St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-21
THE TRAGIC EAST.

When we read the stories of the
thrilling adventures, imprisonments,
transformations, and deadly intrigues,
it has to the average reader a for
eign and distant air. This is the
way the world went centuries ago.
In the old bad times before liberty
was a reality, and humanity be-
came a religion, so men dealt with
each other with the strong hand of
power. But governments and civ
1lizations today, we think, are or
ganiZed on a different basis. The
savage element in man has been
somewhat tanned. And, although
there are plenty of the meaner vices,
selfishness, ingratitude ard corrup-
ton, in the life of the people, the
robust ones that give shade of the
romantic to tales of earlier times
have been removed by the on
ward sway of progress. A sin
gle event from the history of the
past week destroys this illusion. It
shows US that in the East there
exists a mode of political conduct
that is not greatly different from
that of the reign of the greatest and
most ruthless of the czars.
There died at Sofia, by the hand of
the assassin, perhaps the greatest
man of his Gay in Eastern politics
and diplomacy. NJ. Stambouloff fell
victim to the attack of unknown
men in the streets of that city. He
was assaulted with an inhuman feroc-
ity that does not seem to belong to
this age. His eyes We're torn out,
his body covered with wounds, and
both hands had to be amputated
shortly before his death. This was
the third attempt that had been
made upon his life, and for four
years the probability of assassina-
ton was daily and nightly before his
eyes. The car himself lives in no
greater terror of the nihilist's dag
ger or bomb than did this man.
Anger and revenge had virtuallycset
a price upon his head. Yet this
was because he had been for years
the unyielding advocate of Bulgarian
independence. He had dared to
make himself the implacabIe foe of
the desire of the Russian autOcrat
to absorb Bulgaria and make
it a dependency of the great
empire of the East To do this
was to die. He knew this. He
was as ruthless himself in his meas
ures against an enemy as were his
foes. But, at any rate, his purpose
was a pure and patriotic one. For
more than four years the secret
assassin has been on his track. No
one knows, or ever will know, who
inspired the attack or furnished the
instruments; but those who realize
how obstinateIy this man fought and
defeated the political policies of the
ruling powers in Eastern Europe
will not be at a loss to guess.
This repulsive crime, repudiated
publicly and with pious horror by
every one who might be supposed
to profit by it, takes the world back
to the methods of centuries ago.
These peoples whom we call civ
iiized stop at nothing. Their policies
are the old policies, and their means
to accomplish an end are the same
that we read of in the history of
the nOmadic savage tribes that
founded the great empire 1t is but
a glimpse we get in this incident of
the conditions that still prevail in
Eastern Europe. Another is afforded
in the tumultuous and disgraceful
scenes attending the burial of NJ.
Stambouloff, as they are described in
the news reports this morning. They
are enough to show us how far these
races still linger in the rear guard
of civilization, and how much at
fault we are when we judge Of their
present or argue their future de-
velopment by any standards of our
own.