The Washington herald., 1911-07-09

Special Cable. to The Washington.
London, July S.-Unsettled questions, it
has well been said. have small regard for
the peace of nations. The unsettled
question of the Balkan peninsula is no
exception to this rule. Once again
Europe, after temporary Iull, Is shud-
dering on the edge of the orator of a
volcano.
| Four years ago, when the Young Turks
made their famous revolution, deQOsing
the old Sultan and seizing the reins Of
government, every one agreed to hope for
! the best. Measures which had been
agreed upon by the powers for the pre-
vention Of massaCres in Macedonia were
suspended and there seemed to DE q gen.
eral fraternizing among all races. The
Christian MussUlmans that inhabited the
dOminiOns of the SuItan's world were
sured day by day that the Young Turks
were highly civilized men, full of the
most liberal ideas.
| One of their chiefs was positive that
henCeforth the empire of the Ottoman
was to be regenerated according to the
latest principles of modern democracy.
The measures agreed upon by the great
powers for the prevention Of massacre
and outrage were suspended. Every
one hoped for the best.
Now, alas a very different spectacle
! meets the eye. The Young Turks have
had a long inning, with the result that
they have developed all the vices of the
old Turks and are applying the Oil OF
! tOman principles with even more TN
sparing severity In the cid days,
| Christians were frequently massacTed, but
! they were at least exempt from con-
scriptiOn. They are now being compelled
to serve in the army which they detest,
the whole control of the army remain
! ing in the hands of the Moslem COM
mander-in-Chief Able soldiers sue
! ceeded in bringing together an army
which is disciplined and we'll srmci, but
is too much distracted by internal divi-
siOns to be an effective force for the
settlement of affairs.
Albania Danger Point.
The old Turkish officials who nave been
turned out are all more or less peuniess.
! The Young Turks have exhausted the re-
sources of the treasury in equpping the
army and endeavoring to provide them
| selves with a navy. Formidable in
surrections have broken out il ArahId,
/ where the Turkish troops have just sus-
tanned severe reverses, and n Albania,
which at the present moment is the
danger point of the situation.
The new Sultan is but a figurehead.
7 None of the Turkish ministers have
shown themselves to be men OF energy
and initiative, and according to the
latest intelligence, just at hand fIOm
| COnStantinople, new revolution may
break out a. any moment.
| The dispute with Greece is still tn
settled. The old Macedonian question
| is as bad as it was before the Young
Turks took power, and circumstances
which just preceded the great war of 1871
! seem to be reproducing themselves with
horrible exactitude on the frontier OF
Montenegro.
Montenegro, or Black Mountain. the
heroic little state which for centuries
maintained alone its savage indepen-
dence among its mountains, is crowded
with refugees from the Albanian heights
which the Turkish general, Torghut
Pasha. IS endeavor1ns TO oaciry II tie
usual Turkish fashion by carrying fire
and sword through valleys inhabited by
Albanian mountaineers.
Austria Warns Turks.
The situation is so serious that the
Austrian government has been compelled
to issue pretty plain warning to the
Turks that they are going too far, but
while diplomats are protesting the
Turkish troops are continuing their
deadly work, and it has now become
evident that the concerted action Of the
powers may have to be taken if the
| rival forces in the neighborhood of Mon
tenegrO are not to precipitate Euro
pean Convulsion. We are back again,
in short, with an aggravation, at the
situation which existed in Macedonia on
the eve of the Young Turks revolution
The powers will have to Intervene and
intervene with decision. On that point
most people are agreed
1t is a great pity that the government
of the United States is unable to take a
hand in his matter. The European pow
ers are jealous of each other and are
slow to move. The American govern
ment, which is largely interested in the
maintenance of law and order through
out Asiatic Turkey, in which so many
devoted missionaries, with their families,
are spending their lives in the attempt to
educate and civilize the people. is free
from all suspicion OF self-interest in
| these regions.
If the storm burst in Asia Minor 1t
would be the American missionaries who
would he the first to suffer, yet the
American government. being outside the
European concert and having no part
in the responsibility entailed by he-reeaty
of Paris and Berlin is compelled to re-
main an unwilling spectator of these
Of hot h,
wide catastrophe.
A few weeks. maybe a few days. may
bring things to a head. The situation is
one which is filling the chanCellOries of
Europe with well-founded alarm Phi
lander Knox would do well to instruct
his ministers to be on the alert and lose
no opportunity of secOnding any effort
that may be made by Germany or any
other power to avert the threatened ca
tastrophe.
rn q