The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-09-09

break which Threatens the Peace of
Europe.
IFrem the st. Louis Republican,
Until the outbreak of the rebellion
Which fiUw promises to siFe the Turkish
government considerable trouble before
it is permanently suppressed; compare
lively few persons had ever heard OF
Herzegovina. Nor is this popular igno-
rance at all surprising. A small territory
hidden away AMONG the mountains,
lying entirely outef the route OF ordlhstJ
travel, it has hardly succeeded in attract
ing the attention of the compilers of
Biographies and cyclopedias, and very
little information concerning 1t Is attain
able, from any source. ALI that is known
can be summed up very briefly.
Herzegovina is the name of proVinc6
belonging to European Turkey, situated
between Croatia, Bosnia Proper, Monte
negro, and Dalmatia. 1t was originally
one of the possessions of Venice, and
was then called the dukedom of st. Saba;
and at d later period the county of
Chulm. In 1896 it was again made a
dukedom by the Emperor Frederick LII.
About one hundred and fifty years after
ward-in 1466-it was conquered by the
Turks, and for the next two centuries
was tile chosen battle sfoiiid T1efe
Cross and Crescent struggled for SUI
premacy. But by the treaty of Carlo
witt, in 1897, it was formally ceded to
the Ottoman empire, with the exception
of the town OF Castelnovo and its enyi-
rons, which still owe allegiance to Aus
tria. In the earlier history of Hungary,
Herzegovina is frequently mentioned; it
then being, in connection with Bosnia
and Bulgaria, for some time under the
dominion of the Hungarian Kings.
The people are decidedly mixed, being
Turks, Jews, Christians and Gypsies I;
but all save the former, who constitute
the minority, are bitterly opposed to the
rule of the Sultan. .rts
The chief cause of the rebellion is the
| outrageous expressions of the ''agas, or
government tax -gatherors. The London
Spectator thus describes the operations
of these petty tyrants:
"From village to village, and from
f@ m to farm the agas extend their sinis-
ter march, assessing the imposts by a
calculation of the taxpayers resources
under pressure, and enforcing their pay
ment on the spot. When the culivator
is unable or unwilling to meet the exi-
gencies of the aga, he is summarily
bound to post and beaten until he finds
some means of appeasing the justice or
cupidity of the aga. If he continues to
prove recalcitrant, his harvest is cut
down and carted away, OF his cattle driv-
en- off by the zaptiehs. This time the
tax collection was both more difficult and
more burdensome than on recent occa-
sions, in consequence of the agas en-.
deavoring to make the remaining inhab,
itants pay up the contributions alleged
to be due by the 1000 Christian families
who, ever since the sanguinary outbreah
of Moslem fanaticism last year, have beer
refugees in Montenegro, Servia, and thu
Austro- Hungarian border-lands.
What renders the burden still harder
to bear is the fact that the harvests lately
have fallen far below the average, ant
the cattle plague has ragged fearfully tht
past season, decimating the herds an(
thus reducing the scanty wealth of tn
people until they can barely find mean
to support their families. Rendered
desperate by misfortune, aggravated b.
tyranny of the meanest and most vindic
tive kind, the peasants of Herzegovin
have risen in revolt; and they certainl
deserve the sympathy of the world i
! their unequal struggle against ovei
whelming odds.