Forty years in Constantinople : the recollections of Sir Edwin Pears, 1873-1915

Preface

IN writing my reminiscences of Life in Constantinople I have been under the disadvantage of depending almost entirely on memory. When I was compelled to leave Turkey in the middle of last December I was unable to bring away memoranda and books which would have enabled me to fix dates, to give correct spelling of names of persons and places, and would have recalled a hundred circumstances, which without such aids I am unable to relate with desirable exactitude. This is all I have to add by way of excuse for any inaccuracies and shortcomings in my book.

I could have added many more reminiscences of visitors who have given me the pleasure of seeing them, some of them men and women whom all England delights to honour. Merely to mention their names would lay one open to a charge of sycophancy. To relate conversation with them would be a breach of confidence. If, for example, I should tell the story of one of our legislators who made all haste to get away from the city because he learned that Abdul Hamid proposed to invite him to dinner, and who gave as his reason for getting away that if invited he could hardly refuse, and that if he accepted he would lose all nonconformist votes, I should have to miss the point of my story unless I mentioned the name, which I should not be justified in doing.

Had space permitted, I should have liked much to speak at length of visits : of that of Miss Isabel Fry, who spent time and money for the benefit of Turkish women ; of the Members of the Balkan Committee, notably Mr. Noel E. Buxton and his brother ; Lady Boyle and Sir Edward ; Sir Arthur Evans, and others whose labours for the benefit of all sections of the community won them the gratitude of

V vi PREFACE

Moslems and Christians alike ; of the veteran Frederic Harrison, who was especially honoured by the best men of the Young Turkey Party ; of Mr. H. W. Massingham, who shewed himself greatly interested in Turkish institutions. These visits were of great value to leading Turks and other members of the community as setting before them ideals of conduct and self-sacrifice.

Turkey has long attracted some of our best men and women. The singular devotion of Miss Edith Durham has won general respect in all the Western Balkan States. The massacres at Adana drew Lady Rosalind Northcote and several others to the aid of the victims. Susan, Lady Malmesbury, took great interest in the schools and colleges of the capital. Mr. Edward Clodd wanted to learn everything regarding Moslem and Christian education. The late Mr. John Westlake, a friend whom I had known from my Social Science days, always took great interest in the developments of Turkey. Another old and dear friend from the same period was Rev. Brooke Lambert, who stayed with me on three occasions, on one of which during our summer residence he conducted divine service in our sala at Prinkipo. Canon Malcolm McCall paid us two visits, and from the time of the Moslem atrocities in Bulgaria was always keenly aUve to the religious and political questions of the Near East.

I have to express my very sincere thanks to Hariot, Lady Dufferin, for the excellent photographs of her husband and herself. I possess one signed by Lord Dufferin, but, like another of General Skobeleff and others which it was my intention to use, I have not seen my way to obtain them from Constantinople. My thanks are also due to Lady O'Conor for offering to place at my disposal a series of photographs of her husband ; to Lord Goschen for a photo which carries my memory back to the time when it was taken and the men with whom he had to act ; and to Beatrice, Lady EUenborough, for permission to reproduce from her photograph the portrait of Jane Digby, Lady EUenborough.

EDWIN PEARS.

PREFACE

V

Chapter I

A Chance Remark and the Consequences — The Social Science Association— ^Pleasant Relations — I Start for Turkey — First Impressions— Bakshish — ^The Turks' Incurable Malady — The Comedy of the Buoys — ^The Tragedy of the Bridge — An Ideal Coal for the Navy - - - * - - i

Chapter II

^^Our Own Correspondent" — Robert College — Dr. Washburn and Dr. Long — ^The Bulgarian Students — Ugly Rumours — "Allah's Business " — My First Letter — Disraeli's Doubts — I Send Additional Proof — Incomprehensible Scepticism — Macgahan Sent to Investigate — Horrible Discoveries — Mr. Walter Baring Appointed Commissioner — His Report — Disraeli's Strange Conduct — Death of Macgahan — Conference of Powers, Dec-Jan., 1877 — Its Failure — Salisbury Unpopular in Constantinople — " Bravo, Sir Elliot " — Declaration of War by Russia, April 24, 1877 - 12

