Една подолга статија која зборува за непрекинатата македонска борба за самостојна државност од крајот на 19 и почетокот на 20 век.
„Македонија спремна за борба со Србија“
Српската Влада ја обвинувала Бугарија за неспособност да воспостават стабилна управа во Македонија. Бугарија се правда дека со договорите после Прва Светска војна таа нема доволно војска за да ја уредува состојбата и дека:
„… таа не може да ги спречи Бугарите да им се наклонети на Македонците во нивното отфрлање на српското владеење, ниту може да ги спречи да ја преминуваат границата за да им дадат силовит израз на нивната наклонетост. …“
Македонија повторно станала клуч на Балканот како и за време на турското владеење само сега со сменети улоги. Во поднасловот ‘Македонска издржливост’ се навраќа на меѓународни договори во однос на Македонија.
„… Македонската Издржливост.
Македонците имаат исклучителна издржливост: Србија ги освои во 1912 и повторно во 1918; нивната територија беше поделена помеѓу Србија, Бугарија и Грција со Договорот од Букурешт, кој ја заврши Втората Балканска војна во Златец 1913.
…
на двете Конференции и поделбените сесии од Лигата на Нации исклучителна количина од пропаганда постојано ги потсетува претставниците на нациите дека Македонија бара „само-определба“ и ќе биде задоволна кога тие ќе признаат ‘Македонија на Македонците’. Оваа пропаганда беше и е многу скапа. …“
Како финансиер на таа пропаганда не е ниедна од државите, туку силна револуционерна организација предводена од 42 годишна личност, Тодор Александров или наречен Стариот. Во продолжение се зборува за силата на организацијата која тој ја предводел. Во некои погледи ја нарекува најсилна организација во светот, чудејќи се што таква организација постои во Европа на почетокот од 20 век. Организацијата остварила поврзаност на 150 000 искусни борци и за неколку дена може да подигне сила од 60 000 комити. Покрај насилните методи Организацијата извршила повеќе социјални подобрувања на животот во Македонија: во поглед на правата на жените, повисоки плати на вработените и во односите помеѓу производителите и откупувачите.
„… Од таму е очигледно дека Александров, всушност успеал да создаде Држава во Држава, или уште поточно во Држави, затоа што неговата територија вклучува делови од Бугарија и Грција, како и Србија. …“
Скоро во секоја куќа во Македонија се чувала слика од американскииот Претседател Вудро Вилсон поради неговите застапувања за Македонија. Така што и Лигата на Народите како негово дело, треба да ги исполни неговите заложби за народот кој тие го повредиле.
Во поднасловот ‘Планови за Напад’, се изнесуваат плановите за борба доколку Србија се обиде со војска да го покори македонското население.
„… намерата од Александров е да ја мобилизира неговата војска од 150 000 луѓе. Две третини од нив тој ќе ги постави на сите стратешки позиции за да ја одбрани земјата од инвазијата, додека со преостанатите 50 000 тој ќе маршира кон Солун, каде што тој очекува дека Грците нема да дадат одбрана. Тој исто така очекува Србија да биде вознемирена од востанијата на Хрватите и Црногорците. Секако тој очекува вмешување на Лигата на Народите, и кога тоа вмешување дојде, тој се надева дека на Лигата ќе ѝ го покаже постигнатото – фактичка независност на Македонија со нејзин главен град Солун.“
На крајот се изнесува гледиштето на британскиот воен Генерал Е. А. Plunket кој застанува на српска и грчка страна. За разлика од претходниот дел од статијата каде Македонците се прикажани како самостоен народ, кој се бори за својата самостојна државност, може да се воочи дека ги третира како пробугари. Ја исклучува идејата за независност, бидејќи би ги охрабрила за подоцна да се припојат кон Голема Бугарија. Што би довоело до нови војни.
Од статијата се гледа спротивноста меѓу американскиот пристап (за македонска независност) низ целата статија и британскиот пристап искажан од гледиштето на британскиот генерал (спротивен на желбите на Македонците за своја државност) на крајот од статијата.
MACEDONIA READY TO FIGHT SERBIA
Financed From Salonika and Led by the “Old One,” She Expects Freedom.
AGAIN KEY TO BALKANS
Belgrade Ultimatum to Sofia Expected on Account of Latter’s Inability to Quiet People.
