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diff --git a/old/54348-h/54348-h.htm b/old/54348-h/54348-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 54fa87f..0000000 --- a/old/54348-h/54348-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6610 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> -<head> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> -<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Slav Nations, by Srgjan Pl. Tucić</title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1 { font-weight: normal; - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - - h2 { font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.25em; - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - - h3 { font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - h4 { font-weight: normal; font-size: 1em; margin-top: 2em; - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} -p { - margin-top: .51em; text-indent: 1.5em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -p.noindent { - margin-top: .51em; text-indent: 0em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -p.indent { margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em; - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} -p.indent2 { margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em; - margin-top: 0em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: 0em; -} -.padt1 {padding-top: 1em;} -.padt2 {padding-top: 2em;} -.padl1 {padding-left: 1em;} -.padl2 {padding-left: 2em;} -.padr2 {padding-right: 2em;} -.padl4 {padding-left: 4em;} -.f2 {font-size: 2em;} -.f85 {font-size: .85em;} -.vertt {vertical-align: top;} - -hr { - width: 34%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33%; - margin-right: 33%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.full {width: 96%; - - margin-top: 0em; - margin-left: 2%; - margin-right: 2%; - clear: both; - margin-bottom: 0em;} - -table { font-size: .85em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - - .tdl {text-align: justify;} - .tdr {text-align: right;} - .tdc {text-align: center;} -@media handheld {.tdc {text-align: center;}} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; font-style: normal; - left: 90%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; -} /* page numbers */ - -.pagenum2 { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; font-style: normal; - left: 94%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; -} /* page numbers */ - -.bbox {border: double; max-width: 10em; margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto;} - -.bbox3 {border: double; margin-left: auto; max-width: 20em; - margin-right: auto;} - -.bbox2 {border: solid 2px;; margin-left: auto; max-width: 25em; - margin-right: auto;} - -.center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} -@media handheld {.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;}} -@media handheld {.lowercase {text-transform: lowercase;}} - -.gesperrt -{ - letter-spacing: 2em; - margin-left: 2em; -} - -@media handheld {.gesperrt -{ - letter-spacing: 2em; - margin-left: 2em; -}} -.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} - -.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 81%; text-align: right; text-decoration: underline;} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: - none; -} -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - - h1.pg { font-weight: bold; } - h2.pg { font-weight: bold; - font-size: 135%; } - h3.pg { font-weight: bold; - font-size: 110%; } - h4.pg { font-weight: bold; } - hr.pg { width: 100%; - margin-top: 3em; - margin-bottom: 0em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - height: 4px; - border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ - border-style: solid; - border-color: #000000; - clear: both; } - </style> -</head> -<body> -<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Slav Nations, by Srgjan Pl. Tucić, -Translated by Fanny S. Copeland</h1> -<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States -and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no -restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not -located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this ebook.</p> -<p>Title: The Slav Nations</p> -<p>Author: Srgjan Pl. Tucić</p> -<p>Release Date: March 12, 2017 [eBook #54348]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SLAV NATIONS***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4 class="pg">E-text prepared by Brian Coe, Turgut Dincer,<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> - from page images generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive<br /> - (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - <a href="https://archive.org/details/slavnations00tuciuoft"> - https://archive.org/details/slavnations00tuciuoft</a> - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<p> </p> -<hr class="pg" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class="bbox"> -<p class="center"><big>The Daily Telegraph</big><br /> -<small>WAR BOOKS</small></p></div> - -<p class="center"><br /><br /><big>THE SLAV NATIONS</big></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="bbox2"> -<table summary="war" border="0"><tr> -<td class="tdc">Cloth<br /> -1/- net<br /> -each</td> -<td class="tdc"><div class="bbox3 f2"> The Daily Telegraph <br /><b>WAR BOOKS</b></div></td> -<td class="tdc">Post<br /> -free<br /> -1/3<br /> -each</td></tr></table> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>HOW THE WAR BEGAN</b> By W. L. COURTNEY, -LL.D., and J. M. KENNEDY</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>THE FLEETS AT WAR</b> By ARCHIBALD HURD</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>THE CAMPAIGN OF SEDAN</b> By GEORGE -HOOPER</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>THE CAMPAIGN ROUND LIEGE</b> By J. M. -KENNEDY</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>IN THE FIRING LINE</b> By A. ST. JOHN ADCOCK</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>GREAT BATTLES OF THE WORLD</b> -By STEPHEN CRANE</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>BRITISH REGIMENTS AT THE FRONT</b></p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>THE RED CROSS IN WAR</b> By Miss MARY -FRANCES BILLINGTON</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>FORTY YEARS AFTER</b> The Story of the Franco-German -War By H. C. BAILEY With an Introduction by W. L. -COURTNEY, LL.D.</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>A SCRAP OF PAPER</b> By E. J. DILLON</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>HOW THE NATIONS WAGED WAR</b> -By J. M. KENNEDY</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>AIR-CRAFT IN WAR</b> By S. ERIC BRUCE</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>FAMOUS FIGHTS OF INDIAN NATIVE -REGIMENTS</b> By REGINALD HODDER</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>THE FIGHTING RETREAT TO PARIS</b> -By ROGER INGPEN</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>THE FIRST CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIAN -POLAND</b> By P. C. STANDEN</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>THE BATTLES OF THE RIVERS</b> By -EDMUND DANE</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>FROM HELIGOLAND TO KEELING -ISLAND</b> By ARCHIBALD HURD</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>THE SLAV NATIONS</b> By SRGJAN PL. TUCIC</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>SUBMARINES, MINES AND TORPEDOES</b> -By A. S. DOMVILLE-FIFE</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>WITH THE R.A.M.C. AT THE FRONT</b> -By E. C. VIVIAN</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>MOTOR TRANSPORTS IN WAR</b> By -HORACE WYATT</p> - -<p class="indent padl2 padr2"><b>HACKING THROUGH BELGIUM</b> By -EDMUND DANE</p> - -<p class="center"><i>OTHER VOLUMES IN PREPARATION</i></p> - -<hr class="full" /> -<p class="center">PUBLISHED FOR THE DAILY TELEGRAPH</p> - -<p class="center">BY HODDER & STOUGHTON, WARWICK SQUARE,<br /> -LONDON, E.C.</p></div> - -<hr /> - -<h1>THE SLAV NATIONS</h1> - -<p class="center"><small><small>BY</small></small><br /> -SRGJAN PL. TUCIĆ<br /> -<br /> -<small><small><i>English Translation by</i></small></small><br /> -FANNY S. COPELAND<br /><br /><br /> -<br /> -HODDER AND STOUGHTON<br /> -<small>LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO</small><br /> -<small><small>MCMXV</small></small> -</p> - -<hr /> - -<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> - -<table summary="CONTENTS" border="0"><tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="3"><i>PART I.</i>—THE NORTHERN SLAVS.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="3">CHAPTER I.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr" colspan="3"><small>PAGE</small></td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2">THE SLAV RACE</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td> -</tr><tr> -<td> </td><td class="tdl">Slav Characteristics—Slav Power in the Past—The Decline—The -Dawn?</td><td> </td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="3">CHAPTER II.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2">RUSSIA</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">I.</td><td class="tdl">Russian Landscape and the National Character—Rurik -to Peter the Great—German Influence—The Russian -Awakening.</td><td> </td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">II.</td><td class="tdl">Siberia—White Russians—Little Russians—Great -Russians—Cossacks—The People of the Sunflower—Made -in Germany—The Reaction.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="3">CHAPTER III.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><p class="indent2">RUSSIAN NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> -</tr><tr> -<td> </td><td class="tdl">Russian Slavdom—The Mir—Stress and Famine—The -Duma—Russian Literature—Gogol—Tolstoi—Dostoievski—Realistic -Ideals—The Russian Soul.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="3">CHAPTER IV.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2">POLAND AND BOHEMIA</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">I.</td><td class="tdl">The Contrast—National Character of the Poles—Our -Lady of Csenstochova—Dancing Peasants—Galician -Poles—Selfish Policy—Austria a Slav State.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">II.</td><td class="tdl">The Poles in Russia—Russia’s Repressive Measures—The -Slav Ideal—A Better Understanding—The Poles in Prussia—The -Iron Heel—Law of Expropriation.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">III.</td><td class="tdl">Csech Characteristics—Professor Masaryk—Jan Huss—Slav -Puritans—The Hradčin—Modern Politics.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdc padt2" colspan="3"><i>PART II.</i>—THE SOUTHERN SLAVS.<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">vi</a></span></td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="3">CHAPTER V.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2">BULGARIA</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> -</tr><tr> -<td> </td><td class="tdl">Country and People—The Building up of the Bulgarian State—Relations -with Russia—German Influence—Alexander of -Battenberg—King Ferdinand—Bulgaria’s Immediate Duty.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="3">CHAPTER VI.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2">SERBIA</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">I.</td><td class="tdl">Serbian Self-reliance—Characteristics of the Serb People—The<br /> -power of the Folk song—Race-consciousness.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">II.</td><td class="tdl">History of the Southern Slavs.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">III.</td><td class="tdl">The Birth of a Nation—Prince Miloš—“The Great -Sower”—Alexander Karagjorgjević—Michael Obrenović—King -Milan—Fall of the Obrenović Dynasty—King Peter—The -Restoration of Serbia’s Prestige.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">IV.</td><td class="tdl">Serbia and Austria—A Campaign of Calumny—Annexation -of Bosnia-Hercegovina—The Balkan Wars—Serbia -Rehabilitated—The Tragedy of Sarajevo.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="3">CHAPTER VII.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2">MONTENEGRO</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> -</tr><tr> -<td> </td><td class="tdl">The Country of the Black Mountain—Women Warriors—King, -Poet and Farmer—Historical Sketch of Montenegro—Petar -I., Petrović—Petar II.—Pro-Russian Policy—A Royal -Poet—Nikola I.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="3">CHAPTER VIII.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><p class="indent2">THE SOUTHERN SLAVS OF THE DUAL MONARCHY</p></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">I.</td><td class="tdl">A Homogeneous People—A Militant Past—The Bogumili—National -Bondage—Napoleon—Illyrism—Agreement with -Hungary—Count Khuen-Hedervary.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">II.</td><td class="tdl">The Greatest Representative of the Southern Slavs—Strossmayer’s -Generosity and courage—Fall of Count Khuen-Hedervary—Death -of Strossmayer.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">III.</td><td class="tdl">False Dawn—Conference of Fiume—Ban Paul Rauch—Monster -Trial in Zagreb—The Friedjung Case—Cuvaj—Frano -Supilo.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr padl4 vertt">IV.</td><td class="tdl">Dalmatia, Istria, Carniola—The Italian Element—Bosnia—Hercegovina—Conclusion.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdc padt1" colspan="3">EPILOGUE.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2">“BURIED TREASURES” <i>by Dimitrii Mitrinović</i></td><td class="tdr padl1"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td> -</tr></table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">vii</a></span></p> - -<h2>PREFACE.</h2> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> task of writing a book on the subject of -the Slav nations has afforded me very great -pleasure, and I hope my work will succeed in -its object and arouse the sympathies of the -British public for my race. In preference to -giving long disquisitions, I have purposely -adopted a simple narrative tone in sketching -some of the most interesting points in the national -life of the Slav peoples. I have only touched -upon historical events in so far as this was -necessary for the context, and owing to lack of -space I have been unable to do more than allude -to Slav art and literature. On the other hand, -a good deal of valuable information on this -subject will be found in the epilogue “Buried -Treasures,” which the eminent Serbo-Croat -essayist, Mr. Dimitrij Mitrinović has kindly -placed at my disposal.</p> - -<p>As I am at present completely cut off from my -sorely-stricken country, I have been unable to -apply for permission to quote from certain books -that I have consulted, but I feel sure that my -literary colleagues, Dr. Dragutin Prohaska, Niko -Županić and Dr. Gjuro Šurmin, will not object<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">viii</a></span> -to my having had recourse to their works in -the interests of our race.</p> - -<p>I am also indebted to Mr. Frano Supilo, the -leader to the Croatian people, as well as to my -above-mentioned friend, Mr. Dimitrij Mitrinovič; -of the Serbian Legation in London, for several -valuable hints.</p> - -<p>My special thanks are due to my translator, -Mme. Fanny S. Copeland, and Miss Ella C. Seyfang, -who have given me invaluable assistance in my -work.</p> - -<table summary="author" width="96%"><tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">London</span>,<br /> <i>November</i>, 1914.</td><td class="tdr"><span class="smcap">The Author.</span></td> -</tr></table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">ix/x</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>PART I.</i><br /> -<br /> -THE NORTHERN SLAVS.</h2> -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span></p> - -<p class="center"><big><big>THE SLAV NATIONS.</big></big></p> - -<h3>CHAPTER I.<br /> - -<small>THE SLAV RACE.</small></h3> - -<p class="indent f85">Slav Characteristics—Slav Power in the Past—The -Decline—The Dawn?</p> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Although</span> the Slav race does not appear as a -united state or Union, it certainly forms a family -of nations linked by ties of blood, the tradition -of centuries, similar language and customs, -and especially by ties of mutual love and sympathy. -It is the greatest and most powerful of -the European races, yet to this day it does not -hold the pride of place which is its due and which -it once held. Not the precedence of mere -strength, which is surely sufficiently represented -by Russia, but the place due to a people of -recognized culture, who have not yet been justly -appreciated in spite of overwhelming proof of -their intellectual gifts. Slavs are still popularly -supposed to be a mentally undeveloped -host of semi-barbarians and troglodytes. Of -course the educated public of Europe has long<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> -abandoned this attitude; but it has done little -to spread a more just and liberal view among -the people at large.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> The German scholars -made it their business to lay stress on “Slav -barbarism” wherever possible, to obscure the -bright and glorious pages in Slav history, and -to emphasize everything that can be taken as a -proof of savagery and arrested development. -Unfortunately, no one has written at such length -about the Slav question, or attached so much -importance to it, as the German scholars, with -the result that other European nations have -derived their views from them—so much so -that one might almost say that <em>German</em> opinion -on the Slavs has become the opinion of Europe. -Constant unrest in Russia, and the consequent -reprisals of the authorities afforded a welcome -pretext for misjudging the Slavs, and the ordinary -public of Europe came to know of them -only as mediæval inquisitors with Siberia as -their great torture-chamber. No one seemed -to realize that these revolutionary movements,<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> -no less than the insurrections in other Slav -countries, merely represented the resistance of -a virile people craving enlightenment against -autocratic barbarism; and that it is obviously -unfair to judge the Slavs by the deeds of their -<em>oppressors</em>, who in every case have followed -the German methods cultivated by their governments -in most Slav countries, and imported -into Russia by Peter the Great. On the other -hand, if the Slav nations are judged by the <em>soul -of the people</em>, and not by their rulers and state-systems, -they show a high standard of civilization -and a trend towards culture of a kindly, -humanitarian type, which promises to be a -far better contribution to Western European -progress than the much-advertised German -“Kultur.”</p> - -<p>Certainly the Slavs have not yet attained to -their full stature as a race. At present they -are passing through a period of strong ferment, -but the wine that has so far resulted from this -ferment gives excellent ground for the hope -that when the Slavs have solved their various -national and economic problems they will prove -themselves the equals of the other cultured -nations of the world.</p> - -<p>In the world of politics they must attain the -degree of power necessary to safeguard their -racial individuality and the freedom of the -Slav peoples. This power must stand in due -proportion to their capability for intellectual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span> -progress, and should in itself be a guarantee for -the peace of the world in the future. For the -Slav is not naturally domineering, and has no -craving for power as a mere means of aggression. -He belongs to a kindly race, melancholy, as shown -in the national poetry in which his soul finds -expression. He has a craving to love and to be -loved, and would fain join the other European -nations as a friend and brother. His strength will -be the strength of love. Russia has neither need -nor desire to extend her boundaries further. The -Balkan Slavs only wish to accomplish their own -destiny quietly within the borders of the <em>Slav -Sphere</em>, and the rest of the Slavs desire their -freedom—<em>only their freedom</em>. And when this -is accomplished, the Slav Colossus will no longer -constitute a danger to Europe, but a safeguard. -His political power will only threaten those who -would tamper with the foundations of peace from -mere lust of dominion.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>In the present crisis the Slav race is by no -means seeking a return to the past. The past has -seen the Slavs masters of a great empire and a -real menace to the rest of the world. If one -were to take the political map of Europe and -indicate upon it the frontiers of the ancient -Slav Empire, the Slav race would appear like an -irresistible deluge. The huge Muscovite Empire, -almost the whole of Austria-Hungary, the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> -of the Balkans, two-thirds of the German Empire, -part of Italy, and a large part of Scandinavia—all -these once formed the Slav Empire. Historical -maps show the single triumphant word -“Slavs” (“famous” or “glorious” ones) inscribed -over all these countries throughout the -centuries. Their history and development can -be traced back to 400 <span class="smcap lowercase">B.C.</span></p> - -<p>The Taurians that guarded the Golden Fleece -were Slavs, as were the men of the Baltic with -whom Phœnicians and Greeks traded for amber. -The forest lands of the North, that grey home -of magic, wisdom and valour, hang like a dark -background full of strange possibilities behind -sunny Greece and clear-headed, practical Rome—and -this was the Empire of the Slavs in the -past, the Gardariki and Iotunheim (Giant-land) -of the Norsemen. From one century to another -they played a part of increasing importance -among the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe -and were feared as a strong, homogeneous race. -Their power reached its zenith towards the end -of the fifth century, before the tidal wave of the -Hun invasion swept over Europe. At that time -they held the mastery from the Alps to the -mouth of the Elbe, and from the Baltic to the -Black Sea. They were then one great people -divided into several tribes speaking slightly -differing dialects; but only a fraction of their -number—the inhabitants of the present Dalmatia—was -subject to the Emperor Nepos. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> -invasion of the Avars, who took possession of a -large strip of the Slav possessions between the -Danube and the Dniester, made the first breach -in the unity of the great Slav family. Henceforth -they were known as Northern, Eastern, and -Southern, Slavs, and began to form separate -nationalities. In the age of Charlemagne these -nationalities had already crystallized into independent -states, whose power and prosperity are -recorded in history. The strongest of these -was eventually Poland, extending far into the -Russia of to-day. The Moravian Empire of -Svatopluk, the Empire of Serbia, the kingdom -of Croatia, and the Slavicized Bulgars in the -South, together with the Grand-Dukedom of -Muscovy (and the Wendish kingdom in North -Germany), complete the family of Slav States. -It would take too long to enter into the historical -importance of all these states, but it is a -characteristic proof of their power that not only -European, but Asiatic, nations courted their -favour.</p> - -<p>Some of the main trade routes of the world -led from Northern Europe through the heart of -Russia to Byzantium (the “Mikligard” of the -Sagas)—and Asia. Slav, Norwegian, Tatar and -Arab traded peacefully together on the banks -of the Volga, and sundry passages in the Norse -Sagas as well as the journal of an Arab trader -give us vivid glimpses of those days. Somehow -these searchlight pictures of the Slavs and their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> -country, recorded with positively journalistic -freshness and love of detail, do not corroborate -the biassed accounts of German historians. -But this world-power which Russia alone has -developed steadily up to the present day began to -wane among the other Slav nations soon after -the first Crusade (1097). Already in 1204 (the -fourth Crusade) Slavonia, Croatia, Dalmatia -and Bosnia were incorporated in the German -(Holy Roman) Empire, together with Hungary, -Istria, Carniola and Carinthia. Under the -Hohenstaufens, Bohemia and Moravia also became -vassal states, and in the fourteenth century -the victorious Osmanlis robbed the Bulgars and -Serbs of their independence. With the exception -of Russia, Poland alone maintained her -independence, until the first partition in 1772, -followed by the second in 1793. The third and -last partition in 1795 sealed her fate, and the -Poles were parcelled out under Russian, Prussian -and Austrian rule.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>The partition of Poland was the beginning of -the complete political, and to some extent even -the national, decay of the non-Russian Slavs. -Just as Russia began to spread her mighty -pinions, the Slavs under alien yoke fell deeper -and deeper into an apathy of gloom, only broken -from time to time by rare flashes of patriotism, -or a tempest of revolt. The book of history lay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> -open before them with its pages of gold and -black; but to their aching eyes the black ever -loomed larger than the gold, and they yielded to -a despondency that knew no comfort and saw -no escape. And, while they were thus sunk in -apathy, their rulers brought strong pressure to -bear on them, so that they might eradicate the -stamp of their nationality, not only from their -faces, but from their souls. Germany and -Austria scented the Eastern question, and -divined that in its solution the Slavs might renew -their strength. So they determined to approach -the problem supported by a totally emasculated -and denationalized Slav following. To this end -they strove above all things to turn the Slavs -into docile citizens of a Germanic Empire; for -from the days of Charlemagne the German has -reiterated the parrot-cry that the Slav is barbarous, -obstinate, dangerous and ugly, and that -his only chance of salvation lies in merging his -identity with that of the German of the Empire. -It is a fact that during this period the Slavs did -nothing to help themselves. A great weariness -weighed upon the people, no less than upon the -educated classes, and they were preparing to -reconcile themselves to the fate that had already -befallen their brothers, the Serbs and Bulgars. -But the progress of history did for the Slavs -what they failed to do for themselves. Napoleon, -the personification of destruction for the whole of -Europe, brought salvation to the Western Slavs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> -for he re-awakened them to a sense of national -self-consciousness, and so prepared the way for -the long and bitter struggle they have waged -since then against their oppressors. As soon -as these struggles commenced Russia, who had -hitherto regarded the ruin of her brothers with -equanimity, began to take an interest in their -sufferings, and to afford them strong moral -support.</p> - -<p>These struggles, however, could not bring -immediate relief. The Slavs knew full well that -the way to freedom is long and has to be won -step by step. The problem of the Near East, -which advanced one stage with the liberation of -Serbia, must first be solved in every phase and -detail to clear the way for a solution of the -purely Slav problem. Europe cannot take a vital -interest in this problem before the Balkan -problem is disposed of, and the conditions for the -liberation of the Slavs so far fulfilled, that the -difficulty can be solved in the ordinary course of -the progress of civilization.</p> - -<p>The psychological moment seems to have -arrived, and the Slav question deserves to be -fully put forward. Surely the British public, -which has entered into the present crisis with -such splendid spirit, will not withhold its interest -from the Slav question, more especially as -England will have a strong voice in the matter -when the final settlement comes to be made.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span></p> - -<h3>CHAPTER II.<br /><br /> - -<small>RUSSIA.</small></h3> - -<p class="indent f85">I. Russian Landscape and the National Character—Rurik -to Peter the Great—German Influence—The -Russian Awakening.</p> - -<p class="indent f85">II. Siberia—White Russians—Little Russians—Great -Russians—Cossacks—The People of the Sunflower—Made -in Germany—The Reaction.</p> - -<h4>I.</h4> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Roughly</span> speaking, there are 172 million Slavs -in the world. The Russians alone number about -110 millions, and these millions occupy a vast -country reaching from the snows of the far -North, to lands where the orange-trees bloom all -the year round. The Russian holds that his -dear “little mother Russia” is the most beautiful -land of all the earth. The mountain fastnesses -and precipices of the Urals, the green slopes of -the Caucasus, the Siberian wastes, the grey -shores of the Baltic and the sunny shores of the -Euxine—the Volga and the Don, and even the -sacred steppes—to him they are all beautiful, to -him they reflect the image of his soul and his -feelings. The Western traveller will find some -difficulty in understanding this passionate love -of the Russian for his country, and will feel<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> -tempted to draw sharp comparisons between the -degrees of beauty in the various districts. But -the landscape of Russia is as peculiar as the -Russian people. It is as Russian as the Russian -himself. There is probably not another country -in the world where the climatic and geological -conditions have so deeply influenced the inmost -character of the people, even to their external -features. Where the landscape is beautiful and -the climate sunny, the handsome noble Russian -type prevails; whereas the cold, inhospitable -tracts produce the characteristic wide-faced, -flat-nosed type. Yet there is a strange resemblance -between the rough type and the handsome -type analogous to that which a careful -observer cannot fail to notice between the -different types of Russian landscape. For -though the steppe is grey, and the fields of -Caucasia are green, yet both are animated by -something that wears the same countenance, -breathes the same purely Russian atmosphere, -and is suffused with the same wonderful charm. -It is the charm of perfectly balanced contrast. -The soil of Russia has a soul like the soul of her -children, for whom she cares and lives and -breathes. This soul appears everywhere the -same; it exhales the same perfume from the -dry grass of the steppe as from the Crimean -groves of syringa.</p> - -<p>The Russian soil is fertile, inexhaustively -fertile, as if it were conscious of the millions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span> -dependent upon it. Metaphorically speaking, -this soil produces its gifts out of itself, and -offers them lavishly to its children. The Russian -never works more than he is obliged to—he -need not wrestle with the soil, he need only not -forget it. But he tills it with love; he does not -force the gifts of Nature, he coaxes them from -her, and where these fruits do not appear on -the surface, he seeks them in the heart of the -earth, and goes down the coal-shafts and lead-mines -with the same serene confidence with -which he ploughs the sunlit surface. Is he not -still with his “little mother”?</p> - -<p>The Russian is a farmer by nature. The -great industrial developments of the last decades -have resulted automatically from the natural -wealth of the country, but the true Russian -reaps little benefit from this industrial boom. -His commercial gifts are not great, and he has -been content to leave the business exploitation -of the country in the hands of foreigners, so -long as he makes his own little profit. Mills -and factories are “German monsters” in his -eyes, and he prefers to give them a wide berth. -But latterly there has been a great agitation in -favour of the resuscitation of all home industries. -The Russian has grasped the fact that his policy -of sentiment in business will have to be modified -to suit modern times, and that the welfare of -the people must not be dependent on foreign -middle-men. The present great conflict with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> -the Germans, who have hitherto so largely -monopolised Russian industry, will doubtless do -much to further this movement towards industrial -emancipation.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>The History of Russia begins practically with -Rurik (862) who is supposed to have come from -Scandinavia and laid the foundations of a -Russian state.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> At the coming of Rurik the -Russians were split up into many separate communities -under independent chiefs. Rurik introduced -a new spirit of united organization, and -all efforts towards establishing a Russian Empire -date from him. Of course it was inevitable -that this founding of an Empire should involve -much opposition, revolt, war, and bloodshed. -Each district was proud and jealous of its independence, -and only yielded after a hard and -bitter struggle. During the period of Empire-making -Russian history abounds in such bloody -episodes. The Grand-Dukedom of Muscovy was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span> -the largest of the Russian petty States and in -every way the best equipped, so that the task of -organization naturally devolved upon it, together -with the fruits of victory. Six centuries of -ceaseless struggle against foes from without and -within bring us from Rurik’s day to the accession -of Ivan Vassilievitch III. (1462-1505), who is -regarded as the founder of Russian Tsardom. -He incorporated the still independent principalities -of Twer, Moshnik, and Vologda with the -Grand-Dukedom of Muscovy, defeated the powerful -Republic of Novgorod, and freed himself -completely from the Tatar yoke (1480). In -1472 he married Zoë, a daughter of Thomas -Palaeologus, the brother of the last Byzantine -Emperor. European customs were first brought -into Russia through this princess, and the double-headed -eagle of Byzantium introduced in the -Russian coat of arms. The celebrated Uspenskij -and Blagoveshchenski Cathedrals in Moskva -were built in the reign of Ivan Vassilievitch III. -He promulgated a decree pronouncing the realm -henceforth united and undivisible by law, and -was the first Russian ruler to assume the title -of “Tsar of all the Russias.” Christianity, introduced -by St. Vladimir (980-1054), had by this -time fully blossomed forth as the national religion, -so that we can date the foundation of “Holy -Russia” of to-day in all her greatness from the -age of Ivan Vassilievitch III.