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THE TRUTH ABOUT BULGARIA
BY A. T. CHRISTOFF
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https://archive.org/details/truthaboutbulgar00chririchThe original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the texthttp://www.archive.org/details/cu31924007690724 THE TRUTH ABOUT BULGARIA BY A. T. CHRISTOFF Is true Freedom but to break Fetters for our own dear sake, And, with leathern hearts, forget That we owe mankind a debt? No! True Freedom is to share All the chains our brothers wear. And, with heart and hand to be Earnest to make others free! — James Russell Lowell HENRY CHRISTO CHRISTOFF (Candidate-Officer) 34th Training Battery, Camp Taylor, Ky. Born Bansko, Macedonia, July 10, 1896. Lost his life by an accident while performing his duty at Camp Taylor, Ky., Dec. 8, 1918. THE TRUTH ABOUT BULGARIA OUR SON, HENRY CHRISTO CHfRISTOFf' AND ALL YOUNG MEN OF EVERY NATION WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE IN THE CAUSE OF LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY FOREWORD. Many thousands of our boys made the su- preme sacrifice. Millions more were ready to do the same. These boys were idealists. They sacri- ficed themselves for democracy, so that freedom, justice and peace might reign upon the earth. That no people should be left under the oppres- sion of other people, simply because they lack the brute power to resist such oppression. Will not the blood of our noble sons cry out against us if we leave the unfortunate Macedonians under a yoke incomparably worse than that of the Turk? If the reading of this pamphlet does not bring the conviction that the great bulk of the Mace- donian population is Bulgar, and therefore should be allowed to unite with their brothers of Free Bulgaria; will not the brief recital of cruel oppression practiced upon them by Greece and Servia arouse our holy indignation and make us insist before the Governments of America, 1^'rance and England that Macedonia be created into a free and independent country, where the people can exercise their God-given right to mould their own destinies ? The wi-iter has been a witness and a partici- pant in most of the events referred to in this booklet and could write his story without quoting anybody. However, not wishing to be criticized as partial to the country of his birth, he con- sidered it prudent to quote authorities whom no- body can accuse of partiality. "Bulgaria and Her People," by Prof. W. S. Monroe, Page Co., Boston; and "Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Bal- kan Wars," Carnegie Endowment for Internation- al Peace, Washington, D. C, have been freely quoted. These books are the result of the most painstaking investigations of men who have a world reputation for intelligence, impartiality and integrity of character, representing all the Great Powers of Europe and the United States. Kansas City, Kansas A. T. CHRISTOFF.The Truth About Bulgaria.WHO ARE THE BULGARIANS?"The Bulgarians, a Turanian race, akin to the Tatars, Huns, Petchenegs and Finns, made their ap- pearance on the banks of the Pruth in the latter pait of the Seventh century. They were a horde of wild horsemen, fierce and barbarous, practicing polygamy, and governed despotically by their Khans (chiefs) and Boyars oi' Bolyars (nobles). Their original abode was the tract between the Ural mountains and the Volga, where the Kingdom of Great (or Black) Bol- gary existed down to the Thirteenth century. In 679, under their Khan Asparukh (or Isperikh), they crossed the Danube, and, after subjugating the Sla- vonic population of Moesia, advanced to the gates of Constantinople and Salonica. * * * The invading horde was not numerous, and during the next two centuries it became gradually merged in the Slavonic population. Like the Franks in Gaul the Bulgars gave their name and a political organization to the more civilized race which they conquered, but adopted its language, customs and local institutions, not a trace of the Ugrian or Finnish element is to be found in the Bulgarian speech. The complete assimilation of a conquering race may be illustrated by many parallels.i The Bulgarians, therefore, are that portion of the Sla- vonic race, which is found till the present time in Moe- sia, Thrace and Macedonia. The Christian religion was officially adopted in Bulgaria in 964, through Bysantia. "Morally, Bul- garia was slowly but surely undermined by its inter- course with the Bysantine empire. The nobles and the priesthood were most affected by this sinister influence, and it is noticeable that in the old as in the new Bulgaria the ablest men have usually sprung from the virgin soil of the peasantry." 2 The Bulgarians have a very interesting history before their subjugation by the Turks, but its recital is of no importance for our present discussion. 1 — Encyclopaedia Britanica, 11th Edition, Vol. IV, p. 779. —5— FIVE CENTURIES OF A DOUBLE YOKE. In 1398 the subjugation of Bulgaria by the Turks was completed. The live centuries that separate tne fall of Bulgaria and her liberation in 1878 are justly considered as the dark ages oi Bulgarian history. "For five hundred years the Bulgars bore the double yoke of Turkish political oppression and Greek ecclesiastical tyranny." 3 Ine Turks laid waste the country. Butchered the flower of the nation. Some of tne nobles em- braced Mohammedanism to escape death. The choic- est land was confiscated and given to tne Turkish no- bles, 'i'he Bulgarians were practicaUy made serfs. The finest looking boys were taken to Constantinople to replenish the ranks of the janissaries. These became the scourge of their own people. The fairest maidens were carried away to the harems to satisfy the lusts of the Turkish nobles. The country was flooded by Moslem desperadoes, who exacted the most appetizing dinners from the Bulgarian population, and departing demanded the host to pay them money tor the wear and tear of their teeth. All kinds of taxes were collected. Tne farmer was obliged toi pay a tax for every goat, sheep, pig, cow, steer, horse, hive of bees, land tax (emlyak), and then the tenth part of the produce of the land (ushur), income tax (tedjaret), road tax, and a tax (from cradle to the grave) for exemption from military service (bedel). Highways were in a deplorable condition; and on account of brigands, travelling was extremely dangerous. Even in his own county a man had to have a sort of passport (teskere). Bribery was brought to perfection. The Christian Bulgarian had no human rights. His testimony in court, if contradicted by a Moslem, was not valid. The Christian must stand when a Turk passes by. Per- forming labor for the government, as building roads, transporting military material, moving officials from one city to another, and similar services, without pay (angare) was very common. Bands of brigands car- ried away flocks and herds. The Christians were not -Bulgaria and Her People, Will S. Monroe, p.p. 25, 26. allowed to carry firearms. The churches, built only by special tlrman from the Sultan, were low, very ol- ten mere basements, and walled around so as not to be seen from the street. No bells were allowed to can tne faithrul to worship. "But the political and economic bondage of the Turks was scarcely less irksome than the religious and intellectual bondage of the Greeks. The entire spirit- ual government oi the Bulgars was turned over to the Greek Phanariotes of Constantinople, for handsome tinancial consideration, of course! Less than a year after the fall of Tirnovo the venerable Patiiarch Eum- enius was expelled and the Bulgarian See was subor- dinated to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Greek bishops displaced Bulgarian bishops. Bibles in the Slavonic tongue were replaced by the Scriptures in Greek. All offices within the church were for sale, and we hear of Greek barbers and restaurant keepers holding posts as bishops; and the ecclesiastical rulers from Constantinople, like the political, having paid dearly for their office^, had to recoup themselves at the expense "of their parishioners. 'The art of extor- tion among Greek bishops and priests,' wrote a con- temporary German traveller in Bulgaria 'has been reduced to a system, so that between Greek ecclesias- tics and Turkish governors the lot of the Bulgarian peasant is a hard one.' The Greek liturgy replaced the Slavonic throughout the country, and all Bulga- rian books and manuscripts were committed to the flames. So late as the year 1823 the metropolitan Greek Phanariot Hilarion, in repairing the cathedral at Tirnovo, discovered a closed chamber that contained numerous relics and the ancient libraries of the Bul- garian patriarchs, including the library of Eumenius. The relics he sold in Rumania, and the Bulgarian books and manuscripts he solemnly committed to the flames. 4 Schools such as existed in the country, were conducted by Greek priests; the Greek alphabet and Greek books were used, and the Kyrillik alphabet of the Bulgarians was entirely forgotten. 'The Greek 4 — Histoire de la Bulgarie. By R. P. Guerin Songeon. Paris, 1913, p. 480. clergy ended what the Turks began,' remarks William Miller, and he adds, 'but the spiritual tyranny of the Phanariotes was even worse than the political tyran- ny of the Turks. For the Turks were not bigots, the Phanariotes were.' " 5 "The Phanariot Hierarchy, ignorant of the lan- guage and the customs of the people, not caring for their needs and moreover, dispising them, plundered the Bulgarians in every way, and to deprive them even of the consciousness of their condition, according to the spirit of the Turkish government — kept the people in ignorance, destroyed everything that re- minded them of their nationality, annihilated the Sla- vic church services, introducing the unintelligible Greek liturgy. * * * Was destroying Slavic books and manuscripts. * "■ * The rapacity of the Phana- riotes knew no limit; the slavery and the ignorance of.' the people were complete. "* * * If anyone succeeded to attain to a more human city life, he ceased to be a Bulgarian and be- came a Greek, for the Bulgarian was not worthy to live a city life; this was permitted only to the Greek. The Bulgarian ought to remain a peasant, born for heavy labor. * * * "Truly, the Patriarchate of Ohrid was still exist- ing, which could, if it wished, become for the Bulga- rians a moral center and support, but in the XVIII century it was only in name Bulgarian, but in fact its Hierarchs since long ago were Greeks. At last, the Phanariotes did not wish to leave even this doubtful reminder of Bulgarian antiquity and in 1767 the inde- pendent church or Ohrid was destroyed. " * * * The Bulgarians did not exist as a na- tion. They were only a crowd of oppressed, tortured and destroyed people. The very word narode (a na- tion) was lost, and substituted by the word "hora," taken from the Greek and meaning villagers, predes- tined to all kinds of heavy labor. * '■' *" 6 "* * * rpj^g Phanariot clergy — unscrupulous, ra- 5— Bulgaria and Her People. Will S. Monroe, p.p. 27-29. 