"THERE Was no rupture but Lord Curzon made it quite clear that the discussion on the Straits to-morrow must ye the last on that—subject."" With—this extremely welcome evidence before us in to-day's telegrams that the Allies will stand no further nonsense, it may be of interest to recapitulate the main outlines of the TLansanne Conference.
Whether Mr. Floyd George was or was not personally responsible for the resolute attitude of Great Britain, which held back the Turks from the Dardanelles in their pursuit of the Greeks and compelled them to sign the Mudania agreement, it is certain that the Turks believed he was. No sooner had he' resigned office. than they began to go back on their undertakings at Mudania. They demanded the most impossible things, proclaimed the repudiation of all foreign treaties and concessions and talked of an indemnity of £240,000,000 from Greece. Outrages in Constant-maple were frequent: there was talk of the' Allies proclaiming a state of siege but to this.the French would not agree. The flight of the Sultan on board H.M.S. Malaya on November 17 was a clear indication of the fiery state of theggtmosphere in Constantinople, which am justified Great Britain's insist ence on a clear preliminary understanding between the Allies as to what they would concede before entering the Conference. It is possible that the French Government was slightly disconcerted from its hitherto deter-ruinedly Turcophile attitude the - course of events Mudania. "At any rate. only three days elapsed between the
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