Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub
[graphic]

The Outlook

SEPTEMBER 27, 1916

Offices, 381 Fourth Avenue, New York

though it meant the retirement of the French and the capture of many places, including fortified positions, had all the effect of a French victory. It might seem that the gains which the Allies have been making in the Somme region, involving the capture of a network of trenches, are so far similarly profitless. There is, however, this difference. Those who are besieged gain nothing of material value unless they break through investing lines; but those who are carrying on the siege may gain materially by driving the besieged further in. This is what the French and British have been doing. The Germans have their lines outside of their own territory and are occupying a large part of Belgium and rich territory in France. The British and French, therefore, may be said to have two objects. The chief object is to destroy the German forces; but the secondary and by no means unimportant object is to drive the Germans out of France and into their own country. The Allied gains, therefore, on the Somme have a significance which the German gains at Verdun did not have.

THE MILITARY

OPERATIONS

During the week of September 13-20 the French captured the important villages of Vermandovillers, Berny, and Déniécourt, while the British advanced to within four miles of their goal, Bapaume. In some respects this advance by the British is the most notable made by them since the AngloFrench offensive began on July 1. Although Thiepval, strongly fortified, still holds out, the British have gained all the high ground between the Pozières-Bapaume road and the important town of Combles to the south.

On the eastern front the Russians have been so far prevented from getting much closer to their immediate objectives, the cities of Kovel and Lemberg, and have been repulsed again and again by the Galician contingent of the Austro-German troops in the attempt to take the town of Halicz.

Since Rumania has entered the war Ru

[graphic]

manian troops have been fighting on two sides of that country. On the Black Sea side they have been opposing within their own territory the advance of Bulgarians and Germans under Mackensen; but on the other side they have been in turn on foreign territory, fighting against the Austrians in Transylvania, a region occupied largely by Rumanians, but belonging to the AustroHungarian Empire. The region where the Rumanians are fighting against the Germans and Bulgarians is called the Dobrudja. It is that part of Rumania that is cut off from the rest by the Danube, and the fighting has been so far largely in the region formerly belonging to Bulgaria. Unless the Germans and Bulgarians work their way up northward to the railway which, running from Constanza, on the Black Sea, to the Rumanian capital, Bucharest, crosses the Danube, the main territory of Rumania would seem to be in little danger. The Rumanian forces have been falling back, although reinforced by Russians who have come down from the north. It may be assumed that before the railway is reached the Rumanians and Russians will give battle on ground of their own selection. On the other hand, the Rumanians in Transylvania have met with success of a greater military importance than the advance of Mackensen in the Dobrudja by domination of the upper reaches of the Maros and Aluta Rivers. Here the Rumanians are making gains in what they regard as territory to be redeemed.

Along the Greek frontier the Bulgarians have lost the Greek city of Florina, which they have held for some time, and have been repulsed along the Struma River. Here the reconstructed Servian army on the western flank of the Allied forces has fought with the fury of those who have seen their country devastated and occupied, and who are determined to recover it. The Servians are proceeding up the valley of the Cerna River toward Monastir. If they should recapture this city, it would be both a moral and a military victory of considerable importance.

[blocks in formation]

Powers, simply because of appreciation of the efforts, nearly a century ago, of France, England, and Russia in liberating Greece from the Turkish yoke. The three Powers by treaty declared themselves responsible for their work, guarantors of its lasting character, and protectors of the state which they had brought again to independence and standing. Of course Greece, a sea power, must ever be dependent on the Mediterranean sea powers-England, France, Italy.

In March, 1915, Eleutherios Venizelos, the Greek Prime Minister; attempted to commit his country to the side of France, England, and Russia in the present war, first, by the endeavor to detach Bulgaria from a possible alliance with the Central Powers, through the offer to her of the Greek port of Kavala, on the Ægean; second, if this proved successful, by the immediate aid of the Greek army and navy in the Gallipoli struggle. This plan was unfortunately frustrated. The Greek minority had the King on their side!

But a King and a minority cannot forever prevail against a Venizelos and a majority. At first, indeed, affairs looked gloomy for the majority. The King mobilized his army and ordered elections, knowing that the soldiers afield could not vote, and that the remaining citizens were mostly on his side. The result of the elections thus favored the King, and the successors of Venizelos as Premier were sympathizers with the monarch. But each new Premier has seemed less and less sympathetic; indeed, Alexander Zaimis, who has just retired, obtained, in general, the support of Venizelos, who nevertheless in his organ the "Kirix" criticised Zaimis for not having taken the precaution of asking England, France, and Russia, in their demand for Greek mobilization, to allow the Macedonian troops to remain on a war footing.

