The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1909-02-19

@
international CONFUSION in
the coming spring, her
- chief statesmen will de-
serve the rraise of history
and the thanks of the whole world. 1t is
in the spring that things happen in the
Balkan region-that present center of
the continent wherein may be struck
the vital spark of European flame. The
Balkans are extremely mountainous,
and the country, difficult of commune
cation in most parts at any time, is
impossible in the winter, when snow
and drift and glacier block the rugged
way, writes A. Francis Walker in the
New York Press.
1t is a country of unrest, OF strife
and turmoil. Year after year the
world has been told each winter
There will be war in the Balkans in
the spring" The world has been
fooled so many times by this rumor
that it has become skeptical, but the
time for skepticism is past. If ever
the rumor is going to find develop
ment in actual fact. it surely will find
it in the spring of 1909. According
to Sir Edward Grey, the British min
lister for foreign affairs, the present
Balkan troubles have caused "the
greatest diplomatic complications of
modern history" Never were so many
international interests involved, nor
dbl so many territorial complications
ever arise at one juncture. The Serb
states seem bent upon fight; Bulgaria,
in her ambitions toward Macedonia,
no longer feels her interests bound up
with Austria; Russia cannot afford to
disregard Slav feeling, however much
she may cry peace; and whichever
way the pendulum swings, ii an out
break should occur, Austria and Tur-
key must find themselves involved.
Germany has promised to stand by
Austria and France and England are
busy safeguarding their status quo.
All Signs Point to War.
The announcement that Austria had
decided to pay the sum of $4,000, 900
or Whereabouts to Turkey as compen-
s;.tion for the annexation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina cleared the air for a
time, but already difficulties have
arisen concerning the actual amount
to be paid in cash, the terms of pay
ment and the refusal of Turkey to
stop the boycott of Austrian trade un-
til the final signatures to the financial
settlement have been written down.
That is only part of the trouble any
way. Servia and Montenegro are
more defiant than vel. The recent
speech of the Servian minister for
foreign affairs in his own parliament
was a fiat defiance of Austrian de-
mands.
M. Milovanovitch, the Servian for
eign minister, practically said Hands
off" to Austria. He bluntly declared
that the balance of power and the lib
critics of the Balkan peoples could be
safeguartled only by Austria ceasing
to be a Balkan power. Further, he
formulated a demand for the auton-
omy of Bosnia and Herzegovina under
European control and for the ~recogni-
ton of the Save and the Danube rivers
as the frontier between the dual mon
archy and the Balkans.
A great power like Austria-Hungary
could afford to remain passive under
p~rovocation from a minor state, and
might well tolerate from a Servian
tongue what she could not possibly
tolerate from Russia, France or Ger
many, for instance a little more con
sideration for the exingencies of the
Servian minister's surroundings might
have led the government of Vienna to
regard the Servian minister's speech
as intended less for foreign than for
home consumption. But Austria is not
inclined to be lenient. AS a matter of
fact, consideration for the weaker ma
ton in general never has been a char.
acteristic of the policy of Vienna. The
whole trend of events during the past
few weeks points to this fact-that
the ties which maintain certain of the
European powers in a state of peace
are of the very slenderest nature and
IldI dIC hllShCCoL i VI vi
n deed may precipitate a struggle the
end of which no living man can for.
see
is Contest of Races.
The fundamental, basic fact back of
all the negotiations between the vari.
GUS powers, principally Austria and
Turkey. Russia and the Balkan prOy-
inces proper, is the collision of two
opposing forces, whose natural trend,
respectively, is east and west, north
and south. Kinglake in his mastery
analysis of the Crimean war has noted
the inevitable tendency of the north
ern peoples to the south and the
warm water. AT the present moment
two great races are Obeying that in
stinct-the Teuton and the Slav.
From west to east, or southeast, the