The French project of appointing an International Commission of Inquiry
into the causes t f cholera is about to be realized. All the Powers have agreed to it, and a commission is about to meet at Constantinople, which may possibly discover that Mecca needs .strict sanitary control. That control must, however, either be exercised through Mussulmans, that is, be merely nominal, or -through an army encamped round the Holy City, an enterprise the Powers will not be very willing to undertake. The alternative is to bully the Porte into trying to do the work, and as the Sultan has no real authority in Mecca, and is very unwilling to exercise his nominal suzerainty, this will probably be adopted. Stopping the cholera is difficult, worrying the Sultan is easy, and an Inter- national Commission must do something or be ridiculous. Cholera not being contagious, nothing can result from an inquiry into the mode by which its contagion is spread.
Previous page
