Laric Attila Genseric

This extension of the city’s limits involved, of course, the erection of new fortifications. Indeed the demand to make the capital of the East a mightier stronghold was not less urgent than the necessity to enlarge its borders. No statesman of the 5th century of our era could fail to realise the formidable character of the barbarian peril which then lowered over the Empire. A period in which an Alaric, an Attila, a Genseric, insulted the majesty of the Roman name, and trampled upon Roman strength, a period in which the Eternal City was captured and sacked, in which Carthage was lost, and the original fabric of the Empire in the West was levelled to the ground, must have been a time when the minds of serious men were troubled by fears and anxieties. These disasters necessarily cast, ere they came, long and dark shadows before them.

Most fortunately for the eastern division of the Empire it had, early in this critical period, a statesman at the head of the Government who comprehended the situation, and who had the sagacity to devise measures by which the strength of the impending storm might be greatly reduced, if not broken. During the first six years of the reign of Theodosius II., who ascended the throne when a child of eight years, the government was in the hands of Anthemius, the Praetorian Prefect of the East. His abilities and character had already made him conspicuous towards the close of the reign of Arcadius. Chrysostom admired him greatly, and described him as a person who honoured any office he held more than the office honoured him. And now that he was Regent of the Empire he did all in his power to prepare the ship of State to encounter the coming tempest.

His first step for that purpose was to establish peace with Persia, the standing rival and foe of the Empire. In the next place, he forced the Huns who had appeared to the south of the Danube to retrace their steps, and placed a flotilla of warships upon the river to prevent the return of those fierce barbarians.

New production technology together

The summit of electric power industry in Bulgaria has been marked by the adoption of motor-generator units-a new production technology together with the Japanese company Toshiba for the needs of the Chaira PSHPP. The reversible motor-generator units are 240 MW, 19 kV, 600 rpm and are among the most complex electrical machines at that time.

Within the period 1970-1980 the overall output of the electrical equipment industry increased about 3 times

Growth of the electrical equipment industry output (index 1970=100), %

On the basis of expanded production capacities and their intensive utilization, the output of some main groups of electrical products was significantly increased.

Table 20 presents the development of the two main groups of electrical products typical of that industry.

The wide product range of the Bulgarian electrical equipment industry has had a constant and steady development in terms of quantity and quality and has found a good acceptance on the international markets.

After 1989 when democratic rule replaced totalitarian rule, a structural reform has been carried out in the industry, including the electrical industry. The reform consists of privatization of the industrial enterprises which used to be a state property before that. All that has led to a certain decrease in the electrical industry output which has affected its international markets, quite well developed until then.

Electroimpex established

As already mentioned, the steady growth of electrification in Bulgaria in the second half of the 20th century also had a great impact on the design and fulfillment of electric power projects abroad. The beginning was laid in 1960 with the establishing of Electroimpex as a foreign-trade enterprise with exclusive rights in Bulgaria on the import and export of electrical goods and equipment. In the first years Electroimpex established business relations with companies from 16 countries in the world. From the very beginning of its existence Electroimpex was involved in and contributed with its specialization to the development of the electric power system, as well as to the establishment of the electrical industry in Bulgaria.

The efforts were directed to overall co-operation and participation in laying the foundations and the development of a market-oriented electrical industry on the basis of full compliance with the requirements and recommendations of IEC and the most widely applied international standards such as BS, DIN, etc. As a result of the efforts made jointly with the man-ufacturers, Bulgarian electrical goods and equipment found their place on the international markets.

Bilateral contract the firm Siemens-Schuckert

The low-voltage network (220/127 V) was a three-phase type like that in Kazanlak. In 1912-1913, when the network was constructed, Varna had a population of 43 000 people and 64 km total length of the streets 80 °/o of which, i.e. 48 km were electrified. The rest of the streets were not yet covered by the town plan.

The Varna DPP (diesel power plant) was com missioned on January 1st 1914, at the same time with the Enina HPP commissioning. The utility belonged to the Varna municipality.

The town of Rousse was electrified as late as 1917, by the end of the period reviewed here. Since it was a river-port town on the Danube and an important point on the way to Western and Eastern Europe, as well as a cul-tural center, the issue of its electrification was put forward at the very beginning of the 20th century A decision was made for the setting up of a municipal electrification enterprise. In 1911 there were already plans for the con-struction of a diesel power plant and electricity distribution network in the town. A bid was announced for the purpose and it was won by Siemens-Schuckert.

Pursuant to the agreement terms and the bilateral contract the firm Siemens-Schuckert supplied and installed a diesel power plant with the following characteristics:

3 generating sets with four-cylinder compressor vertical diesel engines of 279 hp unit capacity, 187 rpm;

3 three-phase 260 kVA, 3000V, 50 Hz generators, directly coupled to the engines and the respective exciter.

The HV distribution cable network was for 3 kV voltage, with section 3×50 mm2. Nine distribution transformers for 3000/220/127 V were installed in metal construction. The low-voltage network (210/120 V) was an overhead three-phase type. The voltage applied to electrical motors was 210 V, and for lighting purposes-120 V.

Due to the wars Bulgaria was involved in during the second decade of the 20th century, and World War I in particular, the implementation of the Rousse power plant was greatly delayed. It was officially commissioned in 1917.

