Our strong impression, is_ that in the end the Great
Powers will not find it-posilible to stop the Allies from acting, and that accordingly the outbreak of war is inevitable. The essential difficulty that confronts the Powers is that they cannot agree won any policy except the status quo, and that the status quo Must now be regarded as having broken down. Obviously the Great Powers cannot simply say to the Allies : "Yon shall not in any circumstances help the Christian populations in the European provinces of Turkey to escape from the ills which they now suffer." On the other hand, they cannot tell the Turks that they must grant the demands of the Allies and give autonomy to Macedonia, Albania, and Old Servia, first because the Turks would certainly refuse such a 'demand, even if made by all the Powers, and next because, even if the Turks were to yield, the Great Powers know that they could not agree as to how their demand should be carried into action. In a word, the Great Powers have not got a policy and, therefore, cannot act with the swiftness of decision which alone can prevent war.
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