The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1915 BULGARIA. AND RUSSIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 232, 29 September 1915, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1915 BULGARIA. AND RUSSIA.

For,tke r caujtß that-looks assUtanae, For ihe wrong that needs resistance, ror the future in the distance, And the good that xco cun do.

1C I Tiir »:nrm over- Bulgaria* compact E wrth Turkey and her subsequent mobil«auoo may be oniireiy dire to mhupprehenalon. The facts may tic exactly us reportei frqni Sofia—that the kingdom A is mobilising just as Switzerland and j Holland have dove, to maintain her in ) dependence* though it must be noted 11 that ho have no information of v definite <lenial by the Bulgarian Uovcrnmeat M sn understanding with Turkey. Tbf greuUwt uncertainty Dβ to her inrt, tentinns prevail* in the other Balkan Stated end at the capitals of the Entente Powers. The president of the Slavonic CommitUx* at Mdeoow ha« protested to a, the Ividinj,' Bulgaritin etutcemc-n against f th* b.ire pofeSibSHy of their nartion taking up amis agahuit the great Slav Power th.it liberated thorn from the v Turk*. An appeal of this kind hi* more Inflnenv With tli%" pi-oplc than with \chose ~4ctwine are mainly ilirecto.l by utilitarian motives, but popular feeling often sweeps away every other consideration in a period of excite- _ ment. To form some ide.i of the in- _ trirnuc jirubuhilitift.i of Bulgaria's future course, it i* worth while examining the lip* which !>.n'l the young Kingdom to the and the nature of the relations which have prevailed bctwe.eq f c them during its rtiort hiitory of thirty-' l » ejjjht vea-rs. re c , One .'fttding motive of the war hae tx-en c- to oppose to Teutonic ascendancy, cen- ■ trinfl round the Kaiiser, the supremacy ' of the Rinaiiin Citar a» held of a great )f .Slavonic Federation of locally autonomous State*. The present Bulgarian race V » formed bf the fiMion of .Viatic in — vadere. the Buljjri, from the bank* of tbe Volga, with an older Slavonic popuUlii'U. . . .The Slav etock predominated. a.ti.l UMi now npoken i» a variety of Slavonic. They are. then, a iundrixl rac« to the_-RiMeiant. Tbe Bal"iconrpeopie remainocf for ccoturie* without a name. the;r rtationality itubmcrpcil under Turkman dominiun. In their lint avakoping it «v to Ruetia that they I* l<H)ki-H ('■» liberation. "Without Russia »-wf.<r:ni-'lii they eaiil later on. if U'fli-ii Napoleon wa» in alliance with 3 Czar Alexander he drew up s «cheme of _ partition ng Turkey, aoeigning the two It subject ptovinc**, which bad onco be«Ti Bulgaria, to Russia. Rueaian armies overran the*i diutrict. and took Bessar»bia. -\pain in IS2O they marched into Bulgaria, and wore everywhere welcomed A by it* ( but ultimately Tithdrew. . Turkish rule »ao reformed under Midhat Pacha. after the atrociticn of 4841. hut the greater freedom rather utimulated the Nationalist movement at whouc head was Stumbouloff. It continued to work underground until 1875, - when, under the influence o f Pannlaviwn, ifiere "was a slight rebellion. Thia wa* punished with a f<?rocity which ha* made tb© MJne of the Tjirkieh Gorernmcnt and ita Baehi Bezoukis eternally infamous. The " Bulgarian . Atrocities " of 1873 aroused the deepest tediguation in Riu> *ia. The Crar asserted his claim to tile ' pcxitioß it Prff'"^'-" , " it the Slave by •ending an army to. the unhappy proKiacea. The Bulgarian pfeasartt* everywhere received the -soldiers as their deliverers, fought by their side, and supplied thoir needs. The Huesiess .wept the Turk* before them, and came near to capt.u,r.vna_Conetantinoplo, By. the treaty j of San Bta&oo, which they extorted from the Turks, they created a -1% Bulgaria"' Btrrtcbjng from the Danube to tho Xepeai Sea, nod from- the Klarji Sea to Ochrida, end raising tho two subject provinces, which for so many generations had had no name nor "history of their own. into iino autonomous State. , This Uoaty waa wt aaidp by the Western , Powers, especially by the Knglish (>ovj eminent, -which, at that time, dreftdo-l ai>ov« all things the growth of the Rub atari Empire. They for tho Treaty of San Stofano that of Bfrlin, making Bulgaria autonomous but tributary to Turkey, and fording , back "Eftatctn. ■Rumelja, into, fliibjertioh to the Porte Subecqijfint that there wan i Mnno cause to.'ffenr that Russia woultt ; try to control the. country »he had con- " nothinjj fan do ; away with trie fact that modern Bui 1 garia owes not only its independence, but ite very existence, to Russia alone. . Without hor arms the peasant popuiaI lation proved they were powerless to save themselves. But for Russia they might at tho present time have shared t 'the appalling fate of Armenia. „ : -iThe Bulgarians, however, soon began ■to fOrgel their debt whea they round tliat their liberators undormined their . newjy-'won by taking'tho the .<sQ.un.try into their ■uwu. hands. There was aorae oxense at first for tilling civil and militarj positions with trained Russian officials and officors." The Bulgarian people were mostly half-civilised peasants, for centuries deprived of freedom, and the: world did not know their real characters—dour, sturdy, patriotic and independent. As long as Czar Alexander 11. lived there was not . m-uoS" eotfd ground for gpktvaneeft, -He to Pjiacc. Alexander .of Battenbergj who c

