MAKING A TRUCE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 32, 7 February 1913, Page 4

MAKING A TRUCE

THE MEETING AT CHATALJA. ' A DRAMATIC PICTURE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 14th December ' Mr. Luigi Barzini sends to the Daily Telegraph by far the most graphic and intimate story we have had of the negotiations between the rivals chiefs between the lines at Chatalja, where the preliminaries of peace were arrived at. He says : J "Night had fallen and in the interior ! of the railway carriage the lamps had been kindled for some time. The meeting 'took place, like the preceding ones, in the Turkish train, which at half-past 4 in the afternoon had emerged from among the Turkish positions and had slowly descended the slopes of the forti' fied hills, appearing and disappearing between the entrenchments until it had stopped at the bridge over the Kara Su, at the foot of the Ottoman forts. That small black convoy, which glided slowly down the bare hills, wbs the only living thing in the vast desolate, hostile landscape which was darkening with the declining day. "At our approach a company of Turkish infantry on the other side of the Kara Su formed Up alongside the railway and remained motionless, like a vast grey hedge. Almost at the -same moment the two trains reached either end of the bridge, of which only one footway remains intact. A minute later the plenipotentiaries of the Balkan States passed in Indian file close alongside the steel parapet. With Dr. Daneff and Generals Savoff and Pitcheff representing Bulgaria, Servia. and Montenegro, there was the Hellenic Minister, M. Panas, representing Greece. They were followed by a suite of officers. "A Turkish military command rang out in the silence, and the guard of honour rigidly presented arms. The Buigarians and Greeks returned the salute. Rechid Pasha, Nakim Pasha, and 'an officer of the Turkish general staff Were standing alongside the railway station.' "Precisely at 5 o'clock the plenipotentiaries shut themselves in the compartment where the sittings had been held.A few minutes later the Greek Minister, deeply moved and with a serious expression on his face, came out 'and went away without saying a word. 'He was accompanied by the Greek attache, and they both Went to resume their places in the train which had brought them to the place of meeting. "What had 1 happened? Greece had withdrawn from the agreement. The Turkish and Bulgarian officers belonging to the two suites, who were conversing together in low tones in the neighbour ing compartment, became silent when they observed the old diplomatist, who was one of the most active figures in t the formation of the Balkan ajliance, pass with frowning brows before the windows of the carriage, and for some minutes none of them spoke. No sound came frohi the neighbouring compartment, and it seemed as if- the plenipotentiaries were sitting in silence arouhd their table. . THE NIGHT OF DESTINY. " "Night came. Th? two engine's ,had lighted their great round eyes, a'reflection of 'which trembled in the waters of the Kara Su, • the terrible stream which merits its name of 'black.'. In its mud^hqndreds^f, Bulgarian soldiers 'disappeared while .trying to .ford? it as" the;y fearlessly advanced to the attack of > the enemy's positions about sixteen days ago. A deep but intensely remote hum, a dull roar, , scarcely . perceptible in. the quiet of th» night, came from the west. As in 'other .moments of absolute calm, the echo of the artillery at Adrianople reached us apparently from the direction of Stamboul. Battle was raging more furiously than ever around the besieged city, and its terrible roar insinuated itself amongst the words of the . plenipotentiaries. "The discussion was prolonged on the tight of the Bulgarian military trains to pass Adrianople. That right would deprive the Turks of any hope of resuming the war with success— if they cherished such a mad hope. "After a long silence, Nazim Pasha suddenly exclaimed:' 'Well, let it be so," but wait ten days before sending your trains through. Wait for the beginning of the peace negotiations in London.' "Dr. Daneff, whof was sitting opposite the Turkish generalissimo, rosa and solemnly extended his hand, saying : 'It is finished ; We are in agreement.' "It was 20 minutes past seven. Ihe plenipotentiaries, moved by um'estrainable emotion, all rose to their feet. The tension had been too long and too intense. A sudden reaction came to their tired mindß, a wave of emotion seized them when the last barrier which separated them had fallen ; for one moment they forgot the tremendous struggle between them, and with a spontaneous, irresistible gesture they exchanged an embrace and a kiss. "Savoff, the rough Bulgar , generalissimo, and Nazim Pasha, the supreme commander of the Turkish army, clasped each other in silence. The joy of triumph- and the pain of defeat vanished for one moment beneath "a wave of* human fraternity. It was'a moment of noble and silent abandonment. Precisely at, eight o'clock the plenipotentiaries listened to the reading of the agreement of armistice, and placed their 'signatures to the document, which was drawn up in French."