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goris, when the royal court became the center of a certain degree of culture. The kingdom was afterward conquered by the Constantinopolitan Emperors, but became again independent in 1186; and during the reign of King John II., 1218 to 1248, it attained such an extent that its boundaries touched the Adriatic, Ægean, and Black Seas. It then declined till, after the battle of Kosovo, in 1389, it was easily overcome by the Turks. The ecclesiastical system of the Greek Church having been extended over Bulgaria, its churches fell under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchs of Constantinople. Their authority was exercised in a despotic manner, discriminating against the Bulgarians. The services were conducted in Greek, the use of the Bulgarian language on public occasions was discontinued, and the people were deprived of facilities for education beyond those afforded by a few priestly schools. At the beginning of the present century the Bulgarians were among the most miserable and backward of the inhabitants of the Turkish Empire. About fifty years ago an awakening was begun, which has resulted in the revival of a strong national spirit, the organization of popular schools in the Bulgarian language throughout the country, the establishment of the independence of the Church, and the growth of a small but promising literature.

The lessons taught in the gymnasium at Philippopolis comprise the Turkish, Greek, and French languages, elementary mathematics, geography, Bulgarian and Turkish history, mental and moral philosophy, religious and moral instruction, and church music. The larger schools are provided with fine, spacious edifices, many of which were specially erected for them. Instruction is given free of cost in all the branches of a common-school education. Until 1860 the schools were dependent entirely upon subscriptions and charitable bequests. After the Church was separated from the jurisdiction of the patriarchate of Constantinople, a reappropriation of the ecclesiastical revenues was made, and a part of them were set aside for the purposes of education. At a later period the local authorities of some places, as Philippopolis, were induced to allow a special tax to be laid upon the Bulgarians for the benefit of the schools.

In 1876 fifty-one newspapers had been started, of which fourteen were established in 1875. Most of these, however, were printed outside of the limits of the present principality. Two of them were literary, one was theological, and three were technical.

The autonomy of the Bulgarian Church as an independent exarchate was secured in 1870, after a hard and extraordinarily bitter contest of about thirty years with the Greek clergy and the Patriarch of Constantinople. In 1833 the people of Samokov and Scopie asked for the appointment of Bulgarian bishops instead of two Greek bishops who had been removed, but the request was denied.

A Bulgarian was appointed Bishop of Widin in 1840, but he died while on a visit to Constantinople, and it was charged that he was poisoned. An insurrection broke out in Widin ten years later, in view of which the Patriarch was requested to consecrate a Bulgarian bishop. He obeyed, but left the bishop without a see. When a National Assembly was called to consider the question of reforms in 1858, affairs were mananged so that the Bulgarians should not be represented in it, and their requests were again denied. Concerted measures were instituted against the Phanariot (or Greek) ecclesiastics in 1860, when the bishops were driven away from several cities, and native bishops were appointed in their places. The prayer for the Patriarch was omitted from the services of the churches, the name of the Sultan being substituted for his, and recognition was refused about the same time to the election of a new Patriarch. Finally, the Turkish Government, after it had again failed twice to gain the assent of the Patriarch to its propositions for the reform of the Bulgarian Church. determined to act without regard to him, and granted a firman on February 28, 1870, constituting it a separate and independent jurisdiction. Bishop Anthrim, of Widin, was chosen Exarch on the refusal of Ilaxion to accept the office, and was consecrated by the command of the Sultan.

Manufacturing and business enterprises were largely developed during the ten years preceding the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, and many towns on the northern and southern slopes of the Balkans became prosperous and growing industrial centers. Among them was Gabrova, distinguished for its manufactures and schools; Travna, where carvings in wood and pictures were made; Vratza, the seat of a varied trade, and of leather, silk, and filigree works; Slivmia, Calofer, and Carlova, the seats of cloth and woolen factories; Yamboli, a busy railway station; Batak, in a lumbering district of the Rhodope Mountains; and Kezanlik, on the southern slope of the Balkans, the chief center of the production of attar of roses. Most of these places were destroyed or greatly injured during the course of the war.

