New-York tribune., 1915-03-14

Leander that the next great incident on the Dar-
danelles occurred. This was in the spring oil
4SO b. c.. when XerXes essayed the invasion OF
Europe and the conquest of Greece, anticipating
an easy victory for the "Kultur' of Persia over
the "contemptible little army of the allies OF
Athens and Sparta. lie crossed the strait upon
pontoon bridge, without the opposition which the
Greeks might well have offered. Precise annallsts
have told US that his entire force numbered ex-
actIv 52S322O persons. HerodOtus, whom some
have affected to call the Father Of Lies, but VINO
was in fact about the most scrupulous and truth
lul historian that ever wrote, records that there
We're 100000 infantry, beside a proporuonate
number of cavalry and marines, and OF course OF
camp followers. Some twentieth century sAeptcS
have argued that these numbers were grossly eX-
aggerated, since if true they would indicate not
so much a military invasion the migration OF
people But that is the very reason for credlting
Herodotus's figures, for those were the days OF
precisely such ethnic movements
However. whether five millions or only five my
riads, Xerxcs came over the Hellespont that
spring. and by August reached ThermOpyla; after
which nothing more need be said. But such
visit called for a return visit, and that was paid
nearly a century and a half later by Alexander OF
Macedonia. who in 334 B. c. crossed the Helles-
pont to invade Asia, at the same spot at which
Xerxes had crossed; which was also the place at
which Leander had swum from Abydos to Sestos.
In the time of Rome and Of the Eastern Empire
the strait was of vast Importance as highway
and also as barrier. But it was not until 1899
A. D. that il was again the scene of an epoch
making incident Then it was that Suleman,
chief of the Tribe of Gilman, with a handful OF
followers dark night crossed the Hellespont
on a raft The next day he signalled Tor others
to follow him. with the result that presently Nal
hpolis which we unmeaningly pervert into CALI
poll was captured, and the Ottoman Turks had
gained a foothold in Europe which never since
has been relinquishcd. 1t is an interesting com
cidence or rather sequence. that the invasion
which resulted in the fall of Constantinople was
begun not at the Bosporus itself but at the Oar
danelles, and that the forcing of the Dardanelles
by the Allies last week was the signal for prepa-
rations for fight from Constantinople and from
the shores Of the Bosporus. Il was at the Darda-
nelles that the Turks entered Europe, and 1t IS
there that the signal for their exit was given.
That crossing of the Dardanelles meant also,
something far more transcendent than the mere
fall of Constantinople, the establishment o. the
Ottoman Empire upon the ruins Of the Byzantine
and Servian empires, and the menacing OF vienna
and all Eastern Europe. 1t meant the dawning OF
the golden age Of Henry the Navigator which cul-
minated in Columbuss reduplcation of the eX-
poits of Eric the Red and Lief, his son, and the
permanent reopening of the American continents
to the occupany of Caucasian civilization Amer
lea dates from Suleman's passage of the Darda'
nelles
The next important incident many centu-
res later. From the fall of Constantinople TO the
days of Napoleon Bonaparte the Dardanelies re-
maincd indisputably, at least undisputedly, IN
Turkish hands But in 1907 they were invaded by
a British fleet. On February 10, 1907, Sir John
DuckwOrth, with number of wooden sailing
vessels there were no others in those days
effected the entrance. with not much difficulty or
loss But on March g. when he went out again, he
suffered much. The place of peril was the narrow
passage between Sestos and Abydos, where the
Turkish batteries almost overwhelmed him with
showers Of huge stone cannon balls. Since then
until the present there have been only minor ~