Other refugees, more kindly treated by fate, have found an asylum in the Dobruja. They are Russian Cossacks, Ruthenians, and Muscovites of the “Old Faith,” who left their steppes towards the close of last century in order to escape persecution. The Padisha, more tolerant than the Christian Empress of Russia, generously received them, and granted them land in various parts of his dominions. The Russian colonies in the Dobruja and in the delta of the Danube have prospered, and one of their settlements on the St. George’s branch of the river is known as the “Cossacks’ Paradise.” Most of these Russians are engaged in the sturgeon fishery and the preparation of caviare. They have {143} proved grateful for the hospitality extended to them, and have always fought valiantly in defence of their adopted country. They retain their national dress, their language, and their religion, and do not mix with the surrounding populations.
In addition to the above, we meet in the Dobruja with colonies of Germans, Arabs, and Poles, and, in the new port of the Sulina, with representatives of many nations of Europe and Asia.
There are few countries where the great international high-roads are as plainly traced by nature as in Bulgaria. The first of these roads is formed by the Danube. The Turkish towns along its banks—Viddin, Shishtova, Rustchuk, and Silistria—are taking an increasing share in European commerce. This highway is continued along the shores of the Black Sea, where there are several commercial harbours, the most important being Burgas, a great grain port. This natural highway, however, has become too circuitous for purposes of commerce. A railway has therefore been built across the isthmus of the Dobruja, from Chernavoda to Kustenje, and a second line connects Rustchuk, on the Danube, with Varna, on the Black Sea, the latter line crossing the whole of Eastern Bulgaria, and touching the towns of Razgrad and Shumna. A third line, now in course of construction, will cross the Balkans by a depression to the south of Shumna, and traversing the plain in which the towns of Yamboly and Adrianople are built, will connect the Lower Danube with the Ægean Sea. A third route, still farther to the west, passes Turnov, or Tirnova—the ancient capital of the tsars of Bulgaria—Kezanlik, and Eski-Za’ara.
These railways, already opened for traffic or approaching completion, certainly shorten the journey between Western Europe and Constantinople; but it is proposed now to avoid the circuitous navigation of the Lower Danube altogether, by joining the railway system of Europe to that of Turkey. One of these proposed railways will pass through Bosnia, and down the valley of the Vardar to Saloniki; another will follow the ancient Roman road, which connected Pannonia with Byzantium, and which was paved in the sixteenth century as far as Belgrad. The principal cities along this great highway are Nish, on a tributary of the Morava, close to the frontier of Servia; Sofia, the ancient Sardica, on the Isker, a tributary of the Danube; Bazarjik, or “the market;” and the fine town of Philippopoli, with its triple mountain commanding the passage of the Maritza. These towns, on the completion of the railway, cannot fail to become of great commercial importance. A hideous monument near Nish will, perhaps, be pointed out to tourists attracted thither on the opening of the railway. It was erected to remind future generations of a deed of “glory.” This trophy of Kele-kalesi consists of a tower built of the skulls of Servians, who, rather than fall alive into the hands of their enemies, blew themselves up together with the redoubt which they defended. A governor of Nish, more humane than his predecessors, desired to remove this abominable piece of masonry, which no raya passes without a shudder, but Mussulman fanaticism forbade it. {144}
The influence of commerce cannot fail to modify largely the manners and customs of a nation as supple and pliable as are the Bulgarians. War has brutalised the Albanians, and slavery degraded the Bulgarians. In the towns, more particularly, they have sunk very low. The insults heaped upon them by Mussulmans, and the contemptuous manner in which they were treated, rendered them abject and despicable in their own eyes. Demoralised by servitude and misery, given up to the mercy of their rich compatriots, the chorbajis, or “givers of soup,” they became shameless and low-minded helots. The Bulgarian women, in the towns more particularly, presented a spectacle of the most shameful corruption, and their want of modesty, their coarseness, and ignorance fully justified the contempt in which they were held by their Mohammedan sisters. Even as regards education the Turks were in advance of them: not long ago their schools relatively were more numerous, and the instruction given in them was of a superior order. Christian villages, moreover, were never so clean or pleasant as those of the Turks.
But, whatever may have been the case in the past, things have already begun to mend. The Turks, as a body, may still be the superiors of the Bulgarians, as regards probity and a respect for truth, but they work less, and become impoverished by degrees. In the country the land gradually passes into the hands of the rayas, in the towns the latter monopolize nearly all the trade. The Bulgarians, moreover, have learnt to appreciate the importance of education; they have founded schools and colleges, have set up printing presses, and send their young men to be educated at the universities of Europe. The young Bulgarians in the mixed colleges of Constantinople invariably make the most satisfactory progress in their studies. This revival of learning is a most hopeful sign of vitality. If persevered in, the Bulgarian race, which has been dead, as it were, for so many centuries, may again play its part in the world’s history. The atrocities of which Bulgaria has recently been the scene may retard this regeneration, but they certainly cannot stop it.[40] {145}
VII.—PRESENT POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF TURKEY.
The prophecies respecting the “sick man” have not yet been fulfilled, and his heritage divided amongst the surrounding powers. To a great extent he is indebted for this continued existence to the jealousies of the European powers, and to the fact of Russia having her hands full in Central Asia. Still, Turkey has recently exhibited a wonderful amount of vitality. Fresh provinces have been incorporated with the empire in Arabia, at a distance of 1,800 miles from the capital; and a rebellion in the north-western portion of European Turkey, originating in the misgovernment of the country, but aided and abetted by Russia, has been suppressed with a strong hand. The Turkish empire remains not only intact, but will actually be found to have considerably increased in extent, if we include within it the territories of the Khedive of Egypt, whose arms have been carried to the Upper Nile and into Dar Fur.
We must guard ourselves, at the same time, against the assumption that Turkey has entered upon a path of normal progress. On the contrary, Turkey is a mediæval country still, and will have to pass through many intestine revolutions before it can rank with the civilised states of Europe or America. The country is in the occupation of hostile races, who would fall upon each other were they not restrained by force. The Servian would take up arms against the Albanian, the Bulgarian against the Greek, and all the subject races would combine against the Turk. National jealousies are augmented by religious animosities. The Catholic Bosnians hate other Slavs, and the Tosks detest the Gheges, although they speak the same language. The Osmanli oppress these various populations without compunction, their art of government consisting in playing them off against each other.