6— History of Slavic Literature, by Pipin and Spasovich, (In Russian). —8— pacious and corrupt — succeeded in monopolizing the higher ecclesiastical appointments and filled the par- ishes with Greek priests, whose schools, in which Greek was exclusively taught, were the only means of instruction open to the population. By degrees Greek became the language oi the upper classes in all the Bulgarian towns, the Bulgarian language was written in Greek characters, and the illiterate peasants, though speaking the vernacular, called themselves Greeks." 7 "So completely did the identity of the Bulgarian nation seem lost that foreign travelers in the region spoke of them as a kind of Greeks, and down to the Crimean war any Bulgar lucky enough to claim wealth and education was likely to describe himself as a Greek." 8 "The Hellenization of Bulgaria was never quite complete, although the Slavic language was no longer taught, it continued to be spoken by the peasants. Mr. Brailsford, in his authoritative work on the Races of Macedonia, attributes this persistance of the Bulga- rian language to the failure of the Greeks to make any sort of provision for the education of Bulgarian women. He writes concerning the growth of Greek influence after the advent of the Turks in Bulgaria: 'It depended almost entirely upon the chui'ch, and it must have been immeasureably stronger in the Balkan peninsula after the coming of the Turks than ever before. It embraced not only Macedonia, but Ruma- nia, Bulgaria, and even Servia as well. The few Slavs in the interior who were educated at all were taught to regard themselves as Greeks, and the very tradi- tion of theii' origin was in danger of dying out. Two fatal errors alone wrecked what was nothing less than a scheme for the Hellenizing of the Balkan peninsula. The women were not educated; and for all the Greek schools might do, every Slav child learned his own despised tongue at his mother's knee. The peasants were also neglected. The Greeks regarded them with 7 — Encyclopaedia Britanica, 11th Edition, Vol. IV, p. 781. 8 — The Roots of the War, by Wm. Steams Davis. The Century Co., p. 72. —9— unmeasured and stupid contempt which a quick town- bred people instinctively feels for a race of cultiva- tors. They were barbarians, beasts of burden, men only 'in the catalogue.' The Greeks denied the rights of men to the Slav peasants and refused to accept them as brethren. The consequence was that the peasants never quite lost their sense of separation, and a certain dim consciousness of nationality re- mained, rooted in injuries and hatred. The nemesis came at the beginning of the nineteenth century." 9 THE AWAKENING. The annihilation of the Bulgarian nationality seemed to be complete. The town Bulgarians consid- ered it an insult to be called Bulgarians. In the peas- ant parlance, the word Greek and townsman were synonymous ; also the words Grkinia (Greek lady) and Kokona (lady) were synonymous with townswoman. The Bulgarian Gospodin Ivan (Mr. Ivan) was changed to Kyr ifanaki, Gospodja Maria (Mrs. Maria )to Ko- kona Mariola, etc. Vurgaros Hondrokephalos (block- headed Bulgarian) was a very common saying in those times. Of the nearly five million Bulgarians in the world in those dark days, the number of men who could read and write the Bulgarian language and were not ashamed of their nationality was very small. In the Eastermost of the three fingers of the Chal- cidian peninsula, only a few miles southeast of Sa- lonica, each of the three Slavic nations, belonging to the Eastern Orthodox church, had and still has a mon- astery — Zograph (Bulgarian), Hillendar (Servian) and Panteleymon (Russian). In the middle of the XVIII century a Bulgarian from the diocese of Sam- okov was the Abbot of the Servian monastery. His brother Paissy was the assistant Abbot. The Greek and Servian monchs insulted constantly Father Paissy, who was not ashamed of his nationality, that the Bulgarians had no history. According to his own testimony his heart was "consuming itself with zeal and sorrow" for his nation. He travelled extensively and labored hard to collect material for his history. 9 — ^Bulgaria and Her People, by Will S. Monroe, p.p. 29, 30. —10— One happy day in 1762 he penned the words "Konets i Bogu Slava." (Finis, Glory to God). The Bulgarian people now had a history. His book was entitled, "History of the Bulgarian People with Accounts of Their Tsars and Saints." In the introduction, among other things. Father Paissy says: "I saw many Bul- garians who go after a strange language and strange customs and ridicule their own tongue. For this rea- son I wrote here, for those scoffers of their own fathers, who do not love their own nationality and lan- guage, I wrote that they may know. * * * They turn to strange politics, and care not for the Bulgarian tongue, but learn to read and speak Greek, and are ashamed to call themselves Bulgarians. * * * o thou unwise and foolish one, why art thou ashamed to call thyself a Bulgarian, and readest not thine own tongue, and speakest it not. Have not the Bulgarians had a kingdom and a commonwealth ? But thou sayest the Greeks ai-e wiser and more political, for that rea- son, thou sayest, it is better to side with the Greeks. But see, foolish one, there are many nations wiser and more glorious than the Greeks, has any Greek left his tongue and learning, and nationality, as thou, foolish one, who leavest thine, and hast no benefit from th« Greek wisdom and politics. Thou Bulgarian, be not deceived, know thy nation and tongue, and learn thine own tongue; better is the Bulgarian simplicity and in- nocence." Then he continues to prove that the Gi'eeks are cunning, proud speculators, and intriguers — their superiority to the Bulgarians consists in these; but they have no family or civic virtues. Their mind thinks of unjust rapacity, and contempt of the simple Bulgarians. True, the Bulgarians are now only la- borers and shepherds, but it is Greek treachery that brought them to this, argues Father Paissy. This book was copied secretly throughout the country— from Hillendar to the Danube, and from the shores of the Black Sea to the Albanian mountains. The Bulgarian nation became a nation again. Bulga- ria had a history. THE WAR OF LIBERATION. The spark struck by Father Paissy in a few years —11— developed into a full conflagration. The Bulgarian nationality was not dead. It was only asleep. Schools were springing up over Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia. The Phanariotes saw their hopes oi Hellenizing the Balkan peninsula, the bulk of whose people were Bul- garians, threatened with failure. They turned loose all their low passions against the school masters. They assassinated many of them, others were accused before the Turkish government as enemies of the state and cast in jail, where dampness, stench, vermin and tor- ture ended their lives as martyrs for the national cause. Even, as in the case of Milladinoff Brothers of Struga, when the Turkish government prevailed upon by European diplomats, would have set them free, the Greek Hierarchy, bribing the Turkish jailers, sent them poison, and they were found dead in their cells the morning they were to be released. But the bitter cup of suffering for the national heroes did not stop the movement. When one dropped the fight, ten were ready to resume it. The national leaders saw that the Greek Hierar- chy was the deadly enemy of the Bulgarian nation- ality. As long as they submitted to the spiritual au- thority of the Greek Patriarch at Constantinople he claimed before the world that they were Greeks. A spiritual war was started for an independent Bulga- rian church. The people of Macedonia took a most ac- tive part in this fight against Hellenism. The Phana- riotes used their long-tried methods of intrigue and calumny against the Bulgarian leaders. The Turkish prisons wei-e actually full of the flower of the Bulga- rian people. Russia and other powers were begged to help induce the Sultan to recognize the independence of the Bulgarian church. They turned a deaf ear. Then a delegation was sent to Rome to negotiate with the Pope a union of the Bulgarian church with Rome. Kukush and Todorak, only a few miles north of Salo- nica, turned Roman Catholic. Other toWns followed their example. Russia was scared that the Eastern Orthodox Church of the Balkans will perish. The tsar brought pressure to bear upon the Sultan. On Feb. 28, 1870, the latter issued a firman "establish- ing the Bulgarian exarchate, with jurisdiction over —12— fifteen dioceses, including Nish, Pirot and Veles, the other dioceses in dispute to be added to these in case two-thirds of the Christian population so desired." lO The Greek Patriarch pronounced his "Anathema" against the new church and excommunicated its mem- bership from the Holy Universal Eastern Orthodox Church. Community after community added them- selves to their national church. Macedonia was not behind Thrace and Moesia in this great Bulgarian na- tional movement. The Greek clergy, in their desper- ate struggle to hold the people from joining their national church, among other low means, went so far as to deny the Omniscience of God, by telling the igno- rant people that Almighty God did not know the Bul- garian language,, that His linguistic ability did not go beyond Hebrew, Greek and Latin, in which tongues was written the accusation of Jesus on the Cross. The Bulgarian people had only five years in which to undo, to a great extent, the results of the most infa- mous Greek propaganda of five centuries. When some of the national leaders were fighting this war against the Phanariotes, others were can- vassing the country as Apostles of Freedom, preach- ing the Gospel of armed revolt against the Turkish misrule. In this movement also Macedonia took a very active part. Small outbreaks hei-e and there ex- cited the Turks to atrocities, the equal of which has not been recorded in history. European diplomacy failing to convince the Sultan of the wisdom of intro- ducing reforms, the tsar was given a free hand. On April 24, 1877, Russia declared war on Turkey. The campaign was over in less than a year. Bulgaria emerged a free nation from five centuries of the most terrible political and spiritual bondage in the history of the human race. THE TREATIES OF SAN STEFANO ANDl BERLIN. "The victorious advance of the Russian army to Constantinople was followed by the treaty of San Ste- fano (March 3rd, 1878), which realized almost to the full the national aspirations of the Bulgarian race. All lO^Encydopsdia Britanica, 11th Edition, Vol. IV, p. 781. —13— the provinces of European Turkey in which the Bul- garian element predominated were now included in an autonomous principality, which extended from the Black Sea to the Albanian Mountains, and from the Danube to the i^Egean, enclosing Ochrida, the ancient capital of the Shishman's, Dibra and Kastoria, as well as the districts of Vranya and Pirot, and possessing a Mediterranean port at Kavala. The Dobruja, notwith- standing its Bulgarian population, was not included in the new state, being reserved as compensation to Rou- mania for the Russian annexation of Bessarabia; Adrianople, Salonica and the Chalcidian peninsula were left to Turkey. The area thus delimited consti- tuted three-fifths of the Balkan Peninsula, with a pop- ulation of 4,000,000 inhabitants. The g;reat powers, however, anticipating that this extensive territory would become a Russian dependency, intervened; and on the 13th of July of the same year was signed the treaty of Berlin, which in effect divided the "Big Bul- garia' of the treaty of San Stefano into three por- tions. The limits of the principality of Bulgaria as then defined, and the autonomous pi'ovince of Eastern Rumelia, have been already descrioed; ii the remain- ing portions, including almost the whole of Macedonia, and part of the Vilayet of Adrianople, was left under Turkish administration. * * * Vranya, Pirot and Nish were given to Servia, and the transference of Dobruja to Roumania was sanctioned. This artificial division of the Bulgarian nation could scarcely be re- garded as possessing elements of permanence." 