, 1922-12-17

porN power No longer could tre
committee OF Union aad ProErass. un.
ar its new name OF the Nationalist
perty. even pretend to maintain good
terms with the osmans. 1t could no.
tolerate an authority however nimsy.
which II was denopnciAg as traitor.
Gus Nor had It any desire 80 10 do.
For many Of the men who compeee
tbs governmental clique are not true
religious Molammedans. They are
sgnosties AMI atheists. No reilsious
scrupie stood in their way. hey
feared. moreover. thEt ths Sultan
might dismiss the parliament and
have a real election. ins-aad u n Ma
tionai assembly selected by them.
By themselves. 1 rspsst. Remai ana
his political a-rociates could have nc.
eompiished little They had. however.
this advantage: that AZ the European
pev'ers excepting Goat Britain dis.
liked the Tr-aty OF ssvres. France
and Italy had aequ.seel In Sc because
they regarded It at the time as essen.
tai to keep on good terms with treat
Rritain. Both wess disbruntlesl at
the great accessions Of territory which
Greeos enjoyed under tho trozsy.
rhey are NJ s~citerranean powers. and
:iicy were dtrquisted ut Il: dsvelop-
iacn; OF another Mediterranean power
Vt;eh was .itiled in maritime pur.
suits might rival them in military
force The award OF Thrans. Smyrna
as large stretches ,: eaast Inc to
tiroect ranged with them.
"Both France and Italy. moreoeer.
were Jealous of Great Britain. They
thought these favors to Greece evi.
denoe OF q plan for British aggran.
dizement. The possession of Thraoe
IS important because, 1 n a military
sense. It controls Constantinopie.
smyrna. aside from its commercial
value. is of strategic Importance in
the Mediterranean Sea- Franco and
Italy suspected that Great Britain
was using the Greek as a ca,spaw
for the control Of the ottomun en-.
pirs.
Nor shouid we lose sight of ltus
ria II we are to have a complete pic-
tire OF the chrssboard in southeastern
Europe n are to have a thorough
understanding OF what a been trans.
p.rins there. The possession of an
ice-free port-which means Constan-
tinople|is the dream OF Russian
statesmen nc less today than IN the
day OF the Romanoffs. 1t has been
the Russian ambition since the time
of Peter the Great. Let no one i'm
asine that Lenin and TrUtzky have
abandoned this imperiaiist pl1a. It is
not merely q Russian ambition. 1t is
a matter OF necessity. So that The
territorial gains OF Greece aruused the
Bolshevild no les than tl.s French
and Italians and manifested itself in
hostility to the British policy. 4
These ~jea'ousies. these antagon-
isms resusciated the almost expiring
Turk. Kemal and his Nationalist as
sociates began to fish indsutriously
IN these troubled waters. Their first
rapprochment was with the Bolshe-
Wiki. The details o. this treaty have
not become known. but 1T is known
that the Kemaiists obtained what
they most needed. money and MUM
tons; and 1T is reasonable to suppose
that they promised Moscow that Con-
stantinople should be controlled by
the countries bordering on the Black
Sea-
General Townshend told me OF re-
ceiving, in change for a twenty-pound
note in Angora. Russian gold. Bolshe-
visit money and Bolshevist arms
equipped the Turks for their first
move
Itaiy's position in Adalia and the ad
Joining territory was extremely pre-
cartous. She had neither the men nor
the resources for an efficient Iefen-
sive campaign. To have occupied the
territory was not Justified by any ad-
vantage she could gain. The Turks,
thanks to their pew friends. mustered
an army formidable IN comparison.
The Italians had really little option as