ESTABLISHED 1866. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1912. THE WAR—AND AFTER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 264, 7 November 1912, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1912. THE WAR—AND AFTER.

"Nothing short of the Powers intervention can prevent King Ferdinand's entry into Constantinople." Such is the opinion expressed by Mr Donohoe, the Daily Chronicle's representative with the victorious Bulgarian army. It is an opinion which receives support from the latest cablegrams, the general import of which is to show that the desire of the Porto for an armistice and for friendly intervention in her behalf by the Powers stands at present a very poor chanoe of being realised. It is now only a question, of days when the Bulgarians, reinforced by a large Servian force, will be able to capture Adrianople, and although the Turks may rally and make desperate attempts' to stop the march of their combined foes upon Stamboul, there is little hope, such is the disorganised state of their armies, the indecision of their commanders, and their great inferiority in artillery, that the; Moslems will be able to offer any prolonged and serious resistance to the flow southward of the triumphant Christian battalions. < It is clear from.'the replies received, to M. Poinoare's well-intentioned representations in favor of peace that the Balkan Allies, are determined not to be robbed of a; full and complete reward for the sacrifices, in blood and treasure, which they have made during the campaign; and, truth to tell, even were th£'Powers to combine and forbid the entrance into Constantinople of the allied forces, it is difficult to see how they could practically enforce their will, for long before an Austrian or Russian army could reach the scene the Christians could easily take possession of the Sultan's capital. All that can and probably will be done will be to make a combined naval demonstration in the Bosphorus, to take steps to prevent unnecessary bloodshed, and to secure safety for the lives of such nonTurkish., residents of Constantinople and Per a who' may not by that time have left those cities. It may yet be that the Balkan Allies will not insist upon an entrance to Constantinople; but it may be safely assumed, that once the armies are outside the walls of that city a temporary occupation of the Moslem capital could be avoided only by a complete surrender by the Sultan to the demands or the combined States. When those demands come to be directly specified and the Powers}, more particularly Russia and Austria, come to examine them in detail .and see how their- own territorial ambitions and interests may be affected thereby, we shall be better able to judge whether there is a danger of the peace of -Europe—outside the Balkan Peninsula —-being more or less gravely imperilled. . Russia, France, and Great Britain are, it would seem from the cablegrams, willing "to set aside interests which might well have taken territorial form""; but Austria, it appears, is assuming a position of sulky silence, and for the present M. .Poineare's scheme of joint mediation cannot be proceeded with. Austrian and Servian views and ambitions are notoriously opposite—indeed, already the Viennese ; newspapers are declaring that Servia's astnration to secure a, port on the Adriatic cannot be tolerated by Austria. Russia, on the other hand, is generally, credited with being behind the Servian designs, and would probably throw the weight °* a* least her diplomatic support on the Servian side. So far there is a curious and somewhat disquieting absence of any hint or suggestion as to what Germany's policy may be.. On a previous occasion, when Austria calmly ignored the Treaty of Berlin and annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Hansburgs received a welcome backing from the head of the Hohenzollerns, the menace of Russian objection and intervention being met by the massing of a huge German iorce on her north-eastern frontier. Tt was understood at the time that Russia was not in such a state of [ military readiness as to enable her to press her objection to Austria's plans to such a point as would have in- ; volved her in: war With Germany; but ; the position may not be quite the same in 1912 as it was then. Italy, too, may be a factor in the general scramble for portions of a dis- , membered Turkey, for the Adriatic is j an Italian as well as an Austrian sea, ; indeed much more so, and Italy would 1 not. it is understood, object to controlling a certain portion of the i Albanian littoral. All these con- ' siderations go to show that the process of settlement, onco the Turks are completely crushed, as it would now seem to be inevitable they must be, will be attended by grave difficulties.