put in charge of any race but his own, for he
is at heart a bitter wolf who will turn and rend without ruth or
warning. I have met Turks who have shown tact, humanity, and ability
under trying conditions, and I have met well-mannered wolves in
captivity, but would not trust the pack ranging in its native forest. I
once heard a member of our Ottoman Embassy who has unique experience of
the Turk size him up as follows: "The Turk can be a suave and cultured
gentleman till his time comes, and then he will tear your guts out and
_dance_ on them." It was the Seljouk Turks whose persecutions caused
the Crusades. Before them, Arab rule in Palestine was tolerant enough,
and the Caliph Omar was scrupulously careful when he entered Jerusalem
as a conqueror to respect Christian prejudices and the monuments of our
creed.

So it came about that their empire was dropping from them piecemeal even
before the War, for a race that can no longer conquer and has never
learned to conciliate must draw in its borders or cease to exist as a
State.

When war broke out Turkey was just hanging on to the last scrap of her
empire in Europe and had lost all but the shadow of sovereignty in
Egypt, while Arabia was seething with discontent, where not in actual
revolt, and regarded the belated efforts of local officials to govern
tactfully as signs of weakness.

The colossal brigandage of Germany appealed to her freebooting
instincts, although it took a corrupt, self-seeking Government and a
final push from the "Goeben" and the "Breslau" to plunge her into war
against her best friends.

To proclaim a _jihad_ was her obvious course, if only to keep Arabia
moderately quiet, apart from its value as a weapon against her Christian
foes. We will now see how she fared in the "Holy War."

CHAPTER II

ITS BEARING ON THE WAR

Quite early in the War those of us who had to deal with pan-Islamic
propaganda realised that the widespread organisation which Germany had
grafted on to the original Turkish movement must have existed some time
before the outbreak of actual hostilities.

For example, there was a snug, smooth-running concern at San Francisco
which spread its tentacles all over the Moslem world, but specialised in
a seditious newspaper called _El'-Ghadr_, which means treachery or
mutiny. This was particularly directed at our Indian Army, but Egypt was
not forgotten. A gifted censor sent us an early copy, but had,
unfortunately, lost the wrap