Chapter III

The Russo-Turkish War Begins— Battle of Shenova— British Fleet in Besika Bay — British Colony Still Hostile — British Fleet at Prinkipo — Leaves Turkey — Did Arrival of British Fleet Prevent Russian Occupation ? — Baker Pasha and Suliman — SkobelefiE and the Taking of Constantinople — My Visit to Him in Camp — Remarkable Unanswered Telegram to Czar — Personal Reminiscences— Fellow Correspondents, Galenga, George Augustus Sala — A Correspondent Impostor — Remarkable Solution of a Prize Case • • - - • -25

vii viii

Chapter IV East And West Page

The An ti- Russian British Colony — An Address to Sir Henry Elliot — I Protest — Journalism Extraordinary — ^Mr. Layard Becomes Ambassador — The Marquess of Bath — "A Year Behind the Fair " — Mr. W. E. Forster — A Grand Vizier's Rudeness — Mr. Hughes's Revenge — " The Only Gentleman in Europe " — British Tommies and a Turkish Toll Collector — Gallantry and Death — A Strange Court Scene — The Scots at Hasskewi — How a Lawyer Cannot be a Jackass - - - - - 43

Chapter V

Turkey's Finances — Heavy Losses — The Moral Effect — Outcry Against the Sultan's Extravagance — His Passion for Building — Abdul Aziz a Prisoner — His Suicide — A Committee of Examination— The Trial of Ministers — The Tradition of the Turkish Palace — Murad Ascends the Throne — He is Deposed and Succeeded by Abdul Hamid — ^The Question of a Constitution — A Revelation of Abuses — ^The New Form of Government — A Blunt Speaker — The Traditional Method — A Question of Right or Wrong - - - - - - 52

Chapter VI Arch^ological Interests And Lady Ellenborough

Dr. Paspates and Dr. Schliemann — My First Visit to the Patriarchal Church — An Impressive Ceremony — The Greek Tradition — The Site of Troy — Interesting Discoveries — Visits to Nicaea — A Visit to Damascus — I Meet the Sheik's Wife — ^A Remarkable Woman — A Queen of the Desert — ^Lif e in the Harem — -An Arab Invasion — The Bedouins' Devotion - - - - 62

Chapter VII The Egyptian Question

The Arrival of Sir Henry Layard — Russophobia — Ideals About the Turk — A Scheme of Reform — Sir Henry Disillusioned — Gladstone's Greek Letter — A Scandal — The Khedive's Extravagance — Egypt's Finances — Dual Control — The Succession Changed — The Khedive Deposed — ^Turkish Alarm— Saving the Sultan's Face — Mr. Goschen Succeeds Sir Henry Layard — Bismarck's Rudeness — The Sultan Obdurate — Mr. Goschen 's Victory — The Murder of Colonel Cumaroff - - - - 75

Chapter VIII Egypt

Lord Dufferin Appointed Ambassador — The Revolt of Arabi Pasha — Turkish Pin -pricks — The Bombardment of Alexandria — Tel-el-Kebir— The British Left to Restore Order— Turkey's Help ix

Solicited— The Sultan's Refusal — Baker Pasha's Anxiety — Mr. Gladstone Determined — British Troops Land — ^Lord and Lady Dufferin's Services to the European Colony — ^The Girls' High School— Lady Dufferin's Popularity — A Courteous but Strong Ambassador — A Broad-minded Man - - - 87

Chapter IX

The Sultan's Superstition— Abdul Hamid's Hostility to Armenians — The Turkish Law of Succession — Its Disadvantages — Abdul Hamid's Upbringing — A Narrow Environment — The Fleet Neglected — Abdul Hamid's Sensitiveness to Criticism — An Unofficial Censorship — A Continuous Foreign Policy — An Avengement for the Evacuation of Eg5rpt — The Sultan Refuses His Consent — Lord Salisbury's Rejoinder — ^A Prosperous Egypt — Izzet Pasha — The Two Secretaries — Belief in Astrologers — The Tabah Affair — The Sultan's "Diplomatic Victory" — A Suspicious Monarch — An Elaborate Spying System — Blackmail — The Censors Regard Me as Incorrigible — I am Threatened with Expulsion — Turkish " Decorations " — A Clever Fraud - 102

