ong as it suited
her to keep it, and it suited her to keep it, on the whole, during the
Armenian massacres. And in that matter her refusal to interfere is,
among all her crimes, the very flower and felicity of her vileness.

Signs are not wanting that Turkey is beginning to realise the position
in which she has placed herself, namely, that of a bankrupt dependant at
the mercy of a nation to whom that quality is a mere derision. Lately a
quantity of small incidents have occurred, such as disputes over the
ownership of properties financed by Germany and the really melodramatic
depreciation in the German coinage, which unmistakably show the swift
ebb of Turkey's misplaced confidence. More significant perhaps than any
is a transaction that took place in May 1917, when Talaat Bey and Enver
Pasha took the whole of their private fortunes out of the Deutsche Bank
in Constantinople, and invested them in two Swiss banks, namely, the
Banque Nationale de Suisse, and the Banque Federale: they drew out also
the whole funds of the Committee of Union and Progress, and similarly
transferred them. This operation was not effected without loss, for in
return for the Turkish L1 they received only thirteen francs. But it is
significant that they preferred to lose over fifty per cent. of their
capital, and have the moiety secure in Switzerland to leaving it in
Constantinople.[1] It is certain therefore that at both ends of the
scale a distrust of German management has begun. A starving population
has wrecked trains loaded with food-stuffs going to Germany, and at the
other end the men with the swords of honour and dishonour deem it wise
to put their money out of reach of the great Prussian cat. That the
Germans themselves are not quite at their ease concerning the security
of their hold may also be conjectured, for they are, as far as possible,
removing Turkish troops from Constantinople, and replacing them with
their own regiments. An instance of this occurred in June 1917, when,
owing to the discontent in the capital, it was found necessary to guard
bridges, residences of Ministers, and Government offices. But instead of
recalling Turkish troops from Galicia to do this, they kept them there
in the manner of hostages, mixed up in German regiments, and sent picked
bodies of German troops to Constantinople. Fresh corps of secret police
have also been formed to suppress popular manifestations. They are
allowed to 'remove' suspects by any means t