WITH THE TURKS IN TRIPOLI.*

TIME'S revenges are very plainly illustrated in Mr. Bennett's book. Here is a former Radical member of Parliament exalt- ing the Turks in a manner that might have made Mr. Glad- stone's blood run back in his veins, abusing the cynicism of Liberal foreign policy and talking of Italy as though, what- ever her temporary aberration, she had never stood for principles which have made liberty-loving Englishmen thrill with emotion. To most men of Mr. Bennett's temperament the virtues of the Turks date from the establishment of the Constitution. Our own sympathy with the better side of the new Turkish regime is; we hope, not less than Mr. Bennett's; but, surely, impartial observers must admit that there are many blemishes on constitutional govern- ment as it is now practised in the Turkish Empire— the terribly harsh treatment of the non-Moslem peoples, for example, and the complicity of the Young Turks in such a tragedy as the Adana massacre. These things, we know, have nothing directly to do with Mr. Bennett's narrative of life in the Turkish camp in Tripoli, but we hold that, nevertheless, his knowledge of them should have coloured his reflections when he writes as though Turks represent the light and Italians the darkness. No one who has' had experience of Turks on a campaign will doubt, on the other hand, a single word that Mr. Bennett writes about their hospitality, simplicity, patience, and good fellowship as soldiers.

Although we do not trust Mr. Bennett's judgment it is still possible to admire his adventurous spirit and to be attracted by his personality. His errors are always errors of chivalry off its balance. Because the Italians acted with rashness and want of forethought in their Tripoli policy—which we ourselves have deplored as much as any one—he appears to think that a quarrel has been fastened on our Foreign Office, and that we ought to have rushed in to protect the Turks from attack. The only definite grievance which he asserts that Great Britain has, however—and this is unsupported by exact evidence—is the losses suffered by the Maltese in Tripoli. If British subjects have suffered losses we trust that the Foreign Office has and will continue to have the good sense to try to secure reparation without making war. We cannot follow the author's argument at all. And it is surely very curious that such heroic lamentations and protests nearly always come from the political party which is inclined to cut down the means of prosecuting quarrels with other nations. Perhaps Mr. Bennett does not still belong to that party. He writes as though he did not. In any case he urges his countrymen to take sides with the Turks against Italy. Even our airmen are urged to abandon their " fooling about Brooklands or Hendon" and take to " flights over the desert" in aid of the Turks. But surely he is wrong in saying that no British hospital work is being done in aid of the Turks. We understand that there is a British Red Crescent Mission.

Mr. Bennett writes in the early part of his book of the extraordinary hallucinations in Italy about the resources of Tripoli. When Lord Salisbury in the 'eighties was discussing the prospect of Italy acquiring Tripoli, be said that Italy should not shoot till the stag came well within range of the

• With the Turks in Tripoli; Being some Experiences in the Turco-Italian War of 1911. By Ernest N. Bennett. With four Maps. London: Methuen and co.

sportsman's gun, and he also spoke with his gentle irony of the Sahara being." rather light soil." Mr. Bennett emphasizes. the poverty of the country, and can see nothing but dis- appointment and unrernunerative expenditure for Italy. No doubt he is right. The ancient Romans made the land blossom with a wonderful system of water collection and distribution. That might be reproduced, of course, but hour

could it pay now that cheap and rapid ocean transport has fundamentally changed all the conditions of classical times ?. Later in the book Mr. Bennett refers to the existence of mineral wealth in the country. This might be important; but he cannot do more than refer to the fact that the Turks believe minerals to exist and have refused either to develop

them themselves or to allow any one else to do so.

Mr. Bennett is insufficiently informed about the occupa- tion of Sollum by Great Britain. It is true that at the first blush Italians were disposed to be greatly chagrined at the acquisition of this deep-water harbour by Great Britain without the trouble of fighting for it ;

but they soon admitted not only that it had been all the time within the proper area of British control, but that to have it occupied and policed by Great Britain would actually serve the interests of Italy by stopping the irregular passage of fighting men and the transport of arms into the Turkish camps. The Italian Government did not dream of sharing or encouraging public criticism of the British action.

Perhaps the most important statement in the book is the assertion, continually repeated, that there is absolutely no quarrel or friction between the Arabs and Turks, and that there is likely to be none. Mr. Bennett estimates that there are 100,000 Arabs in Tripoli who in the last resort would be. willing to bear arms. He does not know anything definite apparently of the intentions of the Senussi, but lie quotes the statement of one of his informants that a call to arms by the Senussi would be answered by scores of thousands of Moslems,. " not only from the remote regions of the South, but from Tunis and Egypt."

