Under the guise of appealing for funds to care for alleged starving refugees in Bulgaria, a campaign of defamation is being carried on reflecting upon the character of the Hellenic Army.

The virtues of the Bulgars are exalted from platforms, from some pulpits and now and then in editorial columns of some misinformed daily newspapers and periodicals, and an attempt is made through these media, to disparage the character of the Hellenic soldiers. The last battle of the late Balkan Wars was fought several months ago and Hellas, one of the participants in both wars, has been since that time devoting its energies to caring for the widows, orphans and refugees of the wars and repairing the damage suffered as a result of the wars. During all this trying period not a word of complaint has been heard from that little country in the extreme south-east of Europe, not one attempt has been made to arouse the sympathy of or secure assistance from any other country.

2

Hellas fought its battles in the fields of Epiros, Macedonia, Thrace and on the Mediterranean Sea, alone, and is now alone caring for its own sufferers and promoting education and commerce in the freed territory, as well as in that portion of its domain which won its dependence in 1821-1829. That many of its sons sacrificed their private fortunes in the public cause and many sacrificed their lives in the fight for righteousness and justice, leaving their dependent ones now in need of support, is well known fact and need not be dwelled upon.

Hellas has been through such fights against conquering barbarians since the year B.C. and knows how to heal its wounds without appealing for outside help and knows how to and does care for the needy without begging for alms in the streets of Europe or in the highways of America; it does not groan for effect, and does what is required for those in want without soliciting the attention of the outside world.

3

The Bulgars, on the other hand, have at this late day started a campaign to clear themselves from the stigma of crimes and outrages committed by them in Macedonia and Thrace before and during the war. They have induced her Royal Majesty, Queen Eleonara of Bulgaria, to send out appeals over her signature for alleged refugees in a vain and belated attempt to wash their blood-stained hands in the spotless reputation of the Hellenic soldiers.

These descendants of that notorious cannibal Krumo, the Tartar, having failed in Europe, now endeavor to procure a coat of white-wash in the minds of the people of this country, by an appeal for sympathy for their pseudorefugees whose alleged distressing condition is depicted with emotion by those who have volunteered to champion their cause, and to blame the Hellenes for the purported starvation and misery of Bulgaria's so-called refugees. These falsely designated saviours and protectors of civilization and Christianity and their able advocates claim that the 4refugees from Macedonia and Thrace number 259,000, whereas the entire Bulgar population of Macedonia and Thrace numbers only about 400,000. If we are to believe the Bulgars, the Hellenes have killed all the Bulgars in Macedonia and no one survives to become a refugee. But the truth is that all Bulgars who did not flee from Macedonia are now enjoying the blessings and protection of law and peace under the Hellenic government. The alleged refugees are no others than the brigands and fugitives of justice who terrorized Thrace and Macedonia before and curing the war, but the euologists of the Bulgars are attempting to make the world think that the alleged sufferers are refugees from Macedonia driven away by the Hellenic soldiers and for that purpose they are hurling charges against the Hellenes, hoping thereby to distract attention from the action and conduct of the Bulgars and by arousing ill-feeling against the Hellenes, to thereby gain the sympathetic contributions of misinformed people.

5

All the cities that were destroyed in Macedonia and Thrace were inhabited either by Hellenes or Turks, and not by Bulgars. The churches and mosques which were robbed and set fire to were Hellenic and Turkish. The women and young girls who were dishonored and then killed in cold blood were Hellenes and Turks and the perpetrators of the crime were Bulgars, which facts are confirmed by the reports of the War Correspondents who followed the Hellenes in their campaign in Macedonia; by the reports of the Consuls of Italy, Germany, France, England and Austria; by the protests sent by foreign missionaries in Macedonia; and by the protest of the King of the Hellenes, who, while leading his soldiers in the battle for civilization and justice in Macedonia, personally saw the destruction and ruins of the beautiful Hellenic cities and villages of Macedonia as left by the Bulgars in their retreat towards their capitol city, Sophia.

The War Correspondents in their protests said, among other things: "The people of Macedonia have suffered a frightful martyrdom at the hands of the Bulgars."

6

The foreign missionaries in Saloniki said in part, "After their first defeat the Bulgars began in revenge, a series of most horrible crimes against the Greek non-combatants who were entirely unprotected."

