Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1885 — UPRISING IN THE EAST. [ARTICLE]

UPRISING IN THE EAST.

Recent Unwritten History of Hen and Events in European Turkey. Doings that Led Up to the Step—The Leaders Who Are at the Head of the Warriors. In all probability, writes a Paris correspondent to the New York Times, there will be war before the spring of 1886, and, if for no other reason, because campaigning in Bulgaria is quite impossible after the Ist of October, at least in such a way as to bring about a definite solution of the various questions at issue. AVe . may then take it nearly for granted that the winter will be passed m negotiations which may or may not put off the hour of reckoning, but that the end is at hand. And during that winter ■will come u£ and bo settled another question, that of alliances, which, after all has been said, is the one great question that preoccupies the continental cabinets. Here no one can venture to speak save at a guess, for it is just as likely that the Sultan and King George of Greece will work together as that the latter shall be thrown in with the Serbs, dislike of the Slavs being as great among the Hellenes as ever was their hatred for the Osmanli. That the Turks, if not interfered with by Russia, can crush Serbs, Bulgarians, and Greeks, either separately or united, no' one can doubt who watched the events of eight years back, and having seen the various Balkanian McGregors on their native heaths has learned the truth of the local saying that “one Montenegrin equals three Turks, six Serbs, and ten Bulgarians, and has but one peer, the Albanian.” But, as with the crushing e>f the aforesaid, or rathef after that crushing, both Russia, and Austria would be fmced to interfere in favor of their respective pets, diplomacy intends to do what it can to avoid a conflict which must result in a general European conflagration. But Ido not propose to discuss the probabilities of any particular combination, believing that all combinations, even the most unlikely, are possible. I simply wish to tell something of the promise's of that revolution, which, beginning in the valley of the Maritza, may end—heaven knows where; and aleo something, from my personal relations, of those,, who have already played, or who are destined to play, leading'parts in that tragi-comic drama on which the curtain rose last month at Philippopoplis. Great astonishment was manifested by all who followed the Bulgarian question since the constitution of the principality, in 1879, that Prince Alexander should have adopted the views of M. Petko lvaravelof, toward whom , although now his prime minister, he had, in 1879, 1880, and 1881, alwas exhibited sentiments of repugnance and animosity, chiefly—l may say entirely —-because the individual was the leader of the liberal party, representing the opinions of the mass of the nation, as of the 192 members composing the’ Narydue Sobranil 180 belonged to it. This, party made no Secret of its tendencies, which were toward a revival of -the treaty of Si n Stefanoand so worked, having agents in Macedonia as well as in Roumelia, wheTe their propaganda m met with unanimous sympathy among the populations. Prince Alexander's situation was extremely difficult. The constitution of Tirnova admitting the principle !of universal suffrage, the Bulgarian chamber was ruled by the Sophia committee,, composed of men whose platform was the union of the Bulgarian people under the same administration, which, they asserted, would be to the advantage of the nation, weighed down at present by expenses imposed by the organic statue, which it could not support in consequence of the paucity of its financial resources. Twice in the space of three months —twice did the Prince dissolve the chamber, which had always elected Karavelof as President, MM. Sla▼eikof and Zankof Vice Presidents, and then it was that the so-called National Liberty Party forwarded to the cabinets of all jthe powers which were signers of the Berlin treaty their program developing their Aspirations, “as set forth in our journal, Bulgarian Union.” The title of this ,'ofgan of the Liberal party was in itself significant, and the contents of its columns 'were fiot less so. One or two solutions were offered to the sovereign—either he jmust govern with the party whose platform Iwas the violation of the Berlin treaty in its !most essential parts, or he must upset the jeonstitntioßi He elected for the latter; the Bussiaja General, Erwsjth, was appointed

