The Lamoille news. (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1877-1881, 1877-05-23


ed. at the same time demanding that
the Sultan's decree Of 1856, granting
perfect religious equality between
Christians and Mohammedans, should
be enforced.
The first band Of llerzegovinian IN
surgents numbered only about l6O,
who. after committing several terrible
murders. according to the various re-
ports of foreign consuls subsequently
empowered to investigate the causes
of the troubles, took refuge in Mon
tenegro, from which province they
were lured by promises of pardon and
protection never extended to them,
being surrounded and slain to man.
The whole of the Herzegovina was
soon in blaze, which rapidly spread
into Basnia proper, and in few weeks
the Greek Christian inhabitants, with
many of the Roman Catholics, were
fighting for their freedom, although
these latter had received orders from
Rome to keep quiet. The Turkish
commanders might not have found
much difficulty in utterly destroying
the badly armed and worse disciplined
lives arrayed against them, had not a
singular instruction taken place in
; Bulgaria, followed by a declaration of
war by Servia, an Independent princi-
palitv which had gained autonomy i'll
1929 by the polite assistance of the
great powers.
Whether the declaration of Servia
was of its own volition, or, as some
assert, was due to the intrigues Of
Russia, is a disputed point which car
f not be settled at the present time.
1t is somewhat difficult of belief thai
a people such as these Seryians would
have declared war against a powel
) like that of Turkey without some more
, urgent cause than sympathy with thei
= brother Sclaves in Bosnia, unless the,
, had GOOD reason for believing tina
5 they would be aided by still stronge
! powers; and Russia was the only on,
= from whom they had the smallest RICH
to expect it. 1t is fair to say, how
4 ever, that the Servians claim that tn
t concentration of Turkish troops OF
S their frontier in the spring Of 1877
r left them no other resource, as actua
f war was better than the state Of sus
4. pense in which they were kept by tn
= threats of the Turkish commanders
;. However this may be, in July Of tn
h past year the sword was drawn b
Servia, and that state had no lack c
volunteers from the Russian Sclaves
e who poured by thousands across tn
|. Danube.
}, Tchernayeff, who had been deprive
It of a high command in the Russian al
# o1derS &c Pa, $500 10 u.
Y Moscow, was appointed commander-ir
J chief Of the Seryian army under Prime
s Milan, a youth Of twenty-one year,
S All reports agree that Tchernayef Iii
s all that was possible with the mater
d ais under him. 1t was not his fault
i the wretched Servians could only
t forced to fight by blows from the Rus
S sian officers in command, who fell b
: scores, shot in the back by men the
: hoped to lead to victory. Never i
S the history Of the world have sue
/ tales of cruel cowardice been told {
d men presumably fighting for thei
e country as are contained in the letter
published Of the English, French, an,
r German war correspondents.
e 1t is not surprising that after a tire
e months campaign the fanatical relic
n ious enthusiasts of the Sultan's infan
!. try should march through the breadt
/, of the land, and only be stopped fror
: the seizure Of Belgrace, or, more COZ
e rectly, Beo Grad-the White City
Il by command Of the Sultan, in acquies
S cence with the now celebrated ultima
II tum of Russia demanding a cessation
s of hostilities.
G Whatever may have been the pre-
+ else terms i'll which the ultimatum wa
s couched, the armistice or cessation O
o hostilities which was the result ha,
n for its protested object an information
+ al Conference, i'll which the various
Y powers of Europe would have an oppor
t tunity of discussing and, if possible
e settling on some decisive plan for Sc
curing the reforms which are unoues
e tionably necessary in the conduct o
+. the Internal affairs of the Turkisl
$ Empire.
: 1t was believed that if all the powers
e would for once cordially unite in pres
r sing upon the Turkish government tn,
$ absolute necessity ola thorough chang,
: in the administration of affairs of tn,
country, the Turks would feel that tn,
: only course to be pursued. If tba ;ntao.