Obstacles to peace

Front matter

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Chapter I The World At The End Of The Nineteenth Century

Comparative status of Japan, Russia, Germany, the British Empire, and United States as to territory and access to the sea — New factors introduced into civilization during the nineteenth century.

Chapter II Asiatic Turkey: The Bagdad Railway

Agricultural and mineral possibilities of Asiatic Turkey

— Asiatic Turkey the seat of great empires of antiquity

— Turkey a natural fortress dominating Egypt, the Suez Canal, the Bosphorus, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, Persia, India — Seat of power over Mohammedan world — Relation of Asiatic Turkey to England's power in Egypt and India — Germany's plan as to the Suez Canal — Significance of the Bagdad Railway — My interview with Talaat Bey on future plans of Turkey

— Russia's interests in the Bosphorus and Asia Minor — Von Biilow on 1915 campaign in Mesopotamia — Quotations from Sir William Willcocks, Ellis Barker, Captain A. T. Mahan, Professor Rohrbach, Professor Seymour, Prince von Biilow, Count Reventlow.

Chapter III

TURKEY AND ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS FROM THE BOER WAR TO THE EUROPEAN WAR — 1899-1914 . 23

Joseph Chamberlain on alliances between England, the United States, and Germany — Lord Salisbury on Anglo-German friendliness — Fashoda and threatened war between France and England — Effects of Boer War on world opinion — Anglo- Japanese Alliance of 1902 — Anglo-French Agreement in 1904, and Count Reventlow

xiii thereon — The Kaiser's visits to Constantinople and the Holy Land, secures concessions for the Bagdad Railway — The Kaiser's visit to Tangier in 1905, reasons for, by Prince von Biilow — The Algeciras Conference of 1906 — Count Reventlow and Professor Seymour on the results of the Conference — Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907 — Young Turk Revolution of 1908, Professor Seymour on results — Prince von Biilow on results of the Bosnian Crisis — King Edward's forebodings on account of the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria — San Giuliano, Foreign Minister of Italy, compares crisis of 1908 with that of 1914 — Prince von Biilow on King Edward's visit to Berlin in 1909 — The Agadir Incident and Lloyd George's speech thereon — My interviews with Von Bethmann-Hollweg, April, 1916, and with Lord Haldane, August, 1916, on the Haldane Mission to Berlin, 1912 — British Foreign Office on Germany's demand for neutrality treaty — Von Bernhardi on this demand — Sir Edward Grey on England's peace policy — Anglo-German relations up to 1914 — Proposed Anglo-German Treaty of 1914 (now first published) — M. P. Price, Professor Rohrbach, Dr. Jaeckh, Sidney Low, and Von Bethmann- Hollweg on this proposed treaty — Baron Beyens on Franco-German Agreement of 1914.

Chapter IV The Thirteen Days From July 23 To August 4, 1914 46

Extracts from diplomatic dispatches — E. J. Dillon on the Austro-Servian Crisis — My interviews with Count Tisza, Count and Countess Berchtold, Baron Burian, and others on Austria-Hungary's reasons for making war on Servia — Extracts from diplomatic documents on the Austro-Hungarian Crisis with Servia — Bismarck's story of how he manipulated the Ems Telegram and forced war in 1870 — Baron Beyens on war- threats of the German Emperor and of Von Moltke in 1913 — M. P. Price's analysis of Germany's position in 1914 — A. G. Gardiner on efforts of Von Bethmann-Hollweg and of Sir Edward Grey to prevent war in July, 1914 — G. Lowes Dickinson on Russia's previous mobilization.

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Chapter V

Cause of war remote from England — Captain Mahan on England's duty — Extracts from diplomatic dispatches — Letters between the President of the French Republic and King George of England — Austria immovable against Servia — Germany's misunderstanding of other nations — Germany averse to war — How Russia worked for peace — Sir Edward Grey's wise efforts to avert war.

