The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-01-20

or this general scheme. The mainte-
nance of the Turkish empire was
during many generations regarded by
statesmen of worldwide authority US
essential TO the maintenance of Eu-
ropean peace Why, it is asked, should
with n complete reversal of this tra-
ditional policy?
THE answer is that circumstances
have completely changed. 1T is un-
necessary to consider now whcthe er
the creation OF reformed Turk ay
mediating between hostile races in
tho Near East was Va scheme which,
had the sultan been sincere and the
powers united, could ever have been
realized. 1t certainly can not be real
lied now. The Turkey of union and
progress is at least as barbarous and
is far more aggressive than the Tuy-
key OF Sultan Abdul Hamid. In the
hands of Germany it has ceased even
in appearance to be a bulwark Of
peace and is openly used as an in
strument of conquest. Under German
officers Turkish soldiers are nov
fighting in lands from which they
had long been expelled and Tuc-
kish government controlled. sub"i-
died and supported bv Germany ho;;
been guilty of massac IS in Armenia
and Syria more horrible than any re-
corded i'm the history even of those
unhappy countries. Evidently the in
terests of peace and the claims Of na-
:.onality alike require the Turkish
rule over alien races shall if possible
be brought to an end; and we ma Y
hope that the expulsion of Turkey
from Europe will contribute as much
to the cause Of peace as the restora-
ton of Alsace-Lorraine to France, If
Italia Irredenta to Italy, or any OF
the other territorial changes indicata ad
in the allied note.
Evidently, however, such terri
torial rearrangements. though they
may diminish the occasions of war,
provide no sufficient security against
its recurrence. If Germany. or rather
those i'm Germany who mould it's opin-
ions and contOl it's destinies, aga.n
set out to domineer the world, they
may find that by the new order OF
things the adventure la made more
difficult but hardly that It is made i'm
possible. Thcv may still have ready
to their hand political system o.
ganized through and through on a
military basis: they may still accuml-
late vast stores of military equip
ment; they may still persist in their
methods of attack, so that their. more
pacific neighbors will be struck down
before they can prepare themselves
for defense. II so, Europe when the
war Is over will be far poorer in men,
in money and in mutual good will
than it was when the war began, but
II will not be safer; and the hopes
for the future OF the world entertain
cd by the Sresident will be as far as
ever from fulfillment.
There are those who think that
for this disease International treaties
and international laws may provide q
sufficient cure. But such persons
have i'll learned the lessons SO clear
ly taught by recent history. While
other nations. notably the United
States Of America. and Great Britain,
were striving by treaties of arbitra-
tion to make sure that no chance
quarrel should mar the peace they
desired to make perpetual, Ger
many stood alOof Her historians
and philosophers preached the
splendors of war; power was pro-
claimed as the true end Of the state;
and the general staff forged with
untiring industry the weapons by
which at the appointed moment povi-
er might be achieved. These facts
proved clearly enough that treaty ar
rangements for maintaining peace
were not likely to find much favor IT
Berlin; they did not prove that such
tres ties once made would lie utterly
effectual. This became evident
only when war had broken out;
though the demonstration, when it
came, was overwhelming. So long
as Germany remains the Germany
which without a shadow of justiii-
cation overran and barbarOusly IL
treated q country it was pledged u
defend, no state can regard its
rights as secure if they have no bet
ter protection than a solemn treaty.
'"The case is made worse by the re-