Hecent Cable dispatches from the Balkans reveal a state or tension between Belgrade and Sofia. The Serbian Government Mantes the Bulgarian Government for its own inability to establish a stable administration in Macedonia, \*hich includes the territory around the meeting place of the frontiers of these two countries and of Greece. Bulgaria has replied that with the miniature army which the Treaty Of Neullly left her she Is utterly unable to regulate the situation in Serbo-Macedonia—she cannot prevent Bulgarians from sympathizing with the Macedonians in their defiance of Serbian rule, nor can she prevent them from going over the border to give forceful expression to that sympatic*.
The papers at hand from the in* terested capitals would not necessarily make the situation appear more serious than do the dispatches (although, on the ona hand, they, speak of Serbia being ready to mobilize on the Bulgar frontier, and, on the other, they discount the Macedonian provocation), were it not If or the fact that recent advices from SMacedonla itaelf describe a condition •which is ignored for reasons of state in Belgrade and denied in Sofia on grounds national expediency.
From a, rational view of all trustworthy information at present available it would appear that Macedonia Jias again become the key to the Balkans, just as she was from the time
of the Treaty of Berlin, in IST-S when the aspirations of her people were ignored, until the Autumn of 1912, when their activities became one of the causes of the formation of the Balkan League against Turkey. Now Serbia, as the complaining nation, has taken the place of Turkey; now, as then, Bulgaria is accused of furthering revolution in Macedonia.
Macedonian Vitality.
The Macedonians have extraordinary
vitality: Serbia conquered them in 1912
and again in 191S; their territory was
divided among Serbia. Bulgaria and
Greece by the Treaty of Bucharest,
“Which ended the second Balkan war in
July, 1913, Then Bulgaria and Greece received the major share. AgaJn it was divided by the Paris Peace Conference, when the -major share went to Serbia. Both at the conference and at successive sessions of the League of Nations an extraordinary amou/H of propaganda constantly reminded the representatives of nations that Macedonia demanded •’self-determination” and would only be satisfied wh»>n they acknowledged “MnC’ -doniafor Macedonians.” This propaganda Was and. very expensive. Who > vides the inon-.-y ‘ people themselves
cannot. Who, th’n, wouM be most interested in their sure as? Bulgaria? But Bulgaria lias no mom r. But there is a powerful secret society at Salonika, which has. It was this ?nelcty which finance the march of the Third Turkish Army Corp** on Constantinople in April. 1900, when Abdul Hamid II- was overthrown. And Saloniki is ^ now coveted by Macedonia as the capital of its future independent State.
In Macedonia there is a revolutionary organization the like of which the world has never Seen. It has been gradually established sine* the close of the World “War on the principle of the Komitaji. ¦which so afflicted Turkey in the old days. At its head is a most remarkable man. Although he is only 42 he Is called “Stario,” the “Old One.” He never writes a, decree, nc-v^r an order. All hifl commands are transmitted by “word of mouth throughout the country and even to foreign capitals, in most of ‘which he has agents watching and ready to execute his orders. His couriers are said to he the most efficient in the ¦World. That is why his n^ent at Prague, Niooloff, assassinated Raiko Oaskaloff last Summer. It ihay be recalled that the former peasant Premier of Bulgaria. Stambulisky, in a sincere attempt to execute Bulgaria’s part of the Treaty Of N^uiHy tried to suppress the Komitaji In Macedonia and Daskaloff was his most efficient aid. Kven the killing of Stambuliskv is placed at the door of the Macedonians, although they have profited little by the Premier who replaced him.
A Price on His Head.
The name of the ”Old One” Is Todor
‘AlexandroTf. His picture reveals him
dressed in a dapper uniform of drab,
-with a full black beard reaching down
to the fourth button. He sits cross-
legged and fondles in his hands, which
are slender and tapering like, those of a girl. a. high power Mannlicher rifle -with telescope sights. He lives in the huts Of peasants and is here today and somewhere else tomorrow, for. although he trusts his people, he knows human nature and there is a price 250.000 dinars on his head. Wherever he makes his abode a messenger has preceded him. and the local Komitaji assembles to do him honor, to receive instructions or rewards for feats of arms.
It Is estimated by various trustworthy authorities that his wanderings have established cohesion among lou’,000 veterans of the World War, whom he would “be able to mobilize in a few days. Of the total. GO.oon are now on active service, being distributed in small bands, which can quickly unite if one is attacked. He has no artillery but at various secret places has established arsenals of rifles and bombs with plenty of ammunition and uniforms, all of which are said to be transmitted without trouble through Salonikl.
