The New York herald., 1922-09-24
LLOYD GEORGE SAYS PEACE
is SOLE OBJECT IN EAST

Chanak. Peaceable merchantmen could
not pass and, therefore. in the opinion
| OF our military advisers 1t is essential
| that Chanak be held in order to secure
the real freedom of the straits for the
purpose of peaceable intercourse be-
tween the Mediterranean and the Black
Sea.
For Rumania,, a distinguished Ru-
manian told me the other day that the
straits were matter Of life and death
to his country That is exactly true for
Russia also. In the interests of the
commerce of the world it is fundamental
that the gratis should be free from the
possibility of such interference with
their freedom as produced the disastrous
results in 1914 and in subsequent years
There Is a correspondent at Con-
stantinople, who, for reasons which are
not material to investigate at the present
moment, is not a witness particularly
friendly to myself but whom I would
quote on the Importance of preventing
the Kemalist army from crossing into
Europe until peace has been established
/ mean Gen. Maurice He said a couple
Of days ago:
1.-The nervousness among the Chris
tian population. already considerable,
has been much increased and their exo-
dus is taking place. / cannot too
strongly represent that In the present
temper of the Mohammedans the evacua-
tion of Ismid or Chanack at this juncture
might have a sequel which woul6 make
the fire of Smyrna pale
| THAT Is one reason why we think
that 1t would be peril of the darkest
kind IL We permitted the army which
has left Smyrna a heap Of blackened
ruins to cross over into Europe until a
j permanent peace has been established
and until the conditions Of that peace
are clearly defined.
I'VE do not go back on anything we
have said about Constantinople remain
ing Turkish. We are not putting up any
fight about the sovereignty of Eastern
Thrace. but peace must first of all be
established and its conditions must be
known.
May l just say in conclusion that we
are not departing in anything we are
doing from the agreed policy OF the
Aiiies. This policy. which I enunciated
70 you about the straits. was agreed to
IN 1918. There was a good deal more
that was agreed to which circumstances
render 1t now impossible for us or con-
ceivably for the whole of the Allies to
carry out to the limit which would be
desired In 1918 the Allies took into
account the condition of the minorities
In Asia Minor who, In the early davs of
the war. had been subjected to outra ges
OF very terrible character.
The massacres In Asia Minor I'm 1914
ana 1915 were responsible for the death
OF something like one and one-half
millions of the Christian population
That is generally accepted. There was
no provocation: there was no insurrec-
Ton there was no uprising against
a,s auin,sil ,s, RUE. ~ was purely wanton and
coid piooded and the Allies. considering
the position, in 1919 felt thew were
under the obligation to say that tbere
should be no recurrence of these terrora
Inc original idea was that America
snouid undertake the mandate for r.
nenia that France should undertake.
the mandate for Cilicia, where there is
q mixed population; that Italy could un-
uertake the mandate for Adalia and the
surrounding territories, and that the
Greeks could undertake the mandate for
southeastern Anatolia and the vilayet OF
Smyrna =
for various reasons, that has been
round impossible. America was not pre-
pared TO undertake any responsibility
for Armenia; the French Government
cid not feel that 1t could continue TO
4 accept the responsibility for Cilicia; the
ltaiians Withdrew from southern Anato-
liza and the Greeks exchanged Mr.. Vent
Il do not wish to make any comment
: on that; the sequel, / think, Is the SO.
{ verest criticism Of that choice. But these
J events taken all together have made II
Impossible to carry out the original in
N tention to secure protection for these
various minorities by placing them un-
der the control OF powers who would
| undertake, each In its separate sphere.
the defense and security OF these minor
tiles.
But freedom of the straits remains
That Is of vital interest to us as a mari
time and commercial power and to civili-
zation throughout the world. That we
can maintain, and the fight we are put
ting up at the present moment is the
fight TO insure that whatever happens
at the peace conference we shall not
abandon the policy OF securing the free
dom OF the straits.
II do not mean securing them by
clauses In a treaty which would depend
! upon the caprice Of any Government
/ there might be In Constantinople We
had the promise before 1914 that the
straits would be free, but German In
trigue overcame not merely the sym.
pathies which Turkey may have hal
with either France or England. but over
came the real Turkish interests and the
straits were closed Their security
| AhNiNApiNs hiuSi Dt VI ~ NSIy TellADle ana
effective character. That is why we are
taking the step which we have already
taken, and we shall do our best to Sc
cure an Immediate conference Between
all the Powers concerned In order 10
establish permanent peace.
Peace Is our purpose; peace Is our
object. That is what we are looking
for We regard war as a calamity, and
Il is because we regard II as a calamity
that we are taking the most effective
means OF ayerting u. The appeal, which
we made to Australia and New
Zealand, was2 addressed to them be-
cause they had a very special interest
in the defence OF Gallipoli. They made
q great sacrifice Of thousands OF theii
heroic sons IN order TO achieve that free
dom OF the straits, and. we felt that
when freedom was challenged, they
had the right 10 associate themselves
with us In any action we took 20 main