Losses involved in military service

It not only deprived the Sultans of their finest troops, but has been one of the principal causes of the great decrease in the Moslem population of the country; as that class of the community alone has since been called to sustain the losses involved in military service. The mortality among the soldiers of the Turkish army from disease and war is so great that the Moslem population is rapidly dying out, and well-informed medical experts are heard to say, “ The Eastern Question will be solved by the disappearance of the Turks in the natural course of things.”

The theocratic character of a Moslem State facilitates, indeed, the incorporation of different races in the same social and political system, seeing that all distinctions between men are obliterated by community in the faith of Islam. And it is impressive to see how closely the Mohammedan world, though not free from sects, is knit together by religious principle, and how strongly it cherishes the brotherhood of believers. In it, not in theory only but also in practice, the black man and the white man are fellow-citizens and of the same household.

Impossible for a Moslem State

But on the other hand, because of its theocratic constitution, it is impossible for a Moslem State to accept reforms which seek to secure equality of rights among its subjects, on the ground of a common humanity. Nothing is more opposed to the deepest convictions of a genuine Moslem than the idea that men of a different faith from his own can be his equals. There is no one who can be more polite than a Turk; no one who can treat you in a more friendly and flattering manner than hem.

Yet persons who have known him well, nay, who have loved him, testify that even in the relation of private friendship they have never felt that a Turk had given them his whole self, but was a friend with reservations that might lead him to act toward you in the most unfriendly manner. His religion confers on him an inaccessible superiority, from which he cannot descend without becoming a faithless son of Islam. His interests are superior to those of an infidel.

Mary Pammacaristos

The inhabitants of Constantinople were sinners, though not sinners above all men, as they are often represented. But in their hospitals, orphanages, asylums for the aged, free caravanseries, asylums for lepers, and other institutions “to give rest to those whom trouble had distressed,” which humanised the city with compassion, they were distinguished also for that charity which covereth a multitude of sins.

The Churches of S. Mary Pammacaristos (Fethiyeh Djamissi), the Church of S. Theodosia (Gul Djamissi), and portions of S. Saviour-in-the- Chora, carry us to the times of the Palseologi, the dynasty that occupied the throne of Constantinople during the last one hundred and ninety years of the city’s history as New Rome. It is the period of the long struggle with the Ottoman Turks, and the culmination of the conflict between the Mohammedan world and Christendom which had filled more than eight centuries with its hate and din; when the sign in which the Empire had conquered yielded to the sign of the crescent, and the benediction of the prophet of Islam—“ Whoso taketh the city of Constantine, his sins are forgiven ”—found at length a man upon whose head it could settle. It is a sad period of Byzantine history; yet one noble idea, at least, appealed to its mind—the Reunion of Christendom — which, if realised, would have changed the history of Europe. But it was not to be.

City situated near the fortifications

Like all the churches of the city situated near the fortifications, the Church of S. Saviour-in-the- Chora was regarded with special veneration as a guardian of the safety of “the God-defended capital/’ and there, during the siege of 1458, was placed, as an additional pledge of security, the icon of S. Mary Hodegetria, attributed to S. Luke. But the church was the first sanctuary into which Turkish troops broke on the fatal 29th May for pillage. They spumed to take the icon as a part of their plunder, and in mockery of its vaunted power hacked it to pieces. The Latin Church of S. Peter in Galata claims to possess one of the fragments.

With S. Theodosia is connected the pathetic association that the festival day of the church coincided with the day on which the city fell in 1458. The area and galleries of the building were packed by a large and earnest congregation that kept vigil through the night-watches, praying for the safety of the Queen of Cities, when suddenly, soon after the sun had risen, the wild rush of soldiers and shouts of victory in strange accents told that the enemy had triumphed, and that the day of vengeance was at the door. No massacre ensued, but the whole congregation was doomed to slavery.

Illyrian fortresses to render the north-western frontier

At the same time he strengthened also the Illyrian fortresses to render the north-western frontier more secure. Then, warned by a bread riot in Constantinople due to a scarcity of wheat in the city, he made arrangements for a more regular supply of grain from Egypt, thus making the population of the capital more friendly to the Government And lastly, as the crowning act of his administration, he decided to array the city in new and better armour, and make it the strongest citadel in the Roman world. The great wall, flanked by ninety- six towers, which forms the innermost line of the fortifications along the landward side of the city, notwithstanding the changes it has undergone since his day, is even in its ruins, a magnificent monument to his wisdom, and to his devotion to the public weal Those ramparts proved the shield of European civilisation for more than a thousand years. Their erection was one of those great acts in history which confer priceless benefits on mankind.

The change made by Anthemius in the position of the landward walls involved also the extension of the seaward fortifications to join the extremities of the new western limits. But, although that work must have been included in the plans of Anthemius, it was postponed for no less than a quarter of a century. Lack of funds, or the demands of more urgent necessities, or that happy sense of security from naval attack, in which the Government of Constantinople was tempted to indulge, in view of the city’s geographical position, may account for the delay mihrimah mosque. But whatever the explanation of the postponement, the gap in the defences of the capital could not be left open indefinitely, and at length, in 489, the thirty-first year of the reign of Theodosius II., the shores of the city were enclosed by Cyrus, the then Prefect of the city. It was the year in which the Vandals took Carthage, and possibly the alarm excited by their successes in Africa roused Constantinople to defend itself at every point.

Scarcely, however, had the city girded on its full armour, when, in the year 447, one of those violent earthquakes, to which Constantinople was liable, shook the city, and overthrew a large portion of the wall of Anthemius, with fifty-seven of its towers. The seaward walls of Cyrus were also injured at the same time. Struck with panic, the population rushed from the city to the open country, as far away as the plains about the suburb of the Hebdomon (Makrikeui), and there, with Emperor, Senate^ and clergy, offered prayers and supplication that the quaking earth should keep stiff. It was a terrible catastrophe under any circumstances, but it was the more so at the moment when Attila was sweeping everything before him in his advance upon the city.

