Papers written by Curzon on the Near and Middle East [‎38v] (76/348)

matter been more carefully thought out, the boundary suggested would in all proba
bility have been the military frontier line of O.E.T.A., since between that line and the
Sykes-Picot line were tracts of country and villages which the British troops had not
occupied, but had left to the Arabs, and where the intrusion of French forces, if they
appeared prematurely upon the scene, might be fraught with serious clanger. I myself
thought that the military frontier ought to be the limit of provisional military occupa
tion by the French. Then, I said, there were in addition such questions as the division
of the subsidy to Emir Feisal between the French and ourselves ; the control of the
railways ; the replacement of British by Arab troops in the areas into which the French
were not to advance ; the risks of risings or disorders there ; and the future boundaries
of the protected areas in the Syrian State : all of which questions must be considered
and agreed upon by the French and ourselves. They were all of them sources of
possible mischief, and the sooner they were examined and composed, the better.
But, I went on to say, there was a much larger issue than the mere settlement of
these questions by negotiation or otherwise between the French and ourselves ; there
was a much larger question than even that of the mandates for Syria, Mesopotamia,
and Palestine—although of course it was highly desirable that these mandates should
be arranged, and that we should all settle down to work in these countries as soon as
possible. I referred to the peace with Turkey itself, and here I desired to go a good
deal beyond the suggestion of the French Minister, and to submit to him a definite
proposal on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. I understood that the proceedings.of
the Conference in Paris dealing with the Peace Treaties, so far as they had at present
gone, and the matters arising out of them, were likely to be brought to a close about
the end of the present month. There seemed to be a general desire that the Conference
in its present form should then dissolve. Why, I asked, should it not meet again,
perhaps in another form and in another place, to deal with the Turkish question?
The idea which had hitherto seemed to find favour was this : that the Conference,
having completed its present labours, would take a holiday ; that, when the French
elections were completed, it would, meet again, probably in Paris ; and that, some time
in the early part, possibly not till the spring, of next year some sort of agreement
about Turkey might, it was hoped, be reached. I earnestly deplored any such
postponement. By next spring, I said, there might very likely be no Turkish
Government to deal with at all. It was more than possible that there would be
no one to accept the sort of treaty which the Allies would desire to impose.
It was even conceivable that the defeated Turk, who would then be one of
the few parties on the scene with a serious force available, would declare
war upon the Allies, and dare them to enforce their terms. If this were
the case, I did not see how we were to conquer Asia Minor, or who was
to do it; and the ignominious result might be that the weakest and most
abject of our foes would end by achieving the greatest triumph. Why then,
I asked, should not the Conference meet at an early date next month ? It might very
well meet after the conversations with the French statesmen in London. For the best
part of ten months the British and other foreign statesmen had been willing to reside
almost continuously in Paris. The conditions of political life here rendered this no
longer possible. The Prime Minister could not go to Paris again for any length of
time. It was very difficult for me to go there at all. In this country were to be found
most of the experts who were familiar with the Eastern question. The French and
Italian Ambassadors were themselves both experts, having served as Ambassadors in
Constantinople. M. Tittoni, I knew, was willing to come here. The American
Government would, I believed, agree to send a representative here. In these circum
stances, would it not be desirable to arrange at once that the Eastern question should
be reserved for London, and taken up and determined here ? My own impression was
that, if this idea were favourably regarded, a settlement might be arrived at in a
month, or not much more. The (Conference, if it met in December, might, if necessary,
adjourn for Christmas, meet again early in January, and complete its work by the
middle of that month.
I enumerated to the French Foreign Minister the main headings of the subjects
which would have to be decided. They were, it seemed to me, the following : the
future of Turkey-in-Europe and the setting up of some form of administration or
control in Constantinople, whether or not the Sultan was left in Stamboul; the question
whether Greece was or was not to be allowed to remain in Smyrna ; the question whether
Italy was to have any foothold in Asia Minor or not; the question whether a mandate
was to be given to any Power or Powers, either for the whole of the Turkish Empire
or for any portion of it ; the degree of sovereignty, if any, to be left to the Turk; the