A RETURN AND A SECOND FLIGHT.
Christian Ambassadors accredited to England by the
Sultan--I am strongly urged to return--A question
of money and health--I consent and go back to
Constantinople--At the palace of Yildiz--A 'private
salary' and an appointment--A suggestion of espionage
work--A warning--Broken promises move me to try and
escape again--My plan--I sign on before the mast at the
British Consulate--On a paraffin boat without luggage--I
reach Liverpool in safety.
ABOUT twenty days passed, and then I was again asked to go to the
Embassy. Rustem Pasha told me that it was the desire of his Majesty
that I should return and give a practical proof that I was not
implicated in any plot against the person of the Sultan, and that in
that case I should certainly be highly rewarded. He, moreover, assured
me that I should be allowed to come to Europe again whenever I wished
to do so. This offer was in reality an appeal to my vanity, for, humble
individual though I was, I was now led to suppose seriously that I
was becoming a more important person than I had suspected. The aged
diplomatist was very emphatic in impressing me with the necessity of
accepting the invitation. I asked him what guarantee I could have that
I should be allowed to remain unmolested on entering Turkey, and to
return to Europe when I wanted to do so. He gave me a distinct promise
that my requests would be granted. The Pasha was one of the Ottomanised
Europeans, was Catholic by religion, and was known to be a gentleman;
if he had been a native Christian of the Levant I should most decidedly
not have put faith in his words.
In this connection I should like to remark that for a good many years
past the Ottoman Ambassadors to the British Court have been appointed
from among the Christian subjects of Turkey. It is reported by the
_entourage_ of the Sultan that the reason for this was the objection
of the British Government to the appointment of Mussulman Ambassadors.
This report must have been purposely spread with a view to represent
Englishmen to Moslems as hostile to Islam. The real reason must, I
think, be, that as there are some bigoted politicians and publicists
in this country who always cry out for the appointment of Christian
officials at the head of all affairs in the Ottoman empire, the Sultan
wishes to show them that he employs Christians even in important
diplomatic posts. As a matter of fact, in days gone by there have been
Mussulman Ambassadors accredited to the Court of St James's.[10]
After my second interview with Rustem Pasha another fortnight elapsed,
during which I considered anxiously what might happen to me if I
returned; and what I should do if I remained in London. Meanwhile I
was feeling very unwell, my money was rapidly decreasing, and there
was not the slightest prospect of my finding suitable employment,
and no possibility of my communicating with my people at home to
ask for help, so I decided to return; I thought I now had a chance.
As the Sultan knew me, I could get my money from the Government and
come back to England. But I was sadly mistaken in my conjectures. It
would have been impossible for any man who was not endowed by nature
with that particular cunning so necessary for getting on in life to
play such a rôle. I discovered my error to my sorrow when I arrived
at Constantinople. A past master of the art of deception such as
Abd-ul-Hamid was not easily to be outwitted. When I went to the Embassy
for the third time I said I would return, so the officials telegraphed
to Constantinople, and in three days a money order came. The sum was
about seventy-five pounds, and I was urged to start at once by the
_Orient Express_.
About the beginning of August 1894 I left England, stopping for two
weeks on my journey in Paris, and a few days in Buda-Pesth, the capital
of the people between whom and the Turks there is a community of
origin, and whom we fought and subjugated for generations. On arriving
at Constantinople the police officials sternly asked my name, whence I
came, and where I was going to put up. I told them I was going direct
to the imperial palace, whereupon they saluted me and I got out of the
station with some feeling of relief. It was a foolhardy game I was
attempting to play. I was now at the mercy of an autocrat who deals
with his Osmanli subjects in his own well known fashion, and I was one
of the few who was enlightened enough to see his true characteristics,
and in consequence to detest his rule at heart In the Yildiz Palace
I was really shivering with anxiety, knowing that here thousands of
people who were denounced as 'Young-Turks' were imprisoned, examined,
and tortured, and then sent into exile. While awaiting my fate in the
palace, a certain Faik Bey, one of the Sultan's trusted courtiers, a
man of no good repute, came to me with a very kind message from his
Majesty. He was glad that I had obeyed him, and come back from the
country which "is nursing hostility to Turkey, and plotting against the
cause of the Caliphate." I am not certain whether these were the words
of the Sultan, or whether his courtier made them up. The Sultan sent me
twenty pounds as pocket-money and wished me to go home and rest. Well,
this apparently kind treatment was consoling, but, however foolhardy,
I had sense enough to see that it was not a good omen for the future.
