their land in spite of their masters. A single fact will show this.
Certain collectors of tithes, in order to prevent fraud, insist upon
the peasants leaving the whole of the harvest upon the fields until
they have withdrawn their tenth part. Maize, rice, and corn are
exposed there to the inclemencies of the weather and other destructive
agencies; and it frequently happens that the harvest has deteriorated
to the extent of one-half in value before the Government impost is
levied. Sometimes the peasants allow their grapes or fruit to rot
rather than pay the tithes. But it is not the tax-gatherer alone of
whose conduct the peasant may complain; for he is exposed likewise to
exactions by the middlemen with whom he comes into contact when selling
his produce. “The Bulgarian works, but the Greek holds the plough.” So
says an ancient proverb; and this is still true at least of the {147}
countries to the south of the Balkan, where the Bulgarian peasant is
not always the proprietor of the land he tills. But where he does not
directly work for a Greek or Mussulman proprietor, his harvest, even
before it is cut, is frequently the property of a usurer; but he works
on from day to day, a wretched slave, in the vain hope of becoming one
day a free man.
The fertility of the soil on both slopes of the Balkans, in Macedonia,
and in Thessaly is, however, such that in spite of mosques and
tax-collectors, in spite of usurers and thieves, agriculture supplies
commerce with a large quantity of produce. Maize, or “Turkish corn,”
and all cereals are grown in abundance. The valleys of the Karasu and
Vardar produce cotton, tobacco, and dye stuffs; the coast districts
and islands yield wine and oil, whose quality would leave nought to be
desired, were a little more care bestowed upon their cultivation; and
forests of mulberry-trees are met with in certain parts of Thracia and
Rumelia, and the export of cocoons to Italy and France is increasing
from year to year. Turkey, with its fertile soil, is sure to take
a prominent part amongst the European states for the variety and
superiority of its products. As to its manufactures, they will no doubt
be gradually displaced on the opening of new roads of commerce. The
manufacturers of arms, stuffs, carpets, and jewellery in the cities
of the interior will suffer considerably from foreign competition,
and many amongst them will succumb to it, unless they pass into the
hands of foreigners. The great fairs, too, which are now held annually
at Slivno and other places, and at which merchants from the whole of
the empire meet to transact business—as many as a hundred thousand
strangers being attracted occasionally to a single spot—will gradually
give place to a regular commercial intercourse.
It is certain that the commerce of Turkey has increased of late years,
thanks to the efforts of Greeks, Armenians, and Franks of all nations.
The annual value of the exports and imports of the whole of the Ottoman
empire in Europe and Asia is estimated at £40,000,000—a very small
sum, if we bear in mind the resources of these countries, their many
excellent harbours, and their favourable geographical position.
The Turks themselves perform but a very small share of the work that is
done in their empire. Various causes combine to render them less active
than the other races. They are the governing class, and their ambition
naturally aspires to the honours and the luxury of _kief_; that is
to say, of sweet idleness. Despising everything not Mohammedan, and
being, besides, heedless and of a sluggish mind, they but rarely learn
foreign languages, and are thus in a certain measure at the mercy of
the other races, most of whom speak two or more idioms. Moreover, the
fatalism taught in the Koran has deprived the Turk of all enterprise,
and once thrown out of his ordinary routine, he is helpless. Polygamy
and slavery are likewise two causes of demoralisation. It is true that
the rich alone can permit themselves the luxury of a harem, but the
poor learn from their superiors to despise women, they become debased,
and take a share in that traffic in human flesh which is a necessary
sequence of polygamy. Yet, in spite of the innumerable slaves imported
in the course of four centuries from all the regions bordering upon
{148} the Turkish empire; in spite of the millions of Circassian,
Greek, and other girls transplanted into the harems, the Osmanli
are numerically inferior to the other races of the peninsula. This
dominant race—if the term race be applicable to the product of so many
crossings—hardly numbers ten per cent. of the population of European
Turkey. And this numerical inferiority is on the increase, for, owing
to polygamy, the number of children surviving in Mohammedan families is
less than in Christian families. We are not in possession of precise
figures, but there can be no doubt that the Turks are on the decrease.
