No official statement has yet been made of the terms
of peace which the Russians would accept, but the most vraisemblantes rumours point to the independence of Roumania, increased by the Dobruclscha ; the independence of Servia, the annexation of Bosnia and the Herzegovina to Austria, the autonomy of Bul- garia north and south of the Balkans, the cession of Armenia to Russia, in pledge for the expenses of the war, and the freedom of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus to all nations. Something would be secured to civilisation by these terms, but of course they are too feeble for conditions of permanent peace. They would be the bases for a truce of five years. Constantinople, the major portion of Greece—that is, Thessaly, Epirus, and Rournelia up to the Rhodope chain—Crete, and the rest of the islands would still remain in Asiatic bands. It would be far wiser to liberate European Turkey at once, but of course that would involve three months more war.
