Evening star., 1901-11-16
A "RiF-Raff" Member.
THE DARDANELLEs.

THE DARDANELLEs,
description of One of the Natural De-
Tense of COnstantinOpIe.
From the Philadelphia Press.
With the French fleet within striking dis
tance of the entrance forts of the Darda-
nelles, as the long, narrow neck of the hot
tie, on whose base Constantinople is stu
ated Is called, new interest centers in This
famous strait and the part it has piayed
and may play in eastern complications.
The gorgeous capital of the Sick Man of
Europe Is well guarded by nature SitrI-
ated on the European shore of the eastern
entrance to the Sea of Marmora Constan-
tlnople is reached from the Mediterranean
through the forty-fve miles of the Darda-
Helles and the hundred miles of the Sea of
Marmora with difficulty, so far as a hostile
Meet is concerned. From the Black sea
RUSSIA has but seventeen miles of the Bos-
pnoruS to traverse in case it desires to
get at the seat of power of the moribund
Turkish empire. So far as the Turkish
navy goes it's old, worn-out and HELPLESS
TUBS that usually lie moored in the Golden
Horr, are of no value for the protection of
the city, but 1t Is held by many that the
torts OF the Dardanelles and others that
command the approaches to Constantinople
are not to be SneeZed at
The Dardaneles form a long tortuous
ana narrow passage, swept by a strong
current. The average width of the straits
Is only two miles. while at the narrowest
point the channel is only about 900 yards
broad. On either side the ground is the
most favorable for forts and the most ul;-
favorable for ships that may attempt tc
Lorce passage, for the latter would find it
dlfncult to reach the forts at all with their
guns, while being peculiarly susceptible /,
a plunging or downward fire, against which
the thin armor of their decks could not
protect them satisfactorily. In 1878 Ad-
of ft,n Er;t ts-l.n
he led his squadron up the narrows found
that scarcely gun in his fleet could be
trained upon the Turkish batteries on the
cEns. He had, of course. no occasion to
nre shot, the Turks, then in alliance with
England. not opposing his passage
General Tschichatscheff, the celebrated
RUSSIAN artillery officer recently stated
after minute inspection of the Darda-
neHes, That the sultan can rely absolutely
on the strength Of its forts. He found no
fewer than siXty-seven Krupp guns on one
side OF the waterway and forty-eight on the
other, all bearing directly on the channel
moreover, the guns are mounted on emil
nences. giving them a plunging fire. and
any man-of-war coming up must steam
right toward them and Straight away from
them for the entire distance of the range
In addition to that, the channel between
Chanak and Abydos Is so tortuous that YES
sells have to steam at reduced speed while
passing under the fortifications. These for
tifications alone are supposed to make the
Dardanelles secure
recent visitor describing the approach
to the city of imperial seraglios and
mosques wrote of the Dardanelles as fol-
lows:
"On the whole, the passage of the Dar-
danelles Is only possible to strongly ar
mored ships, and that perhaps by night
alone. The dispatch of an army corps up
the straits Is impossible till the forts have
been reduced, and Turkey has at its dis
posal, at the lowest estimate 900, 600 armed
men, who, If the sultan should be attacked,
Will, whatever his sins, defend him with
Ottoman obstinacy till the last. However,
there is one weak spot in the defense of
the Dardanelles. which is the exposure to
attack from the rear of the forts on the
european side. An army covered by a
sufficient fleet might without much difficulty
land on the coast Of the peninsula either in
the Gulf OF Sares or on the coast opposite the
Isle of Imbos. Once established on the
peninsula 1t would be an easy task to seize
the earthworks on the European shore of
the Dardanelles, the gorges of which are,
as rule open and offer little resistance to
attack from the rear. With these COM
manding forts in his hands an enemy could
subdue those on the opposite coast suffi-
ciently to cover the passage of his fleet
The Turks have always realized the
strategic Importance of the Dardanelles
and centuries ago took steps to fortify
their position there. The two forts at the
entrance to the Mediterranean were erected
by Mohammed II in 1853 and We're rebuilt
by Mohammed ~ in 1859 to protect his en-
IN good order they were unable to prevent
the passage of a Russian Gn IT'D and the.
English squadron Gin 1900. AS early as
1909 England recognized the porte's right
to exclude warships, but not until 1S4l
did the other great powers join with her.
Fearful of Russian, influence in the OF
tcman empire, England, France, Prussia
and Austria began to take an active in
terest In the eastern situation. and the
result of their Intervention was a treaty
between them, Turkey and Russia, drawn
up in 1910 and 1S41 All the powers agreed
to observe the right of the porte to ex-
clude from the Dardanelles and the Bos-
phorus the warships of foreign nations
This principle was reafirmed by the treaty
of Paris In 1856, and has been reaff1rmed
by the powers in every treaty drawn up
between them SINCE
The United States was not a party to
any of these treaties. and had always main
tained Its right to send men-of-war through
the strait In 1858 the frigate Wabash ran
by the forts and up to Constantinople the
commander claiming the right to do SO since
ms government was not a party to the
treaties. The porte received him In a not
uniriendiy manner, but did not abate its
claims to exclude the war vessels of all
nations.