THE BALKAN WAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10631, 29 November 1912, Page 3

THE BALKAN WAR.

* : THE SKRVIAN CAMPAIGN. CAPTURE OF DI'RAZZO. United. Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received November 29, 10 a.m.) LONDON, November 28. A Belgrade message says that it is reported that Durazzo has been captured. ATTITUDE OF THE POWERS. THE FRONTIER ALARM. LONDON, November 28. Tho German Chancellor. Herr von has telegraphed to the-. i-Avernor of Eastern Prussia to allay nctxioty duo to alleged warlike preparations on tho Russo-Prussian frontier. He says nothing has occurred to justify Germany taking counter action. PROPOSED CONFERENCE. The " Pall Mall Gazette " says that Sir 15. Grey is negotiating for a conference of the Powers before the conclusion of tho war to arrivo at a decision on general principles regarding Albania, ißgean, the Bosphorus and tho Dardanelles. THE NEGOTIATIONS. TURKEY SUING FOR TEACE. FUTURE OF ADRIANOPLE. LONDON, November 28. A message from Constantinople states that it is reported that the Turkish Envoys are instructed to negotiate for pepce owing to the difficulty of arranging an armistice. In Constantinople it is Tumoured that Bulgaria has abandoned her claim to Adriauople. AUSTRIA AND SERVIAN CRISIS ANY CONFLICT TO BE LOCALISED. GERMANY'S ATTITUDE. LONDON, November 28. A Berlin message says that tho " Volk Zeitung," the organ of the Catholic Centre, announces that the conference between the Kaiser and the Archduke Franz .Ferdinand resulted in. an understanding that Austria and Servia shall settle the dispute alone, provided any conflict is localised, but if Russia joined Servia then Germany would help Austria. A German Foreign Office communique to the " Cologne Gazette," to the effect that the Austro-Scrvian crisis does not involve questions making war necessary, meets with public favour. "■ * ' 1 ' KOTEB. INDIAN MOSLEMS DISSATISFIED. LONDON, November 28. Calcutta advises that the Council of the All-India Moslems' League at Lucknow passed a resolution viewing gravely Mr Asquith's reference to the readjustment of Balkan territories on the ground that the speech disturbed the cherished belief in Britain's friendliness to Turkey. RULING SPIKIT_IN TURKEY. 1 • MUKHTAR THE VICTORIOUS." Mukhtar the Victorious—so-called from his gallant defence of tho longbeleaguered fortress of Ezreroum in the Turco-Russian war of 1870, and now Grand Vizier of Turkey—is a reI freshing example of the square man at [ last fitted into the square hole in a world where misfits of men and posts arc amazingly common (writes Mr D. Hugh Pryce). As a young man, Mukhtar was tutor to Sultan Abdul Via in id, over whom he. acquired a strong influence. That influence was always exerted for the good of the country, for Mukhtar was of tho superior race of genuine Turks, a man of high honour and integrity, m whom patriotism and devotion to duty burned liko a steady flame, but his counsels did not suit the views of some of tho Sultan's Armenian advisers, and they plotted to get rid of an inconveniently honest man. Abdul Hamid, hall' an Armenian himself, was intensely superstitious, and it did not provo difficult to persuade him that Mukhtar, unassailable as to rectitude and ability, was a dangerous person to be near the Presence, because he possessed—"the Evil Eye!" The result was banishment for tho imfortunato Minister—a splendid banishment, it is true, since Mukhtar was appointed to the highest post of honour in Egypt, representing the suzerainty of the Sultan, at a salary of something like fifteen hundred pounds a month—but it must have boen bitter to him, forbidden as he was to sot foot in Constantinople, to watch through the long years from liis place of exile the reversal of his policy and the downfall of all his hopes of his country 1 It was in Cairo that I knew him—a silent, reserved man, in appearance not unlike a Welsh Nonconformist minister of the most uncompromising type—a short, spare figure and somewhat stern face, with grizzled hair and beard, bushy eyebrows, and deep-set fiery black eyes. Temperate, abstemious. hard-working, he had an iron will in an iron frame, and years seemed to make no impression on his strength. He lived in Cairo in considerable state in tho magnificent Ismailia.'palace, built by Ismail Pasha on tho banks of the Nile. The pasha was often to be seen out driving in the streets of Cairo, or on tho fashionable parade under the Ghezireh Park acacias. He drove in an up-to-date victoria or a smart coupe behind his fine English black horses or fiery greys, and he was always preceded, like the Khedive and Lord Cromer, by a couple of barelegged syces, or native runners, in richly-embroidered zouave coats and flowing ivhito draperies, whose business it was to give notice of his coming and clear the road for his carriage. He had a large retinue of A.D.C.'s, secretaries and servants, for whom he kept; a generous table and made comfortable provision; but his own tastes were simple, almost austere, and the fine qualities of his character made him honoured