"Let the fellow come in," he observed; then, turning to me, he remarked that a Turk had just arrived from the Russian frontier, and brought the latest news of the military preparations in Erivan.
For some time past the Russians had prohibited any inhabitant of Turkey from crossing the border-line. It was difficult to obtain any authentic information as to the quantity of troops the Tzar's generals had massed in the neighbourhood. The new arrival succeeded in passing the boundary-line by saying to the Russian officers that he had been forcibly enlisted as a soldier, and was a deserter from his regiment. He had obtained permission to return to Turkey by declaring that he wished to bring his wife—who lived in a village near Bayazid—to Erivan: the Russian general had ordered him to obtain as much information as he could about the strength and disposition of the Turkish forces. He was a thick-set, sturdy-looking little fellow, with a bull neck and keen grey eyes; his attire consisting of a blue turban, a yellow shirt, and a pair of crimson trousers. According to him, the Mollahs were preaching a war of extermination against the Russians in Persia. However, the natives of that country were very lukewarm in their friendship to the Turks. It was not impossible that they would join Russia, or at all events allow the Tzar's troops to march through their territory in the event of an offensive movement against Van.
The Pacha took up a Turkish newspaper which he had just received from Constantinople.
"Listen!" he said. "The man who writes for this paper knows what he is about."
The article was to the effect that Russia wished to drive the Turks out of Europe because they were Mohammedans, and because in European Turkey the Christians were in the majority. "Very good," said the writer, "let us abandon Europe; but in Asia the Christians are in the minority. According to the same reasoning, the Russians and English ought to leave all their Asiatic possessions, and give them up to the original proprietors of the soil. Our Sultan has no objection to let every Christian in his dominions leave Turkey and go to Russia; but the Tzar, on the contrary, he will not let the Mohammedans in his empire cross the frontier: if they try to do so, he sends his soldiers; they cut the throats of our co-religionists. A Conference, composed for the most part of Christians, has been held at Constantinople to inquire into the way the Sultan treats his Christian subjects. Why should not a Conference be assembled at St. Petersburg, composed for the most part of Mohammedans, to inquire into the way the Tartars, Turkomans, and other inhabitants of Central Asia are treated by the Tzar?"
"Yes," said the Pacha, as he finished reading to me these extracts. The European Powers dislike Russia, and, although they hate her, and know that she is the origin of all our difficulties, they are too timid to allow the fact. What a mockery it must have seemed to the representatives of England, France, and Germany, to find themselves sitting in judgment upon Turkey, and General Ignatieff, instead of being equally on his trial, seated at their side, and a judge instead of a prisoner! Does it not make you smile to think of it?" added the Pacha; "how the general must have laughed in his sleeve!"
Another officer entered the room. He had been educated in the military school at Constantinople. From frequent intercourse with Europeans, mostly Frenchmen, he had begun to look down upon the religious observances of his countrymen.
It was about the hour for the evening prayer. The Pacha, Cadi, and several other Turks commenced performing their devotions, regardless of the presence of a stranger. The new arrival, the Hungarian doctor, and myself, remained seated, the former remarking that it was very hard work praying, at the same time glancing rather contemptuously at his superior officers.
"Did you not pray when you were at Constantinople?" I inquired.
"Effendi, I did everything à la Franga (in European fashion). Europeans, from what I could learn, do not pray much."