THE BALKAN SITUATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 56, 31 March 1909, Page 2

THE BALKAN SITUATION.

TlliO AXXEXATIOX QUESTION. London, March ■>'.). Sir Edward (lirv, Secretary 01' st.au: for Foreign Allaji-, ) lias promised t»< recognise the annexation of Bosnia nun Herzegovina whether Servia accepts tin formula or not. If tile Conference ol Powers meets it will lie a mere formality.

GERMANY'S THREAT. BRITISH PRESS COMMENTS. London, March ;!!(. The Times says that Germany has taken advantage of Russia'-, unpreparedncss to put a pistol to her head and compel her to abandon her traditional policy in the Near Eiist. The Pall .Mall Gazette comments on till' spectacle of the creator ol Ine Hague l'eace Conference iK'ing constrained to condone a glaring illegality under a threat of instant war, and adds that Berlin has supported Vienna so that Teuton and not the Mav influence may prevail in South-eastern Europe, it is a repayment for Austria's help at the Algcciras conference, ami demonstrates that tlerniany's isolation may prove costly to those Powers which refuse to become the tools of the Ger- ■ man policy.

ISVOLSKY AN'l) DELCASSE. GEKMAN" POLICY OF ItATiLIXG THE SAIUiE. Recent cablegrams seem to signify a marked triumph by the Triple Alliance —despite the lukewarmness and passivity of Italy—over the Russo-F'ranco-British entente. Germany and AustriaHungary have apparently been out gunning with a vengeance, and while the fire-rating Servian Crown Prince has fallen to the Austrian fowling-piece, the German heavy artillery has routed I lie whole Russian Cabinet. The position of the Russian Foreign -Minister, ,\l. Jsvolsky, is being compared with that of the ex-Foreign Minister of France, M. Delcusse, whose Moroccan policy concentrated upon him the full force" of the Teutonic- fury. It is said that when M. Delcasse resigned in 1905, it was under a threat of frontier mobilisation from Merlin; the Algcciras Conference lollowcd, and German diplomacy gained little after all. Tile analogy is good in so far as the temporary success of the Gel-man policy of " rattling the sabre is concerned, but the conference of till 1 Powers is still a "sine die" all'air, and -M. Isvolsky has not yet resigned, f hough the anger of the liussian Press may be held lo presage such a consequence. His successful financial adjustment of matters in dispute between Turkey and Bulgaria was held to be brilliant diplomacy and to have brought the Bulgarians fairly within the liussian fold. 011 the other hand, the latest development is held to deal a deadly blow at Russia's aspiration to the leadership of the Balkan Slavs and at her conception of a Balkan Confederation designed to check Austrian progress southward. When the Crown Prince George of Servia ■subsequent to the Aiißtro-Hungarian annexations last year, visited . etersburg and brought buck with him -lories of a cordial reception by 1 in- i-.n- „nd more than a hint of Russian .-.;|;>nrl for Servia, the hopes of the Serb, .i.-at 1111duly high. Now comes Hie .. --:<lormation scene—the Russian voile file*, the submission of Servia, tn,. , .own Prince's renunciation. Kiis-i.i's I..;.ignition of tlie annexations—her failure to insist 011 the situation going as an open question before th;> Conference of the Powers—is perhaps no substantial loss to the subjects of the Tsar,, but it is a blow to tlie prestige of Russia, and 110 doubt of the Conference (which was proposed by sir Edward Grev). Perhaps the most notable cll'ect of all is the lurid light which the incident throws oil the methods of Wie "Mailed I'ist." What has been done with army corps might also be done with Dreadnoughts.—Dominion.