TURKISH ATROCITIES IN BULGARIA.

Evening Star, Issue 4286, 21 November 1876, Page 4

TURKISH ATROCITIES IN BULGARIA.

The public meeting in the Temperande Hall last was largely attended, the room ' being well filled in all parts, while the audience comprised a number of ladies. The chair was occupied by the Mayor, who was supported by Bishop Nevill, Ven. Archdeacon Edwards, Rev. Di Roseby, Rev*. Messrs Blake, Lindsay Mackie, Judge Bathgate, Messrs Barr, J. Macandrew, M.H.R,, G. M. Reed, and Stout, M.H.R. , The Mayor, in opening the proceedings, said: Several gentlemen have been prevented from attending, and I have received telegrams and letters from some of them. I think it right to state that his Lordship Bishop Nevill was through an inadvertence unable to attend the meeting held in the City Council Chambers last week. I have also received a letter from Mr Turnbull, expressing regret at not being able to attend this evening. I have also received a letter from Mr James Pulton regretting His inability to attend and expressing willingness to subscribe and collect subscriptions. I have received a telegram from the Rev. J. Upton Davis, who is at Invercargill, expressing sympathy with the object of the meeting. Bishop Nevill, in moving "That this meeting desires to express its horror and indignation at the inhuman atrocities perpetrated by the Turks upon the Christian population of Bulgaria," recounted the principal of the atrocities committed by the Turkish troops, regulars and irregulars, and went on to say :—Can we then hesitate for one single moment to express our horror and indignation at these inhuman atrocities perpetrated upon the Christian population of I Bulgaria ? I am sure you will not.*— I (Applause.) I say "upon the Christian I population of Bulgaria," for these are the words in the resolution placed in my hands. Surely it is enough to excite our indignation on the mere ground of our common humanity that such things should have occurred. If | such outrages were committed on beasts, I would say they must be stopped. If they had been inflicted on heathens, I would say our common humanity would make it absolutely necessary , that we should stretch forth our arm and do all we could possibly to prevent such things ever occurring in the world's history again, for " one touch of Nature makes the whole world kin."— (Loud applause.) But when those things have occurred, not only to our fellow-men, but to our fellow-Christians, then there is something still more added to the obligation resting upon us. I will not have it thrown back into my face that, though these people are called Christians, they are lost in the depths of superstition, and that their Christianity is of a comparatively low order as compared with our own purity of doctrine and practice. Let it be so if it be so; at all events, they have "been baptised with yourselves into Christ, and therefore are your brethren. Now and then at long intervals there have been phenomena which, by their unusual violence, have struck us whenever they have happened. Such, for example, as a.great tidal or cataclysmic wave which is seen rising to a great height-a wave that seems to be about to overwhelm everything. Those on the shore stand in ajnazement, wondering what is going to happen, when they see the gigantic wave override all lesser ones, and then as it approaches the lofty shore flow back and expose the secrets of the bed of the ocean. Then, after what seems to be a moment's pause, it comes back and, far overriding all ordinary waves, destroys completely everything within its reach. Now, it seems to me that that which has been happening so lately in European Turkey has some kind of resemblance to this phenomenon of Nature. The world is at this moment standing with bated breath.' The horror of the wave is so intense that every man and every woman finds it difficult to express the feelings at the bottom of their hearts. The wave is gathering in its force. It is tut for a moment, as it were, that it remains stationary. It will come back, and it will sweep all before it; and I am persuaded that because we are men, and because we are Christians, we, even at the ends of the earth, shall contribute our mite of moral force to send forth this wave over the world's surface which will render it impossible for such a thing to happen in the world's history again. (Loud applause.) Mr Mac-Andrew : The mover of this resolution has commended it to your acceptance in such forcible, impressive, and affecting terms', that I feel little or nothing need be said in the way of seconding it. I would simply say that it lis Utterly impossible for me to find langnage strong enough to express the aborrence which I feel at l>he mere contemplation of those dreadful atrocities. There can be no doubt whatever of their truth. In fact, I fear that the accounts we have received fall farshort of the actual occurrences. Assuming that these accounts are only true, I think that greater outrages have never been committed in any country in the world—not even the Indian mutiny itself, or the the massacre of Glencoe, can equal those outrages committed by the Turksoutrages which in my opinion should cast •ternal infamy on the Turkish Government —outrages which should draw down upon it the execration of the whole human family I don't know how you may have felt on firs'; reading the accounts of those horrible transactions ; but the first impression on my mind was a feeling of sorrow and Bhame when I reflected that the great British Empire, of which we are so proud to be „ portion, 'had been the means of upholding and preserving this Power, whose troops appear really to be fiends in human shape.—(Applause.) When we reflect upon the oceans of which were shed by our fellow-countrymen on the battle-fields ©f the Crimea, and when we think that all that blood was shed for the upholding and preserving of this Power, which ought to be swept off the face of God's earth—(applause)—we cannot but experience a feeling 01 shame and sorrow. One cannot help looking back with pride and regret upon the days of the great Cromwell, when . Ilngland was foremost in vindicating the great rights of humanity and of civil and ... .religioijS.Hberty all over the world. At that "time, " short, and decisive''' was the maxim,- and I only wish that were the motto now. I don't know that we can "" do very much here to alleviate the distress and misery which has been inflicted upon so many thousands 'of our fellow-Christians in the other, hemisphere. At the same time, we can express publicly our sympathy and our indignation at these horrible atrocities—atrocities which in my opinion should preclude the Turks from ranking amongst civilised nations. Judge Bathgate recalled the Turkish horrors during the Cretan insurrection, and 'added :—I trust that the sentiment evoked • to-night will be such as to strengthen the "hands of those earnest men at Home who ; determined never tb stay their efforts " J till a righteous retribution overtakes the workers of those terrible outrages.—(Applause.) - I trust that the sympathy of New Zealand will neither be a silent nor in- , tangible one.—(Applause.) , Mr Stout, in moving " That this meeting desires to unite with other communities i throughout the British Empire in the ex- 1 pre&sion of heartfelt sympathy for the sui- ( 'ferers in tfie Christian Provinces of Turkey, i and expresses a hope that the present!a . i« _th e Mtub Empire may result in ' <

