Ulpia Pautalia

The city was built at the foot of the Hissarlak hill. It was a major station on the route from Serdica (Sofia) to Stobi in Macedonia, with a side road to Thessalonica. There was a branch road to Sapareva Banya in the direction of Philippopolis. In the time of Marcus Aurelius (161-180) the ancient city was equipped with a stonewall and strong towers. In the 2nd – 4th centuries the enclosed area was about 30 hectares. Under the center of present-day Kyustendil lied the city agora (square).

Several sectors of the street network have been explored. Some streets reach a width of 12-13 meters (including the sidewalks). Water was brought from several springs but the biggest was near the Hissarlak and the Osogovo Mountain to the south. A Greek inscription from 135 AD (the time of Emperor Antoninus Pius) tells us about the construction of a civil basilica. The basilica in Ulpia Oescus was built the same year. Another inscription tells us that here there was a gymnasion for training youths. They also practiced sports indoors, as we learn from an epigraphic monument mentioning the name of the instructor

Pautalia are the Roman thermae

Among the most important investigated buildings in Pautalia are the Roman thermae, located in the southeastern part of the city. The building layout is rectangular and its floor- age is over 3000 sq. m. Probably it is part of a larger complex comprising the asclepion at the medicinal spring, the gymnsion and the sports school. The uncovered parts of an apodyterium, tepidarium and caldarium have a hypocaust system with columns and arcade, as well as radiant wall heating. The ceilings and floors of the rooms are covered with marble slates and have a rich architectural decoration of cornices and pilasters. To the north, the ruins of a sec-ond small bath, which also used mineral water, were investigated. South of one of the east-west streets (decumanus I) were situated shops with an inner court which served as a marketplace. Similar shops were also found in a north-south street (cardo 1). Next to the eastern fortress wall was uncovered a horreum, public storehouse for grain.

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with the collaboration

Roman cities in the chronological scope of 1st – 4th centuries AD. Their presentation is not complete as it depends on the extent of the archaeological excavations carried out. Furthermore, part of the large ancient urban centers now lie under modern cities and their exploration is difficult. Excavations are conducted mainly by the Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with the collaboration of the universities and especially the museums in the country. The ancient history of our lands has been of interest to European explorers and travelers (Italians, Austrians, Hungarians, Germans, Czechs, Frenchmen, Russians).

In many of the cities and Roman military camps international excavations have been carried out (and some are still in progress) such as: Italian in Oescus (during the Second World War, a team from Milan and Sofia); Bulgarian-German in Jantrus (near the village of Krivina, Ruse region) (archaeologists from Sofia, Ruse, Berlin and Frankfurt am Main); Bulgarian-Polish in Novae (Svishtov) (Sofia, Svishtov, Veliko Tarnovo, Warsaw, Poznan); Bulgarian- British in Nicopolis ad Istrum (the village of Nikyup, Veliko Tarnovo region) (Sofia, Veliko Tarnovo, Nottingham); Bulgarian- Italian in Ratiaria (the village of Archar, Vidin region) (Sofia, Vidin, Bologna).

Here we shall briefly introduce the readers to the historic and political atmos-phere in the Thracian lands of present-day Bulgaria 2000 years ago, when the Romans came.

After the conquest of Macedonia and Achaia, the Empire looked to conquering the lands on both sides of the Balkan Range (Stara Planina) and reaching the Black Sea coast. The first more serious invasion was made by the legions of general Marcus Lucullus in 72-71 BC. He conquered the west Pontic Greek poleis. Apollonia Pontica (Sozopol) put up great resistance and was razed. Spoil from there was the 9-meter tall statue of Apollo by the famous sculptor Kalamis (5th c. BC) which was taken to the Capitolium in Rome.

Marcus Licinius Crassus

In 29-28 BC, Marcus Licinius Crassus, grandson of the triumvir Crassus who crushed the big slave revolt led by the Thracian Spartacus, undertook two large- scale marches in the Balkans. During the first march he conquered the tribes on the right bank of the Danube and those in present-day Western Bulgaria, and then headed south of the Balkan Range. The Thracian community suffered great losses in life. Thus, several decades later the Romans founded the provinces of Moesia (12 AD) and Thrace (45 AD).

Losses involved in military service

It not only deprived the Sultans of their finest troops, but has been one of the principal causes of the great decrease in the Moslem population of the country; as that class of the community alone has since been called to sustain the losses involved in military service. The mortality among the soldiers of the Turkish army from disease and war is so great that the Moslem population is rapidly dying out, and well-informed medical experts are heard to say, “ The Eastern Question will be solved by the disappearance of the Turks in the natural course of things.”

The theocratic character of a Moslem State facilitates, indeed, the incorporation of different races in the same social and political system, seeing that all distinctions between men are obliterated by community in the faith of Islam. And it is impressive to see how closely the Mohammedan world, though not free from sects, is knit together by religious principle, and how strongly it cherishes the brotherhood of believers. In it, not in theory only but also in practice, the black man and the white man are fellow-citizens and of the same household.

Impossible for a Moslem State

But on the other hand, because of its theocratic constitution, it is impossible for a Moslem State to accept reforms which seek to secure equality of rights among its subjects, on the ground of a common humanity. Nothing is more opposed to the deepest convictions of a genuine Moslem than the idea that men of a different faith from his own can be his equals. There is no one who can be more polite than a Turk; no one who can treat you in a more friendly and flattering manner than hem.

Yet persons who have known him well, nay, who have loved him, testify that even in the relation of private friendship they have never felt that a Turk had given them his whole self, but was a friend with reservations that might lead him to act toward you in the most unfriendly manner. His religion confers on him an inaccessible superiority, from which he cannot descend without becoming a faithless son of Islam. His interests are superior to those of an infidel.

Byzantine Art

It employs them in another spirit, under the control of ideas different or more mature than have yet been known, as the utterance of feelings acting with peculiar force at particular moments in history, with more skill, on a larger scale, with happier effect, and the result is that something appears with an individual entity perfectly distinguishable from all that ever was before, or that will ever come after. Byzantine Art is its own very self, however many adumbrations prophesied its advent.

The oldest ecclesiastical edifice in the city—the Church of S. John the Baptist, attached to the monastery of Studius—does not, however, represent Byzantine architecture. Built in 468, it is a basilica, and accordingly is a specimen—the only specimen in Constantinople—of the earliest type of a Christian sanctuary. It was well-nigh destroyed in a conflagration that devasted the district of Psamatia in 1782, and its roof was crushed in by a heavy fall of snow some three winters ago. But, though only the shadow of its former self, its primitive character can be clearly recognised.

