But be Russia’s decision what it may, the Turk will hold sway no longer in Thrace or Constantinople, or on the shores of the Straits of the Sea of Marmora.  There is, of course, no question of deporting the whole of the Turkish population that lives in those regions, nor would it be desirable, even if it were possible, to realise Gladstone’s robust vision of seeing every Turk, ‘bag and baggage,’ clear out from the provinces they have desolated and profaned.  But if not under Russia, then under the joint control of certain of the Allied Powers there will be a complete reconstruction of the administration of those districts.  The headquarters of the protectorate will doubtless be at Constantinople, which will be reorganised somewhat on the lines of the Treaty Port of Shanghai, and will be open to the ships of all nations.  The security of the town must be assured by a military garrison either of mixed troops of the controlling nations, or possibly by a rotation of troops drawn from the armies of each in turn.  More important even than this will be the adequate control of the Straits by sea.  A naval base must be formed, which by the gospel of the freedom of the seas (but not according to St. Goeben and the submarine disciples) will constitute a patrolling police force of the waters.  Whether the system of fortifications and defences that lately rendered the Dardanelles impregnable shall be retained or not is a question demanding the most careful consideration.  Some will hold that they should be maintained in order to insure that none but the guarantors of the freedom of the Straits shall ever take possession of them:  others that they shall be utterly dismantled and destroyed, so that the closing of the Straits shall be an impossibility.  The matter really turns on the question as to the extent to which the Allies will have the prudence to cut Germany’s claws when the war is over.  It is eminently to be hoped that they will be cut so short that never again will they be able to show those chiselled talons beyond her velvet—­that sense, in fact, will allow sentiment no word to say.  Unfortunately, there are a great many people the basis of whose character consists of a washy confidence in the good intentions of everybody.  Most mistakenly they call it Christianity.

Here, then, has been outlined the effect of the Allies’ declared aims.  Such territories as Turkey holds in Europe, such control as she possesses over the free passage of the Straits must pass from her, and the alien peoples, who for centuries have fainted and bled underneath her infamous yoke, must be led out of the land of bondage.  As we have seen throughout preceding chapters, it was the fixed policy of the Ottoman Government to rid itself of their presence, and already it has gone far in its murderous mission.  Indeed the avowed aims of the Allies, when accomplished, will do that work for her, for the Allies are determined to remove those peoples from Turkey.  The difference