BALKAN POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1576, 21 October 1912, Page 7

BALKAN POLITICS.

AN ELEMENTARY LESSON. TANGLED .STORY OF EUROPEAN DIPLOMACY. The continued story-entitled "Tho Balkan (li-inin,".which lia-s been running in I ho pawl's for yew, has boon such a.sucnis.s fdirliiii's mi American writer) that it will jintlmbly no on from .ioqiiol to HOIIIU'I. Tliivw who liiivo wad <'<ich chapter as it t'-iitiK' till), have fount! it »« interesting as tliotilrfi it hml Ik'i'ii written by Doyle, Vunwi. or Oppi>iihi?lm, but some people etimiot \wivt tu lend ii tmilimiod story, or, hovlnit nibwl ii iVw chapters, have lost' truuli <i[ (lie plot and foci a vague irritaliun at thi) fljjht of llki word "Balkan" as rciiiliidinir llmni <if Miincthinp they ought I'i know about, but do not. Some amusing veiws K'lli'K l!n> rounds voice this vexation: "Who or which or what is or aro Tho Snnjnlc of Novibnznrf" Why did llio announcement in February, I'.lll'.i, of a (iroposal lo build a hundred and twdiily miles of railroad through tho Saiijnk of Novilmwir, where it was undeniably iiftudvd, sot two provinces free, bilng two olliM'.s into permanent subjection, Riro Tui'iioy a constitution, and keep all Kiiropo for fear ol a war over tiiiu'L't*

Thirty years <igo Russia set out to dividti up and dispose of the estate of Turkey, whom she had long beforo dubbed "tlio .Siok Muii of tho Kafit." Having had something to do with milking him sii-k, nobodv hod a better right to be his executor. There had been ins'irrections' in tho provinces of lloMiia ami Herzegovina from 1875 onward. The Servian:; took up arms Iho following year. Hulgarin, showing signs of uneasiness, was ravaged by (he U.ishi-bazouks, massacring men, women, and children by 1 lie thousand, liiissia listened to the cry of her fellow Slnvs aud look up arms in thrir defence n:id her own interest. The. iiivadiiiK army luul hard work lighting its way down through Bulgaria, although il ■lutnumhercd the Turkish.two to one, but finally it icnuhvd Adrinnople and the capital lay defenceless before it. At San Sti'fuiio, almost in Constantinople itself, Ilio conqueror dictated his terms, which were thei-e: Hulgnriii to Ixi made an autonomous though tributary principality extending from tho Mack hen to iliu Aegean, including practically all (lie European territory conquered by Russia; Moiitontiiro, Servio, and Rumania to ln> independent. That is, the Turkish Empiro vea to havo pieces trimmed off all sioi* Uμ qdsc and bo. cut iii tivft by Bui.

