Arizona republican., 1894-01-06
ION DER GOLTZ PASHA.
Experiences of a German General
 in Turkey.
Ie Wants to Leave the Land of the Faithful, But the Sultan Will Not Let Him GOA Queer State of
 Affairs.

Baron v0n der GoltZ'S five years term
 f service with the Ottoman army came
 an end in June, and the strenuous
 udeavors of the padishah have failed
 tp to now to induce the general to re- lew his engagement. The sultan is
 rot specially desirous of keeping Won
 ger Goltz, for he is not allowed to rem ter real service; but his majesty is
 pecially desirous that he should not cave 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 and thwarted on every hand: by the jealousy of his Turkish col leagues on the staff; by the purposely undefned 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 it's renewal, he stip- ulated that his sphere of duty should be well defined, and that he should not be obstructed 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 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. von der Goltz's notion about having a 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 Goltz signed 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 Fur. 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 cer as Gen. von 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 tained 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 VT~-- A"" Golt7 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. It may be use fully remarked here, says the Pail Mall Budget, that it is erroneous to suppose that the sultan is desirous 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 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 exi- gent and relentless, rendering the terms of peace more Onerous.