(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] LONDON, 20th December.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 34, 10 February 1913, Page 2

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] LONDON, 20th December.

Long before this reaches you anything the delegates to the Peace Conference may say will not matter much.. After viaiting Paris to interview the leal author of the whole peace negotiations (M. Poincai'e), t)v. Daneff, the senior Bulgarian delegate, said : "The report published by the Figaro to the effect that Bulgaria had entered the Triple Alliance ie wrong. Our only , engagement was with the Balkan Allies, and it- will remain so. "In order to secure the triumph of the programme of the Balkans for the Balkan peoples, it wafc necessary that the Balkan peoplee should prepare their realisation of it themselves. That was the genesis of our alliance. Each event has brought homo to us all that this was the right view. We are firmly attached to it. Full of regard for all the Powers, and determined to maintain the best relations with them all, we think We shall be useful to ourselves and to Europe if we keep this Balkan Alliance, which has just proved so worthy, as the whola basis of our policy. We wish \o remain united and we wish to remain free, our union being tomorrow as it was yesterday, in peace as in war, the guarantee of our freedom." ALBANIAN DEGRADATION. A Servian, cavalry officer, writing to friends from ihe Albanian littoral, says : —"We who had only known the Turks by hearsay had a certain respect for them. At present I feel but contempt and disgust. . To think that they should have held these lands .for five hundred yea-rs, and kept them absolutely wild and uncultivated ! There are , neither bridges nor roads, nor decent dwellings, to bo met with in the Sanjak. Of the dirt I cannot trust myself to speak, The 'Ujumat" /Prefecture) of Prizrefld, l-esi' dence of the Mute&sarif,, is in such a filthy condition that I could not sit there" for more than five minutes together. All around the eofra-s (tables) were ra^e, remnants of foods, tufts of dogs' ha,it, etc., for these ate and slept with their masters. The people were humble, cowed, moving out of doors rarely, and then huddled together like a herd of cattle. . . Tile .peasants run to kiss our hands and bow down to the ground, but they are too frightened to give a sensible answer to a plain question. They have lived no better than their masters, for themselves and , their pigs share the same apartment ! If the pigs Were let lo6se the Turks were sure to kill them, ao they were hidden indoors. The first use they made of the liberty we gave them was to hunt the pigs into the open air, and how the poor beasts enjoyed it! One could not help laughing at their antics as they chased each other, while the children ran to keep them from escaping to the woods. The cows and oxen defy description. They are like our calves, only the shape is queer. I saw^ no vegetables anywhere. The staple diet is maize.' From our frontier to the sea -it is the same, tale of misery;' lielpTessness'/ and" dirt" ""ln Prizrend, after every rainfall, the people drink 'muddy water -in. which none, of our soldiers woftld care,, to wash. When jwe boikdit'a th'ick*icuni-dame',on the top, which We skimmed 'off 1 This' is the 'water, used ,by a town of 40,000 citizens, and realty one felt that authorities like, the" Turks should not be liltewed to live any longer." * ' THE FANTASY OF INDEPEN- ' DENCE. . The same officer says :— "As for the independence of Albania, it woulyd be a •comical, if not a sinister," idea. Whoever speaks of a national sense in these savage hordes is either untruthful or ignorant. The Servians of this region make no distinction, as we do, between the Turks and the Mohammedan- Albanians. ■ The • Christian Albanians are called by their race brethren 'Catholics,' -and are hated ahd ' persecuted by them, just -as the Servians are hated -and persecuted. The 'Catholics' le&the the Mohammedans and deny that they are of the same nationality. The Catholics are eager- to assist in our operations, acted as scouts for us, and brought us precious information. ' Sometimes they acted on their own initiative, captured and kill- ! ed their Mohammedan, co-nationalists without first consulting us The priests are the most embittered. These zealous 'fratres' told us they longed for a Christian Government, and that the project of a united Albania was insensate. . . . Ismail Kemal's proclamation has irritated the priests about here. They will not for a moment consider a union with the Mohammedan tribes or submission to a Moslem leader like Ismail. On the other hand, if we evacuate this country, a terrible fate awaits the Catholics.' 1 NOTHING BUT FIGHTERS. Discussing the Montenegrins, the Servian officer says : — "They get leave to go home and see after, their wives and children whenever they ask it, and lax discipline does not seem to affect their heroism. They fight like lions, but do nothing. else except shoot birds and fish in the interval. Every ship that touches here is greeted with a volley, though ammunition is Komethiines scarece. The Montenegrin will do nothing but fight, and ships often remain unladen here for days, because there ar,o few Albanians to do the work. My soldiers carry sacks and burdens of all kinds to and from the ships, and the Montenegrins laugh at them, and say 'Is that how you light, Brother Shumadinats?' (Shuinadia is a forest in the centre of the Kingdom ot 1 ' Servia). They are most particular to shave each day, whatever happens. The priests alohe wear a. beard, for they are not supposed to fight. The Montenegrin soldiers' wives come once a week to look after their husbands, wash the linen, and help to clean up. Our great distraction is watching for the ships. The Italians are most amiable, and the Austrians polite as only Austrians can , Tbe. They congratulate me on our victories, hope we will remain friends, etc. Whatever happens later, just now our intercourse is pleasant." BULGABIA'S MEDICAL SERVICE. Disease is given .officially as the reason for the stoppage of operations before Ohataldeja. "For every one man who comes intothe hospital wounded, ten come in saying, 'I am ill,' was the declaration of the Chief of Staff of General Demetrleff." The Morning Post correspondent writes :'■*-* "The illness was of choleraic type ,* it had, as usual, a profound moral as well as physical effect. The courage of the men brdke down before this visitation. The victims howled with pain and terror, though the same men would withstand serious wounds without a complaint or wincing. The Turks are blamed for the outbreak in the Bulgarian lines. It is more than probable that their villages inexpressibly filthy; the prisoners taken from their ranks; the infection of the soil abandoned by them— were contributing causes. But it must be stated frankly that the almost complete absence of any sanitary discipline or precaution in the Bulgarian lines at

