'^ THE I 7 9^ 9 
 
 HISTOEY OF SEEYIA; 
 
 AND ( y. -^' 
 
 THE SERVIAN EETOLUTIOK ' 
 
 WITH A SKETCH OF 
 
 THE INSUEEECTION IN BOSNIA. 
 
 BY 
 
 LEOPOLD EMKE. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 
 
 BY MES. ALEXANDEE KEEE. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 THE SLAVE PEOVINCES OF TURKEY. 
 
 CHIEFLY FROM THE FRENCH OF 
 CYPRIEN KOBEKT. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 1S53, 
 

 .©^o?3C^^5/ 
 
 M^IA) 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SONS, 
 
 ST. martin's lane, w.c. 
 
PEEFACE MA/// 
 
 TO THE HISTORY OF SERVIA, 
 
 BY THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 The eminent position assigned to Professor Ranke among 
 modem historians renders any tribute to his distinguished 
 merits superfluous, and, at the same time, affords a sufficient 
 guarantee for the authenticity of every production emanating 
 from such high authority. 
 
 No subject elucidated by the researches of Ranke can be 
 otherwise than valuable ; and the Revolution of Servia is 
 one of greater interest and importance than may at first 
 sight appear. 
 
 The geographical position of Servia, between Turkey and 
 Austria, and forming, with the neighbouring countries, 
 Bosnia, Bulgaria, Wallachia, and Moldavia, a border-land 
 between two great empires of opposite creeds, has made this 
 country the seat of a protracted struggle between European 
 civilization and Oriental despotism — between the Christian 
 and Mahomedan religions. 
 
 In the midst of these conflicting forces, the Servians pre- 
 sent the interesting spectacle of a brave, hardy, and simple 
 people, contending for national independence and religious 
 freedom. Christians in faith, and subjected to the cruel per- 
 secutions of their infidel oppressors, their efforts to throw off' 
 the Moslem yoke met with little encouragement from Chris- 
 tian nations ; except so far as they could be made instru- 
 mental in checking the encroachments, or counteracting the 
 policy of other powers. 
 
 The Servians are too little known to the rest of Europe. 
 While the other countries of Europe have been overrun by 
 the herd of English tourists, Servia and the neighbouring 
 states separating Austria from Turkey are almost terra in- 
 
 a2 
 
IV PREPACB. 
 
 cognita ; even to the travellers who visit Vienna and Con- 
 stantinople. And though steamboats ply on the Danube, 
 Mr. Paton is as yet the only writer who has made English 
 readers acquainted with Servia :* to the ability and intelli- 
 gence of this gentleman the English public are indebted for 
 a lively and faithful account of the present state of the 
 Servians and their country. 
 
 Viewing them as a Christian people subjected to an infidel 
 despotism, the Servians excite a sympathy that ought to be 
 extended to the Bulgarians also. Professor Ranke, in a 
 letter to the translator of this work, expresses a hope " that 
 his History of the Servians may excite in our mighty nation 
 an interest for the Christians under Turkish rule." This 
 feeling influenced the translator in venturing upon a task, 
 the difficulty of which would have induced her to shrink 
 from it had she not been animated and encouraged by an 
 ardent hope of thus promoting the author's views. 
 
 The almost legal exactness and judicial caution of Ranke, 
 and the peculiarities of his style, which present many 
 obstacles to the conscientious translator, characterize the 
 present beyond any of the other works by the same author. 
 This may be accounted for, partly by the vague and frag- 
 mentary character of the materials, and partly by those 
 minute details of circumstances where effects appear dispro- 
 portioned to causes. For it is a prevailing characteristic of 
 all revolutionary periods, that great events arise out of seem- 
 ingly trivial accidents ; and the springs of action in national 
 movements must often be sought for in the breast of an 
 individual, or in the latent feelings of a small and yet irncivi- 
 lized community. 
 
 This work, though professing only to treat of " the Revo- 
 lution in Servia," and occupied chiefly with the most stirring 
 and recent period of its history, is, however, not limited to 
 the revolutionary era : the " Retrospective Sketch" of the 
 Servians to which the earlier chapters are devoted, gives as 
 complete an account of the rise and fall of the nation as is 
 necessary to enable the reader to understand the position of 
 affairs at the commencement of their struggle for independ- 
 ence. Perhaps it may even be as satisfactory a picture as 
 
 * Servia, the Youngest Member of the European Family. Long- 
 mans, 1845. 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 any that could be drawn througli tlie veil of obscurity which 
 shrouds the annals of Servia. Viewed as a whole, indeed, 
 Ranke's history is a valuable contribution to our very imper- 
 fect knowledge of a most interesting people : it exhibits in a 
 striking manner the impotence of Moslem despotism, even 
 when allied with warlike European powers, against the 
 energies of a Christian people united in defence of their civil 
 and religious liberties. 
 
 Servia — anciently a kingdom, then reduced to the state of 
 a Turkish province almost without a name, and now a prin- 
 cipality under the government of Georgewitsch, the son of 
 their liberator Kara George — may be regarded as the pre- 
 cursor of the minor States of the Eastern corner of Europe, 
 in their struggle for emancipation from Turkish thraldom. 
 
 In all barbarous or semi-civilized states, there is a want of 
 that high moral tone, which is the soul of national honour. 
 Human life is held lightly ; the rights of property are not 
 respected ; and individual will and might prevail. 
 " Sufficeth them the simple plan, 
 That he should take who has the power, 
 And he should keep who can." 
 
 This is painfully apparent throughout the history of Servia. 
 The divine principle of Christianity, though stifled in the 
 fierce conflict for existence, was not wholly extinct. But it 
 is not until Christianity — a vital religion, purified from 
 fanaticism and superstition — becomes firmly established in 
 the hearts of a people and the institutions of a coimtry, that 
 the duties and rights of man can be fully understood and 
 truly observed, or that the character and influence of woman 
 can be rightly appreciated. 
 
 The History of Servia, as traced by Eanke, suggests the 
 consideration of many and great truths, moral and political ; 
 but it is beyond the province of the translator to enter upon 
 their discussion. 
 
 It may, however, be permitted her to remark that the 
 subjection of Christian nations to the infidel yoke, is matter 
 not merely for regret, but a subject that calls for the atten- 
 tion and active sympathy of the enlightened and powerful 
 governments of Christendom. 
 
 And in these days of enlightenment, when missionaries are 
 diffusing the doctrines of Christianity among the heathen in 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 the remotest parts of the world, and the legislature is organ- 
 izing a comprehensive educational scheme for the people at 
 home, it is surely not unreasonable to hope that the condi- 
 tion of a Christian people so near to us as Servia, will excite 
 the sympathy of their brethren in faith in this free country. 
 
 The fanaticism of their Moslem rulers is so strongly opposed 
 to every attempt of the Servians and Bulgarians to form 
 educational institutions, and even to acquire the elements of 
 Christian knowledge, that it is only by foreign intervention 
 — not the less effectual for being of a peaceful kind — that 
 the moans and opportunities so earnestly desired by the 
 Christian population of these countries can be afforded them. 
 
 The Turks have been intruders in Europe from the first ; 
 grinding down the people, and impoverishing the countries 
 which they overran ; and warring alike against liberty, 
 enlightenment, and Christianity. If we are to judge of a 
 faith and a government by their fruits, we should all unite 
 in hoping that the Mahomedan religion and the obstructive 
 despotism of the " Sublime Porte" should yield to the now 
 swiftly-advancing tide of Christian civilization. 
 
 67, Grosvenor Street, 
 Jul]/, 1847. 
 
 To this, the Third Edition of Mrs. Kerr's Translation of 
 Professor Panke's History of Servia, the Publisher has 
 added a translation of the same Author's sketch of the state 
 of Bosnia; which, though slight, is the only available account 
 of that country. 
 
 In the absence of any account by Professor Ranke of the 
 other Slave Provinces of Turkey, it is hoped that the informa- 
 tion contained in the concluding pages, derived chiefly from 
 the work of Cyprien Robert, will be acceptable to the Public 
 at the present time, when the attention of Europe is directed 
 to the coimtries on the Danube. 
 
 H. G. B. 
 
 York Street, 
 
 November 2bth, 1853. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 RANKE'S HISTORY OF SERVIA. 
 Preface Page iii 
 
 CHAP. I. — Retrospective Sketch of the Rise of the 
 Servians. 
 
 The early Sclayonian Tribes. — First traces of the Servian Race. — View 
 of Ancient Servia. — Relations of the Servians to the Greek Empire. — 
 Stephan Boistlaw. — Constantine Monomachus. — The Grand Shupanes. 
 — Crusade of Frederic Barbarossa at the close of the Twelfth Century. 
 — Aversion of the Servians to the Western Church. — New Ecclesias- 
 tical Constitution in Servia. — The Servian Kings. — Conflict between 
 the Latins and Greeks. — Stephan Dushan. — Increased Power of the 
 Servians in the Fourteenth Century. — Progress of Civilization. — State 
 of Transition. — Nationality of the Servian Laws 1 
 
 CHAP. II. — Fall of Servian Liberty. 
 
 Influence of the Roman Empire in the Fourteenth Century. — Death of 
 Stephan Dushan. — Consequent Dissensions. — Encroachments of the 
 Turks. — Battle of Kossova. — Subjugation of the Servian State. — The 
 Fifteenth Century. — Signal Defeat of the Servians near Varna, in 1444. 
 — Spread of the Patarene Sect. — Surrender of Bosnian Fortresses to 
 the Turks. — State of Servia in the Sixteenth Century. — Exaction of 
 the Tribute of Boys. — The Peace of Passarovitz. — Orseni Czernovich. 
 — Fate of Montenegro. — Insurrection of the Servians in 1737. — The 
 Impostor Peter III. — Complete Subjugation of the Servians ... 14 
 
 CHAP. III. — Outlines of the Turkish Institutions in 
 Servia. 
 
 Conflict between Islamism and Christianity. — Their Difference considered 
 Politically. — The Janissaries. — State of the Rayahs or Native Inhabitants. 
 —Turkish Imposts.— The Spahis.— State of Afi"airs at the Close of the 
 Eighteenth Century.— Commercial Character of the Patriarchate at 
 Constantinople. — The Chimney Tax in Servia. — Turkish Dissensions. 
 Servian Heyducs or Robbers. — Christians excluded from all Public 
 Offices. — Oppression and Degradation of the Servians. — Preservation 
 of the National Spirit 25 
 
V^lil CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. — Condition, Character, and Poetry of the 
 Servians. 
 
 Servian Villages. — Tutelary Saints. — Brotherly and Sisterly Affection.— 
 Mourning. — Remarkable Custom on the Death of a Brother. — Institu- 
 tion of "The Brotherhood." — Festival of the Garlands. — Marriage 
 Ceremonies. — Revenge in Cases of Murder not known in Servia. — 
 Village Communities. — Substitutes for Churches. — Poverty of the 
 Priesthood. — Confession. — Dependent state of the Monks. — Cloisters. 
 — National Church. — Veneration for Nature. — Festival in honour of 
 the Dead. — Custom of the Women on St. George's Eve. — Whitsuntide. 
 —The Festival of the Kralize.— The Vili.— Festival of St. John. — 
 Harvest. — Procession of the Dodola, a Form of Invocation for Rain. — 
 Custom on the Eve of St. Barbara. — Swearing by the Sun and by the 
 Earth. — Popular Servian Toast or Sentiment. — Remarkable Religious 
 Celebration of Christmas. — Belief in Vampyres and Witches. — Per- 
 sonality of the Plague. — Powerful influence of the Vili. — Servian 
 Poetry. — National and Heroic Songs. — The Gusle. — Festival Meetings. 
 — Domestic Life of the People. — Songs of Husbandry. — Amatory 
 Verse. — Celebration of Heroic Exploits. — Historical Ballads. — Mixture 
 of the True and the Fabulous. — National Collection of Songs. — Wild 
 Traditions.— Deeds of Hunyad ... ... ... ... Page 35 
 
 CHAP. V. — Origin of the Recent Movements in Turkey. 
 
 Internal relations of Turkey and its Dependencies- — W^ar of 1788. — The 
 Emperor Joseph or Austria and tne Servians. — Prussian Policy. — 
 Restoration of the Turkish Power in Servia. — Weakness and Hesitation 
 of the Ottoman Government. — Reforms of Sultan Selim III. — French 
 Officers in the Pay of the Turks. — Military Improvements. — Introduc- 
 tion of European Tactics. — The Janissaries. — Effects of the Changes 
 adopted 56 
 
 CHAP. VI. — Origin of the Disturbances in Servia. 
 
 The Janissaries of Belgrade. — The Dahis. — Ebu-Bekir, Pacha of Belgrade. 
 — Assassination of the Aga, Deli Achmet. — Rise of Osman Passvan 
 Oglu. — The Krdschalies. — Alexa Nenadovitsch, Grand Knes of Servia. 
 — Pacha Hadji Mustafa — Return of the Janissaries to Belgrade. — 
 Murder of the Knes, Ranko. — Death of the Pacha. — The Dahis. — 
 Tyranny of the Janissaries. — Unsuccessful Revolt. — Address of the 
 Servian Kneses to the Grand Signior. — Threats of the Sultan against 
 the Dahis. — Horrible Slaughter of the Servians by the Dahis ... 66 
 
 CHAP. VII. — Insurrection against the Dahis. 
 
 lleaction among the Peasantry. — Divisions of Servia. — Meetings of the 
 Servian Chiefs. — Kara George. — The Hey dues. — Veliko. — Jacob 
 Nenadovitsch. — The Heyduc Kjurtshia. — Rapid Progress of the 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 Insurrection. — Kara George is elected Commander of the Servians. — 
 Affray between the Dahis and the RayaGuschanz Ali and the Krdschalies. 
 — Defeat of the Turks. — Attack of Belgrade by the Army of the Schu- 
 madia. — Slaughter of a Troop of Heyducs. — Jacob Nenadovitsch and 
 Kara George take the Fortress of Poscharevaz. — The Pacha of Bosnia 
 joins the Servians. — Flight of the Dahis.— They are put to death by 
 the Servians ' Page 78 
 
 CHAP. VIII. — Development of the Opposition against 
 THE Grand Signior. 
 
 Condition of Servia. — Insurrection in the Bosnian Districts. — Death of 
 the Heyduc Kiurtschia. — Mehemet Kapetan, of Svornik. — The Servians 
 determine to solicit the Aid of a Foreign Power. — Mediation of Russia. 
 — Negotiations at Constantinople. — Servian Statement of the Expenses 
 of the last War. — Operations in the Southern Districts. — Repulse of 
 
 I Kara George at Karanovaz. — Enterprises of Jacob Nenadovitsch and 
 Milan Obrenovitsch. — Surrender of Uschize. — Political and Military 
 Reforms in Turkey. — The Janissaries. — The Sultan Selim III arrests 
 the Servian Deputies. — Afiz Pacha of Nisch is ordered to disarm the 
 Rayahs. — Stephen Schivkovitsch excites the Servians to resist. — They 
 oppose the advance of Afiz. — His Retreat and Death 88 
 
 CHAP. IX.— Servian War of Liberation in 1806 and 1807. 
 
 Hostilities in 1805. — Giuscha Vulitschevitsch, Voivode of Smederevo, is 
 killed by the Turks. — The Servians take the Town of Smederevo. — 
 Disturbances at Schabaz and Belgrade. — Renewed Determination of 
 the Sultan to Disarm the Rayahs. — General Rising of the Servians. — 
 Stojan Tschupitsch. — The Army of Haji Beg again appears in the 
 Matschwa. — Nenadovitsch offers to negotiate. — The Servian Deputies 
 are detained by Haji Beg. — The People distrust their Chiefs, and refuse 
 to keep the Field. — Arrival of Ibrahim Pacha at Nisch with a Bosnian 
 Army of Forty Thousand Men. — BriUiant Success of Kara George. — 
 Milosch Stoitschevitsch. — Conflict between the Servians and Turks 
 near Schabaz. — Total Defeat of the Turks by Kara George. — Their 
 disastrous Retreat. — Gallant Defence of the Fortress of Deligrade by 
 Peter Dobrinjaz. — Peace is proposed by Ibrahim Pacha. — Negotiations 
 at Constantinople. — The Servian Demands are advocated by Peter 
 Itschko. — Conditions offered by the Porte. — European Relations in 
 the Autumn of 1806. — The Turkish Government refuses to ratify the 
 Conditions it had offered. — Capture of Belgrade by Kara George. — 
 Guschanz Ali evacuates the Citadel. — Treacherous Massacre of the 
 Garrison of Belgrade. — Fall of Schabaz, and of Uschize. — Jacob Nena- 
 dovitsch endeavours to excite an Insurrection in Bosnia. — The Turks 
 retire beyond the Drina. — Milenko. — Services of the Heyduc Veliko. — 
 Improved Position of the Servians 101 
 
X CONTENTa 
 
 CHAP. X. — Formation of a Servian Government. 
 
 Formation of a Servian Government. — Tendency towards Military 
 Despotism. — Voivodes, Momkes, and Kneses. — Influence of Kara 
 George. — The General Assembly, or Diet. — Constitution of the Civil 
 Court called Sowiet (Council or Senate). — Establishment of Schools. 
 — Courts of Justice. — Election of the Sowietniks, or Members of the 
 Senate. — Influence of Mladen and Miloie in the Senate. — Arrival in 
 Belgrade of Rodofinikin, the Russian Councillor of State. — Con- 
 sequent Jealousies and Disputes. — Sketch of the Early Life of Kara 
 George Page 118 
 
 CHAP. XI. — Relations of Servia to the General State of 
 Europe and Turkey. 
 
 Turkey joins the Second Coalition against France. — Napoleon abandons 
 his Scheme of an Eastern Empire.— The War of 1806.— French Influ- 
 ence at Constantinople. — Relations of the European Powers with 
 Turkey. — Connexion of Russia with the Servians. — Opposing Parties 
 in the Ottoman Empire. — Deposition of Sehm III. — At the Peace of 
 Tilsit, Buonaparte deserts the Cause of the Turks. — His Views regard- 
 ing Turkey. — Recommencement of Hostilities between the Servians and 
 Turks in 1809. — Servia is supported by Russia 134 
 
 CHAP. XII.— Campaigns of 1809 and 1810.— Farthest 
 Extent of the Boundaries. 
 
 Enterprise of Knes Sima against Bosnia. — The Sword of Meho Orugd- 
 schitsch. — Kara George's New Expedition. — Poetical Eulogium on 
 Kara George. — Panic and Defeat of the Turks. — Jealousies between 
 Peter Dobrinjaz and Miloie. — Stephen Singelitsch, Knes of Ressaver, 
 blows up his Fort. — Successful Progress of the Turks. — Retreat of 
 Kara George to the Frontier. — Heroism of the Hey due Veliko. — The 
 Turks possess themselves of the Country to the Right of the Morava. 
 — Rodofinikin, the Russian Envoy, leaves Belgrade and crosses the 
 Danube. — The Russian Army crosses the Lower Danube. — Repulse of 
 the Turks. — Internal Disunion among the Servians. — Russian Pro- 
 clamation on the Opening of the Campaign in 1810. — The Servians 
 determine on the Conquest of the Kraina. — Churschid-Ali, the New 
 Pacha of Nisch, approaches the Morava, with an Army of 30,000 men. 
 — Fortresses taken and the Country laid waste by Churschid-Ali. — 
 The Servians reinforced by a Detachment of 3000 men under Colonel 
 O'Rourke. — Successes of the Servians. — Kara George marches to the 
 Relief of Losnitza. — The Turks are defeated by the Servians. — Close 
 of the Campaign ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 144 
 
 CHAP. XIII. — Civil Dissensions. — Monarchical Power. 
 
 Dissensions in the Camp of Losnitza. — Disputes at the Skupschtina in 
 1810. — Further Aid is solicited from Russia. — Peter Dobrinjaz excites 
 the Russians against Kara George, and attempts to restrict his Power. — 
 
 . Kara George detects the Conspiracy against him. — He carries important 
 
CONTENTS. Jtl 
 
 Resolutions in the Senate, and effects Great Changes. — Arrival of a 
 Russian Regiment at Belgrade. — Veliko is gained over to the Party of 
 Kara George. — Milenko, Peter Dobrinjaz, Schivkovitsch. — Milenko 
 and Dobrinjaz are removed from their Military Commands, and subse- 
 quently exiled to Russia. — Milosch and Mladen. — The Power of the 
 Gospodars is destroyed. — Kara George becomes Supreme Head of the 
 State Page 155 
 
 CHAP. XIV. — Peace op Bucharest. 
 
 The Servians desire to obtain the Guarantee of a Foreign Power for the 
 Security of their Rights. — Campaign of 1811. — The Grand Vizier 
 offers to make Peace. — War between Russia and France in 1812. — 
 Servia expressly noticed in the Treaty of Peace between Russia and 
 Turkey. — Stipulations in her Favour. — Concentration of the Russian 
 Force in Volhynia. — Disastrous Consequences to Servia. — Execution 
 of Demetrius Morusi. — The Turks evade complying with the Terms of 
 the Treaty. — Conference at Nisch in January, 1813. — Demands of the 
 Turks. — Recommencement of Negotiations in May, 1813. — Renewed 
 Contentions and Disputes. — The Turks recommence the War against 
 the Servians ... ... ... 164 
 
 CHAP. XV.— War in Servia in the Year 1813. . 
 
 Great European Conflict. — The Christian and the Islamite Principles 
 represented in the Servians and the Turks. — Opinion of the French 
 Ambassador at Constantinople respecting the Conduct of England. — 
 Solemn Religious Meetings and Warlike Proclamations of the Servians. 
 — Anticipated Aid of Russia. — Monarchical Government of Kara 
 George. — Changes in the Servian Constitution. — Difference between 
 the Present and Former Military Proceedings. — Character of the 
 Heyduc Veliko. — First Collision of the Servians with the Turks. — 
 Mladen's jealousy of Veliko. — Death of Veliko in the Defence of 
 Negotin. — Devastating Progress of the Turks on the Danube. — 
 Junction of the Armies of the Grand Vizier and the Capitan Pacha. — 
 Servian Prisoners conducted to Constantinople. — Continued Advance 
 of the Turks. — Disastrous State of Servia. — Defection and Flight of 
 Kara George. — The Turks take Possession of Smederevo and Belgrade 
 without Resistance ... ... ... 175 
 
 CHAP. XVI. — Renewed Dominion of the Turks. 
 
 Evil Results of Evil Deeds. — Opposition of the Gospodars to Mladen and 
 Miloie. — Flight of Kara George and the Servian Senators into Austria. 
 — Kara George, Mladen, and other Chiefs, admitted into Austrian For- 
 
 • tresses. — Flight of the Garrison of Schabaz on the Approach of the 
 Turks. — Milosch Obrenovitsch remains in the Country. — He garrisons 
 Uschize. — The Turks invest him with Powers to tranquillize the 
 Country. — He induces other Voivodes to submit. — Appointed by the 
 Pacha of Belgrade to be Grand Knes of Rudnik, &c. — Return of the 
 Expelled Spahis. — Oppression and Cruelty exercised by the Turks.— 
 
XU CONTENTS. 
 
 Affray between Turks and Servians. — Milosch disperses the Insurgents. 
 — The Pacha disregards his Promises.— Barbarity of the Turks towards 
 the Servians. — Fortunate Escape of Milosch from Belgrade.— Milosch 
 places himself at the Head of a General Insurrection ... Page 186 
 
 CHAP. XVII. — Revolution of Milosch. 
 Parentage and early Life of Milosch. — His honourable Conduct. — 
 Treachery of the Voivode Arseni Lomo. — His Punishment. — The 
 People solemnly swear to obey Milosch as their Leader. — War is 
 determined on in the Spring of 1815. — Opposing Views amongst the 
 Servians. — Arrival of Succour. — Predatory War on the Upper Morava. 
 — Spread of the Insurrection. — Advantages gained by the Servians. — 
 Plight of the Turks from a fortified Position on the Kolubara. — 
 Milosch strengthens his Position at Ljubitsch. — The Turks attack the 
 Place. — Retreat of the Turks. — Kindness and Generosity of Milosch 
 to the Prisoners. — Capture of Poscharevaz, and Expulsion of the 
 Turks. — Milosch puts to Flight the Force of the Bosnian Pacha on 
 the Drina. — Magnanimity of the Servian Chief. — Two formidable 
 Turkish Armies arrive on the Frontiers 196 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. — Period of Preliminary Negotiations. 
 
 Servian Deputies coldly received by the Congress at Vienna. — Excite- 
 ment of the whole Christian Population in Turkey. — The Two Turkish 
 Armies halt on the Servian Frontier, and propose Negotiations. — 
 Interview of Milosch with Churschid Ali. — Maraschli Ali is more 
 favourably disposed towards the Servians. — Conciliatory Reception of 
 Milosch and his Attendants, by the Pacha at Belgrade. — The Servians 
 consent that the Turks shall again garrison the Fortresses.— Purport 
 of Maraschli's Concessions. — Those Concessions not sanctioned by the 
 Divan at Constantinople. — Consequent Disappointment of the Servians. 
 — Renewed Oppression of the Turks. — Milosch is desired by the Pacha 
 to deprive the People of their Arms. — Contentions amongst the Servian 
 Chiefs. — National Assembly at Belgrade. — New Regulations. — Ap- 
 pointment of Moler to be President of the National Assembly. — 
 Quarrel between Milosch and Moler. — Condemnation and Execution 
 of Moler. — Murder of the Servian Bishop, Niktschitsch. — Return of 
 Kara George to Servia. — Turkish Terror of ''the Holy Alliance." — 
 Establishment of the Hetaeria, in 1816. — Assassination of Kara 
 George, by the order of Milosch, and by the Hand of one of Wuiza's 
 Momkes. — Milosch vindicated from the Charge of having invited Kara 
 George to return. — Resolution of Milosch to become the Head of the 
 State. — Acknowledged as Supreme Knes. — Differences between Turkey 
 and Russia. — Conditions of the Peace of Bucharest, as regarded Servia, 
 not fulfilled. — A Turkish Officer sent, in 1820, to specify the Conces- 
 sions to be made to the Servians. — Apprehension of an Attempt on 
 the Life of Milosch at Belgrade. — Despatch of a Servian Embassy to 
 Constantinople. — Proposals of the Embassy. — The Members of the 
 Embassy detained as Prisoners at Constantinople ... ... 207 
 
CONTENTS. XIU 
 
 CHAP. XIX. — Institutions and Rule op Milosch. 
 
 Courts of Justice. — The Kneses. — Disagreements between them and 
 Milosch. — He obtains the Control over them. — Revolt and Death of 
 Gjurovitsch and Rathovitsch. — General Outbreak. — Failure of the 
 Troops under Jovaii. — Demands of the People. — Miloje Djak. — He 
 places himself at the Head of the Revolt. — His Successes. — He is 
 encountered by Vutschitsch and defeated. — Movements of the Tschara- 
 pitches. — Increased Power and Authority of Milosch ... Page 223 
 
 CHAP. XX. — Settlement of Servian Affairs. 
 
 Influence of the Greek Revolution on Servian Affairs. — The Rule of 
 Milosch acceptable to the Grand Signior. — The attention of Europe is 
 directed towards the East. — Russia demands the Fulfilment of the 
 Treaty of Bucharest. — The Conference of Akjerman. — Views of the 
 Sultan Mahmoud. — The Viceroy of Egypt. — Destruction of the Janis- 
 saries. — Formation of new Troops. — Affairs of Greece. — The Russians 
 enforce a Peace. — Terms of the Treaty. — Arrangements regarding the 
 Tribute. — Settlement of the Claims of the Spahis. — Affairs of the 
 Church. — The Boundaries determined on ... 233 
 
 CHAP. XXI. — The Internal Administration of Milosch, 
 and the Opposition against him. 
 
 Position of Milosch. — He is elected Knias. — The Porte makes the Dignity 
 hereditary in his Family. — He assumes arbitrary Power, and neglects 
 to advance the Interests of the Nation by promoting its Civilization. — 
 The Code Napoleon adopted as the Model for the proposed Laws of 
 Servia, — Arbitrary Proceedings of Milosch. — He endeavours to mono- 
 polize the Commerce of the Country. — His Treatment of the Public 
 Officers. — He refuses to bestow Lands and Estates on his Courtiers. — 
 Conspiracy against him. — He pledges himself to accede to the Wishes 
 of the Chiefs. — Skupschtina of 1835. — Concessions of the Knias 246 
 
 CHAP. XXII.— Charter of 1838; Fall of Milosch. 
 
 Opposition to the new Constitution. — Conduct of Milosch. — His Mono- 
 polies. — Jephrem and Vutschitsch are expelled from Servia. — History 
 of Vutschitsch. — Dissatisfaction of Russia and the Porte with Milosch. 
 — An English Consul sent to Servia. — Abraham Petronievitsch. — 
 Charter of 1838. — The Senate is made superior to the Knias. — Milosch 
 is deprived of his absolute Power, — The exiles, Jephrem and Vuts- 
 chitsch, are nominated Senators. — The Servian Ministry. — Milosch 
 withdraws to Semlin. — He returns to Servia. — Movements in his 
 Favour. — Vutschitsch defeats the Rebels. — He marches into Belgrade 
 at the Head of a large Army. — Milosch sentenced to Exile. — 
 Abdication of Milosch in Favour of his Son, and his Retirement into 
 Austria 259 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. — Michael Obrenovitsch. 
 
 Causes of Milosch's Downfall. — His eldest Son, Milan, being in ill health, 
 does not assume the princely Power. — Vutschitsch with others form a 
 provisional Government. — Dissensions among them. — Michael, the 
 second Son of Milosch, succeeds at the Death of Milan. — The Porte 
 includes Vutschitsch and Petronievitsch in the Government. — 
 Disturbances among the People. — Their Demands are acceded to in 
 part. — Arrival of a Turkish Commissary. — He retires with some of 
 the Malcontents. — Excellent designs of Stephen Raditschevitsch. — 
 They excite much Opposition. — Complaints against the Government of 
 Michael. — Family Disunion. — The Seat of Government is transferred 
 to Belgrade. — General Discontent. — A Movement against Michael 
 commences. — Vutschitsch rouses the People. — Temporary Successes of 
 the Government. — Michael is, however, compelled by his Troops to 
 negotiate. — Policy of Vutschitsch. — Michael refuses to grant his De- 
 mands. — His Troops disperse. — He is forced to retreat, and take 
 refuge in Austria. — Vutschitsch enters Belgrade, and assumes the 
 supreme Power Page 217 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. — Alexander Kara Georgevitsch. 
 
 A Provisional Government is formed, and the Skupschtina convened. — 
 Alexander, Sou of Kara George, chosen as Prince. — Vutschitsch exer- 
 cises the supreme 'Authority. — General Increase of the Ottoman 
 Power, — Views of Russia regarding the Election of Alexander. — 
 Georgevitsch is re-elected. — Present State of Servian Affairs. — Review 
 of the Servian Revolutions. — Probable Progress in the Civilization of 
 the Country. — Effects of the Charter. — Islamism and Spirit of the 
 Western Countries opposed. — The Necessity of separating the Chris- 
 tians from the Turks. — Inhabitants of Servia. — Conclusion ... 235 
 
 Appendix , 299 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XV 
 
 RANKE'S BOSNIA. 
 Chap. 
 
 Introduction , 
 
 I. — State of Bosnia 
 
 II. — Attempt at Reform 
 
 Ill- — Insurrection in Bosnia 
 
 IV. — Active Operation and Success of the Grand Vizier 
 V. — General Remarks 
 
 Page 
 311 
 313 
 320 
 331 
 340 
 353 
 
 THE SLAVE PROVINCES OF TURKEY. 
 
 I.— The Insurrections in Turkey in 1849-50-51 
 
 II. — The Montenegrins 
 
 III. — Early History of Montenegro 
 
 IV. — Montenegro in the Eighteenth Century 
 V. — Contemporary History of the Montenegrins 
 VI.— Present State and Prospects of Montenegro 
 
 VII.— The Bulgarians 
 
 VIII. — Survey of the Five Provinces of Bulgaria 
 
 IX. — Social Condition of Bulgaria. The Haiduks 
 
 X. — The Efforts and Aspirations of the Bulgarians after Inde 
 
 pendence, since the end of the last century 
 
 375 
 394 
 411 
 427 
 
 432 
 447 
 454 
 462 
 479 
 
 486 
 
EREATA. 
 
 Page 312, line 17. For " we thus," read "we are thus." 
 
 314, last line but nine. For ** offered," read " opposed." 
 
 344, last line but twelve. For "the terrible," read " this terrible/* 
 
 351, last line but ten. For " Kemlin," read *' Semlin." 
 
 354, line 14. For ** scope action," read " scope oi action.** 
 
 355, line 2. " in" should be in Roman letters. 
 
HISTOEY OF SEEVIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 RETROSPECTIVE SKETCH OF THE RISE OF THE 
 SERVIANS. 
 
 The early Sclavonian Tribes. — First traces of the Servian Race. — View 
 of Ancient Servia. — Relations of the Servians to the Greek Empire. — 
 Stephan Boistlaw. — Constantine Monomachus. — Tlie Grand Shupanes. 
 — Crusade of Frederic Barbarossa at the close of the Twelfth Century. 
 — Aversion of the Servians to the Western Church. — New Ecclesias- 
 tical Constitution in Servia. — The Servian Kings. — Conflict between 
 the Latins and Greeks. — Stephan Dushan. — Increased Power of the 
 Servians in the Fourteenth Century. — Progress of Civilization. — State 
 of Transition. — Nationality of the Servian Laws. , 
 
 The most remarkable and significant epocli in the history 
 of Sclavonian nations is found towards the close of the ninth 
 century. 
 
 Migrations had ceased; immense tracts of country had 
 been populated; and numerous tribes, of whose very names 
 the ancients were scarcely cognisant, had advanced some steps 
 within the limits of historical and geographical recognition, 
 foreign rule, as that of the Avars, had been cast ofi"; and 
 the time was come for the Sclavonians to raise themselves 
 into independence, and to attempt the formation of political 
 institutions. 
 
 At the period referred to (the latter part of the ninth 
 century) we find the great Moravian kingdom extending 
 beyond Cracow, and far doAvn the Elbe : even the Zechians 
 in Bohemia formed part of it ; and to this day they recollect 
 the great King Svatopluk in Moravia. At this time arose 
 amongst the Lechians in the neighbourhood of Gnesne and 
 
2 VIEW OF ANCIENT SERVIA. 
 
 Poseii. tlie Piasts : the first princes wlio did not belong to tlie 
 old race of the people. 
 
 It was by a union of Sclavonic-Tsliudisli tribes, under 
 Norman princes, that the Pussian Empire was originally- 
 formed; takinsj from the first a decided direction towards 
 the Lower Danube and Constantinople. Meanwhile, the 
 Sclavonian Apostles, Methodius and Cyrillus, traversed all 
 the countries bordering on the Danube, and became distin- 
 guished from most of the early missionaries by their endea- 
 vours to elevate the standard of the national languages, by 
 using them in the Church service. 
 
 At this period also, we hear of the first attempts made by 
 the Servian race toAvards forming political institutions. 
 
 Leaving it to antiquaries to trace the origiji and migrations 
 of these people, by combining languages and myths with 
 fragmentary traditions, it may sufiice to say, that from the 
 earliest times we find them in the country which they occupy 
 to this day. 
 
 In order to take a comprehensive view of ancient Servia, 
 we must survey the country from a central summit of that 
 lofty range of mountains extending from the Alps to the 
 Black Sea; the declivities of which, with the rivers and 
 streams flowing from them, and the valleys they form, con- 
 stitute the Avhole Servian territory ; between the Danube on 
 one side, and the Adriatic and the Archipelago on the other. 
 The successive heights of these mountain ridges — described 
 in the national songs as variegated woods, where the darkness 
 of the forest is relieved only by white rocks, or by perpetual 
 snows — have ever been in possession of the Servians. They 
 inhabited the country from the banks of the Drina and the 
 Bosna, towards the Save, along the course of both the 
 Moravas, down to the Danube, and southerly, to Upper 
 Macedonia ; peopling, likewise, the coasts of the Adriatic 
 sea. For centuries, they lived under the government of their 
 Shupanes and Elders, regardless of the policy of surrounding 
 nations. 
 
 At the period alluded to, the Servians did not, like the 
 rest of the Sclavonians, constitute a distinct State, but 
 acknowledged the supremacy of the Eastern Roman Emperor : 
 in fact the country they inhabited had, from ancient times, 
 formed part of the Boman territory ; and it still remained 
 
SERVIANS AND THE GEEEK EMPIilE. 3 
 
 as part of tlie Eastern Empire when the Western Empire 
 was re-establislied, at the time of Charlemagne. The Ser- 
 vians, at the same period^ embraced the Christian faith; but 
 in so doing they did not subject themselves entirely, either 
 to the Empire or Church of the Greeks. 
 
 "When they determined on acknowledging the supremacy 
 of Constantinople, they did so only on the condition that 
 they should never be subject to a government proceeding 
 from that capital ; whose rule they abhorred, as being extor- 
 tionate and rapacious. The Emperor, accordingly, permitted 
 the Servians to be ruled by native chiefs, solely of their own 
 election; who preserved a patriarchal form of government.^* 
 
 The records of Christianity were also given to them in 
 their vernacular language and writing ; whether these were 
 derived from the East or from the West. They, likewise, 
 enjoyed the advantage of a liturgy which was intelligible to 
 them ; and we find that, early in the tenth century, a con- 
 siderable number of Sclavonian priests, from all the dioceses, 
 were ordained by the Bishop of i^ona, himself a Sclavonian 
 by descent. + 
 
 Ever since powers have been established on earth, endea- 
 vouring to realize, to represent, and to promote those general 
 ideas which involve the destiny of the human race, it would 
 seem that no nation has been allowed to develop itself by 
 the unrestrained exercise of its own innate strength and 
 genius. The progress of all development de23ends materially 
 on the relation into which a newly emerging people enters 
 with the nations already in a state of civilization ; and in 
 reviewing the history of the various Sclavonian tribes, it is 
 evident that their development was determined by the 
 influ-ence thus exercised upon them. 
 
 The Western races — the Moravians, Zechians, Caranta- 
 neans, and to some extent, even the Poles — ^joined themselves 
 to the AVestern Empire, as renewed among the Germans, and 
 to the Latin Church ; taking part in the changing forms of 
 public life which gradually arose. 
 
 * Constantinus Porphyrogenltus, De Vita Basilii ; Tlieophanes ccnti- 
 nuatus : ed. Bonn, p. 291. tovq vtc' avriov Ik£iv(>jv tKXiyofx'tvovg Kai 
 olovn x£(porovou/xfroi;g ojg ct'ipeTovg dpxovTag Kal TrarpiKyfi npo^ 
 avTovg dLa(TU)^iiv oipelXovrag evvoiav apx^i^v auTdp diupiffaro. 
 
 -j- Kopitar, Glagolita Clozianus, xiii. 
 
 b2 
 
4 STEPHAN BOISTLAW. 
 
 The Eastern tribes associated with the Eastern Church, in 
 the national form prescribed by it ; yet much difference was 
 discernible between them. 
 
 Russia had become much too loowerful through the German 
 immigration, and was also too remote from the centre of the 
 Greek State, for the government at Constantinople to think 
 of making her spiritual dependence the foundation for the 
 secular autliority. The Servians, on the contrary, who had 
 settled on the soil of the Greek Empire, and acknowledged 
 its general supremacy, had to strain every nerve against the 
 attempts made by the Greek Emperors to increase their 
 power over them. 
 
 In the eleventh century, the Greeks, despite of the stipu- 
 lations they had entered into, attempted to take Servia under 
 their immediate control, and to subject it to their financial 
 system. In pursuance of this design, a Greek governor was 
 sent into the country. But the proceeding incited a general 
 revolt. A Servian chief, Stephan Boistlaw, who was impri- 
 soned at Constantinople, found means to effect his escape, 
 and return to his native land. He quickly assembled the 
 people around him; and the Greek governor, with his 
 dependents, who are represented to have been, like their 
 master, mercenary and tyrannical, were compelled to leave 
 the country. Boistlaw appears to have taken up a j^osition 
 near the coast ; vessels from Byzantium, laden with rich 
 treasures, fell into his hands; and he entered into alliance 
 ■with the Italian subjects of the Greek Empire, who were at 
 that time endeavouring to obtain their freedom. 
 
 At length, in the year 1043, Constantine Monomachus, in 
 order to re-establish the dominion he had lost, sent a nume- 
 rous army, which attempted to penetrate from the coast into 
 the interior. The Servians encountered them in their moun- 
 tains, as tlie Tyrolese and Swiss peasants have so often met 
 their enemies, and the entire Greek army was annihilated in 
 their impassable defiles. 
 
 This defeat was decisive. Not only did it put a speedy 
 termination to the encroachment of the Court of Constan- 
 tinople in imposing a direct government, but it also firmly 
 established the princely power of the Grand Shupanes; whose 
 existence depended on the preservation of the national inde- 
 pendence. 
 
THE GRAND SHUPANES. 5 
 
 The importance of this event was felt on both sides. By 
 the Byzantines, the appearance of a comet is believed to have 
 portended the reverses which they experienced in Servia/" 
 The most ancient Servian history, that by the Presbyter 
 Diocleas, describes this portent with all the embellishments 
 of tradition, t 
 
 In the resistance which they had, in after times, to oppose 
 to the Greeks, it was an advantage to the Servians that they 
 were settled on the borders of Western Christendom : from 
 which they derived, if not always open aid, at least a certain 
 degree of support. 
 
 The Grand Shiipanes eagerly sought to ally themselves in 
 marriage with the princely houses of Western Europe ; and 
 the Servian chroniclers alwa3^s mention such alliances with 
 pecuHar satisfaction. The Servians rejoiced in being con- 
 nected with Venice ; whose relations with the Eastern 
 Empire were similar to their own ; they also opposed, to the 
 utmost of their power, the attempts of Manuel Comnenus to 
 re-obtain possession of the Western Crown. When Frederic 
 Barbarossa, during his crusade in the year 1189, approached 
 their territory, they manifested an unexpected devotion 
 to his interest ; offering to hold Nissa as a fief from him, 
 and to consider themselves.^ henceforward, as vassals of the 
 German Empii-e. Not wishing, however, to offend the Greek 
 Emperor, at a moment when the re-conquest of the Holy 
 Land might be hazarded, Frederic declined the offer. The 
 mere proposal even, on the part of the Servians, is, however, 
 worthy of notice. The Servians at times applied for redress 
 not only to the Emperor, but also to the court of Rome, 
 which did not give up its pretensions to the Illyrian dioceses. 
 Pope Gregory YII. was the first who saluted a Grand Shu- 
 pane as kmg. 
 
 * Glykas considers that this comet betokened rag jxtWovaag /cocr^i/cdf; 
 GviJKbopciQ; opa yap on jxer' ov TioXv ardcig ei> "EepfSia yiyove (p. 594, 
 ed. Bonn). 
 
 t Schwandtner, iii. 497. Dobroslaw is doubtless one and the same 
 person with Boistlaw. According to Diocleas, all the Greek function- 
 aries were murdered in one day. 
 
 X Ausbert de Expeditione Friderici Imperatoris, p. 32. Pro ipsa 
 terra de manu Imperatoris percipienda hominum et fidelitatem ipsi ofFere- 
 bant ad perpetuam Romani imperii gloriam, nullo quidem timore coacti 
 sed sola ipsius Teutonici regni dilectione invitati. 
 
O AVERSION OF THE SERVIANS 
 
 Tt miglit Lave been expected that the Servian nation, like 
 many of their kindred tribes, would, by degrees, ado2:)t the 
 system of the Western Church. Gregory addressed the 
 Prince already alluded to, not only as "King," but as "Son :" 
 the former title, indeed, would hardly have Ijeen thought of 
 without the latter. And we may conclude that all of 
 Gregoiy's successors have, at one time or other, indulged in 
 the hope that the Servians might gradually be won over. It 
 may be doubted whether political considerations alone in- 
 duced tlie Servian princes to evince a leaning towards Rome, 
 or v^hether they really cherished these opinions ; but it 
 is clear that the time was past for the profession of a new 
 faith. 
 
 The Servians had been taught Christianity by Greek 
 teachers from Constantinople, at the very time when the 
 schisms of the Latin and Greek Churches first broke forth. 
 Erom. the first, they had imbibed the aversion entertained by 
 the Anatolians towards the formulae of the Western Church : 
 an aversion which, where it has once taken root, has never 
 been conquered. ISTemanja was disposed for a union with 
 the German Empire ; but this did not prevent him from 
 strengthening the Greek profession of faith, by the erection of 
 numerous churches and cloisters. His views were not 
 directed towards the Vatican, but to the centre point of the 
 orthodox faith — the forest-cloisters of Mount Atlios, which 
 are venerated by all the Eastern tribes. He founded 
 Chilandar, and is renoAvned as one of the renovators of Yato- 
 psedi, where he died as a Greek Kaloier. 
 
 But the Latin Church presented not only differences in 
 doctrine, but also another system of life and of government, 
 which depended chiefly on the distinction between the 
 Church and the State. A council wliich Innocent III. 
 caused to be held, at Dioclea, in 1199, founded one of its 
 decrees expressly on the presumption of a fundamental oppo- 
 sition between the two powers.'"' 
 
 In Servia, aflairs assumed a totally different aspect. From 
 his favourite residence, the hermitage of Chilandar, St. Sava, 
 the son of Nemanja, promoted the work of his father ; and 
 
 * Concilium in DalmatiEe et Dioclese regnis. The Vlllth Canon 
 commences *' Cum duse sint notestates a Deo constitutse." Mansi xxii. 
 703. 
 
TO THE WESTERN CHURCH. 7 
 
 in a truly patriotic spirit. The Patriarch of Constantinople 
 granted the Servians the privilege of always electing their 
 archbishop from their own national priesthood. St. Sava 
 himself was the first archbishop. He took up his residence 
 at Uschitze, the Servian Mecca, and by his spiritual autho- 
 rity, caused the princely poAver to be revered in the eyes of 
 the nation, in a manner which the Koman Pope would pro- 
 bably never have been able to accomplish. He raised his 
 bj'otlier to the throne, and, according to all accounts, with 
 the consent of the Eastern Emperor, — and crowned him in 
 the midst of a vast assemblage of clergy and laity, wdio, upon 
 that occasion, followed his example in repeating the Creed in 
 its oriental form. 
 
 In the Western Empire a deadly conflict was taking place 
 between the ecclesiastical and the secular powers ; and a re- 
 nowned race of intelligent and magnanimous princes were 
 hunted do-^ii, like a brood of otters and snakes, by the re- 
 lentless hatred of the head of the Church ; and we find in. 
 Servia, also, but too great a similarity of action. Many of 
 the Servian kings, however tyrannical their conduct might 
 have been during their reign, were, after death, honoured as 
 saints ; if even at the last they performed some pious act. 
 
 It is not necessary here to recount the deeds of these 
 kings :* how they extended their authority towards Hun- 
 gary, or Bulgaria, or Byzantium, and, at the expense of the 
 Latins, along the coast ; it will suffice to notice the position 
 which they occupied in the fourteenth centmy, when they 
 had acquired a certain degree of power. 
 
 Russia had fallen under the dominion of the Mongols ; 
 those pov/erful tribes governed it by viceroys sent from their 
 own distant coimtry. Poland had, under the last Piasts, 
 allied itself more closely to the Western States, in order to 
 obtain protection from a similar subjugation. Bohemia, 
 with all its dependencies, had already become, under the 
 house of Luxemburg, the seat of a certain degree of civiliza- 
 tion peculiar to the West ; the Servian Krales, on the 
 contrary, the kings of the forest-mountain, remained uncon- 
 quered, and in proud isolation. 
 
 * A complete and authcKtic history of Servia cannot be expected, 
 until writings, such as Doinitian's Life of St. Simeon and St. Sava, and 
 
B COJ^FLICT BETWEEN LATINS AND GREEKS. 
 
 The attacks of the Mongols — whose force and energy, 
 however, had been lessened by their great distance from their 
 own country — were repelled by the Servians, as completely 
 as by the Sclavonian-Germanic tribes of Silesia, and those on 
 the boundaries of Austria. In Servia, the archbishoj), after 
 invoking his sainted predecessors Sava and Arsenius, led the 
 people into the held, and drove back the heathen troops. 
 Such was the form assumed in this country by the war 
 against the infidels, which then occupied the world. 
 
 The Latin Empire at Constantinople was powerless to 
 enforce the claims which it had jireferred for the possession 
 of Servia. Baldwin II., after having been repulsed, con- 
 cluded a treaty by which he disposed of both Servia and 
 Albania :* not, however, without danger ; as he thus trans- 
 ferred his rights to the house of Anjou. This family was 
 then endeavouring to assert its right to the crown of Hun- 
 gary, which it also claimed : but it was not to be expected 
 that this claim would be resolutely maintained, as the 
 Venetians were at all times ready to aid the Servians in 
 resisting it. 
 
 The re-established Greek Emperors could no longer hope 
 to extend their dominion over Servia ; and being under the 
 necessity of appeasing the hostility of the Latins by an 
 approximation to the Latin Cliurch ritual, they involuntarily 
 excited the aversion of the bigoted populace of their ow^n 
 country, from whom they with difficulty exacted obedience. 
 
 This conflict between the Latins and Greeks, and the 
 divisions that again sprang up in all parts — exciting feuds on 
 the whole line of coast, and in the interior, from the Ionian 
 Sea to the Thracian Bosphorus, and preventing the establish- 
 ment of any strong or lasting government — gave the Servians 
 an opportunity of acting vigorously on their own behalf. 
 Indignant that the government of Constantinople, unable 
 even to defend itself, should make humiliating demands upon 
 them, they, at the end of the 13th century, assumed the 
 offensive, and took possession of the provinces on the Upper 
 
 the Rodoslov of the Archbishop Daniel and his successors, are published ; 
 and with a correct text. 
 
 * In 1267, according to Buchon, Recherches et Materiaux, i. 33. Ita 
 quod etiam in regnis Albanie et Serbie liceat nobis nostrisque heredibus 
 hujusmodi tertiam partem eligere. 
 
STEPHEN DUSHAN AND CANTACUZENUS. 9 
 
 "Vardar, which belonged to the ancient Servian tribes. The 
 continued disunions at Constantinople, and the relations in 
 which the Servians stood with the contending parties, 
 rendered it easy for the Servians to make further encroach- 
 ments ; and in the first half of the 14th century, they not 
 only formed the strongest power of the lUyrian triangle, but 
 it appeared probable that they would exert a powerful in- 
 fluence on the politics of Europe. 
 
 The natural policy of the Servians was always to act with 
 that party in the Greek Empire which opposed the Court. 
 They at one time allied themselves with the younger Andro- 
 nicus against the elder, and at another period afforded a 
 place of refuge to Sergianus of Macedonia, and Sphranzes of 
 Boeotia, powerful governors of provinces, who had quarrelled 
 with the younger Andronicus, and who returned strengthened 
 by their support. 
 
 In 1341, when John Cantacuzenus assumed the purple, 
 important prospects were opened to the Servians. Cantacu- 
 zenus, finding that neither his friends and relations, nor the 
 Latin auxiliary troops whom he had assembled, could uphold 
 his authority, went up the mountains, and prevailed upon 
 Stephan Dushan, the powerful King of the Servians, whom 
 he found in a country palace at Pristina, to join his cause. 
 
 Nicephorus Gregoras relates, that these princes entered 
 into an agreement ; according to w^hich neither of them was 
 to interfere with the success of the other, and the towns of 
 their common enemies were to be left at liberty to declare in 
 favour of whichever leader they might prefer.* If this be 
 true, it may be assumed that a leagaie of brotherhood was 
 concluded between them, accordino- to the national custom 
 in Servia. 
 
 Twenty-four Servian Voivodes (Palatines) accompanied 
 the ambitious and crafty pretender, Cantacuzenus, in liis 
 attempt to secure the Greek throne. Between the Servians 
 and Greeks, as is manifested in their early institutions, 
 there existed, on account of their religion, a feeling of mu- 
 tual connection ; and also of common opposition, directed 
 especially against the Latin Empii-e. And as a gTeat part 
 
 * Lib. xiii. Ed. Bonn, ii. p. fi5G. jx^ckTipov f.n]Oi.-kp(i) ttots yiviaOat. 
 KuiXvua Trpbg eurvxictv yvrivaovv Kcd avyxM^pCiv Tcug tCov Bv^fCVTiuv 
 vTrrjKooig TroXeciv oro) (BovXoivto TVQoax^pCiv, 
 
10 ' THEIR DISPUTES, 
 
 of the inliabitants of the country were of Sclavonian, if not 
 entirely of Servian origin, there was no feeling of their being 
 degi-aded when important places, such as Melenik and Edessa, 
 were taken by Cantacuzeniis, and made over to the Servian 
 King. Cantacnzemis, however, when he became more 
 powerful, and dared to hope that he should be able to esta- 
 blish his pretensions, could no longer allow this system to 
 proceed. He soon fell into disputes with Stcjihan Dushan, 
 and did not hesitate to call even infidels — the Osmanli Turks 
 just then rising into power in Asia Minor — to his assistance, 
 in the confident expectation that his adversaries would find 
 no mercy from them.'"' But it was soon evident, that pro- 
 ceedings so violent and unjust must necessarily turn to the 
 advantage of the King of Servia. The fact that his army 
 was fighting against the infidels endeared him to his people. 
 The Chronicle extols him for his victories over the Agarenes. 
 At the same time, magnanimity and pride prevented him 
 from coming into direct contest with his league-brother ; 
 whom none of his Yoivodes would have ventured to attack. 
 However, whilst Cantacuzenus v.^as engaged in extending his 
 power in Thracia, Stephan Dushan considered himself en- 
 titled to take full possession of Macedonia. Cities which, 
 formed the principal objects of their mutual ambition — such 
 as Phera and Bershoa — fell into his hands. The Byzantines 
 compare him at one time to a fiercely raging fire ; at another 
 to a svv'ollen torrent, overflowing far and wide : both wild 
 and irresistible powers. 
 
 It was at tliis period that Stephan Dushan assumed a most 
 commanding position. His rule extended from the original 
 boundaries of Nemanja's dominion, the provinces on the 
 Upper Rashka (which gave to the country the name of 
 Bascia), to the Save. Having received the benediction of 
 his priests, he advanced to repel a formidable invasion of 
 the Hmigarians ; who, under Louis I., were making great 
 advances ; and he succeeded in driving them back. In seems 
 probable, too, that he held possession of Belgrade t — at least 
 
 * Cantacuzenus, iii. p. 74. He mentions tlie belief entertained by 
 these "barbarians," that he would obtain the highest reward hereafter 
 who died in battle against the Christians, or who killed the greatest 
 number of the enemy (iii. 298).' 
 
 + Engel, History of Servia, 356. 
 
STEPHAN DUSIIAN IX E AG USA. '11 
 
 for a short time. He rescued Bosnia from an obstinate Ban, 
 and gave to it an independent government. 
 
 In 1347, Stephan Dushan is found in Eag-usa, where lie 
 ^yas received with European honours, and was acknowledged 
 as its jirotector. The Shkypetares in Albania followed his 
 standard ; Arta and Joannina were in his possession. From 
 these points, his Voivodes, whose districts may easily be 
 traced, spread themselves over the whole of the Roumelian 
 territory on the Vardar and the Marizza, as far as Bulgaria, 
 which he also regarded as a province of his kingdom. Being 
 in the possession of so extensive a dominion, he now ven- 
 tured to assume a title which was still in dispute between the 
 Eastern and Western Empires, and coulcl not rightly be 
 claimed by either. As a Servian Krale, he could neither 
 ask nor expect the obedience of the Greeks : therefore he 
 called himself Emperor of the Ilo*Limelians — the Macedonian 
 Christ-loving Czar — and began to wear the tiara. On his 
 coins he was represented holding in his hand a globe, sur- 
 mounted by a cross.* It was in the orthodox Greek Empire, 
 if anyAvhere, that s})iritual and secular obedience existed 
 together ; in idea they were almost inseparable, although the 
 spiritual principle had an independent representation (the 
 i:)riesthood). The possession of imperial power, and the 
 acknowledgment of a foreign patriarch, would have been an 
 anomaly ; but this also was arranged without much difficulty : 
 at a synod at Phera, the assembled clergy of Dushan's em- 
 pire elected as their Chief a patriarch of their own. 
 
 It was the natural tendency of the Servian nation to pre- 
 serve itself independent, in the conflict of the Eastern and 
 Western divisions of Christendom — being poHtically o2:)posed 
 to the one, and ecclesiastically to the other — and it was at 
 this jiuicture that it really achieved that independence. 
 
 The Boman party erred greatly v/hen they ascribed to 
 Dushan any inclination towards the Western Church. By 
 the laws which he enacted, whoever endeavoured to pervert 
 any one " to the Latin heresy " was condemned to work in 
 the mines. An ancient tradition represents him on the festi- 
 val of the Archangel Michael, as asking his Yoivodes to 
 which side they were desirous that he should lead them — 
 
 ♦ Zanetti, De Nummis Regum Mysice, p. 26, 
 
12 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 towards Greece, or towards Alemannia. "Wherever thou 
 leadest us, most glorious Czar," was their reply, " we will fol- 
 low thee." This is quite in accordance with his character. 
 Not that it could ever have been really his intention to turn 
 his arms against countries under German protection ; but the 
 anecdote displays his possession of that confidence which 
 usually accompanies self-acquired independence. 
 
 The question may here occur, whether such a demeanour, 
 howsoever proud and glorious it might appear, was not 
 prejudicial to the development of civilisation ? A people 
 unceasingly offering opposition to more advanced nations, for 
 the purpose of maintaining its own freedom, cannot be 
 influenced by those imj)ressions which would, otherwise, be 
 much to its advantage. 
 
 Servia, however, was not excluded from intercourse with 
 the countries of the West. The mines she possessed, and the 
 wealth they afforded, attracted merchants from Kagusa, who 
 formed settlements at Novobrdo, Kladovo, and Smederevo, 
 and uninterrupted intercourse was maintained with the 
 coast of Dalmatia, then enjoying the benefits of Italian 
 civilization.* 
 
 The Kings of Servia had sufficient wealth to take into their 
 service, in these times of the Condottieri, sometimes Italian, 
 sometimes French (who were called " Celts " by the Greeks), 
 and sometimes German troops ; and it was probably through 
 their assistance that the Servian monarchs were enabled to 
 attain a superiority in those countries. About the year 1355, 
 we observe a German among the grandees of the empire, as 
 commander-in-chief under King Dushan. 
 
 In Servia, as throughout the West, castles and fortresses 
 were raised on the almost inaccessible tops of mountains : in 
 defiles, were rivers intersect the hills, and in the middle of 
 lakes. Near Ipek there is yet standing a church of white 
 marble, erected, in all the splendour of the age, to the memory 
 of Dushan's father, by an architect of Cattaro.t Many other 
 churches and cloisters, founded through the munificence of 
 her kings, arose under the hands of native architects. With 
 
 * Appendini (" Notizie sulle Antichita, etc. di Ragusa," i. p. 229) 
 connects with this circumstance, the fact that the most beautiful architec- 
 tural structures in Ragusa were erected at the period of this intercourse. 
 
 + Ami Boue, La Turquie d'Europe, iii. 464. 
 
STATE OF TRANSITION?. 13 
 
 the increase of church-books and church-laws, the dawn of 
 Servian literature was closely connected. There exists a 
 digest of the laws of Dushan, which, it must be regretted, is 
 still but imperfectly known.* It proves, however, that there 
 was established in Servia, an Assembly — composed of clergy 
 and laity, under the presidentship of the Czar and the 
 Patriarch — which exercised the legislative power ; that it 
 was the province of this Assembly to secure the possessions of 
 the landholders, both great and small, from the encroachments 
 of the supreme power, and, on the other hand, to protect the 
 peasants from the arbitrary exactions of the landowners. In 
 all directions we perceive the state of violence and rapine to 
 which both the country and people were still subject, as his- 
 torical facts but too clearly prove ; but, at the same time, we 
 may observe a strenuous effort on the part of the nation to 
 extricate itself from these evils. 
 
 Servia was in that state which constitutes one of the most 
 important epochs in the existence of every nation — a state of 
 transition from patriarchial traditions of the darkest origin, 
 handed down from a remoter period, and fettered by local 
 prejudices — to a legalized order of things, founded on spiiitual 
 knowledge, and corresponding with the general development 
 of the human race. This change was effected, not indeed 
 without imitating foreign precedents and forms, but still very 
 much in accordance with the primitive ideas of the people. 
 Of all the Sclavonian systems of laws, that of Servia, accord- 
 ing to the opinion of those best qualified to judge, is the 
 most national, t 
 
 But the question naturally arises, to what results will this 
 lead ? Will the Servian people reaUy assume a station amongst 
 the European nations ? This seemed to depend less on their 
 o^^^l capacity for development, than on their relations with 
 another power; which was increasing wonderfully in streng-th, 
 and was rapidly advancing towards the South of Europe. 
 
 * Schaffarik, in the Vienna Year-Book, liii. Advertisement sheet, 
 p. 38. 
 t Maciejowski, Sclawische Rechtsgeschichte, vol. i. part ii. sect. v. 
 
u 
 
 CHAPTEE, II. 
 
 FALL OF SERVIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 iijfluence of the Roman Empire in the Fourteenth Century. — Death of 
 Stephan Dushan. — Consequent Dissensions. — Encroachments of the 
 Turks. — Battle of Kossova. — Subjugation of the Servian State. — The 
 Fifteenth Century. — Signal Defeat of the Servians near Varna, in 1444. 
 — Spread of the Patarene Sect. — Sun-ender of Bosnian Fortresses to 
 the Turks. — State of Servia in the Sixteenth Centui'y. — Exaction of 
 the Tribute of Boys. — The Peace of Passarovitz. — Orseni Czernovich. 
 — Fate of Montenegro. — Insurrection of the Servians in 1737. — The 
 Impostor Peter III. — Complete Subjugation of the Servians. 
 
 Erom whatever point we seek to investigate the develop- 
 ment of later centui'ies, we are almost invariably led back to 
 the Koman Empire ; which forms, as it were, a central point 
 for history in general ; inasmuch as it subdued the ancient 
 world, and was vanquished by the modern. 
 
 In the reign of the Emperor Heraclius — under whom, 
 according to historical tradition, the admission of the Scla- 
 vonians into the countries on the Danube took place — the 
 Asiatic provinces of the Byzantine lioman Empire were first 
 overrun by the Arabs, and adopted that form of belief which 
 wrested half the world from the Christian faith. Fortunate, 
 indeed, it vv^as, that Constantinople did not earlier succumb to 
 the attacks of the Arabs. At this period, however, the 
 Mahometans had in Asia Minor, in the immediate neigh- 
 boiuiiood of the capital, a stronger military force than they 
 had ever assembled there before. Introduced by Cantacu- 
 zenus himself, the Osmanlis gradually penetrated into the 
 interior of Thrace ; where they, in the year 1357, acquired an 
 independent footing ; and at Galipolis, even at the present 
 day, the fields retain the names of the first Turks, who, assail- 
 ing the professors of Christian faith with all the violence of 
 Mahometan fanaticism, met there what they considered to be 
 the death of martyrs. 
 
 At that time the Servian State was powerful in war, and 
 victorious in every quarter. Hitherto the feeble government 
 to which the title and succession of the Roman Empii^e had 
 
DEATH OF STEPIIAN DUSII^VN. 15 
 
 descended, had only tliouglit of opposing one division by the 
 aid of the other : now it was necessary that all should unite 
 in direct conflict against a common enemy. 
 
 It became imperative on the Servians to resist the Osmanlis 
 to the utmost : they must either repel the enemy or expect 
 their own destruction. But it so happened, that at the 
 moment when this was to be attempted, the mighty ruler of 
 the Servians, Stephan Dushan, died, before he had completed 
 the empire of which he had laid the foundation, and ere he had 
 strengthened his power by the bulwark of national insti- 
 tutions. 
 
 The difference between the Servian and the Turkish States 
 consisted principally in the fact, that the Osmanlis exhibited 
 a stricter unity, a more compactly-knit fellowship, being all 
 servants of one master ; whilst in Servia, on the contrary, the 
 Yoivodes had retamed, according to the Western system, a 
 certain share of political power. 
 
 It was by the Voivodes tliat Stephen Dushan had^ 
 pierhaps against his wish, been placed on the tlu-one before 
 his plans were matured. In all his measures, even those of 
 a political character, they had taken a decisive share. He 
 had succeeded in repressing the outbreaks of disobedience 
 which sometimes occurred ; but, after his death, disputes 
 arose in his family, between his widow, his son, and his 
 brother, which overthrev^ the supreme authority ; and the 
 Yoivodes availed themselves of the opportunity to cast off 
 all allegiance. 
 
 I'^ot long before this period, the Bosnian nobles had also 
 projected the formation of an aristocratic republic. Con- 
 tests in matters of inheritance, and, connected with these, 
 the emancipation of povv^erful classes, at that time formed 
 the topics of political consideration in Europe ; whilst those 
 institutions of the Ottoman Empire, which bore the strongest 
 stamp of barbarism — the maintenance of a harem, and the 
 murder of the brothers of the Sultan — had the effect of 
 preventing disturbances and embarrassments of this sort 
 amongst the Turks. It did not, therefore, long remain 
 doubtful which of the two parties would prove victorious in 
 the contest. 
 
 The Turkish annals contain accounts of battles not men-^ 
 tioned in those of the Western countries : the Servian 
 
16 BATTLE OF KOSSOAYA, 
 
 chronicles speak of others that are not recorded by the 
 Turks ; on both sides victories are spoken of as defeats, and 
 defeats as victories. But howsoever imperfect our know- 
 ledge of the various occurrences of this war, their result was, 
 that the son of Stephen Dushan lost the Koumelian districts 
 acquired by his predecessors : his chief vassals submitting 
 to the Turks. Nor could the ancient Servian countries any 
 longer resist. A few important events decided their now 
 inevitable fate. 
 
 The Turkish system of occupying conquered countries 
 with military colonies, and, carrying oiF the original inhabit- 
 ants, excited a great national opposition in the year 1389. 
 
 On the mountain heights, crowned by the chief seat of the 
 Servian Empire — on the field of Kossova — the Servians, the 
 Bosnians (who after Dushan's death had regained their inde- 
 pendence), and the Albanians, once more stood united against 
 the Osmanlis. But the Turks were stronger than all these 
 nations combined ; although the particulars of the battle are 
 obscured by national j^ride and the vagueness of tradition, 
 the result is certain : from that day the Servians became 
 subject to the Turkish power. 
 
 The Sultan of the Osmanlis and the Servian Krale were 
 both slain in the conflict. But their successors, Bajazet, 
 and Stephan Lasarevitsch, entered into an agreement which, 
 formally established the inferior position of the Servians. 
 Lasarevitsch gave his sister in marriage to the Sultan, and 
 inidertook to render him military service in all his cam- 
 paigns;* and throughout his life he honourably performed 
 his portion of the compact. In the great battles of Nico- 
 polis and Ancyra, in which the Ottoman Empire was in 
 jeopardy, Lazarevitsch fought by the side of his brother-in- 
 law. He was, apparently, bound to this house by an oath ; 
 and he exerted himself, with the zeal of a kinsman in the 
 adjustment of quarrels that on one occasion broke out in the 
 Osmanli family. But, in so doing, he only confirmed the 
 subjugation of his own nation. During the lifetime of 
 Lazarevitsch, affairs went on tolerably well ; but, after bis 
 death, the Osmanlis hastened to lay claim to Servia ; on tbe 
 
 * As the translation of Dukas, which is rather free, expresses it : 
 " Volse che Stephano sotto '1 suo imperio esercitasse la militia, ed in 
 qualunque loco fosse i'imperatore, se trovasse la sua persona." 
 
SUBJUGATION OP THE SERVIAIS" STATE. 17 
 
 gronnd fhat tliey inlieritecl the land througli their relation- 
 ship with the Servian Krale. The contest on the subject of 
 religion, which had never been adjusted, although liitherto 
 little had been said on the subject, was soon renewed. The 
 Turks affirmed that they could not permit a Christian prince 
 to retain possession of such rich mines and strong forts, lest 
 he should at some future time use them to impede the pro- 
 gress of the Mahometan faith ; and they excited their rapacity 
 with the spur of religion. 
 
 About the year 1438 we find a mosque erected at Krusche- 
 vatz, and Turkish garrisons placed in the fortresses of Golubaz 
 and Smederevo on the Danube, and in ISTovobrdo, the most 
 ancient of the Servian towns, in the immediate vicinity of the 
 richest mines. In the meantime Bosnia was overrun from Scupi ; 
 and from Argyrocastron and Croia, the Turks soon extended 
 their dominion over the southern and northern parts of Albania. 
 
 Matters had advanced so far, that deliverance could be 
 hoped for only througli foreig-n aid ; and now, indeed, only 
 through the assistance of the Western Empire. 
 
 Could the nations of the Latin Church, who were them- 
 selves already attacked by the Turks in Hungary, and 
 threatened in Italy, any longer hesitate to rise against them? 
 
 The Latins still maintained an undoubted superiority on the 
 sea ; and in Eastern Europe, wliere the Jagellones had united 
 Lithuania and Poland, and given a king to Hungary, a pow- 
 erful la.nd force was organised, which appeared well qualified 
 to make head against the Ottomans. The Servian and Bos- 
 nian princes delayed not a moment in joining this force. 
 
 The alliance thus cemented, appeared formidable. It was 
 principally brought about by the exertions of the Servian 
 prince, George Brankovitch ; who, throughout all his mis- 
 fortunes, had sustained the character of a wise and brave 
 man, and who did not now spare the treasures Avhich he had 
 collected in better days. So successful and decisive were 
 the results of this alliance, (especially in the long campaign 
 in which John Hunyad celebrated Christmas on the con- 
 quered snow plains of the H^mus,) that the Turks felt the 
 insecurity of their tenure ; and in the peace of Szegedin 
 (July, 1444), actually restored the whole of Servia.'"* 
 
 * CEneas Sj'lvius, " De Statu Europse," cap. iv. Consternati ac 
 perculsi metu, perinde ac totus oriens conjurasset, pacem petiere. 
 
 C 
 
18 SIGNAL DEFEAT OF THE SERVIANS. 
 
 Had the Western potentates supported the inferior 
 powers that still held their ground in this quarter — one of 
 which was the Empire of Constantinople — and had they at 
 the same time occupied the attention of the Sultan, and 
 endangered his forces by sea, it is reasonable to suppose that 
 the country might have patiently awaited the opportunity 
 for a general restoration. 
 
 In Italy, however, the people v/ere anxious to free them- 
 selves, at once and decisively, from the dangers of a Turkish 
 invasion, by a renewed effort of the already victorious 
 Eastern powers. The Pope of Rome interposed his autho- 
 rity, as head of the Chm-ch, to annul the treaty that had 
 been concluded between these parties. Some, possessing a 
 better feeling, were against this proceeding ; but the legate 
 of the Roman Church left no means untried to execute the 
 commands of his master ; and, although unable to persuade 
 the Servians — who attached no value to the Pope's dispen- 
 sation — he hurried on the Hungarians and Poles to a new 
 enterprise.'" 
 
 It would have been of the greatest importance had a sea- 
 force, which was observed in the Hellespont, prevented the 
 Sultan's leaving Asia, whither he had gone ; but, whether 
 from negligence, cowardice, or treason, he was allowed to re- 
 turn unmolested.t 
 
 Thus it happened that the Hungarian and Polish troops 
 were unexpectedly attacked by a superior force, in an un- 
 favourable position, near Yarna. The enemy's cavalry ap- 
 peared to rush down upon them, as though on wings ; and 
 the infantry, collected round the Sultan, seemed invincible. 
 The Christians were utterly defeated (November, 1444). 
 
 Never, perhaps, through long succeeding centuries, had a 
 battle been fought with more disastrous results. Even to 
 the present day these nations are subject to the rule which 
 was imposed on them m consequence of that defeat. 
 
 The Principalities in Greece and Albania, including the 
 Empire of Constantinople, were, one after the other, over- 
 j)Owered. Then* resistance could scarcely have an-ested the 
 
 * Ibid. [Papa] novum instauiari bellum cum precibus turn minis 
 extorsit. 
 
 + Dukas : *' Come la bona fortune de Morat volse, trovo spatio libero 
 da la galie appresso lo stomio." 
 
DISSENSION AMONG CHURCH PAllTIES. 19 
 
 impending ruin. Nor had the Sclavonian Kingdoms fared 
 better. By a mournful fatality, their downfall was accom- 
 plished through dissensions of the Church parties. 
 
 A Servian song relates that George Brankovitsch once 
 inquh-ed of John Hunyad, what he intended to do with 
 regard to religion, should he jDrove victorious. Hunyad did 
 not deny that, in such an event, he should make the country 
 Koman Catholic. Brankovitsch thereupon addressed the 
 same question to the Sultan ; w^ho answered, that he would 
 build a church near every mosque, and would leave the 
 people at liberty to bow in the mosques, or to cross them- 
 selves in the churches, according to their respective creeds. 
 The general opinion was that it was better to submit to the 
 Turks, and retain their ancient faith, than to accept the 
 Latin rites." Brankovitsch, who, even when he was ninety 
 years old, was urged to adopt the "Western creed, steadfastly 
 refused ; and when, after his death, the females of his family 
 went over to the Latin Church, their ruin was only hastened 
 thereby. The last princess, Helena Palaeologa, offered her 
 country as a fief to the See of Rome ; an act which excited a 
 rebellion of her subjects. The Servians themselves invited 
 the Osmanlis into their fortresses, that they might not see 
 their strongholds given over to a cardinal of the Bomish 
 Church. The King of Bosnia, v/hose intention it was to 
 marry a Servian princess, and to unite both countries under 
 the protection of the Pope, also made a declaration of fealty ; 
 and with the same result. The Patarene sect, which 
 prevailed throughout Bosnia, and had been for centuries 
 attached to Borne, against which -a ciiisade had been re- 
 peatedly planned, was also in favour of Turkish rather than 
 of Boman domination. t At the next attack of the Turks, 
 that sect no longer offered any defence : within eight days, 
 seventy Bosnian fortresses opened their gates to the Turks, 
 and the King himself fell into the enemy's power. 
 
 * The Emperor Frederic, in the deed by which he exempts the Counts 
 of Cilley from performing feudal service to the Empire (13th August, 
 1443), states, as liis reason, that they "gen den Bosnern Turken und 
 andern Ungliiubigen, die die Cliristenheit an denselben Orten laglich und 
 schwerlich anfechten, grosz zu schaffen," — the Bosnians, Turks, and 
 other infidels. 
 
 f Schimek : Geschichtc von Bosnion, 145, 147. 
 
20 THE PEOPLE TRUE TO THEIR FAITH. 
 
 It is possible tliat siicli events miglit have been prevented, 
 if these countries bad, at an earlier period, adopted the 
 system of the Western States : but affairs must have been 
 very differently conducted. Hungary, which from the first 
 belonged to the Western Empire, was soon after conquered 
 by the Turks. 
 
 The Servians and Bosnians, who preferred submitting to 
 the Turks, had no presentiment of what they were doing, 
 nor of the fate that awaited them under the new rule. 
 
 On the pretext that there was no necessity for keeping 
 faith with an infidel, the last Prince of the Bosnians, whose 
 life had been guaranteed to him, was, in violation of this pro- 
 mise, murdered by the hand of the fanatical Sheik by whom 
 this doctrine was promulgated.''^ 
 
 The chief nobles of the country, whom the Turks began to 
 annihilate as they had already annihilated the royal house, 
 soon perceived that their only safety lay in embracing 
 Mahometanism. The last princess had fled to Rome, and at 
 her death had, by will, made over to the Pope her right to 
 the country. The Pontifi", touching the sword and shoe 
 which were delivered to him, as tokens of the bequest, 
 accepted it, on the ground that her children, a son and a 
 daughter, having embraced Islamism, had, thereby, become 
 incapable of succeeding her. Urged by the example of the 
 Prmccss — by the danger of refusal on one hand, and on 
 the other by the prospect of a share in public affairs, if they 
 complied, — the most illustrious famihes were by degrees 
 induced to turn Mahometans. Thus they retained an here- 
 ditary right to their castles ; and, so long as they remeined 
 united, enjoyed much influence in the province. Sometimes 
 a native Yizier was allowed them. By this means, however, 
 they separated themselves from their people, who, in defiance 
 of every inducement, remained true to their old faith ; and, 
 being excluded from holding any office in the State, and from 
 carrying arms, they in common with all the Christian 
 subjects of the Turkish Empire, became Rayahs. 
 
 In Herzegovina, this state of affairs was in some degree 
 ameliorated, by the fact that certain Christian chiefs main- 
 tained their ground through the aid of an armed population. 
 
 * Nescliri, in Hammer's Geschicbte der Osmaneti, ii. 552. 
 
THE TRIBUTE OP YOUTHS. 21 
 
 FroDi time to time they thus obtained, by Berates from the 
 Porte, a legal acknowledgment of their rights, which the 
 Pachas were compelled to respect. 
 
 In Servia Pro]:)er — on the Morava, the Kolubara, and the 
 Danube — the old system, on the contrary, was upheld in all 
 its severity. The army of the Grand Signior almost every 
 year traversed this country to the seat of war on the 
 Hungarian frontier ; consequently independence could not 
 be preserved. It appears, indeed, that the peasantry in the 
 neighbourhood of Belgrade were summoned to Constanti- 
 nople, to render feudal service during the hay-harvest in the 
 Sultan's meadows. The country was divided among the 
 Spahis, at whose disposal the inhabitants were bound, by the 
 strictest enactments, to ]3lace both their persons and their 
 property. The Servians were not allov/ed to carry any 
 v/eapons ; and, in the disturbances which broke out, we find 
 them armed only with long staves. They would not keep 
 horses lest they should be robbed of them by the Turks. 
 A traveller of the 16th century describes the people as 
 poor captives, none of whom dared to lift up liis head. 
 Every five years the tribute of youths was collected : a 
 severe and cruel exaction, which carried off the bloom and 
 hope of the nation into the immediate service of the Grand 
 Signior, and thus turned their own native streng-th against 
 themselves. But a change was gradually working in the 
 destiny of nations ; the alliance of Hungary with Austria, 
 and, consequently, with the empire and military forces of 
 the Germans, checked the advances of the Osmanlis, and 
 at length efiected the deliverance of Hungary from the 
 Turks. Keligious dissensions had divided the nation ; but 
 at the same time they had developed the power and spirit of 
 the people, who zealously seconded the active interference of 
 the Protestant princes. By these events, a great part of the 
 Servian nation, which had previously emigrated witliin the 
 boundaries of ancient Hungary, was directly set free from 
 the 2:»ower of the Osmanlis ; and the prospect of liberation 
 was joyfully beheld by the rest of the kindred tribes on the 
 other side of the Save. They proffered the assistance of their 
 nation to the Emperor Leopold ; and how largely they con- 
 tributed to the success of the imperial arms is well known. 
 At the peace of Passarovitz, an extensive portion of Servia 
 
22 ARSENI CZERNOVICH. 
 
 remained in tlie liands of the Emperor, wlio did not fail to 
 encourage tlie culture of the soil by exonerating the j^easants 
 from the obligation of serving in the army, and by pro- 
 moting German colonization. 
 
 It is not our province to explain how it happened that 
 these reforms not only did not advance, but even retro- 
 graded ; so that, after the lapse of twenty years, the conquered 
 Servian districts had to be given back again to the Turks. 
 Every one knows that this was owing more to the complica- 
 tion of European politics, than to any increase of the 
 Turkish power. But we may remark that this new catas- 
 trophe rendered the condition of the Christian ]3opulation in 
 those parts fi,ir v/orse than it had been. Not only was 
 vengeance for their revolt taken on those serfs who had not 
 emigrated, but large tracts of land were transferred to other 
 proprietors. Yet the chief and deepest injury was inflicted 
 in the ecclesiastical constitution. Hitherto, whilst under 
 the dominion of the Turks, the Servian patriarchate, with the 
 Servian bishoprics, had been preserved. This gave the 
 nation, so far at least as regarded the Church, a certain share 
 of political power, and procured for the Rayahs a representa- 
 tion opposed to the power of the Grand Signior ; nor was 
 this at all to be despised. 
 
 In itself it was a politic plan of the Emperor Leopold to 
 gain over to himself this powerful ecclesiastical authority, 
 and to take it under his imperial protection ; by which 
 arrangement the entire Illyrian nation stood towards the 
 Emperor in the relation of protected States. It was on 
 tliis ground that they rose so promptly, in the year 1G89, in 
 support of the Emperor ; their patriarch, Arseni Czernovich, 
 leading them on by liis example. He, with some thousands 
 of the people, all bearing the insignia of the cross, joined the 
 imperial ^amp.* Nov/, therefore, would have been the time 
 to carry their projects into execution to their full extent. 
 
 But Arseni Czernovich found himself, from the course of 
 affairs, compelled to retire from the ancient archiepiscopal 
 seat, and to migrate into Austria ; which he did as a great 
 
 * The Commander at Canischa was told that the Germans would not 
 rest satisfied until "the two Seas, the Black and the White," formed the 
 boundaries of their Empire. — Neu eriiffnete Ottomanische Pforts. Fort- 
 setzung, p. 527. 
 
FATE OP MONTENEGRO. 23 
 
 national chief. Thirty- seven thousand families accompanied 
 liim, and settled in the Hungarian territory, where the 
 Emperor^ by important privileges, secured to them their 
 religious independence. 
 
 iS'or can we wonder that the Turks would not suffer an 
 ecclesiastical ruler, so openly hostile to them as Czemovich, 
 to exercise any influence in their dominions. They at once 
 endeavoured to render all intercourse v/ith him impracti- 
 cable, and themselves appointed a Servian patriarch at 
 Ipek. 
 
 What intestine commotions this produced may be gathered 
 from an event which decided the fate of INIontenegro. The 
 Metropolitan of Montenegro, Daniel (of the house of Petro- 
 vich, and the tribe ot NiegTishi) who had been ordained by 
 the emigrant patriarch, Arseni Gzernovich, had no sooner 
 ventured to leave his own district than he was taken prisoner 
 by the Turks, and was liberated only on paying a heavy 
 ransom. Islamism, under the patronage of the government, 
 had already made its way into Slontenegro ; and Daniel, that 
 at all events he might be free from it in his own diocese, pre- 
 vailed upon the Christians of that territory to rid themselves, 
 by violence, of their Mahometan brethren. 
 
 Accordingly, all who did not turn Christians, or secure 
 their safety by flight, were, on an ajDpointed day, suddenly 
 seized and put to death. The fact cannot be disgiiised, that 
 by no other means could the Greek Christian faith have been 
 there maintained unmolested. The Bishop, who had ever 
 possessed the right of nominating his successor during his 
 lifetime (as in that country the dignity of Priests and Arch- 
 23riests was hereditary), became from that time the head of 
 his nation. 
 
 The national Priesthood constituted an important means of 
 resistance. 
 
 On the advance of the Austrians in 1737,'" the Albanians 
 and Servians once more rose in great numbers — their force 
 amounting, it is said, to 20,000; but they were met by the 
 
 * In the Life of General Seckendorf, which is founded on good autho- 
 rities, we are told (ii. 107) that the Patriarch of Ipek and the Archbishop 
 of Ochrida had at that time expressed a wish to be made secular lords 
 also of thfir dioceses, and to be allowed a seat and vote in the German 
 Diet. 
 
24 THE IMPOSTOR PETER III. 
 
 Turks, near the Kolubara, and their entire host slaugh- 
 tered. 
 
 But it afterwards appeared that causes existed, independ- 
 ently of these wars, to produce an entire national defection 
 from the ecclesiastical rule. 
 
 An impostor, assuming to be Peter III, succeeded in 
 gaining credit to his jn-etensions in Montenegro; and his 
 authority soon extended far into the Turkish dominions. 
 He was acknowledged by several bishops; and the then 
 Patriarch of the Servian Church at Ij^ek sent him a valuable 
 horse as a gift of honour. Upon this the Viziers of Bosnia 
 and Boumelia took the field against him, and succeeded 
 in restricting his authority to MontenegTO ; whither the 
 Patriarch of Ipek was himself compelled to flee for safety. 
 
 These events determined the Porte not to permit the 
 election of another Servian Patriarch. The dignity was 
 nnited with that of the Patriarch at Constantinople, over 
 which the Porte exercised unchsputed power. "' Greek Bishops 
 were in consequence placed over the Servian Church. 
 
 This jiroved a heavy blow for the nation. With the inde- 
 pendence of the Church, the people v/ere deprived of their 
 last remaming share in the conduct of public affairs ; that 
 share wliich had been in some measure instrumental in 
 advancing civilization. They now for the first time found 
 themselves v/holly subject to the Turkish Government at 
 Constantinople. 
 
 * In the Berate for the Patriarch at Constantinople, quoted by Murad- 
 gea d'Ohsson (Tableau de I'Empire Ottoman, v, p. 120), the Hattischeriff 
 is mentioned by which this was done. The Patriarch took upon himself 
 the annual tribute of 03,000 aspers, which Ipek had hitherto paid. 
 
25 
 
 CHAPTEH III. 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE TURKISH INSTITUTIONS IN SERVIA. 
 
 Conflict between Islamism and Cliristianity. — Their Difference considered 
 Politically. — The Janissaries. — State of the Rayahs or Native Inhabitants. 
 — Turkish Imposts. — The Spahis. — State of Affairs at the Close of the 
 Eighteenth Century. — Commercial Character of the Patriarchate at 
 Constantinople. — The Chimney Tax in Servia. — Turkish Dissensions. 
 Servian Heyducs or Robbers. — Christians excluded from all Public 
 Offices. — Oppression and Degradation of the Servians. — Preservation 
 of the National Spirit. 
 
 To v/rite a liistoiy of different religions would be not only 
 to exhibit doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and hierarchical insti- 
 tutions, but also to unfold the political influence which they 
 have exercised over various nations. 
 
 For many centuries Islamism and Christianity have been 
 in conflict, developing themselves in opposition to each other. 
 What, then, is politically the principal distinction of the 
 institutions which have arisen under their influences ? 
 
 In the course which aflairs have taken in Western 
 Christendom, much may be censured and objected to; but it 
 cannot be denied that the Church has, tliroughout, contri- 
 buted greatly to the formation of national character. 
 
 For instance, with all the various elements of which the 
 population of ancient Gaul was composed — with the nume- 
 rous immigrations and conquests to which that country was 
 subjected during the middle ages — how could the foundation 
 of so invincible a national unity as that of France have been 
 consolidated, except through the influence of the Christian 
 Chiu'ch? 
 
 Coincident with the concentriiting power of the Priest- 
 hood, is opposition to its ascendancy ; influences from without 
 are met by free impulses from within ; and the habit of 
 obedience is counteracted by a spirit of resistance. But the 
 national character thus developed, being once firmly esta- 
 blished, could not be destroyed by any difierence of opiQion 
 based ujx)n other than national feelings. 
 
 But it was otherwise in the East. 
 
26 ISLAMISM. 
 
 As it occurred under tlie Caliphs, and under the Mongo- 
 lian sway in India, so in the vast territories which were 
 under the Turkish rule, we find everywhere an antagonism 
 between the '• faithful," whose religion gave them the claim 
 to dominion, and the " infidels," who were condemned to 
 servitude on account of their religion. 
 
 Islamism strengthens the pretensions of the ruling military 
 powers, by inculcating the belief that they exclusively enjoy 
 the true religion. Events ha.ve, however, proved to the 
 Turks that they cannot exist without the aid of a subject 
 infidel nation. With all his zeal, the Turk is in general 
 content ^vith resting on this text of the Koran : " Thou wilt 
 not find out any means of enlightening him whom God 
 delivers over to error," If, as it has been affirmed, a Sultan 
 once entertained the thought of extirpating his Christian 
 subjects, he must have been deterred from the act, by reflect- 
 ing that their services were indispensable to him. From this 
 opposition of belief and unbelief proceeds the whole political 
 system of the Turkish Empire. The two principles of its 
 foimdation w^ill always be antagonistic to each other. No 
 hope of forming a united nation can consequently be enter- 
 tained. 
 
 We need not inquire, further, how this uncongeniality is 
 connected with the opposite principles of the two religions : 
 Christianity is, in its very essence, of a popular nature ; and 
 when diffusing its doctrines over heathen nations, first gained 
 ground amongst the people; whilst Islamism, from its very 
 commencement, was promulgated by the sword. Nor need 
 v/e inquire how this antagonism is connected v/ith the pri- 
 mitive truth of the one faith — at times unseen, but always 
 penetrating — and the falsehood of the other : enough that it 
 is so, and that this difference marks the distinctive character 
 of the two systems. 
 
 Christianity endeavours to convert nations; Islamism to 
 conquer the world : '• The earth is the Lord's, and he bestows 
 it on whom he chooses." 
 
 What in the ancient Roman Empire appears to be a judi- 
 cial hypothesis — namely, that the actual property in land 
 belongs either to the State or the Emperor, and only its 
 occupation and use to the individual, — is, in the Ottoman 
 Empire, a positive reality : grounded on the religious belief 
 
THE JANISSARIES. 2/ 
 
 that " all the land belongs to the Caliph, the Shadow and 
 Yicegerent of God on earth."'" When he fulfilled the will of 
 God and of the Prophet, in spreading the pure faith, he 
 distributed the lands which he conquered amongst the armies 
 of the " Faithful," who had assisted him in his enterprises : 
 to some, indeed, to hold in hereditary possession, but to the 
 greater part as their pay, in the form of a fief. 
 
 Whatever changes may have been effected in more peace- 
 ful times, the principle of this arrangement remained in force, 
 as it was fixed from the first. The entire extent of the 
 Ottoman Empire was, in the eighteenth century, as well as 
 in the sixteenth century, parcelled out amongst the Timarlis 
 and Spaliis ; of whom there are said to have been 1 32,000. t 
 
 The band of Ja^nissaries, computed to consist of 150,000 
 registered members — although it w^as really composed of a 
 much smaller number in actual service — formed a large 
 community, binding together all the provinces of the Empire. 
 The Ortas of the division Dshemaat, always enjoyed the 
 honour of attending on the Pachas in the fortresses, the keys 
 of Avhich v.^ere entrusted to their care. 
 
 To support and to serve the army of the Faithful who 
 had settled in the country — a warrior-caste, w^hose privileges 
 resulted from their religion — was, in Servia, as in all the 
 other provinces of Turkey, the lot of the Eayahs. They were 
 compelled to till the land, and to pay the taxes. We will 
 now consider what these taxes were. 
 
 The subject, who, in the event of proving refi^actory, would 
 be doomed to death or imprisonment, pays poU-money to the 
 Sultan, according to the ordinances of the Koran : '• Oppress 
 them," it is said therein, concerning the Infidels, '' until they 
 pay poU-tax and are humbled." To this verse of the Koran, 
 the Turkish Sultans have always appealed, when at any time 
 they, like Achmet II., have found themselves imder the 
 necessity of enacting new laws regarding taxation. J Every 
 male, from seven years of age, is obliged to pay the poll-tax 
 
 * Gaius : in eo solo [provinciarum] dominium populi Romani est vel 
 Caesaris : nos autem possessionem tantum et nsumfructum habere videmur. 
 
 t Eton (Survey of the Turkish Empire, 1798) mentions this number 
 "from the concordant testimony of several persons who had the most 
 intimate acquaintance with it." 
 
 X Rescript of Ahmed II. given in Hammer's Staatsverfassung, i. 332. 
 
28 THE SPAHIS. 
 
 to the end of his days. The teslceres, or stamped receipts, 
 wliich are sent from Constantinople, serve at once as proofs 
 of acknowledged submission, as certificates for protection, 
 and as passports for those by whom they are received. 
 
 In the Servian territories there were still some districts 
 remaining under Christian Kneses, or princes ; for instance, 
 the Kraina, which was under the hereditary dominion of 
 the Karapandshitsch, who enjoyed princely authority. And 
 although it may not be true that they possessed the privilege 
 of forbidding any shod horse belonging to the Turks to set 
 foot on theii" domain, they had the right of refusing to allow 
 a Spahi or a native Turk to settle on their land. They paid 
 their customary tribute to a Beg, who resided in Kladovo. 
 The Rashkovitsches for some time kept possession of Stariwla 
 on similar conditions. Kliutscli was governed by elective 
 Kneses, In the Pachalic of Belgrade, however, v>^hicli by 
 vv^ay of pre-eminence was called Serfvijaleti, the Spaliis were 
 regarded as the proprietors of the villages. 
 
 The Spahis had one advantage which they did not possess 
 in former times : theii' rights had, by degrees, become here- 
 ditary. These rights were, consecjuently, more rigidly fixed 
 than formerly. They received a tithe of all that the field, 
 vineyard, or bee-hive produced ; and also a small tax on each 
 head of cattle. Moreover, they had a right to demand for 
 themselves a tax, called Glavnifcza, of two piastres, from 
 every married couple. To avoid unpleasant inquiries into 
 the exteno of their income, many persons added a portion of 
 the tithe to the Glavnitza. In some parts of the country 
 the people agreed to pay the Spahis for each married couple, 
 whether rich or poor, ten piastres a-year in full of all dues. 
 This was at once accepted, as it enabled the Spahis to ascer- 
 tain the amount on which they might annually reckon. 
 
 But the Spahis cannot properly be considered as a class 
 of nobles. In the villages they had neither estates nor 
 dwellings of theii* o^\m ; they had no right to jurisdiction or 
 to feudal service; they were not allowed to eject the tenantry 
 by force, nor coidd they even forbid them from removing 
 and settling elsewhere. What they had to demand was 
 Avhat might be termed an hereditary stipend, in return for 
 which the duty of serving in war remained unaltered. 
 No real rights of property were ever bestowed on them j 
 
TURKISH IMPOSTS. 29 
 
 "but, for a specific service a certain revenue vas gi'anted 
 them. 
 
 The Grand Signior reserved for himself a number of 
 villages. In addition to this, the Pacha had to be provided 
 for; and the administration of the Pachalic also rendered 
 several branches of revenne necessary. 
 
 Feudal services, in general, were very burthensome, parti- 
 cularly at first ; when it appears that the peasants of every 
 village in Servia had to render bond service to the Pacha 
 one hundred days in each year; and in Constantinople a 
 register was kept of all the houses in the Empire liable to 
 such service. But nothing more is heard of exactions so 
 oppressive, as we approach the close of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury : even a produce-tax on corn, which the Pacha had 
 formerly been accustomed to collect about Christmas, had 
 fallen into desuetude. On the other hand, however, he 
 required annually a sum of money from the country. The 
 amount was generally regulated by custom ; but it could be 
 increased according to circumstances. After consultation 
 with the Kneses, the tax was imposed proportionably on the 
 respective districts, and also on the villages and households 
 in the districts.'"' No register of landed property was in 
 use ; the circumstances of the occupiers, as they happened 
 to be generally and personally kno^vn, being taken as the 
 criterion by which they were rated. 
 
