---
title: Le Progrès de Salonique, supplement 'La fete Nationale' (Salonica, 25 July 1908)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/le-progres-de-salonique-fete-nationale-1908/
description: One-sheet supplement celebrating the first days of the restored constitution in Salonica.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Celebratory 1908 newspaper sheet that labels the former Hamidian informer network a 'hideous sore' and 'mouchards'; includes later handwritten marginalia 'not true'. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Le Progrès de Salonique, supplement 'La fete Nationale' (Salonica, 25 July 1908)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/le-progres-de-salonique-fete-nationale-1908.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/le-progres-de-salonique-fete-nationale-1908.jpg)

# Le Progrès de Salonique, supplement 'La fete Nationale' (Salonica, 25 July 1908)

One-sheet supplement celebrating the first days of the restored constitution in Salonica. Headlines announce amnesty, 'no more informers' and an 'enthusiastic reception' for Enver Bey; the lead article calls the old secret-police corps 'une plaie hideuse', and the crowd reports are built from cries of 'Vive la Liberté! Vive la Patrie! Vive la Nation!'.

## Text on the object

Original (French) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Le Progrès de Salonique
SUPPLEMENT 10 PARAS
La fete Nationale
Réjouissances publiques — Manifestations touchantes et grandioses
LES CONDAMNÉS POLITIQUES AMNISTIÉS — PLUS DE MOUCHARDS!
ARRIVÉE D'ENVER BEY — RÉCEPTION ENTHOUSIASTE
Samedi 25 Juillet 1908

LA RÉACTION est-elle à craindre ?
C'est la question que beaucoup de nos concitoyens se posent devant la réalité d'un succès inattendu. Terrorisés pendant plusieurs lustres par un régime de servitude et de persécution nos bons concitoyens se demandent, avec raison, si la beauté de la situation actuelle, si les bienfaits de cette liberté si chèrement conquise sera assez stable, pour permettre au peuple Ottoman de conserver indéfiniment les droits et prérogatives qu'il vient d'acquérir. [...]
Non, mon cher, la Réaction est impossible.
Ascher Salem

LES ESPIONS
Depuis plus de trente ans, une plaie hideuse rongeait la Turquie, le corps des espions de plus en plus nombreux, surveillant avec une vigilance néfaste tous les propos, toutes les conversations, tous les mouvements de ceux qui en Tur[...]
[...] Le corps des espions inspirait au peuple un sentiment de terreur si grand que malgré ses méfaits sans nombre personne n'osait en parler autrement qu'à voix basse [...]
Une dépêche officielle fut lue hier soir dans la «Place de la Liberté», annonçant la dissolution du corps des espions et l'amnistie de tous les criminels politiques.

LA JOURNÉE D'HIER
Salonique a célébré dignement le premier jour de la Fête Nationale. Le peuple turc, libre enfin, conscient de ses droits, a tenu à donner à cette fête tout l'éclat d'une manifestation aussi grandiose que spontanée.
[...] la joie délirante se répandait en cris, de Vive la Nation! Vive la Patrie! Vive l'Armée! [...]

Enver bey acclamé
[...] une explosion d'enthousiasme souleva les poitrines et l'air retentit à nouveau des cris de Vive la Liberté! Vive la Patrie! Vive la Nation! [...]

[right-hand columns, headings only:] ALLOCUTION D'ENVER BEY / Amnistie générale des condamnés politiques / Suppression des mouchards / Contre l'espionnage
[right margin, in later handwriting:] not true
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Le Progrès de Salonique
SUPPLEMENT 10 PARAS
The National Festival
Public rejoicings — Touching and grandiose demonstrations
THE POLITICAL CONVICTS AMNESTIED — NO MORE INFORMERS!
ARRIVAL OF ENVER BEY — ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION
Saturday 25 July 1908

IS THE REACTION TO BE FEARED?
It is the question that many of our fellow citizens are asking themselves in the face of the reality of an unexpected success. Terrorised for several lustra by a regime of servitude and persecution, our good fellow citizens ask themselves, with reason, whether the beauty of the present situation, whether the benefits of this liberty so dearly won will be stable enough to allow the Ottoman people to keep indefinitely the rights and prerogatives it has just acquired. [...]
No, my dear fellow, the Reaction is impossible.
Ascher Salem

THE SPIES
For more than thirty years a hideous sore had been gnawing at Turkey: the corps of spies, ever more numerous, watching with baleful vigilance all the remarks, all the conversations, all the movements of those who in Tur[key] [...]
[...] The corps of spies inspired in the people a feeling of terror so great that, despite its countless misdeeds, no one dared speak of it other than in a low voice [...]
An official dispatch was read yesterday evening in the 'Place de la Liberté', announcing the dissolution of the corps of spies and the amnesty of all political criminals.

YESTERDAY'S DAY
Salonica worthily celebrated the first day of the National Festival. The Turkish people, free at last, conscious of its rights, wished to give this festival all the brilliance of a demonstration as grandiose as it was spontaneous.
[...] the delirious joy spread in cries of Long live the Nation! Long live the Fatherland! Long live the Army! [...]

Enver bey acclaimed
[...] an explosion of enthusiasm lifted the chests and the air rang out anew with cries of Long live Liberty! Long live the Fatherland! Long live the Nation! [...]

[right-hand columns, headings only:] ADDRESS OF ENVER BEY / General amnesty of political convicts / Suppression of the informers / Against espionage
[right margin, in later handwriting:] not true
```

Selected lines only; body columns continue beyond the quoted passages and are marked [...]. Spelling and capitalisation follow the print ('La fete Nationale' without accent). The two words 'not true' in the right margin are later handwriting, not print.

[← Yaşasın Vatan, Yaşasın Millet, Yaşasın Hürriyet! (Long Live the Fatherland, the Nation, Liberty!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/young-turk-constitution-postcard-1908/) [Indian Opinion (Phoenix, Natal), page 382: speeches at the burning of registration certificates, 22 August 1908 →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/indian-opinion-certificate-burning-speech-1908/)

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