re for
Turkey than the Prussian domination could ever bring her. Bankrupt she
is, but, as Germany saw, she is rich in possibilities even with regard
to the restricted territory to which she will surely find herself
limited, and it is a pleasant chance for her that Germany has already
been so busy in developing the resources of Anatolia. For Germany may
safely bet her last piece of paper money that she will not lay a finger
on them.
The Turkey of the future is to be for the Turks; not for the persecuted
Armenians, nor for the Arabs, nor for the Greeks, and assuredly it is
not to be for the Prussians. While the war lasts, Germany may draw
supplies from the fields her artificial manures have enriched, and from
the acres that her paper money has planted, but after that no more. Her
Ottomanising work will be over. Such development (and it is far from
negligible) as she has done in Syria will be continued under French
protection for the Arabs, such as she has done in Mesopotamia under
English protection, and such as she has done in Anatolia will be
continued by the Turks to drag them out of the utter insolvency that she
has brought them to. Never before has a country so justly and so richly
deserved the repudiation of a debt incurred by the confidence trick. Not
a civilised Government in the world would dream of enforcing payment,
any more than a magistrate would enforce a payment to some
thimble-rigger returning from a race-meeting.
The roar of battle still renders inaudible all voices save its own, but
already the dusk begins to gather over the halls where sit the War-lord
and those who, for the realisation of their monstrous dreams, loosed
hell upon the world, and in the growing dusk there begin to steal upon
the wall the letters of pale flame that to them portend the doom, and to
us give promise of dawn. Faintly they can see the legend _Mene, Mene,
Tekel, Upharsin...._
THE END
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Crescent and Iron Cross, by E. F. Benson
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRESCENT AND IRON CROSS ***
***** This file should be named 10881.txt or 10881.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.net/1/0/8/8/10881/
Produced by Jonathan Ingram, L Barber and PG Distributed Proofreaders
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print edit
|