The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1905. THE MACEDONIAN CRISIS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 44, 21 February 1905, Page 4

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

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1905. THE MACEDONIAN CRISIS.

Wmt the caute that Imck* atsiatw, for the wrong that needs reiiatanoe. For the future i» the ditto**. And ttw fee* that we etui 4*.

There is once more ominous news from Macedonia, and in view of the distracted state of Russia it will he strange if the hapless Chris.tians in the Ealkan States do not make some desperate attempt to gain tlis freedom so long denied them. If if. had not been for the intervention of Eussia and Austria, the Bulgarians would long since have aided their Macedonian brethren to escape from the rule of "the unspeakable Turk." What that rule means our readers need no elaborate accumulation of horrors to understand. Turkish government of Christians is, as Mr Gladstone said, only a permanent condition of "Bulgarian atrocities," and Macedonia has suffered the fate that all the other Christian States in the Balkans have from time to time endured at the hands of the Mohammedan conqueror. The rebellion stirred up in Macedonia last year by the Revolutionary Committee was put down with exemplary severity, and to-day "the Christian peasants of Macedonia arc suffering from the same injustices, robberies, persecutions, murders, dishonour of their women-folk, and all the list of Turkish crimes, as they suffered before the revolution."' Little wonder that the patience of the Macedonians and the Bulgarians is exhausted, and that the war cloud is again gathering darkly over the Balkan provinces ready to burst a.s soon as the desperate men who have organised the revolution can persuade themselves that neither Russia nor Austria will interfere.

The history of iiaeedonia for the last two years affords very little hope that ordinary diplomatic methods can effect any peaceful solution of the Macedonian problem. When the despairing appeals of the suffering Christians hnd driven the Bulgarians beyond control, and the Powers saw that something must be done to prevent a violent outbreak that might spread throughout the Balkan peninsula, Austria and Russia combined to force certain reforms upon the Sultan. After many months of evasion and shifty diplomacy the Porto was. constrained to accept the Austro-Russian Note in substance, though reserving to itself the right to "save face" in certain details. The reforms were exce-edhigly comprehensive, and if carried out they would at least have assured to the Macedonians personal safety for theinsslves, their wives a«d children. Bin from the outset the Revolutionary Committee understood the Turk too well to believe that any such reforms would be scTiously undertaken, and the sequel has proved that they wore right. .iS'ew law courts were to be instituted to protect the life and, honour of the Christians, the fiscal system was to be rearranged, so as to prevent the pitiless extortion which impoverishes the peasants; the Turkish police and military controlling the vilayets were to be re-' organised; Christians were to assist in local government; the rebels wrre to receive an amnesty and be restored to their homes. To effect these changes two civil officers/ a Russian and an Austrian, were appointed to assist the Turkish Governor, Hilimi Pacha; and twenty-five for.eign officers—five each from Austria, Russia, France, England, and Italy—were to be attached to the

gendarmerie t-o reorganise it., and to keep some cheek on iis excesses. For nearly a year these "reforms" have been in force, and the Revolutionary •Committee declare, with every appearance of truth. that nothing has been accomplished, that the country is still a. scene of pillage, outrage, and murder, and that there is nothing left for them but another desperate and hopeless appeal to arms.

It may seem a* first difficult to under stand how the Turkish Government can resist so long the pressure brought upon it by the Powers to compel reforms in the Balkan provinces still subject to the Sultan. The explanation is, of course, to be found in the truly Oriental capacity of the Turk for "passive resistance,"' and in the divided purposes of the Powers. According to Boris Sarafoff, the head of the Macedonian insurgents, the international commissioners have tried conscientiously to carry out their duties. and to protect the Macedonians; but the diplomatic cunning of the Turks, and their obstinate persistence, have worn out the enthusiasm of the foreigners. At the same time, the Powers who might easily liberate Macedonia if they chose refuse not only to assist her, but to allow Tlulgaxia to move a hand'on her behalf. Russia has declared with cynical frankness that she will not allo-w another THciependent Christian State to be set across the road that as she hopes may some day lead her to Constantinople. Austria, too, refuses to aid the Macedonians, lest the new BulgarianMacedonian State should interfere with her projects of aggrandisement when the time foj the inevitable dissolution of the Turkish Empire arrives. Thus, anxious only for their own interests, the Powers looked calmly on while year by year the helpless Christian subjects of Turkey suffer the worst extremities of Oriental barbarism. England has at least remonstrateai, and urged active interference by the Eowejs. But it must not be forgotten that if it had not been for England's jealousy pf Bwssia, JJseedeeiif

would lojw since have formed part of a free and powerful; Bulgaria, aiid the doom of Turkish tyranny in Europe would have been sealed. The Macedonians know only, too well that they can expect, no effective aid from the Powers, who are swayed chiefly by self-interest and mutual jealousies- And so they have resolved to fight on. Sarafoff has lately «»2ekred that they have enough guns and dynamite to renew the strug gle, and that as they have no hope of moving the Powers except by eudarcrering their material interests in kans. the revolution is to be re-enacted forthwith. "Anarchy or autonomy' , is the watchword of the dreaded Committee, and we can hardly blame them for resolving to fight to the death rather than endure Turkish oppression longer to suit the convenience of the Powers. L