THE WHIRLPOOL OF THE BALKANS 



By George Higgins Moses 



United States Senator from New Hampshire, formerly Minister to Greece and Montenegro 

 Author g-e "Greece and Montenegro," "Greece oE Today," etc., in the National Geographic Magazine 



THE EAST embodies mystery. 

 Whether one regard it in its 

 larger aspects as a whole, as the 

 cradle of the race and the source of hu- 

 man history, or as limited to any of those 

 portions — the Far, the Middle, or the 

 Near East — into which writers, cartog- 

 raphers, and diplomats, for convenience' 

 sake, have separated it, one will find the 

 same shadowy and elusive elements of 

 racial quality and preponderance of 

 mental development and application, of 

 blended religion and politics, which from 

 time out of mind have allured and baffled 

 the explorer, the missionary, and the 

 statesman alike. 



Across its whole expanse, from the 

 Euphrates to the Adriatic ; over all its 

 seas, from the Hellespont to the Lido; 

 through all its defiles, from the Ural to 

 Tarabosch, have swept the successive 

 tides of racial supremacy — Aryan, Hel- 

 lenic, Slavic, Latin, and Teutonic. 



THE BATTLE EVER TO THE STRONG IN 

 THE EAST 



The chief chapters of the history of the 

 East have been written in blood. They 

 are stories of rapine, pillage, and murder. 

 There the battle has ever been to the 

 strong. There, ever, 



The good old rule 

 Sufficeth them, the simple plan, 

 That they should take who have the power, 

 And they should keep who can. 



The share of the Near East in all this 

 welter of conquest and revolution, sav- 

 agery and progress, fanaticism and faith, 

 chivalry and cowardice, bravery and 

 butchery, honor and craft, has been typ- 

 ical of the entire region. And yet, per- 

 haps because of, rather than in spite of, 

 the fact that it stands nearest to us, or 

 because it lies beside rather than in the 

 beaten path of travel, it is probable that 

 the Near East is to us of the Western 

 world more elusive and legendary than 

 either the Orient or the Antipodes. 



"East is East and West is West, and 

 never the twain shall meet," sings Kip- 



ling ; but in the Near East meet they do, 

 though they never mingle. Life there is 

 a curious and enticing kaleidoscope of 

 Europe and the Orient, of antiquity and 

 modernity, through which obtrude from 

 time to time the vexing survivals of 

 earlier days, when morals and methods, 

 customs and circumstances, were shaped 

 upon an order existing for the moment 

 and subject at any time to assault and 

 overthrow. 



THE LOCALE OE THE NEAR EAST 



It is difficult to assign exact territorial 

 limits to the Near East ; and as for the 

 Balkans, it may be said, as did Dooley of 

 the Philippines, that before the World 

 War few Americans knew whether they 

 were mountains or canned goods. How- 

 ever, for the present purpose we may as- 

 sume that the Near East is that stretch of 

 territory which runs away from the head 

 of the Adriatic down the Dalmatian coast 

 and skirts the iEgean to the Bosporus. 

 The mighty Danube well-nigh bisects it 

 from north to south, while in the opposite 

 direction it is cut in twain by the Balkan 

 range. Its shores, from Miramar to the 

 Golden Horn, are washed by smiling seas. 

 To the north the grim Carpathians tower. 



Here dwell a dozen peoples, each with 

 its own costumes and customs, speaking 

 a score of tongues and owning half as 

 many religious faiths. At times the 

 common strain of blood or religion, the 

 common hatred of a dread oppressor, a 

 common lust for land or for power, or 

 a common sense of self-preservation has 

 led to a cooperated effort in diplomacy 

 or war ; but never, I think, have they all 

 acted in unison ; never have even a few 

 of them cooperated for any extended 

 period. 



The most obviously predominant char- 

 acteristic of the Near East, and the one 

 which has probably contributed most to 

 separate peoples who otherwise would 

 find alignment, is the tangle of tongues, 

 which thrusts itself forward even at 

 Trieste; and with it, in many quarters, 



i/9 



