HLI Chronicle 1909 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE.37houses and laid bare some of the prettiestparts of the native town of Stamboul.As the weather was still somewhat hot,we agreed to go out and stay at Therapia,on the Bosphorus, the summer residence of theEnglish and other Embassies. Here we founda most excellent hotel, and were also mosthospitably entertained by the Embassy.The trip up the Bosphorus is exceedinglypretty, the whole length being lined with prettyvillas-the property of ministers and otherwealthy notables-and, as it was only aboutan hour from Constantinople, we were ableto go there daily to see bazaars and other sights.We were lucky enough to find an old friendthere who was the correspondent of ourleading London journal, and he was kindenough to introduce us to a large numberof the Young Turkish Committee, from whomwe were able to glean a lot of information.The feeling in favour of the English at thepresent moment is great, and I only hopethat our authorities will do all they can tofoster it. We who have lived all our livesunder the flag of freedom can with difficultyunderstand the foolings of the Turks at thepresent moment, and it is hard to believe allthe stOlies one hears of the changes thathave taken place.Apparently the Committee have enormouspowers. I was told that under the old regimeno woman could walk about alone, as shewas always insulted, if not molested, by thesoldiery. Now all is changed, and the barracksquares are frequented by nurses and ehildren.We had an opportunity of seeing the Selamik,which is the name given to the weekly·ceremony when the Sultan goes to prayeron Friday at his mosque. It was an interestingspectacle-an enormous number oftroops, most of whom were disgracefully turnedout, but were physically a fine body of men.The Sultan drove in an open carriage,accompanied by his Grand Vizier, and wassurrounded by a large body of J;'ield Marshalsand other high officials on foot.Lemonade and biscuits are distributed freeamongst the soldiers as well as the spectators,.but I understand that this is going to bestopped under the new regime, as it is too expensive.The last few days of our time we spent at aTurkish village with some English friends,.who had a house there. This gave us an,excellent idea of Turkish village life, and itwas exceedingly interesting. I was surprisedto hear that, although this family had beenfor years in this village, public security wasstill so bad that they never considered it wiseto leave the house unless they were armed,and this was in a village within twenty miles.of Constantinople. This only adds ~ pointto the fact that the Young Turkish Committeehave a very difficult task in front of themnotouly to organise their Government, butalso to secure that public security throughouttheir domain which will give some chance to·foreigners to stake their capital in enterpriseswithin the Turkish Empire.At present, as far as I know, they havearranged for English advisers for their navyand customs, French advisers for their finance,and Germans for their army, but the questionof police and public security has not yetbeen considered. 'Whether this multitudeof foreign advisers will cause confusion remainsto be seen, but it is to be hoped that theYoung Turkish Party will succeed in reestablishingtheir country, which they willprobably succeed in doing if no internaldissension takes place, which, I trust, theywill be able to avoid.The voyage home, being by the same route,calls for no comment, and we arrived backin Alexandria, having spent a most interestingthree weeks' leave. A. C. G.