Mr. Bennett accepts the stories of massacres by Italians, but on the evidence of his own eyes he is more concerned with the bombardment of coast towns. Thus he writes :—

" At Zouara and elsewhere the Italian warships have again and again shamefully violated the rule that forbids the bombardment of unfortifled towns. As I rode through the streets I saw the marks of the devastation wrought by the projectiles. The Bimbasbi's former home in the town—the only house with more than one storey—had been absolutely wrecked by the impact of at least twenty shells, as its height rendered it an easy target The bases of two of those shells I saw in a neighbouring shop- They were portions of heavy projectiles marked Lb. 1)8' and made at Brescia. The Courts of Justice and throe or four shops- had been struck, the roof of the mosque was badly holed, and the school had collapsed into a mere stone-heap. It was difficult to discover what loss, if any, had been occasioned by the shell-fire The Italians, without giving notice of their intention, in accord- ance with civilized usage, suddenly opened fire on defenceless Arab houses, and I gathered that two or three women and children bad been killed in their attempt to escape from the town. Many of these helpless creatures subsequently found shelter at Rigdalin,. and, during my two visits to Zouara, the ordinary life of the town went on regardless of the warships' fire. In the course of one of the latter bombardments a little black child playing amongst the palm-trees was instantly killed by a shrapnel bullet. Every variety of shell seems to have been employed by the enemy in these cowardly bombardments. I saw fragments of big 0-inch shells, shrapnel, percussion shell, and armour-piercing projectiles ; and I found on the floor of my bedroom a number of large shrapnel bullets, three times the size of the bullets packed in an ordinary 15-pounder shell. At a conservative estimate at least 500 pro- jectiles have been launched against this small Arab town and its barracks during the intermittent bombardments."

Mr. Bennett draws a sharp distinction between the Italian private soldiers and their officers. He calls the former "un- seasoned and neurotic," but praises the devotion and gallantry of the latter, pointing to the remarkable disproportion of casualities among them. Of the evacuation of Ain Zara by the Turks Mr. Bennett writes :— " Before the evacuation of AM Zara, however, the field-guns in question were rendered useless to the enemy. The huge force of 15,000 Italians never made the slightest move to cut off or harass the retiring Turks, What wore their cavalry doing ? Can one imagine that any European army, except the Italian, would have actually permitted. a small body of opponents to retire over open ground without any attempt whatever to hamper the retreat by cavalry attacks P Instead of this the 15,000 warriors ' rushed' the empty camp and captured the abandoned guns, some beds, and other odds and ends of furniture.".

Again, lie writes of similar alleged inefficiency by the Italian Navy, though we cannot help thinking that he ought to count such remarkable restraint, as is described in the following passage, for righteousness to the " cowardly " bombarders.

"I have mentioned possibilities of danger from the Italians, but a very brief experience of the invaders has shown the Ottoman forces that they have very little to fear from the enemy along the coast track. Here is a road running for miles within a few hundred yards of the sea, over which the Italian wars hips steam without the slightest fear of interruption. Never- theless day by day caravans slowly make their way along the desert flats and troops march hither and thither, all within sight and easy range of the cruisers and destroyers which patrol the coast west of Tripoli. What a pitiable spectacle of inefficiency— not to use a harsher word I A. first-class European navy, engaged in a conflict with an enemy of numerical inferiority almost absurd, feebly allows a caravan route to continue open under its very eyes without any attempt worthy of the name to destroy so important a line of communication."

We find it, indeed, difficult to reconcile Mr. Bennett's angry condemnation of the coast bombardments with such a sentence as this : " Nobody along the shore cared twopence about these ridiculous bombardments, which rarely hit anything in par- ticular and never hurt anybody." Mr. Bennett gives the following account of what he says was the only attempt to interrupt the Turkish lines of communication on the North. The Italians were landed on the beach at Zouara from two cruisers.

"Idoussa Boy had infused some measure of discipline into his Arabs, and there they lay in the dunes, their fingers itching to fire on the invaders. The first detachment was commanded by an officer and carried trenching tools. The launch made two other journeys, and the three boat-loads, some 150 men all told, advanced cautiously from the beach. The officer led the way, and continually stopped to survey the plain and the distant hills with his field-glasses. Just as the landing party commenced to climb the dunes the. Arabs • opened fire. The officer, badly wounded, fell on his knees, and a second bullet killed him outright. The effect on the Italians was striking. The 150 men simply turned tail and bolted in utter confusion to the beach, hotly followed by 84 Arabs, who could no longer be restrained from pursuit. The sailors managed to carry off the body of their officer and six killed or wounded comrades, but they left on the sand 50 picks and shovels, 800 cartridges and a number of sailors' caps. One Arab was wounded by a bullet which pierced his cheek and smashed his jawbone."

We must say that though we find ourselves in continual conflict with Mr. Bennett's conclusions his book is a most readable account of camp life, and contains excellent evidence of the habit unattached Englishmen have of turning up at the seat of trouble, goodness knows how and goodness knows why. Some of these soldiers of fortune seem to have put a heavier tax on Turkish hospitality than their assistance was worth. As to the future of the war Mr. Bennett says that the Turks desire nothing more than that the Italians should land in Asia Minor. In that case they think an indemnity will ultimately have to be paid, not by themselves, but by the Italians.

But though Mr. Bennett's book is readable, we would warn our readers very strongly against accepting its implied con- clusions that the right is n11 on the side of the Turks and the wrong on that of the Italians. The Italian case has not yet been put for English readers, or put very indifferently, but that is no proof that it does not exist. When it is put a good many people who are now strongly pro-Turk will realize that it is always wise to hear both sides before one makes up one's mind.