14 



general one must bear in mind that we are prepared to allow 

 France and England complete freedom in drawing up the western 

 frontiers of Germany, in the expectation that the Allies on their 

 part would allow us equal freedom in drawing up our frontiers 

 with Germany and Austria. It is particularly necessary to insist 

 on the exclusion of the Polish question from the subjects of inter- 

 national discussion and on the elimination of all attempts to place 

 the future of Poland under the guarantee and the control of the 

 Powers. (Manchester Guardian, December 12, 1917.) 



Telegram from the Russian Ambassador in Paris, March 11, 1917, 



No. 168. 



See my reply to telegram No. 167, No. 2. The Government 

 of the French Republic, anxious to confirm the importance of the 

 treaties concluded with the Russian Government in 1916 for the 

 settlement on the termination of the war of the question of 

 Constantinople and the Straits in accordance with Russia's 

 aspirations, anxious, on the other hand, to secure for its ally in 

 military and industrial respects, all the guarantees desirable for 

 the safety and the economic development of the Empire, recog- 

 nises Russia's complete liberty in establishing her western 

 frontiers. (Signed) ISVOLSKY 



(Manchester Guardian, December 12, 1917.) 



V. CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE STRAITS- 



From an undated Memorandum forming one of a series of Russian 

 diplomatic documents published by the " Izvestiya" on 

 November 23, 1917. 



On March 4, 1915, a Memorandum was handed by the 

 Minister for Foreign Affairs to the French and British 

 Ambassadors, in which was set forth the desire for the annexation, 

 as a result of the present war, of the following territories: The 

 town of Constantinople, the western shores of the Bosphorus, of 

 the Sea of Marmora, and of the Dardanelles, Southern Thrace up 

 to the line of Enos-Midia, the shores of Asia Minor between the 

 Bosphorus, the River Sakaria, and some point on the Gulf of 

 Izmid, which was reserved for closer definition, the Islands of the 

 Sea of Marmora, and the Islands of Imbros and Tenedos. The 

 special rights of France and England within the limits of these 

 territories were not to be infringed. 



The British as well as the French Government declared their 

 consent to the fulfilment of our wishes, on the condition of a 

 successful conclusion of the war, and of the fulfilment of a series 



