New York Times 100 years ago today, January 31, 1913:
Navy's Expert Aviators Make Innovation at Guantanamo.
Special to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30.— The members of the Navy aviation staff practicing at Guantanamo have taken up a new form of aeroplane scouting. The local peculiarities of topography seem to render the air so "bumpy" during the day that the expert fliers have resorted to night flying with marked success. Lieut. John H. Towers, who is in command of the aviation camp, in a report to the Navy Department received to-day, says that he and Lieut. Herbster have done a good deal of moonlight flying at considerable altitudes. They find the wind conditions more favorable than during the day, and can keep their bearings more accurately than it was supposed was possible. They have found difficulty in landing and are obliged to exercise great care.
Lieut. Towers says that he has "to feel for the shore," and has developed a sort of sixth sense by which he can tell whether he is approaching the surface of the earth over water or dry ground.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Says Canal Bill Shames Americans.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 31, 1913:
We Are No Longer Able to Look Englishmen in the Face, Johnson Tells Peace Society.
WILL FIGHT FOR ITS REPEAL
Knox's Reply to Sir E. Grey Has the Sluggishness and Provinciality of a Country Ditch, Editor Says.
Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of The Century Magazine, appealed to members of the New York Peace Society at a meeting in the Broadway Tabernacle last night to aid in forcing the repeal by Congress of the legislation governing the Panama local tolls, saying that an American could no longer look an Englishman square in the face.
Mr. Johnson said Senator O'Gorman was a misguided leader and praised Elihu Root for his stand against the canal legislation, Andrew Carnegie, who presided at the meeting, applauded Mr. Johnson's address heartily. A resolution embracing the speaker's ideas was passed unanimously at the close of the meeting.
"I detect a new note of humiliation in the conversation of men who return here from Europe," Mr. Johnson said. "It is a note beyond mere annoyance. It comes from a deeper shame than anything that could be related to money. For the first time in their lives, as they confessed to me, an American could not look an Englishman fair in the face because of the interpretation put by our Congress upon our treaty obligations.
"Secretary Knox's reply to Sir E. Grey upon the question involved in the treaty has the muddiness, the sluggishness, and the provinciality of a country ditch. If we are a world power we must put aside ditchwater diplomacy and acquire the larger horizon of the sea.
"Is it any wonder that George Ade, who was in England at the time the Government made public its new interpretation of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, said that the English 'seriously believe we are trying to make them the victims of a slick Yankee trick.'
"We should in this case prove ourselves to be good losers — as good as England proved herself to be on the first arbitration of the world — the Alabama claims. To have a formal presentment go out against us to the world that the United States has violated its sacred word and has refused an opportunity to undo a wrong; this will hush in shame our patriotic songs and turn our paeans into dirges.
"Do you realize what our National sin is? It is lawlessness; the lawlessness of capital and labor, of graft and of lynching, of the boycott and the blacklist, of purchased injustice, of secret oppression by the predatory rich; but never before has the United States Government, the fountain, the embodiment, the bulwark of law, gone on record as a breaker of its own contract. What an example of lawness is that."
In closing his address Mr. Johnson read an ode of his own composition entitled, "Hands Across the Sea." He wrote it, he said, at the end of the nineteenth century, but found it still voiced his sentiments for universal peace.
"I hope that the time may come," he said, "when above the ramparts of The Hague Palace, built through the generosity of one of the wisest of living men, will be inscribed the words, 'The Ultimate Argument of the People.' matching the words which I once saw on an old cannon at Monaco, 'Ultima ratio regnum.' "
Mr. Carnegie, after Mr. Johnson had finished his address, proposed this resolution, which was adopted:
Resolved, That the members of the New York Peace Society hereby place themselves on record unequivocally as opposed to the violation of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty by the provision of the Panama Canal act which remits the tolls on American vessels in contravention of the traditional understanding and the explicit agreement with Great Britain, and the tacit agreement with all other nations, that there shall be no discrimination in tolls or conditions. We respectfully urge upon Senators and Representatives in Congress the supreme importance of safeguarding the National honor thus imperiled, and earnestly request them to vote for the repeal of the exemption.
And we call upon our fellow-citizens throughout the country, without distinction of party, to lend their aid to the movement for repeal by making known through the press and in letters to their Senators and Representatives, and otherwise, their opposition to any course on the part of the Government which would not be becoming to the most scrupulous man of honor.
And in case the movement for repeal shall not be successful, we declare our conviction of the supreme necessity of referring the controversy to the decision of impartial arbitration.
John Barratt, Director General of the Pan-American Union, with headquarters at Washington, D. C., said in his address:
"To assume toward the South American countries the attitude that we are the whole thing will be to bring failure to our efforts to gain their confidence. Our press should cease to patronize Latin America, to criticise their supposed shortcomings, and to insist on their accepting our point of view.
"The trade of the United States with South America should be more than $1,000,000,000 annually. We can made it amount to that by a policy of sympathy and kindness, and the economic advantage of the Panama Canal."
Mr. Carnegie proposed that his speech be considered as read and ordered printed in the proceedings of the meeting. But the audience demanded an address, and Mr. Carnegie said a few words in praise of President-elect Wilson. He attacked the naval policy of the present Administration, and said the only way to welcome an invading army, should one attack our shores, would be to coax it inland, and then let it solve the problem of "how to get out of the country again."
We Are No Longer Able to Look Englishmen in the Face, Johnson Tells Peace Society.
WILL FIGHT FOR ITS REPEAL
Knox's Reply to Sir E. Grey Has the Sluggishness and Provinciality of a Country Ditch, Editor Says.
Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of The Century Magazine, appealed to members of the New York Peace Society at a meeting in the Broadway Tabernacle last night to aid in forcing the repeal by Congress of the legislation governing the Panama local tolls, saying that an American could no longer look an Englishman square in the face.
Mr. Johnson said Senator O'Gorman was a misguided leader and praised Elihu Root for his stand against the canal legislation, Andrew Carnegie, who presided at the meeting, applauded Mr. Johnson's address heartily. A resolution embracing the speaker's ideas was passed unanimously at the close of the meeting.
"I detect a new note of humiliation in the conversation of men who return here from Europe," Mr. Johnson said. "It is a note beyond mere annoyance. It comes from a deeper shame than anything that could be related to money. For the first time in their lives, as they confessed to me, an American could not look an Englishman fair in the face because of the interpretation put by our Congress upon our treaty obligations.
"Secretary Knox's reply to Sir E. Grey upon the question involved in the treaty has the muddiness, the sluggishness, and the provinciality of a country ditch. If we are a world power we must put aside ditchwater diplomacy and acquire the larger horizon of the sea.
"Is it any wonder that George Ade, who was in England at the time the Government made public its new interpretation of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, said that the English 'seriously believe we are trying to make them the victims of a slick Yankee trick.'
"We should in this case prove ourselves to be good losers — as good as England proved herself to be on the first arbitration of the world — the Alabama claims. To have a formal presentment go out against us to the world that the United States has violated its sacred word and has refused an opportunity to undo a wrong; this will hush in shame our patriotic songs and turn our paeans into dirges.
"Do you realize what our National sin is? It is lawlessness; the lawlessness of capital and labor, of graft and of lynching, of the boycott and the blacklist, of purchased injustice, of secret oppression by the predatory rich; but never before has the United States Government, the fountain, the embodiment, the bulwark of law, gone on record as a breaker of its own contract. What an example of lawness is that."
In closing his address Mr. Johnson read an ode of his own composition entitled, "Hands Across the Sea." He wrote it, he said, at the end of the nineteenth century, but found it still voiced his sentiments for universal peace.
"I hope that the time may come," he said, "when above the ramparts of The Hague Palace, built through the generosity of one of the wisest of living men, will be inscribed the words, 'The Ultimate Argument of the People.' matching the words which I once saw on an old cannon at Monaco, 'Ultima ratio regnum.' "
Mr. Carnegie, after Mr. Johnson had finished his address, proposed this resolution, which was adopted:
Resolved, That the members of the New York Peace Society hereby place themselves on record unequivocally as opposed to the violation of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty by the provision of the Panama Canal act which remits the tolls on American vessels in contravention of the traditional understanding and the explicit agreement with Great Britain, and the tacit agreement with all other nations, that there shall be no discrimination in tolls or conditions. We respectfully urge upon Senators and Representatives in Congress the supreme importance of safeguarding the National honor thus imperiled, and earnestly request them to vote for the repeal of the exemption.
And we call upon our fellow-citizens throughout the country, without distinction of party, to lend their aid to the movement for repeal by making known through the press and in letters to their Senators and Representatives, and otherwise, their opposition to any course on the part of the Government which would not be becoming to the most scrupulous man of honor.
And in case the movement for repeal shall not be successful, we declare our conviction of the supreme necessity of referring the controversy to the decision of impartial arbitration.
John Barratt, Director General of the Pan-American Union, with headquarters at Washington, D. C., said in his address:
"To assume toward the South American countries the attitude that we are the whole thing will be to bring failure to our efforts to gain their confidence. Our press should cease to patronize Latin America, to criticise their supposed shortcomings, and to insist on their accepting our point of view.
"The trade of the United States with South America should be more than $1,000,000,000 annually. We can made it amount to that by a policy of sympathy and kindness, and the economic advantage of the Panama Canal."
Mr. Carnegie proposed that his speech be considered as read and ordered printed in the proceedings of the meeting. But the audience demanded an address, and Mr. Carnegie said a few words in praise of President-elect Wilson. He attacked the naval policy of the present Administration, and said the only way to welcome an invading army, should one attack our shores, would be to coax it inland, and then let it solve the problem of "how to get out of the country again."
Armistice Ended, But Hope Increases.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 31, 1913:
Young Turks Less Belligerent.
LONDON, Friday, Jan, 31.— Never has a diplomatic problem seen such swift and surprising changes as the Balkan-Turkish negotiations for peace. The Young Turks, who seized the Government with shouts of defiance, have undergone a marvelous transformation. Instead of drawing the battle line at the question of surrendering. Adrianople. they offer a compromise which comes so near to meeting the Bulgarian demands that a settlement should not be impossible, and they leave the Aegean Islands to the disposition of the powers.
The difference between what Constantinople is ready to give and what Bulgaria is ready to accept has been reduced to such small proportions that even some of the Balkan peace delegates believe that a compromise may yet be found. Constantinople now asks simply the retention of that section of Adrianople in which the holy shrines are situated. Bulgaria always meant to leave the mosques and shrines to Turkey, and even to confer the right of extra territoriality, thus giving the district something of the status of the Vatican in Rome. The vital differences between the two nations now amount merely to Turkey's demand for the shrines and the section surrounding them.
The Thracean frontier line, therefore, with the exception of the town of Adrianople, has been practically agreed to, as Turkey is ready to leave to the powers the disposition of the land on the right bank of the Maritza River, which condition, as is known, the allies are satisfied to accept. The question of the Aegean Islands also has practically been solved, as the Porte is disposed to leave its settlement to the powers.
Dr. Daneff, head of the Bulgarian delegation, said with reference to Turkey's reply: "It is not of a character to form the basis for fresh negotiations. We have said that the fortress of Adrianople and the Turkish islands in the Aegean Sea must be ceded, and without this the negotiations will not be resumed. Moreover, this cession must be made before hostilities are resumed, as the first shot will change our conditions."
This, however, is simply a public statement, possibly for the purpose of exercising further pressure on Constantinople. A majority of the allies apparently trust that a compromise will be reached.
All the powers have urged the allies to do their utmost to prevent the resumption of hostilities because of the grave complications that might otherwise arise.
Whatever happens, the Greek Premier, M. Venizelos, will leave London to-day. He will visit friends in the country and expects to leave England to-morrow or Sunday. M. Novakovitch, head of the Servian delegation, has arranged to leave here for home in a day or two, but will return if the negotiations are resumed. Dr. Daneff will depart at the beginning of next week.
The Ambassadorial conference will meet this morning to consider the Porte's reply.
More Mutinies Expected.
Events are moving with such rapidity that the world may soon be confronted, not with the question of peace or war, but with a catastrophe which will lead Turkey to civil war. Those who know the Ottoman Empire believe that the revolt among the Turkish troops on the Tchatalja lines was much more grave than is to be gathered from the short dispatches allowed by the censor to trickle through. Close observers of events in Turkey expect that similar revolts will occur in the Turkish Asiatic provinces, where the elements opposing the Young Turks are stronger than in European Turkey.
Young Turks Less Belligerent.
LONDON, Friday, Jan, 31.— Never has a diplomatic problem seen such swift and surprising changes as the Balkan-Turkish negotiations for peace. The Young Turks, who seized the Government with shouts of defiance, have undergone a marvelous transformation. Instead of drawing the battle line at the question of surrendering. Adrianople. they offer a compromise which comes so near to meeting the Bulgarian demands that a settlement should not be impossible, and they leave the Aegean Islands to the disposition of the powers.
The difference between what Constantinople is ready to give and what Bulgaria is ready to accept has been reduced to such small proportions that even some of the Balkan peace delegates believe that a compromise may yet be found. Constantinople now asks simply the retention of that section of Adrianople in which the holy shrines are situated. Bulgaria always meant to leave the mosques and shrines to Turkey, and even to confer the right of extra territoriality, thus giving the district something of the status of the Vatican in Rome. The vital differences between the two nations now amount merely to Turkey's demand for the shrines and the section surrounding them.
The Thracean frontier line, therefore, with the exception of the town of Adrianople, has been practically agreed to, as Turkey is ready to leave to the powers the disposition of the land on the right bank of the Maritza River, which condition, as is known, the allies are satisfied to accept. The question of the Aegean Islands also has practically been solved, as the Porte is disposed to leave its settlement to the powers.
Dr. Daneff, head of the Bulgarian delegation, said with reference to Turkey's reply: "It is not of a character to form the basis for fresh negotiations. We have said that the fortress of Adrianople and the Turkish islands in the Aegean Sea must be ceded, and without this the negotiations will not be resumed. Moreover, this cession must be made before hostilities are resumed, as the first shot will change our conditions."
This, however, is simply a public statement, possibly for the purpose of exercising further pressure on Constantinople. A majority of the allies apparently trust that a compromise will be reached.
All the powers have urged the allies to do their utmost to prevent the resumption of hostilities because of the grave complications that might otherwise arise.
Whatever happens, the Greek Premier, M. Venizelos, will leave London to-day. He will visit friends in the country and expects to leave England to-morrow or Sunday. M. Novakovitch, head of the Servian delegation, has arranged to leave here for home in a day or two, but will return if the negotiations are resumed. Dr. Daneff will depart at the beginning of next week.
The Ambassadorial conference will meet this morning to consider the Porte's reply.
More Mutinies Expected.
Events are moving with such rapidity that the world may soon be confronted, not with the question of peace or war, but with a catastrophe which will lead Turkey to civil war. Those who know the Ottoman Empire believe that the revolt among the Turkish troops on the Tchatalja lines was much more grave than is to be gathered from the short dispatches allowed by the censor to trickle through. Close observers of events in Turkey expect that similar revolts will occur in the Turkish Asiatic provinces, where the elements opposing the Young Turks are stronger than in European Turkey.
Armistice Ended, But Hope Increases.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 31, 1913:
Turkey Offers Concessions Which Come Near to Meeting the Allies' Demands.
YOUNG TURKS' MOOD MILDER
Belief That Revolt at Tchatalja Was Very Serious and That Mutinies Elsewhere Will Occur.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
LONDON, Friday, Jan. 31.— The allies have notified Turkey of the termination of the armistice, and hostilities may be resumed on Monday night after the expiration of the four days agreed upon. The denunciation of the armistice dates from 7 o'clock last night.
Dispatches received at the Bulgarian legation from Sofia state that fighting will be resumed on the day and at the time mentioned and that "war correspondents will not be allowed to attend military operations."
The fact that the notice to end the truce synchronized with Turkey's reply to the powers seems calculated to preclude any further efforts toward mediation which the powers might have thought fit to make in view of the terms of the Ottoman answer, which is regarded as conciliatory and which might, under other conditions, have formed a basis for renewed pourparlers.
Despite the apparent gloominess of the outlook, hope is still entertained in diplomatic circles that it will be possible to avert the renewal of the war. It is stated from more than one quarter that the Turkish Government has again received private friendly advice to yield on the questions at issue, and, as the Turkish army is by no means in a position to assume the offensive with reasonable chances of success, there is even now a prospect that the Grand Vizier, Mahmud Shefket Pasha, may deem it advisable to bow to the logic of circumstances.
Turkey Offers Concessions Which Come Near to Meeting the Allies' Demands.
YOUNG TURKS' MOOD MILDER
Belief That Revolt at Tchatalja Was Very Serious and That Mutinies Elsewhere Will Occur.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
LONDON, Friday, Jan. 31.— The allies have notified Turkey of the termination of the armistice, and hostilities may be resumed on Monday night after the expiration of the four days agreed upon. The denunciation of the armistice dates from 7 o'clock last night.
Dispatches received at the Bulgarian legation from Sofia state that fighting will be resumed on the day and at the time mentioned and that "war correspondents will not be allowed to attend military operations."
The fact that the notice to end the truce synchronized with Turkey's reply to the powers seems calculated to preclude any further efforts toward mediation which the powers might have thought fit to make in view of the terms of the Ottoman answer, which is regarded as conciliatory and which might, under other conditions, have formed a basis for renewed pourparlers.
Despite the apparent gloominess of the outlook, hope is still entertained in diplomatic circles that it will be possible to avert the renewal of the war. It is stated from more than one quarter that the Turkish Government has again received private friendly advice to yield on the questions at issue, and, as the Turkish army is by no means in a position to assume the offensive with reasonable chances of success, there is even now a prospect that the Grand Vizier, Mahmud Shefket Pasha, may deem it advisable to bow to the logic of circumstances.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Turkish Troops Fight Before Foe; Menace Capital.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 30, 1913:
Friends of Nazim Pasha Demand Fall of Cabinet and Punishment of His Slayers.
MANY OFFICERS ARE SLAIN
Numerous Bloody Clashes Along the Tchatalja Lines — Garrison on Black Sea Disarmed.
PEACE NEGOTIATIONS ENDED
Allies Ready to Resume War — Savoff Tells His Men to Win New Victories.
