tantinople and
Palestine in 1898 inaugurated a Levantine policy destined to have
momentous results. On the Bosphorus he scrupled not to clasp the hand of
Sultan Abdul Hamid II., still reeking with the blood of the Christians
of Armenia and Macedonia. At Jerusalem he figured as the Christian
knight-errant, but at Damascus as the champion of the Moslem creed.
After laying a wreath on the tomb of Saladin, he made a speech which
revealed his plan of utilising the fighting power of Islam. He said:
"The three hundred million Mohammedans who live scattered over the globe
may be assured of this, that the German Emperor will be their friend at
all times." Taken in conjunction with his pro-Turkish policy, this
implied that the Triple Alliance was to be buttressed by the most
terrible fighting force in the East[502].

[Footnote 502: See Hurgronje, _The Holy War; made in Germany_, pp.
27-39, 68-78; also G.E. Holt, _Morocco the Piquant_ (1914), who says
(chap, xiv.): "Islam is waiting for war in Europe. . . . A war between any
two European Powers, in my opinion, would mean the uprising of Islam."]

During the tour he did profitable business with the Sublime Porte by
gaining a promise for the construction of a railway to Bagdad and the
Persian Gulf, under German auspices. The scheme took practical form in
1902-3, when the Sultan granted a firman for the construction of that
line together with very extensive proprietary rights along its course.
Russian opposition had been bought off in 1900 by the adoption of a more
southerly course than was originally designed; and the Kaiser now sought
to get the financial support of England to the enterprise. British
public opinion, however, was invincibly sceptical, and with justice, for
the scheme would have ruined our valuable trade on the River Tigris and
the Persian Gulf; while the proposed prolongation of the line to Koweit
on the gulf would enable Germany, Austria, and Turkey to threaten India.

By the year 1903 Austria was so far mistress of the Balkans as to render
it possible for her and Germany in the near future to send troops
through Constantinople and Asia Minor by the railways which they
controlled. Accordingly, affairs in the Near East became increasingly
strained; and, when Russia was involved in the Japanese War, no Great
Power could effectively oppose Austro-German policy in that quarter. The
influence of France and Britain, formerly paramount both politically and
commercially