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THE EAST END OF EUROPE 



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"^ OF THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 

^LIFOR'^.\ 



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THE EAST END OF 
EUROPE 

THE REPORT OF AN UNOFFICIAL MISSION 

TO THE EUROPEAN PROVINCES OF TURKEY 

ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION 

BY ALLEN UPWARD 

CORMtaPOMDIIIO MKIIBER Or THE PA&NASSUS PHILOLOGICAL SOCIITY, ATHENS 
FORHBRLT RESIDENT Of LOKOJA, NORTHERN NIGERIA, ETC. 

WITH A PREFACE 

BY THE LATE MAJOR SIR EDWARD FITZGERALD LAW 
K.C.M.G., K.CS.I^ ETC. ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTOGRAPHS 






LONDON 
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 

1908 



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V 









PRINTSD BY 

HAXBLL, WATSON AND VIMBT, LD., 

LONXWN AMD ATLUBURY. 



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L.C. 






IN MEMORY 
OF 

SIR NICHOLAS R. O'CONOR 

FOR MANY YEARS AMBASSADOR OF GREAT BRITAIN 

AT CONSTANTINOPLE 

WHO DIED 

ON THE EVE OF THE FULFILMENT OF HIS HOPES 

FOR THE REGENERATION OF TURKEY 



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T ^ 



PREFACE 

At a moment such as this, when, owing to the 
action of Austria and Bulgaria, the Near Eastern 
Question has once more reached a critical stage, 
thanks are due to any competent writer who may 
make an honest attempt to throw light on what is 
taking place in South-Eastem Europe, in what 
direction soever his personal sympathies may lie. 
My own views on the Macedonian Question have 
been expressed in a letter published in TAe Times 
of January 22, 1907, and elsewhere. They do 
not at all points coincide with those set forth in the 
present volume. Mr. Upward's somewhat idyllic 
view of Yildiz Kiosk, for instance, is one I am, 
unfortunately, unable to share. His impartiality, 
too, may be called in question by some, for his 
sympathies, are avowedly Greek. But absolute 
impartiality is hardly to be looked for in a matter so 
replete with controversial issues, so pre-eminently 
calculated to excite passion and prejudice. In his 
own words — '* A visitor in Rumelia may be Phil- 
hellenic or Bulgarophile, but he cannot be both. If 
he possesses the friendship and confidence of one 
side he will never gain that of the other.*' Great 
then as are the difficulties of the would-be impartial 

vii 



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viii PREFACE 

observer, yet he may be frank, and Mr. Upward 
is refreshingly frank ; he may be honest, and Mr. 
Upward is transparently so. 

At the outset of the author's journey the late Sir 
Nicholas O'Conor, then Ambassador in Constanti- 
nople, summed up his advice in the words, " Tell the 
truth and shame the devil." I think that it will be 
admitted by every fair-minded reader of the follow- 
ing pages that, in his careful investigation, Mr. 
Upward has done his best to follow bravely the 
brave advice so given. It is true that the result, as 
a whole, is a heavy — nay, a terrible — ^indictment of 
Bulgarian ways, and of Comitadji deeds ; a revelation, 
to those not already well acquainted with the facts, 
of Bulgarian atrocities in a new and opposite sense 
to that brought into prominence by Mr. Gladstone's 
eloquence, but yielding to those of 1877 not a jot in 
sickening horror. However, with the evidence be- 
fore him, the reader must judge for himself whether 
or not the case is made out. 

In my letter to The Times already referred to, I 
called attention to the infamies recently committed 
— not, be it noted, in the debatable land, not in 
Macedonia, where antagonistic elements were 
actually at war, where attack and reprisal were 
the order of the day, where one crime led to 
another, but in Bulgaria itself, where the dominant 
race met no challenge, where the peace was un- 
broken. Here the Greek cities handed over by the 
Treaty of Berlin to Bulgaria were sacked and burnt 
^nd the inhabitants cruelly maltreated, and even 



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PREFACE IX 

slaughtered, in revenge for the check put at last 
upon the Comitadji proceedings in Macedonia by 
the Greek bands organised, tardily enough, for that 
purpose. That these atrocities passed almost un- 
noticed by Europe speaks eloquently for the preva- 
lence of sentiments, to say the least of it, the reverse 
of altruistic. It is highly probable that a large 
majority of the reading public in England have 
barely heard of them, and that many indeed will 
be struck with astonishment on learning that 
" during the eighteen months between July, 1906, 
and December, 1907,40,000 Greeks were compelled 
to quit the soil of Eastern Rumelia, leaving behind 
them their lands, their houses, and their whole 
worldly wealth." It was on account of these 
atrocities that the veteran statesman, M. Natchevitch, 
then Bulgarian Diplomatic Agent at Constantinople, 
and formerly a colleague of StamboulofT, resigned 
his post. His published words were : •* In the face 
of such outrages I was too deeply ashamed to hold 
up my head among my colleagues of the corps 
diplomatique'' Surely no more eloquent testimony 
could be wished for by even the most zealous 
champion of the Greeks.^ 

However, putting aside all questions as to right 
and wrong, I would point out that in this volume 
the reader will find, as nowhere else, perhaps, the 
real causes of the Macedonian trouble laid bare. 
With the designs and ambitions of the Great 
Powers Mr. Upward indeed concerns himself but 
little, though these too come partly under review ; 



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X PREFACE 

but he does good service in making clear the origin 
and meaning of the local disturbances, the jealousies 
and hatreds of the immediate antagonists — mainly, 
that is, of Greek and Bulgarian — ^and in emphasising 
the unhappy truth that the aspirations of the two 
nationalities are hopelessly irreconcilable. In the 
words of M. Theotokis, Greek Prime Minister, 
" The Bulgarians are determined to come down to 
the sea, and the Greeks will never consent to have 
their way barred to Constantinople " ; and Bulgarian 
aims are no less frankly stated in an open letter 
addressed to Prince Ferdinand by M. Bizoff, 
formerly Bulgarian Commercial Agent, as follows : 
** We can gain nothing more by the Church and the 
schools. Bulgaria ought to take arms and possess 
herself by force of Macedonia, which otherwise will 
be for ever lost to her." 

It is a main peculiarity of the situation in Mace- 
donia, offering a specious excuse, not for Bulgarian 
methods, but for Bulgarian claims, that, setting the 
Turks aside, a majority of the population is, in 
speech, Slavonic. The three elements are roughly 
given as two-fifths Moslem and one-fifth pure 
Greek, whilst the remaining two-fifths consists of 
people who, though very frequently bi-lingual, speak 
a Slave patois^ but up to ten years ago were all 
Patriarchists — adherents, that is, of the Greek 
Orthodox Church, and, if we accept Mr. Upward's 
convincing evidence, Greek by tradition, sympathy, 
and aspiration. Of this, the debatable category 
round which the contest rages, about one-half has 



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PREFACE 



XI 



been won over by the terrorism of the Comitadjis to 
the Exarchate, and ostensibly to Bulgarian sympathy ; 
but even so the Greek, or, to be more accurate, 
the Philhellenic element, prevails, and overwhelm- 
ingly so in the south, to dominate which and thus 
secure the control of the littoral is the ultimate aim 
of the ambitions of both parties. 

It will be readily understood that the Greek claim 
repudiates philological and even genealogical argu- 
ments. Let the matter, it is said, be determined 
by the free choice of the populations concerned ; 
and the Bulgarians on their side, seeing that such 
a view was likely in the present day to commend 
itself generally to European public opinion, set to 
work to convert the people in question into Ex- 
archists and Bulgarian *' sympathisers " by a system 
of terrorism seldom paralleled, never, probably, 
surpassed. 

I have referred already to Mr. Upward's opinion 
regarding the Turks, but it is impossible to disregard 
the mass of evidence he brings forward in their 
favour. The Moslems, as every one now knows, are 
very tolerant in matters of faith. That when quite 
secure in their own power they are tolerant also 
politically is no less true ; and it cannot be denied 
that, so long as they were left in undisturbed posses- 
sion of South-Eastem Europe, the subject population 
enjoyed a tranquillity, and even prosperity, that 
compared favourably with the condition of the 
peasantry and townsmen in any part of Christian 
Europe. In Mr. Upwards pages the Turks are 



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xii PREFACE 

contrasted, much to their advantage, with the 
Bulgarians, and recent events must confirm the 
opinion that the pictures he draws of Turkish 
kindliness, tolerance, and even culture, are no mere 
exceptions to the rule. 

Mr. Upward's praiseworthy determination to 
collect evidence as far as possible at first hand, to 
sift it for himself on the spot, and to accept nothing 
on hearsay, is patent throughout his book, and lends 
a high value to his investigations and their results. 
Deeply interesting, in particular, are the pages in 
which he records his visits to numerous schools, 
both Moslem and Christian, for here he brings us 
in contact with the nationalities themselves, in con^ 
ditions the least favourable to disguise or fraud. 
The vital importance of the schools was well under- 
stood on both sides. The Bulgarians devoted their 
strongest efforts to winning them over, with a 
measure of success considerable indeed, yet falling 
short — ^as M. BizofT naively admits— of what was 
hoped and desired. 

New light is thrown by Mr. Upward on the 
position ^nd aims of the Albanians, and of the 
Vlachs, whose allegiance the Rumanians are claim- 
ing, apparently with no great success. Abdul 
Hamid s self-justifying communication to the author 
— a unique document — ^will be read with interest 
even where it fails to carry conviction; and what 
Mr. Upward has to say on the Turkish revolution is 
assuredly not without interest at the present moment. 

I will only add that readers of this volume, what- 



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PREFACE xiii 

ever their sympathies, will rise from its perusal with 
greatly increased knowledge of the subject in hand. 
They will have learnt much that is new — much, at 
least, that is not to be found in any other published 
book. They will know what the Macedonian 
Question really means, the reasons for its existence, 
the real causes underlying the bitter and shameful 
warfare waged by Christian races in Moslem 
territory. Those, of course, whose minds are 
alr^dy made up on one side or the other will not 
change them. But the majority, whose opinions 
are unformed, whose intelligence is open to con- 
viction, will, if their hearts are not callous to human 
sufiering, if their natural impulses are allowed to 
flow unchecked, be drawn, I feel convinced, into 
greater sympathy — for sympathy is based on under- 
standing, and understanding on knowledge — with 
the Philhellenic cause in Macedonia and the neigh- 
bouring regions. 

E. F. G. Law. 

Octobtr 24, 1908. 



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AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

The following pages report an inquiry into the 
racial and religious troubles of European Turkey, 
undertaken during the winter of 1907-8. 

My own views and wishes on the subject of a 
better understanding between the various elements 
in the population, especially between the Turks and 
Greeks, have been advanced by subsequent events at 
a rate which did not then seem possible to the oldest 
and most experienced observers ; but the situation is 
still sufficiently unsettled, and the influence of past 
prejudices sufficiently strong in many quarters, to 
justify a hope that this publication may serve a useful 
purpose. 

The late ambassador of this country at Constan- 
tinople, when I requested his counsel as to the 
course which would be most calculated to do good, 
responded by urging me to **tell the truth and 
shame the devil ! " Such advice is not easy to 
follow in such a conflict of testimony and opinion, 
but I have at least endeavoured to follow those simple 
principles of the English law of evidence which 
require that facts shall be testified to by eye-wit- 
nesses, and that those witnesses shall be subjected 
to cross-examination. 

To the ambassador himself, and to many other 



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xvi AUTHOR'S Preface: 

members of our diplomatic and consular services, 
I have been greatly indebted for information and 
assistance. I have had the honour of receiving a 
communication, probably unique in character, from 
his Imperial Majesty the Sultan, in the nature of a 
defence of his government; and I have had the 
privilege of personal intercourse, of a more or less 
confidential nature, with many distinguished Turks, 
among whom may be mentioned Ferid Pasha, the 
then Grand Vizier, Hakky Bey, who is Minister of 
the Interior in the new government, and Ahmed 
Riza Bey, so long the leader of the Young Turks 
in Paris; besides Hilmi Pasha, the viceroy of the 
Macedonian vilayets, and not a few governors-general 
and governors in the disturbed provinces. On the 
side of the Greeks I have had the honour of meeting 
his Holiness the (Ecumenical Patriarch, Mr. Theotokis, 
the Prime Minister of Greece, the late and present 
Foreign Ministers, and many archbishops of dioceses 
in Turkey. The Bulgarian Archbishop of Monastir, 
and Bulgarian and Servian agents and consuls there 
and elsewhere, also favoured me with their views. 

But the feature of the work to which I attach 
most importance is the evidence obtained from 
more humble sources, some of them overlooked by 
previous inquirers. Upwards of thirty schools, re- 
presentative of seven ' or eight nationalities, have 
been personally visited and inspected to obtain in- 
formation on the relative strength of the different 
races and creeds, and their educational progress. 
The inhabitants of almost as many towns and villages 
have been questioned under circumstances that 
afforded some chance of eliciting their real experi- 
ences and sentiments. The leaders of Greek bands 



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AUTHOR'S PREFACE xvii 

have given accounts of their doings with consider- 
able candour; and a report is included, written by 
a French gendarmery officer to his superior, which 
contains a remarkably vivid and circumstantial de- 
scription of an operation by Turkish troops against 
the Comitadjis. 

If the perusal of this evidence has the effect de- 
signed, it should serve rather to open than to close 
the reader's mind, and, by bringing him into closer 
touch with the realities of the situation, place him 
in a better position to understand and judge the 
progress of the great changes now taking place in 
this least-known comer of Europe. 

A. U. 

October 29, 1908. 



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CONTENTS 

Preface pp. vii-xiii 

Author's Preface pp. xv-xvii 

HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

OF THE EVENTS WHICH LED UP TO THE REVOLUTION IN 
EUROPEAN TURKEY 

Necessity for a review of the past— i. The Greeks— 2. The Mace- 
donians— 3. The Romans — 4. The Byzantine Empire — 5. The Slaves 
—6. The Bulgars— 7. The Turks— 8. The Patriarchate— 9. The 
European Powers— 10. Genesis of the Folk War— 11. The Wars of 
Independence— 12. The Exarchate— 13. The Bulgarian Principality— 
14. Macedonia — 15. The Internal Organisation — 16. The Insurrec- 
tion— 17. The European Reforms— 18. Last Phase of the Folk War 
— 19. The Revolution pp. 1-49 

CHAPTER I 

OUT OF EUROPE 

Europe and the Levant — Moslem refugees— An ideal settlement — 
Corfu— Grecophobia — Prosperity of Greece — Candour of the Greeks 
-^Hellenist refugees— Bulgarian atrocities — New Anchialos pp. 50^7 

CHAPTER II 

ATHENS REVISITED 

The Grande-Brg/agfte— Greek Hospitality— The Bulletin (^Orient— 
An Athenian family — The Lame Welsh — The Greek Prime Minister — 
Public and private institutions — The Pamassos — The Turkish Entente 
— The British Legation — " Come over and help us^* , . pp. 68-89 

CHAPTER III 

THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLt 

An International Egypt— Travellers' tales— The ilead of the 
Church— Bulgarian atrocities — Policy of the Comitadjis — An Arch- 
bishop on his defence — The confidences of an Ambassador — Paradise 
Lost -. - . . . pp. 90-112 



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XX CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IV 

UNKNOWN TURKEY 

The Christian dragoman— A British welcome— The two cats- 
Kirk- Kilissi— The Bulgarian Peril— A Turkish Governor— A Greek 
school— The Turk as Peacemaker— An Entente CordiaU—K soldier's 
compliment pp. ii3-'33 

CHAPTER V 

THE VILAYET OF ADRIANOPLE 

A Bulgarian Commercial Agent — The art of cross-examination— 
A Jewish school — Persian Literature— On the trail of the Comitadjis — 
Romeo and Juliet — A Turkish atrocity — The cost of liberation 

pp. 134-148 

CHAPTER VI 

THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

Drama — ^The reformed gendarmery — Professional jealousy — The 
Mute — A British officer's evidence — My travelling companion— Bul- 
garian gratitude to England — The hero of Serres — Salonika— Other 
phases of the Folk War — Hilmi Pasha — European credulity— How 
Griva was liberated— Japan to the rescue ... pp. I49-I74 



CHAPTER VII 

A VLACH TOWN 

Verria — The Rumanian propaganda — Its effects — Fairy arithmetic 
— A mysterious plague — Bulgarian witnesses— The Thirty-Nine 
Articles — A Turkish school pp. 175-186 

CHAPTER VIII 

GREEK TOWNS 

Niausta— Bulgarian statistics — Signs of progress— Bulgarian boycott 
—Greek aspirations — Voden a— Russian gendarmery officers — Philip 
of Macedon — An exemplary sentence — The wizard — ^A glimpse of the 
Middle Ages — Three schools— Archiepiscopal friendliness pp. 187-199 



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CONTENTS xxi 

CHAPTER IX 

MACEDONIAN VILLAGES 

Rural jealousy — The language test — Under escort— Vladovo— 
*• Makedonski "—An exarchist— Victims of the Folk War— Russian 
sympathy— A dramatic incident— A public reception— How Nisia was 
liberated— A wedding party— A Turkish officer . pp. 200-214 

CHAPTER X 

A TURKISH TOWN 

A Macedonian hotel — An Albanian bey — A witness above suspicion 
— The correspondent of The Times — Fairy statistics — A Turkish 
schoolmaster— The liberation of Fiorina pp. 215-224 

CHAPTER XI 

THE HEART OF TURKEY IN EUROPE 

Fairy geography — The Bulgarian conquest— A new test of nation- 
ality— Sabbath-breaking — ^The Sultan's idea of education— The re- 
ligious difficulty solved in Turkey — A page of The Arabian Nights — 
In the military college — Relations between Turks and Europeans — 
Turkey's appeal to England pp. 225-241 

CHAPTER Xn 

THE BULGARIAN QUARTER OF MONASTIR 

A Greek outrage — A Bulgarian Archbishop — The spy — A Bulgarian 
play — The Sultan's difficulty — A Japanese agent — The truth about 
the Comitadjis — A new remedy — ^The white flag — A Turkish raid — 
American missionaries — A Greek poisoner ... pp. 242-261 



CHAPTER XHI 

" ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, AND LANGUAGES " 

An alarmist rumour — The story of Bilianik — The Italian gen- 
darmery officer — An Albanian witness — A Christian Bishop — The 
Servian view — A Greek barrister on Turkish justice — A Turkish 
prison — Hellenism triumphant — The three tales of Rokotina — In a 
Moslem village pp. 262-282 



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xxii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XIV 

THE LIBERATION OF RAKOVO 

The work of liberation — An Exarchist gendarmery officer—A Patri- 
archist village — Rural life in Macedonia — An oppressed taxpayer — 
Peter takes his precautions — Turkish tyranny—Peasant fear— The 
trail of the Comitadjis — ^A voice from America— A typical Turkish 
atrocity— The tyrant trembles — ^The grievance of Obsima pp. 283-297 

CHAPTER XV 

THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

The warfare against the bands — The work of the financial com- 
mission — King Log and King Stork — The work of the Internal 
Organisation — The work of the Reformed Gendarmery — The destruc- 
tion of D^r^-Muslim — The blood-drinkers ... pp. 298-319 

CHAPTER XVI 



Politics and truth— The captain of a Greek band— How the Folk 
War began— Operations Of the Antartes^— Feeling of the Macedonian 
Greeks— The way to end the Folk War— Turkish etiquette— The 
Albanists pp. 320-336 

CHAPTER XVn 

THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 

Turkish Constantinople — Izzet Pasha— The Grand Vizier— The 
German Protectorate — A communication from the Sultan — His 
Majesty's policy — Signs of revolution — Christianity and Islam — ^The 
Evidence of Hamidian Progress— Smyrna — Work of the missionaries 
—Education pp. 337-354 

CHAPTER XVIII 

THE YOUNG TURKS 

English Liberals and Turkish Reform — Two representatives of 
Young Turkey — Difficulties in the path — ^The Greeks— The Bulgars 
— Conduct and poHcy of the Reformed Government — ^The future 

pp. 355-363 

INDEX pp. 365-368 



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ILLUSTRATIONS 



" YOUNG TURKS " Frontispiece 

FACINO PAGE 

CAPTAIN ^'ATHALES ^OUAS," WOUNDED IN VICTORIOUS EN- 
COUNTER WITH COMITADJIS 30 

COMITADJI CHIEF YANKOFF, WHO OBTAINED ARMS IN ATHENS 
TO FIGHT THE TURKS AND USED THEM TO KILL GREEK 

PRIESTS IN MACEDONIA 30 

GREEK REFUGEES FROM BULGARIA 52 

"A GREEK BAND" 7© 

GREEK MACEDONIAN BAND UNDER '* CAPTAIN VARDAS". . I04 

STREET IN DRAMA 1 56 

FLAG OF ANCHIALOS, AT NEW ANCHIALOS . . . • I90 

FUNERAL PROCESSION AT MONASTIR OF SIX GREEK ANTARTES 

KILLED BY THE TURKISH TROOPS 228 

SCHOLARS OF THE GREEK SCHOOLS OF MEGAREVO AND 

TIRNOVO— KOUTZO-VLACHS 274 

** CAPTAIN VARDAS'' 3^2 



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/'..■> ■■:■ 



THE EAST END OF EUROPE 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

OF THE EVENTS WHICH LED UP TO THE REVOLUTION IN 
EUROPEAN TURKEY 

Necessity for a review of the past — i. The Greeks — 2. The Mace- 
donians — 3. The Romans — 4. The Byzantine Empire— 5. The 
Slaves— 6. The Bulgars— 7. The Turks— 8. The Patriarchate— 
9. The European Powers— 10. Genesis of the Folk War — n. The 
Wars of Independence — 12. The Exarchate — 13. The Bulgarian 
Principality — 14. Macedonia— 15. The Internal Organisation — 
16. The Insurrection — 17. The European Reforms — 18. Last 
Phase of the Folk War— 19. The Revolution. 

In the present day education is in so disorganised 
a state, and includes such a variety of subjects, that 
it is no longer possible for a writer to form a reason- 
able estimate of the extent to which his readers are 
already informed on the topic which he proposes 
to treat. Generally speaking, the English public 
is very fully acquainted with the history of the quarrels 
between the small Greek states in the period between 
500 and 300 B.C., its impressions of the Alexandrian 
world are faint and uncertain, and its familiarity with 
the more recent history of the near East breaks off 
where Gibbon breaks off, at the fall of Constantinople, 
and revives with the Gladstonian crusade against 
the Turks. 

This fragmentary knowledge is the source of a 
good deal of prejudice and mistaken policy, and in 
the absence of any complete and satisfactory history 
of the entire region, for the entire period from 500 b.c. 

I 



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2 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

to A.D. 1908, the following outline may assist a certain 
number of readers to take a more clear and connected 
view of the present situation in Turkey and the 
problems it presents to statesmanship. It is un- 
fortunately the case that much of the recent history 
and geography of the Balkan peninsula has been 
written by partisans or patriots, in a political rather 
than a scientific spirit, justifying the remark of the 
German ethnologist who declared that he could always 
foretell the conclusions of any ethnographical work on 
Macedonia as soon as he knew the nationality of the 
author. This evil has largely sprung from the mis- 
chievous view that the nationality of the Balkan 
populations ought to be determined on genealogical 
or philological grounds, instead of by the free choice 
of those concerned. 

I. The Greeks 

The Greek people are known to themselves as 
Hellenes, a name which there are some grounds for 
interpreting as children, or worshippers, of the sun. 
When the history of Europe first began to be written, 
five hundred years before the Christian era, they were 
already established in their present seats. What is 
now the territory of the Greek kingdom was recog- 
nised as the homeland of the race, from which colonies 
went forth planting cities and seaports all round the 
coast of the iEgean, the Black, and the Mediterranean 
seas, and everywhere diffusing the light of Hellenic 
culture. The various states of which this Hellenic 
world was composed were united by the possession of 
a common language, which has remained in use to 
the present day, with the natural modifications due 
to time and events, by common arts and sciences, and 
by the sense of a common nationality in which races 
of various origins were blended as they are in the 
English nation. 

At that epoch the Greeks clearly felt themselves to 



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HELLENISM 3 

be distinguished from the peoples who surrounded 
them by certain ideals which still inspire them, and 
which they have gradually communicated to the rest 
of mankind : the love of freedom, the thirst for know- 
ledge, and that spirit which we express by the word 
humanity. The Hellenic mind reached its highest 
expression in the city of Athens, for ages the Holy 
City of culture ; and perhaps the principles of civil 
government have never been more nobly stated than 
in the funeral oration pronounced by Pericles over the 
Athenians who had fallen in the Peloponnesian War : 

" We bring freedom into the conduct of our public 
affairs, and also into our daily dealings with one 
another. We are not angry with our neighbours 
because they do that which gives them pleasure. We 
do not engage in persecutions which, thouerh they may 
not be the punishments of the law, are not less painful. 
Without malice in our private relations, in our public 
proceedings we are law-abiding out of respect for 
right ; rendering obedience to such as exercise autho- 
rity, and to the laws ; above all to those which favour 
the injured, and to those unwritten ones which bring 
the injurer under a universal ban." 

It cannot be pretended that the political life of the 
ancient Greeks, even in Athens, actually realised the 
ideal of her greatest statesman. But it was much that 
he should have been able to place it before his fellow- 
citizens for their admiration. There is no existing 
state, with the possible exception of China, to which 
the words of Pericles could be applied except in a 
spirit of satire. Modem Europe, including modem 
Greece herself, is still far from grasping the principle 
embodied in the words : " We are not angry with 
our neighbours because they do that which gives them 
pleasure." 

2. The Macedonians 

Hellas, like Jewry, was and is not so much a country 
as a people. The idea of nationality in the East hardly 



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4 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

includes that territorial element which Western 
Europe owes to the feudal system. It is rather racial 
and religious than geographical, and on that account 
it has tended in the past to be rather exclusive than 
inclusive in its manifestation. 

Our own day has witnessed the spectacle of the 
Greeks claiming the population of Macedonia as 
Hellenes, and taking up arms to resist their Bulgarisa- 
tion by force. In the classical age of Greece the claim 
of the Macedonians to enter the sacred circle of Hellas 
was received with some jealousy ; and the kings of 
that country were required to prove their Greek 
descent before they were admitted to the privilege of 
competing in the Olympic Games. 

Such is the first ray of light thrown by history on 
that region which has since become the prize of contest 
between Moslem and Christian, Servian, Bulgarian, 
and Greek. And it reveals the population as doubt- 
fully Greek in origin, but enlightened by Greek 
culture, and inspired by the ambition of becoming 
Greek in name. Almost exactly similar conditions 
will be found prevailing in the same region at the 
present hour. 

In the next generation king Philip of Macedon 
established a species of suzerainty or protectorate 
over most of the Greek states, and his son, Alexander 
the Great, led them to the conquest of Asia. In the 
vast realm which he annexed to Hellas the distinction 
between Greek and Macedonian was swiftly effaced, 
and the name of Macedon remained in use merely as 
the name of the least of those kingdoms into which 
the Alexandrian empire was split up. 

3. The Romans 

The age that followed was that in which the Greeks 
established that empire over the human mind which 
has given them their supreme place in the history of 
civilisation. Between 300 and 100 b.c. the countries 



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GREEK CULTURE 5 

bordering on the Mediterranean in its eastern extent 
received the firm stamp of Hellenic culture, and the 
Greek scholars of Alexandria gave a permanent shape 
to those studies which have formed the basis of 
European education ever since. 

When the Romans came upon the scene they paid 
the same homage to Greek superiority that the Mace- 
donians had paid before them. They, in their turn, 
sought to connect their origin with the heroic age of 
Hellas. They took over the Greek culture like a 
ready-made suit of clothes, and the Latin Grammar 
is in reality no less a production of the Greek mind 
than Euclid's Elements. 

It was again reserved for the Greeks, in the follow- 
ing centuries, to welcome the religious revelation 
rejected by the Jews, to write its literature, shape its 
dogmas, organise its churches, and launch it on the 
Western world. The traveller who meets with the 
word pope, or papa, the Greek name for father, as 
the title of every village priest in the Levant, is 
irresistibly reminded of the Greek origin of that great 
bishopric which once extended its authority over the 
whole of Latin Christendom. 

The great code of laws which is Rome's solitary 
bequest to civilisation is deeply tinctured by the spirit 
of Greek philosophy, and the ideal of Pericles shines 
forth once more in the maxim with which it opens: 
" So use thy own as not to hurt another." 

4. The Byzantine Empire 

The Roman passed, as the Macedonian had passed, 
from the stage of history, with the loss of his military 
power. But again the Greeks outlasted their con- 
querors, and ages after the Latin provinces of the 
empire had passed into barbarian hands the Greek 
provinces continued to emerge from the waves, and to 
remain an island of light in the midst of a sea of war 
and desolation. 



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6 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

Nevertheless, the Greece whose capital was Con- 
stantinople exhibited a very marked decadence from 
the Greece whose capital was Athens, and this de- 
cadence cannot be attributed wholly to the barbarian 
assaults. The celebrated observation that Islam was 
the executioner of Hellenism cannot be supported. 
Hellenism perished in giving birth to Christianity. 
The schools of Athens were closed by Justinian one 
hundred years before Mohammed began to preach, 
and they have never been reopened. The Greek 
clergy, no less than the Latin, exerted themselves to 
efface the science and literature of Paganism, and to 
confine the human intellect in the strait bonds of 
orthodoxy. It was Islam which gathered up the dying 
embers, and fanned them into a flame which illumined 
the West in the Middle Ages, till it was extinguished 
in the blood of the Albigeois by the Papal crusaders. 

It would be entirely unjust to consider Christianity 
as the sole cause of a revolution of which it was 
rather the symptom, and, in a great measure, the 
palliative. The principal cause of this great difference 
between the Byzantine Greeks and those of the 
classical age was the confounding of classes and races 
which took place under the Roman empire, which at 
once paved the way for Christianity, and was pro- 
moted by it. An ancient observer has left us a picture 
of the market-place of Sparta, in \yhich he saw a mere 
handful of Spartan citizens passing proudly through 
the throng of strangers and slaves and helots, which 
divided before them like the waves before the prow of 
a ship. It is those nameless masses, those peasant 
serfs of unknown origin who cultivated the fields for 
their Doric masters, whom the edict of Caracalla and 
the communion-table of the Church have confounded 
with their ancient lords in the Greek nationality as it 
exists to-day. 

But while their inferiority in intellect and humanity 
is unquestioned, the Byzantine Greeks have not re- 
ceived sufficient credit for the warlike qualities which 



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THE SLAVES 7 

enabled them to hold out a thousand years after Rome 
had fallen against an endless succession of the fiercest 
foes by which any civilised state has ever been 
assailed. The long list of invasions which swept 
over the Balkan peninsula begins with the Goths and 
ends with the Turks, but in between came the count- 
less hordes of the Lombards and Avars, the Slaves 
and Bulgars, the Saracens and Normans. It is not 
often enough remembered that the so-called crusade 
which delivered Constantinople into the hands of a 
bandit swarm of Venetians and Prankish chiefs, in the 
twelfth century, did more than an3rthing else to weaken 
the structure of the Byzantine empire, and lay it open 
to the Mohammedan power. 

5. The Slaves 

Out of all the races which successively poured down 
on to the Macedonian plains, the only one which has 
established itself in sufficient numbers to affect the 
general character of the population is the Slave. 
Their name has been connected by philologists with 
a word meaning praise, or more probably, in its 
earliest form, song. As it is common for primitive 
peoples to brand foreign races by a name signifying 
that their speech is harsh or unintelligible, so it may 
be a reasonable conjecture that the name Slave was 
originally adopted in an opposite sense, as distinguish- 
ing the people whose speech was harmonious, or else 
that it was bestowed on them by their neighbours in 
consequence of the peculiar pitch of their voices. 
National vanity has chosen to translate the name by 
the word " glorious," but it has passed into the Dutch 
group of languages with a much less honourable 
signification, apparently as the result of wars in which 
the Slave population of north-western Europe became 
the bondsmen of their Teutonic conquerors. 

The purest representatives of this race in the Balkan 
region are probably to be found in the modem states 



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8 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

of Servia and Montenegro, but the Slave element is 
also the most conspicuous one in Bulgaria, in Bosnia, 
in the Turkish vilayet of Kossovo, and over an un- 
defined area to the south. Indeed, to fix the limits 
within which it is fairly entitled to recognition as the 
predominant one in the population, and to discriminate 
within the Slavonic fold between the rival claims of 
the Servian and Bulgarian nationalities, is the most 
pressing of the tasks at present before the statesmen 
of Turkey and of Europe ; as it is their failure to 
grapple with it which has filled Macedonia with blood- 
shed and anarchy for many years past 

The unfortunate action of Western sympathisers 
in concentrating their interest of late years on the 
Bulgars, to the exclusion of the other Christian races 
of Turkey, to say nothing of the Turks themselves, 
has so far distorted public opinion on the whole 
question of the near East, that it has become impera- 
tive to redress the balance, even at the cost of some 
severity in speaking of a people who have many good 
qualities, and are as fully entitled as any other to 
sympathy and support in asserting their legitimate 
claims by tolerable means. 

6. The Bulgars 

The name of the Bulgars, written in Greek Voul" 
garoi^ first meets us in the history of the sixth 
century, when some tribes thus called broke across 
the Danube as part of a mixed horde of Turks, Avars, 
and Slaves. 

Their modem historians derive the name from the 
river Volga, from whose banks they appear to have 
migrated. But such a derivation leaves us in ignor- 
ance of the meaning of the name Volga, which, like 
that of the Niger, may have been taken from the 
nations through which it flowed. It seems simpler 
to regard the word Bulgar as another form of the 
Latin Vulgus and the English Folk^ and to suppose 



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THE BULGARS 9 

that it was bestowed on a race of peasants by their 
conquerors. The existing nation is characterised by 
many traits which make the name in that sense 
peculiarly suitable; indeed Professor Dicey, in writing 
of the Bulgarian Principality as the " Peasant State," 
seems to have been influenced by the very idea which 
perhaps underlies the name Bulgar.^ 

The modem Bulgars are generally credited with 
a strain of Tartar or Turanian blood. In that con- 
nection it is significant that their first attack on the 
Byzantine empire was made in company with Turks 
and Avars; and it is unhappily the case that their 
temper in warfare has in all ages betrayed a ferocity 
which Europe has been taught to associate with the 
Turks. But the national dialect is almost wholly 
Slave, and the general character and political sym- 
pathies of the Bulgars suggest that they are a Slave 
people which has absorbed a smaller Asiatic element 
as the English absorbed the Normans. 

For some centuries the name of the Bulgars dis- 
appears from the page of history. But in the ninth 
century the Greek empire was being assailed at the 
same time by the Saracens from the south and east, 
and by the pagan Slaves from the north and west; 
and among these latter enemies the Bulgars emerged 
for a time as the leaders of the attack. 

In that age, as in the present day, we find their 
campaigns marked by acts of savagery peculiarly 
characteristic of servile or peasant warfare, as in the 
Servile Wars of the ancient world, the Jacqueries 
of medieval France, and the anarchist propaganda 
in modem Europe. Treaties of peace proved useless 
to restrain these treacherous barbarians, who broke 
them as soon as the danger was past. Their khan, 

' On the other hand, the name of the Bulgar nation ought to be 
relieved from Gibbon's imputation of being the origin of a more 
odious word found in the medieval statutes against heresy. That 
word is connected with a large European grouj) meaning a god, 
or spirit — it includes Shakespeare's Puck — and with religious ideas 
of which some trace is found in the Old Testament. 



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lo HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

Kroumos, or Kremm, overthrew the emperor Nike- 
phoros in battle, slew him, and made a drinking- 
cup out of his skull. 

In the next generation the Greeks resorted to the 
measure so often employed by the Roman Church 
against the Western barbarians, and two Greek 
monks succeeded in persuading the Folk to call 
themselves Christians. 

The respite thus gained was a brief one. In the 
tenth century the Bulgars, under their tsar Simeon, 
became masters of the Balkan peninsula from sea to 
sea; and pursuing a policy which has sometimes 
attracted them in later times, they transferred their 
allegiance from the See of Constantinople to that of 
Rome, receiving from the Pope the title of Patriarch 
for the head of the Bulgarian Church. 

The power of the Bulgars was finally broken about 
the year 1018 by the Greek Emperor, Basil II., sur- 
named the Folkslayer (Voulgaroktonos). They sank 
into the condition of vassals of the Byzantine empire, 
sometimes in rebellion, and renewing their relations 
with the Roman See, but at other times aiding their 
suzerains against the Latin crusaders. They passed 
under the yoke of the short-lived Servian empire of 
Stephen Dushan (a.d. 1346), and shortly afterwards 
vanished from the light of history for five hundred 
years under the shadow of the Crescent. 

In the following century, with the fall of Constanti- 
nople (a.d. 1453), Hellenism underwent a similar 
eclipse for three hundred and fifty years. 

In weighing the respective claims and merits of 
the Greeks and Bulgars of to-day, it ought to be 
borne in mind that when the curtain of Islam de- 
scended on the scene the Greeks were still the 
leading nation of the Balkans, the only one entitled 
to be called civilised, and the one which had borne 
the brunt of the Moslem onset for seven centuries, 
and yet had been the last to succumb. The Bulgars 
had received their religion, and such civilisation as 



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THE TURKS ii 

they possessed, from the Greeks; sheltered behind 
the screen of Constantinople from the Turks, they 
had, so to speak, co-operated with them in sapping 
its foundations; and the moment they found them- 
selves face to face with the Ottoman hosts they 
submitted without a single battle which history has 
thought worth recording. 

7. The Turks 

The Turks are the only people in Eastern Europe 
who entered it by way of Asia. This circumstance 
caused them to come in contact with the religion 
and culture of Islam before that of Christendom, and 
their consequent adoption of the Koran as their rule 
of faith imposed a barrier between them and the 
races which they subjugated which has proved insur- 
mountable up to the present hour. 

Their march across Europe was arrested at the 
gates of Vienna. It is impossible to assign any 
regular boundaries to an empire which has constantly 
fluctuated in its geographical extent, and in the nature 
of its hold on the subject provinces. But at the close 
of the eighteenth century, when the Balkan question 
was entering on its present phase, the line of the 
Danube and Save formed the northern limit of Turkish 
occupation, Bosnia being the furthest province to con- 
tain any large Moslem population ; while the modern 
kingdom of Rumania was represented by two tribu- 
tary states under Greek hospodars appointed by the 
Porte. 

Within this area the conquered peoples, Greek, 
Bulgar, and Serb, underwent the fate of the Anglo- 
Saxons after the Norman conquest. After a short 
period of conciliation for prudential motives, they 
found themselves despoiled of their lands, and treated 
as an inferior race. But there is no evidence that 
religious feeling influenced the Turks in their treat- 
ment of their Christian subjects. They showed no 



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12 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

design to convert them; on the contrary, they have 
been charged with desiring them to remain outside the 
pale of Islam in order that they might be more freely 
oppressed. 

The solitary occasion on which the Turks were 
tempted to quit the path of toleration was when the 
Christian sovereigns of Spain were erasing Moham- 
medanism and Judaism together, in their dominions, 
with a deliberate cruelty which the Turks have cer- 
tainly never exceeded. The Sultan formed a rash 
resolution of avenging the sufferings of his fellow- 
believers on the Christians who were in his power ; 
but, his intention becoming known, he was stopped on 
the threshold of the mosque of St. Sophia by the 
Sheikh-ul-Islam, who read out from the JKoran a text 
forbidding persecution, and extorted from the Sultan 
a promise to abandon his purpose. 

In more recent times, the action of the Christian 
Powers in using the cloak of religion to cover their 
designs on the Turkish empire has sometimes tempted 
the Sultans to adopt forcible methods of conversion 
in order to increase the number of their loyal subjects. 
But such departures from their traditional policy have 
been rare and sporadic. On the whole, the history 
of Turkey is probably more free from the stain of 
persecution than that of any other state in Europe ; 
and during the centuries in which the Christians of 
the West were dooming each other to exile, imprison- 
ment, torture, and death for the most trifling differences 
of creed, the Christians of the East enjoyed the exer- 
cise of their religion as freely as they do to-day. 

On the other hand, it is true that the Christians 
have had it in their power at any time to pass over to 
the ranks of the dominant caste by embracing Islam. 
In this respect their position may be compared with 
that of the Irish Catholics under the penal laws of the 
eighteenth century. Yet that very comparison should 
remind an English critic of the Turks that he is, after 
all, only condemning them for having lagged a genera- 



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THE PATRIARCHATE 13 

tion or two behind himself. They can hardly be said 
to have lagged behind Russia or Spain. 

By the Turks themselves, and by the Christians of 
Turkey, the name Turk is constantly used to include 
all the Mohammedan elements in the population, in- 
cluding those of European origin ; but, in view of the 
distinct character of the Albanian people, it is better 
to employ the term Moslem as the antithesis to 
Christian. 

8. The Patriarchate' 

If there were any truth in the saying that the nation 
is happy which has no history, the period of the en- 
forced truce between the Christian races of the Balkans, 
under their Moslem lords, ought to be esteemed their 
golden age. I have before me a chronological abstract 
of the history of " Macedonia " from the year 850 b.c 
to A,D. 1896, compiled by a Greek scholar. Dr. Nicolaides. 
Between a.d. 1570 and 1745 there is not a single entry. 

Of all the charges so recklessly hurled against the 
Turks perhaps the most groundless is that of their 
having acted on the principle Divide et impera. So 
far from dividing their Christian subjects, it was their 
policy to unite them in one fold under the (Ecumenical 
Patriarch, and to include them all in one nationality, 
the Greek. The Slave Patriarchates were suppressed 
after a life of centuries, and the See of Constantinople 
obtained an extent of territorial influence and authority 
which it had never enjoyed in the Byzantine ages. 
The Patriarch of Constantinople was formally en- 
trusted by the Turkish conqueror with the care of 
the Christian population, and to this day he enjoys 
and exercises the right of representing them at the 
Sublime Porte, of presenting their petitions, and claim- 
ing the redress of their grievances : a position which 
may be best understood by imagining the Hindus re- 
presented at the Court of St. James's by a supreme 
Brahman having direct access to the Throne and to 



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14 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

the Prime Minister behind the backs of the Viceroy 
and Secretary for India. 

The Christian population, organised under the 
Patriarchate, formed a state within a state, administer- 
ing their own affairs, holding courts, and governed 
by their own laws in such matters as marriage and 
inheritance. Their bishops, most of whom assumed 
the rank of metropolitans, received a staff as the badge 
of their authority, and were treated as great officers 
of state, on a level with the Turkish governors. It 
is not to be denied that the Greek clergy abused the 
power with which they found themselves invested, 
though whether they did so to a greater extent than 
other priesthoods is at least doubtful. Simony has 
not been confined to the Greek Church, nor is its 
clergy the only one that has been accused of amassing 
exorbitant wealth. In conducting worship in the 
Greek tongue amid a Slave-speaking population they 
did no more than the English Church in Wales, and 
the Roman Church in England. 

Through the long Pax Turcomanica, however, the 
seeds of national life and international strife continued 
to germinate in silence. There is apparent a great 
difference in the attitude of the various races towards 
the Turkish rule. The Greeks, although favoured and 
entrusted with important posts by their conquerors, 
never for a moment abandoned the hope of regaining 
all they had lost. They lived a life of perpetual con- 
spiracy, intriguing with the Western Powers and with 
Russia, and always preparing for the future revolt. 
The Serbs kept up the memory of their past glories 
in heroic songs and ballads, and the rocks of Monte- 
negro became a citadel of bandit freedom. The Bulgars 
alone made no sign. They settled down into a state 
of apathetic subjection, varied only by occasional acts 
of brigandage and private vengeance. Content to 
cultivate their fields in peace, they were, and they 
remain, the one people in the Balkans which has never 
struck a serious blow for its own deliverance. 



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EUROPE AND TURKEY 15 

9. The European Powers 

The present attitude of the European Powers 
towards Turkey and her Christian subjects may be 
dated from the last quarter of the eighteenth century, 
when the Turkish military power had been fatally 
weakened by the wars of Catherine the Great. 

Shortly after the successful partition of Poland, the 
Emperor Joseph II. of Austria proposed to Russia 
a joint attack upon the Turkish empire for the 
purpose of "delivering mankind from these bar- 
barians." The Austrian forces had occupied the then 
province of Servia, when the jealousy of Prussia, 
supported by France and England, compelled them 
to withdraw, though not before planting the seeds of 
that long struggle which ended in the establishment 
of Servian independence. 

From that time forth the dissolution of the Turkish 
empire has been alternately arrested and precipitated 
by the action of the European Powers, whose mutual 
jealousies have not suffered them to co-operate 
sincerely in any definite settlement. The general 
result of their action has been to withdraw from 
the authority of the Sultan those provinces where 
Christians preponderated, but the part which each 
Power has played in the evolution has generally 
depended on its view of its own interest at the 
moment. Thus it was remarked by the German 
historian Ranke, writing before the Crimean War, 
that the absolutist governments of Russia and 
Austria were generally found on the side of emanci- 
pation, while the Liberal Powers, England and France, 
as steadily supported the cause of Turkish authority. 

In considering the policy of Russia, the Power best 
entitled to be called the liberator of the Balkans, it 
is fair to remember that she has been in the fortunate 
position of finding no conflict between her selfish 
interests and her sympathies. Her statesmen may 
be actuated by the ambition of reaching the Mediter- 



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i6 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

ranean, but her people are inspired by a genuine 
enthusiasm for the members of their own Church 
and their own race. The policy of England, on the 
other hand, has been rendered contradictory and 
puzzling to foreign observers, by the opposition 
between her interest in the integrity of the Ottoman 
power and her love of free institutions, a love 
strengthened in this case by the belief that such 
institutions would be the surest means of restoring 
vigour to the decaying empire. These opposing views 
are represented by political parties, each of which 
is sincere ; but that party which advocates a foreign 
policy based upon considerations of sentiment is 
apt, at the critical moment, to lack the courage of 
its opinions and to leave the direction of affairs in 
the hands of its opponents. Such is the explanation 
of that charge of hypocrisy so constantly brought 
against British statesmanship by those whose hopes 
have been disappointed by its action. 

The net result of these divergent views and interests 
has been that, whereas it is Russia and Austria which 
have done the most to liberate the Christians of 
Turkey, France and England have been chiefly in- 
strumental in preserving the emancipated provinces 
from losing their independence afresh by annexation 
to those empires. It remains to see what influence 
the Powers have exercised on the more complicated 
disputes between the Christians themselves. 

The genesis of those disputes may be traced side 
by side with the progress of emancipation. 

10. Genesis of the Folk War 

The first faint stirring of the wind was felt in the 
middle of the eighteenth century, when a Macedonian 
Greek, remarkably enough named Voulgaris, laid the 
foundation of that noble system of schools which 
to-day overspreads all European Turkey. 

Almost at the same time, and on the very spot 



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PANSLAVISM 17 

chosen by Voulgaris for one of his schools, a Bul- 
garian priest named Paisy, in a monastery of Mount 
Athos, was setting himself to write a history of the 
" Peoples, Tsars, and Saints of Bulgaria," moved 
thereto, as he tells us in his quaint epilogue, by grief 
at the scorn of the Greeks and Serbs, who taunted 
the Bulgars with having no history. 

Paisy's work seems to have made little impression 
on his own people, but it met with a very different 
reception further north. Up to this time the Russians 
had shared the general ignorance or indifference as 
to the racial distinctions among the Christians of 
Turkey. They had encouraged the intrigues of the 
Greeks, and looked upon them as their future allies 
in the work of breaking up the Ottoman empire. 
But they were now quick to perceive the superior 
merits, from their point of view, of the Bulgars. 
The Greeks, vain of their past greatness, and in- 
tractable to every form of foreign government, would 
never willingly place Constantinople in Russian 
hands. The Folk, on the contrary, presented them- 
selves as an abject-spirited mass of serfs who would 
thankfully exchange their Moslem lords for Orthodox 
Christians. 

From this moment the gospel of Panslavism was 
steadily preached in the Balkans, and every effort 
was made to awaken the Bulgars to a consciousness 
of their distinct nationality, and to teach them that 
the Greeks were no less their enemies than the 
Turks themselves — lessons which have borne terrible 
fruits in the last ten years. 

II. The Wars of Independence 

The Greeks had been the last of the Christian 
peoples to pass under the Turkish yoke, and they 
were the first to escape from it But they had no 
desire to escape alone. When in the early years 
of the nineteenth century they raised the banner of 



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i8 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

freedom, they believed themselves to be giving the 
signal for a universal deliverance of the Christians, 
and the first blow for freedom was actually struck 
in what is now the kingdom of Rumania. 

The result showed that they had wrongly gauged 
the feelings of their brethren, who had no desire to 
see a restored Byzantine empire, with the Greeks 
in the position of the ruling caste. All the ancient 
jealousies that had slumbered under the Moslem 
domination instantly woke to life. Rumanians joined 
hands with Turks to crush the insurrection, the 
Bulgars remained stolidly indifferent, and the Servians, 
in their remote province, conducted their own struggle, 
alternately submitting to the Turkish governors, and 
revolting again, without any direct reference to what 
was being done elsewhere by the Greeks. The only 
allies who were found to share with the Greeks in 
the sufferings and glories of the War of independence 
were among the Orthodox Albanians and the Vlachs 
of Macedonia, the latter a race which no subsequent 
intrigues have ever succeeded in detaching from the 
fold of Hellenism. In consequence of this want of 
union among the Christians, the Greeks only suc- 
ceeded in freeing a small territory, to which some 
additions have been made since by the action of the 
Powers, but which has never corresponded to the 
real strength of the Hellenic element in the popula- 
tion of the empire. A large part of Macedonia, 
including the whole seaboard of the iEgean, and 
a great number of islands, of which Crete and 
Cyprus are the most important, form the territory 
of unredeemed Hellas. From the point of view of 
numbers and geographical situation, their claim on 
Constantinople is stronger than that of any other 
Christian people, while on historical and sentimental 
grounds no other Christian nation has any claim 
whatever. 

Such as they were, the scanty results obtained by 
the War of Independence were very largely owing 



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BULGARIA IN 1828 19 

to the good offices of Russia, the only Power which 
has ever showed any heartiness on behalf of any of 
the Balkan Christians. France and England came in, 
as it were, at the last moment, but their influence 
was exerted rather in the direction of cutting down 
than enlarging the area of freedom, the British 
Government, in particular, showing itself persistently 
bent on confining the Greek state within the 
narrowest possible limits, out of regard for the 
integrity of Turkey. 

The independence of Servia and Rumania was 
achieved by degrees, with the same support from 
Russia, and the same sullen opposition from the 
Western Powers. 

But the Bulgars continued quiescent, and not all 
the efforts of the Panslavist agents succeeded in 
inspiring them with the ambition of freedom, or the 
courage to fight for it. Even the presence of a 
Russian army of liberation in their midst failed to 
rouse them. An English officer who followed the 
Russian campaign of 1828 reported that only a single 
village had been moved to take arms on the arrival of 
their would-be liberators. 

** Elsewhere," says Captain Chesney, " there has 
been no disposition amongst the Bulgarians to join 
the Russians, nor would they do so in case of a 
future war. . . . Whatever contests may arise, the 
Bulgarian will most likely remain passively cultivating 
the soil, attending his flocks and herds, and enjoying 
that rough portion of plenty which his cottage (sunk 
in the ground) always affords." ^ 

The contrast is great between this supine race of 
serfs, almost refusing to be freed themselves, and the 
same race overrunning Macedonia with fire and sword 
on the pretext of freeing its brethren. 



* Despatches, Correspondence, and Memoranda of the Duke of 
WeUirigtony vol. vi. p. 483. See Seven Essays on Christian Greece^ 
by D. Bikelas, p. 285 (Marquess of Bute's translation). 



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20 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

12. The Exarchate 

Russia had failed to induce the Folk to face the 
Moslem arms ; it proved an easier matter to persuade 
them to brave the spiritual weapons of the Greek 
Church. 

The bait held out was not freedom of conscience, 
but the more tempting one of freedom of pocket. 
The peasant soul was stirred to its depths by the 
artful recapitulation of the clerical dues on ** money, 
barley, wheat, rye, maize, oats, onions, garlic, radishes, 
cabbages, pepper, beans, haricots, peas, lentils, and 
fruits of every kind." ^ The name of each vegetable 
would be a separate pang. 

The Crimean War was hardly over when the 
Bulgars were prevailed on to demand separation from 
the Greek Patriarchate under an " Exarch " of their 
own. The Porte should have welcomed this division 
in the Christian ranks, but the hand of Russia was 
too plainly visible in the intrigue, and the opposition 
of the Western Powers delayed its success till 1870. 

In the meantime Napoleon III. had tried to bid 
against Russia with a project for reuniting the Bulgars 
with their old patron the Pope. Their religion sits 
more lightly on the Folk than on most Christian 
peoples, and the project was not altogether hopeless. 
French priests were despatched to the ground, a 
respectable number of converts were made by means 
as respectable as missionaries usually employ, and 
in June 1861 a Bulgarian bishop who had been 
consecrated by the Pope landed at Salonika. A week 
later he mysteriously vanished from the knowledge 
of mankind ; and perhaps it requires no great acumen 
to fix the responsibility for this dramatic specimen of 
Slave diplomacy. 

The Church of Rome took the hint, nothing more 
was heard of the "Uniate" movement; and in 1870 

^ See a characteristic extract from a Panslavist tract in M. B^rard's 
La Turquie^ etc., p. 182. 



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THE EXARCHATE 2i 

the Porte was allowed to seal the firman constituting 
the Exarchate. According to Balkan ideas this step 
amounted to the formal recognition of a Bulgarian 
nationality, distinct from the Greek. In this way 
the work of Basil the Folkslayer was undone after 
eight hundred years, and the Greeks were deprived 
by intrigue of what their ancestors had gained in 
war. 

The idea of two Christian churches subsisting side 
by side in peaceful rivalry, like that of the Protestant 
sects in countries like England and America, was 
not present to the minds of those who passed this 
measure. The limits assigned to the Exarchate were 
geographical, corresponding in the main to those of 
the present Bulgarian state. Within these boundaries 
the character of the Christian population was fairly 
homogeneous; but there was a wide area outside, 
including a greater part of the Macedonian region, in 
which it was more mixed or more uncertain. To 
meet that state of things the firman contained a 
provision which sowed the seed of the Folk War. 

" Elsewhere than in the districts enumerated above, 
if the whole or at least two-thirds of the inhabitants 
desire the authority of the Exarch, and if their 
demands have been legally examined and established, 
they shall be allowed to pass over to the Exarchate, 
always with the good-will and consent of the whole 
or at least two-thirds of the population. If any one 
takes this excuse to sow discord and trouble among 
the inhabitants, those guilty of such proceedings shall 
be punished according to law." 

The commentary on that text stands written in the 
blood of the Macedonian Greeks to-day. 

The Patriarch of Constantinople replied to the 
firman by an excommunication on the part of the 
whole Eastern Church, an act by which perhaps he 
showed himself a better Hellene than a churchman. 
The excommunication did not fall in vain. It was 
too late to save the ground already assigned to the 



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22 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

Exarchate, but outside that area the progress of 
Bulgarism was arrested for twenty years. Required 
to choose between their creed and their linguistic 
affinities, the Macedonian Folk showed themselves 
better churchmen than Bulgars. 

13. The Bulgarian PHncipaliiy 

Russia had delivered her clients from Basil the 
Folkslayer ; seven years later she undertook to deliver 
them from Bajazet the Lightning. 

The Bosnians and Herzegovinians had long been in 
arms, and independent Servia had gone to their assist- 
ance, when the Folk were at last aroused to strike 
their first and only blow on their own behalf. Their 
insurrectionary movement was neither formidable nor 
prolonged, but it was marked by the same cruelty 
which has disgraced their more recent warfare, and the 
Turks retaliated in kind. The ferocity of the revolt 
went unnoticed; that of the repression was remarked 
by Gladstone, with results which are familiar to the 
world. It was the phrase " Bulgarian Atrocities " 
which first revealed to the general public the existence 
of this obscure and forgotten people, whose own deeds 
have now lent to that phrase a new and more sinister 
significance. 

Encouraged by the great English statesman, the 
Russian armies took the field once more, and their 
victories liberated at last the one people in the Balkans 
which had proved unwilling or unable to liberate 
itself. 

By the treaty which closed the war Panslavism over- 
leaped the boundaries of the Exarchate and bestowed 
upon the Folk nearly all Macedonia down to the 
iEgean Sea. In this way a large Hellenic population 
saw themselves placed by the power of Russia under 
the domination of a race which they had repeatedly 
subdued in former ages, and whose recent history 
showed it to be much inferior in courage and in civili- 



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BIG BULGARIA 23 

sation to their own. They instantly took arms to 
resist the execution of the treaty. 

The other European Powers were shocked, not at 
the injury to the Greeks, but at the advantage to 
Russia, and at Berlin they cut down the Big Bulgaria 
of the San Stefano treaty to limits more favourable to 
the maintenance of the Turkish power. The reduced 
Bulgaria was further divided into the Principality of 
Bulgaria and an autonomous province of Eastern 
Rumelia, but in 1885 the Principality annexed this 
province in a single night, and without having to fire 
a single shot. 

The ease with which this union was carried out 
was its best justification, and public opinion would 
have been shocked by any forcible interference with a 
revolution which so evidently fulfilled the wishes of 
the inhabitants. Nevertheless, the precedent was a 
dangerous one. There had been danger in thrusting 
liberty upon a nation which had given no proof, by 
heroic deeds, of deserving or strongly desiring it. And 
when the scarcely weaned state showed that it pos- 
sessed an appetite for expansion already full-grown, 
it was still more dangerous to teach it that it might 
gratify that appetite without facing those toils and 
dangers which act as a restraint on the ambition of 
stronger Powers. 

14. Macedonia 

Eastern Rumelia was only a part of that Big 
Bulgaria created by Russia but retrenched by the 
Berlin Congress, and already the politicians of Sofia 
were casting covetous eyes on the territory which lay 
between them and the Mediterranean. But here the 
conditions were very different. 

The remnant of the Turkish empire in Europe, 
officially styled Rumelia, is divided by the Pindus 
mountains into two regions. That to the west forms 
two vilayets covering the area of Albania and Epirus, 
and is outside the sphere of Bulgarian ambition for 



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24 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

the present. The region extending eastward to the 
Straits is divided into four vilayets, the easternmost 
of which is known officially as Adrianople, and to 
scholars and Hellenes as Thrace. 

It is to the intervening area comprised in the 
vilayets of Salonika, Monastir, and Kossovo that the 
name of Macedonia has been inaccurately applied. 
There being no substantial difference in character 
between the populations of the four vilayets, and all 
alike being the objects of Bulgarian ambition, and the 
theatre of revolutionary enterprise, it is more useful 
to consider them together under the official designa- 
tion of Rumelia. 

The total population of the four provinces, including 
Constantinople, may amount to rather over four 
millions, of whom probably two-fifths are Moslems. 
Another fifth at the least is made up of Hellenes, 
who are so by blood, language, religion, and national 
sentiment, and of a race known as Vlachs, or Koutzo- 
Vlachs, who speak a dialect half Greek and half Latin 
in character, but who are in sentiment more Hellenist 
than the Hellenes themselves. The remaining two- 
fifths speak a Slave patois, which appears to resemble 
the Bulgarian more closely than the Servian, except 
on the Servian frontier, and until the recent strife 
arose they were generally content to be known as 
Bulgars, although, curiously enough, when they call 
themselves Bulgars they do so in Serb.* But for the 
most part their idea of nationality has been rather 
religious than racial ; they have adhered to the Greek 
Patriarchate, the Greek language has been used in 
their schools, and they have been officially classified 
as Greeks by the Ottoman authorities. Their position 
has borne some resemblance to that of the Highlanders 
of Scotland, who are distinguished from the Lowland 
Scots as Gaels, while distinguished from the English 
as Scots. 

^ J a sam Baugafim (*' I am Bulgarian ")• The Bulgar proper calls 
himself Bolgarim, 



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BULGARIAN POLICY 25 

It is this indifferent or doubtful element which has 
become the prize of contention in the Folk War of 
the last few years, which has so far resulted in 
bringing over about one half to the Bulgarian 
Exarchate. The remainder have been confirmed in 
their adherence to the Patriarchate, and imbued with 
a distinct sentiment of Hellenic nationality. A new 
impulse has been given to the spread of the Greek 
language, and the name Bulgar is being repudiated 
in favour of " Macedonian." 

In order to pave the way to the annexation of 
Riunelia, the task before the Bulgarian imperialists 
was twofold. In the first place they had to detach 
the Slave-speaking inhabitants from the Patriarchate, 
and attach them to the Exarchate. But that in 
itself would not have been enough, because of the 
local distribution of the different races. The Hellenes, 
as we should expect, occupy the whole of the sea- 
coast in a nearly solid mass, which shades off in 
approaching the centre and north. The Slave element 
is equally solid in the north, and fades away to 
almost nothing on approaching the sea. The danger 
which the statesmen of Sofia had to fear was an 
equitable partition of the country on these hnes 
between the two nationalities, which would leave 
Bulgaria bigger indeed, but without the coveted 
coastline of the iEgean, and without that reversion 
to Constantinople which is the prime goal of Balkan 
ambitions. 

Such a partition presented itself to the mind of the 
celebrated Greek statesmen, Tricoupis, who privjitely 
visited Sofia in 1891 to propose it to StambulofT. 
The Bulgarian Minister listened to what he had to 
say, rejected the Greek pretensions as excessive, and 
then betrayed the secret of the negotiation to the Porte. 

In order to justify the annexation of the entire 
territory between Bulgaria and the sea, therefore, 
it became necessary to create a fictitious country 
with a fictitious nationality. To return to the former 



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26 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

illustration, we must imagine an independent Irish 
Republic desirous of adding the whole of Scotland 
to its dominions. It would be obliged, in the first 
place, to teach the Gaelic population that they were 
Irishmen, in order to enlist their support, and then 
to preach that Scotland was an indivisible whole in 
order to establish a claim over the Lowlands. 

The Bulgarian propagandists found what they 
required in the word " Macedonia," a name with no 
more definite signification than Wessex or Languedoc. 
Unfortunately for themselves, the Greeks had been 
the first to make use of this name, with its classical 
associations, and to give it a wide extension to the 
north in the interests of Hellenic expansion. As usual, 
their exaggerated pretensions defeated themselves, and 
the Bulgars now hoist them with their own petard, by 
persuading Europe that Macedonia was a definite 
political entity, like Wales or Switzerland. 

As a matter of convenience, the recent usage of 
European publicists makes the boundaries of "Mace- 
donia" coincide with those of the three vilayets 
indicated in the scheme of Macedonian reforms, 
Kossovo, Monastir, and Salonika. But such a definition 
suits neither the Greeks nor the Bulgars. The official 
map prepared by the Greek Government to show 
the schools of Macedonia includes only the two 
southern vilayets, and the line actually claimed and 
held as the northern boundary of Hellas runs a little 
to the north of the town of Monastir. The Bulgarian 
geographers, on the other hand, leave out certain 
districts on the west in which the population is 
overwhelmingly Moslem, and perhaps a comer in the 
south-west which is exclusively Hellene. 

The Macedonia thus constituted has no more 
national identity or cohesion than India. But the 
Christians on the whole outnumber the Moslems 
by probably about four to three, and if the European 
Powers could be wrought upon to ignore the Moslem 
element in the population, as is so constantly done 



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"MACEDONIA" 27 

by European writers, and erect " Macedonia " into 
an autonomous state like Eastern Rumelia, Bulgaria 
would have the fairest prospect of repeating her 
former coup. 

It was possibly with a view to some such result 
that Gladstone threw out the phrase "Macedonia 
for the Macedonians," a phrase which, be it said with 
all respect, could not have been used by any man 
of impartiality and intelligence who possessed a first- 
hand knowledge of the country. The Bulgarians 
were prompt to adopt it for use against the Turks, 
while keeping that of Macedonia for the Bulgars for 
use against the Greeks. Within the last few years, 
however, they have felt encouraged to lay claim openly 
to the remaining vilayet of Rumelia; the committee 
which directs the Folk War from Sofia has taken the 
name of " Macedonia-Adrianople," and bands of 
Comitadjis have been actively at work in the valley 
of the Maritza. It is therefore no longer necessary to 
demonstrate the mythical character of the "Mace- 
donian" nationality in the eyes of every element 
in the Macedonian population. 

In the meanwhile the Bulgarian historians, no less 
patriotic than the geographers, have made great 
strides since the time of Paisy. The kings of ancient 
Macedon are now included in the list of the " Tsars of 
Bulgaria," and stones with inscriptions in the Bulgarian 
dialect are being buried here and there in the disputed 
territory of Macedonia to await the curiosity of 
savants. The following extract from a Bulgarian 
schoolbook will show how the young idea is being 
taught to shoot in the ambitious little Principality : 

" The Bulgarian race anciently formed the original 
population of Asia Minor, of the Balkan peninsula, 
of the whole valley of the Danube, and of tne shores 
of the Black Sea to the mouth of the Don. At a later 
period the shores of the iEgean Sea were occupied by 
the Greeks, who forced part of the inhabitants to adopt 
the Hellenic tongue. But the basis of the population 



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A k. 



28 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

has remained purely Bulgarian as far as Thermo- 
pylae. 

"The most celebrated sovereigns of Bulgarian 
nationality were, in antiquity, the kings Philip and 
Alexander the Great. These, after having conquered 
the whole of the Greek territories, extended the Bul- 
garian empire as far as India." 

If these magnificent ideas are to inspire the ftiture 
policy of Bulgaria, it is clear that Russia and Austria 
are not less threatened than Turkey and Greece, and 
that its English admirers will one day have to choose 
between their sympathy with the Folk and their 
allegiance to the sovereign who is styled Emperor of 
India. 

15. The Internal Organisation 

In the year 1890 the Principality pushed forward 
its outposts into Northern Macedonia by obtaining 
from the Porte the creation of two Exarchist bishoprics, 
to which others have since been added as the price 
of her friendship to Turkey. As a further means of 
detaching the Slave-speaking Macedonians from the 
Patriarchist or Greek fold, schools were everywhere 
set up in rivalry to those with which the Greeks 
had long before covered the country ; but, except on 
the Bulgarian frontier, the mass of the Christian 
peasantry remained indifferent or hostile, in some 
cases preferring to pay the small fees demanded in 
the Hellenic schools rather than accept free education 
at Bulgarian hands. 

The result of the struggle waged on these peaceful 
lines was thus summed up in an open letter addressed 
by a Bulgarian patriot to Prince Ferdinand in the 
year 1899: 

" We can gain nothing more by the church and the 
school. The more the existing situation is prolonged 
the more ground our adversaries will gain. . . . That 
is why Bulgaria ought to take arms and possess her- 



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BULGARIAN AIMS 29 

self by force of Macedonia, which otherwise will be 
for ever lost to her." ^ 

These words deserve to be carefully weighed, 
inasmuch as they explain the peculiar character of the 
Folk War. The " adversaries '* here spoken of are not 
the Turks, but the Greeks. The Bulgars are perfectly 
sincere — not less sincere than the Russians— in 
desiring to see the Turks expelled. But they rely 
for that work on the action of the European Powers. 
Their business is to secure the inheritance, when it 
falls vacant, by the forcible imposition of a Bulgarian 
character on the Christian population, before the day 
of liberation arrives. It is true that they have con- 
tinually spoken of liberating the country by a military 
invasion ; but if that were their sole purpose they would 
welcome the aid of Servia and Greece, instead of 
rejecting every overture in that direction, as they have 
steadily done. They may have gone so far as to con- 
template a single-handed attack on Turkey, but if so 
they have clearly aimed at securing beforehand such 
a support from the public opinion of Europe as would 
give to their enterprise the character of an intervention 
authorised and encouraged by the Powers. 

In pursuance of this selfish policy, Bulgaria observed 
a neutrality friendly towards the Turks when Greece 
took arms in 1897, and when a joint movement on the 
part of all the Balkan States might have deprived 
the Sultan of half his European provinces. It is 
known that the Turks themselves were apprehensive 
of such a result, and that the Sultan personally exerted 
himself to avert hostilities. 

The dramatic collapse of the Greek campaign, 
through causes which are partly a secret of inter- 
national diplomacy, left that State crippled in strength 
and in reputation for a long time to come, and threw 
the field open to its rivals. The Hellenist element in 
Macedonia was profoundly discouraged, and all eyes 

^ For the full text of this remarkable manifesto, see below, p. loi. 



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30 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

were turned to Bulgaria as the future champion of the 
Christian cause. 

Taking advantage of this feeling, the agents of the 
Principality, with the secret assistance of Russia, set 
to work to create the " Internal Organisation," pur- 
porting to be a union of all Macedonians, irrespective 
of race and creed, for the overthrow of the Turkish 
rule. At the same time Bulgaria was put forward as 
the friend by whose aid success was to be achieved, 
and almost from the first there was a strong under- 
current against the Patriarchate, and against 
Hellenism. 

At the outset a considerable number of Patriarchists, 
including pure Hellenes, joined the Organisation with- 
out any suspicion of whither they were being led. 
In Servia, as well as Greece, every sympathy was 
shown towards the movement, and TchakalarofF, who 
has since earned an evil renown by his atrocities 
against Greeks, is said to have been among the number 
of Macedonian Bulgars who made their way to Athens 
to obtain arms. 

The mask was dropped by degrees. From the 
outset the proceedings of the Comitadjis, as the 
members of the Internal Organisation were styled, 
had assumed a terrorist character more in keeping 
with Bulgarian than Hellenist traditions. In many 
places the peasants were induced to support the 
movement by a promise that their Moslem landlords 
should be murdered. The promise was only too 
faithfully kept, but the villagers were not altogether 
satisfied when they found themselves coerced into 
paying as much or more in the form of taxes to the 
Internal Organisation, as they had paid in rent to 
the beys. 

As the grip of the Organisation tightened on the 
villages the Greek priests and schoolmasters became 
the victims of a persecution which steadily increased 
in severity. At first they were merely ordered to 
preacb and teach in the Bulgarian language, next they 



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CAPTAIN **ATHALES BOUAS, 
WOUNDED IN VICTORIOUS EN- 
COUNTER WITH COMITADJIS. 



p. 30] 



COMITADJI CHIEF YANKOFF, WHO 
OBTAINED ARMS IN ATHENS 
TO FIGHT THE TURKS AND 
USED THEM TO KILL GREEK 
PRIESTS IN MACEDONIA. 



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THE COMITADJIS 31 

were expelled from many places that they might be 
replaced by Bulgars, and finally they were denounced 
as obstacles in the path, who must be removed by 
assassination. At the same time the peasants generally 
were ordered to pass over to the Exarchate and declare 
themselves Bulgarians. 

The reason given for these measures was that the 
Principality was preparing to come to the aid of the 
Macedonians, and was therefore entitled to their 
allegiance. In the same spirit the Bulgarian flag was 
adopted by the Comitadji bands. Nevertheless, a 
cleavage began to develop itself, and has since become 
acute, between the Bulgarian party pure and simple, 
and that led by voivodes who seem to have cherished 
schemes of personal ambition, and to have preferred 
the position of independent brigand chiefs ruling the 
country by terror. One of these chiefs, Apostol, has 
since gone so far as to tender his services to the 
Government of Athens, offering to turn all the victims 
of his tyranny back from Exarchists into Patriarchists 
in return for a salary of ;f 1,000 a year. 

As a result of the anti-Hellenist turn given to the 
movement, many of the original members of the 
Internal Organisation left it, and the Exarchists and 
Patriarchists had come to blows as early as the year 
1902. In the following year the long-expected insur- 
rection broke out — ^if such a movement deserves such 
a name. 

16. The Insurrection 

What actually happened was that the Comitadji 
leaders called out their followers, who took to the 
mountains and lived a life of rapine and murder for 
a few months. Many individual Moslems and some 
Greeks were murdered, and private houses were 
sacked and burnt ; but there was no serious attempt 
to face the Turkish soldiery in the field. A few 
towns were occupied for a time, but abandoned on the 
approach of a Turkish force. The towns selected for 



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32 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

this form of liberation were Hellenist centres, and the 
only result — perhaps the only object — of the demon- 
stration was to expose the Greek party to the 
vengeance of the Turks. In the case of one such 
town, Krushevo, the Bulgarian quarter was mysteri- 
ously spared, while that of the Greeks was laid in 
ashes. 

Bulgaria failed to keep the promises held out to the 
insurgents of marching to their support, and, after a 
short and inglorious period spent chiefly in dodging 
the Turks among the mountains, the deluded peasants 
were disbanded and ordered to return to their homes. 
In many cases they found them in ruins, the Turkish 
authorities having meted out the same measure to the 
friends of the Comitadjis as the Comitadjis have meted 
out before and since to the victims of their warfare. 

This armed demonstration, known to those who 
took part in it as the " revolution," had the effect of 
reviving interest in the affairs of Turkey. In spite 
of the amnesty immediately granted by the Sultan, the 
familiar cry of Turkish atrocities found a ready echo 
in sympathetic, as well as in interested, ears. An 
English charitable committee despatched agents to 
carry relief to the sufferers, and the Governments of 
Russia and Austria took a step forward towards 
detaching Macedonia from the Turkish empire. 

17. The European Reforms 

Alongside of their half-hearted action on behalf of 
the emancipation of the Christian provinces of Turkey, 
the European Powers have for the last hundred years 
taken a benevolent interest in the lot of those 
Christians who were left under the Turkish rule. 
The tremendous disparity in point of civilisation and 
military strength between Christendom and Islam 
developed during that period has made it a moral 
impossibility for Europe to tolerate the existence at 
its doors of a state organised on the principle that 



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LIBERAL SULTANS 33 

every Christian, as such, is inferior to a Moslem, and 
that although it has been constantly recognised, even 
by the class of Christian missionaries in the Levant, 
that the Turk is, man for man, really superior to those 
whom he governs. The spectacle of Turkish soldiers 
standing with fixed bayonets to restrain Latin and 
Greek and Armenian monks from tearing each other 
to pieces at the very tomb of the Christian Saviour 
has had a discouraging effect on the Christian sym- 
pathies of the West. 

The first to perceive the danger to the Turkish 
empire arising from this cause were the Sultans 
themselves. Seeing that the oppression of their 
Christian subjects was being put forward by the 
Governments of Austria and Russia as a reason for 
the dismemberment of Turkey, they exercised a wise 
statesmanship in seeking to remove the grievances of 
the Christians, and to convert them into loyal subjects. 
The Servians, in the earlier stages of their national 
struggle, were actually encouraged from Constanti- 
nople, and supported against the local Turkish 
aristocracy. 

Unfortunately these patriotic designs, which present 
a close parallel with those of the present Young Turk 
party, were frustrated by the class of Turks which 
stood to lose by them in their power and wealth. The 
rebellion of the celebrated Passvan Oglou, who erected 
a robber state on the Danube, like that of Ali Pasha 
in Epirus, was an expression of the discontent of the 
old-fashioned Turks with the liberal policy of the 
Sultans. The suppression of the Janissaries was 
similarly due to their obstinate opposition to the 
same policy. 

The cause of reaction triumphed, although there 
never have been wanting Turkish statesmen wise 
enough to see in which direction the national safety 
was to be sought, and patriotic enough to make the 
necessary sacrifices of Mohammedan privilege. The 
difficulty has been with public opinion, which is as 

3 



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34 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

powerful in a despotism as in a republic. There have 
been many admirable reforms on paper ; the laws of 
Turkey are as good as any in the world; but they have 
never been fairly executed. Individual character counts 
for far more in the East than in the West, and while 
good pashas have given happiness and prosperity to 
one province, bad pashas have brought misery to its 
neighbour. 

The last effort of the kind was the constitution of 
Midhat Pasha, proclaimed in 1876, which conceded 
well-nigh everything that any Western people has 
obtained. Set up in the midst of rebellion, and on the 
eve of the Russian war, it must be doubted whether 
it possessed any inherent strength in the shape of 
support from Moslem opinion. But what proved fatal 
to its continuance was the unfortunate series of events 
which brought about the accession to the throne of 
Abdul Hamid II. 

A young man, of nervous and melancholic tempera- 
ment, the new Sultan had watched from the depth of 
the harem the deposition of two predecessors within 
the short space of six months, and their downfall had 
been the work of the man who now placed him on the 
throne. Clearly it must have appeared to him that 
his own tenure was at the mercy of the all-powerful 
Vizier, and that it was a question whether the Caliphs 
were to hold their office during the pleasure of the 
Grand Vizier, or the Grand Viziers to hold theirs 
during the pleasure of the Caliph. It was inevitable 
that he should decide for the latter alternative, and 
that he should seek the support of the men who were 
opposed to Midhat and to his policy. The reforming 
Vizier fell, and his reforms with him. 

These considerations explain the subsequent course 
of the reign. The foremost care of the Sultan has 
been to secure himself from the fate of Abdul Aziz 
and Murad, and in doing so he has surrounded himself 
with men whose whole interest lay in rendering their 
master absolute. * 



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ABDUL HAMID II 35 

The short-sighted or malevolent policy of the 
Powers in confining their interest to the welfare of 
the Christian races, has thrown into relief the Sultan's 
position as defender of the Mohammedan faith, while 
it has naturally tended to embitter the Moslems 
generally against their fellow-subjects. We have only 
to think of the effect likely to be produced on English 
feeling — the effect that was produced in the past — by 
the interference of Roman Catholic Powers on behalf 
of the Irish. The Christians have suffered the fate of 
the boy whom Don Quixote forbade his master to 
flog, and who received a worse beating than ever as 
soon as his champion's back was turned. 

It would be folly to credit the sovereign of Turkey 
with any personal ill-will towards his Christian 
subjects. For many years before their unfortunate 
rebellion the Armenians enjoyed almost a monopoly 
of government posts in Constantinople, and it was 
this very circumstance which gave a dangerous aspect 
to a rising which was utterly hopeless in the absence 
of European support, and explained, if it did not 
excuse, the panic whose horrors are still fresh in the 
public mind. 