Important town of Pirot

Let us examine for a moment the physical characteristics of the stream- carved trench which has figured so prominently in the past history of southeastern Europe and which again today has focused upon it the eyes of the civilized world. The mouth of the Morava valley is widely open to the plains of Hungary, where the Morava River unites with the Danube some miles east of Belgrade. Southward up the river the valley narrows gradually, and the hills on either side rise to mountainous proportions; but as far up as Nish it is mature, with a flat and sometimes marshy flood- plain over which the river flows in a complicated meandering course, with occasional ox-bow lakes and braided channels. Only at two points, where the river has probably cut through ridges of exceptionally resistant rock, does the valley narrow to a more youthful form and force the better roads to make long detours over the hills. There is usually ample room for a main road on each side of the river, while the railway crosses from one bank to the other in order to connect with the larger towns located on the valley floor. The river is navigable half way up to Nish, and throughout the entire distance the flood-plain soils yield rich harvests of maize and wheat.

From Nish the route leads southeastward up a branch stream called the Nishava, to a low divide within Bulgarian territory. The valley of the Nishava is more youthful than that of the Morava and is so narrow in places that the wagon road twice abandons it for a course across the mountains. The railway is able to follow it throughout, however, and in one place the valley widens to a broad basin on the floor of which lies the important town of Pirot. Here fortresses crowned the adjacent hills to guard against a Bulgar invasion of Servia along this comparatively easy path.

After crossing the divide at Dragoman Pass, about 2,500 feet above sea-level, both road and railway descend to the broad, fertile floor of the Sofia basin. Fortunately this trends northwest-southeast and is thus in line with the general course of the Morava-Maritza trench, although it drains to the northeast through a narrow outlet gorge into the Danube. At the southeastern end of the basin the low Yakarel Pass, but little higher than the Dragoman, is crossed, and road and railway easily reach the much larger basin drained by the Maritza River and its tributaries.

Dismantled village is Palamont

From the hills we perceived many villages in a plain to our right, and saw the ruins of one that had been destroyed not long before by a minister of the Porte, the inhabitants having refused, most likely from inability, to furnish a large sum of money which this avaricious and cruel tyrant had demanded. The name of this dismantled village is Palamont: it had been inhabited by about five hundred families, who were all put to the sword without distinction of age or sex. Thus do these devoted people frequently fall victims to the rapacity and relentless cruelty of barbarous and despotic tyrants, who under the mask of duty to their sovereign veil the most atrocious acts of cruelty and oppression.

After three hours’ ride at the rate ot about four miles an hour we arrived at a coffee-house, where our guide, Pauolo, advised us to stop in order to refresh ourselves and our mules. You meet very frequently with these houses in Turkey; and here the traveller may stop if he chooses, and be accommodated with coffee without sugar and a pipe. We entered a little cottage not unlike an Irish barn. It was built of mud and straw, and not more remarkable for its furniture within than its architecture without. The only moveables in the house [were] a couple of mats, on which we spread our repast ; and though we were surrounded by Turks, who were enjoying their pipes, we made an excellent meal on cold partridge which our good friend at Smyrna had packed up for us, with a liberal allowance of Madeira wine to last for our journey.

The first object that engaged my attention, after leaving our hotel, was a Burying-ground. It was surrounded, as all these places are, with lofty cypresses. I was much surprised at the sight of such an immense number of graves, most of them recently dug two-brothers: but I soon recollected that I was travelling through a country where the plague seldom intermits for any length of time : and upon inquiring I found that above one thousand of these graves had been made about four months back, when the plague raged at Smyrna, and in its vicinity.

These considerations for some time damped our spirits, and inspired us with gloomy and dismal ideas. Over each of these graves is a stone of about four feet in height, set upright and a turban carved on the top. They are painted in different colours, as red, white and green. Those who are honoured with the latter have their origin from Mahomet and call themselves his descendants. They are looked upon as of the same family and no others are permitted to have the green turban on their tombs after their decease.

We travelled for the remainder of the day over a fine country, the soil of which shewed everywhere marks or richness and fertility. The road, if we may give it that name, was very bad, and indeed not passable for carriages; but we saw no obstacles to impede the equestrian traveller, as the grounds were without enclosures. The greatest part of the country was planted with cotton trees, and those plantations were remarkably well cultivated and cleared of weeds, the cotton plants being set at equal distances of about three feet.

Towards evening we arrived at the summit of a very lofty mountain, from whence we discovered the extensive plain of Magnesia and could trace with the eye the winding course of the celebrated Meander. The town itself is at the distance of about six miles. We intended stopping at Magnesia for the night, and therefore made as much haste as we possibly could in order to have sufficient time to see the town.

My faithful Pauolo

On our arrival we found much difficulty in getting a lodging for the night. My faithful Pauolo at length obtained permission for us to lie under the gateway of a large court where the caravans put up. There was a little room without windows, which did not hold out to us the most pleasing prospect of the rest of our entertainment for the night. We had our beds spread on the ground, and sending Pauolo to buy us some provisions, we went, accompanied by a janissary to stroll about the town.

We did not perceive any vestige or monument of Magnesia having been once the seat of the Ottoman Court. The houses are ill built and mostly of wood ; the streets narrow and dirty. This had been the seat of the Eastern Empire, till, on the 19th of May 1453, Mahomet the second took Constantinople from Constantine Paleo- logus, and removed his Court to that celebrated city. Magnesia contains above one hundred thousand inhabitants, and next to Smyrna is the town of most trade in Turkey; being situated in one of the richest and most extensive plains in the universe. It has been distinguished for the fertility of its soil, and it is now one of the chief sources of supply to the cotton market of Smyrna.

Travelled to London

I went to meet him at Bath, from whence we travelled to London in order to forward the necessary preparations for our journey to Paris. We had not long arrived at that place before I gave him a specimen of what he had to expect.

One evening he proposed going to the play ; which, for certain reasons, I declined.

