The rumours of an insurrection in Bulgaria may be taken
to be confirmed. Its extent is not yet clear, but it is certain that the inhabitants of the mountainous country have been provided with arms, that they threaten the plain, and that Constantinople has in consequence been almost denuded of troops. According to Turkish accounts, the risings are unimportant ; while, according to Viennese belief, 15,000 men are in arms, but in either case the burden on Turkey is the same. She must put out the fire in the magazine, or see it spread destructively, and must herself help to spread it by pillaging the villagers to subsist her Bashi-Bazouks. One consequence of the insurrection has been to inspirit the Herzegovinians, who now declare that they will accept no terms short of autonomy ; and another, to double the excitement in Servia, where the Government is evidently preparing for a crisis of some kind, Prince Milano having, by three decrees, suppressed the freedom of the Press, granted all debtors three months in which to pay their bills, and ordered the collection of a " volun- tary " loan—that is, a forced loan from the communes—of 1480,000. Every additional province in disorder, it must be remembered, increases the stake to be contended for on both sides ; and Constantinople will be far more excited by a rising in Bul- garia, so long quiet and productive, than in Bosnia or the Herzegovina.
