
merchant  who  had  Hved  for  more  than  ten 
years  in  England.  We  were  at  the  dinner 
table  in  a  sanatorium  at  Partenkirchen,  in 
Bavaria.  The  talk  turned  on  the  merits  and 
demerits  of  the  English  people.  A  patriotic 
German  lady  said  :  "  The  French  are  our 
old  enemies.  But  why  have  the  English 
joined  them  ?  They  are  a  gang  of  robbers." 
I  remained  silent.  The  merchant  replied  : 
"  But  England  has  much  better  political 
institutions.  There,  in  London,  I  am  I " 
("  Ich  bin  ich  "),  "  but  here.  .  .  ."  At  this 
point  he  put  both  his  hands  on  his  ears  as 
the  most  effective  method  of  expressing  what 
he  meant.  That  phrase,  "  Ich  bin  ich,"  sums 
up  centuries  of  English  history.  It  is  curious 
that  the  uneducated  merchant  could  find  no 
other  words  to  pay  his  tribute  of  praise  for 
English  freedom.  In  the  summer  of  1917  a 
lady  wrote  to  me  from  Berlin  :  "  All  our 
rights  are  being  taken  away.  It  is  a  miser- 
able time  here."  The  Junker  class  had 
established  a  reign  of  terror  in  order  to 
stifle  adverse  criticism.    Many  Liberals  and 


26  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

Socialists  were  in  "  Schutzhaft  "  during  the 
war.  The  Germans  seemed  to  be  quite 
unconscious  of  their  slavery.  They  had 
known  only  this  system  in  their  lives.  A 
German  journalist  said  to  me  :  "  What  do 
you  mean  by  talking  of  free  America  ?  We 
have  as  much  freedom  here  as  the  Ameri- 
cans." I  tried  to  explain  to  him  the  dif- 
ference between  German  and  American 
institutions  ;  but  he  did  not  see  the  point. 
Another  German  friend  said  :  "  You  must 
be  born  a  German  in  order  to  understand 
our  system."  I  thanked  my  stars  that  I  was 
not  born  a  German.  Germany  is  several 
centuries  behind  the  other  European  coun- 
tries in  social  evolution.  This  war  is  per- 
haps the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  old 
system. 

The  spirit  of  caste  is  more  prevalent  in 
German  society  than  in  other  countries. 
Every  man  must  have  his  *  •  Tit  el,"  which  is 
always  prefixed  to  his  name.  It  would  be 
very  impolite  to  omit  the  "  Titel  "  in  writing 
or  speaking  to  a  person.  Thus  it  often 
happens  that  a  man's  name  is  never  heard 
in  conversation.    He  is  always  "  Herr  Pro- 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  27 

fessor,"  or  "  Herr  Postdirektor,"  or  "  Herr 
Geheimrat,"  or  even  "  Herr  Baumeister." 
The  mania  for  a  "  Titel "  goes  so  far  that 
some  people  coin  curious  titles  indicating 
their  social  position,  like  "  Herr  Brauerei- 
Besitzer  "  ("Mr.  Brewery-Owner  ").  The 
enormous  number  of  "  Rats  "  of  different 
species  in  German  society  spread  the  plague 
of  snobbery  and  servility.  Thus  there  are 
Geheimrats,  Kommerzienrats,  Hofrats,  etc., 
etc.  A  woman  will  put  the  husband's 
title  before  her  name,  and  call  herself 
"  Hofratsgattin  "  (a  Hofrat's  wife).  One 
comes  across  such  names  as  "  Lawyer 's- 
widow  Mrs.  Meyer."  A  lady  chose  to  call 
herself  "  Baron's-mother-in-law  Mrs.  So- 
and-So."  The  spirit  of  caste  leads  to  strange 
freaks,  which  sometimes  show  bad  taste.  A 
learned  professor  dedicated  his  book  to  his 
wife,  but  added  "  Baron's-widow  "  to  her 
name,  as  she  had  married  a  baron  before  our 
lucky  professor  won  her  heart  and  her 
money.  Society  must  know  that  the  pro- 
fessor's wife  was  no  ordinary  person  but  a 
Baron's  widow  !  Germany  needs  a  breath 
of  Democracy  in  order  to  disperse  these 


28  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

miasmic  vapours  of  mediaeval  feudalism 
which  choke  her  spirit  and  smother  her 
moral  life.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  caste  will 
also  relax  its  hold  on  German  society  after 
the  expulsion  of  the  HohenzoUerns  and  the 
establishment  of  democratic  institutions. 

The  history  of  Germany  during  the  last 
fifty  years  may  be  described  as  the  tragedy 
of  a  whole  society.  This  nation  is  utterly 
sick  in  head  and  heart.  It  has  lost  its  wits, 
and  it  has  killed  its  conscience.  "  Whom 
the  gods  destroy,  they  first  make  mad."  It 
will  take  a  very  long  time  to  restore  this 
demented  and  demoralised  people  to  health 
and  sanity. 


SECTION   II 

IN   CONSTANTINOPLE 

"  Where  every  prospect  pleases, 
,        And  only  man  is  vile." 

Bishop  Heber. 

It  is  a  great  day  in  a  young  man's  life 
when  he  first  sees  one  of  the  ancient  historic 
cities  of  the  world,  such  as  Rome,  Athens, 
Benares  or  Constantinople.  As  I  walked 
up  the  street  leading  from  the  railway 
station  to  the  hotel  in  Stamboul  my  mind 
was  in  an  ecstasy  of  delight  and  wonder. 
It  was  not  what  I  saw,  but  what  I  thought 
of,  that  worked  like  magic  in  the  brain.  To 
a  student  of  history  Constantinople  (which, 
fortunately,  preserves  its  Greek  name,  in 
spite  of  the  unspeakable  Turk,)  is  a  place  of 
pilgrimage.  Of  course,  the  joy  at  the  fulfil- 
ment of  a  long-cherished  dream  was  mixed 
with  deep  sadness  at  the  fate  of  the  city, 
from  which  the  scholars  had  gone  forth  to 
Italy  with  the  balm  of  Greek  learning  for 
the  sick  and  weary  mediaeval  world.    But  it 


30  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

was  well  that  I  could  see  it,  even  in  its 
misery  and  degradation.  The  Turk  will 
pass  away,  so  said  I,  but  the  glory  of  this 
city  will  remain.  Sooner  or  later  it  will  be 
restored  to  its  only  rightful  claimants,  the 
Hellenes,  whose  name  it  bears.  In  the 
meantime  I  might  learn  what  life  here  has 
to  teach  me. 

It  was  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1915, 
when  the  loveliness  of  Nature  stood  in 
strange  contrast  to  the  carnage  on  the  battle- 
fields of  Gallipoli.  The  Bosphorus,  perhaps 
the  most  beautiful  spot  on  earth,  was  a 
haven  of  calm  and  peace  in  the  midst  of  this 
warring  world  of  brute  force  and  more 
brutish  intrigue.  But  it  was  my  business  to 
watch  the  operation  of  political  forces  and 
to  meet  all  types  of  characters  in  the  course 
of  the  daily  routine,  for  I  was  supposed  to 
carry  on  political  propaganda.  I  should 
have  liked  to  live  on  the  Bosphorus  as  a 
poet  or  a  painter  ;  but,  as  I  was  neither  the 
one  nor  the  other;  I  had  to  make  the  best  of 
the  situation  and  figure  as  "  a  politician." 
I  shall  write  about  the  chief  lessons  that  I 
learned  during  my  six  months'  sojourn  in 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  31 

that  Dar-i-Saadat,  the  seat  of  the  CaUphate. 
I  trust  that  all  Orientals,  and  especially  the 
Muslims  of  India  and  Egypt,  will  ponder 
well  the  meaning  of  my  words. 

I  shall  begin  with  the  Turks.  And  the 
first  thing  I  have  to  say  is  tfeat  the  Turks,  as 
a  nation,  are  utterly  unfit  to  assume  the 
leadership  of  the  Muslim  world.  They  have 
been,  and  are,  only  a  predatory  tribe,  without 
culture  and  political  capacity.  It  was  an 
evil  day  for  the  Muhammadan  world  when 
the  Turk  was  entrusted  with  the  Caliphate. 
The  Turks  have  no  brains  ;  that  is  the  plain 
truth.  They  can  fight  well,  but  they  cannot 
administer  or  organise.  They  have  been  in 
possession  of  a  vast  empire  for  several  cen- 
turies ;  but  they  have  no  great  or  noble 
national  literature.  All  nations  have  pro- 
duced great  literature  as  the  spiritual  sign 
and  symbol  of  their  political  ascendancy. 
Athens,  Rome,  Spain,  Portugal,  Eliza- 
bethan England  and  Vikram's  India  are 
now  more  familiar  to  us  through  the  names 
of  iEschylus,  Sophocles,  Virgil,  Calderon, 
Camoens,  Shakespeare  and  Kalidasa  than 
those  of  the  statesmen  and  warriors  who 


32  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

flourished  during  the  periods  of  their  poHtical 
expansion.  Political  success  has  always  led 
to  the  complete  self-expression  of  a  gifted 
nation  in  literature,  art  and  philosophy. 
But  we  look  in  vain  for  these  fruits  of  empire 
in  Turkey.  The  Turks  could  not  sing  or 
speculate,  as  they  are  really  very  low  in  the 
scale  of  mental  evolution.  Nature  has  not 
endowed  them  with  brains.  They  have  also 
been  the  rulers  of  Greece  ;  but  they  have 
learned  nothing  from  their  subjects,  whose 
language  is  the  key  to  the  highest  wisdom 
and  culture.  The  Romans  were  also  rude 
barbarians  when  they  conquered  Greece. 
But  they  yielded  to  the  spell  of  Greek 
genius,  and  "  conquered  Greece  conquered 
her  conquerors,"  as  the  Roman  poet  truly 
declared.  Rome  produced  great  poets  and 
thinkers  under  the  tutelage  of  Greece,  but 
the  Turkish  mind  has  been  a  barren  soil 
which  has  brought  forth  nothing  but  the 
thorns  and  thistles  of  superstition  and 
ribaldry.  History  has  clearly  demonstrated 
that  the  Turk  has  no  intellectual  potentiali- 
ties. He  is  therefore  really  unfit  for  leader- 
ship of  any  kind,  as  a  leader  is  distinguished 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  33 

by  his  intellectual  pre-eminence  over  his 
colleagues.  How  can  such  gifted  peoples  as 
the  Egyptians  and  the  Indians  follow  the 
guidance  of  the  uncivilised  and  uncivilisable 
Turk  ?  The  Turk  cannot  guide  ;  he  is  abso- 
lutely incompetent  and  helpless  on  account 
of  his  mental  inferiority.  An  Egyptian 
gentleman,  speaking  of  the  Turks,  said; 
"  They  know  only  two  things,  war  and 
mosques."  This  is  the  opinion  of  a  culti- 
vated Muslim,  who  has  lived  about  six 
years  in  Turkey.  Another  Muslim  journa- 
list said  to  me  :  "  The  Turks  are  the  little 
brothers  of  the  Prussians  ;  they  are  stupid 
and  arrogant." 

Further,  the  Turks  cannot  administer  or 
organise.  Turkey  has  become  the  by-word 
of  the  modern  age,  because  Turkish  rule  has 
been  characterised  by  the  grossest  corrup- 
tion, oppression  and  disorder.  I  speak  of 
Turkish  rule  in  countries  inhabited  chiefly 
by  Muslims.  Self-indulgence  and  indolence 
are  the  principal  aims  of  the  Turkish 
magnate.  The  Turks  cannot  govern  little 
Syria  well :  how  can  they  help  other 
Muhammadans  to  acquire  the  capacity  of 


34  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

self-government  ?  I  once  asked  a  Muslim 
physician  in  Berlin :  "  Why  is  there  such 
misrule  in  Syria  ?  Can't  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment organise  an  efficient  police  force  ?  " 
He  replied:  "  Yes  ;  but  the  chief  of  police 
will  himself  join  the  robbers  and  highway- 
men of  the  country  !  '*  I  then  understood 
that  it  was  really  a  hopeless  case  of  de- 
generacy. Another  Muslim  politician,  in 
the  course  of  a  discussion,  said  :  "  Yes, 
Syria  is  a  very  rich  country  ;  but  the  organi- 
sation of  government "   and  here  he 

stopped  short,  as  he  did  not  wish  to  criticise 
the  Ottoman  Government  adversely.  But 
his  sudden  silence  was  more  eloquent  than 
any  words  could  be.  There  was  a  painful 
pause,  till  I  turned  the  conversaltion  to  other 
topics. 

