The Spectator at war: Keeping the Holy Places holy

From The Spectator, 7 November 1914:

We are glad to note that the Indian Government has issued a reassuring proclamation as regards the Holy Places. We trust, however, that before long France, Russia, and Britain, all of whom are Powers with large numbers of Mohammedan subjects, will join in a common declaration to the Moham- medan world that in no circumstances shall we interfere with the Holy Places or the religious feelings of Mohammedans. Moslems may be perfectly certain that no rearrangements made after the war will compromise in the very slightest degree religious rights in Arabia. We owe such a declaration to our Mohammedan subjects and to ourselves. It must not be supposed that there is serious danger of any attempt to proclaim a Holy War succeeding. The people who would make a Holy War formidable are the Old Turks, the old-fashioned Mohammedans. But these men view the Young Turks and their Committee with horror and indignation, and further detest the notion of Turkish independence being swamped in the ocean of German intrigue.