n. But he at once protested. 'I don't want to send a lot
of boys down there. I want to send down notables. You have tricked
me,' he declared, turning to the ambassador.

"Next morning the ambassador attended personally to the going aboard
of the twenty-five French and twenty-five English who had been finally
selected. For all that, they knew the original orders to expose them
to the fire of the fleet were to be carried out to the letter, and the
farewell to their friends and relatives at the Golden Horn pier was
one of the most affecting ever enacted at Constantinople. At the last
minute one of the British ministers, who still remained at
Constantinople, volunteered to go along in order that he might offer
spiritual consolation should they eventually face death, and a young
Englishman was released in his place. Mr. Morgenthau insisted that the
party be accompanied by Mr. Hoffman Phillip, First Secretary of the
American Embassy.

"On their arrival at Gallipoli they were imprisoned in two empty
houses and informed that the allied fleet was expected any moment to
resume its bombardment. The city had been under fire for several days,
and was almost completely deserted. No provision had been made for
their subsistence. During the days which followed the fifty men
suffered considerable hardships, but at last orders came from
Constantinople for all fifty to be returned and released."

Meanwhile a curious hardening of public opinion regarding the
Dardanelles was taking place in England, which in the course of time
was destined to have an all-important influence on the operations in
that part of the world. Before the Suvla Bay landing there had been
considerable but mild criticism of the manner in which the whole
affair had been undertaken and carried out. Close upon the early
successes of the naval bombardment there had been an unjustified
public optimism. Then came weeks of pessimism following that black day
when three battleships were sent to the bottom almost at one blow.

Subsequent events and the false color given to them by the official,
but especially the unofficial, accounts served to hearten the British
public for a time. Then came Winston Churchill's famous speech in
which he spoke of Sir Ian Hamilton's forces being "only a few miles
from a great victory," such as would have a determining effect upon
the outcome of the war. This was followed by many absurd but
circumstantial reports that the Dardanelles had actual