DELEGATES ARE GOING HOME
But Four Will Stay In London — Belief That Efforts Will Be Concentrated Against Adrianople.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
PARIS, Thursday, Jan. 30.— The Matin's correspondent at Constantinople telegraphs that a mutiny broke out in the Turkish Army at Tchatalja after the coup d'état. Forty-two officers were killed or wounded and 170 wounded officers and men were taken to San Stefano.
The news of the overthrow of Kiamil Pasha, the Grand Vizier, says the correspondent, was known at Tchatalja on Thursday night. Immediately the officers who were supporters of the murdered Nazim Pasha met under the Presidency of Fuad Pasha and drafted a note to the Grand Vizier, demanding the punishment of the murderers and the resignation of the Ministry.
When this communication was being read over, a number of Young Turk officers appeared on the scene and a fight ensued, in which 42 officers were killed or wounded.
The correspondent adds that throughout Saturday numerous fights took place along the Tchatalja lines. Many wounded have arrived in Constantinople. The Circassion battalion has resolved to avenge the death of Nazim.
The Committee of Union and Progress met in extraordinary session and decided to send Talaat Bey and Enver Bey to Tchatalja to restore order, but at the last moment gave up the project. On Tuesday the Military League decided to send a mission to the Sultan demanding that Mahmud Shefket Pasha should be deprived of office and Kiamil Pasha reinstated.
The revolt was not confined to the Tchatalja garrison. At the entrance to the Black Sea, near Constantinople, mutineers had to be disarmed and replaced by others.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
LONDON, Thursday, Jan. 30.— The long suspended peace negotiations between Turkey and the Balkan States have reached the point of rupture, and unless something unforeseen occurs between now and Sunday or Monday the war will be resumed.
At 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon the Servian Chargé d'Affaires paid a visit to Rechad Pasha, chief of the Turkish delegates, and delivered the following formal note:
The plenipotentiaries of the Allied States, having since the suspension of the work of the Peace Conference awaited in vain for three weeks the reply of the Ottoman plenipotentiaries to their last demands, and the events occurring in Constantinople appearing to them to have destroyed the hope of arriving at the conclusion of peace, they, to their great regret, are obliged to declare the negotiations commenced in London on Dec. 16 last, broken off.
The document was signed by the delegates of all the Balkan States, headed by Dr. Daneff of Bulgaria.
The Servian Chargé then proceeded to the Foreign Office and handed to Sir Edward Grey a letter setting forth the allies' decision and expressing the delegates' gratitude for the cordial hospitality which Great Britain had extended to them during their stay in England.
The Governments of Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro were at once informed that the negotiations were formally ended, so that they might, without further delay, instruct the commanders in the field to give the four days' notice terminating the armistice. As the Greeks were not parties to the armistice, they were not directly concerned in this formality.
The Turkish reply to the collective note of the powers is expected to-day. Reports from Constantinople state that it proposes concessions, probably in the direction of the neutralization or division of Adrianople, but it is almost certain that such a concession would not be accepted by the Balkan States.
The Bulgarian delegates gave a farewell luncheon to their Balkan colleagues yesterday. All the missions are preparing to leave London at the end of the week.
Friends of Nazim Pasha Demand Fall of Cabinet and Punishment of His Slayers.
MANY OFFICERS ARE SLAIN
Numerous Bloody Clashes Along the Tchatalja Lines — Garrison on Black Sea Disarmed.
PEACE NEGOTIATIONS ENDED
Allies Ready to Resume War — Savoff Tells His Men to Win New Victories.
DELEGATES ARE GOING HOME
But Four Will Stay In London — Belief That Efforts Will Be Concentrated Against Adrianople.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
PARIS, Thursday, Jan. 30.— The Matin's correspondent at Constantinople telegraphs that a mutiny broke out in the Turkish Army at Tchatalja after the coup d'état. Forty-two officers were killed or wounded and 170 wounded officers and men were taken to San Stefano.
The news of the overthrow of Kiamil Pasha, the Grand Vizier, says the correspondent, was known at Tchatalja on Thursday night. Immediately the officers who were supporters of the murdered Nazim Pasha met under the Presidency of Fuad Pasha and drafted a note to the Grand Vizier, demanding the punishment of the murderers and the resignation of the Ministry.
When this communication was being read over, a number of Young Turk officers appeared on the scene and a fight ensued, in which 42 officers were killed or wounded.
The correspondent adds that throughout Saturday numerous fights took place along the Tchatalja lines. Many wounded have arrived in Constantinople. The Circassion battalion has resolved to avenge the death of Nazim.
The Committee of Union and Progress met in extraordinary session and decided to send Talaat Bey and Enver Bey to Tchatalja to restore order, but at the last moment gave up the project. On Tuesday the Military League decided to send a mission to the Sultan demanding that Mahmud Shefket Pasha should be deprived of office and Kiamil Pasha reinstated.
The revolt was not confined to the Tchatalja garrison. At the entrance to the Black Sea, near Constantinople, mutineers had to be disarmed and replaced by others.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
LONDON, Thursday, Jan. 30.— The long suspended peace negotiations between Turkey and the Balkan States have reached the point of rupture, and unless something unforeseen occurs between now and Sunday or Monday the war will be resumed.
At 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon the Servian Chargé d'Affaires paid a visit to Rechad Pasha, chief of the Turkish delegates, and delivered the following formal note:
The plenipotentiaries of the Allied States, having since the suspension of the work of the Peace Conference awaited in vain for three weeks the reply of the Ottoman plenipotentiaries to their last demands, and the events occurring in Constantinople appearing to them to have destroyed the hope of arriving at the conclusion of peace, they, to their great regret, are obliged to declare the negotiations commenced in London on Dec. 16 last, broken off.
The document was signed by the delegates of all the Balkan States, headed by Dr. Daneff of Bulgaria.
The Servian Chargé then proceeded to the Foreign Office and handed to Sir Edward Grey a letter setting forth the allies' decision and expressing the delegates' gratitude for the cordial hospitality which Great Britain had extended to them during their stay in England.
The Governments of Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro were at once informed that the negotiations were formally ended, so that they might, without further delay, instruct the commanders in the field to give the four days' notice terminating the armistice. As the Greeks were not parties to the armistice, they were not directly concerned in this formality.
The Turkish reply to the collective note of the powers is expected to-day. Reports from Constantinople state that it proposes concessions, probably in the direction of the neutralization or division of Adrianople, but it is almost certain that such a concession would not be accepted by the Balkan States.
The Bulgarian delegates gave a farewell luncheon to their Balkan colleagues yesterday. All the missions are preparing to leave London at the end of the week.
Rebels Worry Mexico City.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 30, 1913:
Plunge Capital In Darkness by Cutting Current — Active in Environs.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29.— Rebel activities continue without abatement within fifteen miles of Mexico City, according to advices received at the State Department to-day from Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson.
Mr. Wilson said the city was plunged into darkness and tramway traffic was at a standstill on Monday night, when the rebels cut the electric power wires.
Plunge Capital In Darkness by Cutting Current — Active in Environs.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29.— Rebel activities continue without abatement within fifteen miles of Mexico City, according to advices received at the State Department to-day from Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson.
Mr. Wilson said the city was plunged into darkness and tramway traffic was at a standstill on Monday night, when the rebels cut the electric power wires.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Mexican Fighting Expected.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 29, 1913:
Armistice Ends, and the Rebels Are Massing Near Border.
EL PASO, Texas, Jan. 28.— The informal armistice existing for the last five days ended to-day after a conference between E. C. Llorente, Mexican Consul, and Salazar's representative, Francisco Terrazas. News of the breaking off of negotiations was sent through the rebel camps by a motor cycle messenger in the afternoon, and hostilities probably will be resumed at once.
Col. David De La Fuente, Orozco's former artillery chief, who recently disappeared from San Antonio, Texas, where he was under bond for trial on charges of alleged neutrality violations, arrived in Guadalupe to-day with 200 men. He re-entered Mexico by way of Columbus, N.M. With Salazar, he will direct the operation of the 1,500 rebels in Northern Mexico, between Guadalupe and Juarez. The whereabouts of Gen. Orozco is unknown here.
Armistice Ends, and the Rebels Are Massing Near Border.
EL PASO, Texas, Jan. 28.— The informal armistice existing for the last five days ended to-day after a conference between E. C. Llorente, Mexican Consul, and Salazar's representative, Francisco Terrazas. News of the breaking off of negotiations was sent through the rebel camps by a motor cycle messenger in the afternoon, and hostilities probably will be resumed at once.
Col. David De La Fuente, Orozco's former artillery chief, who recently disappeared from San Antonio, Texas, where he was under bond for trial on charges of alleged neutrality violations, arrived in Guadalupe to-day with 200 men. He re-entered Mexico by way of Columbus, N.M. With Salazar, he will direct the operation of the 1,500 rebels in Northern Mexico, between Guadalupe and Juarez. The whereabouts of Gen. Orozco is unknown here.
Balkan Massacres Cost 35,000 Lives.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 29, 1913:
London Times Correspondent Says That Moslems Suffered Worse Than Christians.
BOTH FOES EQUALLY GUILTY
Nameless Atrocities Perpetrated by Albanians — Neither Women nor Children Spared.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Jan. 28.— The Times correspondent in Constantinople, discussing the massacres in Turkey, says:
"The number of non-combatants who perished is not easily ascertained, but on such data as I have been able to procure I estimate it at a maximum of 20,000 Moslems and 15,000 Christians in the whole of European Turkey.
The Moslems were mostly killed by irregulars or in the peasant Jacquerie, which followed the defeat of the Turkish troops. Massacres took place at Seres, where 800 were killed, mostly by followers of Sandansky, a former protégé of the Young Turks, and in the Strumitza region, between Gumuldjina and Keshan, where it is believed that over 1,500 were killed and many women outraged.
"The Christians suffered most in Drama Novrokop, where over 800 Bulgarians were killed on Nov. 4, without distinction of age or sex; at the village of Plevna, where 182 were burned in barracks; near Demir-Hissar, where many more were slain; in Djuma and Bela in the Novrokop region, where a number of villages, variously estimated from ten to fourteen, were burned and from 20 to 50 per cent, of the inhabitants killed, and in Epirus, where statistics of the loss of life are lacking. "The massacres of Moslems which have taken place in the Strumitza district, for the most part after trial by a revolutionary court-martial, cannot be described as reprisals, since less than fifty Christians had been killed in that region before the advent of the forces of the Balkan League.
"If a quarter of the information received be true, the Albanian irregulars committed crimes, especially upon women and children, for the description of which the dead languages must be used, and the Serbs behaved as did the British troops under similar provocation at Cawnpore and elsewhere in 1857. Taking it all in all. I am reluctantly compelled to admit that it is a case of six of one and half a dozen of the other, and it would seem that Europe would be better employed in relieving the suffering of the survivors than in attempting to fix the responsibility for these horrors, which ultimately falls upon the heads of certain of her deceased statesmen."
London Times Correspondent Says That Moslems Suffered Worse Than Christians.
BOTH FOES EQUALLY GUILTY
Nameless Atrocities Perpetrated by Albanians — Neither Women nor Children Spared.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Jan. 28.— The Times correspondent in Constantinople, discussing the massacres in Turkey, says:
"The number of non-combatants who perished is not easily ascertained, but on such data as I have been able to procure I estimate it at a maximum of 20,000 Moslems and 15,000 Christians in the whole of European Turkey.
The Moslems were mostly killed by irregulars or in the peasant Jacquerie, which followed the defeat of the Turkish troops. Massacres took place at Seres, where 800 were killed, mostly by followers of Sandansky, a former protégé of the Young Turks, and in the Strumitza region, between Gumuldjina and Keshan, where it is believed that over 1,500 were killed and many women outraged.
"The Christians suffered most in Drama Novrokop, where over 800 Bulgarians were killed on Nov. 4, without distinction of age or sex; at the village of Plevna, where 182 were burned in barracks; near Demir-Hissar, where many more were slain; in Djuma and Bela in the Novrokop region, where a number of villages, variously estimated from ten to fourteen, were burned and from 20 to 50 per cent, of the inhabitants killed, and in Epirus, where statistics of the loss of life are lacking. "The massacres of Moslems which have taken place in the Strumitza district, for the most part after trial by a revolutionary court-martial, cannot be described as reprisals, since less than fifty Christians had been killed in that region before the advent of the forces of the Balkan League.
"If a quarter of the information received be true, the Albanian irregulars committed crimes, especially upon women and children, for the description of which the dead languages must be used, and the Serbs behaved as did the British troops under similar provocation at Cawnpore and elsewhere in 1857. Taking it all in all. I am reluctantly compelled to admit that it is a case of six of one and half a dozen of the other, and it would seem that Europe would be better employed in relieving the suffering of the survivors than in attempting to fix the responsibility for these horrors, which ultimately falls upon the heads of certain of her deceased statesmen."
Armenians In Peril.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 29, 1913:
Russian Occupation of Turkish Armenia Is Expected.
LONDON, Wednesday, Jan. 29.— A correspondent at Tiflis says that Russia has fully mobilized a force of nearly 70,000 men on the Turkish-Armenian frontier.
An Odessa dispatch to The Daily Mail reports that the Armenians of Bitlis, Van, and Mush are in peril, and are appealing for Russian aid through the Russian consuls.
It is generally believed, according to the correspondent, that a Russian occupation of the Turkish-Armenian districts is inevitable.
Russian Occupation of Turkish Armenia Is Expected.
LONDON, Wednesday, Jan. 29.— A correspondent at Tiflis says that Russia has fully mobilized a force of nearly 70,000 men on the Turkish-Armenian frontier.
An Odessa dispatch to The Daily Mail reports that the Armenians of Bitlis, Van, and Mush are in peril, and are appealing for Russian aid through the Russian consuls.
It is generally believed, according to the correspondent, that a Russian occupation of the Turkish-Armenian districts is inevitable.
Allies Leave Note In Servian's Hands.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 29, 1913:
M. Novakovitch to Present It to the Turkish Delegates at the "Opportune Moment."
CIVIL WAR IN TURKEY?
Rumors of a Battle at Tchatalja and That an Army Corps Is Marching on the Capital.
LONDON, Wednesday, Jan. 29.— With the presentation of their note to the Turkish delegation, the date for which, however, has not yet been fixed, some of the Balkan delegates consider that their mission in London will be ended. The Greek Premier, M. Venizolos, announced last night that he would leave London before the end of the week. The financial advisers and the military officers attached to the Bulgarian delegation will start for home to-day.
Despite this the diplomats have not given up hope, and many still think that the allies' note is another attempt to exercise pressure on Turkey, and that the allies really intend to await the answer of the new Turkish Cabinet to the powers' joint note, a course which the powers have always advised.
"Another day lost!" exclaimed those who believe that the only solution is to be found in the resumption of hostilities, when the meeting of the delegates of the four allied nations was adjourned yesterday afternoon. "Another day gained!" retorted those who believe that peace is to be reached by postponing extreme measures.
The meeting lasted for five hours, and the discussion was animated. The delegates reviewed the whole situation and debated both sides of the question — the resumption of the war and the policy of delay — trusting to time to solve the difficulties. The head of each delegation reported the conversation which he had had with Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, and reference was again made to the advice of the Ambassadors to observe prudence and moderation. This greatly strengthened the arguments of the section favoring procrastination, their view being that, after the powers' note to Turkey, which was in favor of the terms of the allies, if the latter continued to follow Europe's advice Europe would continue to give its support.
The note was left with M. Novakovitch, head of the Servian delegation, the delegates "intrusting to him the choice of an opportune moment for its presentation." Some believe that he will present it to-day. Others are of the opinion that this particular form was adopted with the object of avoiding an immediate rupture, and to give Turkey time to reply to the powers.
M. Novakovitch to Present It to the Turkish Delegates at the "Opportune Moment."
CIVIL WAR IN TURKEY?
Rumors of a Battle at Tchatalja and That an Army Corps Is Marching on the Capital.
LONDON, Wednesday, Jan. 29.— With the presentation of their note to the Turkish delegation, the date for which, however, has not yet been fixed, some of the Balkan delegates consider that their mission in London will be ended. The Greek Premier, M. Venizolos, announced last night that he would leave London before the end of the week. The financial advisers and the military officers attached to the Bulgarian delegation will start for home to-day.
Despite this the diplomats have not given up hope, and many still think that the allies' note is another attempt to exercise pressure on Turkey, and that the allies really intend to await the answer of the new Turkish Cabinet to the powers' joint note, a course which the powers have always advised.
"Another day lost!" exclaimed those who believe that the only solution is to be found in the resumption of hostilities, when the meeting of the delegates of the four allied nations was adjourned yesterday afternoon. "Another day gained!" retorted those who believe that peace is to be reached by postponing extreme measures.
The meeting lasted for five hours, and the discussion was animated. The delegates reviewed the whole situation and debated both sides of the question — the resumption of the war and the policy of delay — trusting to time to solve the difficulties. The head of each delegation reported the conversation which he had had with Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, and reference was again made to the advice of the Ambassadors to observe prudence and moderation. This greatly strengthened the arguments of the section favoring procrastination, their view being that, after the powers' note to Turkey, which was in favor of the terms of the allies, if the latter continued to follow Europe's advice Europe would continue to give its support.
The note was left with M. Novakovitch, head of the Servian delegation, the delegates "intrusting to him the choice of an opportune moment for its presentation." Some believe that he will present it to-day. Others are of the opinion that this particular form was adopted with the object of avoiding an immediate rupture, and to give Turkey time to reply to the powers.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Won't Renew War For Fifteen Days.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 28, 1913:
Formalities Connected with Allies' Action Will Carry Armistice at Least to Feb. 11
AND ADRIANOPLE MAY FALL
Which Might Solve the Problem — Prince Said Halim Appointed Ottoman Foreign Minister.
LONDON, Tuesday, Jan. 28.— The special committee appointed by the Balkan plenipotentiaries yesterday drafted a note informing the Turkish plenipotentiaries that the allies purposed to break off the peace negotiations. The note was not submitted to the Balkan delegations, which held no meeting yesterday. Instead, the Delegates gave a luncheon in celebration of the Saint Day of Saba, the patron of the Orthodox Church. This was attended by several of the military members of the delegations, who are leaving London to rejoin the armies in expectation of a resumption of hostilities.
The note as drafted is very brief. It reminds the Turks that since Jan. 6 the sittings of the Peace Conference have been suspended, without Turkey making any move toward their resumption, while the events which have occurred in Constantinople are the best proof that Turkey's answer to the demands of the allies concerning Adrianople and the Aegean Islands will be negative.
