THE BALKANS.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VIII, Issue 2, 1 May 1903, Page 159

THE BALKANS.

The news of the rising in the Balkans which lately came to hand, may* be sufficiently serious in its results. One would like to be satisfied that the course which Russia, in particular, has taken with regard to it was in good faith, but this does not seem in the light of other matters at all probable. It is some considerable time since Russia has been able to moisten her thirst for conquest and the acquisition of territory, and it is more than possible that she has her eagle eye fixed on the entrance to the Bosphorus and Constantinople as her share in the booty after the war, for which she has been long preparing, has been precipitated by her scheming. It is a new thing to see a country with Russia's reputation, so eager to press reforms on States such as those on the Balkan Peninsula, so that there is remarkably good reason to doubt her good intentions in the matter. With these States, and Turkey set by the ears, what possibilities might not open for Russia ?

The extensive manner in which preparations are being made for the rapid movement of troops from Sebastapol and Odessa to Bulgarian ports certainly points much more directly to hunger for conquest than to the mere preservation of order, and the next few months may easily see the outbreak of a European war, the result and complications of which is not easy to foretell.