CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH.

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS—THE BALANCE OF POWER—RUSSIA—UNION OF MEMBERS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH—ENGLISH INDIFFERENCE FOR THE EASTERN CHRISTIANS—ASPIRATIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE —CAPACITIES FOR RULE—SUFFERINGS OF PEOPLE OF EUROPEAN TURKEY—INSTANCE OF RECENT BARBARITY—CONCLUSION.

It is scarcely possible to think of the Christian races which were wholly or partially subject to Turkey without referring to the political questions which arise out of the present condition of that kingdom.

The population of European Turkey is estimated at rather more than fourteen millions and a half. Of these 12,720,000 are Christians, 1,820,000 are Mohametans, and about 300,000 are Jews. Of the Christians about one-half are of the Servian race ; the other half are Wallachians or Greeks. In religion, the Christians are members of the Orthodox or Eastern Church. It is contrary to all experience that a million and a half of masters should long retain in obedience twelve millions and a half of subjects whom they despise on account of their religion and fear because of their numbers. To do so is hardly possible when intellectually the subject people is, to say the least, equal to the dominant race. The mingled hatred and fear with which the Mussulmans regard the Christian rayahs are shown in the grievous oppression of the subject race. It is impossible and undesirable that this state of things should continue, but it cannot be remedied by any means which have been used to reform the Turkish Government itself. Every attempt that has been made to better the condition of the people through their present rulers has been attended with failure. It is useless, indeed, to compel an unwilling government to issue edicts of toleration which it has not the intention, the wish, nor even the power to enforce.

We have been taught to acquiesce in the state of oppression under which the Christians of Turkey are groaning, from a supposition that the continuance of the present government of that country is necessary for the preservation of the balance of power in Europe. Such a motive is as selfish as it is unjust. Twelve millions and a half of people are not to be deprived of the rights of humanity in order to maintain any such balance. It is hard, however, to see how these results can follow from the forcible maintenance of the existing Government of Turkey with all its abuses. The discontent of the Christian subjects of the Porte must, in any outbreak of hostilities in Europe, prevent that Government from exerting any influence either as an ally or as an enemy. It may not be our duty to interfere between a government which is oppressing its subjects and a people which is enduring wrong from its rulers, and compel the abatement of the wrong. But it is still less our duty to interfere in behalf of such a government, and hold down a justly discontented people, and so perpetuate the wrong. This we are doing. This is the result of our policy towards the inhabitants of Turkey.

The bugbear which is summoned “from the vasty deep” of our imagination, and which hinders us from acting justly to the Christians of the East, is Russia. All governments, especially constitutional ones, have their bugbears. Taxes would sometimes not be granted without their existence, and political parties might suffer ostracism for ever, if unable to raise themselves into power by making use of the weapons of terror. I confess that I am unable to rest upon the comfortable conviction that everything which the people of Russia does is sinister and evil. Nor, much as I would wish to believe it, do I think that the actions of England are always noble, disinterested, and beneficent. It appears to me that such a belief is in the highest degree childish. Russia undoubtedly does and ever will possess an influence in Turkey, but that influence is increased and strengthened by the present unsatisfactory condition of the people of that country. It is not, however, necessary to suppose that the influence of Russia arises from intrigue, nor does the fact of the existence of such an influence prove the policy of that empire to be Machiavellian.

Two facts are not sufficiently remembered when we talk of Russian influence in Turkey. In the first place, the people of Russia are of the same religion as the majority of the subjects of the Porte. Now, in no part of Christendom are the obligations of brotherhood so felt and acted upon as throughout the Eastern Church. The bond of union which connects all who are in communion with the patriarchal see of Constantinople, is stronger than in any other part of the Church. Such brotherhood does not depend upon race, for the Sclavonic Pole has always been as ‘hostile to the Sclavonic Russ, as, to say the least, the Englishman to the Frenchman ; it arises solely from the possession of a common creed. This sympathy between members of the Eastern Church is so real, that wars of any duration between people belonging to this branch of the Church have scarcely or never arisen. This sympathy is independent of political intrigues. The shopkeeper of St. Petersburgh feels for his brother in Montenegro without the stimulus of Government, and without reference to secular politics. This sympathy, however, is necessarily impressed upon the actions of the Russian Government, and in fact often determines its actions. Governments, of what form soever they may be, naturally reflect the opinions of the governed. The bloody wars arising out of the rivalry of co-members of the Western Church, such as those between England and France, which had their origin in the times before our Reformation, or those between France and Austria, have never arisen between co-members of the Eastern Church. Nor, so long as the tie of religious sympathy is so strong as at present between the various nations in communion with the see of Constantinople, are they possible.

