266 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Kikcrilii.~\ [Vienna 



Roiimania (iijiheld l)y Austria) is in liu-k's way 

 — she has only t" stretch out her hand. 



down and the equilibrium broken, the 

 chances of a great war have not been 

 removed, but rendered all the more cer- 

 tain. The disappearance of Turkey re- 

 veals the rivalry between Austria and 

 Russia, the chief cause of future trouble, 

 and it will have other consequences and 

 corollaries. Since the advent to the 

 throne of Wilhelm II. the writer has 

 never believed in the possibility of an- 

 other war between France and Germanv, 

 and since the conclusion of the Entente 

 Cordiale he has never believed in a war 

 between England and Germany. But to- 

 day he does believe in a great Germano- 

 Slav encounter, because it is the neces- 

 sary fatal and logical consequence of 

 the conflict which for twent}--five cen- 

 turies has been waged between East and 

 West. This war will not take place im- 

 mediately, he hastens to explain. 



THE BULGARO-ROUMAXIAX DIFFICULTY. 

 Examining the chief points in dis- 

 pute, he begins by noting that the Bal- 

 kan Allies, while united for the military 

 operations, were not exempt from other 

 serious friction, and though the\' pre- 

 sented a united front to Turke}-, he 

 doubts whether the coalition will remain 



one and indivisible, as announced by 

 optimists. When Turkey is dismem- 

 bered, the spoils will have to be divided 

 in a manner to satisfy not onh' the 

 Allies, but especially the Great Powers. 

 a thing all the more difficult because of 

 the lack of natural frontiers, each being 

 occupied b\- a melange of races. 



THE CASE OF ROUMAXIA. 



At the Congress of Berlin Roumania 

 was very badly treated, though M. Wad- 

 dington pleaded her cause most warmly. 

 The Roumanian troops had been the 

 real \ictors at Plevna, and }'et as the re- 

 ward of her services Roumania saw her- 

 self robbed by Russia of Bessarabia, a 

 rich Roumanian province, in exchange 

 for part of Dobruja, then poor and 

 sterile. Roumania to-day is stated to 

 have made the mistake of believing in 

 the declaration of the status quo, and 

 has been surprised at the discomfiture of 

 the diplomacy of the Great Powers. 

 Her route of expansion, the route to the 

 ^gean, is closed. She has an excellent 

 arm)' and she is destined to play a con 

 siderable role in future events. 



RETARDING THE GREAT EVENT. 



The fiction of an Ottoman Empire on 

 the shores of the Bosphorus obtained b)- 

 the maintenance of the Turks at Con- 

 stantinople is still one of those lame 

 artifices dear to modern diplomacv. 

 England ought to note the feelings of 

 her Mussulman subjects, who are mani- 

 festing the greatest irritation at her in- 

 action. By making herself the guardian 

 of the hoi}- cities of Islam she would 

 become the great protector of the Mus- 

 sulmans all over the world. Had the 

 Great Powers, instead of exchanging 

 Notes which did not say much, accom- 

 panied b\' conversations at which 

 nothing was said, only emerged from 

 their verbosity and arrived at a firm 

 decision, the Balkan War would cer- 

 tainl}- have been avoided. But if diplo- 

 matists are unable to foresee events of 

 this gravity, of what use are the\- :^ The 

 day is not far distant when the most 

 opposed interests will find themselves 

 face to face in Mesopotamia and Asia 

 Minor, and on that da)- there will be no 

 congress and no conference to prevent 

 the fulfilment of destiny. 