Chapter VI

Germany did not expect England's intervention — Speech of Senator Humbert, July 13, 1914, on France's unpreparedness — Incalculable advantages to Germany of advance through Belgium — Expectation of taking France on undefended frontier — Control gained of France's mineral resources — Petition of influential associations to German Government to take territory from France and to control Belgium after the war — What France lost through invasion — France strangled.

Chapter VII

Von Bethmann-Hollweg's speech of August 4, 1914, telling why Germany invaded Luxemburg and Belgium — Description of Belgium's wealth — German requisitions of raw materials and machinery and other materials — German theories of spoliation — Professor Massart on causes of famine in Belgium — Report of Dr. Rathenau and Dr. Ganghofer on how Belgium was stripped — Official orders for stripping Belgium — Removal of machinery from factories — Maeterlinck on Belgium's distress — Spread of tuberculosis — Baron Bey ens on spirit of Belgium — Verhaeren on "Proud Belgium."

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CHAPTER VIII THE SUBMARINE IN ITS RELATION TO RAIL POWER versus SEA POWER 133

Why Germany looks to submarine as surest weapon for success — Germany's rules of submarine warfare in force in April, 1916 — Captain Persius on submarine warfare — Dr. Flamm on submarine possibilities — Rail power versus sea power as exemplified in Russo-Japanese War — My interview with General Kuropatkin — E. A. Pratt, on "The Rise of Rail Power" — My interview with Heir Deutsch on Germany as self-supporting unit — Submarine murder at sea — Sinkings of Lusitania, Arabic, Ancona, Persia — Germany's warfare on merchantmen — Execution of Captain Fryatt — James Brown Scott on the legality of the execution — Germany's new submarine laws — "German Prize Law in its Latest Form," by Dr. Schramm — Letter in London "Times," July 16, 1914, by Sir Percy Scott, with extract from letter by a foreign naval officer, announcing a policy since followed by Germany.

Chapter IX The Zeppelin Raids In England 157

Results of comparison of German official reports of Zeppelin raids with actualities, in Liverpool, Birkenhead, Manchester, London, Grimsby — German illustrated book on Zeppelin raids — German belief in Zeppelin fables — Effects on England of Zeppelin raids.

Chapter X The German Army In Belgium According To German Documents 171

German doctrine of war as explained in extracts from Clausewitz, Von Hartmann, Captain Walter Bloem, and German General Staff — Proclamations, notices, and letters addressed by German army officers to Belgian cities and villages — Address to population of Munster, August 29, 1914, by General von Bissing.

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Chapter XI Alleged Atrocities Of The German Troops In Belgium 180

Facts accepted by Germany as well as by France and England —

1. The Belgian allegations —

Statements by Cardinal Merrier — Professor L. H. Grondys, a Dutchman of Dordrecht, on destruction at Louvain (a personal narrative) — Execution of a priest — Extracts from Gustave Somville's Book, "The Road to Liege," a narrative of personal observations at the time of the invasion — Extracts from notebooks of German soldiers and officers — Extracts from "Belgians under the German Eagle," by Professor Jean Massart — Story by South American Priest in Belgium — "The Helpless Victims," a letter to the " New York Times," by an American woman.

2. Germany's defense —

Statement by Dr. Alfred Zimmermann — Appeal to civilized world by ninety-three professors of German universities.

Chapter XII Alleged Atrocities On The German Troops By Civilians In Belgium 212

1. The German allegations —

Extracts from the German White Book on Louvain, Dinant, Aerschot, and other places — What German children are taught regarding the invasion of Belgium — Emperor William's telegram to President Wilson — Von Bethmann-Hollweg's statement to the press of New York.

2. Belgium's defense —

Report of work of the Pax Society — Belgium Freemasons demand investigation under neutral auspices — Cardinal Merrier makes same demand — Letters of Bishops of Belgium to Bishops of Germany, Bavaria, and Austria-Hungary, denying charges and demanding neutral investigation — German Government always refuses investigation — What religious interests demand — Violation of international law in Belgium continues.

