BLOCKADE.

Evening Star, Issue 15968, 23 November 1915, Page 6

BLOCKADE.

GREECE UNDER PRESSURE.

MORE REASONABLE TONE.

SERBIAN' VICTORY.

SITUATION HOPEFUL

[By Criticts.J]

In spite of the official denial in London or all knowledge of the matter, the re seems little doubt that the news of the publication of a communique, bv the British Legation at .Athens announcing a commercial blockade of Greece was correct. Indeed, a summary of the document is to hand in to-day's cables. It savs tnat ni view of the Hellenic Government's attitude regarding the seeuritr of the Entente's troops, and the liberty of action it is entitled to in connection with the oisembarkation of troops, the allied rowers judge it necessary to take certain measures having for their object tho suspending of the commercial and economic facilities Greece Ims hitherto enjoved. From all. this Ave may gather that "the reports which indicated that tho Greek Government wished to disarm the Entente troops m the event nf their being driven tack into Greek territory were true. The difference between the" Entente Powers and Greece upon this point is fundamental, because while the Greek Government desire todisarm tho allied troops and to prevent further landings, the Entente notonly refuses to disarm the troops alreadv landed, but demands a free hand to land as many troops as may ho desirable, even if the struggle should pass over the Greek border. Athens .Ministerial papers point out that Greece may undertake not to disarm the allied troops, and to prevent Bulgarians and Germans from pursuing them on to Greek soil, but in such a case the Allies must leave Greek territory, as it would be impossible to prevent" the enemy from pursuing if the Allies await reinforcements at ."Salonika. In. short, they fear that Greece may be compelled to tight in spite, of herself. But to leave Greek territory is the one thing that the Allies are determined not to do except under compulsion. They are resolved to see the matter through. It the result should prove awkward for Greece, that country will have no one to blame except her own leaders. She was pledged to help Serbia in the event of a iiulgarian attack, and has not done so. It was at her invitation that the allied troops went to Salonika, and now her statesmen have the coolness to propose to disarm them. The British communique announces that the Entente Powers in nowise- intend to coerce Greece to depart from her neutrality. Still, Greece must herself look after that.' and Lord Kitchener and M. Cochin are said to be demanding absolute freedom of action. THE BLOCK AD E. We have no interest in maintainiiv; peace with Greece if she should insi:.t upon disarming the Entente troops, nor •diould such a- course of action be permitted without, a tight. An open enemy is better than a treacherous friend. Fortunately, Greece is peculiarly exposed to the. influence of a. blockade. '.Much of her territory consists of islands, while th - southern part of Greece —the Morea.—is separated from the rest of the country hv the Gulf or Lepanto, ;>nd only connected by the extremely narrow isthmus of Corinth a few miles anos.- and pierced by a canal. Hire!; railways, moreover, are few. and the cutting oil or the sea cnirnmiiiica.tinns \couid lie" a serious haudi'cap. not. only from the commercial but from the military point of view. Th.-re is im direct- railway communication between Salonika a-;:d the southern port.- uf Greece, and that : s why (ireek tro.ips have been transported to' Salonik- by sea. Finally, Greece i\s a great importing and exporting country. Sue is dependent on foreign countries tor a. large part of her wheat supply. It is tor this reason t .! i; d. the auti-"\ ; ciiezeli.st- papers are predicting a total lack of bread for non-combatants within a few days. This is probably exaggeration, though Ihe. stoppage of imports would cause an immediate rise in prices. Thes.saly. the wheat-growing district of Greece," produces about 4,000,000 bushels annually, whereas about three times this quantity is. imported. Herein lies the significance of the statement issued by the Greek Legation in London, under inspiration from Athens, that there is no Gneeo-Btilgarian agreement except a technical protocol of" October 9, providing for the purchase in Bulgaria of 10X00 tons of cereals. Bulgarian waggons to be used for transport. With the Allies in possession <-f Salonika, those cereals are not likely to be delivered. The mass of Greek foreign trade is done with the Allies, and so long as we remain in control of Salonika we Can cut. off nine-tenths of that carried on with othoi- countries. Perhaps it is for this reason that the Greek- Ministerial journals state that King Constantiue and M\ Sk-ou-loudis assured Lord Kitchener that Greece would never attack the- Allies, and that the way was clear for an agreement. Still, if this is true, it is singular that the announcement of the blockade should have followed immediately in ion Kitchener's departure. VEXEZELOS SPEAKS.

