10 OCTOBER 1903, Page 2

The Sultan recently received M. Constans, M. Lockroy, and their

wives, and spoke to them of the Macedonian ins urreo- tion. He said it would be repressed before long, and com- plained much of the bitterness of comment upon his acts. Christians, he exclaimed, in Spain had out Moors' heads off, or expelled them from the country. He deplored some excesses committed by his soldiers. -Nevertheless, at Monastir a proclamation has been issued in which the Sultan, "our benefactor," is made to order that the commanders of the troops wherever they are sent shall " disperse and kill the disturbers and their followers." The Bulgarians are invited for the last time to return to their villages, those who do not obey being threatened with "punishment in the severest

' fashion." The civil war goes on as in spite of a joint Note from. Austria and Russia, drawn up at the meeting of the Emperors at Miirzsteg, in which the two Powers promise to extend the reforms and see that they are made valid. This will be effected, it is alleged, either by appointing European colleagues to act with Hilmi Pasha, or by investing the Consuls with new and separate powers. The Bulgarians believe none of these promises, and continue to insist that without a Christian and independent Governor-General there, will be no protection for the Macedonians. It should be noted that Hiltai Pasha, who is responsible for the devastation of Monastir, is one of the best educated and most plausible of Pashas. He desired the expulsion of Mr. Reginald Wyon as an inconvenient witness, but he talks French.