The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-08
SUEZ CANAL EXPOSED
TO TURKISH ATTACK
Move Apparent on Part Of OF
toman Power to Destroy
English Waterway.
DEFENCES INADEQUATE
ny r.. CUNLIFFE-OwEN.

with the proclamation by England OF
martial law In Egypt and the appoint
ment OF Lieut.. Gen. Sir John Maxwell 10
supreme military command of the land or
the Nile, with the bombardment OF Aka
bah by the English cruiser Minerva ana
the announcement that force of $4,000
Turks. largely Differed by Germans. have
crossed the Khedivial frontier the atton-
TN 81 the world has been drawn dur
irg the past week to what Is undoubtedly
the most vulnerable point Of the huge
=. Ito Empire. This is By common con-
sen tn Suez Canal--that great water
way lose upon hundred miles In
length. which Is Englands chief line OF
commun cation with Australia, with India
and with her other great dependencies
In the Drisot, as well as with her ally.
Japan.
1t Ia waterway that Is even Of stu
greater importance to England, especially
at the present iuncture than the Panama
Canal is to the United States. though
there Is mush ualogy between the two.
In fact the 4ttatn on the Suez Canal
may be regarded az roreshadowing n
similar attack upon the connecting INK
between the Atlantic and the Pn9ihc
| oceans at Panama, IL the event or ue
United states finding itself Involved In
war.
That the move OF the Turks and their
German friends and allies upon the Sucz
| Canal In OF Il very serious character II
would be idle to deny. There Is abundant
| evidence from all parts Of the world 10
| indicate that Germany had long been pre-
I pairing for the present fray. and that she
| had quite made up her mind g. preclpitate
! IL In last July and August Instead OF
waiting for next year. Naturally their
plan OF campaign included Turkish at
| tack upon the SueZ Canal from syria
| ard the matter had been provided for
| so long In advance, that II may be safely
| taken for granted that the Ottoman In
| yading force IL composed Of picked men.
| offcered by Germans who know every
| inch of the ground to be covered. and
| the lay OF the land. II is asserted IN
| the dispatches that the invading army
| consists Of 10 900 men. But this IS mere
| speculat!un. For II Is known that the
| Porte has been for some time past mo-
| blizing troops In syria. aud that II has
| considerably over 10000 men under
there for service against Egypt.
II has frequently been urged that steps
be taken to put the province Of El Arish
comprising the desert Of Tih and the pc
ninsula OF SINAI. in state or proper de
fence against any Turkish invasion from
SYRIA In order TO protect the canal from
hostile injury. But there has been df'
ficulty about this For Egypt has beer
until now theoretically "A dependency Of
the Ottoman Empire the ruler thereof
namely the Khedive ranking AT Stambou
os a hereditary Governor, Inferior "
grade and importance to the Grand Nizlel
and 20 the Grand Eunuch OF the Seraglio
The Khedve himself has always been ex
tremely Turkophile, preferring To lear
toward the Sublime Porte rather thai
toward the English. whom he has hated.
There is a very important and infiuen
| -. ~,
OF what may be described as the noble
and the territorial rnagnates OF the coun
try Inasmuch as Egyptian money woul'
have had to be employed TO construct for
| tincations and defenCes on Egyptian ter
ritory the Khedive, his family and tn
lupper classes would have naturally raise
otetacles to the expenditure OF the rev
enues ~ the nation upon defences TO b
! used hy the English against Turkey. tina
IL. against EEypts suzeran power,
/; noyer which would undoubtedly have con
strucd the erection OF any such defence
t as a hostile act on the part Of both Egyp
= and Great Britain
There has always been question a
~ % whether the peninsula OF Sinai and IN
'csert Of TIN really belonged to Egyp
1.-The Sublime Porte insisting that II wa
p not comprised in the Khediviate. In 1905
owing to the increase OF lawlessnes
among the Bedouns OF the Sinai PENN
, sula and Of the Tih Desert, British Of
ncial OF the Egyptian Government wa
appointed commandant and inspector q
the peninsula. This led to the ant-EnG