* * *
I have spent my first day in Constantinople in a long walk through the old town. I wanted to see how the declaration of war had affected the population. To tell the truth, it does not seem to have affected the people at all.
The manager of the hotel told me it was better to substitute my western headgear for a fez if I wanted to go into Stamboul or Scutari, and he advised me also to speak German if I had to ask for some directions.
It is the only foreign language which is not likely to wake up the anti-Christian sentiments of the crowd.
Pera, the modern and civilised part of Constantinople, gives the impression of a big spa out of season. The large hotels are mostly closed, the cafés, the restaurants, the shops which generally sell only to the tourist had no customers this year and did not open at all.
I noticed that the few shops open had taken away from the windows the little boards announcing that English or Russian is spoken. "On parle français" was still in evidence, but the other languages were apparently extinct. Constantinople at the moment speaks only German.
Protected by my red fez, I crossed the long bridge which leads to Stamboul and found myself in the old city. The crowd seemed to be occupied with anything on earth but the war. There was the usual noise, there were the usual cries, the usual slow-going traffic.
This seemed rather curious to me. Was it possible that nobody could realise what a terrible move the Turkish Government had made the day before? Did they even know that Turkey was at war with Russia and that to-morrow probably all the Allies would be against her?
Only the night before the key to the enigma had been given me by a dragoman who, though in a lower social scale, could nevertheless speak German:—"We did not want this war," he said. "We did not want either the Balkan War or the war against Italy, but, after all, we know perfectly that the more silly things our rulers do, the sooner they will have to go, and the sooner the better.
"We are tired of the so-called Young Turk Government. It is worse than the Government of Abdul Hamid. Things being as they are, we keep quiet and hope it will be over as soon as possible."