Kiirin, leaving lo tli" Turk in Europe- n Mile liil. iii-oiiml Cimsljiillinopln nil.l llh> ili'liu'liisd provinces til Ilii' M(ii'i!ilraii.'in ,'iiul Alliiniiiiii ri'niini'i. Kiimii wns U> K"t Imrk lliivtar.ihiii, lo»l li.v ill" Criini'iiu wnr, nnd would iilliimitH.v i;< l l access to the Mi'diliiri'iiiiciiii by I I'm lliil|;ariflii pathway. Knghuid wenl wild lit the news, The lloiiws ui , I'lirliuiiiiMil who besieged I>y a limb howling lor wnr. The crowds in llm iinisir. hiills mink Hid chorus which i;avo "We don't wunt lo light, bill, by Jingo, if W» ill). We've not Iho men, we've got tho shipfl, wu'vii n«l th<i money, ton." llenroii.-ljold w.'is I lie idol of tlin JinKocs. llu .sent Ilii>- Jlrilisli Heel In CiillMiiiiliiio|ilo <in<l ordered llm Sepoys to oniluirk for HuroiHi. When llismiireli called the Congress of Berlin in 1878 (<> revise tho Treaty of Him KU'lmio, hi) went in person with uird Salisbury and enine liiiok triumphant, bringing "pencil wit'i hiinuiir." You remember that big pio lure of tho Cungiws. Never such an up ray of notables on ono cauviiK. Never mich a solemn fnrce. For, us ho now know, lln> affair was settled beforolmnd, or privately. The recrot treaties of Ure.it Britain with Itussm nnd with Turkey came to Unlit by necident nnd trracheiy soon alter. Tho eecrol treaty betwceiu Aufllria nn<l Turkey in regard to Bosnia end llorw'KOvina was disclosed only n few yours ago. Hui;kml got Ihe island of Cyprus us payment in advance for her inUirvoiillon. Krnuco g<il from Unglnml (ho nroinisu of a free hand in Africa, whence her Knhar.'iii oiupini and .Morocco, In the session of June 211, Count Andrnssy voso.uhd coiiiplaincil of tho trouble and cxpciißu that the insurrection iiiu and lleriwgovina hnd cause AuNlriolluilt'ury, whereupon (bo Marquis of Salisbury, us (hough struck by a bright idea, proposed that those two provinces should l)o 'occupied nnd adniinihtervd by Aus-tria-Hungary," which the Conj/rcsn npnroved. Bulgaria was cut down to a strip uetu'ocn tho Diiuiibo nnd tho Bulk.inn. Kastern Jtiiinelia Ix'caiiifl a semi-detached province, with the I'rincfl of Hitlguria as (love.'.'noi'-<ji>iiei(il. The \voy tho diploninlists silting around Princo Itisninr(iU'.s table put together tho disseck-d map lit' tho Ottoman Empire may ba seen by rt glancß nt tho map. Turkey was iircned over by a nories of practically independent >lutes—Eastern Humelia, Bulgari.i, Kervin, and Montenegro, reading tho names from right lo left, in iho Oriental way. The keystone of Iho arch was (lie Sanjak (or county) of Novibaznr. This wus driven in by the Congress of Berlin us a sort of wedgo to keep Servia a.ti.l Montoiiegro apart. The Treaty of ,San Stefano had brought them close together, and by giving Jfontenegro ports on. (ho Adriatic, had practically given Servia a passago to tho sen. Novibaxnv was loft under' Turkish administration, but Austria, was given tho right to garrison lilt" territory, and—hereby hangs this talcto maintain military nnd commercial roads there.

When Austria in 1008 ,innoun;cd her intention to take advantage of this right by putting through a railroad from her Bosnian frontier to connect with the railroad from Salonika, thus giving o. direct routo to the Aegean, she touched tho fcovBtone of the arch and ehook thu whole, edifico set np by the Congress of Berlin. A now factor in (lip Turkish problem mado its appearance—the Turkish people. The Committee- of Union and j'logross (with some stress on tho word "Union") took uliiriu and tho revolution broke out, prematurely but not. unsuccessfully. The patriotic Young Turks took control of the Government. Austria announced her intention of making the. annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.formal and permanent, and offered t« relinquish .her claim m Novibazar in compensation. Servio, and Montenegro declared their intention of making war lather tlrnn allow the permanent alienation of these provi nci.'S, Nothing would liave pleased Austria Iwjtter, but the Powers compelled Scrvin r.iid Montenegro to quiet down and eubmit to the inevitable. Russia, who was naturally tho most inclined to interfere in their behalf, as she did thirty years before, was checked by a threat from Germuny. Turkey having no interest in the creation of a strong federation of Serb States . to tho west, accepted .£2,200,000 and Novjbazar as compensation for the loss of Ikt litlo to liosnia and Herzegovina. Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, joining in tho grab game, seized fho Orient Railroad in Eastern Rnmelia, belonging to the Turkish Government, and crowned himself at Tirnova Czar of Bulgaria and Eastern llumelin. Turkey condoned ihis insult also, in consideration of some il,8Q0.(!0fl, which Russia will pay her and collect from Bulgaria. So runs tho story, briefly, baldly told. ■■)•■>.