The difficulty comes when we attempt to give the racial character of
Central Macedonia, which is equally remote from Greece, Bulgaria,
and Servia. I travelled through this district last summer. On June
29, when the war broke out between the Allies I found myself in
Uskub. Through the courtesy of the Servian authorities I was
permitted to ride on the first military train which left the city.
Descending at Veles I drove across Central Macedonia by way of
Prilip to Monastir, spending the first night, for lack of a better
bed, in the carriage, which was guarded by Servian sentries. From
Monastir I motored over execrable roads to Lake Presba and Lake
Ochrida and thence beyond the city of Ochrida to Struga on the Black
Drin, from which I looked out on the mountains of Albania.
Coming from Athens where for many months I had listened to patriotic
stories of the thorough permeation of Macedonia by Greek settlements
my first surprise was my inability to discover a Greek majority in
Central Macedonia. In most of the cities a fraction of the
population indeed is Greek and as a rule the colony is prosperous.
This is especially true in Monastir, which is a stronghold of Greek
influence. But while half the population of Monastir is Mohammedan
the so-called Bulgarians form the majority of the Christian
population, though both Servians and Roumanians have conducted
energetic propaganda. In Veles two-thirds of the population are
Christians and nearly all of these are called Bulgarians. In Ochrida
the lower town is Mohammedan and the upper Christian, and the
Christian population is almost exclusively of the Bulgarian Church.
It does not follow, however, that the people of Central Macedonia,
even if Bulgarian churches are in the ascendant among them, are
really connected by ties of blood and language with Bulgaria rather
than with Servia. If history is invoked we shall have to admit that
under Dushan this region was a part of the Serb empire as under
Simeon and Asen it was part of the Bulgarian. If an appeal is made
to anthropology the answer is still uncertain. For while the
Mongolian features--broad flat faces, narrow eyes, and straight
black hair--which characterize the subjects of King Ferdinand can be
seen--I myself have seen them--as far west as Ochrida, they may also
be found all over Northern Servia as far as Belgrade though the
Servian physical type is entirely different. There is no fixed
connection between the anthropological unit and the linguistic or
political unit. Furthermore, while there are well-marked groups who
call themselves Serbs or Bulgarians there is a larger population not
so clearly differentiated by physique or language. Undoubtedly they
are Slavs. But whether Serb or Bulgarian, or intermediate between
the two, no one to-day can demonstrate. Central Macedonia has its
own dialects, any one of which under happy literary auspices might
have developed into a separate language. And the men who speak them
to-day can more or less understand either Servian or Bulgarian.
Hence as the anonymous and highly authoritative author of "Turkey in
Europe," who calls himself Odysseus, declares:
"The practical conclusion is that neither Greeks, Servians, nor
Bulgarians have a right to claim Central Macedonia. The fact that
they all do so shows how weak each claim must be."
Yet it was Bulgaria's intransigent assertion of her claim to Central
Macedonia which led to the war between the Allies.
It will be instructive to consider the attitude of each of the
governments concerned on the eve of the conflict. I hope I am in a
position correctly to report it. Certainly I had unusual
opportunities to learn it. For besides the official position I held
in Athens during the entire course of both Balkan wars I visited the
Balkan states in June and was accorded the privilege of discussing
the then pending crisis with the prime ministers of Roumania,
Servia, and Bulgaria. It would of course be improper to quote them;
nay more, I feel myself under special obligation sacredly to respect
the confidence they reposed in me. But the frank disclosures they
made in these conversations gave me a point of view for the
comprehension of the situation and the estimate of facts which I
have found simply invaluable. And if Mr. Venizelos in Athens, or Mr.
Maioresco in Bukarest, or Mr. Pashitch in Belgrade, or Dr. Daneff,
who is no longer prime minister of Bulgaria, should ever chance to
read what I am saying, I hope each will feel that I have fairly and
impartially presented the attitude which their respective
governments had taken at this critical moment on the vital issue
then confronting them.