File 3579/1916 'Turkey: the future of Constantinople' [‎41r] (90/530)

yvug, in the main,.. because the 'iurh was at Constantinople that Cjtl
\;e fought tho Crimean v ’ar. It was for the same reason that
\:e interfered to tear up the 1 rooty of nun otephuno* Indeed,
: 1
up to the last twenty years* when Lord Salisbury first hazarded
1 a doubt as to whether wo had not put our money on the wrong
^iorse, the whole orientation of our Las torn policy has been
determined by the position of the Indian Lmpiro at one end
and by the position of the lurh astride of the. straits at the
other.
I need not ^ aste more time upon that,
fhc second axiomatic proposition is th^t the presence of
the Turfs in juropc has been ^ source of unmitigated evil to
everybody concerned, I a:n not aware of a single interest,
Turfash or otherwise that during nearly five hundred years
has benefited by that presence, -They have introduced a most
distracting and demoralizing influence into Luropean polities.
be on
Thoir presence has I think/equally injurious to Islandcm
bo"arisc of the pretensions and aspirations it has encouraged,.
It has been absolutely disastrous to the various Subject
races, both in Luropc and in xia,. with whom they have had to
deal. Indeed the record is one of misrule, oppresoion, intiiguo
and massacre almost unparalleled in the history of the eastern
world,
finally, the possession of the straits has enabled the
Turks, if wo take only the case of this war, to exercise an
influence altogether disproportionate to any position that
they would otherwise occupy in the world. It was their presence
in Constantinople and the fortification of the otraits that
-prevented Lusoia. out aiming her exit into the no & i t c rra.no < -.n,
that brought in the Lalkan states in the early d.-^ys of the
vrar, that was responsible for our unfortunate failure, con
ceived on the soundest strategical lines as the venture was,
at Gallipoli and at the Dardanelles; and really the last four
ya-ars are a convincing proof ox the prodigious inxlucnce that
the posseseiou of the atraits and Cons t...ntinoplc enables the
lower vlaced in that position to exercise, perhaps even more