Western domination.

Such is the situation in the Near East--a situation very grave and full
of trouble. The most hopeful portent is the apparent awakening of the
British Government to the growing perils of the hour, and its consequent
modifications of attitude. The labours of men like Lord Milner and Sir
Percy Cox, however hampered by purblind influences, can scarcely be
wholly barren of results. Such men are the diplomatic descendants of
Chatham and of Durham; the upholders of that great political tradition
which has steered the British Empire safely through crises that appeared
hopeless.

On the other hand, the darkest portent in the Near East is the continued
intransigeance of France. Steeped in its old traditions, French policy
apparently refuses to face realities. If an explosion comes, as come it
must unless France modifies her attitude; if, some dark day, thirty or
forty French battalions are caught in a simoom of Arab fury blowing out
of the desert and are annihilated in a new Adowa; the regretful verdict
of many versed in Eastern affairs can only be: "French policy has
deserved it."

Leaving the Near Eastern problem at this critical juncture to the
inscrutable solution of the future, let us now turn to the great
political problem of the Middle East--the nationalist movement in
India.

FOOTNOTES:

[138] For these early stages of the Turkish nationalist movement, see
Vambery, _La Turquie d'aujourd'hui et d'avant Quarante Ans_; and his
_Western Culture in Eastern Lands_. Also the articles by Leon Cahun in
_Lavisse et Rambaud_, previously cited; and L. Rousseau, _L'Effort
Ottoman_ (Paris, 1907).

[139] Berard, _Le Sultan, l'Islam et les Puissances_, p. 16 (Paris,
1907).

[140] Cited by Berard, p. 19.

[141] Cited by Berard, p. 20.

[142] _Le Reveil de la Nation arabe_, by Negib Azoury (Paris, 1905).

[143] The semi-legendary founder of the Ottoman Empire.

[144] The texts of both the above documents can be most conveniently
found in E. Jung, _Les Puissances devant la Revolte arabe: La Crise
mondiale de Demain_, pp. 23-25 (Paris, 1906).

[145] A good analysis of Arab affairs on the eve of the Great War is
that of the Moslem publicist "X," "Les Courants politiques dans le Monde
arabe," _Revue du Monde musulman_, December, 1913. Also see G. W. Bury,
_Arabia Infelix, or the Turks in Yemen_ (London, 1915).

[146] For Arab affairs during the Great War, see E. Jung,
"L'Independance arabe et la Revolte