Current History, A Monthly Magazine

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Since your entry in Ochrida, in my father's house, you, the Servian
Army, behaved like enemies. You profaned the church, that Bulgarian
church where I took my first communion. You have despoiled the
archives and burned our libraries; you ordered closed our national
school where I learned to mumble the alphabet of my mother tongue.

I have seen the epic struggle of my compatriots against Greeks and
Turks, and I took part with them in order to obtain these national
institutions. And did you come there in Ochrida, and everywhere in
Macedonia protected by our valiant army of Lule Bourgas and Chataldja,
to perform the duty of allies--of Slav brethren?

You established yourselves as conquerors of the country, as vandals,
with the manifest purpose of extinguishing every vestige of our
national culture. You associated yourselves with the non-Slavs
(Rumanians and Greeks) against us, your allies, in order to reach your
end. Why, then, do you call us Slavs? We were called Tartars until
just before you arrived in Sofia.

You treated as villains our Bishops, whom the Turks and the Greeks
were forced to restore us after a struggle of seventy-five years. You
burned our Bulgarian books, and you forbade, under penalty of death,
our people from calling themselves Bulgars. You tortured my parents
with all the refinements of torture that you have invented.

Why, I beg of you? Because you were Servians? I will not go so far as
to injure you with the belief that the Servians are capable of crimes
against nature. Then, because we were Bulgarians; because those poor
people, taking you for their brethren, for Christians, for Slavs, at
least had the courage to say they were Bulgarians and to think
themselves such.

And this continues today with increased intensity. Ah, Mr.
Maringovich! You have committed there and you persist in committing a
crime against humanity that nothing will ever efface. You stabbed us
to the heart, with premeditation, and the wound is still bleeding; you
killed our faith in the Slav brotherhood. You morally assassinated us.

In the face of these crimes, Bregainitza and Slivnitza are pale
figures. These odious crimes will not be left unpunished. The day of
chastisement will come whether you look for it or not.

Your Excellency, I permit myself to repeat the question: What have you
come to do among us?

Really you must have a good cheek--permit me this undiplomatic
expression--and a Servian cheek, in order to have the audacity to come
here and tell us tales. It is not only this; but you make sport of our
sacredest and deepest sentiments, you reopen our wounds, and you
purely and simply abuse us. You ought to have thought of all this
before you set out for Sofia. Today there is an abyss dividing Serbs
and Bulgars. It is an open precipice which will serve for you as a
grave. You wish to fill it? To succeed you must employ other means
than words.

Sir: You are a foreigner to us; there is not an honest man in all
Bulgaria who can consider you a welcome guest. Nobody knows you. For
every Bulgar there is only one word and one gesture for you. We stake
our liberty in giving you the answer and in making the gesture.

Sir: You may take the train which brought you here from Nish. There is
the depot. Farewell! Kindly accept the assurance of my consideration
for your person, whom I had not the advantage to know.

THE MINISTRY'S POSITION.

_The statement by the new Servian Cabinet in the Skuptschina on Dec.
8, 1914, follows:_

The new Ministry has made in the Skuptschina the following
declarations: The Government that has the honor to appear before you
has been constituted with the purpose of manifesting to the end of
this great crisis the union of the wills, the forces, and the
intentions of all political parties of our country.

This Government is convinced of the confidence of the Skuptschina, as
it puts all of its forces to the service of the great cause of the
Servian Nation, and of the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian family.

The Government considers its first duty to bow low before the heroic
sacrifices voluntarily made on the altar of the fatherland.

The Government sends to the entire army and to all the military, from
commanders down to simple privates, the expression of its confidence,
its admiration and its gratitude for their efforts and their
sacrifices to the common fatherland.

Our little and young army, conserving the good reputation it had
acquired in the past years, has put itself worthily on the side of the
glorious and veteran armies of our great allies, who are struggling
together with us for the cause of justice and liberty.

There is no doubt that in the end of these painful days of war our
historic nation will be recognized and appreciated.

The Government is convinced that all the Servian people are united
until the end of this hallowed war, to defend their hearths and their
liberty; that their sole duty is to assure an army proportionate to
this great war, which from the very beginning has been a struggle for
the emancipation and the union of all our brother Serbo-Croato-Slovaks,
who now suffer under foreign rule.

