The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1915. RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 246, 26 March 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1915. RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE.

The present serious delay in the bombardment of the Dardanelles may seem . to make the discussion of the future of Constantinople somewhat premature. IS"o sensible men will .attempt to commence dividing the lion's skin before lie is killed. But all that the delay in the conquest of the Dardanelles means is thai the most terrible part of the strafe has now been reached. It was known all along that when the Allies attempted to force the passage of The Narrows they would be plunged into the ficrcs.-t part of their fight. A single glance at the map is sufficient to show that the cvisis of the contest was sure to come here. But the obstacles which hare to be overcome before Constantinople can be reached do not prove that it is impregnable. The fact is that Constantinople is already doomed and its capture is only a question of time. If the lion is not yet killed he is caught in a cage from which he cannot escape, and the weapons by which he must eventually be killed are fast closing around him. And the fall of Constantinople must mean the end of the Ottoman Umpire in Europe. So long ago us the time of the Crimean war Lord .Salisbury said that the only defence of that war was that it was an attempt to bolster up the sick man. The wonder is that the bolstcrhi;> up should have kept the sick man there so long. But it cannot go on for ever. The time has come when that wedj-e of Oriental barbarism, the Ottoman Empire, which had been kept in the Southeastern corner of Europe for 50 years, must be driven out of Constantinople! And what is more, Constantinople must be placed in the hands of the Russians. Russia is by far the greatest of the Black Sea Powers, and she ought to be given the key to her own back door. Of course, the conditions on which slus is to be allowed to possess Constantin<ipl" must be rigidly iixed' by an agreement of all the Allies at the close of the war. It goes without saying that the possession of the Bosphorou* and the Dardanelles can only lie allowed ] UT on ,i lf . condition of free access to the Black Sea for other Powers on the lines that govern tin; Suez Canal and the Panama Canal. There is no reason whatever for supposing that Russia will make any objection to such conditions. The one loinl the ivmoiMde-s logic „f la.-t i s m.kiirg perfectly Hear is thnt Piis-ia s the only possible successor ~f Turky n the possesion of Constantinople. Anil hat uan-lYv will be an incalculable lain to the Europe of the future because

fit meant aubstituting a barrier against i Asia for a conduit leading from itinto EuI rope. Ona of tho supreme conditions of th© maintenance of the freedom of Europe in the future is the keeping uf Asiatic barbarism and depotism outside her. And we can see no possible guarantee for building a bulwark strong enough to keep them out«;!e equal to the planting of Ru.ismn [power in Constantinople. That Russia I will abuse her position there is not tie slightest fear. She has already shown . her ability to govern her Mohammedan subjects fairly and systematically. Aa.l she will have every incentive to increase the practice of that rule when more ci tho Mohammedans are brought under her protection. As for the old idea which is rapidly dying out that the possession of Constantinople will make Russia too powerful, we can only nay that it is pure delusion. It ia not goograpl ical position, but moral finalities l:k-! justice, philanthropy, cusri'v, and-self-sacrifice that make nations strong. Russia lias been acquiring these qualities rapidly of late, and the possession of them will make her great whether she gets Constantinople or not. But as a matter of fact this fear is founded only on a bad reading of history. Curiously enough no Power that has held it lias ever yet dominated tho world. With- its possession began* the downfall of the Roman Empire. And even the Turks, as a lighting power began to decline rjjom the time that Constantinople became the capital of their Empire. The possession of the city will make no matir- , ial difference in Russia's strength. But it will give her what is vital to her and to no other nation in Europe-, viz., an ondet for her ships from the Bhek Sea to the Mediterranean. Her claim to this outlet has always been sound. Hitherto the concession of that c'aim has been hindered by a superstitious jealousy and Hn.sa of her rower. But tli •.!; jealousy and dread have been gradually dispelled by the knowledge of the way she has of late years been treating her own subjects, and by the noble and gallant part she lias taken in aiding the cause of the Allies during the present war. It is time that w<: left off suspecting Russia and began to trust her. The possession of Constantinople will be at once a substantial expression of our gratitude to her for the help she has given us already, and a sign of our trust in her to preserve for the future the liberty and peace she has helped us to win in the past. The best safeguard for the maintenance of freedom of the southeast of Europe is the planting of Russia in Constantinople.