The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1913. IS IT PEACE?

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 127, 29 May 1913, Page 4

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

THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1913. IS IT PEACE?

For- the cause that lacks aeeiatmnce. For th* -wrung that needs mittamm, Tor thm future in the diefnoe, And the good-that tee can do.

Sc~far as it is possible for the Powers to make up their minds collectively, it

seems that they have now reached n. definite decision in regard to the terms of peace in the Balkans. Sir Edward Grey has notified tho belligerents that the draft treaty approved by the Powers must be eigned without further modification or delay; and though his comnnraication is expressed in the formally polite language •which diplomatists habitually use, in effect it threatens the recalcitrant States with the high displeasure of the Powers. Bulgaria is ready to sign, for she has good reason to be satisfied with her share of the spoil. But Servia and Greece and Montenegro, who all feel that thpy hare been outwitted and deserted by the Bulgarians and bullied by the Powers, are less amenable, and their representatives have referred the whole question of the settlement back again to their respective floveraments. However, we cannot antici-

pate that anything that these little States can do will affect the determination of the Powers. If the Balkan Alliance had been maintained, and more if Turkey had joined hands with the Allies to keep intruders out of the peninsula, the Powers could not easily have enforced their will. But

mutual rivalries and jealousies ha-ve disarmed the Alliance, and there is nothing left for the Balkan Stute3 to do but to accept the terms imposed on them fey the Concert of Europe.

Even now it is extremely difficult at this distance to discover exactly what, tlie Powcre expect the Balkan Stalce to

receive and to surrender. But this much is clear, that whatever they have gained or lost individually, it jg not Bulgaria or any of her Allies, but Austria that has profited most by the war. It -was only by Austria's remowtrances and threate that the Powers were induced to expel Montenegro from Scutari. An "autc-nomona Albania," is to l>e set up, but it -will certainly be under Austrian influence. For the Albanians will naturally look for patronage and protection to the Power that hae secured Scutari for them. The concession of independence to Albania is, of course, purely an experiment: and in view o; "the tribal differences, the chaos of Serb and Muesulman and' Catholic, the violent feuds of race and religion" by whicil this distressful little country is perpetually convulsed, it is very difficult to imagine that the Albanians will succeed I in governing themselves. But the dominant feature in the new situation is the '"protection" which Austria has now formally extended to Albania; and knowing how persistent and aggressive Austria's policy in the Balkans has been of late Tears, we can be sutp that the statesmen "of the Dual Monarchy will take full advantage of any opportunity that internal discord affords them to interfere in Albania. The annexation o! Bosnia and Herzegovina five years ago brought the southern boundaries of Aus-tro-Hungary well within the limits of the 1 Balkan Peninsula. Already Austria holds Cattaro, the seaport that MontenegTO has always coveted on the Adriatic. Now the Austrian* will be predominant in Scutari, they can oppose an I insuperable barrier against Montenegro and Servia in their movement toward the sea; and they have gained thus immense strategic and political advantage solely through the victories and sacrifices of the Balkan Allies, though Austria herself has never fired a gun or lost a man. All these facts mnel be taiken into careful consideration in estimating the future prospects of .peace in the Xear East. For the moment the Powers have gained their end. By disregarding altogether the just claims of the Balkan Allies, and ignoring all principles of equity and fair dealing, they have succeeded in averting a BuTopean war. But they can.'hardly expect that any settlement effected on these lines ■will be permanent. Is it likely that Servia and Greece and Montenegro will be satisfied for ever to submit to conditions ■which ■ha-ve been extorted from them practically 'by force? Naturally, the minor Balkan States regard the Powers as robbers, and naturally they will seize the first chance that presents itself to make their resentment felt. "A time •will come," -writes Alphonse Courlander, the well-known "Daily Express" correspondent, "not to-day or to-mor-row, but five years hence, when Servia has recovered from the blows nf warfare and the blood ties are closer ifcawn, with the narrow neck of the Sairjak no longer a division but a link between the two Serb nations. Then it will .be the day of the Serbs .against their other enemy—Austria. It will be a war for the inclusion of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Serb Empire and the freedom of their fellows in Dalmatia; and Scutari will be avenged by Montenegro." And even if other causes of hostility were aosent, we can hardly believe that Russia, the one Power that has made great sacrifices in the past to help the Balkan Slavs, win be content to stand idly by and see Austria assume the predominance that Russia once claimed for Jierseli in the peninsula. Assuredly, if the Powers wisiied to get rid of the percnL ->ii "trwAle ia ti e BaUtans," they h*vc

gone about their work in very nn-1 promising fashion. They have sown the < whirlwind, as a Bulgarian patriot lately I said:—what will they reap? j