The brilliant success which will crown this war will compensate
largely the great sacrifices of the present Servian generation. In
this struggle the Servian people have not to choose, because in a
question of life and death there is no choice.

This people is forced to struggle and will do its duty with the same
unflinching energy of a century ago for the redemption of the tomb of
Kossovo.

The Government will try faithfully to represent this national
decision; and, faithful to its powerful and heroic allies, it will
with confidence await the hour of victory.

The Government, conscious of the pains and hardships suffered by the
army and in large part by the nation, will do all that human strength
can do for the amelioration of the present situation and will
energetically try all measures for refitting the army and bettering
the sanitary service, as in this cause no sacrifices shall be spared.

In concert with you, gentlemen, the Government will take all the
necessary measures for helping the population to recuperate after the
war.

Now, while the enemy is yet at the gates of our country, the
Government cries: Forward, with God's help, against the enemy! Forward
in the struggle against the enemy!

[All the Deputies, without party distinction, repeated the last words
of Premier Nicola Pashitch, and immense applause greeted the
manifesto.]

STATEMENT TO GREECE.

_The Servian Minister at Athens, Mr. Baluhtchich, caused this
announcement to be made on Nov. 29, 1914:_

On Nov. 29 the Servian Minister at Athens declared that all talk of
Servian concessions of any kind in favor of Bulgaria was premature.

The Servian Government, the Minister said, finds it impossible to
proceed to any concession territorial or moral, so long as Servia is
in a state of war.

The Bulgarian Government has not made, and it is impossible to
formulate, her demands directly to Servia, because it is impossible to
foresee the outcome of a struggle so violent and apparently destined
to be long. For Servia it is impossible to enter negotiations of
indemnity or concessions for the neutrality of Bulgaria before an end
is put to the present situation. The only certain thing is that the
Governments of the Triple Entente are endeavoring to reconstitute the
Balkan League, which is to be made of three Balkan States, namely,
Servia, Greece, and Bulgaria.

But, as I had the occasion of stating some time ago, the Bulgarian
territorial demands, with regard to the reconstitution of the league,
have been so preposterous that neither Greece nor Servia could begin
discussions on such a basis.

I deny, in the most emphatic manner, Mr. Baluhtchich said, the news
that Servia was to cede, or that Bulgaria directly and formally
demanded from my Government, any strip whatever of Macedonian
territory, at least for the time being.

Likewise it is untrue that the Bulgarian Prime Minister, Mr.
Radoslavoff, demanded from the Ambassadors of the Triple Entente that
the compensation for her neutrality be guaranteed to her from now for
the future. It is true that a disturbing political ferment is going on
now in the Balkan Peninsula, the Servian Minister said in conclusion,
but it is a difficult thing to express opinions at this time.

However, before the war is over, neither concessions nor discussion
can be made, at least as far as Servia is concerned, and it seems that
the Triple Entente concurs in this view.

BULGARIA AND KULTUR.

_In the semi-official Servian daily, Samouprava, published in Belgrade
and now at Nish, the following editorial article appeared early in the
first week of October, 1914:_

The Bulgarians are a queer people. Those of the foreigners who
sympathize with them are apt to call them realists, positivists, and
calculants, but we Servians, knowing them, understand that such
definitions applied to them are flattering euphemisms and nothing
more. The Bulgarian people are really laborious and thrifty.
Unfortunately the cultured members of Bulgarian society, who studied
abroad, bear in their social and political life the fundamental
characteristics of the German intellect.

The cultured Bulgarians have absorbed the German Kultur, although they
do not owe Germany even the hundredth part of what they owe to Russia.

All these are facts that need not proofs. Bulgaria, therefore, could
not more wantonly accuse Servia than by saying that we allied
ourselves with the enemies of Slavdom. The cynicism of these
accusations is proved by the following officially registered Bulgarian
actions:

The Stoilof Ministry has concluded an alliance with Servia and also an
understanding which the Bulgarians sold to Turkey for eight Bishoprics
in Macedonia.

During the crisis which followed the annexation of Servian Bosnia and
Herzegovina to Austria, and when Russia was mortally insulted,
Bulgaria, in common understanding with Austria, proclaimed her
independence and definitely annexed Oriental Rumelia. These profits
Bulgaria secured to the detriment of Servian interests.