On this account, unless the Turkish delegation has fresh proposals to make, the note points out, the allies see no alternative but definitely to break off the negotiations.
The Servian ex-Premier, M. Novakovitch, will give a luncheon to-day in honor of the other delegations, after which a meeting will be held for the purpose of examining the note. Thus another day will be gained before facing the question of reopening the war.
Rechad Pasha, head of the Turkish delegation, in an interview last night said that he deeply regretted the "obstinacy of the allies," which, he declared, was not only against Turkey's but against their own true interests. He added:
"This obstinacy is the more regrettable because, while Bulgaria does not need Adrianople, either for defensive or offensive purposes, this town is indispensable to Turkey, on account of historic, sentimental, and religious associations. In fact, Turkey would be weaker from a military point of view possessing Adrianople than without it, as the present war proves, for a whole army is now immobilized inside that fortress.
"Turkey has shown a yielding spirit toward the allies, ceding a larger area than their own countries before the war. What was the use of assembling a conference if the allies were determined to make no concessions whatever? The object of all conferences always has been to find a compromise through mutual giving way.
"If the allies had played a noble part by renouncing Adrianople, Turkey might have become the friend and ally of Bulgaria, as Austria became the friend and ally of Germany after the war of 1866. By claiming Adrianople, if Bulgaria ever gets it, there will be an insurmountable gulf between the two countries and the two races. The spirit of revenge in Turkey will be stronger and deeper than that still left in France over the loss of Alsace-Lorraine."
Even if the allies are anxious to resume hostilities, which, it is currently reported, is not the case, at least fifteen days must elapse before the guns begin to go off again. As it is understood that the note will give the Turkish delegation three days in which to answer it, the expiration of that period would come on Sunday, so that the Turkish reply would not be delivered until Monday next. Then the allies' delegations will have to notify their respective Governments and ask Sir Edward Grey to convoke a final sitting of the conference for the official rupture of the negotiations and also in order to thank the British Government for its hospitality. This will take at least three days, making it Feb. 6. Then the Governments at Sofia, Belgrade, and Cettinje must denounce the armistice. Even admitting that, working with exceptional celerity, this could be done the next day, hostilities could not be resumed until Feb. 11, owing to the four days' notice that must be given of the conclusion of the armistice.
In the mean-while the fortress of Adrianople may fall, and this may be an automatic solution of the problem.
Formalities Connected with Allies' Action Will Carry Armistice at Least to Feb. 11
AND ADRIANOPLE MAY FALL
Which Might Solve the Problem — Prince Said Halim Appointed Ottoman Foreign Minister.
LONDON, Tuesday, Jan. 28.— The special committee appointed by the Balkan plenipotentiaries yesterday drafted a note informing the Turkish plenipotentiaries that the allies purposed to break off the peace negotiations. The note was not submitted to the Balkan delegations, which held no meeting yesterday. Instead, the Delegates gave a luncheon in celebration of the Saint Day of Saba, the patron of the Orthodox Church. This was attended by several of the military members of the delegations, who are leaving London to rejoin the armies in expectation of a resumption of hostilities.
The note as drafted is very brief. It reminds the Turks that since Jan. 6 the sittings of the Peace Conference have been suspended, without Turkey making any move toward their resumption, while the events which have occurred in Constantinople are the best proof that Turkey's answer to the demands of the allies concerning Adrianople and the Aegean Islands will be negative.
On this account, unless the Turkish delegation has fresh proposals to make, the note points out, the allies see no alternative but definitely to break off the negotiations.
The Servian ex-Premier, M. Novakovitch, will give a luncheon to-day in honor of the other delegations, after which a meeting will be held for the purpose of examining the note. Thus another day will be gained before facing the question of reopening the war.
Rechad Pasha, head of the Turkish delegation, in an interview last night said that he deeply regretted the "obstinacy of the allies," which, he declared, was not only against Turkey's but against their own true interests. He added:
"This obstinacy is the more regrettable because, while Bulgaria does not need Adrianople, either for defensive or offensive purposes, this town is indispensable to Turkey, on account of historic, sentimental, and religious associations. In fact, Turkey would be weaker from a military point of view possessing Adrianople than without it, as the present war proves, for a whole army is now immobilized inside that fortress.
"Turkey has shown a yielding spirit toward the allies, ceding a larger area than their own countries before the war. What was the use of assembling a conference if the allies were determined to make no concessions whatever? The object of all conferences always has been to find a compromise through mutual giving way.
"If the allies had played a noble part by renouncing Adrianople, Turkey might have become the friend and ally of Bulgaria, as Austria became the friend and ally of Germany after the war of 1866. By claiming Adrianople, if Bulgaria ever gets it, there will be an insurmountable gulf between the two countries and the two races. The spirit of revenge in Turkey will be stronger and deeper than that still left in France over the loss of Alsace-Lorraine."
Even if the allies are anxious to resume hostilities, which, it is currently reported, is not the case, at least fifteen days must elapse before the guns begin to go off again. As it is understood that the note will give the Turkish delegation three days in which to answer it, the expiration of that period would come on Sunday, so that the Turkish reply would not be delivered until Monday next. Then the allies' delegations will have to notify their respective Governments and ask Sir Edward Grey to convoke a final sitting of the conference for the official rupture of the negotiations and also in order to thank the British Government for its hospitality. This will take at least three days, making it Feb. 6. Then the Governments at Sofia, Belgrade, and Cettinje must denounce the armistice. Even admitting that, working with exceptional celerity, this could be done the next day, hostilities could not be resumed until Feb. 11, owing to the four days' notice that must be given of the conclusion of the armistice.
In the mean-while the fortress of Adrianople may fall, and this may be an automatic solution of the problem.
Handshaking Condemned.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 28, 1913:
To the Editor of The New York Times:
Where and how the senseless method of salutation by handshaking originated I am not informed, but in my judgment it should be relegated to its proper place among customs which are gone and rightly forgotten. Apart from its lack of grace. It is also insanitary if the bacteriologists are to be believed, for I understand that the fingers are the favorite roosting-place for germs. No such custom prevails among the Orientals, who are far ahead of us in this particular, as in many others. President-elect Wilson has already entered some protest against this pump-handle nuisance at public receptions, and it is to be hoped that he will take a prohibitive stand against it.
HARLAN MOORE.
New York, Jan. 25, 1913.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
Where and how the senseless method of salutation by handshaking originated I am not informed, but in my judgment it should be relegated to its proper place among customs which are gone and rightly forgotten. Apart from its lack of grace. It is also insanitary if the bacteriologists are to be believed, for I understand that the fingers are the favorite roosting-place for germs. No such custom prevails among the Orientals, who are far ahead of us in this particular, as in many others. President-elect Wilson has already entered some protest against this pump-handle nuisance at public receptions, and it is to be hoped that he will take a prohibitive stand against it.
HARLAN MOORE.
New York, Jan. 25, 1913.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Tries To Shoot Archduke.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 27, 1913:
Employe of Louis Salvator of Tuscany Grazes Him, Wounds Governess
PARIS, Jan. 20.— A Barcelona dispatch to the Petit Parisien reports an attempt to assassinate Archduke Louis Salvator of Tuscany.
While the Archduke was walking in the grounds of his estate at Miramir in the Balearic Islands a workman employed on the estate fired at him several times with a revolver. One bullet grazed the Archduke and severely wounded a governess.
Employe of Louis Salvator of Tuscany Grazes Him, Wounds Governess
PARIS, Jan. 20.— A Barcelona dispatch to the Petit Parisien reports an attempt to assassinate Archduke Louis Salvator of Tuscany.
While the Archduke was walking in the grounds of his estate at Miramir in the Balearic Islands a workman employed on the estate fired at him several times with a revolver. One bullet grazed the Archduke and severely wounded a governess.
To Ratify Wireless Treaty.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 27, 1913:
Thirty-one Signatories Soon Will Approve Convention.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26.— Ratifications of the wireless telegraph treaty signed in London July 5 last, it is thought, will be exchanged in the British capital in a few weeks by the thirty-one signatory powers. The Senate's ratification of the treaty a few days ago paved the way for that formality, as practically all the other Governments were understood to have approved the treaty, to become effective July 1 next. By that convention the important maritime nations of the world have linked themselves to obtain the widest range of international usefulness for the wireless.
One of the most important provisions is that compelling the free interchange of communication between ships and coast stations employing different systems of radio appliances. With the Titanic disaster fresh in the minds of the delegates, all opposition to that idea faded.
It is provided that the transmission of long-distance wireless messages shall be interrupted for three minutes at the end of every quarter hour to permit all stations to listen for distress calls. That was an American proposition based, according to the report of the American delegation to Secretary Knox, "upon the fact that at least two steamships which were nearer the Titanic than the Carpathia were prevented from hearing the distress calls of the sinking vessel by reason of the fact that the continuous transmission of press news prevented the Titanic's messages from being received by ships fitted with radio apparatus of limited capacity."
Other provisions relate to the transmission of weather reports, measures to prevent the interference of long distance with ordinary wave lengths, compelling the installation of wireless on certain classes of ships and the maintenance of a continuous watch for distress signals.
Thirty-one Signatories Soon Will Approve Convention.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26.— Ratifications of the wireless telegraph treaty signed in London July 5 last, it is thought, will be exchanged in the British capital in a few weeks by the thirty-one signatory powers. The Senate's ratification of the treaty a few days ago paved the way for that formality, as practically all the other Governments were understood to have approved the treaty, to become effective July 1 next. By that convention the important maritime nations of the world have linked themselves to obtain the widest range of international usefulness for the wireless.
One of the most important provisions is that compelling the free interchange of communication between ships and coast stations employing different systems of radio appliances. With the Titanic disaster fresh in the minds of the delegates, all opposition to that idea faded.
It is provided that the transmission of long-distance wireless messages shall be interrupted for three minutes at the end of every quarter hour to permit all stations to listen for distress calls. That was an American proposition based, according to the report of the American delegation to Secretary Knox, "upon the fact that at least two steamships which were nearer the Titanic than the Carpathia were prevented from hearing the distress calls of the sinking vessel by reason of the fact that the continuous transmission of press news prevented the Titanic's messages from being received by ships fitted with radio apparatus of limited capacity."
Other provisions relate to the transmission of weather reports, measures to prevent the interference of long distance with ordinary wave lengths, compelling the installation of wireless on certain classes of ships and the maintenance of a continuous watch for distress signals.
Says Drive Out The Turks.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 27, 1913:
Europe Must Be Rid of Them at Any Cost, Says Dr. Wheeler.
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 26.— Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President of the University of California and a close student of European politics, said this evening, in an address before the San Francisco Young Men's Christian Association, that the Turk must be driven from Europe at any cost.
"If you cannot get arbitrators to do it, if you cannot get lawyers to do it, then let the sword be drawn, streaming blood red," he said.
"It is a struggle for a liberty-loving people." he continued, "to free itself from the incubus of Turkish domination. In essence this war is a struggle of the freedom of the will as represented by European peoples and the fatalism of the Orient."
Europe Must Be Rid of Them at Any Cost, Says Dr. Wheeler.
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 26.— Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President of the University of California and a close student of European politics, said this evening, in an address before the San Francisco Young Men's Christian Association, that the Turk must be driven from Europe at any cost.
"If you cannot get arbitrators to do it, if you cannot get lawyers to do it, then let the sword be drawn, streaming blood red," he said.
"It is a struggle for a liberty-loving people." he continued, "to free itself from the incubus of Turkish domination. In essence this war is a struggle of the freedom of the will as represented by European peoples and the fatalism of the Orient."
Our Gunboat Unwelcome.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 27, 1913:
Cold Reception Awaits the Wheeling, Which Arrives at Vera Cruz.
VERA CRUZ, Jan. 26.— The United States gunboat Wheeling, which was ordered to proceed to Vera Cruz by the American Government because of reports of alarming conditions in this section, arrived here at 10 o'clock this morning from Tampa. Official visits will be exchanged to-morrow, but it is certain that the reception of the Americans will be cold, as Mexicans are not particularly pleased at the visit of an American warship.
At present the situation in and around Vera Cruz is quiet.
Cold Reception Awaits the Wheeling, Which Arrives at Vera Cruz.
VERA CRUZ, Jan. 26.— The United States gunboat Wheeling, which was ordered to proceed to Vera Cruz by the American Government because of reports of alarming conditions in this section, arrived here at 10 o'clock this morning from Tampa. Official visits will be exchanged to-morrow, but it is certain that the reception of the Americans will be cold, as Mexicans are not particularly pleased at the visit of an American warship.
At present the situation in and around Vera Cruz is quiet.
The New Balkan Note.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 27, 1913:
In view of the developments of the last few days, the grave decision of the Balkan plenipotentiaries in London to present a fresh note to the Turkish plenipotentiaries, alter twenty-four hours' notice, explaining why the peace conference may be considered at an end, will puzzle everybody unfamiliar with the ways of diplomats. Turkey seems only too well aware that the conference is practically finished, and seems eager to renew the war, though the eagerness may only be seeming. The frank admission of the representatives of the allies that they are not anxious to resume fighting for the reason that a single bad defeat might work great harm to their cause, may be significant.
It is said that the allies now fear interference from both Austria and Rumania. It was not worth while to admit so much, unless there is something behind the new note the committee of the Balkan plenipotentiaries is now preparing, which will be submitted to the full body to-night. There is room for hope, therefore, that a way to peace may yet be found, although the warning of the Powers to Turkey seemed final a few days ago. The chief anxiety of the Turks seems to be to protect the "holy places." Perhaps they might consent to the cession of all the Aegean Isles if they could keep Adrianople.
In view of the developments of the last few days, the grave decision of the Balkan plenipotentiaries in London to present a fresh note to the Turkish plenipotentiaries, alter twenty-four hours' notice, explaining why the peace conference may be considered at an end, will puzzle everybody unfamiliar with the ways of diplomats. Turkey seems only too well aware that the conference is practically finished, and seems eager to renew the war, though the eagerness may only be seeming. The frank admission of the representatives of the allies that they are not anxious to resume fighting for the reason that a single bad defeat might work great harm to their cause, may be significant.
It is said that the allies now fear interference from both Austria and Rumania. It was not worth while to admit so much, unless there is something behind the new note the committee of the Balkan plenipotentiaries is now preparing, which will be submitted to the full body to-night. There is room for hope, therefore, that a way to peace may yet be found, although the warning of the Powers to Turkey seemed final a few days ago. The chief anxiety of the Turks seems to be to protect the "holy places." Perhaps they might consent to the cession of all the Aegean Isles if they could keep Adrianople.
Allies Move To End Peace Coherence.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 27, 1913:
Decide to Draft a Note to Turkey, Breaking Off Negotiations.
HOPE THUS TO FORCE ACTION
Threaten Also to Denounce the Armistice Unless a Reply to the Powers Is Speedily Forthcoming.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
LONDON, Monday, Jan. 27.— The Balkan delegates have taken a radical step and decided to break off negotiations with Turkey.
At a meeting of the plenipotentiaries yesterday it was decided to address a note to the Turkish Embassy, announcing the rupture of the peace conference. The note will declare that the revolutionary change in the, Government at Constantinople, and more especially the defiant attitude assumed by the new Ministry in regard to the question of Adrianople and islands, constitute a new element in the situation, which renders further negotiations superfluous.
All the delegates agreed that further delay on the part of Turkey in replying to the note of the powers could not be tolerated, and should the Turkish reply be not received within the next two, or at most three days, denunciation of the armistice by the allies will follow.
The terms of the note to be addressed to Turkey were considered, and decided on at yesterday's meeting, and the document will be drawn up in final form to-day.
Denunciation of the armistice would give the powers four days to determine whether they could devise any means of bringing more pressure to bear on the Turks, but the prospects of further intervention are thought remote. It is felt that about all that can now be expected from them is to make certain that the war, if renewed, shall be limited to the Balkan States and Turkey. The Daily Mail says that assurances on this point have been given by all the powers, including Russia and Austria, who have a special interest in the issue of the struggle.
A dispatch to The Times from Constantinople says that the Porte's reply to the powers will probably be given to-day.
Decide to Draft a Note to Turkey, Breaking Off Negotiations.
HOPE THUS TO FORCE ACTION
Threaten Also to Denounce the Armistice Unless a Reply to the Powers Is Speedily Forthcoming.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
LONDON, Monday, Jan. 27.— The Balkan delegates have taken a radical step and decided to break off negotiations with Turkey.
At a meeting of the plenipotentiaries yesterday it was decided to address a note to the Turkish Embassy, announcing the rupture of the peace conference. The note will declare that the revolutionary change in the, Government at Constantinople, and more especially the defiant attitude assumed by the new Ministry in regard to the question of Adrianople and islands, constitute a new element in the situation, which renders further negotiations superfluous.
All the delegates agreed that further delay on the part of Turkey in replying to the note of the powers could not be tolerated, and should the Turkish reply be not received within the next two, or at most three days, denunciation of the armistice by the allies will follow.
The terms of the note to be addressed to Turkey were considered, and decided on at yesterday's meeting, and the document will be drawn up in final form to-day.
Denunciation of the armistice would give the powers four days to determine whether they could devise any means of bringing more pressure to bear on the Turks, but the prospects of further intervention are thought remote. It is felt that about all that can now be expected from them is to make certain that the war, if renewed, shall be limited to the Balkan States and Turkey. The Daily Mail says that assurances on this point have been given by all the powers, including Russia and Austria, who have a special interest in the issue of the struggle.
A dispatch to The Times from Constantinople says that the Porte's reply to the powers will probably be given to-day.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
The Turk In Europe And His Stay There.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 26, 1913:
More Than 600 Years of Misrule, Destruction, Robbery, and Murder.
NO CIVILIZING ADVANCE
He Came Out of the East to Plunder and Remained to Preserve the "Balance of Power."
For the Osmanlis, or Turks as we call them, the Koran has been an excuse; never an inspiration. The inspiration is to be found in the ruins of Bagdad and Cordova and in the beautiful walls of the Alhambra and other remains of Moorish artistry; in the chemistry, astronomy, and mathematics that have come down to us from the Arabs; in the still living traditions of the schools of Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, and Northern Africa; in the great library at Cairo. The Koran guided the hand of the Saracenic weaver and potter, the pen of the poet and story teller, and tempered the blades of Damascus and Toledo.