The conscription, to which they alone are subject, has contributed
towards this result, and becomes more difficult from year to year.
It has often been repeated since Chateaubriand that the Turks have
but camped in Europe, and expect to return to the steppes whence they
came. It would thus be a feeling of presentiment which induces the
Turks of Stambul to seek burial in the cemetery of Scutari, hoping
thus to save their bones from the profanation of the Giaour’s tread on
his return, as master, to Constantinople. In many places the living
follow the examples of the dead, and a feeble current of emigration
sets from the Archipelago and the coast districts of Thracia in the
direction of Asia, carrying along many an old Turk discontented with
the stir of European life. This migration, however, is but of very
small importance, and does not affect the Osmanli of the interior.
Nothing is further from the minds of the Turks of Bulgaria, the Yuruks
of Macedonia, or the Koniarides, who have inhabited the mountains of
Rumelia since the eleventh century, than to quit the land which has
become their second home. The Turkish element in the Balkan peninsula
can be got rid of only by exterminating it; that is, by treating the
Turks more ferociously than they treated the native populations at
the time of the conquest. We ought not to forget, at the same time,
that the Turks, though far inferior in numbers to the other races, are
nevertheless able to reckon upon the support of millions of Mohammedan
Albanians, Bosnians, Bulgarians, Circassians, and Nogai Tartars. The
Mussulmans constitute more than a third of the population of European
Turkey, and, in spite of differences of race, they hold firmly
together. Nor must it be forgotten that they are backed up by a hundred
and fifty millions of co-religionists in other parts of the world.[42]
[Illustration: ETHNOGRAPHICAL MAP OF TURKEY in EUROPE
By E.G. Ravenstein F.R.G.S.]
{149}
Let us hope that the future may not give birth to a struggle of
extermination between the races of the peninsula, but rather to
institutions enabling these diverse and partially hostile elements to
develop themselves in peace and liberty. The Turks themselves begin
to see the necessity of such institutions, and, in theory at least,
have abandoned their policy of violence and oppression. All the
nationalities of the empire, without reference to race or religion, are
supposed to be equal before the law, and Christians are admitted to
Government offices on the same terms as Mussulmans. No doubt these fine
laws have for the most part hitherto remained a dead letter, but it
would nevertheless be unjust if we denied that much progress towards an
equalisation of the various races has been made.
Fortunately the despotism of the Turks is not the despotism of
learning, based upon a knowledge of human nature, and directed to its
debasement. The Osmanli ignore the art of “oppressing wisely,” which
the Dutch governors of the Sunda Islands were required to practise
in former times, and which is not quite unknown in other countries.
The pashas allow things to take their course as long as they are
able to enrich themselves and their favourites, to sell justice and
their favours at a fair price, and to bastinade now and then some
unlucky wight. They do not inquire into the private concerns of their
subjects, and do not call for confidential reports on families and
individuals. Their Government, no doubt, is frequently violent and
oppressive; but all this only touches externals. Such a government may
not be favourable to the development of public spirit, but it does not
interfere with individuals, and powerful national institutions, such
as the Greek commune, the Mirdit tribe, and the Slav community, have
been able to survive under it. Self-government is, in fact, more widely
practised in Turkey than in the most advanced countries of Western
Europe. It would have been difficult to force these various national
elements under a uniform discipline, and the lazy Turkish functionaries
generally leave things alone. The Frankish officials in the pay of
the Turkish Government, in fact, more frequently interfere with the
prejudices and privileges of the governed than do the Mussulman pashas
of the old school.
It cannot be doubted for a moment that, in a time not very far distant,
the non-Mohammedan races of Turkey will take the lead in politics, as
they do already in commerce, industry, and education. The Osmanli of
the olden school, who still wear the green turban of their ancestors,
look forward towards this inevitable result with despair. They struggle
against every measure calculated to accelerate the emancipation of the
despised raya, and European inventions, in their eyes, are working a
great social transformation to their injury; and, indeed, it is the
raya who profits most from roads, railways, harbours, agricultural and
other machines. Bosnians, Bulgarians, and Servians have learnt to look
upon each other as brothers; Albanians and Rumanians are drawn towards
the Greeks; all alike feel themselves as Europeans; and thus the way is
being paved for the Danubian Confederation of the future.
