Vol. 56

HE past week has made very clear the desperate character of the war upon which the Greeks have embarked against immense odds in numbers, equipment, and military resources of every kind. The strategy on each side has been obvious from the start. The Greeks endeavored, in their first irregular movement, to get through the mountain passes on their frontier before the Turks had time to take advantage of their position. They were handicapped by the unfairness of the Great Powers which are banded together to preserve the "integrity" of the Turkish Empire. The boundary between Thessaly and Macedonia proposed to the Berlin Congress of 1878 ran from a point on the Gulf of Salonica north of Mount Olympus to a point on the Albanian coast nearly opposite Corfu. This line would have been easy of defense for the Greeks, and the Powers accepted it; but Turkey declined to fall in with their decision, and, in obedience to the Turkish demand, the original boundary, which ran from the northeast corner of the Gulf of Arta to a point near the entrance of the Gulf of Volo, was allowed to remain. Sixteen years ago the boundary was finally settled by Turkey and the Great Powers without any reference to the demands of Greece, the latter country receiving but a small part of the territory which had been set apart for her by the Berlin Congress; and the frontier was so drawn as to make it very difficult of defense by the Greeks and very easy of access to the Turks.

No. 1

side of the Turks, together with all the advantages of a much larger and much better-equipped army. The dash of the Greeks through the frontier was splendid, but it was against hopeless odds, and the last week has not only demonstrated the failure of that movement, but has brought the Turks well within the plains of Thessaly. The campaign in the east has centered mainly around the two passes of Miluna and Reveni, where the fighting has been stubborn and desperate. There are no more reckless fighters than the Turks, but it is so long since the Greeks have been engaged in actual warfare that there was some uncertainty as to the manner in which they would carry themselves. Their valor, however, is likely to make Reveni and Miluna as memorable in their future history as the pass of Thermopylæ. The main advance of the Turkish force has been through Miluna, and on Friday a desperate battle was fought at Mati, not far south of the Thessalian side of the pass. As a result of the battle the Greek army was driven back upon Larissa, its headquarters; and, being still further pushed, that town was abandoned, and at this writing the army has retreated to Pharsala, which is almost in a direct line south of Larissa, where a new line of defense is being rapidly established. The Greek spirit appears to be unbroken. spite of the disasters of the week there has been no panic at Athens, and great confidence is expressed by the Greek Government in the outcome of the struggle.

In

What the Greeks feared and the Turks planned for in this arrangement has been fully realized during the past two weeks. Every natural advantage has been on the