</p> - -<p>During the following ages the power of Tsardom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> -increased and finally reached its zenith with -Peter the Great, who may be called the first of -the modern Russian Tsars. He applied his own -acquired Western knowledge to Russia, and -enormously improved the general status of the -realm. In his reign Russia began to play her -part as a political and military power, for it was -he who founded the Russian navy and mercantile -marine. He was a ruthless autocrat, and many -pages of his reign are traced in blood; yet with -him autocracy was not so much a matter of sentiment -as of dire necessity. He loved his Russian -people passionately, but said that it was a people -who had to be made great by force. Confident -in the inalienable national character he saw -no danger in importing foreigners wholesale to -help in the building up of Russian administration. -He surrounded himself with German advisers, -appointed Germans to responsible offices, and -freely admitted the German element into Russia -as a means of spreading “culture.” In many -ways German thoroughness proved a most useful -asset in carrying out the Tsar’s intentions. On -the other hand it gave rise to a dynasty and -an autocratic aristocracy of foreign stock who -failed to understand the Russian people, and -whose influence proved disastrous to civilization -and intellectual freedom in Russia. <em>Outwardly</em>, -Russia became a world-power under Peter the -Great, but <em>internally</em> it fell a prey to a system -of spiritual slavery, which has been perpetuated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span> -even to recent years by the successors of Peter -and their councillors, the descendants of German -immigrants. <em>Here lies the true cause of the -revolutionary movement of more than a century.</em> -The last three Tsars of Russia—the two Alexanders -and the present Tsar—have taken steps to -eliminate the great evil, and if, so far, they have -only been partially successful, the fault lies not -with them nor with the Russian people, but with -the <em>still German</em> mind of their advisers. The -abolition of serfdom, repeated constitutional -manifestos and the introduction of the Duma -system are momentous steps towards a brighter -future. But the gate to this future can only be -fully opened with the conclusion of the present -war.</p> - -<h4>II.</h4> - -<p>Although Russia has acquired millions of non-Russian -subjects—chiefly through the Crimea, -Bessarabia and her Asiatic possessions—she has -never lost her purely Russian character. The -laws concerning land purchase are so constituted -that the territories belonging to the heart of -Russia cannot to any great extent pass into non-Russian -hands, which accounts for the fact that -these parts of the Empire have remained essentially -Russian. Siberia holds an exceptional -position, and is to-day a great colonial province<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> -with a mixed population. Every year the -wealth and fertility of Siberia become more -and more apparent, and instead of being bleak -and uninhabited, this country is now distinctly -populous. The horrors of Siberia as a penal -colony are becoming a thing of the past, and only -the perpetrators of grave crimes are still condemned -to labour in the lead-mines and languish -in the Katorga (penal servitude). Convicts who -are simply exiled to Siberia are able to earn a -comfortable livelihood under tolerable conditions—apart -from the loss of liberty and vexatious -police supervision. Thus it often happens that -time-expired convicts prefer to remain in Siberia, -and eventually find not only a home but prosperity -in the new country.</p> - -<p>Siberia, the Crimea and Bessarabia are all -three interesting as countries and as Russian -territories, but in a sketch of the Russian people -they are unimportant. The true Russian stock -falls into three great bodies, the “Bielorussi” -(White Russians), the “Velikorussi” (Great -Russians) and the “Malorussi” (Little Russians). -They represent the North, the Centre and the -South of Russia. Ethnologically, economically, -and intellectually the White Russians represent -the lowest type. They inhabit the Northern -tracts from the borders of Poland, ancient -Lithuania, and Novgorod. The governments of -Minsk, Litav, and Smaljensk are their central -provinces. Theirs is a poverty-stricken and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> -one might add, a slothful Russia. Agricultural -facilities are limited, the soil is not very fertile, -and the White Russian is not sufficiently industrious -or persevering to improve it by rational -farming. The people are more apathetic than -elsewhere in Russia, and less inclined to adopt -modern ideas with enthusiasm. These people -become nervous and excitable only when menaced -by a dearth of food; then their attitude is -often much more dangerous than the tide of -social revolution. At least the White Russian -has kept his type fairly pure and in spite of alien -neighbours he shows little trace of racial admixture.</p> - -<p>The Little Russians, who inhabit the entire -South of Russia, and from whose stock the famous -Cossacks are sprung, differ most radically from -their northern brothers. They are the excitable, -hot-blooded, dare-devil Russians. In type the -men are fine-looking and handsome almost -without exception, and the women often exceedingly -beautiful. Their language differs from -other Russian speech by the extreme softness of -the dialect (which is not unlike Serbo-Croatian), -and their music and poetry are the finest in the -Slav race. In the past the Little Russians were -divided into many small and independent clans -who outvied each other in reckless warlike -enterprises. Of course the wonderful Cossacks -always took the lead. They still occupy their -original home on the Don and in Caucasia, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> -furnish the <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">élite</em> of the Russian Army, even as they -once were the flower of the Little Russian tribes. -Moreover, they preserved to the very last their -freedom and their privileges in Russia. To-day -one is accustomed to look upon the Cossacks as -merely a body of men especially devoted to the -Tsar, but, as a matter of fact, the Cossack people -have had a most chequered and interesting past. -Once they formed an independent warrior-nation, -feared and courted by their neighbours; and so -secure in their strength did they feel, that they -even dared to answer the Turkish Sultan’s demand -for submission with a letter of taunting derision -(the well-known Cossack Ultimatum). They -played a great part in the history of Russia, and -each Russian ruler in turn endeavoured to assure -himself of their support. After their final subjection -to Russia (1851) the Cossacks gradually -exchanged their political importance for their -present military value. Tolstoi wrote about -them as follows—though his remarks really -apply to the whole of the Little Russian people: -“Many years ago the ancestors of the Cossacks, -who were ‘Old Believers,’ fled from Russia -and settled on the banks of the Terek (Caucasus). -They are a handsome, prosperous and warlike -Russian population, who still retain the -faith of their fathers. Dwelling among the -Chechentzes, the Cossacks intermarried with them -and acquired the usages, customs and mode of -living of these mountaineers. But their Russian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> -tongue and their ancient faith they preserved in -all their pristine purity.... To this day the -kinship between certain Cossack families and the -Chechentzes is clearly recognizable and a love -of freedom and idleness, a delight in raiding and -warfare are their chief characteristics. Their -love of display in dress is an imitation of the -Circassians. The Cossack procures his admirable -weapons from his mountaineer neighbours, and -also buys or ‘lifts’ his best horses from them. -All Cossacks are fond of boasting of their knowledge -of the Tatar tongue. At the same time this -small Christian people considers itself highly -developed, and the Cossack only as a full human -being. They despise all other nationalities.... -Every Cossack has his own vineyard, and presses -his own wine, and his immoderate drinking is -not so much due to inclination as to sacred -custom, to neglect which would be regarded as -a kind of apostasy.... Women he looks upon -as a means for promoting his prosperity. Only -the young girls are allowed by him to enjoy any -leisure: from a married woman he demands -a life of drudgery from early youth to old age, -and he is quite Oriental in expecting deference and -hard work from his wife.... The Cossack who -considers it unbefitting in the presence of -strangers to exchange a kind or affectionate -word with his wife involuntarily feels her -superiority as soon as he is alone with her. -For the whole of his house and farm are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> -acquired through her and maintained by her -labour and care....”</p> - -<p>Between these extremes of Northern and -Southern Russia, the Great Russian stands out -like a beacon or an indestructible landmark. He -represents the <em>purest</em> type of the Russian people, -the children of “matyushfia Moskva.” Whatever -Russia has produced in the way of true -greatness in every sense of the words, has its -cradle in Great Russia, and has been nursed at -the breast of Mother Moskva. This truly Russian -people inhabits the huge central tracts of Russia, -and the governments of Moskva and Novgorod -are their particular home. The Russian faith -owes its beauty, the Russian ideal its purity to -this people, and to the race they have given the -<em>All-Slav Ideal</em>. And they are the only Russian -people whose soul has two faces, an outer and an -inner one. The Russian sculptor Tsukoff has -symbolized them in a figure resembling a sunflower. -It is as well to know that the Great -Russian cannot live without sunflower-seeds. -He calls them “podsolnushki.” Everything is -smothered in “podsolnushki” shells—streets, -floors of rooms and railway carriages, even the -corners in the churches. Every Great Russian -munches “podsolnushki,” and by temperament -he himself is a “podsolnushki.” He has an outer -shell and a kernel. In Russia the sunflower is -queen of the flowers, and as the sunflower is -among the flowers so is the Great Russian among<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> -the Russian peoples. He is the true “tsarkiya -Rus.” The Tsar is the sun, the heart of the -realm, and the Muscovite people are the “podsolnushki.” -Each individual is only one among -many, a particle, a seed for the propagation and -glorification of his own race. Probably, the Great -Russian has no equal in the world as regards -idyllic simplicity. Not because he munches -“podsolnushki,” crosses himself in tram-cars -when passing a church, goes about in big boots -in the heat of summer, and drinks vodka, wine -and beer without regard to time or season, but -because he is a true yeoman soul. He is quite -indifferent to all that does not interest him -personally. The surface of his soul is as hard -and impervious as the shell of the sunflower seed. -His face wears an imperturbable, changeless -expression. To reach the kernel of his <em>human</em> -soul one has to discard every formality, thrust -aside every obstacle, and <em>bite</em> into it as if it were -a sunflower seed. If you abuse him roundly and -“have it out” with him, he suddenly shows -himself in his true colours, the best and kindliest -of souls; but if you handle him with kid gloves -you will never get a glimpse of his inner nature. -As an acquaintance the charm of the Great -Russian consists chiefly in his sudden transition -from sharp resistance to an unexpected exhibition -of gentle, unaffected loveableness. The Great -Russian has a strong natural talent for philosophy, -but, metaphorically speaking, his philosophy is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> -as vegetarian as his cooking has largely remained -to this day. There is a scent of dried herbs, -new-mown hay, and southern-wood about it; it -recalls dark forests where the sunlight, piercing -the rifts between the tree-tops, shines with golden-blue, -unearthly splendour—a ray of the light -Divine. His philosophy is innocent of blood -like the saints of the old ikons.</p> - -<p>This Great Russian people is the flower of -Russia, the Sunflower, whose golden petals point -the way for the future of the whole Russian -nation.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>The problem of Russian culture has its roots -in the Russian <em>people</em>, and not in the educated -classes. The desire for culture has emanated -from the people themselves, and the spirit they -evinced has pointed the way for the educated -classes in the great struggle for national culture -within recent years. The educated man is the -interpreter of the popular demand for culture, -and of the intellectual wealth dwelling in the soul -and mind of the Russian people. Almost the -whole of Russian art and literature is derived from -this source, and it has never shown the world so -much the genius of the poet, painter, or the -sculptor in question, as the genius of the Russian -people that produced him; and the best that is -revealed in Russian art is the face of the Russian -soul with its manifold aspects of thinker, philosopher, -and purely human being. Dostoievski,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> -Tolstoi, Gogol, Gontsharoff, Tshekhoff, Gorki and -Andreeff in poetry; Repin, Vasnetsoff, Tsukoff, -Troubetzkoy and many others in the pictorial arts;—all -have learnt what they had to tell from the -soul of the people and the <em>wisdom</em> of this soul; -and the Great Russian musicians have used the -voice of the people throughout for the expression -of their art. They are all of them merely interpreters -of the rich fund of culture, the latent -culture of the Russian people. This latent -culture, in conjunction with the holy Russian -faith, has advanced towards the highest development -of human dignity and nobility, towards -peace founded not upon blood, but upon love. -The abuse the Germans have heaped upon -Russian barbarism is merely the outcome of -envious rage on the part of an inferior, who sees -his artificial pseudo-culture endangered by another -culture which blossoms from the depths of the -human heart.</p> - -<p>The non-Russian Slavs stood for a long time -under the influence of German culture. With -their characteristic aggressiveness the Germans -represented their culture as the high-water mark -of civilization and inculcated it everywhere with -the same violence which at present distinguishes -the advance of their invading hordes. Even -nations possessing a peerless millennial culture, -like the French and Italians, have found it difficult -to escape their influence. But a sham must -inevitably die of its own exposure. Every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> -people, every nation has its own peculiar -susceptibility, a kind of instinctive taste, which -refuses to tolerate anything that does not appeal -to its soul, and could act destructively upon it. -The peoples of the West have for some time past -boycotted the “Williamitic” culture, and only -sundry isolated Slav peoples have admitted it—principally -those who were practically dependent -on Germany, and whose native culture was -forcibly suppressed. The result was that a few -years ago a non-Russian Slav knew his sentimental -Schiller better than his Dante, Lenau better than -his Pushkin, Kleist better than Shakespeare, and -Gottfried Keller better than Dostoievski. In -the Slav schools in Austria-Hungary the German -language is obligatory as the official language -(the other languages are to this day not permitted -in the schools), German history is taught -as the standard of national greatness and civilization -and German literature and art as practically -unique and unequalled. All that bore the hallmark -“Made in Germany” was inculcated as -ideal. Thus it was not at all strange that German -culture has for a long time predominated among -these Slavs. But the Slav instinct always -hated this culture, though at first unconsciously, -and sensed it as a false and treacherous enemy. -Then Russia began her intellectual campaign -among the Slavs. At first it was an uphill -struggle, for the Government authorities placed -every possible obstacle in the way of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> -propaganda. But when the Slav peoples realized -that the Russian influence could only reach them -as forbidden fruit, they began greatly to desire it. -To the power of the State they opposed the -power of their will and their instincts. This -struggle is still in progress, but it has been -uniformly successful in favour of the Russian -influence. During the ’eighties the results of -this influence began to show fruit, and since -that time Slav intellectual and educational -development has safely entered the fairway of -Russian intellectualism. Art and literature have -followed the lines laid down by Russia, and -become more definitely Slavonic. The latent -mental wealth and resources of the Slav nations -have come to the surface and appear pure and -unaffected and entirely free from German “angularity,” -while their social problems betray a -distinct kinship with the Russian social movement. -In recent years this process of emancipation -and affiliation has so far developed that it -has entered the field of politics and materialized -in the <em>Russian protectorate over all the Slavs</em>. -This, however, required no propaganda—it arose -out of itself, as will appear in the chapters dealing -with the other Slav nations.</p> -<hr /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span></p> - -<h3>CHAPTER III.<br /><br /> - -<small>RUSSIAN NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.</small></h3> - -<p class="indent f85">Russian Slavdom—The Mir—Stress and Famine—The -Duma—Russian Literature—Gogol, Tolstoi, Dostoievski—Realistic -Ideals—The Russian Soul.</p> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> eminent Russian publicist Menschikoff, in -one of his works on Russian nationalism, writes -the following: “In a world-wide sense only we -Russians are Slavs and—unfortunately—so far -no one else. The other Slav nationalities are so -dismembered, so stupidly and artificially kept -apart and hostile among themselves, that they -scarcely count either politically or otherwise. -The majority of the Outer Slav nations are still -under the German, Hungarian or Turkish yoke, -and at present they are quite unable to shake -off this yoke. There are many reasons for the -decline of the Western Slavs, but the principal -one is the <em>negative</em> type of their character and -the consequent tendency to dissensions and -mutual jealousies.... Even as regards national -culture, Russia—in spite of all her internal -miseries—takes the lead among the Slav nations. -In every respect she has the right to say: ‘I -am Slavdom.<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span>’”</p> - -<p>The somewhat bitter tone adopted towards -the other Slav nations in this dictum might easily -be modified by an appeal to evidence, but, for -all that, Menschikoff’s remarks are correct in -essentials. The truth of his assertion as to the -world-wide importance of the Russians and the -relative unimportance of the other Slavs to-day -must be freely admitted. And that is why a -special interest attaches to the question of the -Russian people. It is too early in the day to -judge of the full significance of the Russians as -a factor in the world’s development, for they -have scarcely yet come into their own. The birth -of the Russian people has been in progress for -the last century. First the head appeared—<em>Russian -literature</em>, and then slowly, deliberately, -the giant body—the <em>Russian people</em>, who are -gradually attaining to political and national -self-consciousness.</p> - -<p>Till 1861 the Russian people led an embryonic -existence within the womb of Holy Mother -Russia. A nobility of mixed Mongolian, German, -British, French and even Negroid (Pushkin) -stock ate, breathed and thought for the people. -Most foreigners imagine that the Russian people -were “emancipated” in 1861. But this emancipation -was only partial, and more apparent than -real; for though serfdom had been abolished, -there still remained the heavier yoke of the “Mir”—a -conservative, iron-bound institution, which has -greatly hindered the development of the Russian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> -people by restricting the liberty of the individual. -Strictly speaking, the “Mir” was the village or -parish, but in an economic sense it was the -association of several families under one head. -The Slavophil writers, Homiakoff and the brothers -Kirieyevaki, with their followers down to Pobyedonszeff -saw in the “Mir” a guarantee, not -only for the welfare of Russia, but for all the -world. They believed the “Mir” to be that -economic communism and moral brotherhood -which Western Social Democracy is vainly trying -to discover in other ways. They held that the -“Mir” was destined to assure the future of -the Russian people and to afford it the means -of solving all the social problems of the world -in accordance with the laws of justice and of -love. Russian literature is full of poems, treatises, -and religious contemplations in praise of it. -Even the greatest Russian minds, such as Dostoievski -himself, were smitten with this idea. -No “Western” doctrine was potent to disabuse -the Russians of their fallacy. Nature herself -had to come to the rescue, destroy the chimera -and lead Russia back to the high road of common -sense and progress.</p> - -<p>It happened very simply. The periodic famine -arose in Russia, and the vast Empire, the -“granary of the world,” had no bread for -millions of her honest, hard-working children. -They could not understand how there could be -a famine in a fertile, sparsely populated country,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> -whilst the teeming populations of the Western -countries had enough to eat. The starving Russian -people argued that the famine was caused -by an insufficiency of <em>land</em>, and that they had -been cozened in 1861 when the land was divided -up between the nobles and the peasants. The -result was a growing ill-feeling against the -ruling classes, to whom the peasantry still had -to pay “redemption-dues” either in money or -in kind. In accordance with ancient custom -the “Mir” periodically divided the land among -its members. Obviously, in many communities -there was not enough land for each member. -Result—Famine. The “Mir” was self-governing, -and had the same powers over its -members as formerly the lord of the soil. It -exercised a paternal jurisdiction, punished with -blows, or with banishment to Siberia, divided -the land, collected taxes, issued travellers’ passes, -and often made itself arbitrarily unpleasant. -During the ’nineties it became increasingly -evident that the “Mir” constituted a moral -and material danger to the people. Poor harvests -followed by famine were the bane of the -people from 1871 till 1907 and even as lately -as 1911.</p> - -<p>Space forbids me to enter into the agrarian -crises—questions of reform, experiments and -reactions, which loom so large in the pages of -modern Russian history. Suffice it to say that -all this led up to the revolution in 1905, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> -in consequence of this revolution the Government -decided upon a step it might equally well have -taken in 1861. In 1906 the Government decided -partially to dissolve the “Mirs,” and by establishing -freehold farm properties owned by <em>individuals</em> -it created the yeoman farmer class -with full civic rights. This reform which was -only fully carried through in 1911, marks the -beginning of a new political era for the Russian -man of the people. It is still too soon to feel -the consequences of this truly great reform to -their full extent. The Russian peasant has -scarcely got used to his new position of individual -freedom, and has not yet learnt to give -effect to his political and social will. There -can be no question of a constitution so long as the -“Muzhik” has not attained to the full stature -of a citizen and agriculturist. In Russia we -speak of a “first Duma,” a “second Duma,” a -“third Duma,” whereas no one in the rest of -Europe would speak of a “first,” “second,” or -“third” Parliament, but simply of “the Parliament.” -These “first,” “second,” “third” and -now “fourth” Dumas are simply so many editions -of one and the same Duma, with each edition -more rigorously pruned by the Government, till -the merest shadow is all that remains. At this -moment the entire social structure of Russia is -analogous to this Duma-system. The Russian -world of intellect is no more entitled to represent -the Russian people, than the fourth Duma is to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> -represent the first. The Russian intellectuals -may speak in the name of the people, but their -word is really no better than a third-hand -account. Even when there is no attempt at -falsification, they always stand at a certain -distance from the people. Whatever the great -Russian realists have written concerning their -own people is merely intuitive conjecture from -a distance. A poet projects his own world into -the people. The psychology of the great Russian -writers of fiction is a <em>tendency</em>, an illusion based -not on exact, but on intuitive knowledge of the -people. Russian realism borders on the visionary, -and on mysticism. Europe has hitherto failed -to discern the actual foundations of this poetry -in its relation to Russian life, and has simply -allowed herself to be fascinated by the “keen -psychology” of the writers. The result has been -a false impression. The facts are really different—instead -of <em>real truthfulness</em> we find in the Russian -writer a realistic tendency, a <em>real ethical resentment</em>; -thence the increased “keenness” of his -psychology, the critical touch in his imagination, -which gives such a striking effect of verisimilitude. -European critics have never detected the seam -in the fabric of the Russian novel; they have -accepted the masterpiece as the outcome of a -single creative inspiration. Even though Russian -realism comes nearer to life than that of any -other literature, still it is more art than life.</p> - -<p>Proof of this is to be found in Gogol’s private<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> -correspondence. He frequently complained that -nobody would send him “copy” from Russian -life. He begs in vain for hints, anecdotes and -descriptions; he has to “invent” his stories, -and is ashamed of having to “deceive” his -reader. In his immortal comedy, “The Revising -Inspector,” Gogol satirizes his own “untruthfulness,” -and in Hlestakoff, the great adventurer, -who is mistaken by every one for the real revising -inspector, he ridicules himself. For the sake of -the people Gogol consents to play the “revising -inspector!” But Gogol’s “untruthfulness” is -simply creative genius. An eminent Tolstoi -student, Osvianiko-Kulikovsky, has plainly -asserted that even Tolstoi was not of the soul -of the people but of the soul of the gentry. -Tolstoi is a “<em>barin</em>” (landlord) and he thinks -and feels only as a <em>barin</em>. Turgenyeff was -blamed even during his lifetime for writing -about Russia without knowing it; for he practically -never lived in Russia.</p> - -<p>The inmost soul of the Russian people has, -however, found an excellent representative in -Dostoievski. “Do not judge the Russian people”—pleads -Dostoievski—“by the atrocious deeds -of which they have often been guilty, but by -those great and holy matters to which they aspire -in their depravity. And not all the people are -depraved. There are saints among them, who -shed their light upon all, to show them the way.”</p> - -<p>Dostoievski himself was such a light and such a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> -saint. His works reflect the character of the -Russian clearly and faithfully as it is:</p> - -<p>“In the Russian man of the people one must -discriminate between his innate beauty and the -product of barbarism. Owing to the events of -the whole history of Russia, the Russian has been -at the mercy of every depraving influence, he has -been so abused and tortured that it is a miracle -that he has preserved the human countenance, -let alone his beauty. But he has actually -retained his beauty ... and in all the Russian -people there is not one swindler or scoundrel -who does not know that he is mean and vile.”</p> - -<p>Dostoievski further adds: “No! The Russian -people must not be judged by <em>what they are</em>, -but by <em>what they aspire to be</em>. The strong and -sacred ideals, which have been their salvation -from the age of suffering, are deeply -rooted in the Russian soul from the very beginning, -and these ideals have endowed this -soul for all time with simplicity and honesty, -with sincerity, and a broad, receptive good -sense,—all in perfect harmony.”</p> - -<p>Concerning the part the Russian people are -destined to play in the world, Dostoievski wrote -the following:</p> - -<p>“The Russian people is a strange phenomenon -in the history of mankind. Their character is -so different from that of the other peoples of -Europe that to this day Europeans have failed -to understand it, and misconstrue it at every turn.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span> -All Europeans move towards the same goal. -But they differ in their fundamental interests, -which involve them in collisions and antagonisms, -whereby they are driven to go different ways. -The ideal of a universal humanity is steadily -fading from among them. The Russian people -possess a notable advantage over the other -European nations,—a remarkable peculiarity. -The Russians possess the synthetic faculty in -a high degree—the gift of feeling <em>at one</em> with -the universe and a universal humanity. <em>The -Russian has none of the European angularity, he -possesses the gift of discernment and of generosity -of soul.</em> He can adapt himself to anything and -he can <em>understand</em>. He has a feeling for all -that is human, <em>regardless of race</em>, <em>nationality</em> or -<em>fundamental ideas</em>. He finds and readily admits -reasonableness in all that contains even a vestige -of true human instinct. By this instinct he -can trace the human element in other nationalities -even in exceptional cases. He accepts -them at once, seeks to approximate them to his -own ideas, ‘places’ them in his own mind, and -often succeeds in finding a starting-point for -reconciling the conflicting ideas of two different -European nations.”<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">4</a></p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span></p> -<p>This characteristic is so general and so true, -that all other opinions on the character of a -great people must take second place. It finds -room for the Cossack with his nagaika and for -Tolstoi with his gospel. It embraces every -aspect of the human soul. Dostoievski himself -possessed the synthetic faculty, the wonderful -gift of universal understanding. He could make -it clear that a crime may be a holy deed, and -holiness mere prostitution, even as he succeeded -in fusing Russian Christianity with the Tatar -“Karat”<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> in one soul. Whence came all these -paradoxes in the one man? On one occasion -he wrote: “I am struggling with my petty -creditors as <em>Laokoon wrestled with the serpents</em>. -I urgently require fifteen roubles. Only fifteen. -These fifteen roubles will give me relief, and I -shall be better able to work.” Here lies the -secret of the Russian synthesis in Dostoievski. -Mental work is restricted by hard external -circumstances. The inherent tendency to despond -when in trouble is one of the greatest -dangers to the Russian. He would fain lead -the contemplative life, and hesitates “to take -up arms against a sea of troubles.” To combat -this he has had to lash himself into a state of -hard practical efficiency. The Russian must -grow strong against himself before he can again -take up his ideal of an aggressive inner life. -It is once more a case of Laokoon and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> -serpents. For this very reason Tolstoi’s teaching -did not appeal to Dostoievski. When he had -read a few sentences of this doctrine he clutched -his head and cried: “No, not that, anything -but that!” A few days later he was dead, and -the world will never know what was gathering -in his mind against the great heretic. But -Dostoievski’s works are really in themselves a -most vehement refutation of the Nazarene -doctrine—it is as if he had prophetically discerned -Tolstoi. Dostoievski solves the contrast -between European culture and Christianity in -accordance with both the Church and culture. -He bows before the miracle, the mystery, and -authority, and thus creates the union between -material culture and Christian culture. He accepts -the world as a whole, even as the Russian -people take it.</p> - -<p>Tolstoi denies the divinity of Christ and the -entire synthesis of Russian philosophy. But -even Tolstoi could only have been born in Russia. -Personally he liked being accepted by the -Russian peasants as one of themselves. The -figure of the “Muzhik” is inseparable from -Tolstoi’s doctrine, because Tolstoi’s doctrine is -inseparable from the Russian people. It lives -in the Great Submerged, who are as far removed -from Western culture in fact as Tolstoi himself -is in theory. Russian law courts have to deal -every day with people who refuse to pay taxes, -to serve in the army, or to acknowledge the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> -“pravoslav” clerical authority. The Church -calls these people “Shkoptzi,” “Molokami,” or -“Hlisti.” There are about twenty million of -them. They style themselves “White doves,” -“The New Israel,” “Doukhobortzi.” In principle -they are “pure Christians” like Tolstoi. Both -have the same “tone” of soul. Dostoievski -says of Tolstoi that he was one of those who fix -their eyes on one point, and cannot see what -happens to the right or to the left of that; and -if they <em>do</em> wish to see it they have to turn with -their whole body, as they invariably move -their <em>whole</em> soul also in one direction only. This -correctly observed obstinacy is the very opposite -to the synthetic gift and generosity of soul -mentioned before, and this peculiarity of the -Russian mind has often been called “Maximalism,” -to denote the rigid criterion, which -loves no happy mean, but always goes to the -utter extreme.</p> - -<p>Many Western writers, among them the British -author Bering, have asserted that the Slavs have -no strength of will. This view is erroneous and -harmonizes neither with Tolstoi’s tendency to -extremes, nor with Dostoievski’s universal -charity. It applies only to such phenomena in -Slav life as are accessible to the European -tourist, as, for instance, technical undertakings -and colonial enterprise; for in this matter the -Slav is naturally not so well qualified as the -Englishman.