Franco-Syrian ties were strengthened considerably during the Crusades. The conquest of Syria and Palestine by the Arabs diverted the thoughts of Christendom from the economic importance of these lands to their religious appeal. France, “the eldest daughter of the Church,” took the lead in the attempt to wrest the Holy Land from its Mohammedan conquerors,--“Gesta Dei per Francos.” Many of the petty states founded by noblemen who took part in the Crusades were ruled by Frenchmen. Antioch and Tripoli had French princes, Jerusalem a French king. The title of Protector of Oriental Christians conferred by the Papacy on French kings had its origin in the active part played by France in the Crusades. France has exercised a dominant intellectual influence in the Levant for at least seven centuries. Turks bestow the appellation “Frank” on Europeans without discrimination of nationality. Western ideas which have trickled down to Turkish soil are French in character. French schools in Turkey are more numerous than any other. The civilizing power of French culture showed its strength by the readiness with which it asserted itself in the midst of uncongenial Turkish thought. France’s hold on Turkey is thus of a high moral order. It differs in this respect from the material claims of the other European powers. At the same time through the investments of French capitalists a well-defined zone of French interests has been created in Syria. Excepting the Hejaz line every railroad in the province has been financed in France. The silk factories of the Lebanon, around which the whole industrial life of Syria clusters, were started by French citizens. Their annual product, usually estimated at half a million kilograms of silk, is exported to France. Syrian silk farmers in need of funds for the annual purchase of cocoons raise their loans exclusively among the banking houses of Lyons. French interests are not confined to Syria alone; fully one-half of the amount of one billion dollars representing Turkey’s official debt to Europe has been advanced by French financial institutions. It is difficult to assign a place to Italy in the array of European claimants for Turkish territory. The trade between Italian and Turkish seaports has lost the relative importance it had acquired in medieval times. Italian pretensions to Adalia Bay and its rearland are of quite recent date and the result of conquests in Libya. But beyond vaguely formulated promises for railway concessions from the Turkish government no ties bind the region to Italy. Italy however created its own sphere of interest somewhat unintentionally by the occupation of the islands of the Dodecanesia. By this act it distanced every other European country in the race for a share of Turkey.