The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-12-14
MACHINE FEATURES
TURK AND TEUTON
Ambassador ,Morgenthau's Story of Great WA Plots
BY HENRY MoBGENnHAU.-

very wen. They had promised me at
the beginning that they would treat
their alien enemies deecntly and would
permit them either to remain in TuF-
KEEP and follow their accustomed occu-
p~attoHS, or to leave the empire. They
apparently believed that the world
wUuld judge them. after the var was
over, not by the way they treated their
own subject peoples, but by the way
they treated the subjects OF the enemy
pow ers The result was that a French
man, an Engiishman or an italian en-
joyed far greater security In Turkey
than an Armenian. a Greek or a Jew
Yet Against this disposition to be de-
cent a persistent mslevolent force was
constautly manifesting itslef. In a let
ter 10 the state department ! described
the Influence that was working against
foreigners in Turkey, The German
ambassador" l wrote on May II, 1915,
'keeps pressing on the Turks the adj
visibility both Of repressive measures
and OF OBTAINING as hostages the sub
jects Of the belligerent powers / have
had to encounter the persistent oppos
sition OF my German colleague in en-
deavoring to obtain permission for the
departure Of the subjects Of the a
tiOnalities d our protection"
Now and then the Turkish officials
would retaliate upon one OF their enc
my aliens, usually in reprisal for some
Injury. or fancted injury, Inflicted on
their own subjects in enemy countries.
y such acts gave rise to many exciting
episodes, some trhgieal. some f~arcical,
all Illuminating In the light they shed
upon Turkish character and upon Teu-
1 Onic methods,
one afternoon l was sitting with Ia
]; vat, discussing routine matters, when
h y telephone ran
pour vous,' said the minister hand
in : me the receiver.
vas one OF my secretaries He
tot Il me. that Bedri. had arrested Sir
ED win Pears, had thrown him into
pri Ion and had seized all his papers.
Sir Edwin was one Of the hest.known
Brit tsh residents OF Constbntinople. For
40 Years. he had praCticed law In the
otto phu capitali he had also writte.,
mucll for the press during that period
and bad published several books which
had given him fame as an authority
on { oriental history and politics. He
was~ about so years Old and Of venera-
bic al III distinguished appearance, When
the v pr started l hind exHCted n special
promi W from Talaat and Bedri that,
in no event. should Sir Edwin Pears
and p tof, Van Millingen OF Robert coll
lege btl disturbed, This telephone mes
sage NChtCh' now reCetYed-ouriotlsiy
enough.I In TalHHts presenee-seemed
to ind, Ete that this promise had been
broken
L " NhAlNu w lAiuul ahh SbtNu
in a m Fnner hat made no attempt to
conceal my displeasure.
rs this all your promises are
worth 80 asked, Cant you find my
thing b liter to do than TO modest such
a respe etable old mi AZ Sir Edwin
Pears? What has he ever done to your"
Gomez come, don't get excited" re-
joined r hlaat. Hes only been In prison
for a, hrw hours. and | will see that
he Is RI beHsed,"
He tTied to get Bedrl on the wire;
but failt h. BY this time | knew Bedri
well enonRh to understand his meth
ods Of operation, When Bedri really
wished to bs reached on the telephone
he was the most accessible man IN
the worl u. when his presence at tho
other en,t of the wire might prove emf
barrRsstn y. the most painstaking search
could no reveal HIS whereabouts. Az
Bedri ha, I given me his solemn promise
that Sir Edwin should not be disturbed,
this was an occasion when the project
OF police preferred to keep himself in.
accessible.
u shall stay In this o until you
get Bedris now tolh Talaat. The big
Turk took the situntibn good huinored-
.B. We whtted a cohBIdern BILE period,
but Bedrt sneceeded h avoiding an en-
counter. Finally ! CALLED up one Of
my secret aries and told him to go out
and hunt for the mis4ing project
Tell Bedri," | said. that / have
Talsat under arrest In his own office
until he h'ls been able TO instruct BedrI
to release sifr Edwin Pears
Talaat Was greatly enjoying the COM
edy Of tho situation, he knew Bedrfs
ways eve,l better than | did and he
wac much interested in seeing whether
IN a few moments the telephone rang,
l told Taksat to tell him that l was
going to the prison In my own auto
mobile to get Sir Edwin Pears,
Please 10 not let him do that" re-
piled Bed,ti. Such an occurrence
would ma ke me personally ridiculous
and destroy, my Influence.
until d;lS, II sr 'R Rdward i s"f not va" re-.
stored to his family by that time, |
shall 60 70 the police headquarters and
As / returned to the embassy I
stopped at the Pears residence and at
daughter.
IN your father is not here at s:15,"
told Miss Pears. please let me know
Immediately"
Promptly at that time my telephone
rang II was Miss Pears, who informed
me that Sir Edwin had Just reached
home.
The next day Sir Edwin called At
the embassy to thank me for NV efforts
IN hiE behalf, He told me that the
German ambassador had also worked
for his release. THIS latter statement
somewhat surprised me, as | knew no
n else had had a chance to make a
move, since everything transpired while
| had heen In TalaAt's office. Half al
hour afterward I met Wangenheln
himself; he dropped In at Mrs. Nor
~genthau's reception. | referred TO the
Pears case and asked him whether he
| Ind used any Influence In nhtnlnInn