RUSSIA AND THE ALLIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 152, 14 November 1912, Page 3

RUSSIA AND THE ALLIES.

THE NEW HARMONY IN THE BALKANS, OLD FEUDS FORGOTTEN. What strikes a student of the Balkan imbroglio as the most significant of all the phenomena this outbreak (says' a recent writer in the New York Evening Post) is the actual formation of a Balkan Confederation. 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 them at swords' points with each other, and exhibited appreciation of the advantages of co-operation.. The Serbs have forgiven the Bulgars for the thrashing they got at Siivnitza in 1885.; the Bulgars have forgiven the Serbs for their age-old jealousy of Bulgaria's acquisition of Eastern Roumelia and her dominant position in the Balkan group; the Montenegrins, blood-brethren of the Serbs, apparently join with them in their cordiality towards King Ferdinand's country; and, most wonderful of all, the Greeks have forgiven the Bulgars and Serbs for the schism which split the Orthodox Greek Catholic Church. Only five years ago, the Bulgarian and Greek chetas in Macedonia were always at each other's throats, the Greek and Bulgarian monasteries in Macedonia kept bands of comitajiis in their pay for purposes of armed proselytising, and the Greeks were always willing to form alliances with the Turkish troops in order to wipe out Bulgarian bands. ONLY ROUMANIA STANDS ALOOF. Jfow, apparently, all is different. For the first time since the battle of Kossovo, in 1489, the Christians of the Balkan Peninsula are presenting a united front to the Moslems. With one exception, however. The kingdom of Roumania, which is one of the ethnic and geographic anomalies of Europe, was held clear of the Balkan Confederation, largely, perhaps, because she can see no prospect of territorial aggrandisement from making common cause with her sister States.

Eoumania, of course, is more Latin than Slav. Her people claim to be descendants of the ancient Roman colonists of Trajan's time, and, indeed, they have all the physiological peculiarities of Italians, while their speech is ranked nearer to ancient Latin than the language of the modern Italian. Their one bond with the other Balkan nations is theii religion; but even so, a very large percentage of the population is Jewish. The Roumanians as a body have practically no sentimental ties with the other four nations of the group. On the other hand, it would be suicidal for the Roumanians to attack Bulgaria. Bulgaria is a warlike nation, which Eoumania is not, and, moreover, would never permit an onslaught upon another Slav State. And here we come to what may be after all the real moving cause in the swift progress of events which have marked the past few weeks. Russia, having recovered from the staggering blow dealt her by Japan in Manchuria, and the succeeding revolutionary outbreaks, is, some well-informed persons' suggest, proceeding methodically on her old-time paths towards long-cherished! amhitions. She has hood-winked Britain in Persia, these people say, and is acquiring a strange 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, ance within her grasp, and only snatched from her by the audacity of Disraeli. THAT RUSSIAN. MOBILISATION. Cables despatches reported the other day (continues the New York Post, writer) that Russia had started the mobilisation of seven army 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-meditat-ed test plan, and was strategically incomplete. Nevertheless, the 245,600 Russian troops are there. Russia has not forgotten what happened in 1908, when Bulgaria declared her independence and would have forced war on Turkey, with a view to grabbing a slice of Macedonia, had it not been for Austrian pressure, backed up by Germany. When Russia belatedly took the part of her Slav cousins, she suddenly learned that the greater portion of the German army had been mobilised on 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 and Vienna. Evidently, she does not intend to be caught again in the same fix. And in all probability she has not forgotten the humiliation which Austria imposed upon her four years ago. Furthermore, 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 an opportunity to appear in the light of protector of the defenceless. She stands to gain, no matter what happens. If the Balkan States whip Turkey and seize Macedonia and Albania, then Austria's long-cherished outlet to the Aegean Sea at Salonika is blocked, and notlr.vcould please Russia more. Of course, she might expect to gain certain territorial concessions herself, in return for tacit support, and naturally she would expect the freedom of the Dardanelles. But first and foremost she would have helped to create in south-eastern Eur; ope a tier of stronger States, allied by blood and religion with herself, and certain to prove a thorn in Austria's .side so long as they forgot mutual jealousy. What more could she ask? Austria may be able to cow little Servia; but she would not find it so easy to cow Servia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Greece, with Macedonia thrown in. If the Balkan Confederation is to be permanent, it may well prove a factor of importance in Europe's counsels.