But what about the peace for which we all wait so anxiously?
What has the future in store for us? We must turn over a new page, and find our way with great care, both sides first uttering their mea culpas, with honest courage to learn the lesson of their mistakes.
Above all, may Lausanne learn the lesson of Versailles.
Which of the Big Four dared face the real problems of Versailles? They decided nothing, but, leading us into the pestilent zone of neutrality, imposed a “Government by Committees” upon the world, which could not work. Nature abhors neutrality, as she abhors a vacuum. And so it is in politics.
On the other hand, however, we ask ourselves what nation was as badly beaten as Turkey? Yet which of our late enemies has dared such open defiance to the Allies? Not, however, in consequence of their victory over the Greeks; but because she knows that, however much we may pretend, none wants to fight; and no one can win the prize of “Constantinople” save by conquest.
We had foolish visions of a new Byzantium, and thought that Greece would reward our support by a “place on the Bosphorus.” But had the Powers accepted this monstrous idea of a Greek Bosphorus, we should have found it necessary to punish the arrogance of our soi-disant fellow-burglars. The timeo Danaos, etc., of ancient Greece has still its place in modern politics.
The Allies, however, knew they could not create a “neutral” Constantinople, and had intended, before the Bolshevik regime, to present the prize to Russia. 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:—