NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THERE has been a buzz of diplomatic activity in con- nexion with Count Berchtold's Turkish proposal which has already been communicated to the Chancelleries. Count Berchtold, on his return from Rumania, had a long inter- view with the Emperor Francis Joseph on Friday week. The Austrian Ambassador to Rumania was visited on the same day by M. Isvolsky. After leaving the Emperor Count Berchtold went to Buchlau to make ready for the arrival a week later of the German Imperial Chancellor. The Vienna correspondent of the Times quotes the suggestion of the Neue Freie Presse that Count Berchtold's original reference to a policy of "decentralization" in Turkey may have been simply a citation from the Turkish Constitution, which declares that provisional administration will be built upon a principle of far-reaching decentralization. If that be so, and if Count Berchtold means what he says when he declares that there ought to be no "intervention" by the Powers, it is difficult to see that his proposal amounts to very much.
