s hot-water bottle when she snatched at the
Constantinople quays, and they all shook and slapped him when he went to
war with Greece in 1896, and instantly deprived him of the territory he
had won in Thessaly. That was the principle of European diplomacy
towards Turkey, and from it Germany always held aloof.

But from about the beginning of the reign of the present German Emperor,
German or rather Prussian diplomacy had been going quietly about its
work. It was worth while to study the psychology of the Turks, because
dimly then, but with ever-increasing distinctness, Germany foresaw that
Turkey might be a counter of immense importance in the great conflict
which was assuredly drawing nearer, though as yet its existence was but
foreshadowed by the most distant reflections of summer lightning on a
serene horizon. But if Turkey was to be of any profit to her, she wanted
a strong Turkey who could fight with her (or rather for her), and she
had no use for the Sick Man whom the other Powers were bent on keeping
alive, but no more. Her own eventual domination of Turkey was always the
end in view, but she wanted to dominate not a weak but a strong servant.
And her diplomacy was not less than brilliant simply from the fact that
on the one hand it soothed Turkey instead of irritating, and, on the
other, that it went absolutely unnoticed for a long time. Nobody knew
that it was going on. She sent officers to train the Turkish army, well
knowing what magnificent material Anatolia afforded, and she had
thoroughly grasped the salient fact that to make any way with Oriental
peoples your purse must be open and your backshish unlimited. 'There is
no God but backshish, and the Deutsche Bank is his prophet.'

For years this went on very quietly, and all over the great field of the
Ottoman Empire the first tiny blades of the crop that Germany was sowing
began to appear. To-day that crop waves high, and covers the whole field
with its ripe and fruitful ears. For to-day Turkey is neither more nor
less than a German colony, and more than makes up to her for the
colonies she has lost and hopes to regain. She knows that perfectly
well, and so do any who have at all studied the history and the results
of her diplomacy there. Even Turkey itself must, as in an uneasy dream,
be faintly conscious of it. For who to-day is the Sultan of Turkey? No
other than William II. of Germany. It is in Berlin that his Cabinet
meets, and sometimes he asks Talaat