The Dominion. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1915. CONSTANTINOPLE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2386, 16 February 1915, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1915. CONSTANTINOPLE

One of the most important matters which will have to receive attention when the time conies for discussing the terms of peace will be the fate of Constantinople. A cablegram which appeared in yesterday's issue of The Dominion 1 announced' that Professor Miliokoff,, the leader of the Russian Liberals, has stated that the Allies have agreed that when 'the struggle is over Russia is to hold Constantinople. The London Spectator is said to approve of this arrangement. There can be no doubt that public opinion in England regarding the' possession of the Turkish capital by Russia has undergone a great change since the seventies of last century, when the question nearly caused a war between Britain and Russia. Many people now think that it would have been a good thing if Gladstone's proposal that the 1 Turk should be bundled out of Europe, "bag and baggage," had been carried out. Events _ have shown that the result, of Britain's interference' on that occasion has been far' from satisfactory, though it is only fair to remember_ that Disraeli's action should be judged in the light 'of the European situation as it then existed. Since then there has been a regrouping of the Powr ers, and the whole international outlook has altered in many important respects., New problems have come to the 'front, while old ones- have receded into the background. , As a result, Britain's'foreign policy has undergone considerable modifications, and the possibility of Con-stantinople-falling into the hands of Russia would not now cause anything like the opposition or excitement that it would have stirred up forty years ago. During the past ten years the relations between Britain and Russia have been placed on a satisfactory footing. Their common support of France against German aggression brought Britain and Russia together, and in 1907 a treaty was signed with the object of removing possibilities of friction in regard to Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet. The present war has drawn the two Powers into still more close and friendly relationships. Owing to its strategic and commercial importance, Constantinople has figured largely in the pages of European history. It is one of the principal connecting points ■ between Europe and Asia, and commands the entrance to the Black Sea. Built in the fourth century by Constantine the Great, it remained for some 700 years the capital of the Roman Empire in the East. About the middle of the 15th oentury it fell into the hands of the Turks, and it has been the capital of the Ottoman Empire ever since. In modern times Russia has been very desirous of getting hold of Constantinople. This desire has been kept alive by the tottering state of the Turkish Empire. In 1853 it looked as though the final collapse of "the sick man" was imminent, and Nicholas I suggested to the British Government that England and Russia should come to an agreement as to the disposal of "the sick man's" property; _ but nothing came of the suggestion.' The Crimean War did not settle the .Turkish problem, and it became 'acute once more in 1877, when Russia, as protector of the Slavs, declared war on Turkey. The Tsar's troops were victorious, and the Treaty of San Stefano was signed. This, treaty is described by a modern English historian as "the wisest measure ever proposed for the pacification of the Balkan States." It created a new Bulgaria -with a seaport; Servia, Montenegro, and Rumania were acknowledged as independent States; and Bosnia and Herzegovina were made self-governing provinces. But Britain would not agree . to this scheme of settlement, and it was greatly modified by the Treaty of Berlin. This modified arrangement, according to the historian already quoted, secured neither the peaee of the Balkan peninsula nor the proper treatment of the Christians whom it left to the Turks. Since then things have been going from bad to worse, and, though the recent Balkan war reduced the area affected by the Turkish blight, a permanent solution of the problem has not yet been discovered. It is quite probable that some more or less definite understanding already exists among the Allies regarding the futuro of Constantinople. "When Turkey entered into the conflict on the side of Germany and Austria she practically signed the death warrant of the Ottoman Empire. The end of Turkish rule in Europe is now within measurable distance, and the city of Constantinople must pass into other hands. When the new map is being made, Russia will demand advantages in proportion to the enormous sacrificcs she is making. If Constantinople is not actually added to the territories o.f the Teae, Russia, jviil almost eerUunly ha piaeed in a

position to control its destinies. In discussing the issues of the war, De. Seton-Watson, of Oxford, states that "there is only ono Power which can replace the Turks as master of Constantinople, and that power is Russia." He points out that owingto its geographical situation, the city oannot be incorporated in the Russian Empire, and that it obviously would be necessary to establish _ a special autonomous administration under a Russian Governor. "Unless the Western Powers can trust Russia sufficiently to leave her in full possession they , must make up their minds to bolstering up the impossible Turk for a further period of years." Happily, as Mr. SetonWatson remarks, the "fear of Russia, as of a strange and unknown colossus, is dying out." Britain's relations with tlio great Muscovite Empire have wonderfully improved. The two nations are learning to understand each other, and knowledge is banishing suspicion. The trend of feeling in Britain is well expressed by a leading London newspaper, wh'ich recently stated that "all sane politicians know that for several reasons no increased power of Russia c.an ever be anything like the same peril to the world as Germany's efforts—backed by a deliberate war creed and a. technical capacity of the first order—to combine in the same hands supremacy by land and sea."