Beview of lieviews, I/Sfis. 



LEADING ARTICLES. 



47 



— AND AFTERWARDS. 

 At the same period, July, 191 3, there 

 should be building, or nearing comple- 

 tion, the following in three of the coun- 

 tries already named: — ■ 



France— 2 battleships of 23.500 tonnaire, .-irnied 

 with 12 305-millimetre guns, and 3 battleships of 

 25,000 tonnage, a.rmed with 12 340-millinietre guns. 



Italy.— 2 battleships of 26,000 tonnage, armed 

 with 12 344-millimetre guns. 



Austria.— 2 battleships of 21.000 tonnage, with 

 12 305-millimetre guns. 



Thus France, without reckoning the 

 support of England, may, says M. Lau- 

 beuf, view with unconcern the naval 

 position in the Mediterranean during 

 the years 1913-15. But what will be the 

 position in a few years i^ It is well to 

 remember that the present alliances may 

 give place to antagonism, and that the 

 friends of to-day may indeed become 

 the enemies of to-morrow. 



THE TURKS OX THE WAR. 



The daily press of the Ottoman capi- 

 tal is very bitter in its comments on 

 European charges against Turkey and 

 the Turkish military forces of cruelty 

 and barbarism. In a vigorous leader 

 entitled "Calumnies! Calumnies!!" 

 the J e Nile Tiirc sa}-s : — ■ 



They [the allies] apparently believe that, since 

 Europe is Christian and Turkey Moslem, the 

 present is an excellent occasion for making the 

 masses of the continent believe that the Turks 

 are constantly massacring Christians. . . . 

 They inform their i-eaders that Christians are 

 being slaughtered in the streets of Constantinople. 

 This is falsehood to the limit. We invite the 

 ambassadors oi tlie great powers to investigate 

 thoroughly, and then say if a hair of a Bulgar 

 head has been harmed. 



In another article which has been 

 headed " The Right to Live " the same 

 journal says : — 



The allies oppress and e.xterminate in their 

 Own countries all other nationalities, and pre- 

 tend to be the liberators of their countrymen 

 under the Ottoman flag. If the principle of " the 

 Balkans for the Balkan peoples " is to be ob- 

 served. %vill Europe permit tlie Tiirks, Albanians, 

 and Kutzo-Valachs who, combined, are in a 

 majority in Macedonia, to be oppressed by the 

 so-oalled civilising allies? European officials and 

 newspaper correspondents attest that the Ser- 

 vians are "civilising" the counti'y which they 

 have overrun by murder, incendiarism, and at- 

 tacks on women. . . . The "civilising" work 

 of the Bulgars has been so much appreciated 

 by the peasants of Thrace that they have, one 

 and all, fled to escape from their " liberators." 

 Is it necessary to remind the world of the 



yt'ic York Journal.'] 

 The Turk to the Balkan Allies: 

 a draw'.^" 



' Let's call it 



atrocities committed by the Hellenic army against 

 the Turks and Valachs in Epirus and the Jews 

 in Saloiiica? 



The ] eiine Tiirc discusses at length 

 the questions of an armistice and a final 

 treaty of peace. It reminds the allies 

 that the Turk is not at the end of his 

 resources, and that to inflict a hiuniliat- 

 ing peace upon him would be unwise as 

 well as unchristian. Advising the allies, 

 and particularly Bulgaria, to be reason- 

 able, and referring to the identity of 

 interests between Turkey and the Balkan 

 States, the Jenne Turc advocates the 

 entry of Turkey into the Balkan federa- 

 tion. It says : — 



A serious entente between all the European, 

 Oriental nations is possible. It will then be an 

 Oriental power, as opposed to the Occident. . . . 

 The onl.y condition is an honourable peace. . . . 

 T,et our adversaries think this well over. Such a 

 union will become very strong if Turkey parti- 

 cipates in it. . . . This is our desire, we want 

 sincerely a peace forever, because we want to 

 start seriously and without interruption to work 

 toward our ultimate happiness and prosperity. 

 . . . The Bulgars are reputed to be sane and 

 l)rac.tical and not to believe in Utopias. . . . 

 T,et them siiow that they are really so. . . . 

 If we were forced to fight to the end, we will do 

 so because our resources are endless and our 

 military situation is imjiroving, while our enemy'a 

 is weakening, as proven at Tchataija; but our 

 interest and our position in the Balkans must 

 be somewhat maintained -othei-wisc we shall not 

 enter the Balkan Confederation -wliich we con- 

 sider as a barrier against European encroach- 

 ment in the Fjevant. Bulgaria knows where her 

 interests are; she is reasonable and we can agree 

 with her. 



