Allies Will Impose Severe Peace Terms.

New York Times 100 years ago today, December 15, 1912:
Declare Turks Must Forfeit All Up to Tchatalja Lines, and Aegean Islands, Too.
THREAT OF CONTINUED WAR
Turkish Delegate Will Resist Extreme Demands when London Conference Opens Monday.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Dec, 14.— Since the arrival  in London of the plenipotentiaries, who are to begin the negotiation of a treaty of peace between Turkey and the Balkan allies at St. James's Palace on Monday, there has grown up a decidedly more cheery view of the possibility of the speedy accomplishment of their task. Some hopes are expressed that they will be able to present the world with a treaty of peace as a Christmas box.
    This optimism is undoubtedly due to interviews given by several of the delegates, in which a spirit of conciliation has been predominant. It is suggested, however, that were the delegates found to have come to the conference animated with other feelings, the chances of peace being reached would be hardly worth consideration.
    "The problems which remain to be settled are not likely to be solved without long and stubborn discussion. Even before their consideration is begun a curious obstacle must be removed. It is understood that the Ottoman delegates will require that Greece sign the armistice before the conference opens. Premier Veniselos and his Greek colleagues cannot be excluded from the council chamber, and the Turkish insistence on the signature of the armistice could only prejudice the Ottoman case, for a formal armistice is not a necessarily preliminary to a peace conference. Treaties of peace are not infrequently signed without armistices preceding their discussion.

Three Phases of Negotiation.
    Roughly speaking, the problems awaiting solution by the conference can be divided into three sections. First, comes the settlement between Turkey and the Balkan allies; next will arise the question growing out of the rival claims within the Balkan League for the division of the spoils of war, and third, there must be an agreement by the great powers on terms of this division.
    The procedure so far arranged contemplates the settlement of the first point before the others are discussed. The Balkan allies are going on the principle that they must extract everything possible from the common enemy before they take up the questions of how they shall share the proceeds.
    The point upon which the negotiations are expected to be most stubbornly contested in this section is how much of the Thracian territory is to be left under the suzerainty of the Sultan and the disposal of Adrianople. Before the second set of problems comes under discussion the Palace of St. James's is likely to have become the scene of an encounter more hardly, though differently, fought than some of the battles in the field.
    It will not be till after these peace contests are lost and won that the rivalries within the Balkan League will be brought onto the carpet, and, even after these are settled the approval of the great powers will be required to set a seal on the deliberations and results arrived at.
    In this particular respect it is hoped that the conference of Ambassadors, arranged at Sir Edward Grey's suggestion, to be held at the Foreign Office, will be able to perform some useful work. The Ambassadors attending it will not be invested with plenary powers, but will be able to discuss points arising out of the St. James's Palace negotiations among themselves, and report to their Governments without the delays which would have been inevitable under the ordinary procedure of diplomacy.
    What exactly is to be the outcome of the two conferences, who shall predict? On the one hand are the optimists who look forward to peace at Christmas. On the other are the pessimists, who consider that 1913 is likely to obtain, through the failure of these efforts to secure the peace of Europe, a disastrous place in the annals of superstition.