The Balkans Crisis

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 118, 4 October 1912, Page 5

The Balkans Crisis

FLOCKING TO THE COLOURS.

WAR RISKS.

RAILWAY TRAFFIC STOPPED.

By Cable— Press Received 3, 9.45 p.m.

London, October 3. A number of Servians in London, notified of the mobilisation, have left to join toe army. *

The underwriters at Lloyds' are shy of war risks. They state that the public do not know what to think of the situation.

Bulgaria has engaged a prominent English aviator, and other engagements We contemplated.

Reports state that Bulgaria and Servia faave stopped all railway .traffic with Turkey.

Constantinople, October 2. The Samoa armistice has proved fruitless. Hostilities are being resumed. The Anglo-French blue-jackets are preserving order at Vathy.

THE REWARD OF VICTORY.

RED CROSS MOBILISING.

Berlin, October 3. Herr von Kiderlen-Waechter, German Chancellor, states that it is impos•ible for the Powers to permit changes of territorial status in the Balkans. The fact that the only reward of victory -will be glory should have a ((ranquilising effect. The first result of war will be the conclusion of peace between Italy *nd Turkey.

St. Petersburg, October 3.

The Red Cross is mobilising and preparing detachments for Servia "and Bulgaria.

Vienna, October 3. The Emperor Josef has visited the King of Greece.

AVOIDING USE AS TRANSPORTS,

TURKISH COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.

Received 3, 10.40 p.m. Constantinople, October 3. Greek steamers in Turkish waters are kurriedly transferring to foreign ownership to avoid detention and use as Turkish transports. Abdullah Pasha las been appointed Commander-in-Chief.

TURKISH ENTHUSIASM.

THE WAR FUND.

ROUMANIA JOINS THE BALKANS

PEACE PROSPECTS.

Reeeived 3, 11.50 p.m. Constantinople, October 3.

A wave of patriotism is sweeping over Turkey, evoking national courage, unity and self-sacrifice.

The Committee of Union and Progress has issued a proclamation wholeheartedly supporting the Government. Wealthy families are curtailing their expeases with a view to contributions to the war funds.

Hakki Bey, in a letter to the press, says that the Balkan States seeking aggrandisement means the diminution of the power of Austria and Roumania. The former will be closed to the new circle, which is not suited to either Germanism or the Magyers. His statement is regarded as significant, in conjunction ■with the Roumanian Minister's interriew and the recent appointment of the King of Roumania as a Russian FieldMarshal, .which is interpreted to mean that Roumania will side with the Balkan States.

An all-night outpost fusillade occurred near Mustapha. A number were wounded on both sides.

Vienna, October 3.

The Emperor Franz Joseph remarked to the King of Greece that he hoped and believed that, despite the difficult situation, it would be possible to avoid

The newspapers indicate that the Powers are seeking to secure a cessation of mobilisation in the Balkans, the Powers guaranteeing that Turkey will likewise disarm and abstain from attack. Then the Porte will be induced to grant reforms in the shape of compromise. Rome, October 3.

It is semi-officially announced that the Italian representatives at Athens, Belgrade, Cettinje and Sofia have been ingtructed to counsel peace and moderation.

SERVIA'S ATTITUDE.

A TURKISH RAID. *

Received 4, 12.55 a.m.

Belgrade, October 3.

The Powers have requested Servia not to concentrate near the frontier, lest the situation be made ■worse. The Premier replied that the Commander-in-Chief had ordered the concentration. It was his duty to safeguard the country's integrity. Precautions had been taken to avoid a challenge on the part of Servia, who would gladly accept the Powers' good offices. It has been decided not to recall Nenadovitoch, the Servian Minister, from Constantinople. The Government has authorised the ianks to issue a larger note issue, thereby assisting the banks and merchants to avoid the declaration of a moratorium. Athens, October 3.

It is semi-officially announced that the Turkish garrison at Samos on September 24 sacked the Greek factories and shops at Vathy. Crete is mobilising six thousand men. A deep impression has been made in Greece by the Porte's detention of a Greek steamer armed with a firman authorising the passage of the Dardanelles. The Porte contends that the steamer wa s authorised to enter but not to leave the straits. The act is regard as deliberately provocative.

GREEK STEAMERS ATTACKED,

PROPOSED EUROPEAN CONFERENCE.

Received 4, 12.30 a.m. London, October 3.

