THE BALKAN WAR

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 297, 8 May 1913, Page 5

THE BALKAN WAR

A DISGRACED COMMANDER. TURKEY WITHDRAWING. By Cable—Press Association-HCopyright. Constantinople, May 6. The Porte has instructed Essad Pasha to place himself under the orders of Djavid Pasha. ThgiPorte is negotiating with Greece for the transport of Djavid's troops towards iJtaia Minor. It is alse preparing to withdraw from i ehataidja, ■ from Whence it is reported the Bulgarians are already withdrawing. ■' Pasha, is now openly accused of'treachery, and "suspected of causing Riza Pasha's murder. \ QCJSuPATION OF ALBANIA. Rome, May 6. The 'Tribune states that, apart from the difficulty with regard to Scutari, Austria and Italy have decided to land a corps of occupation, in order to establish a normal regime in Albania. The expedition may be averted if Essad Pasha retires from the position he has taken. Albanian advices state that Djavid Pasha is within five miles of Valona, but is unable to reach the town owing to floods. Valona is also menaced by Greek troops under the pretext of defending the provisional government against Djavid. INTERNATIONAL TROOPS IN SCUTARL London, May 0. , International troops will occupy Scu- i tari until the administration is settled. THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. A BITTER CUP. KING NICHOLAS DEEPLY 'MOVED. Received 7, 11.35 p.m. Athens, Mav 6. The authorities deny that troops are menacing Valona. Vienna, May 7. Constantinople advices deny that Essad Pasha has proclaimed himself King. The Italian Consul at Albania asserts that Essad is observing a correct attitude. Cettinje, May 7. A majority of generals at the War ■Council favored the surrender of Scutari. Prince Danilo supported the Minister against surrender. King Nicholas said that he had fought long with himself; but never in his fifty years' 1 reign had he endured such torment. He had resolved to drink the Utter cup to the dregs. Martinovitch replied that the Ministers would accept the responsibility. King Nicholas retorted: "You are responsible to Parliament, and I to God." Witnesses. were deeply moved. A BALKAN BATTLEFIELD. HOW THE TURKISH DEAD WERE BURIED. A lady journalist writing to the San iFrancisco Examiner, gives a graphic ac- '< count of a visit to a battlefield -where the Turks had met the Bulgarians. Ia the course of her article, she states: "Here and there blood had flowed the field, which the severe cold winds of the Balkans had turned into glassy red Ice. In spite of the severe cold the air gave evidence of decayed humai flesh. Ia addition to the birds of prey and mongrel dogs from neighboring towns and villages, the 'city degenerates,' who robbed the dead of thei! scanty clothes, infested the district. "At Bunar-Basar I parted from Ella Priter and started for the Kirk-Kilesse battlefield towards the extreme northwest. The Bulgarian commander had given orders to bury the dead in trenches. It was a gigantic task. On the battlefield alone there were more than 25,000 Wdies to be buried. Within an area of twenty miles by four, there were about 40,000 victims of cannon and disease unburied. • "Near Skepoles, relatives of the dead were searching the bloody field for their loved ones. But it was an utterly hope-. less task. Besides, the Bulgars had forbidden the removal of the dead from the field. "The field had been cleared of these ' searchers among the dead. An old woman had wandered through the Bulgar- : ian lines. She was half crazed. She, •was too old to be handled roughly. Even the Bulgarian soldiers had not the heart to drive her out of the field. She had ' wandered for miles and miles. She could not have had anything to eat for days, unless some soldier had divided his already insufficient rations with her. The Bulgarian soldiers had dug trenches miles long. "Maybe through hatred, tutored through centuries of Mohammedan atrocities committed against them, their hearts were hardened. They were ' handling the dead bodies as so many carcases of dogs. Vehicles, driven by oxen, dragged a long rope some fifty feet long and as thick as one's wrist. To this main sable, or rope, were-attach-ed thinner pieces of ropes at intervals of four or five feet. As the vehicle drove through the field the tributary ropes were tied around the arms, legs of waists of the mutilated bodies of th» 'dead Turkish soldiers. Thus every • cart dragged from ten to fifteen bodies at a time to the trenches." THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE. SECRET CAUSES. The Triple Alliance was concluded in consequence of the occupation in 1881 of Tunis by France (at the suggestion of Prince Bismarck), and the consequent isolation of Italy, who, feeling herself » menaced by France, became a party to - the then existing alliance for mutual dev fence between Germany and. Austria. That Alliance, which was directed against Russia, whose Eastern policy was held to threaten the balance of Power in Europe, was made in 1879 by a treaty arranged within one year after the Berlin Conference by Prince Bismarck and Count Andrassy, and confirmed in 1880, and Italy joined it in 1882. Italy was also influenced by the possibility then apprehended that a French Clerical attempt might be made to restore the temporal power of the Pope, and so dismember Italy. The three allied nations ' agreed to defend the integrity of their Continental possessions, as then and now existing, against any other or others of the Great Powers. i rf MM In- October, 1887, after a meeting ber tween Bismarck and Crispi at ruhe, a still closer alliance in the nature of an offensive and defeasive league be- '" tween the three Powers was concluded The terms of the treaty have never beer officially published, but it has been stat ed that Italy agreed, under certain con tingencies, the most probable of whicl i W as a war between Frame and Germany to invade-South-Western France wit] 200,000 men.' During 1901 M. Henri de Houx professed to give a secret cause o fhe treaty, according to whmh Ital; 4- bound herself to place two army corp •at the disposal of Germany in case o - » war with France, sending them mt ... German across Austrian territory. I ' 1902 Count von Bnlow the German la perial Chancellor, declared that "noi

of the partners to the Alliance was obliged by the Alliance to maintain its military or naval forces at a prescribed level"; and that the Alliance did not exclude the possibility of good relations between its partners and other Powerß. The Italian Government also gave assurances to France that in no case could Italy become either the instrument or the auxiliary of an. aggression against France. One main object of the Alliance "was the maintenance of the balance of power in the Mediterranean, an object which undoubtedly had the sympathy of Great Britain, though no formal pledge was entered into -by the British ■Government. The Alliance does not cover colonial or .transmarine issues. In June, 1891; the Triple alliance was formally renewed, and again, in 1896, until. May 6, 1903. In June, 1902, the three Powers agreed to prolong the Alliance for ten years, and in December last it was again renewed for a further twelve years. The revelations made by Prince Bismarck'in 1896 as to the existence of a secret treaty of "benevolent I neutrality" between Germany and Russia until 1890, when Count Caprivi succeeded Prince Bismarck as Imperial Chancellor, caused much expitement in Austria and Italy, of course, but had no effect on the Alliance. In 1896 Roumania joined the Triple Alliance, which guaranteed her territorial integrity and the maintenance of the status quo on the Lower Danube.