As far as my post on the K?lnische Zeitung is concerned, I accepted it and went to Turkey although I was from the very beginning against German "World-politics" of the present-day style at any rate (not against German commercial and cultural activity in foreign countries) and against militarism—as was only to be expected from one who had studied colonial politics and universal history unreserved[Pg 284]ly, and had spent many years studying in the English, French, and German colonies of Africa—and although I was quite convinced that Germany's was the crime of setting the war in motion. Besides, my "anti-militarism" is not of a dogmatic kind, but refers merely to the relations customary between civilised nations—witness the fact that I took part in the Colonial War of 1904-6 in German South-West Africa as a volunteer.
I hoped to find in Turkey some satisfaction for my extra-European leanings, a sphere of labour less absorbed by German militarism, and opportunity for independent study, and surely no one will take it amiss that I seized such a chance, certainly unique in war-time, in spite of my political views.
Once arrived in Turkey, I kept well in the background to begin with, so as to be able to form my own opinion, of course doing my uttermost at the same time to be loyal to the task I had undertaken. In spite of everything I had to witness, it was quite easy to reconcile all oppositions3, until that famous day when my wife denounced Germany to my face. From that moment I became an enemy of pres[Pg 285]ent-day Germany and began to think of one day publishing the whole truth about the system. Until then I had contented4 myself with never saying a good word about the war, as one can easily find for oneself from a perusal5 of my various articles in the K?lnische Zeitung during 1915-16, dated from Constantinople and marked (a small steamship).
That dramatic event which finally alienated6 me from the German cause took place just after the end of a severe crisis in my relationship with German-Turkish Headquarters. Some slight hints I had given of Turkish mismanagement, cynicism, and jingoism7 in a series of articles appearing from February 15th, 1916, onwards, under the title "Turkish Economic Problems," so far as they were possible under existing censorship conditions, was the occasion of the trouble. One can imagine that Headquarters would certainly be furious with a journalist whose articles appeared one fine day, literally8 translated, in the Matin under the title: "Situation insupportable en Turquie, décrite par2 un journaliste allemand" ("Insufferable situation in Turkey, described by a German journalist"), and cropped up[Pg 286] once more on June 1st, in the Journal des Balcans, I was three times over threatened with dismissal. My paper sent a confidential9 man to hold an inquiry10, and after a month he made a confidential report, which resulted in my being allowed to remain. But the fact that the same journalist that wrote such things was married to a Czech was too much for my colleagues, who were in part in the pay of the Embassy, in part in the pay of the Young Turkish Committee, whose politics they praised, regardless of their own inward convictions, like the representative of the Berliner Tageblatt, to get material benefit or make sure of their own jobs. I gleaned11 many humorous details at a nightly sitting of my Press colleagues in Pera, at which I myself was branded as a "dangerous character that must be got rid of," and my wife (who was far too young ever to worry about politics) as a "Russian spy"—perhaps because, with the justifiable12 pride and reserve of her race, she did not attempt to cultivate the society of the German colony. That began the period of intrigues13 and ill-will, but my enemies did not succeed in damaging me, although matters went so far as a denunciation[Pg 287] of me before the "Prevention of Espionage14 Department" of the General Staff in Berlin. My paper, after they had given me the fullest moral satisfaction, and had arranged for me to remain in Constantinople in spite of all that had taken place, thought it was better to give me the chance of changing and offered me a new post on the editorial staff elsewhere.
However, I was now quite finished with Germany, or rather with its politics; it would have been a moral impossibility for me to write another single word in the editorial line; so I refused the offer and applied15 for sick-leave from October 1st, 1916, to the end of the war (by telegram about the middle of August). It was granted me with an expression of regret.
Arrived in Switzerland (February 7th, 1917), I severed16 all connection with my paper by mutual17 consent from October 1st, 1916, onwards. After my resignation, no special editorial representative of the K?lnische Zeitung was appointed to take my place, as the censorship made any kind of satisfactory work impossible.
I should like to emphasise18 the fact that the intrigues against me, the crisis with Head[Pg 288]quarters I have just mentioned, and my departure from Constantinople did not injure me in any way either morally or financially, and have nothing whatever to do with the present publication. It is certainly not any petty annoyance19 that could bring me to such an action, which will probably entail20 more than enough unpleasant consequences for me. The reproaches levelled against me by my pushing, jingoistic21 colleagues were as impotent as their attempts to get rid of me as "dangerous to the German Cause"; I have written proof of this from my paper in my hand, and also of the fact that it was of my own free-will that I retired22. I can therefore look forward quite calmly to all the personal invective23 that is sure to be showered on me for political reasons.
