The Washington herald., 1918-10-24

Hes not American said 1nnt
hes a Canadian"
"Its almost the earne thins. II SAID
, Well replied Tsiast II let him
go. viii you promise that. the rNttsd
States Will amer Cansda--
q Il promise" said I, and we both
laughed at this little joke. ~
Every time you come here" Talsft
finally said. you always steal some
thing from me. All right you can
have your McNaughton!"
CsbIesrsms IstercepseS. -
Certainly this interview was nof an
encouraging beginning. 80 far as ths
iAFrnenians were concernecs = But
Tslaat was not always in an "Ayoub
Sabri mood" He vert from one
emotion TO another as lightly xx
child: would find him fierce and
unyieldinE one day. and uproar,ogsly
I good-natured and accommodating
lthe next Prudence Indicated. there
fore. that should await one Of his
more congenial moments before sp-
preaching him on the subject that
aroused all the bsrbarity IN his ma
ture. Such an opportunity soon. pre-
the interview chronicled above
called on TslAat again. The frst
thing he did wss TO open his desk
and pull out a handful OF yellow
cablegrams
why don't you give this money 20
u.s." he said. with a grin.
What money!" I asked
Here is q csbleeram for you n ON
America, sending you a lot Of money
for the Armenians. You ought not 20
use IL that way; give Il 20 us Trrks.
we need IL as badly as they do.'
! Il have not received any such cable
gram" I replied o.
''oh. no. but you will he answered.
i always get all your csblegtams
first, you know. After ] have flnisfed
reading them ] send them around TO
you" 80
This statement was the Btersi
truth. Every morning all the spen
cableErsms received in Constsntfno-
pie were forwarded TO Talsat. swhe
read them. before consenting 20 Their
being forwarded 10 their destination
Even the csblesrsms of the smbssss-
dors were apparently not exempt,
though, OF course. the ctpheree rines-
ssRes were not interfered with. ord
nsrily ] might have protested aesinst
/ this infringement OF my rights but
Talaats engaging frankness IN piifcr-
ing my correspondence and in even
waving my own oablesrsm In my face
gave me an excellent opening 10 IN
troduce the forbidden subject
wepId Crush Aaerfeaas-
But on this occasion. a. on many
others. Tslast was evssive and non
I
tility TO the interest which the Amer
icsn people were msnifesting In the
Armenisns He explained his policy
on the ground that The Armenisns
were in constant correspondence with
the Russians. The definite conviction
which these conversation left upon
my mind WAS that Tslaat was the
most implaCable enemy OF this per
secuted race. He gave me the i'm
{ preston" such is the entry which 7
I fnd in my diary on August :. that
Tslsst is the one who desires to crush
| the poor Armenians" He told me
that the Union and Progress Commit
tee had carefully considered the mat
ter in all its details and that the
! policy which WAS being pursued was
that which they had officially ADOPTED.
! He said that ! must not get the jdra
{ that the deportations had been de-
cided upon hastily: in reality they
were the result Of prolonged and csre-
ful deliberation. To my repeated" APP
peals that he should show mercy, 10
these people, he sometimes responded
seriously. sometimes angrIy. and
sometimes flippantly. -
Some day he once said. u will
come and discuss the whole Armenian
subject with you" and then he added
in a low tone in Turkish.
But that day will never comeG'-
why are you 80 interested in the
Armenians anyway he said. on an
other occasion. You are Jew:
these people are Christians The No.
hsmmedsns and the Jews always get
on harmoniously We are treating
the Jews here all right What fngrs
you 10 complain Of: Why can't you
let us do with these Christians as
We please
Humanity Unknown.
had always remarked that The
Turks look upon practically every
iQuestion as a personal matter. vet this
point OF view rather stunned me
However. Il was a complete revela-
ton Of Turkish mentality the feet
that above all considerations Of race
and religion that there are such thine
as humanity and civilization never
for a moment enters their mind. They
can understand a Christian fighting
for a Christian and a Jew fighting
for a Jew. but such distinctions as
justice and decency form no part OF
their conception Of things
You don't seem 70 realize" re-
piled, that am not here as sH5ew
but as American Ambassador. Ny
country contains something more than
81. .O00.O 900 Christians and something less
than 100000 Jews. So. at least in my
ambsssadorisl capacity. am ~ per
lcent Christian. But after all that is
not the point I do not appeal 70 YOU
in the name OF any race or any re-
ligion. but merely as a human beins
You have told me many times that
you want 10 make Turkey a part of
the modern progressive world. The
way you are treating the Armenians
will not help you 20 realize that am
hition: il puts you in the class Of
backward, reactionRry peoples"
Why should Americana ComrIsis,
We treat the Americans all right
too" said Talast. Il don't see Why
you should complain"