Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-11-02

Little States Rise Up Against
Oppression ct Ottoman
10. s>~>,s~<o MiSrtiie =.

The present Balkan trouble" whiGh
has turned the whole Balkan peninSul I:
from the Danube to the. Bosphorus in.
to armed camps seeming with battle,
differs in an important respect from
the periodic alarms of trouble in the
Balkan" of the last quarter of a CEN
fury, in that 1t is caused by the uprls.
ing Of the little States themselves that
have hitherto been merely pawns in
the diplomatic game Of the great
Powers; aid not by the maneuvers of
these powers for territorial aggrandi.
cement. - 80 - r -
Hitherto every threatened trouble in
this much troubled land has been view
cd with a certain amount ct suspicion.
There has always been the well found
ed belief that whatever happened in
the Balkans was fomented by one OF
the great Powers for its own ends.
The hand Of Austria or of Russia wars
always seen behind every movement.
The present situation is, on the con-
trary, entirely free from this old sus.
picion. - =
The Balkan States, after being Ioni
driven In diplomatic harness, seem
suddenly to have taken the bit in their
teeth, while no one concerned Is more
astonished than the same Powers who
hitherto have held the reins. The Bal
han States have long been a promis-
ing field for almost any ones terri
torial ambitions, but the present mo-
ment is not, so Europe believes, the
psychological one for their further
ment. Just now Europe wants things
left as they are, wants Turkish ter
ritory left inviolate. And that is just
what the Balkan States, aggressive
and Independent, have no intention OF
doing. - - /. = ~ q a. - "s.''> s1@
The Four Allies. e
The four little States which have
taken IL on themselves to defy the
Ottoman empire are Greece i'm the
south, Bnisaria, Servia and Montene-
gro, extending along the Balkan Noun
tains In an almost unbroken line from
the Black Sea to the .Adriatic. That
these four States should have form
ed coalition as they now have Is
one of the surprising features OF.
the whole affair. Only few years
ago most of the world had begun to
believe that racial and national pre-
JUDGES which the Turks in Abdul
Hands day had played upon so eff
fectually would make any approach
to an understanding impossible. That
they have reached this understanding
is due to the fact that teachers OF
state-craft have been abroad in the
Balkans spreading and impressing on
the people the theories, long ago for
INFLATED. of some of the wisest of Ser
Wan statesmen.
Once Part Of Ottoman Empire.
Each of these four States was once
part of the great Ottoman Empire
that at one time reached almost to
the gates of Vienna. Through their
own insistent struggles and finally
through the Intervention of the Pow
ers they obtained their independence,
but the boundary lines that were
drawn to form these States were made
by diplomacy and the expediency OF
state-craft and in no case did they in
clude all of the people that belonged
to the different nationalities. fhe
States have thrived even under great
and today they de-
mand of Turkey that the same bles-
sings of independence they are them
selves enjoying shall be extended to
those of their own race who yet're
main under Ottoman rule.
This desire to benefit. their own
people in the Ottoman Empire and to
collect them into one racial body
for back of the alleged aitruistiC mo-
tive must be considered the question
of the territorial acquisition of the
lands which they at present occupy
Is one of the chief factors in the Bal
kan question. This question, which
has for so many years been of deep
concern to every European chancell-
cry, involves besides these four States
ana Turkey, Austria-Hungary. Russia
and Great Britain. 1t is almost wholly
a question of race and religion and
the aspirations Of the different king
toms for possession of their ancient
domains. Its most perplexins features
rcud have teen settled perhaps
,N;Is ago had il not beeG fer nt. r
jealousies. The ;catousies
grew, SC far as the Powers themselves
we're concerned, out of a desire to
gain possession for themselves of the
MOST valuable paris oI the crumblinE
Empire.