THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1915. TURKEY AND EGYPT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15825, 23 January 1915, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1915. TURKEY AND EGYPT.

Turkey is the only ally secured by Germany and Austria in spite of all their efforts. It will be generally agreed that the combination is natural and harmonious, for German methods in Belgium and elsewhere, with the kindred Austrian methods in Poland and throughout the subject provinces, must appeal very strongly to the Turk as wholly in accord with his traditional views as to how to wage war and to allay domestic discontent. It is onlyjust to the Turk to say that he has been dragged into the war by intrigues and machinations peculiarly German in their character and that the bettor-minded leaders of Turkish people have striven to prevent a step which can only end disastrously to the crumbling empire of the once Sublime Porto. Events have gone so far that the : Allies have ceased to be directly ! concerned with the struggle in Con- ' stantinople between rival factions, finding an actual state of war precipitated upon them by Turkey's German advisers and their sympathisers and the horde-like armies of the Sultan actively employed in offensive hostilities. If Greece and Bulgaria joined the Great Alliance, as seems to bo possible. Turkeywould be attacked from the north and north-west and a vigorous attempt made to open the Black Sea to Allied shipping by driving the Turk completely out of EuropeThese Balkan states may be the more ready to participate in the conflict, by which a new map of Europe is being made, because Greece is in positive danger of attack should Turkey ever fool herself strong enough to reclaim territory lost through the Balkan War and because Bulgaria may hope to recover Adrianople and to reach the jEgean Sea. On the other hand, their participation would expose them to the risk of invasion through Servia should the Austro-German Army said to be mustering on the Danube, succeed in breaking through that sturdy little kingdom and seek to jom hands with the Turks. German indifference to neutrality is so notorious, however, that neither Greece nor Bulgaria can have any confidence in their territories being respected by the '' war-lord" of Berlin, and they have thus an added inducement to enter the field while they can do so under advantageous conditions. The entry of Italy and Roumania into the conflict would certainly relieve the pressure which an Austro-German army might exert on the Danube and would thus leave Greece and Bulgaria free to deal with such forces as Turkey may- be able to spare from her campaigns in Asia and her necessary defence of the Dardanelles.

At the present moment, apart from locking up the waterway to the Black Sea,- Turkey is conducts ing a campaign towards the Caucasus, and making inadequate preparations for a campaign against Egypt. This Dominion is peculiarly interested in the latter owing to the part taken in the defence of the protectorate and of tho Suez Canal by the New Zealanders and Australians now in training near Cairo. The objective of the German intrigue is the Canal, that great Imperial highway between east and west. The locking of the Dardanelles is a serious injury to the Allies, for this prevents the wheat of Russia and Roumania from reaching France and the United Kingdom, and thus not only accentuates the world's shortage of bread, but also deprives our active and our potential allies of the commercial sinews of war. This interruption may be regarded as temporary, for with the spring some decisive action must be taken to reopen the Black Sea, and we can hardly suppose the Allies incapable of thus releasing the imprisoned grain-carriers. The Turkish campaign in the Caucasus has undoubtedly failed. Persian territory was violated by the German-officered Turks, but this can have no serious effect upon the course of the war in that quarter. There remains the Suez Canal, with its great protective base of Egypt, the loss of which would be a heavyblow to the Imperial prestige, and the safety of which has been very thoroughly secured.

The lack of initiative is a feature of the German character, which excels in attention to detail and fails through sterility of imagination. The English character is Teutonic in a similar paucity of the brilliant imagining which marks the Gallic and the Celtic minds, but it is eminently practical in that it makes sure of every step before attempting ur seriously contemplating another. The German assumed that the British Empire would fall to pieces upon being shaken, being constitutionally unable to understand that its liberties and its law-abidings were magnetic, drawing every component part into closer unity the instant peace was disturbed. Though unable to keep the seas, the German rulers appear to have, had no doubt of their ability to make way by land and to break the Empire in twain by striking through Turkey at Egypt, and through Persia at India. There was an unimaginative German belief that if the Turk could be

dragged to war at the heels of the j Kaiser a great Mahommedan rising j would sweep from Morocco to the Himalayas. This dull belief was akin to the absurd impression that the self-governing British dominions would seize the opportunity to rid themselves of the Imperial connection. What the German never imagined—or at any rate never imagined enough to print as a suggestionwas that India would demand the right to fight for the British " raj," that Egypt would remain loyal, -that the Moslem would repudiate German intrigue with scorn, and that the furthest British dominions would furnish an army to protect the Suez Canal as an incident of its journey to Europe. As far as can be gathered, there never was a more hopeless military attempt than that reported to be preparing against Egypt. Irregular troops, untrained and wretchedly equipped, are being marshalled by German officers, whose methods are as antiquated as Snider rifles, against British territorials and Indian troops, reinforced by 30,000 picked colonials, already months in active training, and steadied by some regiments of the contemptible little army.'' There are many doubts as to the intended attack upon Egypt being made, but if it is there can be only one outcome. Our Imperial soldiers, New Zealanders with the rest, will do their duty, in Egypt as in Flanders.