Catechumens and penitents

The old atrium before the church is still here, with a phiale or fountain in its centre for the purification of the gathering worshippers. Of the colonnaded cloister along the four sides of the atrium, the western portion, borne by four columns and forming the narthex of the church, still stands. There catechumens and penitents, unworthy to tread the holy ground within the sanctuary, stood outside and afar off. Beautiful trees now spread their branches over the court, and the shaded light falls upon turbaned Moslem tombs, as. of yore it fell upon the graves of Christian monks, from the trees growing in the Paradise of the monastery.

It is the most peaceful spot in all Constantinople, and as fair as it is calm and quiet The narthex belongs, undoubtedly, to the original fabric. Its marble pillars crowned by Corinthian capitals of a late type bear a horizontal entablature, and the egg and dart ornament, the dentils, the strings of pearls, familiar in the friezes of Greek and Roman temples mingle with foliage, birds, and crosses, expressive of new ideas and tastes. Within, the interior was a hall 89 feet by 88, divided by a double row of seven columns of verde antique marble, into a nave and two aisles.

Bishop of Smyrna or of Cotaeum in Phrygia

“Constantine,” they shouted, “founded the city; Cyrus has restored it.” Never had the capricious goddess smiled so benignantly upon him, and never did she prove more treacherous. Such popularity offended Theodosius, and he decided to break the idol of the people to pieces. Cyrus was dismissed from office, deprived of his property, and reduced to a political nonentity, by being consecrated Bishop of Smyrna or of Cotaeum in Phrygia. Such a proceeding appears very strange, but probably we are ignorant of facts which would explain this transformation of a pagan official into a Christian priest. One can hardly believe that a man like Cyrus was insincere in his new character.

The post assigned to the ex-Prefect was not attractive. Four of his predecessors in the diocese had been murdered by brigands, and the people committed to his care doubted the soundness of his faith. But in a sermon preached on Christmas Day he conciliated his flock by orthodox statements, pointing out at the same time that the mystery before their minds was most honoured by silence. And he died unmolested by robbers. It is curious to observe, in passing, how punishment here assumes a religious form, and how men tried to hide their cruelty under the pretence of doing good to the souls of their victims. In the subsequent history of Constantinople, this species of penalty became common. It was a symptom at once of the mildness and the meanness of the times.

But the reign of Theodosius II. is not distinguished only for the material growth of Constantinople. It is not less memorable for the advance of the city in its intellectual character, as the nursery of learning and the seat of justice. In this reign the University of Constantinople was opened. It found a home in the building known as the Capitol, on the hill now occupied by the Turkish War Office. Judging from the descrip-tions we have of the building, it resembled in its arrangements a Turkish theological school,—medresseh,—an open court, surrounded by class-rooms on the level of the court Some of the rooms were spacious halls, richly decorated, and accommodating large audiences. The studies pursued were chiefly grammar, rhetoric, and literature, both in Latin and in Greek, there being thirteen professors for these studies in the former language and fifteen in the latter. To philosophy only one professor was assigned, while the department of law was in charge of two professors.

In the charter, so to speak, of the University, particular stress is laid upon the need of a separate class-room for each teacher, lest the different classes should disturb one another by simultaneous talking and variety of languages, with the result that the ears and minds of the students would be diverted from their proper occupation mihrimah mosque. A candidate for a professor’s chair was required to undergo an examination before the Senate both as to his learning and his character. After twenty years’ service a professor was rewarded with the title of a Count of the Empire. Only the professors attached to the University were allowed to lecture in public, and they were not permitted to give private instruction.

The foundation of the University had two objects mainly in view—to prepare young men for the civil service, and to supersede the pagan schools of learning. It had certainly a lofty ideal, for, in the language of an inscription that refers to the institution, it was to be “a glory to scholars, an ornament to the city, the hope of youth, weapons to virtue, and wealth to the good.” Thus, while the shadows of ignorance were gathering to settle down upon western Europe, the light of knowledge was kept burning in the capital of the East until the darkness passed away. The study of Latin indeed was erelong abandoned in Constantinople, but Greek learning had always its friends there, who handed that treasure down from century to century, and bequeathed it at last to safer keeping and wider use.

Honour to the reign of Theodosius II

Another act that does honour to the reign of Theodosius II. is the codification of the laws enacted since the time of Constantine the Great The compilation took nine years to be made, and is known as the Theodosian Code. How great a need it supplied is quaintly set forth in the preamble to the Code. “ The chaos presented by the state in which the laws were found was such that few persons had an adequate knowledge of the subject even though their faces have grown pale from late lucubrations.” “When we consider,” to quote Professor Bury’s translation, “ the enormous multitude of books, the divers modes of process, and the difficulty of legal cases, and further the hugeness of imperial constitutions, which, hidden as it were under a veil of gross mist and darkness, precludes men’s intellects from gaining a knowledge of them, we feel that we have met a real need of our age, and, dispelling the darkness, have given light to the laws by a short compendium.”

Between Singidunum

When it came to the turn of the East to provide suitable seats of government, the honours were shared between Singidunum, near the modem Belgrade, and Nico- media in Asia Minor. But for reasons which will immediately appear, Constantine preferred Byzantium, and, having changed the comparatively insignificant town into a splendid city, named it New Rome and Constantinople, to become the sole centre for the administration of the Eastern portion of the Empire, and the local habitation of the spirit of a New Age.

It would appear that the selection of Byzantium for its great destiny was made after the claims of other cities to that distinction had been duly weighed. Naissus (the modem Nisch in Servia) which was the Emperor’s birthplace, Sardica (now Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria), Thessalonica were thought of for that purpose. They had the recommendation of giving ready access to the Danube frontier, along which the barbarians caused anxiety and demanded close attention. Some consideration was given to Nicomedia, which had already been selected by Diocletian for his capital It is also said, though without any serious grounds for the statement, that Constantine actually began work for a new city near the site of old Troy, under the spell of the poetic legends which associated Ilium with the origin of the Roman people.

Build opposite the blind

But the superiority of Byzantium to all rivals was so manifest that there was hardly room for long suspense as to the proper choice. The old oracle, “ Build opposite the blind,” which led to the foundation of Byzantium could still serve to guide Constantine in his search for the most suitable position of a new imperial city. There is no place in the wide world more eminently fitted by natural advantages to be the throne of a great dominion, than the promontory which guards the southern end of the Bosporus.

