CONSTANTINOPLE IN AUGUST.
Another letter from the same source, dated Constantinople, Aug. 6, gives the following picture of the Turkish capital in the early days of the European war:
It is impossible to describe the way in which the Porte is trying to put the country on a war footing, notwithstanding the terrible odds she has to fight against. God only knows what the Turks are expecting if the Austro-Servian conflict turns out according to their desires, or if the European conflict takes the form of a decisive Austro-German victory. We now have ample proof to show that the Turkish mobilization is in such a way conducted as to be ready to act in common with Bulgaria, in a simultaneous attack against Greek and Servian Macedonia, as soon as the Austrians have a first decisive victory over the Servians. This scheme, however, seems to be doomed since the entry of Great Britain into the general war, and there are indications that Turkey, warned by England and Russia, will disband her already mobilized army. On the other hand, the news reaches Constantinople that the Russian forces have crossed the frontier into Turkish Armenia, and occupied Erzeroum, while Enver Pasha was seen yesterday, (Aug. 5,) paying hasty visits to the Russian and British Embassies. While such is the political situation, matters are still worse in the business world of the Turkish capital. It is almost impossible to give an idea of the general upheaval brought about by greedy speculators, who are taking advantage of this anomalous situation, and by the Government itself, requisitioning everything they can lay their hands on, regardless of reason or necessity.
Policemen and Sheriffs, followed by military officers, are taking by force everything in the way of foodstuffs, entering the bakeries and other shops selling victuals, boarding ships with cargoes of flour, potatoes, wheat, rice, &c., and taking over virtually everything, giving in lieu of payment a receipt which is not worth even the paper on which it is written.
In this way many shops are forced to close, bread has entirely disappeared from the bakeries, and Constantinople, the capital of a neutral country, is already feeling all the troubles and privations of a besieged city. Prices for foodstuffs have soared to inaccessible heights as provisions are becoming scarce. Actual hand-to-hand combats are taking place in the streets outside the bakeries for the possession of a loaf of bread, and hungry women with children in their arms are seen crying and weeping in despair.
Many merchants, afraid lest the Government requisition their goods, hastened to have their orders canceled, the result being that no merchandise of any kind is coming to Constantinople either from Europe or from Anatolia.
Both on account of the recruiting of their employes and of shortage of coal the companies operating the electric tramways of the city have reduced their service to the minimum, as no power is available for the running of the cars.
Heartrending scenes are witnessed in front of the closed doors of the various banking establishments, where large posters are to be seen, bearing the inscription: Closed temporarily, by order of the Government. The most popular of these institutions is the Wiener Bankverein. This bank, by making special inducements to small depositors and by paying a higher interest than the others, succeeded in concentrating the savings of many people of the working classes, and as this institution is in imminent danger the rush to its doors is exceptionally great and riotous.
The municipality has issued a number of ordinances fixing the prices of all necessary commodities, and the Government, after the first panic, declared that no further requisitions are to be made. At the same time the authorities took special pains in order to induce the various merchants to import goods from abroad, thus relieving the extremely strained situation of the market; but it is doubtful whether such measures will have any calming effect on the scared population.
Immediately after war was declared between Germany and Russia the Porte ordered the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles closed to every kind of shipping, at the same time barring the entrances of these channels with rows of mines. The first boat to suffer from this measure was a British merchantman, which was sunk outside the Bosphorus, while another had a narrow escape in the Dardanelles. A large number of steamers of every nationality are waiting outside the straits for the special pilot boats of the Turkish Government, in order to pass in safety through the dangerous mine field. This measure of closing the straits was suggested to Turkey by Austria and Germany, and was primarily intended against Russia, as it was feared that her Black Sea fleet might force its way into the Sea of Marmora and the Aegean.