August 15, 1918 
Land & Water 
17 
/ 
The Turkish Conspiracy 
By HENRY MORGENTHAU • 
Late U.S. Ambassador to Turkey 
XII — The First Peace Offensive 
mmediately after the defeat of the Marne, since the complete victory for which the war had been 
undertaken was impossible, Germany began the first peace " offensive.'' Mr. Morgenthau, then a subject 
of a neutral nation, describes here the ivorkings of the German diplomats as he saw them in Constantinople. 
IN early November, 1914, the railroad station at Haidar 
Pasha was the scene of a great demonstration. Djemal, 
the Minister of Marine, one of the three men who were 
then most powerful in the Turkish Empire, was leaving 
to take command of the Fourth Turkish Army, which 
had its headquarters in Syria. All the members of the 
Cabinet and other influential people in Constantinople 
assembled to give this departing satrap an enthusiastic 
farewell. They hailed him as the "Saviour of Egypt," and 
Djemal himself, just before his train started, made tliis 
public declaration : 
"I shall not return to Constantinople until I have con- 
quered Egypt ! " 
The whole performance seemed to me to be somewhat 
bombastic. Inevitably I called to mind the third member 
of another bloody triumvirate who, nearly two thousand 
years before, had left his native land to become the supreme 
dictator of the E^ast. And Djemal had many characteristics 
in common with Mark Antony. Like his Roman predecessor, 
his private life was profligate ; like Antony, he was an 
insatiate gambler, spending much of his leisure over the 
card-table at the Cercle d'Orient. Another trait which he 
had in common with the great Roman orator was his enormous 
vanity. The Turkish world seemed to be disintegrating in 
Djemal's time, just as the Roman Republic was dissolving 
in the days of Antony ; Djemal believed that he might 
himself become the heir of one or more of its provinces and 
possibly estabhsh a dynasty. He expected that the rnilitary 
expedition on which he was now starting would not only 
make him the conqueror of Turkey's fairest province, but 
make him one of the powerful figures of the world. After- 
wards, in Syria, he ruled as independently as a mediasval 
robber baron — whom in other details he resembled ; he 
became a kind of sub- 
sultan, holding his own 
court, having his own 
selamlik, issuing his orders, 
dispensing freely his own 
kind of justice, and often 
disregarding the authorities 
at Constantinople. 
Djemal a Trouble- 
some Mark Antony 
The applause with wliich 
Djemal's associates were 
speeding his departure was 
not entirely disinterested. 
The fact was that most of 
them were exceedingly 
glad to see him go. He 
had been a thorn in the 
side of Talaat and Enver 
for some time, and they 
were perfectly content 
that he should exercise 
his imperious and stub- 
born nature against the 
Syrians, Armenians, and 
other non-Moslem elements 
in the Mediterranean 
provinces. Djemal was 
not a popular man in Con- 
stantinople. The other 
members of the triuni- 
virate, in addition to their 
less desirable quahties, had 
certain attractive traits— 
Talaat his rough virility 
and spontaneous good 
nature, Enver his courage 
and personal graciousness 
Djemal, Turkish Minister of Marine 
One of the most powerful men in the Turkish Empire, 
who commanileil the expedition against the Suez. 
— but there was little about Djemal that was pleasing. An 
American physician who had specialised in the study of 
physiognomy had found Djemal a fascinating subject. He 
told me that he had never seen a face that so- combined 
ferocity with great power and penetration. Enver, as his' 
history showed, could be cruel and bloodthirsty, but he hid 
his more insidious qualities under a face that was bland, 
unruffled, and even agreeable. Djemal, however, did not 
disguise his tendencies; for his face clearly pictured the inner 
soul. His eyes were black and piercing ; their sharpness, 
the rapidity and keenness with which they darted from one 
object to another, taking in apparently everything with a 
few lightning-like glances, signahsed cunning, remorseless- 
ness, and selfishness to an extreme degree. Even his laugh, 
which disclosed all his white teeth, was unpleasant and 
animal-like. His black hair and black beard, contrasting, 
with his pale face, only heightened this impression. At first 
Djemal's figure seemed somewhat insignificant — he was 
under-sized, almost stumpy, and somewhat stoop-shouldered ; 
as soon as he began to move, however, jt was evident that 
his body was full of energy.- Whenever he shook your hand,, 
gripping you with a vice-like grasp and looking at you with 
those roving, penetrating eyes, the man's personal force 
became impressive. 
Yet, after a momentary meeting, I was not surprised to 
hear that Djemal was a man with whom assassination and 
judicial murder were all part of the day's work. Like all 
the Young Turks, his origin had been extremely humble. 
He had joined the Committee of Union and Progress in the 
early days, and his personal power, as well as his releritless- 
ness, had rapidly made him one of the leaders. After the 
murder of Nazim, Djemal had become Mihtary Governor of 
Constantinople, his chief duty in this post being to remove 
from the scene the oppo- 
nents of the ruling powers. 
This congenial task he per- 
formed with great skill,, 
and the reign of terror 
that resulted was largely 
Djemal's handiwork. Sub- 
sequently Djemal became 
Minister of Marine, but he 
could not work harmo- 
niously in the Cabinet ; he 
was always a troublesome 
partner. In the days pre- 
ceding the break with the 
Entente he was popularly 
regarded as a Francophile, 
Whatever feehng Djemal 
may have entertained to- 
ward the Entente, he made 
little attempt to conceal' 
his detestation of the 
Germans. It is said that 
he would swear at them 
in their presence — in Turk- 
ish, of course ; and he was. 
one of the few important 
Turks who never came' 
under their influence. The 
fact was that Djemal 
represented that tendency 
which was rapidly gaining 
the ascendancy in Turkish 
policy — Pan-Turkism. He 
despised the subj ect peoples 
of the Ottoman country — 
Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, 
Circassians, Jews ; his am- 
bition was to Turkify 
the whole Empire. His 
personal ambition brought 
