The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-12-03
MAGAZINE FEATURES
TURK AND TEUTON
Ambassador Morgenthaus Story of Great War Plots
BY HENRY MORGENTHAU.

tempt to conceal his ap~prehensious. lie
told me that he had mace all rcptra-
lions to send his wife TO Berlin, and
he invited Mrs. M~orgenthau to accom-
pany her. so that she too could be
removed from the danger zone. Wan
genhcim showed the rear, which was
then the prevailing one, that "A sue
crSsful bombardment would lead to
fires and maSsaCrcs IN tunStantiuoplc
as well as i'm the rest of Turkey. In
anticipation OF such disturbances he
made IA characteristic suggestion.
Should the fleet pass the ltardanelles,
he said the life Of uu rugllsllman IA
Turkey would he safe-incy would all
be maSsaCred As it was SO difficult
to tell an Euglishmau from an Ameri-
can, he proposed that should give
the Americans a distinctive button 70
wear. which would protect them from
Turkish violence. As was convinced
that W~angcuhcim's real purpose was
to arrange some sure means Of identi-
tying the English aur or SO suhJocttng
them to Turkish lil-treatment, re
fused 10 act on this amlahle susgeS'
ton.
Another incident illustrates the ner-
vous tension which prevailed in those
January days. As : noticed that some
shutters at the British embassy. we're
open. Mrs MorEcuthnu ANA ! went up
H. investigate. In the early days we
iltN E'hF'N NlllH 'A'''''HF 49,
hccu left In my charge, and TINS Was
the first time We had broken inc SENS
to- enter, About two hours aI''I VIC
returned from this tour OF Inspection
WHuECnheim came INTO my ONCE ll
one Of his now familiar agltatcd MOODS
IL had been reported. he said, that MIS-.
Morgcnthau and had been up 10 me
embassy getting IT ready for the Bfit-
ish admiral, who expected soon TO TAKE
possession
All this seems n niue apsuru now,
for, iu fact, the allied fleets maze no
attack at that time. At me very
moment When the whole OF N0HStalv,-
uople was fevcrtshly awaiting the bIIl,
ish d~rcaduOughtS, the BRUSH VanIm't
I'M London was merely considering me
advisahllity Of such an enterprise. me
record shows that fctrograd, on Jan
., telegraphed the British governments
asking that some KIND OF a demohSlIa-
were pressing the Russians in the eau
Casus. Though an encouraging replS
was Immediately sent to this request
IL was not unit January ~ lhat Il'
British cabinet definitely issued orueTs
, for an attack on the nardaneles' ~
ia no longer a secret mat there was
/, no unanimous confidence in the sue
, cess of such an undertaking, Admiral
81 Garden recorded his belief thal inc
, strait could not be rushed, but that
y oxteudcd operations with a large num-
| lhI VI illkl Vi tH' WA 80 h.
- altv Of failure. he added, would be inc
: urcaI loss that England would surfer
: In prestige and Influence In the East,
how true this prophecy proved | Shall
have occasion to show, Up to ms tlilr
, one of the fundamental and gencTally
= accented aXioms Of naval operations hhh
> been that warships should not attempt
+ to attack fixed land Notifications, but
the Germans had demonstrated the
! pOwer Of mobile guns against fortresSes
I | l. ut, l.,t r,,pIl,h Of tho PmnIlGO-
mcnta at Licgc and Namur, ana there
: was "A belief In some quarters OF ElB.
land that these events had modlfled
u this naval principle. Mr. Churchill, at
" tina time the head or the admiralty,
pInccd great confidence in the deStruG-
he power Of a new superdreadnought
which had just been finished the
Queen Eli2aboth-and which was then
ON its way to Join the Mediterranean
fleet.
We In Constantinople knew nothing
:, about these deliberations then, but the
result became apparent the latter
- part OF February. ON the afternoon oil
~ the 18th, palluvicini, the Austrian am,
nv bassadur came to me with lmporlall
~ news, The marquis was a man Oh srea,
~ personal dignity, yet II was apparen.
',,v, that he was exceedingly nervous, ana
ba indeed, he made no attempt to cohcea
,,o is apprehension, The allied fleets, ne
"a said, had reopencd lhelr attack on wv
"a ! J "a We tfll'A AltN' 'ihh'N 49,
w. lardmcnt had been extremely ieruClous
~ At that hour things were going baalA
90 for the Austriaus, the Russian arnle'
wtrd advancing VIGOROUSLY; serbia nae
~ hurled the AustrianS over the frontier
~ and the European press was lllled WIZ
~, DEMONSTRATIONS OF the break up OF TN
,,"n Austrian empire, PallaNiCints attitude
NJ this afternoon was Il perfect reflectlol
" of the dangers that were then encom
w. passing his country. llo was a sensitive
w nod ,r,,,l ,,,nt. IrppI pT his pnneTU
W. and proud Of what he regarded as tn
~, great Austro- Hungarian empire, and u
- now appeared to be overhurdened by tn
> fear that this extensive HapSburR fabrl
- which had withStood the assaults OF ~
- many centuries, was rapidly being over
whclmcd with ruin. Like most huma
beings, Pallavicinl yearned for sympa
thy. he could obtain none from Wan
ronhelm. who seldom took him into hi
ronfidenre and consistently treated hiT
as me representative of a nation tina
was comneIled 90 submit to the over
lurdship Of Germany, Perhaps that wa
the reason why the Austrian ambassh
dor used to pour out his heart to IN,
r And now this allied bomhardment OF tn
pardanelles came as the elimination
an his troubles At this time the Ger
N traI movers believed tina they had Rus
sin bottled up; that they had sealed III
pardanenes, and that she could neith,
to pct her wheat TO the market nor impol
we ''uHta,oi9 u''",I ,stria tGus ha
"A stranple hold on their gigantic 70
and II This condition could be matl
ra- tnined indefiritely, the collapse OF Rut
m sla would be Inevitable. At present,
w. II lfne' ,'h' C1u \ loICes WV "I"N';
re- gclf wac sufficiently alarming to Au
the tria hui their present supplies OF W,
lty. materials wound ultimately be exhaust
leu and then their great superiority in IN,
urn,,la b,lr tl,,,, uttIa and would inc
iTto9hiVY go to nicScs i}ut should Russ
ally vel t'o]nstartinopIe. with the control
ecd The D~ardancllrs and the BospOrus, s.
in could obtain All the munitions needed (
warfare ON the largest scale. and I
defeat or tne ''hlral powers ul'hnl u
paUavipini wen understood, would
sold ~ r,Ti,',s rnr Aup,rin thnn I