Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1913-01-03
From the New York Herald.

The quick ascendency of Bulgaria
into the society of powerful nations is
the third evolution which has elevated
the lSulgarS from among the opposed
and the lowly masses. Twice before
Bulgaria has existed as a free and in
dependent nation. and each time she
has known the glories of world-wide
influence. In the past her territory
was far greater than the present Bull
garia and perhaps greater than will
be the new Bulgaria recreated from
the tumbling ruins of the Ottoman
Empire.
Bulgarian traditions extend to A. d.
679, when a tribe called Bulgarians APP
peared from the direction of the Dan
ube, under the leadership Of A%sparuch.
They We're not Slav n history a
not determined If they were Uralhans.
Finnish. Tartars or Turks.
But these Bulgarians who settled
south of the Danube were a powerful
tribe, and their desire to was
backed by a strong system of state
organization. Asparuch knew how to
organize his forces into a government,
and 1T was under him that the first
semblance of government appeared
among the Bulgarians. His people be-
came military n accustomed to dis
cipline and to leadership. Those fac
tors were absent from the Balkan Sla-
VOnlc tribes and We're necessary for
h single tribal. territorial and politi-
cal whole found in the Bulgarians un-
der Asparuch.
This state organization was effected
on the ruins of numerous tribes which
had lived III the ak peninsula for
generations. History says the Slavs
reached and settled that country first
in the third century. and that even
then they found the ruins of towns and
roads left by the Romans. But those
a. 1INv Rs <F t1@ 1~<k
no descendants, and the first tradi-
tons of the land really sprang from
the Bulgarians under A%sparuch.
Adopt Christianity.
An epoch in the early career of the
Bulgars was marked when they and
the Slavs, in the reign OF Boris.
adopted Christianity, in 1854. This faith
was adopted for purely political rea-
sons. and it had a great influence in
ternally and externally.
Internally. it brought about a close
union between the Bulgars and the
Slavs and by means of a common lit
erature it placed on an equality the
habits. customs and language of both.
Externally Bulgaria appears as an en-
pre- in the congress of nations. On
the geographical maps of tina day Bull
garia is shown as an empire extending
across the Balkan peninsula and down
nearly to the Bosphorus.
Following the adoption of Christian
ity there is no mention in historical
records of tribal or racial division he
tween the invaders and the ~conquerors.
The c%onquerors contented themselves
with establishing a great Bulgarian
state. and they adopted the language
of a mixed mass of people and assim-
Hated the races.
Simeon the Great. son of Boris. be-
came the first tsar of Bulgaria, and
with him occurs the first mention of
such a title. At the same time the
first Bulgarian archbishop was created
q patriarch. and there history records
the division between and cooperation
of the state and church. These titles.
however, We're not recognized by the
Byzantine Empire. then the greatest
on the earth. until the reign OF Peter.
son of Simeon. During Peters reign
the Bulgarians prospered. but there
was a weakness in it's external affairs.
1t failed to make allies. 1t became ar
rogant in its success and in the sue
ceeding reign. of Boris H.. it antagon-
lied the Byzantine Empire. and the