The consciousness that Turkey has committed an unbounded folly has long ago been borne in upon wide circles of Turks in spite of falsified reports and a stringent censorship. There would be no risk at all in taking on a wager that in private conversation with ten separate Turks, in no way connected with the "Committee," nine of them will admit, as soon as they know there is no chance of betrayal, that they do not believe Turkey will win, and that, with the exception of the much-feared Russia, they still feel as friendly as ever towards their present enemies. "_Quoi qu'il arrive, c'est toujours la pauvre Turquie qui va payer le pot cassé._" ("Whatever happens, it's always poor Turkey that'll have to pay the piper") and "_Nous avons fait une grande gaffe_" ("We _have_ put our foot in it") were the kind of remarks made in every single political discussion I ever had in Constantinople--even with Turks. So much for the men, who judge with their reason. What of the women? The one sigh of cultured Turkish women, up to the highest in the land--who should have a golden book written in their honour for their readiness to help, their sympathy, and humanity in this war--is: "When shall we get rid of the Boches; when will our good old friends, the English and the French, come back to us?" Nice results, these, of German propaganda, German culture, German brotherhood of arms! What a sad and shameful story for a German to have to tell! Naturally the drastic system of the military dictatorship precludes the public expression of such feelings, but one needs only have seen with one's own eyes the looks so often cast by even real Turkish cultured society at the German _Feldgrauen_ who often marched in close formation through the streets of Constantinople--for a time they used to sing German soldiers' songs, until that was prohibited at the express wish of the Turkish Government to see how the land lies. There was a marked and ill-concealed contrast in the coldness shown to Imperial German officers and the lavish affection showered on the Austrians and Hungarians who used for a time often to pass through Constantinople on their way to the Dardanelles or Anatolia with their heavy artillery. They were a great deal more sociable than their German comrades, and one could not fail to note the significance of such freely voiced comments as "_N'est-ce pas, ils sont charmants les Autrichiens?_" ("The Austrians _are_ delightful, aren't they?") The sight of us Germans, especially the very considerable German garrison stationed for a time in the Capital, awakened in the Turks, however much they might recognise the military necessity for their presence, remarkable ideas about the future "German Egyptising of Turkey," and everyone blamed Enver Pasha as the man responsible for Germany's penetrating thus far.