_THE INSURRECTION IN BULGARIA_
Within a few hours of the departure of Niazi Bey and his band from
Resna, the officials of the Yildiz had been informed by telegraph of
the outbreak of the insurrection. After a consultation of the Sultan’s
advisers a telegram was sent to General Shemshi Pasha, then in command
at Mitrovitza in the northern Vilayet—who was, as I have explained
in a former chapter, a trusted officer, than whom none had greater
experience in crushing revolt in Macedonia and Albania—recounting to
him what had occurred, and ordering him with the least possible delay
to move the necessary troops from Mitrovitza to Monastir, and to raise
volunteers from among the people, “so as to surround and seize the
ungrateful traitor, Niazi, together with the officers, officials,
private soldiers, and civilians who are his companions.” The General
was further informed that his Majesty expected him to prove his
fidelity and loyalty by making these wicked men a telling example to
other seditious persons, and relied upon him to cleanse that portion of
the Empire of this mischief and to prevent its spread by measures of
the severest nature.
The ill-fated Shemshi displayed his loyalty and zeal by working night
and day to compass the destruction of Niazi and his band of _fedais_.
On July 6 he arrived with two battalions at Monastir by special train;
another battalion was closely following, and seven other battalions
were marching into the disturbed districts. The usual trickery of
which the creatures of the Palace were so fond was also employed to
support the operations of the troops. Thus, in order to excite Moslem
fanaticism and persuade men to serve as volunteers, it was assiduously
rumoured that the Christians were rising to massacre the Mussulmans,
a falsehood that produced but little effect; while delegates were
sent through the villages to tell the people that the Constitution
desired by the Committee of Union and Progress, and advocated by the
bands under Niazi and others, was opposed to the religion of Islam,
“its doctrines being as vile as that which permits women to go about
unveiled.” The Palace also arranged with the local officials that
attempts should be made to corrupt the members of Niazi’s band, rank
and money being offered to any of these who would kill him.
In the telegrams in which he reported progress to the Palace, Shemshi
stated that he was unable to obtain any reliable information concerning
the rebels from either the military authorities or the Vali, and that
no one could tell him where the Committee of Union and Progress was,
or the names of its members. All that his spies had been able to
discover was that the heads of the people in those parts were full of
seditious ideas and that many men of importance were on the Committee;
the movement was evidently spreading, and Staff-Major Enver Bey had
abandoned his uniform and gone off to join the seditious Committee.
Nevertheless he, Shemshi Pasha, assured his Majesty the Caliph that
he would exert himself until he breathed his last breath (words
the literal truth of which were soon to be proved) to root up this
seditious growth. He, moreover, reported that he had sent messages
to the Albanian notables, and that thousands of brave Albanians were
prepared, in answer to his call, to pour into the disaffected districts
and punish these people who were unfaithful to their religion and
traitors to their sovereign. He also announced that two battalions
would at once march in the direction of Resna, and that he was
confident of his speedy success in stifling the conspiracy.
His confidence was misplaced, for of the Albanian chiefs upon whose
help he relied the greater number had become adherents of the Committee
of Union and Progress, while all the officers and non-commissioned
officers of one of the two battalions which he was sending to surround
Niazi had sworn the oath of fidelity to the Committee. But Shemshi
had his doubts; for he confessed to the notables of Monastir that the
Rumelian troops which he had brought with him were not of much account,
and that he was anxiously awaiting the arrival of an entire division
of Anatolian troops which the Government was sending to him from Asia
Minor. Shemshi’s own brother-in-law, an officer of _gendarmerie_ in
Monastir, and a member of the Committee, while unable, of course, to
take him into his confidence, attempted to prevent a useless shedding
of Moslem blood and to save the General’s own life, by warning him
that the troops of Resna and its neighbourhood would refuse to obey
his orders if they were called upon to fire on Niazi’s band. In the
meanwhile the Committee of Union and Progress had full knowledge
of all the plans of the Government; for telegraph clerks and other
officials who were secret adherents of the cause were able to betray
the communications that passed between the Yildiz and the military
authorities in Monastir.
