THE BALKAN SHAMBLES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11806, 16 December 1912, Page 6

THE BALKAN SHAMBLES.

Writing at the commencement of the Balkan war, a special 'correspondent of the. London "Times'.'- in ; Constantinople. indulged 1 in the following f reflections:—■ .When has history seen such' a war ?' Was theije'; ever an issue" precipitated' w-ith a smaller:.horizon-?-*- The opaque mists, of international greed, ambition, subtlety, and and ■_. pusillanimity, hang 'so close around the combatants^that one can see lio definite horizon for any of the present belligerents: It is for them.a war in,;whieh':the vials of vengeance, pent tip .for might be.. said for centuries —rwill be freely, savagely poured forth. Will it be enough that Turk, Slav, -or Greek, ..when each has drunk his fill, 'shall return 'to his "own border and sheath the sword ? ' This is! not what the writer reads .in the bearing, of the thousands .of fighting men that .are daily pouring 'through;''this'''-cosmopolitan I town. This is not; the 'spirit--'of i whichthose who know the confederates speakr None of them- -admit •theyjyearn to extend their " froniiers. V - None : apparenjtly. desire 'aught : else-Tint •t"o fi taste7ihe ; ecsta'cy; of a deep national passion. vTliis 'briiigsus very near the great danger'that .underlies the ferocity ;\vith ; which*the campaignmust in all conscience; the struggle that is;upon us .there,, is no room for sentiriieritality." A' gigantic Mood" feud is about to be' definitely decided. Much blood will flow. "Even;niuch blaod innocent of the .fierce passions oFthe com l balants must of necessitv swell this fatal

stream. Foreign sentimentality. i» " the past has done somethitfg to prepare the theatre for the coming shambles: Few are better qualified than' the writer to make this statement., since he has been, an intimate witness of the methods, by which Christian sentimentality was exploited by' those who have wooed bloodshed by bloodshed. There is a certain hypnotism in that wretched word "massacre" —a hypnotism that, when there is a difference in creed, destroys the balance of judgment between men "and nations. Europe is upon the eve of the most awful reckoning that has been seen for generations between Slav and Ottoman.. Let the' struggle be fought out on ihe merits of the combatants. As such it is a natural function in the course of the" evolution of States and peoples. > Nature is cruel. There is no reason why this cruelty should be accentuated by a sentimentality born of a religious intolerance as subtly vicious as was ever the fanatical impetus of the Crescent.