Grey Says Balkans Must Fight It Out.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 15, 1913:
War Deplorable, but Combatants Will Soon Be Exhausted — No Complications Feared.
COLD COMFORT FOR BULGARS
They Are Informed That Gen. Ivanoff's Retreat Was "Splendid" — More Details of Atrocities.
    LONDON, Tuesday, July 15.— That the Balkan struggle will end by a process of mutual exhaustion seems the only hope that Sir Edward Grey is able to hold out. In the House of Commons last night the Foreign Secretary, replying to a suggestion that an armistice should be forced on the Balkan States, said it was impossible to exaggerate the horror of the war, but mere words were not likely to affect the situation, and it would be most difficult for the concert of Europe to resort to force to impose peace
    Bulgaria had asked Russia to aid her in arranging peace, and Servia and Greece had agreed to cease hostilities upon certain conditions. As to Turkey, no exception could be taken to her action, so long as she adhered to the Enos-Midia line.
    The essential thing for the powers, said the Secretary, was to perfect and maintain an agreement. The war was so exhausting that it could not be of long duration, and no complication ought to arise endangering the European concert. There was every reason to believe that matters would be brought to a satisfactory termination.
    Neither Servia nor Greece has paid any attention to Russia's proposal that they cease hostilities. They appear determined to negotiate peace with Bulgaria only on the field, without intervention by any third party, and, unless Bulgaria prove amenable, it is believed that an advance will be made upon Sofia to enforce acceptance of the Servian-Greek terms. Serious fighting for the time being is suspended, but the advance of the Turkish and Rumanian troops continues without opposition. A Belgrade report says that the Servians on Sunday captured an important position eight miles west of Kostendil.
    According to the Athens correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, Greece and Servia signed a secret treaty last May binding them to prosecute a war, which was then foreseen, with Bulgaria until the Bulgars acquiesced in the territorial arrangements laid down in the treaty. By these arrangements the eastern boundaries of Greece would be extended to the Mesta River, considerably to the east of Drama, and Servia would have access to the Aegean Sea at two points.
    A Salonika dispatch to The Times says:
    "Greece is prepared to sign an armistice only on condition that the frontier questions, the payment of indemnity by Bulgaria, and guarantees for the welfare of the Greeks under Bulgarian rule shall be settled on the battlefield. The Greek and Servian Premiers are meeting at Nish to discuss the situation.
    "Premier Venizelos is now of the opinion that the creation of three numerically equal States is the only way to secure lasting peace in the Balkans. Greece was previously prepared to admit that Bulgaria might have a population one million in excess of Greece.
    "The Greek Premier, further, refuses to oppose the annexation of Thrace to Bulgaria, although many of his countrymen consider that this attitude sacrifices the interests of his country. But he says that he has no desire to create difficulties for the great powers, and will be content with adequate guarantees for the future of Greeks in Thrace.
    "King Constantine agrees with M. Venizelos on these points."

Ferdinand Accuses Foes.
    King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, in a long message dispatched from Sofia on July 12 to The Evening News, says:

    The stories and reports which the Greeks and Servians have been circulating in Europe concerning so-called outrages committed by my troops upon the Greek and Servian populations in Macedonia are absolutely unfounded and are published with the object of creating a bad impression.
    King Ferdinand proceeds to tell of the liberties enjoyed by the people of Adrianople without regard to their nationality, and closes with the allegation:

    Systematic attacks and persecutions have been directed against the Bulgarian element in Macedonia by the Servians and the Greeks. The Districts of Kastoria, Florina, and Vodena have been cleared of all well-educated men, and the prisons of Salonika are overflowing with innocent Bulgarians. Great numbers of Bulgarians have been transported from their homes in the country to Greece and to the islands in the Aegean Sea. * * * The same cruel regime has been applied to the Bulgarians in the regions occupied by the Servians. The purely Bulgarian town of Kakush has been completely burned by the Greek troops.

