SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7,1916. THE EAST AND THE WAR.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, 7 October 1916, Page 4

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7,1916. THE EAST AND THE WAR.

Though, just recently there iave been no dramatically decisive achievements in any of the fighting areas; yet a great deal of strenuous and important work has been and is being done by the Allies. No essential advantage previously gained has; been lost, and there has, practically everywhere, been steady progress from which momentous benefits will almost certainly be derived in the immediate future. This is true not only of the main fronts, but of what is going on in' other quarters, especially in the East. For instance, Mr; Julian Grande, a Fellow of +ihe Royal Geographical Society, who^ is at present living in Switzerland, but has travelled much in the East and studied its conditions, says (in an article contributed to the Christi church Press) that the British people do not realise how great must be the ultimate effect on the world in general, and also upon their own Empire, of <the altering condition of affairs in j Palestine, in Syria, in Arabia, and in Turkey. In his opinion, the last de- [ feat of the TurGO-German troops, in, the Katia district of Egypt has un- [ doubtedly dealt a severe blow to German prestige in Turkey, and he states that the extent of this defeat must not be measured by the number of prisoners made, v relatively considerable though this may be, but by its moral results. These are, indeed, extensive, as some of us may have inferred from evpri +In1 'n brief messages which have been coming to hand recently concerning the doings of the Grand Cherif of Mecca, who, though politically subordinate to Turkey, is strongly opposed to Germany ~~J friendly to the Allies. Then, as Mr Grande shows, the position of the Germans in the East, whether in Palestine1, Syria, Arabia, or elsewhere, has been of late beset with an, ever-growing number of difficulties. In Palestine, when Turkey was first involved in the European war, the Germans told the Turks to take possession of all the missionary schools and hosmtals belonging to subjects of the Allied Powers; and now the Turks have even commandeered German schools, and German missionaries have actually been obliged to leave Haifa, Damascus, and Jerusalem, which looks as though the Turks out of. Turkey itself were beginning to kick against the rule of the Prussians. Mr Grande is at least convinced that the natives of Palestine and Syria, although hitherto unable to rise in a mass and free the country from TurcoGerman domination, are only waiting for an opportunity fo so, and that were the Allied troops to land on the coast of Syria or on thai, of Palestine, every German and Turk in the country would run the risk of being killed ( at siarht by the populace. Everything considered, this is likely enough to happen, for when the Grand Cherif of .Mucca recentfv declared a Holy War

against Turkey not only did the Moslems of Palestine and Syria rejoice, but the Christian population also. Even the people of Damascus, where Turco-German militarism was very much in evidence,, did not try to conceal their joy at the menace to Turkey and Germany, and some of them were publicly hanged for their temerity. This, however, did not prevent the great body of Moslems in Damascus from rejoicing at the Grand Cherif's action, which certainly was and still is a singularly ironical commentary on Germany's puerile efforts to proclaim a Holy Waar of her own through the medium of the Scheik-ul-Islam in Constantinople, whereby she hoped to bring about an Arab rising of unprecedented dimensions—all with a view to Britain's disastrous discom 7 fiture in the East, and generally to the prejudice of the1 Allies. In fact, the Kaiser's pro-Mohammedan policy has ended in a farce. He is said to have gone to the absurd extreme of professing to be, somehow, a Mohammedan himself, but all his efforts to gull the East have come to naught in a truly remarkable' manner. The Mohammedans of India have simply laughed him and his preposterous professions to scorn, while those of Arabia, led 1— the .Grsmrl Cherif of Mecca, have actually declared a Holy War against his own precious ally, Turkey, whose leaders appear to hare acted with an, almost amusing childishness tinder the Kaiser's influence when he was usinp; J"'-'— to help him to engineer his preposterous ■ pantomime. Of course' lie had to act through the Sultan of Turkey, but when that estimable potentate invited the .Grand Cherif to join the "Holy War, made in Germany," . the Grand Cherif ironically yet judiciously said: "You ask me to proclaim a Holy War against two Christian Powers. Did you reflect ,before sending m© such an invitation? If I obey you I shall be forced to fight against your German ally, and would I wish to embark on a war- against France and England, who rule over millions of Mussulmans?- Has either of these Powers compelled a, single believer to change Ms religion ? Have they not served Islam by facilitating t*"* pilgrimage to Mecca for those who wish to make it?"' Thus the Kaiser has' been snubbed and turned down in the1 East in'a way never dreamt.of by him. What has happesned has reduced him to an inconsequential nonentity in the estimation of the Eastern peoples, on whom he had hoped 3nd had tried to impose. t^> Britain's grievous disadvantage. He is in the position of the man who dug a pit for another, and fell into it himself. In fact, the Mohammedans of Tndia and Arabia have come to see that the Allies are fighting' not only to free Europe from the curse of Pmssianism, but to deliver Mohammedans themselves from the tyranny of Turkey; and as Turkey is ; with Germany in her designs, and Germany with Turkey in hers, they see that Germany is ?s much their enemy as she is the enemy of the free peoples of Europe. Hence the Kaiser and his designs have come to grief amongst them, which a great moral victory in the East for Britain and her Allies. , ; .