The Committee was actively employed in frustrating the plans of the
Government. In order to counteract the influence of the false reports
that had been circulated by the agents of the Despotism it placarded
the walls of Monastir with manifestos on the night before Shemshi’s
arrival. These manifestos explained that the aim of the Committee was
to free Turkey from her traitorous Government which had been corrupting
the nation for thirty years and was now betraying her to foreigners.
It called for the immediate removal of the spies who had been sent
recently from Constantinople, and protested against the illegal
carrying off of the people denounced by the spies, to the Inquisitions
of the Yildiz and the Central Police in the capital.
The Committee also organised numerous bands in various parts of the
country so as to confuse the Government, divide its forces, and prevent
a concentrated attack on Niazi. It kept up constant communication with
Niazi, keeping him well informed of the movements of his enemies. The
Committee enjoined him to avoid coming into contact with the troops
that had been sent against him, but if this became impossible, to force
on a decisive action that would do the Government great damage. As
the object of the Committee was to unite all the different elements
of the Ottoman population, a civil war, at this juncture, especially
if it took the form of a conflict between the Moslem soldiery and the
Moslem peasantry, would obviously be a deplorable calamity. But there
was to be no sparing of the Government spies; and the Committee gave
orders that the Palace agents, who were wandering through the villages
gaining information and poisoning the minds of the people against the
Constitution, should be put to death.
And now to return to Niazi Bey and his wanderings. After his halt on
the afternoon of his departure at the cross-roads, where his band,
reinforced by Osman Effendi’s contingent of _fedais_ from Persepe, had
attained the strength which he considered to be the most suitable for
his purpose, the march was continued to the Moslem village of Labcha,
to most of whose inhabitants he and his followers were well known.
The _fedais_ entered the village shouting _Allahu Akber_, “God is
very great,” and _La ilaha illallah_, “there is no God but God!” Then
Niazi, through the Elective Council of the village, called in all the
peasants who were working in the fields and addressed them. Here the
ground had been well prepared. There were none among the inhabitants
who did not desire the restoration of the Constitution. They fell upon
the necks of Niazi and his men and embraced them, rejoicing to see that
these saviours of the country were now openly working for the cause.
Here one of the elders of the village, an ex-sergeant of the army,
begged to be allowed to join the band. “Do not deprive me of this
happiness,” he said; “for even if we fail, true martyrdom can be gained
on this expedition.” But Niazi replied, “My heart wants you with me,
but you must stay here, for this village needs your presence. I intend
to make Labcha my principal base and our place of refuge, so here you
can help the cause more than by following me.” The sergeant therefore
remained in Labcha, where his zeal, fidelity, and mother wit were of
great service. An incident which occurred in this village some time
later throws a curious light on the system of self-government which was
introduced by the Committee of Union and Progress into the villages
that had accepted the Committee as their virtual ruler. The sister of
the above-mentioned sergeant had told her husband, a man of Resna, what
she knew concerning the oath which the representatives of the Committee
had administered to certain leading inhabitants of Labcha; and this
foolish fellow had gone about boasting that he was in possession of
the secret, mentioning the names of initiates. The sergeant, on hearing
this, summoned the villagers to a meeting at which it was decided that,
as a punishment for both these babblers, the man should immediately
divorce his wife. The husband and wife came before this irregular
tribunal, whose orders had to be obeyed more implicitly than those of
the law courts of the State, and on begging for forgiveness obtained
the revocation of the sentence that would have separated them. This
event led to the creation of a female police or vigilance committee in
this and some other villages, whose chief duty it apparently was to
check indiscreet gossip concerning the Committee.
As in Labcha and the surrounding villages all the men were strong
partisans of the Committee, there was no more work to be done here for
Niazi’s band, and therefore, after purchasing provisions and refreshing
themselves, the _fedais_ set out again to march through the night.
