The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1913. THE BALKAN SETTLEMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 89, 15 April 1913, Page 4

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

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1913. THE BALKAN SETTLEMENT.

For the cause, that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resittanae, For the filtbra in the distance,, ■ And the 'good that vie cam do.

Russia has spoken clearly at last, and the Balkan problem is therefore appreciably nearer a solution. The Czar, through his 'Foreign Minister, has formally repudiated the claims of Montenegro, has "warned the Allies that' Scutari must be reserved for the Albanians, and has induced the Servians to withdraw their support from the Montenegrins. 2fo doubt Servia will he disappointed at this check to her aspirations for a closer union with Montenegro and the establishment of a great Serb State dominating the west and centre of the Balkan Peninsula. But she will get liberal compensation for her sacrifices in Diakova, Prinzrend, and the other districts now ceded to her; and she dare not stir a hand against Russia's will. As to Montenegro, that audacious little State is paying the penalty, as often before, for its generous devotion to the cause of Liberty. It defied the Powers when it made its bold onslaught upon Turkey without waiting for the slow and cautious diplomacy of its Balkan Allies. Now that the crisis is over the Powers have " conspired together to coerce it into submission, and Russia seems rather glad of the opportunity to punish King Nicholas for trying to drag her into a European war at bis heels. With this formidable combination arrayed against her, Montenegro must give way, arid she must make the best of the niggardly concession in territory and seaboard that the Powers arc prepared to grant her. It is quite possible that Montenegro will find a way out of her troubles satisfactorily enough'later on. For the fortunes of war have thrown the Servians and the Montenegrins very close together, and have engendered a sense of racial sympathy that may some day help to sweep away the boundary line between the two kingdoms altogether. But the position of the other members of ibe Balkan Alliance i 3 by no means so satisfactory. Between Servia and Bulgaria a dispute is pending in regard to territory in the northern part of Macedonia; but both •parties are prepared to accept the arbitration of the Czar on this point. But between Bulgaria and Greece there is more serious trouble, which is likely to defy all attempts at a peaceful settlement. Long before this war broke out bath Greeks and Bulgarians cjaimed the greater part of Macedonia for themselves; and the unfortunate Macedonians suffered more ■from, the intrigues of the "committees" and the excesses of the Greek and Bulgarian "bands" than from the tyranny of their Turkish masters. In the earlier stages of the war both Greeks and Bulgarians strained every nerve to get a firm foothold in Macedonia. They have already come to blows in attempting to forestall each other in the occupation of certain points of vantage; and they are now practically on the verge of war. over the possession of Salonika. Etlmographically, Salonika should belong to Greece, and all its past historypoints in that direction. But it appears that a majority of . the ■ Powers are anxious to satisfy Bulgaria's aspirations, and they have found a plausible pretext for banding Salonika to the Bulgarians in the fact that Bulgaria must cede some territory to Roumania on her northern frontier, and'ought therefore to receive .compensation in the south.

This suggestion brings us face to face once more with the demands so insistently put forward by Roumania. In England just now there is a tendency to depreciate Roumariia's claims partly because Roumania is so closely connected with Germany. King Charles of Roumania is a 'Hohenzpllcrn, and in matters of. foreign policy he has always been more or less closely associated "with the interests of the Triple Alliance. But it is an open question whether Roumania has not a strong moral right to compensation from Bulgaria. Before the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-8, Roumania's path to the Black Sea lay through Bessarabia, now the south-west province of Russia. When Russia took over this district, at the close of the war, she gave to Roumania the Dobrudscha, the marshy delta of the 'Danube which Roumanian enterprise has now converted into fertile land. But Roumania then claimed Silistria as the only defensible point along the Danube where she could hope to hold her ground against Bulgaria in case of ai-

tack, and she has never ceased to press this claim. But, though insisting that Bulgaria owed her this in return for the, gallant part that the Roumanian army played in. the war of liberation, the (Roumanians have never behaved vindictively toward the Bulgarians. When Bulgaria went to-war with Servia, the Servians begged the RoumaniaJis to help them, but King diaries refused. On four different occasions since then the Porte bas approached Roumania with tempting offers of an alliance against Bulgaria, which the Roumanians have steadily rejected. Before tliis present War bega_ Roumania could have, made •her ~i terms with Turkey if she would have cpnsented to an alliance, and now her "benevolent neutrality' is certainly worth sotko compensation. Now that 'Bulgaria is' a great independent State, Roumania must have a defensible fronj tier— -.v-kml! nieaAs that she must have jSilietria. All tliis-Ri-garia understands

[ quite well, and no doubt the wily Czar Ferdinand is prepared to concede whait •King Oharies asks. But it suits Bulgaria's purpose to pose as injured, and to appeal to the sympathy lof the Powers; and this .ingenious suggestion 'to recompense Bulgaria .with Salonika for the Joes of Silistra would suit her admirably if the Powers. would agree. In that case the Greekß will have a b'rtter grievance against the. Powers, which she must perforce cherish in silence. And ths the Balkan settlement will mean that Greece, like Montenegro, will be left to lament the .perfidy of her allies and the selfishness of the Powers.