ing this country. By it, the three divisions were given as Ardahan, Kars, and Batum, leaving out Erivan entirely. This version seemed somewhat more reasonable, although many would wonder why Ardahan, a district of Kars province, should be separated from it in the treaty. To be sure, Ardahan has a fortress position itself, making it rank with Kars in this respect although not the equal of it, but that hardly seemed to make it necessary to particularize to this extent. The significance of this phraseology became apparent only when a reference was made back to the Treaty of Berlin, which in 1878 was supposed to settle the differences arising out of the Russo-Turkish War that had just preceded. By this treaty, the three divisions specifically named were given by Turkey to Russia, and it was only later that Ardahan was incorporated in Kars by the Russian Government.

A further significance is attached to these three names when the Cyprus Convention of 1879 is consulted. By the treaty committing Cyprus to the control of Great Britain, the Porte reserves the sovereignty of Cyprus, and the reversion of Cyprus in case Ardahan, Kars, and Batum are returned by Russia to Turkey. The significance in the grouping of these three is revealed fully and the purpose of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 to demand Cyprus back again from Great Britain is clearly appreciated. As long as the Brest-Litovsk Treaty stood, the Turkish position would have been a very strong one whenever it found itself ready to make this demand. Russia having given up the provinces, the annexation of which had made Turkey ready to pay England's price and to give England a base which could be used in protecting the Ottoman Empire in Nearer Asia, the necessity for this concession would now lapse, and it would be easy to argue for the restoration of Cyprus to Ottoman control.

The connection of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with the negotiations of forty years before is perhaps best brought out by the following extracts from a letter written by the Marquis of Salisbury to Mr. Layard on May 30, 1878.5 After speaking of the fact that "those articles of the Treaty of San Stefano which concerned European Turkey would be sufficiently modified to bring them into harmony

3 The Treaty of Berlin, Article LVIII, in Holland, European Concert, p. 304. 4 Cyprus Convention (1878), Article I; Annex to Cyprus Convention, Article VI, in Holland, European Concert, pp. 354, 356.

5 Orr, C. W. J. Cyprus under British Rule, Appendix I, pp. 184-185. Austin Henry Layard was British Ambassador to the Porte.

with the interests of the other European Powers and of England in particular," the letter goes on to say:

There is, however, no such prospect with respect to that portion of the treaty which concerns Turkey in Asia. It is sufficiently manifest that, in respect to Batum and the fortresses north of the Araxes, the Government of Russia is not prepared to recede from the stipulations to which the Porte has been led by the events of the war to consent. Her Majesty's Government have consequently been forced to consider the effect which these agreements, if they are neither annulled nor counteracted, will have upon the future of the Asiatic provinces of the Ottoman Empire and upon the interests of England, which are closely affected by the condition of those provinces.

It is impossible that Her Majesty's Government can look upon these changes with indifference. Asiatic Turkey contains populations of many different races and creeds, possessing no capacity for self-government and no aspirations for independence, but owing their tranquillity and whatever prospect of political well-being they possess entirely to the rule of the Sultan. But the Government of the Ottoman dynasty is that of an ancient but still alien conqueror, resting more upon actual power than upon the sympathies of common nationality. . . .

Even if it be certain that Batoum and Ardahan and Kars will not become the base from which emissaries of intrigue will issue forth, to be in due time followed by invading armies, the mere retention of them by Russia will exercise a powerful influence in disintegrating the Asiatic dominion of the Porte. As a monument of feeble defense on the one side, and successful aggression on the other, they will be regarded by the Asiatic population as foreboding the course of political history in the immediate future, and will stimulate, by the combined action of hope and fear, devotion to the Power which is in the ascendant, and desertion of the Power which is thought to be falling into decay. . . .

Her Majesty's Government intimated to the Porte, on the occasion of the Conference at Constantinople, that they were not prepared to sanction misgovernment and oppression, and it will be requisite, before they can enter into any agreement for the defense of the Asiatic territories of the Porte in certain eventualities, that they should be formally assured of the intention of the Porte to introduce the necessary reforms into the government of the Christian and other subjects of the Porte in these regions.

The proximity of British officers, and, if necessary, British troops, will be the best security that all the objects of this agreement shall be attained. The Island of Cyprus appears to them to be in all respects the most available for this object. Her Majesty's Government do not wish to ask the Sultan to alienate territory from his sovereignty, or to diminish the receipts which now pass into his Treasury. They will, therefore, propose that, while the administraton and occupation of the island shall be assigned to Her Majesty, the territory shall still continue to be part of the Ottoman Empire, and that the excess of the revenue over the expenditure, whatever it at present may be, shall be paid over annually by the British Government to the Treasury of the Sultan.

Inasmuch as the whole of this proposal is due to the annexations which

Russia has made in Asiatic Turkey, and the consequences which it is apprehended will flow therefrom, it must be fully understood that, if the cause of the danger should cease, the precautionary agreement will cease at the same time. If the Government of Russia should at any time surrender to the Porte the territory it has acquired in Asia by the recent war, the stipulations in the proposed agreements will cease to operate, and the island will be immediately evacuated.

