déjà détruite par ses notes précédentes et d'après laquelle les autorités. Impériales prêteraient une créance aveugle aux rapports qui lui sont adressés sur les actes des révolutionnaires Macédoniens. Tous les faits signalés par ce Commissariat Impérial représentent en réalité des crimes de droit commun, presque toujours impunément commis sous le couvert de l'assistance officielle prêtée au Comité et dont le caractère patent est démontré à l'évidence dans les notes qui les signalaient. Au surplus, si les faits visés n'ont jamais été réprimés malgré les promesses réitérées des Ministères précédents, ils n'ont jamais été non plus de la part de ces Ministères l'objet d'aucune assertion de nature à les controuver ou à en atténuer la gravité. || Il est également impossible à ce Commissariat Impérial de laisser passer sans observation l'exposé que le Ministère Princier s'est plu à faire d'une question qu'il présente sous le nom de l'incident d'Ichtib, pour essayer de démontrer que les actes repréhensibles qui se commettent dans les vilayets voisins sont attribués à tort à des émissaires du Comité Révolutionnaire ou à des bandes armées venues de Bulgarie. Quoiqu'il s'agisse en l'espèce d'une affaire d'ordre intérieur spécial du Gouvernement Impérial et qu'à ce titre elle ne doit donner lieu ici à aucune explication, le Commissariat Impérial croit pouvoir affirmer cependant que si le Ministère Princier était exactement renseigné sur les circonstances de l'incident, il n'hésiterait pas à reconnaître que l'attitude du Gouvernement Impérial a été à cette occurrence tout à l'avantage des intérêts de la Principauté. || En résumé, ce Commissariat Impérial n'a en vue que la juste répression des menées subversives du Comité Révolutionnaire et des délits de droit commun dont ils se rendent coupables; aussi veut-il espérer que les mesures arrêtées à cet effet par le Ministère Princier seront plus efficaces que celles promises par les Ministères qui l'ont précédé, et mettront enfin terme à toute agitation regrettable. || En lui donnant cette satisfaction, le Ministère Princier secondera les efforts de ce Commissariat Impérial en vue de maintenir la bonne harmonie de ses relations avec la Principauté, dont les intérêts d'ailleurs lui sont à cœur. Le 22 Février, 1901.

Nr. 12773. GROSSBRITANNIEN.

Der Gesandte in Sofia an den Minister des Ausw. Die türkische Regierung hat die Auflösung der mazedonischen Komitees gefordert.

Sophia, March 26, 1901. (April 1.)

My Lord, || With reference to my despatch of the 6th instant, I have the honour to report that Nedjib Effendi Melhame, the Ottoman Com

missioner, some days ago addressed to the Bulgarian Government a formal note demanding the dissolution of the Macedonian Committee in the interest of the maintenance of good relations between the Principality and the Porte, and is awaiting a reply. || I did not attend the last reception of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, but his Excellency told one of my colleagues, and begged him to repeat that the Government were determined to strike at the root of the evil produced by the Macedonian Committee, and were only waiting to act until they had collected the necessary materials. || I am told by a Deputy that, in closing the debate on the Address in the Sobranié yesterday, the same Minister, M. Daneff, said that the Government were determined to enforce the law, and to fulfil their obligations towards other countries, for until they had put themselves in the right in that respect, they were not entitled to ask other countries to fulfil their engagements (alluding to the eventual execution of Article XXIII of the Treaty of Berlin). He added that so long as the Macedonian Committee conformed to the law, it could continue to exist, but that any breach of the law would be rigorously punished. The question of the complicity of the Committee in the Bucharest murders was now in the hands of the Courts of Justice, and would, he hoped, soon be finally settled. | The Macedonian Congress was summoned to meet at Sophia on the 31st March, but the Government are said to be throwing obstacles in the way of its assembling by refusing leave of absence to schoolmasters and other public servants who have been chosen as provincial delegates to it; and an evening paper announced yesterday that the meeting of the Congress had been postponed until July. The principal business of the Congress would have been to consider the resignation of Sarafoff and other members of the Committee, and to re-elect them or appoint others in their place. Mr. Vice-Consul Dalziel reports from Rustchuk that the drilling of Macedonians has ceased, and that the authorities profess to be calling in the rifles, but say it is difficult to do so, as they are mostly private property. On the other hand, His Majesty's Vice-Consul at Philippopoli writes that ,,the Macedonians are carrying on their drill as usual, sometimes with rifles, and always under the direction of garrison officers". | M. Daneff told me the last time I saw him that several known leaders of bands of incursionists had been removed from the neighbourhood of the frontier and internés" elsewhere.

F. Elliot.

Nr. 12774. GROSSBRITANNIEN. - Der Gesandte in Sofia an den Minister des Ausw. Verhaftung des Präsidiums der mazedonischen Komitees.

