existence is guaranteed by an international treaty, signed by the European Powers. France cannot make Syria a colony without regarding this treaty as a "scrap of paper." And who dares to advocate with honest conscience that the Entente Powers, whose program is the freedom of small nationalities, consent to putting the Greeks of the Ægean Islands and the Asia Minor coast-line in political subjection to their traditional and worst enemies, the Italians? The problem is a thorny one, and, I am told by my diplomatic friends, "exceedingly difficult." But that is only because European statesmen and politicians have made it so. Let every Power in Europe proclaim its own disinterestedness, and state that it does not regard this war as a war of conquest, but as a war of emancipation, and, lo! the problem disappears. A Syrian state in Syria, an Armenian state in Armenia or Cilicia, under the collective guarantee of all Europe, and the union of the Greek islands and the middle portion of the Asia Minor littoral to Greece-this is the only program that will satisfy the aspirations of the subject Christian nationalities, and assure a durable peace in the near East. As the Turks (including all Mohammedans who regard themselves as Turks) number nearly ten millions, and are a virile nation, it is foolish to talk of dispossessing them and subjecting them. Desires do not make realities. The Greek and Armenian and Syrian frontiers will have to be drawn moderately. Beyond Cilicia and Syria there are no Turks, and we can assume, from the lessons of history and from indications manifested everywhere in Syria and Mesopotamia and Arabia to-day, that the Arabic-speaking Mohammedans will make no effort to conserve the tie that has bound them for centuries against their will to the Ottoman Empire. The political future of the Arabic-speaking Mohammedans— the relations of the rival emirs with one another, with the Syrian Christians, and with the Palestine Jews-is too complex a question to be broached here. I can only assert that the difficulties, however, are no more formidable if the principle of "eminent European domain" is waived than if it is maintained. Here, again, there is need of a declaration of territorial disinterestedness all around the table at the peace conference. The Sherif of Mecca, after the proclamation of the kingdom of Arabia, stated this in no uncertain terms. "Al Kibla," the new king's official journal, reports him as saying, when he announced to the Arabic-speaking world that France and Great Britain were collaborating with him to establish Arabian independence: If we have expelled the Turks from our territory, it is because we have considered them as foreigners, and they have no part in our historical and religious traditions. How then could we be willing to accept the supremacy of other foreigners? We have prepared our own rebellion against the Turks. No person not of our own race has taken part in it. We have begged the Powers of the Entente not to mix up in our affairs. We have made them well understand that we have determined to preserve Mohammedan independence against all attacks. The Entente Powers are allies whom we respect, and friends whom we love. But, I repeat, our alliance with them is based upon the most complete independence. All the Mohammedans in the world are of the opinion of the King of Arabia. Islam wants friends, not masters. ITALY AND THE BALANCE OF One can scarcely count upon a durable peace unless three conditions are fulfilled: (1) existing causes of international troubles should be eliminated or reduced as much as possible; (2) the aggressive objects and the unscrupulous methods of the Central Powers should be discredited in the eyes of their own peoples; (3) above international law, above all the treaties having as object the prevention or hindrance of hostilities, there should be established an international sanction which would stop the most daring aggressors.-Foreign Secretary Balfour, in a cablegram to the British Ambassador at Washington, January 15, 1917. VERY student of international af EVE fairs and the Great War, every thinker who has his mind fixed upon the problem of the durable peace, every lover of humanity, will endorse the three condi |