One of the first Macedonian villages to take an independent attitude
had been Kuku[vs]. When it heard that some French priests were
operating at Salonica, and that if it were converted to Catholicism it
would be given a national clergy and the protection of France, the
temptation was so great that it succumbed. One of the Bulgarian
democrats at Constantinople, Dragan Tzankoff, identified himself with
this idea, not through religious motives but in order that the Porte
should no longer fear that the independence of the Catholic Bulgarian
nation would be a gain for Russia. This may sound rather far-fetched;
he may have also used Catholicism merely as a threat by which to
induce the Russians to assist in procuring the Exarchate. Tzankoff and
various other people went to Rome, where Pius IX. blessed their
enterprise and consecrated one of them, the archimandrite Sokolski, as
Bishop of the Bulgarian Uniate Church. Sokolski was a worthy,
patriotic man, but not endowed with mental attributes such as this
post demanded; they had, however, been unable to find anybody better
qualified. He soon decamped to Russia, for he was down-hearted when
the Church did not attract a greater number of disciples. His
defection was a grave blow to the cause, chiefly on account of the
laughter it excited. Bulgarian Catholicism had, however, a fair number
of adherents at Constantinople and at Kuku[vs].... There was at the
same time another movement, more discreetly undertaken, by American
missionaries to convert the Bulgars to the Protestant religion. These
Americans, drawn by the magic name of Greece, had come to Europe to
assist that people in their fight for freedom. They had built them
schools, had printed educational books in Greek, and had contributed
in every way towards the people's moral progress; and no sooner was
the country liberated than they were expelled. The Bulgars did not
treat them in so cavalier a fashion, but neither did they adopt
Protestantism as the State religion. Sir Henry Bulwer, the British
Ambassador, recommended them rather to persevere with Catholicism; it
seemed to him that this religion, with its authoritative organization,
would be more adapted to removing the Bulgars from the influence of
Russia. The Russian Ambassador, the disdainful Prince Lobanoff-Rostovski,
was very much bored by all this trouble that the Bulgars were giving;
the Greeks were furious. One day a Catholic Bulgar died in the French
hospital at Pera, and a body of Greeks, accompanied by clergy, wished
to have the corpse handed over to them for burial according to the
Orthodox Greek rite. When they were refused admission they attempted
to enter by force, raising loud cries and threatening to sack the
whole place. In the end they were dispersed by a detachment of French
sailors....