„ , . .. tt *„ President of the Ministerial Council, martial law Stas proclaimed throughout the principality, and the Liberal leaders, Motko Karavelof, Zankof, Slaveikof and Soukiiarof were imprisoned. In so doing Prince Alexander gave satisfaction to the Berlin and Vienna cabinets, who insisted upon the maintenance of the treaty of 1878, and at the same time and equally to the cabinet of St. Petersburg, which for different motives wished Austria and Germany to understand that it was in favor of peace, and in noway encouraged Bulgarian aspirations to entire independence. But, on the other hand, the Bulgarians were dissatisfied, and the agitation which followed this coup d’etat convinced Battenburg that, wishing to keep his throne, he must re-establish the constitution, which he did two years later. And here begins to be seen darkly, and as through a glass, “the effect of some foreign influence, as some think, although unable tfl name exactly what that influence is. More probably the Prince began to appreciate the.inconveniences resulting from foreign influence, and so frankly adopted the ideas, hopes, aed policy of the liberal party, which, since 1881, has become the only party in the country. Prince Alexander has been happily inspired. He is the tool of the Liberals, it may be, but he has regained all his popularity, and his 'deposition would be the causey of the most serious agitation throughout the whole peninsula of the Balkans. And it is precisely these velleities of independence which has rendered Russia so antagonistic to the Bulgarian union, which she advocated in 1878. Last year Aleko Pasha was not renominated as Governor of Eastern Roumelia in consequence of his unwillingness to submit Russia, dictation, and a creature of Russia, Gavril Christovich, was appointed, who concluded with the Russian Consul General Sorokiue a treaty by which he engaged himself, formally, to obey in all points any order sent from St. Petersburg. With Gavjil was also appointed, as vice Governor, a native, one Rnischof, formerly a village schoolmaster, also a marionette of the Russian Consul General, the feebleness of whose character and whose want of intelligence were proverbial, and, this leaking out, the people became indignant. Sorokine introduced a system of terrorism; civil employes and gendarmes reigned supreme. and the project of the promised union was pigeonholed.

And so matters went on from bad to worse until toward the month of February, 1885, when the Oppoltscheutz societies which had been used by Sorokine to overthrow Aleko Pasha, broke with the directing clique, and, joining with Liberals, began preparations for a national movement. Last March a secret committee headed by' Zacharii Stojanof was formed and began the publication of a newspaper, the Barba, in which the situation was exhibited. Very soon the Barba became the most extensively read journal in the province, and gained partisans ever day to the idea of immediate action, notwithstanding the assurances of the officious and official organ and of Sorokine that the moment was not propitious; that, as Russia was not yet prepared to second it, any movement in Roumelia and Macedonia must be abortive. Every argument was useless; the people knew that they emanated from the same source which a twelvemonth before had preached in favor of union,- and so in July the headquarters of the conspirators were transferred from Philippopolis to Dusseen Deri, a village situated at au hour’s distance from the capital, where thek chiefs would be in safety. The only danger apprehended was from the Vomaki, a Greek population of the Aehmet Agha, which, in exchange for the complete independence of the territory, guaranteed its strict neutrality. This treaty was signed in August, and on September 16—September 28 for us—the rising was to take place. But some one was indiscreet; several districts pronounced, and the goriefnment was obliged to act. The arrest of Stojonof and eighty others' were ordered for the 18th —new calendar—and’in prevision of this the insurrection broke oirt immediately. Major Katjscho and Capt. Sokolef countermanded the orders given by Gen. Drygalski, Majors Nikolaief and Filof relieved the guard stationed at the Governor’s koreak, a detatcirment of gen d’armie on its march to GoleruoKoreare was dispersed by the mutineers, and Gen. Drygalski himself was driven into his lodgings by a company of militia which he supposed, having so ordered it, to be encamped two miles from the capital. The rest you know. The details were communicated to me by the members of the revolutionary committee by which were prepared the expulsion of Gavril Pasha and the Bulgarian union.

Of the individuals who have most contributed to the enfranchisement of the Bulgarians, the most oppressed of all the nationalities subject to the rule of Islam, several have especially distinguished themselves, aud among these the two most remarkable are Karavelof aud Zankof, on whose shoulders has fallen tho mantle of the first apostles of Bulgarian independence. Hitovo, Toton, and Giorgie Karavelof, whose attempts at an insurrection were so mercilessly crushed by Midhat Pasha iu 18G7. Hitovo was killed, Totou disappeared in the Balkans, Giorgie Karavelof escaped into Servia, and thence directed an active propagandum among his compatriots, with whom he acquired great popularity, and among whom he organized committees of action in 1875 and 1876. Giorgie, however, died before his dreams were realized, on the very day that Sistov fell into the hands of Russia, but his place was filled so immediately by his brother, Petko, that few in#n even among the Bulgarians themselves know that the present ministerial President and the patriot of 1869 are two different individuals. Petko had lived iu Russia, and followed tho Russian army, where his intelligence, and energy were so highly appreciated that he was appointed sub-Gov - ernor to Gen. Tcherkasky in the fortress of Widden. After the peace he was elected as deputy to the chamber of Tirnova. and became distinguished for his oratorical talents, and his ultra-liberal political ideas. Karavelof, whom I knew at Bucharest in 1877, is one of the most repulsive men to look at whom I ever met. He is short, squat, disagreeable in his habits, wears long, unkempt hair, which it might be unpleasant to investigate, and is a worthy descended of those Ourgi who so disgusted the Byzantine Epicureans of the fifth century. His education is very limited; speak* French with difficulty, and his political tenets are strongly dashed with socialism, but his activity is prodigious, his patriotism sincere, and his popularity among his compatriots is strengthened by the support of the Panslavist committees of Moscow he is a powerful factor with which. Priqce Alexander is- obliged to keep on good terms.

