BULGARIANS RETIRE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1605, 23 November 1912, Page 5

BULGARIANS RETIRE.

THE CHATALJA ENGAGEMENT.

TURKISH' ARMY REGAINING •• HEART,

FRESH TROOPS ARRIVING.

By Telegraph—Press A (Reo. November 22, 9.30 p.m.) Constantinople, November 22. The Bulgarians, after abandoning Turkish advanced works, b.umt the railway station at Chatalja and all the surrounding villago, and are now strongly entrenched on. high . ground opposite the Turkish right. ■ The retirement of the Bulgarians had a magical effect on the Turks,'who have passed from gloom to excessive optimism". The withdrawal also, possibly influenced the Porte in refusing the Bulgarian peace terms. . The Turkish position is daily, strengthening. Fresh troops 'are arriving, fresh entrenchments are being made, and a more plentiful supply of food is improving. the morale. The Turkish lines at Chatalja extend for twenty-five miles, and the extremities .can be held by a skeleton force with the assistance of the natural barrier ..of the Lakes of Boyuk-Chek'meje (on the south coast) and Derkos (on the north). ■ , Twelve Greek warships have arrived at Mitylene, and it: is believed that a rear attack on the Dardanelles.forts is imminent, and .will be supported by the Greek fleet trying to force , the Straits. . The cannonade at Chatalja was resumed late on Wednesday night, and is audible in the city. PEACE TERMS REJECTED. , TURKEY'S DECISION. / Constantinople, November 21. It is officially announced that the Porte has rejected the-Bulgarians' terms and ordered Nazim Pasha,: Turkish Comman-derrin-Chief, to Tesume operations. CHOLERA HORRORS.' BODIES LYING IN,HEAPS. London, November 21. - Router's Constantinople correspondent visited the San' Stefano cholera cairip, seven miles from Constantinople." Soldiers on a railway embankment thirty feet high prevent the escape of , ,the nnu&tes. There were appalling. scenes within the camp. Bodies thrown from the ,trains' lay where: they had fallen, some on top of the embankment, while others had rolled half-way "down.' More lay in heaps at the bottom. At, one spot there were sixty dead and dying. They were huddled together, apparently for warinth. When a water-tank arrived and army bread was being distributed, some were able to drag themselves along, and secured food. Others, ated well, and lowered long 'sashes' into' the water, with: which; they moistened their mouths. . Hundreds'. lie dead in all directions,,and thousands of the sick,are mostly without shelter. ' ■ , The "Daily Telegraph's" correspondent describes the Square at Hademkoi as resembling a flypaper covered with corpses and writhing bodies. Some are sitting or kneeling; others lie prone. The dead are piled in heaps in some places. Stretcher-bearers are constantly bringing fresh victims from the camps and forts. All the tracks leading to the impromptu morgue are dotted with bodies. : . Constantinople, November 21. It is rumoured that the Bulgarians are seeking healthier positions' near Chorlu. ■ ' . ' FIGHTING NEAR MONASTIR,, / , 6000 TURKS CAPTURED. ". Belgrade, November 21.' •' Fighting continues around 'Monastir with the scattered garrison. Five thousand Turks, with forty-six guns, have been captured. Thirty thousand left Fiorina before the Greeks arrived. ■ - The Turks had armed the inhabitants of Monastir,. who showed great ferocity, and'inflicted heavy" losses' on the . Servians. .. The fighting line "covered thirty miles, arid the four days' contest' included the most bloody , encounter of- the war: The Turks made desperate counter ,attacks,. which werej continually repulsed. When the Servians captured the heights the Turks made; a final effort, broke through the cordon, and escaped to Ochrida. Prisoners state that eighty ' thousand Turks weie engaged. . " The Servians estimate that twenty thousand Turks were killed or wounded. GREEKS OCCUPY FLORINA. Athens, November 21. The Greeks, under - the Crown Prince, have occupied Fiorina (15 miles south-south-east of -Monastir), intercepted the retreat-of the Monastir army's Tear-guard. Greek, Bulgarian, and Servian officers at Salonika are warmly fraternising. Public fetes are-being held. V AUSTRIAN ALLEGATIONS. SERVIAN OUTRAGES IN ALBANIA. . Vienna, November 21. The' newspaper "Reichpost" says the Servians l'efused to allow M. Wagner to investigate the case of M. Prochaska, Austrian Consul at Prizren. At Nisli, M. Wagner heard a Red Cross doctor-narrate stories of incredible barbarities. The Servians, according to the doctor had refused quarter to Albanians, and mercilessly killed armed and unarmed women and children. General Stefanovich had Albanians captured at Ifratoto formed into two ranks and shot down by a machine gun. The General had said: "Wo must extirpate these favourites of Austria-Hungry." It wag further stated that General Zivkovitch had ordered Albanian and Turkish notables to bo killed at Sjenika. The "Neuo Froie Presso" has received a telegram from M. Prochaska, the Austrian Consul at Prizren, announcing that ho is proceeding to Uskub. NAVAL ENGAGEMENT. CRUISER AND TORPEDO BOATS. Sofia, November 21. r Four Bulgarian torpedocrs damaged the Turkish cruiser Hamidieh, an old vessel of 6700 tons displacement, off the Bulgarian port of Varna, on the Black Sea. Another Turkish oruiser drove them away, damaging their funnels. (Rec. November 22, U. 5 p.m.) Constantinople, November 22. The Hamidieh reports that she was slightly damaged by the Bulgarian torpedo boats, but sank two of the torpedo boats attacking her.

