Evening star., 1925-02-01

of the Turkish triumph, first in the
field over Greece and later in nego-
tiattons with all the great powers.
Crisis Is Approached.
With the Egyptian question. how
ever, we come to a plain crisis. 1t is
manifest that the Egyptian challenge
to the British is identical with the
Tunisian challenge to France. while
Italy in Tripoli can hardly prosper il
British influence in Egypt and French
In Tunis is diminished. Already
French rule in Syria and British in
Mesopotamia and Palestine is grave
ly imperilled, while the Persian hos
tility to all Europeans recently
found expression In the murder of an
American consul. Therefore, IL the
several European nations are now to
continue their rivalries and intrigue
with the Mohammedans against their
fellow Christian states, the ultimate
results cannot fail to be disastrous
for all concerned.
By contrast it does not lie outside
the realms of possibility that the
community of the danger which
threatens all three nations, France,
Britain and Italy, may bring about
some community OF policy and, pres
emily. some basis for a new state of
and Asiatic interests are concern ed,
but in Europe as well. Obviously If
France consents to give refuge to
Tripolitans in revolt against Italy, or
Italy gives shelter to Tunisians or
Egyptians, IL the British follow the
same example, the results will be un-
mistakable for all three.
But a common Mediterranean policy
involves agreement in the Aegean as
well as the Adriatic. Thus in any
possible Mediterranean agreement
Italy stands to gain very materially.
When Italy went to Corfu a year and
more ago she encountered not merely
nor mainly Greek. but British resist
ance and criticism, but after the
Egyptian affair there is a notable
tendency in London to revise judg-
ment upon Corfu. Moreover, British
opinion which in many quarters has
never forgiven Italy's Tripolitan ad-
venture must now recognize that If
Europe Ia to retain its hold in North
Africa. there must be no available
refuge for rebels and no center from
which to direct an anti European
campaign.
Need Unifed Policy.
If France, Italy and Britain are to
be rivals in the Mediterranean and its
tributary seas, If they are to have
conflicting policies on it's Asiatic and
African shores, then 1t is very hard
to see how any one of the three can
permanently retain possessions which
are vital to the national or imperial
existences of all three, But If the
same nations are to reach an entente
upon Mediterranean questions, such
an entente must inevitably lead to a
measure of common policy in Europe.
The triumph of the native and Mo-
hammedan populations from Syria to
Morocco would be fatal to all French
ambitions, it would imperil the unity
of the British empire and in the Ital-
ian case it would block commercial as
we'll as political expansion in all di-
rections The gravity of the peril is
SO unmistakable that unity of policy
would seem inevitable.
Behind all these native manifesto
tions, too, lies the sinister shadow of
Moscow for the clear policy of Mos
cow must be to exploit everywhere
the native revolts against the control
and influence of those European
states which are the true enemies of
bolshevism. The advance. the often
sive of bolshevism in Europe has been
CONTINUED on Third PaSe.)