THE RISE OF BULGARIA^ 



By James D. Bourchier 



T 



f B ^HE decline of the Ottoman power, 

 which began after the retreat of 

 the Turkish army from Vienna in 

 1683, was marked during the i8th century 

 by increasing anarchy in the European 

 and Asiatic provinces of the Empire. The 

 Balkan lands were desolated by fierce 

 bands of Janissaries and Krjalis, against 

 whose ravages the Christian population 

 found little other protection than such 

 as was afforded them by the Klephts and 

 Haiduks — the Greek or Slavonic coun- 

 terparts to the msurgent bands of today. 



Servia obtained internal autonomy in 

 1820, complete independence with an in- 

 crease of territory in 1878, and was pro- 

 claimed a kingdom in 1882. Greece be- 

 came an independent kingdom in 1832 

 and acquired Thessaly in 1881. The 

 principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. 

 which had never been under direct Turk- 

 ish administration, were united in 1861, 

 obtained independence in 1878, acquiring 

 the Dobruja at the same time, and be- 

 came the Kingdom of Rumania in 1881. 

 Bosnia and Herzegovina were practi- 

 cally annexed by Austria-Hungary in 

 1878, while a portion of southern Herze- 

 govina fell to the share of Montenegro. 



In the same year Northern Bulgaria 

 became a tributary principality, and 

 Southern Bulgaria, or "Eastern Ru- 

 melia," an autonomous province ; the 

 union of the two Bulgarias was effected 

 in 1885. Lastly, Crete obtained complete 

 autonomy in 1897. 



The natural process of disintegration 

 has been artificially arrested by the action 

 of Europe, the mutual jealousies of the 

 Great Powers preventing them from co- 

 operating with a view to the only final 

 and legitimate solution of the Eastern 

 Question — the segregation, so far as is 

 possible, of the various Christian nation- 

 alities now under Turkish rule and their 

 incorporation with the adjoining free and 

 kindred communities. 



This gradual dismemberment of the 

 Ottoman Empire in Europe is due to a 

 variety of causes. A nomad Asiatic race, 



* This article is abstracted from the chapter on the Balkan States, by James D. Bour- 

 chier, in "The Balkan Question." John Murray, London. 



the Turks display the same incapacity 

 for change and progress, the same indo- 

 lence and conservatism, the same repug- 

 nance to the spirit of modern Europe, 

 which characterizes all Oriental peoples, 

 with the brilliant exception of Japan. 

 Their religion, their social system — above 

 all, the position assigned to women — 

 form obstacles to advancement, enlighten- 

 ment, and the assimilation of modern 

 ideas. They have been content to let 

 commerce, industry, and all the arts by 

 which wealth is accumulated remain in 

 the hands of the subject peoples. 



It was the duty of the rayah (non- 

 Mohammedan) to till the ground and to 

 make wealth for his master. So long as 

 he was submissive and paid his taxes, he 

 was free to retain his traditional cus- 

 toms, to worship as he pleased, and to 

 settle his parochial and domestic affairs 

 to his own liking. 



The Moslem is a warrior and owes his 

 dominant position to the sword ; as a con- 

 queror, he exercises the jus belli, reserv- 

 ing for himself the privileges of govern- 

 ment and military service and leaving to 

 the giaour (Christian) the duty of pro- 

 viding ways and means for the mainte- 

 nance of an alien authority (see also 

 page 1143)- 



The Moslem drives the administrative 

 engine; the Christian finds the fuel for 

 stoking it. A State founded on such a 

 system could never acquire solidity or 

 develop into a homogeneous polity (see 

 pages 1 132 to 1 147). 



The gulf fixed between the conqueror 

 and the conquered was never bridged ; 

 in later times it has even widened. The 

 interference of the Christian powers ; the 

 spread of education among the subject 

 races, bringing with it in each case an 

 awakening of national consciousness ; the 

 gradual percolation of modern ideas ; the 

 doctrines of the French Revolution ; and, 

 later, the principle of nationalities, ex- 

 emplified in the realization of Italian and 

 German unity, have all tended to this in- 

 creased estrangement. 



1 105 