ssocloilon—Copyright SIEGE OF ADRIANOPLE, TITLE FOR TURKISH DEFENDER. (Rec. November 22, 11.5 p.m.) Constantinople, November 22. The title of Ghazi, meaning victorious, has been conferred on General Chukri, commander at Adrianople, in recognition 'of his splendid defence against the Bulgarians. ; ■ WAS .CORRESPONDENT CAPTURED. Constantinople, November 21. The Bulgarians have captured Sir. Angus Hamilton, the "Central News" correspondent, at Chatalja. . . : PRINCESS, BURNS HERSELF. IN DESPAIR 'AT TURKISH DEFEAT. Paris, November 21. Princess Zekkie, the wife-of a Turkish officer, in despair at the'defeat of the Turks at the Lnlo Burgas, erected a funeral pyre in the courtyard of her palace and perished in tho flames. BRITISH RELIEF FUND. , London, November 21. Lord Iveiigh and Sir Ernest Cassel have each given .81000 to the Mansion House fund for the relief of the' no-combatants. The King has 'given ,£IOO and the Queen ,£SO to the same fund. AUSTRO-HUNCARIAM AIMS. NO GREAT SERVIAN STATE MUST ARISE. AN INTERESTING REVIEW. '' Austria-Hungary does not desir© any extension of her territory. This, assertion (writes the Vienna correspondent of the Economist") is.proved not only by the express declarations of official circles, but also by popular sentiments. AustriaHungary made this clear after the annexation of Bosnia by renouncing the right which she held by the Berlin Treaty to occupv the Turkish province of Novibazair. 'this renunciation may, perhaps, have.been,a mistake. It sprang, however, from the confidence which the Monarchy, in common with all the other Great Powers, felt in the regenerating power of the Young lurks. The small and very mountainous, but thinly populated, province of 'Novibazar has a far-reaching interest for ." the,- Austro-Hungarinn nionarchy. South of the Drau-the largest tributary flowing- into the Danube from the west—the Southern Slavs spread themselves out. They are of one race, and it is in consequence rather of their religious beliefs than, of differences of descent or language they-'■""sp'tit "up into • the Catholic Croats and the Greek-Oriental Serbs. Croatia, Dalmatia, and® Bosnia are parts of tho Austro-Hungarian Monarchy; .on the Danube part of this population is included in the kingdom of Servia, and on the Adriatic the kingdom of Montenegro comprises another part. Between these two independent States, both, inhabited by Serbs, the province ot Novibazar has thrust itself. During the Austrian occupation, as at the present time, after its surrender to Turkey, the important'function of. Novibazar has been to.keep these two Serb States apart. The Serb Danger. Austria-Hungary does not want territorial aggrandisement. But she must require, in tho interests ofdier own domain, that Servia and Montenegro shall not join hands across Novibazar and constitute an important State, reaching from the Danube to the Adriatic, and inhabited exclusively by Serbs. For a. single State would 6pnng uponly too readily, owing to national attraction, if Servia and Montenegro adjoined one another, and such n State would be bound to exert an 'attractive force upon the Serbs and Croats inside Austria-Hungary, which would ba dangerous to her existence. In addition, Servia. if enlarged in this way, would alter the balanoe of power in the Adriatic, much to tlie disadvantage of Austria-Hun-gary. In solving