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Chapter XIII Extracts From The Hague Conventions Of 1907 232

Selections from agreements made at The Hague by Germany and nearly all the other powers of the world — These selections apply to acts of Germany in Belgium.

Chapter XIV

1. Early history —

Statements of Von Moltke — Karl Hildebrand, Bismarck, David Jayne Hill.

2. The German case against Belgium —

Von Bethmann-Hollweg in 1914 — Dr. Dernburg's defense of Germany in 1914 — Statements of Von Jagow and of German Minister of War in 1913 — Treaty between Germany and Great Britain in 1870 — Gladstone's speech on treaty in 1870 — Stowell on Gladstone's speech — Study of documents found by Germany in 1914 in Archives of Belgian Government — King Albert's statement in "New York World," March 22, 1915.

3. Side-lights on Belgian Diplomacy, 1905 to 1914 —

Statement by German Foreign Office — Correctness of Belgium's attitude indicated by Baron Beyens, April 24, 1914, and by Baron Greindl, 1911 — Diplomatic documents on neutrality of Belgium.

4. The Tragic Prelude —

Germany's note to Belgium — Belgium's reply to Germany's demand — King Albert asks King George for England's diplomatic aid — Belgium, invaded, appeals to guarantors of neutrality — Germany's course — Refusal during years to define intentions — August 4, 1914, war declared — King Albert's address to Belgian Parliament — Heroic dispatch to Belgian Foreign Ministers in all lands.

5. Statements of Baron Beyens, Belgian Minister at Berlin —

Relations of Kaiser Wilhelm II and King Albert — Early hints of war — Plans of German Staff unfathomed

xviii by prophets — Days just before the invasion — Diplomatic letters and conversations — Kaiser and Chancellor address the Reichstag.

6. Germany's charges at beginning of the war —

Statements published September, 1914, signed by many leading Germans — Investigation of these allegations by two distinguished French professors — Course of France indicated by orders of Joffre and Messimy.

7. The innocence of Belgium —

German war plans discussed in "Deutsche Kriege Zeitung" — Germany's strategic railways — Plan of campaign dates back to the elder von Moltke — German Intelligence Department badly informed.

Chapter XV

THE GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE OF DEPOR- TATIONS AND OF TERRITORIAL APPROPRIATION . 295

1. Origin of theories —

Importance of natural safety to a dominant nation — Germany in nineteenth century.

2. Mission of German people and their sense of superiority —

Baron von Stengel on Germany's gift of peace to all the world — Opinions of Professors Eucken and Ostwald, of the Kaiser, of Von der Goltz, Dr. Lasson, and others — The German God.

3. Inferiority of other nations —

Feeling against England expressed by Meyer and Rohrbach.

4. Germany's policies for expansion and methods to be employed —

Views of Lagarde, Wagner, Lange, Tannenberg, Frymann — Proposed peace terms with France — Wolff on policy of conquerors — Rohrbach on small states — Tannenberg's Greater Germany.

5. The Belgian deportations —

Descriptions by Boulger and Cardinal Mercier — Appeal to America from Holland — Stoddard Dewey — Belgian Syndicalist Committee — Municipal Council of Brussels — Women of France — Elihu Root.

6. The spoliation of Poland —

German "Import Company, Ltd." — Starvation and

xix deportation reports from "Nowa Reforma," "Journal de Geneve," "Lodzianin " — Statement of Von Hindenberg

— Explanation of German theories of requisition by Von Hartmann.

7. Deportations from Lille and other French cities —

Report by French Government — Proclamation of German authorities — Protests of Mayor and of Bishops of Lille — Letters from victims — Letter to the President of the French Republic.

8. The German state of mind —

Its causes — Effect on public opinion by use of poisonous gases and burning liquids — Refusal of Turks to use liquid fire — Destruction of monuments justified by General von Disf Urth — Mistaken methods of Germany — Effect in England of executions of Captain Fryatt and of Edith Cavell — Effect of deportations in England and France — Individual liberty versus state dominance. 8. Mass psychology —

German machinery of unification — Results in Belgium and Poland — Root quoted — Two illustrations of the German psychology: Attempted embroilment of Japan and Mexico with United States; charge of Zimmermann of United States "plot" against Germany.

