For some such reasons, and since the ethnographic situation in Western Thrace was so uncertain, the American representatives at Paris, as is well known, stood out against the attribution of this territory to Greece. Finally, a compromise was arranged by which, in the treaty of Neuilly, Bulgaria was made simply to cede the disputed territory to the Principal Allied and Associated Powers. What they will do with it remains, apparently, still unsettled. It may pass to Greece; it may ultimately be restored to Bulgaria; conceivably it may be joined to Eastern Thrace to form an internationally controlled autonomous state. In any case, this is likely to remain one of the danger-zones of Eastern Europe. The fate of Eastern Thrace is still awaiting the conclusion of peace with Turkey and the settlement of the far greater problem--Constantinople. That most tantalizing of questions has gone through some astonishing phases since 1913. Seven years ago the Bulgar was thundering at the lines of Chatalja, and Tsar Ferdinand was said to be ordering the diadem with which he was to be crowned in St. Sophia. Five years ago the Russian solution was at last accepted by England and France, though those states for a century had seemed to believe that the establishment of the Muscovites on the Bosporus would mean the end of everything. Then after the collapse of Russia and of Turkey people talked only of sending the Turk “bag and baggage” back to Asia and of establishing a small international state on the straits, with the United States as mandatory. This project seems now to be beyond the range of possibilities. The next best plan would seem to be to install the Greeks, who from the standpoint of history and of population statistics have at least as good a right to be there as the Turks, and from the standpoint of their general utility in the world an infinitely better right. But the news dispatches of the last month foreshadow that the drama will end with an anti-climax. Since England and France are each unwilling to allow the other to control this coveted position, since both are rather sceptical of Greece’s present fitness for so responsible a rôle, and England moreover is disquieted by certain possible repercussions in India and elsewhere, it now seems to be agreed that the Sultan is to remain in Constantinople. Once more, the Turk is to make good his claim to having nine lives, and from the old cause--the rivalries of the Christians. There will doubtless be elaborate arrangements about neutralizing and internationalizing the straits, and the Sultan will issue whole batches of paper reforms; but I fear that many people will be inclined to echo the words of the late President Roosevelt, that (after the close of the War), “it would be a betrayal of civilization to leave the Turks in Europe.” * * * * *