 Of this revenue, a portion was sent to Constantinople ; 
 but it served chiefly to supply the wants of the province : 
 such as the pay of the Janissaries, &c. The Janissaries, 
 however, since a share cf the duties on imports had been 
 assigned to them, had devotedt themselves to trade, and had 
 become the richest and most influential class in the country. 
 The Grand Signior v/as considered not only as the cliief in 
 war, but as the Caliph of the Prophet, the administrator of 
 the Koran, in which religion and law are blended. When, 
 in 1784, he was obliged to renounce the temporal dominion of 
 the Crimea, he yet reserved for himself the spiritual authority, 
 and continued to send MoUas and Kadis tliither to exercise 
 
 * Hence its name, from the v;ord poresati, to cut into tallies, to appor- 
 tion. — Vide Wuk's Servian Dictionary (Serbisches Worterbuch), p. G07. 
 
 t Porter {Observations sn.r les Turcs, French translation, ii, 127), 
 ascribes these privileges and this alteration to JIahmoud I, 
 
so MONEY, AND 
 
 it. A Moll all of the second rank resided in Belgrade to 
 officiate for Servia. In smaller towns there Avere KacHs who 
 dispensed justice to Mussulmans as well as to Christians, to 
 ■whom the Kadis had chiefly to look for their income ; which 
 consisted of the revenue accruing to them, in their judicial 
 capacit}^, from grants of administration on the death of heads 
 of families, and of the dues on commerce ; increased by the fees 
 arising from actions brought before them. It is, therefore, 
 obvious that disturbances must have been welcome to them. 
 With the Kadi was associated a Mussulman officer, appointed 
 by the Pacha, to execute his judgments ; and who, having 
 the executive power, obtained greater consideration than the 
 peaceful judge. 
 
 The religious affairs of the Christians were administered by 
 their BishojD j but he also, since the Bishopric had passed to 
 the Greeks, had a closer relation to the State authorities than 
 to his flock. Even in his external appearance he adopted the 
 Turkish style : he might be seen riding in sumptuous apparel, 
 equipped Avith the insignia of power granted him by the berate 
 of the Grand Siguier — the sword and the husdowan. 
 
 But what gave importance to his office was its pecuniary 
 value. 
 
 The Patriarchate at Constantinople — the Holy Church — 
 forms a commercial institution or bank, in which capitalists 
 are well disposed to invest their money ; and its means are 
 used to provide the different tributes to the Porte, regular or 
 irregular, and the large presents with which it is customary 
 to purchase the favour of members of the government. The 
 interest is raised from various sources of revenue ; but chiefly 
 from contributions by the Bishops. Every Bishop, when first 
 appointed, must acknowledge himself a debtor to a certain 
 sum, which is regulated according to the revenues of his 
 diocese, and must give bond for the exact payment of the 
 interest on this sum.'^' These bonds, called court-bonds, pass 
 from hand to hand as a sort of public stock, and are in much 
 estimation ; since the representative of the Patriarch or 
 
 * Zalloni, Essai sur Ics Fanariotes, p. 158: "Des obligations qui 
 supportent rinteret des clii pour cent par an, et qu'on designe sous le 
 nom des Avlikies Omoloves. — See Maurer : ' Das Griechische Volk,' " i. 
 398. 
 
ITS IXFLUENCES. 31 
 
 Bislio}-), in whose name they are drawn, dares not he hack- 
 ward in his payment of the interest. 
 
 It would not he advisahle for the Bishops to pay off the 
 capital for which they have acknowledged themselves 
 indebted, as by that means they would bring the administra- 
 tion of the Holy Church into embarrassment. After their 
 death, the Church is responsible for the amount. 
 
 As the Bishops were under the necessity of expending con- 
 siderable sums to maintain their rank and dignity amongst 
 the nobility, their administration, oppressive even to the 
 Greek Rayahs, became much more so to the Servians, by 
 whom they were regarded as strangers. 
 
 They not only made the priests whom they ordained, pay 
 purchase-money — for which they were referred to the parish- 
 income ; but, in Servia, they also raised a peculiar tax called 
 Dimnitza, or chimney-tax, from every household. This im- 
 post was levied by -sdi-tue of a firman, wliich authorised its 
 collection by armed officials, and enforced it in preference to 
 any opposing claim of the landlords. It is known also, that. 
 in appointments to vacant Pachalics, money constituted for a 
 long time the chief consideration ; and that wealthy Fana- 
 riotes, or Armenian bankers, on giving security for the 
 payment of the sums of money to be raised in the respective 
 districts for the Porte, exercised the gieatest influence in the 
 nomination of the Pachas ; and then, by means of secretaries 
 whom they assigned to them, controlled their administration. 
 Prom Sheik El Islam they bouglit patents for Kadis by hun- 
 dreds, and sold them at a large profit to such candidates as 
 had passed the juridical school and obtained the required 
 degree. The distinction in episcopal offices consisted chiefly 
 in this : that the Panariotes could introduce theii^ own 
 brethren in faith. 
 
 These three offices, of Pacha, Kadi, and Bishop, in which 
 the administration of judicial and ecclesiastical authority was 
 vested, might all be obtained for money ; and their holders 
 indemnified themselves against loss by exercising the power 
 which they had over the people : the revenue of the Spahis 
 also constituted their pay for specific services. Thus the 
 countiy and the people may, in the language of political 
 economy, be considered in the light of capital, the interest of 
 which, taken at the highest rate, belonged to the govern- 
 
32 THE BAYAHS; OTTOMANS, AND HEYDUCS. 
 
 ment ; who assigned ifc to some parties as pay for tlie pro- 
 tection of the country, but to others as rents farmed out of 
 them. 
 
 The Bayahs, exchided from all share in the conduct of public 
 affairs, appeared only as persons to be ruled over ; as the 
 means wherewith to realise a revenue for the support of the 
 very State which had subjugated them, and of providing for 
 its soldiery, its officers, and even for the Court : it was 
 impossible, however, always to carry this arrangement of 
 affairs fully into effect. 
 
 The Ottomans are often found in dissension one with 
 another. The Spahis, living constantly in the countiy, had 
 an interest distinct from that of the Pachas, who resided 
 there only for a short time ; and the Janissaries, strong by 
 the united body which they formed throughout the Empire, 
 were opposed to both. So long as they kept each other in 
 check all went well ; otherwise each asserted his claim, which 
 he considered as a personal right, with all the violence he 
 could command. Nor were the Christians imiformly submis- 
 sive : such as refused to appear before the Kadi, or whom the 
 Turks threatened with death — ^whether on account of some 
 fault, or because they wished to oppress them without any 
 legal pretext — fled into the forests and turned Ileyducs, or 
 robbers. 
 
 The Heyducs correspond to the Italian Fuoriisciti, ban- 
 ditti, or to the Condottieri of some of the Spanish provinces ; 
 but the consideration, that the rulers whose administration 
 they opjDOsed were infidels, gave them a much stronger feeling 
 of being in the right, than the Condottieri could have. The 
 Heyducs lay in ambush for such Turks as they knew would 
 be passing the road, especially those sent vfith treasure to 
 Constantinople. This, however, did not prevent their claim- 
 ing the reputation of honesty and fidelity. When two of 
 them associated together, one was styled Aramhaslia, captain 
 or leader ; and they frequently assembled in small bands. 
 They had their Jcdatzi (concealers), who sheltered them, 
 singly, in winter ; and whom they served as day labourers or 
 shepherds. With the spring they returned into the forests, 
 and joined their bands ; and when one of them happened to 
 be missing, they all considered themselves bound to avenge 
 his death, ^ 
 
THE " sultan's commands." 33 
 
 There is no doubt that the proceedings of these Heyducs 
 excited a certain ferment in the nation : awakening recollec- 
 tions of the past, and keeping alive the spirit of warfare. Up 
 to this time, however, they had always been disregarded ; 
 although the Christian population — who were not very con- 
 scientiously spared by them, and who always had to make 
 good the losses they caused — frequently took part against them. 
 
 Notwithstanding these disorders, the position of affairs 
 first established — the supremacy of the followers of Islam and 
 the subjection of the Christians — was upon the whole main- 
 tained. The difference caused by religion was the more 
 striking, as it was unconnected v/ith difference of descent. 
 The Spahis, at least, — though not in any way tracing their 
 origin to the ancient nobility of the country — were mostly 
 of Servian extraction and language. 
 
 Hov/ever, none regarded it as an act of arbitrary injustice, 
 emanating from personal dislike, that the Christians should 
 be held in exclusion from State affairs, from militaiy com- 
 mand, and from jjublic life. It had always been so : the 
 system, as has been shown, was intimately connected with 
 the principle of Islamism. 
 
 In the book of the " Sultan's Commands," compiled by a 
 chief magistrate of Bagdad, in the fifth century of the 
 Hegira, the duties of the Giaours — that is, of those subjects 
 who are not Moslems — are thus specified.* " They must be 
 recognised by their dress j their dwellings must not be loftier 
 than those of the Mussulmans ; the sound of their bells must 
 not be heard ; they must not ride either horses or drome- 
 daries." Even in the eighteenth century, a decree of Osmar 
 was renewed, by which the " Infidels" are forbidden to study 
 the learned Arabic, or to teach their children the Koran. 
 Above all things, however, " they may not wear arms;t" 
 and tliis became so completely a matter of course, that it is 
 scarcely ever mentioned afterwards. The Rayahs were con- 
 sidered a weaponless herd, whose duty was obedience and 
 sul^jection. Such was the general state of Servia in the 
 latter half of the eighteenth century. 
 
 * Mawerdi, quoted by Hammer, Yerwaltung des Califates, p. 112. 
 
 t The Turkish Code of Laws, however, is very explicit; "Code Mili- 
 taire," given by Ohsson : Suppl. i. 106. " II doit s'interdire le port des 
 armes, I'usage des chevaux, et de toute autre monture." 
 
 I> 
 
34 THE TREATMENT OP CHRISTIANS. 
 
 The Turks in tlie country — not only those of distinction, 
 but others of lower rank who had gradually assembled around 
 them — considered themselves the masters of the Kayahs. The 
 Turks not only reserved for themselves the exercise of arms, 
 but also the right of carrying on such trades as were in any 
 way connected with war. Like our northern ancestors, or 
 their own oriental forefathers — amongst whom the son of a 
 smith once founded a dynasty — many a Turk has been seen 
 to turn back his silken sleeve and shoe a horse, an act which 
 he did not consider derogatory to the rank of a gentleman. 
 Other occupations the Mussulmans left with contempt to 
 Christian mechanics : for instance, no Turk would have con- 
 descended to be a furrier. Every thing that they thought 
 suitable and becoming — beautiful arms, rich dresses, magni- 
 ficent houses — they claimed exclusively for themselves. 
 
 The j^ersonal treatment of Christians was most oppressive : 
 no Servian dared to ride into a to^vn on horseback : he was 
 onl}^ allowed to appear on foot ; and he was bound to render 
 personal service to any Turk v/ho might demand it. When 
 meeting a Turk on the road, it was his duty to halt, and 
 make way for him ; and if he haj)pened to carry small arms 
 in defence against robbers, he was obliged to conceal them. 
 To suffer injuries was his duty ; to resent them was deemed 
 a crime worthy of punishment. 
 
 Happily the constitution of the country made a separation 
 of the two people possible. Towards the close of the last 
 century, nothing would strike a foreigner passing through 
 Servia more forcibly than the difference between the cities 
 and the country : the Turks lived in the towns, large or 
 small, and in the fortresses ; the Servians in the villages. 
 
 The Pachas, for their own advantage, would not suffer the 
 Turks to roam, singly, about the country ; and, in the ex- 
 isting state of things, the Servians had ample cause for 
 avoiding the towns. Many a Servian attained the age of 
 sixty without ever having seen a town. 
 
 Thus, from the distance at which the antagonist parties 
 were kept, the national spirit of the Servians was main- 
 tained alive and unsubdued. 
 
CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 CONDITION, CHARACTER, AND POETRY O? THE 
 SERVIANS. 
 
 Servian Villages. — Tutelary Saints. — Brotherly and Sisterly Affection, — - 
 Mourning. — Remarkable Custom on the Death of a Brother. — Institu- 
 tion of "The Brotherhood." — Festival of the Garlands. — Marriage 
 Ceremonies, — Revenge in Cases of Murder not known in Servia. — 
 Village Communities. — Substitutes for Churches. — Poverty of the 
 Priesthood. — Confession. — Dependent state of the Monks. — Cloisters. 
 — National Church. — Veneration for Nature. — Festival in honour of 
 the Dead. — Custom of the Women on St. George's Eve. — Whitsuntide. 
 
 ; —The Festival of the Kralize.— The Vili.— Festival of St. John.— 
 Harvest. — Procession of the Dodola, a Form of Invocation for Rain. — 
 Custom on the Eve of St. Barbara. — Swearing by the Sun and by the 
 Earth, — Popular Servian Toast or Sentiment. — Remarkable Religious 
 Celebration of Christmas. — Belief in Varapyres and Witches. — Per- 
 sonality of the Plague. — Powerful influence of the Vili. — Servian 
 Poetry, — National and Heroic Songs. — The Gusle. — Festival Meetings. 
 — Domestic Life of the People. — Songs of Husbandry. — Amatory 
 Verse, — Celebration of Heroic Exploits, — Historical Ballads, — Mixture 
 of the True and the Fabulous. — National Collection of Songs. — Wild 
 Traditions. — Deeds of Hunyad. 
 
 The villages of Servia extend far up into the gorges of the 
 mountains, into the valleys formed by rivers and streams, or 
 into the depths of forests, and sometimes, when consisting 
 of forty or fifty houses, they spread over a space as exten- 
 sive as that occcupied by Vienna and its suburbs ; the dwel- 
 lings being isolated, and at a distance one from another. 
 Each habitation contains within itself an entii'e community. 
 The actual house is a room enclosed by loam v^aiis, and 
 covered with the dry bark of the lime, having the hearth in 
 the centre. Around this room chambers are constructed — 
 Clijet or Wajat — often fitted up with polished boards, but 
 without any fire-places. The house ostensibly belongs to the 
 father and mother of the family ; to whose use a separate 
 sleeping-room is sometimes appropriated. The chambers are 
 for the younger married people. All the members of the 
 family constitute but one household; they work and eat 
 together, and in the winter evenings assemble around the 
 
 ■d2 
 
36 TUTELARY SAINTS. 
 
 fire. Even when the father dies, his sons, appointing one of 
 their number, the best qualified amongst them, as master of 
 the house (Stargeshina), remain together until too great an 
 increase of the family renders a separation desirable. It is 
 not unusual for one house to form an entire street. 
 
 The household requires but little assistance from strangers. 
 The men raise their own buildings ; construct in their rude 
 manner, their ploughs and waggons ; prepare the yolies of 
 their draught oxen ; hoop their casks ; and manufacture their 
 shoes from rough leather. Their other clothing is prejoared 
 by the women, who spin wool and flax, weave linen and 
 woollen cloth, and understand the art of dyeing with madder. 
 Theii^ land yields the food they require, so that salt is per- 
 haps the only article they find it necessary to purchase. The 
 mechanics most in request by the villages are smiths, to make 
 their tools. A mill belongs to several houses conjointly, and 
 each house has its day for using it. 
 
 These family households, supplying all their own wants, 
 and shut up each within itself — a state of things which was 
 continued under the Turks, because the taxes were chiefly 
 levied upon the households — formed the basis of Servian 
 nationahty. Individual interest was thus merged, as it were, 
 in that of the family. 
 
 No one commemorated the day of the saiut whose name 
 he bore, nor his own birth-day ; but each household had its 
 tutelary saint, whose day they celebrated v/jth mirth and 
 festivity. 
 
 Amongst the early Germans, families were held together 
 by a peculiar preference for the relations on the mother's 
 side ; the mother's brother being, according to ancient 
 custom, a very important personage.* In the Sclavonic- 
 Servian tribe there prevails to a greater extent a strong and 
 Lively feeling of brotherly and sisterly aflfection : the brother 
 is proud of having a sister, the sister swears by the name of 
 her brother. A deceased husband is not publicly bewailed 
 by his wife : the mournful office is performed by his mother 
 and sisters, who also tend his grave. 
 
 In some parts of the country a very strange custom pre- 
 
 * Tacitus : *' Sororum filiio idem apud avunculum qui ad patrem 
 honor," &;c. &c. 
 
"the brotherhood." 37 
 
 vails : when one of two brothers dies, whose birthdays chance 
 to fall in the same month, the survivor is fasteued to the 
 dead body, until he adojDts, in his deceased brother's stead, 
 some stranger youth, by whom he is then released. 
 
 These notions have given rise to one of the most peculiar 
 institutions of the Servian tribe — '' The Brotherhood." Per- 
 sons unite with one another " in the name of God and St. 
 John," for mutual fidelity and aid during their whole lives. 
 A man, it is considered, will make the safest selection for 
 his ^-brother," in choosing one, of whom he may at some 
 time have dreamed that he had solicited assistance in some 
 case of need. The allied designate themselves " Brothers in 
 God," " Brothers by choice," Polratimi. No ecclesiastical 
 benediction is considered necessary for constituting this bond 
 in Servia ProjDer. 
 
 In Altorshova and Negotin, it is customary to renew the 
 turf on graves on the morning of the second Monday after 
 Easter ; and on the afternoon of that day the young peojDie 
 assemble and twist gTeen garlands : youths, each one with 
 another, and maidens also, in the same manner, then enter 
 into this alliance, whilst kissing through their garlands, 
 wliich are afterwards exchanged. This first bond, however — 
 they being yet quite young — lasts only till the succeeding 
 year: it is not yet ''brotherhood and sisterhood" forever; 
 only an initiatory preparation. On the following Easter 
 Monday, by which time they have become better acquainted, 
 they either confirm their original choice or make a new 
 election. 
 
 This union concerns only the persons by whom it is 
 formed ; marriage is, on the contrary, regarded as an aflair 
 of interest to the whole family. The fathers of two houses 
 meet, and settle the matter together : exchanging presents, 
 which sometimes amount to a considerable value. Thus, by 
 a sort of purchase, is so useful a member of a household as a 
 grown-up maiden, surrendered by one to another. The 
 brother of the bride delivers her to the solemn procession 
 which comes to conduct her to her new abode ; and there 
 fche is received by the sister, or sister-in-laAV, of the bride- 
 groom. She dresses a child, touches with a distafi" the walls 
 "which are so often to see her occupied with this implement, 
 and carries bread, wine, and water, up to the table which it 
 
38 r.EV£NGE CF MURDEE UNKNOWN. 
 
 will become lier daily duty to prepare : with these symLo- 
 lical ceremonies she enters into the new community. Her 
 mouth is sealed by a piece of sugar, to denote that she should 
 utter little, and only what is good. As yet she is only a 
 stranger; and for a whole year she is termed the "be- 
 trothed," By an assumption of continued bashfulness, pre- 
 scribad by custom, she keeps apart even from her husband. 
 In ths presence of others she scarcely converses with him ; 
 much less would a playful phrase be permitted from her 
 lips. It is only when years have passed, and she has become 
 the mother of grown-up children, that she in reality finds 
 herself on an equality with other members of the family into 
 which she has entered. 
 
 Considering the strong feeling of blood-relationship that 
 prevails with the Servians, it is remarkable that the revenge 
 of murder is unknown : especially as a feeling of retaliation, 
 common to nations of similar condition, is a prominent cha- 
 racteristic of the people of Montenegro, the race most nearly 
 related to them. This may arise from the fact that powerful 
 families, or races, are not found in Servia : they could not 
 acquire, nor afterwards maintain their ascendancy, in conse- 
 quence of the violent character of the national subjection. 
 
 The union of families into a community, is a custom more 
 of a political nature, than one founded on common origin or 
 lineage. By the Turks, who considered murder rather a loss 
 than a crime, the village in which a murder had been perpe- 
 trated was condemned to pay, as compensation, the price of 
 blood, called Krwnina!^' This was fixed at one thousand 
 piastres. 
 
 The money once paid, the community allowed the mur- 
 derer to return unmolested. It was deemed sufficient if he 
 were reconciled ^:;-;;n tiie flimily of the party murdered ; and 
 reco^^^j^^ation, under such circumstances, was not likely to 
 prove very difficult ; since revenge would occasion nev/ 
 losses to the community. 
 
 The community which a village formed was a very close 
 one. It had the right of electing its own Elders, and Pre- 
 
 * Similar ordinances had already appeared in the laws of Dushan, 
 § 32, § 44 (if we may follow Engel's version so far). It is a question 
 how much of the Turkish regulations originated with the old inhabitants, 
 and in what the addition consisted. 
 
VILLAGE COMMmilTIES. 39 
 
 sident or Eiiler (Seoski Knes) : officers who enjoyed both 
 confidence and authority. The Poresa was a common 
 burden, and its distribution was regulated by an equitable 
 agreement amongst the villages themselves. 
 
 As eveiy family had its own tutelar saint, so also had every 
 village ; and the anniversary of this saint's day was kept 
 with religious solemnities. The people assembled in some 
 large open sjjace, on a height near the village, and the clergy 
 consecrated water and oil; then, headed by their j^riests, 
 the people, bearing crosses and im^ages, went in procession 
 through the fields, and in some places from house to house. 
 
 In this manner the clergy supplied the place of churches, 
 which, in most villages, were prohibited by order of the 
 Turks. The want of churches was probably the reason why 
 the priests were far from enjoymg that consideration which 
 the lower clergy in the Western Countries so readily obtained. 
 They had no occupation but that of performing baptisms, 
 celebrating marriages, reading the service at funerals, and 
 announcing the festivals from the calendar. The fees re- 
 ceived by the priests, for the performance of these parish 
 duties, were not sufficient for their support. Fortunate it 
 was for them if they also possessed some little hereditary 
 property in their village j on which, like their neighbours, 
 they mowed, ploughed, reaped, and cut wood ; otherwise 
 they were but badly off. '' Father," asked a boy one day of a 
 Priest, " do you also tend your oxen ?" — " My son," was the 
 answer, " I would they were mine I tended." 
 
 On the other hand, the monks and their cloisters were 
 regarded with general respect and veneration. It had be- 
 come customary for the people to apply exclusively to the 
 monks for confession ; and this, of all priestly functions, has 
 imdoubtedly the gxeatest povv^er in maintaining the authority 
 of the clergy, and giving them influence over the laity. 
 
 On certain days, the people assembled for the purpose of 
 confession, in those secret places of refuge, amidst the moun- 
 tain forest, in which the cloisters are situated. But then' 
 attention was not devoted solely to the performance of their 
 religious duties : these days were held as festive meetings of 
 the entire district which attached itself to the cloister ; and 
 parties frequently arrived on the preceding evening, and spent 
 the night around a fire. The morning hours having been 
 
40 NATIONAL CHURCH. 
 
 devoted to confession and communion, in the afternoon a fair 
 and market followed, with sports and dancing for the young, 
 It was on these occasions that the youths desirous of marry- 
 ing, were accustomed to seek for their brides ; wliile the old 
 people sat together, engaged in consultation. 
 
 But the monks possessed neither independence nor any 
 decided influence of their own ; and although better edu- 
 cated than the priests (papas), they were not really learned 
 men. They had no superiors to guide them ; and wp^nting 
 the strict union of a religious order, they lived upon the 
 alms of the Christians. The Kneses were obliged to keep 
 the churches in repair ; and for this — although originally 
 merely the chief peasants of villages — they enjoyed the ])vq~ 
 scriptive right of nominating, from amongst the monks, the 
 Superior of the Cloister — whether his designation were that 
 of Igumen or Archimandrite : a privilege, j^erhaps, without 
 any jjrecedent. 
 
 It seems, that the idea of a ISTational Church, as established 
 under their ancient kings, had been still cherished ; at least 
 among the lower classes. 
 
 In how many narratives has the founding of so many 
 cloisters, by the Servian kings, been ridiculed ! Yet, whilst 
 their government has been laid in ruins, these establishments 
 have mainly contributed to the preservation of both nation- 
 ality and religion, in the connexion originally existing 
 between them ; and it is not without good grounds, that the 
 conversion of the Bosnians to Islamism has been ascribed to 
 their having fewer of such foundations in their country. 
 
 After the dissolution of the Patriarchate of Ipek, the 
 cloisters of the old Kings — especially the cloister Detshiaui, 
 situated near the place where the father of Stej^hen Dushan 
 had erected his marble church — insj^ired a veneration and 
 respect by which all the Servian tribes were united. 
 
 For this very reason the Turks — vv^ho regard religion as a 
 source of revenue — have at times been giiilty of severe extor- 
 tions from the cloister : w^ell knowing that the liberality of 
 the people would meet their demands. 
 
 The nationality of the Servian church is further proved 
 by the fact, that the ancient native names have invariable 
 been preserved in it ; while among other Sclavonian tribes, 
 the names of saints of the calendar were substituted. 
 
VENERATION OF NATURE. 41 
 
 Hence it may be inferred, tliat the idea of a universal 
 Christian Church would not have prevailed in Servia. 
 
 In the popular opinions of all European countries, traces 
 of an ancient venei^ation of nature are found : but, for the 
 most part, only as scattered fragments without connexion ; 
 perhaps not well understood originally, and now unintel- 
 ligible. 
 
 Among the Servians, the whole year is replete with rites, 
 indicating the mysterious relation in which man stands to 
 nature ; more especially in such a primitive mode of life. 
 Let us for a moment turn our attention to the subject. 
 
 In winter, just before Lent, the great festival in honour of 
 the Dead is celebrated ; at which every one solemnizes the 
 memory of his departed relations and friends ; and no sooner 
 does Palm Sunday arrive, than the people join in commemo- 
 rating the renovation of life. On the preceding Saturday 
 the maidens assemble on a hill, and recite poems on the 
 resurrection of Lazarus j and on Sunday, before sunrise, they 
 meet at the same place, where they draw water, and dance 
 their country dance ; chanting a song, which relates how the 
 water becomes dull by the antlers of a stag, and bright by 
 his eye. 
 
 As soon as ice and snow disappear from the surface of 
 water and land — that being the first harbinger of the reno- 
 vated year — they commence with these symbolical rites. On 
 the eve of St. George's festival, towards the end of April, 
 the women gather young flowers and herbs ; then catching 
 the water cast from a mill-wheel, they throw into it the 
 flowers and herbs, and let both remain durmg the night, for 
 the purpose of bathing in the water the next morning. This 
 rite apparently signifies that they now surrender themselves 
 to the influence of awakened nature j and on its performance 
 they consider the preservation of their health depends. 
 
 Wliitsuntide, the festival of the Krcdize, soon follows. 
 From ten to fifteen virgins — one of whom personates the 
 Standard-bearer, another the King, and another the Queen 
 Kralize, veiled and attended by a Maid of Honour — pass 
 through the village dancing and singing ; stopping in front 
 of every house. The subject of most of their songs relates 
 to marriage, the choice of a husband, the happiness of 
 wedded life, and the blessing of children ; and the refrain of 
 
42 PRAYEH FOU IIXUJ. 
 
 every verse is " Zeljo,"" supposed to be the name of an 
 ancient Sclavonian Deity of Love. There is also the ambu- 
 latory song of the Vili, who dance under the growing fruit- 
 tree ; and of E-adischa — probably a male demon, as the Yili 
 were females ; who, shaking the dew from the flowers and 
 leaves, sues to one of the Vilis, promising that, sitting with 
 his mother in the cool shade, she shall spin silk on a golden 
 distaff. The whole proceedings breathe the fresh pleasure of 
 spring, and a concealed and modest emotion of love, nourished 
 by the sympathy of nature now bursting forth into bloom 
 and beauty. 
 
 The progress of the year now brings round the longest 
 day : that period of the solstice Avhich in ancient times the 
 people, throughout Europe, were accustomed to celebrate 
 with fire.* In Servia, the festival of St. John is deemed of 
 such importance, that the sun is said to stand still, thrice, in 
 reverence. The shepherds, bearing lighted torches of birch 
 bark, prepared the previous evening, walk round the pens of 
 their flocks, and the enclosure in which the oxen are kept ; 
 they then ascend the mountain, and allow the torches to 
 burn out, whilst they occuj)y themselves with sports. 
 
 The injuries to be apprehended to the harvest in Servia, 
 are twofold — too great an aridity and violent storms. In 
 the event of a continued drought, a maiden is divested of 
 her usual garments, and so wrapped round with grass; herbs, 
 and flowers, that hardly any part, even of her face, can be 
 seen. She is called the Dodola; and in this state, like a 
 walking bundle of grass, she goes from house to house ; the 
 housewife then pours a pailful of water over her as a symbol. 
 Her companions chant a prayer for rain, and the people feel 
 almost cei-tain of obtaining their object. They have a song 
 expressly composed for the occasion : its puiport is, that the 
 clouds should outrun the procession, and bedew the grapes 
 and corn as it advances. 
 
 They pray when they want rain ; but stonns they consider 
 to be under the control of the most distinguished saints. 
 Elias, whose ascension is recorded in the Bible, is here held 
 as a sort of god of thunder, and called "the Thunderer;" 
 
 * A decree of the Council of Nuremberg, 20th June, 1653, quoted by 
 J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 351, forbids this as " an old heathenish 
 and bad custom, a superstitious heathenish work." 
 
POPULAll CUSTOMS. 43 
 
 the fiery Mary sends lightnings ; and Panteleimon rules the 
 tempests. The days especially devoted to the worship of 
 these saints, fall between the 20th and 28th of July. 
 
 From this time the people are busy in field and garden, 
 housing the fruits which the year has yielded. When winter 
 begins, they think of the nev/ year : the powers of nature, 
 noYv" in a state of renovation, being those on which the pros- 
 perity of the next year depends. On the eve of St. Barbara, 
 they boil all sorts of grain together in one pot ; leaving it 
 all night on the fire. Next morning they examine on which 
 side of the vessel the mass has boiled up highest ; and, in 
 that direction, they till the fallow ground. 
 
 In this way the people express their dependence upon the 
 powers of natm-e. To this day they swear by the sun and 
 the earth. Talco mi Suntza, Tako mi Semlje ! " So (help) me 
 Sun, so (help) me Earth!" are very usual asseverations. 
 
 Nevertheless, they believe that everything proceeds imme- 
 diately from God. They will rarely commence any sort of 
 work, but in the name of God ; and would deem it sinful to 
 make a promise without the proviso — "If God permit." 
 Their very language has conformed itself to this feeling ; 
 and we may mention one very remarkable ellipsis : — they do 
 not say to a traveller, ''Whither are you going?" nor 
 " Yv'hither are you going, if it please God ?" but simply — 
 " If it please God ;" omitting altogether the actual question. 
 They have three daily prayers — early in the morning, before 
 supper, and on retiring to rest — in which they do not employ 
 established forms ; and at table, instead of one asking a 
 blessing on the food, each individual expresses, in his own 
 words, gratitude to the Supreme Being. In drinking, the 
 toast or sentiment of the Servians is — '• To the Glory of 
 God ! " and no one would presume to take his seat at the head 
 of a convivial party, who was not able to extemporise a 
 suitable prayer. Every one considers himself at all times 
 under the peculiar protection of his tutefery saint. The 
 invitation to the festival of the patron saint of the house is 
 usually in these words : — " Our house, too, is the Lord's. 
 We invite you to come this evening. What the saint has- 
 bestowed, we will not keep back." The man who leads a 
 life of labour, is aware that he is so much the more depen- 
 dent on an inscrutable and almighty Power above ; and m 
 
44 RELIGIOUS CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS. 
 
 pioportion as he knows less of nature, feels tlie necessity of 
 imagining the protection and aid of the higher powers to be 
 ever near him. At the same time, it is quite possible that, 
 rising above superstition and error, a pure idea of the 
 Supreme Being, whom we all revere and worship, may 
 be kept alive and in force. The manner in which devotion 
 and superstition are connected in the Servian solemnization 
 of Christmas,' merits consideration. 
 
 On Christmas-eve, after the labours of the day are finished, 
 the father of the family goes into the wood, and cuts down a 
 straight oak-sapling ; which he brings into the house, with 
 the salutation, " Good evening, and happy Christmas !" To 
 this all present answer, " God grant it to thee, thou happy 
 one, rich in honour ! " whilst they cast corn over him ; the 
 tree, which is called Badujah, is then placed upon the coals. 
 In the morning, which is saluted by the firing of pistols, a 
 visitor appears : one being previously chosen for each house ; 
 he throws corn from a glove through the door-way, and 
 exclaims, " Christ is born ! " Some one in the house, in 
 return, throws com towards the visitor, and answers, " In 
 truth He is born !" On this, another of the party advances; 
 and whilst, with a poker, he strikes the Badujak, which is 
 still lying on the coals, so that the sparks are scattered about, 
 he cries, " As many sparks, so many oxen, cows, horses, goats, 
 sheep, swine, bee-hives : so much good fortune and happiness!" 
 The housewife then envelopes the visitor in a coverlet of the 
 bed ; and the remains of the Badujak are carried into the 
 orchard. They do not go to church, but every one comes to 
 the repast with a lighted wax taper. Holding the tapers in 
 their hands, they pray, and kiss one another, repeating the 
 words " God's peace ! Christ is in truth born ! We adore 
 Him ! " To indicate a close union of every member of the 
 house, the head of the family collects the yet burning tapers, 
 and fastening them together, places them in a dish, tilled 
 with the Tshesznitza and all sorts of grain, and thus extin- 
 guishes them. The Tshesznitza is an unleavened roll of the 
 usual form, with a piece of money kneaded into it ; and 
 when it is broken, he who finds the money in his piece of 
 bread, is expected to have, above all the others, a fortunate 
 year. The table is not cleared, nor is the room swept, during 
 three days ; open house is kept for every comer until New 
 
BELIEF IN THE VAMPYKE. 45 
 
 Year's Day ; the salutation continuing, '^ Christ is born T 
 and the reply, " In truth He is born!" 
 
 Thus do the Servians celebrate Christmas. We will not 
 discuss the question, whether the Badujak, smouldering away 
 b}^ degrees, Avere not originally a type of the fire of St. John 
 on the mountains. Both customs are symbolical of the 
 course of the year, and of the sun ; who, as one of their 
 songs says, does not keep her* word, for she does not shine in 
 winter as long as in summer, Neither shall we inquire 
 whether the grain — with which the master of the house is 
 greeted, in which he extinguishes the tapers, and with which 
 the visitor announces his glad tidings — typifies all the good 
 gifts bestowed upon man by Divine Providence. But it is 
 remarkable, in each case, how man here brings the most 
 important event by which religion represents to him the 
 relation of God to the world, in connexion vnth. his own 
 insignificant necessities, — his mere earthl}^ wishes ; and this, 
 too, without detracting from the dignity of the festival. 
 This rite appears with a certain simplicity and gTandeur, in 
 the midst of his circumscribed existence ; and if it excite 
 any desires, still it disposes the mind to the hospitable 
 reception of strangers. The Divine Nativity unites the 
 respective members of the family in unanimous worship and 
 prayerful harmony. 
 
 But, besides these preserving powers which they worship, 
 the Servians acknowledge also the existence of destructive 
 influences and hostile agencies. 
 
 It is indeed strange that unseen influences should be im- 
 personated among so many nations, and ascribed to the rest- 
 less spirits of the dead, or associated with the belief in 
 apparitions and witches. 
 
 The belief in the existence of the vampyre is common in 
 Servia. There can be no doubt that it is connected with the 
 idea generally held in the Greek Church, that the bodies of 
 those who have died whilst under excommunication by the 
 Church, are incorruptible ; and that such bodies, being taken 
 possession of hj evil spirits, appear in lonely places, and 
 murder men. In Servia, however, the people no longer 
 connect it vath the tenets of the Church ; nor do they con- 
 
 * The Sun is feminine in Servia. — Tran'SL. 
 
4G WITCHES. 
 
 sicler that tlie vampyre undergoes punislimeno for a guilty 
 lifC;, as a poet has wrought out the idea ; they think only of 
 the danger which it threatens to the living. They believe 
 that at night the vampyre leaves his grave, makes his way 
 into the houses of the living, and there sucks the blood of 
 the slee]Ders as his food. Speedy death is the inevitable 
 consequence of such a visitation, and any one who so dies 
 becomes himself a vampyre. Whole villages are said to have 
 been thus destroyed ; and some communities threatened to 
 leave their dwellings, unless they had permission to ensure 
 their safety in their own manner. With this viev/^, the}'- did 
 not, like the Greeks, resort to absolution ; but the elders of 
 the villages caused the graves to be opened, and then 
 piercing with a stake of white-thorn the heart which still 
 required blood, they burnt the body to ashes, wliich they 
 threw into the river.* 
 
 In the simple course of a life closely allied to a state of 
 uncultivated nature, notliing more earnestly engages atten- 
 tion than sudden deaths rapidly succeeding one another ; and 
 fancy busies itself in accounting for them by ascribing them 
 to influences beyond the grave. 
 
 Of the witches {ivjeslitizes) the Servians believe that they 
 quit their bodies, and, like other s])iiits, fly about in fire. 
 llnseen, they approach the sleeper whom they have destined 
 to death — ojDen, with a magic rod, the left side of his breast ; 
 and, whilst pronouncing over him an appointed day of death, 
 extract his heart and .devour it. The breast is then closed, 
 and the doomed one will continue to live, only till the day 
 appointed by the witch who devoured his heart ; but in the 
 mean time the spring of his life is irrecoverably dried up. 
 
 The plague, too, is considered by the Servians, as it is also 
 by the Lithuanians and modern G-reeks, to be a personal 
 
 * Curieuse und selir wunderbare Relation von denen sicb neuer Dingen 
 in Servien erzeigenden Blut-Saugern oder Vampyrs, 1732. A small 
 publication, wbich is founded on two official reports of tbo years 1725 
 and 1732, forwarded to Belgrade at tbe time of the Austrian rule in 
 Servia. The last, addressed to Prince Charles Alexander of Wurtem- 
 berg, at that time Governor of Belgrade, is a very circumstantial account, 
 and certified by the signature of a colonel, an ensign, and three surgeons 
 in the army. As the Prince was staying at Stuttgart, it became known 
 in Germany, and the people were already afraid that the vampyres rti^ht 
 spread there and visit them also. 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE VI LI 47 
 
 being. Female forms wearing white veils, arc supposed to 
 cany tlie disease from place to place, and from house to 
 house ; and many persons, when suffering from the plague, 
 will protest, most solemnly, that they have seen them, to 
 their sorrow — ay, have even conversed with them ! Although 
 these female forms are considered personifications of the 
 plague, their appearance is not ascribed to their own evil 
 will, to chance, or to any other malevolent influence : it is 
 believed that God himself, when wickedness has become 
 too great to be longer permitted, sends them from a distant 
 land. 
 
 But the marvellous is called into aid, in quite a different 
 direction, when the course of nature is at all interrupted by 
 any tiling extraordinary ; even by genius or by energy. The 
 most peculiar images of Servian fantasy are, however, the 
 Vili. It is asserted that these beings have been seen by 
 man ; they are described as very beautiful ; with their hair 
 waving in the wind as they swiftly move along. Their 
 dwellings are in the dark forests and near the rivers. It is 
 not quite ceiiiain whether they are regarded as immortal, or 
 whether the possibility of their being subject to death 
 is admitted j but they are accounted more powerful than 
 men, and are supposed to possess a knowledge of the future.'"* 
 There are persons who can converse with them : such are 
 marked out from their birth ; and their knowledge is gTeater 
 than that of others. They who have passed through the 
 twelve classes, are initiated by them on Wrsirio Kolo ; after 
 which, they can direct the clouds and rule the weather. 
 The hero of the nation also, is generally joined in brother- 
 hood with the Vili. Others, however, — common men, — 
 must shun them. Should any one happen to approach the 
 spot where, invisibly, the Yili dance the Kolo, or take their 
 repast, he has to dread their anger. Even of the j^upils 
 whom they initiate, the twelfth is alvi^ays forfeited to them, 
 and they at once retain him. Superstitious delusions ! but 
 
 * In the season of 1844-5, a beautiful lallet, founded upon the love- 
 dance of the Vili, and entitled La Giselle, was produced at Her Majesty's 
 Theatre with extraordinary success; and in 184G, an opera upon the 
 same subject, under the title of the Night Dancey^s, the libretto of which 
 was written by Mr. George Soane, and the music composed by Loder, 
 proved attractive at the Princess's Theatre. — Tkansl. 
 
48 NATIONAL SONGS. 
 
 at the same time blended with the feelings of nature anc 
 thoughtful poetry. 
 
 Already we enter upon the domain of Servian poesy ; 
 which is connected with and expresses these sentiments. 
 Like them, it is altogether national, and intuitive ; an un- 
 conscious result of the ordinary dispositions and direction of 
 the popular mind. No one is able to name the writers even 
 of the most recent songs : people even hesitate to acknow- 
 ledge their authorship ; and indeed it is little inquired after. 
 As their lyrical effusions are subjected to constant changes, 
 and the very song which is disliked when given by an 
 inferior singer, excites enthusiasm when sung by a more 
 successful performer — by one possessing more of the national 
 sentiment and spirit — the authorship is considered as of little 
 importance."^ 
 
 It has been observed that there are, in Servian Hungary, 
 schools in which the blind learn these national songs, by 
 which they become known ; but that is not the true method. 
 In the mountains of Servia and Herzegovina, there is no 
 occasion to learn them : they are familiar to the people even 
 from their infancy. 
 
 In the mountains, the gusle, the instrument on vdiicli the 
 song is accompanied, is to be met with in almost every house. 
 When, in the winter evenings, all are assembled around the 
 fire, and the women are engaged with their spinning, a song 
 is struck up by whomsoever happens to know it best. The 
 old men, having grown-up sons, and being excused from hard 
 labour, recite these songs to their grandchildren ; who yield 
 themselves with delight to the impressions through which 
 they receive their first knowledge of the world. Even the 
 Igumens of the cloister do not deem it derogatory to sing to 
 the gusle. But the performance has more of the character of 
 recitation than of singing : the monotonous sound of the 
 instrument, which has but one string, chiming in only at the 
 end of the verse. 
 
 In the mountains — where men are of simpler habits, loftier 
 in stature, and of ruder nature — we hear heroic songs, invari- 
 
 * If in some parts of Homer we observe a poetical vein less rich than 
 in others, we may conclude, from the experience which has been acquired 
 in collecting the Servian songs, that at the moment of transition from 
 oral delivery into wi'iting, that such good rJiapsodifits could not be forr.d 
 
LOVE OF SONG. 49 
 
 ably of five trocliees, with the fixed pause after the second 
 foot ; and almost every line is in itself a complete sentence. 
 As we advance towards the Danube and the Save, when we 
 find the villages closer together, the race of men is more 
 polished, more friendly, and also smaller in stature ; the g-usle 
 becomes less common ; and — especially as an accompaniment 
 for dancing — the love-song prevails : it is more flexible and 
 flowing than other songs, since it adds the dactyl, in 
 varied modes, to the trochee ; but it is in its kind equally 
 national. 
 
 In the more numerous assemblies, the heroic song prevails ; 
 and at taverns, where card-playiiig is yet unkno^vn, it consti- 
 tutes the principal entertainment : the singer is he who has 
 fii'st taken the gusle into his hand, and who is best able to 
 accompany it with his voice. At the festivals and assemblies 
 near the cloisters, parties stand forward who have devoted 
 themselves exclusively to singing — including the blind ; who, 
 however — especially in Servia — are oftener singers than com- 
 posers of songs. Men of real poetic talent, like Philip Yish- 
 nitsch from Bosnia, are occasionally met with, who collect a 
 circle around them, and often move their audience to tears. 
 
 Nor have those Servians who have gone over to Islamism, 
 been able to subdue their afiection for poesy. Christians and 
 Mahometans frequently have the same heroic song ; the only 
 difference being that each claims the victory for the adherents 
 to its own faith. The Chiefs, though they would not take 
 part in the song, listen to it with delight ; and in Sarajevo, 
 they once induced the Kadi to liberate a Christian prisoner, 
 merely because his songs pleased them. The difference of 
 religion is overcome by poesy : it imites the whole race — it 
 lives throughout the nation. The mountains, where the 
 herdsman tends the cattle ; the plains, on which the harvest 
 is reaped j the forest, through which the traveller makes his 
 way — all resound with song : it forms an accompaniment to 
 business of all sorts. What, then, are the subjects of these 
 strains, which, under circumstances so infinitely varied, are 
 thus interwoven with life, wliile they are almost miconsciousiy 
 raised above it ? 
 
 for some as for others. We must not suppose the singer to be a mere 
 declaimer : he is obliged by his own poetical talent to reproduce the 
 poem which was handed down to him. 
 
dO SEr.VI^UsT POETET. 
 
 "Wliat man strongly feels, he naturally seeks to express. 
 Here, where no external model presents itself, the inward 
 spiritual existence, from which ail our thoughts and actions 
 proceed, is manifested, by words, according to its o^vn peculiar 
 originality. In the light of innate thought, which is the 
 spirit of life, poetry conceives its ideas, and reproduces them 
 true to nature, but in purer and more abstract forms, at 
 once individual and symliolical. 
 
 Servian song discloses the domestic life of the people ; it 
 j)ays due honour to the husbandman " who has black hands, 
 but eats white bread ;" it loves to dwell, with fondness, on 
 the old man with venerable flowing beard, whose soul, when 
 he leaves the earthly temple of his God, has become pure as 
 fether, or the brea,th of a flower ; but it luxuriates most in 
 those afiections which exalt the worth of a family and main- 
 tain it in integrity and honour. 
 
 The singer delights to speak of the maiden in the first 
 bloom of youth, gaily participating in every gentle sj)ort ; he 
 sympathises v/ith her growing aiiection when she first 
 becomes aware of its existence, and confides it only to the 
 garland that she throws into the brook ; tracing its progress 
 to the time when she confesses to the youth that, gazing 
 upon him, she had grown up graceful in his sight ; and on to 
 the blissful period of their union, which he pictures in strains 
 of surpassing sweetness : charming pictures, sweetly limned, 
 on the light back-ground of a landscape. 
 
 It is just where life assumes its rugged aspect, that poesy, 
 with gentle solicitude, unveils the hidden feelings that we 
 hardly venture to acknowledge to ourselves. Yet it does not 
 conceal from us how differently things will afterwards present 
 themselves : how the housewife now gives the nosegay — 
 Avhich, in former times, she would have placed in the evening 
 in w-ater, that it might unfold its beauty — to the child who 
 throw^s it amongst the sweepings ; how bad the mothers-in- 
 law are ; and that the disputes of sisters-in-law are so inces- 
 sant that the swallow congratulates the cuckoo on not being 
 obliged to hear them ! 
 
 An universal feature of Servian poetry is the comparison 
 of the various affections. The lover is, perhaps, preferred to 
 the brother, but the brother is esteemed more than the hus- 
 band : the wife's jealousy of the sister may be seen increasing, 
 
HEROIC POETHY AND LOVE-SONGS. 51 
 
 even to abhorrence and murder. Tlie iioliness of tlie alliance 
 of brotlierliood is forcibly portrayed. — Woe to the man who 
 should endeavour to seduce his bond-sister, or violate the 
 sacred relationship of godfather Avith an impure purpose ! 
 All the leading occurrences of life are brought before us : the 
 wedding 2Jrocession and the nuptial present ; the village fes- 
 tival, where the men sit carousing, Vv^hile the boys are casting 
 stones from their slings, and the girls dance the kolo. They 
 attribute, in like manner, their domestic relations to the 
 Holy Family. 
 
 When the poem is devoted to the celebration of heroic 
 exploits, the heroism is no other than that of robbers ; for 
 with no other are they acquainted. Robbery is justified by 
 them, on the 2;round that it is directed ao-ainst the Turks : 
 who are not only infidels, but also untrustworthy and full of 
 deceit, and who have gained their possessions by unfair 
 means. " By robbery," sa.y they, " their property was accu- 
 mulated ; by robbery it is torn from them." On the fron- 
 tiers, the bandit lives like the falcon, that darts down to 
 seize its prey. They call to mind the thousand dangers which 
 surrouncl him ; the rock behind which he plants himself in 
 ambush, the hiding-j^lace where he remains until almost 
 dying with hunger ; and then his victorious attack. They 
 describe him in the act of seizing his rifie — a weapon of as 
 much importance to the Servian poet as was the bow to the 
 minstrel of ancient times ; and picture him as he sinks upon 
 his right knee, resting the weapon upon the left, and aiming 
 with a steady eye : even the wound is brought before us with 
 relentless anatomical accuracy. These songs are replete T\dth 
 a rude intelligence; and they treat of various subjects. 
 Where the passion of love is portrayed, deej) tenderness for 
 the tiTie and constant is expressed ; and on the faithless is 
 invoked vehement malediction, inexhaustible in its impreca- 
 tions. In hatred as in love, impetuosity is associated with 
 mildness. A touching sensibility is frequently shown for the 
 conquered party : the victor attends his prisoner, leads him 
 out that he may w^arm himself in the sun, and at length 
 gives him his liberty, with God alone as guarantee for his 
 ransom. The young wife whom he leads to his home, does 
 not alight from her horse until the keys of the dungeon are 
 
 e2 
 
52 IIISTOKIC VERSE. 
 
 delivered up to her, that she may set the prisoners free. In 
 some songs feelings of the most opposite kind are exhibited in 
 an antithesis of sentiment : two bond-brothers perhaps will, 
 at the same moment, plunge their daggers into the bosom of 
 a Turkish woman whom they both love ; that they may not 
 quarrel on her account ; an aged father, when the head of the 
 man who has murdered his son is brought to him, exclaims, 
 " Blessed am I to-day and for ever !" and expires in jieace. 
 Such is man, in this stage of cultivation — such is the man of 
 this race. As is the hero, so is the bard ; poesy, like a kin- 
 dred element surrounding our life, reflects to us its phenomena ; 
 not perhaps all and each, but those which are most important 
 from their peculiarities — and least liable to be obscured by 
 insignificant details. 
 
 It is worthy of consideration that the history of the nation, 
 developed by its poetry, has through it been converted into 
 a national property, and is thus preserved in the memory of 
 the people. Ancient times have been almost forgotten, and 
 recollection clings to the latest splendour of the nation, and 
 to its downfall : which we, indeed, have chiefly noticed. 
 These are portrayed in some extensive collections of songs. 
 
 In the commencement, Stephen Dushan 2:)resents himself 
 to our notice — just as history represents him, surrounded 
 by great families whom he has to treat with the utmost 
 caution. They at once stand forth in that character which 
 the progress of the song demands : the JnrjovitscJies, proud 
 and violent ; the Merljavfschcvitsches — allied with demons 
 and with the Yili — and whom we find, immediately after 
 Dushan's death, possessing themselves of the highest autho- 
 rity. According to the testimony of history, this is to l)e 
 ascribed to the incapacity of the w^eak Urosh ; whom the 
 song represents as a child of forty days' old at the murder 
 of his father : an act of violence that did not, however, 
 gratify all the members of that race. From the Mcrljavts- 
 chevitsches was descended the hero of the nation, Marko 
 Kraljevitsch, wdio feared no one but the true God. He 
 declared that the kingdom should be given up by his father 
 and his uncles, and restored to him, to whom it belonged. 
 Could a hero be introduced under more favourable circum- 
 stances ? For this act he is promised malediction and bliss, 
 
THE LASARITZA. 53 
 
 both of which he experiences ; and by these very means the 
 ultimate result is foreshadowed in perspective.* 
 
 One thing denoimced against him is, that he would be 
 f<^rced to serve the Turks : a second cycle of songs — the 
 Lasarifza — describes in what manner the country falls into 
 their hands. The poem, no less than the history, speaks of 
 the internal discord and treason in which thjs great calamity 
 origuiated. At the same time, however, a j)ainful feeling 
 that such a result is inevitable pervades the poem. The 
 most blameless, the handsomest, the noblest of the heroes of 
 Lasar, Milosch, announces the event ; the intelligence is 
 conveyed to the King by heavenly messengers, and he 
 absolves his people before the battle. Nevertheless, the 
 valour of the combatants is greatly extolled. A curse is 
 pronounced against the traitor ; and the death of the fallen 
 is pathetically celebrated, t 
 
 Miirko was not in the battle ; but the cause of his absence 
 remains concealed from us. A third collection of these 
 songs is devoted to him. He is described, not as a man like 
 the other heroes, but as a supernatural being. He lives 
 a hundred and sixty years ; and during the whole of that 
 period rides the same horse, which he causes to drink wine 
 out of the vessel that he himself uses ; on it he sits, a dragon 
 mounted upon a dragon. No sword or club can kill him. 
 The Yili, who mortally wounds his companion, he pursues 
 on horseback into the air, to the height of many lances ; he 
 reaches her with his club ; and does not release her until 
 she has implored of him to enter into a brotherly alliance 
 Avith her, has pledged herself to afford him assistance in 
 every need, and has cured the wound of his friend. 
 
 After tradition has so marvellously equipped this hero, 
 v/hat does she make him achieve ? He serves the Turks. 
 
 * To this first cycle would belong the songs which Wuk, Vol. II., 
 gives under Nos. b, 6, 8 — 10. 
 
 t Nos. 17—21, 23, 24. Milosch always remained very celebrated. 
 Ducas mentions him as renowned in history. Among the Bulgarians, 
 Gerlach in 1578 found him still fresh in remembrance. When Curipes- 
 chiz in 1530 travelled across the Amselfeld he heard so much of hita 
 that he makes him the subject of a narrative, fictitious, but full of details 
 atinerarium Wegrayss, &c., 1531, Sheet E), in which we think we can 
 perceive the most ancient trace of Servian poetry extant. The traditions 
 recorded by the Presbyter Diocleas most likely belong to a later epoch. 
 
54 THE LASARITZA. 
 
 He is invited, we are told, by the other neighbouring kings, 
 to a church festival, at the very time when the Snltan 
 demands his military service ; but, mindful of liis vassalage, 
 he joins the war. However, he does not suffer himself to 
 be unjustly treated, as others have been: he kills the vizier, 
 who has broken his falcon's ^ving, and also the vizier's twelve 
 attendants ; he avenges himself on the murderer of his 
 father : and then, vdth his skin-garment the wrong side 
 outwards, and club in hand, he, in great wrath, enters the 
 Sultan's tent. The Sultan alarmed steps back, and endea- 
 voui-s, by words and presents, to pacify him. Marko, how- 
 ever, still continues to serve the Turks ; as we are told in 
 the narrative of various other adventures. Now he fights 
 with a Moor, who has forced the Sultan to give him his 
 daughter and pay him tribute ; and then he engages in 
 combat, which no one else dares, with an Albanian, who, 
 assisted by evil genii, has, from a fortress, stopped the navi- 
 gation of the river, the pilgrimages to shrines, and the 
 transport of tribute. He then follows the Turkish army, 
 even into Arabia. 
 
 It appears as though the nation had intended to represent, 
 in this hero, its own vassalage, at the period when, after the 
 battle of Kossovo, the Servian army assisted, almost every 
 year, in the wars of Bajazet ; yet maintaining its independent 
 character, and still appearing formidable in its force, even to 
 the Sultan himself. At this time the nation was possessed 
 of vast strength, and unbroken courage ; and yet — it served 
 the Turks. This the Servian poets have represented in 
 their hero, whom they portray with ail the characteristics 
 of the national sentiments — even vv^ith the barbarism of a 
 blood-thirsty cruelty mingled with the love of gain — concen- 
 trating in him the glories of their more ancient heroes. The 
 event which led to their subjugation, they could represent 
 with a closer adherence to historical feet ; but the state of 
 vassalage, which endured for ages afterwards, can only be 
 shown mythically. One of their poems describes how the 
 invulnerable one was at length destroyed by God, '• the 
 ancient slayer :" a poetic fancy full of simplicity and a sub- 
 lime feeling of loneliness ; others express a hope that he is 
 still alive. When Marko for the first time saw a gun, and 
 witnessed the certainty of its deadly effect, he retreated into 
 
MEANIXG OF THE FABLE. 65 
 
 a cavern of the forest mountain. There hangs his sword, 
 his horse is eating the moss, and the hero himself has fallen 
 asleep ; but when the sword falls to the ground, and there 
 is no moss left for the horse, Marko will awake and again 
 c. me forth. 
 
 These legends do not all reach us in unbroken succession, 
 but in separate songs, each of which has its own particular 
 subject. 'Jhey have never been thoroughly wrought out 
 and united by the congenial spirit of an individual poet ; 
 but one tone, one sense, one view of the world, at the same 
 time poetical and popular, pervades them all. The lofty 
 unity of the general fable cannot be mistaken : it embodies 
 for the Servian nation, in a lively and striking tradition, 
 the rec ilection of its greatness, and the loss of its indepen- 
 dence. 
 
 Many an event of more recent occurrence has likewise 
 been recorded in similar strains. A remembrance of the 
 deeds of Hunyacl, whom the Servians claim as their country- 
 man, has been kept alive in songs abounding with ingenious 
 allegory. Nor have the first robbers been forgotten. Some 
 songs have been devoted to the Uzkoks, but only when they 
 fought against the Turks : their exploits on the ocean have 
 been allowed to pass imnoticed. Until tbe victories of the 
 people of Montenegro, in short, Servian poetry has kept pace 
 with history.''^ 
 
 Although there was peace *:\ the country, we still observe 
 the spirit of the nation unceasingly animated by anticipa,- 
 
 * For the English reader^ the best view to be obtained of the structure 
 of " Servian Popular Poetry,'' will be found in Dr. Bowring's Introduc- 
 tion to his Translations, published in 1827. 
 
 " Independently," says this writer, " of the measure of ten syllables, 
 universally used in the ballads of the Servians, they have verses of seven 
 syllables, consisting of two trochaics and one dactyl : 
 ' Wilt thoti love thj^ Mllitza 1 ' 
 of eight syllables, consisting of four trochaics ; as : 
 
 * Hasten onw&rd to thS wedding;' 
 and of one trochaic between two dactyls : 
 
 ' Merrily, dancing, merrily ;' 
 of ten syllables, two trochaics and two dactyls : 
 
 * Mor^vii's banks are trod by the maiden;* 
 
56 TURKISH REBELLIONS. 
 
 tions of war against tliose who governed them. At length 
 the time arrived when this warlike spirit was called into 
 active exercise for self-defence ; in consequence of events 
 brought about by an entire change in the state of affairs : 
 principally amongst the Ottomans, whose internal relations 
 were altered, as well as their position with regard to the rest 
 of the world. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE RECENT MOVEMENTS IN TURKEY. 
 
 fnternal relations of Tui-key and its Dependencies. — War of 1788. — The 
 Emperor Joseph of Austria and the Servians. — Prussian Policy, — 
 Restoration of the Turkish Power in Servia. — Weakness and Hesitation 
 of the Ottoman Government. — Reforms of Sultan Selim III. — French 
 Officers in the Pay of the Turks, — Military Improvements. — Introduc- 
 tion of European Tactics. — The Janissaries. — Effects of the Changes 
 adopted. 
 
 How often has the breaking-up of the Ottoman Empire 
 into various independent Pachalics been predicted! Hov/ 
 often has this event been thought near at hand ! In fact, 
 powerful Pachas, as those of Bagdad, Acre, Yiddin, and 
 Janina, have, at times, refused to send their tribute, and 
 
 of twelve syllables, composed of two trochaics and one iambic : 
 * Go th6n, Kum, th5u lov'd 8ne, Avaits she for thee ;' 
 
 and of thirteen syllables, namely, four trochaics, a dactyl, and a closing 
 trochaic : 
 
 * Look around, thou lovely CretS, smilingly lliok round.' " 
 
 Dr. Bowring-, in speaking of the language of Servia (which is in fact 
 the Russian hellenized, deprived of its harshness and its consonant ter- 
 minations, and softened down into a perfect instrument for poetry and 
 music), quotes the following passage, descriptive of the different Slavonic 
 tongues, from Schaffarik's Slawische Sprache iind Literahcr, 
 
 " Servian song resembles the tune of the violin; old Slavonian, that 
 of the organ ; Polish, that of the guitar. The old Slavonian in its psalms 
 sounds like the loud rush of the mountain stream; the Polish, like the 
 bubbling and sparkling of a fountain ; and the Servii^n, like the quiet 
 murmuring of a streamlet in the vallev." 
 
OPPOSIXG TENDENCIES. 57 
 
 have even risen in actual rebellion. Many provinces — Egypt, 
 for instance, and Bosnia — have succeeded in maintaining 
 themselves, for lengthened periods, to a certain degree inde- 
 pendent. The example of the Barbary States was naturally 
 followed by other States, though, it is true, at intervals, and 
 under somewhat different circumstances. 
 
 But, ultimately, it has been always found that the Sultan 
 possessed the means of crushing these insurrections and 
 preserving the integrity of his empire. 
 
 The ancient authority of a dynasty, which, during so many 
 centuries, no other dynasty has been able, successfully, to 
 oppose — the union of religious and secular power in one 
 hand, which would not suffer a spirit of resistance to gain 
 ground in the minds of the people — the connexion of the 
 military institutions from one extremity of the Empire to 
 the other — the regulation of judicial and spiritual offices 
 adapted to the character and usages of the people — the 
 establishment of the influence of some great XJlema families, 
 which had become almost hereditary, all these points, con- 
 verging to one common centre, made it very difficult to tear 
 asunder the ties which bound one province to another, and 
 united the whole under one central power ; if a thorough 
 change in the Turkish Empire were probable, it was to be 
 sought for in another direction. 
 
 By the example of Servia may be seen what opposing ten- 
 dencies the Turkish Empire comprised within itself: nations, 
 with an inexting-uishable consciousness of their own position, 
 a peculiar firmness of character, and a lively recollection of 
 their former grandeur, found themselves by the ruling ])imi- 
 ciple of the state excluded from all power, and condemned 
 to servitude ; while, on the other hand, the prevailing reli- 
 gion gave its professors a right to govern, filled them with 
 overbearing pride, and excited them to oppression. 
 
 Well might the subjugated Rayahs despair of emancipating 
 themselves by their own efforts : for this they were far too 
 weak, too much divided amongst themselves, and too care- 
 fully watched, in every place, by their enemies — who were, 
 at the same time, their masters. 
 
 But how different would it have been had the Christian 
 powers, v/ho were emulating each other in the development 
 of their strength, and had gradually raised themselves to an 
 
5b DREAD OI' RUSSIA. 
 
 unquestionable superiority over the Tnrkisli State, deter- 
 mined to lend their assistance to the Christians who were 
 under the yoke of the Ottomans ! 
 
 From the apprehension of such a step, the rise of the 
 Kussian Empire caused much alarm to the Turkish govern- 
 ment. The mere existence of a power professing the creed of 
 the Greek Church, before whose rising splendour the Crescent 
 grew pale, rendered the obedience of the Rayahs doubtful. 
 
 When, in the year 1770, the first Russian fleet appeared 
 in the JEgesm Sea, the Greeks rose, with a resolution only 
 too daring and premature, both in the islands and on the 
 mainland. The name of Athens, then remembered only by 
 antiquaries, again became of importance in the politics of 
 the day. 
 
 Still more extensive and more promising, at least for the 
 inland Christians of the Sclavonian tribes, were the prospects 
 presented by the war which broke out in 1788. 
 
 Austria, which had taken the Servian Patriarchate imder 
 its protection, and in the reign of the tolerant Joseph. 
 abstained from oppressing the adherents of the Greek Church, 
 united with Russia for an attack on the Porte. The object 
 of this was, to destroy the dominion of the Turks in Europe; 
 in order, as the Emperor Joseph said, '• to revenge mankind 
 on those barbarians." This intention was not concealed, but, 
 on the contrary, was more vigorously displayed in each suc- 
 ceeding campaign. 
 
 Nor did the Greeks now remain inactive : a fleet, manned 
 and armed principally by them, appeared at sea, under the 
 vommand of Lampros Cazonis ; and there were evident move- 
 ments in Albania and Macedonia. The Servians, however, 
 took the most decided part in this demonstration. 
 
 The Emperor Joseph conceived the judicious idea of form- 
 ing a volmiteer corps of such Servinns as would join him ; 
 and, the scheme having been adopted, a considerable body of 
 horse and foot soldiers was speedily raised. This force ren- 
 dered excellent service at the siege of Belgrade in 1789 ; 
 and, more particularly, after the town had been captured, 
 and the troops had begTin to take possession of the country. 
 Colonel JMihalievitsch, who commanded this volunteer corps 
 of Servian emigrants, took up his position near Jagodina 
 and Kiupria. He forced his way to Ivaranovaz, over roads 
 
BALANCE OF POWER. 59 
 
 which an army had never before passed, nor artillei7y' tra- 
 versed, and seized it from the Turks. In January, 1790, he 
 api>eared before Kruschevatz ; and having placed his men in 
 battle array, amidst the sound of Turkish and Austrian 
 instruments, he carried the town. The old churches, which 
 bore vvitness to the glory of the Knes Lasar (who had here 
 his principal seat), but had since been converted by the 
 Turks into stables for their horses, were cleaned out and re- 
 consecrated, and again resounded with Cliristian hymns of 
 thanksgiving.* 
 
 The Imperialists boasted, in their despatches, and not 
 without reason, that they had conquered a large portion of 
 the old kingdom of Servia. The inhabitants took it for 
 granted, that they should now remain subjects of the 
 Emperor of Germany. They had everywhere joined him 
 with devotion ; in. most districts had rendered him homage ; 
 and in several instances had undertaken to defend, conjointly 
 with the Imperial troops, the conquered places against their 
 now common enemy. 
 
 But again their hopes were doomed to disappointment. 
 
 So soon as it appeared that the designs of the Imperial 
 Courts were likely to be carried into effect, a]3prehensions 
 arose amongst the other European powers, at seeing the 
 general equilibrium likely to be disturbed by so extensive 
 an increase of territorial possession. The old jealousy that 
 ever opposes the winner, raised itself in favour of the Turks ; 
 and it soon became evident that their fall v^as not to be 
 permitted. 
 
 It became doubtful whether their foiiner boundaries 
 should be restored to them. Of the European powers, there 
 was at least one — Prussia— who was not decided on the 
 point, although strenuously opposed to an exclusive exten- 
 sion of the territory of Austria. It was in accordance with 
 the then policy of Prussia — which, under the ministry of 
 Herzberg, still adhered to the views of Frederick II — to 
 allow Austria, in retiu-n for some concessions in favour of 
 Prussia, on the Polish frontier, and other changes of territory 
 connected ^^dth it, to extend her power on the Danube, and 
 to recover Moldavia and Wallachia ; or, should that be im- 
 
 * Ausflihrliclie Gsschichte des Krieges zmschen Russland, CEstreich 
 und der Turkei. Wien, 1791-2, vol. v. pp. 30, 61. 
 
60 FOREIGN INTERVENTION. 
 
 possible, at least those Servian districts which she had pos- 
 sessessed after the f)eacc of Passarovitz.* 
 
 But Prussia did not find herself supported in these viewa 
 by her own allies, Holland and England. For some time 
 the question respecting the restoration of the strict status 
 (juo, or the propriety of some exchanges, occupied the 
 cabinets of these countries. When, however, the danger, 
 with which the disturbances in France threatened the whole 
 constitution of the European powers, became momentarily 
 more pressing, it was finally resolved, that above all tilings 
 peace should first be obtained, all idea of change renounced, 
 and the whole of Servia restored to the Turks. 
 
 Exclusively occupied with discussions respecting the ba- 
 lance of power, statesmen bestowed no thought upon the 
 interests of the Christian population ; who had shown them- 
 selves so deserving of general sympathy. It was deemed 
 sufiicient to secure an amnesty for all who had, in any of the 
 Turkish provinces, deserted the Sultan and gone over to the 
 Emperor, and to allow them to return in safety to their 
 estates, t Thus Servia, with all its fortresses, was given 
 back to the Sultan. 
 
 No one, however, will suppose that, by these means, affairs 
 were placed upon their former footing. 
 
 The Turkish commissioners who took possession of the 
 country, expressed their astonishment, mingled with appre- 
 hension of what might be the results, when they beheld a 
 Servian troop, fully armed, march out from a fortress 
 which M^as to be delivered up to them, and perform with 
 precision all the military evolutions of the Imperial Army. 
 "Neighbours!" cried one of them, "what have you made of 
 our Rayahs r" 
 
 It has been affirmed that, to the last, the Servians in- 
 dulged in the expectation of rising up in arms under a cer- 
 tain officer of the Free Corps, whom they wish to elevate to 
 the dignity of a Prince over them : and that a young Servian 
 lady, courted by the officer referred to, had in a jest been 
 saluted as their Princess ! The truth of this statement has 
 not been ascertained ; but, at all events, it is evident that 
 
 * Consult *^ Precis de la carriere diplomatique du Comte de Herzberg-. 
 Zeitschrift fur Geschichtswissenschaft von Ad. Schmidt, J. p. 28. 
 t Traite fait a Sistowa, 4 xYout, 170] : Martens, V. 244. 
 
REFORM IX TURKEY. 61 
 
 the spirit of national independence when once roused could 
 not easily be suppressed. They who had borne victorious 
 arms against the Turks, cherished a consciousness of their 
 own dignity by such recollections. 
 
 Russia, on her side, had, in the peace of Jassy, imparted 
 fresh force to the stipulations which had previously been 
 agreed upon in favoiu- of the Christian inhabitants of Mol- 
 davia and Wallachia, and in the islands of the Archipelago ; 
 it will therefore ba seen how greatly the elements of resist- 
 ance and independence, amongst the Christian nations in 
 European Turkey, had increased, in consequence of this war. 
 
 But it had also another effect, of a very different, and one 
 might almost say, of an opposite character. 
 
 For some time the Turkish government had been fully 
 sensible of the superiority of its neighbours, and of its ovvTi 
 inability, in its actual state, to resist them. It almost 
 despaired of being able to remedy the evil. " The Empire is 
 overthrown !" exclaimed the Sultan Mustapha III. : " do 
 not imagine that it can be restored by us." Prepared for 
 the worst, a Yizier of Abdulhamid observed : " In Asia, too, 
 there are shady valleys, where kiosks may be built." 
 
 The people of Constantinople, however, did not so easily 
 relinquish their wonted confidence. They imputed the 
 disasters they had sustained to the personal incompetence of 
 their leaders ; and, with sanguine expectation, they turned 
 their eyes to Selim, the heir to the throne, to whom they 
 ascribed all the virtues extolled by the Koran.'"" In the 
 places of public resort it was commonly said, that it was he 
 who should restore the empire to its ancient splendour. 
 
 Selim, indeed, when he ascended the throne, strongly en- 
 tertained the same notions. The superiority of his Chris- 
 tian neighbours, which, in that year (1789) was proved very 
 decidedly, acted as a powerful inducement to him to make 
 an attempt towards attaining this object. But Selim set 
 about the matter in a manner very different from that wliich 
 the people had expected. Their hope was to see him, like a 
 Sultan of old, take the field at the head of the Janissaries 
 and Spahis, and overthrow his enemies ; in accordance with 
 their holy books and the spirit of the faithful Mussulmans. 
 
 * " Che sia valoroso, attaccatissimo alia sua religione, intraprendente 
 et avido di gloria militare." Zulian, Relatione di Constantinopoli, 1789. 
 
Q2 IMPROVEMENTS 117 THE NAYY. 
 
 Selim, on tlic contrary, who perceived that the cause of 
 ]iis country's disasters lay in the superiority of the military 
 resources of his enemies, and their experience in the art of 
 war, resolved, in the first instance, to assimilate the Turkish 
 troops with theirs ; in order that, at some future time, he 
 might be enabled to lead them witli greater conhdence into 
 the field. 
 
 That this should be the result, had long been the opinion 
 of such of the European States as hoped to find in the 
 Sultan, if he could only in some measure be rendered capable 
 of resistance, a useful ally against the power of Austria ; and 
 particularly against that of Kussia. In France, especially, 
 this idea was entertained. 
 
 It is unnecessary to speah here of the attempts of Bon- 
 neval or of Tott, who came to Constantinople in the suite 
 of the French ambassador ; it is of more importance to 
 observe, that, in the year 1785, a considerable number of 
 French officers were found in that capital : still remaining 
 m the pay of their own Court, and zealously engaged in the 
 introduction of military reforms.''' 
 
 They cast cannon for the Turks, and taught them to 
 point and fire ; small fortifications were thrown up to 
 exercise them in the art of attack and defence ; new ships 
 were built after French models : retainiug, however, what- 
 ever was advantageous in the Turkish mode of construction. 
 It is yet remembered with what zeal the Capitan Pacha, 
 Gazi Hassp^n — at that time probably the most famous man 
 in the Levant — exerted himself to improve the Turkish 
 navy. As, even at that period, it was the great aim of the 
 French to restrict the powder of the Paissians to the Black 
 Sea, they erected, for the Turks, fortresses on both sides of 
 the Channel, at Kila and at Bivat — the videttes, as they 
 
 * Relatione di Constantinopoli del bailo Agostino Garzoni, contenuta 
 in due dispacci del medisimo del 10 Nov. 1785. La Francia, die sempre 
 ha preso cura per la sussistenza di questo inipero, si avvidde che tolto il 
 principal baloardo della Crimea dovevasi riconoscer come vaciilante il suo 
 destine. Allarmatasi percio spedi a questa corte un copioso nuraero di 
 officiali tutti pagati dalla corte stessa d'ogni genere e professione per 
 introdur ordine disciplina e scienza tra li Turcbi, per renderli atti ad 
 resistere alii attaci delli lore nemici. 
 
 f Garzoni : ne' siti ch'erano ailatto esposti ed abandonati. Compare 
 Andressy, Voyage a Tembouchure de la Mer-noire, 115, 319. 
 
ERECTION OF FORTRESSES. 63 
 
 have Leen termed, of Constantinople — and at the entrance 
 itself they raised a battery. Their intention was entirely to 
 change the whole system of Turkish fortification. 
 
 To these attempts the Sultan Selim united his own im- 
 proyements, as soon as peace had been concluded. Eor the 
 navy he purchased model-ships from England ; but his ship- 
 wrights were mostly French; and, in a short time, the 
 roadsteads of Sinope, Rhodes, and Constantinople were 
 crowded ^vith vessels. 
 
 The vfhole system of the artillery was remodelled : the 
 dimensions of the French cannon were adopted, especially for 
 field-pieces. 
 
 Another object was to prepare for the defence of the 
 frontiers, by improving the fortresses, — for which purpose 
 Y/e find an English general employed at Ismael, — and 
 especially by the formation of a corps of engineers. The 
 Sultan frequently visited the College at Suiitze, which had 
 been established for this purpose ; he inspected the plans 
 and instmments, and encouraged the pupils. Many ex- 
 cellent French books — a work by Yauban, for instance — 
 were translated into the Turkish language, and printed ; a 
 French professor was appointed ; and in the library might 
 be found, among other French books, the Encyclopedie.'""' 
 
 Although all these proceedings were opposed to the in- 
 herent prejudices of Mussulmans, they allowed such things 
 to pass, as not directly injurious to the institutions upon, 
 which their state was founded. Public attention, however^ 
 was aroused, when the Sultan undertook to reform his 
 artillery {topdsclii), a body closely connected with the Janis- 
 saries ; and it soon became apparent that his improvements 
 would not stop there. 
 
 It is related that a Russian prisoner, who T^^as a Turk hj 
 birth, having acquired a tolerable knowledge of the Russian 
 service, had trained a troop of renegades on the European, 
 system, orignally for the gratification of the Grand Yizier. 
 Subsequently the Sultan himself attended at their parade, 
 for the purpose of witnessing how the infidels were accus- 
 
 * Juchereau de S. Denys : Revolutions de Constantinople en 1807 et 
 1808, i. p. 78. Macfarlane states that these reports have been confirmed 
 to him. 
 
G4 THE JANISSARIES. 
 
 tomed to fjgiit ; and on reviewing tlie troop, v/as lilglil}'' 
 prepossessed in favour of the system."'^ 
 
 Omer was the name of this Ottoman Lefort, who for some 
 time commanded the band of the Tufenkdschi, which he had 
 formed. 
 
 Omer Aga's success confirmed the Sultan in his intention 
 of introducing the European military exercise in the Turkish 
 army ; and, in the first instance, amongst the regular in- 
 fantry, the Janissaries. 
 
 A Venetian narrative positively assures us, that in the 
 year 1793, the subject was earnestly canvassed in the Divan. t 
 
 What would have been the consequence of the execution 
 of this project is evident. 
 
 The Janissaries considered their posts as hereditary ; they 
 appeared in the ranks only on the days of receiving their 
 pay ; in the towns which they garrisoned they at the same 
 exercised authority, and carried on trade. To lead these 
 troops back to the purpose for which they were originally 
 established, and to sul)ject them to the restraint of European 
 discipline, was an undertaking not only of infinite difficulty, 
 but also of the greatest political importance. 
 
 In an empire whose entire position was founded on con- 
 quest and forcible occupation, and depended directly ujDon 
 the superiority of the army, every military change must 
 necessarily be at the same time a political one. 
 
 And the Janissaries certainly formed an important link 
 in the chain of the old Ottoman system, both for war and 
 peace. 
 
 Moreover, in all other departments extensive changes were 
 proposed. The great fiefs which had become hereditary were 
 to be abolished, and their revenues, on the death of the then 
 occupiers, were to flow into the royal treasury, and be ex- 
 pended in the payment of other troops. The Pacha was no 
 longer to be the lord of his province ; his appointment was 
 to continue only three years, and was not to be renewed 
 unless he had exerted himself to give satisfaction to the 
 people over whom he ruled. Another scheme was suggested, 
 
 * Survey of the Turkish Empire, 1798, p. 99. Compare Ohsson, 
 VII. 371. 
 
 t Niccolo Foscarini : II divisamento pure di rendere addestrati i Gia- 
 nlzzeri negli escercizi militari occupava i pensieri del consiglio. 
 
REFORM IN THE DIVAN. 65 
 
 wliich, had it been carried into eiFect, would have given 
 altogether a different form to the whole of this system. Its 
 object was to abolish all farming of the taxes, and to intro- 
 duce an administration of the revenues of the State by- 
 officers of the government. 
 
 The jDOwer of the Vizier had abeady been restrained. The 
 Divan now resembled, in form, an European Privy Council 
 of State :'" it consisted of twelve superior officers, whom the 
 Grand Yizier was bound to consult on all imjiortant ques- 
 tions. One member of the Divan was especially appointed 
 to collect certain indirect imposts, to be applied to the main- 
 tenance of the newly-raised troops ; whose number was 
 gradually increased by cavalry, and who formed altogether a 
 considerable body. 
 
 It is unnecessary to speak further concerning the progress 
 of these changes. In course of time, we may probably be 
 enabled to obtain a knowledge of the work of Nuri, the his- 
 toriographer of the empire, during those years in which, 
 according to all accounts, the new regulations (Nizami 
 Dschedid) were fully discussed. We shall then see the 
 connexion of events more distinctly than it is at present 
 possible to do, judging merely from the accounts of European 
 travellers and ambassadors. 
 
 It will here suffice to remark, how powerfully the exclu- 
 sively Ottoman part of the Turkish Empire, the ruling body 
 of religious warriors, was excited, from the very commence- 
 ment of his reign, by the projects of Selim III., occasioned 
 by the results of the last war. 
 
 The spirit of reform with which the eighteenth century 
 was inspired, affected even Turkey. 
 
 In this respect, Selim III. may be compared with princes 
 such as Gustavus III., Clement XIY., and Joseph II., or 
 with statesmen like Pombal, Aninda, and Struensee : all 
 more or less his contemporaries. 
 
 * Foscarini : La prima ed essentiale [innovazione del Sultano Selim] 
 fu quella di diminuire la somma autorita del visirato con I'instituzione del 
 nuovo consiglio di stato, in seguito — aumentato dal nuraero degli individui 
 clie lo compongono, e clie lasciai in uuo stato di somma attivita, ed 
 abbenche possa dirsi che I'instituzione di esso consiglio abbia prodotto uor 
 esenziale cambiamento nella constituzione di quel governo, pareva a tutti 
 probabile che sarebbe per continuarsi. 
 
 P 
 
GO JANISSARIES OF BELGRADE. 
 
 Having cited these names, it is needless to enlarge upon 
 the dangers connected with undertakings of a revolutionary 
 nature, both to the empire which they concern, and to the 
 persons who venture to introduce them. 
 
 In Turkey, these dangers were of double force. The 
 general commotion of the higher classes must, in return, 
 promote the desire for independence amongst the subdued 
 nations. Difficulties of quite a new character could not but 
 arise from these changes ; and in fact, they did arise. The 
 whole modern liistory of Turkey turns upon these diffi- 
 culties ; and to them, also, the movement in Servia must be 
 attributed. 
 
 CHAPTEH YI. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE DISTURBANCES IN SERVIA. 
 
 The Janissaries of Belgrade. — The Dahis. — Ebu-Bekir, Pacha of Belgrade. 
 — Assassination of the Aga, Deli Achmet. — Rise of Osman Passvan 
 Oglu. — The Krdschalies. — Alexa Nenadovitsch, Grand Knes of Servia. 
 —Pacha Hadji Mustafa. — Retnrn of the Janissaries to Belgrade. — 
 Murder of the Knes, Ranko. — Death of the Pacha. — The Dahis. — 
 Tyranny of the Janissaries. — Unsuccessful Revolt. — Address of the 
 Servian Kneses to the Grand Signior.— Threats of the Sultan against 
 the Dahis. — Horrible Slaughter of the Servians by the Dahis. 
 
 Of all the Janissaries of the empire, none were more 
 opposed to the Sultan than those at Belgrade. 
 
 Besides practising manifold other abuses which prevailed 
 here as well as elsewhere, the Janissaries had entered into a 
 sort, of conflict with the rest of the Turkish population, the 
 Pachas, and the Spahis ; and it appeared as though they 
 would inevitably acquire, by violent means, a tyrannical 
 dominion over the country, to the exclusion of others of their 
 countrymen. Their commanders already designated them- 
 selves Dahis, after the example of the Deys of Barbary ; 
 who had, in like manner, in a contest with the Pachas, been 
 raised to power from amongst the mutinous troops : such 
 had also been the case more recently at Tripoli.'" 
 
 * V/ablj Encyclopeedia, I. xxiv. 351, observes that the word Dahi 
 
BELGKADE GIVEN BACK TO THE TUP.KS. 67 
 
 By the side of the Agas of the Janissaries — such as 
 Achmet, who, on account of his courage, was surnamed Deli- 
 Achmet, and who commanded a force of one thousand men 
 « — a Pacha appeared insignificant ; and it is known that the 
 Emperor Joseph preferred entering into arrangements with 
 the Agas rather than with the Pachas. Shortly before 
 the commencement of the war, Maliomet Ali Seimovitsch 
 and fourteen other Spahis were murdered by the Janissaries 
 of Achmet, and no one had ventured to call him to account 
 for the act ; indeed, notwithstanding this, he made his 
 appearance at Kiupria, in the Turkish army destined for the 
 deliverance of Belgrade : wliich city, however, was neither 
 delivered by his assistance, nor defended by his comrades, 
 
 After Belgrade had been given back to the Turks, through 
 the intervention of the European powers, the Sultan deter- 
 mined, in tliis city at least, to rid himself of these trouble- 
 some claimants to a share in his power. 
 
 Ebu Bekir, the new Pacha appointed to Belgrade, was 
 provided with a firman, which commanded the Janissaries 
 to quit the town, and the entire Pachalic. However, on 
 the very first occasion that offered for enforcing it, they 
 maintained their ground so determinedly, that this order 
 could be executed only by stratagem and violence. Before 
 Ebu Bekir could venture even to publish the firman, it was 
 necessaiy for liim to get rid of their most powerful Chief 
 When he arrived on the frontier of the Pachalic, at Nisch, 
 the Spahis hastened to welcome him ; the other former pro- 
 2:>rietors of the country also appeared there, and Deli- Achmet 
 amongst them. But the latter was surrounded by so numer- 
 ous a suite, that they dared not, at that time, seize him. 
 It was only as he Vv^as ascending the stairs to a second au- 
 dience, with but few attendants, that they ventui^ed to 
 attack him ; and, even then, only as base assassins : a servant 
 of the Pacha's, who lay concealed, shot him from behind. 
 The firman was then immediately published and enforced. 
 
 The Spahis again enjoyed the benefit of their tithes, and 
 of their Glavnitza ; and the Servians who had emigrated, 
 now resumed their former property, and could more confi- 
 dently reckon on the observance of the stipulations Avhich 
 
 signified a Superior even at the time of the ancient republic of Mecca, 
 and afterwards amon!?st the Ismaelites. 
 
 f2 
 
6S REVOLT OF PASSVAN OGLU. 
 
 had been made in tlieir favour. The possessions of the 
 Janissaries, on the other hand, were considered as forfeited 
 to the Cro\vn ; and they themselves sought refuge in the 
 neighbouring districts. 
 
 It coukl not be otherwise : only by artifice and bloodshed 
 could the proposed measures be carried out ! 
 
 It excites bttle surprise, to find that the parties who had 
 been thus chastised, resisted, and were supported by those 
 who participated in their claims. The revolt of Passvan 
 Oglu, at Yiddin, which occurred at that time, proved of 
 especial advantage to the Janissaries : though it cannot be 
 proved, with certainty, that his revolt originated with them. 
 
 It appears that Osman Passvan Oglu first distinguished 
 himself at the head of a troop of volunteers, in the war of 
 1788 ; and he afterwards took forcible possession of his here- 
 ditary estates, from which his father had been expelled. 
 
 There were, besides, other warriors with whom he allied 
 himself : bands of soldiers called Krdschalies, who, after the 
 peace, had been dismissed from the service of the Porte, 
 but had no wish on that account to relinquish the trade of 
 war. In Macedonia and Bulgaria, they rendered the country 
 unsafe : readily ofiering their service, on every occasion, 
 when a j^acha was engaged in dispute with the Grand Signior^ 
 or a province with its pacha; or, failing such occupation, 
 they would plunder on tlieir own account, and levy contri- 
 butions. When they had destroyed Moscopolis (or Bosco- 
 jjolis), one of the principal towns of Macedonia, the other 
 towns hastened to make terms with them by paymg a sort 
 of tribute. It was their pride to ride along on stately 
 horses, with trappings of gold and silver, and bearing costly- 
 arms. In their train were female slaves, Giuvendi, in male 
 attire, who not only served to amuse them in their hours of 
 ease, with singing and dancing, but also followed them to 
 battle, for the purpose of holding their horses when they 
 fought on foot. As these troops had never any religious 
 worship, they received all comers, whether Christians or 
 Mahometans. Like other soldiers, they were under the 
 regular command of their bimbaschas, leaders of a thousand, 
 and buljukbaschas, ofiicers of inferior rank. To any one 
 who aimed at establishing his power by force of arms they 
 were welcome, and he to them. 
 
THE KKDSCHALIES. 69 
 
 Passvan Ogiu was in strict alliance with these hands. 
 "He addressed them thus : " the booty be yours, and mine 
 tlie glory ! " After having for some time suffered a Pacha 
 to be associated with him in the province, he at leng-th ex- 
 pelled his superior, and demanded the three horse-tails for 
 himself. He maintained ten thousand of the Krdschalies 
 with him in Yiddin. 
 
 At the same time it must be allowed, that, in demanding 
 the restoration of his hereditary fiefs, he had stood forward 
 as the opponent of all innovations. He received the Janis- 
 saries, who were driven out of Servia ; had his name entered 
 in their lists, and made their cause his own. 
 
 Perhaps his motive for this conduct might be traced to 
 the fact, that the commander of the Janissaries at Viddin 
 held the highest rank amongst all their Serhad-Agas ; in 
 remembrance of Turnadschi-Baschi ; whom, in former times, 
 Bajazet I. had installed there with the 68th Orta of the 
 Dschemaat. This name was thenceforth retained as an 
 hereditary title. "^ 
 
 Moreover, a, good opportunity was offered to an ambitious 
 leader, by the spirit of opposition to the new regulations, 
 v/hich w^ere soon regarded, by the Turkish population, as con- 
 trary to religion : thus it became necessary to prove, by a 
 legal document, that the use of bayonets and light artillery 
 was not contrary to the Koran. 
 
 Olivier, who then lived at Constantinople, assures us that 
 the Janissaries of that city had formally refused to take the 
 field aganst Passvan.t 
 
 It was in vain that the Porte, in 1798, sent another army, 
 composed of European and Asiatic troops, against Passvan. 
 He is reported to have said that, he might have raised a hun- 
 dred thousand men, but. preferred to conquer them with ten 
 thousand : and the smaller number was vmdoubtedly to his 
 advantage. Amongst the Pachas advancing against him, 
 there was little concord : and he could avail himself of a 
 favourable moment with unimpaired power. On one occasion, 
 
 * Ohsson, VII. p. 310. 
 
 t Voyage dans T Empire Othoraan. Les soldats disaient hautement, 
 qu'ils ne feraient jamais la guerre a un Mussulman qui n'avait selon eux 
 d'autres torts que celui da vouloir empecher que Ton ne portat atteinte a 
 leurs droits. 
 
70 RISE OF PASSVAIT OGLU. 
 
 v;-hen a long-continued fall of rain had reduced liis opponents, 
 •who were encamped under temporary barracks and tents, to 
 a very distressed state, the Krdsch alios, who liad remained 
 fresh and vigorous, in a well-provided town, sallied out and 
 put the enfeebled enemy to flight. From that time Passvan 
 Ogki was exceedingly dreaded by his neighbours, far and 
 near. 
 
 At different times he was master of Czernetz, Nicopel, and 
 Kraiova ; and when, now and then, he lost either of those 
 places, it was only through the greatest efforts of the Turks 
 and Wallachians. Many joeople lied from the Lesser Wal- 
 lachia to Transylvania ; others, suspected of being in alliance 
 with him, were punished for the crime. ^'' In Bulgaria, every- 
 thing got into confusion, and general animosity was excited. 
 At length the Porte resolved to make peace, and actually sent 
 Passvan the three horse-tails ! The fate of Servia was, in 
 many ways, connected with these occurrences. 
 
 Ebu Bekir, and his successor, Hadji Mustafa, who kept the 
 Janissaries at a distance, administered the affairs of the 
 country in a manner directly opposed to their system of 
 violence. The Payahs dwelt in peace : hapj)y at length to be 
 ruled by mild and equitable laws. The country flourished, 
 and became rich — by the same means that prevailed in 
 England and in Germany before the clearing away of the 
 large forests : by the breeding of swine. It has been 
 remarked that Servia gained annually 1,300,000 florins 
 (£130,000 sterling) by its commerce with Austria alone. 
 Hadji Mustafa evinced so much jealous care of the country, 
 that he has been called Srpska Maika, the Servian mother. 
 
 It was no disparagement to any one to have served in the 
 Free Corps under the Emperor of Austria ; and Alexa 
 iSTenadovitsch, who had held the rank of officer therein, was 
 made Grand Knes. When Passvan Ogiu, urged perhaps by 
 the Janissaries, began to threaten Servia, he took Kladovo, 
 and endeavoured to make himself master of the island of 
 Poretsch. In this emergency Hadji Mustafa did not hesitate 
 to call the Servians themselves to arms ; he represented to 
 them that it would be much better to sell part of their 
 
 * Engel, Geschichte der Walachei, ii. 67. Concerning Passvan Oglu, 
 he refers to Seetzen in Zach's Monthly Correspondeace, August, 1803, 
 whose information, however, is scanty. 
 
IlETURI^ OF THE JANISSARIES. 71 
 
 cattle, and provide themselves -with amis out of tlie proceeda; 
 than to be stripped of everytliing by the enemy. Many arms 
 had remained in the country since the last war ; and the 
 people now gladly brought them forth. The spirit which had 
 been aroused under Austria, acquired renewed vigour under 
 the command of a Tiu-kish Pacha ; and the Kneses themselves 
 equipped a force, whose Bimbascha, Stanko Arambaschitsch, 
 the son of a robber-chief, established a name for himself. 
 Supported by the Turks, but by no means imder their con- 
 trol, the Servians were again victorious. Stanko did not 
 give precedence to the Turkish leaders of this army ; and by 
 prompt retaliation he avenged the act of one of them, who 
 had cut do'svn a prisoner. The Pachas and the country were 
 united : for their common interest was at stake ; and Pass- 
 van Oglu and his allies^ the Janissaries, were successfully 
 ojDposed. 
 
 It may now be asked, how it happened, that the Porte 
 was induced, not only to come to a friendly understanding 
 with Passvan Oglu, but even to accept an arrangement pro- 
 posed in favour of the Janissaries, who had been driven from 
 Belgrade. The truth is, the pride of the Mussulmans revolted 
 at the idea that old Moslems, of the True Faith, should be 
 banished from a Pachalic, whilst the Christian subjects 
 therein were allowed to rise in importance : indeed, the 
 Mufti gave it as his oi:»inion that it was against the law to 
 drive the Faithful from their possessions in favour of the 
 Rayahs. TJjion this the Divan ordered the Pacha to re-admit 
 the Janissaries ; though they had been exiled by a firman, 
 and had joined a rebel in open insurrection. Hadji Mustafa 
 would have placed himself in opposition to his legitimate 
 government, and exposed himself to severe punishment, had 
 he resisted the order : the Janissaries accordingly returned. 
 
 We may easily anticipate the consequences of this measure : 
 it proved the origin of much mischief. 
 
 At first the Janissaries did not press the Pacha for the 
 restoration of their property ; nor did they threaten him 
 with violence ; and they were satisfied with appointments in 
 the Custom Houses or about the Court. Soon, however, 
 they began to act as in former times ; and as might have 
 been expected, the Rayahs v/ere the first to be made sensible 
 of the change. 
 
72 MURDER OF THE KNES^ RANKO. 
 
 In Svileuva, in the district of Schabaz, lived a man of iiTe- 
 proacliable character, named Ranko, Grand Knes of his 
 Kneshina. At a time when the Poresa was to be appor- 
 tioned, a Janissary of Schabaz, Bego Nowlianin, required of 
 Kanko to increase its amount in his favour, by some hundreds 
 of piastres. This demand shows in what position they 
 ah'eady stood. Kanko had the courage to refuse the claim, 
 but the Janissary determined to be revenged for his refusal. 
 He did not venture to interfere with the Knes in the village; 
 but the first time that Ranko appeared at Schabaz, Bego 
 Nowlianin, with some of his comrades, followed him into a 
 tavern, and there shot him. The Pacha, however, determined 
 that such a proceeding should not go unpunished ; nor would 
 he allow the former disorderly state of affairs to be renewed. 
 The Janissary having meanwhile, with daily increasing 
 adherents, made himself master of the fortress of Schabaz, 
 Hadji Mustafa despatched a small body of troops, 600 strong, 
 and losieged him there; but Bego Nowlianin saved himself 
 by flight, and took refuge in Bosnia, The exertions which 
 the Pacha had made to punish this Janissary, drew upon him 
 the rage and hatred of the whole body. 
 
