The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-07-31
The Austrian in Bosnia.

From an historical point Of view the peace
full entrance OF an Austrian army into Bosnia
Is most significant and impressive event.
That IL should have been reserved for di-
plomatist to level a rampant which with
stood for some four centuries the assaults
Of victorious generals like MONTECUCuLLI
and Prince EUGENE, is of itself sufficiently
noteworthy. But the occupation which be-
gan on Monday morning is specially inter
esting as the concrete and decisive proof
Of the sweeping revolution in eastern Europe
which has marked tho nineteenth century.
1t is indeed Il pregnant change that the
Old bulwark of the Muslcm faith on the Save
and the Unna should have become STUN
bling block in the path of Ottoman recon-
struction, and that the one available ally
and protector Of the Porto in the Balkan
peninsula was to be sought in its ngo-long
enemy. A glance at the peculiar relations
of this province TO the central power will
show that Bosnia has added almost nothing
To the Ottoman resources since the Gar dis
placed the HAPsBURG Kaiser in the aggres-
sive movement against the Turks, while il
has blocked for forty years the execution of
reforms. and furnished standing prctext
for foreign Intervention.
1t is impossible to understand the Bosnian
question, and the purport OF the present So
luton, unless We bear in mind the anoma-
lous state of things in this frontier province.
Except tho MOslem faith which is professed
with a fcrocious fanaticism to which the
genuine Osmanli and the Roumeliotc or
the Albanian are strangers, the country be-
tween the Drina and the Save has had liter
"a hing N W a ~ I lu
Ottoman dominions. From the conquest in
the fifteenth century down to the pres
ent hour, the social structure Of
Bosnia has presented n perfect example
Of a feudal aristocracy, while elsewhere in
the Turkish empire, and indeed throughout
the bounds Of Islam, unless it be in Afghan
istan, the uniform type Of society Is demo-
cratic, with an autOcratic head II is
scarcely credible, but IL is n fact that the
prcjudces and prerogativcs Of birth and
caste, OF which scarcelya trace exists in
most MOhammcdan countries, are as tcna-
cious and supreme to-day among Bosniac
bcgs and agas as they We're among the
mobiles OF France and Germany in the
fourteenth century. Up to 1852 the
Porte exercised no direct control whatever
over the inhabitants Of the old kingdom Of
Bosnia. The administration OF justice, the
collection and disbursement Of revenues,
were in the hands Of the feudal authorities,
who discharged their whole duty TO their
suzcran by providing the famous cavalry
known as Spdhis, who corresponded in all
ways, except their superior efficiency, to the
ban and arricre- ban Of medieval times.
These rcdoubtable Moslcms of tho marches
formed for centuries an insuperable wall
against German cncroachmcnt, and so
long as danger threatened mainly from
That quarter, the substantial indepcnd-
ence OF captain and beg and aga
seemed to tho Porto well purchased
with tho slcoploss and triumphant ward Of
an exposed frontier. But for the Spahls it Is
certain that joins SoBIEsKI, in 1853, would
have incorporated Bo.uin within the HAps-
BURG possessions, and again that, without
their resistance, annexation would have
been carried out toward the end Of the last
century, In word, the unique aud extra
ordinary persistence OF fcudaism in Bosnia
down to our own day, was probably an es-
scntlal condition of Turkish rule in Europe.
The Icudal Spahis We're as indispensable ON
the confines as was the standing army of
Janlssaries at the centre of the empire.
The peril OF Islam, however, proved to be
on the east and not the west; and after the
campaign OF DHpITsoH in ls2S-29 tho