Chapter X Arminius Vambery And Abdul Hamid

Pdre Hyacinthe — Women without Souls-r-The Khedive's Dictum — "Free Speech" in Turkey — The Sultan's Interference — Sir Henry Bulwer and Plataea — His Dummy Library — Arminius Vambery — A Chance Encounter — A Polyglot Gentleman — Vambery's Advice to Abdul Hamid — The Sultan's Anger — A Suppressed Book — The White Slave Traffic — A Courageous EngUsh woman — An American's Mistake — A Splendid Work - 121

Chapter XI The Sultan's Summons

Sir Edward Thornton — Mr. Sunset Cox — A Brilliant Speaker — Sir William White — His Friendship with Dr. Washburn — The Sultan Sends for Me — The Ideal Dragoman — I Refuse a Decoration— Haji All's Astonishment — The Sultan Persists — The Secretary's Ignorance — ^A Visit from a Spy — The Decoration Again Offered — A Significant Hint — The Value of a Turkish Decoration— The Order of the Mejidieh Conferred on a Fighting Cock 134

Chapter XII

Popularity of " The Bosporus Bull " — The Sacredness of the Sultan's Tougra — Baron Calice's Subtlety — Sir Philip Currie — Turkish Tobacco — The Armenians and Their Culture — Lord Byron and Their Tongue — The Desire for Education — Palmerston's Epigram —The " Yes Sirs "—Abdul Hamid and the Murdered Turk— An

X

Armenian Tragedy — The Saltan's Resolve — Organised Massacre — A Terrible List of Victims — Death or Conversion — An Armenian's Report — A Great Outcry — Mr. Gordon Bennett in Constantinople— ^The New York Herald's Investigations — Abdul Hamid's Mistake — Mr. Hep worth's and Mr. Fitzmaurice's Reports — " Voluntary " Conversions — The Massacre in Urfa Cathedral - • - . . - 144

Chapter XIII

Twrkish Fleet Neglected, but Added to Under Strange Circumstances— Kutchuk Said Takes Refuge at British Embassy — Is Protected by Sir Philip Currie — Girding on the Sword of Osman — Hamdi Bey — Allaverdi — Bishop Wordsworth's Visit — Lady Currie's Popularity — A Cultured Woman — The Spy's Invitation— ^The Young Turks* Indiscretion — The Secretary's Dilemma — ^A Counter Ofiensive — An Uncompromising Retort — Espionage— ^The Englishmen and the Female Spy — The Armenian Patriarch— -An Impressive Ceremony — The Patriarch's Cordiality 1 70

Chapter XIV

Sir Nicholas O'Conor at Constantinople — Our Meeting at Sofia — Stambuloff Sends for Me — My Lost Luggage — I Enter the Palace Looking Like a Brigand — Stambuloff Comes to See me Off — The State of Macedonia — Robber Chiefs as Protectors — Exodus of the Inhabitants — Hilmi Pasha's Reforms Shelved — The Rival Churches — An Appeal to Rome — The Eternal Question of Reform — Formation of a Revolutionary Party — ^Dr. Nazim's Adventures 1 89

Chapter XV

The Baron's Greeting — The Fire-eaters at Home — Fehim Effendi's Escapades — Abdul Hamid's Protection — The German Ambassador's Ultimatum — Fehim's Banishment and Death — Sir Nicholas O'Conor's Thoroughness — Our Sunday Excursions — A Turkish Superstition — Hannibal's Tomb — Egj^tian Affairs — Death of Sir Nicholas O'Conor— The Kaiser's Protest — Baron Marschall's Methods — A " Thorough " Man - - - - 205