On his return, he indiscreetly entered my room and found his hopeful pupil with very indifferent company, of which, however, he took no notice ; but went immediately to bed. In the morning I appeared before him with all the awkward bashfulness attendant on a first offence: but he soon reassured me by treating the matter as a bagatelle.

Such a morality, so consonant to my own taste, soon reconciled me to the character of my tutor ; and for some time we lived together on the best terms imaginable. We remained about three weeks at Paris. I shall not attempt to say any thing at present of this famous city, so many descriptions of it having been already given—I mean as it existed ten years ago—for, since the Revolution it may be described as a place that stood in such or such a degree of latitude : besides, as I often visited it since, I shall take occasion to say something which may give an idea of its present inhabitants.

From Paris we travelled to Auch, where I was to learn French, and perfect myself in the exercise of riding, fencing and dancing. This place was fixed upon by my governor, as he had many acquaintances there whom he was desirous of seeing.

Restless disposition

On my arrival I hired an elegant house, set up a pack of hounds, procured a stable of hunters, and established my house quite a I angloise. But all this was not sufficient to satisfy my restless disposition. I therefore took a house at Cauterets and a small country residence at Bagneres, both situated in the upper Pyrenees, and much frequented on account of their mineral waters.

Gentlemans Magazine

The manuscript Memoirs of Thomas Whaley, now first published, are known to have been in existence ever since 1800, the year in which the writer died. They are mentioned in an obituary notice of him which appeared in The Gentlemans Magazine at the time, but they are supposed to have passed out of the hands of the family some forty or fifty years ago,1 since which time the place of their disposal has been a mystery, and even their existence a matter of considerable doubt. The unknown owners had been appealed to from time to time, by persons interested in the social history of Ireland during the latter portion of the eighteenth century, to make their contents public,2 but such suggestions do not seem to have reached the ears of those for whom they were intended.

Some little time ago, by a lucky accident, I happened to purchase in a London auction room what I recognised to be an interesting example of Irish binding, in the characteristic style of decoration common in Dublin at the close of the eighteenth Century, consisting of two handsome 4to volumes of manuscript bound in red morocco, inlaid and tooled in gold, and lettered on the back “Travels by T. W.”

After investigation of the contents—in which I was materially assisted by Mr. Henry F. Berry, I.S.O., of the Public Record Office, Dublin (to whom I am indebted for much other valuable aid and information)—I discovered that these volumes were the original manuscript Memoirs of Thomas Whaley so long missing, and which, as I have learned from enquiries since made, seem to have been for many years passing from hand to hand amongst English book-collectors, their preservation in all probability being attributable rather to their gold-tooled covers than to the more or less anonymous story which they contained.

The work was obviously compiled with a view to publication during the lifetime of the writer, who refers to his intention to publish it by subscription ;2 but the statement which has been made in many quarters, that the author had left directions to his executors to print the Memoirs, is not supported by anything to be found in his will, which may be seen at the Public Record Office in Dublin.

Dangerous to the Jew

The Almighty can do anything which admits of doing; He can compensate every evil; but a Greek poet says that there is one thing impossible to Him, to undo what is done. Without throwing the thought into a shape which borders on the profane, we may see in it the reason why the idea of national power was so dear and so dangerous to the Jew. It was his consciousness of inalienable superiority that led him to regard Roman and Greek, Syrian and Egyptian, with ineffable arrogance and scorn.

Christians, too, are accustomed to think of those who are not Christians as their inferiors; but the conviction which possesses them, that they have what others have not, is obviously not open to the temptation which nationalism presents. According to their own faith, there is no insuperable gulf between themselves and the rest of mankind; there is not a being in the whole world but is invited by their religion to occupy the same position as themselves, and, did he come, would stand on their very level, as if he had ever been there. Such accessions to their body continually occur, and they are bound under obligation of duty to promote them.

Sentiments inculcated by Christianity

They never can pronounce of any one, now external to them, that he will not some day be among them; they never can pronounce of themselves, that, though they are now within, they may not some day be found without, the divine polity. Such are the sentiments inculcated by Christianity, even in the contemplation of the very superiority which it imparts; even there it is a principle, not of repulsion between man and man, but of good fellowship; but as to secular subjects of know ledge, since here it does not arrogate any superiority at all, it has in fact no tendency whatever to centre its disciple’s contemplation on himself, or to alienate him from his kind.

He readily acknowledges and defers to the superiority in art or science, of those, if so be, who are unhappily enemies to Christianity. He admits the principle of progress on all matters of knowledge and conduct on which the Creator has not decided the truth already by revealing it; and he is at all times ready to learn, in those merely secular matters, from those who can teach him best. Thus it is that Christianity, even negatively, and without contemplating its positive influences, is the religion of civilization.

Any supernatural power

If an empire does not at all feel the pressure of this natural law, but lasts continuously, repairs its losses, renews its vigour, and with every successive age emulates its antecedent fame, such a power must be more than human, and has no place in our present inquiry. We are concerned, not with any supernatural power, but with the Ottoman empire, famous in history, vigorous in constitution, but after all human, and nothing more. There is then neither risk, nor merit, in prophesying the eventual fall of the Osmanlis, as of the Seljukians, as of the Gaznevides before them; the only wonder is that they actually have lasted as much as four hundred years.

Destitute of data for speculating

Such will be the issue and the sum of their whole history; but, certain as this is, and confidently as it may be pronounced, nothing else can be prudently asserted about their future. Times and moments are in the decrees of the All-wise, and known to Him alone; and so are the occurrences to which they give birth. The only further point open to conjecture, as being not quite destitute of data for speculating upon it, is the particular course of events and quality of circumstances, which will precede the downfall of the Turkish power; for, granting that that downfall is to come, it is reasonable to think it will take place in that particular way, for which in their present state we see an existing preparation, if such can be discerned, or in a way which at least is not inconsistent with the peculiarities of that present state.