12 The English prime minister Beaconsfield looked on the provisions of the treaty of San Stefano "as insuring a dangerous Russian preponderance in the Balkan peninsula. He vigorously insisted that the whole treaty should be revised by a general European congress. For a time war between Russia and Eng- land seemed impending; and Austria was also discon- tented. The Congress finally met at Berlin in the summer, and succeeded in making a treaty which was accepted. * * * ■ ■ S 11 — Encyclopaedia Britanica, llth Edition, Vol. IV, p. 772. 12 — Encyclopaedia Britanica, llth Edition, Vol. IV, p. 782.. —14— 1. The Bulgaria of San Stefano was far from including all the Bulgarian people. The white region toward Constantinople is rurally solidly Bulgar, and also the great bulk of its urban population, Dobrudja is almost 100% Bulgar. The same is true for many miles beyond the rest of its borders. -15— "English jealousy of Russia thus severed Bulga- ria, which was one of race and sympathy, and at the same time left under Turkish yoke the Christians of Macedonia. The latter provision was simply a calam- ity for the unfortunate Macedonians." 13 "But the readjustments were made very unskill- fully, with far greater care on the part of tne oppon- ents of Russia to prevent the wide expansion of her power than to make any redistribution of the Balkan lands that would meet the reasonable demands of na- tional hopes and international justice." 14 "Nobody left Berlin really satisfied, save Bea- consfield, and he was to die in 1881 — too soon to re- alize the imperfection of his vaunted achievement."l5 "English responsibility in these new complica- tions and difficulties has been set forth by the Duke of Argyle: 'We, therefore, need not linger over the blow struck at the idea of a federation of the Balkan nationalities when Bulgaria — one and indivisible — ac- cording to the treaty of San Stefano, — was divided into three by the treaty of Berlin. The whole course of succeeding events was the result of this grave error. The most recent events lie there in germ.' "The reunion of free Bulgaria of the still vassal Oriental Rumelia, and as the immediate consequence thereof, the Serbo-Bulgarian war of 1885, the grow- ing rivalry between the nationalities in a still subject Macedonia, the new propaganda of the secondary na- tionalities, the isolation of Greece in its 1897 attempt, the fetishism of the status quo mitigated and corrected as it was by the intrigues of the powers, the miscar- riage of the hypocritical plan of reforms in Macedonia in 1907-1908, the intermezzo of the Turkish revolution with its failure to solve an insoluble problem, then the greatness and decline of the Balkan "Alliance" — all were the natural results of the mistake of Berlin, — a mistake which now everybody sees without the power to correct." 16 13— Europe in the XIX Century, by H. P. Judson, p.p. 274-275. 14, 15 — The Roots of the War, by Wm. S. Davis, and others, p.p 93, 97. 16 — Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars. p. 40. —16— WHY BULGARIA JOINED THE CENTRAL POWERS? The writer realizes that in trying to answer this question he is encountered by a strong prejudice against Bulgaria, because the powers she joined made themselves obnoxious to the world by their aims and their methods in the world war. Dr. Lyman Abbot, the venerable editor of the Outlook, in a letter to a friend of mine, who has been a missionary in the Balkans for nearly thirty years, states: "My sym- pathy would natui'ally have been with Bulgaria be- cause my wife's uncle, Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, was the tirst president and practically the founder of Robert College in Constantinople, and through him I have had personal acquaintance with Bulgaria, and the character of her civilization and its people, but when Bulgaria joined the band of brigands who have been devastating luurope, and joinea tnem because sne could get better terms from them than from the Allies, joinea them because theirs was, to use your own phrase 'the side that showed her triendsnip' she neces- sarily alienated all those who believed in justice and liberty, and became tainted with the evil repute brougnt upon the Central Powers by the lawless crim- inality of Germany in Belgium and France." The editor of "The Worlds Work," in a note on "The Old Bulgaria and the New," says: "The last nation to join the Central Powers in their onslaught un the lib- erties of mankind was Bulgaria. Bulgaria's adhesion to the Germanic cause was one of the most shameful episodes in modern history. It is doubtful, indeed, if all history contains any proceeding more cynical and more base. The story of the Bulgarian nation sup- plied the reason for assuming that Bulgaria's sym- pathies would inevitably go with the Entente. * * * In all probability the sympathies of the Bulgarian masses, like the sympathies of the Greek electorate, were with the Entente." 17 General Smuts, in his message to South Wales, classes Bulgaria with Ger- 17_The World's Work, November, 1918, p. 12. —17— many, Austria, Turkey and the Devil. 18 In talking with many intelligent American frienls the writer finds that the above quoted sentiments are quite gen- eral in America, and, perhaps, more so in the British Empire. "Our sympathies," they say, "were with Bulgaria during the Balkan wars. We knew she was held up by her false allies, but when she joined Ger- many she made a great mistake." Far be it from the writer to try to advocate the justice of Germany's and Austria's cause. We all know what they wanted, and what they did. But he asks the reader to suppress his feelings, and use only his reasoning power, in considering the influences that pushed Bulgaria towards the Central Powers. What follows are the writer's own observations. He is not posing as an interpreter or a spokesman of official Bulgaria. He is writing as an American citi- zen, whose native country happened to be Bulgaria, and perhaps has studied events in connection with that country, with a greater interest than a native- born citizen. Look at the map where Bulgaria of San Stefano is shown. Look again at the same map how that Bul- garia was unmercifully cut to pieces by the treaty of Berlin. Why was Bulgaria cut up like that? Why was Dobruja given to Rumania? Was it because the in- habitants of Dobruj a were not Bulgarians? No. The author of the ai'ticle in Encyclopaedia Britanica gives us the bare facts. "The Dobruja, notwithstanding its Bulgarian population, was not included in the new state, being reserved as compensation to Rumania for the Russian annexation of Bessarabia." Why were the districts of Pirot, Nish, Leskovac and Vranya given to Servia? Was it because the population was Serv- ian? No. It was simply because Beaconsfield imag- ined that a Great Bulgaria, so near Constantinople, would become a Russian dependency and thus greatly endanger British interests in the Near East. Why was Macedonia and the largest portion of Thrace left to the Turk? Was it because there was any doubt as to the character of the population? No. But because 18 — A speech delivered at Tonapandy, Rhonda, on Oct. 29, 1917. —18— a Great Bulgaria was not in the interests of England and Austria. Why was Eastern Rumelia created? Surely not because the diplomats at Berlin had any doubt as to the kind of people who lived there, but simply to mutilate the body of Bulgaria, and make her harmless in their future plans. "A brief consid- eration of these provisions will show that they were not dictated by any sincere desire to arrive at a last- ing and satisfactory settlement of the Balkan trou- bles. Each nation in the congress was intent upon securing for itself every possible advantage, irrespec- tive of the rights, wishes, or welfare of the Balkan people. Great Britain, Russia, and Austria-Hungary were all equally at fault. Great Britain, in fact, nine days before the congress met, concluded a treaty with Turkey whereby, in return for the permission to oc- cupy the Turkish island of Cyprus she pledged herself to maintain, by the use of force, if necessary, the in- tegrity of the Sultan's remaining possessions in Asia. Furthermore, Great Britain was a party to the crime of thrusting the Macedonian Christians back under the Turkish yoke, because she believed her own intei'- ests demanded a Turkey at the Dardanelles strong enough to repulse the encroachments of Russia. Aus- tria-Hungary's motives in occupying Bosnya and Her- zegovina were wholly selfish. * * * The short-sighted- ness and selfishness of the diplomats at Berlin bore fruits in the continuous unrest of later years in the Balkan region — a condition which ultimately precipi- tated the most terrible of European wars." 19 "This artificial division of the Bulgarian nation could scarce- ly be regarded as possessing elements of perma- nence." 20 "English jealousy of Russia severed Bul- garia, which was one of race and sympathy." 21 "Bul- garia — one and indivisible — according to the treaty of San Stefano — was divided into three by the treaty of Berlin." 22 19— The History of Europe from 1862-1914, by Lieutenant- Colonel L. H. Holt, U. S. Army, and Captain A. W. Chil- ton, U. S. Army, professors in U. S, M. A., p.p. 214-215, 20— Enclycopedia Britanica, llth E<iition, Vol. IV, p 782. 21 — Europe in the XIX Century, by H. P. Judson, p. 275. 