One tiny patch of European territory may yet remain Turkish, perhaps by an oversight similar to that which kept it so since the Berlin Treaty overlooked it, Ada Kalé. This is a small island in the middle of the Danube, opposite the broad, poplar-lined avenue which leads to the Koronzi Kapella, where the crown of St. Stephan, the saintly King of Hungary, was buried when Kossuth fled in 1848. Ada Kalé is a typical Turkish settlement, with little wooden houses growing out of masses of old fortifications, around a mosque with its slender minaret standing out against the dark forests and rocks that rise up to form the Iron Gate. The small population is typically Turkish, very partial to the smuggling of tobacco, and not untouched by modern ideas. They share a deputy in the Turkish Parliament with some other place, and have, at least some of them, a well-developed thirst for Pilsener beer. I have seen two Turks from the island making exceeding merry over large beakers of that beverage in a garden restaurant at Orsova one fine summer’s day.
When Turkey has finally jettisoned those encumbrances, the European vilayets, and withdrawn to Asia Minor, the Ottoman Empire will probably gain considerably in strength by consolidation, and by carrying out many social and economical reforms which have been kept in abeyance during the constant trouble caused by the war-clouds that hung over Eastern Europe. A strong Turkish Empire in Asia Minor, real control over the tribes in Syria, strict surveillance of the eastern and north-eastern frontiers, will mean some prospect of peace in those very unsettled regions. Great Britain, of all European Powers, should aid in this enterprise, and that at once, for there are other Powers interested in Asia Minor.
It is high time that the people of Great Britain should realize the change which recent warlike happenings have brought about, and that they should bend their great minds to a consideration of the future. Four small Balkan kingdoms united to formidable strength have brought down the military power of an Empire which, in spite of its many weaknesses, was considered strong enough to be an important factor in the affairs of Europe. This feat was accomplished in seven weeks, and by armies composed of the whole manhood of each militant state, just as the manhood of the barbarian races vanquished the paid soldiery of Rome and shattered the World-empire of the first “Völkerwanderung.” Then as now fresh young nations put all their strength into the struggle, their opponents did not, for Imperial Rome sent out hired armies to defend their possessions while the Roman citizens lived a life of idleness and pleasure at the expense of the State; and the Sublime Porte, excluding the population of the capital from military service even as Byzant had done, and for the same reason, namely, that it was not considered expedient to have a populace trained to arms round the palace walls, sent thousands of ignorant Anatolian peasants to a war the cause of which they could not understand. Enthusiasm, efficiency, and the spirit of self-sacrifice led the young nations on the road to victory; moreover, they found an ally in the selfishness of their antagonists, sycophants and pleasure-seekers, trusting to the paid legionaries of Rome or the foreign-trained political intriguers of the Sultan’s army. Imperial Rome perished of corruption and had to make way for something cleaner, wholesomer. The Turkish Empire in Europe has gone the same way, and the same causes brought about its fall. Would it not be as well for us Britons to look at home? It would indeed be advisable, for the end is not yet.
That Turkey retains some small portions of her former European possessions is of little moment, what really matters is that the forces which have for so long been controlled by diplomacy have now been set in motion, and to my mind the recent Balkan war is little more than an advanced-guard action. The theatre of war had to be cleared of an encumbrance, so the Allied States of the Balkans drove the Turks out in order that no side issue should interfere with the solution of the great problem.
The problem is much the same as that which presented itself during the first migration of nations. The German races felt drawn to the south and the east, the Slavs were impelled towards the west, and then, as now, have blocked the way of the former’s progress.
The movements of nations during the first “Völkerwanderung” had probably no very definite aim; the barbarians beat down resistance when they could, but when too strongly opposed they went elsewhere. The present movement is caused by the same desire for expansion, but it is also inspired by very definite aims and ambitions. The probable resistance to be met with has been calculated to a nicety, plans have been made to overcome obstacles, and all this is due to efficiency.