"Please God we shall," I replied devoutly.
"You know," he continued, "that we are much stronger than people in Europe believe. We can put an army of 700,000 men into the field."
"Praise be to Allah!" interrupted an elderly Turk who was squatted on the carpet, at the same time gravely stroking his white beard.
"Why is it that the people in England hate us so much?" inquired the Pacha.
"Partly on account of the excesses of your irregular soldiers in Bulgaria; but mainly because you repudiated your debt. How should you like to have lent money and then to receive no interest?"
"Yes, you are right. It was a great mistake. But that is all Russia's fault. Her agents brought about the revolution in the Herzegovina. Her functionaries encouraged Sultan Abdul Aziz in his extravagance, and were the main cause of the debt being repudiated. They thought that this would make us unpopular with England, and they were very right in their conjectures. There is plenty of wealth in Turkey," he continued. "If it were not for the impending war, we could pay some part of our interest now; but Russia will not let us be quiet. She compels us to keep up a large army. Her agents bring about massacres of Christians, and set the whole world against us."[5]
"If there is a war, I hope that we shall cut the throats of all the Russians," interrupted the old gentleman on the carpet.
"Allah grant that we may!" exclaimed the rest of the assembly.
Coffee and pipes were now handed round, and my interview came to an end. The Pacha having kindly given orders for a telegram to be sent to Scutari, to inquire if anything had been heard of my runaway horse.