3 OCTOBER 1908, Page 15

The circular from which we quote above ends by insisting

on the need of continuing relief work and outside assist- ance until the new Government is firmly established. " It cannot hasten the next harvest, it cannot restore all at once to the impoverished peasantry the grain, the cattle, and the implements of which the rapacious Governors and tax-gatherera have robbed them. To withdraw at once all assistance from outside, both political and philanthropic, would throw on the new Government an impossible burden." That is sound advice. But it is absolutely essential that at this juncture political assistance should be free from all suspicion of interested motives. Turkey is already being held up as " a virgin field for British enterprise." A writer in the Chronicle observes that " there is a fortune open to merchants, concession-bunters, and capitalists in this New Turkey." We sincerely trust that the Government will do all in their power to discourage any premature or illegitimate attempts to exploit the friendliness of the Young Turks towards Great Britain on these lines.