It must be remembered, however, that Lord Fitzmaurice recently stated
that the activity of the Greek bands was largely responsible for the unrest in Macedonia, and the correspondent of the Times in Paris, where the disturbances are causing con- siderable anxiety, attributes them to strong popular resent- ment in Southern Bulgaria against the Greek moneylenders, and to persistent efforts, encouraged by the Government at Athens, to hamper the Bulgarian priests and school teachers in Macedonia. It is further alleged that the renewal of the attacks on the Greeks in Bulgaria is believed to be the work of agents provocateurs employed by a Greek secret society devoted to Hellenic national propaganda, and mortified by the failure of the attempt to annex Crete. In face of these mutual recriminations, it is exceedingly difficult to pronounce decisively as to the " balance of criminality," but anxiety is freely expressed lest the Bulgarian Government should be compromised by the violence of its extreme partisans.
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