NEWS OF THE WEEK.
WE have dealt with the Turkish crisis elsewhere, but may record as we write on Friday that the new Ministry has not yet been formed, though it appears that Tewfik Pasha will accept the post of Grand Vizier. A Vienna telegram to Friday's Times notes the regularity with which the anti-Committee party are carrying out their pro- gramme. They announced, we are told, the fall of Mahm,ud Shevket for the day on which it occurred, and foretold the removal of the Cabinet from office on the 17th or 18th. Possibly this is only a coincidence, but even if it is it will no doubt have a certain effect on public opinion. But though the Committee has suffered a very great reverse, it would be premature to -suppose that its power has been destroyed. Undoubtedly it still possesses great influence. The really important question is whether the Committee men and the anti-Committee men will actually come to blows. If they do, it is the action Of the Army which will decide the combat. Therefore the Problem resolves itself into the ques- tion—which side does the Army favour ? Possibly, however, it will favour neither side, but some military chief will arise -with the cry of "A plague on both your Committees!" and will strike for a military dictatorship, in other words for himself, in the name of thesoldiery. The crisis is, of course, rendered much more acute by the renewed bombardment of the Dardanelles by the Italians, of which we receive news as we go to press.