Just as I was leaving the palace I was ordered by the courtier not
to mix with people much, and to live as quietly as possible. He also
asked me to come and see him after two days. From the palace I went
to Pera and engaged apartments. I was now afraid of going to see my
relations and friends. I met some of them later on while going about
in Constantinople, and we had to pass each other with a mere salute,
as they were also afraid of being reported by the spies for talking
to me, since they knew all about my escaping to England It is a very
depressing and lonely condition to be in, to have to avoid one's
friends and relations because a tyrant has issued a warning to that
effect.
In compliance with the order, I went to the Palace again and saw the
same chamberlain. He handed me over another twenty pounds as a mark of
imperial benevolence, and said he would pay me the same amount every
month as 'private salary.' And then he said in a low voice, coming
nearer to me, "His Majesty, our benevolent master, commands me to ask
you to write a report if you hear anything important on the political
situation." My heart froze on hearing this contemptible proposal.
By a monthly salary of twenty pounds the Sultan wanted to make me a
Palace spy! A downright refusal would bring ruin on me, so I told the
courtier that as I had been ordered not to come into intimate contact
with other people, I could not hear anything of importance. He said
there would be no harm in my meeting Europeans. I did not understand
the significance of this last remark at the moment Proceeding in his
talk, the courtier said that as I had graduated in law, the Minister
of Justice would be ordered to make me a deputy prosecutor-general in
the central criminal courts of Constantinople. I carefully avoided
alluding to the promise of the Sultan made to me by his representative
in London, that the income of my property would be given to me, and
that I should be allowed to go to Europe. Nor did I express any desire
to go to Europe again. I was made a deputy prosecutor-general in a few
days by a special _iradé_. Before I went to England they would never
have given me a post even inferior to this had I applied for it again
and again for months. There are about a dozen deputy or assistant
prosecutors like myself in these central courts, and each of them
gets a salary of nearly £180 a year. As a rule, they are not very
busy people. As my superiors could not urge me to attend the office,
imagining I was highly in favour at the Sultan's palace, I did not care
much about going to the court, and making one of the idle scamps there.
I was hard at work devising a new plan of escaping once more from the
hands of the Sultan.
At this time, when his Majesty appeared to be going to honour me so
magnanimously with a Government appointment, as well as with that
attractive 'private salary' in order to tempt me to acts of espionage,
his spies kept an eye on my movements constantly. Every day I was
watched, talked to, and even entertained by two or three of these
creatures. I informed my old English friend of all that had happened
to me of late. He reproached me for being so imprudent as to return
to Turkey, and not going to Egypt if I had to leave England. However,
what was done was done, and it was no good regretting it What I wanted
now was to escape out of the country again as soon as I could get
an opportunity. My friend seemed very sceptical as to my chances of
success in running away a second time, as he thought, and rightly too,
that the watch on my movements would be far stricter now than it was
before.
While things were in this condition, I was one morning hurriedly
summoned to the palace by a mounted messenger. Of course I had to go at
once and saw the same courtier who had so suavely informed me of the
imperial benevolence on the two former occasions. This time his manner
seemed grave and cool, and so soon as I was seated he said that he
was surprised that I should abuse the generous kindness of our august
benefactor. On my anxiously asking him the nature of my fault, he said
he had received a report (an espionage report, of course) that I was
revealing confidential matters of State among the Europeans of Pera. He
showed me the report, carefully hiding, however, the signature beneath
it with his thumb. I at once discovered the author of the shameless
document from the handwriting. The man, who never perhaps supposed that
the report would have been shown to me, had hospitably invited me to
dinner two days previously. The courtier gave me a sharp warning to
avoid spreading the confidential matters of the Sultan's Government
among foreigners. Although my safety seemed to be hanging on a thread
at that time, I nevertheless collected my faculties and ventured on a
bold stroke. I said that as he was the only court official I had had
the honour of seeing, I asked him whether he would be good enough to
tell me what were those secret matters which he had confided to me,
and which I was accused of spreading among the Europeans. He appeared
somewhat embarrassed by this, and his evident perplexity was a relief
to me. We parted in a friendly manner, and as I was leaving he said,
"Remember your private salary will be due in ten days." This was the
monthly twenty pounds which he was going to pay me privately if I
stained my honour by doing the dirty work of espionage.
