The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-18

"'rore stlan>; look over an uneasy land that
E""s uneascr sill with each shot fired in the
waters Of ,'onatantinor.c
ih1e VIII h another article Sunday in this
series OF AActchrs d tho backgrounds OF the war
AZ me thunder of the guns in the
'crS OF Constantinople rolls over
-hdcedonIan plain and breaks amid
nc mountains of Greece and of rbe
I'"lkans, it is inevitable that those
u.lIuiet little nations should grow i'm
of Emr&6Ly restless II the sick man
uraiIy T Tbev Is dse to be dispatched. nat;
10 share the spoils. For they teG
INC me war and dealt the first biows
SoEsTr 1 1bo;t the Turk step by STEP
I themselves that they would have
hI ,S MN back into Asia long ago
and and h Er. nose very guns of England
poned his fate. Only when he had
staggered to his corner beneath Their
Ern,meiing did John Bull and Jean
Ni1pedu leap into the ring
Sreat powers, but for their pro
,HGiCti9n Of the Turk. the agony of his
hn IfSu'i ion. might nigh have been ended
needing. there might he no war TO-
n%E. fHr generations they held Inc
arms OF the Balkans while the sui
t"n dashed them into an ever rising
1uI: .for century and more they
restrained and thwarted the suhiac,
Peoples ,be there until they famed out
IN the savage Balkan wars, which Gull
minated on a certain Sunday last lure
Mhen one OF them fired his pistol into
INT Powder magazine of Europe
Inc NeapolltanS are gay as long as
fathsr Nesuvius has his smoking can
on. They grow fearful only when he
no, no longer pufs his wreaths against
on the lid of the Ba l<ans until blown
up ny the imprisoned energies of a
The Backwntcr.
was the primal curse of the
BiIkanS TO he the link or neck of
IAN" connecting the continents of
Asia and Europe. where it has been
caught and tramplcd in the clash of
TWO worlds. over that causeway the
races of the East. driven by their
HtS'lhE; poured into the uupeoplcd
west; IeaviHS the %rraEglers by the
waySlde FINALLY. when those nomads
mad settled down oil the virgin lands
81 western Europe. exchanged their
IeHtS Tor houses and begun to develop
european civilization. they protect
cd their institutions by shutting rho
gate against the migratory hordcs
MhlCh continued TO burst out of the
The great Alpine chain, stretching
across Europe from the shores of the
M"dlierrane*n 10 the saHdE plains OF
inc Baltic: thus became a dam in the
stream. In vain the torrent dashed
against that huge wall and then re-.
ccded INTO the valleys, which thus
Hood. Hence the medley of races In
the AuStro- Hungarian empire and on
the Balkan peninsula.
me mlSfOrtuneS of these stranded
peoples we're completed by the ply
seal environment in which chance had
thrust them. For lh" mountains amid
part in their troubled history In
The first instance. tho Alps barred
their advance westward. In tho next
place. the wild and Inaccessible" stccps,
rising above them invited them to he
free and to defy the conqueror. At
the same time those mountains inter
tranScd. Thus were they left prey
TO conquest and doomed through the
centuries to hopeless love of liberty.
Divide and Conquer.
have already sketched the confu-
sion of jealous races at the top of
the peninsula. where the Hapsburgs
so long have played the princely game
of divide and conquer. Below the Iron
Gate of the Danube, which marks the
southern boundary of Austria Hun
gary. the confusion is worse con-
founded, and on that the Turks bat
The CaIiph of the Prophet ever has
offered conquered Christians a choice
of three courses: Pray, pay or die.
Many have paid tribute; many have
pray to Mecca. Generally those who
became Mahometans were of the priv
legged class. who renounced the cross to
preserve their privilege of living off the
mass Of their cOuntrymen.
As a rule. the converts from Chris
tiauIty in the Balkans were OF a rude,
tools Of the conqueror for the oppres-
sion of their neiShbors. Today per-
hapS a third of the population is Ma
hometan. But most of those Moslems
are of Christian descent and only
fraction are Turkish.
Playing race against race and class
yoke upon the divided peoples one
by one until. with a single exception.
the whole region clear to Buda Pcsth
was brought under his rule. when
God created the world, He held in
His hand 4 sack fun of mountains
and ii burst above Montenegro" That
fact that the Crescent never was
planted upon the cloud-wrapped peaks
OF those negro or black mountains.
not The PSop ;hc up d nere did
nature. hut cultivated such skill
and delight in warfare that for a
Montenegrin to die in bed was 10 die
in disgrace. For hundreds of years.
therefore. the little mountain state
remained the one safe refuge OF Bal
kan freedom.
Struggling with The Turk.
Hungary was the first TO break the
ConQuerors chains. Next. in 1904. the
standard of revolt was lifted by the
Serbian. Earagcorgcvits-BlaCk George.
Not an uniting leader of land
where pigs are the standard of values
and from even the bridal dowry, was
that PARROT swineherd. He drove the
Turk ou- of Serbia ana kept him out
until 1873. when by EuElands inter
cession the peace of dcsolation was
restored in the Balkans and Turkish
rule was re-established. Serbia, how
EVER, Cherishrs a hideously unique and
significant war monument at Nish.
where a mound of Serbian skulls tes-
titles to the resolution of patriots
Nho died rather than surrender to the
Turk.
The Greeks were next to strike a
blow and thanks to their watery
sounds it was availing. Greece. in her
twilight had been overrun first by
Serbians and next by Albanians until
The Greek language had vanished from
common speech and even the Greek
name was forgotten.
In the days of the Eastern Empire.
-onstantinople was Rum, or Rome. to
he Turks and the AsiaticS generally.
rhe inha bitants of Greece. therefore,
onc wore the name of Roman. To-
Law their picturesque national costume
s borrowed not from classic Greece;
,ut from Albania. while their blood
ike that of all the great nations is
The Greek war of independence. be-
inning in 1871. ragged for eight years.
,ntiI by the Intervention of Russ la,
Turkey was compelled 10 recognize
he Independence of n Balkan country. |
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