As  the  Turks  are  a  barbarous  tribe,  the 
Muslims  of  India  and  Egypt  make  a  great 
mistake  in  identifying  their  cause  with  the 
fortunes  of  the  Ottomans.  The  Turks  have 
repeatedly  given  proof  of  their  brutality  and 
depravity  by  organising  massacres  of  peace- 
ful Armenian  and  Greek  populations  and 
violating  hundreds  of  Greek  women,  even 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  35 

with  the  sanction  of  the  poHce  authorities. 
If  this  be  Islam,  I  should  blush  for  the  faith 
of  70,000,000  of  my  Indian  fellow-citizens. 
The  civilised  Muslims  of  India  and  Egypt 
lose  immensely  in  the  estimation  of  the 
Western  world  by  associating  with  this 
semi-savage  horde.  Europe  is  free  from 
religious  fanaticism  at  present ;  but  Europe 
and  America  will  "  always  be  at  war  with 
Ottomanism,"  as  President  Taft  has  well 
said.  If  the  Muslims  of  India  wish  to  appear 
in  company  with  their  Hindu  brethren  on  the 
public  platforms  of  the  civilised  world, 
they  must  first  wash  their  hands  clean  of 
Ottomanism  in  all  its  shapes  and  disguises. 
The  Turkish  system  of  ruling  by  massacre 
and  rape  is  neither  Islamic  nor  rational  ;  it 
is  pure,  unadulterated  Ottoman  savagery, 
worthy  of  Chengiz  Khan  and  Halaku.  We 
cannot  make  common  cause  with  such 
marauders  simply  because  they  live  east  of 
Suez  and  profess  Islam.  The  Muslims  of 
India  and  Egypt  must  realise  their  own 
privileged  position,  and  disclaim  all  connec- 
tion with  Central  Asian  freebooters.' 
During   my   stay    in    Constantinople    I 


36  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

learned  that  the  Turks  have  no  real  sym- 
pathy with  other  MusHm  nations.  They 
are  not  Pan-Islamists  ;  they  are  Ottoman 
nationalists.  But  they  wish  to  exploit  and 
use  other  Muslim  peoples  for  their  own  pur- 
poses with  the  cry  of  Pan-Islamism.  Pan- 
Islamism  is  one  of  the  most  curious  farces 
of  the  last  decade.  It  simply  means  that 
other  Muslim  nations  should  sing  the  praises 
of  the  Turk  and  acknowledge  his  overlord- 
ship,  and  a  few  adventurers  and  charlatans 
from  every  Muslim  land  should  swagger 
about  in  Stamboul  on  an  allowance  of  £io 
to  £50  a  month  from  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment. This  was  all  I  could  discover  of  the 
famous  Pan-Islamic  movement,  which  was 
supposed  to  be  paving  the  way  for  the 
unification  and  revival  of  Islam  under  the 
leadership  of  the  pious  hero,  Enver  Pasha. 
The  Turks  care  only  for  their  own  tribe ;  they 
have  no  interest  in  the  affairs  or  destinies 
of  the  millions  of  Muslims  scattered  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  from  Java  to  Senegal. 
They  must  set  their  own  house  in  order,  and 
their  policy  is  quite  sound.  They  know  that 
it  is  impossible  to  embody  the  spiritual  unity 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  37 

of  Islam  in  an  external  political  institution 
embracing  all  the  Muslims  of  the  world. 
This  fantastic  idea  finds  no  favour  among 
Turkish  patriotic  circles.  But  they  do  not 
frankly  say  so.  They  think  that  they  can 
gain  some  sympathy  (and  sometimes  money, 
too)  by  posing  as  the  leaders  of  Islam,  the 
custodians  of  the  holy  places,  and  the  heirs 
of  the  traditions  of  the  Caliphate.  They 
pay  a  few  pounds  a  month  to  several  Indian, 
Eg3^tian,  Algerian,  Tunisian,  Sudanese, 
and  other  Muslim  enthusiasts  to  carry  on 
Pan-Islamic  propaganda  for  the  glory  of 
Turkey  and  the  ministers  of  the  Young 
Turk  party.  But  they  are  not  prepared  to 
make  any  sacrifices  for  the  common  cause. 
If  they  get  something  as  high  priests  of 
Pan-Islamism,  well  and  good  ;  but  they 
will  not  risk  anything  for  the  sake  of  the 
other  Muslim  peoples.  The  Muslims  of 
India  and  Egypt  must  realise  that  they 
worship  a  false  idol  when  they  waste  their 
sympathies  on  Turkey  as  the  head  of  Islam. 
Of  course,  the  Turks  were  very  glad  to  pocket 
a  few  lakhs  of  Indian  money  during  the 
Balkan  wars ;    and  they  sent  a  holy  (or 


38  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

ordinary)  carpet  with  a  message  of  thanks, 
which  did  not  cost  much.  But  there  are 
milhons  of  starving  MusUm  labourers  in 
India  who  could  have  been  helped  with  this 
money.  We  should  know  that  charity 
begins  at  home.  But  it  is  the  fashion  of 
some  Muslims  to  be  enthusiastic  about 
everything  out  of  India,  and  to  remain  in- 
different to  the  claims  and  needs  of  their 
co-religionists  at  home.  Such  an  atti- 
tude is  fostered  by  the  hollow  cant  of  Pan- 
Islamism.  I  have  been  at  the  heart  and 
centre  of  Islam,  in  the  innermost  court  of 
the  shrine  of  Pan-Islamism  ;  and  I  declare 
that  it  is  all  a  fraud  and  a  hoax,  designed 
to  impose  upon  credulous  Muslims  in 
distant  lands. 

The  Turks  are  very  unpopular  among  all 
free  Muslims.  The  only  Muslims  who  swear 
by  them  seem  to  be  those  waifs  and  strays 
who  have  no  country  of  their  own.  The 
Turks  have  shown  themselves  to  be  cruel, 
selfish,  and  arrogant.  It  is  impossible  to 
work  with  them.  The  most  significant 
commentary  on  the  Jihad  proclaimed  by 
the  Turks  has  been  furnished  by  the  revolt 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  39 

of  the  Arabian  tribes  against  Ottoman  rule. 
If   the    Turks    were   really   faithful    !Pan- 
Islamists    and    worthy   successors    of    the 
Caliphs,  why  should  the  pious  Arabs  try  to 
overthrow  Turkish  rule  in  Arabia  and  Syria 
with  the  aid  of  the  English,  who  are  non- 
Muslims  ?    This  fact  must  open  the  eyes  of 
all  Muslims  to  the  true  situation.     The 
Turks  have  even  attempted  to  suppress  the 
Arabic  tongue  in  their  dominions,  as  they 
have   pursued  the   "  patriotic "   policy   of 
"  Ottomanising  "  all  their  subjects  in  lan- 
guage and  thus  securing  uniformity  in  their 
much-divided   empire.      But   the   folly   of 
such  experiments  is  obvious,  as  the  small, 
unlettered  Turkish  tribe  cannot  assimilate 
the  numerous  and  cultured  Arab  nation. 
The  Turks  have  thus  no  special  claim  on  the 
sympathy  of  other  Muslim  patriots  on  the 
ground  of  "  Pan-Islamic  "  interests.    There 
is     no     such     thing     as     Pan-Islamism. 
Nationalism   is    a    living   force   in   Persia, 
Arabia,   Egypt,   Turkey  and  Afghanistan. 
The  Turks  wish  to  stifle  the  national  senti- 
ment of  the  Egyptians  and  the  Arabs,  while 
they  try  every  means  of  keeping  Ottoman 


40  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

patriotism  alive  !  Such  is  their  boasted  love 
of  Islam.  A  Persian  gentleman  said  to  me  : 
"  These  Turks  are  great  humbugs.  They 
wish  that  we  should  bow  to  them  and  serve 
their  interests  in  the  name  of  the  Caliphate." 
For  some  time  there  was  a  big  tempest  in 
the  teapot  of  Egyptian  nationalism  in 
Turkey.  Some  leaders  proposed  that  the 
Egyptians  should  take  up  a  Pan-Islamic 
position  and  lose  their  national  identity  as 
subjects  of  the  Caliphate.  Other  more 
enlightened  leaders  opposed  this  mediaeval 
policy  and  stood  up  for  the  traditions  of  the 
Egyptian  National  Party,  which  had 
adopted  the  motto :  "  Egypt  for  the 
Egyptians."  These  people  wore  buttons 
bearing  the  device  of  the  Egyptian  National 
Party  (in  addition  to  the  Ottoman  symbols) ; 
and  this  practice  exposed  them  to  the  wrath 
of  some  Turkish  ministers,  as  I  heard  from 
a  reliable  source.  The  pure  "  Nationalists  " 
branded  the  other  group  as  mercenaries,  who 
had  sold  themselves  to  Turkey.  This  taunt 
seemed  to  derive  further  justification  from 
the  fact  that  most  "  Pan-Islamists  "  have 
been  in  the  pay  of  the  Turkish  Government. 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  41 

The  "  Pan-Islamists  "  retorted  by  stigma- 
tising the  Nationalists  as  infidels  and 
thoughtless  visionaries,  who  played  into  the 
hands  of  the  English.  The  Turkish  Govern- 
ment was  even  reported  to  have  withdrawn 
its  financial  assistance  from  some  Egyptian 
Nationalist  leaders  in  Berlin,  who  found 
themselves  in  difficult  circumstances  on 
account  of  the  exigencies  of  the  war.  The 
Turks  did  not  like  the  national  propaganda 
of  the  sincere  Egyptian  patriots,  who  in- 
sisted that  Egypt  was  not  a  part  of  Turkey 
but  an  independent  nation.  The  "  Pan- 
Islamist  "  party  had,  of  course,  more  money 
at  its  disposal  and  started  a  monthly 
journal  in  Berlin.  But  the  majority  of  the 
contributors  were  always  Germans,  literary 
hacks,  as  far  as  I  could  see.  This  proved 
that  the  pro-Turkish  group  kept  up  an 
artificial  existence  bolstered  with  Turkish 
gold,  but  that  the  ablest  Muslims  held  aloof 
from  this  mischievous  movement. 

An  Egyptian  physician  once  said  to  me  : 
"  You  must  not  confound  us  with  the  Turks. 
We  have  nothing  in  common  with  them 
except  religion.    We  are  an  entirely  different 


42  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

people."  There  was  much  anxiety  and 
trepidation  among  Egyptian  patriots  when 
it  was  known  that  the  Turks  were  preparing 
an  expedition  against  Egypt.  Ottoman 
ambition  ran  high  in  the  first  year  of  the 
war.  Every  Turkish  general  compared 
himself  to  Saladin  and  Tarik,  I  heard  that 
Djemal  Pasha,  who  was  in  charge  of  the 
projected  Egyptian  expedition,  had  uttered 
this  heroic  sentiment :  "I  will  conquer 
Egypt,  or  die."  I  remarked  :  "  Well,  we 
shall  be  very  sorry  to  mourn  his  loss."  The 
Egyptians  were  full  of  fears  and  misgivings. 
Egypt  had  had  enough  experience  of  Turkish 
inroads  in  the  past.  An  Egyptian  leader 
said  to  his  colleague :  "  Les  Turcs  mangeront 
I'Egypte  "  ("  The  Turks  will  eat  up  Egypt "). 
The  other  replied,  in  a  fit  of  Pan-Islamic  fer- 
vour: "  Qu'ils  mangent "  ("Let  them  do  so"). 
But,  on  second  thoughts,  he  admitted  that 
a  Turkish  invasion  would  be  a  great  mis- 
fortune for  his  fertile  country.  Such  is  the 
real  opinion  of  enlightened  Muslims  about 
the  Turks.  It  is  also  the  opinion  of  the 
entire  civilised  world. 

It  is  an  open  secret  that  there  is  no  love 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  43 

lost  between  the  Turks  and  the  Persians. 
During  the  war  it  was  reported  that  Ger- 
many was  frequently  asked  to  act  as  arbi- 
trator in,  disputes.  The  Turkish  troops 
levied  heavy  contributions  on  the  Persian 
towns  which  they  occupied  for  some  time 
in  the  early  period  of  the  war.  The  Turkish 
official  reports  spoke  of  the  occupied  Persian 
territory  as  "  conquered  regions  "  ("  mama- 
lik-i-maftuha ").  This  circumstance  em- 
bittered the  Persian  Nationalists  and  re- 
vealed the  real  psychology  of  these  self- 
styled  friends  of  Islam.  I  heard  that  the 
Turks  were  hated  by  the  population  of  the 
Persian  provinces,  which  temporarily  fell 
into  their  hands.  It  was  the  same  old  story 
of  rapine,  violence,  and  cruelty  everywhere. 
The  Persians  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Turk  was  unteachable,  and  so  he  is. 

