Series 03: John Brady Nash letters, January 1914-December 1915 - Page 688
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 688]
Do you think the following quotation to be applicable to the position of the Balkan States at the moment:/
"No man who is truly ready to take part in a noble quarrel will ever stand long in doubt by whom, or in what cause, his aid it needed." – Crown of Wild Olives. –
Greece is between the devil (Kaiser Bill.) and the deep sea (British fleet), afraid of being thrashed on land by the former & sure of being blockaded by on water by the latter.
Bulgaria feared being thrashed on land by the Teuton armies, and could expect but little assistance from the South or East by the allies, therefore to save herself she had to join the German & help him to destroy the Serbians at the same time opening a way to Constantinople. Had they been high minded they should have joined our side, the champions of honest dealing and integrity, and helped us to destroy Prussian Militarism with all its pomps and vanities. Against these high ideals being realised the pomp & circumstance of victories won weigh heavy in the scales, & the man who can thrash you makes you act as if you believed in his honesty & integrity.
You will find a few photographs enclosed The one wherein Kephrin occupies the background is really two exposures for one plate. The houses and other fore-ground are part of Heliopolis. I was on the top of the pyramid, the second, when the plate was exposed, from a place on the Western side of Cheops, the north-western angle, not far up. If you look closely with a magnifying glass you will note how some gallant captain has put me & two guides in position. A strange picture, might be worth reproducing & enlarging for amusement.
["The Crown of Wild Olive: four lectures on work, traffic, war and the future of England", by John Ruskin, published in 1866.]