Nr. 12783. GROSSBRITANNIEN.

Bericht desselben über die

Salonica, July 17, 1901.

Lage der bulgarischen Gefangenen in Saloniki.

Sir, I have the honour to inform jour Excellency that in an interview which I had with the Vali ten days ago, I left with him the Petition handed to the Consular Body by the Bulgarian prisoners, on his expressing a wish to know its exact contents. || In a subsequent interview which I have just had with his Excellency, he was good enough to give me the following particulars concerning the prison. On his arrival here the total number of prisoners was about 900. Of these 71, among whom a few Bulgarians, have been set at liberty on the 25th June, anniversary of the Prophet's birthday, and 120, mostly Bulgarians, are to be sent shortly to the prisons of Rhodes, Boudroun, and St. Jean d'Acre. But nearly 100 fresh prisoners having been incarcerated, the total is now about 800. || In the Petition handed to the Consuls, the Bulgarian prisoners especially complained of || 1. Overcrowding; || 2. The generally filthy condition of the prisons; || 3. The disgraceful state of the water-closets; || 4. That many sick prisoners were not duly attended to for motives of economy; and 5. That a number of Moslem prisoners were allowed to keep their knives, wich were a menace to the lives of the Christian prisoners. || The Vali confessed that the first three points are confirmed by facts. His Excellency ascertained that the prisons, which contain 800 inmates, have space for only half that number, at most for 500. He proposed that „Beyaz Koulé" or the "White Tower" where there is spacious accommodation, should be utilized as a prison. || Since, however, he is unable to take such a step on his own initiative, he has applied to Constantinople for permission to carry out his suggestion which he has not yet been authorized to do. || Meanwhile he has caused the prisons to be cleaned as far as the overcrowding permits at present. The water-closets have also to be transferred elsewhere. All these improvements will require some time, but his Excellency appears decided to carry them out as soon as circumstances allow him to do so. Tewfik Bey told me that there was no foundation whatever with regard to the fourth point; and that the truth about the fifth point is that, after a thorough search in the prison, two knives were discovered which had been concealed in the earth or beneath stones by the prisoners. || The number of Bulgarian prisoners condemned during the recent trials, which amounted to 114 (117 according to the list supplied me by a Bulgarian Notability the discrepancy of three may be accounted for by the number of those tried by default), is now reduced to 112 in consequence of two deaths which have occurred

since their incarceration. The Bulgarians knew only of one death ten days ago, the second death having taken place since that date. Of the Bulgarian prisoners previous to the last trials there are 185, giving at the present moment a total of 297, about one-third of whom will be sent to other prisons (Rhodes, Boudroun, St. Jean d'Acre), leaving in round figures 200 in the Salonica prisons. From information received to-day I learn that the prisoners condemned to death (whose sentence was confirmed by the Court of Cassation) are to be all sent to some of the fortified places mentioned, away from Salonica. In view of the fact that the Imperial Iradé required for the execution of capital sentences has not yet been issued, and that such sentences must be executed on the spot where the trial and crime took place, it would appear that there is a certain possibility of reprieve for those condemned to death. || I suggested to the Vali that it would be interesting to find out the percentage of mortality in the present condition of the vilavet (which, he thought, was now about 2 per 1000 per month), in order to compare it with the mortality after the improvements which he is carrying out, and his Excellency appeared inclined to do so. || My impression is that Tewfik Bey has the best intentions with regard to sanitation and other improvements in the prisons at Salonica, and that unless hindered by circumstances beyond control, he has the determination necessary to carry out his resolve. Alfred Biliotti.

Nr. 12784. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Der Gesandte in Athen an den Minister des Ausw. Das albanische Komitee verteilt von Corfu aus Waffen.

Athens, August 19, 1901. (August 26.)

My Lord, I learn, from what I believe to be a good source, that an Albanian Revolutionary Committee has been in existence at Corfu for some time past, and is endeavouring to foment agitation and to distribute arms amongst the Albanian tribes. A consignment of rifles of a recent type, which had been dispatched by the Committee, was seized by the Turkish authorities at Porto Palermo last spring, and a further consignment has since been introduced into the country by way of Chimara. I am informed that the Committee has lately come to terms with the Epirote Revolutionary Society, and that these two bodies, if not actually fused into one, are now working together with the object of putting an end to Turkish rule in Albania. The movement is stated to be entirely unconnected with any real or pretended Italian intrigues, but to be sup

ported by certain „Young Turks", and amongst others by Mahmoud, the brother-in-law of the Sultan, who is now at Corfu. || I should add that I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the above information, though I consider that the source from which I have obtained it is sufficiently good to warrant my reporting it to your Lordship. || Whilst on this subject I may mention that, as far as I can ascertain, the Greek Government is most anxious to maintain a correct attitude towards Turkey in regard to the „Young Turkish" agitation, and to avoid any appearance of connivance at the proceedings of any members of that party who may have taken refuge in Greek territory. Francis Stronge.

Nr. 12785. GROSSBRITANNIEN.

Der Botschafter in Konstantinopel an den Minister des Ausw. Vorstellungen des russischen Botschafters wegen der Unruhen an der serbischen Grenze.