I  have  come  across  several  pathetic  in- 
stances of  waste  of  energy  and  enthusiasm 
due  to  the  illusions  of  Pan-Islamism.  A 
young  man  from  Bombay,  who  had  been  an 
engineer  in  India,  came  to  Turkey  in  order 
to  take  part  in  the  "  Holy  War,"  as  the  law 
enjoined.      He    is    a   sincere    and    honest 


44  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

Muslim.  He  distributed  all  his  money 
among  the  poor,  and  went  forth  with  the 
Turkish  soldiers  into  the  Sinai  desert  to 
strike  a  blow  for  the  faith.  His  consistent 
idealism  elicited  the  admiration  of  all  his 
friends  (who,  however,  did  not  follow  his 
example).  Our  knight-errant  fell  ill  and 
had  to  return  to  Damascus.  He  then  dis- 
covered that  the  realities  of  Ottoman  ad- 
ministration did  not  agree  exactly  with  the 
dreams  of  ardent  Pan-Islamists.  .  No  one 
cared  for  him  as  he  lay  sick  in  a  small  hotel 
in  Damascus.  He  had  given  away  all  his 
hard-earned  savings  before  donning  his 
armour,  but  now  the  Caliphate  did  not  help 
him  in  his  distress.  The  sick  hero  was 
rescued  from  his  woeful  plight  by  some 
Hindu  patriots,  who  heard  about  him  from 
his  friends  in  Constantinople.  They  im- 
mediately wired  him  money  and  asked  him 
to  join  them  after  recovery — surely  "  a 
sadder  and  a  wiser  man."  I  wonder  what 
this  intelligent  Muslim  now  thinks  of  the 
"  Caliphate."  I  know  several  hot  "  Pan- 
Islamists  "  who  refused  to  be  naturalised  as 
Ottoman  subjects,  as  they  were  afraid  of 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  45 

being  called  upon  to  fight  for  the  holy  cause  ! 
They  are  willing  to  spend  their  breath,  but 
cannot  do  the  first  duty  of  a  zealous  "  Pan- 
Islamist."  Of  such  calibre  are  some  noisy 
fanatics  made  !  The  Indians  resident  in 
Turkey  are  generally  wanderers  or  adven- 
turers, who  are  not  held  in  high  esteem.  A 
few  old  men  live  in  the  "  takiya  "  (the  poor- 
house).  Some  of  them  have  married  Turkish 
wives  and  speak  Hindi  mixed  up  with 
Turkish.  They  have  lost  touch  with  the 
Mother  Country.  They  are  almost  always 
quarrelling  among  themselves  from  jealousy 
and  selfishness.  The  Turkish  Government 
has  set  apart  a  few  pounds  a  month  for 
Indian  propagandists ;  and  there  is  a 
general  scramble  for  this  prize  of  indolent 
charlatanism.  Invitations  to  dinner  at  the 
houses  of  some  influential  Turks  also  furnish 
an  occasion  for  explosions  of  personal 
j  ealousy  and  uncharitableness .  Nothing  can 
be  hoped  for  from  this  set.  They  will  stew 
in  their  own  juice  for  some  time,  till  they  are 
replaced  by  other  Indian  fugitives  and 
sturdy  vagabonds,  who  roam  about  in  all 
Islamic  lands. 


46  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

I  learned  one  lesson  in  Constantinople 
which  I  shall  not  easily  forget.  I  have 
learned  that  good  administration  is  a  very 
rare  thing  in  Asia.  I  could  judge  of  the 
merits  and  demerits  of  Turkish  rule  by 
examining  the  state  of  affairs  in  Stamboul 
and  its  neighbourhood.  Poverty  broods 
over  the  whole  place.  Several  quarters  of 
the  city  present  a  shapeless  mass  of  charred 
ruins,  as  they  have  not  been  rebuilt  after  a 
conflagration.  I  thought  of  San  Francisco 
as  I  saw  these  tokens  of  Turkish  lethargy 
and  incompetence.  No  official  is  ever  in  a 
hurry  to  finish  his  work.  Every  little  thing 
takes  an  interminably  long  time.  It  is  the 
reign  of  "  Yavash !  Yavash!"  (gently! 
gently!)  I  had  the  melancholy  satisfaction 
of  witnessing  one  of  the  big  fires  which  are  a 
regular  feature  of  Constantinople  life.  The 
fire  blazed  away  for  ten  hours.  The  small 
wooden  houses  of  the  poor  were  consumed 
and  reduced  to  cinders  in  one  street  after 
another.  The  unlucky  denizens  fled  into  the 
big  bazaar  with  bundles  under  their  arms  or 
small  boxes  on  their  shoulders — ^perhaps 
their  entire  earthly  belongings.     But  what 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  47 

was  the  Government  doing  ?  I  saw  a  few 
ragged  policemen  and  firemen  running  along 
the  street  several  hours  after  the  reddening 
sky  had  announced  the  danger  to  the  whole 
town.  This  rabble  of  official  rescuers  was 
manipulating  some  antiquated  apparatus 
and  pouring  a  thin  stream  of  water  on  the 
roaring  sea  of  flames.  It  was  a  spectacle 
which  was  tragic  and  ludicrous  at  the  same 
time.  At  last  the  fire  abated  ;  but  I  believe 
that  it  was  due  more  to  Nature  than  to  the 
exertions  of  the  Imperial  Ottoman  Govern- 
ment. I  heard  that  conditions  were  still 
worse  in  the  interior  of  the  country.  A 
patriotic  Indian  gentleman  expressed  this 
opinion  as  the  outcome  of  his  experiences  of 
travel  in  Turkey  :  "  After  two  years,  I  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  country 
should  be  annexed  by  some  European 
Power  !  "  And  this  gentleman  is  a  sincere 
opponent  of  European  imperialism  in 
general.  But  he  apparently  thought  that 
even  European  Conquest  was  preferable  in 
the  interests  of  the  people  to  Turkish  "  self- 
government."  I  was  touched  with  deep 
pity  as  I  saw  the  ranks  of  Turkish  soldiers 


48  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

marching  past  in  the  streets  of  Stamboul  and 
Pera  day  after  day  in  that  eventful  summer. 
These  ignorant  peasants  and  working  men 
were  torn  from  their  homes  and  turned  into 
food  for  cannon  to  gratify  the  ambition  of  a 
small  class  of  Pashas  and  Beys,  who  had 
lived  for  generations  on  the  plunder  of  sub- 
jugated countries,  I  noticed  that  Enver 
Pasha  was  reported  in  the  papers  to  be 
always  present  at  the  weekly  Selamlik, 
whether  from  piety  or  policy  I  could  not 
judge.  These  demoralised  bourgeois  classes 
were  trading  on  the  religious  idealism  of  a 
brave  peasantry  !  1  learned  that  more  than 
half  a  million  Turkish  soldiers  were  slain  on 
the  peninsula  of  Gallipoli ;  but  I  believe  that 
the  ministers  who  drove  them  to  the  sham- 
bles are  still  living.  They  have  fled  from  their 
country  after  having  ruined  it  in  their  folly. 
The  ambition  of  Turkish  imperialists  has  laid 
Turkey  in  the  dust.  It  was  not  necessary 
for  Turkey  to  join  the  war  as  an  enemy  of 
England.  The  Entente  was  always  ready  even 
to  grant  important  concessions  to  Turkey  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  war.  But  the  criminal 
stupidity  of  a  few  swashbucklers,  who  had 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  49 

been  educated  in  Germany,  has  brought  this 
disaster  on  the  Turkish  people.  This  is  the 
last  sad  consequence  of  inefficient  adminis- 
tration. A  land  governed  by  fools  cannot 
prosper. 

The  Muslims  of  India,  Egypt,  Java  and 
Persia  should  learn  that  they  must  look 
after  the  affairs  of  their  own  countries  in  a 
practical  spirit  instead  of  dreaming  of  the 
Caliphate.  There  is  nothing  but  dirt,  and 
dead  dogs,  and  scheming  rascals  in  Stam- 
boul.  It  is  only  distance  that  lends  en- 
chantment to  the  view  in  this  case.  Each 
Muslim  nation  should  organise  itself,  and 
also,  of  course,  sympathise  with  other  Mus- 
lim countries.  But  every  Muslim's  duty 
lies  at  home,  in  the  corner  of  the  world 
where  he  is  born. 

"  The  old  order  changeth,  yielding  place  to 
new."  The  Caliphate  has  had  its  day.  The 
stream  of  history  does  not  flow  backward. 
Islam,  as  a  religion,  cannot  be  bound  up 
with  any  particular  theory  of  political 
organisation.  We  live  in  the  twentieth 
century  of  the  Christian  era,  not  in  the 
eighth.     The  MusUms    should  get  rid  of 


50  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

these  mediaeval  rags — ^the  Caliphate  and  the 
Jihad.  Islam,  too,  will  pass  away,  for  the 
world  moves  forward  and  will  not  wait  for 
Islam  or  Hinduism  or  Buddhism.  The 
Muslims  should  modernise  themselves  and 
learn  the  new  ideas  and  ideals  of  the  Western 
world.  The  vanguard  of  humanity  to-day  is 
in  Europe  and  America,  not  in  Arabia, 
Mesopotamia  or  Tibet.  A  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth  will  be  fashioned  in  the  future,  but 
not  out  of  the  debris  of  outworn  creeds  and 
formulae.  The  educated  Muslims  should 
take  the  lead  in  assimilating  modern  modes 
of  thought.  This  is  not  the  time  to  live  and 
die  by  dispensations  which  were  great  and 
new  forces  centuries  ago.  Prophets  may 
come  and  prophets  may  go,  but  Humanity 
goes  on  for  ever  in  its  pursuit  of  truth  and 
virtue.  The  Muslims  should  also  advance 
with  the  times,  and  must  not  "  attempt  the 
future's  portals  with  the  past's  blood-rusted 
key." 

The  sad  fate  of  the  Turkish  people  proves 
that  there  is  no  magic  in  national  "  self- 
government  "  as  such.  It  all  depends  on 
the  character  and  capacity  of  the  governing 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  51 

class,  for  the  peasants  and  the  working  men 
cannot  take  part  in  the  administration. 
They  pay  taxes,  and  expect  to  receive  the 
benefits  of  a  sound  administration  in  return. 
The  upper  and  middle  classes  of  Egypt, 
India  and  Persia  cannot  administer  suc- 
cessfully without  European  control  and 
guidance.  They  are  wanting  in  energy, 
public  spirit  and  technical  knowledge.  They 
can  neither  organise  the  defence  of  the 
country  nor  establish  a  good  system  of 
internal  government.  A  mixed  European 
and  Oriental  administration  is  the  best  for 
these  countries,  as  the  European  officials 
are  honest,  energetic  and  capable,  while  the 
Orientals  know  the  customs  and  traditions 
of  the  people.  There  is  no  harm  in  admitting 
that  the  upper  and  middle  classes  of  Asia 
are  not  fit  for  all  the  tasks  of  progressive 
administration  in  this  age.  The  Turkish 
Government  had  to  employ  European  engi- 
neers for  the  Hedjaz  railway.  The  Persians 
invited  an  American  to  put  their  finances  in 
order,  and  paid  Swedish  officers  to  organise 
a  police  force  for  them.  Such  a  mixed 
administration  already  exists  in  countries 


52  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

which  form  part  of  the  British  and  the 
French  colonial  empires,  though  the  Euro- 
pean element  is  perhaps  unnecessarily  large 
and  the  Oriental  colleagues  are  not  given 
their  due.  These  are  minor  faults,  but  the 
principle  of  the  mixed  personnel  is  sound. 
Among  European  nations,  England  has  been 
already  in  the  field  for  a  century,  and 
France  has  also  acquired  vast  dependencies 
in  Asia  and  Africa.  It  is,  therefore,  wise 
to  co-operate  with  these  nations  for  the 
establishment  and  continuance  of  good 
government  in  Asiatic  countries,  whatever 
colour  the  flag  may  have.  The  interests  of 
the  peasants  and  working  men  of  Asia 
require  peace,  order,  justice,  education, 
organisation,  and  permanent  contact  with 
Europe  and  America.  A  purely  national 
administration  in  an  Oriental  country,  com- 
posed of  the  effeminate  sons  of  the  land- 
owners, lawyers,  bankers,  manufacturers, 
priests  and  other  parasitic  classes,  cannot 
secure  these  blessings  for  the  people.  They 
must  be  trained,  controlled  and  inspired  by 
European  officials,  or  worse  than  Turkish 
disorder  would  ensue.    The  people  of  Asiatic 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  53 

countries  cannot  pay  the  high  price  of  per- 
petual misrule  and  stagnation  for  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  a  national  flag  float  over 
the  public  buildings  of  the  capital.  For 
purposes  of  external  defence,  co-operation 
between  Englishmen  and  the  Indians  or  the 
Egyptians  is  also  imperatively  necessary. 
Egypt,  Persia  and  India  would  be  again 
overrun  by  barbarians  if  England  were  to 
withdraw  from  Asia,  as  the  Britons  were 
enslaved  by  the  Teutons  as  soon  as  the 
Roman  garrisons  left  the  country.  It  is, 
therefore,  necessary  to  readjust  our  views 
to  the  actual  circumstances  of  the  situation 
as  this  war  has  revealed  them  to  us.  We 
should  think  of  the  British  (and  the  French) 
Empires  as  single  political  units,  which 
must  be  preserved  in  their  integrity  for  a 
long  time  to  come.  We  must  fight  for  the 
defence  of  these  States  against  external 
invasion,  for  the  dissolution  of  these  Empires 
can  result  only  in  a  change  of  masters  for  us. 
At  the  same  time,  we  should  try  to  educate 
and  elevate  the  people  by  teaching  them  to 
appreciate  English  and  French  ideals  and 
setting  on  foot  popular  movements  for  the 


54  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

extension  of  democratic  institutions  in  Asia 
and  Africa.  "  Self-government  "  under  a 
purely  Oriental  governing  class  would  be  no 
blessing  for  the  peasants  and  the  working 
men,  and  would  finally  lead  to  conquest  by 
some  European  power.  The  system  of 
mixed  administration  seems  to  be  the  only 
natural  and  necessary  solution  of  the  pro- 
blem. Then  the  fires  in  Constantinople 
would  be  extinguished  promptly  and  effec- 
tively by  trained  firemen  working  under 
European  leadership.  And  that  is  what  the 
people  of  Asia  ask  for. 


SECTION   III 

"  ASIA  MINOR  "   IN   BERLIN 

"The  best-laid  plans  of  mice  and  men 
Gang  aft  a-gley." 

