lO 
Land & Water 
June 6, 19 1 8 
which, since the war began, she has applied to Belgium, 
to Poland, to >erbia ; its most hideous manifestation, as 
I shall show, ;is been to Armenia. Acting under Germany's 
prompting, Turkey now began to apply this principle of 
deportation to her Greek subjects in Asia Minor. 
The events that followed foreshadowed the policy adopted 
in the Armenian massacres. The Turkish officials pounced 
upon the Greeks, herded them in groups and marched 
them towards the ships. They gave them no time to settle 
their private affairs, and they took no pains to keep families 
together. The plan was to transport the Greeks to the wholly 
Greek islands in the^Egean. Naturally the Greeks rebelled 
against such treatment ; and occasional massacres were the 
result, especially in Phocaa, where mcfre than fifty peopfe 
were murdered. The Turks demanded that all foreign 
establishments in Smyrna dismiss their Christian employees 
— and replace them with non-Greeks. The Singer Manu- 
facturing Company received such instructions ; I interceded 
and obtained si.xty days delay, but ultimately this American 
concern had to obey the mandate. 
Turkey for the Turks 
Naturally this procedure against the Greeks aroused my 
indignation. I did not have the slightest suspicion then 
that the Germans had instigated those deportations ; I 
looked upon them merely as an outburst of Turkish ferocity 
and chauvinism. By this time I knew Talaat well; I saw 
him nearly every day, and he used to discuss practically 
every phase of international relations with me. I objected 
vigorously to his treatment of the Greeks ; I told him that 
it would make the worst possible impression abroad and that 
it affected American interests. Talaat explained his national 
policy ; these different Woes in the Turkish Empire had 
always conspired against Turkey. Because of the hostility 
of these native populations, Turkey had lost province after 
province — Greece, Serbia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Herze- 
govina, Egypt, and TripoH. In this way the Turkish Empire 
had dwindled almost to the vanishing point. If what was left 
of Turkey was to survive, he must get rid of these alien 
peoples. "Turkey for the Turks" was now Talaat's con- 
trolling idea. Therefore, he proposed to Turkify Smyrna 
and the adjoining islands. 
The Greeks in Turkey had one great advantage over the 
Armenians ; for there was such a thing as a Greek Govern- 
ment, which naturally has a protecting interest in them. 
The Turks knew that these deportations would precipitate 
a war with Greece ; in fact they welcomed such a war and 
were preparing for it. So enthusiastic were the Turkish people 
that they had raised money "by popular subscription and 
had purchased a Brazilian dreadnought which was then 
under construction in England. The Government had ordered 
also a second dreadnought in England, and several submarines 
and destroyers in France. The purpose of these naval 
preparations was no secret in Constantinople. As soon as 
they obtained these ships, or even the one dreadnought 
which was nearing completion, Turkey intended to attack 
Greece and take back the islands. A single modern battle- 
ship Hke the Snllan Osman— this was the name the Turks 
had given the Brazilian vessel— could easily overpower the 
whole Greek navy and . control the ^Egean Sea. As this 
powerful vessel would be finished and commissioned *in a 
few months we all expected the Greco- Turkish war to break 
out in the autumn. What could the Greek navy possibly 
do in face of this impending danger ? 
Such was the situation when, early in June, I received 
a most agitated visitor. This was Djemal Pasha, the Turkish 
Minister of Marine, and one of the three men who then 
dominated the Turkish Empire. I have hardly ever seen 
a man who appeared more Utterly worried than was Djemal 
on this occasion. As ne began talking excitedly to my 
interpreter in French, his whiskers trembling with his emotions 
and his hands wildly gesticulating, he seemed to be almost 
beside himself. I knew enough French to understand what 
he was saying ; and the news which he brought — this was 
the first I had heard of it — sufficiently explained his agitation. 
The American Government, he said, was negotiating with 
Greece for the sale of two battleships, the Idaho and the 
Mississippi. He urged that I should immediately move to 
prevent any such sale. His attitude was that of a suppUant ; 
he begged, he implored that I should intervene. If the 
transaction were purely a commercial one, Turkey would hke 
a chance to bid. "We will pay more than Greece." 
Evidently the clever Greeks had turned the table on their 
enemy. Turkey had rather too boldly advertised her intention 
of attacking Greece as soon as she received her dreadnought. 
