THE FUTURE OF RHODES.
[To ran. Ernes or on .13recrkroa*.]
Sin,—If I may venture to say a few words in continuation of the letter which you kindly inserted in the Spectator of January 10th, the position of Rhodes at the present moment seems more than ever to invite the attention of those Powers to whom the memories of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and six- teenth centuries still appeal. The Turkish Press is already agitating for the restitution to Turkey of the islands in the Aegean held by Italy, and the Italian Press responds that restitution depends on adequate compensation. It is further understood that the Triple Entente declines to assent to the retention of these islands by Italy. At the same time, it is proposed to hand over to Greece a number of islands in the Aegean on the condition that they are not fortified and not made into naval bases. If the Powers object to Italy holding Rhodes, are they desirous of giving back to Turkey an island which appeals so strongly to the sympathies of the Christian Powers of Europe P Is the old Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta, strongly repre- sented as it is in Italy, Austria, Prussia, England, France, and Spain, quite incapable of interesting and bestirring itself in this mattes P If the Great Powers desire that none of their number should hold islands in the Aegean, could not a neutral authority, such as the Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John, hold it under their sanction and guarantee P—I am,
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