Anthemius repaired

The crisis was, however, met with extraordinary energy. Under the direction of the Prefect Constantine (whom some authorities identify with Cyrus) the calamity which had overtaken the city was turned into an opportunity of building more formidable fortifications than those which had been destroyed. Requisitions of money and materials were made upon the citizens, and the Factions of the Hippodrome now vied with each other in the race to build the most and the fastest Not only was the wall of Anthemius repaired, but at a distance of about twenty yards in front of it was placed a second wall, also flanked with ninety-six towers, and then at a distance of some twenty yards from the latter line a broad and deep moat was constructed, with a battlement breast-high surmounting its inner side. So vigorously was the work pressed forward that the second wall was completed in two months.

Representative of a cosmopolitan State

If a Cassius still lived he might, pointing to the Master of the Empire, well exclaim, “He doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs, and peep about to find ourselves dishonourable graves. . . . Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods 1 ” That a city which had been sovereign and self centred should remain the head and representative of a cosmopolitan State, and of an autocratic Government, was something incongruous and unnatural nor was this the only respect in which the old order had changed and given place to new. Under Constantine the attitude of the Roman Government towards the Christian Church was the direct opposite of that maintained by his predecessors.

What they had regarded as a hostile organisation, he welcomed as an ally and friend. What they had endeavoured to uproot and destroy, he cultivated and supported. That he entertained a sincere respect for Christianity as a moral and social force, and believed that there was something Divine associated with it, cannot be doubted. And in his opinion, it was the part of true statesmanship to accept the religious and moral revolution that had come into the world, and to utilise it for the welfare of the Empire.

This is not the place to discuss the question how wisely the alliance between Church and State was effected, or to decide how much the parties to the union thereby gained or lost. It is enough for our purpose to recognise that the union introduced as profound a change of policy as can be introduced into the affairs of men, that it widened the breach between the past and the present, and rendered the embodiment of the new system of things in forms peculiar to itself perfectly natural, if not inevitable. This was the more certain to occur, seeing Rome continued to be the centre of opposition to the new faith.

Yet another change in the Roman world which explains the appearance of a new capital was the increased importance and influence of the Eastern part of the Empire. Not only “captured Greece ” but captured Asia also “ led captive her captor.” The centre of gravity was now in the East There commerce was more flourishing, and intellectual life more active. There the population was larger, and grouped in more important cities.

There Christianity had its home. Nor was it only in thought, and ait, and temper that the East exercised an ascendency. It was, moreover, the post of greatest danger. Its frontiers were exposed to the most formidable attacks which the Roman arms were now called to repel. The secular hostility of Persia along the Tigris and Euphrates, the incursions of Goths and Sarmatians across the lower Danube into the Balkan lands, demanded constant vigilance, and involved frequent warfare. The military front of the Empire was turned eastwards. There “ the triumph of barbarism ” was meanwhile to be chiefly contested.

Shoumen Electrification Region

Shoumen Electrification Region including Rousse Region

Rousse was the only town in the Shoumen electrification region electrified before World War 1 (1917). Another exception was Silistra which was electrified in 1936 by means of a DC diesel power plant, when Dobrudja was still under Romanian rule.

The growing electricity consumption in Rousse required that the Rousse diesel power plant should be extended by a new diesel unit-a 600 hp engine from the Graz factory, and a 470 kW Siemens generator (1926). So, the plant reached 940 kW total installed capacity, and the town’s demand for electricity was completely met.

In 1936 a business enterprise-“Rousse Electricity Supply”, with its own budget was established. The Ministry of Public Utilities assigned to it the electrification of other towns in that region. For the purpose, in 1941 a thermal power plant with one 2000 hp turbine and a 1400 kW generator was built on the site of the Rousse DPP. Some Rousse DPP small industrial and local power plants with capacity not commissioned in 1917 exceeding a few hundreds of kilowatts were also used.

Quite an early electrification was carried out in Razgrad in 1930 by the construction of a 130 kW diesel power plant and later, in 1933 a 350 kW extension to it. Koubrat was also electrified in 1930, the village of Shtraklevo in 1933, etc.

Shoumen, as the main town in the region, was electrified by means of a 270 hp diesel power plant with a 180 kW, 6000 V generator, and five 6/0.4 kV distribution trans-formers (1927). So, 34 years after the first electric bulb was lit up in Shoumen (at the brewery in 1893), the beginning of electrification in the town was laid. Later on, the Shoumen DPP was extended by a second 240 kW unit (in 1929) and a third unit with a Wechsel engine, operating as both diesel and gasogen engine (1939). The war time when there was a shortage of diesel fuel necessitated the use of such an engine that could operate using charcoal gas. For the purpose, during the next few years (1942) the enterprise bought 500 dca of forests in the mountains around Preslav for the production of about 1 800 000 kgf charcoal.

Mediterranean from Bulgarian lands

The only other natural channel to the Mediterranean from Bulgarian lands was down the Struma valley to the port of Kavala; but Greece in her turn had insisted on a boundary which should leave the lower course of the river and the port in her hands, thus compelling Bulgarian commerce by this route to pass through Greek territory. Finally, Serbia obtained possession of that section of the Morava-Vardar trench which Bulgaria had coveted, leaving to the latter no part of the key to future power in the Balkans. The opening of the present war thus found Bulgaria with a serious geographical grievance against every one of her neighbors. With coast-lines bordering on two seas, every bit of her commerce, save only that with Russia, was forced to pass through hostile lands.

Here was a fertile field for German diplomatic effort, and Bulgaria lent a willing ear to plans which promised immediate redress of past wrongs. Turkey was induced to return to Bulgaria the strip of land west of the lower Maritza, thereby insuring to her a railway connection to her Mediterranean port lying wholly within her own boundaries. As a further reward for direct action against Serbia, Bulgaria should receive the coveted section of the Morava-Yardar trench, the conquest of which would be rendered easy by Teutonic co-operation from the north. It was a bargain in valleys. In return for free use of the upper Maritza valley, and assistance in effecting the conquest of the Morava valley, Bulgaria was to receive a part of the lower Maritza valley and a section of the Yardar valley. German diplomacy won, the geographic bargain was made, and from that moment there remained only the problem of forcibly seizing the Morava- Yardar trench.