On returning home in a great state of worry I had a tiny cup of Turkish
coffee, which I used to find a great relief in times of trouble, and
counted my fortune, which amounted to less than fifty pounds. This was,
however, amply sufficient to carry me to England. The first difficulty
before me was to find another English captain to take me, and then to
succeed in getting on board his ship. All the boatmen in the harbour
had been threatened with punishment if they carried suspicious persons
to any foreign ships other than those passenger boats which are watched
by the police. As a prelude to my plan of escaping, I thought it would
be wise to take a boat and go for a row on the sea every day. I told
everyone I met, including those Palace detectives who were always at
my heels, that I had been advised by my doctor to get as much sea air
as possible, and therefore was going for a row every day. On the next
day after deciding to begin boating I went down to one of the many
landing-places of the Golden Horn, where several boatmen are always in
waiting to pick up passengers. I hailed one of these boatmen, and told
him to take me for a row up the Bosphorus. After some time the boatman
wanted to know where I wished to go. I told him curtly to go straight
ahead, and he did so. When he stopped to light a cigarette I asked him
how much he earned in a day, and he said that his profits fluctuated
between seven and ten piastres. If a Turkish boatman gains ten piastres
(about 1s. 8d.) a day he may consider himself lucky. I told him the
same story of my medical prescription of sea air, and offered him
fifteen piastres a day if he would take no other customers, but place
himself at my disposal every day. As I expected, he readily agreed to
this arrangement. My boating trips lasted a week. I went on the sea
sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. Sometimes I
occupied myself with fishing, and sometimes with reading in the boat;
occasionally, too, I approached and boarded the sailing crafts in the
harbour, and watched them lading and unlading their cargoes. Besides
his wages I used to give the boatman tobacco, which pleased him well.
He did whatever I wanted him to do, and went wherever I ordered. I
do not know if I was ever followed by the spies on the sea; anyhow,
nothing occurred to rouse my suspicions.
After thus arranging the first part of my plan of flight, which was
to find a boatman who would, consciously or unconsciously, take me to
the prohibited foreign ships, I now came to the arrangement of the
more important part, namely, finding a ship bound at once for England.
By myself I could not have done this, so I took the liberty of again
approaching that Englishman who was interested in shipping traffic, and
who had helped me on my first voyage to this country. The excellent
fellow said a steamer was due from Batoum on the Black Sea that very
day, but she was to start on the same afternoon. I said I was quite
ready to start; but he could only send me away on two conditions. One
was, that this time I must see about conveying my luggage myself to the
boat, because the Government supervision over the movements of English
ships had become stricter, and so he would not compromise himself. I
did not mind this at all But the second condition he laid down was
alarming. He said that as the captain of this ship was not allowed to
take any passengers, I must go to the British Consulate and sign my
name in the captain's book as a seaman. Of course there was no harm in
my doing this, as in reality I should not be expected to do a sailor's
work; but an Ottoman subject, who has just become known to the Palace
authorities, is not well advised to go to the British Consulate, for
it is known to be watched by the spies, and he is certain to be seen.
However, I ran the risk, went to the Consulate, and put down my name as
a seaman. The captain directed me to the exact spot where his boat was
anchored, and told me that in about three hours' time she was to start
I did not go to my rooms where I had left all my belongings. The house
in which I was living belonged to some Germans, who afterwards, without
the slightest justification, refused to deliver up my property to the
people who applied on my behalf for it until I had paid a considerable
sum of money. Well, it is perhaps the policy of the Teutonic invaders
of Turkey to rob the Turks as much as possible, as the price of their
friendship to the precious person of the Sultan.
Immediately after getting out of the British Consulate I called a cab,
and ordered the cabman to proceed to the palace of Yildiz as fast as
he could. My object in going to the Palace in this critical moment was
that I thought that if my entrance to the Consulate had been seen, the
spies would imagine that I was in charge of an official message, and
moreover they would not follow a man whose destination was the Palace,
and who might in all probability turn out to be one of the Sultan's
creatures like themselves. I reached the Yildiz Kiosk, and went up to
the office of my friend the courtier. He was out, and his absence at
that moment suited my purpose capitally, as the excuse which I should
have had to concoct for this uncalled for visit would have been but
weak. From Yildiz I took another cab and went down to the shore. My
boatman was yawning, being tired of waiting inactive. I jumped into
the boat and told him the direction in which he was to row, which
was of course towards the steamer, though he did not know that I had
determined to sail for England in it When we got near the steamer I
observed to my boatman it seemed a peculiar vessel, having its funnel
rather far back, and not in the middle of the deck as is usual. The
boatman knew that it was an oil boat and that its engine was therefore
constructed at the back. I pretended to be curious to see the ship, and
the simple-minded boatman readily rowed to its side. I got on board
with great relief.
I was now practically on British territory.[11] After seeing the
captain I went to the side and shouted down to the boatman that as I
talked the language of the people of the ship they had asked me to stay
a little while on board and have tea with them. I told him he need
not wait in the strong current of water, as I could hail any passing
boatman when I wanted to go ashore, and I threw him down his day's
wage. He went away, and we started not long after. I should not have
played all these tricks if the Sultan had kept his promise and treated
me honourably.
