New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-01-12
A Fine Opportunity Now to Put
Him Forever i'm His
Place ss<
By Frank H. Simonds

question will remain, because the Turk ha >
for centuries displayed no capacity for as
similation or organization; he has merely
camped in Europe, he has pitched his tent
amid the surviving monuments of Bvzan-
tlum, and there ne has lived and awaited
the inevitable hour when he would he
evlcted and sent back to Asia, whence he
came and where alone there is hope for
him in the future. To leave Constantine
pie to the Turk, therefore, would be merely
to postpone settlement of the Eastern oues.
ton as 1T has been postponed so MANY
times before, to the great disaster of tho
world
The Greek solution is more appealino Il
is the demand of the Greeks that thew h.
permitted to extend their frontiers to in.
clude all the Egean coast left To R,loar;.
III 1918, the lower valley of the Martha and
'"e snoses oil the Sea of Marmora the
shores of the Black Sea as far north &c
Mloia ana the Aslatic shore of the Straits.
the Sea of Marmora and the Mainland of
ASIA Minor including Smyrna, with all the
islands of the Egean Sea- This would
mean the restoration of the Byzantine en-
plre, which has been a Greek dream for
long centuries. On the whole this arranoc-
ment would not do violence to the nr;nc;-
pies OF self-determination and it would fol-
low the tradition of this region, which has
been Hellenic since the beginning NJ
history
Yet. the difficulties are manv. Greco. !,
a small state. with limited population and
small revenue She would be called unon
TO defend hor ~
Bulgarian, who would never permanently
consent TO be deprived of all the Egear
sea coast hers by the fruits of the first
Balkan war, since without this she would
be cut OH from access to the open sea and
placed at the mercy of the Greeks. Even
the Greek possession of Constantinonle
would be open at once to Bulgarian and
kumanlan challenge and ultimately to Rus
slan II Russia ever regains her strength
That Greece should have the western
shore of Asia Minor in considerable mart is
conceded by all save the Italians, who are
rivals for this inheritance without anv
claim founded upon modern principles. That
greece should have the islands of the
Agean, which are as Greek as Sicily is
ltalan, all but the Italians agree. That
Northern Eprus, also Hellenic, should fall to
Greece and not to that Albanian state which
is TO be protectorate of Italy, all but Italy
concede Nowhere does Italian ambition
seem more out Of tune with contemporary
IDEAS than in the Eastern Mediterranean.
where Rome seeks to hold or to acquire vast
territories which are Greek by every right
one can cite.
But conceding, one must that Greece
should receive these gifts at Versailles
which constitute an elimination of her own
lrredenta; granted that she must receive
the islands and the mainland in Asia Minor
and Epirus by exactly the same logic that
Trieste and the Trentino are to be allotted
to Italy, will the friends of Greece seek to
saddle upon this little nation the great re-
sponsiblities incident to the possession of
Constantinople and the guardianship of the
Straits? This would mean to put Greece
between two tires-that growing out of Ital
ian Jealousy and that bound to come if
Russia ever regains unity and strength.