TURKEY'S FAITH IN GERMANY RUDELY SHAKEN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 229, 6 March 1915, Page 6

TURKEY'S FAITH IN GERMANY RUDELY SHAKEN.

(By an Englishman just back from Co:ihtantinojdei. Turkey kreailv surprised to i*i- k! 1: ■solf in lier pus.it km. Th« Sultan frequently aa-erie! 'hat ho would never a declaration of war against France or and his Ministers yielded to lorce majeure; In oilier word*, to th" ever-ready pistol of Enver I'a.sha, M'mi-ter of War. This Jailer has been, in company with Ceneral Limnu von Sanders. virtual]y Director of Turkey for some months pant. Djeinal I'a-ha. Mini.-aer of Mavine, J'uritnis at the lons of ihe Sultan Osnian and the 1> hadieh, and 'perhaps not nnr.atnraiiy >threw in his h>l with tJM 'ii. r-j:vM. Minister (1 f kiiiancc, followe.l suit when he found that (icrinany was ready to t,-port linu with a few millions of pound.--, Ta[aat. Miner of the Interior, joined in Ivamo he did. not see how 1m eon!' 1 . ' out and the rest of the backmmeie-s .Ministry followed in liis train.

Turkey lw»J-c»ves that slip will • regain and oih'i' for all free Ili'i'sclf from Llir lius-dan menace. At thr same time hor mole intelligent men do not niidevstaiiil a (puirrcl with England an I France. anil they wonder where their loa 11 i' will come from in the near future, and, in the event of defeat, who will intervene in their favor.

Turkey is impressed only by what sh s;ees, am! Cernianv is the one Pmvc

which has I'liiiealed to her in this ..,av. A\ ho M ill'- warships of the Powers steamed up tile Marmora to lie 01-i' the Colden Horn during the Balkan "\\'ar (lermanv sent her latest super-ilread-nonglit and a. Ii;:lil. cruiser; and in Se;>temher last the Turks were permitted to see the runaway fioeben steam in and dov.ji the liosnhorous with four or five destroyer; behind her, aud with her f;uu crews, stripped to the waist, stn.nilin.tr round the turret----a demonstration on the pari of so roacrfnllv inclined a shin.

StIUKWJ) HJ.fUVS AT TIIK coKHKX

Since then the (ioiben has ben hard ly ,<lca]t with by the Russian warships, and I have ceiia'n news thai she returned into the rosphorous with a list of - . and thai n;ur of one of her huge funnels wa; blown a ":',.'. Tw; vessels ranged alongside of I.er and a , sisteil her down to Tonzla Ihiy, ahoni fifteen miles lrom CoiHtaniinople, an J the Germans said that she would heready for sea again in three wee!:s! (ir the :.iU i'i day tl:e ele'trie Jight and an..

companies announced that, owing to Liu shortage of ISicy could only sup })h their c-lienl ; for another twenty (lays. r l hese little facts, combined with the news of the iall gj linssorah, and till recent oiu-ration; beyond Kr/erouni al Keuprnkeny (the village on the bri.l.."e'j have given the Turks to think, and hav, shaken their laitli in the ijivin• ihijiL\ of the Prussian go as taught on every open p-tch of ground in and around Stamlionl am! Tera. In his inmost bean; the Turk has no love for his Teutonic master. The soldiers have protested hotly a-rainst the insolence and brutality of the Cei-man officers, and even 1-nver Pasha has suggested that Turkish officers should b,treated with more consideration. The Xavy is seething- with discontent. - All (lie lies'- co'umauds are given to Gi-r----mans, tile floehen having her ( admiral and captain, hut be-iu' lioiiiimlly commanded by Knver Hev. formerly a-pjrointed in eomand of the Sultan o*. man.

KIIVITS AM) THE ARMY

Tlio Turkish army, bowvw, is not to '>c despised. The Russians boar witness to this. On imp,.,- then ar.o 70,001) men under arms, lmt <,f thee there ale probably not more Hum .'WO.Oim traino-1 and equipped. The Turk does not lack courage, but no troopg can fight if not properly fed, and that is whore tlio arm v will probably feel the pinch. Much lias been done under German tutelage since the Balkan War, but it must not"be forgotten that the Germans, then, as now. wore responsible for the commi-ariaf department, and that it broke down in the most lamentable manner. A wounded Soldier ill the British Embassy Hospital, Said ii, niv presence: "I was sent into the firing line with no food for the 'previous twentv-fou'- hours and with four cartridges in my belt. Neither men nor rifles can work without fond in their bellies. T lired my .four cartridges an I then ran away, but the Rulgars hit imas I ran." I believe the same storv will be reto]d rhnrlly, although field 'guns, ammunition, and rifles have been eomiim in from Krupp'.s through Roumania. T latter country lias no desire to aid Tur-1-ey, but she is also arming herself with tile help of Krupp, and her own supplies would linbe been stopped if she bail not forwarded the war material to the liosphorons. Tn addition, .short time ago, the supply of field kitchens was absmdly inadequate. the con] supply was a „d tlie troops at Adi ianople and at Lule Boiirgas were actually dependent on the ' re:idy-baked loaves sent by us from Constantino V. I saw tlie troops marching through be streets of the Capital in October" wearing either red bazaar slippers, black heolless shoe-., or tiiin, o]ast.ic side boots. As m the llalkan war, while tlie lisrtlme men will probably be well fed and shod, reserves will be forced into the 'firing-line who have never in their lives discharged a rifle.

AIM INC AT TilK CAXAf.. -\nd v. 11: i( will be flu' oufconie of .turkeys participation in the war? Down south, where the war may be popular, large forces are crossing the hundred and twenty-live miles of desert between Turkish frontier ami the Suez ('anal. Large numbers of Hermans are with them, especially with explosives for Use, wllen dependent on cnme| transport for food and water. They will be unr.lile fc bring up lieavv iirlilliTV. "We may frust ~„r f„ m , s to 'settle wiiii them long before the c;nm! i< threatene.;. hatever happens now Turkey is doomed to disappear from Enrone, ami she deserves no other fa!e. She' 1,«« never been, anything but an agent el' destruction. : ran slaughter 'helnle ■■ Armenian-' by Oi" tens of (.'ousaiuls, but ill alj tlle.-e yeavs .-he has shown no M'.'C.S either of union fir „f progress. She lias lio literature worth .".peaking of,, 11,1 One poets, no statesmen, no architects, no scientists, no unit iieina! icians, no merchants. If she is turned out of Constantinople to-morrow she wil! leave behind no" traces of her len-thv stay, except r. few mo«jue< with their niinai-eiciui i-lie latln-ed \Ondows I'roni behind which the syimmfhctM- and gro-.s-l,v ignorant mothers of degenerate -ens look out upon the Rosnhorons. rn-niir,' and nnhonored wil[ she go.