Hence in speculating on this question, I shall take this as a reasonable assumption first of all, that the catastrophe of a state is according to its antecedents, and its destiny according to its nature; and therefore, that we cannot venture on any anticipation of the instruments or the conditions of its death, until we know something about the principle and the character of its life.

Holy Church forgotten

Never has Holy Church forgotten, abhorrent, as she is, from the Pantheistic tendencies which in all ages have surrounded her, never has she forgotten the interests of that mighty mother in whose bosom we feed in life, into whose arms we drop in death; never has she forgotten that that mother is the special creature of God, and to be honoured, in leaf and flower, in lofty tree and pleasant stream, for His sake, as well as for our own; that while it is our primeval penalty to till the earth, the earth lovingly repays us for our toil; that Adam was a gardener even in Paradise, and that Noe inaugurated his new earth by “beginning to be a husbandman, and by planting a vineyard”.

Such is the genius of the true faith; and it might have been thought, that, though not Christians, even of very gratitude, the barbarous race, which owed a part of whatever improvement of mind or manners they had received, to the fair plains of Sogdiana, would, on occupying their rich and beautiful territories on the north, east, and south of the Mediterranean, have felt some sort of reverence for their captive, and, while enjoying its gifts, would have been merciful to the giver. But the same selfish sensuality, with which they regard the rational creation of God, possesses them in their conduct towards physical nature. They have made the earth their paramour, and are heartless towards her dis-honour and her misery.

We have lately been reminded in this place of the Doge of Venice making the Adriatic his bride, and claiming her by a ring of espousal; but the Turk does not deign to legitimatize his possession of the land he has violently seized, or to gain a title to it by any sacred tie; caring for no better right than the pirate has to the jurisdiction of the high seas. Let the Turcoman ride up and down Asia Minor or Syria for a thousand years, how is the trampling of his horse hoofs a possession of those countries, more than a Scythian raid or a Tartar gallop across it?

The imperial Osmanli sits and smokes long days in his pavilion; and thinks not of his broad domain except to despise and to plunder and impoverish its cultivators ; and is his title made better thereby than the Turcoman’s, to be the heir of Alexander and Seleucus broad beans, of the Ptolemies and Massinissa, to be the representative of Constantine and Justinian? What claim does it give him upon Europe, Asia, and Africa, upon Greece, Palestine, and Egypt, that he has frustrated the munificence of nature and demolished the works of man ?

Asia Minor

Asia Minor especially, the peninsula which lies between the Black Sea, the Archipelago, and the Mediterranean, was by nature one of the most beautiful, and had been made by art one of the most fertile of countries. It had for generations contained flourishing marts of commerce, and it had been studded with magnificent cities; the ruins of which now stand as a sepulchre of the past. No country perhaps has seen such a succession of prosperous states, and had such a host of historical reminiscences, under such distinct eras and such various distributions of territory. It is memorable in the beginning of history for its barbarian kings and nobles, whose names stand as common-places and proverbs of wealth and luxury.

The magnificence of Pelops imparts lustre even to the brilliant dreams of the mythologist. The name of Croesus, King of Lydia, whom I have already had occasion to mention, goes as a proverb for his enormous riches. Midas, King of Phrygia, so abounded in the precious metals, that he was said by the poets to have the power of turning whatever he touched into gold. The tomb of Mausolus, King of Caria, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was the same with the Greek colonies which wTere scattered along its coasts; they are renowned for opulence, for philosophy, and for the liberal and the fine arts.

THE TARTAR AND THE TURK

You may think I have been very long in coming to the Turks, and indeed I have been longer than I could have wished; but I have thought it necessary to your taking a just view of them, that you should survey them first of all in their original condition. When they first appear in history they are Huns or Tartars, and nothing else; they are indeed in no unimportant respects Tartars even now; but, had they never been made something more than Tartars, they never would have had much to do with the history of the world. In that case, they would have had only the fortunes of Attila and Zingis; they might have swept over the face of the earth, and scourged the human race, powerful to destroy, helpless to construct, and in consequence ephemeral; but this would have been all.

But this has not been all, as regards the Turks; for in spite of their intimate resemblance or relationship to the Tartar tribes, in spite of tbeir essential barbarism to this day, still they, or at least great portions of the race, have been put under education; they have been submitted to a slow course of change, with a long history and a profitable discipline and fortunes of a peculiar kind; and thus they have gained those qualities of mind, which alone enable a nation to wield and to consolidate imperial power.

I have said that, when first they distinctly appear on the scene of history, they are indistinguishable from Tartars. Mount Altai, the high metropolis of Tartary, is surrounded by a hilly district, rich, not only in the useful, but in the precious metals. Gold is said to abound there; but it is still more fertile in veins of iron, which indeed is said to be the most plentiful in the world. There have been iron works there from time immemorial, and at the time that the Huns descended on the Roman Empire (in the fifth century of the Christian era), we find the Turks but a family of slaves, employed as workers of the ore and as blacksmiths by the dominant tribe, Suddenly in the course of fifty years, soon after the fall of the Hunnish power in Europe, with the sudden developement peculiar to Tartars, we find them spread from East to West, and lords of a territory so extensive, that they were connected by relations of peace or war at once with the Chinese, the Persians, and the Romans.

