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Evening Star, Issue 15074, 4 January 1913, Page 6

Whf.x M.r John Foster Fraser, in 1906

wrote his ' Pictures "A Kettle Of Fish." from the. Balkans' he described the condition of these petty kingdoms as a confused kettle of fish that, contained a tangle of interests too complicated for the ordinary man to understand. Certainly mutters have not improved since then, and it is very interesting to dwellers far south of the Line to notice the ineffectual attempts of European politicians and writers for the Home Press to unravel the complications. Bold attempts in that direction have conspicuously failed ; forecasts have not even been approximately realised, and the unforeseen has happened. This failure is not at all to be wondered at, for the Balkan Peninsula is peopled by congeries of races that hate each other as much as they detest the Turks that have misgoverned them for centuries. The authority just 'quoted goes so far as to say that the misrule of the Turk in Macedonia is preferable to the condition of affairs that would be inevitable if these various races were given their freedom from tho yoke they have so long groaned under. Mr Fraser, however, goes on to say : "I have hopes that there may be a Confederation of the Balkan States, with the remainder of European Turkey as part of the Confederation. So long," he adds, " as there are half a dozen little nations open to attack by powerful neighbors, the Balkans will continue to be a region of unrest. A Confederation of the States for defensive purposes would, however, not only count for mutual prosperity, but would remove the cause of the bad dreams, from which European statesmen often suffer." This is a consummation devoutly to be wished for, notwithstanding 'the dubiety that yet enshrouds the situation. Amongst all the far-seeing publicists who have keenly watched tho trend of events in Eastern Europe since Gladstone's day, where is "the man to prophesy, with a near aim, of the main chance of things a3 yet to come to life".?

In public movements the cartoonists may ' be relied on to picture the opinions of the hour with the fidelity of a cinematographic lens, and these show divergent prognostics characteristic of guesswork. One artist shows Turkev ground between the upper and the nether millstones of the allied Balkan States and the Great Powers. As a matter of fact, the latter have been looking helplessly on at the turmoil. ' Punch,' which is not often on the wrong track, represents Europa calling out to an expeditionary force belonging to the Balkan League : " Hi! Stop !" (But they don't.) "Very well, then, I shall disqualify you if you win," exclaims Europa. To which the Bulgars reply : " All right; we'll take our chance of that." This was the attitude before the actual outbreak of hostilities, when the futility and impotency of diplomacy were shown by the declaration that the Powers would not tolerate any change in the status quo." Another very telling cartoon, that appeared in the 'Pall Mall Gazette,' pictures the Canutes of Diplomacy standing in a row at the edge of the incoming tide of Balkan advancement, the text to the illustration being: "The shibboleths of diplomacy have been washed away like writings on the sand by tho tide of 'heroic sacrifice now sweeping over mountain and valley in the Balkans. That tide will not be stayed to suit the convenience of the Powers." This appeared when it was thought that Constantinople was in imminent danger of capture by the Allies, or when, to quote the picturesque words of the 'Observer,' "the only military question to bo decided is whether the Bulgarians are to be constrained to break the last illusions of European diplomacy by forcing the Chatalja lines removing the whitewash in St. Sophia from the Christ in gold mosaic, -which still alimmers with dim prophecy, through that" disgrace, and dictating peace in the neighboring buildings of the Sublime Port*." The mo 4 effective picture of all is that published by the 'Daily News,' representing a. Turk holding an umbrella with "Misrule" printed on it. His other hand grasps his "bag and baggage," and in tho distance across tho 'Strait lies Asia. Ho eoliloquises: "It looks as if I shall have to go this time, 'bag and baggage.'" Tho companion picture shows that the Turk has crossed over to Asia, on tho shores of which he is squatting with a broken sword by his side.

Mr Frasor, in his interesting book relating to his Balkan jonrneyings," makes some very good shots in an oracular duration, but naturally does not score bull's-eyes every time. He declares that he never met anybody whose opinion was worth anything who believed that any good would come from the intervention of the Powers or rebukes to the Sultan. Such proceedings would but stave off the terrific explosion of war, which, in his opinion, was the only solution of the terribly perplexing problem. The same shrewd watcher of the signs of the times was, howevor, out in his calculations when he assumed that Greece, woidd. throw in her lot with Turkev, and that the Sick Man of Europe would "assuredly -ha-vo a financial ally in Germany," her price for such assistance being first concessions, then protectorates, then possesMr Fra«T sums up his then outlook—"Germany realises, a* everybody realises, that- the Balkans will be a hell-pot of anarchy, and she expects to be the Power winch will subjugate, the rivals. Over their weakened bodies- she will march to tho But who can doubt it will be a bloody road to travel?" Of course, the moves on the political chessboard have been many since 1906. The Morocco incidents have taken place ,• the Italians have crossed victorious swords with Turkey, which now stands with an empty monev ehest. bankrupt in credit, and a tarnished military reputation. Atth.isee.nson, so full of wishes for peace and good-wil! towards all men. the universal desire will be that the peoples of these fertile and heautifiil countries, now struggling for a liberty that hns long been denied them, may have a speedy and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. To see the lose garden of the world deluged in blood and given over to barbarities is enough to make even arc'els weep. ~