The approaching completion of the railway from Vienna to Constantinople
cannot fail to work a commercial revolution as far as the trade of
a considerable portion of Eastern Europe is concerned. It will form
a link in the direct line {150} between England and India, and to
travellers and merchandise will afford the shortest route from the
centre of Europe to the Bosporus. On its opening, Constantinople will
be enabled to avail itself to the fullest extent of the highways of
commerce which converge upon it. Still greater must be the political
consequences of opening this line, for it will bring the populations of
the Balkan peninsula into more direct and active contact with those of
Austro-Hungary and the rest of Europe.
[Illustration: Fig. 41.—COMMERCIAL HIGHWAYS CONVERGING UPON
CONSTANTINOPLE.
Scale 1 : 17,100,000.]
VIII.—GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.
The Turkish empire occupies a vast area, the greater portion of which
is governed by vassals, almost independent of the Sultan at Stambul.
The vast territories of Egypt and Tunis are in that position. The
interior of Arabia is in possession of the Wahabites; the coast of
Hadramaut is inhabited partly by tribes acknowledging the suzerainty
of England; and even between Syria and the Euphrates there {151} are
numerous districts only nominally under the government of Turkish
pashas, but in reality in the possession of predatory Bedwins. The
Ottoman empire, properly so called, includes the European provinces,
Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, the basins of Tigris and Euphrates,
Hejaz and Yemen in Arabia, and Tripoli, with Fezzan, in Africa. These
territories, with their dependent islands, cover an area of no less
than 210,156 square miles; but their population, being far less dense
than that of Western Europe, hardly numbers 47,000,000 souls.
[Illustration: Fig. 42.—THE TURKISH EMPIRE.
Scale 1 : 55,000,000.]
The area of Turkey in Europe, exclusive of Rumania, Servia,
and Montenegro, is about equal to that of the British Islands.
Constantinople, with the surrounding country, forms a district under
the immediate supervision of the Ministry of Police. The remainder
of the country is divided into eight _vilayets_, or provinces; the
vilayets are subdivided into _mutesarifliks_, or _sanjaks_; these
latter into _kazas_, or cantons; and the kazas into _rahiés_, or
parishes. Lemnos, Imbros, Samothrace, and Astypalæa, with Rhodes
and the islands along the coast of Anatolia, form a {152} separate
vilayet. These political divisions, however, are subject to frequent
changes.[43]
The Sultan, or _Padishah_, concentrates all powers within his person.
He is _Emir el mumenin_, or head of the faithful, and his conduct is
guided solely by the prescriptions of the Koran and the traditions of
his ancestors. The two most influential persons in the empire, next
to him, are the _Sheik-el-Islam_, or Great Mufti, who superintends
public worship and the administration of justice, and the _Sadrazam_,
or Grand Vizier, who is at the head of the general administration,
and is assisted by a council of ten ministers, or _mushirs_. The
_Kislar Agasi_, or chief of the black eunuchs, to whom is confided
the management of the imperial harem, is likewise one of the great
dignitaries of the empire, and frequently enjoys the very highest
influence. The legal advisers of the various ministries are known as
_mufti_. _Efendi_, _bey_, and _aga_ are honorary titles bestowed upon
certain Government officials and persons of consideration. The title of
_pasha_, which signifies “grand chief,” is given to certain high civil
or military functionaries. This title is symbolized by one, two, or
three horse-tails attached to the top of a lance, a usage recalling the
time when the nomad Turks roamed over the steppes of Central Asia.
The work of the various ministries is done by councils, and there thus
exist a council of state, or _shuraï devlet_, councils of accounts, of
war, of the navy, of public education, of police, &c. These various
councils, in their totality, constitute the _divan_, or government
chancery. There is also a supreme court of justice, with sections
for civil and criminal cases. The members of these various official
bodies are appointed by Government. Each of the subject “nations” is
represented on the Council of State by two members, carefully selected
by the _Sadrazam_.
