18 



pressed:tlie opinion t hat the most civilised and most 

 highly developed race, although the earliest, was 

 the AUeghans — and he pointed to this as exem- 

 plifying a primitive civilisation fading into 

 barbarism. In concluding his lectiu-e, Mr. Galpin 

 described a visit to Salt Lake City — the city of the 

 Mormons — and a somewhat unfortunate bathing 

 experience which he had there as the residt of a 

 dive into the salt water. He related many inter- 

 esting facts in reference to the Mormons, how 

 since they were founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, 



they were gradually di-iven westwaj'ds until they 

 finally settled in Mexican territory in 184^, and he 

 also described their very interesting and well laid 

 out city. 



At the close of the lecture Mr. Galpin was 

 cordially thanked by the President of the Society 

 on behalf of the assemliled members. 



Articles of pottery, butterflies, and photos 

 which Mr. Galpin had brought back with him 

 from Canada, were subsequently inspected with 

 interest by the members. 



•THE BALKANS."— By Db. GRAHAM WILLS. 



Dr. Graham Wills on February 24 gave before 

 the members of the Society an historical sketch of 

 the various nationalities by whom the Balkan 

 PeninsiUar is peopled. The grave condition of 

 affairs in South - Eastern Em-ope at the present 

 time naturally added considerably to the interest 

 of the lectm-e. The proceedings, as usual, tjok 

 place in the Reference Library of the Beaney Insti- 

 tute, the chair being taken by the President of 

 the Society (Mr. Sidney Harvey). There was a 

 goodly muster of members, and at the close a very 

 hearty vote of thanks was passed to Dr. Wills. 



Mr. Harvey said their subject of that evening 

 was of the greatest possible interest, judging by 

 the newspaper reports of the past few days. It 

 was a siibject which he personally knew nothing 

 about, and he should be very glad to hear what 

 Dr. Wills had to say upon it. 



Dr. Wills said the real reason why he had 

 taken that subject was because it was one that 

 was continually present with them. Of course, it 

 was impossible to deal with the subject in a 

 single lecture, but he found there was a tendency 

 among certain people to urge om- Government to 

 take sides, and he felt it was necessary thit 

 people should know what was really going on 

 there and understand the habits and prejudices of 

 the inhabitants. He could not claim iii'st hand 

 acquaintance with the peoples and countries, and 

 was dependent for facts largely upon the writings 

 of others. In such cases as the Bulgarian 

 massacres, the Macedonian and Armenian risings, 

 it was very important to remember that sympathy 

 with the siitlerings of the unfortunate peoples must 

 be very carefully expressed or it might be quite 

 misunderstood, and such sympathy, both moral 

 and financial, might lead the recipients to plunge 

 themselves into greater evils, under the impression 

 that British armed intervention was to follow the 

 expression of that sympathy. There coiUd be no 

 doubt that both Russia and Austria had used 

 money and influence freely in the Balkan 

 Peninsula for their own cuds, and it was 

 more than doubtful if English money, 

 though given as the distinct expression of 

 charity, pure and simple, would be looked upon 

 as disinterested help either by the oppressor 

 or the oppressed. It is fully recognised by 

 good authorities that the excesses which 

 have horrified Europe from time to time are not 

 confined to the Turks, but that all the Balkan 

 i-aces are prone to resort to methods in settling 

 their differences that we can only regard as hoiri- 



ble and brutal to a degree. The Balkan peoples 

 of to-day live in the past ; races have rapidly 

 followed one another, rising and falling through 

 the ages until the all-conquering Ottoman swept 

 down, and for centuries they were blotted 

 out of the world's history. When tliese Kip Van 

 Winkles of Europe awoke, their one desire was to 

 go on at the point where they left off, irrespective 

 of the changes which had arisen. They had with 

 them unsolved problems of the fourteenth century, 

 while externally those of the twentieth century 

 faced them. Therein lay the secret of much of 

 the difficulty of the present day. Dr. Wills went 

 on to give a short account of the many races who 

 had lield sway in the Balkans, and mentioned 

 that, owing to their restlessness and continual 

 fighting, their literature had not been developed, 

 anditwasdifficult to obtain authentic records of the 

 past. Their history ai)peared to be one longstruggle 

 and intrigue between Macedonian, Albanian, 

 BiUgar, etc. Each nationality was the born enemy 

 of the other, and, besides, Moslem hated Christian, 

 and followers of the Greek church were at enmity 

 with the disciples of other Christian churches. 

 One great factor in dealing wi'h the solution of 

 the problem would be to define the boundaries of 

 the various races, and the people would then drift 

 to their own allotted territory and automatically 

 right themselves. 



Mr. Malcohu Burr, who has spent several years 

 in Montenegro, expressed his great pleasui'e and 

 appreciation of the admirable way in which Dr. 

 Wills had dealt with his subject (hear, hear). 

 He was an Anti-Bulgarian and every one who 

 visited the country became an Anti Bulgarian. 

 He was sorry Dr. Wills had not a better word for 

 the Turk, for the real Turkish peasant, when one 

 could find him, was one of the finest fellows, a 

 good soldier, thrifty and industrious. Mr. Biur 

 also paid a tribute to the fine physique of the 

 Albanians. The menfolk, however, are very lazy, 

 and leave all the work to their women. In con- 

 clusion, Mr. Burr said he had a large number of 

 slides of Montenegro. 



Mr. Lander explained later that early in the 

 next session the members would have the pleasure 

 of hearing Mr. Burr lecture on the subject (hear, 

 hear). 



Dr. Wills desires us to mention that he was 

 much indebted for his facts to Miss M. E. Durham's 

 excellent vohune " The Burden of the Balkans," 

 the Institute copy of which was recently brought 

 under his notice by the Librarian, Mr. H. Mead. 



