whole Balkan trouble, from an internal point of
view, at least, lay in a union of all the peoples and the
establishment of one great nation, or federation of nations. Such a
power, capable of putting two million soldiers into the field, would
not only be able to push the Turk out of Europe, but it would be
such an obstacle to the aggressive ambitions of Russia and Austria
that either would think twice before attempting to overcome it by
force.

This solution had been suggested at various times by various Balkan
statesmen during the past twenty years, statesmen with broader
visions than most of their colleagues. Stambuloff had been one of
them. But such a union, or confederation, while it might prove of
great benefit to the general population, would mean a complete end
to the ambitions indulged in by the various Balkan monarchs and
their cliques. Each hoped to build a great empire which should
include all the rest as inferior possessions. Thus their selfish
ambitions stood in the way of the only feasible plan for a true
remedy for the political ills of the people.

But the new regime in Turkey seemed likely to put an end to their
imperial ambitions anyhow. The Young Turks were spending huge
amounts of money in equipping their army with modern guns and the
admission of Christians into the army was increasing its size too.
Within a few years Turkey would be in such a state of preparedness,
from a military point of view, as to make the task of driving her
out of Europe forever impossible. For each state had been building
up its army for years past with this ultimate end in view.

The time had come to act. It was now or never. The Balkan States
must bury their mutual jealousies, temporarily at least, and form a
temporary alliance with the object of defeating the Turks before it
should be too late. For the time being the spoils could be divided
equally. Later on each might find an opportunity to force
rearrangements. Such an alliance might temporarily suspend, but it
would not end, the individual ambitions of each governing clique.
The idea may not have presented itself so cynically to the man who
first conceived it, but that was the spirit in which it was later on
acceded to by the Governments of the states concerned.

It seems now to be generally conceded that it was the Prime Minister
of Greece, Eleutheorios Venizelos, to whom the credit belongs for
having initiated this new move. Of all the Balkan statesmen, not
om