 It was probably at their instigation that Passvan Ogiu 
 renewed his hostilities against the Paclialic. To defend the 
 frontiers, the Pacha was under the necessity of sending his 
 best troops, consisting of Turks and Servians, commanded by 
 his own son, Dervish Beg, into the field. This was precisely 
 what the Janissaries wished. They seized the favourable 
 moment, made themselves master of Belgrade, and besieged 
 the Pacha in the Upper Castle. There he would have been 
 able to hold out, until the return of his son, whom he had 
 immediately apprised of his position, had not a Buljukbascha 
 of his Krdschalies — for the Pacha also had some of those 
 troops under his command — been gained over by the Janis- 
 saries, to whom the traitor gave admission through a drain 
 that led into the fortress. On the very day that Dervish 
 Beg arrived, with his a,rmy, in Grozka, close to Belgrade, his 
 father had been made prisoner. Hadji Mustafa was com- 
 pelled, by the Janissaries, to order his troops to a distance ; 
 and scarcely had the Servians dispersed, and the Turks liYO- 
 ceeded to Nisch, than he was slain in the fortress. The 
 Janissaries informed the Porte : '' Hadji Mustafa had been a 
 
TYRANNY OF THE JANISSARIES. 73 
 
 false Turk, wlio had sided with the E;ayahs, and had now 
 received his reward." 
 
 They begged for a nev/ Pacha — not that it was their inten- 
 tion to obey him better : they had committed murder in 
 order to get the power into ther own hands. Four chiefs of 
 the Janissaries — Fotschitsch-Mahomet Aga, Aganlia, Mula- 
 Jussuf, and Kutschuk-Ali, shared the supreme authority 
 amongst themselves. They re-assumed the title of Dahi. '^'o 
 each of them a certain part of the country was allotted ; yet 
 they continued to hold councils together at BelgTade, whence 
 they exercised a common power. The dissensions which now 
 so frequently arose, were always appeased by the father of 
 Mahomet Aga, the old Fotscho. To the new Pacha, Aga 
 Hassan, the Dahis left only as much authority as they them- 
 selves judged advisable. They fixed and raised the Poresa, 
 and other imposts, and established a new system of govern- 
 ment. The Janissaries by whom they were surrounded 
 sufiiced not for theii' purposes ; therefore they collected 
 another armed power around them. When the Bosnians and 
 Albanians heard of the success of the Janissaries, they flocked 
 to BelgTade in gi-eat numbers ; half-naked men, and such as 
 had previously borne burthens, now rode on Arabian steeds, 
 attired in velvet, gold, and silver : haughty in their bearing 
 towards all, and completely submissive to their masters alone. 
 This force was employed not so much as a military body, as 
 to carry into execution the orders of the Janissaries. 
 
 The Dahis sent their comrades of the highest rank, espe- 
 cially such as were Janissaries, into the provincial towns, 
 under the denomination of Kabadahis, where they drew the 
 reins of authority tighter than ever : assuming, in every 
 respect, the air of masters ; for no Kadi would have dared to 
 utter a word in opposition to their will. In the villages, 
 Subasches appeared as executors of the judicial and magis- 
 terial power. These men, frequently taken from the Bosnian 
 rabble, exercised the power of life and death, and enriched 
 themselves by the hard toil of the peasant whom they lived 
 upon. They would fly to meet their masters at a moment's 
 notice. The system resembled that which v/as followed in 
 Egypt, where the Mamelukes united at Cairo had appro- 
 priated the country, according to its districts, amongst them- 
 selves, and ruled it by means of their Kiaschefs ; caring little 
 
74 CHANGE IN LANDED TEI-fURES. 
 
 for tlie ciutliority of the Paclia^ who had been sent from 
 Constantinople. 
 
 But in Servia they went even further. Perhaps the 
 greatest clifFercnce between the Uvo bodies was, that the 
 Janissaries aimed at establishing themselves as lords of the 
 soil. Under the title of Tscliitlulcsaliihis, they claimed the 
 actual proprietorship of the land, and from time to time 
 built themselves sta,tely country houses. Besides the former 
 taxes, they demanded the ninth part of the earth's produce, 
 and forced the inhabitants to perform feudal service. Such 
 of the Spahis as would not come to terms v/ith them, were 
 expelled. 
 
 An evil now arose which, through the influence of the old 
 regiilations of the empire, had hitherto been carefully 
 avoided. The land and the people appeared as the property 
 of certain individuals ; and it almost seemed as though a 
 general system of usurjjation were about to be established in 
 all these provinces. In the same manner had Passvan Oglu 
 established his authority ; from him had originated the 
 introduction of the Subasches. In Bosnia, Alibeg Yidaitsch, 
 of Svornik, j^roceeded to similar enterprises : he marched 
 through the villages, caused the people to be bound, and then 
 made them admit, in writing, that they had sold their terri- 
 tory to him. Provided with this title-deed, he constituted 
 himself Tschitluksahibi, and appointed Subasches in the 
 villages. The league of independent chiefs, who had taken 
 possession of Servia, was on the closest terms of union with 
 both these parties. As the Dahis under Passvan Oglu had 
 done service, in like manner Alibeg came to Belgrade to be 
 received into theii" community. 
 
 In opposition to the ne^v regulations of the Sultan, the 
 intention of which was to place the power of the government 
 in the hands of one person, a system, of a tendency directly 
 contrary, was forming itself in Servia ; it was based upon 
 abuses and personal violence, which it had been the aim of 
 the Sultan to abolish ; and woe to the man who should 
 venture to oppose the usurping chiefs within their own terri- 
 tories. The conduct of Alibeg Yidaitsch excited the jealousy 
 of his own relations, and they induced the district of Spretcha 
 to revolt against him. But with some assistance from the 
 Dahisj he w^as sufficiently powerful to maintain his ground, 
 
THE SERVIANS ADDRESS THE GRAND SIGNIOR. 75 
 
 and to piinisli the insurgents. Plundering and war-levies, 
 imprisonments and strangiings, were liencefoi-tli the order of 
 the day. 
 
 In the district of Belgrade, an old officer of Pladji Mustafa's, 
 Asam Beg, formerly Defterkiaja, legal adviser to the chamber, 
 determined, with the aid of his friends and the Spahis, sup- 
 ported by the Rayahs, to revolt against the Da,his. He had 
 already procured ammunition, and was distributing it 
 amongst the people, when one of his confederates — his o^vn 
 brother — prematurely commenced the attack, and the whole 
 scheme was frustrated. The consequence was, as is usual in 
 unsuccessful insurrections, the oppression became still niore 
 severe. The Spahis were all under the necessity of leaving 
 the country ; and it was only on the frontiers that one of 
 them might occasionally be seen, venturing, as a fugitive, 
 into his village. The Subasches indulged in every sort of 
 violence : frequently would they take from the peasant his 
 festive garment, and use it as a covering for one of their 
 horses ; they disturbed the performance of divine service ; 
 they forced the women to dance the Kolo before their own 
 houses, and then carried off those who were the most beau- 
 tiful. 
 
 The natural barbarity of these people, who had once been 
 exiled and were now again in possession of their property, 
 was increased by a desire of vengeance. And as in a state of 
 civil war, where the supreme authority is no longer regarded, 
 anarchy prevailed. 
 
 The banished Spahis, indeed, claimed assistance from Con- 
 stantinople. The Kneses, too, summoned sufficient resolu- 
 tion to assemble in a cloister, for the purpose of drawing up 
 an address to the Grand Siguier. They complained that 
 they had been shamefully plundered by the Dahis, by whom 
 they had been brought to such a state of poverty that they 
 were obliged to clothe themselves with mere hast ; yet that, 
 nevertheless, their oppressors vv^ere not satisfied ; that they 
 were attacked in their religion, their morality, and their 
 honour : no husband being secure in the possession of his 
 vvife, no father of his daughter, no brother of his sister. 
 The church, the cloister, the monks, the priests, all were out- 
 raged. '' Art thou still our Czar ? " they demanded ; " then 
 come and free us from these e\dl-doers. Or if thou wilt not 
 
76 DAHIS THREATENED BY THE SULTAN. 
 
 save lis, at least tell us so ; that we may decide whether to 
 ilee to the mountains and forests, or to seek in the rivers a 
 termination to our miserable existence." 
 
 Their prayers did not remain unheeded. Ibrahim Aga, 
 who had been wounded by his nephew Alibeg Vidaitsch and 
 Asam, the leaders of an insurrection which had failed, had 
 both fled to Constantinople, where they seconded the com- 
 plaints of the people. But this apparent success led only to 
 ^•reater disasters. It seemed as though the Grand Signior 
 had nothing left to him but threats, by which to favour the 
 ■cause of his subjects. He intimated to the Dahis, that, 
 unless they changed their conduct, he would send an army 
 against them ; not, however, a Turkish army — for it would 
 be a grievous thing for the faithful to fight against the faith- 
 ful — but soldiers of other nations, and of another creed ; 
 and that such evil should then befall them as had never yet 
 befallen a Turk. 
 
 On this intimation, the Dahis asked one another — " What 
 army the Grand Signior could allude to — Austrians or Rus- 
 sians ? It could not be believed that he would invite 
 foreigners into the empire." " By Allah ! " they exclaimed, "he 
 mean sthe Hayahs!" They became convinced that he would 
 send Dervish Beg, the son of Mustafa, or Asam Beg, to lead 
 the Servians against them, under their Kneses and chiefs. To 
 prevent this, they resolved to go into the Nahis, and put to 
 death all sucli as might prove dangerous to them. 
 
 It was in February, 1804, that the Dahis commenced this 
 work of horror, each one in his own division of the country. 
 At first, their design was accomplished without difficulty : as 
 soon as either they or their Bailifls entered a village, the 
 inhabitants, as usual^ advanced to meet them, to supply them 
 with food, or to take charge of their horses ; this offered 
 them a convenient oppoiiiunity for seizing whomsoever they 
 chose. They were not satisfied with getting rid of the 
 Xneses and the Kmetes, but every person of any considera- 
 tion, whether it had been acquired by military prowess, 
 eloquence, or wealth, was put to death. The first they killed 
 was the Knes Stanoie, of Begalitza ; then were slain Mark 
 Tscharapitsch, Stephen of Seoke, and Theophan of Oraschie, 
 near Smederevo, all of whom were Kneses ; the former Bul- 
 jukbasches, Janko Gagitsch of Boletsch, and Matthias of 
 
SI^VUGHTER OF SERVIANS BY THE DAHIS. 77 
 
 Kragiijevaz, and the Igumen of the Cloister Moravzi, Hadji 
 Gero : for even the sacred office afforded no protection. 
 
 A short time previously, the Archimandrite Ruvim had 
 fled from the Cloister Bogovadja. Alexa Nenadovitsch, who 
 was suspected of being the writer of a letter to Austria, 
 describing the insupportable misery of the country, which 
 had fallen into the hands of the Turks, had charged the 
 authorship of the letter upon the Archimandrite ; who, he 
 considered, would be safe, by reason of his absence. In an 
 unfortunate horn-, however, the Archimandrite now returned. 
 Alexa ajDprized him of the danger in which his life was 
 placed. Kuvim answered — " Alexa knows not the misery of 
 a foreign land and a strange house : it is now his turn to 
 experience them." They both hoped to get over the danger : 
 Alexa because he had been assured that the letter was no 
 longer ascribed to him ; Kuvim because his nephew, a painter, 
 v/orked in the house of a Dahi. However, they were both 
 murdered, although they were among the chief men of the 
 nation : Alexa, by Fotschitsch : and Ruvim, after hoiTible 
 tortui-es, by Aganlia. Aftersvards followed the mmxler of 
 the Kneses, Elias Birtschanin, Peter of Ressava, Baiza of 
 Sabrdie, and many others — alas ! who could enumerate them 
 all ? Horror prevailed throughout the country. Men knew 
 not who were doomed. The belief gained ground that it was 
 intended to extirpate the entire population. Even the poorest 
 feared for his life. In the villages, none but old men and 
 children went forth to meet the Turks. The able-bodied fled 
 to the moimtains — into the hiding-places of the Hey dues. 
 
78 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 INSURRECTION AGAINST THE DAHIS. 
 
 Reaction among the Peasantry. — Divisions of Servia. — Meetings of the 
 Servian Chiefs. — Kara George. — The Heyducs. — Vehko. — Jacob 
 Nenadovitsch. — The Heydue Kjurtshia. — Rapid Progress of the 
 Insurrection. — Kara George is elected Commander of the Servians. — 
 Affray between the Dahis and the Raya Gushanz Ali and tlie Krdschalies. 
 — Defeat of the Turks. — 'Attack of Belgrade by the Army of the Schu- 
 madia. — Slaughter of a Troop of Heyducs. — Jacob Nenadovitsch and 
 Kara George take the Fortress of Poscharevaz. — The Pacha of Bosnia 
 joins the Servians. — Flight of the Dahis. — They are put to death by 
 the Servians. 
 
 There are degrees even in the subjugation of a people. 
 Since the death of Stephan Dushan, we have beheld the 
 Servians falling, step by step ; losing their political inde- 
 pendence abroad, and at home deprived of all participation 
 in public affairs both in Church and State. Every moment 
 of transient liberty has been followed by some new depriva- 
 tion. Truly man can endure much ! Every measure has 
 been succeeded by one more severe than the last. After the 
 brief relaxation the Servians had enjoyed under Austria, and 
 the condition in which they had been for a few years, all saw 
 themselves threatened with death or personal slavery under 
 usurping despots. We know that a national spirit in these 
 p)eople — a sense, too, of their own importance, had been 
 aroused and strengthened in the last wars ; and especially in 
 their successful enterprises against these same Janissaries by 
 whom they were now doomed to destruction. The period 
 had now arrived which was to decide whether they were to 
 remain a nation or to be anniliilated : and the consciousness 
 of this aroused them to exertion. 
 
 Beflecting, at a later period, on their history, we are 
 impressed with the idea, that, from this time, the national 
 development opened out for itself a new course. 
 
 The peasants and shepherds, who had now fled from their 
 homes ir.to the mountains, at first only thought how they 
 might rctiu^n to them without being in fear for their lives. 
 
MEETINGS OF SERVIAN CHIEFS. 79 
 
 But to effect this they must commence a war throughout 
 the country, and, by their own exertions, extinguish an 
 authority which was exercised in a mamier so tyrannical. 
 They were one and all determined to do so. 
 
 The country, as it descends towards the Danube and the 
 Save, forms three divisions. Of these the central division 
 is the most important — especially the forest region, called 
 Schumadia. This division is separated from the others : on 
 one side by the broad and frequently inundated valley of 
 the Morava, and on the other by the Kolubara — at its 
 commencement a torrent, and farther on flowing through 
 extensive tracts of morass. In each of these divisions, the 
 movement originated with different leaders. 
 
 First, in the Schumadia, there was a meeting of three 
 chiefs : George Petrovitsch, called by the Turks Kara 
 George, Janko Katitsch, and Yasso Tscharapitsch. The 
 first had escaped at the very moment designed for his 
 seizure. He was in the act of collecting together his herd 
 of swine, which he had bought for the purpose of selling in 
 Austria — for that was his calling, — one of the most profitable 
 and respectable employments in the country — when he 
 joerceived the approach of the Turks, who were seeking him. 
 He left his swine to take their own way, and fled into the 
 forests with the herdsmen whom he had hired for his 
 business. He had served in the volunteer corps, had after- 
 wards become Heyduc, and was considered one of the most 
 enterprising men in the country ; as he was also one of 
 the richest. 
 
 Katitsch, the second of these chiefs, had, as Buljukbascha 
 a,gainst Passvan Oglu, acquired a knowledge of the art of 
 war, and had become acquainted with those who were 
 capable of taking arms. He was prudent; eloquent, and 
 brave. 
 
 Yasso, the third, was eager to revenge the death of his 
 brother, Mark Tscharapitsch. 
 
 They were determined not to wait till they should have 
 to suffer death, chained by the hangmen and grooms of the 
 Dahis, but to seek it boldly as free men. They were joined 
 by numbers : all men who accounted it a sin to die without 
 taking an enemy with them. Their unanimous determina- 
 tion was, to sell life for life. The Heyducs also eagerly 
 
80 HEYDUCS RESENT HOSTILITIES. 
 
 joined them. The most noted of these were Glavasch and 
 Veliko. Yeliko had served, during the winter, as herdsman, 
 and, as snch, had taken a wife. Now he resumed his arms 
 and his Heyduc's dress. " Woe is me !" exclaimed his wife, 
 as she saw him thus equijoped, " I have married a robber !" 
 He consoled her by replying that, "now every man had 
 become a robber," and departed to seek his companions. 
 
 A numerous and resolute band of Heyducs and fugitives, 
 at the commencement of hostilities, attacked the village of 
 Sibnitza, in the district of Belgrade, of which. Katitsch and 
 Tscharapitsch were natives. They fired the house of the 
 Subascha, killed and plundered the Turks whom they found, 
 and carried off with them all the Servians capable of bearing- 
 arms. Couriers were despatched in all directions ; every 
 one who could carry a gTin was ordered to join one of the 
 armed bands ; the houses of the Subasches were to be 
 destroyed ; the women and children were to be brought into 
 the barricades on the mountains. And this was done. Any 
 man who was unwilling to join them Avas forcibly com- 
 pelled. 
 
 At this news, the country on the further side of the 
 Kolubara also rose. Jacob Nenadovitch — who, as a song- 
 records, had been charged by his brother Alexa, in his 
 dying moments, to revenge his death — most distingTiished 
 himself. Luka Lasarevitsch, the brother of Kanko, regard- 
 less that he was a priest and wore a beard, took up arms. 
 Of the Heyducs in this district, none was so dreaded as 
 Kiurtschia. He was a most expert marksman. The first 
 shot which he had ever fired, hit the target : a feat which 
 many a Turk had fruitlessly essayed. For this superiority, 
 the Turks conceived such a hatred against him, that they 
 attempted to kill him, and obliged him to flee into the 
 mountains. He now came down, and carried the standard 
 before Jacob, who, for the first time, took the field. 
 
 About the same time, a movement took place amongst 
 the people on the further side of the Morava. Amongst 
 these was Milenko, of Klitschevaz, an acquaintance of 
 Katitsch ever since the war against Passvan Oglu : a man 
 naturally inclined to peace, yet not so much so as to be 
 blind to the danger in which he stood on account of his 
 authority and wealtli. At the same time rose Peter Theo- 
 
ELECTION- OF A COMMANDER. 81 
 
 dorovitsch Dobrinjaz, with whom he long remained united 
 by the ties of mutual interest. 
 
 In all the three districts, the Turks had been simul- 
 taneously driven from the villages. Nor did the conquerors 
 long refrain from attacking the small towns, called Palanks ; 
 wliere they encountered no resistance. They first took 
 Rudnili, and burned it ; then other towns in succession : the 
 Turkish population hastened to take refuge in the fortified 
 places. 
 
 , Thus com^menced the insurrection of the Servians. In a 
 moment, as it were, the whole country — the twelve ISTahis, 
 the villages and Palanks — was in the hands of men who, but 
 a short time before, had seemed doomed to extermination. 
 
 The Servians now said one to another — '' Every house has 
 a chief : the nation, also, ought to know whom it has to 
 follow." In an assembly of the chiefs of the Schumadia, 
 Glavasch, who had been the most active in the expulsion of 
 the Turks, was first proposed ; but he replied : '•' The nation 
 would never have confidence in a Heyduc, as he was, who 
 had neither a house, nor a field, nor anything, in fact, to 
 lose." Their choice then fell upon the Knes Theodosi, of 
 Oraschie, in the district of Kragujevaz. " God be with you !" 
 said he; "what are you thinking of? The Knes might 
 obtain a pardon for a Heyduc ; but who is to take care of 
 the Kneses if the Turks come back ?" 
 
 Since the Heyducs did not sufficiently enjoy the confi- 
 dence of the country, and the Kneses were unwilling to place 
 their unwarlike character at stake, it only remained to elect 
 some one who had been a Heyduc, and who had also pursued 
 a peaceful calling — the army being composed of these two 
 classes. In this position was Kara George. He was pro- 
 posed by Theodosi. Kara George excused himself at first, 
 on the ground that " he did not understand how to govern." 
 The Kneses replied " that they woidd give him counsel." To 
 this he rejoined, that " his impetuosity rendered him unfit 
 for the office : that he could not wait to consult, but should 
 be inclined to kill at once." He was assured that " such 
 severity was at that time requisite." 
 
 Thus Kara George became commander of the Servians :* 
 
 * He had the words Commendant Serhie engraven on his seal ; and 
 only at a later period styled himself Supreme Leader (Werhowniwoschd), 
 
 G 
 
82 ARRIVAL OF ASSISTANCE TO THE DAIIIS. 
 
 not, indeed, with tlie autliority of a prince over tlie country, 
 nor even with that of a general over the army ; for he had 
 many equals around him, and it was only in the Schumadia 
 that he was properly considered as chief However, as that 
 was the largest district, it enabled him to gain a preponde- 
 rating influence over the other districts also. 
 
 As yet the power of the Dahis was rather defied and 
 endangered, than actually destroyed. They were still in 
 possession of the fortresses, and as the occupiers of these 
 places of defence had always ruled the country, the Dahis 
 entertained a notion that the Kayahs might be pacified by 
 promises, and would come to terms with them. The Rayahs, 
 however, felt themselves too powerful ; and cruelties of too 
 horrible a nature had been perpetrated, for such an arrange- 
 ment any longer to be possible. 
 
 At the very first meeting of the two parties in Drlupa, 
 whilst the chiefs were holding a conference, their attendants 
 had already come to blows, and did not separate until blood 
 had been shed. Somewhat later, Fotschitsch tried his for- 
 tune ; but with the same ill success. When at length the 
 Metropolitan Leonti — who was hated by the Servians almost 
 as much as the Turks themselves were — came with new 
 ofiers from Belgrade, he was told, positively, that unless the 
 Dahis were given up, no peace could be hoped for. 
 
 Meanwhile a troop of one thousand Krdschalies, attracted 
 by the first news of the breaking out of disturbances, ap- 
 peared on the frontier of the country, under their leader, 
 Guschanz Ali. They would not have been unwilling to 
 make common cause with the Servians ; but the latter had 
 no wish to have Turks amongst them, with whose name 
 they almost inseparably connected the idea of masters. The 
 Dahis, however, dared not hesitate. Howsoever hazardous 
 it might be to admit into their capital a partisan whose cha- 
 racter was not too respectable, necessity compelled them to 
 do so ; and by assigning Guschanz his quarters in the 
 Wratschar, outside the actual town, they considered that 
 sufficient provision had been made for their own safety. 
 
 Assistance, of a less suspicious character, however, came 
 to the Dahis in the open field. Their Bosnian friend, Alibeg 
 Vidaitsch, was ready to repay to them the service which 
 they had rendered him a 3^ear before. He advanced with an 
 
SUCCESS O? THE SERVIANS. fiS- 
 
 army, composed of meu who neither themselves doubted nor 
 suffered a doubt to remain upon the mind of their chief, 
 that they should be able completely to crush tliis rebellion 
 of the Servians. When this army marched through Losnitza, 
 many a one was heard to ask, whether these were the same 
 Servians who were wont, upon former occasions (though fifty 
 of them, armed, were conducting a bride to the wedding), so 
 soon as they saw a Turk, to hide their pistols under their 
 mantles, or dismount from their horses ? And now a single 
 Turk would have been intimidated by fifty of them ! 
 
 Alibeg did not consider it worth his while to take the 
 field, in person, against enemies so contemptible ; he there- 
 fore remained, according to the custom of the Yiziers, at 
 Schabaz, and left the Subasches to lead his army to the chas- 
 tisement of the rebels. But the Servians, who were not 
 now for the first time in the field, knew how to meet 
 their foes. They had the pimdence and adroitness, as the 
 enemy advanced, to abandon the entrenchments which they 
 were just then raising in Svileuva, but which were not yet 
 tenable. The Turks, who perhaps ascribed this retreat to 
 fear, did not hesitate to occupy them. The Servians then 
 instantly returned, and surrounded the fortifications ; and 
 by this means at once obtained the superiority. Hemmed 
 in, and without provisions— threatened with certain de- 
 struction from the unceasing firing and the continuous 
 reinforcement of fresh troops — the Turks at last declared 
 that their intention had not been to fight : that they had 
 §ome only to ascertain the state of affairs. Hereupon, the 
 Bosnians were allowed to disperse ; but when the troops by 
 whom they had been accompanied from Belgrade endea- 
 voured to pass out with them, their departure was violently 
 opposed ; and the consequence was, that not one man in ten. 
 of eifcher party escaped. 
 
 With their opinions altogether changed, the survivors 
 returned through Losnitza. Their report was, " that every 
 Servian had carried with him a broad stake or plank, with, 
 which he protected himself as with a shield, and as he 
 advanced planted it in the ground ; then, stationing himself 
 behind it, he fired under the shelter thus afforded, so inces- 
 santly and with such rapidity, that it seemed as though he 
 had only to thrust his hand into a sackful of ammunition, 
 
 g2 
 
84 GALLANT DEFENCE OP HEYDUCS. 
 
 and throw balls at his foes." The Moslems of this district 
 sent their women and children over the Drina. 
 
 Still further encouraged by their success, the Servians no 
 longer hesitated to assail their enemies in the fortresses. 
 The army of the Schumadia attacked Belgrade ; Jacob Nena- 
 dovitsch encamped before Schabaz, on the farther side of the 
 Kolubara ; and, beyond the Morava, Milenko's force threa- 
 tened Poscharevaz, which had been hastily fortified by the 
 Dahis. 
 
 Shortly after, the Servians, who were besieging Schabaz^ 
 were again menaced by Bosnia. 
 
 A Kabadahi of the Dahis, named Noschina, who had, 
 previously to the insurrection, gone upon a visit to his 
 friends in Bosnia, now despairing of being able to make his 
 way back, even with the fourscore stately Krdschalies who 
 were with him, assembled a thousand men ; not only to 
 make sure of fighting his way through the force which be- 
 sieged Schabaz, but also with the design of dispersing it. 
 Before he could eftect this, however, he must overpower 
 about two hundred Heyducs ; who, under the command of 
 Kiurtschia, were posted near the cloister of Tschokeshina. 
 The smallness of their numbers, even after Jacob had 
 brought them a slight reinforcement, caused Kiurtschia to 
 despair of being able to defend the cloister. " A cloister 
 burnt to the ground," said he, " we may rebuild, but a dead 
 man we cannot bring to life again." Jacob understood bet- 
 ter, that was not a question of the walls of a cloister, but 
 of the continuation of the siege of one of the most important 
 fortresses. " Thinkest thou," he replied to the Heyduc, " that 
 the seed of mankind will perish with thee?" Kiurtschia 
 turned away enraged, abandoned the cloister, and went into 
 the mountains. 
 
 xTor could Jacob persuade the others to undertake the 
 defence of the walls. They were accustomed to fight only 
 in the forests and the mountains. " They would not," they 
 said, '' remain blocked up, awaiting death like women." 
 However, they resolutely determined to wait upon a neigh- 
 bouring height for their enemies, who were, perhaps, five 
 times as numerous as themselves, — a Thermopylae of Servian 
 Heyducs! It must not be supposed that they thus calmly 
 awaited death without a prospect of relief ; Jacob had gone 
 
ADV.YNCE OF THE SERVIAN ARMY. 86 
 
 to obtain further assistance ; but, before he could return, all 
 was decided. The Heyducs, surrounded on their hill, fought 
 "vvith the utmost courage from morning to night ; imtil they 
 had expended all their powder, and their guns, from the 
 frequent discharges, had become almost unserviceable. Many 
 had been killed, and the rest, already wounded and crouching 
 behind trees, hred only now and then. In the evening, 
 the Turks, reinforced by fresh numbers, attacked them with 
 renewed vigour, and killed every one of these brave men. 
 But they had not died in vain : Noschina had gained pos- 
 session of the hill ; yet, in doing this, he sustained so heavy 
 a loss, that he could not hope to effect anything for the 
 rehef of Schabaz. On the contrary, just at that time Scha- 
 baz was so hardly pressed — Jacob Nenadovitsch having, to 
 the no small increase of his reputation, though at {^ high 
 price, procured a piece of ordnance — that it vv^as the first of 
 the fortresses to consent to a treaty. Even before Jacob had 
 returned from Tschokeshina, it was surrendered to his 
 nephew, the son of Alexa, the Prota (arch-priest). The 
 condition was, that all the violent partisans of the Dahis in 
 their despotism v»^ere to leave the country : the others were 
 allowed to remain, but they might not enter the Nahia. 
 
 Jacob and Kara George now appeared before Poscharevaz, 
 to assist Milenko ; bringing with them the gun Jacob had 
 with such difficulty obtained, and the men who were no 
 longer required at Schabaz, as well as those who could 
 be temporarily spared from Belgrade. No sooner did the 
 garrison of that fortress find themselves cannonaded, than 
 they asked to be allowed to evacuate the place in safety. 
 This was granted ; but only on their delivering up to the 
 chiefs their best Arabian horses, and the trappings, which 
 were most beautifully adorned with silver. 
 
 The victorious army now proceeded to Smederevo. The 
 Turks were forced to pledge themselves not to enter the 
 I^ahia, and moreover to conform strictly to such regTilations 
 as should be agreed upon at BelgTade. Before that city the 
 Servians now concentrated all their forces. From the Save 
 to the Danube the whole country was covered by their 
 troops : Jacob was encamped close by the Save, and Tschara- 
 pitsch near the Danube ; between the two were George and 
 Katitsch, each in his own encampment. Kiurtschia also — 
 
86 SERVIANS BEFORE BELGRADE. 
 
 who, after a short reconciliation, was again at variance with 
 Jacob, on account of his distribution of the booty of Pos- 
 charevaz — joined them ; but he formed a camp for himself, 
 and raised his own banner. 
 
 He did not remain long, however ; for, it appearing to 
 him an act of insufferable interference that the commander- 
 in-chief should have punished one of his followers ; he there- 
 upon struck his tents and marched off. 
 
 In his stead the Servians soon afterwards obtained an ally 
 of quite a different character to assist them in the siege of 
 Belgrade. The robber chieftain left them ; the Pacha of 
 Bosnia came to their aid. 
 
 His arrival was not altogether unexpected by the Servians. 
 They were sufficiently acquainted with political affairs to be 
 aware that the Dahis were by no means friends of the Grand 
 Signior; and the banished Spahis constantly assured the 
 Sei'vians, that they rendered a service to the Sultan by fight- 
 ing against the Dahis. Some trustworthy Turks had already 
 joined their ranks ; and a former Bimbascha of Hadji 
 Mustafa had distributed ammunition amongst them, and 
 encouraged them to take correct aim ; saying that, " at each 
 shot an enemy ought to fall." Even an old Turkish priest 
 made his appearance in their camp ; and to him is ascribed 
 the authorship of a firman, in approbation of the undertaking, 
 which was found posted up in the camp ; though, in fact, it 
 had never come from Constantmople. Although the Divan 
 did not commit itself by any such unequivocal declaration, 
 it could not long remain unknown how deeply the interest of 
 the Grand Siguier's whole government was connected with 
 this conflict. 
 
 A commencement was thus made to the destruction of the 
 power of the Janissaries, who prevented every general 
 measure of the government from being carried out. The 
 Grand Vizier conceived the judicious idea of making this 
 insurrection of the people conduce towards a state of order, 
 by allowing them to participate in the higher authority ; 
 which he thought would, at the same time, bring the affair 
 to an end. 
 
 Whilst he allowed Asam Beg, who was still at Constanti- 
 nople, to plead the cause of the exiled Spahis and assemble 
 them around him, he appointed the Knes Johann Kaschko- 
 
FLIGHT OF THE DAIIIS. 87 
 
 vitsch — who happened at the time to be in the capital, pur- 
 chasing provisions for the Servian army — to the office of 
 Inspector of the Custom-house (Basergjanbaschi) at Belgrade. 
 He at the same time ordered the Pacha of Bosnia, Bekir, to 
 undertake the management of the whole affiiir : to banish 
 the Dahis, and to restore peace. 
 
 Little can be said of what Asam Beg and Raschkovitsch 
 effected ; but Bekir's arrival, with three thousand men, from 
 Bosnia, produced a decisive result. The Servians received 
 him with every mark of respect. They sent their Kneses to 
 meet him at the frontier of the country, and prepared 
 quarters for him where he halted for the night ; and in their 
 camp he was greeted with a salute of gims. He encamped 
 in the neighbom^hood of the Wratschar, near the White 
 Fountain, where the other chiefs were also encamped. 
 
 Bekir certainly found affairs somewhat different from what 
 he had anticipated. He had come to Schabaz just when 
 Kiurtschia, with his standard, had also arrived. An old 
 Turk, on hearing the name of the well-knoA^Ti Heyduc, who 
 now bore a standard, cried, " My beard has become white' 
 and must I now for the first time see a robber's standard 
 imfurled ?" The displeasure and astonishment of Bekir 
 were also excited by the appearance of the other troops. 
 Instead of obedient Rayahs, he found before Belgrade an 
 army well prepared for any resistance ; its leaders in glitter- 
 ing attire, and arms which they had taken as booty from the 
 Turks. 
 
 But whatever were his reflections on these surprises to the 
 Dahis, it was a source of much alarm when they saw a Pacha 
 in alliance with the Rayahs. It seemed a realization of what 
 they had been threatened with : that an army of another 
 faith should come against them under the Sultan's authority. 
 But the greatest danger appeared in the fact, that their own 
 mercenary, Guschanz Ali, v/as in open negotiation with both 
 their enemies. When a confidential servant of Guschanz, 
 pretending to have quarrelled ^vith him, but without doubt 
 acting under his instructions, informed them that his master 
 had determined to let the besiegers in, they deemed it most 
 advisable to escape with theii' remaining treasures : they 
 therefore proceeded down the Danube in a caique to New 
 Orschova. Guschanz immediately profited by their depar- 
 
66 DEATH OF THE DAHIS. 
 
 ture to make himself master of the citadel : nor did he 
 hesitate to plunder the most distiDguished inhabitants, under 
 the pretext of their friendship for the Dahis. Of the Grand 
 Signior, however, he entertained so profound an awe, that he 
 received the Pacha of Bosnia into the town without any 
 resistance. 
 
 Cowardly tyrants these Dahis unquestionably were ; but 
 their flight did not avail them. The Servians would not be 
 satisfied until they had the heads of their foes laid at their 
 feet ; the Pacha therefore ordered the Commandant of Ors- 
 chova to deliver up to the incensed populace the enemies of 
 the Grand Signior. Accordingly one night some Servians, 
 under Milenko, were admitted into the fortress. The Com- 
 mandant pointed out to them a house, through the windows 
 of which lights were seen ; in it were the Daliis. The 
 Servians attacked it ; some shots were exchanged ; and 
 Milenko soon brought the heads of the four Dahis into the 
 Servian camp. 
 
 Hereupon Bekir declared that everything now was done 
 that could be desired ; and he directed the Servians to return 
 home to their flocks and their tillage. 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE OPPOSITION AGAINST THE 
 GRAND SIGNIOR. 
 
 Condition of Servia. — Insurrection in the Bosnian Districts. — Death of 
 the Heyduc Kiurtschia. — Mehemet Kapetan, of Svornik. — The Servians 
 determine to solicit the Aid of a Foreign Power. — Mediation of Russia. 
 — Negotiations at Constantinople. — Servian Statement of the Expenses 
 of the last War. — Operations in the Southern Districts. — Repulse of 
 Kara George at Karanovaz. — Enterprises of Jacob Nenadovitsch and 
 Milan Obrenovitsch. — Surrender of Uschize. — Political and Wilit-uy 
 Reforms in Turkej^. — The Janissaries. — The Sultan Selim III arrests 
 the Servian Deputies. — Afiz Pacha of Nisch is ordered to disarm the 
 Rayahs. — Stephen .Schivkovitsch excites the Servians to resist. — They 
 oppose the Advance of Afiz. — His Retreat and Dfcath. 
 
 The Servians had not commenced their enterprise from a 
 desii^e for innovation ; they had not perhaps been incited to 
 
CONDITION OP SERVIA. 89 
 
 it by an erroneous notion of attaining a state of perfection : 
 uro-ent necessity, and actual danger of their lives, had com- 
 pelled them to take up arms. They had risen against the 
 open enemies of their sovereign. Nevertheless, it was de- 
 manding too much of them, that, having conquered their 
 foes, they should return to their old condition. 
 
 The war was not even yet concluded. 
 
 Though the Dahis had j)erished, their system was by no 
 means destroyed. Their Subasches and Kabadahis still held 
 out in the southern fortresses of the Pachalic. In XJschize a 
 certain Omer Aga, who had come from Widdin, out of the 
 ser\dce of Passvan Oglu, and Bego Novljanin, a well-known 
 character from Bosnia, had usurped a power as unrestrained 
 as it was illegal. At Karanovaz, in the district of Poschega, 
 the most violent of all the Subasches had found refuge. 
 
 Bekir was in eiTor if he imagined that he had made him- 
 self master even of Belgrade. Guschanz Ali, who had opened 
 the gates of the town to him, but kept the keys of the upper 
 fortress for himself, impetuously demanded his pay, which he 
 stated he had not received from the Dahis, notwithstanding 
 he had defended the fortress against the Rayahs throughout the 
 summer. Bekir in fact could not venture to leave Belgrade 
 until the Servians had complied with the Vizier's entreaties 
 to discharge a part of the arrears of the pay that had been 
 earned by service against themselves. '"- 
 
 Nevertheless the Krdschalies did not give up the fortress. 
 
 * Their neighbours did not know how to interpret these matters. 
 They spoke of a real treaty between Bekir and the Servians, and that at 
 length Bekir had even gone over to the Servians. These reports they 
 spread abroad. — (Bredow : Chronicle of the Nineteenth Century, 1804, 
 page 347.) What further has been narrated is perhaps just as correct as 
 the report that Bekir had hired a Turk to assassinate Kara George : the 
 assassin, apparently wislnng to communicate some important secret, 
 approached the leader, fired his pistol at him, but only grazed his cheek. 
 Of this so much is true, that Kara George had a scar on his cheek. But 
 the fact was this : an Igumen of a cloister used to carry a club, which he 
 had taken from a Turk. The Momkes of Kara George in vain requested 
 the Igumen to give it to them. At last they called their master to their 
 aid, who prepared to take the club from him by force. The Igumen, 
 however, said, " From Scharkow (that was his name) not even the Turks 
 have obtained anything by force," and drawing his sword, wounded 
 Kara George in the face, whereupon Scharkow was killed by the 
 Momkes. 
 
so CONDITION OF SERVTA. 
 
 They even broke into parties amongst tliemselves^ and fonglit 
 tlieir quarrels out, without any one's having the power, or 
 even making an effort, to prevent them. Redschep, the 
 nepliew of the commandant of New Orschova, and Gus- 
 chanz Ali, both hoped some day to obtain the Pachalic ; and 
 they contended for it, until at length Guschanz succeeded in 
 expelling his future rival. These disturbances prove to how 
 slight an extent order had been re-established, and a durable 
 state of things introduced. 
 
 But even had this been the case, the Servians could not 
 have returned to their former condition. Was it likely that 
 they, who now, for the third time, had come off victorious in 
 conflict with the Turks, would still dismount from their 
 horses, and conceal their weapons, before the men whose 
 ancestors, centuries ago, had once conquered them ? Should 
 they now submit to jierform every sort of menial service, 
 whenever they entered those very towns which they them- 
 selves had just conquered ? He who has victorious weapons 
 in his hand will always claim power. The Servians no 
 longer regarded the Pacha and the Spahis as their real chiefs, 
 but obeyed as such, those who had led them to battle, — men 
 who had created their own strength and authority ; who 
 were surrounded by partisans, called Momkes, ready for any 
 service ; and who were not disposed to resign the pleasure of 
 commanding, which they had so recently enjoyed. Though 
 their original object had not been to establish a new order 
 of things, that end had been obtained by the course of 
 events. 
 
 As this was felt on both sides, it occasioned distrust and 
 hatred amongst the Servians : even against those with whom 
 they should have been on amicable terms ; for instance, 
 against the Pacha Soliman, who had remained at Belgrade. 
 He became so suspected by the Servian chiefs, that they did 
 not venture to go up together to Belgrade ; and when, on 
 one occasion, they happened to be there, they saw, or imagined 
 they saw, that he was manoeuvring to detain them and to 
 take their lives. They therefore pretended that their object 
 had been to fetch the Teskeres of the Haradsch out of the 
 town, for the purpose of collecting that tribute ; and they 
 afterwards felt quite certain, that it was only by this strata- 
 gem that they so easily effected their escape. 
 
INSURRECTION IN THE BOSNIAN DISTRICTS. 91 
 
 At tliis period an incident occurred in the immediate neigli- 
 Loiirhood exemplifying the prevailing antagonism. 
 
 As the usurpation had formerly extended to the Bosnian 
 districts on this side of the Drina, so also did the insiUTection 
 now reach them. This was the work of Kiurtschia. In the 
 Nahia of Schabaz, where we left him, he indulged his hatred 
 against Jacob Nenadovitsch, by discharging all those officers 
 who had received their appointments from him. He then 
 2)assed the frontier ; and so soon as he had burnt the castle 
 of Alibeg Vidaitsch, and had spread his Momkes over the 
 surrounding districts of Jadar and Eadjevina, the people 
 rose in rebellion, and chased away the Turks in every 
 direction. 
 
 The result, however, proved fatal to Kiurtschia himself. 
 For the Turks, soon after, came back, and, not satisfied with 
 laying waste Jadar, forced their way to Schabaz, without his 
 being able to hinder them. Jacob Nenadovitsch charged 
 Kiurtschia with this disturbance, as well as with some out- 
 rages of his people, and obtained a sentence of death against 
 him. In order to execute the sentence, he invited the Hey- 
 duc to Novoselo, under the pretext of consulting with him 
 concerning the defence of the frontier. Without suspicion, 
 and disregarding their former quarrels, Kiurtschia, attended 
 by four Momkes, came to Jacob, who had with him a force 
 of more than a thousand m^en. The chiefs spent the evening 
 in feasting and conversation. Next day some of Jacob's 
 men laid hands on one of Kiurtschia's Momkes. Kiurtschia 
 was just then reposing ; and when he awoke, and saw his 
 horse already in the hands of his enemies, he attempted, with 
 a g-un in his hand, to make his way through their ranks into a 
 neighbouring hut, where his back might be protected from 
 his assailants. Covered with wounds when he reached the 
 hut, he yet managed to clear it of its occupants ; and then, 
 sitting down, defended himself to the last. He died from 
 loss of blood, — the first victim of internal discord — a hero 
 still remembered with admii^ation by his countrymen. 
 
 Kiurtschia's enterprise brought death upon himself, but it 
 procured for the district a government conformable to the 
 lav/s. 
 
 An influential old man of Svomik, Mehemet Kapetan, who 
 had ever been adverse to the innovations of Alibeg, and who, 
 
92 THE SERVIAXS SEEK FOREIGN ASSISTANCE. 
 
 tlioiigli nearly seventy years of age, was still vigorous and 
 inclined to war, now appeared amongst the Servians, declar- 
 ing liimself ready, with his five sons, to go against the Turks. 
 The people followed him with reluctance ; but through his 
 exertions, added to those of the native chiefs, Antonie Bogit- 
 schevitsch and Jephtimi Savitch, the districts of Jadar and 
 Kadjevina succeeded in obtaining peace. 
 
 The offices of Subasches and Tschitluksahibis were abol- 
 ished ; the Pacha promised that only once a-year should the 
 landowner come into the country to collect his revenues, and 
 that no other Turk should enter it ; even in the event of a 
 war with Servia, the Turkish troops should proceed by 
 another route. Hostages were given on both sides. The 
 inhabitants agreed to pay Poresa and Haradsch ; in consider- 
 ation of which the Pacha allowed them to judge and govern 
 themselves in the greatest as well as in the least concerns. 
 Such was the order of things established in Jadar and 
 Kadjevina. 
 
 To some it might appear that the Servians in the Pachalic 
 of Belgrade should have been satisfied with similar arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 They did not think so ; and no one can be surprised at 
 this. 
 
 The Servians of Belgrade had carried throu.gh their insurrec- 
 tion in a very difTerent manner from the people of Jadar and 
 Kadjevina, and with far greater danger and difficulty. It 
 was also attended with more important results. The inhabi- 
 tants had already been subjected to the greatest misery 
 through the vacillation of the supreme authority, in sufiering 
 tlie return of the Janissaries, whom they had expelled. 
 How, therefore, could they feel assured that the faction by 
 which they were opposed would not, a second time, obtain 
 the upper hand — through the continued want of resolution 
 in the Grand Signior— and thus deprive them of all the 
 advantages they had won ? 
 
 Certainly no one can blame them for seeking a better 
 security for the future. 
 
 It was now that a plan occurred to them which proved 
 to be of the greatest importance, not only in itself, but from 
 the manner in which it was executed : this was to solicit the 
 intervention of a Christian power in their favour. 
 
APPLICATION TO RUSSIA. 03 
 
 For some time they were unable to decide whether that 
 power should be Austria or Russia. 
 
 IMany of their kindred tribes dwelt under Austrian influ- 
 ence. Austria had, in former times, always been the moving 
 cause of the Servian insurrections : had once already ruled 
 these lands ; and it was to Austria that, in the last war, the 
 Servians were indebted for their skill in warfare. 
 
 There were many, too, amongst them who had rendered 
 homage to Joseph II., or had borne arms under him. 
 
 But it also occurred to the Servians that Austria had 
 never retained the possessions she acquired, but had always 
 given back both land and people to the Turks. Moreover, 
 Austria was now directing all her attention to the AV^est ; 
 concentrating her entire strength for a new conflict with the 
 French Empii-e : which, both in Italy and Germany, must be 
 a matter of life and death. 
 
 On the other hand, the name of Russia had, during the last 
 century, acquired a high reputation amongst aU the followers 
 of the Greek Church : but the most important pohit was that, 
 for a length of time, she had stood in the same relation to 
 Moldavia and Wallachia as that which Servia desired she 
 should stand towards herself. In repeated conventions with 
 the Porte, Russia had stipulated for freedom of religion, and 
 moderate taxation for these two principalities. The Hatti- 
 scherif of October 23, 1802, was still fresh in their recollection ; 
 in which the Porte granted to the governments of those 
 countries a greater degree of stability, pledged itself not to 
 remove the reigning prince without previous reference to 
 Russia,'^' and not to allow any Turks, except merchants and 
 traders, to enter their territory. A short time previously, the 
 new priace had, with the assistance of Russia, obtained a 
 grant of freedom from taxes, in consideration of the devasta- 
 tions caused by Passvan Oglu. 
 
 Services so important, rendered at that period to their 
 neighbours, iaduced the Servians, after some consideration, to 
 decide upon addressing themselves to Russia. In August, 
 
 1804, Prota Nenadovitsch, John Protitsch, and Peter Tschar- 
 daklia, were despatched to St. Petersburg, In Febniary, 
 
 1805, they returned with an answer which was, upon the 
 
 * Vide Engel, N. Geschiclite der Walachei, p. 73. 
 
M NEGOTIATIONS AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 whole, very favourable. The Russian government called 
 upon the Servians first to prefer their requests at Constanti- 
 nople, and promised to promote their fulfilment there. 
 
 The Servians, having now the promise of support from a 
 great Christian power, were inspired with new confidence in 
 their cause, and the demands which they made were of an 
 important character. 
 
 In April, 1805, a meeting of Servians was held at 
 Ostruschniza. Turks from Belgrade appeared there, and also 
 deputies from the Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia, in 
 behalf of the Porte : commissioned, it has been said, to 
 promise the chiefs Berates of Grand Kneses.* But, un- 
 doubtedly, neither one party nor the other was authorised to 
 grant the requests of the Servians ; who demanded that, for 
 the future, all the fortresses of the country should be garri- 
 soned by Servian troops ; on the ground of the necessity for 
 continuing the war against Guschanz Ali at Belgrade, and 
 against the supporters of the Dahis in the southern provinces. 
 Tliis claim cannot be considered unreasonable on the part of 
 the nation ; for all outrages had proceeded from the fortresses ; 
 but, on the other hand, it was a question requiring much 
 consideration on the part of the Divan ; as the Servian terri- 
 tory formed an important boundary of the Turkish Empire. 
 In support of their claims, the Servians handed to the dele- 
 gates a singular document : an enumeration of all the 
 expenses they had been put to by the last war, in the service 
 of the Grand Signior. In it there appeared an account of 
 money that had been paid to Guschanz Ali at three different 
 times ; to Bekir and Soliman Pacha ; and also of sums that 
 had been expended for these Pachas, and of what it had cost 
 to maintain them at Belgrade ; and, lastly, the amount of 
 their own equipment : a sum altogether of more than 
 2,000,000 piastres. This, they urged, ought at least to set 
 aside all demands for arrears of taxes. 
 
 To give more weight to their claims, the Servians also 
 determined, while at Ostruschniza, not to delay for a moment 
 longer, their projected attack on the rest of their enemies in 
 the southern fortresses. 
 
 * It has been always believed in Constantinople, that of the two Hos- 
 podars of the principalities, one at least, Ipsilauti, a good friend of Kara 
 George, had rather encouraged him in his resistance. Juchereau, ii. p. 36. 
 
OPEFvATIONS IN THE SOUTHERN DISTRICTS. 95 
 
 Accordingly, Kara George appeared before Karanovaz. Tt 
 was well defended by the Subasches, who had retreated 
 thither, and also by auxiliary forces from Novipasar, with 
 other soldiers who had been attracted by rumours of what 
 was taking place. George endeavoured to carry the place by 
 storm, but was repulsed ; and in his retreat he even lost the 
 largest gun he had brought with him : his own property. 
 This time, however, negotiation effected his object. He 
 represented to the Pacha of Novipasar that his business was 
 only Avith the Turks from the province of BelgTade ; and the 
 Pacha soon sent his Silihdar into the Servian camp to pro- 
 pose that all the Turks should be allowed to depart. To 
 this the Servians, who were anxious only to conceal the 
 greatness of their loss, readily consented. The whole of the 
 Turks marched off, and Kara George not only recovered his 
 gun, but received, as a present, a beautiful Arab steed with 
 splendid scarlet trappings. 
 
 About the same time Jacob Nenadovitsch marched against^ 
 Uschize. When he passed by the district of Sokol, Melety, 
 the Archimandrite of the cloister Eatscha, came to his 
 assistance. They did not attempt to storm the mountain 
 castle, called Sokol (the Falcon), which stands so high and 
 proudly on a rock, and gives its name to the whole district ; 
 but they readily excited insurrection among the people. 
 Keinforced by Melety and Milan Obrenovitsch, of Rudnik, 
 Jacob advanced with a force of 3,000 men and two pieces of 
 cannon : for he had furnished himself with a second gim. 
 This was a very imposing force in such a country, and 
 appeared to Omer Aga extremely formidable. Twenty aged. 
 Turks, who had taken no share in the horrors which had 
 been perpetrated, went to meet the approaching army, tcv 
 conciliate them as much as possible. On the mountain 
 Zrnokosso they met Jacob. At first they would not believe 
 that he really had cannon in his train, as had been reported ; 
 and, even when they saw them, they still hoped that they 
 were only of wood. But when they came nearer, and touched 
 them, and could no longer doubt their being real cannon, 
 their eyes filled with tears. '• Whither art thou going ? " said 
 they to Jacob. '' Why comes the Grand Signior's Payah to 
 cannonade the Grand Siguier's fortress ? " Jacob answered 
 that he w^as not come against the fortress of the Czar, but 
 
96 SjRkender of uschize. 
 
 against the rebels, Omer Agti, and Bego : that, in fact, he 
 had his cannon from the Czar himself; but that he would 
 not harm any one, if the evil-doers were delivered over to 
 him. Their reply was, " our law does not permit us to 
 deliver our brethren in faith over to a people of another 
 creed." 
 
 Jacob immediately attacked them all indiscriminately. 
 No sooner had he succeeded in setting lire to the town — the 
 flames, it being the dry season, spreading rapidly amongst the 
 wooden houses — than Omer and Bego Nowljanin took to 
 flight, and the rest of the garrison surrendered. This was on 
 tha 20th of July, 1805. The Turks then engaged not to 
 come into the Nahia ; over which Jacob appointed a Yoivode 
 of his own selection ; and for permission to remain in the 
 town, they gave to their conqueror 50,000 paistres and eighty 
 Arabian horses. 
 
 By these means the south of Servia was now placed on an 
 equality with the other part of the country. The fortresses 
 had every where surrendered, though they were not yet taken 
 possession of That the power of the Dahis was annihilated, 
 the Turks, who were favourable to the old order of things 
 and devoted to the Sultan, regarded as an advantage as much 
 as the Servians themselves did. But now the question arose 
 on all sides, " How would these parties conduct themselves 
 towards each other?" The Turks were excluded from the 
 country, yet they had not relinquished then- claims to its 
 government ; whilst the Servians demanded that all the for- 
 tresses should be placed in their own hands. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Servian embassy had arrived at Constan- 
 tinople, where their demands were laid before the Grand 
 Signior ; and it was upon these opposing claims that he was 
 called upon to decide. 
 
 If we take into consideration the entire condition of the 
 Ottoman Empire, we may venture to say that this crisis was 
 one of the most important that had, for centuries, occurred 
 in its history. 
 
 For just at that time also, the spirit of reform, the origin 
 of which has ak-eady been noticed, had attained a certain 
 degree of maturity. 
 
 In the year 1804, the Topdschi were placed on a footing 
 much superior to tlie Janissaries. Two .'iquadrons of Niza- 
 
PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE JANISSARIES. 97 
 
 midscliedicl, under red and white standards, were now seen 
 jDerforming their evolutions ; the foot-soldiers had guns and 
 bayonets, entirely alter French models ; and one at least of 
 the Pachas — Abdurrhaman of Caramania — had most zeal- 
 ously followed the example set him by the Sultan. 
 
 As tliis militia had rendered essential service in the pursuit 
 aud chastisement of bands of robbers who overran Roumelia, 
 Selim III, in 1 805, ventured upon the decisive step of issuing 
 a decree, that from among the Janissaries and the young men 
 of the Empire, the strongest and finest should everywhere 
 be selected for the purpose of serving amongst the Nizamid- 
 schedid.* 
 
 At the very time when the power of the Janissaxies, repre- 
 sented by the Dahis and Kabadahis, was destroyed by the 
 forces of the incensed Kayahs, in Servia, where they had most 
 especially sought firmly to establish themselves, this second 
 blow was struck by the Turkish government, in order to efiect 
 their total ruin. 
 
 The bands of robbers VN^hich were encountered by the 
 Nizamidschedid, in the same manner as the Krdschalies had 
 been by the Servians, were considered by the Janissaries 
 as their allies rather than as their enemies. 
 
 But the Janissaries had it still in their power to oppose to 
 the Sultan all that strength of attachment which people 
 cherish for their ancient customs. 
 
 We know that a Kadi, who had endeavoured to execute 
 the Sultan's commands, was, in consequence, strangled. 
 Adrianople rose in rebellion ; and the Janissaries were yet 
 able to bring 10,000 men against the Sultan's newly-organized 
 troops. 
 
 The Sultan would have considered himself fortunate, if, in 
 other provinces of his empire, bra.ve Rayahs, like the Servians, 
 had stood forward to strengthen his hands. And it became 
 a question of increased importance, whether he should not 
 attach the Servians at least to his cause, and enter into a 
 firm alliance with them. 
 
 Princes have ever sought the sympathy and co-operation 
 of the common people, as their best aid, when engaged in a 
 contest with those classes of their subjects who have grown 
 too powerful; through the exercise of exclusive privileges. 
 * Jucbcreau de St. Denys, ii. 2b'. 
 
 H 
 
98 HOSTILITY TOWARDS THE SERVIANS. 
 
 It was unfortunate for Sclim and the Turkish Empire that 
 he could not thus act ; but his })ositioii would not allow him 
 so to do. 
 
 Unlike other princes, all of whose subjects belong to them 
 equally, he was considered as peculiarly the ruler of the 
 Mussulmans. 
 
 For, as has been shown, the Turkish Empire is based not 
 on an union and amalgamation of different elements, but on 
 the opposing forces of two distinct populations ; one destined 
 to command, the other to obey. 
 
 That the E-ayahs, whose part it was to serve, should arm 
 themselves and thus assume an equality with the followers 
 of the dominant religion, was intolerable to the Mussulmans 
 of both parties — the reformers, as well as those who adhered 
 to the old system ; and it was also contrary to the funda- 
 mental laws of the country ; to the very nature of the Cali- 
 phate, and to the supreme authority itself. 
 
 We have seen that it was alleged against Hadji Mustafa as 
 a crime, that he had led the Servians against Passvan Oglu. 
 On the difference between the Faithful and the Infidels rested 
 that Fetwa of the Mufti, by which the re-admission of the 
 Janissaries into Belgrade was decided. Nothing made so 
 strong an impression on the otherwise peaceful Turks as 
 the banner of the Heyduo, and the artillery carried by the 
 Rayahs. 
 
 That the Sultan should grant all that the Servians had 
 demanded at Ostruschniza, was not to be expected. He was 
 justified in refusing to consign to their keeping the fortresses 
 on the frontiers. Other grants, however, tending to place 
 them and their property in greater security, were unques- 
 tionably due to them. Nor could the Sultan consistently 
 condemn them for having taken up arms in his behalf, since 
 he had thus been freed from an usurpation most dangerous to 
 his authority. 
 
 Yet, great as was the contradiction involved in this course, 
 SeKm III nevertheless adopted it. 
 
 He seemed to consider the Servians in the light of evil- 
 doers, and rebels against his authority ; and instead of any . 
 answer to their claims, he placed their deputies under arrest, 
 and issued an order to Afis, the Pacha of Nisch, to disarm 
 +-he Rayahs. 
 
THE SERVIANS PREPARE FOR DEFENCE. 99 
 
 This hostility to the Servians, — treatment altogether dif- 
 ferent in character from any they had before experienced 
 from the Turks, and originating with the Grand Signior 
 himself — met with the approval of the Mussulmans, and was 
 energetically pursued. 
 
 It is related that one of the Servian deputies — Stephen 
 Schivkovitsch, a wealthy merchant, conversant with the 
 Turkish and Greek langTiages, who had previously rendered 
 important services to his countrymen by procuring them 
 ammunition — contributed materially to the resistance which 
 was opposed to Afis Pacha. By representing, at Constanti- 
 nople, that, in order to prevent bloodshed, the Servians ought 
 to be assured that Afis proceeded in this matter at the express 
 command of the Porte, he managed to get himself sent to 
 Servia for this pui'pose. In Servia, however, he stated the 
 real facts only to the chiefs ; whilst, with an air of truth, he 
 related to the people that Afis had been commissioned to 
 march into Servia with not more than 300 men ; and that, 
 should he appear at the head of a larger army, they would 
 be justified in opposing him. Finally, he induced Guschanz 
 Ali to believe, that, despite of the interest made for himself, 
 Afis had been appointed to the Pachalic through bribery. 
 " Well, then, beat him out of the country ! " replied Guschanz ; 
 who, in the mean time, was content to remain, quiet at Bel- 
 grade with his Krdschalies ; though a part of the blockading 
 army was withdrawn. 
 
 Thus the Servians were enabled to arm themselves, and 
 were prepared to repel the Pacha's attack by force, should 
 necessity require it. On the extreme boundary of the 
 Pachalic, between Kiupria and Parakyn, Milenko and Peter 
 Dobrinjaz took up a position, with a force of 2500 men and 
 a piece of iron ordnance, behind two intrenchments, one 
 large and the other small. In their reai', on the left bank of 
 the Morava, in the mountains of Jagodina, Kara George 
 encamped with the people of the Schumadia, 
 
 An engagement, however, did not immediately ensue on 
 the appearance of Afis. At first, the Servians only required 
 that he should pursue the usual road, hitherto taken by all 
 the Pachas, over Jagodina; as, on that route alone, the 
 requisite accommodation had been provided. Afis, aware- 
 probably that on that very road another Servian army 
 
 II 2 
 
100 RETREAT OF THE TURKS. 
 
 awaited liim, insisted upon proceeding along tlie right bank 
 of the Morava down the Danube, The Servians replied, 
 " That part of the country had been laid waste by war, and 
 could not supply an army." Afis became angry, and ex- 
 claimed, "Am I to ask robbers which road I am to take to 
 Belgrade ?" 
 
 It is said that he brought ropes with him to bind the 
 chiefs ; but for the people — at the sight of whose beautiful 
 swords and turban-like head-dresses he was incensed — bread- 
 knives and peasants' caps : for such, he said, best became 
 them. 
 
 Afis first attacked and carried the smaller intrenchment, 
 despite the iron cannon Avith which it was defended by the 
 Servians. But the larger fortification held out the whole 
 day, so that the Turks were appalled by the losses they sus- 
 tained ; and as their scouts reported that Kara George was 
 approaching with liis whole force, at least 10,000 men (he 
 actually did lead down about 5000 from the mountains), 
 Afis determined to retreat. Accordingly, durmg the night, 
 he took down the standards with which he had surrounded 
 the besieged fort ; and, that his departure might not be 
 noticed, he planted branches of trees in their stead, and then 
 removed to Parakyn. 
 
 On the following morning Kara George made his aj)pear- 
 ance. Finding the camp deserted, he advanced as far as a 
 hill in front of Parakyn, and saluted the enemy with some 
 shot. He then sent a taunting message, saying, " If the 
 Pacha were a hero, he would come down into the plain :" 
 asking, "Why should the poor people in the town, who had 
 committed no wrong, have their houses burnt ? " 
 
 Kara George wished, moreover, to avoid the necessity of 
 attacking Parakyn, on account of its belonging to the Pacha 
 of Leskovaz, to whom he was under some obligation. 
 
 Afis found it difficult to hold his position, even behind 
 the walls of Parakyn. Despairing of being able to carry 
 out his undertaking, and much chagrined at the necessity of 
 yielding to Bayahs, he retreated still further to Nisch. Plis 
 death, which occurred soon after, was ascribed to the morti- 
 fication he experienced at the frustration of his mission. 
 
 The event which had hitherto been avoided now actually 
 took place. After an army which the Grand Signior had 
 
HOSTILITIES IN 1805. 101 
 
 sent to Servia had been repulsed by violence on tbe borders 
 of the country, it could no longer be said that the Sovereign 
 took part with the Rayahs. 
 
 The war that had been commenced against the Dahis now 
 took a diiFerent turn ; and owing to the errors of the day, 
 the old national dissensions were revived. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 SERVIAN WAR OF LIBERATION IN 1806 AND 1807. 
 
 Hostilities in 1805. — Giuscha Vulitschevitsch, Voivode of Smederevo, is 
 killed by the Turks. — The Servians take the Town of Smederevo. — 
 Disturbances at Schabaz and Belgrade. — Renewed Determination of 
 the Sultan to Disarm the Rayahs. — General Rising of the Servians. — 
 Stojan Tschupitsch. — Tiie Army of Haji Beg again appears in the 
 Matschwa. — Nenadovitsch offers to negotiate. — The Servian Deputies 
 are detained by Haji Beg. — The People distrust their Chiefs, and refuse 
 to keep the Field. — Arrival of Ibrahim Pacha at Nisch with a Bosnian 
 Army of Forty Thousand Men. — Brilliant Success of Kara George. — 
 Milosch Stoitschevitsch. — Conflict between the Servians and Turks 
 near Schabaz. — Total Defeat of the Turks by Kara George. — Their 
 Disastrous Retreat. — Gallant Defence of the Fortress of Deligrade by 
 Peter Dobrinjaz. — Peace is proposed by Ibrahim Pacha. — Negotiations 
 at Constantinople. — The Servian Demands are advocated by Peter 
 Itschko. — Conditions offered by the Porte. — European Relations in 
 the Autumn of 1806. — The Turkish Government refuses to ratify the 
 Conditions it had offered. — Capture of Belgrade l)y Kara George. — 
 Guschanz Ali evacuates the Citadel. — Treacherous Massacre of the 
 Garrison of Belgrade. — Fall of Schabaz, and of Uschize. — Jacob Nena- 
 dovitsch endeavours to excite an Insurrection in Bosnia. — The Turks 
 retire beyond the Drina-Milenko. — Services of the Heyduc Veliko. — 
 Improved Position of the Servians. 
 
 Towards the end of the year 1805, open hostilities broke 
 out in every quarter, between the Servians, who were in 
 possession of the countiy, and the Turks, who, under the 
 stipulations of the treaty, remained in the fortresses. One 
 day Giuscha Yulitschevitsch, the Voivode of the district of 
 Smederevo, visited that town. He was handsomely attired 
 and armed, and paced the street .somewhat consequentially 
 
102 CAPTURE OF SMEDERVO. | 
 
 tlie Turkish populace resented his insolent bearing, and in 
 the contest that ensued he was killed by them. Instantly 
 the Servians rushed forth to be revenged — not only on the 
 actual j^erpetrators of the crime, but on the entire Turkish 
 population. They bombarded and took the town ; and now 
 formally garrisoned it : which they had not done the year 
 before. This incensed the Turks in the other fortresses, and 
 filled them with apprehension. They endeavoured at once 
 to make themselves more secure, and to take revenge. They 
 killed many Servians who lived outside the walls of Schabaz ; 
 engaged Bosnian auxiliary troops, and strengthened their 
 position. In Uschize they acted in a similar manner. Gus- 
 chanz Ali had hitherto lived with the Servians in Belgrade, 
 imder the express or implied agreement, that they were to 
 supply him with provisions, and that he was not to disturb 
 them. Now, however, he attacked them by water, in their 
 fortifications at Ostruscil'iniza ; and by land in their villages, 
 Scharkovo and Schelesnik ; and about the beginning of the 
 year 1806, a pitched battle was fought near these places. 
 
 At the same time the cry of war resounded from afar. 
 The Grand Siguier evinced his determination to reduce the 
 Servians completely. They looked abroad for assistance, 
 which rendered it more necessary for him to exert all his 
 power to subdue them, before the alliance which they were 
 about to form should assume a dangerous character. The 
 commission which the Pacha of Nisch had been unable to exe- 
 cute — to disarm and punish the refractory Rayahs in Servia — 
 he now assigned to more powerful chiefs. Bekir, the Yizier 
 of Bosnia, and the Pacha Ibrahim, of Scutari, at the head of 
 the bravest troops of the empire — Bekir leading the Bosnians 
 and Herzegovinians, and Ibrahim the Albanians and Roume- 
 liotes — were commanded to await the Sultan's orders on 
 different sides of the country. 
 
 The Servians placed themselves in complete readiness for 
 the encounter. They had now become altogether a warlike 
 people. There was no soldier-class in Servia ; every man 
 was a warrior. In pressing cases, each house sent forth into 
 the field, all its members capable of bearing arms ; in 
 slighter emergencies, one of two, or two out of three ; so 
 that the farming might be carried on in the mean time. If 
 there were only one man in a house, he took turn with his 
 
GENERAL RISING OF THE SERVIANS. 103 
 
 neighbour weekly. The people were above either askin^^ or 
 receiving pay. Every man bore his own weapons, and 
 appeared in his best attire ; the women sending provisions 
 after them. In every village they who were exempt from 
 out-door labour had the obligation imposed on them of for- 
 warding supplies, on sumpter horses, twice a- week, whether 
 the war were being carried on in the neighbourhood or at a 
 distance. 
 
 An old companion in arms of Kara G-eorge, Raditsch 
 Petrovitsch, who had relinquished his captain's pension at 
 Syrmia, and come to serve his friend, went up into the 
 southern mountains to oppose the enemy, and spread the 
 insurrection from place to place, hoping he might thus be 
 able to defend the defiles with a sm?il number of men. On 
 the other side of the country, Milenko stationed himself in 
 an island of the Danube, Poretsch, which commands the 
 navigation at that point where the river rushes, with the 
 impetuosity of a mountain torrent, through the Iron Gate in 
 the direction from Nisch. The plain through which the 
 Bulgarian Morava flows tovfards the gTeat river Morava^, 
 afibrds the easiest entry into Servia ; and thither Peter 
 Dobrinjaz now proceeded, after Parakyn had been ^vithout 
 hesitation taken possession of by the Servians. Near the 
 road, on the right bank of the Bulgarian Morava, he founded 
 Deligrade. In his rear, Mladen seized and garrisoned Krus- 
 chevaz. The Bosnians, by the treaty which they had made, 
 were indeed excluded from the two districts, Jadar and Rad- 
 jevina ; but the Matschwa stood open to them. In that 
 direction, however, they were opposed by an intrenchment 
 which Jacob Nenadovitsch raised against them at Zrnabara. 
 
 Thus the Servians were pretty well prepared ; although 
 they had no idea how fierce and perilous the approaching 
 conflict would be. 
 
 The first attacks of the Bosnians, who, in the spring made 
 their appearance near the Drina, were comparatively unim- 
 portant. Osman-Dshora crossed over the Drina opposite 
 Sokol, and laid many a farm in ashes ; but having suffered 
 himself to be surprised by the Servians, he perished with a 
 great number of his men. More to be feared was the 
 vigorous old Mehemet Kapetan ; who, having become recon- 
 ciled with his rivals, was no longer a friend to the Servians. 
 
104 STOJAN TSCHUPITSCH. 
 
 He made inroads into the Matscliwa : but fortunately tliat 
 district had a very able defender in Stojan Tschnpitsch. 
 Tschupitsch had his men fully under control ; and was so 
 familiar with them that he would occasionally take a pipe 
 out of a soldiers mouth, and smoke it himself : yet he had 
 been heard to say, that each man's life hung on his liiDS, He 
 exercised his power of punishment inexorably, cruelly, and 
 with a smile upon his face. He had been an old companion 
 of Kiurtschia ; was of a spare form, possessed extraordinary 
 courage ; and exulted in the number of his Momkes and the 
 fame of his exjoloits. In the field of Salash, not far from 
 liis native place Notshai, he most valorously met the superior 
 forces of Mehemet. He has himself related how, in the 
 heat of the battle, he met Mehemet hand to hand ; when the 
 old Pacha suddenly turned round, wrested his lance from 
 him with singular adroitness, and rode off at full sjieed ! 
 Once when a singer at a banquet recited a song regarding this 
 victory, Tschupitsch himself set him right on some points, 
 and presented him with a Turkish horse. 
 
 TJiese attacks of the Bosnians, however, had been only a 
 slight commencement of hostilities. In the summer, the 
 Turks renewed theii- attacks at Sokol, with a much larger 
 force. Hadji Beg passed over from Srebrnitza ; and the 
 main body, about 30,000 strong, appeared again in the 
 Matschwa. The Yizier, indeed, did not lead this army him- 
 self; but he sent two officers who could well supply his 
 place : the Seraskier, Kulin Kapetan, a young commander, 
 distinguished as much by his cruelty as by his valour ; and 
 old Mehemet. 
 
 This anny proved exceedingly destructive to the inhabit- 
 ants of Jadar ; though they should have been protected by 
 reason of their treaty. Kulin Kapetan caused even the 
 peaceful villages, from vfhich supplies were brought to him, 
 to be plundered ; the chief inhabitants to be murdered ; and 
 the defenceless to be carried off as prisoners. The Knes Ivan 
 gave his whole property to ransom his countrymen ; by whom 
 he ^vill ever be held in grateful remembrance. He was, 
 however, constantly in fear of the Turks, and was at last 
 obliged to flee, and earn his livelihood as a labourer. 
 
 But the declared opponents of the Turkish army had 
 much greater cause of alarm. Jacob Nenadovitsch, by far 
 
ARRIVAL OF IBRAHIM PACHA. 105 
 
 too weak to hazard an encounter in the open field, was 
 induced to send his nephew Prota, and Stojan Tschupitsch, 
 into the hostile camp to negotiate. This, however, was far 
 from sound policy. Kulin would nor hear of any stipula- 
 tions. " Seest thou," said he to Prota, " these numberless 
 troops ? Amongst them all there is not one who would fear 
 to seize with his naked hand the edge of a brandished sword." 
 Instead of entering into negotiations, Kulin demanded the 
 demolition of the fortification of Zrnabara ; and, as the 
 deputies had not the power to concede to his demand, he 
 actually detained them. This detention was no small advan- 
 tage to him ; for, as the Turks had now some of the chiefs 
 in their jDOwer, they could with greater safety advance into 
 the Servian territory. The Servian people, on the other 
 hand, knew not what to think of their chiefs. In their 
 opinion the attempt to enter into negotiation seemed only to 
 indicate that their leaders were about to surrender. Accord- 
 ingly, when the Ottomans spread themselves over the dis- 
 tricts of Schabaz and Waljevo, the native population refused 
 to remain in the field : every one desired to look after his 
 home, his wife, and his children ; and they all dispersed. The 
 Save was covered with the fugitives, who, in their boats, 
 sought the Austian bank ; for on the Servian bank, murder 
 and rapine raged : all who were found unarmed were led 
 away as slaves, and their cattle carried ofi". Many villages 
 submitted, and received Kneses from Turkish authority. 
 The people complained loudly of their leaders : " Why had 
 th.ey commencecl the war, if they knew that they could not 
 hold their ground ? They had everywhere asserted that they 
 were not fighting against the Sultan, and now he had sent 
 so large an army that resistance could no longer be thought 
 of." 
 
 The chiefs were in danger of being murdered by the peo- 
 ple, and had to conceal themselves in the forests -with their 
 Momkes. Kulin advanced as far as Ustje, on the road to 
 Belgrade, near to the Kolubara. Encouraged by these suc- 
 cesses, Hadji Beg endeavoured to force a passage over the 
 mountain from Sokol. 
 
 The position of the Servians was indeed critical, when^ 
 Ibrahim Pacha, of Scutari, appeared simultaneously on the 
 other boundary, near Nisch, with an army estimated at 
 
106 KARA GEORGE. 
 
 40,000 men. In fact, it appeared to be an insane under- 
 taking, for the scantily equipped Rayalis of a single j:)rovince 
 to oppose themselves to the military power of the Turkish 
 Empire, under such brave and warlike commanders. 
 
 It was in this hour of danger that Kara George earned 
 his fame and rank as commander-in-chief 
 
 He opposed to the great Bosnian army about 1500 
 men, under the command of Katitsch. This force, being in 
 a favourable position, succeeded in detaining the Bosnians for 
 the moment, though not without the loss of their valiant 
 leader, Katitsch, himself, whilst Kara George in person, 
 with no greater numbers, went against Hadji Beg as he 
 approached from Sokol ; met him at Pezka, and repulsed 
 him with such vigour as to leave no fear of his ever return- 
 ing. Kara George then rushed over the mountain into those 
 districts which had just been subdued by the Bosnians. He 
 killed the Kneses whom they had appointed, and did not 
 spare those who had advised a surrender; all who had escaped 
 by flight, and were able to* bear arms, he collected around 
 him. On the other hand, he rewarded those who had not 
 lost courage even amidst these horrors. Amongst them 
 appeared Milosch Stoitschevitsch, of Pozerje : a young man 
 who had been brought up by the priests, and had up to this 
 time filled the office of clerk or secretary to Ilia Marko- 
 vitsch, a Buljukbasha, at Potzerina. He was smajl in 
 stature, fair complexioned, and affable, but he had a bold 
 Iieart. His master had surrendered to the Turks ; and his 
 mother was carried off into slavery ; but he, with a few 
 Momkes, fled into the mountain. With them he now pre- 
 sented himself to Kara George, who thus addressed him : 
 " Thou art my son, and shall be my Voivode of Pozerje." 
 His name recalled to George's mind the old Milosch of Po- 
 zerje, the brother in arms of Kralievitsch ; and often has 
 the youthful Voivode been compared to the venerable hero. 
 They now proceeded forward together, and induced the 
 jDeople to rise again in every quarter. In a short time the 
 Turks, threatened in the rear and on their flanks, judged it 
 prudent to retreat to Schabaz. About an hour's march from 
 that station, near Mischar, Kara George arrived with 7000 
 foot soldiers and 2000 horse ; and, agreeably to the mode of 
 warfare in that country, he immediately threw up an in- 
 
TOTAL DEFEAT OP THE TURKS. 107 
 
 trenclmient opposite to the encampment of the enemy. He 
 had with him a mortar and three pieces of cannon. 
 
 Afiairs now approached to a crisis. The Turks had still 
 sufficient pride to demand the submission of their opponents 
 and the surrender of their arms ; but the Servians boldly- 
 returned for answer, " If you will have our arms, here they 
 are ; come and take them ! " 
 
 The Turks advanced. On two successive mornings they 
 sallied forth from their camp near Schabaz, stormed the 
 Servian works, fought throughout the day, and returned to 
 their quarters in the evening without having gained any 
 advantage. Astonished at their failure, they yet, from the 
 superiority of their numbers, did not despair of the result. 
 They then sent this message to the Servians : " For two 
 days you have held out well ; but once more we will attack 
 you with all our force : it will then be determined whether 
 we shall evacuate the country as far as the Drina, or drive 
 you back to Smederevo." They suffered numbers of persons 
 from the further side of the Save to come over, in order 
 that, on the hills and from the trees, they might see the 
 battle. " Now," they boasted, " we will show them in what 
 manner we will treat the Heyducs." 
 
 It was in the early part of August, 1806, that the two 
 armies measured their strength. The night before the battle, 
 Kara George sent his horsemen into an adjacent forest 
 directing them to attack the enemy's rear when the first 
 shot was fired from his side, but not earlier. Within the 
 works, he commanded his troops not to fire before the Turks 
 had approached so near that their aim should be certain. 
 At break of day, the Seraskier, with all his forces, went 
 forth ; the bravest Begs of Bosnia carrying the standards 
 before the army. The Servians calmly awaited them, with 
 theii^ pieces loaded. Not until the Turks had come mthin 
 range of the Servian fire, did Kara George give the appointed 
 signal. All the men in the front rank took aim : they hit, 
 as these marksmen express it, " all together into the flesh." 
 The standards fell. The utmost consternation was produced 
 by the cannon. Immediately upon this, the Servian horse 
 issued from the rear and fell upon the Turks. At the same 
 moment Kara George sallied forth from the intrenchments 
 and, with his infantry, broke through the hostile ranks. In 
 
108 DEFENCE OF DELIGRADE. 
 
 an instant the disorder of the Turks was complete, and their 
 defeat decided. 
 
 The most eminent commanders of their army, Sinan, 
 Pacha of Goraschde, the Kapetan of Derventa, the Seras- 
 kier himself, Kulin — all perished ! Here also fell Mehemet 
 Kapetan, with two of his sons. The flower of the Bosnian 
 yontli had fallen around the standards. 
 
 The Servians sustained scarcely any loss ; but the brave 
 priest, Luka Lasarevitch, while too impetuously pursuing 
 the enemy, was severely wounded. The Turks, on the other 
 hand, were so completely routed, that the few cliiefs who 
 survived, determined, during the night, to throw a part of 
 their army into Schabaz, and to lead the remainder forthwith 
 over the Drina. This retreat, however, cost them nearly as 
 mucli as the battle itself Whilst passing in detachments 
 through the forest of Kitog, they were attacked on all sides, 
 and a rich booty, with all the prisoners whom they had not 
 yet transported over the Drina, taken from them. Milosch 
 of Pozerje obtained for his own prize the scimitar of Kulin: 
 the most brilliant trophy. He also liberated his mother and 
 brought her back to his home. 
 
 Whilst this gxeat victory was being achieved, other Servian 
 chiefs, and especially Peter Dobrinjaz, had rendered services 
 equally advantageous to their country. The army which 
 Ibrahim Pacha of Scutari led on, was even stronger than that 
 of the Bosnians ; yet it met with a resistance, if not alto- 
 gether so brilliant, yet quite as energetic. On a well-selected 
 spot in its route, the fortress of Deligrade had been erected.'"' 
 This stronghold Peter Dobrinjaz defended for six weeks — his 
 
 * We refrain here from details, because we do not find full information 
 respecting the events which took place on the frontiers. The Chronicle 
 of the Nineteenth Century relates how Jacob Levich and Stanoila Alas 
 commanded there against three Bashaws, Bim, Delie, and Sacsi. (1806, 
 p. 429.) This refers no doubt to Stanoie, Glavasch, and Jacoblevitsch, 
 Voivode of Levatsch ; whilst the designations Bimbashaw, Commander of 
 a Thousand, and Delibashaw, Commander of the Deli, he converts into 
 real Bashaws. It may be observed that we write Bashaiv, and not 
 Bashi ; though the latter would unquestionably be more correct. But it 
 would be needless to employ different titles, as the dignities which the 
 Turks denote by Eimbaschi, Bulukbaschi, are the same which the Servians 
 denote by Bimbascha, and Buljukbascha. We follow here, as elsewhere, 
 the Servian pronunciation. 
 
NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE. 109 
 
 most renowed action ; whilst some troops in the neighbour- 
 hood, imder Mladen and Glavasch occupied tlie Pacha by 
 petty attacks ; so that he coukl not advtince a step. 
 
 The struggle between the Servians and the Turks was 
 decided in favour of the former : a result that could hardly 
 have be*','a expected. The continued disturbances in the 
 interior oi ^he Turkish Empire operated to the advantage of 
 the Servians ; but, inasmuch as the Turkish forces by whom 
 they were attacked were greatly superior to them in number, 
 most honourable and glorious was the resistance offered by 
 the Servians. 
 
 And for this they were soon to be rewarded. When 
 Kara George, after his victory on the Save, towards the end 
 of the summer of 1806, approached the eastern frontier with 
 a part of his forces, Ibrahim held forth his hand for peace : 
 having full authority to do so. 
 
 It appeared to him now indispensably necessary for the 
 Turks, that an adjustment of these disputes should be effected. 
 In their conflict with the Servians alone, the Turks, despite 
 their extraordinary efforts, had been defeated : how much 
 more dangerous, then, would the Servians become, should 
 Russia, with which country and the Porte a war was at that 
 time impending, find in them a sure ally ? 
 
 At a meeting at Smederevo, the Servians were easily 
 induced to send to Constantinople with their proposals, an 
 embassy, consisting of two Kneses and a Bulgarian, Peter 
 Itschko, well versed in the politics of the time. 
 
 It was only reasonable that the Servians, after the glorious 
 victories they had gained, should not recede from their 
 claims : they accordingly repeated the demands which they 
 had made on a former occasion ; and so admirably did Peter 
 Itschko advocate their cause, that at one time those demands 
 might really have been considered as granted. Peter Itschko 
 had formerly served as interpreter to a Turkish ambassador 
 at Berlm. In that capital he had acquii'ed a knowledge of 
 the principal languages of European nations, and had also 
 learnt to understand then' interests. Subsequently, having 
 conducted commercial transactions for European merchants 
 at Belgrade, and thus obtained some influence, he assumed 
 the position of mediator. Hadji Mustafa issued no orders 
 without liis counsel and approval ; and when the Dahis were 
 
110 CONDITIONS OF PEACE. 
 
 besieged, through the assistance of a Turkish Pacha, his tent 
 was seen next to that of Kara George in the field of Belgrade. 
 But never did his talent for mediation prove of higher impor- 
 tance, or meet with more eminent success, than on the present 
 occasion. He represented to the Porte so forcibly, its danger 
 from an alliance between the Servians and the Eussians — who 
 at that very time had begun their march into Wallachia and 
 Moldavia — that the Porte at leng-th condescended to grant 
 concessions, such as were contrary to the stern severity of its 
 principles of government, and must be considered quite out 
 of its usual course. So early as the end of October, Peter 
 Itschka returned to Smederevo, and announced to the Servians 
 that the Porte had expressed its willingness to grant them 
 undisputed possession of their country, a government of their 
 own, and even to allow them to garrison the fortresses ; re- 
 quiring only, as a mark of its continued sovereignty, that a 
 Muhasilwith 150 Turks should reside at Belgrade. Instead 
 of all the former taxes, the Servians were to pay annually 
 1800 purses : i. e. 900,000 piastres (60,000/. sterling) ; out of 
 which sum the Porte would undertake to settle the claims of 
 the Spahis, their former landlords. In fact, everything that 
 the Servians had asked was conceded. They were to be 
 relieved from the oppressions arising from the collecting of 
 various imposts, and also from the presence of the Turks, to 
 whom these duties had been assigned ; they were to become 
 the proprietors of their country, which hitherto they had 
 cultivated only for others ; and were allowed to carry arms, 
 and to garrison the fortresses under Turkish supremacy. 
 
 This was a moment of great importance to both nations. 
 By these means only was it possible to prevent an alliance 
 between the Servians and Russia. The Servians did not 
 hesitate to accept these conditions ; and without loss of time 
 Peter Itschko, accompanied by two other Kneses, returned 
 to obtain the ratification of this treaty by the Divan. And 
 who could have doubted that it would be ratified? The 
 Muhasil, appointed for Belgrade, had arrived at Smederevo, 
 at the same time with the deputies. 
 
 In the interim, however, the Porte had taken other counsel. 
 It is probable that the course of European events — the rela- 
 tion of which to the Ottoman Empire we have yet to consider 
 — and the victorious progress of the ally of the Porte, Kapo- 
 
KESUMPTIOX OF HOSTILITIES. Ill 
 
 leon, against Prussia, iu the autumn of 1806, had lessened 
 its fear of the Russians, and renewed its confidence in its own 
 power. Necessarily, when the affair came to be finally 
 decided, all the interests opposed to concession were urged, 
 once more, with renewed force. It seemed an injustice to 
 eject the Spahis, who had not committed any fault, from 
 their rightful property, in consideration of a sum of money ; 
 the payment of wliich, from the low state of the Turkish 
 finances, was very doubtful. The judgment of the Mufti, 
 which had led the Janissaries back, was in opposition to such, 
 a measure : nor would it have been readily acceded to by the 
 Ulemas. And, if the fortresses were to be given over to the 
 Servians, what was to ensure their obedience ? Was not the 
 danger that the Turks were rushing into, greater perhaps than 
 that w^hich they Avere endeavouring to avoid ? 
 
 Suffice it, that the Divan, availing itself of the ojDportunity 
 for deliberating anew^, rejected the treaty at the very moment 
 when its ratification was to have taken place. 
 
 ISTevertheless, the peace wliich Peter Itschko had sought to 
 establish was not lost sight of : it was always regarded as the 
 model of any future treaty between the Servians and the 
 Turks. But the consequence of this treaty's not being rati- 
 fied was, that affairs were left to develope themselves, without 
 any controlling power to influence them. 
 
 Instead of being restrained, the Servians were, on the con- 
 traiy, incited, by these negotiations to summon the fortresses ; 
 in front of which the war of this year had commenced. Like 
 everything which has a beginning, victory also demands a 
 consummation. As a proof that the peace had been con- 
 cluded, the Servians appeared with their Muhasil before 
 Belgrade and Schabaz, and, in accordance with it, demanded 
 the surrender of those places. But at neither of these for- 
 tresses did their assurances make any impression on the 
 Turks. Nor did Bekir Pacha prepare, as they required, to 
 withdi-aw his Bosnians from Schabaz. The Servians wished 
 to jjossess the fortresses, above all things ; and the troops 
 also demanded possession ; being im^^atient at the prospect 
 of passing the winter in the intrenchments thrown up for the 
 siege. But it was clear that they must enforce their claim 
 by a second victory. 
 
 At first Kara George determined on vigorously attacking 
 
112 CAPTURE OF BELGRADE. 
 
 Belgrade : which he, with his friends Tscharapitsch. Glav- 
 asch, and Miloie, had encompassed from the Danube to the 
 Save. 
 
 Amongst the Krdschalies of Guschanz Ali, was an Al- 
 banian of the Greek religion, named Konda, who had, at the 
 commencement of the contest, contributed greatly towards 
 the defence of Belgrade against the Servians ; but when the 
 war had changed into a contest between Turks and Christians, 
 he had gone over to the Servians. Many others had done 
 the same ; but, of them all, Konda proved the most useful. 
 Displaying boldness and ability at all times, he had already 
 been made Bimbascha ; and he now offered to capture the 
 town by an act of hazardous daring. Accordingly, Konda, 
 accompanied by Usun Mirko, a Servian — who was as tall 
 and powerful as his leader was small and alert — and five 
 others who equalled them in valour and resolution, on the 
 12th of December, 1806, shortly before day-break, ap- 
 proached the trenches of the fortress by which alone the 
 outer town was defended. Knowing exactly in which dii^ec- 
 tion they might make their way between the numerous 
 watch-towers which had been erected, Konda succeeded in 
 taking his companions through, unnoticed. That he might 
 not excite attention, by proceeding directly from the trenches 
 to the gate, he advanced a short distance into the town, and 
 then turned back, and went straight towards the Christians' 
 Gate. A sentry met him, and demanded " who they were ?" 
 Konda replied, " Momkes of the Usiir-beg," (a commander of 
 the Krdschalies) : he spoke Turkish, and therefore did not 
 excite any suspicion. He thus, without hindrance, got to 
 the rear of the gate-watch, and immediately fell on them. 
 It was the commencement of the Bairam festival ; and when 
 the firing was heard in the town, it was snpj^osed to be a 
 salute in honour of the day. Konda had time to overpower 
 the guard, — who, however, defended themselves valiantly, 
 and killed four of his companions ; and then, though 
 wounded, he proceeded with Mirko, who was also wounded, 
 and the one surviving Servian soldier, Avho was unhurt, to 
 force open the gate. On this, Miloie rushed in : and, during 
 the confusion which arose from his attack, Kara George also 
 passed over the trenches. The Turks, aroused, now fiew to 
 defend themselves ; and a desperate conflict ensued. The 
 
CAPITULATION OF THE CITADEL. 113 
 
 people were firing from all the houses ; and as the dwellings 
 could not be separately attacked, the Servians set lire to 
 them ; so that the defenders fled into the streets, where they 
 were he^vn down by the swords of their enemies. In this 
 conflict, Tscharapitsch, who forced a passage at the Stamboul 
 Gate, was killed. By ten o'clock the town was captured ; 
 but the best troops had thrown themselves into the citadel. 
 
 To take the citadel was certainly not the work of a 
 moment. The Servians did not hesitate to occupy the 
 neutral island in the southern part of the Danube — respect- 
 ing which the Austrians residing in it could not say whether 
 it were really Turkish territory or not ; and by this means 
 they were enabled to cut off from the citadel all means of 
 obtaining supplies. It was from this very island, that Sultan 
 Soliman first conquered Belgrade. Before the end of Decem- 
 ber, Guschanz Ali saw himself under the necessity of capitu- 
 lating ; and he sailed with his Krdschalies, in eight large 
 vessels, down to Widdin. 
 
 The only immediate result of this was, that Soliman Pacha 
 became lord of his fortress ; the Servians willingly allowing 
 him to remain therein. 
 
 It first appeared, that the proceedings of the Servians 
 v/ould be altogether of an unusually mild character. So 
 strictly did Kara George interdict plundering at the taking 
 of BelsTade, that he ordered two men, who had disobeyed 
 his orders, to be put to death, and their limbs exposed on the 
 gates of the town. He likewise received with hospitality, all 
 who came from the fortress to solicit his protection. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is probable that, even at this time, all the 
 Turks were destined to be put to death. When Guschanz 
 Ali passed in his vessels by Poretsch, they were fired at by 
 the battery which Milenko had erected there ; and it was 
 only by the great rapidity of the current that he escaped. 
 But the Servians were so enraged, that they followed him in 
 caiques — nay, even pursued and attacked the fugitives who 
 went on shore on Austrian territoiy. The conduct of 
 Guschanz should have put them to the blush ! Though the 
 Momkes, who were to have conducted his horses by land to 
 Widdin, had also been attacked, robbed, and killed on tb.o 
 way, he nevertheless caused the hostages who had been given 
 him to be sent back to Belgrade, imhurt. 
 
114 SLAUGHTER OF TURKISH FUGITIVES. 
 
 But the Servians i:>ersevered in their intention. They 
 would neither allow the Turks to remain ir^ the citadel^ nor 
 sufler them to escape ; for they regarded them all as enemies 
 and traitors. Were not these men, they asked, the adherents 
 of the Daliis, from whom they had exi^erienced so much 
 oppression, and on whom they ought still to take revenge for 
 murder ? Were not their beautiful garments and their 
 riches, plunder obtained from the land of the Servians ? 
 
 Therefore, when Soliman, on the intimation that no 
 further supplies would be granted liim, begged for a safe 
 retreat, it was promised to him, indeed, and also a safeguard ; 
 but scarcely had he (on the 7th of March, 1807), with his 
 two hundred Janissaries, and with the different families who 
 had joined him, gone a few hours' march, when he was 
 attacked from an ambuscade. The safeguard, instead of 
 defending him, made common cause with his assailants ; and 
 out of his whole party not one escaped. The massacre 
 immediately extended to Belgrade. For t^vo days the Turks, 
 who had endeavoured to conceal themselves, were sought 
 out and slaughtered. They who still survived, on the thii^d 
 day — chiefly beggars — Avere sent to Widdin. Some turned 
 Christians. By the booty of these bloody days, Mladen, 
 Miloie, Knes Sima Markovitsch, AYule Ilitscli, and others, 
 beams rich. In such fearful acts of cruelty did their hatred 
 against the Turks vent itself : hatred long suppressed, but 
 strengthened by mutual animosities, and by the war ; and at 
 last thus fiercely bursting forth. 
 
 J^o Servian song commemorates this sanguinary retaliation 
 on the Turks. The old Kneses shook their heads and said, 
 ^•it was not well done : they would have to atone for it!" 
 But they said this secretly, lest they might be considered as 
 siding with the Turks ; which would have endangered their 
 own lives. 
 
 Their yomiger countrymen, however, urged on by the 
 fortunate issue of these events, hastened to prosecute 
 the war still further, as though nothing extraordinary had 
 occurred. 
 
 In February, Schabaz yielded, after experiencing similar 
 horrors. 
 
 -Kara George then attacked Uschize with the army of 
 the Sc-hnmadia. After the Turks had released themselves 
 
ATTEMPT TO ilEVOLUTIONIZE BOSNIA. 115 
 
 from their treaty with the Servians, they had raised fortifi- 
 cations round the town ; and to take these was the first 
 ooject of the assailants. It was here that Milosch Obreno- 
 vitsch first distinguished himself ; receiving, however, a 
 dangerous wound in his breast. XJschize is, after Belgrade, 
 tlie most populous town of the Pachalic ; and it was no 
 slight advantage to the Servians that in June, 1807, it fell 
 into their hands. This time they did not ao-ain entrust it to 
 the Tui^ks. 
 
 The victors were now no longer satisfied with the terri- 
 tory which had formerly belonged to them. 
 
 Jacob had, without trouble, taken possession of the dis- 
 tricts of Jadar and Eadjevina, which already formed, as it 
 were, a part of the country ; and he left nothing imtried to 
 throw Bosnia, on the further side of the Drina, into a state 
 of insurrection. In the first instance, he sent two deputies 
 thither, who issued proclamations. But he had not selected 
 proper men for this purpose : one of them was a robber, 
 addicted to drinking, who was attacked and killed while in a 
 state of intoxication ; the other was a monk, who, being 
 thus left alone, would not place his life in jeopardy. Jacob 
 then sent over a few armed men, who succeeded so far as to 
 excite some of the villages to insurrection, after having killed 
 a collector of the Haradsch ; but, on the first arrival of the 
 Turks, order was restored. At last, Jacob built a vessel, by 
 means of which a communication between the two banks of 
 the Drina could be kept up. In it he sent about a thousand 
 men over to the opposite side of the river, where they formed 
 an intrenchment very near its bank, which he fortified w^ith 
 cannon. He hoped, from this entrenched camj), to efi'ect 
 a movement of the Bosnian Christians ; but the Turks 
 hastened to frustrate this scheme. They first blockaded the 
 fort which had been raised, and then crossed over to the 
 Servian bank. The consequence 'wa.^, that, instead of j^ro- 
 ducing any favourable result by his manoeuvres, Jacob had to 
 think of defending himself and -protecting Losnitza. 
 