NATURAL DEFENSES OF THE MORAVA-YARDAR TRENCH

While conquest of the Morava valley and its continuation up the tributary Nishava was alone necessary to complete Teutonic possession of the Belgrade-Constantinople railway route, two considerations made a compre-hensive campaign against the entire Morava-Yardar trench essential. In the first place, as we have just seen, the Yardar valley had to be secured for political reasons, since its possession by Bulgaria constituted an essential part of the Teuton-Bulgar bargain. But military reasons also required its capture. It constituted the one effective line of communication leading to the Serbian armies defending the northern frontier.

Our Greek capots

In the morning our landlord had prepared for us a couple of boiled turkeys, some eggs and milk, which made ample amends for our bad supper.

We had proceeded but a few miles, when it began to rain violently and continued the whole day without intermission. Our Greek capots, which we were assured at Smyrna would resist twelve hours’ rain, were wet through in less than three. The additional weight of our clothes when wet soon knocked up our wretched mules, so that after a most disagreeable ride of eight hours, we were obliged to take up our residence for the night in such an habitation as few Europeans have ever visited. It was a wretched hovel of twenty feet long, at one end of which were some cows and sheep, which we turned out to make room for horses, while [we] were obliged tocontent ourselves with the other corner. To complete our misery, we had no provisions left, and could procure nothing but some stinking camel’s flesh, highly seasoned with garlic, and [which] is here esteemed a most delicate viand by the conductors of caravans who frequent these roads.

In the morning I was astonished to find that my faithful Pauolo had, during the night, baked some bread, made of some coarse flour which he was fortunate enough to find in the village, and procured some sheep’s milk, so that we were able to make a most delicious breakfast. It cannot be imagined how much such little attentions are valued in a servant: when removed from all friends and relations, in a savage and remote country, your personal influence and property lose their weight and consequence and you are left to shift for yourself, with those advantages which nature and not any fortuitous circumstances may have bestowed on you.

Dear Pauolo

In such a situation the servant has, very often, the advantage over his master, either by his personal strength, his unimpaired constitution, or his knowledge of useful arts. If to these qualifications he adds, as my dear Pauolo did, a good and feeling heart, a sensible mind, a cheerful disposition and a fidelity that cannot be shaken, he then becomes a most valuable friend : he is your companion, and you cheerfully and implicitly look up to him for that assistance which you cannot derive from your own powers, and which he bestows with the beneficence of a friend and the respectful submission of an inferior.

Party concerned in the scheme

Some time afterwards we were invited to dinner by the two gentlemen, which invitation my tutor declined : nor could I ever learn what motive induced him not to accompany me to a place which he himself thought dangerous. This gave occasion for many of my relations to think that he was a party concerned in the scheme. But they certainly did him injustice. He was, it is true, a man of free principles, but I could never accuse him of anything unfair or dishonourable; besides, it was no uncommon thing with him to excuse himself from parties to which we were both invited. I therefore went alone to encounter this pair of worthies.

They had taken care to provide a handsome company of female beauties, who by their persuasion and example induced me to sacrifice so liberally to Bacchus at dinner, that before the dessert was introduced the glasses seemed to dance before me. Nothing would then satisfy them but we must drink champagne out of pint rummers, which soon completed the business.

When I was in a proper state for them to begin their operations, they one and all proposed playing at hiding the horse. I was in no condition to refuse anything, and soon acceded to their proposal, and without being scarcely conscious that I was engaged in it I lost fourteen thousand eight hundred pounds on my parole, exclusive of my ready money, carriage, jewels, etc. I know not why they even stopped here ; for I was in such a state that they might have stript me of my whole fortune. I cannot, however, feel myself much indebted for this instance of their forbearance. They contented themselves for the present with a bill for the amount, which I drew on La Touche’s Bank, and then went to bed in a state of torpid insensibility.

Transaction to my governor

The first thing I did in the morning was to communicate the whole transaction to my governor, with which he was visibly affected : but as he saw the state of mind I was in, he forbore saying anything that might add to my distress, but rather endeavoured to console me by saying that the evil was not without remedy, and that at least it would have one good effect by rendering me more cautious and prevent me from ever falling into such hands for the future. This, though a negative sort of comfort, joined to the natural strength of my animal spirits, restored me in some measure to a state of tranquillity.

I did not enjoy it long. My banker, on whom I had drawn for so enormous a sum, communicated the affair to my friends before he would honour the bill wooden workmanship byzantium. They advised him by no means to pay it, and it was returned protested. This was a most mortifying piece of intelligence to the fraternity; yet they were not without their expedients : they advised me to repair immediately to London, where, upon my fortune being made known, I should find no difficulty in getting my bills discounted to any amount I thought proper. As a further inducement for me to undertake the journey, they offered to remit half the debt, provided I should succeed in procuring the remainder.

My tutor was much averse to this scheme, which, he said, would entirely ruin him in the opinion of my relations, whose friendship it was so much his interest and inclination to preserve. But upon my representing to him the advantage of getting rid of half the debt he at length consented, and the following plan was concerted between us, in order to conceal from my friends my departure from France. I was to leave with him a series of letters to my mother, of different dates, according to the periods I usually wrote to her, which he was to dispatch occasionally as if I had been actually on the spot.

This, I must own, I did rather to avoid giving my mother pain than to remove any anxiety I felt on his account. I then drew a bill upon Dublin for two thousand louis-d’ors, with part of which I paid some debts I owed at Lyons, and the remainder was to bear my expenses to London. Matters being thus arranged I set out with one of my creditors, leaving the other with my tutor, who I believe would gladly have dispensed with such a companion.

Daly’s Club in College Green

Another gathering-place for the aristocracy and Members of Parliament was Daly’s Club in College Green, where extravagant scenes of gambling and dissipation were constantly being enacted. In this, the most famous establishment of its kind in Ireland, it is said that the shutters were occasionally closed at noon that gambling might go on by candle-light ; and it was no uncommon occurrence to see one of the players, suspected of cheating, being flung from an upper window into the street. The club-house was rebuilt in 1791, and on so luxurious a scale as to excite the surprise and admiration of travellers who visited Ireland.