But the Greek gendarmes in Salonika, the great port of Macedonia, put themselves on a war footing. They are over a thousand strong. Many of them are Cretans and consequently stanch Venizelists (Venizelos is a Cretan). The other day they suddenly repudiated their former authority, paraded the streets, watched by large crowds of Salonikans all shouting "Zito !" (Hurrah.) The gendarmes distributed a proclamation in which they said that the present state of affairs had lasted long enough, and that the time had come for Greece to place herself at the side of France, England, and Russia, "who have always been her friends."

[blocks in formation]

159

[graphic]

they are in league with the Czech Committee abroad. This is evidenced by a declaration signed at Chicago by Bohemian Deputies who managed to escape from Austria to this country. They admit that the Bohemian nation of its free choice called to the throne a King of the Hapsburg family, but assert that the dynasty has been aiming at the construction of a single great Austrian state, thus violating its agreement to maintain Bohemia's external and internal independence. They also assert that the present war has intensified the antagonism between Bohemia and Austria, war having been declared without the approval of Parliament because "the Vienna Government was afraid to listen to the voice of the Austrian peoples, for the majority would have been against the war. The Bohemian representatives would have protested most vigorously, therefore the Government did not consult a single Bohemian Deputy or leader before taking the momentous step. . . . Sympathy for Russians, Servians, and their allies was universal [in Bohemia]. . . . The events of this terrible war and the reckless violence of Vienna constrain us to claim independence without regard to Austria."

In its turn, the New York Czech Relief Association claims that of all the warring nations Bohemia has received the least consideration. If Belgium and Poland are paying sacrifices, so is Bohemia.

Who knows but that the ancient prestige of the Bohemians-the old Boii of Cæsar's campaigns-may return! They were the only people who checked Charlemagne's progress. They defeated Attila, and drove him and his Huns back to the Carpathians. In Jan Hus they produced an immortal leader and saint. They were the first Protestants. Their Comenius was a foremost educator of the Middle Ages. Among celebrated modern composers are their Smetana and Dvořák; among modern singers and virtuosi, their Kubelik, Slezak, Burian, and Destinn; among poets is their Machar, now in prison under a charge of treason, one whose poetry has ever been inspired by the hope of his country's resurrection.

Certainly among the anomalies of the war the case of Bohemia is pathetic and appealing.

The irrepressible Villa will not down. Either he is dead or he is not; at all events, the forces operating in his name, in

[graphic]

their latest attack have certainly carried out his methods so vividly as to suggest that he himself must have been either among them or directing them. This latest attack occurred at the city of Chihuahua. While no one saw Villa in the city, prisoners from his command swore that he was on Santa Rosa hill directing the fighting. His forces captured the Federal and State palaces and the penitentiary, with a consequent release of prisoners. The Constitutionalist troops surrounded the palaces captured, and after fierce fights in the streets completely defeated the Villistas, who lost, according to one account, about one hundred and sixty killed and some ninety taken prisoners and shot; according to another account, six hundred men in killed and captured. A rather amusing addendum to the despatches states that, after the battle, the troops of the Constitutionalist commander "were able to take part in the regular Independence Day parade." Some think that the attack was prepared by enemies of the Constitutionalist government to occur at the very time when American and Mexican conferees were trying to compose the differences between the two countries, as showing that the Villistas are still active in the field. On the other hand, it is declared that the severe defeat inflicted on the rebels serves to prove the strength of the de facto Government and its ability to pacify the country.

With regard to the work of the American and Mexican conferees at New London, no agreement can yet be registered on the first problem to be solved, namely, the question of,safeguarding the border line.

Of course,

as long as there is reason for keeping troops on the border we cannot take them away. The condition of taking them away would be the suppression of the border raiders. But that they are far from being suppressed is shown by the Chihuahua incident. If the Villistas can capture palaces and prisons and release prisoners at Chihuahua, we must feel that all northern Mexico is still in a state of outlawry. Whether the American troops on the border should be of the militia or only of the regular army is another question.

The first intimation that the two sections of conferees were at all at cross-purposes in their view of the limitations of their deliberations came in the rumor that, contrary to the liking of General Carranza, a discussion of the internal affairs of Mexico was being pressed by our men-a discussion of the Car

ranza tax decrees, the railway situation, the proposed reconstruction of the judicial system, etc. Doubtless certain questions have been asked by our representatives relative to various phases of Mexican national life, intended to enable all the Commissioners to form an intelligent opinion of the whole Mexican situation, in the light of which they might decide the matter of border protection. Doubtless also our Commissioners have been studying the Carranza decrees in the light of complaints made to them by Americans who declare that the decrees amount to disguised confiscation. On the other hand, the Mexicans explain that the decrees put Mexican and foreign interests on the same footing, allowing preference to neither; that under them Mexican development by foreign capital should be more orderly than heretofore, when, by reason of preferences given to foreigners, complications with foreign governments have arisen. By the new policy of equal rights, it is added, Mexican conditions should become more peaceful because less subject to outside contentions.