During the Balkan war, and notwithstanding all that Servia had done
for Bulgaria, the Bulgarian attitude was once more treacherous,
culminating in the wanton attack upon her allies at the instigation of
Austria.

Today, when Russia fights a life-and-death struggle, Bulgaria is
keeping neutral, and every one knows what kind of neutrality is this
when such a multitude of Germans is passing through Bulgarian
territory in order to arm and lead the Turks against Russia. And, last
but not least, immediately after the present war between Austria and
Servia, the Bulgarians proposed an alliance to Rumania.

After all this it is a wonder how the Bulgarians dare to invoke Slav
sympathies, which they always sold to Austria, and which the Bulgarian
press is now trying to sell at auction. Lucky he who buys them.

[Illustration: A YOUTHFUL BELGIAN HERO

Joseph Lessen, a Boy Scout, 18 Years of Age, Who So Distinguished
Himself That He Was Decorated on the Field by King Albert.]

[Illustration: THE CROWN PRINCE OF BELGIUM

H.R.H. Prince Leopold, Eldest Son of the King of the Belgians.

(_Photo from Underwood & Underwood._)]

AFTER FIVE MONTHS' FIGHTING.

_On Dec. 17, (30, New Style,) 1914, Crown Prince Alexander of Servia,
in his quality of Commander in Chief of the Army, issued the following
order of the day to his troops:_

Soldiers! It is now five months since the day when the enemy attacked
our beloved country. Notwithstanding the fact that we had suffered
the trials of two heroic but hard wars, nevertheless firm and
undaunted we have stood the attack. Having routed the enemy in Tchar
and Zadar we gave him, after heroic and sanguinary battles, the
biggest blow of all.

Thousands of prisoners, hundreds of guns, a quantity of war booty,
which came to our hands, are witnesses of his defeat and our glory.

Soldiers! I feel proud in announcing to you that not a single enemy
remains on the soil of the Servian Kingdom. We cast him out with great
losses.

At this sacred moment, when on the heroic City of Belgrade anew waves
the victorious Servian flag, I desire to fulfill a great duty of
gratitude. In our ranks, in this third war, are fighting our brothers
which we have liberated from the Turkish yoke. The soldiers of
Kossovo, of Vardar, of Hekligovatz, of Bregalnitsa, of Bitolie, and of
Porets, have shown themselves worthy of their brothers of Shumadia and
the Danube, of Poutrin and Morava, of Timok and Usjitsa.

They have shown themselves worthy of the heroes Milaten and Dughan,
who for long have carried the glory and the good name of the Servian
arms.

I want to give to these new soldiers of ours conspicuous proofs of the
gratitude of the fatherland. In the face of the undeniable proof of
their fulfillment of their duty, in the face of their enthusiasm I
declare that these soldiers shall have the political and
constitutional rights of Servia, their liberatrix! The Skuptschina, in
its first sitting after peace is signed, will take all the necessary
measures in order that full liberties be given to our brethren.

Soldiers! The iron ring of our powerful allies is fastening tighter
every day around our common enemy. And he, (the enemy,) feeling that
his defeat is well nigh at hand and dreading its dire consequences,
fights desperately and strenuously. But in vain. The number of their
soldiers is diminishing daily, and our allies are strengthened with
new troops on the fields of battle.

The end of this gigantic struggle is from now known, although not yet
accomplished. We must, therefore, for some time to come, fulfill our
difficult duty and stay by the side of our big and powerful allies,
who are fighting for us, till our enemy is annihilated on the
battlefield.

And then peace will come to crown worthily those who have been
sacrificed for our great fatherland, and then our country will be much
enlarged, much stronger, and much happier than she ever has been. And
for this, oh, my heroic Servia will be grateful to you.

RUSSIAN CONGRATULATIONS.

_On Dec. 18, 1914, the new Russian Minister to Servia, Prince
Troubetzkoi, presented his credentials to the Servian Crown Prince
Alexander, whom he addressed as follows:_

Illustrious Sir: I have the honor to hand to your Royal Highness the
letter by which his Majesty the Emperor of Russia has deigned to
accredit me by his Majesty the King of Servia.

My august master has charged me to express to you the vivid sympathy
and the sincere admiration which his Majesty feels for the valiant
people of Servia, her heroic army, and her venerable chief.