In the following afternoon they came to the neighbourhood of the
Albanian town of Ochrida, where there were many Palace spies and a
considerable garrison, so that it was not possible for the band to
enter it; but there was also here an important branch of the Committee
of Union and Progress, and a large proportion of the inhabitants were
at heart adherents of the cause. So Niazi, leaving his band encamped
in a cherry orchard in the hills, walked into the town under cover of
the night. Major Eyoub Effendi and other members of the Committee,
who were old friends of his, had a meeting with him at the house of
one of the faithful, and welcomed him heartily. They told him that two
detachments of troops had left Resna to surround his band. They sent up
to his camp leather water bottles and other necessaries of which his
men were in want, and gave him great encouragement. Here he took the
opportunity of sending a manifesto to the Albanian Committee, as it
turned out later, with excellent result, for Niazi, whose birthplace
was near the Albanian border, and who was himself of Albanian stock,
had many friends among the Albanians, and was much respected by them.
He also wrote a letter to his old foe Cherchis, the famous leader of
Bulgarian bands. In this letter he explained his aim to Cherchis, and
told him that he, Niazi, who had formerly pursued Cherchis’ band with
such vigour, now extended to him the hand of friendship, and asked
for an interview under any conditions that Cherchis might propose, in
order that they might devise a scheme for concerted action against the
Government, and he reminded him of the proverb which says, “the sheep
who leaves the flock is torn by the wolf.” Niazi’s friends took him
back to his camp by back lanes and paths, and the band, leaving this
dangerous neighbourhood, made another long night march to the north,
its objective being Dibra on the Black Drin, the centre of a district
in which Niazi knew that he would find many adherents, and where
the forests and rugged mountains afforded safe retreats and easily
defensible positions.
And now Niazi’s work of preparing a general insurrection commenced
in earnest. The story of his wanderings cannot be fully told here,
but I will give some explanation of the methods he employed. It was
his intention, in the first place, to carry on his operations in the
Moslem villages and afterwards to bring in the other elements of the
population. He worked with the greatest energy, often visiting and
organising several villages in the same day. It was his custom to send
a small advanced party of his followers under an officer to reassure
the people, and, this done, he would enter the village with the rest
of the band. In all save a very few Moslem villages thus visited the
_fedais_ were received with extraordinary enthusiasm, and Niazi’s
task of making the inhabitants sworn adherents of the Committee was
not difficult. He would call a meeting of the villagers, or, having
attended prayers in the mosque with his band, he would there, after
the prayers were over, address those present with stirring words,
explaining to them the lofty aims of the movement whose soldier he now
was. The leading men would be called up one by one to take the oath
prescribed by the Committee of Union and Progress, and afterwards the
other inhabitants would come up eagerly to be sworn in. Among those who
thus became adherents of the Committee were many deserters from the
army who had been hiding among their families.
Niazi used to impress it upon these newly made members that, as they
were now united as brethren to serve the same high purpose, they must
put away all differences among themselves, and forgive each other for
wrongs inflicted. The cause demanded that their blood feuds should
cease. Throughout this region, and especially in some of the Albanian
districts, relentless blood feuds between families and individuals are
very frequent, and to be murdered in a vendetta is regarded as the
natural ending to a man’s life. But now was beheld the astonishing
spectacle of a general reconciliation. Men whose families had been
slaughtering each other for generations, embraced publicly, united by
devotion to a common cause; and old men who had not dared to go outside
their houses for years, because some ancient crime was yet unavenged,
once more went forth freely and without fear.
The villagers, in the sincerity of their welcome to Niazi’s _fedais_,
whom they regarded as the saviours of Turkey, often refused to accept
payment for the food and other necessaries which they freely and gladly
supplied to the band; but Niazi, when he did not pay in cash for these
supplies, insisted on giving receipts for their value, and instructed
the villagers to show their receipts to the authorities and deduct
the amounts from the taxes which they paid to the Government. At the
same time he used to send manifestos to the local _mudirs_ and other
officials warning them that death would be the penalty for the tax
collector who refused to accept these receipts as part payment of taxes.
A village, after its inhabitants had been sworn in, was “organised”
according to certain rules laid down by the Committee, and became a
well-ordered centre of revolt. In the first place the authority of the
Government and its officials was disclaimed, and tyrannical oppression
was prevented by the united opposition of a population that had become
as a band of brothers. A local form of government on constitutional
lines was set up. The sources of the Government revenue were
appropriated whenever it was possible to do this, and in some districts
the villages refused to pay any taxes to the Government, offering a
passive resistance that would have taken an active shape had the tax
collectors ventured to push the matter.
