Count Berchtold, the Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs, has announced
his intention of inviting the Powers to discuss the Balkan situation with a view to " helping " Turkey in her policy of decentralization. The Austrian newspapers have simultaneously burst into a chorus of cooing about the need Turkey has in her distress of the advice and assistance of friends. To help Turkey to " decentralize " is another way of bringing her to the point of granting autonomy, or something like it, to her European provinces. If that were done in the spirit of the Miirzsteg programme (which was interrupted by the Revolution of 1908) it might he a good thing for the Turkish Government itself, and certainly for the provinces. But the circumstances are different now from what they were when Abdul Hamid was on the throne, and Turkey would no doubt say that " decentralization " with the aid of Europe would mean "partition." It is impossible to say at present exactly what Austria-Hungary proposes. We only state the fact that Count Berchtold is evidently about to produce some- thing from his sleeve, and that the Austrian Press has been instructed to demand the careful attention of the spectators and to watch the expression of their faces at the preliminary announcement.