the entire separation oMhose Provinces from a power whieh has shown itself to be so unfit to be entrusted with their government.?' said he believed that only for Great Britain these atrocities would never have occurred, because Great Britain had in one sense given indirect aid to Turkey in various forms. If Great Britain had withdrawn her aid from Turkey, those Provinces would have been granted their liberty years ago. Therefore he thought that we had a right—first as citizens, of this Colony, and secondly as citizens still of the British Empire—to express our views, independent of a partv, and to ask that the British Empire should use its influence with the other Great Powers to guarantee that those Provinces which have so nobl/ fought for their liberty should have the right to govern themselves, and be free from this galling yoke of the Turkish Empire.—(Applause.) f&Dr Roseby dwelt upon the advisability of raising subscriptions for the relief of the Bulgarians. We must bear in mind, said he, that although the atrocities are at an end, the villages of these poor famished people have been destroyed. Assistance will not therefore come too late, and surely it will be sweet and precious to those to whom it is thus rendered, especially when they remember that their fellow-men and fellow-Christians at this end of the earth have taken the earliest opportunity of sendjingthem help.—(Applause.) But, whether late or otherwise, the contributions will be of less value from their amount than from their being an indication of the feeling tojwhich they will have owed their origin The small amount whieh Ave will be able to raise in this community may be but as a drop in the bucket, yet it will show that we mean something by our sympathy, and will indicate that our of horror at these outrages is not merely froth. If any one may feel disposed to object that these atrocities axe very remote from us, and that they have not seen them, and that as they happened months ago, they can but have little concern for us. I may reply by drawing their attention to that parable in which the great Teacher of all was struck by the kindness shown by a stranger to one who was beaten and stripped of his raiment, and left for dead, and which shows that all men are to one another a3 neighbors.- (Loud applause.)

