THE POWERS & THE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1813, 28 July 1913, Page 9

THE POWERS & THE WAR.

AUSTRO-RUSSIAN ACTION.

INVASION OF ARMENIA.

RUMANIA TO HOLD SOFIABy T«l«Braph—Press Association- -CopjTlß' l ' (Roo. July 27, 5.5 p.m.) London, July 26. Reuter's correspondent states that Greece denies tho report that she desires to prolong hostilities. If Bulgaria wants peace, sho need only approach the two Allies simultaneously, but both are agreed not to accord on armistico separately. The Austrian Ministers at Belgrade and Athens havo demanded the cessation of the war, and declare that Austria will not permit the further humiliation of Bulgaria. If Greece and Sorvia are obdurate, Rumania, acting as the mandatory of Austria and Russia, will prevent an attack on Sofia. According to advioos from Homo, the Powers are prepared to authorise Russia to ocoupy Armenia in order to compel Turkey to withdraw behind tho EnosMidia line allotted her by the Peace Conference, and! also to prevent her from drawing reinforcements fronv Asia. THE ALLIES OBDURATE.. A TRUCE REFUSED. (Rec. July 27, 5.5 p.nf.) Athens, July 26. • It is scmi-officially stated that AustroEussian pressure ought to be exerted at Sofia to compel Bulgaria to accept the Allies' conditions, as otherwise Bulgaria has nothing to hope for. It is reported that' the Premier, M. Venezolos, has replied in the negative to tho Austro-Russian requests. Delegates from the different States have started for Bukarest to discuss the holding of an armistice conference at Nish, in Servia, simultaneously with the signing of peaoe preliminaries at Bukarest. Tho Allies have refused Bulgaria a three-days' truoe. RUMANIA'S PART. ."" WILL AID BULGARIA. Bukarest, July 26. In response to the appeal of the Bulgarian Government, Rumania has stopped her advance fifteen kilometres from Sofia. King Constantino of Greece and the King of Servia telegraphed to the King of Rumania that it would bo a crime to grant an axmistioo without security for peaco, after the past experience with Bulgaria.

Paris, July 25.It is stated from several sources that Eumania, having secured territorial concessions, is willing to act as Bulgaria's friend, and enforce tho Treaty of London ofainst Turkey. Athens, July 25. It ig stated that Rumania has warned Greece that if she persists in pushing on to Sofia, tho Rumanian unny will ocoupy Sofia beforehand. Eumania has also pointed: out the necessity of enabling Bulgaria to resist a Turkish invasion.

A CRITICAL SITUATION. ; STATEMENT BY LORD MORLEY. (Sydney "Sun" Spetdal Cable.) London, July 25. Lord Horley, President of the Council, speaking in the House of Lords, declared that the situation in the Balkans was far too critical to bo discussed, in Parliament. He was unable to state what action the Powers might bo compelled to take if Turkey disregarded the advice they had all given h«r. London, July 25. Tbe Ambassadors in London conferred for two and a half hours yestorday without coming to a decision regarding Turkey. The German press is non-committal regarding Turkey's attitudo, although It is assumed that the Powers will not allow the retention of Adrianople by the Turks. RUSSIAN TRANSPORTS SAIL. St. Petersburg, July 25. Three transports, with to cops, have sailed from Odessa, en route to Batoun, the seaport of Russian Transcaucasia, adr joining thjo Turkish frontier BULGARIA'S LOSSES. (Rec. Judy 27, 5.5 p.m.) Belgrade, July 26. The peasants have buried 857 Bulgarians who wero killed in the fighting at Pirot. • . DESIGNS ON ARMENIA.

RUSSO-SERVIAN RIVALRY. To suppose that the European Powers have their hands full with present complications, and are not looking for any more trouble, would be a mistaken view (says a recent writer in the "Literary Digest"). Not yet being done with the Balkan problem, they are cooking up an Armenian question. Russia, whose hopes to gain a foothold in tho Balkans did not uiaterialiso, is accused of trying to compensate herself elsewhere. The Russian Government has been making overtures to tho head of the Armenian clergy, the Katholikos of all the Armenians, as he is officially styled, ari3 His mission, recently sent to St. Petersburg, was received with great honours. Tho object of that mission was to got some concessions for the Armenians in the Caucasus. • The concessions were granted, and the Government has somewhat relaxed the iron grip in which it held the Armenians _in that quarter. It was a good beginning, and it is hard to tell what tho next move would have been, but just about that time Evurope became aware of Russia's activities in Armenia, and all began to discuss the futuro of that country.

Methodical Germany. This seems rogrcttablo to the "Novove Vremya" (St. Petersburg), which thinks that Russia alone can solvo" tlio Armenian question. To quote its words:— "For some time articles havo boon appearing in tho 'Berliner Tagoblatt' and other German newspapers in wliich now tho Asia Minor correspondent of theso nowspapors, liowprominent Armenians in tho capitals of Western Europe, have tried to prove tho identity of German and Armenian interests in Asia Minor. "Tho Germans, as ever, have proceeded methodically in this matter. From tho beginning of tho construction of different sections of tho Bagdad Railroad the Germans began to penetrate into tho obscure corners of thoso vilayets in which the Armenian population struggles with tho terrible oppression of tho Mussulman fanatics. They appeared not only in tho rolo of travelling salesmen, but—what is much moro dangerous—in tho role of missionaries and preachers. The majority.of these missionaries wero not even native Germans, but American Germans, who, as in neighbouring Persia, shielded thempelves under tho credential? of tho American Evangelical Mission . Society in tho Orient. Those missionaries lia vo opened schools in some Armenian cities, and begun with great fervour tho work of educating tho yonngor generations. Tho results of their several years' .work in tho educational field aro beginning to tell. Among tho Armenians there are more and moro of young ministors, physicians, and teachers who aro convinced that Russia, this anoiont protector of Christians in the Orient, cannot undertake the solution of the Armenian question, and thot tho only power which can allevuiho tho lot of tho

Armenian people 13 Germany. The Gorman Consuls iu Asia Minor, the railroad officials of the Gorman branch, have given employment to a number of Armenians, ami uso them for agitation not only among (.ho Armenians in Turkey, but own in Russia. 11l is characteristic, for example, that tho editor of tho German paper in Saratov, which is published for the German colonists of tho Volga rerion, is of Armenian extraction, ono of tho pupils of tho . German Evangelical Austria's Attitude. Stating that tho Austrians are siding with tho Germans in this question, and quoting from an articlo in the "Oosfcerroiclnsclio Rundschau" (Vienna) by some Austrian genoral, in which attention is called to the activities of Russia in Asia Minor, tlio "Novoyc Yrcmya" continues: "Tho last Russo-Tirrkish war raised tho hopes of tho Armenian Christians in Asia Msior. But the solution of this question at the Berlin Congress . . . retarded their oauso for forty years. Large numbers of Armenians, persecuted by tho Turks, fled to Russian dominions; many of thom got rich in Russia and became the natural promoters of the Russian policy among tho Armenians. After tho Adana massacre, England interested her|alf in the Armenian question, but did not bring any relief to the Armenians. At the present moment, not seeing any desire on the part of the Powers of the Triple Entente (England, France, a.nd Russia) to help the Armenians, some of the Armenian leaders turn for assistance to the Powers of the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, and Italy), which has proved that it actually directs tho destinies of the universe by creating, before tho eyes of tlio whole Christian world, a kingdom for ono million uncivilised Albanians."