It is claimed that if the Greeks had pushed forward instead of retreating, the Turks must have been beaten.

Up to the evening of April 23d, when the retreat occurred, the Turks were in a desperate condition.  Edhem Pasha, the general in command of the Turkish army, had decided that it was impossible to break through the Greek lines, and had ordered a retreat to Elassona.  That very night he telegraphed the hopelessness of his situation to Constantinople, and a special messenger left for Athens, bearing a message from the Sultan, asking for peace.

The retreat on Larissa changed the whole fate of the war.

There are many rumors why this retreat was ordered, but no one seems to understand the matter clearly.

One report says that the Turks were actually falling back on Elassona, and one of the Greek generals, seeing the movement, mistook it for an attempt to surround the Greeks and cut their army to pieces.  He is said to have galloped to the Crown Prince with this mis-information, and assured him that unless he ordered a retreat they would all be sacrificed.  The Crown Prince did not attempt to assure himself of the accuracy of this statement, but at once issued the fatal order.

If this account be true, the two armies must have been fleeing from each other at the same moment.

Edhem Pasha, being a good general, soon discovered what had happened.  He at once saw his opportunity and took advantage of it.

The Greeks, unfortunately, had no general who knew thoroughly the art of war, and so their mistake was not understood.

In reviewing the short Greek campaign, some interesting comparisons have been made between the war in Greece and the war in Cuba.  The conclusion arrived at has been that good leaders are the essential for successful warfare, and that without them the bravest soldiers are of little use.

The army sent by Spain against Cuba was about as large as that sent by Turkey against Greece, but there were only one-fifth as many Cubans to fight the Spanish army as there were Greeks to fight the Turks.  The Cubans, moreover, were badly armed, knew little of the trade of soldiering, and were merely a band of sturdy patriots, fighting with a determination to conquer or die, while the Greeks were finely equipped soldiers.

One would have supposed that the Greeks would have given the Turks some hard fighting, and have been able to make their own terms in the end, and that the Cubans would have been subdued in very short order.

[Illustration:  Athens:  KING’S palace from the gardens.]

How different the results have been.

Greece with her splendid army had no leaders worthy of the name, and has been whipped and shamed in two short weeks of war.

Cuba, in spite of her motley, ill-armed bands of soldiers, is happy in the possession of some great leaders.  Cuba had her Maceo, and has yet her Gomez and her Garcia.