Evening star., 1923-05-25
BY MARaUIsE DE FoNTENoY.


1t seems but the other day that /
was relating in these letters how the
majority of the huge mob of labor
ties. who allowed themselves to be
persuaded by bolshevik agents in
England to make an insulting demon
stration before the mikado's embassy
in London on the ground of Japan s
policy in the matter of Saghalien.
were under the impression that Sag
halien was the name of a race horse
that had been doped on a British race
course for some sinister political pur-
poses through the Vaccinations of
the Toxic government instead of be-
ing the northernmost and most re-
mote OF the group of islands in tho
far Pacific known as Japan-Sasha-
lien being the habitat of the hairy
Ainu-quite the hairiest and the dir
test specimens of the human race.
And now it appears that a question
has ar sen at the congress of Lau-
same which threatens to wreck this
international palaver and which turns
on the rival claims Of the Turks
certain diminutive islands which bear
the name Of animals. The islands
concerned and which form the sub
1ect of violent disputes between the
Hellenic and Ottoman delegates 1T
Lausanne bear the name of Merkeb,
which is the synonym for the English
word Ass" Now the Greeks insist
ha al
which figure in the channel between
the island Of Tenedos and the main
land, Tenedos being retained under
Turkish sovereignty. But Ismet
Pasha and his fellow plenipotentiaries
of the Angora government argue that
the Merkeb islands are a group sit
uated at least fifteen miles distant
from Tenedos and that are occupied
by Greece. which has long known
them by the name of the Rabbit is
lands. So the entire congress is be-
ing held up until the Turks and the
Greeks can agree as to whether the
Hellenic Rabbit islands are not in
retality the Turkish LASS" islands,
and, as such, subject to the Turkish
flag. With this confusion of names
and the difficulty of the masses in dis
tinguishing between islands and four
footed animals. it is difficult to look
for any Intelligent comprehension by
the general public of the present sit
uation. But. after all, when it is re-
called that at the congress of Yer
sailles. the prime minister of one
great power, got badly mixed up be-
tween Cilicia. in northern Syria, and
Silesia, in the eastern provinces Of
Germany and that still more star
Ting mistakes were made by yet
more august plenipotentiaries, mis-
takes of a geographical character, it
isn't so very surprising that the I'M
QdnCQfQ6 Prif q IN
should assume that the island of
Saghalien was horse. while the dele
gates at the conference of Lausanne e
are gravely discussing the locality
and future. destiny of islands in the
Levant which bear the name of Rab-
bits and Asses.
For centuries the name of the
sublime porte has stood for all the
power and the prestige of the Otto
man empire as the seat of it's gov
ernment. Indeed. foreign ambassa.-
dors and ENJOYS were officially ac-
credited to this sublime porte just
as foreign diplomatic represents
tives in England are accredited to
the Court of st. James But the
sublime porte has fallen from the
high estate. 1t is no longer the seat
and headquarters of that once dread
ed oriental power that supplanted
the mighty Byzantine empire on the
shores of the Bosporus. Today this
sublime porte is merely the head
quarters of the provincial admins
tration of Constantinople, and an in
significant provincial governor now
reigns in the place of the grand
vizier, who by reason of his high
ONCE was entitled to the style Of
your. highnesa" just as II he had
been a petty German sovereign. The
fact of the matter Is that the Turks
are more determined than ever to
transport the seat Of their national
government to Angora, beyond the
reach and range of the foreign war
ships lying at anchor in the Golden
Horn. and they insist that all COM
mercial negotiations, all the discus
sions on the subject of concessions
that, in fact, the entire business Of
the empire shall be transacted at
Angora instead of at Constantinople.
Indeed, it would appear as IL the sun
had set on the minaretS Of that Won
derful city which the great Napoleon
described on one occasion as the key,
not merely Of Europe, but of the err
tire worid---the Constantinople OF the
Byzantine emperors and the Stana-
boul OF the Ottoman sultanAs