THE DANGER AHEAD.
(By Sir Phil'p Gibbs.) If there is a master of irony in the world now like Swift, who wrote. "Gulliver's Travels," he would find in the present, state of the nations wonderful material for satire. He could make a good start at Geneva, where the Assembly of the: League of Nations' is now meeting. The Archbishop of' Canterbury, pleaching the inaugural sermon, denounced 1 thiei criminal insanity of the last war, though he IS one of those, churchmen who blessed 1 banners and guns when that war was in progress. After words of magnificent eloquence he declared that by the grace of God and the will' of the peoples there shfl.ll be no next war. But even while he spoke in that pulpit at Geneva there was a little farther east in Europe a new war raging, with fierce massacre and bayonet proddings, with hundreds of thousands of poor peasants in flight, with the Turkish crescent bearing down the Christian cross. In Asia' Minor the Turk, who was defeated by the immense sacrifice of the British and' French troops in the last, war, was coming back again with sweeping victories and cruelty: Islam wasi on the warpath with the open sympathy and satisfaction of French public opinion. At Geneva, also the League of Nations, standing like an ark of peace amidst a great flood of international rivalry, sent out messages of hope to Austria, which shall not die, it said, and proclaimed by the voice of its delegates, all honorable men. the faith of the peoples in the brotherhood of man, in the economic recovery of Europe, in the necessity for general disarmament. But while they are making these professions of faith the downfall of the German mark threatens chaos in that country, whose collapse would drag down many other people. Austria is not getting bread, though she is getting sympathy. After all our hopes of the war and the end of war, all the .idealism and self-sacrifice of many million soldiers who fought for a victory greater than mere destruction of an enemy in arms. is there not here in this world of ours to-day the cause for bitter irony, bitter tearsP The secret tale of the great war. which lias now ended in irretrievable defeat, will not make pleasant reading in history. Some English politicians and French soldiers and diplomats would he glad to bury its memories. Jt i. i » stated that the British Government gave moral support to the Greek plans, which bad a dangerous ambition. It was this sympathy and encouragement which partly incited the Greeks to pour the armies of Greece and Thrace into Asia Minor to occupy the hinterland and make a bid for Constantinople itself. The Treaty of Sevres gave them mere than they could rightly claim, more than they could ever hold. For a time it was the Greek military advance which made the Turkish Nationalists withdraw from the Tsmid Peninsula, which overlooks the Dar'dandles, where they were, beginning to build gun emplacements when 1 was in Constantinople. They threatened our army of occupation in that city and our fleet in the Dardanelles. The successful Greek advance destroyed that ugly threat for the time. But there were many British observers on the spot who had grin e doubts: as to the stability of the Greeks and who did not underestimate the growing power of the Turks under the leadership of Alustapha Kemal. who declared a holy war against those who held the Sultan captive in Constantinople and refused to submit to the conditions of the former treaty in any shape or form. The other side of the story must be told. France also refused to recognise the Treaty of Sevres. Jealous of Greek claims in the .Mediterranean and British influence in Mesopotamia and Syria. French agents and soldiers encouraged a revolt of the Turkish Nationalists, and the French Government actually concluded a separate treaty with Mustapha Kemal ami his rebel Government in Angora. To say the leapt, that was not encouraging to the spirit of i be entente cordiale between Franco and EnghvtuA. Another Power was mightily friendly to Mustapha Kemal and his treaty breakers. That curiously enough was a Power to whom Franco is utterly hostile, namely, the Soviet Government, of Russia. When I was in Moscow last year the Angora Turks, that is to say tile Turks of Mustapha Kemal, the present victor over the Greeks, wore being receiver), with friendship and enthusiasm'. 'f"he Turkish crescent w;is to be seen every day on the motor cars of the envoys, and I stayed ;it a house where they were billeted, opposite the Kremlin. Radek. that very ,ingenious and unscrupulous propagandist < f Russian policy, received meal the Kremlin and made no secret of aid thai was home; given the Angora Turks and any Mohammedan Rower which might give trouble to the British Kmpire. He was willing to withdraw that aid in return for British recognition and financial tupporl for Soviet Russia, which lias not been forthcoming. Here we have a pretty kettle of fish, as the old nurse used to say. When it is all written in detail at some future date it will lie a sensational chapter in modern history. Also it is. immensely dangerous to (he pence of the world. It brings back the 'lurk to power, and although 1 like the Turkish peasant when he is tilling the fields. I have no use for his work when hi' is massacring Christians and challenging the authority of Europe. \lv is able to do so because that authority was hopelessly divided by the acute difference of policy between the British Foreign Office and the French officials. Behind the 'lurk, belonging to his faith and repoicing m his victory, are many Mohammedan peoples of .Mesopotamia. Syria. Ralestine and India. Russian agents are * working among I hem. Their own fanatics are' stirring among them, and meanwhile Europe is in a bad way, not getting well of the second maladies That are sucking her vital strength. What about the United States of America in all this travail of the world alter the war? Does it mean nothing to them or matter nothing? 1 have never hidden my belief that, unless America uses her immense moral inlluence and economic power as a means of arbitration and settlement in all this welter of world affairs, we shall drift steadily from bad to worse. That, is my absolute conviction still, but 1 see from articles by my friend, Frank Simonds, that any hope of American influence in that direction is a delusion. "We have turned our backs," he says, "upon the world's politics in turning our backs on the world's markets. The war has on our side of the Atlantic increased the long-standing faith of the United States as being totally self-sufficient." If that is true—and I believe Simonds is the most acute 1 observer of modern life—then there is precious little hope <il' recovery of European peace. But I am not so pessimistic as that, and putting my own opinion against that of Simonds, 1 venture to believe that the American people will find that they cannot do without Europe and will call a great council for the safeguarding of civilisation. It is impossible to believe otherwise of the people who hold the destiny of the world in their hands.
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Dunstan Times, Issue 3143, 13 November 1922, Page 2
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1,227THE DANGER AHEAD. Dunstan Times, Issue 3143, 13 November 1922, Page 2
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