The North nothing to lose

These regions, however, on the contrary, have neither the inducement nor the means to retaliate upon their ferocious invaders. The relative position of the combatants must always be the same, while the combat lasts. The South has nothing to win, the North nothing to lose; the North nothing to offer, the South nothing to covet. Nor is this all: the North, as in an impregnable fortress, defies the attack of the South. Immense trackless solitudes; no cities, no tillage, no roads; deserts, forests, marshes; bleak table lands, snowy mountains; unlocated, flitting, receding populations; no capitals, or marts, or strong places, or fruitful vales, to hold as hostages for submission; fearful winters and many months of them; nature herself fights and conquers for the barbarian.

Cyrus to Napoleon

What madness shall tempt the South to undergo extreme risks without the prospect or the chance of a return? True it is, ambition, whose very life is a fever, has now and then ventured on the reckless expedition; but from the first page of history to the last, from Cyrus to Napoleon, what has the Northern war done for the greatest warriors but destroy the flower of their armies and the prestige of their name ? Our maps, in placing the North at the top, and the South at the bottom of the sheet, impress us, on what may seem a sophistical analogy, with the imagination that Huns or Moguls, Kalmucks or Cossacks, have been a superincumbent mass, descending by a sort of gravitation upon the fair territories which lie below them.

Yet this is substantially true; though the attraction towards the South is of a moral, not of a material nature, yet an attraction there is, and a huge conglomeration of destructive elements hangs over us, and from time to time rushes down with an awful irresistible momentum. Barbarism is ever impending over the civilized world. Never, since history began, has there been so long a cessation of the law of human society, as in the period in which we live. The descent of the Turks on Europe was the last instance of it, and that was completed four hundred years ago. They are now themselves in the position of those races, whom they themselves formerly came down upon.

Becomes obedient and shows friendship

RULE XI.

A weak enemy, who becomes obedient and shows friendship, does so with no other design but to become a more powerful adversary: as they have said, “liven the sincerity of friends is not to be 1‘clied on, what then is to be expected from the flattery of enemies? ” He who despises a weak enemy, resembles him who neglects a spark of fire. Extinguish it to-day, whilst you are able, for when it issues into a flame it destroys a world. Permit not your enemy to string his bow, whilst you are able to.pierce him with an arrow.

Speak in such manner between two enemies, that, should they afterwards become friends, you may not be put to the blush. Hostility between two people is like fire; and the evil-fated backbiter supplies fuel: afterwards, when they are reconciled ‘together, the backbiter is hated and despised by both parties. To kindle a flame between two persons, is to burn yourself inconsiderately in the midst. Whisper to your friends, in order that your blood-thirsty enemy may not overhear you. Take care what you say before a wall, as you cannot tell who may be behind it.

RULE XIII.

Whosoever formeth an intimacy with the enemies of his friends, does so to injure the latter. 0 wise man! wash your hands of that friend who associates with your enemies.

RULE XIV.

When, in transacting business, you are under any hesitation, make choice of that side which will produce the least injury. Speak not harshly to a man of placid manners; and with him who knocks at the door of peace, seek not hostility.

RULE XV.

As long as an affair can be compassed by money, it is not advisable to put one’s life in danger. When the hand has failed in every trick, it is lawful to draw the sword.

RULE XVI.

Show’ not mercy to a weak enemy; for if lie becomes powerful, he will not spare you. When you see an enemy weak, twrist not your whiskers in boasting: there is marrow in every bone, and every coat covers a man. Whosoever killeth a wicked man, relievctk the wrorld from his injuries, and1 de- livereth himself from the wrath of God. Forgiveness is commendable, but apply not ointment to the wound of an oppressor. Knoweth he not, that whosoever spareth the life of a serpent committeth injury towards the sons of Adam.

Cazy of Hamadan

The King being curious to behold her beauty, that he might be able to judge of the form which had occasioned so much calamity, ordered her to be brought. They searched among the Arabian families, and having found her, brought her before the King in the court-yard of the palace. The King contemplated her appearance, and behold a person of dark complexion and weak form, insomuch that he thought her so contemptible that the meanest servant of his Harem surpassed her in beauty and elegance. Mujnoon having penetration enough to discover what was passing in the King’s mind, said, “0 King, the beauty of Leila must be seen with the eyes of Mujnoon. Thou hast no compassion on my disorder. My companion should be affected with the same malady, that I might sit all day repeating my tale to him; for two pieces of wood burn together with a brighter flame.

The discourse concerning the verdant plain, which has reached my ears; had the leaves on that plain heard it, they would have joined their complaints with mine. 0 my friends, say to them who are free from love,so we wish that you knew what passes in the heart of a lover.’ The pain of a wound affects not those who are in health. I will not disclose my grief, but to those who have tasted the same affliction. It were fruitless to talk of a hornet to them who never felt the sting. Whilst thy mind is not affected like mine, the relation of my sorrow seems only an idle tale. Compare not my anguish to the careB of another man; he only holds the salt in his hand, but it is I who bear the wound in my body.”

They tell a story of a Cazy of Hamadan, that he was enamoured with a farrier’s beautiful daughter to such a degree, that his heart was inflamed by his passion, like a horse-shoe red-hot in a forge. For a long time he suffered great inquietude, and was running about after her in the manner which has been described, ‘ That stately cypress coming into my sight has captivated my heart and deprived me of my strength, so that I lie prostrate at her feet. Those mischievous eyes drew my heart into the snare. If you wish to preserve your heart, shut your eyes. I cannot by any means get her out of my thought: I am the snake with a bruised head; I cannot turn myself.’ I have heard that she met the Cazy in the street, and something having reached her ears concerning him, she was displeased beyond measure, and abused and reproached him without mercy, flung a stone, and did every thing to disgrace him.

