732 



SERVIA. 



SILLIMAN, BENJAMIN. 



blood in the defense of Bulgaria, they would 

 never consent to be handed back to Turkey. 

 The prince answered that he had not with- 

 drawn his forces from the Koumelian border 

 to meet the Servian invasion in token of a re- 

 nunciation of the union. In declaring his sub- 

 mission to the Sultan, and notifying the Porte 

 of the retirement of the Bulgarian troops from 

 Koumelia, he had not renounced the union. 



On the 25th King Milan sent a proposal for 

 an armistice, and on the 27th repeated the 

 proposal. Prince Alexander again refused to 

 treat until he was on Servian territory, and 

 announced as his terms the evacuation of the 

 Widdin district and the payment of a war in- 

 demnity. When the Bulgarians entered Ser- 

 via, the Austrian Government, which had been 

 massing troops on the Bosnian frontier, an- 

 nounced, on Nov. 28, the intention of occupy- 

 ing Servia, and informed Prince Alexander 

 that if he advanced farther he would be op- 

 posed by the Austro- Hungarian army. The 

 powers sent collective notes to the Bulgarian 

 and Servian Governments, announcing that 

 they had agreed to the proposal of the Cabinet 

 of St. Petersburg to combine with a view of 

 stopping, by collective action, the hostilities 

 and bloodshed between the Servians and the 

 Bulgarians, and of putting an end to the strug- 

 gle. On Nov. 28 Minister Zanoff, in a circu- 

 lar to the powers, announced the willingness 

 of the Bulgarian Government, in view of the 

 request of the powers and the declaration of 

 the Austro-Hungarian Cabinet, to cease hos- 

 tilities and enter into negotiations respecting 

 an armistice. The Servian Government made 

 the same promise. When, on the following 

 day, the Servians renewed their attack on Wid- 

 din, Prince Alexander informed Count Kheven- 

 hiiller, the Austrian envoy and intermediary 

 of peace negotiations, that he considered him- 

 self released from his word unless the Servians 

 ceased hostilities. Skirmishes continued, es- 

 pecially in the Widdin district, and the Bulga- 

 rians declared that they would accept no truce 

 of which the evacuation of the district was 

 not a condition. War preparations were con- 

 tinued on both sides. Finally, the powers again 

 intervened, and directed the military attaches 

 of their ministers at Vienna to proceed to the 

 seat of war and demarkate the line between 

 the districts occupied by the two armies, so as 

 to put an end to such collisions. The Servian 

 proposals for an armistice until Jan. 13, 1886, 

 were, that the positions of Nov. 28 should be 

 maintained, without liberty of moving troops 

 from one point to another, and that a recip- 

 rocal evacuation should take place, if possible. 

 These terms, presented in writing on Dec. 6, 

 were rejected for the second time by the Bul- 

 garian ministry. The Porte informed the bel- 

 ligerents that no definite peace could be con- 

 cluded by Bulgaria without its intervention. 

 The Sultan, on Dec. 6, ordered Prince Alex- 

 ander to prolong the suspension of hostilities. 

 Prince Alexander demanded, as a condition of 



the armistice, that the Servian force should 

 evacuate the Widdin district without a simul- 

 taneous evacuation of Pirot. The Sultan sent 

 Madjid Pasha as his commissioner to act with 

 Prince Alexander in settling terms of peace. 

 Servia and Bulgaria were unable to agree 

 upon the terms of the armistice, but both bel- 

 ligerents promised to respect the injunction 

 of the powers and remain on the defensive 

 within their own lines. The International 

 Military Commission, charged with determin- 

 ing the lines of occupation between the com- 

 batants, arrived on the spot in the middle of 

 December. They agreed to base their decis- 

 ions on the fact that, while the Servians 

 could reckon some military successes in the 

 north, and advanced twenty miles into Bulga- 

 rian territory, whereas at Pirot the Bulgarians 

 were only ten miles beyond their own border; 

 yet the Bulgarians were victorious in the main 

 actions, which took place in the south, and 

 were to be regarded as having conquered and 

 obtained the strongest military position. The 

 commissioners were intrusted with the duty of 

 deciding upon the terms of the armistice. 

 Prince Alexander agreed to accept their arbi- 

 tration, subject to the approval of the Sultan. 

 King Milan agreed to abide by the decisions of 

 the commission. On Dec. 21 the commission- 

 ers signed a protocol embodying their deci- 

 sions. They provided that the Servians should 

 evacuate Bulgarian territory by Dec. 25, that 

 the Bulgarians should evacuate Pirot by Dec. 

 27, and that the armistice should continue un- 

 til March 1. In a letter to the ultan, Prince 

 Alexander pointed out that the evacuation of 

 Pirot would leave Bulgaria without an indem- 

 nity for the sacrifices of the war. 



The armistice was ratified by both belliger- 

 ents, and on the dates set the troops retired 

 within the political frontiers. On Dec. 26 

 Prince Alexander celebrated his triumphal en- 

 try into Sofia. 



SILLIMAN, BEXJiMIN, an American chemist, 

 born in New Haven, Conn., Dec. 4, 1816; died 

 there, June 14, 1885. He was the son of Ben- 

 jamin Silliman, Sr., the first Professor of Chem- 

 istry at Yale College (1802-1853). The young- 

 er Silliman was graduated at Yale College in 

 1837, became assistant to his father, and lect- 

 ured in the departments of chemistry, miner- 

 alogy, and geology. In 1842 he fitted up at his 

 own expense an apartment in the old labora- 

 tory of Yale College, where he received private 

 pupils in chemistry and mineralogy, and also 

 conducted his original investigations in science. 

 This was the first effort made in the Unite 

 States to give advanced instruction in chemis- 

 try and physics. In 1846 the corporation o 

 the college was induced to consider the advisa- 

 bility of organizing a new department f< 

 teaching of the newer sciences. Mr. Silliman 

 was elected Professor of Chemistry applied to 

 the Arts, and Mr. Norton Professor of Agricult- 

 ural Chemistry. In the following year, & COE 

 mittee appointed to consider advanced instruc 



