New-York tribune., 1922-09-24

then. and in doing so we have not
betrayed the trust which the British
Empire as whole vested in US.
The second object we had in MAX
ing any preparations was to prevent
this exceptionally horrible war from
spreading into Europe.
I am not going to apportfon the
blame between the Greeks and the
Turks. The time has not come for
that, and 1t Is not necessary that
we do so in order to explain or de-
fend our policy
! merely deal with the fact that
one of the greatest commercial cities
in the world has been practically dew
astated, and that there have been
massacres which in their horror are
almost without example even In that
area.
If any army which could not be
restrained by it's chiefs from perpe-
trating those outrages were permit
ted to cross into Europe, to occupy
Constantinople where you have
population of hundreds of thousands
of Armenians and Greeks and some
thousands of European nationals, we
have every reason to fear there
would be repetition of those hor-
rible Incidents. If it spread into
Thrace, where there is so much in
fammable material, rivalres of
Turks, Greeks, Hungarians and Serb
ians, there is no knowing what might
happen. You might have a conhaga-
ration which would spread with a
fury which coald not easily be ex-
tinguished or arrested
There are many dangerous ele-
ments III that quarter of the world,
and if you have serious conflict of
antagonistic races, maddcned by the
rooted hatred of centuries breaking
out, you would have once more war
in Europe, and it must not be for
gotten that the great war Of 1914
began in the Balkans.
War Must Not Spread
We, therefore, have regarded it as
matter of paramount Importance
to the interests of European peace
that war in Asia Minor should not
spread into Europe. We have there
fore taken steps to strengthen our
position in the Dardanelles and on
the Bosporus, with view of
achieving two objects, which have
indicated First, that of securing
the freedom of the Straits; and sec
ond, that of preventing this prairie
fire, which devastated Asia, from
crossing the narrow seas and light
ing the dry tinder in the Balkans.
In this respect, we have been quite
Impartial as between the Greeks and
the Turks. The Greeks, when they
occupied the southeastern corner of
Asia Minor, complained that we were
allowing Turkish bandits to organize
under the protection of our flag in
the Chanak area. And once they
entered that zone, with view Of
dispensing the bandits. We warned
them off and they had to leave.
a few weeks ago the Greeks
threatened to march on CONSTANT
nople. They brought up a division
of troops from Asia Minor in order
to cross the Tchatalja lines and en-
ter the Turkish capital. 1t would
have been, from a military point of
view, formidable counter stroke to
the Turkish menace in Smyrna. But.
in order to do SO, they would have
had to cross the neutral zone and
enter territory which was occupied
by the Allies.
The French occupied the rcnatalia
lines, but our general was .he COM
mander in chief of the Allied forces.
lie warned the Greeks, in terms
Identical with those used to Musta-
Phd INciHdi dSud III INe Cn1naK
area, namely, that he could net per-
nit them to enter the neutral zone.
Wants League to Rule
We do not wish to hold Gallipoli
and Chanak in the interests of Great
Britain alone. We do not consider
that Great Britain alone should have
the sole responsibility there. We
believe those important shores
should be held under the auspices of
the League of Nations in the inter
est of all nations alike
again repeat what we just heard
from Sir Charles Harrington that the
proclamation he issued to the Greeks
was identical with that issued to
Mustapha Kemal. Therefore, so far
as the neutral zone is concerned, we
have been impartial in our attitude
toward the Greeks and Turks. We
have acted in tho interest CT peace
in order to remove the danger of