The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-05-29 00:00:00

THE GREEK CRISIS.

ATTIENS, Mu 21,

The firing at the frontier has ceased, ant e•:pla-
nations are proceeding on both sides, but the concen-
trating of both armies continues. The city is excited
but orderly. A decree of demobilisation Isms been
prepared to be published to-day. All mot, ements
are suspended, and it is hoped that the troui.ile is
over.

MAY 23.

Orders has been re-established along the frontiers,
and the commanders-in-chief will meet to-morrow
morning to arrange the conditions of an armistice.

Hostilities have been suspended on the principal
line of fighting, but continue slightly towards Zarkos.
Considering the provocations of the past winter, the
Ottoman forces have thus far acted with a moderai ion
not to be expected of them. The current opm:on
among the most thoughtful Athenians inclines to
credit the exuberant patriotism and excessive zeal of
the soldiers or subordinate officers of the Greek Army
with the first provocation. But the reports are very
incomplete, and we have very small idea of the extent
of the operations. The Turks do not, however, as
with their superior forces they might, advance on to
Greek territory. The population generally is calm
and anxious for a pacific settlement. The Govern-
ment has thus far complete control of public feeling,
and is earnestly endeavonring to arrange an armi-
stice. The magnitude of the conflict has evidently
been greatly exaggerated. The chief difficulty pro-
bably consists in the excitement and want of dizcip-
line in the army.

CONSTANTINOPLT.,_.hiay 22.

The pre7aleni; anxiety regarding the Greek ques-
tion had been considerably allayed by the pacific
turn of matters at Athens, there being a new Greek
Ministry, credited with a rational policy; but ex-
citement has again been produced by the intelligence
received yesterday of a collision on the frontier.
These reports, however, are now found to have been
much exaggerated, and are in reality reduced to the
report of a slight skirmish at a small outpost, lead-
ing to no serious result and satisfactorily explained,
so that no importance is attached to the matter, even
in Turkish official circles. Similar incidents, however,
point to the urgency of arriving at some definite, prompt
solution, because in the present temper of the troops
on both sides the slightest provocation, an acci-
dental encounter, or the imprudence of some
hot- headed officer commanding a small body
of an advanced guard might give rise to
bloodshed, followed by an irritat,ng outbreak
of military feeling not to be easily dealt.
with. This is all the more to be feared from the
fact that, as pointed out at the first outbreak of the
difficulty, the Porte has a most serious problem to
meet in the disbanding of its army, collected under
arms at an overwhelming sacrifice of men and
treasure. A large sum of money will be required to
restore the men to their homes in Asia Minor and the
distant parts .of the Empire, while all available finan-
cial resources are already exhausted. One effect of
the strain is visible in the continued wanton concen-
tration of troops at Salonica and in its neighbourhood,
which is a consequence of the difficulty of providing
new funds for the carrying out of any change in the
arrangements already made, as it is less expensive to
allow the men to proceed to the front. Should the
crisis be prolonged financial difficulties may be ex-
pected to make it more and more difficult for the
Porte to extricate itself from it.

VIENNA, May 23.
M. Trieoupis's explanation about the last affray
between the Turkish and Greeks troops reduces this
incident to a simple " mistake" Perhaps there was
some mistake, too, in the telegrams which described
the wonderful performance of the Hellenic artillery
in destroying the Turkish fortifications on Mount
Analepsis. The Turkish bulletins on this engagement
have not yet appeared. As the blockake prevents
Greece from carrying reinforcements to the
Thessalian frontier by sea, and as the overland march
from Athens takes more than a fortnight, the dangers
that might arise from new skirmishes, owing to mis-
takes, would not be very great, or would at least
affect the Greeks only. M. Tricoupis must be quite
aware of this; and stringent orders have no doubt
been given by this time to the Greek commanders to
be discreet with their guns, if not with their pens.
An interesting letter from Corinth to the .Ncue
Frerie Presse describes some of the effects of the
blockade, and says that the captains of the Greek
merchant and passenger ships might in many cases
have taken advantage of the 24 hours' notice of the
blockade to get out to sea, but they neglected to do so,
appearing to lose their heads entirely. An insane
panic prevailed, as the operation of a blockade were
misunderstood, and it was thought that a bombard-
ment was intended. Vessels of the Austrian Lloyd
have since conveyed away some of the retarded pas-
sengers; but Italian ships have not been conveniently
available, because of the cholera quarantine, which
applies to vessels from Italian ports. The letter adds
that as a mere naval operation the blockade of the
coasts has been very efficiently performed. The best
look-out has been kept on all the men-of-war, the
electric light being employed for this purpose at
night, and the few ships that have tried to force
the blockade have been quickly scared back by being
fired at.