Till- PROGRUSS OF THE WoUl.D 



The War 



in 

 Tripoli. 



control by Russia and England. 

 The only other alternatives are to 

 declare war against Russia if she 

 interferes for the protection of her 

 own interests or her own subjects 

 in Persia, or to clear out altogether, 

 leaving Russia free to do whatever 

 she pleases in Persia, right down 

 to the Persian Gulf. Neither of 

 these alternatives being possible, 

 the only course left is to maintain 

 the Anglo-Russian Agreement at all 

 costs, and for ihc well-meaning but 

 wrong-headed sympathisers with 

 Persian independence to cease from 

 stimulating their proteges to actions 

 which will infallibly lead to an- 

 nexation. 



The war which was 



not a war, and which 



was to have been 



over in three days, is 

 still going on. The Italians have 

 80,000 men under cover of the 

 guns of their fleet at various points 

 along the seashore. In front of 

 'I'ripoli they have devastated and 

 occupied an oasis which juts some 

 twenty miles into the desert. 

 Ik-yond that they have done nothing. The Arabs 

 and the Turks from time to time attack their 

 outposts, and are driven back, only to return 

 and deliver another attack at the first convenient 

 opportunity. .\Ir. Uennet Burleigh, the veteran 

 war correspondent of the Daily Tdes^-aph, estimates 

 the daily cost of the war to Italy at ^^2 50,000. The 

 Italian tlovernment, however, declares that it has 

 only cost ^3,600,000 up to Christmas, and at that 

 rate they can carry on without a loan till the end' of 

 1912. All talkof extending the war to the Dardanelles 

 or the I-evant apjiears to have been abandoned, 

 (.'ount .\ehrenthal informed the Huniiarian delegation 

 on the zHth that " our chief task will be to contribute 

 towards effecting a settlement honourable to both 

 |)ariies alike in the Turco-Italian war, which is not 

 without danger to the other States." He added that 

 " we sincerely wish that the conclusion of peace shall 

 maintain the force and authority of Turki'y intact, 

 which will constitute a fresh guarantee of peaceable 

 neighbourly relations between Turkey and the Balkan 

 St.itcs." Lord Beatonslield, it will be remembered, 

 boasted ili.a he had consolidated the Ottoman ICmpire 



Show in"; how the 

 Russian .'\grccmont 

 was attacked. 



Sketch Map of Persia. 



country is divided up inlo spheri's of influence under the Anglo- 

 ;md also Kazerun, ihj place near Sliiraz where a British Consul 



by depriving it of Bosnia, the Herzegovina, and Bul- 



garir.. Possibly Count Aehrenthal thinks the lopping-. 



otf of Tripoli will leave " the force and authority of 



Turkey intact." Excepting on such an interpretation 



it is difficult to harmonise his speech with his policy. 



The Ottoman pilgrims of peace 



^, f, have not yet left Constantinople, 



Slluntlon •' ' 



In nor does it at present seem 



Constantinople. ^sk^zXy that they will come west- 

 ward. For IJamad I'eiid Pasha, the Sultan's 

 brother-in-law, who was to have be.ided the 

 pilgrimage, has undertaken the leadership of the new 

 Linion of Liberal Accord, which !■; rallying all the 

 forces opposed to the Committee of Union and Pro- 

 gress for the purpose of overthrowing the (lovernment. 

 As all the nominated pilgrims are leading members 

 of the new Union and the old Committee, it is im- 

 po.ssible for them to perambulate Europe when 

 they are fighting for their lives at Constantinople. 

 Said Pasha, the Grand Vi/.ier, is now forming a new 

 Cabinet. The army seems to be growing restive, and 

 it would surprise no one if Parliament were to be 

 dissolved and a Government of National Defence 



