The herald., 1896-02-02
A COUNTRY OF pEASANTRY
BY n. DE LOpATEcKi, ph. D


fully many game of diplomacy with
the great powers of Europe, and is try
ing to play the same game with the
United States, it is, nevertheless, al
most certain that he will be the last of
the Mahometan rulers in Europe who
has girded on the sacred scimoter of
the great Osman. Notwithstanding the
jealousy of interested powers, the days
of the sick man on the Bosphorus are
numbered, and it is not an impossitll H.
ity that the United States, the young
est of great nations, will give sign TO
put an end to the misrule of the bar
barians who at the end of the nine
teenth century deliberately set about
to exterminate the Oldest Christian
nation in the world. Though the
Turk might possibly be permitted d
to exist longer in Asia, in
Europe thero are many lawful
heirs to his domains-heirs who have
more ancient rights to the Turkish
provinces than these of the great pow
ers, who would like to divide among
Osmaniis,
Among these lawful heirs the most
important is Bulgaria, now a semi-in-
dependent princpality south of the
Danube aud north of the Balkans, the
youngest among the family Of nations,
the land, which occupies a very i'm
portaut strategical position. and which
is closely watched by Felix Austria, by
the Russian bear and the British lion,
and, of course, by the crafty fox in the
Yildiz Kiosk, the thirty-fourth sultan
OF the Osmanlis.
Bulgaria, though the youngest of all
the European states, is, more properly
spoken, a resurrected nation of a re-
spectacle age. When the Romans in
vaded the southeastern lands of Europe
they found there three distinct races
the Hellenic. the Illyrian and the Thra
| clan, who. strangely enough, still exist
in the same countries. Toe Illyrians,
the purest of all, are represented by the
modern Albanians, one of the
most curious and interesting
peoples in the world; the
Hellenes, though very much mixed,
are found in the modern Greek; and
the Thracians, also very much mixed
with the introduced Roman colonists,
in the modern Roumanians. Then
came the great migration of nations,
the most important period in the his
tory of mankind. nthe southeast the
Slavonian Invasion took place, repre-
sented by many agricultural tribes
who settled on the Danube and soon
spread themselves in all directions,
cultivating the land which they occu-
pied. In that peaceful occupation
they were soon interrupted by wild,
fierce race, the Bulgarians from the
Volga river, a Turanian people, akin to
the Turks. Then came as conquerors
Of the northeastern part OF the Balkan
peninsula, but, exactly as it happened
to go many other conquerors in west
ern Europe, they gradually lost all
traces of their former origin and
were soon assimilated by their SUBJ
jects. Like the Franks who gave their
name to France, the Vandals to Anda-
! lusia and the Longobards to Lom-
| hardy, SO the Bulgarians survive only
in the name of the country. In any
other respect they became pure
Slavs. The consolid ted country
gradually extended over large area of
the Balkan peninsula, and in the be-
ginning of the tenth century, uuder
the great Czar Simeon, threatened
even the existence OF the Eastern Ro-
man empire. Simeon was great ruler,
he secured the establishment OF
Christianity and introduced many in
novatious in Bulgaria, but after his
death the decay began rapidly and the
Bulgarians again acknowledged the
supremacy of ByZantium. In the
twelfth century, however, successful
rising of the Bulgarian people took
place, and q new monarchy called the
Vallachian or Second Bulgarian king
dom WAS formed, which for some time
played an important part in the affairs
of the Byzantim empire. The kingdom
fell at last under the Tartar yoke ana
WAS finally overthrown in 1899, on the
fatal battlefield of Waterloo
of the Southern Slavs.
Five hundred years Bulgaria groaned
under the Turkish yoke, till tbs last
Russian war set the nation free, that
il, part of it. It is true Russia by
the treaty OF San Stefano established
large Bulgaria, but the subsequent
Berlin treaty cut the country into
three pieces, with utter disregard to
the desire of the Inhabitants. The
northern part was made semi-inde-
pendent principally and Alexander OF
Battenberg put on the throne. The
second part, that is, Roumelia, received
O. Christian governor, and the third,
that is, Macedonia. was handed back to
Turkey.
In liberating Bulgaria, Russia had
her own interests in view. She ex-
pected to create a principality which,
quasi independent, would be under the
influence of the Muscovite empire-the
first step towards R1ssia's goal, the
city of Constantine the Great. Here
Russia was, however, to be greatly dis
appointed. Alexander of Battenberg,
though a favorite of Russia, soon be-
gan 10 show an Independent spirit
too independent, indeed, for Russia's
plans. He disrsgarded the orders
from st. Petersburg, he reunited East
ern Roumelia with Bulgaria proper
without Russis's knowledge, and he
emerged victorious from the war with
Jealous Servia without Russia's help
The young and heroic ruler of Bul
garia was becoming an antagonist in
stead of a friend of Russia, conse
quently the mighty Czar swore that he
would cause Battenberg's downfall. 1t
is we'll known how Alexander III ac-
compiished his VOW. The young prince
wac abducted in the most unscrupul-
GUS manner by the partisans of Rus
sia and handed over to that power,