CHAPTER II THE TRUTH EXPOSED

Summary of my confidential information—War this year—The attitude of Greece, Bulgaria, Roumania, and Turkey—Procrastination, promises, and perfect politeness—A matter more serious than Macedonia—Warning to British statesmen and the public—The real truth exposed—Germany and India.

As summary of all my confidential inquiries throughout the Near East, I find that the present position as regards Macedonia is a very serious one.

Bulgaria, who has the largest population there, has undoubtedly decided to adopt a firm course, which must inevitably lead to war during the present year. Within a few months the Balkans will be in bloody conflict.

Greece is defiant, and her bands still ravage Macedonia. Monsieur Theotokis, the Prime Minister, has openly adopted a policy of defiance against Roumania, and of increased persecution of the Vlachs in Macedonia.

His attitude is a ridiculous one, and calculated to still further complicate the situation. He declares that the enemies of Hellenism have succeeded in persuading public opinion in Europe, and even European Governments, that the abnormal situation in Macedonia is due to the action of Greco-Macedonian bands, and has also made them forget the atrocities which Bulgarians had committed for six years against the Greeks, who had at last been compelled to rise and try to defend themselves. Whenever the Greek Government asks for compensation of the Powers, no matter what the question at issue, they are, he says, met with the argument that they were responsible for the atrocities in Macedonia, because they aided Greek bands. The Powers, he says, were informed that the Hellenic Government could not prevent succour being given to the Macedonian Greeks in their defensive campaign, but would use its authority to moderate the activity of the bands. Unhappily, the slackening of the activity of the Greek bands was followed by a recrudescence of that of the hostile bands. The Powers were informed that the situation was becoming intolerable, and unless they could take measures to oblige others to respect their wishes, the Greek Government would be obliged to defend a race which was resolved to live, and not to bend under the ferocity of its enemies. He maintains that it is the duty of Greece to accelerate her military preparations. Without an army she cannot be considered a factor in the East, or hope for the sympathies of others.

But M. Theotokis has gone even farther. His declarations are distinctly amusing. In the course of an interview in Athens in January of the present year he actually had the audacity to attribute the present situation in Macedonia to Bulgaria. He argued as follows:—

“For a period of six years armed bands of Bulgarians roved all over Macedonia, endeavouring to get the Greek Christian inhabitants to declare allegiance to the head of the Bulgarian Church, and backed up their efforts in this direction by committing murders and atrocities of every description. Notwithstanding repeated appeals of the Greek Government to the Powers to put a stop to these outrages, they were continued, and instead of being checked, went on increasing in number and violence. News of these atrocities reaching Greece daily, public opinion here was getting more and more excited, and finally, the Greek public having given up all hope of a stop being put to them, committees were formed with the object of taking action to protect their compatriots.

“The Greek Government was powerless to prevent these protective bands from crossing into Macedonia, as, unfortunately, we have not sufficient forces to thoroughly guard the frontier. The inability is not surprising, when you consider that Turkey with twenty times the forces at her disposal is not able to prevent them from getting across. That these bands should occasionally have seized an opportunity to avenge Bulgarian crimes, which had continued so long unrestrained, is only natural, as it is not possible to keep armed bands under proper control in such circumstances.

“Finding at last that they had to face Greek bands, which they were not able to stand up against, the Bulgarians commenced to fill the world with complaints against the Greeks, and sent out descriptions of imaginary atrocities committed by Greek bands, when their only real cause of complaint was that they themselves could no longer commit crimes on the Greek Christians with impunity in the way they, for six years, had been accustomed.

“The result of the great outcry raised by the Bulgarians was that strong pressure was brought to bear by the Powers on the Greek Government to prevent Greek bands from crossing into Macedonia, and the Greek Government increased the efforts they had always been making in this direction. Probably as a result of the efforts of this Government, fewer Greek bands have been operating in Macedonia during the past two months, and the consequence is that thirty-nine Greeks have been murdered in Macedonia during this period by Bulgarians, while only seven of the latter have been killed by Greeks.