The excuse of the Koran is to be found in the chronicles of the Turks, who have torn down where others — Saracen, Jew, and Christian — had built up; who have lived by the talents and industry of others and inhabited the buildings constructed by their toil and genius; who have never written, a book, carved a statue, or painted a picture or done anything for the advancement of mankind in the arts or sciences; who have robbed and murdered without even the saving grace of an ideal.
According, to the late Max Müller the Turk possesses all the, characteristics of a non-governing people and the misfortune of having been forced to exert them, in spite of himself, for the last five Centuries. This paradox seems to explain much.
Who are the Turks? Why did they enter Europe? What have they done there?
We first hear of them about six centuries after the Hegira as coming from Central Asia, driven from their lands by the Mongol invasion. They soon absorbed the Seljukian Turks, who a couple of centuries before — at about the time of the Norman conquest — had captured Bagdad and then Jerusalem, and had given to their chief or caliph the title of Commander of the Faithful. Then we hear of them founding an empire under Othman. (1299-1326) and taking from him the name of Ottoman. His son Orchan created the famous troops known as the Janizaries, and with them, having destroyed the roots of industry in Asia Minor, he crossed the Hellespont in 1365 — the first Turk to occupy European soil.
The Turk has never been a hunter of game, manufacturer, or merchant. He was not in those days. He stayed in a place until he had exacted the last ration from the surviving inhabitants and then moved on. The grandson of Orchan captured Adrianople from the Greeks; his great-grandson, in 1396, defeated the soldiers of Hungary, massed to intercept his march westward, and ravaged Greece; he was checked finally by being attacked in his rear by another warrior from the East, the romantic Tamerlane, or Timur the Tartar.
In the half century that followed, the Turks settled down over what to-day is being taken from them by Montenegrin, Serb, Bulgarian, and Greek, and turned the people of this territory into slaves. At the end of that half century Mohammed II., with more than 250,000 men laid siege to Constantinople and battered its walls with cannon — then used in large size for the first time. Then fell Constantine, the last of the Caesars, sword in hand, and with him the Byzantine Empire, which had lasted for more than a thousand years. The crescent was raised to the place whence the cross had been flung down on the dome of St. Sophia. This was in 1453.
For a century the fate of all Europe rested in the balance. The Turk under Solyman the Magnificent carried his conquests throughout the Aegean, subdued all Northern Africa, taking it from his coreligionists, as far as Morocco, and beyond; devastated Hungary and parts of Austria, and in 1529 appeared under the walls of Vienna, 300,000 strong. There he was defeated by 60,000 Germans, conspicuously aided by a Polish Prince with a few thousand of his countrymen.
From that time the Turkish Empire in Europe has been gradually contracting, while the Slavs and their Greek allies, who to-day are pushing the Turk backward into the chaos of Asia whence he sprung, have ever formed the bulwark between him and Christian Europe, between a degenerate and a progressive civilization.
In the reign of Solyman the Turk passed through a transitory stage of partial civilization. He adopted something of the ways of the people whom he had conquered. Laws were established and certain relations for the first time were entered into with foreign States. In 1535 France had the honor of sending the first Christian Ambassador to Constantinople. His name was Jean de La Forêt, and he was a Knight of St. John of Jerusalem. Gradually a truce was made between Turkey and the people north of the Danube. Then the Turk turned his attention to the territory north of the Black Sea, and for more than three centuries has waged periodic conflict with the Russian.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Turkey, which, meantime, had learned something of seacraft, with her ships manned by hordes of Christian slaves, tried to attack Western Europe from the Mediterranean, with and sometimes without the aid or her coreligionists in North Africa. The Venetians barred the paths of the Mediterranean just as the French, Teutons, and Slavs had barred the passes of the Bohemian and Moravian Alps and the Carpathians.
At the battle of Lepanto, Oct. 7, 1571, 200 Venetian galleys aided by some Spanish, French, and Austrian ships, in which nearly every noble house in Christendom had a representative, practically wiped out for this time the Turkish navy; and from the wrecks of the Turkish ships, amid the 20,000 corpses that littered them, were rescued more than 8,000 Christian slaves. In that strange battle — the first and the last in which Christian Powers really united to keep back the Turk — the English sailor, Sir Richard Grenville, fought side by side with the Spanish poet, Cervantes. After Lepanto, Venice was left by Western Europe to keep back the Turk alone. Of this task, Molmenti, the historian of Venice, has written:
The ever memorable sacrifice of Venice who felt within herself, her ships, her treasure, her noblest blood, was watched with indifference by the great powers, who lent her slight and inefficient aid; and, while the banner of San Marco was borne through hecatombs of slaughter in Eastern waters, the flags of other nations, profiting by the great distress of their great rival, invaded other seas and enlarged the borders of their commerce. The Turks, who never a moment wavered in their resolve to storm Candia, made a supreme effort against the walls of the city in 1667; the rain of shot carried death into the citadel and strewed the streets with the slain. And yet Candia held out. In the space of five months we hear of thirty-two assaults, seventeen sorties. 618 mines exploded, 3,600 Venetian troops and 20,000 Turks laid low.
At length the Cretan city, a heap of ruins, surrendered; but from those ruins and from the mouths of the gallant defenders who were dragged away into slavery there arose appeals for vengeance, which Venice heard while all Western Europe remained deaf — just as they did two centuries later to the cries of the tortured from Armenia and Macedonia.
Western Europe found it cheaper to buy off the Turk than sacrifice lives. Tribute has been paid ever since, whether it has consisted of money or pledges, to maintain the existence of the Turk in Europe.
A map engraved in 1650 shows Turkey possessing the whole of the Balkan peninsula, a large part of what is now Austria-Hungary, the Crimea, and the greater part of the northern shores of the Black Sea, together with vast territory in Asia Minor, with which we are not at the moment concerned. The greatest aid to the Turk in maintaining his supremacy in the Balkans was the spirit of religious controversy which obtained there among the Albanians, Rumanians, Hungarians, Greeks, and Slavs, the traditions of which have been forgotten only to-day in making war upon their common foe.
North and northwest of the peninsula, however, Christianity became a bond of more fruitful union. By the Treaty of Karlovicz in 1699, the Sultan lost Transylvania and the country between the Danube and the Theiss, and handed over the Morea to the Venetians, Podolia and the Ukraine to Poland, and Azov to Russia. Then began a century of exchanges, Turkey recovering Azov and Morea, losing and recovering part of Servia and Walachia, so that at the close of the eighteenth century the Turks had withdrawn on the northeast to the line of the Dneister, and on the northwest to the Danube, although the Sultan still ruled over Moldavia, Walachia, Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, and the whole peninsula to the south, including, of course, Greece and the Archipelago.
With the, opening of the nineteenth century the contraction of Turkey became rapid and steady. Again and again the completeness of this contraction threatened to wipe Turkey off the map of Europe, but as many times was the ultimate averted by the powers, who still continued to pay to the Sultan the tribute of preserving his existence.
In 1817 Servia obtained her semi-freedom, and in 1829 Greece, after a long and memorable struggle, formed a separate kingdom — under the protection of those very powers which were also saving the Turk from total annihilation in Europe. Moldavia and Walachia became Danubian principalities under Turkish suzerainty in 1858, and twenty years later shook themselves free from Turkey and united under the title of the Kingdom of Rumania. At this same date, and as one of the results of the contemporaneous Russo-Turkish war and the Treaty of Berlin, Russia acquired Bessarabia and Rumania, Dobruja.
The independence of the principality of Montenegro was acknowledged, for the Turk in truth had never entirely subdued the dwellers of the Black Mountain. Servia also gained her independence, and in 1882 was declared a kingdom. Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia became autonomous provinces, under the Sultan's suzerainty, but in 1885 were united, and technically known down to four years ago as Northern and Southern Bulgaria — "an autonomous tributary principality, with a national Christian government and a native militia."
Events of the last four years in the Balkans can be traced to the failure of the Turk to carry out Article XXIII. of the Berlin Treaty of 1878, which provided for the establishment of an autonomous province, under a Christian governor in Macedonia, the consequent violation of other clauses in the Treaty by Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary, and Montenegro, and the internal dissensions among the Turks themselves through the attempt of The Young Turk Party and its political instrument, the Committee of Union and Progress, to establish a constitutional government.
While Turkey was in the throes of political transition the principalities of both Bulgaria and Montenegro became kingdoms, the former establishing her complete independence of Turkey, and Austria-Hungary formally annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina. The forcing of a Constitution upon Abd-ul-Hamid, the suppression of the reactionists who tried to return him to his ancient absolute power, his final dethronement, and the complete victory of the Parliamentary Party were events which were viewed with the utmost satisfaction by the great powers and by the civilized world in general. Under a popular government it was believed that the Turk would soon be in a position to take his place among civilized nations.
Much was written about the emancipation of the Turkish women, about the revival of education, about the things that the free Turks would soon accomplish in the fields of industry and commerce. A committee of the British Parliament was invited, to visit the seat of the new government. It left Stamboul filled with glowing descriptions of new Turkey, and these descriptions were soon spread Broadcast through periodicals and newspapers.
But what had been seen and written about was only on the surface — a surface constructed by the Greek and Jewish elements in the Turkish body politic. Beneath the Turk remained the same, always the same. He had merely permitted the surface of seeming advancement and progress to cover him for the time as a hostage to the powers to leave him alone. The atrocities in Armenia and Macedonia continued. The keeping of Article XXIII. of the Berlin Treaty became more remote than ever.
A word about these atrocities, which will bring into lurid relief the parasitic character of the Turk: In Armenia the industrious natives loaned money to the Turks to embark in various pursuits. When no more could be borrowed on the security offered word was passed to the Kurdish tribes that "the harvest was ripe," and the Kurds came and wiped out the creditors. What remained was the spoil of the debtors and the soldiers who were sent to drive back the Kurds. This procedure was repeated with varying amplifications through a long period of years. Never was the Sultan loath to heed the cry of Christendom to punish the Kurds. Nor did he hesitate incidentally to punish an official now and then whose hand had been too obvious in the game.
For years Macedonia has been the cockpit of the Balkans. Around it the Montenegrins, Serbs, and Greeks never, even under the most despotic rule from Constantinople, quite lost their traditions of self-government. Here are a great number of nationalities — Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews, Rumanians, and Turks — which foster racial antagonism, constantly stimulated among the non-Turks by the almost open war between the Exarch of Bulgaria and the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church. Before the Macedonians became the slaves of the Turks they were the serfs of the Greeks. In their land the evil work of the Turk has found its fullest expression as a destroyer of life and property, as a scourge of mind and body. Of late years the Macedonian Revolutionary Committee working under Bulgarian auspices has done much to unite this heterogeneous mass of human beings — this wrack left behind by successive waves of migration and conquest.
But after one has learned the answers to the various questions as to the Turk's mission in Europe, there are still others: Why in the name of progressive civilization has he been permitted to remain there? Why have his fables of reform been so often accepted as truth?
The answer is to be found in one term, as ancient as European diplomacy: "The balance of power."
The maintenance of the integrity of Turkey in Europe has long been acknowledged officially by the Powers to be a vital necessity — not because any particular nation desires to befriend the Turks for themselves, nor from any philanthropic motives whatever, but solely because the downfall of the Turkish Empire would mean a disruption of the relative strength of the mutual bond on which reposes the peace of Europe. England and France did not join against Russia in the Crimea out of sympathy for the Turk, nor was the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78 brought to a close by the Powers through similar philanthropic motives, but merely because a conquest of Turkey by Russia would destroy the delicate equilibrium of Western Europe. Could anything be more offensive to Russia than to have her Black Sea fleet shut out from the Mediterranean, as it is by the Treaty of Berlin, in which the sacredness of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles is guaranteed to Turkey by the Powers?
Aside from the Russian force tending to destroy this equilibrium there is another, the Austro-Hungarian. But while Russia would gain access to the Eastern Mediterranean by the destruction of the Turkish Empire, Austria-Hungary would leave Turkey as a rampart against Russia on the east and force her way through the heterogeneous mass of Macedonia to the coast of the Aegean or the Strait of Otranto. Austria would like the territory north of Greece as a Slavonic appendage to her German and Magyar nationalities. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Austro-Hungarian scheme finds more sympathy in the chancelleries of Western Europe than does the Russian, which seems now nearing a condition of realization through the signal victories of the arms of the Balkan League.
But, suppose, in the light of the almost inevitable removal of the Turk from the map of Europe, that Russia and Austria-Hungary should combine their interests? Neither the Triple Alliance nor the Triple Entente could support the strain. Moreover, there is no assurance that the Balkan League, when once more at peace, would be able to govern the various races and creeds to which it would fall heir any better than the Turk. More than fifty years ago Lord Palmerston foresaw the present day. Assuming that the extinction of the Turk in Europe was a "fait accompli," he wrote of the readjusting forces:
There are no sufficient elements for a Christian State in European Turkey capable of performing its functions as a component part of the European system. The Greeks are a small minority, and could not be the governing race. The Slavonians, who are the majority, do not possess the conditions necessary for becoming the bone and sinew of a new State. A reconstruction of Turkey means neither more nor leas than its subjection to Russia, direct or indirect, immediate or for a time delayed,
A peaceful readjustment of the unique conditions produced to-day in Turkey depend — to develop one point in Lord Palmerston's prophecy — on whether the victorious nations of the league will be more grateful to Russia, which has constantly, although covertly, encouraged their enterprises, or to Western Europe, which has just as constantly, but more openly, held on them a restraining hand.
More Than 600 Years of Misrule, Destruction, Robbery, and Murder.
NO CIVILIZING ADVANCE
He Came Out of the East to Plunder and Remained to Preserve the "Balance of Power."
For the Osmanlis, or Turks as we call them, the Koran has been an excuse; never an inspiration. The inspiration is to be found in the ruins of Bagdad and Cordova and in the beautiful walls of the Alhambra and other remains of Moorish artistry; in the chemistry, astronomy, and mathematics that have come down to us from the Arabs; in the still living traditions of the schools of Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, and Northern Africa; in the great library at Cairo. The Koran guided the hand of the Saracenic weaver and potter, the pen of the poet and story teller, and tempered the blades of Damascus and Toledo.
The excuse of the Koran is to be found in the chronicles of the Turks, who have torn down where others — Saracen, Jew, and Christian — had built up; who have lived by the talents and industry of others and inhabited the buildings constructed by their toil and genius; who have never written, a book, carved a statue, or painted a picture or done anything for the advancement of mankind in the arts or sciences; who have robbed and murdered without even the saving grace of an ideal.
According, to the late Max Müller the Turk possesses all the, characteristics of a non-governing people and the misfortune of having been forced to exert them, in spite of himself, for the last five Centuries. This paradox seems to explain much.
Who are the Turks? Why did they enter Europe? What have they done there?
We first hear of them about six centuries after the Hegira as coming from Central Asia, driven from their lands by the Mongol invasion. They soon absorbed the Seljukian Turks, who a couple of centuries before — at about the time of the Norman conquest — had captured Bagdad and then Jerusalem, and had given to their chief or caliph the title of Commander of the Faithful. Then we hear of them founding an empire under Othman. (1299-1326) and taking from him the name of Ottoman. His son Orchan created the famous troops known as the Janizaries, and with them, having destroyed the roots of industry in Asia Minor, he crossed the Hellespont in 1365 — the first Turk to occupy European soil.
The Turk has never been a hunter of game, manufacturer, or merchant. He was not in those days. He stayed in a place until he had exacted the last ration from the surviving inhabitants and then moved on. The grandson of Orchan captured Adrianople from the Greeks; his great-grandson, in 1396, defeated the soldiers of Hungary, massed to intercept his march westward, and ravaged Greece; he was checked finally by being attacked in his rear by another warrior from the East, the romantic Tamerlane, or Timur the Tartar.
In the half century that followed, the Turks settled down over what to-day is being taken from them by Montenegrin, Serb, Bulgarian, and Greek, and turned the people of this territory into slaves. At the end of that half century Mohammed II., with more than 250,000 men laid siege to Constantinople and battered its walls with cannon — then used in large size for the first time. Then fell Constantine, the last of the Caesars, sword in hand, and with him the Byzantine Empire, which had lasted for more than a thousand years. The crescent was raised to the place whence the cross had been flung down on the dome of St. Sophia. This was in 1453.
For a century the fate of all Europe rested in the balance. The Turk under Solyman the Magnificent carried his conquests throughout the Aegean, subdued all Northern Africa, taking it from his coreligionists, as far as Morocco, and beyond; devastated Hungary and parts of Austria, and in 1529 appeared under the walls of Vienna, 300,000 strong. There he was defeated by 60,000 Germans, conspicuously aided by a Polish Prince with a few thousand of his countrymen.
From that time the Turkish Empire in Europe has been gradually contracting, while the Slavs and their Greek allies, who to-day are pushing the Turk backward into the chaos of Asia whence he sprung, have ever formed the bulwark between him and Christian Europe, between a degenerate and a progressive civilization.
In the reign of Solyman the Turk passed through a transitory stage of partial civilization. He adopted something of the ways of the people whom he had conquered. Laws were established and certain relations for the first time were entered into with foreign States. In 1535 France had the honor of sending the first Christian Ambassador to Constantinople. His name was Jean de La Forêt, and he was a Knight of St. John of Jerusalem. Gradually a truce was made between Turkey and the people north of the Danube. Then the Turk turned his attention to the territory north of the Black Sea, and for more than three centuries has waged periodic conflict with the Russian.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Turkey, which, meantime, had learned something of seacraft, with her ships manned by hordes of Christian slaves, tried to attack Western Europe from the Mediterranean, with and sometimes without the aid or her coreligionists in North Africa. The Venetians barred the paths of the Mediterranean just as the French, Teutons, and Slavs had barred the passes of the Bohemian and Moravian Alps and the Carpathians.