 George did not delay coming to his assistance. He sent 
 him a part of his men from XJschize, well equipped, and well 
 moimted, under a gallant commander, Miloie ; who did not 
 hesitate to express his contempt for the Turks, and declared 
 his intention of taking them prisoners in whole troops. He 
 
 l2 
 
116 THE HEYDUC VELIKO. 
 
 was, however, very far from effecting liis object. The Scla- 
 vonian as well as the Albanian Mahometans are exceedingly- 
 brave people. Miloie returned without his helmet from his 
 very first engagement : being saved only by the swiftness 
 of his Arab steed ; and instead of glory, earned only ridi- 
 cule. 
 
 During the remainder of the summer, the Servians fought 
 for whole days — sometimes in the open field, sometimes at 
 the entrenchments which the Turks had thrown up — without 
 success ; without any decisive result. 
 
 Towards autumn, the Turks went back over the Drina. 
 
 In the meantime, Milenko had turned his views upon the 
 Kraina ; where, amidst the general disunion, the old terms; 
 of peace had not been preserved, and whence the Karapand- 
 schitsch had fled. But he experienced much opposition from 
 Moll a Pacha, the successor of Passvan Oglu ; and although 
 assisted by Kara George, and some Russians, who — led on 
 by Isaiew — now first appeared in this country, he could 
 effect nothing decisive. Hs was obliged to content himself 
 with retaining possession of the mountain Mirotsch, between 
 Poretsch and the Kraina. 
 
 On the other hand, important advantages were gained iu 
 those parts, by one from whom such achievements had not 
 been expected — the Heyduc Veliko. He had begged only 
 for a banner, and general permission to assemble volunteers : 
 " he required nothing else," he said, " to re-conquer his native 
 country, Zrnareka," Aware that he would not remain quiet 
 unless his request were granted, the Servians gave him all he 
 asked. He very soon caused himself to be talked of. 
 Although the force which he brought together at first, was 
 small, he ventured to besiege a Beg in Podgoraz : by piling 
 up, one upon another, a number of barrels filled with straw, 
 and then setting them on fire, so that the flames reached up 
 to the fort, he forced him to surrender. He gave the Beg 
 a safe-conduct to Widdin ; but first exchanged dresses and 
 horses with him, and took from him all the money in his 
 possession. He then assembled his men ; and, though him- 
 self a commander of inferior rank, he appointed standard- 
 bearers, Buljukbaschas, and even a Bimbascha. One half of 
 the booty he distributed, the other he sent to Belgrade ; and 
 a.s, instead of demanding money, like others, he (Contributed 
 
THE TURKS EXPELLED FROM BELGRADE. 117 
 
 Bome, his presumption was allowed to pass iinreLuked. It 
 was sufficient if he succeeded in holding his ground. When 
 the Turks from Widdin came against him, with a force 
 incomparably superior to his own, he was not in any degree 
 daunted. He succeeded, by a bold stroke, in keeping them 
 off. During the night, he, vath his Momkes, stole into 
 the midst of their camp ; calling out in Turkish : " Yeliko is 
 here and conquering !" at the same instant he attacked the 
 half-awakened and terrified soldiers, and drove them all 
 before him, in different directions. Such exploits he con- 
 sidered to be sufficient grounds for investing himself with a 
 legitimate authority ; and from that time he ruled as Gospo- 
 dar at Zrnareka. 
 
 Thus, although every attempt which was made had not an 
 equally successful result, yet the grand enterprise was, in its 
 main points, achieved beyond all expectation. 
 
 The Turks were driven out of the Pachalic of Belgrade ; 
 and the Kayahs, free and armed, were in possession of the 
 country and of the fortresses : already the Servian posses- 
 sions beyond the boundaries included Jadar and Kadjevina, 
 the mountain Mirotsch, and Zrnareka. 
 
 By these means, the old state of subjection, in which the 
 Servians had been held for centuries, was at once effectually 
 destroyed. 
 
 It is deserving of remark, that, in the very days of the 
 slaughter at BelgTade, the Teskeres of the Haradsch arrived ; 
 the payment of which tax the Grand Signior still expected. 
 Peter Itschko brought the Teskeres with him from Constan- 
 tinople, instead of the ratification of his treaty. But in the 
 mean time, the Servians had gained ground so far as to deter- 
 mine never again to pay Haradsch. 
 
 The natural tendency of the Christians to liberate them- 
 selves from the dominion of the Turks, rapidly exhibited 
 itself among them noAv that they were victorious and power- 
 ful. 
 
 Let us next consider how the Servians, having shaken off 
 the Turkish government, managed their internal affairs 
 a-mongst themselves. 
 
lis 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 FORMATION OF A SERVIAN GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Formation of a Servian Government. — Tendency towards Military- 
 Despotism, — Voivodes, Momkes, and Kneses. — Influence of Kara 
 George. — The General Assembly, or Diet. — Constitution of the Civil 
 Court called Sowiet (Council or Senate). — Establishment of Schools. 
 — Courts of Justice. — Election of the Sowietniks, or Members of the 
 Senate. — Influence of Mladen and Miloie in the Senate. — Arrival in 
 Belgrade of Rodofinikin, the Russian Councillor of State. — Consequent 
 Jealousies and Disputes. — Sketch of the Early Life of Kara George. 
 
 Fkom a revolt against rebels and usurpers, the Servians 
 had proceeded to make demands of their own to the supreme 
 authority. Those demands, being contrary to the established 
 relations between Mahometans and Christians, the Ottoman 
 government was not disposed to grant, being inclined rather 
 to punish their authors. The Servians had proceeded further : 
 even to an armed resistance against the Sovereign himself; 
 and, at last, to a forcible expulsion of the Turks. They were 
 now again their own masters, and liad their country in their 
 own hands. 
 
 It mi^ht have been supposed, from the peaceful condition 
 of the villages under the t^eosld Kneses, and of the Kneshines 
 under the Grand Kues, that the Servians would readily have 
 formed both for the districts and for the whole country, a 
 similar government, consisting of elders, the principal men, 
 and the judges : such was probably the form of government 
 amongst the Servian people in the earliest periods of their 
 existence at the time of their immigration. 
 
 The establishment of such a government would, perhaps, 
 have been possible, had the authority of the Turks been at 
 once annihilated ; or it might have been achieved through 
 the intervention of some European power, leaving the country 
 its liberty ; but it could not be hoped for in the course which 
 events had taken. 
 
 In a violent commotion, they had recourse to arms, under 
 the guidance of bold and skilful chiefs, who had, in fact, 
 
VOIVODES, MOMKES, AND KNESES. 119 
 
 gained the victory of independence ; and into whose hands 
 the power had fallen : thus the government had been con- 
 verted from a jDeaceful into a warlike form. 
 
 It has been already noticed, that in the villages the people 
 had all become warlike : that the men equipped and supplied 
 themselves, and in this manner appeared in the field, as free 
 men fighting in their OAvn cause. 
 
 They did not take the field under the command of their 
 Kneses ; nor did they elect their own leaders ; but their 
 officers — BuljuJclashes, of greater or less authority — were 
 appointed by the Voivodes ; who had set themselves up in 
 every direction. 
 
 The more powerful cliiefo in war, who styled themselves 
 Voivodes, were not only commanders of districts, but they 
 had a force of their own — the Momkes — ^the only cavalry 
 troops in the country. The Momkes v/ere people settled on 
 the land, and descended from good families ; they ate with 
 theii^ leader, and were provided by him with horses and 
 handsome apparel. Though not paid, they received valuable 
 presents, and shared his booty. For this they were bound to 
 their chief in life and in death ; and they always formed his 
 suite. They served him as readily against other enemies as 
 against the Turks. So?iie chief:; had fifty followers. It may 
 be easily imagined that these g-uards gave the Voivodes more 
 the air of rulers than of merely the heads of districts. By 
 their side a Knes was of comparatively small importance. 
 Some of them arbitrarily laid claim to the tolls in their dis- 
 tricts ; others appropriated to themselves the possessions of 
 the Turks. When they apportioned the Poresci — which was 
 still raised occasionally — they, to some extent, increased its 
 amount for their own benefit. They demanded the tithe, 
 and even compelled the peasants to perform feudal service. 
 How much their dignity was already regarded as an here- 
 ditary right, may be gathered from the fact, that, at the 
 death of a Voivode, his son, or even an incompetent brother, . 
 was allowed to succeed him. 
 
 Yet the Voivodes were not independent. VThen a govern- 
 ment is overthrown, and a new one founded, power will always 
 faU into the hands of those by whom the change has been 
 effected. At this time there were but few Voivodes who 
 were actually powerful : only they who, since the commence- 
 
120 INFLUENCE OF KARA GEORGE. 
 
 ment of the revolution, had stood forth as chiefs, and led the 
 people to victory. 
 
 Jacob Nenadovitsch had excited the district of Yaljevo 
 to insurrection, and had conquered Schabaz, Luka Lasare- 
 vitsch, who had been made Voivode of Valjevo, slowly and 
 by degrees detached himself from that chief. When Jacob 
 took IJschize for the first time, he at once appointed a Yoi- 
 vode there, without encountering any resistance ; and in the 
 year 1807, he took possession of the two Bosnian districts, 
 Jadar and Kadjevina, and now considered himself master of 
 those, as well as of other districts. 
 
 Milenko had succeeded in arousing Poscharevaz : being 
 assisted by Peter Dobrinjaz, however, who acted at first, only 
 in a subordinate station. Advancing onwards, Milenko had 
 conquered the district as v/ell as the island of Poi-etsch ; and 
 Peter, the neighbourhood of Parakyn. Pessava was espe- 
 cially in their interest. On the further side of the Morava, 
 they exercised an independent authority; and, like Jacob 
 Nenadovitsch, were styled Gospodars. 
 
 In the Schumadia, Kara George also took this rank. His 
 authority, since Katitsch and Tscharapitsch, who originally 
 shared it, had perished, extended over Grozka and Belgrade, 
 as well as Kragaijevaz. Poschega, too, had been conquered 
 by him ; and the only two chiefs besides himself, who could 
 claim an independent authority, were Milan at Rudnik, and 
 Wniza, the brother of Gjuscha, who had been killed, and 
 whom he succeeded at Smederevo. 
 
 It would thus appear that the whole country was on the 
 jDoint of being formed into gospodarships, like the captain- 
 ships of Klephtes ; and that, an opposition of j^ersonal 
 interests being thereby created, the seeds of discord would 
 be sown, to spring up at no distant period. 
 
 It must be considered fortunate, that the authority of 
 Kara George had, in itself, a certain preponderating influence ; 
 from the fact of its extending over the largest district, the 
 Schumadia ; and that it also spread itself gradually over the 
 whole country : owing to the same causes that had generally 
 led to the acquisition of authority among this people. 
 
 In former times, Kara George had experienced open resist- 
 ance : once, in the encampment before Belgrade, Jacob 
 Nenadovitsch had the drums beaten in opposition to him; 
 
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 121 
 
 and plainly told liim, that at tlie Kolubara, his command as 
 a general terminated. But affairs had by degrees changed ; 
 and the events of 1806 had given the commander-in-chief a 
 decided superiority. When he again conquered the Potzerina, 
 he appointed a Yoivode there, far on the other side of the 
 Kolubara. After that he afforded aid on the other side of 
 the Morava, and gained influence in that quarter also. The 
 conquest of Belgrade had procured for him a general autho- 
 rity. His friends administered the government there ; and 
 all the paid troops, with the Bekjares who were stationed at . 
 BelgTade, — chiefly Krdschalies who had deserted Guschanz, — 
 might be considered as directly subject to him. The artillery, 
 also, was under his command. The cannon had been pro- 
 cured either by purchase, or by the unexpected skill of a 
 certain Milosav Petrovitsch/" — for the gams which were found 
 in the fortresses had first to be rendered serviceable. Kara 
 George was attended by the greatest number of Momkes, and 
 enjoyed the largest share of military glory. Though the 
 other chiefs had hitherto been rather equal to than under 
 him, yet in the year 1807 he was superior to them all. 
 
 A General Assembly was held, annually, for the manage- 
 ment of the most important affairs of the state. Soon after 
 New Year's Day, all the Yoivodes, with their suites, assem- 
 bled at a Diet called Skupsclitina.i They then determined 
 
 * This Milosav was undoubtedly a remarkable man. The history of 
 inventions sometimes recommences in individuals. — He was apprenticed 
 to a shoemaker in the Banat, where he so closely observed and studied 
 the mechanical skill of a clockmaker in whose house he happened to 
 lodge, that he removed into another place, and himself commenced busi- 
 ness as a clockmaker. Thence he went into Servia, and offered to cast 
 cannon, provided the metal were ready smelted for him. In his early 
 operations he did not appear to succeed. On his first attempt, the mass, 
 which was not thoroughly fused, stopped running; on the second, the 
 metal did indeed flow, but there was not sufficient : and thus Milosav 
 incurred the risk of forfeiting his life as an impostor. However, his 
 third effort succeeded. From that time he had, in one part of his dwel- 
 ling, a foundry for casti.ng the metal ; in another, wood and implements 
 for making wheels ; in a third, immense anvils, on which he himself 
 manufactured his tools. He constructed everything himself, from the 
 largest to the smallest. Besides this, he always had in his sleeping- 
 room a number of clocks ; for in this handicraft he delighted to exercise 
 himself. 
 
 + The word is derived from Skupiti, to assemble. 
 
122 
 
 WANT OF A CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 what wai-j to Le undertaken in the approaching spring ; and 
 each of the Voivodes stated what he had expended for ammu- 
 nition, for the payment of scouts, and for the care of the 
 wounded, and produced his accounts. Here, too, the new 
 Poresa was fixed. If complaints had been brought against 
 any one, they were here examined ; and, more than once, 
 Voivodes were, in consequence, cast into prison. Every 
 necessaiy arrangement relating to war, as well as to finance 
 and judicature, was under the immediate care of the 
 Skupschtina. 
 
 This arrangement brings to mind the Maif-ficld of the 
 Franconian Royal Stewards, — if we may venture to compare 
 things so remote, and of such different importance, — where 
 the leaders of the army assembled, in like manner, at the 
 head of their men, to deliberate and determine on affairs of 
 Tv^ar and state. 
 
 By this Assembly, the common rule of the Servian com- 
 manders was in some measure regulated. Difierences of 
 opinion between the leading men — the Commander-in-Chief 
 and the other Gospodars— of course arose occasionally; but 
 their relative shares of power being duly apportioned in the 
 Skupschtina, gave decision to their counsels. 
 
 Yet this could not be tenned a Government. The Voi- 
 vodes were not inclined, nor would they have been able, to 
 adjust the disi3utes which daily arose. During the greater 
 part of the year, they were engaged in the field against the 
 enemy. And, as the war could not be carried on for its own 
 sake, the peaceful fellowships in villages, Kneshines, and 
 Nahis, on which everything depended, had also the riglit to 
 a share in the conduct of public affairs. 
 
 It were superfiuous here to show that a regular and well- 
 organized government was needed. This necessity, indeed, 
 had been taken into consideration soon after the first meet- 
 ing of the Skupschtina. When the deputies who went to 
 St. Petersburgh passed through Charkow, they found there 
 one who might almost be termed a fellow-countryman — a 
 Hungarian Servian, named Philippovitsch, a Doctor of LaAvs. 
 Unaccustomed to the climate, he was always out of health, 
 and wishing to return to the banks of the Danube, he joined 
 the deputies. He it was who first called the p.ttention of 
 the Servians to the necessity of a permanent court of juris- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE SENATE. 123 
 
 dictioii and administration ; and lie gained over Jacob Nena- 
 dovitsch to that opinion, though not without the assistance 
 of Prota. Kara George also, who, whilst in the Austrian 
 service, had acquired some inclination for law and order, 
 was induced to declare in its favour. Accordingly, it was 
 decided, at a Skupschtina held at Borak, that a legislative 
 institution, such as that proposed, should be established. 
 
 Pursuant to this decision, in the year 1805, a Civil Court 
 of the Servian country, called Synod or Sowiet (Council or 
 Senate), was held ; first at Blagovjeschtenije, and then at 
 Bogovadja, both of which were cloisters. After the conquest 
 of Smederevo it was held there ; but when Belgrade also had 
 been taken, it was removed to that place, as being the capital 
 :rf Servia. 
 
 The Senate consisted of twelve members, con-esponding 
 with the number of the districts ; and the intention was, 
 that each member should represent the district in which he 
 had been elected, and should belong especially to it. Out of 
 the public chest the Sowietnik received a small salary ; which^ 
 however, was increased by supplies from the produce of the 
 soil, so as to constitute a suiScient maintenance. These con- 
 tributions were regulated in a very patriarchal mode : the 
 Sowietnik received only wine, if his Nahia produced wine ; 
 but, in other cases, each district sent its representative a 
 couple of cows at Christmas, as provision for the winter. 
 The house in which the Sowietnik resided was considered as 
 the property of the district ; every inhabitant of Avhich had 
 the right of lodging therein whenever he might come to the 
 city. The members of the Senate Vv'ere thus obliged to 
 attend especially to the concerns of their respective districts : 
 so far at least as their paramount duty, of devoting them- 
 selves to the general affairs of the country, would allow. 
 
 Dr. Philippovitsch, who originally formed the plan of the 
 Senate, w^as appointed secretary, and undertook its direction 
 from the first. This duty he performed in a most satisfactory 
 manner, and left behind him an unblemished reputation. 
 
 Under his auspices the Senate formed many important 
 resolutions. He ordered the sale of the houses and land 
 which the Turks had possessed in the towns, and endea- 
 voured to set apart the tithe for the support of the army. 
 There is a letter extant, in which he earnestly warns Peter 
 
124 ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS, 
 
 Dobrinjaz not to interfere with the ferry of Poscharevaz : 
 the Senate, he said, would appoint a proper officer for it. 
 He moreover reminded Peter that, being a Voivode, he 
 should be satisfied with heading his men ; and that it was 
 not his province to meddle with such affairs. He also made 
 many financial regulations : he fixed the imposts, and settled 
 the fees for the performance of clerical functions. But of 
 all that he undertook, his laws respecting schools, and the 
 maintenance of justice, were unquestionably the most im- 
 portant. The only schools in the country — which were in- 
 deed rather seminaries for the clerical office, in which a little 
 scanty reading was taught, than real schools — had hitherto 
 been held in the cloisters under the superintendence of the 
 priests. The pupils (Djaks), like boys who learn a trade or 
 profession, were bound to render every sort of service to 
 their master ; and were more engaged in tending the cattle, 
 and working in the fields, than in their studies. Now, not 
 only was a small school established in every district town, to 
 affiDrd some elementary instruction ; but also, at the sug- 
 gestion of Jugovitsch, a high school (Welika Schkola) with 
 three teachers was established in Belgrade : where historical 
 and mathematical science, and even the rudiments of juris- 
 prudence, were taught. Jugovitsch himself, formerly pro- 
 fessor at Carlowiz, taught there for some time ; and his 
 assistants were, like himself, Austrian Servians. Notwith- 
 standing all its imperfections, this school has had a percep- 
 tible influence in later years.* 
 
 Still more important, at that time, was the establishment 
 of courts of justice. A small extent of jurisdiction was left 
 to the Kmetes of the village ; but in every district to^vn, 
 where formerly the Kadi had resided, a magistracy was 
 formed, consisting of a president, an assessor, and a secre- 
 tary. The Senate aj)i)ointed the last of these officers, and 
 gave them the necessary instructions, reserving the appeals 
 for their own decision. 
 
 By these means, in a country so lately freed from the 
 Turks, the germs of civilisation and progress were imme- 
 diately planted; in a great measure, after the model pre- 
 sented by the neighbouring state, Austria ; but yet by a 
 
 * Protitsch, Maxim Rankovitsch (Senator), Lasar Arsenovitsch, and 
 Boschko Thadditsch, were pupils of this establishmeut. 
 
ELECTION OF SENATOP.S. 125 
 
 national impulse, and witli peculiar regulations. The Senate, 
 who undertook the superintendence of these regulations, 
 contributed at the same time to the unity of the ruling 
 power. The Senate rej^resented the country at large, as each 
 senator represented his own Nahia. 
 
 Was it not the object of these measures to create a counter 
 influence, in oj)position to the arbitrary power of the mili- 
 tary leaders ? 
 
 At a first glance it might have so appeared ; but such was 
 not the case. The very origin of the senators rendered it 
 almost impossible that it should be so. It was indeed in- 
 tended that each Sowietnik should be sent by the free elec- 
 tion of his district : but hov/ could the people of any place 
 venture to reject the proposal of the Gospodar? On the 
 Gospodar depended the election ; and as it rested with him, 
 also, to determine how much of the produce of the district he 
 might be disposed to grant to a friend, the comfortable sub- 
 sistence of the Sowietnik was equally in his hands. Could a 
 senator so circumstanced act in opposition to the interest of 
 his elector and patron ? Could it be expected, for instance, 
 that Jacob Nenadovitsch would be reproved or checked by 
 his nephew, Prota, who was for some time president of the 
 Senate ? It is true that, in the very nature of the duties of 
 the Senate, there prevailed to some extent a guarantee of gene- 
 ral influence : the mere existence of a central authority gave 
 it rights ; but these were fai' from being always acknow- 
 ledged. Despite of the decrees of the Senate, some Voivodes 
 retained possession of the custom-houses on the frontier, or 
 of Turkish property ; for the Senate was unable to render the 
 magistrates independent of the military chiefs. Commanders 
 habitually feel a consciousness of their own importance, 
 which is readily excited by successful exploits : the Voivodes 
 would not be governed by men of peace. It is well known that 
 at the very commencement, Kara George, when some decrees 
 bad been issued which displeased him, went out, assembled 
 his Momkes, and stationed them with their guns pointed 
 against the Avindows of the Sessions Hall. " It is easy,'* 
 he exclaimed, " to make laws in comfortable rooms, but 
 who vnll lead the way should the Turkish army again 
 appear r " 
 
 It was only when the military chiefs expected advance- 
 
I2G INFLUENCE OF MLADEN AND MJLOIE. 
 
 meut from the Senate, tliat they cordially recognised its 
 authority. Weliko received from the Sowiet the command 
 of a squadron, with which he conquered Zrnareka. 
 
 But another evil arose from the manner in v/hich the 
 Senate was composed. 
 
 The Gospodars had hoped that it would afford them a 
 means of limiting the power of the commander-in-chief; 
 Kara George, on the contrary, that it would assist him in 
 controlling his rivals. As the electors of the Sowietniks were 
 influenced by these opposite feelings, it was unavoidable that 
 the disputes which divided their constituents should aj)pear 
 also in the Senate. Let us examine the differences which 
 thus arose. 
 
 Among the senators, two especially sided with Kara 
 George : these were Mie.den Milovanovitsch, dejnity for 
 Kragujevaz, and Ivan Jugovitsch — who, after the premature 
 death of Philip]}ovitsch, had succeeded that statesman in 
 the office of secretary ; with perhaps equal knowledge and 
 ability, but not with an equally blameless demeanour. 
 Mladen was intima,tely connected with Kara George ; coming 
 from the same province, pursuing the same calling, and with 
 similar fortune : for he also had served in the Austrian war, 
 and had subsequently been chosen Heyduc ; moreover his 
 nephew was married to the daughter of Kara George. Occa- 
 sionally Mladen was intrusted with the control of several 
 Yoivodes of minor consequence. War, however, was not 
 his peculiar element. He was very tall and powerful, but 
 somewhat awkward in his gait, and his presence in the field 
 v/as not deemed auspicious. But in council he was altogether 
 in his proper place. He had the ability to deliver his opinion 
 with such convincing eloquence, that no one ventured to 
 controvert what he advanced. In the year 1807, he had 
 the conduct of affairs entii'ely in his hands : people said, 
 '• Mladen alone is the Senate." But he did not always 
 exercise his power blamelessly. 
 
 Mladen was also most intimately allied with Miloie, another 
 old comjDanion in his profession ; and these two, who lived in 
 the same house, ruled Belgrade by the assistance of theBekjares 
 and Momkes. At the capture of the fortress, the best jmrt 
 of the booty had fallen to their share ; and they continued 
 from time to time to gain possession of the most serviceable 
 
AllUlVAL OF RODOFINIKIX. 127 
 
 houses and vaults in the town ; tlie most lucrative maga- 
 zines, and the finest landed property in the country. By 
 constantly retaining in their possession the custom-houses of 
 Belgrade and Ostruschnitza, they brought the greatest part of 
 the trade with foreigTi coimtries into their own hands. It is 
 true they farmed the tolls and bought the houses and estates : 
 but on terms imposed by themselves ; wliich, in fact, made 
 their transactions scarcely less unjust and tyrannical. Fre- 
 quently they forced the peasants to perform feudal service, 
 or socage. In short, without their participation, no one 
 could venture to enter upon any business of imiDortance. 
 
 Proceedings of this nature recal to mind the fact, that, 
 only a short time previously, the country had groaned under 
 a despotic government ; the conduct of which these men 
 seemed desirous to imitate. Yer}^ fortunately there existed 
 a party who had an almost personal interest in opposing 
 their views. 
 
 Abram Lukitsch, from the districts of Rudnik and Pos- 
 chega, a friend of Milan; and Ivan Protitsch, from theNahia 
 of Milenko-Poscharevaz, showed themselves especially zealous 
 on the subject ; and a,t length they procured a decree for the 
 removal of Mladen from BslgTade. All the Sowietniks con- 
 firmed this decree by their signatures or their seals, and Kara 
 George assented, Mladen was commissioned to lead the 
 Bekjares to Deligrade ; and he accordingly set out on the 
 expedition. Jugovitsch, equally obnoxious to the senators, 
 also had to give way to them. 
 
 Soon after, however, Kara George, under circumstances of 
 yet greater pressure, thought himself justified in restricting 
 the power of the Senate. 
 
 In consequence of the relations entered into with Bussia, 
 the Bussian councillor of state, Bodofinikin, had come to 
 Belgrade on the solicitation of the Servian deputies. From 
 the first, Kara George had disapproved of this. He objected 
 that Bodofinikin was a Greek ; that the Greeks had ever 
 been suspected, nay, even hated, by the Servians ; who were, 
 at that very time, on bad terms with the Metropolitan, 
 Leonti, also a Greek. Plis objection, however, came too late : 
 the deputies were already on their way back with the Bussian 
 councillor. 
 
 Bodofinikin, who probably was not aware of the prejudice 
 
128 JEALOUSIES AND DISPUTES. 
 
 existing against him, on Ms arrival not only entered upon u 
 friendly understanding with Leonti, but censured much in 
 the conduct of the Servians ; he advised them to make the 
 Momkes paid troops, and to restrain the arbitrary power of 
 the Voivodes. Aversion and suspicion were consequently 
 excited against him in the minds of many. Kara George 
 was persuaded that Rodofinikin was in alliance with his 
 rivals : Mladen and Jugovitsch represented to him, that 
 people attacked tliem, only for the purpose of overthrowing 
 him ; and that with this object Rodofinikin and Leonti sided 
 with his native opponents. Moreover they contended that 
 the design of the two Greeks went yet further : that it was 
 their wish to subject Servia to a Greek government, such as 
 existed in Moldavia and Wallachia ; and that for this end 
 they had been gained over by the Fanariotes. On this point, 
 Jugovitsch had many stories in readiness. He stated that, 
 of two deputies who had come from Constantinople under 
 pretence of making proposals for peace, and who had been 
 ordered to return, one, named Nicolaus, had nevertheless 
 remained at Belgrade, and entered into the service of Leonti ; 
 and that the Metropolitan had, even in the depth of winter, 
 set out in his company, under the pretext of collecting his 
 Dimnitza, but in reality to excite the multitude against their 
 chiefs. Leonti, he said, had asked the people, " why they 
 fought for their chiefs — for men whose design it was first to 
 enrich themselves, and then to flee with their riches, and to 
 give the peasants up to the Turks ? It would be better for 
 them to submit to the Turks at once." — It could not be 
 believed, added Jugovitsch, but that there was an understand- 
 ing between Leonti and Rodofinikin ; else why should the 
 latter, when new ambassadors from Constantinople appeared 
 in the Kraina, have contrived to be commissioned to nego- 
 tiate with them himself? He had gone to meet them, 
 accompanied by Leonti and Nicolaus ; but no negotiation 
 v/hatever had been brought under discussion. Secret designs 
 had been there agreed upon, whilst the parties were standing 
 conversing, two and two, together. 
 
 On these representations, Kara George considered it almost 
 as a duty he owed to his country to assert his own personal 
 authority — for what event could have been more pernicious to 
 the country than its falling under the rapacious domination 
 
HISTORY OF KARA GEORGE. 129 
 
 of the Fanariotcs ? Without delay, he bam>she(l Nicolaus ; 
 and Leonti also was made to feel his displeasure. He took 
 especial care, too — in order to prevent an influence of so 
 dangerous a nature from acquiring a preponderance in the 
 Senate — that his two friends should resume their seats in 
 that assembly. And no one ventured to oppose him. 
 Mladen, it is true, visited the Sessions only now and then ; yet 
 he enjoyed gTeater influence, and was more feared than ever. 
 
 Such manifold opposition of the civil administration to 
 the military chiefs, and of the Gospodars to the commander- 
 in-chief, together with disputes concerning internal and 
 external relations, disturbed this government, even at the 
 commencement of its formation ; yeb they were unable to 
 destroy its unity. Tliis was sustained by the authority of 
 the commander-in-chief ; wliich, though unquestionably much 
 restricted, already extended over all parts of the country, 
 had the preponderance in the Skupschtina, and could influ- 
 ence the decisions of the Senate. Victorious success in arms 
 had laid the foundation of this authority ; but without great 
 tact and natural talent, it could not have been preserved in 
 its integrity. Kara George will be ever memorable, not only 
 as having led the insurrection against the Turks, but also as 
 the founder of a comprehensive national authority throughout 
 the country. He well deserved to be regarded as the chief 
 of the nation. Let us pause a moment, to consider his liistory 
 and character, manners and personal appearance. 
 
 George Petrovitsch, called Kara, or Zrni the llach, was 
 born between the years 1760 and 1770, in the village of 
 Wischevzi, in the district of Kragujevaz. He was the son of 
 a peasant named Petroni ; and in his early youth he went 
 with his parents higher up into the mountain to Topola. In 
 the very first commotion of the country — which was in the 
 year 1787, when an invasion by the Austrians was expected — 
 he took a part that decided the character of his future life. 
 He saw himself compelled to flee ; and not wishing to leave 
 his father behind,'^' amongst the Turks, he took him also, with 
 all his moveable property and cattle. Thus he proceeded 
 
 * It has been stated that Petroni was his step-father : we are informed 
 of the truth of this by one of Kara George's most intimate acquaintances. 
 But this supposition does not offer any mitigation of such a crime : a less 
 degree of affection would have rendered the deed more cruel. 
 
130 SLAYS HIS FATHEE. 
 
 towards the Save, but the nearer they approached that river, 
 the more alarmed became his father : who from the first, 
 would have preferred surrendering, as many others had done, 
 and often advised him to return. Once again, and in the 
 most urgent manner, when they already beheld the Save 
 before them, the old man said, " Let us humble ourselves, and 
 we shall obtain pardon. Do not go to Germany, my son : as 
 surely as my bread may prosper thee, do not go." But 
 George remained inexorable. His father was at last equally 
 resolved : " Go, then, over alone," he said : " I remain in 
 this country." " How !" replied Kara George, " shall I live to 
 see thee slowly tortured to death by the Turks ? It is better 
 that I should kill thee myself on the spot !" Then, seizing a 
 pistol, he instantly shot his father, and ordered one of his 
 companions to give the death-blow to the old man, who was 
 writhing in agony. In the next village, Kara said to the 
 people, " Get the old man who lies yonder buried for me, and 
 drink also for his soul at a funeral feast." For that purpose 
 he made them a present of the cattle which he had with him, 
 and then crossed the Save. 
 
 This deed, which was the first indication of his character, 
 threw him out of the common course. He returned to his 
 own district, with the rank of Serjeant, inthecorjDS of volun- 
 teers ; but, believing himself imjustly passed over at a 
 distribution of medals, he retired into the mountains as a 
 Heyduc. However, he became reconciled in this matter with 
 Ms colonel, Mihaljevitsch : went with him after the peace to 
 Austria ; and w^as made " forest-keeper " in the cloister of 
 Kruschedol. But he did not rest satisfied in Austria ; and 
 as, under Hadji Mustafa, he had nothing to fear in Servia, he 
 returned thither, and from that time followed his business — 
 that of a dealer in swine. The outrages of the Dahis hurried 
 him into the movements in which he was destined to perform 
 so important a part. 
 
 Kara George was a very extraordinary man. He would 
 sit for days together without uttering a word, biting his 
 nails. At times, when addressed, he would turn his head 
 aside and not answer. When he had taken wine, he became 
 talkative ; and if in a cheerful mood, he would perhaps lead 
 oft' a Kolo-dance.* 
 
 * In the "Poetical Works" of the Rev. George Croly, LL.D., is a 
 
KIS LOVE OF INDUSTRY. 131 
 
 SiDlendour and magnificence lie despised. In the days of 
 his greatest success, he was always seen in his old blue 
 trousers, in his worn-out short pelt, and his well-known 
 black cap. His daughter, even whilst her father was in the 
 exercise of princely authority, was seen to carry her water- 
 vessel, like other girls in the village. Yet strange to say, he 
 was not insensible to the charms of gold. 
 
 In Topola, he might have been taken for a peasant. With 
 his Momkes, he would clear a piece of forest land, or conduct 
 water to a mill ; and then they would fish together in the 
 brook Jasenitza. He plouojhed and tilled the ground ; and 
 spoilt the insignia of the Russian Order with w^liich he had 
 been decorated, v/hilst putting a hoop on a cask. R was in 
 battle only that he appeared a warrior. When the Servians 
 saw him approach, surrounded by his Momkes, they took 
 fresh courage. Of lofty stature, spare, and broad-shouldered, 
 his face seamed by a large scar, and enlivened with sparkling 
 deep-set eyes, he could not fail to be instantly recognised. 
 He would spring from his horse, for he preferred fighting on 
 foot ; and though his right hand had been disabled from a 
 v/ound received when a Heyduc, he contrived to use his rifle 
 
 fine sketch of the person and character of this heroic individual, with an 
 equally noble effusion relating to his death : the description of which, 
 however, is not in accordance with the account given by Rauke : — " His 
 appearance was striking and singular. He was boldly formed, and above 
 the general stature. But the extraordinary length of his physiognomy, 
 his sunken eyes, and his bold forehead, bound with a single black tress of 
 hair, gave him a look rather Asiatic than European. 
 
 His brow is bare. 
 
 Save one wild tress of raven hair, 
 
 Like a black serpent deeply bound, 
 
 Where once sat Servia's golden round." 
 
 Amongst the anecdotes related of him, is the following: "'When a 
 boy, being ordered by a Turk to stand out of the way, or have his brains 
 blown out, he shot the Turk on the spot. Hatred of the oppressors of 
 his country was probably mingled here with individual temper." 
 
 " This man," forcibly observes Dr. Croly, " was one of the bold crea- 
 tions of wild countries and troubled times — beings of impetuous courage, 
 iron strength, original talent, and doubtful morality. Civilization levels 
 and subdues the inequalities of the general mind ; barbarism shows, with 
 the desolation, the grandeur of the wilderness — the dwarfed and the 
 gigantic side by side, a thousand diminished and decaying productions 
 overshadowed by one mighty effort of savage fertility." — Transl. 
 
 k2 
 
132 HIS REGARD FOR JUSTICE. 
 
 most skilfully. Wherever he appeared, the Turks became 
 panic-stricken ; for victory was believed to be invariably his 
 companion. 
 
 In affairs of peace, Kara George evinced, as has been shown, 
 a decided inclination for a regular course of proceeding ; and, 
 although he could not himself write, he was fond of having 
 business carried on in writing ; he allowed matters to follow 
 their own course for a long time together ; but, if they were 
 carried too far, his very justice was violent and terrible. His 
 only brother, presuming on his name and relationship, took 
 unwarrantable license ; and for a long time, Kara George 
 overlooked his misconduct ; but at length he did violence to 
 a youngTnaiden, whose friends complained loudly ; exclaim- 
 ing, that it was for crimes of such a character that the 
 nation had risen against the Turks. Kara George was so 
 greatly enraged at this vile deed, that he ordered this only 
 brother, w^hom he loved, to be hanged at the door of the 
 house ; and forbade his mother to mourn outwardly for the 
 death of her son ! 
 
 Generally speaking, he was kindly disposed ; yet he would 
 readily accredit what was related to him in prejudice of 
 another, although a short time before convinced of the con- 
 trary ; and if once irritated and angry, he could not be 
 restrained. Pie would not even pause to tell his Momkes to 
 beat the offender to the ground, but he would himself slay 
 his adversary ; and he spared none. To the Knes Theodosi, 
 he was indebted for his dignity ; yet he slew him. When 
 such an event had occurred, he would weep, and exclaim, 
 " May God punish him who gave cause for the quarrel !" 
 Yet he was not vindictive : when he had once pardoned an 
 offender, he never recurred again to the offence. 
 
 Such was Kara George : a character of extraordinary 
 strength ; unconscious, as it were of its own powers, — brood- 
 ing in the vague sense of dormant energies ; till aroused to 
 action by some event of the moment : but then bursting 
 forth into vigorous activity ; for good or for evil, as circum- 
 stances might direct. 
 
 His character much resembles that of the heroes celebrated 
 in the national songs of Servia. 
 
 Howsoever much of a barbarian he might be, Kara George 
 was now playing a part of no slight importance in the world. 
 
STATE OF SERVIA. 133 
 
 He established the principle of the emancipation of the 
 subject Christian nations from the government and power of 
 the Turks ; and towards him all eyes were now directed. ''•' 
 
 Nothing had as yet been settled or acknowledged respect- 
 ing the position of the Servians. They Avere still in the 
 midst of war ; which was carried on with greater or less 
 zeal, as the j)osition of European affairs permitted. By 
 degrees, those affairs took such a turn as to present a very 
 fair prospect of success to the efforts of the Servians who 
 were struggling to establish their independence. 
 
 * Mr, Paton, in his Work entitkd '^ Servia, the Youngest Member of 
 the European Family," describes an interview which he had with the son 
 of Kara George. Mr. Paton observed to the Prince : — 
 
 " Your Highness's father had a great name as a soldier; I hope that 
 your rule will be distinguished by rapid advancement in the arts of 
 civilization." 
 
 "This," continues Mr. Paton, ''led to a conversation relative to the 
 late Kara George ; and the Prince rising, led me into another apartment, 
 ■where the portrait of his father, the duplicate of one painted for the 
 Emperor jMexander, hung from the wall. He was represented in the 
 Turkish dress, and wore his pistols in his girdle ; the countenance 
 expressed not only intelligence, but a certain refinement, which one 
 would scarcely expect in a warrior peasant ; but all his contemporaries 
 agree in representing him to have possessed an inherent superiority and 
 nobility of nature, which in any station would have raised him above his 
 equals." 
 
 The same writer transci-ibes the following passage from a paper by 
 Marshal Diebitch, who was employed on a confidential mission from the 
 Russian Government in Servia, during the years 1810 and 1811; the 
 original of which is in possession of the Servian Government : — 
 
 " George Pelrovitch, to whom the Turks have given the name of Kara 
 or Black, is an important character. His countenance shows a greatness 
 of mind, which is not to be mistaken ; and when we take into considera- 
 tion the times, circumstances, and the impossibility of his having received 
 an education, we must admit that he has a mind of a masculine and com- 
 manding order. The imputation of cruelty and bloodthirstiness ?.ppears 
 to be unjust. When the country was without the shadow of a constitu- 
 tion, and when he commanded an unorganized and uncultivated nation, 
 he was compelled to be severe ; he dared not vacillate, or relax his disci- 
 pline; but now that there are courts of law, and legal forms, he hands 
 every case over to the regular tribunals. He has very little to say for 
 himself, and is rude in his manners ; but his judgments in civil affairs 
 are promptly and soundly framed, and to great addi-ess he joins unwearied 
 industry. As a soldier, there is but one opinion of his talents, bravery, 
 and enduring firmness." — Servia, the Youngest Member of the European 
 
134 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 RELATIONS OF SERVIA TO THE GENERAL STATE OF 
 EUROPE AND TURKEY. 
 
 Turkey joins tlie Second Coalition against France. — Napoleon abandons 
 his Scheme of an Eastern Empire. — The War of 1806. — French Influ- 
 ence at Constantinople. — Relations of the European Powers with 
 Turkey. — Connexion of Russia with the Servians. — Opposing Parties 
 in the Ottoman Empire. — Deposition of Selim III. — At the Peace of 
 Tilsit, Buonaparte deserts the Cause of the Turks. — His Views regard- 
 ing Turkey. — Recommencement of HostiHties between the Servians and 
 Turks in 1809. — Servia is supported by Russia. 
 
 The great conflict which agitated Europe, on the over- 
 throw of the ancient kingly power in France, extended also 
 to the Ottoman Empire, which rests on totally different 
 foundations ; and affected, to a great extent, its foreign 
 relations and its internal condition : not indeed through its 
 constitutional sympathies and antipathies, but incidentally, 
 by the vicissitudes of war and politics. 
 
 Considered in itself, a change of government in France 
 •was most welcome to the Divan. It calculated that this 
 power Avould now assume towards Austria, whom the Turks 
 still regarded as an enemy, a more decided language and 
 demeanour than the old government had ventured to adopt. 
 
 But the spirit of conquest, which had seized the revolu- 
 tionised nation, displayed itself also in the East. The great 
 general of the French Repubhc, ISTapoleon Buonapai-te, con- 
 ceived the idea of founding an Eastern Empire : he took 
 possession of Egypt, and invaded Syria. The natural conse- 
 quence of these events was, that the Porte took part against 
 France, and joined the second coalition. A squadron of the 
 allied Turks and Russians appeared off the Italian coast ; 
 a^id the Caliph of E-oumelia, as the Sultan styled himself, 
 made every exeii^ion to reinstate the Pope at Home. 
 
 Family ; or, a Residence in Belgrade, and Travels in the Highlands and 
 Woodlands of the hiterior, during the Years 1843 and 1844. By 
 Andrew Archibald Paton, Esq.. Author of The Modern Syrians, 
 '845.— TrvANSL. 
 
IlELATIONS OF TURKEY AND FRANCE. 135 
 
 At length Napoleon judged it was more prudent to rule 
 France, than to oppose all the forces of the world in a 
 distant land; where, cut off from the mother country, he 
 must finally be subdued by them. He, therefore, gave up 
 both Egypt and Syria, and prepared to form a Western 
 instead of an Eastern Empire. 
 
 A better imderstandiiig was in consequence soon estab- 
 lished between him and the Porte. As Napoleon acknow- 
 ledged the integrity of its territory, the Porte did not 
 hesitate to renew the ancient privileges w^hich the French 
 had enjoyed during the reign of their kings ; and even 
 to allow them the free navigation of the Black Sea. Such 
 concessions might now be granted without hesitation : so 
 long, at least, as ])eace was maintained on the continent. 
 But would it be safe if war should again break out betTveen 
 the great continental powers and Napoleon ? Such was the 
 case in the year 1805 ; and it became a question ^vith the 
 Porte, which of the two parties it would prefer joining. 
 
 For a while the Porte hesitated. At times the Russian 
 ambassador seemed likely to carry everything at Constanti- 
 nople ; but the Turkish government vacillated, and delayed 
 coming to any conclusion that might prove prejudicial to the 
 French. 
 
 At this juncture the news of the battle of Austerlitz 
 arrived. The defeat of the Bussians afforded extreme satis- 
 faction to the population of Constantinople. The Porte also 
 began to have confidence in the ' star' of Napoleon ; and 
 now, for the first time, acknowledged him as Emperor 
 {Padischali) of the French. Napoleon assured the Turkish 
 ambassador that the successes and reverses of the one state 
 were those of the other — that the enemies of the Turks were 
 his also — that the Sultan was his oldest and most valued ally.'"' 
 
 It is a fact not always remembered, that the affairs of 
 Turkey, almost as much as those of Germany, led to the war 
 of 1806. 
 
 In order to prevent the influence wliich, by the possession 
 of Dalmatia, the French w^ould certainly obtain over the 
 neighbouring Turkish provinces and even over the Divan 
 itself, England and Bussia determined that Dalmatia should 
 
 * Repcnse cle I'Empereur a un discours de rArabassadeur de la Porte 
 Ottomaue 5 Juin, 180(J. 
 
136 PROCEEDINGS OF RUSSIA. 
 
 not be conceded to France. The two allies would have 
 preferred rather to make use of its coasts for an attack 
 on Northern Italy, then under French dominion ; in order 
 to take possession of the Bays of Cattaro. The Russians, 
 now in occupation of Corfu, united with the people of 
 Montenegro, who rose in multitudes ; and brought the 
 advancing French, if not into great danger, at least into 
 serious difficulties. At that time England would not have 
 objected, if Russia had possessed herself also of Belgrade. 
 
 The intentions of the allies, which could not be concealed, 
 greatly facilitated the purpose of General Sebastiani, whom 
 Napoleon had sent to Constantinople, to win over the Divan 
 entirely to the French interest. The alliance of Russia with 
 the Cliristian subjects of the Ottoman Empire was one of 
 the weightiest reasons urged by the General. He knew 
 well what he was about when he induced the Porte to 
 depose the Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia ; who 
 were accused, amongst other offences, of a secret under- 
 standing with the Servians. For as the existing treaties 
 stipulated that this should not be done without consulting 
 Russia, open war with that power must consequently ensue. 
 
 The immense advantages obtained by this proceeding are 
 worthy of particular remark. In consequence of this step, 
 Russia found an occupation which prevented the full deve- 
 lopment of her forces in favour of Prussia ; a large army 
 being forthwith despatched into Moldavia. Moreover, this 
 at present one-sided interference of the Russians, with the 
 territories of the Lower Danube, excited a strong jealousy in 
 Austria. According to the documents which have come 
 before us on this subject, there can be no doubt that the 
 adoption of these measures constituted one of the chief 
 reasons why Austria did not join the alliance between 
 Prussia and Russia.* It was also proposed to her to unite 
 with France and Turkey : but this offer it would have been 
 still less possible for her to have accepted. 
 
 In the meantime, the connexion between the French and 
 the Turks was daily becoming closer. The news of the 
 
 * According to "The Historical Memoir of a Mission to the Court of 
 Vienna, in 1806," by Sir Robert Adair, pp. 104, 108, this appears to 
 have been the chief result of that mission. No one any longer believed 
 that Fox had ever been disposed to leave Sicily to Napoleon. 
 
ENGLISH FLEET AT CONSTANTINOrLE. 137 
 
 success of !N"apoleon against Prussia, and his march into 
 Poland, materially contributed to induce the Porte, in the 
 month of December, 1806 — despite the threats of the 
 English — to declare war against Kussia, with all the solem- 
 nity of a religious ceremony. 
 
 The Turks are said to have flattered themselves that they 
 should form a junction with the French troops on the 
 Dniester, or even on the Danube, and thus be enabled to 
 re-conquer the Crimea. When the English made good their 
 threats, and with a considerable squadron appeared before 
 Constantinople, the Divan was resolute in rejecting their 
 demands. They w^ho most strongly encouraged the Turks in 
 forming this resolution, and afterwards made them adhere 
 to it, were Sebastiaui and his suite ; men all well experienced 
 :in war ; and who now assisted, or rather directed them in 
 their j^reparations for defence.* The result was that the 
 English, everywhere else victorious, Avithdrew. After this 
 we find the progress of the Turkish arms against the 
 Russians announced, in Napoleon's bulletins, as his own 
 success. On a congress for peace being suggested, Buona- 
 parte demanded the admission of Turkish plenipotentiaries ; 
 and when, on the 28th of May, 1807, the Turkish ambassador 
 was presented to him at the Castle of Finkenstein, ISTapoleon 
 declared, that ''himself and the Grand Siguier were now 
 inseparable as the right and left hands." f 
 
 It would not be difiicult to trace the relations into which 
 the European powers were thus brought with the internal 
 affairs of Turkey. 
 
 We have already seen, that the union into which Russia 
 had entered with the Servians, was continually becoming 
 closer ; so that at length she sent a division of troops into 
 the Kraina to their assistance. There is a letter from the 
 seat of war in that country, in which Kara George relates, 
 
 * Bignon, t. vi., p. 193 : L'Ambassadeur de France est en merae 
 terns le premier ministre et le connetable du Grand Seigneur. Adair, on 
 the 4th of April, 1807, writes: " General Sebastian! is completely master 
 at Constantinople, presides over the deliberations of the Divan, and 
 directs all their measures." 
 
 + 77me bulletin de la grande armee Finckenstein, le 28 Mai, 1807. 
 It is true that it is there only said "on assure," but that is sufficient 
 evidence. Compare Thibaudeau, V Empire. 
 
138 NAPOLEON ASSISTS TURKEY. 
 
 with exultation, " that 1500 Turks had been killed on the 
 spot — that eight redoubts, with all their cannon and bombs, 
 had been taken — that a chest full of ducats had fallen into 
 their hands, together with Arabian horses, and costly trap- 
 pings in abundance — that such of the Turks as had escaped, 
 had saved nothing but their lives, and that the Pacha had 
 effected his escape on a Wallachian mare." He knew not 
 how sufficiently to extol the valour of the Russians. If this 
 action produced no other results, it at least established a 
 good fellowship in arms between the Russians and Servians. 
 
 In like manner, in the sjiring of the year 1807, the 
 Russians assisted the people of Montenegro in an attack 
 upon the Turkish fortresses of Nikschitschi and Klobug. 
 The Montenegrins were devoted in their attachment to the 
 Emperor of Russia, even beyond what might have been 
 expected under such circumstances. In one of their peti- 
 tions they designated themselves -his subjects.* 
 
 The Greek Armatoles, also, who from year to year had 
 become more aware of their own importance, with Enthy- 
 m.ios Blacchavas, who already cherished the idea of a general 
 deliverance of Greece,t were on good terras with the Russians; 
 to whom Parga once more stood indebted for its deliverance 
 from Ali Pacha. 
 
 On the other hand, ISTapoleon was in constant intercourse 
 with Ali Pacha, who had I'riendly relations with the party at 
 this time prevailing at Constantinople. The Pacha boasted 
 that Napoleon had placed cannon at his disposal ;:|; and it 
 seems probable that a combined attack on the Seven Islands 
 had been in contemplation. The Montenegrins affirm, that 
 on their attacking Klobug, the French troops from Ragusa 
 had come to the assistance of the Turks. French officers are 
 said also to have directed the resistance which the Bosnians, 
 in 1807, made against the Servians : a statement originating 
 from the circumstance that the Bosnian artillery was far 
 better served, and proved far more effective than on former 
 
 * Sujets fideies ae Votre Majeste. Rapport de Stroganoff a I'Empereur 
 Alexandre. Lebensbilder, ii. p. 194. 
 
 f Emerson's History of Modern Greece, ii. p. 500. 
 
 J In a letter of Napoleon's, Osterode, le 7 Avril, 1807, communicated 
 by Segur, we read : JJeja des canons ont 6le mis a la disposition du 
 Pasha de Janina. 
 
STATE OF PARTIES IN TURKEY. 139 
 
 occasions.* The fact cannot be affirmed with certainty, but 
 the events of the period aiford sufficient grounds for its 
 belief 
 
 Napoleon — who, since his Egyptian campaign, had enter- 
 tained a high opinion of the qualifications of Turkish soldiers 
 — now called upon the Sultan to leave his Seraglio, to place 
 himself at the head of his troops, and to renew the glorious 
 days of the Ottoman Empire. This he considered to be 
 practicable in the very way that Selim had adoj^ted, through 
 the medium of military reforms ; in which he encouraged 
 him to the utmost of his power. It is certain that at one 
 period of his youth, when circumstances in France appeared 
 to promise little in his favour, Buonaparte had himself in- 
 tended to assist in the military regeneration of the Turkish 
 Empire, There is a note extant, written at the time re- 
 ferred to, in which he assumes that it was a political neces- 
 sity for France to improve the military force of Turkey, and 
 cause her again to be the dread of neighbouring states. That 
 was the opinion which he now expressed. The assistance of 
 French engineers and artillery officers made the defence of 
 Constantinople against the English possible at this time, and 
 showed what the Turks might accomplish under skilful 
 guidance. 
 
 Thus the great states of Europe were connected, by their 
 sympathies, with the two opposing tendencies in the Otto- 
 man Empire : the allied powers were anxious for the eleva- 
 tion and advancement of the diffiirent nations ; France for 
 mihtary reform. 
 
 There existed, however, in the Empire, a third party, 
 opposed to both the others — its tendency being that of up- 
 holding the old Islam sj^stem, without any reform, in uncon- 
 ditional dominion over the Rayahs, This party once more 
 became formidable. It has been seen that Selim III. was 
 unable fully to enforce his orders that the Janissaries should 
 be disciplined according to the European system. It was 
 
 * At the head-quarters of Jacob Nenadovitsch, nothing was ever seen 
 or heard of French artillery prisoners ; respecting whom, a repoi't from 
 the army (ostreichische militarische Zeitschrift, 1821) says so much. 
 The Servians, it is true, also considered that French officers were amongst 
 the Turks, from the fact that their artillery liad been more effective 
 than formerly. 
 
140 DEPOSITION OF SELIM III. 
 
 I 
 
 only by destroying the contTimacious chiefs, and by making 
 war against the provinces in which they had the upper hand, 
 that this point could have been carried ; and to effect this, 
 Selim was in want of what a reformmg prince above all 
 requires : the assistance and support of the lower and un- 
 privileged classes. Against these, on tlie contrary, he was, 
 by the religious nature of his power, compelled to maintain 
 a constant warfare. Such of his Mahometan subjects as he 
 had been able in some measure to organize, were insufficient 
 to effect his object. When the Caramanian troops marched 
 towards the Danube, shortly before the breaking out of the 
 Russian war — and perhaps but in expectation of that event 
 — the united Krdschalies and Janissaries encountered them 
 in a favourable position in Babaeski on the Yena, and 
 defeated them so completely that they could never recover 
 tlie blow."' The conduct of the Sultan, in having defended 
 his capital by the aid of the French, might have been so far 
 satisfactory to the strict Moslems ; but it had also the effect 
 of arousing their pride, and exciting their fear, lest he should 
 now more and more incline to the strangers, and to their 
 institutions. 
 
 Relieved from the presence of the English and the Russians, 
 — for their fleet also had retired, — supported by the French, 
 and assured of their further assistance, the Sultan at lengih 
 once more ventured to apply himself earnestly to the refor- 
 mation of the Janissaries. At this, however, the sj)irit of 
 ancient Islamism aroused itself with the wild fanaticism and 
 obstinate defiance which are its peculiar characteristics. The 
 first &te]) taken by Selim amongst the Lazes and Arnautic 
 Jamaks in the castles on the Bosphorus, excited open re- 
 liellion against him in his capital : the Janissaries overturned 
 their camp-kettles, as an intimation that they would no longer 
 accept food from Sultan Selim. No precautionary measures 
 had been taken to lead them back to their duty : neither the 
 Topdschi, on whom Selim had expended so much, nor the 
 Mufti, whom he had installed, were on his side. And con- 
 sequently the ministers who had sanctioned the innovation, 
 atoned for it with their lives. The Sultan himself was then 
 declared to be dethroned ; for having abandoned himself to 
 
 ■'' August 1806. Juchereau de St. Denys, Revolutions de Constanti- 
 nople, ii. 30. 
 
FRANCE DESERTS THE TURKS. 141 
 
 Christian vices, and violated the holy ordinances of the 
 Koran. Selim experienced the fate of many other reforming 
 princes, who had no extraordinary resources to fall back 
 upon : that of being overthroAVD by the powers which he 
 assailed. 
 
 For more than a twelvemonth, these disturbances con- 
 tinued, with various results, to agitate the capital. An 
 adherent of Selim's, Mustafa Bairactar, who had made him- 
 self Vizier, furthered these attempts at reform for some time ; 
 and with greater forbearance towards existing abuses than 
 might have been expected. But the Janissaries revolted 
 also against him ; and the Ulemas accused him of designing 
 to render the nation of the faithful similar, and at last 
 subject, to the infidels. After long and often doubtful con- 
 flicts, the Yizier Bairactar was overthrown, with all his 
 friends. 
 
 The old religious military system, with its privileges and 
 abuses — which had become hereditary — was established more 
 firmly than ever ; by this triple victory over the Caramanian 
 Pacha, the Sultan, and the reforming Vizier. If the young 
 Mahmoud, the only surviving scion of the Ottoman dynasty, 
 had indeed imbibed the ideas of his uncle Selim, he was 
 under the necessity of concealing them. For a long time, no 
 farther thought could be given to the reforms which that 
 monarch had designed.''^ 
 
 Meanwhile the political relations with Eui'ope had also 
 undergone a change. 
 
 At the peace of Tilsit, Napoleon deserted the cause of the 
 Turks. He made the revolution, through which Selim had 
 been deposed, the pretext for this step ; and in one of his 
 hulleti?is he styled the nation " Anti-Christian." But even 
 his greatest admirers do not affirm that this was his real 
 motive ; which was that he considered it of more importance 
 to induce Russia to unite with him in hostilities against 
 England, t He had now commenced the development of a 
 
 * Juchereau de St. Denys, ii. 238 : " On renonca a jamais aux institu- 
 tions militaires ties Francs, — on prononca anatherae centre ceux qui ea 
 parleraient, — I'ancien ordre des choses fut retabli : les janissaires et les 
 oulemas reprirent leur droits et leur influence politique. 
 
 t Bignon, in his Reflections on the Peace of Tilsit, \i. 34G, discusses 
 the question, whether '' le reproche fait a Napoleon d'avoir sacrifie la 
 
142 DESIGNS OF NAPOLEON ON TURKEY. 
 
 system, in which he abandoned the traditionary rules of the 
 ancient policy of France, and sacriticed her old allies to their 
 adversaries : so far at least as his own advantage for the 
 moment might require. In the first instance he thought of 
 appropriating to himself, in conjunction with Russia, some 
 provinces of European Turkey. Austria was also at one 
 time invited to participate in a division of the Ottoman 
 Empire. He nexb conceived the idea of stipulating for an 
 equivalent in Germany, in return for the acquisitions vv^hich 
 he would allow Paissia to make on the side of Turkey ; and 
 had selected Silesia for this object. Soon, however, his 
 ambition took a still more extended range. He stated that 
 he should be satisfied, if he were left to pursue, undisturbed, 
 his designs for the acquisition of Spain ; and in return for 
 this, he would not hesitate definitively to allow Russia to 
 take possession of Moldavia and Wallachia. In consequence 
 of the Peace of Tilsit, a truce had been concluded ; but the 
 negotiations which were entered upon did not lead to any 
 result, on account of the vastness of these pretensions. 
 
 On the 12th of October, 1808, at Erfurt, Napoleon pro- 
 mised that, should the cession of those provinces be further 
 refused, and a war break out in consequence, he would not 
 take part in it so long as it was caried on by the Porte 
 alone ; but should any European power interfere, he would 
 then make common cause with Russia. The advancing of 
 the Russian boundaries as far as the Danube was expressly 
 agreed to ; and Napoleon declared that no peace should be 
 concluded with England, unless she recognized the incorpora- 
 tion of Moldavia and Wallachia, as well as of Eiuland, into 
 the Russian Empire."^ 
 
 It is not our object to enlarge upon the projects and 
 fluctuating designs which were formed at this memorable 
 epoch ; when only three great powers — England, France, 
 and Russia — seemed to exist : more particularly as they led 
 to no important results. It concerns us only to notice the 
 
 Turquie," were well founded. He replies: ''Tout se reduit a savoir, 
 quel etait en 1807 le parti le plus utile u la France, ou de procurer a la 
 Turquie une complete satisfaction, ou de faire entrer la Russie dans le 
 systeine continental. Le choix alors ne pouvait pas etre douteux." 
 
 * Articles 5-10 of the Treaty; given in Bignon's Histoire de France 
 depuis la Paix de Tilsit, torn. ii. chap. i. 
 
RUSSIA SUPPORTS SERVIA. 143 
 
 great infliieuces — the constellations, as it were — ^under which 
 the Servians carried on their war against the Porte. These, 
 as compared with the circumstances of former times, were 
 certainly not a little changed. 
 
 The dissensions between a reforming Sultan and the 
 rebellious politico-military power of his empire, out of which 
 their insurrection had arisen, could no longer be of service to 
 the Servians. It was the old accustomed Ottoman rule, 
 which was again to be imposed upon them, and wliich they 
 had now to resist. On the other hand they found, when the 
 expected war recommenced in 1809, that the Russians were 
 their allies more decidedly than ever. A powerful support 
 would be afforded to them against the Turks, if the princi- 
 pahties of Moldavia and Wallachia were to remain for ever 
 in the hands of the Russians, as had been arriinged at 
 Erfurt. 
 
 And even while this ^Yils undecided, they enjoyed the 
 advantage of ha\dng nothing to fear from hostility on the 
 part of Napoleon, who had the command of the coasts ; nor 
 had they any cause to apprehend that the Bosnian cannon 
 would ever again be served by French artillerymen. 
 
U4 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CAMPAIGNS OF 1809 AND ISIO. FARTHEST EXTENT OF 
 THE BOUNDARIES. 
 
 Enterprise of Knes Sima against Bosnia. — The Sword of Meho Orugd- 
 schitsch. — Kara George's New Expedition. — Poetical Eulogium on 
 Kara George. — Panic and Defeat of the Turks. — Jealousies between 
 Peter Dobrinjaz and Miluie. — Stephen Singelitsch, Knes of Ressaver, 
 blows up his Fort. — Successful Progress of the Turks. — Retreat of 
 Kara George to the Frontier. — Heroism of the Heyduc Veliko. — The 
 Turks possess themselves of the Country to the Right of the Morava. 
 — Rodofinikin, the Russian Envoy, leaves Belgrade and crosses the 
 Danube. — The Russian Army crosses the Lower Danube. — Repulse of 
 the Turks. — Internal Disunion among the Servians. — Russian Pro- 
 clamation on the Opening of the Campaign in 1810. — The Servians 
 determine on the Conquest of the Kraina. — Churschid-Ali, the New 
 Pacha of Nisch, approaches the Morava, with an Army of 30,000 men. 
 — Fortresses taken and the Country laid waste by Churschid-Ali. — 
 The Servians reinforced by a Detachment of 3000 men under Colonel 
 O'Rourke. — Successes of the Servians. — Kara George marches to the 
 Relief of Losnitza. — The Turks are defeated by the Servians. — Close 
 of the Campaign. 
 
 The Servian song which relates the commencement of the 
 revohition, threatens the Bosnians with a day when the Drina 
 should be crossed, and Bosnia itself be attacked. 
 
 This had been attempted in the year 1807, but as it has 
 been seen, with little success. In 1809 the attempt was 
 renewed. The Servians were then better jorepared than 
 before, and were even provided with some troops equipped 
 after the European manner. Under these favourable circum- 
 stances they had a better prospect of success ; and, at first, 
 they were encouraged by brilliant results. 
 
 Knes Sima — whom Kara George had put in the place of 
 Jacob ISTeradovitsch, who was disabled by a wound — caused 
 his troops to cross the Drina at three different jioints, and 
 surrounded and vigorously attacked such fortified places as 
 were in the neighbourhood of the passage : Beljina and Janja, 
 Srebrniza, and higher up, Yischegrade. He then, with the 
 main body of his forces, ascended the Bosnian range of hills. 
 The Turks made a gallant resistance. Here fell Meho 
 
VULE ILITSCII. 145 
 
 Orugdscliitsch, of wliom a song makes particular mcution : 
 often in aftertimes Luka Lasarevitscli showed the sword 
 which that commander had worn, bearing the inscription, 
 " Carolus VI." However, the Bosnians ^vere compelled to 
 give way. Wherever the Servians advanced, the Bosnian 
 Rayahs rose ; headed by men of good repute, such as Knes 
 Ivan, who had paid the ransom for the prisoners of Kulin. 
 
 In the meantime Kara George undertook a still more 
 daring enterj)rise. 
 
 There is extant a spirited poetical eulogium by the then 
 Vladika of Montenegro, on the valour and unanimity of the 
 Ser\aans, before whose arms the Turkish mosques fell to the 
 ground and the Hodscha gave way ; and likewise on Kara 
 George, who again imfurled the banner of the Emperor 
 Nemanjitsch, and whom the Yili adorn with wreaths of 
 laurel ; a reward not to be obtained by gold, but only by 
 glorious deeds. The hero of the poem, however, is not satis- 
 fied with the enjoyment of the success he has acliieved, but 
 determines to drive the Turks out of Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina, and to form an alliance Avith Montenegi'o : vdiich, 
 situated in the midst of Turks and Catholics, has, from 
 remote tunes, enjoyed freedom purchased by the blood of its 
 people. 
 
 This, in fact, %vas the project of Kara George, in the spring 
 of 1809 ; and the song shows with what pleasure he was 
 expected. 
 
 He first ascended the lofty raountain near Sjenitza, for the 
 purpose of joining his distant brethren in faith, who inha- 
 bited the ancient possessions of the Servian Empire, on the 
 Kaschka, and on the Lim, above the point of its junction 
 with the Drina. 
 
 The Turks encountered him with a strong force, in a posi- 
 tion very favourable to them, on the mountain-]>lain of 
 Suvodol ; where there are wide plains on which the Turkish 
 cavalry could manoeu"\T^"e with advantage. Kara George, who, 
 from want of cavalry, had ahvays avoided the plains, with 
 horror saw himself surrounded. He formed the newl3'-orga- 
 nized troops beside his artillery : which, however, could not 
 have saved him. But, fortunately, he had also a few horse- 
 jaen ; and it was one of them. Yule Ilitsch, of Smederevo, 
 who, by means of a daring stratagem, decided the fate of the 
 
146 THE TURKS ATTACK THE SERVIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 day. D.Iounted on liis good Arab steed, and accompanied by 
 Momkes and Bekjares, he rushed amongst the enemy, at the 
 same time calling out repeatedly, in Turkish, " The Turks 
 are flying ! " This produced a panic, and led to the complete 
 defeat of the Pacha. 
 
 After this, Kara George was able to pursue his course. 
 He stormed Sjenitza, the ruins of which have been seen by 
 recent travellers ; and he advanced into the territory of 
 Vasojevitsch and Drobnjake. The Christian population rose 
 in every direction ; and soon, also, some of the Montenegrins 
 made their appearance to welcome their victorious brethren. 
 What most excited their admiration were the Servian can- 
 non — many of them having never before seen anything of 
 the kind. A Servian Voivode remained with them ; and 
 thus a union between Servia and Montenegro was effected : 
 Herzegovina, as well as the part of Bosnia already spoken of, 
 joined in the insurrection. A rising of the whole of the 
 population descended from Servian tribes holding the Chris- 
 tian faith, and a general attack on the Mahometans in Bosnia, 
 were now anticipated. 
 
 Kara George proceeded forthwith to T^ovipasar ; which 
 commands, almost exclusively, the communication between 
 Roumelia and Bosnia, and forms the central point of the 
 high-roads, and of the trafiic of Bosnia ; he drove the gar- 
 rison into the upper fortress, which did not appear able to 
 "hold out long against him. 
 
 Here, however, the most unvrelcome news reached him 
 from the lower districts. 
 
 Favoured by inundations, v/hich had for some time pre- 
 vented the Bussians from passing over the Danube, the 
 Turks, with all their forces from Nisch, had thrown them- 
 selves upon the Servian frontiers near Alexinaz. 
 
 More than once, had Peter Dobrinjaz successfully and 
 gloriously defended these frontier posts ; and at this time, he 
 Avas stationed there, with a great number of his countrymen. 
 On Mladen's recommendation, however, Kara George now 
 entrusted the chief command to Miloie ; a man whom Peter 
 was not disposed to obey, and who was himself imable to 
 conquer the hatred which he entertained against Peter and 
 all his adherents. The contest which had hitherto shown 
 itself only in the Senate, was thus transferred to the frontier ; 
 now in the greatest peril. 
 
MILOIE RETREATS TO DELIGRADE. 147 
 
 The first assault of tlie Turks took place in June, 1809 ; 
 when they attacked the fortification near Kamenitza, which 
 was defended hj 3,000 men under Stephen Singelitsch, the 
 Knes of Ressaver, and the friend of Peter. The Knes made 
 an heroic defence : but he was in need of succour ; which 
 Miloie, with inconceivable blindness, refused him. At 
 length, when the Turks, marching over the bodies of their 
 slaughtered comrades, had crossed the trenches, scaled the 
 walls, and gained the upper hand in the melee, Stephen 
 despaired of being able to maintain his gromid ; and, deter- 
 mined not to fail into the hands of the Turks, either dead or 
 alive, he fired the powder-magazine, and blew into the air the 
 entire fort — destroying himself with his friends and enemies! 
 The Turks afterwards erected a tower on the road-side, near 
 the spot, and inserted, amongst the stones of its walls, the 
 skulls of the Servians who thus met their death. 
 
 After this the Turks encountered no further resistance. 
 Miloie, who, in his boastful presumption had flattered himself 
 that he should reduce Nisch, and take uj^ his abode there, 
 now saw himself compelled, by the superior force of the 
 enemy, to retire from his fortifications, and to flee to Deli- 
 grade, leaving his artillery and baggage behind him. Peter 
 Dobrinjaz was just returning from an expedition, when 
 matters had proceeded thus far ; but he felt no desire to 
 fight for Miloie, and, saying to liis men — '• Save what you 
 can ! " he allowed them to disperse. 
 
 Kara George received the news of these disasters while 
 besieging the citadel of iS ovipasar. The danger of his o^vn 
 country prevented his advancing farther into the enemy's 
 territory. In all haste, he ordered the Knes Sima from 
 Bosnia, and also Milenko — who meanwhile had, vv^ith Rus- 
 sian aid, been besieging Kladovo — to proceed with their 
 troops to the Morava. Kara George raised the siege in vv'hich 
 he was engaged ; and abandoned his position at Sjenitza. 
 Then without delay — not even bestowing a thought upon the 
 Yoivode whom he had sent to MontenegTO — he retraced his 
 steps. He reached the threatened province in time to throw 
 some troops into Kiupria : a place, the possession of which 
 would enable him at all times to retain a footing on the right 
 bank of the Morava. Thence he proceeded to Deligrade. 
 But, though Milenko also arrived there, the result of eveiy 
 
 l2 
 
148 Ll^AVERY OF VELIKO. 
 
 engagement proved nnfavoiiral^le to the Servians ; and tlie 
 chiefs found themselves mider the necessity of returning to 
 Kiui)ria. Report, however, had represented their loss to 
 have been yet greater than it actually was ; and the rumour 
 that Milenko and George had ])cen entirely defeated, and had 
 gone back into the Schumadia, with the remnant of their 
 forces, by some other road, induced the commanders at 
 Kiupria — Raditsch and Jokitsch — prudent and well-tried 
 men — to demolish their citadel. 
 
 When Kara George arrived, Raditsch was still engaged in 
 conveying cannon and ammunition across the Morava, or in 
 sinking what could not be carried over ; and Jokitsch, in 
 destroying the redoubts. What was his consternation on 
 witnessing the fortress, by which he had hoj)ed to protect 
 the right bank of the Morava, reduced to ruins ! In his 
 rage, he fired a pistol at Jokitsch. What had been done, 
 however, could not be undone. He was ol^liged to avoil 
 himself of the darkness of night to pass over to Jagodina. 
 
 Yeliko, also, was unable to hold his ground at Bania, near 
 Alexinaz. Yet his bravery was undaunted. Upon one 
 occasion, when he espied the banners of some Servian troops 
 coming to his assistance, he had the courage to force his way 
 through the midst of the besieging Turks, in order to concert 
 a joint attack with this reinforcement ; and in the same 
 manner he cut his way back through the ranks of the enemy. 
 All, however, was in vain : the force that came to his aid 
 was too weak, and the Servians could not maintain joossession 
 of Bania. Yeliko, therefore, was content to bring off some 
 of his gallant men, with whom he again forced his way 
 through the Turkish camp. 
 
 Upon this, all the country that lies to the right of the 
 Morava, as far as Poscharevaz, fell into the hands of the 
 Turks ; slaughter and terror everywhere prevailed ; the entire 
 plain was covered with fugitives ; and such as could not get 
 into the Scumadia, fled into the Omoljer and Peker Mountains. 
 
 Rodoiinikin considered himself no longer safe at Belgrade; 
 and, accom])anied by Peter Dobrinjaz, he went over the 
 Danube. The Turks were already preparing to advance on 
 the left bank of the Morava ; and Guschanz Ali, especially, 
 endeavoured to make good liis tlireat; '• that he would one 
 day visit Black George in Topola." 
 
ALLIANCE WITH THE RUSSIANS. ] 49 
 
 The Servians neglected nothing that might prevent this : 
 Mladen, Knes Sima, and Yuiza, took up their positions 
 opposite Poscharevaz, on the Lovv^er Morava : Kara George 
 fortified Mount Lipar, near Jagodina. Yet it may be 
 doubted whether they woukl have been able to effect 
 anything, but for the alliance which they had entered into 
 with the Russians ; which now proved eminently ser- 
 viceable. 
 
 In August. 1809, the Russian army crossed the Lower 
 Danube ; one fortified place after another fell into their 
 hands, and the Turks found themselves imder ^he necessity 
 of calling back part of their forces. The Servians, in conse- 
 quence, breathed more freely. They not only succeeded in 
 repelling the attacks of Guschanz Ali, but even drove him 
 out of those districts for the preservation of which he had 
 remained beliind. At the same time they were sufficiently 
 strong to repulse the Bosnians, who were then attacking 
 Losnitza. The loss of men which the Servians had sustained, 
 was compensated for by the numbers who had risen in their 
 favour in Bosnia, and had accompanied them into Servia, 
 when retreating over the Drina. These people had dwellings 
 allotted to them in Kitog. 
 
 Thus were the Servians again delivered from the Turks. 
 They even retained a part of the country whioli they had 
 taken beyond the ancient boundaries. Generally speaking, 
 however, the j)osition they were in afforded but little 
 security. 
 
 On former occasions the Servians had to fight only with 
 the Dahis, and afterwards with such armies as had marched 
 aga,inst them by order of the Grand Signior ; but they had 
 now, by their attempt to advance into the neighbouring 
 pachalics, involved themselves in a conflict with the esta- 
 blished powers of those provinces. The Pachas carried on, 
 as it were, a personal contest with the Servian people. 
 
 Amongst the Servians themselves, also, internal union had 
 been impaired in proportion to the deplorable results of their 
 last enterprises. 
 
 The rivals of Kara George im]>uted the failure of those 
 enterprises to the Commander-in-chief ; and asserted that his 
 not being favourably inclined towards Russia, was the cause 
 of that power having afforded so little assistance. 
 
150 DISUNION AMONG THE SERVIANS. 
 
 Of still greater importance was the fact, that Kara Georgo 
 entertained new fears of the existence of a good understand- 
 ing between the Russians and the Turks. He, indeed, 
 seriously thought of submitting to Austria; to whom he 
 had accordingly made formal proposals. 
 
 It cannot be asserted that those proposals remained alto- 
 gether unnoticed at Vienna. Austria, having again suffered 
 heavy losses in the year 1809, was forced to form an alliance 
 with Napoleon ; and there were statesmen in that country, 
 who, being convinced that, within a short time, a rupture — 
 nay even a war — between Russia and France would ensue, 
 considered beforehand what line of conduct they ought to 
 adopt in such an event. It seemed not impossible, that 
 Austria might procure indemnification for her losses in 
 Gallicia, on the Middle Danube ; provided she could effect 
 a restoration of Bessarabia or the Crimea to the Turks. In 
 such a contingency the voluntary submission of Servia would 
 be extremely desirable. 
 
 But would the Servians consent to such a course ? 
 
 This question had been earnestly discussed the year before. 
 Kara George and Mladen, ever apprehensive that their 
 antagonists might be assisted by Prussian influence, would 
 have been in favour of this step ; but, subsequently, when 
 the nation had formed as it were a military brotherhood 
 with the Russians, and had received a Russian Minister in 
 Servia, such a proceeding did not seem practicable. Now, 
 however, since Rodofinikin had retired, and the people had 
 been obliged to encounter the greatest dangers without 
 obtaining any aid from Russia, the measure became more 
 feasible ; and, as before stated, Kara Georga, who, in 1808, 
 had regarded its realisation as impossible, now entertained 
 some hopes of its success. 
 
 Austria ought promptly to have evinced an earnest 
 readiness to aid the Servians, and should resolutely have 
 granted them her protection. But this project was only 
 entertained by her statesmen : affairs were far from being so 
 matured as to justify the Imperial Court in taking any 
 decided step, or in venturing to agree to the proposals of 
 Kara George. 
 
 Care had already been taken on the part of Russia to 
 suppress all inclination on the part of Servia to an alliance 
 
RUSSIAN PROCLAMATION. 151 
 
 with any other country. In the proclamation witli which 
 the Russian general-in-chief, Kemenskij, opened the cam- 
 paign of 1810, he styled the Servians, " brethren of the 
 Russians, children of one family and faith ;" promising them 
 support ; and he also expressly mentioned Kara George as 
 commander-iQ-chief. Nothing more was required to pacify 
 Kara George, who thus found himself acknowledged as 
 leader of the Servians. Moreover, they who wdshed to be 
 considered adherents of Russia, could now no longer refuse 
 him their obedience. Besides, whatever vv^ere the dissensions 
 amongst themselves, all felt, as the spring advanced, a re- 
 newed desire to attack the Turks. 
 
 Thus, in 1810, war was recommenced with the aid of the 
 Russians. The immediate object of the Servians was to 
 achieve the conquest of the Kraina, which formed their com- 
 munication with Ru.ssia. 
 
 Their best troops, to the number of 4500 foot, and 1500 
 horse, all picked men, marched into the Kraina ; the Servians 
 being desirous to impress a favourable opinion of their 
 troops upon the allies with whom they were to take the 
 field. Peter Dobrinjaz, who had effected so much already, 
 was entrusted with the command of this force ; and as soon 
 as the Russians, under Zuccato, liad made their appearance, 
 considerable progress was made. Negotin and Bersa Palanka 
 were taken, and Kladovo was besieged. 
 
 In the interim, however, the Turks also had completed 
 their preparations. Notwithstanding all the resistance with 
 which they encountered the Russians lower down on the 
 Danube, they found means to carry the w^ar into the Servian 
 frontiers, which they attacked on two points. 
 
 Churschid, the new Pacha of Nisch, advanced towards the 
 Morava with an army of about 30,000 men ; and as he pur- 
 sued a difierent method from that of his predecesssors, he 
 was doubly dangerous. Before the entrenchment near Deli- 
 grade, which had cost the Turks so much trouble on former 
 occasions, he made only a short stay ; leaving it blockaded 
 by a division of his troops. On the other hand, he took 
 Kruschevaz, and a fortress near Jassica, and began to lay 
 w^aste the country all around. This was unquestionably the 
 most effectual hostility that he could practise. The Servians 
 who belonged to the districts which he was devastating, 
 
152 TJIE TURKS BOMBARD LOSNITZA. 
 
 "became impatient, and refused to defend the fortresses, Yvhicli 
 were no longer of use. They thought only of their wives 
 and children^ and returned to their homes. The men of 
 Kruschevaz and Levatsch had dispersed ; Kragujevaz was 
 threatened, and the inhabitants of this district, who were 
 defending Deligrade, also thought of returning to their 
 homes. Kara George now began to fear that affairs might 
 turn out as unfavourably as they had done the year before. 
 There is a letter extant, in vmich he desires Peter Dobrinjaz 
 to join him ; telling him either to come with all his troops, 
 or to induce the Russians to send a part of their forces. 
 " Do either one or the other," said he, '-and without delay. 
 Of what use would it be to take Kladovo, if we cannot 
 defend our own country ? Do not wait for another letter, 
 but set out to my assistance immediately ; and hasten 
 forward, day and night : our very existence is at stake." 
 
 On the receipt of this urgent missive, Zuccato lost no 
 time in despatching 3000 Russians, under the command of 
 Colonel O'Eourke, to the assistance of the distressed Ser- 
 vians ; Yeliko acting as their guide. . In the mountains 
 near Jassica, they met the Servians : who now took courage 
 and again descended into the plain of Warwarin. 
 
 Churschid beheld this with delight. " You have ahvays 
 complained," said he to his Turks, " that you can never 
 meet the Servians in the plains. Look ! yonder is a plain, 
 and there are the Servians ! Let us see, then, whether you 
 are worthy to eat the bread of the Sultan." He then 
 attacked the Russians and Servians. The Russian square, 
 however, appeared immoveable. It afforded to the Servie.iis 
 the protection they had formerly derived from their moun- 
 tains, and under cover of it they made the most success- 
 ful onsets, capturing seven standards. In the evenmg, 
 Churschid fomid himself obliged to throw up an entrench- 
 ment. 
 
 In the meanwhile the extent of the danger had been fully 
 developed : the Bosnian army, 40,000 strong, had crossed 
 the Drina. After the Tuiks had for a time ravaged the 
 country, they threw themselves upon Losnitza ; which, for 
 twelve days, they bombarded with all their force. And it 
 was scarcely possible tha,t Antonie Bogitschevitsch, Voivode 
 of the town, valiant as he was, could hold out much longer. 
 
VICTORY OVER THE TURKS. l53 
 
 Kara George acknowledged, that lie had never boon so 
 hardly beset, as by these simultaneous attacks. He de^nanded 
 further help from Peter, who was pursuing his enterprise 
 in the Kraina : writing to him, ''that every moment of 
 time s;ained on the march would be of importance on the 
 Drina>' 
 
 But fortune had decreed that Churschid Pacha, weary of 
 the resistance which he encountered at every new attempt, 
 should return to his own territory. This may have been 
 partly owing to the fact that the Pussians, after many fruit- 
 less attempts, had at last taken Puschtschuk, about the end 
 of Se^Dtember, 1810; and thus might easily become dangerous 
 to a Pacha of Nisch; in another direction. 
 
 The Servians were, therefore, left at liberty to attack 
 Bosnia. 
 
 Without delay, Kara George set out to relieve Losnitza, 
 taking with him all the troops that could be sj^ared in those 
 parts of the country ; the people of Krag-ujevaz, Smederevo, 
 Grozka, and Belgrade, and some Cossacks. Luka Lasarevitsch 
 also came from Schabaz, and J acob Nenadovitsch from Yal- 
 jevo. In the night of the oth of October they all assembled 
 within half an hour's march of the Bosnian camp, and at 
 once threw up an entrenchment. The Turks were sufficiently 
 bold to be the first to commence the fight in the morning ; 
 but they were speedily driven from their positions before the 
 town into their larger fortifications on the Drina. On the 
 same evening, the Servians fortified their position close to 
 the enemy ; and the next day a decisive battle v/as fought. 
 They first attacked each other with cannon and musketry ; 
 afterwards they fought hand to hand. " Thus," says Kara 
 George, '• we closed, and intermingled with one another ; 
 for two hours we fought with our sabres. We have killed 
 many Turks, and cut off many Turkish heads. Three times 
 as many of their troops have fallen as of ours : a fiercer 
 battle was never fought : the field remained in our posses- 
 sion." 
 
 The Turks indeed had suffered so severely, that they 
 despaired of being able to effect anything further that year, 
 and returned over the Drina. Kara George had also crossed 
 the river, and hastened after them. On the day following, 
 however, deputies were despatched by the Pacha, proposing 
 
154 REASONS FOR CONGRATULATION". 
 
 that the Drma should not be passed by either party, which 
 was mutually agreed upon. 
 
 "When the Servians now looked around, they congratulated 
 themselves on having made a successful campaign. O'Rourke, 
 when marching to join them, had taken Bania, which, since 
 the preceding year, had been in the hands of the Turks. 
 On his way back he captured Gurgussevaz, and Kladovo 
 had also surrendered. All these places the Russians gave 
 over to Servian garrisons. 
 
 It is true that the bold schemes which had been proposed 
 at first — the conquest of Bosnia, and the re-establishment, 
 in conjunction with the Montenegrins, of the old Servian 
 nationality— Avere far from being accomplished. Servia had 
 herself been in the greatest danger. For two successive 
 years she had been obliged to fight for her existence, but 
 was now, in consequence, far stronger than before. She was 
 not again limited to the Pachalic of Belgrade ; on the con- 
 trary, she had acquired districts from all the Pachalics and 
 Sandschaks around her : from Yiddin, the Kraina, Kliutsch, 
 and Zrnareka; from Nisch, the towns and territory of 
 Alexinaz and Bania; from Leskovaz, Parakyn, and Krus- 
 chevaz ; from Novipasar — the long-celebrated cloister of 
 Studenitza, from which a Nahia was once more named; 
 from Svornik, in Bosnia — at least the districts on this side 
 of the Drina : Jadar and Radjevina. A country by no 
 means unimportant, fertile, and improvable by culture, had 
 thus been wrested from the dominion of Islamism, and 
 restored to the natives of the soil. 
 
155 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 CIVIL DISSENSIONS.— MONARCHICAL POWER. 
 
 Dissensions in the Camp of Losnitza. — Disputes at the Skupschtina in 
 1810. — Fui'ther Aid is solicited from Russia. — Peter Dobrinjaz excites 
 the Russians against Kara George, and attempts to restrict his Power. 
 Kara George detects the Conspiracy against him. — He carries important 
 Resolutions in the Senate, and effects Great Changes. — Arrival of a 
 Russian Regiment at Belgrade. — Veliko is gained over to the Party of 
 Kara George. — Milenko, Peter Dobrinjaz, Schivkovitsch. — Milenko 
 and Dobrinjaz are removed from their Military Commands, and subse- 
 quently exiled to Russia. — Milosch and Mladen. — The Power of the 
 Gospodars is destroyed. — Kara George becomes Supreme Head of the 
 State. 
 
 We must once more call attention to the campaign of 
 1809, which, as we have seen, roused the Gospodars to fresh 
 hostility against the Commander-in-chief; whom thej 
 charged with not entertaining sentiments sufficiently favour- 
 able towards the Russians. 
 
 Even in the camp of Losnitza the quarrel broke out, as 
 soon as the Turks had retreated. Jacob Nenadovitsch in- 
 quired — "Who is henceforth to defend these boundaries?" 
 — " The very same person," replied Kara George, " who has 
 defended them hitherto." " On no account," said Jacob — 
 for this had been his office. " E-ather let the duty be under- 
 taken by those who refuse foreign assistance, and who would 
 bring our enemies upon us." Jacob called his troops toge- 
 ther, and presenting his nephew the Prota to them, ex- 
 claimed — " Behold ! I sent this man, and he has foimd for 
 you a gracious Emperor. But Mladen and Miloje reject the 
 Protector, and wish to be kings and emperors themselves."* 
 
 * Cyprien Robert calls the Camp of Losnitza a " diete armte.^' The 
 words which, according to the first edition of our work have been cor- 
 rectly quoted by Boue, " il vous a trouvc un gracieux Empereur," he 
 alters into : " que le Tzar avait daigne d' accepter la couronne de 
 Serbie." The words of George to the Skupschtina, which Boue tran- 
 scribes thus, were — "si Mladen a mal fait, prends sa place, et fais 
 
156 CONSPIRACY AGAINST KARA GEORGE. 
 
 At the Skupschtina held about the beginning of 1810, 
 Jacob ISTenadovitscli appeared, accompanied by a gregiter 
 number of Momkes and followers than any other chief : 
 amounting to nearly six hundred men, who shouted in the 
 streets, " We Avill have the Emperor ! " At the meetings, 
 Jacob spoke violently against Mladen. Kara George said, 
 *• If Mladen has acted wrongly, do you in future take his 
 place and act better. The rest of you wish to have the 
 Hussian Emperor : well, so do I ! " 
 
 So much influence did Nenadovitsch gain by this, that 
 Mladen and Miloie, v/ho were considered more directly in 
 fault than the Commander-in-chief, were obliged to give way ; 
 whilst Nenadovitsch himself, on the other hand, was made 
 President of the Senate. Under the pretext that so many 
 oflicials could not be paid, he removed such of the Sowiet- 
 niks as did not please him ; and it appeared as though he 
 would henceforth share the j^ower with Kara George. 
 Through his influence an embassy was despatched to the 
 Hussian camj) to solicit assistance. 
 
 To the rest of the commanders, however, this change of 
 aflairs was unsatisfactory. Milenko was appointed a member 
 of the Embassy ; but when he had reached Poretsch, instead 
 of proceeding himself, he thought it sufficient to send his 
 seci'etary. He at once renounced all obedience to the Com- 
 mander-in-chief, and excited his district to insurrection. 
 
 On the other hand, another Gospodar, Peter Dobriujaz, 
 had, of his own authority, constituted himself an ambassador. 
 Accompanied by Rodofinikin, he went into the Russian 
 camp, and, under the pretext of being commissioned by his 
 nation, solicited the return of Podofinikin with some auxi- 
 liary troops. At the same time that he excited the Russians 
 against Kara George, he intimated to the Servians, that they 
 could not receive any assistance, until they should have 
 changed their Commander-in-chief and their whole Senate. 
 Nor did he relinquish his scheme even when the authorised 
 Embassy arrived, lie contrived to persuade its chief, Milan 
 of Pudnik, that Kara George aimed at unlimited power ; 
 and obtained liis assent to a forged instrument of plenary 
 
 mieux ;" — but whilst Bouc states : " vous voulez Vempcreur, moi aiasi.'* 
 — Mr. Cyprien makes him say: — '' vo?/s autres, vous voulez V Empereur 
 liusse ; essay ons de V Emperev.r Rvsse." 
 
DISSENSIONS OF THE GOSPODARS. 157 
 
 force which he and his adherents had drawn up in their own 
 favour. It is surprising that men in such a station should 
 have acted thus. 
 
 Notwithstanding, as we already know, all their projects 
 proved abortive. Kara George found an opportunity, 
 through one of his friends, the Archimandrite Phiilipo- 
 vitsch, to furnish Kamenskij with more correct informa- 
 tion. The consequence was, that Kamenskij issued the 
 proclamation which has been before mentioned ; and this was 
 the main cause that, in the year 1810, all parties united in 
 making such great exertions in the field. 
 
 Yet this did not i)revent the Gospodars from keeping up 
 their dissensions at home ; even during the campaign. Peter, 
 Milenko, and Milan, met at the head-quarters of Zuccato. 
 Jacob Nenadovitsch and his adherents assembled at the 
 camp near Losnitza ; where they found favourable opportu- 
 nities for consultation and resolving upon new measures. 
 Kara George was too ]30werful, and had been far too suc- 
 cessful in the field, for them to be able to accomplish their 
 object by removing him at once. But they thought they 
 could restrict his power, and bring afiairs to such a state, 
 that they might at some future time be able to depose him. 
 If a Russian regiment, for which Mladen v/as commissioned 
 to apply, should but arrive, they hoped to find themselves 
 sufiiciently powerful to carry out their bold design. The 
 mere presence of the Russian troops would turn the scale in 
 their favour ; and they hoj^ed to be further assisted by their 
 Momkes — by their own influence and their connexions in 
 Belgrade — and even by an insurrection of the people, who 
 were dissatisfied with Mladen. The next Skupschtina could 
 not fail to prove of the utmost importance. 
 
 The contention between the Gospodars and the Com- 
 mander-in-chief was not altogether groundless and uncalled 
 for : its origin lay deep in the nature of circumstances. 
 
 It would be wrong to regard the Gospodars as oppressors, 
 of the people, and Kara George as their defender : even 
 according to notions entertained in the West, v/hence they 
 are derived ; and which are altogether inapplicable to the 
 East. 
 
 It would be much easier to obtain a correct idea of the 
 character of the contest, by considering what an entirely 
 
158 LASAREVITSCII DISCLOSES THE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 different course the affairs of Greece, at a later period, must 
 necessarily have taken, had any of the native chiefs suc- 
 ceeded in acquiring a superiority like that of Kara George. 
 The unity of the nation, and the necessity for carrying on 
 war, demanded also a union of authority. 
 
 It is not contended that the welfare of the country 
 depended on the submission of the Gospodars. On the con- 
 trary, they had an unquestionable right to a certain degree 
 of independence ; since they had exerted themselves to the 
 utmost in their respective districts, and possessed there a 
 personal and local body of adherents. It would have been 
 far better had parties come to some amicable understanding. 
 However, as that could not be effected, and as fresh disputes 
 originated every day, the only alternative was to let a trial 
 of strength between the opposing parties decide which should 
 be dominant. 
 
 Kara George had the advantage of possessing timely in- 
 formation respecting the schemes of his adversax^ies. One 
 day he happened to visit Luka Lasarevitsch, who was still 
 lying in his hut, suffering from a wound he had received in 
 that sharp skirmish which had taken place in front of the 
 Turkish entrenchments. Half in jest, Kara George said : — 
 '' May such be the reward of those who do not act rightly!" 
 Luka — who was also engaged in the conspiracy — noted these 
 words ; and, being now fully convinced that it had been 
 discovered, he confessed all he knew : induced, either by his 
 old attachment to his Commander, or by fear of disgrace 
 should the project miscarry — for he was very ambitious. 
 Shortly afterwards, Milan's secretary, Lasar Voinovitsch, 
 came into the camp. Kara George omitted nothing tl^at 
 might win him over to his side ; and from him he obtained 
 still more circumstantial and certain information. 
 
 Kara George now resolved, not only to defend his own 
 power, but at the same time to crush that of his adversa- 
 ries : and for this they themselves fuimished him with the 
 best opportmiity. The Gospodars did not attend the Skup- 
 schtina at the time appointed (New Year's Day, 1811) : 
 Milenko and Peter Dobrinjaz wished to await the arrival of 
 the Russian regiment, and Jacob Nenadovitsch was unwilling 
 to appear without his tv»^o allies ; thus the Commander-in- 
 chief had time to obtain a preponderating influence over the 
 
RESOLUTIONS OF THE SENATE. lo9 
 
 Voivocles of minor importance : who were almost the only- 
 members present, His object was the more easily effected, 
 as he well understood how to connect his own interest with 
 theirs. 
 
 He thus succeeded in passing, in this Diet, two resolutions 
 which changed the whole condition of the country. The first 
 was, that the Yoivodes should no longer be dependent on the 
 superior Gospodars, but directly on the Commander-in-chief 
 and the Senate. Almost a new distribution was made of the 
 country : the districts which Milenko had hitherto governed 
 by means of Buljukbasches, were divided amongst eight 
 Voivodes. Milosch, who in the name of Milan held two 
 districts — those of Rudnik and Poschega — lost the whole of 
 one and two-thirds of the other ; e.nd Yoivodes like Antonie 
 Bogitschevitsch, Milosch Potzeraz, and Stojan Tschupitsch, 
 who had hitherto been dependent on Jacob or on Luka, now 
 found themselves independent. It may easily be believed 
 that this arrangement would be gratifying to all the chiefs of 
 subordinate rank ; and that they, in return, would promote 
 the authority of the Commander-in-chief by Avhom they had 
 been so much favoured. 
 