Chapter XVI

Secret Gommittees — Sir Philip Currie's Anger — ^Turkish Procrastination— The Sick Man of Europe — ^Abdul Hamid a Bar to Telephones — Condition of Army and Navy — Ignorant Officers — Disaffection General — The Salonica Committee — Methods of Secrecy — ^The Third Army Corps — Enver and Niazi in Revolt — The End xi

Approaching — Corruption and Tyranny — ^Espionage Eveiywhere — ^Turkish Women Involved — The First Shot — The Decision of the Fetva Emine — The Troops Refuse to Fight — Wholesale Promotions — ^Afraid to Tell Abdul — The Gourt Astrologer Requisitioned — The Sultan Bows to the Storm — A Wave of Popularity — Spies Abolished and Liberty Proclaimed — General Rejoicing 21S

Chapter XVII

Popularity of Great Britain — The Waring Guard — Great Britain's Disinterestedness — Abdul Hamid's Oath — Prisoners Released — A Grave Mistake— Ugly Rumours — A New Ministry Under Kiamil — Abdul Hamid and the Kaiser's Letter — Success of the Revolution — ^The Palace Staff — Abdul Hamid's Orders — Von der Goltz suspected — 'Turks' Vagueness as to the Constitution — I visit the Sheik-ul-Islam — A Remarkable Man — The Secret Methods of the C.U.P. — A People Transformed — An American Lady's Adventure — " Yasak " — A Precipitated Revolution — The Austrians and the Albanians — A Difficult Situation — ^The Sultan's Favourites - - - - - 239

Chapter XVIII The Counter Revolution Of April 13, 1909

The Unemployed— Turkish Anti-Semitism — Javad Bey Appointed Minister of Finance — The Reactionaries — A Military Revolt — Disturbing Reports — ^The Sacred Law — Mahmud Mukhtar's Loyalty — His Flight— My Son's Prompt Action — Surrounded — The Dragomans and the Sultan — An Interrupted Turkish Bath — A Matter of Life or Death — Mukhtar's Escape — A Hail of BuUets — ^The Meaning of the Movement — A Surprise to the Cabinet — Nazim Pasha's Escape — Dissatisfaction with the C.U.P. — The Comedy of the Steamers — Absurd Anomalies — Turkification and Tyranny — The Nationalists — Oflacial Murders — What Occurred at Salonica — The Army of Deliverance — A Systematic Counter-stroke — The Tables Turned — The Exodus from the Palace - - - - - 257

Chapter XIX

Eaver's Significant Words — A New Era — A Precipitated Coup — The Sultan's Attitude — The National Assembly Decide Upon Deposition — Abdul Hamid Informed — He Pleads for His Life — His Cowardice — Mahomet V. — Abdul Hamid is Packed Off — Refreshing the Harem — The New Sultan Proclaimed — A Kindly Man — Defying Abdul Hamid — Turkish Misrule — Fostering Religious Hatred — The Caliphate — The Jehad — Bribes for Reactionaries - - - - - 282 xii

Chapter XX Struggles Of The Committee Of Union And Progress

PAGE

A Question of Responsibility — The Adana Massacre — A Commission of Enquiry — Examining Yildiz Kiosk— Embarrassing Discoveries — Hanging Reactionaries — The C.U.P. Visits France and England — Javad Bey's Mission a Failure — The C.U.P.'s Blunders — Turkifjdng Everything — A Foolish Boycott — A Secret Struggle — A Jehad that Failed — The Sultan's Progress — A Severe Criticism — Hakki Pasha's Comment— A Struggle for Life — Damat Ferid Pasha — The Dogs of Constantinople — Their Unwritten Laws — A Terrible Fate — Great Fires in Stambul — Young Turks' Vigorous Action — ^An Insanitary Hospital — Fire Insurance Claims — The Turks and Life Insurance — A New Law — Absurd Clauses — My Drastic Excisions — Decentralisation — ^A Cumbrous System — The Gendarmerie — ^The Modem Woman Phase — Miss Isabel Fry's Work ------ 297