R.  Burns. 

Oriental  life  in  Berlin  during  the  war 
was  quite  picturesque  and  many-sided.  But 
it  was  something  of  a  tragedy,  as  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  show  in  the  sequel.  There 
were  all  nations  of  the  East  in  the  streets  of 
Berlin :  conceited  Young  Turks,  fussy  Egyp- 
tians, acute  but  pessimistic  Persians,  nonde- 
script Arabs,  handsome  Georgians  and 
others,  who  fancied  that  the  triumph  of 
German  arms  would  redress  the  wrongs  of 
their  countries.  Berlin  was  the  Mecca  of 
Oriental  patriots  of  all  shades  of  opinion. 
Their  common  bond  was  hatred  of  England 
and  France.  Every  one  formed  plans  for 
the  regeneration  of  bis  Fatherland  after  the 
war.  Their  optimism  was  rather  premature, 
as  the  ruthless  logic  of  events  has  demon- 
strated.    But  during  the  first  two  years  of 


56  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

the   war  these   Oriental  nationalists   were 
elated  with  high  hopes  and  went  about  in  a 
state  of  political  intoxication  produced  by. 
a  too   ample   dose   of  the   Pan-Germanic 
"hasheesh."     Thus   a   noted   middle-aged 
Egyptian  politician  said  on  one  occasion  : 
"  The  liberation  of  Egypt  is  certain.    I  am 
100  per  cent,  sure  of  it."    A  party  of  young 
Egyptian  students  met  in  solemn  conclave 
one  day  to  discuss  the  measures  to  be  taken 
immediately  after  the  end  of  the  war  !    It 
is  worth  remembering  as  a  joke  of  the  war- 
time that  some  Egyptian  politicians  had 
even  nominated  themselves  in  imagination 
to  the  highest  offices  of  state  in  free  Egypt ! 
The  Turks  were  all  chauvinistic,  and  it  was 
their  habit  to  decry  other  Islamic  nations. 
Thus  a  young  Turkish  official  said  to  me  : 
*'  You    know    it    is    pure    Turkish    blood, 
Anatolian  blood,   that   has   been  shed  at 
Gallipoli.     We  Turks  have  thus  saved  the 
cause  of  Islam.    Others  have  done  nothing. 
We  pity  poor  India  and  the  Indian  people." 
The  supercilious  tone  of  these  remarks  well 
illustrates  the  spirit  of  the  new  Turkish 
imperialists.     Some  Algerians  also  carried 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  57 

on  their  "  propaganda "  in  bad  French. 
One  of  them  deUvered  a  public  lecture,  which 
was  insufferably  dull,  and  which  really 
proved  that  the  people  of  Algeria  were  not 
discontented  with  French  rule.  But  the 
obtuse  patriot  could  not  see  the  point. 
Unbounded  optimisna  and  sincere  faith  in 
the  power  and  professions  of  Germany  were 
common  to  all  these  Oriental  "  National- 
ists." As  I  contemplated  their  somewhat 
sad  countenances  and  heard  their  plaintive 
accents,  I  was  touched  with  pity,  as  I  knew 
that  they  sighed  for  an  irrevocable  past. 
They  talked  of  the  "  Caliphate,"  of  the  age 
of  the  Crusades,  of  the  Jihad-i-Akbar  !  I 
could  not  tell  them  all  I  thought.  They 
were  the  rearguard  of  a  vanishing  host,  not 
the  pioneers  of  a  new  generation.  They  fed 
themselves  on  words,  words,  words.  And 
they  rejoiced  at  the  German  victories,  as  if 
they  could  sustain  themselves  by  vicarious 
strength.  And  at  last  that  bubble,  too, 
burst ! 

There  were  influences  at  work  which 
began  to  mar  the  joy  and  weaken  the  self- 
confidence  of  this  carnival  of  hope.     As 


58  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

usual,    these    Muslim    patriots    and    Pan- 
Islamists  could  not  get  on  with  the  Prus- 
sians.  No  one  can  get  on  with  the  Prussians. 
It  is,  of  course,  dangerous  to  deal  in  general 
maxims  ;    but  I  give  a  safe  rule  for  all 
Orientals  to  follow  :  "  Never  have  anything 
to  do  with  a  Prussian."    The  chances  are 
that  you  will  rue  your  folly  if  you  disregard 
this  precept.    These  Orientals,  thus  gathered 
together  in  Berlin,  soon  found  out  that  they 
lived  in  a  society  of  snobs,  bullies,  boors, 
churls  and  cads.    An  Arab  gentleman  was 
once  heard  to  say,  "  The  English  are  at 
least   gentlemen,"  and  this  utterance  was 
reported  against  him.    A  Turkish  journalist 
arrived  one  day  in  high  glee,  visited  some 
Prussians,  and  left  for  Constantinople  the 
same  evening  !    He  had  had  enough  of  Ger- 
many and  the  Germans  in  the  course  of 
twelve  hours.    Some  rude  affront  or  arro- 
gant phrase  had  revealed  the  true  Prussian 
to  him,   and  he  was  disgusted  and  dis- 
heartened beyond  measure.    An  Egyptian 
patriot,  who  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of 
the  Germans  before  he  came  to  Berlin,  at 
last   uttered   this   remarkable   sentiment : 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  59 

"  When  peace  comes,  I  shall  leave  this 
country  the  same  evening  without  waiting 
to  take  my  luggage  with  me  !  "  On  other 
occasions  he  would  grumble  and  say,  "  They 
treat  us  like  dogs."  He  also  related  to  me 
that  a  high  Egyptian  official,  who  was 
invited  to  Berlin,  left  with  this  commentary 
on  the  situation  :  "  They  play  with  us  like 
children.  Do  they  think  I  am  a  boy  ?  "  A 
Persian  gentleman  was  once  talking  to  me 
of  his  future  plans  of  work.  I  said,  in  a 
tone  of  banter,  "  Well,  you  will  surely  marry 
a  pretty  German  girl,  and  settle  in  this 
country."  To  my  surprise,  he  said  :  "  Je 
n'aime  pas  les  AUemands  "  ("  I  do  not  like 
the  Germans").  We  spoke  French  on  this 
occasion.  I  did  not  pursue  the  conversation 
further.  If  I  had  asked  him,  he  would  un- 
doubtedly have  told  me  his  story.  There  is 
a  world  of  meaning  in  that  short  and  pithy 
remark  :  "  Je  n'aime  pas  les  AUemands." 
The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  The  Prussians 
are  a  selfish,  rude,  and  arrogant  people. 
They  look  upon  themselves  as  demi-gods,  as 
veritable  super-men.  They  suffer  from  in- 
curable megalomania.    Their  success  in  the 


6o  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

war  of  1870-1  has  turned  their  heads.  They 
beheve  that  they  are  the  greatest  nation  on 
earth,  and  that  all  others  are  miserable 
worms  and  mannikins.  They  are  not  bound 
to  show  courtesy  to  inferior  creatures.  They 
must  teach  these  Orientals  that  they  are  not 
the  equals  of  the  divine  German  race.  The 
German  is  born  to  rule,  and  all  others  to 
serve.  This  inordinate  pride  must  estrange 
all  friends  and  alienate  the  sympathies  of 
colleagues  and  fellow- workers.  The  course 
of  events  has  in  this  case  proved  the  wisdom 
of  the  old  saying  :  "  Pride  goeth  before 
destruction,  a  haughty  spirit  before  a  fall." 
The  Germans  could  not  win  over  the 
Orientals  in  Berlin  because  their  frog-in- 
the-well  pride  robbed  them  of  manners .  The 
Orientals  are  noted  for  their  politeness, 
which  they  even  carry  to  excess.  But  the 
Germans  are  extremely  deficient  in  this 
common  virtue.  Courtesy  is  the  lubricant 
of  social  life,  and  the  absence  of  it  in  German 
society  naturally  led  to  continual  friction.  I 
know  of  no  Oriental  who  left  Berlin  with 
feelings  of  esteem  and  friendship  for  the 
Germans.    I  used  to  laugh  and  say  :    "  If 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  6i 

you  want  to  make  a  man  anti-German,  send 
him  to  Berlin."  It  was  a  most  curious  and 
instructive  phenomenon.  All  persons  who 
have  lived  in  Paris  or  London  love  France 
and  England  ever  afterwards.  They  have 
pleasant  memories  of  their  sojourn  among 
cultivated  and  sociable  gentlemen.  But 
every  foreigner  who  spends  some  time  in 
Prussia  feels  as  if  he  were  living  in  a 
menagerie.  He  meets  only  with  insults  and 
rebuffs  on  all  sides  ;  he  is  robbed,  over- 
reached, and  exploited  by  every  one  whom  he 
encounters.  These  Oriental  patriots  were 
not  by  any  means  peculiarly  unfortunate 
in  their  experiences.  A  Spanish  gentleman 
expressed  this  opinion  in  the  presence  of 
several  Germans  :  "I  admire  Germany  as  a 
powerful  State  ;  but  I  don't  like  the  indi- 
vidual Germans  "  ("  aber  die  einzelnen 
Deutschen  Hebe  ich  nicht  ").  He  related  to 
me  how  he  had  to  suffer  at  the  hands  of 
these  unscrupulous,  greedy,  and  intolerable 
Berlin  people  during  his  stay  in  Germany.  I 
am  sure  that  that  young  Spaniard  will  never 
say  a  good  word  for  Germany  in  his  life. 
The  same  result  was  produced  by  similar 


62  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

circumstances  in  the  case  of  the  Orientals 
who  flocked  to  BerHn  in  such  a  devout  spirit 
in  the  first  year  of  the  war.  That  was  surely 
a  sad  disappointment.  But  worse  was  to 
follow. 

Want  of  manners  is  not  the  only  fault 
through  which  the  Germans  have  lost  the 
sympathy  of  the  Oriental  representatives  in 
Berlin.  There  are  other  vices  in  the  German 
character  which  have  made  personal  confi- 
dence and  co-operation  impossible.  I 
generalise  from  numerous  single  incidents, 
as  I  have  been  an  amused  spectator  of  many 
a  tragi-comic  affair  in  this  little  Oriental 
world,  this  "  Asia  Minor  "  of  Berlin.  The 
root  of  the  whole  trouble  is  that  the  Ger- 
mans have  no  character.  They  are  a  mean 
and  dishonourable  people  ;  in  fact,  they  are 
singularly  devoid  of  the  sense  of  honour. 
They  work  hard,  and  are  patriotic,  but  that 
is  perhaps  their  only  virtue.  Their  best  and 
best-educated  men  tell  lies  and  break  their 
promises  in  the  most  important  affairs  of 
life.  They  seem  to  think  that  they  are 
really  "  above  good  and  evil,"  if  one  may 
judge  from  the  nonchalant  spirit  in  which 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  63 

they  deal  with  questions  involving  the 
gravest  consequences  to  others.  They 
never  think  of  the  other  persons,  always  of 
themselves.  Self  is  their  god,  and  they 
have  no  regard  for  anybody  where  their 
interests  or  even  their  whims  are  concerned. 
Now  this  trait  in  the  German  character 
must  make  all  co-operation  impossible. 
Society  is  based  on  truth  and  mutual  regard. 
If  a  man  in  authority  is  known  to  be  unre- 
liable, the  State,  which  he  represents,  must 
fail  in  its  plans  and  enterprises,  as  no  one 
will  work  for  or  with  him  for  a  long  time. 
The  Germans  can  never  inspire  confidence 
in  others,  for  they  are  a  dishonourable 
people.  They  will  injure  others  without 
remorse  or  compunction  in  order  to  serve 
their  interests  even  in  small  matters.  Thus 
a  distinguished  scholar  was  prevented  from 
leaving  Berlin  for  Constantinople,  pre- 
sumably because  some  petty  subaltern 
wished  to  exploit  him  in  Berlin.  Of  course, 
that  man  has  a  grievance  against  Germany. 
A  gentleman  was  asked  to  come  all  the  way 
from  the  United  States  at  considerable  per- 
sonal sacrifice  to  himself  ;   but  he  was  left 


