Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-11-27

ee :
WASHINGTON. November 2S.-The
National Geographic Society of this
city to-day gave out the following de-
scriptions OF the Dardanellcs and Aus
trian Galicia. which are figuring promi-
nently In the war in Europe:
Keen political interest has centred
around the pnrdanclles since the time
when Persian strength was tested upon
the soldiers or FREQ Greece. Xeraes
came this way with hls vast army for
the invasion of Europe and crossed the
Dardanelles, then known as the Holes
pont, over pontoon bridge. con-
structed near Abydos, on the Asintic
side, and touching Grccian shores near
Scstos. where tho waterway is about
$500 feet wide. 1t was on this occa-
sion that the capricious currents OF the
strait called forth the most historic
spanking ever given. They carried
away tho pontoons, whcrcupon Xerxes
ordered the Tablespoon TO be soundly
logged.
When the eastern Invasion had spent
itself after Marathon and Salamis. the
Dardanelies became a point OF dcpar-
ture for the hardy conqueror who
turned the tables Alexander, In 834
b. c., lac years after xerxee, crossed
In the path OF the Persian and began
his successful subjugation Of the out
worn east. The tide shifted once more,
Byzantium against the east the OAR
danelles were ever and again frontier
waters. AT last In 1856. the Turks
forced themselves over tho much con-
tested boundary spread over It's Eu-
ropean banks and settled down to stay.
No longer frontier OF eastern
western struggle, the Dardanelles,
nevertheless. preserved their political
Importance. an Importance derived,
first, from Turkish control of Medi-
terranean- Black Sea commerce and.
later. from the complex diplomatic
Europe sought TO balance themselves,
one against the other, and each to
make that balance contribute to its
own advantage. Mighty Russia's only
ports upon warm water werc In her
Black Sea territory. Conventions OF
the powers. however, have held her
shut up fast within the Inland sen
For a century these conventions have
stood between Russia and her ambi-
lions to have an outlet on the Mediter-
ranean.
ALL Shipping Restrictetl.
BY hve-power treaty In 1871 It
was arranged that no ship OF war OF
any nation other than the Ottoman
should pass the Dardanelles without
express permission Of the Porte. Tho
closing of tho strait vas roaffirmcd at
London In 1871, and at Berlin In 1878.
Even merchant vessels must have
passes, which they arc required to show
to the authorities at the narrowe.
Boats may pass through only during
pay a small lighthouse fee.
The strait IL narrow. irregular
channel. connecting the Aegean Sea
with the Sea Of Marmora- It cuts Eu-
rope from Asia on course from south
west TO northeast. 1t Is only about
IN R,-n rt,t1
in width from one to five miles Its
average depth Is 1870 fe.t. Upon the
European Side the shores arc steep and
barren. and their inhospitable line OF
batt.ry-crowned rocks makes the OAR
danelles a place for unusually strong
defense. The shores on the Asiatic
side are long. sloped and very fertile,
for the most part being clothed with
beautiful forests.
Tho Dardanelles guard the approach
to Constantinople from the Mcditer-
ranean. as the Besphorus guards the
approach from the Black Sea. They
were first fortified by two castles. one
on either shore, In the path of Xerxes
and Alexander, built by Mohammed II.
in 1862. These have been often re-
modelled. During the last century, with
Turkish power on the wane and the
Turk himself apparently acquiescent,
the remodellng and extending of tho
by French. English and German prod
ding, as temporary interests pointed
toward the Golden Horn.
Poland Lives In GsIicia.
Most OF old Poland. which survives
In race and in political consciousness,
in typical culture and In folk char
acter. survives In tho Austrian crown
land of Galicia. Under the moro
sternly repressive rule of Russian and
German overlordshlp, the Poles In Rus
sia and Germany have been driven
national feeling. They are becoming
half-hearted Russians and Germans, for
Russia and Germany have done all in
their power to assimilate the we'll
nigh unassimilable Pole. In Galicia,
however, with constitution of their
own, under n perplexed and lenicnt
central government, a consciousness OF
old Poland remains. and has grown In
intensity In recent times.
Hemmcd In by Russia on the north
and east by the suspicious border pa
troll naturally cut off from Hungary
on the south and southwest by the
Carpathians, barely touching It's SOW
ereign Austria on the west, tho Cali
clan Pole has been left to himself, TO
che single handed solution of his own
difficulties. political, economic and adj
minlstrative. With little to prod him
into violent industrial exertion, he has
continued the past into the present,
with Its quaint customs, its devotion
10 agriculture and Its poverty-strickea
idealism.
Galicia slopes away from the Car
pathians to meet tho houndiess Rus
aian plain ON the north. Its southern
uplands are devotss largely to grag-
ins grounds for horses, cattlo and,