ON THE WATCH TOWER

Evening Star, Issue 15928, 7 October 1915, Page 2

ON THE WATCH TOWER

i, j‘ (By Ariel.] ', - .The Balkan Powers possess a couple of :‘> 'millions of soldiers, and, it, seems a pity that they should be, wasted Ih attending their: business at diome While there is % •so much sport abroad. It is true that i^‘lshey.'hare'.had..their'iniung&.-'a«d'have'fa)-' . . ’filled the“ biological necessity” for blood- , letting. ■ But • figliting alone, as they did ‘ a few years ago. is tame stuff compared with the present : all-round world go-in. •‘ "When the royal feast is spread it Is ntiforpaper of sandwiches in my pocket, and have just bolted them.” The Germans ~ have used their best arts to eohvinco the Bulgarians of the hopeless vulgarity of their position and the necessity of wading . in if they wish to count for anything or ...to do “ the thing.” I fancy that Bulgaria has, however, hardly yet. made up her mind as to which side her bread is buttered on. It is true that she wants the. ■' slied of Macedonia which she lost by the , Second Balkan War, which she so treacherously initiated. It is. also true that she has no desire to see Russia at Constanti- . nopie, the “protection” of that vast ■Power might prove highly repressive of local ambitions. On the other band, she hates Serbia, she can hardly ’ wish to see Austria swallow that gallant little nation; nor can she look with complacency on th 6 prbspfecl of German domination from the Baltic to the Persian Gulf, for that would ihvolve the subjection of Bulgaria herself 16 the interests of the Teuton. This latter is the,greatest danger at present in the path of Bulgaria. Giveti the Victory* of the Central Powers, and the aspirations of Bulgarians would count for no more than the aspirations of '.Alsatians, or Holstehiers, Or, say. Belgians or Pbles. Ido not, however,'think that Bulgaria is quite enlightened aS to what Gerttjhn AHclbiy would mean in tile Balkans. The little ‘Balkan nations are monarchists to tile backbone. They all wanted kings, and by some strange chance the German traveller was at the door with , the precise article required. German pnneehood seems to be most prolific. It grows. likte a Weed, and the world’s markets are flooded with the cheap article. English Royalty used to marry and endow it, but of late i years it has had to seek new outlets. A German prince was a can- : didate for the Spanish Throne in 1870, as France Will remember. Bulgaria and ■n^vL^ 1 ' 3, '"'A blest with German princes. Wilhelm of Wied was ready to sacrifice himself on Albania. The King of, .Greece, hoiriga Dane, get a German wife, and • the Quefen of Holland a German husband. Latterly there has been talk of a Holienprince’ for United Poland.' Altogether it seems as if Europe is to be divided among the family party. I have little, doubt that the “ accident ” bf there being a German king in two of the Balkan fetates. is exercising a malign influence over the course of events just now. *******

