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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7645, 24 May 1886, Page 4

The fact that the Greeks and Turks have come to blows, coupled with the ominous silence maintained about the movements of the so-called combined European fleet, shows, even under the colouring put on it by a later telegram, that we are on the eve of startling events. In a recent issue we stated that the longer the Powers persis ted in their united attempt to coerce Greece the more certain would they be to quarrel over the business, and hinted that the levying of provisions at the island of Skiathos by the Austrian Admiral was likely to contribute to the breaking up of the European concert. And it really looks as if the rupture thug anticipated had actually occurred. At all events there has been for several days no information about the continuance of the blockade of the Greek ports, and, as we expected, the severity with which it was prosecuted has only tended to irritate the Greeks, and made them precipitate the strife which the combined naval demonstration was intended to prevent. But, indeed, it seems as if it would have made no difference iu the end whether the blockade were harshly or mildly executed. The Greeks knew well enough that the combination of the Powers for their suppression was resorted to only in the hope of thereby removing all pretext for the commencement of a European straggle, and that it would in such circumstances be the surest means of bringing that struggle on. And the proclamation of the Czar commanding his Black Sea fleet to be in readiness for further instructions,

coming as that did after the massing of his troops on the shores of that sea, justifies the soundness of that opinion. That proclamation declared to the world that the European concert was for the present at an end. For how could Russia act in harmony with Powers whom the Czar avowedly suspects of an organised design to prevent hor peaceful development, and imposing on him the necessity of placing the Empire in a state of armed defence. If harmony there be, as professedly there is, what, it may be asked, meaneth the massing of those troops, or the significant order issued to the fleet. These are the questions which the other Powers are bound to put, and answer as they may be pleased. And, disguise the truth from the world as they may, there is only one answer that they can give to them, and that the Greeks have already pronounced for them. These things, the Greeks have said to themselves, mean war ; and, a3 that promises to bo favourable to our cause, and will be precipitated by our action, now is our time to strike. And so they have struck. And, though the struggle between them and the Turks is, thus far, nothing more than an affair of outposts, the fighting is yet described as having been severe, and the difficulty will now be to prevent it from waxing fierce and being prosecuted to the bitter end. The explanation that it was the result of a misunderstanding, and that an amicable arrangement has been come to, looks too like an attempt of the peace party at Athens to conceal the facts of the case. The counsels of that party are swayed by the representatives of Britain and those other Powers who in concert with her are doing their utmost, and properly so, to stave off a European war. But it is clear that the peace party at Athens has in this matter lost the confidence and control of the people. The recall, too, of the German officers from France, and the withholding from . others of them the usual furlough, makes it further clear that in other places than in Greece it ia felt that a crisis is at hand, and that, speak and act as they may to the contrary, all parties are steadily making the preparations which it demands.