Evening Post. MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 1916. THE VERDICT OF TIME

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 1, 3 January 1916, Page 6

Evening Post. MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 1916. THE VERDICT OF TIME

In the widest sense, the sense that takes account of time as well as of circumstance, the war goes well for the Entente. It is true that in fundamental advantages the Entente forges steadily ahead, but it would be exaggeration to say that the war has resolved itself into a contest between fundamentals and mere incidentals. -Those successes that the enemy has achieved do not prevent an Entente victory; they merely postpone it, and to that extent may bo considered hereafter to have been merely incidental to the main issue. But they are incidents that might become decisive if tho Entente were untrue to itself, and therefore, while they are not to be estimated beyond their worth, they certainly should not be under-rated-or iira-ny way treated with contempt. It is for this reason that Lord Sydenham's review of tho war is specially helpful. Lord Sydenham is a patriotic Briton, but he is no false optimist, and certainly no chloroformist. He does not consider it to be either patriotic or in any way useful to throw dust in the eyes of tho people. As a military expert and an impartial reviewer, he emphasises the fundamentals but at the same time appreciates the incidentals, and presents to tho public a faithful standard of values both pro and con. He admits the. great effect produced by Germany's wonderful preparedness- and her " instant perception of war's new ne'ed^s," and realises that .only now are the Entente Allies " beginning to attain the ascendency of material which superior forces will enable them to establish and maintain." That ascendency is dependent on the combined solidarity of the Entente, concerning which Lord Sydenham says: " The eager efforts of the Germans have failed to destroy tho unity of the Allies, who, while gathering strength and stern determination, await' the coming spring."

Concerning solidarity, it is a fact that, while Japan has within the last three months joined in the Anglo-French-Rus-sian agreement to make no separate peace, Italy is still no party to that compact, and Italy is still not- at war with Germany. This fact is generally skimmed over by British politicians, and public utterances, as a rule, deal gingerly with the Italian position. " Italy is fighting- bravely," says Lord Sydenham —andl their passes on. In a somewhat involved passage, The Times lately affirmed that the Italian obligation was moral if not legal. " The unqualified accession of Japan to the Declaration," remarked The Time*. " inevitably suggests the question why Italy has not acceded to it. We know, however, that in hfcr ctwo *peeirJ circumstances have.existed ofjarhiefe. jGrerinHi.»ituUne»» hat

not failed to take advantage in order to check the natural and reasonable desire of her generous people. We may not feel assured that these circumstances deserve all the weight which Italian politicians attribute to them; but doubts on this head cannot suggest to us for a moment that either the Government or the nation do not fully share the resolution and the purposes of their Allies, and do not feel themselves morally bound by the Declaration as strongly as do any of the signatories." Provided the Entente remains true to itself, the war can have but one result. It may be that the enemy's Russian and Balkan campaigns of 1915 will seriously postpone the Russian recovery. Hindenburg's blow at Russia was designed to do her all the direct damage possible, while the Balkan campaign was planned to confirm her isolation from the Mediterranean, and also to reinforce the declining manpower of Germany with the Bulgar and Turkish legions. The main question at present is whether Russia will completely recover in 1916; and, if so, how earljs in 1916. Granted a Russian recovery, Germany will be very near the end of her tether by the expiry of the present year; and Bulgar-Turkish adventures in the Middle East will tend to deplete the Berlin treasury without bringing the j Central Powers any nearer to a favour- ! able decision.