Apart from the suppression of that revolt, the 
services which Abdul Hamid II. has rendered to his 
country are conspicuous and memorable. He has 
restored Turkey to the rank of a great military power, 
he has erected an admirable system of education open 
to all creeds and races, and designed to promote 
concord between them, and he has crowned the work 
of his reign by laying a railway into the heart of 
Arabia, and installing the electric light in the tomb 
of the Prophet. By the exercise of rare diplomatic 
gifts, he has contrived to disunite the European 
Concert, and to hold at bay for thirty years the 
forces, external and internal, that threatened speedy 
dissolution to the empire. The very Powers that 
looked upon Turkey as their natural prey have been 
converted into its protectors, and the year 1897 



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36 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of the united 
navies of Christendom beleaguering the island of Crete 
in order to suppress an insurrection of Christians 
against the successor of Mohammed. 

The action of the Concert has thus gradually taken 
the form of a diplomatic blockade, every move towards 
active intervention on the part of one Power being 
neutralised by the opposition of another. The only 
Powers which have sincerely desired to see a reformed 
Turkey have been France and England, but the action 
of the former of these has been handicapped by her 
alliance with Russia, and her acknowledged fear of 
Germany; and the diplomacy of Great Britain has 
been singularly ineffective and irritating. Lord Currie, 
while ambassador in Constantinople, pressed upon 
the Sultan a scheme of reform for Macedonia, which 
involved the setting up of something like county 
councils. The Sultan professed himself willing to 
accept it if England would undertake to support him 
against the opposition of those Powers which were 
interested in promoting discontent rather than content 
in his dominions. Our ambassador was not authorised 
to give that assurance, and the Sultan declared himself 
unable to move. Lord Currie then sought to en- 
courage the constitutional party in Turkey to wrest 
the control of affairs from the Palace, with equally 
abortive results. 

The immediate consequence of these failures was 
that the British Foreign Office despaired of Turkey. 
The language of Lord Salisbury became little less 
menacing than that of Gladstone, and the next step 
was to entrust the work of reform in Macedonia to 
the two Powers most interested in defeating the 
reform of Turkey from within. 

The Austrian and Russian governments drew up 
a scheme whose obvious tendency was to detach the 
three vilayets to which it applied from the Ottoman 
empire, while keeping their ultimate fate in abeyance. 
The Sultan was allowed to nominate a loyal Vizier 



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MACEDONIAN REFORMS 37 

of his own, Hilmi Hussein Pasha, as Inspector- 
General, that is to say, viceroy, of the three vilayets ; 
but Hilmi Pasha was required to administer them 
under the supervision and control of an Austrian 
and a Russian Civil Agent. A board on which all 
the Powers were represented took over the control 
of the finances, and a gendarmery under European 
officers was established, with an evident view to 
replacing the Turkish military forces. 

A fuller insight into the working of this patchwork 
scheme will be afforded in the following pages. The 
important thing was that it entirely failed to pacify 
the country, but seemed rather to stimulate the am- 
bitions of Bulgaria, and the consequent activity of 
the Christian bands. 

The two Governments had accompanied their 
scheme by a proposal or promise that Macedonia 
should thereafter be partitioned into spheres of in- 
fluence, according to the national character of the 
inhabitants; language which seemed to point to the 
creation of a series of Eastern Rumelias, a Greek 
one in the South, and Bulgarian and Servian ones 
along the frontiers of those states, for subsequent 
annexation to them. They declared that in any such 
partition no effect would be given to changes of creed 
or nationality brought about by force in the meanwhile ; 
but this proviso was treated by the Internal Organi- 
sation with the contempt which it probably deserved. 

The complete scheme was launched in the year 1903. 
In 1904 the Folk War entered upon its last phase, 
which continued down to the Turkish Revolution. 

18. Last Phase of the Folk War 

The first result of these weak and tentative measures 
upon the Bulgarian propaganda was to stimulate it 
on the criminal and anarchist side. The policy of 
open insurrection against the Turks was abandoned ; 
it was all Christendom which was now held respon- 



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38 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

sible for the ills of Macedonia, and among the methods 
used to coerce Christendom have been the kidnapping 
of British 'officers and American missionaries, and 
the use of dynamite against a French ship in the 
port of Salonika— the latter outrage being further 
inspired by the wish to convince Europe that Salonika 
is a Bulgarian town. Extremists in Sofia have even 
talked of poisoning the water-supply of London and 
Paris, in order to terrorise the Powers into granting 
their full demands. 

All that is a new, but quite natural, development 
of anarchist logic. It is no longer the tyrant who 
is marked out for attack, but the liberator who is 
too slow in coming to the rescue. What is really 
remarkable, and what is menacing for the future of 
civilisation, is that this logic, and these methods, 
should be employed, no longer by an underground 
sect of fanatics, reprobated by public opinion, and 
hunted down by the police, but by a party patronised 
by, and acting in the interest of, a European Govern- 
ment aiming at territorial expansion at the expense 
of its neighbours ; that the balance of public opinion 
in Europe should have leant in favour of the pro- 
pagandists, that their worst atrocities should have 
been attenuated or excused in the conservative press ; 
and that not one of the Powers should have shown 
the least disposition to check the evil at its source 
by a firm attitude towards the government of Sofia. 

The Bulgarian state has set a precedent which is 
likely to be followed in the near future at the ex- 
pense of the two Powers which have done the most 
to foster its ambitions, namely, Russia and Great 
Britain. Yet she has remained the pet of diplomacy, 
and the whole weight of public opinion has been 
deflected against the victims of her ruthless pro- 
paganda. 

As early as the year 1902 the British Consul- 
General Biliotti, by no means a Philhellene, wrote 
from Salonika to his Government that the Greeks 



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THE GREEK BANDS 39 

would infallibly be driven to retaliate if the Bulgarian 
atrocities continued. During the next two years 
refugees poured into Athens from all parts of Mace- 
donia, to relate their sufferings and implore the 
sympathy of their Hellenic brethren. A Macedonian 
Committee was formed in the Greek capital^ and 
remonstrances and appeals were addressed to the 
deaf ears of the Powers and the Western press. 
The Russian Minister in Athens declined to receive 
a copy of a resolution passed by a mass meeting of 
the Macedonian refugees, asking for the protection 
of the Powers. To add to the exasperation of the 
Greeks, they were publicly taunted in the European 
press with being afraid to take up arms in their own 
defence.^ 

The position of the Greeks with regard to the 
Bulgars by this time corresponded with that of their 
ancestors towards Philip of Macedon, as pithily put 
by Demosthenes, — " We are at peace with him, but 
he is at war with us." By the end of 1904 there 
had been 517 murders, or attempted murders, of 
Greeks by Bulgars in the two vilayets of Monastir 
and Salonika.' 

In the autumn of that year the cup was full, and 
a band led by a Greek officer, and composed of 
Macedonian refugees and volunteers from all parts 
of Greece, crossed the frontier to succour the victims 
of the Internal Organisation. Within six months the 
whole southern district had been nearly freed from 

' '* No Greek band was ever seen in the flesh, or heard of again." 
The Balkans from Within^ by Reginald Wyon, 1904, p. 19. This 
deplorable sneer had hardly found its way into print when the first 
Greek band crossed the frontier on its errand of deliverance and 
vengeance. 

' A detailed statement of these atrocities is given in Crimes 
BulgareSy Paris, 1907. The Patriarchate has published at Con- 
stantinople a list of 643 murders of the most harrowing description, 
reported to it by the Greek bishops in Rumelia between 1899 and 
1905. The method of execution in each case is given thus : 
**Cut to small pieces," "by tortures," **by thrashing," ** burnt alive," 
"drowned," *'sawn, after great torture," etc 



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40 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

the terrorists, and the Comitadjis have since been 
held in check along the Monastir line. 

The Greek bands, distinguished by the name of 
Antartes, were organised diflferently from their op- 
ponents. The plan pursued by the Internal Organisa- 
tion has been for an officer or voivode to come from 
Sofia with a small group of followers, distribute arms 
to the young men of an Exarchist village, and then 
lead them to raids on their Patriarchist neighbours. 
Even the Exarchist villages have been heavily taxed, 
and not only has the war paid for the war, but the 
most popular and successful voivodes have amassed 
considerable wealth which they have carried off to 
spend in Sofia and in the capitals of Europe. 

The Greek bands were , supplied with funds from 
Athens, and forbidden to take anything from the 
peasants without payment. They were placed under 
officers of education, whose instructions were to act 
on the defensive, to confine themselves to the work 
of delivering Patriarchist villages from the reign of 
terror, and to refrain from any imitation of the horrors 
of the Comitadji warfare. In a country like Rumelia, 
such orders are more easily given than obeyed. The 
Greek bands contained too many Macedonians who 
had seen their aged fathers, their wives, and even 
their little children, tortured and slain by their Ex- 
archist neighbours. Morally and intellectually, there 
is little difference between the Slave-speaking peasants 
who adhere to either Church. There is no room to 
doubt that the Greek vengeance in many cases 
equalled the crimes that had provoked it in ruth- 
lessness, although of course in point of guilt the gulf 
is immeasurable between the first shedder of blood 
and its avenger. 

Such has been the essential character of the war 
which was still actively raging in the Macedonian 
vilayets when the revolt of the Turkish army pro- 
duced a momentary lull. The Folk War is probably 
a unique episode in the history of the world. Be- 



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BULGARIAN ATROCITIES 41 

ginning as an insurrectionary movement of Christians 
against the Turkish Government, it has changed into 
an underground civil war between two peasant fac- 
tions, each supported from abroad by States ambitious 
of territorial gain. The Turkish troops have exerted 
themselves impartially in the capture and destruction 
of all the combatants, but the bands as a rule have 
shunned encounters with the Turks, with whom the 
Greeks profess to have no quarrel, and the Comi- 
tadjis no concern. Generally speaking, the Bulgarian 
bands have equally shunned anything like a stand-up 
fight with the Greeks, by whom they have been 
worsted on almost every occasion.* They have pre- 
ferred to live on the plunder of the unarmed villages ; 
their action has degenerated more and more into 
brigandage pure and simple, and they have become 
at last a scourge to their own party.* 

The most serious development of all, from the point 
of view of international law, was reached in the 
summer of 1906, when the Bulgars resolved to revenge 
themselves for their defeats in Macedonia by falling 
upon the Hellenes who were in their power on 
the soil of the Principality. Armed bands, organised 
under the eyes of the Government of Sofia, and acting 
in the presence of the police, raided the Greek cities 
of the Black Sea coast, burning the schools and 
churches, sacking private houses, and driving a 
population of forty thousand Hellenes out of a country 
in which they had maintained themselves through the 
worst ages of Turkish domination. 

These enormities went unrebuked, and almost 
unnoticed, by the Western press, and by the Powers 
which had solemnly guaranteed the rights of this 
defenceless people by the international act known as 
the Organic Statute of Eastern Rumelia. 

The extraordinary patronage extended to this 

* See the words of the Bulgarian Premier quoted below, p. 64. 
' See the strong language of the Bulgarian Commercial Agent of 
Monastir, and of the Exarchist bishop of Uskub, below, pp. 251-2. 



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42 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

anarchist State by the European Governments is due 
to motives which are easily seen. By whatever 
ingenious reasoning Bulgaria has succeeded in per- 
suading Russia that she is the best friend, and Great 
Britain that she is the worst foe, of Russian ambitions 
in the Mediterranean, it is undoubtedly the case 
that these contradictory beliefs are firmly held. 
When Abdul Hamid II. was assured that a strong 
Bulgaria would be a wall between him and Russia 
he had the wisdom to reply that a wall might fall on 
either side. 

The strong tide of public opinion in the same 
direction must be attributed mainly to the belief that 
Bulgaria is the State destined to overthrow the Turkish 
power in Europe, and to take its place. The true 
objective of this warfare has been sedulously concealed 
from the party in Europe which clings to the illusions 
of Gladstone, and believes that all the ills of Turkey 
are due to the vices of the Turks. It has been 
forgotten that the past history of the Bulgar people 
is that of a race at least as savage as their conquerors. 
The student of the Folk War must hesitate to pro- 
nounce them more humane or more civilised at the 
present hour. 

Unhappily public opinion seldom reasons, and 
never willingly listens to more than one side of a 
question. The Greeks have not been allowed to 
protest that they would rather trust themselves to 
the mercies of Turkish soldiers than to those of the 
liberators of Macedonia. It is scarcely necessary to 
add that the same writers who taunted them with 
cowardice in not standing on their defence have been 
the foremost and fiercest in denouncing the action of 
their bands ever since. 

To complete the orgy of frenzied prejudice, the 
Turks have been charged with a want of sincerity 
in the pursuit of the Christian bands, the suggestion 
being that they have looked on with satisfaction at 
the spectacle of Christians exterminating each other. 



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CAUSE OF THE REVOLUTION 43 

The best answer to that particular calumny has 
now been given by the immediate effect of the Turkish 
revolution in bringing the strife to a halt. 

19. The Revolution 

In spite of the truly wonderful skill with which 
the Turkish Sultan has succeeded in holding the 
external and internal foes of the empire at bay for 
the last thirty years, he has not been able to prevent 
the action of the Powers gradually assuming a 
character deeply mortifying to Turkish patriotism. 
The Concert of Europe, however lacking in union 
and energy, has been visibly encroaching on the 
independence of Turkey as a sovereign state. Its 
machinery, the council of the six ambassadors in 
Constantinople, has worn all the appearance of a 
foreign tribunal exercising an authority over the 
Sultan similar to that exercised over the Khedive of 
Egypt by the British Agent. When the Powers 
proceeded deliberately to detach the Macedonian 
vilayets from the rest ot the empire it became 
evident that Turkey had nothing to hope from con- 
tinuing to submit to this protectorate. 

These considerations explain the character of the 
revolution of 1908, and the almost universal support 
it received in every quarter of the empire. It was a 
national movement on the part of the Turkish nation at 
large to shake off the suzerainty of Europe, and avert 
the dismemberment of th«ir country. The desire for con- 
stitutional government was chiefly felt by the educated 
class, which fprmed the party of Young Turks. The 
hatred inspired by the Palace clique, with its appara- 
tus of spies and corruption, was more general. But 
neither of these causes produced the revolution. 

The crisis was precipitated, like most others of the 
same kind, by the pressure of financial necessities. 
The public treasury was empty, and for some months 
previously a series of sporadic mutinies in various 



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44 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

parts of the empire had shown that the authority of 
the central Government was seriously enfeebled, and 
that the army could be no longer reckoned upon for 
its defence. Spark after spark of revolt had flashed 
and flickered out when the last one caught the inflam- 
mable material, and in a few hours the whole country 
was ablaze. 

At this moment it was, above all, fortunate that the 
party of the Young Turks was at hand, with its well- 
thought-out programme, and its disciplined organisa- 
tion, to step in and take over the direction of affairs. 
What might have been a mere military revolution, 
resulting in nothing but a change of dynasty, was thus 
transformed into the orderly establishment of a con- 
stitutional government. It is impossible to praise too 
highly the prudence and wisdom with which the 
Young Turks have so far controlled the course of 
events; and the unselfishness with which they have 
refrained from seeking personal advantages and 
rewards is not less remarkable. 

The most solid result, so far obtained, is that the 
ruling race of the empire is now committed as a whole 
to that policy which it unwisely rejected a century ago. 
Henceforth we may look to see the efforts of Turkish 
statesmanship steadily directed to conciliating the 
Christians, to breaking down the distinctions of race 
and creed, and to welding all classes into one nation- 
ality. A second result, not less valuable, should be 
the regeneration of the character of the Turkish nation 
in the eyes of Europe. Nothing can be more gratifying 
than the cordial spirit in which the new regime has 
been received, even in quarters so hostile to Turkey in 
the past as the Russian empire. The Turks, by 
manifesting all that is best in themselves, seem to 
have brought out all that is best in their opponents. 

For the moment, the result has not been less happy 
on the Christians of the Balkans. If the Governments 
of Sofia and Athens have exercised some reserve in 
their attitude towards the revolution, there has been 



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LESSONS OF THE FOLK WAR 45 

no hesitation on the part of the peoples. The Greeks 
have been almost afraid to betray the full extent of 
their joy, lest they should alarm the more conservative 
element among the Turks. The enthusiasm of the 
Bulgars has effervesced in excursions to Constanti- 
nople to offer fraternal greetings to the liberators. 
Best of all, the Comitadjis and Antartes have very 
generally laid down their arms, and come in to 
fraternise with the Turks and with each other. 

It is, of course, too much to hope that the old 
divergencies will not reappear as soon as the first 
ebullitions of sentiment are exhausted. To begin with, 
it is evident that the Christians regard the change in 
a totally different light from the Turks. To them it 
means the triumph of liberty, and hitherto liberty has 
been associated in their minds with the idea of their 
own national independence. In teaching them to 
abandon their separatist ambitions in favour of Otto- 
man patriotism, the statesmen of Turkey will encounter 
precisely the same difficulties that have confronted 
the Austrians in Hungary and Bohemia, the Germans 
in Posen and Alsace, and the British in Ireland, where 
constitutional privileges have been used as a weapon 
to secure independence. The conflict is inevitable 
between such tendencies and the aspiration of the 
Turks to regain the lost provinces of their empire, 
including Bosnia, Cyprus, and Egypt, if not Eastern 
Rumelia itself. 

It is in its bearing on this future difficulty that the 
history of the Macedonian Folk War should prove of 
importance. It should teach the Greeks that, where 
they are not strong enough to make themselves 
independent, they may find themselves better off under 
the government of the Turk than the Slave. It should 
convince all parties that, if the Balkan races cannot 
adjust their mutual relations on a peaceful footing, 
their ultimate destiny must be to pass under an 
administration from outside. If these lessons are 
taken to heart there may be some chance for a policy 



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46 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

based on mutual concession, and having for its motto 
"All Friends Round the Balkans." 

The following pages were written with the purpose 
of recommending such a policy to the peoples con- 
cerned, and to their sincere well-wishers in Europe. 



NOTE 

COMITADJI LITERATURE 

Nothing can be more regrettable than that the body 
of Western sympathisers whose influence, were they 
united, might do so much to promote the peace and 
welfare of European Turkey, should reproduce the 
same divisions which exist out there, and thus exhibit 
the spectacle of partisans instead of impartial judges. 

Unhappily, such has been the case, and there is too 
much truth in the reproach contained in a private 
letter from a correspondent in Athens to a friend on 
the EngHsh Balkan Committee : 

" We must confess that it is most disheartening to 
see that the Liberal Press, especially The Tribune^ does 
not only overlook all Greek grievances or arguments 
in their favour, but has lately started a systematic 
counter-campaign against Hellenism in general, repro- 
ducing and bringing forward before the eyes of the 
public all the abuse obviously obtained from Bulgarian 
sources. 

" I quite understand your genuine sympathy and 
interest for the Macedonian cause, as also your eager- 
ness to find an opportunity of visiting Bulgaria and 
Macedonia, and making inquiries on the spot, in order 
to form an accurate idea oi what is really happening. 
We personally could wish for nothing better than that 
a way may be found to enable you to visit these 
countries, as we are perfectly sure that a frank and 
exact account, resulting from a careful inspection of 
the state of the above countries, without any prejudice 
for one party or the other, would be the most practical 
fashion of helping the Greek cause, and of enlightening 
the British Press. 



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ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS 47 

" Our most ardent desire is that the truth, and only 
the truth, should be unfolded before the eyes of the 
civilised world by means of the British Press." 

The newspaper particularly complained of is now 
defunct, but the gentleman chiefly responsible for its 
Grecophobe policy has now transferred his services to 
The Daily News^ and I should feel myself wanting in 
courage if I did not draw the reader's attention to 
some of the evidences of bias against the Greeks and 
Turks which abound in his published volume on the 
Balkan question,^ one of many similar ones which 
have appeared in the same political interest during 
recent years, and to which no reply has yet been 
made on the part of those assailed. The reputation, 
and even the livelihood, of a private man of letters is 
largely at the mercy of great organs of opinion like 
The Daily News ; their grudges are often lasting, and 
they have the means of keeping up a vendetta long 
after the public has forgotten its origin ; and the law 
of England does not afford that protection to assailed 
individuals which is afforded by the law of other 
countries, by requiring the signature of newspaper 
articles and the insertion of replies. In these circum- 
stances I can only place myself in the hands of the 
public, and trust to its sense of fair play to protect 
me in the discharge of my duty to itself and to those 
who have appealed to it through me. 

I shall confine myself here to quoting a single 
passage as an illustration of the tone which this writer 
has permitted himself to use towards a high eccle- 
siastic of the Greek Church, with whom he represents 
himself as having a conversation of a friendly, and 
even an intimate, character, the Archbishop oi 
Castoria.* 

" We began our conversation in Greek, but in a few 
minutes we had discovered that we had been at a 

' Macedonia^ by H. N. Brailsford, 1906. 

' Another Greek Bishop is described by the writer as resembling *' a 
rather holy seal." Macedonia^ p. 199. 



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48 HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

German university together. . . . His Beatitude 
seemed a modem of the moderns. Could this be the 
fanatic who persecuted Bulgarian peasants to force 
them into his Church ? ^ Could this be the raging 
partisan who had massed his people to drive the 
schismatic Bulgarian Bishop from the town ? In five 
minutes he haa professed himself a philosopher. In 
ten minutes he had avowed himself a freethinker^ * 

By common usage, the word "freethinker " in English 
denotes a man who is actively opposed to the 
Christian religion, and who assails it without respect 
for the feelings of Christians. A paper styled The 
Freethinker was in recent years prosecuted for blas- 
phemy, on account of the offensive character of its 
cartoons. It is impossible to doubt that what the 
Archbishop must have said, if he said anything, was 
that he was a liberal theologian who did not share 
all the superstitions of the peasantry. And, on the 
writer's own showing, the conversation had taken the 
character of a friendly chat between old fellow-students 
on the subject of their former studies. 

"And he had views on psychology. He had read 
his Lotze, and soon we were criticising the ethics of 
Wundt"» 

It will be noticed how this writer prefers the 
method of insinuation to that of direct accusation in 
dealing with his old university comrade. After de- 
scribing the photograph of a severed head, which he 
asserts hung in a conspicuous place on the wall of 
the Archbishop's room, he proceeds in this fashion : 

" And then I remembered the tale. That head had 
belonged to a Bulgarian chief. A band of bravos in 
the Archbishop's pay had murdered him as he lay 
wounded in hiding. And the tale went on to tell how 
the murderers carried the bleeding trophy to the 
palace, and how the Archbishop had had it photo- 
graphed, and paid its price in fifty pieces of gold" * 

' Not a particle of evidence is anywhere ofTered for this charge. 
' Macedoma^ p. 193. ' Ibid,^ p. 193. * Ibid.^ p. 193. 



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A COMITADJI WRITER 49 

The writer does not pretend to have made the least 
effort to test the truth of this or any similar Comitadji 
tale. He does not dare to tell his readers that the 
tale is true. He insinuates it, like a drop of poison, 
into their minds and leaves it to do its work. Were 
a witness in an English court of justice to attempt to 
take away the character of the vilest criminal by such 
hearsay evidence he would be sternly silenced by the 
bench. 

On a subsequent occasion, adds the same writer, the 
Archbishop confessed himself to be plotting against 
his sovereign. 

** His Beatitude be^an to talk treason — in German. 
He assured me that his alliance with the Turks was 
only temporary. A great daj' was coming, when 
Hellenism would claim her own."^ 

Since his old fellow-student made these alleged 
confidences public in a book which has most probably 
been translated and read to the sovereign of Turkey, 
this Archbishop, the most energetic defender of the 
Greek peasantry against their enemies, has been 
removed from his diocese to Constantinople, where 
the reader shall see him, and hear his reply. Truly 
the Comitadjis are well served by their English 
friends. 

I confess myself unable to understand how any 
writer could have imagined that he could help his 
argument by including such passages as those in a 
book intended to be read by English gentlemen. 

^ MacedonitUf p. 194. 



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CHAPTER I 

OUT OF EUROPE 

Europe and the Levant — Moslem refugees— An ideal settlement- 
Corfu— Grecophobia— Prosperity of Greece — Candour of the 
Greeks — Hellenist Refugees — Bulgarian atrocities — New 
Anchialos 

I LEFT Europe in the beginning of November 1907. 
The Europe which plays the part of Providence 
for the Balkan world leaves off at the Adriatic Sea. 
The land which cradled European civilisation, the 
isle to which Europa came borne by the sacred 
bull, are no part of this Europe. It may include 
Russia for political purposes, but otherwise the 
term European means, in a Balkan ear, much what 
Frank meant in a Byzantine one, Europe, in short, 
is Latin Christendom ; Paris is its capital, and French 
its language. 

It calls for a distinct mental effort on the part of 
the ordinary Greek or Turk to realise that the 
English and Germans have dialects of their own, of 
which they are not ashamed, and which they find it 
easier to speak and read than French. A Greek, in speak- 
ing of the Piraeus to an Englishman, will correct his 
own name, Pirceos^ to the French, La Piree, and 
believe that he has made himself more intelligible. 
The Turks recognise French as the second official 
language of the country, the names of the streets 
and railway stations being written in Turkish and 
French. In Greece the language has a semi-official 
status, especially in the post-offices. 

50 



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FRENCH INFLUENCE 51 

No one will grudge to France her position as the 
clearing-house of Western civilisation ; but their 
exclusive dependence on French as a means of inter- 
course with Europe has done serious injury to the 
Greeks, and still more to the Turks. During the 
last few years Hellas has been the object of a most 
bitter and unscrupulous campaign of calumny in 
the English press, carried on in the interests of 
Bulgaria. The Government of Athens has endeavoured 
to combat these skilfully directed attacks by means 
of a weekly broadsheet, the Bulletin dOrient^ printed 
in Athens and in the French language. Any one 
who has ever been in the sub-editor's room of one 
of our great newspaper offices an hour or two 
before going to press will be able to understand 
what chance such a circular has of being read through 
in the search for some grain of fact suitable for 
British comprehension. 

Judging by their press, and the contents of their 
booksellers' windows, the French public takes a far 
keener and more intelligent interest in Balkan affairs 
than does ours. But, unfortunately, France is not 
now a Power of the first class. If the support of 
England be worth having, it is worth while to take 
the right means to gain her ear. 

The Turks, it is needless to say, have been for 
a much longer period the objects of a vituperation 
which has become a commonplace of English politics, 
and to which they have hardly attempted any reply. 
In Constantinople I was informed that there was 
not a single professor of English, and I met only 
two Turks in my whole journey who were able to 
converse in our language. 

Turkey and Greece are the two Balkan States which 
have a sea-coast on the Mediterranean, and are 
pointed out by history as well as geography as our 
natural allies in the near East; and it is much to 
be regretted that they have not shown a stronger 
sense of the importance to themselves of cultivating 



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52 OUT OF EUROPE 

the means of closer intercourse with the chief Medi- 
terranean Power. 

In order to escape the miseries of the Italian railway 
to Brindisi, I took steamer from Trieste to the Piraeus. 
At present the absence of railway communication 
makes Greece an island — a circumstance which has 
hindered her natural beauties and her glorious ruins 
from receiving their fair share of attention from 
travellers. One of the first results of the change 
in Turkey should be to secure the connection of the 
Greek railway system with the line from Vienna 
to Constantinople, and thus enable Greece to profit 
by that source of wealth which has given prosperity 
to Switzerland. 

I sailed by the Baron Beck^ of the excellent Austrian 
Lloyd service, than which there is no better in the 
Levant. The first port at which we called was the 
Austrian one of Gravosa, on the Dalmatian coast ; 
and here, on the outset of my journey, I was pre- 
sented with a side of the Balkan question which it 
has been the custom to overlook altogether. 

A steam-launch puffed up to the side of the ship 
as she lay off the town. Looking down from the 
deck, I saw a group of men, women, and children, 
in number about twenty or thirty, poorly clad, and 
with woebegone looks. The men wore fezzes, the 
women were veiled. With them they had their 
portable property, a few quaintly decorated trunks, 
a quantity of rude bundles containing bedding, and 
some battered copper vessels. The whole party was 
in charge of a young man, also wearing a fez, but 
evidently of superior station, and under his direction 
they and their belongings were slowly transferred 
to the lower deck of the Baron Beck^ where they 
squatted down with the patience of their race. 

I asked who they were, and I learned that they 
were Moslem peasants emigrating from Bosnia to 
Turkish territory. Bosnia is a province adjoining 
the Macedonian region, and it was formerly the scene 



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MOSLEM EMIGRATION 53 

of very similar troubles. By one of those fictions 
which have done so much to bring diplomacy into 
discredit, it was still technically a part of the Ottoman 
empire. Actually it had been part of the Austrian 
empire for thirty years. It enjoyed all, and more 
than all, the reforms which have been proposed for 
Macedonia. It had become already what the Bul- 
garians and the Powers proposed that Macedonia 
should become — a land of law and order, of strict justice 
and regular taxation, where security for life and 
property is guaranteed to all the inhabitants without 
distinction. And these emigrants were leaving it. 
They were going to exchange the blessings of civili- 
sation for life under the corrupt pashas, and the 
grinding tax-gatherers, and the lawless soldiery of 
Turkish tradition. They were going to exchange 
the rule of Francis Joseph II. for that of Abdul 
Hamid II. 

A similar emigration has been going on from 
Thessaly, from Crete, from all the provinces which 
have passed under Christian rule. And, judging from 
the presence of the young man whom I remarked 
directing the embarkation, it is assisted emigration. 
The Commander of the Faithful has been summoning 
his scattered adherents to swell the garrison of his 
beleaguered empire. 

I have been told that since the Powers began to 
tighten their grip on Macedonia the Moslems have 
begun to pack up and go from there also, moving 
across from Europe to Asia, to escape the coming 
of the Christians. Of that I came upon no first- 
hand evidence. On the other hand, I was informed 
in Athens that the Sultan had recently been buying 
Christian villages in Epirus as his private estate, 
and evicting the inhabitants, to replace them by 
Moslems, and our ambassador in Constantinople 
admitted to me that something of the kind had taken 
place. 

The moral of these incidents is plain, and should be 



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54 OUT OF EUROPE 

profitable. The geographical conception of nation- 
ality is strange to this part of the world, and cannot 
be enforced without injustice and oppression. The 
theory of modem international law that nationality 
should depend on free choice has always been the law 
and practice of the Ottoman empire. A Bulgarian 
can become a Turk at any moment that he pleases by 
embracing Islam, a Greek can become a Bulgarian by 
joining the Exarchate, and of two brothers one may 
enter the Rumanian fold and the other the Servian. 
The most important factor in deciding the nationality 
is always religion ; language and ethnological theories 
play a secondary part. 

Where choice is free it will sometimes be governed 
by personal interest, and the Macedonians have been 
sneered at for their readiness to accept Servian and 
Rumanian bribes; but, on the whole, such a charge 
falls to the ground, and it must be pronounced that 
these people have shown remarkable steadfastness 
in the face of corruption and terrorism. When we 
consider the advantages offered to a convert to Islam, 
it is remarkable that so few conversions have taken 
place ; and the peasantry, who for so many centuries 
have held out against the temptations of the Turks, are 
to-day holding out with equal obstinacy against the 
violences of the Bulgars. 

Unless the new Government in Turkey succeeds 
where the Governments of Austria, of Bulgaria, and of 
Greece have failed, the Sultan's policy appears to offer 
the only hopeful solution of the difficulty. If these 
various peoples cannot dwell side by side in peace, 
the object must be to separate them by a gradual 
redistribution of the population on the lines of nation- 
ality. The most easy and obvious arrangement would 
be one collecting the Serbs and Bulgars in the north, 
and the Hellenes and Hellenising Macedonians in 
the south, with a central Moslem zone connecting 
Albania with Constantinople. 

Such a suggestion is not put forward as a practical 



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CORFU SS 

policy capable of being immediately or speedily carried 
out But it may serve as a useful test of the sincerity 
of the various parties, and of those who profess a 
concern in their welfare, whether emperors or journal- 
ists. If we see that their actions or their arguments 
tend in some other direction than that of the free 
development of each element in the population, we 
may feel sure that their interest is not quite impartial, 
or not quite disinterested. 

Our second stopping-place was the Greek isle oi 
Kerkyra, known to the medieval Latinist as Corcyra, 
and to the vulgar as Corfu. The exquisite scenery 
of the island, with its glorious views of the snow-clad 
Albanian mountains, has recently attracted an Emperor 
whose travels sometimes combine pleasure with 
business. Throughout the world of Islam his Imperial 
Majesty is considered as the Defender of the Faith. I 
have met Young Turks who professed to think that 
the Emperor's affection for their country resembled 
the boa-constrictor's for the rabbit ; they argued that 
Germany was pushing Austria down to Salonika, and 
getting ready to follow and take over her acquisitions. 
But that is looking rather far ahead. When we read 
in the papers one day that the Sultan has bought 
twenty motor-cars from a German firm, and the next 
day that the German Ambassador has vetoed the 
Anglo-Russian reform proposals, we seem to be in 
the presence of a simple commercial transaction. 

In spite of its illustrious patron, the isle of Kerkyra is 
almost unvisited by tourists. A year or two ago the 
Greeks decided on an effort to attract pleasure-seekers, 
and they got as far as building a casino. Then some 
one warned them that '* Europe " would be shocked by 
anything in the nature of gambling, and the casino has 
never been opened. A nation that is on its promotion 
must be upon its good behaviour. 

Those who are aware of the extent to which national 
interests may suffer from popular prejudices, which 
are often entirely unjust, will understand my motive 



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56 OUT OF EUROPE 

for recording an incident of the voyage out which 
would be trivial enough in itself, did it not serve to 
throw a light on some of the causes which have 
influenced public opinion against the Hellenic cause. 
On my return voyage we had on board an Italian 
merchant who had evidently done business with Greeks, 
with less advantage to himself than to them. He 
denounced their nation in no measured terms, winding 
up with the remark that the Bulgarians had driven 
them out like dogs. 

" And what is your opinion of the Bulgars ? " I 
inquired. 
** Still worse!" was the emphatic response. 
During the voyage out I made the acquaintance of 
an Englishman of that too common type which goes 
about the world judging all mankind by the English 
standard, and unable to recognise that his own nation 
may have faults in the eyes of foreign nations, not less 
serious than theirs are in his. He condemned the un- 
fortunate Greeks in the same sweeping manner as my 
Italian friend, and warned me earnestly against reposing 
the slightest trust in them. When I informed him that I 
had made up a party to play bridge with three Greek 
gentlemen on board, he gazed on me in consternation 
as he pronounced — " Ah, the Greeks know how to play 
cards ! " 

Of the Greeks as business men I shall have occasion 
to speak hereafter. My experience of them as card- 
players is that they are more trustful and generous 
than ourselves, seldom claiming the penalty for an 
exposed card, or a careless revoke at the end of a 
hand. On this occasion, as it happened, I rose from 
the table the principal, if not the only, winner. One 
of my companions paid me ten francs too much — a mis- 
take which I did not discover till he had left the boat, 
so that I can only trust his judgment of Englishmen is 
more charitable than my mentor's judgment of Greeks. 
The second player turned out to be the owner of a 
silver-mine. The third was a banker in Salonika, 



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THE PlRiEUS 57 

where he afterwards advanced me sixty pounds, and 
declined to take an acknowledgment. 

There is an old Oxford joke about a pamphlet which 
some one had in preparation on " The Existence of 
Foreigners, its Cause and its Cure." More than once 
during my journey I was tempted to fear that this 
work had actually seen the light, and that it formed 
part of the library of more than one British Consulate. 
What can be more hopeless, what can be more help- 
less, than to travel through the world carrying every- 
where the air of Clapham Common ? The man who 
has resided in Macedonia for fifty years, if he have not 
sympathy, will know no more about it than if he had 
never left home. 

The last time I had entered the famous port of 
Themistocles it was full of transports bringing Greek 
volunteers from all parts of the Levant, and taking 
them on to Arta and Volo, the frontier. This time all 
was peaceful. The usual Russian warship, in its dark 
green paint, lay in the outer harbour alongside of some 
Greek warships in grey. Queen Olga is an Admiral 
of the Russian navy, and this kindly attention on the 
part of the Russian Government has helped the pros- 
perity of the port. The inner harbour was crowded 
with shipping under the blue-and-white flag of Hellas, 
and among the vessels ranged along the quay I recog- 
nised the Argolis, in which I had run the blockade of 
Crete ten years before. Its old commander. Captain 
Koukoudakes, came to see ime while I was in Athens. 
We did not know each other's speech, but we shook 
hands silently, while we recalled that dark night off 
the rocky coast when the flare of cannon lit the sky 
on one hand and on the other the searchlights raked 
every wave. 

The harbour of Piraeus was the first evidence I 
found of the amazing recovery made by the Greek 
kingdom from the disasters of the war. The tonnage 
of steam-shipping under the Greek flag has risen in 
ten years from 96,358 to 288,573, and of the 3,114,873 



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58 OUT OF EUROPE 

tons entered and cleared at the Piraeus in 1906, one- 
third, or 983,531 tons, was Greek. All over the Levant, 
and far up the Black Sea, the Greek flag is taking the 
first place, and already plans are being made to 
establish a line across the Atlantic. There could be 
no more encouraging sign for the future than this 
national revival. The modem Greek is developing 
the traits of his ancester, and Ithaca has become the 
seat of a nautical school. 

As soon as the steamer had cast anchor a boat came 
alongside, and from it stepped out two friends who 
had kindly come to look after me, Mr. Philip Chryso- 
veloni and Mr. Nicolas Paspati. Both of these gentle- 
men spoke English perfectly, Mr. Chrysoveloni having 
been brought up in Manchester, and Mr. Paspati 
having lived some time in Liverpool. They and the 
group of friends with whom they are associated 
represent a new Greece, a Greece which has taken 
to heart the bitter lesson of 1897, and is setting itself 
to work soberly and earnestly to build up the national 
greatness on a sound basis, a basis of education and 
mercantile expansion, of public works and adminis- 
trative reform. They have much reason to feel 
satisfied with the progress made already. There are 
few better symptoms of national prosperity than the 
rate of exchange, and the drachma, which shortly after 
the war fell to 40, to-day stands at 27, only slightly 
lower than the Italian lira. I may add that the Greek 
Funds have become one of the finest investments in 
the market. Not only is the interest of over 4 per 
cent, secured by an International Commission, but the 
operation of the sinking fund, which must ultimately 
raise the price of the stock to par, sends up its value 
automatically every year. 

It will be seen, of course, that I was received in 
Athens in the character of a friend. Indeed, my old 
acquaintance, Mr. Levidis, whom I had formerly known 
as Minister of Marine, and whom I now found Pre- 
sident of the Chamber, was good enough to introduce 



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GREEK CANDOUR 59 

me as, not a Philhellene, but a Hellene. But I do 
not think that the interests of my inquiry suffered 
from this; on the contrary, I think they gained. A 
client is likely to speak more freely to his counsel 
than to the judge. The friends whom I found . in 
Athens asked me to be frank with them, and I think 
they were frank with me. When they showed me a 
map of Macedonia prepared by some enthusiast accord- 
ing to his wishes rather than his information, they 
warned me plainly that its author had been too liberal 
in his use of the blue paint. They also informed me 
beforehand that the prevailing dialect of the peasantry 
was Slave ; in fact, they used the word " Bulgarian " to 
characterise it, and it was one of my own discoveries, 
later on, that the peasants are now rejecting that name, 
and calling their patois " Macedonian," in order to 
mark their antipathy to the Bulgarian yoke. 

I do not pretend that this candour and straight- 
forwardness marks all the public statements put 
forward from the Greek side, nor that it marked all 
the Greeks with whom I was brought into contact ; 
but, generally speaking, I found them anxious to deal 
fairly with me, and fairly with the question as between 
themselves and the other Christian peoples. Their 
demand cannot be better expressed than in the words 
addressed to me by Mr. Baltazzi, a statesman who 
takes a special interest in Macedonian affairs, and 
who has since received the portfolio of Foreign 
Affairs : 

" What we wish is to see peace restored, and then 
that the people should be allowed to decide for 
themselves wnich nationality they prefer." 

It would be difficult to put in simpler terms a policy 
to which it should be difficult for any Liberal to take 
exception. 

Perhaps the strongest evidence of sincerity given 
by the Greeks is their willingness to submit the whole 



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6o OUT OF EUROPE 

question, and all questions between them and the 
other Balkan States, to arbitration. They have at 
present a serious misunderstanding with the Ru- 
manians. I was informed in Athens that the Greek 
Government had requested the Rumanian Govern- 
ment to submit this difference to the Hague tribunal, 
and that the Rumanian Government had refused. 

As we were being rowed ashore my friends pointed 
out to me an open place on the west side of the 
harbour. 

" We were sorry you did not come yesterday. You 
would have seen all that space covered with the tents 
of the refugees waiting to embark. There were eight 
hundred of them. But they left yesterday for 
Thessaly." 

Poor, generous little kingdom, ever ready, with its 
arms open, to afford an asylum to the children of 
Hellas in their distress I The last time I had come to 
Piraeus I had found its streets swarming with Cretan 
refugees. Now I came back, after ten years, and lo ! 
a fresh burden laid upon the shoulders of the mother- 
state. 

The refugees I had seen before were insurgents, 
fleeing from Turkish territory as the result of a 
conflict provoked by themselves. From whence did 
these new refugees come, and after what rebellion 
against the ruling power ? 

I put the question, expecting to hear that these were 
victims of the Folk War in Macedonia expelled from 
their homes for refusing to accept the Comitadji 
tyranny. The answer surprised me ; I think it will 
surprise the reader : 

" They are the Bulgarian refugees." 

"Bulgarians?" 

" Bulgarian subjects. They are Greeks from the 
cities on the Black Sea, cities which have always been 
Greek, but were handed over to the Bulgarians by the 
Treaty of Berlin." 



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BULGARIAN REFUGEES 6i 

"And why have they come away ? " 

" Their homes have been sacked and burnt by the 
Bulgarians, because they refused to give up the Greek 
language." 

And so I came to hear of the most disgraceful 
episode in the recent history of Europe; an episode 
which, had it taken place on Turkish soil, would have 
brought the ironclads of half Europe to the spot ; but 
which, because it took place on the soil of this 
foundling State adopted by the European Concert, 
has been suffered to pass without punishment, and 
almost without protest. 

In pursuance of the rule I had laid down for myself 
to seek first-hand evidence wherever obtainable, I 
went out the next day to a large building on the 
outskirts of Athens which has been assigned by the 
Government as a temporary home for some of these 
unfortunates. 

I found the building swarming with men, women, 
and children, all in a state of destitution, and de- 
pendent for their daily bread upon the bounty of the 
Government. Among them were priests, schoolmasters, 
carpenters, corn-factors, farmers, and representatives 
of all sorts of industries. And it was characteristic 
of Hellas that in this half-famished refuge, amid all 
this distress, means had been found to equip a school- 
room, and the schoolmaster had called his little exiles 
round him and was teaching them again. 

It was the schoolmaster who told me their story, 
in the presence of a group of fellow-refugees. 

They were from Anchialos, a town of 6,000 inhabi- 
tants, the great majority Hellenes. The population 
had given no offence whatever to the Bulgarian 
authorities, except the one unpardonable offence of 
continuing to speak their own language and worship 
in their own church. In doing this they were pro- 
tected by the explicit language of the Treaty of Berlin, 
and the Organic Statute of Eastern Rumelia, signed 
by the representative of Great Britain. 



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62 OUT OF EUROPE 

"The chief languages of the country — ^Turkish, 
Bulgarian and Greek — shall be used in the Province, 
as well by the authorities as by private persons, in 
their relations with these latter, conformably to the 
following rules." * 

" In the courts the citizens shall have the right to 
use one of the three chief languages at their choice." * 

" Education shall be free." * 

"The different communities shall be obliged to 
provide the charges which are already incumbent on 
them for the support of their educational and benevo- 
lent institutions. * 

** No religious community shall be forced to intro- 
duce into its schools a language other than its own." * 

** Every one shall be free to profess his own religion, 
and shafl enjoy equal protection on the part ot the 
authorities in the exercise of his worship." • 

These privileges were no greater than have been 
enjoyed by the Christians in the Turkish empire for 
five hundred years, and are enjoyed by them to-day. 
The Greeks of Eastern Rumelia had done nothing 
to forfeit them ; they suffered for the opposition offered 
by their brethren elsewhere to the Comitadji warfare. 
The Bulgarian Government can hardly decline respon- 
sibility for outrages committed within its own borders, 
and in the presence of its own police. 

Anchialos was attacked on August 12, 1906. The 
inhabitants knew what was in store for them ; already 
the Greek quarters of Varna, Philippopolis,Stenimachos 
and Burgas had seen their churches, their schools, and 
their hospitals sacked or destroyed by their Bulgarian 
fellow-citizens, their shops looted, and those of them 
who resisted beaten or slain — and not a Foreign Office 
in Europe had interfered. 

Anchialos was an almost purely Greek town, and 
it was necessary to invade it from outside. On the 
morning of the fatal day a band of more than one 
hundred armed men appeared in the streets at day- 

» Organic Statute, Art. 22. » Ihid, > Ibid., Art. 38. 

* Art. 344. » Art. 359. « Art. 28. 



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SACK OF ANCHIALOS 63 

break and began firing in all directions. The Greeks 
took refuge in their church, which they defended so 
well that three of their assailants were killed, and the 
rest barricaded themselves in the Turkish mosque. 
Reinforcements arrived, and about twenty of the 
Greeks fell, besides a great number of wounded. At 
last the Bulgars set fire to the town, the Greek portion, 
containing nine hundred houses and shops, being com- 
pletely destroyed.' 

The witness whom I questioned assured me that 
the gendarmes were not only present, but assisting 
the invaders. He added that the assailants of the 
town had brought carts with them to carry off the 
pillage. He believed, but would not positively assert, 
that the whole attack was planned and directed by 
the Comitadji leader, Tchakalaroff, whose portrait 
is given in a recent pro-Bulgarian publication, appar- 
ently for the admiration of the reader.' 

But this witness is a Greek. His testimony is not 
above suspicion. Let us call a witness from the other 
side. Mr. Natchevitch, late Bulgarian Diplomatic 
Agent at Constantinople, threw up bis post as a 
protest against the Macedonian policy of his Govern- 
ment. 

In his own words : 

" Because I was too deeply ashamed to look the 
world in the face. My idol was very different from 
that of Daskaloff & Co. They dream of nothing 
but war upon the Greeks, persecution, ruin, and 
destruction of them on Bulgarian soil. Their means 
are brigandage, sedition, and atrocity. And it is 
this land of anarchy which poses as the saviour of 
Macedonia ! " • 

And this is how he refers to the events which 
culminated in the sack of Anchialos. 

' For a full account of these outrages the reader is referred to a 
recent pamphlet, A SearcAlight on the Balkans^ by Ulysses. 
' Macedonia^ by H. N. Brailsford, 1906^ p. 150. 
' Changova Vetchema Pochta, August 21, 1907 (N.S.). 



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64 OUT OF EUROPE 

"At Rustchuk, Philippopolis, Anchialos, and other 
places Mr. DaskalofTs heroic friends brought waggons, 
which they piled up with goods and furniture 
from the sack of private Hellenic citizens. Buchay 
taught me long ago to distrust a * patriotism ' which 
is lucrative to the patriots ; he taught me that pillage 
and robbery often masquerade in the garb of patriotism." 

But perhaps Mr. Natchevitcb is also a tainted witness. 
He may be influenced by his private griefs in assailing 
the Government from whose service he resigned. 
Let us read the reply to his censures offered by the 
head of that Government, Mr. Ratcho Petroff. 

" My own views as to the unfortunate incident at 
Anchialos, and as to the extent to which both sides 
were responsible, are well known. Everyone will 
remember my threats to the patriots, and it will 
also be remembered that the occasion gave rise to 
a conflict between the mob and the army, resulting 
in the death of three of those patriots, who, although 
they lacked courage to measure themselves against tne 
Greek bands, were yet brave enough to attack a foreign 
Agency : which acts of violence we condemned and 
put down by force of arms. Mr. Natchevitch blames 
us for not having prevented the attack on Anchialos,* 
and for allowing Macedonians to penetrate, greedy 
for spoil, into the burnings town — a fact which has 
compromised our position m the eyes of the European 
pubfic." ' 

And so forth. One would be glad to think that these 
things had compromised the position of Bulgaria in the 
eyes of the European public, but of that there is no 
sign at present. With the appearance of one British 
or Russian warship at the mouth of the Danube the 
Folk War in Rumelia would have long ago come to 
an end. 

It is a mistake, too often made, to suppose that the 
Folk War is a war of religion. Nothing could be 

* Preceded by numerous similar outrages during more than three 
weeks. 

» Changova Vetchema Pochta^ August 1$, 1907 (N.S.). For 
fuller extracts see the Hellenic Herald^ October, 1907. 



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GREEKS IN FLIGHT 65 

farther from the case. The Patriarch himself, unlike 
the Pope, is a Greek first and a priest afterwards. 
The Exarchate is simply a political contrivance for 
enabling the Bulgarians to emancipate themselves 
from the ecclesiastical dominion of Hellas. 

I found that the Anchialite refugees thought much 
less of their church than of their language. They 
attributed the enmity of the Folk to their being 
Hellenes, and not to their being Patriarchists. And 
their feeling is reflected in' the action of the Bulgarian 
Government. The Greek churches in Eastern 
Rumelia have now been reopened. The Greek schools 
are still closed. 

During the eighteen months between July 1906 
and December 1907 forty thousand Greeks have been 
compelled to quit the soil of Eastern Rumelia, leaving 
behind them their lands, their houses, and their whole 
worldly wealth. And where have they sought refuge ? 

Ten thousand of them sought it in Turkey, in the 
dominions of a sovereign who has been more foully 
assailed than any sovereign in history for his sup- 
posed intolerance towards Christians. They sought 
under the Crescent the protection denied them under 
the Cross. They, like the Moslems of Austria, pre- 
ferred the corrupt pashas, and the extortionate tax- 
gatherers, and the ferocious soldiery of Turkey, to 
the freedom and civilisation of Christian Bulgaria. 

The Turks were not altogether pleased to receive 
them. The explanation given to me by Turkish 
officials since is that they feared that if these emi- 
grants were allowed to settle in Thrace they would 
be pursued by the Bulgars, which would lead to 
strife along the border. That may be the whole 
explanation. Or it may be that the Turks feared 
that any increase in the Christian population would 
prove dangerous to their own security. Whatever 
be the truth as to that, ten thousand of the refugees 
have been permitted to settle in and around Con- 
stantinople. The rest have come to Greece. 

5 



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66 OUT OF EUROPE 

And the poor, generous little kingdom, always 
playing the part of a good Samaritan to the distressed 
races in the Levant — the island of Crete alone has 
cost it ;£'8,ooo,ooo in the last fifty years, and it has 
sheltered Armenians as well as Greeks — ^the kingdom 
made them welcome. A Committee was formed in 
Athens to look after them, and ;f 150,000 has already 
been spent in the relief of 23,589 refugees. Of this 
sum, according to an account furnished to me by the 
Committee, about ;f 16,000 was raised by private sub- 
scription, the remainder being contributed by the 
State. The poor people are being settled in Thessaly, 
where five new towns are to be built for their recep- 
tion; and on October 13, 1907, the Heir of Greece 
laid the first stone of New Anchialos. 

The Ministers of the Great Powers who signed the 
Organic Statute of Eastern Rumelia oughf to have 
been there. 

If any one has wondered why there were Mace- 
donian Christians unwilling to exchange the rule of 
Abdul Hamid II. for that of Prince Ferdinand, the 
history of Anchialos may enlighten him. The moral 
seems to be the same with that suggested to me at 
Gravosa. There is a deep incompatibility of temper 
between these various races which cannot be soothed 
away by the stock phrases of ignorant philanthropy, 
and which renders it criminal to place one under the 
rule of another. A similar forced emigration of Greeks 
has taken place from Rumania, though on a smaller 
scale, and without the same atrocities. 

It is needless to remark on the obstacle presented 
by this incompatibility of temper to any union of the 
Balkan States. It is equally a hindrance to their 
internal development. The Bulgar is, as we have 
Seen, a farmer; the Greek is a sailor. One is a 
countryman, and the other a townsman. Thus each 
is necessary to the other. The expulsion of the 
Greeks from the Black Sea ports is already being 
felt as a serious loss, and Armenians and Jews are 



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PEACEMAKING 67 

going thither to replace them. But the Jews are more 
unpopular in Rumania than the Greeks. 

Unhappily, one result of this state of feeling is to 
make it most difficult for any one to mediate between 
the hostile parties. A British diplomatist accredited 
to one of the Balkan Courts complained to me that, 
because he tried to preserve an impartial attitude, he 
was regarded almost as an enemy by the people among 
whom he found himself. "I am their friend, but 
because I cannot become a blind partisan they think 
I am against them," he said. And it is to be feared 
that his complaint was justified. The peacemaker has 
not an easy task anywhere in the Balkans, and who- 
ever tries to be the friend of two of these peoples may 
end by losing the confidence of both. 



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CHAPTER II 

ATHENS REVISITED 

The Grande-Breiagn^—GrtA hospitality— The Bulletin ^Orient-- 
An Athenian family— The Lame Welsh— The Greek Prime 
Minister — Public and private institutions— The Paniassos — The 
Turkish Entente— 1\a British Legation — ^^ Come over and 
help US'" 

Next to the Parthenon, the greatest attraction Athens 
offers to the traveller is the Hotel Grande-Bretagne^ 
and I had been looking forward to taking up my 
quarters there once more. As it turned out, my 
friends had made other plans for me, but I took the 
first opportunity to go round and lunch at my old 
home at the time of the war. 

The Grande-Bretagne is the social hearth of Athens, 
and the class who in other capitals would be found 
dining at their clubs make it their headquarters. 
Thus there is a special table for the diplomatic corps. 
Mr. Lampsa, the proprietor, is a host of the good old 
school, of whom many anecdotes are told. He used 
to be rather strict in enforcing punctuality at his table 
d'h6te, and on one occasion an Italian attache pre- 
sumed to come half an hbur late. Mr. Lampsa was 
very sorry, but there was no dinner for him at the 
Grande-Bretagne that night. The Italian appealed to 
his colleagues to declare a boycott ; but, though the 
Concert of Europe may have terrors for other auto- 
crats, it has none for the sultan of the Grande-Bretagne, 
The unfortunate diplomatists were allowed to wander 

68 



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GREEK HOSPITALITY 69 

miserably round Athens for a season, and then they 
were wise enough to see the error of their ways, and 
peace was restored. At another time a Serene Duke 
who had spent some time under Mr. Lampsa's roof 
had the bad taste to criticise the bill. Mr. Lampsa 
promptly tore it up, and declined to receive his Serene 
Highness again. He has similarly banished the 
correspondent of The Times^ for reasons which will be 
easily apparent to any one who studies the trickle of 
acid telegrams, usually dated from Sofia, which appear 
under the heading '' Macedonia " in that great organ. 

I must be permitted to describe my own very 
different treatment. On reaching the hotel, I found in 
the manager, Mr. Karameros, an old comrade to whose 
kindness I was greatly indebted during the campaign 
of Epirusin 1897. From that moment it became use- 
less for me to ask for a bill. When I was leaving for 
Constantinople, Mr. Lampsa honoured me by a most 
cordial invitation to use the Grande-Bretagne as my 
private house whenever I found myself in Athens in 
the future, and when I availed myself of his generous 
hospitality on my way back, I found it extended even 
to my visitors. 

I have ventured to record this instance of a splendid 
generosity which is characteristic of the Greek private 
citizen. During the war I spent a fortnight in the 
house of a merchant of Arta, Mr. Spiridione Ghinos. 
He had been nearly ruined by the war, and his family 
and servants had been sent to a place of safety, but he 
procured me the best of everything that was procur- 
able, an^ waited on me himself. On leaving I pressed 
him to accept a banknote. He refused it without 
hesitation, telling me, through an interpreter, that he 
wished to be " the brother of my heart." I owe an 
expression of gratitude to many Greeks for similar 
hospitality during the present journey ; as well as to 
the Greek doctors, whom my uncertain health obliged 
me to call in more than once, and who in no case 
would accept any fee. 



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70 ATHENS REVISITED 

Such are the Greeks as I have found them. Other 
writers on the nation have remarked the same trait, 
one going so far as to say that he was able to tell 
whether he was in a Greek or Bulgarian village by the 
simple test of whether he was or was not allowed to 
pay for his entertainment. The patriotism that takes 
such a form ennobles a people. At the time of the 
war, the very boatmen in the Piraeus harbour refused 
to take money for landing the foreign volunteers ; and 
more than one British Tommy was literally over- 
powered by the hospitality of the street caf6s. 

It is possible, indeed I think it probable, that this 
generosity is extended with especial heartiness to 
Englishmen, as well as to Frenchmen — I find it 
difficult to decide which of the two great Liberal 
Powers stands highest in the affections of the Greeks. 
Although our attitude towards Hellas has not always 
been that of a friend, especially in recent years, this 
attachment has been unshaken. During the Boer 
War, when nations for whom we had done much more 
were openly sympathising with our foes, the Greeks 
made our cause their own, and when the tide at last 
turned in our favour the enthusiasm of the students 
broke out in a demonstration in the streets of Athens. 
The friend who told me of this added the explanation, 
" We thought that England was in the wrong, but we 
felt that any weakening of her power and prestige 
would be a blow to the cause of freedom and justice 
all over the world." 

The Greeks did more than demonstrate merely. 
The illustration opposite shows a "Greek band" 
wearing the British uniform, and formed by the Greek 
residents in Cape Town during the crisis of the war. 
I may mention that it is a brother of one of these 
officers to whose assistance the present report owes 
more than to any other one individual, though he has 
requested me not to single him out for thanks. I 
found it hard to believe that Englishmen would let 
that uniform count for nothing when they came to 



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' OF THE V 




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THE "BULLETIN D'ORIENT" 71 

consider the case of the other Greek bands who were 
on their trial at the bar of opinion. 

For the Greeks, England is the country of Byron 
and Gladstone, whose statues occupy the finest sites 
in the city of Athens. Hence it is that they so often 
find themselves disappointed in their hopes. They 
forget that Byron was driven out by his fellow- 
countrymen, and that one-half of them would have 
liked to drive out Gladstone as well. They forget 
that if Britain gives birth to Byrons, she also gives 
birth to Elgins ; and as a rule the Byrons are in exile, 
and the Elgins are in office. 

One of the first persons whose acquaintance I made 
in Athens was Professor Andr^adds, who edited the 
Bulletin cC Orient^ issued by the Greek Government to 
inform the European press and public on Macedonian 
affairs. A similar sheet, called the Courrier de Sofia^ 
was being issued by the Bulgarians, and probably one 
neutralised the other. I found the British consuls in 
Turkey, to whom the rival publications were regularly 
sent, disposed to regard them in much the same light 
as the Eatonswill Gazette and Independent. I have 
already commented on the policy of approaching 
Fleet Street on these lines, and I am bound to add 
that I think it impossible to produce a paper that will 
be equally useful in Rumelia and in the meridian of 
Greenwich. It may cheer the Greek community of 
Serres or Melenikon to be told that the English press 
is coming over to the side of Greece, but when the 
instance given in support of that statement is The 
Broadstairs Ecffo, one feels that the British consuls are 
not likely to be impressed in the right way.^ 

I found a kind and helpful cicerone in Lieutenant 
Constantine Melas, a naval officer who acted as aide- 
de-camp to Prince George while His Royal Highness 

^ It would be unfair to judge Professor Andrtfad^s by the contents 
of the Bulletin eTOrient, He has presented the Greek case for 
English readers in an able and convincing article in The Contemfarar) 
RfvUw for September 1905. 



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72 ATHENS REVISITED 

was High Commissioner in Crete. It was a brother 
of this gentleman who led the first Greek band across 
the frontier in 1904, and whose name has now taken 
a permanent place among the heroes of Hellenism. 
In Macedonia I was often to hear the song which 
commemorates his fate. In Athens I met his widow 
and orphan son. I met them in the house of Mrs. 
Melas's father, Mr. Stephen Dragoumis, who is the 
leader of an opposition party in the Chamber, in- 
fluential rather by intellect than by numbers. His 
household is patriarchal. It is presided over by his 
mother, a fascinating old lady of eighty, whose life is 
an epitome of the history of Greece. She described 
to me her landing at the Piraeus as a child, when the 
site of the thriving seaport was marked only by a 
few wooden huts ; and she was carried ashore in the 
boatman's arms, and traversed the four miles to Athens 
on the back of a camel. She remembered the re- 
joicings in Athens on the accession of Queen Victoria, 
the coming of King Otho and Queen Amelia, and 
all the struggles that have gone to the making of 
Greece. 

It was strange to listen to such an account from 
living lips of that little group of refugees gathering 
among ruins to lay the foundations of a kingdom ; 
and then to pass out of doors and see the broad roads, 
the well-paved streets, the stately squares, and, above 
all, that exquisite group of buildings formed by the 
University, the Academy, and the Library, which I 
have seen nothing to match in any city of Europe, 
unless it be the historic Town Place of Brussels. 

Mr. Dragoumis told me the story of his son-in-law's 
departure. 

" He had been thinking about it for a long time. At 
last he came to me one night, and said, ' I must go. I 
do not expect to come back alive, but I cannot rest 
here while those poor people are being tortured and 
killed. I must go and defend them.' " 
In the end Paul Melas was entrapped and killed in a 



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THE KOUTZO-VLACHS 73 

cottage where he was resting for the night. His death 
was the work of Turkish soldiers, who, of course, were 
doing no more than their duty ; but the family believe 
that his hiding-place was pointed out to them by a 
woman, despatched by Bulgarians in the village. I 
desire to blame neither him nor them. The real 
authors of all the grim deeds done in Rumelia be- 
tween Christians are those who first turned Christian 
weapons against Christian breasts. 

Madame Melas afterwards visited the spot to ascer- 
tain the details of her husband's fate, and to give his 
remains an honourable grave. She found the cottage, 
and at first the old woman who dwelt there refused to 
speak. But at last she said, with tears, " He was so 
good, so thoughtful. He paid for everything, even 
down to the bit of cheese." 

The peasant could think of no higher praise. There 
can be little doubt that much of the success of the 
Greek bands over the Bulgarians has been due to the 
fact that the' Antartes pay for what they consume, while 
the Comitadjis live on the country, and ruthlessly tax 
their friends as well as their enemies. 

Mr. Dragoumis has given special attention to the 
subject of the Koutzo-Vlachs, that mysterious little 
people which the Rumanian Government has been 
trying to claim as a branch of its own nation. 
Through his liberality the first dictionary of their 
language, or dialect, is now in course of publication, 
and a specimen-page shows that the Vlach stands 
about half-way between Rumanian and Romaic, or 
Latin and Greek. It may be a blend of the two ; it 
may even be a dialect of antiquity, spoken by a border 
people, which has preserved its separate existence 
while the dialects on either side of it were being 
absorbed by the classical Greek and the classical 
Latin. I have no real confidence in the dictionaries 
which are prepared by scholars, with their minds 
under the sway of the Alexandrian grammarians, of 
peasant dialects which vary from village to village and 



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specimen Page of Koutzo-Vlach Dictionaty (in the press) 
The English meanings are added 



avynAydQe — » avynXit^f^ 43 

(gannator-xXeuaotiQ;)- ixaX. ingannare, itopT. enganar. 
iffic. enganar, pou(A, ing&n, ipx* yoiX. enganner* icpo£. 
enganar- IS. Pusc. x«l Dens. 191. Tcd««iT«. 

ayyxikv6(^, dcic6. oOa. toO d(V. p.* -vtps irXyjO. (angftn&re, 
-nSr')=iQ icp6^XY)atc TOO !^(j>ou Sta SeXeoo'i&oo.p. ohiamareiX. t^ ihm 

arfnAv&t^, -r* -t<, -tc toO. [ut. too 4v. p. (angftnftt^, 
-t&, -ts, •telssicpotfxexXvjfiivoc Sia toO SiXTjtoc. fcavlj^ y^ x^t- 
povo(Ate?* (inl 2^(^cov) pouji. chiamat, X«t. '^*'*"- 

. carfMi^kaHov, -9^^ *9iTat, -(npe p. (angftrsi^sku. ai^ 

-sits -sirel^sdYxcofxai, xpauyaCu) (iicl toO 8vou) xotv. yxapuCo) 

4cal deyxapuCto, dcop. dcyxdep^a, i^ oS Tbicpox. p. Poupu sbier, X. Tb bnj. 

aryxdoalge, iicO. o6<7. toO av. -(np' icXiqO. (angftrsfre, 
-8ir*)=6yxy)6a6<, xoiv. yxiouTiioL^ poujji. sbiorare, Xat. ' Bnj. 

aywdTdy^^ eic{p. (angat&n^) = icpo'7uXaxTtxa);, eOXafaCt 
irpoacxTixco;' olov «Ti afA*''aVYx4Tav'''»=affiicpo9uXaTTft). 'Ayvw- 

onoU pwt XaWYWY^;. _ To protect 

ayyuiitt, oO<r. 6y)X., avyx^T!! kXiqO. (angiSS, dzlsaiaxiv- 
5aiX[jL6(;, xotv. dcyx^Sa (&xi< -<So<) poufA, askie, tsandIrS, aXaS. SEOiBte. 
arynivdQ^L, oCm. eY)X., avYxiv&p' icXvjO. (angin^fi, ntr^) 

=BX(vapa xoiv. dcyxivdlpa, poupi. anghinarfi, 4XX. Artiohoin 

aryHlatQOV* oOa. oOS. -<rrpt icXt)0. (angi8tru-8trl»i- 

yxiortpov, xotv. dcYxiarpi, poufA. unditsfi, aXafi. Fidi-hook. 

ovyifAfT^ x«l vyKA/T«', avyxXtTd*. -otT», -ape p. (anglf- 

f*, -tai, -tata, -tare)=xaTair(va>. 'Ex TOO XaT. ingluttio. 

ire=xaTai:(vw It. inghiottire, dpy. lorit. englutir, icopT. 

engulir, y**^- engloutin, poujx. inghits. Kotl otvYxXiTcr*", 

xal VYXtT*^"*. To iwallow. 

aryHXitdQ€,yt.cKXavYHXirad(fe,&'Ki. oOa. ToOdtv p. -Tip' xal 
Tfftp' icXy)6. (an^litsdre, -tsSr')=xaTblico<ric' poufA. inghi- 

tsire, XaT SwaUowing. 

ayyuXijdr^, -t*, -t^, -tc xdl avyiUTOdt^*, xal vjpdU^ 



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RUMANIAN PROPAGANDA 75 

from house to house, as is the case with Welsh, and 
even with rural EngUsh. 

The name Vlach, or Wallach, is probably the same 
as Welsh, meaning stranger or foreigner/ Koutzo 
is said to mean Lame, an explanation which does 
not satisfy me. I should be disposed to compare this 
name with that of the historical Gepidce^ the Laggards 
described by Gibbon, and to believe that it originally 
indicated no more than that these clans were the 
latest to arrive of their nation, in some forgotten 
migration, or that they were left behind. 

The Lame Welsh lead a life which may help to 
account for their name, as well as for the preservation 
of their dialect. They are shepherds and pedlars, 
passing the summer on the alps of the Pindus, and 
descending in winter to their homes in Macedonia 
and Thessaly. They are thus kept from mingling 
with the settled population which cultivates the soil. 

Whatever be the motives of the Rumanian Govern- 
ment for desiring to proselytise the Lame Welsh, 
the methods it has pursued are in honourable contrast 
to those of Sofia, and it is deeply to be regretted that 
the Greeks should have resented them in the way 
they have. The Rumanians have built schools ; here 
and there they have obtained the right to use a 
church ; most of their schools are practically benevolent 
institutions in which the children are taken off their 
parents' hands and brought up at the Rumanian 
expense ; and in other cases it is alleged that parents 
are bribed to send their children to the Rumanian 
school. 

All that is no more than is done by every English 
and American missionary society, often with much 
less excuse. And what harm has this propaganda 
done to Hellas ? Half the public buildings in Athens 
have been presented to it by Lame Welshmen, 
residing in all parts of the Levant. The Rumanian 

^ One authority identifies it with villager. But all these words 
have the same root if we go deep enough. 



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76 ATHENS REVISITED 

inspector of schools, Lecanta, in a report to his 
Government, described the work of these proselytising 
schools as a total failure. I myself found in the 
Vlach village of Megarevo, containing five thousand 
inhabitants, a Rumanian school which had been 
shut up for want of pupils. This foreign propaganda 
has only had the effect of stimulating the national 
feeling. In all Rumelia we shall find no such en- 
thusiastic Hellenes as the Lame Welsh. 

I use the word Hellene not as a racial, nor even 
as a national designation. I use it in the classical 
sense of the word Hellenist, or Hellenising. I do 
not believe in the existence in our days of a pure 
Greek population; perhaps there never was such a 
population. Herodotus describes the inhabitants of 
Attica itself as Pelasgians. No man can any longer 
prove a Greek descent, as the ancient kings of 
Macedon proved theirs before they were admitted 
to take part in the Olympic Games. A Hellene is 
he who wishes to be thought a Greek, as Philip 
wished, and Alexander wished, and half the in- 
habitants of their vanished kingdom wish to-day. 
For the Slave it is promotion to become a Greek, 
as it is promotion for the Hindu to become a Briton. 
The Hellene is he who deserves to be reckoned a 
Hellene, for the true Hellene is the pioneer of 
civilisation and the child of Light. 

Among the acquaintances I renewed during my 
stay were their Excellencies Mr. Levidis, President 
of the Chamber, and Mr. Skouzfes, Foreign Minister. 

Mr. Levidis carried me to see the Prime Minister, 
Mr. Theotokis, a statesman who would have risen 
to eminence in any country in which he had been 
born. The Greeks liken him to Lord Rosebery, 
but he has been more successful in retaining the 
allegiance of his followers. An example of his skill 
in that direction came under my own observation. 
And he has used his power well. He has put down 
many abuses with which his predecessors were unable 



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MR. THEOTOKIS n 

to grapple. He has taken the War Office as his own 
department, in order to put a stop to favouritism in 
the army, and to sustain the authority of the Prince- 
Heir as Commander-in-Chief. 

Of the Heir, as the Greeks call him, I heard nothing 
that was not encouraging. He has thrown himself 
heart and soul into the work of reorganising the 
army and retrieving the past. He has surrounded 
himself with the best officers, and his conduct of the 
last manoeuvres won him the praise and confidence 
of old soldiers who had hitherto held aloof. The 
Greeks love their Heir, and, what is better, they 
believe that he loves them. 

I had two conversations with the Prime Minister, 
one on the way out and another on my return. ' On 
the first occasion our talk turned chiefly on the state 
of public opinion in England, and the best means 
of enlightening it, and I offered some suggestions 
which have since been acted on. Mr. Theotokis 
expressed the belief that there was no po'^sibility 
of any agreement between Greece and Bulgaria on 
the Macedonian question. The Bulgarians were 
determined to come down to the sea, and the Greeks 
would never consent to have their way barred to 
Constantinople. 

" We should have to swim for it," were the Prime 
Minister's words. 

It may clear away much misunderstanding to 
explain here that neither Mr. Theotokis nor any other 
Greek looks forward to the possession of Constanti- 
nople as a possible event under present conditions. 
What the Greeks really desire is that they shall not 
be deprived of hope, and that their nationality shall 
not be oppressed. They have welcomed the prospect 
of a constitutional Turkey, and are prepared to work 
cordially with the Young Turks, provided that their 
old-time rights are respected. Their peculiar hostility 
to the Bulgars is due to the fact that the Comitadjis 
aim at extinguishing the Hellenism of the whole 



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78 ATHENS REVISITED 

Macedonian population. " Under the Turks, we can 
live on and hope for the future. Under the Bulgars, 
we should be crushed out of existence." Such was 
the language addressed to me over and over again. 

On the second occasion Mr. Theotokis gave me 
his views on the proposal put forward by Sir Edward 
Grey for the appointment of a Governor-General of 
Macedonia, responsible to the Powers. The Greek 
statesman objected to this step as tending to support 
the Bulgarian contention that the three vilayets form 
a unity like Crete. It would be a triumph for the 
Comitadjis, and would pave the way towards a 
Bulgarian annexation of the whole country. As an 
alternative, he advocated the appointment of three 
Governors, one for each vilayet. He expressed him- 
self as favourable to the suggestion that the northern 
vilayet should be placed under a Bulgarian, the 
southern under a Greek, and the central one under 
a Moslem, in this way marking out the distinctive 
spheres of influence, and preparing the ground for 
an equitable partition hereafter. 

Mr. Skouz^s, on whom I called at the Foreign 
Office, is a statesman of the school of Mettemich 
rather than Bismarck, and I found him more inclined 
to talk about Nigeria than Macedonia. We got on 
to the subject of the war of 1897, and I said that 
in my opinion the harsh judgment of the Greek 
troops formed by Europe was largely due to the 
breakdown of the telegraphic service at Arta. The 
operator sent up there to forward the press messages 
knew very little English, a telegram which I sent 
to The Manchester Guardian at my own expense to 
announce the taking of Philippiada arrived in an 
illegible condition, and long despatches from the 
regular correspondents of other journals were thrust 
into a pigeon-hole, and never sent at all. The con- 
sequence was that, while the European press was 
ringing with highly coloured descriptions of panics 
and retreats in Thessaly, the Greek victories in Epirus 



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GREEK STATESMEN 79 

went unrecorded, and are unknown to the general 
public at this hour. 

Mr. Skouzfes replied that I ought to have wired 
to him to send up a better man. I confess it had 
not occurred to me that such an interference on my 
part came within my duty, or my right But I am 
convinced that Mr, Skouzfes' retort was perfectly 
sincere. Whatever be the faults of the Greek Govern- 
ment, it is distinguished by an openness of mind, 
and a willingness to accept information and advice, 
no matter from what quarter, which contrast very 
favourably with the spirit of some more important 
bureaucracies. 

It must be admitted, nevertheless, that neither the 
intelligence nor the patriotism of the nation is ade- 
quately manifested in the administration of its public 
affairs. Greece has produced eminent statesmen, but 
not eminent statecraft. Her politicians are high- 
minded — it has been remarked that in Greece men 
enter political life rich and leave it poor, while in 
Bulgaria the politicians begin poor and end rich. 
And yet the national concerns of Bulgaria are better 
managed than those of Greece. The really heroic 
devotion which marks the individual Greek seems to 
be lost as soon as it is a question of concerted 
action. The wealthy Greek colonies abroad, in cities 
like London and Marseilles and Odessa, have endowed 
Hellas with splendid charities and public buildings, 
but they appear wanting in that spirit which causes 
the Irish of America and Australia to be the firmest 
supports of the Home Rule cause. The zeal of the 
Macedonian peasant and the Athenian shopkeeper 
is amazing, but there appears to be some depressing 
influence which prevents this enthusiasm manifesting 
itself in the ranks above. Hellenism resembles those 
trees in the myth of Laodamia which withered when 
they reached a certain height. 

This unfortunate state of things may be attributed 
in part to the extremely harsh judgment of the Greeks 



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8o ATHENS REVISITED 

which has prevailed in Europe since the time of the 
Crusades, and which originated, there can be no doubt, 
in the religious dissensions between the Orthodox 
Church and the Papacy. The history of Gibbon is 
uniformly biassed against the Byzantines. In France 
and England this prejudice has 'been reinforced by 
political considerations ; Greece has been snubbed in 
the character of a danger to the integrity of Turkey. 
Philhellenism has been confined to a small number 
of enthusiasts ; even Palmerston, the patron of Italian 
freedom, had no tolerance for Hellenism on that 
account. On the other hand, whenever the Greeks 
have shown any disposition to unite with the Turks, 
the full flood of Liberal sentiment has been turned 
against them. They have been in the position of the 
old man in the fable who could not satisfy the passers- 
by whether he rode on the ass himself, or let his 
boy ride, or whether both rode, or both carried 
the ass. 

It would be better for the Greeks, perhaps, if they 
paid less heed to the criticism of Europe, and steered 
their own course independently. The only thing 
Europe really respects is success. At the same time 
they would be wrong not to exert themselves to the 
utmost to dissipate the false impressions which have 
been formed in the West, and to meet that campaign 
of misrepresentation which has been so important a 
branch of the Bulgarian propaganda in recent years. 

To pass from the public to the private institutions 
of Athens is like the change from a stagnant canal 
to a rushiijg river. The city is covered with splendid 
educational monuments erected by private individuals. 
The King has given it a theatre. The charities are 
on a level with those of London. I found an old 
comrade, Dr. Makkas, in charge of a children's hospital 
which enjoys the close personal interest of Princess 
Sophia, and which represents the last word of 
hospital science. I was shown over an excellent 
normal school engaged in training many girls from 



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ATHENIAN BOOTBLACKS 8i 

Macedonia for the schools of that country. It is 
the voluntary work of a committee of ladies. Their 
president, Mrs. Lascarid6s, who graciously conducted 
me over the premises, is celebrated for her remarkable 
likeness to the late Queen Victoria. 

The charity which interested me most of all is the 
evening school conducted for the little bootblacks. 
The loustro is the most characteristic figure of Athens, 
the city of dust and marble. To have speckless boots 
seems to be the unattainable ambition of every true 
Athenian. I formed the theory that when two Greek 
friends meet in the street, one does not say to the 
other, " What will you drink ? " — ^he calls two loustros 
and the friends sit down side by side and have their 
boots blacked. I tested the theory by inviting my 
Greek friends to partake of this pleasure, and I found 
the invitation taken as quite a thing ojf course. It 
is the national pastime, almost the national vice. 

