Before these pages are in our readers' hands we shall
no doubt hear of further Bulgarian advances from the north and of the taking of the works with which the country round Adrianople is so freely dotted, and also of a movement from Kirk Kilisse to the south which will complete the investment. We shall then have the situation of the hammer and the anvil which we have set forth elsewhere. The Turkish field army, which is probably somewhere on the railway line south of Adrianople, has apparently not yet been touched, and with this hammer the Turks will try to break the Bulgarians on the anvil of Adrianople. On the other hand, the Bulgarians will endeavour to push off the Turkish hammer till it is out of reach of the anvil. It is all a question of time. If the Turkish field army is strong enough and well enough supplied and mobile enough to act at once, it may strike the Bulgarians at a most inconvenient moment, that is, just as they are settling down round Adrianople with their backs turned as it were to the chief foe. If, however, the Turkish field army is not yet ripe for action, which we are inclined to think is the case, its task will be difficult, and will become worse every day. The Bulgarians, having surrounded Adrianople and strengthened their position, will again be able to take the initiative, and in war the initiative is nine-tenths of the game.