Chapter XVI

Extracts from French Official Report — Treatment of civil population — Crimes against women and girls — Shooting of prisoners — Massacre at Nomeny — Two days of massacre at Gerbeviller — Sister Julie's testimony

— That of Professor Morgan — Story of "Day of Honor," September 24, 1914, by German officer, Klempt, in "Jauersches Tageblatt" — Stephen Pichon on "Martyrs of Alsace and Lorraine."

Chapter XVII Alleged Atrocities By The Russian Soldiers In East Prussia 364

The Kaiser's message to President Wilson — Story of Cossack invasion of Bearskin District. Atrocities during

xx first Russian invasion, from German Official Records — Harsh war levies and treatment of hostages — Story of woman from Borszymmen — Deportations to Siberia — Summary.

Chapter XVIII Alleged German Atrocities Against The Rus- Sians S71

Russian official report of German treatment of Russian envoys and their families departing from Berlin — Treatment of consuls — Departing distinguished visitors arrested as "prisoners of war" — Conditions of travel of departing Russians, women and children, aged and invalids, chiefly from German health resorts — Russians treated as common criminals — Arrest of Mr. Shebeko, Member of Imperial Council, and outrage on Countess Worontzoff-Dachkoff, wife of the Vice-Regent of the Caucasus — Despoiling of invalids in German and Austrian health resorts — Regions devastated on withdrawal of German troops from Russian Poland — German atrocities investigated by Extraordinary Commission appointed on initiative of Russian State Duma — The Germans in Czenstochow — Riches stolen from monastery of Iasnogor — Poignant story of Mile. Helene S., who escaped to Petrograd.

Chapter XIX

THE TRAGEDY OF ARMENIA: THE TURKISH METHODS OF SPOLIATION, DEPORTATION AND MASSACRE . 390

A million and a half people robbed, tortured, driven from home — Half of them perish under appalling atrocities and cruelty — "Turkey for the Turks" new idea of rulers — Talaat Bey's estimate of number of expelled Armenians — Turkish methods unparalleled in history — Story of eighteen thousand exiles in one caravan — Armenian colleges established by Americans — Professors and students arrested, tortured and murdered — Mamouret-ul-Aziz in 1915 — At Aleppo — In Marash —

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Results of deportations in certain provinces — A million deported from six provinces and not one Armenian left — Armenian soldiers massacred — Women and children prisoners burned at Bitlis, Moush, and Sassoun — Victims outraged, mutilated, shot, drowned, and stabbed — Extracts from interview with Commissioner G. Gorrini, late Italian Consul-General at Trebizond — Proclamation commanding deportation by Turkish Government.

Chapter XX Alleged Austro-hungarian Atrocities In Servia 405

Personal investigation by Professor R. A. Reiss, of University of Lausanne — Massacres of civilians by "bloodthirsty and Sadie brutes" — Sinking of Ancona related by Dr. Cecile Greil, American woman survivor — Over two hundred perished in this disaster.

Chapter XXI

The feeling as to Germany — As to the navy — As to tariffs — As to labor and capital — As to France — As to terms of peace — Industrial reorganization — Woman's suffrage — Munition factories — New status of labor — The funeral of the crew of the Zeppelin that fell at Cuffly.

Chapter XXII Germany 430

Feeling as the victim of a great conspiracy — Interviews with Herr Zimmermann — Von Bethmann-Hollweg

— Visit to Professor Eucken — Belief as to submarine

— Certainty of success.

Chapter XXIII Turkey . 43

Journey to Constantinople — ■ My interviews with the Grand Vizier and Talaat Bey — Comparison of Constan-

xxii tinople to New Orleans — Russia and the Bosphorus — Germany's dream of the Orient — ■ The fate of Egypt — The British Empire.

