1915: I leave it to you whether you should warn the Turkish Government urgently against rash measures against the Armenians, and whether you should advocate the cancelling of death-sentences against their leaders.' In consequence of this suggestion, Wangenheim thought it fit to send to the Turkish Government a mild note of protest, in which he appealed to Turkey's self-interest. The document is given in full by Dr Lepsius. This note of protest was handed to the Grand Vizier on July 4, 1915. On the same day Mr Lewis Einstein, an American diplomatist who had been attached to the American Embassy in Constantinople, wrote in his diary :

'In most instances the German Consuls have refused their assistance in mitigating this persecution of Armenians. They themselves have been willing enough, but had received instructions not to interfere in this from their Embassy. The Germans explain that, being allies in a life-and-death struggle, they cannot preach to the Turks. But inwardly many are not sorry to see their only possible rivals in trade destroyed.'

Although the German Ambassador and the German Government in Berlin were completely indifferent to the fate of the Armenians, they protested mildly, and in writing, against their persecution. In the opinion of the American diplomatists in Constantinople, they did so in order to be able to prove later, when reproached with their indifference, that they had done all that was humanly possible, but that their protests had proved unavailing.

Mr Morgenthau, the American Ambassador at Constantinople, in his excellent book, 'Secrets of the Bosphorus,' writes as follows:

'Wangenheim affected to regard the Armenian question as a matter that chiefly affected the United States. My constant intercession on their behalf apparently created the impression, in his Germanic mind, that any mercy shown this people would be a concession to the American Government. And at that moment he was not disposed to do anything that would please the American people.

"The United States is apparently the only country that takes much interest in the Armenians," he said. "Your missionaries are their friends and your people have constituted themselves their guardians. The whole question of helping

them is therefore an American matter. How, then, can you expect me to do anything as long as the United States is selling ammunition to the enemies of Germany? Mr Bryan has just published his Note, saying that it would be unneutral not to sell munitions to England and France. So long as your Government maintains that attitude we can do nothing for the Armenians.

The attitude of the German representatives in Constantinople, when approached about the Armenian tragedy, was one of utter indifference. They did not allow themselves to be disturbed when dining, or when playing cards, if the Armenian topic was raised, but showed plainly to their interlocutors that the subject bored them. That may be seen from the accounts of the American diplomatists and of others. But, while the German Ambassador at Constantinople and the Government in Berlin were entirely unconcerned about the sufferings of the Armenians, they strongly desired that the guilt should fall entirely upon Turkey, On July 16, 1915, Wangenheim wrote to Bethmann Hollweg:

Notwithstanding our repeated pressing representations, the Turkish Government continues to deport the Armenians and to expose them to destruction by settling them in barren districts. We cannot prevent them in this, but we must leave to Turkey the responsibility for the economic and political consequences.'

On the same day Wangenheim dispatched to the Imperial Chancellor a copy of a report, dated July 4, 1915, which he had received from Vice-Consul Kuckhoff from Samsun. In this report the Consul described the Armenian horrors and foretold that the world would attribute the guilt to Germany, adding:

'The consequences of the Armenian horrors becoming known can be foreseen. A cry of indignation will be heard throughout the Christian world. All the achievements of the Protestant and Roman Catholic Missions in Anatolia have been destroyed. Germany's enemies will of course exploit this affair, and our own countrymen also may be expected to be filled with the deepest indignation. The worst of the matter is that the whole world will attribute the guilt for the Armenian horrors to Germany, for our friends and our enemies believe that Germany dominates Turkey completely, and that such a Vol. 233.-No. 463.

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radical and important measure could not have been taken except with Germany's consent. . . .'

There were further protests on the part of the German Embassy, especially during Wangenheim's temporary absence from July 20 to Oct. 2, 1915. During that time Prince Hohenlohe-Langenburg was in charge. He followed faithfully the policy of indifference adopted by Wangenheim and approved by the German Chancellor and the German Foreign Office. It is evident that the Turks fully understood that the protests made regarding the Armenians were made only pro forma, and pro forma they promised to abandon their cruelties.

While completely indifferent to the fate of the Armenians, the German representatives in Constantinople feared that Germany might be gravely compromised by the barbarous action of its ally, as Consul Kuckhoff had foretold in his Report of July 4 already quoted. It was generally believed in the provinces that the Germans had instigated the Armenian massacres. Hence Prince Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the temporary Ambassador, telegraphed to the German Consulates in the provinces:

'During the last few weeks the Armenian atrocities have taken such an extension, our repeated representations notwithstanding, that we are in duty bound to express our distinct disapproval, if necessary. Turkish officers, clergymen and other people in Turkey have openly stated that we Germans were the cause of these horrors." Such compromising statements must be energetically refuted.'

