New-York tribune., 1917-07-26
The Allied Conference and the
Balkans

Two questions must be raised Tor the
Allied conferrees who are to meet IN faris
and discuss the Balkan situation. Ihese
o..;ors are first. whether SarraiPs
ormv shall be retained at Salonica or WIN
drawn and. second, if Sarrail's army is TO
no maintained, shall there be a modifca-
ton of the plans of the Allies for the SET
.,.,,o,+ of The Balkans, a modification de-
signed 10 achieve separate peace with Aus
tria. with Bulgaria and with Turkey!
On the question of the evacuation OF the
Ra,kans it still remains highly problemat-
zeal whether the Allies can afford to aoan-
don salonica and all their holdings in
Macedonia. This would mean the ultimate
obliteration of Serbia, the ultimate re-
versal of conditions in Greece and the 70
turn Of Constantine to the throne, and 1t
vou,d make almost certain the perpetua-
tion of the Mitteleuropa plan of the
Germans.
The Allies will withdraw their troops
from the Balkans only if the strain upon
the Allied transport has become so great
that the burden of Salonica, which Is
heavy. can no longer be borne, or II the
drain upon French man power incident TO
the recent offensive has been so great that
France must recall her troops from the
Ba,kans and her British and Italian allies
are unable to replace them.
While it is possible that the evacuation
NAV take place, it is unlikely. Turning
now to the other question, what are the
notifications planned which must be dis
cussed at the new conference? These
notifications are threefold. AS 1t stands
under the existing Allied agreement, Ru-
mania is to receive Pennsylvania and
Bukowina. and possibly portion OF the
ganat. at the expense Of Austria. Serbia
;s N receive Bosnia, Herzegovina and
norton of Dalmatia and to regain Mace
oonia. Her gains thus would be at the
expense of Austria and Bulgaria. Greece
is presumably to regain Kavala, now occu'
pied BY the Bulgars, and conceivably to re
ce;ve the district between the Mesta anc
the Martha rivers. Italy has announced
the integrity of Albania as created in 1872
which means that she has proclaimed
nrotectorate over Albania from the mouth
of the Boyana to the coast opposite Corfu
If any kind of separate peace with the
Hapsburg monarchy is now to be sought
\ it is plain that there must be an immediate
modification Of Balkan plans. Both Ru
mania and Serbia must renounce Their
claims to territories which are Austrian
and were Austrian before the war began
As Russia has already renounced her claim
to Austrian territory, this would mean thai
a separate peace with Austria might b'
negotiated on the basis of status quo ante
save only for Italian plans.
If separate peace with Bulgaria is tc
be sought, Bulgaria might hope to acquire
the Macedonian territories assigned to hel
il. the Serbo-Bulgar agreement of 1912
which include Monastir, Veles and Istip
the Kavala district, conquered by Con
stantine in 1913, but assigned to Bulgaris
by Venizelos in 1913 and again in 1915
which is now in Bulgarian hands; The
Dobrudja district, taken from Bulgaria by
Rumania at the Treaty of Bucharest; anC
finally the Adrianople district, conquered
by the Bulgars in the First Balkan Wal
and reconquered by the Turks in the Sec
ond. On such basis Bulgaria would gair
upward Of 10000 square miles. an ares
half as large as her territory before the
First Balkan War, and a million and Z
half Of people.
Such arrangements the Allies might con
cciVaDly De aDle 10 perSuduc INC 1reeh'
and the Serbs TO make for the sake o.
peace in the Balkans were it not for tn,
Italian claims and the Italian policy in tn
Balkans. But in the new conference, as il
all past negotiations, the Italian preten
sions must offer the chief obstacle. II
1912 Italy supported Austria in preventing
Serbia from acquiring a window on tn
sea" in Northern Albania, while Austrii
supported Italy in preventing the Greeks
from acquiring the districts of Northerr