Great was the surprise, therefore, and deep the emotion among the Turks, when, after the aforesaid declarations, on February 29, the English fleet arrived and a large number of sailors and soldiers marched along the main streets of Pera, with fixed bayonets, bands playing, and colours flying. A similar demonstration took place at Stambul on the same day, and another on the following Wednesday at Skutari. * * * * * A sudden wave of discussion spread over Great Britain at the news that the Turks were going to keep Constantinople, and made an impression on the Conference, in which there were still some advocates of the eviction of the Turks. A memorandum signed by Lord Robert Cecil and Mr. J. H. Thomas, requiring that the Turks should be driven out of Europe, raised some discussion in the House of Commons. In answer to this memorandum some members sent a circular to their colleagues, to ask them to avoid, during the sittings of the Peace Conference, all manifestations that might influence its decisions concerning foreign affairs. Another group, in an appeal to Mr. Lloyd George, reminded him that in his declaration of January 5, 1918, he had stated that the English did not fight to wrest her capital from Turkey, and that any departure from this policy would be deeply resented in India. Lord Robert Cecil and Lord Bryce proved the most determined adversaries of the retention of the Turks in Europe. According to the _Daily Mail_, even within the British Cabinet widely different views were held about Constantinople. One section of the Cabinet, led by Lord Curzon, asked that the Turks should be evicted from Europe; and another, led by Mr. Montagu, Indian Secretary, favoured the retention of the Turks in Constantinople, provided they should give up their internal struggles and submit to the decisions of the Allies. _The Times_ severely blamed the Government for leaving the Turks in Constantinople; it maintained it was not too late to reconsider their decision; and it asked that Constantinople should in some way be placed under international control. The _Daily Chronicle_ also stated that it would have been better if the Turks had been evicted from Constantinople, and expressed the hope that at any rate public opinion would not forget the Armenian question. At the same time—_i.e._, at the end of February, 1920—American leaders also asked that the Turks should be compelled to leave Constantinople, and a strong Protestant campaign started a powerful current of opinion. On Sunday evening, February 29, a meeting of so-called “non-sectarians” was held in New York, with the support of the dignitaries of St. John’s Cathedral.