NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE preliminary treaty of peace between Turkey and the Balkan Allies has not yet been signed, but there is no unfavourable turn in the negotiations. As we have pointed out in a leading article, there is still much to be decided— indeed the most intricately difficult things to be decided—by the Peace Conference which is to meet in London on Tuesday; and yet there is no doubt that there is a general belief that the preliminary treaty will safely develop into a definitive treaty. That this feeling is entertained in every country of the Concert is of most happy augury. The Powers have removed the Albanian frontier and the disposal of the Islands from the sphere of Balkan intrigue by deciding to settle these matters without reference to the Allies. We hope that the Powers will be able to go further and to give their full authority to the new frontiers to be drawn between Bulgaria and Greece, Greece and Servia, Bulgaria and Servia, and Servia and Montenegro. If the Powers attempt no guidance, but say in effect " Scramble among yourselves," the settlement is not likely to have the stability and prestige which the Great Powers could bestow upon it. In any case, however, we cannot believe that the Balkan Allies will really take the field against one another.
