A "committee" government of France, Italy and England would mean English rule; and our blundering had been too patent.
There remained no choice. Constantinople had to be given back to Turkey. Though she was beaten in the Great War, which she has now forgotten, we could not conquer her (single-handed, as we should find ourselves to-day); and, therefore, "she has to have her own way." The endeavour to curb New Turkey by "neutral zones" would prove as useless as an attempt to check the tides. It is only by an honest peace, carefully thought out in every detail and planned for permanent security, that we can regain our prestige in the Near East.
Perhaps, however, the greatest lesson we have still to learn from Turkey's victory was spoken in Gœthe's lines:—
"He who would be just must have consideration
for all men." Or again, as it is written in the Turkish lines quoted by Professor Browne:—
Kam máta gawm un wa ma mátat makárimee pum Wa asha gawm un was hum fi 'n—nase amwátu!
Many a people's virtues survive when themselves are sped, And many a people linger, who are counted by man as dead!
Turkey is not dead, but born again out of the ruins of a Great Civilisation. May there be peace again between East and West, that shall bring peace to a world so greatly needing what it so little deserves! My final words are of sincere congratulations to New Turkey, of warmest thanks to all the friends who gave unending interest to my visit, of pious hopes for peace. At Lausanne, Ismet Pasha always gave the toast of "The British Empire and King George," and I responded with "Turkey and Mustapha Kemal Pasha"; then we touched glasses, coupling the names. May "coming events cast their shadows before." Inch Allah! and again, Inch Allah!
THE END