 Immediately connected with this, was the second resolu- 
 tion ; which involved a complete reformation of the Senate. 
 Its judicial and administrative functions were separated. For 
 the former, a Supreme Court of Justice was instituted, to be 
 composed of the less important Sowietniks ; the latter, on 
 the contrary, were to be entrusted to the most influential 
 men, in the form of a Ministry. They were to be designated 
 Administrators — Popetschiteli : the first, of War ; the second, 
 of Justice ; the third, of Foreign Affairs ; and so on for 
 Ecclesiastical Affairs, the Home Department, and Finance. 
 The intention was that, besides Mladen, Knes Sima Marko- 
 vitsch, and Dosithei Obradovitsch, who were all declared 
 adherents of Kara George, Jacob Nenadovitsch, Milenko, and 
 Peter Dobrinjaz, should also be employed in these Ministerial 
 duties. By the Jirst resolution, the greater j^art of the power 
 which the Gospodars had hitherto held was taken from them : 
 they were disengaged, as it were, from their respective dis- 
 tricts. By the second, an office was fouuvi for them beyond 
 the influence of their former relations : an office which, 
 in fact, left them little independent power ; as the chief 
 
IGO THE VOIVODES SEPARATE. 
 
 ap]iointineiit — the Ministry of "War — was placed in the liands 
 of Mladen. Had they assented to this, Kara George would 
 have been completely successful. Precautionary measures, 
 however, had been taken, in the event of their non-compli- 
 ance : a law had been passed in the Diet, that resistance to 
 these resolutions should be punished by exile. 
 
 All this having been concluded, the Commander-in-chief 
 made the Voivodes swear that they would obey him ; and 
 only him. At his command they then separated^ and each, 
 at once repaired to his own district. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs, when Milenko and Peter, 
 accompanied l)y the Russian regiment, at length arrived at 
 Belgrade. Unquestionably they were still in a position to offer 
 resistance ; and had they but continued united, their com- 
 bined authority might yet have been of great weight. On 
 their side was the Heyduc Yeliko, to whom all rule was 
 irksome ; and who, since the j^receding year, had held him- 
 self in a position of obstinate isolation. So many complaints 
 of acts of violence and manifold crimes committed by him, had 
 been brought before the Diet of that year, that it was 
 intended to iniimson him in some fortress. He assembled, 
 liis Momkes, and ^pAd : " When I came here, I thought I 
 should be asked how many wounds I had received ? how 
 many brave companions I had lost ? how many horses had 
 been killed under me ? But they ask — how many girls I 
 have kissed ! Come ! let us depart." He now appeared by 
 the side of the other Gospodars at Belgrade, with seventy 
 resolute companions — Bekjares, so far as they were paid by 
 him ; Momkes, so far as they were bound to him by personal 
 obligations — who were ready for any enterprise. The Gospo- 
 dars had also a strong faction in the town ; and were 
 altogether in a position to undertake something serious. But 
 already was their unity destroyed and their power les- 
 sened by several losses. Milan, on whom they could have 
 reckoned unconditionally, had fallen ill at Bucharest, not 
 long after Lasar Yoinovitsch had returned to him, and he 
 died on the last day of the year 1810. It was asserted by 
 some that he had been removed by poison. But a circum- 
 stance to them of greater importance, was that Jacob JSTena- 
 dovitsch had now other views; he determined to fill his 
 place in the Senate. Having married his son Efrem to the 
 
VELIKO, VOIVODE OF BANIA. 161 
 
 daus^liter of Mladen, and united himself entirely with the party 
 of Kara George ; instead of coming with a numerous troop, 
 he appeared at Belgrade in his sledge, accompanied only by 
 two Momkes. Thus Peter and Milenko alone remained with 
 Veliko. 
 
 The opposite party also contrived to separate Yeliko from 
 his faction. Kara George not only made him large presents 
 of money, but restored to him iiis position as Yoivode of 
 Bania, which he had nearly forfeited by his dej)arture the 
 year before : he often called him " Son ;" saying, " Alexa, 
 liis first-born sou, was not dearer to him," and thus contrived 
 to win him over entirely to his interests. But, that Veliko 
 might not vraver between his old and new engagements, care 
 was taken to remove him to some distance. A letter was 
 fabricated, in which it was stated that the Turks had made 
 an irruption into the country from Nisch, and had already 
 advanced as far as Bania ; and the letter was delivered by a 
 Tartar, streaming with perspiration. Nothing further was 
 required to stimulate the Heyduc : to save his Voivode- 
 ship, he set out with all his Bekjares without a moment's 
 delay. 
 
 Milenko and Peter had no longer the courage to attempt 
 anything. Stej^hen Schivkovitsch, the richest man in Bel- 
 grade, and an old enemy of Mladen's, pressed the two cliiefs 
 once more to try their fortime : he would have had them 
 commence immediately by an assault upon Mladen's house. 
 Peter and Milenko answered, — "We are short of men." 
 " Are we not three of us," replied Schivkovitsch ; " and 
 have we not oin* Momkes ? Upon the first shot the inhabi- 
 tants of the town will rise : for they hate Mladen ; and the 
 country people, who are greedy after booty, will rush in to 
 our support." But the chiefs further objected that "they 
 were without ammunition even to begin with ;" whereupon 
 Schivkovitsch directly procured several sacksful, which he 
 brought to the inn. But as has already been stated, both. 
 Milenko and Peter were so discoiu-aged by their previous ill- 
 success, that, whilst Schivkovitsch was making these pro- 
 posals, they remained sitting by the fii'eside, -without answer- 
 ing, and merely stirring the coals. 
 
 To be fully assured how matters stood, Kara George had 
 now only to ascertain what he vras to expect from the Russian 
 
1G2 EXILE or MILENKO AND PETER. 
 
 regiment, (the regiment Neuschlot,) and how its colonel, 
 Balla, was disposed towards him. If he had, at any time, 
 shown himself disaffected towards the Russians, it was because 
 he had suffered himself to be persuaded — and indeed by the 
 assertions of liis adversaries themselves — that his enemies and 
 rivals had found in them a help and support. At length he 
 determiner" to learn the real state of aflairs. One day when 
 he, Peter Dobrinjaz, and Milenko, together with the colonel, 
 had been dining at Mladen's, and afterwards, to honour the 
 foreigner, had accompanied him towards his home, Kara 
 George — perhaps designedly — just as they arrived at the 
 Colonel's abode, entered into a violent dispute with Milenko. 
 He had ordered his Momkes to take Milenko's sword from 
 him, when Balla, who lived in the same house, pleaded for 
 him. This was the critical moment wliich Kara George had 
 expected. He took off his cap and implored Balla, " by the 
 bread of his Emperor," to tell him whether he had come to 
 support Milenko's faction. Balla replied, that he had come 
 to render assistance to the nation under the command of 
 Kara George. " Then," cried the latter, '•' let me take and 
 kiss thy hand in lieu of that of the Emperor." He required 
 no further assurance : he no longer thought of his dispute 
 w4th Milenko, but was satisfied with knowing himself secure 
 on this side also. 
 
 The next day, however, he took measures for terminating 
 the whole affair. He sent to Milenko and Peter the appoint- 
 ments which removed them from their supreme command to 
 their seats in the Senate. Should they accept them ? It 
 was only too evident, since Jacob had gone over to theii* 
 opponent, that, in the Senate, where they would find them- 
 selves in a minority, they would possess but little influence. 
 Should they refuse ? If they did, exile awaited them. 
 Nevertheless, they determined to refuse, hoping that their 
 request to live as private individuals in their respective dis- 
 tricts might be gTanted. As their power, however, depended 
 less on theii* legal rights than on their personal influence, 
 their request was refused. On the following day, the decrees 
 by which they were exiled were posted up at all the corners 
 of the streets. In these they were reproached with all their 
 misdeeds, real or^Dretended ; Peter Dobrinjaz, with his flight 
 from Deligrade ; his departure with Rodofinikin ; his pre- 
 
JIILOSCTl's ARRIVAL. 163 
 
 sumption in wisliing to pass as Ambassador of the nation 
 witliout having been appointed ; and also the arrears in his 
 account of the tolls he had received : MHenko, with his 
 rebellion at Poretsch ; his illegal appropriation of Kussian 
 subsidies to pay his own Bekjares ; and similar arbitrary- 
 acts. Then they were told : — " Here is Austria ; there is 
 Turkey ; there are AYallachia and Russia : choose to which 
 of them you prefer to go." They chose Russia. Kara George 
 accordmgly had them conducted, under an escort of Cossacks 
 and Servians, through the district of Poscharevaz to the 
 Danube : having previously occupied Poretsch and Kladavo 
 with troops upon whom he could depend. 
 
 Shortly after theii' departure, a letter arrived at Belgi-ade 
 from Milosch, promising his adherence to the two Gospodars. 
 Having succeeded to Milan's position, he pursued a similar 
 policy ; knowing that his power esiDecially would be curtailed 
 by the new regulations. Dobrinjaz and Milenko had ah'eady 
 passed the Danube, when a movenent in their favour was 
 manifested in their districts. Kara George, who had so 
 fully succeeded in the main point, employed on this occasion, 
 likewise, the means best suited for his object. It was pro- 
 bable that the common troops might refuse to fight against 
 their equals and friends. Instead of them, he, therefore, 
 assembled only Bekjares and the Yoivodes with their 
 Momkes ; and by their means he, without difficulty, crushed 
 the rebellion in its commencement. 
 
 When Milosch had arrived with the other Yoivodes, Kara 
 George had no difficulty in calling him to account for his 
 letter ; which had fallen into the hands of Mladen. Milosch 
 was treated with great indulgence, and every opportunity 
 was affi^rded him to deny the authorship of the letter : he, 
 however, acknowledged it. It was suggested that probably 
 his confidant Dmitri had led him to write it ; but Milosch 
 avowed that it was entirely his own act. Notwithstanding 
 this, he was allowed to depart impunished : j^robably be- 
 cause he was not yet possessed of sufficient power to be an 
 object of apprehension. His promise of imjDlicit obedience, 
 in future, to the Commander-in-Chief and the Senate, was 
 deemed sufficient. 
 
 Leonti^ who was not vet to be trusted, was removed to 
 
 m2 
 
1C4 PUBLIC AUTHOKITY CONSTITUTED. 
 
 Kragujevaz. With the new E-ussian Plenipotentiary Nedoba 
 the government was on very good terms. 
 
 Thus was destroyed the power of the great Gospodars ; at 
 one time so firmly rooted amongst the people. Kara George 
 remained Lord and Master of the Servian country. The 
 Yoivodes, — who continued to rule it, at times, with a power 
 which was not always v/ell regulated, — were, almost without 
 exception, appointed by, or dependent upon him ; and not 
 one of them was sufficiently independent to resist him. The 
 Senate, in which the places of Peter and Milenko were filled 
 by men devoted to Kara George, conducted the administra- 
 tion according to the views of the Commander-in-Chief, and 
 laid no cl^im to independence. A public authority was thus 
 constituted ; but it was concentrated entirely in the hands of 
 Kara George : he was the Monarch of this little state. The 
 most powerful men in the country were powerful only from 
 having allied themselves closely with him. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PEACE OF BUCHAREST. 
 
 The Servians desire to obtain the Guarantee of a Foreign Power for the 
 Security of their Rights. — Campaign of 1811. — The Grand Vizier 
 offers to make Peace. — War between Russia and France in 1812. — 
 Servia expressly noticed in the Treaty of Peace between Russia and 
 Turkey. — Stipulations in her Favour. — Concentration of the Russian 
 Force in Volhynia. — Disastrous Consequences to Servia. — Execution 
 of Demetrius Morusi. — The Turks evade complying with the Terms of 
 the Treaty. — Conference at Nisch in January, 1813. — Demands of the 
 Turks. — Recommencement of Negotiations in May, 1813. — Renewed 
 Contentions and Disputes. — The Turks recommence the War against 
 the Servians. 
 
 Notwithstanding all that had been achieved, the Servians 
 were yet destitute of that one foundation of all national 
 e^dstence in modern Europe, — the acknowledgment of their 
 being a distinct political state. 
 
DESIKE TO BE A DISTINCT STATE. 165 
 
 Tlie mere declaration of the Grand Signior, even if this 
 could be obtained, would be insufficient for the establish- 
 ment of the Servians as an independent principality. Owing 
 to the fluctuating state of the government of the Ottoman 
 Empire, a declaration of that nature might at any moment 
 be retracted. Nor could a Prince of Servia expect any 
 liigher consideration than the Pachas around liim. Such 
 was the character of the Turkish government, that it could 
 not be trusted without the guarantee of some foreign power. 
 
 But what power would venture to take this responsibility 
 upon itself? Had it been attainable, the united consent 
 of all Europe would have been most desirable. But, if, 
 even in peaceful times, this consent is so difficult to be ob- 
 tained, as to be considered an impossibility, was it to be 
 thought of in those days of universal excitement and com- 
 motion ? Nor was much to be expected from any individual 
 power. How could Austria — changing from one side to 
 another, and having incessantly to struggle for her own 
 existence — be expected to give umbrage to the only neigh- 
 bour at peace with her — the Tiu-kish Sultan — by a guarantee 
 that would be offisnsive to him ? 
 
 Napoleon was at one time proposed. In the year 1811 the 
 Turks did not appear disinclined to acknowledge the young 
 Servian State : under certain restrictions. Churschid Pacha 
 had offered to Kara George a position similar to that of the 
 Gospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia ; and it is believed 
 that he would have had no objection to Napoleon's guaran- 
 tee : as, at that time, the French Emperor was imderstood to 
 be no longer the friend of Eussia. Whether any such pro- 
 posals were made to him, is uncertain : if they were, they led 
 to no results. Indeed, how could Servia have relied on the 
 support of a ]30wer, whose natural interest it was, to render 
 Turkey strong in opposition to Russia : for that such was the 
 case now again became apparent, though it had been lost 
 sight of for a time. 
 
 No other power then remained but Russia ; with whom 
 the Servians had been allied from the very commencement, 
 but with whom the Grand Signior was still at open war. 
 
 When Churschid Pacha first made the proposal in ques- 
 tion, his object was a military one : he made it a condition 
 that the Bosnians should be allowed free passage through 
 
166 CAMPAIGN OF 1811. 
 
 Servla. Should tliis be conceded, Servia being in the enjoy- 
 ment of peace and the Bosnian army able, without taking a 
 very circuitous route, to reach the Middle Danube, the Turks 
 might hope to wrest the two principalities from the Russians; 
 who had, moreover, at that veiy time, been under the neces- 
 sity of withdrawing a part of their army towards the frontiers 
 of Poland. 
 
 But would Kara George listen to proposals of this nature ? 
 
 The passage of the Bosnians through Servia he could never 
 permit. The hatred of the Bosnian Ma,hometans towards 
 the Servian Christians, which had been aroused by their long 
 and bloody wars, would have broken forth on their first 
 coming into contact, and would have led to open hostilities. 
 No promises of the Grand Siguier, or of the Pacha, could make 
 Kara George feel secure that this would not happen. 
 
 Nor could he venture to detach himself from the Russians. 
 
 Their campaign of 1811, though it had commenced un- 
 favourably, speedily led to greater advantages than had 
 resulted from any by which it had been j)receded. The 
 Grand Yizier followed the Russian army on the left bank of 
 the Danube ; but with so little caution, that the Russians 
 succeeded in surprising and capturing the entrenched Turkish 
 camp ; wliich he had left behind him, on the right bank^ in 
 order to maintain the communication with the interior of the 
 empii-e. The Grand Yizier consequently found himself in a 
 position of the greatest danger. Having himself escaped 
 with difficulty, he made serious j)roposals for peace ; only for 
 the sake of saving the Moslems whom he had been obliged to 
 leave in his rear. 
 
 This event could not but be advantageous to the Servians. 
 Kara George had forwarded the j^roposals made to him by 
 Churschid, to the Russian head-quarters. After the receipt 
 of an answer from the Russians, he informed the Ottomans 
 that he could not entertain the idea of negotiating upon his 
 o^vn responsibility ; but that he was vvdlling to submit to 
 whatever might be agreed upon between the tv/o emperors at 
 Constantinople and St. Petersburg. 
 
 He had, no doubt, received tlie assurance that, in any 
 peace which might be concluded, the affairs of Servia should 
 not be neglected. Nothing could be more advantageous to 
 the country than that its relations should be established in a 
 
WAR BETWEEX RUSSIA AND FRANCE. 167 
 
 treaty of peace between the two powers. This was the very- 
 guarantee the state required. The Servian nation thus con- 
 nected itself most intimately with Russia ; and must, conse- 
 quently, participate in the perils and misfortunes, as well as 
 in the success and prosperity, of that empire. 
 
 Russia was now about to enter upon a war more perilous 
 than any in which she had ever been engaged. The good 
 understanding whick had existed between that country and 
 Erance, since the treaty arranged at Tilsit, and confirmed at 
 Erfurt, had gradually diminished, since 1810 ; and it became 
 apparent to all Europe, that open war must en^iiQ bet w'een 
 the two empires. Soon afterwards an army, such as Europe 
 had never yet seen, was set in motion against Russia ; under 
 a general who mu!-:t ever maintain his rank as one of the 
 greatest miiicary commanders of all ages. A fierce struggle 
 wag impending over Russia : not merely for a trivial loss or 
 gain ; but such a decisive conflict as other nations had 
 already sustained ; involving her political existence — nay, 
 indeed, the very life of the nation. 
 
 Napoleon's object — in which he had succeeded with the 
 German powers — was now to prevail upon the Ottomans to 
 involve themselves with him in this contest ; and, as the 
 Turks were already at war with Russia, his project seemed 
 easy of accomjolishment. In his treaty with Austria, Napoleon 
 again acknowledged the integrity of the Ottoman empire ; 
 and a secret article of that treaty stipulated that Turkey 
 should be invited to join in the alliance against Russia. 
 Napoleon flattered himself that, by promising to the Otto- 
 mans the re-conquest of the Crimea, he should induce them 
 to take iiSiYt in the war, and aid him with all their resources : 
 so that in a short time 100,000 Turks would overrun the 
 interior of Russia. On the part of the French, it has always 
 been asserted that Napoleon had too long delayed to make 
 decisive proposals of this nature at Constantinople. His 
 Minister of Foreign Afiairs asserted, in February, 1812, that 
 the French ambassador there was doing nothing against the 
 interest of Russia ; and an historian, w^ho has seen many 
 secret documents, declares that this was only too true, and 
 that the ambassador was at that time ordered to maintain a 
 strict reserve on the subject.*"' 
 
 * Bignon, Histoh'e de France apres la paix de TiJs't, iv. 390. " Na- 
 
168 NAPOLEON DECEIVED. 
 
 Perhaps it miglit be that Napoleon considered his pro- 
 posals irresistible, at whatever time he might choose to make 
 them ; on account of the great oj)portunity which they 
 afforded the Turks for re-establishing their power. At the 
 moment when he opened the campaign of 1812 in earnest, 
 he was by no means deficient in pressing invitations or in 
 brilliant promises. 
 
 This confidence, however, deceived him. That the Turks 
 under these circumstances showed themselves inclined for 
 peace, need not be ascribed to the influence of English gold, 
 or to the intrigues of the two Morusi : though one of them 
 is said to have devoted his energies to bring about a peace in 
 the capital ; and the other, Demetrius, to have served the Reis 
 Effendi as Dragoman. They had other and more cogent reasons. 
 
 Napoleon had, at one time, not only permitted the seizure 
 of Moldavia and Wallachia by the Russians, but had, quite 
 unnecessarily, at the opening of the session of the Legislative 
 Assembly, expressed his sanction of that measure ; conse- 
 quently, the people of Russia considered these provinces as 
 already incorporated in the Empire. In a war of six years' 
 duration, the Turks had made fruitless efforts to regain this 
 territory ; which the Emperor Alexander now offered to 
 restore them : with the exception of the districts on the 
 further side of the Pruth. Was it politic for the Turks to 
 refuse this offer ? Could they leave the restoration of pos- 
 sessions so considerable, dependent on the chances of war ? 
 Even should the war terminate favourably for them, it was 
 not improbable that, in a subsequent agreement, they might 
 fare as at Tilsit and Erfurt.* Was not Kutusov — who was 
 obliged, at least on one point, to overstep his instructions — 
 fearful of incurring the displeasui^e of his master ? In the 
 lettert which he wrote to the Emperor Alexander, on the 4th 
 
 poleon n'a, en effet, aupres clu Grand Seigneur qu'un simple charge 
 d'affaires, auquel une grande reserve est prescrite." 
 
 * Mcmoires de Due du llovigo, v. 290. " lis se rappelerent qu'a 
 Tilsit on les avait abandonnes aprcs qu'ils ne s'etaient mis en campagne 
 que pour nous ; ils nous rendirent la pareille." 
 
 t An extract from it is found in Michailewski Danilewski, Der Vater- 
 
 andische Krieg, i. p. 74. — From this it follows, as a matter of course, 
 that the narratives of the pretended Homme d''Etat (vol. xi. p. 317) fall 
 to the ground. The English Government had, long before, taken the 
 
 eading points of the Peace into consideration. In a letter of the 30th 
 
tuuks conclude peace with russli. 1G9 
 
 of May — the day of settling the Preliminary Treaty — he 
 affects not to consider the advantages which he had actually 
 obtained as sufficient to excuse him for not having secured 
 others of more importance. 
 
 Suffice it to say, that, whilst Napoleon still counted on the 
 participation of the Turks in his enterprise, they had con- 
 cluded a peace with his enemy. 
 
 In this treaty Servia was especially noticed ; but the Ser- 
 vians were still mentioned as a subject nation, tributary to 
 the Grand Siguier. The concessions in their favour were 
 spoken of as acts of the outpouring of his mercy and gene- 
 rosity. The word " guarantee " did not occur throughout. 
 But be this as it may, the mere fact, that, in a treaty with 
 Russia, rights were granted to the nation, was a point of 
 infinite importance : a solemn agreement had been entered 
 into ; and Kussia was entitled to demand its due execu- 
 tion. 
 
 It is true that this agreement did not in itself embrace all 
 the wishes and demands of the Servians ; but it granted 
 them rights which were by no means unimportant. 
 
 The Porte had always most strenuously objected to the 
 fortresses of the country being garrisoned by Servians ; and, 
 now that the Porte was placed in a different position by 
 Napoleon's hostility to Russia, this objection was not to be 
 overcome. Accordingly the treaty secured to the Turks the 
 right of occupying the Servian fortresses with their owq 
 garrisons. 
 
 On the other hand, a complete amnesty was granted to the 
 Servians, and a general improvement of their condition — 
 according to the model of some of the islands of the Archi- 
 pelago — was accorded to them as a matter of right : the 
 details of this improvement being particularly sj^ecified. 
 The regulation of the domestic affaii's of the nation was to 
 be left to the Servians themselves; and only moderate 
 imposts Y/ere laid on them, which they were to pay directly 
 to the Porte : all needful regulations being made with the 
 
 January, 1808, Sir Robert Adair says: — *'It is hoped that this Peace 
 may be brought about by prevailing on the Emperor to give up his pre- 
 tensions to Wallachia and Moldavia, and to be content with some aug- 
 mentation to the security of his frontier on that side." 
 
170 PROJECT FOR ATTACKING THE FRENCH. 
 
 approbation of the Servian people, and not arbitrarily enacted 
 by the Porte.* 
 
 The treaty was brief ; but it was of the utmost importance ; 
 by it complete internal independence appeared to be secured 
 to the Servians. 
 
 Nothing further was requisite, but that its terms should 
 be carried out agreeably to the spirit in which they had been 
 conceded. 
 
 Everything appeared to promise this fulfilment ; as just 
 then the j^roject was formed for attacking the French in 
 Dalmatia ; by a fleet which Avas to sail from the Black Sea. 
 and by a land force which was to proceed through Servia and 
 ^oumelia. An army of more than 20,000 men, with artil- 
 lery, light cavalry, and some Cossacks, was destined for this 
 purpose. On the 27th of June, the first division commenced 
 its march under the command of Colonel O'Rourke. Pre- 
 parations were made for establishing magazines on the Drina ; 
 and commissariat contractors were already appointed, as well 
 as guides, intimately acquainted with the country, for con- 
 ducting the march of the army through Bosnia. 
 
 This project, however, was soon abandoned : England, it 
 is believed, being opposed to the maritime expedition. It 
 was represented to the Emperor Alexander, that the army 
 of the Danube might be rendered far more serviceable to 
 him, were it to form a junction with another force and be 
 employed in the defence of the country, than it could be in 
 hazarding an enterprise so uncertain in its result. t 
 
 * The treaty proceeds thus : — " It has been deemed just, in considera- 
 tion of the share borne by the Servians in this war, to come to a solemn 
 agreement respecting their security. Their peace must not in any way 
 be disturbed. The Sublime Porte will grunt the Servians, on their peti- 
 tion, the same privileges which her subjects in the Islands of the Archi- 
 pelago, and in other parts, enjoy; and will moreover confer upon them a 
 mark of her generosity, by leaving the administration of their internal 
 affairs to themselves — by imposing upon them moderate taxes, and 
 receiving them only direct from them — and by making the regulation 
 requisite to this end in an understanding with the Servian nation them- 
 selves." — (Art. 8.) Chios had only a Cadi and a Musellim, who, how- 
 ever, were dependent on the native primate ; and the other islands might, 
 so far as the internal administration was concerned, be considered as 
 republics. 
 
 + According to Valentini, Lehre vom Krieg, vol. iii. Tlirkeukrieg, 
 
EXECUTION OF DEMETRIUS MORUSI. 171 
 
 Accordingly, on the 15th. of July, Alexander issued the 
 order from Smolensk, for this ai-my to unite itself with the 
 third Western army in Yolhynia ; to oppose the farther 
 advance of the Austrians and the Saxons imder the com- 
 mand of a French General. It cannot be doubted that 
 Russia was right in concentrating all her forces, for a struggle 
 on which her very existence depended. The troops which 
 left the Danube took part, at a later period, in the campaign 
 on the Beresina. 
 
 This was a heavy disaster for Servia. The Russian regi- 
 ment, which up to this time had been quartered in Bel- 
 grade, now left the country ; and it may be readily believed 
 that the Servians regretted its departure. The Turks were 
 now no longer restrained, by any consideration of a threaten- 
 ing military power in the neighbourhood, from gi"sdng free 
 course to their natural wish to re-establish everything on its 
 old footing. 
 
 Their whole policy took a different direction. After the 
 arrival of Andreossy, the French ambassador at Constanti- 
 nople, the Divan discussed the very points which, in the 
 treaty, had excited the astonishment of all Europe. The 
 Turks lost sight of what they had gained, and remembered 
 only that, notwithstanding the favourable circumstances 
 which had occurred, a part of their ancient territory had been 
 sun-endered. 
 
 Demetrius Morusi forfeited his life, for the share he had 
 had in the treaty.* His execution took place at the very 
 moment when the Ser\dan deputies entered the Turkish camp, 
 to arrange in detail the stipulations which, in the treaty, had 
 been agreed upon only in general terms. They had especially 
 reckoned on the support of this very Morusi ; and, as may 
 be supposed, they exj)erienced the disadvantage of this change 
 in the aspect of affairs. 
 
 It was especially detrimental to the Servian cause, that 
 the terms of this Treaty of Peace were better suited to the 
 regular administration of a European State, than to the 
 peculiar relations of the Ottoman Empire. 
 
 p. 157, it was a memorial of General Langeron that decided the 
 Emperor, 
 
 * See Walsh's Narrative of a Journey from Constantinople to England, 
 p. 277. 
 
172 THE TURKS BREAK THEIR TREATY. 
 
 The stipulation that the Turks should garrison the for- 
 tresses, and leave the Servians their freedom and self-govern- 
 ment in the villages, though it might aj)pear practicable 
 according to generally received notions, presented serious 
 difficulties in being carried into effect. In former times, the 
 commanders of the fortresses had been also masters of the 
 country. The Sjiahis, also, were yet living, who had always 
 considered themselves proprietors of the villages. Were 
 they to remain excluded, or were they to return ? And, if 
 they came back, and should endeavour to assume their former 
 position, who was then to protect the Servians ? Could they 
 even maintain the right of bearing their arms ? — those arms 
 which they had so gloriously wielded ! 
 
 It must not be left unnoticed, that, though the peace pro- 
 tected the Servian nation, those articles upon which chiefly 
 depended the general execution of the treaty, had not been 
 specifically defined. 
 
 When the Servian government gave its deputies their 
 instructions, it may readily be imagined that they adopted 
 that interpretation of the treaty which was most in their 
 OAvn favour. 
 
 The Servians professed themselves ready to pay tribute to 
 the Porte — to receive a Pacha, with a certain number of men, 
 in Belgrade — and, in time of war, to admit Turkish garrisons 
 into the other fortresses ; but under ordinary circumstances, 
 they claimed the right of having in them garrisons of their 
 own. The internal administration of the country was to 
 remain wholly independent of the Turks. But these demands 
 were now no longer listened to at Constantinople. The 
 deputies were referred to the new Grand Vizier, Churschid 
 Pacha ; who, two years before, had proved so dangerous to 
 the Servians in their own country, and who had been raised 
 to the highest dignity expressly in consideration of the service 
 he had rendered in checking their progress. At Nisch, on 
 their way to Constantinople, he had received them favourably ; 
 but, on their return, his conduct was very different : he 
 refused to give them any satisfactory answer. 
 
 The Servian delegates returned home at Clmstmas, 1812, 
 without having effected any of the objects of their mission. 
 All negotiation was postponed, to a conference appointed 
 to take place at Nisch, in 1813. 
 
MOLLAH PACHA. 173 
 
 There, at lengtli, tlie Commissioner from the Porte, 
 Tscliclebi Effendi, set forth the Turkish intei^retation of the 
 treaty. 
 
 He demanded the surrender not only of all the fortresses^ 
 but also of all their arms and ammunition. The Turks who 
 h:id been banished were to return into the towns and Palanks. 
 Nothing else, it was said, could be meant by the Peace of 
 Bucharest. It now remained for Kara George to verify his 
 words, and to submit to what had been agreed upon by the 
 two Emperors ; and any one dissatisfied with this arrange- 
 ment was at liberty to emigrate. 
 
 But if the Servians were to deliver up their arms, and the 
 Turks were to resume their possessions, a still further re- 
 establishment of the former state of things was to be expected. 
 To these demands, therefore, the deputies could not, and 
 would not agree. Consequently, towards the spring, the 
 Tui4iish troops assembled close to the Servian frontiers. They 
 had also other business in that neighbourhood; to act against 
 MoUah Pacha, the successor of Passvan Oglu, at Yiddin ; 
 whom, as one who had raised himself to independent power, 
 the Sultan was no longer disposed to tolerate. 
 
 In order to save himself, Mollah Pacha had, at one time, 
 actually ofiered to surrender his citadel to the Servians ; but 
 Avhen it came to the point, he could not, as a " good Turk," 
 make up his mind to take a step so decisive in favour of 
 Christians. Nor, perhaps, would the offer have been ac- 
 cepted ; as the Servians had received express instructions 
 from St. Petersbiu'g to remain quiet, and by no means to 
 provoke the Turks, who would not then venture to violate 
 the existing treaty. At the same time, Mollah Pacha, 
 pressed by his opponents in the town itself, was under the 
 necessity of surrendering his fortress to the Turks.'"' 
 
 It is evident that this event rendered the militaiy position 
 of the Servians much worse. Negotiations were once more 
 ojjened, in May, 1813, under very unfavourable auspices. 
 
 Kara George now found himself obliged to concede an 
 important point to the Turks. He consented to admit their 
 
 * Andreossy assures us, that Mollah Pacha (so called because he had 
 for a time been Secretary to Passvan Oglu) was not beheaded or assassi- 
 nated, as has been said, but died of the plague at Scutari. This statement 
 has also been confirmed to me from another quartei". 
 
174- WAR RECOMMENCED. 
 
 garrisons into the fortresses ; but on condition tliat their 
 small arms, which they had formerly been permitted to 
 wear, should be left to the Servians. He also insisted that, 
 at all events, those Turks who had been expelled should not 
 be permitted to return, as on this^ unquestionably, depended 
 the peace of the country. 
 
 Never had the two parties seemed nearer coming to an 
 agTeement. The Tschelebi EfFendi, an aged man, who had 
 brought many a difficult business to a successful termination, 
 felt confident that he should be equally fortunate on the pre- 
 sent occasion. He sent the proposals of the Servians to 
 Constantinople, and promised the people an early decision. 
 It is needless to inquire whether he really expected this ; 
 but, in fact, it was nov,^ impossible. 
 
 Were not these the same contentions and disputes which 
 had been the principal causes of the war ? Could it be 
 imagined that the Spahis — who formed a large portion of the 
 army, which was already on the boundary of the country- 
 would consent to be excluded from what they deemed their 
 inheritance : at a moment too, when every thing seemed 
 favourable for its recovery ? 
 
 The Turks were again in possession of Moldavia and Wal- 
 lachia, as well as of Viddin, and were also masters of Bul- 
 garia, They were, moreover, inspired with jDCculiar confi- 
 dence ; from the circumstance that in the course of that 
 very spring, the Holy Cities in Arabia had been freed from 
 the Wechabites, and their keys brought to Constantinople. 
 Under this aspect of affairs, would the victorious armies of 
 the Grand Siguier hesitate to commence the war with the 
 rebellious Servian Hayahs? 
 
 At that very time, also, was received the news of the 
 battle of Lutzen, which was regarded as a defeat of the 
 Russians ; and all fear of them was entirely cast aside. 
 Besides, the Turks did not consider that they had broken 
 the treaty; since the Servians rejected the interpretation 
 which the Porte had given to it. 
 
 Determined to maintain the privileges of Islamism undi- 
 minished within the boundaries of t\e Empire, the Turkish 
 army advanced towards the Servian frontiers, and recom- 
 menced the war. 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 
 WAR IN SERVIA IN THE YEAR 1813. 
 
 Great European Conflict. — The Christian and the Islamite Principles 
 represented in the Servians and the Turks. — Opinion of the French 
 Ambassador at Constantinople respecting the Conduct of England. — 
 Solemn Religious Meetings and Warlike Proclamations of the Servians. 
 — Anticipated Aid of Russia. — Monarchical Government of Kara 
 George. — Changes in the Servian Constitution. — Difference between 
 the Present and Former MiUtary Pi'oceedings. — Character of the 
 Heyduc Veliko. — First Collision of the Servians with the Turks. — 
 Mladen's jealousy of Veliko. — Death of Veliko in the Defence of 
 Kegotin. — Devastating Progress of the Turks on the Danube. — 
 Junction of the Annies of the Grand Vizier and the Capitan Pacha. — 
 Servian Prisoners conducted to Constantinople. — Continued Advance 
 of the Turks. — Disastrous State of Servia. — Defection and Flight of 
 Kara George. — The Turks take Possession of Smederevo and Belgrade 
 without Resistance. 
 
 At the time when rJl the powers of civilised Europe were 
 prepared to settle the most momentous question that had 
 arisen for centuries, a conflict arose on the very bomidaries 
 of this continent, amongst those whom we may, without 
 wi'onging them, tmly style barbarians : a conflict which, 
 though it cannot be compared with that which agitated 
 Europe, as regards its influence on the v»^orld in general, 
 was yet of great importance in determining the superiority 
 of the Christian or of the Islam sway. 
 
 Nevertheless, some connexion might be observed between 
 the two contests. The French Ambassador — who, unfortu- 
 nately, was too reserved respecting his negotiations — 
 reported only that the Porte, notwithstanding the disaster 
 which had befallen the French, had not yielded to the influ- 
 ence of the combined Powers ; but that, on the contrary, 
 he had found gxeater facility in the prosecution of his diplo- 
 matic duties. 
 
 Popular opinion went much farther. The Turks who 
 advanced into Servia declared, in plain terms, that they ex- 
 pected the assistance of France ; that it was the wish of the 
 Grand Signior to plant a military force on the frontiers of 
 
176 KAEA George's proclamation. 
 
 Servia, for the purpose of threatening Austria, and thus j^re- 
 venting her from joining the coalition. 
 
 This would explain the fact that, whilst on former occa- 
 sions a Pacha of Bosnia had disdained to fight against the 
 Servians, the Grand Yizier Churschid, in person, now led 
 the army against them. 
 
 The opinion of Andreossy was — that England, in order to 
 occupy the attention of the Turks, and to prevent a renewal 
 of the war on the Danube, had fomented the disturbances 
 at Bagdad and the movements of the Persians, which were 
 connected therewith, against the Ottoman Empire.* 
 
 At a time when all the powers were necessarily engaged, 
 in the endeavour to bring to an issue the great Western 
 question — on which the re-establishment or the dov/nfall of 
 the old States depended — it would unquestionably have 
 proved a general calamity, had either Russia or Austria 
 been compelled to resume the war on the Danube. How 
 often have the Bussians been reproached for having, at the 
 breaking out of the Prussian war of 1806, divided their 
 forces, and ventured at the same time to undertake a cam- 
 paign on the Danube ! 
 
 But might not something yet have been achieved in favour 
 of Servia ? We must leave this question undecided. In 
 Europe, the minds of men were so occupied, that very little 
 thought was given to this Eastern dispute. But this is 
 certain — Servia was now left without assistance. 
 
 The Seivians, however, fully understood the gravity and 
 importance of the approaching struggle. 
 
 As soon as the enemy's advance was ascertained, Kara 
 George ordered prayer-meetings to be held in all the Kne- 
 shines, in the week before the festival of St, Peter and St. 
 Paul. The proclamation which Kara George had sent to all 
 the Yoivodes, was read in full assembly ; after the monks 
 had repeated their vigils, and had prayed for victory over 
 their enemies. In this proclamation he reminds the people 
 of the grounds on which they had risen against the Turks : 
 " that they had for nine years fought ■ victoriously against 
 
 * Andreossy, 209. " L'Angleterre favorise et seme des mesintelligences 
 du cote de Bagdad pour preoccuper les Turcs et les empecher de retablir 
 I'ctat de guerre sur le Danube. * * * * Le general Andreossy entretient 
 una correspondance avec Mirza Chefli, premier ministre de Perse." 
 
niAYEK FOR COURAGE. 177 
 
 tliem, every man not only for himself, but also for his reli- 
 gion, and for the lives of his children. They had found, too, a 
 protector ; for by a treaty which he had made, the Turks had 
 been forbidden to return to the towns and palanks. To this 
 the Sultan at Constantinople had agreed : but not so the 
 Spahis and Janissaries, the citizens, and other inhabitants 
 who had been driven from the country. The Turks had 
 come, iu opposition to the will of their imperial master, to 
 re-conquer Servia ; and they had determined to behead every 
 male above the age of seven, to lead the women and children 
 into captivity and make them Mahometans, and to settle 
 another people in these districts. But," he proceeded, 
 " have we any good reason to fear them ? Are they not the 
 same enemies whom we conquered in earlier times, when we 
 had no means of resistance but oiu" courage ? Now, on the 
 contrary, we count one hundi-ed and fifty cannon in the 
 country ; seven fortresses, strongly built of stone ; forty 
 entrenchments — before which the Turks have often bled 
 without being able to capture them ; and our numbers are 
 doubled by the arrival among us of our brethren of the land. 
 No ! for ten years we can resist them without any foreign 
 aid : but, before the lapse of half a year, we shall witness 
 the arrival of our ally. Only let the nation rise unanimously, 
 take up arms, and not grudge even their lives in defence of 
 their country and their religion." 
 
 Praying, and responding with a repeated " Amen ! " he 
 thus solemnly concluded : — " May God instil courage into 
 the hearts of the sons of Servia ! May he destroy the power 
 of our enemies, who have come to annihilate the true 
 faith ! " 
 
 Upon this, every man made the requisite preparation ; 
 supplied himself with clothing and provisions, took with him 
 some new opanks,""' and repaired to the joost assigned him 
 for the defence of his country. 
 
 It was now to be proved whether Servia would be able to 
 defend herself unassisted : at least until the great conflict in 
 the West should be decided, and attention again be directed 
 towards the East. 
 
 And what could have appeared more propitious for 
 Servia than the established monarchical government of Kara 
 * Sandals. 
 
 K 
 
178 MONARCHICAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 George ; who was now able to employ the very considerable 
 forces he had obtained, for the furtherance of the general 
 welfare. 
 
 It is not always, however, that such anticipations are 
 realised. 
 
 Kara George had not become thus powerful without 
 materially changing the constitution of the state — a consti- 
 tution which had been formed by the natural character of 
 the people. The Gospodars were very closely connected 
 with their vassals, Buljukbashes, and Yoivodes of minor 
 importance : they had all grown up in intimate union 
 together. True, the appointment of new Voivodes, under 
 the influence of the Commander-in-chief, made the unity of 
 the state more complete, but at the same time it checked the 
 development of national energy in separate districts. 
 
 And since this local spirit was no longer to be relied upon, 
 they had boldly determined to renounce a system in which 
 the defence of the country dej^ended on the freer co-operation 
 of those provincial chiefs, 
 
 Kara George's first idea had been — and it would have 
 accorded well with his position at the moment — to destroy 
 the entrenchments on the frontiers, and with his entire force 
 to await the enemy in the mountains of the Schumadia. He 
 would thus have been able to avail himself of all the advan- 
 tages which the nature of the country offered, and in his 
 own peculiar territory. But Kara George was persuaded to 
 abandon this intention by Mladen, Avhose friendship had 
 already drawn him into so many difiiculties : and who, it is 
 said, was afraid of losing some property which he possessed 
 near the frontier. 
 
 It was accordingly determined again to oppose the enemy 
 by stationing trooj^s on the three boundaries of the country, 
 which in the former wars had always been defended : on the 
 Drina, on the Morava, and on the Danube. In Jagodina 
 it was the intention of Kara George to form a reserve, for 
 the succour of that division which might be in the greatest 
 danger. 
 
 This was a somewhat more systematic mode of proceeding 
 than had been resorted to on former occasions : when Kara 
 George preferred to head the attack himself, and in the 
 ardour of a warlike spii'it had flown from one frontier to the 
 
VELIKO. 179 
 
 other. The main differences, however, were these : no 
 Nenadovitsch now commanded on the Drina ; his place was 
 occupied by the Knes Sima ; at Deligrade Peter Dobrinjaz 
 v^as replaced by his adversary Mladen ; and the fortifications 
 on the Danube were entrasted to the Heyduc Yeliko, 
 instead of to Milenko. 
 
 It was against Veliko that the Turks first directed their 
 attack. They had now the advantage, which they had not 
 possessed in former times, of having at their disposal the 
 troops of Yiddin ; which had hitherto always been governed 
 by a Pacha who sought only his own interest. But above 
 all things the Turks were desirous of vanquishing the Heyduc, 
 whom the Servians looked upon as their hero. 
 
 And such Yeliko deserved to be considered : though only 
 such a one as the country, the times, and the events of the 
 age could produce. When the Kussians — of whom he 
 thought so highly that he could never believe Napoleon to 
 have advanced so far as Moscov/ — once told him " not to 
 call himself Heyduc, which signified a robher^'' he replied — 
 " I should be sorry if there were any greater robber than I 
 am." And it is true that he was insatiable in quest of 
 booty : for the sake of a few piastres, he would hazard his 
 life ; yet what he obtained he would immediately give away. 
 '• If I possess aught," he would say, " any one may share it 
 with me j but if I have not anything, woe be to him who 
 has, and does not freely permit me to share it with him." 
 He was eager in tbe pursuit of pleasure ; of a lively humour, 
 good-natured, and of a frank disposition : a man might trust 
 his life with him, but not his secret. Pie was fond of war : 
 not for the attainment of any specific object ; but for its ov>ti 
 sake. He prayed that Servia might be engaged in war so 
 long as he lived, but that after his death she might enjoy 
 peace. He did not like to command soldiers brought from 
 the plough ; but preferred Momkes, Bekjares, and practised 
 warriors. He quarrelled with his wife because she refused 
 to treat his Momkes as weU as she treated him : '* All of 
 them," he said, " were his brothers." No one was better 
 fitted for bold enterprises and hazardous excursions ; and he 
 was best pleased when employed in the mountains : for 
 defending the defiles of which he was admirably qualified. 
 On the T>Tesent occasion, however, he was not entnisted with 
 
 »2 
 
180 MILUTIN FIRST ENCOUNTERS THE TURKS. 
 
 a duty of this nature ; but was called upon to show, whether 
 his qualifications were such as would enable him to defend 
 fortified places and entrenched positions on the frontier. 
 
 Veliko's brother, Milutin, was the first to encounter 
 the Turks ; who appeared near Kladovo, and attacked the 
 j)easants as they were busily engaged in carrying off their 
 property into the mountains. Milutin dispersed the enemy; 
 but, from inability to pursue them with his horsemen over 
 the mountain paths, he did not succeed in recapturing all 
 the booty and prisoners they had taken. 
 
 On hearing of this, Veliko determined to scour the 
 country whilst awaiting the enemy. He drove many thou^ 
 sand head of cattle into his citadel of Negotin, and ventured 
 as far as the gates of Yiddin : where he was seen, on his 
 Arabian steed, in the plain before the fortress. Near 
 Bukovtscha he put to flight the first Turkish troops which 
 appeared on the Timok. 
 
 But when the Turks arrived, 18,000 strong, he was obliged 
 to shut himself up in Negotin. It was then his delight to- 
 make sallies, day after day, and night after night ; and thus 
 to keep the besiegers constantly in a state of alarm. Com- 
 pared with the losses which he caused them, his own were 
 trivial : though he lost better soldiers, and each diminution 
 of his numbers could not but be seriously felt. At last both 
 parties were obliged to solicit aid — the Turks, from the 
 Grand Vizier; and Yeliko, from Kara George and the 
 Senate. 
 
 The Turks were not long unassisted. Retchep Aga, the 
 Wallachian Prince Karadja, and the Grand Yizier himself, 
 led on a re-inforcement. They made their way under cover 
 of the night, and by mining, nearer and nearer to the forti- 
 fications. They battered down with their cannon one tower 
 of Negotin after another : and lastly the highest, wliich was 
 the residence of Yeliko himself Still he lost not his 
 courage; but went down and lived in the vault. Every- 
 thing, of lead or tin, which could be found in the place, he 
 melted into balls ; not excei^ting even spoons and lamps ; 
 and one day, when all metal else was exhausted, he ordered 
 his men to load their guns with pieces of money instead of 
 bullets, and thus successfully kept off the enemy. If he 
 could but have received assistance ! On receiving Yeliko's 
 
DEATH OF VELIKO. 181 
 
 request for aid, Kara George, whose corps of reserve had 
 never been brought into a state of efficiency, sent to Mladen. 
 But Mladen's answer was : — " He may help himself ! His 
 jjraise is sung to him, at his table, by ten singers ; mine is 
 not: let him then keep his ground — the hero!" The 
 Senate — to whom Veliko had written, in the most severe 
 terms, saying that " at Christmas he would inquire in what 
 manner the country was governed !" — at length sent a vessel 
 to him with ammunition : but it arrived too late. 
 
 On the morning as Yeliko, according to custom, was going 
 his rounds, and just when ordering the repair of a redoubt 
 which had been damaged by the enemy, he was recognised — 
 for the combatants were very near to each other — by a 
 Turkish artilleryman, who aimed at him. The aim was 
 true. Uttering the words — " Stand firm ! " [Drshfe se /] 
 Yeliko fell to the gi'ound : his body lay torn asunder ! His 
 Momkes covered the corpse with hay, and in the evening 
 buried it near the chui'ch. In vain they endeavoured to 
 conceal the death of their leader : his absence was too 
 grievously felt, 
 
 Now, for the first time, the Servians became aware how 
 much had depended upon this man. Had the Heyduc lived 
 to see the arrival of a fresh supply of ammunition, he might 
 long have defended his own position and the whole of this 
 frontier. Had he only escaped with his life, his presence 
 would always have inspired courage and resistance. But 
 now despondency prevailed in Negotin. Whilst Yehko 
 lived no one had dared to speak of flight or surrender ; but 
 five days after his death the garrison escaped across a morass 
 and gained the road to Poretsch. The troops in Bersa 
 Palanka and Great Ostrova, now also retreated before the 
 advance of the enemy, and took the same road. Schivko 
 Constantino vitsch — who, through the favour of Mladen, 
 had been elected Yoivode of Kladovo — regardless of the 
 vast efibrts which the capture of that place had cost, joined 
 the President of the Magistracy, Jozo — who, like himself, 
 was a townsman — and fled under the protection of the 
 Momkes and Bekjares. Kladovo, consequently, felt the full 
 rage of the enemy ; to whose merciless fury it was aban- 
 doned : men were impaled ; and children, in derision of the 
 rite of baj^tism, were thi-own into boiling water ! 
 
182 IIADJI NICOLA. 
 
 Whilst the Turks were ravaging the neighbouring Nahias, 
 all who could effect their escape had fled to Poretsch. Here, 
 under an incompetent Voivode of Mladen's appointing, a 
 more able commander, Hadji Nicola, had, in consequence of 
 the general danger, obtained the authority. His exertions, 
 however, proved equally unavailing. He erected a redoubt 
 on the lower point of the island j but the Turks effected a 
 landing between the town and the fort ; and as soon as they 
 made their appearance, the people, who had become accustomed 
 to flight, again fled. In vessels and boats — nay, even on 
 jilanks or by swimming — they sought to escape the vengeance 
 of the enemy, and to find safety on the Austrian bank of 
 the Danube. Hadji Nicola was taken prisoner and be- 
 headed ; and the Turks advanced, without opposition, as far 
 as Smederevo. 
 
 These great results on the Danube were followed by others 
 on the Morava. The Grand Yizier, Churschid Pacha, was 
 still less disposed now, than during the campaign of 1810, to 
 lose time at Deligrade, which was bravely defended by 
 Yuiza ; he, therefore, left a part of his army behind for the 
 siege of this fortress, and proceeded with the remainder down 
 the right bank of the Morava. 
 
 Mladen, who was little of a warrior, and now felt himself 
 far too weak to encounter the large Turkish force, did not 
 even attempt resistance. The Grand Vizier was conse- 
 quently able to proceed along the river without molestation ; 
 and at Petka he formed a junction with the troops of the 
 Capitan Pacha. The united army took up its position close 
 by the mouths of the Morava, opposite the Servians, who 
 were on the other side of the river ; and the Turks were re- 
 inforced by vessels of war : the largest that had ever been 
 seen on the Morava. 
 
 Of the three gTeat divisions of the country, the Servians 
 had now entirely lost the one beyond the Morava. They 
 were also nearly deprived of the second division, which lay 
 on the further side of the Kolubara. Knes Sima did not 
 offer any resistance to the passage of the Turks over the 
 Drma, though all the Yoivodes were anxious to give them 
 battle ; and when they encamped before Losnitza, he made 
 no effort for its defence. Milosch of Pozerje had unfortu- 
 nately been killed tv/o years before, by a robber, whom he 
 
SUKSENDER OF LOSNITZA. 183 
 
 was in pursuit of; and lie was succeeded by liis brother, 
 who, by no means equalled him in talent. To this brother, 
 Losnitza was now entrusted ; and he was foolish enough 
 to allow himself to be persuaded by the bishop of Svornik, 
 who accompanied the Turkish force, that no harm should 
 occur to him or his people, and he accordingly surrendered. 
 
 Thus, the Turks, with little trouble, regained possession of 
 Kulin's scimitar. They conducted their prisoners, under an 
 armed escort, through Bosnia, and at length to Constanti- 
 noj^le : whence none of them ever returned. 
 
 Antonie Bogitschevitsch was no longer alive, to defend 
 Losnitza, as he had formerly done. Peter Moler, who had 
 taken his place, did not, it is true, suffer himself to be duped 
 by the bishop's assurances ; but he did not venture to defend 
 the place ; and was content to effect his own escape. 
 
 In like manner Knes Sima allowed the Tm^ks to advance, 
 without coming to any regTiIar engagement. Even when 
 they attacked the fortress of Kavanj, which was defended by 
 the valiant Voivodes, Stojan Tschupitsch, Milosch Obreno- 
 vitsch, and Prota Nenadovitsch — he remained inactive in his 
 camp : jDaralysed by an unaccountable insensibility : he sent 
 neither ammunition, (of which those chiefs soon felt the 
 want,) nor troops, whose aid they gxeatly needed : were it 
 only to procure a brief repose after the fatigues to which 
 they had been subjected, and their protracted loss of sleep. 
 For seventeen harassing days, the Voivodes defended the 
 entrenchment; during which time they affirm that they 
 suffered such privations as had never before been endured in 
 a fortress. At length they abandoned the place to the 
 enemy ; who immediately advanced against Schabaz, where 
 Knes Sima was encamped. 
 
 The country was now in gxeater danger than ever. In 
 the year 1806, many considered themselves lost when the 
 Turks had forced their way only from the Drina to Schabaz, 
 without having touched any other districts ; in 1809, the 
 country was thought to be ruined because the enemy had 
 obtained possession of the right bank of the Morava ; but 
 now the Moslems had advanced, victoriously, on both sides, 
 and the Schumadia alone remained free from the invaders. 
 In the ffrst war, Kara George had saved the country by his 
 glorious battle on the Mischar ; and, in the second, he had 
 
184 INACTIVITY AND IRRESOLUTION 
 
 made such excellent aiTangements, that the left bank of the 
 Moniva remained unmolested, and in a short time he was 
 able to re-conquer the right bank. 
 
 Amidst the present difficulties, he was looked for with 
 greater anxiety than ever. An opportunity was now afforded 
 him of establishing his claims to the exercise of sovereign 
 sway over the whole country : he might now have exem- 
 plified the uses and privileges of monarchical jDOwer. But, 
 from some incomprehensible cause, he neither appeared on 
 the Drina, on the Danube, nor on the Morava ; he remained 
 inactive, with some Momkes — at one time in Topola, at 
 another in the vicinity of BelgTade : nowhere was he seen, 
 and many persons actually believed him to be dead. 
 
 Had he been required to command a division of the army, 
 or to defend a fortress, he would doubtless have displayed his 
 wonted valour ; but now, since he had not directly to con- 
 front the enemy, he only shared the feelings of the defeated 
 and discouraged fugitives. He no longer felt that energy 
 which the presence of the enemy inspires in the brave ; all 
 the friends to Avhom his ear was open, desponded, and thought 
 of flight ; and he also was seized by the universal panic, 
 which bore him along resistlessly. 
 
 Some men are more competent to acquire, than to retain : 
 the hopes of future possession — of future greatness, urge them 
 incessantly onward ; the discouragement of defeat deprives 
 them of their calm judgment. 
 
 If we mistake not, Kara George, amidst the general wreck, 
 cherished the idea of seeking safety in a neighbouring 
 country, and of concealing his treasures. It is a known fact, 
 that he buried his money : hoping to return at some favour- 
 able opportunity, in more prosperous times, with the support 
 of the allies whom he had mentioned in his proclamation. 
 In this design he was probably confirmed by the Russian 
 Consul ; who, it has been asserted — though the fact cannot 
 be proved — exercised great influence over him at the time. 
 Not that this can, in any way, excuse the conduct of Kara 
 George ; whose duty it was to stake his life for the nation, 
 which had entrusted its entire welfare to him. Nor could it, 
 by any means, be considered that all was lost. The fortresses 
 might at least have held out till the approach of winter ; and 
 the people might have maintained their ground on the moun- 
 
OF KARA GEOPvGE. 185 
 
 tains ; for the inclemency of the season, and the scarcity of 
 provisions, would have been sufficient to drive the Turks out 
 of the country. And if all their efforts had failed, the 
 Servians would at least have fallen with glory. 
 
 But there was no foundation here for that moral courage 
 which enables men to withstand the inroads of misfortune, 
 and with a full knowledge of the danger, to risk even their 
 lives, actuated by a high sense of honour. Such noble deeds 
 of self-devotion are not to be found in Servian history. Kara 
 George liimself was not capable of them. 
 
 On the first of October, he appeared in the camp on the 
 Morava. It is not rightly known what he did there, or 
 whether the state in which he found afiairs confirmed him in 
 his despondency ; but, the very next day, the Turks crossed 
 the river, before liis eyes, without his having the means to 
 prevent them ; and on the day following, Kara George, with 
 Nedoba, Leonti, Philippovitch, and his secretary Jaikni, fled 
 across the Danube into the Austrian territory. 
 
 The defection of Kara George was the second heavy blow 
 — Yeliko's death being the first — that the Servian cause had 
 sustained ; and it was decisive. The Turks marched into 
 Smederevo and Belgrade without any resistance being offered ; 
 those fortresses having been left, under the pressure of the 
 moment, without supplies of provisions. The whole coimtry 
 now stood defenceless, and open to the enemy. 
 
186 
 
 CHAPTEli XYI. 
 
 RENEWED DOMINION OF THE TURKS. 
 
 Evil Results of Evil Deeds. — Opposition of the Gospodars to Mladen and 
 Miloie. — Flight of Kara George and tlie Servian Senators into Austria. 
 —Kara George, Mladen, and other Chiefs, admitted into Austrian For- 
 tresses. — Flight of the Garrison of Schabaz on the Approach of the 
 Turks. — Milosch Obrenovitsch remains in the Country. — He garrisons 
 Uschize. — The Turks invest him with Powers to tranquillize the 
 Country. — He induces other Voivodes to submit. — Appointed by the 
 Pacha of Belgrade to be Grand Knes of Rudnik, &c. — Return of the 
 Expelled Spahis. — Oppression and Cruelty exercised by the Turks.— 
 Affray between Turks and Servians. — Milosch disperses the Insurgents. 
 — The Pacha disregards his Promises. — Barbarity of the Turks towards 
 the Servians. — Fortunate Escape of Milosch from Belgrade. — Milosch 
 places himself at the Head of a General Insurrection. 
 
 That a principle of retribution is observable in liuman 
 affairs, lias been often asserted by some writers, and as fre- 
 quently doubted by others. Without presuming to scrutinize 
 the doctrine of a direct and supernal interjDosition of the 
 Most High, we may remark that it seems to be the natural 
 course of things for the same disposition and passions "which 
 have originated an evil deed to produce an effect, perhaps of 
 a more powerful kind, which follows close upon the per- 
 petration of the crime, and torments the after life of the 
 guilty. 
 
 In the instance of the Servian war at least, we may trace 
 the misfortunes which now afflicted the people, to their source 
 in the outrages committed at BelgTade, and the plunder and 
 slaughter of the Turks. Without doubt the chiefs who com- 
 manded in Belgrade at the time were most to be blamed. 
 These were Mladen, who was at the head of the garrison ; 
 IMiloie, who led the Bekjares ; and Sima Markovitsch, Knes 
 of the Nahia of Belgrade. They enriched themselves by the 
 booty they had gained ; and allied themselves more closely 
 with Kara George, who had permitted the perpetration of 
 these atrocities. 
 
 Hence it foUov/ed that a party v/as formed, who, identify- 
 
RESULTS OF EVIL DEEDS. 187 
 
 ing tlieir own advantage with the interest of the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief, fought for him indeed ; but, through their 
 violence and outrages, aroused opposition against his power. 
 
 We have seen how often the Gospodars rebelled against 
 the influence of Mladen and Miloie ; who, in fact, iiiled 
 Belgrade with a sway not much milder than that of the 
 Turks. They opposed Mladen especially, who was the most 
 powerful. The Gospodars were defeated : the most resolute 
 amongst them were obliged to flee ; but by these means a 
 power was lost, which, in the moment of danger, would have 
 been of the greatest service to the country. In this 
 country, whei'e neither military order, nor the common tie of 
 nationality, had been thoroughly estabKshed, its defence 
 must be founded, according to the natural principle of feu- 
 dalism, in a long personal possession and in local influence. 
 
 The party formed at Belgrade having mainly contril uted 
 towards the establishment of monarchical power, had also a 
 large share in its exercise : Mladen, both in war in peace ; 
 and Knes Sima, from having repeatedly held offices of com- 
 mand. But they were incapable of replacing those com- 
 manders who had been exiled. Their f)ow^er in this fatal 
 year proved injurious : Mladen sufiered the Hey due to 
 j)erish, and did not defend the Morava ; while Sima allowed 
 the Bosnians to proceed to Schabaz without bringing them 
 to an engagement. Such were the events that caused the 
 general ruin. 
 
 Thus was verified the prediction of the old Kmetes, 
 "that the people would some day have to atone for their 
 atrocities." 
 
 No sooner had Kara George fled, than the Senators 
 followed his example, by escaping to Austria. Upon the 
 news that the Tm-ks were in Belgrade, the project enter- 
 tained in the camp of Schabaz, of sending Milosch Obreno- 
 vitsch thither, with two thousand men, was relinquished. 
 The leaders of the army, all the most distingaiished Yoivodes, 
 escaped across the Danube. Yuitza also left Deligrade, with 
 his three thousand men ; nor did he consider himself in 
 safety until he reached Pantschova, on the farther side of the 
 Danube. Thus all the divisions of the army were completely 
 broken up. 
 
 How entirely was the aspect of affairs now changed ! The 
 
188 TURKS MASTERS OF SERVIA. 
 
 most influential of the Servian leaders were taken into 
 Austrian fortresses : Kara George, to Gratz ; Mladen, to 
 Bruk, on the Mur ; Jacob, Vuitza, Sima, and Leonti, to 
 other places. Somewhat later, upon, the intercession of 
 Hussia in their belialf, they were all allowed to pass into 
 Bessarabia. The less influential chiefs indeed, remained at 
 liberty in the Austrian territory ; yet they never ventured 
 to return to their own land. Some Yoivodes were still left 
 in Servia ; but they retired from the wrath of their country- 
 men into the secret places of the mountains. The Turks, on 
 the other hand, took possession of the country as masters ; 
 in no instance encoimtering the slightest opposition. They 
 met with no difliculty in returning to the fortresses, for the 
 conquest of which the Servians had made such strenuous 
 efforts. On the mere rumour of their approach, the garrison 
 of Schabaz fled ; and in a moment, as it were, the Ottoman 
 dominion again spread itself over towns, palanks, and villages. 
 
 Thus the triumphant career of the Turks remained un- 
 checked. 
 
 The Servian power had been so completely destroyed by a 
 single campaign, which had not produced even one great 
 defeat, and by the flight of the leaders, that it was no longer 
 capable of inspiring fear. During nine years it had main- 
 tained its ]Dosition amidst the most severe conflicts, and it 
 was now all at once annihilated. 
 
 It was a circumstance of vast importance in such con- 
 siderations, that there still remained some Yoivodes who had 
 not fled ; and that of the independent chieftains — the Gos- 
 2Dodars, — at least one was left — Milosch Obrenovitsch. 
 
 When the array of Schabaz dispersed, and so many of the 
 Yoivodes escaped over the Save, Milosch Obrenovitsch alone, 
 of all the number, continued on the Servian side of the river, 
 mourning over the past, — meditating on the future. As he 
 rode along the bank of the Save, Jacob Nenadovitsch once 
 more came over to Sabreschje, where Milosch had stopped to 
 refresh his horses, and tried to persuade him to seek safety 
 in flight. "What will my life profit me in Austria?" he 
 answered : " while in the meantime the enemy will sell into 
 slavery my wife and child and my aged mother. No! whatever 
 may be the fate of my fellow-countrymen shall be mine also!" 
 
 The feeling of Miiosch was, that a man should not desert 
 
MILOSCH MADE GRAND KNES. 189 
 
 his country in the honr of her misfortune. The arguments 
 of Jacob made no impression upon him. He forthwith 
 hastened to his home at Brusnizza. Here, in the southern 
 districts, no enemy had yet appeared ; and Milosch may have 
 hoped to be able to maintain his gi'ound. He garrisoned 
 XJschize, and distributed clothes and arms amongst the Bek- 
 jares, — who, after the flight of the other chiefs, had assembled 
 around him ; and he trusted that the people would obey his 
 commands. But when the Turks approached, it was soon 
 found impossible to resist them. The utmost that any indi- 
 vidual hoped was to be able to preserve his own home, wife, 
 and children, by submitting to the conquerors. No force 
 could be kept together ; even the garrison of XJschize fled on 
 the first report of the enemy's approach. 
 
 But though Milosch could not ofier open resistance, his 
 conduct was such as to make no slight impression on the 
 Turks. In order to tranquillise the country, in some degree, 
 it was natural that the conquerors should seek the co-opera- 
 tion of one or other of the native chiefs. Accordingly, they 
 addressed themselves to Milosch, promising that if he would 
 surrender and aid them in quieting the people, they would 
 make him a Knes and a Governor, as he had been under 
 Xara George. 
 
 Tliis was a proposal of gTeat importance for Servia. 
 
 The Ottomans foimd themselves under the necessity of 
 requesting the assistance of the yet unsubdued chieftains of 
 the country ; and it was manifestly advantageous for the 
 Servians, that a government should be formed, comprisino" 
 some of the national elements. 
 
 Milosch determined to accept the offer ; and in the village 
 of Takovo, he laid his arms at the feet of the Aga Ali 
 Sertschesma, Delibascha of the Grand Vizier. The Aga, 
 however, accepted only the sabre : returning to him his 
 pistols, musket, and dagger, with permission to wear them 
 as heretofore ; and, according to promise, at once acknow- 
 ledged him as Grand Knes of Bucbiik. Hereupon Milosch 
 not only assisted in tranquillising his own district, but also 
 induced other Yoivodes to surrender as he had done. Ali 
 Aga even went so far as to request that he might have the 
 honour of introducing him to the Grand Vizier at Belgrade; 
 
190 MILITARY FORCE IN SERVIA. 
 
 who received Milosch with marks of honour, and confii'med 
 him in his dignity of Grand Knes of Rudnik. 
 
 Soliman, of Skoplje in Herzegovina, who had been made 
 Pacha of Belgrade, was no friend to the Servians ; against 
 whom he had often fought during the preceding nine years ; 
 but even he assented to the appointment. 
 
 ^' Look !" said he, as he introduced Milosch to his Court ; 
 " behold here my beloved Baschknes — my son by adoption ! 
 He is now quiet and modest ; yet many a time have I been 
 obliged to betake myself to flight before him ; and at length, 
 at Eavanj, he wounded me in the arm. There, my adopted 
 son ! " he said, showing him his wounded hand, " thou hast 
 bitten me!" Milosch replied: — "But now will I also gild 
 this hand." 
 
 Upon this Soliman appointed him at once, by a "bu- 
 rmity," Grand Knes of Kudnik, Poscheja and Krag-ujevaz ; 
 and presented him with a pair of handsome pistols and an 
 Arabian steed. 
 
 Independently of Milosch, some other chieftains became 
 reconciled with the Turks : Abram Lukitsch, formerly 
 Sovietnik, an aged, eloquent, and highly esteemed man ; 
 and the Voivode Axenti, who was now made Knes of Bel- 
 grade. They were allowed to wear arms ; and at times the 
 Pacha would pay attention to their intercession in favour of 
 others. Stanoje Glavasch, also, was still in the country ; 
 but, as he had been a Heyduc, the dignity of a Knes could 
 not be conferred upon him. He performed the duties of a 
 Sirdar in the district of Smederevo ; permission to wear his 
 arms having been accorded him. 
 
 Although by such means the Turks engaged some of the 
 Servian chieftains in their service, it must not be supposed 
 that they had, in the slightest degree, relinquished their 
 claims of exclusive and complete dominion. 
 
 As the terms of the Treaty, according to their interpre- 
 tation, had not been amicably fulfilled, they no longer cared 
 for its stipulations ; but having recovered possession of 
 the country, by hostile invasion, they governed as they 
 thought fit. 
 
 The Pacha kept a strong military force distributed over 
 the country. Even in small places — for instance, in Bate- 
 
OPPKESSION BY THE TURKS. 191 
 
 tscliina and Hassan Passina Palanka — from two to three 
 hundred Albanian or Bosnian soldiers were stationed, wlio 
 were fed and paid by tlie surrounding districts. This force 
 constituted a sort of armed executive. 
 
 Under its protection, not only did tne banished Spahis 
 retiu-n, but also the expelled Turkish inhabitants. They 
 found their houses in the toAvns and palanks mostly de- 
 stroyed ; but they resumed jDossession of their property, 
 meditating revenge for their losses. And no sooner had 
 they gained a firm footing, than they put to death many of 
 those whom they regarded as their especial enemies. 
 
 It could not for a moment be supposed that the Servians 
 would be permitted to administer justice themselves, as they 
 had been promised by the treaty of peace. On the contrary, 
 w-hereas formerly there had been only one MuseUim in each 
 district, Soliman now appointed fimctionaries of this class 
 in places of less importance ; where in former times none 
 had resided. Of the Kadi, whose office it v/as to admi- 
 nister justice by the side of the MuseUim, nothing more was 
 heard. 
 
 The Pacha demanded a very high Poresa, and the Turks 
 themselves went through the country to collect it. 
 
 Soliman also thought it desirable, again to accustom the 
 peasants to bond-service, and therefore employed them in 
 building fortifications. As they were kept at this labour for 
 ■weeks, without being relieved, disease broke out amongst 
 them, and many perished ; and so little did the Tm'ks appear 
 to be concerned at this, that they were suspected of having 
 themselves killed many of the bondmen. 
 
 It was one of the principal objects of the new adminis- 
 tration, to deprive the Servians of their %Yeapons — small 
 arms as well as large; and Sirdars were sent through the 
 country to disarm the people. 
 
 Often -were the women seen with tears in their eyes, on 
 beholding the weapons of their relations and friends in the 
 hands of the Turks, who displayed them at every oppor- 
 tunity. The women themselves had now to resort to mea- 
 sures for self-defence : the wife of ]\'Iilosch was even obliged 
 to disguise herself in the dress of a Servian female peasant, 
 when the MuseUim visited her house. 
 
 The oppression now experienced by the Servians was a 
 
192 AFFRAY BETWEEN TURKS AND SERVIANS. 
 
 source of continual irritation and alarm : and — remembering 
 the victories they had formerly achieved — they felt it as an 
 insult ; which rendered it quite insupportable. 
 
 It is likely, too, that the news of the successful termina- 
 tion of the Great European question — in which the friends 
 of the people had triumphed over the ]:)retended allies of 
 the Turks — had exerted an influence on the minds of the 
 Servians. 
 
 A trivial incident sufficed, in the first instance, to 
 excite disturbance, and afterwards to occasion a general 
 insurrection. 
 
 Towards the end of the autumn of 1814, the Musellim 
 of Poschega, and a former Yoivode, Hadji Prodan of 
 Sjenitza, with some of their respective followers, happened 
 to meet in the Cloister Tranava, where both had sought a 
 retreat from the plague, which had recently broken out in 
 Servia. One day the Chiefs of the parties walked together 
 into the country ; and during their absence, their men got 
 into a dispute. The Igumen of the Cloister sided with his 
 own countrymen, the Servians ; and the Turks were very 
 soon bound and plundered. The incident in itself was 
 trivial, yet it immediately caused a general rising through- 
 out Poschega and Kragujevaz, as far as Jagodina. Hadji 
 Prodan, who had withdrawn as speedily as possible from the 
 Musellim, his companion, spared no pains to spread the 
 insurrection ; and exhorted Milosch to make himself Com- 
 mander-in-chief, as Kara George had formerly done. 
 
 This, however, could not, at present, be expected of 
 Milosch. Feeling indebted to the Turks for recent favours, 
 and convinced that an attempt so entirely unprepared must 
 miscarry, and thus inevitably bring ruin ujDon the country, 
 he formed a totally different resolution. Accompanied by 
 Aschim Beg, Musellim of Pudnik, mth whom he had 
 formed a bond of brotherhood, he set out for Poschega, in 
 order to suppress the movement; but on their arrival, Hadji 
 Prodan fled. Milosch then proceeded to Kragujevaz ; 
 where, after having amicably won over some of the prin- 
 cipal leaders, Simon Pastrevaz, Blagoje of Knitsch, and 
 "Vutschitsch, he did not hesitate even to commence a slight 
 skirmish with the others who were unwilling to submit. 
 The insurgents kept the field ; but when they found that 
 
EXECUTION OF THE RINGLEADERS. 103 
 
 Miloscli Tvas in earnest in opposing tliem, they dispersed 
 during the night. On receipt of this intelligence, the 
 leaders of the band that had risen in Jagodina fled into the 
 forests, whence they solicited pardon, and their adherents 
 dispersed. 
 
 Whilst Milosch endeavoured to re-establish tranquillity, 
 he neglected no precaution in favour of his countrymen. He 
 aided several parties in their escape : for instance, the 
 women in Hadji Prodan's house, who had fallen into the 
 hands of the Turks — at least, the youngest, his daughter- 
 in-law, who efiected her escape in man's attire. He had 
 given the first intelligence of the insurrection to Soliman 
 Pacha ; at the same time informing him of his intention to 
 suppress it ; and he obtained the assurance that, if the in- 
 surgents would at once voluntarily surrender, no one should 
 be harmed : with the exception of Hadji Prodan, whom it 
 was necessary to punish. 
 
 But the Pacha's actions did not correspond with his words. 
 The Kiaja of Soliman did not arrive at Tschatschak until 
 after the complete restoration of order ; but he nevertheless 
 compelled the inhabitants to point out the ringleaders of the 
 insurrection, and carried them off with him in chains. For- 
 tunately, Milosch succeeded in preventing him from plunder- 
 ing the villages in Kragujevaz and Jagodina, and leading off 
 the inhabitants as slaves ; by threatening to withdraw from 
 him, and to exert himself no further in tranquHlising the 
 country. But these threats could not prevent the Kliaja from 
 carrying away, in chaias, the presumed ringleaders of the 
 insurrection. It is true, he again promised that his prisoners, 
 although they would be made to suffer pecuniary loss, and 
 even corporal punishment, should not be put to death ; but 
 soon after his arrival with them at Belgrade, notwithstanding 
 the promise given both by him and by the Pacha, the less 
 influential of the prisoners, to the number of 150, were 
 beheaded in front of the four gates of the city. The Igumen 
 of Tmava, with thirty-six others, were impaled.* These 
 were aU young, high-spirited and brave men, of good descent, 
 who had been amongst the first to join the insurrection ; and 
 whose influence in the country induced the Turks to put them 
 to death. 
 
 * December 5, 1814.. 
 
194 ATROCITIES OF THE TURKS. 
 
 In accordance with this cruel chastisement was the reckless 
 tyranny by which the Turks thought to prevent further 
 movements. Whilst again searching diligently for arms — 
 for the insurrection had proved that there were still many 
 weapons concealed — they perpetrated innumerable outrages. 
 Mahometan gipsies would compel Servians whom they met, 
 to take off their good clothes, and receive their own ragged 
 ones in exchange. Whatever might be found in the houses, 
 in the way of clothing, the materials of which had not been 
 made by the women, but purchased, was taken away. Fre- 
 quently, whilst making this search, the Turks would fill bags, 
 like those out of which horses eat, with ashes, tie them under 
 the chins of the women, and, by beating upon them, cause 
 the dust to ascend into their mouths and nostrils. Some 
 were bound hand and foot, and thus suspended by the extre- 
 mities, with heavy stones hung from the middle of their 
 bodies. Some were flogged to death ; others roasted alive on 
 spits. Many other atrocities are known to have been per- 
 petrated, which we must pass over in silence. 
 
 Nor were the Chiefs spared in this visitation. Amongst 
 those executed before Belgrade were venerable Senators, such 
 as Milia Stravkovitsch ; and aged and renowned Voivodes, 
 such as Stephen Jacoblevitsch. Nor could even the office of 
 Sirdar protect Stanoje Glavasch; who was put to death, 
 although guiltless of any oflfence. 
 
 Prudent representations were repeatedly made to the 
 Pacha, that in acting thus cruelly, he did not govern the 
 country according to the interest of the Grand Signior. 
 Even a Turk, Bego Novljanin, who had formerly been ex- 
 tremely oppressive to the Servians, expressed himself con- 
 vinced of this. The Pacha listened quietly, but said he was 
 still far from acting up to his instructions from the Porte, — 
 that, in fact, he was sparing the country. 
 
 What, then, was to be done ? Was Milosch quietly to 
 suffer the promise wliich had been given to him, in conse- 
 quence of the services he had rendered, to be violated ? He 
 happened to be present at Belgrade when the head of 
 Glavasch was brought in. " Hast thou seen the head, Knes?" 
 asked a Turk in Soliman's suite, of Milosch ; " it will be thy 
 turn next." " Yallah !" replied Milosch ; " I no longer con- 
 sider the head I carry my own !" 
 
ESCAPE OF MILOSCH. 195 
 
 In fact, when he prepared to leave Belgrade, the Tiirks 
 endeavoured to prevent him ; but he had taken the precau- 
 tion to purchase sixty slaves, including one distinguished 
 female slave, from the Pacha ; and had thus become his debtor 
 for more than one hundred purses. Upon his assurance that 
 only by himself and Dmitri could the sale of such a number 
 of oxen, as was necessary to raise this sum, be effected, he at 
 length received permission to depart. 
 
 Very early the next morning they rode out of the city. 
 Milosch had formed his resolution ; and he had not required 
 long consideration to do so. In Zrnutschka, in the midst of 
 the mountains of Rudnik — where, since the return of the 
 Turks, he had built a house and outbuildings on a steep 
 declivity — he found not only his Momkes, but many other 
 dependents, with the same views as himself These people 
 had left their houses, where they no longer felt themselves 
 in safety, and had fled to Milosch ; in order, as they said, to 
 save their heads. During the day they occupied themselves 
 with clearing part of the forest, and planting plum-trees. At 
 night, they went into the neighbouring districts for the pur- 
 pose of gaining over the inhabitants, and to consult with 
 them as to what they might best attempt under the circum- 
 stances of the time. Probably they did not entertain the 
 hope of again effecting their liberation ; but they judged it 
 better to fight openly in the field, than to sit at home in ex- 
 pectation of Turkish executioners. They wished also to 
 destroy some of the Turks, and to sell their own lives dearly. 
 This was the feeling that had preceded the first revolution. 
 At last, after long hesitation, Milosch also joined the party. 
 
 o2 
 
196 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 REVOLUTION OF MILOSCH. 
 
 Parentage and early Life of Milosch. — His honourable Conduct. — 
 Treachery of the Voivode Arseni Lomo. — His Punishment. — The 
 People solemnly swear to obey Milosch as their Leader. — War is 
 determined on in the Spring of 1815, — Opposing Views amongst the 
 Servians. — Arrival of Succour. — Predatory War on the Upper Morava. 
 — Spread of the Insurrection. — Advantages gained by the Servians. — 
 Flight of the Turks from a fortified Position on the Kolubara. — 
 Milosch strengthens his Position at Ljubitsch. — The Turks attack the 
 Place. — Retreat of the Turks. — Kindness and Generosity of Milosch 
 to the Prisoners. — Capture of Poscharevaz, and Expulsion of the 
 Turks. — Milosch puts to Flight the Force of the Bosnian Pacha on 
 the Drina. — Magnanimity of the Servian Chief. — Two formidable 
 Turkish Armies arrive on the Frontiers. 
 
 Again were the Servians in arms against the Turks. The 
 atrocities that had been perpetrated, and apjDrehension for 
 his own safety, induced Milosch to place himself at the head 
 of this movement. 
 
 Milosch might be classed in the number of those chiefs 
 who have created their own power. From the first he had 
 become influential through relationship with his half-brother, 
 Milan. His descent was as follows : his mother, Vischnja, 
 was first married in Brusnizza, to the peasant Obren, to 
 whom she bore Milan. Secondly, to another peas^it of the 
 name of Tescho (Theodore) at Dobrinje, in the district of 
 XJschize, where she bore other children, and about the yeai' 
 1780 gave birth to Milosch. But neither of her husbands 
 having been possessed of wealth, her sons had to seek employ- 
 ment where they could. Milan was first engaged in traffic 
 on his own account, at Brusnizza, and he gradually prospered. 
 Milosch set out in life as a herdsman, and drove oxen to the 
 markets of Dalmatia, for their owners ; but he soon after- 
 wards entered the service of Milan. They were so closely 
 united that Milosch called himself Obrenovitsch, after Milan's 
 father ; though he ought to have been called, after his own 
 Either, Teschitsch, or Theodorovitsch. The brothers were 
 
jiilosch's honourable conduct. 197 
 
 very successful in tneir traffic ; and at the breaking out of 
 the revolution, in 1804, they were considered as people of 
 importance. In the very commencement of the war they 
 rose against the Dahis ; and Milan, through his great influence, 
 became the Chief of Kudnik, Poscheja, and Uschize. He 
 was, however, fond of quiet ; and Milosch relieved him of 
 fatig-ue by carrying on the war. We have already mentioned 
 Milan's implication in the opposition to Kara George, and 
 also his death ; after which his brother succeeded to the chief 
 command ; although he found his power not a little restricted. 
 Probably it was because he was not very closely allied to the 
 ruling party, that in the year 1813, he had felt little inclina- 
 tion to pass over into Austria with the other chiefs ; but 
 when all the rest then left the country, his authority became 
 greater than ever ; not only in his own districts — where he 
 was now Grand Knes of three Nahias — but throughout the 
 entire territory ; and the eyes of the whole nation were 
 lirected towards him. The Turks could not but fear him, 
 and were obliged to pay him more respect than they wished. 
 So long as their sway could be at all endured, he had sup- 
 ported them ; but, when it became intolerable, and his own 
 life was threatened, he determined to rise against them. He 
 had made an agreement with his bond-brother, the MasseHm 
 Aschin Beg, that if at any time danger menaced either of 
 them, Milosch should warn Aschin Beg of his enemies among 
 the Servians ; and Aschin should point out to Milosch those 
 Turks of whom he should beware. On the Friday before 
 Falm Sunday, 1815, Milosch conducted the Musselim away 
 from his districts : the moment of the outbreak being at 
 hand. 
 
 In the same week, the adherents of Milosch commenced 
 by attacking some individuals — receivers of the Poresa and 
 collectors of the Haradsch ; but the most formidable assault 
 occurred at Kudnik, against Tokatlitsch, the predecessor of 
 Aschin Beg. That officer, it is true, had, on the request of 
 IMilosch, been discharged ; but he still continued to reside in 
 the place, in his foi-tified house, surrounded by a few j\i omkes. 
 Here Arseni Lomo — one of the Voivodes who had been 
 appointed by Kara George, and had remained in the country, 
 having surrendered after the example of Milosch — laid a 
 kind of siege against him, assisted by a considerable troop. 
 
198 TREACHERY OP ARSENI LOMO. 
 
 Tokatlitsch soon despaired of being able to defend himsei. 
 against such a force, and offered to treat for terms : he strewed 
 salt upon a piece of bread, kissed it, and sent it to his enemy, 
 requesting that he might be allowed to depart in safety. 
 Lomo appeared to assent to the proposal : he also kissed the 
 salt, pledged himself to grant his request, and even escorted 
 him and his folloAvers on their departure. But scarcely had 
 they arrived on the height of Rudnik, when a troop, which 
 had been lying in ambush, sprang forth, and slew the Turk 
 and all his Momkes : one alone excepted. 
 
 This was, indeed, a barbarous commencement of an enter- 
 prise, the object of which was to re-establish a lawful state 
 of things ! But retaliation and vengeance quickly followed. 
 The Momke who had been spared, rode on a short distance 
 with Lomo, and reproached him with his treachery ; but 
 Lomo denied having had any knowledge of the intended 
 attack. Presently the Momke drew from his belt a large 
 and beautiful silver-handled knife ; saying to Lomo, " Take 
 it ! if thy countrymen should kill me also, still a hero will 
 wear this knife ; if they do not, then keep it in remembrance 
 of me." Lomo, who had really been guilty of the treachery 
 imputed, regaining confidence, took the knife, and stooped to 
 place it in his belt ; when the Turk fired a pistol at his head, 
 and rode off at full speed. He escaped ; and Lomo had 
 received the punishment due to his crime ! 
 
 Happily, we do not meet with any other similar act of 
 baseness throughout the revolution of Milosch. 
 
 On Palm Sunday, 1815, Milosch himself came forward : 
 early in the morning, he appeared at the Church of Takovo, 
 amidst large numbers of the people who had assembled 
 there. Even the old men, usually so cautious, now demanded 
 a revolution ; and all present swore, unanimously, to forget 
 their internal dissensions, and to obey Milosch. In the 
 interim the Momkes assembled in Zmutscha. Brilliantly 
 armed, and with the banner of a Voivode in his hand, 
 Milosch stepped into the midst of the assembly. " Here 
 am I ! " he said ; " and now war against the Turks is 
 begun ! " 
 
 On Easter Sunday, Milosch once more addressed the 
 people, near the Cloister of Moravzi, where many had assem- 
 bled from the districts of Valjevo and Belgrade ; on the 
 
milosch's favourable reception. 199 
 
 frontier of which it stands. It would have been impossible 
 for him to meet with a more favourable reception : every- 
 one was convinced that war was preferable to such a peace 
 as now existed. 
 
 Letters and messengers were despatched to all the persons 
 of consideration throughout the province, apprising them 
 that " a revolution was commencing, and that whenever a 
 green dress" — which was the garb of the Turks — " was seen, 
 they were bound to kill the wearer;" it was resolved to 
 commence war on the spot without any delay. The people 
 now drew forth their arms from the hollow trees and clefts, 
 where they had concealed them ; and such as had been 
 stripped of their weapons were furnished with others by 
 their neighbours. Entrenchments were thrown up on the 
 boundaries of Milosch's districts, where the greatest danger 
 was apprehended. 
 
 This enterprise was, perhaps, even more hazardous than 
 the attack upon the Dahis. The people, although they for 
 the moment expressed the most courageous sentiments, were, 
 nevertheless, intimidated and depressed by the recollection 
 of their late disasters. The military forces of the Turks 
 spread over the country, were numerous and powerful. The 
 Kiaja of the Pacha had, in a few days, assembled more than 
 10,000 men; besides whom there appeared some hundreds 
 of Servians, under the command of the Knes Axenti. A 
 force like this was not to be checked by such entrenchments 
 as had been hurriedly thrown up : the enemy advanced 
 against Kudnik as far as Maidan ; and it appeared likely 
 that this insurrection would not terminate more favourably 
 than that of Hadji Prodan. When it was seen that the 
 Kiaja sacrificed all who resisted him, but showed mercy to 
 those who submitted, many, even of the men who shortly 
 before had clamoured for the revolution, yielded to him. 
 Two plans, almost equally desperate, were entertained by the 
 insurgents, who still kept the field. Some were disposed to 
 effect a reconciliation with the Turks, and to assist them 
 against Milosch himself; others, on the contrary, proposed 
 the slaughter of the women and children ; saying the men 
 could then retire into the mountains, and war against the 
 enemy for the remainder of their lives. 
 
 At this critical moment, succour arrived. The re-inforce* 
 
200 ARRIVAL OF SUCCOUR- 
 
 ment was not great ; consisting only of 500 Grusclianians, 
 200 Zernagoreans from the mountains of Rudnik, and a 
 number of Levatscheans from the distant Jagodina. But 
 they were all resolute men, who could ba relied upon ; and 
 they were under the command of Johan Dobratscha, who in 
 former times had been quietly engaged in trade, but now 
 displayed energy and courage unlooked for under his calm 
 exterior. Confidence and hope were restored by their 
 arrival, and it was determined to hazard an engagement, 
 although the insurgents were numerically far inferior to the 
 enemy. 
 
 The Kiarja, who would perhaps have acted more wisely 
 had he pitohed his camp in Rudnik, and done his utmost to 
 keep in subjection those who had submitted, and reduce the 
 others — thought it best to decend from the dreary mountains 
 into the valley of the Morava ; and encamped at Tschat- 
 schak, on the further side of that river, whence he imagined 
 he could equally command the coimtry. 
 
 Milosch hastened to avail himself of the advantage thus 
 afibrded him. He entrenched himself within a fortification 
 opposite the Kiaja,, on the left bank of the Morava, at the 
 side of Mount Ljubitsch. The mountain which commands 
 the valley, the river, and the steeply-rising range of hills, for 
 the moment protected from the enemy the very districts 
 which they had just traversed. 
 
 It is unnecessary to describe the hostility which was kept 
 up on the Upper Morava : it was in fact a sort of robber- 
 war. The Albanians infested the valley and the mountains 
 on the other side ; marauding both for booty and for men : 
 the Servians concealing themselves from them in the defiles. 
 Sometimes the Monks, with the armed servants of the 
 cloisters, pursued them stealthily ; lying in ambush for them 
 in favourable spots ; and it frequently happened that the 
 pursued, in their despair, threw themselves into the river, 
 where the pursuers following them, were seized and carried 
 away by the torrent ; women and children mingled with the 
 Albanians ; until their corpses were found by fishermen, and 
 consigned to a common grave on its bank. The Turks 
 could no longer effect anything on this side of the river. 
 Any one seen with a hurunty of the Pacha, which ofiered 
 pardon, was killed without mercy ; whether Servian or Turk, 
 
RETURN OF SERVIAN FUGITIVES. 201 
 
 But the main object attained was, that, whilst the forces of 
 the Kiaja were detained in this part of the country, time was 
 gained for kindling the revolution in the neighbouring dis- 
 tricts also. 
 
 The outbreak next spread to the Nahias of Belgrade and 
 Valjevo. 
 
 The Spahis, indeed, prepared without delay to bring these 
 districts back to their duty by force. They threw up an 
 entrenchment at Palesch, on the Kolubara, which it was 
 their intention to occupy with two or three hundred men. 
 But Milosch was already sufficiently strong to venture to 
 leave his camp and go to the relief of his oppressed country- 
 men. He brought some troops with him from Ljubitsch ; 
 others collected aroimd him ; and thus he was in a position 
 to attack the entrenchment before it was completed. In the 
 former wars, the Servians had occasionally made use of two- 
 wheeled cars, called Domusarabe : these were, in fact, swine- 
 carts, which can only be called cars, because they admitted 
 of a partition-board being fixed upright on the axle-tree in 
 front of the driver. Behind these moving shields, they 
 advanced to the charge. Milosch caused a great number of 
 these carts to be procured in the evening, and sent the 
 Spahis word — " That to-morrow, two hours before day- 
 break, he would show them how they fought in Servia." 
 
 Being inferior in numbers, and badly entrenched, the 
 Spahis did not consider it advisable to wait for an enemy, 
 whom they knew of old. They, therefore, fled during the 
 night ; although nearly three hundred strong ; and only a 
 few effected their escape. 
 
 One principal advantage derived from this enterprise was, 
 that it once more furnished the Servians with aiiiillery. 
 Near the entrenchment they found a piece of ordnance, 
 which they soon managed to render serviceable : men who 
 had never before touched a hammer assisting at the work. 
 They also brought forward a second piece of cannon, which 
 had hitherto been kept secreted from the Turks ; and its 
 possession was followed by the most fortunate results. On 
 the news that an engagement near the boundaries had been 
 successful, many Servian fugitives, who had remained in 
 Syrmia and the Banat, came over. Stojan Tschupitsch, 
 formerly Yoivode of Matschva ; Peter Moler, nephew of the 
 
202 
 
 RETREAT OF THE TURKS. 
 
 Arcliimandrite, Ruvim ; Simon Nenadovitscli, a younger 
 brother of Prota, and son of Alexa ; Bojo Bogitschevitsch, 
 the son of that Anthony who had so bravely defended Los- 
 nitza ; Paul Zukitsch^ formerly a well-known Heyduc, and 
 Yoivode under Kara George ; the Kneses, Miloie Theodo- 
 rovitsch and Maxim Raschkovitsch ; and many other distin- 
 guished men, re-appeared in their fatherland, with Momkes, 
 arms, and ammunition, and roused their adherents and 
 countrymen to join the insurrection. 
 
 Under such circumstances, it was not very difficult for 
 Milosch to clear Valjevo entirely from the Turks ; who fled 
 from a fortified position which they had taken on the Kolu- 
 bara, at a little distance from Mount Klitschevaz, as soon as 
 they saw his artillery. He would not allow them to be 
 pursued. " God grant !" he exclaimed, " that they may all 
 of them flee!" 
 
 Milosch returned to Ljubitsch with fresh forces — stronger 
 in courageous troops than when he set out, and more terrible 
 to the enemy from his having cannon — and victoriously 
 repulsed the very first attack of the Turks. He was now no 
 longer satisfied with the old fortification, but threw up new 
 entrenchments close to the river. He so harassed the enemy, 
 that they at length prepared for a grand attack — an attack 
 which was decisive on both sides, though in a very unex- 
 pected manner. 
 
 The Servians could not boast of having repulsed the Turks ; 
 but they defended themselves most courageously. An old 
 man named Raitsch, who had been standard-bearer under 
 Kara George, and to whom one of the new fortifications had 
 been entrusted, could not be persuaded to give way, even 
 when all the others had fallen back : he wished to die near 
 his guns ; content to sell his life for as many of the enemy as 
 possible. This entrenchment accordingly fell into the hands 
 of the Turks ; the other was abandoned ; for on the Ljubitsch 
 the want of men was much felt. To increase the apparent 
 number of their remaining troops, the Servians on one 
 occasion placed horses around the trenches, and poles with 
 cloaks on them by their sides. After an interval, however, 
 re-inforcements arrived ; and they were once more in a con- 
 dition to await the enemy with confidence. 
 
 In the meantime the resistance which the Servians ofiered 
 
milosch's generosity. 203 
 
 had made a greater impression on the Turks than they sup- 
 posed ; though we are without precise information respect- 
 ing the proceedings in their camp. The loss of the Kiaja, 
 who had perished in these conflicts, was likely still further 
 to increase the disorders which usually arise in an army com- 
 posed of warriors of different races and countries. One 
 evening, a female slave who had escaped from the Turkish 
 camp, came to imform the Servians of a great movement 
 among the enemy; but whether the Turks meditated an 
 attack or a retreat she knew not. The Servians prayed to 
 God for the retiring of the enemy ; at the same time they 
 prepared to repel any attack that might be made. The next 
 morning they learnt that the Turks were in full retreat up 
 the southern mountain towards the height of Sjenitza. They 
 probably thought this was the last moment in which they 
 could carry off their booty in safety ; but the Servians would 
 not allow them to effect their object. Milosch overtook the 
 fugitives near Ertari, and utterly dispersed them : not only 
 the booty which they had acquired, but their own property 
 which they had regained, as well as their artillery, fell into 
 the hands of the Servians. Milosch took particular care to 
 treat the prisoners well ; he had them all conducted to 
 Uschize : the wounded, having had their wounds dressed, 
 were conveyed on barrows ; those who were unhurt, on 
 horseback ; the women and children, unmolested, in waggons. 
 The women knew not how to praise him sufficiently : " they 
 had been treated," they said, " as though they had been their 
 mothers and sisters." " A religion which commanded such 
 conduct must," they affirmed, " be the true one." 
 
 On the receipt of the news of this attack, the Turks fled 
 from their entrenchments in Kragujevaz ; and thus a great 
 part of the country was completely cleared of them. They 
 still, however, possessed other fortified positions in the 
 interior, which inspired them with greater confidence. The 
 strongest of all their forts was one which had been erected in 
 Poscharevaz ; and whilst that remained untaken, nothing 
 could be considered as decided. 
 
