THE BALKAN WAR

Southland Times, Issue 17230, 28 December 1912, Page 6

THE BALKAN WAR

| TURKISH PUBLIC DISAPPOINTED. I I (fy To’c'Eraph.—Press Association.—Copyright). | COXSTAXTIXOPBK. December 27. ’ Received December 28, 12.10 a.m. | The public are disagreeably surprised at tlie Allies’ terms, having been under i tiie belief that the Bcnyne was breaking 1 up. and that the Bulgarians would be j glad of peace at any price. j AUSTRIANS THRKATKXI.XG. ; GUNS TRAINED OX BELGRADE. LONDON. December 20. I Disturbing news is coming through : regarding Austria’s war preparations, j The official Samoprava at Belgrade | says that from Semlin. on (he other side 1 of tlie I tanuhe, Austrian guns are train--1 ed on Belgrade. Searchlights sweep the | city after dark fTnd dazzle and frighten I the citizens. j Gunboats swagger wickedly up and down the river, the sailors aboard hurl- | ing childish taunts at the Servians. J All this apparently being done with Hie object of annoying the people of Bel- | grade, and. adds the paper, it is to be > hoped that tlie Austrian Government lias i no Knowledge of what is happening. VIENNA’S PARLOUS STATE. TRADE QUITE DISORGANISED. BANKRUPT FI RMS. LONDON, December 20. Tlie uncertainty lias created a great business crisis in Vienna. The shops, instead of engaging extra hands for the ! Christmas trade, are discharging their | employees. | One firm which took £2430 in tlie cor- ; responding week last year only took £OO | this week. 1 Many big hankrtiplelcs are certain, and j j others are expected. | CAPTURED FROM THE TURKS. ( MILLIONS OF' CARTRIDGES. I LONDON, December 20. | The Servian military authorities have completed an inventory of the booty captured from tiig Turks. Tlie list comprises:— j Three hundred and eight Q.F. guns. ; Two hundred thousand magazine rides. Four hundred million cartridges. Fifty thousand Turkish uniforms. There were also oilier ixige quantities : of war material which cannot bo tabulated. I SPLASHES OF' BLOOD. ! ‘‘HIGHER THAN YOUR HEADS.” I LONDON. December 20. | j The Turkish journals are engaging in j I violent anti-Armenian diatribes. A sain- ! Slip' phrase for., their outbursts is— • I ’’Armenians, keep quiet, lest your blood j | spin-lies higher than your heads." j BULGARIAN ARMY' PRAISED. I j YY’HAT SIR JOHN FRENCH SAY'S. : | LONDON, December 20.* Major-General Sir John I'rncli. speak- . ing at the Royal Military College, said that only an army organised to the high- , cst degree in lime of peace, with train- j ed leaders who thoroughly understood | their husincs--. cnnld hope to emulate the ! success of tlie Bulgarian army. | SHOULDER ARMS. I A PA.G EOF SECRET HISTORY'. j EUROPE IX' COXVI.'LSIOX. j (Sydney Sun Correspondent.) | LONDON'. X’cvember 15. i Europe lias been on the verge of Ar l mngednn. Appalling r-atarproiibo lias • faced it for a week, and up to (be time of writing lia.s not yet been averted : Tlie Servians, suffering somewhat from swelled bead, have ileiMiuiol a. port on tiie Adriatic ; Austria, fearful for her own future put her big foot down. Russia rushed to the assistance of Sorvia. F'rance to Hie assistance of Russia, and : England to the assistance of France. Germany swung in behind Austria. . Italy swung in behind Germany. Tlie dogs of war strained at the leash in every country in the old world. Diplomacy stepped in, and diplomacy, which : is synonymous with duplicity, is striv- ; ing with might and main to beat the i swords into ploughshares. ■ HOW AUSTRIA GOT BUSY. ! Tlie calde story lias told of victories j and defeats, of beleagured fortre-ses, of sorties, of superhuman and heroic deeds, ! of a proud nation humiliated to tlie very j dust, of tlie four small nations, of the ' East, of the new alliance which may be 1 tiie balance that will hold tlie scales bo- j tween the Triple Alliance and the Triple I Entente : hut as usual, it is what lias not i been published that is tlie most interest- i ing. tlie most significant, and the most j threatening. The moment that the first | shot was fired. Austria commenced a j vast and comprehensive mobilisation of j her forces. Russia, getting wind of what her neighbour was. doing, entered upon an equally covert yet overt gathering of her European army. Italy did not need to take any special steps. She was already on a war fooling, thanks to the campaign in Tripoli. Ger- I many, without any fuss, but with steely precision of fate, saw that her peace ) army was placed on a war basis, ami I privately summoned tlie whole of her I reserves to place themselves in instant I readiness to .shoulder arms. F'rance. who was just at the termination of her autumn manoeuvres, strung a host of men along the fortresses of her eastern frontier. Belgium, cutting in like a wedge between Germany and F'rance, ! prayed every one of her sons to rally | round Hie fag. And England- was not behindhand. | ADMIRALTY'S ENERGY. | The Admiralty, ever since tlie German i fright early in the year, lias been sliced- | ing up the placing of the British feet ' on tlie highest pitch of lighting efficiency. fio that it might he equipped for defensive operations at a moment's notice. The battle fleets have been rearranged, strategy has been re-organis-ed, tactics have been revolutionised. Although she despatched a magnilieent squadron of battleships to eastern countries, Britain still had a most formidable fighting feet in the North Sea to protect herself, or. if need be. to make descent upon tlie enemy. Nor were these precautions taken without every cause. Germany feverishly set her navy in line I of battle (rim. Her gnat-like destroyer fleets wore prepared for action in every naval port of tlie Fatherland, and a des- . cent upon the JOuglisb coast was not rain imagination. Britain also sent an urgent call to her destroyer llotiibis. and within 21 hours over a hundred of these , wasps of the sea were spread along her south-east coast. It only required the ■ tiniest stumble on tlie part of diplomacy ! for tlie gauge of battle to he thrown j down by tlie .Six Powers. And it was 1 by no accident that tlie Mikado held the I Xaval Review in which 2m) warships i passed before his yacht. That demon- | stralion was not meant merely for spec- . laeiilar purposes ; it - was a display of | naval might which was intended for the 1 bellicose spirit of Europe. iTHE SPY INDUSTRY. I cannot vouch for the story, but it is | told me in all good faith. A senior j Admiral, dining at his club in the West j End, happened to malic a remark which | indicated the st(*f).s that were being la- : lien by Britain to safeguard her shores. I A German waiter of tlie most perfect ! type served the table. Xexl morning | the German Fureigii (MTiee. with the audacity of its nation, inquired of the British Foreign Office ” Why all this haste in commissioning your destroyer licet London is riddled with German spies. For that matter Germany is probably dotted witli British sides. Neither side can make tlie most minute move without the oilier being promptly acquainted with it. li] PLUM AT I(’ TOM I'OOLEBY. Diplomacy still works in manifold ways towards its ends. There is a ; punctilious etiquette assoedated with it which would startle the casual Australian. An Ambassador could not breeze into a fellow Ambassador, and in a. cominonsetisp way say ’’ Look here, Brown, what’s all this nonsense about arming to the teeth Ambassadors have a j method of preeednre and a style of eondueling negotiations solely their own. j They have all manner of agents. The , Secret .Service Fund is spent in tlie most j secret way. Only tills morning Europe ] was startled by the disappearance of a . Gorman Baroness. .Site was the private