The vilayet is governed by a _vali_, the sanjak by a _mutesarif_, the
kaza by a {153} _kaimakan_, the parish by a _mudir_. Each of these
is supposed to act by advice of a council composed of the leading
religious and civilian functionaries, Mohammedan and non-Mohammedan. In
reality, however, the vali appoints all these councils, and they are
popularly known as the “Councils of the Ayes.”
The rules laid down by the supreme Government for its own guidance are
embodied in the _hatti-sherif_ of Gulhane, promulgated in 1839, and
in the _hatti-humayum_ of 1856. These hatts promise equal rights to
all the inhabitants of the empire, but have been carried out hitherto
only very partially. A “constitution” was promulgated in December,
1876, on the assembling of the European Conference at Constantinople.
It provides representative institutions, local self-government, and
various improvements, but is likely to remain a dead letter.
The religious and judicial organization of the country is jealously
watched over by the Sheik-el-Islam and the priests, and cannot possibly
be changed. The _imans_ are specially charged with the conduct of
public worship. They include _sheiks_, or preachers; _khatibs_, who
recite the official prayers; and the _imans_ properly so called, who
celebrate marriages and conduct interments. Judges and imans form a
body known as _ulemas_, at whose head is placed a _kazi-asker_, or
chief judge, and who are divided hierarchically into _mollahs_, _kazis_
(kadis), and _naibs_.
The Greek Patriarch of Constantinople, as head of the Church in Turkey
and civil director of the Greek communities, wields a considerable
influence. He is elected by a synod of eighteen members, which
administers the religious budget, and whose decisions in matters
of faith are final. The heads of the Latin rite are a patriarch at
Constantinople and the two Archbishops of Antivari and Durazzo. The two
Armenian Churches have each a patriarch at Constantinople.
TREATIES OF SAN STEFANO AND BERLIN.
It will be noticed that the preceding description of Turkey in Europe,
and the succeeding accounts of Rumania, Servia, and Montenegro, present
the conditions existing immediately prior to the late war with Russia,
in which the Turks were completely overpowered in a few months. The
Congress of European powers sitting at Berlin in the summer of 1878, to
consider the preliminary treaty of San Stefano (March 2) between Russia
and Turkey, materially modified its provisions in the joint treaty
signed July 13, disposing of European Turkey in the following manner:
1. The tributary principality of Bulgaria is created (with less than
half the dimensions assigned to it by the treaty of San Stefano), to be
governed by a prince (who shall not be a member of any ruling dynasty)
chosen by the people within nine months, and confirmed by the Porte
and the other powers, and in the mean time by Russian commissioners
assisted by delegated European consuls. 2. South of the Balkans is
formed the autonomous province of Eastern Roumelia, under a Christian
governor-general, appointed for five years by the Porte with the
assent of the powers, which are to determine within three months the
administrative requirements of the province. 3. Bosnia and Herzegovina
to be occupied and {154} administered by Austria-Hungary, excepting
Novi-Bazar and a small surrounding district. This provision, unlimited
as to time, practically annexes those provinces to the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, and has already (October, 1878) been executed, after serious
armed resistance by their Moslem inhabitants. 4. Rumania, Servia, and
Montenegro are made independent, with the enlarged boundaries shown by
the annexed map. Rumania receives the Dobruja from Russia, to which it
was ceded by the treaty of San Stefano, with the understanding that it
was to be exchanged for the strip of Bessarabia transferred from Russia
to Rumania by the treaty of Paris of 1856, which has accordingly been
restored. The additions to Montenegro include the port of Antivari,
which is closed to war-ships of all nations; and Montenegro is to have
no national flag nor ships of war, its merchant flag to be protected
by Austrian consuls. 5. Austrian Dalmatia receives from Albania the
small port of Spitza. 6. The services of the powers are offered for the
rectification of the northern frontier of Greece. 7. Entire religious
liberty and political equality are provided for in all the territories
affected by the treaty.
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING CHANGES IN EUROPEAN TURKEY AND ARMENIA, AS
PROPOSED BY THE TREATY OF SAN STEFANO, AND AS DETERMINED BY THE TREATY
OF BERLIN.]
