The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1880-12-29
THE SITUATION IN THE EAST.
Agitation Among The Small Fish Of the
Orient as to Which Shall First be
Eaten by Their Voracious
Neighbors.

hoped and his friends feared. By concentrat-
ing the whole moral influence of Europe upon
a tiny fragment of the Eastern question, it
has forced the cession Of Dulcigno to Czerna-
CORA, and has left that little Republic to try
issues with the Albanian Confederacy as to
their joint labors have ceased. Although the
Berlin Conference bound them to extend the
Greek frontier to Janina, the feet Of the
Powers has dispersed without making even
an effort in that direction. Nothing has
been gained but the precedent for united &C
ton 10 all Eastern matters, and of what
practical worth that precedent will be, is a
matter upon which even prophets would not
like to commit themselves. Nevertheless,
the result is q substantial gain for Mr.. Glad
stone. He has lone what the Tories declared
impossible. He has 80 executed he engage
ment they made, as to accomplish results
they hate. He has held Europe together,
with England at its head, through q great
series Of Misunderstanding and distrusts.
He has made the Concert keep together in
time and tune. which Lord Salisbury defied
him to do. lie has followed D ''gigorous
foreign policy" within the lines laid down
by Lord Beaconsfeld himself, and yet has
dealt another blow to the perlnanence of
Turkish rule il Europe. And he has pointed
out the way in which that policy can be ex-
tended, and the Berlin promises can be carried
or4 80 ~, 1rJ ~,ro o-,A &c rrcooa gEsc r,t,,1,
success has been blended with an irony which
must add to its relish.
That what has been effected will secure
peace TO the Balkan peninsula. we see no
reason to believe. On the contrary, 1t has
prepared for q border warfare between Ger
nagora and the Albanians, which can only
hasten the final collapse Of the Turk in
Europe. The Skipetar League do not accept
the cession as final. They followed up its
contamination by looting the sheep Of the
Czernagorans. They will attack the mountain
republic at first in a mere predatory way, and
then more boldly. Their outrsges will arouse
the Slavic blood Of the whole Peninsula. It
will give Russia an excuse 70: Interference,
and perhaps percipitate the final struggle,
which will make the Peninsula Slavic from
the Danube to the Greek frontier. Greece,
on the other hand, means to strike for her
new frontier, without awaiting the co-opera-
ton of the Powers. The Hellenic kingdom
is preparing to fight. We do not think is
prospects very brilliant. It will have no such
active sympathy and assistance from Russia,
IS would a Slavonic nationality. The day is
past when merely ecclesiastical affiliations
determine political alliances in the East. To-
day it is on chronological lines that popular
Russians are rather rivals than friends. The
Panslavonic agitators have been alarmed ut
the large pretenses put forward by some OF
the Philhellenes of Western Europe. They
do not want a revival of the Greek Empire
Of ~Constantlnople. They think that the day
for Hellenic rule in the Peninsula has passed
away, and that the future belongs to the
SlaYs.
In Western Europe there are remains Of
the Philhellenic feeling, which was SO power
full half q century ago. In no one is it more
alive than in the English Premier. All the
mistakes and faults Of the little kingdom and
its rulers have not quenched it there. But
have damped it elsewhere. The plain,
honest story OF, later Greek history, as told Ia
MIR. Lindlay's periodical letters to the Tines,
have stripped this people OF the romance
which once enveloped them, and which
moved that stern Judge of their faults to take
up his residence among them and to devote
himself to their welfare. 1t would be i'm
possible again to excite the enthusiasm which
once aroused the whole literary guild in their
behalf, and which made sober professors and
shy scholars plunge into political life after
the massacre Of Chios, as they had not done
since the Wars Of Liberation. But there is a
remnant Of cordial good feeling towards
Greece, of q disposition to apologize for her
faults, and to wish her well under the rule OF
the sensible Danish prince, who is undoing
the mischief wrought BY bis incapable prede-
cessor.
Mr.. Gladstone, himself the foremost OF the
Philhellenes, may be relied upon to see that
no undue consiraint is exercised upon his
ii their efforts to secure what united
Europe has adjudged to them. Beyond that
he cannot 60 at present. The troubles III
Ireland are more than enough &c occupy the
attention Of d British Premier. and to prevent
bis embarking ID schemes Of foreign policy,