The first Irish State Lottery was drawn in 1782, an occurrence which naturally added fuel to the fire of speculation which was already burning pretty brightly at this period amongst high and low : while, as an additional incentive to immorality and degradation, the hideous spectacles afforded by public executions provided constant amusement for a mob whose love of drink and devilment was only surpassed by their social superiors.

THE BEAUX WALK, STEPHEN’S GREEN, 1796

Such was the metropolis of Ireland at the time when Burns was writing, and to such surroundings young Whaley returned after a preliminary course of extravagance and dissipation in a foreign country where vicious habits of every kind were, if anything, more common than at home. It was probably about this time that he won his spurs as a Buck.

He does not himself mention the names of his Irish boon companions in the orgies that went on nightly in his Dublin house—but from other sources it is known that he was on terms of close intimacy with Francis Higgins, the notorious Sham Squire, and with Lord Clonmell, and that the three were frequently to be seen disporting themselves on the Beaux Walk in Stephen’s Green during the hours in which persons of fashion in Dublin were accustomed to take the air.

By all accounts, Buck Whaley must have presented a striking figure on such occasions. Amongst others, his brother-in-law, Lord Cloncurry, writing in 1849, describes him as having been “ a perfect specimen of the Irish gentleman of the olden time.” He had not, however, yet reached this high level of good looks when the portrait was painted which I am enabled to reproduce through the kindness of Mr. John Whaley of Annsboro, co. Kildare. This was apparently taken when he was still a boy.

The monarchs of Europe

We might smile at such titles, were they not claimed in good earnest, and professed in order to be used. It is said to be the popular belief among the Turks, that the monarchs of Europe are, as this imperial style declares, the feudatories of the Sultan. We should smile, too, at the very opposite titles they apply to Europeans, did they not here, too, mean what they say, and strengthen and propagate their own scorn and hatred of us by using them. “ The Mussulmans, courteous and humane in their intercourse with each other”, says Thornton, “ sternly refuse to unbelievers the salutation of peace”.

Not that they necessarily insult the Christian, he adds, by this refusal; nay, he even insists that polished Turks are able to practise condescension; and then as an illustration of their courtesy, he tells us that “ Mr. Eton, pleasantly and accurately enough, compared the general behaviour of a Turk to a Christian, with that of a German baron to his vassal”.

However, he allows that at least “ the common people, more bigoted to their dogmas, express more bluntly their sense of superiority over the Christians”. “ Their usual salutation addressed to Chris-tians”, says Yolney, “is ‘ good morning’; but it is well if it be not accompanied with a Djaour, Kafer, or Kelb, that is, impious, infidel, dog, expressions to which Christians are familiarized”. Sir C. Fellows is an earnest witness for their amiableness; but he does not conceal that the children “ hoot after a European, and call him Frank dog, and even strike him”; and on one occasion a woman caught up a child and ran off from him, crying out against the Ghiaour; which gives him an opportunity of telling us, that the word “ Ghiaour” means a man without a soul, without a God.

Giaour and Frangi

A writer in a popular Review, who seems to have been in the East, tells us that “ their hatred and contempt of the Giaour and Frangi is as burning as ever; perhaps even more so, because they are forced to implore his aid. The Eastern seeks Christian aid in the same spirit and with the same disgust, as he would eat swine’s flesh, were it the only means of securing him from starvation”. Such conduct is indeed only consistent with their faith, and the untenableness of that faith is not my present question; here I do but ask, are these barbarians likely to think themselves info Edinburgh Rev. 1853.

Honourable badge of civilized states.

Civilized states are ever developing into a more perfect organization, and a more exact and more various operation; they are ever increasing their stock of thoughts and of knowledge: ever creating, comparing, disposing, and improving. Hence, while bodily strength is the token of barbarian power, mental ability is the honourable badge of civilized states. The one is like Ajax, the other like Ulysses; civilized nations are constructive, barbarous are destructive. Civilization spreads by the ways of peace, by moral suasion, by means of literature, the arts, commerce, diplomacy, institutions: and though material power never can be superseded, it is subordinate to the influence of mind.

Barbarians can provide themselves with swift and hardy horses, can sweep over a country, rush on with a shout, use the steel and firebrand, and frighten and overwhelm the weak or cowardly; but in the wars of civilized countries, even the implements of carnage are con- structed by science, and are calculated to lessen or supersede it; and a campaign becomes co-ordinately a tour of savants, or a colonizing expedition, or a political demonstration. When Sesostris swept round the Euxine, he left at least at Colchis on the Phasis the lasting record of Egyptian civilization; and the memorials of the rule of the Pharaohs are still engraved on the rocks of Libya and Arabia.

Asia with the disciples of Aristotle

,Alexander, again, in a later age, crossed from Macedonia to Asia with the disciples of Aristotle in his train. His march was the diffusion of the arts and commerce, and the acquisition of scientific knowledge; the countries he passed through were accurately described, as he proceeded, and the intervals between halt and halt regularly measured. His naval armaments explored nearly the whole distance from Attock on the Upper Indus to the isthmus of Suez: his philosophers noted down the various productions of beasts of the unknown East; and his courtiers were the first to report to the western world the singular institutions of Hindostan.

Where fig trees are planted

The earth required to be brought in from a distance, retaining walls erected, the steep slopes converted into a series of gentle inclinations, the mountain-torrent diverted or restrained, and the means of artificial irrigation, to sustain nature during the long droughts of summer, obtained. By the incessant labour of centuries this prodigy has been completed, and the very stony sterility of nature converted into the means of heightening, by artificial means, the heat of summer. …No room is lost in these little but precious freeholds; the vine extends its tendrils along the terrace walls … in the corners formed by their meeting, a little sheltered nook is found, where fig trees are planted, which ripen delicious fruit under their protection.

Figs grapes pomegranates and melons

The owner takes advantage of every vacant space to raise melons and vegetables. Olives shelter it from the rains; so that, within the compass of a very small garden, he obtains olives, figs, grapes, pomegranates, and melons. Such is the return which nature yields under this admirable system of management, that half the crop of seven acres is sufficient in general for the maintenance of a family of five persons, and the whole produce supports them all in rustic affluence. Italy, in this delightful region, still realizes the glowing description of gm classic historian three hundred years ago”.