 Milosch, therefore, lost no time in leading his forces 
 thither. Before he arrived at the place, the enemy came to 
 meet him. " Delibascha ! " he cried out to their leader, " 1 
 know not whether thou hast any other road than through 
 
204 CAPTURE OP POSCHAREVAZ. 
 
 my forces ; but I certainly have no other than to fight with 
 thee for life or death ! " He succeeded in driving the Turks 
 into their fortifications ; and on that very evening threw up 
 field-works around them, on the spot where one of the 
 severests contests was now about to commence. Milosch 
 felt strong, from the conviction, that in each of these com- 
 bats, everything was at stake ; and that they must hazard 
 all, to gain all. 
 
 Once more he represented to his captains, that any one 
 who chose was at liberty to return home ; but whoever re- 
 mained must lead the way at the head of his troop ; and 
 that any who fled, whether leader or private soldier, must 
 expect death from his hand. 
 
 Towards evening, Milosch commenced the assault. On 
 three successive evenings, he carried the first, second, and 
 tliird entrenchments ; though not without the most strenu- 
 ous exertions. The Turks defended themselves with their 
 knives, when they could no longer use their swords ; and 
 frequently the combatants struggled hand to hand. But in 
 return the Servians obtained as booty many superb horses, 
 costly housings, and splendid garments. 
 
 The fourth entrenchment, which rested against the church 
 and the mosque, was the most strongly fortified. The 
 Servians, indeed, surmounted the works on the fourth even- 
 ing; but they were still unable to succeed in driving out 
 the enemy. They passed the night in front of the entrencla- 
 ments ; and the foUowing morning began the assault anew. 
 The church presented the greatest difficulty ; for the Turks had 
 pierced loop-holes in the walls, and fired through them. The 
 Servians, however, soon broke through the wall, and forced their 
 way even to the altar.* On this holy spot the fiercest com- 
 bat was fought. More than once the Servians were com- 
 pelled to fall back ; but after a desperate struggle, they 
 succeeded in maintaining their footing. 
 
 The Turks were now in despair. Their only demand was, 
 that Dmitri, who was well known to them, should bring 
 them the assurance that it was Milosch himself, an Imperial 
 Knes, by whom they had been attacked : to him they con- 
 sented to yield, 
 
 * In these churches, the whole of the choix, where the priest reads 
 Wilis, is termed " the Altar." 
 
MILOSCIl's MODERATION. 205 
 
 Milosch allowed them to depart to Kjnpria under a Ser- 
 vian escort, with their arms (the cannon excepted), and 
 only as much amunition as each man could carry witli him. 
 
 Only one fortified place worth mentioning remained : this 
 was on the junction of the I war near Karanovaz ; and it had 
 been so hard pressed during the absence of Milosch, that it 
 was ready to surrender so soon as he appeared. He did not 
 wish to irritate the enemy with insults ; but granted them 
 a free retreat to Novipasar, with their arms and all their 
 property. 
 
 In this place the Pacha, Adem, resided ; and several of the 
 retiring garrison belonged to his force. Milosch sought to 
 explain to him why the people had revolted, and how they 
 had been constrained to do so ; and at the same time sent 
 him presents. Adem answered him in friendly terms, con- 
 cluding with these poetical words : — " Raise thyself, Ban, 
 upon fir-branches !* Mow, Ban, as thou hast begun : but. 
 take heed that what thou mowest do not suffer by the 
 rain." 
 
 Milosch made use of his victories with gi-eat moderation. 
 
 One of the Bosnian Pachas, Ali, of Niktschitsch, had come 
 over the Drina, before the principal army of the Vizier, and 
 had taken a firm position in the Matschva, near Duplje. 
 Milosch lost not a moment in seeking him out and attacking 
 him there ; and so much more confident had he become, that, 
 for the first time he made his onset during the day, instead 
 of in the evening, as had hitherto been his custom. The 
 Turks were utterly routed and put to flight ; and the Pacha, 
 being found behind a bush plundered of his turban and shawl, 
 suffered himself to be taken prisoner. Milosch recovered his 
 decorations for him, regaled him with coffee and a pipe in 
 his tent, made him a present of a horse, a fur coat, and five 
 hundred piastres, and dismissed him with permission to join 
 the Vizier. Ali advised him not to enter into alliance with 
 a foreign power ; telling him that he would thus remain 
 Prince and Master of the land. 
 
 The country might now be considered once more free : at 
 least provisionally so. Milosch had conducted a campaign 
 whidh would not lose by comparison with any that had ever 
 
 * Alluding to the branches grasped by one claw of the eagle in the 
 arms of Servia. 
 
206 TURKISH ARMIES ON THE FRONTIER. 
 
 occurred in Servia. The promptitude with which he had 
 appeared at Palesch — his well-arranged position when he 
 opposed the Turks, far superior to him in force, at Ljubitsch 
 — his persevering attack on the entrenchment of Poschare- 
 vaz — are worthy of all praise. 
 
 Much, however, still remained to be done. Only the 
 forces stationed in the country had been conquered ; and not 
 even those, completely ; the Servians had not yet recovered 
 the fortresses, the possession of which had, in former times, 
 given them a feeliag of independence ; and it was certain 
 that the powerful Sultan, who was not engaged with any 
 other enemy, would employ every means in his power to 
 maintain the subjection recently established in the land. 
 Two formidable armies now appeared : one from Roumelia, 
 under Maraschli Ali, in the neighbourhood of Kjupria ; the 
 other on the Drina, under the command of the same Churs- 
 chid who had conquered the Servians in 1813, and who at 
 that time governed Bosnia in the capacity of Vizier. 
 
 Had these forces acted with vigour and unanimity, it is 
 probable that Servia would again have been in a state of 
 extreme peril. 
 
 Fortunately, the Sultan had reasons for not proceeding to 
 extremities ; and, therefore, permitted negotiations for poac« 
 to be entered upon. 
 
207 
 
 CHAPTEE XYIIL 
 
 PERIOD OF PRELIMINARY NEGOTIATIONS. 
 
 Servian Deputies coldly received by the Congress at Vienna. — Excite- 
 ment of the whole Christian Population in Turkey. — The Two Turkish 
 Armies halt on the Servian Frontier, and propose Negotiations. — 
 Interview of Milosch with Churschid Ali. — Maraschli Ali is more 
 favourably disposed towards the Servians, — Conciliatory Reception of 
 Milosch and his Attendants, by the Pacha at Belgrade. — The Servians 
 consent that the Turks shall again garrison the Fortresses.— Purport 
 of Maraschli's Concessions. — Those Concessions not sanctioned by the 
 Divan at Constantinople. — Consequent Disappointment of the Servians. 
 — Renewed Oppression of the Turks. — Milosch is desired by the Pacha 
 to deprive the People of their Arms. — Contentions amongst the Servian 
 Chiefs. — National Assembly at Belgrade. — New Regulations. — Ap- 
 pointment of Moler to be President of the National Assembly. — 
 Quarrel between Milosch and Moler. — Condemnation and Execution 
 of Moler. — Murder of the Servian Bishop, Niktschitsch. — Return of 
 Kara George to Servia. — Turkish Terror of "the Holy Alliance." — 
 Establishment of the Hetaeria, in 1816. — Assassination of Kara 
 George, by the order of Milosch, and by the Hand of one of Wuiza's 
 Momkes. — Milosch vindicated from the Charge of having invited Kara 
 George to return. — Resolution of Milosch to become the Head of the 
 State. — Acknowledged as Supreme Knes. — Differences between Turkey 
 and Russia. — Conditions of the Peace of Bucharest, as regarded Servia, 
 not fulfilled.— A Turkish Officer sent, in 1820, to specify the Conces- 
 sions to be made to the Servians. — Apprehension of an Attempt on 
 the Life of Milosch at Belgrade, — Despatch of a Servian Embassy to 
 Constantinople. — Proposals of the Embassy. — The Members of the 
 Embassy detained as Prisoners at Constantinople. 
 
 In consequence of the relations of tlie Porte with Russia, 
 it was necessary that the Sultan should proceed with 
 caution. 
 
 Deputies from the Servian nation had been sent to Vienna 
 during the Congress held in that capital; but they were 
 received with little sympathy ; and by many a European em- 
 bassy — as, for instance, the English — they had been told, with 
 harshness and scorn, to apply to Russia. That power, indeed, 
 upon which alone they had once more solely to rely, soon 
 afterwards called to mind the peace of Bucharest. It has 
 
208 NEGOTIATIONS FUR PEACE. 
 
 been stated, that the Russian Ambassador at Constantinople 
 inquired of the Sultan — " What war is this now going on in 
 Servia contrary to the stipulations of the Treaty ?" 
 
 The entire Christian population of the Turkish Empire 
 was at this time in a state of great excitement. The Chris- 
 tians considered the victories of the Allied Powers as so 
 many advantages gained for their own cause. The connexion 
 of these events — which, in the heat of contest, the European 
 Powers had not taken into consideration — had never been 
 lost sight of in Turkey. On the return of Napoleon from 
 Elba, subscriptions had been raised amongst the trading 
 classes of the Christian inhabitants, in several towns of the 
 Ottoman Empire ; the object of which was to assist in pre- 
 venting him from again becoming Emperor.* 
 
 This last conflict with the Servians was soon decided. It 
 would have been really dangerous for the Turks, if the expe- 
 dition of their armies in Servia had, as appeared very 
 probable, encountered severe resistance. If, at the same 
 time, Russia had considered that there were sufficient grounds 
 for taking part with the attacked and oppressed, a general 
 revolt of the subjects of Turkey might have been appre- 
 hended. 
 
 The two armies which appeared on the frontier of Servia, 
 though superior in number and strength to the Servians, 
 instead of advancing, came to a halt, and offered to make 
 terms. 
 
 The question now in agitation, was the same that had been 
 discussed before the breaking out of the war in 1813, as to 
 the interpretation to be given to the Treaty of Bucharest ; 
 but all mention of that document was purposely avoided. 
 
 The principal inquiry was always — " Whether the arms 
 which the Servians had again taken tip were to be left in 
 their possession or not ?" 
 
 Milosch had still so much confidence in Churschid — who 
 had formerly confirmed him in his dignity of Grand Knes — 
 that he ventured to repair to the Turkish camp. The Deli- 
 bascha of the Vizier, Ali Aga Sertschesma, at whose feet he 
 had laid down his arms at Takovo, assured him on his word 
 
 * Get emprunt spontane fut ouvert a Janina, a Castoria, a Seres, 
 a Adrianople, et a Constantinople. Pouqueville, Regeneration de Is 
 Grece, i. 487. 
 
FAILURE OF NEGOTIATIONS. 209 
 
 of honour, that he should not be detained ; and gave him an 
 escort. On some of the other points proposed to him, 
 Chiirschid showed himself willing to yield ; but, to the one 
 of most importance — " that the Servians should be allowed 
 to retain their arms " — he would not listen for a moment. 
 Indeed, he demanded their surrender, as an essential prelim- 
 inary to any negotiation : observing, that " he must send 
 them, in waggons, to Constantinople, for the Sultan to see 
 that there was again a Rayah in Servia." 
 
 As Milosch would not assent to such a proposition, it 
 appeared probable that there might be some opposition to his 
 departure ; for it was no slight temptation to the Yizier to 
 detain this influential chief; who had hitherto headed the 
 revolt in the country, and would necessarily continue to be 
 its leader. Fortunately, the Delibascha respected his honour 
 and his word. "Fear not, Milosch," said he, "as long as 
 thou seest me and my thousand Delis alive." He carried his 
 point ; and the Grand Knes was given into his charge again ; 
 and was escorted by him unhurt to Losnitza. " Here," he 
 said, " I received you, on my word of honour ; hither I have 
 brought you for the sake of my word. But," he added, " in 
 future, let Milosch trust no one : not even myself, the Deli- 
 bascha. We have been friends : now we part for ever." The 
 natural antagonism between the Delibascha of a Bosnian 
 Vizier, and a Christian Knes, was too strong for a true 
 friendship to exist between them. 
 
 Churschid, who, two years before, as Grand Yizier, had 
 undertaken the war on account of these very differences, 
 could least of all be expected to give way. But the Boume- 
 lian Yalessi, Maraschli Ali, who was stationed on the other 
 frontier, and seemed to be especially intrusted with the nego- 
 tiation, expressed himself more favourably : he made no 
 difficulty in withdrawing the stipulation for the surrender of 
 arms. " Only be submissive to the Grand Signior," said he, 
 " and you may carry in your belts as many pistols as you 
 please — cannon, even, for what I care ! If it please God," he 
 added, " I, myself, will, perhaps, place you on Arabian horses, 
 and clothe you with sables." 
 
 It would almost appear that he meant to gTant them 
 precisely the three things which the law expressly forbade 
 
 P 
 
210 MARASCITLI ALI MORE FAVOURABLE. 
 
 the Rayahs : horses, good clothes, and arms. In this Pacha, 
 therefore, the Servians reposed confidence. 
 
 Nevertheless, they were cautious enough not to open the 
 country to him on his mere word. They only permitted his 
 Kiaja to pass, with a sm.all troop, to Belgrade : having been 
 assured that tliis would be well received at Constantinoi^le, 
 as an indication of their returning obedience. Whilst 
 their deputies, in company vv^ith the Commissioners of the 
 Roumelian Valessi, Y)roceeded to the capital, in order to obtain 
 from the Sultan himself a more positive assurance, the two 
 armies remained on the frontiers oj^posite to each other. 
 
 In token of his friendship, Marasclili Ali sent to Milosch 
 the rosary on which he performed his devotions. He also inti- 
 mated to the Turkish army on the Bosnian frontier, that, as 
 peace was virtually concluded, they should not cross the 
 Drina, since that could tend only to create disturbance. In 
 a comparatively short time — about a month — the represen- 
 tatives of the two parties returned together, with a favourable 
 answer from the Sultan, The Firman of Peace despatched to 
 Ali Pacha, was thus worded : — " That as God had intrusted 
 his subjects to the Sultan, so the Sultan recommended them to 
 the Pacha ; and that, by kind treatment, towards them, he 
 would best perform his duty." 
 
 Thus it would appear that the Pacha was left to act 
 according to his own judgment ; since this document only 
 specified that the Porte was not averse to the fulfilment of 
 the promises made by the Pacha. 
 
 The Servians now, therefore, allowed the Pacha to proceed 
 to Belgrade with his army ; and thither, after some delay, 
 their own chieftains also repaired. Milosch and his com- 
 panions were received in an assembly of more than fifty 
 Bimbaschas, Ayanes, and Begs ; who were seated in silence 
 on the ground, j;moking their pipes. The Pacha arose and 
 asked: — " Are ye Servians subject to the Grand Signior ?'* 
 Milosch answered : — " "We are subject to him." The question 
 and answer were repeated thrice. 
 
 Whereupon the Servians were honoured with the presen- 
 tation of coffee and pipes ; the Turks deeming it important 
 that their readiness to fulfil the Treat}^ rjliould be attested by 
 some ceremonial act. 
 
THE TURKS AGAIN GARRISON THE FORTRESSES. 211 
 
 The Turks now garrisoned the fortresses of the country : 
 having obtained the consent of the Servians, who again 
 acknowledged their former state of dependence. It was 
 understood, however, that this regulation should be enforced 
 in such a manner as to render it supportable ; and that, above 
 all, the ancient domination, founded on the privileges of 
 Islamism, would not again be granted to the garrisons. 
 
 Maraschli All's concessions embraced two principal points. 
 He left it to the Servians themselves to collect the imposts, 
 Avhich were in other respects re-established on the old foot- 
 ing — under his predecessors, the Turks had not only allowed 
 this, but had even permitted the Servians to participate in 
 the administration of justice. In the provincial towns, the 
 Musellims were not to possess the right of passing judgment 
 upon the Servians, without the consent of the Kneses : not 
 even in their litigations with the Turks ; much less, in 
 their disputes with one another. 
 
 In order to carry these regulations into eifect, a national 
 Chancery Court, on the model of the old Senate, was estab- 
 lished at BelgTade, to assist the Pacha ; with the double pur- 
 pose of receiving from the Kneses the collected imposts 
 and delivering them to the Pacha. At the same time it 
 constituted the Supreme Court of Justice ; and the Pacha 
 promised to carry out its judgments. Unquestionably this 
 was a great advantage ; as the Chancery again afforded to the 
 people a sort of representation. Still, however, many of the 
 most important questions remained unsettled. The relations 
 of the two populations, with reference to personal property, 
 had not been even touched upon ; and the Servians lost no 
 time in sending delegates to the court of the Sultan, to obtain 
 regulations more satisfactory and comprehensive. They bore 
 in mind Peter Itschko's pro^^osal of peace, and hoped now to 
 obtain its confirmation. 
 
 But the authorities at Constantinople were far from being 
 willing to promote such views. The Divan would not even 
 give a positive answer, but referred the deputies to the Pacha; 
 who, they said, was acquainted with the wishes of the Grand " 
 Signior. The Pacha, however, expressed much astonishment, 
 and declared that he had received no instructions whatever. 
 
 Thus, instead of obtaining an extension of their rights, 
 the delegates returned without even a confirmation of 
 
 p2 
 
212 INSOLENCE OP THE TUEKS. 
 
 those whicli had already been granted ; the maintenance and 
 due execution of which depended rather on the personal pre- 
 sence of the Pacha, by whom the concessions had been granted. 
 When he once prejDared to quit the coimtry, the chiefs 
 declared that in case he did so they also should be compelled 
 to leave it : a declaration which induced him to remain. 
 
 The Servians, however, soon began to fear that even the 
 Pacha did not intend to keep his word. 
 
 Maraschli Ali, who had, in the last Turco-Pussian war, 
 served as Delibascha, afterwards held, as Pacha of Boli in 
 Asia, a district which under Tschapan Ogiu, enjoyed a certain 
 degree of independence. After seeming, at first, to yield to 
 the wishes of the inhabitants, he in the end succeeded, with- 
 out exciting much attention, in leading them back to com- 
 plete obedience to the Sultan. Something of this nature, it 
 appeared, he was now seeking to accomplish in Servia : 
 indeed it is reported that he himself expressed such an 
 intention. 
 
 The agreement into which he had entered was not very 
 conscientiously observed. The Turkish Musellims frequently 
 proceeded to inflict corporal punishment without waiting for 
 the sentence of the Kneses ; and upon one occasion, the 
 Pacha himself allowed an execution to take plac^ without any 
 legal sentence. 
 
 The haughty insolence of the Ottomans displayed itself in 
 the rudest and most ofiensive conduct : a Deli was seen 
 walking through the streets of Belgrade, calling his dogs by 
 the names of the Servian chiefs — Vuitza, Milosch, &c. 
 
 What chiefly restrained the Turks was, without doubt, the 
 fact that the Servians kept themselves always armed. This 
 privilege had been granted by Maraschli Ali himself ; but, 
 as soon became apparent, only in the hope of dejoriving them 
 of their arms by degrees. Milosch, who frequently met the 
 Pacha at Belgrade, dining with him at his house, or accom- 
 panying him on his rides, was at length desired, in plain 
 terms, to deprive the people of their arms. Milosch answered, 
 that " he himself and his friends, and even the Kneses, were 
 ready to deliver up theirs ; but it was beyond their power to 
 take them from the people." 
 
 Under these circumstances, it was not to be expected that 
 the Turkish government — either the supreme authority at 
 
CLAIMS RAISED AGAINST MILOSCH. 213 
 
 Constantinople, or that of the Pacha at Belgrade — would, 
 of its own accord, regulate the affairs of the Servians to their 
 satisfaction. 
 
 At this period there arose, amongst the Servians them- 
 selves, a strong native power — a power of a very barbarous 
 natui'e, it must be acknowledged, yet thoroughly imbued 
 with the j^i'iuciple of nationality, — oj^posing a gradual re- 
 sistance to the Ottoman Government : this was the power of 
 Milosch. 
 
 Milosch, it is true, was an officer of the Turks : he had 
 been appointed Grand Knes of certain districts by a Vizier, 
 and afterwards confirmed in this dignity ; but he was also 
 the originator and leader of the insurrection, to which the 
 country was indebted for all the security it enjoyed. He had 
 rendered most important services in all the districts; and 
 had also acquired, by the war itself, an authority and influence 
 which embraced the whole Pachalic. 
 
 But other chiefs who appeared in the field raised claims of 
 independence against Milosch. John Dobratscha, who had 
 come to his assistance at a critical moment, refused to receive 
 commands from him : alleging that he was as much a Knes 
 as Milosch himself Milosch, however, dismissed him, and 
 appointed another in his place ; and the whole matter was 
 settled by obedience being rendered, throughout the district^ 
 to the Knes appointed by Milosch. 
 
 Milosch had not, like Kara George, to contend entirely 
 with indejDendent chiefs, powerful in separate districts, and 
 possessing a certain degree of right to share the supreme 
 authority with him. None but Yuitza could have advanced 
 claims of this nature ; and he was, already, actually addressed 
 as Gospodar, and, for a long time, was mentioned by name in 
 the Church prayers : he kept quiet, however, in his district 
 of Smederevo. The rivals of the Grand Knes were of a 
 different kind, 
 
 So far as the change of circumstances would allow, the 
 IN'ational Assembly at Belgrade might be compared with the 
 Old Senate. The highest authority was in the hands of one 
 who might well excite jealousy : that nephew of the Archi- 
 mandrite Ruvim, upon whom he once rested his hopes of 
 escape, from the circumstance of his working in the house of 
 ii Dahi as a painter, which profession obtained for him the 
 
214: DISPUTE BETWEEN MOLER AND MILOSCH. 
 
 cognoraen of Moler. Peter Moler had, at a later period, 
 taken up arms, as every one else had done. In former cam- 
 paigns lie had occasionally distinguished himself; but, in the 
 last, after the occurrences at Palesch, he had rendered im- 
 portant services. Moler, perhaps before any one else, had 
 conceived an idea of the institutions generally deemed essen- 
 tial to good order ; and had expressed an opinion that the 
 country should be divided amongst four chiefs, not one of 
 whom could say that he was the lord of the rest. Milosch, 
 however, had avoided having anything to do with the scheme ; 
 saying, very truly, "The hare you want to divide is still 
 running in the wood." 
 
 But when, according to an agreement entered upon, a new 
 regulation was actually made, Moler was well provided for ; 
 though in a manner different from what he had designed. 
 He was made President of the National Chancery : a station 
 for which he was better qualified than any other person, as 
 lie spoke the Turkish language and coald write the Servian. 
 In this post he made himself comfortable in his own way. 
 Undisturbed by any feeling of religion — at which he altoge- 
 ther scoffed — he had living with him a young woman who 
 was not his wife. He was fond of having Ms friends about 
 him, and his extravagance gave rise to the suspicion that he 
 appropriated to his own use the money that came into his 
 hands. After a time, Milosch — who was jealous of him on 
 other accounts — ceased to send him the money collected in 
 his own districts ; and sent it to Dmitri, his confidential 
 Chasnadar, for direct transmission to the Pacha. Moler, 
 annoyed that another should be preferred to him — especially 
 a foreigner — complained on the subject to such of the Kneses 
 as were his friends, and gained over to his side some of those 
 from the upper districts. But a far greater number, from 
 the Schumadia and the further side of the Morava, took 
 ])art with Milosch in this affair. "When they met for the 
 Skupschtina at Belgrade in the spring of the year 1816, a 
 large number of Kneses one day held a preliminary con- 
 ference ; at which a dispute arose between Moler and Milosch. 
 At leng-th Moler broke out with the exclamation, " Milosch, 
 thou liest !" — On this Milosch said, " Brethren, up to this time 
 I have been your chief j henceforth Moler is so." — But the 
 Kneses of the party of Milosch^ and the Momkes who fol- 
 
EXECUTIOX OF MOLER. 215 
 
 lowed them, had ah'eady laid hands iipon Moler ; whilst the 
 adherents of that chief, each apprehensive for his own safety, 
 refrained from interfering. Moler was bound and delivered 
 over to the Pacha ; and the Kneses present signed a petition 
 to the Pacha for liim to be put to death ; which the Pacha 
 considered as a sentence he was bound to execute. 
 
 Thus perished the first President of the Servian National 
 Chancery, through, what was, to use the mildest terms, a 
 very tumultuous proceeding. At his funeral, one of his 
 relations, with tears in his eyes, asked a bystander whether 
 he thought such things were right. " Yes," was the reply, 
 " if you are a people amongst whom such things can occur." 
 The same relation, however, thougli himself a chief, had not 
 sufficient coui'age to oppose, vath energy, the petition for 
 Moler's death. 
 
 The Bishop Niktschitsch, who was offended at the impiety 
 of Moler, was also amongst those who had signed the peti- 
 tion ; but alas ! he was himself soon to experience a similar 
 fate. 
 
 Niktschitsch was at this time a Servian Bishop : he was 
 not, however, a Greek ; but had been a Monk of Studenitza, 
 and afterwards Archimandrite under Czerni George. He 
 had gone with an embassy to Constantinople, and had re- 
 turned a Bishop ; since which he had evinced such a degree 
 of pride as had brought him into universal disrepute. As 
 he rode along equipped with his busdowan and sword, he 
 considered himself of greater importance than any one else in 
 the country. He spoke contemptuously of the Kneses, of 
 whom he said he could himself make twenty ; and avoided 
 addressing Milosch as Gospodar. Towards the Priests he 
 conducted himself in a domineering and tyrannical manner ; 
 and it v/as thought that he aimed at investing himself with 
 an authority such as the Vladika enjoys in Montenegro. 
 His ambition, however, was only personal, and not national. 
 He expressed to the Pacha his belief that it was by no means 
 impossible to de^^rive the Servians of their arms, if Milosch 
 only %vished it ; and he had been heard to utter a similar 
 opinion among the people. Thus he excited suspicion, 
 hatred, and apprehension. Whilst on a diocesan journey, in 
 June, 1816, he Avas murdered : it was reported by robbers ; 
 but every one knew that it was the result of a plot. 
 
216 RETURN OF KARA GEORGE. 
 
 This was a state of things in which little regard was shown 
 for a sense of rights or the principles of justice ; craft and 
 violence seemed to constitute the essential elements of 
 authority ; scarcely any pains were taken to save appear- 
 ances ; and life Avas held of little value. 
 
 Even the former Commander-in-Chief of the Servians, 
 Kara George, had to expiate, by a dreadful death, his return 
 to the country of which he had been the liberator. 
 
 The circumstances were these : it has been already noticed 
 how powerfully the great change in the affairs of the whole 
 of Euroj^e operated on the entire population of the Turkish 
 Empire. The Turks were terrified at the very name of the 
 Holy Alliance, as though it were especially dangerous to 
 them ; and the hopes of the Rayahs, in all the provinces, rose 
 in proportion. An assurance that it was not intended by 
 the Allied powers to interfere with the relations of the East, 
 sufiiced not to appease this movement ; which assumed the 
 form of a secret league. The Hetseria was founded ; the 
 members of which swore to fight, harass, and persecute the 
 enemies of their faith and fatherland, until they should all be 
 annihilated. 
 
 In the year 1816, the Hetseria was established in Odessa, 
 Bucharest, and even in Constantinople ; and already had one 
 of its delegates endeavoured to win over the Beg of Maina, 
 by holding forth the illusive hoj^e of a dominion over the 
 whole Morea.* It was the intention of this league to excite 
 an insurrection, as early and as extensively as possible. And 
 since Servia, however well prepared for a new revolt, aj^peared 
 again doomed to Turkish rule, we can hardly condemn the 
 design formed by the Hetasria of commencing the general 
 insurrection here.t To enable them to realize their antici- 
 jiations, they engaged the victorious Commander-in-Chief of 
 the Servians, Kara George ; who had left his comitry only in 
 the hope of returning thither under more auspicious circum- 
 stances. He had received pressing letters from Servia, 
 assuring him that the people longed for his re-appearance 
 
 * Gordon's History of the Greek Revolution, i. p. 27. 
 
 •]' According to an authority not wholly unworthy of credit, (quoted by 
 Blacquiere, chap, ii.), their design was to allure the Turkish force into 
 Servia, where a powerful nation would offer effectual resistance, and by 
 these means facilitate the rise of the Christian subjects in other provinces. 
 
THE PACHA COMMANDS HIS MURDER. 217 
 
 amongst them ; and he was not reluctant to accept the invi- 
 tation. Without a passport, and concealed amongst the 
 attendants of a member of the Hetseria who was on his way 
 to the baths of Mehadia, Kara George came from Bessarabia, 
 which had afforded him a refuge, to the Servian frontier. By 
 a handsome present, the ferryman was induced to carry him 
 across the river ; and he hastened to Smederevo, to Yuitza, 
 by whom he had been expressly invited. Here he spoke 
 only of a new revolution ; pledging himself that an insurrec- 
 tion of the same character would simultaneously biu-st forth 
 in the Morea : and moreover that Servia would receive far 
 more powerful assistance than on former occasions. He even 
 requested Milosch to join with him, and to renew the war 
 without delay. 
 
 But it was not in accordance with the views of Milosch to 
 join in a movement, the result of which rested on combina- 
 tions so imcertaui. Besides, he had no wish for the restora- 
 tion of the Commander-in-Chief's authority, with which his 
 own could not, for one moment, co-exist. He, therefore, did 
 not hesitate to send news of Kara George's presence to the 
 Pacha ; Avho, in return, indicated the clanger that would 
 attend the renewal of revolutionary measures ; and stating 
 that, in such a case, the Grand Signior Avould undoubtedly 
 send a fresh army into the country, and withdraw the con- 
 cessions already made, he concluded with desiring Milosch to 
 bring him the head of Kara George. 
 
 Milosch accordingly sent the following laconic message to 
 Yuitza : — " Either the head of the Black George, or thiue 
 own ! " A few days afterwards he reiterated this command. 
 
 Kara George soon perceived how matters stood, and into 
 what danger he had thrust himself : there was no escape for 
 him, and mercy was not to be hoped for. Pie was murdered 
 by one of Yuitza's Momkes, one day, when, after long and 
 painful watcliing, he had fallen asleep. 
 
 How much better for Servia and — since even the mode of 
 death is of some importance— how far less humiliating for 
 himself, had he, ere this, fallen sword in hand, in the Servian 
 entrenchments, fighting against the Turks! Now he was 
 slain at the instigation of the Turks, by his own country- 
 men : one of the fii'st victims of the new movements wliich ' 
 were about to take place in Europe. 
 
218 MILOSCH ACKNOWLEDGED SUPREME KNES. 
 
 Milosch has been accused of himself sending an invitation 
 to Kara George to return to Servia^ in order to rid himself 
 of his dreaded rival ; hut this accusation is certainly un- 
 founded. Kara George was too much admired and beloved : 
 his renown had even increased by his temporary absence ; 
 and the condition of Servia was much too unsettled for 
 Milosch to have ventured to allure him into the country at 
 so great a risk. The Pacha would hardly believe that the 
 head produced before him was that of Kara George ; but 
 when assured by the inhabitants of Belgrade that it was, he 
 sent it to the Sultan ; by whom it was received with as 
 much satisfaction as the head of any other rebel or ad- 
 versary. 
 
 As regarded Servia, however, the result did not prove so 
 great or so decisive as the Sultan was led to believe. 
 
 Milosch, thus freed from all who could have opposed his 
 influence, — from his spiritual and administrative rivals, and 
 also from the former Commander-in-Chief, — now resolved to 
 become the head of the nation. 
 
 In November, 1817, he was acknowledged supreme Knes 
 (Werhowni Knes) by all the Kneses of the country. The 
 metropolitans of Belgrade and Uschize, Agathangel and 
 Gerasim, both of them Greeks, and three Servian Archiman- 
 drites, were present, and assisted at this nomination. It was 
 even settled that, after his death, his next relations should 
 succeed him. 
 
 The position which Milosch Obrenovitsch now occupied 
 was strangely equivocal. 
 
 His authority was partly derived from the Ottoman 
 government j and in the midst of his rebellion, he had come 
 forward as an imperial Knes. Since then the Turkish govern- 
 ment had leased out to him the crown demesnes, and — as 
 elsewhere granted to a Pacha — the impost of Haradsch, 
 besides other imposts of minor importance ; also the right of 
 ferrying over the Save and the Danube, as well as the 
 Moi-ava and the Kolubara, with all the customs he had 
 appropriated to himself. He was, moreover, appointed 
 Basergjanbaschi at Belgrade. All this procured him riches 
 and authority ; and thus he became the most influential man 
 in the country ; no one being able to compete with him. It 
 must not be forgotten, also, that he had effected the re- 
 
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY. 219 
 
 deliverance of tlie people, and that lie now became their 
 Chief by their own election ; whilst by zealously taking care 
 of theii- interests, prospects of increasing advantage were 
 daily opened to him. 
 
 When it was no longer doubtful that the aifairs of Europe 
 were to be arranged by a peace, and when the relations of the 
 great powers had been so far streng-thened that the army of oc- 
 cupation could be withdi'awn from France, the concerns of the 
 East again became of prominent importance ; and amongst 
 them, the differences still pending between Russia and 
 Tiu'key, despite of the peace of Bucharest. 
 
 It could not be said, as we have shown, that the conditions 
 of the peace, as regarded Servia, had been fulfilled : in fact, it 
 had not, hitherto, been possible to bring the Porte to a defi- 
 nitive arrangement. 
 
 At length however, in the yeai* 1820, the authorities of 
 Constantinople conceived that it would be necessary to have 
 a settlement of this business ; especially that they might not 
 be further exposed to the unceasing demands of Russia. 
 The Servians wished, above all things, that a Plenipotentiary 
 should be sent to them, who would take cogTiisance of the state 
 of their affairs, and through whom a negotiation might be 
 opened. But at Constantinople, even then, it was judged more 
 desirable to avoid discussion ; and one of the Chodschagars 
 (officers of the Peis Effendi) was immediately sent with a 
 Eii-man, specifying such concessions as would be made to 
 the Servians. 
 ' These were by no means unimportant. Tn order to 
 render the administration and jmisdiction of Servia still 
 more independent of the Porte, a certain sum of money 
 was demanded, which the country was bound to pay in 
 future, without any further stipulations regarding the mode 
 of its collection. The authority of the Musellims was to be 
 restricted to the fortresses ; and no objection was made to 
 the acknowledgment of Milosch as Grand Knes of the whole 
 Servian nation. 
 
 But favourable as this appeared, there were yet some 
 points left unnoticed ; particidarly as regarded the Spahis, 
 who lived in the fortresses, and claimed the rights of land- 
 lords over the villages ; and some demands were set forth, 
 to which the Servians entertained a strong antipathy. The 
 
220 SUPPOSED DANGER OF MILOSCH. 
 
 Servians were to remain imperial Rayalis, as tlieir forefathers 
 had been ; and they were bound, according to old custom, 
 to provide for the imperial army whenever it might happen 
 to jDass through the country : above all, they were to affirm 
 that they were content with what had been granted — for it 
 was a great point to j)i'event their ever laying claim to 
 further assistance from Russia ; and they were required 
 formally to promise, that they would never again demand 
 anything more from the Grand Signior. 
 
 The Servians, who had obtained at least a partial know- 
 ledge of the contents of the Firman, did not require much 
 consideration to decide whether they should accept or reject 
 these proposals. 
 
 Their former glorious warlike exploits j the promises of 
 the peace of Bucharest ; and the general movement amongst 
 the Christian population of the Empire, which was still 
 daily increasing, led them to entertain very different ex- 
 pectations. 
 
 The Ottomans, who thought that they had conceded much, 
 were enraged at perceiving the dissatisfaction of the Servians. 
 
 When Milosch left Kragujevaz, where he was at the time 
 residing, to proceed to Belgrade, for the purj^ose of hearing 
 the Firman read in due form, he was warned of the danger 
 in which he would jDlace himself. It was asserted that the 
 Pacha had falsely informed the Spahis, that it was the inten- 
 tion of Milosch to re-stipulate for the conditions of peace 
 formerly proposed by Peter Itscho, and to drive the Spahis 
 from the country ; and that they had in consequence pro- 
 vided themselves with powder and shot, to rid themselves of 
 such an enemy, so soon as he should enter the gates of Bel- 
 gTade. The friends of Milosch affirm, that, if he had gone 
 thither, he would certainly have experienced the fate of 
 Deli-Achmet, whom Ebu-Bekir had ordered to be shot. 
 
 Milosch relinquished his design of going to Belgrade alone ; 
 but he assembled a considerable number of Servians around 
 him, and declared that he would enter only if accompanied 
 by them. The Pacha refused to receive him so attended ; 
 sending him word, that he was to present himself with twelve 
 Kneses, unarmed, and not with such an army : for whom 
 he knew not who could provide. Milosch replied, that he 
 came only with peaceful followers, to hear the imperial 
 
DESPATCH OF SERVIAN DELEGATES TO CONSTANTINOPLE, 221 
 
 Firman read : they were the same who had provided for the 
 Pacha and his attendants at Belgrade, and for him at Kra- 
 gaijevaz, and they would undertake to provide for them- 
 selves ; but they would nob sufier him to proceed alone to 
 Belgrade. The Pacha, however, could not be induced to 
 open the gates, neither would the Servians yield. At length 
 it was arranged between the Chodscha and the Grand Knes, 
 that a meeting should take place at Toptschider, at the 
 distance of a mile from Belgrade. 
 
 But what could be expected from a negotiation conducted 
 under such manifestations of mutual distrust and animosity. 
 
 In Toptschider, the Servians declared that " they would 
 not be debarred from again having recourse to the grace of 
 their Masters." The Chodscha asked, " What could be their 
 fui'ther request?" Their reply was, "that they demanded 
 their rights, granted them by the Peace of Bucharest." 
 This was the first time, since the year 1813, that the Ser- 
 vians had expressly referred to that treaty. To mention a 
 treaty concluded with a foreign power appeared to the 
 Chodscha nothing short of a crime ; he therefore called for 
 his horses, and instantly rode off. He always affirmed that 
 there were no longer Rayahs in Servia ; that he had seen 
 none but armed people there ; and he went back through the 
 Austrian territory and Wallachia, as though he would not 
 risk the danger of travelling through Servia. 
 
 Thus the opposition which had originally separated the 
 two parties again sprang up : it comprehended the claim of 
 the Spahis to maintain their manor, and the claim of the 
 Servians to wear arms. 
 
 From that moment no amicable feeling coidd exist be- 
 tween the antagonist parties. The Servians, at least, con- 
 sidered the treaty in which the Pacha had personally been 
 associated with them as cancelled, and they ceased to obey 
 him. New negotiations Avere nevertheless carried on at 
 Constantinople. 
 
 The Porte expressed itself in mild terms ; to the effect, 
 that, if the Servians would be less pertinacious on certain 
 points, the Turks would concede something more in their 
 favour; and it was required, that persons of authority 
 should be sent to the seat of Government, by which so much 
 writing to and fro might be spared. 
 
222 PROPOSALS OF THE DELEGATES. 
 
 It was, in consequence, decided in Servia, that the 
 demands of the nation should be more exj^licitly stated than 
 hitherto ; and numerous deputies were empowered to plead 
 the cause of the Servians. 
 
 This deputation consisted of two of tlie Clergy, the Archi- 
 mandi'ite Samuel, and the Arcli-Priest Vukaschinovitsch, of 
 Jagodina ; and three KneseSj Vuitza, Ilia Markovitsch, and 
 Dmitri. Abraham Petronjevitsch was ajopointed Secretaiy. 
 
 The substance of their demands was a confirmation of 
 their internal independence ; and an extension of this privi- 
 lege to all the districts beyond the Province of Belgrade, 
 which had, for the most part, been conquered under Kara 
 George. That the Servians should possess an independent 
 jurisdiction, both in returning verdicts and in carrying them 
 into effect. That they should elect their o\^'n magistrates ;* 
 and be allowed to build churches, hospitals, and schools, 
 without asking permission, and especially, that they should 
 live entirely separated from the Turks. It was not theii' 
 desire that the Spahis should be actually expelled from the 
 country ; but that their rights should be bought off by an 
 annual rent ; and that the said rent should be added to the 
 tribute in fixed sums, and the aggregate be received in lieu 
 of all the taxes hitherto paid. 
 
 The Treaty of Bucharest was thus interpreted by the 
 Servians, in the same manner that it had formerly been 
 interpreted by Kara George himself. 
 
 That no doubt might be left respecting the countries 
 beyond the Pachalic which should enjo}^ the same ijide- 
 pendence of interior administration, they were specified, as 
 six separate districts. 
 
 The miniature monarchy, as it had existed in 1811 and 
 1812, was to be re-established — not indeed, as it had been- 
 sometimes hoped, with extended privileges ; but, in some 
 degree, under Turkish supremacy, although allowed a large 
 share of internal administration. 
 
 It could hardly be expected that the Porte would be very 
 willing to accede to demands of this nature. They were 
 
 * It is thus stated in the documents which were published at a later 
 period. In the country it was never understood otherwise, than, that the 
 confirmation of the already chosen Werhowni Knes had been distinctly 
 solicited. 
 
DELEGATES KEPT PRISONEES. 223 
 
 accompanied by threatening symptoms of a general rising of 
 the Christian population thronghout the Empire, which 
 induced the Sultan to put the Servian Deputies under arrest. 
 The Servians had not much need for apprehension at this 
 act ; for it was generally felt that one day or another, such 
 proceedings would not fail to call forth the sympathy of 
 Europe. 
 
 Milosch now withdrew his credentials from the Delegates, 
 who were kept prisoners j and devoted his whole attention 
 to the task of bringing the country into good order, and 
 more firmly establishing his own power. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 INSTITUTIONS AND RULE OF MILOSCH. 
 
 Courts of Justice. — The Kneses. — Disagreements between them and 
 Milosch. — He obtains the Control over them. — Revolt and Death of 
 Gjurovitsch and Rathovitsch. — General Outbreak. — Failure of the 
 Troops under Jovan. — Demands of the People. — Miloje Djak. — He 
 places himself at the Head of the Revolt. — His Successes, — He is 
 encountered by Vutschitsch and defeated. — Movements of the Tschara- 
 pitches. — Increased Power and Authority of Milosch. 
 
 It was of infinite advantage to Milosch that the principles 
 upon which a free Servian Commonwealth could be based 
 were ah'eady prepared. That he should commence anew 
 was unnecessary : it would be sufiicient for him to re-establish 
 matters upon the same footing tliat they were at the time of 
 the first emancipation under Kara George. 
 
 This was especially the case as regarded jurisdiction : 
 the acts of \dolence of which the Tm-ks had been guilty in 
 the administration of justice having been a principal cause of 
 the preceding disturbances ; and the present rupture with the 
 former Pacha having been induced by disputing the power 
 which, in the former treaty, had been conceded to his 
 MusseUims. 
 
 Courts with different degrees of jurisdiction were intro- 
 duced. 
 
224 COURTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 The Village Court consisted of the Elder of the place and 
 the rest of the Kmetes, and was principally charged with 
 preserving order : in civil suits, it was restricted to the settle- 
 ment of disputes by compromise. 
 
 They who chose not to abide by the decision of this Court 
 might refer to one of the district town Courts ; to which 
 Magistrates were appointed, as they had been under 
 Kara George. These Courts were composed each of a Pre- 
 sident, two Members, and a Secretary ; Vho, of course, were 
 not learned men ; but who gave their verdicts according to 
 the custom of the country, and to the best of their know- 
 ledge. Com2)licated cases, in affairs of trade, for instance, 
 were usually brought before the most experienced and most 
 respectable individuals of the same calling ; and as they 
 were generally found very judicious and intelligent, their 
 023inion was, on most occasions, accepted as decisive. 
 
 Others, who would not consent to act in accordance with 
 such decisions, went before the Supreme Court of Justice ; 
 the same as that which under Kara George was called 
 Sowiet, and which, since 1810, had formed a national Court 
 of Chancery. 
 
 When it is considered how such affairs had formerly been 
 allowed to proceed — that the Gospodars and Voivodes had 
 exercised the real power, and that the new movement had 
 originated in a warlike rising under single leaders — it will 
 be readily understood that the judicial power had not 
 enjoyed much real independence. 
 
 It is true there were now Kneses at the head of the dis- 
 tricts ; but in reality they were successors of Voivodes, and 
 military Commanders. 
 
 The Kneses executed the judgments of the district Courts; 
 but maintaining their superiority over them, they in general 
 paid them but little attention. Milosch considered himself 
 head of the Supreme Court, which followed him whenever he 
 changed his residence; and it was not until the year 1825 
 that the same Court was established in an improved form at 
 Kragujevaz. Milosch also reserved to himself the right of 
 pronouncing sentence of death : his brother Jephrem being 
 the only one to whom a similar power was granted, in the 
 districts of Schabaz and Valjevo. 
 
 As the National or Supreme Court was the continuation 
 
DISPUTE BETWEEN MIL03CH AND THE KNESES. 225 
 
 of tlie old Senate, people never ceased to regard it as pos- 
 siessing the right of assisting in the administration of the 
 i^ovemment. But the exercise of this right was not assumed : 
 Miiosch did not consider it necessary to seek counsel, or to 
 ask advice in his administration. 
 
 At first it appeared likely that he would at least respect 
 the Kneses. Such as were of distinction amongst them, he 
 treated as his equals : addressed them as '• Lords," presented 
 them with pipes when they visited him, and expressed him- 
 self satisfied with whatever they thought proper to do in 
 their own districts. 
 
 When they brought him Foresa and Haradsch, which 
 were rated according to the number of households and of 
 persons, he did not much inquire whether the sum they 
 delivered to him corresponded with that number ; nor did he 
 seem to gTudge the profit which they probably a2)propriated 
 to themselves. 
 
 After a time, however, a misunderstanding arose betv/een 
 the tv/o parties, on this very point. Milosch had, as it is 
 known, leased the Haradsch : and he was not always satis- 
 fied with the irregular or arbitrary returns. He at length 
 sent his own people, ^vitli Momkes, into the respective 
 districts, to make out connect registers. The Kneses regarded 
 with aj^prehension this interference Vv^ith their office ; but 
 their complaints on the subject, to one of Milosch's most 
 confidential officers, were in vain : they were answered, 
 " His Highness did not receive advice in afiairs of that 
 nature." 
 
 The twofold power which had been given to Milosch ren- 
 dered him more and more independent. Against the Turks 
 he vindicated the rights of the nation, whose President he was 
 considered ; against the native chiefs he maintained the 
 prerogatives with which he had been invested by the Turkish 
 government. Since the Peace of Bucharest, a combination 
 of the two powers had been a sort of political necessity ; but 
 was this to be upheld exclusively for his own individual 
 interest ? 
 
 In the spring of 1821, Milosch had again to encounter 
 resistance ; and from both parties. Two of the most distin- 
 guished Kneses from the further side of the Morava — Mark 
 Abdula and Stephen Dobrinjaz — having, during their sojourn 
 
 Q 
 
226 THE HET^RIA* 
 
 at Belgrade, formed an alliance witli the Pacha (who pro- 
 mised to acknowledge them as independent Kneses), and 
 with the Spahis, they declared, openly, that they would no 
 longer receive commands from Milosch. Milosch, however, 
 knew how to deal with them. He promptly ordered troops 
 to advance towards their districts, and their destruction was 
 inevitable unless they could receive assistance from the 
 Pacha of Belgrade. Maraschli Ali desjDatched a body of 
 troops into the neighbourhood, imder the jDretext of wishing 
 to assist in suppressing the insurrection ; but Milosch 
 answered him : — " that he knew these people best, and 
 understood how to treat them ; and unless the Pacha were 
 desirous of seeing the whole country in rebellion, he had 
 better not meddle with these affairs." 
 
 This was at the time when the disturbances of the Hetseria 
 broke out in Wallachia, and occasioned a general move- 
 ment. The Pacha was alarmed lest the Servians would join 
 Ypsilanti, and consequently recalled his troops ; whereupon 
 the Kneses, and all their adherents, were put dowTi without 
 further trouble. One of them — Topalevitz, Knes at Gruscha 
 — who thought he had compromised himself by a letter, 
 feigned insanity, and fled out of the country. Milosch 
 appointed Vutschitsch his successor. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the Kneses began gradually to 
 accustom themselves to subordination and obedience, and to 
 acknowledge in Milosch — whom they had formerly regarded 
 as their equal — a superior. Milosch not only appointed 
 them, but he had also the right to dismiss them : he gave 
 them a salary, and reserved to himself the power of increasing 
 it, at discretion. By degrees he became reluctant to style 
 them Kneses, and preferred calling them Sirdars or Caj)tains : 
 in fact their functions were those of military men or police : 
 they were all his oj3icers. 
 
 As they, on their part, made their inferiors feel the severe 
 authority which they themselves were under, the natural 
 result was that the lower classes should once more rise : 
 particularly as they were not restrained by habitual obe- 
 dience. 
 
 The authority of Milosch could scarcely be considered 
 dissimilar to that of a Pacha : he collected the imposts with 
 at least equal severity, and to precisely the same amount, as 
 
GJUROVITSCH AND RATKOVITSCH. 227 
 
 they had always been paid under the domination of the 
 Turks. And the Kneses also, in the manner they now con- 
 ducted themselves, resembled the Musellims : they were 
 guilty of the same outrages ; and to severe exactions, they 
 added personal coercion. 
 
 When the peasants reflected upon what was demanded of 
 them, and upon the manner in wliich they were treated, they 
 found that they had gained but little by all their efforts, 
 and by so many bloody engagements. Perhaps they endured 
 the power exercised over them with yet stronger aversion, 
 since those by whom it was exerted had been only a short 
 time before their equals. 
 
 Towards the end of the year 1824, two peasants of the 
 district of Kudnik, named Gjurovitsch and Katkovitsch, 
 came forward with complaints against the Kneses, and 
 against Milosch. Whether they had individually been 
 wronged, or were desirous of being themselves made Kneses, 
 is not precisely known ; but it is certain that they showed 
 extreme dissatisfaction, and endeavoured to excite a rebellion. 
 However, in their district, the native country of Milosch, 
 they met with little sympathy. The very first person whom 
 they addressed, with the view of gaining him over, denounced 
 their design. Ratkovitsch was consequently seized, and 
 brought to Kragujevaz, to take his trial before the Supreme 
 Court. The barbarous state of the country, and the light 
 estimation in which human life was held there, are proved 
 by the circumstance that a Momke to whose charge the 
 prisoner had been intrusted, with orders to guard him as 
 safely as possible, thought the best mode of accomplishing 
 this was by shooting him ! Gjurovitsch also was brought to 
 Kragujevaz, and examined, under torture, as to whether he 
 had any other accomplices ? His answer was " even were I 
 to betray my companions, I should not by that means be 
 enabled to purchase my own life." He died ujDon the rack, 
 in the most dreadful agonies. 
 
 Milosch and his Kneses now watched every movement 
 with redoubled vigilance. 
 
 When, in the beginning of the year 1825, the Knes of 
 Smederevo, Peter Yulitschevitsch, heard of a peasant who 
 was said to have been connected with those who had perished, 
 and to be still harbouring the same design, he went without 
 
 q2 
 
228 GENERAL OUTBREAK. 
 
 delay into tlie village wliere lie lived, for the purpose of seiz- 
 ing him. He had him arrested by his Momkes, at night, 
 and brought into the house where he had taken up his 
 residence. 
 
 He indulged in the hope of thus crushing the rebellion in 
 its germ ; but it proved, on the contrary, the cause of an 
 immediate outbreak. 
 
 At that very place the peasants rose ; exasperated by the 
 violent proceedings of YuHtschevitsch, who had taken one of 
 their number from his house by night, instead of demanding 
 him from the community as he ought to have done — "just as 
 robbers do," they said. They appeared in arms before 
 the dwelling of the Knes, and forced him to give up his 
 prisoner. 
 
 Scarcely had Vulitschevitsch returned to Asanj a, his usual 
 place of abode, when a movement against him commenced 
 there also ; which assumed the appearance of a general rising. 
 The peasants of Asanj a, and of several neighbouring districts, 
 complained loudly against the whole body of the Kneses, and 
 rose in open rebellion. 
 
 Milosch lost no time in sending an armed troop to Asanj a, 
 with the people of Jasenitza and Lepenitza, under the com- 
 mand of his younger brother, Jovan. This act, however, only 
 increased the evil. The men whom Jovan led on made com- 
 mon cause with those against whom he was to fight ; and 
 Jovan, in consequence, found himself in so alarming a predic- 
 ament, that he ofiered to negotiate. To some of the demands 
 of the rebels he acceded, though not unconditionally ; for he 
 was not authorised, otherwise than provisionally, and subject 
 to the consent of his brother : who, as he said, was his 
 master. The peasants demanded, above all, the dismissal of 
 Vulitschevitsch from his office ; which they desired to have 
 conferred on the very person who, in all probability, had 
 been the chief author of the whole insurrection. This was a 
 certain Miloie Djak • who, however, bore his clerical surname 
 only from having been educated by a clergyman, with a view 
 to his adoption of the sacred profession. Such an intention 
 he had long since relinquished ; and ha,ving acted as secretary 
 to Kara George, he now pursued the most lucrative calling 
 in Servia — that of a swine-dealer. While travelling through 
 the country in this capacity, he became acquainted with 
 
MILOIE DJAK. 229 
 
 many opulent peasants ; on which occasions, he usually 
 entered into discussions respecting the general affairs of the 
 state ; and he had thus obtained, far and near, a high 
 ref)utation. 
 
 Jovan, as already stated, gave his conditional consent that 
 Miloie should fill the situation proposed ; and certainly it 
 woidd have been an important advantage for the peasants, 
 could they have enforced the nomination of a Knes. But the 
 Djak was too well acquainted with the state of affairs in 
 Servia, not to feel the uncertainty of such an appoint- 
 ment. Nor did the situation of a Knes, under its customary 
 relations, suffice for his ambition. Declaring that it was 
 Jovan's intention only to deceive the people, Miloie no 
 sooner made his appearance at Hassan Passina Palanka, than 
 he raised the standard of rebellion against Milosch and his 
 government. From all quarters people hastened towards 
 him. They complained principally of the haughtiness of the 
 Kneses, — who were not satisfied v/itli the treatment they 
 met with from the peasantry on their official journeys 
 through the villages ; of the ill-usage they themselves 
 encountered from them, just as they had done from the 
 Turks j and of their being compelled even to perform bond- 
 service. Some there were who brought forward matters of 
 m.ore general importance ; particularly the impost of the 
 Poresa, which they considered as far too heavy, and, indeed, 
 insupportable. 
 
 Determined on overturning such a government, the 
 peasants moved forward in two separate bodies : one towards 
 Poscharevaz, against Jovan, who fled before them ; the other 
 directly towards Kragujevaz, the seat of government. The 
 latter division was led on by the Djak himself; it increased 
 in numbers at every step, and plimdered the dwellings of the 
 Kneses of Jasenitza and Lepenitza, who also had made them- 
 selves obnoxious. The first troops whom Milosch sent 
 against them — a company of Momkes — were defeated, and 
 the men were obliged to return to Kragujevaz without their 
 horses. Many persons in that town already felt ill at ease ; 
 and even Milosch seemed to waver in his determination. 
 However, he received timely assistance from Jagodina, Pos- 
 chega, and Uschize ; and Yutschitsch especially — whom a 
 short time previously he had appointed Knes of Gnischa — 
 
230 REBELS DISPERSED. 
 
 showed himself resolute in his determination to support him. 
 When Yiitschitsch inquired of the discomfited Momkes 
 " where they had left their horses," their answer was, " Wo 
 shall see where yours will be to-morrow." To them the 
 approaching multitude seemed irresistible. 
 
 But Vutschitsch persisted in his opinion, that they ought 
 not, like women, to wait for the attack of their opponents. 
 Appointed commander by Milosch, provided with money, 
 and promised every support, — for which, indeed, immediate 
 preparations were made, — Yutschitsch advanced with a con- 
 siderable force against the rebels, who were encamped near 
 Topola. He fortified the opposite height, and next morning 
 began the attack. 
 
 It was a fortunate event for the assailants, that the Djak 
 was wounded at the very commencement, and was obliged to 
 be carried off the field. Deprived of their leader— at v/hose 
 call they had assembled, and by whose influence alone they 
 liad been kept together — the rebels, incapable of further 
 resistance, were dispersed. 
 
 The victors threw themselves upon the villages where the 
 insurrection had originated, or through which it had spread, 
 and committed the same atrocities that the Turks had been 
 accustomed to commit on similar occasions. 
 
 It was one of the most fortunate incidents in the career of 
 Milosch, that this rebellion was so speedily and decisively 
 terminated. 
 
 A similar movement had commenced in the district of 
 Belgrade, where it would necessarily have proved more dan- 
 gerous to him ; as two members of an eminent family, the sons 
 of Mark Tscharapitsch (who had first acquired distinction 
 with Kara George), were about to place themselves at its 
 head. When, however, they heard of the ill fortune which 
 their party had encountered at Topola, they despaired of 
 effecting any beneficial change ; and to secure their personal 
 safety they passed over to Panschova, on the Austrian 
 territory. 
 
 There, it is true, they soon gained fresh courage. Not 
 having that thorough knowledge of the position of affairs 
 which is possessed by those residing in a country, and being 
 exposed to the delusions which emigTants are ever ready to 
 adopt, they imagined that, if they returned, they should be 
 
INSURRECTION SUPPRESSED. 231 
 
 enabled, by tlie influence of tbeir name, again to excite general 
 dissatisfaction. They hoped to commence a revolution, not 
 only against Milosch and the Kneses^ but also against the 
 Turks ; and expected to achieve something important. 
 Some schoolmasters of Belgrade — who, however, were not 
 natives of the country — drew up a proclamation for them, 
 i 1 which, if we are correctly informed (for the paper itself 
 appears to have been lost), a reward was offered for the head 
 of Milosch, and one of far greater amount for that of Vut- 
 schitsch. 
 
 In order to commence the movement, the brothers Tscha- 
 rapitsch, with their personal adherents, repaired to the forest 
 of Avala. But the terror inspired by the defeat of Topola 
 was still fresh in the minds of the peasants ; and the proclam- 
 ation produced not the slightest effect. The rebels were 
 sought for in the forest, as though they had been robbers, by 
 some Kneses and their Momkes, and at leng-th were found in 
 one of the mountain hollows. Well knowing that their lives 
 would not be spared, they defended themselves with the 
 courage of despair, and all perished ! the authors of the pro- 
 clamation were shockingly mutilated. 
 
 Thus were suppressed these insurrections : the object of 
 which was, through the mass of the populace, — or, more pro- 
 perly speaking, the peasantry, — to cast off the entire govern- 
 ment of Milosch. 
 
 But, subdued as they were, the people were still conscious 
 of their own strength. The Kmetes exclaimed, that " this 
 time Milosch had overpowered them ; but another time the 
 result might probably be different." 
 
 For a moment, indeed, the government judged it advisable 
 to pay some attention to the condition of the peasants. Vul- 
 itschitsch was dismissed ; and the Kneses of Jasenitza and. 
 Lepenitza, against whom the rage of the people liad been 
 particularly directed, were not reinstated in their appoint- 
 ments. Besides the personal complaints of the peasants, 
 there were certain questions regarding property. These 
 also were redressed ; and many points, on which the people 
 were evidently right, were conceded. Although the origina- 
 tors of the insurrection w^ere at first obliged to be left unpun- 
 ished, vengeance overtook them in one way or another at a 
 later period. 
 
232 INCREASE OF POWER AND 
 
 Upon tlie whole, it is evident that the system which had 
 been established, was further strengthened by the suppression 
 of these rebellious movements. 
 
 The Kneses — military commanders of the nation which 
 they knew how to hold in subjection — had on their pai-t to 
 render implicit obedience to their supreme leader, Milosch ; 
 who now exercised an almost absolute dominion in the 
 country. 
 
 If it be inquired how such an authority could, at thia 
 period, be maintained in Servia, the answer is — that notwith- 
 standing the manifold discontents of the people, their minds 
 were subdued to obedience by the state of affairs. 
 
 The old possessors of military power and sovereign rule 
 were still in the country, and in command of the fortresses ; 
 and there was no binding treaty between the parties. A few 
 years after Maraschli Ali died, disappointed at not having 
 proved equally successful in Europe and in Asia ; there was 
 not even the word of a Pacha to prevent the Turks from re- 
 establishing themselves in full possession on the first oppor- 
 tunity that might offer ; and they still considered the Ser- 
 vians under obligations to perform menial services as formerly. 
 The only means the Servians had of maintaining their inde- 
 pendence, the enjoyment of which they had acquired by their 
 own efforts, was by a strong military organisation — by hold- 
 ing firmly together under the chief who had led them during 
 the last few years, and whom they had solemnly acknow- 
 ledged as the head of the nation ; for every breach of peace 
 that disturbed this internal unity, threatened at the same 
 time their political existence. 
 
 Whatever misguided peasants might say, whose notions 
 were limited to objects immediately around them, it was. 
 clear that the indisputable preference for the authority of 
 Milosch, arose from the nationality of the people forcibly 
 representing the idea of their liberation from the Ottomans, 
 which completely engrossed their minds. It was perfectly 
 in accordance with the feeling of the people, that Milosch 
 possessed himself of the rights which he had claimed, before 
 they had been actually granted. Amongst other things, he 
 built a number of churches, without asking permission of 
 the Pacha, or of the Grand Signior ; a proceeding which 
 gratified the religious feeling of the people. This national 
 
AUTHORITY OF MILOSCH. 233 
 
 sympathy enabled him to preserve an authorit}^, otherwise 
 only of a temporaiy character. 
 
 At length, however, times changed. Events occnrred 
 which, whilst they influenced Turkey, produced a general 
 re-action upon Ser\ia, and freed it from the uncertainty of 
 its condition. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF SERVIAN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Ir.fluence of the Greek Revolution on Servian Affairs. — The Rule of 
 Milosch acceptable to the Grand Signior. — The attention of Europe is 
 directed towards the East. — Russia demands the Fulfilment of the 
 Treaty of Bucharest. — The Conference of Akjerman. — Views of the 
 Sultan Mahmoud. — The Viceroy of Egypt. — Destruction of the Janis- 
 saries. — Formation of new Troops. — Affairs of Greece. — The Russians 
 enforce a Peace. — Terms of the Treaty. — Arrangements regarding the 
 Tribute. — Settlement of the Claims of the Spahis. — Affairs of the 
 Church. — The Boundaries determined on. 
 
 An event, which had been foreseen for a century, now 
 occurred : the Greeks rose against the Turks. We have 
 occasionally hinted at the movements perceptible in the 
 Hellenic part of the Christian population of the Ottoman 
 Empire, contemporaneously with the Servian disturbances. 
 Those movements had all one common origin : the disorders 
 of the institutions founded on Islamism, then falling into 
 decay, and in a state of internal confusion ; and also the 
 antagonism of the power, and the incomparably sujjerior 
 development of those European Christian nations, to which 
 the people considered themselves primarily related, and upon 
 whose assistance they relied. According to the cii'cumstances 
 under wliich it commenced, however, the Greek enterprise 
 displayed itself in a manner very different from that of an 
 insurrection in Servia ; the direct influences which contri- 
 buted to it, the nations themselves, their occupation and 
 their position in the world, being very dissimilar. 
 
 Thus the principle of emancipating the Christian popula- 
 
234 RISING OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 tion, for wliich the Servians fought, obtained a wider and 
 more general basis. Had the Grand Signior's hands been 
 free, unquestionably he would not so quietly have allowed 
 the Gospodar of Servia to unite the entire public authority 
 in his own person. Under existing circumstances, however, 
 he could not but be satisfied that a chief ruled in the country 
 who kept the people under strict control, and prevented their 
 participating in such schemes as tended towards the complete 
 overthrow of the Turkish Empire. In his entire deportment, 
 Milosch always observed the external semblance of obedience : 
 he made no claim to absolute independence ; and the Sultan 
 had no reason to apprehend that he would take part in any 
 demonstration excited by the Hetseria. Milosch observed 
 amongst the adherents and friends of Ypsilanti, some mem- 
 bers of the former Servian government whom he had ex- 
 cluded : the followers of the brothers Tscharapitsh, whom he 
 had recently expelled, and who were equally hostile to his 
 administration and to that of the Ottomans. 
 
 The simultaneous rising of the Greeks, and re-awakening 
 of the Hellenic name, excited a generous interest amongst 
 all the nations of Europe : a sympathy such as had never 
 been knoAvn before ; in which recollections of the classic 
 ages, popular tendencies, and a universal Christian feeling 
 were united. This ultimately brought the Christian powers 
 ■under the necessity of directing their earnest attention 
 towards the east, which they had hitherto insufficiently 
 regarded. 
 
 "What the former Russian government had already designed, 
 the present, which entered upon office in the year 1825, exe- 
 cuted with decision. With the utmost energy it took up its 
 differences with the Porte — differences which had been suf- 
 fered to exist without redress for many years. 
 
 It particularly adverted to the stipulations of the Treaty 
 of Bucharest still remaining unfulfilled ; one of the chief 
 complaints of Russia being, that the concessions promised to 
 the Servians in that treaty had not yet been granted. 
 
 The Porte, contending ^vith the most dangerous revolution 
 to which she had ever been exposed, and threatened at the 
 same time by three powers, England, France, and Russia — • 
 which had formerly been restrained from hostile action by 
 their 2:)olitical jealousies of one another — under the pressure 
 
THE AKJERMAN CONFERENCE. 235 
 
 of the moment, consented to the clem^ands of Kussia : the 
 Sultan set at liberty the Servian deputies, who were still 
 detained, and promised to enter into negotiations with the 
 Servian nation, for securing to it the privileges conceded by 
 the treaty. 
 
 At a conference held at Akjerman, in the summer of 1826, 
 the affairs of Servia formed one of the principal objects df 
 negotiation. 
 
 After much hesitation, not unaccompanied by occasional 
 apprehensions of total failure, the Porte accepted the Russian 
 ultimatum. 
 
 In the Convention, which is desig-nated as explanatory in 
 execution of the Treaty of Bucharest, the Porte promised a 
 more exact definition of the advantages which were at that 
 time promised to the Servians in general terms.* In a 
 special act are enumerated the demands which had been 
 made by the Servians in 1820. The Porte gave assurance of 
 coming to an imderstanding with the Servians regarding not 
 only those concessions, but others which might perhaps also 
 be made to them. It was agreed upon, that within eighteen 
 months at the latest, a Hattischeriff, containing the agree- 
 ment, should be forwarded to the Russian Court, and should 
 then be considered as forming part of the Convention, t 
 
 * Convention explicative en execution du Traite de Bucharest. 25 Sept. 
 (7 Oct.), 1826. Art. 5. 
 
 t In the Acte separe relatif a la Servie, the following were stated to 
 be the demands of the nation: "La liberte du culte, le choix de ses 
 chefs, I'independance de son administration interieure, la reunion des 
 districts detaches de la Servie, la reunion des differens impots en un seul, 
 I'abandon aux Serviens des biens appartenant a des Musulmans a charge 
 d'en payer le revenu ensemble avec le tribut, la liberte de commerce, la 
 permission aux negocians Serviens de voyager dans les etats Ottomans 
 avec leurs propres passeports, I'etablissement d'hopitaux, ecoles et impri- 
 meries, et enfin la defense aux Musulmans autres que ceux appartenant 
 aux garnisons de s'etablir en Servie." I do not know whether the fol- 
 lowing difference from the original declaration of the Porte be the effect 
 of an accidental change of expression, or otherwise. In the " Note 
 officielle de la Porte Ottomane, 1 (13) Mai, 1826, it promises, regler 
 avec eux les demandes qui ne seraient pas contraires a la condition de 
 rajahs." In the' ^Acte particuUer de la Servie," on the other hand, it 
 promises, reglements concernant les demandes susmentionnees (of 1820) 
 de ce peuple, comma aussi de toute autre qui pourrait lui etre faite par la 
 deputation Serbe, et qui ne serait pas contraire aux devoirs des sujets de 
 I'empire Ottoman. 
 
23 G VIEWS OF SULTAN MAHMOUD. 
 
 By tliis decree, the interpretation which the Servians had 
 given to the Treaty of Bucharest obtained in reality a public 
 recognition. If the Convention were carried into effect, the 
 state thus regulated and arranged in accordance with their 
 ^vishes, would at the same time enjoy the guarantee of a great 
 European Power. These assurances were received in Servia 
 with great joy ; and in a Diet held at Kragujevaz, the Prince, 
 mth much solemnity, announced them to the nation. 
 
 All however depended on the Conventions being executed. 
 But even by the proclamation of the Porte herself, it appeared, 
 from the first, that it was not her intention to act with sin- 
 cerity. 
 
 Sultan Mahmoud had just undertaken an enterprise, the 
 result of which, he expected, would be the restoration of the 
 empire to its ancient poAver. 
 
 The forces which the Sultan commanded (according to the 
 constitution of his empire and army under the sui:)remacy of 
 the Janissaries, renewed since the year 1808) showed them- 
 selves less than ever capable of maintaining the power of the 
 state. Expeditions on a large scale, intended to put down 
 the Greeks, and set on foot with all the energy possible in the 
 existing state of affairs, had entirely failed. If the Ottoman 
 authority had not been destroyed in the territories of Greece, 
 it was altogether owing to the Viceroy of Egypt, with his 
 troops disciplined on an European m&del. What the Grand 
 Siguier at Constantinople had not dared to attempt, his vassal 
 had been able to accomplish in a remote province. Favoured 
 by peculiarity of situation, Mehemet Ali had utterly annihi- 
 lated the authority of the Mameluke Beys, already severely 
 shaken since the invasion of the French ; and French and 
 Italian officers of Napoleon's army had thereupon organised 
 for him regTilar troops. When he came to the assistance of 
 the Sultan, it was found that the Christians carried on an 
 irregular warfare, according to the old barbarous practice, 
 while the followers of Islam used military tactics : the Greeks 
 were unable to resist the Egyptians. 
 
 These results, as may readily be imagined, made a jDOwerful 
 impression on the Sultan. The idea entertained by more 
 than one of his predecessors, that internal reform was 
 essential to the restoration of external splendour — an idea 
 not relinquished even after the catastrophe of Selim, but 
 
MASSACRE OF THE JANISSARIES. 237 
 
 concealed only by necessity — might now, with more fiicility, 
 be realised. The cause of the Janissaries could no longer be 
 identified with that of Islam. It became necessary to tell 
 them, that the resistance which they had opposed to every 
 kind of improvement, was leading the empire to ruin — that 
 they who desired to be regarded as the principal champions 
 of Islam, were, in reality, its enemies. The men versed in 
 the law now deserted the Janissaries, and in a great council 
 of Yiziers and Ulemas assembled at the house of Scheik-id- 
 Islam, in June, 1826, the views of the Grand Signior were 
 imanimously adopted. A Fetwa was framed, and signed by 
 al] the members of the Council ; directing the Janissaries to 
 practise certain military exercises ; for this reason : that it 
 was only by encountering the infidels with a regular army, 
 that the advantage gained by them over the Moslems could 
 be recovered. At first only one hundred and fifty men out 
 of each Orta were requii-ed to obey this order ; which it was 
 expected they would resist ; but precautionary measures had 
 been taken against such an event. As the opposition of the 
 Topdschi had proved so destructive to the Sidtan Selim, 
 Mahmoud had the more earnestly exerted himself to gain 
 them over to his plans. It is said that when Mahmoud 
 heard of the manner in which Murat had cleared the streets 
 of Madi'id of the rebellious mob, the account produced so 
 lively an impression on his mind that it was never forgotten. 
 Accordingly, he now opposed cannon to the advancing masses 
 of the Janissaries. The first discharge produced a dreadful 
 efiect, and dispersed them ; when a horrible massacre ensued. 
 The force was now solemnly abolished, and the name of the 
 Janissaries consigned to oblivion. The Sultan did not deem 
 it advisable to revive the title Nizami Dschedid ; in which 
 even Mehemet Ali had failed in the outset : he was satisfied 
 that Egyptian officers should introduce into the Turkish 
 army the discipline and order which they had acquired from 
 the Europeans. And this determination was now accom- 
 plished without encountering any obstacles. 
 
 Mahmoud neglected no means which could enable him, at 
 the earliest possible moment, to bring a disciplined force into 
 the field ; sufiiciently numerous, as the firman says, to sustain 
 the cause of religion and of the empire, under the designation 
 of the " Victorious Mahometan Armies." 
 
238 AFFAIRS OF GREECE. 
 
 Thus the second movement emanating from the wars of 
 the eighteenth century, and which produced reform, Avas at 
 lengtli effected ; though not without the most frightful acts 
 of violence and horror. Whatever might have been the 
 origin of this scheme, its object was the sole domination of 
 Islamism : Mahometans alone were to serve in an army 
 destined to fight for the restoration of the authority of the 
 Prophet. 
 
 The next aim of the Porte was to lead back to obedience 
 the nations that were liberating themselves from her yoke. A 
 book was printed and published, in which an expectation was 
 expressed, that the new militia would not only j)rove efficient 
 for the defence of the old provinces, but would also penetrate 
 into the Christian countries of the Turkish Empire. 
 
 Aroused into courageous self-confidence, and animated with 
 high and promising hopes, the Turks deliberately rejected 
 the intervention of the three Powers in the affairs of Greece : 
 and although the Greeks, acknowledging the external supre- 
 macy of the Porte, now claimed only the privilege of admi- 
 nistering their internal affairs, the Divan declared that they 
 would never agree to this concession. 
 
 The Sultan's determination was not influenced by the fact, 
 that the intercourse between Egypt and the Morea had been 
 most violently interrupted in the port of Navarino, and that 
 the new Mahometan navy of the Viceroy had been destroyed 
 at a blow. 
 
 After a solemn consultation of the Divan, the Grand 
 Signior professed himself ready to pardon the Moreotes, and 
 exempt them from a year's impost of the Harodsch, if they 
 would submit. This was all that could be obtained from 
 him. 
 
 Considerable progress having already been made in mili- 
 tary reform, lie resolved upon a most daring and speculative 
 scheme. 
 
 In a proclamation addressed to the Ayans of Asia and 
 Eui'ope, — that Hattischeriff of December, 1827, which dis- 
 plays as strong a disposition for war as the edict of any 
 former Sultan, — Mahmoud appeared ready to retract even 
 the concessions he had made at Akjerman. He declared, iu 
 plain terms, that he had entered on those negotiations, only 
 to obtain the time neccessary to prepare for war ; and re- 
 
RUSSIANS ENFORCE A PEACE. 239 
 
 ftpecting the demands of the Servians, he observed that they 
 had been unacceptable in themselves, and that nothing but 
 the pressui-e of circumstances had induced his consent to 
 them. 
 
 This was quite consistent ; for, indeed, the European Powers 
 had desired but little more for the Greeks ; and this the Sultan 
 had most indignantly refused. Moreover, in this proclama- 
 tion the Christian people were represented as one nation, 
 only desirous of annihilating Islamism. The Sultan invoked 
 the determined valour with which, in ancient times, the 
 OsmanHs had established in the world the true religion; 
 and above all, he endeavoured to inflame the zeal of their 
 orthodoxy against the Russians, as their principal ene- 
 mies. 
 
 These were not times, however, for a general war to break 
 out, as might have been expected ; but a decision by recourse 
 to arms could no longer be avoided : it was challenged by the 
 Sultan himself. 
 
 The Egyptians gave way, in the Morea, before a French 
 army ; and the reformed military power of the Sultan was 
 attacked by the Russians near the Danube. 
 
 It was evident tha.t the Turkish troops had improved, as 
 well in the defence of fortified places as in their bearing on 
 the field. They obeyed more readily, and kept together for 
 a longer period ; but their military science had not advanced. 
 Theii^ efibrts were directed now, as in earlier times, by blind 
 impetuosity, and always against one particular point ; conse- 
 quently, no attention was paid to the manoeuvres of the 
 opposing leader. 
 
 In the second campaign, the Russians having crossed the 
 mountains, which had always been regarded as the barrier of 
 Roumelia, appeared in alarming proximity to the capital; 
 and enforced a peace, in which all the pendmg questions were 
 adjusted according to their desire. 
 
 In this peace the Porte not only consented to the pro- 
 posals regarding Greece, which she had hitherto rejected 
 with so much obstinacy, but declared herself ready to submit 
 to such regulations as the contracting powers might agree 
 upon for their fulfilment. This declaration led to a resolu- 
 tion for assignino; narrower boundaries to Greece than had 
 
240 TERMS OF TREATY. 
 
 been originally intended ; but, on the other hand, it caused 
 her to be raised into an independent kingdom.* 
 
 The sympathy of the Christian populations, which had 
 been conspicuous in the years 1788 and 1806, was not so 
 powerfully excited by this war. The Servians, also, had been 
 prevented from taking up arms — though not without great 
 difficulty and to their extreme annoyance ; and their only 
 influence on the course of events had been their oppositioiL 
 to the intended passage of the Bosnians over the Drina. 
 
 In the peace nothing was changed m the groundwork of 
 the relations once fixed upon for the Servians ; but they 
 found cause for congratulation in the circumstance that these 
 %vere now really carried into efiect. At the final Treaty of 
 Adrianople the Porte pledged herself to perform the stipula- 
 tions entered uj^on at Akjerman — stipulations which rested 
 on the Treaty of Bucharest, — '• without the least delay, and 
 with the most conscientious exactness ; and, within a month, 
 to bring under the cognisance of the Russian court the firman 
 arranging these matters," 
 
 The Porte no longer eluded the performance of her pro- 
 mise. On the first of the JRehi-el-accher of the year of 
 Hejira 1245 (September the 30th, 1829), fifteen days after 
 the conclusion of the peace, the promised firman was issued, 
 in the manner customary to the home administration of the 
 Ottoman Empire. In this firman the demands of the 
 Servians, according to the form and interpretation of the 
 treaty of Akjerman, were communicated to the Pacha and 
 Mollah of Belgrade, as being perfectly valid, and accom- 
 panied by an order for their execution, t 
 
 It was well understood, however, that there were still 
 further arrangements necessary for carrying them into full 
 efiect ; and the year 1830 brought with it the requisite 
 decisive regulations. In the month of August of that year 
 (7 Hehi el awwel, 1246), Sultan Mahmoud issued a Hatti- 
 scherifi', embracing the more minute points for finally termi- 
 nating the difierences which, since the days of the Dahis, had 
 
 * Protocole No. 1, de la conference tenue a Londres le 3e Fevrier, 
 1830. 
 t Quoted by Friedrichstalj Serbiens Nuzeit, Appendix, I, 
 
SETTLEMENT OP TRIBUTE. 241 
 
 existed respecting the affairs of Servia.* The result of this 
 was, that the fortresses were henceforth to have Turkish 
 garrisons. Only once, during the whole course of events, had 
 it appeared jDOSsihle for the Servians to be freed from this 
 necessity ; and for some time past they had ceased to expect 
 it. The Treaty of Bucharest had so often been referred 
 to by the Servians, that those parts of it which were bene- 
 licial to the Turks must also have been maintained : this was 
 the more needful, as a neglect of it might have threatened to 
 disturb the general relations between the country and the 
 government. 
 
 But the question was, how to remove certain difficulties, 
 which the jDrinciple and custom of exclusive domination by 
 the followers of Islam had necessarily introduced. 
 
 The Sultan agreed, in the first place, that the authorities 
 of the Sublime Porte should neither meddle with the admi- 
 nistration, nor interfere in the quarrels of the Servian 
 nation. 
 
 The jurisdiction of the Musellims was now abolished by 
 the express command of the Grand SigTiior. This jurisdic- 
 tion, which the first Pacha after the war had re-established 
 in its widest extent, the second had limited ; but it had, 
 nevertheless, occasioned so much misimderstanding, that 
 Milosch had already dispensed with it, in effect. The entire 
 administration was left to. the Knias — as Milosch now offi- 
 cially styled himself — by whom it was to be conducted, with 
 the assistance of the Council of Elders. 
 
 But this would have been impracticable, had not a change 
 been effected in the various imposts that were customary in 
 the country ; and which presupposed a direct inspection — 
 nay, a personal interference — by the Grand Siguier's ofiicers. 
 
 The Sultan consented to an arrangement which the Ser- 
 vians had demanded from the commencement, and by which 
 his treasury was at least no loser : that the amount of the 
 taxes should be fixed, and be delivered to him in one sum ; 
 in collecting which he was to be relieved from all trouble. 
 This arrangement had been first proposed in Servia by Peter 
 Itschko ; in Greece, it had been contemplated as long as the 
 preservation of the Grand Siguier's supremacy was thought 
 
 * A translation of this document, certified by the Servian Ciiancery, 
 appeared in the Allg. Zeit. of April 2 and 3, 1832. 
 
 3 
 
242 SPAHIS' CLAIMS ABOLISHEIX 
 
 of ; raid even at a later period, tlie practice has been main- 
 tained in Egypt. Without this, as we have said, indepen- 
 dence of internal administration would have been impossible. 
 
 At the same time, too, this furnished the means of satis- 
 fying another claim which had hitherto proved a principal 
 obstacle to the peace. The Spahis, as we know, still con- 
 sidered themselves the proprietors of the country. Their 
 refusal to renounce this right, had prevented the fulfilment 
 of the Treaty of Peter Itschko, as well as of the Treaty of 
 Bucharest ; and had principally contributed to the rupture 
 which occurred in the year 1820. It was intimately con- 
 nected with the principles of the Ottoman policy. The 
 Sultan, however, now ordered that an estimate should be 
 formed of the incomes of the Zaims and Timariotes through- 
 out the Pachalic, and the amount j)aid to him, together with 
 the tribute. Thus their claims to the tithe and Glavnitza, 
 which they had exacted ever since the conquest of the 
 country, were abolished ; and it was left to the Sultan to 
 indemnify his vassals for their loss. 
 
 It was also considered necessary entirely to separate the 
 two populations j and the Sultan ordered that no Turk 
 should henceforth have a claim to the personal services of a 
 Servian. But this regulation alone would have been futile, 
 there being no one to enforce obedience ; the Sultan, there- 
 fore, judged it best to comply with the demands of the Ser- 
 vians, and absolutely to forbid any Turks not belonging to 
 the garrisons of the fortresses, to remain in the country. 
 To those who had landed property in Servia, a certain selling 
 price was to be awarded by public functionaries appomted 
 for the purpose. If any one were disinclined to part with 
 his estates, he was not allowed to superintend them : the 
 income derived therefrom was to be paid into the treasury 
 at BelgTade, and thence remitted to the owner. The former 
 influence of the Ottomans on the population, which had 
 been the most frequent source of complaints, was thus 
 strenuously sought to be prevented. 
 
 The army which had been settled in Servia — a warrior 
 class whose authority was grounded on the prerogatives of 
 their religion, and who had hitherto governed the country — 
 now lost their claim to personal dominion. The poll-tax, 
 formerly the sign that a person belonged to the Rayahs, was 
 
ERECTION OF CHURCHES. 243 
 
 no longer paid : at least uot under tliat designation. Care 
 was expressly taken, that the Turkish officers, in their in- 
 tercourse svith the Servians in the other j)rovinces, should 
 not demand any Teskeres from them, but be satisfied with 
 certificates from the Servian government. Thus the Servians 
 continued to be tributary subjects to the Porte, but no longer 
 formed a Kayah or unarmed body as hitherto. JSTo restric- 
 tion existed with reference to apparel or dwellings, nor were 
 arms any longer prohibited. Numerous churches were now 
 built ; and the Hattischeriff also contained a formal permis- 
 sion for the establishment of schools and hospitals, without 
 requu'ing any previous application on the subject. In com- 
 municating these regulations, Milosch stated that divine 
 service was allowed to be announced by the ringing of bells, 
 and was to be performed in its ancient primitive solemnity 
 without restriction. 
 
 All ecclesiastical concerns were also arranged in a manner 
 corresponding to the wishes of the nation. It has been seen 
 how much the former state of things was influenced by send- 
 ing the bishops from Constantinople ; but after the general 
 change that had been effected, such relations could not con- 
 tinue : the Dimnitza could no longer be paid to the bishops, 
 after all taxes analogous to it had been abolished. 
 
 It was desirable, too, to be freed from the Greek bishops, 
 who had always been regarded as strangers ; accordingly, in 
 the Hattischeriff of 1830, the Servians were permitted to 
 elect bishops and metropolitans from their o^vn nation. To 
 the Patriarchal Church at Constantiiiopie was reserved the 
 right of confirming those elected ; but the bishops were not 
 obliged to proceed in person to the capital for that purpose. 
 Thus it became practicable to dissolve the connexion, as 
 regarded those relations in which the Servian Eparchites 
 stood towards the Greek Church : the nation taking upon 
 itself to pay off the debt which had accumidated. Instead 
 of the chimney-tax — the amount of which could not be 
 precisely calculated, but which appeared to the Servian 
 government excessive, the bishops were allowed a fixed 
 salary out of the public treasury. Milosch had, on a former 
 occasion, attempted to effect such an arrangement ; but it 
 was not imtil now that it could be accomplished. The clergy, 
 in Servia, did not enjoy much influence ; and the new regu- 
 
 b2 
 
244 THE DETERMINATION OF 
 
 lation was not of a character to exalt their independence. 
 We will not inquire whether some objection might not he 
 urged against this ; but the main consideration was, that the 
 bishopric could no longer be perverted to a means of hostility 
 against the nation. The possibility of such a development 
 of the ecclesiastical relations as had been intended by the 
 Neman] as, was restored to the nation : an advantage of 
 incalculable importance, and ajQfording great hope for the 
 future. 
 
 Not only the inhabitants of the province of BelgTade — 
 who had in fact been abeady emancipated — but those also 
 who had joined Kara George in his later campaigns, were to 
 participate in these advantages. This the Servians had asked 
 in the year 1820 ; it had been agreed upon at Akjerman ; 
 and had been still more explicitly determined at Adrianople. 
 
 The Porte renewed her promise by the firman of 1829, and 
 the Hattischeriff of 1830 ; and in the spring of the latter 
 year, Turkish and Russian Commissioners travelled over the 
 country to settle its boundaries. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these proceedings, however, the 
 business was not yet settled. The Pachas would not believe 
 that the Porte could even think of reducmg the extent of 
 their territories, or of placing them under the dominion of 
 the Servian Knes. 
 
 When the Servian deputies mentioned the business at 
 Viddin, the Pacha not only sent them away in disgrace, but 
 added serious threats in the event of their venturing to 
 excite disobedience amongst his subjects. 
 
 He treated with ridicule their statements concerning the 
 advance guards of Kara George ; and that the Heyduc 
 Veliko had once galloped his horse in defiance before the 
 fortress of Viddin. 
 
 Some Servians went into the districts on the Drina, fur- 
 nished with money, and intending to purchase such property 
 as the Turks possessed there ; for it was understood that the 
 provisions of the Hattischeriff were to be executed without 
 delay. But they were attacked by armed men, and robbed 
 of their money, as well as of their horses, and were thus 
 forced to retrace their steps. 
 
 A servitude yet more severe, was also for some time 
 imposed on the Christians in the disputed districts. 
 
THE BOUNDARIES. 245 
 
 In Knischevaz and Alexinaz, we again find the arbitrary 
 administration of Subashaws and Tscliitluksaliibis. The 
 Albanians belonging to an army engaged for an expedition 
 against Bosnia, which was at that time in a state of rebellion, 
 were gTiilty of violent outrages ; and the people of these 
 districts consequently rose in self-defence. 
 
 Several Albanian chiefs having forcibly carried ofi" some 
 young girls, the people — no longer disposed to submit tamely 
 to wrongs — took a fierce revenge on all the perpetrators of 
 the outrage. In Kraina and Kliutsch a regular rebellion 
 broke foi-th ; and at Gurgussovaz, where the Voivode proved 
 more than usually obstinate, a sort of war ensued between 
 the two parties. 
 
 Milosch took little precaution to aj^pease disturbances, 
 which were evidently beneficial to him ; but he brought the 
 afiair under the consideration of Russia and the Porte in a 
 ^nore efiectual manner. 
 
 In a conference held at Constantinople, on the 2oth May, 
 1833, the boundaries were agreed to by the Turks, according 
 to the report of the commissioners.* Some time elapsed 
 before the formal decree respecting them v/as issued ; but 
 the taking possession of the districts, for which everything 
 Iiad been prepared, could no longer be difficult. 
 
 The boundaries were fixed in conformity with the repre- 
 sentation made when speaking of the conquests of Kara 
 George. We are not, however, prepared to indicate them 
 with accuracy, or to state the extent of the territory, and 
 the number of its inhabitants j but it was estimated that 
 the country and the people were augmented about one- 
 third. 
 
 Everything had thus been settled concerning the relations 
 -of the Servians to the Ottoman Empire, and to the Maho- 
 metan population in general. The great causes of contention 
 Iiad been removed ; but there were yet other questions 
 which now came prominently forward, and led to events that 
 could not have been foreseen. 
 
 * According to an article, considered to be official, in the Allg. Zeitung, 
 July 9, 1833. 
 
246 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION OF MILOSCH, AND 
 THE OPPOSITION AGAINST HIM. 
 
 Position of Milosch, — He is elected Knias. — The Porte makes the Dignity 
 hereditary in his Family. — He assumes arbitrary Power, and neglects 
 to advance the Interests of the Nation by promoting its Civilization. — 
 The Code Napoleon adopted as the Model for the proposed Laws of 
 Servia. — Arbitrary Proceedings of Milosch. — He endeavours to mono- 
 polize the Commerce of the Country. — His Treatment of the Public 
 Officers. — He refuses to bestow Lands and Estates on his Courtiers. — 
 Conspiracy against him. — He pledges himself to accede to the Wishes 
 of the Chiefs. — Skupschtina of 1835. — Concessions of the Knias- 
 
 Of the various demands made by tlie Servians in 1820, that 
 relating to the individual position of Milosch was left un- 
 settled by the Treaty of Akjerman ; which only stated that the 
 nation had the right of freely electing its chiefs. How tliis 
 point was overlooked is not known ; though the fact is 
 reported from Servia on credible authority. 
 
 In the year 1817, Milosch had already been elected by the 
 Servians as their chief; and in 1827, at the Diet in which 
 the articles of the Treaty of Akjerman were announced, this 
 election was renewed. Grand Kneses, Kneses of the districts, 
 and the eiders, clergymen, and members of the courts of 
 justice — in their ovni names, and in the names of the nation, 
 and of those brethren who were yet to be united to them — 
 declared themselves willing to be subject to his Serene 
 Highness the Prince Milosch Obrenovitsch, to him and his 
 descendants, from generation to generation, as their Lord and 
 Prince. 
 
 They all, in a body, signed a petition praying the Grand 
 Signior to gTant them a native meti'opolitan, and to appoint 
 Milosch Obrenovitsch as their hereditary Prince. 
 
 But far too much war and violence yet prevailed, for 
 these things to be so quickly achieved. In the peace of 
 Adrianople, as well as in the firman issued directly after- 
 wards, it was the nation only, and not the prince, of whom 
 mention was made. When Milosch, at the Skuptschina, in 
 
MILOSCH RE-ELECTED KNIAS. 247 
 
 1830, acquainted the nation with this firman, he laid great 
 stress on the circumstance that they were no longer to be 
 ruled by an ever-changing succession of Turkish officers, 
 w^ho came only to amass riches in the country ; l^ut by men 
 who had associated with them, and who meant to live and 
 die amongst them. He added, at the same time, that as 
 they had so nearly reached their aim, it was his intention 
 to retire ; and the nation might then elect some other 
 prince, the best and ablest in the country. This intimation, 
 as he expected, proved the very means by which his election, 
 already twice made, was again repeated. The assembly 
 saluted him as the ^' Prince given by God ;" and they soli- 
 cited the Porte to confirm Milosch Obrenovitsch as a Knias, 
 legally ruhng over them ; an d to allow this dignity to be 
 hereditary in his family : " according," as they said, " to the 
 for-ever-unchangeable resolution of the nation." 
 
 The Porte could no longer hesitate to comply with this 
 wish; and acceded to it the more readily, as Milosch had 
 rendered some services to the state in the last war : for 
 instance, he had sent provisions down the Danube, which 
 had proved of great importance to the imperial army. The 
 HattischerifiT of 1830 expressly affirmed, that Milosch should 
 be maintained as Knias of the nation, and the dignity be 
 made hereditary in his family. The Berate granted by the 
 Porte to Milosch was couched in these terms : — ^' that the 
 princely dignity shall be assured to him for his lifetime ; 
 after his death, it shall pass to liis eldest son ; and afterwards 
 to his grandson." 
 
 The Porte insisted, that it was by her imperial favour and 
 election that this honour was conferred on Milosch, in consi- 
 deration of his fidelity : he was to carry on the administra- 
 tion of the country under her auspicies. 
 
 Milosch, however, could not contrive to have his name 
 mentioned in the treaty between the European powers; 
 which would have afforded him a security such as the nation 
 had obtained, indej^endent of the caprice of the Porte. His 
 position remained, as it had been from the first, a com- 
 bination of Turkish supremacy and the free choice of the 
 Servians. 
 
 One might almost suppose that he had not a clear concep- 
 tion, of the true aatur^'bf his princely dignity. 
 
248 THE NATION THE BASIS OF MILOSCH's POWErw. 
 
 It had cost, him much trouLle to advance thus far, and he 
 appeared to think that, after obtaining a Bera,te and a Hatti- 
 scheriff, all had been accomplished. He seemed to consider 
 himself the founder of a dynasty, and to regard his authority 
 as inviolable. 
 
 But if we reflect on the real state of the case, it will be 
 found that, from the very commencement, contrary results 
 .might have been expected. It must be recollected under 
 what opposition Milosch had established his dominion in the 
 interior ; and how, after he had succeeded in removing his 
 rivals, he was opposed by those through Avhom and over 
 whom he sought to rule : he was obliged to combat them 
 all, and to suppress the elements of rebellion with a strong 
 hand. 
 
 At the Skupschtma of 1827, he found it necessary to 
 excuse the harshness and severity of his administration, by 
 alluding to the great scheme of liberation which he had in 
 view, and which could be accomplished by no other means. 
 It is clear that if the nation considered it their interest to 
 obey him, it was because they felt the necessity of a firm and 
 indissoluble union. 
 
 Now, however, the object which had influenced them was 
 in reality attained : under the giiarantee of a great power, 
 they had acquired from the Turks a position of independence. 
 All the districts, in which, during the war, a national com- 
 bination had once been formed, were now re-united. No 
 fear of re-action was for the present entertained. But were 
 the people, therefore, to endure the severe sway of Milosch, 
 now that the necessity for it no longer existed ? 
 
 Milosch ought to have attached more importance to thi^ 
 cop.sideration ; for whatever terms the Grand Signior migh \ 
 employ, the attachment of the nation, and their repeatea 
 election of him as their ruler, must be regarded as the prin- 
 cipal, though not the only basis of his power. Should the 
 nation ever desert him, it was not to be supposed that tLe 
 Sultan would continue his support merely for the sake of his 
 Berate. He could at any time find a pretext for retracting 
 that instrument. 
 
 Thus there was a more absolute necessity for him to heep 
 on good terms with the people, than for other rulers to con- 
 ciliate their subjects. 
 
rROMOTION OF CIVILIZATION NEGLECTED. 249 
 
 If, then, lie liad imbibed the i3rinciples of true civilisation, 
 and had rendered his nation morally superior to the Ottomans, 
 he would have excited sympathy for himself, and for the 
 principle of Christian emancipation throughout the world ! 
 
 This was brought under the notice of Milosch more than 
 once ; and I cannot forbear mentioning that his attention 
 was drawn to this subject in the first edition of this work, 
 which appeared in 1829. I trust to escape the imputation of 
 vanity in repeating the words in which I then expressed the 
 hope, entertained by the friends of the Servian cause, that 
 the independence of the country, in its internal relations, 
 would be strengi/hened, without arbitrary measures. 
 
