16 NOVEMBER 1918, Page 3

The Allied Sleets passed through the Dardanelles on Tuesday and

anchored off Constantinople on Wednesday morning. British and Indian troops manned the Turkish forts which barred our way in 1915, and which had only once been flouted by a hostile fleet— when Admiral Duckworth in 1807 boldly took his squadron into the Sea of Marmora and returned safely despite the heavy fire of the Turkish batteries. The presence of the Allied warships off the Golden Horn and St. Sophia is a sign that a new and happier era has opened in the Near East.