The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-01-22
now
AUSTRIAN COLONY
London Hears that a Truce Has
Been Declared Between
the Two Countries.
MAY QUIT THE STRUG6LE NOW
Result of Recent Campaign Long
Step Toward Teutonic Control
OF the Adriatic.

London, Jan. 14-Another decisive
stage in the Balkan situation has been
reached, with Montenegro now follow
ing Serbia in virtual absorption by the
invading forces. 1t was learned to-
night that Austria and Montenegro
had come to an armistice, this beng
construed as the last act of the little
country after having its capital, Get
TIME, dominated by the Austrian cap
ture of Mount Lovcen.
Whether King Nicholas will continue
the unequal struggle is considered
doubtful here, but the accepted view
among the best posted men in London
is that Montenegro virtually has pass
ed under Austrian control The chief
significance of this does not lie in the
small territory acquisition, which is
less than Serbia, but in Montenegro's
Adriatic front, lying alongside the
Austrian main offensive naval station
Of Cattaro, where tOday's dispatches
announce the entire Austrian fleet,
including three dreadnaughts, is as
sembled, and from which the recent
naval raid was made against Italian
transports going to the relief of Ser
bia.
To Make Adriatic an Austrian Sea.
This further extension of Austria's
Adriatic front with the dominating
further tending toward Austria's OBJ
ject OF making the Adriatic an Aus
trian sea and thus checking Italy's am
bition to make it an Italian sea-
Italy had SO much at stake that Of
ficials and diplomats had been wait
ing anxiously for the steps Italy would
take to relieve Montenegro and at the
same time avert another Austrian ex-
tension on the Adriatic They were
aware that Italy once before had pre-
vented Austria from gaining territor-
iaI concessions from Montenegro near
Cattaro by emphaticaIly Directing to
the treaty made in 1912. As Italy then
was a member of the Triple Alliance,
Austria reluctantly yielded to the Ital-
ian objection.
Italian Help Did Not Arrive.
1t was believed that dynastic rea-
sons would play a part in Italy's as
sistance of Montenegro, as King
Nicholas daughter is the wife of the
King Of Italy, but help from that quar-
ter did not arrive, as the Italian expe-
dition was landed further south, in
Albania, and has not been heard from
since.
The London Times asserts that
Italy's interests in Montenegro are as
important as England's in the open.
ing of the DardanelIes, and that the
prospective humiliation of Montene-
gro viii have far-reaching conse-
quences in the eastern Mediterran.
can.
Hard Fighting at cettinse.
London, Jan. 13.-Fighting is going
on all around Cettinje, the small town
which nearly a year ago ceased to be
the seat of the Montenegrin govern
ment Never before in the long his
tory of the little Montenegro kingdom
has it been compelled to bow to a for
| eign conqueror, but there seems little
hope that it can long withstand the
overwhelming strength of General
Koevess in men and guns.
AS in Serbia's case, the Entente
press finds it inexplicable why Italian
assistance was not sent long ago tC
Lovcen, which, it is said, could have
been rendered impregnabIe with com
paratively little reinforcement and &
few heavy guns. The reduction Of
Montenegro, the press points out, viii
enable Austria not only to command
the Adriatic, but also threaten the
flank Of any advance from Salonik
and prevent any effective move by the
Entente forces through Albania.
Menace to Italy.
For Italy the new Austrian success
has a most serious aspect The long
narrow Italian Peninsula is peculiarly
/ vulnerable to an attack from the sea
Any really great Austrian naval base
In the magnificent harbor of CattarC
would have been impossible WithOu
Lovcen, but under the new circum
stances Austrian possession of Cattart
is almost as great menace to Ital!
as the German conquest of Calais
would have been to Great Britain.
There is a great spirit of optimism
in both British and French dispatche
from the west front, the correspOn
dents expressing the conviction OF thu
| allied generals that there is no posi-
biIity of any successful German often
sive anywhere in the west lines.