Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



205 



THE MEDITERRANEAN SITUATION. 



THE WAR IN TRIPOLI. 



Mr. G. v. Abbott, in the Quarterly Review for July, 

 describes the Tripolilan war from tlie 'I'urkish side. 

 His paper is gruesome reading for the friends of Italy. 

 He glances at the very little that the Italians have 

 done in nine months, and asks, at this rate of progress, 

 how many decades will elapse before the annexation of 

 Tripolitania is converted into an occupation ? 



.\RABS' REI.IGIOl'S EXAI.T.XTION. 



The feeling among the defenders is one of patriotic 

 and religious exaltation. He says :— 



I have seen the wild tribesmen arrive from the interior armed 

 with flintlocks, and go to the front armed with Martinis 

 Mausers, and even Sniders ; and I said to myself — are these 

 bare-fooled scalliwags to oppose an army provided with the 

 latest pattern of magazine rifle, with artillery, with aeroplanes, 

 and everything necessary for war 1 But I saw them rush to 

 battle with shrieks of " Allah akbar," and return from the tield 

 loaded with spoils, and then I realised that these volunteers 

 who know neither fatigue nor fear, who can subsist cheerfully 

 on a handful of oatmeal a day, and who are inspired by a faith 

 in God as boun'lless as is their faith in themselves, are more 

 than a match for any number of disciplined, liberally-fed, and 

 scientifically trained conscripts that is likely to be broui;lil 

 against them. 



THE RAINS FAVOURI.NG THE ARABS. 



With every week that has passed since October, 191 1, the 

 position of the invaders has grown weaker and tliat of the 

 defenders stronger. Funds subscribed all over the Moslem 

 world have been pouring into the Turkish headquarters month 

 by month, enabling the stall' to obtain supplies from outside in 

 ever increasing r|iiaiililies. Nor is tliat all. The spell of 

 drought under which the country lay for four years was this 

 winter happily broken — according to some, by the enemy's 

 own interminable cannonades ; and the rain has transformed 

 the desert into a meadow. Where nothing but yellow sand 

 and grey scrub was to be seen in December, in 1 e Tuaty 

 bloomed a vast garden of bright verdure starred with an endless 

 variety of flowers. The flocks and herds which abound in 

 Tripolitania grew fat on the long luscious grass ; and the 

 nomads brougbl their sheep and goats and cattle to the camp 

 and sold them at prices considered fabulous in the desert, but 

 which wouhl make a London butcher gasp. Thanks to the 

 rains aUo, the fiiMs in the o.ases, tilled in tlic winter, are now 

 yielding crops vliith will render the warriors independent of 

 provisions from outside in the coming season. In brief, the 

 forces of the Crescent stand in no fear of starvation, while 

 those of the Cros>, since all caravan trathc with the hinterland 

 has ceased, rely f'lr their foodstull's almost entirely on FCurope. 



The war costs Italy, at a moderate computa'ion, 50,000.'. a 

 day. The Turks say that it costs them only £'Vy>,ooo a 

 month, and most of this money is raised by private 

 contributions. 



Mr. Abbott adds :— 



I felt as though tin- expeditionary force was labouring under 

 some curse quite iiui^lde the sphere of the campaign ; a> though 

 some superior 'powrr compelled it to miss every chance of 

 success and by a vigorous procrastination to i>ostpone a decisive 

 iuue indefinitely. 



URAVE CONSEQUENCES FOR EUROPE. 



More serious than the difTiculties of Italy are the 

 conse<)ucntes for all the European i'owers : — 



The Arabs have learnt that it is possible for them lo resist 

 successfully the army of a great European Power. The dis- 

 covery made in Tripolitania has been imparted to the whole of 

 N'orthern Al'rica, to say nothing of the Moslem nations of Asia ; 

 and it is bound sooner or later to yield bitter fruit to all the 

 European I'owers that exercise, or wish to exercise, dominion 

 over that part of the world. I have seen the efl'ect of the 

 discovery on the natives of Tunisia, and I have reason to 

 believe that it has not been without its efiect on the natives of 

 Egypt. 



The Pan-Islamic crusade has received fresh impetus 

 from the adhesion of the .Sheik of the Senussi. More- 

 over, Italy's seizure of islands in the /Egcan has led the 

 islanders to constitute themselves into an independent 

 .^gean Confederation. As a by-product of Italy's 

 Libyan adventure there has come into being a new 

 Near Eastern problem, and one that may prove even 

 more knotty than the Cretan question. 



The War a Tragedy of Errors. 

 Dr. Dillon, in the Conteiiif>orary Reviein, says that the 

 war continues as the result of a tragedy of errors, Italy 

 being firmly convinced that 'I'urkey is on her last legs, 

 the Turks similarly being sure that Italy is disheartened 

 and will shortly withdraw the decree of annexation. 

 'J'he only way in which he thinks peace might be con- 

 cluded would be for Italy to limit her annexation to 

 the districts actually occupied and held, and Turkey 

 would have to induce the Arab to give a favourable 

 hearing to Italy's modified proposals. Otherwise, even 

 if Italy and Turkey came to terms, the Arabs would 

 still fight on. A Moslem wedge of land ceded by the 

 Berlin Treaty to Montenegro still remains in the hands 

 of the Moslems, they refusing to acquiesce and saying, 

 " Let Montenegro take us." .So the Arabs may say, 

 " Let Ital}- lake us, if she can." 



ITALY AND TURKEY. 



Dii'LOMATic Paralysis. 



CojiMANDKR DE Tiio.MASso.N, cdilor of QuesltoHS 

 Dil'hinaliqiics et Coloniales, contributes to the first 

 July number of his review an article entitled " The 

 Dangers of Diplomatic Paralysis." 



CONDITIONS FOR A CONFERENCE. 



Writing with reference to the Italo-Turkish war, he 

 says a European Conference at the present moment is 

 inadmissible. There is no precedent tor calling a con- 

 ference while the war is still going on, or for asking 

 representatives of the two belligerent I'owers to sit at 

 th: same table before the broad lines on which the 

 conditions of peace will be based have been settled. 

 'l"hc necessary preliminary is agreement among the 

 Powers of the Triple Entente and of .Austria and 

 Germany. There is little doubt about Germany and 

 Austria, but the Triple Entente is another matter. 