At the battle of Lepanto, Oct. 7, 1571, 200 Venetian galleys aided by some Spanish, French, and Austrian ships, in which nearly every noble house in Christendom had a representative, practically wiped out for this time the Turkish navy; and from the wrecks of the Turkish ships, amid the 20,000 corpses that littered them, were rescued more than 8,000 Christian slaves. In that strange battle — the first and the last in which Christian Powers really united to keep back the Turk — the English sailor, Sir Richard Grenville, fought side by side with the Spanish poet, Cervantes. After Lepanto, Venice was left by Western Europe to keep back the Turk alone. Of this task, Molmenti, the historian of Venice, has written:
The ever memorable sacrifice of Venice who felt within herself, her ships, her treasure, her noblest blood, was watched with indifference by the great powers, who lent her slight and inefficient aid; and, while the banner of San Marco was borne through hecatombs of slaughter in Eastern waters, the flags of other nations, profiting by the great distress of their great rival, invaded other seas and enlarged the borders of their commerce. The Turks, who never a moment wavered in their resolve to storm Candia, made a supreme effort against the walls of the city in 1667; the rain of shot carried death into the citadel and strewed the streets with the slain. And yet Candia held out. In the space of five months we hear of thirty-two assaults, seventeen sorties. 618 mines exploded, 3,600 Venetian troops and 20,000 Turks laid low.
At length the Cretan city, a heap of ruins, surrendered; but from those ruins and from the mouths of the gallant defenders who were dragged away into slavery there arose appeals for vengeance, which Venice heard while all Western Europe remained deaf — just as they did two centuries later to the cries of the tortured from Armenia and Macedonia.
Western Europe found it cheaper to buy off the Turk than sacrifice lives. Tribute has been paid ever since, whether it has consisted of money or pledges, to maintain the existence of the Turk in Europe.
A map engraved in 1650 shows Turkey possessing the whole of the Balkan peninsula, a large part of what is now Austria-Hungary, the Crimea, and the greater part of the northern shores of the Black Sea, together with vast territory in Asia Minor, with which we are not at the moment concerned. The greatest aid to the Turk in maintaining his supremacy in the Balkans was the spirit of religious controversy which obtained there among the Albanians, Rumanians, Hungarians, Greeks, and Slavs, the traditions of which have been forgotten only to-day in making war upon their common foe.
North and northwest of the peninsula, however, Christianity became a bond of more fruitful union. By the Treaty of Karlovicz in 1699, the Sultan lost Transylvania and the country between the Danube and the Theiss, and handed over the Morea to the Venetians, Podolia and the Ukraine to Poland, and Azov to Russia. Then began a century of exchanges, Turkey recovering Azov and Morea, losing and recovering part of Servia and Walachia, so that at the close of the eighteenth century the Turks had withdrawn on the northeast to the line of the Dneister, and on the northwest to the Danube, although the Sultan still ruled over Moldavia, Walachia, Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, and the whole peninsula to the south, including, of course, Greece and the Archipelago.
With the, opening of the nineteenth century the contraction of Turkey became rapid and steady. Again and again the completeness of this contraction threatened to wipe Turkey off the map of Europe, but as many times was the ultimate averted by the powers, who still continued to pay to the Sultan the tribute of preserving his existence.
In 1817 Servia obtained her semi-freedom, and in 1829 Greece, after a long and memorable struggle, formed a separate kingdom — under the protection of those very powers which were also saving the Turk from total annihilation in Europe. Moldavia and Walachia became Danubian principalities under Turkish suzerainty in 1858, and twenty years later shook themselves free from Turkey and united under the title of the Kingdom of Rumania. At this same date, and as one of the results of the contemporaneous Russo-Turkish war and the Treaty of Berlin, Russia acquired Bessarabia and Rumania, Dobruja.
The independence of the principality of Montenegro was acknowledged, for the Turk in truth had never entirely subdued the dwellers of the Black Mountain. Servia also gained her independence, and in 1882 was declared a kingdom. Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia became autonomous provinces, under the Sultan's suzerainty, but in 1885 were united, and technically known down to four years ago as Northern and Southern Bulgaria — "an autonomous tributary principality, with a national Christian government and a native militia."
Events of the last four years in the Balkans can be traced to the failure of the Turk to carry out Article XXIII. of the Berlin Treaty of 1878, which provided for the establishment of an autonomous province, under a Christian governor in Macedonia, the consequent violation of other clauses in the Treaty by Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary, and Montenegro, and the internal dissensions among the Turks themselves through the attempt of The Young Turk Party and its political instrument, the Committee of Union and Progress, to establish a constitutional government.
While Turkey was in the throes of political transition the principalities of both Bulgaria and Montenegro became kingdoms, the former establishing her complete independence of Turkey, and Austria-Hungary formally annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina. The forcing of a Constitution upon Abd-ul-Hamid, the suppression of the reactionists who tried to return him to his ancient absolute power, his final dethronement, and the complete victory of the Parliamentary Party were events which were viewed with the utmost satisfaction by the great powers and by the civilized world in general. Under a popular government it was believed that the Turk would soon be in a position to take his place among civilized nations.
Much was written about the emancipation of the Turkish women, about the revival of education, about the things that the free Turks would soon accomplish in the fields of industry and commerce. A committee of the British Parliament was invited, to visit the seat of the new government. It left Stamboul filled with glowing descriptions of new Turkey, and these descriptions were soon spread Broadcast through periodicals and newspapers.
But what had been seen and written about was only on the surface — a surface constructed by the Greek and Jewish elements in the Turkish body politic. Beneath the Turk remained the same, always the same. He had merely permitted the surface of seeming advancement and progress to cover him for the time as a hostage to the powers to leave him alone. The atrocities in Armenia and Macedonia continued. The keeping of Article XXIII. of the Berlin Treaty became more remote than ever.
A word about these atrocities, which will bring into lurid relief the parasitic character of the Turk: In Armenia the industrious natives loaned money to the Turks to embark in various pursuits. When no more could be borrowed on the security offered word was passed to the Kurdish tribes that "the harvest was ripe," and the Kurds came and wiped out the creditors. What remained was the spoil of the debtors and the soldiers who were sent to drive back the Kurds. This procedure was repeated with varying amplifications through a long period of years. Never was the Sultan loath to heed the cry of Christendom to punish the Kurds. Nor did he hesitate incidentally to punish an official now and then whose hand had been too obvious in the game.
For years Macedonia has been the cockpit of the Balkans. Around it the Montenegrins, Serbs, and Greeks never, even under the most despotic rule from Constantinople, quite lost their traditions of self-government. Here are a great number of nationalities — Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews, Rumanians, and Turks — which foster racial antagonism, constantly stimulated among the non-Turks by the almost open war between the Exarch of Bulgaria and the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church. Before the Macedonians became the slaves of the Turks they were the serfs of the Greeks. In their land the evil work of the Turk has found its fullest expression as a destroyer of life and property, as a scourge of mind and body. Of late years the Macedonian Revolutionary Committee working under Bulgarian auspices has done much to unite this heterogeneous mass of human beings — this wrack left behind by successive waves of migration and conquest.
But after one has learned the answers to the various questions as to the Turk's mission in Europe, there are still others: Why in the name of progressive civilization has he been permitted to remain there? Why have his fables of reform been so often accepted as truth?
The answer is to be found in one term, as ancient as European diplomacy: "The balance of power."
The maintenance of the integrity of Turkey in Europe has long been acknowledged officially by the Powers to be a vital necessity — not because any particular nation desires to befriend the Turks for themselves, nor from any philanthropic motives whatever, but solely because the downfall of the Turkish Empire would mean a disruption of the relative strength of the mutual bond on which reposes the peace of Europe. England and France did not join against Russia in the Crimea out of sympathy for the Turk, nor was the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78 brought to a close by the Powers through similar philanthropic motives, but merely because a conquest of Turkey by Russia would destroy the delicate equilibrium of Western Europe. Could anything be more offensive to Russia than to have her Black Sea fleet shut out from the Mediterranean, as it is by the Treaty of Berlin, in which the sacredness of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles is guaranteed to Turkey by the Powers?
Aside from the Russian force tending to destroy this equilibrium there is another, the Austro-Hungarian. But while Russia would gain access to the Eastern Mediterranean by the destruction of the Turkish Empire, Austria-Hungary would leave Turkey as a rampart against Russia on the east and force her way through the heterogeneous mass of Macedonia to the coast of the Aegean or the Strait of Otranto. Austria would like the territory north of Greece as a Slavonic appendage to her German and Magyar nationalities. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Austro-Hungarian scheme finds more sympathy in the chancelleries of Western Europe than does the Russian, which seems now nearing a condition of realization through the signal victories of the arms of the Balkan League.
But, suppose, in the light of the almost inevitable removal of the Turk from the map of Europe, that Russia and Austria-Hungary should combine their interests? Neither the Triple Alliance nor the Triple Entente could support the strain. Moreover, there is no assurance that the Balkan League, when once more at peace, would be able to govern the various races and creeds to which it would fall heir any better than the Turk. More than fifty years ago Lord Palmerston foresaw the present day. Assuming that the extinction of the Turk in Europe was a "fait accompli," he wrote of the readjusting forces:
There are no sufficient elements for a Christian State in European Turkey capable of performing its functions as a component part of the European system. The Greeks are a small minority, and could not be the governing race. The Slavonians, who are the majority, do not possess the conditions necessary for becoming the bone and sinew of a new State. A reconstruction of Turkey means neither more nor leas than its subjection to Russia, direct or indirect, immediate or for a time delayed,
A peaceful readjustment of the unique conditions produced to-day in Turkey depend — to develop one point in Lord Palmerston's prophecy — on whether the victorious nations of the league will be more grateful to Russia, which has constantly, although covertly, encouraged their enterprises, or to Western Europe, which has just as constantly, but more openly, held on them a restraining hand.
Turks' Army Ready For New Revolt.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 26, 1913:
Tchatalaja Forces, Despairing of Victory, Are in Mood for Counter Revolution.
CABINET IS JAILING FOES
Terror Prevails in the Capital — Powers Hurrying Warships to Meet Emergency.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
VIENNA, Jan. 25.— According to reports from an excellent source in Constantinople serious unrest is prevalent among the greater part of the Turkish Army at Tchatalja, who, because of the lack of sufficient food and their insufficient equipment, realize the hopelessness of war against the Bulgarians.
It is feared that a counter-revolution is imminent.
Tchatalaja Forces, Despairing of Victory, Are in Mood for Counter Revolution.
CABINET IS JAILING FOES
Terror Prevails in the Capital — Powers Hurrying Warships to Meet Emergency.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
VIENNA, Jan. 25.— According to reports from an excellent source in Constantinople serious unrest is prevalent among the greater part of the Turkish Army at Tchatalja, who, because of the lack of sufficient food and their insufficient equipment, realize the hopelessness of war against the Bulgarians.
It is feared that a counter-revolution is imminent.
To Bury Records In Egypt.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 26, 1913:
Historic Association Will Make Sure Duplicates Are Not Lost.
The Modern Historic Records Association has formed a novel plan of delivering messages for its members to their descendants 100 years from now. Two envelopes of durable Japanese vellum have been sent to each member, with the request that genealogical memoranda, messages, and photographs be inclosed. The sealed envelopes will be deposited in lead-lined steel chests. One will be stored with the association's collections in the New York Public Library. A copperplate inscription will direct that the chest be opened in the year 2013.
The second chest will be put in a vault near the Cheops pyramid in Egypt. In this way the insurance is taken against possible destruction by war or natural causes. The chests will also contain documents, tablets, and photographs relating to affairs of the present year.
Historic Association Will Make Sure Duplicates Are Not Lost.
The Modern Historic Records Association has formed a novel plan of delivering messages for its members to their descendants 100 years from now. Two envelopes of durable Japanese vellum have been sent to each member, with the request that genealogical memoranda, messages, and photographs be inclosed. The sealed envelopes will be deposited in lead-lined steel chests. One will be stored with the association's collections in the New York Public Library. A copperplate inscription will direct that the chest be opened in the year 2013.
The second chest will be put in a vault near the Cheops pyramid in Egypt. In this way the insurance is taken against possible destruction by war or natural causes. The chests will also contain documents, tablets, and photographs relating to affairs of the present year.
No Evasion, Says Taft.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 26, 1913:
Willing to Rest Panama Case with Impartial Tribunal.
BALTIMORE, Jan. 25.— President Taft, at the annual banquet of the Merchants and Manufacturers' Association to-night, defended the Administration's contentions in the Panama Canal controversy with England. He said the Administration's attitude was not unpatriotic and dishonorable, and there was no reason for any one to oppose the proposal for arbitration by an impartial tribunal.
"Whether you call it a subsidy or not, I am in favor of making the transportation rates between the coasts through the Panama Canal lower." said the President. "Now the question is, Can we do that under our international obligations? I think we can, and if you read the authorities I think you'll find we may.
But if we are bound not to exempt coast-wise vessels, we can agree to submit the question to an impartial tribunal.
"I'm willing to admit there are arguments on the other side. We are willing, however, to submit our views to arbitration. There is nothing in the attitude of the Administration as I have stated it to show that we have been dishonorable. There is nothing to show a disposition to evade and we are willing to rest our case with a tribunal that is impartial."
The President closed his speech with an appeal for Constitutional government, endangered, he said, in the last few months. Attorney General Wickersham, Representative Littleton of New York, Gov. Goldsborough of Maryland, and Mayor
Preston of Baltimore also spoke. President Taft about 11 o'clock started for Washington.
Willing to Rest Panama Case with Impartial Tribunal.
BALTIMORE, Jan. 25.— President Taft, at the annual banquet of the Merchants and Manufacturers' Association to-night, defended the Administration's contentions in the Panama Canal controversy with England. He said the Administration's attitude was not unpatriotic and dishonorable, and there was no reason for any one to oppose the proposal for arbitration by an impartial tribunal.
"Whether you call it a subsidy or not, I am in favor of making the transportation rates between the coasts through the Panama Canal lower." said the President. "Now the question is, Can we do that under our international obligations? I think we can, and if you read the authorities I think you'll find we may.
But if we are bound not to exempt coast-wise vessels, we can agree to submit the question to an impartial tribunal.
"I'm willing to admit there are arguments on the other side. We are willing, however, to submit our views to arbitration. There is nothing in the attitude of the Administration as I have stated it to show that we have been dishonorable. There is nothing to show a disposition to evade and we are willing to rest our case with a tribunal that is impartial."
The President closed his speech with an appeal for Constitutional government, endangered, he said, in the last few months. Attorney General Wickersham, Representative Littleton of New York, Gov. Goldsborough of Maryland, and Mayor
Preston of Baltimore also spoke. President Taft about 11 o'clock started for Washington.
Mexican Truce In Doubt.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 26, 1913:
Rebels Say Armistice Exists — Federals Assert It Doesn't.
EL PASO, Texas, Jan, 25.— The rebel General, Inez Salazar, said to-day that he received offers yesterday of a five days' armistice from the Federals and agreed to the terms. He said the message came from President Madero by way of the Mexican Consul at El Paso, who transmitted it by messenger to Guadaloupe, at which point on the Texas border Salazar is located with 500 men.
Federal officials assert that no armistice exists, as it would be a partial recognition of the revolution. A party of Mexicans which left El Paso to-day in the guise of peace commissioners arrived opposite Guadaloupe, but declined to cross the line. They are said to be unauthorized by either rebels or Federals. Americans returning from Salazar's camp, however, were told by the rebel General that an armistice was in effect.
As far as is known here no authorized peace negotiations have been begun.
Rebels Say Armistice Exists — Federals Assert It Doesn't.
EL PASO, Texas, Jan, 25.— The rebel General, Inez Salazar, said to-day that he received offers yesterday of a five days' armistice from the Federals and agreed to the terms. He said the message came from President Madero by way of the Mexican Consul at El Paso, who transmitted it by messenger to Guadaloupe, at which point on the Texas border Salazar is located with 500 men.
Federal officials assert that no armistice exists, as it would be a partial recognition of the revolution. A party of Mexicans which left El Paso to-day in the guise of peace commissioners arrived opposite Guadaloupe, but declined to cross the line. They are said to be unauthorized by either rebels or Federals. Americans returning from Salazar's camp, however, were told by the rebel General that an armistice was in effect.
As far as is known here no authorized peace negotiations have been begun.
Electoral Vote All In.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 26, 1913:
All Mailed Copies of State Returns Received with Time to Spare. Special to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25.— With two days yet remaining of the time the law allows, the electoral vote of all the States has been filed with the President pro tempore of the Senate. The law requires that from each State two copies of the official electoral vote shall be sent to Washington — one by mail and one by messenger — either of these copies without the other being sufficient evidence of the result. To be counted, the vote must be received in Washington not later than the last Monday in January. All mailed copies have been received, while messengers from forty States have also filed additional copies.
The ballots will be canvassed officially in the hall of the House of Representatives, on Feb. 12, the second Wednesday of the month. The sealed envelopes from the various States have not been opened, but there is practically no possibility of the result being found in any respect different from that already unofficially announced — Wilson, 435; Roosevelt, 88; and Taft, 8. Even a technical error in the returns would hardly invalidate a States vote. Four years ago some Western State recorded its vote for James S. Sherman as if he came from that State instead of from New York. But on motion of Senator Joseph W. Bailey of Texas the error was disregarded and the vote counted.
All Mailed Copies of State Returns Received with Time to Spare. Special to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25.— With two days yet remaining of the time the law allows, the electoral vote of all the States has been filed with the President pro tempore of the Senate. The law requires that from each State two copies of the official electoral vote shall be sent to Washington — one by mail and one by messenger — either of these copies without the other being sufficient evidence of the result. To be counted, the vote must be received in Washington not later than the last Monday in January. All mailed copies have been received, while messengers from forty States have also filed additional copies.
The ballots will be canvassed officially in the hall of the House of Representatives, on Feb. 12, the second Wednesday of the month. The sealed envelopes from the various States have not been opened, but there is practically no possibility of the result being found in any respect different from that already unofficially announced — Wilson, 435; Roosevelt, 88; and Taft, 8. Even a technical error in the returns would hardly invalidate a States vote. Four years ago some Western State recorded its vote for James S. Sherman as if he came from that State instead of from New York. But on motion of Senator Joseph W. Bailey of Texas the error was disregarded and the vote counted.
Aeroplanes To Fly Unseen.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 26, 1913:
Material Discovered by Which They Can Be Made Invisible to Enemy.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25.— Invisible aeroplanes will soon be in use in the War Department as the result of discoveries made by officers of the Signal Corps.
The "invisible" material is liquid, and is molded into shape, but it is said to be lighter and stronger than canvas, and to be adaptable to any description of frame. The War Department expects soon to make public the discovery.
The great advantage of the invisible aeroplane in time of war is regarded by army officers as incalculable. With the use of the new material they believe that a heavier than air machine would be indistinguishable at a distance of 500 feet, a much nearer flight to an enemy's position than any aviator probably would essay under present conditions.
