68 



BULGARIA. 



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. Mussul- 

 mans who remove from the principality shall 

 be allowed to retain their real property by suf- 

 fering it to be administered by third parties; 

 and two years were allotted for a Turkish- 

 Bulgarian commission, to be engaged with the 

 regulation of all matters relative to the trans- 

 fer of state properties and religious founda- 

 tions. 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 direct- 

 ing the speedy establishment of the new or- 

 ganization. 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 com- 

 mand of a body of police composed of Chris- 

 tians and Mohammedans, and to be vested 

 with the control of passes, and with authority 

 to act as a judge in small cases. An autono- 

 mous 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 Phil- 

 ippopolis was contemplated after all the 

 above-mentioned institutions should have been 

 organized. After the death of Prince Tcher- 

 kasski, the superintendence of the Russian ad- 

 ministration 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 sec- 

 tions of the country. 



While the appointment of the commissioners 

 for Eastern Roumelia contemplated by the 

 treaty of Berlin was pending, the Russian ad- 

 ministrator continued to execute the policy 

 previously adopted, which looked to the forma- 

 tion 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 commis- 

 sioners were published in the latter part of 

 August. The British, French, and Turkish 

 commissioners made identical statements, rep- 

 resenting that atrocious outrages had been com- 

 mitted by the Russians and the Bulgarians in 

 1877 and 1878, both north and south of the 

 Balkans, but chiefly in the villages of the Rho- 

 dope 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, be- 

 cause 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 terri- 

 torial army to consist of fifty battalions of 

 infantry, seventy squadrons of cavalry, four 

 sotnias of artillery, and four regiments of sap- 

 pers, 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 Bul- 

 garia 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 car- 

 ried on slowly, in consequence of the compli- 

 cations 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 llth 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 in- 

 tending insurgents. A circular was sent by 

 Gen. Scoboleff to the officers of the territory 

 occupied by the Russians, threatening to pro- 

 claim 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 tri- 

 bunals in the circuits and governmental courts 

 in each sanjak, with special tribunals .for cases 

 in which religious faith is concerned. An an- 