“The Greek Government have no interest whatever in hindering the efforts of the Powers to restore order in Macedonia. Quite the contrary; no one desires to see order restored there more than we do. But you must remember that the majority of the inhabitants of Macedonia are Greeks, and it is not in the power of the Greek Government to control public opinion in Greece in face of the atrocities committed by Bulgarians on our countrymen in Macedonia. If the Bulgarian propaganda in that country is put a stop to, the Greek Christians will have nothing to fear, and in such circumstances no Greek bands will be found there, as their sole object in crossing the frontier was to protect their co-religionists, who for six years had been terrorised by the Bulgarians. Once Bulgarian crimes in Macedonia cease, there will be nothing more heard of ‘regrettable incidents’ in that country.”

Thus it will be seen that the Prime Minister makes no mention of Germany or of German intrigue. He endeavours to put the blame upon Bulgaria, when all Europe knows well that it is Greece who is responsible for the present bloodshed, and even the Turkish Grand Vizier himself has condemned the action of the Greeks, and declared that in more than one instance the Greek bands have actually operated with the full knowledge and assistance of Greek consuls.

With such biassed views held by the Greek Premier, it can easily be seen that a solution of the problem of Macedonia cannot be arrived at without recourse to force of arms, and the more so, because of Bulgaria’s determination to make her power felt in the country where her subjects are being daily murdered.

The Turkish policy is the traditional one of procrastination, promises, and perfect politeness. The promised reforms are not carried out, the foreign officers employed in reforming the gendarmerie are disgusted with their treatment, and are fast leaving the Turkish service, while the Mohammedan rule is daily growing more and more oppressive, and the unfortunate Macedonians are being slaughtered under the very eyes and with the full cognisance of the Turkish officials, both civil and military.

In Constantinople it is believed that a serious entente regarding Macedonia exists between Italy and Austria, and this belief is based upon Signor Tittoni’s recent declaration. From information I gathered from very reliable sources, however, I am in a position to state that the Turkish fears are utterly groundless. An entente exists, but only in regard to Servia, Bulgaria, and Northern Albania. Austria desired that Montenegro should be included, but Italy—for very obvious reasons—made the complete independence of that valiant little country one of the stipulations. Hitherto Italy and Austria have carried on separate propagandas, but it is quite certain that the two are now amalgamated, and will in future work towards one common end.

Turkey has nothing to fear from either Austria or Italy, but from Bulgaria and Germany—from the former, who will assert her rights; and from the latter, who will eventually play the traitor and crush her.

My conversations at the Sublime Porte, in those shabbily furnished rooms, with seedy officials offering me cups of coffee, were often very amusing. I had really credited the Turk with more shrewdness, for the Oriental is usually supposed to be the finest diplomat in all the world. Yet from the Grand Vizier downwards to the men-in-the-street, they are all held fascinated under the benign smile of Germany.

Assurances were given me during those audiences with the rulers of Turkey that all was being done that could possibly be done in Macedonia; that reports of massacres were exaggerated; that the Turks were actually protecting the Bulgarians, and that the Macedonian question was not at all a serious one.

I will give one instance. It was admitted to me during one of my audiences at the Sublime Porte, that “a few incidents” had occurred, but I was assured that they were not serious, and that all was now quiet in Macedonia.

In reply, I pointed out that on November 7 last (Old Style) a Greek band descended upon the village of Karadjovo, and having disembowelled seven men, killed twenty-five Bulgarians. They then massacred most of the women and children in the village, and calmly went off.

I was then officially informed that it had been discovered that a certain Greek consul had been implicated in this raid, and that arms had been supplied through him. The Turks had therefore made a strong protest to Athens, and sent four battalions in pursuit of the assassins.

At Salonica, ten days later, I saw one of the peasants present at this massacre in question, and the description he gave of it was horrifying. His version of the affair was very different from the official Turkish version, for he declared that the Turks themselves aided the assassins and allowed them to get clear away. Twenty-five women were, he said, outraged and afterwards killed. One woman had her hands cut off, and another’s feet were burnt over a fire. Other facts he told me were too terrible to repeat here.

Though the Porte may have made formal protest to Athens, there is but little doubt that the Turks were implicated in the massacre—as they are in most of those “regrettable incidents,” as they are called, which daily occur in the Land of Black Terror.

