The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1912. THE PEACE CONFERENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 301, 17 December 1912, Page 4

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

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1912. THE PEACE CONFERENCE.

m For the et>«ae that lacks aatimttmue. For tht wrong that need* resUtmnee, For the future «• the dUtomce, And (to food that toe om» do.

The representatives of the Balkan belligerents are now meeting in conference at London, and within a few days the momentous question of peace or war will be decided. At the present moment it cannot be said that the outlook is very encouraging for a peaceful settlement. The Bulgarians and their allies have sacrificed too much to be content ■with a merely nominal acknowledgment of their successes; and they demand not only a very substantial rectification of the Turkish frontier, hut the surrender of Adrianople as the price of peace. 'We are not in a position to say precisely on what terms the Allies have arranged to settle the division of the spoils among themselves. But the Bulgarian Premier has just assured Europe that the Allies are quite unanimous in their views, and that if Turkey refuses to give up Adrianople the war will go on. The Turks, on the other hand, have profited by the armistice and have strengthened their position at Adrianople and on the Chataldja lines, so that they are now in all probability less inclined to accept humiliating terms than they were a week ago. It is to be feared, therefore, that the crisis is by no means over in the Balkans, and that the armistice mar prove to be only a short breathing space in this desperate struggle. But even supposing that the actual fighting is over, we are still a long way from a final settlement of the trouble. For, in spite of M. DancfTs assurance that the Allies thoroughly understand each other, and also know how far the Powers will permit theni to go, it seenii to us quite impossible to suggest any conditions of peace that will equally satisfy Bulgaria and Greece and Servia and Montenegro, or be equally acceptable to the Balkan Allies on the one hand and Austria and Russia, Germany and Italy on the other. While matters are thus in suspense, it is almost futile to speculate about the probable course of events at the conference. But M. DanefTs reference to the views of the Powers shows clearly enough that even if Bulgaria acquires Adrianople, and divides Macedonia with Greece, and confines the Turkish Empire in Europe to very narrow limits around Constantinople, two questions of momentous importance will still remain to he decided—the possession of the islands in the Aegean Sea and the control of the Adriatic coastline. As to the Aegean Islands, they are the natural patrimony of the Greeks; hut both Austria and Germany have hinted that they may feel inclined to look in this direction to indemnify themselves for any material advantage that the Allies secure elsewhere. As to the Adriatic coast, we have already explained that Servia's ambition to secure an outlet there runs counter to Austria's cherished project of a railway through Novi - Bazar and a high road southward toward Salonika. Moreover, Italy has designs of her own in regard to naval supremacy in the Adriatic; and there is reason to fear that this question of an Adriatic port for Servia may yet ship wreck the wellmeant efforts of the other Powers for peace. It is certainly encouraging to learn that Austria's tone toward Servia is more conciliatory, that the Austrian Foreign Minister is not inclined to press for satisfaction in regard to the Prochaska incident, and that, according to J the semi-official Viennese Press, Austria may go so far as to concede to Servia

an Adriatic port for commercial purposes, to be reached by a neutral railway. This last provision is, of course, an attempt to block the Russian plan of a railway from Roumania, via Servia, to the Adriatic, cutting across Austria's own proposed connection between Serajevo and Mitrovitza. But against these hopeful signs must be set the extensive military preparations that Austria is making on her southern frontier, and the rumour that the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austrian heir-apparent, is in full sympathy with the militant party. The Archduke is a close friend of the Kaiser, a Conservative, and a reactionary; and it is well known that when yon Aehrenthal engineered the annexation of the two Turkish provinces in 190S he was only carrying out the Archduke's designs. It is certainly an ominous fact that Franz Ferdinand should have come to the front at this juncture again, and his activity just now bodes ill for the prospects of peace, either in the Balkans or between the Powers.