Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1908-11-11
NEW MOVE
Questions Involved IN Annexing
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
STATUS OF THE PROVINCES.

What the Mandate Austria Received
From the European Powers Meant.
| Measures uHdertaken That Indicated
Permanent Occupation.
Austria's annexation Of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, with Servia's resentment
thereat. seems today to furnish the
only probable cause of war, says the
New York Post Now, there are three
questions that we have to consider In
connection with this Austrian action.
What had European diplomacy In
mind when, at the termination Of the
Russo Turkish war Of 1878, 1t gave
Austria Hungary the mandate to Oc-
cupy and administer Bosnia and Her
Eegoyina7 What ultimate disposition
OF the provinces can be thought Of
other than the one which the powers
are now calling upon to ratify7 How
far is the Incorporation into the dual
monarchy already an actual fact?
When the representatives OF the
powers met at Berlin In 1873, what
they were called upon to do was to re-
organize the political system Of the
Balkan peninsula--that is, to arrange
the precise manner In which the dis
memberment Of the Ottoman empire
in Europe, brought about by Russia's
onslaught, was TO be Effected The
terms imposed by Russia upon Turkey
In the treaty Of San Stefano were to
be set aside, but Turkeys disintegra-
ton was to be accepted as an accom-
plished fact Roumania. Servia and
Montenegro were cut loose entirely
from their Turkish mornings; Bulga-
ria, for FIVE centuries an integral part
of the Ottoman realm, was erected
into a Christian principally, tributary
to the porte: eastern Roumelia was
created an autonomous province under
a Christian governor The mandate
which Austria Hungary received TO ad-
minister Bosnia and Herzegovina
could not very well have been con-
ceived TO mean anything else than the
permanent severance of those regions 5
from Turkish rule. Russia as COM
PEELED to forego In great part the fruits
OF her dearly bought victory. The
turning over OF Bosnia bodily to Aus
tria-Hungary would however. have
been too much for Russia to swal-
low. and so modus had to be found.
The oppressed Christian Bosniaks and
Herzegovinians, whose uprising in
1875 had Initiated the commissions that
brought Russia to the gates Of Con-
stantinople. 1t was agreed. could not
be allowed to remain under the Turk
ish yoke
Could the thought have been enter
tained by the diplomats at Berlin that
the European concert might eventually
restore Bosnia to the sultan? This
country had its long tale of misery I'M
der Ottoman domination, as well as its
Servia. Its medieval feudal
lords had, after the Turkish conquest,
saved themselves by embracing Islam,
80 that here the spectacle was present.
ed of the oppression Of Christian ra-
yahs by Slavic Mussulmans. Naturally
the Bosnlak Mussulmans. the dominant
class. did not relish the idea Of being
transferred to Christian power. The
negotiations of the treaty Of Berlin
evidently did not anticipate any des-
perate resistance on their part Yet
there was bloody work ahead for Aus
tria. The subjugation Of these brave
Mohammedans was not an inspiring
spectacle. but Christendom looked
calmly on while Austria carried out
the mandate of the powers. Having
thus been severed from it's connection
with Turkey, Bosnia was practically
bound to remain so. even in face of
the convention signed by Austria Hun
gary at Constantinople on April q,
1879, in which the Turkish rights of