Mar.
Supgrstit1on might well invoked in explanation of the Turk's seemingly unconquerable ability to cling to Constantinople whatever may befall. At one period of the Balkan Wars it Jooked as if he were to be turned out. He was certainly supposed to be going for his share in the Great War: we can all remember the eager interpretations of the prophecies of Daniel, implicitly believed in by many devout people, of which the coming expulsion of the Turk from Europe was no small feature. Yet there he is) still and there he seems likely to remain. From the moment of its being rumoured that the Turk was to be left at Constantinople, the hot debate in the House of Commons which we reported yesterday was.a certainty. Hostility to Turkey, a legacy from Gladstone, is a fixed point in the Liberal creed, kept vital by the' brilliant pens of Massingham, Brajlsford and others, who, however, are a little given to ignoring the other sides of a question that are disconcerting to their own. It. is unquestionably a bitter blow to many that the Turk is to remain in Europe. But sentiment is, often forced to give way to expediency. The common sense of the whole situation appears to have been summed up by the Prime Minister when he said that it is easier to keep the Turk out of mischief at Constantinople than at Konieh.
The unpleasant fact has to be admitted that Great Britain, as the biggest Asiatic and Mohammedan Power in the world, cannot afford.to allow the Turk to be pushed too far. What was possible fifteen months ago is not possible to-day. In the first flush of victory, if Turkey, the first to surrender, the last to know the conqueror's terms, had been dealt with swiftly, it might have been feasible to strip her of Constantinople, and certainly the general settlement of her future would have been arrived at far more easily than now. Delay has led to her being mixed up with the uncertain destinies of the League of Nations. Territories detached from her are to be established as independent States under the guardianship of Powers entrusted with a mandate from the League. The keystone of the intended settlement being
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.