The treaty of San Stefano defined the boundaries of Bulgaria so as to constitute a state, which, including all the predominantly Bulgarian districts of European Turkey, both north and south of the Balkans, should have an area of about 79,400 square miles, and an estimated population of between five and five and a half millions. The included territory extended from the boundaries of Servia and Albania to the Black Sea, and from the Danube nearly to the Egean Sea, and took in about fifty miles of the Egean coast. Of the coast lands, a small strip on either side of the Salonican peninsula, and a district in eastern Thrace, bounded on the west and north by a line extending from Buruguel around Adrianople and thence to Hakim Tobiasi, were left

under the exclusive jurisdiction of Turkey. The British Government made strenuous objections to the provisions of the treaty respecting Bulgaria, which were briefly stated in a circular addressed by Lord Salisbury to the Powers, which was published on March 30th. It recited, as among the most important consequences to which the treaty practically led, that by the articles erecting the New Bulgaria a strong Slavic state would be created under the auspices and control of Russia, possessing important harbors on the Black Sea and the Archipelago, and conferring upon that power a predominating influence over both political and commercial relations in those seas. The state would be so constituted as to merge in the dominant Slavic majority a considerable mass of population which is Greek in race and sympathy, and which views with alarm the prospect of absorption into a community alien to it not only in nationality but in political tendency and religious allegiance. The provisions by which this new state would be subjected to a ruler whom Russia would practically choose, its administration framed by a Russian commissary, and the first working of its institutions commenced under the control of a Russian army, sufficiently indicated the political system of which in future it was to form a part. Stipulations, the dispatch continued, were added which would extend this influence even beyond the boundaries of the New Bulgaria.

Objection was made by the Greek inhabitants of the southern territory against the extension of the new Slavic state over communities of predominantly Grecian nationality, which found expression in protests and in the participation of the Greeks in the insurrections with which the districts around the Rhodope Mountains were convulsed during the spring and the early summer. It had not been the original intention of the Russian Government to make the Bulgarian state so large; for Count Shouvaloff, the Russian Ambassador to Great Britain, had assured Earl Derby on June 8, 1877, that if the Porte should sue for peace before the Russian armies crossed the Balkans, they would not pass that line, but the Emperor would insist upon the autonomy of Bulgaria as a vassal province under the guarantee of Europe, and would ask the Powers to assure to that part of the country south of the Balkans, as well as to the other Christian provinces of Turkey, the best possible guarantees for a regular administration. But, at a subsequent interview, the Count informed Earl Derby that his Government had decided that separation into two provinces would be impracticable, for "local information proved that Bulgaria must remain a single province, otherwise the most laborious and intelligent part of the Bulgarian population, and notably that which had most suffered from Turkish maladministration, would remain excluded from the autonomous institutions," and that the terms of peace to

be demanded would be modified in accordance with this view.

Previous to the meeting of the Congress at Berlin, on the 30th of May, the British and Russian Governments came to an agreement respecting the terms of adjustment which they would accept from the Congress. This agreement provided that Bulgaria should be divided into two provinces: one north of the Balkans, to be endowed with a political autonomy under a prince; the other south of the Balkans, but not to touch the Egean Sea, and to have a Christian governor and a government similar to that of an English colony. Further, the British Government reserved, among other things, the right to demand of the Congress the participation of Europe in the administrative organization of the two Bulgarian provinces, and to discuss the duration and nature of the Russian occupation of Bulgaria. The Bulgarian question was the first topic considered by the Congress, and the first to be settled. The final decision of it was made substantially on the basis of the Anglo-Russian agreement, and established the principality of Bulgaria, to be bounded on the south by the Balkans, and to include Varna on the east and Sophia on the west, the state to own all the fortresses; the territory south of the Balkans to be erected into an autonomous province, to be called Eastern Roumelia, and to be governed by a Christian hospodar, nominated by the Sultan and the Powers, who should be aided by a local elective Parliament, and supported by a local militia, the higher officers of which must be approved by the Sultan. The Turkish Government was given the full and entire right to occupy and cover the line of frontier separating Bulgaria from Eastern Roumelia, by whatever number of troops it might deem necessary for the security of its borders; but it was expressly understood that these troops should be composed entirely of regulars, should not on any pretext be cantoned among the inhabitants, and should be used exclusively for frontier service. It was stipulated that the principality of Bulgaria should have a Christian government and a national militia; that the Prince should be elected by the people and confirmed by the Porte and the great Powers; that the rights of all the nationalities should be taken into account in whatever relates to the election or the government, and that distinction of religious belief or confession should not operate against any one as a reason of exclusion or incapacity in what concerns enjoyment of political rights, admission to public employment, functions, or honors, or the exercise of the different professions and industries. Liberty of public profession of all creeds was assured to all the returned population as well as to strangers. Until a permanent organization shall be completed, for which nine months are allowed, Bulgaria will be governed by a provisional organization, directed by Russian com