and respected by the few English residents who were privileged to know him. Mukhtar Pasha's own homo is at Kadikeue. on the_ Asiatic bank of the Bosphorus. It is an unpretending country villa, built of wood for the sake of greater safety from earthquakes, and tho furniture and arrangements are of tho simplest and most primitive; but on the walls of the chief reception room are to be seen some fine oil paintings of the war with Russia—the grand old fortress of Erzeroum, with the sun shining on its grey walls, showing tho general and his officers on the ramparts and an attacking party of Russian soldiers scrambling up tho hill. HOME OF MODERN TURK. Osman Pasha, the defender of Plevna, and tho only other general who for his bravery in the war received the title of " Ghazi," of the Victorious, has passed away, and Mukhtar is tho ablest and most patriotic remaining representative of the Old Guard. His son, Mohammed Pasha, is a gallant soldier, who won renown for himself through his dashing bravery in the war with Greece. Ho received a military cation in anxl. ajinui fmu'fcattU

! years ago married a near relation of the present Khedive. Both ho and his father are examples of the, modern Turkish high-class Turk, who in his domestic arrangements is as mod era to as any English bishop—-the irreproachable husband of one wife. Tho 'old system, as it used to ho practised hy the richer Turks, seems altogether to he dying out among them, and, though the term "harem" continues to be used for the apartments given up to the use of the women of the household, it has no connection with tho significance attached to it in the Western mind. Mukhtar Pasha lias several grandsons, some of them keen soldiers and patriots already. It is told of them that, as quite little fellows of eleven and twelve, they would amuse themselves for hours with the map of Europe spread out before them on the white-sheeted divan of their father's room, and would ask questions as to the imports and exports, the finances, tho population, and the military resources of their own and every other country: and then would trace out with little fingers the territories, that once were part of the Ottoman Empire, but over which the, Turkish flag waves no longer, and would sigh for the time when they would bo old enough to try to regain those lost provinces. Every Turk is a born soldier, and patriotism is such a moving spirit within him as We with our Western ideas can hardly understand. Tho common soldier glories in the opportunity of giving his life for his country—the officer is willing to sacrifice fortune as well as life in the sacred cause of the national honour. A wealthy pasha once told me that he merely held his fortune in trust for his country's need, and that on the Sultan's rccmisition in time of War ho would he obliged to yield it up to the last piastre. He spoke of it quite simply as the most natural obligation in the world and his good faith was beyond a doubt. The conclusion is clear. With that spirit in her sons, there is practically no limit to Turkey's reserve of men and money. . POWERLESS POWERS. DISCORD IN THE CONCERT. THE FAILURE OF DIPLOMACY. One of the great outstanding facts of the day is the powerlessness of the Great Powers to avert catastrophe- or to guide Europe into tho way of peace. " The unfitness of tho European Concert as an instrument for preventing ! war has now been twice sliowr within :i year ; and no one who watches tho cumbrous machinery feels sure that tho Concert can prevent tho war spreading. This is one reason why the situation for Europe is gloomily looked on." says the Berlin correspondent of the ''Westminster Gazette." "Despite official assurances from all Europe that the war would be localised, a very black view is taken in Berlin of the future for the Great Powers, and a still blacker view, it appears, is taken in Vienna.'' i "The truth is that the Concert is cemented by selfish fear rather than by any lofty purpose," says the London "Star." "The Powers are holding each other's hands lest they should tear each other to pieces. They dread a greater tragedy than a Balkan war. They dread Armageddon. Vienna and Berlin distrust St Petersburg, and St Petersburg distrusts Vienna and Berlin. For instance, if Austria were to re-occupy _ the Sanjak of Novi Bazar. Russia might also move, and then P" I DIPLOMATIC FICTIONS. 