T TYR CAPTURE OF THE BULGARIAN GARRISON AT SALONICA.
[TO THE EDITOR OF TEE SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—As you were so good as to publish a letter from me recently on the rights of the Greeks of Macedonia and Thrace, I hope you will allow me to make some comments on your mention of the capture of the Bulgarian garrison at Salonica as having caused special animosity at Sofia. This incident should be treated in connexion with the events which preceded it, and of these I feel qualified to speak, as I entered Salonica on November 9th last, the day on which it was occupied by the Greek army. Two days after the surrender of the town, the Bulgarians, who had then just arrived by forced marches from a north-easterly direction, after vainly attempting to persuade the Turkish commander, Hassan Taxim Pasha, to make a second surrender to them, asked leave for two battalions to take shelter within the city walls, on the ground that they were exhausted after their arduous march over difficult country in extremely rainy and rough weather. After this request had been graciously granted by King Constantine, a whole Bulgarian division marched into Salonica. Having thus abused the hospitality of the Greeks, the Bulgarians claimed joint occupation, and, after the bulk of their troops had been moved into Thrace, retained a garrison there for the purpose of supporting this claim. During the last three months the Bulgarian forces, having been released from Thrace, from time to time made surprise attacks on the Greek outposts, violating the neutral zones agreed upon after each encounter in which these attacks resulted. An investigation of the circumstances attending these attacks by the light of the Austrian or Greek Staff map of the district makes it perfectly clear that the Bulgarians were the aggressors on each occasion. Meantime the Bul- garians were stealthily introducing into the city members of the most notorious among their comitadjes, with dynamite bombs and other menaces to public order, many of which were of course discovered and seized by the Greek authorities. When the Bulgarians, in the last week in June, instituted a general attack along the whole Greek and Servian fronts, the Greeks announced publicly that they would be obliged to make a counter-attack, and gave the Bulgarian garrison the option of leaving the town within one (afterwards extended to two) hours. It was obviously necessary for the Greeks to take precautions with a view to avoiding a disturbance within the city, and so the refusal of the Bulgarians to avail themselves of the option was naturally followed by the arrest of the Bulgarian regular troops and comitadjes. Their foolish resistance caused some bloodshed even among private citizens. It is evident to anyone acquainted with the above facts that the Bulgarian secret preparations in Salonica were part of a treacherously con- cocted plan according to which at the moment of an attack by the Bulgarian main forces an uproar should be created in the city itself which would divert the attention of the Greeks. The points that I should like to emphasize are : (1) The Bulgarian garrison had no right to be in Salonica ; it was only there by the courtesy and at the goodwill of the Greeks; (2) as soon as hostilities broke out it was invited to leave the city; (3) the Bulgarians in the city were plotting to get the Greeks turned out of Salonica. Of the general conduct of the Bulgarians and the provocative insults which they heaped on the Greeks during the last few months it is sufficient to mention the incident of their firing upon the " Georgios Averoff," -which in mediaeval times would probably have been canonized by special decree for the great services (especially to the Bulgarians) which it rendered for the Cross
against the Crescent.—I am, Sir, &c., D. J. CABSILVETTI.
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