missioners, who will be assisted by delegated consuls of the great Powers. The Ottoman army shall evacuate Bulgaria, and all the fortresses shall be destroyed, within a year, and new ones shall not be erected. Mussulmans who remove from the principality shall be allowed to retain their real property by suffering it to be administered by third parties; and two years were allotted for a TurkishBulgarian commission, to be engaged with the regulation of all matters relative to the transfer of state properties and religious foundations. The province of Eastern Roumelia, as defined by this treaty, has an area of 13,664 square miles, and a population of 751,000.

The Russians had accomplished much in the organization of the Bulgarian districts which they had occupied, even before the treaty of San Stefano was signed. They continued in their work without waiting for the result of negotiations concerning the meeting of the Congress, and did not change their course even after the Congress had made its decisions. In April an imperial ukase was issued directing the speedy establishment of the new organization. The province was divided into governments. Each governor should act along with an administrative council chosen from among the most trustworthy persons within the area of the government. The government should be divided into circuits, presided over by sub-governors, each having a council of seven Bulgarians. A superintendent should be appointed in each circuit, to be supported by a Bulgarian magistracy, to have the command of a body of police composed of Christians and Mohammedans, and to be vested with the control of passes, and with authority to act as a judge in small cases. An autonomous court of law appointed in each circuit town would exercise jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases, partly in accordance with former Turkish law, and partly in accordance with the determination of use and wont. The constitution of a National Assembly at Philippopolis was contemplated after all the above-mentioned institutions should have been organized. After the death of Prince Tcherkasski, the superintendence of the Russian administration in all of Bulgaria became lodged in the hands of Prince Dondoukoff-Korsakoff, who, establishing his headquarters at Philip popolis, directed the organization of both sections of the country.

While the appointment of the commissioners for Eastern Roumelia contemplated by the treaty of Berlin was pending, the Russian administrator continued to execute the policy previously adopted, which looked to the formation of a compact, autonomous state, without seeming to regard the changes demanded by the new treaty. He was supported by the majority of the Bulgarian population, who were anxious to be incorporated into a state embracing their whole nationality, and strongly opposed to a return under Turkish rule. The

discontent of these people over the provisions of the treaty of Berlin aggravated the disorders with which the country was already afflicted. Charges of outrages committed by Bulgarians were preferred, and became so definite that an international commission was appointed to investigate them. The reports of the commissioners were published in the latter part of August. The British, French, and Turkish commissioners made identical statements, representing that atrocious outrages had been committed by the Russians and the Bulgarians in 1877 and 1878, both north and south of the Balkans, but chiefly in the villages of the Rhodope Mountains. It had been intended to make this statement the basis of the report of the commission; but the Russian, German, and Austrian representatives refused to sign it, because the evidence upon which it was founded was not satisfactory to them, and the Italian representative withdrew his signature after having attached it, for the same reason.

The more important offices in both provinces were filled by the appointment of Russians. The organization of the native militia was pushed with vigor. An enrollment of all young men of the ages of twenty, twenty-one, and twenty-two, was begun in September, which was intended for the organization of a territorial army to consist of fifty battalions of infantry, seventy squadrons of cavalry, four sotnias of artillery, and four regiments of sappers, to be commanded by officers selected from the Russian army. This army was enrolled and designed for service in both provinces, but two thirds of the whole were drawn from Bulgaria.

The particular organization of northern Bulgaria was conducted with dispatch and without disturbance, so that few events occurred in connection with it which attracted attention abroad. The evacuation of the fortresses by the Turks was begun with hesitation and carried on slowly, in consequence of the complications growing out of the continued presence of the Russian forces near Constantinople. The forts around Shumla were given up in July, and the Russians received possession of Varna on the 11th of August. The formation of bands in the Dobrudja to resist the occupation of the province by the Roumanians was reported in the latter part of September, and it was said that arms had been distributed among the intending insurgents. A circular was sent by Gen. Scoboleff to the officers of the territory occupied by the Russians, threatening to proclaim martial law against those inhabitants who should rebel against Russian authority; and a similar circular was prepared by the Porte to be published in the provinces recently occupied by the Turkish troops. The organization of the administration of justice was effected in October, when tribunals were constituted for civil and criminal cases, consisting of local tribunals in the circuits and governmental courts in each sanjak, with special tribunals for cases in which religious faith is concerned. An an

nouncement was made that the civil, military, and ecclesiastical service of Bulgaria would henceforth be carried on in the Russian language.