this place earned for them all the diseases that afilict mankind. THE CARELESS PEASANT. " There are no sanitary polica : no attempts to secure and safeguard a pure water supply; no latrine regulations. I have seen the Bulgarian soldiers drinking from streams running through battlefields, though a few feet away were swollen carcases. Let the reader appreciate the main fact that some hundreds of thousands of peasant soldiers, accustomed to the simplest life on their own farms, were collected 'together and | left practically without sanitary disci- ! pline, and the details can be iilled in without my setting them forth in print. There is one fact, however, to be recorded of a pleasant character. I never found a case of any malady arising from vice. It is a bold thing to give a certificate of general morality to an army in the field. But certainly the Bui- ] garian Army, officers and men alike, de- i served the praise given to Sir Galahad, ' whose strength was as the strength of ten because his heart was pure.' " There was also a complete absence of drunkenness. In Turkey there was an abundance of wines and spirits, and fiomo beer in the captured villages and towns ; it led, however, to no orgies. Naturally, the Bulgarian peasant is wonderfully healthy. I should say he was almost immune from enteric, unless attacked by a Very virulent infection. Ho can llveon bread and water alone without serious iiiconveniehce for lengthy periods. His blood is very pure, and ordinarily heals in a way that astonished the British surgeons." CRUDE FIRST AID. But the surgical equipment was n-op' fiiliy poor. "At the front punctured bayonet Tv'ounds were closely bandaged — in some casqs stitched up-— without provision for irrigation ; without even proper cleansing. This led to gangrene ahd often caused tho sacrifice, of a life or of a limb (which, to these peasants, was almost as great a loss as that of life). Bullet wounds also were often plugged upon the field. Suppurating matter thus could not escape, but was forced to invade and infect the surrounding tissues. When proper treatment was at last available, it was sometimes too late to avoid death or amputation. No treatment at all on the field would have been .preferable. THE BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT. AN UNDEMONSTRATIVE PEOPLE. At the opening of the Bulgarian Sobr'anye about a quarter of the members were absent (atthe front or in the hospitals). The Times says : "The rooted dislike of the Bulgarians for fuss and demonstration was plainly shown. Very few people gathered in the square to watch the arrival of the Deputies, and within the Sobranye itself the public gallery was only half full, yet in the short weeks which have passed since its last meeting the Bulgarians have written a new and glorious chapter in the world's history; and it ■ would be easy to conjure the fervent oratory and the enthusiasm which would have marked the occasion among a more excitable race. "The entry of the Cabinet Ministers into the hall was hailed with cheers by the Deputies. The Premier, acting aa representative of the King, read the Speech from the Throne. The Premier recalled briefly the circumstances which necessitated the convocation of an extraordinary session, referred in eulogistic terms to the gallantry the army, and rendered a touching tribute to the mem* ory of the fallen 4 „ "After- a short se.ryjce.Jiad been celebrated by the" Archbishop of Sofia, .Who asked the blessing of God on the. work of the Chamber, the Vice-President asked the Deputies ' to iflonour the memory of the fallen. by standing upright. The entire House rose, and a lo.w, earnest whisper, "May they have' eternal memory r was heard. jThe Chamber unanimously adopted -a. resolution that a telegram be sent' to King Ferdinand ,ex« the thanks' of the nation to the Bulgarian Army. A congratulatory telegram from the group of Progressists in the Russian Duma sympathising with the Balkan cause was read. Bills prohibiting the export of t horses and demanding an extraordinary credit of £2,000,000 for military purposes were announced."