ABDUL HAMID'S MEMOIRS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 275, 12 April 1913, Page 9

ABDUL HAMID'S MEMOIRS

REMARKAISLE STATEMENTS. J London, February 14. The Xord und Sud for February will publish the first instalment of Ablul Hamid's political memoirs. Professor Stein declares that they are derived from a thoroughly trustworthy source, and accepts responsibility for their authenticity. If genuine, they ■ will equal Bismarck's memoirs in interest. Abdul Hamid utterly distrusts England and the English. '"The English are more to be feared than any other nation. No promise is sacred to them. The British are doing their best to undermine our authority in Egypt. The Egyptian Moslems are already poisoned by the English spirit. They believe that European civilisation can be amalgamated with their own, but is the fusion of two such radically different conceptions of the universe as the Moslem and the Christian really possible? Even the Khedive, despite his uprightness, has almost become a giaour. The English would like to hand over the Caliphate to him in order to break the influence of Islam, and bring it under their own control, but no true Moslem will ever accept the Khedive as a commander of the faithful. The English might just as well nominate Lord Cromer." CIVILISATION'S DEADLY POISON. Regarding England's work on the Nile, Abdul says:—"My pasha in Egypt (Mukthar) says the material prosperity of the country is reported to have made great strides, and the intellectual development of the population makes daily progress. But Mukthar is a fool, infected with English poison. How can he praise the English, who only act from selfishness, simply trying to convert the country into an English province? What good do we get from all these developments of European civilisation? Western civilisation is for us a deadly poison, offered us with a hypocritical smile."

The memoirs faithfully record Abdul's complete change of views regarding Germany. At one time he laments that Bismarck did not include Turkey in the Triple Alliance. "If Bismarck had recognised in time that the maintenance of a strong Turkey is of vital interest to Germany it would have been better for both. Tt is a pity he refused to include us in the triplice. That would have been possible then, and even Kaiser Wilhelm should have boldly dared to include us. Instead of splitting up her surplus force over the whole world, obtaining colonies which can never bear fruit. Germany might deliberately have extended her influence to the Persian Gulf." GERMANY AS THE HONEST BROKER. Complaining later that the Bulgarians were tools of the Russians, Abdul Humid says:—"England and Russia burrow in our house like rats. Once Prance was a trustworthy rat-catcher, but now France fails us. Allah be praised! We found a substitute in Germany, for we need our honest broker to keep them all in check." Ere long, however, Abdul completely changed his tone. Towards the end of reign he writes:—"lt is really quite time we drove back German influence. We must show this grand seigneur (Baron von Bieberstein) that we distrust him and German policy. My Berlin Ambassador tells me that the Kaiser's plan is to establish a German sphere of influence in Asia Minor. T have no objection to the economic revival of Anatolia by Germany, hut the German press demands German colonisation along the Bagdad line. "What do thpse newspaper scribblers think? Do they imagine we will surrender to German colonists the Anatolian district, purchased by our forefathers at such great cost? Our misfortunes all arise from the fact thai we unfortunately failed to keep the foreign elements aloof. In Anatolia we will, and must, remain alone. Thank heaven, we still have this last refuge for our people and co-religionists, now hard-pressed on" all sides!