First Meeting Of Armistice Envoys.

New York Times 100 years ago today, November 26, 1912:
Intimation That the Victors Are Prepared to Modify Their First Demands on Turkey.
MORE AID FROM SERVIANS
Thirty Thousand Men Being Sent to Help the Bulgars at Adrianople and Tchatalja.
    LONDON, Tuesday. Nov. 26,— The plenipotentiaries of Turkey and of the allied Balkan nations held their first meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss the preliminaries for the negotiations for an armistice.
    The plenipotentiaries met at the village of Baghtche, near Biyuk Chekmenje, in the centre of a small zone which has been declared neutral for the period of the parleys.
    Beyond an intimation that the victorious invaders are prepared to modify their original demands in regard to the evacuation of the Tchatalja lines by the Turks and also permit the Turkish garrison of Adrianople to march out of that fortress with the honors of war, nothing has been allowed to transpire as to the discussions between the delegates. Unless significance can be attached to the unusually long armistice of eight days that is reported to have been agreed to, there is nothing to give a clue to the probable outcome of the discussions.
    It is not yet known even whether an armistice has been arranged. There appears to be a suspension of operations at the Tchatalja lines, apparently by tacit consent rather than by formal agreement.
    The semi-official Bulgarian newspaper Mir in an editorial voices the Governmental irritation at Turkey's dilatory methods of negotiation, and accuses the Porte of deliberately nominating delegates from remote points in order to gain time. This probably refers to Osman Nizami Pasha, the Ambassador to Germany, who only arrived at Constantinople from Berlin yesterday.
    A Belgrade dispatch to The Standard says that two more divisions, about 30,000 strong, from the Servian Crown Prince's army at Monastir are proceeding by rail, by way of Salonika and Demotika, to reinforce the Bulgarians at Adrianople and Tchatalja.
    There are, it is added, 10,000 Turkish prisoners at Monastir.
    A special dispatch from the Turkish headquarters at Hademkeui confirms the report that the Ottoman troops captured 800 Bulgarians and Servian prisoners in the last engagement with the Bulgarian right wing on the Tchatalja lines. The Bulgarians also left six field guns and one machine gun on the field.
    The loss of the Turkish cruiser Hamidieh is a severe handicap to the Ottoman Commander in Chief, according to dispatches from the front. The guns of the other Turkish warships are almost ineffective for the purpose of stopping the Bulgarian advance. The battleship Messadieh. which was formerly employed for the defense of Rodosto and latterly on the left flank of the Tchatalja lines, has now been dispatched to the Black Sea in order to strengthen the menaced right flank of the Turkish Army.
    Considerable activity has been observed among the Bulgarians, who have brought up some heavy siege guns, which are being rapidly placed in position to command the Turkish headquarters at Hademkeui.
    The Times's correspondent at Tchatalja sends the following:
    "The Turks have recently plied the pick and shovel with such good will that I am more find more convinced that, except in the event of pressure from another quarter, the allies will not risk the losses which direct operations against the Tchatalja lines would entail.
    "I cannot in the interest of fair play indicate the positions of the second and third lines of entrenchments, but their strength must prove an important factor in the current negotiations, and it definitely confirms my contention that, whatever the cause of the delay, the Bulgarians lost their real opportunity during the first week of November.
    "There are signs of the approach of Winter, which will add yet another difficulty to the many with which the invader has had to contend."
    The Constantinople correspondent of the Reuter Telegram Company in a late dispatch says:
    "Official circles are not very sanguine as to the result of the meeting of the plenipotentiaries. A high official to-night expressed the opinion that there was not more than a 5 per cent. chance of arriving at an agreement unless Bulgaria very materially modified her demands, which was not very probable.
    "The truce will last, if necessary, forty-eight hours, but the question of Adrianople is likely to prove a stumbling block. It is understood that the Bulgarians have prepared to waive abandonment of the Tchatalja lines, but will insist upon the capitulation of Adrianople. The Turkish delegates are equally determined that Adrianople shall remain Turkish.
    "Apart from the improved military position of the Eastern Army and the re-cent successes at Tchatalja, the Porte undoubtedly has derived encouragement from the attitude of Austria toward Servia. The Austrian Red Cross unit here has been ordered to return to Vienna forthwith.
    "Turkish information from St. Petersburg is to the effect that important movements of troops are occurring, preparatory to a general mobilization."