Chapter XXV The Lesson To Our Country 464

Mexico the Turkey of the Western Hemisphere — Lincoln on our great possession — The foundations of the United States as laid by Jefferson and Monroe — Our dealings with the Barbary pirates — Our duty toward maintaining public right — Mr. Hoover's work in Belgium — Washington's words as to the law of nations.

Chapter XXVI

Letters from soldiers — Anecdotes of self-sacrifice — The women of Europe — Edith Cavell.

I OBSTACLES TO PEACE

Chapter I The World At The End Of The Nineteenth

CENTURY

The discoveries in science, and their application, by organization, to the natural resources of the earth made a new world during the nineteenth century. It is difficult to overestimate the changes wrought by the railroad, steam, electricity, and the hundreds of other inventions and discoveries. Their most fateful result was the modification of the accidental relations of nations and populations to territory and access to the sea.

Japan has a population of 55,000,000, and its arable land has an area of about 20,000 square miles. If all the population of the United States and Canada were confined to the State of Iowa, each person would have as much arable land as is available to each inhabitant of Japan. Japan has unlimited access to the sea.

Russia is larger than North America, and it is estimated that by the end of the century it will have nearly half a billion inhabitants. With proper cultivation it could produce enough food to supply the world, but its access to the chief markets of the world is by the Baltic and the Bosphorus. If the United States were in the same condition her people could reach the sea only by the St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of

Mexico, with both routes liable to be closed in time of war.

Germany, a trifle larger than the State of California, has two thirds the population of the United States. Her access to the sea is limited to her northwestern borders, and can be denied in time of war. The vital interests of Germany demand a military establishment sufficiently strong so that with her allies she can resist successfully any possible combination of enemies.

The British Empire consists of the Islands of Great Britain and Ireland (whose population largely depends on sea-borne commerce; the United Kingdom would perish if cut off from food imports by sea) and several small nations, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and numerous dependencies and colonies, like India and Egypt, and other possessions in Africa and elsewhere. No single unit composing the British Empire, except the United Kingdom, could successfully resist a powerful aggressor. Their safety depends on union with England, and the safety of England and the various component parts of the British Empire can last only so long as Great Britain possesses an enormous mercantile marine, and a navy that will with her allies absolutely protect this mercantile marine against any possible hostile combination of navies.

Of all the nations in the world the United States is the most fortunately situated. She possesses enormous territory, has no dangerous neighbors, and has unlimited access to the sea. This access to the sea, combined with a highly organized and adequate railway system, enables her easily to reach the markets of the world. With a sufficient navy, and an army small compared

THE END OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

with the armies of European countries, and a proper policy toward Mexico, the United States would be the safest nation in the world. It is a continent in area and an island in defensibility.

The French Revolution is the most potent event in the last hundred and fifty years. It was the prime cause of universal military service in Europe. It introduced the idea of universal suffrage. Above all, it intensified the sense of nationality.

The last half of the nineteenth century witnessed the creation of the Kingdom of Italy and of the German Empire. The creation of these two nations still further intensified the feeling of nationality.

Germany has been very fortunate in a sequence of great statesmen, as well as in leaders in science, social organization, industry, and commerce. Her poets, philosophers, historians, composers, enriched her national life and intensified the national feeling. All the world knows of the unparalleled efficiency of the social and industrial organization of Germany.

The bounds of the territory of Germany were established and could not well be enlarged in Europe. The passionate sense of national self-consciousness, as well as need of new fields for industrial exploitation, forced Germany to seek "a place in the sun." This movement was backed by an enormous propaganda, which aroused anxiety and hostility in the neighboring states.

An atmosphere of mutual hostility was produced between England and Germany on account of the rapid development of the German navy. The hostility between France and Germany was kept alive partly by the Alsace-Lorraine question and partly by collisions on various other questions ; and early in the present century the interests of Germany and Russia became more and more antagonistic on account of Germany's ambitions in Turkey.

The potential causes of the war are dealt with in the next two chapters, which also tell of the agreement between Germany, France, and England. This agreement would likely have brought peace for generations to the nations of Europe, had it not been for the immediate cause of the war, — the assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary.