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span></p> - -<p>The Russian soul, and consequently the -character of the Russian people, is many-sided -and paradoxical in its obstinacy and its generosity. -It is the historical outcome of such extremes as -are represented by yellow positivist Mongolism, -and gentle altruistic Christianity. But the soul -of the Russian people has not yet clearly found -itself, like the souls of the Western nations; -first, because the head has not yet acquired -control over the body; secondly, because the -work of enlightenment and emancipation is -only being completed by the present war. -Hitherto it has laboured in its birth-throes. It -has been a Laokoon wrestling with serpents.</p> -<hr /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span></p> - -<h3>CHAPTER IV.<br /><br /> - -<small>POLAND AND BOHEMIA.</small></h3> - -<p class="indent f85">I. The Contrast—National Character of the Poles—Our -Lady of Csenstochova—Dancing Peasants—Galician -Poles—Selfish Policy—Austria a Slav -State.</p> - -<p class="indent f85">II. The Poles in Russia—Russia’s Repressive Measures—The -Slav Ideal—A Better Understanding—The -Poles in Prussia—The Iron Heel—Law of -Expropriation.</p> - -<p class="indent f85">III. Csech Characteristics—Professor Masaryk—Jan -Huss—Slav Puritans—The Hradćin—Modern -Politics.</p> - -<h4>I.</h4> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Roughly</span> speaking the Group of the Northern -Slavs includes twenty million Poles and eight -million Csechs. Numerically, therefore, they are -the greatest of the unliberated Slav peoples. -Bohemia and her sister-country Moravia are -under Austrian rule, while Poland has been -dismembered and partitioned between Russia, -Germany and Austria. At one time both -countries were great and flourishing, and played -a prominent part in history. In 1526 the Csechs<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> -acknowledged the Hapsburgs as their ruler,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> and -Bohemia’s political decay and gradual loss of -independence date both from this point. The -first partition of Poland in 1772 deprived the -Republic of liberty. Her dismemberment was -finally completed and sealed by the third partition -in 1795, and henceforth the Poles were even -deprived of the possibility of co-operating as -a nation.</p> - -<p>The Csechs and Poles have both passed through -a national tragedy, but of the two the Polish -tragedy makes a stronger appeal to the imagination, -because of the contrast between their -former greatness and their present position, the -high level of their culture, and the lofty principles -at stake in the Great Polish Revolution. The -Poles fell victims to the foreign yoke just as their -civilization, their culture, and their <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">esprit</em> were -on the fairway to rival the intellectual splendours -of France under Louis XIV. They were a -brilliant people—mentally and intellectually refined, -but physically decadent, and quite incapable -of surviving their political freedom. They yielded -to listless sentimentality and bewailed their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> -lost greatness instead of fighting to retrieve -it. You may love the Poles with your <em>heart</em> -but never with your reason! In this they are -the very antithesis to the Csechs whom you -cannot love except with your reason. You -may admire them for the culture they have so -laboriously won, but you cannot love them for it.</p> - -<p>To the German and Austrian the Csech presents -a comic type. But no one looks upon the Pole -as comic; you hate him or you love him, but -you cannot ridicule him—there is something -great and tragic about him. The Russians who -hate him for <em>political</em> reasons are fired by religious -fanaticism. They hate the Jesuitical principles -of the Pole. The Germans hate the Polish -want of management, and “Polnische Wirtschaft” -(“Polish management”) is a German idiom. -But no one would insult Polish idealism and -the innate nobility of the Pole. He compares -with the Csech as Don Quixote with Sancho -Panza. He is a dreamer and visionary who -prostrates himself before an invisible shrine and -awaits the miracle of salvation and liberation. -This life of dreams has endowed the modern -Pole with hyper-sensitive nerves, dogmatic onesidedness, -and extreme passivity. Lost in the -contemplation of their royal past, the Polish people -wait in breathless silence for the first bird-note -to herald the dawn of freedom that shall dispel -the night of tribulation.</p> - -<p>But, while the conscience of the nation lan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span>guishes, -crucified in the bitter suffering of a -Messianic ideal, the Masses—the common people—are -sane and sturdy; they live and multiply -far removed from the griefs of the Classes. Their -hard life has made them dull and unfeeling; -caught in a world of factories, mines, and social -democracy, they are only interested in their -own immediate concerns and personal pleasures. -Anything beyond that they expect from the -mediation of “Bogarodjitza” (Mother of -God).</p> - -<p>Wijspianski, a fine Polish dramatist, has strikingly -sketched the national character in one -single scene in his play “Wesele” (The Wedding). -The people are dancing their Polonaise and -Mazurka, with gay cockades and ribands on -their shoulders. The pretty bride leads off with -her herculean bridegroom. Suddenly Yasiek -rushes in upon the dancers and cries, “To arms! -rise and rebel, for Poland!” But the couples—as -if bewitched—continue to dance the <em>national</em> -measure. Yasiek, bitterly disappointed, sees his -hopes blighted and, choked with despair, he -sinks to the ground. But the couples go on -dancing, and he is <em>trampled to death</em> by the feet -of those whom he came to lead to freedom. -This scene epitomises the position of affairs in -modern Poland—the despair of the great lord -with his pedigree, broad acres, and capital, who -has absolutely no hold over the plain people -because they have turned away from him. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> -have lost their rights, their land and their traditions; -the only link between the two is the -Catholic ideal, the ideal of <em>Polish</em> Catholicism, -which is hallowed in the image of Our Lady of -Csenstochova, whose brow is encircled with the -crown of the ancient Queens of Poland.</p> - -<p>The younger generation in Poland has realized -that this link between the Classes and Masses -must rest on a surer foundation.</p> - -<p>Between the aristocracy and the masses has -arisen the class of the <em>educated poor</em>. These -people are mainly of Russian descent, but the -sons of Polish Jews form an important proportion -and have acquired considerable influence, chiefly -in the journalistic world. This young Poland -saw itself confronted by a great vanished Polish -age of romanticists and poets, with pronounced -aristocratic and Catholic sentiments. The whole -intellectual struggle of the modern democratic -generation consists in an attempt to find contact -with this past. Science also is endeavouring to -reconcile the spirit of the present with the spirit of -the past, and hopes to prepare the future development -of an individualistic Polish culture on this -foundation.</p> - -<p>The contrast between German and Polish -culture is the contrast between the culture of the -masses and the culture of the individual. The -principal social feature in mediæval Germany was -<em>feudalism</em>. Germany was ruled by a number of -feudal <em>princes</em>, Poland by a number of aristocratic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> -<em>families</em>. But this <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</em> proved disastrous to -Poland. A state where individuals rule by -mutual consent is bound to develop differently -from one where families rule without any mutual -consent. In the expansive Western monarchies -the power of the State increased, while the -aristocratic republic of Poland steadily declined. -The main reason for this difference probably lies -in the geographical position of Poland. It lay -too far from the West—too far from Rome and -its culture.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>The province of Galicia, which fell to Austria’s -share by the partition of Poland, undoubtedly -fared better than the rest of the country. It is -inhabited by 4,252,483 Poles and 3,381,570 -Ruthenes (including Bukovina). As geographical -and racial neighbours of the Csechs, who were -already displaying the greatest determination in -their national struggle, the great population bade -fair to become a danger to Austrian policy. -Vienna was quick to realize this, and arranged -her tactics towards the Poles accordingly. As -soon as the Russian and German Poles began to -be down-trodden, it was an easy matter to dispose -of any separatist tendency among the Austrian -Poles by reminding them of the position of their -brothers. At home the Government began by -fomenting the national discord between the Poles -and the Ruthenes. It neglected the latter in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> -favour of the Poles, and absolutely disregarded -their reasonable claims. The Poles were not only -granted great national and political concessions; -they became the Slav favourite of the Viennese -ministry. Not only were they represented by -their own “<em lang="de" xml:lang="de">Landmannsminister</em>” (“the Secretary -for Galicia,” so to say), but one other important -portfolio (usually that of Finance) was always -entrusted to a Pole.</p> - -<p>The Poles were quite content with this position -and supported Austrian policy accordingly. As -this policy is above all things anti-Slav, this -meant that the most chivalrous of all the Slav -nations became a tool in the hands of Slavdom’s -chief oppressor. This was partly due to the fact -that this staunchly Catholic people is surrounded -by non-Catholic enemies—by Protestant Germans -on the one hand and Orthodox Russians on the -other. Moreover, they look upon Catholicism as -the one safe harbor—hence their attachment to -Roman Catholic Austria. Here also lies the clue -to Polish views, their sympathies and antipathies. -But there is no justification for this position. -Catholicism is not a Slav national religion, and -can never become part of the soul of a Slav -people. Strictly speaking, it is responsible for -the decline of part of the Slav race. <em>All</em> Catholic -Slav countries up to date have been in captivity, -whereas <em>all</em> such Slavs as have retained their -national orthodox religion are <em>free</em>. It is quite -natural that the Poles should cling to Catholicism<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span> -as an acquired religion which appeals to them, -but they should not have used it as a national -and traditional basis for their attitude towards the -rest of the Slavs. It is a mistake which has done -little good to their own national aspirations, -and incalculable harm to the Slav cause.</p> - -<p>In many Slav circles there is a tendency to -ascribe this attitude of the Poles, not to their Messianic -ideal, but to a purely individual egotism. -This view is at least partially true, were it only -because Polish politics are not the politics of -the nation, but of the ruling class. The Polish -aristocracy, who were unable to forget their -past glories, saw in the feudal and aristocratic -principles of the Austrian Government a possibility -of retaining their position in the Dual -Monarchy. They made full use of their opportunities -even while (in theory) they were careful -to guard Polish national interests. This aristocracy -had no feeling for the common Slav cause, -and whenever they had a chance of authority -(Goluchowski, Bilinski) they have proved themselves -a positive danger to the cause. That -this aristocracy has cast its spell over the greater -part of the educated classes and formed political -parties as it chose is due to the inherent moral -dependence of the Pole upon his aristocracy;—snobbery -is as much a disease with him as -Roman Catholicism. Not however among the -common people are they always the heedless -dancers of Wijspianski’s drama. They allow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> -everything to pass <em>over</em> them, and only trample -upon that which happens to lie beneath their -feet. Moreover, their inmost soul is rich in the -true Slav qualities; but this wealth is hidden -as in a fast-locked casket, and there it will lie -until the radiant smile of the “Mother of -God” of Csenstochova shall miraculously reveal -it.</p> - -<p>For a long time Polish politics have disturbed -the Slav balance in the Dual Monarchy. The -Austro-Hungarian monarchy is properly a Slav -State in the fullest sense of the word. According -to official statistics 22,821,864 out of 51,351,531 -souls are Slavs. The ruling races, Germans -and Hungarians, number 21,259,644 between -them, and the remainder are accounted for by -Roumanians, Italians and other nationalities. It -must be pointed out that Slavs living in Hungary -(especially in Baczka and in the Banat) are—much -against their will—simply entered in the -census as Hungarians, and that in like manner -hundreds of thousands of Slavs in Bohemia, -Carinthia, Styria and Carniola are put down as -Germans. Protests against these proceedings -pass unheeded, and Slav National Census Unions -were formed to check the Governmental statistics; -according to these more than 50 per cent. -of the entire population are Slavs. This percentage -is proportionately increased if we further -include the Slav emigrants in Australia and -America. These number about five million, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> -would doubtless return to their homes if more -tolerable conditions could be procured.</p> - -<p>And yet this Monarchy aspires to be anything -but a Slav State. German and Magyar rule has -sought to swamp the Slav element in every -possible way. Following Metternich’s principle -“<em>divide et impera</em>” the Slavs were divided into -two “spheres.” The Northern Slavs were handed -over to Austrian autocracy, and the Southern -Slavs to Magyar plutocracy. Thus it came to pass -that <em>9 million Germans</em> rule <em>15 million Slavs</em>, -and 10 million Magyars, Jews, or spurious Magyars -rule 7-1/2 million Slavs.</p> - -<p>Even if theoretically the balance of power -seems more rational in the Hungarian sphere, -in the Austrian it is plainly absurdly disproportionate. -And here the Poles were the straw -in the balance which decided in favour of German -hegemony. If the Poles had recognized their -duty to their own race the Slav question would -long ago have been on a better footing. A just -understanding with the Ruthenes and a joint -national struggle with the Csechs would certainly -have broken German supremacy, or forced -it to accord more tolerable conditions to all -the Slavs. But the Galician Poles have never -done anything for the Slav cause in the Monarchy, -but rather sought to curry favour with the -Government in Vienna, and, by repudiating -their kinship, to obtain concessions for their -own negative national ideals, and for their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> -intellectual and economic development. Austria -had no objection to this platonic nationalism so -long as the Poles by their pro-German policy -supported her in oppressing the other Slavs.</p> - -<p>The Csechs and Ruthenes have been specially -handicapped in their national struggle by the -attitude of the Poles. And the result was -an implacable enmity between the Poles and the -Ruthenes, which was, if anything, encouraged by -the Government. In this struggle the Ruthenes -undoubtedly fared the worse. They are in a -national minority in Galicia, and unmercifully -oppressed by the Poles, who hate them all the -more for being the descendants of the hated Russians -(Little Russians) and because they refused -to conceal their sympathy with Russia. The -Ruthenes fought hard for the right to speak -their own tongue and have their own school -system. But the Poles were ruthlessly opposed -to these demands, which were in consequence also -denied by the Government. The struggle finally -degenerated into wholesale denunciations of the -Ruthenes by the Poles, who accused their enemies -of high treason and conspiracy with Russia.</p> - -<p>It must, however, be admitted that even among -the Poles there were many who deeply deplored -this fratricidal struggle, and did their utmost to -induce the Northern Slavs of the Monarchy to -combine in the common cause. Time and -again the Csech patriots urged the desirability -of a union, and, as similar appeals came from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span> -other Slav countries also, the realization of a -true <em>Pan-Slav</em> and <em>democratic</em> ideal often seemed -imminent. The spectre of <em>Pan-Germanism</em>, waiting -like some ravenous monster to devour the -Slav nations limb by limb, appeared even to -the Poles, but unscrupulous politicians, bureaucratic -upstarts, and slippery diplomats from -Vienna conjured up the bogey of <em>Russification</em> -to alarm them, and all patriotic efforts were in -vain.</p> - -<p>Still it is psychologically interesting that a -Slav race through fear of Russification should -have thrown itself into the arms of—Germanism.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<h4>II.</h4> - -<p>The favoured position of the Poles in Austria -contrasts sharply with that of their brothers in -Russia and Germany. They were oppressed in -every way;—Russian <em>official</em> policy towards the -Poles bears all the stamp of autocratic tyranny. -Their political rights are restricted to a minimum, -and as regards civil rights they are nearly as -badly off as the Russian Jews. Still it is characteristic -that the reason for this oppression lay, -not in the national, but in the religious element. -Roman Catholicism, which was an advantage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> -to the Austrian, proved a misfortune to the -Russian Poles. For the Russian looks upon -Catholicism as the very antithesis to his conception -of the Slav ideal. Pravo-Slav Russia, -with her ancient, wondrously pure Slavo-religious -traditions, and all the warmth of her faith, could -not take kindly to the haughty, frigidly cold -Catholic Poles. The great political power of -the Holy Synod, the supreme (unfortunately -too clerical) representative body of this faith, -exercised an influence adverse to the Polish -people, and the Russian Government, which only -too often has been the mere executive of the -will of the Holy Synod, established an autocratic -<em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</em> with far-reaching national and personal -restrictions. The first result of this policy was -unmitigated hatred on the part of the Poles, -and a craving for vengeance and freedom. The -Russian Poles intrigued with their Austrian -brothers, and envied them their favoured position. -But the only support the Austrian Poles vouchsafed -their brothers was that they applied the -Russian methods of oppression to the Ruthenes.</p> - -<p>Whoever knows anything of Russia’s repressive -measures, will realize that the Poles were in a -hard case. Owing to the passive character -of the Poles their struggles were never sufficiently -organized to assume the proportions of -a well organized revolution. But oppression has -strengthened their national self-reliance, their -ideals have burned more brightly, and a longing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> -for freedom has entirely dominated them. Still, -even now, they are far more inclined to wait -for the miracle than to bestir themselves on -their own behalf; and if in recent years their -position has somewhat improved, it is not so -much due to their own efforts as to the wave of -modern thought among the Russians themselves.</p> - -<p>The <em>Russian Governmental</em> policy made no -distinction between the Poles and her Russian -subjects who were thirsting for social regeneration. -So the Russians discovered for themselves -that they had to seek the friendship and collaboration -of the Poles. The wide horizon of the -modern Russian movement will not permit the -exclusion of a single capable member of the -Tsar’s great realm from the benefits of the future. -Not only the Russian people, but the whole -of Russia had to be won over to the cause of the -great ideal. The regeneration of Russia was to -herald the regeneration of the whole of the Slav -race, and the Poles as Slavs had a right to help in -this work. The Russians have always said that -they are very fond of the Poles, but that they -are not sufficiently <em>Slav</em>—they ought to be -Slavicized. The Russian Government sought to -accomplish this by violence, whereas the <em>Russian -people</em>, represented by the Russian revolutionaries, -chose the better path of mutual understanding -and respect. Of course, the official policy of the -Holy Synod is still in force, and although the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> -constitutional manifesto and the Duma have -brought about certain changes, these are at -present quite unimportant. The Poles, however, -are winning an increasing number of friends and -advocates among the Russians, who are pleading -for equal rights and a constitution for Poland. -Moreover, the times have changed, and when -Russia was confronted by the present great -European crisis the Poles displayed a marvellous -loyalty, which has, perhaps, unintentionally -brought them nearer the realization of their -dreams than they have ever been before. The -Manifesto of the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaievitch -is the greatest event in Polish history -since the partition.</p> - -<p>The hardest lot of all has befallen those Poles -who have been most loyal to their race. I -mean those who came under Prussian rule. -For whereas Polish Slavdom is tolerated in -Austria, and actually encouraged in Russia, in -Prussia it is remorselessly ground down under -the iron heel of Germanism. Germanization is -carried out by Prussian rule, aggressively, in a -strictly military sense. It is not a question of -political tactics—no opinion at home or abroad -is considered; there is nothing but frank coercion. -Germany’s ambitions are only too well known—they -have been advertised loudly enough, and -they have been expounded again quite recently -in General von Bernhardi’s notorious book, -“Germany and the Next War”—a book written<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> -with all the brusque insolence of which only a -German is capable. If Germany’s future programme -includes the Germanizing of the whole -of Europe, it is surely superfluous to relate in -detail how she strove to Germanize a people -under her own rule—it is one of the blackest -chapters in the histories of oppression.</p> - -<p>By the constitution of Germany the Prussian -Poles cannot forfeit their rights as citizens of -the realm. This circumstance afforded them a -chance of laying their grievances before the -legislative assemblies. But in spite of their -gallant courage, the struggle brought them no -particular advantage except the moral satisfaction -of knowing that their pleading could -reach the ear of Europe. But whenever their -voice grew too loud, the mailed fist fell on their -lips and struck them dumb. When the German -Reichstag passed the Polish Expropriation Law -(1886)<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> all Europe was scandalized; but from -the point of view of Germanization it was highly -successful. Germany disregarded foreign opinion -and the law was put in force.</p> - -<p>It is to be hoped that the conclusion of the -present European war will also put an end to -the sufferings of these martyrs, and that the -whole Polish nation will be granted an opportunity -of applying its many admirable qualities<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> -for its own welfare and for the union of the Slav -race.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<h4>III.</h4> - -<p>The Csechs have always been a strong, tenacious, -energetic people, and no sooner did they -begin to feel the iron fist of their oppressors than -they opened a determined campaign against them -and pitted their strength against their tyrants. -They have won their present civilization inch -by inch from their oppressors.</p> - -<p>The eminent Csech political economist, Professor -Masaryk, admirably forecasts the future -of his people. He says—“The humanistic ideal, -the ideal of regeneration, bears a deep national -and historical significance for us Csechs. A -full and sincere grasp of the human ideal will -bridge over the spiritual and ethical dreams of -centuries, and enable us to advance with the -vanguard of human progress. The Csech humanitarian -ideal is no romantic fallacy. Without -work and effort the humanitarian ideal is but -dead; it demands that we shall everywhere -and systematically oppose ourselves to all that -is bad, to all social <em>un</em>humanity—both at home -and abroad—with all its clerical, political and -national organs. The humanitarian ideal is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> -not sentimentality—it means work, work, and -yet again work!”</p> - -<p>Now all this is by no means a characteristic of -the Csech people, but only a forecast of what -they shall be. Political tactics must always -correspond to the principles of decency and -humanity. Masaryk further says—“Our fame, -our wars, and our intervention in the past have -borne a religious, not a national stamp. Our -<em>national</em> ideal is of more recent birth—it only -belongs to the last, and more especially to the -present century. The history of Bohemia must -not be judged from this standpoint.”</p> - -<p>Perhaps this programme will prove too historical -and too unpractical for the present day. -The small commercial and industrial Csech -nation is too far removed from the age of Jan -Huss, and the Csech reformation has lost its -significance for them. But deep down in the -soul of the Csech people there still dwells a spark -of the Hussite spirit. Of course, the battle-cry -is nationalist, the phrasing that of the twentieth -century, but the underlying spirit differs in no -way from the righteous indignation of Huss, when -he preached against high-handed oppression and -violence. The physical inferior is never anxious -to see his affairs settled by physical force. For -this reason it is not a matter of indifference to -the Csechs, whether they fight for a higher principle -or merely for material advantage. At -present they are principally fighting for their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> -language, for the right to speak their own -tongue—they are fighting against Germanization. -Their strongest weapon in this fight is their -striving for economic prosperity—a physical -power through which they may hope to obtain -a spiritual victory.</p> - -<p>The principal trait in the Csech character -is <em>initiative</em>. The very name points to this, -for “Csech” is derived from the old-Slav -word “Chenti,” meaning “to will” or “to -begin.”</p> - -<p>History finds the Csechs in the vanguard of all -the Slav tribes in their wanderings westward. -Their legendary leader was Csech, one of three -brothers, and his tribe penetrated the farthest. -In the Middle Ages the Csechs were the first -to challenge the power of Rome, and to this day -they send numbers of enterprising emigrants to -all parts of the world. But the Csechs have -one great fault—they are fickle. Their enthusiasm -flashes up quickly and then as quickly dies -down. This is the reason of the failure of the -Hussite Reformation. The Germans finished what -the Csechs began—Luther was the successor of -Huss and completed his work.</p> - -<p>The Csechs are not by nature a commercial -and industrial people. Their business capacity -is born of necessity—it is a weapon, not a means -of gain. It is kept going by an unwearied -agitation on the part of the national leaders, and -if the Csech national ideal should suffer ship<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span>wreck, -then Csech finance, ambition, and industry -will likewise perish.</p> - -<p>Sundry Slavophil thinkers would exclude the -Csechs from the group of Slav peoples, just because -of their initiative and business capacity. The -Russian ethnologist Danilevski calls the Csech -people a monstrosity, a German people with a -Slav tongue. But these men have overlooked the -fact that the foundation of modern Csech prosperity -was laid by the religion of the Csech -Brethren. During the Catholic reaction the -Csech Protestants were driven from their possessions -and treated as aliens in their own country. -Being thus compelled to evolve a new means of -gaining a livelihood, they turned to industry. -Trade and the towns were closed to them, and -the Csech Brethren had to seek refuge in the -Bohemian and Moravian hills, and the Orlic -mountains. They became weavers, wood-carvers -and miners, and laid the foundation of the great -modern Bohemian textile, glass and earthenware -industries. Religious considerations and nothing -else have made the Csechs into a mercantile -nation. England’s wealth also springs from a -religious movement—the rise of Puritanism. -Thrift and industry led to the accumulation of -capital. Only a religious man understands -work and thrift, and he alone knows how to -utilise capital as a moral lever. For this -reason it would be wrong to adopt the views -of the Russian ethnologist. The Csech people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span> -<em>as they are</em> have a right to their future and to -freedom.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>In the centre of Prague, on the summit of the -Hradčin, stands the old Csech Royal Castle, a -splendid monument of past greatness. Proud -and lofty, visible from afar, it speaks to the Csech -people of the days when it sheltered—not the -foreign invader, but flesh of their flesh, Csech -kings and princes of their own blood. And even -as it is a monument of the past, it is also a beacon -for the present and the future. When the setting -sun sheds his crimson glory upon Castle -and Hradčin, it seems as though the very stones -were aglow with the reflection of all the Csech -blood that has been shed in the defence of right -and liberty. But—the royal splendour vanishes -with the sun, and the shadow of night descends -on Castle and height like a symbol of the present -age of gloom. Day by day, with burning eyes, -the Csech reads the wordless message. Yet he -does not give way to dreams, or sink into deep -melancholy, nor does he wait for a miracle. He -clenches his fist and smiles the grim smile of the -tireless warrior. His fickleness at the time of -the Reformation weighs like a sin on his conscience, -but its ideals have set their mark upon him -and quickened the seed of <em>political</em> reformation in -his soul. In this matter the Csechs take the -lead among all the Slavs in Austria-Hungary.</p> - -<p>I have already mentioned that in certain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> -Slav circles the Csechs are looked upon as Germans -with a Slav tongue. But, if their industrial -and mercantile prosperity and certain -individual characteristics lend some colour to -this view, it is quite refuted by the Csech activity -in the Slav national and political cause. In their -sturdy and <em>progressive</em> struggle against Germanization -the Csechs have set the other Austrian -Slavs a tactical and practical example as to -how the struggle should be fought—<em>tactically</em> on -constitutional lines, and, <em>practically</em>, with indomitable -courage and perseverance.</p> - -<p>In spite of their long subjection to an absolute -autocracy, the Csechs developed into so strong -a political factor, that even Vienna began to -fear the weight of their hand. They achieved -this not only from a sense of self-preservation or -separatist selfishness like the Poles, but the Slav -ideal runs like a gold thread through all they -have done; it is their motto, task and goal. -They were beset from three sides, by the Austrian -Germans in all their power, by Polish opposition, -and by Magyar agitations and hostile influences -in Vienna. The Southern Slav deputies in the -Reichstag were their only helpers in the unequal -struggle. But they never relaxed their energy -and they never yielded a position they had won.</p> - -<p>The national struggle in Bohemia took on its -present form in the first half of the nineteenth -century, and it first centred round “cultural” -interests as in other Slav countries. The love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> -of the people for their own language had to be -established and even rekindled to a pitch of -fiery enthusiasm, and national education had -also to be fostered by the foundation of Csech -national schools. The State was by no means -anxious to enlighten the people, and the number -of schools maintained in the country was quite -inadequate. The fiscal schools were all German -and served to spread the German propaganda. -But the Csech educated classes founded schools -at their own expense, as well as the “Matica -Školska” (School Union), which undertook the -organization of these schools. This was an -effective counter-stroke to Germanization as well -as a good foundation for further success. Palacky, -Kollar and Havliček were leaders of the National -movement of the time.</p> - -<p>Palacky was the source from whom the others -drew their inspiration. He was a great thinker, -a brilliant author, and a cautious, liberal-minded -politician who may be considered the founder -of modern Csech national life. And through -him radiated the light that pointed the way -which these people must take. Kollar, the poet -and publicist, and Havliček, as politician and -political economist, shared the Csech leadership -with Palacky, and paved the way for a great -national intellectual movement which kept pace -with the national political movement. They -founded a strong nationalist party in Bohemia -(The Old Csechs) in opposition to the Viennese<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> -Government. With their majority in the Landtag, -and their appearance in the Viennese Parliament, -the Csech people became a factor with -whom the Government had to reckon for good -or for evil—a people who refused to be ousted. -Bohemia, which official Austria loves to consider -a German country, had to be divided into -“spheres.” The State had to pay for the -upkeep of Csech schools and the administration -became bi-lingual! Of course, in accordance -with the usual Government policy, many Csech -localities were included in German spheres and -promptly became bones of contention. The -“Matica Školska” founded more schools in these -spheres to prevent the Germanization of Csech -children, whilst the German schools pursued their -system of an unofficial propaganda with the tacit -support of the Government. This state of affairs -led to constant disturbances, which frequently -degenerated into riot and bloodshed. With the -rise of the “Young Csechs” the struggle assumed -a more drastic and determined character, for -this party aimed at nothing less than a purely -Csech government for Bohemia, and a proportionate -share in the management of Imperial -affairs. They repeatedly succeeded in wrecking -the Austrian Government, and under Prince -Hohenlohe they were so strongly represented -in the Cabinet that they succeeded in making -their power felt. The “Young Csechs” have -greatly helped the national cause in Bohemia,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> -and also furthered the Slav cause by their -enthusiastic championship of the All-Slav Ideal.