“… Moreover, he conveyed, British Im¬perialism, at this stage, was interested rather in natural resources than in peoples as such. The English are a prac¬tical folk; not idealistic, you understand. They realize that a world government must be founded, not like „your“ League of Nations, upon ideas and ideals, principles and peoples, but upon solid things—oil, ore, air, the sea.
„But, “ I argued (and you can see how far he was carrying me on: I argued for his country against my own).
„But,“ I said, „there are rich lands and fat de¬posits in Armenia. “He was still. He was so still so long that I thought I had floored him; that he had not known about the wealth of Ar¬menia. But I noticed again that tendency to swell and go to pieces. And how I did wish he would laugh! It would have relieved me and him, too, I think.
But no, he didn’t laugh; he didn’t even smile. He just waited till he could and then he reminded me that I had heard, as he said he had, that Armenia was to be divided. The back country, where the natural wealth is, was to be cut off from the front, where there is nothing but Armenians. The American mandate was to be over the Armenians; some other ally —not the British, but another equally practical power—was to get Armenia….”
The material was written during a peace conference in Paris in 1919, but was first published in a «OUTLOOK AND INDEPENDENT» journal in 1931 and has not lost its relevance to this day.
“Armenians Are Impossible”: An Interview with Lawrence of Arabia In 1919 By Lincoln Steffens –
