New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-02
MR.. RAL rs PROGRAMME.

Mr.. Rall's first utteranceS as responsible
Minister are such as to vindicate the wisdom OF
his appointment. He Is calm and judcious,
recognizing fully the seriousness of The situa-
ton and intent upon making the best Of 1t with
out regard to popular clamor or extravagant
desires He Is recognizing and strengthening
the army as much and as rapidly as possible. III
there is chance to turn the fortunes of war
by further efforts in the field he will improve
it eagerly But he evidently has little or no
hope Of it, The moment it Is clear that continued
fighting is inadvsable he will stop IT, for he
has no mind ito bring fresh disasters upon the
country by persistlag in n foolhardy war He
will then he ready and grateful to accept the
mediation of the great Powers. That moment IS
evidently near at band. in Mr.. Ralis opinion
as we'll as in that OF the outside world.
Nor are the terms of peace which he suggests
less reasonable than his tone. He will demand
a rectifcation of the frontier in accordance with
the terms Of the Treaty of Berlin To that the
great Powers should surely agree. They made
that treaty They ought not now to repudate
its provisions. And the fact that Greece has
been beaten in war forced upon her by Turkey
does not invalidate her claim to futlment or
that treaty. Germany has congratulated Turkey
on the conquest Of Greece and is understood 10
favor cedng a large tract of Greek territory to
Turkey That would probably teach the EN-
peror's relatives not to get married nor to change
their faith without his permission Russia, too,
nav favor such a scheme because the territory
thus taken from Greece would become Russian
when Russia foreclosed her mortgage upon
Turkey But there are other Powers, notably
France unalterably opposed to any extension
Of Turkish rule in Europe, and determined 70
fulfil their declaration that the aggressor in this
war shall secure no territorial ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
therefrom. There can be no question that the
will Of these latter will prevail.
As to Crete Mr.. Ralli makes most moderate
and practical proposition. That Is, that the
great Powers shall guarantee autonomy and the
withdrawal Of the Turkish garrsOns. AS soon
as they do that he will withdraw the Greek
troops 1t will be difficult for the great Powers
consistently to refuse that plan, since 1t is dent-
cal with what they themselves proposed some
time ago. Annexation Of Crete to Greece Mr..
Rail- evidently does not regard as feasible at
this time. 1t is not, Of course. as long as the
great Powers declare it shall not be and wage
war against Greece to prevent it. And that and
nothing less, is what they have actually been
doing. Under the neutrality laws they should
have withdrawn from Crete as soon as war be-
gan. so that Greece and Turkey might have
fought it out there by themselves, just as on the
Thessalian border. Instead, they remained
there and declared that Greece should not fight
Turkey in that part of the latter's Empire. 1t
was a shocking violation Of neutrality, which
the great Powers ought to be eager to atone for
by accepting Greece's reasonable proposition.
The progress Of the war justifies no expecta-
ton of a turn of the tide in Greeces favor. Gen,
eral SmOlensk who thus far figures the hero
of the war on the Greek side, has made gal
liant stand between Pharsalos and Nolo. But
that is the one bright item in an otherwise
gloomy list The Turks are advancing every
where else, and will soon surround his position
and capture him if he does not fall back to
Domoko or elsewhere. In EpiruS a general re-
treat Of the Greeks appears to have set in. And
the Greek Navy, the one branch Of the services
in which Greece had a decided advantage over
Turkey has been and is practically useless. 1t
spent its time in cruising after nOn-exiSent Turk
ish ships or in bOmbarding unimportant places,
| and left Salonica in peace. though that IS the
one place where it might have broken the Turk
| sh power 1t has not even protected its own
| port of Volo from the foe If such has been the
| case thus far, what can be hoped for the future
| with opportunities UNNECESSARILY less favorable
| for the Greeks? Nothing, except disasters
from foolhardy war; as Mr.. Rail- says, or to
| sue for peace, which Is happily what Mr.. Ralli
| seems inclined to do.