'The future of Constantinople. Memorandum by Lord Curzon. Printed for the War Cabinet, January 1919.' [‎19r] (3/4)

Americat'fniarfT f° ^ ^ < ? etactlrnent an ^ presumed disinterestedness of
:j' r •*- “ *
in nth 'r F el anc ’ * liere ai i e ,m P ortant Sections of opinion in this, and probahlv
m other European countries, who would regard the admission of America to the
Mediterranean and her installation at the gates of the Eastern and Western world
apprehe^d“ C th a fthlT’ an< are 8hared by ° Ur na '’ al authorlt ies, who
nresentTv he oil w ^ a PP eara ™ e .<* the American flag in the Mediterranean would
Pi i f , * e . y ™ Amenca, 0 navy a nd American coaling stations, involving in
the la. t lesort a serious disturbance of the balance of naval power in those waters. 1 ’
• ,, h |' se particular fears are, however, discounted by those who point out that it is
in the highest degree unlikely that America would ever either desire or consent to
stremrth^h ; r ° Pea t n naVa ‘ \Tu’ and tKat ’ if she did S °’ the <liv ' ision of her "aval
strength that must ensue would be a source rather of weakness than of strength.
n e w o e, it seems unlikely tliat America would accept the charge, even if it
were offered to her, except possibly in the minor capacity of a mandatory of a future
League of Nations ana then only with the attributes, not of an independent ruler, but
o an international policeman, appointed to perform certain limited functions of inter
national control. Some of the advocates of this solution appear, however, to cherish
visions of Constantinople as the future capital of a world-wide League of Nations, whence
the controlling and pacifying sceptre of the United States would be wielded over the
entire hastern world, of which she would become the universal guardian.
m.
Ihe successive elimination of the various possible or available Powers brings us to
the discussion of the final alternative of some form of international authority ; and, many
and obvious as are the objections to a condominium, it may yet be found that, short of
keeping the Turk in his capital, this is the only possible alternative. The suggestion of
such an authority, on the lines of the Suez Canal Commission, has already been
made to his Government by the French colleague of Admiral Webb at Constantinople.
Some of the authorities who have favoured the suggestion have argued, upon the
analogy Oi the I >anube Commission, which sits at the Roumanian port of Galatz, but
exercises no administrative functions ashore, that all that would he required is a body
to look after the waterways, to maintain lights, buoys, and pilots, to collect dues, and
to exercise a general control over navigation and shipping. Such a solution, it will be
found upon examination, postulates, and is meant to postulate, the retention of the Turk.
The arguments have already been given which lead many persons to think that this
would, on its own merits, be an unmitigated evil. But it mav also be contended that the
evil, so far from being mitigated, would be enhanced, were an International Commission
to be planted in a city where the Sultan continued -to reside, and of winch, as
also of the European hinterland, the sovereignty still remained in his hands.
We can easily imagine the atmosphere in which such a Commission (of which
there could hardly fail, in these conditions, to be a Turkish member), would pursue
its work—an atmosphere of incessant conspiracy and cabal. The wily Turk would revel
in such a situation as affording renewed scope to his hereditary talents ; and round the
pivot of his own plots would revolve a whirlwind of international intrigue, in which the
representatives of all the nations, who still aspired to his inheritance, would eagerly mix.
But little reflection, indeed, seems to be needed to show that the Commission and
the Sultan could hardly be permanent bed-fellows at Constantinople. Just as the
Americans, when providing for the future of the Panama Canal, felt hound to take a
zone of land from Panama 5 miles in width on either bank, and to claim powers to
appoint a Civil Governor and Civil Courts therein, so an International Commission,
sitting in Constantinople, could not, in all probability, do its work, either with
advantage or with due authority, unless it also took the capital, the hinterland
up to the Chatalja lines, and possibly a strip of territory on either side of the Straits,
under its administrative control.
• It is not thought that this need raise in any serious form the question of the
remoter hinterland either in Europe or in Asia. On the contrary, it is argued that it
would promote the pacific solution of that problem on ethnical lines that would satisfy
the great majority of the populations concerned.