In support of the views just quoted a telegram from
the Sofia correspondent of the Times states that a gloomy impres- sion prevails in Constantinople owing to the continued arrivals of wounded from Gallipoli instead of the British and French prisoners whom the population were led to expect. The supply of coal has almost completely ceased, we are told, and the transport of troops from the Asiatic coast is greatly restricted by the presence of British submarines in the Sea of Marmora. On the other hand, we learn that much relief is felt in Constantinople because our submarines abstain from torpedoing passenger steamers. That is, of course, as it should be. It is stated that the frequency of fires in Constantinople is causing great uneasiness. At the end of June there was a great fire, in which two thousand five lundred houses were destroyed. As a rule unaccountable fires in Constantinople are a sign of dangerous movements. That the position is not a comfortable one can easily be imagined. The Germans may be efficient servants, but they are very cruel masters, and this the Turks are finding.
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