Material Discovered by Which They Can Be Made Invisible to Enemy.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25.— Invisible aeroplanes will soon be in use in the War Department as the result of discoveries made by officers of the Signal Corps.
The "invisible" material is liquid, and is molded into shape, but it is said to be lighter and stronger than canvas, and to be adaptable to any description of frame. The War Department expects soon to make public the discovery.
The great advantage of the invisible aeroplane in time of war is regarded by army officers as incalculable. With the use of the new material they believe that a heavier than air machine would be indistinguishable at a distance of 500 feet, a much nearer flight to an enemy's position than any aviator probably would essay under present conditions.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Will Wait For Turks' Reply.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 25, 1913:
No Intention on Part of New Government to Renew Hostilities.
LONDON, Jan. 24.— Several days must elapse before the situation arising from the revolution in Constantinople becomes clear. As far as may be judged, there is no intention on the part of the new Turkish Government to force matters or resume hostilities, if any reasonable compromise with the Balkan allies is possible.
A dispatch, from Constantinople to-night says that the Council of Ministers sat today to discuss their reply to the note of the powers, and that it is believed this reply, while insisting on the retention of Adrianople by Turkey, will point to Thursday's demonstration as a real indication of the national will.
The new Government is finding difficulty in filling the post of Foreign Minister. The portfolio has been offered to several Turkish Ambassadors abroad, but all have declined to enter the Cabinet. Until the Ministry is completed by the appointment of a Sheik-ul-Islam and a Foreign Minister it is probable that no definite steps will be taken. Developments in the situation are awaited throughout Europe with the greatest concern in view of the danger of active intervention by Russia.
The Balkan delegates to the Peace Conference have accepted the advice of the Ambassadors of the powers to await the reply of the new Turkish Government to the Ambassadors' note before deciding on their future course.
If that is unsatisfactory they will probably present an ultimatum to the Turkish delegates demanding a categorical answer concerning Adrianople and the Aegean Islands. Failing to obtain satisfaction, the armistice will be denounced and hostilities resumed.
Sultan with War Party.
A dispatch from Constantinople to a news agency says:
"I learn on high authority that the Young Turk Committee was well aware that the Sultan unwillingly gave way to the resolve of Grand Vizier Kiamil Pasha to cede Adrianople. Young Turk officers who recently were received by the Sultan left him with the impression that he would not object to a sudden change in the Government, and that the same spirit prevailed in the family council the Sultan recently convoked.
"A pamphlet, obviously inspired, has been distributed here. It says the Young Turk Committee has been the means of liberating the Sultan and saving the Caliph from his endangered position.
"Enver Bey was most kindly received by the Sultan who, without hesitation accepted Kiamil Pasha's resignation and appointed Young Turk leaders as his Ministers.
The new Turkish Cabinet has decided to recall the peace delegates from London, according to another dispatch from Constantinople. The Turkish government is said also to have asked its Ambassadors at Vienna and St. Petersburg to return to the Turkish capital.
Enver Bey, the most spirited leader of the Young Turks, to-day was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Army.
"The blood of Nazim Pasha," said one of the Turkish peace delegates to-day "is on the head of the European powers. Their unfair and precipitate attempt to force Turkey into the unjust surrender of the fortress of Adrianople has borne its inevitable fruit."
Osman Nizami Pasha, Turkish Ambassador to Germany, who is one of the Ottoman delegates remarked:
"Now both the Balkan allies and the European powers have had a taste of what Turkey is capable of doing, of what resistance she is able to offer and what sacrifices she is ready to endure."
He added:
"Nothing is more dangerous than a wounded lion."
No Intention on Part of New Government to Renew Hostilities.
LONDON, Jan. 24.— Several days must elapse before the situation arising from the revolution in Constantinople becomes clear. As far as may be judged, there is no intention on the part of the new Turkish Government to force matters or resume hostilities, if any reasonable compromise with the Balkan allies is possible.
A dispatch, from Constantinople to-night says that the Council of Ministers sat today to discuss their reply to the note of the powers, and that it is believed this reply, while insisting on the retention of Adrianople by Turkey, will point to Thursday's demonstration as a real indication of the national will.
The new Government is finding difficulty in filling the post of Foreign Minister. The portfolio has been offered to several Turkish Ambassadors abroad, but all have declined to enter the Cabinet. Until the Ministry is completed by the appointment of a Sheik-ul-Islam and a Foreign Minister it is probable that no definite steps will be taken. Developments in the situation are awaited throughout Europe with the greatest concern in view of the danger of active intervention by Russia.
The Balkan delegates to the Peace Conference have accepted the advice of the Ambassadors of the powers to await the reply of the new Turkish Government to the Ambassadors' note before deciding on their future course.
If that is unsatisfactory they will probably present an ultimatum to the Turkish delegates demanding a categorical answer concerning Adrianople and the Aegean Islands. Failing to obtain satisfaction, the armistice will be denounced and hostilities resumed.
Sultan with War Party.
A dispatch from Constantinople to a news agency says:
"I learn on high authority that the Young Turk Committee was well aware that the Sultan unwillingly gave way to the resolve of Grand Vizier Kiamil Pasha to cede Adrianople. Young Turk officers who recently were received by the Sultan left him with the impression that he would not object to a sudden change in the Government, and that the same spirit prevailed in the family council the Sultan recently convoked.
"A pamphlet, obviously inspired, has been distributed here. It says the Young Turk Committee has been the means of liberating the Sultan and saving the Caliph from his endangered position.
"Enver Bey was most kindly received by the Sultan who, without hesitation accepted Kiamil Pasha's resignation and appointed Young Turk leaders as his Ministers.
The new Turkish Cabinet has decided to recall the peace delegates from London, according to another dispatch from Constantinople. The Turkish government is said also to have asked its Ambassadors at Vienna and St. Petersburg to return to the Turkish capital.
Enver Bey, the most spirited leader of the Young Turks, to-day was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Army.
"The blood of Nazim Pasha," said one of the Turkish peace delegates to-day "is on the head of the European powers. Their unfair and precipitate attempt to force Turkey into the unjust surrender of the fortress of Adrianople has borne its inevitable fruit."
Osman Nizami Pasha, Turkish Ambassador to Germany, who is one of the Ottoman delegates remarked:
"Now both the Balkan allies and the European powers have had a taste of what Turkey is capable of doing, of what resistance she is able to offer and what sacrifices she is ready to endure."
He added:
"Nothing is more dangerous than a wounded lion."
The Upset In Turkey.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 25, 1913:
The overthrow of the Turkish Government on Thursday, with its possible consequences, has created great confusion and some consternation in Europe. These are not lessened by the extreme ease and rapidity with which the overthrow was accomplished. Indeed the suspicion is not wholly unreasonable that the Ministers were riding for a fall. The hostile demonstration does not seem to have been formidable, and the change of Ministers was as prompt and quiet as if it were caused by a mere adverse vote in Parliament.
There is some reason to hope that even the Young Turks, now that they are again in possession, may find it advisable to yield to overwhelming pressure. But the chance that they will not, that they will really essay a fight to the death, is only too serious. If it come about, it will involve possibilities that one hesitates to contemplate.
The overthrow of the Turkish Government on Thursday, with its possible consequences, has created great confusion and some consternation in Europe. These are not lessened by the extreme ease and rapidity with which the overthrow was accomplished. Indeed the suspicion is not wholly unreasonable that the Ministers were riding for a fall. The hostile demonstration does not seem to have been formidable, and the change of Ministers was as prompt and quiet as if it were caused by a mere adverse vote in Parliament.
There is some reason to hope that even the Young Turks, now that they are again in possession, may find it advisable to yield to overwhelming pressure. But the chance that they will not, that they will really essay a fight to the death, is only too serious. If it come about, it will involve possibilities that one hesitates to contemplate.
Three Were Slain With Nazim
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 25, 1913:
General Was Upbraiding Rioters When a Bullet Ended His Life.
CONSTANTINOPLE, Jan. 24.— Nazim Pasha, the commander of the Turkish army, received his death wound while expostulating with a crowd of demonstrators for having become embroiled in a conflict at the Grand Vizierate. The official version of the affray, which is termed a "regrettable incident," was issued to-night.
When the demonstrators, it says, headed by Enver Bey, one of the leaders of the Young Turk party, penetrated the Grand Vizierate in an attempt to enter the council chamber, they were stopped by Fafiz Bay, aid de camp to the Grand Vizier, who, drawing his revolver, fired a shot at them. Capt. Tewfik Bey Kibrizli, nephew and aid de camp of Nazim Pasha, also fired at the crowd, his bullet striking Mehmed Nedjif, one of the demonstrators. The demonstrators thereupon returned the fire and Capt. Tewfik Bey was instantly killed.
Nazim Pasha, who was in the Council Chamber, heard the shots and rushed outside. Facing the demonstrators he upbraided them, calling them ill-mannered curs. While he was speaking a bullet cut short his remarks, and he fell dead.
A secret police agent and an attendant of the Sheik-ul-Islam, head of the Mohammedan clergy, were also killed.
The leading Unionists of Constantinople declare that the shooting of Nazim was unpremeditated and much regretted, but under the circumstances unavoidable. They say the Unionists bore no ill-will toward Nazim, whose open and soldierly character made him respected even by his political opponents. The fact that a notorious enemy of the Committee of Union and Progress like Rechad Pasha, the late Minister of the Interior, was allowed to go unhurt, it is argued, proves that the demonstrators desired to avoid bloodshed.
Another version of the affair says that Nazim Pasha was killed by a shot from the revolver of Enver Bey, or Talaat Bey, and was accidental. The two officers were trying to protect themselves, says this story, from Nazim Pasha's aid de camp, who had shot at them from a window. They drew their revolvers and emptied them at him. The bullets struck and killed Nazim Pasha, who was seated within the room.
Rioting In the City.
Great public excitement followed the killing of the Commander in Chief. Fighting took place at several places in the city this morning. A dozen or more persons have been wounded, and many arrests have been made.
Talaat Bey, who is now Minister of the Interior, informed the European Embassies that all measures necessary to insure the security of the city had been taken. He also addressed circulars to the Provincial Governors, explaining the reasons for the change in the Government and calling upon the people to lend their moral and material aid to the Government, "which was determined to defend the interests of the country now faced with the prospects of a resumption of hostilities."
The new Turkish Cabinet is made up as follows:
Grand Vizier and Minister of War, Mahmud Shefket Pasha; President of Council of State, Said Halim; Interior, Talaat Bey; Foreign Affairs, (temporary.) Mukhtar Bey; Marine, Tschuruksula Mahmud; Justice, Ibrahim Pasha; Finance, Rifaat Bey; Public Works, Batzaria Effendi; Pious Foundations, Hairi Pasha; Agriculture, Djelal Effendi; Poss, Oskian Bey, and Public Instruction, Shukri Pasha.
The Cabinet took the oath of allegiance to-day, following the burial of Nazim Pasha. Mahmud Shefket Pasha, the new Grand Vizier and Minister of War, an old comrade of the Commander in Chief, was present at the funeral.
The Sultan went to the mosque at noon to attend the usual Selamlik, at which Mahmud Shefket Pasha and Enver Bey also were present. The function passed off without incident.
Wants Peace and Adrianople.
The official view of the situation between Turkey and the Balkan allies may be set forth as follows:
The Government does not desire a resumption of hostilities, but the powers are even less anxious to witness a renewal of the war, owing to the danger of possible complications in Europe. Turkey realizes her condition of penury, but this condition is chronic to her, and means can always be found for keeping afloat.
On the other hand, from a military standpoint, Turkey is in a better condition than ever to wage war with advantage, especially as the Government believes the forces of the allies are near the point of exhaustion. Nevertheless the Porte would prefer to avoid further bloodshed, if this is honorably possible, and the maintenance and possession or Adrianople by the allies is not insisted on.
Official circles are confident that no coercive pressure by the powers need be feared, nor threats of isolated action by Russia taken very seriously, owing to the possibility of such action bringing about European complications. Under these circumstances, it is felt here, that the allies may come to realize that Adrianople is not indispensable to their well being, especially when they see that it is the determination of the entire Turkish Nation to fight rather than to surrender the Holy City.
A dramatic story is told of the scene outside the offices of the Grand Vizier when the leaders of the Young Turk party arrived there yesterday afternoon to overturn the peace Cabinet.
There was a considerable crowd present and great enthusiasm when some one unfurled a flag and waved it. The excitement became tense when Enver Bey, mounted on a white charger, came in view, accompanied by several staff officers. As he dismounted before the door and made his request for an audience with the Grand Vizier the gates closed as if automatically.
The Commandant of Constantinople, Memduh Pasha, stood on guard and refused to allow any one to enter except Enver Bey and Talaat Bey, one of his companions.
After a short consultation among the group outside, Enver Bey and Talaat Bey returned and spoke to the Commandant, who opened the door and let them in. Accompanied by him they walked straight to the council chamber where most of the Ministers were gathered and without any preliminaries called upon the Cabinet to resign.
The demand seemed to be expected, for Kiamil Pasha immediately sat down, wrote out his resignation, and handed it to Enver Bey who with his companion went outside, mounted their chargers, and proceeded to the Sultan's palace amid the cheers of the crowd.
The Sultan was at first disinclined to accept the resignation as genuine, but after sending a messenger to the Grand Vizierate and obtaining confirmation, he called for Mahmoud Shefket Pasha and appointed him Grand Vizier.
Enver Bey has now become a popular hero.
General Was Upbraiding Rioters When a Bullet Ended His Life.
CONSTANTINOPLE, Jan. 24.— Nazim Pasha, the commander of the Turkish army, received his death wound while expostulating with a crowd of demonstrators for having become embroiled in a conflict at the Grand Vizierate. The official version of the affray, which is termed a "regrettable incident," was issued to-night.
When the demonstrators, it says, headed by Enver Bey, one of the leaders of the Young Turk party, penetrated the Grand Vizierate in an attempt to enter the council chamber, they were stopped by Fafiz Bay, aid de camp to the Grand Vizier, who, drawing his revolver, fired a shot at them. Capt. Tewfik Bey Kibrizli, nephew and aid de camp of Nazim Pasha, also fired at the crowd, his bullet striking Mehmed Nedjif, one of the demonstrators. The demonstrators thereupon returned the fire and Capt. Tewfik Bey was instantly killed.
Nazim Pasha, who was in the Council Chamber, heard the shots and rushed outside. Facing the demonstrators he upbraided them, calling them ill-mannered curs. While he was speaking a bullet cut short his remarks, and he fell dead.
A secret police agent and an attendant of the Sheik-ul-Islam, head of the Mohammedan clergy, were also killed.
The leading Unionists of Constantinople declare that the shooting of Nazim was unpremeditated and much regretted, but under the circumstances unavoidable. They say the Unionists bore no ill-will toward Nazim, whose open and soldierly character made him respected even by his political opponents. The fact that a notorious enemy of the Committee of Union and Progress like Rechad Pasha, the late Minister of the Interior, was allowed to go unhurt, it is argued, proves that the demonstrators desired to avoid bloodshed.
Another version of the affair says that Nazim Pasha was killed by a shot from the revolver of Enver Bey, or Talaat Bey, and was accidental. The two officers were trying to protect themselves, says this story, from Nazim Pasha's aid de camp, who had shot at them from a window. They drew their revolvers and emptied them at him. The bullets struck and killed Nazim Pasha, who was seated within the room.
Rioting In the City.
Great public excitement followed the killing of the Commander in Chief. Fighting took place at several places in the city this morning. A dozen or more persons have been wounded, and many arrests have been made.
Talaat Bey, who is now Minister of the Interior, informed the European Embassies that all measures necessary to insure the security of the city had been taken. He also addressed circulars to the Provincial Governors, explaining the reasons for the change in the Government and calling upon the people to lend their moral and material aid to the Government, "which was determined to defend the interests of the country now faced with the prospects of a resumption of hostilities."
The new Turkish Cabinet is made up as follows:
Grand Vizier and Minister of War, Mahmud Shefket Pasha; President of Council of State, Said Halim; Interior, Talaat Bey; Foreign Affairs, (temporary.) Mukhtar Bey; Marine, Tschuruksula Mahmud; Justice, Ibrahim Pasha; Finance, Rifaat Bey; Public Works, Batzaria Effendi; Pious Foundations, Hairi Pasha; Agriculture, Djelal Effendi; Poss, Oskian Bey, and Public Instruction, Shukri Pasha.
The Cabinet took the oath of allegiance to-day, following the burial of Nazim Pasha. Mahmud Shefket Pasha, the new Grand Vizier and Minister of War, an old comrade of the Commander in Chief, was present at the funeral.
The Sultan went to the mosque at noon to attend the usual Selamlik, at which Mahmud Shefket Pasha and Enver Bey also were present. The function passed off without incident.
Wants Peace and Adrianople.
The official view of the situation between Turkey and the Balkan allies may be set forth as follows:
The Government does not desire a resumption of hostilities, but the powers are even less anxious to witness a renewal of the war, owing to the danger of possible complications in Europe. Turkey realizes her condition of penury, but this condition is chronic to her, and means can always be found for keeping afloat.
On the other hand, from a military standpoint, Turkey is in a better condition than ever to wage war with advantage, especially as the Government believes the forces of the allies are near the point of exhaustion. Nevertheless the Porte would prefer to avoid further bloodshed, if this is honorably possible, and the maintenance and possession or Adrianople by the allies is not insisted on.
Official circles are confident that no coercive pressure by the powers need be feared, nor threats of isolated action by Russia taken very seriously, owing to the possibility of such action bringing about European complications. Under these circumstances, it is felt here, that the allies may come to realize that Adrianople is not indispensable to their well being, especially when they see that it is the determination of the entire Turkish Nation to fight rather than to surrender the Holy City.
A dramatic story is told of the scene outside the offices of the Grand Vizier when the leaders of the Young Turk party arrived there yesterday afternoon to overturn the peace Cabinet.
There was a considerable crowd present and great enthusiasm when some one unfurled a flag and waved it. The excitement became tense when Enver Bey, mounted on a white charger, came in view, accompanied by several staff officers. As he dismounted before the door and made his request for an audience with the Grand Vizier the gates closed as if automatically.
The Commandant of Constantinople, Memduh Pasha, stood on guard and refused to allow any one to enter except Enver Bey and Talaat Bey, one of his companions.
