NEWS OF THE WEEK.
AN armistice for two months has been concluded between Servia and Turkey. The Russian Government, warned by the Turkish victories in Servia that further delay might permit the Ottoman 'troops to reach Belgrade, resolved to bring the crisis to a summary close. General Ignatieff was instructed to demand that the armistice should be signed within forty-eight hours, under penalty of his de- parture, and on Tuesday he handed in this ultimatum. The Pashas hesitated till it was believed in Berlin that they would refuse, but they signed at last, to the great relief of all money markets. "Servia and Montenegro had previously accepted the armistice, to the great gain of Servia and the great loss of Montenegro, which was just about to give Moukhtar Pasha his coup de grace, and hostilities are for the moment at an end. Each party apparently keeps its position and the territory it holds, but there are no other conditions, or at least none have as yet been made public. A story is widely circulated that the armistice had been agreed on before the ultimatum was delivered, but it is more pro- bable that the Turks, though accepting the proposal, had, till war was distinctly threatened, added impossible conditions.
