THE BALKAN TROUBLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 204, 17 January 1913, Page 8

THE BALKAN TROUBLE.

AN HOUR OF SOLEMN Tlll'CE. j DRAMATIC MEET INC OF THE PEACEMAKERS DESCRIBED. DAYS OF FATE FOR FIVE NATIONS. The war has been a scries of dramas, but we must not overlook what was thought might be the linal scene, which in human interest and poignant intensity is the most dramatic of all. The two rival commanders meet face to face to discuss peace. Here is the scene, as vividly described in the London Daily Telegraph by Luigi Barzini, an eye-witness, who writes from Chatalja with a quickened pen: THE FORTS ARE SILENT. "To-day the guns of the Turkish cruisers do not roar from the sea; the forts are silent; and from the banks of the Kara Su, in the depth of the valley, the crackle of outpost firing no longer reaches us." he says. ''An order from the commanders of both armies has for ! the moment caused all weapons to be 1 laid aside. Since seven o'clock this morning an oppressive silence has descended 'upon the positions and the troopcrowding them. It is an hour of solemn truce, and in the unusual quiet, pregnant with an inexpressible sense of expectation. in the midst of the armies entrenched in this formidable amphitheatre of fortifications, an historical event,more important than a battle, is being completed—an event which indicates that the immense tragedy of nations is perhaps reaching its epilogue. "In a little village in the neutral zone on the border of the Chckmeje lagoon, the Bulgarian aud Turkish plenipotentiaries meet to open negotiations, which mark the starting point of a new history for five nations. THE BULGARIANS. "They are M. Daneff, President of the Sobranje, one of the strongest states- ■ "men in Bulgaria; General Savoff, Generalissimo of the Bulgarian Army, and General FitchefT, Chief of the General Staff. M. Chaprachikoff, private secretory of King Ferdinand, accompanies them as secretary to the special mission, They arrive in the wretched village where the staff of General Kutincheff is quartered. "M. Daneff, smiling, cordial, transformed, and rejuvenated by the disappearance of the grey beard which gave him at Sofia quite a venerable air. has something of a military aspect in his flat officer's cap and black tunic. Savoff. the creator of the Bulgarian Army, serious, grave, with energy written on his face, is a proud type of an old soldier, and there is a profoundly martial expression on the thoughtful countenance of the a taciturn General Fitcheff, the prodigious - calculator of the movements of the * armies, the mighty architect of plans of war, who sees in to-day's mission the e I consecration of a triumph. THE'TURKS. ' "Suddenly the trampling of horses is heard approaching on the deserted road. When the Turkish plenipotentiaries are close at hand a bugle sounds the call to attention, and the Bulgarian cavalry,drawing swords, assume the position of saluting. A clatter and rapid flashing of blades, and again the men are motionless as statues. The Turkish offir cers raise their hands in salute. Intense emotion is depicted on every face. ' The moment is one of indescribable so- - lemnity. In every soul there is a dim feeling that a great destiny is being fulfilled. There are hours which weigh like centuries on the destiny of nations; t .hours which change the course of hisK tory, and the significance of which we r feel confusedly in a species of pain, i- "Outstanding among the group of Turkish plenipotentiaries is the figure of "> Nazim Pasha. Minister of War, Generalissimo of the Ottoman Army. He is rid- - ing a superb black Arab horse, which i) restlessly shakes its tiny liead, agitating li its long mane. Nazim i s wearing a - khaki uniform, with an astrakan "kal- - pak" on his head and many decorations ', on his breast; but his expression is grave, thoughtful and full of dignity. TITEY ENTER ONE ROOM. |r "While the Turks are dismounting, the :> Bulgarian plenipotentiaries appear on the ! threshold of their house to .receive them. M. Daneff and Reshid Pasha are the . first to approach each other and shake i hands. Having exchanged greetings, the Bulgarian and Turkish representa--3 tives ascend the dark, creaking stairs of . the house to the first floor, where two rooms, separated bv a corridor, have been prepared for tiiem. The plenipot tentiaries enter one room, while the offi- . cers of their suites repair to the other. The house is surrounded by sentries, ? who have the strictest orders to allow nobody to approach. "At half-past two the cavalcade of the Ottoman representatives is re-formed' 1 in the order of its arrival, and after r again receiving military honors rides i ; away along the Chekmeje road, towards _ the daik line of the Turkish positions, e , iu tlle increasingly violent storm which r ushers in the evening. PEACE OR WAR? "It is useless to conjecture what has ' happened. Let us confine ourselves to ' facts. We do not know what the pleni- ' potentiaries have said, but we can imagine what passed through their minds. /There is a bitterness even in the hour of triumph, and Savoff and Fitcheff. in their soldiers' hearts, must have felt something of the Turkish generalissimo's grief, and sacrifice of pride as he presented himself before his enemies under a white flag to acknowledge defeat, and they must have understood more than a little of the tragic suffering which Nazim Pasha concealed behind an austere and cold mask of dignity. "Between the demands of a victor and the hopes of the vanquished there is ever an abyss; but we believe that the inexorable logic of facts will weigh with Turkey," says M. Barzini. "However, abandoning useless hypotheses, lot us' wait on the threshold of that humble dwelling where victories and defeats are about to change all the frontiers of Eastern Europe, and let ns content ourselves with the historical vision which has passed before our e\ es."