The author I have quoted goes on next to observe that this diligent cultivation of the rock accounts for what at first sight is inexplicable, the vast population, which is found, not merely in the valleys, but over the greater part of the ridges of the Appennines, and the endless succession of villages and hamlets which are perched on the edge or summit of rocks, often, to appearance, scarcely accessible to human approach. He adds that the labour never ends, for, if a place goes out of repair, the violence of the rain will soon destroy it. “ Stones and torrents wash down the soil; the terraces are broken through; the heavy rains bring down a shapeless mass of ruins; every thing returns rapidly to its former state’’. Thus it is that parts of Palestine at present exhibit such desolate features to the traveller, who wonders how it ever could have been the rich land described in Scripture; till he finds that it was this sort of cultivation which made it what it was, that this it was the Crusaders probably saw and im-ported into Europe, and this that the ruthless Turks in great measure laid waste.

Sufficient for a social change

First of all, we may say that the very region into which they came, tended to their civilization. .Of course the peculiarities of soil, climate, and country are not by themselves sufficient for a social change; else the Turcomans would have the best right to civilization; yet, when other influences are present too, it is far from being without important effect. You may recollect that I have spoken more than once of the separation of a portion of the Huns, from the main body, when they were emigrating from Tartary into Europe. These turned off sharp to the South immediately on descending the high table land; and, crossing the Jaxartes, found themselves in a fertile and attractive country, between the Aral and their old country, where they settled.

It is a peculiarity of Asia that its regions are either very hot or very cold. It has the highest mountains in the world, bleak table lands, vast spaces of burning desert, tracts stretched out beneath the tropical sun. Siberia goes for a proverb for cold: India is a proverb for heat. It is not adequately supplied with rivers, and it has little of inland sea. In these respects it stands in singular contrast with Europe Jugoslavia. If then the tribes, which inhabit a cold country, have, generally speaking, more energy than those which are relaxed by the heat, it follows, that you will have in Asia two descriptions of people brought together in extreme, sometimes in sudden, contrariety with each other, the strong and the weak. Here then, as some philosophers have argued, you have the secret of the despotisms and the vast empires of which Asia has been the seat; for it always possesses those who are naturally fitted to be tyrants, and those whose nature it is to tremble and obey.

Intellectual nature

But we may take another, perhaps a broader, view of the phenomenon. The sacred writer says: “Give me neither riches nor beggary”: and, as the extremes of abundance and of want are prejudicial to our moral well-being, so they seem to be prejudicial to our intellectual nature also. Mental cultivation is best carried on in temperate regions. In the north men are commonly too cold, in the south too hot, to think, read, write, and act. Science, literature, and art refuse to germinate in the frost, and are burnt up by the sun.

Now it so happened that the region in which this party of Huns settled themselves was one of the fairest and most fruitful in Asia. It is bounded by deserts, it is in parts encroached on by deserts; but, viewed in its length and breadth, in its produce and its position, it seems a country equal, or superior, to any which that vast continent, as at present known, can show. Its lower portion is the extensive territory of Khorasan, the ancient Bactria; going northwards across the Oxus, we come into a spacious tract, stretching to the Aral and to the Jaxartes, and measuring a square of 600 miles. It was called in ancient times Sogdiana; in the history of the middle ages Transoxiana, or “ beyond the Oxus”; by the Eastern writers Maver-ul-nere, or Mawer-al-nahar, which is said to have the same meaning: and it is now known by the name Bukharia. To these may be added a third province, at the bottom of the Aral, between the mouth of the Oxus and the Caspian, called Kharasm. This then was the region in which the Huns in question took up their abode.

Favourable to his vanity

But another version, less favourable to his vanity and his hopes, was suggested by one of his courtiers, and it ran thus : “ Unless you can fly like a bird, or burrow like a mouse, or swim the marshes like a frog, you cannot escape our arrows”. “Whichever interpretation was the true one, it needed no message from the enemy to perceive the truth of the sentiment expressed in this unpleasant interpretation. Darius yielded to imperative necessity, and hastened his escape from the formidable situation in which he had placed himself, and through great good fortune succeeded in effecting it. He crossed the sea just in time; for the Scythians came down in pursuit, as far as the coast, and returned home laden with booty.

This is pretty much all that is definitely recorded in history of the ancient Tartars. Alexander, in a later age, came into conflict ’with them in the region called Sogdiana, which lies at the foot of that high plateau of central and eastern Asia, which I have designated as their proper home. But he was too prudent to be entangled in extended expeditions against them, and having made trial of their formidable strength, and made some demonstrations of the superiority of his own, he left them in possession of their wildernesses.

Wicked man should escape

RULE XXL

A wicked man is a captive in the hand of the enemy, for wherever he goeth he cannot escape from the clutches of his own punishment. If the wicked man should escape to Heaven from the hand of calamity, lie would continue in calamity from tlie s$nse of his own evil disposition.

RULE XXII.

When you see discord amongst the troops of your enemy, be of good courage; but if they are united, then be upon your guard. When you see contention amongst your enemies, go and sit at ease with your friends; but when you see them of one mind, string your bow, and place stones upon the ramparts.

RULE XXIII.

When the enemy has failed in all other artifices, he will propose friendship, that, under its appearance, he may effect what he could not compass as an open adversary.

RULE XXIY.

Bruise the serpent’s head with the hand of your enemy, which cannot fail of producing one of these two advantages:—If the enemy succeeds, you have killed the snake; and if the latter prevails, you have got rid of your enemy.

In the Jay of battle consider not yourself safe, because your adversary is weak; for he who becomes desperate, will take out the lion’s brains.

RULE XXY.

When you have any thing to communicate that will distress the heart of the person whom it concerns, be silent, in order that he may hear from some one else. 0 nightingale, bring thou the glad tidings of spring, and leave bad news to the owl.

RULE XXYI.

Inform not the King of the perfidy of any one, excepting you are assured that he will entirely approve of it, for otherwise you are only workin your own destruction. When you are purposin to speak any thing, do it when you know that your words will take effect.