NICARAGUA IN TROUBLE

Nicaragua is having trouble from Costa Rica on the south and from Honduras and Salvador on the north.

Costa Rica was aroused by the recent treaty between Nicaragua and the United States. It provides for an option for the possible construction of an interoceanic canal and the right to maintain a naval base in the Bay of Fonseca in the Pacific. A new canal would probably involve the San Juan River, the boundary between Costa Rica and Nicaragua; at all events, Costa Rica declares that an interoceanic canal across Nicaragua cannot be built without affecting her lands and waters, hence she claims the right to be consulted before any right in the San Juan River can be ceded.

Salvador and Honduras claim the right to be consulted before Nicaragua cedes rights for a naval base on the Bay of Fonseca, because their territory also borders that Bay. In the latest issue of the "American Journal of International Law," Señor González, evidently a Honduran, affirms that the existence of a community of interests and rights in the Bay of Fonseca means really a joint jurisdiction by Honduras, Salvador, and Nicaragua over that bay; that the right of self-defense justifies Honduras and Salvador in opposing the establishment of our naval base within the

[graphic]
[blocks in formation]

Bay, just as England and France opposed the naval base which Germany proposed to establish at Agadir in Morocco, the opposition of Honduras and Salvador being specially justified, indeed, as their coasts and islands within the Bay of Fonseca are within the range of artillery from the Nicaraguan shores where the naval base sought by the United States would be established.

On the other hand, we have the statement of the Nicaraguan Foreign Office:

The mere claim to restrict the legitimate action of Nicaragua over the whole or any part of the territory which belongs to her as a sovereign nation, on the ground of alleged dangers and of a sui generis solidarity by which the neighboring country completely and absolutely and upon that ground acquired for its own and exclusive benefit inalienable rights of the true owner, is so excessive and beyond every principle of international justice and rectitude that it cannot be thought for a moment that there should be a people who would be willing to consent to a discussion of such questions under such an aspect.

Costa Rica, Salvador, and Honduras carried their opposition to the Central American Court of Justice at Cartago, Costa Rica. This is a tribunal to pass upon Central American questions; and, as a venture in international peace, it received from Andrew Carnegie the gift of a Court House.

This

Court has just rendered a decision against Nicaragua. Nicaragua announces, so it is reported, that she will not accept the decision. In consequence there are strained relations between Nicaragua and the three challenging Central American Republics.

Under these circumstances it is interesting to note that our cruisers San Diego and Chattanooga have arrived in Nicaragua waters, and that the hundred American marines who have been at Managua, the Nicaraguan capital, ever since the latest revolution, are stil there.

GREENLAND

In connection with our purchase of the Danish West Indies, protests are heard in this country against our renunciation of any possible rights in Greenland.

Greenland is the largest island in the world. Its area is about that of the United States east of the Mississippi. The interior is covered with an immense sheet of ice, rising here and there to altitudes of some ten thousand feet. The ice-free land is a strip along the southerly coast. It is indented by fjords.

161

These afford remarkably extensive and protected fishing, the supply including whale, walrus, seal, salmon, cod, and herring.

But the mainland has an even greater resource. The abundance of coal and the rushing torrents present potential power which, if translated into electrical energy, would make Greenland, as Admiral Peary says, a power-house for the United States." Strategically, Greenland, or a part of it, might become a naval base.

Thus, as a whole, Greenland should be of great value to us. Why should we continue to disregard this opportunity? We plan to purchase the Danish possessions in the central part of the Western Hemisphere, yet do not plan to purchase the Danish possessions in the north. Aside from Greenland's commercial and strategic value, its possession by us, like that of the Danish West Indies, would eliminate one more possible cause of future conflict arising from the ownership by a comparatively weak European state of territory in this hemisphere.

POLITICAL HAPPENINGS

In many States the Presidential campaign has been subordinated to other political conflicts. This is the season of party primaries. Some of these are of more than local interest.

In New York interest was divided between the struggle between Governor Whitman, Republican, and Samuel Seabury, Democrat, for the gubernatorial nomination on the Progressive ticket, and between Representative Calder and former Ambassador and Secretary of State Robert Bacon for the Republican nomination for United States Senator. Though the Progressive primary itself was not important, it was regarded as significant because if Judge Seabury (who formerly had run for Judge on the Progressive ticket and was esteemed highly in the State by the Progressives) were successful, it would be looked upon as an indication of the popularity of the Wilson Administration. The day after the primary it appeared that Governor Whitman was successful in the Progressive primary, as he was overwhelmingly successful over his opponent, William M. Bennett, in the Republican primary. He will therefore be both the Progressive and Republican candidate for Governor, while Judge Seabury will be the Democratic candidate.

In the Senatorial primary William M. Calder had the backing of the organization. Mr. Bacon entered the primary struggle at a

[ocr errors]
« PredošláPokračovať »