So it is a mistake to speak of the ambitious designs of Islam, and the mistake has been made wilfully. Those who profess such an opinion are Pan-Slavic Russians who want to deceive public opinion in the world as to their true intent, and thus prepare for territorial annexations, because Pan-Slavism is the enemy of Islamism. As this Pan-Slavism has always been, and is still more than ever, a danger to Europe, it is the interest of the latter, in order to defend its civilisation, not to fight against Islamism, but even to support it. This necessity has been understood by many Catholics who have always been favourable to Turkey and by the Mussulmans, which accounts for the long friendly intercourse between Moslems and Catholics, and the Moslems’ tolerance toward the devotees of a religion which, on the whole, is in complete contradiction to their own faith. On the other hand, Islam appears as counterbalancing Protestantism in the East, and it seems the future of thought and morality and of any culture would be endangered if the 60 million Indian Moslems and the 220 million Indian Brahminists, Buddhists, and the members of other sects ever listened to Mr. Lloyd George and were connected with Protestantism. Moreover, King Hussein, in the course of the audience that he granted in July, 1920, to Prince Ruffo, the leader of the Italian mission to Arabia, before his departure, after saying that the Moslem world resented the hostile attitude of the Powers towards the Sultan of Constantinople, declared that the Moslems are not actuated by any feeling of conquest or proselytism, but simply claim the right to preserve their independence. Footnotes: 36: _Hayassdan_, July 6, 1915; No. 25. 37: We are the more anxious to correct these figures as in 1916, at a time when it was difficult to control them, we gave about the same figures in a note to the Société d’Anthropologie as to the demographic consequences of the war. We then relied upon the documents that had just been published and on the statements of the Rev. Harold Buxton. 38: _Le Mouvement pan-russe et les Allogènes_ (Paris, 1919). 39: _The Times_, March 15, 1920. 40: H. Vambéry. _Cagataische Sprachstudien_ (Leipzig, 1867); _Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Turko-Tatarischen Sprachen_ (Leipzig, 1875); _Das Turkenvolk_ (1885). 41: Léon Cahun, _Introduction à l’histoire de l’Asie, Turcs et Mongols, des origines à 1405_ (Paris, 1896). 42: Liman von Sanders, _Fünf Jahre Türkei_, pp. 330-331. 43: _Le Temps_, July 21, 1920. VIII THE MOSLEMS OF THE FORMER RUSSIAN EMPIRE AND TURKEY The Supreme Council, in the course of one of its last sittings, decided in January, 1920, practically to recognise the independence of Georgia,[44] Azerbaïjan, and Armenia. It is deeply to be regretted that this decision came so late, for, considering the circumstances under which it was taken, it seemed to have been resorted to _in extremis_ and under the Bolshevist threat.