The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1912. THE TURCO-ITALSAN WAR.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8, 7 May 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1912. THE TURCO-ITALSAN WAR.

That there is a possibility of a grave international crisis arising out of the Tureo-ltalian wary and that it is'not quite certain how the Great' Power:; may meet it, is the view expressed by Mr Lucien Wolf in the Daily Graphic; He holds there are symptoms thai certain of the Powers are pursuing ends inconsistent with the general interest,while within their normal groupings cross-currents are discernible which cannot but accentuate the growing difficulty. The crisis that is feared is the re-opening of the Eastern Question. If in order to bring the Porte to terms Italy carries the war to the coasts of European Turkey and succeeds, as she threatens, in forcing the Dardenolles, then the Eastern Question will be re-opened in a form far more perilous than it has ever yet assumed. The first reason for believing that Italy will act in tins way is that as things stand at present it is her only alternative to a humiliating abandonment of her Tripolitan adventure, and the second is that Russia appeal's to be favourable to the project under some idea that she would profit by it. Here, Mr Wolf says, we have not only the crisis, but also the first of the cross-currents which render the general situation disquieting. The attitude of Rusia in this matter is not only inherently mischievous and shortsighted, but it is inconsistent- with the views and interests of her British and French Allies, and is thus calculated to disturb the European balance which has been so labouriously constructed as a supreme guarantee of the general peace. Proceeding further, Mr Wolf says: "Unhappily, there can be no doubt of the sinister tendencies of Russian policy in this matter. The Tripolitan question does not directly concern her, for it is essentially a Mediterranean question, and she is not in any sense a Mediterranean Power. Nevertheless, she has taken the lead tv.-ie in endeavouring to organise a European intervention with a view to compelling Turkey to make peace; and when the other day her own Ambassador in Constantinople appeared lukewarm in this project he was unceremoniously dismissed. Why ail this zeal for Italian interests? The explanation given in St. Petersburg is that Russia fears the very crisis she seems to be courting—that is, that the prolongation of the war may produce dangerous complications in the Balkans. But as a matter of fact, the prolongation of the war will do nothing of the kind so long as European Turkey is not attacked, and to avert that danger Russia need do no more than range herself with the other European Powei's in,advising Italy to limit her operations to Tripoli. Moreover, nothing can be more fatally calculated to bring about grave complications in Turkey than to force the Ottoman Government to comply with the Italian terms. Either Turkey would resist the Powers or she would submit. If she resisted, then, indeed, the whole Orient would speedily be ablaze. If she submitted, some eight million Arabs would want to know the reason why,

and to the Balkan danger would be added an Arab danger which would bring the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire well within tlio field of everyday contingencies. Russia supports Italy because Italy has pledged herself to support .Russia in securing the opening of the Dardenelles. Two serious dangers are entailed by th:s compact. The first is that it gives Italy a free hand to throw a torch, into the powder magazine of South-Eastern Europe. The second is thai even if the torch is not thrown and peace is secured in some other way, the raising of tie Dardenelles Question is certain to follow, with the gravest peril to British interests, and, consequently, to the general peace. Here assuredly is quite enough to make the Chancelleries a little thoughtful."