The sun., 1918-11-22
People Now Contend They
Were Against Germany
All Blame Ferdinand.
GUILTY OF BARBAR1TIEs
British Prisoners Suffered
Least, Due to COMMANDMENTS
Gratitude.
nv r.. n. CALVERT.
speooi Cable Despatch 10 Tue suS from ~
london Times Service.

! SoyrA, Nov. al have conversed
{ with many political leaders in Bull
gsria, both in the Cabinet and out
! side. Defeat II grudgingly admitted
! by some Is totally denied by others ana
{ will soon be forgotten.
Tho spirit OF the people, which for
good reasons quailed In tho closing
! days Of September. now. II not exact
ly jubilant, is 30 far restored AZ to
: lead them TO ignore any obligation
TO the Powers that rescued them from
+ q nemesis nothing but tho Ententes
clemency could turn aside The press
and leaders Of the nation wili DO moth
ing to keep alive tho memory Of an
episode that Is distastsful to the national
! vanity.
n, 'Henceforth." said the Bulgarian
|. peace delegates to the French General
at salonica, you may consider US as
. neutrals.'
"No, gentlemen" replied the General.
you are not neutrals but vanquisheo
enemies who have surrendered at DIS
cretion." true view Of their present
status cannot be too emphatically I'm
way can they be made to acknowledge
facts the remembrance Of which should
I largely guide their future conduct
Z They DO Not Admit Defeat.
The unconditional submission into
: which they were beaten here invariably
u spoken and written about as an
; "armistice" The word "capitulation"
: 10 universally taboo.
!; The derieanor OF these people cannot
y truthfully be described as arrogant. but
Il is distinctly offhand and our British
4 soldiers have not failed to notice these
!. signs. They say the Bulgars could not
: assume a loftier independence II they
!, actually had won the war.
! True. their Ministers and higher Off
!. ciais appear to comply with the demands
L Of the French and British military au-
thorities, but their orders frequently
y are disobeyed by their subordinates. We
seem to bear these bitches moro patiently
4 than eur French allies, who are header
J. and overcome them by the high hand.
heard OF one case In which a French
General obtained quarters for troops
Il that had been granted by the War Min
j lister and refused by the local COM
! mander, by a threat Of immediate bonn
bardment
OF Bulgarians who profess to have
been secretly friends Of the Entente,
! their name IL legion. Malinon assured
me he was. But 1t is difficult to recon-
cile this statement with q virulent anti
a Entente article in his organ. the Dre-
pots, on September IL. 1 have no doubt
; that many Bulgarians disapproved OF
! the policy that led to their Government
entering the war on the side Of Ger
(, many. but the tone OF their press until
the eve of capitulation was deiantly
hostile to the United States.
Blame King Ferdinand.
~ Ever since Radoslavoft came into Of
fce all power, they say. was concen-
,trated in the hands Of Ferdinand. whose
Z creature he was. The majority Gov
; eminent. OF Sobranje obtained by illegal
process a manipulated ballot. Military
: law was supreme throughout the coun-
= try. The muzzled press could only pub
- lish matter agreeable to pro-Germans
r The attack on Serbia OF October 10
1915. was decided upon without refer
ence to the Chamber. II was intensely
disapproved by the people and even by
the army. Two thousand soldiers and
officers were shot for desertion or for
= refusal to march, so great was the I'M
popularity of the war. The people were
: told the Entente was unable to throw
y an adequate army into the Balkans, the
j war being already practically won by
: Germany. There was nc. risk of painful
: complication. This is the story on al
sides.
= To believe all informants is to acquit
: the Bulgarian people OF any evil inten
z tions in all the unhappy occurrences OF
u the last flve years. That they were NOR,
: sinned against than SHINING il thu
|: burden OF thir tale. Barring projects fol
z the Incorporation OF Albania, free &C
z cess to the Adriatic. the annexation Of
( Nish and the Morava Valley and tn,
E ultimate possession OF Constantinople
s all of which the Bulgarians now repu
s diate as conceptions OF Ferdinand,
boundless ambition. I understand the
: former claims Of Bulgaria to the ter
s. ritory of Macedonia and Thrace viii
z on purely ethnologic grounds be pleaded
= In the peace conference.
Prisoners Suffer Terribly.
: In some instances the suffer!ngs o.
= British war prisoners were deliberatel1
e inflicted by brutal officials, but mainl,
= were the result of indifference anr
+ partly also to the difficulty of main
tanning prisoners in a country who's,
1 own soldiers had to bear grea
privations. The British and French
pIlSOIeTS Hdu 10 SuHeT toe least II
] usage. the Serbs. Greeks and Rumanian
the worst. out OF 100000 internet
Serbs only $4,000 survive. or 500,
= Serbian prisoners at Camp Haskov,
~ 4, 700 died.
& Two hundred and fifty British prison
2 ers captured at Doiran were depriveC
> Of their boots, putties and tunics anC
forced to march to Sofia, a hundred anC
= nifty miles, barefooted, with little cloth
Ing and with no other food than wha
q they could pick up in the fields, such n
. onions, roots or a few grains OF raw
4 maize. Bread they got once. Thei
+ Journey lasted sixteen days.
= OF the British prisoners in Philippe
polls, 43 officers and 800 men suffered
Z much brutality at the hands OF the cam,
eommandant Lieut. Nicoloff. Their 10
was alleviated, however. through tn
humanity OF his narnesake. Col. Nicoloft
the local commissarist officer
= II Is pleasure to record the unvary
n ing Kindness OF this officer. He man
N aged to procure meat three or fou
4 times week during period when tn
4 richest civilians of Philippopolis coul
y not get II. He organized theatre, sup
/. piled books. lent money and obtaine
y the issue of an order forbldding Bul
"a sarian petty officers 20 strike prisoner,
III Returns Debt to British.
"a British prisoners love that man." sal
the American Consul-General "for h
behaved like n father to them" NicoIo
( was an orphan whose parents we're kille
5 by Turks in the massacres OF 1875.
Z British official gave him some start /