There Asia and Europe meet to lay down that antagonism which has made so much of the world’s history, and to blend their resources for man’s welfare. A Power upon that throne, having as much might as it has right, should control a realm extending from the Adriatic Sea to the Persian Gulf, and from the Danube to the Mediterranean. From that point natural highways by sea and land proceed, like the radii of a circle, in all directions where rule can be enforced or commerce developed—to Russia, to Asia, to Africa, to the lands of the West.

General Directorate of Electrification in Bulgaria

With a view to regional electrification, the General Directorate of Electrification in Bulgaria with the Ministry of Electrification, Waters and Natural Resources completed the construction of a 20 kV overhead transmission line: Varna-Provadia-Shoumen, thus in 1947 the two power plants were connected for electric power exchange.

Besides the electrification of towns and villages in the region, one of the high-priority objectives of the Shoumen electricity supply enterprise was the electrification of the water-supply pump stations in the dry Ludogorie region and in whole Dobrudja-9 districts as a whole by that time. By 1944, 85 settlements of the 157 planned were supplied with water.

Gorna Oryahovitsa Electrification Region

The Gorna Oryahovitsa Electrification Region was formed around a centre situated at the Gorna Oryahovitsa railway junction due to its geographical and infrastructure conditions. In that fertile and active region, a leading role in electrification was played by Gabrovo where a significant textile industry was developed at the beginning of the 20th century by followers of Racho the Blacksmith and Ivan Hadjiberov.

Several water syndicates (WS) were set up in that region: Malusha (1922), Gramadata (1926), Rositsa (1921), Yantra (1921), as well as joint-stock companies and cooperatives (Bedek, Videlina), and a dozen of industrial enterprises that intended to meet their own electricity demand, as well as to provide public power supply. The leading role in that respect belonged to Gramadata WS-Gabrovo. In 1926 it built a reliable diesel power plant of the same name with initial generator capacity of 166kW, 6kV, thus laying the beginning of the overall public power supply in Gabrovo. Only a few years later, a new 450 hp diesel engine was supplied to Gramadata DPP.

Several other electrical utilities were also built in the region: Malusha HPP with two units, 420 hp and 160 hp (1940], Batoshevo 1 HPP on the Rositsa river, 625 kW (1926), and Bedek TPP in Tryavna with unit capacities 600 kW (1931) and 2000 kW (1935), as well as a 60 kV overhead transmission line to Maritsa East 1 and 60/20 kV Gabrovo Substation (1945).

Long as Serbia and her allies

To cut it was to deprive those armies of reinforcements, munitions, and other supplies coming from the south. Furthermore, possession of the Morava-Maritza trench would never be secure so long as Serbia and her allies held the Yardar depression, for at any moment they might launch a bolt along this natural groove which would sever the Orient Railway at Nish and thus undo all that had been accomplished through the new alliance with Bulgaria. For the Teuton-Bulgar forces the capture of the combined Morava and Yardar valleys was a single military problem. Let us examine the physiographic features which serve as natural defenses of this important trench.

The Northern Defenses. The Morava valley is widely open to the north and is there bounded on both sides by comparatively low hills. An enemy securing a foothold in the rolling country to the east or west could enter from either of these directions as well as from the north, just as the Orient Railway coming from Belgrade enters the valley from the west, twenty-five miles above its mouth. Hence an effective barrier against attack from the north must cover more than the actual breadth of the northern entrance to the valley. Such a barrier is provided by the natural moat of the Save and Danube Rivers which protects the entire northern frontier of Serbia; and by the hills south of the moat which, as one progresses southward, rise into a wild, mountainous highland.

South of Mitrovitza

The Save is a late-mature river swinging in great meanders across a broad, marshy flood-plain. The extensive swamp-lands on either side of the river are difficult to traverse at any time, while the flood waters which spread over the lowland in spring and autumn often make the barrier quite impassable except at Mitrovitza (not to be confused with the Mitrovitza near the Kosovo Polye referred to farther on). South of Mitrovitza and west of Shabatz the marshy peninsula between the Drina and the Save is called the Matchva and is famous for its inhospitable character. In volume the Save is of sufficient size to constitute an obstacle against invasion, but for purposes of navigation it suffers from its overlong meandering course and from frequent shifting of channels and sand-bars. At no point is the stream fordable, and at Belgrade alone is it crossed by a bridge.

Eighteen miles farther to the town of Auctozaar

After our dinner we went eighteen miles farther to the town of Auctozaar, and alighted at a caravansary inhabited by Greeks who carried on a manufactory of cotton, for sail-making and other common purposes of the country. The accommodation was most wretched. We were all obliged to lie down in the same room : nor could we get provisions of any kind. It had rained all day; we were wet through; and, to complete our misfortune, we had neither fire or fire-place ; nor could we procure even a dish of charcoal to dry our clothes. A traveller, however, must expect to encounter difficulties and disappointments, particularly in these countries. Habit teaches us to despise them, and the pleasure we experience from having surmounted obstacles seems to be in proportion to their magnitude.

The next morning bore a more favourable appearance. We travelled over a country uncommonly beautiful ; diversified with eminences, covered with woods and vast herds of cattle and the most beautiful flocks of sheep with flat tails and long pendent ears, the former of an immense size. We observed no habitation, nor passed any village, for the first five hours of our ride through a most romantic country. We halted to breakfast by the side of a fountain built by the bounty of some penitent and charitable Turk. This is considered by them an act most meritorious and benevolent; and so it really is, when situated so as to furnish to the weary traveller the refreshing draught which he could not otherwise procure.

Small village called Gelembe

We soon bid adieu to the fountain which had refreshed us, and continued our route over a mountainous and very wild country, and in five hours arrived at a small village called Gelembe,1 where a small mud-walled room afforded us shelter. We had some very tough fowls killed for our supper, and comforting ourselves with the hopes, of a good night’s rest, we went to bed at eight, having had some clean straw spread under our matresses.

In the night, the dogs made so much noise that our sleep was hourly interrupted. It was not the first time that we had been annoyed by these animals, which abound in most of the Turkish towns; not appertaining to any individual, they infest the streets in large packs,, and in the night (particularly when it is moonlight) they keep up a most dismal howling. We have frequently counted an hundred of them together. They are of the. wolf and mastiff kind, and very large. It is extraordinary that in this country where the heat is excessive in summer these dogs are never known to go mad.

Party concerned in the scheme

Some time afterwards we were invited to dinner by the two gentlemen, which invitation my tutor declined : nor could I ever learn what motive induced him not to accompany me to a place which he himself thought dangerous. This gave occasion for many of my relations to think that he was a party concerned in the scheme. But they certainly did him injustice. He was, it is true, a man of free principles, but I could never accuse him of anything unfair or dishonourable; besides, it was no uncommon thing with him to excuse himself from parties to which we were both invited. I therefore went alone to encounter this pair of worthies.