I request, therefore, your Excelleney to propose to the Porte to agree to a Convention to the following effect, and I have to convey to you full authority to conclude the same on behalf of the Queen and of Her Majesty's Government: "If Batoum, Ardahan, Kars or any of them shall be retained by Russia, and if any attempt shall be made at any future time by Russia to take possession of any further portion of the Asiatic territories of the Sultan, as fixed by the definite Treaty of Peace, England engages to join the Sultan in defending them by force of arms. In return, the Sultan promises to England to introduce necessary reforms (to be agreed upon later between the two Powers) into the government of the Christian and other subjects of the Porte in these territories; and, in order to enable England to make necessary provision for executing her engagement, the Sultan further consents to assign the Island of Cyprus to be occupied and administered by England."

There is still another point that escaped the eyes of many readers and transcribers. There is no doubt but what the three districts were given up by Russia, but they were not ceded to Turkey, as the inaccurate version had it. The people of these districts were to be allowed to set up whatever government they wished for themselves, with, however, the friendly coöperation and advice of the neighboring states, in particular, Turkey. This was, however, but a veiled cession to the last named Power, as the "plebiscite" which was taken there in July abundantly proved. Although the population was not far from evenly divided between Mohammedan and Christian, something over ninety-seven per cent. voted in favor of annexation to Turkey on what was distinctly a very small vote."

The Erivan side of the question has also considerable interest. Erivan was not given up by Russia for annexation to Turkey, because it would have estranged the supposedly friendly, actually wavering, Government of Persia, from which country Erivan was taken by Russia in 1829. The whole atmosphere of this former government of

::

• Population, 1897 (Russian Census), Christian 200,000, Mohammedan 250,000; Vote, 1918 (under Turkish auspices) for inclusion in Turkey, 85,124— against, 1,924. This includes Alexandropol city as well as Kars and Batum. The figures can only be approximate for 1897.

the Russian Caucasus is Persian-Tartar where it is not Armenian. There is little Turkish about it, in its history or in its people, and its cession to Turkey would have been a distinctly different thing from its return to Persia, with which its history and civilization are most closely connected.

SOME TERRITORIAL QUESTIONS BEFORE THE PEACE CONFERENCE

The Banat of Temesvar

The Banat is a rich, thickly populated province of southern Hungary, claimed by both Serbia and Roumania as an essential part of their reconstructed national territory. Enclosed by the Transylvanian Carpathians on the east and by three rivers flowing into each other on the remaining boundaries, the Maros on the north, the Tisza on the west, and the Danube on the south, it contains a highly mixed population of about a million and a half people.

The Serbs claim that they were the original settlers, and have all during history played a leading part there, as shown by the constitution of a Serbian duchy under the Austro-Hungarian rulers. The Roumanians, on the other hand, state that the Banat, with Transylvania, was the original cradle of their race to which other nationalities came as immigrants.

Ethnologically, the Roumanians are credited with thirty-seven per cent. of the population, the Germans with twenty-five per cent., the Serbs with eighteen per cent. and the Magyars with fifteen per cent. The Banat, however, is divided into three distinct counties where the lines are drawn differently. The eastern mountainous country of Krasso is predominantly Roumanian, with a Roumanian population of 336,082, or seventy-two per cent.; the Germans with 55,883, or twelve per cent.; the Magyars with 33,787, or seven per cent., and the Serbs with 14,993, or three per cent. The central plains country of Temes contains 160,585 Roumanians, or forty per cent.; 120,683 Germans, or thirty per cent; 57,985 Serbs, or fourteen per cent.; 47,518 Magyars, or twelve per cent. The eastern grain province of Torontal contains 195,104 Serbs, or thirty-three per cent.; 158,312 Germans, or twenty-seven per cent.; 125,041 Magyars, or twenty-one per cent., and 86,168 Roumanians, or fifteen per cent.

Economically, the Serbs claim at least the western, grain-raising half of the Banat as essential, because Jugo-Slavia as a whole has

not sufficient cereals, while Roumania is one of the granaries of Europe. They state also that the whole trade of that section flows out along the lines of the rivers toward Belgrade and the Danube and that the Banat, at least the western part, is naturally part of the Serbian economic system. Roumania claims that the Banat is an indivisible whole economically, geographically, and administratively, and that any ethnic division is impracticable. They claim that their mountain section needs the plains section for food supplies and the rivers to secure an outlet for the trade, especially their lumber.

The Serbs, moreover, desire the Banat, or at least the section nearest them, for strategic reasons to cover the capital at Belgrade and the valley of the Morava, their principal artery of communication. They say it is essential to prevent further invasions of large forces from Hungary, as happened in the attacks on Belgrade during the recent war.

The Duchy of Teschen

This province, in dispute between Poland and Czecho-Slovakia, is a small but valuable part of the Crownland of Austrian Silesia, located between Prussian Silesia on the north, Galicia on the east, Hungary and the Carpathians on the south, and Moravia on the west. It contains 857 square miles and its population, according to the last Austrian census in 1910, was 434,821. It contains deposits of hard, black, coke-producing coal, essential to the manufacturing centers of Bohemia and the industrialized sections of Austria. Teschen has also considerable value as a railroad center. The main line between the Czechs in Bohemia and the Slovaks in Hungary runs through the frontier city of Oderberg to Kassa, connecting at the former with the main line to Berlin and Budapest. According to the Austrian censuses, the population is given as fifty-four per cent. Poles, twenty-seven per cent. Czechs and seventeen per cent. Germans.

When the Austrian Government collapsed in October, 1918, the people of Teschen organized to preserve law and order. A Czecho National Council was set up over the Czech district and a Polish National Council over the Polish district. On November 5th the two Councils came to an agreement to continue this administration temporarily, the railroad to be under the Poles, the mines to have a joint administration, and nothing to be done by either side to prejudice