Balkan Rapprochements The second annual Balkan Conference, which has just
ended at Stamboul, was bound to be a sterner test of the movement towards rapprochement than the first., held a year ago at Athens. Last year all was novelty and enthusiasm. This year committees had been in session and concrete proposals were presented. Some of them, for a common postal system, for a common legal system, for commercial agreements directed towards an ultimate customs union, have been approved in the abstract. The Greco-Turkish understandings effected since the conference last met had prepared a favourable atmosphere. Anything making for cordiality in Balkan relations is a contribution to the maintenance of the peace of Europe, and the Balkan Con- ference may well have a permanent value, even though its members are unofficial. But hard words as well as soft were uttered at Stamboul, particularly by the Bul- garians on the subject of minorities, which they refused to have discussed. As the conference ended new protests were reported by Jugoslavia against Macedonian guerrilla aggression from across the Bulgarian frontier. The Belgrade government threatens to bring the whole ques- tion before the League, which is probably the best thing it could do, though the League has enough thankless jobs on its hands as it is.
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