    Thousands of refugees. King Ferdinand concludes, on arriving in Sofia "gave terrifying accounts of the horrible deeds committed by the Servians and Greeks. The Bulgarian Government is ready to come to an international inquiry which will enlighten the world concerning the stories of these excesses."

A "Splendid Retreat."
    SOFIA. July 14.— The report that Gen. Ivanoff has effected a. splendid retreat is confirmed.
    Semi-official statements have been issued accusing the Greeks of setting fire to the town of Seres and declaring that the Bulgarians attempted vainly to get the fire under control. Other statements charge the Greeks with wholesale massacres and atrocities at Seres and elsewhere in Macedonia.
    The Mayor of Drama reports that irregular Greeks have landed at Leftera and occupied the town of Pravi. The Greeks, he declares, massacred the whole Bulgarian and Mussulmans population.

    BELGRADE, July 14.— Only outpost engagements along the frontier occurred to-day.
    It is reported that Bulgaria has made direct overtures to Servia for an armistice.

    SALONIKA, July 14.— The reports of the sacking and burning of the town of Seres by the defeated Bulgarian Army, and the accompanying outrages on women and atrocities on men were fully confirmed to-day in a dispatch from a well-known Greek correspondent.
    The retreating Bulgarian soldiers, he telegraphs, opened a cannonade with four field guns from a hill above the town last Friday. At the same time bands of Bulgarian soldiers led by their officers scoured the streets, first pillaging the stores and houses and then drenching them with petroleum and setting them alight until the greater part of the town was blazing.
    The Austro-Hungarian and Italian Consuls stationed in this city have gone to Seres to verify officially the stories concerning atrocities committed by the Bulgarian troops and to aid their nationals.
    Greek troops to-day occupied the town of Melnik, fifty-five miles to the northeast of Salonika, and are advancing toward the Bulgarian frontier. The Bulgarians have further retreated to Djumbala, close to the famous pass. The Greek commanders anticipate that the next big fight will take place on Bulgarian territory.
    The soldiers were accompanied by the notorious revolutionary Colonel Yankoff, who, with other former officers of the Bulgarian Army, was very active in Macedonia in 1903.
    Even the foreign Consulates in Seres were not spared, according to the correspondent. The Austro-Hungarian consular offices were plundered and burned. Vice Consul George C. Zlatko was carried off by the marauders, but subsequently ransomed. The Italian Consulate was also sacked, but the Consul bought off the incendiaries.
    The Bank of Athens, the Oriental Bank, the Palace of the Metropolitan, the Great Synagogue, all the schools, the tobacco warehouses of the American, Austrian, and German companies, and the hospitals were burned after they had been pillaged. The American Tobacco Company alone suffered to the extent of $1,000,000.
    Many persons were crucified, hacked to pieces, or burned alive by the maddened Bulgarians, who committed incredible outrages on women of all ages, many of whom died.
    The condition of those who escaped is lamentable. Rich merchants are dying from hunger, while wretched mothers, trembling with cold, are trying to find covering and food for their naked and starving children.
    The situation is desperate, as all the pharmacies were burned down, and there is a total lack of medicine for the sick and bandages for the wounded.
    The Greek authorities in Salonika are rushing foodstuffs, clothing, and medicines to the stricken town. Two thousand Bulgarians of the Kavala garrison have been induced to evacuate the town by a ruse of the commander of the Greek fleet, who manoeuvred in a manner to lead the Bulgars to believe that a large force of Greeks was being landed.

The Rumanians' Advance.
    BUCHAREST, July 14.— The Bulgarian Minister to Rumania and the staff of the legation left here to-day on a special train for Sofia.
    It is officially stated that detachments of Rumanian cavalry have occupied Dobritch, Baltchik, and the surrounding villages.

    CONSTANTINOPLE, July 14.— The Turkish delegates to the Balkan Financial Commission at Paris have been recalled.
    The Turkish armies are continuing their advance and have arrived at the Silivri-Belgrade forest line. Enver Bey's forces have occupied Rodosto.
    It is understood that a Servian-Turkish agreement has been reached, but is awaiting ratification from Belgrade before being signed.