Allow me to express to your Highness the joy that I feel in fulfilling
the imperial commission today when your army has covered itself with
immortal glory and has written in Servian history the most beautiful
page that a people may desire.

Separated by a long distance, but, attracted by the heart of her elder
sister, Servia may say that in this terrible struggle against an
enemy, numerically stronger but morally weaker, she is not alone and
will not be forsaken.

I pray that this conviction may double the unflinching courage of the
Servians and lead them always to new victories.

In assuming today the duties incumbent upon me after the death of my
lamented predecessor, Hartwig, I take the courage, illustrious Sir, to
express the hope that your Highness will not deprive me of his
assistance, which will be absolutely necessary to me in order that I
may work to the best of my abilities for the common good of the two
countries, and also for the consummation of peace in the Balkan
Peninsula, this peace that Russia considers as the essential aim of
her efforts and her sacrifices.

_Crown Prince Alexander answered as follows:_

The expression of the vivid sympathy and admiration which his Majesty
the Emperor has addressed through you to the people and army of Servia
are so much the more welcome as I personally witnessed the hard
conditions under which my valiant army is struggling and the heavy
burdens oppressing my brave people.

The fact that, although separated by a long distance from Russia, her
elder sister, Servia can find in her bosom a heart having the same
sentiments as hers, has encouraged our army and our people to persist
in the heroic struggle that they are waging against a more numerous
enemy. This certainty will give us new strength to carry the struggle
to the end.

In the fulfillment of your mission, after the death of your
predecessor, a mission which the late Hartwig performed with such love
and such devotion to the true Slav interests, you can rest on my
absolute confidence and the continued support of my Government, being
sure that the greatness and the power of Servia are in full accord
with the greatness and the power of holy Russia.

The lamented Hartwig made many trips for the mutual benefit of both
countries, Russia and Servia, and his efforts had resulted in creating
stable conditions and securing the peace of the Balkans.

In accepting the letters, by which his Majesty the Emperor has
accredited you by his Majesty the King of Servia, my beloved father, I
bid you, Mr. Minister, welcome, and I wish you success in your
mission.

BULGARIA'S SENTIMENT.

_The following Bulgarian view of the Servian victory that resulted in
the recapture of Belgrade is presented from an editorial article of
the Dnevnik of Sofia:_

The Austro-Hungarian action against Servia seems to have failed. It
goes without saying that the return of the Servians to Belgrade does
not mean yet that the handful of the starving and half-naked Servian
Army has been victorious against its strong opponent.

The Servian success, according to latest information, is due to means
that are very little laudable in themselves.

The commander of the advance posts of the Austro-Hungarian Army, being
a native of Dalmatia, became intimate with the Servians and committed
an odious treason. He disclosed to them the dispositions of the
Austro-Hungarian forces, and he himself, with the sections forming the
guard, surrendered to the Servians.

From the Austrian rearguard one part scattered to various villages,
another was sleeping. They were not ready and, caught unexpectedly,
were dispersed.

Austro-Hungarian prestige is severely wounded. The shameful treason
shows how dangerous is the Pan-Servian propaganda to the integrity of
the Austrian Empire, when corruption has reached even the officers
standing in high command.

The Austro-Hungarian General Staff, as we are informed, has already
taken those measures imposed by the situation. The Generals, Frank and
Potiorek, have been recalled and will be probably court-martialed. And
it seems that the "brilliant" Servian victories are the beginning of
the end of the "Slav Belgium."

GREECE ACCLAIMS.

_The following editorial article, headed "A New Marathon" on the
Servian victory, appeared in the Greek newspaper Patris of Athens on
Dec. 3, (16, New Style,) 1914, expressing the views of the Hellenic
Government:_

The reoccupation of Belgrade by the Servians is one of those military
feats which amount to historical phenomena. The Servians not only
contributed the greatest feat of the European war, as far as results
are concerned, but won for themselves an immortal page in the world's
history.

Greece alone has to show an analogous achievement, although greater,
when she expelled the Persian invasion.

Only the achievements of Arhangelovatz, Ouzhitse, and Lazarevats can
compare in a certain degree to the brilliancy of Marathon and Plateae.
And the Servian achievement appears all the more Hellenic if analogies
are to be considered.

