* * * * * In the course of my work a trifling incident led me into a correspondence with the late Professor Arminius Vambéry, whose letters, full of insight into Turkish affairs and goodwill towards England, will be found reprinted in the Appendix. I am also indebted to my friend Lieutenant-Colonel H. P. Picot, who was H.B.M.’s Military Attaché in Teheran from 1893–1900, for a short contribution which will likewise be found in the Appendix, p. 294. From many mementoes in my possession I have chosen the autographed portrait of Ghazi Osman Pasha for reproduction as being that of the hero of a people whose fine qualities no one who is acquainted with them can fail to admire. S. W. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE PART I I. INTRODUCTORY 1 II. THE ARMENIAN OUTBREAK IN CONSTANTINOPLE, 10 1896 III. THE GRÆCO-TURKISH WAR, 1897 36 IV. JOURNEY THROUGH ASIATIC TURKEY: I 57 V. JOURNEY THROUGH ASIATIC TURKEY: II 82 VI. JOURNEY THROUGH ASIATIC TURKEY: III 101 VII. JOURNEY THROUGH ASIATIC TURKEY: IV 118 PART II VIII. YILDIZ PALACE 137 IX. SULTAN ABDUL HAMID 159 X. A CITY OF DIPLOMATISTS 183 XI. THE LEVANTINE 199 XII. THE TURK AND HIS CREED 210 XIII. TURKISH TRAITS: I 233 XIV. TURKISH TRAITS: II 245 XV. CONCLUSION 261 APPENDIX 283 INDEX 299 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PART I ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY Not oft I’ve seen such sight nor heard such song, As wooed the eye, and thrilled the Bosphorus along. BYRON, _Childe Harold_, Canto xi.