 We indulged in the expectation that Milosch would employ 
 all the power by which he had been enabled, in times of tur- 
 bulence, to free himself from the Turks, and to maintain the 
 country in peace, in promoting the welfare of the nation 
 intiiisted to his care, and in advancing the development of 
 her capabilities. 
 
 We observed that, "all that is glorious and desirable 
 amongst men must prompt him to attempt this. Then only 
 would the people be attached to him, if they found them- 
 selves happy and secure thi'ough good institutions. Thus 
 alone could they be led to hold his name, like the name of 
 the Nemanjas, in enduring remembrance. 
 
 " But there can be no security without laws. Neither the 
 multitude of Momkes, the power of arms, nor the apparent 
 devotion of favoured adherents, will suffice. It is only by 
 effecting the safety of the people, tkrough wise laws, that he 
 himself can feel secure. There is no doubt that he wiU esta- 
 blish lav/s, not exactly borrowed from Europe (for such per- 
 haps might be little adapted to the requirements of the 
 country), but plain and simjjle ones; such as may be in 
 accordance with the character of the Servian people — to 
 secure life, j^roperty, religious and civil liberty to every one, 
 so far as can consist with the imity of a state. On this sub- 
 ject he ought to consult the elders of the nation. He should 
 give and maintain such laws as would temper severity with 
 mildness. The nation would then appreciate his worth, and 
 would perceive that he laboured less for his own power than 
 for its prosperity. He need not then be under any appre- 
 hension respecting the return of those who had remained 
 
250 THE CODE NAPOLEON ADOPTED 
 
 exiles and emigrants since the time of Kara George ; and 
 people of neighbouring states would be desirous of living 
 under liis rule. 
 
 " As there can be no security for an internal administra- 
 tion without laws, neither can there be any freedom from the 
 Turks, without mental cultivation. It is true, the nation is 
 free from their 2:)ower ; but it will be ruled by their manners, 
 customs, and sentiments, and their imperceptible influence, 
 until it shall have raised itself above them by the cultivation 
 of its own noble talents. The superiority indicated having 
 been once asserted, the Servians will never again have cause 
 for fear : Milosch will, no doubt, as he has long intended, 
 establish schools upon a larger scale in the country, and 
 regulate them in conformity with the requirements of his 
 nation. In teaching the Christian religion in its j^urity, no 
 dilficulty can arise ; for the clergy will not possess such pre- 
 ponderating influence as would enable them to contend for 
 their OAvn peculiar errors and tenets. Their songs may serve 
 to instruct the people in much of their national history ; and 
 v\^hatever may be objectionable in them maybe reformed and 
 purified by the doctrines of the Gospel. They do not require 
 a barbarous semi-learning, tending only to confuse the unedu- 
 cated mind. Means can also be found to commmiicate gra- 
 dually to the nation the scientific knowledge which Europe 
 has acquired. Only by such measures can the Servians be 
 enabled to rise superior to the Turks, and to participate in 
 that mental and spiritual strength which constitutes real 
 happiness. The soil is ready — nothing but the distribution 
 of the good seed is wanting." 
 
 The hope that Milosch would sow this good seed ha,s not, 
 however, been realised. 
 
 An attempt, indeed, was made for the establishment of 
 laws ; and, as we have been assured, with especial reference 
 to the opinions above expressed. 
 
 Milosch, lilve Mehemet Ali of Egypt, was convinced that 
 the Code Napoleon was the most excellent of all law books, 
 and he declared himself willing to draw up Servian laws after 
 its model. 
 
 Accordingly the Code Napoleon was translated from the 
 German into the Servian language ; commentaries on it were 
 ordered from Yienna ; and a Polish version also was con- 
 
AS A 3I0DEL FOR SERVIAN LAWS. 251 
 
 suited. Tlie text thus obtained was examined by a com- 
 mission, in which Protitsch, Lasar Theodorovitsch, and Prota 
 Nenadovitsch took part. The compilation of the Servian 
 Code was intrusted to Wuk Karadschitsch and a secretary. 
 The ai-ticles were read in turn, and accepted, or if unsuitable, 
 laid aside. It was fortunate when their meaning happened 
 to be understood. A Polish lawyer who appeared before the 
 commissioners, rendered but slight assistance in the arrange- 
 ment ; as it frequently occurred that the strong plain sense 
 of the unlearned, more clearly penetrated the meaning of the 
 original. At length, in the autumn of 1830, the commis- 
 sioners had made such progress, that all the clerical and lay 
 dignitaries were summoned to hear the reading of the di-aft. 
 The legislative rulers accordingly assembled in an extensive 
 meadow, where the draft was read through, and, after a few 
 alterations, accepted. 
 
 This, there can be no doubt, was an imperfect work ; in 
 which the eyes of the scholar would have detected many 
 faults. Yet the establishing of these laws was very desir- 
 able. They would, at least, have acted as a check upon that 
 absolute sway which set all order at defiance, and would have 
 given the people some degi^ee of security. But after the 
 arrival of the Berate from Constantinople, they were for a 
 time no longer thought of, and things remained in their 
 wonted violent and tumultuous state. 
 
 The public power represented by Milosch did not yet dis- 
 tinctly acknowledge private rights. 
 
 Milosch took possession of whatever he pleased — fields, 
 houses, and mills — fixing the price himself He one day— 
 as though he were the proprietor, and without asking leave 
 of any one — burnt one of the suburbs of Belgi^ade, because 
 it was his intention to erect new buildings on the site. He 
 also continued to impose the most severe bond-service : the 
 peasants of Uschize had to come to Kragujevaz, to assist 
 him in his hay-harvest ; and the traders of Belgrade were 
 seen to close their shojDS that they might go to unload the 
 hay of the Knias.* 
 
 N'or were the people remunerated for the quartering and 
 
 * The most important document which has been published concerning 
 the^administration of Milosch, and the general feeling it excited, is a long 
 and explicit letter of Wuk Karadschitsch to Milosch, which appeared in 
 
252 ARBITRARY PROCEEDINGS OP MILOSCH. 
 
 provisions of the soldiers. Whilst the Turkish Tatars 
 (Couriers) were already beginning to pay for what they had, 
 the Servian messengers exacted their supplies gratuitously. 
 It was not unusual for a Momke to leave his tired horse in 
 the village, in charge of the bystanders, and take the first 
 he could find as a substitute in the interim. " I should like 
 to see," said one of the Prince's drivers, '' who would dare to 
 disobey his Highness;" and he immediately put the oxen of 
 the peasants to his carriage. 
 
 Under siich circumstances, it frequently occurred that the 
 public power was abused for personal advantage. What had 
 previously occasioned such great excitement against Mladen 
 and Miloie was repeated by Milosch, who endeavoured to 
 monopolise the most lucrative trade of the country — that of 
 dealing in swine. He enclosed the woods, wliich had hitherto 
 been common to all, for the purpose of keeping his own 
 cattle in them. A very extraordinary decree, by which the 
 giving credit was impeded, or even prohibited, was inter- 
 preted by the people into an intention on the part of Milosch 
 to prevent every sort of association, in order that he, as the 
 richest man in Servia, might monopolise the entire commerce 
 of the country. He appeared to consider that the power of 
 the Sultan had been delegated to him, and that consequently 
 he was absolute master over the land, the people, and their 
 property. 
 
 " A.m. I the master," he was heard to say, " and shall I not 
 be at liberty to do what I please ? " Indeed he was in- 
 variably designated Master in the country. 
 
 And woe to the man who opposed him, or appeared 
 dangerous to him ! He exercised his power of life and 
 death as despotically and as irresponsibly as any Turkish 
 Pacha. 
 
 Another principle of the Turkish system of government, 
 that the possessor of the chief authority should administer it 
 through the medium of his servants, was also adopted by 
 Milosch. His oflicers — and under this denomination were 
 now included the Kneses — were treated as slaves : they were 
 badly paid, and were raised to higher offices, and degTaded 
 to those of minor importance, without adequate cause ; so 
 
 the Servian and German languages, in the " Serbische Courier" of April 
 2b, 1843, and the following numbers. 
 
EGOTISM OF MILOSCH. 253 
 
 that it was difficult to distinguish the superior from the 
 inferior. They were also punished with stripes ; as were at 
 one time the officers of the Mongol Khans : men of rank are 
 known to have received personal chastisement, and yet after- 
 wards to have been appointed senators. 
 
 That sense of the honour attached to a public officer, on 
 which the modern German States are chiefly founded, was 
 altogether wanting in Servia. A public officer would rather 
 see ins daughter married to a mechanic or shopkeeper — to 
 say nothing of the settled peasantry, who were always much 
 preferred — than to any of his younger colleagues. Peoj^le 
 from Austrian Hungary who entered the Servian service 
 were mostly such as in their o^vn country were, from one 
 cause or another, without prospects and obliged to risk 
 something for their advancement. 
 
 No one had any reason to hope that personal merit would 
 insure his promotion. On the contrary, the conduct of 
 Milosch induced the belief that he was rather jealous of 
 superior talent : a species of egotism that has but rarely 
 occurred. He was anxious to be the most powerful, as well 
 as the only distinguished man in the country. 
 
 In the Hattischeriff of 1830, it was expressly declared 
 that he should administer the government of the country, 
 assisted by the Council of Elders; but Milosch was not the 
 person to abandon, at the bidding of the Grand Siguier, a 
 course of proceeding to which he had become habituated ; 
 and he did not even affisct compliance. 
 
 It must not, however, escape notice, that this jealousy of 
 the infringement of his absolute power, and his unmlling- 
 ness to permit any sort of rivalry, produced other conse- 
 quences. Milosch resisted a demand, the concession of which 
 would have given to the nation a government corresponding 
 v/ith the Turkish system, but a grade lower. As the Spahis, 
 up to the final settlement of aflairs, continued to collect 
 their tithes in person, and were considered the land-owners, 
 a desire was felt by those who were about the Knias to step 
 into their places, and to appear as the nev/ landlords in the 
 villages. 
 
 They represented to Milosch how difficult it vrould be 
 to govern the people without an intermediate power; and 
 what a beneficial aid, on the contrary, he would always 
 
254 CONSPIRACY AGAINST MILOSCH. 
 
 find in those whom he might invest with possession of 
 the soil, 
 
 "What dost thou mean to do," was asked of one, who 
 appeared particularly anxious to obtain a few villages as fiefs, 
 " shouldst thou receive the grant ? " "I should sit and 
 smoke," he answered, "until our master might require my 
 assistance, and then I would fly hither with my Momkes." 
 If they could have ruled the villages, they would v^dllingly 
 have allowed Milosch to retain, as his own property, the 
 crown lands which he now held as tenant. 
 
 One of the most important acts of this Servian Prince, 
 and that of the greatest moment for future times, was his 
 resistance of these solicitations. Although in other respects 
 imitating the Grand Signior, he still differed from him in 
 this, that he did not distribute any fiefs. He was deter- 
 mined that the abolition of the rights of landholders, the 
 income accruing from v^hich was added to the tribute paid 
 by the nation, should in return benefit the nation. 
 
 By proceeding thus, Milosch rendered incalculable service 
 to the Servian peasantry ; who acquired a degree of inde- 
 pendence such as sca.rcely any other peasantry enjoy. 
 Yet it is true this did not augment the number of his 
 adherents ; and as his conduct afforded Cc.use for many just 
 and well-founded complaints, a general murmur arose against 
 him, which he alone did not hear. 
 
 Milosch had nothing to fear from independent rivals in- 
 fluential in large districts : they were principally his friends 
 and adherents who conspired against him. 
 
 The first conspiracy against him was formed on the 
 occasion of a christening at the dwelling of Stojan Simitsch, 
 whom Milosch had appointed Knes of Krascheviiz, and pre- 
 sented with a Konak.* Stojan had long frequented the 
 house of Milosch, and by the cheerfulness of his disposition 
 was become an especial favourite with the children. The 
 consort of Milosch, accompanied by Ljubiza, who was to 
 stand godmother to the infant ; Abraham Petronievitsch ; 
 Milosav, Knes of Ressava ; and old Mileta Padoikovitsch, 
 vrho had been standard-bearer under Kara George, came to 
 Stojan Simitsch : Milutin Petrovitsch, a brother of the 
 
 * Palace. 
 
THE UNIVERSAL FEELING AGAINST HIM. 255 
 
 ITeyduc Yeliko, was also present, with some Momkes escort- 
 ing, the Princess. 
 
 During the clay, in presence of the Princess, the company 
 drank the health of the Prince. In the evening, however, 
 when they were alone, very different themes were discussed. 
 To their former subjects of complaint a new one was added ; 
 that Milosch seemed desirous to avoid the customaiy Diets : 
 as he had just then put off the one last appointed, although 
 he had solemnly promised that it should be held: 
 
 Milosav was the party who had the greatest influence on 
 the minds of the assembly. He was one of the richest men 
 in the country, possessing many farms, studs, and mills ; and 
 upon a former occasion, when the decree of the Knias was 
 made known — that all land was to be regarded as the j^ro- 
 perty of the Emperor and the highest authority— he had 
 spoken very warmly : observing, that any such enforcement 
 might one day cause bloodshed. 
 
 It may be recollected that, in Kara George's time, the 
 Diets — to which the Gospodars and Yoivodes brought as 
 many devoted friends as they could coUect — became the 
 scene of political conflicts. At the present period the 
 assembly had determined to meet in great numbers, at the 
 next Skupschtina, which was expected to be held ; and to 
 enforce, even by violence, if necessary, an alteration of the 
 oppressive government. 
 
 They well knew that the general feeling was in their favour. 
 Milutin Petrovitsch, though he belonged to the household of 
 the Prince, undertook to use his exertions to gain over one 
 district. He did not deem it necessary even to conceal his 
 intention ; but on their way home mentioned it to the 
 Princess, who, as soon as the first movement was observed, 
 disclosed to the Prhice what she had heard. 
 
 Milosch sent for Milutin, and reproached him for having 
 made so imgrateful a return for the benefits he had received. 
 Milutin answered, — the project had not been devised by him, 
 l3ut by others : "now, however," he added, "every one agrees 
 to it." "How so — every one ?" inquired Milosch. "Even 
 he who stands next thee," replied Milutin. This was the 
 favourite chief of Milosch ; an old Momke of the Prince's 
 family, named JoscjdIi. On a former occasion, Milosch had 
 already been warned of the danger into which his proceed- 
 
256 ASSEMBLING OF TROOPS. 
 
 ings would plunge him — for, in fact, the murmur against him 
 was universal ; but he had despised the warning. — " Is it 
 true, what Milutin says?" he inquired of the old man 
 Joseph. " My Prince," was the answer, " it is true ; the 
 people say they can no longer go on in their present state," 
 
 Milosch had hitherto proceeded altogether according to 
 his own caprice. He had thought that anything would be 
 permitted to him — that everjrfching would be allowed to pass. 
 He had derided Charles X., who would not have been 
 dethroned, he said, had the King understood how to reign, 
 as he did in Servia. He now saw a still worse fate await- 
 ing himself ; a defection as general, and even still more 
 personal. 
 
 Endowed with quickness of apprehension, he at once 
 comprehended the extent of his danger ; and perceiving th.e 
 superiority of his opj^onents, he immediately determined to 
 leave the country. 
 
 He was entreated, however, not to be too hasty : no one 
 desired to seize his person or his life ; the people did not 
 even wish to overthrow his government : they wanted only 
 security and their rights. 
 
 " If that be the case," said Milosch, " I will satisfy 
 them." 
 
 In the meantime the troops that had been assembled 
 in the different Nahies marched onwards to Kragujevaz. 
 Vutschitsch, who, in outward appearance at least, was still a 
 friend of the Prince, was there with some forces : he could 
 hardly, however, have defended the place against those who 
 were approaching, even had he been willing to exert him- 
 self ; having only about as many hundred men as his oppo- 
 nents had thousands. 
 
 Milosav, Abraham, and Mileta, therefore, entered Kra- 
 gujevaz unopposed.* It would be wrong to give credence 
 to the assertion that it was their intention to plunder the 
 town or the Konak of the Prince : on the contrary, Mileta, 
 a Servian of the old school, had threatened to put to death 
 with his own hand any one who should venture to hurt a 
 hail of another's head. 
 
 * January 8 (20), 1835: Avery full report in favour of the Chancery 
 of Milosch, from which doubtlessly it emanated, appeared in the Al]g, 
 Zeitung of October 13, 183f), and the following numbers. 
 
SKUPSCIITINA-OF 1835, 257 
 
 Miloscli, who was noAV neither able nor willing to oppose 
 the chiefs by force, requested them to send their men home ; 
 pledging himself that, at the next Sknpschtina, everything 
 should be arranged agreeably to their wishes. He even 
 went himself to meet them at Kragujevaz. His youngest 
 son had arrived there before him ; and at the head of the 
 Kneses, he returned to his father, demanding their pardon. 
 Milosch greeted them in friendly terms, and received them 
 in his residence at Kragujevaz. 
 
 Thus commenced the Skupschtina of the year 1835. It 
 was evident from the nature of events that the results would 
 be different from those of any by which it had been pre- 
 ceded. In every former instance, Milosch had come forward 
 as the conqueror — as the absolute master : now, on the 
 contrary, he appeared rather as the vanquished ; his adver- 
 saries being in the majority. 
 
 The speech with which he opened the Skupschtina, on the 
 2nd of February, 1835^ clearly explained the alteration 
 that had taken place. 
 
 In it he promised to limit his government, not only by 
 laws, but also by a kind of constitution ; that a statute 
 should be framed, in which the rights of the Servians should 
 be fixed as justice and humanity required : and especially 
 that personal liberty and property should be fully secured. 
 
 It had often been said, that Milosch alone was the govern- 
 ment of his country ; that with him it arose and went to 
 sleep ; that it travelled with him ; and that, some day, it 
 would also die with him. Now, he declared he would 
 appoint a Ministry, consisting of six administrators of 
 public affairs, answering to the established divisions of the 
 new State, who should be at all times bound to submit 
 public business to the consideration of a Senate, which he 
 designated the Council of State ; and that they should be 
 responsible to the nation as well as to himself. He appeared 
 willing to reserve to himself only the supreme superintend- 
 ence and confirmation of their edicts. Lastly, the jurisdic- 
 tion was no longer to be left to the arbitrary decision of the 
 judges, but was to be regiilated by fixed ^\Titten laws. What 
 the people had so long been aiming at, was at length to be 
 accomplished : Milosch declared himself to be amenable to 
 the laws. 
 
258 A NEW CHARTER. 
 
 It is remarkable, what ideas, flowing from tiie constitu- 
 tional movements of Europe, were now making their way into 
 this half-oriental state. These ideas involved the rights and 
 privileges of men — which especially comprehended security 
 of j^erson and property ; responsibility of ministers ; and, 
 lastly, that the Prince himself should be amenable to the 
 laws ; though, it is true, the laws had yet to be framed. 
 
 An independent share in the exercise of the public power 
 to be held by those who had formerly been regarded as infe- 
 riors, was at the same time to be connected with this. All 
 the Kneses, Councillors, and other officers, who had been 
 treated as servants — as slaves, even — were to appear as 
 participators in power by the side of the hitherto " Absolute 
 Master." 
 
 With this view a full and explicit Charter was drawn up ; 
 which, in fourteen chapters and one hundred and twenty- 
 two articles, embraced a new Servian Code of Laws, and 
 was accepted with all due solemnity. Numerous appoint- 
 ments were made, titles were distributed, stipends were 
 fixed : by one act Servia seemed to have been meta- 
 morphosed. 
 
 It is, however, one thing to frame regulations under some 
 strong momentary impulse, and another to carry them into 
 effect. 
 
 In Servia, enforcement of the new laws could not but be 
 attended with many serious difficulties. 
 
2j^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXir. 
 
 CHARTER OF 1838; FALL OF MILOSCH. 
 
 Opposition to the new Constitution. — Conduct of Miloscli. — His Mono- 
 polies. — Jephrem and Vutschitscli are expelled from Servia. — History 
 of Vutschitsch. — Dissatisfaction of Russia and the Porte with Milosch. 
 — An English Consul sent to Servia. — Abraham Petronievitsch. — 
 Charter of 1838. — The Senate is made superior to the Knias, — Milosch 
 is deprived of his absolute Power, — The exiles, Jephrem and Vuts- 
 chitsch, are nominated Senators. — The Servian Ministry. — Milosch 
 withdraws to Semlin. — He returns to Servia. — Movements in his 
 Favour. — Vutschitsch defeats th-^ Rebels. — He marches into Belgrade 
 at the Head of a large Army. — Milosch sentenced to Exile. — Abdica- 
 tion of Milosch in Favour of his Son, and his Retirement into Austria. 
 
 Properly speaking, nothing had yet been accomplislied : 
 excepting tliat an opposition, whose claims were only too 
 well founded, had forced itself into power, scarcely any 
 object had yet been attained. 
 
 That the new Constitution should be acknowledged and 
 carried into effect, could hardly have been expected, even 
 at the outset. 
 
 Already had its name, the analogy it bore to other Euro- 
 pean Constitutions, and its origin in a pojDular movement 
 resembhng a revolution, rendered it offensive to the two 
 great neighbouring EmjDires. 
 
 Besides this, it was not to be supposed that it could ever 
 be sanctioned by the approval of the Sultan. In it Milosch 
 had been designated Chief of all the Servians ; and at its 
 formation, people who were present from other countries — 
 especially some Bulgarians — had been considered as deputies 
 of their respective nations. Milosch seemed to consider 
 himself as the natural leader, if not of all the Christians, at 
 least of all the Sclavonians in the Turkish Empire. He 
 made no secret of his oj)inion, that a Christian Government 
 was also necessary for the other tribes of the Rayahs ; but 
 expressed it to every one who cared to listen. 
 
 If the Constitution, though yet imperfect, had really a 
 charm for the ambition of Milosch, the results which he 
 
 s 2 
 
260 MILOSCII'S RECEPTION AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 anticipated were yet distant ; whilst the restrictions to which 
 he must submit touched him closely : and to him those 
 restrictions were odious in the extreme. The opposition of 
 the Porte, and of the two other Powers, was, therefore, most 
 welcome to him : he continued to reign, as though the Con- 
 stitution had never been framed. 
 
 On a journey to Constantinople, which he undertook in 
 the summer of 1835, upon a wish expressed by the Porte, 
 (who is fond of bringing her vassals before her,) he met 
 with an apjoarently cordial recei^tion. In truth, he did not 
 spare his presents ; and Mahmoud is reported to have said, 
 " His presents are as noble as he is himself." He conse- 
 quently thought he might, without apj)rehension, continue 
 his accustomed mode of government. 
 
 In the autumn of 1835, his official Gazette proclaimed 
 that, in Servia, the Prince was the only Master ; that no 
 one besides himself had any claim to political power ; and 
 that the country foimd itself happy under the sway of the 
 monarchical principle. 
 
 That Milosch would not suffer any rival near him, was a 
 point of little importance, had he only avoided those acts 
 which had formerly attracted general odium. 
 
 But he became, if possible, yet more inflexible : his mono- 
 polies, for instance, were rendered still more systematic. 
 
 It is calculated that the country requires annually 
 thii-ty millions of okas of salt from "Wallachia. Without 
 possessing even the pretext of a right of such an act, he 
 imported the entire quantity from Wallachia, and caused it 
 to be sold by his own people ; nor would he allow any one 
 else in the country to offer salt for sale. 
 
 He also claimed the exclusive right of exporting many 
 articles ; collecting them in the country according to his 
 own pleasure, and fixing the prices he was disposed to pay. 
 
 This produced a still more unfavourable impression ; as 
 the money which he thus gained he expended out of the 
 country. For instance, he purchased land in Wallachia : as 
 though he did not consider property secure in Servia. Thus, 
 the advantage which he had formerly pointed out as the 
 gi'eatest derivable from the newly obtained privileges — that 
 Servia should henceforth be governed by men who were 
 determined to live and die with her — seemed no lono;er to 
 
VUTSCHITSCH. 2C1 
 
 influence liim ; at least where his own individual interests 
 were concerned. 
 
 It is true, he recommenced the compilation of written 
 lavy's, which for a long time had been laid aside. Two 
 Austrian-Servians, possessing a tolerable knowledge of juris- 
 prudence, were engaged in this work; but its completion 
 was yet distant, and in the interim the old form of despotism 
 prevailed. 
 
 As already remarked, the effects of the Turkish system 
 of government remained so strong that the first and simplest 
 l^rinciple — security of person and property — was not yet 
 established. 
 
 It is unnecessary to sum up the manifold violations of law 
 which have been reported with a greater or less degree of 
 truth : the fact is undoubted. It was not long before 
 Milosch again considered his power sufficiently confirmed 
 and strengthened to attack even his most influential enemies, 
 who had formerly endeavoured to circumscribe his authority. 
 
 George Protitsch, who had on one occasion received per- 
 sonal chastisement, but was afterwards appointed a member 
 of the National Senate, did not at first take part in the 
 conspiracy of Kruschevaz ; subsequently, however, he became 
 as zealous in the cause as others were. It was said, that he 
 had advised his party in the first place to rid themselves by 
 whatever means might offer, of the Knias ; who would other- 
 wise be sure to take his revenge. It was by flight, in the 
 year 1836, that he escaped the ruin which, in consequence, 
 threatened him. 
 
 The Prince entertained hatred almost as violent for his 
 own brother Jephrem, who had formerly assisted very 
 actively in his administration, but had for a considerable 
 time sided with the Opposition; and who, in 1837, was 
 obliged to leave the coimtry together v/ith Yutschitsch : to 
 Yv^hom our attention must now be directed. 
 
 Thoma Peritschitsch, called Yutschitsch, was one of the 
 favourite Momkes of the Prince, since the time that he had 
 joined him from the party of Hadji Prodan. During this 
 period, however, he occasionally fell into disgrace, and found 
 himself obliged to leave the Prince ; and, even after he had 
 been made a Knes and had rendered important services 
 against Djak, no one experienced more frequent alternations 
 
262 SECOND ATTEMPT AGAINST MILOSCH. 
 
 of favour and disgi'ace. Nor were these unmixed with 
 jealousy on the part of Milosch : for soon after the victory- 
 referred to, Yutschitsch was compelled to flee into Wallachia, 
 whence he returned to be appointed Grand Sirdar. 
 
 A short time after this, he is found in exile at Semendria, 
 whence he was recalled to fill an appointment in the retinue 
 of the Prince's consort. He also played a prominent part at 
 Schabaz ; where, it appears, he had committed some impro- 
 priety. Milosch despatched one of his most devoted and 
 resolute Momkes, with an order to bring him back, dead or 
 alive. The Momke entered Yutschitsch's apartment with a 
 l^istol in one hand and fetters in the other, and demanded 
 which he would choose. Vutschitsch only inquired by 
 whose order this threat was made ; and when the Momke 
 answered, by that of the Prince, he, without resistance, put 
 forth his feet to receive the fetters. In this manner he was 
 brought into the presence of the Prince ; who then pardoned 
 him, and ajo pointed him member of the Supreme Court of 
 Justice: and even, as we have stated, intrusted him with the 
 defence of Kragujevaz. But he offered no forcible opposition 
 to the approaching army of the conspirators; and thus 
 excited a much deeper feeling of anger, which could not be 
 easily appeased. At the distribution of the Turkish marks 
 of distinction, which Milosch had brought with him from 
 Constantinople^ Yutschitsch, contrary to his expectations, 
 saw himself passed over ; and in an article of the " Allege- 
 meine Zeitung," which was considered official, he was in 
 plain terms designated a traitor, who had given up the town 
 to the insurgents. When this was read to him, he placed 
 his hand on his dagger;, and exclaimed, " Whenever it shall 
 be our turn to write, this shall be our pen ! " This speech is 
 characteristic of his disposition. Yutschitsch can neither 
 read nor write : he is not fond of speaking, even of his own 
 deeds. He possesses a sound imderstanding, and a firm 
 spirit ; is considered courageous, resolute, and merciless ; and 
 is justly dreaded. 
 
 It excited no surprise, that those who liad fled, as well as 
 those remaining in the country, wlio might expect a fate 
 similar to that of Yutschitsch, should unite all their efforts 
 in a second attempt against Milosch. 
 
 It was obvious to them that nothmg could be obtained by 
 
ENGLISH CONSUL IN SERVIA. 263 
 
 an open revolt of the people ; nor by the renewal of an 
 attempt to establish a Constitution which had been rejected 
 by the great Powers ; yet they hoped that means might 
 be found to render the Sultan, as well as the Court of 
 Hussia, favourable to a change. 
 
 It was of advantage to the enemies of the Knias, that 
 neither Russia nor the Porte was satisfied ^vith his political 
 administration. 
 
 The Porte considered that after she had confirmed Milosch 
 in his station, he no longer maintained allegiance. She was 
 of opinion that he had been on too good terms with her 
 rebellious subject, the Scodrabashaw ; and that, upon the 
 whole, he was not favourable to the extension of the Sultan's 
 power. It was offensive to her in the highest degree that 
 Milosch should so unflinchingly support the princijDle of 
 Servian independence, and not allow her own fimctionaries 
 any participation in the government. 
 
 Any one who, during Milosch's stay at Constantinople, 
 could have anticipated future events, might have perceived 
 that the magnificence of his presents served only to excite 
 ill will against him. Even some of those by whom he was 
 accompanied brought complaints against him, and found 
 many ready to listen to their grievances : and, perhaps, 
 obtained, at that very time, the promise that, in case of 
 need, they should find support. 
 
 Milosch wished for another Firman, and he obtained it ; 
 but, finding it so little in accordance with his wishes, he was 
 not inclined to make it publicly known. His adversaries, 
 however, were acquainted with its contents : for it had been 
 framed at their suggestion ; and they, in consequence, more 
 confidently indulged in the hope of soon finding themselves 
 in a position to rise against their Chief. 
 
 Considerations of a different natiu^ niay, at tliis moment, 
 have influenced the Court of Kussia, 
 
 These events occurred at the time of a serious disunion 
 between Russia and the tv^o great Western Powers, England 
 and France. Their estrangement had principally originated 
 in the existing state of Eastern affairs, which was still the 
 subject of dissension : war seemed continually on the point 
 of breaking out. It was not without some object in view 
 that England had sent a consul to Servia ; where he expe- 
 
2G4 TURKISH INQUIRY. 
 
 rienced the most favourable reception from Miloscli. Com- 
 mercial subjects were discussed, wliicli agreed well with the 
 monopolising system of the Servian Prince : and a perma- 
 nent union accordingly appeared desirable to both parties. 
 
 On fonner occasions Milosch had displayed jDeculiar dex- 
 terity in steering, amidst the shoals which impeded his 
 course, through the opposing interests of the different 
 Powers, and without exciting their enmity. But now he 
 evinced an inclination Avhich, and it cannot excite surprise, 
 gave offence at St. Petersburg : it was impossible that the 
 authorities there should observe, without dissatisfaction, that 
 in those inland regions, a foreign influence, frequently in 
 opposition to them, was about to be established. 
 
 But the point of greatest moment was, that the outrages 
 of which the Knias was accused were flagrant and unde- 
 niable. In the year 1837 a high Eussian dignitary, of an 
 ancient family, visited Servia for the purpose of seriously and 
 urgently warning the Prince. 
 
 At length, also, inquiry was made from Constantinople, as 
 to the cause of their being so many malcontents in Servia ; 
 and the Prince was required to send a deputation to the 
 Porte, for the final regulation of the interior administration 
 of the country. 
 
 The discord of the European Powers, which occupied the 
 world, had slightly touched upon these concerns, if it had 
 not actually influenced them. The English consul was cer- 
 tainly in favour of an extension of the princely power in Servia ; 
 and it is aflirmed, with much credibility, that the instructions 
 of France were to support Milosch. Their joint opinion 
 was, that in a country like Servia — in a state little above 
 barbarism — a strong and severe exercise of power was indis- 
 pensable. 
 
 Thus the Constitutional States were in favour of an abso- 
 lute Prince ; whilst the absolute Powers contended for a 
 restriction of his authority. 
 
 Under their combined influence, a short time before, limits 
 had been prescribed to the powers of the Gospodars of the 
 two Principalities. This was efi'ected by an edict, precisely 
 detailing the regulations for the government, and at the 
 same time conceding advantages to their general assemblies. 
 
 With respect to Servian affiirs, the hands of Piissia were 
 
ABRAHAM PETRONIEVITSCH. 2G5 
 
 entirely free. She had never interfered in favour of the 
 Prince in authority at the time ; but had only guaranteed 
 .•hat the country should enjoy the rights of a free internal 
 administration. 
 
 The Porte, it is true, had granted to Milosch the govern- 
 ing power for his lifetime ; and to his family the right of 
 succession ; but in her HattischeriiT it was expressly stated 
 that the Prince should rule with the assistance of the Council 
 of the Elders. She thought proper now to refer to this 
 stipulation, and to carry it into effect. 
 
 It was an unfavourable omen for Milosch, that the Porte 
 demanded the admission of Petronievitsch into the deputa- 
 tion ; for he had complained of the Prince's proceedings, and 
 was one of his declared enemies. 
 
 Abraham Petronievitsch was the son of one of those 
 Servians who entered the service at the outbreak of the 
 Austrian war of 1787 : his father being a subaltern officer 
 of the corps of volunteers. He himself had been brought up 
 for a merchant, but not proving successful in this pursuit, he 
 returned to Servia. There he made such progress in the 
 Chancery Court — in a great measure owing to his knowledge 
 of Greek — that he soon became a person of some importance. 
 For a time he served the Prince as Predstavnik (chamber- 
 lain), and considered himself his Kiaja ; but the closer the 
 connection between them, the more irreconcilable his enmity 
 became after the rupture of 1835. He is described as a good- 
 natured man, not liking to give a refusal to any one ; but if 
 called upon to act, he would do so only in conjunction with 
 others. He had acquired some influence with the Turks ; 
 having shown himself skilful and subtle during the long 
 detention of the Servian deputation of 1820. He might be 
 considered as the leader of those who endeavoured, by found- 
 ing a new form of government under the auspices of the two 
 Courts, to protect themselves against the danger they were 
 threatened with from Milosch. 
 
 It was in vain that Milosch hoped to counteract the efforts 
 of his opponents, by the zealous aid of a devoted friend whom 
 he placed in the deputation ; or through the influence of the 
 English consul : the direction which events were to take had 
 already been determined. 
 
 The Servian deputies and the Porte — not without the 
 
2GG THE POPETSCHITELI. 
 
 participation of the Russian Court, wliicli was informed of all 
 that passed, and gave its consent- — now framed a Charter for 
 Servia ; the tendency of which was, to yield only a limited 
 degree of power to the Prince ; who had hitherto acted just 
 as he thought fit. It is true, the execution of the laws, the 
 fulfilment of the juridical verdicts, the right of pardoning, the 
 nomination of dignitaries, the raising of the imposts, the 
 suj)reme command of the army, were all conferred on him 
 in honourable and flattering terms. Moreover, the Charter 
 directed that the Senate, which was formed for him, should 
 assist him with its counsel. But the Senate was invested 
 with rights which far exceeded those of the Prince. 
 
 The Prince was to superintend the collectors of the im- 
 posts j but the Senate had to estimate the amount of expen- 
 diture, and to fix the ways and means for raising the 
 supplies. No tax could be levied without the sanction of 
 the Senate. 
 
 Hence it followed, that the Senate had also the regulation 
 of the number and pay of the troops ; the salaries of public 
 functionaries ; and the creation of new offices. 
 
 The legislative power was almost exclusively allotted to 
 the Senate. When it had consulted respecting laws wliich 
 it might consider beneficial, and had come to a determination 
 by a majority of votes, the statute, signed by the president, 
 was to be laid before the Prince. No order was to be 
 issued without the consent of the Senate having been ob- 
 tained. 
 
 In all disputes regarding rights and laws, the Senate had 
 to pronounce the final verdict. 
 
 The responsibility of the supreme administration was carried 
 to the utmost extent. The Prince had the appointing of 
 four Popetschiteli ; of whom one presided over the Depart- 
 ment of Foreign Affiiirs ; another administered the Home 
 Department ; the third the Finances ; and the fourth Justice 
 and Education. These departments were kept entirely dis- 
 tinct from each other. Every act of the government had to 
 be signed by one of the Popetschiteli. Annually, in March, 
 they were required to submit to the Senate a report of 
 all the business that had come before them in the course 
 of the preceding year, with the necessary vouchers, in 
 order that the details might be discusssed. The public 
 
NATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE. 267 
 
 accounts were also to be placed before the Senate for exami- 
 nation. 
 
 This Senate, consisting of seventeen members, agreeing 
 with the number of Nahies, was, it is true, to be nominated 
 by Milosch ; but it was then to be considered as a perma- 
 nent body. ISTo member could be dismissed, unless proved 
 before the Sublime Porte to have been guilty of transgressing 
 the laws. 
 
 What Louis XVIII., upon his entry into France, said of 
 the project submitted to him by the Senate appointed by 
 Napoleon — "the Senate would sit, whilst he, the King, would 
 have to stand before them" — was in this case realized ; though 
 under circumstances widely different. A Senate, the mem- 
 bers of which he had not the power of dismissing, was 
 henceforth to restrict the independence of the Servian Prince 
 within the narrowest possible limits ; and was to possess the 
 virtual authority. 
 
 The judges, also, could not be dismissed, any more than 
 the Senators ; unless charges brought against them should be 
 legally established. 
 
 The other of&cials were no longer subject to the absolute 
 sway that had hitherto existed : henceforth they could be 
 punished only after solemn evidence of their guilt.* 
 
 Many other remarkable regulations, to be mentioned here- 
 after, were comprised in this Charter. At present we have 
 only to bear in mind — and to this point attention was exclu- 
 sively directed — that on its arrival in Servia, in the early 
 part of the year 1839, Milosch was to be deprived of the 
 absolute power which he at that moment enjoyed. The 
 greater part of his authority was to pass into the hands of 
 those whom he had hitherto regarded as his servants. 
 
 The change which took place was so sudden and so exten- 
 sive, that, after the election of the Senate, wliich had been 
 appointed under the Charter, Milosch could no longer exert 
 any influence ; being subject to the will of the members of 
 the National Court of Justice ; who even usurped his power 
 of nominating the Senate. In the National Court of Justice 
 they only had a seat who agreed on every point ^vith the pre- 
 scribed order of the Charter : viz., that those whom the 
 
 * In the Appendix, I have given the Charter, from an authentic 
 translation. — Tran s. 
 
2G8 THE CHARTER INSUPOPRTABLE TO MILOSCH. 
 
 Prince appointed must be men of wealth and distinction, and 
 enjoying public esteem. Tlie recollection of the rights of 
 the Senate still continued to be connected with this tri- 
 bunal. 
 
 The very men whom Milosch had last sent into exile, but 
 who had since returned — Vutschitsch and Jephrem, leaders 
 of the Opposition — were the first Senators nominated. 
 Amongst the whole seventeen who were elected, there was 
 not one who could be considered friendly to the Prince. 
 
 Nor was Milosch better pleased respecting the Ministry 
 which he was to appoint. Abraham Petronievitsch, who 
 may be considered as the principal author of the Charter in 
 its latest form (but who had been on various points, in favour 
 of the Constitution formerly agreed uj)on), was charged with 
 the administration of Foreign Affairs. To George Protitsch 
 — who, after the events of 1835, had been the first to en- 
 counter the vengeance of the Prince— was intrusted the 
 administration of the Interior. 
 
 It may readily be imagined that the Knias, who for so 
 many years had been accustomed to receive implicit obe- 
 dience, found it quite insupportable to submit to this order 
 of things. 
 
 To offer open and violent resistance was not, however, his 
 usual mode of proceeding ; and at this time it would have 
 proved the less practicable, a,3 the Powers had already sanc- 
 tioned the Statute or Charter. It seemed more advisable for 
 him to cause a movement, which might appear a voluntary 
 one, and oppose to the ordinances of the higher Powers the 
 wish and will of the nation ; whose right of election had been 
 guaranteed by the former Treaties. 
 
 Milosch had, in reality, no inconsiderable number of 
 adherents amongst the peasantry : who were mostly indebted 
 to him, and had suffered less by his tyrannical proceecliiigs : 
 being far removed from his influence. It was of no advan- 
 tage to them that the officials whom he had hitherto re- 
 strained were to become independent : they were told, and 
 they re-echoed the assertion, that they would henceforth have 
 seventeen masters instead of one. Milosch hoped the pea- 
 sants would rise in his favour, so soon as the slightest move- 
 ment should be apparent. 
 
 But the clamour airainst him novr burst forth in a thou- 
 
JO VAN TAKEN PRISONER. 269 
 
 sand accusations, just and unjust ; and 23eople spoke of calling 
 him to account for liis expenditure of the public money. 
 Either from apprehension that he was no longer safe, or ani- 
 mated by other hopes, Milosch suddenly passed over into the 
 parlatorium of Semh'n ; declaring that he would not return, 
 unless his bitterest enemies, Jephrem and Yutschitsch, were 
 removed, and he himself were entirely exonerated from 
 accounting for the past. At length, however, he was per- 
 suaded to return without these concessions being granted. 
 But at the same time, reports were spread that a movement, 
 directed against the Charter, had commenced at Kragujevaz 
 and in other remote places. Milosch offered to allay the ex- 
 citement and bring the people back to reason ; but no one 
 doubted that he himself had secretly kmdled the fire ; and 
 instead of his being allowed to take the field, at the head of 
 the troops, a watchful eye was kept upon him. 
 
 Hence it could not be expected that the re-action would at 
 its commencement prove successful. The legality of its 
 position was in favoui' of the Senate. Milosch himself had 
 to confer his princely power on Yutschitsch, to fight against 
 the rebels ; and Yutschitsch now led the troops which were 
 intrusted to him, far better than the hostile chiefs led theirs. 
 
 The adherents of the Prince, who had appeared in the 
 field in considerable numbers, with artillery and cavalry, 
 were encamped on an open part of the forest, when Yuts- 
 chitsch surjDiised them. He closed up all the outlets by 
 barricades of trees ; so that they could neither deploy their 
 cavalry, nor bring their artillery to bear ; and having no 
 provisions, they were obliged to surrender without resist- 
 ance. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Krag-ujevaz, Milosch's brother, 
 Jovan, was taken prisoner, wliilst employed in collecting 
 more men. He did not deny that it was he who had brought 
 the troops into the field, with the view of re-establishing the 
 authority of his brother. 
 
 Under these circumstances, no one came forward in favour 
 of Milosch. The senate had sent proclamations into all the 
 Nahies, to stir up the people against him ; and Yutschitsch 
 soon saw himself at the head of several thousand soldiers. 
 With a choice of the most daring men — ^who might be con- 
 
270 ABDICATION OF MILOSCH. 
 
 siderecl as representatives ol the whole army — he hastened 
 back to Belgrade, determined to bring the affair summarily 
 to an end. Halting at an inn, an hour's journey distant 
 from Belgrade, the mother of a priest, who had recently 
 been sentenced to death by Milosch, ai)peared with her hair 
 dishevelled, demanding justice and revenge. 
 
 Some Senators advanced to meet the commander, and 
 arranged with him the measures to be taken ; and at the 
 head of a victorious troop, ready for fresh acts of resistance, 
 they all entered Belgrade. 
 
 After the first encounter, the horses of the vanquished 
 cavalry had been led in triumph before the residence of 
 Milosch ; and the completion of his defeat was now announced 
 to him by the removal of the guards from his house, and from 
 that of his Consort. 
 
 For some time past, the Princess Ljubiza had sided with 
 the opposition, rather than with her husband ; from whose 
 tyranny she also had been a sufferer. When Milosch called 
 her attention to the fact, that, despite of her favouring his 
 opponents, the guard of honour had been taken from her also, 
 she burst into tears : she had never thought that affairs would 
 proceed to such a length. 
 
 The adversaries of Milosch all agTeed on one point : that 
 he could no longer continue their Prince. Some even sug- 
 gested that he should be put to death ; as the only means of 
 ensuring their safety. But others considered that it would 
 be an everlasting disgxace to the nation, were they to sacrifice 
 the man whom they had so long obeyed as their ruler ; and 
 they accordingly came to the determination that he should 
 be sent into exile. 
 
 Vutschitsch, completely armed, and surrounded by Momkes, 
 went to his ho'eise to inform him of this decision. He told 
 him that the nation would no longer have liim as its head : 
 if Milosch wished it, he would call the assembled multitude, 
 who would confirm his assertion. Milosch answered, — " If 
 they no longer desii'e to have me, it is well : I will not obtrude 
 myself further upon them." 
 
 Upon this, an instrument was drawn up, in Avhich Milosch 
 formally abdicated in favour of his eldest son.* 
 
 13th June, 1839. Given by Boue, iv. 359. 
 
MILOSCH TAKES REFUGE IN AUSTRIA. 271 
 
 He uttered not a -word, wlien, accompanied by some sena- 
 tors, who showed no personal enmity to him, he proceeded 
 towards the Save, to cross over into the Austrian territory. 
 Several of his attendants, and even some of the senators were 
 moved to tears ; and it was said that Yutschitsch wept on 
 their departure, and that they left many behind sorrowing. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 MICHAEL OBRENOVITSCH. 
 
 Causes of Milosch's Downfall. — His eldest Son, Milan, being in ill health, 
 does not assume the princely Power. — Vutschitsch with others form a 
 provisional Government. — Dissensions among them. — Michael, the 
 second Son of Milosch, succeeds at the Death of Milan. — The Porte 
 includes Yutschitsch and Petronievitsch in the Government. — 
 Disturbances among the People. — Their Demands are acceded to in 
 part. — Arrival of a Turkish Commissary. — He retires with some of 
 the Malcontents. — Excellent designs of Stephen Raditschevitsch. — 
 They excite much Opposition. — Complaints against the Government of 
 Michael. — Family Disunion. — The Seat of Government is transferred 
 to Belgrade. — General Discontent. — A Movement against Michael 
 commences. — Vutschitsch rouses the People. — Temporary Successes of 
 the Government. — Michael is, however, compelled by his Troops to 
 negotiate. — Policy of Vutschitsch. — INIichael refuses to grant his De- 
 mands. — His Troops disperse. — He is forced to retreat, and take 
 refuge in Austria. — Vutschitsch enters Belgrade, and assumes the 
 supreme Power. 
 
 Thus was overthrown a government raised up by the force 
 of events, and which had, through its innate power, exercised 
 the supreme authority. 
 
 It is evident that the Porte had regained her influence, in 
 opposition to that spirit of independence which had already 
 become externally offensive to her ; by assisting a party 
 (scarcely before heard of in Europe) in the victory it had 
 obtained ; by prescribing a charter which embraced all the 
 departments of public affairs ; and by directing her Pacha to 
 see that it was carried into effect. 
 
'572 DEATH OF MILAIS'. 
 
 Thougli the assertion may seem paradoxical, we are not 
 yet warranted in saying that a retrograde step had been taken 
 in the path of emancipation from the Turkish power. 
 
 It is an undeniable fact^ that Milosch was attached to 
 notions which he had imbibed under the .former rule ; and, 
 through his intercourse with so many Pachas, possessing un- 
 restrained authority, he had attempted to reign according to 
 the old unreformed system of the Ottoman Empire. It is 
 one of the most remarkable combinations of circumstances, 
 that the Porte herself, in conjunction with his adversaries, 
 should have been compelled to impose laws restricting his 
 power ; which laws, however, had not been framed by her, 
 but were based upon forms peculiar to the Western States. 
 
 We do not mean to assert that the opponents of Milosch 
 were men advanced in civilization, or possessing peculiarly 
 enlightened minds : but they adopted the Western ideas as a 
 means for their o\vn deliverance. What Milosch had neg- 
 lected to perform, as Master and Prince — for he was more 
 powerful under the ancient system — the Opposition now 
 took upon themselves ; since it was the course most condu- 
 cive to their own personal advantage. 
 
 But public affairs had been so disturbed by these changes, 
 that they could not speedily be brought back into a peaceful 
 course of progress. 
 
 Correctly speaking, Milan, the eldest son of the exiled 
 Prince — in whose favour Milosch had abdicated, and who, 
 under the Hattischeriff, was unquestionably entitled to suc- 
 ceed him — never came into possession of his father's power. 
 He was so ill at the time, that it was thought best to conceal 
 from him his father's misfortune ; and there was no difficulty 
 in so doing : he was merely informed that the Prince had 
 gone upon a journey on business, out of the country, and had 
 left him behind as his representative. If at any time a con- 
 gratulatory word reached his ear, he understood it was 
 addressed to liim only as holding that power temporarily ; 
 and he died without having known that he was Prince of 
 Servia. 
 
 During this period, Vutschitsch, Pctronievitsch, and 
 Jephrem, carried on the government, with the sanction of 
 the Porte. 
 
 A 2^erfect understanding did not always exist amongst 
 
MICHAEL ELECTED PRINCE. 273 
 
 them. At the first Skupschtina, assembled immediately after 
 the abdication of the Prince, Jephrem had the mortification 
 of finding that the salary formerly allowed him under his 
 brother was to be much reduced : this he laid to the charge 
 of his two colleagues ; who, indeed, ajDpeared unable to forget 
 that they had once been compelled to kiss the hem of his 
 brother's robe. 
 
 After Milan's death, the question arose, whether it would 
 not be desirable to discard the family of Obrenovitsch alto- 
 gether ? Michael, a younger son of the prince, was still 
 alive : but many persons considered the terms of the Berate 
 did not imply that the succession had been expressly secured 
 to him. 
 
 As yet, however, they knew not whom to elect in his 
 stead. It is possible that the Porte might have accepted 
 Petronievitsch, whom she knew to be her friend; or, the 
 nation might have preferred Vutschitsch, who was admired 
 for his bravery and heroism. But there were not sufficient 
 grounds for the preference of one to the other; and as 
 neither of them possessed a greater right to the succession 
 than other leaders, most of the chiefs would have been 
 diBsatisiied at the selection. 
 
 The Senate at length determined, at the instance of 
 Mileta, and Simitsch, to solicit that the young Michael 
 should be their Prince. 
 
 For some time Milosch seemed to hesitate about parting 
 with his son ; but he finally consented. 
 
 The Porte did not object to this choice ; though she 
 availed herself of the opportunity afibrded by the issue of a 
 new Berate, to avoid mentioning the princely dignity as 
 hereditary : and, indeed, we cannot ascertain that it was even 
 stated to be for life. 
 
 This vestige of power, producing a change so much to her 
 own advantage, the Porte conferred on the young Prince, 
 who was then in WaUachia, by one of her chief officers ; he 
 was received in the handsomest manner when he came to 
 Constantinople, and escorted to the Servian boundary by the 
 same officer.* 
 
 On considering the general state of aflfairs, it seems pos- 
 sible that a peaceful and progressive government might then 
 Michael arrived on the 12th Hklarch, 1840. 
 
274 RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED BY THE PORTE. 
 
 have Leeii called into existence ; since the young Prince, not 
 vet accustomed to the enjoyment of power, was resolved to 
 rule according to the statutes. Moreover, his party had a 
 majority in the Senate ; and amongst the people, they who 
 were attached to the name of Milosch, as well as those who 
 were anxious for a relaxation of the severe regulations of 
 the government, seemed well satisfied. 
 
 But difficulties immediately arose, with which the new 
 administration had to struggle. 
 
 To ensure her friends against any sort of reaction, and to 
 reward their zeal, the Porte judged it right to place by the 
 side of the young Prince — although she had acknowledged 
 him to be of age — the two powerful Chiefs, Yutschitsch and 
 Petronievitsch, as official Counsellors : without whose con- 
 sent he was not to perform any public act. Michael did not 
 receive any intimation of this at Constantinople ; it was only 
 at Alexinaz, on the Servian frontier, that he was informed 
 of the arrangement by the EfFendi who accompanied him. 
 
 But did not the Porte herself, by this measure, open the 
 way to a new contest ? Some time previously the nation 
 had been granted the right of electing their own magistrates ; 
 the nomination of functionaries had also, in the Charter, 
 been granted to the Prince ; and the creation of new offices 
 to the Senate. What right, then, had the Porte to impose 
 further restrictions on the Prince, (whose legal authority 
 was already so much reduced,) by Counsellors who were thus 
 thrust upon him ? 
 
 Every one felt the injustice of this ; and public opinion, 
 which even in Servia had already become sensitive with 
 respect to national rights, showed itself very unfavourable 
 to the two chieftains. 
 
 The Senate was adverse to such an arrangement ; and the 
 elders of the villages, also, who had come to Belgrade to 
 salute their new Master, being assembled according to their 
 districts in the court-yard of the Senate-house, declared 
 themselves against it, by a large majority. 
 
 Encouraged by this declaration, the avowed partisans of 
 the former Prince came forward. 
 
 A large number of the peasants contended that they were 
 better governed by one ruler, who had procured them peace, 
 than by so many : all of whom would be desirous of amass- 
 
MOVEMENT IN FAVOUR OF MILOSCH. 2tO 
 
 ing riclies at tlieir expense. " One ditcli," they were heard 
 to say, " they had already filled ; now, seventeen new ones 
 were to be opened for them." Under the elders of the 
 villages and the Kneses (though the Kneses rather inclined 
 towards the other side,) armed crowds collected in many 
 parts of the country, and made three demands : namely, the 
 removal of the seat of government to Kragujevaz, where it 
 would be safer and more independent than at Belgrade ; a 
 judicial prosecution against Yutschitsch and Petronievitsch ; 
 and, lastly, the recall of their former Prince. 
 
 The new government, principally led by Jephrem and 
 George Protitsch, spared no pains for the suppression of this 
 movement, which was far from being welcome to them : but 
 their efibrts were in vain. Protitsch, who himself went 
 into the districts, was even detained by the peasants. At 
 length, Michael returned the following answer : — that the 
 recall of his father was a question which depended not upon 
 himself, but upon the Porte ; that whatever lay in his own 
 power he would willingly do towards removing the seat of 
 government back to Kragujevaz ; and that as for bringing 
 Yutschitsch and Petronievitsch to trial, they should either 
 clear themselves or be subjected to punishment. 
 
 Thus, those who had even hoped to govern the country, 
 saw themselves threatened with a trial ; which, considering 
 the prevailing feeling, might cost them their lives : they, 
 therefore, judged it expedient to withdraw into the fortress, 
 under the protection of the Pacha. 
 
 Some others, also, who, though not declared enemies of 
 the Obrenovitsches, had always opposed them, began to fear 
 the restoration of IMilosch's authority : they refused to follow 
 the government, which had now been actually removed to 
 Kragujevaz ; and also retired into the fortress. These were 
 Stojan Simitsch, Garaschanin, Prota Nenadovitsch, Lasar 
 Theodorovitsch, Stephan Stephanovitsch, and their adhe- 
 rents ; all of whom were readily received by the Pacha, 
 and taken under his protection. 
 
 At a Skupschtina at Toptschider the difficulties in which 
 the government of Michael was involved, through the 
 agency of these contending parties became apparent. 
 
 From Branitschevo, as well as from Uschize, the partisans 
 of Milosch rose in open rebellion : they considered it to be 
 
 t2 
 
276 GOVERNMENT OF MICHAEL. 
 
 entirely the fault of Jephrem and Protitsch that their exiled 
 Prince was not allowed to return ; and they, in consequence, 
 determined to overthrow them ; and, in fact, to put them 
 to death. 
 
 On the other hand, there appeared a Turkish Commissary, 
 Musa Effendi, who demanded the re-establishment in office of 
 the men who had taken refuge in the fortress, with full 
 guarantee for their safety. 
 
 Even in Servia, a sort of juste milieu was necessary ; not 
 so much with reference to political opinions as to the oppo- 
 sing of personal interests : one party endeavouring to carry 
 their point through the authority of the Porte, the other 
 by means of a national rebellion. 
 
 At this juncture, the government of Michael displayed 
 great force and energy. 
 
 IMitschitsch, the only one of the Kneses who, up to that 
 time, had sought for the restoration of Milosch, appeared at 
 the Skupschtina with a number of followers, who had no 
 right to be present : he was compelled, not only to dismiss 
 his people, but even to take part in an expedition which had 
 been undertaken against the other rebels ; who were easily 
 dispersed without the occurrence of any serious collision. 
 Tlie men acknowledged that they had been misguided by 
 their leaders, who were, therefore, made prisoners. 
 
 Nor were the demands of the Turkish Commissary 
 complied with ; he was told, with almost offensive abrupt- 
 ness, that, through the Hattischeriff, the Sultan had j^ledged 
 himself that there should be no interference with the in- 
 ternal concerns of Servia. Musa Effendi, consequently, 
 judged it advisable to remove from the country those who 
 had sought refuge in the fortress, and to take them with 
 him. Some of the refugees accompanied him only as far as 
 Yiddin : amongst the number, even an inoffensive poet ; 
 others went on to Constantinople, where they were main- 
 tained at the expense of the Porte : who, however, reserved 
 to herself the right of obtaining a pecuniary settlement 
 from Servia at some future period. Now, for the first time, 
 the government of Michael was comparatively at ease : it 
 had cleared away difficulties on both sides, and was con- 
 sequently able to devote more attention to the promotion of 
 the public welfare. 
 
STEPHEN RADITSCHEVITSCH. 277 
 
 It "would not be correct to say that the government had 
 mistaken its duty ; or, that it had not in reality thought of 
 emancipating itself more completely from the Turkish sys- 
 tem, and of advancing to a higher state of civilization. 
 
 Stephen Raditschevitsch, a right minded man, and not 
 without abilities, was intrusted with the administration of 
 Justice and Education. He was one of those Austrian-Ser- 
 vians who had entered the service of Milosch, because they 
 despaired of improving their condition in their own country ; 
 and was much respected by the Servians, because he had, 
 whilst holding an official station in Austria, become im- 
 pressed with the necessity of an adherence to strict forms 
 in the management of all public business. Many were the 
 comprehensive schemes which he projected for the advantage 
 of the country : his plans of improvement being founded 
 chiefly upon what he had witnessed under the Austrian 
 government. 
 
 It was his desire that the clergy should no longer live as 
 the peasants lived ; and he proposed that they should have 
 houses built at the expense of their own congregations, and 
 that their land should be cultivated for them. 
 
 He wished for the adoption of written proceedings in the 
 Court of Justice, according to the Austrian custom. Inves- 
 tigations of the peasants' complaints were sometimes refused, 
 in consequence of their inability to find writers, at the 
 moment, to draw up the requisite statements. 
 
 Statistics now received due attention : but it was with 
 alarm that the peasants saw their plum trees numbered : 
 apprehending that taxation must be the object of such a 
 measure. 
 
 The intentions of Kaditschevitsch were excellent : he pro- 
 posed to erect new schools, and not to rest until every Servian 
 could read and write. Moreover, he aimed at the establish- 
 ment of a society of learned men : and steps were already 
 taken for promoting this desirable object : into this institu- 
 tion, however, persons who could neither read nor wi'ite were 
 freely admitted. 
 
 With a view to the improvement of architecture, it was his 
 intention, in the first place, to raise a mausoleum for the 
 princely family. In order to cultivate a taste for music, 
 operas were to be introduced, and a theatre was erected at 
 
S78 INCREASE OF THE PORESA. 
 
 Belgrade : the Turks, however, soon complained, that plays 
 were performed there in commemoration of exploits, such as 
 those of Milosch Kobilitsch. 
 
 But these endeavours, better intended than considered, 
 excited ill-will in several quarters. The natives, for in- 
 stance, took offence at the employment of so many Aus- 
 trian-Servians ; though considering the notions people enter- 
 tained of the government, their presence was decidedly 
 serviceable ; and because they betrayed something of Ger- 
 man origin in their manners, they were reproachfully called 
 ivise Suablans. But many still more irritating cii-cumstances 
 occurred. 
 
 In the Matschwa, disputes ending in violence had arisen 
 between the peasants : by severe measures they had been 
 quieted ; and proceedings were taken against the offenders, on 
 many of whom corporal punishment was inflicted. 
 
 Not satisfied with this, the government sentenced those 
 who had been pimished to pay the expenses also ; which pay- 
 ment was exacted with severity, and not without recourse 
 being had to seizures. In some cases, unfortunately, the 
 demand was excessive, and Baditschevitsch had to return a 
 part of the amount levied. Those who had been distrained 
 upon were extremely exasperated : they asked with bitterness, 
 " Who would restore the cow that had been taken from them 
 at the seizure ?" 
 
 The government was blamed for allowing the Austrian 
 dealers to make potash in the Servian forests ; and in conse- 
 quence of this permission, sanguinary fights occurred. 
 
 But what most displeased the peasants was that the Poresa 
 was again increased. Originally that impost had been fixed 
 at six Austrian dollars a year ; and at the fall of Milosch — 
 probably with the view of securing the support of the people 
 rather than from a conviction that it would prove sufficient 
 for the purposes of the State — it was reduced to Jive dollars. 
 It could, therefore, produce no favourable impression upon 
 the minds of the peasants that Michael should again exact the 
 remitted dollar : for where is the country in which the excel- 
 lence of the government is not estimated according to its 
 cheapness ? Another grievance was, that the government, 
 at the same time, depreciated the value of the gold coin : the 
 people felt it sore'y, that their ducat, wliich tlicy had taken 
 
BELGRADE. 279 
 
 at twenty-four piastres, should be reckoned only at twenty- 
 three, in tlieir payments to the State. 
 
 Much discontent was thus accumulating against Michael's 
 administration J and amongst that class from which the 
 Obrenovitsches had formerly experienced the warmest sym- 
 pathy : to the people it appeared that everything was again 
 in the power of the officials ; by whom he allowed arbitrary 
 acts to be committed, to the prejudice of the nation. 
 
 In addition to this, the personal friends of the former 
 Prince were unceasingly vigilant in their endeavours to pro- 
 duce a re-action. In the year, 1841, a conspiracy against 
 the ministry was discovered, at the head of which stood Gaza 
 Vukomanovitsch, the brother of the Princess. Ljubiza her- 
 self would much rather have seen her husband than her son 
 in possession of the princely authority ; she thought the 
 latter would not be sufficiently strong to defend himself 
 against rivals so formidable as thos^ by whom he was 
 threatened. 
 
 Much disunion existed in the family ofMilosch. 
 
 Jovan was dissatisfied that no other appointment had been 
 found for him than that of adjutant to his nephew. He 
 wished to be Minister of the Home Department ; but the 
 government could not venture to intrust an office of so much 
 importance to one who had played a conspicuous part in the 
 revolutionary movements against the Charter. Jephrem, on 
 the other hand, was fearful of being ruined in the first success- 
 ful rising of his brother's friends ; and did not feel secm^e at 
 KragujevaZ; in its unfortified state. 
 
 Thus it happened, that the operations of the Turks, and of 
 those disaffected Servians who had sought their protection, 
 were not watched with sufficient diligence. 
 
 At the earnest request of the Porte, the malcontent fugi- 
 tives were at leng-th again received by their countrymen ; in 
 the first instance, those only who had been the least violent 
 and conspicuous ; but, ultimately Yutschitsch himself was 
 allowed to return. 
 
 Michael suftered himself to be prevailed on to remove the 
 government again to Belgrade within reach of the Turkish 
 fortress. The Kmetes endeavoured to dissuade him from 
 this step ; urging that they should have more difficulty in 
 assisting him, should he, at any future tira 3, stand in need of 
 
280 vuTSciiiTscn foments disturbances. 
 
 their services against the opponents of his government, whc 
 were in favour of the Turks. 
 
 From that quarter, however, Michael was under no appre- 
 hension. Having met the wishes of the Porte, he felt assured 
 of her friendship. He relied upon the Pacha's word that 
 Vutschitsch should be kept quiet ; and when the ministers 
 were informed that he was, nevertheless, fomenting disturb- 
 ances, they seized the informants, under the im})ression that 
 their depositions were false, and that they themselves were 
 the persons who would cause disorder. Even were they to 
 be attacked, they considered themselves secure, through the 
 Charter : and they were heard to say, " the bullet is already 
 cast which is to punish such a one." 
 
 The administration of Michael might rather be censured 
 for its want of the vigilance and severity which characterized 
 that of Milosch, than for the undue exercise of these 
 qualities ; consequently, the Turks hesitated less in advanc- 
 ing their claims, and were incessantly pressing some new 
 demand. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the entire nation raised its 
 voice against the men who had the guidance of the State. 
 The returned malcontents beheld in them their greatest ene- 
 mies, and refused to solicit appointments ; which, after the 
 reconciliation effected, would not have been solicited in vain. 
 The officers and Kneses, who feared the return of Milosch, 
 and the peasants and Kmetes, who probably still wished it, 
 were equally their adversaries. No security was felt in 
 any quarter ; and the Senate itself expressed apprehension. 
 Lastly, the Turks could no longer endure the peremptory 
 refusals they had formerly met with, and still experienced : 
 especially from Protitsch, who was in the habit of expressing 
 himself very freely. A new Commissary of the Porte 
 arrived ; and with strong representations demanded the 
 dismissal, not only of the determined Protitsch, but of the 
 whole ministry. 
 
 Even Michael himself no longer entered fully into the 
 views of his ministers : he was not altogether indisposed to 
 dismiss them ; but he wished to do so at a later period, and 
 of his own free-will. Since the restrictions to which the 
 chief authority had been subjected, he considered that the 
 right of appointing and removing Ministers constituted the 
 
TURKS IRRITATED BY MICHAEl's OPPOSITION. 281 
 
 best portion of its remaining power ; and he by no means 
 felt inclined to surrender it to the Turks without resistance. 
 Least of all was he disposed to receive into his services 
 p7'oteges, whom he regarded as his enemies. 
 
 But by the opposition he evinced, the anger of the Turks 
 was inflamed. Probably they also felt irritated, that the 
 Bulgarians, who were desirous of participating in the privi- 
 leges of the Servians, should have addressed themselves to 
 Michael : who, though he did not encourage them, was the 
 man on whom they had placed their hopes. 
 
 The Turks were, in fact, glad to perceive the progress of a 
 movement likely to effect a change, or even an overthrow, of 
 Michael's government. 
 
 For this the malcontents, who since their return had 
 enjoyed the especial protection of the Turks, had long pre- 
 pared themselves. They had, everywhere, friends amongst 
 those in office, who were indebted to them for their inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 Though Michael had not violated the Charter, they who 
 had obtained it, and particularly their friends, disiing-uished 
 themselves as " Ustavo Branitelji,'' (Defenders of the Law); 
 a phrase which they had every moment on their lips, and 
 which always produced a certain effect. 
 
 A movement now commenced : especially in such districts 
 as were under the influence of Prota Nenadovitsch, Resavatz, 
 Garaschanin, and Lasar Theodorovitsch : all of whom were 
 of this party. 
 
 Nor was Yutschitsch slow in perceiving that his connexion 
 with the Turks no longer prejudiced him in the eyes of the 
 nation; that he could constitute himself the head of the 
 united Opposition; and that those by whom he had been 
 excluded from the government, would now be made to feel 
 what he was capable of executing. 
 
 After having left Servia for a time, he returned to the 
 neighbourhood of Smederevo. He hastened through the 
 districts on an Arabian courser, which Resavatz had kept 
 in readiness ; and found his friends everywhere ready to 
 assist him. A report spread through the country that a 
 Skupschtina was on the point of being held, for the purpose 
 of compelling the Prince to change his administration. 
 
282 Michael's successes. 
 
 Michael was determined to resist this dictation, as also 
 that of the Turks ; and to oppose force to force. 
 
 He entertained no doubt that his party was still the most 
 powerfid ; and ^vithout even taking time to secure Poscha- 
 revaz, or to furnish himself with the artillery of that place, 
 he, on the night of the 19th of August, 1842, proceeded on 
 his march to Kragujevaz, with a small, but regularly dis- 
 ciplined force of six hundred infantry and thirty cavalry. 
 
 He sent forth orders throughout the districts ; and they 
 were not ineffectual : auxiliary troops joined him in large 
 numbers on his way ; so that in a short time he assembled 
 around him a force of ten thousand men. From all quarters 
 favourable reports were raised : Prota and Lasar had been 
 taken prisoners in their districts : Stephanovitsch and Jan- 
 kovitsch, who had been endeavouring to rouse Poscharevaz 
 and Smederevo, were obliged to make their escape into the 
 Austrian territory; and the old Garaschanin, who had ridden 
 through the district of BelgTade to stir up the people, was 
 overtaken and slain. All these successes encouraged Michael 
 in the ho]oe of being able to rid himself of his principal 
 adversary, Vutschitsch; who, though he had taken Kragujevaz, 
 now stationed himself on a hill before the town with only 
 two thousand men ; and Michael expected, perhaps, even to 
 seize him alive. 
 
 But civil commotions generally take their own peculiar 
 turn. 
 
 These Servians, who would have undauntedly attacked a 
 Turkish army, hesitated to fight against their own country- 
 men ; and a favourable result was scarcely to be expected, 
 whilst Michael's government enjoyed so little favour and 
 authority. 
 
 When the troops beheld Yutscbitsch they urged the 
 Prince to send a deputation to him ; which he accordingly 
 did. 
 
 Vutschitsch exercised much tact in treating with the 
 deputies. He represented to them, that he was far from 
 desiring to oppose the Prince himself ; who was as welcome to 
 walk over his body as he was to walk over the ground : his only 
 wish was to free him from unworthy ministers ; he desired 
 nothing farther than to proceed with his friends to Belgi^ade, 
 
MICHAEL OBLIGED TO KETREAT. 283 
 
 to lay Lis complaint before the Imperial Commissary. He 
 then inquired whether " Rebel" "was a proper designation for 
 a man who declared himself ready to bring his cause before 
 the judge. 
 
 Those who composed Michael's army soon began to dis- 
 cover that "V utschitsch was not altogether in the wrong ; and 
 the Prince found himself under the necessity of hearing his 
 proposed conditions. 
 
 The three following were the most important : the dismissal 
 of ministers, and also of Jejohrem ; the re-appointment of the 
 men who had retired the year before ; and the reduction of 
 the Poresa. Vutschitsch did not neglect clearly to indicate 
 to the people that he was chiefly actuated by anxiety for 
 their interest. 
 
 Affairs had ah'eady proceeded so far, that Michael was 
 advised, by his retinue, and even by Jephrem, to yield to 
 necessity, and to grant the required conditions. But he felt 
 it derogatory to his honour to give way to an open enemy, 
 far his inferior in military force, and whom he yet hoped to 
 conquer. 
 
 However, he misunderstood the character of his own 
 nation. 
 
 Michael's soldiers disliked the idea of fighting against one 
 who had professed that it was only his desire to change an 
 administration of which they disapproved, and again to 
 reduce their taxes ; and that he had no wish to overthrow 
 the Prince ; therefore when Vutschitsch began to discharge 
 his cannon , and the balls flew along over their heads, they 
 rapidly dispersed. 
 
 Michael suddenly found himself alone with his troop of 
 regulars, and was obliged to retreat. 
 
 Near Schabari, however, a numerous force from Poschega 
 and Rudnik, estimated at about 15,000 men, once more 
 assembled around him ; but the very largeness of the number 
 was rather a disadvantage than otherwise : as there were, no 
 doubt, enemies amongst them. Vutschitsch, in the interim, 
 had received from Resavatz a re-inforcement commanded by 
 the Parakjiner Kapetan Bogdan, who was now regarded by 
 the nation almost as a hero ; and on their approach it re- 
 quired only the first sound of their cannon-balls to cause the 
 army of Michael to disperse. 
 
284 VUTSCHITSCH ENTERS BELGRADE. 
 
 It soon became obvious how important it was to the Turks 
 that the capital of the country, the seat of the government, 
 was in their possession. Michael well knew that the Pacha 
 favoured his enemies; and he would not, therefore, place 
 himself within reach of the Turkish cannon. When the 
 Russian consul, who came to meet him at Toptschider, 
 advised him to retire into the fortress, he replied, " that he 
 could not reckon upon protection where his enemies had 
 been so warmly received." 
 
 Nothing then remained for Michael but to leave the 
 country. To this his whole suite now advised him ; and, 
 being still young, it is probable that he looked forward to 
 some future time, when fortune might prove more favourable, 
 and reinstate him in his government. 
 
 Troops from different parts still came to meet him : having 
 assembled for his support ; but he sent them back to their 
 homes. Seven days after he had left Belgrade, full of hopes, 
 he, without re-entering that town, passed over into the Aus- 
 trian territory at Semlin. 
 
 Protitsch, Paditschevitsch, and Mileta, whom he apprised 
 of his leaving the country, hastened to follow his example. 
 
 Yutschitsch, on the other hand, entered victoriously into 
 BelgTade. He now styled himself " Leader of the Nation," 
 and, with the aid of his friends, assumed the supreme autho- 
 rity. 
 
285 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 ALEXANDER KARA GEORGEVITSCH.— CONCLUSION. 
 
 A Provisional Government is formed, and the Skupschtina convened,— 
 Alexander, Son of Kara George, chosen as Prince. — Vutschitsch exer- 
 cises the supreme Authority. — General Increase of the Ottoman Power. 
 — Views of Russia regarding the Election of Alexander. — Georgevitsch 
 is re-elected. — Present State of Servian Affairs. — Review of the Servian 
 Revolutions. — Probable Progress in the Civilization of the Country. — 
 Effects of the Charter. — Islamism and the Spirit of the Western 
 Countries opposed. — The Necessity of separating the Christians from 
 the Turks. — Inhabitants of Servia. — Conclusion. 
 
 Thus, by an open attack, in which the Turkish authorities 
 and the malcontents amongst the Servians united, had this 
 question of personal supremacy been brought to a decision. 
 If the Obrenovitsches had succeeded in their design, they 
 would have attained a position resembling that of the families 
 of the hereditary Pachas of Scutari and Uskub ; whom, for 
 centuries, no Grand Signior had been able to displace. But 
 the son, the brothers, and the immediate adherents of Milosch, 
 were expelled, as he himself had been. They could not agree 
 amongst theiiiselves : one worked against another, secretly or 
 openly, which led inevitably to their total ruin, and gave 
 their adversaries the ascendency. 
 
 The latter were determined never again to pursue a middle 
 course ; but to organise the government entirely according to 
 their own views. 
 
 Whilst Michael complained, to the European Consuls who 
 followed him, of the violence to which he had been subjected, 
 without legal authority ; the victors hastened, with the sanc- 
 tion of the Turkish commissary, to form a provisional govern- 
 ment, in which Yutschitsch, Simitsch, and Petronievitsch, 
 shared. They then convened a Skupschtina. 
 
 It must be recollected that, under Kara George, the 
 Skupschtina, properly so called, served only to display the 
 degree of authority which had established itself in the 
 country. Under Milosch, the Skupschtina had always con- 
 firmed what he laid before them ; and howsoever displeasing 
 
286 ALEXANDER KARA GEORGEVITSCH. 
 
 it might be to him to have a Senate at his side, he "wotdd 
 willingly have continued to reign with a Skupschtina in its 
 accustomed form. Regiilar debates do not take place at these 
 Diets ; whicli resemble rather those parlamenti of the Italian 
 cities in the middle ages, where the i:)arty happening to pos- 
 sess the ascendency dictated the law, to the exclusion of the 
 conquered. No one would have ventured to enforce his own 
 personal views, in opposition to the general opinion approved 
 of by the existing rulers. 
 
 The Skupschtina, which assembled on the 14th of Septem- 
 ber, 1842, consisted chiefly of the adversaries of the Obre- 
 novitsches : the very men by whom the victory had been 
 gained. 
 
 A proclamation had, to some extent, prepared the public 
 mind for the business to be brought forward. In that instru- 
 ment it was alleged that the people, intending nothing more 
 than to lay some complaints before the Effencii of the Grand 
 Siguier, had, on their way, been attacked by the Prince ; 
 that they had conquered him ; and that he, in consequence, 
 had fled the country. 
 
 When all were assembled, Vutschitsch made his appear- 
 ance, accompanied by the Turkish Pacha and the Eflendi, 
 The parties present were asked, whether they were disposed 
 to have the fugitive, Michael, any longer for their Prince ? 
 Kiamil Pacha himself put the question, in broken Servian, to 
 the difierent parties. They all answered " No ! " 
 
 And they were not at a moment's loss respecting whom 
 they should set up in his place. 
 
 Had Kara George lived, it is probable that, long ere this, 
 he would have demanded back from Milosch the principality 
 which he had originally founded. But the very recollection 
 of him was hateful to the Obrenovitsches. 
 
 The son of Kara George, Alexander, born during the deci- 
 sive campaign of the year 1806, had, after his father's death, 
 come into Servia, accompanied by his mother, where he was 
 supported by a pension from Milosch. Hitherto he had been 
 in the service of Michael, as adjutant. He was a young man 
 of irreproachable character, cheerful disposition, and agreeable 
 manners ; and had not participated in the quarrels of the 
 contending Chiefs. Yutschitsch had for some time pointed 
 him out to his friends as their future Prince, and they had 
 
THE PORTE DECLARES MICHAEL DETHRONED. 287 
 
 witliont difficulty influenced the multitude in his favour. 
 After the assembly had renounced Michael, Vutschitsch asked 
 them, " Whom will you now have ?" They all instantly ex- 
 claimed, "Kara Georgevitsch ! " He was immediately led 
 forward, and received with a general shout of joy. 
 
 Vutschitsch, who made himself Minister of Home Affairs, 
 and was all powerful, took especial care not to fall into the 
 same error which had proved so injurious to the late govern- 
 ment, by suffering his adversaries to remain in the country. 
 He was relieved from the presence of the more influential, 
 by their own voluntary flight ; and he judged it necessary to 
 dismiss from their offices a large number of those who were 
 less distinguished. He also removed those Kmetes whose 
 authority and opinions were avowedly hostile. Others he 
 kept prisoners ; some he banished ; and not a few, fearful of 
 his power, fled beyond the frontier. 
 
 The Porte did not hesitate a moment in declaring Michael 
 dethroned, without bringing him to trial, and without pro- 
 ceeding against him ; and as promptly acknowledged the newly 
 elected Chief to be Knias of Servia. 
 
 On the whole, she considered this epoch as one of renewed 
 good fortune. 
 
 We have made no further mention of the quarrel of the 
 Porte with Mehemet Ali, which broke out after the Russian 
 war, (though it might in other respects be worthy of atten- 
 tive consideration,) because it has too little immediate con- 
 nexion with Servian affa.irs. In the year 1840, it had, at 
 length, through the interference of the greater part of the 
 European Powers, been decided in favour of the Porte, 
 
 Since that time, the self-confidence of the Porte had con- 
 siderably increased. In Syria she no longer allowed the 
 hereditary authority of the Emir Beschir, of the family of 
 Schehab ; which had become odious to her by changing from 
 Islamism to the faith of the Maronites : it was even ordered 
 that no one should again pronounce the name of this race. 
 In Syria, in Crete, and also in Bulgaria, every description of 
 atrocity was committed, with the view of re-establishing the 
 dominion of the Porte. The resolution already taken, to 
 haVe the Haradsch collected by the Cliristian chiefs, was 
 again retracted. The Rayahs considered themselves happy 
 when they did not suffer from violent outbreaks of ferocity 
 
288 INCREASE OF OTTOMAN POWER. 
 
 on the part of tlie Arnaiits. Montenegro was several times 
 attacked. In Wallachia, an opportunity presented itself for 
 executing an act of supreme authority : the pronouncing 
 sentence on a Gospodar, and dismissing him, with the con- 
 sent of Russia. 
 
 The Ottoman authority was also generally increased, since 
 the Porte had now succeeded in entirely removing from Servia 
 the family which had resisted her influence, with a spirit of 
 stiu^ly independence, and in raising to the management of 
 afiairs a party which had always shown itself favourably dis- 
 posed towards her. 
 
 In these proceedings, however, the European Powers, espe- 
 cially Pussia, no longer sided with the Porte. 
 
 The Emperor Nicholas declared that the Porte ought to 
 have convicted Michael of the offence alleged to have been 
 committed, and that she should not have undertaken to 
 change the Government of the Principality without consult- 
 ing Pussia : least of all ought she to have sanctioned a rebel- 
 lion, as she had here done ; and for his paxt he could not 
 acknowledge the change. 
 
 At length, after long hesitation, the Porte, confirmed from 
 other quarters in the conviction that no one had a right to 
 interfere with her affairs, ventured officially to countenance 
 the change of government which had occurred in Servia. 
 The Porte would not admit that this had been an act of 
 rebellion ; since it had been approved of by the Commis- 
 sioners, whom she, as the Power in possession of the Sove- 
 reignty, had appointed ; and she refused to allow any sort of 
 encroachment on these her supreme rights. 
 
 At times it appeared likely that this determination would 
 produce serious disj)utes, endangering the general peace. 
 
 It is unnecessary to collect all the fragmentary statements 
 — many of them of doubtful authenticity — which have ap- 
 peared, respecting the negotiations of the Powers in this 
 matter.- 
 
 They who are desirous of ascertaining the relations of the 
 West with the East, and the reaction of Eastern on Western 
 affairs, may examine the Egyptian question : for forming an 
 opinion upon which sufficient materials exist in the events 
 that are known to the world, 
 
 Austria coincided with the declaration of Pussia, that the 
 
RE-ELECTION OP GEORGEVITSCH. 289 
 
 concerns of Servia did not properly fall within the discus- 
 sion of the Five powers. At the same time, she observed 
 that the authority of the Porte would be annihilated on the 
 Danube, were she forced to re-instate Michael merely to 
 remove him after he should have been condemned. 
 
 In this case, as frequently happens in disputed questions, 
 a middle course was taken for the sake of preserving peace. 
 
 Russia no longer insisted on the reinstatement of Michael : 
 ]»rovided the election, which, after his flight, had been carried 
 in a tumultuous manner, were not deemed valid ; but that a 
 new election, in a more regular form, should take place ; 
 and that the authors of the revolution, the Pacha Kiamil, as 
 well as the two Servian Chiefs, Vutschitsch and Petronie- 
 vitsch, should be deposed. 
 
 And thus matters were arranged. There was no difficulty 
 in removing the Pacha from the country : instead of suffering 
 a punishment by his removal, he was advanced to the Yizier- 
 slup of Bosnia; where, however, the Christian population 
 have had no cause to feel grateful for his protection. 
 
 Some embarrassment, however, arose respecting the two 
 native Chiefs. 
 
 "When the election of the new Prince was to be made — 
 for Kara Georgevitsch had been induced to resign his dignity 
 pro tempore — the Russian Plenipotentiary was satisfied with 
 the understanding that Yutschitsch and Petronievitsch 
 should not take a direct j)art in the Skupschtina. 
 
 But whether they were personally present at this Assembly 
 or not, its result could not be doubtful. 
 
 The Porte, by the force of her sovereign right, distinctly 
 excluded young JVIichael, as one unacquainted with the mode 
 of governing the country according to her views. There- 
 fore, by the side of Kara Georgevitsch, there was no com- 
 petitor with an equal claim to success but Milosch himself. 
 It was natural that they who had come into power through 
 the banishment of Milosch, should use their utmost exer- 
 tions to prevent the retiu^n of that Chief; as in such an 
 event they would have had strong reason to fear the loss of 
 their authority ; or even, as matters stood, the utmost 
 personal peril. Neither was the majority of the nation at 
 this moment in his favour. 
 
 We have remarked that the national feeling had become 
 
 u 
 
290 THE PEASANTS MAINTAIN THEIR RIGHT OF ELECTION. 
 
 lively, and easily excited. A report, prejudicial to Milosch, 
 had spread, of his possessing the good opinion of the Courts. 
 It was said at Belgrade, that those who desired any other 
 Prince than the one who had been already elected — Alex- 
 ander Kara Georgevitsch — might come and reinstate him by 
 force ; but such an undertaking would meet with resistance 
 in a conflict for life or death. Anticipating commotion, the 
 people began to prepare their arms. 
 
 Most likely, however, no one entertained the thought of 
 forcing a Prince upon them. Measures were not even taken, 
 preparatory to the meeting of the Skupschtina, to ensure 
 the return of the parties who had gone into Austria : — a 
 matter which might have been more easily carried out. 
 
 On the 15th of June, 1843, a free election was made. 
 The Servians placed themselves according to their ISTahies : 
 as the Poles, at their elections, had at one time been accus- 
 tomed to arrange themselves according to their Yoivodeships. 
 The new Pacha, the Consul, as well as the Plenipotentiary 
 in the name of Kussia, and the Metropolitan, went up to 
 them, and asked them whom they desired for their Prince. 
 The seventeen Nahies unanimously demanded Kara George- 
 vitsch. Several private individuals even were asked ; and 
 all returned the same answer. 
 
 Thus the Servian peasants did, in fact, maintain the right 
 which had been gi-anted at Akjerman ; that of choosing 
 their Prince. The two protecting Powers now declared 
 themselves content with the election which had been made. 
 
 At first it seemed probable that the two Chiefs might 
 remain in the country ; for the Russian Minister did not, at 
 the moment, demand their removal ; but soon afterwards, 
 the Emperor insisted on the complete fulfilment of his agree- 
 ment with the Grand Siguier. 
 
 Whilst the Porte had the satisfaction of finding herself 
 freed from the presence of those whom she could not but 
 regard as her enemies, the instruments who had served her 
 were not, at least for the present, to enjoy the fruits of their 
 exertions. The Servians were informed that the Prince 
 whom they had elected would not be confirmed in power so 
 long as Vutschitsch and Petronievitsch should continue in 
 the country. Now, however great their authority might 
 be, no one thought of exposing the Servian cause to fresh 
 
EE-ELECTION OF GEORGEVITSCH CONFIRMED. 231 
 
 dangers for their sake ; and although the addresses offered 
 to them could not have been couched in terms of greater 
 sympathy or respect; yet they were obliged to leave the 
 country. 
 
 Upon their removal, Kara Georgevitsch, " the distin- 
 guished among the Princes of the Msesian people," — for the 
 Turkish Government favour such recollections, — was again 
 confirmed Knias of Servia. 
 
 In reading the Berate, it is impossible to avoid remarking 
 how earnestly and repeatedly allegiance to the Porte and 
 close observance of the TJstav, containing the Charter, are 
 indicated as the chief duties of the Prince. If he evince 
 this allegiance, it is stated, he shall not again be deprived of 
 his dignity. Senators and holders of office, and the nation 
 at large, are directed to acknowledge him as their Prince, 
 and to render obedience to the ordinances which he may 
 issue in accordance with the Charter. 
 
 Thus it is seen that the Prince's right falls far short of the 
 claim of the Obrenovitsches to hereditary and unlimited 
 power. He is bound to conditions which might afford a 
 pretext for arbitrary encroachments. 
 
 The experiences of late years lead us to believe that the 
 Porte will not venture on any encroachment : at least on her 
 own responsibility. Setting this aside, however, it cannot 
 be asserted that the present position of Servian affairs is such 
 as to inspire much confidence. 
 
 A Prince who is not indebted to his own meritorious acts, 
 or even to his ambitious views, for his elevation; whose 
 claims rest merely on some remembrance of the past ; and 
 who, at the moment when he attained the highest dignity, 
 was deprived of the support of those by whom he had been 
 raised to it, must assuredly, even though that support should 
 be restored, have eventually to struggle with the reaction of 
 the party overthrown ; who, as their frequent movements 
 prove, are still numerous and influential in the country. 
 
 Occasionally we observe a still stronger opposition between 
 communities and the peasantry ; who, in the last distui'b- 
 ances, not only asserted their old privileges, but acquired new 
 ones. They might, perhaps, have entertained the idea of 
 forming a self-elected government, or a party of their own, 
 against official rulers, whom they considered forced upon 
 
 u2 
 
292 RESULTS OF THE CHARTER. 
 
 them ; but who, in reality, under whatever form it may be, 
 constitute the state. 
 
 In addition to all this, external influences were at the same 
 time in operation : influences frequently in opposition to each 
 other, and proceeding no longer exclusively from the neigh- 
 bouring inland Powers, but also from the Western nations, 
 whence the jjrevailing ideas were derived. 
 
 Under such circumstances, the fundamental law (the 
 Charter), to which an absolute autocrat would not submit, 
 presents, perhaps, a fortunate state of things to his less 
 powerful successor ; it establishes the unity of the nation on 
 a broader basis, and gives a firmer guarantee for the distribu- 
 tion of the power : provided always that it be not used as a 
 pretext for personal enmity. 
 
 If the Servians unite earnestly, for the purpose of carrying* 
 this law into effect, so that it shall take root amongst them, 
 and be carried out peacefully, it may be always considered as 
 a great means for the advancement of the nation— a fresh 
 step on the road to emancipation. 
 
 This subject has already been alluded to, and we may be 
 allowed, in conchision, once more to touch upon it. 
 
 In order to have a general view of the question, let us, in 
 the first instance, recollect the state in which we found the 
 country, in its internal and external relations, and what it 
 has acquired since the commencement of the revolutionary 
 disturbances. 
 
 The difference is immense. 
 
 Every thing turns upon this fact, that the immediate 
 domination of the soldier-caste, resting on the prerogatives 
 of their religion, has been discontinued in this province. The 
 Grand Signior no longer exacts the capitation tax : which he 
 regarded as a redemption from the penalty of death incurred 
 by unbelief; the Spahis no longer enjoy a distribution of the 
 village lands amongst them ; the Turks are restricted to the 
 fortresses. It was at first understood that none of them 
 should be allowed to reside outside the fortified works. This 
 is the case at Schabaz and Kladavo ; and so it was expected 
 to have been at Belgrade. At one time, the Turks began to 
 dispose of their possessions there, and to prepare for emigra- 
 tion ; but they soon received orders from Constantinople to 
 desist, as the whole town was considered to be a fortress : 
 
PREVALENCE OF MONGOLIC CUSTOMS. 294 
 
 they, therefore, remained at Belgrade in considerable numbers. 
 But, althougli under Turkish jurisdiction, there is no possi- 
 bility of the Spahis enforcing any of their ancient personal 
 prerogatives, and many veterans must now condescend to 
 perform manual service in Christian habitations. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that this independence was not, 
 in reality, acquired through a rebellion against the Sultan ; 
 but in the course of a contest originally undertaken against 
 his rebels : so far, therefore, the Servians asserted a well- 
 foimded claim, though at the cost of a most sanguinary 
 war. 
 
 But this was not enough. 
 
 The national spirit, as expressed in their songs, assisted 
 greatly in kindling the flames of war; though it was not 
 adequate to the founding of a state, or to the liberation of a 
 people from the spiritual domination of the Ottomans. 
 
 The Sultan himself in some measure conduced to the 
 amelioration of their condition by granting the Charter ; 
 which in its main points rests on the received principles of 
 Western States. And that he might overthrow a dominion 
 which he disliked, but which still retained many analogies to 
 the old Turkish system, he ordered regulations to be pro- 
 claimed under his authority, by which the work of emanci- 
 pation was continued. 
 
 It is our province to consider, not so much the establish- 
 ment of forms of government, as the general tendencies of 
 the civilization attained. 
 
 It may be questionable whether the restrictions by which, 
 as we have mentioned, the Prince's power was limited, are in 
 all respects beneficial, and likely to be permanent ; but there 
 can be no doubt that restrictions of some sort were necessary. 
 It was contrary to the nature of things that the entire public 
 authority, such as the Pachas had possessed in the unre- 
 formed empire, should be transferred to a Christian Knes. 
 The very idea of this power, as it had hitherto been exer- 
 cised, was offensive ; and they had always been anxious for 
 its suppression. 
 
 This was now effected, in the case of functionaries. Still, 
 as before stated, the most barbarous Mongolic customs pre- 
 vailed. The TJstav first had to declare that the holders of 
 offices should not be subjected to corporal punishment ; a 
 
294 SEPAKATION OF OFFICIAL DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 proper arrangement of the authority being altogether im- 
 possible, so long as such arbitrary power in the promotion 
 and degradation of officers was allowed to exist. Unless a 
 change in this respect were introduced, no true sense of 
 honour, no endeavour to merit distinction or reward could be 
 expected. 
 
 We need not enlarge on this subject for the purpose of 
 proving that the development of a civil power among the 
 people could not be hoped for, so long as the outrages which 
 prevailed were suffered to remain unchecked, and personal 
 security was wanting. Sooner or later this leading principle 
 must be earnestly promulgated : and it would be well if a 
 greater interest in upholding it were manifested. 
 
 The same remark equally applies in reference to property ; 
 with respect to which it has been seen that flagrant viola- 
 tions were still practised, according to Oriental custom, 
 through the ruling power. The Ustav decreed that property 
 could be sold, and entailed upon others, without the inter- 
 ference of any but the judicial power. It was a regulation 
 of gTcat importance, that title-deeds should be dra^vn up, 
 and entered in the public registers; as this insured the 
 property of every landholder. 
 
 The first foundations of a Commonwealth had yet to be 
 strengthened. 
 
 The separation of the Departments of Administration and 
 of Justice, which now took place, may be thought to indicate 
 a greatly advanced condition of society ; yet that proceeding 
 had in Servia a signification, different from that usually 
 ascribed to it in our own country. It must be recollected 
 with what violence Pachas and Musellims, in former times, 
 had encroached upon the Turkish jurisdiction ; and, at a 
 later period, the Knias and his functionaries upon the 
 Servian. Under the pretended sanction of the Supreme 
 Judicial Power, the general insecurity had increased. This 
 separation had, therefore, become an absokite necessity. In 
 other respects, the regulations made under Kara George and 
 Milosch, regarding the administration of justice, were re- 
 tained in the Charter; excepting that the various Courts 
 were separated, and their duties more strictly defined. 
 
 But everything acquired another character by the follow- 
 ing restrictions : — that no member of a Court of Justice 
 
THE RAYAHS HAVE BECOME A NATION. 295 
 
 coiild hold an office in the political administration ; and that 
 a political functionary was not allowed to assume the exercise 
 of judicial power. If, for instance, a dispute should arise 
 relating to the re-assessment of the taxes on the various 
 households, the cause would be decided by the Court, and the 
 officer would be commissioned to execute the ♦sentence pro- 
 nounced. 
 
 The same rules are observed Avith reference to commercial 
 affairs. Those arbitrary restrictions which Mladen and 
 Miloie, and also Milosch, adopted, after the example of the 
 Janissaries and their leaders, were no longer practicable. 
 They rested on Eastern notions — notions which, in our times, 
 the Viceroy of Egypt still acts upon successfully. But they 
 are more justifiable there than in Servia, on account of the 
 connection of the population with industry and the cultiva- 
 tion of the land, and the extraordinary position Egypt 
 occupies in the world. In Servia they only served to render 
 personal superiority more keenly felt, and more odious. The 
 Charter makes reg-ulations of this nature dependent on the 
 understanding subsisting between the Prince and the Senate; 
 so that in this respect also, it puts an end to arbitrary 
 actions. And it is understood that a better, because a 
 Jreer, development of energy is already beginning to show 
 itself. 
 
 Thus, in this Turkish land, the idea of government autho- 
 rity, wliich pervades all classes, has been altogether changed. 
 The nation has freed itself from the heavy yoke under which 
 it laboured ; the Rayahs have become a nation, Yet, though 
 those fundamental principles which are absolutely essential 
 may differ from the outward form in which they are mani- 
 fested, still this change is of great importance. It rests upon 
 the fact, that it was the Opposition who at last carried the 
 great measure, and not the Prince, as at first appeared. It 
 can hardly be denied, that this circumstance has mainly con- 
 tributed to its success. 
 