Sweet frown it exhibits

The Cazy said to a respectable man of learning, who was in his company, “Behold that beauteous girl, how rude she is; behold her arched eyebrow, what a sweet frown it exhibits! In Arabic they say that, ‘ A blow from the hand of her we love is as sweet as raisin.’ To receive a blow on the mouth from thy hand is preferable to eating bread from one’s own band.” Then again she tempered her severity with a smile of beneficence; as kings sometimes speak with hostility when they inwardly desire peace.

Unripe grapes are sour, but keep them a day or two and they will become sweet. The Cazy having said thus, repaired to his court. Some well-disposed persons, who were in his service, made obeisance, and said that, “With permission they would represent a matter to him, although it might be deemed unpolite, as the sages have said, ‘It is not allowable to argue on every subject; it is criminal to describe the faults of a great personage; ’ but that in consideration of the kindness which his servants, had experienced from him, not to represent what to them appears advisable is a species of treachery.

The laws of rectitude require that you should conquer this inclination, and not give way to unlawful desires, for the office of Cazy is a high dignity, which ought not to be polluted by a crime, You are acquainted with your mistress’s character, and have heard her conversation. She who has lost her reputation, what cares she for the character of another? It has frequently happened that a good name acquired in fifty years has been lost by a single imprudence,”

The Cazy approved the admonition of his cordial friends, praised their understanding and fidelity and said, “The advice which my friends have given in regard to my situation is perfectly right, and their arguments are unanswerable..

Debilitated fisherman

TALE XXIV

A powerful fish fell into the net of a debilitated fisherman, who not being able to hold it, the fish got the better of him, snatched the net out of his hand, and escaped. A boy went to fetch water from the river: the flood tide came in and carried him away. The net had hitherto always taken the fish, but this time the fish escaped and carried away the net. The other fisherman grieved at the loss, and reproached him, that having such a fish in his net, he had not been able to hold it. He replied, “Alas, my brethren! what could be done, seeing it was not my lucky day, and the fish had yet a day remaining? A fisherman without luck catcheth not fish in the Tigris, neither will the fish without fate expire on the dry ground.

TALE XXV

One who had neither hands nor feet having killed a millepede, a pious man passing by said, “Holy God, although this had a thousand feet, yet when fate overtook him he could not escape from one destitute of hands and feet. When the enemy who seizes the soul comes behind, fate ties the feet of the swift man. At that moment when the enemy attacks us behind, it is needless to draw the Ivianyan bow.”

Circumstance of my friends indiscretion

One of them jellied, “O God, what a hard saying is this! If you seat yourself on my head and eyes, I admit your gallantry, for you are amiable.” Summarily I seated myself, and conversed on various subjects, till the circumstance of my friend’s indiscretion was brought in. I asked, “What fault was discovered by my most bountiful lord that should have rendered his servant hateful in his sight? To God alone belongeth perfect greatness and benignity, who discovered the crime, and yet withh oldeth not daily bread.”

The great man approved of this speech, and ordered that my friend’s stipend should be restored and the arrears discharged. I praised his generosity, made obeisance, and apologized for my boldness; and at the time of taking leave, made the following observation: “Because the temple of Mecca is the bestower of our wants, multitudes resort to it from many farsangs; you must therefore suffer the importunity of such as myself, since no one flings a stone into a tree that hath no fruit.”

TALE XVIII

A prince inherited from his father abundance of wealth. He opened the hand of liberality, and bestowed innumerable largesse’s and gifts on his troops and subjects.

No odor issues from a tray made of lignum aloes: place it on the fire that it may diffuse fragrance like ambergris. If you wish to be esteemed magnificent, be bountiful; for grain groweth not unless it be scattered bulgaria tours. One of the courtiers inconsiderately began his admonition, saying, that “Former monarchs accumulated this treasure with labour, and stored it up against a time of need, therefore restrain your liberality, for events being in front and enemies on the rear, you must not deprive yourself of resources against the time of necessity.

If you were to lavish your treasure on the multitude, each head of a family would not receive more than a grain of rice for his share: why do you not exact a grain of silver from each individual, which will produce you a treasure daily? ” The prince looked displeased at this discourse, so contrary to his own sentiments, and he said, “The eternal and Almighty God has made me King of these nations, that I might enjoy and distribute; I am not a sentinel to watch the treasure.”

Karoon, who had forty chambers full of treasure, was destroyed; but Nowshirvan died not, having left an immortal name.

They have related that Nowshera, being at a hunting seat, was about to have some game dressed, and as there was not any salt, a servant was sent to fetch some from a village; when tile monarch ordered him to pay the price of the salt, that the exaction might not become a custom, and the village be desolated. They say to him, “From this trifle welt injury can ensue? ” He replied, “Oppression was brought into the world from small beginnings, which every new comer has increased, until it has reached the present degree of enormity. If the monarch were to eat a single apple from the garden of a peasant, the servants would pull up the tree by the roots; and if the Sultan orders five eggs to be taken by force, his soldiers would spit a thousand fowls. The iniquitous tyrant remained not, but the curses of mankind rest on him for ever.”

King Boris succeeded

After 1935 King Boris succeeded in concentrating the whole state power in his hands and an open monarcho fascist dictatorship was established in the country. After the outbreak of the Second World War, which faced Bulgaria with the question “whereto?’, serious debates broke out in the bourgeois camp which ended in the defeat of the faction in favour of Britain and France, and on March 1, 1941 the fascist government of Professor Bogdan Filov placed Bulgaria’s signature under the Tripartite Pact. Hitler’s troops used Bulgaria’s territory to complete the occupation of Yugoslavia and to strike in the back the Greek Army which was fighting courageously against the Italian aggressors.

Historical experience, however, had taught even the Bulgarian fascist circles a lesson, and they tried to engage the country as little as possible in the military actions of their allies. It is impossible, however, to sell one’s soul to the devil and to remain righteous. At first the Bulgarian troops occupied only the territories where the majority of the population was Bulgarian, territories within San Stefano Bulgaria. Gradually, under German pressure, they had to occupy parts of Greece and Serbia, in order to fight against the powerful resistance movement there. In December 1941 the Bulgarian government got officially involved in the war by declaring ‘symbolic war’ on Britain and the USA. Restrained by the proverbial attachment and gratitude of the Bulgarian people to Russia, however, the only thing that the fascist clique never dared to do was to send troops to the Eastern Front.

