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REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



interest in every way to bring about 

 the end of a Slav alliance. At all costs 

 she wants to avoid the creation of a 

 strong Balkan Federation. It is all to 

 her interest to drive Bulgaria into the 

 arms of Roumania, and thus cleave the 

 Balkans into two camps. Servia and 

 Greece on the one side, Bulgaria and 

 Roumania on the other. Such a divi- 

 sion gives Turkey a chance of asserting 

 herself, and once mor*; gives Austria a 

 dominant voice in Balkan affairs. 

 There is little doubt that King Charles 

 of Roumania, will range himself on the 

 side of Ferdinand, providing the con- 

 siderations the latter gives are suffi- 

 ciently large. Under present circum- 

 stances Bulgaria has little choice. Sup- 

 ported by Roumania, she is certain to 

 secure a large portio<i of the territor}- 

 she originally conquered from Turkey, 

 even to getting a port on the Aegean. 

 She can afford, therefore, to give Rou- 

 mania a very adequate bribe in land 

 elsewhere. The present arrangement 

 is a peace conference at Bucharest, the 

 capital of Roumania. The Servians 

 and Greeks refuse to stop their advance 

 meantime, but will, no doubt, do so 

 when they find to press on means a 

 struggle with the soldiers of King 

 Charles, admittedly the finest and best 

 organised fighters m the Balkans. 



The Turks' Chance. 



The most difficult problem in a mass 

 of intricate questions is Turkey's posi- 

 tion. Taking advantage of the war be- 

 tween her late adversaries, her troops, 

 marching over the stricken fields of 

 Lule Burgas and Kirk Kilisse, have oc- 

 <:upied Adrianople unopposed. A few 

 short weeks after that fortress fell in 

 the midst of fearful slaughter and flam- 

 ing death to the triumphant Allies, 

 Turkey peacefully finds herself in pos- 

 session once more. In this history re- 

 peats itself, for time and again the 



Turk suffered defeat in the Balkans 

 onlv to win unostentatiously in the end. 

 The Powers have ordered the Turks to 

 evacuate Adrianople, but the Sultan 

 suggests a rectification of the frontier 

 before that is done. Unless his ad- 

 visers have entirely lost their cunning, 

 a hard bargain is no doubt being driven 

 between the Sublime Porte and Servia 

 and Greece, or Bulgaria and Roumania. 

 Turkey stands to win back much she 

 has lost, for the Powers will never risk 

 a war in order to hand Adrianople back 

 to its late conquerors. It is highly im- 

 probable that Russia will be permitted 

 to occupy Armenia until Turkey com- 

 plies with the commands of the Powers. 

 Neither Austria nor Germany would 

 tolerate that. The alternative is to use 

 Roumania as a catspaw to pull the 

 chestnuts out of the fire for the Powers, 

 but Roumania, having once tried that 

 game, will never attempt it again. It 

 would not be surprising to find Turkey 

 emerge from the struggle with a fron- 

 tier marching with the River Maritza, a 

 boundary which would give her 

 Adrianople. Whichever of the Balkan 

 combatants would agree to this could 

 probabl}- count upon her assistance. 

 Meanwhile, alas! neither Austria nor 

 Russia will be anxious to prevent the 

 Balkan States weakening themselves, 

 being bled, to use Bismarck's phrase, 

 as white as veal. 



Atrocities in the Balkans. 



When I travelled through the Balkans 

 some }'ears ago, the general opinion 

 expressed was that the vexed and in- 

 tricate Macedonian question would be 

 settled by all the inhabitants of that 

 Tom Tiddler's land being killed out by 

 the Turks. One shudders to think what 

 has happened to these ill-fated wretches 

 during the last few months! After all, 

 the races in conflict have not got any- 

 thing like so far along the road of 



