"Say for the first reason," replied the Pacha, "and I agree with you, for you English, by all accounts, dearly love your gold. However, I should have thought that by this time your people had learned that we were not the originators of the massacres in Bulgaria."
"Who caused them, the Russians?"
The Pacha nodded his head affirmatively.
"If there be a war in Asia Minor, they will do their best to excite our Kurds to massacre the Armenians in the neighbourhood of Van, and will then throw all the blame upon our shoulders."
"Do you think that the Russians will be able to conquer you in Asia Minor?" I inquired.
"No, we are the strongest in this part of the world. The Georgians, Tartars, and Circassians hate the Russians, and will rise against them; besides that there are no roads."
"But Russia has taken Kars before."
"Yes, but she will not do so this time, and I should not be surprised if we were to go to Tiflis instead."
This I subsequently found to be the prevailing opinion amidst all the civil and military Pachas in Asia Minor.
"What do you think will be the final result of the war?" I now inquired of the Pacha.