Fortune nor murmured at the ordinances

TALE XIX

I never complained of the vicissitudes of Fortune nor murmured at the ordinances of Heaven, excepting once, when my feet were bare and I had not the means of procuring myself shoes. I entered the great mosque at Cufah with a heavy heart, when I beheld a man who had no feet. I offered up praise and thanksgiving to God for his bounty, and bore with patience the want of shoes. A broiled fowl in the eyes of one who has satisfied his appetite, is of less estimation than a leaf of greens on a dish; but to him who hath not the means of procuring food, a boiled turnip is equal to a broiled fowl.

TALE XX

A certain King attended by some of his principal nobility, on a hunting party, in the winter, was benighted at a long distance from any town. Having discovered the cottage of a peasant, the King said, “Let us go there for the night, that we may not suffer inconvenience from the cold.” One of the courtiers replied, “It is beneath the dignity of a monarch to take shelter in the cottage of a mean peasant; we will pitch a tent on this spot and

light a fire.” The peasant being apprised of the circumstance, prepared such food as he could provide, which he brought and presented to the King, and, kissing the earth, said, “The Sultan’s high dignity will not suffer any degradation by this condescension; but these gentlemen are not willing that the peasant’s humble state should be exalted.” The King approved of his speech, and passed the night in the cottage. In the morning he bestowed on the peasant a dress and money. I heard that he accompanied the King’s stirrup a few paces, and said, “The King’s dignity and splendour have not suffered any diminution by his condescension, in suffering himself to be entertained under the peasant’s roof; but the corner of the rustic’s cap has been exalted to the sun, by such a monarch having overshadowed his head.”

TALE XXI

They tell a story of a horrible mendicant, who was possessed of considerable wealth. A certain King said to him, “It appears that you are exceedingly rich, and as I have a pressing demand, if you will assist me with a small sum out of your wealth, by way of loan, when the public finances are in a flourishing state I will repay you.” He replied, “It does not suit tlie high dignity of the lord of the world to soil the hand of ambition with money belonging to such a beggar as myself, who has collected it grain by grain.”

He replied, “Don’t distress yourself on that account, as I shall pay it away to the Tartars. Filthy things are tit for those who are impure. They say that dung does not make clean plaster, and we answer that we want it to stop dirty holes Gregorian calendar. If the water of a well belonging to a Christian is impure, what signifies this, if we use it to wash the corpse of a Jew? I heard that he slighted the King’s command, began to dispute, and to behave with insolence; whereupon the King ordered that the subject of disputation should be taken from him with violence and reproach.

When an affair cannot be accomplished by kind treatment, it becomes neoessary to effect it by harshness. When a person is not ready to contribute of himself, it is proper that some one should force him.

TALE XXII

I saw a merchant, who possessed one hundred and fifty camels laden with merchandize, and fifty slaves and servants. One night, in the island of Kish, he entertained me in his own apartment, and during the whole night did not cease talking foolishly, saying, “I have such and such property in Turkistan, and such goods in Hindoostan;• these are the title-deeds of a piece of ground; and for this matter, such an one is security.” Sometimes he would say, “I have an inclination to go to Alexandria, the air of which is very pleasant; ” then again, “No, I will not go, because the Mediterranean Sea is boisterous. 0 Sady, I have another journey in contemplation, and after I have performed that, I will pass the remainder of my life in retirement and leave off trading.”

I asked, What journey it was? He replied, “I want to carry Persian brimstone to China, where I have heard it bears a very high price; from thence I will transport China-ware to Greece, and take the brocades of Greece to India, and Indian steel to Aleppo: the glass-ware of Aleppo I will convey to Yemen, and from thence go with striped clothes to Persia; after which I will leave off trade and sit down in my shop.” He spoke so much of this foolishness, that at length, being quite exhausted, he said, “0 SMy, relate also something of what you have seen and heard.” I replied, “Have you hot heard, that once upon a time a chief, as he was travelling in the desert of Ghoor, fell from his camel? ” He said, “That the covetous eye of the worldly man is either satisfied through contentment, or will be filled with the earth of the grave.”

God any one falls

When by the will of God any one falls, the whole world trample upon his head: when they see good fortune befriending him, they raise him with their hands upon their breasts. In short, I was overwhelmed with persecutions, until this week, when the good news of the safe arrival of the pilgrims being received, I was released from close confinement, with the confiscation of my patrimonial estate.” I replied, “At that time you would not listen to my suggestion, that the service of kings is like voyaging on the sea, profitable but hazardous; either you acquire riches, or perish in the waves. The merchant either gains the shore with both hands full of gold, or else one day the waves cast him dead upon the beach.”

I did not think it advisable to afflict his inward wound with more scratching nor to sprinkle salt upon it, but satisfied myself with repeating the two following lines: “Know you not, that you will see your feet in fetters, when you listen not to the admonition of mankind? Another time, if you are not able to endure the sting, put not your finger into the scorpion’s hole.

TALE XVII

I was used to associate with a body of men, whose conduct had the appearance of correctness. A person of consequence entertained very favorable sentiments of them, and had assigned a fixed pension for. their support; but one of them having done something unbecoming the character of Durweshes, they forfeited his good opinion, and their market was injured. I wanted, by some means or other, to obtain for my friends a restitution of the pension.

I went to wait on the great man, but the porter rudely refused me admittance. I excused him in conformity to the saying, that if you approach the gate of either the Meer, the Vizier, or the Sultan, without any one to introduce you, when the dog and the porter discern that you are poor, this seizes your collar and the other lays hold of your skirt. When the great man’s principal attendants were apprized of my case, they conducted me in with respect, and assigned me a place of distinction; but I humbly seated myself lower, and said, “Excuse me, for I am an inferior; suffer me to seat myself in the rank of servants.”