In the circumstances, it is not surprising that Alexandroff should have intimate relations with the new Government of Turkey. He admitted this the other day to a correspondent of The London Times, to whom he also said: “Turkey tried to destroy us during countless years; she failed, and it is Important to remember that then the considerable Turkish population was against the revolutionary organisation: tioW the Turks are with us, and J emphatically state that we Are stronger than we have ever been before.” This correspondent was also permitted to read a list of those condemned to death.
Those Sentenced to Die.
Several had already been executed, and Alexandroff assured me that the turn of the others would surely come. The method adopted is the same as in other secret societies. The person charged with the execution i? given a certain time in whirh to carry out his task. If he fails, he is killed himself. The death sentence is usually preceded by at least one letter of warning (Daskaloff received that letter, but failed to heed it), but in certain cayes it is carried out immediately. The Macedonians are by nature secretive on account of the struggling exiatence they have lor], but it is somewhat extraordinary that In the long run they never miss “carrying out their vengeance. Perhaps the reason of their success lies in the exceptional form of idealism which animates the inembt rs of the organization. Each person has a role assigned to him or her, and the signing of a death warrant by Todor Alexandroff is the signal for the whole machine to begin its work.
The correspondent sat opposite Alex- . androff at the table. The fnn-l cor- ‘ sisted of chicken and rire washed dovn i by Linden tea. Alexandroff <=p:ir-
ibgly and soon assumed hw favurlTf po- : sition— sitting cross-legc. d. n i»1 i : ¦well back, I ys f:.:if rl* i, iiirl liHiio? | Ft retched f^wnnl lonaid Dm lin. j
An expression of grim austerity comes i
over his face. The correspondent starts:
The whole visit seemed like a dream. Was it possible that such an organization could exist in the twentieth – century?
“I was quickly brought back to reality on stepping outside the house. Snow was falling, and a Komitaji band was drawn up on parade. Its leader had distinguished himself in a recent skirmish with the ruling- authorities, and Alexandroff, in a short speech, presented him with the Order of Merit. The Komitas, who were all young men six feet and more high, cheered their leader and then filed silently away.
Actual Reforms Achieved.
Aside from those violent acts committed in the name of Macedonian freedom all Crime is said to have disappeared in the country, which has, meanwhile, made rapid strides toward a better civilization, at least in three
departments. The relation between the sexes, which has lost the old Moslem taint, relations between employer and employed and between seller and buyer. Jn the days of Turkish oppression the njen chose their wives from among the girls who pleased them: now each girl is free to choose the husband she likes. There is more equality between the sexes irt other ways. In a certain section tobacco merchants were found to be paying 70 levas a kilo to the producers, whereas the real price was 120 levas. The organization stepped in and the peasants received a better price. Moreover, if a landowner decides to sell his land he must dispose of it for a nominal price to the peasants who have been cultivating it
It is, therefore, evident that Alexandroff has actually succeeded in creating a State within a State, or rather within States, for his territory includes parts of Bulgaria and Greece as well as Serbia.
Observers have reported that in some form or otheF the portrait of President Wilson is to be found in almost every house in Macedonia, possibly as an ironic rebuke to the three nations which were assigned to govern it, but are not able to do so. When he died there was a long article in the Nezavissima Macedonia of Feb. ir>. After eulogizing his mission, which “Europe tried to understand and could not,” the article continues :
“The League of Nations, which will remain his greatest monument, should now hasten to repair the unpardonable injury it has done little peoples. Only in this way will the wounded soul of the dead man be healed.”
Plans of Attack.
i
According to Information emanating from Macedonia on which Alexandroff bases his preparations for future action, It Is expected that the Belgrade Government, now free to act on account of the Treaty of Rome with Italy, will
within a. few days send an ultimatum to Sofia, and if it be answered In the negative there will Immediately be set in motion two Serbian columns. One is to occupy Sofia until the other, directed into Macedonia, shall have established Serbian rule there. When the columns move it is said to be the intention of Alexandroff to mobilize his army of 150,000 men. Two-thirds of them he will place in all strategic positions to defend the country from invasion, while with the remaining 50,000 he will march on Salon iki. where he expects the Creeks will make no defense. He also expects Serbia to be distracted by the risings of the Croats and the Montenegrins.
