NAMELESS ATROCITIES OF THE RUSSIANS.

Patea Mail, Volume IV, Issue 389, 8 January 1879, Page 4

NAMELESS ATROCITIES OF THE RUSSIANS.

Undeu the above beading an English paper rays, the report of the Rhodope inquiry, translated by Mr Edgar Whitakei, of ConBtantiuople,ianow in the hands of the public. Of tlie composition of the Commission which was sent by the Great European Powers to sift the truth from the stories which had been told of Russian brutality in the Turkish territory occupied by the soldiers of the Czar, it is needless to say more than that by unanimous consent the j various representatives of the Govei nmonts concerned were all men of die highest official standing and character. It will be noted in the'following extracts, which are selected from the ‘‘identic report,” signed for the British, Frencn, and Italian Commissioners, that the active agents in the cruellies committed were not so much “exasperated Bulgarians,” as has Ircquentiy been stated, but too regular and irregular soldiers of the Muscovite army. Some of the details given in the Report by the Commissioners are appallingly horrible. 'vVc give the following as the least objectionable of the many extracts before us, which is taken from the narrative of the Commissioners labours :— *■ Our work commenced at Xantln, and wo continued it through the Rhodope ranges, staying at Ghuuuirdjina, Kirkova, Mastanly, ivirdjAli, Gabrova, liasslceui, and Ortakoui, which weie selected for the chief centres of our operations and around which during several days we made excursions, and took advantaged even cur shortest baits on the roads to examine the emigrants whom we met on our way. We lint! that there arc about 15U,0d0 refugees. They are of the Mussulman faith, and all of them have come from the country at present occupied by the Russian troops in Bulgaria and in Eastern Roumelia. The date of their departure invariably, it appears, coincided with the arrival or approach of the Rnsssian troops ; some had tied from the murders and pillage, lire and violations of which they were either victims or witnesses ; the others, from the effects of a wellgrounded panic, induced by reports of the cruelties perpetrated on their co-religionista in neighbouring villages. According to a statement which we heard repeated by several thousands of persons, the invading army, either by the course of events, or perhaps by mere chance, found before it an immense compact mass of fugitives trying to escape to the Balkan Mountains, and, as these people say, conveying away with them on ‘ arabas’ their families, the aged, tbc women, the children, and whatever goods they could save from the rapacity of the conqueror. This mass of human beings, driven at the point of the bayonet, having at last become concentrated crowded altogether in the cul-de-sac of Hennaiili, was shot down by shrapnel, massacred and drowned in the Mraitxa and Ourloudere rivers. More than 2,U00 children were cast into the river by their mothers frantic from terror, under the impression that this kind of death was preferable to that they would suffer by the hand ot ‘.lie army. The minutes record all the horrors of that day ; on every aide we heard the liarrowing tale repealed b}' the survivors, the wretched remnants of that indescribable butchery, amongst whom the least unfortunate has to deplore the loss of some one of his .own family. Although wo have recorded many heart-rending details we have omitted a far greater number of others.” At the meeting of July 28 the Commission received the following testimony :—“ Mehemet Agha, of the village of Medresse, relates that when the Russians first entered his village they arrested seventy one persons—sixty eight men and three women. They brought them to tfie same spot and shot them. They wore all disarmed. Next day sixteen others were bound with ropes, and amongst them the witness, Alehemet Agha. He was saved by a Bulgarian. That same day the Russians carried off eight women, whom they let go after violating them. It was on account of these deeds that they left, taking different routes ; but at Hennaiili, pursued by the Russians, they lost everything they still had remaining. He was himself wounded and his sister-in-law killed. They received relief. All of them arc Mussulmans. They lived in great harmony with the Bulgarians until the arrival of the Russian Troops. The group of Tirnova state that they left their country when the Russians entered there. The Russians made them give up their arms and suffer unheard of barbarities. Having cut oil the hands of twenty-four persons, they took them to a precipice about twice the height of a ‘ minaret,’ and they flung them thence. The women were violated. One of the tortured men succeeded in escaping, and gave information of the fact to the Turks, amongst whom were those who give evidence before the Commissioners, and who had themselves buried the corpses of the victims. These inoffensive people were having lambs roasted to be -offered to the Russian soldiers when twenty-three of the inhabitants were arrested. It was thought that they wore to be merely imprisoned ; but the}' were destined to be massacred. The whole of tlie delegates confirm these facts.”