IN THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2715, 9 March 1916, Page 6

IN THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY

ADVENTURES OF THE "DAILY - MAIL "SPY

ON THE "BALKAN .EXPRESS

TALKS IN HIGH PLACES

I have not been in Loudon, twentyfour hours without realising a greai and dangerous iguorance here , as tc what Germany is setting about in the Near East. Let me piece together j numbor of- proofs beginning with tlic conversation that I had with King Ferdinand in the famous Balkan Zug (Ber-lin-Constantinople express), in which 1 left Nish after my interesting dinnei with the Kaiser. The Balkan express is probably the handsomest' train in Europe, and has been 'designed beyond Idoubt by the Germans for the purpose of impressing the thousands of people who see it twicc a week on its way between Berlin anci Constantinople. . It impresses and alarms the Turks as. a, proof of German efficiency. It impresses and delights the Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, Bulgarians, and the rest of the people who 6ee it on its journey. Its name is blazoned'in three-foot letters on each wagon. Engine-arid carmges are /decorated wjtn'.Vflags' and flowers. Every passenger;:;\vears .a: . German .flag, with _ the words'ißalkari;-Zug-aind the' date, in his buttonhole. , , ~ _. On - the- day in' which: I travelled in it. .'it: .consisted. bf four sleeping-cars, one'dining-car, and .one ordinary- first and eecond-class carriage. After, the banquet at Nisli tli& Kaiser disappeared in his own "royal: train" in his usual rnystorious.fosliion/'nq.one exactly knowing his ■ destination.Polyglot Ferdinand., ' The'Balkan'express 6teamed into the station, the -German, Bulgarian, and Austrian national anthems . were played, and King Ferdinand and his two- sons' entered before the rest of the..-, passengers. . Unceremoniously, his Bulgarian- Majesty entered in the course of the evening into every compartment and made a lew general remarks to cach person sepa-. lately. He displayed a remarkable knowledge of languages, as I shall point out. In the carriage next to me was the Baroness von • Wangenlieim, the widow of the late German Ambassador to Turkey, and with her were her threa little daughters,:-whom Ferdinand tools on his knees and fondled. When,he came into my compartment we of course rose, clicked heels, and bowed.' "He gave lus the royal consent to 'be' seated .and spoke Hungarian to a Hungarian, - -who afterwards told me that the King spoke the language like a Hungarian. The other passengers in my- compartment were two German flying men in Turkish uniform, who, with ten others that were in the train, had been suddenly recalled from Constantinople to take part, it was said, in_ forthcoming air .raids 011 England. King Ferdinand adopts quite the Kaiser's method of speech. He said, "Thanks to God, Who greatly helped 11s, wo can now travel from the west to the east through conquered territory in a few days. We are going farther. Give my royal salute to all. tho people of ypur home country." The food in tii© Balkan express, doubtless for advertising purposes, is in-, finitely better than that to bo had in Constantinople, Viemv.; or Berlin, Here,-at any rate, one is free from the tiresome bread ticket. For a mark (a shilling) I had an early breakfast of ;offee, rolls,, butter, and marmalade ad lib. But Constantinople is a very different story. Let mo tell it., In Constantinople one realises the war pressure more -than in any of the great capitals in the war zone that I have yet visited. I'had been there a feiv montlia before, but' to-day' things are much worse. -The