April 1 8, 1918 
Land & Water 
13 
observed: "A more one-sided application of a sound prin- 
ciple I never came across." 
More might be said about Afghanistan and something 
about Tibet. But the main sacrifice was in Persia. That 
great country was divided into Russian and English spheres 
of influence in no way corresponding to the positions 
— pohtical and commercial — of the two Powers. 
Further examples of the conciUatory and peaceful attitude 
of our Governments for a long time past might easily be 
cited from the history of our relations with other Powers 
—with Germany, perhaps, in particular. To the; very end, 
when she had everything ready for war, and, to use 
Lichnowsky's words, was "insisting that Serbia must be 
massacred," England, whom she accused of encirchng and 
throtthng her, was granting her concessions of many kinds, 
even consenting — most improperly, I think — to the extension 
of the Bagdad Railway down to Basra, so as to open Meso- 
potamia to lier operations. Every one knows of the con- 
cihatory spirit in which we met France when the time came 
for a rapprochement. Every one knows, of the spirit of 
goodwill — and more than goodwill — which for years past 
we have shown towards the Americans, until our Govern- 
ments really seemed actuated at times by the feeling which 
a famous American novelist ascribes to one of her characters, 
"the desire that England should have an excuse to hug us." 
As is evident from what I have written, I do not contend 
that our prevailing attitude in matters of foreign policy has 
always been dignified or successful. Personally, I believe it 
has often been wanting in strength, and has led at times to 
the sacrifice of \he legitimate interests of Great Britain and 
the Dominions. I feel that when the personal and party 
feelings involved have passed away, history will not easily 
forgive the extreme anxiety shown by some of our public 
• men to make the nation believe in German goodwill towards 
us when they well knew, or certainly ought to have known, 
that no such goodwill existed — an anxiety which even led to 
shameful attacks upon the great soldier who spent his last 
years in trying to open our eyes and make us prepare for the 
deadly peril that was coming upon us. For such proceedings 
there can be no excuse. And it may well be held that a 
more virile attitude might often have been not only more 
honourable to us, but more useful to the world. 
But when all that is said, there remains something more 
to be said. If other nations besides Germany have now 
and then seemed inclined to take advantage of our softness 
— if, for example, the Russians in Asia were somewhat high- 
handed in their working of the Convention of 1907 — yet 
I believe the certainty that England could be trusted to keep 
to her engagements, and was honestly desirous of peace, did 
have its effect upon the attitude of the world towards us. 
As Admiral Mahan asked when discussing the alleged " stupid 
ity" of British officers : "Where has it placed Great Britain 
among the nations of the earth ? " 
It is not a little thing that Palavia Inglesa has become 
a household word. Substantially the nations keep faith and 
peace with us as we keep faith and peace with them. Russia, 
until she broke up under the twin solvents of ideologue 
TURKEY AND THE WAR. 
When the history of the world-war comes to be written, the most 
outstanding event after the battle of the Marne will be found to 
have been the entrance of Turkey into the war on the side of the 
enemy. But for this there would have been no Gallipoli, no fall of 
Kut; the expeditionary forces to Salonika, Mesopotamia, and 
Palestine would have been unnecessary; the Dardanelles would 
have remained open for the export of corn and oil from Russia and 
Rumania; Rumania would have been secure, Bulgaria not daring 
to move, with neutral nations friendly to the Entente on either 
flank; there would have been no Armenian massacres. Think 
what it would have meant, had Turkey remained neutral! 
Victory would have been won months ago. 