</p> - -<p>One of their leaders, Dr. Kramarz, who was -very friendly with Russia, has been specially -active in this cause. Though the “Young Csechs” -are still the leading party, recent years have seen the -rise of parties even more radical in their demands. -The Social-Nationals and the Csech Radicals desire -to see Bohemia an absolutely autonomous State, -whereas the followers of Professor Masaryk -aim at the regeneration of the Csech race on a -different basis (see opening of this article).</p> - -<p>Events have moved rapidly in Bohemia since -the last Balkan war, which made a profound -impression on all the Austrian Slavs. Owing -to the uncompromising attitude taken up by -the various parties, the Government dissolved -the Bohemian Landtag, suspended the constitution -and placed the administration in the hands -of a Commission appointed by the Government -and responsible to none. The Csechs retorted by -a violent obstruction in the Viennese Parliament -and so paralyzed the House, that it had to be -prorogued indefinitely. The Csechs demanded -the immediate convocation of the Landtag. -“No Landtag, no Austrian Parliament,” was -their watchword, and they stood firm. When -the crisis with Serbia and the outbreak of the war -occurred, the Parliament was unable to adopt any -attitude towards these events, and the only -<em>constitutional body</em> in the Monarchy able to deal -with them was the Hungarian Parliament.</p> - -<hr /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>PART II.</i><br /> -<br /> -YOUGOSLAVIA. -<br /> -(THE SOUTHERN SLAVS.)</h2> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">76/77</a></span></p> -<h3>CHAPTER V.<br /><br /> - -<small>BULGARIA.</small></h3> - -<p class="indent f85">Country and People—The building up of the Bulgarian -State—Relations with Russia—German Influence—Alexander -of Battenberg—King Ferdinand—Bulgaria’s -Immediate Duty.</p> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Although</span> it is asserted on historical grounds -that the Bulgarians are a mixed race, and merely -“Slavicized” by the influence of neighbouring -Slav races, they certainly ought to be included -in the great Slav family. In many ways they -have always held aloof from the Slav Ideal, and -emphatically preferred to stand alone, but, -nevertheless, they have done great service to the -Slav cause in the past, and often fought for it -with true enthusiasm. In the early days of -Christianity the Bulgarians also did much for -Slav culture through the Bogumili—(a sect of -reformers which will be dealt with in the Chapter -on the Southern Slavs)—who spread religious -enlightenment, and through the old Bulgarian -tongue laid the foundation of the other Slav -languages. The Bulgarians, who were once -masters of a great Empire, and enjoyed worldwide -importance under Simeon the Great, had<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> -to share the age-long tragedy of all the Eastern -Slavs, and it speaks volumes for their national -character that they emerged from Turkish -bondage as a strong, self-reliant people. Whoever -knows the Bulgarians well, cannot fail to -respect them, even if they do not inspire great -affection. I believe as a race they are not affectionate—they -prefer to command respect. The -gentle, dreamy, love-craving element in the -character of the other Slavs is quite absent in -them, and even their fire and enthusiasm is not -a matter of sentiment, but a practical necessity—almost -a matter of mathematical calculation. -Industrious and thrifty as no other Slav nation, -cold-blooded and calculating, they have justly -been called the “Slav Japanese.” Their type -is very interesting and differs considerably from -that of the other Slavs. Almost without exception -the men are handsome and strongly built, -whereas the appearance of the women is spoilt -by their wide cheek-bones and thick-set build. -Like most of the Slav peoples they are mainly -farmers and cattle-breeders, and as the country -is fertile, they make quite a good income out of -their exports of grain, field-produce and cattle.</p> - -<p>Although Bulgarian intellectual life springs -from the people, and the Bulgarians are essentially -a democratic nation, it is necessary to -distinguish between the educated classes and the -common people. The Bulgarian peasant is an -exceedingly good fellow; physically very active,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> -mentally rather stolid, he pursues his calling in -a calm deliberate way, and is not easily ruffled. -His food is most simple; he takes practically no -alcohol and, owing to his temperate mode of life, -lives to a very great age. The entire population -numbers about four millions and shows a greater -percentage of centenarians than any other nation. -The Bulgarians are very fond of music and -dancing, but they have no music or poetry of -their own, and what they do possess has been -borrowed from the Turks or other Orientals. -The traveller may often come upon the genuine -Nautch dance in a Bulgarian village, and will hear -songs sung to purely Turkish melodies. If the -Bulgarians have any advantage over the other -Slavs, it is in the beauty of their unadulterated -Orthodox faith. The people are narrowly -religious, and up to now their religion represents -the zenith of their culture. In this respect they -resemble the Russians and all the Slavs who -have retained the Slavo-Orthodox faith. It is -superfluous to enlarge on the fighting qualities -of the Bulgarians—Kirkilisse, Lule Burgas, and -Adrianople have given ample proof of these.</p> - -<p>The educated classes are distinct from the -people in two ways: they are free-thinkers and -quarrelsome. Religion is cultivated among them -as a fashion, and the churches have become mere -rendezvous, as in Paris, Berlin and Vienna. But, -in spite of all this, one must admit that the -educated classes of Bulgaria are excellent social<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> -organizers, though politically and intellectually -they are not particularly brilliant. The amount -achieved in social matters by these men in the -short time that has elapsed since the emancipation -is marvellous. Bulgaria in this respect has -become a truly modern state. This bright side -is, however, eclipsed by the countless blunders -they have committed in other respects. The -worst of these is their headstrong blindness in -the political administration. Bulgarian politics -have degenerated into a devastating party-system, -and are largely responsible for the tragical happenings -of recent years, in which the whole -country, and more especially the innocent mass -of the people have been involved. The chief -characteristic of the educated Bulgarian is his -distrust of everyone; he does not confine this -distrust to strangers, but extends it even to his -King and his own party leader.</p> - -<p>Hitherto intellectual Bulgaria has created but -little, and that little is quite out of proportion -to the achievements of some other much smaller -Slav nations. Bulgarian art and literature are -merely poor reproductions of foreign originals -and by no means express the strength and -vitality of the people. Of all their poets Ivan -Vasoff, Hristoff, and Aleko Konstantinoff alone -have understood anything of the soul of the people, -and only their work will live. In art we seek in -vain for anything purely Bulgarian. But there -is one thing of the greatest value that the educated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> -Bulgarians have done for their nation, and for this -they deserve a true crown of laurels. I am referring -to the organization of the Macedonian bands -during the last half-century. Their perseverance -and heroism call for the greatest admiration.</p> - -<p>The country owned by the Bulgarians is one -of the most beautiful inhabited by Slavs. Only -Dalmatia and Bosnia can compare with it, and -whoever has once been there will never forget -it. It is the land of the great Balkans in all -their wild beauty—the land of the Kazanlik -Valley with its vast glorious rose-fields; the -Vratza Gorge with its romantic cliffs, dark -primeval forests, and hills covered with lilac; the -Black Sea, and the beautiful shores of Varna -and Burgas, and above all tower the snow-capped -summits of the Vitosha. Everywhere, -and in everything, dwells a throbbing life, full of -variety and contrast, beautiful as the men of -Bulgaria and rugged as their women.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>Bulgaria was freed from the Turkish yoke in -1878. The work of emancipation was carried -out by Russia with the help of Bulgarian bands -and many volunteers from all the Slav countries. -By the peace of San Stefano Bulgaria was -<em>de jure</em> declared mistress of the entire territories -from the Black Sea to Silistria, and along the -Danube as far as Vidin in the north, from Vidin -along the Morava <em>via</em> Ochrida as far as Yanina<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span> -in the west, from Yanina <em>via</em> Salonika to Kavala -in the south, and in a straight line from Kavala -to Varna in the east. <em>De facto</em> she was only -given independent jurisdiction over such territories -as she possessed up to the first Balkan -war. The complete liberation of Bulgaria was -by no means achieved by the emancipation, and -she continued to remain under Turkish suzerainty.</p> - -<p>The first task after the emancipation was to -reconstruct the country on the lines of a modern -European state, and to infuse new life into it -after so many centuries of Turkish misrule. -Education was represented solely by the priests -and the schoolmasters, who had laboured for -the enlightenment of the people even before the -emancipation. Of course, there were a few -Bulgarians who possessed a European education, -and had graduated at European universities, -and upon these devolved the task of solving -the problems of the newly-created state. There -were however so few of them that, at the beginning, -many men of culture were imported from -other Slav countries, chiefly from Russia, Croatia -and Bohemia. The military administration was -entrusted to Russia, who established garrisons -of her own in Bulgaria and undertook to create -the Bulgarian army. Considering the transitionary -stage of the country at the time, it -was inevitable that the Russian military authorities -should obtain considerable influence over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> -civil administration also, and that Bulgarian -affairs fell under Russian influence from the -very beginning.</p> - -<p>Prince Alexander of Battenberg, the first -Bulgarian ruler, came to the throne under -similar conditions as King Carol to the throne -of Roumania. He was confronted with a super-human -task, and Bulgarian history can never -deny the great service he rendered the country. -He came with a definite mission and set to work -with the greatest possible zeal. He devoted -his attention chiefly to the education of the -people and to the army, and he found his most -energetic ally in the people themselves. The -prompt efficiency of the school system would -have done credit to many a more modern state. -The Bulgarians are intelligent, persevering, and -fond of learning, and popular education made -immense strides. At the present day the percentage -of adult Bulgarians who cannot read -and write is exceedingly small compared to most -other countries—it is 2-1/2 per cent. of the adult -population. The national system of compulsory -education affected the very poorest peasants as -well as the better classes. Before the foundation -of secondary schools in the country large numbers -of young men were sent to foreign secondary -schools and universities, and every year yielded -its quota of well-equipped youths capable of -providing the motive power for the machinery -of the State. Similar purposeful energy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> -characterized the military organization, with the -intention of forming an independent, purely -Bulgarian army. For, in spite of his great -admiration for Russia and the Tsar Liberator, -Prince Alexander felt that dependence upon -Russia—more especially a military dependence—would -render his country a vassal <em>de facto</em> of -Russia, no less than it was <em>de jure</em> already the -vassal of Turkey. He therefore strove to render -the Russian military administration superfluous -in Bulgaria by building up an efficient home army.</p> - -<p>As soon as this was accomplished he sent a -letter of thanks to the Tsar, made a public -manifesto, gave a big dinner to the Russian -generals, and gratefully dismissed the Russian -co-operation. Then the Russian generals had to -leave Bulgaria. No one can deny that Prince -Alexander showed himself manly and self-reliant -in taking this decision, which was prompted by -a very proper ambition. But he gave mortal -offence in Russia, and from that moment he -fell completely from Russian favour. The Court -circles in St. Petersburg, which had been hostile -to him from the beginning, now began to intrigue -against him in Bulgaria, their efforts finding -a ready response in the pro-Russian party. -The first Serbian War in 1885 afforded splendid -proof of Alexander’s military organization, but -his influence was too far undermined, and even -his victories failed to save him. The tide of -adverse circumstances was too strong and led<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> -to the inevitable but, fortunately, bloodless -<em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coup d’état</em> in 1886. Prince Alexander was taken -from his palace by night, transported over the -frontier and formally deposed.</p> - -<p>Prince Alexander left Bulgaria a well-organized -State, only disturbed by internal party hatreds. -The new ruler, Prince Ferdinand of Coburg, -was received with divided sympathies. Already -in many ways his path had been smoothed -for him, but he met with far more opposition -from his own people than his predecessor, whom -Russia had installed. In spite of all this, the -machinery of State continued in the path of progress, -the constitution of the country was established -on a broad liberal basis, and the army -increased in importance from year to year. -With iron perseverance Bulgaria steadily advanced -to take her place among modern states, -and even succeeded in taking the lead in the -Balkan question. The proclamation of Ferdinand -as King of Bulgaria put an end once and for -all to the shadow of Turkish suzerainty, and since -then Bulgaria has been frankly acknowledged -as a strong, free and independent State.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>In the course of years Bulgarian relations -with Russia have passed through many phases, -especially during the reign of King Ferdinand. -As a rule the will of Russia was decisive, but -her general influence always depended on home<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> -politics and varied with the party in power. -Enthusiasm for Russia and antagonism against -Russian influence were alternately the order of -the day. Only the people of Bulgaria remained -constant in their confidence and affection for -Russia; they could never forget whose hand had -set them free, and even political changes could -not shake them. Certain political circles took -the emancipation from Russia as their party -cry and hoped to make the country great <em>outside</em> -the Russian protectorate. They desired to translate -their motto “Bulgaria for the Bulgarians” -into an absolute fact. This party was founded -by the notorious Stambuloff, and whenever -they came into power they insisted on regarding -not only Russia as the national enemy, but -also the Bulgarian <em>people</em> who were in sympathy -with Russia, and they did their utmost to -tyrannize the people out of this “disease.” -In fighting for this idea they coined the party -catchword—“Greater Bulgaria” in the hope -of bribing the people by promises of Macedonia, -Serbia, Greece, and even Constantinople as -future tit-bits. This particular party knew very -well that Russia would never allow the Slav -equilibrium in the Balkans to be upset, and, as it -was not over Slavonic in its sympathies, it waged -a bitter opposition against the Russian protectorate, -under which all the Balkan Slav -nations stand to benefit equally. In opposition -to Stambuloff’s party there arose another, founded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> -by Karaveloff, the greatest of Bulgarian patriots, -who fought with all the enthusiasm of which -grateful hearts are capable. Karaveloff saw -clearly that Bulgaria would be too weak to -stand alone for a very long time to come, and that -the Russian protectorate was a strong guarantee -against foreign hostile influence. After Karaveloff’s -death his ideas found enthusiastic partisans -in Czankoff, Radoslavoff and Daneff in spite of -minor tactical party differences. Stambuloff’s -violent death—he was assassinated in the open -street—put an end to the <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</em> of his party for -many years, and brought the moderate pro-Russian -parties into power. But Bulgaria was -deeply injured by his policy. He bequeathed a -legacy of discord and hatred at home and provoked -Russia’s displeasure abroad. The new -pro-Russian Government did its utmost to heal -the breach, and succeeded in improving relations -with Russia, but Stambuloff’s partisans agitated -in every possible way for the re-instatement of -the radical anti-Russian party. In Dushan -Petkoff and Evlogij Genadieff they had energetic -leaders, who pursued their goal with all the -characteristic Bulgarian tenacity and a ruthless -persistence that was positively Asiatic. After -Ferdinand had established a personal <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</em> in -Bulgaria, they realized that the turn of fortune’s -wheel no longer depended on the temper of the -nation or the strength of a party, but on the <em>will -of the ruler</em>, and they were content to bide their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> -time. <em>Among the people they had no following -whatsoever.</em> But whichever party is in power -by the will of the ruler is assured of a majority -in the Parliament. Elections are invariably -manipulated by terroristic pressure from the -authorities. There is no difference except that, -whereas the pro-Russian parties are content to -employ demagogic means, the Stambulovists -have had recourse to bloodshed. At last the -Stambulovists were successful; they came into -power in 1902—(in accordance with the wish -of the highest power in the land)—and established -a reign of terror equal to that of Stambuloff -himself in its cruelty, but breaking all -previous records as regards corruption. The -Stambulovists commanded a crushing majority -in the Sobranye (Parliament) and pursued a -policy of secret provocations against Russia -and the nation. General Ratsho Petroff, a -personal favourite of King Ferdinand and an -absolute nonentity, was the Premier; but the -actual dictator and leader of the Stambulovist -party was Dushan Petkoff, Minister of the -Interior. Once more the policy of the Government -took an anti-Russian trend, but in the -meantime the nation had developed and steadfastly -pursued a different policy. To be sure, -under compulsion they had given the Government -a <em>majority</em> but not their heart, and this heart -now belonged to Russia more than ever. This -sentiment found expression in various violent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> -demonstrations; it culminated in the assassination -of Petkoff (likewise in the open street) -and in the abuse showered upon King Ferdinand -as he drove to the opening of the National -Theatre at Sofia. From that point Bulgarian -policy took a totally new turn, and for a time -it seemed as if the Slav renaissance had really -taken root and Bulgaria had at last found -herself. The Balkan Alliance before the war -certainly seemed strong evidence of it.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>Bulgaria’s relations with Serbia have varied -quite as much as those with Russia, but with the -difference that in these ups and downs the nation -has always been undivided. Bulgarian distrust -of Serbia dates from the beginning of the -political independence of the former. Instead -of trying to settle their differences in a brotherly -spirit, and to eliminate the Macedonian bone of -contention by fixing the spheres of interests, -both parties—especially Bulgaria—worked themselves -up into a fever of enmity which could -only be mutually detrimental. Actual frontier -collisions added fuel to the fire, and the situation -grew steadily worse. It is safe to say that there -was never any love lost between the Serbs and -the Bulgarians, even if political opportunism at -times dictated a more friendly attitude. Many -discerning Bulgarian politicians have often tried -to promote a more cordial and neighbourly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> -understanding between the two states for the -sake of the Slav cause and the common good, -and their Serbian colleagues loyally supported -them in this. But their work was always undone -by the distrustful attitude of Bulgaria, which -was even increased by foreign influence. In -1885 the nation entered into the war with Serbia -with unanimous enthusiasm and a bloodthirsty -spite almost inconceivable between brother -nations. The war was fierce, and fate favoured -Bulgaria; but, instead of being content with -their success, and exhibiting a victor’s finest -quality—humanity, the Bulgarians only grew -increasingly bitter in their hatred towards Serbia, -and showed it in offensive taunts. After their -defeat the Serbs obviously could not feel very -friendly towards their neighbours, but I do not -believe they hated them in their souls. But -from one cause or another it was impossible to -find the way to friendship. The Bulgarians -declared that their differences with Serbia were -by no means settled in this war, and that the -Macedonian question would have to be decided -beyond dispute. Thus the war was continued, -unfortunately not only with the pen, but also -with arms, for the Serbian and Bulgarian bands -in Macedonia waged war upon each other more -fiercely than upon the Turks. Matters went -from bad to worse for both nations, and especially -for the Slav cause in the Balkans. Russia -exerted all her influence to reconcile the two, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> -with no result beyond promises of amendment. -Several influential Slav personages were equally -unsuccessful until the youth of the Southern -Slavs entered the lists with a new plan of campaign, -and attacked the problem from <em>the standpoint -of Southern Slav Culture</em>. The authors -and artists of Croatia and Slavonia, who had -long stood in friendly relations with Serbia, made -it their business to include the Bulgarians in the -cause of Southern Slav Culture. As the intellectual -youth of Bulgaria was at that time passing -through a phase of national regeneration and -desired to widen their horizon, these efforts -fell on fruitful soil. Soon afterwards joint -exhibitions of Southern Slav artists were arranged -in Belgrade, Sofia, and Zagreb, and in -each case an Authors’ Congress was held simultaneously. -By these meetings and mutual intercourse -many sharp corners were smoothed away, -and many points of difference were abolished, -chiefly by the help of the Croats. Serbs and -Bulgarians meeting eye to eye at last realized -that they were brothers, sharing a common -future. The Exhibition in Belgrade coincided -with the coronation of King Peter, and we witnessed -the unexpected spectacle of Bulgarians -acclaiming the King with as much enthusiasm -as the Serbs. Those were the days of brotherhood -and fellowship. The representatives of -Bulgarian art and literature took their mission -seriously and sincerely, proving true apostles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> -of peace and friendship between the two peoples. -They reaped considerable success, for the tide -of mutual enmity subsided, and when King Peter -came to Sofia on an official visit he met with a -reception that expressed not merely the pomp -and circumstance of a Court but the heartfelt -cordiality of a friendly people. It must not be -forgotten that in this <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rapprochement</em> good service -was rendered by those politicians of both countries -who persistently did their best to improve -mutual relations. Chief among these is the -Serbian statesman, Nikola Pašić. He cultivated -this mutual friendship so successfully that it -culminated in the Balkan Alliance, which would -have proved a lasting blessing to the whole of the -Balkans if it had not been broken by the attack -of Bregalnica. Yet the collapse of the Alliance -was not due to Bulgaria, but to other extraneous -influences.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>I have briefly touched upon Bulgarian relations -with Russia and Serbia in order to give a brief -sketch of the only too frequent mistakes made -by Bulgaria’s official Government. The Bulgarians -possess many excellent qualities, and, as -a nation, have a distinct claim on our respect; -but they have one drawback: they are not -independent in politics, and their policy is not -the outcome of the requirements of the times,—as -a rule it is not even suited to them, but is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> -merely the mouthpiece of foreign influences. -Whenever these influences were Russian they at -least did not clash with the interests of the -people or do any particular harm. But, unfortunately, -Bulgarian policy has to a great extent -followed in Germany’s footsteps, and for a long -time German influence—especially in recent -years—has made alarming progress in Bulgaria. -The first to fall a victim to this influence were -Stambuloff and his followers who had made so -free with the motto “Bulgaria for the Bulgarians.” -And, in proportion to the vehemence -with which they pursued their corrupt policy, -they imported the German element into Bulgaria. -Intellectually it would be quite impossible to -Germanize the Bulgarians, but, as regards their -political economy and foreign policy they fell -more and more under German ascendancy. -The Eastern expansive policy of Germany and -Austria-Hungary, finding the doors fast closed in -Serbia, was content for the moment to ignore an -obdurate opponent, and insinuated itself into -Bulgaria as being free from the infection of -“fantastic Slav ideals.” In King Ferdinand, as -a German prince, German propaganda found a -distinct well-wisher. The Bulgarian stock market -was controlled by German trade, Austria-Hungary -and Germany founded branch banks and business -houses in Bulgaria. German and Austrian Ambassadors -could always command the ear of the -Foreign Office. And Germany bestowed her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> -favour or disfavour in proportion to the pro-German -or pro-Russian sympathies of the Government. -In face of this tide of Germanism all -honest Bulgarian politicians are confronted with -a herculean task, if the country is to be saved -from becoming simply a vassal state to Germany. -In the events which preceded the second Balkan -War their labours appeared to have borne fruit, -and Germany and Austria were suddenly confronted -with a fact they had never even contemplated—an -alliance between Bulgarians and the -detested Serbs, and even a military convention -between these two <em>against</em> Austria. But their -amazement was only a thing of the moment—German -influence redoubled its efforts, and the -second Balkan War was due to its machinations.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>Bulgaria’s defeat in the second Balkan War -has filled the nation with a burning, unquenchable -hatred against Serbia. The realization of their -Macedonian ambition, which had been almost -within their grasp, had vanished in a bitter -disappointment and plunged the heroic victors -of Kirkilisse into an agony of sullen despair. -When the first stupefying shock was over, the -thought of revenge came uppermost, and everyone -foresaw that at the next opportunity the -brother nations would again fly at each other’s -throats.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span></p> - -<p>It would be unreasonable to deny the Bulgarian -claim to part of Macedonia. If a great -national problem is to be permanently and satisfactorily -solved, the principal of nationality -cannot be ignored. But Bulgaria exceeded the -principles of nationality in her demands and -aimed at a position of <em>supremacy</em> in the Balkans. -By her acquisition of Thrace it became necessary -to revise the stipulations of the Alliance Treaty, -and, if the Allies could have arrived at any conclusion, -or accepted the arbitration of the Tsar, -to-day the position of the Balkans in the present -crisis would be more favourable.</p> - -<p>The Bulgarian nation cannot be held responsible -for the crime of Bregalnica. It merely -played a passive part. The official perpetrator, -supposed to have remained undiscovered to this -day, was guided not by the will of the nation, -but by orders from Vienna and Berlin, who -desired to be revenged for the affront they had -suffered through the Balkan Alliance. Nothing -short of a despicably devastating blow aimed -at all the Balkan States would suffice, and unfortunately -they found a ready tool in the wild -ambitions of certain Bulgarian circles. Of course, -the blow was aimed at the detested Serbians, -but with the relentlessness of fate it fell upon -those who had hoped to profit by the Austro-German -intrigue. Though Bulgaria alone suffered -material loss through the war, the whole of the -Balkan States have suffered morally. For their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> -deadly enemy achieved his main object—the -breaking up of the Balkan union. Such was -the lamentable state of affairs in the Balkans -when the present European crisis came to a head. -The Austrian declaration of war upon Serbia -caused a positively insane joy in Bulgaria. It -was balm to the Bulgarian wounds that the great -monarchy should devour their small neighbor—<em>their -brother nation</em>—and not one of the heroes -who had helped in the conquest of Adrianople -be left alive! All this time they overlooked the -fact that, when Serbia had been disposed of, their -own country would have been the next dish -in the menu! It was a sordid triumph, neither -manly, nor <em>Slav</em>.</p> - -<p>In their satisfaction they even forgot Russia. -No one dreamt that Russia would raise her mighty -hand and cry Halt! to the Austrian devourer. -But when the inevitable occurred, Bulgaria -suddenly found herself face to face with a problem. -Russia’s word—“Serbia’s enemies are my -enemies”—staggered the honest Bulgarian people, -who are attached to Russia, and they began -to ask themselves very seriously, “What next?” -The first upshot of this was the perceptible -cooling of the anti-Slav agitation; then the -nation began to reflect. The <em>people</em> and the -patriotic Slavophile circles sent their best wishes, -and their finest General—Ratko Dimitrieff—to -fight for Russia, and the official Government -proclaimed a strict neutrality. Both these facts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> -bode well for the future. But the anti-Slav -agitation has by no means lost all its power, -and the Stambulovist circles, in conjunction -with Austro-German emissaries, have not ceased -to stir up the people and the masses against -Serbia and against Russia. Which will prevail? -It is difficult to make any forecast, -especially if one remembers the personal <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</em> -of King Ferdinand, who, in spite of the constitution -of the country, reigns supreme. At the -same time it would be wrong to lose hope and -we must trust that in the decisive hour the <em>Slav</em> -instinct will dominate all other instincts, and -thus not only assist the Slav cause, but also prove -of the greatest service to civilized Europe, and -above all things to Bulgaria herself.</p> - -<p><small>Among Bulgarian authors we must also mention Pencho -Slavejkoff (a native of Macedonia), some of whose work has -been rendered into English.</small></p> -<hr /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span></p> - -<h3>CHAPTER VI.<br /><br /> - -<small>SERBIA.</small></h3> - -<p class="indent">I. Serbian Self-reliance—Characteristics of the Serb -People—The Power of the Folk-song—Race -Consciousness.</p> - -<p class="indent">II. History of the Southern Slavs.</p> - -<p class="indent">III. The Birth of a Nation—Prince Miloš—“The -Great Sower”—Alexander Karagjorgjević—Michael -Obrenović—King Milan—Fall of the -Obrenović Dynasty—King Peter—The Restoration -of Serbia’s Prestige.</p> - -<p class="indent">IV. Serbia and Austria—A Campaign of Calumny—Annexation -of Bosnia-Hercegovina—The Balkan -Wars—Serbia rehabilitated—The Tragedy of -Serajevo.</p> - -<h4>I.</h4> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">The</span> free and independent kingdom of Serbia is -undoubtedly the most important of the Southern -Slav States, although she has only three and a -half million inhabitants, and is shut in on all -sides by her six neighbours—Austria-Hungary, -Roumania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania and Montenegro. -In 1817 she was freed from the Turkish -yoke, and in less than 100 years she has developed -into a sturdy, self-reliant state, efficient in an -intellectual, economic and military sense in<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> -spite of constant upheavals at home and abroad. -For all she is and has achieved Serbia is indebted -only to herself, to the capabilities, valour and -perseverance of her own children. Russia was -her only foreign protector. The Serb is a straight-dealing, -industrious man, and, like all the Southern -Slavs, essentially poetic. Judged by the standard -of modern <em>school</em> education the average Serbian -peasant is perhaps not so very far advanced, and -usually limits his accomplishments to reading -and writing; but he is keenly observant, and -his natural gifts and mother-wit are so great as -to warrant a very different forecast for his -future than exponents of German “Kultur” -have so far predicted. Like the Russian and the -Croat, the Serb is above all things a farmer, who -loves his bit of black earth, and cultivates it -with care; and from this love of the soil spring -his pleasures, his shrewd philosophy, his large -charity towards man and beast, and, above all, -his love of truth and justice. Shall not all the -world be just, even as the earth is just when -she bestows or withholds her gifts? From time -immemorial the Serb has had a great feeling for -family ties and the bond of the community. -The love he bears his own homestead he extends -to that of his neighbour, and then in a wider -sense to his whole country. Where his love of -country is concerned, political and economic -considerations take a second place. The Serb -loves his country as a bridegroom his bride—<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span>passionately, -often unreasonably, but never with -calculation. He desires his beloved land for -himself—to keep it untouched by strangers. In -spite of considerable business capacity he is not -aggressive, and does not covet his neighbour’s -possessions. But, should his neighbour dare to -move his fence even one inch over the boundary, -or purposely let his cattle stray into his meadow, -then the Serb becomes fierce, wrathful and unforgiving. -The Serbian farmer has no need to -study history in order to learn where his neighbours -have removed his landmarks. His history -lives in his songs and ballads, and goes back a -thousand years. These poems tell him everything. -Every one of his beautiful folk-songs is a -piece of history, a bit of the past; and they sink -deeper into his heart than any historical education. -The <em>dates</em> of his power, past splendour and decline -are meaningless to him; but the sad, deeply-moving -legends in his folk-songs, telling of his -triumphs and his tragedies, plaintively thrilling -with love of country, and his tempestuous ballads -of heroism and revenge—<em>these</em> have fostered his -sense of patriotism, his yearning for his downtrodden -brothers, and his thirst for retribution. -These folk-songs have been handed down from -one generation to another, and to this day they -have been preserved in all their pristine purity of -text and melody in the souls and memories of -the Serbian people. It is not necessary at a time -of foreign menace to appeal to the Serb people<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> -with elaborately-worded proclamations and inflammatory -speeches. The refrains of their songs -suffice, and they take up arms as one man. But -the cause must be in harmony with the traditions -of the past. They fight like lions when they go -to battle with their ancient songs upon their -lips. Thus did they war with the Turks—thus -they are warring now against Austria.