A LAST VISIT TO ASIA MINOR.
I become an object of interest to the Palace spies--I
therefore leave Constantinople for a time--England
and the Anatolian Railway--Prosperous whitewash and
a deceitful governor--Bureaucratic changes in Asia
MinorThe measures for restricting large gatherings of
the people--Wedding entertainments diminished--The
war-game of Jareed--My mother's objections to my visiting
England--A perversion of the truth on my part.
AT this time, when I was making a fair living by means of the business
entrusted to me by those European concessionnaires whom I have
mentioned, I thought it convenient to take up my residence in Pera,
the European quarter of the capital. But my residing in Pera among
foreigners must have made me an object on which some persons connected
with the Palace deemed it worth while to keep an eye. I began to
suspect that my movements were being shadowed by some mysterious
individuals, though I could hardly be sure. I informed my English
friend, the late correspondent of the Times, that I had reason to fear
that the spies were after me, and that I thought the time had come
to carry out my old intention of going to England. He agreed with me
as to the advisability of my getting out of Turkey, but he warned me
that unless I secured some means of livelihood beforehand, it was a
most risky matter to give up my work, my hopes and probable chances
at home, and go over to a country which was absolutely foreign to
me. A strong presentiment, however, possessed my mind that I should,
sooner or later, be added to the list of the victims of the prevailing
tyranny. Taking advantage of the approach of the summer vacation,
I thought it would be better at least to go away for some little
time from Constantinople. My English friend recommended me to the
director of the then newly opened Anatolian railways, and he gave me
a first-class free ticket to Angora, which I had not seen for several
years. A few days later I crossed over the harbour of Constantinople
to the Asiatic shore, and from the Haidar Pasha terminus I took the
train which carried me away at once towards the heart of Asia Minor.
The distance between Haidar Pasha and Angora is shorter, I should say,
than between London and Glasgow, yet the express train takes two whole
days to cover it. The German Railway Company does not seem generous
in affording facilities to the people of the country, and the customs
officers and the rough inspectors employed by the Tobacco Régie Company
(one of the European companies) give the traveller an intolerable
amount of trouble by seizing and examining his belongings at different
places on the journey. The train stops when it has gone half-way on the
first evening, as it is not allowed to run at night The traveller's
inland passport is examined, and he himself is subjected to a perfect
inquisition of questionings, first in the capital, again on the first
night, and finally on the second night, when he reaches his destination.
When the Anatolian line was first constructed as far as Angora, the
general belief in the country was that the long projected trunk line
from the Ottoman capital to the Persian Gulf would pass through
Angora. This has not been the case, and the main line changes its
course at Eski-Shehir, which is situated half-way between the capital
and Angora, and runs to the south, towards Konia (ancient Iconium).
It is no doubt within the recollection of many people that the scheme
of shortening and facilitating communication between Europe and the
nearer East and India by constructing a great line over Asiatic Turkey
was first projected by English engineers, supported by the British
Government. This enterprise, however, could not be realised. The
Germans, ever ready to seize all commercial and political ground lost
by the English in the nearer East, took the matter into their own
hands, and are now going to have the control of what should have been
essentially the British route to India through the friendly Ottoman
empire. I do not know whether the possession of this line by Germans is
a loss to England, but it is really a loss for my countrymen that this
enterprise should not have been in the hands of an English company,
because they are aware that in dealing with the English there is a fair
possibility of mutual benefit; while in bargaining with Germans, the
greediest of all grasping Europeans, Turkey has little to expect in
return for what she has to give.
On the second evening after my departure the train arrived at Angora at
the moment of sunset. I saw from the window of my carriage that some of
the mud-walled houses of the town and the walls of the ancient citadel
were white and glistening. At first I thought that they were some new
buildings which had sprung up as a sign of the prosperity produced
by the opening of the railway. But I soon discovered my mistake. The
Governor-General had given orders that the municipal authorities were
to whitewash the citadel and that many of the citizens were to do the
same to their houses before the formal opening of the railway, so that
the European visitors and official commissioners who should come to
Angora for the first time might suppose that the town was as smart and
prosperous as it looked. The governor must have learnt this mode of
deception from the Yildiz authorities, who caused all the more ruinous
quarters of Constantinople to be whitewashed or surrounded with high
timber hoardings before the German Emperor first came to the city.
I was particularly surprised that the great time-worn stones of the
ancient citadel should have been so monstrously disfigured by a vulgar
coat of whitewash. The governor was a certain Abideen Pasha, and he is
now the Vali of the Turkish Archipelago. He is an Albanian by birth,
and was first educated in Athens. He can write poems in ancient Greek,
and is known to be a linguist and scholar. He had been governor of
Angora for several years, yet he had done almost nothing to improve the
condition of the province. In other countries such a man would perhaps
have been given a professorial chair in some educational institution,
but he would hardly have been put in a responsible government post
which requires practical administrative capacity. Turkey cannot expect
beneficial reforms from such learned theorists, any more than from the
ignorant incapable officials who are still entrusted by the Palace with
the administration of many of the important provinces.
Some years had elapsed between my last trip and the present one into
Asia Minor, and during this period I found that serious changes
had taken place in the state of the interior. Among other things,
the number of useless officials sent by the central Government had
increased alarmingly, to the detriment of the inhabitants of the
provinces. For instance, there is no piece of land in Angora which
could properly be called forest, yet a Department of Woods and
Forests had been created there; directors, sub-directors, and several
subordinate officials had been sent out by the central government,
and in connection with this office new taxes and unaccustomed laws
had been imposed upon the inhabitants. The fact is that, in order to
show the Powers that it had been introducing reforms, the Government
of the Sultan had adopted among other laws the French regulations
relating to the management of forests, and a new department had been
created in Constantinople. This central department had opened branch
offices in all _vilayets_ or counties, and many Palace favourites were
sent to them as forest officials, without regard to the circumstances
that in some vilayets there was not an acre which could be considered
forest land. In order to crush local influence in the government of
the provinces, the administrative councils of the towns, on which the
notabilities and religious heads of all communities in each locality,
Mussulman and non-Mussulman, sit ex officio in company with the
officials of the Sultan's Government, were discouraged from attending
meetings.
