So passed the days of our training, swiftly, monotonously, until the fateful
December morning when the news came like a thunderbolt that Turkey was
about to join hands with Germany. We had had reports of the war—of a kind.
Copies of telegrams from Constantinople, printed in Arabic, were circulated
among us, giving accounts of endless German victories. These, however, we had
laughed at as fabrications of a Prussophile press agency, and in our skepticism
we had failed to give the Teutons credit for the successes they had actually won.
To us, born and bred in the East as we were, the success of German propaganda
in the Turkish Empire could not come as an overwhelming surprise; but its
fullness amazed us.
It may be of timely interest to say a few words here regarding this propaganda as
I have seen it in Palestine, spreading under strong and efficient organization for
twenty years.
In order to realize her imperialistic dreams, Germany absolutely needed
Palestine. It was the key to the whole Oriental situation. No mere coincidence
brought the Kaiser to Damascus in November, 1898,—the same month that
Kitchener, in London, was hailed as Gordon's avenger,—when he uttered his
famous phrase at the tomb of Saladin: "Tell the three hundred million Moslems
of the world that I am their friend!" We have all seen photographs of the imperial
figure, draped in an amazing burnous of his own designing (above which the
Prussian Pickelhaube rises supreme), as he moved from point to point in this
portentous visit: we may also have seen Caran d'Ache's celebrated cartoon (a
subject of diplomatic correspondence) representing this same imperial figure, in
its Oriental toggery, riding into Jerusalem on an ass.
The nations of Europe laughed at this visit and its transparent purpose, but it was
all part of the scheme which won for the Germans the concessions for the Konia-
Bagdad Railway, and made them owners of the double valley of the Euphrates
and Tigris. Through branch lines projected through the firman, they are
practically in control of both the Syrian routes toward the Cypriotic
Mediterranean and the Lebanon valleys. They also control the three Armenian
routes of Cappadocia, the Black Sea, and the trans-Caucasian branch of Urfa,
Marach, and Mardine. (The fall of Erzerum has altered conditions respecting this
last.) They dominate the Persian routes toward Tauris and Teheran as well; and
last, but not least, the Gulf branch of Zobeir. These railways delivered into
German hands the control of Persia, whence the road to India may be made easy:
through Syria lies the route to the Suez Canal and Egypt, which was used in
February, 1915, and will probably be used again this year.
To make this Oriental dream a reality, the Germans have not relied on their
railway concessions alone. Their Government has done everything in its power
to encourage German colonization in Palestine. Scattered all over the country are
German mills that half of the time have nothing to grind. German hotels have
been opened in places seldom frequented by tourists. German engineers
appeared in force, surveying, sounding, noting. All these colonists held
gatherings in the Arab villages, when the ignorant natives were told of the
greatness of Germany, of her good intentions, and of the evil machinations of
other powers. What I state here can be corroborated by any one who knows
Palestine and has lived in it.
About the time when we first knew that Turkey would join the Germanic powers
came the news that the "Capitulations" had been revoked. As is generally
known, foreigners formerly enjoyed the protection of their respective consuls.
The Turkish Government, under the terms of the so-called Capitulations, or
agreements, had no jurisdiction over an American, for instance, or a Frenchman,
who could not be arrested without the consent of his consul. In the Ottoman
Empire, where law and justice are not at a premium, such protection was a
wholesome and necessary policy.
The revoking of the Capitulations was a terrible blow to all the Europeans,
meaning, as it did, the practical abolition of all their rights. Upon the Arabs it
acted like an intoxicant. Every boot-black or boatman felt that he was the equal
of the accursed Frank, who now had no consul to protect him; and abuses began
immediately. Moreover, as if by magic, the whole country became Germanized.
In all the mosques, Friday prayers were ended with an invocation for the welfare
of the Sultan and "Hadji Wilhelm." The significance of this lies in the fact that
the title "Hadji" can be properly applied only to a Moslem who has made the
pilgrimage to Mecca and kissed the sacred stone of the Kaaba. Instant death is
the penalty paid by any Christian who is found within that enclosure: yet
Wilhelm II, head of the Lutheran faith, stepped forward as "Hadji Wilhelm." His
pictures were sold everywhere; German officers appeared; and it seemed as if a
wind of brutal mastery were blowing.
The dominant figure of this movement in Palestine was, without doubt, the
German Consul at Haifa, Leutweld von Hardegg. He traveled about the country,
making speeches, and distributing pamphlets in Arabic, in which it was
elaborately proved that Germans are not Christians, like the French or English,
but that they are descendants of the prophet Mohammed. Passages from the
Koran were quoted, prophesying the coming of the Kaiser as the Savior of Islam.