Bulgaria does nbt disguise the fact that her aims are purely mercenary. She is out for her lost territory; and for that alone. She Woufd be willing to join either ’side tha.t would guarantee her that. If the Allies could , persuade Serbia and Greece* to yield the slices of Macedonia that Bulgaria' claims, she would come in on out side, I think that both Serbia ahd Grcfece Plight to have* yielded, especially Serbia, as it was she for whom the dogs of war were let slip. Serbia would gladly exchange her part of Macedbnia for Herzegovina, and Greece would yield her part for a portion of Asia Mirier anciently Greek and still mainly inhabited by Greeks ‘. Th© position, then, is this: If-Bulgaria joins the Central Powers, and they win, v Bulgaria will gel her territory, and neither Greece nor Serbia will get compensation. Tfideed. Serbia Would be still further restricted, and might even lose her independence. Both Greece and Serare, therefore, vitally interested in the defeat of the Germans, and olight to do everything possible to isecufS it. For if the Allibs Win. and Greece and Serbia have desefvfed consideration. they wilt be sure to get it. If they hold' oh lb a.ll thev can, and -risk our defeat,, thev will deserve well of neitheb pal-tv. “Thev can-not-run .with tho hart add liimt with the hounds. It is a case for throwing their whole weight into One scale Or the other. In the'case Of Serbia the scald it already chosen, ahd it is only a question of the whole weight. In the case of Greece hostility to Tnrkfey blight to be a fixed point, too. Is it not.-then, the obvious policy for these two Powers to ensure the cbof Bulgaria at a sacrifice of ■what they agreed to give her at the end ® ,’ E First Balkan War, and so to become entitled to the high consideration of the Allies, rather than to follow a path which will deliver them either to the revenge of Austria if she wins or to the coldness of the Allies if they win? £*** * * 4 The earliest account of a passage of the. Dafdahelles by an Englishman, giVen by • Hakluyt, is that of “the Worshipful j[. William Harbourne,” Queen Elizabeth’s ■ .Ariibassadour,” in 1582. He has little to say about the - place now so f*tn of .interest to us. “And that day at night we passed by the isle of Tetlßtlb, part of Asia, and., by another Hand tailed Maure. Aud_ the same day ive passed thorow the Straights bf Gdlipoli, and by the Castles, ahd also by the towtie of Galipoli itself, which standeth ih EurOpa. Ahd that night we Were ih sight of Marmora, which is tltet Natolia, ahd part of Asia ” In 1594 however, “Master, EdiVard Barton,” .mother Ambassador, mad© tli© sain© vovage; and Richard Wrag, Who was of the pitrty, Wrote ah account to his uncle. They spfeht a year at Constantinople, arid tMy took passage in a Turkish ship for bidon. ‘Passing; thorow Propontis, having Salimbria With Heraclea riiost plea- . situated on the right hand, and I’rocOnesus. rioW called Marmora, on the l?ft. we came to Galipoly, and so hv Hellespont, between the two castles called Series and Abydos, famous for the passage made there both by Wes and grebe Alexander, the one ihto Threeia. the other into Asia, and so by the Srteari Promontory, now - called Cape Janitzarv, at the mouth of the Hellespont upon Asia si«a, where Troy stood, where are yet fll - .°: °ld Walls to be seene, With two hi.,5 rising in a piramidall form, not unhkyly the tombs of Achilles and Ajax.” This voting fellow, though evidently a bit of a classic, “ lacks terminal facilities,” as the American railroad man said of the piyacher, arid there seems to be no reason why he shpuld not have gone on to the end pf his letter without a full stop. His fN of Gallipoli shoW? that he had the lurkish pronunciation/ which accents the first syllable and the third, makinothe “°” long. The two English wordl . poly ’ give the local pronuncia-

. * ****** ■ : -.T r, lyb shows there was a considerable amount of shipping between England and Prussia in the fourteenth centurj-. The knight who tells one of the tales m Chancer had “ridden in Pruce ” which was then held by the Knights Hos- • pit aliens. In 14C4 an embassage of remonstrance was sent to the Master of the knights because at LUbek, “Dankik” and .towns English ships were not allowed tiut Prussians, and were not flowed to go from bile port to another. Thwp wgre also gteht complaints 0 f pin,dies In the North Sea and on the coast of They drecalled “divers wicked Hemv IV., the, father of FalstalFS "Mai, s&nt a catalogue of 27 of these acts of piracy on the high seas to She rulers of the German coast. The quarrel was finally setllM by a treaty at “Hage.” Many years later,-in 1588. our Ambassador from 'Turkey came home through the Balkans and Germany and , “ Danlziß.” Heffe he Was tnilctO ihuch of . and eongfatulated in tile name of the > Whole Stfttg On Her MajOsty’a victory over the Atftiadft. “Yet the Dantzikers, after : v my caused the merchants to pav ' Customs for the goods they brought with • them In my company, Which hone other ' town, cither infidel or Christian, On the Wqjf' oter did; And, notwithstanding the .. SoDgratulatiohs, I was , most certainly informed of sundry of our nation -there resident that most of the Hanso towns upon the sea coast, especially Dantsik, LubeCk, and.•HamboJt'OUgji, -have - laden and wore : shipping for Spain great provision of corn, , y' Jfcles, ropes, powder, saltpetre, haxgiv

busses, armour, iron, lead; copper, and other/: munitions serving ter the wah Whereupon I gather that their feigned courtccy proceeded rather from. fear than from atiy good affection unto ficr Majesty's service.” * * * * * * * The Above extract shows how persistent <lve hafclonal pharacteriatite. Five hundred years ago the Prussians mail© piratical attacks oh our commerce in d irere manners, and enacted very unfair conditions of !trade; while 300 years ago, though themselves leaders of Protestantism, they were sending munitions to Spain to help in.the conquest of England! It is curious that the whole question of trade and the navy as between ns: and Prussia was voiced five centuries ago in the old poem on ‘The Polity of Keeping the Sea.’ Kow beer arid bacaii bene fro Pruse ybrought ■ ” • - Into Flanders, as loved and far ysought; .Osmond, copper, bowstaves, steel, and wexe, Peltware, grey pitch, terre,' board, and

wexe. ... But the Flemmings among these things dero, In common loven best bacon and here, .Also Reuse men make their adv&ntuxe. . . .