{155}
[Illustration]
RUMANIA.[44]
The Rumanians are certainly one of the most curious amongst European
nations. The descendants of the conquerors of the ancient world, they
live detached from, and far to the north-east of, the other nations
of the Greco-Latin family, and not many years ago they were hardly
known by name. The grave events of which the Lower Danube has been the
scene since the middle of this century have brought these Rumanians
prominently to the fore, and we know now that they differ essentially
from their neighbours, be they Slav, Turk, or Magyar. They constitute,
in fact, one of the most important elements amongst the populations of
Eastern Europe, and numerically they are the strongest nation on the
Lower Danube, the Bulgarians alone excepted.
The ethnological boundaries of Rumania are far wider than are the
political ones, for they embrace not only Wallachia and Moldavia
beyond the Carpathians, but also Russian Bessarabia, a portion of the
Bukovina, the greater portion of Transylvania, as well as extensive
tracts in the Banat and Eastern Hungary. The Rumanians have likewise
crossed the Danube, and established themselves in portions of Servia
and Bulgaria; and the settlements of their kinsmen, the Zinzares,
sporadically extend far south to the hills of Thessaly and Greece.
Rumania proper has an area of only 46,709 square miles, but the
countries of the Rumanians occupy at least twice that extent, and their
numbers exceed 8,000,000, most of whom dwell in a compact mass on the
Lower Danube and the adjoining portions of Hungary and Russia.[45]
The Roman territories on the Lower Danube almost encircle the mountain
{156} masses of the Eastern Carpathians, as will be seen by a glance
at our map, but only about one-half of this territory has been formed
into an autonomous state, the remainder belonging to Hungary and
Russia. If the national ambition of the Rumanians were to be realised,
the natural centre of their country would not lie within the actual
limits of the territory, but at Hermannstadt (called Sibiu by the
Wallachians), or elsewhere on the northern slope of the Carpathians.
Thrust beyond the Carpathians, and extending from the Iron Gate to
the upper affluents of the Pruth, the independent Rumanians occupy
a country of most irregular shape, and separated into two distinct
portions by the river Sereth and one of its tributaries, which join
the most advanced spur of the Eastern Carpathians to the great bend of
the Lower Danube. To the north of this boundary lies Moldavia, thus
named after a tributary of the Sereth; to the south-west and west is
Wallachia, or the “Plain of the Welsh,” _i.e._ of the Latins. This
plain, the _tzara Rumaneasca_, or Roman-land proper, is intersected by
numerous parallel water-courses, forming as many secondary boundaries,
and the river Olto separates it into Great Wallachia to the east, and
Little Wallachia to the west. The Danube forms the political boundary
down to its mouth. It is a wide and sinuous river; below the Iron
Gate, lakes, forests, and swamps render access to its banks almost
impossible in many places; and migratory nations and conquerors,
instead of crossing it, as they could easily have done in Austria and
Bavaria, rather sought to avoid it by seeking for a passage through the
mountains to the north. The abrupt bend of the Lower Danube and its
extensive swampy delta still further shielded the plains of Wallachia,
and invaders not provided with vessels were thus turned to the north,
in the direction of the Carpathians. The lowlands of Moldavia were
protected, though in a less degree, by the rivers Dnieper, Bug,
Dniester, and Pruth running parallel with each other. {157}
[Illustration: Fig. 43.—THE RUMANIANS.]
But, in spite of these natural bulwarks, it remains matter for
surprise, and proves the singular tenacity of the Rumanians, that
they preserved their traditions, their language, and nationality, in
spite of the numerous onslaughts from invaders of every race to which
they were exposed. Ever since the retreat of the Roman legions, the
peaceable cultivators of these plains were preyed upon so frequently
by Goths, Huns, and Pecheneges, by Slavs, Bulgars, and Turks, that
their extinction as a race appeared to be inevitable. But they have
emerged from every deluge which threatened to destroy them, thanks,
no doubt, to the superior culture for which they were indebted to
their ancestors, and again claim a place amongst independent nations.
They have fully justified their old proverb, which says, _Romun no
pere !_—“the Roman perishes not.”