Immediate political interest in the Near East is centred on
the question whether Bulgaria and Turkey will go to war with each other, and on this little light is to be obtained. The pressure exercised by the Powers upon Bulgaria is evidently extreme, and General Petroff, the Premier there, says she will not fight, as Bulgaria must think of herself before she thinks of Bulgarians over the border. Prince Ferdinand, moreover, has returned, Sofia is "tranquil," and we may therefore, we think, assume that no warlike policy has been adopted by the Principality, and that Bulgaria will wait. At the same time, her reserves have not been sent home, and preparations for defence are being made. On the other hand, the Turkish Government is accumulating prodigious masses of troops in the vilayet or administrative district of Adrianople, millions of cartridges are being poured into Salonica, and a Turkish General has been selected for supreme com- mand. The inference is that the Sultan thinks he will be permitted to pacify Macedonia by entering Sofia as suzerain with the single intention of restoring order, and that the plan proposed in Turkish military councils is to avoid serious resistance by the exhibition of irresistible force. Much will depend on accident, and much on the way in which the Sultan reads the interview between the Emperors ; but there is one cause pressing the Turkish Gcoiernment towards immediate action. The expense of keeping the enormous forces in the field must be crushing, and even if they can live on the country, which is doubtful, they cannot "loot" munitions.
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