THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10421, 20 April 1897, Page 4

THE WAR.

The actual declaration of war by Turkey against Greece gives more precision to the situation in the Levant, though what may be either the immediate or the ultimate development is still shrouded in obscurity. The threatened blockade of Greece by the Great Powers was more a demonstration with intended moral results, than an initial step in practical action, and the promptness with which the Powers have suspended the intention of blockade, when clouds began to really darken over the Grceco-Turkisli frontier confirms the view that there was a good deal of make-believe in the attitude of the Powers, To carry out the original role, if seriously intended, the Powers should at this crisis put the blockade of the port of Athens in force with all promptitude and vigour ; but instead of that, at the first indication of serious business, they seem to stand aside with the intention of leaving Greece and Turkey to have it out. It is the attitude of the Powers in relation to the new situation that now becomes the puzzle; for while, it is certain that they will not allow Greece to be overwhelmed and blotted out by the Turk—to which the present position of affairs would seem to point—the part which each or all of them may take, and the point at which they may declare themselves, are all surrounded by uncertainties and dependent on contingencies which it is difficult to foresee. At present there seems a quasigrouping arising out of the question of the blockade of Greece, Russia, Germany, and Austria having been favourable to sternly coercive measures, while England, France, and Italy hesitated in opening hostilities against the little Power that had dared to brave the anger of Europe in a chivalrous desire to free members of its own race from the grinding rule of the Moslem. If Greece and its integrity continue to furnish the crucial question as among the Powers, it may be anticipated that this grouping may have more than an ephemeral character, for it is very improbable that the popular sentiment which really determines the action of a free people will ever tolerate the forces of England, France, or Italy being employed' in stamping out liberty in Greece. It is of course difficult to know what will ultimately prove the line of cleavage between the Powers, if drawn into hostile camps, but there seems very little doubt that the declaration of war by Turkey, and the'withdrawal of the embassies from Athens and Constantinople have the aspect of being the beginning of the

end. An important factor anticipated has been the expected rising in the Turkish province of Macedonia. No immediate indication of that expected event has come to light, and without that it may be teared that the struggle of Greece against such fearful odds must be a brief one. In the well-kuown existence, however, of widespread though latent disaffection in the Turkish provinces, there are the elements of a conflagration, the limits of which no one ventures to define; and we cannot conceal from ourselves the fact that the formal declaration of war is what alone seemed requisite to fan the slumbering embers into a flame.