8 
Land & Water 
June 13, 19 1 8 
The Turkish Conspiracy — V 
Secret History of the Potsdam Conference, July 5, 1914 
Narrated by Mr. Morgenthau, late American Ambassador in Constantinople 
The Bosphorus — Key to the Black Sea 
This photograph is taken from the Asiatic side, and shows the narrowest part of the Bosphorus 
r'H E following is Mr. Morgcnthmi's full narrative of the famous Potsdam Conference of July 5th 1914^ 
excerpts from u'/acli were cabled the other day to the "Times" and other London journals from New 
i ork. Berlin has frequently denied that this Conference took place, but the evidence Mr. Mor<^enthau 
produces establishes the truth of it for all time. It was at this Conference that the Katscr ''and his 
advisers decided on a European War. They calculated it would he a short war, in that their plans and 
preparations io surprise Europe were complete. Until the battle of the Marne thev felt certain of their success. 
1 His chapter of Mr. Morgenthau s narrative is an historical document. It couvi'cts Germany of blood-Puilti- 
mss; It reveals Germany s ambitions before the war. Some of these, notably the demand lor coaling-stations 
everywhere, have only recently been made public. Never have Teuton ambitions been exposed more nakedlx 
A few weeks after the Goehen and the Breslau had taken 
up permanent headquarters in the Bosphorus, Djavid Bey, 
Minister of Finance, happened to meet a distinguished 
Belgian jurist, then in Constantinople. 
"I have terrible news for you," said the sympathetic 
Turkish statesman. "The Germans have captured 
Brussels." 
The Belgian, a huge figure, more than six feet high, put 
his arm sodthingly upon the shoulder of the diminutive Turk. 
" I have even more terrible news for you," he said, pointing 
out to the stream where the Goeben and the Breslau lay 
anchored "The Germans have raptured Turkey." 
But there was one quarter in which this transaction pro- 
duced no appreciable gloom. This was the German Embassy. 
This great "success" fairly intoxicated the impressionable 
Wangenheim,- and other happenings now aroused his furor 
Teulonicm to a fever heat. The Goeben and the Breslau 
arrived at just about the time that the Germans captured 
Liegc, Namur, and other Belgian towns. Then followed the 
German sweep into France and the apparently triumphant 
rush to Paris. In all these happenings Wangenheim, like the 
militant Prussian that he was, saw the fulfilment of a forty- 
years' dream. We were all still living in the summcfr Em- 
bassies along the Bosphorus. Germany had a sumptuous 
palace, with elaborate buildings and a beautiful park, the 
gift of the Sultan ; but Wangenheim did not seem to enjoy 
his headquarters during these summer days. 
Directly in front of his Embassy, on the street, within 
twenty feet of the rushing Bosphorus. stood a-Iittie guard house, 
and in front of this was a stone bench. This bench was 
properly a resting-place for the guard, but Wangenheim 
seemed to have a strong liking for it. I shall always keep 
in my mind the figure of this German diplomat, in those 
exciting days before the Marne, sitting out on this little 
bench, now and then jumping up for a stroll back and forth 
in front of his house. Everybody passing from Constantinople 
to the northern suburbs had to pass this road. Even the 
Russian and French diplomats frequently went by, stiffly 
ignoring, of course, the triumphant ambassadorial figure on 
his stone bench. I sometimes think that Wangenheim sat 
there for the express purpose of puffing his cigar smoke in 
their direction. It all reminded me of the scene in SchillerV 
"Wilhelm Tell," where Tell sits in the mountain pass, with 
bow and arrow at his side, waiting for Gessler, to go by : 
Here through this deep defile he needs must pass; 
There leads no other road to Kussnacht. 
Wangenheim woiild also buttonhole his friends, or those 
whom he regarded as his friends, and have his little jollifi'-a- 
tions over German victories. I noticed that he stationed 
himself there only when the German armies were winning • 
if news came of a reverse, Wangenheim was utterly invi'^ible' 
This led me to remark that he reminded me of a toy weather- 
prophet, which is always outside the box when the weather is 
fine, but which retires within when storms are gathering 
Wangenheim appreciated my little joke as keenly as the 
rest of the diplomatic set. 
In those early days, however, the weather for the German 
Ambassador was distinctly favourable. The good fortune 
of the German armies so excited him that he was sometimes 
led into indiscretions, and his exuberance one day caused 
him to tell me certain facts which, I think, will always have 
great historical value. He disclosed precisely how and when 
Germany had precipitated this war. To-day his revelation 
of this secret looks like a most monstrous indiscretion but we 
