THE TROUBLE IN MACEDONIA

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8090, 7 January 1903, Page 1

THE TROUBLE IN MACEDONIA

According to information which reaches the Athens correspondent of the London Times from a trustworthy Bulgarian source, the burning of villages and other outrages committed in Northern Macedonia are in no single instance to be ascribed to the Turkish soldiers or irregulars. The military authorities have behaved with remarkable clemency, and the troops have been kept well under control. The filibustering bands organised in Bulgaria under the auspices of M. 'Michailovski and Colonel Zontchefl experienced an unexpected resistance, mainly of a passive character, on the part of a large proportion of the Bulgarian peasantry in the districts of Djuma'a, Nevrokop, and Melnik, who- were instigated to oppose the revolutionary movement by tinagents of the rival committees under the direction of Sarafof. In many cases demands for supply of provisions and ammunition were refused by the villagers, who also declined to furnish armed contingents, with the result that many of them were subjected to maltreatment, while their villages were burnt and their property destroyed pour encourager les autres. In some instances the peasants, on learning of the approach of bands, left tTieir homes and fled to the mountains, and the Turkish commanders have found some difficulty in inducing them to return. There is some danger of reprisals on the part of the warlike Pomaks, or'Mahommedan Bulgarians, in the mountain districts, but the authorities are in a position to repress any further disturbances.

The premature outbreak of the insurrectionary movement was, as suggested in a former message, due to the enthusiasm produced by the Shipka celebrations. There is no reason to doubt the. perfect sincerity of the Russian Government in discountenancing the movement, but the rank and file of the revolutionaries believed that the moment had arrived when Russia would no longer refuse assistance, wlfilc the leaders calculated that the Grand Duke Nicholas and the other Russian notabilities would be much impressed by the outbreak and would urge the Tsar to take action. Notwithstanding noisy demon.strationsat- Sofia and elsewhere, it appears that public feeling is far from being excited in Bulgaria, though an ell'urt will bo made to revive agitation in the.spring, or more probably on the occasion of the unveiling of the stalne of the "Tsar Liberator'' at Sofia, at the end of next August, which will be the second of the grand series of Rus-sopliil demonstr.i. j t-ions inaugurated by the present GovernI ment.