22 — Report of the International Comjmission, p. 40. —19— At Beflin Bulgaria was crucified, mostly at the insistance of Beaconsfield, the prime minister of Eng- land, then the friend of Turkey. The acquisition of the Turkish island of Cyprus by England, always has been considered by educated Bulgarians as Judas' thirty silver pieces for the betrayal and crucifixion of Bulgaria. Compared with Beaconsfield, Judas has been considered a gentleman, because after his crime he had conscience enough to go and hang himself. It is recorded that the Russo-Polish Princess Radzivili met Beaconsfield at a brilliant reception the night that the news of the Cyprus convention was made public. As he wandered among the throng of buzzing, criticiz- ing, yet admiring generals and diplomats, the princess asked the prime minister, "What are you thinking of?" "I am not thinking at all," repUed Beaconsfield magnificently, "I am merely enjoying myself." 23 Since that time Bulgaria has trained and kept a cornparatively large army, and watching for an op- portune moment to undo the crime committed in Ber- lin and unite her people under one government. In 1885 Eastern Rumelia united with Bulgaria. The ini- tiative was on the part of Rumelia and not Bulgaiia. Russian hatred and Servian jealousy led to the Serbo- Bulgarian war of that year. Servia wanted to pre- serve the balance on the Balkans and struck treacher- ously at Bulgaria. The war was unfortunate for the Servians themselves. In 1912, for the sake of uniting her people, who composed the great bulk of the popu- lation in Macedonia and Adrianople Vilayet, Bulgaria made an alliance with her eternal enemies, Greece and Servia. The Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 are too recent to need any recounting. Bulgaria bore the brunt of the war agaisnt Turkey. Greece and Servia engaged themselves in marching through Macedonia and occupying the territory inhabited by Bulgarians. While Bulgaria was yet busy fighting the common en- emy Servia and Greece formed a secret alliance to cheat Bulgaria of her rightful claims of Macedonia. They dug trenches at the outskirts of the occupied ter- 23 — The Roots of the War, by Wm. Stearns Davis, p.. 93. —20— ritory and fortified themselves against Bulgaria. While it could not be settled who stiuck first, each party blaming the other, it is a settled fact that Ser- via and Greece had decided to keep the territory which was inhabited by Bulgarians and already had been promised Bulgaria by her treaty with Servia. For riervia her own treaty was a scrap of paper. Greeks and Servians would fight, but not cede an inch to Bul- garia. They did fight. Turkey had her chance and did not pass it by. Rumania, pushed by Russia, joined Bulgaria's enemies. Exhausted by doing the lion's share of the fighting against Turkey, Bulgaiia was overpowered, crushed and robbed unmercifully. Bulgaria put against Turkey 300,000 fighting men and received 12,347 square miles of territory, with 125,000 population, and lost to Rumania 2,687 square miles, leaving her a net gain of only 9,660 square miles. Greece put 150,000 men, gained 18,000 square miles and added to her population 1,700,000 souls. Servia — 150,000 soldiers, gained 15,000 square miles and 1,500,000 inhabitants. This is the squai'e deal Bulgaria received at the peace conference of Bucharest on August 10, 1913. She appealed to Christian and humanitarian Europe for sympathy and help in this terrible hold-up. The righteous diplomats of the so-called great powers turned a deaf ear to her cry of distress. Bulgaria had no friends. England, Russia and Austria-Hungary had their plans for the disposal of the "sick man's" coun- try. It pleased them greatly to see Bulgaria, the strongest and most progressive of the Balkan nations, humiliated and dismembered. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the crown prince of Austria, and his consort, were assassi- nated at Sarajevo, Bosnya, by Pan-Servian agents. Though not a sufficient cause, yet a pretty fair excuse for Germany to plunge the world into the bloodiest war in history. We have seen that Bulgaria had many grievances. She had an Alsace-Lorraine question with Rumania for the whole of Dobruja; another with Servia for Nish, Pirot, Vranya and Northwestern Macedonia; —21— still another with Greece in regard to Southwestern Macedonia; and another with Turkey for the Adrian- opolis vilayet. All her neighbors had robbed her of part of her territory and people ; and none of the great powers a real friend. The great war had started. Germany broke Bel- gian neutrality and this drew England into the war. France had no choice, she was attacked, she had to fight. The tsar was watching for an opportunity to get even with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Turkey jumped into the fire. Italy had some grievances against Austria and deserted her former allies. Ger- many and Austria had no attraction for the Bulgarian people. Naturally the Bulgarians would have favored the Entente. But there was Servia on their side, after Greece, Bulgaria's worst enemy. Her treachery and breech of contract in regard to Macedonia were too re- cent to forget. But Bulgaria was ready to forgive and to forget, if Servia would restore the part of Ma- cedonia which she had grabbed, and which she knew was inhabited by Bulgarians. But Servia would not cede an inch. From an American friend who left Bulgaria in January, 1918, and who has moved among the higher circles at Sofia, the writer learns that Bulgaria made three unsuccessful approaches to join the Entente. Through the influence of Russia her moderate claims were rejected. A special Bulgarian commission was sent to Petrograd. For two months they tried in vain to obtain an audience with Tsar Nickolas H. The same commission' went to London. There they had a very cordial reception, but their mission was frus- trated, thanks to influences from Petrograd. In August, 1915, Radoslavoff, the prime minister of Bulgaria, declared: "Wewillfight butfor one end, that is to extend our frontiers until they embrace the peo- ple of our own blood, but that end must be assured us beyond all doubt. If we are asked to fight alone, we are ready. If we are asked to fight with Greece, Ser- via and Rumania, in a new Balkan Alliance on the side of the Allies, we say : 'Give us back our Macedonia, and we will fight in the way we can serve you best.' " But official Russia had an eye on Constantinople. —22— The Russian press claimed that the Allies had prom- ised it to her. But Constantinople would be practic- ally useless without the adjoining territory to make the Black Sea a Russian lake, and most of that terri- tory was Bulgaria. Therefore she must be pushed on the side of the Central Powers, so that Russia may have a good excuse to invade Bulgaria and make of her a Zadunayskaya Gubernia (Trans-Danubian Prov- ince). Russia was successful. She took good care that Bulgaria was not assured the support of the Entente in her endeavor to unite her people. Servia was in great trouble. Bulgaria declared war against her, but not before ample warning that unless the grabbed Bulgarian territory was restored war would follow. Bulgaria never declared war against England, France, Russia or Italy. It was these countries that declared war on Bulgaria. They themselves know why. Bulgaria did not sink any ships and drown innocent women and children, nor bomb the civilian population of any city in the world, and thus provoke their right- eous indignation. Bulgaria did not go into the war "against the lib- erties of mankind." On the contrary she went in for the liberation of her own people in Macedonia, who suffered more- under Servian and Greek oppression, than under the bloody regime of Sultan Hamid. Bulgaria did not go into the war for German au- tocracy or German Mittel Europa. She went into the war to liberate and unite her people, whom Christian Europe had unmercifully crucified for selfish ends. When Bulgaria entered the war, it was not yet a war of Democracy agaisnt Autocracy. Russia, the worst autocracy in the world, was on the side of the Allies. Thei'e is not a more democratic nation in Europe than Bulgaria. Any intelligent, unprejudiced person can find this out for himself. Bulgaria does not cherish any ill-will against her neighbors. She is not against the national unity of the Greeks, Rumanians and Servians. All she wants from them is to restore the territory they grabbed from her and give her a chance to develop her national life. —23— Bulgaria's enemies have accused her of atrocities and barbarism. Almost all these accusations emanate from Servian and Greek sources. We know that they are extremely biased. We also know that the Greeks and Servians are not puritanically trained to discrim- inate between the truth and falsehood. We are told that prisoners of war were very thin and starved when released from Bulgaria, but are the Bulgarian sol- diers and her civil population very fat? The press in the allied countries published broadcast the Servian falsehood that the Bulgarians sold several thousand Servian women and girls to the Turks. How were they transported from Servia to Turkey? In what mar- ket were they sold? What is the matter with the consuls of the neutral countries at Sofia and Constan- tinople? Are they asleep on the job? Why did they not inform their governments in regard to this terri- ble crime? In the small monthly publication, "The Balkan Immigrant," for No^s^ember, 1918, Miss Mary M. Haskell, a returned missionary, says: "Have readers of the Balkan Immigrant read the tales circu- lating in the American press which would lead one to suppose Bulgarians to be a cruel and selfish people, not fit to exist ? The American missionaries have lived in the country many years and all through the recent wars, we have traveled, we have known people of all parties and nationalities, not only in Bulgaria but in Macedonia also. At times Bulgarian soldiers have paid back their foes in their own coin, but thank God, there have been no systematized cruelties as their enemies fabricate. Time will show this, when unpre- judiced men can make tours of investigation and re- port to the State Department." SERVIAN CLAIMS IN MACEDONIA. Before the treaty of Berlin, the Servian national leaders, with the exception of a few extreme Chauvin- ists, did not claim any portion of Macedonia to be Ser- vian. They knew that the Slavs of that country be- longed to the Bulgarian group. Their eyes were turned towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, populated with their brothers by blood, speech and sympathies; and also the sanjak of Novi Bazar, adjoining Bosnia —24— and Servia. In their national awakening all the Bul- garians from the Danube to the JEgeaxi, and from the Black Sea to the Albanian Mountains acted in unison. Under Turkish misrule Moesia (Berlin Bulgaria), Thrace (Berlin Eastern Rumelia and the Adrianople Vilayet, clear to the walls of