Permission was readily granted to me to travel through the country, but it certainly would not have been had it been known that beyond the lake of Ochrida I intended to disregard my Turkish escort and throw in my lot with the Bulgarians, declared by the authorities to be “insurgents” in order to see for myself.

I arrived at the village of Ghilposte, in the Seres district, two days after a Greek band had descended upon the little place, and I saw with my own eyes traces of their terrible atrocities. They had blown up ten houses by dynamite, and capturing four men, two women, and a baby one year old, had deliberately burned them all alive, as well as outraging three other women.

The leader of the Bulgarian organisation for the protection of the defenceless people furnished me with a complete list of all the atrocities committed by the Greek bands during the past year, but it is so long and the details are so revolting that I do not feel justified in including it in these pages.

The Turk is indeed a strange product. He hopes always to persuade the foreigner into adopting his own views. More than once I was told in Constantinople that there had been no massacres in Macedonia this year, and that the country, especially in the vilayet of Monastir, was quite quiet!

General Tzontcheff in Macedonia.

The Turkish Burial-ground at Scutari, Asia Minor.

I went there, and discovered the exact opposite to be the case. In Constantinople also I was strongly persuaded, by interested persons, not to go to Macedonia; but I went, and I saw things that it was not intended that I should see.

I had travelled all through the Balkans in order to learn the real truth, and I did not intend to miss out Macedonia. Turkey, of course, makes capital out of the fact that the Vlachs, or Roumanian population, are between the devil and the deep sea. These unfortunate Macedo-Roumanians live under the cross fire of Greek and Bulgar, each of whom claims the right to save their souls. The Turks point—and perhaps justly—to this fact as one of the chief causes of the present disturbed state of Macedonia. The Turk pretends to be asleep, and to disregard the intrigues of the other Powers, but the fact is that he is very wide awake, and knows quite well that hostilities must break out at a very early date. Only he is misled by Germany, alarmed by a bogey put forward by Austria and Italy, and a little afraid, at times, of British protests.

There remains Roumania. Her attitude is a very serious consideration in discussing the immediate future of the Balkans.

In Bucharest I found that, although a Federation of the Balkan States would be welcomed, yet one fact is still remembered. In 1888, when the Bulgarians offered the crown of Bulgaria to King Charles of Roumania, as the first step towards a Federation, both Russia and Austria opposed it so strongly that the King was unable to accept. Roumania’s position towards Macedonia is now one of armed inactivity. Though the Macedo-Roumanians are slaughtered by the Greek bands, Roumania is compelled to stay her hand and offer no defence, because alone and unaided, her protest would be worse than useless.

That she will, ere long, ally herself with Bulgaria against the Turks, my confidential information goes to show. She desires a better frontier from the Danube to the Black Sea, and in order to obtain that concession from Bulgaria she will assist her to drive the Turk from Macedonia.

There is, however, a far more serious consideration, and one which has been overlooked by British statesmen and the British public.

During my journey of inquiry I made careful investigation into certain suspicious facts and certain clever intrigues. The inquiry was an exceedingly difficult one, for the truth is well guarded, for very obvious reasons.

The result, however, reveals a state of affairs of which we in England have been unfortunately ignorant, and which, here exposed, should claim immediate attention by every right-minded and patriotic man.

The truth briefly is this. The recent war between Russia and Japan, the question of Morocco, the perturbation in Europe by the Russian defeats and revolution, on the one hand, and the weakness of the Macedonians made greater by the rivalries between the Balkan nations, on the other, have of late diverted the attention of Europe from the Near East.

But this is only a lull before the storm—a storm that must break in the near future, and which surely will have a world-wide significance. The countries denominated by the general name of the Near East are, by their geographical position and fertility, of immense importance. They have been the cradle of the ancient civilisation and of rich and powerful empires. The shores of the Ægean Sea and of the Eastern Mediterranean were once the most populated, and their commerce and wealth were unrivalled. The vast fertile provinces of Asia Minor have been the granaries of the Roman and Byzantine empires; while the valleys of Euphrates and Tigris breathed abundance and luxury. History is eloquent testimony of their past splendour. The reason of their gloomy present does not lie either in the exhaustion of the soil or in the loss of their geographical importance, but only in the administration which the Turk has established for centuries over them. A change in the administration will bring resurrection. Nay, the means and resources of the present civilisation must call forth in them an immense economical development.