[Illustration: A WRESTLING MATCH IN OLDEN DAYS.]
Such events as would occasion the gathering of large crowds were either
prohibited or restricted, after the custom of the capital. "He who is
a traitor is also a coward," said the Prophet, and Abd-ul-Hamid, who
has caused irreparable harm to Turkey, is afraid that such gatherings
might be the prelude to a general uprising. I will mention here two
things which used to cause great masses of people to collect. One
was a wedding entertainment, and the other the war-game of _jereed_.
The restriction of the former to a 'simpler' form was, according
to the reasons openly given for it, one of the Sultan's so-called
'paternal' measures. It was alleged to be necessary because people on
such occasions indulged in ruinous expenses, and thus fell into the
hands of the Armenian and other money-lenders, and became victims of
their extortions. As a matter of faot, to maintain a wife is not an
expensive luxury in Asia Minor, but people are fond of grand wedding
entertainments. Several days before a wedding, luncheons and dinners
are given to large parties of rich and poor, who are entertained with
string music and spectacles indoors. A great procession passes through
the chief streets of a town bringing the bride and bridesmaids in
closely shut palanquins, which are carried by mules or horses. At night
there is a display of fireworks and illuminations composed of torches,
and by day exhibitions of wrestling are given by local champions.
(Wrestling is one of Turkey's most ancient and favourite pastimes, and
in the provinces all schoolboys practise it, besides a large number of
adults. It is of the greatest use in developing the physical strength
of the provincial Turks.) Both the bride's procession and these outdoor
entertainments are accompanied by the incessant beating of drums and
blowing of long trumpets, or sometimes of a kind of bagpipe,[8] the
most favourite and in fact the only music of the humbler class of
people and peasants. The old national game of _jereed_, which used to
attract an immense crowd of spectators, was, I learned on this visit,
also prohibited in Angora. This game used to be most popular in every
town of Asiatic Turkey. On Fridays, in the afternoon, when the khutba
or prayer-oration in the mosques was over, people used to hasten out of
the towns, mounted on their trained horses, and armed with several long
and heavy sticks. The _jereed_ is a game for the able-bodied alone. Two
things are essentially necessary for players--they must be first--rate
horsemen, and must be skilled in throwing their sticks straight and
hard while galloping. There are about twenty men on each side, and
they take up their positions about fifty yards apart The spectators
look on from some high ground, where there is no danger of their being
trampled upon by the struggling horsemen. The game is opened by one
man, who gallops forward from one side and throws one of his sticks at
one of the enemy; as soon as he throws it he is pursued. The pursuers
do the same in their turn, and so the game goes on. There must be no
confusion or unfairness, and everyone must play his game 'bravely,' as
they call it. The sticks must not wilfully be aimed at the heads of
the enemy. The players are allowed to do anything to avoid being hit
by the sticks, and in order to avoid it they play risky tricks, such
as bending from the saddle down towards the neck and belly of their
galloping horses. Anyone who has thrown away all his sticks is free to
pick up any stick lying on the ground, with a pole which has a hook at
the end, or by dexterously bending down and snatching it up with his
hand as the horse gallops by. Sometimes, of course, the horses of two
opponents collide, and then most likely both men fall in a heap, and
very often under the horses. The most exciting way to play the game is
that adopted by a man whose horse is unusually swift After throwing his
stick at the enemy he does not hurry back towards his own line, but
dashes away toward the open country and rides as fast as he can. Some
of the enemy pursue him far away down the valley, until he is either
caught up or escapes.
During this last visit the game was no longer played, because some
serious accidents had happened and lives had been lost, and the kind
Government accordingly prohibited it Seeing all these prohibitions,
I was perhaps rather injudicious and outspoken in criticising the
Government. So a relation of mine reminded me of the old proverb which
runs, "A man's safety lies in holding his tongue." He, moreover, warned
me that times were now different, and added, "If you are not careful
you will go...." I understood what he alluded to. He meant, of course,
that I should be sent into exile or thrown into prison if I went on
criticising the existing regime. I did not stay long in Asia Minor
during this last visit, and after settling my affairs I hastened my
packing and returned to Constantinople, where it is, comparatively
speaking, easier to find means of getting out of Turkey. With us there
is filial obligation for a man of right feeling, no matter how old he
may be, to secure his parents' consent to any venture on which he is
going to embark. So, guardedly and in confidence, I broke to my mother
my intention of going to the land of _Ingliz_. The poor Mussulman
lady was terrified at the idea, and began to put to me such questions
as--Who would look after me? Who would take care of me in case of my
falling ill in that distant strange land? And if I died there, should I
desire to be buried according to the rites of the infidels? It perhaps
never occurred to her that there was a danger far greater than those
she instanced--the danger of falling into destitution in a foreign
land. This was the possibility which I dreaded most, as I knew that
anyone who left the Sultan's dominions without his august permission
could not depend for his living upon any resources he might have at
home. So, while I was making ready to return to Constantinople, my
mother entreated me to renounce the idea of going to England, and to
calm her I was wicked enough to make some evasive promises, which to me
meant nothing.