The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-13
Clouds in the East.

1t is just sixteen years ago that the Turk
handed over Thessaly to Greece, and to-day
the Caimakam and the Zaptieh, abhorred of
Mr.. GLADSTONE, are back again in their old
places. 1t has all taken place so sud-
denly that 1t is difficult to realize that
the Ottoman wave which had been stead
lily ebbing since the repulse before Vienna
in 1888, has for once flowed back over
~relinquished territory. In the flush of
victory the Sultan seems to have for
gotten the declaration he made at the
opening Of the campaign. hat he
had no territorial acquisitions in view,
and, II the reports from Thessaly are
to be credited. a regular Turkish admin.
istration of the old style is again installed
in that unlucky province. What can be
the thoughts Of Mr.. GLADSTONE rs he
sits in his study at Hawarden and sees
the undoing of one of the principal achieve
ments of his several tenures of poweri In
the mean time, the proceedings of the con.
cert of Ambassadors at ~Constantinople do
not appear to be marked by undue haste,
while the Turk Is acting with his usual
deliberation, and EDHEM Pasha is gath
ering his forces for a decisive at
tack on the Greek positions about Dhomoko.
The condition Of the Greek army there,
Judging from the reports Of its commits
sariat arrangements, is hardly such as to
enable it to make a prolonged resistance
to steady attack, and the conduct of
the operations of that wing OF the
Greek army under the Crown Prince has
been so indifferent, that news of another
retreat would not come as a surprise. Gen.
SMoLENITs, with n tenacity worthy of all
praise, has intrenched himself on the
hills at Surpi, on the edge Of the old
frontier OF the plain Of Armyros, the town
of that name being in the middle Of the
plain without any means of defence. The
right front and flank of this new position
is within easy range of the heavy guns of
the ships of war, and, being so close to the
sea, the troops are probably better pro-
visioned than the brigades covering the
roads leading from Thessaly across the
Othrys Mountains to Lamia. The cap.
ture of a Turkish steamer with a detach.
ment of troops and guns off the island of
Tenedos, less than twenty miles from the
entrance to the D~ardanelles, Is a creditable
feat, considering the distance, 1875 miles,
from the island of Skiathos, the Greek naval
base at the entrance to the Volo passage.
A good deal of the interest that has been
given to the campaign in Thessaly is being
directed to the extraordinary war prepare
lions of Turkey going on in Asia Minor,
reported from Constantinople. The levies
that are being called up in the inte-
rior provinces are being partly directed on
Ismidt, at the head of the Gulf of Ismidt,
at the southeastern extremity of the Sea
of Marmora. Most of these will come
up by rail from Angora and other
points on the Angora. midt-Scutari Rail
way, and from there, II required, can
be transported by steamer to any
point on the Marmora. The concen-
t~rations reported at Konieh. the an
cient Iconium, may be directed either on
Smyrna or on Angora and the reserves,
stated rs being called in to Erzeroum
and Erzinghian in the Fourth Army Corps
circumscription, may be for local ser
vice, or for transport to Europe by way
of Trebizond. In any case, 1t is clear
that the Sultan is preparing for much more
serious e~ventualities than a continuance of
the one-sided struggle with Greece. What
they are must be left to the developments
of the future that will grow out of the
negotiations for the establishment of peace
between Greece and Turkey.