1 The Vienna correspondent of | tho London "Daily Telegraph" says:—■ "Of all the diplomatic fictions now current that of the European Concert is the flimsiest .and most dangerous. An ! Oriental policy based upon that postulate is a house built on sand. All Count Berchtold's incisive statements to the Austro-Hungarian delegates are uttered for the patriotic purpose of preparing Kaiser Franz Josef's subjects to face tho condition of things which would result from a. breakdown of the outward accord among the Powers. That crucial fact is as plain as a pikestaff." WEAKNESS OF THE POWERS. "This startling weakness of the Powers in dealing with the Porte—which proceeds, ol course, from their jealousies and conflicting ambitions—is the most ominous feature in tlie situation," says tho "Daily Chronicle." "It is what confirms the Balkan States in tho belief that they can get nothing without war: and it is what justifies the prudent observer in doubting how far it will be possible, if the war is allowed to proceed, to localise it and to keep Austria-Hungary and Russia from being drawn into conflict over it." "The Avar may have disastrous effects, if tho cupidities of the Greater Powers aro let loose on the weakened and exhausted nationalities that have "thrown themselves on the Ottoman Empire," says H. W. Massingham,-in tho "Daily News." "But if some kind of collective care for civilised life can bo kept alive in Europe, the present war ought to be the last of the wars provoked by tho inability of tho Ottomans to assimilate tho ideas, or to reach the standard of public morals (not a very high one) which Europe maintains for her settled communities." TERMS OF IMPOTENCY. "The terms of the Joint Note of tho Powers to the Ottoman Government will sufficiently explain the failure of tho Concert to effect :i diplomatic solution of the crisis," says the " Pall Mall Gazette.'' " It may be called tho very crystallisation of European impotence. The associated Chancelleries intimate that they take note of the Porte's intention to introduce reforms, and are prepared to discuss those measures with the Sultan's Ministers. That is all the length they are prepared or enabled to go in tho erection of bulwarks against a conflict which may eclipse all records of human passion and carnage. Howpale and ineffective a ghost does the visage of diplomacy appear against tho blood-red realities that are accumulating in the Balkan passes and upon tho Roumelian plain 1 How ironical a lesson to those who fancy that courts of arbitration and peace societies and the vocabulary of sentiment and ethics aro about to supplant the sword as the determinant factor in the world's fate! WAR v. WAR. " Here is a case at any rate in which war could only bo stopped by war. We do not believe there is a single Foreign Office in Europe which does not deplore the crashing collision of race forces which may reverberato before another week begins, or does not dread tho hazard to which its own interests may be put before the combatants are exhausted. But the Powers were powerless singly and collectively—you may add nothing to nothing interminably, and tho result will still be only nothing—save on the ono condition that they took up arms themselves and forcibly kept either side off the field. "That being for many reasons out of tho question, they had no resource by which to reconcile tho irreconcilable. The Balkan League could be satisfied with nothing short of guarantees. The temper of tho Ottoman people could permit no Government at Constantinople to abate its own discretion in the handling of Macedonia. There was nothing left for tho Powers but formally to register those good intentions of which the futility is about to be so tragically displayed. ' AN APOLOGY FOR THE POWERS. " It is obvious and easy to blame the Powers for being too late, but tjie case could only have been met by a clear intimation that one or other of them would apply force to any of the States which mobilised, and wo are by no means sure that this remedy might not have been worse than the disease," says the " Westminster Gazette." " At all events, it is not for us to censure the central Powers because they shrunk front this step. We in any ease should have taken no part in the business of coercion, and tlisj- haw.diffintltiwfc' for

which in our secure position we_ are bound to make a large allowance." A CHRISTIAN POLICY. " Europe is a powder magazine, and all tho Powers aro just now damping the powder. Tho awful miseries of the Balkan peoples count for less than nothing in the eyes of diplomatists who aro haunted bv an infinitely greater horror. Therefore, the Concert has agreed to k-niv»? tho Balkan nations to work out their own salvation," 3!iys the "Star." " A truly Christian policy for a Christian Concert! But the most selfish and most cynical plans sometimes miscarry. Tho rulers and diplomatists have* got human beings behind their subtle webs. What of tho peoples? Will the common folk of Europe idly watch the bloody sacrifice in the Balkans? We shall see." TOO LATE. "Ml" European nations are ever to learn a moral from the failure of their diplomacy they can hardly deny that at the present moment it stares them in the face.' The open lesson for'diplomats is that, not for the first time, they have failed to comprehend and appreciate the irresistible movements of great forces, and have begun their feverish energy after the steed has been stolen from the Balkan stable. We have no word to say in criticism either of Count Berchtold's suggested policy of decentralisation or the recent activities of M. Sakonoff and M. Poincare: history itself will pass its irrefutable criticism. Over-the whole ol tho Balkan imbroglio are written, in letters of fire, tho words, ' Too late,'" says the " Telegraph."