Friendship and goodwill between Great Britain and Turkey was 
traditional. How did it come about that it broke down at this 
tremendous crisis? The circumstances have hitherto been veiled 
in secrecy, but with the publication of the diplomatic experiences 
of Mr. Morgenthau, the American Ambassador at Constantinople 
from 1913 to 1916, all the facts will be revealed, 
Mr, Morgenthau'6 diplomatic record will be published in 
Land & water early next month. It is an invaluable contribution 
to the history of these times; it relates the incidents of the escape 
of the "Goeben" and '' Breslau," and it explains how Germany 
was able to establish her dominance over Turkey at that critical 
hour. It is all the more interesting in that Mr. Morgenthau was by 
birth a German, having been born at Mannheim; he went to 
Americawhen ten years of age, and is now American to the backbone. 
chatter and German gold, adhered faithfully to the under- 
standing which lay at the root of the Convention, and did 
great service to the Allied cause. Our old enemy France 
is now our firm friend and staiuich ally. Along the 
immense frontier hne between Canada and the United States 
there has been peace for a hundred years, and practically no 
armed force, because on each side there has been an honest 
desire for peace ; and now, thank God, the Stars and Stripes 
and the Union Jack are flying side by side in defence of 
liberty. Italy, Greece, Belgium, Japan, and many other 
countries seem to trust us thoroughly. Only Germany was 
left to denounce us as false and aggressive, and now the 
guilt of falsehood and aggression has been firmly fixed by 
Germans themselves upon their own ' country ; and the 
sincerity and peacefulness of England have been formally 
acknowledged even in Germany. 
Of course, the German Government has not definitely 
accepted the burden of criminality. It has left itself a loop- 
hole for the repudiation of the truth, and when England 
declines to be tricked into peace by soft words the old bogey 
may be set up again for the deception of the German people. 
But if they should be again deceived no one else ever will. 
Prince Lichnowsky and others may be disgraced and punished 
for speaking the truth, but it has been spoken, and nothing 
can alter that fact. 
Henceforth, England stands out clear of all responsibihty 
for the monstrous wickedness which has been let loose upon 
the world ; and when the gigantic conflict comes to an end 
she will be not only greater than ever, but more highly 
trusted and honoured. 
The Irish Convention : By Harold Cox 
WHETHER the Convention over which Sir 
Horace Plunkett so patiently presided for 
nearly nine months has rendered any service 
to Ireland is a matter upon which opinion is 
divided ; that it has rendered an immense 
service to England is beyond question. For two generations 
at least Irishmen in all parts of the world have been denounc- 
ing England as the cause of all their troubles. They have 
proclaimed on thousands of platforms that England denies 
to Irishmen the right to self-government, and insists on 
holding in subjection a nation that for centuries has struggled 
in vain for freedom. 
The report of tlie Irish Convention has disposed of this 
delusion. It proves that the obstacle to Home Rule for 
Ireland is not some curious mental twist on the part of 
Englishmen, but the inability of the inhabitants of Ireland 
to discover any scheme of Home Rule upon which they can 
even approximately agree. 
The Irish Convention was called into being last summer as 
the result of correspondence between thp present Prime 
Minister, Mr. Lloyd George, and the then leader of the Irish 
Nationahst Party, the late Mr. John Redmond. "Irishmen 
of all creeds and parties" were invited to meet together 
" for the purpose of drafting a constitution for their country." 
A more comprehensive invitation cannot be imagined. The 
mere fact that it was given disposed of the idea that the 
British Government for some, strange malicious motive 
wished to deny freedom to Ireland. The subsequent history 
showed what is and ■always has been the obstacle to Home 
Rule for Ireland. Every effort was made at the outset to 
meet the Prime Minister's request for a Convention representing 
the whole of Ireland. A very considerable amount of success 
was achieved. The members of the Convention were well 
chosen ; they were men of distinction in their respective 
spheres of activity, and probably no better men could have 
been .found to give expression to the different points of view 
which they represented. Yet even so, the Prime Minister's 
ideal of "all creeds and parties" was not attained, for the 
very important Sinn Fein Party refused to have anything to 
do with the Convention. Therefore even if the findings of 
the Convention had been unanimous they would have been 
discounted by the fact that a party which has won a majority 
of the by-elections in Ireland in the past twelve months 
was contemptuously hostile. 
But the Convention did not reach an agreement — not even 
an approximate agreement. Sir Horace Plunkett, whose 
services to Ireland cannot be too highly estimated, evidently 
struggled hard to secure some show of agreement. He got 
