that the Orthodox Church of Anatolia should rule in Thrace and Constantinople.
Yet when Ismet Pasha spoke of the religious "tolerance" of Turkey, Lord Curzon replied: "How can you claim to be tolerant. All your past record will be destroyed if you dismiss the Patriarch." And rather than risk such a charge against the Nationalists, he gave way.
It seems to me, I confess, that this concession is a grave risk. The interference, thus permitted, may prove to be more disastrous than that of a few foreign judges against which they so resolutely protest. As Mr. Nicholson said he hoped that I had told Lord Curzon how much the Turks were giving up. . . . "I think," he said, "their tolerance is very fine."
Ismet Pasha often worked all night with his hench-*men, Colonel Tewfik and Hikmet Kiamil, a grandson of Kiamil Pasha, who has inherited his grandfather's political talents. They felt that the slightest failure to meet the immense demands made on the delegation would stamp them as an inferior race, and they determined it should not be.
It was actually after one of their most arduous sittings, up to three o'clock in the morning, that I obtained from Ismet Pasha the comprehensive exposition of his point of view, that I have put together in the following pages.
Ismet Pasha, like Mr. Edison, is deaf; and possibly feels with that great inventor that, "though it is uncomfortable when people insist on making a spitoon of your ear, for the rest it is all advantage." For example, at dinner one can "get on with one's thinking," instead of listening to the conversation. Ismet Pasha only "hears what he wants to hear," often a great advantage in diplomacy.
As to being content with the "working of the Conference," he said, "we are doing all in our power to make peace, but it is difficult for one nation against all the other powers. Willingly or unwillingly, they