Chapter XXI

Prince Ferdinand declares himself King — Reorganisation of the Turkish Navy — Difl5culties with Albania — The Balkan League — Its Successes — Dissensions — Mediation of the Powers — Orthodox and Bulgarian Churches Agree for Common Action — ^My Last Interview with Marschall von Bieberstein — Coup d'etat — Assassination of Nazim Pasha — Forced Resignation of Kiamil — Arrival of Sir Louis Mallet — Quarrel between Bulgaria and Serbia — Assassination of Shevket Pasha — British Relief Committees in Constantinople - - . - 322

Chapter XXII August-october, 1914

Lull Before the Storm — Turkish Ministers Favourable to England, Excepting Enver Pasha — Arrival of Goeben and Breslau — Constant Declarations of Neutrality by Turks — British Ships not Permitted to Pass Into the Aegean — Disadvantages of British Ambassador — Hard and Fast Rule Between Diplomatic and Consular Service — Irritation of Turks at Pre-emption of Ships Built in England — Constant Series of Attacks Against England in Constantinople — Finding Turks Would not Declare War Germans in Command of Turkish Fleet Bombard Odessa - 339

Chapter XXIII The American Ambassador At Constantinople

I Wish to Remain in Constantinople After Declaration of War — I am Arrested — Imprisoned — Released by Intervention of the American Ambassador — I Leave Constantinople — Journey to Dedeagatch — Thence to Piraeus, Malta, Marseilles, and England — Incidents of the Voyage — Noble Conduct of Mr. and Mrs. Morgenthau Towards French and British Refugees — The y.M.C.A. in Constantinople - ► - - 354 xiii

Chapter XXIV Page

SHORT AND PERSONAL - - - - 366

Chapter XXV The Past And The Future

Among the Archaeologists — Rev. John Peters — Professor Hilprecht — George Smith — Hittite Investigators — Mr. Hogarth, Mr. Garstang, and Professor Sayce — Distinguished Explorers for the Palestine Exploration Fund — My Archaeological Work in Constantinople— Rev. Dr. van Millingen — Bishops of Salisbury, Peterborough, and Gibraltar — Dr. Spooner, Canon Shoobridge, and Other Clergymen — Visit of Mr. Choate, Ambassador, to St. James's — Visits to Renowned Historical Sites, Ephesus Especially— British Colony in Turkey — Thoughts on the Future of Turkey and Notably of Constantinople - - - 368

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Author in 1915 Frontispiece

Constantinople from the Bosporus 6

Sir Henry Elliot 16

Jane Digby, Lady Ellenborough 72

Sir Henry Austin Layard 80

Group of Ambassadors at Constantinople S4

The Marquess of Duffbrin and Ava 8t

The Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava 9S

Sir Nicholas R. O' Conor 190

KiAMiL Pasha 244

Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha 260

Nazim Pasha 268

Mahmud Shevket Pasha 282

Hakki Pasha 308

Talaat Bey 358

Chapter I

A Chance Remark and the Consequences — The Social Science Association — Pleasant Relations — I Start for Turkey — First Impressions — Bakshish — The Turks' Incurable Malady — The Comedy of the Buoys — The Tragedy of the Bridge — An Ideal Coal for the Navy.

DURING the year 1872 I had worked hard. I was General Secretary of the Social Science Association, and in that capacity had edited its Transactions and its Sessional Proceedings, in addition to being occupied with its affairs nearly every day and on one day a week usually until near midnight. I had also become Secretary of a very important International Prison Congress, at which every nation in Europe had official representatives, and to which the United States sent no less than eighty. When the Congress was over I was unanimously requested by the Council to edit its Transactions. The volume thus produced, called Prisons and Reformatories at Home and Abroad, has long since been sold out, but remained for eleven years, until a further International Prison Congress was held in Europe, a standing book of reference. During the same year I was editor of the Law Magazine, to whose pages I largely contributed. I wrote various articles for the School Board Chronicle and for other papers. I had become a Member of the North Eastern Circuit, and was beginning to acquire practice in England.

I was working too hard and felt that my health was giving way.

