170 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



April J, 7913. 



EX-SULTAN ABDUL HAMID'S MEMOIRS. 



Professor Louis Stein publishes in 

 the Nord unci Sud a part of the 

 memoirs of the ex-Sultan Abdul 

 Ilamid. How the memoirs were ob- 

 tained is not said nor is any proof of 

 their authenticity given. The)' cover a 

 number of years, and are interesting 

 chiefly on account of his remarks con- 

 cerning the European Powers. He has 

 no love for England, chiefly on account 

 of her policy in Egypt. He says: — 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 



" The English are more to be feared 

 than any other nation. No promise is 

 sacred to them ! The influence of my 

 High Commissioner in Egypt is syste- 

 matically combated by them, and we 

 are simply pinned to the wall. I can- 

 not understand how the French are weak 

 enough to stand it all. He admits that 

 the moral condition of Egypt has im- 

 mensely improved, but that is only be- 

 cause the English wish to make out of 

 Egypt a regular British frontier. He 

 is particularly angry with Gladstone, 

 and says that Turkish atrocities were no 

 worse than those of the Spaniards, 

 French, and English when colonising. 



HOW FRANCE WAS SUPPLANTED. 



He regrets the loss of the traditional 

 friendship with France. France, from 

 whom most of the important Turkish 

 reforms originated, has been supplanted 

 by Germany. " Naturally it is bitter 

 for these susceptible gentlemen that we 

 now have German instructors in our 

 army and in our Ministries. It is not 

 at all astonishing that they view with 

 misgiving the strengthening of the Ger- 

 manic influence in the Levant. Scarcely, 

 twenty )-ears ago Bismarck said that we 

 were not worth the bones of a single 

 Pomeranian Grenadier, and yet Ger- 

 many has beaten all the other nations 

 in the East without a fight." 



DOUBTS ABOUT GERMANY. 

 This change was due to his friend- 

 ship for the Kaiser, but later on he be- 



gan to have misgivings about Ger- 

 many : — 



" It is trulv high time that we threw 

 off the German influence. We must 

 show that high and mighty lord Baron 

 Marsrhall von Bieberstein the distrust 

 he and the German policy inspire. Ac- 

 cording to what my Ambassador at 

 Berlin writes, the plan of the German 

 Emperor is to endeavour to create a 

 sphere of influence in i\sia !\Iinor. I 

 certainh' see no objection to her arous- 

 ing the economic activity of Anatolia, 

 but under no pretext will I allow the 

 colonisation they want along the Bag- 

 dad railway. Unfortunately, we always 

 neglected to keep the foreign element at 

 a distance, and from this sprang all our 

 troubles. But in Anatolia we ought and 

 mean to remain alone. Allah be 

 praised ! At least this last refuge re- 

 mains to our compatriots and co- 

 religionists, hemmed in on ail sides." 



HIS VIEW OF THE BALKAN STATES. 



He has much to say about the Bul- 

 garian question, and about the other 

 Balkan States. He places absolute 

 trust in the mutual hatred of the States, 

 and says they never will combine. 

 " Dissensions and mutual mistrust con- 

 demn the Balkan States to total impo- 

 tence and the role of instruments of 

 others. How can Russian iournalists 

 imagine a fusion amongst them? Serb 

 and Bulgars dislike each other, and the 

 Bulgars hate the Roumanians ; whilst 

 Greeks and Bulgars are enemies to the 

 death." 



A PAIR OF R.4TS. 



" Bulgaria," he says, " is the agent not 

 only of Russia, but of England. Eng- 

 land and Russia undermine our house 

 like a pair of rats. Formerly France 

 was a terrier in whom we had confi- 

 dence, whom we could set upon the 

 wretched rodents at the right moment ; 

 but France is more and more negative. 

 Thanks be to Allah, we have found 

 Germany to replace her. To keep them 

 all in check we can employ the ' honest 

 broker.' " 