Sophia, April 10, 1901. (April 15.) My Lord, During the night of the 5th instant Sarafoff, the President of the Macedonian Committee; Davidoff, the Vice-President; Kovacheff, the Secretary, and several other members of the Committee, were arrested, and their lodgings, as well as the offices of the Committee, were taken possession of by the authorities. || Sarafoff and Davidoff were accosted by a Commissaire de Police as they came out of a Café Chantant together, and were requested to accompany him to the Préfecture de Police. || They asked to see the warrant, and as it was not forthcoming they drew revolvers and threatened resistance. They were, therefore, accompanied to Sarafoff's lodging, and the warrant was sent for; upon the production of it they surrendered quietly. || In the course of the following day further arrests were made, and I understand there are now in custody thirteen of the persons condemned by default by the Roumanian Court, and seven of their associates. || In informing me the next morning of what had been done, M. Daneff, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, said the arrest had been made upon the warrant of the Juge d'Instruction, intrusted with the examination of the Roumanian „dossier", and he hoped they would be recognized as a proof of the determination of the Bulgarian Government to insist on the execution of the law. | On the day on which the arrests were made, the Reformi", the organ of the Macedonian Committee, published an article in which the Prince is accused of using the Macedonian question solely with a view to his own advantage. It declares that in 1895 he encouraged the Committee to organize the incursions which were made into Macedonia, and which resulted in the loss of valuable lives without any profit to the Macedonian cause, but which contributed to bring about the recognition of the Prince in the following year, while now he is threatening the Macedonian Society with suppression at the bidding of the foreign Powers. || It protests against the arbitrary „internement" of Macedonians (which has, in fact, been carried out in several places), and calls upon those who are thus, as it says, illegally treated, in their turn to disregard the law. The article has been thought to be the immediate cause of the arrests being made, but they must, as a matter of fact, have been decided on before it appeared. || Several of the newspapers, and especially the,,Narodni Prava", M. Rodoslavoff's organ, protest vehemently against the action of the Government, and there is some ferment among the Macedonians, whom the Government party, while in

opposition, had led to expect different treatment at their hands. || On the 7th instant placards summoning a public meeting to protest against the arrest of the Committee were posted in Sophia, and were torn down by the police. In one instance a gendarme endeavouring to prevent the posting of a placard, was threatened with revolvers. He summoned assistance, and some persons were arrested, but the mob became so menacing that they were released by the Prefect of Police, who, however, has since been dismissed. The meeting was held in an inclosed place, and passed off without special incident. F. Elliot.

Nr. 12775. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Der Gesandte in Sofia an den Minister des Ausw. Provozierende Haltung des mazedonischen Kongresses.

Sophia, April 24, 1901. (April 29.)

My Lord, || The proceedings of the Macedonian Congress terminated on the 21st instant with the election of a provisional Committee to carry on the Administration until the ordinary meeting of the Congress in July. The persons elected were: Professor Mikhailovsky, President; Dr. Vladoff, Vice-President; Messrs. Kepoff, Secretary; Dimitroff, Minkoff, and Petroff, Treasurer; the two latter being members of the old Committee who have not been arrested. They are all said to belong to the party of action, excepting the President, who is reported to hold moderate views. He has, however, in conjunction with General Tsoncheff, another candidate for the presidency, lately published a pamphlet in which he admits that dislike of Bulgaria is now general in Europe, and ascribes it to the mistaken foreign policy pursued by successive Bulgarian Governments, the responsibility for which he ascribes entirely to the Prince. The unfriendly attitude of Russia, he says, is due to their dislike of the Prince; as they cannot get rid of him themselves, they beat the horse to make him unseat the rider". || The Macedonian Congress deputed Professor Mikhailovsky, General Tsoncheff and another to visit Sarafoff and his companions in prison and thank them for their services. The further proceedings of the Congress have not been divulged. || Professor Mikhailovsky is one of several teachers in public schools who attended the Congress notwithstanding the formal prohibition of their doing so on pain of dismissal. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has assured one of my colleagues that the penalty will be enforced. || The Minister of the Interior has issued a Circular confirming an Order of his predecessor forbidding the collection

of subscriptions in favour of the Macedonian Societies, except among members of those Societies, and giving instructions that this Order is to be strictly observed.

F. Elliot.

Nr. 12776. GROSSBRITANNIEN. - Derselbe an Denselben. Ansichten der bulgarischen Regierung über den Kongreß.

Sophia, May 8, 1901. (May 13.)

My Lord, || The last time I saw M. Daneff, the Bulgarian Minister for Foreign Affairs, I asked him what he thought of the composition of the new Macedonian Committee. He replied that Mikhailovsky, the President, was a poet and an idealist, liable to vary his opinions from day to day according to the nature of his latest impressions, but quite incapable of sanctioning the criminal methods adopted by Sarafoff. The other members of the Committee were young men, but most of them of fairly moderate views. The important result of the Congress, he said, was the condemnation expressed of the methods of Sarafoff by a large majority. || I asked his Excellency how he reconciled this alleged condemnation of the methods of Sarafoff with the dispatch of a deputation to express to him the sympathy and thanks of the Congress. He replied that it was one of those illogical proceedings which often took place in this country, and that he supposed the idea was to express appreciation of the good intentions of Sarafoff, but not of the manner in which he had attempted to carry them out. The Ottoman Commissioner does not think that the policy of the Macedonian Committee will be much affected by the change in the composition of it. He does not believe in the efficacity or sincerity of any of the measures taken by the Government except as regards the collection of funds, which he admits has been stopped, to such good purpose that he understands the chest of the Committee now only contains 30 000 fr. F. Elliot.

Nr. 12777. GROSSBRITANNIEN.

Der Gesandte in Belgrad an den Minister des Ausw. Unruhen an der SerbischTürkischen Grenze. Die Pforte kann die Christen nicht schützen.

Belgrade, May 10, 1901. (May 15.)

My Lord, With reference to my despatch of the 7th instant, I have the honour to report that the disturbances in Old Servia, alluded to therein as having obliged forty families of Servian origin to take refuge in