Page:Englishwomaninan00elli.pdf/190

 our own subjects or foreigners, will always enjoy, as they have always enjoyed, the full liberties accorded them in every civilised country."

"Are you satisfied with the situation in Constantinople?"

"We shall keep faith to the promise we made at Moudania. Meanwhile it is unnatural to see foreign troops in Constantinople, and they should be taken away as soon as possible. Their presence involves abnormal conditions, which have made it necessary for us to administer that villayet from the Assembly at Angora—an indignity which should not be prolonged.

"While conversations are maintained in Lausanne, and since everyone knows we must keep Constantinople, the Powers should not insist on the armed guarantee."

"Do you congratulate us on having secured a Conservative Government?"

"It is early days, surely, to speak! If they will help us to friendly relations with England and the other Powers, that is all we ask. Your parties are not our business. We are, generally speaking, against all policies of expansion, because they lead nations into the abyss; and, in our judgment, such policies are impolitic."

"What are your views on the Freedom of the Straits?"

"Like the delegates at Lausanne, we want real freedom, not freedom in the hands of one Power. We are ready to discuss the problem with all who have any interests in that quarter. There can be no freedom till Constantinople and the Sea of Marmora are secure.

"We must have national frontiers; that is, all territories peopled by Turks. We accept for boundaries or limit the enemy-lines as they were when the Armistice was signed. Is that an unreasonable claim in return for all we have given up from the old Ottoman Empire?

"Towards 'minorities' we stand by the National