But, in the second place, we are bound to remember that any influence which Russia possesses in European Turkey has been deepened by the line of policy pursued by our own country. We have almost invariably turned away from these people. As to their religion, we have been content with a very positive amount of ignorance. Intelligent travellers have felt that all that English Christians wished to know of the religious aspect of these countries might be summed up in the stereotyped formula—“ They are members of the Greek Church, which is very much like the Roman Catholic.” This dried up all sympathy, extinguished every desire for information, and guarded our hearts effectually against any possible inroad of Christian charity, by interposing the thickest veil of prejudice. What cared we for the members of the Church of St. Chrysostom and of the great Athanasius? If they had only been followers of the false prophet, and polygamists ; if they had only believed in the Koran, and kept a harem of Circassian slaves, sceptical philosophers and sentimental versifiers would have patronised the Koran, to show their disregard for the Gospel, and would have tried to elevate Mussulman morals above the level of Christian ethics. As to the social condition of these races, we have at best been indifferent to the condition of the people of Turkey, and have sided with the Government which oppresses. This is the complaint of the sufferers themselves. So long, indeed, as it is the avowed principle of British policy that the maintenance of the power of the Sultan is of primary importance, and the condition of the people only a secondary consideration, we hold ‘out the most direct encouragement to the oppressing minority, and shut the door of hope upon the oppréssed majority.

Concrete sufferings are not lightened by abstract speculations about the balance of power; and men who live in the midst of wrong and oppression, and taste their full bitterness, will, in their sorrow, turn to the power which sympathises with them, not to that which insults their sufferings with theories, however plausible, of the need which we—not they—feel for supporting the oppressor.

We have, by our policy and even by our recommendation, directed the suffering people of European Turkey to the Czar as their natural protector, and surely we have had no right to complain if they had followed our advice. Ranke tells us that, at the Congress of Vienna, when the Servian deputies detailed the barbarities which their country was then suffering from the Turks, the diplomatists of Western Europe turned away from their recital of wrongs, and answered their requests with a sneer, bidding them apply to Russia for support. We therefore have no right to complain had they followed this advice. We might accuse ourselves of short-sightedness and injustice, but we could have no ground of reproach against them. But, in fact, the whole outcry about Russian influence and intrigue is as unfounded as such panic or partisan cries generally are. More substantial assistance is afforded by the English Government against the Christians of Turkey, than we can ever pretend to have been given by Russia in favour of the oppressed. Let me cite but one instance, which has occurred during the present year. The armies of the Porte would have been utterly unable to march against the independent mountaineers of Montenegro, but for the seasonable loan raised on the Stock Exchange of London, and this could not have been raised but for the aid of the British Government.

But to talk of Russian intrigues, and to point to these as the cause of the agitation amongst the Christians of Turkey, can only originate in ignorance or in an attempt to pervert the truth. If these people look to Russia for sympathy and support, this arises less from Russian ambition than from British impolicy. So long as grievous wrong remains unredressed in Turkey, Russia has the opportunity for interference, and the wrong exists, because England encourages the evil-doer. If the Turkish Government were made to feel that it could not reckon upon the assistance of the British Government in the event of an insurrection of its subjects, policy would compel a more just rule. As it is, the fact that England, in order to maintain what is called the integrity of the Turkish empire, is ready, at any expense of blood and treasure, to assist in putting down every attempt of the people to obtain justice, transforms us virtually into the patrons of oppression. Those who know anything of these people, know full well that there is not the slightest desire on their part to become a portion of Russia; rather there is a sturdy resolution to work out their own freedom, and to be as independent of Russia as of Turkey. Nothing but our own impolicy will ever shake this resolution. The Servian race—and this includes the people of Servia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, Montenegro, great part of Roumelia, and practically Bulgaria—is profoundly penetrated with a desire for an independent existence. The national spirit is as intense amongst them as in any people of Europe. The countries lying between the Black Sea and the Adriatic are full of the monuments and traditions of the old Servian empire; the present inhabitants of these lands seek to re-establish its power and to revive its glories. They will accomplish this. England in Turkey, and France in Rome, may, for a short time, maintain a Government abhorred by its subjects, but in the end these subjects will obtain their freedom. A glance at the map will show that such a kingdom is extensive enough to maintain its own position amongst the nations of Europe. And the ‘least reflection will see in this the true solution of the Eastern question. More than seven years ago a writer in the “ Quarterly Review” thus expressed himself:-