They had taken care to provide a handsome company of female beauties, who by their persuasion and example induced me to sacrifice so liberally to Bacchus at dinner, that before the dessert was introduced the glasses seemed to dance before me. Nothing would then satisfy them but we must drink champagne out of pint rummers, which soon completed the business.

When I was in a proper state for them to begin their operations, they one and all proposed playing at hiding the horse. I was in no condition to refuse anything, and soon acceded to their proposal, and without being scarcely conscious that I was engaged in it I lost fourteen thousand eight hundred pounds on my parole, exclusive of my ready money, carriage, jewels, etc. I know not why they even stopped here ; for I was in such a state that they might have stript me of my whole fortune. I cannot, however, feel myself much indebted for this instance of their forbearance. They contented themselves for the present with a bill for the amount, which I drew on La Touche’s Bank, and then went to bed in a state of torpid insensibility.

Transaction to my governor

The first thing I did in the morning was to communicate the whole transaction to my governor, with which he was visibly affected : but as he saw the state of mind I was in, he forbore saying anything that might add to my distress, but rather endeavoured to console me by saying that the evil was not without remedy, and that at least it would have one good effect by rendering me more cautious and prevent me from ever falling into such hands for the future. This, though a negative sort of comfort, joined to the natural strength of my animal spirits, restored me in some measure to a state of tranquillity.

I did not enjoy it long. My banker, on whom I had drawn for so enormous a sum, communicated the affair to my friends before he would honour the bill wooden workmanship byzantium. They advised him by no means to pay it, and it was returned protested. This was a most mortifying piece of intelligence to the fraternity; yet they were not without their expedients : they advised me to repair immediately to London, where, upon my fortune being made known, I should find no difficulty in getting my bills discounted to any amount I thought proper. As a further inducement for me to undertake the journey, they offered to remit half the debt, provided I should succeed in procuring the remainder.

My tutor was much averse to this scheme, which, he said, would entirely ruin him in the opinion of my relations, whose friendship it was so much his interest and inclination to preserve. But upon my representing to him the advantage of getting rid of half the debt he at length consented, and the following plan was concerted between us, in order to conceal from my friends my departure from France. I was to leave with him a series of letters to my mother, of different dates, according to the periods I usually wrote to her, which he was to dispatch occasionally as if I had been actually on the spot.

This, I must own, I did rather to avoid giving my mother pain than to remove any anxiety I felt on his account. I then drew a bill upon Dublin for two thousand louis-d’ors, with part of which I paid some debts I owed at Lyons, and the remainder was to bear my expenses to London. Matters being thus arranged I set out with one of my creditors, leaving the other with my tutor, who I believe would gladly have dispensed with such a companion.

Daly’s Club in College Green

Another gathering-place for the aristocracy and Members of Parliament was Daly’s Club in College Green, where extravagant scenes of gambling and dissipation were constantly being enacted. In this, the most famous establishment of its kind in Ireland, it is said that the shutters were occasionally closed at noon that gambling might go on by candle-light ; and it was no uncommon occurrence to see one of the players, suspected of cheating, being flung from an upper window into the street. The club-house was rebuilt in 1791, and on so luxurious a scale as to excite the surprise and admiration of travellers who visited Ireland.

The first Irish State Lottery was drawn in 1782, an occurrence which naturally added fuel to the fire of speculation which was already burning pretty brightly at this period amongst high and low : while, as an additional incentive to immorality and degradation, the hideous spectacles afforded by public executions provided constant amusement for a mob whose love of drink and devilment was only surpassed by their social superiors.

THE BEAUX WALK, STEPHEN’S GREEN, 1796

Such was the metropolis of Ireland at the time when Burns was writing, and to such surroundings young Whaley returned after a preliminary course of extravagance and dissipation in a foreign country where vicious habits of every kind were, if anything, more common than at home. It was probably about this time that he won his spurs as a Buck.

He does not himself mention the names of his Irish boon companions in the orgies that went on nightly in his Dublin house—but from other sources it is known that he was on terms of close intimacy with Francis Higgins, the notorious Sham Squire, and with Lord Clonmell, and that the three were frequently to be seen disporting themselves on the Beaux Walk in Stephen’s Green during the hours in which persons of fashion in Dublin were accustomed to take the air.

By all accounts, Buck Whaley must have presented a striking figure on such occasions. Amongst others, his brother-in-law, Lord Cloncurry, writing in 1849, describes him as having been “ a perfect specimen of the Irish gentleman of the olden time.” He had not, however, yet reached this high level of good looks when the portrait was painted which I am enabled to reproduce through the kindness of Mr. John Whaley of Annsboro, co. Kildare. This was apparently taken when he was still a boy.

Attention to Christianity

But I have here been directing your attention to Christianity, with no other view than to illustrate, by the contrast, the condition of the Mahometan Turks. Their religion is not far from embodying the very dream of the Judaizing zealots of the Apostolic age. On the one hand there is in it the profession of a universal empire, and an empire by conquest; nay, military success seems to be considered the special note of its divine origin. On the other hand, I believe it is a received notion with them, that their religion is not even intended for the north of the earth, for some reasons connected with its ceremonial ; nor is there in it any public recognition, such as intercessory prayer, of the duty of converting infidels.

Mahometan missions and missionaries

Certainly, the idea of Mahometan missions and missionaries, except as an army in the field may be considered as such, is never suggested to us by Eastern historian or traveller, as entering into their religious system. Though the Caliphate, then, may be transferred from Saracen to Turk, Mahometanism is essentially a consecration of the principle of nationalism; and thereby is as congenial to the barbarian, as Christianity is congenial to man civilized. The less a man knows, the more conceited he is of his proficiency; and, the more barbarous is a nation, the more imposing and peremptory are its claims.

Such was the spirit of the religion of the Tartars, whatever was the nature of its tenets in detail. It deified the Tartar race; Zingis Khan was “ the son of God, mild and venerable” ; and “ God was great and exalted over all, and immortal, but Zingis Khan was sole lord upon the earth”. Such, too, is the strength of the Greekschism, which there only flourishes where it can fasten on barbarism, and extol the prerogatives of an elect nation. The Czar is the divinely-appointed source of religious power; his country is “Holy Russia”; and the high office committed to him and to it, is to extend what it considers the orthodox faith. The Osmanlis are not behind Tartar or Russ in pretending to a divine mission; the Sultan, in his treaties wdth Christian powers, calls himself “ Refuge of Sovereigns, Distributor of Crowns to the Kings of the earth, Master of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and Shadow of God upon earth”.