After a short consultation among the group outside, Enver Bey and Talaat Bey returned and spoke to the Commandant, who opened the door and let them in. Accompanied by him they walked straight to the council chamber where most of the Ministers were gathered and without any preliminaries called upon the Cabinet to resign.
The demand seemed to be expected, for Kiamil Pasha immediately sat down, wrote out his resignation, and handed it to Enver Bey who with his companion went outside, mounted their chargers, and proceeded to the Sultan's palace amid the cheers of the crowd.
The Sultan was at first disinclined to accept the resignation as genuine, but after sending a messenger to the Grand Vizierate and obtaining confirmation, he called for Mahmoud Shefket Pasha and appointed him Grand Vizier.
Enver Bey has now become a popular hero.
Mexican Truce For Peace.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 25, 1913:
Federals and Rebels to Discuss Terms for Submission to Madero.
EL PASO, Tex., Jan. 24.— An armistice of five days made by the Mexican federals and rebels to permit of the informal discussion of peace terms became effective to-day. Peace commissioners from Chihuahua city are waiting at Villa Ahumada, between the State Capital and the border, for the arrival of the rebel representatives.
Gen. Inez Salazar is expected to head the revolutionary faction, while Col. Francisco Castro of the 23rd Infantry will be a member of the federal commission. Col. Castro and representatives of the State Government and business interests are already at the selected neutral ground. Only permission to receive the rebel proposals has been granted by the Mexican Government.
Federals and Rebels to Discuss Terms for Submission to Madero.
EL PASO, Tex., Jan. 24.— An armistice of five days made by the Mexican federals and rebels to permit of the informal discussion of peace terms became effective to-day. Peace commissioners from Chihuahua city are waiting at Villa Ahumada, between the State Capital and the border, for the arrival of the rebel representatives.
Gen. Inez Salazar is expected to head the revolutionary faction, while Col. Francisco Castro of the 23rd Infantry will be a member of the federal commission. Col. Castro and representatives of the State Government and business interests are already at the selected neutral ground. Only permission to receive the rebel proposals has been granted by the Mexican Government.
Hurry Warships To Turkey.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 25, 1913:
England, Italy, and Other Powers Order Vessels to the Scene.
LONDON, Jan. 24.— Italian, British, and other warships have been ordered to proceed immediately to Turkish waters, according to dispatches from Mediterranean ports, which announce that there is considerable activity among the fleets of the great powers.
England, Italy, and Other Powers Order Vessels to the Scene.
LONDON, Jan. 24.— Italian, British, and other warships have been ordered to proceed immediately to Turkish waters, according to dispatches from Mediterranean ports, which announce that there is considerable activity among the fleets of the great powers.
Flies Across The Pyrenees.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 25, 1913:
French Aviator Makes & Trip from Pau to Madrid.
PAU, Jan. 24.— M. Bider, a French aviator, left the aerodrome at dawn today in an attempt to fly across the Pyrenees. He ascended to an estimated height of 9,000 feet and then set his course over the peaks, descending at Guadalajara, Spain, after having accomplished the feat. He continued his flight toward Madrid after filling his tanks and arrived in the Spanish capital this afternoon. His time was 5 hours and 35 minutes for the 512 kilometers (about 317 miles).
French Aviator Makes & Trip from Pau to Madrid.
PAU, Jan. 24.— M. Bider, a French aviator, left the aerodrome at dawn today in an attempt to fly across the Pyrenees. He ascended to an estimated height of 9,000 feet and then set his course over the peaks, descending at Guadalajara, Spain, after having accomplished the feat. He continued his flight toward Madrid after filling his tanks and arrived in the Spanish capital this afternoon. His time was 5 hours and 35 minutes for the 512 kilometers (about 317 miles).
Alleges Plot Of Powers.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 25, 1913:
Cherif Pasha Says Austria and Germany Aided Young Turks.
PARIS, Jan. 24.— Cherif Pasha, a friend of Kiamil Pasha and Nazim Pasha, in an interview to-night affirmed that Germany and Austria had been secretly working to bring about a return to power in Turkey of the Committee of Union and Progress. During Cherif's recent visit to Constantinople, he said, high German diplomats did their utmost to induce him to reconcile himself with the committee.
Cherif further asserted that the Sultan would be dethroned in favor of the Crown Prince, who maintains close relations with Mahmoud Shefket Pasha, the new Grand Vizier. Cherif said he believed Turkey was certain to lose Constantinople and all her European empire, and that a counter-revolution was imminent, as the Arabs, Kurds, and Christians of Asia Minor were ready to fight against the return to power of their oppressors.
Cherif Pasha Says Austria and Germany Aided Young Turks.
PARIS, Jan. 24.— Cherif Pasha, a friend of Kiamil Pasha and Nazim Pasha, in an interview to-night affirmed that Germany and Austria had been secretly working to bring about a return to power in Turkey of the Committee of Union and Progress. During Cherif's recent visit to Constantinople, he said, high German diplomats did their utmost to induce him to reconcile himself with the committee.
Cherif further asserted that the Sultan would be dethroned in favor of the Crown Prince, who maintains close relations with Mahmoud Shefket Pasha, the new Grand Vizier. Cherif said he believed Turkey was certain to lose Constantinople and all her European empire, and that a counter-revolution was imminent, as the Arabs, Kurds, and Christians of Asia Minor were ready to fight against the return to power of their oppressors.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Turks Revolt; War May Go On; Nazim Is Slain.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 24, 1913:
Coup d'Etat in Constantinople Due to Surrender to Powers Over the Allies' Terms.
YOUNG TURKS REGAIN POWER
Mahmud Shefket the New Grand Vizier — Kiamil Declared a Traitor.
TO FIGHT FOR ADRIANOPLE
New Ministers Say They Will Uphold the Honor of the Ottoman Empire.
PAPERS ARE SUPPRESSED
Nazim Shot In an Affray at the Porte with Enver Bey, One of the Young Turk Leaders.
CONSTANTINOPLE, Friday, Jan. 24.— It has just become known that Nazim Pasha, the ex-War Minister and Commander in Chief of the Turkish Army, was shot dead in the course of the demonstration which preceded the resignation of the Cabinet yesterday.
Enver Bey and Talaat Bey had given explicit orders that no blood should be shed, but Nazim Pasha's aid de camp fired from a window of the Porte at Enver Bey and his companion, and they returned the fire. Their bullets killed Nazim Pasha himself.
In spite of this tragedy, there was no disturbance of order elsewhere.
Coup d'Etat in Constantinople Due to Surrender to Powers Over the Allies' Terms.
YOUNG TURKS REGAIN POWER
Mahmud Shefket the New Grand Vizier — Kiamil Declared a Traitor.
TO FIGHT FOR ADRIANOPLE
New Ministers Say They Will Uphold the Honor of the Ottoman Empire.
PAPERS ARE SUPPRESSED
Nazim Shot In an Affray at the Porte with Enver Bey, One of the Young Turk Leaders.
CONSTANTINOPLE, Friday, Jan. 24.— It has just become known that Nazim Pasha, the ex-War Minister and Commander in Chief of the Turkish Army, was shot dead in the course of the demonstration which preceded the resignation of the Cabinet yesterday.
Enver Bey and Talaat Bey had given explicit orders that no blood should be shed, but Nazim Pasha's aid de camp fired from a window of the Porte at Enver Bey and his companion, and they returned the fire. Their bullets killed Nazim Pasha himself.
In spite of this tragedy, there was no disturbance of order elsewhere.
Nazim A Fine Soldier.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 24, 1913:
Did Much to Restore Troops' Spirit at Tchatalja — New Vizier's Career.
Nazim Pasha, War Minister and Generalissimo of the Turkish armies, was a man of great physical and mental strength. He was close to 60 years of age, and was characterized as the best Commander in Chief Turkey had possessed in recent times.
Nazim took supreme command of the forces after Abdullah Pasha suffered defeat around Kirk-Kilisseh and Adrianople. He was appointed Minister of War in the first Kiamil Cabinet. This aroused the opposition of the Committee of Union and Progress, and practically resulted in the overthrow of the Ministry. He then became Commander of the First Army Corps, and was in command of the troops in Constantinople at the time of the revolutionary movement that dethroned Abdul Hamid.
Nazim Pasha became Minister of War again in 1912 in the Mukhtar Cabinet and continued to hold office when the second Kiamil Cabinet was formed last October. He was in personal command of the troops that checked the advance of the Bulgarians at the Tchatalja lines. He reached that district in time to gather together the scattered troops after the battle of Tchorlu and, notwithstanding the disorganization of the army and the ravages of disease, he brought about a spirit of union among the discouraged soldiers through good generalship.
Mahmud Shefket Pasha, the new Grand Vizier, was the commander of the constitutional army which forced the surrender of Abdul Hamid. At the beginning of the Young Turkish revolution he was stationed at Adrianople as Commander in Chief of the Third Army Corps. Until that time he had not taken part in any national event of importance, but he believed that the welfare of Turkey depended on the removal of Abdul Hamid as Sultan.
The Young Turk Committee decided to ask Mahmud Shefket to lead the Liberal forces in the march to Constantinople. When the delegation reached him he asked a quarter of an hour to decide. At the end of that time he said: "To act as you want me to do would result in either of the three following contingencies. First of all, it may bring about civil war, the responsibility for which will be laid at my door. In the second place, it may bring about foreign intervention, which again will be a cause of reproach to me. Finally. I may be hanged for it. Nevertheless, since this happens to be the wish of the Liberal Party, I am willing to stand by the consequences of its decision."
In less than a week's time, Mahmud was Military Dictator, and on April 24, 1909, he entered Constantinople, following an attack in which he used artillery. The Sultan was deposed on April 26 and his brother became his successor.
With the reorganization of the Turkish Government, made necessary by the successful revolt, Mahmud Shefket Pasha became Minister of War. He retired soon afterward.
Mahmud Shefket is an Arab and a native of Bagdad. When his family emigrated to Constantinople he was sent to the Harbie, or military school, where he distinguished himself by being graduated at 18 years with the highest honors. As a young soldier, he was one of the few whom the former Sultan selected from year to year for appointment to the General Staff. He was then sent to Germany as a representative of the Turkish Minister of War and he remained there over ten years, becoming an ardent admirer of German military institutions.
Did Much to Restore Troops' Spirit at Tchatalja — New Vizier's Career.
Nazim Pasha, War Minister and Generalissimo of the Turkish armies, was a man of great physical and mental strength. He was close to 60 years of age, and was characterized as the best Commander in Chief Turkey had possessed in recent times.
Nazim took supreme command of the forces after Abdullah Pasha suffered defeat around Kirk-Kilisseh and Adrianople. He was appointed Minister of War in the first Kiamil Cabinet. This aroused the opposition of the Committee of Union and Progress, and practically resulted in the overthrow of the Ministry. He then became Commander of the First Army Corps, and was in command of the troops in Constantinople at the time of the revolutionary movement that dethroned Abdul Hamid.
Nazim Pasha became Minister of War again in 1912 in the Mukhtar Cabinet and continued to hold office when the second Kiamil Cabinet was formed last October. He was in personal command of the troops that checked the advance of the Bulgarians at the Tchatalja lines. He reached that district in time to gather together the scattered troops after the battle of Tchorlu and, notwithstanding the disorganization of the army and the ravages of disease, he brought about a spirit of union among the discouraged soldiers through good generalship.
Mahmud Shefket Pasha, the new Grand Vizier, was the commander of the constitutional army which forced the surrender of Abdul Hamid. At the beginning of the Young Turkish revolution he was stationed at Adrianople as Commander in Chief of the Third Army Corps. Until that time he had not taken part in any national event of importance, but he believed that the welfare of Turkey depended on the removal of Abdul Hamid as Sultan.
The Young Turk Committee decided to ask Mahmud Shefket to lead the Liberal forces in the march to Constantinople. When the delegation reached him he asked a quarter of an hour to decide. At the end of that time he said: "To act as you want me to do would result in either of the three following contingencies. First of all, it may bring about civil war, the responsibility for which will be laid at my door. In the second place, it may bring about foreign intervention, which again will be a cause of reproach to me. Finally. I may be hanged for it. Nevertheless, since this happens to be the wish of the Liberal Party, I am willing to stand by the consequences of its decision."
In less than a week's time, Mahmud was Military Dictator, and on April 24, 1909, he entered Constantinople, following an attack in which he used artillery. The Sultan was deposed on April 26 and his brother became his successor.
With the reorganization of the Turkish Government, made necessary by the successful revolt, Mahmud Shefket Pasha became Minister of War. He retired soon afterward.
Mahmud Shefket is an Arab and a native of Bagdad. When his family emigrated to Constantinople he was sent to the Harbie, or military school, where he distinguished himself by being graduated at 18 years with the highest honors. As a young soldier, he was one of the few whom the former Sultan selected from year to year for appointment to the General Staff. He was then sent to Germany as a representative of the Turkish Minister of War and he remained there over ten years, becoming an ardent admirer of German military institutions.
Fear Cuban Outbreak.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 24, 1913:
Troops Ready for Threatened Disturbances In Santa Clara.
HAVANA, Jan. 23.— Disquieting rumors are current that serious disturbances are impending in the Province of Santa Clara, especially in the town of Arisa, where partial elections will be held to-morrow on account of the vitiation by fraud of the general election of last November.
The Government is prepared for an emergency, having a strong force of regulars and rurales at Arisa, and also a strong column of troops of all arms, now on a practice march, within striking distance.
One report, apparently from an authentic source, places the number of mounted and armed Liberals concentrating at Arisa at upwards of 1,000.
Troops Ready for Threatened Disturbances In Santa Clara.
HAVANA, Jan. 23.— Disquieting rumors are current that serious disturbances are impending in the Province of Santa Clara, especially in the town of Arisa, where partial elections will be held to-morrow on account of the vitiation by fraud of the general election of last November.
The Government is prepared for an emergency, having a strong force of regulars and rurales at Arisa, and also a strong column of troops of all arms, now on a practice march, within striking distance.
One report, apparently from an authentic source, places the number of mounted and armed Liberals concentrating at Arisa at upwards of 1,000.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Turkey Yields.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 23, 1913:
When the collective note of the Powers was handed to the Turkish Government last Friday there was a curious hesitation throughout the capitals of Europe to accept it as a decisive step. The usual comment on Turkish procrastination and intrigue was renewed. Few observers believed that the Powers would, or could, act in the sense pointed out by the note. But we ventured to point out that the language of the note was extremely plain, that Europe had really menaced Turkey with the loss of Constantinople and with the extension of the war into Asia, and that, having united in such a threat, the Powers could not fail to act on it if Turkey should refuse this advice.
The word now comes from Constantinople that the Grand Council of the Ottoman Empire has voted to accept that advice. This necessarily imposes on the Powers the negotiation of the precise terms of peace, the disposition of the Aegean Islands, the fixing of the limits of Albania, the arrangement of the claims of the Allies between themselves, and a multitude of difficult details. It will be a hard task, but it will be performed, almost certainly, without further fighting. And that the Powers could unite to accomplish this is a very hopeful sign for general peace.
When the collective note of the Powers was handed to the Turkish Government last Friday there was a curious hesitation throughout the capitals of Europe to accept it as a decisive step. The usual comment on Turkish procrastination and intrigue was renewed. Few observers believed that the Powers would, or could, act in the sense pointed out by the note. But we ventured to point out that the language of the note was extremely plain, that Europe had really menaced Turkey with the loss of Constantinople and with the extension of the war into Asia, and that, having united in such a threat, the Powers could not fail to act on it if Turkey should refuse this advice.
The word now comes from Constantinople that the Grand Council of the Ottoman Empire has voted to accept that advice. This necessarily imposes on the Powers the negotiation of the precise terms of peace, the disposition of the Aegean Islands, the fixing of the limits of Albania, the arrangement of the claims of the Allies between themselves, and a multitude of difficult details. It will be a hard task, but it will be performed, almost certainly, without further fighting. And that the Powers could unite to accomplish this is a very hopeful sign for general peace.
Turkey Yields, Ending The War.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 23, 1913:
Grand Council Consents to Give Up Adrianople and to Let Europe Decide Islands' Fate.
MINISTERS' ADVICE IS TAKEN
All Tell the Assembly That the Only Course Is to Accept the Counsel of the Powers.
ALLIES WANT $200,000,000
Question of Indemnity Still to be Settled — Turks Will Strongly Contest the Demand.
HARD FINANCIAL PROBLEM
New Apportionment of the Ottoman Debt Will Have to be Arranged Owing to Territorial Changes.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Thursday, Jan. 23.— Peace is at last really in sight.
The National Assembly, to which the Grand Visier submitted the powers' note, met yesterday in Constantinople and discussed the question whether the Turkish Government should accept or reject the powers' advice to surrender Adrianople and the Aegean Islands under certain conditions.
The Turkish Government was in favor of accepting these conditions of peace, and the National Assembly arrived at the same decision almost unanimously. The Ottoman Government will to-day send a reply to the powers placing itself in their hands, and the Sultan, it is stated, will make known this decision in a proclamation to the nation.
The news has been received with the utmost satisfaction by the allies' peace delegates in London, and as soon as the reports from Constantinople are officially confirmed the conference will again meet to arrange details.
The Daily Mail's Sofia correspondent says he is informed that Turkey's reply to the powers will indicate that the Porte is afraid that the allies will demand a war indemnity. Turkey will ask the powers to inform her of the nature of the financial support promised to her and of the guarantees of her Asiatic possessions.
In London it is expected that the powers, in view of Turkey's willingness to make peace upon their terms, will refuse to concede to the allies any further demands they may feel disposed to put forward, and the Balkan League will have to rest content with its territorial acquisitions.
The Daily Telegraph says that it is believed in diplomatic circles that the allies will have to reconsider their reported intention to claim a war indemnity. Whether, in view of the Turks' agreement in regard to Adrianople and the islands, the league means to persist in this demand for pecuniary compensation is not at present known, but it may be predicted with confidence that the claim, if seriously advanced, will not be backed by the powers.
The powers have virtually pledged themselves to assist Turkey in the vast work of financial rehabilitation which must be undertaken as soon as the treaty of peace is signed. Among the many tasks which must be dealt with is the apportionment of the Turkish debt among those sections of the empire which have passed from the sway of the Sultan and those which remain integral parts of the Ottoman dominions.