the Balkan " question, Austria-Hungary must, therefore, prohibit every expansion of Servia which -would tend to brinpr her closer to the sea across Turkish territory. The : same applies ' to the attempts which are being made to secure complete; autonomy for Albania,' on the assumption that such autonomy would_ entirely repudiate Turkish sovereignty. A completely independent Albanian State would very easily fall under the influence of Italy, aiid thus, in the same way, cause an alteration of the balance of power on the Adriatic unfavourable to Austria-Hungary'.. . Anxious for Reform. If these two axioms of Austro-Hun-garian policy are recognised—if Servia is not allowed to extend to the Adriatic, and Albania is not permitted to -become completely independent .of Turkey—Aus-tria-Hungary will welcome all serious endeavours to improve objectionable condition's in the Balkans. She desires, like the other Great Powers, that reforms should be introduced, but realises from her own experience the difficulties which stand in the way of a serious measure of reform, especially in .-Macedonia. For it would bo wrong to suppose that the turmoil in Macedonia, is attributable mainly to national antipathy. Much deeper rooted are the social antinathies, which may be roughly described bv saying that this agrarian country' is still in a completely feudal state. The Turks are the owners of the land, while the Balkan peoples—especially the. Serbs,- Bulbars, and Vlachs—are dependent agricultural labourers. This is tho root rea<vm why the Young Turkish reirime,. which was built up essentially on the preservation nf the Turkish Empire, could not seriously interfere to solve the Macedonian problem. But even if the freeing of the land produced a certain improvement, there aro further extraordinarily difficult problems to be solved. These are well known to Austria-Hungary, which has. for years, and with threat difficulty, approached a solution of the problem l ; of nationality in torritnvifls with a mixed copulation. The difficulties are increased by tho fact that in Macedonia the various nationalities are not cnnfp'»!rnted in oenarate parts of the country, but are divvied un by districts, by villages, and often from house to' house. Vital Interests at Stake. Austria-Hungary honestly wants peaoo. The fact that she alone of tho Great Powers borders on Macedonia, and that serious disturbances of trado and credit would be bound up with war, makes the desire for peace not merely an official expression, but also an anxious desire of tho people. This love of peace, however, is conditional and circumscribed by the vital interest of the _' Monarchy. The constitution of a Serbian State, Teaching from tho Danube to the Adriatic, or t''fl gift of independence to Albania, woiud endanger these interests. Austria-Hungary has hod in the 400 years of her history to evacuate many positions. Sho has surrendered the hejromony of Germany, and has had to withdraw from Italy. But sho has never yielded without a fight. It may- be that a moment' will come in tho manifold complications of the Balkan question, when Austria-Hungary will consider her vital interests threatened, and will recollect that she has at her disposal an army of 2,000,000 well-drilled and wellarmed troops. In this eventuality AustriaHungary is convinced that evorybody jrill do his duty.