RUSSIA AMD THE ALLIES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1595, 12 November 1912, Page 5

RUSSIA AMD THE ALLIES.

THE NEW HARMONY IN THE i BALKANS. OLD FEUDS FORGOTTEN. .' What strikes a student of' the Balkan | imbroglio qs the most sign.ifl.cant of all the phenomena'connected with this out- : break .'(says a recent writer in the "New York "Evening Post") is.. the actual formation of a Balkan confederation. i For the first, time in the forty years of'their existence as definite political factors', the so-called barrier States have buried the intense animosities which have hitherto kept thorn at swords' points with each other, and exhibited appreciation of the advantages of co-operation. . .The Serbs have forgiven the B'ulgwes for the thrashing they got at Slivnika in 1885; the Bulgars have forgiven the Sefbs for their age-old jealousy of 5 Bulgaria's acquisition of Eastern Rumelia and her dominant position in the Balkan group; the Montenegrins, of .the Serbs, apparently join with them in theif cordiality towards King Ferdinand's country; and, most wonderfal of. all, the Greeks'have forgiven' the Bulgars and Serbs for the schism which split the Orthodox Greek Catholic Church. Only •fivo years ago, the/Bulgarian and Greek chetas in Macedonia were always at each other's throats, tho Grefek and Bulgarian monasteries in Macedonia kept bands of tomitajiis in theiT pay fpr purposes of armed proselytising, and the Greoke were always willing to form alliances with the Turkish troops in order to wipe out Butgnrian bands. Only Rumania Stands Aloof. Now, apparently, all is different. For tho first time sinoo the battle of Kossovo, in 1189, tho Christians of the Balkan. Peflinsula are presenting a United front to the Moalems. With one 6ingle eiccptioij, however. The kingdom of Bumania, which is one of the ethnic and geographio anomalies of Europe, has. held clear of the Balkan. Confederation, largely, perhaps, because she can see no prospeof of terri* torial aggandisement from making com-, mon cause with her sisfxsr States^ Rumania, of course, is more Latin than Slav. Her people claim t/j 1* t(eseead«n' ( .i of the ancient Roman colonists of Trajan s. time, and, indeed, they have all the phy,*iolosi':al peculiarities <rf ItsUwft wttiW

their Speech is- ranked nearer to ancient Latin than the language of the modorn Italian. Their one bond with the other Balkan nations is their religion; but even I so, o ; very largo percentage of the population is Jewish. The Rumanians as a body have practically no sentimental ties with tho other, four nations of the' group. On the other hand, it would bo suicidal for the Rumanians to attack Bulgaria.. BuU garia is a warlike nation, which Rumania is not, aud, moreover, Russia, Rumania's next-doer neighbour, would never permit an. onslaught upon another Slav State. And here we come to what may bo after all the real moving cause in the swift progress of events which have marked the past few weeks. Russia, haying recovered from the staggering blow dealt her by Japan in Manchuria, and the succeeding revolutionary outbreaks, is; soine wellinformed persons suggest, proceeding methodically on. her old-time paths towards 'long-cherished ambitions. She has hoodwinked Britain in Persia, these' people say, and is acquiring a straugle-hold upon that unfortunate country; and she is beginning to look again with longing eyes upon the Turkish littoral on the Black Sea and the possession of the Dardanelles, once within her grasp, and only snatched from Iter by tho. audacity of Disraeli. That Russian Mobilisation, Cable dispatches reported the other 'day (continues the New York "Post" writer) that Russia had started the mobilisation of seven aruiy corps, 245,000 men, in/,the Polish towns within striking distance of the Austrian frontier. It is true that as soon as. attention: was called-to this, mobilisation,' the Russian Government hastened to .make explanations that , it was only part of a long-meditated test plan, and; was strategically inconiploto. : .Nevertheless,, the 245;000 Russian troops are there. _ Russia has not forgotten what happened in, 1908, When Bulgaria declared .her independence and ivould have forced war- on lurkey, with a view to grabbing . a- slice of Macedonia, had' it not been for; Austrian pressure, hacked up by Ger~ many. •When Russia belatedly took the.part of her Slav cousins,, site suddenly learned that the greater portion oil the German army; had been mobilised cu the Polish frontier, and.that she was helpless.to prevent a. ', sudden .crushing' blow; if .she did not yield to the. demands of neutrality from Berlin 1 and Vienna, Evidently, she does not intend to bo, caught in tie same fix again. And- in all probability she has not forgotten the humiliation which Austria imposed' Upon hot four years_ago.■-. Further* more, she has much to gain from, a war between the Balkan States and Turkey.'] She can ■profit even if the confederation is defeated, for that will'give her ail dppor-' tunity to appear, in the light of protector of the defenceless.' She stands to gam, no matter what happens. ■ If the Balkan States whip Turkey and s.eiz.e.Macedonia and Albania,, then Austria's loiig'cherished outlet to tho Aegean at Salonika is. blocked;, .and nothing .could plea'sa Russia more. Of course, she might .expect to gain certain territorial''concessions,; herself, in return for' tacit '-support, .and lvatriratlv she would expect-jthe free-. >di>ni of tho Dardanelles.;Bu.t first, and foremost she would have helr(ed; to create in south-eastern Europe a, tier ,of. stronger States, allied by blood and. religion, with , ,herself, and certain to prow a thotn.in Austria's side.SO long as' they forgot mutual jealousy. . What more could she ask? Austna may bo able to cow little Servia; but she would not-find it.sp easy to cow Servia, Bulgaria,. - ! MohtenegrOj and' Greece, With Macedonia tljrftvh tti. If the Balkan confederation is to be permanent, it mny well prove a fac- i •forof importance in Burbije's counsels.