PEACE TALK FROM TURKEY

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 76, 6 March 1916, Page 5

PEACE TALK FROM TURKEY

CURRENT WAR TOPICS. Outside the desire to hear the progress of the terrible struggle for Verdun, upon which so ; much is said to depend, the outstanding feature of today's cables is the reported departure, from Kiel, the chief naval station of the German Empire, of twenty Dreadnoughts. Kiel, as most readers know, is about seventy miles by rail north of Hamburg, near the Baltic end of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. No mention is made in the message of thdj destination of the squadron, and the presumption is that there is something doing in the Baltic but in face of the report coming on top of the Swedish rumor persistently circulated that the German navy is coming out to fight before March 22, the North Sea may soon be the scene of a momentous battle between the British and Prussian Fleets. This all-important and inevitable contest will be awaited with interest. In connection with the above rumor, a naval expert with an intimate knowledge of the German shipyards points out the possibility of the German Navy being much strengthened, as they are able to construct twenty-five Dreadnoughts at the same time. Information concerning the capablilites of Germany's dockyards do not bear out the statement, and it should be be taken cum grano sab's.

The Germans officially report that the raider Moewe lias arrived home. They quote the number of prisoners brought back and the value of the booty captured .from her victims. There is the usual gloat over the murderous policy of mine-laying in the open seas' for the destruction of enemy and neutral alike, and the claim is made that the battleship Edward Seventh was lost as the result of her work. The commander and crew are. naturally, being feted and Iron Crossed, and the commander has been ordered to relate his adventures to the Kaiser. The Moewe is truly a slippery customer, and almost rivals the ill-fated Emden.

At Verdun, where the fighting on Saturday is stated to be oi a terrible ferocious character, the position is unchanged, with honors to the Allies, it the reports cabled may bo relied upon. In the Ypres region tho capture of some of the enemy's original trenches is reported by General Haig. In the Vosges, intense activity is evident at Belfort, where numerous troops and enormous quantities of material and munitions are being concentrated with a view, it-is said, to an offensive on Paris. Should this prove correct, it may be taken as an acknowledgment of the enemy's failure at Verdun, but on the other hand, it may be a further offensive in support of the Mouse campaign. Belfort is 275 miles by rail south-east of Paris, and is an important town in many respects. It is the commercial entrepot for the trade with Switzerland and Germany, but is also the centre of a vast system of fortifications which makes Belfort one of the first-class citadels of France. It commands the passage between the Vosges and the Jura. In the FrancoGerman war, it was besieged by the Germans, and a fierce engagement took place outside its walls on January 15-17, 1871. and on February 13 the garrison capitulated, and were permitted to march out with full honors of war. The idea of the renewed German activity is, as likely as not, the fear of a French offensive towards the Rhine.

The firm stand which Portugal is making against Germany and the seizure ot additional shipping at Gao, Portuguese India, bids fair to mean an exchange of blows with Britain's Ally, for they were bound together by numerous treaties from the very early days, one commercial treaty having been made as far back as 1294. In 1387 the friendship of the two nations was further cemented by the King of Portugal marrying an English Princess, PhilHppa, daughter of John of Gaunt, a son of Edward 111. I" 1703, however, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance was renewed by the Treaty of Methuen and, since that time, Great Britain has played the part of good friend to Portugal. At tho end of the eighteenth century Bon John was as-

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sisted b'v Great Britain in his conflicts with France and Spain; and. thereafter, came the Peninsular War, and Wellington's wonderful victories »n behalf of Portugal. It was only to be expected that, when Greit Britain declared war against Germany, Portugal should announce herself as ready, when the proper time came, to discharge the obligation of her ancient alliance. This Portugal did, and, more than a year ago, London newspapers stated that a British Commission had gone to Lisbon to determine, in conjunction with the Portuguese authorities, the manner and the method of co-operation by Portugal.

The Russians continue their victorious career in Asia Minor. The operations in Kurdistan, in the neighborhood of Lake Van, drift into prominence to-day owing to the report of the capture of Bitlis, which was almost a natural sequence of the fall of Mush, from which it is distant south by east about fifty miles in the direction of the Lake. The success makes easier the functioning of the Russian forces pushing their way southward from Lake Urumiah in Persia. Bagdad is still 400 miles away from Bitlis. but the danger to the Turkish forces of being cut off by the Russians from Urumiah or Kermanshah is daily becoming greater, and may provide one of the best reasons for the alarm in Constantinople and the talk of peace among the Turkish leaders.

Wars sometimes conclude in almost a mattej-of-fact way, as did the Franco-German war of 1870-71. Bismarck, who had just concluded the terms of peace with France, told his friends at supper that "at 12 o'clock to-night our troops and the French will exchange their last shots, and I have agreed that the latter shall fire the last one." Shortly before midnight Bismarck's guests loft him, and waited outside the Hotel do Keseivoir, Versailles. Soon they heard a shot from the Germans, and then, after a brief silence, tn e French fired their last reply. Hardly had the cannons' echo died away than the tower clock of Versailles struck 12— and the Franco-German war was an event of the past.