The "suspension" of the Peace Conference by the Allies on
Monday has caused what there is reason to hope is only a temporary hitch in the settlement of the Balkan difficulty. At the ninth meeting of the Conference, held on Friday week, the Allies announced that they would consider the negotiations broken off unless the Turks agreed on Monday to the cession of (1) Crete, (2) the lEgean islands, and (3) Adrianople. To the first of these conditions the Turks submitted, but, as they remained firm upon the other two, the Allies declared the Conference "suspended "—a word which, it was explained, was used in preference to the threatened " rupture " in order to avoid giving offence to the Great Powers. There has been no disposition to regard this inter- ruption of the Conference as anything more than a characteristic, if critical, stage in the process of making an Oriental bargain. The deliberate softening of their phraseology by the Allies shows that they are willing to proceed when the opportunity offers, while the Turkish delegates openly ex- pressed their regret at the sudden termination of Monday's meeting. It may be noticed that by the process of rotation the chairmanship of the next meeting would lie with the Turks, and it is for them consequently to take the next step—unless intervention comes first from other quarters.
