The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-09-02
THE TURKISH REBELLION.
The Causes that Have Produced the Out
break which Threatens the Peace of
EuroDe.

Europe.
TFrom the st. Louis Republican,
Until the outbreak of the rebellion
which now promises to give 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,
sparsely settled by poor population,
lying entirely out of the route of ordinary
travel, it has hardly succeeded in attract
ing the attention of the compilers of
biographies and cyclopedias, and very
little information concerning it is attain
able from any source. All that is known
can be summed up very briefly.
Herzegovina is the name of province
belonging to European Turkey, situated
between Croatia, Bosnia Proper, Monte
negro, and Dalmatia It was originally
one Of the possessions of Venice, and
was then called the dukedom of St. Saba,
and at a later period the county of
Chulm. In 1926 it was again made q
dukedom by the Emperor Frederick III.
About one hundred and fifty years after
ward-in 1466-it was conquered by the
Turks, and for the next two centuries
was the chosen battles ground where
Cross and Crescent struggled for SUI
premacy. But by the treaty of Carlo
witz, in 1897, it was formally coded to
the Ottoman empire, with the exception
of the town of Castelnovo and it's envi-
rons, which still owe allegiance to Aus
tria In the earlier history of Hunga ry,
Herzegovina is frequently mentioned; it
1Oof4anr IN xx-1t1 q
and Bulgaria, for some time under the,
dominion of the Hungarian Kings.
The people are decidedly mixed, being
Turks, Jews, Christians and Gypsies
but all save the former, who constitute
the minority, are bitterly opposed to the
rule Of the Sultan.
The chief cause of the rebellion is the
outrageous expressions of the ''agas, or
government tax-gatherers. The London
Spectator thus describes the operations.
of these petty tyrants:
From village to village, and from
fan m to farm the agas extend their SIMS
tel march, assessing the imposts by a,
calculation of the taxpayers resources.
under pressure, and enforcing their pay
ment on the spot. When the cultivator-
is unable or unwilling to meet the ext.
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, or 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 outbreak
of Moslem fanaticism last year, have be en-
refugees in Montenegro, Servia, and the
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, and
the cattle-plague has ragged fearfully the
past season, decimating the herds and
thus reducing the scanty wealth of the
people until they can barely find means
to support their families. Rendered
desperate by misfortune, aggravated by
TYRANNY of the meanest and most vindic-
tive kind, the peasants of Herzegovina
have risen In revolt; and they certainly
deserve the sympathy of the world In
their unequal struggle against over
whelming odds.
Military Strength of the Disaffecte0
Provinces.
GFrom the Chicago Tribune]
Apropos of the present revolt of Bos-
MIA and Herzegovina against Turkey, and !
the by no means impossible event that
the other Sclavonic provinces may yet
take the field against the Sultan, the
New York World has compiled some
valuable information touching the mill
tary strength Of Sclavonic Turkey, which
embraces those provinces north of the
Balkan Mountains. The principal Of
these are Montenegro on the Adrlatlc,
Servia on the Save, and Roumania, which
controls the outlets of the Danube.
Montenegro, although very diminutlve
province in area, can put into the field,
beside the regular paid guards OF the
Prince, two regular bodies of troops 500
strong, a registered militia of eight bat
talions numbering 1890 men and the,
lC7adstatr77s OF Is, 900 men, for whom the.
government has arms. Servia has very
complete military organization, and can
put IN the field 80, 800 men belonging to-
the first ban, with 1872 guns and of the
second ban 10000 more men, IN eight
brigades of infantry and thirteen squad
rons of horse, armed with the Gruner
Roumania has remod-
eled its army upon the German fashion.
The permanent army consists of 1870
men. armed with the Prussian gun and
Krupp steel cannon. The reserve con-
sists of $3.50 men, giving an effective
military force of 135, 900 men, while the
has military stores and arms
sufficient to equip double this number
of men. The total shows that these
Sclayonic provinces can put into the