64  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

in  the  lurch  after  his  arrival  in  Europe 
because  the  little  Prussian  despot  of  the 
office  had  changed  his  mind.  An  energetic 
Oriental  gentleman  was  requested  to  under- 
take some  very  important  work  in  a  neutral 
country  ;  but  he  found  that  the  German 
had  not  fulfilled  his  part  of  the  bargain,  and 
he  was  in  a  difficult  and  even  dangerous 
situation  for  some  time.  A  noted  Egyptian 
leader  was  at  first  asked  to  write  an  article 
for  a  semi-official  paper  ;  but  the  German 
editor  refused  to  publish  it  or  to  return  it  to 
him  after  he  had  spent  much  time  and 
money  on  it !  He  was  told  that  his  article 
had  been  disposed  of  in  a  proper  manner  ! 
When  he  asked  me  how  I  explained  such 
absurd  tomfoolery,  I  said:  "  How  can  I  tell 
you  ?  I  am  not  a  German."  These  are 
small  matters,  but  a  multitude  of  small 
matters  constitute  the  business  of  life  every- 
where. And  character  is  often  revealed  in 
small  affairs.  But  the  Germans  have  dis- 
played the  same  disregard  for  truth  and 
fair-play  in  very  serious  matters,  in  which 
the  lives  and  fortunes  of  their  friends  were 
at  stake.     Such  consistent  and  invariable 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  65 

meanness  is  suicidal,  and  to-day  one  may 
say  that  Germany  has  not  a  single  friend  in 
Asia.  On  this  occasion  I  confine  my  remarks 
to  the  daily  happenings  in  the  piebald, 
polyglot  circle  in  Berlin,  which  I  actually 
frequented  for  a  long  time.  In  fact,  the 
unaccountably  mean  ways  of  the  Germans 
formed  a  staple  subject  of  conversation 
among  the  Orientals.  There  was  always 
some  scandal  going  on.  It  was  not  a  ques- 
tion of  personalities.  It  was  always  the 
same,  whoever  the  parties  concerned  hap- 
pened to  be.  Every  one  complained,  sooner 
or  later,  that  he  had  been  exploited,  or 
deceived,  or  insulted,  or  otherwise  ill-treated 
by  some  German  with  whom  he  had  to  deal. 
I  at  first  thought  that  these  accusations 
could  not  be  taken  seriously,  as  misunder- 
standings often  arise  in  the  course  of  affairs, 
and  these  Orientals  might  possibly  be  vain 
and  sensitive  young  men.  But  I  was  led  to 
inquire  further,  when  the  cases  multiplied 
with  lapse  of  time.  I  noticed  that  Oriental 
gentlemen  of  the  most  diverse  types  of 
character  had  the  same  thing  to  say.  I 
finally  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  evil 

5 


66  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

lay  in  the  character  of  the  nation,  and  not 
in  the  incapacity  or  idiosyncrasy  of  particu- 
lar Germans  here  and  there.  I  could  not 
find  any  other  explanation  of  this  remarkable 
phenomenon.  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
revert  to  this  question  in  discussing  the 
failure  of  the  German  agents  in  Turkey  and 
Persia,  for  it  may  be  affirmed  that  the  Ger- 
mans have  lost  the  war  because  they  de- 
served to  lose  it.  The  Germans  themselves 
are  the  worst  enemies  of  Germany.  It  is  not 
primarily  the  blockade  or  the  American 
Army  that  has  ruined  Germany  ;  it  is  the 
German  character,  or  rather  the  character- 
lessness of  the  German  people,  that  has  led 
to  this  national  catastrophe. 

The  iniquitous  treaty  of  Brest-Litovsk, 
which  marked  the  culmination  of  Germany's 
military  successes  during  the  war,  also 
caused  a  reaction  in  the  attitude  of  most 
Orientals  towards  Germany.  A  few  far- 
sighted  politicians  among  them  had  begun 
to  dread  German  supremacy  in  Asia  ever 
since  the  conquest  of  Servia  in  the  winter  of 
1915-16.  The  "  Balkanzug  "  (train)  made 
the    first    journey    to    Constantinople    in 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  67 

January,  1916,  I  believe.  There  was  great 
jubilation  in  the  German  press.  Huge 
placards  with  the  words  "  Hamburg-Bag- 
dad "  could  be  seen  in  the  windows  of  the 
newspaper  offices.  I  read  an  article  in  a 
review  on  "  The  Way  to  India."  The  land 
route  to  Asia  had  been  secured.  German 
legions  could  now  really  march  from  "  Ham- 
burg to  Bagdad  "  without  let  or  hindrance. 
This  cry  sounded  ominous  in  our  ears.  It 
was  more  than  we  had  bargained  for.  The 
Germans  had  succeeded  too  well.  The 
Oriental  patriots  wished  that  Germany 
should  help  them,  but  no  one  desired  such 
dangerous  proximity.  A  German  Empire  in 
Asia  was  the  last  thing  they  would  tolerate. 
I  also  began  to  doubt  if  I  had  been  following 
the  right  policy  in  working  with  the  Ger- 
mans. Germany  went  on  from  victory  to 
victory,  till  the  collapse  of  Russia  in  the 
winter  of  1917-18  seemed  to  crown  her 
wildest  hopes  with  success.  Many  super- 
ficial observers  thought  that  Germany  had 
won  the  war.  At  this  time  an  Egyptian 
gentleman  said  to  me  :  "  From  this  day, 
this   country  is   a  menace  to  the  whole 


68  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

world."  I  said  (for  I  could  not  speak 
frankly) :  "  Oh,  no.  I  don't  think  so."  He 
rejoined  :  "  They  can  even  conquer  Egypt 
now.  For  who  will  prevent  them  ?  "  I 
said :  "  Well,  let  us  hope  for  the  best." 

With  regard  to  the  Indian  Nationalists  in 
Berlin,  I  observed  that  the  greater  part  of 
their  time  and  energy  was  spent  in  quarrel- 
ling among  themselves  and  telling  lies 
against  one  another.  They  had  not  much 
work  ;  and  idle  hands  always  find  mischief 
to  do.  Some  of  the  leading  members  came 
from  words  to  blows  on  one  occasion,  and 
each  party  averred  that  the  other  had  com- 
menced the  attack.  Such  a  combination  of 
pugilistic  and  "  patriotic  "  activity  caused 
quite  a  scandal  in  Berlin.  One  of  them 
went  about  slandering  his  colleagues  every- 
where, and  told  his  German  and  Oriental 
acquaintances  that  the  other  Indians  were 
thieves,  swindlers  and  impostors.  These 
gentlemen  were  supposed  to  be  members  of 
an  association,  or  "  Gesellschaft "  ;  but  they 
could  never  work  together  harmoniously. 
I  had  no  direct  knowledge  of  the  cor- 
porate activities  of  this  association  after 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  69 

the  winter  of  1915-16  ;  but  I  learned  some- 
thing now  and  then  from  the  conversation 
and  correspondence  of  a  few  friends.  There 
were  all  kinds  of  people  in  that  association : 
sincere'  but  misguided  patriots/unprincipled 
adventurers,  self-indulgent  parasites,  schem- 
ing notoriety  hunters,  simple-minded  stu- 
dents, and  some  victims  of  circumstance. 
The  number  was  never  very  large.  Some 
pamphlets  were  written,  and  some  foolish 
intrigues  were  set  on  foot .  On  the  whole,  the 
group  made  a  very  unfavourable  impression 
on  Berlin  society  on  account  of  its  perpetual 
quarrels  and  splits.  The  Germans  also  paid 
money  for  their  own  selfish  purposes,  but 
they  had  no  respect  for  such  needy 
"  patriots."  Some  of  the  members  tried  to 
ingratiate  themselves  with  the  German 
officials  by  acting  as  mercenary  German 
agents  and  meddling  with  matters  which 
were  not  related  in  any  way  to  the  Indian 
movement.  There  was  much  hobnobbing 
with  Irishmen,  Egyptians  and  other  anti- 
English  agitators.  But  nothing  came  out  of 
it.  A  deputation  visited  Constantinople, 
but  could  not  get  on  with  the  Turks.     It 


70  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

returned  to  Berlin  without  achieving  any 
results.  Some  young  men  went  to  Bagdad 
and  Persia,  but,  as  usual,  there  was  more 
quarrelling  than  work  even  there.  Some 
of  them  complained  bitterly  of  the  bigotry 
of  the  Turks.  At  the  end  a  few  young  men 
remained  in  Berlin  without  any  definite  aims 
or  plans. 

The  story  of  the  Indians  in  Berlin  only 
proves  that  the  upper  and  middle  classes  of 
Indian  society  cannot  be  expected  to  lead 
the  country  forward.  These  men  have  a 
smattering  of  European  knowledge,  and  the 
contact  with  European  civilisation  rouses 
their  pride  and  ambition  to  a  certain  degree. 
But  they  have  no  faith  or  capacity.  They 
belong  to  no  organised  Church,  in  India  or 
abroad.  They  do  not  know  much  about 
their  national  literature  and  history.  They 
are  denationalised  and  demoralised  through 
the  influence  of  their  unnatural  environ- 
ment .  Their  whole  life  is  a  hothouse  growth. 
Nothing  great  or  noble  can  come  from  this 
effete  class,  wherever  its  representatives 
may  try  to  work.  They  will  always  be 
indolent,  vain,  egotistic  and  incompetent. 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  71 

Their  character  has  no  deep  roots  in  reUgious 
principles  or  national  institutions.  Religion 
and  nationality  are  the  two  great  forces 
that  mould  human  character.  A  healthy 
and  normal  society  is  organised  as  a  Church 
and  a  State.  The  upper  and  middle  classes 
of  India  do  not  belong  to  any  Church  or 
State.  They  have  lost  faith  in  the  old 
Indian  creeds,  and  have  found  no  new 
evangel.  They  have  lost  their  national 
independence,  but  they  have  not  yet  learned 
to  love  and  cherish  the  institution  known  as 
the  British  Empire.  Their  souls  must 
therefore  languish  and  wither  in  a  spiritual 
vacuum.  I  cannot  suggest  any  infallible 
remedies  for  this  distemper  ;  but  I  have 
here  supplied  a  sound  diagnosis.  Time  will 
show  if  the  malady  is  curable.  Of  course, 
these  remarks  do  not  apply  to  the  people 
living  in  the  semi-independent  Indian  States. 
The  experience  of  the  Indian  Nationalists 
in  Berlin  confirms  my  opinion  that  the  Ger- 
mans are  an  anti-social  and  unreliable 
people,  especially  the  Prussians,  who  occupy 
the  position  of  leadership.  After  four  years 
of   unremitting   activity   for   the   German 


72  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

cause,  one  of  them  wrote  :  "  The  Germans 
treat  even  their  best  friends  as  mere  agents." 
Another  prominent  member  of  the  associa- 
tion said  :  "  You  may  give  your  Ufe  for 
them,  but  they  never  trust  you."  On 
another  occasion  he  remarked :  "  I  am 
sorry  I  came  to  Berlin  "  (from  the  United 
States).  "  I  have  lost  my  last  chance  of  re- 
turning to  India."  A  young  Indian  gentle- 
man served  the  German  Government  so 
faithfully  in  the  Near  East  that  he  was 
awarded  the  Iron  Cross.  But  our  hero  had 
the  unpleasant  experience  of  being  put  in 
prison  some  time  after  his  return  to  Berlin, 
probably  because  he  had  criticised  some 
German  officials  or  quarrelled  with  one  of 
the  "  bosses  "  of  the  association.  I  do  not 
know  all  the  facts  of  the  case,  but  such 
amenities  of  the  Indo-Germanic  life  in 
Berlin  gave  the  Indians  a  bad  name  in 
Oriental  society.  It  may  be  affirmed  that 
all  the  Indians  are  thoroughly  disgusted 
with  the  Germans,  but  they  cannot  say  so. 
India  should  know  that  the  few  Indians 
who  have  worked  with  the  Germans  during 
the   war  have  not  the  slightest  desire  to 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  73 

repeat  the  experiment.  We  have  learned 
much,  and  we  do  not  wish  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  the  Germans  again. 

I  may  be  excused  for  adding  an  auto- 
biographical note  at  this  point.  I  spent 
about  forty-four  months  in  Germany  and 
Turkey,  from  February,  1915,  to  October, 
1918.  I  went  from  Switzerland  to  Berlin 
in  the  last  week  of  January,  1915,  and 
worked  earnestly  till  February,  191 6,  with 
the  Germans  and  the  Turks  for  what  I  then 
believed  to  be  the  common  cause  of  India 
and  Germany.  During  that  one  year  I 
learned  that  the  triumph  of  Germany  would 
be  a  great  calamity  for  Asia  and  the  whole 
world.  On  account  of  differences  of  opinion 
I  made  up  my  mind  to  return  to  Switzer- 
land. During  the  winter  of  191 5-16  I  twice 
asked  the  responsible  German  official  for  a 
passport  for  the  journey  to  Switzerland, 
politely  adding  that  I  wished  to  return  to 
Switzerland  for  the  benefit  of  my  health. 
Of  course,  he  knew  why  I  had  decided  to 
leave  Germany.  At  first  he  said  that  he 
advised  me  as  a  friend  to  stay  in  Germany. 
But  he  threw  off  the  mask  the  second  time. 