This second departure from Constantinople took place on the 8th of
November 1894, and the oil ship reached Liverpool eighteen days after,
without stopping anywhere on the way. As I had not been able to take
any extra clothes I suffered much from cold, and also from the rough
sea all the way. The men on board the ship were rough sailors, and
the captain himself was an extremely stingy person. He supplied us
with abominably bad food. However, I arrived in England safely, and
ever since that time have made this country my home, and during my
periodical trips abroad I have never entered the territories of my own
country, over which the tyranny of Abd-ul-Hamid still prevails.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Writing to England from Adrianople on April 1, 1717, Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu says:--
"A propos of distempers, I am going to tell you a thing
that I am sure will make you wish yourself here. The
smallpox, so fatal and so general amongst us, is here
entirely harmless by the invention of ingrafting, which
is the term they give it. There is a set of old women
who make it their business to perform the operation
every autumn, in the month of September, when the great
heat is abated. People send to one another to know if
any of their family has a mind to have the smallpox;
they make parties for this purpose, and when they are
met (commonly fifteen or sixteen together) the old woman
comes with a nutshell full of the matter of the best
sort of smallpox and asks what veins you please to have
opened. She immediately rips open that you offer to her
with a large needle (which gives you no more pain than
a common scratch), and puts into the vein as much venom
as can lie upon the head of her needle, and after binds
up the little wound with a hollow bit of shell, and in
this manner opens four or five veins.... The children or
young patients play together all the rest of the day, and
are in perfect health until the eighth. Then the fever
begins to seize them, and they keep their beds two days,
or seldom three. They have rarely above twenty or thirty
in their faces, which never mark; and in right days' time
they are as well as before their illness.... There is no
example of anyone that has died in it; and you may well
believe I am very well satisfied of the safety of the
experiment, since I intend to try it on my little son.
"I am patriot enough to take pains to bring this useful
invention into fashion in England."
[2] If the detractors of Islam would take the trouble to find out what
is the exact position of women under Mohammedan law, they might feel
ashamed of their contention that she is treated like a slave. Laws
protecting the rights of women were promulgated under Islam when no
such laws existed in Europe. As far back as five hundred years ago
women in Turkey had begun to dispute men's superiority openly. As
proof of this I will quote a few lines of the poetess Mihri, who lived
in the last half of the fifteenth century:--
"Since they cry that woman lacketh wit alway,
Need must they excuse whatever word she say.
Better far one female, if she worthy be,
Than a thousand males, if all unworthy they."
[3] The ancient Church of Sergius and Bacchus.
[4] In his book Civilisation des Arabes (p. 642), Dr Gustave le Bon,
the eminent French savant, says: "Le paysan et l'ouvrier Turcs sont
sobres, infatigables au travail, fort dévoués à leur famille....
Soldat, le Turc meurt à son poste sans reculer jamais. De solde,
cependant, il n'en touche pas.... Ce que je viens de dire s'applique
uniquement d'ailleurs aux Turcs proprement dits et non assurément à
toutes les populations des provinces Asiatiques administrées par la
Turquie. On y rencontre le plus souvent surtout dans les villes un
melange de races diverses, résidu abâtardi de tous les envahisseurs
qui depuis tant de siècles ont traverse ces contrées. Dans ce melange
inferieur certaines quality subsistent encore, mais le niveau de la
morality et de courage est descendu fort bas."
[5] Under the title "International Fetters," Lord Milner gives a
condensed account in his book England in Egypt of the working of these
capitulation privileges, and the disgraceful abuse made of them by
foreigners.
[6] Many of the Sultan's highly placed officials and spies are
of Armenian nationality. It is worthy of note that the Armenian
revolutionaries directed their attacks against private individual Turks
only; none of the Sultan's right-hand officials were hurt by them. The
reason of this was that they wanted to provoke bloodshed, and by this
means invite outside intervention. Moreover, it was manifestly to their
advantage that the maladministration of the Sultan and his responsible
officials should continue, as under it they were much more likely to
find a favourable opportunity for this movement, to say nothing of
being sure of external support.
[7] In this connection an anecdote is related in Turkey which, whether
true or not, I will quote here. A Turkish diplomatist of the past
generation paid a visit to the Pope of his time. During the interview
die Pope said, "I am aware of the good points of your people, yet you
are so unpopular in Christendom. In every international dispute Europe
always regards you as in the wrong. Do you understand the reason of
this universal hostility?" The diplomatist replied, "Because we are
not Christians." "Exactly," said the Pontiff. "Then why do you not
embrace Christianity?" Upon this the diplomatist made the following
undiplomatic remark, "The Christians believe in Trinity, and we believe
in Unity. Some of us are growing tired of worshipping even one God.