The International Commission for the organization of Eastern Roumelia was appointed in September, and held its first meeting at Constantinople on the 1st of October. Its meetings were held afterward at Philippopolis. It was not favorably received by the Bulgarian people, and complaints were made that the Russian officers did not heartily encourage its objects. Prince Dondoukoff-Korsakoff refused to surrender the administration of the finances to the commission, as was stipulated in the treaty of Berlin should be done, so long as the Russian troops occupied the province; but he offered to give up the surplus revenue remaining after defraying the expenses of the government, including the payment of the native militia then in the course of formation. It was observed with concern that the Russians, instead of showing an intention to withdraw, were sending fresh troops south of the Balkans. Gen. Todleben, having arrived at Lule Bourgas on the last of October, gave orders for the repair of the bridges in the neighborhood, and for the construction of barracks for the winter quarters of the Russian soldiers stationed between Liverts and Tundja. The arrangements for sending away the greater part of the army and for demolishing the fortresses of Widin and Rustchuk were stopped. The fortifications at Kustendji in the Dobrudja, which had been abandoned, were rearmed, and military guards were posted at the railway stations. The apprehension was excited by these movements that the Russians did not intend to be bound by the limitations of the treaty of Berlin, nor to evacuate the Bulgarian territories until a final peace was concluded. Journals friendly to them stated, however, that their renewed advance was ordered, not on strategical grounds, but for the sake of order and humanity.

On the 29th of October a petition signed by 50,000 Bulgarians of Eastern Roumelia and Macedonia was presented to the commission sitting at Philippopolis, protesting against the division of Bulgaria. The petitioners professed to

be astonished at the injustice which the Powers had committed against the Bulgarians in dividing them into three parts; declared that, after having experienced nine months of freedom under the Russian occupation, they could not return to subjection to Turkish misgovernment; and averred that they preferred the provisions of the treaty of San Stefano to those of the treaty of Berlin. In illustration of the injustice which they said the Congress had done to the Bulgarians of Eastern Roumelia and Macedonia, they claimed that the former province contained the best part of the Bulgarians, and the latter 1,500,000 persons of that nationality. The Bulgarian boundary commissioners returned to Constantinople early in December, averring that they were forced to do so because the Russians, despite reiterated requests, delayed furnishing an escort, and Gen. Todleben refused to receive them when they wished to remonstrate.

A meeting of Bulgarians was held at Philippopolis on the 11th of November, which resolved to continue in persistent opposition to the execution of the work of the commission for organizing Eastern Roumelia. Prince Dondoukoff-Korsakoff was reported to have expressed the conviction, about the same time, that the execution of the treaty of Berlin was a sheer impossibility, for the Bulgarians would take up arms to oppose the separation of Eastern Roumelia from Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian Assembly was called to meet at Tirnova, December 27th, where, after preparing the organic law of the principality, it was expected to elect a Prince. A draft of the Constitution had been prepared, which provided for an Assembly consisting of four hundred deputies, one hundred of whom should be selected by the Government. The Prince should have the right to exercise mercy, but should not be entitled to declare war. election of the Prince was expected to take place on the 1st of January, 1879. The persons named in December as the principal candidates were Gen. Ignatieff, late Russian Ambassador at Constantinople, Prince Alexander Wassiltchikoff, Prince Reuss, and Prince Alexander of Battenberg.

The

CALIFORNIA. The Legislature, after a brief adjournment, reassembled on January 4th.

In the Senate one of the first bills introduced was framed to authorize the Mayor, City and County Surveyor, and Superintendent of Streets in San Francisco to give employment to two thousand laboring men from the date of the passage of the bill to April 10th, the price to be fixed by the officers above mentioned. One of the Senators (Mr. Rogers) said: "It is well known that the streets of San Francisco, at the present time, are full of laboring men

and mechanics who have nothing to do. Only two or three days ago-the day before yesterday-they went to the Mayor of that city, I think in a body three thousand strong, and asked him to give them labor in order that they may be able to get bread. The leader of that large body of men said to the Mayor, 'Unless you give us something to do some work—we shall be obliged to steal, in order that we may be put in the county jail, where we will have food."" Another Senator (Mr. McCoppin) objected to the bill, saying: "Why, at the end of

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