</p> - -<p>To the Serb the love of his language is second -only to his love of country. The most beautiful -and melodious of all the Slav tongues,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> rich in -idiom and soft in modulation, it is specially fitted -to be the medium of folk-poesy. This language, -which is identical with that of the Croats (thence -the name Serbo-Croat tongue), has been the -sacred and abiding link between the Serbs and -their still enslaved brothers in Turkey and in -Austria. The Serbian peasant is in the habit of -calling every one who speaks to him in a foreign -language a “Schwabo”;<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> but should the stranger -address him in Serbian, or, indeed, in any of the -Slav tongues, he will say: “Pa ti si naš” (Thou -art one of us). Undoubtedly, apart from their -national music, this bond of union has been one -of the strongest factors in the preparation of the -future, for through it the Serb can freely communicate -with his brothers beyond the frontier. -Those dear familiar sounds tell him that his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> -brothers still live and share his speech, his songs -and his yearnings. This explains the unanimous -enthusiasm of the <em>whole</em> nation in the Balkan -War, as well as in the present second war of -liberation. They are not the soldiers of the -king who have gone to war, but the soldiers of -an <em>ideal</em>. The miracles of valour these men -have performed are not the exploits of a war-machine, -but of a great heart, in which hundreds -of thousands of hearts beat as one.</p> - -<p>Many people, and especially Germans, have -said that the Serbs are dirty, lazy and dull. As -regards the last of these accusations I am -ready to admit that such Germans as have come -in contact with the people may be excused for -this impression. The Serbian peasant regards -the “Schwabo” with extreme distrust. His -natural shrewdness teaches him the wisdom of -appearing as dull as possible before the unscrupulous -exploiter he knows so well. It would -be no advantage to him to inspire confidence in -that quarter, and, as a matter of fact, the Serbian -peasant has often got the better of the apostles -of “Kultur” by this little deception. English -and French travellers, who have had dealings -with the Serbs, have spoken of them in most -flattering terms. As regards the other two -indictments, they are only absurd. The Serbian -peasant works very hard indeed. If we consider -the results of his labours, which can be gauged -by the considerable export of farm-produce and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> -cattle, and remember that in so poor a country -as Serbia the farmer has not all the latest agricultural -improvements at his disposal, it becomes -obvious that he has achieved marvels by the -industry of his bare hands. The dirt commented -upon by his critics is nothing more than the -honest dirt of the soil on his hands and clothes; -but if the immaculate “Michels” had taken the -trouble to glance round his house they could not -have failed to notice that in cleanliness and -neatness most Serbian farm-houses compare very -well with the average farm-house of Western -Europe. A guest of gentle birth receiving hospitality -in a Serbian farm-house will certainly -find nothing to complain of in the way in -which he is fed and accommodated, and -his wants considered. Of course there are -cases of dirt and idleness in Serbia, but then -where shall we find a country quite free from -these...?</p> - -<p>A prominent characteristic of the Serb is his -race-consciousness. Russians, Poles, Csechs, and -Bulgars are Russians, etc., <em>first</em> and only Slavs -in a general sense. But the Serbs and Croats -are as much Slavs as they are Serbs and Croats. -Possibly this has not always been so. Perhaps, -from being more oppressed and beset by foes -than any of the other Slavs, these nations have -come to look upon their sense of race as a sheet-anchor -to which they clung, at first with hope, -and then with heart-felt love. To a Russian,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> -Slavdom is the symbol of his protectorate, but -to a Serbo-Croat it is the breath of life.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<h4>II.</h4> - -<p><a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> -In prehistoric times, the south-eastern tracts -of the Balkan Peninsula were inhabited by -Armenians, who were eventually compelled to -retreat to Asia Minor, about 700 <span class="smcap lowercase">B.C.</span> The -next inhabitants were the Phrygians, who possessed -a well-developed civilization, and penetrated -very far westward; but with the invasion -of the Thracians from the north, the Phrygians -were likewise forced to migrate to Asia Minor -and only a few scattered groups were left between -the Danube and the Balkan Mountains, where -they remained until the Roman invasion. Unlike -the above-mentioned Semitic races, the Pelasgians -and Lepese, who formed the aboriginal population -of Greece, were of pure Indo-European -stock. They were eventually conquered by the -Hellenes, and the illustrious Greek nation sprang -from the intermingling of these three tribes.</p> - -<p>The dawn of history shows the great Peninsula -of Eastern Europe divided between three tribes. -The Greeks dwelt south of Heliakmon and -Olympus, the Thracians west of the Tekton -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span>valley in the eastern portion of the Peninsula, -and the Illyrians west of the Pindus. Their -territory extended north as far as the site of -modern Vienna, and south to the Gulf of Corinth. -Of these three peoples the Greeks alone attained -to a high degree of civilization and culture. -They founded several colonies on the narrow -coast-line of Macedonia, but the greater part of -the Peninsula to the west of the Vardar remained -Illyrian, and, to the east of the Vardar, -Thracian. Only the wealthier classes and the -royal family from which Alexander the Great -traced his descent migrated into these countries -from Grecian Thessaly in search of conquest.</p> - -<p>The Roman invasion was followed by considerable -colonial development. Under the -sound administrative policy of the Romans a -certain level of civilization penetrated to the -greater part of the Peninsula, and a Latinized -dialect became the general language. The -Thracians very speedily became Romanized, as -did most of the Illyrians; the Hellenes alone -retained their national distinction. The Illyrians -eventually disappeared from Macedonia; but -their kindred tribe, the Albanians (Skipetars, -Arnauts) remain there to this day, although they -show a strong admixture of ancient Roman and -Slav blood. The <em>Roumanians</em> are the product of -a lingual and racial mixture of Thracian, Roman -and Slav elements.</p> - -<p>The Great Migration broke up the Roman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> -Empire (476 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>) and Europe was re-distributed—the -resulting racial boundaries having for the -most part persisted to this day. The Germanic -tribes set their mark on the North and West, -and the Slavs on the East of Europe. In 525 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> -the Slavs under the name of “Εκλανεοι” are -mentioned as dwelling on the lower Danube. -From that time, and for a century, they waged -fierce warfare against the Eastern Empire, until -the latter became exhausted, and the Balkan -Peninsula was left open to the invaders from -the north.</p> - -<p>In the first half of the seventh century, during -the reigns of the Emperors Phokas (602-610) and -Heraklies (610-642) the Slav hordes over-ran -the countries of the upper and lower Danube -like a flood from Venice to Constantinople, -sweeping southward as far as Cape Matapan. -The aboriginal inhabitants fled before them -and took refuge in mountain fastnesses, islands, -and walled towns. Christianity eventually tamed -these wild hordes, and peaceful intercourse was -once more established. Constantinople, Adrianople, -Seres, Salonika, Larissa and Patras were -the centres whence the light of Christendom -and Greek culture penetrated to the Slavs.</p> - -<p>Who and what manner of people were the -Slavs? The Roman historian Jordanis (551 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span>) -already distinguishes the “Sloveni,” as he calls -them, from the rest of the Slavs, whom he calls -“Veniti.” He speaks of an innumerable Slav<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> -people (“Venetharum natio populosa”) divided -into many tribes, of which the chief were the -“<em>Russi</em>,” (“<em>Anti</em>”) between the Dniestr and -Dniepr, and the “<em>Sloveni</em>” on the lower -Danube. It is true that a number of different -tribes were included under this name, just as -to-day it is used to designate the whole Slav -race (“Slavyane” in Russian, “Slovane” in -Csech). Strictly speaking only the Southern -Slavs have a right to this name, and until well -into the nineteenth century they styled themselves -“Sloveni” in addition to their local -appellations of Croat, Serb, Bulgar, etc. With -the formation of local states, the local names -came more into use, but in literature and folk-poesy -the name “Sloveni” is invariably adopted. -As a matter of fact, the local names arose from -the political and historical distribution of the -race.</p> - -<p>The geographical position of the Balkan -Peninsula, as well as the two currents of civilization -which flowed in upon the Southern Slavs -from either side, prevented the formation of a -United Southern Slav State. They split up into -several lesser states, which soon lost their -freedom, and submitted to foreign rule. Carniola -was the first to fall a victim, for she passed -under German rule as early as the eighth century.</p> - -<p>Towards the end of the seventh century the -Finnish tribe of the <em>Bulgars</em> conquered the Slav -tribes north and south of the Balkan range and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> -incidentally adopted the Slav language as their -own. They merely retained their original name, -and their distinctive, coldly methodical genius for -organization—a racial characteristic which is -totally absent in the other Southern Slavs. -In a short time the Bulgars also conquered the -Slav tribes in Macedonia, Epirus and Thessaly, -and subjugated the whole country as far as the -Morava. In the ninth century the Bulgarian -Empire reached from the Carpathians in Hungary -to the Pannonian Valley, and, as a matter of -fact, Budapest, the capital of Hungary, was -founded by the Bulgars. The Bulgarian Tsar -Boris was baptized by the apostles Cyril and -Method, who also introduced the Slav liturgy in -Bulgaria. The Slav dialect spoken between -Constantinople and Salonika was adopted as the -literary language, and the <em>Glagolitza</em> (Glagolithic -alphabet) and eventually the <em>Cyrillitza</em> (Cyrillic -alphabet) were introduced. This fact is of -world-wide importance, for on this foundation -rests the whole subsequent intellectual development -of Russia and the Balkan Peninsula—in -fact, of Eastern Europe. Under Simeon the -Great (893-927) Slav literature reached its zenith—its -golden age. The Moravian monks, who -were driven out by Svatopluk, found a hospitable -welcome in the monasteries around the Lake of -Ochrida, and developed great literary activity. -The Southern Slav monasteries sent monks and -books to Russia, and thus they became the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> -instructors of their mighty brothers in the North. -Still later, the Macedonian Empire was founded -and the Emperor Samoilo resided in Ochrida. -He, however, was soon overthrown by the -Byzantine Emperor Basil II. in the Battle of -Belassitza (1018). But the Bulgarian Empire -recovered again under Tsar Ivan Asen II. -(1218-1271) and had reached the zenith of its -power when it was shattered for centuries by -the invading Turks (1391).</p> - -<p>The central Southern Slav (Serbian) countries—Illyria, -Moesia, and Dalmatia—for a long time -remained broken up into separate counties. -Not before the twelfth century did Rasa become -the centre of a Serbian state, founded by Stefan -Nemanya (1165), to whom the Serbs owe the -famous Nemanya dynasty. After their victory -over the Byzantines at Kossovo the Serbs penetrated -further and further south towards Macedonia. -Under Dušan Silni (1331-1355) Serbian -power reached its meridian. He organized the -nation into a state and gave the people good -laws. In his time Serbia reached from the Save -and the Danube to the Gulf of Corinth, and from -the Adriatic to Mesta on the frontiers of Thrace -and Macedonia. After the battle of Belbushde -(1330) even the Bulgars had to acknowledge the -supremacy of Serbia. The Serbian Metropolitan -of Petcha was made Patriarch, the National Serb -Church was founded, and, in the Macedonian town -of Skoplye, Dušan Silni proclaimed himself Tsar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> -of the Serbs, Bulgars and Greeks. With an -army of 100,000 men he marched on Constantinople -in order to establish his throne there, and -to be revenged upon the Greeks who had a few -years previously called the Ottoman Turks to -Europe.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> But he died on the way,—it is said -that he was poisoned by a Greek.</p> - -<p>Architectural and literary monuments from -the age of the Serbian rulers in the thirteenth -and fourteenth centuries still clearly show traces -of the high degree of culture that had spread from -Byzantium, Venice and Florence. But these are -merely sparks which the Serbian discriminative -genius and natural ability would doubtless have -kindled into a bright flame had not the advent of -the Turks frustrated the great plans of Dušan -Silni. Constantinople would have remained in -the hands of a Christian people who love art -and progress. No other nation was so well -fitted as the Serbs to infuse new life into the -culture of the ancients. The presence of this -sane and strong young nation would have saved -the humanists their flight from Byzantium.</p> - -<p>After the death of Dušan Silni the great -Serbian Empire crumbled into a large number -of small states, whose rulers played a dangerous -game, and intrigued one against the other, -whilst the Turks were conquering Thrace. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span> -Macedonian despots became vassals to the Turks, -and only a few countries like Zeta, Bosnia, and -the empire of Prince Lazar (the Serbia of to-day) -maintained their independence. So long as these -countries were free, the Ottoman invasion of -Europe was delayed, because in the Kossovo -polje (the field of Kossovo) Serbia held the key -of Europe. The Turks knew this and constantly -prepared their attacks accordingly. On Vidovdan -(St. Vitus Day, 1387) 100,000 Serbs and -300,000 Turks met in battle on the Kossovo. -The battle was fierce and the losses on both sides -were enormous. The Serbs lost their Prince -Lazar and all their nobility; the Turks the greater -part of their army and their Sultan Murat I. -In Europe the report spread that the Serbs had -been victorious; in Florence and Paris all the -bells were rung for joy, and a service of thanksgiving -was held in Notre Dame, which was -attended by Charles VI. with all his Court.</p> - -<p>Murat’s successor, Bayazit did not penetrate -further; he permitted the Serbs to retain their -own laws, but they had to acknowledge him -as their suzerain. In 1459 Serbia was finally -crushed and fell completely under Turkish rule. -Soon after (1463) the same fate befell Bosnia and -Hercegovina. Only the mountain fastnesses of -Montenegro remained unconquered.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span></p> - -<h4>III.</h4> - -<p>When Serbia began her life as an independent -State, she was still bleeding from the many -wounds inflicted upon her through centuries of -slavery, and first of all these wounds had to be -tended. The Serbian nation, intellectually and -economically bankrupt from long Turkish misrule, -was in the position of a merchant—an honest -fellow, but robbed to his last farthing, whose -ruined shop is being restored to him, and who is -expected to work up the old business to its -former prosperity out of these ruins. Years had -to elapse ere the people got accustomed to the -new order of things, and, out of the welter of -beginnings, found the way to sound civic development. -In those days Serbia fell a victim to -every political infantile disease, but on the other -hand she was inspired with a poetic, truly Slav -patriotism. Their golden freedom, which they -had so long yearned and fought for, and had now -at last won, affected the nation not as a political -event but as a great <em>family festival</em>, in which -all the members were united in love and joy. -They <em>revelled</em> in their new-found freedom; the -sordid considerations of the day were put off till -the morrow, or left to the care of a small body of -“cold-blooded” men. Civic law and order, and -regularity in the administration—unheard of -under Turkish rule—were first looked upon as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> -purely miraculous, and then tacitly accepted as -the inevitable consequences of freedom. The -idea of a <em>free State</em> is only of theoretical value to -the Serbs, the main thing for them is that they -should be a <em>free people</em>. As a free people they -followed their leaders—not as superiors, but as -children obey their fathers. With childlike simplicity -they gathered round their rural magistrate -to hear his instructions, and in the same spirit -they assembled under the ancient plane-tree in -the Topchider Park to hear Miloš, their first -Gospodar and Prince, dispense wise counsel and -even-handed justice. But in these council-meetings -between ruler and people was sown the -seed of the true constitution of the State, and, -like the empire of Dušan Silni in days gone by, -modern Serbia has grown up out of her own people. -And this is why Serbia is an <em>eminently nationalistic</em> -state, free and independent of foreign influence. -Perhaps in some ways this has been a drawback, -but it has also been a great source of strength to -Serbia. The intimate connection between the -reigning house and the people proved a bulwark -against foreign attempts at denationalization, -and gave Serbia the necessary strength to keep -herself free from Germany’s corroding influence -to this day.</p> - -<p>In every way the patriarchal state of Prince -Miloš proved the best possible preparation for -Serbia’s political future. She matured slowly, -like an apple in the sun, and fortunately was not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> -compelled to ripen unnaturally. Moreover, the -inborn gifts of the Serbian people, which I have -already mentioned, proved a great help to this -process. They began to see that poetry has its -limitations, that a free people must become an -organized state, and that political order, though -it cannot be set in verse, is the only guarantee of -prosperity to the nation. Of course, legal decisions -and taxes were vexatious matters, but their good -effect on the community was recognized. The -law expressed the will of the people and was no -longer resented as an imposition.</p> - -<p>It was fortunate for the young State that -<em>Dositij Obradović</em>, the greatest educational genius -of Serbia, had lived before this critical time. He -laid the foundations of a national educational -system—that most necessary discipline for a -young nation—and was beyond doubt one of the -greatest men the Southern Slavs have produced -in modern times. In Serbia he is called “<em>the -great sower</em>.” He truly sowed the seed of -enlightenment, not only in Serbia but wherever -Serbs and Croats live. Dositij Obradović has -not educated individuals, but whole generations, -and through them the entire nation. And if the -modern State is synonymous with civilization, -then Dositij Obradović was the true founder of -Serbia. He sowed the seed, all others have only -been reapers.</p> - -<p>Prince Miloš, who abdicated in 1839, was -succeeded by his son Milan Obrenović II. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> -died, however, within a month of his accession. -His successor and younger brother, Michael, was -soon involved in serious differences with the -Senate, and had to quit the country in 1842. -Serbia now elected Alexander Karagjorgjević, -son of the Black Kara-Gjorgje, who headed the -insurrection against Turkey in 1804. In spite of -his great gifts as a statesman, he failed to maintain -himself on the throne on account of his leanings -towards Austria. The nation, who instinctively -scented their ancient enemy, mistrusted him, and -matters finally came to a crisis in 1858. The -Serbian Skuptchina (Parliament) formally deposed -Alexander and again elected an Obrenović to -the throne of Serbia. This was Miloš Obrenović, -whose short reign was not remarkable for -any striking events. His son Michael succeeded -him in 1860.</p> - -<p><em>Michael Obrenović</em> was a brilliant, broad-minded, -noble-hearted man. He found the national -harvest already well grown, and courageously -continued the work of his early predecessors. -He thoroughly understood his people, with all -their gifts and limitations, and, above all, he -realized that the moment had arrived for Serbia -to become “westernized” without sacrificing -her national qualities. He “Europeanized” the -State and made it respected at home and abroad. -The educational system made great strides and -was modernized in his reign. The finances of the -country were placed on a sound basis, agriculture<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> -was developed on modern, rational lines, and -industrial enterprise and foreign trade made -their first appearance. Under the strong guiding -hand of their prince, the organization of the <em>army</em> -kept pace with the economic development of the -nation. He initiated Serbian foreign policy<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> and -was the best and wisest diplomat of his country. -His policy towards Russia resulted in the Russian -protectorate, which has proved so powerful to -this very day, but it also aroused the jealousy -of Austria. Above all things Michael Obrenović -was a Serb, and his Slav policy was not only -carried on in the interests of the nation, but -dictated by his heart. He evolved the idea of a -Serbia with a seaboard on the Ægean as well as -the Adriatic. He knew that the future of his -country will never be secure until all Serbs and -Croats are united, and the ways open which will -permit of a corresponding economic prosperity. -Serbia’s demand for a seaboard is <em>not</em> mere -aggression, but the recognition of a vital problem -which will be disposed of as soon as her minimum -requirements are satisfied.</p> - -<p>Under the next Obrenović, the jovial Prince -Milan (subsequently King Milan), Serbian policy -occasionally deviated from the lines laid down -by Prince Michael. Unfortunately, the good -services which <em>King</em> Milan undoubtedly rendered -his country are overshadowed by his many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> -serious mistakes. At first his genial personality -and great popularity seemed to fit him very well -for the continuation and completion of the -work <em>Prince</em> Milan had begun. But apparently -his ambitions did not lie that way, for his reign -presents a long record of discord at home and -abroad. The party-spirit in civil and military -affairs assumed formidable dimensions, and the -State repeatedly barely escaped shipwreck. -Milan was a spoilt man of the world. He preferred -to live abroad and often left the administration -for long periods wholly in the hands of -the Cabinet of the moment, who, in the absence -of the ruler, often found it most difficult to -maintain their authority in the face of opposing -factions. Abroad the king became acquainted -with eminent foreign nobles and statesmen, and, -as in most cases these were Austrians, he fell -under the influence of the Monarchy. The tide -of German pressure towards the East began to -filter through into Serbia, and at times the -official policy was frankly pro-Austrian. The -King was still popular, but the people gradually -lost confidence in him, and on several critical -occasions he was fain to “save” himself by -brilliant addresses to the people.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> But the -Royal blunders became increasingly frequent, -and were further aggravated by intolerable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> -domestic dissensions which finally led to the -divorce of Queen Natalie. Fortunately Serbia -possessed singularly able statesmen during the -reign of King Milan, and it is solely due to their -efforts that the country escaped public disaster. -The present Serbian Premier, Nikola Pašić, -already played a prominent part in those days, -and repeatedly saved his King and country in -times of imminent danger. But presently matters -became intolerable, and King Milan abdicated -in favour of his son Alexander, who was still -under age. The reign of Alexander is the -darkest period in the history of modern Serbia. -During his minority the country was governed by -a regency, and all went well; but when Alexander -assumed the sceptre himself, the state -began to crumble in its very foundations. Mentally -deficient, and therefore dangerous in all -his actions, he inaugurated a rule of autocracy, -tolerated no opposition, and endowed every one -of his mistakes with the distinction of a “supreme -command.” The rift between King and people -grew wider and more impassable, and finally -became an abyss when he insisted on raising -his mistress Draga Maschin to the position of -legal wife and Queen of Serbia. But even this -was not all. The new queen, with all the blind -conceit of a <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">parvenue</em>, introduced the worst type -of petticoat government at court and in politics, -which showed itself in graft, corruption, unblushing -exhibitions of contempt for the people,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> -and insults to statesmen, scholars and especially -to the officers of the army. When the scandal -about the supposititious birth of an heir occurred, -the wrath of the people turned to fury, and, in -the night of May 28th, 1903, the garrison of -Belgrade carried out the sentence of the nation -upon the King and Queen.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>The accession of the Karagjorgjević dynasty, -who were really entitled to the crown, opens a -new national and political era for Serbia. An -old man was called to the throne, but a <em>grand -seigneur</em> of the best French school—a school -which did not produce debauchees and Boulevard-trotters, -but soldiers and statesmen of the first -order. King Peter was a Western European -in the best sense of the word. He was not only -of the blood of the black Karagjorgje, the scion -of a house of heroes, but an experienced soldier -and statesman. During the long years of his -exile he was an officer in the French army, and -in virtue of his social position had every opportunity -of garnering valuable experience both -in peace and in war. All this time he was -emphatically the “one who looked on” and -watched the development of his country from -afar—her struggles and her trials. Although he -never resigned his pretendership to the Serbian -throne he was often, surely very often, convinced -that he himself would never be called to ascend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> -it. But his heart and his love ruled with the -Serbian people, and probably he felt the misfortunes -of his country more keenly than any -other Serbian. It is absurd to hold King Peter -responsible for the murder of his predecessor. -Any one privileged to know him would indignantly -repudiate the thought. His accession to -the throne was merely a consequence and in no -way a cause of the Obrenović tragedy. But -Europe was too horrified at the murder to discriminate -at the time, and would accept neither -reasons nor explanations proving the necessity -of making a fresh start—and this quite apart -from the circumstance of the murder. Europe -regarded the <em>deed</em> and not the <em>causes</em> of the deed; -and refused to search her own histories for -similar deeds provoked by similar causes. Thus -King Peter was confronted with a two-fold -difficulty. On the one hand both he and his -country had forfeited the sympathies of Europe, -and on the other he succeeded to the government -of a country demoralized by the previous -reign, and torn by party dissensions. It was a -most difficult situation, so many conflicting -interests had to be reconciled! Truly a very -weighty task for an elderly and perhaps already -world-weary man.</p> - -<p>But King Peter did not come to Serbia as a -pretender who has at last gained the crown he -has coveted; he came as the champion of the -Serb ideal of the past—whose last representative<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> -had been Michael Obrenović,—the ideal of national -expansion, of a Serbian future. He recognized -his difficulties but attacked them without -flinching. For the Serb nation—impulsive, -tempestuous and sensitive—it was a blessing to -pass under the guidance of a calm, wisely deliberate -king. He went his way step by step, firmly, -and without illusions. Amid the tumult of -acclamations that greeted him in Belgrade his -was probably the only heart heavy with care. -He knew only too well that the violent <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coup -d’état</em> was not the solution but merely the beginning -of the problem. This consciousness and -his patriotic ideal have been the ruling motives -of his reign from the very first. One of King -Peter’s first tasks was the rehabilitation of -Serbia in the eyes of Europe. Unjustly enough -the entire responsibility for the loss of Serbia’s -prestige was laid to his charge, and it was uphill -work to alter the opinion of Europe, but he -refrained from protestations and excuses. He -realized that Serbia must be regenerated in such -a fashion as to win back the full confidence of -Europe. By the wisdom of his policy and with -the help of able statesmen—principally Nikola -Pašić—he steered Serbia’s foreign policy back -into a healthy, normal channel, and within a few -years the country once more took her position -as a well-ordered European State—apart from -the calumnies and enmity of Germany and -Austria. In fact, this successful reconstruction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> -was proof in the eyes of Europe that the dynastic -change was a necessity for Serbia, and that in the -solution of the Balkan problem she might certainly -be trusted to take her part of the burden -as a civilized State. She proved her mettle -soon afterwards in the first Balkan War, for in -this war the ideal of the King—which he shares -with his people—scored its first great success, -when the hard-pressed nation displayed a high -degree of valour, statesmanship and true nobility.</p> - -<p>In his ten years’ reign King Peter has gone -far to restore to Serbia her ancient glories. -During his reign her politics have become more -settled at home and abroad. Agriculture, trade -and industry have improved and expanded. -Literature and art have made miraculous strides, -so that Serbia may fairly consider herself the -equal of the Western nations; and the Serbian -army has now demonstrated its excellent organization -and great military value in three -successive wars.</p> - -<p>King Peter, whose short reign became so -stormy towards the end, may look back on the -results of his labours with the same calm assurance -with which he took up the sceptre. He -has quickened the new soul of Serbia, and although -he retired shortly before the outbreak of the -present war, and entrusted the sceptre to his -son, his spirit still lives in his people and army -and—please God—will lead them both to victory.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> -IV.</p> - -<p>Serbian relations with Austria have been an -important, and indeed the decisive, factor in -recent Serb history; and the events which are -the outcome of these relations will either bring -about the territorial consolidation of Serbia or -her final ruin. Austria-Hungary was never a -well-wisher of Serbia, although she has often -brazenly posed as her benefactor. It has always -been Austria’s aim to detach Serbia from -Russian influence, and to bring her under the -soul-saving protectorate of the Monarchy. The -nearest road to Salonika lies through Serbia, and -at all costs this route had to be secured. If only -Serbia could be made dependent upon Austria-Hungary, -it would be much better for the aims -of Germanistic expansive policy; it would also -paralyse the Southern Slavs in the Monarchy. -Knowing that the Great Powers, especially Russia, -would never permit an effective occupation of -Serbia, Austria sought by intrigues in the spirit -of Metternich to make her influence predominant -in Serbia, also economically to weaken her as a -state, by vexatious commercial treaties in the hope -of rendering her more amenable towards the -Monarchy. Serbia bravely resisted all these -attempts and suffered considerable material loss; -but she stood firm in the knowledge that she is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> -the first and strongest fortress in the way of -German pressure towards the East, and staunchly -believed in the ultimate success of her cause. The -brave little country had a mission to fulfil, not only -in her own interest, but in that of the Slav race -and the whole of Europe. Vienna and Berlin -knew that Serbia was a very hard nut, but they -felt confident of cracking it in the end. When -open aggression failed, they put a good face on -the matter, and assured the hard-pressed Serbs -of their kind intentions. The occupation of -Bosnia and Hercegovina was the first tangible -proof of these kind intentions, for on that occasion -Austria “delivered” two million Serbs and -Croats from Turkish bondage. Unfortunately -Serbia did not in the least appreciate this “benefit,” -whereby a large number of her kindred were -handed over to the tender mercies of Austria, -whose solicitous care of her Southern Slav -subjects was only too well known—in fact, -instead of being grateful, Serbia never ceased to -point out her own national and territorial claims -upon Bosnia and Hercegovina. Naturally this -insolent attitude on the part of Serbia provoked -the animosity, and presently the official disfavour, -of Austria. This disfavour was displayed on -every possible occasion although it always wore -a sanctimonious garb. Serbia was too weak and -unprepared to retort aggressively upon this -animosity; her defence was limited to diplomatic -measures and the moral support of Russia. