IN THE EVENT OF WAR

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 94, 19 October 1908, Page 5

IN THE EVENT OF WAR

ENGLISH WRITER'S OPINION

In the Albany Review of April last Mr W. A. Moore wrote that the Bulgarian army and people were straining a;t the leash to help the Biilgarians over the border in Macedonia., ■ ■ "But a weighty reason with the ever-cantioxia Bulgarian, " ■ , he says> "was the fact that his military preparations were not.c omplete. Sinee 1 then these .preparations have been hurried on apace, and last year the whole of a huge order of Creuzot quick-firing guns was completed. If a general insurrection were to take jplace in Macedonia 33 (this forecast, ty-the-bye, . here touches on the one .acute danger in the nest few weeks), "with the inevitable accompanying ■incidents on the Bulgarian frontier, it seems difficult to believe that either Europe or Prince Ferdinand or the most pacific Government would be able to restrain Bulgaria. The massacres of 1903 threw upon a poor country the maintenance of" thousands of *efugeesy and the people realise that inaction a second time would mean the virtual extinction of the Macedonian Bulgar. "What would be the issue of such a «ontest? Mindful of the heroic qualities of the Turkish soldier, of the stubborn resistance at Plevna and the Shipka Pass, of the recent too littleknown feats of unadvertised endiirance in the Yemen, and of the brief ,-oampaign against Greece in 1897, one might be tempted 'to prohpesy a speedy humiliation for Biilgaria. But such a judgment would be hasty, and the prophet might be doomed to rank with the great army of those who ' foretold the humbling of Japan. In 1878 the invading Russian army numbered 20,000; Its base was far away, and it had to fight its way across two tremendous obstacles, the Danube river .and the Balkan-^ -mountains. The Bulgarian army i£/ admitted" by : all experts kfbe & most eincientfighting instrument. Jt is trained and disciplined with ceaseless diligence in the shadow of war, and every Bulgarian "soldier believes in his heart that one day he will fight the Turk. He has already given proof of his qualities, both as a marcher and a fighter, and he would oppose the Turk with a greater elan than he opposed the Serb. On a war footing the army numbers over 300,000, and there would be an eager response to the call to arms. The offensive would fi certainly rest with Bulgaria-Jor the slowness of the Turk in starting may r safely be reckoned with — and Bulgaria has to face neither the Danube nor Shipka. No country has ever been in a strategic position at all comparable to that of Bulgaria fox striking a sudden vital blow at Turkey, and it must be remembered that :in a war with Turkey time is the

essence of the matter. , The Turks aro capable of maintaining a magnificent resistance, but they have never been ready with a plan of campaign ; and of late years all government has become so highly centaaiised that when communications with Constantinople are out, complete paralysis ensues. By this expedient the small insurgent force'of 1903 made themselves master of a large paii^of Macedoriia for" several weeks. Moreover, though the Turkish soldier is magnificent material:, lie cannot shoot, inasmuch as he gets no practice-r-except occasionally at a human target. Lastly, the Arab revolt has cost many men and much money; and has been a far more serious, strain .than is supposed, so that there are many factors that those Who prophesy renewed success. in Europe for the Sultan's arms would do well to ponder. In any case, it is clear from the grave, language recently used by Sir Edward Grey in the House of Commons, that .this life-or-deafh struggle is the alternative the Powers have to face if the new effort to put reality into the Macedonian Reforms is frustrated." •