For the purpose of mutual protection, relations were established
between the various villages of a district; and a certain number of the
inhabitants were secretly organised as a sort of militia. Niazi found
that from one hundred to two hundred and fifty rifles were concealed
in each village of the Dibra and other neighbouring districts, so arms
were not wanting. These villages had suffered greatly from the raids
of the Bulgarian bands, but from this time the organisation introduced
by Niazi enabled them not only to hold their own against the largest
bands, but to defy the attempts of the Government to coerce them. This
general preparation for defence brought a peace to this region such as
it had not known for years, and the Moslems themselves, obeying the
orders of the Committee, refrained from any aggressive actions; all
the Moslem bands that were in the hills were dissolved, the men who
composed them returning to their villages. Niazi made it clear to all
adherents of the Committee that it was above all things necessary for
the success of the cause that the Moslems should carefully avoid any
conflict, whether with Christian bands or Government troops, and that
they should act strictly on the defensive until the Committee gave the
word for the general insurrection.
Niazi thus succeeded, whithersoever he wandered over the Balkans, in
winning over the Mussulman land-owners and peasantry, and many of
the Government officials, to the revolutionary cause; and, in the
meanwhile, by manifestos and letters he sought to gain the confidence
and support of the Bulgarian element in the population. Notwithstanding
the never-ceasing warfare between them in Macedonia, the Turks and the
brave and manly Bulgarians were more in touch with each other than
with any of the other races in the Balkan Peninsula. The Turks had
often protected and were soon again to protect the Bulgarian exarchists
against the fanatical persecutions of the Greeks. It was, therefore,
natural that Niazi should seek the cooperation of the Bulgarians before
approaching the other Christian peoples of European Turkey.
There are many Bulgarian villages scattered over the region in which
Niazi was at work, and their inhabitants at first regarded with some
anxiety the change that had come over the Moslem population, which for
several years had appeared listless and devoid of hope, not having the
separatist aspirations which buoyed up the spirits of the Christians,
but now had suddenly become cheerful and alert, as if looking forward
to some great and happy change. Suspicious at first, the Bulgarians
at last came to realise that whatever sentiment was stirring the
Moslems, it had nothing to do with anti-Christian feeling, and was not
antagonistic to themselves.
On July 6 Niazi issued his important manifesto to the Bulgarians. He
proclaimed to them that the time had come to strike a blow at the
evils that had been destroying the fatherland for years, for the
Despotism was ever becoming more intolerable. He put all the blame
on the Government; but pointed out that the Christian Ottomans had
taken a wrong road, while seeking a better state of things. They had
heeded the false advice of the surrounding small states, Bulgaria,
Servia, and Greece, which had promised to free Macedonia, but were
really working for their own ends, their one aim being to seize the
country and enslave its people. “These little Powers have sown hatred
and dissension among us, and have deluged the fatherland with blood.”
He assured them that “if these little Powers should work on thus
for another thirty years they would not attain their purpose. The
fatherland is, and ever shall be, ours.” He then went on to explain
that the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress, consisting of army
officers, civil officials, townsmen, and peasants, all honourable men,
had been formed with the object of establishing a system of government
that would give liberty and justice, without distinction of creed or
race, to all Ottomans, so that they might live in peace and happiness
in their common fatherland. Then he spoke of his band of armed
_fedais_, whose mission it was to propagate these principles in the
towns and villages, and to bring about the co-operation of all elements
of the population in putting a stop to the internal dissensions and
civil warfare that were hastening the Empire to its ruin. He called
upon the leaders to dissolve these mischievous bands, to join his own
band, and work for Ottoman liberty and justice, instead of for Bulgaria
and the other little Powers. Severe punishment would be dealt out to
such bands as did not come in, and if any village gave encouragement
to the bands after this warning, its head man would be executed. They
were all Ottomans, and they must all co-operate to establish the
Constitution which gave equality and liberty, and protected each creed
and race and language.
This manifesto produced a wonderful effect. The Bulgarian inhabitants
knew that Niazi Bey was not speaking idle words, and threatening to do
things that he could not carry out. They realised that if it came to
civil war the Committee of Union and Progress would have practically
the entire Moslem population of Macedonia and Albania on its side.
