lO 
Land & Water 
May 30, 1918 
Sir Louis Mallet and M. Bonip:ird, the French Am- Bustany Etiendi, cx-MinisU-r of Conimcrte and Agri- Mr. Morgenthau (left) in congenial association with 
baiiador to Turkey. Neither the French nor the culture in the Turkish Cabinet, who came to Mr. Sir Louis Mallet, the British Ambassador to Turkey 
British Atnbassador attempted to compete with the Morgenthau in January, 1914, seeking American in 1914. Sir Louis had been secretary to Sir Edward 
German diplomats for the favour ct Talaat, Enver, assistance in financially rehabilitating Turkey. Grey and was pursuing a policy of conciliation and 
and the other leaders of the Young Turks. Bustany is a Christian Arab, and a great scholar. "hands off" in Turkey. 
party a luncheon at the Cercle d'Orient, and he insisted 
that Enver should leave his wedding ceremony long enough 
to attend this function. Enver, therefore, came to the 
luncheon, sat through all the speeches, and then returned 
to his bridal party. 
I am convinced that Talaat did not regard this Billings 
episode as closed. As I look back upon • this transaction 
I see clearly that he was seeking to extricate his country, 
and that the possibility that the United States would assist 
him in performing the rescue was ever present in his mind. 
He frequently spoke to me of Mr. "Beehngs," as he called 
him ; even after Turkey had broken with France and PZngland, 
and was depending on Germany for money, his mind still 
reverted to Mr. Billings's visit ; perhaps he was thinking 
of our country as a financial haven of rest after he had carried 
out his plan of expelling the Germans. I am certain that 
the possibility of American help led him, in the days of the war, 
to do many things for me that he would not have otherwise 
done. "Remember me .to Mr. Beehngs" were almost the 
last words he said to me when I left Constantinople. This 
yachting visit, though it did not lack certain comedy elements 
at the time, I am sure ultimately saved many lives from 
starvation and massacre. 
But even in March, 1914, the Germans had pretty well 
tightened their hold on Turkey. Liman von Sanders, who 
had arrived in December, had become the predominant 
influence in the Turkish army. At first von Sanders's 
appointment aroused no particular hostility ; German Missions 
had been called in before to instruct the Turkish army, 
notably. that of von der Goltz, and an English Naval Mission 
headed by Admiral Eimpus was even then in Turkey trying 
to make something out of the Turkish nav}'. We soon dis- 
covered, however, that the von Sanders "military mission 
was something quite different from those I have named. 
Even before von Sanders's arrival it had been announced 
that he was to take command of the first Turkish army corps, 
and that General von Schnellendorf was to become Chief 
of Staff. These appointments simplv signified that the 
Kaiser had annexed the Turkish arniy to his own. The 
British. French, and Russian Amba.ssadors immediately 
called upon the Grand Vizier and protested with more warmth 
than politeness over von Sanders's elevation. The Turkish 
Cabinet hemmed and hawed in the usual way, protested 
that the change was not important, and finally withdrew 
von Sanders's appointment as head of the first army corps, 
and made him Inspector General — a post that gave him even 
greater power. Thus, by January, 1914, seven months 
before the Great War began, Germany held this position 
in the Turkish army : a German General was Chief of Staff ; 
another was Inspector General ; scores of German officers 
held commands of the first importance, and the Turkish 
politician who was even then an outspoken champion of 
Germany, Enver Bey, was Minister of War. 
After securing this diplomatic triumph Wangenheim was 
granted a vacation, and Giers, the Russian ambassador, had 
a \acation at the same time, fiaroness Wangenheim 
explained to me— I was ignorant at this time of all these 
subtleties of diplomacy — precisely what these \-acnti()ns 
signified. Wangenheim's leave of absence, she said, meant 
that the German Foreign Office regarded the von Sanders 
episode as closed — and closed with a German victory. Giers's 
furlough, she explained, meant that Russia declined to accept 
this point of view. 
An incident which took place in my own house opened 
all our eyes to the seriousness with which von Sanders 
regarded this military mission. On l'~ebruary 18th, I gave 
rny first diplomatic dinner ; General von Sanders and his 
two daughters attended, the general sitting next to mv 
daughter Ruth. My daughter, however, did not have a 
very enjoyable tim'fe ; this German Field-Marshal, sitting 
there in his gorgeous uniform, his breast all sparkling with 
medals, did not say a word through the whole meal. He 
ate his food silently and sulkily, all my daughter's attempts 
to enter into conversation evoking only an occasional surly 
monosyllable. The behaviour of this great military leader 
was that of a spoiled child. 
At the end of the dinner, von Mutius, the German charge 
d'affaires, came up to me in a high state of excitement. 
"You have made a terrible mistake, Mr. Ambassador." 
"What is that." I asked, naturally much alarmed. 
"You have greatly offended Field-Marshal von Sanders. 
You have placed him at the dinner lower in rank than the 
foreign ministers; He is the personal representative of the 
Kaiser and as such is entitled to equal rank with the Ambas- 
sadors. He should have been placed ahead of the Cabinet 
Ministers and the foreign ministers." 
So I had affronted the Emperor himself ! 
This then was the explanation of von Sanders's boreish 
behaviour. Fortunately, my position was an impregnable 
one. I had not arranged the seating precedence at this 
dinner ; 1 had sent the list of my guests to the Marquis 
Pallavicini, the Austrian Amba.ssador and dean of the 
diplomatic corps, and the greatest authority in Constantinople 
on such delicate points as this. The Marquis had returned 
the list, marking in red ink against each name the order of 
precedence—!, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. I still possess this document, 
as it came from the Austrian Embassy, and General von 
Sanders's name appears with the numerals "13" against 
it. I must admit, however, that "the 13th chair" did bring 
him pretty well to the foot of the table. 
I explained the situation to von Mutius and asked Mr. 
Panfili, conseiller of the Austrian Embassy, who was a guest 
at the dinner, to come up and make everything clear to the 
outraged German diplomat. As the Austiians "and Germans 
were allies, it was quite apparent that tiie slight, if slight 
there had been, was unintentional, liut the Gennan F:m- 
bassy did not let the matter rest ; afterward Wangenheim 
called on Falla\icini, and discussed the matter with consider- 
able liveliness. 
"II Liman von Sanders represents the Kaiser, whom do 
you represents" Pallavicini asked Wangenheim. The ' 
argument was a good one as the Ambassador is always 
regarded as the alter ego of his sovereign. 
"It is not customary," continued the Marquis, "for an 
Emperor to have two representatives at the same court." 
{To be continued). 
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