How, then, could you expect us to worship three?"
[8] No European musical instrument is so much appreciated by Orientals
as the bagpipe; it takes a long time to make the average Oriental
understand and admire the masterpieces of the great musicians of
the West played on any ordinary European instrument. But he takes
to the bagpipes on the first hearing, and it is seldom that he gets
tired of them. Of course there is much similarity both in the sound
and in the manner of playing between bagpipes and a certain popular
Oriental instrument which is played mostly by Turks, Arabs, Kurds,
and Armenians. Although the tone and the style of playing this
Oriental instrument resemble those of the bagpipes so much, there
is considerable difference in the form and make. The bag of this
instrument, which is called 'tooloom,' is made from a sheep's skin;
besides the small mouthpiece there is only one large reedpipe from
which the notes are obtained, and which thus replaces the chanter and
the three drones of its Highland counterpart. The player, placing the
blown-up sheepskin against his chest, and supporting it by the upper
part of his left arm, moves his fingers up and down over the holes in
the larger pipe. As a matter of fact, the sound of this instrument,
like much other Oriental music, appears to European listeners dull
and discordant, but it pleases the uncultivated taste of the ordinary
Orientals. At the popular fêtes it is a very common thing to see
many people, middle-aged as well as young, dancing together in a
circle, while pipe and drum fill the air with ceaseless clamour. It
is difficult to trace the original home of this instrument. It may be
conjectured that it was brought from the West by the persons who went
to the East with the Crusaders, or it may have been copied from them,
with certain modifications in form, by the Eastern peoples.
[9] Most people who have travelled in the Levant are enthusiastic in
their praises of the Turkish coffee which they drank out there. There
is no reason why coffee prepared in the Turkish style should not become
popular here. There is no difficulty about making it That the coffee
may have the delicious flavour it has in the Levant, the beans must be
freshly roasted and ground very fine. The water must be boiled in a tin
or copper coffee-pot To supply, say, four or five persons with coffee
in tiny cups, two or three teaspoonfuls of the powder should be put
into the pot while the water is actually boiling therein. Some people
do not like sugar in their coffee, but if sugar is required it should
be put into the boiling water and allowed to melt before the coffee is
added. Great sweetness is not appreciated by connoisseurs in coffee
drinking. When the ground coffee is added to the boiling water, the pot
should be taken off the fire and the coffee stirred up in the water
with a teaspoon. Then it should be put on the fire again until the
froth rises up. It is then poured into the cups. It is better to pour
out the coffee slowly, placing the pot on the fire at short intervals,
and thus getting more froth for pouring out into the cups, as the taste
of the coffee is supposed to be better with the yellowish froth on the
surface. It is on account of this idea that greedy people in Turkey
choose those cups that have the most froth when coffee is handed round
on a tray, leaving those with less to the others who are waiting their
turn to be served.
[10] The first Turkish Ambassador in London was Agah Effendi, a
Mussulman, who came over to this country in 1793. The following
paragraph is translated from his memoirs:--
"We proceeded to the village of Chelsea, which is about an hour's
distance from London. The King's Master of Ceremony came and
felicitated us on our arrival, and conveyed the compliments of the
King. The ceremony of our reception having been fixed for the following
day, I sent on the presents. Next day the state carriages came. I
entered one that was drawn by four horses; with me were a nobleman and
the Master of the Ceremony. My suite were in the other carriages along
with some court officials.
"When we were passing along the road called Piccadilly there were
collected to see us so many people that never in my life had I seen so
great a crowd; indeed I afterwards heard that several persons had been
injured through the pressing of the crowd trying to get a glimpse of
us. Our dress and our turbans must, I think, have appeared very curious
to them. We arrived at St James's Palace, and after I had presented
my credentials we were invited to dinner. What most impressed me was
the charming manners and appearance of the ladies. Some young ladies
belonging to the King's family bound round their heads the embroidered
silk handkerchiefs I had offered on behalf of my sovereign, and said
laughingly and with infinite grace, 'Now we belong to the harem of his
Majesty the Sultan!'"
[11] It may be said that vessels other than men-of-war could not, in
international law, be exactly considered parts of the territory of the
State to which they belong when they are in foreign ports. But owing to
the privileged state of foreign ships in the Ottoman empire, the Sultan
could not now, under any circumstances, have taken me back from this
paraffin-oil ship, had he been informed of my taking refuge there.
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