The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1908. THE BALKAN PROBLEM.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 168, 15 July 1908, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1908. THE BALKAN PROBLEM.

>"■£>•- the cause that lacks aeaiatanoe. For the wrong that needs resistance. Far the future in the distance, And the good that u>e can rfo.

The declaration of the Bulgarian Premier that the country would employ force, if necessary, to prevent the partition of Macedonia, must not be taken to imply that there is any immediate probability 01 an attempt to dismember the Three Vilayets. The suggestion, rather, is that the course of internationaJ diplomacy in the Balkan States indicates that there may soon be a "rush for the spoil" in the Jfear East, and that Macedonia may ultimately be offered as a sacrifice to the greed and jealously of the interested Powers. Bulgaria has several ■good reasons for asserting her interest in the future of Macedonia. It was only through the intervention of England that Macedonia was detauned from Bulgaria, and was refused the independence that Bulgaria has enjoyed since 1878; and Bulgaria has all along sedulously promoted the conspiracies and risings by which the Macedonians have striven to secure their freedom. At the same time, Bulgaria has her own interests to consider, and it would be manifestly a danger to her that Greece or Servia or any other Balkan State should ever secure a share of Macedonia. The possession of the Three Vilayets, or any 'fraction of them, would give tno successful claimant a preponderance of weight in the Balkan Peninsula, and it is Bulgaria's business to maintain the "status quo" for her own sake. These considerations account for the frequent appoarance ol the "Bulgarian bands" which have played so important a part in the Macedonian revolt, and their fierce struggles with the "Greek bands" which have striven to prevent Bulgaria from gaining a foothold in the Vilayets.

But outside the Balkan?, Bulgaria has to consider that Russia and Austria and Germany are intensely interested in the future of Macedonia, and the sudden emergence of the Austrian and Russian railway projects in the front rank of the diplomatic questions of the hour has warned Bulgaria that the Powers are once again seeking their own aggrandisement in the Balkan States. Bulgaria naturally resents this attitude on the part of the Powers, and she is determined to help the Macedonians to gain their independence, partly because they are kinsfolk and co-religionists of her own people, partly because Macedonia annexed to Bulgaria would give her the strength and weight that she desires to exercise in the settlement of the Balkan problem. But the Bulgarians know that Russia more especially will never willingly agree to the establishment of another independent State lying across the path that she has so long followed in her southward course toward the sea. For these reasons they have long since made up their minds that in the last resort they must try a desperate expedient. For the last two years it has only been by strong repressive measures that the Bulgarian Government has been able to prevent its subjects from arming in defence of Macedonia; and it must be remembered that Bulgaria can put in the field au army that could probably beat the Turks single-handed. If the Sultan had Ferdinand of Buigaria Lad the field enthely to themselves, the struggle would probably end in the liberation of Macedonia. But the complication of international interests in the Balkan States is so intricate that it is impossible to predict with certainty the final result of what would be in any case a desperate and sanguinary contest, conceivably involving all the Powers ia a great war.