Immediately after the crossing (June 28), the Emperor issued an
address to the Bulgarians. He tells them that the sympathies which induced his ancestors to secure a new political existence for the Servians and Roumanians have not ceased to exist, and his army will secure the sacred rights of Bulgarian nationality, rights which are the reward of centuries of suffering. He promises -protection to all Christians, and guarantees life, honour, and pro- perty ; and assures the Mussulmans that although the horrors which some among them have committed cannot be forgotten, impar- tial justice will only overtake those who are criminal, and who bave remained unpunished. He calls upon Bulgarians to set an example of Christian love and forget all dissensions, advites them to "gather under the shelter of the Russian flag," and promises that as his armies advance a new civil organisation shall be formed, and a regular native militia embodied. A certain unctuousness in the tone of the pro- clamation will doubtless irritate English opinion, but it is the habitual style of the Russian Court, which knows that the strongest bond among its subjects is their Christianity.