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span> -was a marvellous achievement on the part of -her statesmen that in the face of strong popular -feeling they so long staved off an open rupture; -and that they did not let the thirty-five years of -misgovernment in Bosnia and Hercegovina, or -the oppression of the Southern Slavs, drive -them to a desperate decision. The influence of -European diplomacy was doubtless very helpful; -still, the Serbian people displayed admirable -restraint under constant provocation. Germany -and Austria, who are able to corrupt the greater -part of their own Press, and even many foreign -newspapers, and can command a whole staff -of political agitators, never relaxed their campaign -of abuse and calumny against Serbia, and -everywhere represented her as an incapable, -barbarous, and dangerous State. In this they -were only too successful. Unfortunately the -condition of Serbian home politics has often been -deplorable, and in addition to this the murder -of the King and Queen in 1903 provided ample -material for biassing public opinion in Europe. -On the whole Europe endorsed these calumnies -and refused to listen to the counter-protestations -of Russia and other Slavs, because the testimony -of barbarians and troglodytes was obviously -valueless. Serbia was frequently reduced to -desperate straits. She was really defending the -cause of civilization by stemming the tide of -Germanism in the East—she was <em>preparing</em> a -great world-work, and her reward was merely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> -contempt or a pitying smile. Without Russia’s -moral support she must have been swamped by -Austria long ago.</p> - -<p>With the annexation of Bosnia and Hercegovina -in 1909 and the disgraceful circumstances -that preceded it (which I shall touch upon in a -later chapter), the mutual enmity between -Austria and Serbia reached its height. War -between Austria-Hungary on the one hand -and Russia and Serbia on the other, seemed -imminent, and was only averted by the intervention -of European diplomacy, especially by -the efforts of Sir Edward Grey. In a declaration -dated March 31st, 1909, Serbia acknowledged -the annexation as an accomplished fact, and -promised henceforth to conduct her policy in a -neighbourly and friendly spirit towards Austria. -This was the last act of self-abasement extorted -from the unhappy country, but by no means -the end of hostile agitations. On the contrary, -these only became more virulent, because Austria -considered the annexation of Bosnia and Hercegovina -merely a prelude to the invasion of Serbia. -Hence the necessity of representing Serbia as a -menace to the peace of Europe, and especially to -the position of the Monarchy as a Great Power. -Serbia’s prestige declined still further. But -suddenly a new contingency arose, and the -<em>Balkan War</em> of 1912 brought to light a series of -glorious proofs of heroism, self-control, statesmanship, -and military and national ability on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> -part of Serbia. The contempt of Europe was -transformed into admiration, and Serbia suddenly -found herself appreciated at her true -value. This was a blow Austria could not -forgive, and still less the fact that the criminal -blunder of the second Balkan War, whereby she -fondly hoped that Serbia would be crushed, -proved unsuccessful. A strong and respected -Serbia was a thorn in the flesh to Austria and a -disquieting influence among her Southern Slav subjects. -Henceforth the Viennese Foreign Office concentrated -its efforts on the destruction of Serbia -at all costs. First of all Serbia was confronted -with a demand for such trade concessions as -would render her economically dependent upon -Austria, and the next commercial treaty was to -have placed Austria in the position of a “most -favoured nation.” In politics Austria had recourse -to the invention of the spectre of a “Greater -Serbia,”—an idea which hitherto had merely -possessed intellectual significance, and whose -representatives were a few hot-heads quite -unconnected with Serbian official policy. To -make this new propaganda convincing Austria -employed a large number of <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">agents provocateurs</em>, -whose masterpiece appears to have been the -attempt upon the Archduke Francis Ferdinand -at Serajevo, June 28th, 1914. Truly, when all -the side-issues are taken into account, it seems -more than likely that the <em>attempt</em> at least was -staged by Austrian agents. Was the assassination<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> -merely an accident?<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> It is to be feared that -this is one of the unhappy mysteries which will -never be fully cleared up.</p> -<hr /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span></p> - -<h3>CHAPTER VII.<br /><br /> - -<small>MONTENEGRO.</small></h3> - -<p class="indent f85">The Country of the Black Mountain—Women Warriors—King, -Poet and Farmer—Historical Sketch of -Montenegro—Petar I., Petrović—Petar II.—Pro-Russian -Policy—A Royal Poet—Nikola I.</p> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">All</span> I have said about Serbia applies equally to -Montenegro. The nations are one and the -same: they are identical in every respect and -only geographically divided. Montenegro is the -Serbian advance guard on the Adriatic. It is -the eagle’s nest of Europe, the loftiest symbol -of freedom and independence. Nature herself -has given this people an impregnable fortress, -and placed in their hands the keys of Southern -Slav liberty. From the height of their barren -Black Mountains the valiant high-spirited Montenegrin -has looked down for centuries on the -rise and fall of his kinsmen all around him. In -all the tragedies that have passed in the shadow -of his eyrie he has played his part, both as -dauntless warrior, and the bard of freedom who -from his mountain heights sang the song of the -future to his enslaved brothers. The Montenegrin -has always been the same. In war-time<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> -he is a warrior, in times of peace a shepherd -armed to the teeth. He is inseparable from -his weapons, but only uses them against his -enemies. Though his aspect is martial and his -glance fierce, he bears a kindly, loveable heart. -Comparing his outward appearance with his soul, -one might call him a lion with the heart of a -dove. A friend, whoever he may be, is welcomed -with open arms, and his rough, powerful hand can -be gently caressing as a child’s. But an enemy -will be crushed by its weight; for the Montenegrin -<em>hates</em> his foe, hates him passionately, -fiercely and implacably, and he is ever on the -watch for him. Even at tender age the children -are decked with weapons and have to learn -the use of them under the eyes of their elders. -And the enemy is always the “Schwabo.” The -women are just as efficiently trained to arms -as the men, and it has often happened that the -Montenegrin Amazons played a decisive part in -warfare; and, when weapons were scarce, the -women rolled mighty rocks from the heights -down upon their enemies. Fighting is a grim -pleasure to the Montenegrin in war-time, and -his recreation in times of peace. Whoever has -travelled in the Montenegrin mountains cannot fail -often to have noticed two goatherds in the midst -of their herds, fencing with their “Handzars” -(the sheathless scimitar of the Montenegrins) and -not far off two goat-girls similarly engaged.</p> - -<p>The Montenegrin is not a great farmer. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> -soil is poor and barren; yet every patch of fertile -ground is utilized to the utmost of its resources, -and good soil is often carried from a great distance -and deposited in the stony corries for the -cultivation of a little maize and corn. But the -Montenegrin cares less for a full stomach than -for a light heart. It is a people that is for ever -singing, and the wealth of Serbo-Croat folk-songs -provides them with ample material.</p> - -<p>The relations between the Montenegrins and -their rulers is without parallel in Europe. Certainly -the King is the “Gospodar” (ruler), but -he is really only the chief warrior, the chief -farmer, and the chief poet of his country. The -dynasty is descended from Montenegrin farmers -and is deep-rooted in the people themselves. -The Montenegrin does not consider his King so -much the head of the State, as the leader of the -nation, and relations between them are familiar -and fraternal. The King is the father, and the -people are his children in a perfectly patriarchal -sense. There is no trace of Western European -formality in their intercourse. The familiar -“thou” is used on either side, and the simplest -peasant shakes hands with the King as a matter -of course. But in war time the King’s word is -law, and the unquestioning discipline of the -people is founded on their mutual relations in -times of peace—founded on the love of the people -for their ruler.</p> - -<p>The Montenegrins are Serbs by nationality,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> -and their Royal House, like that of Serbia, has -sprung from the people. Neither country has -ever been ruled by a foreign prince.</p> - -<p>In olden times it was the custom that the -elders of the nation, without special regard to -diplomatic qualifications, should guide the fate -of their country by the rules of ancient custom. -Chief among them was the Vladika,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> who possessed -no special privileges as ruler but merely -took precedence in virtue of his ecclesiastical -dignity. His education was limited to what was -necessary for his clerical duties, and he knew -little or nothing of state-craft. The character -of a given reign depended mainly on the prevailing -relations with the Turks, and Montenegrin -affairs prospered in proportion to the peaceable -or aggressive attitude of these neighbours. A -well-ordered state, enlightenment, and education -were luxuries no one desired or required, and the -people lived and fought merely for the needs -of the day. But, although they are naturally -gifted, the nation could not develop without -any means of education; and, apart from the art -of war they were simple and unlettered as -children. Mere adventurers have several times -taken advantage of this simplicity. The most -flagrant instance was that of Stjepan Mali, a -Russian swindler, who gave himself out to be a -scion of the Vojevode family Petrović and proclaimed -himself lord of Montenegro.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span></p> - -<p>Affairs improved when Vladikas of Crnojević -family were succeeded by Vladikas of the -true Petrović stock in the leadership of the -country. The first of these, Petar I., Petrović, -was still content to follow in the footsteps of his -predecessors, and influenced the education of his -people only in so far as he himself was cultured. -His immediate successor Petar II., Petrović -Njegoš, earned undying fame in the history of -Montenegro.</p> - -<p>Petar II. became Vladika and Gospodar of -Montenegro at the age of seventeen. At the time -of his accession he was scarcely more than a -Montenegrin peasant lad, accustomed to dealing -with attacks from the Turks, but otherwise -without education. The young ruler knew nothing -whatever of system or the deeper meaning of -learning and education, when he took the helm. -Times were troubled and difficult, for, even in -Montenegro opinions were divided. There were -several other pretenders—not so much because -of internal dissensions as in consequence of -foreign intrigue. It was not a matter of indifference -for the neighbouring states whether the -ruler of Montenegro was their friend and tool, -or whether he was a man of independent personality -and inclined to follow Montenegrin -tradition in considering Russia. The Sandjaks -of Skutari and Hercegovina (at that time still -the Sandjak Novipazar) were Montenegro’s -vulnerable point. For nearly a century Montenegro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> -had already sought ways and means of extending -her territory as far as the frontier of modern -Serbia. Moreover, from the days of Peter the -Great an idea had existed that, with the help of -the Serbs of Old Serbia, and the Serbs and Croats -of Bosnia and Hercegovina, Montenegro should -prepare the way for the emancipation of her -kindred from the Turkish yoke. Poverty, however, -lack of numbers on the part of Montenegro, -and the vacillations of Russian diplomacy -frustrated these plans, and Vladika Petar I. did -not feel strong enough to embark on this enterprise. -Petar II. realized that, before Montenegro -could hope to attempt this task, she would have to -strengthen her hands—and those of her brothers -awaiting liberation—by a thorough-going pro-Russian -policy, which would secure them the -protection of the Russian Empire. She must also -provide her children with the means of education. -He knew well that nothing can be done with -an unlettered people. The lines laid down by -him were quite correct. Russian society understood -the Prince’s aims and gave him sufficient -financial assistance for the foundation of schools, -etc., and Russian diplomacy supported him -strongly in his politics. Petar II. set about his -educational mission with devotion and perseverance, -and even found time to complete his own -studies. When he attained to man’s estate he -was already famous as one of the finest of the -Southern Slav poets, and as one of the patrons of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> -culture among the oppressed Slav peoples.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> But -his path was by no means strewn with roses. -The very strength of his independent personality -laid him open to insidious intrigues. True, he -followed Russia’s advice, but, while he was still -a youth, full of the healthy, impetuous ardour of -his mountain home, he often transgressed the -rules of European diplomacy. Diplomacy failed -to understand his actions, and he, being a true -Montenegrin, could not wait with his hands folded -to see what diplomacy might achieve, while the -Turks were harrying his borders. Even the -Russian Consul in Dubrovnik (Ragusa) often -complained to his Government that the Prince -“was better fitted for a grenadier than for a -Vladika” (Bishop). And, of course, Vienna always -stirred up enmity against him. But Petar II. -remained a staunch Montenegrin warrior, and -the older he grew the less he was able to adapt -himself to the wiles of diplomacy. He devoted -himself to his people, who loved, honoured, and -revered him. But foreign intrigue began to -tell upon him. Disappointments increased with -advancing years, and he found little but bitterness -in the onerous duties of a prince; this -bitterness and disappointment find eloquent -expression in his poems. At last circumstances -became so unendurable to him that he thought of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span> -abdicating, and was probably only deterred from -his purpose by his ardent love for his people. -For, despite all vexations, he cannot have failed -to see that his presence was not useless and that -his work and activities were bringing a blessing -to his people and laying the foundations of the -future.</p> - -<p>His nephew and successor, Danilo I., was the -last “Vladika” on the Montenegrin throne. He -was far better versed in the arts of diplomacy, -but his reign will never rival that of his uncle in -importance. He fell a victim to assassination -in 1860 at Kotor (Cattaro) and was succeeded -by his nephew Nikola I., the first secular prince -of Montenegro.</p> - -<p>In Nikola I. fate bestowed upon Montenegro a -ruler with a remarkably strong character and -first-rate diplomatic talent. The country was -re-organized from within, without giving offence -to any of the sacred traditions of the Montenegrins. -In Nikola’s foreign policy veritable -masterpieces were achieved from time to time. -Without departing from the traditional pro-Russian -policy Nikola established excellent relations -with all non-Slav states, especially with -Austria, and made the utmost use of every opportunity -whereby his country and people might -benefit. A man of great personal charm, highly -cultured and refined, Nikola I. has enthusiastic -friends and admirers in every part of the world. -The unity of the Southern Slavs is one of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> -favourite ideals, and he has laboured unceasingly -to promote this cause. His personal relationship -to several of the Royal Houses of Europe made -it possible for him to work effectively and win -friends for the Slav cause where another might -have failed to do so.</p> - -<p>What Nikola I. has done for Montenegro -during the fifty years of his reign is more or less -generally known. The education of the people, -which began under Petar II., has made splendid -progress under Nikola I., and to-day Montenegro -can boast a large number of statesmen, poets, -scholars and men of letters for so small a country. -When the Balkan crisis arrived, Nikola, then -already King of Montenegro, true to the spirit -of his fathers, unhesitatingly and enthusiastically -placed himself and his people at the disposal -of Serbia and won glorious victories, in consequence -of which his territories were considerably -enlarged. After the Balkan War, King Nikola -surely looked forward to a time of peace and -prosperity. But his hopes were doomed to -disappointment, for recent events have called -him to another and more important task.</p> -<hr /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span></p> - -<h3>CHAPTER VIII.<br /><br /> - -<small>THE SOUTHERN SLAVS OF THE DUAL MONARCHY.</small></h3> - -<p class="indent f85">I. A Homogeneous People—A Militant Past—The -Bogumili—National Bondage—Napoleon—Illyrism—Agreement -with Hungary—Count -Khuen-Hedervary.</p> - -<p class="indent f85">II. The greatest representative of the Southern Slavs—Strossmayer’s -generosity and courage—Fall of -Count Khuen-Hedervary—Death of Strossmayer.</p> - -<p class="indent f85">III. False Dawn—Conference of Fiume—Ban Paul -Rauch—Monster Trial in Zagreb—The Friedjung -Case—Cuvaj—Frano Supilo.</p> - -<p class="indent f85">IV. Dalmatia, Istria, Carniola—The Italian Element—Bosnia-Hercegovina—Conclusion.</p> - -<h4>I.</h4> - -<p>The whole south of the Dual Monarchy is inhabited -by Slavs. The Kingdoms of Croatia, -Slavonia, and Dalmatia, with the Duchy of -Carniola, Istria, and Bosnia-Hercegovina—these, -comprising a population of about seven millions, -belong almost exclusively to one race. Whereas -in all other countries of the Monarchy (especially -in Hungary and Bohemia) the different races are -represented in varying percentages, the non-Slav -population in Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia and -Hercegovina amounts only to about 5-1/2 per cent.,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> -in Carniola and Istria to 4 per cent., and in -Dalmatia only to 2 per cent. The considerable -number of Croats and Slovenes (750,000) living -in Southern Hungary (in Torontal, Bacs-Bodrog -and Temes) must be added to the above-mentioned -seven millions.</p> - -<p>Ethnologically speaking, the inhabitants of all -these countries form one people, and are a brother -nation to the Serbs in the Kingdoms of Serbia and -Montenegro. Their language, customs, historical -past and achievements in art, science and literature, -are identical. The sole difference between -them is that the Croats and Slovenes are Catholics, -while part of the inhabitants of Bosnia are -Mohammedans. Those confessing the Serbo-Orthodox -faith (more than a third of the population) -also own to the national name and call -themselves Serbs. This compact and homogeneous -national body would certainly have -become a most important factor in the Monarchy -had they not been cut in two by administrative -policy. Here as elsewhere throughout all her -dominions Austria has applied her principle of -dividing and dismembering, and the Southern -Slav provinces were shared between two spheres -of power. Croatia and Slavonia were allotted to -the Hungarian; Carniola, Dalmatia and Istria -to the Austrian sphere, and a mixed Austrian -and Hungarian administration was introduced -in Bosnia and Hercegovina. This system made -a unanimous political rally of the Southern Slavs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> -quite impossible, and provided German and -Magyar propaganda with a more manageable field -of operations. In both spheres unremitting -efforts were devoted to the task of eliminating -the Southern Slav element, stifling Slav thought, -and transforming the Slavs into <em>slaves</em>. But the -Southern Slav is endowed with unusual tenacity; -the most zealous efforts on the part of the Government -were frustrated by his dogged resistance, -and they merely defeated their own ends. German -“kultur” and Magyar <em>lack</em> of culture were held -in equal abomination by the Slav nations upon -whom they were to be inflicted, and the ruthless -spoliation to which they were likewise subjected -engendered a deep-seated animosity. The -Northern Slavs, who possess more practical -business capacity than the Southern, did not -allow themselves to be economically strangled, -and even contrived to hold their own in this -respect; whereas the Southern Slavs, being mainly -an agricultural people, found themselves the -helpless victims of Austrian and Hungarian -rapacity. Dalmatia, one of the loveliest spots in -Europe, has for the last century known no -privilege except that of paying taxes, and Austria’s -mal-administration of that country has become -proverbial. Croatia and Slavonia fare little -better. They have to pay 56 per cent. of their -revenues to Hungary. This tax figures under -the head of “contributions to mutual interests,” -chiefly represented by the railways and the postal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> -system. The net annual income from these -two sources amounts to 250 million Kr., but -of this Croatia never receives a penny! The -net profit <em>all</em> goes to Hungary who brazenly -employs it to subvention the Magyar propaganda -in Croatia. The condition of Carniola -and Istria is almost as deplorable as that of -Dalmatia, and in Bosnia and Hercegovina the -Austro-Hungarian Government has for thirty-five -years built villages “after the pattern of Potemkin,” -for the edification of foreign journalists, -while the people have been left to starve, or -sink into poverty and ignorance. The numerous -foreign tourists who have travelled in these -beautiful countries have seen nothing of Austria’s -“work of civilization,” as they are kept to the -beaten tracks specially prepared for them, and -they only see the country like a carefully staged -panorama on the films of the Royal and Imperial -State Cinematograph! But had these travellers -caught a glimpse of the abject misery of the -people, their pleasure in these beautiful countries -would have been spoilt, and they would have -better understood why the inhabitants are rebelling -against the “blessing” of Austro-Hungarian -rule.</p> - -<p>It is much easier to understand why the political -horizon in the Southern Slav corner of Europe is -always clouded if one is given a clearer view of -the <em>Chartered rights</em>, as opposed to the <em>actual -position</em>, held by the Southern Slavs in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> -Monarchy; but this view is not usually obtained -through the official channels of Vienna and -Budapest. According to these, all ancient <em>charters</em> -of liberty are so many “scraps of paper,” and -the actual law merely the right of the strongest. -The Hapsburgs did not come as victors with the -rights of a conqueror to the Southern Slav provinces. -They became rulers of these countries in -virtue of voluntary treaties, and they themselves -issued manifestos and bulls, in which the integrity -and independence of the Southern Slav countries -are incontestably guaranteed. Centuries ago, while -the Hapsburg dynasty was endangered by constant -wars, and especially during the Turkish invasion, -these guarantees were faithfully observed. But -with the altered conditions of affairs the Southern -Slavs had to wage a bitter struggle for their -rights.</p> - -<p>Of all this group Croatia-Slavonia alone still -retains the slightest degree of autonomy, while -the countries belonging to Austria have been -deprived of every vestige of self-government, -and only appear to be distinct dominions in the -State by their mock Landtags, whose decisions -are almost invariably disregarded. Croatia-Slavonia, -which belongs to Hungary, has to this -day at least theoretically maintained her political -independence. Croatia was once more guaranteed -this independence by the agreement between -herself and Hungary in 1868. When the Hapsburg -Empire was reconstructed in 1867 the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> -constitutional independence of Croatia could not -be set aside, especially as this reconstruction -was founded on the Pragmatic Sanction, which -provided for the separate constitutional independence -of Croatia under guarantee of the Royal -Oath. Moreover, the events of the revolution -of 1848 were still too fresh in the memories -of the Hungarian statesmen who had laboured -for the establishment of Hungary’s State Constitution -from 1861 till 1867, and in their dealings -with Croatia they did not dare to repeat the -mistakes they had made in 1847 and 1848. -Francis Deak, the chief of these statesmen, knew -very well that the catastrophe that overtook -Hungary in 1848 would never have been so -great, if the Croatian national forces had fought -side by side with Hungary. Thus it was his -wish to conclude a lasting peace with Croatia -on a just basis. Under Deak’s influence, and -with the co-operation of Croatia’s leading representatives, -an agreement was concluded which -assured Croatia the position of a State enjoying -equal rights with Hungary, with complete self-government -as regards her internal affairs, a -separate legislative parliament, and her own -army; only the railways and the postal and -financial systems were to be under mutual -control, and Croatia was guaranteed a proportionate -share of the revenues from these sources. -The Croatian tongue was to be the official language -in the Landwehr, and in all courts of law,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span> -whether joint or autonomous. The important -Croatian seaport Fiume was declared a “corpus -separatum adnexæ <em>rex</em>,” and thus constituted -a joint open port. I shall presently show how -Hungary kept her side of the bargain.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>A Southern Slav patriot has said that no -greater misfortune has befallen the Southern -Slavs, than to pass under the dominion of civilized -Austria. Had they been obliged to share the -fate of their brothers, the Serbs and Bulgarians, -they would certainly have tasted all the misery -of the Turkish yoke, but to-day they would be -free, as an independent State with a right to -their own national and intellectual development. -The one thing Turkey has left untouched in the -Serbs and Bulgars—<em>the heart of the people</em>—is -the very thing that Austria has sought to -destroy in her Southern Slav subjects. Turkish -captivity has steeled the hearts of the Slavs she -oppressed, but Austrian captivity has cankered -them and made them effete.</p> - -<p>In many respects this pessimistic view is -justified. The struggle of the Southern Slavs for -national life has passed through many phases, -and has exhausted itself in many more. For -centuries the Southern Slav stood under the -protection of “Heaven militant,” and his motto -was “For Faith and Freedom,” for with him faith -was always first. All his culture consisted in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span> -imaging the Christ as the “Otac i voyskovodya -illyrskyh Kralyeva” (Father and leader of the -armies of the Kings of Illyria). The Holy Cross -was transformed into a standard of war, and his -enthusiasm for this false ideal led him so far -astray, that the <em>baptized</em> arch-enemy was nearer -to him than his own <em>unbaptized</em> brother, and -the Church dearer to him than his country. -But these traits do not originate in the character -of the Southern Slav. He was educated into them -and impregnated with them from without, and -always by his greatest enemies, the Germans or -the Turks. The Germans made a national -mission of the Crusades, and the Turks usually -went to war on religious grounds and called their -armies the Hosts of the Prophet. Following the -example of the Turks, and imitating the Germans -in their appropriation of the Deity, Slav Christianity -was infected by the fanaticism of the -Church of Rome, and became synonymous with -militancy and the spirit of the <em lang="it" xml:lang="it">condottieri</em>. The -heart of the nation grew vitiated, and the Illyrians -callously neglected their lovely land, which ought -to have been a Garden of Eden. And those who -were so liberal with their promises of Heaven -and constantly cried, “Thy Kingdom is not of -this world!” were well pleased that these things -should be so, for they coveted the lost Empire -of the Southern Slavs for an earthly paradise of -their own.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately this dark page in the history of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> -Southern Slavdom followed directly upon one -of the most brilliant periods in the intellectual -development of Southern Slav culture. It was -a period when the national culture of the Southern -Slavs put forth some of its most vigorous, fairest -and sanest blossoms—the time of the Bogumili -(“beloved of God”) whose work of enlightenment -spread from Bulgaria over the whole of the Slav -South. The Bogumili were strongly opposed to -the poetic glorification of the Crusades, because -they grasped the fact that the extolling of such -an ideal can never open the mind to <em>heretic</em> culture—the -culture based on <em>free choice according to -conscience</em>—which was eventually to undermine -the foundations of the sacrosanct Roman Empire -and lay the first solid foundations of <em>true</em> culture. -The Bogumili taught that true culture is not -spread by crusades, but springs from Christian, -human contemplation. They deprecated personal -worship, and replaced it by a worship of ideals, of -spirit, and of thought. Wyclif, Huss and Luther -are always quoted as the foremost apostles of the -<em>heretical</em> culture. But in the Hungarian Crusaders -the Bogumili found bitter enemies. Bogumilist -activity in Bosnia and Croatia was stifled in blood, -and the people, who were beginning to protest -against the lying cult of Cæsarism wedded to -Papistry, were simply butchered in the name of -the Cross. The blood-baths on the fields of -Bosnia filled the people with consternation, but -could not stifle Bogumilism. True, its progress<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> -was checked in the Southern Slav region, but it -secretly penetrated westward, whence the Patarenes -in Italy and the Catharists, Albigenses and -Waldenses in France spread it all over the world. -It is interesting to note that at the very moment -when Bogumilist culture was destroyed among -the Slavs themselves, they bequeathed this very -Bogumilism to the rest of Europe—the first and -only gift from the Southern Slav race <em>as a whole</em> -to the spiritual life of Europe. It was the true -“antemurale Christianitatis”—the outworks of -Christianity—purified from Byzantine and Roman -elements. <em>What they gave</em> was perhaps not so -very much their own as the <em>vigour</em> with which -they transplanted the ideal and the doctrine -of a spiritual life, from the mountains of Asia -Minor to the West. Theirs was the work of -emissaries and outposts.</p> - -<p>To resume, during the time of Turkish power, -the Southern Slavs had ceased to be the “outworks -of Christianity” and had become merely -a <em>soldatesca</em> in the service of the foreigner, fighting -indifferently for Cross or Crescent. It was -a terrible time of national abasement, more -especially because it followed so closely upon the -great era of spiritual exaltation. The gradual -loss of Southern Slav independence likewise -dates from this period, and from that time until -quite recently they were unable, <em>as a race</em>, to -produce a truly Southern Slav culture. Only -those among them who travelled westward,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> -where Bogumilism continued to thrive and -flourish, found the way of true culture. Among -these exceptions were Marko Marulić (Marcus -Marulus), a Spalatine noble, whose works were -translated from the Latin into all the principal -European tongues, and Flavius Illyricus, whom, -after Luther, Germany considers one of her -greatest teachers. In their souls these men -were merely Bogumili and nothing more. With -them we may also class John of Ragusa, who -led the whole Council of Bâle against the Pope -and proposed to negotiate calmly and justly -with the Hussites and Manichees. Just such a -man was Bishop Strossmayer in our own day, -a man of whom I shall presently speak further.</p> - -<p>Their liberation from the Crescent put an end -to the period of religious militancy among the -Southern Slav people. The warlike element is -perhaps of great historic moment. It certainly -fended the Southern Slavs over the abysses of -Turkish barbarism to freedom in the Christian -sense of the word, but by no means to national -freedom. When the Turkish invasion was rolled -back and the everlasting wars were over, the -symbol of the sword was exchanged for that -of the plough, and God as God was no longer -adorned with weapons, but imaged in a nobler -spirit as the highest conception of <em>peace</em>. And, -as the people accustomed themselves to peace, -and once more came in touch with the soil, a -new spirit grew up within them, or rather it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span> -was the re-awakening of an old spirit that for -a while had been silenced by the clamour of -weapons—the spirit of love for the homestead -and the community. Nationalism still slumbered -but, like a guardian angel, the <em>national -tongue</em> watched over its slumbers. Through -storm and stress, in spite of travels and intercourse -with foreign-speaking mercenaries, this -language has remained pure and unalloyed. This -was the seed of the future from which sprang -the great awakening; for so long as a people -preserves its language it possesses a Nationality.