February 6.
A TELEGRAM in our issue last Saturday attributed to Lord Ripon, Lord Privy Seal of the Liberal Cabinet, the statement that the Macedonian problem involved questions "which might give rise to war between Great Britain and Turkey, leading eventually to a European war." Now it is an unwritten law of international diplomacy that direct references to the possibility of war are employed most sparingly and never in a light or irresponsible manner. Consequently, if we are to accept the accuracy of the telegraphic summary of Lord Ripon's remarks, the words cannot be regarded as being without significance; unless, indeed, we are to attribute yet another lapse to a Cabinet that has shown itself embarrassingly " amateurish" in many of its public references to foreign and imperial affairs. In the present instance, however, in view of the fact that Great Britain's activity in regard to Macedonia is inseparably bound up in that of the concert of Europe, we may presume that Lord Ripon's striking utterance was intended rather for home consumption than as an implicit warning to the Porte. As is well known, there is a section of opinion in Britain Sooian question which would tly exercised over the Mace-
favour the adoption of heroic remedies even at the price of! provoking evils yet more terrible than the conditions now prevailing in that unhappy country. A deputy ation on the subject waited upon Sir Edward Grey last July, and while the fact that its spokesman was the Archbishop of Canterbury ensured moderation of language, the reply of the Foreign Secretary, in its comprehensive survey of the problem with which the Government found itself confronted, implied that he was not ignorant of the lengths to which some of his audience would wish Great Britain to go in removing Macedonia's ills. Sir Edward Grey pointed out on that occasion that " to put forward The WE. Herald and S. C. & C. Gazctti '2 proposal of a far-reaching character which meaht a negative from the other Powers was, from one point of view, a cheap and easy way for the British Government to meet criticism at hor did not meet the weakened our position abroad." The Government's intention was.
"to do our utmost to maintain the concert of Europe, but, acting inside that concert, to do our utmost to make that concert as! effective as possible." There can hardly be any intention to-day to depart from this policy and we may hope to find that a full report of Lord Ripon's speech lessens the harshness of the telegraphic summary.
Tf there are those who would raise no objection to Great Britain grappling the Macedonian problem single-handed, there are probably others who may be at a loss to understand why the British Government should concern itself in any way with the question. Our responsibility in the matter, however, though not of our own seeking, was created by the original appeal of the Christians under Turkish rale for help against Mohammedan oppression, materialized in Macedonia when thirty years ago we chose rather to see the territory remain under the dominion of the Porte than to allow it to be handed over to Bul-gona, and cannot be repudiated now when subsequent indifference to the country's fate has led up to the present condition of affairs. To-day, moreover, our responsibility is prompted, perhaps, as much by interest as by senti Even if there were reason to modify our historic attitude towards the "butcher" of Europe, our inter-esta would prompt us to " stand by" in view of a possible disintegration of Turkey and the consequent' remodelling of the map of Europe. For better or for worse Great Britain has thrown in her lot with the other Powers and it behoves her to take an active part in the solution, if one be attainable, of the Macedonian question. This policy has commended itself to the present Government, as well as to its predecessors. While admitting that other Powers nearer to Macedonia have a special local interest in the matter, Great Britain is content to see Austria-Hungary and Russia attempt to carry into effect plans approved by the whole concert. Thus she was a party to the joint note presented to the Porte by these two Powers in 1902; but when neither that scheme of reform nor even the more famous Miirzsteg document of 1903 achieved the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.