The boys who engage in this trade come into the 
city from all parts of Greece, from Patras and Sparta 
and the Cyclades, Often they come as young as 
eight or ten — it is quite usual for a mite of eight to 
enter domestic service — and they live together in little 
bands of five or six, who share the same room, and 
work the same part of the city. In addition to their 
main trade they sell papers and run errands. Their 
honesty is proverbial, and their thrift not less so. 
Some of them have saved up as much as ;f 500 by 
the time they are of age, and are able to start in 
business. It comes as a shock to Western prejudices 
to find such young boys in the street, or in service, 
instead of in the school-room. But Greece is a poor 
country. And perhaps this whole question of educa- 
tion is one on which our ideas are destined to undergo 
a considerable change in the near future. 

In the meantime an evening school has been estab- 
lished for the benefit of these lads, and I am proud 
to say it has been established by the Pamassos 
Philological Society, which has honoured me with its 

6 



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82 ATHENS REVISITED 

diploma. I think it is touching, and it is most 
Hellenic, to find a learned body going outside the 
field of what may be called its legitimate work to 
play the part of guardian and teacher to these little 
waifs. In one and the same building are the lecture- 
halls in which the latest results of scientific and 
literary research are made public, and the class-rooms 
in which the street-boy is taught to read and write. 
The average number in attendance is between six and 
seven hundred, and it is the boast oft the managers 
that no Pamassos boy has ever gone to prison. They 
hand over their savings at the end of each week to 
the Society, which places them at interest in a bank. 
The boys are required to present themselves in a 
clean and tidy state, and I saw several of them 
washing themselves vigorously at the taps provided 
for the purpose. The discipline seemed to be perfect, 
and I could not help contrasting the behaviour of 
these Greek lads with that of the spoiled children of 
another country, at a centre for Recreative Evening 
Classes of which I once had charge. 

Athens is not merely the capital of the Greek 
kingdom — it is the capital of the Hellenes; and it 
is this fact which renders so difficult the relations 
between the Greek and Turkish Governments. A race 
in which the political instinct and the sense of national 
unity are both strongly developed is living, one half 
on its own free territory, and the other half across 
the border under the rule of an alien and detested 
Government. Such a situation has not offered the 
elements of peace or good understanding. The Greeks 
of Turkey have been in a chronic state of sedition, 
and their free brethren have been bound to foster 
their aspirations towards union with the kingdom. 
The Turks, on the other hand, have come to regard 
sedition as the natural attitude of their Christian 
subjects, and as long as it did not break out in open 
revolt they took little notice of it. At the same time 



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GREEK ASPIRATIONS 83 

they have been prevented from dealing effectively 
with their enemies, either within or without the 
empire, by their own practical vassalage to the Six 
Powers. A Turkish statesman remarked that it would 
be no advantage to Turkey to invade Bulgaria, in 
order to put an end to the Folk War. " We got the 
better of Greece in 1897, and as a result we lost 
Crete. If we defeat Bulgaria, we may find ourselves 
deprived of Macedonia." The Greeks have been made 
to feel that their fortunes depend,^ not on their own 
efforts, but on the goodwill of the protecting Powers. 
The Powers have given them Thessaly, England has 
given them the Ionian Islands, and now Crete hangs 
by a single hair. Macedonia has long been regarded 
as the next instalment. When a British Princess 
visited Athens a few years ago, the belief at once 
possessed the populace that she was to marry one 
of the Greek princes, and that '' Macedonia would be 
her dowry." It was hoped, apparently, that England 
would conquer that country from the Turks, to say 
nothing of the other five Powers, and hand it over 
to Greece as a wedding present. 

Expectations like these lie at the root of the recent 
troubles. European diplomacy first held out hopes of 
a delimitation of the Macedonian vilayets on a basis of 
nationaUty, and, having thus encouraged the mutual 
strife of Greeks and Bulgars, it has since declared that 
it will ignore the results of armed action. Unfor- 
tunately, no one believes the declarations of European 
diplomacy, least of all the diplomatists themselves, and 
if either the Greeks or the Bulgars had retired from 
the field they might easily have found themselves left 
out in the cold later on. The only way in which 
diplomacy could repair the mischief it has wrought 
would be by proceeding to a delimitation forthwith, 
and thereby depriving the contending parties of any 
excuse for continuing the war. 

Failing some such action on the part of the Powers, 
it was impressed upon me while I was in Athens that 



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84 ATHENS REVISITED 

the most practical policy for the Greeks to pursue at 
that juncture would be one of co-operation with the 
Turks, for the purpose of putting down the Comitadjis, 
and restoring peace. 

Unfortunately that is just what " Europe " did not 
approve. 

"Our Government took that view/* my friends 
explained. " We were on the right path, but Europe 
cried shame on us for entering into an alliance with 
the Turks, and we had to abandon it." 

It is difficult to condemn strongly enough the 
attitude of Europe, when it would neither come to 
the rescue of these wretched Macedonians nor permit 
the Greek bands to do so, nor tolerate any move on 
their part to unite with the Turks for the sake of 
protection and peace. It is no longer the Turks who 
must be considered as the cause of these evils ; the 
responsibility rests with the Christian Powers. 

My Greek friends spoke truly. That brief-lived 
attempt to enter into relations with the Turks has 
been cast in their teeth by all the Comitadji writers as 
though it were a crime more heinous than any 
atrocity alleged against the Greek bands. The Arch- 
bishop of Castoria — that scapegoat of Hellenism — ^who 
is, of course, a subject of the Sultan's, and a public 
officer of the State, was photographed on one occasion 
in a group with the governor of the town and the 
military commandant. That photograph has gone the 
round of Europe and America. It is a proof positive 
— a blot that nothing can efface. I do not make out 
from the Comitadji books whether being photographed 
in company with men of another creed is a graver or 
lighter offence than paying fifty pieces of gold for a 
severed head; but I think the photograph has been 
more insisted on. 

Alas 1 What will the Comitadji press think or say 
when I affirm that I have seen with my own eyes a 
Bulgarian Archbishop, his Eminence of Monastir, 
seated side by side with the Turkish Govemor- 



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GREEKS AND TURKS 85 

General at a Bulgarian charitable concert; and have 
witnessed a bouquet and an address of welcome 
presented to his Excellency in the Archbishop's 
presence, and apparently with his foreknowledge and 
consent ! 

One of my Greek friends thought it necessary to 
assure me that his sentiments towards the Turks were 
such as " Europe " would approve. 

*' Of course we hate the Turks ; we shall always 
hate them ; it is in our blood," he protested. 

I thought it was a singular tribute to the influence 
of English Liberalism that an officer and a gentleman, 
a Christian and a Hellene, should lay claim to the 
feelings of a pagan savage in order to preserve its 
good opinion. 

Whatever be the feelings of the present generation, 
and however strange such an alliance would have 
seemed to the last, the steady pressure of circum- 
stances is driving Greeks and Turks together. To be 
sincere and lasting, an alliance between them may 
have to be preceded by the enfranchisement of such 
provinces of Turkey as are unquestionably Greek. 
But there will still remain a scattered population of 
Hellenes, like that found in Egypt, and till recently in 
Bulgaria, not strong enough to stand alone ; and in its 
interest a healing of the ancient feud is desirable. 

On this subject I confess that 1 found some of the 
statesmen whom I met in Athens rather impracticable. 
They almost spoke as if it were the mission of Hellas 
to drive the Turk, not merely out of Europe, but out 
of existence. They failed to indicate any boundaries 
which would satisfy Hellenist claims. I think it was 
their secret idea that, even when the Greeks found 
themselves in a minority, the Powers ought to invest 
them with the government, in right of their moral and 
intellectual superiority to the races around them. It 
is to be feared that the only superiority that counts 
in these matters is superiority in arms. Even if the 
Powers were much more disinterested, and much 



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86 ATHENS REVISITED 

more friendly to Greece than they have yet shown 
themselves to be, they are hardly likely to place 
them in possession of Constantinople by force, and 
maintain a garrison there as well, to keep out 
covetous neighbours. 

It is one thing to see the best course, however, and 
another thing to have the power to take it. In addition 
to the bigotry of Europe, the statesmen of Greece 
have also to consider the more excusable feeling of 
their clients in Macedonia. To these Rumelian 
peasants the words Hellene and Christian have for 
ages signified the same thing. The Folk War is 
teaching them the difference, but they are still a very 
long way from looking upon the Moslem as a possible 
friend and brother. 

I think it more profitable to point out these elements 
in the problem than to offer any cut-and-dried solu- 
tion. The Gordian knot will be cut by the sword at 
last. ^ 

Before leaving for Constantinople I saw Sir 
Francis Elliot, our distinguished representative in 
Athens. His Excellency was most kind in having 
my passport put in order, and showed a very friendly 
interest in my mission. Indeed, I was impressed by 
the general disposition on the part of the higher 
members of our diplomatic service to welcome anything 
in the shape of a reasonable and impartial inquiry 
into the situation. The official on the spot is some- 
times rather distrustful of the unofficial politician, and 
perhaps the character and conduct of some travelling 
politicians justify that attitude. 

On my return to Athens I met Sir Francis Elliot 
again, and he asked me what conclusions I had 
come to. I said that I feared the only way to secure 
lasting peace would be to redistribute the population 
in racial areas. 

"I put forward that suggestion thirty years ago," 
said the Minister, with a rather melancholy smile. 

Although my presence in Athens was not made 



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AN APPEAL 87 

public in any way, it reached the ears of a society 
composed of Macedonian students of the University 
of Athens. They requested me to receive a deputation 
from their body, and their spokesman read me the 
following address, which is signed by representatives 
from all parts oif Macedonia. It is a sincere and 
spontaneous appeal for a candid inquiry, and perhaps 
I may consider it as my best credential to the reader 
of this Report. 

To Allen Upward, Esq. 

Athens. 
" Sir, 

" Before you have the honour of standing Greek 
students of the National University from all over 
Macedonia, who, having heard of your presence in 
Athens and knowing the position you nold in the 
literary world, as also on the Press of your great and 
powerful country, have considered it a duty to present 
ourselves before you and to give you a word of 
welcome. 

"Being deeply grieved at the terrible and un- 
bearable state of things brought about during the last 
few years in our coimtry Macedonia^ which state of 
things, so far from improving, is continuously getting 
worse and worse, we nave, we repeat, considered it a 
duty to come and lay this declaration before vou, 
seeing that we let no opportunity go past us without 
trying to improve the sad condition of our oppressed 
brothers. 

"We are sure that you are well aware of the horrible 
and almost helpless conditions under which live the 
Greek populations of Macedonia ; blood is flowing in 
streams, our property is being reduced to smoke and 
ashes, and our native land presents the bloody and 
horrifying aspect of a fighting arena, in which men are 
being hunted and tracked down like wild beasts. 

" The sigfht of this racial strife is truly appalling, 
but what IS really discouraging for us is the appre- 



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88 ATHENS REVISITED 

hension that the great and powerful, as also the 
noblest, nations of Europe are showing such marked 
and inexcusable apathy and indifference to this misery, 
and that by their line of action, far from discouraging, 
they rather rekindle the appetite and the wicked 
instincts of the people who profess to be waging war 
throughout Macedonia for the sake of our liberty. 

*' Much has been said and written in the European 
Press about the Macedonian Question. Having closely 
followed up what has been written and published on 
Macedonia, we are perfectly convinced that the real 
truth has not yet leaked out, nor has the European 

f)ublic been so far sufficiently and correctly en- 
ightened on the real cause of the strife in our 
country. 

" Coming before you to-day, we young men from all 
the regions of Macedonia request and beg you to 
cross over into our country, to visit every part, her 
towns, her villages, to question the inhabitants, ex- 
amine their way of living, question them particularly 
on their sufferings and on their real aspirations, place 
your finger on their wounds, and proclaim the truth 
to the civilised world. You will not, we are sure, 
find there Greek hordes waging war and oppressing 
innocent villagers; you will simpljr meet defenders 
armed in order to protect their families, their lands, 
their schools, their churches, and themselves against 
the invaders, who are putting to death innocent 
beings, and are attempting to overrun the land with 
fire and sword. In your journey throughout our 
country you will come across legions of industrial, 
scientific, and commercial Greeks, as also of Greek 
agriculturists, peasants, and labourers. Almost every- 
where you will find on your way Greek philanthropic 
and educational establishments and churches, as also 
Greek antiquities. Wherever you go you will meet 
before you people with Greek hearts and with Greek 
ideas. 

" We are confident that a strict, careful, and im- 

!)artial investigation cannot but convince you of the 
act that the real aspirations of the majority of the 
Macedonian people nave been for some reason or 



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SIGNATURES 89 

other waived aside and purposely overlooked, their 
most ardent desire being tnat for greek freedom. 

"Athens, 
** 5/*— 18/* November^ 1907. 

'' The President of 
" The Society of Macedonian Students^ 
" EuMENES Olympiadks, from Castoria." 

The Committee 

A. Heracliotis, Monastir. 
Alex. Axiou, Croussovo. 
J. K. Demetriades, Monastir. 
Kleitos Gouras, Scopia. 
George Nicolaides, Melenikon. 
Ph. Georgiades, Ano. Djoumaya. 
LuciEN Anastasiades, Serres. 
Const. Petrinos, Korytza. 
Antipatros Lazarides, Nevrocop. 
Const. Perdikas, Salonica. 
Nicolas Smanopoulos, Cavalla. 



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CHAPTER III 

THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

An International Egypt— Travellers' tales— The Head of the Church 
— Bulgarian atrocities— Policy of the Comitadjis— An Archbishop 
on his defence— The confidences of an Ambassador — Paradise 
Lost 

I MADE the voyage to Stamboul in the company of a 
friend whom I had made on board the Baron Beck, 
Mr. Hadji Lazzaro, American Consul at Salonika. 
With US was a Secretary of the Greek Legation. 

The diplomatist was under a slight temporary cloud. 
The correspondence of the Archbishop of Drama (a 
place I was to visit) had been seized by the authorities 
"upon information received," and it was found to 
include letters to or from this gentleman of a character 
which a loyal subject was not strictly justified in 
sending, nor the representative of a foreign Govern- 
ment in receiving. 

In any other country in the world the secretary 
would have received his passport, with an intimation 
that his departure must be final. But in Turkey this 
kind of thing has always been so much a matter of 
course that the Porte contented itself with stipulating 
that he should not again act as charge <f affaires. 

The incident illustrates the easy-going character of 
the Sultan's Government, due partly to the national 
temperament, and partly to that Government's sense 
of its own weakness. In this and many other respects 
it is to be feared that if the Young Turks maintain 

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THE SULTAN'S TASK 91 

their success, the Christians of Turkey may find that 
they have exchanged King Log for King Stork. 

The Turkish empire, in the phase in which I found 
it, resembled an Egypt over which the Six Powers 
exercised an undeclared suzerainty like that exercised 
by Great Britain on the Nile. The control of the 
Ambassadors was less close and regular than that of 
the British Adviser in Cairo. They were not always 
unanimous, and they were not supported by an army 
of occupation. But the Sultan was wise enough to 
know that the next time a European army entered his 
dominions it would be to stay, and it was no part 
of his policy to defy a decision which had the real 
assent of the Six Suzerains. 

It is a commonplace that the fall of the empire has 
only been delayed by the mutual jealousies of the 
Powers. Turkey may be compared to a man who has 
lost the use of his legs, but is kept upright because he 
is surrounded by six other men, each of whom is 
trying to push him a different way. It has been the 
task of the present Sultan to take advantage of this 
respite to build up the forces of the empire, and 
prepare it to shake off the Christian yoke. His aim 
has been like that of the Japanese Emperor, but his 
difficulties have been infinitely greater. The Mikado 
found himself at once king and pope, the last of a line 
of divine ancestors reigning over a brave, united, loyal, 
and patriptic people. The Sultan was called to the 
throne by a conspiracy, to find himself at the head of 
a people unused to regular government, and itself no 
more than a military caste presiding over subject 
populations alienated from the Turks and from each 
other by religion, by race, by language, and by 
centuries of strife. The figure of Abdul Hamid II. 
stands out like that of the captain of a beleaguered 
town, commanding undisciplined troops, with half the 
inhabitants in a state of sedition, and with the envoys 
of the beleaguering force lodged inside the walls. 
Truly a wonderful figure, perhaps the most wonderful 



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92 THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

of all that have ever reigned in Constantinople since 
the foundation of the city. 

In spite of the doubtful company I was in I passed 
through the custom-house with less delay, and a less 
rigid scrutiny of my belongings, than I have had to 
submit to in many European countries. A small tip 
may have passed between my friend and the man who 
assisted to strap up our trunks again, but the state- 
ment that a dollar is openly demanded of the traveller 
entering Constantinople by the revenue officers is not 
justified by my experience. Such statements swarm 
in the pages of every book written about the Turkish 
empire. They are generally worded so as to be 
incapable of either proof or disproof. In some cases 
they are no more than the grumbles which all travel- 
lers are tempted to indulge in, in all foreign countries. 
In others they evidently spring from a preconceived 
notion that Turkey is judged, condemned, and only 
awaiting the execution of the sentence of Europe. It 
is always popular to shout with the largest mob. It 
is always easier to pander to an established prejudice 
than to correct it. When such thoughtless slanders 
are flung out against a country like Russia or America 
they do little harm, because those Powers are able to 
protect themselves. When they are uttered against 
a country that lies, as it were, under the sword of 
Damocles, they have serious consequences. They 
amount to another nail driven into the coffin, another 
straw added on to the camel's back. It is for that 
reason that I have here and there felt it my duty to 
notice statements which I should have otherwise passed 
over as vulgar obiter dicta. 

It is worthy of remark that the most muddy and 
disagreeable quarters of Constantinople are European 
Pera and Galata — Pera, the home of the Embassies, and 
Galata, the seat of the foreign merchant. There is a 
municipality of Pera, and there is enough wealth in 
its shops to provide a decent pavement for the main 
street If the Embassies and the Legations and the 



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PERA 93 

Consulates would exert themselves to give a friendly 
lead to the Turkish authorities in the matter of street 
cleaning and paving, I should have more confidence, 
and possibly the Turks would have more confidence, 
in their sincerity on the subject of more ambitious 
reforms. 

It is also noteworthy that the only case of serious 
blackmail I encountered in the whole of Turkey was 
in a European hotel, owned by a foreign company. 
I stayed in this hotel for a week, and the backsheesh 
came to one half of the bill. After satisfying nine 
different attendants, I was intercepted at the door by 
a tenth, who practically barred my passage, and, after 
getting into my carriage, an eleventh hand was thrust 
into my face to demand a fee for the " bagagiste." As 
a result, the biggest hotel in a great capital stands 
nearly empty during a great part of the year. The 
Turkish Government has been defrauded into giving 
a kilometric guarantee to the railway, in consequence 
of which it pays the company to have as little traffic 
as possible. I do not know whether a similar pro- 
vision is afforded to the shareholders in the Pera 
Palace Hotel. 

I had arrived with an introduction to the Greek 
Minister, Mr. Gr3rparis, to whom, and to Madame 
Gryparis, I am indebted for very great kindness and 
hospitality, both on this occasion and on my return. 
Mr. Gryparis enjoys the personal esteem of the Turkish 
authorities themselves. He shook his head when I 
mentioned, on a later occasion, that a very high 
functionary had praised him in my presence. 

" I wish they would show less courtesy towards 
me, and more consideration towards my country," he 
responded. 

A day or two after my arrival I drove over to the 
Phanar, accompanied by the dragoman of the Greek 
legation, to visit the (Ecumenical Patriarch. 

It is not my object, in this Report, to describe 
buildings and scenery, but men ; and yet perhaps the 



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94 THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

men cannot be understood without some knowledge of 
their surroundings. 

The Phanar is the ancient Greek quarter of Stam- 
boul, a city in which the Greeks now form perhaps a 
third of the inhabitants. It lies up the Golden Horn, 
a network of streets, clean-looking but curiously quiet 
and deserted, with an air of mild decay. I could have 
fancied myself in the clerical quarter of some faded 
French city like Angoulftme. The Phanariot Greeks 
are a class apart. In past days they formed an aristo- 
cracy within the pale of democratic Islam, and filled 
the highest posts in the Sultan's service. But it has 
always happened, in the history of Turkey, that as soon 
as the ruling race has taken any class of its subjects 
into favour it has been rewarded by rebellion. 
Twenty years ago the Armenians were practically 
governing the empire. They did everything in Con- 
stantinople. The result was that impossible outbreak 
in which a Christian subject minority sought to 
triumph over an armed majority of Moslems. Simi- 
larly the bestowal of berats on the Bulgarian Arch- 
bishops became the signal for the attempted conquest 
of Rumelia by the Bulgars from a majority composed 
of Turks and Greeks. 

The Phanariot princes proclaimed the War of 
Independence, contemplating the restoration of the 
Byzantine empire, an empire which had been ravaged 
and reduced by Servian and Bulgarian hordes before 
ever the Turks arrived upon the scene to pick up the 
fragments. During the long domination of Islam the 
Christian races seemed to have hushed up their ancient 
feuds. With the first prospect of independence they 
sprung up into fresh life. That is the key to the 
Macedonian Question, and without it any study of 
the problem is a waste of time. 

The Turks struck at the head. They seized the 
Patriarch Gregory in the heart of the Phanar, and 
hanged him before his own gate. The gate still 
stands there. It has never been opened since. I saw 



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THE PATRIARCH 95 

it as we passed into the palace by another entrance. It 
remains there closed, the silent memorial of a feud 
which is not closed. 

The Patriarch of Constantinople enjoys the style of 
(Ecumenical, to mark his primacy over the Orthodox 
Patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. 
His authority in matters of doctrine and ritual extends 
over the whole of the Turkish and Russian empires, 
over Rumania, Servia, and Greece. But he is a con- 
stitutional ruler. He excommunicated the Bulgarian 
Exarch in a council attended by the other three 
Patriarchs, and the Patriarch of Jerusalem gave a 
dissenting vote. 

His ecclesiastical jurisdiction is strictly confined to 
the Turkish empire, and he exercises it with the 
concurrence of a Synod composed of twelve metro- 
politans, partly taken in rotation, and partly chosen by 
himself, who hold their seats for two years, and of a 
Mixed Council containing laymen which is concerned 
with questions of finance. By virtue of these arrange- 
ments the Patriarch wields a power less absolute than 
the Pope's, though far exceeding that of any Protestant 
authority — ^a power, indeed, which seems to be closely 
assimilated to that attributed to the apostles in' the 
New Testament. 

In Greece itself the (Ecumenical Patriarch has no 
more authority than the Archbishop of Canterbury 
has in the United States. Nevertheless his portrait 
may be seen everywhere alongside of those of the 
King and Queen. He is the immediate successor of 
the apostles. He is prayed for by name in the liturgy 
of every Orthodox Church. He is the link which, 
like the Greek language of the Gospels, binds the 
Orthodox communion to the primitive Christian 
Church with a closeness which a Latin Catholic 
cannot realise, and a Protestant does not pretend 
to feel. 

The wiser Protestant missionaries in the Levant 
have ceased to try to proselytise the Greeks. They 



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96 THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

are content to educate them, to open their minds, 
and to trust to the work of reformation from within. 
The Latins know that their task is a hopeless one. 
In the palmy days of the Papacy, when it could 
call crusading armies to its aid, it never succeeded 
in overcoming the obstinate aversion of the Greeks. 
Rome entertains hopes of England and of France, 
for they are her spiritual colonies. But Rome her- 
self was evangelised from the East The daughter 
cannot teach the mother. 

The Bulgarians, who take their creed more lightly 
than any other people in this part of the world, 
have cheerfully braved the excommunication of the 
Patriarch in order to escape from his control. At 
one time they thought of entering the Roman com- 
munion in order to obtain the political support of 
Napoleon III., but that would have cost them the 
sympathy of Russia. Nevertheless, during my present 
journey I saw reason to suspect that the extra- 
ordinary manner in which their atrocities have been 
condoned, while those of the Greeks have been ob- 
jurgated, by " Europe," is at least partly due to 
their quarrel with the Eastern Church. 

The present Patriarch, Joachim II L, is without ex- 
ception the most imposing personality I have ever 
met. His massive frame, in its simple black robe, 
is surmounted by a noble head, with the traditional 
flowing beard which marks the Eastern clergy. 
Even the slight limp with which he moved across 
the room to meet me had the air of a deliberate 
stateliness. 

He received me without the slightest pretension, 
shaking hands like an ordinary gentleman, and offer- 
ing me a chair. The coffee and sweetmeats usual 
on such occasions were duly served, and our con- 
versation was interpreted by my companion. 

I explained the object with which I was visiting 
the country, and his Holiness naturally expressed 



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GREEK SUFFERINGS 97 

himself as grateful. He, like every one else, was 
unable to understand the dead-set made at the Greeks 
as compared with their enemies. He informed me 
that he had written to the Archbishop of Canterbury 
soliciting his sympathy, but had received a cold and 
evasive reply. A second letter from the head of the 
Eastern Churches had received no answer. 

It was a strange situation. The man who stands 
nearest to the apostles, for whom Peter, James, and 
John are not names out of a story-book, but venerated 
predecessors whose functions have descended to him- 
self, this man was complaining of the lack of Christian 
courtesy shown to him by a Protestant whose title 
to call himself Bishop is not proven. The English 
Primate's coldness is probably attributable to the 
violent slanders with which the Greek hierarchy has 
been assailed in the pro-Bulgarian Press. The prelates 
of Macedonia have been held responsible for the acts 
of reprisal committed by the Greek bands. But there 
is another side to the question. Those prelates are 
the natural and lawful protectors of their flocks, and 
for years past they have had to look on while the 
members of their flocks were being subjected to 
unspeakable outrages for no other crime than that 
of adhering to the Church of their ancestors. 

I have before me a book presented to me by 
Joachim III., in which are contained the official 
reports received by the Patriarchate from its metro- 
politans during the years 1903-6. There is no form 
of horrid outrage, from violation to cannibalism, 
which does not find a place in these appalling records. 
The Archbishop of Salonika, in August 1904, reports 
a filthy atrocity just committed in a village two hours 
from the city, Gradomporia. A band of fifty Bulgars 
seized the village, and a party proceeded to break into 
the house of an old man named Traicos Stergius, and 
murder him and his two sons. The description of 
what took place is too revolting to be quoted in full, 
but without some hint of the details it would be 



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98 THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

impossible to understand the character of the liberators 
of Macedonia. 

"Then, attacking his second son, Anastasius, they 
submitted him, under the eyes of his aged father, to 
unheard-of tortures. They flayed the skin off his 
neck, cut off his lips, nose, and ears, as also . . . , and, 

Eutting out his eyes, stabbed him so many times that 
is body was unrecognisable. Neither the young 
man's screams nor the entreaties of wife and mother 
could melt the brutal hearts of the murderers," etc. 

It must be repeated again and again that this fright- 
ful scene, and others like it, took place before a single 
Greek band had taken the field, and when English 
journalists, in sympathy with the perpetrators, were 
publicly taunting the Greeks with cowardice for not 
forming such bands — the same journalists who have 
since emptied their inkpots in denunciation of the 
long-delayed reprisals. 

The Archbishop of Castoria reports an act of canni- 
balism : 

" Even this bestiality of these tigers was surpassed 
by what they did to the seven-year-old child of 
Michael. The sufferings inflicted on this poor babe 
are unbelievable^our Holiness, but are borne out by 
eye-witnesses. They first slaughtered the child like a 
lamb, and then, filling a bowl with its steaming blood, 
drank it like bloodtnirsty hyenas. Thejr afterwards 
cut open the breast and belly, and, tearing out the 
entrails, scattered them in the streets ; then, transfixing 
the body on a lance, carried it in turns, as a slaughterer 
carries a sheep to the butchers, and afterwards, 
throwing it into a ditch, an unshapely mass, retired to 
seek another victim." 

The other victim escaped them — "succeeded in 
escaping to a Turkish neighbour's house." 

Merely to read of such things turns the heart sick. 
What effect must they have produced on the Bishop, 
who heard the story from the eye-witnesses, and saw 
that battered little corpse ? 



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A COMITADJI DOCUMENT 99 

I had called upon the Archbishop of Castoria before 
visiting the Patriarch, but had not found him in. I 
therefore drew the Patriarch's attention, on his behalf, 
to the extraordinary attack made on him in his 
character as a priest, and expressed the opinion that 
it should receive some reply. His Holiness was 
naturally not a little astonished to learn that one of his 
metropolitans, at this moment a member of the Holy 
Synod, had professed himself a freethinker, and he 
undertook to bring the matter to the notice of the 
Archbishop. 

While in the Phanar I called upon the Archbishop 
of Monastir, who, like his brother of Castoria, has 
fallen under the ban of the Turkish authorities for his 
political activity, and, like him, is residing in Constan- 
tinople in a sort of honourable exile as a member of the 
Holy Synod. 

His Eminence handed me the following document, 
which he had that day received from his deputy at 
Monastir. It was my first bit of direct evidence, and 
it throws an interesting light upon the true character 
of the Folk War. 

** Macedonia, Florina, October 22, 1907. 
^' From The Bulgarian Revolutionary Committee 

" To our Bulgarian brethren of the village of Aghia 
Parashevi, whom, since they do not at present recog- 
nise their true nationality^ we call Grecomaniacs. 

" Brethren, elders, priests, and young men : 

" We greatly regret that you should still be in dark- 
ness anaerror. 

" We invite you to see things clearly, so that we 
may be able to clasp you by the hand. 

"We are not desirous of sheddine our brothers' 
blood, but if you oblige us we shall do it without 
mercy. 

" Qioose, therefore, two or three persons, and send 
them to us, so that we may understand one another, 
for we are disposed to pardon you everything. 

"We have waited up to the present, and have 



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100 THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

shown much patience, hoping that you might yet 
follow the right path, but unhappily you have done 
the contrary. Besides having acted without conscience, 

}rou have shown yourselves to be our enemies by 
ending your aid to the Bands,^ massacring our 
travellers and peasants, and by other savage acts; 
finally you threaten to turn us into Greeks. 

" We have patiently borne all this, and so you boast 
of what you have done. 

" Thus matters stand to-day. 

" We therefore inform you that, if you will not join 
yourselves to us, we also will massacre you, hang you, 
bum your houses, and reduce everything to dust and 
ashes. It is shameful that you should call yourselves 
Greeks and separate yourselves from us. You look 
upon the Greeks as brothers instead of enemies — ^those 
Greeks who are the cause of all your calamities. 

" Once more we fraternally invite you to join us. 

"If on this occasion you still refuse to recognise to 
which party you rightly belong, then beware. 

"No matter where you go we shall exterminate you. 
Perhaps you are saying to yourselves : * The Bulgarian 
Comitadjis are so few in number; how can they pos- 
sibly harm us ? ' 

"Nevertheless, thousands of us can collect in a 
night and execute everything we may have determined 
upon. 

" Do not, therefore, deceive yourselves, unless you 
wish to be utterly destroyed. 

" We confine ourselves to the above warning for the 
present, whilst awaiting your reply. 

" Attar Passas and Athanase Karadak." 



In this document, from start to finish, there is not 
one word about the liberation of Macedonia. There 
is not one word about the Turkish oppression. On 
the contrary, it is the Greeks who are described as the 
enemies and the cause of all calamities. It is a mani- 
festo of annexation pure and simple. The villagers to 
whom it is addressed are not invited to sink their 
differences and unite in fighting the Government. 

' Of course the Greek bands are meant. 



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OBJECT OF THE FOLK WAR loi 

They are not offered the alternative of remaining 
peaceful. They are ordered to embrace Bulgarian 
nationality, and to join the Bulgarian party in its work 
of making further converts by similar means. The 
choice put before them is between Bulgarisation and 
extermination. 

Why? 

Let me lay beside this document the open letter 
addressed to Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria by Mr. 
Bizoff, formerly a Bulgarian commercial agent, and 
dated April 26, 1899 : 

" It is a blindness of the Minister Grecoff, and one 
which carries with it the ruin of Bulgaria, to believe 
that it is possible to increase the success gained till 
now by Bulgarians in Macedonia by means of the 
ecclesiastical and scholastic system. The activity of 
Bulgaria is arrested in that direction; we can eain 
nothing more by the church and the school. The 
more the existing situation is prolonged the more 
ground our adversaries will gain, and the worse posi- 
tion we shall be in. All the friendly concessions that 
we can hope from Turkey have been obtained. A new 
favour from the Porte, it it were ever possible, would 
bring us more hurt than profit, for it would turn us 
from the main end, which ought to be to prepare our- 
selves to liberate Macedonia, purely and simply. 
That is why Bulgaria ought to take arms, and possess 
herself by force 0/ Macedonia, whkk otherwise will be for 
ever lost to her.^* 

In that letter, as in the Comitadji manifesto, where 
is there a word about the Turkish oppressor ? Where 
are the ferocious soldiery, the grinding tax-gatherers, 
or the corrupt pashas? Where are the stricken 
peasants dying of starvation, or taking to their beds 
from sheer fear, that figure so prominently in the 
Comitadji literature ? From first to last it is a bare- 
faced scheme of territorial expansion. The Principality 
wants Macedonia; she cannot get it by fair means, 
and so she mu^t use foul Th^ Greeks are beating 



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I02 THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

them in the work of education, but they can beat the 
Greeks in brigandage. The Macedonians cannot be 
converted by peaceful methods ; they shall be converted 
by force. 

The two documents must be read together, for they 
explain each other. They are not two documents, but 
one. They are the revelation of a policy and a purpose 
which has converted Macedonia into a hell, and has 
at last sickened the conscience and provoked the 
repudiation of every respectable Bulgarian. 

The day after my visit to the Phanar the Archbishop 
of Castoria came to see me at my hotel. I need not 
describe this now famous prelate, who has become a 
target for all the Comitadji writers of Europe. I told 
his Eminence what had been said about him in 
England, and that I thought it fair to offer him the 
opportunity of explaining himself. 

The Archbishop was considerably moved. He had 
known nothing previously of Mr. Brailsford's book, 
and, not having a copy with me, I could only repeat 
what I remembered of the incriminating passages. 

His Eminence told me that he perfectly recollected 
receiving a call from Mr. Brailsford. They spoke in 
German, but they had no confidential conversation. 

I asked the Archbishop if it were true that he 
had avowed himself a freethinker. Placing his hand 
on his breast with a gesture full of dignity, he 
responded : 

" If I were going to say such a thing as that, even 
to an intimate friend, I should first strip off the robes 
I wear." 

He went on to add : 

" I knew quite well that Mr. Brailsford would 
publish everything I said. I knew that he was an 
enemy of the Greeks. Therefore, even if I had 
thought such things, I could not have said them." 

His Eminence considered that the object of the 
attacks to which he has been exposed was to get him 
removed from his diocese, and thus deprive the 



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THE ARCHBISHOP OF CASTORIA 103 

Greeks of his protection. He was in the habit of 
riding through the villages to encourage his flock, 
and any one who knows peasant life will understand 
what an effect such visits must have produced. While 
in Macedonia I was myself thanked by some villagers 
among whom I went for the "encouragement" my 
visit had given them. And I had come with an escort 
of twenty Turkish soldiers ! 

The Archbishop told me that he was one of those 
Greek prelates who are engaged in working for a 
union between the Greek and English Churches. 
The Bishop of Gibraltar lately visited Constantinople 
with such an end in view, and I understand that each 
Church now has an agent residing at the headquarters 
of the other. 

I thought it too puerile to question him about the 
famous photograph, but his Eminence had evidently 
heard of this charge, and volunteered an explanation. 

" I was going up one day to see the governor on 
business. I found him standing in front of the Konak 
with the commandant and other officers. They were 
just going to be photographed, and they asked me to 
stand beside them. How could I refuse ? " 

Returning to the subject of Mr. Brailsford, the 
Archbishop told me that that gentleman had relations 
only with the Bulgarians. He had none with the 
Greeks, and never went into a Greek village.* " He 
behaved like a Bulgarian agent." 

A hospital was organised by Mr. Brailsford, as I 
understood, in Castoria. " It was not so much to help 
the wounded, as a political demonstration on behalf 
of the Bulgarians." 

The Archbishop repeated that the visit to himself 
was purely official and formal, and that, knowing his 
caller's Bulgarian sympathies, he was reserved with 
him. 

I then referred to the "tale" of the murdered 

^ It is fair to give Mr. Brailsford's defence. There really are no 
Greek villages in Macedonia, See Macedonia^ pp. 197, 198. 



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I04 THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

brigand. His Eminence informed me that the victim 
was killed by Greek peasants speaking Slave. He 
himself knew nothing of the incident till afterwards. 
At that time there were no Greek bands. (We have 
seen that one Comitadji writer did not believe there 
would be any.) The. photograph of the severed head 
was taken by the Turks, and no copy ever hung in 
the Archbishop's house. 

I have since questioned other Greek prelates on 
this latter point, and I found them unanimous in 
sa}ang that it was impossible that a Bishop should 
have such a photograph hanging on his wall. I am 
inclined to think that the author of Macedonia must 
have seen the photograph elsewhere, and that, writing 
long afterwards from memory, his recollections became 
confused. 

However, I hold no brief for the Archbishop of 
Castoria. I have let him tell his own story, and I 
must leave it to each reader to form his own opinion. 

One thing is certain. In Rumelia a visitor may be 
Philhellene or Bulgarophile, but he cannot be both. 
If he possesses the friendship and confidence of one 
side, he will never gain that of the other. I myself 
entered the country under Greek auspices, with Greek 
introductions, and the Greeks trusted me. I made 
some way in winning the friendship and confidence of 
the Turks. But for the Bulgarians I remained what 
Mr. Brailsford remained for the Greeks, a person to 
be treated with all courtesy, but with no real con- 
fidence. 

After all, is it so different in our own country ? Is 
the man who comes into an English constituency as 
the Liberal candidate likely to see much of the Con- 
servatives, or a Unionist to be taken into the counsels 
of the Socialists ? Do Catholics confide the secrets of 
their communion to Protestants, or do Baptists place 
their trust in members of the English Church Union ? 

Let us be zealous, if we will, in extracting the mote 
from Greek and Turkish and Bulgarian eyes, but let 



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THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR 105 

us not be quhe so harsh with them as if there were no 
beam in our own. 

The lamented death of Sir Nicholas O'Conor, British 
Ambassador in Constantinople, which took place while 
I was writing this Report, enables me to add to its 
value by including my recollections of what passed 
between us. Sir Nicholas had two conversations with 
me of a partly confidential character, and almost his 
last words to me were : " Of course I must not appear 
in your book ; I am an abstraction." That injunction 
was due to the divergence between the Ambassador's 
private views, which he had permitted me to obtain 
a pretty fair notion of, and those to which he was 
committed officially as the mouthpiece of the Foreign 
Office ; and I believe I shall now do what he would 
have himself wished in giving his fellow-countrymen 
the benefit of his real opinion, the opinion of a man 
of rare integrity and kindness of heart, as well as long 
experience in the most difficult of diplomatic posts. 
Naturally, the most delicate and difficult part of my 
task in drawing up this Report has been to decide 
how much of the communications made to me were 
intended to be private; and I can only hope that I 
have erred on the side of caution, and included 
nothing that could deprive me of the confidence with 
which I found myself treated by so many distinguished 
personages of such different parties and sympathies. 

I first saw Sir Nicholas O'Conor on my way out, 
as the result of a note in which I explained the objects 
of my journey, at the same time mentioning the name 
of a mutual friend. He received me with personal 
friendliness, but I saw that he was rather shy of me 
politically. 

My first words were directed to assure his Excel- 
lency that I had come out with an open mind, and 
that even if I could do no good I should be glad 
of any advice from him that would save me from 
doing harm. I referred to some English politicians of 



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io6 THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

distinction who had recently made a short trip in 
Macedonia in the character of Bulgarian champions, 
and asked him to tell me, frankly, what effect he 
thought such visits produced. 

The Ambassador laughed. 

"Well, I told them pretty plainly what I thought," 
was his reply. 

He went on to explain that the mischief lay in 
advocating ideal remedies which were impracticable 
in the circumstances of the country. " The man who 
thinks he has got an ideal solution is only doing harm. 
As I said to them, this is not our pigeon. We can only 
go one step at a time." 

The Ambassador clearly meant to convey that it 
was useless for English philanthropists to advocate 
solutions which were incompatible with the views and 
interests of Powers more closely concerned in the 
Macedonian question than Great Britain. The best 
chance of doing good was to follow the line of least 
resistance. 

Finding that I was willing to learn. Sir Nicholas 
went on to explain the difficulty of putting a stop to 
the inter-Christian strife. Some months before the 
Powers had addressed a note to the Governments of 
Sofia and Athens, insisting on the withdrawal of the 
armed bands. The Greeks had complied with this 
demand, whereupon the Bulgarians took advantage of 
their withdrawal to increase their activity, and several 
Greek villages had been destroyed. As a result the 
Greeks were now resuming operations. " It is a 
vicious circle," the Ambassador pronounced despair- 
ingly. 

This seemed to me to tell strongly in favour of the 
Greeks. But on my conveying to his Excellency on 
which side my sympathies lay, I thought he showed 
some anxiety to convince me that one side was no 
better than the other. He told me the story of a 
Greek atrocity which had just been reported to the 
Embassy. A party of Bulgarian labourers, going into 



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A GREEK ATROCITY 107 

the peninsula of Chalcidice to work in the mines, 
had been waylaid by a Greek band, and massacred 
in cold blood. " It was a frightful thing to do," he 
commented. 

And frightful enough it was in all conscience, even 
if not marked by the loathsome features of some of 
the Bulgarian atrocities. Yet it cannot be judged fairly 
unless we bear in mind that Chalcidice is the most 
purely and exclusively Greek district in the whole of 
Macedonia; that the Powers had practically invited 
the rival claimants to make good their title on a basis 
of population ; and that, in consequence, the Bulgars 
have been steadily pushing down for some years past 
into the Greek coast region. From the Greek point 
of view those unarmed labourers were the vanguard 
of an invading army, coming to occupy and annex 
Hellenic territory. Had they attempted to enter the 
Greek kingdom they could have been turned back in 
the same way that Chinese immigrants are turned 
back by the United States ; but such peaceful methods 
are not possible when the government is in other 
hands. It is this circumstance which gives to the 
Folk War its peculiar character. It is a true war, as 
far as the parties to it are concerned, but it is being 
waged on the territory of a government foreign to 
both sides, in whose eyes the opposing forces are 
murderers and outlaws. Neither the Greeks nor the 
Bulgars nor the Turks are altogether to blame for 
the resulting atrocities. The real responsibility must 
rest where the real power rests. 

Sir Nicholas O'Conor allowed me to see that his 
own sympathies lay rather with the Turks than with 
either of the Christian antagonists. The Powers had 
recently relieved the Porte from its perennial finan- 
cial straits by permitting a slight increase in the 
customs. 

" Since the customs have been raised," he told me, 
" the troops have been paid regularly, and they have 
really been behaving very well. For the last three 



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io8 THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

months we have received no complaints at the 
Embassy. What with all the attention that has been 
turned on the country, and all the Europeans who 
are going about, the Turks cannot do anything very 
bad." 

It struck me that this last remark was a strong 
justification of the existence of the Balkan Committee, 
if not for the partisan attitude of some of its members. 
It was entirely in accord with the views expressed 
to me at various* times by other English friends of 
Turkey and the Turks. The simple fact, which is so 
often overlooked, is that there are good and bad Turks, 
just as there are good and bad Christians, and that the 
hands of the better sort are strengthened by an attitude 
of wise and discriminating vigilance on the part of 
friendly Europeans. 

I ventured to say to the Ambassador that I had 
heard of the Sultan recently buying lands in Epirus, 
and replacing the Christian cultivators by Moslems. 
He appeared surprised to find that this incident had 
reached my ears, and assured me that the expulsion of 
the Christians had not been persisted in. 

The impression left on my mind by this conversation 
was that there was some divergence between the views 
of the permanent staff" of the Foreign Office and those 
of the present majority in the House of Commons, the 
former inclining somewhat to a return to the Beacons- 
field policy of supporting the Turkish empire. It was 
evident to me on which side Sir Nicholas O'Conor's 
private sympathies lay, while it was not less evident 
that he was subordinating them to his duty as a 
faithful interpreter of the official policy of his 
Government. 

These impressions were further confirmed by the 
conversation I had with him on my return. I had not 
sought out the Ambassador on this occasion, as I 
thought it just possible that it might embarrass him 
if any portion of my book appeared to be written 
under his inspiration ; and, having been treated with 



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AN AMBASSADOR'S CONFIDENCES 109 

inexplicable discourtesy by a well-known Pasha in the 
entourage of the Sultan, I was on the point of quitting 
Constantinople when I suddenly received a note from 
Sir Nicholas asking me to dine with him at two days' 
notice. I confess that this coincidence caused me to 
suspect that the Ambassador was kept pretty well 
informed of what went on behind the scenes, and that 
he wished to mark his sense of the treatment I had 
been exposed to. 

After dinner he took me apart and made me tell 
him what I had observed during my journey ; and I 
observed that when I related something calculated 
to win sympathy for the Turks, he remarked in a 
sort of aside : " That story will make a strong im- 
pression on the English public" — a delicate way of 
asking me to be sure and include it in my Report I 
thought it a delightful touch of old-fashioned diplomatic 
finesse, almost in the vein of a fictitious Ambassador 
for whom I was responsible in former days. 

On this occasion, also. Sir Nicholas went a little out 
of his way, I thought, to tell me of another atrocity 
committed by a Greek band ; and he expressed the 
opinion that I ought to visit Sofia, no doubt to counter- 
act the impressions of Athens. 

It is right that I should record that he expressed 
himself in favour of doubling the gendarmery force, 
which he believed would then be able to cope with the 
bands. With this view I was in complete disagree- 
ment, for reasons which I shall give hereafter. 

Altogether I was most flattered and charmed by the 
interest in my mission shown by so distinguished a 
man, an interest which caused him to delay his game 
of bridge. I had, further, the good fortune to be his 
partner at the table, and to receive his congratulations 
on making the grand slam at no trumps. 

It was when I was taking leave of Sir Nicholas 
O'Conor at the end of our first interview that he 
uttered the words that 1 have endeavoured to take as 



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no THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

the motto of this Report. I had again expressed my 
desire to be saved from taking any line calculated to 
do mischief, and asked him for his advice. He hesi- 
tated for a moment, and then, as it were, jerked out : 
"Why not tell the truth and shame the devil?" 
Surely remarkable advice to be given by a man 
grown grey in the diplomatic service to an unofficial 
representative of the Liberal democracy ! 

If I have not succeeded in telling the truth, I 
can at all events claim to have felt more keenly 
than some writers who have preceded me the 
difficulties in the way of telling it. In any case, it 
has appeared to me that I have had one advantage 
over most European travellers in Turkey. 

They seem to have come there straight from 
some happy land where discontent, and the causes 
of discontent, did not exist. They have left a land 
whose government commanded the approval and 
support of all men of every party; whose courts 
were renowned for their cheap and speedy settle- 
ment of every dispute ; whose army stood in need 
of no reform ; whose religious denominations knew 
no rivalry except in Christian love and meekness 
towards one another; whose cities contained no 
slums, and hid no misery; whose landlords were all 
enlightened philanthropists, and whose peasantry 
was wholly virtuous, prosperous and contented; a 
land in which secret commissions were unknown ; 
in which favouritism was never heard of; in whose 
air blackmailers could not breathe ; a land free from 
crime, free from degrading vice, free from dishonesty 
and untruthfulness, where every man lived on purely 
and happily, without a grievance and without a 
care. They have left that land, and they have 
come straight into one in which the government 
has many faults, and the people have many defects, 
and the experience has amazed and shocked them. 
They have sought for an explanation of this sad 
difference between Rumelia and their own paradise. 



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COMPARATIVE POLITICS in 

and they have found it in religion. They have found 
that Islam is the cause of all the ills that flesh is 
heir to in the lands where it prevails. And so, 
after gazing with sympathetic eyes upon the spectacle 
of Christians torturing Christians, Christians burning 
Christians alive, Christians cutting off the noses and 
ears of Christians, while the surrounding Moslems 
dwelt in peace and friendship with their neighbours, 
they have prescribed as the specific for all these 
ills — ^a Christian governor! 

I have never seen that happy land of theirs, never 
heard where it may be found. I know something of 
Nigeria, something of Ireland, something of England. 
I myself have had the task of ruling and maintaining 
order among a mixed population of from a quarter 
of a million to half a million souls, many of them 
Moslems — ^the best of them Moslems — and my staff 
consisted of a man suspected of theft and extortion, 
a clerk who had " done time " for embezzlement, an 
interpreter who was accused of blackmailing, and 
six black policemen described to me on my arrival 
as the worst criminals in the country, except the 
soldiers. 

It was with this experience in my mind that I 
came into Rumelia. I came prepared to try the 
country by real standards of comparison, and not 
ideal ones. I came prepared to see if it were less 
civilised than Nigeria, if the inhabitants were less 
loyal than the natives of Bengal, if the peasantry 
were more wretched than the Irish, and if the 
towns held more misery than the capital of the British 
empire. 

The reader shall hear what I found. 

I left Constantinople without having exchanged a 
word with a single Turk. I might have been passing 
a week in Pekin or Valparaiso. It was wholly 
characteristic of the country, and of the attitude 
of ** Europe " towards it. I tried to obtain an 



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112 THE SIX KINGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

introduction to the Sheik-ul-Islam, but I failed I 
bad entered Constantinople as a Greek, and I left 
it as one. On the day after my departure for 
Adrianople The Levant Herald announced that on 
the night before I left the Greek Minister and 
Madame Gryparis had offered me a dinner. 
The Bulgarians were warned I 



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CHAPTER IV 

UNKNOWN TURKEY 

The Christian dragoman— A British welcome— The two cats — 
Kirk-Kilissi— The Bulgarian Peril—A Turkish Governor— A 
Greek school— The Turk as Peacemaker— An Entente Cordiale 
^A soldier's compliment. 

The puzzle that remained with me during a con- 
siderable part of my tour was to know whether I 
was travelling through the country as an honoured 
guest, or as a prisoner of State. 

The Christian dragomans whom I was obliged to 
employ invariably took the latter view. The one 
whom I engaged in Constantinople described himself 
to me as a Slave of Austrian nationality. At Drama 
I heard he was fraternising with the Servian ex- 
captain of cavalry (possibly a regicide) who acted 
as kavass to the British officers. On my return I 
was informed he was a Montenegrin. Which of the 
three he really was I have no idea, and it would 
not surprise me to find that he was a Russian. In 
the same way the dragoman whom I took on at 
Salonika, a Greek expelled from Bulgaria by the 
outrages already described, thought it well to 
announce himself wherever we went as a Slave of 
Constantinople. 

I do not know why. It seems to be the custom of 
the country. Mystery has a fascination for most of 
us. To pass under a false name, to whisper dark 
things in a comer, to keep all kinds of secrets up 

"3 8 



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114 UNKNOWN TURKEY 

one's sleeve, is one of the pleasures of living in 
Turkey. It is the life of the Arabian Nights. The 
further I went, the more fully I realised that I was 
on a tour in Fairyland. 

My Austrian, or Servian, or Montenegrin, or what- 
ever he was, was very anxious to enshroud me in 
a similar disguise. He actually proposed passing me 
off on the authorities as an archaeologist. He suc- 
ceeded, after a severe struggle, in getting them to 
accept me as a tourist, travelling for his pleasure. 
The English are known to be eccentric, but even the 
Turkish police boggled at the idea of an English 
traveller selecting the depth of winter for a holiday 
jaunt among the kidnappers of the Rumelian high- 
lands. My dragoman returned to me after three 
hours spent in the bureau which issues passports 
for the interior, boasting that he had wrung my 
passport out of them by threatening them with the 
British Consulate. 

It was another indication. I had come into Turkey, 
having no quarrel with the authorities, and solely 
concerned in the settlement of an inter-Christian 
strife which they were far more interested in ter- 
minating than any foreigner could be. I was perfectly 
ready to comply with their reasonable regulations; 
and no one can say that it was not reasonable to 
require information about a stranger who proposed 
to visit the seat of a civil war. But my dragoman 
was a " Christian." I was, at least, a " European." 
And therefore he took it for granted that I should 
share his satisfaction in deceiving and browbeating 
the Government of the country in which I was a 
guest 

The incident was one of a series which have con- 
vinced me that it is a cause of grave injury to 
the Turkish Government that there are so few of its 
loyal subjects who can speak English or French. 
The traveller in Turkey finds himself throughout in 
the hands of a class of men who take advantage of 



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A BRITISH CONSUL 115 

the fear felt for a European, to indulge in insolence 
towards the authorities in his name. I should be quite 
prepared to find that, in spite of my protestations to 
the contrary, many of the Turkish authorities were 
left with the impression that I had come among them 
as an enemy and a spy. 

A journey of twelve hours in a very comfortable 
sleeping-car brought me to Adrianople. After a 
slight breakfast in a very poor inn opposite the station, 
I drove in a terrible springless carriage to the town, 
nearly two miles away, to call upon the British 
Consul, to whom our Ambassador had given me a 
letter of introduction. 

I ought to add, perhaps, that this was the only 
hardship of that kind which I had to endure. Every- 
where in Rumelia, even in the smallest towns, I 
found thoroughly comfortable carriages. And they 
were always drawn by two horses, if not by three. 

The Consul, Major Samson, gave me a truly 
British welcome. Hardly had I sat down when he 
said, **Of course you will stop with us" — an 
invitation which I accepted as heartily as it was 
given. 

We found out, later in the day, that his brother 
was an old friend of mine, a member of my own 
Circuit. Major Samson's family are from Haverford- 
west, a town which I had last visited in the yacht 
of another Pembrokeshire man. The days which I 
spent under his roof and that of the kind and charming 
lady who shares her husband's remote quarters were 
the pleasantest I spent in Turkey. 

I had come provided with an itinerary, in preparing 
which I had the advice of an officer attached to the 
Greek Foreign Office. This officer had personally 
visited every part of the vilayets of Salonika and 
Monastir in order to acquire material for the map which 
forms the appendix of this Report. It is a very 
striking piece of evidence as to the hold of Hellenism 



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ii6 UNKNOWN TURKEY 

on the country, a hold obtained by the most honour- 
able means. As far as I was able to check its accuracy 
I found it remarkably trustworthy. In one place, 
Verria, there is a Rumanian school which is not 
shown in the map, and in another, Tirnovo, the 
map shows a Rumanian school which has ceased 
to exist. 

As soon as I mentioned Kirk-Kilissi, the first place 
on my itinerary. Major Samson told me that I had 
been well advised. The mutessarif, or governor of 
the sandjak, was a superior man, and I should find 
much to interest me in the town. A sandjak is a 
portion of a vilayet, larger in extent than the ordinary 
department, called a caza, and its governor usually has 
the rank of pasha. It appeared to me that the position 
of a mutessarif bore the closest possible resemblance 
to that which I had held as resident of a Nigerian 
province, although my functions were rather more 
onerous, including as they did those of a judge with 
unlimited jurisdiction; and, of course, my province was 
greatly superior in point of size. 

The day after my arrival at Adrianople I set out for 
Kirk-Kilissi, a ten hours' drive by carriage over a 
road quite equal to all but the best-kept roads in the 
rural parts of England. 

We stopped half-way at a small village coffee-house, 
where I lunched off the food brought with me by 
my dragoman, who shared in the repast. In the 
room where we sat, a number of the villagers were 
loafing over coffee and cigarettes in a way that 
suggested that they must find life an easier thing 
than it is found by the peasantry in some parts of 
Europe. 

There were two cats which we fed while we ate. 
One was a great, handsome Angora, of fierce dis- 
position, which clawed savagely at our hands as it 
snatched the morsels ; the other was a short-haired, 
black cat, which lurked meekly under the seat, and 



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THE TERRIBLE TURK 117 

only crept forward to pick up what we threw to it 
after its rival had gone away. I christened them the 
Moslem and the Christian cat, a nomenclature which 
appealed strongly to the Christian dragoman. 

I recall this very trivial incident because it illustrates 
the ideas which I brought with me into Rumelia. 
They are, I think, the ideas of " Europe." 

In our nurseries, if a child shows a boisterous and 
ungovernable disposition, we call him a " young Turk." 
A favourite figure in our nursery tales is that of the 
terrible Turk, with his big turban, and big beard, 
and baggy trousers, his curly moustache, curly 
slippers, and curly scimitar. The redoubtable Blue- 
beard, according to historians, was actually a French 
or Breton noble; but he is always pictured as a 
Turk. Such ideas, so early implanted, are never 
really effaced. 

For a hundred years past those Powers which hope 
to aggrandise themselves at the expense of Turkey, 
and those aspiring peoples which have desired foreign 
aid in overthrowing their old conquerors, have de- 
luged Europe with denunciations of the Turk. The 
cause of Christianity, the cause of liberty, and the 
cause of territorial greed have found a common enemy 
in the Turk. In the year 1876 two of these causes 
found a champion in the most powerful popular 
orator since Demosthenes. 

Gladstone, a name which I have never heard men- 
tioned by any Turk except in terms of sincere respect, 
had two supreme interests at heart — ^what he believed 
to be Christianity, and what he believed to be freedom. 
On many occasions in his life one of these interests 
pleaded against the other. Over the question of 
Bulgaria the two were united, and the result was 
tremendous. 

The great statesman then at the helm of the British 
empire trimmed his sails to the wind, and brought 
the ship into port. What was genuinely Bulgarian 
territory was rendered independent; but the ambi- 



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ii8 UNKNOWN TURKEY 

tions of Russia were repressed, Turkey was safe- 
guarded, and the future was left open for Greece. 

This result could not satisfy Gladstone. The 
General Election of 1880 was one of the few ever 
fought in England on a question of foreign politics, 
and it resulted in an overwhelming condemnation of 
the Turk for the " Bulgarian atrocities " — ^a strangely 
prophetic phrase! 

That decision of the electorate was loyally accepted 
by the followers of Beaconsfield, and their new leader 
afterwards emulated Gladstone in his language about 
Turkey and her sovereign. For the last thirty years 
a stream of vituperation without example in the 
history of the world has been poured out upon the 
Turks, and a personal friend of mine has been guilty 
of recommending in his paper that the Sultan should 
be assassinated. 

The Turks have attempted no serious defence of 
themselves, their Sultan, or their religion. They are 
accustomed to Christian fanaticism, and they have 
learnt by experience to let it rage. 

Islam may not be the best religion, but yet it may 
be the best religion for those who profess it. In 
Africa it has a better influence than English Chris- 
tianity, in the opinion of almost every one, not a 
missionary, who has ever lived in Africa. And even 
in Europe it can no longer be pretended that the 
Moslem is a worse Christian (if I may put my own 
sense upon that word) than the "Christians" who 
are drinking blood in Macedonia. 

I reached Kirk-Kilissi, the town of the Forty 
Churches — or rather forty shrines — as dusk was 
falling. On the way 1 had passed three villages, 
Greek, Turk, and Bulgarian. The Greek looked the 
most civilised, the Bulgarian was by far the most 
prosperous in sheep and cattle, the Turkish was the 
most primitive and humble. 

As we drove in I was surprised to see young trees 
planted along the side of the street. I thought of 



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.STATISTICS 119 

the London County Council, and rubbed my eyes. 
The hotel proved to be poor enough; Kirk-Kilissi 
may average two or three European visitors in a 
year, and those commercial travellers from Austria. 
The door of the room in which I took my meals 
grated miserably on its hinges. My dragoman told 
me that the town wanted a branch line to the railway, 
but that the Government prevented it. 

" The Government does not prevent the landlord 
from oiling the hinges of that door," I suggested. 

" It impeaches their spirits," he replied. 

Unless I give some idea of the dragoman French 
through whose imperfect medium I was obliged to 
take cognisance of so much of Rumelia, as through 
a flawed pane of glass, the Englishman will gain 
no true idea of the obstacles that lie between him 
and the truth. 

Scarcely any Englishman really knows Turkish. 
No Englishman can know all the Slave dialects of 
Rumelia. Few or none have ever tried to learn Vlach 
or Albanian. And probably no bom Englishman 
thoroughly understands the peasant's Greek. For 
that reason alone Rumelia must remain more or less 
unknown to us. There is a deep significance in the 
saying of K'ung the Master — " He who does not 
know words does not know men." 

My first visit the next morning was paid to the 
Greek Metropolitan, to whom I had a letter of intro- 
duction from the Greek Consul of Adrianople. He 
had gone into the country to conduct a funeral, but 
I was received by his archdeacon. 

From him I learned that the population of the 
town was rather over 20,000, made up as follows : 

Hellenes 9i2io 

Turks 6,X20 

Bulgars 4»04S 

Jews 1,526 

§(ran{^er$ f » » » t . • . . 130 

21,051 



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lao UNKNOWN TURKEY 

These figures were accepted subsequently by the 
governor as fairly representative. They certainly do 
not seem to present a strong case for the annexation 
of Kirk-Kilissi by its ambitious northern neighbour. 
And yet, unless the march of events takes a new 
direction, Kirk-Kilissi will assuredly one day share 
the fate of Anchialos. 

At the time of the insurrection of 1903, the Comi- 
tadjis made an attempt to Bulgarise this sandjak. 
Fortunately there were no Europeans to interfere, 
the Turks put forth their strength, and the movement 
was quickly and decisively put down. 

But Kirk-Kilissi is only five hours from the frontier, 
and the Greeks are nervous. The archdeacon had 
heard that three officers of the Bulgarian army, named 
Madjaroff, Ikonomoff, and Katalikos, were hiding in 
Great Timovo, a smaller town in the mountainous 
part of the sandjak. The people of three Bulgarian 
villages to the north, Karanazu, Vaisul, and Tatarla, 
had left their homes and emigrated into the Princi- 
pality, "to prepare for an invasion in the spring." 

These rumours and alarms were not taken seriously 
by the Turkish governor and general, to whom I 
mentioned them later. The officers in Timovo were 
regarded as m}rthical. The villagers had had a bad 
harvest, and some of the younger men had gone else- 
where in search of work. It was believed that some 
had gone to take up the lands left vacant by the 
expulsion of the Greeks from Eastern Rumelia. 

The archdeacon told me, also, of a youth of eighteen, 
named Skopelos, who had just been skinned alive by a 
band of six Bulgarians from Karamango, led by one 
Nicolas Philis. But the spot was some hours away, 
and I could get no confirmation of the story. 

I arranged with the archdeacon to visit the Greek 
school later in the day, and then went to call on the 
mutessarif. 

Galib Pasha, as he is named, received me with all 
courtesy, and ordered coffee and cigarettes for me and 



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A TURKISH PASHA 121 

my dragoman. In Turkey a dragoman may be a 
secretary of legation, or he may be a courier, and at 
first my Montenegrin or Servian or Austrian was a 
little inclined to assume the former rank. 

It was my first interview with a Turk, and I set 
myself to win his confidence. I told him of my own 
experiences as a mutessarif in Nigeria, and mentioned 
my having built a mosque. The pasha listened in 
evident bewilderment A Christian who had built a 
mosque must have been a novelty, in his experience of 
Christianity. We did not make much progress during 
this visit, but his Excellency arranged to call in the 
afternoon, and take me to see the Turkish school. 

As it happened, the archdeacon was a little late, and 
the pasha a little before his tiine. They met in my 
room, and met with apparent friendliness. However, 
his Excellency was still slightly reserved with myself. 
No doubt he had had a telegram from Adrianople, the 
police had found out something about my dragoman, I 
had come into the district under false pretences as 
a tourist, and I was a friend of the Greeks. 

I proposed a joint visit to both schools. It was 
accepted without demur, and we drove off, the 
governor and I in his carriage, and the archdeacon 
following with the dragoman in mine. 

We went first to the Turkish school, which was 
newly built I must confess that the words " Turkish 
school " suggested to me a bare floor with a circle of 
small boys squatting round a turbaned teacher reciting 
the Koran. I have seen such schools in Nigeria and 
Morocco. I found a handsome building fitted up with 
forms and desks, with globes and maps, with shelves 
of books, and all the appliances of a modem education. 
More surprising still, I found a large hall, fitted up at 
one end with .a stage and curtain for concerts and 
theatrical performances. I found everything but boys: 
the Turkish schools open and close earlier than the 
Christian ones, and the scholars had gone home. 

While we were driving through the streets I said 



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122 UNKNOWN TURKEY 

something to the pasha on the subject of the trees. 
His Excellency at once brightened up, and I learned 
that it was he who had planted them. I said (we 
both spoke in French): 

" What I have seen of your town, so far, has rather 
taken me by surprise. I do not think people in 
England are accustomed to hear much good about 
Turkey. If there are any other things you would like 
me to see and report, I shall be glad if you will show 
them to me." 

Galib Pasha took me at my word. On the way to 
the Greek school he turned aside to show me a " mill " 
where they made brandy. The proprietor of the mill 
was a young Greek, who had spent some years in 
Paris, and came back with a French wife. His manners 
were those of the boulevards. He quite patronised 
the governor, and hardly noticed the archdeacon. 
However, I had not time to see the mill. I found the 
boys at the Greek school were being kept in to wait 
my arrival, and I hurried off. 

I watched with some curiosity to see how the 
Turkish governor would be received by the Greek 
boys. In spite of what I had seen already, I half ex- 
pected them to show signs of fear when the terrible 
pasha appeared among them. Nothing of the sort. 
They were far less shy of him than the natives of 
Lokoja used to be of me. 

In the first class we entered the boys were having 
a Turkish lesson. I asked the governor to put some 
questions to them, and he made one or two read 
passages aloud, and corrected them. His manner was 
perfectly kind, and the lads were evidently pleased 
by his notice. 

We passed into the youngest class. And there, 
away on a back form, I caught sight of a little red 
fez. What did this mean? The schoolmaster ex- 
plained. It was a little Turk who had come to the 
Greek school in order to learn Greek. I called out 
the youngster, patted him on the head^ and a$ked if 



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A GREEK SCHOOL 123 

the other boys treated him kindly. The schoolmaster 
answered for him that he was quite happy among 
them. 

I thought it the most pleasant sight, and of the 
most hopeful augury, that I had seen since leaving 
Europe. 

The Greek school, too, had its concert-hall. Indeed, 
it was fully evident where the architect of the Turkish 
school had found his model. Islam had paid to Hellas 
the compliment of imitation. It is not the first time 
that Hellas has conquered by her education those who 
had conquered her in arms. 

From the school we went to the Greek Musical 
Society, where we heard "The Sultan's Hymn" and 
" God Save the King " very well executed by a band 
of youngsters in smart uniforms, with thoroughly good 
instruments. The conductor afterwards sent me a 
copy of a mazurka of his own composition. 

We parted company with the archdeacon, and the 
governor took me on to the town hall. He told me, 
with evident satisfaction, that he had left the towns- 
people free to choose their own mayor, and they had 
elected an Israelite. Such a choice would be impossible 
in Russia, one of the Powers which we had called in 
to reform the government of Macedonia. 

The mayor met us at the town hall, and showed me 
the plans of a public garden which I found in course 
of construction alongside of the building. It is to 
have grass for the children to play on, and flower- 
beds, and a small lake, and a band-stand for the 
summer evenings. What could Mr. John Bums do 
more if he were governor of Kirk-Kilissi ? 

While we were driving back to the hotel the pasha 
said to jne suddenly, " Have you confidence in your 
dragoman ? " 

" I have confidence in nobody but myself," I 
answered. 

At once the last reserve disappeared. He arranged 
to come round and see me after dinner, without the 



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124 UNKNOWN TURKEY 

dragoman's presence. It was a confirmation of what 
I had suspected from the first. 

Galib Pasha arrived at half-past seven, and stayed 
till half-past ten, and I never remember passing a 
more interesting three hours. I told him that my last 
visit to his country had been with arms in my hand in 
the van of an invading force. I described Nigeria to 
him, and astonished him with the news that in that 
country we tolerated domestic " slavery " ; that is to 
say, we did not actively encourage the natives to 
desert their employment, and become vagabonds. 
I related how I had found my chief town in a state of 
anarchy under a runaway slave, who since his 
accession to the throne had received six months' 
imprisonment for man-stealing, but had curried favour 
with the white man in the character of a Christian 
convert and a procurer ; and how I had replaced him by 
the rightful heir, who happened to be a Moslem and 
an honest man. 

GaUb Pasha, on his side, talked to me freely of his 
country, his family, and his policy as governor. 
Two of his sons were learning English in a Christian 
school, the famous Robert College at Constantinople, 
and he was learning it from them. He had brought 
round with him the book he was then working at-^it 
was East Lynne\ — ^and there, by a 'smoking lamp, 
in that little room of a Greek hostelry in a remote 
Rumelian town, the Turkish pasha read aloud the 
woes of Lady Isabel, while I corrected his pro- 
nunciation. 

He told me that he was honoured by the friendship 
of the Grand Vizier, Ferid Pasha, and I found after* 
wards that he had written to that great functionary 
about my visit He described how he, in common 
with every patriotic Moslem, was working to put 
down religpious strife, and teach all races and religions 
to live in harmony, as the sole means of safeguarding 
their country from the grip of foreign Powers. In 
Kirk-Kilissi he had, to some extent, succeeded. He 



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TURKISH REFORM 125 

had contrived concerts and picnics as a means of 
bringing the people together, and he had induced all 
creeds to join in building a theatre. 

At a later date I repeated some of these things to a 
British official, who shall be nameless. He responded : 

" I should have thought there were things a Turkish 
town needed much more than a theatre." 

It was the usual sneer, that fatal Britannic sneer 
which costs England all the love she would otherwise 
receive for her good works. In Kirk-Kilissi, at least, 
I had found the Turk doing his best. He is conscious 
of his own deficiencies, which some of us are not. 
He knows that he is behind Europe in many things, 
in the knowledge of flying-machines and motor-cars, 
and strikes and dynamite. He is educating himself as 
hard as he can. A very little praise, a very little 
encouragement, from Europe, and above all from 
England, would do much to strengthen his hands 
against those onlookers who do not want him to 
succeed, whose interest it is that Turkey should 
stagnate, and decay, and drop into their grasp. And 
his eflForts are rewarded with insulting scorn. It is 
like the man in Mr. Pinero's play — " Blame, blame ; 
but praise, oh dear, no ! " 

What is it that Kirk-Kilissi needs more than a 
theatre? Drains, perhaps. Galib Pasha has done 
wrong in thinking of the soul before the body, in 
putting Mary above Martha. And yet this theatre of 
his is a spiritual drain-pipe, devised to carry off the 
foul dregs of racial and religious hatred, and to spare 
Kirk-Kilissi the plague that has ravaged Macedonia. 

In view of subsequent events, I feel at liberty to 
mention that I sounded Galib Pasha on the attitude of 
the Sultan. I did not believe, I do not now believe, 
that I should act wisely in meddling with what may 
be considered the strictly domestic side of Turkish 
politics. Whether the Turks or any other people 
should live imder a despotic or a constitutional 
government is a question entirely for themselves to 



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126 UNKNOWN TURKEY 

decide. But the course of events during the last 
hundred years undoubtedly does justify, and even 
require, England's interesting herself in the relations 
between the Turks and their Christian subjects, and 
to the extent that a change of government is likely to 
improve those relations we are bound to welcome and 
to support it. 

Clearly, if there were a word of truth in the stock 
charges against Abdul Hamid II. of hating his 
Christian subjects and desiring to promote dissension 
among them, the governor of Kirk-KiUssi was playing 
a very dangerous game. I asked if I should run any 
risk of injuring him by reporting what I had seen. 
Galib Pasha had evidently not heard of these fantastic 
charges, for he not only authorised me to write freely, 
but even sent me round a memorandum before I left 
of the points which he wished me to include in my 
Report He asked me to give the credit of his work to 
the Sultan, a request which may have proceeded from 
modesty or from loyalty, or from a desire to conciliate 
the good will of his Imperial Majesty — in any case, it 
was in keeping with Oriental etiquette. He further 
informed me that there was a keen rivalry between 
the Palace and the Porte — a. state of things which was 
fairly evident to me on my return to Constantinople. 
The Sultan's regular Ministers were inspired by very 
much the same patriotic intentions as the Young 
Turks, but unfortunately they were opposed at every 
turn by the clique which had succeeded in persuading 
Abdul Hamid II. that his people were his natural 
enemies. 

I give the Turkish pasha's note, exactly as he wrote 
it I do not think it will injure him in the esteem of 
any one whose esteem is worth possessing. 

" Kirk-Kilisse is a more important department of 
the province of Adrinopel. 

" There is six districts, the two of which (Vassilikos 
and Midia) situated on the bank of the black sea, the 



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A TURKISH DOCUMENT 127 

other two (Timovo and Viza) in the mountains, and 
the others (Baba-Eski and Lule-Bourgas) are on the 
railroad. 

" Kirk-Kilisse (the governor's residence) is a town 
very hvely and well arranged, were are twenty-five 
thousand inhabitants. There are three great schools, 
one of which that is more beaut3rfull appartains at the 
Mussulmans, and the others at the Greecks and the 
Israelitishs. 

" The trees are planted in the streets sides. It is 
arranged a public warden on a pretty plane, and they 
will build a great theatre and the casmo in the side of 
which. 

" It is very difficult to direct that department were 
are the different and hostiles inhabitants (Mussulmans, 
Greecks, Bulgars, Jewishs). But for to annihilate the 
hostility the government arranges the concerts, the 
representations, and the picnics with them." 

The writer of that memorandum was the representa- 
tive of a Government which is constantly charged with 
acting on the principle " divide and govern." During 
a drive together we passed the Christian cemetery. 
"The Bulgars and (Jreeks used to be buried there 
together," the pasha remarked rather sadly. " Now 
the Bulgars have a cemetery of their own." Alas, it 
does not require the craft of Machiavelli to divide the 
races in Rumelia. The real difficulty is to unite these 
" different and hostile inhabitants." 

I was so much interested by Kirk-Kilissi that I 
decided to remain another day. 

The next morning Galib Pasha took me, by my 
request, to see the barracks, the headquarters of a 
division composed of ten battalions of infantry, with 
cavalry, artillery, and a mountain battery of mule-guns 
for use against brigands or bands. 

The military commandant, Hisni Pasha, received me 
very kindly, and invited me to return in the afternoon 
to witness the exercises of the troops. I ventured to 
tell him that I had already been agreeably surprised to 
see that the men were in perfect trim, as certain 



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128 UNKNOWN TQRKEY 

English writers were in the habit of referring to the 
Turkish soldiery as " ragged battalions." The general 
raised his hand to his head. 

" We owe all to our Sultan," he said simply. 

But it is useless to refute a sneer. I shall merely 
have given the Comitadji Press a pretext for saying 
in future that the Sultan wrung taxes out of the 
oppressed peasantry in order to lavish the money on 
expensive uniforms for his troops. 

At midday I had the honour of receiving a visit from 
the masters of the Greek school, to the number of 
seven, who presented me with the following address, 
in French. (I must apologise for transcribing the 
word " Excellency," but in the East such terms are a 
matter of courtesy, and before I reached the end of 
my tour I was pronwted to "Lord," and even 
" Highness.") 

Educational Society of Kirk-Kilissi 

December 24, 1907. 

" Excellency, 

"The visit you were good enough to make 
yesterday to the central school of the Greek com- 
munity of our town has touched us deeply. 

" In coming to return this visit, on behalf of our 
young pupils, we wish to pay a grateful homage to 
the man who cares for learning and interests himself 
in the future of our schools. 

"We hope that your Excellency will always re- 
member us among your concerns, and we desire that 
you may be the venicle of the good wishes that the 
Greek population of our town always forms for the 
prosperity of your great country, England. 

" Michael J. Lykides, President 
"Sophocles D. Dadakis, Secretary^ 

The Greek head master impressed me not less 
favourably than the Turkish governor. It was easy 
to see that his soul was in his task. I had a most 



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GREEK SCHOOLMASTERS 129 

encouraging conversation with them all, and they 
expressed the most friendly sentiments towards the 
Moslems. 

"We desire to hold out our hands to the Turks. 
We think a good understanding is necessary for them 
and for us. Our mission is to civilise — we school- 
masters. We are prepared to live on good terms with 
the Turks." 

Are these better or worse sentiments than those of 
hatred and revenge ? 

When I repeated these words to a Greek statesman 
on my return to Athens, he suggested that the 
schoolmasters were not at liberty to express their 
true sentiments. I can only say that had they spoken 
in an opposite sense I should have been careful to 
record their testimony in such a way as not to hurt 
them, as I have recorded such testimony elsewhere. 
In my own opinion the schoolmasters were sincere, 
and I think their attitude is intelligible. Of course, all 
patriotic Greeks would rather belong to their own 
country than to another in which a different race is 
master. But where they find themselves living, as a 
minority, in some quarter remote from Greece, it is 
clearly wise and right for them, while continuing to 
belong to Hellas in a spiritual sense, to try to live on 
good terms with the people they are among, and to 
show loyalty to the Government which protects them. 
Until recently there were Greeks in Bulgaria, and 
Greeks in Rumania; there are still Greeks in Egypt 
and in Syria. Of what possible service can it be to 
the Greek kingdom, or to the Hellenist cause, that 
these scattered colonies should cultivate a temper of 
hatred towards their neighbours, or should cherish 
schemes of setting up Greek rule in those distant 
countries ? After the experience of the last few 
years the wiser Greeks in northern Rumelia are 
beginning to recognise that any change from the 
present state of things may easily be a change for 
the worse, as far as their nationality is concerned. 

9 



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I30 UNKNOWN TURKEY 

All Turkish towns are not like Kirk-Kilissi, and 
governors like Galib Pasha are few and far be- 
tween under any regime. The Greek soul is rest- 
less, and free Hellas attracts her separated children 
as the lighthouse attracts the sea-birds from afar. 
There are provinces of Turkey in which the aspira- 
tion for union with Athens is reasonable, there are 
others in which it is as unreasonable as would be 
an ambition on the part of the Irish in the United 
States to set up the Irish republic in America. 
And the difference is not always clearly perceived 
in Athens. The policy of the Greek kingdom is too 
much influenced by Byzantine traditions, and her 
politicians sometimes dream of biting off' more than 
they are strong enough to chew. 