The cultivation of his spiritual part

To view things as they are, we must bear in mind, that, true as it is, that only a supernatural grace can raise man towards the integrity of his nature, yet it is possible, without the cultivation of his spiritual part, which contemplates objects subtle, distant, delicate of apprehension, and slow of operation, nay even with an actual contempt of faith and devotion, in comparison of objects tangible and present, possible it is, I say, to combine in some sort the other faculties of man into one, and to progress forward, with the substitution of natural religion for faith, and a refined expediency or propriety for true morality, just as with practice a man might manage to run without an arm or without sight, and as organic defects are sometimes supplied by the preternatural action of other functions.

This is in fact what is commonly understood by civilization, and it is the sense in which the word must be used here; not the perfection at which nature aims, and requires, and cannot of itself reach; but its perfection, being what it is, and remaining what it is, with its powers of ratiocination, judgment, sagacity, and imagination fully exercised, and the affections and passions under sufficient control.

Epictetus or Antoninus

Such was it, in its higher excellences, in heathen Greece and Rome, where the perception of moral principles, possessed by the cultivated and accomplished intellect, by the mind of Plato or Isocrates, of Cleanthes, Seneca, Epictetus, or Antoninus, rivalled in outward pretensions the inspired teaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles. Such is it at tlie present day, not only in its reception of the elements of religion and morals (when Christianity is in the midst of it as an inexhaustible storehouse for natural reason to borrow from), but especially in a province peculiar to these times, viz., in science and art, in physics, in politics, in economics, and mechanics. And great as are its attainments at present, still, as I have said, we are far from being able to discern even in the distance the limit of its advancement and of its perfectibility.

Where fig trees are planted

The earth required to be brought in from a distance, retaining walls erected, the steep slopes converted into a series of gentle inclinations, the mountain-torrent diverted or restrained, and the means of artificial irrigation, to sustain nature during the long droughts of summer, obtained. By the incessant labour of centuries this prodigy has been completed, and the very stony sterility of nature converted into the means of heightening, by artificial means, the heat of summer. …No room is lost in these little but precious freeholds; the vine extends its tendrils along the terrace walls … in the corners formed by their meeting, a little sheltered nook is found, where fig trees are planted, which ripen delicious fruit under their protection.

Figs grapes pomegranates and melons

The owner takes advantage of every vacant space to raise melons and vegetables. Olives shelter it from the rains; so that, within the compass of a very small garden, he obtains olives, figs, grapes, pomegranates, and melons. Such is the return which nature yields under this admirable system of management, that half the crop of seven acres is sufficient in general for the maintenance of a family of five persons, and the whole produce supports them all in rustic affluence. Italy, in this delightful region, still realizes the glowing description of gm classic historian three hundred years ago”.

The author I have quoted goes on next to observe that this diligent cultivation of the rock accounts for what at first sight is inexplicable, the vast population, which is found, not merely in the valleys, but over the greater part of the ridges of the Appennines, and the endless succession of villages and hamlets which are perched on the edge or summit of rocks, often, to appearance, scarcely accessible to human approach. He adds that the labour never ends, for, if a place goes out of repair, the violence of the rain will soon destroy it. “ Stones and torrents wash down the soil; the terraces are broken through; the heavy rains bring down a shapeless mass of ruins; every thing returns rapidly to its former state’’. Thus it is that parts of Palestine at present exhibit such desolate features to the traveller, who wonders how it ever could have been the rich land described in Scripture; till he finds that it was this sort of cultivation which made it what it was, that this it was the Crusaders probably saw and im-ported into Europe, and this that the ruthless Turks in great measure laid waste.

Exhibited in the Turcomans

And now I have said enough, and more than enough, of the original state of the Turkish race, as exhibited in the Turcomans; it is time to pursue the history of that more important portion of it with which we are properly engaged, which received some sort of education, and has proved itself capable of social and political union. I observed just now, that that education was very different in its mode and circumstances from that which has been the lot of the nations with which we are best acquainted.

Other nations have been civilized in their own homes, and have immortalized a country by their social progress as well as a race. They have been educated by conquest, or by subjugation, or by the intercourse with foreigners which commerce or colonization has opened; but in every case they have been true to their father-land, and are children of the soil. The Greeks sent out their colonies to Asia Minor and Italy, and those colonies reacted upon the mother country. Magna Grsecia and Ionia showed their mother country the way to her intellectual supremacy.

The Romans spread gradually from one central city, and when their conquests reached as far as Greece, “ the captive”, in the poet’s words, “ captivated her wild conqueror, and introduced arts into unmannered La- tium”. England was converted by the Roman See and conquered by the Normans, and was gradually civilized by the joint influences of religion and of chivalry. Religion indeed, though a depraved religion, has had something to do, as we shall see, with the civilization of the Turks; but the circumstances have been altogether different from those which we trace in the history of England, Rome, or Greece.

Preserving its individuality

The Turks present the spectacle of a poured, as it were, upon a foreign material, as a liquid might be in the process of some manufacture inter-penetrating all its parts, yet preserving its individuality, and at length making its way through it, and reappearing, in substance the same as before, but charged with the qualities of the material through which it has been passed, and modified by them Jugoslavia. They have been invaded by no conqueror, they have brought no captive arts or literature home, they have undergone no conversion in mass, they have been taught by no commerce, by no international relationship; but they have in the course of centuries slowly soaked or trickled, if I may use the words, through the Saracenic populations with which they came in contact, and after being nationally lost to the world, as far as history goes, for long periods and through different countries, at length they came to light with that degree of civilization which they at present possess, and at length -took their place within the limits of the great European family.

And this is why the path southwards to the East of the Aral was, in matter of fact, the path of civilization, and that by the Caucasus the path of barbarism; this is why the Turks who took the former course could found an empire, and those who took the latter have remained Tartars or Turcomans; because the latter was a sheer descent from Turkistan into the country which they occupy, the other was a circuitous course, leading them through many countries through Sogdiana, Khorasan, Zabulistan, and Persia, with many fortunes, under many masters, for many hundred years, before they came round to the region to which their Turcoman brethren attained so easily, but with so little eventual advantage. My meaning will be clearer, as I proceed.

