THE BALKAN STATES

Otago Witness, Issue 2579, 19 August 1903, Page 28

THE BALKAN STATES

. A SANGUINARY ENCOUNTER. OMINOUS PREPARATIONS. DESPATCH OF A RUSSIAN . SQUADRON. CHARGES BY BULGARIA, CONSTANTINOPLE, August 13. -A sanguinary encounter is reported to Jiave taken place between Mohammedan and Greek bands at Katzo-valach. August 15. Halm, the gendarme who shot M. Rostovsky, the Russian Consul at Monastir, during an altercation over the omission of a salute, has 'been sentenced to be .hanged. A similar sentence has been passed on an accomplice who did not interfere "to prevent the crime. Another gendarme has been sentenced to 15 years' penal servitude. Revolutionary bands dynamited the bridge on the Monastir railway line.. The Ambassadors here have demanded that the Porte take measures for the protection of the Consuls and foreign subjects in Monastir, owing to the population demanding arms ostensibly for self-defence .

The Turks and Macedonians mutually accuse each other of massacres. The instances include Christians at Kitchevo and, Moslems at Kruskevo, which the troops afterwards reoccupied. ,

August 16. v \ Hilnia Pasha visited the widow of M. Eostovsky (the Russian Consul shot afe .Monastir) to condole with her, and to announce the grant by way of compensation. The widow declined to receive ai:y compensation, saying that she did not want Turkish charity. She also returned her husband's Turkish decorations.

August 17. The Porte denies arming the population of the Uskub district.

Immense quantities of rifles and ammunition from Odessa are arriving at Rustchuk, and are being forwarded to Philippopolis.

Turkey has ordered from Krupp's j foundry 32 batteries of quick-firing field ! urtille'ry, of sis guns each. One hundred insurgents were killed in the fighting near Penlepe. lv connection with the* trial of Halim, who shot the Russian Consul at Monastir, the chief of the gendarmerie has been dismissed for trusting important posts to Albanians unable to speak the Turkish language.

Halim's execution has incensed the lower orders. The successor of M. Rostovsky, the murdered Consul 5 acted as Crown Prosecutor at ijie court martial, and signed the sentences.

Count Lamsdorff, on the 11th inst., intimated that the Sultan's regrets and the Porfe's promises in connection with the murder of the Russian Consul at Monastic were inadequate, and Ru^ia insisted on punishment, besides Halini, of the military and civil authorities guilty of atrocities denounced by the Russian and Austrian Consuls; the release of peasant*, the victims of atrocities reported by them ; also the renewed employment of foreign officers in the gendarmorie and police.

Count Lamsdorff, on the 12th, warned Bnlgaria that these demands did not modify the previous programme. It tvould be a dangerous error to interpret the fostering of the Macedonian Committee's agitation. The committee's continued criminal activity was a hindrance to pacification and the introduction of reform. Russian consular reports showed that tne peaceful Christian population suffered at the hands of the revolutionaries as much as from Turkish outrages, hence the necessity for the most rigorous counteraction on the part of Bulgaria. This note has lessened Austria's anxiety.

The orders for the despatch of a Russian squadron is interpreted as a step in support of Russia's demand. Tne Porto professes to interpret the approaching visit of. the Russian squadron as connected -with naval manoeuvres liniilar to those of 1902.

The Consuls at Monastir are being specially protected. A bomb was exploded on a military train at Ferezovitch, killing three and wounding four. SOFIA, August 14. The Bulgarian police arrested Tzontcheff and Jankoff, near the frontier, in order to prevent them joining the revolutionists. August 15. Bulgaria presents to ~ the Powers a | memorial enumerating misdeeds in tho Christian villayets bordering on Bulgaria, and setting out the hopelessness of expecting any good from Turkey's so-called reforms. , August 17. A Bulgarian Note ,to the Powers ; accuses Turkey of closing the churches and schools, terrorising and ruining the peasantry, exasperating the population, torturing the innocent, and collecting taxes years in advance. It enumerates acts of injustice, torture, and violation, giving the names of victims and the localities'. It says 4000 are still in gaol. The persecutions have driven 6000 into Bulgaria. The Porte should recognise that. the cause of the insurrection is bad administration, not a conspiracy on the part of Bulgaria. M. Petroff, in an interview, said the Bulgarians' attitude was absolutely correct. The frontier was carefully guarded. The rising was purely in■ternal, national, and the work of the Internal Committee. The insurgents' ; arms were mostly French, sold by I Turkish officers whose pay was in ar- ! rears. He believed the outbreak would ! be confined to the Monastir district, and could be easily suppressed. | BELGRADE, August 15.

The Customs authorities have confiscated a quantity of ammunition in cases labelled "Hardware, nails," and

destined for Macedonia.

ATHENS, August 15,

The Greek Premier, in receiving the foreign Ambassadors, pointed out the necessity for giving Turkey a free hand in dealing with the Balkan troubles, and requesting her use of the utmost severity to re&tore order.

LONDON, August 13

The Times' Sofia correspondent states that the Turks at Uskub distributed 5000 rifles to the Mohammedan population, who threaten the Christians with massacre.

August 14. Mr Balfour's speech has made a good impression in Constantinople and other capitals.

Bulgaria watches the insurrection with interest, but with no expectation of its success.

Lord Lansdowne, replying to Earl Spencer in the House of Lord*, made a reassuring statement based on Sir N. R. O'Conor's despatches declaring it to be the Porte's intention to repress and pivnish milita.ry excesses.

Turkish advices state that the inhabitants of the Turkish village of Kinali, near Monastir, were massacred, with the exception of 20. Extraordinary reports from Salon ica fay that the insurrection is .spreading eastwards, and that the women are participating in the fighting.

The Austrian Consul threatened the English newspapers that he would demand the publication of the British consular reports. Belgrade advices state that the Turks were guilty of horrible atrocities in villages near Monastir, and that they destroyed 14 villages in the Uskub and the Viles districts.

Augu&t 16.

Strong bands of rebels are plundering the villages and firing the houses everywhere. A thousand Turks attacked the rebel stronghold in the mountains of the Florima district, which was guarded by 600 men, and whence bread, clothing, ammunition, rifles, and shoes have been distributed. After 24 hours' fighting the Turks were repulsed with heavy loss. Vienna papers report the disappearance of Br Manderstan, the Russian Cousul at Uskub, while on a tour of inspection in Macedonia. A squadron of the Russian Black Sea fleet has sailed for Turkish waters. » Vienna reports the situation as de=pe-

rate, and that the Porte is incapable of restoring order.