Evening star., 1916-10-01
Three Times Near Goal.


Whether or not there be truth in the
legend. and there is probably no truth'
the whole policy Of Russia since Peter
save for the brief interruption when
Russia went to the far east ana ac-
quired and lost Port Arthur, has peen
directed toward the acquisition OF Con-
stantinople Twice in the last CEN
tury Russian armies approached STAN
boul; a third time, in the Crimean war;
Russian desire was only checked pS
a. British and French military expedi-
ton to the Black sea.
Before the congress of Berlin Russia
had reached San Stefano, conquered
Turkey had agreed to terms when
forecast the end of Osmanli rule In
Europe and the creation of Bulgaria
which should be the ward and servant
of Petrograd But at Berlin the
treaty of San Stefano was torn up and
the sacrifices and conquests of RUSSIA
went for nothing before the combined
forces of Austria, Great Britain and
Germany.
British Opposition Ended.
With the coming of the present war,
even before it, British statesmen had
laid aside their hostility to Russian
possession at the Dardanelles. The dig
ging of the Suez canal had changed
the situation in the near east, and,
seated at Cairo and Port Said. Great
Britain could see Russian advance TO
Gallipoli without apprehension. more
over, between Petrograd and London
there had been a partition of spheres,
which assigned Mesopotamia and soutn-
ern Persia to the British and brought
about a liquidation Of old rivalries
quite comparable to the famous Anglo
marked the beginning of the new phase
in European history leading straight
to the present conflict.
The progress of the great war has
demonstrated how essential to RUSSIAN
safety is the possession of the straits.
When Turkey entered the war Russia
was automatically cut off from her
allies save through the ports OF Areh-
angel and Vladivostok, closed by ice
for nearly half the year. While the
Turk barred the southern gate at the
Bospofus and the Dardanelles, the Ger
man held the northern portal in. the
Baltic.
Russian Disaster Resulted.
1t was to this isolation that is to be
ascribed the terrible Russian disaster
of the Dunajec a year and half ago,
disaster that would have been avoided
had France and Britain been able to
munition their ally. whose armies, still
victorious. collapsed through lack of
ammunition. For Russia the Turkish
incident was more costly than all else
in the struggle, and as long as the Ger
man emperor holds both the main gates
to Russia the situation must endure.
Not until Russia acquires an exit on
the open sea can she, in fact. be fnde-
pendent of German will, or escape the
subserviency to German purpose which
has been revealed in the past.
Accordingly, there has been made
perfectly clear to the whole world the
Russian determination to possess Con-
stantinople. Once the czar is seated
on either side of the straits the Black
sea becomes a Russian lake; northern
Asia Minor, held on the east at Erzerum
and Trebizond. on the west at the Scu-
tari and Bigha peninsulas, will become
in reality a Russian protectorate.-
Bow to Russia's Purpose.
To this purpose France and Britain
have bowed. France long ago discard
ed the policy which led Napoleon III to
ally himself with Britain for the Grim
can war and left France without Rus
sian aid in the Franco Prussian war.
man menace, has made a similar sur
render, casting the Beaconsfield policy
into the waste basket. Italian and Rus
sian purposes have long ago been rec
onciled and the downfall of the central
powers will infallibly be accompanied
by the conquest of Constantinople by
the Slav and his permanent tablish-
ment on the foundations of the Byzan-
tine empire.
But it is not merely the possession
of Constantinople by the Slav that has
been provided for in agreement be-
tween the enemies of Germany. The
wellngh complete extinction of Turk
ish independence is another and even
more far-reaching circumstance. To-
day there exist in all the allied capi-
tails maps on which are drawn the lines
of the future in Asia Minor, provided
that the allies win the war IN Europe.
Possessed today of an empire three
times as large as France or Germany,
the Turk is tomorrow TO be restricted
to q few thousand square miles in the
heart of Asia Minor. the ancient home
Italian and British protectorates are to
cover the balance, save for the pos
sible erection of an internationally
regulated state about Jerusalem.
Lions Share for Russia.
The most interesting of all these
spheres is naturally the Russian, which
is by all odds the most valuable. To
the Slav is to fall the small fragment
of European Turkey, with Adrianople.
unless he chooses to purchase Bull
rarian alliance at the present moment
by the proffer of that portion of Thrace
to the Enos-Midia line which belonged
to Bulgaria for a few weeks after the
first Balkan war. South OF the straits
the two peninsulas which approach
Europe, the Scutari, facing Constanti-
NOBLE. and Bigha, facing Gallipoli, are
to be Russian.
But in addition Russia has marked
out great sphere stretching from the
Caucasus to the Gulf of Alexandretta,
straight across the whole peninsula of
Asia Minor, and including all the lands
peopled by the Armenians, the Greater
Armenia, about Erzerum and the Lesser
Armenia in the Amanus mountains and
the plain of Adana. The terrible massa-
cres of Armenians in recent months
the deliberate attempt Of the Turk to
exterminate the Armenian race-have
brought complete agreement in all the
allied nations that Christian popula-
tions shall not again be returned to
Osmanli rule.
In acquiring the Gulf of Alexandretta
Russia will gain splendid naval and
base, will acquire that Sec
tion of the Bagdad railroad which ex-
tends from the Cilician gates in the
Taurus to the valley of the Upper
Euphrates. And by using the upper
PEACHES Of the river she can push