The principal effort of Germany for expansion was in Asiatic Turkey. This field which Germany sought I will describe in my next chapter.

Chapter II Asiatic Turkey: The Bagdad Railway

However difficult the various questions involved in the peace settlement, — and no one can exaggerate the almost insoluble questions, — the real problem of this war is Asiatic Turkey. The settlement of this question may involve a continuous series of devastating wars at longer or shorter intervals for generations.

From an economic standpoint the control of the resources and of the development of Asiatic Turkey is a vital necessity to Germany.

From a military standpoint the control of Asiatic Turkey by Germany would so shift the seats of power in the world as vitally to threaten the very existence of the British Empire.

If there can be found no other alternative than the control of this territory, either by Germany and her allies, or by England and her allies, resulting in the one case in threatening the safety of the British Empire, and in the other in preventing German expansion, — wars and rumors of wars will dominate the twentieth century.

Here are the facts in this problem.

Asiatic Turkey as a field for German enterprise Asiatic Turkey is almost one fourth as large as the United States, or about the size of Mexico. While it contains much desert territory, it also has very fertile regions, and above all, great tracts of land that could be redeemed by irrigation.

In an address before the Khedival Geographical Society at Cairo, Sir William Willcocks, a famous engineer, who had surveyed the country and planned great irrigation works, said of Mesopotamia: —

We have before us the restoration of that ancient land whose name was a synonym for abundance, prosperity, and grandeur for many generations. Records as old as those of Egypt and as well attested tell of fertile lands and teeming populations, mighty kings and warriors, sages and wise men, over periods of thousands of years. And over and above everything else there is this unfailing record that the teeming wealth of this land was the goal of all Eastern conquerors and its possession the crown of their conquests. The Eastern Power which held this land in old historic days held the East. A land such as this is worth resuscitating. Once we have apprehended the true cause of its present desolate and abandoned condition, we are on our way to restoring it to its ancient fertility. A land which so readily responded to ancient science, and gave a return which sufficed for the maintenance of a Persian Court in all its splendor, will surely respond to the efforts of modern science and return manifold the money and talent spent on its regeneration. ... Of all the regions of the earth, no region is more favored by nature for the production of cereals than the lands on the Tigris. Indeed, I have heard our former President, Dr. Schweinfurth, say, in this very hall, that wheat in its wild, uncultivated state has its home in these semi-arid regions and from here it has been transported to every quarter of the globe. Cotton, sugar-cane, Indian corn, and all the summer products of Egypt will flourish here as on the Nile, while Ihe winter products of cereals, leguminous plants, Egyptian clover, opium, and tobacco will find themselves at home as they did in Egypt. Of the historic gardens of Babylon and Bagdad it is not necessary for me to speak. A land whose climate allows her to produce such crops in tropical profusion, and whose snow-fed rivers permit of perennial irrigation over millions of acres, cannot be barren and desolate when the Bagdad Railway is traversing her fields and European capital is seeking there a remunerative outlet.

Asiatic Turkey was famous in antiquity for its agricultural wealth. Agriculture was the basis of the vast wealth of Babylonia, Assyria, Lydia, Media, Phoenicia, which had occupied what is now Asiatic Turkey.

In my interview with H. E. Ahmed Nessimi Bey, Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Mines of the Imperial Ottoman Empire, I made particular inquiries as to the agricultural and mineral wealth of Turkey. The replies I received were the result of several weeks of investigation largely by German experts. | Coal mines are very abundant and rich. Arganis copper mines are the biggest and richest in the world. Mesopotamia forms the richest petroleum district in the world. The country is extremely rich in minerals, including gold, silver, nickel, mercury, lead, and these resources are untouched.

The undeveloped agricultural and mineral wealth of a country nearly one fourth as large as the United States would furnish to Germany a new and great realm and give her a place in the sun that could utilize her force and genius for many generations. Just as the mineral wealth of Alsace-Lorraine is the basis of Germany's industrial development, so the possession of Asiatic Turkey is absolutely essential for Germany's expansion.

