And this is not a theoretical question. It is a practical problem for
the national economy of Russia every year, and introduces a factor
of uncertainty into Russia’s national trading which is profoundly
detrimental to her prosperity. As sovereign of the Straits, Turkey not
only possesses the technical right of closing the Straits to shipping;
she exercises it in an arbitrary fashion. Three times the Straits have
been closed by Turkey within the last half-dozen years—during her war
with Italy, during the war with the Balkan States, and after the outbreak
of the European war at a date previous to the intervention of Turkey
herself in the struggle. It is possibly arguable that the closing was
necessary in each of these cases from a military point of view, to
safeguard Turkey’s political ownership of these “territorial waters.” But
if so, that is in itself the strongest argument for taking out of the
hands of an independent, irresponsible government a highway of commerce
the proper regulation of which is essential to the economic well-being
of the Russian and Rumanian peoples. Even if Turkey were a friendly,
steady-going State, the situation would hardly be tolerable; but
actually, whether through fault or misfortune, she has been at war more
often during the last century than any other State in the world, and her
hostility has been directed principally against Russia, the country most
vitally affected by the disturbance of the traffic through the Straits.
The closing of the Straits in the last instance, when Russia was at war
with Germany and was in urgent need of the importation of supplies, can
hardly be interpreted otherwise than as a hostile act—an anticipation
of the open war which Turkey made on Russia within the next few weeks.
To leave this economic weapon in Turkey’s hands at the peace settlement
would be impossible. By closing the Straits in any given year at the
precise moment when the Russian harvest was shipped and ready to sail,
and when the Russian importers had made their annual foreign purchases
on credit up to the full prospective value which the harvest would
realise in the markets of the world, Turkey could threaten Russia with a
financial crisis verging on national bankruptcy. _Full security and free
economic development_ for Russia would have vanished beyond the horizon,
and not only for Russia but for the whole world, for with such a trump
card in their hands, Turkey and her German patrons could never resist the
temptation of waging an economic “war after the war,” which might bring
Russia to her knees and enable them to realise those ambitions against
her which they have been unable to realise by force of arms.