Constantinople) and Ma- cedonia were the home of the United Bulgarian nation. In 1870 all this territory, including Pirot, Nish, Lesko- vac and Vranya districts, threw off the spiritual yoke of the Phanariotes. The Servians were contented to remain ecclesiastically under the Greek Patriarch. There was no compulsion on the part of anybody to induce the people to join the new church under the Bulgarian Exarch. By their free act the people of Ma- cedonia declared to the world that they are neither Greeks nor Servians. It is a well established fact that ignorant peasants are very reluctant to join a new church, publicly "anathemized" and excommunicated by the head of the church — the Patriarch of Constan- tinople. Yet the people of Macedonia risked going to a very hot climate in the world to come, rather than be called Greeks in this sinful world. However, there were quite a number of communities which remained with the Phanariotes. The word "Exarchist" meant invariably a Bulgarian, while the word "Patriarchist" meant a Greek, Servian, Vlakh, Albanian or Bulgarian who submitted to the ecclesiastical authority of the Phanariotes. By the treaty of Berlin (Art. XXV) it was de- creed that "The provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be occupied and administered by Austria-Hun- gary. The government of Austria-Hungary not de- siring to undertake the administration of the Sanjak of Novi Bazar. * * * " This cut the Servians off their lawful sphere of influence and extension towards the sea, and also of the hope of ever uniting the people of their own blood. The sanjak of Novi Bazar was not pre-empted yet, but Austria had already put up the sign "Verboten." It was in the interests of Austria- Hungary to divert the attention of Servia in a differ- ent direction. "After the Berlin congress, Austria- Hungary entered into closer relations with King Milan of Servia. He signed the secret treaty of 1881, in —25— RUSSIA BULaflRm.aflEECEftNDSERVIA eemc/S/*.. CONTESTED KECION eETwEfN BUtCARIA hndSERVIA SHADED, CAINS AprcR THE BALKAN VJAAS , I9l^~t9t3 j^fAwO^ THE BALKANS BEFORE AND AFTER THE BALKAN WARS. 2. Bulgaria went into the alliance to free and unite her people in iVlace- donia and Thrace. Notice how her treacherous allies deprived her of all Macedonia. Notice also the black spot, the southern borders of which the Servians were not to cross in their territorial claims. The population of this region is solidly Bulgar. The most cruel Servian attrocities occurred there. —26— which (Art. 7) Austria-Hungary formally declared that she 'would not oppose, would even support Servia against other powers in the event of the latter's find- ing a way qf extending its southern boundary, excep- tion being made in the case of the sanjak of Novi Ba- zar.' In 1889, when this treaty was renewed, Austria- Hungary promised in even clearer terms 'to aid in the extension of Servia in the direction of the Vardar val- ley.' Thus at the very moment when Austria-Hungary was depriving Servia of any possibility of westward ex- tension, by joining the section of the Servian popuiatioii inhabiting Bosnia and Herzegovina to herself, Austrian diplomacy was holding out by way of compensation, the hope of an extension toward the South, in those territories whose population had, up to 1860-1870, been universally recognized as Bulgarian, even by the Serv- ians. , : j »^^ "At this period the network of Servian schools spread specially fast, thanks to the aid of the Turks, who here as elsewhere followed their habitual policy of playing off the Servian and Greek minorities against the strong- er and more dangerous majority of the Bulgarian ex- archists." 24 In 1896-1897 there were in Macedonia 843 Bulga- rian schools, against 77 Servian sdhools, 1,306 Bulgarian teachers (Servian 118) ; 31,719 scholars in the Bulga- rian schools (2,873 in the Servian) ; there were also 14,713 children in Bulgarian kindergartens. "These figures show that at the close of the nine- teenth century the overwhelming majority of the Slav population of Macedonia was sending its children to the exarchist Bulgarian schools." 25 Before the Balkan wars the people of free Bulgaria would have rather had Macedonia autonomous as a whole under Turkish suzerainty than independent on condition of partition between Bulgaria, Servia and Greece. But the government secretly from the people signed a treaty of partition with Servia on March 13, 1912. A highly detailed map of the contested territory was attached to the treaty. Servia agreed not to claim any territory beyond the Southern boundary of this 24, 25 — Report of the International Commission, p.p. 26, 27. —27— contested region. The Bulgarians were not to claim any- thing beyond its northern limit. The Tsar of Russia was to arbitrate the exact place of the border between Bulgaria and Servia within the limits of the contested territory. This region is roughly shown by the black patch on our map. 26 However, Servia treated her treaty with Bulgaria in German fashion, as a mere scrap of paper. While Bulgaria was still busy fighting the common foe, her treacherous ally, Servia, was en- gaged in the wholesale Servianizing of the popula- tion beyond the line which she contracted not to cross in her claims. The clergy, teachers and prominent citi- zens were given the choice between declaring them- selves as Servians, or undeigo the most barbarous treatment. The people were ordered to change the Bul- garian ending off in their names to the Servian itch; for example Ivanoff to Ivanitch. The writer will intro- duce a few quotations from the repoi't of the Interna- tional Commission which illustrate the oppressive meas- ures of Servia in her endeavor to Servianize the Bulga- rians of Macedonia. The Bulgarian bishop Neophite of Veles, said to his persecutor, the Servian Sub-Prefect: You know "What the Servian priests and school masters* are doing in the villages. They are visiting the Bulgarian villages with soldiers and forcing the people to write themselves down as Servians, drive out their Bugarian priests and ask to have a Servian priest given them. Those who refuse to proclaim themselves Servians are beaten and tortured." 27 The International commission is in possession of a copy of the Servian formula of renunciation of Bulga- rian nationality. This is the formula which the priests and their flocks had to address to Mr. Vincentius, the Servian Metropolitan of Uskub: I and the flock confided to my charge by God were formerly Servian, but the terroi's with which the Bul- garian comitajis representing the revolutionary orga- 26 — An exact copy of the map of the contested territory is found on page 45 of the Report of the International Commission. *Imported from Servia. 27 — Report International Commission, p.p. 53, 54. —28— nization inspired us, and the violence they used to- ward us, compelled us and our fathers before us to turn from the patriarchate to the exarchate, thus making Bulgarians of the pure Servians we were. Thus we called ourselves Bulgars under fear of death until the arrival of our Servian army, until the moment of our liberation from the Turks. Now that we are no longer in fear of bombs, stones and bullets, we beg your Holi- ness, on our own behalf and on behalf of our flocks, to deign to restore us to our Holy Church of Uskub, to restore us to the faith ^hich we have for a time be- trayed through fear of death. Kissing your holy right hand, we ask you to pray to God to pardon our sin. Signed at Sopot, March 28, 1913. This formula was sent, in Servia, by a Servian of- ficial, Daniel Tsakits, secretary of the Malinska commu- nity at Koumanovo, to the Bulgarian priest Nikolas Ivanov, with the following letter: Father Nikolas, thou shalt sign this letter that I send thee, and after thee all the villagers of Sopot are to sign, likewise the Trstenichani, the Piestchani, the Stanevchani, and Alakintchani, who are thy parision- ers. The whole to be ready by Saturday. Greeting from Daniel Tsakits, 27, IH, 1913, Malino. "Take care that those who sign do not make off." Similar tactics were resorted to at Monastir and other places. This was simply "adding insult to in- jury." After the Second Balkan war, which was very un- fortunate for the Bulgarian nation, Macedonia was di- vided between Greece and Servia, not upon the princi- ple of nationality, but upon the prniciple of robbers dividing up their Jbooty. The martyrdom of Macedonia began. The country was put under a special law. On October 4, 1913, the Servian government issued a de- cree on "public security" in the recently acquired ter- ritories, which amounted to the establishment of a mili- tary dictatorship, and called forth cries of horror in the foreign press.28 The full text of this document is given in the Report of the International Commission, 28 — Report of the International Commission, p. 160, —29— p.p 160-162, and in Prof. Monroe's book, "Bulgaria and Her People," p.p. 384-391. The treatment of the people in Servian Macedonia* aroused the indignation even of the Servian Socialist paper, Radnitchke Novine. "If the liberation of these territories is a fact, why then, is this exceptional re- gime established there ? If the inhabitants are Servians why are they not made the equals of all the Servians; why is the constitutional rule not put in operation ac- cording to which 'All Serviajis are equal before the law'? If the object of the wars was unification, why is not this unification effectively recognized, and why are these exceptional ordinances created, such as can only be imposed upon conquered countries by conquerors? Moreover, our constitution does not ad- mit of rules of this nature!" 29 "As a matter of fact, if one did not know what Macedonia is, one might guess it from the publication of these ordinances. Clearly Macedonia was not 'Old Servia' unified, since the population is treated as 'reb- els in a perpetual state of revolt.' " 30 The regime of Servian anarchy is summed up in a letter published in the "Manchester Guardian." The writer is a man of high character and a minister of religion — it is safer not to indicate his church. He is a native of the country, but has had a European education, and is not himself a member of the perse- cuted Bulgarian community: "The situation grows more and more unbeara- ble for the Bulgarians — a perfect hell. I had oppor- tunities of talking with peasants from the interior. What they tell us makes one shudder. Every group of four or five villages has an official placed over it who, with six or seven underlings, men of disreputa- ble antecedents, carries out perquisitions, and on the pretext of searching for arms steals everything that is worth taking. They indulge in flogging and rob- bery and violate many of the women and girls. Tri- * — The term Sei-vian Macedonia is just as congruent as German Belgium. 29 — Report of the International Commission, p. 162. 