The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-05-31
THE "KROOMLEES."
From the PaU MaU Gazette.

In an out-of-thC-way corner, no corner more
so, OF the Ottoman Empire has occurred move
ment which, Judging by the number of persons
concerned not above five thousand mt most,
might seem Insignificant, yet merits attention,
because it indicates two dangerous shoals, one
Immediately ahead of the Turkish flag, the other
not far distant; two problems easy of solution
perhaps in the eyes of Western theorists, by no
means equally easy in Eastern practice. Does
the exchange of Islam for Christianity exempt
Ottoman subjects, previously Mahometan,
from the obligation Of military service and how
long is the present state of things, in which the
whole burden of army cOnscrptiOn in all its
branches falls solely and exclusively on the
Mahomctan population, to continue?
We said that the movement in question has
taken place on an obscure corner of the Turkish
stage, namely the province of TrebiZond better
known as Pontus or Colchs. Still more obscure
to fame are the four or five thousand actors, the
'Kroomlees,' or inhabitants of the village of
KroOm, whence their name, and of the adioin-
ingdstrict, situate among the fertile soil-covered
mountains that rise south and southeast of the
town of Trebizond.
Our 'Kroomlees" are n peculiar race and dis
tinct at first sight from the populations Turko-
man, LaZ, or Armenian, which surround them.
Whence their origin history affords no direct
evidence; but to judge from their type of fea-
ture, spoken dialect, and other peculiarites
physical and moral they are in the main de-
scended from Byzantine immigrants, that is,
from the mixed rabble of medieval COnstant-
nOple and its suburbs, where, rs Finlay AYERS
VOnians formed the greater number of the in
habitants cannot be ascertained." 1t is prOba-
bic that this settlement took place at or the
| time when AlcXios COmnenOs and his brother
| David, escaping to Colchis, first raised Trebi-
| Zond to a narrow and unstable pinnacle of en-
| pire, and made it u convenient refuge for their
| Byzantine fellow-citizens from Latin invasion
and the fanatcism of Crusaders in the thirteenth
| century. OF the old Helene stock we find no
trace or vestige, though the inhabitants of Sur
| meneh and Of, villages on the adjoining coast,
| claim, with good title it seems to be the true
| descendants of the earliest Greek coonizers of
| the Pontne coast, the Jasons of classic times:
| while, singular to say, they contrast with the
| "Kroomlees" in the steadfast fervor of their Ma
| hometanism, not untinged with bigotry. But to
| return to our subject.
Whatever Christianity the ''Kroomlees" had
| whatever faith in the Theotokos and in St.
| Eugenius the Byzantine patrons of Trebzond,
faded before the rising fortunes of Islam in the f-
| teenth century; and the Dimitris and Constantine
| of the land hastened to write themselves down
Ahmeds and Mehemets, bore witness to the
! unity of God bowed towards the kibleh contri-
buted their quota to the irregular troops of the
| then Mahometan armies, and cursed the GiaOurs
| with orthodox energy But blood is thicker than
water; and while the outer man adopted the
| symbols of the Crescent the inner man of the
| "Kroomlee" remained true to the Gross; nay,
they privately reviled the Prophet and main
tanned in secret the rites and practices which
their lips publicly denounced idolatrous and
| polythestic. So runs their tale. Whether men
| have been systematical and secular liars is a
| question we leave to Philhellenes and casuists.
Still, however great and enduring may have
been their Christian sympathies, they were care
fully concealed by our Mohametanized Byzan-
| tines; and even the Nizam of Sultan Mahmood
counted in its ranks villagers of Kroom no less
than of Ak-Kopree or any other Turkish ham
let. But when the edicts of Gul-Khaneh fol-
| lowed by the TanZeemat, and the oVer-much
cited Hatti-HamaiOun of 1856 heralded the
dawn of Christian supremacy; and the growing
influence of Russia these coasts, an iniu-
ence tenfold more corrOborated by the conquest
of the Caucasus than ever it had been impaired
by the transient reverses of Kertsch and Sebas-
tOpol, promised efficient aid to the execution OF
designs that unaided cowardice still shrank from
undertaking. the 'Kroomlees" threw off the
| mask if mask it was, and declared themselves
| Greeks and Christians. BY the former title they
appealed to- and readily obtained, the polite
| sympathies of Russia, who even went so far as
| to supply a considerable number of her new
| proteges with passports of Russian nationality
| at n moderate price; by the latter they Vindi
Gated to themselves, or thought to vindicate the
great privilege which eXempts Christian fesf
and blood from the hazards and sutferings of
soldiers career in the Ottoman army.
The Turkish Government foresaw whittier al
this tended, but temporized willing to put of
the evil day. Accordingly, the conversion, OF
| re-conversiOn, it little matters which of the
| "Kroomlees" was silently and, so to speak, pas
sively acknowledged; and an unusually large levy
of recruits raised during the first years of the
change served conveniently 10 deler 1urther de
mands of critical character. Meanwhile thu
g | Neo-Christians appealed to all the European
. consulates and intrigued with some; gainin!
this much at least, to deter their ruler from an,
: active measures. But the position was too falls
e to last indefinitely; and an attempt, wise or not
to enforce cOnscription has now provoked iron
the 'KToomlees" uslasssias
e appeal to consulai +, = Il '
= threats of emigratia ~
S the persecution Il II = ~ =,
t Christians to the
their Mahometan Il 6 H. ri n. =