The Servians, until yesterday a little people, with an army almost
insignificant in face of the masses of the Austrian columns,
submissive in times of peace, in the face of the most oppressive
demands of Austrian diplomacy--considered like all the small peoples
to be living at the mercy of the great--when the hour of supreme
defense for altars and hearths struck, and in the face of an enemy
threatening to swallow their country, they arose, terrible in their
vengeance, and repeated the feat of the routing of Goliath by their
small but invincible power.

This was possible because their regiments were not moved by the hope
of effectively beating the enemy, which hope springs from the
consciousness of numerical superiority, but they were enlivened and
strengthened before death by the undying fire of freedom, national
pride, and the conviction that they were thrust into the most honored
struggle, after which there would not be left for them anything but to
live or die.

And the Austrians, who considered their campaign against Servia as
mere child's play; the Austrians with their German military
organization; the Austrians, who constitute one-sixth of the entire
European military power, started against Servia with the same logic,
the same haughtiness, the same bombastic prediction of the result of
the unequal war with which the Persian masses moved against
Greece....

Little Montenegro Speaks

_The following Montenegrin message to Italy appeared in La Gazetta del
Popolo of July 21, (Aug. 3,) 1914:_

This terrible European war, if one takes away from it the diplomatic
ornaments with which the Chancelleries are wont to decorate it, dates
from a century back. It is, let us hope, the final revolt of the
nations oppressed by the unjust work of the Congress of Vienna.

The nationalities of which the powers of the Triple Entente, and
especially Russia, have made themselves the champions have not
provoked this bloody struggle. It was imposed on them by the
reactionary spirit of the Germanic world, which desired to consolidate
its hegemony, based on the sufferings of the weak, impossible to
describe, and on the contempt of right, which was proclaimed as a
system of government.

The neutrality observed up to now by your august Italian country has
been a powerful assistance to the cause of right against the cause of
oppression.

We Serbs of Montenegro and Servia are now on the point of conquering
that national unity, which our poets, our thinkers, and our sovereigns
have sung, implored, and prepared, and, following the trail opened by
Mazzini, Cavour, and Garibaldi, we put our confidence in Italy, this
mother of civilization, who by her smile embellishes the sun-kissed
Slav shores of the Adriatic.

Help us in conquering the place which is awaiting us at the altar of
justice! We firmly believe that Italy, when at the price of new
sacrifices she shall have all of her exiled sons united under her
glorious standard, will inaugurate a new era of friendly and intimate
connections with the young Slav world, who from her hands received so
many benefits and who in exchange offers her the collaboration of
young and enthusiastic people in the great task undertaken by our
protectors in the name of civilization and liberty.

Bulgaria's Attitude

Speech From the Throne

By Tsar Ferdinand I.

_The following speech by Tsar Ferdinand I. of Bulgaria was read at the
opening of the Bulgarian Parliament, called the Sobranje, on Oct. 15,
(28,) 1914, by the Prime Minister, Mr. Radoslavoff._

With the ending last year of a long and exhausting struggle which we
conducted with incomparable self-denial, the Bulgarian people and my
Government directed again their efforts toward the healing of the
wounds of the recent past and the remodeling of the national forces,
and likewise toward creating new resources and prosperity for the
country.

Our common peaceful activity was interrupted by the breaking out of
the greatest and most terrible of all wars that history has up to this
day recorded. In face of this mighty struggle of the European nations
my Government has deemed it its duty before the nation, and the course
imposed on it, to declare the neutrality of Bulgaria and to maintain
this attitude sternly and honestly according to international
obligations and the interests of the fatherland.

Thanks to this process, my Government maintains good and friendly
relations with all the great powers; has succeeded in giving to our
relations with our neighbors a color of greater confidence, so
necessary after the crisis of the last year, and in the midst of the
events that lie heavy today on the whole of Europe.

_A supplemental statement of the royal position was made by the
Bulgarian Premier, Mr. Radoslavoff, in the Sobranje at the sitting of
Nov. 12, (25,) 1914, which follows:_

With the proclamation of the state of siege, taken in accordance with
the decision of Parliament, as a measure of further security,
everything is moving along according to the laws and the Constitution
of the country. And the Government is endeavoring that the internal
administration may proceed in as orderly a way as possible.

You remember very well that on the 16th (29th) of July, when war was
declared by Austria-Hungary, I came here and told you that the
decision of the Government was to maintain strict neutrality.

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