The battle news this week is meagre, or rather non-exis-
tent. The original armistice has been succeeded by another between the Bulgarian and the Turkish armies in front of Constantinople, and since then peace negotiations have been proceeding, though apparently as yet without result. Mean- time assaults and sorties have been taking place at Adrianople. The city has not fallen, but in all probability the catastrophe is near. People are beginning to talk of the Bulgarians having got to the end of their successes and of the Turks being able to hold them indefinitely on the Tchatalja lines. We do not agree. No doubt the Bulgarians have a hard nut to crack there, but not an impossible one. During the armistice they have, of course, been working double tides to strengthen their position, and especially to improve the railway communica- tions in their rear. If at the end of the armistice fighting begins again, they will be not in a worse but in a better position relatively to the Turks. It is said that Turkish reinforcements have been pouring in, but they are, for the most part, composed of untrained recruits from Asia. On the other side of the account the Bulgarians are being reinforced by large bodies of Servian troops in good fighting trim, well equipped and flushed with victory. If the Turks do not make peace quickly we do not doubt the ability of the Bulgarians to carry the Tchatalja lines, though possibly with great loss. The result must be the occupation of Constantinople by the Allies, with all the consequences, immediate and remote.