30 — Report International Commission, p. 162. —30— butes under the form of military contributions are ar- bitrarily imposed. One village of 110 families had already been fined 6,000 dinars (fT.240) and now it has to pay another 2,000 (£T.80.) The priest of the vil- lage, to avoid being sent into exile, has had to pay a ransom of £T.50. Poor emigrants returning from America have had to pay from ten to twenty napo- leons for permission to go to their homes. The offi- cials and officers carry out wholesale robberies through the customs and the army contracts. The police is all powerful, especially the secret service. Bands of, Servian terrorists (domitadjis) recruited by the government, swarm all over the country. They go from village to village, and woe to anyone who dares to refuse them anything. These bands have a free hand to do as they please, in order to Serbize the population. Shepherds are forbidden to drive their flocks to pasture lest (such is the excuse) they should supply the Bulgarian bands with food. In a word, it is an absolute anarchy. We shall soon have a famine, for the Serbs have taken everything, and under present conditions no one can earn a living. Everyone would like to emigrate, but it is impossi- ble to get permission even to visit a neighboring vil- lage." 31 Does this look like liberation? Does it show that the Macedonians are Servians? THE GREEK CLAIMS IN MACEDONIA. Let us examine soma statistics: The Bulgarians claim that there are in Macedo- nia 1,181,336 Bulgarians, 228,702 Greeks, and 700 Servians. The Greeks claim 652,795 Greeks, 332,162 Bul- garians and no Servians. The Servians affirm that Macedonia is inhabited by 2,048,320 Servians, 201,140 Greeks, and 57,600 Bulgarians. The International commission from whose report we take the above figures, says: "The Bulgarian statistics alone take into acount the national con- 31 — Report International Commission, p. 170. —31— sciousness of the people themselves. The Servian calculations are generally based on the results of the study of dialects and on the identity of customs; they are therefore largely theoretic and abstract in char- acter. The Greek calculations are even more artifi- cial, since their ethnic standard is the influence ex- ercised by Greek civilization on the urban popula- tion, and even the recollections and traces of classi- cal antiquity." 32 Mr. Brancoff's statistics of Macedonia are the only ones that go into details. He says that Macedo- nia has 190,000 Greeks, against 1,172,132 Bulgars, not including the Pomaks (Mohammedanized Bulgar- ians). "The Greek population of Macedonia is con- fined to the southern regions, yet even here in some dis- tricts the Bulgars are in the majority. Thus the Kaza of Lerin (Fiorina) has 43,488 Bulgars and 110 Greeks; in the Kaza of Ochrid, with 44,432 Bulgars, there are 3,084 Vlakhs, but no Greeks whatever; the Kaza of Vodena has several hundi'ed Gypsies along- side its 31,136 Bulgars, but no Greeks. And, if in the town of Kastoria, the 4,000 Greeks outnumber the Bulgars ten to one, the entire village population is Bulgar, and the Kaza of Kastoria has 57,400 Bul- gars against 11,075 Greeks. The city of Salonica with a total population of 130,000, has 20,000 Greeks and 8,000 Bulgars. But while in the city of Salonica the Greeks comprising one-sixth of the population, outnumber the Bulgars more than two to one, in the Kaza of Salonica, outside the city, the Bulgai's num- ber 25,000 and the Greeks 17,265. "East of Salonica the Mgean coast is more Greek than Bulgar in its urban population; but, again, while in the town of Serres there are 2,488 Bulgars against 5105 Greeks, in the Kaza of Serres there are 47,560 Bulgars, against 28,543 Greeks and in the whole san- jak of Serres 259,186 Bulgars to 50,298 Greeks. In- deed, the town of Serres is a Hellenized island in a Bulgarian sea. The town, of Drama also has 432 Bul- gars, 700 Greeks, and 1,500 Vlakhs but the Kaza of Drama numbers 11,016 Bulgars, 3,890 Greeks and 82- — Report International Commission, p.p. 28, 30. —32— 1,914 Vlakhs. That is to say, even in those districts of Macedonia where Greeks are to be found at all, — North of Thessaly and along the ^Egean coast — they are mainly town merchants or else nomadic fisher- folk, while the native population, tilling the soil and christening village and mountain, and river and for- est, is Bulgar. "Of course only along the JEgean coast do the Greeks exceed the Bulgars in the towns. The Bul- gar town population all over Macedonia is 214,260, against 52,080 Greeks, of whom 20,000 are in Salon- ica." 33 How is it that the Greeks are almost invariably found in the towns, as islands surrounded by a sea of Bulgarians? Would not the facts given in the sec- tion "li'ive Centuries of a Double Yoke," furnish us with the clue that these Greeks are nothing else but Hellenized Bulgarians? Sudh results from five hun- dred years of the most unscrupulous Greek propa- ganda, supported by the political regime of tlie un- speakable Turk, are only a little more than complete failure. The Bulgarian speaking Patriarchists form the connecting link in the evolution of the Bulgar into the Macedonian Greek. However, the Bulgarians are very generous. They do not wish to claim these rene- gade Bulgarians. They are more than willing to credit the Greek claims with these Hellenized Bul- gars. The Bulgarians claim Macedonia on the basis of an overwhelming majority of self-conscious and self-confessed Bulgars. In 1869-70, about eight years before the libera- tion of Bulgaria, Luben Karaveloff, a prominent Bul- garian man of letters wrote: "The Greeks show no interest in knowing what kind of people live in such a country as Macedonia. It is true that they say that the country formerly belonged to Greeks, and there- fore ought to belong to them again. * * * But we are in the Nineteenth century and historical and cano- nical rights have lost all significance. Every people like every individual ought to be free, and every na- 33 — Journal of Rax:e Development, January, 1918, Rrof. R. A. Tsanoflf's paper on "Bulgaria's Case," p. 302. —33— tion has the right to live for itself. Thrace and Ma- cedonia ought then to be Bulgarian since the people who live there are Bulgarians." In spite of the very strong opposition of the Greek hierarchy, assisted by corrupt Turkish oihcials, the population of Macedonia fought for religious freedom from the ecclesiastical yoke of the f hanar- iotes, and when victory came in 1870, they joined the Bulgarian national church. Houses of worship were built, national schools sprang up even in the smallest villages. The teachers, native Macedonians, were not paid by a foreign propaganda organization, as was tne case with the Greek, and after with the Servian schools, but by the people themselves. There were no comitadjis to terrorize the people to become Bul- garians. On the contrary, there were Greek intrig- uers and corrupt Turkish officials to scare them to remain Pseudo-Greeks. Almost all Greek dioceses lost their Bulgarian flocks. Though Bulgarian bish- ops were appointed to care for the new national church, the Greek Patriarch continued to appoint Greek bishops, notwithstanding the fact that the Greek constituency would not have justified even the appointment of a priest. If the political movement and afterwards the liberation of Bulgaria were de- layed at least twenty years, the Greeks would have lost, perhaps, two-thirds of those whom they claim as Greeks in Macedonia. More than half of the so-called Greeks use the Bulgarian language as their mother tongue. The Phanariotes have coined out the term, "Bulgarophone Greeks" (Bulgarian- speaking Greeks), to designate the Bulgarians still adhering to the Greek Patriarchate. The writer was born in Thrace and spent seven years in Macedonia in the capacity of a Congregational home missionary. He has never met a genuine Greek or any other for- eigner who could speak Bulgarian without being de- tected right away that he is a foreigner. But the Patriarchist Bulgarians speak the language just as naturally as their Exarchist brethren. But like the Pomaks (Mohammedan Bulgars) these Grecomans (Bulgaro-Greeks) are more bigoted than the genuine Greeks. They hate their true brethren, the Bulga- —34— rians. These Grecomans furnished the Turkish gov- ernment with spies against the Internal Macedonian Kevolutionary Organization. There was a Supreme Macedono-Adrianople Committee at Sofia, Bulgaria. Thoug'h its presi- dents were Macedonians, yet apparently this organi- zation was in the hands of Official Bulgaria, and very often served the dynastic ends of the king. The Su- preme Committee was far from satisfying the aims and ideals of the Macedonian population. Therefore, the necessity of a new organization in the midst of the people whose interests at was to serve. The Cen- tral Macedonian Committee was organized. Gotze Uelchetf of Kukush, a few miles north of Salonica, was the soul of the movement. His official position was a school master, but his real work was to awaken and organize the population for an armed revolt against the Turkish misrule. His ideal was Macedo- nia for the Macedonians. He was a Socialist, and even constitutional kings were not much to his liking. The writer happened to be in Macedonia at the very con- ception of this organization. Gotze Delcheff was the principal of the national school of our town. The writ- er disagreeing with Delcheflf as to methods of work, a pretty serious quarrel followed. Asi a result the writ- er was deprived of the honor of being one of the char- ter members of the Central Macedonian Committee. But later they embraced one another with a brotherly kiss, customary to the revolutionists. Delcheff' s real mission was given publicity by a young man in a spree of drunkenness. He had to disappear, and from that time on canvassed the country secretly from one end to the other with an armed squad (his body- guard), and gave his whole time to the work of orga- nizing and directing. Official Greece and Servia opposed this movement because they considered it an enemy to their propa- ganda. While the organization was constantly grow- ing many Macedonians, betrayed by Grecomans or other Turkish spies, took to the mountains, forming into armed bands of thirty or forty and waging gut^ ilia war on the Turkish army. More than 300,000 Turkish troops were constantly kept on the go chasing —35— the bands. The aim was to bankrupt Turkey econom- ically. The bands also assisted in smuggling fire- arms and ammunitions from across the borders. In 1897 Greece, deceiving herself, that the Ma- cedonians will assist her by a revolt, provoked Tur- key to war. "On the 9th and 10th of April Greek irregulars crossed the frontier either with a view to provoke hostilities or in the hope of fomenting a ris- ing in Macedonia. " * * * The Turkish forces had now drawn to- gether and the Greeks were threatened on both flanks. In the evening (April 23) a general retreat was ordered, and the loose discipline of the Greek army was at once manifested. Rumors of disaster spread among the Greek ranks, and wild panic sup- ervened. * * * The general debacle could not, how- ever, be arrested, and in great disorder the mass of the Greek army fled southwards to Pnarsala. There was no pursuit and the Turkish comander-in-chief did not reach Larisa till the 27th. Thus ended the first phase of the war, in which the Greeks showed tenac- ity of defence, which pi'oved fruitless by reason of initially bad strategic dispositions entailing far too great dispersion, and also because there was no plan of action beyond a general desire to avoid risking a defeat which might prevent the expected risings in Macedonia and elsewhere. * * * " * * * The Greek forces being much demoral- ized, the intervention of the tsar was invoked by tele- graph; and the latter sent a personal appeal to the toultan, who directed a suspension of hostilities. On the 20th (May) an armistice was arranged. " * * * Under the terms of the treaty of peace, signed on the 20th of September, and arranged by the European powers, Turkey obtained an indem- nity of L. T. 4,000,000, and a ratification of the Thes- salian frontier, carrying with it some strategic ad- vantage. History records few more unjustifiable wars than that which Greece gratuitously pro- voked." 