74  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

and  replied  in  these  words  :  "  You  will  on 
no  account  be  allowed  to  leave  Germany." 
I  then  knew  how  matters  stood.  I  found 
myself  in  a  very  dangerous  position,  as  I 
was  evidently  regarded  as  an  "  anti-Ger- 
man "  Oriental.  In  the  summer  of  1916 
even  my  local  correspondence  was  inter- 
cepted by  the  Berlin  police.  I  was,  of  course, 
very  anxious  about  the  future,  as  these 
German  bureaucrats  might  treat  me  as  an 
enemy,  and  I  was  completely  in  their  power. 
During  three  years,  from  February,  1916,  to 
February,  1919,  I  was  compelled  to  resort 
to  falsehood  and  dissimulation  in  self- 
defence,  and  I  look  back  upon  that  time  as  a 
period  of  utter  degradation.  But  I  was  not  a 
free  agent.  At  last  I  persuaded  the  German 
officials  that  my  persecution  was  really  due 
to  a  misunderstanding,  and  obtained  per- 
mission in  November,  1917,  to  go  to  Stock- 
holm for  propaganda.  For  a  long  time  I 
could  not  get  the  Swedish  "  visa "  for  the 
journey.  Circumstances  beyond  my  control 
also  prevented  me  from  writing,  speaking, 
or  working  openly  according  to  my  real  con- 
victions during  four  months  after  my  arrival 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  75 

in  Stockholm  on  October  loth,  1918.  At 
last  I  was  happy  to  be  able  to  sever  all  con- 
nection with  the  German  Government  on 
February  20th,  1919,  when  I  voluntarily 
returned  my  German  passport  to  the  Ger- 
man Legation  in  Stockholm.  As  I  was 
detained  in  Germany  during  nearly  one  and 
a  half  years,  and  could  not  go  to  a  neutral 
country,  my  health  suffered  very  much  on 
account  of  the  scarcity  of  food  in  Germany. 
All  the  other  Orientals  and  Indians  went  to 
neutral  countries  from  time  to  time  for  a 
short  holiday  ;  and  the  German  official  him- 
self ran  to  Switzerland  to  eat  and  drink. 
But  I  was  not  allowed  to  go,  as  I  was  under 
the  of&cial  ban  from  February,  1916,  to 
November,  1917.  The  German  Government 
inflicted  all  this  loss  of  time  and  health  on 
me  by  keeping  me  against  my  will  in  Ger- 
many after  the  winter  of  1915-16.  This 
incident  also  illustrates  German  autocratic 
and  bureaucratic  methods.  I  insert  these  per- 
sonal details  only  because  I  believe  that  my 
Indian  friends  may  be  interested  in  them. 

I  think  I  may  here  mention  my  visit  to  Sir 
Roger  Casement  in  Berlin.     He  was  staying 


76  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

at  the  Hotel  Continental.    I  was  introduced, 
with  other  friends,  by  a  common  acquaint- 
ance.   Sir  Roger  was  very  affable  and  made 
a  favourable  impression  on  all  who  saw  him. 
This  was  in  1915,  in  the  early  period  of  the 
war.    I  had  no  discussion  with  him,  as  the 
disparity  of  age  was  a  bar  to  familiarity. 
But  I'can  assert  without  fear  of  contradic- 
tion that  Sir  Roger  Casement  was  deeply 
disappointed  at  the  close  of  his  stay  in 
Germany.    At  first  his  friends  commented 
on   his   habit   of   spending   much  time   in 
Munich  instead  of  Berlin,  where  political 
questions  were  supposed  to  be  settled.    He 
had  come  on  a  political  mission,  and  was 
expected  to  be  in  close  touch  with  the  highest 
authorities  of  the  realm.     But  it  was  gene- 
rally known  that  Sir  Roger  "  did  not  like  " 
Berlin.      This    strange    "  dislike "    of   the 
capital  of  the  Empire,  whos.e  support  he 
solicited  for  his  Fatherland,  appeared  to  me 
to  betoken  want  of  tact.    But  how  could  an 
experienced  man  like  him  be  wanting  in 
tact  ?     I  was  rather  puzzled  till  I  heard 
some  one  say  :    "  They  did  not  treat  him 
well  here  in  Berlin."    Thus  I  learned  that 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  77 

it  was  the  same  old  story  of  arrogance  and 
rudeness.  Truly,  the  Prussians  are  no 
respecters  of  persons  in  these  matters ! 
Finally,  a  German  friend  of  Sir  Roger's  said 
to  me  :  "He  had  no  high  opinion  of  the 
Germans.  He  used  to  say  *  They  don't  know 
their  own  mind.  They  make  promises  which 
they  do  not  keep.  They  are  dishonourable.' 
He  was  very  much  disappointed."  When  I 
listened  to  these  words  I  was  confirmed  in 
my  own  views  on  the  question.  Sir  Roger 
Casement,  the  elderly  gentleman  and  much- 
travelled  diplomat,  who  had  seen  the  world 
and  known  much  more  about  it  than  a» 
studious  youth  like  myself,  has  expressed 
this  opinion  as  his  verdict  against  Germany. 
The  Orientals  may  distrust  my  judgment, 
but  they  cannot  surely  dismiss  Sir  Roger's 
severe  indictment  with  contempt.  Sir  Roger 
Casement  must  be  heard,  and  his  testimony 
is  given  against  these  Germans. 


SECTION   IV 

THE  GERMANS  IN  ASIA 

"  As  when  a  prowling  wolf, 
Whom  hunger  drives  to  seek  new  haunt  for  prey. 
Watching  where  shepherds  pen  their  flocks  at  eve, 
In  hurdled  cotes  amid  the  field  secure. 
Leaps  o'er  the  fence  with  ease  into  the  fold." 

Milton:  " Paradise  Lost." 

The  German  adventure  in  Asia  has  ended 
in  complete  disaster.  Friends  of  freedom 
can  now  survey  the  world  with  less  dismay 
than  in  the  winter  of  1917-18.  The  Ger- 
mans got  their  chance  through  the  un- 
accountable folly  of  the  Turks.  Germany 
conquered  Turkey  without  a  blow,  for  the 
Turks  themselves  opened  the  doors  for  these 
greedy  birds  of  prey.  Personal  influence 
played  an  important  part  in  Turkey,  and 
two  or  three  men  were  really  responsible  for 
this  rash  step.  The  Turks  were  also  too 
much  in  a  hurry.  They  declared  war  on 
the  Entente  only  three  months  after  the 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  79 

outbreak  of  hostilities  in  Europe.  They 
could  not  judge  who  would  win  the  war. 
It  was  the  puerile  short-sightedness  and 
impetuosity  of  hot-headed  youths.  The 
older  men  advised  a  policy  of  waiting  and 
watching.  Turkey  knew  that  she  had  some 
moral  influence  in  the  Islamic  world ;  and 
that  England  and  France  had  millions  of 
Muhammadan  subjects.  But  she  deliber- 
ately allied  herself  with  the  German  Imperial- 
ists, and  deserves  no  sympathy  now. 
History  cannot  undo  what  has  been  done. 
As  Lowell  says  : — 

"  Once  to  every  man  and  nation  comes  the  moment 
to  decide, 

In  the  strife  of  Truth  with  Falsehood,  'twixt  the 
good  and  evil  side : 

Some  great  Cause,  God's  new  Messiah,  offering  each 
the  bloom  or  blight, 

Parts  the  goats  upon  the  left  hand  and  the  sheep 
upon  the  right. 

And  the  choice  goes  by  for  ever  'twixt  that  Dark- 
ness and  that  Light." 

The  Turks  allowed  the  Germans  to  enter 
Asia  in  their  thousands.  But  the  result  has 
been  just  the  reverse  of  what  was  expected. 
The  Germans  have  failed  miserably,  not 


8o  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

only  from  the  military  standpoint,  but  also 
in  a  naoral  sense.  They  are  now  hated  and 
despised  wherever  they  have  shown  them- 
selves during  the  war,  from  Stamboul  to 
Kabul,  and  from  Medina  to  Teheran.  This 
is  the  outcome  of  four  years  of  German 
intrigue  and  diplomacy  in  Asia.  Whatever 
may  happen  in  future,  no  German  is  likely 
to  inspire  confidence  in  the  East,  and  Ger- 
many will  never  be  able  to  carry  out  any 
programme  of  Oriental  politics.  Germany 
is  to-day  morally  bankrupt  in  Asia. 

The  causes  of  this  interesting  phenomenon 
are  various  and  manifold.  The  Germans 
soon  showed  that  they  were  no  friends  of 
Turkey  and  Persia.  They  were  discovered 
to  be  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing.  They 
professed  to  come  as  allies  and  champions  of 
the  Orient,  but  they  could  not  even  conceal 
their  selfish  designs  in  the  Near  East.  They 
convinced  all  Orientals  that  their  real  ob- 
jects were  plunder  and  conquest.  They  did 
not  sincerely  wish  that  Turkey  and  Persia 
should  be  helped  to  free  themselves  from 
the  incubus  of  European  imperialism  for 
ever.    They  only  wanted  that  the  Germans 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  81 

should  rule  and  exploit  the  Asiatics  instead 
of  the  Russians.    It  was  the  old  story  of  the 
horse,  the  stag,  and  the  man  over  again. 
Falsehood  and  hypocrisy  in  this  essential 
matter  alienated  all  who  were  at  first  dis- 
posed to  welcome  them  in  spite  of  their 
faults.    German  ambition  was  so  impatient 
that  it  could  not  even  adopt  the  language 
of  courtesy  and  amity.    The  Germans,  by 
their  words  and  deeds,  repelled  every  Orien- 
tal patriot,  and  caused  a  revulsion  of  feeling 
in  favour  of  England.    During  the  war  the 
Germans  have  been  the  worst  enemies  of 
Germany  everywhere.     A  German  officer, 
who    was    travelling    with    an    Egyptian 
Nationalist  leader,  said  in  course  of  conver- 
sation :     "  Would   you   prefer   a   German 
occupation  of  Egypt  ?  "    This  characteristic 
remark  was,  of  course,  repeated  and  passed 
from  mouth  to  mouth.    I  took  a  trip  on  the 
Bosphorus  with  a  young  Gemran  official, 
and  we  talked  of  the  future  of  Turkey.    I 
said:  "  When  Turkey  has  a  better  Govern- 
ment and  more  money  the  Bosphorus  will 
grow  into  a  much-frequented  summer  resort. 
It  is  more  beautiful  than  the  Riviera  in 


82  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

winter."      To    my   surprise,    the    German 
replied  :  "  Yes,  but  the  Turks  can't  do  any- 
thing.    We  should  rule  here."     I   didn't 
know  what  to  say  to  this  indiscreet  im- 
perialist after  such  a  cynical  confession.    I 
can  cite  only  such  incidents  as  came  under 
my  personal  observation.     I  guess  that  the 
official  courier  of  the  German  Embassy  must 
have  transmitted  interesting  correspondence 
with  regard  to  the  aggressive  plans  of  Ger- 
man statesmen  in  Asia.    Those  documents 
must  be  in  the  German  archives,  and  may  be 
given  to  the  world  some  day.    I  can  speak 
only  as  a  private  person,  whose  sources  of 
information  were  limited  to  occasional  con- 
versation with  friends  and  acquaintances. 
A  Turkish  official  said  to  me  :    "  The  Ger- 
mans have  refused  to  build  a  modern  arsenal 
for  us  here,  as  they  do  not  wish  to  make  us 
strong.     Their  idea  is  that  they  may  rule 
over  us  in  future  if  we  remain  weak."    Such 
was  the  much-trumpeted  friendship  of  the 
Germans  for  the  Turks  !    I  am  sure  that  the 
Germans   must    have  divulged  their   real 
intentions   in  a  thousand  different   ways, 
as  they  worked  with   the   Turks  and  the 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  83 

Persians  at  that  time.  The  German  press 
did  not  take  care  to  be  reticent  or  hypo- 
critical. The  newspapers  wrote  in  tones 
of  exultation  about  German  expansion  in 
Mesopotamia  and  the  bright  prospects  in 
Persia.  All  this  incriminating  testimony 
convinced  the  Turks  and  the  Persians 
that  they  had  to  deal  with  very  dangerous 
enemies. 

The  Germans  could  not  get  on  with  the 
Turks,  the  Arabs  and  the  Persians,  especially 
as  the  majority  of  them  were  Prussians. 
The  incurable  boorishness  and  tactlessness 
of  the  Prussians  made  co-operation  impos- 
sible. A  Hungarian  officer  related  to  me 
how  some  German  officers  threw  Turkish 
gentlemen  out  of  a  railway  carriage  in  order 
to  get  seats  for  themselves.  Such  incidents 
must  have  occurred  very  frequently,  as  it 
was  the  general  opinion  that  the  Germans 
had  no  manners.  This  fault  is  enough  to 
ruin  a  man  in  Asia,  for  we  Orientals  believe 
that  courtesy  is  the  beginning  of  morality, 
and  I  think  we  are  right.  A  man  who  can- 
not even  be  polite  must  certainly  be  an 
unsociable  creature.     The  Prussians  failed 


84  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

at  Bagdad  on  account  of  their  inability  to 
work  with  the  Turks  there.  There  was 
nothing  but  continual  friction  and  personal 
bickering  all  the  time. 

"  The  churl  in  spirit,  howe'er  he  veil 
His  want  in  forms  for  fashion's  sake, 
Will  let  his  coltish  nature  break 
At  seasons  through  the  gilded  pale." 

With  the  Germans,  however,  the  "  coltish 
nature  "  was  very  much  on  the  surface. 
Such  people  may  be  in  their  element  at 
Potsdam,  but  they  are  utterly  unfit  for 
political  enterprises  in  Asia.  The  German 
cannot  divest  himself  of  his  character  simply 
by  crossing  the  Hellespont ;  for  who  can 
escape  from  himself  ?  A  Muslim  scholar, 
who  travelled  with  a  German  mission  to  a 
distant  country,  at  last  wrote  that  the  "  ill- 
tempered  "  Prussian  officer,  who  was  his 
colleague,  had  marred  all  chances  of  success 
at  the  court  of  the  Asiatic  ruler.  Another 
Oriental  gentleman,  who  also  took  part  in 
this  mission,  was  so  deeply  offended  with 
the  Prussian  officer  that  he  ceased  to  be  on 
speaking  terms  with  him  after  a  short  time, 
and  subsequently  drew  up  an  indictment 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  85 

consisting  of  more  than  sixty  articles  against 
him  !  He  also  wrote  from  Bagdad,  which 
was  only  the  first  stage  on  the  journey:  "  I 
cannot  bear  slights  all  the  time."  This 
Prussian  hero  did  not  know  how  to  behave 
towards  others  ;  he  was  so  full  of  self- 
importance  and  German  conceit  that  he  lost 
all  sense  of  proportion.  The  Prussians  are 
experts  in  the  art  of  losing  friends.  They 
have  great  projects  of  world  dominion,  but 
they  don't  know  that  diplomacy  without 
manners  cannot  succeed. 

