" TROUBLE IN THE BALKANS."

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12545, 14 July 1906, Page 8

" TROUBLE IN THE BALKANS."

"Thoro wOl bo trouble in the Balkans in tho spring." There hava been veal's vrhon the prediction was a co:nmorrp'!iace in allidisCtesiior.e on European potties, when tilie racial antipathy of liu/igar anil Serb, Turk and Greek, seomod to hnvo grown so acute that it looked as if the long-expeetod war mrnst break out when the rcatls opened after the winter. The greatest danger lk>a hi Maco<toisia, wl:cro tfne Bulgarian ar.d tho Greek meet undtr Turkiish rule, and where ilio a-Lr is always electric. For thougli tJis- war is delayed tliflre is always ir.ore or less '•'trouble ir» the Balkans," tJiougli one hears little of it. Mr John Fcstc-r Frascr declares, in liis latent work, that there v.ero more murders in Jlacc-co-.iia. last year than, during auy of the years wiiicJi have thrilled Oliristiaai Europe, and his of tiio existing makes it easy to believo him. Oiirist'ia-n Europe, in protesting against tho horrors tfcit occur from time to time, rightJj , attributes them to religious iiostili;y. But what it <?ocs not nndorstcmd, acxjordiiig <o Mr Frascr, is iTTot tlic p?rpatiial feud betweon Christian anil Moslem is resjxmsible for only a proportion of the barbarities which are laid to the blame cf the Turk. " Most " of the murdering now going on in the " Badkans is by CliTistEiaJis of Garis"tians." Tho whole cf the Balkans "is infested witih rival Christian " ' banes, : wjiich torroris? villages ami ; " convert ihzn from tiio Greek

"Ciundh to the Bulgarian "Church, or from the Bulgarian " Cb-urch to the Greek Church at the "daggers point. Tha Turkish soldiers " occasionally hunt these 'bands,' and " when they catch ore there is some " quick killing." When they do not catch one, which is usually the case, innocent villagers are made to suffer instead, so there is always soma 'quick killing," accompamed by unspeakable outrages. The Turk is the most incompetent ruler in Europe; bo oppresses tho Christian population, and now r.nd then perpetrates atrocities that dhock the civilised world—yet he is not mere detested by tho Christians fchrwi are the adherenteof the rival Christian Churches by each other, and Mr Fraser is probably right in asserting that the real Balkan problem is to find some moans of checking tiho disastrous civil war that divides the Christian people in the Balkans into two actively hcGtile oanrps. Macedonia, itself is a hotch-pstch of nationalities and faitjis. There are Bulgarian, Greek, Servian and IkO'.nnazuan Macedonians, and there are Turkish Macec'cnnans, against whom the hands of all the others are set. They look forward to the day when the Turk shall b? compelled to relinquish his hold upon Macedonia. But then comes in tho. question as to who ie to have it. Tho Bulgarians want it to bo part of Bulgaria: tho Greeks, with , equal justice, waijfc it for Greece. Bulgarian '•' bands" -further the Bulgarian, propaganda, after thc v ir own peculiarly forcible methods, where the cause is weak ; Greek ''bands" aro accordingly organised to extend Greek influence where tho population ir> thoujrht to favour Bull garia. Between the two the peaceful ] villages—and there are hundreds where, despite their religious differences, Turk and Christian live in amity—liavo a bnd time. Tho.re aro cases whero whole vil- ■ lages have been terrorised, by the alternate visits of rival "brings," into changing their religion notenc3>only, but several times. Tho Bulgarian leaders bej lieve that by terrorising the population lit will bo possible to drive tliern to revolution, and when warned that the Turks would win in tho end and that the only result would bo a fearful massacre, one of them declared that that was what they wanted. It was tho price they would have to pay in order to rouse Europe to take action and liberate iMaocdonia from Turkish rulo! Nothing is more clear in this welter of conspiracy and massacre and outrage than tho fact that impossible as is tho Turk as a ruler, either Bulgaria or Greece would bo no better, if indeed they would not be worse. And yefc so far tho Turk's hold on Macedonia has probably prevented a European war. If Bulgaria embarked upon the waT witih Turkey, for which 6ho is incessantly preparing, and eho was successful, Russia and Austria would both want to have a'say in the disposal of Macedonia, and Germany would stand by to set what she could out of the melee. England, Mr Fraser tells us, ] bears the reputation among tho Christian peoples of tha Balkans of being the only Power which has no ulterior design in her dealings with Turkey. But I England could not bo a neutral spectator of an, international ecramlble for Cpnefoanltinople-. The best solution of a problem that offers so many difficulties and dangers which ■Mγ Fraser is able to suggest is that Macedonia ehould be placed under tho control of representatives of all the Powers. And remembering how largely territorial aspirations enter into the policy of Bulgaria and Greece, and how very closely the Turk can sit in tho face of attempted it is very doubtful whether ; even this plan would effect the desired purpose.