The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1913. THE BALKANS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 292, 2 May 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1913. THE BALKANS.

There is something heroic about the way the little kingdom of Montenegro is defying the world to oust her from Scutari, a fortress upon the gaining of which .she had staked practically her existence as a nation, and which she secured, it now se'ems, more by diplomacy than by military superiority. Montenegro has lost none of her old bellicose spirit and self-reliance. She was the one country the Turks could never subidue, and remained a thorn in the side of the Ottoman. The valiant hillsmen care not for European ultimatums or threats. They simply say they are in possession, which is equivalent, so we arc told, to nine points of the law, and do not propose to evacuate what they have sacrificed so much for. The Powers gave them forty-eight hours to leave the town several days ago, but, they are there yet, and seem likely to remain until they are ejected. Austria seems eager to act the part of bailiff, if one may judge from recent cables, and is taking up a menacing attitude towards the Montenegrins. We are told that an expeditionary force of 40,000 men is all that is needed to eject the Montenegrin army, which would be done "without bloodshed." If Austria carries out her threat she may provide the match for I starting a general European conflagration. It is a most perilous position, and one can appreciate the anxiety of the European diplomats and statesmen at the present time. Their task is no easy one. Some of the Loudon papers suggest, however, that Austria is merely playing a game of blurt". Whether she ■is or not, one tiling is certain, if she moves towards the Montenegrins, she will be confronted by the armies of the whole of the Balkan States, which, in any case, are considered by military authorities to be more than a match for even the 700,000 or 800,000 men Austria thinks she can pour across the Danube. But Austria would have to reckon on greater opposition than facing these i seasoned and excellent soldiers. She would probably have to take into ac'count the open hostility of the Russians, the cousins and aiders and abettors of the Balkan States, who, too, have not forgotten the treatment Austria, with the assistance of Germany, meted out to her a few years ago over the peremptory annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Russia never forgets. She realised her helplessness to resist her neighbor's brigandage 011 that occasion, for her war with Japan had left her bleeding and weak, but it is unlikely she will ever be caught napping again, Now she is prepared, perhaps eager, for eventualities. Austria knows it, and so does Germany. That knowledge will probably stay Austria's hand. Austria has played a very selfish part ever since the Balkan State revealed to the world their, great military strength, which Austria had always derided. The latter confidently thought that the Allies would be soundly beaten in their contest with the Turks. Xo doubt the wish was father to the thought, for the weakening of the Slavonic States would have given her the opportunity she always coveted of extending her Empire southwards. The success of the Allies effectually, killed this ambition. She cannot expand in any direction now, unless she is prepared to light the whole Slav world. A big proportion of her own population are Slavs, with no sympathy with the reigning dynasty and every sympathy with their relations in the Balkans and Russia. If Austria will only cease her "dog-in-tlie-manger" attitude, a satisfactory settlement of the present problems in the Balkans will soon he reached.