Bulgaro Soviet pact

Besides the pro-Western and profascist groups in the country which were fighting after the beginning of the war for dictating the country’s foreign policy orientation, a third group became manifest, under the leadership of the Bulgarian Communist Party. This group was in favour of closeness with the Soviet Union and resolute resistance against the Nazi aggression. At the end of 1940 the communists succeeded in organizing a genuine popular movement in support of the Soviet proposal to sign a Bulgaro Soviet pact of friendship and mutual assistance. The government was showered with petitions, signed by tens of thousands of people, to accept the hand extended in friendship by the USSR. But it was afraid of taking such a step and rejected the proposal.

Military might of the Ottoman Empire

Their plans fortunately coincided with the interests of the Balkan people who were in dire need of a powerful ally, capable of breaking the military might of the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of Bulgarian patriots took part in the resistance struggles of Serbs and Greeks, as well as in the wars waged by Russia against Turkey. Scores of thousands of Bulgarians were forced to emigrate in the wake of every Russian military campaign on the Balkans, particularly the one of 1829, in order to save themselves from reprisals. Most of those refugees settled in Russia.

Bulgarian officer serving

During the Russo-Turkish war of 1828-1829, Georgi Mamarchev, a Bulgarian officer serving in the Russian army, made an attempt to organize a general uprising in Bulgaria, but his attempt failed. The preparations for a mass uprising continued, however, and in 1835 an armed uprising, known under the name of Velcho’s Conspiracy, broke out in Turnovo under the leadership of Velcho the Glazier and Captain Grandfather Nikola. During the same year a spontaneous peasant revolt broke out in North- Western Bulgaria, caused by the refusal of the local authorities to apply the agrarian reform and by their ar-bitrary actions. This revolt was followed by three uprisings in succession in the same region — in 1836, 1841 and 1850.

The one in 1850 was particularly massive. It was preceded by a secret general meeting of delegates from four districts, which specified the aims of the struggle, the date of the up-rising and the way in which they were to proceed. The rebel detachments, led by Tsolo Todorov, Ivan Koulin, Petko Marinov, Purvan Vurbanov, Captain Krustyu and others, numbered a total of some 20,000 men. They blocked the numerous Turkish garrisons in Vidin, Lom and Belogradchik and established control over the villages in the region. The insurgents were routed by the regular troops which were not late in arriving, but the government of the Sultan was forced to take measures for curbing the arbitrariness of the local authorities and beys.

Lasting upsurge of the Bulgarian state

The following year the Bulgarians took by storm the Black Sea stronghold of Mesembria (present-day Nessebur), which was considered impregnable, after which they once again routed the troops of the Byzantine Emperor in Eastern Thrace. The tireless Bulgarian ruler was preparing for a decisive attack against the Byzantine capital itself when death interfered with his plans.

Khan Kroum stood at the head of the Bulgarian state for a little over a decade, but during his short rule he laid the sound foundations for a lasting upsurge of the Bulgarian state. His successor Omourtag (814-831) expanded the boundaries of the state to the north-west as far as the River Drava (in present-day Yugoslavia). The administrative restructuring of the state on the territorial principle was ended under him. The autonomy of the Slav princes was definitely done away with and they became district rulers appointed solely by the Khan. Omourtag un-folded unprecedented in scope buiLding activities and left at his death a centralized state with a modern for its time organizational structure.

Omourtag’s successors Malamir and Pressian con-tinued the policy of uniting the Balkan Slavs and annexed Central and part of Southern Macedonia to their state. This accelerated still further the process of assimilation of the smalL number of Proto-Bulgarians by the enormous Slav masses.

Philippopolis

In the midst of the vast fertile plain which stretches between the Balkans to the north and the Rhodope Mountains to the south, there rise up suddenly some half-dozen rocky crags along the banks of the river Maritza. By what freak of nature these isolated rocks emerged ages ago from the plain, or whether they are simply the summits of submerged mountains, I am not geologist enough even to surmise. But it is intelligible to any one why, in bygone days, the ground between these steep, turret-like hills should have been chosen as the site of a city. From the summits of any one of them you can scour the plain in every direction for miles and miles away. No enemy could advance against Philippopolis without his approach being discovered from the watch-towers on these hill-tops hours before his arrival.

Their sides are even now so precipitous, their ascent so steep, that it must have been easy to render them almost impregnable as fortresses in the days of bows and arrows and battering-rams, and even of the Macedonian phalanx. Tradition says that Philip the Great of Macedon was the original founder of the city ; and in as far as I can see, if there is no particular evidence that he was, there is even less reason why he should not have been. In any case, Phllippopolis is a very ancient city; and I have little doubt that antiquarians might find here traces of the various old-world dominions, which held sway in Eastern Europe long before Sclavs and Turks were ever heard of.

The Turks, however, had a marvellous facility for destroying the relics of antiquity ; and here, as in all other parts of Bulgaria, I can see few traces of any building dating back much, if at all, beyond the last century. Fires, too, are such incidents of daily life in these old Turkish towns, with their narrow, winding streets, and their wooden houses overhanging and overlapping each other at every angle, that the wonder is, not that the old buildings are not of greater age, but that they should have survived so long.

Extreme violence by the Opposition Press

The charge was made use of with extreme violence by the Opposition Press, especially in Philippopolis, and the common expectation was that the agitation against Turkey would soon be converted into a popular outcry for the dismissal of the Ministry. Happily, the Turkish Government became alive to the danger of the situation.

The Sultan gave way and revoked the decree in a very frank and prompt manner. He not only yielded on the school question, but he consented to the appointment of Bulgarian bishops in Macedonia, a favour which he had hitherto persistently refused. He also granted a site for the erection of a Bulgarian school at Constantinople, and gave the Exarch permission to build a new official residence at Pera. He further promised that in future the ownership of the Bulgarian schools in Macedonia should be vested in the hands of the Bulgarian bishops or of their nominees.

