December ii, 1915 
LAND A N D W A T E R 
GERMANY'S ASIAN ADVENTURE. 
By Lewis R Freeman 
The Jollowing is an arlick telling idiat Meissner 
Pasha, the Oennaii builder of the Hedjaz and 
Bagdad raihcays, told the author, an American 
vriter, of the probable consequences of a Turko- 
Oernian attempt to cut the Suez Canal : — 
IT lias been well said in summing np the colonial 
railway development of the world that the Briton 
had built his lines to help him carry "The Wliite 
Man's Burden," while most of those of the (icr- 
nian jiad been constructed to help shift " The \\'hite 
Man's Burden " back upon the shotilders of the black. 
This same spirit was observable in many phases of British 
and Teutonic Colonial endeavour in all parts of the world. 
The one represented what has been called the " humani- 
tarian school," the other the " repressive " ; and the 
results — British success and German failure — were pretty 
well commensurate with their respective deserts. 
Germany " bludgeoned " and blundered in China, 
Polynesia, and both coasts of Africa, and the place where 
she'" bludgcv)ned " the least chances to be the only one 
in which she was able to get a really comprehensive 
constructive programme well under way. This was in 
Asiatic Turkey, and possibly some explanation of Teutonic 
success there is found in the fact that, not being a German 
colony, that nation did not, up to the outbreak of the war, 
have a sufHciently free hand to warrant it in swinging 
the bludgeon in quite the same way as where thedouble- 
lieaded eagle standard was already planted. Now that 
the Kaiser has been supreme for a year over a considerable 
portion of this region there is aniplc cvidertce that the old 
repressive policy has begun to act automatically in 
alienating the peoples to whom it is applied. However 
that may be, it is also true that a very j^otent factor in 
gaining Gcmiany the strong position which there is no 
denying she held in the several years immediately preced- 
ing the war was Meissner Pasha, the railway builder. 
Meissner Pasha. 
Meissner, who is but a few years older than the Kaiser, 
went out to Turkey as a young engineer shortly before 
Wilhelm ascended the throne and has made one portion 
or another of the Ottoman Empire his special iield of 
endeavour ever since. As Germany's " Eastward Ho ! " 
policy was rather more a nebulous hope than a definite 
plan up to the beginning of the present century, the first 
decade or so of his work in Turkey was of that same 
unselfish character as that of those distinguished Britons 
who liavc built the railways of Argentina and Peru or 
reformed the customs of China. During this period the 
foundation of the present railway system in what was 
then Turkey-in-Europe was laid, and considerable con- 
struction also carried on in Asia Minor. How much of 
Meissncr's work of the last fifteen years has been in direct 
furtherance of the Kaiser's far-reaching Eastern ambitions 
it would be very difificult to say ; probably, indeed, he 
has little idea himself. But however much he has been 
made a pawn in the game of Realpolitik, I am confident 
that there are very few who have followed his work of the 
last thirty years who will not grant that the mainspring 
of his personal efforts was a deep and sincere affection for 
Turkey and the Turkish people. The type is a common 
one in the last century of British history, but Meissner 
is the only German I have ever met worthy of inclusion 
with the elect. 
" Meissner's looks and accent are Teutonic," an 
American missionary of Basra said to me in IQ12 : " but 
his humanity is distinctly Anglo-Saxon. He has enough 
heart to qualify for an Indian Civil Servant — a mighty 
rare thing in a German — and there is no question of the 
sincerity of his devotion to the Turks." 
As a matter of fact, Meissner-^dark of complexion, 
keen of eye, quick of movement, incisive of speech — 
might as readily be taken for a French or Russian diplo- 
mat as for a Cierman ; and his lack of palpable raciality 
is accentuated by the red Turkish /r,:— worn by righ', 
Cuf>yr!'^li! in Anicnca by Lcu'l-- 1\. J'trcinan. 
as an Ottoman official — whicli he is never seen without. 
Of medium height, well set up, solidly, almost hca\ily, 
built, there is no suggestion of mental heaviness about 
him. His quick comprehension and ready sympathy 
conspire with a most un-Tcutonic keenness of imagination 
to make him a very agreeable person to interview, especi- 
ally for a stranger who naturally has much to offer and 
ask of an explanatory charactor. 
Sinister Activities. 
There was no doubt of the sinister activities of the 
great majority of the (Germans whom one met in all. parts 
of Asiatic Turkey in 1912-13, whether they professed to 
be archjeologists, engineers, officials, or masked their 
missions behind cloaks of inconsequent bluster or dis- 
dainful reserve. Yet meeting Meissner Pasha among all 
of these, I must still confess to having formed a very 
similar opinion of him to that just quoted, and 1 distinctly 
recall bracketing him — in an article which I wrote in 
IQ13 for " Indian Eastern Engineering " of Calcutta— 
with Sir William Willcocks as one of the " Restorers of 
the Garden of Eden " ; this, of course, on the assumption 
that railways were quite as essential as dams and canals 
to Mesopotamian. reclamation. Doubtless he, like all the 
rest of his countrymen, was entirely cognizant of, and 
committed to, the same " Deutschland Uber Alles " pro- 
gramme ; but in his case at least I am sure this was 
leavened with a strong desire to be also of service to 
Turkey. At any rate, it is undeniable that, as Chief 
Engineer of the Hedjaz and Bagdad railways, he played— 
and is still playing — a highly important part in the 
extension of (iermanic influence over Asiatic Turkey, and 
for this reason, if for no other, some of his observations 
regarding the possibilities and limitations of these lines 
in the event of (iermany's ever trying to " consolidate " 
her position beyond the Mediteranean should be of 
especial interest at this time when such an attempt seems 
about to be launched. I am setting down no statement 
that I have any reason to believe was made to me in 
confidence, nor yet anything that Herr Meissner could 
have especial grounds for desiring to withhold from 
pubhcity, either now or in the future. 
My most extended conversation with Herr Meissner 
took place during a tour I made in his company over the 
Bagdad-Samara section of the Bagdad Railway, work 
upon the southern end of which was just getting under 
way, and a political turn was given to it, if I remember 
correctly, by my enquiring why, when it was apparent to 
everyone that the Italian descent upon Tripoli meant the 
almost inevitable defection of the former from the Triple * 
Alliance, all the German officers I had met in Bagdad 
appeared well pleased with the course events had taken.'' 
Importance of Turkey. 
" I think you will find," said Herr Meissner, raising 
himself on his elbow to ease the jolting of the arabanah 
or stage coach by which we were travelling, " that they 
are pleased because, while it is fairly certain that Italy 
has been lost to the Alliance, there is no possible doubt 
that Turkey has been gained." 
" Then you believe that Turkey is more powerful than 
Italy ? " I asked incredulously. 
" Not / necessarily," he corrected ; " but they— 
the German officers. They believe that Turkey is, not 
more powerful than Italy perhaps, but far more useful to 
Germany, especially in certain contingencies. As for 
myself, I heartily regret anything that might make war 
more likely, for my own country in the first place, and, 
in the second place, for Turkey — espcciallj' Asiatic Turkey 
— which I have spent the best part of my life trying to 
build up." 
" You mean that Germany believes she could strike 
a successful blow at Egypt and the Suez Canal through 
Palestine ? " 1 queried in surprise. 
" I mean that a certain section of German military 
opinion holds such a thing possible, and that, also, com- 
mand of — or shall I say co-operation with ? — Turkey 
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