A REIGN OF TERROR.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 80, 1 April 1912, Page 8

A REIGN OF TERROR.

Terrible details of oppression find outrages come from Macedonia. They are based on the authentic reports of the Inquiry Commission, which was sent by the Ottoman Government to I that unhappy province soon after the recent dynamite outrages. In the many places visited by the Commission the entire population, Mussulman, Christian, and Israelite, manifested the greatest possible dejection. On every face there was depicted the sentiment of dread, coupled with utter despair. A secret petition was being circulated from district to district imploring the Croat Powers to intervene. As soon as a sufficient number of representative signatures arc gathered, this petition will be despatched to Europe, should it escape the suspicious vigilence cf the reckless and cruel authorities. The Governor-General of Salonika is proving an ignorant tyrant, whos; cruelty and utter lack of administrative ability are mostly responsible fo: the anarchic state of affairs in Macedonia. Tt is due to his indolence and despotic brutality that the assassinations are being multiplied from day to day, and that the dynamite outrages are on the increase. The discomforture and consternation are general. Even the army officers cannot hide their gloomy apprehension and fear. Everywhere people speak of a general rising to take place, if not in the immediate future. yet most assuredly in the spring. The 'lnquiry Commission; which consisted of well known men of excellent character, gives the following reasons for the deplorable condition of Macedonia. All the officials and authorities, they say, are utterly unworthy of the confidence the Constitutional Government had placed in them. They continually disarm the Christians, and supply the Mussulman population, absolutely contrary to the law, with all sorts of arms. They form Special Commissions to persecute quite innocent people and condemn them -on more suspicion. They assign special sums of money to maintain a whole legion of men whose sole business is to create constant intrigues and discord between the different nationalities. They fill the civil administrative posts with individuals utterly ignorant and cruel in the highest degree. The Inquiry Commission visited several villages and towns, which 50 years ago were in a flourishing condition, and which are now described as nearing complete ruin. The nearer the Commission approached Ishtib, the place where the recent terrible dynamite outrage took place, the; greater was the utter helplessness. consternation, and despair of the population, fine more marked was the general desolation. In Ishtib itself violence and assassination lasted a whole week. A large number of people were massacred. How many exactly is not yet known, as the inquiry is still going on. The Inquiry Commission met all along the country roads groups of miserable looking Avorkmen attending to their fields with spades in one hand and arms in the other. Everywhere the Government officials and functionaries have helped to scatter discord and to augment rebellion and outrage. Bands of brigands have sent them circulars informing them of the intended massacre and pillage, but they paid no attention .and took no preventive steps whatever. The police and gendarmerie, instead of punishing the guilty, imprisoned the innocent and subjected them to the degradation of the bastinado. The Greek element suffered in an especially cruel manner. In many places the Greeks were forced to disavow every national feeling and to give up their religion. All the schools and churches have been taken from them. A peasant on horseback meeting a policeman or gendarmerie is obliged to dismount as a sign of great respect, otherwise he is subjected to the,bastinado .The gendarmerie is all-powerful. In many places be is the only judge. For him there is no law, no restraining influence. Those who are at the head of authority are not better than their subordinates. They too believe that the bastinado is an excellent system of government; and if complaint is made to them of the cruelties committed by police agents their answer is invariably, "These agents receive from us every day very thorough and sound beatings to teach them how to correct and to keep the population in order and obedience." At Langaza the despair of the population is indescribable. The Christians are in perpetual terror. People are condemned to capital punishment for very slight offences. The local Government authorities employ as their acolytes the very scum of the rabble. These are the greatest perturbers of public order and peace. In the course of a few days more than thirty assassinations have been committed at Langaza alone. The perpetrators are left unpunished. The Governor-General scorns those who apply for redress. Frequently he imprisons the petitioners or has recourse to the- bastinado.