Therapia, September 9, 1901. (September 16.) My Lord, || In my despatch of the 19th ultimo on the disturbed condition of the northwest frontier of Macedonia, I had the honour to report to your Lordship that the Russian Embassy was intervening to prevent the Servian population of Old Servia from being driven over the border by the persistent and premeditated persecution of the Albanian clans. Further representations were reported to have been made by M. Zinovieff on the 3rd instant, and I am now informed that, as a result of this action, an Iradé has been issued dismissing the Mutessarif of Prishtina, Djemal Bey, ordering the arrest and trial of a number of police agents and Albanian Beys, and granting permission to the Servian refugees to return. Similar demands had been in vain preferred by the Servian Minister, so that the success of the Russian Ambassador will, no doubt, be highly appreciated at Belgrade. Whether, however, they will be carried out in so far as the Albanian Beys are concerned may be doubted. N. R. O'conor.

Nr. 12786. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Der Gesandte in Sofia an den Minister des Ausw. Haltung der bulgarischen Regierung gegen das mazedonische Komitee. Rundschreiben an die bulgarischen Vertreter im Auslande.

Sophia, September 30, 1901. (October 14.)

(Extract.) || During a recent interview with M. Sarafoff, the Bulgarian Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, I inquired whether it was the case

that his Government had addressed a Circular to the Bulgarian Representatives abroad, defining the attitude of the former with regard to the Macedonian Committee, and I at the same time suggested that, if such where the case, it would be in the interest of the Bulgarian Government to bring the contents of the Circular to the knowledge of the foreign Representatives. || M. Sarafoff replied that he was unaware of any such step having been taken by M. Daneff, but that, in the event of a Circular of that nature having been issued, he would be glad to adopt my suggestion. | I have now the honour to transmit to your Lordship herewith a copy of the Circular in question which M. Sarafoff handed to me on the 28th instant with the remark that his Government was determined to act in the spirit of M. Daneff's declaration. He had already taken measures for „interning" nearly 200 Macedonians at present in Sophia, but he was convinced that the division produced in the Committee by the secession of Boris Sarafoff and his friends would prove more effectual than any official action in reducing the entire organization to impotence as an element of disorder, and he himself regarded the Secret Committee as non-existent. || I replied that, although I welcomed the good resolutions of the Bulgarian Government, I could not, in view of the facts I had been obliged to submit to M. Sarafoff in connection with the recent capture of Miss Stone, share his satisfaction with the result so far obtained, nor could I admit that the Secret Committee was a mere chimera. || It is announced in this evening's papers that, by M. Sarafoff's orders, about a dozen Macedonians of the lowest class have been sent from the capital into the interior of the Principality, but such measures cost the Government nothing, and leave the ringleaders scot-free.

Anlage.

Circular to Bulgarian Representatives Abroad.

Le Gouvernement Princier ne tolérera pas en Bulgarie, de la part de Comités Macédoniens, des actes qui ne seraient pas en harmonie avec les lois du pays. Contre tous actes de violence et de terrorisme que les Comités essaieraient de commettre il est fermement décidé à sévir avec toute la rigueur des lois. D'aucune manière et sous aucun prétexte, il ne permettra que les Comités forment une sorte d'État dans l'État. S'ils veulent exister, ces Comités doivent se maintenir sur le terrain de de la légalité. || Le Gouvernement Bulgare estime que cette ligne de conduite, qui lui est dictée avant tout pars le lois, est aussi la plus conforme aux intérêts véritables et bien entendus de notre cause en Turquie; car,

en accomplissant ainsi son devoir, il pourra être en droit de demander à son tour que les autres Gouvernements remplissent les engagements qu'ils ont pris en vertu de l'Article XXIII du Traité de Berlin. || Ayant en vue ce qui précède, vous saisirez toutes les occasions favorables qui se présenteront à vous pour déclarer comment le Gouvernement Princier entend ses devoirs et ses droits par rapport aux intérêts généraux de la Bulgarie.

Le 20 Août (2 Septembre), 1901.

Nr. 12787. GRIECHENLAND.

Bericht des Sekretärs der Hellenismus-Gesellschaft, Christovasili, über das griechische Element in Epirus in der „Acropolis" Nov. 1901.

Epirus is mainly inhabited by two races, the Hellenic and the Albanian; there are no Slavonic villages, and the Slavonic spirit does not exist. || Besides the Greeks and Albanians, there are about ten Vlach villages, of wich the inhabitants, besides having a most Greek habit of thought, speak Greek as their mother tongue, differing in no way in civil and religious customs from the Greeks. Many distinguished Greeks are of Vlach extraction, Coletti, Zalocosta, Costas Crystallis, Tositsas, Stournaras, and Averoff. Most oft the merchants and leading persons at Janina and Metsovo are Vlachs. || These Vlachs of Epirus would esteem it an offence to be considered of a comrade race with the Roumans. A proof of this is given by the celebrated propagandist, Apostolos Margarites, who wastes millions of Rouman francs in Macedonia and Epirus to tempt the Vlachs to reassume Roumanian nationality; but with all his efforts, aided by the Turkish authorities, he has entirely failed in converting a single Epirot Vlach. While, as for the Roumanian gymnasium existing in Janina up to last June without any practical results

merely as a proof (adversited by the attacks of the Greek press), that the Roumanian flood has reached as far as Janina, the rent of the school and the salary of a master have been paid for years without a single pupil. It was dissolved this year after the interview at Abbazia. || Besides the Vlachs in the Villages and towns, there are about 700 families of Albanian nomad Vlachs who take up their winter quarters in Prevesa, Parga, Paramythia, Philista, Avlona, and Musaka, camping in the summer on the Zagorion Mountains and the south-west of Macedonia. These nomads can generally speak Greek, Vlach, and Albanian, but only write in Greek. They are always baptized by Greek priests. || There is also in