The only really threatening feature of the situation is the
notorious " Chester Concession," which we described last week. It is still not clear if it represents a genuine, if sanguine, belief on the part of the Turk in the future prosperity of Anatolia ; or whether it is but a new pawn which has been put on to the board in preparation for the century-old gambit of dividing the Powers— this time by driving a wedge between France and America instead of, as was done so successfully last winter, between France and Great Britain. It will be extremely interesting to see what the Americans, whose diplomatists have not—for good or ill—the whole nine- teenth-century tradition of " the Eastern Question " behind them, will make of " a deal with the Turk." It may be that, unhampered by the shades of Lord Beaconsfield, of Bismarck, of Louis Napoleon, of Gort- schakoff, which for us inevitably arise at every step, they may achieve something more than the liberal employment for diplomatists that has been the chief product of all our negotiations.
