It is necessary, if we are to comprehend affairs in
the Near East, to draw a careful distinction between the insurrection in Ma.cedonia, and the action of the Powers in consequence of that insurrection. The "general rising" which was promised has evidently occurred. The young men of the villages, that is, have turned out in arms, have attacked any accessible Turkish posts or small garrisons, and if defeated have taken to the hills. The policy of the Turks is to retake the posts, and the small towns around them, and then, it is to be feared, let loose the soldiery to take vengeance. According to the Bul- garians, the massacres have been terrible, a statement officially confirmed by the Russian Government, as far as regards Monastir, Uskub, and some other places, they demanding, on the reports from their Consuls, that the Turkish officials implicated shall be punished. It is quite impossible, and would be useless, to give accurate details; but it is certain that all Macedonia is "up," and that civilisation is perishing in a welter of blood and flame. As yet neither side has much advantage. The Turks have increased their force to a hundred and fifty thousand men, and the insurgents have only thirty thousand in actual motion ; but the former are hampered by defects of commissariat, sometimes involving positive starva- tion, by the dispersion of their foes, and, it is rumoured, by crumbling discipline. The insurgents fight well too, often 'dying where they stand, and the Turks usually lose in the guerilla engagements more men than their adversaries.