It was to be wished, therefore, from every point of view that not only some articles of the treaty presented to the Turks, but the whole document, should be remodelled, and more regard should be paid to the lawful rights of the Ottoman Empire, a change which could only serve French interests.
But though reason and her interest urged France to maintain the Ottoman Empire—which she attempted to do to some extent—she allowed herself to be driven in a contrary direction by England, who thought she could take advantage of the perturbation caused by the war within the Turkish Empire to dismember it—not realising that this undertaking went against her own Asiatic interests, which were already seriously endangered. Such a submission to the English policy was all the more to be regretted as Mr. Lloyd George had but grudgingly supported the French policy with regard to Germany, and after the San Remo conversations it seemed that France would have to consent to heavy sacrifices in the East in return for the semi-approbation he had finally granted her. This policy of England well might surprise the French—who have always reverenced the British parliamentary system; for the so-styled imperialist policy of Queen Victoria or King Edward, though it has been violently criticised, had really kept up the old traditions of British Liberalism, and had nothing in common with the greed and cool selfishness of such demagogues and would-be advanced minds as Mr. Lloyd George, who stands forth before the masses as the enemy of every imperialism and the champion of the freedom of peoples. But the former leaders of English foreign policy were not constantly influenced by their own political interests; they knew something of men and countries; and they had long been thoroughly acquainted with the ways of diplomacy. Both in England and France, everyone should now acknowledge their fair-mindedness, and pay homage alike to their wisdom and perspicacity.
Many people in France now wondered with some reason what the 80,000 French soldiers round Beyrut were doing—whether it was to carry out the expedition that had long been contemplated against Damascus, or to launch into an adventure in Cilicia.
M. d’Estournelles de Constant, who had first wished to start a debate in the French Chamber on the military operations in Syria and Cilicia, addressed the following letter, after the information given by M. Millerand before the Commission of Foreign Affairs, to M. de Selves, chairman of this Commission:
“I feel bound to let the Commission know for what reasons I have determined not to give up, but merely postpone the debate I wanted to start in the Chamber concerning our military operations in Syria and Cilicia.
“The Premier has given as much consideration as he could to the anxieties we had expressed before him. He has inherited a situation he is not responsible for, and seems to do his best to prevent France from falling into the dreadful chasm we had pointed out to him. We must help him in his most intricate endeavours, for France is not the only nation that has to grapple with the perilous Eastern problem. She must work hand in hand with her allies to avert this peril. The whole world is threatened by it. Our Allies should understand that the interest of France is closely connected with their interests. France guards the Rhine; she is practically responsible for the execution of the treaty with Germany.
“How can she perform such a task, together with the administration of Alsace and Lorraine and the restoration of her provinces laid waste by the Germans, if she is to scatter her effort and her reduced resources both in Europe and all her large colonial empire and in Asia Minor among peoples who have long welcomed her friendship, but abhor any domination?
“France would do the world an immense service by openly reverting to the war aims proclaimed by herself and her allies. Far from endangering, she would thus strengthen her traditional influence in the East; she would thus do more than by risky military operations to smother the ambitions and rebellions that might set on fire again the Balkan States, Anatolia, and even Mesopotamia.
“After five years of sacrifices that have brought us victory, to start on a would-be crusade against the Arabs and Turks in a remote country, in the middle of summer, would imply for France as well as for England, Italy, Greece, and Serbia, the beginning of a new war that might last for ever, to the benefit of anarchy.
“At any rate I ask that the intended treaty of peace with Turkey, which has not been signed yet, should not be presented to the French Parliament as an irremediable fact.”