dearth of the necessities o(. life is now of an alarming nature. None the iess tho Germans who swarm the streets, the ' Government offices, and railway -trains see to it that they" themselves arc well fed and well provided for in every respect Iho moro one sees the whole of the German side'of this war, the more 0110 that the care and attention of the entire German people are almost en, tirely concentrated on the army. Thus, ivhileall the Govornment officcs in Con. stantinople are shabby,;, as they have always boon, while electric ■ light and jaslight,,exist 3io longer, the Germancontrolled War-Office, whero I had an interesting interview with Envor Pasha, bas been- entirely , redecorated, outside and inside, and looks spick and span and Prussian. Tall, well-dressed German soldiers nre 011 duty everywhere.. We read constantly of the prisoners taken 011 the Western front consisting largely of old Landsturm men and boys. The Germans are not sending this class to the East. The German army in Constantinople consists of really first-rate troops. I see it stated in a Salonika communication to "The Times" that the Germans have fifty thousand-.men. in-, Constantinople. I dqubt':;it;,i, . ;Fifty thousand may have passed; : tlirough Constantinople." I carefully- busied - myself in an endeavour to find out';how"mauy there were. I should pUtXthe;. actual numbor at any one timo as;-ten- thousand. ' Constantinople is wily -a temporary depot. On my way through Constantinople I stayed'at: the Pera , Palace —electrio light; reduced to 'a- • solitary bulb here and-there,-no: gas, bad food, bread ticketsj:: or" ;.'ra tlier bread books, the bread":;practically uneatable, and the hotel, swarming' with German officers grumbling;; bitterly at the faro, but all talking of Egypt. At the Continental, whore I stayed on my return from Asia Minor, things' were 'even worse. I met there a--Frenchman who had turned Mahommedan.. and • lie gavo me a very true account of ' tho stato of affairs. ':,;' . ', . , It wa's.-Gfallipoli -Day. tho day when tho news" was- made public in Constan-tinople-tliat? the,'last Englishman had been; driven into the sea. The town was : gay with.-flags,-mobs were passing tip and "down' the streets waving ban, ners- tincl shouting; notices in Turkish and German were exhibited evenvhere, special newspapers bulletins wero being rushed hither and thither by ragged boys and men; but tho Frenchman took a sombre, view of things, perhaps because he -was'a Frenchman living under German rule. He saM: "Well, they have paid dearly for their victory. The wounded passed here in endless procossious for days. Hie, electric tram, way cars, horso carriages, and the few remaining motor-cars were filled with them."Almost Famine, The condition of affairs approaches famine. Tho electric tramway car service lias now practioally disappeared. 111 the, matter of prices I took careful notes." Sugar is ss. a lb., coffee 6s. a lb., and the Government have advanced even; the price of cigarettes about 40 per and anybody who knows Turkey will . understand what that means to a. people who smoke practically .all day long. _ Matches are 3d. a box. Of paraffin oil none is left. Clio, rolate is finished. Cheese is unobtain. ablo apart from the horrible Turkish kind. Mutton has advanced 40 nor cent., and beef- cannot be had. Tho small Turkish eggs, whidh were four n pi'imy seven months ago, are now 2d each.' -.There is no rice. Fish, of course, ia as plentiful- as usual. But none of these factors seems to interfere, with the movement of tho great German war machine. If tho Turkish population goes -short, the, Ger-.