I had sufficient independent means not to feel the loss of my post in Constantinople too keenly; and if I still kept my post after the beginning of the crisis with Headquarters, it was simply and solely24 so that as a newspaper correspondent I might be in possession of fuller information, and able to follow up as long as possible the developments that were taking place on that most interesting soil of[Pg 289] Turkey. When that was no longer possible, I refused the post offered me in Cologne—in fact twice, once by letter and once by telegram—for I could not pretend to opinions I directly opposed. I therefore remained as a free-lance in the Turkish capital. I was extremely glad that the difference of opinion ended as it did, for I had at last a free hand to say and write what I thought and felt.
My stay in Constantinople for a further three months as a silent observer naturally did not escape the notice of the German authorities, and after they had reported to the Foreign Office that a "satisfactory co-operation between me and the German representatives was not longer possible," they had of course to discover some excuse for putting an end to my prolonged stay in Turkey. They finally attempted to get rid of me by calling me up for military duty again. But this was useless in my case, for my health had been badly shaken by my spell at the Front at the beginning of the war, and besides I had the doctor's word for it that I should never be able to stand the German climate after having lived so long in the Tropics.
[Pg 290]
Whether they liked it or not, the authorities had to find some other means of getting me out of Constantinople. The Consul-General approached me, after he had discussed the matter with the Ambassador, to see if I would not like to go to Switzerland to get properly cured; otherwise he was sure I would be turned out by the Turks. They were evidently afraid, for I was getting more and more into bad odour with the German authorities for my ill-concealed opinions, that I would publish my impressions, with documentary support, as soon as ever there was a change of government in Turkey, or as soon as the German censorship was removed and anything of the kind was possible. They apparently25 thought that the frontier regulations would be quite sufficient to prevent my taking any documentary evidence with me to Switzerland.
As a matter of fact this was the case, and the day before my departure from Constantinople I carefully burned the whole of my many notes, which would have produced a much more effective indictment26 against the moral sordidness27 of the German-Young Turkish system than these very general sketches28. But the[Pg 291] strictest frontier regulations could not prevent me from taking with me, free of all censorship, the impressions I had received in Turkey, and the opinions I had arrived at after a painful battle for loyalty29 to myself as a German and to the duties I had undertaken. Even then I had considerable difficulty in getting across the frontier, and I had to wait seventeen whole days at the frontier before I was finally allowed into Switzerland. It was only owing to the fact that I sent a telegram to the Chancellor30, on the authority of the Consul-General in Constantinople, begging that no difficulties of a political kind might be placed in the way of my going to Switzerland, as I had been permitted to do so by medical certificate, the passport authorities and the local command, that I finally won my point with the frontier authorities and was permitted to cross into Switzerland.
To tell the truth, I must admit that the high civil authorities, and particularly the Foreign Office, treated me throughout most kindly31 and courteously32. For this one reason I had a hard fight with myself, right up to the very last, even after I arrived in Switzerland, before I[Pg 292] sat down and wrote out my impressions and opinions of German-Turkish politics. And if I have now finally decided33 to make them public, I can only do so with an expression of the most honest regret that my private and political conscience has not allowed me to requite34 the kindness of the authorities by keeping silent about what I saw of the German and Turkish system.
The End
The End
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
ward
|
|
| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
par
|
|
| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
oppositions
|
|
| （强烈的）反对( opposition的名词复数 )； 反对党； （事业、竞赛、游戏等的）对手； 对比 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
contented
|
|
| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
perusal
|
|
| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
alienated
|
|
| adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
jingoism
|
|
| n.极端之爱国主义 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
literally
|
|
| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
confidential
|
|
| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
gleaned
|
|
| v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的过去式和过去分词 )；（收割后）拾穗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
justifiable
|
|
| adj.有理由的，无可非议的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
intrigues
|
|
| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
espionage
|
|
| n.间谍行为，谍报活动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
applied
|
|
| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
severed
|
|
| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
mutual
|
|
| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
emphasise
|
|
| vt.加强...的语气，强调，着重 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
annoyance
|
|
| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
entail
|
|
| vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
jingoistic
|
|
| adj.强硬外交政策的，侵略分子的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
invective
|
|
| n.痛骂，恶意抨击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
solely
|
|
| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
indictment
|
|
| n.起诉；诉状 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
sordidness
|
|
| n.肮脏；污秽；卑鄙；可耻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
28
sketches
|
|
| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
loyalty
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
chancellor
|
|
| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
courteously
|
|
| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
requite
|
|
| v.报酬，报答 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |