It is hard to discern any real improvement in the
news from Macedonia. The Sultan, according to the Sofia correspondent of the Times, has issued an Trade accepting most of the proposals put forward by the Bulgarian Government, and has instructed Hilmi Pasha to carry out its provisions without delay in the three Macedonian vilayets and that of Adrianople. Under this plan Macedonia would be governed by an Inspector-General, aided by a mixed Commission of Bulgarians and Turks, which would reform taxation, equalise the position of Mahommedans and Christians, and restore personal seemity. This task accom- plished, the Commission would become the Council of the Governor-General. The plan, like a dozen others, might work if there were any intention of its working; but there is none, and Constantinople will go on " repressing " Macedonia. We are strengthened in this view by the fact that simultaneously with the announcement of the Sultan's Irade an official com- munique' has been issued at St. Petersburg and Vienna curiously in accord with Mr. Balfour's unconvincing utterance as to "the balance of criminality." The present state of affairs in the Turkish vilayets, so the document runs, "does not alter the attitude of the Powers in regard to the programme of action put forward early in the year by the two Powers most interested." Unless the Sultan is really alarmed by the Bulgarian military preparations, or secretly fears they will be backed by some Great Power, the situation cannot be said to have improved.
