Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1903-09-21
CREEK. BULGARIAN AND TURK.

parent singularities Of the present
eastern situation. Here Is 4 state
which six or seven years & was ap-
pealing 10 c~hristcndom for sympathy
end military aid In It's struggle with
the Ottoman power over the fate Of
Much has happened since 1897
20 weaken the memory Of the Greek.
Turkish war. but most Of us have a
recollection Of The Cretan iIlsnrrec-
tlon. the intense sympathy Of the
Greek people for the Cretan cause OF
autonomy or more especially Of an
nexation TO Greece, and finally the
desperate pIung Of the Greek govern
ment into war with the sublime porte.
A leading statesman and former
premier OF Greece, Mr.. zaimls. has
recently made a public declaration
that Grccian sympathies are with the
Turks, AMI that the Greek govern
ment even Is prepared to co operate
With the sultan In snppressing the
Macedonian ~inglirrectiun. He appears
To believe that the uprising u due to
the Vaccinations Of Bulgarians, who
seek the ACKNOWLEDGMENT Of the Bull
garian state. From the Greek stand
point III Balkan politics, that would
never do. There are Greek aspira.
tions 10 expansion and supremacy In
Macedonia as well III Bulgarian. The
Greek tradition goes hack 70 Philip
and Alexander OF Macedun, who CON
auered all the known world DC classic
antiquity. To-Day Greeks form q very
large proportion Of tho population Of
Macedonia. especially in the southern
paFt. and # III the hope nc Athens that
the north shore Of the Egcan clear
around Ii the Darlanelles Will some
time be brought within The jurisdic-
tion of the Greek kingdom.
a glance at the map must show how
the dream Of greater Greece CON
fiicts with the dream OF greater Bull
garia.v II aspirations for the political
and economic growth Of Bulgaria are
over to be realized. tba state must
touch some other sea TIL Enxine,
which Ii nav virtually i nike.
Access to the Egean v once
raise Bulgaria In Importance aud pow
er, by giving Il both a Black Q and
a Mediterranean littoral. while on the
north for hundreds OF miles il banked
the Danube. Greece, already pushed
SO far down the Hellenic peninsula
It's economic strength Is too
slight to maintain the burden Of inter-
national rivnlries, would be threatened
with %suffocation: and the statesmen Of
modern Hellas are thus more recon
ciled to the continued dominion Of
the Turk, under the heavy restraining
hand Of Europe. than TO the possible
expansion Or 4 rival Christian state
In a region that the Greek themselves
much covet..
The Greek Indifference to those
faults or Moslcm rule with which
C~hrlstondom has grown 80 familiar
tends TO throw light upon the whole
eastern question. when the specific
Issue Of the Ottoman regime was the
fate Of Crete. the Greeks aroused
q fcverish agitation against the dom.
Of the Turk and appealed with
the usual success to Christian hatred
Of the Mohammedan faith. Crete was
near the Greek coast, and It's annex
was ardently desired In order to
strengthen politically the Greek king
dom but when Bulgaria threatens
10 play exactly the same role In reln
ton 10 Macedonia the Greeks sudden.
~ discover that Turkish rule. for the
time peing. satitles them and that
here is not the slightest use In com
planning OF the Mohammcdan rolig-
lon. The Springfield tMass.) Republi-
truthfully asserts that no n
needs to be unusually discerning o.
especially learned In history 10 under
stand that. after all. there Is a great
lcal OF selfish politics. national rivalry
Ind racial luminosity In the Balkan sit.
All these small states. which
one time or another have been lib
Grated from Turkish dominion, are
bent on their " ACKNOWLEDGMENT
IND they even use the traditional en-.
between Christian and Moslem,
Ind the fact Of Ottoman incapacity
o rule decently and wei. 10 advance
heir paitry little ambitions o IN the
chess. board VI southeastern
Europe.
This opposition Of political interests,
This diversity o. aspirations among
Christian states and races has been