During 1876, the Ottoman harsh suppression of the uprisings of Balkan Christians, specifically, the atrocities in Bulgaria, had been witnessed by Western observers and fully reported in the European press with gruesome details. The Turks had very few regular troops and therefore used irregular Bashi-bazouks who used methods of the utmost violence. When the full extent of the massacres became known, a very strong public reaction against the Ottoman Empire occurred. In this text, Hugo delivers a plea protesting against the impassivity of European governments, in particular in the face of the massacre committed by the Turks in Serbia.