The Republican journal., 1915-10-28
THE WAR.

10 those who believe that the Allies are
fighting the, battles of the civilized world
against militarism and barbarism, and who de-
voutly hope for their success. present condi-
tions appear far from reassuring, The Dar-
danelles campaign has resulted in loss to the
British alone of sc, 800 men and six battle
shps-French losses not given-and has ac-
complished nothing. Whether the forces now
there will be withdrawn or different method
of campaign be inaugurated under new COM
mander is matter of conjecture. On the
western front trench fighting continues with
losses on both sides and no practical gain to
the Allies In Russia the Austro- Germans
are making a determined attempt to capture
Riga and German officer has declared that if
they fail and are obliged to retreat they will
burn every village they pass through. Eng
land is still talking conscription and King
George has issued an appeal to his subjects in
which he says: 1.-The end is not in sight.
More men and yet more, are wanted to keep
my armies in the field. and through them to
secure victory and an enduring peace. In
ancient days the darkest moment has ever
produced in men of our race the sternest re-
solve. / ask you, men of all classes, to come
forward voluntarily and take your share in
these fights"
Interest now centers in the Balkans. Serbia
has been invaded by the Austro-G Germans and
the Bugarians, in pursuance of the German
plan for reaching the sea of Marmora and Con-
stantinople. The Serbians are making gall
liant defense, but unless reinforced by the
Allies their defeat is inevitable and the sue
cess of the German campaign must turn the
scale heavily in favor of the Kaiser. French
and English forces have already gone to the
aid of Serbia and later reports indicate that
Italy and Russia are coming to the rescue; but
will they be in time to avert serious reverses?
Already the Bulgarians have destroyed, or
hold, section of the railroad needed by the
Allies to reach the scene of action, and re-
ports come of atrocities such as characterized
the last Austrian invasion of Serbia, when
there were towns in which every house and
building was looted and burned, and men.
women and children were herded together in
the churches and murdered without mercy.
Greece and Roumania remain on the fence.
and Greece has refused Great Britain s offer of
the important island of Cyprus for her aid;
but it is believed that if the Allies send suf-
fcient force to Serbia to defeat her enemies
both these countries will join them in the near
future.
An article by Sir Arthur Conan DOYLE. ca
bled from London and published in the Sunday
papers. takes an optomistic view of the stu
alton and pre- diets the triumph of the Allies.
He says: Germany can make good showing
up to date against the coalition. Against
Great Britain she has been beaten at every
/ turn" and he then tells what his country has
done in the past IA months:
| We have annexed the whole great German
| colonial empire, with the exception of East
Africa and district in Kameruns; we have
swept the German flag, both imperial and mer-
| camille, off the face of the ocean; we have
completely sterilized her fleet; We have re-
| PEELED her serious submarine attack; played
our game so skifully that the fiux of time
shows US stronger, not weaker, in comparisons;
we have conquered Mesopotama from the
Turks; we have completely repelled their at
tempted invasion of Egypt; we have helped to
save Paris; we have, with French and Belgian
assistance, but mainly by our own exertons,
stopped the advance upon Calais, infiicting a
loss of several hundreds of thousands upon
the Germans; we have, by our intervention at
Antwerp, helped to extrcate the Belgian
army; finally, and greatest of all, we have
raised enormous voluntary army, which is
! large enough to turn the scale between the
European forces, and we have converted our
selves, with wonderful adaptability, into the
great factory and munition store of the allies
He does not agree with the general senti-
ment that the Dardanelles campaign has been
a failure. If the British losses have been
lOO,O 900 he maintains that the Turks must have
met with at least like loss. and says: I'VE
have held up great body of their best troops,
who would otherwise have been operating
against US on the Egyptian or Mesopotamian
fronts or in the Caucasus against the Rus
sians' And further; But the greatest of all
the results from the Dardanelles expedition is
that it has united us with Russia as nothing
else could have done. She cannot say now as
she might have said, that we thought only of
our own empire. We have spent our blood
and our ships in trying to force the gates
which close her in." He does not regard the
Balkan situation as SO serious as it is COM
monty held, and ass uming that Serbia may be
overwhelmed he asks.
what next could they advance upon? Con-
stantinople, with strong allied force in
trenched upon their flank at Salonica? Would
the Turks really welcome an army of Bulgars
and other hereditary enemies marching into
their capital at the expense of her hereditary
friends? And if we assumed everything and
suppose them at Constantinople, what then =?
How will they cross the Egyptian desert and
meet the quarter of million whom we could
line up on the Suez Canal? What will it profit
them to be strong in Asia Minor by the time
that attrition has worn them down east and
west and the overwhelming allied lines are
pushing inward for Berlin?
Another writer says that whatever the re-
suit of this campaign Turkey is doomed In
case of German success she would become q
vassal of that country, and if the Allies win
there will be an end of Moslem rule and of the
wholesale murder of Christians.
The situation in the Balkans is worrying
England, as it is feared the Serbians will be
defeated before the Allies can give efficient
aid. There are again rumors that Germany is
ready for peace and may submit terms te
President Wilson, but they are sure to be
terms which would not be accepted by the
Allies.
NEWS OF THE ORANGES.
Trarouility Grange Iincolnyille has chanpef