A TURKISH PLOT.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1952, 8 January 1914, Page 4

A TURKISH PLOT.

■■■* At a time when'a period of peace in Balkans seemed to be Assured it is disquieting to hear that another storm-cloud has made its appearance over that war-tortured corner of the earth. . Happily, the cloud is only a small one as yet, and it may not develop. The country immediately concerned is Albania, which was lately granted an autonomous constitution. Under' the arrangement , made by the Powers, the ruler of the newly-created State is to be Pnixcr. William op Weid (a Gorman Principality). Pbincb William is duo to reach Albania on January '20, but. according to a cablegram published yesterday, a Turkish plot has been discovered which aims at placing a Mussulman Prince upon the throne of Albania, and so excluding the ruler appointed by the Powers. The J possibility of another outbreak in I the Balkans on top of the, long and sanguinary conflict which has just terminated will hardly bear contemplation, and it is to be hoped that the Turkish project, if it has really taken definite 3lmp<?, may be nipped in the bud. There is nothing in the outcome of the lato disastrous conflict to encourage any of the countries concerned to invite a- repetition of its horrors. The war has impoverished them all, and in nearly every case has arrested their natural development to a calamitous extent. Bulgaria has suffered most of all. She has gained a slight accession of territory, but this is a poor compensation for the loss of a largo '. proportion of her able-bodied male citizens and the crinpling of her natural resources. The other allies paid, leas dearly for victory, and' have fared rather better, but in prac-1 tically every case their gains are in- i commensurate with their expenditure J of blood and treasure. The one Balkan State which adopted and pursued a judicious policy was Rumania. Of this country De, E. J. Dillon, a recognised authority on affairs in the Near East, has said: "Among tin! ever-moving, everchanging political elements of tho peninsula, Rumania is tho one fixed solid centre which by dint of alternate repulsion and attraction endeavours to keep them from colliding."; •■• '•' •■■■ ;, -■■■