The Washington times., 1903-11-22

Z A-ArAf
% Turkey.
AT this moment. when the so-caUeI
/ Macedonian question in Southeastern
Europe is being cleared after peace
Jul understanding between Bulgaria and
/ her Suzerain Turkey when the Hood OF
/ INSTRUMENTATION and misrepresentation
| regarding the latter power has exhaust
| ed itself the time has come for a brief
survey of the realities of the situation
1 A healthy return TO reasonable thought
begins To assert itself. and lust and Ga-
I biased voices are heard again here and
4 there. The ether Christian races in the
/ vilayets on the Danube. representing a
! vast majority. besides the unruly and
/ bOisterous. So called Macedonians. also
/ contributed nos little TO the clearing
of the atmosphere. and TO neutralizing
| the brazen reports or the mills of fail
sihcation carried on by the anarchistic
committees of dynamiters in Sofia and
elsewhere far from the spot. 4 histor
I cal retrospection Of the events of 1S76-7S.
when the Bulgarian rising was the direct
I cause of the Turko- Russian war. and
I the history of the great Bulgarian
statesman. Stambulof who was hacked
I to pieces by ''compatriots'' Of Macedon-
ian extraction in foreign pay. because
he thought tint Bulgaria should belong
to the Bulgarians. in close alliance with
/ Turkey. also furnished ample food for
! thought The hope of the incendiaries
| and dynamiters OF trains under the
/ guise Of Bulgarian patriotism that Rus
1 sian aid could be enlisted again. proved
! futile, No civilized government could
well afford TO join such company. re-
/ CARELESS of the fact thar the inner cor
ficts al hom;. and the precarious situa-
ton ia the extreme Orient. made such a
/ course inadvisa9ie All this does not
however. remove the ardent desire that
/ Turkey should be weakened by peace
| able or diplomatic means.
The Great Bulgaria Dream.
The Servians in Macedonia. whose
[ sympathies are claimed by the Bulgari-
an brigands. are fully conscious that
the success of the latter would signify
/ the death knell OF Servia's independence
/ in the very near future. The ROuman-
ian Observation-Disclosures know wei
enough. how heavily the Bulgarian hand
would weigh upon them and their indc-
/ pendent religious aspirations. We're the
chimeric scheme Of the Great Bulgaria
dream reaHzable at all. a life and death
{ struggle with Roumania would be the
next consequence. The Greeks. who COLI
stitute the greatest number 81 inhabl-
tants in the vilayets in question. justly
| feel that they are the most ancient and
original jewellers of the soil not the Bull
/ garian late-cOmers, whose barbarous
/ origin is indistinct ethnologically. To
/ the Greeks those provinces are a more
/ Hellenic land than taey ever We're since
the great Heraclidian dynasty with its
too stupendous opponents King Philip
! pc and Alexander the Great
All the Christian races prefer by far
In 4 - Ts.-~gr. HaH
I Grafton of the Turks. For, in spite Of all
the fraudulent assertions 70 the con-
1 trary. which thus have become crystal
liked errors. there is no country I'm the
world where a state church exists. more
| tolerant in religious matters than Tur-
KEY. Since the establishment of the
Ottoman Empire in Europe there was
never the slightest attempt al fOrcibly
iproselyting their n-Mohammedan sub
jects IL is true. that great numbers
willingly adopted the new faith, es-
peciany the Albanians. who became
more ardent Moslems than their liberal
conquerors. The latter permitted the
conquered races 20 exercise with abso-
lutte freedom their religion, their Ian
guage. their estates. together with the
privilege Of notwithstanding freely their
communities their religious hierarchy.
and their schools which remain with
out any interference on the part Of the
/ ottoman government to this very day.
Greeks Emigrating to Turkey.
No wonder. therefore. that since the
/ independence Of Greece more Greeks
have eruigrated 90 Turkey, where they
/ enjoyed entire freedom Of conscience
and could exert their superior talent
for business than the whole population
OF the Hellenic kingdom amounts TO-
No wonder also. that the Christian races
in the agitated vilayets petitioned at
( Constantinople to be permitted TO take
up arms against the Bulgarian outlaws
who employed the means Of anarchy
and terrorism against Innocent and
( peaceable people without distinction OF
race OF religion. II the Turkish gov
eminent declined the request. II was
7 because d. sought 70 suppress the
/ anarchius lawfully. and net 10 unchain
I the terrible reprisals which the other
/ Christian races would undoubtedly have
I meted out to the destroyers Of their
Z homes and the lives @ .neir families
! II cannot be repeated 700 often that all
1 the Christian religious denominations in
/ Turkey are invested with all the privi-
leges Of autonomous ecclesiastical rule,
and are interfered with in no way
The work OF their spiritual heads, pa
triarchs and exarch and their clergy is
absolutely free. II handicapped al All
this IS done by foreign missionaries who
try 20 alter their form OF Christianity,
which dates back To tine era Of the
apostles themselves. 10 81 an establish
ed fact that the missionaries, in spite
OF their earnest endeavors, have never
yet permanently converted "a single
Mah0mmedan, and. regarding the Chris
tian races in those regions fl is certain
that they have enjoyed "a very pure and
original mode of Christianity, since the
divine light of Christ shone upon them
from its fountain i'm Jerusalem, some
hfteen centuries before the new Chris
tian denominations. which send mis-
sionaries out, had sprung into existence.
Mischief Of the Missionaries.
n the modern apostles were salts.
fed 20 spread and improve schools
iamong those ancient races. and cOudne
their lab.Irs 20 that practical Christian
itv which elevatcs and Durihes the
standard of living instead Of performing
th, uneratcful task OF converting from
one mode Of Christianity 10 another.
their labors would be "a Es'eat blessing.