The  Germans  have  not  only  behaved  like 
uncultivated  barbarians  in  personal  inter- 
course in  Asia,  but  they  have  also  acted  like 
false  and  unprincipled  scoundrels.  This  is 
a  much  more  serious  matter,  which  touches 
the  very  kernel  of  the  question.  The  Ger- 
mans do  not  keep  faith  with  their  colleagues ; 
they  are  untruthful  and  untrustworthy. 
Their  word  cannot  be  trusted.  In  spite  of 
their  much-advertised  "  Kultur,"  they  have 
not  learned  the  simple  virtue  of  truthfulness. 
They  also  do  not  know  that  "  honesty  is  the 
best  policy  "  in  the  long  run.  They  set  out 
on  a  campaign  of  world-empire  and  pitted 


86  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

their  strength  against  the  English.  But 
they  did  not  provide  themselves  with  the 
armour  that  the  Englishman  wears  in  the 
East.  The  English  are  on  the  whole  a  truth- 
ful people  ;  that  is  perhaps  their  character- 
istic virtue.  Whatever  policy  the  State  may 
adopt,  the  individual  Englishman  is  a 
reliable  person.  He  keeps  his  word.  And 
the  English  Government  also  keeps  faith 
with  its  friends,  partly  from  policy,  and 
partly  from  the  national  habit  of  truthful- 
ness. The  Englishman  has  acquired  a 
reputation  for  truthfulness  in  Asia.  Several 
years  ago  a  hotel  proprietor  in  a  small 
island  in  the  West  Indies  said  to  me  :  "  The 
English  are  different  from  other  people.  If 
an  Englishman  says  he  will  do  a  thing,  you 
may  be  sure  that  he  will  do  it."  The 
Englishman  also  trusts  others,  as  he  wishes 
that  he  should  be  trusted.  An  Egyptian 
Nationalist,  who  is  a  violent  anti-British 
agitator,  said  to  me  :  "  If  a  man  works 
with  the  English  they  will  never  believe 
anything  against  him."  This  virtue  of 
truthfulness  gains  friends  and  makes  co- 
operation possible.    But  with  the  Germans 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  87 

it  is  all  the  other  way.    They  wish  only  to 
exploit  their  Oriental  colleagues  and  then 
to  desert  or  ill-treat  them.     They  make 
promises  and  never  keep  tjiem,  as  Sir  Roger 
Casement    also    found    out    too    late.      A 
Government  must  never  cheat  its  friends, 
or  it  will  soon  have  no  friends  at  all.    And 
a  diplomat's  word  must  be  as  good  as  his 
bond.    The  Germans  have  acted  like  a  dis- 
honest, short-sighted  business  man.     But 
they  could  not  help  it ;    they  could  not 
change  their  national  character  in  a  day.    A 
German  promised  a  reward  of  £60  to  a  poor 
Indian  who  had  saved  his  life  in  Arabia  ;  he 
gave  the  promise  in  writing.    But  the  Ger- 
mans in  Constantinople  thought  that  they 
need  not  pay  so  much,  seeing  that  the  officer 
was  now  in  safety.  After  much  haggling  they 
paid  a  small  amount  (perhaps  £20).    These 
are  the  methods  of  the  mighty  German 
Imperial  Government  in  Asia  !    A  German 
induced  some   Persian  chiefs  to  come  to 
Constantinople,   but    when    they    arrived 
there  no  one  cared  for  them.   They  regretted 
very  keenly  that  they  had  accepted  the 
invitation.    At  last  the  Turks  heard  that 


88  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

they  were  in  a  difficult  situation,  and  helped 
them  with  money  and  other  necessaries.    A 
German  officer  promised  to  take  a  young 
Indian  with  him  to  Persia,  and  told  him  that 
he  should  make  preparations  for  the  journey. 
After  a  few  days  I  learned  that  the  German 
had    already    left !      The    young    Indian 
enthusiast  was  very  angry  and  lost  much 
of  his  ardour  for  the  German  cause.      The 
Englishman  never  plays  such  tricks  in  his 
dealings  with  individuals.    I  had  no  oppor- 
tunity of  travelling  in  Turkey  and  Persia 
during  the  war  ;    but  I  am  sure  that  the 
Germans  have  left  behind  them  a  damning 
record  of  broken  promises,  unfulfilled  en- 
gagements, and  unredeemed  pledges  all  over 
the  Near  East.    They  will  live  in  Oriental 
tradition  as  liars  and  swindlers  for  a  long 
time  to  come,  for  the  East  does  not  easily 
forget.     A  Persian  politician  said  to  me  : 
"  They  gave  us  all  sorts  of  promises,  and 
now  we  are  in  a  worse  position  than  before. 
We  counted  upon  them,  but   they  have 
done  nothing."  The  German's  unscrupulous 
methods   have   set    off   the    Englishman's 
habitual  truthfulness  to  greater  advantage 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  89 

than  ever  before.  The  people  have  had  the 
opportunity  of  comparing  the  two  nations 
with  each  other.  It  may  be  affirmed  that 
the  Germans  would  have  a  much  better 
reputation  in  Asia  to-day  if  they  had  never 
gone  there.  In  their  case  that  fallacious 
proverb  is  certainly  true  :  "  Familiarity 
breeds  contempt."  And  the  reason  is  that 
they  are  really  contemptible. 

The  Germans  have  forfeited  the  sympathy 
of  the  Orientals  not  only  through  their  arro- 
gance and  their  unreliable  character,  but 
also  because  they  have  shown  themselves 
to  be  inconceivably  greedy  locusts.    They 
have  taken  to  plunder  and  extortion,  while 
they  pretended  to   come   as   friends   and 
deliverers  !    A  Turkish  official  said  to  me  : 
"  They  are  too  greedy,  and  they  have  the 
wrong  psychology."     An  Indian  colleague 
told  me  that  the  Germans  had  looted  banks 
in  Persia  on  the  pretext  that  they  were 
English  banks.    The  Persians  thought  that 
the  Germans  would  help  them  to  organise 
their  country ;    but  they  found  that  the 
newcomers    were    bent    only    on    carrying 
booty  home.     It  is  almost  incredible  that 


90  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

"  honourable  "  German  officers  should  even 
be  accused  of  such  rapacious  conduct  in 
countries  where  they  wished  to  acquire 
prestige  and  influence.  But  the  German  is 
capable  of  committing  every  crime  in  dealing 
with  other  peoples,  especially  as  he  thinks 
that  he  himself  is  a  being  of  another  species. 
He  does  not  admit  that  any  moral  law  is 
binding  on  him  in  his  relations  with 
foreigners,  Europeans  or  Orientals.  He 
pursues  what  he  calls  his  "  nigger-politik  " 
towards  them  and  treats  them  like  primitive 
savages  or  irrational  brutes.  A  German 
official  actually  expressed  these  sentiments 
in  a  letter,  which  was  intercepted  by  the 
Persians  by  a  lucky  chance.  The  worthy 
Teuton  was  obliged  to  explain  away  his 
contemptuous  remarks  about  the  Orientals  ; 
but  it  may  be  imagined  that  he  could  never 
again  be  popular  among  the  Persians.  An 
Indian  gentleman,  who  knows  Persia  well, 
told  me  that  the  Germans  had  behaved  like 
unprincipled  freebooters  and  blackmailers 
in  Persia.  He  related  several  stories  of 
their  brutality  and  avarice  in  dealing  with 
the   helpless   people   of   that   unfortunate 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  91 

country.    Well  may  the  Orientals  exclaim  : 
*'  Save  us  from  our  friends." 

The  Germans  cannot  trust  others,  as  they 
themselves  are  untrustworthy.  They  are 
always  suspicious  of  their  friends.  They 
have  very  peculiar  methods  of  work.  One 
German  is  sent  out  to  spy  upon  another 
German.  I  think  that  half  the  German 
officials  or  agents  working  in  neutral  coun- 
tries were  spying  on  the  other  half.  A 
German  journalist  once  said  to  me  :  "A 
German  never  trusts  another  German."  I 
asked :  "  Is  it  because  you  know  one 
another  so  well  ?  "  He  also  said  of  the  offi- 
cials of  a  certain  department  :  "  They  are 
all  working  very  hard  ;  but  they  are  work- 
ing against  one  another."  When  the  Ger- 
mans treat  one  another  in  this  way  it  is 
easy  to  understand  why  they  cannot  trust 
foreigners.  Being  themselves  devoid  of  the 
sense  of  honour,  they  think  that  others  are 
also  like  them,  as  every  man  judges  his 
neighbours  by  his  own  standard.  The  entire 
German  system  of  government  is  based  on 
the  principle  of  mutual  spying  and  back- 
biting.   When  such  methods  are  adopted  in 


92  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

intercourse  with  the  Orientals  the  conse- 
quences are  ruinous.  In  such  co-operation 
the  slightest  rift  in  the  lute  will  make  the 
music  altogether  mute.  I  shall  relate  an 
amusing  story  to  illustrate  German  methods 
of  work.  A  German  official  received  certain 
letters  from  some  Persian  Nationalists  to 
forward  them  to  other  members  of  the 
party.  He  first  opened  them,  thus  proving 
that  he  was  not  a  gentleman.  He  then  gave 
them  to  another  Persian  journalist  to  trans- 
late them  for  him .  Now  it  so  happened  that 
the  Nationalists  had  warned  their  comrade 
in  those  letters  against  the  wiles  of  this  very 
journalist,  who  was  regarded  by  them  as  an 
unscrupulous  and  unpatriotic  charlatan.  It 
may  be  imagined  that  the  journalist  was 
not  quite  pleased  to  read  what  was  written 
about  him  and  to  see  himself  as  the  others 
saw  him.  He  read  the  letters  to  the  German 
official,  perhaps  omitting  the  passages  that 
referred  to  himself.  I  believe  he  subse- 
questly  protested  to  the  Nationalists  against 
the  aspersions  on  his  character.  The  mean, 
underhand  ways  of  the  German  official  were 
thus  made  known  to  all  the  Orientals.    We 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  93 

all  enjoyed  the  joke,  but  also  learned  a 
lesson.  Who  would  entrust  this  German 
again  with  confidential  letters  ?  And  these 
Germans  are  all  alike  ;  they  all  act  in  the 
same  manner.  We  have  found  it  out  in  the 
course  of  prolonged  experience  of  their 
habits.  They  can  never  gain  the  esteem  or 
good- will  of  Oriental  gentlemen.  An  Oriental 
gentleman,  who  joined  a  German  mission  to 
an  Asiatic  Court,  was  placed  in  a  very 
undignified  position  on  his  arrival  in  that 
distant  land,  as  the  German  officer  did  not 
supply  him  with  money,  and  he  was  finally 
treated  as  a  guest  by  his  new  friends.  He 
had  come  as  one  of  the  diplomatic  repre- 
sentatives of  the  German  Empire,  but  had 
to  stay  as  a  beggar.  He  had  sacrificed  much 
for  the  Germans,  but  he  did  not  receive  a 
single  farthing  for  his  work  from  the  Ger- 
man officer.  I  am  sure  he  would  never 
have  come  to  Berlin  if  he  had  known  the 
Germans  before.  But  we  were  all  ignorant 
of  German  aims,  methods  and  moral  stan- 
dards, as  the  Germans  had  never  come  into 
close  contact  with  the  Orientals  before  the 
war.    German  ingratitude  and  baseness  can 


94  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

go  so  far  that  the  Prussian  officer  even  tried 
to  get  him  locked  up  as  a  lunatic  on  his 
return  to  Berlin  in  the  spring  of  191 8,  after 
a  journey  full  of  great  hardships  and  perils  ! 
And  a  responsible  German  official  conveyed 
to  him  the  comforting  message  that  he  would 
not  be  allowed  to  leave  the  countries  of 
Germany's  allies.  Thus  he  was  practically 
interned  by  the  Germans,  after  he  had  made 
such  enormous  sacrifices  for  what  we  in  1915 
erroneously  believed  to  be  the  common  cause 
of  India  and  Germany  !  Such  is  the  guerdon 
of  all  who  work  for  or  with  the  Germans.  It 
is  necessary  that  all  India  should  know  this 
sequel  of  the  story.  The  German  autocrats 
must  not  fancy  that  they  can  exploit  and 
persecute  honest  Orientals  with  impunity. 
There  is  nothing  hidden  that  shall  not  be 
made  public,  so  long  as  I  have  the  power  to 
speak  and  write.  I  have  heard  from  an 
Indian  Nationalist  that  the  Germans  are 
also  responsible  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
Indian  Nationalists  in  the  United  States,  as 
the  German  officials  gave  over  to  the 
American  police  the  cypher  with  which 
documentary    evidence    against    our   mis- 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  95 

guided  and  impulsive  young  patriots  could 
be  obtained.    In  plain  words,  the  Germans 
betrayed    their    Indian    colleagues !      The 
American  Government  must  be  praised  for 
the  leniency  with  which  our  countrymen 
have  been  treated  by  the  liberal-minded 
judges  of  that  great  Republic,  for  they  had 
put  themselves  in  a  very  dangerous  pre- 
dicament by  intriguing  with  the  Germans. 
The  Americans  knew  that  the  Germans  were 
characterless  adventurers,  but  the  Indians 
did  not.     If  my  information  is  correct  no 
words  can  measure  the  depths  of  infamy 
to  which   the   Germans   can   sink.     They 
must  be  shunned  as  utterly  unsociable  and 
immoral  bipeds.    It  is  to  be  hoped  that  these 
young  Indian  enthusiasts  will  also  give  up 
the  fruitless  revolutionary  methods  which 
have  made  them  the  dupes  of  cunning  Ger- 
man imperialists  during  this  war. 