Germany, with her usual foresight, has ever been on the alert.

Towards this Near East with gloomy present, but with a glorious future, the German policy has thrown covetous eyes. When Bismarck made his famous declaration—that the Eastern Question was not worth the bones of a Pomeranian grenadier—the German policy was already maturing a vast plan of penetration in the Near East. The real truth is that the basis of this policy of penetration was the maintenance of the Turkish rule, as a means for its realisation.

The true extent of German intrigue is not realised in England, therefore I may as well explain that the policy was—

1. Support, and even encouragement, of the despotical régime in Turkey, in order to obtain the absolute confidence of Sultan Hamid.

2. Grasp of the reorganisation of the Turkish Army, and use it as her instrument.

3. Gain a dominant position in the Turkish finances.

4. Lay hold on the communications of the empire, and thus become the master of her economical development.

A full expansion was given to this policy after the accession to the throne of William II., who in his first visit to the Sultan in 1889 laid the foundation of mutual friendship and admiration between the two rulers.

The results are astonishing. In less than a quarter of a century the German net has been cast over the whole body of the Turkish Empire. German diplomacy is paramount to-day in Constantinople. The Turkish Army has been reorganised upon the Prussian system, and is under German control. The finances of the Turkish Empire are gradually becoming a dependency to the German banks by loans and concessions, which are constantly increasing. By the great railway from the Bosphorus to the Persian Gulf, opening up by its branches the most fertile provinces of Asiatic Turkey, Germany becomes master of the economical development of this part of the Sultan’s empire.

Thus the economical and political influence of the Germans has been so much extended and has gained such a domination, that the Turkish Empire is, in a sense, already a German protectorate. No act of importance is possible in Turkey without the knowledge and influence of Germany. Every act of Abdul Hamid is under the control and direction of German diplomacy. Allemania bisum dostour (“Germany is our friend”) is a saying which has penetrated even into the mass of the Turkish nation, and the Kaiser has a full right to boast himself as the protector and champion of the Mussulmans.

In the Balkan Peninsula, on the European side, the pioneer of the German policy is the Austro-Hungarian Empire. By tradition, by its dynasty, and by its alliance, Austria plays the rôle of vanguard to the German advance towards the Near East. The occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has made Austria a Balkan power, and her plans are ready for the march of an Austrian army southward to the Gulf of Salonica, which will bring her in touch with the Ægean Sea and make her the ruler over the whole Peninsula. In the meantime, she is strengthening her political and economical influence in Servia and Albania by the same methods as used by the Germans.

In the midst of this land activity in the Near East, the importance of the Ægean Sea, which is the necessary link, was not lost to view. A footing was sought, and the island of Thassos was chosen as the foundation-stone of the future naval power in the Eastern basin of the Mediterranean. This island was picked upon because, in the first place, it would not attract attention, and, in the second place, because it would serve admirably the German plans. Thassos has a good geographical position in the Ægean Sea. It is not far from the Dardanelles, the door to Constantinople, and is very near the Macedonian shore, being in the very entrance of the port of Kavala.

With a naval base on this island, Germany would gain a still greater influence in Turkey, and especially on the European and Asiatic shores of the Ægean Sea. According to trustworthy information which I have obtained in confidence, a vast German activity is contemplated upon these shores in the very near future.

Thus the Germans, with the aid of the Turkish régime and of the Austrian Empire, are cleverly paving their way towards the Near East, and preparing the foundation of a “Fatherland” stretching from the Baltic to the Indian Ocean.

As Germany has already championed the cause of Turkey in Europe, what is to prevent her from carrying her influence, at an early date, over Egypt and the whole peninsula of India, where she will find sixty millions of Mussulmans, who fully recognise that England has abandoned her policy of bolstering up “the sick man” for many years past? These latter would welcome Germany as the champion of Mohammedanism, not only in Europe, but in all the Mussulman states of the Eastern world.

And then?

Surely this is a most important point, which should very seriously engage the immediate and earnest attention of all British statesmen who have the true interests of our Empire at heart!

THE END.

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