Appearances are very unfavorable. There is evidently a very bad spirit
abroad. Especially is this manifest ever since England has seemed to be
at variance with the other European powers. While what are known as the
guaranteeing powers were agreed in their eastern policy, a very
different tone of feeling prevailed throughout the empire. Whatever may
have been the intent in sending into these waters the enormous British
fleet now in Besika Bay, it is undoubtedly a great moral support to the
sentiment at this moment prevailing in Turkey.
Ever since the revolution outlined in my dispatches Nos. 66 and 67, of
May last, the Turkish armies have been constantly and rapidly recruited,
and that in the prevailing name of Islam. The recruits are gathered very
largely from Asia, and from the most fanatical portion of the Mussulman
population; and, to show the sort of appeals made to them, I inclose a
copy of the translation of a vizierial proclamation hung up in the
streets of Aintab, furnished by the United States consular agent of that
city.
[Inclosure.]
Dispatch from Mr. Lazzaro to Mr. Maynard.
Vice-Consulate of the United States,
Salonica, June 21, 1876.
No. 68.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your excellency’s dispatch dated June 3, 1876, No. 84, by
the contents of which I feel happy to see that your excellency is
convinced of my being entirely clear of all responsibility for the
tragedy at Salonica, and has promised to write to that effect to the
Department of State.
The commission which had arrived from Constantinople in order to
investigate into the case of the murder of the two consuls and
execute punishment upon the instigators and perpetrators of the
atrocious deed, was composed of Bachan Effendi, imperial
commissioner; Eshrif Pasha, present governor-general of Salonica;
Mr. Robert and Mr. Gillett, delegates of the French and German
consulates; and one of the dragomans of the German legation, Br.
Blunt; and Mr. Foscarini on the part of the consular body. This
commission sat on duty about thirty-three days. The investigation,
being privately carried on, have not been communicated to the
consular corps. A list of some of the judgments and condemnations
which were notified to the consular corps by Mr. Foscarini I had the
honor to send to your excellency in a previous dispatch. A few days
before the departure of the commission for the capital, it had been
re-enforced by a large body of military officers of high rank, who
were sent from Constantinople in order to hold a court-martial and
judge the conduct of Rufet Pasha, ex-governor-general of Salonica,
and the other military officers that had been on duty during the
perpetration of the crime. After a great deal of disputing and
squabbling between the commission and the court-martial, the latter
sentenced the ex-governor-general to one year’s suspension from
office, and loss of pay for fautes graves.
The ex-chief of police to degradation and one year’s imprisonment
for delit. Two other officers were sentenced
for forty-five days’ arrest and one year’s suspension from office.
Considering the immense responsibility that weighed upon all these
functionaries, and the entire want of action that characterized the
conduct of the ex-governor-general and the rest of the officers, not
to speak of the grave faults that public opinion justly attributes
to them, the sentence of the court-martial was lenient to the
extreme. The commission itself, finding it quite disproportional to
what it ought to have been, proposed its reversion. The Porte,
having been consulted on the subject, decided upon the removal of
the whole court to Constantinople, where it is to be hoped a final
and satisfactory arrangement will be obtained. Yesterday, the 20th
instant, all the prisoners condemned by the commission, some to
exile and others to penal servitude of years or for life, according
to the culpability of each individual, were sent to Vidin, from
where they will be distributed to their respective destinations. On
the whole, the action of the commission appears to have fallen short
in the realization of its object, which, according to public
opinion, ought to have been the infliction of a more severe
punishment upon the ex-governor-general and the rest of the
officials in whose presence the atrocious deed was perpetrated, and
who did nothing to avert it, or protect the unfortunate victims.
From the twelve persons condemned to death six have met with capital
punishment, and the other six are awaiting in prison here the final
decision from Constantinople respecting their destiny.
The news of the dethronement of the Sultan Aziz and the succession of
Sultan Murad to the vacant throne was joyfully received in this
place by the whole population. The state of the government and
affairs in general all over the country had come to such a pass that
any change would have been most welcome. The enthusiasm occasioned
by this event was great at first, and high hopes were entertained by
all classes of the inhabitants respecting the future reforms so much
desired and needed through the country. This enthusiasm has now
partly abated, and varied are the opinions with which the different
races that are interested in them view the constitution that is to
contain them. The Christians, depressed and weighed down by the
oppression of the late government, can scarcely realize the hope of
seeing a change so beneficial to their condition, while the Turks,
still in bad humor and discontented with the actual state of their
affairs and with a pending war over their heads, can scarcely be
expected to view in a favorable light the reforms that the force of
circumstances and Europe is wresting from them. Great disorders
continue to take place in the interior, owing to the passage of the
recruits and the number of freebooters with whom the country is now
swarming. Brigandage has increased, and highway robberies and
assassinations are of daily occurrence in the interior.
The accounts from Bulgaria state that very great has been the loss of
life and property in that unfortunate province during the
suppression of the revolts, and terrible are the atrocities said to
have been perpetrated by a reckless and barbarous soldiery on the
defenseless women and children. Some of these soldiers, returning
from there to Uskub, are said to have driven before them a herd of
young girls, whom they were
[Page 575]
selling in the towns for ten piasters apiece. Twenty-four other
Bulgarian girls were also brought as slaves into a village in the
district of Salonica. The authorities, however, having received
notice of this, have, I believe, taken some measures to have the
girls restored. The authorities everywhere in the interior appear to
have received orders to disarm the Christians, while the Turks are
allowad to bear arms freely, even in the very towns. The disarming
of the Christian population on the part of the Turks may be a
precautionary measure, but to enforce it in the way it is done just
now, and before the government itself is able to execute its laws or
guarantee the safety of the people, it cannot be considered
otherwise but unjustifiable and unfair. The poor peasantry,
terrified by exaggerated reports of massacres and wrongs daily
received by their oppressive masters, are in a pitiable state of
anxiety and disquietude. Helpless in their condition, and justly
distrustful in the protection they ought to receive from the
authorities, they feel themselves at the mercy of a discontented and
excited Mahometan population that might at any time crush them
without pity.
In conclusion, from all I hear and see, I fear there is a great deal
of ill-humor and excitement among the Turks, especially in the
interior, and if the new government does not take prompt and
decisive measures to put down this evident ill-disposition on the
part of the Turks toward the Christians, much misery and even
bloodshed will be the consequence.
* * * * * * *
I have, &c.,
P. H. LAZZARO,
United States
Consular Agent.