The conclusion of this settlement was extremely gratifying to national feeling in Bulgaria, and was popularly attributed to the great skill with which M. Stambouloff had worked on the apprehensions of the Porte and had carried his point without resorting to any military demonstration. The Premier himself attributed a great part of his success to the active support he had received from Sir Philip Currie, who had only recently taken up his position as British Ambassador at Constantinople.

Stambouloffs abode at Sofia

In common opinion, however, throughout Bulgaria, the whole thing was Stambouloffs doing. As soon as the news of the settlement became known in Sofia, a large crowd proceeded with torchlights to M. Stambouloffs abode at Sofia. In reply to the cheers with which he was greeted, he came out on the balcony and made a speech appealing to the Bulgarians to display their special gratitude for the gracious concessions made by the Suzerain, and urging upon them the paramount necessity of keeping on good terms with Turkey as Bulgaria’s best friend and ally.

Religious fanaticism of the Russian people

The truth is both Russia and Bulgaria entered on the war with Turkey under a mistaken impression as to each other’s aims and objects. The Russian nation honestly believed that they were called upon by the Bulgarians to come and deliver them from an intolerable tyranny; that so long as the Bulgarians were set free from the rule of the Crescent, they were indifferent to every other consideration ; and that it was their desire and ambition to become in fact, if not in name, a province of the mighty Sclav Empire. This belief was in harmony with the religious fanaticism of the Russian people, with the theories of the Moscow school of patriots, whose ideal is the fusion of all the European Slavonic races into one vast confederation under the hegemony of Russia, and with the personal sentiments of the late Czar.

I think it probable enough that this belief was confirmed by the statements of the Bulgarian political exiles, who had taken refuge in Russia, and who naturally supported any view of the situation which was best calculated to induce the Russian Government to take up arms for the liberation of their country. It is not necessary to suppose that there was any intentional deceit on the part of the exiles, from whom the Russians received their impressions as to the state of feeling in Bulgaria previous to the war.

Domination of Islam

Anybody who has ever been personally acquainted with exiles is aware that they one and all labour under the delusion that their return is the one thing which their country desires and prays for. It is therefore intelligible that the Russians should have honestly imagined that the kindred people, they were about to deliver from the domination of Islam, were anxious, as soon as their liberation was accomplished, to merge their separate identity in that of the great Sclav brotherhood.

At the same time the Bulgarians cannot be blamed if they failed to realize beforehand the true intentions of their liberators. With the view of disarming the possible opposition of other European Powers, the Pan-Slavonic aspect of Russian intervention in Bulgaria was kept sedulously in the background. Europe was assured that the sole object of holy Russia in making war upon Turkey was to free a people of kindred race, creed, and language to her own from Moslem oppression.

Cabinet of Ministers seated round a baccarat table

To our Western ideas it seems strange to see a whole Cabinet of Ministers seated round a baccarat-table, laughing, smoking, drinking, whistling, and sometimes singing, while the Premier or the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs holds the bank. Every country, however, has its own usages, and I think it would be unjust to attribute the frequent presence of the leading politicians of Bulgaria in the card-rooms of the Union Club to any special love of gambling. What their presence does show is the total absence of general society in the place. If any Sofiote wishes for relaxation after his day’s work—and most of the leading men here work very hard and very long— the club is the one place he can go to for entertainment. There is but little general conversation in the club, and the only entertainment to be found there is in card-playing. I have thought it worth while to dwell somewhat on this feature of social life in Sofia, mainly in order to show how very meagre and jejune that life still is.

There is a handsome theatre where performances are given occasionally in Bulgarian, but it is very little frequented. There are also one or two cafds chant ants chiefly resorted to by the German commercial travellers, waiters, and shopmen of Sofia.

Contributions from the customers

At these places a few elderly, painted, wrinkled waifs and strays from the music halls of the Fatherland sing songs with cracked voices to the accompaniment of a piano out of tune. After each song the singer comes round with a plate and solicits contributions from the customers. The average contribution is a penny, and these pennies, together with the commission paid upon the liquors which they induce the customers to order, constitute the only remuneration given to the performers.

These wretched places of amusement, so called on the lucus a non lucendo principle, are very little visited by the natives, though I am told that occasionally, on the nights of the great popular holidays, the townspeople come there, and that even Ministers have been seen amongst the audience. Indeed, the utter absence of ladies’ society in Vienna is about the only reason why I can imagine the wildest and youngest of Sofiote gallants ever frequenting these resorts.

Orient Railways question

I do not know that there is any special reason for discussing in these pages the rights or wrongs of the Orient Railways question, though it is naturally one which excites very great local interest. It is enough to say that these railways, which are supposed to be the origin of Baron Hirsch’s colossal fortune, though they do supply the great want of a direct route between the Bosphorus and the Danube, supply it in a way which has given very general dissatisfaction to the districts traversed.

They are said, whether justly or not, to have been very badly constructed, to have cost a great deal more than was necessary, and to have followed a studiously circuitous track so as to lengthen the distances traversed and increase the cost of freight and transport No doubt, the political and financial embarrassments of Turkey rendered the construction of the lines in question far more costly than it need have been ; it is obvious, too, that if the work had to be begun de novo, a more direct and shorter route would be adopted. But more than this it would be difficult to affirm with any degree of certainty. What can be asserted with more confidence is, that the joint system, under which the line is worked at present, is eminently unsatisfactory to Bulgaria.

Tirnovo Jamboli branch

The part of the line constructed by Baron Hirsch was sold, after various vicissitudes, to a company called the Orient Railways Company, which I believe is nominally a Swiss company, having its head office at Zurich, but the capital of which was mainly subscribed by Viennese capitalists. The Orient Railways Company works the line between Constantinople and Sarembey, the distance between the latter place and the Turkish frontier at Mustapha Pasha being close on 130 miles. This company also works the Tirnovo-Jamboli branch, a distance of nearly sixty-six miles, running throughout over Bulgarian territory, and connecting at Jamboli with a line to the port of Bourgas, which was constructed by Bulgaria at her own expense.