The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-08-18

E::.lgariaa merchants and artisans liv.
ing in Constantinople and Salonica
woe ruined w an order of expulsion,
VII, il included educators ard which
closed Bulgarian schools.
The authorities vigorously enforced
the same order against the Bulgarian
priests, making &c y effort to para.
], re tha deve opment of religious ana
educational work, an deprive he Bull
garian exarch of all his privileges and
force the people to come under the au-
thority of the Greek patriarch. En-
counaged by the Ottoman authorities,
the Green bishops and archimandrltes
forced their way into the Bulgarian
church, burned the prayerbooks and
employed menaces to compel the peo-
ple to acknowledge the rzAiarch.
In addition to the decree banishing
the Bulgarian tradesmen from Con-
stantinople and Salonica, the porte
adopted measures to RUN the traders
elsewhere. Burdened with taxes, liable
to perform statute labor for the Turk
ish land owners, the population Is re-
duced to a state of serfdom. This is
one of the principal causes of discon-
tent and when is added the exact1ons
Of the tax %gatherers, it is not difficult
to understand why the wretched peo-
pie should revolt from such a IS
1 potic government and servitude.
In conclusion the memorandum as
| serts that the foregoing exposure once
more condemns Ottoman administra-
! tive government in Europe. 1t says:
"Not long ago the porte denounced
these revolutionary movements as be-
| ing fomented by Bulgaria and tried to
| put the responsibility on this princi-
| pality. Today 1t must acknowledge
that it is it's bad. administration which
is the only cause for the trouble. From
sad experience the porte must learn
that systematic persecution, cruel In
Justice and bloody repression
Do Not Restore Order and Peace
in a country. The porte accepted in
principle the project of reform which
it has not put into eff 1t has de-
| clared that the project is insufficient.
Lastly, the porte formally promised
| the Bulgarian government to cease the
arrests Of Bulgarian priests and school
masters, reopen the churches and
schools, release the prisoners and pun
ish the officials guilty of exactions; In
short, to adopt a policy of justice and
amelioration.
mot only has the porte failed to
! observe a single one of these promises,
but it has enacted sterner measures
of repression. To give only one X
ample: 1t is prescribed as a condi-
ton of his release that a Bulgarian
prisoner must furnish either financial
or personal security, but in the lat
ter case the security must be a Turk
ish subject of non-Bulgarian origin.
It is easy to comprehend that the i'm
prisoned Bulgarians find it impossible
to obtain release under such condi-
lions. By this and other similar acts
the Ottoman administration can be
judged. What must be the result OF
all this? Tired of waiting the full
fllment of promises of better condi-
lions and driven to despair. the Bull
garian population have thrown them.
selves into a revolution. which Is
now spreading in an Ottoman province
$50 miles from the Bulgarian frontier
"The causes of this revolution are
today known. The responsibility is
fixed and the porte can no longer &C
cuse the Bulgarian principality."
The memorandum has made {
strong impression in diplomatic cir
cles. The Austrian diplomatic agen'
has already called on the premier tt
express his anxiety regarding the re
suits that may ensue from it's publica
ton. The French and Italian agent:
also expressed uneasiness. although
they took a less gloomy view.