Certainly he expects intervention by the League of Nations, but when that intervention comes he hopes to show the league a fait accompli—the actual independence of Macedonia with its capital at Saloniki.
Brig Gen. E. A. Plunket of the British Army, who recently returned to London from a mission in the Balkans, blames Bulgaria for the situation in Macedonia, although he does not see how the Sofia Government, as at present constituted, can provide a remedy^ As to Serbia, he says the situation has become a growing menace to her, and as Bulgaria cannot, or will not, act, she herself must take the necessary measures ;
“The Genera! Staff At Belgrade is well aware that an attempt to watch a mountainous and undeveloped frontier region of great extent, and to bar all the different points of passage, would prove as futile a3 it would be costly, so Serbian plans are said to comprise an advance in force and the occupation of important centres across the frontier, from which movements of the Koiiiitaji bands could be effectively controlled. Th*> present state of affairs is unsatisfactory and wasteful, and must end, and i now that the agreement with Italy has J set Serbia free to deal with troubles in | the South and West she means to act J drastically in face of the Bulgar-Mace- ; donian nionacc.” |
As to Todor Alexandroff: *4He is’the! more dangerous in that he believes implicitly in the justice of the.Cause for, which he works. Such a man will con- : tinue to be a source of trouble while he lives, though the dispatch of Serbian troops to the scene of his activities j might cramp his style and discourage his associates.”
From this situation, loaded with a potential war which General Plunket describes in detail in The Morning Post of March 7, he offers this relief:
“First and foremost, the Treaty of Neuiily must be carried out without delay, and a free outlet to the Aegean accorded to Bulgaria. As things now stand, Bulgaria, with the exception of this one vital clause of the treaty, has lo3t all along the line since she commenced military adventures in 1912, and the allied powers so far have not troubled to see the clause put Into effect.
“Then, the Treaty of Neuilly having been executed, it should be made clear to Bulgaria that the treaty is going to be upheld, and that the Sofia Government must refrain from causing frontier troubles, and to the best of her power restrain tho Komitaji.
“Further, the idea of an autonomous Macedonia must be ruled out once for all. Such a measure would not content the pro-BuIgars in Macedonia, but would only encourage them to work in the time-honored Balkan way for the incorporation of the province in a greater Bulgaria. It would probably inaugurate a new era of battle, murder and sudden death, from which in recent times the Balkan countries seemed in a fair way to becoming free.”
D ABU SSI COLLECTION ON VIEW TOMORRO W
Many Unique Pieces of Antique Furnishings to Be Put on Sale This Week.
A unique collection of antique furniture forming the collection of Joseph Dabussl, an antiquarian of Florence. Italy, and New York, will be on exhibition tomorrow at the American Art Galleries and win be nold there on the afternoons of Friday and Saturday, I March 2S arid 29.
In this collection is a primitive votive
shrine by Nardo: dl Cione, depicting
“The Marriage of the Virgin*’ on one
i side and on the other “The Virgin at
Mer Devotions.” It is^well preserved
and quite beautiful. There is also a
I Madonna by – Pulrgo. There is A Tine i bronze from the Antonelli collection, and ! polychrome sculptured bas-reliefs busts | and groups. There is a Bambocei, or j marriage cabinet, executed by Verroc-, ehios Bottoga or a close follower of his
; style.
There are a few examples of seventeenth century Venetian glass and Montelupo faience; forged iron pieces in Jardinieres, andirons, torcheres, chandeliers. candelabras, balconies and garden gates. There are also banners and hangings and cushions In lovely blues. ; jade greens, ambers ahd crimsons bear-| ing various coats of arms. There are j gold needle-pointed Renaissance OSpfeys, a chasuble and a superb seventeenth century I’renoh petit point panel, “The Marriage of the Virgin.”
The furniture includes carved walnut chairs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, upholstered in contemporary needlework, fine Flemish tapestry and I lovely velvets. These are in sets and there ar« also individual chairs of the Savenarola and Dantesque type*; Fald stools and a number of manquetteS. Of numerous carved walrtut tables, some are mounted with finely forged iron, among rhem centre tables, cabinet tables and massive refectory table?. A few of the in i ley have their original monastery
bf’H -her-‘.
Thr f’»u:–p«»M_ h^dr in caivcd wolnut and forged iron are similar to those in
[ the Davenzatl Palace collection.
By WALTER L1TTIEFIELD.
Published: March 23, 1924 Copyright © The New York Times
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