bad been chosen by the Nationalists. But it is an unfortunate feature of an autocracy that its policy may depcpd entirely upon the autocrat. Czar Alexander 111. was personally hostile to hb cousin, and waa determined to crush O* Bulgarian Nationalist* at whose Mil was Stambouloff. The Russian gener*V, Sobetef and Kaulbare, exercised tht'ir ingenuity in schemes to divide the Prinru and his people, with the unexpected rtisult that they united aginet the Russian agents. Prince Alexander led his people to the emancipation of their kinsfolk in Eastern, Rumelia, aiul when Servia triai to interfere, conquered her in the hero!* battle of Slivnitza, Jn the hour of settle-, ment England and Rus>Bia made a drama tic change of the roles they had playr> J eiglit or nine years previously. Russia, alarmed at Bulgaria's independent spirit, joined Austria and Germany in an attempt to subject Rumelia once more to Turkey, and thus prevent ita union with its kindred, while England, supported by Franco and Italy, defeated t)ie other Powers and i-ccurcd the recognition of a united Bulgaria. Rufinian agents forced Prince Alexander.' to abdicate and forcibly kidnapped him. J Though SiamboulofT succeeded in bringj inz him back, he voluntarily submitted Jto Che Czar, and abdicat.il. Hμ suei it«eor, the reigning King Ferdinand, who vi of mixed Austrian and Orleanut deactnt, effected a reconciliation with Russia, by sacrificing the greatest of all Balkan statesmen, SuimboulofT, who vvae lirst dismissed, and afterwards bar barously murdered. The Heir Apparent Bori* was "converted" to the Orthodox Greek faith In his infancy: the Russian Government then recognised Prince Ferdinand* title, and suu-e 1003 their agents have ceased to interfere in the internal affairs of the country. A quarter of a century's intrigues for domination have had the unfortunate effect of driving Bulgarian statesmen to eeek an alliance with her ancient enemy, the Porte, instead of with the protectors who tried to become her masters. But the time of that struggle is now twelve yeara past, j Another Czar reigns—one whoec true character appears to he not unlike that of the first Alexander—and even if he ; should desire too a return for hU championship of the Slav cauec, it is certain that he will not be sole arbiter of the destinies of the Balkans, but one of a Council in which England, France and Italy will be strongly represented. And the Bulgarian nation is not to-day KO lielplriut 111 It Wilr, jllftt .liter its emancipation. Turkey can barely be *aid to exist a* an independent Power, and a Mate which is now only "the shadow of a mighty name" can never be a source of strength or help or incpirtttion to a free, iinir.pendrnt and ambitious people like the Bulgarians.