Personal Recollections of Notable People at Home and Abroad (Volume 2); With Other Papers

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXVI. AN AFFAIR WITH THE SUBLIME PORTE. 'Is it a money claim upon the Government which brings you to Constantinople?' asked a foreign Ambassador on the day after my arrival. I informed him that it was. 'And, pray, how long do you expect to remain?' he continued. I replied that, if necessary, I was prepared to remain three or four months. 'Say three or four years, mon ami, and then you will be as far off from obtaining your money as you are to-day. I have known men who came out here to prosecute claims whose hair has turned gray with the mental strain to which they were subjected, and who went home broken down in health without a Turkish lira to show for their years of fruitless labour. Indeed, I know of one case where the unhappy victim of Turkish duplicity and procrastination died in a madhouse! Do not smile; I am telling the unvarnished truth. We have private claims upon the Turks in our own Embassy which my predecessors have endeavoured during twenty-five years to collect, without obtaining a single lira! In the first place--especially of late years--there has not been enough money in the Ottoman treasury to pay the expenses of the military, naval, and civil service. Every fresh loan--negotiated on the most exorbitant terms--barely suffices to avert national bankruptcy. The money goes to pay off former debts, or the interest on previous loans, or towards the maintenance of a worthless navy, or of this dissolute and irresponsible Sultan. I give you these facts that you may be prepared for the result. I don't wish to discourage you from making the attempt, for that of course you will do, but to warn you in time, that you may not waste years and ruin your health in chasing a chimera.' This was certainly a most discouraging prospect, and one fully ...