In January, 1873, 1 was at dinner at Hampstead with the late Frederic Hill, a man who, like his brothers, Sir Rowland and Mr. Matthew Davenport Hill, was always keenly interested in certain branches of Social Science. Taking in Mr. Hill's daughter to dinner, who was then Mrs. (now Lady) Scott, I enquired after the absence of her husband. She informed me he was remaining at home in order to examine two sets of papers, one regarding an opening at the Bar in Constantinople, and the other regarding another opening in Alexandria. I said, half in jest, half seriously, " Ask him to let me see the set which he rejects." Next day I received a letter from him, sending me a batch of papers and informing me that he had decided to go to Alexandria, because doctors had informed him that it would be better for his health than Constantinople.

I looked through the papers sent me, and found that an English solicitor who had taken over the professional work of Mr. (afterwards Sir Charles P.) Butt, who subsequently became Judge of the Admiralty and Divorce Court, had recently died and that a successor was desired. I had never been to Constantinople, but the prospect of a change of climate and scene for two or three years appealed to me and to my wife. I felt that I could not continue to work at the high pressure of the past year, and thought that by my work in editing, writing, and revising, I was drifting away from my legal professional work which I liked. I called upon an Irish Member of ParUament who had been established at the Bar in Constantinople, who kindly gave me particulars about the climate and work. I next visited Mr. Butt, who was practising at the English Bar, but who had been in busy practice in Constantinople for a few years. He gave the information I wanted and then told me the story of his having been in a great collision case in Constantinople and of his being opposed by Mr. Brett, who was already at the time of our conversation Mr. Justice Brett. This gentleman had greatly approved of Butt's conduct of his case, and advised him to come to England, promising that he would do his best to get him appointed as his Junior. This had given Mr. Butt his opening. After a long interview, in which the already successful barrister treated me with the fraternal kindness that Members of the Bar usually shew each other, he advised me to get leave of absence and to go and give the place a three months' trial. Upon that advice I acted.

I applied to the Council of the Association for three months' leave of absence, frankly stating that I was going to look into the professional business which had been established by Mr. Butt, and that if it suited me I should not return. The Council granted my request, but with the candid expression of a hope by the most prominent members that I should not like it and should return.

As I did not return, I may be allowed to say that my four years' work at the Social Science Association will afford me to the hour of my death pleasant recollections of a number of devoted men and women who were the salt of London life.

The Association had done, and when I left it was doing, useful work. It had amongst its contributors not merely statesmen such as Lord Brougham, Mr. Gladstone, Lord Derby, Sir Stafford Northcote, Lord Carnarvon, and others belonging to both the great poHtical parties, but social reformers like Florence Nightingale, Miss Mary Carpenter, Sir Walter Crofton, Frederic Hill ; poHtical economists, of whom the greatest was probably John Stuart Mill, not to speak of writers like Matthew Arnold, F. D. Maurice, Frederic Harrison, Charles Kingsley, and a host of others. My four years' connection with it had brought me into communication with some of the greatest and most practical thinkers in the country. During the last year I was in England I was also Secretary of the International Prison Congress, where I had the honour of being presented to the Prince of Wales, and of making the acquaintance of Manning, not yet Cardinal, and of many distinguished foreigners, especially Americans.

When I decided to remain in Constantinople the Council

4 FORTY YEARS IN CONSTANTINOPLE treated me with the same kindness that they had always shewn. In the Transactions of the Congress in September, 1873, the President of the Council commenced his address with the following words :

It would ill become me if I did not preface any observations of mine on this occasion with an expression of sincere regret for the loss we have sustained since our last Congress in the resignation of Mr. Pears. He filled the office of Secretary during four years with signal ability and with no stinted zeal, and the resolution of the Council passed unanimously after he left England, and which I subjoin, did no more than justice to the service he rendered to the Association." *

The subjoined resolution was the following :

" That this Council has received with much regret the resignation of Edwin Pears, Esq., Barrister-at-law, who has for more than four years filled the office of General Secretary with signal ability and success and to the great advantage of the Association, and hereby expresses its sense of the services of Mr. Pears and its best wishes for his future success in life." *

I arrived in Constantinople in the month of March, 1873. The beauty of Constantinople from the sea and the Bosporus was a welcome surprise. I have never grown weary of it. The city and its surroundings, the Bosporus and the Princes Islands, have many changing aspects, but they are perennially beautiful. Add the charm of interesting historical associations and then I know of no place whose beauty is more fascinating. It is true that after I had landed I found the slummy and narrow streets a sad contrast to what I had seen before landing. The street dogs were everywhere. Street carriages had only just been introduced, and a carriage road opened from Galata, the commercial portion, to the heights of Pera, the residential portion for Europeans.