34 The Mcedonian organization was pretty well pre- 34 — Encyclopedia Britanica, . 11th Edition, Vol. XII p. 424. — 3&— pared and could be of material assistance to the Greeks in harassing the Turkish lines of communica- tion and causing a general disturbance in the country back of the fighting line. However, much as they hated the Turks, the population of Macedonia hated the Greeks more. The physical wrongs of the Turks were as nothing compared with the spiritual and in- tellectual crimes of the Greeks. The organization not only did not proclaim a revolt, but recalled the usual bands from tne mountains, so that Turkey might have a free hand. Not even a Macedonian aog wagged its tail in assistance of the much-hated Greek. Thus the people of Macedonia once more let the Greeks and the world know that they are not Greeks. Servia and Greece tried to win territory from Turkey, but both failed completely. Without the as- sistance of Bulgaria they could not gain an inch. They approacnea Bulgaria several times for a Bal- kan Alliance, and in 1912 succeeded in tneir plans. Bulgaria beiievea . tnat ner swoiii enemies had come to tneir senses, ihe BaiKaii wars loUowed with tne well known results. Ii Bulgaria knew of tne treach- ery of her false allies, and that Macedonia would change a bad master for two worse ones, she would have spurned even the idea of alliance with Servia and Greece. i Before the Second Balkan war the Greeks were fully convinced that they cannot Hellenize the popu- lation of Macedonia, therefore they decided on the next best — extermination. 'ihe International Commission had a fair oppor- tunity to collect information and study the lacts. Therefore, we will let these impartial and honest judges speak: "The facts wnicn emerge clearly from our depositions are (1) that the village submitted irom tne first; (2) that it was sacked and burned; (3) that the Greek troops gave themselves up openly to a debauch of lust; (4) that many of the peasants were killed wantonly and without provocation." 35 "The great mass of evidence goes to show that 35 — Report International Commission, p. 102. —37— there was nothing singular in the cases which the commission itself investigated. In one instance a number of Europeans witnessed the brutal conduct of a detachment of Greek regulars under three offi- cers. F'ifteen wounded Bulgarian soldiers took re- fuge in the Catholic convent of Paliorti, near Ghev- gheli; and were nursed by the sisters. Father Al- loati reported this lact to tne Greek commandant, whereupon a detacnment was sent to searcn the con- vent for a certain Bulgarian voyevoda (chief of bands) named Arghyr, who was not there. In the course of the search a Bulgarian Catholic priest, J^'a- ther Trepche, and the Armenian doctoi' ox the con- vent were severely flogged in the presence of the Greek officers. A Greek soldier attempted to violate a nun, and during the search a sum of L. T. 300 was stolen. Five Bulgarian women and a young girl were put to the torture, and a large number of peasants carried off to prison for no good reason. The officer in command threatened to kill Father Alloati' on the spot and to burn down the convent. If such things could be done to Europeans in a building under the protection of the French flag, it is not difficult to be- lieve that the Bulgarian peasants fared incompara- bly worse." 36 "The commission regrets that- the attitude of the Greek government towards its work has prevented it from obtaining any official answer to the charges which emerge from this evidence. The broad fact that the whole of this Bulgarian region, for a dis- tance of about one hundred miles, was devastated and nearly every village burned, admits no denial. Nor do we think that military necessity could be pleaded with any plausibihty.* * * The Greeks did not wait for any provocation. * * * but everywhere burned the villages, step by step with their advance. The slaughter of peasant men could be defended only if they had been in the act of resistance with arms in their hands. No such explanation will fit the cases on which we have particularly laid stress, nor have any of the war correspondents who followed the 36 — Report International Commission, p. 103. —38— Greek army reported conflicts along the main line of the Greek march with armed villagers. The violation of women admits of no excuse; it can only be de- nied." 37 "Denial unfortunately is impossible. No verdict which could be based on the evidence collected by the commission could be more severe than that which Greek soldiers have pronounced upon themselves. It happened that on the eve of the armistice (July 27) the Bulgarians captured the baggage of the Nine- teenth Greek infantry regiment at Dobrinishte (Raz- log.) It included its post bags, together with the file of its telegraphic orders, and some of its ac- counts. We were permitted to examine these docu- ments at our leisure in the Foreign Office at Sofia. * * * We studied with particular care a series of twenty-five letters, which contained definite avowals by these Greek soldiers of the brutalities which they had practiced. Two members of the commission have some knowledge of modern Greek. We satisfied ourselves (1) that the letters (mostly illiterate and ill-written) had been carefully deciphered and hon- estly translated; (2) that the interesting portions of the letters were in the same handwriting as the ad- dresses on the envelopes (which bore the official stamp) and the portions which related only personal news; (3) that no tampering with the manuscripts had been practiced. * * * " 38 "The letters require no commentaiy. Some of the writers boast of the cruelties practiced by the Greek army. Others deplore them. * * * Most of the let- ters dwell on the slaughter of non-combatants, in- cluding women and children. These few extracts, each from a separate letter, may suffice to convey their general tenor: By order of the King we are setting fire to all the Bulgarian villages, because the Bulgarians burned the beautiful town of Serres, Nigrita, and several Greek villages. We have shown ourselves far more cruel than the Bulgarians. * * * 37 — Report International Commission, p.p. 103, 104. 38 — Report International Commission, p. 104. —39— Here we are burning the villages and killing the Bulgarians, both women and children.* * * We took only a few (prisoners), and these we killed, for such are the orders we have received. We have to bum the \'illages — such is the order — slaughter the young people and spare only the old people and the children. * * * What is done to the Bulgarians is indescribable; also to the Bulgarian peasants. It was a butchery. There is not a Bulgarian town or village but is burned. We massacre all the Bulgarians who fall into our hands, and bum the villages. Of the 1,200 prisoners we took at Nigrita, only forty-one remain in the prisons, and everywhere we have been we have not left a single root of this race. We picked out their eyes (five Bulgarian prison- ers) while they were still alive. The Greek army sets fire to all the villages where are Bulgarians and massacre all it meets.* '' * God knows where this will end. "These letters relieve us of the task of summing up evidence. From Kukush to the Bulgarian frontier the Greek army devastated the villages, violated the women, and slaughtered the non-comoatant men. The order to carry out reprisals was evidently obeyed. We repeat, however, that these reprisals began before the Bulgarian provocation. * * * Systematically and in cold blood the Greeks burned one hundred and sixty Bulgarian villages and destroyed at least lt),UUU Bulgarian homes. * * *" 39 Before we close this chapter we will give the tes- timony of Mr. H. M. Wallis, a member of the Society of Friends of England, who has made a special study of the region devastated by the Greeks during the Second Balkan war. His article "The Devastation of Macedonia," was published in the Quarterly Review, April, 1914. Volume 220, p.p. 506-523. "The advance of the Greek army has been held up to the admiration of military men as a miracle of speed. Its slowness is the fact which calls for explanation; two furlongs per hour is no Marathon race, but it is all King Con- stantine was able to exact from a force outnumoering its opponents by four or five to one. Why? Because 39 — Report International Commission, p.p. 105, 106. —40— his gallant boys had something else to do. * * * * What went on behind the line of Greek advance no pen may tell. The maltreatment of Bulgarian women seems to have been a specialty of these dastards, who during their month of 'fighting' could never, as Gen- eral Ivanoff assures me, be got to charge with the bayonet." Professor Monroe says: "The majority of the inhabitants of Macedonia are Bulgarians." Then he asks: "Where are these Macedonian Bulgars today?" Mr. Wallis answers they have disappeared. "So far as human agency can effect it, they have been oblit- erated. By shot, shell, and bayonet, by torture and fire, by proscription, imprisonment, and forcible ex- ile the whole non-Greek element has been destroyed or chased out. * * *' "Whither? Into Bulgaria. * * * i believe that of approximately 130,000 refugees, who are now King Ferdinand's guests, and are fed by his bounty and the bounty of the Bulgarians, there are about 100,- 000 whose homes were in what is now New Greece." "King Constantine had a singular opportunity of proving to Europe the capacity, civilization and mag- nanimity of himself and his people. He preferred to play the role of Tamerlane; he has made a desert and calls it 'Greece.' " "After five centuries of Turkish rule the Bul- gars of Macedonia still retained their language, cus- toms and nationality. The brutal methods of dena- tionalization employed by the Greeks and Servians merit the severe condemnation of all civilized na- tions." 