Both the ships for which Greece was now negotiating were 
immediately available for battle ! The Idaho and Mississippi 
were not indispensable ships for the American Navy ; they 
could not take their place in the first line of battle ; they 
were powerful enough, however, to drive the whole Turkish 
navy from the /Egean. Evidently the Greeks did not intend 
politely to postpone the impencling war until the Turkish 
dreadnought had been finished, but to attack as soon as 
they received these American ships. Djemal's legal point, 
of course, had no vahdity. However much war might 
threaten, Turkey and Greece were still actually at peace. 
Clearly Greece had just as much right to purchase warships 
in the United States as Turkey had to purchase them in 
Brazil or England. 
But Djemal was not the only statesman who attempted 
to prevent the sale ; the German Ambassador displayed 
the keenest interest. Several days after Djemal's visit 
Wangenheim and I were riding in the hills north of Con- 
stantinople ; Wangenheim be^an to talk about the Greeks, 
to whom h'e chsplayed a violent antipathy, about the chances 
of war, and the projected sale of American warships. He 
made a long argument about the sale ; his reasoning was 
precisely the same as Djemal's. I suspected he had himself 
coached Djemal for his interview with me. 
" Just look at the dangerous precedent you are establishing," 
said Wangenheim. "It is not unlikely that the United 
States may sometime find itself in a position like Turkey's 
to-day. Suppose that you were on the brink of war with 
Japan ; then England could sell a fleet of dreadnoughts 
to Japan. How would the United States like that ?" 
And then he made a statement which indicated what 
really lay back of his protest. I have thought of it many 
times in the last three years. The scene is indelibly impressed 
on my mind. There we sat on our horses ; the silent, ancient 
forest of Belgrade lay around us ; in thi^ distance the Black Sea 
glistened in the afternoon sun. Wangenheim suddenly became 
quiet and extremely earnest. He looked in my eyes and said : 
"I don't think that the United States realise what a 
serious matter this is. The sale of these ships might be 
the cause that would bring on a European war." 
This conversation took place on June 13 ; this was about 
six weeks before the conflagration broke out. Wangenheim 
knew perfectly well that Germany was rushing preparations 
for this great corflict; he knew also that preparations were 
not yet entirely complete. Like all the German A mbussadors, 
Wangenheim had received instructi ns wt to let any crisis 
arise that would precipitate war until all these preparations 
had been finished. He had no objections to the expulsion 
of the Greeks, for that in itself was part of these preparations ; 
he was much disturbed, however, over the prospect that the 
Greeks might succeed in arming themselves and disturbing 
existing conditions in the Balkans. 
He went so far as to ask me to cable personally to the 
President, explain the seriousness of tlie situation, and to 
call his attention to the telegrams that had gone to the State 
Department on the proposed sale of the ships. I regarded his 
suggestion as an impertinent one and declined to act upon it. 
To Djemal and the other Turkish • ffi ials who kept pressing 
me I suggested that their Ambassador in Wa.-;hington should 
directly take up the matter with the President. They acted 
on this adw^c, but the Greeks agam got ahead of them. 
At two o'clock, June 22nd, the Greek Charge d'affaires at 
Washington and Commander Tsouklas, of the Greek Navy, 
called upon the President and arranged the sale. As they 
left the President's office the Turkish Ambassador entered— 
just fifteen minutes too late ! 
I presume that Mr. Wilson consented to the sale because 
he knew that Turkey was preparing to attack Greece and 
believed that the Idaho and Mississippi would prevent such 
an attack and so preserve peace in tiie Balkans. 
Acting under the authorisation of Congress the administration 
sold these ships on July 8, 1914, to Fred J. Gauntlett, for 
212,535.276.98, i.e. rather more than 2\ millions sterhng. 
Congress immediately voted the money reahsed from the 
sale to the construction of a great modern dreadnought, 
the California. Mr. Gauntlett transferred the ships to 
the Greek Government. Rechristened the Kilkis and the 
Lemnos, those battleships immediately took their places as 
the most powerful vessels in the Greek Navy. 
By this time we had moved from the Embassy to our 
summer home on the Bosphoras. . All the summer Embassies 
were located there, and a more beautiful spot I have never 
seen. Our house was a three-story building, something in 
the Venetian style ; behind it the clitf rose abruptly, with 
several hanging gardens towering one above the other ; the 
building stood so near the shore and the waters of the 
Bosphorus rushed by so rapidly that when we sat outside, 
especially on a moonhght night, we had almost a complete 
illusion that we were sitting on the deck of a fast saihng 
ship. In the daytime the Bosphorus, here little more than 