Ilinden in Bulgarian

While the Supreme Committee was in favour of sending armed detachments aimed at creating constant tensions in the two regions and thus keeping the attention of European diplomacy on the alert with regard to the unsettled Bulgarian national question, IMARO was systematically and purposefully preparing the people for a general up-rising. A dense network of secret revolutionary committees was built up in both regions, arms were supplied and military training was organized. In spite of the courage and selflessness of the detachments sent by the Supreme Committee, in most of the cases the objective results from their actions were negative – they caused cruel reprisals on the part of the Turkish authorities against the civilian Bulgarian population and brought about betrayals of the conspiracy inside the Internal Revolutionary Organization.

Characteristic in this respect was the uprising in Gorna Djumaya in 1902, whose suppression was accompanied by horrible atrocities, which brought about the routing of many of the secret committees and strengthened the vigilance and alertness of the Turkish authorities. The probability of disclosures in the remaining parts of Macedonia and Thrace tilted the balance of forces within the organization in favour of its more impatient members who insisted on speeding up the proclamation of the general uprising which had not been well prepared.

At the height of the preparations, on May 4, 1903, Gotse Delchev was killed in an unequal battle with a Turkish posse which had surrounded him in the village of Banitsa, Seres district (now in Greece). On the previously set date, August 2, 1903 (St Elijah’s Day, Ilinden in Bulgarian) the Bulgarians of the Bitola Revolutionary district raised an uprising which spread quickly over the neighbouring districts. A republic was proclaimed in the liberated town of Kroushevo, which had become the in-surgents’ capital. The uprising became a general one as the Wallachian population also joined it.

Uprising in Adrianople Thrace

In order to surprise and divide the enemy forces, the uprising in Adrianople Thrace was declared on August 19 (Transfiguration Day, ‘Preobrazhenie’ in Bulgarian) when the fighting in Macedonia had reached its culmination point. There too a republic was proclaimed – the Strandja Republic. The up-rising in Macedonia was headed by Damyan Grouev, Nikola Karev, Boris Sarafov, A. Lozanchev and others, while the one in the Adrianople region – by Mihail Gerdjikov, Stamat Ikonomov and Lazar Madjarov.

Fall under Ottoman domination

Bulgaria’s fall under Ottoman domination, accompanied by ravaging devastations and cruel massacres of the population, was a veritable catastrophe for the Bulgarian people. The country’s political and intellectual elite was destroyed or forced to emigrate. The famous literary centres which had brought glory to Bulgarian mediaeval culture were extinguished. The persecutions were not only national, but also religious. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church was destroyed as a religious institution and the Moslem religion was proclaimed as official. The majority of Bulgarian towns were depopulated and occupied by the Turkish administration and military gar-risons, while the productive Bulgarian population sought refuge in the mountains and remote regions. Thus, the social and economic base of the 14th century cultural renaissance of the Bulgarian people – the flourishing towns — was done away with.

Deprived of its state, cultural and religious institutions, the Bulgarian people were reduced to a Turkish rayah, without any rights, cruelly oppressed and exploited by the conquerors. A considerable part of the Bulgarians were forcefully assimilated, and their most fertile lands were taken by compact masses of Turkish colonists. The Ottomans pursued a systematic and purposeful policy of sapping the vitality of the subordinated peoples and enhancing their own national feelings.

Thousands of Bulgarian girls were forcefully converted to the Moslem religion and taken into the harems of the Turkish feudal loids (spahis, beys). An inhuman tax called devshourme was introduced, according to which the healthiest, handsomest and cleverest Bulgarian boys were taken away from their families to special barracks where they were isolated from the outside world and turned into soldiers, excellently schooled and fanatically loyal to Islam. These were the notorious janissaries — known for their high military qualities and morale, crack infantry of the Sultan, which sowed terror in the subordinated population and covered the Turkish arms with glory. Some of the most capable janissaries rose to the ranks of Turkish dignitaries and military commanders, who contributed a lot to the successes of the Ottoman Empire.

Bulgarian national feeling

The Bulgarian people proved to be in the worst situa-tion of all peoples conquered by the Ottomans, for they were in the very centre of the boundless Turkish ocean, without any direct links with the free Christian states. The oppressive Turkish domination over the Bulgarian people, which lasted for nearly five centuries in the conditions of the primitive and conservative Moslem state, delayed for centuries the historical development of Bulgaria and deeply wounded the soul of the people. Bulgarian national feeling, however, had struck deep roots. Bulgaria had had a state history spanning more than five hundred years, had reached the heights of an Empire and had passed through two ‘Golden Ages’ in its cultural development. Such a people, steeled in fierce battles with experienced and powerful enemies, cannot be obliterated even by the cruellest vicissitudes of history.

SLAVS AND PROTO-BULGARIANS

The Slavs were of the Indo-European stock of peoples, to which the German, Baltic-Slav, Greek, Celtic, Iranian and Indian tribes belonged. During the third millennium B.C. they inhabited a vast region in Eastern and Central Europe, bordering on the River Dnepr in the east, by the River Oder in the west and the Carpathian Mountains in the south. In the late 2nd and early 3rd century A. D. the Slavs began to move to the south and by the end of the 5th century they had settled in the plain between the Danube and the Carpathian Mountains. The Slav tribes which inhabited the territory near the estuary of the Danube and to the east of it were called Antae and those living in the lands of present-day Romania and Hungary – Slavini.

