This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1916 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER X TURKEY Lord Beaconsficld introduces Germany to Eastern politics--Constantinople a hot-bed of intrigue--The Anatolian Railway in 1889--The " Sick Man "--The Treaty of Paris--The dogma of Turkish integrity--Lord Derby and the suicide of the "Sick Man "--High-sounding theories both conventional and false--The Khalifate--The break-up of the Turkish Empire--Russia and Constantinople--The Balkans. IN 1878 Lord Beaconsfield brought Germany into Eastern politics with a view to counteracting Russian influence. I know that Bismarck once attempted to demonstrate his friendship for Russia by saying that he " never opened the Constantinople despatches." He even went so far, according to his Reflections and Reminiscences, as to declare that he believed it necessary, from the point of view of German interests, that the Russians should be firmly established at Constantinople. For the last two centuries the Turkish Government has been nothing more than a battle-ground for rival European intriguers, a, breedingground of controversies between the great Powers, skilfully nursed by Turkish politicians like Abdul Hamid. Bismarck was still in power when the Germans, under Gerad Pasha, began to teutonize Turkish policy. The Convention which gave them the Anatolian Railway dates from 1889. William II. paid two visits to the Sultan, secured orders for the necessary material, became his bosom friend, and finally obtained the concession of the Bagdad Railway. In 1853 the Czar Nicholas I. remarked in a conversation with the British Ambassador, Sir George Hamilton Seymour: "We have a sick man on our hands." He declared: "I do not desire the permanent occupation of Constantinople by the Russians, but I am anxious that it shall never fall into the hands of the English, the Vol....
