The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-24


art and becomes a militant partisan,
whatever the cause may be to which
he devotes himself, his course is
bound to be regretted by many Of his
former friends and admirers. Roman
ROLAND has set deplorable example.
Pierre Lott enters upon a similar
field of activity. La TurQuie ADon-
isantc, published seven years ago,
| sounded the keynote of his attitude
in the vexatious problem which Tur-
key presents in Europe. His. new
book, La Mort de Notre Chere France
| en- Orient (Calmann-Levy, Paris), is
made up of articles written by him
since the beginning of the war; adj
| dresses, official notices and other doc
! uments by Turks; numerous letters
addressed to him by French soldiers
| and sailors who had come to know the
Turk through years of active service
In the Orient, and testimonials by
foreign residents OF Constantinople-
all In defence of the Turk. One is
tempted to ask with PLATE: What is
truth?
For not only the words of Lott, ar
dent and eloquent pleas for a people
whose friendship he had enjoyed,
carry a certain amount of conviction.
but also those of the other foreigners
quoted In the book, in whatever ca
pacity, private or official, they had
lived or are still residing in what was
once the Ottoman Empire. From all
these utterances, absolutely at vari-
ance with the current Impressions of
the Turkish character. some points,
however, stand out clearly and seem
unassailable
% That the heterogeneous char
acter of the population of Turkey is
greatly responsible for some of our
misconceptions.
CD That the alliance OF Turkey with
Germany in the war was the work Of
the Kaiser and his Moslem dupes.
CD That the policy Of the country
was in strange disaccord with the
sympathy of the people.
In support of the first two points
may be quoted the statement of Lott
1T Is necessary to recall the fact
that the Young Turk committee, which
was responsible for everything, repre-
sented in Turkey a small minority en-
trely in the clutch of the Germans.
committee which, as it should be
noted, among its twenty-five members
counted barely five real Osmanlis, the
others being foreigners of miscellane-
Gus origin, Greeks, Cretans, Jews,
Armenians. etc"
Little as one may need to remind
the reader of the old friendship be-
tween France and Turkey, the book
contains irrefutable proofs that the
Turks. whether the French wore resi-
dents OF Turkey during the war or fell
into Turkish hands as prisoners,
treated them humanely and even
friendly There is the letter of a
French sailor TO his family, written
after the wreckage OF the submarine
Saphir, Jan. 10, 1915. He reports that
he and twelve comrades. after being |
picked up by mine sweeper, were |
most kindly nursed on a Turkish |
steamer and when taken to the prison |
In Constantlnople were treated as
gentlemen" This Is one testimonial
out OF several referred to and quoted. |
and out of hundreds spontaneously adj |
dressed TO Lott by French soldiers and /
sailors. The letters OF French and
other residents OF Turkey during the
war also are loud and warm in their
praise Of the honesty, generosity and
nobility OF the Turk
Lofts testimony eliminates I'm n
statement OF a distinguished Ruman-
an diplomat which NJ. l.. Barthou au-
thorized him to publish:
"Rumania has gone through inva-
'ions of various foreign armies; they
ire given here in the order Of their