The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-11-21
CHAPTER NJ.


the Goeben and the Breslau TO maneu.
yer IN the Black sea, hoping that tht
RUSSIAN fleet would attack. There were
several pending situations that NIGH
ehd IN war. Turkish and Russian troops
were having occasional skiTmishes OF
me Persian and Caucasian frontier. or
get. ~, BedOuiu troops crossed the
Egyptian border and had a little col,
Ilsion with British soldiers. on this
same day | had a long talk with Talaat
called in the interest Of the British
ambassador, to tell him about the
bed0uinS crossing into Egypt. II sup
pose, Sir Louis wrote me, that this
means war you might mention this
news to Talaat and impress upon him
we possible results Of this mad act, -
Already Sir Louis had had difficulties
win Turkey over this matter. When
ne mad protested to the grand ViZieT
about the Turkish troops near the
Egyptian frontier, the Turkish states
man had pointedly replied that Turkey
recognized no such thing as an Egyp-
tiau frontier. ny this he meant, of
course, that Egypt itself was Turkish
territory and hat the English u %
l'oil was "A temporary u%surpatiOn When
brought this Egyptian situation 10
alRat S attention he said that no Of
tOlhan BedOuiuS had crossed into Egypt.
The Turks had been building wells on
the Sinai pcninsulHr to use in case war
broke out with England; England was
destroying these wells and the BedOuins.
said Talaat, had inlerfcred TO stop this
destruction.
At this meeting Talaat frankly told
mo that Turkey had decided to side
WIN the Germans and to sink or swim
WIN lhem. lie went again over the
familiar grounds, and added that II
Germany Wou-and Talaat said that he
was convinced that Germany would win
the kaiser Woul get his revenge on
turkey II Turkey had not helped him
to obtain this victory. Talaat frankly
admitted that fear-the motive, which,
as have said, is the one that chiefly
inspires Turkish acts-was driving
Turkey into a German alliance. He
analy1ed the whole situation most dis
pa%ssionately; he said that nations could
not afford such emotions as gratitude,
or hate, or affection. tho only guide to
action should be cold blooded policy,
AT this moment said Talaat. 1T Is
Tor our interest to side with Germany;
", "A month from nov, it Is our interest
TO embrace France and England we
shall do that just as readily"
Russia Is our greatest enemy" he
continued; and We are afraid Of her.
now, while Germany is attacking
RusstaS We ear give her u good strong
Kick, and 80 make her powerlsss to IN
jlre lis for some time, it Is Turkeys
duty to administer that kick
And then turning to me with a half
melancholy, half defiant smile, he
summed up the whole situation.
"lch NIT die DcutsCheu," he said, in
his broken German"
Because the cabinet was 70 divided,
however, the Germans themselves had
TO push Turkey over the preCipice. The
evening following my talk with Talaat,
most fateful news came from Russia.
Three Turkish torpedo boats had en-
tered the harbOr Of Odessas had sunk
the Russian gunboat Douetz, killing n
part Of the crew, and had damaged two
Russian dreadnoughts. They also SAM
the French ship Portugal, killing two of
the crew and Wounding two others,
They then turned their shells on the
town and destroyed Il sugar factory
with some loss Of life. German officers
commanded these Turkish vessels; there
were very few Turks on board, as the
Turkish crew had been given a holiday
for. the Turkish religious festival Of
Ratram. The act was simply q Wantor
and u~nprovoked one, the Germans
raided the town deliberately, in order
to make war inevitable. The German
officers on the General, as my frienC
had told me, were constantly threaten.
ing to commit some such act, If Turkey
did not do go; well, now they had dont
1t, When this news reached CONSTANT,
nople, Djemal was playing cards at the
CerCle d'Oricht. As Djcmal was minis
ter OF marine, this attack, had II beer
an official act of Turkey, could have
been made only on hts orders. Whet
some one called him from the card taAk,
to tell him the neWs, picmal was mucl
excited, Il know nothing about It," ht
replied. "lt has not been done by m,
orders ON the evening of the 10Th
had another talk with Talaat. He tolC
me that he had known nothing OF tn,
attack, beforehand and that the whol,
responsibility rested with the German
Admiral Souchon.
Whether Djemal aud Talaat wer,
telling the truth In thus pleading ignor
ance | do not know, my opinion is tina
they We're expecting some such outrag,
as this, But there is no question tina
the grand vizicr, Said Hahn, wa gen
timely grievcd. when NJ. Bompard an,
Sir Louis Mallet called on him and de
manded their passports, he burst int
tears. lie begged them to delay; h
was sure that the matter could be ad
Justed, The grand viZier was the onl
member OF the cabinet whom Enve
and Talaat particularly wished to pla
cate. As n prince of the royal hous
of Egypt and as an extremely rio
nobieman, his presence In the cabinet
as | have already said, gave 1t u Ger
tain standing. This probably explain
the message which | now received
Talaat asked me to call upon the Rus
sian ambassador and ask what amend
Turkey could make that would satisf
VIZ Nhdl' I lltlt IN llNlt ilhtllllbpN llld
Talaat sincerely wished me TO patch u
the difficulty; his purpose was merel
to show the grand vi2ier that he wa
attempting to meet his wishes, and, /
Iohts way, to keep him in the Cahine
saw Nj. Giers, but found him In n
could make amends only by dismtsstn
all the German officers In the Turks
army and navy; he had his instruction
TO leave Mt once and he intended to d
40. However, he would wait ion
enogh in Bulgaria to receive their repl.
and, If they accepted his terms, 1
would come back.
Russia. herself, will guarantee thu
the Turkish fleet does not again con
into the Black sea-" said NJ. Gicr
: grimly. Talaat called on me in Il
afternoon. saying that he had just la
lunch with Wangenhcim. The cabin,
had the Russian reply under considers
ton, he said; the grand vizier wishC
10 have Nj Giers' terms put in wri
ing, would | attempt to get it, I
this time Garroni. the Italian amha'
sador. had taken charge OF Russia
affairs, and | told Talaat that sue
negotiations were out of my hanC
, and that any further negotiations mu
be conducted through him,
why don't you drop YOU mask
messenger boy of the grand vizier Al
i talk to me as Talaat?" asked.
lie laughed and said: "Well, Wangci
helm, Envor and | prefer that the WI
Shall come nov"
Bustany. Oskan, Mahnoud and Iii
Ntd at once carried out their threa
! and resigned from the cabinet, tn,
> leaving the government in the han,
Of NIoslcm Turks, The grand vizic
although he had threatened to resig
did not do SO; he was exceeding
lompous and vain, and enjoyed Il
dignities OF his office SO much tina
I when it came to the final decisio
he could not surrender them Thus Il
net result of Turkeys entrance in
the war, so far az Internal politics WI
concerned, Was to put the nation 81
I tireh in the hands OF the commit
f Of union and progress, which now co
= trolIed the government in practical
all its departments. Thus the idealist
organization which had come into e
istenCe to- give Turkey the hlcssin
Of democracy had ended by hccomil
a tool Of Prussian autocrucy.
CTo Be Conttnued,D !
Virginia Pone.
One CuU hot boiled hominv tu,, ~,