Powers' Quarrel Comforts Turks.

New York Times 100 years ago today, November 27, 1912:
Likely to Result in the Failure of the Peace Negotiations — Porte Sides with Dreibund.
CONSUL PROCHASKA FOUND
News That He Is Safe Lessens the Immediate Tension Between Austria and Servia.
WILL REFUSE A CONGRESS
Austria Will Not Let Dispute Be Settled at International Meeting — Calls Out 180,000 Reservists.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Wednesday, Nov. 27.— Some changes have come over the general aspect of the European situation in the past twenty-four hours, though its main features remain the same.
    First of all, there has been a decided detente in the anxiety which Austro-Servian relations were causing. The rumors that the Austrian Consul at Prisrend, Herr Prochaska, was shot by Servians are shown to be unfounded by his arrival at Uskub. Next, a more hopeful view is taken of Austro-Russian relations.
    As against these two favorable modifications of the situation must be set the growing belief that the negotiations between Turkey and the Balkan league will prove abortive, and that hostilities in the peninsula will have to be carried much further before the Porte recognizes that it is irretrievably beaten.
    To take this last point first in a dispatch from Constantinople, G. Ward Price, The Daily Mall's special correspondent there, says:
    "The Bulgarian and Turkish peace delegates met for the first time at the village of Bagchakeui, near Tchatalja, on Monday. The meeting was only formal. Negotiations will be opened at a second meeting on Wednesday.
    "Each side is believed to have assured the other of its desire for a speedy settlement.
    "It is unlikely that the negotiations will go far if the Bulgarians are obstinate in their maintenance of the demands which H. Gueshoff, the Bulgarian Premier, communicated last week.
    "The delegates are empowered to go on directly and treat for peace if an armistice is arranged.
    "I hear from credible sources that the Bulgarian demand for the surrender of Adrianople arose as the first point of great difficulty. The Austro-Servian crisis is also likely to have a retarding influence on Turkish action in the negotiations.
    "Well-informed Russian circles here speak of a Russian occupation of Constantinople as a probable reply to an Austrian seizure of Durazzo or other hostile stop on Austria's part"

Turkish Troops Busy.
    Mr. Ward Price, like Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett in The Daily Telegraph, speaks of the excellent work of reorganization that is going on at the Tchatalja lines, of the steady digging of trenches, and regular drilling of reserves.
    From another quarter comes a report that Turkey is being encouraged to resume the war by two of the great powers, from one of which she recently received large supplies of ammunition. Turkey's power of resistance is stated to have been greatly increased, while her determination not to accept the terms proposed by the allies is said to be so strong that she is prepared to sacrifice 100,000 men in the trenches at Tchatalja rather than bow the knee to the allies.
    The reports of Austria's mobilization which have reached Constantinople have still further stiffened Turkey's back. The Constantinople correspondent of The Daily Telegraph says:
    "The Ottoman view, that resistance should be maintained in the expectation of a general war, is becoming more accentuated, Turkey meanwhile accumulating the largest possible number of troops and then throwing these troops to the side of the Triple Alliance and restoring her own position by means of the support which the Triple Alliance would lend her at the moment of the final conference, owing to community of interests in the Balkan question, and as recompense for assistance given.
    "A high official, speaking of the recall of the Austrian warship from the Aegean, said:

Turkish Officials' Statement.
    " 'This is very significant. We know also that Austria has notified certain powers that she will not admit the access of Servia to the Adriatic. We know also that Bulgaria is exhausted, that she has lost half her effectives and has no reserves to fill up the gaps. We are disposed to come to an understanding with the Balkan States, but, if the Bulgarian delegates insist on the surrender of Adrianople, the abandonment of Macedonia, or any such impossible things, it is obvious that a rupture of the negotiations may be regarded as certain.' "
    The Constantinople correspondent of The Morning Post says:
    "In official circles it is stated that unless the conditions of the allies are considerably modified an agreement is impossible. The plan of the allies is believed to be to force Adrianople to capitulate and to effect an important landing in the Gallipoli Peninsula. The allies hope to carry out this plan and confront Turkey with a fait accompli during the pourparlers for the conclusion of an armistice."
    The Vienna correspondent of The Times says:
    "The Austrian Lloyd Company received to-day (Tuesday) from its liner the Graf Wurmbrand, stationed off Durazzo, a telegram stating that Servian troops had reached Milota, seven miles from Durazzo. It is assumed that by this time Durazzo has been occupied without resistance."

Austro-Servian Tension Relaxed.
    As regards the Austro-Servian situation, the elimination of the Prochaska Incident as a cause of immediate danger has appreciably relaxed the tension of the last few days. The tendency to hope for the best is strengthened by a reassuring statement of the North German Gazette, the semi-official organ of the German Foreign Office, that the Albanian and Adriatic questions will have to be settled in conjunction with other issues raised by the war. This is taken to mean that both Germany and Austria-Hungary adhere to the policy recommended by Premier Asquith in his Guildhall and Nottingham speeches.
    In Paris more explicit assurances as to Austro-Hungarian intentions are still desired, but it is felt that to have postponed a dangerous crisis may help to avert it.
    The general feeling in Vienna is much less agitated, and, according to a dispatch from The Daily Mail's correspondent, "there are good grounds for believing that the Kaiser has counseled the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, who has just visited his Majesty, not to present in ultimatum to Servia and also to accept the international standpoint first presented by Mr. Asquith in his speech at the Guildhall, where he declared that the British Government deprecated raising or pressing isolated questions while the war in the Balkans continued."