Power is often the best cure for intolerance. In 
proportion as their kingdom expands, and the Greeks 
find themselves ruling over Turks in Thessaly, in 
Crete, and elsewhere, their feeling towards the Turk 
must change. Every violent and intolerant expres- 
sion towards the Turk of Adrianople disqualifies 
them to govern the Turk of Salonika. In the end 
they will perceive that, unless and until the Greeks 
are strong enough to win and hold Constantinople 
themselves, the Turk is their best guardian against 
the invader from the north. Misery makes strange 
bedfellows, and danger brings about strange alli- 
ances. 

In a town nearer to the Greek frontier than Kirk- 
Kilissi, and in a school where half the children 
were learning Greek for the first time, I had a 
glimpse into the heart of Hellenism as it beats 
under the outward garb of Turkish citizenship. I 
had asked the mistress of the infant class to let the 
children sing, and they sang " The Song of the Flag." 
The words did not say which flag was meant, but 
while they were singing I noticed that each child 
was holding its hand sideways across its breast, 
with the fingers outstretched. I recognised it in a 



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A REVIEW 131 

moment. The fingers represented the blue and white 
stripes of a certain flag under which I had once 
fought! I turned to the schoolmistress, and, after 
being assured that I should not betray her confi- 
dence, she confessed. I believe that touching masonic 
sign was her own inspiration; at least, when I de- 
scribed it to my friends on my return to Athens I 
found that they had never heard of it. 

I hope a time may come when ** The Song of the 
Flag" may be sung, with that picturesque accom- 
paniment, under the eyes of Turkish governors like 
Galib Pasha as freely as "Scots Wha Hae" is sung 
in the heart of London. 

At two o'clock I returned to the barracks. The 
troops had gathered in the great exercise ground. 
Hisni Pasha placed me in front, and, before I realised 
what was happening, I found the whole division was 
marching past at the salute. Their commander knew 
that I had fought against his country ten years before, 
and this was his generous reception. 

The infantry marched by in perfect order, using the 
high German step, each company led by its officers. 
The cavalry passed at a trot, as did the artillery and 
mountain-battery. All were spick-and-span, the guns 
clean and bright, and the horses and mules in good 
fettle. I am not a professional soldier, and I do not 
much believe in the manoeuvres of the barrack-yard 
as a test of efficiency in modern warfare; but, so 
far as I could judge, the troops I saw were likely 
to be a good match for any that they were likely to 
meet. 

After I had complimented them to their com- 
mander, I inquired what he thought of the Bulgarian 
army. 

"It is well organised and well drilled," he an- 
swered, "but the Bulgarians have no stomach for 
the attack." 

If I am to judge of the Bulgarian regular troops by 



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132 UNKNOWN TURKEY 

the Comitadjis, I should think this a just criticism. 
But it is the idlest exercise in the world to form an 
opinion of the relative valour of forces which have 
never met on the open field. 

I dined with Hisni Pasha that night. The governor 
was also present, and so was the Parisian "miller." 
It was evident that this gentleman was Kirk-Kilissi's 
show townsman. "You think we are remote and 
barbarous, but here is the kind of citizen we can turn 
out when we try!" 

Among the officers invited was a captain of artillery, 
named Sadik, who was introduced to me as a painter. 
I expressed my interest, and his friends insisted on 
sending to his quarters for some specimens of his 
work. Two of them were beautifully executed paint- 
ings of flowers on silk, and Captain Sadik made me 
accept them as a souvenir. 

I found out afterwards that drawing and painting 
are much cultivated in Turkish schools. The old 
prohibition of human and animal figures has been 
silently discarded, and I have seen some very good 
work, both at Monastir and Constantinople. 

I had been accompanied to Kirk-Kilissi by two 
gendarmes — protectors according to the authorities, 
spies according to my dragoman and European 
opinion in general. As I drove off in the grey dawn 
four mounted artillerymen, under a corporal, drew up 
alongside. They had been sent by the commandant 
to escort me back to Adrianople. Not spies on this 
occasion, I may be allowed to think. 

Such was my first experience of real Turkey, set 
down exactly as it happened. I had gone into one 
of the least-known parts of the empire, far from the 
railway, where consuls and correspondents hardly 
ever come, where there are no Europeans to please 
or to offend. I have described what I found. I 
know not what impression it may make on others. 
I know what impression it made on me. 



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A LESSON 133 

When we halted once more at the little wayside 
coffee-house, I renewed my acquaintance with its two 
cats; but I did not again call the fierce Angora the 
Moslem, nor its mild companion the Christian. 

Kirk-Kilissi had shown me the other side of the 
shield. 



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CHAPTER V 

THE VILAYET OF ADRIANOPLE 

A Bulgarian Commercial Agent — ^The art of cross-examination — 
A Jewish school— Persian literature — On the trail of the 
Comitadjis— Romeo and Juliet— A Turkish atrocity— The cost 
of liberation. 

After my return to Adrianople I was taken by 
Major Samson to call on Mr. StoilefF, the Bulgarian 
Commercial Agent. 

The international position of the Principality pre- 
sents one of those tangles of technical legalism which 
are dear to the diplomatic mind. 

The Turkish Sultan is supposed to be the suzerain 
of Bulgaria proper. Eastern Rumelia, which is, by 
this time, as fully united with the rest as Yorkshire 
is with England, is technically Turkish soil, and its 
inhabitants are " subjects " of the Sultan. It was the 
hope of the Comitadjis to *' Rumelise " Macedonia 
right down to the sea. They claimed — their writers 
claim for them — that they had established a govern- 
ment de facto^ by terrorism, a State within the 
State, and if they could wear out or exterminate the 
Greeks and Moslems they anticipated that " Europe " 
would accept the fait accompli, and tacitly permit the 
incorporation of the conquered vilayets with the 
Principality. 

It is in deference to the fictions of international 
law that the Bulgarian Ministers abroad are called 
" Diplomatic Agents," and their Consuls " Commercial 
Agents," 

134 



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A BULGARIAN AGENT 135 

I found it the general opinion that I was in duty 
bound to call on these Agents wherever I found 
them, and let them talk to me. I do not know how 
many other official persons I was not expected to 
listen to in the same way — Rumanian and Servian 
Consuls, Austrian and Russian Civil Agents, French 
and Italian officers, English Financial Commissioners 
— it seemed to be the recognised duty of a traveller 
to pass his whole time in drinking in official state- 
ments from official lips. 

If I neglected my duty in this respect I can only 
plead that my time was limited, that I was in search 
of facts and ocular evidence, and that I consider it 
unprofitable to argue with people who are officially 
bound not to let themselves be convinced. 

However, I consented to call on Mr. StoilefF, and 
the reader shall hear how I got on. 

The Bulgarian Agent was, of course, most friendly. 
The Bulgarians are more English in their manners 
than the Greeks, and to this fact I attribute part of 
their popularity in England. 

But he was evidently on his guard. His first words 
showed me that he was aware that I had come from 
Athens, and that I was going back there. On this 
footing we met, and to me, as to a recognised adver- 
sary, he expounded the following case; 

" The Bulgarians of the Principality have nothing 
whatever to do with the Macedonian bands. It is a 
purely Macedonian movement. 

" In 1903 the bands did not attack a single village, 
but solely the Turkish armed forces." 

I asked why, in that case, the Greeks came into the 
field. 

" The Greeks took arms to assist the Turks." 

Mr. Stoileff went on to refer to the death of 
Captain Melas, According to him, this officer was 
murdered by his own followers for the sake of the 
money he had about him. It is unfortunate that this 
version of the case is not borne out by the Bulgarian 



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136 THE VILAYET OF ADRIANOPLE 

apologist : " A few skirmishes * have none the less 
taken place (notably one in which Captain Melas 
was killed)." It has been confirmed by no one else. 

The Archbishop of Castoria naturally came in for 
severe treatment. 

*' He appeared before a monastery in which some 
insurgents were besieged by Turkish troops, and told 
them he would guarantee their safety if they sur- 
rendered. They laid down their arms, and were 
massacred to the last man." 

The following remarks are more instructive, and I 
have italicised one statement which was afterwards 
corroborated by the peasants themselves : 

" There are many peasants, Bulgarians by speech, 
but Greek by religion. They have no desire to join 
Greece or Bulgaria. Even those who are undoubtedly 
Greeks do not want to be annexed to Greece, because 
they dread having to contribute to the debt and the 
taxes of the kingdom. In particular, they object to 
the tax on sugar." 

So the Folk War has been over a question of sugar. 
I believe the Principality is much freer from debt than 
Greece, but I fear the peasant's preference is more 
likely to depend on the comparative proximity and 
ferocity of the Greek or Bulgarian band than on 
these calculations of political economy. 

I asked Mr. StoilefF what was the programme of 
his Government in the matter. He answered : 

**The Great Powers must take entire control of 
Macedonia. The people must be told that they 
are Macedonians. Macedonia must be made a neutral 
State.'' 

"What do you mean by a neutral State?" I in- 
quired, glancing at the portrait of Prince Boris, which 
occupied a place of honour on the wall, " Do you 
mean an independent kingdom ? " 



^ I,e, between Greeks and Turks. Macedonia^ by H. N. Brailsford, 
p. ai5. 



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A HOSTILE WITNESS 137 

"Or a republic," was the swiftly given response. 
" Whatever the people wish themselves." 

I think there is not very much doubt as to what 
the people will "wish themselves," by the time the 
Comitadjis have done with them. They will " wish " 
to be Bulgarians. They will "wish" to join their 
brethren under the sway of Prince Ferdinand. And 
with that contingency in sight, it is distinctly better 
that Macedonia should be a republic than a kingdom. 

I have no wish to be hard on Mr. Stoileff. I may 
have made a mistake in going to see him. I had 
no sympathy, I never can have sympathy, with the 
expansion of Bulgaria or any other country at the 
expense of any nationality or individual that does 
not wish to be incorporated with it. Governments 
must, unhappily, rest on compromise, and small 
minorities must suffer in any scheme of things. But 
the Bulgarians have no majority in Macedonia, and 
the means they have used to create one have demon- 
strated their unfitness to have the government of even 
an alien dog. With that feeling in my mind, I could 
only treat the Bulgarian Agent as a hostile witness. 
In my opinion, he would have been justified in 
declining to give evidence. If he decided to give it 
he should have given it straightforwardly. I con- 
sidered that he was trifling with me, and my last 
question was in the nature of a cross-examiner's trap 
which the witness walked into. If I acted unfairly I 
apologise to Mr. Stoileff. 

One of the most interesting elements in the popu- 
lation of Rumelia is the Jewish. The Jews who 
compose it are chiefly those whose ancestors were 
expelled from Spain, and, as is well known, they still 
use a Spanish dialect. I had neglected to visit the 
Jewish school at Kirk-Kilissi, and I made up for the 
omission by going to see the great institution estab- 
lished in Adrianople by the Alliance Israelite of Paris, 
containing upwards of 1,200 pupils. 

Of these 763 receive their education free, and most 



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138 THE VILAYET OF ADRIANOPLE 

of the others pay less than a shilling a month. Of 
the poor ones 645 receive a suit of clothes and pair 
of shoes every year, and 342 have a hot meal every 
day at noon. The principal languages taught are 
French and Turkish, with Hebrew as part of the 
religious instruction, and German in the two senior 
classes. The annual budget of the school comes to 
the modest sum of ;f 2,000, of which the greatest part 
is raised locally, the Alliance Israelite contributing 
£^00. The Ottoman Government gives a small sub- 
scription, as does the Anglo-Jewish Association. 

The thing that struck my imagination most, during 
my inspection of this noble foundation, was coming 
into one class-room and finding all the boys wearing 
the fez. It was the Hebrew lesson, and, since Hebrew 
is the sacred language, the scholars cover themselves 
while they study it. 

They are right to do so. Well did Mohammed call 
them the People of the Book. For that book of theirs, 
to the scientific mind a collection of primitive folk- 
lore, of rudely edited chronicles, and socialistic poetry, 
has proved itself the mightiest book that any people 
has begotten. The Christian Testament is a supple- 
ment to it ; the Koran is a commentary. It has been 
found mightier than all the books of the Hellenes 
put together. In Athens, under the shadow of the 
Parthenon, the descendants of Socrates and Pericles 
know more of David than Achilles, and write the 
name of the All-Father Yahveh instead of Zefs. 

The Jews in Turkey are extremely poor : somehow, 
they do not prosper under Moslem rule, although they 
so much prefer it to Christian. In Salonika the 
Greeks are beating them on their own ground, and 
at their own trade of banking. Their schools owe 
a great deal to the French Alliance Israelite^ and in 
the one I visited there were twelve teachers of the 
French language, seven of them trained in Paris. 

This zeal of the French for the predominance of 
their language in the East is in striking contrast with 



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ENGLISH SCHOOLS 139 

the apathy shown by ourselves. In Constantinople 
our Consul, Mr. Waugh, took me to visit two schools. 
The first, founded and supported entirely by the 
English residents, trains about fifty boys in the English 
language, although I overheard the younger ones 
using Greek among themselves in the playground. 
The second, liberally financed by the Scotch Mission 
to the Jews, trains 450 boys and girls in the German 
language. Some of them speak German when they 
first come, no doubt, and others Spanish. But all 
of them speak German when they leave. English is 
taught in the school, as one subject, and the few 
pupils who remain On long enough really learn it, 
as they learn French, in the same time. But the 
school is a German school. 

It is a highly charitable enterprise, charitable to- 
wards the Jews, and still more charitable towards 
the Germans. But when I mentioned what I had 
seen to our Ambassador he seemed to think it worth 
his attention, and the English public may some day 
think the same.^ 

I went to thank the Governor-General of Adrianople 
for the reception I had met with in his vilayet, and 
Major Samson introduced me. I found the Vali was 
a scholar, deeply versed in Persian literature. I had 
first learned the charm of Persian literature from a 
Persian poet, the professor of that language in Trinity 
College, Dublin. Under the influence of the subject, 
the present conversation became worthy of Unsari 
and Firdausi in the gardens of Ispahan. 

His Excellency conveyed to me that the hour in 
which he had made my acquaintance was the most 

> The English High School^ referred to above, is in great need of 
further support, and subscriptions may be sent to A. C. Silley, Esq., 
Hon. Treasurer, or to A. T. Wau^h, Esq., at the British Consulate. 
The British Government does nothmg to promote British interests in 
this direction (a similar school at Tangier has just been allowed to 
close its doors), but Chambers of Commerce interested in the trade of 
the Levant would find the endowment of such schools the soundest 
of investments. 



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I40 THE VILAYET OF ADRIANOPLE 

pleasurable in a long and laborious life, but that 
all his joy had been changed into mourning by the 
intelligence that I was to quit his capital on the 
morrow. 

I replied that I had come out to examine into 
troubles, and that it was because his administration 
had rendered his vilayet so happy that I was leaving 
it so soon. 

Major Samson was inspired with the beautiful re- 
mark that I was like the sea-bird that follows the 
storm. 

The reader must pardon these digressions. They 
should serve to remind him that the Thousand Nights 
and a Night are still a part of life in Rumelia. Be 
not too impatient with the ways of Fairyland. 

There are a few Bulgars in Adrianople, but the 
prevailing element in the town is Turkish. I learned 
there was some ill-will between these Bulgars and 
the Greeks, dating from eight or ten years back, 
when the Bulgarians began persecuting the Greeks 
in the adjoining Principality. That date is most 
significant. For the whole terrorist movement against 
the Greeks, in and out of Macedonia, followed on 
their defeat in the war with Turkey. It may not be 
chivalrous to hit a man when he is down, but it is very 
good business. And the Folk are a practical people. 

My next stopping-place after Adrianople was 
Dedeagatch, where the railway comes down to the 
sea-coast. The town is well built, after a recent fire. 
There is a broad boulevard planted with trees, and 
a general air of prosperity and neatness. From the 
beach there is a glorious view of capes and islands, 
and the little harbour was crowded with sailing-boats 
of quaint design, such boats as may have conveyed 
Agamemnon, with all his men, to Asia, in the most 
famous war of all the wars that have been waged 
between the West and East. 



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DEDEAGATCH 141 

At the station I was met by a kavass on the part 
of the authorities — another spy! He took me to the 
Konak, where I found the mutessarif, this time a 
bey. The Greeks of the town — ^and the town is 
mainly Greek — reported that he was amiable, but 
not energetic. 

He told me that the Comitadjis had started work 
in his sandjak. There is a thin line of Bulgarian 
villages stretching southward from the Bulgarian 
frontier almost to the sea — the valley of the Maritza — 
and along this line the bands were beginning to creep. 

Now the Maritza does not flow through any part 
of Macedonia. It flows through the vilayet of Adria- 
nople, known to history as Thrace. This liberating 
movement, therefore, should have no connection with 
the other. It should be a purely Thracian movement. 
Its object should be to teach the inhabitants that 
they are Thracians, and to convert the country into 
a neutral state, not an independent kingdom, but a 
republic or whatever the people wish themselves. 
At present the majority of them wish to be Turkish 
subjects, and most of the others wish to be Hellenes. 
The Comitadjis will change all that. 

One night, just before my arrival, there was a 
Bulgarian wedding in a village a short way inland, 
in which three-fourths of the inhabitants are Bulgars 
and the rest Turks. The Turks, in their quarter, 
listened to the rejoicings, and among the discharges 
of firearms let off in honour of the occasion their 
ears caught a sound which told them that loaded 
cartridges were being fired as well as blank. A 
messenger was despatched to the mutessarif in 
Dedeagatch with the tidings, and the mutessarif 
showed all the energy required. Swiftly and silently 
a body of troops arrived on the scene. They found 
in the village a band of half-a-dozen Comitadjis, 
most of whom were shot down, while one or two 
escaped. Among the killed was one in peasant dress 
whose hands and feet betrayed, by the tenderness of 



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142 THE VILAYET OF ADRIANOPLE 

the skin, that he was not a peasant — ^in all probability 
an officer of the Bulgarian army. 

Such was the story told me by the governor, and 
told me independently in the town. An everyday 
incident of life in Rumelia. Of course the governor 
ought to have instructed the troops to take the men 
alive. He ought to have given them a legal trial, 
with a jury containing a few Bulgarians, and a 
Russian Consul looking on to see fair play. And 
in the improbable event of a verdict against them 
for carrying arms without a licence, he should have 
let them off with a small fine, or a few weeks' im- 
prisonment as first-class misdemeanants. All that 
will be done when Thrace is reformed. But mean- 
while, one gathers that the Turkish Grovemment under- 
stands the people with whom it has to deal, and that 
even an ease-loving governor gets on pretty well 
without the assistance of the Powers. 

The Government kavass, or spy, continued to ac- 
company my steps; and it is fair to remark that in 
Rumelia every consul is attended by his own kavass 
when he takes his walks abroad. I led him straight 
from the Konak to the Greek Consulate, where I 
found the Greek Archbishop. Afterwards he followed 
me to my hotel, where I dismissed him ; and he went 
meekly away, and was seen no more. 

The same night the Chief of Police, calling at the 
Archbishop's Palace, inquired if his Eminence knew 
who I was. But he had come there about another 
matter, and the Archbishop believed that the question 
was only put out of natural curiosity about a stranger. 

The Archbishop told me this the next day, in the 
train going to Xanthe. His Eminence got in with me, 
and on the way we were joined by the Archbishop 
of Xanthe, by a Turkish officer in command of the 
soldiers guarding the railway, and by a Jewish 
merchant. 

In Rumelia Archbishops are rather thick upon the 
ground. The first result of the Turkish conquest was 



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ROMEO AND JULIET 143 

to add to the importance of the Christian hierarchy. 
Every Bishop transformed himself into a Metropolitan 
and Archbishop. The traveller through this country 
must return to England with the feeling that ordinary 
Bishops are hardly worth his notice, and even Pri- 
mates are ordinary men. 

But I have to explain the business which brought 
the Turkish Chief of Police to see the Greek Arch- 
bishop, because it threw another unexpected light 
on Turkish rule. The Archbishop told me the story 
without the least idea how it would strike an English 
mind. 

He said that the Turks, by which he meant the 
Moslems, were guilty of turning the heads of Chris- 
tian girls by means of flattery and presents, in order 
to obtain them as wives. If he had been an English 
Comitadji writer, of course he would have said that 
the Turks were in the habit of stealing and ravishing 
Christian g^rls ; but, being merely a Greek Archbishop, 
he probably told the truth. To turn the head of a 
Christian girl by praising her charms and offering her 
jewellery, in the hope of marrying her, is a crime 
not unknown in " Europe," but our laws treat it with 
astonishing laxity. In Rumelia it is a serious matter, 
and the Chief of the Police took prompt action. He 
warned the Archbishop of what was happening, or had 
happened— I rather gathered that the misguided girl 
had already fled to her Moslem lover — ^and the Arch- 
bishop resolved to save her. She was brought back — 
as I understood, without her consent — ^married on the 
spot to a Christian youth selected for her by the 
Archbishop, and the newly wedded pair were now in 
the train on their way to Salonika under his Eminence's 
vigilant guardianship. 

And why, the reader may ask, as I asked, did 
the authorities show all this zeal? Because, if the 
unfortunate lovers had been allowed to wed, "the 
Greeks would have been excited against the Turks." 
Fear of their Christian subjects moved the Turkish 



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144 THE VILAYET OF ADRIANOPLE 

tyrants to restore this infatuated girl to her 
friends. 

Shall I recall the words of the kind-hearted governor 
of Kirk-Kilissi ? — "It is very difficult to direct that 
department were are the different and hostiles inhabi- 
tants." The Young Turks now have the task in 
hand, and one can only hope that the cordial feelings 
which prevail for the moment will soften the inevitable 
conflicts later on. 

As we were nearing Xanthe my fellow-passengers 
urged me very warmly to alight, and stay a night in 
the town. I objected that my teskeri (the inland pass- 
port above referred to) was only marked for Drama, and 
that the authorities might object. The Archbishop 
assured me that his word for me would be sufficient 
I still hesitated, whereupon the Turkish officer was 
appealed to. He at once said that the Vali of Adria- 
nople had sent an order down the line that I was to 
be at liberty to get out where I liked, and go where 
I pleased. It was a disconcerting moment for my 
Servian-Austrian-Montenegrin dragoman. The spy 
theory seemed to lose ground. 

As it turned out, the Vali had acted incautiously. I 
came full upon a Turkish outrage, a typical case of 
Turkish oppression, and my dragoman took care that 
I should not overlook it. 

The town, he informed me, soon after I had got to 
the hotel, was swarming with a number of distressed 
villagers who had just had their lands seized, and been 
turned out of their homes, by the " beys.'* 

Every reader of Comitadji literature is familiar with 
the beys, known in our own happy country, and in 
Ireland, as the landlords. Their oppression is one of 
the chief causes of the Bulgarian intervention. They 
are, if possible, worse than the tax-gatherers, the 
pashas and the soldiers. If a " Grecomaniac " peasant 
hesitates to join the liberators, the thought of de- 
liverance from his bey decides him. " No rent " is a 
cry as popular in Rumelia as elsewhere. 



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A TURKISH OUTRAGE 145 

I listened with a good deal of indignation to the 
dragoman's story, and not the less so that the victims 
of the outrage appeared to be Moslems. If even the 
Moslems were driven desperate it was clear there must 
be an end to Turkish rule. 

I went out to see the victims. I found their carts — 
they owned carts— drawn up in an open space in the 
outskirts of the town. Their horses — they owned 
horses — were stabled hard by. I entered a house in 
which I found a number of women and children very 
well dressed — much better dressed than Irish women 
and children when I was last in the country parts 
of Ireland. I bestowed some small coins on the 
children; their mothers, who wore veils, refused to 
speak to me. 

Then I went round to see the kaimakam. (Xanthe 
is only a caza, not a sandjak.) 

The kaimakam, I had been told in the train, was '^ a 
very honest man." I had not yet heard a bad word 
against any Turkish governor, and, except in one 
place, I was not destined to do so. Greeks, Turks, 
and Bulgars alike seemed prejudiced in favour of 
their tyrants. They could not have read much 
Comitadji literature. 

The kaimakam, who had had no notice of my coming, 
nor of my views and objects, received me civilly, and 
answered my questions without embarrassment. In 
any other country in the world a foreign traveller 
walking into the office of the local governor and 
proceeding to cross-question him about his affairs 
might have a rather rude reception. In Turkey it is a 
thing of course that the passing European should play 
the spy upon the Government, and tax its officers with 
their feiults. 

He told me that the dispute between these people 
and their landlords was of long standing. They were 
not natives of the district, but immigrants from else- 
where — I think he said from Greece — ^who had squatted 
on the beys' land. Some of them were gipsies. They 

10 



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146 THE VILAYET OF ADRIANOPLE 

had been suffered to remain, but trouble had arisen 
through their pasturing their sheep and cattle — ^they 
owned sheep and cattle — on the ground required by 
the beys themselves. A law-suit had been carried on 
at Adrianople, and the judgment was a compromise. 
The Court decided that the gipsies might pasture 
their " big animals " {grande betaille) but not their little 
animals. The squatters had disregarded the judgment, 
the beys had gone down and driven off the little 
animals, or impounded them, and the gipsies had 
thereupon abandoned their homes in dudgeon, and 
come into Xanthe to demand of the Government that 
it should find lands for them elsewhere. I gathered 
that the Government was going to do so. 

Such was the explanation given me by the "very 
honest man." I offer no opinion on its credibility. 
It has this in its favour, that he had not much time 
to invent it. 

My dragoman continued the investigation on his 
own account while I was riding out to a monastery 
beautifully situated on the hill behind the town. He 
brought me the statement that four of the petitioners 
had been sent off to Adrianople in chains. The chains 
were a picturesque touch. That dragoman has missed 
his vocation. He ought to have been the author of a 
book on Macedonia. I cannot say off-hand what would 
happen to gipsies in England who defied the order of 
a court of law, but I think some precautions might be 
taken against their running away. 

The dragoman further stated that he had met some 
of these men in the street. They shed tears, and he 
bestowed some money on them, which was duly 
debited to my account, I requested him to bring 
some of them to me, that I might question them myself; 
but he failed to do so. When we were safely out of 
the town, next day, he told me that the refugees had 
petitioned that I should write to the British Consul 
at Adrianople to ask his intervention ; and I failed to 
do so. 



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CHRISTIAN COMPLAINTS 147 

Most Consuls and most foreign officers who have 
spent any time in Rumelia have learned to believe 
about one-tenth of the tales that are brought to them 
by the peasants. The Folk are not a truthful people, 
as their best friends confess. I heard of one Consul 
who had committed to memory the Bulgarian words 
for "The story you have just told me is not true." 
He used this phrase mechanically at the end of every 
tale of woe, and invariably found that it produced 
another and quite different version. 

I do not say that the Rumelian peasants are naturally 
more prone to grumble and exaggerate than other 
peasants. There used to be a ** tale " in Ireland of a 
peasant who was in the habit of waylaying English 
tourists at Killarney, and moving them to solid sym- 
pathy by pointing to his miserable cabin of loose 
stones and broken windows and ruined thatch. The 
cabin was truly miserable, and it was his property. 
But it was not his residence. It was, so to speak, his 
business premises, or rather his stock-in-trade. He 
lived in considerable comfort elsewhere. 

The difference between the Rumelian peasant and 
other peasants is that he gets more encouragement 
and a wider audience. The missionaries, always a 
tender-hearted and injudicious class of men, are his 
sworn advocates. The subjects of Prince Ferdinand 
are less indifferent to his grievances than they pretend. 
Powerful monarchs show him more sympathy than 
they always extend to their own subjects. And his 
prosperity is the pressing care of a philanthropic 
CQuntry whose own peasants are still waiting for their 
three acres and a cow. 

Now, that is the most serious outrage, or alleged 
outrage, on the part of Moslems that came under my 
direct observation while I was in the Turkish empire 
on the look-out for outrages. And it was perpetrated, 
if at all, on Moslems. It may justify the Powers in 
requiring the appointment of a Christian governor for 



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148 THE VILAYET OF ADRIANOPLE 

Thrace. If so, I should suggest the choice of an Irish 
resident magjistrate. 

By way of comparison, I give a sample of how the 
enemies of Turkey conduct their liberating mission. 
I took it down the same day in the office of the 
Commercial Company of Salonika, Limited : 

" My name is Demetracopoulo. I am the cashier of 
the Company. Two years ago to-day the Bulgarians 
seized my brother. They seized him as he was going 
to his farm from a village. They carried him up to 
the mountains. They kept him two months. We 
paid £600.'' 

When a thing like that is done by a private robber 
"Europe" blames it. When it is done by a robber 
who says he hates the Sultan, "Europe" praises it 
That is the short history of this Folk War. 

The Greek Consul at Xanthe invited me to dinner, 
and at his hospitable board we were joined by the 
Archbishop. His Eminence told me, with great glee, 
that a spy from the kaimakam had been watching his 
palace ever since my call there in the afternoon, but 
that he had " depisted " him — by what artifice I did 
not learn. The hospitable cleric had brought with 
him a bottle of excellent native wine, in which we 
drank patriotic toasts, and a bottle of scented braiidy, 
twenty years old, which he gave me to take upon my 
journey. 

I carried it to Drama and presented it to the British 
officers' mess. It considerably modified their Bulgaro- 
phile attitude, and I understood that they purposed 
cultivating the friendship of his Eminence of Xanthe. 



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CHAPTER VI 

THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

Drama — ^The reformed gendarmery — Professional jealousy — The mute 
— A British officer's evidence — My travelling companion— Bul- 
garian gratitude to England — The hero of Serres — Salonika — 
Other phases of the Folk War — Hilmi Pasha — European credulity 
—How Griva was liberated— Japan to the rescue. 

Drama lies on the threshold of the artificial area 
falsely called Macedonia. As we have seen^ the 
Bulgarian attack takes no notice of the border-line 
recognised by the Powers, and therefore I need not 
do so. The whole southern region from Constantinople 
to Salonika is admittedly Greek where it is not Moslem 
— Greek in language, Greek in religion, and Hellenist 
in aspiration. There are a number of Moslems of 
Bulgarian extraction, but they are of course as strongly 
opposed as the Turks, Greeks, Jews, or gipsies to a 
Bulgarian domination. There is a thin scattering of 
Exarchists in the rural districts. In the towns the 
Bulgarian population is hardly more numerous than 
the Jewish. 

Drama, a town as ugly as Xanthe is beautiful, is 
the headquarters of the British officers who are 
engaged with the officers of the other five Powers in 
organising a gendarmery for service against the Greek 
and Bulgarian bands. This gendarmery is one of the 
remedies prescribed by Austria and Russia in the 
Mursteg programme of reforms for Macedonia. The 
foreign officers are not in command of it. Their 

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ISO THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

functions have been limited to ordering its equipment, 
providing barracks and posts, drilling the men, and 
advising the Turkish authorities where and how to 
use them. 

It is confessed on every hand that this experiment 
has so far proved a failure. The failure is attributed 
by the officers themselves to lack of numbers, lack of 
authority on their part, and lack of good-will on the 
part of the Government.. 

The head of all these officers, and therefore the 
person responsible to Europe for the success or failure 
of the gendarmery, was the Italian General Degiorgis, 
whose recent death makes me desire to avoid any 
personal criticism. I did not meet this officer, who 
was warmly, and I am sure sincerely, praised to me 
by his English comrades. 

I saw, however, with my own eyes, that the 
gendarmery were equipped with sky-blue uniforms 
of conspicuous and unworkmanlike appearance. I 
also saw — ^and no one drew my attention to this — ^that 
the Turkish authorities had of their own accord 
organised a corps of chasseurs or scouts for the 
express purpose of dealing with the bands, and that 
these men were dressed in a workmanlike uniform 
resembling khaki in colour. 

In the face of this one fact I found some difficulty 
in believing that the Sultan of Turkey was secretly 
anxious to prolong a civil war which cost him immense 
sums of money, and threatened to cost him three 
provinces ; or that that war could be terminated most 
easily by increasing the numbers of the gendarmery 
and the authority of its foreign officers. 

While in Rumelia I was continually told that the 
efforts of General Degiorgis and his staff were secretly 
thwarted by the authorities, and that they felt their 
work to be a pretence. It is ordinarily believed that 
when a man finds himself in a false position he is 
justified in tendering his resignation. The courage 
and perseverance of so many officers in clinging to 



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GENDARMERY OFFICERS 151 

their uncomfortable posts in the face of so much 
opposition are remarkable ; and it is not surprising 
that the Sultan has honoured them with decorations 
which most of them, except the English, have ac- 
cepted. 

The distribution and conduct of the foreign officers 
throw some light on the motives which have inspired 
this reform. The Russian officers work on a line 
extending northwards from Salonika, and they sig- 
nalised their arrival by telling the Hellenist peasants 
that if they would only call themselves Bulgarians all 
would be well with them. I shall produce first-hand 
evidence of this hereafter. The Austrian officers 
have naturally preferred the district which borders 
on their own country, or rather that Turkish province 
(Bosnia) which is being administered by Austria, with 
results of which we came upon an example at Gravosa. 
The Italians are stationed along the frontier of Albania. 
There is a tiny colony of Albanians in Sicily, dating 
from the days of Scanderbeg, and the Italian Govern- 
ment has been thoughtful enough to select an officer 
of that extraction, in order that the Albanians might 
realise how well their countrymen flourish under 
Italian rule. 

These are the three Powers which take the greatest 
interest in Rumelia. The Germans have shrewdly 
confined themselves to the work of drill and in- 
struction in the town of Salonika, and the German 
Ambassador is not unpopular at Yildiz, nor does 
German enterprise suffer much in Asia Minor. The 
French and English look after the Greek districts of 
Serres and Drama, where their impartiality and zeal 
have made them universally unpopular. 

The British officers partook the opinion that the 
gendarmery did not receive fair play as compared 
with the troops. But the question in my mind is 
whether, if they were in command of the troops, they 
would consider this a fault or a merit on the part of 
the civil power. I subsequently received from Hilrai 



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152 THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

Pasha, the viceroy of the three vilayets, a most ably 
written report, made by a French officer to his own 
chief. Colonel V6rand, describing the cutting off of a 
party of Comitadjis by a force of 150 soldiers and 9 
police.^ It was sent to me merely as illustrating the 
manner in which the Government carried out its 
task, and the character of its enemies. But, in reading 
it, I was struck by these two sentences : 

"The dispositions taken to catch the Comitadjis 
were excellent, and quickly executed : they were con- 
ceived and executed by the lieutenant of gendarmery, 
by the confession of the officers themselves who were 
present. 

"The lieutenant of gendarmery, Salih Agha, was, 
by the confession of every one, the hero of this 
encounter." 

The significant word here is " confession " (aveu). 
The worthy French officer is saying, with pardonable 
pride, " Our man did best, as even our rivals admit" 

This jealousy between the military and the police is 
not peculiar to Rumelia. It is found everywhere in 
our own dominions. In Nigeria it had reached such a 
pitch that the officer commanding at Lokoja told me, 
within a few hours of my arrival, that he could not 
answer for the behaviour of his men if the police were 
permitted to come near them; and one of my first 
official acts was to arrange a truce which satisfied every- 
body — except the Commissioner of Police. I purged 
the police force of some men whom he had enlisted 
in it after they had been dismissed from the army for 
bad conduct. I left my police orderly at home when- 
ever I visited the camp. When I made a tour through 
my province I took only soldiers with me, lest the 
presence of police should lead to friction. I formally 
thanked the officer and his men for the manner in 
which they had assisted me in one affair of some peril. 
The soldiers themselves were thoroughly friendly, and 
( Given in fiill at p. 308. 



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PROFESSIONAL JEALOUSY 153 

the black sergeant-major carried me over rivers on 
his back. Nevertheless, I continued to be harassed by 
petty displays of professional jealousy from the 
military headquarters, and on one occasion the officer 
left in command had to come to me privately and beg 
me to cancel an official correspondence in which he 
had placed himself gravely in the wrong. 

Now, while in Rumelia, I was shown a confidential 
report by a military attache of one of the Embassies, 
full of complaints against the manner in which the 
Turkish troops were being favoured at the expense of 
the gendarmery. From first to last the reflection did 
not seem to have occurred to the writer that any part 
of this might be due to no more occult cause than pro- 
fessional jealousy. I suggest that by creating this 
rival force, and launching it into the troubled whirl- 
pool of Rumelia, the Powers have made a mistake 
which must hinder rather than help the work of 
pacification. 

The moment I entered the English officers' quarters 
I was most hospitably made at home, and I stayed 
there two days. Unfortunately, I found only two 
officers there, one of whom had to leave immediately 
on a tour through his district. My remaining host 
was Major Nye, and from him I gathered a good deal 
of interesting information. 

It is needless to say that I found him zealous and 
free from bias. It has often been said that English 
Liberals, as soon as they go abroad, become Con- 
servatives ; and it is not less true that those who at 
home would be firm pillars of aristocracy and the 
landed interest, no sooner find themselves in a foreign 
country than they are apt to develop sentiments 
which would command enthusiasm in a Radical 
meeting. 

That is a general observation suggested, not by my 
intercourse with Major Nye, of whose political opinions 
I am ignorant, but by my observation of a great 
number of English officials in Turkey and elsewhere. 



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154 THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

The mutessarif of Drama, whose title had been 
affectionately abbreviated to "mute," did not seem in 
very good odour with our officers. The "mute," it 
appeared, did not approve of the reformed gendarmery, 
and neglected it, preferring to employ the troops. 
The " mute " was also guilty of sowing distrust between 
the population and their protectors. He had refused 
permission to the Greeks of Drama to form a band — I 
mean a musical band — and given as his reason that 
the English officers objected to it — a story which the 
Greeks were credulous enough to believe. A police 
officer, dismissed without apparent cause, was told 
that his dismissal had been demanded by the English 
officers. These Machiavellian tactics had brought 
him into disgrace for a time. But Fairyland is not as 
Europe, and the "mute" had since been pardoned, and 
asked to dine at the mess. 

I rather pitied the " mute," whose feelings about the 
foreign officers forced upon his country were natural 
enough. And my pity was changed to admiration 
when I called upon him. He explained to me that, by 
the precepts of his religion, he was bound to love men 
of other creeds more than his fellow-believers. Great 
as is my respect for Islam, I confess that this surprised 
me. The " mute " did not return my call. I trust 
that I have not taken too severe a revenge for his 
discourtesy. 

Major Nye contradicted the report that the Russian 
officers favoured the Bulgarians. It was the contra- 
diction of a loyal comrade, and I will not attempt to 
discount its weight further. 

He described the country generally as being in a 
state of weltering anarchy. There were murders 
constantly committed on both sides, and both sides 
mutilated their victims. The bands were masters of 
the country, and membership of one was regarded as 
a high privilege. Murders were committed by the 
young men as a sort of title to admission. Some of 
the outrages in the town of Drama had been committed 



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BULGARIAN SENTIMENT 155 

with this object A Bulgarian youth had entered the 
town and huried a bomb through the window of 
some Greek resort, in order to qualify himself as a 
Comitadji. 

This was a new and instructive light on the situation. 
It seemed to fit in with what I learned later on from 
a Bulgarian source, that the bands have become 
associations of blackmailers, living on the unfortunate 
villagers, and practising on them worse oppressions 
than those which formed the pretext of the initial 
revolt.* 

Nevertheless the Folk War retains its national 
character. The Comitadji leaders are too shrewd to 
talk about Macedonians and neutral States. They 
appeal to the patriotism of the Bulgars, and they 
benefit by it. Major Nye told me of a Bulgarian 
schoolmistress, in private life a gentle, well-educated 
young woman, who acts as a messenger for one of these 
bands, and implicitly obeys the orders of its chief. 
The major asked her how she was able to bring 
herself to assist such monsters, and she explained 
frankly that when her patriotic feelings were aroused 
she could not refuse. 

In Major Nye's opinion these patriotic sentiments 
have been implanted in the peasants by the Comitadji 
chiefs. " Their ideas are those given them by the band 
leaders." 

And here, it seems to me, we have the true test 
of nationality. The young schoolmistress, sacrificing 
her ordinary habits and her sense of right and wrong, 
at the bidding of a robber and a manslayer, because 
he calls on her in the name of Bulgaria, is a Bulgarian 
indeed. The slow-witted peasant, whom we shall meet 
later, speaking a cross between Servian and Bulgarian, 

^ According to a recent telegram, the Bulgarian Commercial 
Agent has been insulted in the Serres district by a lieutenant of the 
Comitadji chief, Sandansky, and the Bulgarian Government has 
demanded reparation from that of Turkey ! Under these circum- 
stances the English apologists of Sandansky and the Internal 
Organisation will soon tod themselves alone. 



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156 THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

calling himself a Patriarchist, and sending his children 
to the Greek school; willing to welcome any band 
that promises to drive away the Moslem landlord, 
but most unwilling to go on paying the same rent 
to his liberator ; that man may be bullied or scourged 
or tortured into calling himself a Bulgarian or a 
Greek, according to the will of his tormentor, but the 
Folk State has no claim on his allegiance, neither has 
he much claim on Hellas. 

At Drama I was joined by a travelling companion, 
Mr. Kalopathakes, an honorary professor of the 
University of Athens, and correspondent of the since 
defunct Triune. Mr. Kalopathakes had been asked 
to accompany me on my journey by the Press Bureau 
of the Greek Foreign Office, but his engagements only 
permitted him to cover the part between Drama and 
Monastir. The son of a Greek father and an English 
mother, Mr. Kalopathakes was peculiarly qualified 
to act as an intermediary between the Greek and 
English publics, and I felt it a great advantage to 
have the benefit of his moderate and impartial judgment. 
He happened to be a Protestant, and he discovered 
that the evil influence of the Folk War had reached even 
the tiny Protestant community in the town of Drama. 
That community has hitherto consisted of Bulgars 
and Greeks worshipping together. Now, he told me, 
the Bulgars, who are in a majority, have expelled the 
Greeks, and refused to let them use the common 
meeting-place. If, as is probable, this community 
receives any dole from American or English sources, 
it would seem worth while for its patrons to look 
into the matter. 

Major Nye took me out partridge-shooting, but the 
partridges proved as shy as the Comitadjis. We 
carried revolvers — a precaution which a British officer 
does not recommend needlessly. Indeed, we passed 
in sight of the spot where the Bulgarians seized 
Colonel Elliott. 

Colonel Elliott's rescue of himself was a feat which 



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BULGARIAN REASONING 157 

would have earned the Victoria Cross had he been 
rescuing another. His captors were leading him off 
under the eyes of his own gendarmes, and he remained 
perfectly cool and collected until they produced a cord 
to bind his hands. Then he suddenly drew out his 
revolver, shot four of them, and effected his escape. 
The Comitadji Press may condemn this sacrifice of 
brave lives, but a jury might find extenuating circum- 
stances. 

The authors of this unsuccessful exploit have not 
lost heart In Drama I heard that a reward of ;f 1,000 
had been offered for the murder of one of our officers, 
and that a band was being formed on purpose to earn 
the money. It was believed, and not only by the 
Bulgarians, that such a coup would help on the work 
of liberation, by striking our attention, and making 
England more active on behalf of the reforms, like 
the spur driven into the horse's side. 

No one can say this expectation has not been 
justified by our past action. The worst of the 
Bulgarian outrages, the bombs of Salonika, were 
inspired by the anarchist reasoning that "Europe" 
can be shocked or terrorised into bestowing Macedonia 
upon the Folk, against the will of the Moslem and 
Greek majority. And every step which the Powers 
have taken to weaken the authority of the Turkish 
Government is a concession to that reasoning. 

There is only one authority strong enough to put a 
stop to the civil war in its dominions. And instead of 
encouraging and aiding it to take the measures which 
are clearly indispensable, the Powers have been 
hampering and thwarting it. They have placed 
restrictions on its action, they have set spies on its 
agents, they have given moral encouragement to the 
authors of the war, and they have done so with the 
deliberate intention of extending the area of " Christen- 
dom " at the expense of Islam. 

The only doubt which now discourages the Comi- 
tadjis is the doubt whether the contemplated partition 



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158 THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

of Turkey will enure to their benefit or that of 
Austria. The Austrian dominion is more dreaded 
than the Turkish by Bulgarians and Greeks alike. In 
the whole of Rumelia I met only two men — ^and I 
questioned very many — ^who were willing to exchange 
the Sultan for his Apostolic Majesty. The threat 
of an Austrian occupation was the only argument 
which visibly impressed the Bulgars, and caused a 
Bulgarian prelate to remind me of Gladstone's famous 
warning : " Hands off, Austria I " 

The next town to Drama on my itinerary was 
Serres, but as it is another Greek stronghold, and 
Mr. Kalopathakes had just visited it, I did not think it 
necessary to stay there. I got out for a few moments 
at the station, and talked with some of the inhabitants, 
from whom I learned that the town was in a state 
of great excitement on account of the trial of two 
Greeks, one of them a band leader named Panyotti. 
The circumstances were given to me later. 

It must be remembered that the Turkish authorities 
have been condemned for favouring the Greeks, and 
the Greeks for taking arms " to assist the Turks." * 

Panyotti was a subject of the Hellenic kingdom, and 
his trial, in Greek opinion, was not a fair one. The 
evidence against him did not justify a conviction. 
The Greek Minister in Constantinople went to the 
Porte, the Porte promised to delay the execution, the 
Porte broke its promise, Panyotti was hanged, and 
the Greek population of Serres closed their shops 
in protest. 

One Greek gentleman, the holder of a (ioctorial de- 
gree, though whether legal, medical, or philosophical 
I am not aware, expatiated on these events to me as a 
flagrant case of injustice and malignity on the part of 
the Turkish Government towards Greece. 

"There was no evidence against Panyotti," he 

' The words used to me by the Bulgarian Agent, above. 



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A STRANGE GRIEVANCE 159 

insisted, "but because he was a Greek they hanged 
him. Wasn't it barbarous ? " 

I agreed that it wore that appearance. My friend 
went on to say : 

" But Panyotti was a hero. The other man with 
him was like a stone through fear. But Panyotti 
spoke out to the people. The Turks let him speak, 
and he denounced them. Wasn't it heroic of him ? " 

I thought it was also a little chivalrous of the Turks. 
My friend added, with triumph : 

" He said : ' I, Panyotti, have killed sixteen of those 
Turkish dogs, and I call upon every one of you to kill 
a hundred I'" 

'* But if it was true that he had killed sixteen Turks, 
doesn't it give the Turkish authorities some excuse for 
executing him ? " I asked. 

The doctor looked round with a start, smiled, nodded 
his head, and responded : 

" Yes — but wasn't he a hero ? " 

The story of Panyotti should redeem the character 
of the Greeks in the eyes of Europe, the Europe which 
deems hatred of the Turk a greater merit than love of 
freedom. The sentiment is one which I find it easier 
to understand in a Pobiedonestzeff than in an English 
Liberal writer. 

It should also redeem them from the charge of 
having taken up arms to assist the Turks. And 
yet there may be readers who will think that 
Hellenism has found nobler exponents than Panyotti 
and his learned admirer. 

The whole story reminds me curiously of the 
attitude of the Irish on the subject of the Phoenix 
Park murders. Till the authors were discovered the 
Nationalist Press denounced the crime, even going 
as far as to hint that it was the work of Orangemen 
aiming to discredit the national cause. When the 
murderers were arrested their innocence was firmly 
asserted and their conviction treated as a travesty 



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i6o THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

of justice. On their confession and execution, their 
portraits were put up in every peasant's hut as 
those of heroes and martyrs. 

At Salonika I paid off my many-countried drago- 
man and engaged another found for me by the 
Greek Consulate. He was, as I have said, a Greek 
driven from Bulgaria as the result of the outrages 
described elsewhere. Naturally he had not much 
sympathy with the Folk in Macedonia, nor much belief 
in the theory of the neutral State, not an independent 
kingdom, in which Bulgarians and Greeks were to 
lie down together like lambs. 

His attitude towards the Turkish authorities was 
exactly like that of his Slave predecessor. He took 
much pleasure in insulting the police who came to 
meet me at the various railway-stations, and offered 
me their services. They were all "spies." He 
rejoiced at Vodena, where the kaimakam had con- 
templated offering me hospitality, and had gone so 
far as to kill a lamb, because the Greek Archbishop 
had been beforehand with him, and had, so to 
speak, cut me out. At some other place he was 
mollified by the intelligence, which he brought me, 
that the authorities " knew I was much more important 
than a Consul." The Vali of Monastir, on the other 
hand, had the misfortune to offend him by not 
returning my call for a week. 

These prejudices aside, I found him trustworthy, 
zealous, and attentive. The Greeks are not supposed 
to make good servants: an Athenian friend advised 
me not to take one. I disregarded that advice, and 
I did not regret it. 

The town of Salonika is rapidly taking on a 
European character. There are trams, good hotels, 
some fair streets, and a suburb elegantly built. 
There is a music-hall, and a municipal casino and 
garden. Its natural advantages are remarkable, and 



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AN INNOCENT PLOT i6i 

the view of Mount Olympus, crowned with snows, 
across the sea is more magnificent than anything 
that Naples has to show. The interesting antiquities 
I had no time to visit 

The Greek community is the most prosperous, 
though not the most numerous. There are a few 
Bulgarians in the town, who seem to enjoy the ex- 
clusive interest of the American Board of Missions. 
But the Principality has its eye on the great 
Macedonian port. I have referred to the anarchist 
demonstrations, and will say no more about them. 
A more innocent plot was narrowly frustrated by the 
Greeks shortly before my arrival. The Bulgarians 
were in treaty for a large building on the sea front, 
meaning to convert it into an hotel, and placard it 
with the name Grand Hdtel de Bulgarie in letters 
big enough to be read by every vessel entering the 
port. Greater Powers employ similar means of 
expansion, and no one need laugh at the Bulgarians 
for taking a leaf out of an Imperial book; but the 
Greeks heard just in time. They stepped in, oflFered 
a higher price, and secured this bit of Macedonia for 
Hellas. 

I visited the Greek gymnasium, or, as we should say, 
the high school, and found it, as I found all the Greek 
schools in Rumelia, swarming with pupils, and 
officered by teachers of superior intelligence and evident 
keenness. Where the work of education is inspired 
by patriotism it can hardly be otherwise. The boys 
themselves are not much less keen than their masters. 
I went into the science class and found the master 
mixing chemicals. I expressed the hope that he was 
not teaching his pupils to make dynamite, and the 
ripple that went round the class showed me that the 
boys knew French better than I had suspected. The 
Greek bands, I am assured, have never stooped to 
dynamite. 

I went on to the Greek orphanage, one of the finest 
buildings I saw in the Orient ; but it is too magnificent 

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i62 THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

for its use ; I should have been better pleased to see 
less marble and more orphans. On the other hand, I 
found the education more practical and sensible than 
I had expected. I found orphans making shoes, 
orphans making clothes, and orphans making desks 
and benches for the new law school which the Turkish 
Government is setting up in Salonika. It was a happy 
thought to place this order with a Christian orphanage, 
and I understood that the order came directly from 
the Government 

The orphans were from all parts of Macedonia. I 
cannot forget one little Koutzo-Vlach of eleven, who 
was planing away as though he never could leave off. 
While I was listening to a musical performance I 
caught sight of a Greek profile as pure as those upon 
the frieze of the Parthenon. The lad turned out to 
come from Chalcidice, a peninsula whose blood is as 
Greek as that of the Islands. And yet the Folk War 
is going into Chalcidice. The Russians have long had 
a monastery on Mount Athos. Now the Bulgarians 
have planted one, and I have already related the story 
of the Bulgarian labourers slaughtered upon the 
threshold of the district. 

Many of these orphans were victims of worse 
crimes on the part of the Bulgars — ^worse inasmuch 
as their parents had been killed in their homes, 
whereas the Bulgarian miners were invaders. 

Some of the little fellows told me their stories. 
One was the son of a priest who had been first 
tortured and then killed. With what feelings in 
his heart must that child grow up I Who shall 
teach him that he and his father's torturers are 
Macedonians and brethren? Who shall unite them 
in a republic, presided over by some Apostol or 
SarafofF? 

The Folk War has extended into the libraries and 
museums. Rival archaeologists, sinking their science 
in their patriotism, battle over dassical and mediaeval 



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ARCHiEOLOGY 163 

history. The Greeks claim Aristotle as a spiritual 
William the Conqueror who annexed Macedonia to 
Hellas, in the person of Alexander ; and the Bulgars 
retort that Aristotle was a Bulgarian. In time we 
may expect to hear that so was Agamemnon, and that 
a Bulgarian poet sang the deeds of the Bulgarian 
Achilles against the Turkish town of Troy. 

A German lady, whom I met in Salonika, told me 
that on a farm of hers near Kilkish the Bulgars 
had buried stones, bearing Bulgarian inscriptions, by 
a fountain, with a view to their being dug up later, 
and exhibited as evidence that Kilkish was Bulgarian 
in prehistoric times. 

To me such arguments are childish, but I seem to 
be alone in my opinion. These questions are sooner 
or later settled by the big battalions, but diplomatists 
take pleasure in devising plausible excuses for the 
big battalions to march, and among their excuses 
ethnological ones are now the most approved. The 
fashion was first set by the Germans, and the Greeks 
have fallen victims to it. They have placed their trust 
in Thucydides, and forgotten Nicias. Their literary 
victory has blinded them to their military defeat. 
They have been conquering ancient Macedon, while 
the Folk have been conquering Macedonia. 

His Excellency Hussein Hilmi Pasha, Inspector- 
General of the Macedonian vilayets, has been so much 
written about that my reference to him shall be as 
brief as was our intercourse. 

He is in supreme direction of the Government forces 
engaged in trying to put down the Folk War. In 
addition, he actively superintends the government of 
the country, receiving complaints from a dozen distant 
cazas, sending his orders into the remotest villages, 
and counting every flock of sheep that shuns by some 
mysterious instinct the tax-gatherer's eye. 

But those are not his most important functions. 
His principal duty is to preside over the workings of 



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i64 THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

the Commission appointed by the Powers to assist 
him, to listen to their suggestions, to inquire into 
their accusations, and to meet with urbanity all the 
criticisms with which the Turkish authorities are 
favoured by Commissioners, Consuls, gendarmery 
officers, missionaries, charitable agents, newspaper 
correspondents, and passing travellers such as 
myself. 

He is expected to put aside all other matters 
pressing for his attention as soon as we arrive, to 
welcome us as friends, and to enter upon an elaborate 
vindication of himself and his subordinates, which we 
receive with silent scepticism, if not with contradic- 
tion. By this time he should be able to make the 
proper speech mechanically, like an actor who has 
been playing the same part night after night. 

Our Consul-General, Mr. Lamb, was good enough 
to take me to the Inspector-General's, and to intro- 
duce me on the same footing as my numerous 
predecessors. 

I hastened to explain to Hilmi Pasha that I had 
no desire to enter into these general questions. I 
told him that having had, myself, to administer an 
unsettled province not so very much smaller than 
Macedonia, I was already able to appreciate some of 
the difficulties of his task, and felt more inclined to 
offer him sympathy than criticism. His Excellency 
seemed at first incredulous ; it must have been strange 
in his experience of European visitors. I then said 
I should be pleased to have a few facts, throwing 
light on the state of the country, and he gave me 
some. 

The one which struck me most forcibly, as bearing 
on our business in Rumelia, was this. Hilmi Pasha 
had stationed a body of troops in a certain village 
which formed a sort of junction through which the 
Christian bands — I rather think, Bulgarian— came and 
went, the object being to prevent their passage. In 
due course the villagers came to a representative of 



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COMITADJI TACTICS 165 

Great Britain, or some other of the Powers, and made 
complaint that the soldiers were ill-treating them. 
The Power approached requested the Sultan's minister 
to remove the soldiers in consequence. The order 
was obeyed. Not very long after a band was cut to 
pieces in the neighbourhood by Turkish troops or 
gendarmes. On the body of one of the slain was 
found a letter written by the Comitadji leader to the 
people of the village, ordering them to go and 
pretend to some European official that they were 
suffering from the troops, so as to get them sent 
away. 

It is in this manner that we have aided the Sultan 
to restore order in Rumelia. 

On another occasion the Turkish troops, after 
destroying a Bulgarian band concealed in a village 
in the Monastir vilayet, exercised their well-known 
cruelties on the villagers. The villagers told the 
foreign officers, the officers told the commissioners, 
the commissioners told the Inspector-General, and no 
one believed the denial of the Turkish officers that 
any cruelties had been committed. A few months 
afterwards a letter was found on the body of another 
slain Comitadji, narrating the story of the encounter, 
and concluding with these words : " The soldiers 
went off after these proceedings without doing any 
harm to the villagers."^ 

If these letters are Turkish forgeries they are well 
forged. Equally skilful hands must have been en- 
gaged in drawing up the Instructions of the Internal 
Organisation, which directs the operations of the 
Comitadjis. 

"Art. 2. — In all the villages the inhabitants, men, 
women, and children, must be brought, willingly or 
forcibly, to the capital of the vilayet, where they ought 

' I first heard this story from HUmi Pasha. I have since read the 
letter itself in U Agitation Bulgare en Turquiey by S. Vittorio Ramon, 
p. 51- 



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i66 THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

to be made to go first to the Consulates, and then to 
the Vali, and protest against the acts of authority 
exercised by tne bands during their stay in the 
villages." * 

This is a very subtle move. The Bulgarian villagers 
are to protest against the Bulgarian bands. Why? 
In order that they may not be accused of connivance 
by the authorities. We shall see later that this is 
now the mot dordre of the propaganda. 

The fourth article of these Instructions is a master- 
piece. Indian Civil Servants know something about 
what can be done in the way of manufactured crimes 
and exquisite perjury, but here is something to make 
Bengal blush for its incompetence. 

"Art. 4. — One ought especially to proceed, in no 
matter what village, to the assassination of useless or 
mischievous Christians, with the object of inculpating 
the bakdii, the kahya, the contractor or the bey, 
before tne judicial commissions. Thus, solely to 
testify that the murder has been committed by such 
persons as the tyrants above mentioned, two of the 
villagers ought to be compelled to serve as witnesses 
conformably to the law.* The testimony should be 
given as it it were the expression of a profound 
personal conviction." • 

The Comitadji has heard that Europe is about to 
reward his exertions by granting him the boon of 
Christian judges, and he is getting ready for them. 
Our judges cannot reject evidence given as if it were 
the expression of a profound personal conviction. 

I quitted the presence of the Sultan's representative 
with a feeling of sincere pity for him. I do not think 

' LAgitiUum Bulgare^ p. 46. 

' Does this mean that they must feign conversion to Islam? 
Christian testimony against Moslems is received in Turkey much as 
we receive Bengali testimony against Englishmen, and on precisely 
the same grounds. 

* VAgitaHen Bulgare^ p. 46. 



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A GERMAN WITNESS 167 

any inducement that could be offered would tempt me 
to undertake the government of a Turkish province, 
with the emissaries of half a dozen more or less hostile 
Powers authorised to check and control my every 
move, and to thwart my best dispositions for the 
security of the country, on the complaint of well- 
drilled perjurers. What would the Viceroy of India, 
what would the humblest District Commissioner, say 
if he were required to discharge his functions under 
such conditions, and to apologise for his administration 
to every foreign traveller ? 

On my return to Salonika a few weeks later, the 
Inspector-General sent me some papers which I had 
asked him to furnish me with, throwing light upon his 
work from day to day ; but I will not here anticipate 
their contents. 

The German lady whom I have already referred to, 
and who is married to a Greek, told me that in her 
neighbourhood the Turks had formerly been guilty of 
great severities towards the peasants. She did not go 
into details, and it is against the rule I have adopted 
to rely on statements at second-hand. As it happened, 
I was to meet with hardly any direct evidence to the 
same effect I can hardly doubt, however, that a good 
deal of oppression has been practised by ill-disposed 
Turks in various places ; and it is, perhaps, the most 
striking evidence of the cruelty of the Bulgarian 
liberators, that wherever they have been their conduct 
seems to have effaced all memory of any previous 
sufferings from the Turks, and to have left the Mace- 
donian peasant with kindly feelings towards his erst- 
while tyrants. Of this I was about to have a remarkable 
illustration. 

Desiring to come into touch with something more 
solid than official documents and generalities, I applied 
to the Greek Consulate to let me interview some 
actual witnesses. Mr. Contagouris, the Acting Consul, 
I found to be a man of scrupulous good faith, quite as 



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i68 THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

anxious as I was that I should not be deceived by 
fabricated evidence, and not at all disposed to shirk 
the fact that Macedonian peasants, whether " Bulgaro- 
phone " or " Grecomaniac," are capable of exaggeration. 
When 1 asked him if he could procure me one of the 
Bulgarian flags said to be carried by the bands who 
are seeking to make Macedonia a " neutral State/' he 
answered promptly : 

" If I were to let it be known that you wanted such 
a flag the floor of the Consulate would be covered with 
them ; but I could not guarantee their authenticity." 

I quote that remark as showing the confidence which 
my Hellenic friends placed in me, and as justifying the 
answering confidence which I have placed in them. 

This gentleman sent round three witnesses to my 
hotel. They told me their story through Mr. Kalo- 
pathakes, and, so far as I could judge, they told it 
truthfully. They had not much temptation to do 
otherwise. Their story had almost certainly been 
checked by the Greek Consul, and he had chosen them 
as trustworthy witnesses. 

They were Demetrios, the oeconoraos, or archpriest, 
of the village of Griva, near Vodena (a town I was to 
visit), Christos Jannides, a tailor from the same place, 
and his orphan niece, a girl of fifteen. They were all 
related, and the first thing they told me was that 
twelve persons belonging to their three households 
had been murdered since the year 1903. 

Griva, they said, was a Greek village, whose inhabi- 
tants for the most part spoke Bulgar, but belonged to 
the Patriarchate. They themselves spoke Greek, or 
Mr. Kalopathakes could not have understood them. 

On October 13, 1902, the first Bulgarian band made 
its appearance in the village. It consisted of twenty- 
four men, under Apostol, a leader whose name 
has since acquired an evil notoriety. They came 
in by night, and were lodged in the house of a sym- 
pathiser. The next day they called a meeting of the 
villagers. 



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APOSTOL 169 

" They said " — I am now transcribing the evidence 
as I took it down — " they said first that all Christians 
are brothers, and must rise and fight the Turks. 

" They then appointed a local government, with a 
president and secretary. 

** I— <it is the priest who is speaking) — tried to 
avoid going to the meeting. I was dragged there by 
eight men. 

" As I refiised to take part, they bound me, threw 
me down and beat me, and said I must pay £if and 
sign a paper adhering to the Exarch. 

" Apostol said, ' I will do to you what I did to Papa 
Athanase, of Babion.' This was a priest whose head 
they had smashed in with a stone." 

Others of the village notables were similarly treated. 
The witness Demetrios asked for time to get the 
money, escaped to the nearest TUrkish authority, and 
appealed for protection, with the result that nine of 
the band were killed. That is, of course, the action 
that would be taken by any citizen of any country 
who was beaten or threatened by blackmailers. 
It is what Bulgarian apologists call "assisting the 
Turks." 

It is most important to bear in mind that this 
incident took place before the open rising of 1903. 
Already the programme is perfectly well defined: 
" All Christians are brothers, but if you do not pay 
£S and join the Exarchate, I will kill you." The 
reader must decide whether that is liberation or 
annexation. 

" The next appearance of the band was on July 29, 
1903. Apostol returned with 120 men, and they 
carried a flag." 

This was the first hint to me on the subject,* and 
it came out quite spontaneously. I asked what kind 
of flag, and the answer was, "A Bulgarian flag." 
I bade the witness describe it, and he said the 

^ It was, of course, in consequence of this statement that I asked 
Mr. Contagouris for one of these flags* 



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170 THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

colours were white, green, and red, and it bore the 
motto — Liberty or death. 

Those are the Bulgarian national colours. The 
Greek are white and blue. What evidence of brother- 
hood, or of respect for the feelings of the Greek 
population — and they admit the town population is 
Greek — do the revolutionists show by adopting such 
a flag as that? The Government of Prince Ferdin- 
and may be thoroughly sincere in their desire to 
see Macedonia a neutral State, but it is clear that 
the Comitadjis make no such pretence. 

The witness Christos Jannides saw the Bulgarians 
coming. 

" I caught up the little children, and drove off the 
women to a big village near — Goumenitza." 

It is, of course, to protect Christian women and 
children from the Turkish soldiery that Apostol and 
his fellow-liberators profess to be in arms. 

"The band burned four houses belonging to our 
family, and cut down the priesfs chestnut-trees" 

To cut down fruit-bearing trees is one of those 
acts which have always marked the distinction be- 
tween savage and civilised warfare. The most 
glorious passage in Greek poetry testifies that even 
the fierce foemen of Sparta spared the olive-trees 
of Attica.^ 

And now let us recall, after reading the account 
of this savage raid — the band marching in with the 
Bulgarian flag displayed, the women and children 
flying for their lives, the houses burnt, and the fruit- 
trees cut down — now let us recall the statement of 
the Bulgarian Agent in Adrianople: 

'' In 1903 the bands did not attack a single village, 

^ (Edipus in Colanos, I have to quote from my own rendering : 

And, wonder unknown on Asian soil. 
Or the Dorian isle of Pelops great, 
Planted, self-sown, without man's toil, 
From thefoeman's steel inviolate^ 
Grows in this land the shining leaf 
Of the child-nourishing olive, chiet 



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A PORT ARTHUR 171 

but solely the Turkish armed forces. The Greeks 
took arms to assist the Turks." 

The Turks (I am resuming the evidence) close a 
church or school where the priest or schoolmaster 
has been killed or expelled. In consequence of the 
flight of Demetrios the villagers of Griva found 
themselves without a priest. "Nine men were sent 
to ask for their priest to come back. Apostol was 
sent for, and he butchered the nine." 

The archpriest stated that, out of the two hundred 
houses of the village, only three or four were really 
Bulgarian. All the rest were terrorised by the band, 
which hovers there. "There is no Greek band to 
protect them." 

I was amused to hear him call the village a Port 
Arthur. It is situated on a crag. The band makes its 
headquarters there. They have made underground 
passages between the house, and they slip from one to 
another when the place is visited by troops. The 
witnesses thought it would require a large force to 
capture them. The Government has sent small de- 
tachments from time to time, but the band has had no 
difficulty in evading them. 

They went on to tell me something of the state of 
the country. "The villages between Griva and 
Salonika are returning to the Patriarchate wherever 
the troops protect them." The bands levied a merci-. 
less taxation : there was a poll-tax of a halfpenny a 
week for each man, woman, and child. It did not 
sound very much — ^;f 100 a year for the entire village ; 
but there may have been other burdens : the villagers 
are probably required to feed the bands as well. The 
;if 100 a year may go to Sofia. 

The witnesses again complained that there were no 
Greek bands in the neighbourhood. Then followed a 
surprising statement 

"The first Bulgarian bands that came against us 
were armed with Russian rifles. Russia's defeat has 
broken the influence of the bands,'' The priest lives as a 



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172 THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

refugee in Salonika, and he now ventures into the 
streets after dark — a thing which he dared not do 
before the Russo-Japanese war. 

Consider this, ye Powers styled Christian 1 You 
are labouring, Holy Russia herself is labouring, as your 
mandatory, to restore peace and order in Rumelia. 
And a refugee Christian priest, dwelling in a Rumelian 
town, has been enabled to walk the streets in safety 
by the victories of the heathen Japanese at the 
extremity of Asia I 

What mockery ! What bitter degradation for the 
shameful thing called the European Concert 1 Five 
hundred battleships and fifteen millions of European 
soldiers have failed to protect the Ufe of a poor priest 
And the Mikado of Japan has done it. The anarchists 
and sweaters of the poor who have braved the ful- 
minations of five Christian empires and a free-thinking 
republic are cowed by what has been called the Yellow 
Peril ! 

The Mikado's prot6g6 is living on an alms of £i 
a month allowed him by the Greek kingdom — that 
generous little kingdom. I inquired how he had 
lived previously. He had had a wheatfield, a vine- 
yard, chestnut-trees, and cocoons. A large quantity of 
silk is produced in Macedonia. The villages have 
mulberry-trees on which the worms are fed, and the 
cocoons are a valuable source of profit. 

I asked about the general condition of the villagers, 
and learned that most of them were yeomen, owning 
and tilling their own lands. There were in the village 
fifty, out of two hundred, poorer houses, whose men 
hired themselves dut as labourers. Their wages were 
fi-om fivepence to a shilling a day, with food. But 
even these labourers owned their own houses, and 
some small portion of land as well. 

It would not do for these things to get wind in 
Ireland. There would be an emigration to Rumelia. 
There are English rural labourers, men with votes, 
who own neither cottages nor lands, 



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SURPRISING EVIDENCE 173 

Of course all these advantages were outweighed by 
the curse of Turkish rule. I resolved to learn the 
worst. I closed the little note-book in which I had 
been taking down the story, and drew the witnesses' 
attention to my having done so. 

"Now," I said, "speak out fearlessly. I will take 
down nothing that might get you into trouble. Tell 
me the truth about the Turks." 

Then that Greek priest, sent to me by the Greek 
Consulate, speaking through a Greek interpreter, the 
correspondent of an English Liberal newspaper, spoke 
as follows : 

" We were formerly well off under the Turks. Now 
and then the nizams (regular troops) would come and 
pass a night in the village. When they went away 
their officer would offer five or ten shillings in pay- 
ment for what they had eaten. We refused, sajdng 
that we wished to have him for our friend, and we 
divided the cost among us. Passing Bashi-bazouks 
(irregulars) sometimes stole a fowl, or a piece of linen 
from a hedge. We paid tithes to the tax-gatherer. 
We had no complaints against the Turks." 

I can hardly doubt that this evidence will surprise 
most readers as greatly as it did myself. I have thought 
it worth while to preserve my note*book, showing 
the previous answers in pencil, and this astonish- 
ing postscript written in ink after the witnesses had 
left. For a Greek priest to defend the Turks, and 
even apologise for the trespasses of the Bashi-bazouks, 
the iron must have entered deeply into his soul indeed. 
And yet the whole picture is consistent. We see a 
prosperous peasant village, living rent-free on its own 
land, cultivating its vines and its chestnuts, and feeding 
its silkworms on the mulberry-trees, vexed only by 
occasional visits from passing soldiery whose trifling 
exactions stand in stead of the grinding taxation and 
conscription that afflict the peasantry of other lands. 
They are Greeks and Christians, and, in spite of their 
prosperity, they repine under the rule of Turks and 



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174 THE VILAYET OF SALONIKA 

Moslems, and cherish the fond belief, natural to the 
heart of man, that they would be better off under 
the rule of their own kin. Then this horde of con- 
quering savages invades them, and they learn the 
difference between an old and accustomed despotism, 
sinking into decay and checked by European opinion, 
and this new sanguinary reign of terror which they 
themselves are blamed by Europe for not accepting 
with gratitude. 

It was the first hint to me — ^and it did not come 
from a Turkish source — that the whole long Bulgarian 
campaign, inspired by ambition, carried on by canni- 
bals, and bolstered up by perjury, might be little better 
than a most wicked and gigantic hoax. 



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CHAPTER VII 

A VLACH TOWN 

Vcrria — The Rumanian propaganda— Its effects— Fairy arithmetic — 
A mysterious plague—Bulgarian witnesses — ^The Thirty-Nine 
Articles— A Turkish school. 

At last I found myself in unknown Macedonia. Un- 
known in spite of all that has been written about 
it in recent years ; unknown even to the best-informed 
onlookers, to the Greek Consuls and foreign officers ; 
unknown even to the protagonists in the strife; the 
whole scene lit up from time to time by the glare 
of burning villages, by whose red flame the shadows 
of stalking men take on the fearful likeness of wild 
beasts. 

The railway brought us to the town of Verria, or 
Karaferia. Many of these places have more than 
one name, whose spelling is as uncertain as the 
number of its inhabitants, and their racial affinities. 
The mist that overhangs the political situation is 
natural to the country, like the exhalations that rise 
from its marshes, and only the canals and trenches 
of science can clear it away. Education is the hope 
of Rumelia, and in the work of education there is 
a noble rivalry between all these races and religions, 
with the Hellenes easily first 

The Turkish police met us at the station, and 
escorted us to an uncomfortable inn whose charges 
would have astonished and delighted the manager 
of a London hotel. Sixpence was the price of an 

175 



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1/6 A VLACH TOWN 

apple — it was clearly a case of English pashas being 
scarce, if apples were not, like Charles V. and the 
chicken. 

The innkeeper was my first witness. He was a 
Koutzo-Vlach ; and since this question of the Lame 
Welsh is taken more seriously in some quarters than 
it is by me, I gave it my full attention. He was a 
Vlach by race, but had lived some time in Greece, 
and become a Greek subject. He said there were five 
hundred Vlach families in the town — roughly 2,500 
persons— and that they had no separate quarter, but 
lived interspersed amongst the Greeks. That is 
sufficient evidence, to any one who knows Rumelia, 
that the two races recognise only one nationality. 

I asked about the schools. He stated that there 
were four hundred children attending the Greek 
schools. There was a Rumanian school, supported 
from Bucharest, with twenty pupils and fifteen 
teachers. There were poor families in the town, 
drawing money from the same source, and calling 
themselves Rumanians accordingly. 

Unfortunately, that was not all. According to 
this witness the so-called Rumanians have now begun 
to imitate the violences of the Bulgarians and Greeks. 
The Greeks have attacked them, they have naturally 
joined hands with the Bulgars, and a mixed band 
of Rumans and Bulgars had recently killed seven 
Greeks near the neighbouring Greek town of Niausta. 

Interpreters sometimes exercise their own discre- 
tion as to how much of what they hear is worth 
repeating, as every judge who has had foreign wit- 
nesses before him is aware. And sometimes it is 
the very details they have scamped which throw the 
most light on the case. I heard the innkeeper use 
the name of Hilmi Pasha, but nothing about Hilmi 
Pasha was translated to me. I asked what had been 
said, and gleaned an important fact. The widows of 
the slain Greeks had sent a petition to Hilmi Pasha, 
and his Excellency had responded by banishing the 



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THE RUMANIANS 177 

leading Ruman-Vlach of Verria from the neighbour- 
hood, on suspicion of being privy to the crime. 

Now I had been told in Athens and Constantinople 
and Salonika that the Turkish Government was favour- 
ing the Rumanian propaganda, as it favours the 
Greeks and the Servians and all the others, according 
to their rivals — it seems to favour every one except 
the Turks. Vast sums were named to me as having 
been bestowed from Bucharest on the corrupt pashas. 
And here I had heard of the first Rumanian violence, 
and heard at the same time of its prompt punishment. 

As soon as I had finished with the innkeeper, I 
sent out my dragoman to catch a Rumanising Vlach, 
that I might hear the other side. The dragoman 
returned without one, reporting that the man he had 
been directed to, a tailor, had turned yellow with 
fright, and refused to come. That seemed substantial 
evidence that the Rumanian proselytes have been 
terrorised, whether by the other Vlachs or the Greek 
bands. 

The innkeeper then undertook to fetch the director 
of the Rumanian school. He came, with another 
master, and escorted by an armed kavass. 

His first statement was that he had 100 pupils 
in his school, instead of twenty. He had had 200 
formerly, before these troubles began. The school, 
he said, was closed in summer, and the teaching staff 
followed their pupils to the alps, with the migration 
of the herds. 

The bad feeling between them and the Greeks, he 
told me, had begun three years ago. Before that 
there had been no trouble. It started with the action 
of the Greek bands, who had murdered forty Vlach 
shepherds. The witness thought the ill feeling would 
disappear as soon as the bands disappeared. 

It is no defence for the Greeks, but it is an aggrava- 
tion of the guilt of the Bulgarians, that the peace of 
this town, outside the range of their activity, should 

12 



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178 A VLACH TOWN 

have been broken by the spent waves of the storm 
they were the first to raise. The inhabitants of Verria 
knew nothing of Bulgarian ambitions. They had no 
hatred towards one another. The Rumanian prose- 
lytes were despised but tolerated. Now, the Folk 
War has been proclaimed, and first the Greeks, then 
the Servians, and last the Ruman-Vlachs have been 
sucked into the evil vortex. 

The school director said that his party had no 
political ambitions. They were very well under the 
Turks. He had no experience of the Bulgarians ; 
there were none in the district, and he did not know 
if they would be better rulers than the Turks. 

He told me quite frankly that all the money for 
his school came from Bucharest, and that tuition and 
books were free. There remained only the question 
of numbers. He had told me that the school possessed 
loo scholars ; the inn-keeper had put it at twenty — 
which was right? 

It was the kind of sum which every one must work 
out for himself in Fairyland. Concealing my purpose, 
I asked leave to go to the school there and then. The 
director consented, and we walked round together. I 
went into every class-room, and counted the heads. 
I counted 48 boys and 15 girls; my dragoman made 
it a little less. 



Rumanian estimate 100 

Hellenist estimate 20 



2) 120 
Mean 60 



It was very good fairy arithmetic. 

I subsequently called on the tailor who had turned 
yellow. He told me that a year before his father had 
been killed by the Greeks. On the other hand, his 
brother was a teacher in the Greek school. He put 



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FAIRY FIGURES 179 

the number of Vlachs in the town at 4,000. The inn- 
keeper's figure had been 2,500. 

4,000 
g»5oo 

2 ) 6,500 
3,250 

I estimate the number of Vlachs in Verria at 3,250. 

Very few Vlachs, the tailor added, had accepted the 
Rumanian evangel. I asked him his own reason for 
doing so. He replied that he had been moved by 
his affection for the Rumanian language and national 
costume. I pointed out that at the moment he was 
attired in the garb of " Europe." The tailor smiled. 

I think Hellas can afford to smile too. 

