Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1893-12-13
Won DER GULlZ PASHA.
Experiences of a German General
in Turkey.
He Wants to Leave the Land of the
Faithful, But the Sultan Will Not Let
Him Goa Queer State of
Affairs.

Him Goa Queer State of
Affairs.
Baron Won der Goltz's five years term
of service with the Ottoman army came
to an end in June, and the strenuous
endeavors of the padishah have failed
up to now to induce the general to re-
new his engagement The sultan is
not specially DESTROYS of keeping Won
der real service; but his majesty is
specially DESTROYS that he should not
leave for fear of what he might relate
of his experience in Turkey. Won der
Goltz Pasha was thoroughly discon-
tented with his position long before
his five years had expired He was
hampered and1hwarted on every hand:
by the jealousy of his Turkish col
leagues on the staff; by the purposely
underlined nature of his duties; by the
frequent reports made to the sultan
about him by the spies. When, prior
to the expiration of his contract, he
was sounded as to its renewal. he stip-
ulated that his sphere of duty should
be well defined, and that he should not
be INSTRUCTED in the fulfllment of it.
Such an idea is inconceivable to the
Turkish official mind, and the answer,
of course, was; Are you not regularly
paid?'
The Turkish official, civil or mil
itary, travels light" so to say in the
matter of moral baggage. Personal
dignity is sufficiently safeguarded by
staid manner easy to acquire: it is a
form of which the simple outline is
not complicated by any background of
self respect or sense of duty, which at
the best are only impediments to free
dom of action. A Turk simply wants
his pay and pickings, and Gen. Won
der Goltz's notion about having duty
to perform and being allowed to per-
form it was regarded only as an artful
way of asking for higher salary. Ac-
cordingly, higher salary was offered,
on condition that Won der Goftz signed
a seven years contract. This he re-
fused point blank; then the sultan came
down to five years, which was.alse re-
fused. Then Abdul Hamid telegraphed
to the German emperor, begging him
to order the German to remain in Tur-
key. The emperor replied that he was
unable to comply with this request,
but that, to please the sultan, although
it cost him much to dispense at the
present juncture with so useful an off
Ger as Gen. Won der Goltz, he would
extend the generals leave of absence
for three years. The sultan read this
as an order to the general to remain
for three years longer in his service,
and issued an trade straight off for
new contract for three years to be
drawn up. But when the general was
asked to sign it he refused, reiterating
his original stipulations and declaring
that he would not remain in Turkey
another week unless they were accept
ed. As to a contract, he would only
sign one for six months, renewable
from half-year to half-year if the con-
ditions he insisted upon were main
tanned in good faith.
This answer put the commander of
the faithful out of temper and he sent
a chamberlain to the German charge
d'affaires to request him to prevent
" 1"' Holt7 Pasha from leaving the
country. The charge d'affaires replied
that all he could do was to withhold
the generals passport; the general,
however, denies his right to do SO.
So matters stand. 1t may be use
fully remarked here, says the Pail
Mall Budget that it is erroneous to
suppose that the sultan is DESTROYS of
having an efficient and well-organized
army. He likes to have a strong gar
rison for his personal defense in the
capital, and this he keeps ''sweet" by
regular pay, gratuities and various
methods of pampering. But he has as
much horror of a strong army as he
has of a strong navy; either the one or
the other might revolt at any time
His majesty is much more afraid of his
own army, which might kill him, than
of an invading army, at whose hands
he would not be at all likely to meet
his death. As to an army for the pur-
pose of really resisting invasion, the
idea is absurd; such an army only ir-
ritates the invader and makes him ext
gent and relentless, rendering the
terms of peace more onerous