Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VIII. Intrigues at Sofia
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
io 92
INTRIGUES AT SOFIA [chap.viii.
Minister’s position was insecure and that from
henceforth one need not reckon much with his opinions or
advice. All this was known also to my foreign
colleagues, and several of them gave me friendly warning
of what was being plotted and hatched against me.
But I am anticipating events. Let us return to the
spring of 1912.
During the month of May I succeeded in making
a trip to Constantinople which I had had in view for a
long time. I had left the Bosphorus twenty years ago
and I was delighted at the prospect of renewing my
glorious impressions of this unique spot. Moreover, I
wished to have a heart to heart talk to Michel de Giers,
recently appointed Russian Ambassador to
Constantinople, to Hartwig’s intense disappointment. I had
met M. de Giers in St. Petersburg in March, but we
had not had time to talk at great length, besides de Giers
lacked the most essential element of a political
interview—his own impressions of Constantinople, where
he was going for the first time.
During an enchanting week, I had again before my
eyes the marvellous panorama of the shores of the
Bosphorus and of the Sea of Marmara and all the
well-known pictures of Constantinopolitan life. I found few
changes. Only the wretched street curs no longer
existed ; the picturesque and crazy wooden bridge
connecting Galata and Stambul, and lined with fruit stalls
and shops where Turkish delicacies were sold, had been
replaced by an ordinary iron bridge ; and in the environs
of Pera Turkish soldiers, newly dressed in khaki, were
drilling without ceasing under the watchful eye of
German instructors, which in my day was a somewhat
rare sight. Everything else looked very much as usual.
During one of my visits to the Grand Bazaar of Stambul
a fire broke out in the adjacent quarter between St.
Sophia and the sea, and immediately assumed the
proportions that a fire assumes in Constantinople alone,
because of the accumulation of old wooden buildings
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
