The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 6, 1918. A WAR OF LIBERATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 194, 6 May 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 6, 1918. A WAR OF LIBERATION

Although some of the results which would formerly have attended tho subjugation of the Ottoman Empire arc no longer in sight, tho British operations which have- recently been doveloped with signal success both in Mesopotamia and Palestine are still in themselves important and capable of heavily influencing tho trend of the war and the conditions of settlement. With Russia still in the field, decisive success against Turkey would have enabled the Allies at one and the same time to link up their forces in West and East and to oppose a complete barrier to that drive to the East upon which PanGerman hopes are set. As a result of what Germany has accomplished by war and intrigue in Russia, tho problem of preventing her from establishing a road of conquest into Asia has broadened and become more difficult. It is quite as necessary to this end that she should bo forced to resign her conquests and pretensions in South-western Russia as that she should bo compelled to abandon the hope of continuing to use Turkey as an instrument of her conquering ambitions. Undoubtedly the prospect of stable poace depends upon the ability of the Allies to win such a victory in AVestem Europe as- will enable them to enforce their will in Eastern Europe. But, taking due account of the changed conditions that have arisen, it remains true that full military success against Turkey would very greatly strengthen the hands of the Allies in enforcing, such a peace. Even now the material consequences and moral effect of such an achievement would bo immense, and far-reaching, and late events in Palestine and Mesopotamia carry a.distinct suggestion that it is well within the bounds of possibility.

It is self-evident that as a military Power Turkey is on tho down grade, and that, up to the present she has not received such assistance from her allies as would make up for her own deficiencies. Until the early part of last year a very largo proportion of ..her total forces were arrayed against the Russians on the Armenian front. Tho armies operating against the British in Mesopotamia and on tho approaches to Egypt were relatively small. In tho normal course of events the relief gained by the elimination of Russia should have enabled Turkey to bring great additional forces to bear and to seize the initiative in her remaining campaigns. Instead she has suffered an almost uninterrupted, series of defeats, both in Mesopotamia and in Palestine. She has lost heavily in men and material, and still moi - u heavily in prestige. The immediate explanation of these developments appears in the brilliant leadership and fine organisation of the invading armies, and the gallantry and ondurance of the British and Indian troops engaged. But, without in any way minimising what these armies have faced and accomplished, it is also evident that the Ottoman Empire has made very poor use of its resources in resisting their onslaught. It has been defeated disastrously time and again when tho odds, assuming always the existence of reasonably sound internal conditions, were immeasurably in its favour. The proviso, of .course, is. exceedingly important. Very little specific information is. available in regard to internal conditions in Turkey, but it is a fairly safe conclusion that these conditions are so bad that they account in no small degree for her failure to make head against invasion, and justify an extension of tho British operations in

Palestine and Mesopotamia which j in other circumstances would be venturesome, lb is by this time fairly clear that estimates of the military Strength of the Ottoman Empire, based upon its population and upon the stubborn defence of the Gallipoli Peninsula, were g»eatly exaggerated. Before tho war the population living under Turkish rule aggregated more than 21,000,000 souls, but this total included vast numbers of people of .various subject and oppressed nationalities who were bound to prove a source of weakness and not of strength to tho corrupt Ottoman tyranny. It included, for instance, more than two million Armenians, of whom a very large proportion have since been massacred, while many of tho surviving representatives of the race are to-day in the field against Turkey, and numbered amongst her most inveterate enemies. It included also some four million Arabs, and already a great part of the Arab race has been redeemed from bondage, and tho forces of the King of Hejaz are actively seconding the British advance in Palesline.

In an official war review published to-day it is mentioned in reference to the latest British advance in Mesopotamia that tho better disposed tribes, even in an area where enemy intrigue lately had free play, are eager to co-operate against the Turks. Though it relates to one district touched by the war, there is little doubt that this observation would apply with equal truth and force to a great part of the Ottoman Empire. When the late Sir Stanley Maude entered' Bagdad ho told the Arabs in a proclamation that he had come to free them from strange tyrants under whom they had suffered for twenty-six generations, and invited them to collaborate with the political representatives of Great Britain in realising tho aspirations of their race. There was a. response which undoubtedly has facilitated the further progress of the British armies, and is reflected in such achievements as were described in a recent dispatch from Mr. Edmund Candler—the restoration of ancient irrigation works in Mesopotamia and the' production of the best harvest since tho days of Nebuchadnezzar. The prowess of the British armies-is the first and most essential factor making for the downfall of the Ottoman Empire, but it contributes heavily to the same result that theso armies are bringinr in iheir train justice and security, and every incentive to industry andenterprise which is lacking where the blight of Turkish rule extends. This is as true of. Palestine as of Mesopotamia. Discussing the attitude and outlook of the Jews, one correspondent wrote recently:

Southern Palestine has become a network of good rjads and railway communications, and is now' thoroughly linked up with Egypt and Syria. That will accomplish much for the commercial possibilities of the country. The rapid English advance nas saved Judea; it. is the cherished hope tf the Judean that another rapid advance will release tho Samarian and Galilean colonies from the menace that hangs over them. Mr. Balfour's declarations to Lord Rothschild as to tho full sympathy of tho English with the mov-juienfc Vor making Palestine tho homo of tho Jewish people have opened a now and bright vista to all lovers of Zion and the dwellors in Zion. It moans that what is now a miniature of a Jewish homo will becomo the full picture, and tho collection of villages will grow to tho proportions of a country wherein, as the prophet dreamed, each man will sit under his vine and his fig-tree. The fact that ttrose sections of its population which are least decadent are either actively fighting against ifc or aro looking with longing to the coming of the British invaders must tend to heavily weaken an Empire weakened already by deeprooted corruption and the absence of any inspiring and unifying national motive. Factors visibly operating make it easy to believe the reports that escape at times about heavy desertions from the Ottoman armies and of other developing troubles and disorders. That the best elements in its own population are either ar r ayed against it in the field or eagerly anticipating its defeat certainly strengthens the hopo that the Ottoman Empire—the most abominable tyranny the world has ever seen—may ere long be overthrown and destroyed.