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i io THE BALKAN WAR, 1912 [chap. ix.
sharing of her supremacy in the Mediterranean ; finally,
for Italy the sudden approach of an alarming giant.
Russia in Constantinople would be the reconstitution of
the Rome of the Orient, but how far more powerful than
Byzantium ever was ! And where in this case would
the Rome of the West be, where the second half of the
Roman Empire which counterbalanced the Oriental half?
One would most certainly not seek this Rome at
Potsdam, and still less in Vienna or at the Quirinal!
There still exists one power, thought Ferdinand,
continuing his soliloquy, which has neither lost its
prestige nor abandoned its aspirations to universal
supremacy, and to which the extension of the Empire
of the Tsars as far as the shores of the Sea of Marmora
would be intolerable and almost fatal. This power is
Roman Catholicism. The triumph of the cause of Greek
Orthodoxy the day after the abrogation of the temporal
power of the Popes—for to the Church fifty years are
but a day—would furnish a palpable proof that the
Ccesarian-papacy of the Orient is at least equal to the
power of the Roman Holy See.
Hence, concluded Ferdinand, all the vital forces in
Europe are hostile to the installation of the Russians in
Constantinople. But if the stupid domination of the
Turks in this capital of world-wide importance were
once broken and were to disappear, would it be possible
for Europe to restore it ? No, that is out of the question !
Who then would replace the Turks on the shores of the
Bosphorus ? Would Constantinople become an
international free town, in other words the principal market
and seat of power of European bankers and Americans
of Jewish origin ? Or would one give Turkey over to
that " Constantine XIV." who with his tiny army had
just "prigged" Salonika from the Bulgarians? Would
it not be infinitely more natural for the European Powers
to favour the installation on the Bosphorus of a State
powerful enough to guard the Straits, but not powerful
enough to be a menace to the balance of power in Europe,
i.e. Bulgaria?
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