Quite as popular, quite as iufluent as Karavelof, and of more ability, because better educated and more versed in tbe ways of diplomacy, is his political adversary, Dragan Zuiikof, Drag an, who is now 59 years of age, haq traveled. He was a schoolmate at Sistov and at Timova, and later professor of the Bulgarian language in the Turkish College at Constantinople. Galata-Serai was also a member of the Synod of the Bulgarian Church, composed of twenty-four persons, of whom twelve were chosen from the clergy and twelve from tbe most learned laymen of the com-, muuion presided over by the Exarch, when that personage resided in the city of the

Sultan, and it was during that period that he made the acquaintance of the French diplomats, to whom he was always sympathetic. When, in 1867 and 1869, the scission between the Exarchate of Bulgaria and the Greek Patriarchate took place, Zankof, distrusting Che vitality of the National Church, counseled submission to the Roman curia, and, in carder to set the example, embraced Catholicism, in which step he Certainly would have been followed by both the Exarch and'Synod but for the excessive pretentions of the Vatican, which resulted in the constitution of au independent Bulgarian church, remaining, however, attached to the Greek rite. In 1876, when I met hiipin Belgrade, he left his Constantinopolotan chair with Marco Bal&banof, visited in the name of the Bulgarian patriarch the European capitals, and published at London a circumstantial recital of the sufferings of his fellow-countrymen. In the following year Zankof accompanied the Russian army of invasion, and was named, first, Governor of Sistov, afterward of Tirnova, where he remained until the government of Prince Alexander was regularly established, when he entered the National Assembly, of which he was one of the Vice Presidents, and the real leader of the Liberal party—that is, of those who accepted the treaty of Berlin in its entirety. Although hostile to the conserva/ tives, Dragan accepted the post of ambassador to Constantinople under the cost servative ministry, and thus lost much of his popularity, the committee of the Bulgarian union, the Tzelokoupina Bulgaria, only agreeing to his appointment in the future ministry upon-the representation of a French engineer, M. 8.. who has played a very important part in this movement, by whom the leaders were convinced that a ministery of the Karavelof colon would be unacceptable to the continental powers. From,that time he and Karavelof have worked in harmony. Together they, organized the liberal opposition and paved the way for the present manifestation, which is the consecration of the liberal

platform. At present the liberal party is unique in Bulgaria. It has two camps—one a whip, the other a iory camp. The first is led by Zankof, the second by Karavelof; but their programme and tendencies are indentical. Karavelof is in power today; to-morrow it may be the turn of M. Dragan Zankof, who is better educated and shrewder than his rival. Just a few lines respecting that old Servia wjhich King Milan proposes to annex if he can. Old Servia did once belong to Servia, but' since the buttle of Kossova in 1389, when Amurath I. destroyed the Servian monarchy, it has belonged to the Arnaouts—not the Albanian Arnaouts, but the deeendants of those Serbs who alter Kossova embraced Islamism. Of all the provinces of the Turkish empire old Servia is the least known, its- ultra-fanatical,and ultra-turbulent population being hostile to all foreigners, of whom a remarkably small number have ever visited Arnaoutlik. Always on the war-path, these Arnaouts —the term in Turkish signifies valiant —move about in search of something to steal or somebody to kill, and, for choice, operate on their neighbors across the border. A part of their territory, including Nisch, Prokouplic, and Vrania, was annexed in 1879, but from what happened then we may anticipate a great deal of bloodshed how should King Milan put his ambitious designs into execution.