“We have described the peculiar importance of Servia to the European system, and we have shown that Russia had no right of guarantee, much less of protectorate, as regards the administration of her internal affairs. Let none be created. Let the Servians remain under the suzerainty of the Porte without any other protection than that afforded by their own strength and prosperity. They are willing to regulate their own relations with the Porte, and they do not seek foreign interference. They have conquered their independence, and they will know how to maintain it. They have quietly but securely advanced since they threw off the Turkish yoke, and they owe their progress to a national character, distinguished. by many remarkable qualities, a sturdy feeling of independence, an honest industry, and a sound morality, offering in these respects a strong contrast to that of the Greeks. Unlike that favoured race, with which they commenced their career of independence, but under very different _ auspices, they have maintained and gradually improved the free institutions which they won. They have no expensive and showy court, nor public establishments ; they do not exhaust their resources in diplomatic missions, useless offices of state, and wholesale public corruption ; and they do not ape the worst fashions and vices of Europe. They have consequently no national debt, they are moderately taxed, and their yearly revenue is amply sufficient to meet all their wants. Education is making good progress, and the internal tranquillity of the country has been secured. The Servians are the best representatives of a powerful race, destined to play a great part in the future history of Europe and of the world. Let us leave them to the development of their own institutions, unshackled by guarantees and foreign interference, and the time will probably come when they will afford a more complete solution to the Eastern question than any complicated system which diplomacy could devise.”¹

But Russia has no need of intrigues. The people of Turkey have wrongs which exasperate them, without requiring any external irritation. The account of the atrocities practised by the Mussulmans upon the Christians are so numerous, and reach us from such varied sources, that it is impossible to shut our ears to them, or refuse to believe in their truth. People are too much in the habit of putting aside all narratives of wrongs which the subjects of Turkey are suffering, by the convenient formula that they come from “lying” Greeks or “cunning” Dalmatians. The following narrative, however, which is not open to this objection, will give some notion of the treatment to which our fellow-Christians are subjected.

A short time since the inhabitants of a little village in Roumelia were called upon to pay the taxes, at which they had been assessed by the authorities of the district in which the village is situated. When the principal inhabitants had assembled, they did what probably many others would have done in like circumstances they rather discussed the means by which the tax might be evaded than the mode of paying it. After many schemes had been suggested, the only means which appeared satisfactory to those present, was to compel some inhabitant who was not present to pay the whole assessment. In the outskirts of the village resided a Christian peasant, who owned a small strip of ground,which he cultivated for his maintenance. He was industrious, and was supposed to possess a hoard of money. Indeed, as he had only one child—a son who assisted him in the cultivation of his rood of land—how could he spend all his earnings? It was evident, so his Mussulman neighbours argued, there must be a store somewhere, and it was resolved that he should be compelled to pay the whole amount at which the village was assessed. By this means it was clear that the claim of the Porte would be satisfied, and the rest of the villagers lightened from the burden about to be imposed upon them. The discussion took place in the presence of the cadi. He assured the assembly that it was a matter of indifference how the money was procured, provided only that it was duly paid to him. After some deliberation as to the best means of wringing the whole sum from the one peasant, the following plan was suggested, matured, and finally carried out. It was agreed that the rest of the villagers should seize his only child, a lad of some sixteen years, and imprison him until his father should ransom him for the sum at which the whole village was assessed ; and that the cadi should suspend the collection of the tax until this means had been tried. In order that this functionary should not, however, pocket the ransom himself, and then levy the tax upon the villagers, a deed was drawn up and witnessed according to the forms of Turkish law, by which the cadi covenanted to accept the money thus to be ‘wrung from the parent in lieu of all claim upon the rest of the villagers; to hold the boy in his custody until the ransom should be paid, and to release him as soon as this should have been done. It was seed-time, and the lad, wholly unconscious of the plot, was employed with his parents in ploughing and sowing their little piece of ground, when he was seized, carried off to the cadi, and, amidst the cries of his mother and the entreaties of his father, thrown into prison, with the intimation that he should be released when the money was paid. The village was but ill-supplied with prison buildings, and the boy was thrust into the small dome of some six feet square which covered an unused well. Day by day the parents came, but could not weary the patience of the unjust but impassive judge. The only answer which they received was, that when the money was brought, the boy should be released. The parents were not wealthy; they had no hoard; the supposition of their fellow-villagers was unfounded; they had nothing, save the small strip of land which they cultivated for their daily needs. The last thing which a peasant will give up in Turkey is the privilege of being a landed proprietor. The father, who loved his son, clung, however, to his bit of garden ground, and exhausted all other means of raising the required sum before selling his land. He appealed to the authorities of the district. He was referred by them for redress to the cadi, by whom the wrong was done. Despairing of any other means of delivering his child, the wretched parents now endeavoured to collect the money which the cadi required. Their furniture was first sold, then their tools and implements of husbandry were parted with. The sum thus obtained fell so far short of the amount required, that it was at length evident that the rood of ground, the family estate, must be parted with. This also was sold, and still there lacked a portion of the total sum required. The cadi was inexorable, and rigidly upright. The Government expected so much from the village, and so much must be brought before the lad could be released. At length the last piastre was ,procured, and the wretched parents hastened joyfully to the cadi with the whole amount. All this had taken upwards of ten months to collect, and for so long a time the poor lad had been subjected to the horrors of solitary confinement, in total darkness, and in a dungeon only a few feet in extent, in which it was impossible to stand upright. The floor, partly of rough stones and partly of mud, was equally cold and damp, and on this he had sat and lain, and lain and sat, for more than ten months. On receiving the money, the cadi assembled the villagers ; the deed was recited ; the money exhibited, and the legal instrument duly cancelled with all the mocking formalities of law. And now the prison door, or what served for a door, was unbarred to the parents, and they were permitted to look again upon their child, For a time nothing moved within the narrow limits of the cell; the call of his mother could elicit no signs of life from the poor prisoner. At length a bundle of humanity was dragged out ; it breathed ; it stirred; but these were the only tokens of life which could be seen. Signs of humanity there were none. The limbs had been contracted by cold, wet, rheumatism, and by the crouching posture which the poor lad had been compelled to assume, and he could only crawl on all-fours like a beast. His face resembled a skull covered with dirty parchment, and he was hopelessly an idiot. How long since reason had given way his jailors could not tell He was now a slobbering, jabbering idiot. The light, and joy, and hope of his parents’ cottage was not merely quenched, it had become a very palpable and noisome blackness.