, The Rev. Lindsay Mackie—in moving " That a committee be formed for the purpose of raising subscriptions for the relief of the famishing sufferers in Bulgaria, and that the following be the members of committee, with power to add to their uumber. Also, to enlist the services of a committee of ladies for the purpose of collecting subscriptions :—Messrs his Worship the Mayor, Hon. G. M'Lean, Jaa. Macandrew, Rev. Archdeacon Edwards, Rev. Mr Mackie, Father Donovan, Jud,*e Bathgate, Rev. Dr Roseby, Rev. Mr Fitchett, Rev. Upton Davis, Messrs Dick, Turnbull, Rennie, Stout, Fulton, Street, G. M. Reed "—drew attention to the fact that Englishmen, as well as most of the nations of Western Europe, were under a deep debt of gratitude to the Sclavonic peoples who in the sixteenth century had been so instrumental in rolling back the tide of Turkish invasion. Referring to the proposed subscription, he said: It may be said that it is but a small pittance we can send them. I say it is our duty to do what we can to-night, and we ask you to do it. I hope that the note of war which we are now sounding will be taken up and prolonged throughout all these Colonies—(applause)—and that our mites will go Home largely augmented by those from the other Colonies. Suppose we send Home nothing but a few gold pieces, with Her Majesty's head upon them, such would be symbolical of a great and noble thing, as it would show those sufferers that, if Her Majesty's Government was partly the cause of the troubles which have come upon them, her loving subjects in this portion of the world are prepared to undo, as far as in them lies, the evil which has been done.—(Loud applause. ) If you ask how is our mite to reach its destination, and how are we to be assured that it will go there ? I can only say in reply that,we can do this : We caii put our subscriptions into the same hands as that noble Englishman, Mr Gladstone, has put his.— (Loud cheers.)

Archdeacon Edwards : I have had 17 years' experience of the people of Dunedin, and that experience convinces me that they are always ready to contribute to a noble cause, and to respond in a noble manner. I am sure that such will be the case on the present occasion. If we do not subscribe a large amount, yet we will show the people •of Bulgaria that our hearts are in the right place, ai d that we sympathise with them. - (Applause.)

The various resolutions were carried nem. con., and with the customary vote of thanks to the Chairman, terminated one of the most enthusiastic meetings that has been held here for some time.

The ' Press's' London correspondent writes :—" In the midst of all the wild talk and excitement here, it is gratifying to see 1 that there are, at all events, two men of position, not belonging to the Ministry, who are keeping their heads. These two are the Marquis of Hartington, the leader of the Opposition, to whom the temptation of making political capital out of the question was greatest, and Cardinal Manning. This .Roman Catholic prelate has set our clergy, from the Archbishop of Canterbury downwards, a lesson in temperance aid common sense which they would do well to follow. In reply to an invitation to attend one of these meetings, the Cardinal said ho was "unable to see the benetit of holding public meetings which propose no definite policy;" and that he could "see no policy in any movement which may convert the war in Servia into a European contlct." A woman of whose noble and kind nature there can be no doubt has done honor to her sex by courageously speaking out the words of calm wisdom at a time when leading statesmen and eminent divines seem to have gone clean off their heads. I allude to Baroness Burdett-Coutts I cannot re J rain from quoting a few sentences from a letter, in which she declines an invitation to be present at a demonstration at Exeter Hall, under the presidency of Professor Fawcett, M.P. " I feel," she writes, it would be unjust aud somewhat impolitic to harbor any idea, that our Government, holding office under our Most Gracious Sovereign, is a whit mere indifferent to these sufferings than any other class of Her Majesty's subjects. The nearest and dearest interests of our country may often impose reticence on its government, especially when an ally is in the throes of an internal convulsion, and untimely declaration of feeling and policy during the Parliamentary recfess may be as unsate as it is unusual. I have faith enough in my countrj men generally, to believe that the Queen's Ministers are not very unlike them, and shire the feelings common to Englishmen, whatever may be required by *t;ite exigencies I am a pretty fair historian, and the page of history, alas, does not teach that the execrable deeds perpetrated by the BashiBazjuks are wholly unmatched in warfare or by cruelties legally inflicted upon a dominated people, even in our generation. Nor are there wanting amongst ourselves instances of assault, B*o brutal and dastardly, that we have need to be careful iu sp< aking of the ferocious and licentious acts of a wild toldierly as unparalleled. ... J earnestly pray that in the measures taken to alleviate djetresfl, we may be calmly led, and.,

not tress of nations, by urging on' the Government an amount of interference better cal ulated perhaps to light than to extinguish a firebrand—a firebrand which may pass far beyond Europe, or might even reach our osvn dear shores."