As we write on Friday the most significant piece of
news is to be found in two lines which conclude a telegram from that ablest of war correspondents, Lieutenant Wagner, the Austrian staff officer who represents the Reichspost at the Bulgarian headquarters. The last words in his telegram, published in the Daily Mail of Friday—that paper has arranged to publish his despatches simultaneously with the Reichspost- are : " The fall of the Tchatalja line of defence, the last hope of Constantinople, is expected." If this is not prophetic exag- geration—and hitherto Lieutenant Wagner has always been sane and practical—things are moving fast with a vengeance. We can only explain it as a hint to his readers that a part of the Bulgarian force has slipped by Istranja, got behind the Turkish army, and means to rush the Tchatalja lines before the Turks can fall back on them. That sounds incredible These lines for ninety years have been regarded as the Acropolis of the Moslem, the last stronghold to which they will resort and, badger-like, dare the world to turn them out.
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