I passed on to the Greek school, and foimd it 
crammed with little Koutzo-Vlachs. But they would 
not admit that they were Koutzo-Vlachs. The word 
had gone forth that Hellas was in danger, and they 
were determined to know no race or language but 
Greek. I could not get them to speak Vlach to me. 
I questioned child after child. The teacher would 
point them out to me: "This one speaks Vlach. 
Or that one." But the children themselves denied 
the accusation. I began to doubt whether there were 
3,250 Vlachs in Verria. At last I found two girls, 
who consented to use the unpopular tongue. That is 
what the Rumanians have achieved in Verria. 

The Greek infant class contained more scholars than 
the whole Rumanian school. The average number of 
pupils in each class of the Greek school was forty. 
In the Rumanian school I had gone into class-room 
upon class-room to find one master instilling the love 
of the Rumanian language and national costume into 
exactly two pupils. 



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i8o A VLACH TOWN 

There was a reason for this. The Rumanian school- 
master explained it to me. An unusually large number 
of his scholars were down with sickness. But for this 
misfortune the school would have worn a very different 
appearance. 

I found afterwards that this explanation was true, 
because I received it from quite a number of school- 
masters in the places I visited. A mysterious disease, 
with whose exact nature I am unacquainted, desolated 
the country as I advanced. It would seem to deserve 
the attention of expert bacteriologists. The microbe 
responsible appeared to be Slavonic in its origin and 
affinities. It spared the Greek, Turkish, and Jewish 
schools, while it ravaged those of the Bulgarians and 
Servians. I am afraid to say how many innocent 
children fell victims to it in the course of my short 
journey. I was led to fear that I personally was 
the vehicle of infection, like the Wandering Jew of 
Eugene Sue's fascinating romance. Towards the end 
I positively dreaded to enter a school, so fatal did 
my presence seem to be. Healthy, active children, 
scenting me afar off, took to their beds, and languished 
till I was safely out of reach. If I should be re- 
proached in the Comitadji Press for not having visited 
more Bulgarian schools, this must be my excuse. It 
would have been infanticide. 

When I was back in the inn after my visit to the 
schools, the news was brought to me that two Bul- 
garian labourers were on the premises, working at 
some building alterations which were going on at the 
back. This sounded like an opportunity of hearing 
the Bulgarian side, and it seemed a favourable one. 
I sent for the two men, who happened to be from 
the same village, but I was careful to question them 
apart. Mr. Kalopathakes took down their answers, 
as they filtered through the dragoman, and I have 
only to transcribe his notes. As will be seen, the 
so-called Bulgarians turned out to be Macedonian 
peasants of uncertain national affinity. 



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BULGAR LABOURERS i8i 

" Nikola Vanni, illiterate. Born at Frangotchi, a 
village which speaks Bulgarian, and sings in Bul- 
garian, but has only Greek schools. His little 
children go to the Greek school. He prefers to speak 
Bulgarian, but is Patriarchist in his sympathies. Has 
no special political leanings as between Greek and 
Bulgarian. He only wants the Turks to jgo. 

"The Turks have tried to dispossess him and his 
fellow-villagers of their lands. Tnere are one hundred 
and seventy Christian families, as against thirty Moslem. 
They have carried the matter before the Courts, where 
it is still pending. Eight of these Greco-Bulgarian 
families have recently gone over to Islam, in order 
to escape these persecutions ; and the Turks have 
increased their severities in order to induce more 
conversions. These converts are now allowed to 
appropriate freely the cattle of the other villagers, 

" This tyranny of the Turks dates back two years. 
The witness would be glad to have a band m his 
village, he does not care whether a Bulgarian or 
Greek one." 

It was a remarkable story. It bore out a good 
deal that has been said in the Comitadji Press on 
the subject of Turkish oppression. But the remark- 
able thing about it was that the oppression had begun 
after the work of liberation. The general statement 
made to me everywhere else had been — " The Turk 
is on his good behaviour." And this desirable result 
had been attributed to the Bulgarian atrocities. In 
the village of Frangotchi the case seemed to be the 
reverse. As in the town of Verria itself, neighbours 
hitherto at peace had been stirred up to the work 
of proselytism and persecution. The Christians had 
resorted to murder. The Moslems had not yet gone 
beyond vexatious litigation and robbery. 

The second witness was called in. He appeared 
to be little more than half-witted, and gave his 
answers with an idiotic chuckle. 

" Antoni Stancoff, of Frangotchi. Speaks no Greek. 
Is a Patriarchist. Does not know the difference 



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iS2 A VLACH TOWN 

between Patriarchist and Exarchist. Suffers from 
the exactions of the Turks. Does not want any band 
in his village. Has no preference between Greek and 
Bulgarian, so long as tne Turk goes. \Vould prefer 
even Austrian rule to Turkish." 

It will be seen that the two men differed in their 
views about the bands, though they agreed in every- 
thing else. Both spoke without experience, and 
neither of them distinguished between the two classes 
of bands. The Greek bands were called into existence 
to protect the villages from the Bulgarians, but one 
of these men evidently considered that a Greek band 
would protect him from the Turks. 

The fact that stands out most forcibly is that the 
population they represented has no national sentiment 
whatever. Neither Sofia nor Athens has any attrac- 
tion for them. The Exarch and the Patriarch are 
names. They cling to what they believe is Christianity, 
though it appears that some of them do not cling 
fanatically to that. They are called Bulgars at one 
moment, in right of their dialect, and Greeks the next, 
in right of their Church. 

These witnesses are thoroughly representative of 
that Christian rural population for whose allegiance 
Athens and Sofia are contending. Athens waged the 
fight by means of her schools, and she was victorious 
all along the line. Sofia replied by organising her 
armed bands, and the scale turned in her favour. 
Now Athens has taken up the same weapons, and, 
as of old, Pallas has proved mightier even in the 
field than Mars. 

Where the witnesses are united and emphatic is in 
their protest against the Turks. It is true that the 
particular wrongs they complain of are recent, but 
the very fact that thirty families are able to oppress 
one hundred and seventy sufficiently shows that the 
Moslems are a privileged class, the most important 
of their privileges probably being that of carrying 
arms. It is clear that it must require very great 



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MOSLEM AND CHRISTIAN 183 

vigilance on the part of the Government, or very 
great good nature on that of the privileged popula- 
tion, to prevent such an ascendancy degenerating into 
tyranny. 

While I was in this country a person who desired 
to influence me against the Sultan said to me, ** The 
Moslems are very peaceful now, but if the Sultan 
were to give them the word to-morrow, they would 
rise and massacre the Christians." 

If that were so, I should have thought it a point 
in favour of the Sultan that he would not give 
the word. On the contrary, I was informed from a 
Christian source that a short time before messengers 
from Constantinople had been sent through the 
country, going into every mosque, to enjoin the 
Moslems not to touch one hair of a Christian head, 
and warning them that if there were the smallest 
outrage by a Moslem on a Christian they would lose 
the country for ever. 

Such, I cannot dpubt, is the true attitude of the 
Turkish sovereign, who sees more clearly than any 
of his subjects, Moslem or Christian, the shadow of 
Austria thrown across the frontier of Macedonia, 
and hears the subdued tramp of her armies from 
afar. 

I called on the Archbishop of Verria. He is a 
learned theologian, one of several to whom the 
Patriarch has committed the task of examining the 
question of a union between the Greek and AngUcan 
Churches. He explained to me that the difficulty lay 
in the Thirty-nine Articles. That was Newman's 
difficulty. Everything depended on the interpretation 
put upon certain Articles. Newman, at one time, pro- 
posed a non-natural interpretation. It was interesting 
to find the problems which disturbed Oxford seventy 
years ago being pondered by this foreign prelate in 
an obscure Rumelian town amid the turmoil of a 
revolution. 



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i84 A VLACH TOWN 

The Archbishop's studious leisure was in some 
degree enforced upon him. He was confined to the 
town by order of the Turkish Government The 
same regulation has been applied to a number of other 
Metropolitans, who have fallen under suspicion of 
fanning the flames of the Folk War. 

The Archbishop told me that the local authorities 
had taken from him one out of the numerous churches 
in the town, and given it to the RumanianSi who 
conduct their services in that language. A guard of 
ten soldiers had to be stationed at the doors on 
account of the hostility of the Greeks in the neigh- 
bourhood. 

The Turkish Chief of PoUce, however, assured me 
that the Greeks of the town did no harm to the 
Rumanians, and his testimony was another instance 
of that fairness and indifference which 1 found 
generally marking the attitude of the Turks towards 
these Christian quarrels. 

The Chief of Police called at the inn no less than 
three times during the day to offer his services — 
from the worst motives, according to my dragoman. 
The next morning I received a visit from the kai- 
makam of Verria, Leny Bey. The governor told me 
he had come from Beyrout, and his manners had a 
touch of Syrian or Arabian grace which made him 
seem as much out of place on the slopes of the Pindus 
as Ovid on the shores of the Euxine. With what 
feelings can such a man regard the Folk War ? With 
much the same feelings, doubtless, as those with 
which an English governor would regard the savageries 
perpetrated on each other by two negro tribes in his 
province. 

I proposed a visit to the Turkish school, and we 
walked there together, through the narrow streets, 
paved with the fearful Macedonian cobblestone ; streets 
in which the shops are like open sheds, where you 
may see the shoemaker stitching, and the coppersmith 
hammering his metal as you go by ; streets wherein 



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A ROW OF SHOES 185 

you may have to save yourself from being squeezed 
by the faggots borne past you on the backs of some 
train of donkeys descending from the highlands; 
streets variegated by stealthy latticed windows — ^the 
defence of Moslem privacy — and broken up here and 
there by a market-place, or an unexpected well 
beneath the shadow of an oak like that of Mamre. 

A Turkish town in Europe is a Byzantine town; 
that it is to say, it is a scene from the Middle Ages 
magically preserved to our own day. We are in 
Fairyland, we are in The Arabian Nights^ and the 
wicked djinn has cast a spell upon the land. Let 
us walk on tiptoe, lest we disturb the enchanted 
slumber of the Sleeping Beauty of the Wood. 

As we crossed the threshold of the Turkish school— 
a much more modest one than that of Kirk-Kilissi— 
I saw a sight that I had been too dull to anticipate, 
that no book had brought before me. There, where 
an English school would have shown rows of pegs 
hung with the caps of the scholars, stood a row of 
shelves on which were ranged in order perhaps a 
hundred p^irs of little shoes. I cannot say why that 
sight touched me as it did. Perhaps my mind un- 
consciously recalled the language of the fanatical 
Western Press, and I pictured the little feet trudging 
dolefully along all the roads of Rumelia, towards 
the Bosphorus, in obedience to that righteous 
sentence: "The Turk must gol" 

In the school itself the kaimakam pointed out to 
me some boys in village dress — ^and every village 
has its own dress in this part of the world. They 
were the children of the woodcutters from the 
mountains, who placed them in the school to keep 
them out of the streets during the few days that the 
caravan remained in the town. The woodcutters 
were Albanians, from the land of vendettas, where 
every man carries his life in his hand. And they 
would not expose their children to the perils of the 
streets of a Christian town. 



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i86 A VLACH TOWN 

After we had visited the school the kaimakam 
himself proposed to show me the mosque, an ancient 
building, with an inscription in gold letters over the 
door in praise of Allah and of the pious builder. 
We crossed the threshold without a suggestion that 
I should remove my boots. In visiting the great 
mosque of Adrianople I had merely been asked to 
put on slippers over them. The custom seems due 
to love of cleanliness, and not to superstition, as far 
as the Turks are concerned. Islam here is not the 
religion that we find in Tangier. There is little 
hatred of the Christian, as such. He is hated as a 
traitor and an enemy of Islam, when he is hated at all. 

In the cemetery of the mosque the Syrian governor 
pointed out to me the tomb of his wife. She had 
died six months before, leaving him with one young 
child. He, some day, will go back to Syria, or perhaps 
to far-off Mesopotamia, but she will remain there. 
The price of empire must be paid. 



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CHAPTER VIII 

GREEK TOWNS 

N aosta— Bulgarian statistics — Signs of progress — Bulgarian boycott 
— Greek aspirations — ^Vodena — Russian gendarmery officers — 
Philip of Macedon — An exemplary sentence — The wizard — A 
glimpse of the Middle Ages— Three schools— Archiepiscopal 
friendliness. 

There is a town perched on a small plate|u at the 
mouth of a mountain pass, and overlooking the great 
Macedonian plain. It is a strategical position which 
could not have been overlooked by Roman eyes, and 
the town may be Roman in its origin. Its official 
name is Augusta ; its inhabitants call it Niausta. 

Niausta is famous in the history of the War of 
Greek Independence. Six thousand beings are said 
to have been slaughtered on its reduction by the 
Turkish forces. The shadow of the tragedy still 
hangs over Niausta. I found a touch of sadness in 
the air which I found nowhere else, and a more 
obstinate repining under Turkish rule. 

" Niausta is a Bulgarian town of 1,500 inhabitants." 
Such is the statement contained in a book which I 
have found quoted by British Consuls as if it were 
a serious work of reference. Its author is supposed 
to be a Mr. Brancoflf, whether a man or a mythical 
being there seems to be some doubt. The Bulgarian 
Foreign Office is a better judge of human nature in 
the twentieth century than I am. Instead of putting 
forth its extravagant pretensions in the form of a 

187 



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i88 GREEK TOWNS 

controversial work, it embodies them in what might 
be a companion volume to Kelly s Directory. Brancoif 
gives the tranquil assurance of an almanac. You 
know there must be thirty-one days in January, and 
1,500 Bulgarians in Niausta. 

But the Bulgarians of Niausta are a shy and retiring 
race. On ray arrival I found they had silently with- 
drawn into some secret lurking-place inaccessible to 
human curiosity, and their place had been taken by 
a population of 9,000 Greeks and 1,000 Turks. 

We drove over from Verria in a carriage, the journey 
taking about five hours. We were escorted by four 
bright-blue gendarmes, under a Christian corporal, 
and we stopped half-way to take lunch in the open 
air. The leading Greek inhabitants had been warned 
of our coming, and we were hospitably received and 
lodged in a very comfortable private house. 

In the afternoon we were taken to see a cotton-mill 
as an evidence of Greek enterprise and industry. 
The factory was situated below the town, and worked 
by water-power. The stream which watered the 
valley was caught as it came tumbling over the edge 
of the plateau, and imprisoned in a long iron tube, 
leaning almost perpendicularly against the cliff. The 
water rushed out at the bottom with tremendous 
force and drove the great turbine which governed 
the machinery of the mill. 

We saw the whole process of manufacture, beginning 
with the snowy bales of cotton brought up from the 
railway, and ending with the finished thread. From 
the factory the thread is distributed to the country 
villages, where the women weave it into cloth on the 
handlooms of a bygone age. 

Three hundred women and girls, from the age of ten 
upwards, are employed in the Niausta mill, and the 
working-day lasts from sunrise to sunset, or on an 
average twelve hours. It is progress, it is civilisation, 
but even when the Turk has gone there will still be 
something left for the Labour Party to do in Niausta. 



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FOOTBALL 189 

But the most surprising thing that met me in this 
small Greek town away in the Macedonian highlands 
was an English football. The game came out there 
fifteen years ago; perhaps it came with the cotton 
mill. The townspeople showed us, with pride, the goal- 
posts and the ground on which the game was played. 
I may say here, perhaps, that the game is not less 
popular, although of more recent importation, in 
Athens. I witnessed a well-played match between 
the clubs of Athens and Piraeus ; and it was amusing 
to hear the descendants of Ol3anpic athletes shouting 
out the English cries of " Foul I " and " Off-side I " 

In the evening we talked politics, some of our 
hosts speaking English. There was a Greek band 
in Niausta, but it was away on business. Since its 
first coming the villages in the neighbourhood had 
been ordered to boycott the town. The Internal 
Organisation evidently places less faith in Brancoff 
than do the Consuls. It does not know that Niausta 
is a centre of Bulgarism. 

In consequence of this decree the tradesmen of the 
town have to go out to the villages with their wares. 
The villagers complain to them of the order, but are 
afraid to disobey it. The older people — ^and I heard 
this in other places — take the Patriarch's excommu- 
nication to heart, and consider it a sin to accept the 
Exarchate. 

The progress of the Bulgarian movement was de- 
scribed to me. When the Comitadjis first came into 
the neighbourhood they said nothing about the people 
being Macedonians, nor about a neutral State. They 
invited the peasants to point out any landlord who was 
oppressing them, and offered to murder him. By acts 
like these they won the allegiance of the people, and 
they openly claimed it for Bulgaria. 

I endeavoured to ascertain what hopes and wishes 
were cherished by the Greeks. They were unanimous 
in preferring Turkish to Bulgarian domination. They 
had ceased to reckon on the Greek kingdom being 



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190 GREEK TOWNS 

able to annex the country by its own strength. Some 
of them said they wished England would take it 

" But the Greeks of Cyprus are not contented under 
English rule," I reminded them. "They have just 
been asking to be annexed to Greece." 

" They ought to have held their tongues," was the 
response. " It was the wrong time to make such a 
request." 

And so it was pretty evident what they really 
wished England to do for them. 

They were watching the progress of the Powers in 
reforming Macedonia with more uneasiness than hope. 
An international control, with Russian and Austrian 
and Italian officials, was evidently not regarded as 
promising much for the Hellenist cause. 

I said that if the present anarchy continued to rage 
it might end in a mandate to Austria to march in and 
occupy the country. 

Then it was that one of them said, with sadness, " I 
should be glad of an Austrian occupation, because she 
rules Bosnia well. If Austria were to come we should 
be Europeans." 

And that was the only expression favourable to 
Austria which I elicited in the whole of my inquiry. 
The speaker has since died. He was an old man, a 
doctor, and he had lived in England. He left on me 
the impression that there is something difficult to 
indicate in words which yet renders the lot of an 
educated man an unhappy one under the Turkish 
administration. There was something inexpressibly 
pathetic in that remark, " We should be Europeans." 

From Niausta we went on to Vodena, the ancient 
Edessa. For those who attach weight to archaeo- 
logical ailments, Vodena presents a strong case. 
While there I was given an ancient coin on which the 
name of Edessa was clearly legible in Greek letters. 
Alexander the Great seems to have been much less 
prejudiced against the Hellenic culture than his 
successors, Messrs. Tchakalaroff and Apostol and 



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RUSSIAN OFFICERS 191 

Sarafoff. Edessa was the burying-place of the 
" Bulgarian *' kings (known to Europe as Macedonian) 
and some ruins are believed to mark the spot of their 
interment. 

We were met at the railway station and conducted 
to a private house engaged for us by the hospitable 
Metropolitan, a man of very superior character and 
ability. Although warmly Hellenist, he has conducted 
himself with so much discretion in his difficult position 
that the Turkish authorities had not imposed in his 
case the restriction under which I found so many of 
his colleagues suffering. This is the more remarkable 
since he is a young man to have risen so high; I 
believe he is still under forty. 

He called on me as soon as we were settled in our 
quarters, and we saw a good deal of each other during 
the two days I remained. 

It was here that I came first into active contact with 
the Bulgars. There is a Bulgarian quarter in the 
town, and a Russian gendarmery officer is stationed 
there. This officer, by name Bairaktaroff,* I was told, 
attended the Bulgarian Church. The Russian Church 
is in communion with the Patriarch, and therefore, 
from an ecclesiastical point of view, his rightful place 
should have been among the flock of the Greek 
Archbishop. But, for whatever reason, perhaps his 
attachment to the Bulgarian language, the Russian 
officer preferred to incur the guilt of schism by 
worshipping with the Exarchists. 

His choice of a residence was also commented on, 
A Bulgarian schoolmaster of the town had turned 
Comitadji and was now away in Sofia, and the 
Russian officer had unfortunately taken up his quarters 
in the Comitadji's house. This may have been an 
act of confiscation, but it was not so regarded by the 
Greeks. 

Yet this gentleman was considered an improvement 

* I must apologise to a Board School generation if any names or 
words are incorrectly spelt. 



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192 GREEK TOWNS 

on his predecessor, who had omitted to return the 
visit of the Greek Archbishop, refused to receive the 
Greek schoolmasters, and dechned to inquire into 
murders committed upon Greeks. He had been the 
subject of an official complaint on the part of the 
Patriarch for openly trying to proselytise the villagers 
.on behalf of the Comitadjis whom he was supposed 
to be sent to put down. 

As this last charge has been denied, I desired to 
have first-hand evidence on the subject. A bright, 
sturdy-looking lad was sent for, a native of a Bulgar- 
speaking village, but now employed in the town of 
Vodena. He told his story in a straightforward 
fashion, without any prompting, and it certainly im- 
pressed me as being perfectly true. 

" My name is Christos Janno. I am a miller from 
Messemari. I am fifteen years old. 

" Four years ago I remember a Russian officer 
speaking to me in my village. There were six Russian 
officers, including their head. Colonel Schostak. I was 
coming from my farm. They stopped me and asked 
what 1 was doing. They spoke in Bulgarian — ^not in 
the local Bulgarian, but m the real Bulgarian. I 
understood it pretty well. 

" I said, * I have been picking cherries, and am going 
home.' 

" The officer said, ' What are you ? ' 

" I said, ' I am a Greek.' (The box's own word to 
me was Gerko.) 

" He said, * What are the rest of you in your village 
— ^Greeks or Bulgarians ?' 

" I said, * Most are Greeks ; there are some Bul- 
garians.' 

" He said, ' You all speak Bulgarian ; how do you 
know?' 

" We discussed Philip. 

" He said, * My boy, those school-teachers are only 
fooling you. You are Bulgarians, not Greeks. Good- 
bye.' 

"This officer remained behind the others to talk 
like that." 



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RUSSIAN OFFICERS 193 

The scene is not without its amusing side. The 
representative of the Russian Army conducting a 
solemn argument with a village boy of eleven over 
the nationality of Philip of Macedon, and getting 
rather the worst of the argument — if I have correctly 
estimated the character of Master Christos Janno — 
would make an admirable episode in a farce. None 
the less, it throws an instructive sidelight on what 
has been going on in Macedonia, and it might do no 
harm if the Mikado's influence were to penetrate to 
Messemari. 

The boy's account of this conversation reached the 
ears of the Archbishop of Vodena, and the Patriarch 
laid a formal complaint before the Turkish authorities, 
with the result that the Russian Government under- 
took to rebuke its agent. 

Unless this story is a pure fabrication, in what 
position does it leave the other Powers associated 
with Russia in repressing the Bulgarian bands? 
How is it possible for the Greeks, or the Comi- 
tadjis, to believe that the foreign gendarmery is 
impartial ? How is it possible for the Turks to 
look upon such officers in any other light than that 
of hostile agents, introduced into their dominions 
under false pretences, to assist and comfort the very 
enemy the Turks are being h3rpocritically urged to 
crush? 

Christos Janno had more to tell me. The Bulgarians 
had killed the priest of his village, and twenty-five 
men out of a population of a thousand since the Folk 
War broke out. The priest and six others were killed 
about two years ago. Some gendarmes came to see 
what had happened. They marched up and marched 
down again without doing anything. No Russians 
came on that occasion, but when the Bulgarians were 
killed by Greeks the Russians came. 

The boy stated, what I believe is not in dispute, that 
the Bulgarian bands live on the country, and levy 
taxes even on their own friends, while the Greek 

13 



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194 GREEK TOWNS 

bands pay their way. Indeed, the Comitadjis claim 
this as a proof that the country is with them. 

Another glimpse of the liberators at their work was 
afforded by the director of a cotton-mill at Vodena — 
Mr. Gregori Tsitses. The Bulgarians sent to demand 
the sum of ;f lOO from him. He refused, and succeeded 
in having one of the blackmailers tried and convicted 
The man received the exemplary sentence of loi 
years' imprisonment. Unfortunately, more merciful 
counsels afterwards prevailed — at the suggestion of 
what foreign advisers it were well not to ask — and the 
prisoner was discharged before the expiration of the 
sentence. He took advantage of this leniency to 
commit a murder, and then fled to the United States 
of America. He should be warmly welcomed by the 
friends of Bulgaria in that country. 

Another gentleman whom I met in Vodena, Mr. 
Kotchapanyotti, mentioned, in the course of conversa- 
tion, that he had been twice shot at because he was 
in the habit of speaking on behalf of the Greeks. 

The kaimakam of Vodena, one of the most mild and 
unassuming men it is possible to imagine, also came to 
see me. He assured me he could put a stop to the 
bands in his caza if he were allowed to arrest the few 
villagers here and there who protect them. He is pre- 
vented from doing so by "strangers." I thought I 
could guess the identity of the strangers, whom the 
kaimakam was too prudent to indicate more distinctly. 

I referred to the similar course adopted by Mr. 
Forster in Ireland, though without much success. 
The Turkish governor replied that the peasants here 
were better off than those of Ireland. 

"Most of them are landed proprietors. More of 
them might become so. The land is for sale, but the 
propagandists prevent the peasants from buying it 
They prefer to keep them serfs, so that they may 
support the agitation." 

He further stated that there were brigands who 



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A WIZARD 195 

tried to prevent the people of the villages from coining 
into the town to market, but troops were sent out to 
patrol the roads and protect the peasants. These 
brigands, he thought, were not inspired by political 
motives, but they were Bulgars. 

Murder, mutilation, arson, blackmail, forgery, per- 
jury, and highway robbery — ^all these do not exhaust 
the weapons in the armoury of freedom. One yet 
more potent has been devised by the liberators of 
Macedonia, more potent in its effects on the peasant 
mind. Sorcery has been employed: a Bulgarian 
wizard has made his appearance in Vodena, in the 
course of an extended tour. But he reckoned without 
the Greeks; he had relied on Brancoff, doubtless, 
and his familiar spirit failed to warn him that there 
were Greeks in the town. They denounced him 
to the authorities, and he is now incarcerated in a 
Turkish gaol at Salonika, where he weaves his spells 
in vain. 

It is another case of Turkish tyranny. In the 
enlightened West the laws against witchcraft have 
long been abolished. The sorcerer should have come 
to London, and been the lion of the season. It was a 
mistake to ply his craft in Fairyland. 

Above all, the spirit of the Middle Ages breathed on 
Vodena by night. We walked to the Archbishop's 
palace, through the narrow, tortuous lanes that might 
have been trodden by Godfrey of Bouillon and the 
Crusaders, our feet guided by a swinging lantern. In 
one place a stream flowed silently beside us, and the 
shape of a great wooden water-wheel turned slowly in 
the darkness ; and behind the over-hanging walls on 
either side we knew there lurked armed bands as 
fierce as any that ever reddened Florentine streets 
with blood, whose war was as inhuman as the 
jacqueries that ever and anon swept over feudal 
France. 

We reached the palace and found it to be a 
veritable fortress. A small wicket was opened in the 



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196 GREEK TOWNS 

great iron gate, and then we were admitted through a 
species of gate tower, and conducted across a spacious 
courtyard to the Archbishop's residence. 

There we sat late into the night with the Arch- 
bishop and some other leaders of the Greek party in 
the town. Again we thrashed out the situation, and 
again the verdict was the same. " If we cannot 
belong to the Greek kingdom, leave us as we are. 
The Turk is better than the Bulgarian. Under his 
rule we still have hope. Under a European Power 
we should lose that." 

On the last morning before leaving Vodena I visited 
three schools — ^Servian, Bulgarian, and Greek. 

This was the first hint of Servia, a country which 
has been stirred up to defend its fellow-nationalists 
from the devouring ambition of the Principality. And 
Servia is following the example of Bucharest as well 
as of Sofia. She has her bands in the north, where 
Servians are to be found, and her missions in the 
south, where they are not. 

The Servian school of Vodena is a charitable in- 
stitution, and that is the best that can be said of it 
It educates about fifty children, boys and girls, and I 
think feeds and clothes some or all of them. When 
I arrived they were all in the playground, and I 
asked to see their games. The superintendent set 
them going on one which resembled the old English 
game now known as "Oranges and Lemons." The 
children danced round in a ring, and then the two 
leaders formed an arch with their hands, through 
which the others passed. 

•They were singing as they danced, of course in 
Servian, and I asked for a translation of the words. 
They were about some famous Servian hero of the 
past, and the refrain was like this : 

"Who are you?" 

•' A follower of " (the hero). 

" Where are you bound for ? " 



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BULGARIAN BOYS 197 

'' For Belgrade:' 

" Then pass through." 

And so there are now fifty little Servians in 
Vodena. 

The Bulgarians are rather more numerous, and a 
good deal more bona fide. My estimate of the num- 
bers in the Bulgarian boys' school was a hundred. I 
have not preserved the figures offered me by the 
schoolmaster, nor his rather partial statistics of the 
Bulgarian population. When I asked him the number 
of Greeks in the town he replied, with the utmost 
sang-froid : 

" There are no Greeks in Vodena." 

Perhaps it was from him that " Brancoff*" obtained 
its information. 

In the absence of a definite note, I am unable to 
feel certain whether it was here or at Fiorina that I 
found the boys of the Bulgarian school in the play- 
ground, engaged in the classic game of marbles. 
They seemed to toss the marble rather than shoot it 
in the English fashion. I invited one urchin to lend 
me his marble, but he was too distrustful. Another 
was more confiding, and I gave an illustration of the 
English art. Instantly there was a cry of joy and 
admiration. All the little Bulgarians crowded round 
me, and I had much ado to make my way through 
them to the school-house door. They followed me 
upstairs to the threshold of the master's room. 

It was just what the boys of an English village 
school would have done. And the faces of the boys 
were the most English I had yet come across. I was 
confirmed in an old suspicion that there must be a 
good deal of Slave blood in our own peasantry. The 
Angles and Saxons, when they came over, did not 
come alone. They brought their thralls with them, 
and they came from a part of Germany where the 
Slaves have left their signature in a series of place- 
names. There is, I think, a touch of kinship in that 
sympathy with the Slave, whether Russian or Bul- 



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198 GREEK TOWNS 

garian, which is so strong especially among the 
English Nonconformists. Indeed, there may have 
been a Slave immigration long before Hengist and 
Horsa. 

I went on from the Bulgarian schoolmaster, in some 
uncertainty, to my friend the Patriarchist Archbishop. 
I must not call him Greek, because that would be to 
contradict the schoolmaster, but I feel sure he was 
not a Bulgar, and he did not seem to be a Turk. 

The Archbishop showed me over an ancient church 
situated within the precincts of his fortress. One 
carved pillar he pointed out to me as dating from a 
forgotten antiquity, perhaps from the days of Saul 
of Tarsus. The apostle paid a visit to Macedonia, 
but, for whatever reason, he ignores the Bulgarian 
character of its population in his references to the 
country. The Exarchate will have to prepare a 
fresh version of his epistles, if not of the whole New 
Testament. If Aristotle has been converted into a 
Bulgarian, why not Saint Luke? 

Was the Archbishop's motive in showing me over 
his church a purely antiquarian one, or was it a 
piece of fairy strategy? I like to think the best, 
but when I at last prevailed on him to take me in 
to the school I suspected that the delay was not 
quite accidental. I heard a tramp of hurrying feet, 
a door was thrown open, and I found myself in front 
of a dense mass of youngsters, drawn up in serried 
lines, across the floor of a room cleared of desks and 
benches. I counted more than two hundred boys, 
and these were only part; I had not given the pre- 
late time to complete his preparations, and I found 
other boys at work elsewhere. 

This was only one of the Greek schools in the 
town. Would an Archbishop have caused contin-« 
gents to be summoned from other schools for the 
purpose of making an exaggerated impression on 
an unsuspicious stranger? — ^impossible! 



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A KIND ARCHBISHOP 199 

The boys sang, but they did not sing " The Song of 
the Flag." They sang hymns — clearly a more decorous 
proceeding in the presence of an Archbishop. The 
Turkish governor, who had also dropped in, listened 
with the greatest amiability to these Christian exer- 
cises. 

We were seen off at the railway station by the 
Archbishop, the governor, and the military com- 
mandant, on whom I had called to thank him for 
furnishing me with an escort the day before. This 
officer impressed me very favourably. He described 
to me the measures he was taking to deal with the 
bands, and he was evidently to the full as keen and 
capable as any foreign officer of gendarmery. 

We sat waiting for the train, and drinking coffee, 
at a little open-air refreshment-room, Greek Bishop 
and Turkish kaimakam, Greek Protestant professor 
and Turkish commandant, and your unofficial envoy ; 
and it was as well, perhaps, that no prowling photo- 
grapher in the pay of the Comitadjis was there to 
snapshot the picture, and doom us all to the same 
infamy as his Eminence of Castoria. 

And even that was not my last glimpse of Vodena. 
On leaving Monastir, some time afterwards, to return 
to Salonika my dragoman told me he had had in- 
structions to wire the Archbishop of Vodena when 
I was coming through. And when the train stopped 
at the station I found this hospitable prelate there 
to meet me, with coffee and other refreshments ready, 
and he got into the carriage and chatted till the 
train was moving on. 

Such charming acts of friendship — and I have not 
mentioned one half that I received — ought to be 
set off against the rough roads, the bad inns, and 
the other hardships of travel in Rumelia. For the 
stranger all these people have nothing but kindness 
in their hearts. Would that he could repay them 
by persuading them to feel more kindness for one 
another! 



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CHAPTER IX 

BfACEDONIAN VILLAGES 

Rural jealousy— The language test — Under escort — ^Vladovo — 
'* Makedonski " — ^An exarchist — ^Victims of the Folk War — 
Russian sympathy — ^A dramatic incident — A public reception — 
How Nisia was liberated— A wedding party— A Turkish officer 

In Rumelia, as in most other countries, the villages 
are more numerous than the towns, and there is apt 
to be a certain jealousy between them. What candi- 
date for an English parliamentary division has not 
been told by his agent, " The villages are jealous of 
the town. You must be careful not to give more 
attention to the town than to the villages"? 

This jealousy will always exist, under whatever 
form of government, because the conditions will 
always exist. The townsman is always richer in 
money than the villager ; his life has more distractions, 
his manners tend to be more polished. The villagers 
believe that the town is draining them of their wealth. 
They grudge the corn and hay and meat and vegetables 
with which they supply the town, and are ungp-ateful 
for the clothes and tools, the ploughs and harness, the 
books and medicines, with which the town supplies 
them in return. Thus the French departments are 
jealous of Paris ; and rural Bulgaria, I make no doubt, 
is jealous of Sofia. 

This is an eternal jealousy ; it is, in a deep sense, the 
jealousy of the Folk and Hellas. 

In Rumelia such a jealousy may easily be treated 

aoo 



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THE LANGUAGE QUESTION 201 

as a racial one, and hence no string has been more 
artfully and persistently harped on by the Comitadjis, 
whether in Macedonia or outside. The Greek-speaking 
townsman is represented as an enemy little less 
obnoxious than the Moslem villager. The inhabitants 
of Vodena and Niausta are described as " an ignoble 
aristocracy of talent, half clerical, half commercial, 
which exploits an alien peasantry that it despises.'' ^ 
Language, or rather dialect, is treated as the exclusive 
test of nationality, and if a Slave-speaking villager 
dares to call himself a " Gerko " we are told that he 
is terrorised by Greek bands, or fooled by Greek 
school-teachers, or hypnotised by Greek priests, and 
if he is not secretly longing to be taxed from Sofia 
then he is a soulless brute who would call himself a 
Hottentot for a consideration. 

Let me dispose of this language question once for all. 

In Asia Minor there is a large Greek population 
which speaks nothing but Turkish. Their Bishops 
preach to them in Turkish,* which is, as a Turk once 
politely reminded me, the language of the country. 
Yet no one has ever suggested that they are Turks, 
and no one would be more surprised by such a 
suggestion than the Turks themselves. 

In Ireland there is a large Irish population which 
speaks nothing but English. Their Bishops preach 
to them in English, and their political leaders harangue 
them in English against the evils of English rule. 
Their blood is known not to be free from English 
admixture. Yet no one has ever questioned that they 
are Irish, and they are far more anti-English in their 
national sentiment than the Welsh-speaking Welsh. 

Celtic anthropologists now tell us that the whole 
group of Celtic dialects, including Welsh, has been 

^ Macedonia^ by H. N. Brailsford, p. 218. That an aristocracy of 
talent should be more ignoble than one of birth or conquest is a 
'* New Liberalism " indeed. 

' A charge brought against the Archbishop of Fiorina, in 
Macedonia, 



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202 MACEDONIAN VILLAGES 

imported into the British Islands almost within 
historic times, and that the so-called Celtic peoples 
are largely, if not mainly, Pictish ; that is to say, they 
are descended from an older population among which 
the Celts came as conquerors. And that is exactly the 
case of Macedonia. 

The peasantry which the Government of Sofia 
desires to govern is older than Sofia, and older than 
the Bulgarian invasion. Its original speech has been 
lost, and it is as likely as not to be represented by 
Albanian. Under the Macedonian kings it became 
Greek. Under the Romans it may have taken a 
Roman tinge, with the result preserved in the Vlach 
dialect. Under the successive invasions of Serbs and 
Bulgars it became a Slave dialect resembling Bulgar 
rather than Serb. Under the Turks whole villages 
embraced the language of the new conquerors with 
their religion. To-day this peasantry is returning 
to Greek, under the influence of the schools, and 
claiming a Hellenic nationality. The efforts of the 
Rumanian propaganda have only resulted in causing 
the Vlach dialect to be discarded as an anti-national 
badge. And the efforts of the Comitadjis are now 
causing the Slave dialect to be discarded from the 
same motive, as we shall see. 

On the second day of my stay in Vodena I made 
an excursion with Mr. Kalopathakes to two villages 
claimed as Bulgarian by their enemies, but claimed 
by themselves to be Greek. 

The surrounding country being harried by bands, 
we were given a strong escort, consisting of 
twenty soldiers, five of them mounted, under the 
command of a captain who spoke French. I am not 
sure that he was wholly innocent of English, and at 
one moment I communicated my suspicion to Mr. 
Kalopathakes in Latin. The captain almost immedi- 
ately put a question in French, which had rather the 
air of being intended to convince us that he had not 
understood our previous remarks in English. 



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A COUNTRY RIDE 203 

If it was a case of *' espionage " it was a very natural 
and a very harmless one. I, at all events, had nothing 
to conceal from the Turkish authorities, nor from any- 
body else. I should have been quite content to have 
been accompanied throughout my journey by a cloud 
of witnesses — Turkish, Bulgarian, and Rumanian — and 
to have had my every word taken down by a sworn 
stenographer. But my companion's name was against 
him, and, when one comes to think of it, it was an 
extraordinary exercise of good nature on the part of 
the Turkish authorities that they should have received 
him everywhere on practically the same footing as 
myself. Provided you are not actually firing at him, 
the Oriental despot seems to let you do anything 
you like; and the English Comitadji writer who 
succeeded in getting himself arrested by Turkish 
gendarmes has some reason to boast of his unique 
exploit. 

We rode along a rough mountain road overlooking 
a cultivated valley. The Turkish officer pointed out 
to me, with pardonable satisfaction, that the peasants 
were out working in their fields as usual, in spite of the 
disturbed state of the country. A force of chasseurs, 
he told me, was that very day scouring the hills on our 
left hand in search of the enemy. Our escort was 
partly composed of these scouts, their brown, service- 
able uniforms being in marked contrast to the cerulean 
clothes adopted for the gendarmery by its Italian 
organiser. 

I began to understand why it is that the Italians 
have not yet succeeded in putting down brigandage 
in their own country, and to respect the honourable 
motives which have caused them to withdraw officers 
so much needed at home in order to place them at 
the service of a friendly foreign Government 

Vladova, the first village, was reached after a two- 
hours' ride. It stands at the head of the pass, where 
the hills open out to embrace a wide flat basin, 
watered by a river, a landscape that called up the 



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204 MACEDONIAN VILLAGES 

Happy Valley of RasseUis^ and of many an Eastern 
tale. 

Here we dismounted, and partook of coffee in the 
little guard-house which the Turks had set up in 
the village, for the protection of the inhabitants. I 
sent out for a man who seemed to be a leading 
spirit in the place, and he came into the guard-house, 
and answered my questions freely in the presence 
of the Turkish captain. 

He stated that there were from 120 to 140 houses 
in the village (600 or 700 persons), the majority 
Patriarchist. I asked what language they spoke, 
and my Greek interpreter carelessly rendered the 
answer Bulgare. The man himself had said 
Makedonski I 

I drew attention to this word,* and the witness 
explained that he did not consider the rural dialect 
used in Macedonia the same as Bulgarian, and refused 
to call it by that name. It was Macedonian, a word 
to which he gave the Slave form of Makedonski, 
but which I was to hear farther north in the Greek 
form of Makedonike, 

And so the ** Bulgarophone " villagers are no longer 
willing to admit that they speak Bulgarian. They 
have coined a new term of their own accord, and 
henceforth their dialect, until they have got rid of 
it, is to be known as " Macedonian." My Athenian 
friends were delighted when I told them of this on 
my return. It should give even greater pleasure to 
those Bulgarian Agents who are so anxious to see 
the Macedonians taught that they are Macedonians. 

The witness was careful to add that the children 
of the village were learning Greek. 

He said that the Bulgarian bands had killed many 
of the Macedonians, and that there were Comitadjis 

' I hope I need not explain that my object here is to make it 
manifest that all this was no prepared scene, and that if there be 
an^rthing inaccurate in this report it is not for lack of reasonable 
vigilance. 



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AN EXARCHIST WITNESS 205 

hiding in the village at that moment. The Turkish 
officer naturally asked him to point out their lurking- 
place, but this he was unable or unwilling to do. 

I dismissed him, and sent for a representative of 
the Exarchist faction. His manner was much less 
confident than his predecessor's, and he would not 
look me in the eye. But he seemed more ashamed 
than afraid, and he maintained his ground well in 
an argument with the Turkish captain about the 
language. 

The Exarchist had described the language of 
the village as Bulgarian, and the captain promptly 
took him up, pointing out a string of words which 
were different in the two dialects. The Exarchist 
answered : 

** I can understand those who come from Bulgaria.^ 

No one took any notice of the admission, but it 
was the best, because the most spontaneous, evidence 
that I had yet obtained as to the part played by 
Sofia in the liberation of Macedonia. The Patriarchist 
witness had described the Comitadjis as wearing 
Bulgarian uniforms and bearing Bulgarian colours. 
According to the Exarchist they also used the 
Bulgarian speech. And this admission, which knocks 
the bottom out of the pretence that the Macedonian 
revolution is an internal and spontaneous one of the 
Macedonians themselves, was made by a Bulgarian 
partisan in argument with a Turkish officer, who 
took no notice of it. 

The fact is, I suppose, that no one on the spot 
has ever heard of the theory that this sanguinary 
business is the work of the people themselves. It 
is a theory originating where the movement itself 
originated, in Sofia. But it is good enough for 
consumption in the meridian of Fleet Street. 

The Exarchist claimed that his party had sixty or 
seventy houses in the village ; the Patriarchist had 
awarded them fifteen or twenty. I will not work 
out another fairy sum; I think it likely that there 



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206 MACEDONIAN VILLAGES 

may have been twenty houses of convinced Bulgarians, 
and another thirty or forty influenced by fear of 
the liberating bands. 

The Exarchist admitted that the Bulgarian bands 
arrived on the scene before the Greeks ; but, of 
course, that has never been denied, although it seems 
to be habitually forgotten. 

We made but a short halt at Vladova, as the 
other village, Nisia, was two hours further on. As 
we were riding out of the village we were met 
by a group of half a dozen women, who had heard 
of my coming and wished me to know of their 
troubles. All were Macedonians, and all were 
widows, rendered such by the Bulgarian invaders of 
their country. 

I expressed my sympathy with them, and was about 
to ride on, when one woman suddenly thrust herself 
forward from the others and made the following 
statement : 

" The Russian officers came here after the death of 
my husband and son, and said, before the priest and 
other people, 'You had better call yourselves Bul- 
garians or you will all be killed.'" 

It was an unsolicited statement, and, so far as I was 
concerned, an unexpected one. The woman seemed 
to make it under a strong feeling of resentment. 
I imagine that the incident had made a deep im- 
pression in the village, and that the woman, either 
of her own accord or prompted by her friends, seized 
the opportunity of complaining to some one who 
might be expected not to let the matter drop. In 
short, I took it as an appeal on the part of the per- 
secuted population of Macedonia against the foreign 
gendarmery officers for whose proceedings we have 
a joint responsibility. 

The words attributed to the Russian officers were 
true. These people were being slaughtered because 
they would not call themselves Bulgarians. Person- 
ally, I do not doubt that the words were used. I am 



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A GREEK BAND 207 

sure that every Russian, in his heart, must think it 
would be much better for these villagers to call 
themselves Bulgarians. It would be still better for 
them to call themselves Turks ; but what would be 
thought or said if Turkish officers were to tell them 
so over the corpses of their dead, who had been 
foully slain by Turkish bandits? 

The Powers have taken needless trouble to bring 
officers all the way from Sevastopol to guard these 
poor creatures from the Bulgarian bands. It would 
have been simpler to invite Bulgaria to supply the 
police as well as the criminals. Sarafoff would have 
made a first-rate gendarmery officer. We should set 
a thief to catch a thief. 

From Vladova to Nisia the way wound round the 
base of a precipitous hill, skirting the Happy Valley. 
At one spot, where the rocks that overhung the path 
were more than ever threatening, there was the sound 
of a sharp crack overhead. The Turkish officer 
hastily put up his field-glass, and scrutinised the spot 
from whence the sound had come. 

"They are cutting wood," he remarked as he 
lowered his glass. 

The officer was mistaken, as it happened. On our 
return to Vodena I learned that I had been honoured 
with another escort, in addition to that provided by 
the Government. A Greek band had followed us all 
the way, keeping along the brow of the hill, and it 
was an unfortunate movement of one of their men 
which attracted the officer's attention. 

We had reason to be thankful that the band was 
Greek. At that particular spot a party on the top of 
the hill could have shot down every man of us before 
we had time to get near them. 

The approach to Nisia was a surprise for me, 
though evidently not for Nisia. The moment we 
came in sight the church bells began ringing joyfully, 
and at the entrance to the village we found that half 



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2o8 MACEDONIAN VILLAGES 

the people had come forth to meet us, headed by the 
priest and the muktar, or headman. The school- 
children were all drawn up beside the road, and we 
halted while they sang " The Sultan's Hymn." 

Consider this, Messieurs the Comitadji writers. 
Consider it especially, my Christian friend, for whom 
the Commander of the Faithful has been painted in 
the colours of an ogre. When the Armenian libe- 
rators took to murdering each other in the streets of 
Peckham perhaps you began to suspect that there 
might be two sides to the Armenian Question. I 
have never visited Armenia, and can tell you nothing 
on that subject ; but I have visited Rumelia, and this 
is what I found there. 

I was the first Englishman, the people of Nisia told 
me, who had ever visited their village. They made a 
holiday, they rang their bells, and when I went away 
they thanked me, and told me that my visit had 
encouraged them. Encouraged them against whom ? 
Against the sovereign whose troops escorted me, and 
whose hymn they sang by way of greeting? Or 
against the foreign bandits, wearing a foreign uniform 
and speaking a foreign speech, who have under- 
taken to bestow on them the blessings of a foreign 
rule? 

They sang the Sultan's praises in the hearing of his 
officer, it is true. But they must first have learnt 
that hymn. They must have practised it Wherefore ? 
They had other hymns in their repertory ; they might 
have sung a religious one, like the school-children of 
Vodena, and no Turkish officer I have ever come 
across would have minded in the least I cannot 
bring myself to believe that they chose " The Sultan's 
Hymn " out of deliberate hypocrisy. The Sultan was 
protecting them from their enemies, whether bandits 
from Sofia or gendarmery officers from St. Peters- 
burg, and I am willing to believe that they were 
grateful. 

We were led into the best house of the village, and 



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THE WORK OF LIBERATION 209 

into an upper chamber carpeted with rugs and 
cushions. Cushions are the chairs of Rumelia, and if 
the inhabitants like them it is difficult to see why they 
should be urged to acquire a taste for European furni- 
ture. The only peasant house in which I found a 
European chair was, curiously enough, a Moslem one. 
My Greek dragoman was ambitious to occupy it, but I 
preferred the cushions. 

We lunched at a round wooden table standing about 
nine inches above the level of the floor. The drago- 
man had brought provisions, and the Turkish captain 
shared in the repast, some of the villagers looking on. 

The owner of the house gave us the story of the 
village, or rather the priest gave it on his behalf, 
translating from the Makedonski into Greek. 

The village had always been Patriarchist, but a 
Bulgarian band descended on it and compelled the 
inhabitants to sign a paper declaring themselves 
Exarchists. Some time afterwards the band came 
again and demanded money. This was a more 
serious matter, and some of the villagers held out. 
They were thrashed unmercifully ; our host had been 
laid up for two months as a result of his injuries, 
and it was four more before he could go about his 
work again. 

The work of liberation was interrupted by the 
Turkish authorities. As my informants put it, " The 
whole village has now received protection, and is 
Patriarchist again." Ten gendarmes are stationed in 
the village, and neither against them nor against the 
soldiers had the villagers any cause of complaint. 

This testimony was given in the Turkish officer's 
presence, but that did not appear to be much check on 
the speakers. They complained, before him, that they 
were still afraid to cultivate some of their outl3ring 
fields, and he was rather nettled by the statement, 
which he took as a reflection on his Government, 
rather than on the Bulgarians. In fact, the villagers 
seemed to mean it as such. 

14 



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210 MACEDONIAN VILLAGES 

But the tribute to the good conduct of the troops 
and gendarmes agreed with all that I had heard else- 
where. And it was corroborated by my Greek 
dragoman, who inquired on his own account behind 
the officer's back. 

I ascertained that the soldiers of our escort had 
brought their own bread with them. The villagers 
had naturally offered them something besides in the 
way of cheese and coffee, and I wished to pay for it. 
The headman made me exactly the same answer that 
the Greek priest had described in Salonika as the 
answer made by the people of his village in similar 
circumstances. I pressed the money on the headman 
of Nisia, and he, finally accepted it, not at all willingly, 
as a " present." 

Every one who knows the Greeks, every one who 
has had opportunities of comparing them with 
their neighbours, will agree with me that there 
could be no better evidence than this, that the 
villagers of Nisia were Greeks, whatever dialect they 
spoke. 

The people of Nisia also told me that the agent of 
their landlord gave food to the Turkish soldiers when 
they visited the place. The landlord's house was 
pointed out to me, and the landlord himself, who used 
to visit the property in summer, was described to me 
as a good man. Clearly the seed of " freedom " had 
found an uncongenial soil at Nisia. 

In Vodena I heard an instructive story about this 
landlord, who had recently died. His eldest son had 
run wild, and committed various excesses in the neigh- 
bourhood. Complaint was made, and as a result he 
was banished, in spite of the powerful influence 
possessed by his family at Constantinople. Returning 
secretly, he had joined a Bulgarian band; but, as 
he continued to follow the same evil courses in the 
Bulgarian villages, his companions murdered their 
Moslem recruit. In consequence of all this, the 
broken-hearted father was obliged to leave th« district. 



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A WEDDING PARTY 211 

It is another little side-light on the liberators of 
Macedonia, and on the tyrants against whom they 
profess to be in arms. The Turk who is too bad for 
Turkey is welcomed by a Bvdgarian band. As soon 
as he forgets the distinction between Patriarchists and 
Exarchists, he learns the difference between Turkish 
and Bulgarian justice. 

While we were at lunch I asked the school- 
master, who was in the room, to give his pupils a 
holiday. The request was readily granted, and about 
ten minutes afterwards a little fellow of ten, very 
neatly dressed, came in to kiss my hand, and thank 
me on behalf of his school*fellows. 

Lunch over, the captain and I took a stroll round 
the village. There was hardly any regular street, the 
houses were dotted here and there, with detached 
bams and outbuildings in between. It was much like 
a Nigerian village, and I was especially reminded of 
my old province by the neat little wattled huts in 
which the maize-cobs were stored. In Nigeria they 
would be yams, and the thatching would consist of 
canes instead of twigs. 

We entered one house in which we found a wedding- 
party. The men j)erformed a dance bearing some 
resemblance to a Scottish reel, and the bride came 
forward and laid a small cotton handkerchief across 
our left shoulders as a souvenir, in accordance with 
local custom. I know not how it will strike others, 
who believe themselves the friends of Macedonia, but 
to my mind the sight of that Greek village bride laying 
her little token of good-will on the uniform of the 
Sultan's officer was neither unnatural nor displeasing, 
and it will be hard to persuade me that it was 
unchristian. 

But the pleasantest touch of all came while we were 
still at lunch. The wedding-party had resolved to 
serenade us, and my ears were suddenly roused by the 
unmistakable drone of the pipes. I sprang to my feet 



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212 MACEDONIAN VILLAGES 

and looked out of window, and there in the road 
below I saw a genuine bagpipe. I have previously 
adduced arguments which would justify the Honour- 
able Society of Cymmrodorion in seeking to annex 
the Koutzo-Vlachs. Surely Scotland will not look on 
idly while men who play the pipes are being made a 
bone of contention between inferior nationalities like 
the Greek and the Slave 1 

We rode away from Nisia followed by the hearty 
farewells of the people, and were accompanied back to 
Vladova by its priest, who had taken part in the 
reception at Nisia. On our arrival in his village we 
found his school-children, to the number of sixty or 
seventy, as I counted them, awaiting us. This time 
we were treated to a religious h3rmn, to which our 
escort listened with perfect good humour. 

I handed a small sum to the priest for distribution 
among the widows and orphans, and then, hearing that 
there was an Exarchist widow in the place whose 
husband had been killed by the Greeks, I sent for 
her and gave her a trifle as well. This proceeding 
seemed to cause no slight astonishment to the 
Patriarchist priest, and Mr. Kalopathakes very wisely 
improved the occasion by pointing out to him that 
conciliation was a better policy than hatred. The 
Exarchist dame, I am bound to add, seemed equally 
bewildered by my eccentric action, and two Exarchist 
children refused to venture within my reach. 

The Turkish captain seized the opportunity to drive 
a bargain with one of the villagers for some forage. 
A messenger also came in with a letter from the 
lieutenant who was out after the bands, for our 
captain to take in to the commandant at Vodena. 

On the way back I had an interesting conversation 
with the captain, who was evidently a well-educated 
man, and a keen soldier. He had read many mili- 
tary works, and we discussed tactics, and the Boer 
War. 



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"WE ARE PEASANTS" 213 

He dwelt on the difficulty of dealing with the bands, 
a difficulty which he compared to our own in tramp- 
ling out the embers of war in South Africa. The 
greatest difficulty of all was to distinguish the 
Comitadji from the peaceful cultivator. 

" If we speak to them in one language they pretend 
not to know it, and reply in another. They hide their 
rifles when they see us coming, and when we get up 
to them they say, * We are peasants.' What can we 
do?" 

By way of climax to the situation, I learned that 
some of the soldiers in the escort were Macedonian 
Bulgars. And the captain told me that the Christian 
recruits gave satisfaction. 

On our return to Vodena I questioned my friend 
the Archbishop on the subject of the Turkish soldiery, 
and he confirmed all that I had been told before. The 
soldiers made no exactions in the villages. They had 
been behaving particularly well for the last year 
or two. 

I asked if this improvement were due to the presence 
and influence of the foreign officers. He said no, it 
was the result of complaints made to the Govern- 
ment in Constantinople; that is to say, to the 
Sultan. 

My Christian friend, has it ever occurred to you that 
it might be a better way to serve the Christian 
subjects of Abdul Hamid H. to appeal to him direct 
on the subject of their real or fancied grievances, than 
to write furious invectives against him on account 
of things of which he may be perfectly ignorant? 

No sovereign, however well intentioned, can know 
all that goes on in remote comers of his dominions. 
Even the British voter is not omniscient. I have 
heard ugly stories about things done in our own 
distant provinces; of natives beaten and robbed by 
our own soldiers ; of eyes poked out by the canes of 
our own officers ; of native chiefs required to purvey 
women for our representatives. We will hope they 



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214 MACEDONIAN VILLAGES 

are untrue stories. But if the agents of six foreign 
Powers, including the two who most covet our 
possessions, were at liberty to prowl over India and 
Africa, inviting complaints from Moslems and Hindus 
and pagans, they might not find it very difficult to 
draw up an indictment which would not be pleasant 
reading for the Balkan Committee. 



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CHAPTER X 

A TURKISH TOWN 

A Macedonian hotel— An Albanian bey— A witness above suspicion 
— The correspondent of The Times— Fsiry statistics — ^A Turkish 
schoolmaster— The liberation of Fiorina 

The next town on my itinerary was Fiorina, in the 
heart of the disturbed region. It has a larger Turkish 
population than most of the others, the figures given 
to me by the Greek Archbishop being : Moslems 5f978i 
Patriarchists 2,294, and Exarchists 669. 

Fiorina stands a long way from the railway. We 
were met at the station, as usual, by the police, who 
had had the forethought to order a carriage for me — 
an attention for which they were duly insulted by 
the dragoman. 

It was a dreary- drive through the darkness to the 
town, though the road was good enough; but we 
were cheered up by the prospect of finding a really 
good hotel when we arrived. We had heard the 
praises of this hostelry beforehand. Its name was, 
if I recollect rightly, the Grand Hotel de Salonique. 

The Grand Hotel of Salonika proved to be a small 
green-grocer's shop, with a very comfortless back- 
room to serve as bar, restaurant, and drawing-room, 
and a few bare and draughty rooms overhead con- 
taining beds and little more. The Rumelian inn 
bedroom always contains as many beds as can be 
got into it, but I followed the European practice of 
sleeping in only one. As it happened, my sleep in 

ai5 



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2i6 A TURKISH TOWN 

the inn at Fiorina nearly proved my last. A charcoal 
brazier had been introduced into the room to warm 
it. I had closed the window, against which the head 
of the bed was placed, to avoid influenza, and in con- 
sequence I had a narrow escape of suffocation. I 
awoke just in time. It is fair to add that at no 
time during the journey was I attacked by insects — 
an escape which ought perhaps to be attributed 
partly to the season of the year. 

We took supper off the food we had brought with 
us, in the room below, at a small table, keeping on 
our overcoats, as the stove was monopolised by local 
patrons of the house. It was a sad come-down after 
the hospitality of Vodena, and I should be glad to 
avenge myself on the governor and Archbishop of 
Fiorina. But of the kaimakam I could gather only 
good accounts, and the Archbishop had his own 
reasons for distrusting English visitors, as will appear 
hereafter. 

If there is one figure more prominent in Comitadji 
literature than the terrible Turk, it is the Albanian 
bey. This being is supposed to unite in himself the 
many vices of the aristocrat and the infidel, the land- 
owner and the brigand. During my journey I was 
destined to encounter one specimen of this formidable 
class, and I shall describe him exactly as I found him. 

When we alighted at the Fiorina station I had 
noticed a small, meek-looking youth in a fez, who 
had emerged from a second or third class carriage. 
While we were at supper he crept into the room, 
and took his seat rather timidly at the adjoining 
table, where he was served with a very meagre 
refection. Mr. Kalopathakes, taking compassion on 
the forlorn young man, fell into conversation with 
him, and he admitted that he was an Albanian bey. 

The ruffian was far from glorying in his fearful 
renown. On the contrary, in his prejudiced view, 
it was the Bulgarian peasant and his Comitadji 
protectors who were the terrors of the country-side 



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AN ALBANIAN BEY 217 

The bey owned a small farm in the neighbourhood 
of Fiorina, and he had come in some trepidation to 
collect his rent. The system on which the farm was 
cultivated was precisely the same as that prevailing 
on Mr. Kalopathakes' own estate in the Peloponnese ; 
that is to say, the landlord bore all the expenses and 
shared the produce with the tenants. The Albanian 
bey complained bitterly of the cunning and dishonesty 
of the peasants, who habitually defrauded him in the 
division. He was a poor man, earning his livelihood 
as a clerk at Jannina, with an aged mother to support, 
and the profits of this farm were a serious matter to 
him. As it was, he seemed afraid to go in person 
to demand them, and I understood that he meant to 
remain in Fiorina, and send out an agent to bring 
away whatever his tenants were disposed to allow 
him out of their harvest. 

Of course I must not be understood as oflFering 
this unfortunate youth as a type of all Albanian beys. 
He happened to be the only one I came across. I 
regret, in the interest of the sensation-loving reader, 
that I was not more fortunate. An Albanian bey 
attired in the national costume, with a belt stuck 
round with daggers and pistols, and a yataghan 
moist with blood, galloping on to some other person's 
land at the head of an armed troop, all breathing fire 
and slaughter against the cowering Christian peasant, 
would have furnished a picturesque episode, and 
would have been instantly and unanimously recognised 
as a true portrait. 

The proprietor of the Grand Hotel of Salonika 
turned out to be a Lame Welshman, who considered 
himself to be a Greek. He told us that he had 
refused offers of money to let himself be called a 
Rumanian. He further stated that he allowed no 
Bulgarians to enter his hotel. I asked him why, 
and he said he was afraid of their throwing bombs. 

Most of the customers in the room appeared to be 
Turks. But there was one man present who spoke 



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2i8 A TURKISH TOWN 

excellent Greek, and who told us that he hailed from 
a village in the neighbourhood named Klabasnitza. 
It contains sixty-four houses, not one of them 
Bulgarian, and the Bulgarians have announced their 
intention to destroy it. The people speak Macedonian 
among themselves, but understand Greek as well. 
I gathered that the Greek sentiment was particularly 
strong there from the man's concluding words : " He 
wished that King George would come that way." 

But I was about to receive a far more striking and 
disinterested testimony to the widespread influence 
of Hellas. It was in the dingy saloon of the Grand 
Hotel of Salonika that I came upon the one witness 
whom the worst enemies of Greece will hardly accuse 
of being terrorised by the bands of Athens, or 
corrupted by Patriarchist gold. Seated with its back 
to me on a neighbouring bench, I remarked the 
figure of a cat. I hailed it in Turkish, the prevailing 
language of the town, and it paid no attention. I 
tried it in Vlach, and I tried it in Bulgarian, with 
the same result. Finally I pronounced the Hellenic 
gata. The cat immediately turned its head, rose 
up, and walked towards me, to the unbounded delight 
of its proprietor. 

I must apologise for including this comic episode 
among so many tragic ones, and only hope that I 
shall not draw down on the innocent animal the 
vengeance of Sofia. 

I called the next morning upon the Greek Arch- 
bishop, and found him in the act of writing a letter to 
The Times. 

It appeared that the correspondent of that journal 
had paid a visit to the town some time before. He 
had placed himself exclusively in the hands of the 
Bulgarian faction and the foreign gendarmery officer, 
ignoring equally the Metropolitan of the diocese and 
the Turkish governor. After his visit some rather 
ludicrous statistics had appeared in the columns of 
his paper. The organ of the Patriarch had already 



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THE TIMES 219 

given a partial correction of these, but even the 
Patriarch's figures were not quite accurate, and the 
Archbishop was preparing an exact statement to be 
sent to Constantinople, the law or etiquette of the 
Orthodox Church forbidding him to address himself 
directly to a foreign newspaper. 

This was not the first time I had heard of the 
correspondent of The Times^ nor of this particular 
article. In Athens I found that The Times was 
regarded as an enemy of Hellas scarcely less formidable 
than the Principality of Bulgaria. In Constantinople 
a member of the Mixed Synod of the Patriarchate 
had called on me on purpose to remonstrate with 
me about the Fiorina letter, for which he clearly held 
me responsible. 

In the eyes of most foreigners The Times enjoys 
a consideration eclipsing even the legendary glories 
of the Lord Mayor of London. It is regarded as 
one of our great national institutions, ranking second 
only to the House of Commons. Its favourable 
sentence is more valued than that of all other journals 
put together ; its condemnation is a national calamity. 
Such a reputation could not have been won and 
maintained so long unless it were generally deserved, 
and that reflection alone should teach my Hellenic 
firiends to be cautious in their complaints of the great 
English journal. 

Unfortunately The Times differs in one respect from 
the House of Commons in that it is not representative. 
On the Continent there is a disposition to ignore 
that fact, and to treat every English traveller as though 
he were the editor of The Times^ and personally 
to blame for its misdeeds. I have so often been 
called on to defend The Times— a. paper from which 
I have never myself received anything but fair play 
and courtesy — that I shall use the liberty of writing 
of it as being in truth a national institution whose 
good fame must be dear to every Englishman. 

Needless to say, I was able to estimate at their 



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220 A TURKISH TOWN 

right value the Oriental reasons assigned for the 
attitude of The Times towards the Hellenist cause. 
The correspondent of The Times had received a 
breastpin from Prince Ferdinand. The correspondent 
of The Times was drawing a secret honorarium of 
;f 1 0,000 a year* from the Bulgarian Government. 
The correspondent of The Times had been carica- 
tured in an Athenian newspaper. And so forth, and 
so on. 

I am none the less bound to add that, in my opinion, 
the local correspondent of The Times has not always 
shown that scrupulous care to avoid even the appear- 
ance of one-sidedness which is desirable in a time 
of such bitter jealousy. It is not desirable that The 
Times should have to insert corrections from the 
Turkish Embassy in London, to the effect that out- 
rages attributed by its correspondent to Greek bands 
were really the work of Bulgarians. I happened to 
notice for myself that the report of the trial of the 
men who tried to kidnap Colonel Elliott contained 
the statement that three of the prisoners came from 
a Greek village, which was named, and the whole 
telegram was calculated to leave a careless reader 
ignorant that he was reading of a Bulgarian crime. 
The Fiorina letter persistently avoided the use of 
the word Bulgarian, the annexationist bands being 
described as " the peasants," and the impression con- 
veyed certainly being that the peaceable population 
was being provoked to retaliation by the Greek enemy. 
I have already produced ample evidence that the 
exact contrary is the case, the Greeks having come 
in answer to appeals for protection from peasants 
harassed by their Bulgarian liberators. 

With these remarks, which are in no way intended 
as a reflection on the personal good faith of the 
correspondent, I will proceed to the correction I have 
been requested to make by the Archbishop of Fiorina. 

^ This princely figure was actually named to me by one com- 
plainant. It might excite envy in the most popular novelist 



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CAZA OF FLORINA 



221 



According to the information accepted by The 
Times' correspondent, there are in the caza of Fiorina 
eighty-four Christian villages, of which only nine are 
Patriarchist, the other seventy-five being Exarchist; 
that is to say, Bulgarised. 

According to the Archbishop of the diocese (which 
is not quite conterminous with the Turkish caza), 
there are in the caza only seventy-one villages in all 
Of these twelve are entirely Moslem. Another sixteen 
are partly Moslem and partly Christian. The number 
of purely Christian villages is not eighty-four but 
forty-three. 

Of the purely Christian villages, twenty-eight are 
Patriarchist, their names being : 



Laghene 

koutschkoveni 

Leskovitch 

Cladorapi 

Elovon 

Belkameni 

Batch 

Hassanovon 

Papadie 



Tirsia 
Petorak 

ROSNA 

Lazena 

Neveska 

Cruserat 

gornitsovon 

dobroven 

Cherechovon 



Crapestina 

PiSODERI 

Klabasnitcha 
Calimi (upper) 
Calimi (lower) 
Negovani ^ 
Setina 
Rahmanli 

SOVITCH 

Zabirdeni 

There are nine villages of mixed Exarchists and 
Patriarchists. The number of purely Exarchist villages 
is not seventy-five, but six. 

In addition, there are Exarchists in eleven of the 
mixed Moslem and Christian villages. Let us add 
together all the villages in which any Exarchists are 
to be foimd, and work out the sum by fairy arithmetic 

The Bulgarian figures 75 

The Archbishop's 26 

2)101 
50.5 

I went round to the Konak, and submitted the 
1 Burnt by '^ the peasants ^ since the Fiorina letter. 



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222 A TURKISH TOWN 

Archbishop's figures to the kaimakam. He sent for 
the official register, went through the names under 
my eye, and gave me a result differing but slightly, 
and differing chiefly by treating some of the mixed 
villages as purely Moslem. Here is his account: 

Caza of Florina 

Purely Moslem villages 21 

Mixed Moslem and Christian 9 

Purely Patriarchist 27 

Purely Exarchist 9 

Mixed Patriarchist and Exarchist 5 

71 

The two authorities agree, within one, as to the 
number of Patriarchist villages. They agree exactly 
as to the total for the caza. 

According to the information given to The Times the 
caza contains eighty-four Christian villages, without 
counting the Moslem ones. Is it to be believed that 
a Turkish governor is ignorant of the existence of 
at least two dozen villages in his own department, 
villages which it is his duty and his interest to tax? 
The religion of the Christian villages may be a matter 
of controversy in some cases, but it is incredible that 
from twelve to thirty should be omitted altogether 
from the official register of the caza. 

The precise number of villages in a given area of 
Rumelia is of the smallest possible importance. But 
such a discrepancy as that between seventy-five and 
nine Bulgarian villages can hardly be explained as a 
pure inadvertence. Errors so gross reflect upon the 
whole of the information accepted by the same corre- 
spondent from the same sources on the same occasion, 
and perhaps from similar sources on other occasions. 
One is tempted to express the wish that The Times 
should be more reliable than "Brancoff." 

In company with the Metropolitan, I went to inspect 



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LIBERATION OF FLORINA 223 

the Greek school of Fiorina. This school has a hand- 
some endowment, by virtue of which it maintains 
sixty beds for orphans and poor lads from the villages 
of the diocese. The day happened to be the English 
Christmas, and, taking courage from my success at 
Nisia, I ventured to demand a holiday for the boys. 
The request was readily granted, and I was taken 
on to the girls' school, a new and handsome building, 
where I was encouraged to make a similar petition. 

Stimulated by these successes, I resolved to enfran- 
chise the entire juvenile population of Fiorina. I 
went round to the Bulgarian school, a rather small, 
poverty-stricken place, and secured a holiday for the 
young Bulgars. Then I bent my steps towards their 
oppressors. 

I was received at the Turkish institution by the 
most delightful figure I had met in all Rumelia, a 
white-turbaned figure straight out of The Arabian 
Nights. He must have been a Syrian or Arab. His 
smile was like moonlight on the water, and his bow 
was like the crescent moon. He led me from class- 
room to class-room with the grace of a court chamber- 
lain. When I proffered my demand for a holiday, he 
explained that the school was just closing for the 
day, but he smilingly consented to release his pupils 
for the morrow. 

The Turkish school was decidedly the cleanest, 
airiest, and best kept of the three. I may sum up 
my general impression of the schools of Rumelia 
by saying that I consider the Greek schools give the 
most advanced education and the Turkish schools are 
the best regulated as regards health and comfort. 
The Rumanian and Servian schools are well-con- 
ducted charities. The Bulgarians are doing their best 
to imitate the Greeks as regards education, but they 
are handicapped by want of funds, and the result is 
a little depressing. 

I went back to my inn feeling that my Christmas 
Day in Rumelia had been well spent. In the after- 



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224 A TURKISH TOWN 

noon the whole town was full of excited school- 
boys ; probably this was their first experience of the 
kind. I hope the "English Pasha" left a pleasant 
memory behind him. The Comitadjis might liberate 
Macedonia if they could — I was the liberator of 
Fiorina ! 



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CHAPTER XI 

THE HEART OF TURKEY IN EUROPE 

Fairy geography— The Bulgarian conquest— A new test of nationality 
— Sabbath-breaking — The Sultan's idea of education — The re- 
ligious difficulty solved in Turkey—A page of Tke Arabian 
Nig^kls—ln the military collie— Relations between Turks and 
Europeans— Turkey's appeal to England. 

The town known officially as Bitolia, and ecclesi- 
astically as Pelagonia, but nowadays more commonly 
called Monastir, lies in the middle of the vilayet of 
the same name, and in the middle of Rumelia. It is 
half-way between the frontiers of Servia and Bulgaria 
in the north and of Greece in the south, half-way 
between the Aegean and the Adriatic seas. Here is 
the vexed centre of the whirlpool; round Monastir 
the Folk War rages fiercely, and in the town all the 
opposed nationalities have their camps. 

The population of the entire vilayet, according to 
the official estimate, is nearly a million, made up as 
follows : 

Moslems 480,018 

Greeks 261,283 

Bulgarians . ^ 178,412 

919.713 
The figures obligingly furnished to me by Mr. 
DobrefT, the Bulgarian agent in Monastir, read rather 
differently : 

Bulgarians ^Exarchists) 302,000 

Bulgarians (Grecomaniacs) .... 60,000 
Bulgarians (Servomaniacs) .... 18,000 

All others 320^000 

700,000 
225 15 



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^26 THE HEART OF TURKEY IN EUROPE 

The discrepancy between these totals seems to be 
due, not to fairy arithmetic, but to fairy geography. 
Mr. DobrefF omits four out of the fourteen cazas 
comprised in the vilayet, on the ground that they 
do not contain any Bulgars. If we assign to the 
omitted cazas a population of 200,000 the figures will 
tally fairly well, and the vilayet as a whole will show 
a slight Moslem majority : 

Moslems 480,018 

Christians 439)69$ 

40,323 

Mr. Dobreffs figures must be considered moderate 
from his point of view, inasmuch as they leave the 
Bulgars in a considerable minority even in the 
Bulgarian cazas, if we deduct the " maniacs " : 

Moslems, etc 320,000 

•"Maniacs" 78,000 398,000 

Bulgars, not ^ maniacs " . . . . 302,00a 

96,000 

Such figures hardly present a very strong case for 
the annexation of the vilayet as a whole to the Princi- 
pality of Bulgaria. 

But the important discrepancy is that between the 
different figures for the sane Bulgars ; that is to say, 
the Exarchists : 

Bulgarian estimate 302,000 

Official estimate 178,412 

The Turkish Government, and even the Christian 
Powers, have refused to recognise conversions to the 
Exarchate made by violence during the last five or 
six years. The difference of 123,588 may therefore 
be taken to represent the number of Macedonian 
Christians who have succumbed during the reign of 
terror. It is the net achievement of the Comitadjis 
to date, in the vilayet of Monastir. 



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STATISTICS 227 

It will be instructive to compare these figures with 
those for the town of Monastir. The official census 
gives the total population, in round numbers, as 
40,000. The Bulgars, or Exarchists, according to 
Mr. Dobreff, amount to 10,000. The Greeks, or 
Patriarchists, according to the figures supplied to 
me by their Bishop, number 15,000, made up of these 
diverse elements: 

Hellenes 1,496 

Albanians 1)372 

Koutzo-Vlachs 4«7ii 

Bulgar-speaking 5,155 

Mixed 2,333 

1S1067 

Nothing could be more candid than this admission 
that the Hellenes, by speech, amount to one-tenth of 
the Bishop's flock. It has often been alleged that 
the Greeks are strong in the towns, while the rural 
population is almost entirely Bulgar. But here we 
have a town in which the Greeks by speech are an 
insignificant fraction, but in which the Greeks by 
sentiment nevertheless outnumber the Bulgars by 
three to two. And the reason is not far to seek. It 
is because the town is free from the influence of the 
terrorists. It is not urban pursuits that make the 
Greek : it is urban security. And it is not agricultural 
pursuits that make the Exarchist: it is fire and the 
sword. 

As I shall show hereafter, very little confidence can 
be placed in any estimate of the rural population of 
this country, even when it proceeds from an impartial 
source, because of the manner in which it is arrived 
at. The official census is always taken by houses, 
and the method followed, even by authorities like 
M. Bdrard, is to multiply the number of houses by 
five, and give the result as the population. That pro- 
portion may be fairly accurate for the towns, but 
it is quite misleading for the smaller villages. The 



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228 THE HEART OF TURKEY IN EUROPE 

"house," in rural Macedonia, is a term rather socio- 
logical than architectural. It stands for a group of 
kinsmen, perhaps containing half a dozen families, 
and two or three generations, all dwelling together 
and leading a common life under a patriarchal head. 
Should a thorough census ever be taken the result 
may contain surprises for all parties; and it will 
probably show that the Slave-speaking element is 
stronger than is commonly supposed, and the Moslem 
element considerably weaker in proportion. 

There is a test of nationality which has not yet been 
applied to Macedonia, though it is in constant use in 
Ireland — ^that of names. In an Irish revision court 
the Nationalist agent objects as a matter of course to 
a voter whose name is Smith or Jones, without think- 
ing it necessary to inquire further ; and the Unionist 
agent is almost equally sure to object to a Mac or 
an O'. 

While going over the Greek high school of Monastir, 
I happened to notice a class register, containing about 
forty names, lying open on the master's desk, and I 
asked that a copy might be made for me in order 
that I might see what light it threw on the boys' 
nationality. My request' reached the ears of the Greek 
Bishop, and inspired him with a resolution. Perhaps 
he had heard of " Brancoff " ; perhaps he only wished 
to impress me with the zeal of his people, and their 
anxiety that the truth should reach the ears of England. 
He set the schoolmasters to work, and before I left 
Monastir I received a complete list containing the 
names of every boy and girl attending a Greek school 
in the town, to the number of 2,385, arranged under 
their schools and classes. It was a touch of genuine 
Hellenic enthusiasm ; and it is perhaps the one trust- 
worthy sample of statistics that I obtained in Fairyland. 

I transcribe the names for which I asked originally, 
as they have been analysed for me by a Greek friend. 



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ANALYSIS OF NAMES 



229 



List of Pupils of the 2nd Form of the Greek 
Gymnasium at Monastir, Macedonia. 

Winter Term^ 1907-8 



Hellenic Names 
Georgios G. Photiades. 
Kyriacos N. Lucas. 
Stavro J. Sergiades. 
Anastasios J. Angelas. 
Christos Dimitriou. 
Anastasios S. Minas. 
Alexander K. Oeconomou. 
Stravros Stravrides. 
Thomas J. Vizinis. 
Evanghelos Pappasoteriou. 
Thomas Theo&nous. 
Demetrius Pappasotiriou. 
Thomas Tamatopoulos. 
Evanghelos Spyrou. 
Demetrius Triantafillou. 
Alexander Grigoriou. 
Michael Diamantides. 
Georgios Dimitriou. 
Naoum G. Anghelou. 
Memetrius Constantinou. 
Constantine Rouffas. 
Xenophon Johannides. 
Georgios Panos. 



