Nothing shows a more hopelessly wrong conception of the whole character of the rayah mind, than to suppose that the dull, unlettered peasants of Bosnia and Herzegovina took up arms as the champions of Panslavism or the ‘Cosmopolitan Revolution.’ Jacques Bonhomme, of whatever nationality, is an emphatically practical being, and a grande idée is entirely beyond his comprehension. Poor Herzegovinian Hodge did not exchange his spade for a musket to secure Provincial Autonomy; he simply wanted to obtain a fair share of what he earned with the sweat of his brow, to gain security for life and limb and the honour of his wife and children, to be allowed at least to live. How far, since the date of the first outbreak, foreign auxiliaries and emissaries may have succeeded in infusing the refinements of la haute politique into this raw material, is beyond my province to enquire. All that I wish to point out is that this insurrection—so pregnant in its consequences—was in its origin Agrarian rather than Political. It was largely an affair of tenant-right.
The outbreak of the insurrection was certainly favoured by a variety of accidental circumstances. The visit of the Emperor of Austria to Dalmatia in the spring could not fail to raise hopes of Austrian intervention, and Christians of both sects did their best to lay petitions before his Apostolic Majesty. The dispute between Turkey and Montenegro with reference to the Podgorica affair, induced the malcontents of the Herzegovina to look with confidence for allies among their brothers of the Black Mountain. Another favourable circumstance was the discontent of the Franciscan fraternities, due to the recent infringement of some of their privileges and the delay of the Sultan in confirming their firmans, which made the leaders of the Roman Catholic communion willing to throw in their cause for the nonce with the Greek heretics. One of the most curious features of the present insurrection has been the way in which the two Christian sects have fought side by side.[294]
The scene of the first outbreak was the district of Nevešinje; and the history of the oppression there may serve to explain the causes of discontent among the rayah population of Herzegovina generally. The village of Nevešinje, which gives its name to the surrounding district, is about twelve miles distant from Mostar, as the crow flies, and lies on the south-eastern flank of the mountain range that rises above this city to the east. It is built on the skirts of an extensive plain, raised 1,800 feet above sea level, and once the bed of a large lake, known as the Nevešinsko Polje, and overlooked on every side by a wilderness of bare limestone mountains scattered with fragments of rock. In a rock-fastness like this, little harvest could be expected in the best of seasons, but in 1874 the harvest proved a failure altogether. Yet, what there was might not be gathered in till the tax-gatherer had claimed his eighth, and as he did not make his appearance, it was allowed to rot on the ground, till the starving peasantry could endure no longer and cut a portion of it for their needs. Months passed, and it was not till January 1875 (I am following the consular report) that the tax-farmers at last made their appearance, resolved to exact the uttermost farthing. The Publicans on this occasion consisted of one Christian and two members of the renegade Mahometan aristocracy of the Herzegovina, who here vie with the Fanariote Greeks for this shameful office. These gentry, as is their wont, rated the harvest at far higher than its real value, and when the peasants refused to comply with their exorbitant demands, let loose their bloodhounds, the Zaptiehs, and robbed, beat, and imprisoned whom they would. The Knezes or village elders tried to complain to the Kaïmakàm, but being insulted and threatened with imprisonment, fled to Montenegro. The rest of the villagers, unable to obtain any redress, and hourly subjected to the violence of the Zaptiehs, took refuge, with their cattle, in the neighbouring mountains. Only one old man was left in the village, and him the Zaptiehs bound and sent to Mostar. Events of a similar character were occurring in the neighbouring districts.
But meanwhile the news of these events began to be noised abroad. Unpleasant rumours of sacked villages had reached the ears of the consular body, and the Nevešinjans had even attempted to tell the story of their wrongs to the Emperor of Austria, then engaged in his Dalmatian journey. The Vali of Bosnia began to perceive that it was high time for him to interfere, or the agitation might reach such dimensions as to place him himself in a difficult position. The oppressed rayahs of Nevešinje and the surrounding districts had appealed to the commiseration of civilized Europe, and something must be done to satisfy the great Powers and their representatives, and at the same time to allay the agitation among the rayahs.
The Vali accordingly appointed the precious Commission, already spoken of, to confer with the Christians on their grievances; and at the same time gave the refugees in Montenegro a safe-conduct to their homes. By these means the Vali secured the double object of revenging himself on the Christian refugees, and throwing dust into the eyes of the consular body. The refugees, on attempting to return, were, in spite of their safe-conduct, fired on by Turkish troops; and when at last some of them succeeded in finding their way to Nevešinje, the Turkish authorities permitted Mussulmans of the village to murder several without moving a finger to punish the assassins! The results of the Commission were so falsified as to make it appear that the whole agitation among the rayahs was fictitious, and the outrages committed during the last three months by tax-farmers and Zaptiehs, the sack of whole villages, the assassination of men, the violation of women, were, forsooth, reduced to ‘antiquated grievances raked up by self-constituted grief-mongers.’
This might do all very well, so the Vali thought, for the consular body; but he was well aware that other tactics were necessary in order to allay the dangerous spirit aroused among the rayah population. The shooting of the refugees was due, he explained, to a ‘misunderstanding.’ The Christians were to be convinced of the reality of the Commission. The Turkish government even consented to place among its members the envoy of the Prince of Montenegro. The real information received by the Commission was very different from that which the Vali vouchsafed to our Consul. The grievances of the Herzegovinians generally, as against the government, are well set forth in the seven demands which the people of Nevešinje laid before the Commission. They form an interesting commentary on the Turkish rule in the Herzegovina, and savour neither of Panslavism nor of disloyalty to the Sultan.
The demands of the men of Nevešinje were as follows:—
1. That Christian girls and women should no longer be molested by the Turks.
2. That their churches should no longer be desecrated, and that free exercise of their religion should be accorded them.
3. That they should have equal rights with the Turks before the law.