Asiatic Turkey is the land of the Bible. In a brilliant study of this marvelous land in the "Nineteenth Century" for June, 1916, J. Ellis Barker writes as follows : —

Mesopotamia has almost unlimited agricultural possibilities. Babylonia and Assyria were the cradle of Christian civilization and perhaps of mankind. Chapter II, verse 8, of Genesis tells us: "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed." The word "Eden" is the Sumerian word, as Assyriologists have told us, for " plain." The ancient Babylonians also had a myth of a great plain in the center of which stood the Tree of Knowledge, and they possessed likewise the story of the Flood and of the Ark. In Genesis, chapter n, verse 14, we read in the description of Paradise: "And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates." Assyriologists tell us that the four rivers mentioned in the Bible were the Euphrates and Tigris, and two of the huge artificial canals which the ancients had constructed. In chapter x of Genesis we are made acquainted with Nimrod, Babel, Erech, Accad, Calneh, Nineveh, and other Babylonian names. Ur, onHhe Euphrates near Babylon, was the birthplace of Abraham. The ancient Jews placed their Paradise in Eden because Eden, the Mesopotamian plain, was then the garden of the world. Herodotus, who had visited Mesopotamia and the town of Babylon, and who wrote about the year 450 B.C., has told us — the translation is Rawlinson's: "The whole of Babylonia is, like Egypt, intersected with canals. The largest of them all, which runs towards the winter sun, and is impassable except in boats, is carried from the Euphrates into another stream, called the Tigris, the river upon which the town of Nineveh formerly stood. Of all the countries that we know, there is none which is so fruitful in grain. It makes no pretension, indeed, of growing the fig, the olive, the vine, or any other tree of the kind, but in grain it is so fruitful as to yield commonly two hundredfold. The blade of the wheat plant and barley plant is often four fingers in breadth. As for the millet and the sesame, I shall not say to what height they grow, though within my own knowledge, for I am not ignorant that what I have already written concerning the fruitfulness of Babylonia must seem incredible to those who have never visited the country. The whole country under the domination of the Persians, besides paying a fixed tribute, is parceled out into divisions to supply food to the Great King and his army. Now, out of the twelve months of the year, the district of Babylon furnished food during four; the other regions of Asia during eight; by which it appears that Assyria, in respect of resources, is one third the whole of Asia."

Apparently Mesopotamia was at the time almost twice as wealthy as Egypt. According to the ancient writers, the fruitfulness of Babylonia exceeded that of Egypt. Assyria and Babylonia were the wealthiest countries of antiquity, and Mesopotamia was the richest part of the great Persian Empire. Persia's wealth was chiefly Babylonian wealth. In the Middle Ages, Bagdad arose among the Babylonian ruins, and between the tenth and eleventh centuries it had 2,000,000 inhabitants, 60,000 baths, 80,000 bazaars, etc. It was the capital of the gigantic Arab Empire, the wealth of which was founded upon the flourishing agriculture of the Babylonian plain.

In olden times Babylonia was perfectly irrigated. Under the Turks, the wonderful system of canals fell into neglect. The Babylonian plain became partly a desert and partly a swamp. Mesopotamia, which, in olden times, was the most densely populated part of the world, is at present the most sparsely peopled part "of the Turkish Empire. All Mesopotamia has at present only two million inhabitants, or fourteen people per square mile, and it could support thirty million people.

European diplomacy for ten years and the chief causes of this war have to do with the questions involved in Asiatic Turkey. Asiatic Turkey is a natural, almost uninvadable fortress, but a fortress that is selfsustaining as to food and military supplies. While

Asiatic Turkey has the natural resources to support an enormous population, and while its relation between the three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa, gives it a strategic position that cannot be overrated, it must be understood that in itself it is very easily defended. Its land frontiers are protected by vast waterless deserts or lofty mountain ranges. Its water frontiers, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, complete its boundaries, so as to give it the advantage of being an island.