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

bV Russia ana Quiet NAtAoNi "Ai ~
A Sultan of Turkey, with all his pow
err. whichis apparently, ratherthan real
" despotic, is perfectly helpless in any
o,temnt to set aside or override the
law of the Koran, which recognizes no
possibility of equality between an inh-
del and a believer in the religion oil
Mohammed.
With this brief explanation of the
fundamental religious difficulty in the
Eastern quesnion, we turn to the i'm
mediate origin of the disturbances IN
the Turkish provinces.
The Danubian provinces Immediate
" under Turkish rule are Bosnia, the
herzegovina, and Bulgaria. Monten-
egro is generally, but not quite correct
Iv named as one of these Danublan
provinces. Montenegro-''the Black
Mountains, at any rate, the small
est of the provinces. 1t has an area
of 100 square miles-a little larger
than Rhode Island-while its popuIa-
tion does not exceed 100000. Small
as their number is, the Montenegrlns
have always defied the pretentions OF
Turkey, claiming to be entirely indie
pendent; and as all the male inhabit-
ants who can carry arms are ready at
moments notice to fight in defence
of their country, which is almost i'm
pregnable by nature, their boast is
not a vain one. The province has
never really been conquered by the
Turks, nor has it for any length OF
time been in their actual possession.
The modern Bulgarians are spoken
of in the very highest terms by travel
lers who have had good opportunities
of observing their character. They
are desc ibed as simple, kind, aliec-
tionate, Industrious, and scrupulously
honest, with benevolent cOuntenances
and cordial manners. Compared with
their Servian neighbors, however, they
are rather slow in intelligence.
The condition of the Christians in
all of these provinces is anything but
an enviable one. Numerous imposts
have been laid upon them by theil
rulers, by which large proportion o
their substance is yearly confscated
The tax which bears most heavily up
on the cultiyator is that Of the 1.-THE
AS It's name implies, it is the tent
part of the total product Of the land
paid in kind. Considerable in amount
this tax is rendered intolerably irksom,
by the method by which it is collected
The 1.-THE Of an entire province was
OF an esGTmaUe, r0r anrrir- u rzf-,rrrle;ae
asked, rRgdeth he JfdRtAtlff. woe farmed ON
The last 1.-THE farmer is general,
| some well-known rayah christian
merchant in a local town, who, a
soon as the crops are cut, begins hi
work of collecting. He soon receives
a bride from some village to come anC
1.-THE it first, and so enable the cult
vators to harvest their grain before i
is damaged. Thus he and his agents
go on from village to village, but new
er without being urged on by the all
powerful bdhSheeSh. Work as hard as
he will, and bride as hard as the vii
layers can, all can not be first, anC
each year vast quantities of grain are
spoiled.
Until the 1.-THE farmer has gone ovel
the ground and put his mark on the
grain as it stands in the shock, the
villager is not allowed to garner it, OF
pain of having all seized in his barns
Then, before he carts home his own
he has to secure that of the 1.-THE far
mer, thrash it out, clean it, and take
it to the town. Then, and not til
then, his crops are his own, to do as
he likes with, so long as a sale of then
does not interfere with the specnlations
or trade Of the 1.-THE farmer. While
this man and his aids are on tbeil
rounds, they all live at free quarters
on the rayahs, who are compelled tc
take the best care of their unbidder
guests, their attendants, and theil
horses. 1t is but just to the equality
of Turkish injustice to add that
the smaller farmers among the
Mohammedan population are treated
by the tax-gatherers very much in the
same way as the Christian rayahs
Zaptiehs, or police officers, always
accompany the 1.-THE farmer, and DIES.
poll the rayahs in every conceivable
manner. The collector robs under
the color Of law, but the zaptiehs
simply take anything they fancy, with.
out any pretense Of legal right. A
recent traveller in Bulgaria, on inquir-
ing why the farmers did not improve
their breed Of horses, was answered,
"What use would good horse be to
us The first zaptieh who came alono