Stephanos Dimopoulos. 
Nicolaos Chronis. 

Albanian Names 
Evanghelos G. Sourlas. 
Georgios Naoum Tsamos. 
Constantine Moulas. 

Slavonic Name 
Anastasios Naoum. 

Greeco- Slavonic Name 
Alexander Pappanaoum. 

Latin Names (Graeco-Koutzo- 
Vlachs) 
Alexander Zallis. 
Zisis Siempis. 
Michael Valiozis. 
Nicolaos Nousiaos. 
Margharitis Nallis. 
Michael Naris. 
Athanasios Gegnasis. 
Demetrius Santis. 
Athanasios Sountis. 



It will be seen that this test 3delds results much 
more favourable to Hellenism than the one of language, 
and it might be interesting to apply it on a more 
extensive scale. Its value is subject to the qualification 
that many of the surnames are baptismal names, as 
is so often the case in Wales ; and most of the popular 
baptismal names are Greek, owing to the custom of 
naming a child after the saint on whose festival the 
child is bom. The strongly Hellenist character of 
the Christian calendar must be attributed rather to 
historical causes than to the superior sanctity of the 
Greeks. But while names are not a certain proof of 
descent, they are much better evidence than language. 
At the least they are respectable testimony to the 



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230 THE HEART OF TURKEY IN EUROPE 

influence of the Greek Church over this population. 
Where races and religions are so hopelessly entangled 
it seems more and more clear that the only satisfactory 
test to apply is that required by the elementary prin- 
ciples of Liberalism, of Christianity, and of international 
jurisprudence, namely, free consent. 

The town of Monastir lies in one of those broad 
basins, surrounded by mountains, and alternating with 
noble lakes, that give to Macedonia the character of a 
honeycomb of which some cells are empty and some 
are full. A small river runs through the town in a 
channel which has been walled on both sides, and the 
quays have been planted with trees so as to form a 
promenade. There is also a respectable street leading 
towards the railway station, and an hotel not quite up 
to the European standard. 

The day after my arrival I called on the Governor- 
General, whom I found being lectured by one of the 
Consuls. The newspapers sent to the Italian gen- 
darmery officers had been delayed in the post, no doubt 
by the action of the censorship. The vali promised 
that they should be spared for the future, and his 
visitor departed. 

I applied to his Excellency for permission to inspect 
the Turkish schools of the town, and he at once sent 
for the Director of Public Instruction to make the 
necessary arrangements. I was invited to fix a day 
for my visits, and thoughtlesisly said " To-morrow." A 
traveller is apt to lose touch with the calendar, and I 
had unpardonably overlooked the fact that the next 
day was Friday. Neither the vali nor the director 
of instruction reminded me that I had chosen the 
Mohammedan Sabbath, and the director arranged to 
come to my hotel the next morning and take me 
round. 

It was not till we were in the carriage the next 
day on our way to the schools that the director, Saib 
Effendi, courteously explained that I should not find 
the full tale of scholars in attendance, on account of 



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THE SULTAN'S SCHOOL 231 

the day I had chosen. I felt very much distressed, 
and was only partly relieved by a promise that those 
pupils who had been required to attend on my account 
should receive a holiday on another day. 

It was, of course, evident to me by this time 
that my mission had attracted attention in very high 
quarters, and that instructions had been sent from 
Constantinople that I was to have every facility for 
Seeing whatever I wished of Turkey and her in- 
stitutions. But even such instructions were not 
sufficient to account for the extraordinary attention 
of opening three Moslem schools on a Friday, rather 
than request me to choose another day for my 
inspection. There was another reason, which I was 
to learn afterwards. 

The first institution I was taken to see was the 
Idadie, or Civil School, a handsome building standing 
hard by the Konak. I was received by the director 
of the school, and, his staff, which includes a medical 
officer, and, after receiving full information as to its 
character, I was shown all over the building, seeing 
class-rooms, dormitories, refectory, and infirmary. 

It would not be fair to institute a comparison 
between a public school supported by the Govern- 
ment and those maintained by the voluntary efforts 
of the Christian communities. It is therefore no dis- 
paragement of the others to say that the Idadie was 
the best school I had yet seen in Rumelia, as regards 
externals. What impressed me most favourably were 
the perfect order and cleanliness prevailing through- 
out. In the dormitories the beds were rather closely 
packed together — there were three rows in each room 
— but they were in apple-pie order, each with its red 
blanket smoothly folded ; and all the windows stood 
wide open, so that the atmosphere was sweet and 
clean. In each room there was a bed for a master, 
and I was shown a tell-tale machine to ensure the 
periodical visits during the night of the superintendent 



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232 THE HEART OF TURKEY IN EUROPE 

on duty. A Jesuit seminary could not have been 
more carefully regulated. 

The Civil School is so called because it has been 
founded to train lads for the Civil Service. It is not 
one of the recent reforms imposed on Turkey from 
without, nor does it enjoy the approval and support 
of Europeans. It has been in existence twenty years, 
and it is due to the personal initiative of the present 
Sultan. 

It has 350 pupils in all, of whom 140 are boarders. 
The day-boys receive their education entirely free. 
Of the boarders 44 are wholly supported by the 
State. The remainder pay ;g"io(;fi2 Turkish) a year 
for their board, lodging, education, and clothes. The 
pupils wear a handsome uniform, and the ;£'io is 
considered as meeting the expense of clothing. With 
that trifling deduction, the whole of the scholars are 
upon a free footing — a state of things for which it 
would be hard to find a parallel under any Christian 
Government 

The day-school is open to any boy who chooses 
to attend it The boarders are selected for their in- 
telligence, the poorest being admitted without pay- 
ment of any kind. They remain in the school till 
they are old enough to be drafted into the Govern- 
ment service, in which posts are found for the most 
deserving. 

The institution enjoys a freedom from religious 
exclusiveness of which few Christian countries have 
any idea — ^which may even offend the consciences of 
some English Christians. The day-school is open 
to Christians equally with Moslems. The number of 
Christians who take advantage of it is extremely 
small, but this is due to their own fanaticism. A 
Greek father whom I afterwards questioned on the 
subject answered that his boy would let himself be 
killed rather than go to the Civil School. 

Among the 100 boarders who pay the ;f 10 are 
30 Bulgars. Of the 44 who pay nothing 18 are 



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TRUE TOLERANCE 233 

Christians, 7 Greeks, 7 Bulgars, 3 Serbs, 1 Vlach. 
There are also 4 Moslems from Bosnia. 

Within the school itself the most perfect tolerance 
prevails. The Christian boarders are required to 
attend their own churches on Sunday, and during 
the week they are sent to receive religious instruc- 
tion at a school of their own faith, whose master is 
paid by the Government for teaching them. 

But there is more than toleration — a hateful word — 
there is consideration. As the director of the school 
led me through the class-rooms he pointed out this 
boy as a Moslem and that as a Greek, this as a 
Bulgar and that as a Turk; and neither boys nor 
master showed the slightest false pride or false 
shame. I tried to imagine the Anglican headmaster 
of an English public school being asked to receive 
young Wesleyans and Baptists among his pupils, 
and to send them to their own schools for religious 
instruction. And I failed to imagine it. I tried to 
imagine him conducting a foreign Nonconformist 
over his school, and pointing with genuine satis- 
faction and good-will to the Nonconformists in his 
charge. And I failed again.^ 

The director of the Idadie assured me that his 
Moslem pupils treated their Giaour comrades 'Mike 
brothers." A few days later I was visiting the 
school to which the Bulgarian boys are sent for 
religious instruction, and I asked the Bulgarian 
master how these boys were treated by the young 
Turks. He replied, " Like brothers." From a Greek 
friend I heard an anecdote showing that the same 
happy relations prevail in other colleges estab- 
lished by the Sultan. A Moslem and a Greek had 
contracted a strong friendship as fellow-pupils in 
the Government school of Smyrna. The holidays 

' A friend of my own, an Austrian count residing in England, 
desired to place his son at a £unous public school. The headmaster, 
without actually refusing; the boy, said that the inconvenience of 
allowing him Catholic privileges would be so great that he " advised " 
the father to place him in a Roman institution* 



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234 THE HEART OF TURKEY IN EUROPE 

arrived, and the Turk went off to his home near the 
Caucasus, where he fell dangerously ill. The news 
came to Smyrna, and the young Greek, too poor to 
travel at his own expense, begged or borrowed the 
necessary funds to go right across Asia Minor to 
the bedside of his sick friend — who happily re- 
covered. 

When I was leaving the Idadie I could not re- 
frain from saying to its director, " You have solved 
a difficulty that has not yet been solved in England. 
You have shown that it is possible to bring up 
boys of different faiths together, and to teach them 
to live in accord." 

In addition, the Turks have solved the problem 
of giving moral instruction apart from controversial 
theology. I found the boys in one class receiving 
a lesson in ethics. I took the book out of the hands 
of one of them, and got the director to translate a 
passage into French. It happened to be about 
gaspiliage. The book explained the diflFerence be- 
tween liberality and extravagance, and warned the 
young reader against being a spendthrift. 

It must be difficult indeed for any English Non- 
conformist who has ever heard of the Civil School 
of Monastir to refuse a tribute of respect to the 
sovereign whose views on education it embodies. 
But who has ever heard of it? To me I think it 
came as a greater surprise than anything I saw in 
the Turkish empire; and, unless I am much mis- 
taken, it will con^e as an equal surprise to most of 
my readers. But the person whom it ought to sur- 
prise most is that authority on Macedonia in whose 
book I find the following sage suggestion: 

" A university college where young men of all races 
and creeds could be trained together under European 
professors might do much, as Midhat Pasha saw, to 
break down the barriers which at present divide 
Moslems and Christians, Greeks and Bulgarians."^ 

^ Macedonia^ by H. N. Brailsford, p. 328. 



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A GIRLS' SCHOOL 235 

The author of this amazing proposal, put forward 
as a reform for Europe to press upon the Sultan, 
must have passed the Idadie fifty times without 
once going inside the door. 

It is my least agreeable, but not my least im- 
portant, duty to report on the reporters on whom 
England depends for information. When I tried 
to relate to one of them what I had seen of the 
Government schools, he rejoined, "Oh yes, I be- 
lieve the Sultan likes it to be thought that he is 
nuts on education." 

I print the coarse sneer in his own coarse language 
as an illustration, by no means an unfair one, of the 
frame of mind which is responsible for half the troubles 
of Turkey. The speaker had spent a year in the 
country and had never visited a Turkish school. If 
the Sultan created his noble foundations in the hope 
of winning the good opinion of the Consuls he 
grievously miscalculated the strength of European 
prejudice. 

From the Idadie I was taken on to a primary school, 
presided over by a turbaned master. The turban 
is the clerical badge, and the director of education 
apologised for the comparative inferiority of the 
education given here by explaining that the primary 
schools were still in the hands of the priests. Other 
countries further west could echo this remark. 

And then he took me to see a girls' school. Of all 
the wonders that had awaited me in Fairyland this 
was surely the most wonderful. A Turkish girls' 
school, kept open on the Turkish Sabbath to receive 
a visit from a man, a foreigner, and an infidel I What 
do we really know of Turkey, or of Abdul Hamid II. ? 

I was received by mistresses in long black veils, 
who feigned to scoop up dust from the ground and 
place it on their heads in token of abasement. I was 
received by unveiled Greek assistants, who had the 
hardihood to shake me by the hand. I was received 



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236 THE HEART OF TURKEY IN EUROPE 

by unveiled little girls who were openly amused and 
curious, and by elder ones whose thoughts were 
hidden from me behind the same shrouds as their 
mistresses wore. 

And I was shown embroideries — marvellous silken 
embroideries of flowers, the like of which were not 
to be seen in any mere Christian school. It was 
a vision, a glimpse of Asia, a page of the history of 
Harun the Just bound up in twentieth-century covers, 
and offered for my perusal by the Caliph Abdul Hamid 
Alraschid. 

On another day I was taken to see the Military 
School, a building as well equipped as the Idadie. 
Its director, Lieutenant-Colonel Nouri Bey, was a man 
of singularly refined and sympathetic manner, one 
of those Turks who make one doubt the superiority 
of Europe. 

Before taking me over the school he showed me 
a number of photographs of the building and of the 
pupils at their exercises. It is the camera, I imagine, 
which has had the greatest part in breaking down the 
old Mohammedan taboo against pictures of human and 
animal forms. In Constantinople I found in the shop- 
windows a picture postcard of one of the young princes, 
and while I was there the Sultan ordered a photograph 
to be taken of the Bairam reception, with himself as 
the principal figure. 

The Austrian War Office has been significantly 
busy quite recently on a map of Macedonia, but the 
result is more remarkable for size than accuracy. 
I mentioned to Nouri Bey one or two errors in it 
which I had detected as I came along, and he told me 
there were many others. He produced a smaller 
Turkish map, in pale green, which he said was more 
reliable, and his opinion of it has since been confirmed 
to me in impartial quarters. 

I was next taken into the three senior class-rooms, 
where the director insisted on my examining the 



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A MILITARY SCHOOL 237 

pupils. The first class was studying strategy, and a 
question on one of Wellington's campaigns in the 
Peninsula proved too much for the pupils, but elicited 
from the instructor an accurate r6sum6 of the retreat 
on Torres Vedras, illustrated by a sketch-map. The 
next class was engaged on military cartography, and 
one of the students sketched out a defensive position 
on the blackboard very readily. In the third class a 
lad was called up to write a model despatch reporting 
the arrival of a hostile force at a certain point. I 
suggested that the despatch should state the direction 
from which the enemy had come, and the addition was 
promptly made. 

It was a curious sequel to my one experience as a 
soldier to find myself catechising in a Turkish military 
school. I have not that acquaintance with schools of 
a similar kind elsewhere which would enable me to 
form a judgment on this one, but it was at any rate 
evident that no pains were being spared. 

Before I left Colonel Nouri took me into the 
armoury, where he showed me rifles which had been 
manufactured in Constantinople, and bore the Sultan's 
monogram. I also remarked some targets in the 
shape of dummy soldiers — another infraction of the 
strict letter of the Koran. The dummies wore red 
fezzes, and I ventured to remind my host that in real 
warfare the opposing force were not likely to be so 
distinguished. He took the criticism in very good 
part. But I am surprised that the Turkish troops 
themselves have not yet adopted a fez of a less con- 
spicuous colour for war or active service. If ever 
they march into battle against a serious enemy with 
their present headgear the slaughter is likely to be 
appalling. 

I found no Christians in the Military School 
Whether any would enter it if they were invited 
to do so is very doubtful, but at present they do not 
seem to be invited. On the other hand, no one is 
excluded on account of poverty. The education is 



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238 THE HEART OF TURKEY IN EUROPE 

free; and perhaps an army whose officers are not 
chosen accordiflg to the length of the parental purse 
has an advantage which may serve to counterbalance 
the disadvantage of the fez. 

The remarkable zeal with which the Turkish autho- 
rities had responded to my request to visit their 
schools had led me to suspect that it was one not 
often made to them, as I see on reference to my notes. 
When we were driving away from the Military School 
I sounded my companion, the Director of Public 
Instruction : 

" Is it usual to allow European men to visit your 
girls' schools ? " 

The answer startled me not a little. 

" You are the first European who has ever asked to see 
our schools. All the other Europeans who have come 
here — French, English, Germans — ^treat us as if we 
did not exist. They make a formal call on the vali ; 
and then they go off with the Greeks, or with the 
Bulgars, and never come near us again. They 
ignore the Turkish element in the population alto- 
gether. Why," he burst out, his emotion visibly 
overcoming him, "why do they treat us like that? 
They despise us, as though we were savage beasts ! — 
we are human beings. They never make friends with 
us. The Consuls never come near us. They will not 
associate with us. We know we have faults. We 
are trying to improve. We want to earn the good 
opinion of Europe. Why will they not give us a 
chance?" 

I tried to soothe his agitation. I promised that I 
would do my share towards promoting a more tolerant 
feeling. I prais,ed the school we had just visited, and 
told him that if I had a son I should be proud to en- 
trust him to its director. 

" Mercil^ he said, in a choked voice. 

That expression of feeling was all the more remark- 



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TURKISH RESERVE 239 

able because my companion was himself an Albanian, 
and, according to the class of authorities whom I may 
be excused from quoting further, the Albanians enter- 
tained just that feeling of scorn for the Turks against 
which my Albanian friend was protesting. I can only 
repeat once more that I have to describe things as I 
found them. Pure truth may not be within the power 
of mortal vision, but I will hope that the lens of 
sympathy is less distorting than the lens of spite. 

I must go on to say that, in my opinion, the com- 
plaint against the Consuls is, in this particular, un- 
deserved. It is on the Turks themselves that I must 
cast the chief blame for the lack of social intercourse 
between them and Europeans. It takes two to make 
a friendship, and, whether from fear or from the 
difference of national manners, the Turks on the whole 
do not exert themselves to welcome the stranger 
within their gates so much as do other nationalities. 

I need scarcely remark that I point this out in no 
unfriendly spirit. I have no doubt that the Turks 
suffer seriously from this isolation ; but, as with the 
Jews, I find that they have built their own ghetto, and 
shut the door upon themselves. 

I will add further, and again with no unkindly feel- 
ing, that it is partly the fault of the Turks that so little 
is known of the better side of their government They 
have done practically nothing to dispel the ignorance 
of Europe, and the prejudice based on that ignorance. 
They may be pardoned for adopting a sullen attitude 
towards the ordinary European who comes amongst 
them with his mind made up, and his verdict against 
them already framed. But even a fair and sym- 
pathetic visitor to Turkey is left to search out for 
himself what is creditable to the Turks, without much 
assistance from them. Such an attitude is in striking 
contrast with that of the Christians, who are eager to 
draw the visitor's attention to whatever is likely to 
impress him favourably. The difference is like that 
between the little girl dressed for her first party, 



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240 THE HEART OF TURKEY IN EUROPE 

and showing off to everybody her new sash and the 
rosettes on her shoes, and the little boy trying to hide 
his new clothes, for fear of being pinched by his 
school-fellows. I am sorry for the man who cannot 
sympathise with both, but there is no question which 
is the better policy. 

Before leaving Monastir I was honoured by a call 
from the Governor-General, who brought his own 
interpreter. He said to me that the Turks as a nation 
were good-hearted, and that they would make rapid 
progress in the arts of civilisation and good govern- 
ment if they were supported by England. 

It happened to be the very thing which had been 
said to me, at a time when I had no expectation of 
ever travelling in Turkey, by a valued friend whose 
husband was British Consul at Jerusalem during the 
Crimean War. In her view, as in that of his 
Excellency, the worst troubles of the Turkish empire 
are due to interested interference from outside. It is 
the Powers who hope to benefit by the break-up of the 
empire who perpetually stir up its subjects to revolt, 
in order that they may find a pretext for intervention. 
It is the same Powers who discourage every effort at 
reform on the part of the Turks, in order that they 
may proclaim to the world that the Turks are incapable 
of reform. 

Such is the Turkish case. There is another side to 
it, no doubt, and I do not feel that my present know- 
ledge of the situation justifies me in offering an 
opinion as to which is right. 

The policy actually pursued by England in recent 
years has been to confine herself to giving advice, 
well-meant, if not always good, advice, while allowing 
the real control to pass into the hands of the very 
Powers most interested in preventing that advice 
from being taken. 

The Power most interested in the Macedonian 
vilayets is Austria. In spite of Gladstone's memorable 



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AUSTRIA 241 

warning, it becomes more and more evident that 
if neither Turks, Greeks, nor Bulgars can put a 
stop to the existing state of anarchy, the public 
conscience of Europe will insist on a mandate being 
given to Austria to come in and pacify the region. 
And if Austria comes she is not likely to go again. 
The longer I stayed in the country the most strongly 
it was borne in upon me that this would be the 
inevitable end of the matter. I warned the Bulgars, I 
warned the Greeks, and I warned the Turks, that 
Austria was on the way ; and I had hardly got 
back to Athens when the news arrived that Austria 
was throwing a railway across the frontier. 

In making these observations I have no desire 
to reflect on the good faith of the Austrian Govern- 
ment. I feel, however, that the essential conditions 
of the problem have not been changed ; that the task 
before the Turkish reformers is long, difficult, and 
doubtful; and that England has never had a finer 
opportunity to regain and sustain her reputation in 
the Levant than is presented to her now.^ 

^ While I have been revising these proofs the march of events has 
furnished fresh corroboration for many of the observations made, but 
I have thought it unnecessary to note them in each case. The reader 
will see for himself how ^ the writer's anticipations have been 
fulfilled, or fidsified, ahready. 



16 



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CHAPTER XII 

THE BULGARIAN QUARTER OF MONASTIR 

A Greek outrage— A Bulgarian Archbishop— The spy— A Bulgarian 
play— The Sultan's difficulty — ^A Japanese agent— The truth 
about the Comitadjis — ^A new remedy — The white flag — ^A 
Turkish raid — American missionaries — ^A Greek poisoner 

On the third or fourth morning of my stay in 
Monastir my Greek dragoman brought me a report 
that during the night a Greek band had burnt the 
Bulgarian village of Bilianik, situated not far from 
the town. 

I had not yet grasped the extent to which accusa- 
tions against the Greek bands are fabricated by the 
terrorists against whom they operate, and it did not 
occur to me to doubt the report, particularly coming 
through such a channel. 

I welcomed this occasion for approaching the 
Bulgars in a friendly spirit, and showing that I had 
no more sympathy with such acts on one side than 
on the other; and I decided, first, to pay a visit of 
condolence to the Bulgarian Archbishop of Monastir, 
and afterwards to go out to the scene of the outrage 
and report it fully. 

My call appeared to take the Archbishop by sur- 
prise. The Turkish authorities, I fancy, are not the 
only people who take an interest in the comings and 
goings of suspicious strangers, and his Eminence 
may have been told that I was a Turcophile, or, 
worse, a Philhellene. 

34a 



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A CHRISTIAN GOVERNOR 243 

He was equally surprised to hear of the object of 
my visit. He had not heard of the outrage, he told 
me — ^an ignorance I was able to account for when 
I ascertained, later in the day, that it was a Greek 
village which had been attacked by a Bulgarian band. 

After his Eminence had promised to send for 
information about the matter, he consented to give 
me his views on the general situation. 

In his opinion the Turkish Government favoured 
the Greek and Servian bands. It punished one band, 
and let the next go free. Such an attitude would 
be natural, considering that only the Bulgarian bands 
are avowedly hghting to annex the country, and my 
own opinion is that the troops are rather more keen 
in chasing the Bulgarians. 

When I asked the Archbishop what remedy he 
favoured for the existing state of things, he said 
that he wished all races and religions to live in 
harmony. But he rather discounted this expression 
by telling me, immediately afterwards : ** There are 
no real Greeks in the country." That is, unhappily, 
the very point about which the pretended Greeks 
and the other Christians are at strife. 

His Eminence did not think the harmony he desired 
was obtainable under Turkish rule. I asked why. 
** Because the Turks oppress the Bulgarian popu- 
lation." 

I begged him to suggest how peace might be 
secured. He replied, " By appointing a Christian 
governor chosen from Norway or Switzerland." 
That meant, of course, a Protestant. A Roman 
Catholic governor would indeed unite Patriarchists 
and Exarchists, but he would unite them against 
himself 

The more I ^consider this suggestion, the less 
reasonable it seems to me. If the appointment of a 
Japanese governor were proposed I should see some 
propriety in it; but when the strife has been 
practically confined to the Christians, and the Moslems 



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244 BULGARIAN QUARTER OF MONASTIR 

have been keeping the peace in a truly exemplary 
manner under great provocation, it would be an 
extraordinary proceeding to punish them, and to 
encourage and reward the disturbers of the peace 
by appointing a governor who would be regarded by 
all as the friend and patron of the anarchists. 

Nevertheless, the only important question is whether 
such an appointment would cause the bands to cease 
their activity. I put that question to the Archbishop. 
He spoke eloquently in reply, but did not answer 
the question. I again pressed him to say if, on the 
appointment of a Norwegian or Swiss as governor, 
the Bulgarian bands would cease converting Patriar- 
chists into Exarchists by force. The Archbishop 
replied, of course, that it was wrong to use force, 
but he again abstained from answering me. 

Finally I said : 

" Supposing that I am able to obtain the word of 
honour of the Greeks and Servians to leave off, can 
I obtain the same pledge from the Bulgarians ? " 

On that rock our conversation split. The Arch- 
bishop would neither say yes nor no. I pressed the 
question again and again, without result. " The 
Church has nothing to do with the bands," I was 
told. " Nor has the Commercial Agent. Nor has the 
Government at Sofia. The Government is trying to 
prevent them from crossing the frontier." 

Finding that I could get no further that way, I 
asked, as a final resource : ** How can I get into 
touch with some one who has got something to do 
with the bands? How can I approach the Internal 
Organisation ? " 

The question was as useless as the other. The 
Bulgarian Archbishop could not even suggest a 
channel through which it might be possible to make 
overtures of peace to the Bulgarian bands engaged 
in making converts to his Church by force. 

I do not complain of the Archbishop for having met 
me in the spirit of a politician rather than a priest 



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A MYSTERIOUS CALLER 245 

He may have feared that if he had dealt with me 
differently I should have treated it as an admission 
on his part that the directing spirits of the propaganda 
were not entirely unknown to him. There are plenty 
of minds for which such technical points have value. 
A sensible man will no more doubt that there is 
some communication between the various wings of 
the Bulgarian party than that there is between those 
of the Greek. 

Although the Bulgarian prelate refused me his 
confidence, he was friendly enough to invite me to 
an entertainment to be given that evening at the 
Bulgarian high school, in aid of their charities. I 
was grateful for the opportunity to see a better side 
of a people whose worst side had been shown to me 
hitherto. 

Before the day was over I was destined to be re- 
minded of my engagement in a rather interesting 
fashion. A young man called at my hotel, and, after 
telling me in English that he was a Greek, proceeded 
to explain that he had heard of my arrival in the 
towii, and had come to oifer me his services as a 
guide and interpreter. 

By this time Mr. Kalopathakes had left me, having 
business which required his presence in Athens. I 
take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude for 
his friendly companionship and valuable services. 
My dragoman could only speak to me in French, a 
language in which neither of us was quite at home, 
and therefore my present visitor's oifer was not 
unwelcome. 

By way of testimonial, he produced a letter from a 
Government office in the United States. This docu- 
ment, in very circumspect language, set forth that the 
bearer was a Greek merchant who was qualifying 
for American citizenship, and that he was entrusted 
with the charge of an insane Turkish subject whom 
the United States were sending back to his place of 
origin ; and it invited the American Consuls and other 



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246 BULGARIAN QUARTER OF MONASTIR 

persons to give him such assistance as was proper 
in the circumstances. I thought the letter testified 
more strongly to the caution of the writer than to 
the high character of the bearer, and I invited him 
to give me a local reference as well. 

" It is unnecessary," he assured me. *' My family 
are well known in the town. You have only to ask 
any one you meet about me." 

I repeated that I thought a note of introduction 
would be more satisfactory, and suggested the Greek 
Consul as a person in whose recommendation I should 
place confidence. 

My visitor thought he could get a letter from the 
secretary to the Consulate. I said that the secretary 
would do equally well. 

I then approached the question of terms. The Greek 
gentleman, with the generosity of his nation, offered 
to waive that point. I insisted, and, as he could not 
bring himself to name any sum, I asked him to leave 
me, and consider the matter before he called again. 

In the doorway he turned back and asked me 
whether, in case he failed with the Greek Consulate, 
a note from the Bulgarian Agency would do equally 
well. 

I replied gravely that I should be perfectly satisfied 
with the Bulgarian Agent's testimony, and added that 
I hoped to meet the Agent that night at the enter- 
tainment 

On that he left me, with marks of surprise. When 
I mentioned this offer in the evening to the Bulgarian 
Agent that gentleman contented himself with saying 
that he believed my visitor to be a respectable person, 
but he did not offer anything in the shape of a 
written testimonial, an omission of which I took ad- 
vantage to refuse to see the man again. If in the 
course of my journey I encountered any real spy, I 
am inclined to think it was on this occasion. And I 
do not think he was acting in the interest of the 
Turkish Government 



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ESPIONAGE 247 

Let me say here, once for all, that in my opinion 
a great deal of what has been said on the subject 
of espionage in Turkey is nonsense. It is perfectly 
natural and necessary that a Government which is 
in a state of siege, engaged in repressing an insurrec- 
tion under the hypocritical supervision of the Powers 
which have stirred it up, should be nervous about 
foreign visitors, nearly the whole of whom come 
into the country as enemies. The last persons who 
can aiford to throw stones are the Consuls and 
correspondents whose whole occupation it is to go 
behind the backs of the authorities and gather com- 
plaints from their discontented subjects. I was 
provoked into saying to one Consul, who harped on 
the topic of espionage, " It strikes me that you Consuls 
are the worst spies in Turkey." 

The whole thing seemed to me so childish that 
while I was in Monastir I asked the vali to let me 
have a trustworthy messenger to take my letters 
to and from the post — a. request which must have 
astonished him a good deal. He placed a police agent 
at my disposal, and the first letter I entrusted to 
his hands was one for the Bulgarian Agent. I 
confess to some curiosity as to its fate. 

On arriving at the Bulgarian entertainment I was 
surprised and pleased to find a more distinguished 
visitor than Mr. Dobreff" or myself, in the person 
oi the Turkish Governor-General, seated, in the 
most friendly fashion, beside the Bulgarian Arch- 
bishop. The Archbishop was evidently far from 
suspecting the damaging effect such an associa- 
tion must have on his character in the eyes of 
** Europe." On the contrary, it was the vali who, as 
it were, apologised for his presence on the ground 
that he had formerly patronised a Greek function, 
and wished to show himself impartial I have almost 
feared to relate that an address of welcome was 
presented to his Excellency, together with a bouquet, 



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248 BULGARIAN QUARTER OF MONASTIR 

lest I should be accused of slandering the Bulgars 
of Monastir. 

The first part of the performance was musical, the 
second was a most natural little comedy by a Bulgarian 
playwright. It was a satire on the rustic manners 
of the Folk themselves. A former deputy in the 
Sofia parliament had become a professor in Vienna, 
and one of his old constituents was pa3ang him a 
visit. The fun turned on the contrast between the 
rough behaviour of the peasant visitor and the 
polished manners of his host, who tucked his table* 
napkin under his chin, while the poor peasant 
fumbled with his, and rolled it up in his hand. It 
would have been unkind to observe that the 
" European " practice at present inclines rather to the 
side of the peasant than the professor. 

Finding myself seated next to the Bulgarian Agent, 
I took the opportunity to talk with him on the 
business which had brought me to Monastir. He met 
me with much more frankness than the Archbishop, 
and I was not long in recognising that he was a man 
altogether superior to such Bulgars as I had hitherto 
come across. 

He did not pretend that the Government of 
Bulgaria took no interest in the Bulgarian propaganda 
in Macedonia. He stated that his Government was 
dissatisfied with the Comitadji organisation, and that 
the latter was now demoralised. He endorsed the 
Archbishop's policy, however. What Macedonia 
wanted was a Christian governor, named and sup- 
ported by the Powers. With some apparent incon- 
sistency, he praised the Governor-General of the 
vilayet,^ and said that he had no complaint to make of 
the Turkish authorities generally. 

^ I may remind the reader that my principle has been only to quote 
conversations in such a way as, in my opinion, cannot mjure Uie 
speaker. Had the Bul^^anan Agent spoken against the vali, I 
should have inserted his remarks in another p&ce, and without 
naming my authority. 



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THE SULTAN'S DIFFICULTY 249 

" The Sultan's intentions are excellent," he concluded, 
" but he cannot find good men." 

The more I have pondered this observation the 
more true it has seemed to me. And its verihood 
is evident, to my mind, by its almost universal applic- 
ability. I have heard exactly the same criticism made 
on one of the monarchs who is now engaged in 
supplying the Sultan's deficiencies in Macedonia; I 
mean the Tzar of Russia. I have seen a practically 
identical remark about the King of England, and 
endorsed at the last General Election. With the 
exception of Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, I suppose 
there is no sovereign on this planet — no republic even 
— ^that does not suffer from precisely the same difficulty. 

What is more strange, the justice of Mr. Dobreff s 
stricture is admitted by the Turks themselves. Many 
of them have said to me : ** We know our Government 
has faults, but so have other Governments." If they 
had been less polite they would have said, " So has 
yours." And their opinion would not have been 
eccentric. It cannot be denied that some such opinion 
was entertained by many Englishmen of Mr. Balfour's 
Government. And men, apparently sincere, have 
hinted to me that they considered the present Govern- 
ment not superior to criticism. 

"Who filled the butchers' shops with big blue 
flies?" The Government. And who hinted to the 
electors of Mid-Devon that the rise in the price of 
bread was not unconnected with the present Ministry's 
tenure of office ? The Opposition. In Turkey these 
evils have been wrought by his Imperial Majesty 
the Sultan Abdul Hamid. And Europe has stood 
aghast. 

I was coming away from the Bulgarian entertain- 
ment when I was waylaid in the hall by a sympathetic 
but excited lady who accepted a modest contribution 
towards her charities. I gave it in no spirit of 
treachery, and hardly know if I do wrong in repeating 
her confidences. They seemed to me intended for 



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250 BULGARIAN QUARTER OF MONASTIR 

publication. Europe, as represented by me, was not 
to be deceived by the hollow mockery of which I 
had been a witness upstairs. The Bulgarians of 
Monastir were not abject bondsmen, licking their 
tyrant's foot. They knew how to interpret the vali's 
presence in their midst. The comedy I had seen 
was no fair sample of Bulgaria's dramatic literature. 
There were other plays — plays calculated to stir the 
blood and make the oppressor tremble. But they 
had been prevented from staging one of them that 
night. The vali was there! 

I did not tell her that Turkey was not the only 
country in which there is a censorship of plays. 
After all, no one really wants liberty, and the 
character of the fetters seems to be a matter of 
taste. The Oriental despot stations his policeman on 
your public platform ; the Western Liberal stations 
his at your bedroom keyhole. 

I liked what I had seen of Mr. Dobreff so much 
that I decided to call upon him, although I had had 
no intention of making that round of the Consulates 
which seems to be regarded as the chief duty of a 
foreign visitor in Turkey. I was the only foreigner 
present at the Bulgarian entertainment, the only one 
who seemed even to have heard of it, and perhaps 
it taught me as much as listening to the foreign 
Consuls. 

The question I was anxious to discuss was the 
possibility of peace between the Christians. My 
journey had made me realise very clearly that any 
proposal for placing two-thirds of the population of 
the vilayet under the rule of the remaining third, 
Greek or Bulgarian, would be not only fantastic, 
but unjust. 

Mr. Dobreff met me with the same openness that 
he had shown overnight He said: 

"I will not pretend to you that we do not want 
any more territory. We are a young nation, and 
we are ambitious, and of course we seek expansion." 



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A JAPANESE FACE 251 

While we were talking, it all at once struck me 
that I was listening to a Japanese. There is some- 
thing about the face of the Bulgarian Agent which 
supports the view that the Bulgarians are a partly 
Mongolian race. The deeds of the Comitadjis smack 
of the Cossack, but the intelligence which directs 
them is more worthy of Tokio. 

Mr. Dobreff confessed that he saw no chance of a 
reconciliation between the warring factions. If the 
Bulgarian bands slackened their activity, the Greeks 
would take fresh heart. If the Greeks and Servians 
withdrew, the Bulgars would deem their chance had 
come. It was "a vicious circle" — the exact words 
used to me by our Ambassador in Constantinople. 

I went rather further than I had any right to go, 
perhaps. I said, "I believe I could persuade the 
Greeks to call off their bands if I were personally 
satisfied that the Bulgars would follow suit." 

The Bulgarian Agent shook his head. 

** The peasants would not understand you if you 
were to go to them with any such proposal. They 
would ask what object you had in view." 

There could be no better light on the difficulties 
that beset the question. A governor from Norway! 
A governor from Paradise could not succeed in 
gaining simultaneously the confidence of the Greeks 
and the Bulgars. Six weeks before my arrival, as I 
learned privately after this conversation, a peace 
overture had been made from the Bulgarian side, 
and rejected as a trap by the Greeks 1 

Mr. Dobreffs view of the Comitadjis was rather 
undecided. The peasants needed them to protect 
them from " the official bands " — in other words, the 
Turkish troops. At the same time the peasants 
suffered severely from the exactions of the unofficial 
bands. 

"The Bulgarian villages are poor, and they wish 
to be rid of the bands." 
It was startling testimony, as it stood. In my 



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352 BULGARIAN QUARTER OF MONASTIR 

opinion, it was true testimony. But my Greek friends 
would not accept the multiplication table as true if 
it came from Bulgarian lips. They told me that this 
was Sofia's latest pose, to deceive the Powers. Sofia 
wished to be able to say, " I wash my hands of this 
movement. I have nothing to do with it. I dis- 
approve of it. I consider the Comitadjis a curse to 
the country. You cannot hold me responsible for 
men whom my own consular agents have been 
denouncing for a year past." 

All that is very well. Sofia may have her ends in 
view, but yet it may serve those ends for Sofia to 
say the thing which is. Into Mr. Dobreff^s motives 
I am not called upon to pry. In my opinion — I repeat 
it — his words accurately described the situation. The 
average Macedonian, Exarchist as well as Patriarchist, 
is heartily sick of his liberators, native or foreign. It 
would be very strange if he were not. 

It does not follow that Sofia is sick of them, though 
there are signs even of that The assassination of 
Sarafoif in his own house in Sofia occurred while 
I was in Rumelia, and was very generally attributed 
to the instigation of the Bulgarian Government. 

I am able to confirm Mr. Dobreffs testimony on 
this head by a citation from a report addressed by 
the Bulgarian Archbishop of Uskub, in the neigh- 
bouring vilayet, to the Exarchate, and reproduced in 
The Hellenic Herald for August 1907. 

" The members of the Bulgarian Committees have 
exacted forced contributions from the Bulbars, and 
have committed various excesses and acts of mjustice, 
thereby causing incalculable loss. This behaviour of 
the Committees has spread terror among our people. 
And the consequence is that a large number of Bul- 
garian villages, and many notables, have sought, and 
continue to seek, relief from the forced contributions 
and excesses, and acts of terrorism, by fleeing to the 
(Ecumenical Patriarchate." 

In plainer language, they have sought for and 



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A PRACTICAL PROPOSAL 253 

obtained the protection of the Greek Antartes. I 
may be justified in adding the statement, made to me 
personally by a leader of those Antartes, "Captain 
Athales Bouas," that the Comitadjis in some places 
have actually required the Bulgarian villages to send 
women to their camps. 

Mr. Dobreffs remedy, it may be thought, showed 
the cloven foot. He considered that the peasants 
themselves would put down the Comitadjis, if they 
were armed. It would be sufficient to serve out a 
dozen or twenty rifles to trustworthy men in each 
village. This remedy had been tried formerly for 
non-political brigandage, and it had proved effective. 
The foreign gendarmery officers had recommended it 
for the present case. 

The obvious question suggested itself whether the 
rifles would be used against the unofficial bands or 
the official bands. 

The Turkish authorities, Mr. Dobreff admitted, 
entertained some doubt on this head. He sug- 
gested, however, that they might try the experi- 
ment of arming a single caza, and seeing the 
result. 

I asked which caza. Mr. DobrefF proposed the caza 
of Kirtchevo, on the border of Servia and Albania, 
because in that region there were both political and 
non-political bands. 

The Bulgarian Agent's proposal seemed to me a 
reasonable one, although my Greek friends detected 
some dark design or other in his choice of a caza. 
But the particular caza might be a matter of arrange- 
ment. The difficulty would probably lie in obtaining 
the consent of the Turkish authorities to the arming 
of Christians in the present state of the country. And 
even if they were willing, there are not many villages 
in Macedonia just now in which it would be possible 
to find twenty men worthy of trust by Turks, Greeks, 
Bulgars, and Serbs alike. 

Mr. Dobreif s frankness did not end there. Leaning 



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2S4 BULGARIAN QUARTER OF MONASTIR 

towards me to emphasise his words, he said in con- 
clusion : 

"The root of all the evil is the concentration of 
power in the hands of the Sultan. Arming the 
people will be a subtraction from that power. And 
every subtraction is a gain." Since those words 
were spoken the power has passed out of the hands 
of the Sultan into those of a party which has offered 
good government as the price of loyalty. But the 
worser elements of the Comitadji party are still 
active; Sandanski is still terrorising a considerable 
district around Serres, and it may be worth while 
for the new Government to consider Mr. DobrefFs 
suggestion. 

I did not say so to Mr. Dobreff, because I had 
come to learn and not to teach ; but I was beginning 
to feel that, if 1 were unfortunate enough to find 
myself governor of Monastir, my first proceeding 
would be to set up in the most conspicuous place 
in the town the biggest and blackest gallows that 
money could buy, and let it be known that it was 
not there for ornament. 

The reader will remark one thing about both these 
conversations with the heads of the Bulgarian party, 
and that is their refusal to encourage any effort on 
my part towards peace-making. At the time I was 
tempted to place an uncharitable construction on 
their attitude, but I have since seen reason to believe 
that they were actuated by honourable motives. In 
short, I think it probable that they feared to let me 
approach the Comitadjis lest I should be seized and 
held to ransom. 

For the Folk do not respect the white flag. Of this 
there is abundant evidence, and I need only cite the 
case of Tello Agra, as it was reported in the Figaro of 
July II, 1907. 

Tello Agra was a young Greek of 26, who had 
formed the desire, which, I believe, is common to all 
Greeks, of making peace with the Bulgars. With this 



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THE WHITE FLAG 255 

object he came into Macedonia as a leader of Antartes, 
and in a short time he succeeded in establishing a 
truce in his own district. He then made overtures to 
a Bulgarian chief named Zlatan, who enjoyed authority 
in the neighbourhood of Niausta. 

Zlatan received his overtures favourably, and invited 
Agra to come and meet him with a view to a friendly 
discussion. The young Greek accepted the invitation, 
and went, with only one follower, to the place of 
rendezvous. He was welcomed into the Bulgarian 
camp, and set down to a feast. The custom of dining 
beforehand with the man they intend to slay is a 
peculiarity of the Folk, which distinguishes them 
very strongly from the Arabs. In this case, it has 
been suggested to me, the object was to make sure 
that Tello Agra had come alone and unsupported. 

As soon as the meal was over Zlatan gave the 
signal. The two Greeks were seized and bound, and 
carried off to the mountains. On the next day some 
passing shepherds found their two corpses hanging 
from trees, hacked to ribbons. That of the would-be 
peacemaker bore a hundred wounds. 

In judging of incidents like these it must be borne 
in mind steadily that these tigers do not themselves 
pretend to be fighting for freedom. That is only the 
defence set up for them by their agents in the foreign 
Press. Here, on the spot, they do not conceal that 
their object is the subjection of the Christian popula- 
tion to the Bulgarian yoke, or its extermination. 

A day or two afterwards found me at the Bulgarian 
high school. It is well built, and seemed too large 
for the needs of the population, many of the class- 
rooms being half empty. The education here appeared 
fully up to the Greek standard. In addition to Turkish 
and Greek, the elder pupils take Latin. I thought this 
last infliction might have been spared them, but it was 
explained to me that Latin was necessary for those 
who were taking up law or medicine. 



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256 BULGARIAN QUARTER OF MONASTIR 

This question of languages is an appalling one all 
over Rumelia. I have been in schools where the 
unfortunate pupils were expected to know Turkish, 
Greek, French, English, German, and Latin, in addition 
to their native dialect of Slave, Armenian, or Spanish. 
A little Hebrew might be thrown in, in the case of 
Jews, and a little Italian, with a few words of Arab, 
would be picked up later on. Naturally, they cannot 
master any one speech, and their minds, if they ever 
try to think, must resemble a kaleidoscope. I should 
be tempted to point out Rumelia as a hopeful field 
for the Esperantists, but for the fear of adding an 
Esperanto nationality to those already battling for 
recognition. 

The Bulgarian schoolmaster apologised for a very 
ragged map of Europe which hung in one class-room. 
A new one had been ordered, but it showed Bulgaria 
as one country, instead of marking Eastern Rumelia 
by another colour, and the Turkish authorities had 
intercepted it. 

It was an incident in that veiled civil war between 
Moslem and Christian which goes on alongside of the 
Folk War between the Christians themselves. 

A more startling one was to follow. I had looked 
in at some adjoining premises where a number of 
orphans, poor little victims of the Folk War, were 
being fed ; and I was coming away again, when I felt 
my arm clutched frantically, and turned to see my 
charitable lady friend of the entertainment 

With deep emotion she told me that a typical 
Turkish atrocity was at that very moment being per- 
petrated in the town of Monastir, almost round the 
corner. The Turkish soldiery had invaded the peace- 
ful Bulgarian quarter, they were searching from house 
to house, they had placed a cordon across the streets, 
and many of the children were unable or afraid to 
come for their daily meal. 

My amiable, but perhaps not quite impartial, acquaint- 
ance urged me to "interest myself" in these proceed- 



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A TYPICAL ATROCITY 25; 

ings. I was a European; that is to say, a person 
whose obvious duty it was to hasten to the rescue and 
call on the Turkish authorities, in the name of the 
Powers, to desist. I took the agitated philanthropist 
at her word, so far as to ask her the reason for this 
raid upon the Bulgarian quarter. She told me that 
the Turks believed some Comitadjis were concealed 
there, and they had already arrested one. 

I was sorry that I could not see my way to call off 
the agents of the law. The man taken, as I learned 
afterwards, had papers on him, proving him to be a 
well-known chief, who had just arrived from Sofia to 
organise fresh atrocities. It was regrettable that the 
children in the quarter should have received a fright 
by his arrest ; but it would have seemed to me more 
regrettable that other children should have been 
orphaned or slain by his escape. The behaviour of 
the Turkish soldier may be rough beside that of the 
London policeman, but the shelterers and abettors of 
Zlatan and Apostol are hardly entitled to kid-glove 
treatment 

It was a typical Turkish atrocity, and a typical 
Bulgarian appeal. If my reception of it were more 
typical of the friendly European, there would be some 
hope of Macedonian bloodshed being stayed. 

An account of the Bulgarian quarter would not be 
complete without some reference to their influential 
allies, the American missionaries, or what are called 
such. 

The American missionaries in this part of the world 
are a class apart Some of them are of American ex- 
traction, but they have been born and brought up in 
the country, and are to all intents and purposes as 
thoroughly Bulgarised as Bulgars bom and brought 
up in the United States would be Americanised. 
Others are native Bulgars who have been converted 
to some American form of Christianity, and are con- 
sequently entitled, according to local ideas, to rank as 

17 



V'^ 



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258 BULGARIAN QUARTER OF MONASTIR 

Americans. The missions in Monastir and Salonika 
have branched off from the original mission to 
Bulgaria, and their work is practically confined to the 
Bulgarian population. They seem to share the feel- 
ings and ambitions of Sofia to the fullest extent, and 
their native colporteurs are reckoned by the Greeks 
as being among the most useful intelligence-agents of 
the Comitadjis, owing to the immunity conferred on 
them by the protection of the United States. 

So far as I am aware, the missionaries themselves 
do not disclaim responsibility for their share in the 
Bulgarian propaganda. The conductors of the Robert 
College, an institution of theirs at Constantinople, 
have publicly boasted that the Principality of Bulgaria 
is their creation ; meaning, it should seem, that their 
college educated most of its leading politicians. The 
capture of one American missionary, a woman, by a 
Bulgarian band for the sake of a heavy ransom has 
not diminished their sympathy with the cause ; indeed 
the forgiving spirit shown by the lady herself was 
so remarkable as to give rise to a suspicion — I am 
confident a wholly unjust one — that she had been a 
consenting party to the transaction. 

I have not made these observations with any desire 
to injure the missionaries, who are no doubt sincere 
and well-meaning persons. But it is natural that very 
great reliance should be placed, in England as well as 
in America, on the opinions as well as the direct state- 
ments of residents in Rumelia who are supposed to be 
Anglo-Saxons, free from local prejudice ; and on that 
account I have felt entitled and bound to point out 
that the agents of the American Mission are scarcely 
more impartial than the native Bulgars or Greeks. 

In Monastir they have an orphanage, which was 
the first institution I went to see on my arrival in the 
town. There is a friendly intercourse between all the 
few Protestants in the Levant, and my companion, 
Mr. Kalopathakes, therefore found himself among 
friends. 



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A HIDEOUS CHARGE 259 

I was disappointed by the character of the building, 
which impressed me as rather miserable. The room in 
which the lady superintendent received us was bare 
and dingy, and there was a general air of untidiness, 
and almost of squalor, about the place, which this lady 
apologised for by saying that there had been illness 
among the children. 

The number of orphans was about thirty, of whom 
two were pointed out to me, by my request, as Greeks. 
They all appeared to be cheerful and well clad, and 
it was evident that the superintendent was doing her 
best for them with inadequate means. But, on the 
whole, this institution was the least pleasing that I 
visited in the country. It compared unfavourably 
with the Rumanian and Servian ones, to say nothing 
of the Greek and Turkish, and was quite unworthy of 
the great country which it represented. 

The lady superintendent, in the course of con- 
versation, informed me that the Bulgars of Monastir 
had ceased to take advantage of the Greek hospital 
in the town, because one of them had been murdered, 
while an inmate, by a Greek doctor. On my ex- 
pressing some surprise at this hideous charge, she 
added confidently: 

" There is no doubt about it. The Greek doctor 
confessed what he had done. He said that he had 
received an order to poison the man, and he had 
poisoned him." 

" Did the Greek doctor say that to you ? " I asked. 

" No, not to me ; but he said it to some one in the 
town." 

I returned, without trying to conceal the view I took 
of that answer, " Since I came into this country I 
have made it a rule not to believe anything that is not 
told to me, myself" 

The lady missionary looked rather embarrassed. 
Probably it was the first time in her life that she had 
ever been called upon to substantiate a statement, 
or had had it suggested to her that it was wrong to 



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260 BULGARIAN QUARTER OF MONASTIR 

make atrocious accusations to damage political adver- 
saries without having an atom of proof to support 
them. If there were a word of truth in that story 
the Greek hospital of Monastir ought to be reduced to 
ashes. If there be no word of truth in it, what must 
we think of the class that lightly repeats it to every 
passing traveller, and perhaps makes use of it on 
religious platforms, at a distance of four thousand 
miles from contradiction? 

The Bulgars have no hospital of their own in 
Monastir, and, according to a writer who would seem 
to have been in close association with the American 
missionaries, the Turkish hospital is regarded by 
them as a mere lethal chamber.^ Under these cir- 
cumstances it seemed worth ascertaining how they 
fared. 

I visited the Greek hospital, and found it half empty. 
It had been built originally to meet the wants of all 
the Christians, but since the Folk War broke out the 
Bulgars are no longer admitted as in-patients. Accord- 
ing to the dispenser in charge, who showed me over, 
the Bulgars object equally to coming, and the Greeks 
to receiving them. But, he added, they continue to 
come to the dispensary, where they receive advice 
and medicine free of charge. It should not be 
more difficult to poison them as out-patients than 
as in-patients. (It is worth adding that some 
Moslems resort to the Greek hospital as paying 
patients.) 

The Bulgars now go, in the latter capacity, to the 
Turkish hospital. The head-master of the Bulgarian 
school confirmed this statement by saying that the 
Bulgars resorted to the Turkish hospital quite freely, 
and were well treated there. The doctors are all 
Turks, the dispenser is a Greek — one trusts, not a 
poisoner. 

^ ** There are, it is true, two Turkish hospitals, one civil and one 
military, but the average peasant would rather die than trust himself 
within them.*— ^o^^^m'a, by H. N. Brailsford, p. 199. 



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CALUMNY 261 

I cannot hope that this exposure of one of the 
calumnies so freely circulated in the interests of the 
Folk is likely to check the propagation of others 
equally baseless ; but, at least, it may cause them to 
be received with more distrust in future by the 
Western public. 



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CHAPTER XIII 
"all peoples, nations, and languages" 

An alannist rumour— The story of Bilianik— The Italian gen- 
darmery officer — An Albanian witness — ^A Christian Bishop — 
The Servian view— A Greek barrister on Turkish justice— A 
Turkish prison— Hellenism triumphant— The three tales of 
Rokotina — In a Moslem village. 

One evening, while I was in Monastir, my dragoman 
came to me with exciting news. 

" There is something going to happen in the town 
to-night. The Bulgarians are going to make an attack 
on the Greek quarter. The authorities have posted 
a guard in front of all the Consulates except the 
Bulgarian 1 " 

The dragoman had learned by this time the meaning 
of the English legal phrase, " the best evidence," for 
he added, of his own accord : 

" If you will come with me I will take you round 
to all the Consulates, and show you the sentry 
opposite each." 

I accepted the offer, saying that I had business at 
the Greek Consulate, and we would go there first 

When we arrived at the Greek Consulate there was 
no sentry to be seen 1 The dragoman acquiesced 
meekly when I told him that I did not think it 
necessary to pursue the quest further. If the Bul- 
garians spared the Greek Consulate they were not 
likely to attack the Russian. 

Such are the little distractions that beguile the 
tedium of life in an Eastern town. It does not do 

2^ 



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BILIANIK 263 

to take them too: seriously, and yet it does not do to 
take them too lightly. There was a certain night in 
Cairo, not so very long ago, when the Egyptian troops 
were all deprived of their arms under the pretext of 
musketry inspection, and every British soldier had 
ball cartridge served out to him, and was kept under 
arms till dawn. 

The Greek Consul at Monastir, Mr. Dimaras, was 
not less anxious than my Greek friends elsewhere 
that I should be told the exact truth, and I was 
indebted to his kind offices for clearing up more than 
one wild report. 

By way of example, I will quote the case of Bilianik, 
which proved rather more substantial than some of 
the others. Bilianik was the village on whose re- 
ported destruction, by a Greek band, I had gone to 
condole with the Bulgarian Archbishop. 

As it turned out, this was the only report of a Greek 
outrage on Bulgarians which reached me while I was 
in the country. I showed myself ready to receive 
information of the kind, provided I were allowed to 
check it I came into contact with Bulgarian Agents, 
a Bulgarian Bishop, Bulgarian schoolmasters, and 
Bulgarian missionaries, as well as with Turkish 
authorities who had no sympathy with the Greek 
bands. But the only outrage reported to me on the 
spot turned out to be a Bulgarian one, and on the 
occasions when I found myself on the actual track 
of the Greek partisans they appeared to be acting 
strictly on the defensive. I am far from questioning 
that their bands have been guilty of outrages, and I 
am still farther from excusing them. But I think 
the idea of their doings instilled into the mind of 
Europe must be grossly exaggerated, and that it is 
due at least as much to the activities of Bulgarian 
correspondents as to those of the Greek bands 
themselves. 

The Bilianik outrage, like so many others, dwindled 



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264 "ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, LANGUAGES" 

more and more as I approached it. Originally the 
whole village had been consumed. Later accounts 
reduced the tale of damage first to twenty houses, 
and then to five. In the end it turned out that one 
house had been partly, and a few bams totally, 
destroyed. 

As luck would have it, I happened to be round at 
the Greek Consulate when a group of the villagers 
arrived to tell their story. The chief sufferer was 
called in, and his statement was interpreted to me 
in English by the secretary of the Consulate. 

"My name is Stoitze George. I am a labourer 
working on the farm of Omar Bey, who is president 
of the municipality of Monastir. 

" The produce of the farm is divided between the 
bey and myself. The chief crops are cereals. The 
horses and ploughs belong to me. The bey provides 
the seed. 

"At the end of the harvest the bey sends a man, 
and we divide the produce together. I am far too 
honest to hide any before the bey's man arrives. 

" Last night, at ten o'clock, the village was attacked. 
I heard shots, but saw nothing, as I was afraid to go 
out. We had received no threat or warning before- 
hand. The band stayed one and a half hours. 

" They set fire to my house and my stable and bam, 
and five cows and twenty sheep were burned. I saved 
part of the house. All the animals' food was burned. 
Other people's bams were burned. 

" In the village we speak the language I am speaking 
now — Bulgarski. We belong to the Greek Church, 
which is ours by tradition. All the villagers are the 
same. 

" Bands have often come to us to make us change. 
Our priest is Greek, and we have kept the faith. The 
bands said to us, ' Become Bulgarians, and you will 
be free.' We answered, * We cannot. We want our 
freedom in our own religion.' 



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STOITZE GEORGE 265 

" We have been with our story to Omar Bey, to the 
Bishop and to the Consul, but not to any Turkish 
authority." There was an outburst of genuine in- 
dignation at this last question. " Why should we go 
to the authorities ? — ^we come to our parents." 

The spirit of Stoitze George is one which the Young 
Turks can hardly hope to change in a day. 

And now, what a light does that simple statement 
throw on the hypocritical pretences by which it has 
been sought to disguise the true object of the Folk 
War ! " Macedonia for the Macedonians," says the 
Bulgarian Agent. " Let all races and religions live 
together in harmony," says the Bulgarian Archbishop. 
*^ Become Bulgars, and you will be free," say the 
Comitadjis. And the peasants who wish to be free in 
their own religion are invaded, their houses and bams 
are fired, and their wretched sheep and cattle are 
burned alive. 

Although I met Stoitze George in the Greek Con- 
sulate, and although he spoke of the Greek Consul as 
his parent, I do not reckon him a Greek. Neither, of 
course, is he a Bulgar. He is a Macedonian Christian, 
and nothing more at present. The strongest senti- 
ment he knows is a religious one; it is fanatical 
adherence to the Patriarchate; but his children will 
grow up Greeks. The Comitadjis have finished the 
work that the Greek schools and churches had begun. 
They have taught these Macedonian peasants that 
liberty, as it is understood at Sofia, is worse than 
slavery as it is understood at Stamboul. 

The only European on whom I called in Monastir, 
beside the British Consul, was Colonel Albera, the chief 
of the Italian gendarmery officers, who has his head- 
quarters here. Our interview confirmed the high opinion 
I had heard expressed of this officer in many quarters. 

I found him repining at his long exile from Italy. 
He complained that life in Monastir was anything but 
cheerful, and contrasted his lot, in having been kept 



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266 "ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, LANGUAGES" 

at his post four years, with that of the English officers, 
who were changed every year or two. 

His depression was deepened by the feeling that he 
was accomplishing no solid good. He despaired of 
finding any remedy for what he termed the " Mace- 
donian salad"; and he believed the reformed 
gendarmery would collapse to-morrow if the foreign 
officers were withdrawn. 

At the same time he doubted very much if the 
people of the country would like European rule. The 
strict laws, the heavy taxes, and the conscription, he 
thought, might cause them to regret their present 
condition. A similar doubt has assailed the mind of 
M. Victor B6rard, and was shared by our Consul- 
General at Salonika. 

" A Christian is very well off here if he does not 
meddle with politics," was the judgment of Colonel 
Albera. 

The Italian officer considered that there was no 
difference between the Greeks and Bulgarians in the 
enormity of their outrages ; but his account of the 
character of the bands agreed with that of the boy I 
had questioned at Vodena. The Bulgarian bands 
were formed locally ; a small nucleus under a voivode 
arrived in a district, and called out the Bulgarian 
peasants like a militia. The Greek bands resembled 
military detachments, more of them were strangers to 
the country, and they had more officers. They were 
paid from Athens, and they paid their way wherever 
they went, whereas the Bulgarian bands lived on the 
country. 

Colonel Albera considered that the Turkish army 
was ill-trained and ill-equipped, whereas the Bulgarian 
army was first-rate, especially in its infantry, which he 
characterised as a " model infantry." But he naturally 
declined to express an opinion as to its chances in an 
encounter with the Turks. 

The only witness whose evidence I was obliged to 



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IN CAMERA 267 

take in camera was one who professed himself impartial 
as between Greeks and Bulgars — he was himself a 
Protestant Albanian — but whose reason for not letting 
me mention his name was fear of the Bulgars. He 
told me that he had contributed, under threats, to the 
Comitadji funds. Many Greeks, and even some Turks, 
had done the same when the movement first started. 
But when the Greeks found that the liberators had 
made 125 villages turn from the Patriarch to the 
Exarch, they changed their minds. Up till then they 
had made no move against the Bulgars. 

Now, he stated, the wretched villagers were going 
to and fro as each band arrived. I heard from another 
source of one village which had been compelled to 
change its profession six times. 

My Albanian witness, I found, was in strong 
sympathy with the attempt to revive or create an 
Albanian literature. Indeed I am inclined to think 
that movement is very largely a missionary one. It is 
disapproved by the Government, which has learnt by 
experience that the school-book is quickly followed 
by the cartridge, if not by the bomb. 

It is difficult to say how far the Albanians have been 
affected by the attempts made to detach them from the 
cause of Islam, as represented by the Sultan. The 
Moslem Albanians are rather recent converts, and 
Albania is the one country in the Balkan region in 
which the feeling of nationality seems to be inde- 
pendent of religion. Thus I have heard of an Albanian 
Moslem going to stay with a Christian at Athens, 
and I am told that an Albanian Christian would be 
received as a friend by his Moslem countrymen in 
Constantinople. There seems to be a certain likeness 
between this people and the Swiss, who have so suc- 
cessfully overcome the dividing influence of creed. 
The Albanians further resemble the mediaeval Swiss 
in being mercenary soldiers, but, also like the Swiss, 
they are faithful to their paymaster as long as the 
money lasts. 



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268 "ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, LANGUAGES" 

Austria and Italy are both making efforts to attach 
this wild people to their interest But they have no 
relish for European law and order; they refused to 
accept the extension to their country of the Mace- 
donian reforms. Italy might find another Abyssinia 
in Albania. On the whole they are never likely to 
find themselves better suited with a master than they 
are at present, and an independence that deprived 
them of the privilege of raiding the Servian plain 
would hardly suit them much better. 

In the event of a withdrawal of the Turkish flag 
across the Vardar, or across the Bosphorus, the Greeks 
believe that Albania would be their natural ally. 
They do not aspire to govern the country, but to live 
on good terms with it, and to enjoy its military sup- 
port against the encroaching Slave. 

I have already touched on the character of the 
Greek element in the town of Monastir. In the 
absence of the Archbishop, who is in Constantinople, 
serving on the Holy Synod, the diocese is being 
administered by one of the few Greek prelates who 
retain the modest style of Bishop. 

The Bishop of Petra is a native of Koniah, or 
Iconium, in the heart of Asia Minor, where the Greeks 
are surrounded by a pure Turkish population. He 
told me the interesting fact that his sisters could speak 
no language but Turkish — which he put forward as 
an argument against treating language as a test of 
nationality. It seemed a rather strong argument. 

Equally forcible was his observation on the Exarchist 
Bulgarian propaganda in Macedonia : 

" The best proof that the people do not want to be 
Bulgars is that they have had to convert them by 
force." 

It is a difficult remark to answer. The Bulgarian 
apologist can only excuse the atrocities of his clients 
by arguments which would be rejected with horror 
by the ordinary anarchist. According to him, if in 



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ANARCHIST APOLOGETICS 269 

any country a body of men, however contemptible in 
point of numbers, band themselves together to seize 
the government, they are thereby justified, not merely 
in employing assassination against the agents and 
supporters of the government in existence ; they are 
justified in usurping authority over the ordinary peace- 
able inhabitants; they may rob and plunder them, 
they may murder those who complain, or torture those 
who hang back.* 

If the anarchists of Europe should ever be tempted 
to act upon these principles, the world will become 
one great carnival of horror. And if anything could 
add to their wickedness it would be their extension 
to what is, in substance, a war of annexation, waged, 
not against the Turkish Government, but against the 
Hellenist people. In order to understand the full 
bearing of this frightful reasoning, we must imagine 
Ireland an independent republic, and emissaries from 
Dublin landing in Liverpool to conquer that city. 
They will be received and sheltered in the Irish quar- 
ter ; they will shirk encounters with the English police ; 
but they will set about bringing over the Welsh 
citizens to their side by a campaign of savage terror. 

After I had left Monastir, I wrote to the Bishop to 

thank him for his kind attentions, which included the 

marvellous gift of a Christmas pudding 1 The Greek 

clergy have been so fiercely assailed for their political 

activities that I shall be excused for printing the reply 

I received, which breathes the true spirit of a Christian 

pastor. 

" Monastir, 

^^ January 6, 1908. 

"Dear Mr. Upward, 

"I have received your letter, and I hasten to 
thank you for all the good you are trying to do on 

' ^ A revolutionary organisation has as much right as a recognised 
Government to punish traitors, and to levy taxes by mz^,^'-Mctcedoma^ 
by H. N. Brailsford, p. 129. But the whole chapter must be read in 
order to see the lengths to which Bulgarian sympathisers are prepared 
to go. 



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270 "ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, LANGUAGES" 

behalf of the Christians of this unhappy land. May 
the Almighty assist your labours, and grant the prayers 
which I frame for the peace ^ of this country. I do not 
know how to thank you enough for having been good 
enough to undertake, for humane ends, a journey so 
trying. 

" I beg you to excuse me for not having found you 
at home on the morning of your leaving, when I came 
to the hotel to accompany you to the station. Hoping 
to see you again soon, I beg you to accept the assur- 
ance ot my smcere esteem. 

" The Bishop of Petra, 

" Emilian." 

The Greeks of Monastir had no difficulty in citing 
cases in which the authorities seemed to have leant 
rather to the Bulgarian side than theirs. Five of the 
most active members of each community had been 
deported a short time before; the Bulgars had been 
permitted to return, but the Greeks were still in 
exile. 

The Turkish Government could hardly favour the 
Bulgarian party as a deliberate policy without being 
insane, and I am tempted to attribute some of these 
acts of clemency to the superiority of the Bulgars in 
the arts of influence. One Turkish official was pointed 
out to me as having solicited from the Greeks a modest 
recognition of his good-will towards them, and having 
been refused. 

The Rumanians are said to show more gratitude, 
and they certainly seem to be on excellent terms with 
the local authorities in most places, as long as they 
confine themselves to the peaceful work of education. 

Their principal institution in Monastir has been in 
existence since 1880. It claims 147 pupils, of whom 
130 are boarders, and has a staff of 18 masters. There 
are also three Rumanian primary schools, and one for 
girls. The boarders, I was told, were nominated by 
the different Vlach communities. I went over the 

' This word, ^^ pacification^* is underlined in the French original. 



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THE SERVIAN CLAIM 271 

principal school, which struck me as prosperous and 
well conducted. 

On a subsequent occasion I inspected the similar 
Servian institution. I had made an appointment 
beforehand, and the Servian Consul was present. 
The pupils here numbered about sixty, and they 
seemed to be entirely boarders — in short, it was a sort 
of Bluecoat School. Nothing could be better for the 
fortunate young Macedonians who are admitted to it, 
and nothing more illusory, I fear, for the Government 
which keeps it up. As in the Rumanian schools, I 
found a plethora of teachers — in fact, two of these 
gentlemen were passing their time agreeably in a 
parlour of their own, while their colleagues were on 
duty. But I could not criticise, when I found the boys 
looking so happy and well cared for. They wore 
uniforms as smart as those of the Government school, 
and their singing was the best I heard in the whole 
country. 

From the Servian Consul I received an important 
piece of information. The whole population of Mace- 
donia, he told me, was Servian. I fancy he had come 
to the school to meet me on purpose to communicate 
this secret, which has been so successfully kept up 
to the present. I know not whether I am the first 
traveller whom the Servian Government has taken 
into its confidence, or merely the first to betray it. 

After all, the Servian claim is quite as reasonable as 
the Bulgarian ; the only difference is that it comes too 
late. A course of "Brancoff " leaves the investigator 
cold in the face of statements like that of the Servian 
representative. 

In the north-west of the country— that is to say, 
towards the frontier of the Servian kingdom— the Chris- 
tian population undoubtedly prefers that nationality. 
It has resisted the Bulgarian bands, and Servian bands 
have entered the field in defence, exactly as in the case 
of the Greeks. Their common interest in resisting 
the aggressive Principality has drawn the Greeks and 



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272 "ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, LANGUAGES" 

Serbs together. The city of Athens has just named 
a street after a Servian hero, and the compliment is 
likely to be returned in Belgrade. It is fair to add 
that Servia has always shown herself ready to come 
into a scheme for peace and union between the Balkan 
States. But she has been no more successful than 
Greece in softening the temper of Bulgaria. 

One of the most interesting days I spent while at 
Monastir was occupied in visiting the two large villages 
of Timovo and Megarevo, which lie only a few miles 
out along the road to Ochrida. Their united popula- 
tion is about five thousand, and they are peopled 
almost exclusively by the Lame Welsh. 

My guide on this occasion was Mr. Tsiganes, a 
Greek barrister practising in the courts of Monastir. 
I was interested to learn from him that he had both 
Turkish and Bulgarian clients. He told me the story 
of one case in which a wealthy Turk had taken 
him completely into his confidence. In his general 
experience, the Turkish tribunals are impartial as 
between Moslem and Christian in civil cases. He 
would not say that they were wholly incorruptible, 
but I gathered that what corruption existed was rather 
in Constantinople than in the local Courts. In criminal 
cases he considered that there was some leniency 
shown to Moslems for political reasons. The Govern- 
ment did not feel itself strong enough to carry out a 
death-sentence against a Turk in a case arising out of 
the Folk War, and therefore the Courts acquitted in 
order to spare the executive an awkward dilemma. 

The case he cited in illustration was that of two 
Turks, who had been hired by a Greek to throw a 
bomb into a Bulgarian shop. There was evidence 
against the Turks, but none against the Greek, and the 
Court had ended by acquitting all three. I explained 
that in England one of the Jurks would have been 
offered a pardon on condition of giving evidence 
against the Greek. This idea was quite new to 
Mr. Tsiganes, and evidently would be so to the 



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A TURKISH PRISON 273 

Turkish Courts as well. But the case shows what 
must, I think, be generally admitted, that the Turkish 
tribunals are not sufficiently severe. I do not think 
there can be many countries in which that Greek 
would have been allowed to get off. And even when 
the Courts condemn, the Government pardons. Five 
thousand Bulgarian offenders have been released in 
five years. It is to be feared that in too many of these 
cases mercy towards the criminal is cruelty towards 
his victim. But we must always be upon our guard 
against the injustice of applying our own strait-laced, 
perhaps Pharisaical, ideas to a country where climate, 
history, and race have all tended to produce a different 
morality. 

While in Monastir I visited the prison. I was 
moved to do so because of the assertions made to me 
that it was a place Europeans were not permitted to 
enter. Even the Italian officers, I was told, were 
jealously kept outside ; and, of course, the suggestion^ 
was that it was a den reeking with horrors comparable 
with those of Spain and Naples. 

I purposely made the visit a surprise one, and the 
governor, or head warder, was away. The prison 
proved to be a ramshackle affair, partly built of wood, 
standing in an open yard divided off by a wooden 
paling. In the yard a stork meditated placidly, and 
various persons, whom I supposed to be first-class 
misdemeanants, followed its example. Upstairs I was 
taken into two or three rooms, of exactly the same 
character as those in an ordinary Rumelian dwelling- 
house. The average number of captives in each room 
was six, and they were lying comfortably on beds 
stretched on the floor. In one room I came upon a 
couple of Bulgarian priests, who had been seized with 
rifles in their hands. There can be few European 
criminals, I should say, who would not greatly prefer 
being tried by a Turkish Court, and confined in a 
Turkish gaol, to running the gauntlet of European 
justice. 



18 



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274 "ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, LANGUAGES" 

The prison I saw had just before been condemned, 
and a new one was being built close beside it, by 
order of Hilmi Pasha. It promises to be a much 
less pleasant place of retreat 

My reception at Timovo and Megarevo, which 
practically form one town, partook of the character 
of a public triumph. The day chosen was a Sunday, 
and the population lined the streets as we drove 
through. But for the absence of cheering, I might 
have imagined myself a parliamentary candidate once 
again. 

The first place I was taken to see was the church 
of the Panaghia, that is to say the Virgin, in Tir- 
novo, a fine specimen of the Byzantine style. On 
the altar I found a number of votive offerings in the 
shape of silver models of various parts of the 
human frame. The Panaghia of Timovo is in high 
repute as a healer, and her terms compare very favour- 
ably indeed with those of the {Christian Scientists. 
In return for one of these silver models, she will 
cure the afflicted member ; and, as the offering is 
not made until the cure has been effected, the system 
is one of payment by results. Nothing could be 
more honest than that. Learning that these offerings 
were on sale for the benefit of the church, I bought a 
silver ear, an eye, a hand, and a leg, so as to be 
well provided for a meeting with the Bulgarians. 
I bought them " good cheap," as they say at Canter- 
bury, a Turkish medjidieh for the four. 

I was taken to the school, where every class-room 
presented that packed appearance which the traveller 
soon learns to associate with the Hellenic institutions. 
Here I applied a test of nationality, by directing my 
dragoman to ask one or two pupils in each class, 
"Are you a Vlach or a Bulgar?" In every case 
the answer was given instantly — ** Hellene I " And 
it was given with unmistakable enthusiasm. 

The chart of the schools in Macedonia, prepared 
a few years back by the Greek Government, shows 



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MEGAREVO-TIRNOVO 275 

a Rumanian school in Megarevo-Timovo. I asked 
to be taken to it. I was informed that it had just 
been closed for lack of scholars, and not even a 
master was left I was not surprised. 

We were invited to lunch with one of the principal 
residents, who carries on business in Monastir during 
the week, but comes out here for the Sunday. Very 
soon they hope to have an electric tramway into 
Monastir, and go to and fro every day. The chief 
delicacy provided was a trout from the Lake of 
Ochrida, whose fish are justly famed. The entire 
household arrangements were quite in the European 
style, and a venerable dame presided at the table. 

Advantage was taken of her presence to refute a 
shameful slander in circulation at the expense of 
the Megarevites. It appears that their enemies assert 
that the old people cannot speak Greek. The old lady 
beside me was called as a witness to the contrary, 
and she certainly appeared to be a mistress of the 
popular language. In spite of this strong evidence, 
I suspect the accusation is not wholly baseless. 
What the old lady really proved beyond all doubt 
or cavil was that Greek will be the language of her 
grandchildren. The Vlachs of Megarevo are like 
the Vlachs of Verria : they are determined to give 
no excuse to the political pedant for robbing them 
of their nationality, and they are bringing their 
tongues into tune with their hearts. 

This wonderful and widespread movement on the 
part of the Lame Welsh to abandon a dialect which 
they have used for ages, under the influence of 
patriotic feeling, is far more remarkable than any 
of those revivals of forgotten languages which have 
been carried out or attempted in countries like 
Bohemia and Ireland. When it is considered that 
they are making this sacrifice in the face of dis- 
approval on the part of the Government, of bribery 
on the part of the Rumanians, and terrorism on 
the pait of the Bulgars, in order to cast in their 



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276 "ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, LANGUAGES" 

lot with a small and weak State, labouring under 
defeat and obloquy, it becomes impressive indeed. 
There must be some magic still in the name of 
Hellas to call forth devotion such as this. 

It is important to remark, moreover, that the 
places which exhibited this phenomenon were always 
those in which security prevailed. Megarevo and 
Tirnovo are too large, and too near to Monastir, to 
have anything to fear from the bands, whether Greek 
or Bulgarian. Indeed they have become a sort of 
shelter for refugees from elsewhere. 

While I was there I remarked some boys in an 
exceedingly picturesque costume — the ordinary in- 
habitants wear European dress — and I inquired who 
they were. A Megarevite answered that they were 
natives of a small village called Rokotina, partly 
inhabited by Moslems, who had burnt their own 
houses, and left their village, because of the ill- 
usage they suffered from their Moslem neighbours. 

I did not doubt the truth of this story; in fact, 
it struck me that the Rokotinites had acted in an 
extremely sensible manner. If all these populations 
would emigrate in the same way, the Balkans would 
soon be at peace. But I was obliged to stipulate 
for first-hand information, and, as my Megarevite 
friend objected to my questioning the boys there 
and then, on account of the presence of gendarmes, 
I arranged that some of the refugee villagers should 
come to me in Monastir the next day. 

In the afternoon I was present at a regular function 
in the Megarevo schools. A choir of one hundred girls 
sang Greek songs, and a number of children gave 
recitations and dialogues quite in the style of an 
English school. 

Last of all, I paid my respects to Saint Demetrius, 
the patron of the church of Megarevo. This saint is 
inferior to the Panaghia as a medical practitioner, but 
he is in high repute as a meteorologist. The weather 
was threatening for our drive back, and I prudently 



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THE TALE OF ROKOTINA 277 

purchased two candles, which I lit at his shrine in 
order to induce him to hold off the rain. This act 
gave intense satisfaction to the villagers, and the saint 
appeared equally pleased. He honourably fulfilled 
his part of the bargain, allowing one or two drops to 
fall, as it were just to show off his power, and then 
sending us home dry. 

The next afternoon I was waited upon by three 
picturesque peasants, who gave their name as George 
Simon, George Peter, and Stavro (Cross), Naoum, all of 
Rokotina. A Turkish official happened to be with me 
when they arrived ; I explained that I thought they 
would speak with greater freedom in his absence, and 
he left without the slightest demur. 

The peasants, who were all men of venerable age, 
then proceeded to unfold a story which hardly agreed 
in a single detail with that which I had heard the day 
before. To begin with, there were no Moslems in the 
village of Rokotina, and therefore whatever cause had 
induced them to quit their homes it could hardly have 
been the oppressions of Moslem neighbours. In the 
second place, they had not committed the heroic act of 
burning their own houses, that work having been 
effectually done by a Bulgarian band. The Comitadjis 
had paid them more thah one visit, killing four of 
them on the first occasion, and six more afterwards, 
for the usual offence — refusal to turn Exarchist. 