Favourable to his vanity

But another version, less favourable to his vanity and his hopes, was suggested by one of his courtiers, and it ran thus : “ Unless you can fly like a bird, or burrow like a mouse, or swim the marshes like a frog, you cannot escape our arrows”. “Whichever interpretation was the true one, it needed no message from the enemy to perceive the truth of the sentiment expressed in this unpleasant interpretation. Darius yielded to imperative necessity, and hastened his escape from the formidable situation in which he had placed himself, and through great good fortune succeeded in effecting it. He crossed the sea just in time; for the Scythians came down in pursuit, as far as the coast, and returned home laden with booty.

This is pretty much all that is definitely recorded in history of the ancient Tartars. Alexander, in a later age, came into conflict ’with them in the region called Sogdiana, which lies at the foot of that high plateau of central and eastern Asia, which I have designated as their proper home. But he was too prudent to be entangled in extended expeditions against them, and having made trial of their formidable strength, and made some demonstrations of the superiority of his own, he left them in possession of their wildernesses.

ON IMBECILITY AND OLD AGE

TALE I

I was engaged in a disputation with some learned men in the mosque of Damascus, when suddenly a young man, entering the gate, said, “Is there any one amongst you who understands the Persian language? ” They pointed to me. I asked, What was the matter? He answered, “An old man, of a hundred and fifty years of age, is in the agonies of death, and says something in the Persian language which we do not comprehend. If you will have the goodness to take the trouble to go, you will obtain your reward: perhaps he may want to make his will? ” When I came to his pillow he said, “I was in hopes that I should spend the small remnant of my life in ease, but I can scarcely draw my breath. Alas! that at the table of variegated life I ate a little, and they said it is enough.”

I explained to the Damasciens, in Arabic, the signification of the discourse. They wondered that at his advanced age he should grieve for worldly life. I then asked him, How he found himself? He replied, “What can I say? Have you not seen what pain he suffers who has one of his teeth drawn out of his mouth; think then what must be the state in that moment when the soul is departing from this precious body.”

I said, “Dismiss from your imagination the thoughts of death, and let not apprehension overcome your constitution; for the philosophers have said, ‘ Although the animal system be in full vigour, yet we ought not to rely on its continuance; and on the other hand, although a disease be dangerous, yet it is no positive proof of approaching death.’ If you will give me leave, I will send for a physician, that he may prescribe some medicine which may be the means of your recovery.”

Plaintive voice at the dawn of day

My attention is engaged in listening to a sweet voice: who is this beautiful person playing on the double chord? How delightful is a tender and plaintive voice at the dawn of day, in the ears of those intoxicated with love? A sweet voice is better than a beautiful face; for the one gives sensual delight, and the other invigorates the soul.—Fifthly. The mechanic, who gains subsistence by the labour of the arm, that his good name may not be disgraced by the want of bread.

According to this saying of the wise: ‘ If a mechanic goes a journey from his own city, he suffers not difficulty nor distress; but if the King of Neem- roze should wander out of his kingdom, he would sleep hungry.

The above mentioned qualities, which I have explained, are means of affording comfort to the mind in travelling, and are the bestowers of sweet delight; but he who does not possess them will enter the world with vain expectations, and no one will hear his name nor see any signs of him. Whomsoever the revolutions of Heaven in malice afflict, the world betrays. The pigeon who is not to see his nest again, fate conducts to the grain and snare.”

The son said, “0 father! how can I contradict another maxim of the sages, which says, 4 The necessaries of life are distributed to all, yet the attainment thereof requires exertion; and although misfortune is decreed, it is our duty to shun the way by which it enters/ Although our daily bread doubtlessly may come to us, yet reason requires that we should seek it out of doors.

Although no one can die before it is decreed by fate, you have no occasion to run into the jaws of the dragon. In my present situation, I am able to encounter a furious elephant and to combat a devouring lion; and I have besides this inducement to travel, that I am no longer able to suffer indigence. When a man falls from his rank and dignity, what has he more to concern himself about? He is a citizen of the world. A rich man repairs at night to his palace, but wheresoever the Durwesh is overtaken by night, that place is his inn.”

Sixty capital sleights

TALE XXVII

A person had arrived at the head of his profession in the art of wrestling; he knew three hundred and sixty capital sleights in this art, and every day exhibited something new; but having a sincere regard for a beautiful youth, one of his scholars, he taught him three hundred and fifty- nine sleights, reserving, however, one sleight to himself.

The youth excelled so much in skill and in strength, that no one was able to cope with him. He at length boasted before the Sultan, that the Superiority which he allowed his master to maintain over him was out of respect to his years, and the consideration of having been his instructor; for otherwise he was not inferior in strength, and ivas his equal in point of skill bulgaria tours. The Bang did not approve of this disrespectful conduct, and commanded that there should be a trial of skill. An extensive spot was appointed for the occasion. The ministers of state, and other grandees of the court, were in attendance. The youth, like a lustful elephant, entered with a percussion that would have moved from its base a mountain of iron.

The master, being sensible that the youth was his superior in strength, attacked with the sleight which he had kept to himself. The youth not being able to repel it, the master with both hands lifted him from the ground, and raising him over his head, flung him on the earth. The multitude shouted. The King commanded that a dress, and a reward in money, should be bestowed on the master; and reproved and derided the youth, for having presumed to put himself in competition with his benefactor, and for having failed in the attempt. He said, “0 King, my master did not gain the victory over me through strength or skill; but there remained a small part in the art of wrestling which he had withheld from me, and by that small feint he got the better of me.”

The master observed, “I reserved it for such an occasion as the present; the sages having said, ‘ Put not yourself so much in the power of your friend, that if he should be disposed to be inimical, be may be able to effect his purpose.” Have you not heard what was said by a person who had suffered injury from one whom he had educated? ‘Either there never was any gratitude in the world, or else no one at this time practices it. I never taught any one the art of archery, who in the end did not make a butt of

Alexander Stamboliiski

So they resorted to conspiracy. On June 19, 1923, the legitimate government of Alexander Stamboliiski was overthrown by a coup d’etat carried out by the Military League which was loyal to the King, and a bloody fascist dictatorship was established in the country with Professor Alexander Tsankov at the head. The popular uprising against the fascist coup, which broke out in many regions of the coun-try, was crushed, and Stamboliiski was murdered after being cruelly tortured.

The usurped fascist power, however, had by far not stabilized its positions. Only three months later, on the night of September 22, 1923, a new, much better organized uprising broke out, in which agrarians and communists acted in conjunction against the common enemy. The uprising was the most massive in North-Western Bulgaria and in the region of the town of Stara Zagora. The insurgents took scores of towns and villages and es-tablished in them worker-peasant rule. The uprising was headed by the recognized Leaders of the Communist Party Vassil Kolarov, Georgi Dimitrov and Gavril Genov.

