inent--in the person of the Khedive, Abbas II.,
who has now been replaced by Prince Hussein Kamel Pasha as the nominal
Sultan of Egypt--under our protection and power. No change of the kind was
ever brought about with so much statesmanlike wisdom and such little
friction, or with so much hearty approval from all sides--except, of
course, that of the Turks and their German backers, for whom the change of
regime, effected as it was by a simple stroke of Sir Edward Grey's
masterly pen, was a most painful slap. The exchange of messages between
King George and Prince Hussein--one promising unfailing support, and
the other unfailing allegiance--completed the transaction, one of the
greatest triumphs of British statesmanship, compared with which the recent
statecraft of the Germans is mere amateur bungling. Marshal von der Goltz
Pasha, who has now exchanged his Governorship of Belgium for the position
of chief military counsellor on the Bosphorus, will find it harder than
ever--with his rabble army under Djemal Pasha--to "liberate" from the
British yoke the people of Egypt, who have already shown that they no more
yearn for such emancipation than our loyal fellow-subjects in India. At
Constantinople it was given out that the _Messudiyeh_, sunk by one

(_Continued overleaf._)

[Illustration: GERMAN PRAISE OF THE BRITISH SOLDIER: GENERAL VON
HEERINGEN.

Interviewed recently, General von Heeringen said: "The English first-line
troops are splendid soldiers, experienced and very tough, especially on
the defensive."--[_Photo. Bain._]]

__________________________________________________________________________
THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914--[Part 21]--3

[Illustration: CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS ON A BRITISH WAR-SHIP: EVERGREENS
FOR THE MASTHEAD.]

[Illustration: THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE GRAND FLEET AT SEA: ADMIRAL
JELLICOE.]

Christmas celebrations in the Navy were naturally curtailed this year, but
even in time of war the festival is observed to some extent, under the
limitations caused by the necessity of being ready for immediate action.
That the Navy did not allow Christmas festivities to interfere with duty
is shown by the brilliant air-raid on Cuxhaven on Christmas morning. The
Grand Fleet which keeps its silent watch on the seas, under Admiral
Jellicoe, did not, we may be sure, relax any of its vigila