The figure mentioned in Balkan circles as a war indemnity is £40,000,000, ($200,000,000.) This sum, it is suggested, would balance the proportion of the debt which the allies will have to take over as a result of their territorial conquests.
CONSTANTINOPLE. Jan. 22.— As officially announced, the Grand Council, or National Assembly, to-day "approved the Government's point of view, declared its confidence in the sentiments of equity voiced by the great powers, and expressed a wish to see their promises and proposed assistance effectively realized."
It also asked the Government "to exert all its efforts to insure in the future the safety of the country and the development of its economic interests."
The question submitted by the Turkish Government to the Grand Council to-day was: "Should the recommendations contained in the note of the European powers be accepted or rejected? "
The Government frankly confessed itself in favor of agreeing to the suggestion made by the powers, and after a brief discussion the Assembly decided almost unanimously in agreement with the view of the Government.
To-morrow at about noon, therefore, there will probably be handed to the Marquis de Pallavicini, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador and the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps at Constantinople, a note, in which the Ottoman Government agrees to the proposals embodied in the joint note with regard to the cession of the fortress of Adrianople and the future disposition of the Aegean Islands, and places itself in the hands of the powers.
A meeting of the Council of Ministers will be held to-morrow morning before the final step is taken. It is possible that the Porte will at the last minute attempt to make reservations which may lead to further discussion. It is not likely, however, that the conclusion of peace will be long delayed.
Grand Council's Meeting.
The meeting of the Grand Council, which was fraught with such grave importance, was of brief duration, and its decision in favor of accepting the views of the powers was an almost unanimous one. The Sultan gave an audience to the assemblage collectively. With the Grand Vizier and the Sheik-ul-Islam, the members of the Council, about 80 in number, were grouped according to their professions, the military officials, civil officials, Senators, and Ulemas (ecclesiastics) forming distinct groups.
The note of the powers was read, after which Nazim Pasha, the Minister of War, explained the military situation. He declared that the army was eager to continue the war, and that Turkey might even hope for a measure of success, but there was little chance of recovering Adrianople.
Moreover, continued the War Minister, aside from the purely military question, there were other matters strongly militating against the continuation of hostilities.
The Finance Minister explained the dependence of the Treasury upon the foreign markets.
The most onerous task, however, devolved upon Noradunghian Effendi, the Foreign Minister, who set forth the international situation. He dwelt especially on the attitude of Russia, which power, he said, on two recent occasions had warned the Porte that a continuation of the hostilities might oblige Russia to depart from her attitude of neutrality.
Throughout his speech Noradunghian Effendi made it clear that there was little hope that any advantage could be derived from European complications.
Not only Kiamil Pasha, the Grand Vizier, but all three Ministers supported the Government's contention that a continuation of hostilities was inadvisable and that adhesion to the advice of the powers was the only course open to the Government.
Scarcely a dissentient voice was raised, and Said Pasha, the ex-Grand Vizier, fully concurred in the Government's view. The Grand Council then registered its decision. Ex-Ministers belonging to the Committee of Union and Progress (Young Turks) were not invited to attend the meeting, with the exception of Mahmud Shefket Pasha, formerly commander of the army, and Aristidi Pasha, both of whom are Senators.
The Powers' Joint Note.
The note handed to the Porte on Jan. 17 by the European Ambassadors called the attention of the Ottoman Government "to the grave responsibility it would assume if, by resistance to their counsels, it should prevent the re-establishment of peace," adding: "It would only have itself to blame if the prolongation of the war had as a consequence to put in question the fate of the capital and perhaps to extend hostilities to the Asiatic Provinces of the Empire." The document continued: "In that case the Turkish Government could not count on the success of the efforts of the powers to preserve it from the dangers against which they had already warned it, and which they once more warn it to avoid."
The powers then called the attention of the Ottoman Government to the fact that after the conclusion of peace it would have need of the moral and material support of the powers to repair the evils of the war, to consolidate its position at Constantinople, and to develop its vast Asiatic territories.
The note pointed out that the Turkish Government could count on the efficacy of the benevolent support of the powers only as long as it deferred to their counsel, inspired by the general interests of Europe and of Turkey.
The powers then advised Turkey to consent to the cession of Adrianople and to leave to them the fate of the Aegean Islands.
Grand Council Consents to Give Up Adrianople and to Let Europe Decide Islands' Fate.
MINISTERS' ADVICE IS TAKEN
All Tell the Assembly That the Only Course Is to Accept the Counsel of the Powers.
ALLIES WANT $200,000,000
Question of Indemnity Still to be Settled — Turks Will Strongly Contest the Demand.
HARD FINANCIAL PROBLEM
New Apportionment of the Ottoman Debt Will Have to be Arranged Owing to Territorial Changes.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Thursday, Jan. 23.— Peace is at last really in sight.
The National Assembly, to which the Grand Visier submitted the powers' note, met yesterday in Constantinople and discussed the question whether the Turkish Government should accept or reject the powers' advice to surrender Adrianople and the Aegean Islands under certain conditions.
The Turkish Government was in favor of accepting these conditions of peace, and the National Assembly arrived at the same decision almost unanimously. The Ottoman Government will to-day send a reply to the powers placing itself in their hands, and the Sultan, it is stated, will make known this decision in a proclamation to the nation.
The news has been received with the utmost satisfaction by the allies' peace delegates in London, and as soon as the reports from Constantinople are officially confirmed the conference will again meet to arrange details.
The Daily Mail's Sofia correspondent says he is informed that Turkey's reply to the powers will indicate that the Porte is afraid that the allies will demand a war indemnity. Turkey will ask the powers to inform her of the nature of the financial support promised to her and of the guarantees of her Asiatic possessions.
In London it is expected that the powers, in view of Turkey's willingness to make peace upon their terms, will refuse to concede to the allies any further demands they may feel disposed to put forward, and the Balkan League will have to rest content with its territorial acquisitions.
The Daily Telegraph says that it is believed in diplomatic circles that the allies will have to reconsider their reported intention to claim a war indemnity. Whether, in view of the Turks' agreement in regard to Adrianople and the islands, the league means to persist in this demand for pecuniary compensation is not at present known, but it may be predicted with confidence that the claim, if seriously advanced, will not be backed by the powers.
The powers have virtually pledged themselves to assist Turkey in the vast work of financial rehabilitation which must be undertaken as soon as the treaty of peace is signed. Among the many tasks which must be dealt with is the apportionment of the Turkish debt among those sections of the empire which have passed from the sway of the Sultan and those which remain integral parts of the Ottoman dominions.
The figure mentioned in Balkan circles as a war indemnity is £40,000,000, ($200,000,000.) This sum, it is suggested, would balance the proportion of the debt which the allies will have to take over as a result of their territorial conquests.
CONSTANTINOPLE. Jan. 22.— As officially announced, the Grand Council, or National Assembly, to-day "approved the Government's point of view, declared its confidence in the sentiments of equity voiced by the great powers, and expressed a wish to see their promises and proposed assistance effectively realized."
It also asked the Government "to exert all its efforts to insure in the future the safety of the country and the development of its economic interests."
The question submitted by the Turkish Government to the Grand Council to-day was: "Should the recommendations contained in the note of the European powers be accepted or rejected? "
The Government frankly confessed itself in favor of agreeing to the suggestion made by the powers, and after a brief discussion the Assembly decided almost unanimously in agreement with the view of the Government.
To-morrow at about noon, therefore, there will probably be handed to the Marquis de Pallavicini, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador and the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps at Constantinople, a note, in which the Ottoman Government agrees to the proposals embodied in the joint note with regard to the cession of the fortress of Adrianople and the future disposition of the Aegean Islands, and places itself in the hands of the powers.
A meeting of the Council of Ministers will be held to-morrow morning before the final step is taken. It is possible that the Porte will at the last minute attempt to make reservations which may lead to further discussion. It is not likely, however, that the conclusion of peace will be long delayed.
Grand Council's Meeting.
The meeting of the Grand Council, which was fraught with such grave importance, was of brief duration, and its decision in favor of accepting the views of the powers was an almost unanimous one. The Sultan gave an audience to the assemblage collectively. With the Grand Vizier and the Sheik-ul-Islam, the members of the Council, about 80 in number, were grouped according to their professions, the military officials, civil officials, Senators, and Ulemas (ecclesiastics) forming distinct groups.
The note of the powers was read, after which Nazim Pasha, the Minister of War, explained the military situation. He declared that the army was eager to continue the war, and that Turkey might even hope for a measure of success, but there was little chance of recovering Adrianople.
Moreover, continued the War Minister, aside from the purely military question, there were other matters strongly militating against the continuation of hostilities.
The Finance Minister explained the dependence of the Treasury upon the foreign markets.
The most onerous task, however, devolved upon Noradunghian Effendi, the Foreign Minister, who set forth the international situation. He dwelt especially on the attitude of Russia, which power, he said, on two recent occasions had warned the Porte that a continuation of the hostilities might oblige Russia to depart from her attitude of neutrality.
Throughout his speech Noradunghian Effendi made it clear that there was little hope that any advantage could be derived from European complications.
Not only Kiamil Pasha, the Grand Vizier, but all three Ministers supported the Government's contention that a continuation of hostilities was inadvisable and that adhesion to the advice of the powers was the only course open to the Government.
Scarcely a dissentient voice was raised, and Said Pasha, the ex-Grand Vizier, fully concurred in the Government's view. The Grand Council then registered its decision. Ex-Ministers belonging to the Committee of Union and Progress (Young Turks) were not invited to attend the meeting, with the exception of Mahmud Shefket Pasha, formerly commander of the army, and Aristidi Pasha, both of whom are Senators.
The Powers' Joint Note.
The note handed to the Porte on Jan. 17 by the European Ambassadors called the attention of the Ottoman Government "to the grave responsibility it would assume if, by resistance to their counsels, it should prevent the re-establishment of peace," adding: "It would only have itself to blame if the prolongation of the war had as a consequence to put in question the fate of the capital and perhaps to extend hostilities to the Asiatic Provinces of the Empire." The document continued: "In that case the Turkish Government could not count on the success of the efforts of the powers to preserve it from the dangers against which they had already warned it, and which they once more warn it to avoid."
The powers then called the attention of the Ottoman Government to the fact that after the conclusion of peace it would have need of the moral and material support of the powers to repair the evils of the war, to consolidate its position at Constantinople, and to develop its vast Asiatic territories.
The note pointed out that the Turkish Government could count on the efficacy of the benevolent support of the powers only as long as it deferred to their counsel, inspired by the general interests of Europe and of Turkey.
The powers then advised Turkey to consent to the cession of Adrianople and to leave to them the fate of the Aegean Islands.
Lusitania Was Damaged.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 23, 1913:
Turbine Casing Burst on Voyage — Repairs Will Take Two Months.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
LONDON, Jan. 22.— No official information is available regarding the cancellation of the Lusitania's sailings, but it is understood that the ship's bottom was badly damaged through a turbine casing bursting in the course of her last voyage from New York.
The repairs will take fully two months.
The Lusitania has been laid up since her arrival at Liverpool on Dec. 31. A port low pressure turbine was installed during her lay-up in November.
Turbine Casing Burst on Voyage — Repairs Will Take Two Months.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
LONDON, Jan. 22.— No official information is available regarding the cancellation of the Lusitania's sailings, but it is understood that the ship's bottom was badly damaged through a turbine casing bursting in the course of her last voyage from New York.
The repairs will take fully two months.
The Lusitania has been laid up since her arrival at Liverpool on Dec. 31. A port low pressure turbine was installed during her lay-up in November.
Killed In Naval Battle.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 23, 1913:
Turks Lost 4 Officers and 36 Men, While 164 Were Wounded.
CONSTANTINOPLE, Jan. 22.— The Turkish losses in the naval battle with the Greek fleet off the Dardanelles on Jan. 18 totaled four officers and thirty-six men killed and 164 wounded.
In the course of the fight a Greek shell exploded inside one of the turrets of the Turkish battleship Torgut Reis, killing and wounding every man in it and disabling both the 11-inch guns. Severe damage was also inflicted by the Greek projectiles on the Turkish battleship Assar-i-Tewfik.
The Turkish gunners declare that they inflicted important losses on the Greeks.
Turks Lost 4 Officers and 36 Men, While 164 Were Wounded.
CONSTANTINOPLE, Jan. 22.— The Turkish losses in the naval battle with the Greek fleet off the Dardanelles on Jan. 18 totaled four officers and thirty-six men killed and 164 wounded.
In the course of the fight a Greek shell exploded inside one of the turrets of the Turkish battleship Torgut Reis, killing and wounding every man in it and disabling both the 11-inch guns. Severe damage was also inflicted by the Greek projectiles on the Turkish battleship Assar-i-Tewfik.
The Turkish gunners declare that they inflicted important losses on the Greeks.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Turks Now Realize They Must Yield.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 22, 1913:
Prepared to Give Up Adrianople and to Let Powers Decide About the Islands.
ASKS POWERS TO EXPLAIN
Ottoman Government Wants Parts of the Joint Note Elucidated — Feeling in Vienna Optimistic.
PARIS, Wednesday, Jan. 22.—A special correspondent of The Matin in London asserts definitely that Turkey has decided to surrender Adrianople to Bulgaria and to leave the question of the Aegean Islands to the powers to settle. He adds:
"The Ambassador at Constantinople of one of the great powers telegraphed to his Government yesterday afternoon that the Ottoman National Council at its meeting to-day would unreservedly adopt the powers' advice.
"This news was not known by the Turkish Peace Delegates in London. On my informing them they said they were prepared to believe it and were glad a settlement had been arrived at."
Prepared to Give Up Adrianople and to Let Powers Decide About the Islands.
ASKS POWERS TO EXPLAIN
Ottoman Government Wants Parts of the Joint Note Elucidated — Feeling in Vienna Optimistic.
PARIS, Wednesday, Jan. 22.—A special correspondent of The Matin in London asserts definitely that Turkey has decided to surrender Adrianople to Bulgaria and to leave the question of the Aegean Islands to the powers to settle. He adds:
"The Ambassador at Constantinople of one of the great powers telegraphed to his Government yesterday afternoon that the Ottoman National Council at its meeting to-day would unreservedly adopt the powers' advice.
"This news was not known by the Turkish Peace Delegates in London. On my informing them they said they were prepared to believe it and were glad a settlement had been arrived at."
Send Gunboat To Mexico.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 22, 1913:
The Wheeling Dispatched to Protect American Interests in Vera Cruz.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21.— Alarmed for the safety of Americans, whose lives are in jeopardy because of widespread lawlessness of Mexican rebels in Vera Cruz and throughout Southern Mexico, the State Department again has called upon the navy to protect American interests in the republic.
To-night the gunboat Wheeling is steaming from Tampa, Fla., for Vera Cruz, where Americans are said to face a graver crisis than that relieved by the cruiser Des Moines during the Diaz uprising last October.
The request from the State Department to the navy came after the receipt of a long series of official reports from Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson and Consuls in Southern Mexican cities, all reflecting a condition of anarchy, especially in the State of Vera Cruz, where Federal authorities face the problem of restoring civil order with a disorganized and divided army.
Guerrilla warfare, brigandage, sacking of ranches and villages, and other desperate crimes place Americans and other foreign residents in a state of constant danger, and the latest advices to the State Department express fear of an even worse outbreak.
The Wheeling Dispatched to Protect American Interests in Vera Cruz.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21.— Alarmed for the safety of Americans, whose lives are in jeopardy because of widespread lawlessness of Mexican rebels in Vera Cruz and throughout Southern Mexico, the State Department again has called upon the navy to protect American interests in the republic.
To-night the gunboat Wheeling is steaming from Tampa, Fla., for Vera Cruz, where Americans are said to face a graver crisis than that relieved by the cruiser Des Moines during the Diaz uprising last October.
The request from the State Department to the navy came after the receipt of a long series of official reports from Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson and Consuls in Southern Mexican cities, all reflecting a condition of anarchy, especially in the State of Vera Cruz, where Federal authorities face the problem of restoring civil order with a disorganized and divided army.
Guerrilla warfare, brigandage, sacking of ranches and villages, and other desperate crimes place Americans and other foreign residents in a state of constant danger, and the latest advices to the State Department express fear of an even worse outbreak.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Turkish Warships Damaged.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 21, 1913:
Three Battleships Listed After the Battle on Saturday.
ATHENS, Jan. 20.— A Greek officer who participated in the naval battle between the Greek and Turkish fleets off the Dardanelles on Saturday, and who closely followed all the incidents of the fight, says that during the pursuit of the Turkish war vessels by the Greeks, the battleships Kheyr-ed-Din, Barbarossa, and Torgut Reis slackened speed and showed a list to starboard.
Three Battleships Listed After the Battle on Saturday.
ATHENS, Jan. 20.— A Greek officer who participated in the naval battle between the Greek and Turkish fleets off the Dardanelles on Saturday, and who closely followed all the incidents of the fight, says that during the pursuit of the Turkish war vessels by the Greeks, the battleships Kheyr-ed-Din, Barbarossa, and Torgut Reis slackened speed and showed a list to starboard.
Turks May Decide On Peace To-day.
New York Times 100 years ago today, January 21, 1913:
Council to be Held in Constantinople — Bulgar Delegates Have Power to Renew War.
PLAGUE IN ADRIANOPLE
Bulgars Have Been Deceived In Regard to the Amount of Food There, Which Is Enough for Months.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Tuesday, Jan. 21.— Dispatches to The Times from both Constantinople and Vienna confirm the statement as to the brighter prospects of peace cabled to The New York Times last Saturday.
The majority of the Ottoman Cabinet are in favor of the conclusion of peace, and the council of notables which will meet in Constantinople to-day may advise the acceptance of the allies' terms, particularly as Turkish finances are approaching bankruptcy.
Council to be Held in Constantinople — Bulgar Delegates Have Power to Renew War.
PLAGUE IN ADRIANOPLE
Bulgars Have Been Deceived In Regard to the Amount of Food There, Which Is Enough for Months.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Tuesday, Jan. 21.— Dispatches to The Times from both Constantinople and Vienna confirm the statement as to the brighter prospects of peace cabled to The New York Times last Saturday.
The majority of the Ottoman Cabinet are in favor of the conclusion of peace, and the council of notables which will meet in Constantinople to-day may advise the acceptance of the allies' terms, particularly as Turkish finances are approaching bankruptcy.
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