The forces of the government, however, were far superior and the insurgent forces were defeated after two weeks of fighting. As after the April 1876 Uprising, towns and villages were put to fire while the role of the bashibozouks was performed with ‘enviable’ success by the specially formed for the purpose fascist bands – Spitzkommandos.

Civilians with progressive convictions

Thousands of insurgents and civilians with progressive convictions were murdered, still other tens of thousands were thrown into prison or forced to emigrate. A new wave of white terror flooded the country after April 16, 1925, when extreme-left elements made an attempt at the life of those present at the burial service of a fascist general in the Sofia Cathedral St Nedelya. The atrocities committed by the fascist dictatorship in Bulgaria aroused the profound indignation of world public opinion and under the impact of a far-reaching international cam-paign of protest and popular hate the “bloody professor’ Tsankov was forced to resign and his place was taken by less discredited reactionary politicians.

Military might of the Ottoman Empire

Their plans fortunately coincided with the interests of the Balkan people who were in dire need of a powerful ally, capable of breaking the military might of the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of Bulgarian patriots took part in the resistance struggles of Serbs and Greeks, as well as in the wars waged by Russia against Turkey. Scores of thousands of Bulgarians were forced to emigrate in the wake of every Russian military campaign on the Balkans, particularly the one of 1829, in order to save themselves from reprisals. Most of those refugees settled in Russia.

Bulgarian officer serving

During the Russo-Turkish war of 1828-1829, Georgi Mamarchev, a Bulgarian officer serving in the Russian army, made an attempt to organize a general uprising in Bulgaria, but his attempt failed. The preparations for a mass uprising continued, however, and in 1835 an armed uprising, known under the name of Velcho’s Conspiracy, broke out in Turnovo under the leadership of Velcho the Glazier and Captain Grandfather Nikola. During the same year a spontaneous peasant revolt broke out in North- Western Bulgaria, caused by the refusal of the local authorities to apply the agrarian reform and by their ar-bitrary actions. This revolt was followed by three uprisings in succession in the same region — in 1836, 1841 and 1850.

The one in 1850 was particularly massive. It was preceded by a secret general meeting of delegates from four districts, which specified the aims of the struggle, the date of the up-rising and the way in which they were to proceed. The rebel detachments, led by Tsolo Todorov, Ivan Koulin, Petko Marinov, Purvan Vurbanov, Captain Krustyu and others, numbered a total of some 20,000 men. They blocked the numerous Turkish garrisons in Vidin, Lom and Belogradchik and established control over the villages in the region. The insurgents were routed by the regular troops which were not late in arriving, but the government of the Sultan was forced to take measures for curbing the arbitrariness of the local authorities and beys.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BULGARIAN STATE

In the year 680 the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV Pogonatus launched a massive attack, by land and sea simultaneously, against the Proto-Bulgarians and the Union of seven Slav tribes in Moesia. Asparouh, however, defeated his army and moved southwards as far as the Balkan Range. There he built his fortified camp of Pliska (not far from today’s town of Shoumen) and concluded an agreement with the chiefs of the seven Slav tribes for waging a joint struggle against the common enemy – the Byzantine Empire. This was not an agreement difficult to conclude, for Proto-Bulgarians and Slavs had known each other for quite a long time. They had been neighbours at the time of‘Great Bulgaria’ and some of them had entered both the Hunnish Tribal Union and the Avar Khaganate. In order to check a further penetration of Proto-Bulgarians southwards, the Byzantine Emperor signed a peace treaty with Asparouh in the beginning of 681, recognizing of-ficially the birth of the Bulgarian, or more precisely, of the Slav-Bulgarian state.

Europe with Asia

The new state spread between the Danube, the Black Sea, the Balkan Range and the Timok River to the west. It gradually enlarged its territory and came to occupy some time later the centre of the Balkan Peninsula. The land was beautiful and fertile, but very unquiet, for it was the crossroads of important routes linking the north with the south, Europe with Asia. In times of peace riches flowed in via the ‘Old Road’, which was also called ‘Apia Trajana’, ‘The Military Road’, ‘The Diagonal Road’; intensive trade and cultural exchange was carried out which contributed to the country’s rapid progress.

The periods of peace, however, were shorter than those of war. Unlike the newly- created West-European states, which had emerged and developed upon the ruins of the Roman Empire and which were later reached by the barbarian waves after the latter had broken their crests, Bulgaria had had the impertinence to emerge in the very heart of the well-preserved Eastern Roman Empire and had to pay dearly for her impertinence. The powerful Empire looked down on the unin-vited newcomers and spared no effort in its attempts to throw them back to the other side of the Danube or to assimilate them in the way it had done before with numerous other barbarian tribes. This forced the Bulgarians to wage exhausting life-and-death wars in the course of centuries for their free national existence.

Concordance to Shakespeare

It was not, however, finished till just after the deposition of the Turkish Governor and the consequent annexation of the province to Bulgaria. There was no further necessity for a Parliament House in Philippopolis, and the municipality, with great good sense, agreed to convert the building into a public library. The building consists of a plain, large hall, with a wooden gallery running round it, and with bookselves reaching up to the roof. On the railing in front of the gallery, there are portraits of the Prince and Princess, and of the Princess Clementine, who have all been large benefactors to the library. There are portraits also of M. Stambouloff, of some of the leaders of the Roumeliote Revolution, and also of one or more of the traditional heroes of Bulgaria in the days of its legendary grandeur.

In the centre of the hall there stands an oblong table covered with various magazines and newspapers, amidst which I noticed the Nineteenth Century, the Illustrated London News, and the Daily Graphic. The books, judging from my inspection of the shelves, were mainly standard works treating of historical, social, or scientific subjects. For instance, amidst some 4000 English volumes, I caught sight of Macaulay’s “ History of England,” “ A Concordance to Shakespeare,” John Stuart Mill’s works on Political Economy, Gibbon’s “ Decline and Fall,” Grote’s “ History of Greece,” and Horace Walpole’s “ Correspondence.” Fiction seemed to me very sparely represented, perhaps because the Bulgarians have hardly any literature of their own, and what little they have does not run in the way of novel-writing.

I should doubt, too, fiction being much in demand in a country where education is as yet pretty well confined to a class who, in as far as they study literature at all, do so mostly with a view to the tangible advantages they hope to derive from their studies as a means of obtaining official employment. The love of letters for letters’ sake belongs to a more advanced stage of intellectual development than the Bulgars have yet attained. Still, there was evidence that the library was largely frequented; admission was absolutely free, but every visitor is bound to sign his name in a book upon entry.