With woollen cloth all manner of colors By dyers crafted full divers, than ben

ours. And they adventure full greatly unto the Bay For salt that is needful withouten nay. Thus if they would notour friendcs bee We might lightly stop them in the sea ; They should not pass our streams with-

outen leve. Hero wo have the Prussians great in beer —indeed, “spruce beer,” “spruce leather.” and so forth, are but corruptions of “ Pirns© beer,” etc. Here, too, we have their superiority in dyeing admitted, and their want of a navy implied. If we “keep the sea” We can compel them to be friendly. It seems as if an echo of. this old poem rings, through all the speeches that Germans make in favor of their navy and against their on© and only enemy, England. *******

Tile huge price at which the loan is being raised in .America indicates hoystrained tho financial position was. That Britain should be paying within a trifle of 6 per cent, is a startling fact; She has descended front her pride of place as the supreme arbiter of interest and security, and is paying the rate that Russia, or a Smith American republic, had to pay before the war. Of course - , this arises from the fact that her sudden necessities compel tho dislocation of capital, and people have to be compensated for not using their funds in other directions. There is no sentiment in finance, and the friendly Americans have driven the hardest bargain they could. I 'havfe a suspicion that if we had condescended to use real business pieu to do mir national business we would have saved more, money than tho taxpayer dreams of. Mr M’Keiina said the other day that economy and retrenchment in the public service were being vigorously carried out. They expected to save a quarter of a million this year and half a million next year! Domini© Sampson would no doubt have exclaimed “ Prodigious!” and lam bound to admit the magnitude of the mountains that have been in labor. I wonder whether a hundred times the expected Saving would cover the cost of having men not trained to business dealing with our thousands of millions at this juncture. *******

In the early stages of British borrowing the Government used to offer varying rales of interest according to the state of the market; but during the reign of George 11. a new system Was introduced. Instead of varying the interest arid keeping the principle fixed, they fixed the interest and varied the principle. If the fixed rate were 3 per cent., and the market rate per cent., then the Stale received £IOO. but gave tho lender £l5O in. 3 per cent, stock. That system has been blariied for a large portion of the debt incurred under it. Towards the end of tire eighteenth century Consols were down to 47. That is to say, the State had to give stock for £206 in order to obtain £IOO of a loan. Towards the end of the Napoleonic wavs Consols touched 50, and stock had to be given for double the sum borrowed. During the whole of the first 20 years of the last century tho average price was below 65. But dining that period the nation was not in a condition to pay off the lender. When a serious attack came, to be made on the debt the price rapidly rose into the neighborhood of par. It is obvious that if we had gone to New Ycrk on tho old system we should have had to give paper for nearly two hundred millions in order to get half of it. After the wav our credit will improve rapidly, and we would not be able to get our paper hack without paying face value for it. It is. therefore, de tilled cheaper to give thehigher rate for a few years, and so get the benefit of our improved credit ourselves when the time comes. #**»##*

It appears that war is the chief means of forcing up the national revenues. In 1790 the British revenue was under nineteen millions, representing only 37s per inhabitant. Ten years later the ration was fairly plunged in the great French war, and the revenue had jumped to over fifty millions and 96s a head. As the war proceeded, the revenue rose to seventyfive millions. After the war the revenue gradually sank to about fifty-eight millions in the early fifties, but .the Crimean War jerked it up; and so did the Frauco-Pru&sian War’ and th© Boer AVar still more. No doubt Air Lloyd George's social schemes have also compelled the increase of the revenue ; but all that will be as the dust of the balance compared with the way the revenue will have to soar to meet the interest charges on the increased war debt. About 18 years ago the British revenue reached £100,000,000, and we felt a spot of patriotic glow at th© idea of raising such a vast sum without conscious effort. Three or four years ago Mr Llovd George made a world record with a budget amounting to £200,000.000. and there were serious criticisms to the effect that lie was trenching on tho capital of the nation. Alas, that now, for no such benign purposes, we should have to face not”only a third century in revenue, hut probably a fourth! France had achieved the dignity of being the most indebted nation in the world, hut I think we shall regain our laurels, and ere long owe more per head and more in the block than any other people, unless indeed we can affix substantial indemnities to Germany, which present performances do not warrant our discounting.