</p> - -<p>Liberty of conscience, and the transformation -of the warrior into a husbandman, were also the -beginning of a change in the souls of the people, -which, while groping its way back towards its -own essential beauty, began to feel the hidden -wounds within, and strove to rid itself of the -canker. The old beautiful mode of life, the -patriarchal family feeling and the bond of union -in the community were restored, and the gentle, -plaintive melodies echoed once more in farm -and field. And this regeneration grew and -expanded until it brought the revelation of -national union, patriotism, and finally the love -for all that belongs to the Slav race.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>The Napoleonic era found this people already -fully developed. They had found their soul -and knew what they wanted. Napoleon, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> -treated most of the people he conquered without -much consideration, was filled with unusual -admiration for the Southern Slavs that came -under his rule. By the peace of Schönbrunn -(October 14th, 1809) he acquired Triest, Görz, -Carniola, part of Carinthia, Austrian Istria, the -Croat seaboard with Fiume, and all Croatia -south of the Save. Napoleon united all these -countries with French Istria, Dalmatia and -Ragusa into one “Province of Illyria,” and thus -for one short moment fulfilled the dearest wish -of all the Southern Slavs. Illyria was organized -as one military province divided into six civil -provinces; Maréchal Marmont was appointed -Governor and in the name of Napoleon carried -out sweeping reforms throughout the country. -Trade and industry were signally improved and -the people were granted far-reaching national -liberties. The use of German as the official -language was abolished in the schools and law -courts and Serbo-Croatian introduced in its -place. Special attention was devoted to road-making -and education, and the Croats were -permitted to edit their own newspapers in the -Croat tongue, which would have been considered -high treason under Austria. Although the -French rule was only of short duration (till -1817) <em>it did more for the Southern Slav lands in -three years than Austria did during the century that -followed</em>. But the main thing was that this rule -aroused the national thought so effectively<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> -that henceforth it ceased to be a dream and -became a factor to be reckoned with. From -that time dates the unremitting struggle against -Germanism and Magyarism, and the agitation -for a national union of all the Southern Slavs.</p> - -<p>The first-fruits of the complete national regeneration -were seen in the great movement started -in 1835 and known by the name of Illyrism. -Illyrism began with a small group of patriots -and poets whose leaders were Ljndevit Gaj and -Count Janko Drašković. They founded newspapers -and periodicals, published patriotic books -and poems, and roused the national enthusiasm -of the people to the highest pitch. In this mission -they successfully sought help and advice from -other Slavs, especially the Csechs and Serbs; -they were also the first to come into touch with -Russia. Austria-Hungary tried sharply to repress -this movement, and for the first time found herself -confronted by a united nation bent on going its -own way. The Illyrist movement cannot point to -any positive political results, but it laid a foundation -for future political and national activity and -did an incalculable amount of pioneer work -which would have been most difficult to carry -out under the conditions that followed. In -1843 the name of Illyrism was prohibited by an -Imperial edict, and it was hoped by the Austrian -authorities that this would be the end of the -patriotic movement. But their labour was lost. -In fact, under the spur of persecution the patriots<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span> -passed from their idealistic literary campaign to -more tangible activities. By the prohibition of -the Illyrian name the motto of the poetic propaganda -was lost, and it became the duty of the -patriots to lead their politics into less sentimental -paths, and enter upon a campaign of cold -reasoning in place of poetic sentiment. This -was all the more necessary as the national cause -was greatly endangered by several new regulations. -Following closely upon the prohibition -of the Illyrian name came an order for the -introduction of the Magyar tongue in the Croatian -law courts. When the Croatian counties protested -in Vienna that Croatia was privileged -to choose her own official language, and that -no one had the right to interfere with this privilege, -they met with a brusque rebuff. Up -to now the Government had hardly dared to -attempt the Magyarization of Croatia, but now -they decided to enforce it in spite of the newly-awakened -national consciousness. The Croats -now realized that it was a case of war to the knife. -The Hungarian Government proclaimed that -all countries and nationalities subjected to the -crown of St. Stephen must be made one people, -one state, and be taught to speak <em>one</em> language—in -short, they were to become Magyars. They -were determined to break the national resistance -of the Serbs and Croats by force, or preferably, -by corruption. In this enterprise -Hungary found an able assistant in Ban Haller.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> -A “Magyar party” was organized in Croatia -with a view to reconciling the people to Magyar -demands, but, unfortunately, it consisted chiefly -of adventurers and social riff-raff; the work of -Magyarization made no progress, but only -further incensed the Southern Slavs. One of the -consequences of this hatred was that in 1848 the -Croats and Serbs enthusiastically followed Ban -Jellacić in the campaign against Hungary.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>After the conclusion of peace between Hungary -and the Crown the Croats were rewarded in a -truly Austrian fashion for their assistance in -putting down the rebellion: once more they were -handed over to the tender mercies of Hungary. -This ingratitude roused a perfect tempest of -indignation, but at the same time the Southern -Slavs finally learnt their lesson. Henceforth -they would look for help to no one but themselves, -and they resolved that the coming struggle must -be fought to a finish. The Southern Slav leaders -knew very well that nothing could be done by -revolutionary propaganda, but that their first -task must be to establish a footing from which -they could conduct a constitutional campaign. -They formed a strong Nationalist party in -Croatia, which co-operated with the Dalmatine -and Slovene parties, laid down their programme -on a broad national basis, and organized a campaign -of passive resistance among the people.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> -Of course the success of these labours was largely -due to the fact that Hungary was weakened by -the revolution and inclined to be somewhat -less aggressive. Croatia, on the other hand, was -fresh, strong, and self-reliant. Of course the -results were not apparent at once, but the agreement -of 1867 was a consequence of Croatia’s -united stand. This agreement by no means -satisfied all the aspirations of the Southern Slavs, -but it gave them the required footing against -Magyar oligarchy. Upon the conclusion of the -agreement, Croatia received her first constitutional -Ban, who was henceforth to be responsible -to the <em>Croatian Parliament</em>. Unfortunately the -King made this appointment upon the recommendation -of Hungary, who saw to it that the -first Ban, Baron Levin Rauch, should be a -mere exponent of the Hungarian Government. -Contempt of the constitution, and corruption, -were the first-fruits of the agreement under -Hungarian influence in Croatia, with the result -that all Croatian patriots—including those who -had helped to conclude the agreement—passed -over to the Opposition. This Opposition worked -on rigidly constitutional lines, and, as more -radical parties arose, they formed the constitutionally -correct, though barren, Croatian Constitutional -party. Space forbids me to enumerate -all the means by which the first “constitutional -Ban” strove to carry out his orders from Budapest. -By suddenly imposing a new election law<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span> -he secured a large and obsequious majority in -Parliament, which effectively barred the co-operation -of the Opposition in national affairs. -But the Opposition attacked the Government -<em>outside</em> Parliament, through the press. When -this systematic corruption and disregard of the -agreement had gone too far, M. Mrazović, the -leader of the Opposition, published a sensational -indictment against Baron Rauch, accusing him -of underhand dealings. Baron Rauch took proceedings -against Mrazović for libel in the military -courts, but Mrazović substantiated his accusations -and was acquitted. Baron Rauch resigned, and -the Nationalist Party scored its first victory. -He was succeeded by Ban Bedeković, another -Hungarian nominee, who was, however, unable -to prevent a triumphant Nationalist victory in -the election of 1871. The Hungarians asserted -that this victory had been subsidized by funds -from Russia and Serbia, and this accusation -contains the substance of all subsequent charges -of high treason. The Opposition replied with a -manifesto, in which they clearly set forth the -gravity of the numerous infringements of the -constitution. Because of this manifesto, the -Government wished to take proceedings against -the leaders of the Opposition for high treason, but -they refrained through fear of offending European -public opinion. At this time the Constitutionalist -Kvaternik, a good patriot but wholly unpractical, -started an armed rebellion among the peasantry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span> -in the Rakovica district. It was put down by -a strong military force, and Kvaternik lost his -life. The October manifesto, in conjunction with -the rebellion in Rakovica, afforded Andrassy -(then Minister of Foreign Affairs) a pretext for -opposing every form of Slavophile policy and -ascribing both the manifesto and the rebellion -to Russian influence.</p> - -<p>The policy then inaugurated remains in force -to this day. Brutal Imperialism is rampant -in Croatia, and the Agreement has become a -mere “scrap of paper.” But oppression begets -opposition, and during these critical times the -Southern Slavs found not only their greatest -tyrant but their greatest patriot. From 1883 -to 1903 Count Carl Khuen-Hedervary was Ban of -Croatia, and the twenty years of his administration -have been the blackest period as regards -political, economic and personal thraldom. -Countless Magyar schools were scattered throughout -the country to promote the denationalization -of the people; espionage and Secret Police -flourished as in Darkest Russia. The archives of -the State, with the Constitutional Charters of -Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, were incorporated -with the State archives in Budapest, and, <em>last -but not least, the Agreement itself was falsified by -the pasting of a slip of paper over the specification -of Fiume as a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la">“Corpus separatum adnexæ rex”</span></em> -converting it into a “corpus separatum adnexæ -<em>Hungariam</em>,” whereby this important Croatian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> -seaport became exclusively Hungarian property. -But this same period also witnessed the labours -of the greatest of all Southern Slavs, the benefactor -and father of his people, Bishop Josip -Juraj Strossmayer.</p> - -<h4>II.</h4> - -<p>Bishop Strossmayer (1815-1905) was the most -generous benefactor of his people, their greatest -patron of science and art, and the very incarnation -of their political programme. He was -the first to break down the local artificial barriers -between Serb and Croat—the first to preach the -gospel of united Yougoslavia. Labouring in a -period when all national effort was suppressed in -every possible way, when Slav sympathies were -accounted high treason, he rose to a position of -unassailable eminence, which enabled him to -set the mark of his powerful personality like a -leitmotive on the whole nineteenth-century history -of the Southern Slavs. Born of peasant stock -and, like all gifted Slav boys, destined for the -church, Strossmayer began his patriotic activity, -while he was still a student and youthful priest, -by joining the Illyrist movement. His exceptional -abilities were soon noticed in connection -with the national movement, and Vienna and -Budapest awoke to the dangerous possibilities -of his personality. Determined to put an end<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span> -to his patriotic labours they appointed him -court chaplain, and trusted that the society of -the court with all its splendour and gaiety would -dazzle the handsome young priest, and wile -him away from the service of his country. But -Strossmayer made a most unexpected and highly -diplomatic use of his position. He brilliantly -succeeded in deceiving his surroundings as to -his sympathies, and when barely over thirty he -secured his appointment to the Episcopal See -of Djakovo. Hereby he also became Vladika -of Bosnia and Syrmia, and shortly afterwards -was created governor of the Virovitica district.</p> - -<p>At this point Strossmayer’s life-work for his -people began in earnest. Holding a most distinguished -position, and with the vast revenues -of his bishopric at his disposal, he opened the -flood-gates of his activities, and Vienna and -Budapest saw with horror and amazement the -mistake they had made. Strossmayer assumed -the leadership of the Nationalist party; and in -Parliament, where he took his seat in the double -capacity of bishop and elected deputy, he showed -himself a brilliant orator, a subtle politician, -and an astute diplomat. He was the incarnation -of a keen, but determined and wise Opposition. -He also became an intellectual leader of his -people and accomplished more than anyone else -before him. He founded the Southern Slav -Academy of Science and Art, which in the very -terms of its foundation embodies the intellectual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span> -unity of the Southern Slavs. He also founded -the Croatian University; and, being a great art -connoisseur, he spent years in accumulating an -exceedingly fine private collection, which he -presented to the nation. He built the Cathedral -at Djakovo, and at his own expense sent hundreds -of young Serbs and Croats to foreign art schools -and universities. Every intellectual enterprise, -whether literary, artistic or scientific, found in -him a munificent patron. His entire income -was devoted to the welfare of the nation, and the -sums that Strossmayer spent in adding to the -greatness and fame of his country amounted -to many millions during the long years of his -office. But his dearest wish was the realization -of the Yougoslav ideal, the breaking down of all -local barriers between Serbs and Croats, and the -creation of a united people. With this end in -view, and in spite of his position in the Roman -Catholic Church, Strossmayer went so far as to -advocate that the Serbian Græco-Orthodox, -and the Croatian Catholic, Churches should unite -and become one National Church. He knew -that the future of his people could never be -realized within the confines of the Monarchy, -but that it must be identified with that of all -the other Southern Slav nations, and founded -upon a purely Slav basis. Strossmayer did not -confine his efforts to winning converts among -his own people for this idea. He knew too well, -that at the decisive moment the nation would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> -require strong support from without, and, at the -risk of being accused of high treason, he entered -into friendly relations with Russia, which should -bring the big and powerful brother of the North -nearer to his down-trodden little brother in -the South. He succeeded in finding influential -friends in Russia as in other countries, and his -nation is still proud of his friendship with the Tsar -Alexander III., Leo XIII., Gladstone, Crispi and -Gambetta. Before Strossmayer entered the lists -no one in Europe had taken the slightest interest -in the Southern Slav problem. The slippery -diplomacy of Vienna—which is only equalled in -duplicity by that of Turkey—had for centuries -successfully diverted the attention of Europe -from the Southern Slav peoples in the Monarchy, -and the general assumption about them was that -they were a horde of uncivilized semi-barbarians, -fed by Austria at great sacrifice and treated -by her with the utmost forbearance. The -spectacles through which Europe viewed these -nations were made in Vienna and Budapest, and -no one took the trouble to bring an independent, -unbiassed mind to bear upon the problem. -Many Southern Slav patriots made desperate -though vain efforts to bring even a grain of truth -before the European public; a Jesuit Vienna -and a Judaized Budapest were too strong for -them. The world thought more of the colourless -anational Austrian culture, and the borrowed -pseudo-culture of the Magyars than of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span> -culture of the Slavs, which for a thousand years -has been the spontaneous expression of their -national individuality, with a literature worthy -of the lyre of Homer. Not only Austro-Hungarian -politics, but the age itself was unpropitious -to the Southern Slavs. They possessed -no importance for the European balance of power; -and it is one of the bitterest ironies of history, -that for a very long time the Southern Slavs -fought less for their own advantage than for the -interests of Europe. For, even as the Southern -Slavs were for centuries the bulwark against the -tide of Ottoman invasion <em>from</em> the East, they -subsequently became an equally strong bulwark -against the rising tide of Germanism <em>towards</em> the -East. With every fibre of their being they kept -the gate of the East fast closed against either -foe—not only for themselves, but in the interests -of European civilization.</p> - -<p>Strossmayer was the first who succeeded in -re-awakening the interest of Europe in this -struggle, and, even if his efforts were not crowned -with immediate practical success, he at least contrived -to cast a doubt on the complacent assurances -of Vienna and Budapest. Strossmayer was -a man with a tremendous personality, and his -word was invariably accepted. He was also past-master -in the art of <em>not saying too much</em>—thus -avoiding the appearance of exaggeration. Even -in his world-famous speech in the Council of the -Vatican (1871, under Pius IX.), when he spoke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> -in Latin for sixteen consecutive hours against the -doctrine of Papal infallibility, he left some things -unsaid, for he was interrupted in “the midst of -his speech” by the Archbishop of Paris, who embraced -and kissed him, and assured him that what -he had already said was amply convincing.</p> - -<p>Strossmayer’s activity was pursued with ruthless -enmity in Vienna and Budapest, and, even -as he was the best-loved man among his own -people, he was the best-hated enemy of the -Germans and the Magyars. They tried by every -possible means to minimize his power, and -agitated in the Vatican for his recall to Rome. -But Leo XIII. was not only the personal friend -of Strossmayer, but also the friend of the Slavs, -and Viennese diplomacy failed in its object. -Then followed disgraceful intrigues, and endeavours -to represent Strossmayer as a traitor. -Among other accusations, it was alleged that he -had exchanged incriminating telegrams with the -Tsar, in which he was said to have advocated -the detachment of the Southern Slav provinces -from Austria. Strossmayer’s reply to these insinuations -was truly characteristic. Several years -after this alleged exchange of telegrams the -Emperor Francis Joseph came to Croatia for -the grand manœuvres, and Bishop Strossmayer -was one of the guests at the great reception -in Belovar, where the Emperor had his headquarters. -The Emperor took the opportunity -to sharply reprimand the Bishop for his conduct.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span> -Strossmayer retorted with equal sharpness -“My conscience is clear, your Majesty,” then -brusquely turned his back and ostentatiously -walked out of the hall. Circumstances made it -impossible to celebrate Strossmayer’s courage, -but the people rejoiced in this new proof that -their champion feared no risk when it was a -case of defending the freedom and interests of his -people.</p> - -<p>Strossmayer was no dreamer, but above all -things a practical statesman. He knew that -whoever hopes to win a final success must first -carefully prepare the ground. Any attempt to -detach the Southern Slav Kingdoms from the -Monarchy by force would have been unadvisable, -and moreover, a dangerous and futile enterprise. -Therefore, the political party of which Strossmayer -was the leader made it their business to see -that the stipulations of the Agreement were -scrupulously observed, knowing well that a strict -observance of the Agreement—if only for a time—would -give the nation the much-needed chance -of economic improvement, and thus pave the -way to future independence. In this policy -they were supported by the entire nation, who -by their very unanimity proved their political -fitness. Twenty years’ martyrdom under Count -Khuen-Hedervary had not enervated the nation; -on the contrary, they grew strong through -adversity; and, with their eyes fixed upon their -spiritual guide and protector, they steadfastly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span> -went forward towards their goal. Khuen-Hedervary’s -bribery, intimidation, everlasting trials for -high treason, prison and the gallows, all these had -only incited them to further resistance. When, -bowed with age, Strossmayer finally had to -resign his active part in politics, we saw the -people whom his spirit had inspired suddenly turn -upon their oppressors. In 1903, the whole country -rose in rebellion as one man, and Khuen-Hedervary’s -power was broken. Even he had to -admit that his twenty years’ rule of ruthless -oppression had merely defeated its own object, -that it had united the people whom he had sought -to weaken, and strengthened that which he had -hoped to destroy.</p> - -<p>Strossmayer lived to see Khuen’s resignation, -and his last days were cheered by a gleam of -light—which alas! proved only illusory—shed -upon the path of his country; yet as he closed -his eyes for ever, he realized that he had not given -his all to Croatia in vain, and that the hour was not -far off when his ideals should become realities.</p> - -<p>He died in 1905, but his spirit lives on in his -people and his memory shines among them like -a guiding star to point the way.</p> - -<h4>III.</h4> - -<p>The popular rising in 1903 opened new channels -for the national struggle; it was also the prelude<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span> -to the hardest and bitterest time that the -Southern Slav people have yet been called upon -to face. Khuen’s successor was Count Theodore -Pejacsević, a Croatian noble, who was no great -statesman, but at least a good administrative -official. He gave the distracted country a -brief time of quiet, equitable government, and -deserves great credit for abolishing Khuen’s -system of corruption. Meantime the strongly -Nationalist parties in Croatia had formed a -block,—the <em>Serbo-Croat Coalition</em>,—and Count -Pejacsević found it impossible to raise a pro-Hungarian -majority in Parliament. Shortly -afterwards the Hungarian Opposition also rose -into conflict with the Crown, and the situation -became involved both in Hungary and Croatia. -The Hungarian Opposition applied to the Serbo-Croat -Coalition for support in their struggle and -promised that, if their party were returned, they -would grant all Croatia’s demands as embodied -in the Agreement of 1867. Negotiations were -carried on by Francis Kossuth and Geza Polonyi -on behalf of Hungary, and by Frano Supilo as -delegate of the Serbo-Croat Coalition. These -negotiations resulted in the <cite>Resolution of Fiume</cite> -(October, 1905), which stipulated for the political -co-operation between the Hungarian and Serbo-Croat -parties, and secured considerable advantages -to Croatia in the event of success. The -Resolution of Fiume was in every way a masterpiece -of policy and diplomacy, and was in all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span> -its details the achievement of Frano Supilo, who -was the popular leader in Croatia at the time. -In the election of 1905 the Coalition won a -brilliant victory. Not one Government candidate -was returned, and the small Opposition -consisted of partizans of Ante Starćević’s one-time -idealist, patriotic constitutionalist party, which -however, since his death, had passed under the -control of Jewish solicitors, and was so committed -to a purely Austrian <em>Christian-Socialist -policy</em>. As the Hungarian Opposition had likewise -scored a victory, the Croatian Cabinet was -composed of representatives of the Serbo-Croat -Coalition, with Count Pejacsević retained in -office as “ut conditio sine qua non.” Croatia -enjoyed a short respite and began to look forward -to better times. But her hopes were once more -doomed to disappointment. The perfidious -Magyars once more failed to keep their word. -So long as they <em>needed</em> the Serbs and Croats they -were full of love and brotherliness, but when -they had gained their point, they discarded the -mask of false friendship. Francis Kossuth, -having become Handelsminister (Minister of -Trade) in the Hungarian Cabinet in 1907, introduced -a bill on the control of the Railways which -was the most <em>flagrant</em> and <em>outrageous</em> infringement -of the Agreement as yet attempted. It provided -that thenceforth the language used on the -railway-system, even in Croatian territory, was -to be <em>Hungarian</em>, although it had been specially<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> -stipulated in the Agreement—which stands in -the place of a fundamental constitutional law—that -<em>Croatian</em> was to be official tongue in all -joint offices within Croatian territory. The -Serbo-Croat Coalition, which is represented by -forty members in the Hungarian Parliament, rose -in wrath against the Bill, and declared war to the -knife upon the Hungarian Government. The -conflict in the Hungarian Parliament is known -all over Europe. The Croats and Serbs pursued -a policy of obstruction, which fairly paralyzed -the House and made parliamentary discussion -of the Railway Bill quite impossible. To get -it passed Kossuth so worded his Bill that it was -contained in one paragraph, empowering the -Government to deal with the Pragmatic (administrative -business of the country) at their -discretion as part of the Order of the Day.</p> - -<p>The rupture with Hungary was now complete. -The Serbo-Croat Coalition transferred the conflict -to Croatia, and the nation began to agitate for -detachment from Hungary. The Parliament -was dissolved, but the Coalition was again -victorious in the election. On the resignation -of the Croatian Government, Alexander v. -Rakodczay was appointed Ban, but failing to -raise a party friendly to the Government he was -forced to resign his office in two months. The -next Ban to be appointed was Baron Paul Rauch, -who boldly entered his capital town of Zagreb, -but was received with hostile demonstrations and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> -showers of stones. It speaks well for his courage -that he was not affected by this reception, and -even introduced himself to the Parliament with -great pomp. His reception in Parliament was -one great demonstration of hostility, so that he -could not even read the Royal message. He -had to fly the building with his Ministerial staff, -and Parliament was officially dissolved the same -day. Baron Rauch formed a Government party -of venal upstarts and discredited characters, -secured the support of the now thoroughly -demoralized “constitutionalist party,” and -ordered a new election. <em>Everything</em> was done -to intimidate the electorate, with the result that -not one of Rauch’s candidates was returned. -This Parliament was dissolved without even -having been summoned, and Rauch embarked -on a reign of terror which can only be compared -to that of Germany in the Cameroons. He -organized the Jewish-constitutionalist party into -bands which went by the name of the “Black -Hand.” Their motto was “For the Emperor, -and for Croatia,” and their weapons were murder -and assault, which they were allowed to use with -impunity against their opponents. At the same -time an organized judicial persecution of the -Serbs was set on foot. But even this tyranny -could not break the national resistance.</p> - -<p>At this juncture a new contingency arose. -The Monarchy was preparing to annex Bosnia -and Hercegovina, and a suitable pretext had to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span> -be found. The Government accordingly invented -the “<em>Greater Serbian agitation</em>.” The heroic -struggle of the Serbo-Croat Coalition was represented -as being the outcome of a Greater Serbian -agitation, and Baron Rauch was commissioned -to unmask this “widespread criminal conspiracy.” -In the summer of 1908, to the amazement -and consternation of the people, large -numbers of Serbs, chiefly priests, school-masters -and business men, were arrested, and the official -Press triumphantly announced that a horrible, -widespread and highly treasonable propaganda -had been discovered! The preliminary investigations -lasted a long time, and March 3rd, 1909, -saw the opening of the proceedings against the -“traitors” who had conspired with Serbia for -the detachment of all the Slavonic South from -the Monarchy. The trial lasted till October 5th, -when all the accused parties received very heavy -sentences. Immediately afterwards the Austrian -historian Dr. Heinrich Friedjung stated in the -Viennese <cite lang="de" xml:lang="de">Neue Freie Presse</cite>, that the leaders of -the Serbo-Croat Coalition were also implicated -in this conspiracy, especially Frano Supilo, -Grga Tuškan and Božidar Vinković, and that -his accusation was founded on documentary -evidence. Hereupon the whole Serbo-Croat -Coalition took proceedings against Dr. Friedjung -for libel. The result of this case, which was -fought in Vienna, caused a European sensation. -<em>It was conclusively proved that all the documentary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span> -evidence against the Coalition, both in the Zagreb -and the Viennese trials, had been forged by order -of Baron Aehrenthal, the Minister for Foreign -Affairs, and Count Forgach, the Austrian Ambassador -in Belgrade.</em> Friedjung himself confessed -as much in court. The consequence -of this unparalleled <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">exposé</em> was, that the King-Emperor -had to rescind the sentences already -passed in the Zagreb trial.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> Meantime, however, -the desired object had been gained, and Bosnia-Hercegovina -was annexed contrary to the will -of all the Slavs.</p> - -<p>But, with scandalous details incidental to -the annexation, Baron Rauch’s mission had been -brilliantly fulfilled. Soon afterwards Kossuth’s -perfidious Government was turned out and -Croatia’s old oppressor, Count Khuen Hedervary, -became Premier. Khuen, however, was a -personal enemy of Rauch, and occasioned his -recall. In his place Nikolaus von Tomašić -was appointed Ban of Croatia—a most eminent -and highly-respected Croatian scholar, but -politically a satellite of Khuen. He did his -best to restore order, and to this end negotiated -with the Serbo-Croat Coalition. Frano Supilo -protested most emphatically against this. He -had already had exhaustive experience of Magyar -perfidy, and had no desire to see his people once -again walk into the trap. But the Coalition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span> -was perhaps weary of the struggle—perhaps -they still hoped for fair dealing, and accordingly -entered into a compact with Tomašić which -made peaceful government possible so long as -the rights of the nation were respected. On -the strength of this compact several Government -candidates were returned at the next -election; after which Tomašić promptly ignored -the Coalition and governed only with his -own party. Supilo’s prophecy was fulfilled, -and the Coalition had once more to join the -Opposition. Tomašić was overthrown but the -Austro-Hungarian Government replied by sending -Herr von Cuvaj, the Terrorist Commissioner, -and suspending the Constitution. These were -the days of bitterest misery and unscrupulous -tyranny in Croatia. Cuvaj ruled with the knout, -and the knout only. Police espionage flourished, -and all personal, political and civil liberty -was set at naught. All this time the Balkan -War was raging, and woe to the Serb or -Croat who dared to rejoice at his brother’s -victories. But, when the Balkan Alliance was -victorious, the Southern Slavs knew that from -henceforth they could rely on a measure of -support from their kinsmen. Vienna and -Budapest were equally perspicacious and realized -the advisability of changing their tactics. -Cuvaj was recalled and Count Stephen Tisza, -one of the most inveterate enemies of the Slavs, -sent Baron Skerlecz to Croatia with instructions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> -to conciliate the Croats. The effete Serbo-Croat -Coalition was once more cajoled, and, for the -third time, it entered into a disastrous compact -with Hungary. This time one of the consequences -was the expropriation of the Croatian -sea-board in favour of Hungary. Moreover, -the present crisis found the Coalition helplessly -committed to the Government.</p> - -<p>But the people had stood firm. The dire -sufferings of recent years have begotten a new -and healthy movement, which includes the -entire youth of Croatia. The younger generation -has lost faith in political parties, and begun to -go its own way along the path which leads -away from Hungary and away from Austria, -back to union with their scattered kindred. -Their aim is the establishment of a great, free -and independent Southern Slav State. At the -head of this younger generation stands a man -of magnetic personality—Frano Supilo.</p> - -<h4>IV.</h4> - -<p>The Southern Slavs in Dalmatia, Carniola and -Istria fared little better than their brothers in -Croatia and Slavonia. I have already alluded -to the economic neglect of Dalmatia. In -politics, Germanization was practised in much -the same way as Magyarization in Croatia.