Concordance to Shakespeare

It was not, however, finished till just after the deposition of the Turkish Governor and the consequent annexation of the province to Bulgaria. There was no further necessity for a Parliament House in Philippopolis, and the municipality, with great good sense, agreed to convert the building into a public library. The building consists of a plain, large hall, with a wooden gallery running round it, and with bookselves reaching up to the roof. On the railing in front of the gallery, there are portraits of the Prince and Princess, and of the Princess Clementine, who have all been large benefactors to the library. There are portraits also of M. Stambouloff, of some of the leaders of the Roumeliote Revolution, and also of one or more of the traditional heroes of Bulgaria in the days of its legendary grandeur.

In the centre of the hall there stands an oblong table covered with various magazines and newspapers, amidst which I noticed the Nineteenth Century, the Illustrated London News, and the Daily Graphic. The books, judging from my inspection of the shelves, were mainly standard works treating of historical, social, or scientific subjects. For instance, amidst some 4000 English volumes, I caught sight of Macaulay’s “ History of England,” “ A Concordance to Shakespeare,” John Stuart Mill’s works on Political Economy, Gibbon’s “ Decline and Fall,” Grote’s “ History of Greece,” and Horace Walpole’s “ Correspondence.” Fiction seemed to me very sparely represented, perhaps because the Bulgarians have hardly any literature of their own, and what little they have does not run in the way of novel-writing.

I should doubt, too, fiction being much in demand in a country where education is as yet pretty well confined to a class who, in as far as they study literature at all, do so mostly with a view to the tangible advantages they hope to derive from their studies as a means of obtaining official employment. The love of letters for letters’ sake belongs to a more advanced stage of intellectual development than the Bulgars have yet attained. Still, there was evidence that the library was largely frequented; admission was absolutely free, but every visitor is bound to sign his name in a book upon entry.

Religious fanaticism of the Russian people

The truth is both Russia and Bulgaria entered on the war with Turkey under a mistaken impression as to each other’s aims and objects. The Russian nation honestly believed that they were called upon by the Bulgarians to come and deliver them from an intolerable tyranny; that so long as the Bulgarians were set free from the rule of the Crescent, they were indifferent to every other consideration ; and that it was their desire and ambition to become in fact, if not in name, a province of the mighty Sclav Empire. This belief was in harmony with the religious fanaticism of the Russian people, with the theories of the Moscow school of patriots, whose ideal is the fusion of all the European Slavonic races into one vast confederation under the hegemony of Russia, and with the personal sentiments of the late Czar.

I think it probable enough that this belief was confirmed by the statements of the Bulgarian political exiles, who had taken refuge in Russia, and who naturally supported any view of the situation which was best calculated to induce the Russian Government to take up arms for the liberation of their country. It is not necessary to suppose that there was any intentional deceit on the part of the exiles, from whom the Russians received their impressions as to the state of feeling in Bulgaria previous to the war.

Domination of Islam

Anybody who has ever been personally acquainted with exiles is aware that they one and all labour under the delusion that their return is the one thing which their country desires and prays for. It is therefore intelligible that the Russians should have honestly imagined that the kindred people, they were about to deliver from the domination of Islam, were anxious, as soon as their liberation was accomplished, to merge their separate identity in that of the great Sclav brotherhood.

At the same time the Bulgarians cannot be blamed if they failed to realize beforehand the true intentions of their liberators. With the view of disarming the possible opposition of other European Powers, the Pan-Slavonic aspect of Russian intervention in Bulgaria was kept sedulously in the background. Europe was assured that the sole object of holy Russia in making war upon Turkey was to free a people of kindred race, creed, and language to her own from Moslem oppression.

Princess speaks English excellently

The Princess speaks English excellently, and without accent, and is very English in her ideas and tastes. After her mother’s death, which occurred when she was still a very young child, she was brought up under the sole care of an English lady, Miss Fraser, to whom she is deeply attached, and who, since her marriage, has continued to reside with her. The nurses of the baby Prince are Englishwomen, recommended to the Princess by the Queen of England, who, through the Coburg connection, is, in as far as I can make out the genealogy, a grandaunt by marriage and a great-grand-aunt by birth of the heir to the Bulgarian throne.

The first time I visited the palace was on the eve of the Princess’s departure for Ebenthal, her mother-in-law’s residence near Vienna, to which she had been sent by her doctors for change of air, as soon as it was thought that she could be removed without danger. On the morning of the day, I received a letter from the Grand-Marshal of the Court, informing me that his Royal Highness would be pleased to receive me in the afternoon.

permitted to present myself

The invitation was coupled with the gratifying notice that I might be permitted to present myself in ordinary morning attire. The Prince, knowing the dislike of Englishmen to putting on evening dress in broad daylight, had kindly relaxed in my favour the ordinary rule, that all visitors, who are desirous of an audience, must follow the French fashion and appear attired as if they were going out to dinner.

The road to the palace is open to the public, and the sentries, stationed at the gates, allow any one to pass up to the central door which opens on the chief staircase. A number of soldiers in Lancers’ uniform, grey jackets, covered with red braid, and Astrakhan caps, were stationed on the steps. Aide-de-camps in full uniform, officials in evening dress, covered with stars and orders, made up a very fair imitation of a Court.

Greeks Austrians and Romanians

The result is that a large number of the peasant farmers are nowadays burdened with loans on which the interest runs at the rate of twelve per cent per annum ; and, in order to meet their liabilities, they are finding it necessary to increase the yield of their lands. Still, there is as yet no very general indebtedness, as the great mass of the peasantry live well within their means. They are satisfied if their crops yield sufficient to supply food for themselves and their families. Supposing there is any surplus left, they are willing to sell this surplus, but only at their own price ; and if that price is above the market rates, they would sooner store the grain and let it rot than sell it at what they consider to be a sacrifice.

No capital, therefore, for the development of the lands can be got from the agricultural class; there is not much more to be got from the trading class. Owing partly to their exemption from direct taxation under the Capitulations, and still more to their superior experience and aptitude, the wholesale trade of the country is very largely in the hands of foreigners, especially of Greeks, Austrians, and Romanians.

Manufactured at home

The retail trade consists mainly in the sale of articles of a very simple description, almost all of which could be produced in the country at much cheaper rates than those at which they can be imported. There is, therefore, a growing agitation in favour of raising the import duties on all articles which could be manufactured at home. Indeed, I fail to see how a country, situated as Bulgaria is now, can ever develop native industries without some form of protection. But even a protective system cannot create manufactures unless the capital required for their installation is forthcoming; and, for the present, capital cannot be obtained from native sources.