man private soldier gets his full ratiur every- day. One of my instructioni from tho "Daily Mail" on leaving Lon. don was to try to find out from the lurks, what are tho German plans Among many other, efforts, I called therefore, at the Turkish foreign Of lice and endeavoured to see Halil Bey After four abortive attempts to read him, I succeeded by means of the credentials, known to the "Daily Mail," whioh havo enabled me to gather sc much information since I left London it the first week in December. The Foreign Office, like. every other Government Department, is full of Germans. Halil. who is of the fat order of Turk gave me his view of the German occupation. He said, "Wo Turks need the German business initiative. We do noi possess it yet. Look what Germany die lor Rumania. Germany has reorganised Rumania and set her on her feet. She is now rich and prosperous and full ol enterprises. Tho Germans are with n« only for the duration of the war, and they will help Turkey to become a wealthy nation. See what the' Germans are doing for us in Anatolia.- There w< have two hundred German non-commis-Bioned officers teaching our people modern farming." I said little, but though! much. ■ , - Talk With Enver- Pasha. ■ My object in seeing Halil, however, nas to get an introduction to Envei Pasha.. 1 pressed .the _ Foreign Minister hard. - "It is-my desire,"-I said, "to have a few words with the Napoleon of the Balkans." "That," he replied, "is very difficult. _ Twenty or thirty German and Austrian journalists have been hero, but the Minister of War has been so occupied that he has been unable to see tliem. But I will try," lie added, and, taking np tho telephone, lie called up Enver and had some laughing conversation with, him in Turkish, the nature of which I did not understand. So far as I was concerned it was evidently satisfactory, las 1 was told to go to the War Office on the following morning. EnverPasha is young, less than forty I should think, short, extremely well dressed-—a dandy, in fact—and speaks German perfectly. Halil speaks French only. My conversation with Enver took place in the newly decorated War Office, where I was ushered into one of the argest Ministerial apartments that I have ever seen after spending some ®. 6 ' lyhile waiting, in conversation ,vl ™ . . German aide-de-camp. \\hile in Constantinople I thought ? wls -sri*° t'h® wearing of the [ex. \\hen m Rome do as Rome does is an excellent motto, and especially in ivar time. Over and over again I have noticed that somo sort of uniform is the best means of facilitating travel m. a, country occupied by soldiers. In Constantinople a fez is almost an introduction. hen the electric bell rang which summoned the aide-de-camp who took ine into Enver's presence the Bmart little well-dressed .and well-groomed lead of the .Turkish Army smiled not jnly at my fez but at my card, which [.had. had printed in Turkish. He has i- merry, twinkling eye and an extremely easy manner, and wears the Iron Jross of the First Class low down on the left breast. lo make him talk I asked him vhether it was true that England was prepared to make a separate peace with lui key, and whether it would have any Meet. i I-Ie replied, "It is too late. Ihey may have had that design, and t might have succeeded,, but wo learned that the Entente I '—or, as he called them jocularly, "the Mai-Entente-Lowers had designed to hand over Constantinople to_ Russia, and that conilolled ijs to join Germany and tho other -/entral Powors." To Egyptl Referring to the Gallipoli campaign, re said, "If the English had only had die courage to. more, ships through jlie Dardanelles iney could liavo got to Constantinople, but their delay enablod as thoroughly to fortify the peninsula, and m six . weeks' ■- time. wo had takon flown; there,over two hundred. Austrian bkoda.£uns. But," he continued, ''even bad the British ships got to. Constantinople it would not have availed them much. Our plan was to retire our army to the surrounding- hills aud to Asia Minor, and lcavo tho town at their mercy. They would wit l ave destroyed it, and the result would havo been simply ar, impasse. With tho Germans ive can strike at tho British Empire through the Suez Canal. Our motto is, 'To Egypt!'". At tills end of ten minutes he rose, nskecl 1110 to excuse him, and I mado my adieu. 'The view of the German officers whom I met hoth at the I'era Palace and Continental Hotels was sxactly that of Enver, only mote vehemently expressed. The Turks havo no real dislike for the English, and nono tor tho French, although: till French words have been removed from tho shop signs in Constantinople. The Geiman officers, however, were free in expressing their loathing of the English, though full of admiration for the fightcapacity of our soldiers. Once more did I hear the remark which I had heard before that they wished they had the British, Australian, or Canadian Tommies to command. • The general trend of expression wan to the effect that they would destroy the Suez Canal from one end to the other if necessary, refill it with, its ancient saifd, aud render it impassable. "If you do that," I observed to more tdan ono of them, "the British will merely return to their old route to India via the Cape of Good Hope." lo that kind of answer the Germans seemed to havo no reply. One and all admitted that there was no chance whatever of getting to Paris. Their view was, and- many of them had been fighting in -tho West, that they had walled off the whole English and French army, thus enabling the QfrAustrian, Bulgarian, Turkish, and Arabian forces to operate freely in the East. Ono German wiseacre whose namo 1 give, so that he may have the benefit of considerable publicity—Dr. Karl Li Broscli, of Berlin, a lieutenant of reserve in Constantinople—gave me his view of compulsion in England. He said in a most confidential tone, "We never thought tho thing was possible, and, as a matter of fact, it has not been really done. What has happened is this: the- Government has promised the House of Lords that the upper classes shall be retained for home defence only, and the poor alone will be sent to the war. That is how they got the law passed." Lifeless Constantinople. When I was in Constantinople seven months aen there was comparative gaiety m -!io city. It is extraordinary to so" difference that has been made i > absence of electricity and Eas. . at onc'o closcd • theatres, safes, i. . r.:as. and all other places of amusement. Nearly all the shops ar& closed. With the cutting off of the coal supply the whole life of tho city has thus been destroyed. In London' there is at- least some light, but in Constantinople the only means of getting about at night is by tho aid ■of electric torches, the very smallest of which cost mo Bs. Tho money question in Turkoy is in a, most extraordinary position. Seven months ago gold was given at banks in return for cheques. To-day there is a shortage not only of gold, but of silver, and the official Turkish paper money. There has been substituted <i kind of Turkish £1 note. Taking the Turkish pound to ho worth 17s. Cd., these new £1 notes only realises' about 12s. 6tl. each. For example, when 1 bought inv railway ticket at the station at Stanihoul for the Balkan express the clerk mado 1110 pay CI-j in paper money for it although its price is £12. As showing the economy of the Germans, the tickets are the old sleeping-car tickets in French with the words "Balkan Express" printed aoross them in English.