Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-04-07
GREEKS ARE TO CELEBRATE.
Anniversary of the Independence of the
Nation.


Nation.
Athens, April 5.-All the preparations
for the celebration tomorrow Of the an
niversary of the declaration of Greek in
dependence in 1872 have been completed.
y public meeting will be held here to
protest against the action of the powers
towards Greece and pledge support to
the Greek government in any action it
may think fit TO take in the premises.
The decoration Of the city are being put
up. AT night Athens viii be brilliantly
Illuminated.
In this connection there has been a be-
lief that the celebration of tomorrow will
against Turkey. This is. however, not
general. Tuesday in Greece is regarded
rs an unlucky day to enter upon any
thing Of great Importance. and for this
and no other reason, political or military,
is based hope that the independence
celebration will pass off without the from
tier incidents which are likely to preclpI-
tate the struggle for which Greece has
been preparing for the past two months.
Although this week is likely to be Il
fatefCl one for Greece. the orders of
Prince Constantine, the crown prince and
cOmmander-in-chief of the Greek forces
in TheSSaly, are strict that anything IN
the shape of demonstration in the direc
ton of the Turkish frontier must be sup
pressed. The soldiers and armed peas
ants, however. are in no mood to be
curbed and nobody would be astOniShed to
hear of an aggressive movement, at least
upon the part of the Greek irregularS.
The Turkish commander-in-chief Ed
hem Pasha. is fully alive to the difficulty
and manner of the situation and has al
ready strengthened the frontier out
posts besides taking other means to meet
any contingency which may arise. Fifty
thousand Turkish troops at a few hours
,ntin t1, l.
frontier. and according to unbiased mil
itary experts the Tudkish flag might be
lying over LarisSa a few days later.
The Greeks, while animated by fierce en-
thusiasm and desire for war are not
nearly so we'll disciplined as the Turk
ish troops, and the German officers as
Sisting Edhem Pasha in the campaign
preparations apprehend little difficulty
in winning the first battles.
1t is stated today that the Queen of
Greece has decided to start Immediately
for Thessaly in order to superintend. with
her daughter-in-law, the Crown Princess
Sophia, the field nurses attached to the
Greek ambulance corps.
The next actual step anticipated in its
Eastern game * the proclamation of the
admirals of the foreign fleets to blockade
the Gulf of Athens. This was to have oc-
Cured today. but Il hitch has occurred at
the last moment. Nobody here seems to
doubt that the blockade of the Gulf of
Athens would be followed if not preceded
by a declaration Of war against Turkey.
Numbers OF correspondents of English
newspapers have arrived here and ut
Salonica and others are at Larossa or at
Elassona. These are men whose advent
on any scene naturally means that an
outbreak of war is regarded as almost
certain. The English correspondents
who landed at SalOnica were provided
with letters from the Marquis of Sails
bury's secretary, but while they have
been accorded every courtesy they have
not been allowed to inspect the Turkish
Notifications.
A dispatch from the representative of
the Associated press at ElSssOna, the
Turkish headquarters. says the report
that the Greeks intended to mount TWEEN
ty cannon on the unOccupied point of dis
puted territory of Milesna, three miles dis
tant from Elassona, caused Edhem Pasha
TO order the Turkish officers in that Vi
cinity to fire upon the Greeks at the first
sign of such an attempt Upon another
occasion an explosion of dynamite caused
by a party of Greek engineers who were
blasting rock to make a road SO excited
the Turks that a Turkish officer sent a
message warning the Greeks of the Eek
IRENE danger of such proceedings and
pointing out that lit might be impossible
to restrain the Turkish troops"
Later dispatches from the front say
that Edhem Pasha has ordered all the
Turkish troops on the frontier to be I'M
der arms all day tomorrow the ami
versary of the declaration of independ-
Cnce of Greece.