The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-27
THE PRINCE OF INDIA
Lew Wallace Says He Was almost
Sent" to Turkey TO Write the Book.


"What relation, if any, has your official
residence in Constantinople to your forth
coming book, The Prince of India"
''Why, / may almost say / was sent to
Constantinople to write that book. When
Gen. Garfield became President he Of
fered me, in the first place, a mission in
South America, which [ declined; but
when the Turkish mission was offered, !
felt the charm that ConstantinOple must
have for every romantic mind. / had be-
come acquainted with the President in
the army, and he had read Ben-Hur, and
liked it. AS | was coming away from my
visit of acknowledgment from the white
house, he put his arm over my shoulder IN
his cordial, boyish way, and said: : / ex-
pect another book out of you. Your
official duties will not be too
onerous to allow you TO write
it, Locate it in Constan-
tinople. That was, of course agreeable,
and main consideration in accepting the
place The capture of Gonstantinople by
the Turks is one of the most striking
events in the history of the East, ana one
of the most striking in the history Of the
world There could not be a finer setting
for a historical romance. ! don't know
whether you are one of the select few who
have read DR. Samuel Johns0n's tragedy
of Irene, but if you are, you will remem-
Der that it is founded upon an incident Of
the Turkish occupation Of Constantinople.
The incident is in old Knolles' History Of
the Turks, Of which Johnson said that it
displays all the eXcellences that narra-
ton can admit Whatever one may think
of Knolles' style, whoever reads him to
get an authentic account of the siege Of
Constantinople will be deeply disap-
pointed.
The story upon which Johnson founded
his Irene is rejected by Gibbon and Won
Hammer, though there IS historical
basis of which have made use in my
novel. The accounts Of the capture Of
Constantinople in the current histories
are far from satisfactory. and | naturally
expected to find on the spot wealth of
detail which the historians had over
looked. | had facilities as minister for
inspecting the Old records which no pri-
vate student could very well obtain, and
l had the invaluable assistance Of Profess
sor GrosvenOr, of the American College at
Hissar, who knows more about old Con
stantnople, about Byzantium, than any
man living now that Paspati IS dead.
But all this for my purposes amounted to
very little There are in ConstantinOple
mosques by the hundred, and every mos
que has q library and ! had access to
all these Libraries, but found my labor
in searching them was mainly lost.
There is lapse of Turkish history
about the capture of Constantinople.
Nevertheless, it is, Of course, of the great
est possible advantage to me in such work
to have lived on the spot for so long. 1t
would not be fair to my publishers for me
to give an outline of the novel, but l may
say that the main idea is of the Wander
ing jew. it has always seemed to 30
,,ooesea ilv trle that the longer n mar liV
ed, if he had common-sense originally, one
wiser he must become. My Prince Of In
dia is a man who impressed himself upon
those who met him as a normal man, like
others, except that he was very wise and
very powerful, and that while genera
tions of other men were passing, he did
not appear to die.