1 \"<">t infrequently an able civilian states- | man wili show more insight into sti-'.tstjv [ than the soldiers. This was frequently the case with Bismarck. Indeed, lie was tactless enough during- th-e war of 1366 vrith Austria to show so much deeper an iu.sight into strategy than most of the military men that they <-oi:spir.-<] to completely exclude him from the. military counci!« in 1870. ."W. Yonczelos has pointed out in mi interview that if the Allies smash the Germans in Serbia, a. lino of invasion will he open a'-ros-s the Hungarian Plain, which is Germ any";? weakest "fhank. The short-sighted and timorous critics who counsel withdrawal fail to realise that. M. Venezelos said that the Germans are hound to he conquered in the pud. as they have much smaller resources to draw upon than the Allies, and have already passed the zenith of their strength. He added that the Balkans offers favorable conditions for the Entente Powers to detail large bodies of troops, and thus cut. off Germany from her supplies of men and minerals in Turkey. Certainly, if we can hold our ground until substantial reinforcements arrive, we need not doubt of onr ultimate ability to reconquer the whole ground. M. Venezelos said : " 1 have the greatest admiration for Sir Edward Grey, hut he made a mistake to chill Greek sympathies, by offering the Bulgarians Kavala. without first ascertaining if they would accept the. bribe." This is rather puzzling, since it has been generally understood "" that Kavala wa6 offered to Bulga-ria by Ai. Yenezelos himself. But this is part of the inner history of diplomacy about which no information is yet available. A SERBIAN VICTORY. The correspondent of the ' Daily Mail' at Paris states that a Balkan cable indicates that the Allies are too late, and little more remains of Serbia- to save. It will be well if we decline to allow our. brains to be fogged by alarmist talk. The mere overrunning of" Serbian territory is not in itself of vital importance so lonf as the mass of the Serbian army remains intact. It, may still be possible to save that, and if so, then it is merely a matter of pouring in reinforcements until enough are accumulated to advance and drive the enemy out again. As if to discount the assertion of the alarmist comes the news of an important Serbian victory. Several, days' battle near Leskovatz resulted in the rout of the Bulgarians with enormous losses. The locality of the combat is surprising, and in some measure disquieting, for Leskovatz the railway line 22 miles south of Xish, and just west of the Morava River. The victory is gratifying, as indicating that the Serbians are still a powerful army full of light, but disquieting because, it they hold on there too long, they are liable to be tut off. The Germans report the occupation of Kovi Bazar bv

General Von Koevess, and an advance southward of that general would cut tho lino of retreat of the Serbians round Leskovatz. What is worse, the German communique announces that Generals Von Gallwitz and Bojadjeff are fighting for an entrance into the Lab Valley, north of Prishtina. Bojadjeff's right wing has evidently advanced from Nish up the valley of the Toplitza River, on the southern side of the Jastrebatz Range. Now he is endeavoring to cross the hills into the valley of the Lab Hlver, an advance down which will bring him to Prishtina, on tho rear of the Serbians, in the Leskovatz district. Later advices show that the Serbians concentrated to the south-west of Leskovatz and inflicted a severe defeat upon the Bulgarians, who escaped narrowly in a disorderly retreat, abandoning large quantities of materials. The Serbians taken up positions south-west of Lebane (possibly on tho Goljak Dagh), where they can offer a lengthy resistance and threaten the Bulgarian offensive, which has latterly been weakening. The strategical position is immensely interesting. There is a fort on the road across the hills' from tlie valley of the Toplitza to that of the Lab. The Serbians will need to hold that road, and also to check the AustroGerman advance from Novi Bazar down the valley of the Ibar in order to maintain their ground. The situation is far from hopeless, in spite oE the alarmists, who have evidently been painting the position far too darkly during the last few days. A hundred thousand Italian troops would have been of priceless value in north-eastern Montenegro just now, as they would have been right upon the flank of the Austro-German advance from Novi Bazar to southward. According to a Berne cable, a declaration of war with Germany by Italy is only a matter of a few hours. If this is true, it probably means action, and it mav not be too late yet. IN' MACEDONIA. There is as yet no confirmation or tho alleged Bulgarian occupation of Monastir. nor is there any news of the falling back of tho Anglo-French left wing, which we might expect to follow such an event. The correspondents paint lurid pictures of the position of affairs, but it will be well to treat them with caution,' especially when they ,-omo from Rome. We have had similar accounts of the position of affairs in the north, whereas it turns out that things arc by no means hopeless. The allied troops continue to land, and it is stated that King Constantino assured Kitchener that Greece would not attack the Allies, and that a satisfactory agreement has been established. The only "satisfactory agreement for ur, will be a-'fiee hand in landing troops and tho removal of the mass of Greek troops from Salonika, if Greece does not intend to fight. Paris alleges that there are 15 divisions there, but this is almost certainly an over-esti-mate. Perhaps a third of that number would bo more likely. Salonika- stands in a peninsula, and if we could get the Greek troops out of the way and" control the peninsula w-e should have a handy place to retreat into if necessary, and the' Greeks would not be a serious cause for anxiety. SYRIA VIA SIXAI. "Lp. Temp?' asserts that strong British contingents have beer, collected near the Suez Canal, and they are credited with V>e intention of, taking tho offensive against Sviia via Sinai. 'J.e Temps' rightly condemns any such proposal, pointing outthat such an expedition would have to cross 450 milts of broken country, and all the troops available aie n--i:ded in Serbia. Wo shall probably have to invade Syria at a later stage of the war. but: at present every man that can he spared should tie sent across to Mieedonia. The number lequircd t<- garrison Egypt will, of eomse, dn.cih! on the f.trergtlt of the Turkish forces in Syria, about which no reliable information i.e. available for the public, although the F,gvpti;:n Intelligence Department is pi-obaWv not without- knowledge. There is generally a tendency to excessive nervousness on the nnrt of Governments a:.d a -k'sirc to detain large garrisons where they a:v not icallv- required. Lord Kitchener's presence in the Mediterranean will go a long way to counteract any such tendency on th-- part of the Egyptian Go- \ eminent.