The visitors further told me that they had owned 
their houses and a little land, as well as cattle and 
implements of husbandry, and they tilled the farm of a 
Turkish aga. Since they were burnt out, and had 
taken refuge in Megarevo, the aga's land was l}dng 
desert, like their own. 

I asked why they did not make an effort to rebuild 
their homes and resume their former labour. They 
replied that to go back to Rokotina would be to 
expose themselves to certain death at the hands of the 
Bulgars. Moreover, their grown-up children had now 



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2/8 "ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, LANGUAGES" 

gone to America, and they had sold off a great part of 
their cattle and effects. They were living on the pro- 
ceeds of such sales. 

How did they expect to support themselves when 
they had nothing more to sell, I inquired. They 
expected to be supported by the Greek kingdom, as 
martin's in the Hellenist cause. 

I gave them four shillings apiece, and was rewarded 
with a burst of gratitude. The most venerable of 
the three exclaimed that although they knew the 
fate that was in store for them if they returned to 
Rokotina, they were prepared to do so at my com- 
mand. They were willing to die, if it would afford 
me any gratification. 

I declined to accept the sacrifice. 

After they had gone I submitted the two versions of 
the Rokotina incident to the Greek Consul, from whom 
I received a third, which is probably more correct. 
The Rokotinites had not burnt their own village, but 
neither had they been the victims of an unprovoked 
aggression. One of their number had been found 
among the slain after an attack by a Greek band on a 
neighbouring village of mixed Serbs and Bulgars, and 
the attack on Rokotina had been made in reprisal. The 
Megarevites were displeased with the presence in their 
midst of the Rokotinites, because they spoke Bulgarian^ 
and had therefore spread the story that they had 
burnt their own houses. 

The Consul shared my view that the villagers would 
have done better to go back and rebuild their homes. 
They should have asked their bey to assist them. 

It is evident that the charity of Athens, like all 
charity, is liable to be abused. But in a country 
where there is no poor-law, it is difficult to suggest 
what can be done with the victims of these miserable 
raids. 

I had visited not a few Christian villages; before 
leaving Macedonia I decided to see a Moslem one, 
and the Government Inspector of the village schools 



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AN ALBANIAN VILLAGE 279 

undertook to go with me. He was an Albanian, and 
he selected the Albanian village of Kajani, lying up 
in the mountains on the main road from Monastir to 
the Adriatic 

We drove for a couple of hours, meeting string after 
string of ox-carts laden with charcoal and honey for 
the town of Monastir. As we drew near Kajani we 
entered the region of winter, and the ground was 
covered with snow. 

Kajani has 550 inhabitants, most of whom are agas. 
They are all landowners, and, as far as I could under- 
stand, the aga is simply the well-to-do yeoman who 
lives on his land, as distinguished from the cottager, 
who has to supplement his income by occasional work 
for another. 

On our arrival we alighted at the school, where we 
were received by the turbaned master and one or two 
of the leading inhabitants. The school was very 
bright and well-kept, and contained forty boys, and 
half as many girls. Among the boys I remarked a 
tiny fellow of four or five, who turned out to be the 
schoolmaster's son. Jtie had on the desk in front of 
him a small portfolio in velvet embroidered with a 
text from the Koran. My guide explained to me that 
it was the Turkish custom to tempt a child to go 
to school for the first time with a bribe of this kind. 
The embroidered text was an exhortation to study. 

Although the villagers speak Albanian among them- 
selves, the language taught in the school is Turkish. 
The Government seems to be taking a leaf out of the 
Hellenist book in this respect. 

I solicited a holiday for the scholars, and it was 
granted with evident pleasure. But the demeanour 
of the young Moslems betrayed no sign of unseemly 
joy. One by one each small boy rose up and marched 
seriously out of the room, as if on his way to a 
funeral. I can only hope that they were more gay 
when they were by themselves. But the solemnity 
of the young Turk is something fearful and wonderful 



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280 "ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, LANGUAGES" 

I once attempted to tickle a Turkish child. It is an 
experience I would gladly forget 

As we were quitting the school building I found in 
the entrance a small boy weeping bitterly. One of 
his shoes had been carried off by another scholar, and 
the road outside was deep in slush. But one of his 
school-fellows had come to the rescue, and run into 
the neighbouring mosque in search of a pair of shoes. 
He came back with them, and helped the little fellow 
to put them on. — I was among Albanian Moslems. 
Who shall despair of teaching such a race to live on 
the same terms of kindness with their neighbours as 
among themselves ? 

We were invited to take our lunch in a very 
well-kept house, the cleanest I had found in any 
Macedonian village. 

I put a few discreet questions to my host on poli- 
tical affairs, and he expressed himself very well 
satisfied with the Government, and especially with 
certain changes recently made. The villagers now 
pay a tax on their acreage instead of the old-fashioned 
tithe on produce — a change which I believe they owe 
to the Powers. It is pleasant to find one solid benefit 
to place to the credit of European interference. My 
Albanian host considered the amount of the new tax 
moderate. He preferred the new system mainly 
because under the old one they were unable to take 
their grain to market until the tax-gatherer had made 
his rounds, and this delay was often a cause of 
heavy loss. 

It is fair to remember that tithes were still collected 
in England within living memory. I do not put forward 
that fact and similar ones as a reason for not urging 
reforms which are clearly beneficial upon the Turkish 
Government, but merely as a reason for urging them 
in a less impatient and scornful spirit. It is a political 
axiom that what is best for the people is also best for 
their rulers in the long run, and this particular reform 
i$ ^ case in point. 



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A WORD IN SEASON 281 

My Kajani host further told me that the Govern- 
ment had just reduced the period of military service 
from six years to three. He preferred rendering this 
service to paying the bedel, or tax in lieu, which is 
levied on the Christians. It was a good experience 
for a young man, and a means of seeing the world. 
He himself had been as far as Tripoli as a soldier. 

I took down the name of my host as Ferat Yachar, 
but I fancy the first of these names is also written 
F6r6d and Ferid. The delightful freedom of spelling 
which prevails in Fairyland is a wholesome change 
from that morbid exactness which is the disease of 
Western education. 

I made something like a set speech to the assembled 
notables of Kajani, to this effect : 

"I am visiting your country to inquire into the 
troubles between the Greeks and Bulgars. While I 
have been here I have been much struck by the 
peaceable behaviour of the Moslems. While the 
Christians are fighting each other, and committing all 
kinds of outrages, I have found that you are keeping 
the peace, and refraining from violence. I have come 
here to-day on purpose to congratulate you on your 
eood behaviour, and to urge you to continue in it. 
By so doing you are rendering the greatest service to 
your Sultan and to your religion." 

I had reason to hope that these observations 
would make a good impression, and that they were 
likely to be widely circulated in the district. The 
gentleman who took me to Kajani remarked, on our 
way home, that my visit would be the principal topic 
of conversation for the next week. He told me that 
the whole country-side had heard that there was an 
English pasha going about among the villages, and 
that the people were much excited over it. 

Ferat Yachar pressed me very warmly to pass the 
night under his roof, an invitation which I was sorry 
that I could not accept. By my request his children 



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282 "ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, LANGUAGES" 

were brought into the room — ^the women of the 
household remained invisible — and they stood, four 
of them, in a row, with their eyes respectfully bent 
on the ground. I offered to take one with me, and 
place him in a school to learn English, and his fkther 
accepted at once ; but, learning that the mother was 
less willing, I adjourned the offer for the time being. 
I felt some doubt as to whether it would be taken 
in good part by the authorities, who feel some jealousy 
of the missionary schools. In my own opinion it is 
rendering a service to the Turkish Government to 
spread the knowledge of English among the Moslems. 
But I am strongly convinced that, in order to do 
any real good in Turkey, it is necessary first of all 
to acquire the confidence of those whom you desire to 
serve, and that is a thing which takes time. 



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CHAPTER XIV 

THE LIBERATION OF RAKOVO 

The work of liberation— An Exarchist gendarmery officer— A Patri- 
archist village — Rural life in Macedonia — ^An oppressed taxpayer 
— Peter takes his precautions — Turkish tyranny — Peasant fear— 
The trail of the Comitadjis — A voice from America — A typical 
Turkish atrocity — The tyrant trembles — ^The grievance of 
Obsima. 

About the time that I was setting out from Europe 
a band of liberators fell one night upon the Mace- 
donian village of Rakovo, and burned it to the 
ground. 

Rakovo lies about four hours from Monastir, and 
I decided to visit it in order to see for myself how 
the work of liberation is carried on. Before going 
1 mentioned my intention to the Greek Bishop ad- 
ministering the diocese of Monastir. 

The Bishop told me that, shortly before the attack 
on their village, the people had come to him to com- 
plain that an Italian officer of gendarmery had advised 
them to turn Exarchists. The officer complained of 
gave the explanation that it must have been his 
dragoman, an explanation which I can fully believe. 
He had not since dismissed the dragoman, neither 
had he thought it worth while to take any other step 
to assure the villagers that the dragoman had not 
spoken with his authority. 

The dragoman's advice could not have been sounder 
if he had been in the counsels of the Exarchists, 

a83 



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284 THE LIBERATION OF RAKOVO 

instead of being an agent of the Powers who have 
insisted on aiding the Turkish Government to sup- 
press the Exarchist bands. A Bulgarian band duly 
arrived in fulfilment of the warning, and set fire to 
every house in Rakovo in which there was no armed 
defender. How many of the inhabitants would have 
perished can only be guessed. But the flames that 
shot up in the night from the burning village were 
seen by a Greek band encamped on the mountains. 
The Greeks hastened to the rescue of their brethren, 
and, after a brief combat in which two or three lives 
were lost on both sides, the Bulgarians fled. 

That is a typical example of how the Folk War is 
waged. It is the warfare of the Dark Ages. We 
seem to be reading of the Danes and Saxons. 

The burnt-out inhabitants took refuge in Monastir, 
where they were kindly received and cared for by 
the Greek community. The Greek charitable or- 
ganisation of the town undertook the work of re- 
building their ruined homes for them ; and it was the 
contractor employed on the work who acted as my 
guide on the present occasion. 

The first part of the journey was by carriage, over 
a rough and broken road, across the plain of Monastir. 
At one point we were met by some peasants, who had 
come out to warn us that the way was foundrous 
farther on, and to direct us by another route. These 
local roads are the curse of Rumelia, because they 
are the first things that strike every traveller, and by 
them he judges the whole country. They are scarcely 
better than those of Russia. 

The carriage way ended at Obsirna, a smaller village, 
lying at the entrance of the valley which has Rakovo 
at its upper end. 

The plain across which we had driven is one of 
the empty cells of the Macedonian honeycomb. The 
invading bands wander along the dividing ridges, 
and descend where they please. The more I studied 
local conditions, the more difficult it became to hope 



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OBSIRNA 285 

that the Folk War could be suppressed by the methods 
hitherto employed. 

The village of Obsirna, I was informed by the 
inhabitants, contains only twenty-five houses. It is 
a t}rpical instance of the fallacy of reckoning five 
persons to a house, in estimating this population. 
While I was questioning the people about their means 
of livelihood, I learned that some houses were richer 
in labour while others were richer in land. Thus, 
one patriarch was pointed out to me as having, I 
think, a dozen men in his "house." In short, we 
have here the primitive family group as it has existed 
at one time or another half over the world. 

These villagers are still living in a state of society 
which is familiar to sociologists. They own houses 
and lands and cattle, but they own them in families, 
and not as individuals. The members of the house- 
hold whose labour is not needed at home are sent 
to earn money in the town, or further afield. The 
money is not regarded as theirs. It is earned on 
behalf of the household to which they belong, and in 
which they still retain their proprietary rights. Their 
earnings, or whatever they bring back with them, will 
go into the common fund, and they will be housed 
and fed on the same footing as the rest. 

It would be misleading to speak of such labourers 
as domestic serfs, because they are, of course, the 
descendants or kinsmen of their patriarch. But that 
seems to be their economic condition. Even when 
they emigrate to the United States they continue 
to acknowledge their father's authority, and remit him 
a portion of their earnings. 

This village of twenty-five " houses " owns no less 
than thirty mills, driven by the water which issues 
from the valley above. I examined one, owned by 
a wealthy villager named Peter. It was a small 
affair; one pair of millstones only were revolving 
inside a shed built over the stream, and the contents 



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286 THE LIBERATION OF RAKOVO 

of a sack of com were being dribbled out through 
a hopper. The mill-owner, who has three such mills 
on his estate, told me that Obsirna formerly ground the 
corn of all the villages round about. Since the Folk 
War broke out their Bulgarian neighbours had ceased 
to bring their corn to these Patriarchist mills, but the 
more tolerant Moslems continued to come as before. 

Peter proved a most interesting acquaintance, 
perhaps as favourable a type as could be found 
of the Christian peasant of Rumelia. He met us, 
along with the priest and headman, on our arrival, 
and conducted us to a house apparently selected for 
its superior accommodation. It was quite equal in size 
and convenience to an old-fashioned Swiss chalet, 
in those Swiss valleys which have not yet been 
irrigated by tourist gold. Indeed most of these 
Rumelian villages compared favourably with some I 
have seen in the Canton of Valais, particularly as 
regards cleanliness. The house I was shown into 
stood in a walled enclosure containing bams, stables, 
and pigsties. Scattered about the farmyard, I 
noticed a number of small wooden troughs, like dug-out 
canoes. These were the property of the pigs. In 
England the pigs have only one trough in common ; 
in Macedonia each pig has his own. The Macedonian 
pig is more civilised than his English brother. 

Peter and his friends brought us upstairs and gave 
us wooden stools to sit on while coffee was being 
prepared. Peter was the most eloquent of the party, 
and from him I obtained my first real glimpse at the 
iniquities of Turkish rule. 

The occasion was a favourable one. There were 
no gendarmes present, the vigilance of the authorities 
had been so far allayed, the room contained only 
sympathisers. I myself had come thither under the 
aegis of their Bishop — before my return I was asked 
to become their advocate with the Bishop, as will be 
seen hereafter. It was a golden opportunity to learn 
the truth about European Turkey, to penetrate 



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RATES AND TAXES 287 

beneath the glozing apologies of the corrupt function- 
aries, and see the frightful machinery of Turkish 
government at work. 

And Peter told me a dismal tale. The greatest 
grievance, of course, was the taxation. Peter owns a 
hundred sheep— how many English villagers own 
three mills and a hundred sheep? — ^and on each he 
has to pay a tax of five piastres and ten paras, that 
is to say, an English shilling. Moreover, the tax is 
collected with unreasonable rigour. On the last visit 
of the tax-gatherer one of the sheep was dangerously 
ill. Peter drew his attention to its languishing 
condition, but in vain. The tax-gatherer, obedient to 
instructions from Salonika, was obdurate, and the 
suffering animal was inscribed. Within three days it 
had breathed its last ! 

Peter has also to pay nearly thirty shillings a year 
for exemption from military service. This tax is 
called the bedel^ or bedale. The other men in his 
house pay fifteen shillings. He pays ;f 12 a year in 
English money under the head of tithes. His mills 
pay £1 more. The tithe on wine comes to fifteen 
shillings. The road-tax is £\^ for which he hardly 
gets value. Altogether he pays thirty Turkish pounds 
a year — say £2^ English. 

That is the total deduction, whether in the nature 
of rent, rates, taxes or tithes, from Peter's profits 
on his farm, his mills, his stock, his vineyard, and the 
labour of his household. A Greek friend estimates 
that Peter's sheep, which graze free on the mountain, 
ought to bring him in £^0 a year. The tax on them 
would therefore appear to be a tithe. At that rate, 
his net annual income should be not far short of 
£200. And, as the same friend observed, a hundred 
pounds in Macedonia is equal to a thousand in 
England. The salary of the priest erf Obsima, I 
ascertained, is eight Turkish pounds a year; but he 
receives gifts of food in addition. 

As we have seen, these taxes are oppressively 



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288 THE LIBERATION OF RAKOVO 

collected. It is not only on the sheep that the tax* 
gatherer casts a jaundiced eye. When Peter exhibits 
to him a hundred okes of wine as the produce of 
his vineyard, the tax-gatherer remorselessly writes 
down five hundred. It reminded me of a picturesque 
incident in one of the Comitadji books. The author 
has arrived hotfoot on the track of the tax-gatherer. 
The peasants make a similar complaint, and show 
him the small heap of corn-cobs which the sceptical 
tax-gatherer has just multiplied by five. The sym- 
pathetic visitor counts every corn-cob, and pronounces 
a burning malediction on the oppressor. 

Alas! I have been a cross-examining counsel. I asked 
Peter if it had ever occurred to him to conceal any por- 
tion of his produce before the tax-gatherer's arrival He 
replied, with perfect frankness, " When we have much 
we hide it ; when we have little we are afraid to." 

The unfortunate tax-gatherer evidently has to trust 
rather to his judgment than his eyesight 

By this time I had almost abandoned the hope 
of coming across any genuine Turkish outrage, any 
bona-fide instance of those horrors which have moved 
the Exarchist population to deliver themselves, or at 
least have moved kindly hearts in Sofia to deliver 
them, from their chains. I do not think that this was 
because I was less persevering than previous travellers 
who have enlightened Europe on the subject. I went 
through the country with my eyes and ears open, 
and I missed no opportunity of putting questions to 
peasants who have long been taught that Europe 
expects them to be against the Government I can 
only attribute the result to my having had some 
experience of peasants at home and abroad, and some 
slight practice in the art of eliciting the truth, both 
as a counsel and as a judge. 

Undaunted by previous failures, I put the oft- 
repeated question. Beyond oppressive taxation, had 
Obsima suffered anything at the hands of the autho- 
rities ? 



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TURKISH TYRANNY 289 

And this time it seemed that I was not to be dis- 
appointed. Suffered ?— it was Peter who answered 
me — ah ! yes, they had suffered, they were still suffer- 
ing, grievous things. Armed soldiers raided their 
peaceful village, ransacked their houses under the 
pretence of searching for concealed arms, stole their 
possessions and terrified their women. It was the 
truth coming out at last. The Comitadji writers were 
justified ; it was possible that they had even under- 
stated their case. 

With my note-book open in my hand, I invited Peter 
to furnish me with details of these outrages, and he 
eagerly did so. It appeared that he was himself the 
principal sufferer. In fact, his house was the only 
one that had as yet been searched — searched, mark 
you, in spite of the personal assurance given by the 
headman to the sergeant that Peter was a law-abiding 
citizen. And wherefore, then, had he been singled 
out for this persecution? He was the victim of 
appearances. On their first visit — they had been three 
times in all — the gendarmes had most unfortunately 
found arms concealed on his premises. The arms 
consisted of a revolver and a number of rifle cart- 
ridges. The revolver was an old and worthless 
weapon preserved by Peter as a curiosity, much as 
halberts and crossbows are preserved in other private 
collections. The cartridges were there by accident. 
A short time previously Peter had been shot at by a 
Bulgarian on the road. His horse had been wounded 
— Peter pressed me to adjourn to the stable and 
inspect the wound with my own eyes. The Bulgarian 
had fled from pursuit, after dropping a quantity of 
cartridges on the ground. Peter had picked up these 
cartridges and brought them home as mementoes, in 
fact, trophies ; but they were Bulgarian cartridges, and 
the gendarmes had placed a false construction on his 
possession of them. He had even been dragged off 
to the prison of Monastir and detained there for some 
days on suspicion. 

19 



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290 THE LIBERATION OF RAKOVO 

I invited details of the robberies committed by the 
gendarmes, or soldiers — for the peasants seem to 
draw no distinction between the two forces. On one 
occasion, after a visit from the sergeant, Peter had 
found himself the poorer by a pair of stockings. 

I asked if any woman had been touched. No ; but 
they were frightened when they saw the soldiers 
come. 

Such was the story of Peter, as told to me by 
himself in the presence of his friends and neighbours. 
I did not doubt one word of it; I dispensed with 
the corroborative evidence of the wounded horse. 
My s)anpathies were wholly with Peter in his un- 
deserved misfortunes. But what had I come out to 
see ? Three vilayets drenched in blood to save Peter 
from the loss of a pair of stockings ? 

That the women of Obsima wer€ alarmed by the 
sight of soldiers in their midst was very likely true, 
although in other villages the presence of the soldiers 
seemed very welcome. Speaking broadly, I should 
be inclined to say that many of these Rumelian 
peasants are afraid of the Turkish troops. They are 
equally afraid of ghosts. The question is whether 
one fear is any better founded than the other, or 
whether both are traditional instincts which time and 
education will obliterate. 

We must again fall back on the Comparative 
Method. I once took part in a Liberal meeting in 
an English village. It was well attended. The candi- 
date spoke long and eloquently, but did not elicit a 
single cheer. A Nonconformist minister followed in 
a humorous vein, but did not elicit a single laugh. 
The other speakers were not more fortunate than 
they. We were coming away, feeling very much 
depressed, when one of the villagers ran after and 
caught up the carriage. He said: 

"That was a grand meeting. Everybody was de- 
lighted." 



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PEASANT FEAR 291 

" But you never cheered ! You never laughed ! " 
** Ah ! that was because the squire had a man sitting 
at the back of the room watching us. But we were 
drinking in every word." 

Now, that is peasant fear. It is the inherited instinct 
of the Folk. Every Liberal candidate in a rural con- 
stituency in the south of England must have come 
across it. It is a commonplace with Liberal agents 
that this fear exists, and that it must be allowed 
for in their arrangements. The fear may be well- 
grounded, or it may be ill-grounded; but while it 
still flourishes in England, in spite of ballots and 
board-schools and halfpenny papers, and all the other 
guarantees of freedom, we must be prepared to find 
something very like it when we go abroad. 

Whatever be the case with regard to the women, 
the men of Obsirna are not wanting in courage. The 
village is renowned in the country-side for its stubborn 
refusal to accept liberation at the hands of the Comi- 
tadjis. Even in the rising of 1903, when so many 
Patriarchist villages were lured away by the Bulgarian 
promises, Obsirna held out. I found that the example 
made of its neighbour, Rakovo, had not daunted the 
spirit of Obsirna. In one house into which I was 
taken — Peter's own, I believe — I found the roof too 
low for comfort. My host laughed as he remarked, 
" We are waiting till the Bulgarians burn our village 
to rebuild our houses in better style." 

Others hinted, in the same light-hearted tone, that 
when the Bulgarians came they would find Obsirna 
ready for them. In short, they seemed to be looking 
forward, with some eagerness, to such a visit; or, 
as they say in Ireland, they were spoiling for a 
fight. 

However much such a spirit is to be regretted, 
there is something extremely cruel in the spirit which 
can make no allowance for it. Humanitarians are too 
ready to put human nature in handcuffs. 



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292 THE LIBERATION OF RAKOVO 

Obsirna may defy the Bulgarian bands, but so long 
as she speaks a dialect resembling the Bulgarian, 
she stands in danger of liberation, not by them, but 
by the Powers. The danger has been realised. 
Obsirna has started a little school for the first time, 
and a patriotic native is training the new generation 
in Greek. 

We rode on to Rakovo on horses belonging to the 
friendly Peter, who would accept no payment in 
return. The little valley was as peacefiil as if no 
armed band had ever traversed it, and on the hills 
above the sheep were browsing in happy ignorance of 
taxes and tax-gatherers. 

After an hour or two we reached the opening into 
another small upland plain like that of Nisia, and in 
the neck, commanding the issue from the valley, stood 
what had once been Rakovo. 

It was a wilderness of ruins. Rakovo had been a 
larger place than Obsirna, possessing a fine church 
and a considerable school, and the desolation covered 
half a mile. Blackened walls were standing roofless 
amid chaotic heaps of fallen stones over which it 
was difficult to clamber. The one or two houses 
that had escaped rose amid the wreck hke a few 
solitary teeth in the jaw of some decrepit crone. The 
efforts of the Greek charitable society had completed 
about twenty new ones, of rough but solid construc- 
tion, yet even their courtyards were still cumbered with 
ruins. Such of the inhabitants as had ventured back 
wandered with drooping heads among the shape- 
less rubbish heaps, searching for the site of their 
homes. They seemed rather ghosts than men. I 
did not hear them laugh at the Bulgarians. Rakovo 
had been liberated indeed. 

The only cheerful spirit in the place was a man 
newly returned from the United States. He had 
been thrown out of work by the financial crisis over 
there; and so the collapse of the Trusts had sent 



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AN AMERICAN WITNESS 293 

a little ripple of distress all the way into ruined 
Rakovo. For, of course, he also had remained, on 
the other side of the Atlantic, a vassal of the " house." 
He introduced me to his venerable father. The 
American had told me he belonged to the Republican 
Party, and I wondered whether he had given his 
support to President Roosevelt on orders received 
from Macedonia. 

The priest of Rakovo also had a son in the United 
States, who was prospering as a baker. He showed 
me a letter from his boy, and it proved to be a 
piece of evidence bearing on this inquiry ; for it 
was written on a sheet of paper with the printed 
heading : 

"greek macedon bakery" 

Consider that. Messieurs the Comitadjis ! You may 
do your worst to Bulgarise Rakovo ; you will find it 
harder to Bulgarise the Greek Macedon Bakery! 

What an answer to the claim of Sofia, the claim 
that every Macedonian who uses a Slave dialect 
must belong to her ! Here, in the heart of Macedonia, 
on the very track of her desolating bands, amid the 
charred monuments of her vengeance, I had come 
upon this clear voice, speaking from a continent of 
whose existence Alexander did not dream, to tell me, 
to tell Europe, to tell even the agents of Sofia, what 
the Macedonians "wish themselves." 

The story of the destruction of the village was 
told me by the muktar, a man of strong but not 
very amiable character, who barely thanked me for 
what my dragoman advised me would be a substantial 
contribution to the relief fund. 

He said that a small party of soldiers had come 
into the place about an hour before the Bulgarians, 
and warned them that they were about to be attacked. 
The officer in command had asked where they would 
wish him to post his men for their defence. The 
muktar had replied, with some harshness, " We are 



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294 THE LIBERATION OF RAKOVO 

not generals ; you ought to know your own business. 
Post your men where you think best"; and the 
soldiers had then decamped without waiting for the 
enemy. The Greek band, on the other hand, had 
performed marvels, slaying no less than sixty Bul- 
gars, with a loss of only two on their own side. 

I had not the heart to cross-examine the poor 
creatures amid their ruined homes, but the greater 
part of the Bulgarian corpses must have been 
mysteriously spirited away during the night, as when 
the Greek Consul arrived on the scene next day he 
found only two or three. 

The headman of Rakovo was clearly no Turcophile, 
but I shall not seek to attenuate his evidence on 
that account. He led me round what had been the 
village, and pointed out the site of the school, 
remarking that it was the second time that their 
school had been burnt down in three years. I asked 
who had burned it the first time, and he answered, 
*'The soldiers." 

At last! Take heart, my Christian friend, for at 
last we are on the scent of a real Turkish atrocity. 
It has not been easy work; we have had to inquire 
long and painfully, but now our perseverance is 
about to be rewarded, and we may say of the Turk 
what we will. 

I asked why the soldiers had been guilty of such 
a deed. 

" They did it by mistake. They had been sent 
against a Bulgarian village which had taken part in 
the insurrection, and they came to Rakovo by mistake. 
The soldiers admitted that they had done wrong." 

One feels that they ought not to have admitted 
it. The outrage is robbed of its full flavour. The 
soldiers ought to have treated the affair as a jest, 
and cut the throats of any complaining villagers. 
They do 30 in all impartial books about Macedonia. 

" Did the Government do nothing ? " 

''Oh yes, the Government paid for rebuilding the 



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MORE TURKISH OUTRAGES 295 

school. They gave so many piastres a day to the 
men who were at work on it till it was finished." 

My Christian friend, what are we to do? These 
wretched peasants give us no help. How can we 
work up the right degree of indignation against a 
Sultan whose soldiers apologise when they have 
done wrong, and who repairs the wrong almost 
before he is asked? The ground keeps slipping 
from under our feet. We shall have to look else- 
where for an object for our philanthropic wrath. 
We may even have to turn it on some Christian 
monarch. Suppose we try the ruler of the Congo 
State ? 

The inhabitants of Rakovo, fresh from their ex- 
perience of the Christian liberator, hardly showed 
proper dread of the Moslem tyrant. Thirty of the 
ferocious soldiers at whose name Europe has learned 
to shudder were now quartered in the village, and 
the villagers, so far from craving deliverance from 
these "official bandits," were practically hugging them 
to their bosoms. 

Summon up all your fortitude, my Christian friend, 
and let us listen to the Christian headman of what 
was Rakovo. He is making a complaint; he con- 
siders that he has a gprievance against the lieutenant 
in command of the Turkish troops. He, the muktar, 
has given the lieutenant quarters in a house in the 
centre of the village. But the officer has objected 
to the accommodation, and requested the headman's 
leave to shift his quarters to a more salubrious house 
on the outskirts. The headman has refused to gratify 
the tyrant's caprice. " Stay where I have put you," he 
had said to him sternly. ** You are wanted there for 
our protection. If you don't like my decision, go and 
complain to your vali 1 " 

Is there such a thing as the reductio ad absurdum 
in Fairyland ? Is it possible for fanaticism to see 
when it has overshot the mark? If so, I commend 
to you, my Christian friend, to you, Messieurs the 



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296 THE LIBERATION OF RAKOVO 

Comitadji writers, who have deafened Europe with 
the wrongs of Macedonia, that little picture of 
Macedonia as it is. I had come out to see another 
Macedonia from this. I had come out to see poverty- 
stricken Christians cowering before every passing 
Turk. And in this remote spot, up among the snow- 
laden hills, I had found a Turkish officer, in command 
of a detachment sent thither to protect the Christians 
from each other, denied bis choice of a lodging, 
bullied by a Christian headman, and told to complain 
if he dared. 

He had dared. The Governor-General of Monastir, 
to whom I submitted the case, had already heard 
of it. The muktar had lodged die lieutenant in the 
next house to his own, out of a selfish desire for 
his personal security. The lieutenant had found the 
house insanitary, and the rest of the villagers were 
quite willing for him to shift his quarters. But 
the headman was firm, and I fancied that the vali 
himself was half afraid to interfere lest he should 
find himself browbeaten by the Consuls, and held 
up to execration in half the newspapers of Europe. 

Such is Turkey in Europe, as I found it. 

Only one stroke remained to complete the picture, 
and it awaited me on my return through Obsima. 
The tax-ridden villagers, with Peter at their head, 
approached me with a petition. Would I, on my 
return to Monastir, speak to their Bishop on their 
behalf? They had a grievance, a very mild one to 
be sure, against the Bishop. They did not think 
he was showing enough energy in the business of 
their new church. 

Had they no church already? I inquired. They 
had a church, but it was not good enough. They 
wanted to put up a more imposing edifice, and they 
had saved up the money to pay for it, with some 
help from the Bishop. Permission had been applied 
for, the firman had come down from Constantinople, 



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POSTSCRIPT 297 

but after the burning of Rakovo it had been sus- 
pended, as they believed, lest the erection of the 
new church should draw down on them the attention 
of the Exarchists. But they were prepared to take 
the risk, and they begged me to stir up the Bishop, that 
he might in turn stir up the vali. 

Peter, Peter, my honest, nay, my generous, friend— 
for did you not lend me three horses without charge ? 
— it goes to my heart to tell you that if, out of 
what the tax-gatherer has spared, you have enough 
money to build a superfluous and splendid church 
you must be better off than certain Christians living 
very near indeed to the centre of civilisation, almost 
within the shadow of a great cathedral, under the 
most enlightened of County Councils, in the full blaze 
of newspaper publicity, with half a dozen Bishops and 
ten thousand Christian ministers to attend to their 
least cry ! 

Postscript 

The confident tone of the Obsirna villagers in 
speaking of a Bulgarian attack showed me pretty 
clearly that the revolver and cartridges captured 
from Peter did not exhaust their store of concealed 
arms. Not long after my visit the authorities made 
a more successful perquisition, and fifteen of the 
unlucky villagers were carried off to prison in 
consequence. It seems a cruel thing to punish the 
loyal Christians for taking measures to defend them- 
selves against the aggressions of robbers and blood- 
thirsty assassins sent against them by a foreign State. 
But such are the orders of the Powers, and the' 
Turks dare not favour the victims more than the 
terrorists. 



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CHAPTER XV 



THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

The warfare against the bands — ^The work of the financial com- 
mission — King Log and King Stork— The work of the Intemkl 
Organisation — The work of the Reformed Gendarmery — The 
destruction of Ddrd-Muslim— The blood-drinkers 

On my return from Monastir to Salonika, I received 
the promised papers from the Inspector-General of the 
three vilayets, a selection from which I will now lay 
before the reader. What follows does not come 
within the category of direct evidence, obtained and 
tested by myself ; it is official evidence, but it does not 
represent the Turkish view merely. In Macedonia 
the Government machine works under the supervision 
of the Austrian and Russian Civil Agents, and the 
principal document which I have reproduced is a 
report by a French gendarmery officer to his own 
chief. 

At the head of this official information I may place 
the statistics of encounters between the Turkish 
forces, soldiers and gendarmes, and the Christian 
bands during the last two years. In the original, 
the place and the results of each fight are set forth 
in full detail, but I will content myself with repro- 
ducing the totals. It will be noticed that the dates are 
of the Hejra. 

398 



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TURKISH OPERATIONS 

YEAR 1322 



399 





No. of 
Encounters. 


Killed. 


Wounded. 


Cap. 
tured. 


TURKS. 


BANDS. 


Killed. 


Wounded. 


Bulgarian . . 
Greek . . . 
Servian . . 


56 
10 


244 

180 

40 


i 


17 
59 


41 


54 
21 
18 


Total . 


98 


464 


II 


76 


66 


93 



YEAR 1323 





No. of 
Encounters. 


Killed 


Wounded. 


Cap. 
tured. 


TURKS. 


BANDS. 


Kflled. 


Wounded. 


Bulgarian . . 
Greek . . . 
Servian . . 


46 

24 

9 


269 
80 
46 


I 
ID 

3 


10 

37 
7 


27 
9 
4 


35 
16 

2 


Total . 


79 


395 


14 


54 


40 


56 



These figures were offered to me to prove that the 
Government was exercising its activity against all 
the bands equally, and I think they do so. The 
difference in the number of encounters may be taken 
to correspond pretty fairly with that in the number of 
bands. The Bulgarian bands, having been longest at 
work, are naturally the most numerous, while the 
Servians at present confine their operations to a 
comer of the country, bordering on their own frontier. 

The contrast between the numbers of the killed 
and of the prisoners also tallies with the character of 
the warfare. The Bulgarian bands, as a rule, manage 
to avoid meeting the troops in the open country. 
They are usually surprised in some village in which 
they have concealed themselves, and, as they refuse 
to come out of the houses, they are surrounded and 
burnt. A graphic account of what takes place on these 
occasions will be found below. The Greeks, on the 



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300 THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

other hand, do not consider that they are in the field 
against the Government forces, and on that account 
a larger proportion of them are willing to surrender. 

The disproportion between the losses of the bands 
and those of the troops must be considered as due in 
part to fairy arithmetic. The bands themselves boast 
of very contrary figures. At the same time, in such an 
encounter as that described hereafter there seems a pro- 
bability that, the loss of the Comitadjis would be greater 
than that of the troops. In case of a fight among 
the hills, the proportion would probably be reversed. 

The principal reflection called forth by these 
statistics, however, is the hopelessness of ending the 
Folk War by the means till now employed. To kill 
or otherwise dispose of four or five hundred men in 
twelve months is to trifle with the business. The 
Internal Organisation must have many thousands of 
peasants affiliated to it ; the Principality of Bulgaria 
can send men across the frontier much faster than the 
Turks can dispose of them at that rate. 

The Turkish Government certainly has not deceived 
itself with the belief that the war can be stamped out 
in this fashion. It has been restrained from using 
more effective measures by the Powers ; and it there- 
fore must be taken that the Powers have been deliber- 
ately prolonging the present state of things. It may 
be taken, further, that they have not done so in the 
interests of anybody but themselves. The Bulgars 
have sown the seed, but others are preparing to reap 
the harvest. 

The next papers before me are in the form of 
extracts from the minutes of the International Financial 
Commission, over which the Inspector-General of the 
three vilayets presides. 

The functions of this remarkable body bear a certain 
resemblance to those of the Legislative Council in a 
Crown Colony, the difference being that their decisions 
are subject to be over-ruled by the Sultan ; but as the 



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THE FINANCIAL COMMISSION 301 

Sultan himself is liable to be over-ruled by the six 
Powers acting in concert, the Council is something 
more than an advisory board. 

The point which distinguishes this body from the 
similar commissions which have been appointed in 
the past to deal with the finances of Egypt and of 
Greece, is that its appointment has not been due to 
the bankruptcy of the country, and it does not repre- 
sent creditors. It was appointed in consequence of 
the Bulgarian agitation, and constitutes a recognition 
or declaration on the part of the Powers that the 
Turkish Government has failed in its duty. In short, 
it is a distinct step towards the establishment of an 
international protectorate of Macedonia, and, judging 
by all the precedents, it is likely to be followed by 
the practical severance of the three vilayets from the 
Turkish empire. 

The present object of the Powers,^ in so far as they 
have a common object, appears to be to effect this 
severance peaceably, by making it so gradual that 
there will never come a moment at which the Turks 
will take up arms in despair. Thus, they have begun 
with financial reforms, which have been welcomed by 
the Moslem population in some places, as I have 
shown above. They have established the beginnings 
of an international constabulary ; and their further 
proposals included the strengthening of that force, the 
appointment of international judges, and making the 
Inspector-General, or his successor, responsible to 
the Powers instead of to the Sultan. 

It is clear that the successful working of such a 
scheme depends on a great number of uncertain 
factors : the good faith of the Powers themselves, the 
pacific attitude of the Turks, and the acquiescence of 
the Christian population. 

On the first appointment of the Commission it was 
flooded with appeals and complaints from the Christians 
against the Turkish authorities. The papers before 

' It must be borne in mind that these arrangements are still working. 



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302 THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

me exhibit the character of some of these complaints, 
and the result of the Commission's dealing with them. 

" Session of June 2, 1906 

"The session began at 3.30 p.m., under the presidency 
of H.E. the Inspector-General. 

" Present : the Councillor of Germany, the Civil 
Agent of Austria-Hungary, the Councillor of France, 
the Councillor of Great Britain, the Councillor of 
Italy, the Civil Agent of Russia, the Ottoman Councillor. 

"The report of the Inspector of the Commission, 
Oskan EfFendi, was read, from which it appeared that 
the complaints of the villagers of Bout (vilayet of 
Monastir), brought before the Commission in its 
session of April 25, 1906, were void of foundation. It 
is, on the contrary, the interests of the Treasury which 
are neglected in tnis village. Thus, six mills relieved 
of taxation in 1320 as having been destroyed in 13 19, 
were rebuilt the same year, and though they are to-day 
in full work, no information has been given by the 
council of elders to the surveyor of taxes. 

" The Inspector-General will give to the vilayet of 
Monastir the necessary instructions to revise the 
taxation of the said village." 

The villagers of Bouf must be feeling that they had 
better have left well alone. From the minutes of the 
session of August 25, 1906, I extract the following 
complaint : 

" A petition was read from one Naoum Gogo, of the 
town of Monastir, who complained of having to pay 
4,000 piastres (£40) as commutation of tithe for the 
property which he owns in the village of Orizar-i-Zir, 
whereas before the institution of this system he only 
paid 1,500 piastres (£^5) for the same property. The 
Commission ordered its general secretary to make an 
inquiry on the subject of this complaint, and to com- 
municate the result" 

The result was communicated at the sitting of 
August 28, held at Monastir. 



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CASES INQUIRED INTO 303 

" The inquiry in question has proved the absurdity 
of this complaint, the allegations in which have been 
found baseless and completely erroneous." 

Naoum Gogo, of Monastir, must be reckoned among 
those who have not much reason to congratulate 
themselves on the substitution of European for Turkish 
taxation. The village of Medjkofta, in the caza of 
Istip, has also failed to find sympathy among the Civil 
Agents and Councillors of the Powers. 

According to the complaint of this village, the 
authorities wanted it to pay a double tax for 41 1 sheep, 
on the pretext that these animals had been kept off 
the register of taxation — ^in short, concealed. The 
petitioners alleged that at the moment of counting 
these particular sheep were in another part of the 
caza, where they were duly taxed. 

** The kaimakam of Istip, from whom an explanation 
was asked on this subject, replied that at the time of 
the first revision he had ascertained that 769 sheep 
were withheld from registration. This fact is certified 
by the council of elders of the village. The surveyors 
at this first revision having declared that three flocks 
had been concealed during the process, a second 
revision was ordered, whicn, in fact, brought about 
the discovery of 386 sheep which had been concealed. 
The kaimakam added that the inhabitants of this 
village made it a practice to hide their animals every 
year? 

What is a poor, puzzled Commission to do when it 
receives such a complaint, and such an explanation ? 
Clearly some one must be sent to count the sheep of 
Medjkofta, and as clearly some one ought to pay his 
expenses. 

The minutes proceed : 

"The Commission, nevertheless, decided to order 
inspector Rachid Bey to hold an inquiry into this 
affair. If the result snail be to prove the groundless- 



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304 THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

ness of the appeal, the complainants shall be made to 

Say the expenses of the inquiry. Information of this 
ecision shall be given beforehand to the villagers, 
through the kaimakam. If they persist in their appeal, 
the inquiry shall take place on the above condition." 

When did an unreasonable litigant ever abandon his 
appeal under a threat of costs being given against 
him ? The complainants of Medjkofta duly persisted, 
and their persistence cost them £12, 

" Inspector Rachid Bey communicated by his report 
of November 2, 1907, the result of the inquiry wnich 
he was ordered to hold. 

" Rachid Bey concluded that he is satisfied that 336 
of the 386 sheep have really been withheld from 
registration. As for the other 50, the inquiry has 
proved that their withholders had bought them m the 
mterval between the registration and the revision. 
In these circumstances, and having regard to the 
decision taken on the subject of this question in the 
session of July 24, 1907, the Commission decided to 
repay the double tax to the proprietors of the 50 
sheep ; but the withholders of the 336 sheep found to 
have been withheld shall be made to pay the expenses 
of the inquiry, amounting to 1,215 piastres." 

And so justice is done, and, thanks to the exertions 
of his Excellency, Hilmi Pasha, and of the Civil 
Agents and Councillors of the six great Powers, fifty 
sheep in the caza of Istip are no longer unfairly 
taxed. 

But the imposition of costs as a method of dis- 
couraging frivolous appeals seems to mark a new era 
in the history of Rumelia. The Commissioners have 
evidently learnt something. And the Folk must have 
learnt something too, something more wholesome than 
agreeable. They have learned the difference between 
missionaries and newspaper correspondents, and 
writers of impartial works on Macedonia, on the one 
hand, and business men on the other. They have 
exchanged King Log for King Stork. 



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THE INTERNAL ORGANISATION 305 

The following letter, found on the dead body of 
a Comitadji, throws some light on the spirit and 
methods of the Internal Organisation. They do not 
appear to place much reliance on the efforts of their 
European friends. They are clearly preparing to 
take advantage of the retirement of the Greek bands, 
due to the request of the Powers. At the same time 
they show some anxiety with regard to the appear- 
ance of Albanians on the scene. As will be seen 
presently, the Bulgars are trying to turn the Albanians 
against the Greeks. 

7M September^ 1907. 

*^From The Council of Chiefs in the Circumscription 
OF Castoria 

"We received yours of the 3rd instant By the same 
messenger we had answered your previous letter. 
We intend to take measures m order to send con- 
stantly into your circumscription an inspector whose 
mission will be to put order into affairs, and to assign 
the men and the chiefs to spheres of action. 

** Let us know what is the spirit of the population 
after the disasters which happened this year in your 
part. Do there exist any remains of Greek bands at 
kirtchichta, and near the monastery of Otchichky? 
In the affirmative case, and if you are aware which 
regions they wander over, you will inform us in order 
to advise the Albanian band. It appears that the 
Greeks are retiring themselves since the beginning 
of the autumn. In our circumscription there are but 
five or six native Greek bandits at Bouf, and seven or 
eight in the Morihovo region. 

'' Have you encountered an Albanian band which 
travelled the Presba region one month ago ? If you 
saw them, you are asked to inform us how they are 
armed, from where they get their funds, their oDJect, 
and the centre of their movements. 

" I have no important information to eive you now. 
The Civil Aeents try to make judicial reforms ; Turkey 
refuses. Old stones! If this winter there is no 
important change in the situation of Macedonia, it 

20 



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306 THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

will be necessary to work severely next year. Be- 
cause Turkey will be forced into war. 

"On the 24th of Aueust, Ivan Naoumoff, a member 
of the inspection band, was killed near the village of 
Bilitsa (caza Kirtchovo). 

"On the 5th our band attacked near Goritsa and 
Stinia the courier of Janina. You should attack, if 

Possible, the courier of Castoria in the region of 
>avla. 

'* On the 3rd five companions of Dimko were killed 
at the village Potoros. 

" On the 2qth the band of Likvesh had a successful 
collision with the troops. The band, though sur- 
rounded by the troops, succeeded in escaping, leaving 
on the spot three or four bodies. The troops had 20 
to 30 killed. 

** Try to open a channel in the region of Fiorina in 
order to make our correspondence easier. 

" P. Christoff, of the liva (sic) Committee" 

In order to illustrate the tactics of the Internal 
Organisation as regards the Albanians more fully, I 
will insert here another letter which reached me 
through a Greek channel. It will be seen that Greece 
is the one enemy; the Rumanian and Albanian elements 
are less dangerous to Bulgarian ambition. 

MACEDONIA IN ARMS 

Caza of Florina. 
To The Muchtar, Mayor, Priests, and Prelates of 
Belkameni 

Inhabitants of Belkameni, 

We are morally forced to threaten you for your 
having taken a bad road by joining hands with the 
Greek Antartes, who are composed of the most foul 
elements, and who, under the pretext that they are 
fighting for the sake of freedom, are slaughtering our 
real Bulgars, both great and small, with those savage 
instincts so common in decayed Greece. It is this 
pretty crowd who have terrorised the Bulgarian and 
Rumanian populations of Macedonia, and forced them 



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A COMITADJI LETTER 307 

to become Greeks. Luckily your brigands were late 
in coming, otherwise they would have found the in- 
habitants entirely exhausted from the eflfects of the 
revolution, but now they have regained courage and 
they have commenced to make a stand against the 
Greeks. 

Carefully note that I intend to kill, yes, to slaujghter, 
every one of you who do not repent, for your action or 
for your error in becoming the followers of the brigand 
Antartes, who have polluted their names in the eyes of 
the European world. You must immediately send 
your representatives to us here, in order that we may 
come to some understanding, for if you do not decide 
to join with us, a terrible, yes^ most terrible, fate awaits 
you all. We shall tuipe you off the face of the earth. 
Nor mil it be made possible for you to escape our wrath. 
Wherever you may go we will track you down and you 
will faU into our hands. 

You are not Greeks, but Rumanians and Albanians ; 
it is not our desire to convert you into Bulgars. 
Shame on you, to throw away your real nationality. 
Remember that you have brothers like yourselves 
who are fighting for the causes of their nations ; the 
Rumanian and Albanian bands are brotherly united with 
us, and we work in one accord. It is those Greek 
Antartes who have spoiled the symphony, and de- 
ceived you ; and if you do not mean to understand 
again that you are Rumanians and Albanians, and not 
GrREEKS, you wiU very quickly have to suffer for it, 
seeing that a frightful fate awaits you. Well, tnen, don't 
hesitate Moin hands with us, if you do not wish all to 
perish. This we are warning you of for the very last 
time. So beware. 

The Voivode of the District. 
{Sgd.) DjOLE. 
L. S. 
Priv€Ue. 

In the Forest of Bino. 

The most interesting paper among those for which 
I am indebted to the courtesy of Hilmi Pasha is the 
report of a French officer of gendarmery to his com- 
mander at Serres, describing the destruction of a 
village which seems to have been one of the principal 



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3o8 THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

arsenals and meeting-places of the Bulgarian bands 
in that region. 

While it does not pretend to be the work of an 
eye-witness, the description is so close and vivid that 
it produces all the effect of a personal narrative. We 
seem to hear the stealthy piercing of the wall behind 
the lieutenant of gendarmes, and to see the protruding 
rifle-barrels. The picture of the burning village, 
flaring away all night, amid the crackle of concealed 
ammunition, and the crash of hidden bombs, is a true 
snapshot of the Folk War, more realistic than many 
photographs. 

"Serres, August 19, 1907. 
" Captain Sarrou to Colonel V^rand, Chief of the 
French Mission in Macedonia, at Serres 

" My Colonel, 

** I have the honour to render you a report of 
the inquirv I have made on the subject of the encounter 
at D6r6-Muslim. 

"On Monday morning, the 12th of August, the 
gendarme of Melnik, Youssouf, escorted by a dozen 
soldiers, arrived at the village of D6re-Muslim, situated 
in the goree of Melnik, and at twenty minutes to the 
south of that town. To execute his patrol duty he 
left his escort in the gorge and mountea to the village 
by the little path which leads to the top of the cliff* on 
which D6re-Muslim is situated, and wnich overhangs 
the ravine by a hundred feet. There he found the 
muktar and elders, and asked them if they had 
anythine; to report. They replied in the negative, 
but looked at each other with an air of anxiety. 
The gendarme had a vague suspicion, but he con- 
tentea himself with asking the muktar to affix his 
seal to the patrol-book, thereby certifying his declara- 
tion in writing. He then continued on his round of 
the villages. 

** In the afternoon the government [the authority in 
Melnik ?] was warned that three Bulgarian bands 
under the command of three leaders, Tzodomir, Mitzo 
Vranali, and Mitzo Marikostinali, had been lying 
since the night before in the village of D6r6-Muslim. 



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D£r£-MUSLIM 309 

The total number of these three bands was thirty men. 
They had passed the two previous days at D6r6- 
Mantza, a village opposite, on the other bank of the 
gorge ; they were engaged in collecting money. The 
government at once notified the military authority and 
the gendarmery. A detachment of 150 soldiers and 
9 gendarmes was immediately sent to the village. The 
Melnik lieutenant of gendarmery, Salih Agha, took 
command of the operations. He left the town at 
three o'clock in the afternoon, and at half-past three 
the village was surrounded by a triple cordon of 
soldiers. The dispositions taken to secure the 
Comitadjis were excellent and rapidly carried out: 
they were conceived and executed by the lieutenant 
of gendarmery, by the confession of the officers present 
themselves. 

" Directly after, the lieutenant of gendarmery, ac- 
companied by the muavin, a police agent, a gendarme, 
and some soldiers, called tne elders together and 
advised them to tell the truth. He told them that 
he knew the Comitadjis were in the village, that 
measures were already taken to prevent their escape, 
and that he wanted them to persuade these latter 
to surrender, because, he added, if not there would 
be much bloodshed on both sides, which he wished to 
avoid if possible. The villagers declared that they 
knew nothing. The lieutenant then ordered that 
all the 'inhabitants should come out of their houses 
and gather to the north of the village. A certain 
number of men, women, and children decided to leave 
their dwellings. 

** The lieutenant, Salih Agha, remarked in the crowd 
of villagers one old man who seemed disposed to aid 
him. After having spoken to four or five other 

{)ersons, so as not to betray him [not to betray the 
act that they understood each other], the lieutenant 
ordered this old man to lead the way. He began 
to search the houses. The first house contained 
nothing suspicious. As they approached the second 
shots were fired on the representatives of the law, 
and one ball struck the unfortunate old man whom 
the lieutenant had chosen as guide. The firing now 
took place on both sides ; soldiers and Comitadjis shot 
at nearly point-blank range. However, the gendarmes 



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310 THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

and soldiers, exposed in the middle of the lane, sought 
to shelter themselves as they best could from the 
shots of their adversaries, concealed in the house and 
almost invisible : they even scarcely fired, because it 
was difficult for them to see the Comitadjis. 

"At one moment one of the Comitadjis said that he 
wished to surrender. A villager who was following 
the lieutenant of gendarmery undertook to encourage 
this man to surrender. He knocked at the door, gave 
his name, and opened the door. In the same instant he 
received a bullet coming from inside which struck him 
in the left thigfh. The lieutenant of gendarmery had 

Ereviously noticed that one of the Comitadjis standing 
y the entrance had fixed his bayonet, and he himself 
had done the same. When he saw the wretched peasant 
who had opened the door fall in front of him, he 
found himself face to face with the Comitadji, who 
tried to saUy out, making his way with the fixed 
bayonet. Trie lieutenant swiftly thrust him in the 
belly, and the bullets of the soldiers finished him 
immediately after. In this fight at hand to hand the 
other Comitadjis directed tneir blows against the 
lieutenant Salih Agha, and one ball pierced the left 
leg of his trousers, another slightly wounded his left 
arm, and a third broke his bayonet. Without losing 
his head, he took the bayonet of the Comitadji whom 
he had just killed and thus replaced his own. The 
Comitadjis who had fired on nim and his comrades 
numbered seven or eight Almost at the same time 
they launched a bomb which caused a movement of 
retreat on the part of the soldiers, while it set on 
fire the house occupied by the insurgents. These 
latter seized this instant to gain the roof of the house, 
and to pass from roof to roof to six houses away. 
There tney recommenced firing, and killed a soldier. 
By this time, firine was going on on all sides. Shots 
and bombs came from the houses. 

**The Comitadji who had just been killed by the 
lieutenant Salih Agha was the band leader izon- 
domir ; he wore a beard. His body was carried by the 
soldiers to the river-bed to prevent its being burned 
by the conflagration. Some papers were found on him. 
** The band leader Mitzo Marikostinali, who also 
wore a beard, was lurking in the last house of the 



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A BURNING VILLAGE 311 

village, situated to the south, and at the edge of the 
cliff. He sallied out at a given moment, and tried 
to escape. But the soldiers posted in the ravine 
fired on him, and killed him. The third chief, Mitzo 
Vranali, had posted himself on the top of a bake- 
house. During the combat a man named Mehmed 
Sadik (formerly Stoyannof) shot at and wounded him. 
In spite of his wound he continued fighting, and 
refused to surrender. The lieutenant, being notified, 
approached him, and urged him to surrender, but in 
vam. He then aimed at him, and finished him oflf, 
for fear of his doing more injury if he spared him 
longer. The soldiers took away his weapon — a Maiin- 
licher — ^and carried him to the gorge beside the other 
corpses. It was now six o'clock. The conflagration 
had consumed half the village. From the centre it 
spread northwards and southwards. Bombs went 
off in the burning houses, some of them with a louder 
explosion than a cannon, following on which the roofs 
were seen rising in the air and descending in ruins, 
dragging the walls with them. It is believed that 
the greater part of these bombs were concealed in 
the walls, and that their explosion was caused by the 
fire. In addition the numerous reservoirs of alcohol 
contained in some of the houses assisted the fire to 
spread. The lieutenant of gendarmery, aided by the 
soldiers, tried to preserve one house, but without 
success. 

" It was six o'clock when the muktar of the year 
before and two villagers came to greet the lieutenant 
of gendarmery. He rebuked them, sayine, ' You see 
all the mischief you have caused by not Tistenine to 
my advice/ At that instant two shots came trom 
a neighbouring house. The former muktar, address- 
ing the lieutenant, said, * I am going to try to per- 
suade them to surrender.' 'Don't gfo,' he replied, 
* they might kill you.' But without listening to the 
officer's advice he went to the house, opened the door, 
and in the same moment received a bullet right in 
the mouth, and fell dead. The lieutenant, seeing that 
the fire would bum this corpse, tried, with the aid 
of some soldiers and villagers, to withdraw it, but 
could not succeed. 

**A moment after this officer was notified of the 



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312 THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

death of the gendarme Mustapha. He went to the spot 
where he had fallen, and found him lying beside a 
soldier. Both had been shot in the head almost at 
the barrel end, and had fallen dead one after the 
other. The lieutenant was most anxious to draw 
off the body of Mustapha, which the flames had already 
begun to bum. He tried himself by ^oing down on 
all fours to reach it, but the Comitadjis fired on him, 
and would not let him stretch out far enough. He 
then handed over the task to two gendarmes and 
some soldiers, while he held the insurgents in check 
by firing at them. 

" He now found himself between the flames and the 
fire of the Comitadjis. He was leaning against the 
wall of a house behind his back, which he believed 
to be empty, when he realised that some one inside 
was trying to pierce holes in it with bayonets to shoot 
through. He let them go on, and when he saw the 
hole made he fired through it, and heard a cry of 
sufFerine come from inside. 

*'At that instant Mehmed Sadik called out to the 
lieutenant, *Come away from there, Salih Agha! 
There are Comitadjis close to you— come away!' 
Soon after these words he received a bullet which 

fenetrated his cheek and came out through the mouth, 
le was in the middle of the gorge at this time, and 
a hundred and fifty yards from the house whence the 
shot was fired. It was more than half-past six. 

The fight lasted another half-hour, the defenders 
letting themselves be buried under the ruins of the 
burning houses rather than surrender. Some villagers 
found themselves shut up in the houses, between the 
fire of the Comitadjis and soldiers and the flames of 
the conflagration. They dared not go out, whether 
because they feared the shots, or because the Comi- 
tadjis would not let them escape. Some Turkish 
officers and many other persons have assured me that 
the Comitadjis forbade tne men, and even the women 
and children, to leave the houses, insisting that the 
villagers should share their fate. It may be that the 
insurgents meant to take vengeance for tne treason of 
which they had been the victims. 

" At seven o'clock the fight was over. Three-ouarters 
of the village was consumed by the flames. But the 



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A NIGHT SCENE 313 

conflagration continued its work of destruction till one 
o'clock in the morning. The whole night the village 
was burning, and bombs were going off all the time, 
sometimes with a tremendous noise. The sound of 
the explosions was distinctly heard at Melnik. The 
lieutenant of gendarmery estimates at about fifty the 
number of large bombs, whose detonation he com- 
pares to that of great pieces of artillery, and at 200 
the number of smaller bombs. In addition there was 
heard every moment the sound of a crackling like a 
fusillade: this was the explosion of the ammunition 
for the rifles. It was especially in a new-built house, 
a little apart from the otners, that the most numerous 
and the loudest explosions were heard. The Turks 
suppose that in this village there had been accumu- 
lated a store of ammunition, bombs, and explosives of 
all kinds. Personally, I am strongly inclined to believe 
it. This village forms a little fortress on the road 
habitually taken by the Comitadjis for Leonica, Cere- 
snica, Slave, Hotovo, D6re-Muslim, D6r6-Mantza, 
Susica, etc., etc., and commands a series of valleys 
very suited to the work of the revolutionaries. More- 
over, its nearness to the town of Melnik renders its 
situation more important. 

In the morning, as soon as it was day, an inspection 
was made of the ground. The bodies of the three chiefs 
and of two of the villagers were discovered, but these 
latter were completely unrecognisable, the fire having 
half burned them. One had beside him a Mannlicher, 
and the other a Berdan. But six villagers in all were 
missing, the other four bodies left in the houses 
having been burned, and buried in the ruins. There 
were also six inhabitants wounded — three men and 
three women. [I omit the names, and descriptions of 
the wounds.] The doctors firom Melnik having de- 
clared that they had not the means to heal two of the 
wounded, the authorities, on my advice, have given 
orders for sending them to the Turkish hospital of 
Salonika, where they are now. 

" On the side of the Turks there were two soldiers 
killed and two wounded, one gendarme killed, and the 
lieutenant of gendarmery slightly wounded. 

"According to the information of the Turkish 
authorities, these three bands had joined together 



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314 THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

with the intention of attacking, on the day they were 
surrounded, the oost coming; from Djoumai-Bala, and 
with it all the ureeks commg back from the market 
of Cotrivatch. While waiting, the Comitadjis, divided 
into three groups, levied a tax at the rate of three 
shillings a head for the poor, including women and 
children, and five pounds tor the rich. The unmarried 
men did not pay the tax, but were given rifles and 
compelled to march at the first order. In the villages 
of the plain of Melnik they took twelve shillings for 
each pair of oxen. In addition, each village, according 
to its importance, had to pay a tithe varying between 
1,000 and 4,000 okes of grain ; but the tithe was taken 
in money at the rate of one piastre for an oke. [That 
means that each village paid from ;£^io to ;f40 sterling.] 

" The lieutenant of gendarmery assigns a loftier aim 
to this meeting of bands. It should have had the 
more important object of closing the pass of Demi- 
Hissar, near Roppel, and that of Cresna. During 
that time one party of the Comitadjis would have 
burned a certain number of villages. Other informa- 
tion, coming from a person generally very accurately 
informed, is to the enect that Sandanski, at the head 
of eighty Comitadjis, was going to join these three 
small bands in order to perform some striking deed. 

" On the bodies of the three chiefs killed at D6r6- 
Muslim a number of papers were found. It appears 
that the most important were lost during the fight, 
but there is some hope of recovering them. Some of 
the papers have been shown to me; among others, 
five death-sentences, in the name of the chief Mitzo 
Marikostinali, and coming from the Internal Organi- 
sation. Of these five sentences two have been already 
carried out ; among those that remain there is one 
against the Bulgarian priest of Ploska, a village hostile 
to the Internal Organisation. 

** As regards the number of thirty Comitadjis, given 
by the Turkish authorities, I have been unable to 
verify it, for all the bodies have been burned and 
buried under the ruins. They are still smoking, and 
render a search impossible. Meanwhile a certain 
number of rifles have been found. [He enumerates 
thirteen.] The authorities hope to find more when 
the ruins can be searched ; if they fail, the number of 



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GOVERNMENT RELIEF 315 

Comitadjis cannot have exceeded thirteen, arid my con- 
viction is that some of these rifles belonged to the 
peasants, which would make the number less. 

" In casting one's eyes now on the little plateau to 
the north of the village, one is painfully impressed by 
all the misery it exhibits. Two hundred and eighty 
men, women, and children are huddled together with- 
out shelter, without food, without money, and without 
other clothing than what they have on. The fire has 
devoured everything ; they have nothing left. Of the 
forty-five houses of which the village was composed,* 
only six have been spared by the flames. Witn diffi- 
culty some coverings and furniture have been saved. 

** On the day of the catastrophe the authorities sent 
some bread to these unfortunates. The peasants made 
me observe that the quantity of bread distributed to 
them was auite insufficient for so many mouths. I 
at once maae the remark to the authorities, and the 
ration distributed was doubled. But it was still not 
enough. 

"A commission, composed of the colonel of infantry 
commanding the garrison of Demi-Hissar and of the 
commandant TaXar Bey, chief of the gendarmery of 
the sandjak of Serres, has been sent to the spot. It 
arrived some time after me, and held an inquiry to fix 
the indemnity to be given to the peasants not com- 

Eromised in this affair for the rebuilding of their 
ouses. It fixed the indemnities, varying from £6 to 
£% according to the size of the houses destroyed. 

'' I was able to go alone amongst the peasants, and 
they gave me to understand that the soldiers had 
themselves set fire to the houses; that the villagers 
killed had been killed by the soldiers, who had thrown 
the bodies into the fire ; that the wounded had been 
hit by the bullets of the soldiers ; that the soldiers had 
stolen their goods, and that Bashi-bazouks had taken 
part in the burning and pillage. 

** After my investigation, I cannot believe these accu- 
sations. Besides, a great number of facts and circum- 
stances militate in favour of the Turks. I found 
cartridges — Mannlicher, Berdan, etc. — ^pretty nearly 

^ On the basis of five persons to a house the population would be 
225. It is actually 280, not counting those who perished. The 
vulgar estimates are clearly imder the mark. 



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3i6 THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

everywhere, which proves that the Comitadjis fired on 
the troops ifrom all sides. For the rest, the villagers 
to whom I Dointed this out admitted to me that the 
Comitadjis fled from house to house to avoid the fire. 
Granting that the Turks set fire to the houses to drive 
out the Comitadjis, they must have been obliged to do 
so in every direction. But the soldiers and the lieu- 
tenant of gendarmery assure me that the fire was 
caused by the bombs ; now, it is very possible that 
they started the conflagration." 

The remainder of the report is taken up with 
refuting the malicious accusations of the villagers, 
and with recording some instances of devotion on the 
part of the Turks. 

"The police agent. Habit Eff^endi, saw that four 
villagers were shut up in a house that was already 
beginning to bum. Tney dared not come out in the 
midst of a rain of bullets. The agent of the police 
stopped the firing on the part of the troops, and thus 
succeeded in saving, not without peril, these four 
unfortunate villagers. 

"Another police agent, Mehmet Said, went into a 
burning stable, to save an ass which was inside, when 
he saw a little infant of three or four months, 
abandoned, and already approached by the flames. 
He caught it up and came out carrying the child in his 
arms ; he was g^reeted by the bullets of the Comitadjis 
one of which pierced the clothing of the child." 

In reading this report allowance must be made for 
the very evident bias of the writer in favour of the 
Turks. At the same time it is difficult not to acquire 
a portion of that feeling after the perusal. 

The first thing that must strike every reader is that the 
ferocious crew harboured in this village met a fate which 
they thoroughly deserved, in short the fate which they 
had come to inflict on others. According to one view 
of their operations they were concerting a massacre of 
Greeks ; not an attack on a Greek band, but a massacre 



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JUSTICE 317 

of peasants returning from market. According to 
another view they aimed at burning a number of 
villages; that is to say, of course, Christian villages 
which refused to be taxed by the Internal Organisa- 
tion. These recalcitrant villages may have been either 
Greek or Bulgarian ; one of the death-warrants to be 
executed is against a Bulgarian priest. While they 
are waiting to carry out these atrocities, the Comitadjis 
are busy plundering tlje country-side. 

The Bulgarian apologist has told us that his friends 
have as much right to act in this manner as any 
recognised Government has to levy taxes and punish 
traitors; but the Bulgarian view really is that they 
have much more right, and this view seems to have 
affected the mind of Captain Sarrou himself. The 
Comitadjis, being Christians and liberators, may bum 
offending villages if it pleases them to do so, but the 
Moslem authorities must not dare to follow their 
example. The French captain labours to exonerate 
his friends from the suspicion of having set fire to 
the houses from which they were being fired at by the 
wild beasts whom they had trapped. One is tempted 
to pronounce that the troops would have acted very 
weakly if they had hesitated for one moment to burn 
out this nest of scorpions. 

It is difficult to feel much sympathy with the 
vill^ers. Either the Comitadjis had come among 
them as friends, or as tyrants. If they sheltered them 
willingly, it can only be said that they deserved to lose 
their homes. If unwillingly, what view can be taken 
of their behaviour in bringing complaints and accusa- 
tions against the troops who had delivered them from 
such a scourge ? 

There is something utterly revolting to one's sense 
of justice about the whole episode. The Government 
is compelled to feed the victims of the Internal 
Organisation, and to give them funds to rebuild their 
houses, in order that they may serve again as arsenals 
of bombs, and as fortresses for murderers and 



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3i8 THE DOCUMENTS OF HILMI PASHA 

anarchists. That is turning the left cheek to the 
smiter, with a vengeance. With every desire to give 
credit to the Turks for humanity, I am compelled to 
attribute this excess of Christian charity to the dictation 
of the Powers, and of that public sentiment which 
supplies the Powers with driving force. 

On such lines, it must be said again, the Folk War 
can never be brought to a close. If, instead of being 
rebuilt at the expense of the Government, villages like 
D6r6-Muslim were sown with salt, and the inhabitants 
given the choice between emigration into Bulgaria 
and transportation to Armenia, there might be some 
prospect of peace. 

As this chapter is made up of citations, I will close 
it with an extract from a French journalist, M. Michel 
Paillares, who has made many expeditions to 
Macedonia, and has, from time to time, found himself 
on the scene of recent atrocities. I quote from his 
recently published volume, L Imbroglio Macedonien, 

''Michael Vassili, of Komanitchavo, recounts the 
scene which took place quite recently in his village. 
*On the i6th of July' (1905), he tells us, 'more than 
eighty Comitadjis came and surrounded the house of 
my brother and myself. We defended ourselves for 
three hours with our rifles. When our ammunition 
was exhausted we hid ourselves in a neighbouring 
house. The Comitadjis, enraged at not finding us, 
threw themselves like wild beasts on our mother and 
on our aunt, aged eighty, and massacred them. Our 
mother received a shot from a revolver, and eighteen 
knife-thrusts. Then they killed my child, aged eight ; 
they thrust it through here and there with a bayonet, 
and threw its corpse into a ditch.' The women who 
were present at this scene assert that the Comitadjis 
drank the blood which escaped from the wounds of 
youne Vassili. 

"Tne Italian officer engaged in reorganising the 
gendarmery of the caza confirms the narrative of 
Michael Vassili. However, he refuses to believe in 
such a monstrous detail as that the bandits drank the 



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A BULGARIAN POET 319 

blood of the child, although the testimony of the 
spectators is unanimous." 

I will only add that I first found this gruesome 
episode narrated in a letter from the Greek Arch- 
bishop of the diocese to the Patriarch. Like the 
Italian officer, I hesitated to accept the charge of 
actual cannibalism, but I no longer feel able to pro- 
nounce such an act impossible on the part of the Folk. 
It is the Bulgarian poet, Bazoff, who has written : 

'' O my folk, I look on your face that sufTering has rendered ferocious 

and inhuman, and I tremble I 
Enslaved mothers have given thee birth. 
The voice of pity is strange to thee, for cruelty is the deep element 

of thy life!** 



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CHAPTER XVI 



Politics and truth— The captain of a Greek band— How the Folk 
War began— Operations of the Antartes — Feeling of the Mace- 
donian Greeks— The way to end the Folk Wai^— Turkish 
etiquette— The Albanists 

The present chapter represents a concession to 
hypocrisy, a thing more popular than truth in political, 
as in most other, circles. In the interests of political 
hypocrisy it is necessary that we should pretend not 
to know that the Greek and Bulgarian bands in 
Rumelia enjoy the approval and patronage of the 
Greek and Bulgarian Governments. We must feign 
ignorance of the fact that the Western missionaries 
in Turkey are in most cases engaged in spreading 
sedition against the Government, rather than in 
teaching their converts to render unto Caesar that 
which is Caesar's. We must accept the conventional 
caricature of Abdul Hamid II. hung up in all the 
Christian schools as a genuine expression of affection 
for that sovereign on the part of the teachers and 
pupils. And, above all, we must hold ourselves ready 
to change and accommodate our beliefs on these and 
other subjects to the policy of our Government for 
the time being, lest we should find ourselves in the 
awkward position of having to choose between our 
interest and our conscience. 

According to some foreign observers, the British 
nation does not often find itself in this last dilemma. 

320 



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DEPARTMENT WORSHIP 321 

A Turkish statesman who enjoys a renown for 
sagacity remarked to me, " I have noticed that your 
ruling class can always make the people think what it 
wants them to think." 

There is much truth in the observation. In spite of 
Parliament and the Press, there is probably no country 
at the present time in which the bureaucracy exercises 
such unchecked power as in England, and in which 
the influence of the public is so slight. 

While Lord Elgin was at the Colonial Office the 
great self-governing Colonies demanded the appoint- 
ment of a man of eminence, outside the permanent 
official staff, to deal with them. He replied by the 
appointment of a senior clerk, to whose name some 
honorific letters were added to dazzle the simple 
colonial mind. The appointment provoked an angry 
complaint from the Prime Minister of Australia, of 
which no one took any notice ; and when Lord Elgin 
retired from office he was extolled in the newspapers 
for his loyalty, not to the empire, but to " the Depart- 
ment." * 

If this Department-worship has survived the Boer 
War, it will probably survive the British Empire. 
I have every reason to congratulate myself on the 
fact that on the present occasion I am, as far as 
I can judge, on the side of the Department, but I 
should have been still better pleased if I had been 
drawing up this report for a public which was still 
master in its own house. 

I shall now proceed to transcribe the evidence of 
some witnesses whose identity I have been requested 
to conceal either by themselves or by persons to 
whose judgment I defer. 

The first is one of the best-known and most success- 



' The late Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman told Mr. Labouchere 
that he considered it the duty of a Minister to defend his Department 
*' right or wrong." That principle has reduced the House of 
Commons to a legal fiction. 

21 



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322 "IN CAMERA •• 

ful leaders of the Greek bands, who is known through- 
out Macedonia as " Captain Vardas." One of our 
Consuls, a gentleman whose information I found to be 
derived almost entirely from Bulgarian sources, repre- 
sented that " Captain Vardas " was a young officer in 
the Greek Army who had been promoted from the 
grade of sub-lieutenant to lieutenant-colonel in two 
years, as a reward for having done little more than 
loaf about Salonika. When I interviewed " Captain 
Vardas," I found him actually wearing the uniform of a 
lieutenant of artillery. He is thirty-eight years of age, 
and he informed me that he had recently risen to the 
grade of lieutenant by seniority — not a very extrava- 
gant rate of promotion. 

" Captain Vardas " is a native of Sphakia, in Crete, a 
district famous for its obstinate resistance to Turkish 
authority even at a time when the Turks were masters 
of the rest of the island. His portrait shows him to 
be what I found him in personal intercourse, a man of 
great courage united with g^eat simplicity, with all the 
bright good-humour and playfulness of a boy. The 
contrast between this portrait and that of the Bulgarian 
Tchakalaroff, described by his own apologist as " cruel 
but capable," is typical of the contrast between the 
two peoples, their national aspirations, and their 
methods. 

I spent a long and interesting evening with " Captain 
Vardas," taking down his story with the aid of a Greek 
friend who spoke English. The captain was delighted 
to give evidence — in fact, he ran on so freely that I was 
obliged to check him, like the judge in an English law- 
court, with the stern reminder that he must confine 
himself to answering my questions, a rebuke which 
left us no worse friends. 

My notes read thus : 

" 1 first went into Macedonia in November 1904. 
" I was stirred up to go by reports of outrages being 
committed on Greeks. Refugees from Macedonia 



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CAPTAIN VARDAS." 



P-3«a] 



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PAUL OF ZELOVON 323 

arrived in Athens, many of them former chiefs of 
Macedonian bands, who had been driven out by the 
Bulbars. These chiefs included Kotte of Riula, Dalipi 
of Gabres, Pavlos of Zelovon, and others, 

"These men came to Athens to say that Greek 
villages were being converted by force to Bulgarism. 
They came to appeal for help, saying that the mere 
presence of a few Greeks from Greece would en- 
courage the Macedonian population to return to the 
old faith. 

" Paul of Zelovon said to me : * About the year 1900 
the Bulgar-speakine villages were approached by 
Russian pedlars seUing knives, scissors, and tooth- 

Kicks. They took notes in the towns and villages of 
ow many spoke Greek, and how many Bulgarian; 
they came to study and get news. They tried to find 
whether the population favoured the Greeks or 
Bulgars, and to what limit the Bulgar-speaking zone 
extended.' " 

In answer to my question, " Captain Vardas " here 
stated, ** It was publicly known that these pedlars were 
Russians. 

" * Some time after ' — I resume the account given 
by Paul of Zelovon to the captain — 'agents from 
Bulgaria came into the centres, and began picking men 
and converting them to Bulgarian views by talking to 
them, and giving them money. They took advantage 
of any quarrel with the local priest to influence the 
people against the Greek Church. During this time 
they were helped by the officials of the Russian 
Consulates. 

" ' When a Bulgarian party was created, they began 
to preach love of Treedom, and that the time had come 
to ao away with Turkish misrule. 

" * At that time the people suffered terribly from the 
Turks, much more than now. The Turkish landlords 
exercised the droit de seigneur. The Bashi-bazouks 
used to come into' the villages and enjoy themselves at 
the expense of the inhabitants. 

"'The Bulgarian partisans came all across the 
country into Greece itself. They taught the people to 
sing Bulgarian words to the Greek tunes of the War 
of Independence. 

" * I (Pavlos) was a Bulgar-speaking Greek. I was a 



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324 "IN CAMERA" 

convert to the Bulgarian party. The task riven to me 
was to come into Greece, and bring arms.' 

Tchakalaroff himself, "Captain Vardas" stated, 
came to Athens at this time on the same errand. He 
had seen him dining in the well-known Averoff 
restaurant. 

" ' I then noticed that as soon as a party was formed 
in a village, they demanded that the priest should 
preach in Bulgarian, instead of Greek. 

" * Next they demanded that the Greek priests should 
be replaced by Exarchists. 

" * in the schools they demanded that the Greek 
schoolmasters should go, and that Bulgarians should 
come. 

" * This was the signal for strife between the Patri- 
archists and Exarchists, who often came to blows. 
That was the state of things by 1902. 

" * I remember Dcltchoff from Bul^^aria coming to 
Konoblati and saying, " The Greek priests and school- 
masters are obstacles. The time has come to play the 
game for the Bulgarians. We are all Bulgars. We 
must work for Bulgaria, because she will come and 
help us to throw offthe Turkish yoke." 

" * Yankoff, on the other hand, told the people, 
" Macedonia for the Macedonians." Sarafoff belonged 
to the Bulgarian party. Sandanski was for the Mace- 
donian. Their diflferences were due to personal 
rivalry. 

" * 1 said, " You taught me to fight for freedom. 
Now vou tell me to kill the Greek priests. How 
shall I kill Greek priests ? I cannot ao that, against 
my principles." 

" * I saw that thev were disappointed with me. 
They meant to murder me. 

" * I went and told this to my comrades. I told the 
Archbishop of Castoria and the Greek Consul at 
Monastir. This was on the eve of the rising 

"*As a result my village has never turned Ex- 
archist. 

" ' From that moment dates the open assassination 
of all who would not embrace the Bulgarian idea.* " 

Thus far Paul of Zelovon. It is a perfectly simple 
and, I think no one can doubt, a perfectly truthful 



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ORIGIN OF FOLK WAR 325 

explanation of how the Folk War developed. The 
foreign emissaries organised the Macedonian peasantry 
to fight against the Turks, and then ordered them to 
begin by butchering the Greeks. Those who refused 
were next marked out for slaughter themselves. 

