f Batum and
Baku is a faint indication of what might be expected.

The fate of the Dardanelles cannot be separated from that of the capital;
both must be in the same hands. At the same time a reasonable compensation
for their cession to Russia would be the dismantlement of their forts. In
any case, whatever their fate may be, it is clear that an end must be put
to the galling restrictions upon Russia's Black Sea fleet. The essential
point to bear in mind is that if the war goes well with the Allies, and
if Russia expresses a definite desire to occupy Constantinople and the
straits, resistance on our part would be alike difficult, pointless, and
undesirable. Those who oppose have no arguments, so long as the special
international needs and conditions of the city are properly recognised and
guaranteed. With true Oriental fatalism, the Turk has always regarded his
ultimate disappearance from Europe as a certainty; the superstition which
led the inhabitants of Stamboul to prefer burial across the straits in Asia
has its parallel in the alarm aroused in the bazaars by the Young Turks'
decision to exterminate the pariah dogs which have for centuries supplied
the place of scavengers in the streets of the capital. To-day the prophecy
which made their removal the prelude to the departure of their masters
seems on the point of fulfillment, and all who believe in the retributive
justice of history will re-echo Mr. Asquith's hope that the fall of Ottoman
rule will remove "the blight which for generations has withered some of the
fairest regions of the world."

Sec.15. _Asiatic Turkey._--What then will be the subsequent fate of the Turks
if they are once driven "bag and baggage" across the straits. The Sultan
will doubtless transfer his capital to Brussa, or even to Konieh. But can
the Khalifate survive such a loss of prestige on the part of the Ottoman
dynasty? It would be altogether premature to discuss in anything
approaching detail the vast issues of the fate of Turkey's Asiatic
dominions, but it is necessary to indicate that even after settling the
fate of the straits we shall still be confronted by issues of appalling
magnitude. It is the conjunction of the spiritual and temporal power in
a single person which has given the Khalifate its importance, and its
expulsion from the Golden Horn would transform its whole political status.
Above all, it is necessary to reckon with the Arab nationalist movement
which is already a real