The Daily Chronicle's Constantinople correspondent says that the Turkish forts on the Bosphorus attacked two Greek steamers. The Hellenic Minister protested. It is rumored that the Porte has received proposals for a formal European conference, with the object of avoiding war. The same correspondent asserts that the Turko-Roumanian agreement was arranged when Turkey learned that the Balkan States were arranging a military alliance.

RUSSIA LOOKING FOR PROFIT. St. Petersburg, October 2. The Novoe Vremya supports the Balkan mobilisation and disapproves of M. Sazanoff's weakness and failure. He has, says the Vremya, done nothing except talk about Persia, without obtaining satisfaction, while the supremest concern for Russia is the Near Eastern question.

A LOAN REFUSED. v - Paris, October 2. Various banks, acting on the Government's advice, refused a Bulgarian application for a loan of 20,000,000 francs.

AUSTRIAN OPINION. Vienna, October 2. The War Minister announced that troops in the south-east had been ordered to adopt an increased peace footing. The Bulgarian Minister had a lengthy consultation with Count Bercholtd. The newspapers are talking of the Russian test of mobilisation, and argue that though she openly opposes war, she is secretly desirous of it. They ask wihether Europe has no power to restrain <the Balkan States, and conclude that the absence of influence shows that the vaunted unity of the Powers does not exist.

It is reported that Greece will proclaim the annexation of Crete.

THE TURKS WANT WAR. Constantinople, October 2. Public anger is increasing. It is contended that it is time to finish the troublesome neighbors for ever. The visit of the Roumanian Minister to the Porte is regarded as significant. The Greek Minister has protested against Greek vessels being bottled up in Turkish ports.

MONTENEGRIN DEMONSTRATION.

Cettinje, October 2.

A great war demonstration was held. The King and Crown Prince received ovations. The King exhorted the people to be .patient and obedient, and pointed out that mobilisation might mean war.

THE TERRORIST POLICY. OBJECT OF THE BULGARIAN AGITATORS. The Sofia correspondent of the Retch —who knows Bulgaria as few foreigners do—gives in his journal a highly interesting account of the Macedonial terrorism.

"The pogrom at Kochana," lie says, "is not an accident. It is an exceptionally striking exhibition of a •well-thought-out system, a necessary link in a well-adapted policy, an event which has been brought about with full consciousness. . . . To a civilised Euro-

pean this may sound incredible—such a cruel and blood-thirsty line of policy which pursued its object through wholesale pogroms on one's own people. Yet it is a fact. It is plainly avowed by the Macedonian terrorists themselves. It is known to every Bulgarian familiar with the precedents and the literature of the subject. The main line of argument is quite simple. Europe must be shown that Turkey is savage and incorrigible, that she is in a chronic state of anarchy, that she is absolutely incapable of securing to her Christian subjects the most elementary conditions of peace and human existence, tl is also necessary to fill the cup of Bulgaria's patience and compel her, even against her will, to close with Turkey ia a mortal combat. Such is the task, thep roblem. How is it to be solved?

"Persuasion 'by words, appeals to humanity, to reason, to brotherly sentiment have been tried many times and proved fruitless. More energetic means are wanted. It is necessary to give an object-lesson, a standing lesson, a startling lesson admitting of no doubt. The bomb has not for its object a definite person, some specially dangerous or harmful representative of the hated regime. The bomb is thrown that it may create a panic among the population, awaken the fanaticism of the Turkish mob, and throw it, maddened by fear and lust for revenge, against the authors of the outrage, against those who protect them, who sympathise with them, on whose behalf they act —in short, on the Bulgars. This result can be predicted almost mathematically. The mob will begin to massacre the Christians, and the authorities will either consciously shut their eyes to the excesses of the mob because they too have been seized with a fanatical hatred' or they will not be able to stop "them in time, because they are indolent, or incapable, ot unorganised. Thus one way or another a pogrom will take place. "The news will then be carried to Bulgaria to Europe, where it will find a well-prepared ground. The details will cause a thrill of horror in the hearts, will awaken a feeling of pity towrfrds the victims, and one of hatred and contempt for the assassins. Bulgaria will be seized with a fever of excitement and lust for revenge which may prove too strong even for a peaceful and Turcophill Government, and European diplomacy will show its teeth and squeeze still tighter the loop with which it is trying to strangle Turkey."