War May Depend On Consul's Fate.

New York Times 100 years ago today, November 26, 1912:
Now Feared That Herr Prochaska, Austrian Official at Prisrend, Was Killed by Servians.
BELGRADE BEING FORTIFIED
Servians Also Said to be Withdrawing Troops from the Operations in Turkey.
GERMAN EFFORTS FOR PEACE
Some Alarming Reports of Yesterday Officially Denied, but Crisis is Regarded as Grave.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Tuesday. Nov. 26.-I received last night from Berlin, from a source which I am only at liberty to describe as most authoritative, a personal dispatch which stated that a most serious view was taken in the highest German circles of the European situation.
    It is well known that Germany's influence is being exerted to the uttermost to prevent war between Austria and Servia, with its possibilities of a European Armageddon, and the despondency with which the prospects were regarded in Berlin yesterday cannot be ignored, despite the "semi-official" and "official" statements issued in order to check the panicky slump on the Berlin Boerse.
    Vienna, judging at least by the greater part of its press, has almost abandoned hope that hostilities can be averted, and, although the Government preserves the calm but stern attitude which has characterized Foreign Minister von Berchtold's policy from the outset, public irritation is growing so strong that confirmation of yesterday's reports of the assassination of Herr Prochaska, the missing Austrian Consul at Prizrend, could hardly fail to provoke an outburst.
    These reports arise from negative rather than from positive evidence. The Austrian official, Herr Edl, who was commissioned by the Austrian Government to go to Prizrend to investigate the Prochaska affair, has been held up at Uskub since Saturday. Herr Edl expected to proceed thence to Prizrend without delay, but telegraphed to his Government that he was informed that railway communication was interrupted.
    Furthermore, a Servian official delegated by the Servian Government to accompany Herr Edl and to assist him in his mission informed Herr Edl on Sunday that he was prevented by "pressing private business" from going to Prizrend at once. Thereupon Herr Edl stated, he determined to go to Prizrend, railway or no railway.
    As a consequence of the apparent reluctance of the Servian authorities to allow an Austrian inquiry into the Prochaska case it is suggested that the Consul was shot by Servian soldiers and that the reports of his safety which reached Vienna were Servian concoctions.
    St. Petersburg continues to furnish most reassuring views of the situation, while an official statement was issued in London yesterday to the effect that the position had undergone no change.

Tchatalja Peace May Relieve Crisis.
    Meanwhile the most cheering news from Southeast Europe is that which suggests that peace between Turkey and the Balkan League may be reached. One statement, published in Constantinople but otherwise unconfirmed, is that arrangements for a week's armistice have already been made.
    Sofia dispatches had announced the first meeting of the Turkish and Bulgarian plenipotentiaries on neutral ground at the south end of the Tchatalja lines for yesterday afternoon.

As a Times editorial says:
    "Though attention has unfortunately shifted to the preparations elsewhere, the preservation of the general peace of Europe still depends in a large measure upon the little knot of consultants, assembled between the waiting armies of Bulgaria and Turkey. If they come to a preliminary agreement the tension which depresses Europe will not be entirely removed, but it will be immeasurably relieved. There is reason to believe that the Allies, though unable to modify their immediate demands, are disposed to treat Turkey with reasonable consideration."
    In the course of further comment on the European situation The Times, which takes a generally pessimistic view, says:
    "Renewed assurances from Berlin that Germany is backing the cause of peace must be welcomed, but it is to be wished that her efforts had more visible results. A Vienna correspondent truly says that there is no valid reason to believe war between Austria and Russia to be inevitable, or even immediately probable. We entirely agree, but wish we could add that the absence of a valid reason was placing strict limitations upon the scope of the 'precautions.'

Wonder at Possibility of War.
    "Millions of men are asking with bewilderment what difficulties exist in the present situation which should threaten Europe with a general war, or even a collision, larger than that we have already witnessed.
    "In England men learn with amazement and incredulity that war is possible over the question of a Servian port, or even over the larger issues which are said to lie behind it. Yet that is whither the nations are blindly drifting.
    "Who, then, makes war?
    "The answer is to be found in the chancelleries of Europe, among the men who have too long played with human lives as pawns in a game of chess, who have become so enmeshed in the formulas and jargon of diplomacy that they have ceased to be conscious of the poignant realities with which they trifle. And thus will war continue to be made until the great masses, who are the sport of professional schemers and dreamers, say the word which shall bring, not eternal peace, for that is impossible, but the determination that wars shall be fought only in a just and righteous and vital cause. "If that word is ever to be spoken, there never was a more appropriate occasion than the present, and we trust it will be spoken while there is yet time."
    A dispatch from Durazzo to The Daily Telegraph says the Servians are now about eight hours' march front Durazzo, having reached Ishmi.