Note 252 — Chapter VI

See Rodd to Lansdowne, Jan. 9, 1903, B.D., IV, 41 f., No. 32, and following documents. However, an extract from Defence Committee Paper 1b (Feb. 11, 1903), read as follows: “What difference would it make to the balance of power in the Mediterranean if Russia were to obtain, through possession of Constantinople, free egress from the Black Sea through the Dardanelles, these remaining closed, as at present, against other Powers?

“The answer to this question unanimously accepted by the Committee was that, while Russia would no doubt obtain certain naval advantages from the change, it would not fundamentally alter the present strategic position in the Mediterranean.”

An extract from Defence Committee Paper 2b of the same month read as follows: “It may be stated generally that a Russian occupation of the Dardanelles, or an arrangement for enabling Russia to freely use the waterway between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, such as her dominating influence can extract from Turkey at her pleasure, would not make any marked difference in our strategic dispositions as compared with present conditions” (B.D., IV, 59 f.). This opinion was approved on April 22, 1904, by King Edward and by Sir Charles Hardinge, who had just been appointed ambassador at St. Petersburg (Lee, King Edward VII, II, 289 f.). It apparently led to a change of policy in the autumn of 1903 (see below).