The ultimatum had been preceded by instructions to Italian merchant
ships to leave Turkish ports. This precau- tion, and information already received from Rome, had had the effect of warning, the Turkish Government of what was contemplated, and ammunition was hastened to Tripoli. The Italian ships which at the time we write are lying off Tripoli permitted the Turkish transports to pass, as the term of the ultimatum had not expired. A considerable number of the Europeans resident at- Tripoli have left their homes, and the town verges on panic. Italy hopes by means of her Navy to isolate the war, if the Turks should resist, by preventing Turkish troops from being sent to Tripoli ; but we need hardly say that if the Turks entered upon a war at all they would not fall in with this idea of restricting it to places which suited the convenience of their enemy. Reprisals would be taken against Italians throughout Turkey, and a boycott of Italian commerce—a form of retaliation at which the Turks are becoming considerable adepts—would no doubt be energetically practised. So far as we can learn, the number of regular Turkish troops in Tripoli is something over twenty thousand. But the most serious trouble in the long run might come from the native population, above all from the Senussi.