Theirrefusal seems to have been due to religious rather 
than political sentiment. But so is the whole crusade 
against the Turks due to religious sentiment Before 
the arrival of the Russian pedlars on the scene, these 
peasants were neither Greeks nor Bulgars in any strong 
national sense. Their religion linked them with one 
country, and their speech with the other. They were 
ready to accept the flag of the country that promised 
to liberate them from the Moslem. When Bulgaria 
broke faith with them, and asked them to become 
assassins of their priests instead of soldiers against 
the Turks, they turned from her to Greece. It is 
then for the first time that the Greek Consul comes on 
the scene, and that the Greek kingdom is appealed to 
for protection, not against the ancient enemy, but 
against the new. 

The narrative of Paul of Zelovon throws a light on 
the part played by the Archbishop of Castoria. We 
see him receiving this rough partisan, who comes 
to tell him, ** I engaged to fight Turks ; now they 
want me to kill Greek priests, and I cannot." The 
Archbishop threw his shield over the men who had 
refused to murder his clergy, and by so doing drew 
on himself the inextinguishable hate of Bulgaria and 
all her partisans, down to the English newspaper 
writers who have espoused the cause of Sandanski 
and Sarafoff. 

The further evidence of " Captain Vardas " bears 
more directly on his own experiences. 

"Greece was besieged by similar appeals. As a 
result, the Greeks gave arms to the refugees to be 
used against the Bulgarians, and not against the 
Turks. 

" I was a friend of Melas, who wrote to me to come 



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316 *'IN CAMERA" 

and join him in Macedonia. I was getting ready to go 
when I heard of his death. 

"I took with me thirty-five men, drawn from 
Macedonia, from Greece, and from other parts of 
Turkey. At first we lurked in the villages in the 
south of Macedonia, on account of the snow. They 
all spoke Greek as far north as Castoria. We urged 
them not to join the bands which were fighting for 
Bulfiparia. 

" 1 was commander of all the Greek bands in the 
district, some of which visited Slave-speaking villages. 

" In the spring I advanced northwards. 

"I was received as a liberator in all the Greek- 
speaking villages. Thej' regarded me as having come 
to free them from the Bulgars for the time being, and 
later on from the Turks. 

** Some of the vilWes were afraid to welcome us 
for fear of the Turks, who had burnt Bulgarian 
villages. 

" Wherever we came we restored order, put down 
crimes, and promoted concord, acting as judges." 

I asked the witness to describe an actual fight with 
the Comitadjis. " Captain Vardas " has had many of 
these, and has always come off victorious. 

" On the 4th of December, 1904, we went to the 
village of Labissovon. 

''Labissovon was oppressed by a Bulgarian com- 
mittee, and a Bulgarian band was concealed there. 
Some of the villagers came to a Greek village near, to 
ask me to come and release them from the voivode. 
The leader of a Bulgarian band is so styled. 

" We ran for one and a half hours from where we 
were to Labissovon. The villagers pointed out the 
house which contained the voivode and an armed 
band. We besieged the house. The Bulgarians 
fired on us, and wounded one man. I set fire to the 
house. They did not come out, and were all burned 
alive." 

It will be noticed that the Greek band, called in 
by the villagers themselves to deliver them from 
their oppressors, is much less squeamish in its 



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ZAGORITZANI 327 

methods than the Turkish soldiery under similar 
circumstances. 

The Turks dare not set fire, or dare not admit that 
they set fire, to the hornets' nest. " Captain Vardas " 
pretends to no such false scruples. We can under- 
stand why the Antartes have been so much more 
successful than the regular troops, or the European 
gendarmes, in clearing the country of robbers and 
murderers. 

" Three or four days before, the voivode had killed 
the headman of a neighbouring village, Bukhini, while 
makine a collection " — i.e. levymg forced taxes. 

" I suways gave orders to my followers not to hurt 
innocent men, nor women and children. Generally 
speaking, my orders were obeyed. The only instance 
in whicn my followers displeased me was at Zagorit- 
zani. There we had a pitched battle with the 
Bulgarians, and some women got killed by accident." 

The fight at Zagoritzani acquired a good deal of 
celebrity at the time, and caused "Captain Vardas" 
to be depicted in the Bulgarophile Press in the colours 
of an assassin. This village, or small town, was a Comi- 
tadji stronghold, and all the inhabitants were animated 
by the same ferocity as their champions. So bitter 
was their feeling that they would not exchange 
the salutation on the road which is customary even 
between Moslems and Christians. From Zagoritzani 
the Comitadjis devastated the surrounding country- 
side, like the Doones of Bagsworthy in Blackmore's 
famous tale. It was necessary to strike a blow at 
this fortress of terrorism, and " Captain Vardas " 
undertook the task. He marched into Zagoritzani, 
defeated the Comitadjis, and burned a quarter of the 
place. Since that time ** Captain Vardas " has been 
described as if he were a Sarafoff or Sandanski — and 
the neighbourhood has enjoyed comparative peace. 

" No torture or mutilation is ever practised by our 
men." 



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328 'MN CAMERA •' 

I pressed " Captain Vardas " on this point, and he 
admitted that some of the Macedonian peasants, acting 
under his orders, but at a distance, might have some- 
times imitated the atrocities of their Bulgarian neigh- 
bours. The captain is in charge of a wide district, 
and he is not able to superintend in person all that 
goes on. He assured me, and I could not doubt him, 
that he always and everjrwhere gave the strictest 
orders on the subject, and that those orders were 
not transgressed in his presence or to his know- 
ledge. 

I asked the captain how he proceeded when entering 
a village which had been " converted " to Exarchism, 
or Bulgarism. 

" When I go into a converted village, I call the 
people together into the market-place, and tell them 
It was wron^ to desert the old faith. If there is a 
Bulgarian pnest, I send him away, unhurt, unless 
he makes a fuss, or is likely to tell the Turks about 
us." 

One or two other scraps of evidence are worth 
noting. 

" The Bulgarians did not confine themselves to 
murdering the priests. They killed oflF all the educated 
men, such as the chemists, as well." 

It is the true character of the Folk War. It is the 
French Reign of Terror. It is the Jacquerie. When 
the Folk take to slaying their healers, we are witnessing 
the death-throes of civilisation. 

" The Turks do their best to put down the bands. 
But it is impossible for them to succeed while the 
bands are supported by the population. The people 
think the bands are a necessary evil" 

And so the last remark of the Greek captain of 
Antartes echoed that of the Bulgarian Agent at 
Monastic On that account it may be commended 



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THE CHRISTIAN GRIEVANCE 329 

to the thoughtful attention of the Turkish Govern- 
ment. 

It is evident that there are a large number of 
villages in which the inhabitants, or a majority of 
them, are content to submit to the extortions and 
oppressions of the Comitadjis, either because they have 
already cowed the Moslem ruffians of the locality, 
or because they believe that the outcome of the 
present situation will be the removal of Turkish 
rule. 

I do not think it can be contended that the 
Comitadjis treat their subjects better than the Turks 
formerly treated them. But they are "Christians," 
and they are Bulgars; and it is human nature to 
submit more cheerfully to oppression from men of 
the same race and creed than from foreigners and 
misbelievers. The Irish peasant who resorts to vio- 
lence to escape paying his rent, pays the dues of 
his parish priest without a murmur. 

If, therefore, the Internal Organisation (or, to use 
plainer language, the Bulgarian Government) had con- 
fined itself to setting up this reign of terror in the 
villages which partook of those sentiments, the excuses 
of its apologists in the Press would have some weight, 
at least in the judgment of those who call themselves 
Liberals. It is the attempt to extend its influence to 
other places against the will of the inhabitants that 
cannot be excused. It is that attempt which has 
brought men like " Captain Vardas " into the field, 
no doubt with the connivance and support of the 
Greek Government 

And it comes out clearly from the captain's evidence 
that the feeling of many of the Patriarchist villagers 
towards the Turks is nearly the same as that of the 
Exarchists. "Captain Vardas" himself does not 
regard the Turks as his enemies, for the moment. 
But the feeling of the villagers seems to be this : 
We want a band to help us against the Turks. We 
will not have a Bulgarian band, because they make 



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330 "IN CAMERA" 

us change our religion, but we expect the Greek 
band to do for us what the Bulgarian bands are doing 
for their supporters. 

This evidence must be read side by side with that 
which I collected from the villagers themselves at 
first hand. I was unable to elicit many serious com- 
plaints against the Turks, even when I was taking 
evidence in camera from pensioners of the Greek 
Government. I am inclined, therefore, to reconcile 
this apparent divergence by supposing that the feeling 
against the Turks rests at least as much on the racial 
and religious ground already referred to as on the 
ground of actual ill-treatment. In short, I am obliged 
to consider the grievance of the Rumelian Christians 
very largely a sentimental grievance — not the less 
serious on that account. 

On a subsequent occasion I had a conversation 
with "Captain Vardas" and another Greek officer 
who has rendered important services in Macedonia, 
" Captain Athales Bouas." This latter was wounded 
in an encounter with a Bulgarian band near Batatsin, 
which lasted over eight hours and ended in the flight 
of the Comitadjis — one of the very few occasions on 
which they have ventured to face the Antartes in 
the field. 

The two captains differed in their judgment of the 
attitude of the Turkish Government towards the Folk 
War. ''Athales Bouas" thought they could end it 
in two months if they chose. "Vardas" thought it 
would take them much longer. I need scarcely say 
that I concur in the latter view. But "Vardas" 
considered that by far the best and quickest way to 
bring things to a close would be a coalition between 
the Government forces and the Greek Antartes — a 
view in which I also concurred, though the prospect 
of such a coalition seemed remote. 

The description given to me by the two officers 



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HARD SERVICE 331 

of the hardships which they had to endure in their 
work throws much light on the causes of the Govern- 
ment failure. The whole of their marches have to 
be executed at night over rough and stony ground. 
They have no provisions but bread, and no drink 
but water. They sleep on the bare ground, in all 
weathers, sometimes passing days at a time without 
shelter, under a steadily pouring rain, till their clothes 
are sodden through, and they are well-nigh frozen. 
Similar hardships, of course, are endured by the 
opposing bands. It is not easy to imagine their 
being faced by the ordinary Turkish officer, and still 
less by the ordinary European one. If the Powers 
meant business with their gendarmery, they would 
have it officered by men like " Captain Vardas." 

I should add that the pay of this officer comes to 
a little less than £yo a year, and he lives on his pay. 
He receives no extra remuneration for his work in 
Macedonia, and when in Athens occupies a humble 
lodging, in striking contrast with the mansions 
erected in Sofia by the SarafofFs out of the plunder 
of Macedonian villages. 

I think it was ''Athales Bouas" who told me a 
quaint story of a search for concealed arms. A 
Macedonian Greek, who had four revolvers on his 
premises, returned to the house one day after a short 
journey, to find the kaimakam of the district seated 
on a chair in front of the door, surrounded by a body 
of gendarmes. 

The kaimakam had arrived, no doubt on information 
received, to look for the revolvers, and was waiting 
for the householder's return to begin the search. It 
is against the Turkish rule (my informant explained) 
for the authorities to enter a house in which there 
is no man— a rule surely worth more than a passing 
exclamation! That little picture of the Turkish 
governor, surrounded by his police, seated patiently 
in front of the Christian's house, out of respect for 



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332 "IN CAMERA" 

a sentiment which no European Christian shares or 
understands, is worth hanging beside some of these 
pictures of Turkish rule with which Europe is familiar. 

The Greek opened the door in some trepidation, 
and the gendarmes ransacked the house without 
result. The kaimakam was departing when the house- 
holder, in gratitude for his courtesy^ begged him to 
accept some refreshment. The Turk consented, and 
sat down again, while the lady of the house brought 
him coffee and sweetmeats. But the Greek noticed 
that his wife's manner was uneasy, and that she 
waited on the distinguished guest with a certain 
slowness and awkwardness. At length the kaimakam 
took his leave, and the mystery was explained. The 
lady had taken advantage of the delay in entering 
the house, to sew the four revolvers to the inside of 
her petticoats, and she feared that in approaching the 
visitor the concealed weapons might be heard rattling. 

One wonders whether they did rattle, and whether 
Oriental scruples forbade the Turkish governor to 
hear the suspicious sound. 

It came out in the course of conversation that one 
of the villages visited by me in the course of my 
mission had served as Vardas' headquarters during 
part of the summer. He described it with enthusiasm 
as being " as prosperous as the best European village." 
In fact, this officer seemed disposed to take a very 
moderate attitude on the subject of the Turks. He 
stated that he and his men never attacked Moslems, 
and always tried to avoid any encounter with the 
troops. The Comitadjis, on the other hand, he told 
me, murder Turks. He added that the voivodes in 
some places sent into the villages to demand that 
women should be brought to them. 

From both officers I gathered some information on 
the subject of what they called the " Albanists." An 
Albanist is one who is desirous of seeing Albania 



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ALBANISM 333 

independent. A considerable number of Albanists, 
however, accept posts in the Turkish service ; one 
kaimakam was named to me as an Albanist, and I 
gathered that he had some friendly intercourse with 
the Greek band leaders in his caza. 

"Next to the Turks they like the Greeks/* was 
said of the Albanians generally. " Athales Bouas " 
is himself an Albanian or Epirot — it is difficult to 
fix the line between the two — and as such is on 
friendly terms with Moslem Albanians. On one 
occasion, when he was passing with his band through 
a district where the Turkish troops were commanded 
by an Albanian, the commandant sent him a message 
inviting him to a friendly meeting. " Bouas " sent 
back the reply, " We can meet as friends elsewhere ; 
here we are enemies. You do your duty to the 
Sultan ; I shall do mine to King George ; and do you 
catch me if you can." 

" Athales Bouas " had had the experience of enter- 
taining a Moslem friend on a visit to Athens. While 
he was there the host gave a beating to a servant 
who had stolen something, and the servant summoned 
him for assault. The officer was honourably acquitted, 
but his guest at once left him in indignation, refusing 
to stay longer in a country where a gentleman could 
not beat his own servant without being troubled by 
the police. 

One is inclined to judge that this wild people is 
attracted to Greece by ties of blood, but to Turkey 
by its freer institutions and its pay. Religion turns 
the scale. "All Orthodox Albanians call themselves 
Greeks," said "Athales Bouas," in whose mind the 
words Albanian and Hellene are evidently not ex- 
clusive terms. 

His case makes it easier to understand that of the 
Slave-speaking Patriarchists in the Macedonian 
vilayets. By the Hellenes, the name Hellene is 
taken to-day, as it was by Herodotus, not as a 
racial term, but a religious one, or rather as the 



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334 "IN CAMERA" 

expression of a common culture. By race a man 
may be Pelasgian or Dorian, Slave or Albanian; but 
if he associates himself with the Greek Church, he 
is an Hellene, and the Greek kingdom becomes for 
him what the kingdom of Jerusalem was for the Jews. 

But the Albanians, as is well known, are not only 
divided into Moslems and Hellenes; there is also 
the distinction between the Ghegs and the Tosks, 
the South and the North. And the Christians in the 
north are Roman Catholics. It is chiefly to them 
that Italy and Austria are addressing themselves in 
the search for political proselytes. According to 
''Athales Bouas," Austria is the most active and 
successful. 

" But," he added with what may have been Gheg 
prejudice, " Northern Albania is too wild for any 
Government. The people pay no taxes; they are 
highland robbers." 

Now that the prescription of a constitution and 
universal suffrage is to be tried in Albania, it will 
be interesting to see what happens. 

I annex a report furnished to me on my return 
to Athens by the officer who defeated the efforts of 
the Bulgarian Comitadjis to use the territory of the 
Greek kingdom itself as a base for operations against 
the Greeks of Macedonia. It will be observed that 
these proceedings took place two years before any 
Greek band had come upon the scene. 

Report of Lieutenant S. Spyromillio re Bulgarian 
Comitadjis captured in 1903 in Thessaly 

During the month of December 1902, several 
rumours got about Athens about Bulgarians collect- 
ing in masses in the forests of the province of Trikkala. 
These rumours were confirmed by private information 
from individuals in Southern Macedonia to the Hellenic 
Government, which then decided to take the matter 



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INVASION OF GREECE 33S 

well in hand, so as to examine the results of this pro- 
paganda carried on on the very soil of Greece. 

It was ascertained that Bulgars and Slavophone 
Exarchists from Northern Macedonia, belonging to 
and acting under the instructions of the Macedonian 
Committee of Sofia, collected every winter in the woods 
of Trikalla (forest of Kalambaka), and, aided by a few 
inhabitants of Thessaly of Slavonic extraction, after 
procuring the necessary arms, ammunition, and bombs 
with dynamite, were in the habit of crossing over 
into Macedonia during March and May disguised as 
woodcutters. Once they crossed the frontier, their 
main object was to oppress the Hellenic populations 
of Southern Macedonia, and, by the arms which they 
had procured in Greece itselif, to try to force the Mace- 
donians to abandon their Hellenic ideas and to embrace 
the Exarchate. 

Upon this the Greek Government gave the necessary 
orders to the Prefect of Trikkala, and furthermore 
sent Lieutenant Spyromillio with a body of gendarmes 
to eo to the spot and to capture these Comitadjis. 

On the 7th of March, 1903, Lieutenant Spyromillio 
arrived at Trikkala, and, lying in ambush near the 
village of Koulvetsi, captured 33 Bulgars, armed to the 
teeth and carrying bombs, under a certain Poppofsky. 
These 33 Comita^'is were, by special order of tne Sona 
Committee, armed in Greece by this Poppofsky, a 
special envoy of the Committee, who, going all over 
Thessaly and having also come to Athens, purchased 
the required arms. Of the 33 Bulgars captured at 
Koulvetsi, the majority were wood-cutters supposed to 
be solely employed as such in the forests of northern 
Thessaly, and three were sub-officers of the Bulgarian 
Regular Army who had also served under Yankoff. 

After cross-examination and careful investigation, it 
was proved that this regular service was being carried 
on in Thessaly by the Bulgars for a whole year, by 
means of a whole network of small centres from the 
frontier to the principal towns of Thessaly, and by 
means of mills along the borders of the River Penios, 
specially hired for this purpose by the agents and 
money of the Committee in Sofia. 

The capture of the above 33 Comitadjis was fol- 
lowed by a second capture by the same lieutenant, 



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336 "IN CAMERA" 

and later on by a third, such a keen chase being given 
to these bands that their ecmipment on Greek soil 
became in future impossible. The above-named leader, 
Poppofsky, was a few months after condemned by the 
Court of Assizes of Volo to eig^ht years' hard labour, 
owing to his having taken part in the assassination of 
a Greek schoolmistress of the village of Smardesi. 

(Sgd.) Spyro Spyromillio, 
Lieutenant of the Greek Gendarmery. 

Athens, 
ist-i^th February^ 1908, 

To Mr. Allen Upward, 

30, Smolenski Street, 

Phaleron. 



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CHAPTER XVII 

THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 

Turkish Constantinople — Izzet Pasha — The Grand Vizier— The 
Gennan Protectorate— A communication from the Sultan— 
His Majesty's policy — Signs of revolution— Christianity and 
Islam— The evidence of Hamidian Progress — Smyrna— Work 
of the missionaries — Education 

It had been my original desire to continue my 
journey westward across Epirus to the Adriatic, 
and a Turkish official whom I suspected of Albanist 
leanings had offered to 'accompany me. But various 
circumstances hindered me, and I therefore retraced 
my steps to Salonika, and from thence by sea to 
Constantinople. 

I have described my failure to come into touch 
with any representatives of the ruling race on my 
first visit to the capital of Turkey. By this time 
I was provided with a letter of introduction from 
the Sheikh-ul-Islam of the British Isles, Quilliam 
Bey Effendi, whose own visit to Constantinople a 
year before was still fresh in the public mind. As 
an English Mohammedan, he was the object of a 
popular ovation among the Turks; the Sultan re- 
ceived him as his guest, and promised a commission 
in the Turkish army to the little son who accompanied 
him. 

My introduction was to Sir Henry Woods, K.C.V.O., 
who holds the rank of a pasha and admiral of the 
Turkish empire, and whose kindness and hospitality 

337 32 



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338 THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 

to English visitors are not the least important of 
his services to his adopted country. I was not 
able, of course, to look at things entirely from 
Woods Pasha's point of view, but I could not fail 
to be impressed by his loyal anxiety to put the 
character of Abdul Hamid H. before me in the 
fairest light ; while at the same time he was 
evidently aware that the men with whom the Sultan 
had surrounded himself were the chief obstacles 
to a better understanding between Turkey and 
England. 

One of the first Turks to whom Sir Henry intro- 
duced me was Hakky Bey, Imperial Councillor, and 
Professor of Law in the University, who now holds 
the post of Minister of the Interior in the new 
Government, and has been put forward for that of 
Grand Vizier. It would be impossible to find a man 
who by his courage and breadth of view did more 
honour to all that is best in the Turkish character. 
In the course of one of our conversations I happened 
to mention that I had in earlier days cherished the 
ambition of writing a systematic digest of the laws 
of England, and that I had spent two years in fram- 
ing the table of contents. " By that time you had 
done half the work," commented Hakky Bey — a 
remark that could not have been made by an ordinary 
man. 

This eminent statesman spoke of the Turkish 
sovereign with singular frankness, and from a point 
of view which is probably that of the great body 
of moderate and sensible Turks. He attempted no 
defence of the worser features of the reign, but set 
them off against the services rendered to the national 
cause, comparing Abdul Hamid to Louis XL of 
France. 

*' Louis XL shut Cardinal Balue in an iron cage, 
but he founded the French State as it exists to-day. 
Now the incidents of his reign have passed away, but 
France remains. In the same way, when history 



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COURTIERS IN YILDIZ 339 

comes to consider the reign of Abdul Hamid IL, 
she will overlook the little things, and recognise 
that he preserved Turkey as a country." Such, as 
nearly as I can recollect them, were Hakky Bey's 
words, which were sufficiently outspoken in the 
circumstances. 

Another distinguished Turk whom I met in the 
Palace of Yildiz itself was Emin Bey. This official 
had formerly shared with the celebrated Izzet Pasha 
the personal confidence of the Sultan, who some years 
before requested the two to lay before him a scheme 
of reforms. They agreed on one which involved the 
appointment of a Grand Vizier whose name would 
have commanded the confidence of England and of 
Turkish Liberals. No sooner was this name men- 
tioned than a frown on the Sultan's brow gave warning 
of his sentiments. Izzet, with the true instinct of a 
courtier, instantly shifted his ground, and threw over 
his colleague, whom he thus succeeded in ousting from 
the first place in the confidence of the sovereign. 
The cult of the jumping cat and its rewards are not 
confined to the politicians of constitutionally governed 
countries. 

My own reception at Yildiz threw some light on the 
intrigues of which the Sultan was the centre. 

I had been given to understand that I was indebted 
for much of the courtesy and the facilities extended to 
me during my journey to the Sultan's personal interest 
in my mission, an impression which was fully con- 
firmed by a communication subsequently made to me 
on his Majesty's behalf I had every reason, therefore, 
to expect as friendly a reception on the part of his 
Majesty's confidential minister as I had met with from 
Turks of all parties outside. On calling at the Palace, 
however, I found in Izzet Pasha the one Turk in 
Turkey who evidently did not feel any desire that his 
master or his country should be favourably represented 
to the British public; and had it been left to him, I 
should have quitted Constantinople without the Sultan 



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340 THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 

having been made aware of my presence or of the 
reception I had met with in his Palace. 

The excuse subsequently put forward on the pasha's 
behalf was that he was suffering from domestic mis- 
fortunes at the time. His palace had just been burnt 
to the ground in consequence of his having installed 
a private cinematograph, and there was some doubt 
whether he could legally claim for the insurance under 
the circumstances. I may mention that the moment 
the news of this calamity was brought to the Sultan, 
his Majesty ordered two boxes to be packed with 
clothing of his own and carried to his favourite. It 
was fresh from the receipt of that mark of personal 
kindliness that the Sultan's confidant did his best to 
create an unfriendly impression of his master in the 
mind of a foreign publicist. 

Unfortunately, this was not the first incident of the 
kind. Mr. Frederic Harrison and Mr. Shaw Lefevre, 
with whose claims to consideration of course I do not 
presume to compare my own, were treated with very 
similar discourtesy. It is impossible not to connect 
such incidents with the rivalry between the influence 
of Great Britain at Constantinople and that of another 
Power. 

In striking contrast with this manoeuvre on the part 
of the trusted courtier was the very cordial welcome 
of the Grand Vizier, Ferid Pasha, to whom I feel the 
more bound to express my acknowledgments as he 
is no longer in power. His Highness invited me to 
dine with him — ^ compliment which, I was informed, 
had not before been extended to a European, even 
the foreign Ambassadors not being entertained by the 
Grand Vizier. 

This title has been invested with such magic for 
Western ears by The Arabian Nights, that I should 
scarcely be excused for omitting all mention of such a 
function. Ferid Pasha resided in a palace known as 
Nichantash, in the quarter beyond Pera called the 
Target Ground, from its having been formerly a place 



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THE GRAND VIZIER 341 

for archery practice. A sentry on horseback mounted 
guard at the door. His Highness received me in a small, 
plainly furnished cabinet, to which I was conducted 
through a suite of drawing-rooms, and from which we 
descended to the dining-room. The other guests were 
relatives of Ferid Pasha, or members of his official 
staff, and among them was a Greek bey who had held 
the post of Turkish Minister at Washington. 

The dinner was European in character, but the 
Grand Vizier himself helped me to soup, as a mark 
of friendliness. We dined off silver plate, and wine 
was served in very beautiful glass. At the close of 
the meal we washed our hands in a brazen fountain 
which stood on the floor. 

The conversation, which was chiefly confined to his 
Highness, the Greek guest, and myself, turned on the 
objects which had brought me into the country. Ferid 
Pasha mentioned the fact that he was an Albanian, 
and expressed himself as friendly to the Bulgars as 
a people, apart from their political activities. He was 
interested in what I had to tell him of the Moslems in 
my old province, but when I related that I had taken 
the Mohammedan Crown Prince of Lokoja into my 
house in the character of a page, he remarked that 
that seemed to lower him. I had to explain that the 
boy himself had solicited the position, and that I had 
been known in that part of the world as the ** King- 
maker " — a title less formidable on the Niger than on 
the Bosphorus. Owing to the heavy amount of work 
he had to get through every day, the Grand Vizier 
was a very early riser, and knowing this, I took my 
leave about half-past nine. 

The general impression which I gathered from the 
Turks with whom I conversed in Constantinople was 
much the same as that which I had gathered from the 
provincial pashas. There was a natural desire that 
England should revert to her former more friendly 
attitude towards the Turkish empire, and a belief that 
she would do so if her public were better informed. 



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342 THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 

There was an opinion, shared by Turks and Greeks 
alike, that our policy was to set up a Big Bulgaria, 
in the belief that such a State would make the best 
bulwark against a Russian advance, and a further 
opinion that our statesmen would find themselves 
deceived when the time came, the ties between Russia 
and Bulgaria being too strong for one to be anything 
but a satellite of the other. 

I was struck by learning from one of my friends, 
on the staff of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, that he 
had come to the view that the most dangerous enemy 
of Turkey in the future would be, not Russia, but 
Germany. He considered that Germany was pushing 
Austria down towards Salonika and the Mediterranean, 
and that when the break-up of the Austrian empire 
arrived Germany would take over that part of her 
dominions. He also viewed with suspicion the 
development of German influence and enterprise in 
Asia Minor. He seemed to think that Germany, 
under cover of friendship, aspired to play a r6le in 
the Turkish empire not unlike that played by Great 
Britain in Egypt, and, in short, that her protection 
might easily develop into a protectorate. 

These ideas are worth consideration. There is no 
doubt that the German Emperor is very generally 
looked upon by the Moslem world as a champion of 
Islam, if not an actual Mohammedan — I am told that 
the latter belief is cherished by the more ignorant 
class in Cairo. It is not impossible that the Com- 
mander of the Faithful may ultimately find such 
friendship rather embarrassing. 

While I was in Constantinople I had the honour 
to receive a communication from a person in the 
confidence of the Sultan, one of the high officials of 
his Court, which I have every reason to regard as 
the expression of his Majesty's sentiments. I think 
it more respectful to give it exactly in the form in 
which it reached me, without taking the liberty of 
excising the gracious references to myself. It must 



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THE SULTAN'S MESSAGE 343 

be read as expressing not merely the Sultan's personal 
sentiments, but those of all parties among the Turks, 
including that which has since seized the reins of 
government The Young Turks desire civil freedom 
for themselves, and are willing to extend it to others, 
but on the ground of patriotism they and their 
sovereign are of one mind 

"The principle that governs the Sultan's Govern- 
ment is equality for all— no distinction to be made 
in the treatment of the various races under his 
sway. Since his accession to the throne he has ever 
shown he desired the welfare of all classes of his 
subjects alike, and that they should all live together in 
peace and friendship. 

" At the commencement of these troubles between 
them they were exhorted to keep quiet, but, in spite 
of all the advice and counsel given, the Christian 
people have been fighting and massacring each 
other. His soldiers received instructions based 
on the principles stated above, and have done 
their duty witnout regard to any advantage to be 
gained by any one particular class of these rebellious 
subjects. 

" Unfortunately there are several of the European 
Governments which have not observed the same 
principles of justice, and have not appreciated the 
conduct of the Turkish troops. All the counsel and 
all the pressure of these Governments have been 
directed towards us. Their pressure has not been 
exercised iipon the Balkan (Governments. In con- 
sequence of this attitude all the measures taken by 
his Imperial Majesty to restore tranquillity have been 
rendered more or less useless. 

'' It is evident that the question of Islamism is 

at the root of this matter, and that the motives by 

which these actions are governed is hostility to 
Islam. 

"The legitimate rights of the Imperial Govern- 
ment, established by the subjugation of the country 
at the expense of Mohammeaan bloodshed, are not 
taken into account 



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344 THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 

"The English nation has always been considered 
as the people most friendly towards the Ottoman 
Government. Of this feeling the Sultan has had 
many proofs. I need only cite the Crimean War, 
when English blood was shed in defence of 
the interests of the Ottoman Government and of 
Turkey. 

*' If there were a good orator who knew the true 
history of these events, it would be a good work 
for him to destroy by his speeches and testimony 
the bad seed sown by Gladstone. He (the Sultan) 
would be much obbged if the English traveller 
who sees the truth would point out to the English 
people how harmful to the country by its baneful 
effect iipon the various races is this great favouring 
of the Bulgarians. I repeat that in any case if only 
one per cent, of the pressure exercised upon us was 
brought to bear upon these malicious enemies of 
Turkey, undoubtedly the tranquillity of the country 
would be re-established. 

" His Imperial Majesty is very oleased to hear 
that there is a gentleman imbueci with friendly 
sympathies towards Islam who is ready to defend 
the rights of Turkey by showing the truth, and 
exposing for the appreciation of the public the atrocities 
committed by the Bulgarians. In this way* it would 
be seen how ill-founded and wrongfully directed are 
these efforts in favour of the Bulgarians, and they 
would consequently end. 

" The Sultan proposed to Greek and other persons 
of authority in Macedonia to enter the Turkish 
army, and to defend conjointly with us (the Moslems) 
the peace of the country. This step, which has been 
repeated several times, has not been accepted. 

"As a summing up — His Majesty's intentions and 

f)rinciples are unanimously directed towards legality 
or all the different races alike, without exception, 
and to follow up and punish without distinction 
all those who trouble the tranquillity of the country. 
He is delighted to have had the opportunity for 
confiding all these truths to Mr. Upward, whose 

freat qualities and virtues have been vouched for by 
is General, Woods Pasha," 



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COMING EVENTS 345 

There is not a word in this document which 
does not correspond with the sentiments of the new 
Government. The only difference is that the Young 
Turks hope to succeed where the despotic regime 
failed. 

Those who are best acquainted with the traditions 
of Oriental courts, and the reserve which has hitherto 
hedged the Caliphate, will see a remarkable sign of the 
times in this communication, in substance a defence of 
his administration addressed by the Commander of 
the Faithful to a Western democracy. Indeed, Abdul 
Hamid II. was probably the first man in his dominions 
to foresee the change which is now taking place. 
When one of his courtiers congratulated him on the 
defeat of his old enemy, Russia, in her war with Japan, 
he replied, " I have no reason to be pleased with the 
result of the war. It will, in all likelihood, bring 
about a revolution in Russia. The Tsar is the last 
absolute ruler in Europe, except myself, and anything 
that shakes his throne will shake mine as well." 

While I was still in the country, cases occurred of 
troops mutinying and marching off to their homes, 
and of the inhabitants of a distant province seizing 
the telegraph office, placing themselves in direct com- 
munication with the Sultan, and demanding the dis- 
missal of their governor, with success. The power 
was visibly slipping from the Sultan's hands, and he 
was probably less surprised than any one else when 
the crash came. 

The immediate cause of the revolution, as of most 
other revolutions, was, of course, want of money. But 
it was evident on all sides that the march of ideas was 
becoming such that a change could not much longer 
be deferred. While in the capital I was taken to visit 
the Law School. I found Hakky Bey lecturing on the 
history of International Law. The course was a 
public one, and the large hall was crammed with 
standing listeners. An English gentleman staying in 
my hotel told me that the impression made upon him 



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346 THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 

by Constantinople was that of a dead city. If he could 
have been with me, and seen that eager crowd, drink- 
ing in information on a subject which in London 
would attract none but a few students, he might have 
thought otherwise. 

The thirst for education was spreading even into 
the Imperial family. The Sultan's own brother-in-law 
had placed his son in the Robert College — a step by 
which the Sultan himself was deeply mortified, con- 
sidering it a reflection on his own institutions. 

Under these circumstances, it ought to be remarked 
that the communication given above does not strike 
the personal note. It contains no reference to any 
domestic differences between the Sultan and his 
subjects. Even the Christians of Macedonia are not 
complained of The Sultan speaks as a patriot, and 
not as a sovereign, and his complaints are clearly 
directed against those very Powers whom the Young 
Turks, in their turn, will have to watch. 

The general justice of those complaints is fully 
borne out by the evidence already before the reader. 
It must be evident to every one that if the Powers had 
been united in wishing to stop the Folk War in 
Rumelia, they would have struck at the head. 

Formal remonstrances have been addressed, it is 
true, to the Bulgarian Government, whose Prime 
Minister was so deeply involved in the affairs of the 
" Internal Organisation." The sincerity of those 
remonstrances may be judged of by the effect which 
they have produced. I have had the experience of 
being chased by a British warship when I went to 
take food to the Cretans, who were fighting for freedom 
against the Turks. To-day the Bulgarians are fighting 
for booty and dominion against the Greeks, and the 
arm of England is paralysed. 

Not less insincere is the pressure which the Turkish 
sovereign complains of as put on his Government. 
The Turk has been bidden to put down the bands, 
and he has been bidden to do it with one hand tied 



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CHRISTIAN PREJUDICE 347 

behind his back. The bands themselves bum each 
other's villages without compunction or apology. 
The Turkish troops must elaborately defend them- 
selves from the suspicion of setting fire to a house 
whose walls are pierced for rifles, and lined with 
bombs; and if it is burned by the anarchists them- 
selves, the Turkish authorities must hasten to the 
spot with money to rebuild it, that it may serve 
again as a stronghold for their enemies. 

It was not by such methods that the Boer War 
was brought to a close. 

It is to be feared that the Commander of the 
Faithful has too much justice on his side when 
he attributes the partial action of the Powers to 
hostility to Islam. It is not necessary to credit the 
statesmen of Europe generally with the religious zeal 
of Gladstone. But there are too many Powers whose 
interest it is to take advantage of such a sentiment 
in the minds of the European popula* e. It is on that 
sentiment that the butchers who drank the blood of 
little Vassili rely, and do not rely in vain. The 
sympathy enjoyed by the " liberators " of Macedonia 
would be instantly withdrawn if they were Moslems 
fighting against Christians, instead of '* Christians " 
pretending to fight against Moslems. The last shred 
of hypocrisy has now been torn away by the fact that 
the followers of Sandansky and other Bulgarian bands 
are still harrying the Greeks, whose own bands with- 
drew on the proclamation of the constitution. 

It is hardly too much to say that the judgment 
formed on this whole question by the candid reader 
is likely to depend on the definition given by him 
to the word "Christian." In the many conversations 
I had with Moslems, not one of them had a harsh 
word to say against Christianity. Their point was 
that the religion of the man who skewers a child of 
eight on a bayonet, and puts his lips to its dripping 
blood, is not Christianity, or is not the Christianity 
of the Sermon on the Mount. In the eyes of these 



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348 THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 

Moslems it did not seem to furnish any palliation of 
the Bulgarian atrocities that the men who commit 
them show an abject respect for the regulations of 
their Church in such matters as the observance of 
Lent. 

" They murder fasting/' one pasha grimly remarked. 

This is delicate ground, and I dread to say more 
lest I should seem to condemn these cannibals for 
what many pious and honourable men will consider 
a redeeming trait. I can only repeat that the question 
which seems to me to lie in the forefront is this 
very question, whether we should consider the 
butchers of little Vassili as our fellow-Christians, 
or as superstitious fiends whose assumption of the 
Christian name adds blasphemy to all their other 
crimes. 

The most important piece of information contained 
in this document is that the Sultan repeatedly invited 
the Macedonian Greeks and other Christians to enter 
the Turkish army for the purpose of restoring peace, 
and that they refused the invitation. Such an in- 
vitation constitutes practically an anticipation of the 
action of the Young Turks in proposing to throw 
the army open to Christians. Such a refusal is the 
most decisive answer to the charge that " the Greeks 
took up arms to assist the Turks." The episode 
throws into relief the fact borne in upon me 
throughout my journey, that the obstacles to a good 
understanding between the rival creeds and races 
lay rather upon the side of the Christians than the 
Moslems. I may be permitted to say now that on 
my return to Athens I urged very strongly upon 
my Greek friends a policy of conciliation towards 
the Turks, and that some of those to whom that 
suggestion was least welcome at the time have since 
assured me of their hearty acceptance of it, under 
the new conditions. 

Those conditions, I hope, render unnecessary any 
further apology on my part for the act of justice I 



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HAMIDIAN PROGRESS 349 

have ventured to perform in placing on record some 
of the better features of the government of Abdul 
Hamid II. 

Let me add one other which came under my notice, 
as it were, by accident. 

In the course of a tour of inspection of the educa- 
tional institutions of Constantinople, under the obliging 
escort of Rechad Hikmet Bey, the Grand Vizier's 
secretary-interpreter, I expressed a wish to see a 
junior school. My guide responded by telling me 
that there was one close at hand in which a nephew 
of his own happened to attend. Accordingly he took 
me to see it, and it was only towards the close of my 
inspection that I learned that I was not going over a 
Government institution. 

The director, or proprietor, Ismail Hakki, was bom 
to be a schoolmaster, and his pride and interest in 
the school made this my most refreshing experience 
in Constantinople. He was evidently gratified by 
my visit, and determined that nothing should escape 
my notice. Time after time, when I thought I had 
seen all that there was to see, the director thought 
of some fresh wonder, and rushed me along a corridor 
or down a staircase to exhibit it. 

And everything about the school was wonderful, 
even the name, which reads, in as literal a translation 
as I could get, the Hamidian Monument of Progress, 
or the Evidence of Hamidian Progress. 

The boys were wonderful. The director took me 
through class after class, hurrying on the way, till 
at last we came to the class which contained the Bey*s 
little nephew. The director suflFered me to put a few 
questions to him, and then, without a word of warning, 
pounced upon a small boy of nine or ten, and dragged 
him to the front. 

And the small boy proceeded to show off. He was 
a walking encyclopaedia. With brows knitted in the 
frown of thought and eyes fixed on the ground, he 
recited the names of the Sultans, beginning with the 



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350 THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 

Seljukides. He threw in the names of the most 
famous Grand Viziers. From history he passed on 
to geography. After a brief review of the Turkish 
territories, he glanced at my own less-known country. 
He told me that the capital of England was London, 
situated on the river Thames, and that of Ireland, 
Dublin, on the Liffey. He further mentioned Liverpool 
and Manchester. From these dry subjects he branched 
off to literature, and recited a Turkish poem, still with 
the same brooding and almost misanthropic fixity of 
scowl. The poem ended, he answered a number 
of questions in arithmetic. Then he dropped into 
poetry once more, with the liberality of Mr. Wegg. 

The director presided over the performance with 
a beaming countenance. If the infant prodigy showed 
signs of running down, he wound him up again with a 
question or two. When his vast stores of information 
had been fully displayed, the director rushed at him 
and drew a watch from his pocket. On the dial-plate 
it bore the name of the Evidence of Hamidian Progress. 
It was a prize bestowed upon the youthful savant. 
The director himself carried a similar watch, which 
he showed to me. 

And what else did he not show to me ? He carried 
me upstairs to see the bedrooms. There was one 
apart for the small boys, and beside it one for the 
matron in charge of them. I accuse the director of 
having wanted to show me her room, too. He showed 
me the dining-room, and he showed me the kitchen, 
and, if I recollect rightly, the cellar. He took me into 
his office and showed me the books of account, the 
diplomas of merit for the scholars, and his own 
diplomas in the shape of two letters, one from the 
Municipality of Stamboul, and another from the 
Minister of Education, thanking him for his philan- 
thropic labours. 

For this Turkish schoolmaster runs his school at 
a loss. The fees charged to the boarders are from 
;f20 to £io a year, according to the parents* means. 



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SMYRNA 351 

I asked Rechad Bey how the balance was met, and 
he told me that it came out of the director's own 
pocket. 

And no expense is spared. There is no improve- 
ment designed in educational apparatus which is not 
instantly adopted in the Hamidian Monument of 
Progress. The director has developed other ideas 
of his own. On the wall of his room I saw hanging 
a photograph of boys in omnibuses. It was explained 
to me that these omnibuses are the property of the 
school. There are twelve of them, and they convey 
the younger day-boys to and from their homes. 

The director showed me his sitting-room, and he 
showed me his bedroom. He showed me the masters* 
rooms as well. The school boasts a museum, and 
I am always oppressed by museums. I had got out 
of seeing the museum at Athens, although the efforts 
of my friends to take me to it were skilful and per- 
sistent. But the director meant me to see his 
museum, and I saw it. There was one case of stuffed 
birds which I tried to skip, but the director was care- 
ful, and I saw the stuffed birds. I offered to accept 
the photograph of the omnibuses as sufficient evidence 
of their existence, but the director was not that kind 
of man, and I saw the omnibuses. The omnibuses 
were drawn by horses, and I saw the horses. Alto- 
gether I do not think the director had enjoyed himself 
so much for years, and I enjoyed it almost as much 
as he did. 

It is not enough to say that no expense has been 
spared on the school named after Abdul Hamid. No 
love has been spared. 

From Constantinople I returned to Athens by way 
of Smyrna, to escape quarantine. Smyrna is one of 
the most prosperous and well-built cities of the 
Mediterranean, and it owes its prosperity chiefly to 
the Greeks, who form the most important element 
in the population. The rich hinterland which supplies 



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35^ THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 

it with wealth is occupied by an agricultural popula- 
tion of Turks, and hence Smyrna affords a typical 
example of a mutual intercourse between the two 
races which ought to be equally beneficial to both. 

I was agreeably surprised to find that in Smyrna 
the English language is much spoken, if not so 
much as French. This state of things must be attri- 
buted to the great missionary colleges, that of the 
Church of Scotland, directed by the Rev. James 
Murray, and the American " International College," 
under the Rev. Alexander MacLachlan. I had the 
pleasure of seeing both these gentlemen, who showed 
me every kindness. 

Dr. Murray's scholars are chiefly drawn from the 
Armenians and Jews who form the poorer class of 
the population. In conversation he expressed the 
opinion that the best man in the country, as an in- 
dividual, was the Turk, and the next best the Jew. 
He spoke in high terms of the late Vali of Smyrna, 
now Grand Vizier. " We were all sorry to lose our 
old governor." 

But he was unable to accord the same praise to 
the Government system generally. " The country 
would be well off but for the Government," he re- 
marked. And he gave me a long list of the taxes 
levied on the inhabitants of the city, including a tax 
on the labouring class for permission to work. 

1 observed that the streets through which we were 
walking contained no hovels, that I saw no bare- 
footed children, and, in short, no signs of misery. 

" There is no misery in Smyrna," was the answer. 

** Are not the poor here as well off as the poor in 
the East End of London?" I asked. 

''Much better off,'' Mr. Murray said with the emphasis 
which I have marked. "They have a good climate 
and cheap food. Smyrna is not a bad town to 
live in." 

Probably it is not the amount of taxation which 
gives rise to complaint, but the manner in which it 



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ENGLISH COLLEGES 353 

is levied. I had a strong suspicion that a Chancellor 
of the Turkish Exchequer, with the powers enjoyed 
by Sir Robert Hart in China, could have doubled 
the income of every Government officer in the Empire, 
from his Imperial Majesty downward, without in- 
creasing the burdens on the people. 

Smyrna has been the scene of some activity on the 
part of the Young Turks, and a number of them had 
recently been arrested. 

Mr. MacLachlan, I thought, was less disposed to 
be critical of the Government than his confrfere. He 
even went so far as to observe, "There are many 
things which ought to be said on behalf of this 
Government which have not been said." I was glad 
to hear him repudiate on behalf of his college any 
desire to proselytise either Mohammedans or Eastern 
Christians. "Our aim is to educate them, and thus 
fit them to reform their own Churches from within." 
Surely the wisest and most hopeful policy! 

Mr. MacLachlan told me with just pride that the 
International College is now self-supporting. It is 
chiefly resorted to by Greeks, but there are also a 
few Turkish pupils. The latter, however, came more 
or less by stealth, as the Government did not favour 
the attendance of Turks at a European school. He 
told me a story of one boy, now in a college in 
Constantinople, whose name was Ramsi Bey, but 
who was entered in the school register as Ramsay, 
to avert detection, and thus passed through his school 
life in the guise of a young Scot. 

It argues no little liberality on the part of Turkish 
parents, as well as no slight eagerness for European 
education, that they should be willing to entrust their 
sons as boarders to institutions which, like the Robert 
College, boast of their Christian and Anglo-Saxon 
atmosphere. Apart from the question of atmosphere 
I was sometimes puzzled to grasp wherein consisted 
the superiority of the education given in the ordinary 
English school to that bestowed on the youthful Turk. 

23 



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354 THE LAST OF THE CALIPHS 

The thoughtless spirit in which things Turkish are 
sometimes criticised may be illustrated by a remark 
made to me by an English banker in Constantinople 
to whom I had described the Evidence of Hamidian 
Progress. 

" Ah ! " he responded, shaking his head, " all this 
Turkish education is only a pretence. What do they 
really teach the boys ? What sort of history do they 
teach them ? Why, they do not even teach them the 
history of the French Revolution 1 " 

I was silenced. It was not till I came to reflect 
on the matter afterwards that it was gradually borne 
in upon me that the history of the French Revolution 
had formed no part of my own education, and further 
that the curriculum of the public school, presided over 
by a Doctor of Divinity, in which I studied various 
obsolete grammars, did not include the history of 
England. 



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CHAPTER XVIII 

THE YOUNG TURKS 

English Liberals and Turkish Reform — Two representatives of 
Young Turkey— Difficulties in the path— The Greeks— The 
Bulgars— Conduct and policy of the Reformed Government— 
The future 

In the introductory part of this volume I have quoted 
Ranke's observation that the Liberal Powers of Europe 
had been the enemies of emancipation in Turkey. 
Another foreign observer, Karl Blind, in an article 
in The Fortnightly Review for December, 1896, points 
out that in England it was the Liberal Party, and 
above all its great leader Gladstone, that chiefly 
contributed to the overthrow of the Turkish Con- 
stitution in 1876-8. He quotes Sir Henry Elliot, our 
Ambassador at Constantinople in those days, as say- 
ing, " It is, unfortunately, impossible altogether to 
exonerate this country [England] from having con- 
tributed to bring about its collapse." 

The truth seems to be that Gladstone and his 
followers were so deeply inflamed against the Turks 
on religious as well as humanitarian groimds, that 
they failed to distinguish between the good and bad 
elements in the nation, and were unwilling to credit 
it with any capacity to reform from within. A similar 
scepticism is expressed in nearly every recent work 
dealing with the Balkan question. It is to be feared 
that those who have held such language have not 
sufficiently appreciated its effect in depressing the 

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356 THE YOUNG TURKS 

spirit of Turkish Liberals, and strengthenings the 
hands of the intractable Conservatives. 

A very different spirit has marked the comments 
of the Liberal, and of course the Conservative, English 
Press on the present crisis. There appears a sincere 
disposition to support the new rdgime, and to extend 
to it every sympathy and encouragement. If that atti- 
tude is maintained, a new era may dawn on these 
distracted lands. But the Young Turks have all 
their troubles before them, and in order that their 
progress may be intelligently watched and wisely 
criticised, it will be needful to make great allowances 
for the internal difficulties of the new Government, 
and to accord it, perhaps, more than moral support 
against interference from without. 

I have endeavoured to show that the revolution 
of 1908 is merely the consummation of a movement 
originated by the Sultans themselves nearly a century 
before, and inspired, like the similar revolution in 
Japan, by a desire to free the country from foreign 
control by placing it on a level with the European 
Powers. The progress of reform in Turkey has 
been interrupted and delayed, alternately by the 
prejudices of rulers and ruled, by the avowed hosti- 
lity of Powers whose policy aimed at dismember- 
ment, and by the disturbing influence of Western 
bigotry. But those very delays have contributed to 
the extraordinary ease and tranquillity with which 
the transfer of power was finally accomplished, to 
which there is hardly a parallel, unless it be in the 
English Restoration of 1660. The Young Turks must 
be tempted to say, with Charles IL, "If we had 
known that the country was so ready to welcome 
us, we should have come back before." 

In passing through Paris, after the triumph of the 
revolution, I had an opportunity of seeing two repre- 
sentatives of the party — ^Ahmed Riza Bey, who has 
tor many years directed one of its chief organs, the 
Mechvereti and Musurus Ghikis Bey, an Ottoman 



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A PROGRAMME 357 

Greek. Both were packing up to go back to their 
native country, though both expressed their deter- 
mination to adhere to the self-denying ordinance by 
which the revolutionary leaders have voluntarily 
renounced posts in the new administration for them- 
selves. It is to be hoped, however, that this resolution 
will not be maintained too strictly, as Turkey has 
need of every honest man whom she can find at the 
present juncture. 

Ahmed Riza is a man of too strongly individual a 
type for him to be taken as a representative of the 
party generally ; and, in fact, there have been differ- 
ences in the past between him and the other exiles 
in Europe. But their respect for his great abilities 
and sterling character has enabled him to continue 
working for the cause on a more or less independent 
footing. He is by conviction a Positivist, and has 
discarded the Moslem, or rather E^istem, practice of 
keeping his head covered indoors. But his immediate 
policy is that of the other leaders. It aims at the 
levelling of all racial and religious distinctions, and 
the bestowal of the full rights of Osmanli citizenship 
on the Christians, in exchange for their loyal accept- 
ance of Osmanli nationality. 

Musurus Ghikis, on behalf of the Greeks, was ready 
to accept the bargain. There was to be no more talk 
of unredeemed Hellas ; the Greek inhabitants of the 
Turkish empire were to co-operate in maintaining its 
integrity against all comers, and to find a vent for 
their activities in the work of commerce and education. 
They were to "Hellenise the Turks." The closest 
bonds of friendship were to unite Turkey with the 
Greek kingdom, with the common object of maintain- 
ing the status quo in the Mediterranean. 

Such a programme promises well; it is when it 
comes to be applied in detail that difficulties are likely 
to arise, of which one or two instances have already 
come to the surface. Those difficulties are of a 
character familiar enough in other countries. The 



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358 THE YOUNG TURKS 

Turks naturally desire to strengthen the unity of the 
empire by the bond of a common language, the 
Greeks as naturally regard their language as their 
most precious possession. The new Government, 
while willing to improve and modernise the edu- 
cation in the primary schools, would like to see them 
attended by children of all creeds and races. The 
Greeks cling to their own institutions not less warmly 
than the Church of England to hers. The Greeks, with 
whom freedom is a passion, have not yet fully realised, 
it may be, the difference between civil and national 
freedom. The former is now conceded to them in 
ample measure ; but as regards the latter, the whole 
spirit of the Turkish revolution must tend to make 
the new Government in some respects much less 
indulgent than the old. Even the question of military 
service involves that of conscription. It will cost an 
effort to the Christian peasant whom we have seen 
running with his troubles to the Greek Consul as his 
" father," to transfer his confidence and his allegiance 
to a Moslem kaimakam. The greatest tact, as well 
as the greatest good-will, will be needed on both sides 
to make such a complete change in the customs and 
traditions of five centuries. 

It has been shown that the Christian of Turkey is 
sometimes unreasonable and intractable, and does 
not always know what he wants. For ages it was 
one of his chiefest grievances that he should be 
compelled to dress differently from the Turk. Under 
the rule of Abdul Hamid II. all classes were en- 
couraged or required to wear the fez as a badge of 
common nationality, and immediately the Christian 
complained of having to wear the Moslem head-dress. 

In spite of the undoubted sincerity with which the 
Greeks generally have adopted the attitude of Musurus 
Ghikis Bey, it is difficult to believe that the more 
purely Greek districts in Macedonia and the islands 
will not cherish dreams of autonomy and union with 
the free kingdom. Such aspirations have their root 



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THE GREEK SPIRIT 359 

in sentiment, and our own experience shows that they 
are independent of any considerations of good or ill 
government. In Cyprus, as formerly in the Ionian 
Islands, the Greek is no more resigned to British rule 
than to Turkish ; indeed a Greek writer, in a Greek 
review intended for English readers, has contrasted 
the condition of the Greeks under Abdul Hamid II. 
favourably with their condition under Edward VI I. : 

"As regards the material prosperity of Cyprus, 
those who know the flourishing condition of certain 
Isles of the Greek Archipelago (Mitylene and Chios, 
for example), despite tne Turkish rule, can feel 
nothing but sorrow for the state of Cyprus." * 

As long as Europe is educated in reverence for the 
names of Miltiades and Leonidas, there will always 
be a certain inconsistency on our part in blaming their 
descendants for manifesting the same spirit. 1 o all 
the arguments founded on interest the true Hellene 
will ever return the same reply as Ariel to the question 
"How now, moody, what wouldst thou?" — "My 
liberty!" 

The difficulties to be overcome in the case of the 
Bulgars within and without the Turkish frontier may 
prove greater than those in the case of the Greeks. 
A diplomatic incident in Constantinople has already 
revealed that the vassal Principality is likely to find 
the little finger of the Young Turk in some respects 
thicker than the loins of Abdul Hamid II. The Greek 
kingdom has been taught prudence and moderation 
by hard experience. Bulgaria has so far met with 
nothing but success; she possesses an army which 
has cost her immense pains and money, which is 
unanimously praised by military experts, and which 
was certainly not created for defence merely. She 
has launched a formidable organisation in Macedonia, 
which has transferred a large part of the population 
to the Bulgarian Church by violent means — a result 
' Hellenic Htrctld^ November, 1907. 



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360 THE YOUNG TURKS 

which the Turkish Government will find it difficult 
to recognise without stultifying itself and giving just 
umbrage to the Greeks. A general expectation has 
been created in the minds of this population of re- 
ceiving autonomy as a first step towards union with the 
Principality. They, and their allies across the border, 
are now called upon to relinquish these ideas, and to 
combine with the Moslems and the Greeks under the 
banner of Ottomanism. 

The first appeal of the Young Turks in the name 
of liberty evoked a cordial response on the part of 
Bulgars and Greeks alike. It would be ungenerous 
not to recognise the immense service thereby rendered 
to the constitutional cause, more especially in securing 
it the support of European opinion. The sight of 
Comitadji chiefs coming in to surrender themselves, 
of excursionists from the Principality flocking to Con- 
stantinople, and of Turkish excursionists being received 
with acclamations in Sofia, has staggered diplomacy, 
and silenced the malevolent for the time being. 

Unfortunately, it is already evident that the truce 
is incomplete. The Young Turks appear to have 
accepted the alliance of the Internal Organisation 
against the Sultan's ministers, without insisting that 
the bands should everywhere disperse ; and it would 
appear that such of them as are still on foot have 
neither ceased to levy forced contributions from their 
converts or victims, nor suspended their operations 
against the Patriarchate. It is by no means certain 
that the demand for Macedonian autonomy has been 
suspended, or that the Powers whose interests have 
been served by the agitation will now deprive it of 
their support. The foreign gendarmery officers, who 
quitted their posts in such haste on the first appear- 
ance of peace, have flocked back, and it is needless to 
state that the International Commission has continued 
in the exercise of its functions. 

Now, it is precisely to defeat the demand for 
autonomy, and to get rid of these elements of foreign 



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ROCKS AHEAD 361 

control, that the Turkish people generally have rallied 
to the revolutionists with so much enthusiasm and 
unanimity. At a time when the more hot-headed 
members of the Young Turk party have been throwing 
out hints of redeeming provinces already lost to the 
empire, such as Bosnia, Cyprus, and even Crete, and 
the Liberal Grand Vizier has emphasised the position 
of free Bulgaria as a vassal State, it is impossible that 
the new Government should not exert itself in the 
direction of uniting the Macedonian vilayets more 
closely than ever with Constantinople. 

Such are some of the rocks which it will call for 
the most careful statesmanship on the part of the new 
rulers of Turkey to avoid. Up to the present they 
have shown a wisdom and moderation which have 
amazed their critics and delighted their friends. It 
cannot weaken, and it may possibly strengthen, the 
hands of the party of conciliation, to remind the Turks 
generally that they will have to be judged, not by their 
intentions, but by their acts, and that it is premature 
for them to expect at the outset that full confidence 
which they may well hope to gain by a steady course 
of good government and liberal dealing with their 
Christian fellow-citizens. 

The Young Turks, perhaps, are too much tempted 
to take for granted that fellowship which it is their 
mission to create. Some of them seem inclined to 
refer the whole blame for the past to the Sultan, and 
to say to the Christian population, " We have suffered 
equally with you." The Christians are clearly entitled 
to reply, "The Sultan was your Sultan, not ours. 
You have always had arms in your hands; we have 
not. You have overthrown the Government because 
it oppressed yourselves, and because it was too weak 
to resist those who were working for our emancipa- 
tion. We are ready to condone the past, but we 
expect you to recognise that we have been the injured 
party, and that the first concessions must come from 
you.** 



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362 THE YOUNG TURKS 

If the Turks are able to recognise the justice of that 
position, they will not begin asking the Christians to 
close their schools and abandon the use of their 
language, until, by the firm establishment of the con- 
stitution, by the appointment of energetic and broad- 
minded administrators and upright judges, by the 
reform of the financial system, and the steady diffusion 
of orderly freedom and prosperity, they have 
established a claim on the confidence of all creeds and 
races, which mere professions or promises, however 
sincere, cannot entitle them to. 

So far as an outsider can judge, the policy of the 
new Government is to do of its own accord what the 
old Government was being reluctantly coerced into 
doing by the Powers. The Turks appear thoroughly 
to appreciate the advantages conferred by the British 
administration on Egypt, and to desire to restore 
prosperity to their own country on similar lines, the 
chief distinction being that the European advisers 
whom they are summoning to their assistance will 
come as servants instead of masters. Like the Japanese, 
they quite rightly look forward to a time when Turkey 
will have enough native citizens to do the work of the 
country without foreign aid ; in the meantime, there are 
certain departments, particularly in the judicial and 
administrative work of those provinces which contain 
a large Christian population, where a European would 
be more likely to command general confidence than even 
the best-disposed native of whatever race or religion. 

The reformed Government is already committed to 
the principle of decentralisation, which points in the 
direction of federalism ; but among all the federal con- 
stitutions which have been evolved in Switzerland, 
America, Germany, and elsewhere, there is not one 
which appears to me quite suited to the peculiar 
conditions of the Turkish empire. The Young Turks 
will be happily inspired if they do not pay too much 
deference to foreign precedents, which are strictly 



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EUROPEAN SYMPATHY 363 

geographical in character, but endeavour to work out 
a scheme more in accordance with their own traditions, 
Mrhich will take into account the racial and religious 
habits of the population. It is above all needful that 
such a scheme should not smell too strongly of the 
boulevards, and that in framing it less regard should 
be given to the ideals of the West than to the actual 
circumstances of the East. The immediate task of 
establishing concord and security may be rather 
hindered than helped by violent and inconsiderate 
attempts to bring about that millennium which even 
Europe has not yet completely attained. 

It would be unfair, and it would be vain, to re- 
commend these considerations to the Turks without 
pressing them even more strongly on the European 
friends of the Christian populations of Turkey. When 
we consider how Uctie has been actually accomplished 
on behalf of the Armenians, the Greeks, or the 
Macedonians by the violent partisanship of their 
Western sympathisers during the last thirty years — 
even if that partisanship has not actually increased 
the sufferings of its objects — there can be no excuse 
for any one outside Turkey to say a word which can 
hinder the happy prospects of the new order. The 
more sympathy and support we extend to the Turk 
in his present efforts at reform, the better we shall 
serve the Armenian, the Bulgar, and the Greek, and 
the more weight we shall give to advice which will no 
longer be suspected. 

Turkey is not the only empire which contains 
within its borders populations that aspire to an 
independence which their rulers consider would in- 
volve danger to the existing State from powerful 
rivals. It is that apprehension which weighs upon 
the nationalist aspirations of the Poles, the Croats, the 
Irish, and so many other struggling races ; to over- 
come it by general and simultaneous action under 
a system of mutual guarantees will be the supreme 
triumph of international law and peace. 



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' OF THE * 



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INDEX 



Abdul Hamid II., Sultan of 
Turkey, 34-36, 4a ; his task, 
90-92 »126, 338; his message, 343 

Adrianople, visit to, 134-148 

Agha, SaUh, and the D^6- 
Muslim outrage, 308-316 

Agra, Tello, leader of Antartes, 

254. «55 
Albanians, War of Independence, 
z8 ; meaning of " Albanist," 

33a. 333 
Albera, CoL, chief of the Italian 

gendarmery officers, 265, 266 
American missionaries, 257 
Anchialos, Town of, 61 
Andrtedds, Professor, BulUtin 

d' Orient, 71 
Antartes. See Greeks 
Apostol, Bulgarian leader, 31, 

168, 169 
Athens, City of, 3, 6 ; revisited, 

68-89 
Atrocities, Description of, 39, 62- 

64» 97. 98. 141. 14a, 15a. 165- 

167 ; the murder of Tello Agra, 

255 ; at Bilianik, 263-265 ; at 

D6r6-Muslim, 308-317 
Austria, and Turkey, 16; and 

Russia, 36 ; dread of, 158 ; 

railway across frontier, 241 

Bajaxet, The Lightning, 22 
Beikans, A Searcklighi on the, 63 n 
Balktms from Within, The, 39 n 
Baltazzi, Mr., Minister of Foreign 

Affairs, 59 
Basil II., Greek Emperor, zo, 21. 22 
Beaconsfield, Earl of, and Bul- 
garian atrocities, 118 
Berlin Congress, 23 ; Treaty of, 61 
Bikelas, D., Seven Essays on 

Christian Greece, 19 n. 
Bilianik, Village of, Greek out- 
rage, 263 
Bilioti, Mr., British Consul- 

General, 38 
Bixoff, Mr., Bulgarian Commercial 
Agent, letter frorn^ to Prince 
Ferdiziaad, loz 



Bosnia, Slave element in, 8 ; 
emigrants from, 52 

Bonf, Village of, 302 

Brailsford. H. N., Macedonia, 47 n. 
102, 108, 136 n., 20X n., 269n. 

Bulgaria, Slave element, 8 ; the 
Bulgars, 8-11 ; in 1828, 19 ; 
the Exarchate, 20-22 ; Princi- 
pality, 22-28 ; Internal Organ- 
isation, 28-31 ; Macedonian 
reforms, 37, 39 ; atrodttee, 39, 
62-64, 97. 98, 141, 142. 15a. 
165, 167, 263. 308-317; re- 
fugees, 60, 61 ; key to the 
Macedonian Question, 94; a 
revolutionary document, 99 ; 
sentiment, 155-158 ; vilayet of 
Monastir, 225 ; result of Turk- 
ish operations, 299; the Chris- 
tian grievance, 329 ; invasicA of 
Greece, 334-336 

Bulgaria, Peoples, Tsars, and 
Saints of, 17 

Bulletin d' Orient, 51, 71 

Byron, Lord, 71 

Byzantine empire, The, 5, 6; 
warlike qualities, 7 ; attack on, 
9 ; War of Independence, 18, 94 

CampbeU-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 

321 n. 
Castoria, Archbishop of, 98, 99; 

an interview with, Z02-104; 

^ 136. 325 

Chcsney, Capt., on Bulgarians, 19 

Christians, 6, 30 ; their griev- 
ances, 32, 33 ; and the Young 
Turks, 44, 358, 359; and 
Moslems, 182, 183 ; in Fiorina, 
221, 222 ; true tolerance, 233 ; 
and the Sultan, 343 ; prejudice, 
347 

Christoff, P., a Comitadji letter, 
305. 306 

Chrysoveloni, Philip, 58 

Comitadjis The, members of the 
Internal Organisation, 28- 
3Z ; the Insurrection, 31,* 32 ; 
lessons of the Folk War, 45 ; 



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366 



INDEX 



their Uteratnre, 46-49 ; live on 
the country, 73 ; and Greeks, 
84 ; a threatening document, 
99, 100; defeat of, 141, 252, 
308-317, 327 ; their tactics, 
165-167 ; threatening letters 
from, 305-307 ; the Reign of 
Terror, 328, and the Young 
Turks, 360 

Constantinople, See of, 10, 13, 21 ; 
the Six Kings of, 90-112 

Contagouris, Mr,, 167 

Corfu. 55 

Courtier de Sofia, Bulgarian news- 
paper, 71 

Currie, Lord, and Turkey, 36 

Cyprus, 359 

Daily News, The, 47 

Daskaloff, Mr., outiages on Greeks, 

63. 64 
Dedeagatch, defeat of the Comi- 

tadjis, 141 
Degiorgis, Gen., 150 
D6r6-Mu9lim, Comitadji defeat 

at, 308-316 
Dicey, Professor, the " Peasant 

State," 9 
Dimaras, Mr., Greek Consul at 

Monastir, 263 
Djole, Mr., a Comitadji letter, 

306. 307 
Dobreff, Mr., Bulgarian Agent, 

statistics of vilayet of Monastir, 

225-227 ; an interview with, 

250-252 
Dragoumis, Stephen, and the 

Koutso-Vlachs, 72, 73 
Drama, Town of, 149 

Elgin, Earl of, 321 

Eluot, Sir Francis, English repre- 
sentative at Athens. 86 

Elliot, Sir Henry, Ambassador at 
Constantinople, 355 

Elliott, Col., his escape, 156, 157 

Emilian, Bishop of jPetra, letter 
from, 269, 270 

Emin Bey, 339 

England and Turkey, 16, 36, 38 ; 
Greece's friendship for, 70 ; 
gendarmery officers, 151 ; de- 
partment worship, 321 

Epirot, 333 

Exarchate, the, 20-22, 28, 65 ; 
villages of, 221 

Ferdinand, Prince, of Bulgaria, 
the Internal Organisation, 28, 



loi, 137 ; the Sultan's diffi- 
culty, 249 
Fend Pasha, Grand Vicier, 124, 340 
Financial Commission, 301, 302 
Fiorina, Town of, 215-224 
Folk War The, genesis of, 16, 17, 
323-325 ; *' Bulgarian atro- 
cities," 22 ; last phase of, 37- 
46 ; not a war of religion, 64 ; 
object of, loi, 265; round 
Monastir, 225 ; the murder of 
Tello Agra, 255 ; the liberation 
of Rakovo. 284 
Folkslayer, The. See Basel II. 
FortnigkUy Review, The, 355 
France, and Turkey, 16, 36 ; her 
influence, 50, 51 ; gendarmery 
officers, 151 
Freethinher, The, newspaper, 48 

Galib Pasha, Interview with, 120- 
128 

Gendarmery, 151 ; Col. Albera, 
265, 266 

George, Stoitze, Bilianik outrage, 
264, 265 

Germany, and Salonika, 151 ; 
and Turkey, 342 

Ghinos, Spiridione, Merchant of 
Arta, 69 

Gladstone, W. E., " Bulgarian 
Atrocities," 22, 118; "Mace- 
donia for the Macedonians," 
27, 42 ; statue in Athens, 71 ; 
Christianity and freedom, 117 ; 
" Hands off, Austria," 158, 240, 
344 ; the overthrow of tiie 
Turkish constitution, 355 

Grande Bretagne, The, at Athens, 
68,69 

Greece, 2, 3 ; culture in, 5 ; 
Byzantine empire, 5. 7 ; under 
Turkish rule, 14 ; collapse of the 
Greek campaign, 29, 30 ; the 
Greek bands, 39, 40 ; result of 
the Turkish revolution, 44, 45 ; 
position of, 51 ; recovery of. 
57, 58 ; and Rumania, 60 ; her 
hospitality, 68, 69 ; Athens, 
68-^9 ; England's friend, 70 ; 
Paul Melas incident, 72, 73 ; 
" Hellenes " defined, 76 ; her 
statesmen, 79 ; her aspirations, 
83 ; and Turkey, 84, 85 ; her 
sufferings, 97* 98 ; an atrocity, 
107 ; schoolmasters, 129 ; 
Greeks in Salonika, 161 ; Greek 
view of Turkish rule, 173; 



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INDEX 



367 



Greek towns, 187-199, her 
schools, 223 ; Greeks in Mon- 
astir. 225 ; Bilianik outrage, 
265 ; Turkish operations, 299 ; 
invasion of, 334-336 ; and the 
Young Turks, 358, 359 
Grey, Sir Edward, and Macedonia, 

78 
Griva, a Greek village, and the 

Bulgarians, 168, i^ 
Gryparis, Mr., Greek minister, 93 

Hakki, Ismail, schoolmaster, 349 
Hakky Bey, Imperial Councillor, 

338 
Hamiel. See Abdul 
Hart, Sir Robert, 353 
Hellenes. See Greece 
Hellenic Herald, The, 252 
Hilmi Pasha, Hussein, Inspector- 
General, 37, 151. 163, 176, 274 ; 
list of Turkish operations, 299 
Hisni Pasha, military command- 
ant, 127, 131 

Internal C^anisation, The. See 

Comitadjis 
Islam, Religion of , 6, 1 1 , 94, 1 1 1, 1 18 
Istip, Taxation inquiry, 303 
Italy, Gcndarmery, 151 
Izzet Pasha, 339 

Jews in Rumelia, 137-139 
Joachim III., The Patriarch, 96 

Kajani, an Albanian village, 279 
Kalopathakes, Mr., Professor of 
Athens University, 156, 168, 
212, 245 
Kirk-Kilissi, the town of forty 

shrines, 1 18-134 
Kossovo, Vilayet of. Slave element 

in, 8 ; its position, 24 
Koutzo-Vlachs, The, 73, 179 
Krushevo, Town of, in the In- 
surrection, 32 

Labissovon, Village of, outrage in, 

326 
Lampsa, Mr., 68, 69 
Lascarid6s, Mrs., 81 
Laczaro, Hadji, American Consul 

at Salonica, 90 
Levant, The, and Europe, 50 
Levidis, Mr., Blinister of Marine , 

Macedonia, 3, 4; War of In- 
dependence, 18 ; the Bulgarian 
Principality, 22 ; constitution 



of, 33-28 ; the Internal 
Organisation, 30 ; reforms, 
36, 37; student's appeal. 87, 
88 ; key to Macedonian Ques- 
tion, 94 ; villages, 200-214 
Macedonia, Sm Brailsford 
Macedonia, History of. See Nico- 

laides 
MacLachlan, Rev. Alexander," In- 
ternational College/' 352 
Makkas. Dr., Children's Hospital 

at Athens, 80 
Megarevo-Timovo, 274, 273 
Melas, A. Constantine, 71, 72 
Mdas, Paul, the Hellene hero, 72, 

135 

Midhat Pasha, 34 

Monastir, Archbishop of, 242-^45 

Monastir, Vilayet of, 24; town 
of, 225 ; statistics, 225-227 ; 
schools at, 231-240, 270 

Montenegro, the Slaves in, 8 

Moslems, 13 ; and the Christians, 
30. 33. 35 ; emigration, 52, 53, 
94, 118, 143, 183 ; number of 
Moslem villages in Fiorina, 221, 
222 ; in Monastir, 225 ,* visit 
to a Moslem village, 278, 279 

Murray, Rev. James, Church of 
Scotland Missionary College, 352 

Musurus Ghikis Bey, 356, 357 

Napoleon III., and the Bulgars, 
20,96 

Natchevitch,Mr., Bulgarian Diplo- 
matic Agent at Constantinople, 
63,64 

Nicolaides, X>t,, History of Mace- 
donia, 13 

Nisia, a Macedonian village, 207 

Nouri Bey, Lieut -Col., 236 

Nye, Major, 153-155 

Obsima, Village of, 285; taxa- 
tion, 287 

O'Conor, Sir Nicholas, British 
Ambassador at Constantinople, 
interview with, 105-1 1 1 

Oglou, Passvan, 33 

Olympiades, Eumenes, President 
of Society of Macedonian 
Students, 89 

Paillar^s, M. Michel, V Imbroglio 

Macedonien, 3x8 
Paisy, M., Peoples, Tsars, and 

Saints of Bulgaria, ly 
Panslavism, 17 
Panyotti, The death of, 158 



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368 



INDEX 



Pamassos Philological Society, 8i 

Paspati, Nicolas, 58 

Patriarchate, The, 13, 14, 21 ; a 
list of atrocities, 39 n, 65 ; 
jurisdiction of, 95, 96 ; the 
number of villages, 221 

Pera, Description of, 92, 93 

Petrofi, Ratcho, Anchialos out- 
rage. 64 

Phanar, The, Greek quarter of 
Stamboul, 93, 94 

Piraeus, The. 57 

Rakovo, Village of, liberation of, 
283, 297 

Rechad, Hikmet Bey. 349 

Reforms, European. 32-37 

Religion. See Christians, Ex- 
archate, Islam, Moslem, Patri- 
archate 

Rokotina. Tale of, 277 

Romans, The, 4. 5 

Rumania, Origin of, 18, 19 ; and 
Greece, 60 ; the Koutzo-Vlachs, 
73 ; her schools. 223 

Rumelia. Eastern, 23 ; organic 
statute, 62 ; Macedonian Ques- 
tion. 94 ; journey in, 1 13-133 ; 
professional jealousy, 152, 153 

Russia, and Turkey, 16, 36 ; War 
of Independence, 19; the Ex- 
archate. 20 : and the Bulgarian 
Principality. 22, 23 ; Gendar- 
mery, 151 ; effect of Russo- 
Japanese war, 172 ; pedlars in 
Macedonia, 323 

Salonika, Vilayet of, 24, 149-174 
Samson, Major, Consul, 115, 134, 

139 
San Stefano Treaty, 23 
Saracens, The, attack on Greek 

empire, 9 
Sarrou, Captain, description of 

the burning of I>6r6-Muslim, 

308-310 
Serbs, The, 11, 14 
Servia. Slave element in. 7, 8 ; 

War of Independence, 18, 19 ; 

and Christians, 33 ; her schools, 

Z96, 223 ; result of Turkish 

operations, 299 
Skouzte, Mr., Foreign Minister, 76, 

78 
Slaves, The, 7, 8 ; attack on the 

Greek empire, 9 ; and the 

Patriarchate, 13; 76 
Smyrna, 351 



Spyromillio, Lieut. Spyxo, in- 
vasion of Greece, 334-336 

Stambulofi, Mr., Bulgarian 
minister, 25 

Stoilefi. Mr.. Bulgarian Com- 
mercial Agent. 134-137 

Tchakalaroff, Comitadji leader, 

30 ; Anchialos outrage, 63 
Theotokis. Mr.. Prime Minister of 

Greece, 76-78 
Times, The, newspaper, 69 ; its. 

influeiA^e, 218-222 
Timovo, Town of, 274. 275 
Tribune, The, newspaper, its cam- 
paign against the Greeks, 46 
Tricoupis, Mr., Greek statesman, 25 
Tsiganes, a Greek barrister, 272 
Turkey, and the Bulgarians, 8 ; 
theXurks, 11-13 ; and religion, 
13 ; the Comitadji insurrection, 
31, 32 ; Abdul Hamid II., 34- 
36 ; Bulgarian atrocities, 40, 
41 ; the revolution, 43, 44, 335- 
365 ; French influence in, 50, 
51 ; Turks and Greeks, 84, 85 ; 
the Sultan's task, 90, 91 ; and 
Sir Nicholas O'Conor, 105-110 ; 
the Jews, 138 ; Greek view 
of Turkish rule, 173 ; her 
schools, 223, 349 ; the heart of, 
in Europe, 225-241 ; Turkish 
reserve. 238, 239 ; a typical 
atrocity, 256, 257 ; statistics 
of losses in operations. 299 ; 
the burning of D6r6-Muslim, 
308-316 ; the last of the 
Caliphs. 337-354; the Young 
Turks, 355-365 

Vassili, Michael, a Comitadji out- 
rage, 318 

Venia. a Vlach town, 175 

Vlachs, The, 18, 24 ; at town of, 
175 ; of Megarevo, 275 

Vladova, a Macedonian village, 
203, 212 

Vodena, a Greek town, 194, 213 

Voulgaris, Mr., founder of schools, 
16, 17 

Waugh, A. T., Consul in Con- 
stantinople, English schools, 139 

Woods, Sir Henry, K.C.V.O,, 
Pasha, 337 

Wyon, Re^nald, The Balhans 
from Within, 39 n. 

Zagoritzani, Fight at, 326, 327 



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