File 3579/1916 'Turkey: the future of Constantinople' [‎46r] (100/530)

qo Tcrnmcnt i3 put into its plaow.
The ground may, at this stag^, X think, bs very quickly cleared.
It must be chv i v.us, I think, to g verybody, that ths custodian or th&
^trustee cannot be on. of the smaller or ra ak r Po'^trs of Europe o
Whatever claim Bulgaria may hav% had at any time, at the commence
ment <f the first Balkan war, vhen sht set mod to be striding rapidly
in the direction of Constantinople, and p«-.wple talked about th< Cross
being placed again on the cupola of St. Sophia, and Bulgaria’s
secular ambitions seemed to have some chance of realisation, all
that has no*' disappeared, and the trea.cht.ry and the crimes of tho
Bulgarian, people and Government during this war have effectively
removed any chance that Bulgaria might have, quite- apart from the
fact that no other Balkan state would be vdlling to admit ht-r.
The second small state that must bo eliminated is Greece.
We shall have difficulty enough in settling the homo borders of
Greece in he r relations with her neighbours without contemplating
for a moment such a vast experiment as handing over to her the
fate of Constantinople. Her own position even if it were given to
her is not strong enough to enable her to hold it any rate beyond
quite a small length of timz. Her own shores w-uld be separated
Admiralty ?
from those of Constantinople, and, as the War office has pointed
out in any struggle in the futurt those, responsible for h^r
existence w.-uld have 'f necessity the ••cry onerous rt sponsioility
of defending the shores of Greece in different parts of the
Mediterranean that are particularly difficult to protect. I think
that v-c shall all agree, for o the r it as ..ns as well that I ne-..d not
enter into hv.re, that Greece cannot be- considered. Ho ether small
pQYt.r is worthy of a moment’s attention.
Our m.xt qu.sticn is. Can it t>t a gr at European Po-.r ? Here
re can proceed just as quickly 1=7 the method of cxhauotlcn. Russia
has forfeited her claim and had disappeared from the scene.. As
to France and Italy, neither v.-oulc. agreed for a moment to the appoint
mont of the v ther; nor sh'-ulo. we.', I imagine, agree
to either