secretary of hj member of the Gorin tin Foreign Office, who enjoyed 1 lie close confidence of the Emperor. Frequently she was despatched on ticklish missions. I Site came to London. She was shown I over the darkest, quarters of the Fast ! End hy .Mr be Queux. She returned to Paris. She lias not been heard of since. What mission she was on, and : the .success she had. is only known to | the German Foreign Office. What happened to the Baroness is unknown to anybody. The true inside history of 'diplomacy as it is practised to-day is 1 more thrilling than the most thrilling of popular novels. | PRESS AGENTS. The press, too, is pressed into the I sort ice. In every capital there are 1 papers which are recognised as the orj Sans of (he Chancelleries They are | described as semi-official. Their funcj lion is to liy kites to see which way the wind i < Mowing, or to put up bluffs, or. as in the case of the Balkans, to i create public opinion. By ins masterly and vivid despatches Lieutenant Wag- , tier, of the Ueichposl. easily outstrlp--1 ped all other correspondents during the early stages of tho war. His was the only authentic, expert, brilliant account. |Xo big paper could afford to appear I without it. So every influential journal in every big city of Europe bought tho tight to prim Lieutenant Wagner’s telegrams. Up to a point they were impeccable. Since then there is every reason to believe that they must be suspect. Of the defeats inflicted upon tltc Turks there can be no doubt. Of the exact measure o? these defeats, there is dubiety. Once the tide of battle had turned against (he Turks, it was the policy of the allies to project themselves upon the screen, that ail Europe was watching, in heroic proportion. Through Wagner this has been done. Tito terms of peace will not he decided by the absolute merits of the conflict, but by the preconceived ideas which have boon dropped into the receptive minds of the allies and by Austria through the Roichpost. j it is an amazing, extraordinary, and | enthralling story.