Evening star., 1905-05-14

tAS AAA lAc tAOdDASAS SiOup VI StatSS AatS"-~
as the Balkans. Macedonia
Land Of is seething cauidron OF
rl,,,h,. sedition. Crete is in open
Il revolt.
King Edward VII in his speech from the
throne at the opening of parliament Feb
ruary IA. said: 1.-THE state of the Balkan
Peninsula continues troubled. The meas
ures adopted on the invitation of the gov
ernments of Austria Hungary and Russia
have resulted in some amelioration in the
troubled districts
The optimistic declarations Of King Ed
ward have not been realized as to Mace
donia, where on April 20 fighting was re-
ported in Koritsa and Uskub, whilst Crete,
which demands union with Greece. has re-
sorted to violence as a consequence of the
negative response of the powers to the
request OF Prince George that Crete be
annexed to Greece.
The foreign affairs of Crete, it will be
recalled, are under the governments OF
Russia, Great Britain. France and Italy,
and under this provision there is signifi-
canoe in the cable from Rome dated May
9, which says:
I'm view of the situation in Crete the
italian battleship Sardegna and the cruiser
Giovanni Bausdn have been ordered to go
to Suda bay. in the northern part Of that
island"
Balkan. the Turkish for high ridge. is
bounded by the Adriatic and Ionian seas
on the west; the Black and
Balkan Aegean seas on the east:
Peninsula the Danube on the north.
and Greece and Crete on the
Mediterranean south. Thus defined. the
peninsula comprises 175,OOO square miles.
with the following countries: Bulgaria,
Servia, Roumania, Montenegro, Bosnia.
Herzegovina, Eastern Roumelia, Turkey
Comprising Albania, Thrace, Greece. Mac
e6onia and Crete). The great highway Of
western emigration, the Balkan peninsula
still contains great diversity of races.
The oldest Inhabitants of the peninsula
the Illyrians, are represented by the mod
ern Albanians. Greeks and Dacians or
ROuma mans. Turkey exercises SuZerafnty
over Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia and
nominally over Bosnia Herzegovina. states
absolutely Independent being Turkey. Ser
via. Montenegro and Greece.
The Turks first obtained a fOothold IN
the Balkan peninsula in the middle Of the
seventeenth century. They captured Con-
stantinople in 1853 and put an end to the
Byzantine or Greek empire. The rendez-
vous of so many diverse races, the Balkan
peninsula is composed of Roumanian,
Wallachian, Servian, Bulgarian, Turk,
Greek, Circassian, Jew and Gipsy. The
diversity of race is further complicated
by hostile creeds. the Latin Chrlstlan, the
The Bulgarian is of Finnish origin. re-
lated to the Huns, then inhabiting the
steppes of southeast Russia. He MADE
his appearance in the fifth century in the
regions of the Lower Danube. In the
ninth century their khan was converted to
Christianity In the fourteenth century the
conquest of Bajazet /, sultan of the Turks,
placed Bulgaria under Turkish rule.
The massacre Of Christians by Turks in
Il,,1ero 81 of iQC
furnished Russia a pretext for
Russia's the war against Turkey. Mr..
n.4 Gladstone, in spite of the in
terested friendship Of his
country for Turkey, denounced the pro-
Ottoman policy of Lord Beaconsheld, and
making crusade against the 'unutterable
Turk" he carried Midlothian and was re-
turned to power on that issue and was
made prime minister in 1880. Mr.. Glad
stones plea for humanity, for suffering
Christianity in Bulgaria. electrified the
Chris tian world and won him great praise
in all corners of the globe.
The dread of the massacre of defenseless
Christians had hung suspended for years
like the sword of Damocles over the heads
of the peoples of Bulgaria and Armenia.
Was 1t this fact that attracted the sympa-
thetic attention of the general-in-chief OF
the viceroy of Egypt. as. the possible sue
cessor of the "sick man. who reigned at
Stan.boul?
1t is certain that Gen. William T. Sherman
sent to the viceroy in 1870 number of Off
GERS of the United States and confederate
armies. among whom were Generals Stone.
Mott, Loring and Sibley, Colonies Kennon,
Colston, Rhett, Reynolds. Jenifer and forty
others
These officers, as well as the writer, who,
with Kennon, was the pioneer Of the move
nept ware instructed hv Mr.
American Henry A. Mott the viceroy' S
agent in New York, that the
service was for the purpose
of breaking the Turkish yoke and establish
ing the autonomy and entire independence
of Egypt. The vicerOy subsequently, on the
occasion of the reception of Kennon and
the writer at the palace of Abdn, in Cairo,
fully confirmed and reiterated the character
of the instructions communicated to us in
New York.
Moreover, in addition to the officers cited.
there were, detached from the active list of
the regular army, on the recommendation
posed revolt in Egypt. the following OFF,
GERS: Lieuts. Rogers, Martin, Fechet, Den
nison, Loesch; Capts. Irgins, Savage, and
DR.. Wilson.
In order to establish the fact that the
American military mission to Egypt QS69-
1870 might claim to be an official mission
and not mere personal venture, as some
times charged, the writer addressed the
War Department, June IL, 1903, requesting
that he might be furnished with any COM
munications of the general-in-chief on that
subject. The assistant adjutant general re-
piled June % following: Some of
the officers named applied for leaves of
absence, stating their intention to enter the
Egyptian service if their leaves were grant