Germany occupied a position of undisputed superiority among the Central Powers. Her diplomatists and her generals directed all the activities of her allies. Turkey occupied a position of great inferiority, for she was dependent upon Germany for expert direction, for money, and for arms and ammunition. Thus Germany was able to bring considerable pressure to bear upon the Turks. The world began to reproach Germany for the Turkish massacres, because it was generally recognised that, although Germany might not have instigated them, she was certainly able to prevent or stop them. Hence Under-Secretary Zimmermann telegraphed to the Embassy at Constantinople on Aug. 18, 1915:

'Please express to the Turkish Government at an opportune time and in a suitable manner the conviction that the proceedings taken against the Armenians cannot be in accordance with the intentions and instructions given by the Government at Constantinople. Our friends in the Turkish Cabinet must understand that we have a lively interest in the suppression of these excesses, if only because we have been reproached with having originated them.'

Five weeks later, on Sept. 22, Herr Zimmermann telegraphed to the German Ambassador, requesting him to make once more a strong representation to the Turkish Government in favour of the Armenians. He desired that the Turkish Government should insist with energy upon the provincial authorities carrying out the instructions, which the Turks were supposed to have issued, for the protection of the Christian peoples, and particularly of the Armenian population. Of course, no such instructions had really been given. The Turks mendaciously asserted that, according to the orders dispatched, the provincial authorities should act with the greatest humanity; but the Germans ought to have been aware, and probably were aware, that these mendacious excuses and assertions belonged to the time-honoured stock-in-trade of Turkish diplomacy.

On Oct. 2 Wangenheim returned to Constantinople and once more took up the work of the Embassy, which he carried on to the day of his death, Oct. 25. During this time the American Ambassador, Mr Morgenthau, had a lengthy conversation with the German Ambassador, in which he renewed his efforts to induce Wangenheim to pursue an energetic policy in favour of the Armenians. The American Ambassador, in his book 'Secrets of the Bosphorus,' thus narrates his final conversation with the callous German:

Wangenheim returned to Constantinople in early October. For more than an hour, sitting together over the tea-table, we had our last conversation on this subject. . . . We again discussed the deportations. "Germany is not responsible for this," Wangenheim said. 'You can assert that to the end of time," I replied; "but nobody will believe it. The world will always hold Germany responsible; the guilt of these crimes will be your inheritance for ever. I know that you have filed a paper protest. But what does that amount to?

You know better than I do that such a protest will have no effect. I do not claim that Germany is responsible for these massacres in the sense that she instigated them; but she is responsible in the sense that she had power to stop them and did not use it. And it is not only America and your present enemies that will hold you responsible. The German people will themselves some day call you to account.

""All that you say may be true," replied the German Ambassador, "but the big problem that confronts us is to win this war. Turkey has settled with her foreign enemies; she has done that at the Dardanelles and at Gallipoli. She is now trying to settle her internal affairs. At the present stage of internal affairs in Turkey, I shall not intervene." saw that it was useless to discuss the matter further. was a man who was devoid of sympathy and human pity, and I turned from him in disgust.'

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While the Germans refused to intervene with energy for the sake of humanity, they acted with some determination if Germany's interests seemed likely to suffer. When, for instance, the Turks wished to remove-which meant to exterminate-the employees and workers on the Bagdad Railway, a German undertaking, built with German money, General von Falkenhayn telegraphed from Headquarters to Enver Pasha :

'The development of the military position makes it appear possible that the transporting power of the railways which lead towards Syria and Mesopotamia will have to be increased to the utmost. I would therefore ask for your assistance. Please enable the railways to retain their experienced personnel. The efficiency of the railways would be seriously endangered if their Armenian employees should be deported during the war.'

In this case Germany's protest was successful. The Armenians on the Bagdad Railway were allowed to remain. If Germany had with similar energy insisted upon the protection of the Armenians in general, the massacres would never have taken place.

The German Government was not only kept informed on the Armenian position by its official representatives, whose reports possibly failed to depict the situation in all its horror, but it was also bombarded by private people with accounts which should have softened a heart of stone. For instance, Dr Martin Niepage, a