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 The Russian Empire in the Nineteenth Century 559 sent to the dungeons of St. Petersburg or the mines of Siberia. The terrorists, on their part, retaliated by attacks on the Tsar and his government, and Alexander II finally yielded, conced- ing a constitution for Russia. It was too late, however. On the afternoon that he gave his assent he was assassinated as he was driving to his palace (March, 1881). IV. THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR (1877-1878) 1013. Miserable Condition of People under the Sultan. In 1877 Russia found an opportunity to extend her power in the Balkan Peninsula, where the Turks were engaged in a wholesale massacre of the Bulgarians. Some idea of the situation of the people under the Sultan's rule may be derived from the report of an English traveler in 1875. In the Turkish province of Bosnia he found that outside the large towns, where European consuls were present, neither the honor, property, nor lives of the Christians were safe, because the authorities were blind to any outrage committed by a Moham- medan. The Sultan's taxes were exorbitant, and most cruel methods were used to extort payment from the impoverished peasants. Further, the Turkish soldiers who were quartered in the villages were guilty of countless outrages. 1014. The Bulgarian Atrocities (i87e). In 1874 a failure of crops aggravated the intolerable conditions, and an insurrection broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina which set the whole Balkan Peninsula aflame. The Bulgarians around Philippopolis, incited to hopes of independence by the events in the states to the west, assassinated some of the Turkish officials and gave the Turks a pretext for the most terrible atrocities in the history of Turkish rule in Europe, murdering thousands of Bulgars in revenge. 1015. European Powers fail to assist Bulgaria. While the European powers, in their usual fashion, were exchanging futile diplomatic notes on the situation, Serbia and Montenegro de- clared war on the Sultan, and the Christians in the Balkan region made a frantic appeal to the West for immediate help. A good