Against a Conference.
    One fact comes out clearly in all the Austrian dispatches — that the Dual Monarchy will not submit her interests in the Balkans to an international conference. She will go to an international conference only after a definite settlement with Servia. In this connection Dr. Dillon, The Daily Telegraph's special correspondent at Vienna, says:
    "No international tribunal unhampered by preliminary and binding postulates can be invested with the authority to adjudicate on matters deemed vital to the dual monarchy, Questions of this character are the autonomy of Albania and the refusal to acquiesce in Servia's claim to annex the Albanian coast or the Port of Durazzo.
    "The Austrian Government believes that a congress or conference like that of Algeciras or Berlin, competent to deal with every topic on its merits, is not a suitable instrument for settling international differences peacefully and with finality. Consequently Austria-Hungary will be unable to give favorable consideration to a proposal that such a conference be summoned."
    This statement of Dr. Dillon as to the attitude of Austria regarding a conference receives corroboration in another dispatch, from Berlin, which shows that Germany takes an identical view. "The Berlin Foreign Office," says this message, "refuses to identify itself with the theory that the Austro-Servian controversy is ripe for settlement by an international conference. It declares that Servia's demand for a strip of the Adriatic coast is simply undebatable and that the talk of a conference to discuss that point is designed to retard rather than facilitate an amicable adjustment of the dispute, Germany would not be disinclined to go to a conference later, but considers the project at this hour very premature."
    Austria's military preparations continue. According to information received by The Daily Mail, the exact number of reservists called to the colors by the Austrian Government is 180,000. Then the men whose terms of service expired in the years 1909, 1908. and 1907 in the military districts of Vienna and Gratz are being placed on an "enhanced peace footing," which includes all reservist officers. This enhancement began at Vienna and Gratz on Monday, continued yesterday, and will proceed further toward completion to-day.

The Russo-Austrian Situation.
    Next as regards Austro-Russian relations. According to a St. Petersburg dispatch to The Times, a communique published in the Rossiya emphasizing the pacific intentions of the Czar's Government had a good effect on the Bourse, but Russian public opinion regards the situation as one of unprecedented tension.
    St. Petersburg, which on Monday was optimistic compared with Vienna, yesterday seemed to have caught the infection of alarm from the Austrian capital. Two dispatches in this morning's Times, read in conjunction, throw a vivid light on the situation between the two countries. In one a St. Petersburg correspondent says:
    "The fact that M. Sazonoff (the Foreign Minister) and Gen. Sukhomlinoff (War Minister) are almost daily at Tsarskoe-Selo shows that the situation is tense. Rumors that Austria-Hungary is on the eve of important action here and at Belgrade, coupled with the concentration of her warships in the Adriatic, complete a picture which, in spite of the efforts of professional optimists, compels the gravest apprehension." In the dispatch a Vienna correspondent refers to the difficulty of removing the menace of the situation "created by the Austro-Hungarian response to the military measures of Russia."
    This response, it is added, "has already involved on this side of the frontier an outlay calculated to amount to several millions sterling. In the light of the pacific official assurances issued from St. Petersburg, however, it is hoped that the audience granted to-day by the Czar to the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador at Tsarskoe-Selo will pave the way for a slackening, if not for a revocation of these extensive precautionary measures."
    Until, however, the Austrian belief that Russia is encouraging Servia is entirely removed, it is hardly to be expected that there will be any cessation of the military measures of precaution. It is a matter of certain knowledge in Paris, according to the correspondent there of The Times, "that the Russian Government has been very far from inciting Servia to put forward unreasonable demands. The story that the Servian Ministers possess somewhat occult knowledge of Russian plans which favor their more extravagant demands is absolutely unfounded. In particular, none of the Russian Grand Dukes, Nicholas Nicholaievitch, or any other, has been in Belgrade or has in any way intervened in the conduct of Russian policy."
    This will serve as an indication of the sort of denial issued from Russia designed to satisfy Austria on this point. Something more definite is required, for, as a London paper points out, "We cannot forget the Czar's telegram to King Peter of Servia congratulating him on the success of his army without the need of invoking outside assistance. There has never been any explanation of that telegram. The defiantly provocative attitude of Servia can only be due to a belief in the ultimate support of Russia.

Russia May Seek Revenge.
    Another point which suggests an element of further danger in the present relations of the two countries is raised in a Times editorial. "There is reason to fear," says the article, "that the humiliation to which Russia was subjected in 1909 still rankles and has served in her case as additional stimulus for those military precautions which both powers have set in motion with much zeal and some mystery. The precautions need not unduly disturb us, but the motives which lie behind on both sides are sufficiently potent and embittered to account for the alarm now felt throughout the Continent.
    "If Russia and Austria reach the stage of hostilities they may both expect their friends to help them, and that is a prospect which cannot yet be said to be remote. At the same time, it is not precisely near, and the statement that Austria-Hungary and her German ally no longer insist upon a settlement of the Austro-Servian issue before the general negotiations at the close of the war will, if confirmed, appreciably lighten the situation, which has been growing extremely dangerous."
    Meanwhile the continued disquiet is causing serious disturbance to business. The $50,000,000 which Austria is reckoned to have already spent in mobilization by no means represents all the losses created by the war alarms.
    It is suggested that the period of disturbance might be reduced if a more expeditious method could be arranged for the exchange of views that is taking place between the Governments. At present every issue that is raised IB discussed by six different Foreign Ministers, each with six different Ambassadors, who report to their own Governments. It is believed that progress might be easier and swifter if the discussion were conducted in some one capital by representatives of the powers sitting round the same table. These representatives, who would, of course, be in constant communication with their Governments, would act as a kind of clearing house for the different ideas that are being brought forward.