Amidst the wails of the parents, and the “God is great” of the persecutors, the crowd dispersed, some cursing more deeply than ever the despotism which rendered them liable to atrocities such as these. It needs no “Russian intrigues” to make these poor peasants believe that deeds like these are unjust, and to inspire them with a longing for an opportunity to break such an intolerable yoke from their necks. For this incident is but a specimen of what the Christians throughout Bosnia, Roumelia, and Bulgaria are now enduring. I could narrate acts of atrocious cruelty and wrong which would go far beyond even this; but T have selected this anecdote because I can tell it on other authority than that of a Servian or Dalmatian. I did not hear it from a suffering, and therefore a “prejudiced Bosniac,” or a “lying Greek.”. Amongst the crowd which witnessed this horror, amongst the many who saw the shattered remains of this poor and innocent lad dragged forth from his cell and handed to his parents by the cadi, were the British consul and his wife, and from. their lips I heard this tale of barbarity.

Until the Treaty of Paris, at the termination of the Russian War in 1856, the consuls of the various European powers were able to interfere in cases of oppression such as that which I have narrated; by this treaty, however, the Christians of Turkey were expressly deprived of this boon, and it was stipulated by the ninth article of that treaty, that the great powers should not “interfere either collectively or separately in the relations of his Majesty the Sultan with his subjects ;” so that the sufferings of the Christians of Turkey can no longer be brought even under the notice of these powers. It is illegal to remonstrate ; it is a breach of the public law of Europe to express any sympathy with the oppressed, or to stay the hand of the oppressor.

The perpetuation of suffering and wrong to the Christians of Turkey, is what is really meant by the phrase, “the preservation of the integrity of the Turkish empire.” Whether it is right for England, which claims to sympathise with all suffering people, and which affects horror at the freaks of despotism, to guard the despot, and to encourage the anarchy of Turkey in such practices as these, may be fairly questioned. . Could the Government of Turkey be compelled to act with common justice to its subjects through fear of the natural consequences of oppression, there would be no need of other: powers making stipulations for the preservation of its integrity. Twenty-three millions of people are strong enough to maintain their own independence ; and the government of such a country as Turkey might easily do so by acting justly to its subjects, It is the interference of the great powers which prevents those subjects from receiving the amount of justice which is their due. It is this interference which perpetuates the sufferings and degradation of the Christians of Bosnia and Roumelia. Usquequo?

THE END

1. Quarterly Review, vol. xcvii. pp. 284, 285. ↩︎