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span> -Dalmatia unfortunately does not enjoy independence, -even on paper, and thus her oppression -could wear a perfectly constitutional guise. The -Dalmatian “Sabor,” like that of Istria and -Carniola, is an assembly quite at the mercy of -the viceroy for the time being, who would never -dream of convoking it, unless he had made quite -sure that no inconvenient resolutions would be -passed. As a rule these “Sabors” enjoy prolonged -periods of rest, and the people are only -represented by their delegates in the Viennese -Reichstrat. There these delegates certainly -make a brave fight, but they are too few, and -their voice is drowned by the huge German -majority. Because of this and also through the -fault of the Slovene Roman Catholic party, -Carniola has become strongly Germanized, -especially as regards the administration of the -schools. But the Dalmatians and Istrians are -a sturdy, progressive people, Slav to the backbone, -and all attempts at Germanizing them -have proved as futile as the beating of waves -upon the shore. Beside the German danger, -this people also has the Italian danger to contend -with. For opportunist reasons the Austrian -Government has always favoured the Italian -element (4 per cent. in Istria and 2 per cent. in -Dalmatia) and granted them concessions, which -have given rise to the most absurd anomalies. -For instance, the election law in Istria is so -framed, that 96 per cent. Slovenes and Croats<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span> -send fewer delegates to Vienna than 4 per cent. -Italians. The same injustice prevails in the -Parish Council election law, but in spite of this -the Italians would never secure their majority, -if special Government regulations did not compel -all officials and State employees to vote Italian. -<em>If to-day Italy is apparently able to claim a sphere -of interest in Istria, this is the outcome of a chance -state of affairs, arbitrarily created by the Austrian -Government.</em> As an instance of this policy, I -will state that shortly before the outbreak of -the war the Government seriously contemplated -the foundation of an Italian University for a -population of 700,000 souls, while strenuously -opposing the foundation of a Slovene University -for 1,400,000 Slovenes and Croats -in Carniola and Istria. Of course this -policy made the Italians aggressive, and they -continued to extend their sphere of interest -until it actually included the Quarnero Islands, -although these islands do not possess one single -Italian inhabitant, and <em>these very islands are the -most sacred possession of the Southern Slavs</em>. -<span class="smcap">They are the only spot in Slav territory -where the old Slav tongue is still spoken -by the people.</span> This fact is amply borne out -by publications of the Southern Slav Academy, -and also of the Russian Academy, which sends -its scholars year by year to these islands to study -the language. In the province of Dalmatia the -populace have themselves dismissed the Italian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span> -question from the order of the day, and the local -government of Zadar (Zara) is the only possession—and -a very problematical one at that—which -the Italians might claim, and that only -because of the truly mediæval election laws. For, -as soon as vote by ballot for the Parliamentary -elections was introduced in the Austrian Crown -lands, the Croatian candidate was returned by a -majority of 7,000 votes over his Italian colleague.</p> - -<p>The pro-Italian attitude of Austria was and -is as insincere as the rest of her policy. It -is simply dictated by the “<em>divide-et-impera</em>” -principle, because an alliance between Slavs and -Italians would have been fatal to the Government. -One nationality was played off against the -other, and the Italians proved willing tools in -the hands of Austria. The influence of Italian -culture, which has for centuries been received -with love and admiration by the Southern -Slavs, has created an Italian-speaking zone of -culture in the coast-lands of the Adriatic; and -the Italians, assisted by the Austrian Government, -have made the most of this zone until -they have actually had the audacity to include -it in their sphere of <em>national</em> aspirations. Thus -Austria created an enemy both for herself and -the Slav peoples, an enemy with whom the -Southern Slavs have never before had any real -quarrel. Antagonism led to bitter conflicts, and -if the Slav population in Dalmatia and Istria -have begun to detest the Italian zone of culture<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span> -it has been purely in self-defence and for fear of -having to pay with their national existence -for the amity and admiration of centuries. -Nowadays, the Italians themselves admit that -Dalmatia and Istria are indigenously pure Slav -countries. Probably the present struggle has -also revealed to them the true value of Austria’s -favours.</p> - -<p>In Bosnia and Hercegovina, Austria pursued -the same heartless policy. Out of the three -religions of <em>one</em> people she made <em>three</em> nationalities, -and then fostered dissensions between -them. Her policy was especially bitter against -the Serbs, who are in the majority and also the -more highly-educated element of the population -and therefore more able to give effective support -to the just claims of Serbia. Austria was not -in the least interested in the prosperity of the -country, and merely created an intolerable chaos -by her political intrigue in a land that had already -suffered beyond endurance. Her evidences of -civilization exhibited before Europe were pure -humbug, and the annexation of Bosnia-Hercegovina -one of the most flagrant acts of injustice -ever perpetrated on a nation.</p> - -<p>If the present war is decided in favour of the -Allies—and this is the prayer of <em>all</em> the Slavs—it -will become necessary to settle the Southern -Slav problem once and for all. This can only -be done <em>satisfactorily</em> by respecting the principle -of nationality, and by a just delimitation of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span> -various national zones. In disputed territories, -such as Istria or the Quarnero Islands, a referendum -ought to decide.</p> - -<p>The Slavs have been tortured long enough. -For centuries they have guarded European -civilization against the inroads of <em>Ottoman Islam</em>, -which has always been synonymous with bigotry, -barbarism and sloth, and should never be confounded -with <em>Arab Islam</em>, or <em>Hindu Islam</em>, to -whom the whole world of science, art and -philosophy is eternally indebted. Austria and -Prussia are the natural heirs of Ottoman Islam, -and the Southern Slavs have made a heroic stand -against this latter-day <em>Prussian Islam</em>.</p> - -<p>Civilization owes them a debt of honour, and -it is only their due that Europe should give them -justice.</p> -<hr /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span></p> - -<h2>EPILOGUE.<br /><br /> - -<small>“BURIED TREASURES.”</small><br /> - -<small><small><small>BY DIMITRIJ MITRINOVIĆ.</small></small></small></h2> - -<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Speaking</span> generally, the Southern Slavs are -divided into Slovenes, Serbo-Croats, and Bulgarians, -but of these three branches only the -Slovenes and Serbo-Croats are racially identical. -In speaking of a political Southern Slav State, a -state which would in the future dominate the -<em>whole</em> of the Balkan Peninsula, it would be wrong -not to include the Bulgarian nation. However, -the Serbo-Croats form the principal cultural -“unit” among the Southern Slavs, and after them -come the Slovenes. The nucleus, the life-giving -element of the Southern Slav family and its -culture, is formed by the Southern Slavs of Serbia, -Old Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Hercegovina, -Croatia, Dalmatia and Serbian Hungary, or, -to give them their collective name, by the Serbo-Croats. -The Serbo-Croats, and more especially -the Serbians proper (Serbians of Old Serbia and -Serbia), have always led the vanguard of Serbo-Croatian -political life; the two greatest cultural -achievements of the Southern Slav race, to wit,<span class="pagenum2"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span> -the national poetry and the individual architecture -and sculpture of Ivan Meštrović, have always -been associated with the Serbians of Serbia. -The fall of the Serbian Empire forms the chief -theme of Meštrović’s art, no less than of Southern -Slav national poetry—and thus it has become -usual, if not strictly correct, to speak of all -Southern Slav poetry as Serbian national poetry, -and of the great Southern Slav artist as the great -Serbian artist.</p> - -<p>We speak of the Southern Slav poetry and of -Ivan Meštrović, our Southern Slav Michelangelo, -as “buried treasures.” In a sense, all Slav -civilization may be called a buried treasure. -Russian and Slav literature as a whole, is far -greater than its reputation in Western Europe. -Ottokar Brezina, the celebrated Csech poet, is -translated and read in Slavophobe Germany, but -not in allied France and England; because in these -days nations are more often brought into contact -by war and travel than by civilization and our -common humanity.</p> - -<p>Western Europe has been even less just to -the Southern Slavs than to any other Slav nation; -and they who have paid so dearly in blood and -suffering for their freedom are less known and -recognized than any other European nation, in -spite of the great historic merit of the Serbians, -and the importance of their culture;—the consideration -shown by Europe to a dynasty has been -greater than her justice to a portion of mankind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span> -A universal conflagration and a breaking-up of the -old order of things was necessary, ere Europe -learned to value millions of human beings more -highly than the principle of a bygone generation, -or the pathos of old age. In the future we may -hope to see a just Europe which will not look -upon the Serbians as a nation of regicides, but -as a people revolting against secret treaties with -the Hapsburgs, and upon the Southern Slavs, not -as traitors, but as a democratic people refusing -to be destroyed. When the Slovenes of Istria, -Carniola, Styria, and Carinthia, together with -the Serbo-Croats, form a strong, prosperous and -free, though small State, their culture will be -developed to the full, crowning and unifying -Southern Slav life.</p> - -<p>This growing civilization of Greater Serbia, -which may be called <em>Yougoslavia</em>, will gather up -the scattered threads of the history of Serbian -art in the past. We shall then no longer speak -of “Slovene painting,” “Croatian drama,” “Old -Serbian tapestry,” “Serbian folk-lore.” The -literature of one and the same people will cease -to be broken up into “Literature in Ragusa,” -“Dalmatian Island and Coast Literature,” “Bosnian,” -“Croatian,” and “Serbian” literature. -All this, together with the national life to the -State, will form the <em>totality of the Southern Slav -nation</em>. The two zones of culture: the Western -European zone of the Croats and Slovenes, -and the Eastern-Byzantine zone of the Serbians;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span> -the three religions: Orthodox, Catholic and -Mussulman; the two forms of script: the Latin -of the Croats, and the Cyrillic of the Serbians; -all these, as well as a few differences of speech, will -only add to the wealth and originality of Southern -Slav culture. When this Greater Serbia or -<em>Yougoslavia</em> shall stand for the third great civilization -of the Balkans (the first was Hellenic, the -second Byzantine), the Southern Slavs will -become a new factor in European civilization -and politics, and the great art of Serbian national -poetry, and the work of the Yougoslav artist, -Meštrović, will no longer be buried treasures. -Serbian music, literature and science, although -they have existed and still exist, will only then -be known and recognized.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>It has been the fate of the Southern Slavs to -fulfil a mission in European history; Serbia and -the Serbo-Croat race constituted a bulwark for -Europe and Christianity against the invasion of -Turkish barbarians and Islam. The martyrdom -of the Southern Slavs lasted for centuries; it was -a most humiliating thraldom to the barbarous -Mongolism of the Ottoman Turks, and a hard, -incessant fight for the dignity of humanity. It -was a period of indescribable suffering from the -barbarities of a lower race, one of the hardest -struggles for existence the world has known. It -was impossible to continue or to realize the plans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span> -of the great Nemanjić rulers. All attempts at -union between the peoples of Croatia and Bosnia -were fruitless: <em>never in the history of Europe has a -nation lived for so many centuries in such terrible -political impotence and disunion as the Serbo-Croat -and Slovene nation</em>. Italy at the time -of the Renaissance, and Germany before the -liberation, were, in comparison with the Southern -Slavs, in a well-organized and healthy condition.</p> - -<p>Thus it has come about that we have no -Serbian history of art, only various provincial -histories—Old Serbian, Macedonian, Dalmatian, -Bosnian, History of Serbian art in Hungary, -Slovene and New Serbian.</p> - -<p>The bitter enmity of Austria-Hungary towards -Serbia, which deepened steadily, and finally -became the direct cause of the European War, -began with the Russophile and Southern Slav -trend of Serbian policy after the series of Southern -Slav Congresses, which took place in Belgrade at -the time of the coronation of King Peter in 1904. -Serbia’s new policy, after the suicidal and humiliating -pro-Austrian policy of the Obrenović dynasty -had been abolished, was a <em>racial policy</em>, pro-Russian, -pro-Bulgarian and democratic, which restored the -stability and order of the State, and led to the -foundation of the Balkan Alliance in 1912. Serbia -regenerated, sought to consolidate a scattered, -provincial culture into one great culture of a -Greater Serbia, or of all the Southern Slavs. For -this reason it has only quite recently become<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span> -possible to speak of the united cultural efforts of -the Serbo-Croats.</p> - -<p>The consolidation of Southern Slav history -and culture are only now beginning, and the -appearance of the artist-prophet Ivan Meštrović, -a Dalmatian Catholic, is the central event in -Southern Slav history of art. He is the prophet -of the third, or Southern Slav Balkan, State, -who proclaims that it is the historical task of -Serbia to free the Southern Slavs and unite them, -not only in a political, but in a spiritual, sense; -and he has symbolized this ideal in his great -art, which is the living soul of the architecture -and sculpture of the <cite>Temple of Kossovo</cite>, and of all -the Southern Slavs. When the Balkans are -freed from Ottoman Islam and the Turks, when -a strong and progressive Federation of Southern -Slavs, including Bulgaria, Roumania, Greece -and even Albania, is established, then we may -see the triumphant rise of a mature and typically -Southern Slav culture. When all nations shall -receive their due, when they are allowed to -develop freely, then and only then, the blood-drenched -Peninsula will be at peace. A strong -and prosperous Yougoslavia will interest the -world both politically and economically; the -opinion that the Southern Slavs are an uncivilized -race will cease, and the great services rendered -to art and letters by the Serbo-Croats and Slovenes -will be recognized and appreciated at their -true value. If we include Meštrović’s <cite>Temple<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span> -of Kossovo</cite> among these achievements, we may -fairly claim to have contributed to the greatest -possessions of human culture for all time.</p> - -<p>The life-work of the Serbian Monarchs of the -Nemanjić dynasty, who aimed at the inclusion of -Serbia within the zone of the then-civilized -nations of Europe, failed of its fulfilment, owing -to the fall of the Serbian Empire before the -Turks. The Serbo-Byzantine architecture of -the convents and churches which abound in -Macedonia and Serbia, affords admirable proof of -the results of this work, the most important -examples being Studenitza (1198), Dečani (1331), -and Gračanica (1341). A few years later culture -made great strides in Dalmatia, but it was -not a spontaneous, national growth, but rather -the offspring of Slavicized Latin culture, and -savoured more of Venice and the Renaissance -than of Dalmatia and the Southern Slavs. -Furthermore, the artists, scientists, philosophers -and writers of Dalmatia went to Italy and were -lost to their nation. The poor, down-trodden, -uncivilized Southern Slav countries could not -provide their artists with a livelihood. The -celebrated mathematician, philosopher and -astronomer, Roger Bošković, went to Rome, Paris, -and London; Nikolo Tomasso, a Serbian from -Sevenico, founded the Italian literary language. -Julije Lovranić (Laurana), an eminent architect -of his time, was a Serbian from Dalmatia, and -at one time the teacher of Bramante; and Franjo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span> -Laurana, of Palermo, a kinsman of Julije, earned -a high place in the history of art through his -sculpture; he was especially celebrated for his -beautiful female portrait busts. In like manner -many Serbians found their way to other countries. -For instance, Peter Križanić, a Croatian, was -the first Pan-Slavist; he was exiled to Siberia -for his schemes of reform and European propaganda -in Russia. To this day the Dalmatian -ships’ captains are not the only representatives -of that country all the world over, but great -scientists and inventors like Pupin and Nikola -Tesla.</p> - -<p>Whenever a part of Serbian territory became -independent, or even for a short time found -tolerable conditions, an intense creative culture -grew up swiftly, even after the fall of the Empire -and during the time of slavery. For generations -the greater part of the Serbians have lived, and -still live, in slavery. The Serbians under Turkish -rule were liberated only two years ago, and the -liberation of the Slavs of the Hapsburg Monarchy -is only just beginning. In accordance with the -changes in the political fate of the Southern -Slavs, and as the material conditions of the -people grew better or worse, the centres of Slav -literature moved from place to place. This -unfortunate disorganization and consequent impotence -were the bane of Serbian or Southern Slav -literature. Ragusan literature; the literature of -the Dalmatian coast and its islands, with its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span> -original creations, and many fine translations of -the Greek drama—Homer, Virgil and Horace, -Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Tasso, Ariosto—none -of these counted in the later development -of literature in Croatia, Serbian Hungary, Bosnia -or Serbia. As things now stand, Slovenian -literature bears no recognized relation to Serbo-Croat -literature, which has to a certain extent -become unified. The great Croatian poets, Peter -Preradović, Ivan Mažuranić, and Silvije Kranjčević -are scarcely read in Serbia, owing to bitter -political disagreements and the Austrian <em>divide-et-impera</em> -policy. For this reason, too, the -Croatians scarcely know the greatest Southern -Slav poets such as the Montenegrin Petar Petrović -Njegoš, or the Serbian from Hungary, Lazar -Kostić. The historian and philosopher Boža -Knižević and the metaphysician Branislav -Petronijević are scarcely known in Bosnia owing -to their being Serbians from Serbia, that is to -say, from anti-Austrian Serbia. Thus it is -scarcely surprising that Southern Slav culture -is unknown in Europe, when it is practically -unknown even in Yougoslavia; when Meštrović, -the immortal artist of Yougoslavia, the architect -and sculptor of the Serbian Acropolis, is unknown -to his own countrymen beyond the frontier.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>At present the nation is fighting for its very life. -<em lang="la" xml:lang="la">Inter arma silent musæ</em>, and when a nation has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span> -to bear first the occupation and then the annexation -of the heart of its territory; when it has to -wage an incessant war, even in times of so-called -peace, against an implacable neighbour like -Austria-Hungary; when the strength of the nation -is absorbed in the mere struggle for <em>existence</em>; then -it is impossible to realize the possession of a great -artist. The Serbian nation has waged three -wars of life and death, and always against an -enemy stronger than herself; first against -Turkey, then against Bulgaria, and now against -Austria—all within three years. At such a time -it is impossible to create a great civilization, and -still less possible not to appear to the world as a -nation created solely for war. Diplomatic Europe -is interested in Serbian politics—<em>not</em> from motives -of humanity and justice. And to the Europe of -civilization, philosophy, science, art and ethics -the spirit of Yougoslavia is not even a name. -Who knows that even apart from Meštrović—who, -as the peer of Phidias and Michelangelo, cannot be -compared with mere mortals—the finest architect -of the present day is a Southern Slav—a Slovene—the -son of a small nation of three million -people? This great architect of modern Europe -is Josip Plečnik; he was director of the Arts -Academy in Prague, and a few months ago was -promoted to the Vienna Academy. Downtrodden -Dalmatia boasts such powerful writers, -thinkers and scientists as Count Ivo Vojnović, -Antun Tresić-Pavićić, the philosopher Petrić, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span> -the historian Nodilo. At the time of Carducci -and Swinburne Bosnia possessed a typical poet, -Silvije Kranjčević, and at the present time -Serbia has in Borislav Stankovi a novelist -worthy to rank with Leonid Andreeff. In -Yougoslavia there are to-day splendidly edited -reviews, particularly good theatres and opera -(as for instance the Opera at Zagreb), and good -universities with distinguished professors and -scientific men. Assuredly the Southern Slavs -are not to blame if the whole world has seen -this gifted and important nation through the -spectacles of the Viennese Press, a nation which -is worth more to the human race than the whole -of the Hapsburg dynasty—or <em>was</em>, until the outbreak -of the present war.... In all their -poverty and slavery, and without the help even -of Serbia, they undertook a campaign of enlightenment -in the European Press, organized art exhibitions, -and by concerts, lectures, and translations -made known their art and literature to the world. -English literature has greatly influenced Serbo-Croat -literature; and not only Shakespeare, -Dickens, Byron and Shelley are translated into -Serbian, but Carlyle, Buckle, and Draper have -also exercised great influence upon Serbian -culture; and the most modern literature of Britain -has found worthy translators and admirers. -The poems of Rossetti, Browning, Keats, Swinburne -and Walt Whitman, the novels of Wells, -and the plays of Bernard Shaw have been trans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span>lated -into the beautiful tongue of the “Belgrade -regicides.”</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>To resume, it is not surprising that Western -Europeans do not know Southern Slav civilization, -when many rich fields of this culture still -remain “buried treasures” to the Southern -Slavs themselves. The Serbo-Croat and Slovene -poets, such as Gundulić, Ranjina, Palmotić and -Gjorgjić from Ragusa and Dalmatia, compare -favourably with the exponents of Western literature, -and among modern Serbo-Croat poets -Petar Petrović Njegoš, Lazar Kostić and Silvije -Kranjčević are great, even when compared with -the greatest. Yet it is not so much the artists -and their individual works, but the <em>nation</em>, and -the <em>collective artistic worth</em> of the national spirit -that is of priceless value. The music of the -Southern Slavs, more especially the music of Old -Serbia and Bosnia, possesses great melodic beauty -and emotional depth, and when it finds its modern -exponent it will take its proper place in the -history of music. This great art of the Serbian -nation however, is not only absolutely unknown -to Europe and the rest of the world, but even -in Serbia, although universally known, it is -cultivated little or not at all. The Serbian State, -which since its re-birth under Karagjorgje -Petrović has waged continual war for the liberty -and union of the Southern Slavs, could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span> -devote itself to music, art and beauty; and that -part of the nation which remains under the yoke -of the Ottoman Turks and the Hapsburgs felt -still less inclined to do so. The priceless treasures -of popular song have not yet been artistically -exploited. Thus their own creation is a buried -treasure to the Southern Slavs; in a sense, one -may even say, that there is no Serbian music. -Europeans cannot value this beautiful and noble -music because they do not know it; neither -can they value the national textile art of -Old Serbia, Dalmatia and Croatia, since it is -equally unknown. For three consecutive years -the Serbian Government has had to arm the -State, and has had neither time nor money to turn -the Southern Slav textile art into a modern -industry.</p> - -<p>What the Serbo-Croats and Slovenes, and even -the Bulgarians, do cultivate, and are proud of, -is the Southern-Slav or Serbian national poetry, -the ballads and legends which the people have -invented and sung during centuries of slavery. -Goethe, the great “citizen of the universe,” and -the first to predict the foundation of a modern -universal literature, assigned Serbian national -poetry a very high place among the literatures -of the world, and many of the poems have already -been translated into different languages.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">18</a></p> - -<p>To understand Ivan Meštrović, the creator of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span> -the <cite>Temple of Kossovo</cite>, one must feel Serbian -music and appreciate Serbian textile art; and -above all one must learn to know this noble -nation of Christians and Slavs through their -national poetry. It is not arrogance on our -part to call Meštrović and the <cite>Temple of Kossovo</cite> -the eternal art of the present generation. Every -divinely-inspired artist creates not only beauty, -but life,—for the mind is the life—and this great -regenerator of European art is the son of a small -nation of the blood-stained Balkans, and also -the son of the great race which has produced -Dostoievski.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="gesperrt">******</span></p> - -<p>Europe and mankind in general must accord -justice to the Southern Slav spirit, and the -historic merit and achievements of the Serbian -nation. The knowledge of Serbian music and -especially of Serbian poetry can only be a gain -to the Europe of the future. For this Serbian -art is a <em>truly Slav art</em>, wonderful and deep, equal -to that of ancient Egypt and India. It was -not because Miczkiewicz, the great Polish poet, -was himself a Slav, that he sang the praises of -this beauty so enthusiastically, but because he -understood the moral of this beauty. This -poetry has been for centuries a life-force of -the Southern Slav nation, because morality and -life are one, and because the spirit of Serbian -beauty—barbaric and god-like—is a religion in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span> -poetry and a moral in art. Without fear we may -say that Serbian ethics are the most wonderful -in the history of humanity. If it may be said -of any nation that it is great and noble, it may -be said of the Southern Slavs. Europe does not -realize the monstrous injustice she has done these -“barbarous” peoples. They are rather a heroic -and mythical than a barbaric people. It is only -Austria-Hungary who regards them as a nation -of anarchists and regicides.</p> - -<p>What is the Serbian spirit? It has been twice -manifested. Once through a man, Ivan Meštrović, -the prophet of the Slav Balkans, and again -through the whole nation, in the thousands of -legends, fairy-tales, ballads and songs which have -been collected by Vuk Stefanović-Karadžić.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> -The occupation of Bosnia, then the national -catastrophe of the annexation of Bosnia, and -finally the Balkan War have already become -the subjects of poetry, and our own time will see -the latest and greatest war of the Southern Slavs -sung in all its heroic reality.</p> -<hr /> -<h2>FOOTNOTES:</h2> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">1</span></a> The reason for this “cultural” ostracism of Russia is -both racial and geographical. There has never been any -desire in England to belittle the Slavs, least of all Russia. -On the contrary, a long succession of traditions, as far back -as the Viking Age, binds the extreme West to the extreme -East of Europe, and has now reached a great ethical and -practical expression in the Triple Entente. But between -Western Europe and the Slavs lies Imperial Germany, who -has acted not only as a barrier, but also as a distorting glass, -through which the western and eastern races of Europe were -compelled to look at each other. (Footnote by the translator -F.S.C.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">2</span></a> History has recently cast a doubt on Rurik’s Norse -origin, but tradition is quite positive on the subject. Certainly -the name Rurik—recalling the Norse-Scottish Roderick-Rory—is -in its favour, and it is interesting that the Scandinavian -origin of Rurik, and even the Russian origin of -Scandinavians has been championed by some Scottish writers—perhaps -to explain the undoubted Scottish sympathy with -the Russian people.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> (<em>See</em> Piazzi Smyth’s “Three Cities in -Russia.”)—F.S.C.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">3</span></a> In connection with this, it is interesting to know that -several Slav historiologists assert that the Scotch are of Slav -descent.—S.T.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">4</span></a> Dostoievski, who really only knew Russia and his own -people, was of course justified in crediting the Russian nation -alone with these qualities. If he could have studied the -British in their own country, he could not have failed to discover -many points of resemblance between the two nations.—S. -T.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">5</span></a> The Tatar scriptures.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">6</span></a> It cannot be too strongly impressed on the British reader -who has not made a study of mediæval politics on the Continent, -that this acknowledgment of the rule of certain royal -Houses <em>was voluntary</em>, and not at all brought about by conquest. -If these elected rulers chose to abuse their privileges, -the nations who had chosen them reserved to themselves the -right to protest and even repudiate their authority (<i>cf.</i> the -Swiss Rebellion against Austria [William Tell] and the Rise -of the Dutch Republic).—Translator’s Note, F.S.C.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">7</span></a> The Expropriation Law provides facilities for German -colonists in Polish territory whereby Polish land and private -property may be summarily <em>expropriated</em> for the benefit of -German colonists.—S. T.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">8</span></a> This statement has been endorsed by many foreign Slav -scholars. Both Serbia and Croatia have adopted the colloquial -tongue of Hercegovina as their literary language.—S. T.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">9</span></a> A derisive term for “German.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">10</span></a> Taken from Niko Županić. (Delo, 1903).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">11</span></a> This fact is the first proof in history that the Southern -Slavs have from the very beginning been the bulwark of -Christianity, and thereby also the bulwark of European -civilization.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">12</span></a> It is due to his diplomacy that Serbia was freed from -the Turkish garrisons in her territory.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">13</span></a> King Milan was a fascinating orator, and often the -populace, who had assembled with the intention of demonstrating -against him, were so carried away by his oratory -that their abuse was converted into cheers.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">14</span></a> See the articles in No. 16 of “the Round Table.” (Meantime -the sentences in the Serajevo murder trial have been -passed, and it is significant that five Serbs who had no part -in the murder have been condemned to death, whereas the -actual murderer, Princip, and the bomb-thrower, Cabrinović, -were merely sentenced to terms of imprisonment.)—S. T.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">15</span></a> The Bishop as spiritual and temporal head of the State.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">16</span></a> His collection of poems, “Gorski Vienac,” is a lasting -monument of the Southern Slav literature of the last century.—S. T.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">17</span></a> This trial has been described at length in Seton Watson’s -admirable book, “<cite>The Southern Slav Question</cite>.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">18</span></a> Goethe’s studies referred to appear in Goethe’s Works -Vol. vi., Stuttgart, 1874.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">19</span></a> Among English translations of Serbian poetry should be -mentioned one by Bowring (1826) and that by Madame -Elodie Lawton Mijatović, “Kossovo, Serbian National Song -about the Fall of the Empire” (London, Isbister, 1881). -The most recent English edition of Serbian poetry is entitled -“Hero Tales and Legends of Serbia,” by Voislav Petrović -(London, 1914).<br /><br /></p></div> - -<hr class="full" /> -<p class="center"><small><i>Printed in Great Britain by Wyman & Sons Ltd., London and Reading.</i></small></p> - -<hr class="full" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<div class="transnote">The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</div> - -<p> </p> -<hr class="pg" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SLAV NATIONS***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 54348-h.htm or 54348-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/4/3/4/54348">http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/3/4/54348</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed.</p> - -<p>Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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