In the early 6th century, numerous Slav contingents began to cross the Danube, and to return with rich booty. Their daring incursions could not be stopped either by the fortified strongholds along the Danube and in the Balkan Range, or even by the Long (Anastasius’) Wall built to defend the immediate approaches to the Byzantine capital. At the end of the same century, under the pressure of the powerful state of the Avars founded in Pannonia (present- day Hungary) and of new barbarian tribes coming from

Bronze helmet of a Thracian warrior the east, the Slavs began to settle in the depopulated areas of the Balkan Peninsula, and even as far as the Aegean islands and Asia Minor. Because of their common language, religion and way of life, the Slav tribes which settled in Moesia (between the Balkan Range and the Danube), Thrace and Macedonia became known later as the Bulgarian Slavic Group, to be distinguished from the Serbo-Croatian Group which formed the western wing of the Southern Slavs.

Once they had settled in the Balkan provinces of the Byzantine Empire, the Slavs entered into direct contact with its highly developed material and spiritual culture, which accelerated their social and economic development. The Slavs, on their part, who had not passed through the stage of slavery, contributed to the ‘rejuvenation’ of the Empire and to doing away with the last vestiges of slave relations in it.

Personal sympathies

The evicted tenants in Ireland, who are turned out of their cottages because they decline to pay rent, never appeal strongly to my personal sympathies. These poor Tomaks, followers of a defeated faith, who of their own free will leave home and country, part with their lands, and give up their livelihoods in order that they may live henceforward amidst the followers of the Prophet, seemed to me far worthier of respect than the victims of Saxon oppression in the distressful country.

One of the innumerable ranges of the Balkans runs along the sea-coast of Bulgaria between Varna and Bourgas. Dense, black clouds hung all day over the cliffs to the west, while on the east the sky was blue and clear. The consequence was that we could see but little of the coast, which we skirted for hours, rounding one headland, half enshrouded in the mist, only to see another headland stretching miles away, half hid amidst the gloom of the overclouded afternoon.

Still I could catch glimpses enough to be sure that the sides of the slopes running down to the sea were seldom cultivated, and that the coast was very sparsely peopled. In a run of fifty miles, during all of which we were close in sight of land, I could only note three villages and a dozen whitewashed buildings, which were probably coastguard stations or watch-towers.

Natural breakwater

The sun was sinking as our steamer doubled the last promontory, and we found ourselves in comparatively smooth water, under the shelter of the long tongue of sand which juts out into the sea to the north of Bourgas, and serves as a sort of natural breakwater. In fact, the Bay of Bourgas is better land-locked than that of Varna. But I am told by inhabitants of the former port that the roads inside the bay are not as secure or as easy of access as those of their own port.

How this may be I do not pretend to decide. All I can say is, that the landing is equally uncomfortable and equally inconvenient in both ports. In justice, I ought to add that at both places travellers are equally exempt from the exactions which usually accompany the process of landing in boats.

Under any circumstances Sofia

One may fairly say, therefore, that what the Germans call Damen Gesellchaft is an unknown thing in Sofia, and, this being so, the men can hardly be blamed if they seek such entertainment as they can find at the clubs or restaurants. Under any circumstances Sofia would be an ungrateful soil in which to cultivate social relations, to start a salon, or to try and set a fashion. The genius loci is eminently unfavorable. Apart from the cafds, the only place where Sofiote society congregates is at the Union Club, the one club of the city.

It is a pleasant, cheery resort, established by the efforts of our popular British representative, Mr. Dering, and, as foreign clubs go, is by no means a bad imitation of its British original. It contains a reading- room, where there is a very fair supply of German, French, and English papers, but, in as far as I could perceive, no Russian publications; a billiard-room, which is very little frequented; and a dining-room, where breakfast and dinner are provided daily for all members who like to subscribe for their repasts, and which is almost exclusively frequented by the younger members of the Consular body who, not being married, have no homes of their own.

News room

Neither the news-room, nor the library, nor the dining-saloon are much resorted to by the native members. If you want to find them you must look for them in the cardroom, which forms the real raison d’Stre of the club. Every afternoon this room is filled with the leading political and social notabilities of the capital.

Baccarat and bizique are the games most in favour, and I have at times seen a good deal of money change hands. The play goes on till about half-past eight, when, as a rule, the party breaks up. But about once or, at most, twice a week, there are late nights. The players on these occasions have some sort of supper served up for their own party at nine, and play begins again at ten, and goes on sometimes till the small hours of the morning.

Country possessing very large material

The only class of persons who I think are likely to make money by engaging in building speculations in partnership with the local authorities are small contractors, who are content to reside on the spot, and to look themselves after the employment and the repayment of their own money. It is obvious that contractors of this kind do not belong to the class of capitalists who could carry out the general development of the country on the scale required by its urgent necessities. Under these conditions, the best way for a country possessing very large material resources, but lacking the capital required to turn its undeveloped wealth to advantage, is to allow its native industries to be assisted and controlled by foreign capital.

Foreigners, by the law of Bulgaria, enjoy, both in an individual and in a corporate capacity, the same privileges as the natives of the country in as far as trade and industry are concerned. Indeed, so long as the Capitulations remain in force, they are placed, as I have pointed out, in an exceptionally favoured position as compared with the natives. It is obvious that any important introduction of foreign capital must tend to modify greatly the present economic conditions of the country. Whether this would be a gain or a loss to Bulgaria is an open question.

Lucrative investments

The laws, however, which regulate human existence, render it absolutely certain, that where on the one hand there is a country which has great resources and little capital, and where, on the other hand, there is any amount of foreign capital in adjacent countries on the look-out for lucrative investments, the capital will flow into the country and the country will welcome the capital. As things stand the probability seems to be that the exploitation of Bulgaria will fall iyito the hands of Austria, which has now got command of the Bulgarian markets. Whether this is to be so or not, must depend upon the action of the other European capital-possessing countries, and especially of England.