In regard to Article 9 of the pact of London, which ascribed to Italy, in case Turkey should be dismembered, a “fair part” of the province of Adana in Asia Minor, the newspaper _Il Secolo_, in the middle of January, 1920, expressed the opinion that Italy should give up that acquisition. “Notwithstanding all that has been written for the last seven or eight years about the Adalia area, we do not think that its possession would improve our present economic condition. It would only estrange from us a nation from which we might perhaps derive great advantages through an open policy of friendship and liberty. “The most profitable scheme would have been to maintain the national integrity of Turkey and to give Italy, not a mandate over a reduced State, but a mere administrative control, and to assign her a few zones of exploitation with mere economic privileges, for instance, near Heraclea and Adalia. “But at the present stage of the Asiatic problem, such a scheme could hardly be carried out. We must then lay aside all selfish purposes, and openly and tenaciously defend the integrity and independence of the Turkish State. “Let the Turks be driven away from the districts which are predominantly Arabian, Greek, or Armenian. But let the Sultan remain in Constantinople, till the League of Nations has become stronger and able to assume control of the Straits. Let us not forget that the Turks chiefly put their confidence in us now, and that Germany, whose policy had never threatened Turkish territorial integrity, had succeeded in gaining Turkish friendship and blind devotion. “Italy has not many friends to-day, and so she should not despise a hand which is willingly held out to her.” Italy therefore did not warmly approve an expedition against Turkey. Her semi-official newspapers stated it was owing to Italy that the Allies’ policy still showed some moderation, and they hinted that the presence of Italian troops in the contingent landed at Constantinople was to be looked upon as the best means to prevent extreme measures. On Tuesday, March 16, the Allied troops, consisting mostly of British soldiers, under the command of General Milne, occupied the Ottoman Government offices. It might seem strange that the Allied troops in Constantinople were commanded by a British general, when the town was the residence of General Franchet d’Espérey, commander-in-chief of the inter-Allied troops on the Macedonian front, who, in the decisive battle in which he broke through the Bulgarian front, had had General Milne under him. But, after all, it was better for France that an English general should stand responsible for carrying out the occupation. To the student of Eastern events this was but the logical outcome of a patient manœuvre of England. The documents that have now been made public plainly show how far-sighted her policy had been.