The  Orient  has  learned  that  it  made  a  bad 
bargain  when  it  accepted  the  German 
alliance.  A  leading  Turkish  newspaper 
recently  wrote  :  "  We  do  not  like  the  Ger- 
mans. And  the  Germans  themselves  are  to 
blame  for  this."    These  words  sum  up  the 


96  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

judgment  of  the  Turks  on  their  allies.  The 
Germans  have  had  a  great  chance,  but  they 
have  lost  it,  because  they  are  morally  unfit 
for  such  great  tasks.  This  is  the  lesson  of 
the  four  years'  work  in  common.  The  Ger- 
man inroad  into  Asia  will  remain  in  the 
memory  of  Oriental  nations  as  a  troubled 
dream.  Now  they  must  be  awaked  to  the 
sober  reality,  which  teaches  them  that  their 
destiny  is  linked  with  that  of  the  English 
people  for  a  very  long  time  to  come. 


CONCLUSION 

Every  tale  must  have  a  moral.  And  my 
garrulous  war  notes  are  also  intended  to 
emphasise  certain  truths  which  have  been 
brought  home  to  us  during  the  war.  No 
thinking  man  can  remain  the  same  after 
this  war  as  he  was  before  it.  As  Lowell  says, 
"  New  occasions  teach  new  duties." 

We  must  now  learn  that  England  has  a 
moral  and  historical  mission  in  Asia.  The 
English  people  have  built  up  an  empire  in 
Asia  and  Africa  during  the  last  two  hundred 
years.  They  had  previously  prepared  them- 
selves for  this  task  by  establishing  free 
institutions  at  home  and  developing  a  great 
and  noble  literature.  This  empire  has  its 
roots  deep  in  the  historical  forces  and  move- 
ments of  the  past.  It  is  not  a  mushroom 
growth.  It  is  not  based  on  the  quicksands 
of  mere  ambition  and  exploitation.  It  has 
shown  itself  to  be  a  solid  structure  founded 
on   the   rock   of   historical   necessity   and 

7 


98  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

British  wisdom.  The  Germans  counted 
upon  a  revolt  in  Ireland  and  South  Africa,  a 
general  insurrection  of  all  the  Muslims,  and 
a  rebellion  in  India.  They  also  hoped  that 
some  Allies  would  desert  the  Entente.  None 
of  these  hopes  have  been  fulfilled.  Irish 
"  Nationalism,"  the  great  Jihad,  and  Indian 
and  Egyptian  "  extremism  "  have  been  found 
to  be  puny  forces  compared  with  British 
imperialism.  England  has  also  managed  to 
keep  her  Allies  together  in  spite  of  the  re- 
verses and  vicissitudes  of  the  military 
struggle  during  four  years.  A  nation's 
character  and  wisdom  are  put  to  the  test 
in  such  crises.  Germany  has  been  weighed 
in  the  balance  and  found  wanting.  Great 
Britain  has  vindicated  her  title  to  her  vast 
empire.  The  English  colonies  have  loyally 
responded  to  the  call  of  the  Mother  Country ; 
the  Asiatic  colonies  have  rendered  assist- 
ance, or  created  no  difficulties  at  such  a 
perilous  time.  The  Boers  have  stood  faith- 
fully by  England.  A  nation  that  can  save 
such  an  empire  in  the  face  of  various  and 
enormous  difficulties  must  be  recognised  as 
the  trustee  of  the  future  of  Asia  and  Africa. 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY  99 

British  character  and  British  statesmanship 
will  preserve  this  heritage  for  a  long  time, 
and  the  storms  of  jealousy  and  intrigue  will 
beat  against  it  in  vain.  The  British  Empire 
is  an  institution  that  has  come  to  stay. 
In  this  respect  it  resembles  the  ancient 
Roman  Empire  and  the  Spanish  Empire 
in  America.  We  can  have  our  different 
plans  and  programmes  for  the  development 
of  this  empire  ;  but  the  institution  will 
remain  a  single  political  unit  during  several 
centuries.  It  will  of  course  undergo  a  pro- 
cess of  evolution  in  the  right  direction,  for 
progress  is  the  law  of  life  for  all  organisa- 
tions. The  stability  of  the  British  Empire 
is  a  salient  fact  that  emerges  from  the  dust 
and  smoke  of  the  war. 

We  have  also  learned  that  the  dissolution 
of  the  British  and  the  French  Empires  in  Asia 
and  Africa  would  result  only  in  a  change  of 
masters  for  the  people  of  those  regions.  The 
Germans  wished  to  acquire  the  French 
colonies  and  the  territory  of  the  Ottoman 
Empire.  The  world  is  a  battlefield  for  the 
powerful  imperialists  of  all  nations  ;  and 
the  weak  and  disorganised  Oriental  nations 


100  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

are  only  the  pawns  in  the  game.  They 
cannot  establish  or  maintain  free  national 
States  in  this  era  of  armed  imperialism. 
They  must  live  and  die  as  friends  and 
proteges  of  the  great  Powers.  Under  these 
circumstances,  English  and  French  im- 
perialism is  a  thousand  times  preferable  to 
German  or  Japanese  imperialism.  The 
English  and  the  French  have  free  institu- 
tions at  home  ;  and  they  are  morally  the 
most  advanced  of  all  the  great  nations  of 
the  world.  The  peoples  of  Asia  and  Africa 
must  make  common  cause  with  these  two 
nations,  and  try  to  assimilate  their  culture 
and  ideals.  In  course  of  time  they  will  be 
admitted  as  equal  citizens  of  these  States. 
Intrigue  with  the  enemies  of  England  and 
France  will  lead  only  to  disaster.  If  the 
other  nations,  which  may  set  up  as  rivals  of 
England  and  France,  succeed  in  their  aims, 
they  will  rule  over  us,  and  our  last  state 
will  be  worse  than  the  first.  If  they  fail 
they  will  betray  us,  and  we  shall  suffer.  In 
either  case,  the  will-o'-the-wisp  of  intransi- 
gent "  nationalism  "  and  race-hatred  would 
land  us  in  the  bogs  of  misery  and  misfortune. 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY    loi 

The  Ukrainians  intrigued  with  the  Germans 
in  order  to  "  free  "  themselves  from  Russian 
"  tyranny  "  ;  but  they  found  that  the  Ger- 
mans were  worse  masters  than  the  Russians. 
They  repented  bitterly  of  their  folly  when 
they  began  to  perceive  the  ruinous  effects 
of  their  policy.  The  Turks  refused  to  come 
to  terms  with  England  and  France,  and 
to-day  they  curse  the  Germans.  Experi- 
ence teaches  us  that  the  feeble  peoples 
should  work  with  the  great  nations  which 
have  already  organised  the  vast  empires  in 
Asia  and  Africa.  Disruption  can  only 
expose  them  to  much  greater  evils  than 
those  from  which  they  suffer  under  the 
present  system.  Co-operation  and  evolu- 
tion should  be  our  watchwords.  The  policy 
of  separation  and  intrigue  is  futile  and 
fallacious. 

The  Muslims  of  India  and  Egypt  should 
lay  aside  their  religious  bigotry  and  work 
with  the  English  and  the  French  for  the 
acquisition  of  modern  citizenship.  Religion 
is  a  private  affair  in  the  modern  world.  The 
Jihad  has  been  found  to  be  a  vain  cry.  The 
mountain  of  Islamic  fanaticism  has  brought 


102  FORTY-FOUR  MONTHS 

forth  the  Uttle  mouse  of  local  riots  and 
tumults.  The  Caliphate  is  in  liquidation. 
The  Muslims  should  learn  that  London  and 
Paris  are  the  centres  of  world-politics  to-day. 
They  should  give  up  the  dreams  of  Pan- 
Islamism,  and  set  to  work  as  loyal  British 
and  French  citizens  to  raise  themselves  to 
the  level  of  European  civilisation.  They 
should  let  the  dead  past  bury  its  dead,  and 
prepare  themselves  for  the  glorious  tasks 
that  await  them  in  the  States  to  which  they 
now  belong. 

East  and  West  must  unite  for  the  realisa- 
tion of  these  new  ideals.  The  English  and 
the  French  must  get  rid  of  race-prejudice 
and  pride.  The  Orientals  must  lay  aside 
distrust  and  rancour.  The  two  languages 
in  which  the  message  of  freedom  was  first 
delivered  to  the  modern  world  should  be 
studied  and  loved  in  Asia  and  Africa. 
English  and  French  will  serve  to  unite  the 
Orient  and  the  Occident  in  indissoluble 
bonds  of  comradeship.  For  us,  Indians  and 
Egyptians,  English  literature  should  be  a 
treasure  of  untold  worth.  English  history 
should  be  a  mine  of  the  noblest  wisdom  for 


IN  GERMANY  AND  TURKEY    103 

US  and  our  children.  England  has  much  to 
give  us  besides  protection  and  organisation. 
We  are  now  heirs  to  all  that  the  Englishman 
holds  in  fee  as  his  birthright.  England  is 
free  and  great,  and  we  can  share  in  this  free- 
dom and  greatness  as  worthy  citizens  of  the 
greatest  State  that  the  world  has  yet  seen. 
England  will  achieve  what  Alexander 
dreamed  of  and  what  Rome  partially  accom- 
plished. We,  too,  are  called  to  this  work.  If 
we  help  to  realise  this  ideal,  generations  yet 
unborn  will  bless  our  names.  The  future 
keeps  its  secret,  but  we  must  do  our  duty  in 
this  spirit,  looking  forward  to  the  advent  of 
the  time — 

"  When  the  war-drum  throbs  no  longer,   and  the 
battle-flag  is  furled 
In  the  Parliament  of  Man,  the  Federation  of  the 
World." 

FINIS. 


p.    S.    KING  AND   SON,    LTD.,    ORCHARD   HOUSE,   WESTMINSTER. 


KING'S  NEW  BOOKS 


WAR  FINANCE. 

JBy  T-  Shield  Nicholson,  M.A.,  Sc.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor 
of  Political  Economy  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh. 
Second  Edition,  with  three  additional  Chapters.  12s.  6d. 
net.     Inland  Postage,  6d. 

Scotsman:  "'Currency  and  inflation,  prices  and  profits,'  extravagance 
in  public  and  private  expenditure,  borrowing  and  taxation,  are  the  principal 
subjects  discussed  in  the  volume  ...  of  permanent  value  as  a  contemporary 
record  and  criticism  of  war  finance  imder  unprecedented  conditions.  .  .  . 
Many  of  the  earlier  judgments  have  already  been  justified  by  the  course  of 
events." 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  KANAKA. 

By  Edward  Jacomb,  Author  of  "  France  and  England 
in  the  New  Hebrides."  Crown  8vo.  Cloth,  6s.  net. 
Inland  Postage,  6d. 

Contents: — Introduction.      Part   I.— The    Future    of  the    Pacific.     II. — 
Government.    III. — Missions.    IV. — The  Future  of  the  Kanaka. 


THE  MAKING  OF  AMERICA 

'      A  BOOK  FOR  BRITONS. 

By  F.  C.  Df,  Sumichrast,  Associate  Professor  Emeritus, 
Harvard  University.  Crown  8vo.  Cloth,  68.  net. 
Inland  Postage,  4d. 

Edinburgh  Ev9ning  Dispatch :  "...  shows  in  a  bright,  crisp  and  popular 
way  how  the  United  States  came  to  be,  and  why  its  political  principles  are  as 
they  are.  ...  It  is  not  a  history;  it  is  rather  a  comprehensive  sketch  of  the 
story  of  America,  pnd  what  is  more  important  still,  of  the  growth  of  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  American  policy  is  moulded." 

The  Observer :  "Mr.  Sumichrast's  book  will  contribute  to  the  establishment 
of  a  better  understanding  on  both  sides  of  the  water,  of  such  events  as  the 
American  Revolution,  and  the  Civil  War." 


Lists  of  Messrs.  King's  publications  on— Reconstruction,  Peace  and  War,  Fiscal 
Question,  Health,  Land,  Finance,  Women's  Questions,  Poor  Law,  Local  Govern- 
ment, Labour,  Railways,  Transport,  and  Subject  Catalogue  of  Publications 
on  Economics,  Politics,  and  Sociology,  will  be  sent,  post  free,  on  application. 


P.  S.KING  8  SON,  Ltd.,  2  8  A,  Gt.  Smith  St.,  Westminster 


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