* Extracts from the Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science. 1873.

I GO TO CONSTANTINOPLE 5 When I arrived in Constantinople there was a lull in diplomatic strife. The Treaty of Paris (1856), whereby it was provided that neither Turkey nor Russia should build or maintain warships in the Black Sea, and still more the Franco-German war, had given rise to the Czar's circular (1870) declaring that he could no longer consider himself bound by that treaty so far as it affected his sovereign rights in the Black Sea. Public opinion had flamed up and war had been freely discussed. However, things resumed their normal state as a result of the conference held in London, where it was agreed that the clause relating to the Black Sea should be cancelled and that the Sultan should be empowered to open the Dardanelles, under certain restrictions as to guns and the number of vessels, to armed ships of friendly states in the event of his rights under the Treaty of Paris being threatened.

During the first eighteen months of my residence I began to realise what was the political condition of the Turkish Government and the attitude of the European, and especially of the British colony, towards the Government. I found myself in a new world with curiously distorted old-world notions, a world which in political matters did not know that any nation or even individuals had ideals or other incentives to action than the meanest form of selfinterest. I soon discovered that the Government was honeycombed with corruption. No one seemed to contemplate that any business could be done with it except by bribery, and the open manner in which such form of corruption was spoken of was startling. Every official was regarded as having his price. In every contract that was made, an essential consideration was what amount would have to be paid as " bakshish."

I found in answer to my remonstrances on various occasions with reference to these bribes, that natives and foreigners usually drew a curious distinction between a present and a bribe. A man would point out that he was not giving a sum of money, be it five or five hundred pounds, to an official as a bribe, because the bargain or contract that he was making was perfectly honest and the present was not given until after it was concluded. To my question whether it was expected that the official would consent on behalf of the Government to sign the contract if no present were promised, the answer always indicated the negative. But everybody did it and there was no chance of getting any Government contract unless such presents were promised. I soon learnt that the distinction between present and bribe was without a difference.

Even where Courts of Law were concerned most of the judges had their confidential men, and if one of these went to an advocate and told him that the judge considered that justice was on his side, but that his opponent was offering to pay a certain sum, it was soon recognised that the negotiation meant that unless the advocate would pay the same sum he had no chance of obtaining a verdict. On more than one occasion I have received a visit from a judge who informed me that in a case where I was professionally interested he thought that the arguments on my side were sound, but that he was very short of money, and he would be greatly obliged if I would persuade my client to lend him a certain sum. I can say with a clear conscience that I never acceded to such a demand, though I am aware that my clients have done so.

Everyone had stories to tell of the prevalence of bribery. Let me give two, because I know them to be true. The late Mr. George Crawshay of Newcastle-on-Tyne was a great philo-Turk. He belonged to a little company of men of whom the leader was Mr. Urquhart, an Englishman of eminence, of intelligence, and I believe of high character. His followers could not or would not recognise anything wrong about the Turk. He was the one gentleman left in Europe. Amongst those whom he greatly influenced, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Henry A. Layard was possibly the best known. The Turkish Government had decided to lay down in the harbour of Constantinople one hundred buoys, in order to avoid the constant collisions which were taking place owing to strong and varying currents in and near the harbour of Constantinople. Tenders were issued for the supply of buoys with mushroom anchors and cables complete. Mr. Crawshay, who was an iron master, informed me that he intended to have the contract. He would estimate for them at a price which should barely cover their cost and which, therefore, no man who hoped to make a business profit could compete with. He did so. The contract was given to a Belgian or German firm at the price of £150 per buoy higher than that at which he had tendered.