THE BALANCE OF POWER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 644, 22 October 1909, Page 9

THE BALANCE OF POWER.

' LECTURE BY MH. FOSTEE FRASEE. , '-.

l«oturt' Mf.Toster, Fraser 'in - the.: ■ last .evening, was: perhaps as , interesting as/ any: lie. has delivered •' in Wei- „■ nngton,. though it. was, as he himself ' ' "'Pp™"! rather inclined.to be .''jumpy." He , .floated round :Europe conversationally in a : hundrea-nnle-a-niinuto iairship,: stopping • rao- ■' "fntanlr -at: intervals to talk most agreeably S; about'.the'nations interested' in the , balance of 1 powei: jn.Ewope.,' l ln this lecture the Balkans ■ and: iurkey came once more into review, as 1 he, considered that the future battle-g-ound of ■ ?. would be found somewhere in-tho vicini ityypf.itho famed Shipka. pass, notorious for , the; war-scenes' in .the' past. Hβ spoke of :the pheerful pleasure-loving Servians, who had veaj hired: intothe publio oyetwo or three years - -ago: V.They .were quite a distinct peopln' to the , Bulgarians, who had attained; their:- indepond- .-. eiice-through; tho:intervention of Rnssia whon ; i tho.btate was assailed by Turkey, Russia had : but .one object—Bulgaria ..was to. have, been the ■ ■ penultimate, step to Constantinople. But J'cr- ! dmand , had other ideas/- Ho proclaimed him- : Belf king,-and:his country an independent na--tion. Bulgana,was;a,tiiiyState;\over.so.much . more-tiny: than , Now' Zealand, but there every i young man goes into..the,army, readily,'• will. hnglyj-..with' the result that-to-day Bulgaria b' for.its;Bize had an.army quite as good as'G«r----l .many.'.Mr:: Praser referred'to the Albanians b. ?s;the Scotchmen of the. Balkans, their dress, i .their national music," their clannish'strife ««te l all; in accord with the Scotland of other days ~ If. you had trouble with an: Albanian' there ,• WS'onlj->ono thing:to do-kill , Hm.v if y OU 1 did not, he would kill you. Jlany people -in • iUbama died of disease, but a prolific cause of,.death was difference- of opinion; 'Feuds .;.-. ,wero continued between families long after the cause, was forgotten. .The-Albanian .was' a .law<:.untq"himself—he .was.his own 'policeman and -magistrate, and he carried his own Court of Appeal about with him;'-When visitinc Alg bania the. Turkish-authorities, after attemptmg to,dissuade.him from.going in-vain, disr patched.hun-with an escort of forty soldiers.g ,Ims was not 1 so;much.out of respect to him—" .'-.- not-at all;- The reason!was that, going alone i- he would probably have been captured and held is for.Tansom.■ ■.•Hβ .'did.not knowfer how much r, perhaps ,16s;, or maybe" X 16.000. The -British .' Government \vould.. ; perhaps have' paid the g money,'but in-duo timo would have called npbn .Turkey,to.refnnd,,hence the forty soldiers. The B uectnrer-briefly.■'■■ touched, on Macedonia and n : Greece,-and passed on to , Turkey. "Ho showed a picture of the new Parliament, but gave his n opinion that he did; not think it would last. •'. -England- had. beenracoused,Rafter of being a "friendly to. Turkey.;;Soishe was, and' why? '■ If Bngland'was.not. Turkey, the -} door would be open'for' other nations to war 13 against her, and England was out to prevent J. a. European war. England .would havo the -,'. balance -of -'power in Earope preserved -as at ?■ present.; Her Territorials were not ";■.■ to.make;.-war, ; :thcy"wero'for-defence;.-It 'was ■••' wollitwassor-to Do ready. s ; Many people have ■• been :courf|geous enough to ask why was Ger- *• imariy-arming?.; Why was she building a great ra navy? ' Her;-, frontiers were, on .land. -He had • .been called'a/'scaremonger, but it was well to "■.; heed '.the I 'scaremonger.- In .'the'. Place de la : '■ Concorde in Paris were-some beautiful pieoce •;•■ of-statuary;,.! symbolising .the provinces of France, one of which was draped in crape.'lt .'-.■ was/Alsaco! The .province , which mighV.not . have been lost had they listened' to the scare- ■'■"•■ mongers.'But French Ministers had denounced : scaremongors, oven'as British Ministers had done recently. : It were well to listen to tho ■n. scaTembnger sometimes. i£ it only, ensured a ?e state of. preparedness against contingencies or (Applatise.).; . . ; ;. : ?-., •..-•