Moreover, they knew enough of Niazi to feel that he was quite sincere
in his declarations and promises, and many of them had observed with
amazed admiration the just and honourable conduct of his band of
_fedais_. Here was the Turkish officer who, for five years, had been
vigorously hunting down the Bulgarian bands, now speaking to them as
fellow-countrymen and brethren! Hitherto, they argued, they had paid
heavy taxes to a Government that had given no account of how the money
was spent, and treated them as dogs; but now a new rule was asserting
itself, under which they began to see justice and the prospect of being
treated as human beings.
So within a few days of the issue of his manifesto, Niazi received
intelligence to the effect that the Bulgarians of Resna, Ochrida,
Persepe, and other districts had held meetings at which it had been
decided that “it would be an honour to serve with their lives and
property this band which had such high aims.” Cherchis himself, too,
with his comrades, desired to effect a union with the Committee of
Union and Progress.
On July 9 Niazi, thinking that the time was ripe, for the first time
brought his band into a purely Bulgarian village. This was the large
village of Velijon, containing three hundred and fifty houses. It
is situated on a hillside, with a great forest behind it sloping up
steeply to the wild and lofty ridges of the Balkan Range, and for its
strategic advantages it had been selected as one of the most important
supply bases for the Bulgarian bands. As Niazi’s vanguard entered
the village the inhabitants took alarm, closed their shops, and shut
themselves up within their houses; but after Niazi, coming in with the
rest of his band, had summoned the Elective Council, and explained
matters, the fears of the villagers disappeared; and friendly
relations were soon established by the kindly and courteous officers
and Moslem notables who composed the bulk of this remarkable band. The
end of it was that the priest, the Elective Council, and all the other
inhabitants of the village placed their hands upon the Holy Gospels and
took the oath of fidelity to the Committee, undertaking to carry out
all its orders and render armed assistance to the cause when called
upon to do so. When the band marched out of the village in the cool of
the evening the friendly Christians accompanied the _fedais_ for some
distance to put them on their way and then bade them God speed. Shortly
after this Niazi was enabled to amnesty and arrange for the coming in
of the bands that were in the hills round Dibra, which place was made
an important centre of the insurrectionary movement.
It was about this time that Niazi received a letter from the Monastir
Centre of the Committee which gave him great encouragement. It thanked
him and “the heroic self-sacrificing men of Resna” for the splendid
work they were doing, and informed Niazi that his friend, Major Enver
Bey, the clever staff officer who had performed distinguished service
in Macedonia, had thrown up his commission, and at the head of a
band of _fedais_ was actively preparing the population in the Tikosh
district, while other officers had also organised bands, and taken to
the mountains. The fortunes of the cause appeared very bright.
He also learnt from this letter that General Shemshi Pasha had been
publicly assassinated in Monastir on July 7. The General, after
reporting progress to the Palace, had left the telegraph office and
was driving in his carriage to join the two battalions with which it
was his intention to surround Niazi’s band, when he was shot dead by
an officer in uniform. Fifteen hundred people were surrounding the
carriage at the time, but not one attempted to, or had any wish to
arrest this executioner of the Committee’s will, who strolled quietly
off. The ill-fated Shemshi was an energetic commander, and had he
lived there would undoubtedly have been some severe fighting between
such troops as would have remained loyal to him and the Committee’s
bands. Shemshi would probably have led his troops to disaster, for
his boldness and confidence in himself amounted to rashness, and he
despised his enemy. Ambushes had been prepared for him on the roads by
which he would have had to march; and Niazi, operating in a difficult
mountain country, with an armed population skilled in guerilla war to
stand by him, was now in a position to hold his own for an indefinite
time against any forces that the Government could send against him.
There can be little doubt that the death of Shemshi prevented a civil
war that would have done much injury to the cause of the Committee,
for it would have divided public opinion, the unanimity of which it
was of such importance to secure. From the date of Shemshi’s death the
impotence of the Government and the disorganisation of the army made
it difficult for the Palace to plunge the country into the horrors of
internecine conflict.