40 WHAT DOES BULGARIA EXPECT FROM THE PEACE CONFERENCE? In his speech opening the Fourth Liberty Loan President Wilson expressed the following sentiments: "We are fighting for a reorganization of the world upon the basis of justice and fair dealing. We are fighting against the medieval and dynastic idea that might is the only force that regulates the activities of 40^Bulgariia and Her People, by Will S. Monroe, p.p. 394, 395. —41— latc^i^ THE BALKAN STATES AS THEY SHOULD BE. 3. When Rumania, Greece and Servia claim the right to unite their own people is it unjust that Bulgaria should be given overwhelmingly Bulgar Mace- donia and solidly Bulgar Dobrudja? Certainly our boys did not sacrifice their lives for revenge and injustice. We should not punish Bulgaria by leaving innocent and martyred Macedonia under Greek and Servian oppression. —42— nations. * * * We propose to establish the princi- ples of the Declaration of Independence. No nation is to conquer and destroy another nation simplj- be- cause it has the power to do so. * * * ' in this same speech Mr. Wilson invites leaders of other nations to add their views to his own. Mr. Balfour, who voices the public opinion of England as eloquently as Mr. Wilson voices that of the United States, has promptly accepted that invitation. In a recent speech he says: "The other essential preliminary to the establishment of a League of Nations is the definite reorganization of the world on the basis of freedom of peoples and of national rights. * * * " Mr. Balfour demands that the Polish people be made a nation once more; that Italians outside of Italy be restored to the Italian nation, that the 3,000,000 Greeks who are not nation- ally a part of Greece shall resume their membership in the Greek state, that all the Serbs outside of Serbia shall be brought under the national banner, that Al- sace-Lorraine be restored to France, and all like in- justices and crimes committed in the past shall be un- done." 41 Is the question of Macedonia intentionally omitted, or is it included in the expression "all like injustices and crimes committed in the past shall be undone?" Will the Peace Conference undo the un- pardonable crimes against the Bulgarian nation com- mitted at Berlin in 1878, and at Bucharest in 1913? Is the square deal and granting of favors to be only for the small nations which by mere accident hap- pened to be on the side of the Entente, or is the prin- ciple to be applied all around ? If so, Bulgaria expects : 1. When the Peace Conference gives to Rumania Bessarabia and Transylvania with their a little over 50 per cent of Rumanians, and, perhaps, Bukowina, with only 35 per cent Rumanians and 40 per cent of Ru- thenians (Ukrainians), that it should require Ruma- nia to hand over to Bulgaria the whole of Dobruja, which is almost 100 per cent Bulgarian. 41— "The Wilson-Balfour Basis of Peace." In the World's Work, November, 1918, p. 10. —43— 2. When Servia is given the chance to unite her people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and perhaps form a Jugo-Slav Federation with her kinsfolk in Monte- negro, Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia, Carniola, Istrya and Goritz, that she should be asked to return purely Bulgarian Macedonia, which she unjustly grabbed from Bulgaria. 3. When Greece is given possession of all the is- lands of the Mgean and the western coast of Asia Minor inhabited by her own people, that she should be invited to step out of Macedonia 75 per cent of whose Christian population is confessedly Bulgarian, and the remainder Hellenized Bulgars. By this Chris- tian Europe will give a chance to the over 100,000 exiled Macedonian people, the remnant from the Greek slaughter, to return to their desolate homes and begin life anew. 4. When the Turk is excused to leave Europe, for he has proved long ago his unfitness to be an European, Bulgaria should be allowed to annex her people, who form the bulk of the inhabitants of Thrace, even to the Tchataldja lines. Bulgaria expects the support of France, because she knows from experience what it means to be un- justly dismembered. She has one Alsace-Lorraine. Bulgaria has many. Bulgaria expects the support of England, be- cause now or never is the time for Great Britain to correct the great wrong she committed toward Bul- garia and Macedonia through her prime minister, Beaconsfield, in 1878. As one of the Bulgarian poets of the present generation has said: Undo that you did at Bei'lin, Come and help us! Once do justice pay your debt, Beaconsfield we shall forget, God, too, might forgive you yet, — Come, come, and help us. From America Bulgaria cannot expect anything else but justice. America, through her missionaries, —44— Robert College, and other American institutions of learning has done more than all other agencies put together, to start Bulgaria in the path of righteous- ness and real democracy. Suffering and bleeding Macedonia cries to America: Land of Washington and Lincoln, Come and help us ! Land of brave men, true and f^-ee. Land and home of liberty, Shall we vainly hope in thee? — Come, come and help us ! 42 (=1 El El TO NEW BULGARIA. Bulgaria, beloved country mine, My jealous hopes and dreams do prophesy Thy weal and blessing, coming, by and by. A sceptre vastly stretched on land and brine. The mighty sway of Rome may ne'er be thine; But knowledge, freedom, virtue, truth — all lie Within thy reach, as God is God on high; These make a people great, Mother mine ! Be lover thou of these! And ever aim To be among the nations of the earth A people free, and eminent for worth;; That good men may, observing thy estate. In admiration glad with truth exclaim, "Behold a people small, yet truly great!" Boston, Mass., 1893. — S. K. VATRALSKY. 42 — ^Today's Macedonian Cry, by Stoyan K. Vatraldcy„ RESOLUTION Of the Macedono-Bulgarian Convention, held at Chi- cago, 111., On December 1-6, 1918, for the Freedom of Macedonia and the Unity of the Bulgarian People. Honorable Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, Paris, France. Mr. President: We, the undersigned, authorized by the two hun- dred and one delegates, representing 40,000 Bulgarians from Macedonia, now residing in various places throughout the United States of America, and assem- bled in convention in Chicago, Illinois, December 1st- 5th, 1918, for the purpose of exchanging views about the future fate of our land and people, consider it, be- fore all, our sacred duty to express our profound grati- tude to and heart-felt thanks toward the great Ameri- can people for the kind hospitality shown us from the day of our arrival in this country — an asylum for the oppressed. Furthermore, we would wish to lay emphasis up- on the invaluable services of the American pioneers and missionaries and the splendid influence of their insti- tutions among our people during the past seventy years. We take the liberty to submit for the earnest con- sideration of the President of the United States of America, the following facts : First: We were born, raised and brought up in the various towns and villages of Macedonia, such as Scopie (Uskub), Tetova, Debr, Ochrida, Kostur (Kas- toria), Lerin, Vodena, Bitolia (Monastir), Prilep, Veles, Ghevgeli, Dorian, Kukush, Radovish, Shtip, Ma- leshevo, Kotchane, Kratovo, Koumanovo, Palanka, De- mir-Hissar, Seres, Drama, Salonika, Ressen, Tikvesch, Enidje-Vardar and their respective districts, all of which are at present under Greek and Servian yoke. Driven out of our homes by the terrible Turkish mis- rule and oppression, we found refuge in America, the land of Liberty, where we enjoy freedom and justice. Yet, we cannot forget the land of our fathers where —46— we have left our wives and children and our homes— this being the most sacred duty of every man. Second: We, who for more than half a century had struggled against the Turks and fought for liberty lived to see our ideals frustrated by the terms of that ignominious treaty of Bukharest (1913), against the injustice of which immediately raised a voice of pro- test from America. This treaty as an act of violence brought new painful complications in the Balkans and when the great war broke out threw Bulgaria on the side of Germany against Servia, a circumstance that benefited, for the time being, Germany alone. Third: We are a part of that people whose fath- ers and forefathers struggled against the yoke of the Greek church and long before the commonwealth of Bulgaria was brought into existence were the founders and builders of our church organization — the Bulgari- an Exarchate in Constantinople. Fourth: We, the Macedonian Bulgarians, living in the United States of America form only a small part of 1,200,000 Bulgarians in Macedonia, who speak noth- ing but Bulgarian, BUT WE WISH IT TO BE KNOWN THAT OUR WILL IS EXPRESSED HEREIN FREE OF ANY FOREIGN INFLUENCE AND PRESSURE WHATSOEVER. Fifth: We shall say nothing herein whatever relative to the opinions of scientists, travelers and eth- nographers who have ascertained the Bulgarian na- tionaUty of the Slavic population of Macedonia, but we take the liberty to declare that it would be absolutely unjust to leave us under Servian and Greek yoke now after the principle of SELF-DETERMINATION AND NATIONAL UNITY has been so solemnly proclaimed. In view of all the above facts the Convention adopted the following RESOLUTION: In the name of the great principles which the President of the United States of America has pro- claimed and has made the basis of his world policies the Convention most respectfully begs the President of the United States of America to kindly exercise his —47— best efforts at the Peace Conference so that our na- tive land, Macedonia, be included within the future boundaries of our common fatherland — Bulgaria, and prevent from accomplishing a great injustice those who will again try to break up our land and subject us to foreign domination. The Convention places explicit confidence in President Wilson and trusts that he will gladly defend a just cause, it being one of his sacred purposes to se- cure freedom for every nation and thus insure a safe and lasting peace for the future generations. The Convention sincerely believes that the Presi- dent of the United States of America will take a firm stand in behalf of our freedom and national unity and wishes him success in his great mission. Respectfully submitted, REV. DAVID NACKOFF, President of the Convention. ALEX. BELIEFF, Secretary of the Convention. -48— DR 68.C55°''™"""'"'^"»>"-ibrary