An American, employed by the American Tobacco Co., at the city of Kavala, in a letter to friends in America, dated July, 1913, in relating the Bulgar atrocities, said: "No doubt you have read the papers that the Greeks have occupied Kavala and that their fleet has arrived here. The few days prior to the evacuation of the town by the Bulgars, were the most dramatic experiences of my life. On June 30th we heard the Declaration of War, the Bulgars immediately placed thirty of the most prominent citizens under arrest and took them to the mountains. They were to be executed if any signs of uprising were shown by the townspeople. Comitadji began to pour into the city. One must see these Comitadji in order to understand what manner of men they are--nothing more or less than brigands, and their arrival in a place is usually a forerunner of Massacre."

7

Rev. Gustave Mitchell, a Catholic Missionary in the city of Kilkis, in his protest sent to the French press in Paris, among other things, said, "Most shocking crimes have been perpetrated in this town and throughout the surrounding country by the Bulgars. At Palantza the same band of murderers carried their devilishness to a still greater length. They drove the male inhabitants into the mosque, which they burned, compelling the women to witness the atrocious proceeding. Immediately after which the women were stacked together and burned alive in the square before the ruins of the mosque. I was called to the bedside of a dying man. He had been beaten to death for resisting a comitadji who had seized his daughter. I applied to the French Consul at Salonica, begging him to exert his power to put an end to these massacres, which are the disgrace of Europe. He replied that he could do nothing because the Bulgar government had authorized and organized this band of irregulars so that they might operate with the regular army and that consequently their acts received Bulgarian sanction."

8

The instances of atrocities are numerous, and it would take pages to describe them. The cities and villages destroyed by the Bulgars are too many to be enumerated, and the facts are so well known that no further evidence is necessary to prove the Bulgars as perpetrators of the cirmes charged to them. They are even admitted by the Bulgar press of Sophia, quoting from an article published Dec. 23, 1913, in the semi-official daily newspaper, Politica of Sochia, "Through the cities and villages of Macedonia we carried away many valuable articles and had them sent to Bulgaria. These crimes which are reflecting upon the honor of all the Bulgarian army have been committed by certain army officers, but the dishonor falls upon the army as a whole. For the honor and obedience of our soldiery these spoilsmen should be apprehended and should be punished severely."

The semi-official Mere, a Bulgarian newspaper, on Dec. 23, 1913, published a list of Bulgar officers and the crimes they committed in Macedonia demanding their punishment by the Bulgar Government. Among others, the 9names of Surgeon-General Kosolintsieff, Col. Oftsaroff, Chief of Staff of the division of Rhilos, Major Vlizuakop, and First Lieutenant, Cozenotsi appear. And the semi-official Volia, a Bulgar daily newspaper in reviewing the proceedings of the Sovrania (parliament) in part, said, "Mr. Geuadieff, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in explaining the disappearance of $1,000,000 out of the military fund of our Government, admitted that he used the money in bribing foreign newspapers and diplomats to support the Bulgar interests." Only in Bulgaria, where they still measure everything by dollars and cents, such an explanation as that advanced by Mr. Genadieff could be accepted; but in this country and Europe, the explanation is not sufficient because in this day of civilization diplomats do not sell their souls for dollars and newspapers do not barter their principles for gold. That money, as well as money extorted from wealthy Macedonians, was undoubtedly appropriated by Bulgar statesmen, army officials and others in authority, and added to their private fortunes.

10

We would be unworthy of our illustrious ancestors if we objected to any one contributing to any cause, if such exists. But we unhesitatingly raise our voices in protest when malicious and false accusations are made against the Hellenic soldiers and in doing so, we are not apologizing nor seeking to defend the Hellenic soldiers, since the reading world knows that neither apology nor defense is necessary; but we owe it to Christianity, to civilization, to the Hellenic soldiers and to the Hellenic people wherever they may be, to place the facts as forcibly as may be possible before the fair minded and justice loving people of America.

The Bulgars probably need financial assistance, particularly as their own treasury has apparently been looted by those of their own people in whom they placed their trust, and we emphasize the fact we would not wish to be the cause of any needy person, Bulgar or otherwise, being deprived of financial aid, or denied relief. There is and can be no objection to the Bulgars receiving financial assistance whenever needed, but it should 11not be sought by false representations through the maligning of a country and of a race of people whose character and conduct towards their enemies, before, during, and since the war, have been of the noblest and most irreproachable sort.

We feel that the method which is being adopted by the Bulgars in their appeal to the World's charity based as it has been on misrepresentations, calumny and falsehood, reflects most seriously upon the honesty and genuineness of their appeal. The ultimate destination of any contribution and the hands through which these contributions pass should be carefully scrutinized, in view of the exhibitions of character, or the lack thereof, given by the Bulgar officials during the last wars, and by the Bulgar representatives in their present attack on their late opponents, the Hellenes.

Yours very respectfully,

A.A. Pantelis

President.

J.C. Theodorou

Cor. Sec'y.