LAST SCENES OF THE WAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 147, 19 June 1878, Page 4

LAST SCENES OF THE WAR.

True to their devilieh and bloodthirsty reputation, the Baahi-bazouks and Circassians have closed their dreadful career in this inhuman wir by wholesale raassacreßof the Greek population in Western Roumelia. The narrative as presented by the English papers, outrivals the story of Bitak and the Bulgarian horrors, which marked the opening of the war, and sickened the hearts of every civilized people. The most terrible havoc occurred at Viza, The town had generously entertained the retreating army of Mehemet Ali. He respected life and properly, and bade, 'the townspeople treat those who should follow him as kindly, and that they should be untiloleatad.- Soon after a large body of B«zouks entered (he towa, and the inhabitants, unsuspicious?, and hospitably inclined, fed them well, and then, without a moment's warning, tbeir savage guests fell upon the people with the fury of wild beasts, killing and ravishiu?, burning and pillaging tp the .direst extent. Citizens were toriured with diabolical ingenuity to extract from them confession of hidden money, priests were insulted and burned aiive, daughters were dishonored before the eyes of their agonised parents,! and other atrooitieß beyond description marked the fearful scene. When the ruffians left Viza, about half the population, consisting entirely of Greeks, were dead or dying in the streets', while the miserable remnant fled to the. mountains only to suffer unparalleled hardfcfaips from colJ and hunger. Tillages with a total population of • 15,000 people suffered from these ravages, and the plunder of; them filled no less than 6000 carts, which were also largely freighted with young girl captives carried along to feed the lust of these human fiends, i In tbe wake of the Bazouks followed, hordes of buz-zard-like gypsies, who gleaned from the general wreck, and made more. complete the devastation. The 800 inhabitants of the village of Si. George- metiwith a fate as horrible as it was peculiar. Fleeing to the mountains, they sought refuge in a large cave, where, however, they were traced by their relentless pursuers. The entrance was bravely defended, the Bazouks were repuised, and the trembling villagers were beginning to feel safe in their stronghold. But their hopes were short-lived. With dogged persistence their persecutors drilled a hole with crowbars through tin top of the cave, and then by pouring down burning brimstone and asphalte they speedily suffocated to death the .whole .800, save eighteen who miraculously escaped. All these outrages happened wiihin a few hours' ride of Constantinople. The Turks themselves profess abhbrence of them, and it is but fair to say that the . majority of the i Turkish Parliament (demand a strict investigation, and the punishment of the offenders, who, however, are quite unlikely to suffer for their crimeß. The Turkish demoralisation in Asia exceeds; impossible, thafc prevailing, on the European side of the Bosphorus. The disaster of the Aladja Dah completely broke the spirit of the troops, typhus fever has scourged and depleted the ranks, and the inclemency of a bitter winter has told fearfully upon soldiers, miserably clad, and \poorly fed. The Armenian inhabitants, have also drunk deep of the common woe. ' The first Turkish battalions who marched through the country were received with boundless enthusiasm. They were , fed , and feted, and sent on their way. with many a pious Mohammedan'benediction. But in time the passing and repassing of the Turkish soldiers exhausted even the stores and patience of ithe Mussulmans themselves. The inhabitants finally fled, not from the bated Russians, but from their own fellpwfollowers of the Prophet, till the whole country has become marred by wholesale desolation. ;