THE WAR.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 20 November 1912, Page 2

THE WAR.

ANOTHER week of victories for the allied amis has brought the Bulgarian armies within Constantinople, shut the Turkish army of the centre in Salonika, and covered Albania with allied victories and Turkish atrocities. It has also brought foreign warships—of all nations—to the Turkish capital, guaranteeing the safety of the Christian population. Adrianople has fallen leaving the allied armies uninterrupted lines of communication with their front. We know that but for a deluge of rain the allies would, after forcing the last defences of the Turk on the heights of Tchataldeja,have been in Constantinople at the present moment. Over and above all, a most important discovery has been made. It is that the decisive superiority of the allies in the field is due to their artillery. They are armed with the Creusot gun, and the Turks with the Krupp, both presumably up-to-date. Now the Creusot is the weapon of the French army and the Krupp of the German. No doubt there are other causes of the Turkish collapse- for example, the general unreadiness pleaded by Hilma Pasha in Vienna as a reason for Austrian intervention. But taking all the accounts together it seems assured that the decisive

cause of allied victory is better artillery. Now the French nation is likely to conclude that the time has come for asserting long standing claims and the German people are sure to tremble lest the Krupp gun may be called upon before the makers have done something to bring themselves iip to date to face the superior arm. One can not help ascribing to this cause the remarkable unanimity of justice among all the diplomats of Europe at the present moment; as well as the assured pronouncement of the allies that they will settle the whole of the business without permitting interference from anyone. One understands readily also the open Servian demands for open ports once in the' kingdom of Servia, and the significance of the Servian entry into Yskub. The moral ot the war seems to be then that Creusot is the King of Europe at the present moment. In other words the allies will establish a federation of Balkan States1 with their capital at Stamboul, without interference from the powers.