FROM THE INSIDE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2039, 26 March 1907, Page 1

FROM THE INSIDE.

Many special correspondents liavo gone to Macedonia to investigate the apparent chaos there, but very t<sv have thrown in their lot with the revolutionaries aiid seen the movement for independence from the inside. A representative of the New York Evening Post was fortunate enough to win. the confidence of the Central Committee recently, and be given a free band in bis investigations. He roamed over the country at will, was present at secret meetings, and bad more than one narrow escape from capture by the Turks, lie confesses that lie went to Alacedoiiia wit'll the idea that “the armed bands wandered rather aimlessly about the country limiting trouble that would be likely to turn out to their advantage; blowing up bridges of Turkish pashas or Greek bishops, and sometimes singing revolutionary songs on the top of iu-u-c.ssiblc mmliitains.” But lie found that the Central Committee is not really a revolutionary organisation. In is a Government in a country where the nominal rulers cannot govern. If Alacedoiiia were freed tomorrow the framework of Government would bo revealed; the pictur--sque leaders of blinds would put their guns away and become district governors, and the rank and file would appear as commonplace policemen. Each village has its unofficial town council, mayor, treasurer, and commandant of secret militia. The families in groups of ten elect a man to represent them in local a (fairs, and almost every Sunday all these officials meet in the church to discuss matters such as the building of a mill, a protest to foreign Consuls, resistance to ,i tax, or assistance to an imprisoned comrade. Tlio secretary and treasurer submit weekly reports. If a stranger drops in, the meeting at ..-nee becomes a pious congregation. All these officials are elected according to strict form; the correspondent was shown tlio printed clauses of the Constitution adopted by the Central Committee. District committees, meeting in secret?, check accounts, decide what Turkish officials are to he punished, what merchants are to be boycotted, and a dozen other questions. The people really govern themselves. The chiefs are no longer purely men of war, but duly elected administrators, armed to defend themselves only when brought to bay In one village visited the church was found full of children at school, taught by two well-educated girls dressed as peasants. On bare hilltops outside the village played four children, two at one end of the village, and two at the other, placed there to give warning of the approach of Turks. These children were the best at lessons the previous day, and this was their reward. If the Turks should come the school would disperse, books and papers would lie hidden like revolutionary matter, and the teachers would become peasant women.