The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-12
DRAWING NEARER TO WAR.
MURDER OF RUSSIAN CONSUL by
ALBANIANS ANOTHER STEP.

Blewing Up Of the Maine Had Tor
spain-Failure OF the Macedonian Ne.
form Plan Grows More Apparent
S,,otai oro,s Dsspaieh 10 THE sun.
LONDON, Apr1i ii.-With the inevitaofe-
ness of fate itself the course OF events In
southeastern Europe shapes without pity
or deviation toward a great sanguinary
struggle. Like many another crisis which
has ushered momentous changes In tho
'diestines OF historic races an Unforeseen
event has broken in on the CALCULATIONS
of statesman With such force that 1t promises
to preciptate sl their delicately balanced
considerations down the road whose only
end Is war.
In the present. situation this event 10 the
murder OF NJ. Stcherbina, the Russian
Consul at Mtrovitza. Allowing for the
vast contrast in political conditions IL
may be said broadly that the shot which
ended the Russian agents LIE mao ID IL
for Turkeys dominions in Europe posi-
bilities akin to what the blowing up OF the
Maine had for SPANS Empire In America
II is q difference In degree only, not In
kind.
To appreciate fully the crime Of Nitro
Vita II Is necessary to know who M. steiner
bina was and what he stood for In Russian
policy, which, when all has been said and
done, is the gre I abiding factor OF eastern
EIrops. Stcherbina was born In 1865 at
Tschernigof. He was pupil at the Lazs-
ret Institute OF Oriental Languages at
Moscow, which Is the school for Russian
diplomatists in the East, and entered the
st. Petersburg State Department At the
ag, Of twenty-one, making the study OF the
Balkan Peninsula a specially. Two years
later he wa. attached to the Russian En-
ba,sy at Constantinople. He was then
app ,inted successfully to the Russian con-
sulates at Uskub and Scutari. His intel
ligent, energetic career promised . bril-
liant future FOR him as diplomatist.
His appointment a year ago to Nitro
vita was a most dangerous step for .
man who knew. as everybody elss did.
chat he had made himself obnoxious at
4,cutari to the Albanians, whose language
ne spoke better than any Foreigners. It
was, indeed, his reports on tho state OF
Albania that brought abut his appoint.
ment to Mitrovitza. While there ne did
not conceal his active pan-Slavic propa-
ganda and counteracted Austrian secret
action wherever he found it. Stcherbina
was an energetic Russian official.
The sentt noe OF fifteen years impYison-
ment imposed on the Albanian soldier
libra him, whose shot was calculated a.
accurately as a murderers ever was
amounts to an insult to the Cars Govern
me- mt. That the Sultan would gladly have
him G xe cuted nobody doubts. but what v
Abdul's own position? Not only are all
his bodyguard highland Albanians OF the
most turbulent type, drawn from the same
banSs that alta cked Mitrovit1a. but the
Grrd vizier, Ferid Pa sha. Ii an Albanian;
his chief ia vorite, In Bey, 10 an Albanian.
and his chief cha mberlains. Emin Bey,
s. ifoullsh Bey. Adjiali Bey and Baship
By, are all Albanions.
II is to the Interest OF all these men TO
keep things as they are. Reforms would
man the end OF their system, as 1t would
also mean the end Of the cutthrosi raid
inos Of Their kinsmen in northern Albania
Th &c latter rely on their friends at the
Yildiz Kiosk to bring tho NJ q ssary pressure
to bear on the Sultan. who is as much at
tMir mercy as were formerly the Roman
Empt rors in the hands Of their Pretorian
guards.
The only alternative left to discuss Ia the
Russo Austrian reform scheme. An ex-
perienced observer at Odessa, writing on
April :, has this to say:
1T IL daily becoming more apparent
and probably more plain 10 the Russians
themselves than to others that the Mace
DOMAIN reform scheme Ia not going TO solve
the Balkan question. The project has
really nothing mole potent to recommend
Il than Its well-intentioned inception. All
the wisdom OF all the Cabinets In Europe
might be embodied In a Macedonian reform
project but the result would be sterile IL
its execution were relegated TO the hands OF
the Turks, and in the sequel the situation
would be more dangerously complicated
than ever. It Is true that the malcontent
Bulgarians have done and are doing their
utmost to obstruct and nullify tho Austro-
Russian scheme, but 1t were idle and in
equitable to ascribe to them the whole
responsibility OF its miscarriage
Supposirg that the concert OF Europe Be
substituted for the Russo Austrian combi-
nation, there is even less hope. Mutual
jealousies would make anything except
negative action ineffective.
Europe would object to the Sultan bring
ing over the Kurds, who were 20 effective
against the Armenians, to restore order In
the Balkan peninsula. II only because these
savages would undoubtedly commit out
ratfs on the unarrped Christian peasantry
I. On the plains. and after that European CO.
, Sesion would inevitably fall TO pieces
Z The Tory newspapers Of London bravely
: dsslare that England will never allow Rus
!; IA and Austria to divide Macedonia between
:. them, though it is diff1cult to see who. ex-
cept the Turks. could prevent them they
could agree on the partition, but they win
pever agree while Russia rates Austria
strength so cheaply
Europe knows that Russia knows where
sthe stands. The Cars sincere personal
s'sentlfnent In favor Of peace and the more
.lJnaterial circumstance that the Russian
.,0overimens may prefer 10 postpone the
8 iassttsble awhile. may be influences operst-
ing now. but there Is nothing else visible OF
hopeful augury under the lowering clouds
that momentarily thre eaten to burst upon
what is left o. European Turkey.
! no STOP WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC.
British Government Co-operating Win
Phiisnthropic Societies.