New-York tribune., 1903-04-23
SUSPICIOUS OF RUSSIA.
FEELING OF .4LB4NIANS.
Ne1rs Censorship in the Sultan's
CapitaI-Feqr OF ASSASSINATION.

esp.c.ai to The New York Tribune hy French cabe3
c-opyri=h;: 1908: BY The T-rN'rne Assooiatiou-)
-Constantinople. via London April %. 1 a
Many ships flying the red field with the white
ccar ard crescent once piled regularly between
Constaatiaople and the Mediterranean and the
BLACK Sea ports. Most OF them have disap-
-ea-ed and are doing duty as transports be-
tween Smyrna and Salonica. Occasionally one
saeaks in AZ night and is off before morning.
simultaneously with lis secret departure. regi-
,0ent o. troops disappears The Sultan's capital
remains tranquil and serene. The newspapers
announce that peace reigns supreme everywhere
n me Suitar's doninions. AT the bottom OF a
rolcr-n may bo an obscure paragraph stating
that 5he -sfo~m9 which the Sultan was good
e-oUYh 20 irctitute for the people Of Macedonia
haze gore into effect. and are working without
hitch L the correspondent Of The London
Tires edits a Constantinople paper he must
,.e Dr Jel-yl and Nj. HYDE To the foreign post
oaces here come newspapers from England,
france Germany and Austria, for the enlight-
a---c-t Of the people on Macedonian affairs.
The Turks have taken a strong dislike 10 recent
,-::e-lnCes OF foreign journals. and have sta
toned &C asses at thC POstofaces TO relieve the
people of these papers as they pass out The
c,-s.cr Of examining Foreign mails at the border
res rct been revived The Board Of American
,Fsssiors had published a pamphlet of quota
ri5rs Tor distribution among the various races
y Macedonia. The phrase Love another
z-as Il ken out by the prudent censor. In union
here IS strength. and If all the people Of Mace
doria loved one another the Turk would not live
long.
Foreigners here understand why the Sultan
would rather conciliate than antagonize the
AIbanians. When he appears in public the body
guard around his carriage is a dense mass Of
armed soIdiery, fifty feet in every direction. If
his be a necessary precaution against assas-
s,cetton neither he nor his Ministers will take
The risk Of offending the Albanians, even at the
expense Of the empire.
An English official who passed through Al
hania about the time when the Russian con-
suIate was established at Mitrovitza tells me
that the chiefs talked freely with him on the
subject They wished TO know why Russia was
The only country 10 send consul into their
country They suspected 1t was for the purpose
If fomenting trouble. Every report from him.
they said. would be against them and there
would be no foreign official TO take their SIDE
II British consul had also been sent TO
Nitrovitza there would have been balance OF
power They would not have objected 10 the
eppearance OF 4 Russian consul il there had
been colleagues. A foreign consul told me at
the time Of the shipment OF Stcherbina's body
- salonica that the victim Of Albanian pas
sion had said when starting for Mitrovitza that
ne knew he was going into danger, but had been
twice before IN the jaws OF death and hao
ESCAPED and trusted 10 have luck again.
Russia's ultericr aims in the Balkans are
,-ec-1,tabIe No diplonatist here seems TO know
what win be her next move. nor where it will
ne made Her diplomatists are credited with
being the best players, and are planning a series
Of moves long way anead. Russian sympathy
= REGARDED by the Balkan races az a cloak for
concealing her real policy. Russian diplomats
and consuls whom have been meeting lausn al
these notions as oldtime politics. and declare
With emphasis that the sympathy Of their coun-
r. r-ith the Balkan races IS honest and sincere.