Main Bulgar Army Nearing Tchatalja.

New York Times 100 years ago today, November 13, 1912:
Fifteen Miles West of There on Monday — Attack at Northern End Is Expected.
FOUR TURKISH FORTS TAKEN
Suggestion Made That Secret Negotiations for Peace Are Going on Between Turkey and the Allies.
By G. WARD PRICE.
Special Cable to The New York Times. Dispatch to The London Dally Mail.
    CONSTANTINOPLE, Nov. 12.— What will happen at the Tchatalja lines? That is the question which is holding Constantinople in the most acute suspense.
    We now know something more definite of the whereabouts of the enemy. Their advanced patrols, skirmishing with which has been going on for some days, are steadily approaching the north end of the lines. The main body of the Bulgarians is now advancing along the railway line, and is believed to have been yesterday some fifteen miles west of Tchatalja.
    All this looks like a determined attack on the northern end of the lines after concentration during the next few days.
    The southern extremity of the lines is less likely to be attacked, since it is covered by the lake and marshes and the guns of the warships lying in the Gulf of Biyuk-Chekmeje.
    In view of the spirit displayed by the Turkish soldiers, however, the possibility of an effective defense is beginning to be seriously doubted. It is still questioned, however, whether the intention of the Bulgarians to enter the capital may not be modified by the necessity of passing through a wide belt of cholera-infected country.
    Meanwhile the political side of the war has become of absorbing interest in very high quarters. To-day I received the following statement: "England has addressed herself to the Balkan States to ask what is their conception of the terms of peace. They have given no definite reply, and England, being unsupported by other powers, can do no more."
    The suggestion that secret overtures for peace are taking place directly Between Turkey and the Balkan League, particularly Bulgaria, is strengthened by information I have received from a well-informed source to-night. It is even stated in some quarters that a Bulgarian emissary privately visited the Grand Vizier to-day.
    The reply of the powers to Turkey's appeal for mediation was received today. They say that the Balkan States are prepared to hear the Turkish suggestion of a basis for peace. The Porte's reply, it is understood, will be that the Balkan League took the initiative in starting the war, evidently with definite aims in view, and it therefore would be more reasonable for them to state first what they demand.