CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 203, 4 February 1915, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

! WAR 'SEVER ENDTNO. |. The late Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, in his last message to liis fellow-country-■'men on the supreme duty of the citizen, 'draws attention to an important point in connection with the termination of ■the present war. The famous soldier said:—"Do not be led away by those who say that the end of "this great .struggle is to be the end of war, and , that it is bound to lead to a great reduction of armaments. There is nothing in the history of the. world to justify any such conclusion. Nor is it consonant with ordinary common sense. For who would recommend the breaking up of a Arc brigade which had justified its i existence by the prompt extinction of i a dangerous Are? Who would plead for i the disbnndment of a police force which ! had just shown its cfficiencc by captur-

ing and bringing to justice a dangerous gang of burglars? When our anvy and our army have helped to extinguish the flames of a war set alight by the eyil advisers of the German Emperor, when they have brought to justice the German forces which have been used for a burglarious attack, on Belgium and Franccj surely it would be folly serious,ly to reduce their strength simply lrcauso they have nobly fulfilled t'" dangerous tasks. Do not let us pay a.,,, attention to the foolish prattle of tho.;e who talk of this war as the "doom of conscription.' If the system of universal service has placed a powerful weapon in the hands of the Kaiser and his advisers, and they have made a bad use of it, we must also remember that a similar system has enabled Republican France to speak with her enemies in the gate, and the Tsar of Russia to summon his hosts even from the borders of Mongolia. It is true that the German 'nation in arms,' founded for the noble purpose of freeing Prussia from the yoke of Napoleon, has been grossly, misused. But the remedy for that is not so much the destruction of a just and honorable institution, as the reform of tho political system of Prussia, and the transference of more power to the. Prussian people." THE FATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE'. Turkey's entrance into the field has solved one problem which might have proved difficult if she had remained neutral, and that is the fate of Constantinople. Now there is no doubt that at the end. of this war Russia will take possession of that city and the Bosphorus, and thus obtain her great desire—an ice-free port. Russia, by her wonderful sacrifices and services in aid of her allies, has fully merited this prize, especially as the conditions now prevailing are very different to those when Great Britain opposed Russia's ambition. Since the Turks cannot longer hold it, her only possible successor is Russia. Ther« will hardly be opposition to the long deferred fulfilment of her destiny.