 But, even in the event of affairs not always remaining in 
 the same state, and the question of personal rights being 
 once more decided in some other way, no fear need be enter- 
 tained of retrogression or of deviation from the course now 
 entered upon. It is as likely that the Turkish rule should 
 be restored; as that any government framed on its model and 
 
206 EFF2CT OF TURKISH FANATICISM. 
 
 example should ever be established. Should fortune once 
 more favour the Obrenovitsches they would not be able to 
 effect this ; nor is it probable that they would make the 
 attempt. 
 
 It would be hazardous to assert, that, at some future time, 
 a stronger monarchy, or, perhaps, even a still more republican 
 form of government — possibly under the elders of the nation 
 alone, as in former times — may not be established ; but 
 neither the former, nor much less the latter, would revert to 
 the principles of the old Turkish system : they could not 
 destroy the elements of education, which have in some mea- 
 sure taken root. 
 
 The spirit of reform in the West is far too powerful, and 
 its secret or open advance too universal, to admit of its ever 
 being deprived of the results of that ascendency which it has 
 begun to acquire in Servia : giving a fresh impulse and intro- 
 ducing new ideas. 
 
 This progress of the West towards the East has again 
 taken a prominent part in the aspect of the world. 
 
 Islamism continues to be, as it has been for twelve cen- 
 turies, the most inflexible adversary to the Western spirit ; 
 and in those countries where it is embraced by the entire 
 population from Bokhara to Morocco — excitement and 
 hostility prevail ; but in the interior of the Turkish territory 
 its antagonism is displayed in the most energetic manner. 
 
 Though the Porte, driven along in her own course, and 
 not uninfluenced by the spirit of the age, has granted melio- 
 rations to the Christian inhabitants ; she has her Islamite 
 subjects too little under control, and still adheres too closely 
 to the leading religious principles of her domination, to 
 expect that afiaii's may in this way be brought to a con- 
 clusion. 
 
 So long as the Porte shall maintain the exclusive preroga- 
 tive of the followers of Islam to conduct military and state 
 afiairs ; so long wi that stubborn selfishness, which regards 
 the masters from w^hom they obtained instruction as infinitely 
 below themselves, shall remain unsubdued ; and so long as 
 their fanaticism shall continue to be nourished by events ; 
 outrages wiU incessantly be renewed, and the simplest and 
 most rightful claims of the Christian population will be 
 allowed to remain unheeded. If such obstacles impede the 
 
CONCLUSION. 297 
 
 improvement of the Turks, how much more pitiable is the 
 condition of the poor helpless Rayahs, who are as uncivilized 
 as themselves ! 
 
 The spirit of modem times, which operates only by politi- 
 cal means, does not aim at the annihilation of Islamism, 
 either by conversion or force. Still we are perfectly right 
 in restraining it within due limits ; and we are fully justified 
 in endeavouring to prevent the followers of the Christian 
 religion from being trampled on, simply because they are 
 Christians. 
 
 This view of its result constitutes the deep interest excited 
 by the Servian emancipation : an interest which extends far 
 beyond the boundaries of that country. 
 
 We need only cast our eyes around, and glance at the 
 other Servian tribes in Bosnia and Herzegovina; at the 
 nearly-related Bulgarians ; or direct them towards Syria, 
 to the Christian inhabitants of the Lebanon ; in order to 
 estimate correctly the value of what has been effected in 
 Servia. 
 
 It is impossible to avoid observing, how much still remains 
 to be desired in her present condition. One thing, if we 
 may be allowed to give our opinion, is especially wanting — 
 the develoiDment of a more elevated tone of morality. The 
 highest problems of moral and intellectual life which en- 
 noble mankind have not yet been solved in this Country. 
 The worst consequence of this barbarous subjugation is, that 
 it does not conduce to an awakening to the consciousness of 
 moral duties. 
 
 Yet much has been achieved : the foundation of another 
 state of things has been laid, and a noble prospect for the 
 future has been opened. An example has been given which 
 it is eminently desirable should be followed in the other 
 provinces. 
 
 What is most necessary everywhere is a separation of the 
 two populations ; whose entire relation has undergone so 
 thorough a change, that it can never again become what it 
 was. 
 
 Even personal intercourse, inasmuch as it may still serve 
 to keep alive former ideas of the domination of the one and 
 the servitude of the other, should henceforth be avoided. 
 The Christian nations must obtain an administrative and 
 
298 CONCLUSION. 
 
 judicial independence; which may insure them a develop- 
 ment consistent with their original state, and in accordance 
 with the doctrines of that religion which animates them as 
 well as ourselves. 
 
 In stating this, we of course assume that the European 
 Powers will continue willing to preserve the integrity of the 
 Turkish Empire ; and that no events which are now beyond 
 human foresight, will occur to disturb it. 
 
 The eternal destinies of all nations are in the hands of the 
 Omnipotent ; and the decrees of Providence, alike unfathom- 
 able and irresistible, will be accomplished, in their due course 
 of fulfilment. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 December, 1838. 
 Statute in the shape op a firman, granted by his highness 
 
 TO THE inhabitants OP THE PROVINCE OP SeRVIA. 
 
 [From the Translation printed by order of Parliament.] 
 
 To my Vizier Mouhliss Pasha (may he be glorified), and to 
 the Prince of the Servian Nation (Milosch Obrenovitz), 
 may his end be happy. 
 
 In virtue of the privileges and immunities granted to the in- 
 habitants of my province of Servia, on account of their fidelity 
 and of their devotion, and in conformity with the tenour of 
 several hatti-sheriffs issued previously and at difierent dates on 
 my part, it has become necessary to grant to the said province an 
 internal administration, and a stable, special, and privileged 
 national statute, on condition that the Servians punctually dis - 
 charge for the future the duties of fidelity and obedience, and pay 
 exactly at the appointed periods to my Sublime Porte the tax, 
 whereof the exaction has been fixed and determined upon. 
 
 In conformity, then, with the organic statute which I have just 
 granted to the Servian nation, the dignity of Prince is conferred 
 upon thee and upon thy family in recompense of thy fidelity and 
 of thy devotion, and agreeably to the contents of the Imperial 
 berate which thou hadst previously received. 
 
 The internal administration of the province is entrusted to thy 
 faithful care, and 4000 purses of annual revenue are assigned 
 unto thee for thine own disbursements. I confide unto thee, at 
 the same time, the appointment of the different officers of the 
 province, the execution of the established regulations and laws, 
 the chief command of the garrisons necessary for the police and 
 for preserving from all infraction the good order and tranquillity 
 of the country ; the duty of levying and receiving the public 
 taxes and imposts, of giving to aU the officers and functionaries 
 of the province the orders and directions for their conduct which 
 may be requisite ; of inflicting the punishments to which the 
 
300 APPENDIX. 
 
 guilty shall have been condemned according to the regulations; 
 and I grant unto thee the right of pardoning, under suitable 
 limitations, or, at least, of modifying the punishments. 
 
 These powers being entrusted unto thee, thou wilt consequently • 
 possess the absolute right, for the good administration of the 
 country and of the inhabitants, whereof the duties are imposed 
 upon thee, to select, nominate, and employ three persons, who, 
 placed under thy orders, shall form the central administration of 
 the province, and shall occupy themselves, one with the affairs of 
 the interior, another with the finances, and a third with the legal 
 affairs of the country. 
 
 Thou shalt constitute a private chancery, which shall be under 
 the direction of thy lieutenant, the Pristavnik, whom thou shalt 
 charge with the delivery of passports and with the direction of 
 the relations subsisting between the Servians and the foreign 
 authorities. 
 
 There shall be formed and organized a Council composed of 
 the Primates and of the persons of the greatest consideration 
 among the Servians. 
 
 The number of the members of this Council shall be seventeen, 
 one of whom shall be the President. No person who is not a Ser- 
 vian by birth, or who shall not have received the character of a 
 Servian in conformity with the statutes, who shall not have at- 
 tained the age of thirty-five years, or who is not in possession of 
 real property, can forn! part of the national Council, nor be 
 reckoned among the number of its members. 
 
 The President of the Council, as well as the members, shall be 
 selected by thee, on condition that they be perfectly well-known 
 among their fellow-citizens, by their capacity and their character 
 for rectitude, for having rendered some services to their country, 
 and for having merited general approbation. After the selection 
 of the members of the Council and their nomination, and pre- 
 viously to their entrance into office, each and all of them, begin- 
 ning with thyself, shall swear in the presence of the Metropolitan 
 that they undertake to do nothing contrary to the interest of the 
 nation, to the obligations which their offices impose upon them, 
 to those of their conscience, or to my Imperial will ; the sole duty 
 of the Council will be to discuss the public interest of the nation, 
 and to afford unto thee its services and its aid. 
 
 No statute shall be adopted, no new tax levied without its having 
 been in the first instance and previously adopted and approved by 
 the Council. The allowances of the members of the Council shall be 
 fixed by thee, by common consent and in a suitable manner, and 
 when they shall have met together in the place where the central 
 administration of the principality is fixed, the circle of their ac- 
 tivity shall be confined and limited to the following matters. 
 
APPENDIX. 301 
 
 To discuss and decide upon questions and matters concerning 
 the institutions and laws of the country, justice, taxes, and other 
 contributions. 
 
 To fix the allowances and emoluments of all the servants of the 
 country, as likewise to create new offices if there should be occa- 
 sion for them. 
 
 To estimate the expense annually requisite for the administra- 
 tion of the country, and to deliberate upon the means most suit- 
 able and best adapted for imposing and levying the contributions 
 by which the expenditure is to be met. 
 
 And, finally, to deliberate upon the compilation of a law which 
 shall specify the number, the pay, and the service of the national 
 troops entrusted with the maintenance of good order and tran- 
 quillity in the country. 
 
 The Council shall have the right of drawing up the draft of 
 any law which shall appear to it to be beneficial, and of sub- 
 mitting it after the President and Secretary of the Council shall 
 have aflSxed their signature thereto ; on condition, nevertheless, 
 that such law in no way affects the legal rights of the Government 
 of my Sublime Porte, which is master of the country. In the 
 questions debated in the Council, the decision which shall have 
 had in its favour the majority of voices, shall be adopted. 
 
 The council shall have the right to demand every year, in the 
 course of March and April, from the three directors above-men- 
 tioned, a summary of their proceedings during the course of the 
 year, and to examine their accounts. 
 
 The three high functionaries, directors of Internal Affairs, of 
 the Finances, and of Justice, as likewise the director of the chan- 
 cery, so long as they exercise their functions, shall form part of 
 the Council, after having taken the oath. The seventeen members 
 of the Council cannot be dismissed without cause, unless it shall 
 be made evident to my Sublime Porte that they have been guilty of 
 some offence or infraction of the laws and statutes of the country. 
 
 There shall be chosen and nominated from among the Servians 
 a Kapu Kiaja, who shall continue to reside at my Sublime Porte 
 and carry on the affairs of the Servian nation, in conformity with 
 my sovereign intentions, and with the national institutions and 
 privileges of Servia. 
 
 Attributes of the three Functionaries designated above. 
 
 The affairs of the police, and of the quarantine, the transmis- 
 sion of the Prince's orders to the authorities of the districts of 
 the country, the direction of the establishments of public utility 
 and of the post, the repair of the high roads, and the execution of 
 the regulations respecting the troops of the country, shall all be 
 
302 APPENDIX. 
 
 within the province of the officer charged with the affairs of the 
 Interior. 
 
 The officer charged with the administration of Finance will 
 have to revise the accounts, to make commerce prosper, to look 
 after and manage the public revenue, the amount of which shall 
 be fixed by the laws of the country, to cause the laws with regard 
 to commerce and financial affairs to be carried into effect, to 
 settle the expenses of the country according to the accounts 
 drawn up by the other officers. He will take care to keep the 
 register of the public and private property, as well as of the real 
 estates both of the country and of the Government, and of the 
 management of the mines and of the forests, as also of the other 
 affairs which relate to his department. 
 
 The director charged with the administration of Justice having 
 also within his province the Department of Public Instruction 
 and the diffusion of science, will have to examine and watch 
 whether the sentences which have been passed have been exe- 
 cuted or not ; to hear and write down the complaints which may 
 be made against the judges ; to examine the qualification of those 
 who are called upon to administer justice, and to cause them to 
 deliver to him every three months, the return of all the causes 
 which have been decided during that period ; to interest himself 
 in the state and in the condition of the prisons, and to improve 
 them. He will also occupy himself in forming the public cha- 
 racter by the establishment of new schools, and in encouraging 
 instruction in necessary knowledge. He will have to inspect the 
 hospitals and other establishments of public utility ; and will put 
 himself in correspondence with the administrators of the churches 
 for the purpose of regulating all that relates to reHgion, to 
 worship, and to the churches. 
 
 No person who is not a Servian by birth, or who may not have 
 been naturalized, according to the fundamental laws of the 
 country, as a Servian, can hold any of the three situations above- 
 mentioned. 
 
 The three directors in question shall be independent of each 
 other in the exercise of their respective functions, none being 
 subject to the other, and each shall have his office apart from the 
 others. 
 
 The department of each of them shall be divided into several 
 offices and sections, and every official paper emanating from any 
 one of them on State business must be signed by each respec- 
 tively, and, moreover, any case which may come within the 
 province of the departments belonging to them respectively, 
 cannot be acted upon without having been previously coun- 
 tersigned by the head of the department ; and, in like manner, 
 no order and no case can be acted upon without having been 
 
APPENDIX. 303 
 
 previously entered and registered in the books of the office 
 to which they belong. 
 
 The three directors must, in the months of March and April in 
 each year, make an abstract of all the business which has been 
 carried on in their own offices and in those which are subordinate 
 to them, with a statement in detail ; and present it, signed and 
 sealed by them, as well as by the heads of departments, to be 
 examined by the council of the province. 
 
 Compositioyi of the Tribunals for Legal Matters. 
 
 It is my express will that the inhabitants of Servia, subjects of 
 my Sublime Porte, shall be protected in their properties, their 
 persons, their honour, and their dignity ; and this same Imperial 
 will is opposed to any individual whatever being deprived, with- 
 out trial, of his rights of citizenship, or exposed to any vexation 
 or punishment whatsoever ; wherefore it has been judged con- 
 sistent with the laws of social wants and with the principles of 
 justice, to establish in the country several kinds of courts, in 
 order to punish the guilty or to do justice to every individual, 
 public or private, in conformity with the statutes, and after the 
 right and justification, or, on the contray, the fault and the crim- 
 inality of each, shall have been decided by a trial. 
 
 Accordingly, no Servian shall be exposed to the law of retalia- 
 tion, or to any other punishment, corporal or pecuniary, that is to 
 say fine, before that, in conformity with the terms of the law, he 
 shall have been tried and condemned before a court. The estab- 
 lished courts shall take cognizance, according to law, of matters 
 under litigation of commercial disputes, and shall examine into 
 and determine upon definitively crimes and offences ; and in no 
 case shall the punishment or confiscation of property be inflicted. 
 
 The children and kinsmen of the guilty shall not be responsible 
 for the fault of their fathers, nor punished for them. Three Courts 
 are instituted for the administration of justice in Servia. 
 
 The first shall be established in the villages, and composed of 
 the old men of the place, and called Court of Peace. 
 
 The second shall be the Court of First Instance, established in 
 each of the seventeen districts of which Servia is composed. 
 
 The third shall be the Court of Appeal at the seat of Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The Court of Peace of each village shall be composed of a 
 President and two Assessors, elected by the inhabitants of the 
 place ; and each of these village Courts shall not have cognizance 
 of any matter above 100 piastres. Furthermore, they shall not 
 inflict punishments exceeding an imprisonment of three days and 
 ten blows. Causes can only be there pleaded and decided upon 
 
304 APPENDIX. 
 
 summarily and verbally. The sentences of the two other Courts 
 alone shall be drawn up in writing. The village Court must send 
 before the Court of the district of which it forms part, a suit of 
 more than 100 piastres, and the trial of a charge which involves a 
 punishment of more than ten blows ; and likewise the plaintiflF 
 and the defendant. 
 
 The district Court, which is to take cognizance in the first 
 instance of a case, shall be composed of a President, of three Mem- 
 bers, and a sufficient number of Registrars. The President and 
 the Assessors of the Court of First Instance, who shall not have 
 attained to the age of thirty years, shall not be entitled to be 
 thereunto appointed. This Court shall have the right of examin- 
 ing into, and determining upon, as well law-suits as crimes, 
 oifences, and commercial disputes. 
 
 A delay of eight days shall be allowed to every person who, 
 having lost his suit before the Court of First Instance of his dis- 
 trict, may be desirous of appealing from it to the Court of Appeal. 
 And if, within the space of eight days, the said person who has 
 lost his suit shall not have appealed to the Court of Appeal, the 
 sentence of the district Court shall be valid and carried into 
 effect. The Court of Appeal shall only have exclusive cognizance 
 of the revision and decision of the causes and disputes which shaU 
 have already been brought before the Court of First Instance, and 
 both the President of the Court of Appeal and also the four Mem- 
 bers who shall be associated with him, must absolutely be thirty- 
 five years old. 
 
 The members of the Servian Courts must be Servians by birth, 
 or naturalized as such, in conformity with the statutes. As 
 regards the suits which are carried from one Court to another, the 
 President of each Court must deliver to the plaintiff and to 
 the defendant an abstract of the sentence, under his hand and seal. 
 
 The members of the village Courts of Peace cannot be members 
 of the two other Courts. If one of the members of these two 
 Courts should die, his successor must be chosen from among the 
 lawyers who shall have held offices in the Courts ; and among these 
 the senior in age or service shall be appointed in his turn. 
 
 No member of the Court shall be dismissed on the charge of 
 having deviated from his duties before the matter shall be legally 
 proved according to the statutes. When officers, having military 
 or civil rank, or priests, after their crime shall have been solemnly 
 proved in consequence of a judgment according to the statutes, 
 shall have been condemned to be punished, as corporal punishment 
 cannot be inflicted on these persons, they shall be punished, either 
 by severe reprimand, or by imprisonment, or by degradation, or, 
 finally, by banishing them to another place. No officer of the 
 principality, civil "^ military, high or low, shall take part in the 
 
APPENDIX. 305 
 
 business of tlic throe Courts aforesaid, but tliey shall only be called 
 upon to execute their sentences. 
 
 Commerce being free in Servia, every Servian may freely 
 exercise it, and the slightest restriction upon that freedom shall 
 never be allowed ; unless the Prince, however, in concert with the 
 council of the country, should deem it a matter of urgency to im- 
 pose a temporary restriction upon some article or other. 
 
 Every Servian, acting in conformity with the laws of the State, 
 is at full liberty to sell his own goods and properties, to dispose 
 thereof at pleasure, and to bequeath them by will. He cannot be 
 deprived of this right, except by a legal sentence of one of the 
 Courts established in the country. 
 
 Every Servian who shall have a lavz-suit, must have recourse to 
 the Court of ihe district which he inhabits ; he can only be sum- 
 moned before the Court of the district in which he resides. 
 
 All forced labour is abolished in Servia, and no forced labour 
 shall be imposed upon any Servian. 
 
 The expense occasioned by the maintenance and keeping in 
 order oi the bridges and highways shall be apportioned among the 
 municipalities of the villages in the neighbourhood. 
 
 In like manner as the central administration of the principality 
 is entrusted with the direction and care of the main post-routes, 
 of the bridges, and other buildings of public utility, individuals 
 must also know that it is necessary on their part to direct their 
 ov.-n ze:il and attention to that object. 
 
 Thou shalt fix, in concert with the Council, and equitably, a 
 daily payment for the poor who are employed on these Avorks ; in 
 the same manner as thou shalt agree with the members of the 
 Council to assign fixed annual salaries to all those who are 
 employed in the diiferent services of the principality of the 
 country. 
 
 Any officer who, for a legal cause, shall be desirous of retiring 
 after a certain number of years' service, shall be at liberty to do 
 £0 ; the suitable pension which he shall have deserved, shall be 
 assigned to him alter his retirement. 
 
 Every employment, whether civil, military, or judicial, shall bo 
 conferred in Servia by an ordinance of the Prince, on condition 
 that every officer shall, in the first instance, commence by the 
 lower ranks, and shall be progressively, and after having been tried, 
 promoted to the superior ranks and employments. 
 
 Lawyers entrusted with judicial offices shall never be at liberty 
 to change the nature of their employment, and to occupy places 
 other than those in the courts, and devoting themselves ex- 
 clusively to their improvement in judicial matters. No civil 
 or military officer shall be employed, even temporarily, in the 
 courts. 
 
306 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Servian Rayahs, tributary to the Sublime Porte, being 
 Christians of the Greek religion, otherwise called the Church of 
 the East, I grant to the Servian nation fall liberty to observe the 
 usual forms of their religion, and to choose from among thena- 
 seives, with thy concurrence and under thy superintendence, their 
 archbishops and bishops ; provided that they shall be subject to 
 the spiritual power of the patriarch residing at Constantinople, 
 considered as the head of the religion and of its synod. And as 
 in virtue oi the privileges and immunities granted, of old, to the 
 Christian inhabitants of the Ottom.an Empire since the conquest^ 
 the administration of the afi'airs of religion and of the Church, as 
 long as it does not interfere with political matters, should belong. . 
 entirely to the heads of the clergy ; as likewise the assignment on 
 the part of the nation of the allowances to their metropolitans^ 
 bishops, igoumenes, and priests, as well as to the religious esta- 
 blishment belonging to the Church ; the same rule shall be observed 
 with regard to the allowances and prelerment of the metro- 
 politans and bishops in Servia. Places shall be appointed for the 
 meeting of the Special Council of metropolitans and bishops for 
 the purpose of regulating religious affairs, the affairs of the metro- 
 politans and bishops, as well as those of the priests; and those 
 relating to the churches of the country. 
 
 The sipahiliks, the timars, and the ziamets, having been abol- 
 ished in Servia, this old custom shall never be introduced there 
 for the future. Every Servian, great or small, is liable to the 
 payment of taxes and contributions. The Servians of a certain 
 rank employed in the business and in the offices of the country^ 
 shall pay their quota in proportion to the property and lands 
 which they possess ; the clergy alone shall be exempted from the 
 payment of taxes. Servia being composed of seventeen districts, 
 and each district comprising several cantons, which, again, are 
 composed of several villages and municipalities, each head of a 
 district shall have an assistant, a clerk, a treasurer, and other 
 officers who may be required. The chiefs of districts shall 
 occupy themselves with the execution of the orders which may 
 reach them from the central Government of the principality relat- 
 ing to all the affairs of internal administration which belong to 
 their functions ; they wiU confine themselves to imposing and 
 levying the contributions according to the registers which they 
 will receive from the Finance Department ; and they will not 
 meddle with the disputes to which the levy of the taxes in their 
 districts may give rise, but they will content themselves with 
 referring to the district Court the disputes and law-suits which 
 take place, reserving to themselves only the execution of the sen- 
 tence of the Court, 
 The chief of a district shall employ his efforts for the preserva- 
 
APPENDIX, 307 
 
 tion of the goods and lands of the villages from all injury, and for 
 the protection of the people from evil-disposed persons, and from 
 vagabonds, and from persons without cliaracter. He must inspect 
 the passports of all persons arriving within his district, or depart- 
 ing from thence ; he cannot keep a person in prison beyond 
 twenty-four hours ; but he will send to the district Court the 
 differences and suits which may arise in his district, and apply to 
 the head of the police of the district, if the differences are matters 
 of police. He must, moreover, watch over the village Courts 
 of Peace, and be careful not to meddle with the affiiirs of the 
 churches and village schools, nor touch the revenues and lands 
 which depend on other pious establishments. As regards the lands 
 and properties assigned to the churches, boroughs, inhabitants, 
 and establishments of public utility, as well as those belonging to 
 individuals, there shall be delivered to each separately, documents 
 establishing the right of property, and these shall, moreover, be 
 registered in the offices of the country. 
 
 Every Servian, in general, and without exception, shall be 
 exempt from prosecution and molestation, covert or open, before 
 he has been cited and tried before the Courts. 
 
 My Imperial will having settled and established the aforesaid 
 regulations, this Imperial firman has been drawn up expressly in 
 order to communicate them unto thee, and has been sent unto 
 thee decorated with my illustrious Imperial signature. I order 
 thee, therefore, to watch over the security of that Imperial pro- 
 vince, as well internally as externally, having entrusted the rule 
 thereof to thee and to thy family only on the express condition of 
 obedience and of submission to the orders proceediug from me, to 
 ensure the prosperity thereof, to employ thy efforts to devise 
 means for securing to all the inhabitants repose and tranquillity, 
 to respect the position, the honour, the rank, and the services of 
 each ; and, above all, to take care that the clauses and statutory 
 conditions above expressed are carried into execution wholly and 
 for ever, thus applying all thy zeal to draw down upon my Impe- 
 rial person the prayers and blessings of all classes of the inhabi- 
 tants of the country, and in this manner to confirm and justify 
 my sovereign confidence and benevolence towards thee. 
 
 In like manner, I enjoin all the Servians in general to submit 
 themselves to the orders of the Prince, acting in accordance with 
 the statutes and institutions of the country, and carefully to con- 
 form themselves to what is necessary and fitting. I command 
 that this Imperial Hatti-Sheriff be published, in order that the 
 nation may have cognizance thereof ; that every one, impressed 
 more and more with gratitude for these concessions and benefits 
 granted by my sovereign munificence to aU alike, shall conduct 
 himself under all circumstances in such a manner as to merit my 
 
 x2 
 
308 APPENDIX. 
 
 approbation ; and that the clauses of the present statute be exe- 
 cuted, -word for word, and for ever, without any intringement 
 thereof at any time. 
 
 And thou likewise, my Vizier, thou shalt so understand it ; and 
 thou shalt join thy elForts to those of the Prince for the exact and 
 strict execution of this present Imperial lirmau. 
 
A FEW PAGES ON BOSNIA, 
 
A FEW PAGES ON BOSNIA.* 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 For half a centniy lias the Eastern Question been one cf 
 tlie greatest moment in relation to European politics ; and 
 it has been continually increasing in importance. 
 
 Of late yearSj, indeed, it has acquired a new interest. The 
 reforms which had long been contemplated, and once or 
 twice attempted, in the Ottoman Empire, have at last been 
 accomplished ; and thence has arisen a ferment in its social 
 elements, which is worthy of close examination on its own 
 account ; independently of the reaction it must necessarily 
 cause in great pohtical interests. 
 
 For a considerable time past other nations have left to 
 the English the task of furnishing information respecting the 
 condition of remote parts of the world. Thus our knowledge 
 of the course and the workings of these Ottoman reforms is 
 derived principally from two English travellers, Adolphus 
 Slade and David IJrquhart. 
 
 It is very agreeable to meet with a narrator who enables 
 us, whilst sitting comfortably at home, to participate in some 
 degTce in all he sees and encounters, and who amuses and 
 informs, without wearying us. Slade has keen and subtle 
 l^owers of observation ; he possesses the talent of rej^ro' 
 ducing things and setting them vividly before our eyes ; he 
 abounds in striking anecdotes, but not to excess ; at the same 
 time he appears to be of a shrewd, sarcastic turn ; never 
 omitting an opportunity of making a caustic remark. We 
 
 * Translated from Ranke's ** Die Letzten Unruhen in Bosnien," 
 1820-1832. 
 
312 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 accompany him with lively and unflagging enjoyment 
 throughout his whole journey. ''' 
 
 Urquhart does not describe his travels : he sums up their 
 results. He is much less amusing, hut more scientific. His 
 attention is particularly directed to the rural municipalities, 
 to some hidden springs of the internal Administration, and 
 to the commercial resources of the Em2)ire. He is, perhaps, 
 deficient in accurate knoAvledge of the past history of those 
 countries ; but he has a clear insight into their present 
 wants, and takes a sincere and warm interest in their future 
 vrelfare.t 
 
 Unlike in manner and spirit, these books difier also in 
 their conclusions. Slade condemns, Urquhart approves of 
 Sultan Mahmoud's reforms. 
 
 If we are not immediately called upon to decide between 
 the two, we find Qurselves aided by this very conflict of 
 opinion ; for Vv'e^-ilius enabled to view things under various 
 aspects. 
 
 Nevertheless we are still far from obtaining so complete a 
 survey as we could wish. The two travellers saw only 
 E-umelia, Constantinople, a part of Bulgaria and Albania. 
 They have loft undescribed not only the Asiatic, but also the 
 remaining European provinces. 
 
 I v/ould fain, in the following essay, contribute something 
 towards completing our knowledge of the present condition 
 of European Turkey. Bosnia, above all other provinces, has 
 been thrown into the greatest commotion by the >Sultan's 
 reforms. My purpose is to present a brief account of the 
 course of that movement. I have before me authentic 
 materials derived from the communications of natives, which 
 my Servian friend, M. Wuk Stephanovitsch Karadshitch, 
 collected at my request. They are indeed far from being 
 complete : but are for the most part quite new ; and, there- 
 fore, I do not hesitate to make them the basis of the follov,^- 
 inix work. 
 
 * "Records of Travels in Turkey, Greece, &c., 1829-1831," by A. 
 Slade ; 1832. Dedicated to the Duke of Cumberland. 
 
 t *' Turkey and its Resources," 1833. Dedicated to William IV. 
 
313 
 
 CHAPTEH I. 
 STATE OF BOSNIA. 
 
 After so many centuries of international conflicts and of 
 civilization, one would hardly suj)pose that there still exists 
 in the midst of Europe a land in which the richest vegetation 
 is produced spontaneously by nature, and comes forth and 
 fades away, year after year, unnoticed and unused, No eye 
 enjoys its beauty : no botanist has described this flora. In 
 many cases, the richest pastures have no o^vner. The moun- 
 tain heights are crowned with large trees, of which stately 
 shijjs and tall masts might be made ; for there is no want of 
 rivers to float the timber down to the coast : but no one 
 thinks of turnini^- these natural advantas^es to account. It 
 is left to Nature, in her own appointed periods, to consume 
 what she has produced. 
 
 The country possesses, nevertheless, one branch of industry 
 in which it is scarcely equalled by any other. Sword-blades, 
 for instance, of consummate excellence, are there manufac- 
 tured ; and nowhere else in the world are these articles 
 valued so much, or purchased at such high prices. Pistols 
 also are adorned in the most sumptuous style with gold and 
 silver, by the people of that country; and in their firearms 
 and their horses, on the possession of which they pride 
 themselves, they exhibit elaborate ingenuity of taste, and a 
 personal vanity which is unparalleled. 
 
 Bosnia, of all the provinces of European Turkey, is pre- 
 eminently in this anomalous condition. On the one hand, 
 a strange apathy; on the other, such wonderful proficiency, 
 though but in a single direction : a crude refinement, one is 
 almost tempted to say, characterizes the population. 
 
 Of all frontier lands, there is surely not one which parts 
 two such difierent worlds, as the Austrian frontier towards 
 Turkey ; doubly strong in its military organization and its 
 chain of quarantine establishments. The change is the more 
 remarkable, as it afiects races of men who are otherwise very 
 nearly related in origin, customs, and language : but nowhere 
 
314 ORIENTAL INFLUENCE. 
 
 is the immense modifying influence which a dominant reli- 
 gion exerts upon men, more strikingly visible. 
 
 To this day the East still begins at Belgrade. The Pacha 
 sits all day long on his divan, tranquilly inhaling the fumes 
 of his chibouk and sipping his coffee ; while the Bashis stand 
 at the door with folded arms, awaiting his commands. As 
 on the Arabian coasts, the leilat, marking the hours, resounds 
 from the Servian fortresses through the stillness of night ; so 
 near to us has the polity and the religion of Mahomet suc- 
 ceeded in establishing its outward forms and observances. 
 No sooner have you crossed the Austrian frontier into 
 Bosnia, than you meet Moslems in the loosely-flowing gar- 
 ments of the sultry East. You enter quiet villages, where 
 grave heads of families exercise a patriarchal rule ; where 
 the tranquillity of their holiday is not broken by any public 
 dancing, much less by the uproar which the use of wine 
 causes among Christians ; and where the birds nestle undis- 
 turbed in the trees that surround the houses. There are 
 customs that seem to scorn a change of climate ; though 
 adopted unde.r the influence of another sky, they are here 
 most scrupulously observed. This oriental disposition of the 
 mind affects even the Christian inhabitants. Pilgrimages to 
 Jerusalem are held in as much honour as pilgrimages to 
 Mecca : both confer among the respective believers the title 
 of Hadji; nay, the Christians in the Ottoman Empire not 
 unfrequently call the Lord's Sepulchre the Tjaba, a title 
 borrowed from the Ivaaba at Mecca.* 
 
 Notwithstanding this general contrast with the "West — 
 with '"the people over there," as they say — which the provinces 
 and populations of the Ottoman Empire present in common, 
 they yet exhibit the greatest diversity among themselves. 
 The cause of this is to be sought, not only in the really great 
 multiplicity of races from which they spring, but there have 
 also arisen great differences in their relations to each other 
 and to the Porte. 
 
 I think I may venture to assert, without fear of error, 
 
 * See also on this subject, Pertusier, " La Bosnie consideree dans ses 
 Rapports avec I'Empire Ottoman," 1822 ; a work based on military 
 geograpiiical observations, and whose only defect is that it makes preten- 
 sions to general knowledge which it cannot sustain ; also the agreeable 
 work of Perch, " Reise in Scrbien," 1830. 
 
CONVERSION OF CHRISTIANS TO ISLAMISil. 315 
 
 that these internal clifFerences are also to be traced chiefly to 
 religions influences. 
 
 Here I touch upon a primary feature of Ottoman history, 
 in general little regarded, but which is nevertheless of the 
 greatest moment. 
 
 It is true that the conquest of these lands was efiected at 
 once, and by force of arms ; but from that moment began a 
 process which, continuing for centuries, could not fail at last 
 to assimilate the vanquished to the victors. 
 
 The Ottoman Empire is not simply a state ; for inasmuch 
 as it makes all political arrangements dependent on the 
 recognition of Islamism, it is at the same time a religious 
 institution. At the epoch of its splendour, its whole strength 
 consisted in the number of its forced or voluntary converts. 
 In later times, indeed, it has allowed such horrible measures 
 as the levying of every tenth boy, to fall into disuse, nor 
 has it undertaken any conversions by force ; but through 
 the exclusion of all who were not of the faith, from the 
 majority of political rights, it has exercised an indirect 
 influence, which has slowly and noiselessly produced im- 
 portr=nt results. 
 
 The state of the Turkish Empire wholly depends upon 
 the position Avhich its various component populations have 
 respectively assumed towards the dominant religion. 
 
 Some have borne for centuries the yoke of their Moslem 
 rulers, and bear it to this day. 
 
 Others have succeeded in winning for themselves more or 
 less of independence; as, for instance, the Clementi, the 
 Montenegrins, the Mainotes, and lastly the Servians. In 
 some cases it was their good fortune to be aided by the 
 mountainous nature of their country, or by some favourable 
 combination of political circumstances ; but often their only 
 resource has been to defend themselves with arms in their 
 hands. 
 
 But all were not inclined either to fight continually for 
 their freedom, or to submit to the thraldom of the I\Iaho- 
 medan state functionaries : their attachment to their own 
 religion was not strong enough for that ; and they chose 
 rather to embrace Islamism, which raised them to the rank 
 of their rulers. " 
 
 From these causes, the numbers of the Christians in Turkey 
 
316 ALBANIA, BULGARIA, AND BOSNIA. 
 
 Lave diminisLed to a greater extent than is commonly sup- 
 posed. 
 
 It vrould be desirable if we could account for these losses 
 to Christianity with some degree of certainty ; but it is not 
 in the nature of things that we should discover any notice 
 of them but such as are scattered and fragmentary. The 
 Ottoman Empire was never very accessible, nor is it usual 
 to devote any special attention to the affairs of subjugated 
 races.'" 
 
 The Albanians, for instance, after holding out a consider- 
 able time, at last went over to Islamism in masses. Formed 
 by nature to be warriors, with bodily endowments which 
 fitted them equally to endure the hardship of campaigns in 
 distant lands, and to excel in those modes of warfare adapted 
 to their native country — driven out from their barren moun- 
 tains by the mere act of becoming Mahornedans — they were 
 considered the best soldiers of the Porte, and obtained, as it 
 were, a monopoly of military service ; they have fought out 
 all the intestine wars of the empire in Arabia and Egypt as 
 well as in Greece, from the Euphrates to the Drina. Such 
 is their Mahomedanism, that they even go the length of 
 deriving their descent from the Arabs. Their prophet and 
 all their saints are derived from that people. t 
 
 In Bulgaria, too, v/hole tribes have apostatized to Islamism. 
 They are scarcely less warlike than the Albanians, but they 
 have no need to serve for pay : they are satisfied to remain 
 unassailed in their mountains ; all they insist on, is, that no 
 other armed forces of the Sultan shall ever tread their soil. 
 
 In Bosnia affairs assumed a very j^eculiar aspect. 
 
 The distinction between Turks and Bayahs exists in Bosnia, 
 as in the other provinces. 
 
 The Bayahs are partly of the Greek, and partly of the 
 Catholic confession. The Greeks have their bishops in 
 Svornick, Sarayevo, and Mostar ; the Catholics have Fran- 
 ciscans for their priests ; their bishop resides at "V oinitza. 
 
 * See a note on this subject at the end of this essay. 
 
 t " Notice sur TAlbanie,'' by Ibrahim Manzour Effendi; " Memoires 
 sur la Grcce et I'Albanie pendant le Gouvernement d'Ali Pacha." Pou- 
 queville remarks that Hippocrates seems to have taken the Albanians as 
 bis model when he drew the contrast between the European and Asiatic 
 character. 
 
INCONSISTENCIES OF THE BOSNIANS. 317 
 
 A remarkable approximation is observed between tbe two 
 professions. The Catholics attach themselves to the Greeks 
 more than is the case anywhere else ; they observe the same 
 fasts. According to the national Servian custom, almost 
 every family has a patron saint. 
 
 But it is surprising to find that even the rulers of the land, 
 the professed Turks, speak the same language, are of the 
 very same race, and still preserve many national customs. 
 They have Slavonian names : the country is full of Liubo- 
 vitches, Yaidatches, Gokolovitches, Giurgevitches, Philippo- 
 vitches. They are in all respects veiy zealous Mahomedans ; 
 they pride themselves on the strictest maintenance of the 
 dogma of the unity of God, as they understand it, and they 
 insist on being called Turks — at the same time they also 
 bear in mind what saint was the domestic patron of their 
 ancestors : it seems as though they can never quite dispos- 
 sess themselves of the remembrance of the old familiar faith. 
 Sometimes a Bosnian Bey takes a Christian Priest secretly 
 to the grave of his forefathers, to bless their remains and 
 pray for their souls. 
 
 The cause of this strange state of things is, that the 
 Bosnian noble had no choice but to go over to Islamism, if 
 he wished to avoid being extirpated, as were the aristocracy 
 in the other provinces. By taking that step he became a 
 member of the Turkish government ; soon he obtained 
 timars, the Ottoman fiefs, a,nd sandsJiakts ; and as his vassals 
 for the most part, if not w^holly, remained Christians, the 
 relations between him and them became the same as between 
 the Osmanlis and the Bayahs in the rest of the empire. 
 
 Hence it came to pass that in Bosnia the nation was 
 divided into two portions, which were mutually hostile to 
 each other. That the Bosnians became such zealous Maho- 
 medans might arise from that being the religion of the do- 
 minant class ; for aristocratic pride linliied itself with the 
 pride of the Moslem. 
 
 In adopting Islamism, the Bosnian nobJes maintained and 
 strengthened their rights over their vassals ; and thus they 
 have always had the power of disposing of their lives and 
 fortunes : it was also a great advantage to them that they 
 were native proprietors, as thence they acquired, in the 
 estimation of the Sultan, a position which gave them an 
 
318 STATE OF THINGS IN BOSNIA. 
 
 independence not easily to be obtained by otlier feuda- 
 tories. 
 
 JJpon this fact mainly depends the peculiarity of tliese 
 national circumstances. 
 
 All the Bosnian Kapetans, of which Pertusier reckons 
 forty-eight, have been for a considerable time hereditary; 
 and it was a mere form if from time to time they were con- 
 firmed. To supersede them without employing force would 
 have been impossible. The castles in which they dwell seem 
 badly fortified, to an eye accustomed to European works. 
 The towers at the four corners are connected by dilapidated 
 walls, surmounted by old guns ; but the assailants have no 
 better artillery; and as the defenders generally fight to the 
 death and make a most obstinate resistance, the issue must 
 always be doubtful. These families, besides, have struck 
 such deei3 root, that they are not easily to be extirpated 
 by a single mischance, for the Kapetans are the great pro- 
 prietors ; a considerable part of the land is their o^vn ; and 
 often they have estates beyond the Bosnian frontiers, which 
 they employ the Bayahs to cultivate, giving themselves no 
 more concern about them than to draw the rent, their sole 
 occupation and glory being the acquirement of warlike accom- 
 plishments. The Porte has maintained the right of appoint- 
 ing a Vizier, not a native, for the general administration of 
 the province ; but it may easily be imagined that so inde- 
 pendent an aristocracy pay little heed to him. The Yizier 
 is not accustomed to travel through the country ; and the 
 Kapetans do not hold themselves bound to attend his court 
 at his summons ; indeed, they often wage Vv^ar upon each 
 other, without caring about him. 
 
 The rest of the Beys who live in the country districts, the 
 Spahis and the Timariots, of course adhere more to the per- 
 manent power of the Kapetans than to the transient power 
 of a Yizier. They all share in the national independence,"" 
 but it is especially enjoyed at Sarayevo, the capital of the 
 pjrovince. Here, where the Vizier formerly resided, he is 
 now scarcely of any imi^ortance. There stands the strong 
 
 * There also are Moslem peasants, as before indicated, and they are 
 proprietors of the grounds they till: but there being no mosques in the 
 country, they go on Friday to the nearest castle to perform their devo- 
 tions. 
 
APPOINTMENT OF A MOLLAII 319 
 
 castle wliich he once inhabited, but noAv he dares not enter 
 it. It has become a law, that on his arrival he shall be at 
 liberty to pass o^e night only in the town : for that night 
 he is entertained at the public expense ; but on the following 
 morning he has to proceed forthwith to Traunik, his appointed 
 residence. 
 
 An hereditary patriarchate established itself in Sarayevo 
 for the government of the town. Like the patriarchates of 
 the West, it was based upon the possession of real property 
 in the neic^hbourhood, or on prosperity in trade ; but, never- 
 theless, differed in this respect, that it was less exclusive. 
 Whoever had attained consideration, either by good fortune 
 or talent, even by success in some handicraft occupation, 
 was eligible to this office. 
 
 The toYv'^n possesses a certain amount of v/ealth. The whole 
 commerce of the country is here carried on, for it is the con- 
 necting point with Kumelia, Croatia and Dalmatia ; and if 
 commerce in thoss regions is less extensive and comprehen- 
 sive than with us, on the other hand it is probably more 
 lucrative^ and at the same time confers as much considera- 
 tion as with us. Surrounded by beautiful hills and green 
 meadows, and traversed by the river Migliaska, Sarayevo, 
 with its neat houses, its stone bridges, and its numerous 
 minarets rising between the trees, presents a very imposing 
 and agTceable appearance^ and impresses one with an idea of 
 good order and comfort. 
 
 Sarayevo is considered the focus of fanaticism, as it is also 
 the centre of the Bosnian aristocracy. It is well known that 
 all old privileges throughout the empire were connected with 
 the institution of the Janissaries : probably a sixth part of 
 the inhabitants of this town shared in those privileges. 
 
 Hence it was that its citizens exercised extraordinary 
 rights. 
 
 The Porte, until very lately, sent them a Mollah, whose 
 office it was to settle the disputes both of Moslems and 
 Kayahs, " according to the apostolic commands and the holy 
 law of the Prophet ;" deputing a Musselim for the Rayahs 
 and the Aga of the Janissaries. By these appointments it 
 asserted its sovereignty ; but its nominees had to take care 
 not to displease the citizens, who still retained the right of 
 dismissing them. The popular control extended even to the 
 
320 ATTEMPT AT EEFORJI. 
 
 Yizicr, althougli he was tlio governor of tlic "'.vliole country : 
 whenever they had anythhig to allege against him, they had 
 only to send in their complaint to the Odgak of the Janis- 
 saries in Constantinople, in order to obtain his recal. 
 
 It may readily be conceived how difficult was the position 
 of a Vizier of Bosnia : pressed as he was on the one side by 
 the Porte, by its bankers, to whom he owed his existence, 
 and by the demands of the seraglio ; on the other hand, re- 
 strained in an extreme degree by the aristocratic immunities 
 of the town and its nobles ; he was far from possessing the 
 absolute power which we associate with the idea of a Pacha. 
 
 Now as the Porte had no ofcher organ in the country than 
 the Vizier and these few functionaries, it is plain how slight 
 its influence over Bosnia must have really been. It was 
 satisfied to draw its resources from the province, and deemed 
 itself fortunate when it did not meet with direct opposition. 
 
 But it is not to be supposed that matters should always 
 be allowed to remain on such a footing. 
 
 CHAPTEE IT. 
 ATTEMPT AT REFORM. 
 
 Hammer's copious history of the Othman Turks unfortu- 
 nately breaks off just where it could not have failed to acquire 
 fresh interest for contemporaries, and to prove highly instruc- 
 tive. It cannot indeed be denied that the European compli- 
 cations in which the Porte has been involved since the peace 
 of Kainardji, would offer a new difficulty, in consequence of 
 their near relation to the politics of the present moment ; 
 but, on the other hand, these complications would not form 
 the most important consideration. 
 
 The vitality of the Ottoman Empire during the last fifty 
 years has been entirely concentrated in its internal move- 
 ments. 
 
 Notwithstanding aU its barbarism, this Empire presents a 
 subject of great interest. Eor one may observe the various 
 
gra::d signior at y/ar with his vassals. 321 
 
 nations of Y/hicli it is composed, again exhibit their original 
 l)eculiarities, and manifest rude but vigorous imjoulses ; how 
 they welcome or reject the influences of civilization; how 
 they assist or oppose the policy of the sovereign power : and 
 this spontaneously, from iuAvard emotions to which they 
 readily yield, and which are as readily quelled. Who would 
 not wish to see all this accurately dej^icted? What pictures 
 Iiere av/ait observation ! Pictures of a State that seems but 
 newjy formed, though resolved out of known elements ; of 
 poetry and customs racy and fresh, the natural growth of 
 the soil ; the result of the mingling and interpenetration of 
 religions and languages. A party of travellers ought to be 
 sent thither to explore the memorials of former times, and to 
 view the productions of nature in that unknown territory : 
 to collect the heroic lays Vv^hich resound through the moun- 
 tains j and to observe attentively and comprehensively the 
 manners, language, polity, and mutual relations of its diversi- 
 fied populations. 
 
 In all these movements there is, at the same time, a 
 remarkable unity — a general harmony in their development. 
 
 Simultaneously with great convulsions which Europe has 
 experienced since the outbreak of the French Revolution — 
 sometimes affected by them, and at others indei^endent of 
 them — the Turkish Empire has passed through a course of 
 thorough change. For self-subsistent powers had spread 
 over the whole empire. It was not only that the Pachas in 
 so many places had boldly mauitained their stations agciinst 
 the will of the Porte ; or that the Wahabis (" bodies of steel, 
 souls of fire")'"' had taken the holy cities, and revolutionised 
 Arabia with a reformed creed : there were, also, local aristo- 
 cracies everywhere, more or less like that of Bosnia. In 
 Egypt there was the power of the Mameluke Beys revived 
 immediately after the departure of the French ; there was 
 the protectorate of the Dere Beys in Asia Minor ; the here- 
 ditary authority of the Albanian chieftains ; the dignity of 
 the Ayans in the principal towns ; besides many other 
 immunities, all of which seemed to find a bond of union 
 and a centre in the powerfid order of the Janissaries. 
 
 It happened that the Grand Signior found himself at war 
 \<,'ith these vassals of his ; nor did it always occiu* in con- 
 * Hope's phrase in Anastasius. 
 
 y 
 
322 ATTEMPT AT Er.FOEM. 
 
 sequence of his wish to get rid of privileges thct curtailed 
 his own power ; the movement was at times begTin by the 
 opposite side. We have an example of this in Servia, where 
 the Janissaries aimed at raising themselves to a power tho- 
 roughly unsanctioned and virtually independent, It became 
 high time to stop their encroachments 
 
 It is not always borne in mind that, after the unfortu- 
 nate Selim had boldly undertaken this conflict in v/hich 
 he fell,* it was by a reaction against the Janissaries, and 
 a victory over them, that Mahmoud II. attained to the 
 throne. The tendency to reform made him Sultan. True, 
 it was again immediately repressed ; Bairaktar, the hero of 
 those days, fell like Selim, but had a more glorious end ; it 
 only took deeper root in the mind of the young Sultan, the 
 deeper that he was forced to keep it concealed ; it blended 
 with his dissimulation, his hatred, and his natural propensity 
 to cruelty. 
 
 His whole life was a combat with rebels : he vowed to 
 extingtiish all kinds of independence in his empire. He did 
 not spend much time in inquiring whether it was lawful or 
 unlawful, whether it was dangerous or to be tolerated ; he 
 never hesitated as to the means : fraud and cunning were as 
 welcome to him as open force. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the movements in Bosnia were 
 due to him ; for his thoughts were intently bent on changing 
 the existing state of things there. After Molla Pacha of 
 "Widdm was removed, and Servia pacified for a time, while 
 he was already planning an attack on Ali Pacha, his most 
 powerful vassal in the west, he also made an attempt to 
 subdue the refractory spirit of the Bosnian chiefs. Let us 
 observe how he went to work. He took measures not 
 exactly in an illegal, bvit certainly in a very arbitrary 
 manner. Pie sent a Vizier to Bosnia with injunctions to 
 punish even the slightest resistance with the utmost violence. 
 His name was Jelaludin Pacha. The reader has, perhaps, 
 heard of the sect of the Bektashi, Mahomedan monks, the 
 only ones who have the right to beg, but who generally j^refer 
 to live by the work of their hands. Jelaludin is said to have 
 
 * These events are not badly told in a ** Precis historique sur la Revo- 
 lution du 28 Mai, 1807," by an eye-witness, in the "Esprit des Jour- 
 naux/' Dec. 1808, p. 165. 
 
DETERMINED SEVERITY OF THE VIZIER, 323 
 
 belonged to their body : * at least lie did not live like other 
 Viziers; lie kept no Larem, lie did not surround himself 
 with a court ; and devoted himself wholly to the duties of 
 his office. Often he went about in disguise^, like the Viziers 
 and Saltans of old, to see with his OY,^n eyes how his orders 
 were obeyed. He even visited the Clirlstians' houses of 
 prayer. 
 
 Now as he exercised incorruptible, inexorable justice, he 
 was welcome to the Kaycihs, who desired above all else to be 
 under an administration of protecting laws ; but he v/as 
 proportionately disliked by the nobles of Bosnia. 
 
 He deemed it right, and hjs orders enjoined him, to coerce 
 them. This oligarchy or republic of nobles having been 
 split up into innumerable factions, he succeeded in securing 
 some adherents among the Agas even of Sarayevo. The 
 powerful house of DschindschaSsch, in particular, jomed him. 
 This made him still more resolute in visiting all the refrac- 
 tory with signal chastisement. We are given the names of 
 a number of Kapetans whom he caused to be murdered : 
 one at Derventa, one of Bagnaluka, a Fotchitch : Achmet 
 Bairaktar of Sarayevo. The elder men, who had grown grey 
 in the enjoyment of independence, were the especial objects 
 of his hostility. He attacked them in their very fortresses j 
 Mostar and Srebritza he took by storm. No artifice v/as too 
 mean for him, if it enabled him to seize his victims. 
 
 He practised that Oriental system of justice, which has 
 been so often described, and respecting which it is a doubtful 
 question whether it should be called justice or tyranny. 
 
 He eventually succeeded in reducing the province to obe- 
 dience. The citizens of Sarayevo, indeed, as may be supposed, 
 did not fail on this occasion to forward their complaints to 
 the Odjack, in Constantinople : nor were the Vizier's arbi- 
 trary acts the only charges they brought against him : they 
 complained, also, that he was a Christian. The Odjack laid 
 these charges, as is customary, before the Sultan. It would 
 have been a hazardous thing for him to have totally rejected 
 them ; the Janissaries in liis capital were still too powerful 
 for him ; and it is said that he issued a firman recalling 
 Jelaludin. But this was certainly only done for appearance' 
 
 * So say our documents; nevertheless, the close contiexion between 
 the Bektashi and the Janissaries, throws some doubt on the fact. 
 
 y 2 
 
o2i ALI PACHA ATTACKED BY THE SULTAN, 
 
 sake : it was the Sultan's own command wliicli the Yizier 
 was putting in force. The latter, in fact, kept his place, 
 constantly increasing his efforts to reduce the Bosnians to 
 obedience : the promised successor never made his appearance. 
 
 Considering the Sultan's position and purpose at that 
 period, it seems probable that Jelaludin's proceedings were 
 part of a general and comprehensive system. 
 
 It was at this time Mahmoud undertook to aim a decisive 
 blow against Ali Pacha, in 1820, which succeeded be3'ond 
 expectation. The expeditions by sea and land co-operated 
 admirably together ; and there seemed no doubt that the 
 power of the old rebel would be forthwith annihilated. 
 The Sulta,n had therefore reason to hope that he should 
 soon see himself again in possession of all his European 
 provinces. 
 
 He would now no longer tolerate even the ancient freedom 
 of the Montenegrins. Jelaludin, who had risen to extraor- 
 dinary distinction by success in the pacification of Bosnia, 
 vfas commissioned to bring into subjection that people also, 
 and the moment seemed singularly favourable. 
 
 But generally such extensive powers are accompanied 
 Yv^ith much danger. 
 
 Old Ali was not so speedily subdued as had been antici- 
 pated. In his hour of need, he once more displayed the 
 whole strength of his character. His alliances, and his 
 wealth, and even the very efforts made to resist him, kindled 
 such an insurrection against the Sultan as he had never yet 
 encountered. In the spring of the year 1821, the Suliotes, 
 in All's pay, overran Epirus ; Odysseus marched from Janina, 
 and by his orders roused Livadia to revolt. The im.pression 
 which an alleged project of the Sultan's, to extirpate the 
 Greeks, which Ali communicated to the Hetseria, made upon 
 that league, and upon the whole nation, is well known.* 
 Jassi and Bucharest fell simultaneously into the hands of the 
 Hetseria; Mavromichalis descended from his mountains, and 
 took the Morea. In short, the whole Greek population 
 seemed at once to awake to a consciousness of their nation- 
 ality, and to scorn the yoke they had so long borne. Ali 
 himself fell ; but in the insurrection of the Greeks, to v/'hich 
 li:s proceedings, secret and avowed, direct and indirect, had 
 * Soiitzo : " Geschichte der griecli. Revolution," s. 28. 
 
DEFEAT AND DEATH OF JELALUDIN. 325 
 
 greatly contributed, he bequeatlied to the Sultan a legacy- 
 productive of disaster. 
 
 These events, could not fail of producing a reaction on 
 Bosnia. 
 
 Jelaludin had been defeated by the Montenegi^ins.'"' They 
 laid in wait for his army, and cut it to pieces in the gorges 
 of the Moratcha. On his return from that campaign he had 
 already lost much of his reputation, and of the terror of his 
 name ; nevertheless he was still of inestimable value to the 
 Sultan, as an agent for the accomplishment of his designs ; 
 this Vizier died, however, in the beginning of the year 1821. 
 I know not what truth there may be in the story related in 
 Bosnia, that he poisoned himself; at all events, his death, 
 coinciding with that general movement of the empire which 
 crippled all the Sultan's forces, caused a great change in that 
 province, v^hich then relapsed into its usual state. A new 
 Vizier arrived; but so little was he able to make himself 
 respected, that the natives did not even know his name with 
 certainty. The adherents of the Sultan and Jelaludin were 
 obliged to quit the country : the great families resumed their 
 former position, and lived, as before, in the enjoyment of 
 independence, and of those warlike habits for which their 
 mutual petty feuds aiforded occasion : the Sultan was too 
 much occupied and embarrassed to be able to check them. 
 
 There is this peculiar difficulty in my narrative, that in 
 order to understand the course of events of a single province, 
 the reader must call to mind the changes undergone by the 
 empire in general. 
 
 Thus, we must recollect at this point that the Sultan suc- 
 ceeded in extinffuishinij all these rebellions one after another, 
 as soon as he had put down the most formidable. We will 
 not inquire by what means this was effected ; enough to say, 
 that he at last re-established his authority on the Danube as 
 in Epirus. Even the Morea seemed doomed to a renewal of 
 the Moslem sway. Ibrahim Pacha landed there with the 
 troops from Egypt in 1825. He annihilated rather than 
 subjugated its population : and changed the country, as he 
 himself said, into a desert waste ; but at least he took pos- 
 
 * This defeat is the subject of the two last Servian ballads in the 4th 
 •/olume of Wuk's Collection, Nos. 46, 47. 
 
326 DESTRUCTION OP THE JANISSARIES. 
 
 session of it step by step, and everywhere set up tlie standard 
 of the Sultan. 
 
 Having been so far successful, the Sultan ado2:>ted a more 
 comprehensive plan. 
 
 Mahomed All's successful enterprises served as his models 
 from the first. Mahomed Ali led the way in Egypt, by the 
 annihilation of ancient privileges ; and it was not until he 
 had succeeded, that Mahmoud resolved to pursue a similar 
 course. A .fearful rivalry in despotism and destruction 
 then began between the two : they might be compared to 
 the reapers in Homer cutting down the com in all directions. 
 But the vassal had been long engaged in a process of innova- 
 tion ; in spite of the opposition of his Janissaries, he had 
 accomplished his purpose of establishing regular regiments, 
 clothed and disciplined after the European system. The fact 
 that it was these troops which after so many fruitless attempts 
 at last conquered Greece, made a profomid impression on the 
 Sultan, He reverted to the ideas of Selim and Bairaktar ; 
 and the establishment of regular troops seemed to him the 
 only salvation of his empire. 
 
 Therefore, on the 28th of May, 1826, in a solemn sitting 
 of his Council of State, at which the Commissioner who had 
 lately been in Ibrahim's camp was present, was pronounced 
 the fetwah that " In order to defend God's word and coun- 
 teract the superiority of the unbelievers, the Moslems, too, 
 would submit to subordination and learn military ma- 
 noeuvres." 
 
 However, it was not set forth solely to resist foreign 
 enemies that this measure was adopted, but it was chiefly to 
 put down internal opposition. The Janissaries saw through 
 the pretext ; and we knov/ what ensued : they revolted, as 
 was their custom ; but measures this time had been better 
 taken than usual ; their Aga deserted them ; and they who 
 had so often overthrown their sovereign were now themselves 
 made victims. The Sultan could at last take his revenge, 
 and satiate with their blood the rankling hatred of years. 
 He inflicted a terrible judgment upon them; and it was 
 now that his innovations assumed their real import. He 
 could at last venture to dissolve the whole body. " We 
 have changed their name/' he said, "and given their old 
 
RESISTANCE OF THE BOSNIANS, 3^7 
 
 statutes another form." In foct he put an end to the 
 corps.* 
 
 The institution of the Janissaries was the central point of 
 all aristocratic privileges ; after so many of these had been, 
 destroyed in detail, their general doom was pronounced by 
 this measure. 
 
 It Avas a question, however, whether the Sultan would be 
 able to accomplish his designs in the provinces, as he had 
 done in the capital. 
 
 There were Moslems with v/hom he encountered no diffi- 
 culty. The Mahomedans of Bulgaria, who had little shar& 
 in aristocratic privileges, cheerfully acquiesced; but the case 
 was otherwise in Bosnia, for it was in the nature of things 
 that nothing but resistance could be looked for from the 
 privileged chieftains of that country, and from its capital 
 Sarayevo, which swarmed with Janissaries. In truth, they 
 had but little choice. If they submitted, there was an end 
 at once and for ever to their immunities : accordingly they 
 promptly manifested a strong spirit of opposition. The man- 
 ner in which they expressed themselves was very significant. 
 The new uniforms had belts fixed crosswise on the breast ; 
 and the words " to cross " in the language of the country are 
 synonymous with "to baptize." " If they had a mind to cross 
 themselves," said they, "they had no need of the Sultan ; the 
 Austrians or the Russians could in that case serve their turn 
 better." In this feeling they were unanimous. 
 
 They compelled the new Yizier, Hadji Mustapha, and the 
 six Commissioners whom the Sultan sent to them, to quit 
 Bosnia. These expelled functionaries arrived in Servia in 
 January 1827, in the worst season of the year. I will relate 
 in a note an anecdote showing how little they had reason to 
 be satisfied with their adventures in that journey ;t but no 
 
 * Firman of the Sultan to the Cadi of Constantinople, 11 Silkade, 1241 
 (IGtli Jime^ 1826). It contains also the fetwah above mentioned. 
 
 f It is a trivial incident ; but I relate it because it exhibits the state of 
 those countries, and the struggle between the new order of things and the 
 old. Among the Commissioners, there was one who had in his train a 
 Greek slave family, that had probably come into his hands during the 
 war, consisting of a mother, her daughter — a pretty child of seven years, 
 and two boys. In Semendria, the mother found opportunity to escape. 
 She betook herself to Milosch, and besought him to rescue her childrea 
 also from the tyrant. Whilst the Turk was pursuing her with violent 
 
S2S POLICY OF THE SULTAX. 
 
 otlier road had been loft open to tliem : it was vnth. difficulty 
 and extreme toil that they made thcii' way back to Con- 
 stantinople. 
 
 If the Sultan wished to see liis measures accomplished, it 
 was obvious that he must pursue them in some other manner, 
 and that the first step v/as, in one way or another, to re-esta- 
 tablish his authority in that country. 
 
 As its refractory spirit was vehement and violent, but had 
 not yet actually broken out into open insurrection, it would 
 have been injudicious in the Sultan to have had recourse at 
 once to arms ; there still remained other means. 
 
 He appointed as Yizier of Bosnia the Pacha of Belgrade, 
 Abdurahim, a sickly and feeble man, but one who combined 
 the Turkish virtue of wily and quiet determination with 
 great devotion to the Sultan. 
 
 He entered upon his difficult task with extraordinary 
 adroitness; for he availed himself of the friendship subsisting 
 between him and Prince Milosch of Servia, to raise, with the 
 help of the latter, a small force of a few hundred men. 
 
 Meanwhile he would not have ventured to set foot iu 
 Bosnia, had he not succeeded in gaining, here and there, some 
 partisans among the chieftains of the coimtry. He was for- 
 
 threats, he was met by a messenger from Milosch. The Prince sent 
 word that the woman was with him ; but instead of giving her up, 
 he demanded her children also. He referred to a prohibition recently 
 issued by the Sultan against making slaves of Greeks; but offered a 
 small sum by way of indemnity. The Turk, fearing not only that he 
 should never get the mother again, but that he should also lose the 
 children, applied to the Pacha of Belgrade, and solicited his protection. 
 The Pacha replied that he could not protect him against Milosch ; and 
 that if he wished to keep what he still had, the best thing he could do 
 v.as to make his way quickly to the Austrian territory. The Turk fol- 
 lowed this good counsel. But no sooner had he arrived in Panshova, 
 than the Greek woman made her appearance there too. With streaming 
 hair, and beating her breast with her hands, she cried out, " Brothers ! 
 Christians ! help me ! Do not let the unbelievers carry off my children!" 
 A tumult followed, in which the children were taken out of the Turk's 
 carriage, and concealed in a convent at a little distance. The Turk com- 
 plained to the Commandant, who replied, that he knew not what had 
 become of the children ; and that, at any rate, there were no slaves in 
 the Austrian dominions. He did not recover them ; and went back in 
 great vexation, by way of Temesvar and Orsova. The Greek family were 
 taken under the protection of Milosch. The young girl was married ia 
 Semendria, but died there soon after. 
 
ABDURAHIMS PKOCLAMATIOX. 329 
 
 tuiiate enougli to secure the assistance of theKapetan Vidaitch, 
 of Svoniik. Svoniik is regarded as the key of Bosnia. It 
 seems that the Agas of Sarajevo had abeady conceived some 
 suspicion of Vidaitch ; for they were themselves about to take 
 possession of the place. But Abdurahim anticipated them, 
 and Vidaitch admitted him into the fortress. 
 
 A paramount advantage was gained by this. Abdurahim 
 now felt strong enough to speak in a decisive tone in the 
 Bujurdi in which he announced his arrival. 
 
 " I send you from afar," he therein said, " O Mahome- 
 dans of Bosnia, the greeting of the faith and of brotherly 
 union. I Avill not call to mind your folly ; I come to open 
 your eyes to the light. I bring you the sacred commands of 
 our most mighty Sultan, and expect you will obey them. In 
 that case I have power to forgive you all your errors. 
 Choose now for yourselves. It rests with you to save or to 
 lose your lives. Reflect maturely, that you may have no 
 cause to repent." 
 
 Even in tliose coimtries the lavfful authority has an irre- 
 sistible preponderance as soon as it becomes conscious of its 
 strength, and seizes the reins in good earnest. Every one 
 now began to think of his own safety. The new Yizier 
 succeeded further in impartiog a peculiar impressiveness to 
 his proclamations. 
 
 In his retinue were the adherents of Jelaludin, who, after 
 his death, had been forced to quit the country, being opposed 
 to the ruling party in Bosnia, and favourable to the Sultan's 
 innovations. These were the brothers Dschindschafisch, 
 Gyul-Aga, and several others. Under the Yizier's protection 
 they tried to return to Sarayevo, and succeeded in doing so, 
 contrary to their exiDectations. Numerous defenders stood 
 up for them, an open feud taking place within the city ; the 
 Sultan's opponents endeavoured to hold out for a while iii 
 the fortress, but at last they all were forced to surrender. 
 
 Thus it appears there was a party, though in the minority, 
 to whom Abdurahim's arrival was welcome, and whom it 
 raised in importance. If the Servian Prince supported him, 
 it was because the independence of the Bosnian aristocracy had 
 always menaced him. Abdurahim had the address to engage 
 in his projects those confederates whose interests coincided 
 
Ooi) ATTE3IPT AT KEFOEJI. 
 
 "witli his own. After the victory at Sarajevo ho became 
 master of the country. 
 
 He began by executing fearful vengeance on those who 
 had been forced to surrender in the fortress. There were 
 seven eminent chieftains : Pino Bairaktar, Ibrahim Aga 
 Bakrovitch, two brothers Tamishtchi, Frez Aga Tumadjia, 
 Hadji Akid Aga Turnadjia, and Janissary Aga Butshuklia, 
 who were brought to him at Svornik, where he had them 
 all beheaded. 
 
 He inflicted the same punishment on many others who 
 fell into his hands; nor did it always avail to have sent 
 their subordinates, or to have appeared before him in person 
 to make submission : not a few of those who submitted were 
 also executed. No other means of establishing power is 
 known in those countries than putting an adversary to 
 death. We must accustom ourselves to that spectacle, for 
 Moslem history presents it from the beginning. 
 
 When Abdurahim saw himself in some degree secure, he 
 entered Sarayevo in great pomp. He v/as not inclined, how- 
 ever, to comply with the obligations imposed in former times 
 on the Yiziers ; but he deemed it necessary to establish his 
 seat of government in that very town, that he might have 
 his eye upon the powerful chiefs and keep them in check ; 
 still proceeding in acts of arbitrary power just as he liad 
 begun. More than a hundred citizens are enumerated whom 
 he put to death ; he is said to have beheaded thirty in one 
 night. The Bayahs, too, felt the pressure of his hand : he 
 extorted money from them unsparingly. 
 
 Thus there was once more a master in Bosnia. No one 
 ventured now to mention the Janissaries. The uniforms 
 arrived ; the Kapetans were obedient, and put them on. 
 The whole land submitted to the new regulations. 
 
 When the war with Bussia broke out, the Sultan did not 
 doubt that he could command the services of the Bosnians. 
 They did, in fact, assemble at Bielina a force computed at 
 30,000 men. All were curious to know how these forces^ 
 which had formerly been esteemed the best in the empirG 
 — wild and magnanimous as the lion, the guardian force of 
 Coustantinople, as Omar Effendi called them — would behave 
 under the iiew system. They proposed to march through 
 
IXSURKECTION IN BOSNIA. 331 
 
 Servia to the Danube ; the Porte persuaded Prince IMilosch 
 to grant tliem leave to pass through the country, assuring 
 him that " his territory should suffer no injury thereby; and 
 if an ea-g cost a para he should receive two paras in payment 
 for it."" 
 
 CHAPTEPv III. 
 INSURRECTION IN BOSNIA. 
 
 Mahmoud it. has often been compared to Peter the 
 Great ; and it is undeniable, that even as there is a resem- 
 blance between the Strelitzes and the Janissaries, so also 
 there is a great similarity between their destroyers. 
 
 But this similarity is not in genius, original conception, 
 comprehensiveness of views, or that strength of character 
 which, by its own impulse, advances a nation. Indeed, how 
 few sovereigns there are, of any period, who can be compared 
 in these resjDects with Peter the Great : not to speak of 
 Mahmoud ; for Peter was original, inventive, creative ; Mah- 
 moud but an imitator : Peter only considered essentials, and 
 the main point in everything; Malimoud amuses himself 
 with insignificant details and accessories. 
 
 Thence the great distinction between them. Peter the 
 Great defeated his enemies, and did not make peace till he 
 had done so ; Mahmoud allowed himself to be overcome. He 
 concluded the peace of Adrianople when it was in the power 
 of the enemy to take liis capital with a few thousand men. 
 Afterwards he suffered himself to be beaten by his vassals, 
 and surrendered to them his finest provinces. 
 
 As merit is measured by success, his losses manifest how 
 much more difficult his situation must have become. 
 
 It is incomprehensible how, in the midst of the disturb- 
 ances excited by his reforms, he could issue that hatti- 
 scherif in which he designated the Pussians as natural 
 enemies, with whom he only negotiated in order to prepare 
 to fight with them — but for which declaration there would 
 hardly have been w^ar at that time. 
 
332 INSURRECTION IN BOSNIA. 
 
 When war did break out, IMalimoud immediately found 
 himself in great embarrassment ; for he dreaded a rising of 
 the Rayahs of the empire in favour of their Russian co-reli- 
 gionists. 
 
 The pacific declarations he made to the Servians were by 
 no means sincere. His reason for assembling the Bosnian 
 troops at Bielina, not far from the Servian frontiers, was that 
 he feared the Servians would declare for the Russians, and 
 formally announce their defection. Therefore he strove to 
 keep them in check by means of his Bosnian forces. The 
 Servians at once felt this. Prince Milosch refused to grant 
 free passage to the Bosnians, declaring that his nation, which 
 had ah'eady suffered in various ways from the marching even 
 of a small force to reinforce the garrison of Belgrade, felt 
 great apprehensions from the violence of a large army, and 
 would not permit it to enter the country. Being resolved 
 to prevent the advance of the Bosnians, even by force of 
 arms, he posted Servian troops on the Drina. 
 
 Meanwhile the apprehensions of the Sultan were un- 
 founded. Even Russia wished that Servia should remain 
 quiet, and this, too, was the interest of Milosch. The danger 
 that really was to be feared lay in quite another direction. 
 
 The representations made by the Sultan to his subjects, 
 that the Russians were the hereditary foes of their empire 
 and their religion were far from making the impression he 
 expected. The fact was not precisely as he stated, and men 
 do not always allow themselves to be deceived by words; 
 the contrary, indeed, happened in this case. The Bosnians 
 were well aware that if the Sultan were victorious he would 
 lay a much heavier yoke upon them. In the dangers and 
 difficulties brought uj)on him by v/ar, they saw the last means 
 of relieving themselves from a domination which from day 
 to day was becoming more intolerable. At this juncture, 
 too, they displayed that mixture of violence and cunning so 
 essentially the characteristic of barbarous nations. 
 
 From every castle and town the troops marched to the 
 Eagle s Field — Orlovopolje — close by Bjelna, their appointed 
 rendezvous. The Vizier intended soon to repair thither, 
 with forces from Sarayevo. Whilst preparing to do so, it 
 happened that the people of Visoko — an unimportant place, 
 about six German miles from Sarayevo — arrived before that 
 
DEFEAT OF AEDURAIIIil. 333 
 
 capital, instead of marching direct to Orlovopolje, as tliey 
 should have done. The Vizier sent out his Kiaia, and some 
 of the principal inhabitants of the city, to ca.ll them to 
 account for this imauthorized change in their line of march. 
 A Kapidji bashi, who had just arrived from Constantinople, 
 a,ccompanied the mission, and gave it still more importance ; 
 but it was unquestionably a concerted scheme amongst the 
 leading men of Visoko and Sa-rayevo. Thousands of inha- 
 bitants had already gone ; many no doubt from mere curi- 
 ozitj — for it was Friday, a day on which the Turks do not 
 work — but others with a distinct purpose. When the mis- 
 sion angrily commanded that the force should march off 
 forthv/ith to the appointed place, some poor inhabitants of 
 Visoko stepped out of the ranks, and declared that " without 
 money they were not in a condition to proceed a step further; 
 that even only to equip themselves and march as far as they 
 had already arrived, some of them had been obliged to sell their 
 children." The Kapidji bashi and the Kiaia thought that 
 such language v/as not to be borne. Without hesitation, there- 
 fore, in accordance vv^ith the principles of Turkish justice, they 
 ordered their follovv^ers to seize the speakers, to take them 
 away, and behead them. The order, however, was not so 
 easy of execution. " Help, true believers in the prophet ! " 
 exclaimed the men ; " help and rescue us." AH seized theii* 
 weapons — the comrades of the prisoners, as well as the inha- 
 bitants of Sarayevo, who were privy to the scheme, and 
 those who were hurried along by their example. The 
 Kapidji bashi and the Kiaia had not time to mount their 
 horses, but were obliged to run to the city on foot, with 
 bullets whistling after them. The furious armed multitude 
 arrived there with them. The Vizier's force, about two 
 thousand strong, attempted for a while to stem the torrent. 
 They tried to stand their ground wherever they found a 
 position, such as a bridge, a mosque, or a house ; but were 
 far too weak to maintain it. Only a small number had 
 time to retire into the fortress where the Vizier was, and 
 thence they fired with the few cannon they had on the lower 
 town. But the Bosnians, with their small arms^ did far 
 more execution, singling out their enemies, and bringing 
 them down w-ith sure aim. The fighting continued for 
 three days. At last Abdurahim found himself compelled to 
 
334 MEASURES OF THE SULTAN. 
 
 tliink of his ovrn s:ifety. Tlic Bosnians, who found them- 
 selves victorious^ would gladly have refused him leave to 
 retire ; but the older and more experienced among them, 
 satisfied with the success they had obtained, persuaded the 
 young people to let him go. On the fourth day, a Thursday 
 in July, 1828, Abdurahim marched away. He took the road 
 to Orlovopolje, being allowed to take with him the cannons 
 he had brought. 
 
 There meanwhile the neAvs from Sarayevo had produced 
 its natural effect. When the choice lay between a dangerous 
 conflict v/ith Servia and Russia on the one hand, from which, 
 if it ended prosperously, still nothing could result but greater 
 oppression of their national freedom, and on the other, the 
 prospect of arriving without an effort at the enjoyment of 
 their wonted independence, how could the Bosnians doubt 
 what they should do ? After the defeat of the Vizier his 
 commands had lost all force : the troops assembled in Orlo- 
 vopolje seized the favourable opportunity and dispersed. The 
 "Vizier knew the country too v*'ell to cherish any lingering 
 hopes. He repaired to Traimik, and thence took the field 
 against the Russians, but not with the army which he had 
 expected to lead thither.""^' 
 
 To preserve peace, at least ostensibly, the Sultan con- 
 descended to send another Vizier of milder temper. The 
 new governor again took up his residence at Traunilv ; but 
 met with no more obedience than his immedia,te prede- 
 cessors. 
 
 ScoDRA Pacha. 
 
 But was it to be expected that the refractory spirit of the 
 Bosnians, so deeply seated, and streng-thened by such revolt- 
 ing cruelties as they had experienced, should always content 
 itself with acting on the defensive ? 
 
 * It is not unworthy of notice, how, at but a trifling distance of time 
 and place, this event at once assumed a sort of mythological form. Slade, 
 who was at Constantinople in the year 1829, and visited at least Adriauople 
 and Philippopolis, the whole theatre of the Russian war, says, in his 
 ^'Records," i. p. 301 : "From Bosnia, a province filled with a robust and 
 warlike population, the Sultan expected efficacious succour^ and showed 
 it by ordering Abdurrahman Pacha, its governor, to march with forty 
 thousand men towards the Drina, in order to observe the Servians, V7ho, 
 
MUSTAPHA, OE SCODRA PACHA. oo5 
 
 It will be easily conceived that notliing was wanting but 
 an occasion, a leader, and a name, to inspire tliem witli the 
 determination that the repetition of such attempts for the 
 f ature should be rendered impossible. 
 
 In this aspect of affairs Mustapha, Pacha of Scutari, by 
 the Turks and Albanians called Scodra Pacha, was a man 
 of pre-eminent importance. Since the fall of Ali Pacha his 
 name was much sjDoken of. He was then about tv/enty- 
 five years of age, and not unlearned for a Turk. He is 
 said to have shown a taste — the rarest among the Turks — 
 for geography and maps : above all he was warlike, and 
 one who stood up resolutely for his rights. From tim.e 
 immemorial the pachalik of Scutari had been hereditary in 
 his family, the house of Bushatlia, one of the oldest in the 
 countr}^; it traces its descent from the stock of the Merl- 
 yaftchevitches, from which sprang King Yukasliin. The 
 popular ballads of Servia, it is true, do not corroborate this 
 assertion ; but they ascribe to it an honourable origin, 
 deriving it from Ivan Zernoyevitch. In Sultan Mahmoud, 
 vfho detested every hereditary privilege, Mustapha beheld a 
 natural foe. He remembered his father, Kara Mahmoud, 
 who had gained immortal renown by maintaining his castle 
 against an incredibly superior force of the Sultan's troops. 
 He also expected a similar assault. 
 
 In the year 1823 he consented to make an attack on 
 Greece, but entered upon it with extraordinary precaution. 
 Had the heroic Bozzaris encountered him in time at Car- 
 penissa, vdiere he sought him, he would have freed the 
 Sultan, rather than the Greeks, of an enemy. But it was 
 destined to be otherwise. Bozzaris himself fell. At the 
 moment of his death, his countrymen say, he won immor- 
 tality. 
 
 In like manner in the year 1829, Mustapha marched against 
 
 under Prince Milosch, were suspected of intentions favourable to Russia. 
 But in Bosnia the spirit of Jannissarism, or the desire of preserving ancient 
 institutions, prevailed; insomuch that the Pacha, afraid of the result, 
 deputed a Bimbashi in his place to accompany the Mollah to the camp to 
 read the nrman. Having heard it, the troops uttered murmurs which 
 soon increased in violence. The Bimbashi and the Mollah were shot 
 dead, and the new uniforms which had been brought to dress them in, 
 were piled up, and burned on the spot." How curiously some traits of 
 the real oc-.U' rence are here transformed into the most fabulous of rumours ! 
 
33 G THE iiussiAxs cross the balka^. 
 
 the Russians. He could not have ref-:3ecl the urgent and 
 almost humble entreaties of the Sultan without an absolute 
 rupture with him ; but it was with the greatest circum- 
 spection his arrangements for the campaign were made. Not 
 satisfied with leaving his bravest and most devoted adherents 
 to garrison Scutari, he caused a relation of his, who was next 
 heir to the Pachalik, to be strangled in the prison in which 
 he had long been confined. To uphold their own power, is, 
 with men of this stamp, the first law of their savage and 
 sanguinary code. ISTothing which tends to that purpose, 
 hov/ever horrible it may be, appears criminal in their eyes. 
 Having accomplished this deed, Mustapha began his march. 
 He maintained discipline among his troops by the severest 
 measures. When the Servian emissaries arrived at Nisch to 
 welcome him, they saw the bodies of those v/ho had been 
 executed lying in his camp, and near them a few onions, a 
 stolen fowl, or other provisions, to show that the poor fellows 
 had been put to death for unlawfully possessing themselves 
 of such trifling objects. Thus he reached Widdin, v/ith an 
 army estimated at 35,000 men, and apparently made prepa- 
 rations for beginning the campaign, which he never meant in 
 reality to undertake. His only care was to keep his force 
 unimpaired ; for he knevv^ well that every diminution of it 
 would be a double loss : that if he sacrificed his men in the 
 Sultan's service, the Sultan would destroy him only so much 
 the sooner. His confidants were known to say : " They saw 
 themselves now between two enemies, the Russians and the 
 Porte ; it was doubtful which of the two they had most cause 
 to fear — which of the two most desired their destruction." 
 
 No wonder, then, if this army did not offer any serious 
 resistance to the Russians. Mustapha might probably have 
 prevented the i)assage of the Balkan if he had chosen to 
 exert himself; but that was not his purpose. Diebitch 
 crossed the mountains with a facility which he himself had 
 not expected ; no town and no army withstood him. When 
 he took possession of Adrianople, the great question between 
 the two em])ires was decided. 
 
 Meanwhile a small army had marched from Bosnia also; 
 end it appeared in Philippopolis, but it was then too late. 
 
 It is but too certain that these vassals not umvillingiy 
 beheld the disasters of their Sovereign. Mustapha, also, was 
 
THE SULTAN MAKES PEACE. 337 
 
 a determined enemy to reform. From the very beginning 
 he declared that he would serve the Sultan with the same 
 firelock and in the same garb as his forefathers, but in no 
 other and after no other fashion. 
 
 Encouraged by the events of the day these sentiments 
 acquired strength and were avowed on all sides. 
 
 The general opinion ascribed the disasters of the war to 
 the Sultan's reforms. How strange ! that whilst the arrival 
 of the Russians was hailed by all the Christian subjects of the 
 Porte as their emancipation from the yoke of the Moslems, 
 the latter even beheld it with pleasure as affording a possi- 
 bility of getting rid of their ruler. The turban, and here and 
 there the garb of the Janissaries, were again seen in Constan- 
 tinople j meetings were held in all quarters ; and people were 
 resolved, on the first appearance of the Russian troops, im- 
 mediately to depose the Sultan. 
 
 Thus manifold were the adverse circumstances that at last 
 broke down Mahmoud's obstinacy and compelled him to 
 think of peace. On the very day he sent his Defterdar and 
 his Cadi Asker to the enemy's camp, to treat for it, he began 
 a series of terrible executions in his capital : the streets were 
 full of the corpses of persons who had been executed on proof 
 or suspicion. It was not until peace was concluded that 
 Mustapha appeared in the neighbourhood of the Russians. 
 And although he was a decided enemy of the Sultan, the 
 Russians were compelled to regard him as their foe also. 
 General Geismar had an encounter with him and repulsed 
 him. 
 
 At the very moment when the Russians had forced the 
 Sultan to so discreditable a peace, they were indirectly con- 
 strained in other respects to undertake his defence. 
 
 Mustapha remained a considerable time longer in the camp 
 at Philippopolis ; nor did he leave it until he had completely 
 exhausted the resources of the province, and had moreover 
 received a sum of money from the Sultan. Even then he 
 only retired to await a more favourable opportunity ; of 
 which his alliance with the Bosnians afibrded him a near 
 prospect. 
 
338 hussein kapetan. 
 
 Hussein Kapetan. 
 
 Meanwliile the most complete anarchy prevailed in Bosnia. 
 
 Heedless of the general fate of the empire, and even lightly- 
 regarding the decision of the questions on which their own 
 existence depended, the chiefs, as we before stated, carried on 
 a petty warfare with each other. 
 
 An example I am about to give of this will serve to show 
 the manner in which this anarchical resistance gradually 
 assumed a certain form and order. 
 
 Ali Pacha Vidaitch, of Svornik, was, in the year 1829, 
 nominated Pacha of Srebrnitza ; but when he was about to 
 enter the fortress, he found it was already in the possession 
 of one Memish, an Aga of those parts. Memish had gained 
 over the Moslems to his side, and had likewise armed the 
 Christians. 
 
 All the efforts of Vidaitch to drive him out, and to assert 
 his own rights, were in vain ; and he went back to Svornik. 
 
 But what was his astonishment when he found the gates of 
 Svornik also closed against him. During his absence Mah- 
 moud Pacha, one of his own relations, and a good friend of 
 Memish's, had made himself master there. Ali was obliged to 
 resort to force if he did not desire wholly to abandon his old 
 seat of government. Fortunately he had still friends in the 
 town, by whose aid he succeeded in forcing his way in ; but 
 fighting ensued in the streets and about the houses and 
 squares. 
 
 And here probably Ali would have gained the victory, if 
 his enemy had not gained a powerful ally in Hussein, the 
 Kapetan of Gradatshatz. Ali was "too weak to attack both 
 together ; and found himself at last beset in a house, where 
 he still held out with a few Momkes — retaining with him his 
 chief treasures, his son of three years old, and his Arabian 
 steed, until at length the upper story of the house was demo- 
 lished by shot. He met his misfortunes in a dignified 
 manner : placing his little boy in a Momke's arms, he bade 
 the man present him to his foe Mahmoud, "who might do 
 ■with him what he pleased ;" and he surrendered himself, to 
 Hussein. Mahmoud received the child, and brought him up 
 as his own. Hussein took Ali away with him to Gradatshatz ; 
 and they soon became the best friends, and trusty brothers- 
 
CAPTURE OP THE VIZIER OF TRAUNIK. 339 
 
 in-arms : in all his enterprises from that time forth, the 
 Kapetan had no truer or braver comrade than his prisoner. 
 
 Here we first meet with Hussein Kapetan, who afterwards 
 rose to be the mightiest chieftain in the land. Even then he 
 might be compared with Mustapha : like him, he was not 
 without some share of Turkish learning ; brave, rich, hand- 
 some, in the prime of life, but less violent and cruel. His father, 
 Osman Pacha, is celebrated in the Servian ballads j he had 
 distinguished himself as a strict administrator of justice ; in 
 matter of right he made no distinction in his own district, 
 between Christians and Mahomedans, In this respect, the 
 son followed the father's example ; in valour and heroic 
 spirit he surpassed him. Even in those years Hussein 
 deemed himself entitled to the appellation of the Dragon of 
 Bosnia (Smai od Bosna) ; subscribing his letters also with 
 that strange and pompous title. All the Bosnians looked 
 upon him, and doubted not he would be able to maintain 
 them in the enjoyments of their rights and immunities. 
 
 For already these were again threatened. After the Rus- 
 sians had withdrawn, the Sultan proceeded with his reforms ; 
 indeed, it may be said that he was now compelled to do so. 
 Those of the old way of thinking, throughout the whole 
 empire, who hated him because he disturbed them in the en- 
 joyment of their vested interests, who despised him because 
 he had allowed himself to be beaten, and yet feared him so 
 long as he was in possession of power, were, however, still his 
 determined opponents ; and in the summer of 1830 he again 
 attacked them. After he had succeeded in ridding himself 
 of some Albanian leaders, he ordered the Vizier in Traunik 
 to go vigorously to work in Bosnia also ; and that function- 
 ary accordingly put on the uniform which was sent him from 
 Constantinople. The Bosnians had only waited for this 
 to rise in rebellion. Many thousands strong, and led by 
 Hussein, they attacked the Vizier in his fortress, in the 
 beginning of the year 1831. He could offer no resistance ; 
 so they compelled him to put off his uniform before theii* 
 eyes, and to resume the old costume of the Vizier. As 
 though he had insulted the religion of their fathers, they 
 forced him to perform solemn ablutions in the prescribed 
 manner, and to recite the Moslem prayers ; after that they 
 led him away with them. It is supposed their plan was to 
 
 z2 
 
340 OPERATIONS OP THE GRAND VIZIER 
 
 make use of his name for some greater enterprise ; as they 
 intended to take the field against the Sultan, and might 
 have thought that their proceedings assumed a more legiti- 
 mate aspect when they had the VLzier with them, and 
 marched ostensibly under his command. Their captive, 
 however, found means to escape during the fast of the Rama- 
 dan, and made his way back to Constantinople through the 
 Austrian territory. Nevertheless when the fast was over, the 
 Bosnian chiefs again assembled at Sarayevo. Just at that 
 time Mustapha Pacha appeared at the head of 40,000 men, 
 and no one doubted but that he would take Constantinople. 
 The Bosnians resolved to share in that enterprise, and they 
 marched to the field in their utmost strength : they were 
 25,000 strong. 
 
 The hopes of the Turks were everywhere raised to an ex- 
 travagant height by these undertakings ; and the people of 
 Belgrade were loud in their exultations. In Nisch the rights 
 of the Janissaries were proclaimed anew ; a complete revo- 
 lution in the state of afiairs was expected. " Sodra Pacha," 
 they said, " will take ConstantinoiDle, depose the Sultan, and 
 restore the old order of things." It was hoped that all this 
 would be effected before long. In the spring of 1831 Musta- 
 pha's Krdshalies advanced under Kara Teisia ; and with 
 many cruelties made themselves masters of Sophia. The 
 war had commenced. 
 
 CHAPTER rV. 
 
 ACTIVE OPERATIONS AND SUCCESS OF THE GRAND 
 VIZIER. 
 
 It is obvious that these were not ordinary insurrections, 
 such as have occurred at various times in the Ottoman 
 Empire — as, for instance, when a Pacha refused obedience, 
 or was driven away by his subjects. But the grand vital 
 question of the empire was at issue : whether it should 
 subsist, as it had subsisted for centuries, with hereditary 
 privileges, local immunities, and with its old customs : and 
 
TREACHERY OP THE GRAND VIZIER. 341 
 
 also, be it understood, with its usual anarchy ; or, whether it 
 should become — we cannot say European — or pass into such 
 a state as that which Mohammed Ali had brought about in 
 •^gyp* • annihilation of the old established dignitaries ; servi- 
 tude of the rural population, but not quite like that of the 
 fellahs ; and to a police system of order, enforced by disci- 
 plined and obedient militia. 
 
 Urquhart, the great admirer of the Sultan and his then 
 Vizier, has inferred from conversations with the latter and 
 also from some of his regulations, that his purpose was, once 
 for all, to divest of power all those authorities who ruled the 
 land under the name of Pachas, Beys, and Musselims ; and 
 to put in their stead paid, and therefore more dependent, 
 officers of the regular army; likewise to have the taxes 
 received by a special treasurer ; without personal administra- 
 tions, and that the appointed sums should always be collected 
 by the local authorities. 
 
 Now if it were the Sultan's intention to extinguish the 
 existing class of authorities, and to introduce an order of 
 things under which the functionaries might consider them- 
 selves fortunate in even preserving their lives, though they 
 could never be again of the same importance, we cannot 
 wonder that they strenuously resisted. 
 
 Strange contrast with our condition on this side of Europe ! 
 There we see, on the part of the sovereign, destruction of 
 existing institutions, sweeping innovation ; on the part of the 
 insurgent populace, the maintenance of things as they are ; 
 and conservation of barbarism of the most violent character. 
 
 The Bosnians were soon, however, in a worse plight than 
 they were aware of. 
 
 It was not with a stronger army or more valiant men that 
 the shrewd Grand Vizier offered the Pacha of Scutari, but 
 with superior fraud and subtlety. Treachery is in these 
 countries a weapon which no one hesitates to adopt. To 
 whom were the Albanians ever faithful ? The Grand Vizier 
 contrived to bribe some of the chiefs who served in Mus- 
 tapha's army, and to secure others by promises ; therefore, 
 when the forces came to action on the heights of Prilip, the 
 greater part of the Pacha's army deserted to the Grand 
 Vizier. Once more he ventured to make a stand, but being 
 taken at a disadvanta^ce he was obliged to retreat to Scutari. 
 
3-i2 THE BOSNIANS MARCH TO KOSSOVO. 
 
 There in his fortress, in his own country, he was still abk 
 to offer resistance, and the Bosnians were already on their 
 march. The Servian Prince endeavoured to dissuade them 
 from their enteq^rise, in a long manifesto in which he pro- 
 mised that he would restore them to the Sultan's favour, 
 mingling some threats with his promises. The answer sent 
 him by Hussein was rather singular ; he dictated it verba- 
 tim : " Take heed to thyself, thou hast but little food before 
 thee ; I have overturned my bowl.* I will have nothing to 
 do with a Sultan with whom thou canst intercede for me. I 
 am ready to meet thee always and anywhere ; my sword had 
 smitten before thine was forged." Without allowing them- 
 selves to be diverted from their purpose, the Bosnians, about 
 25,000 strong, marched onwards to the mountains. Milosch 
 permitted them to passs. 
 
 Even in barbarism there is yet grandeur of feeling, 
 and it even contains elements of poetry : memories few but 
 forcible, and purposes accordant and interwoven with them. 
 The Bosnians, before they quitted their own province, had 
 heard of Mustapha's mischances, which they correctly attri- 
 buted to the treachery of the Albanians ; but as they, on the 
 contrary, trusted to themselves in all things, they feared no 
 such disaster. At the same time they were not unconscious 
 that they perchance might fail ; for they had none of that 
 strong assurance of victory which is usual in barbarian armies. 
 On the march they chaunted a song to the following effect : 
 
 " We march, brethren, to the plains of Kossovo where our 
 forefathers lost their renown and their faith ; there it may 
 chance that we, also, may lose our renown and our faith — or 
 that we shall maintain them and return as victors to Bosnia." 
 
 There is something grand, nay sublime, in this feeling. 
 They go forth to fight for their faith, for their whole national 
 existence. They seek that field where the fate of both has 
 already been unhappily decided. They resolve to conquer, 
 and to maintain their present religion, Mahomedanism, on 
 the spot where they lost the former one, Christianity ; or 
 if vanquished, then the memorials of their ancient splendour 
 shall at least be combined with those of their downfall. 
 
 * Bowl or platter : the Turkish expression probably means that he had 
 renounced his alleiriance to the Sultan ; that he would no longer eat of 
 his bread. 
 
ARRANGEMENT WITH THE GRAND VIZIER. 343 
 
 But so decisive a result was not destined to take place this 
 time by force of arms. 
 
 It seemed that ere long they would attain their ends with 
 less exertion. 
 
 They took Kossovo without difficulty ; and were every- 
 where received as liberators ; it was only at Ipek that the 
 Albanians and the regular troops of the Grand Vizier offered 
 resistance. The brave and able Ali Pacha Vidaitch, who 
 was now the trusty brother-in-arms of Hussein, soon suc- 
 ceeded in taking the towu. The Grand Vizier, who was at 
 Scopra, sent a division of his army against them ; but it was 
 completely defeated : the Albanians deserted to the Bosnians. 
 Had the victorious army advanced it would have raised the 
 siege of Scutari, and given a different turn to the whole war. 
 
 This was the very thing the Grand Vizier feared. Crafty 
 as he was, he shaped the whole course of his policy to induce 
 the Bosnians to retrograde. 
 
 For this purpose he despatched an embassy to them to 
 receive a statement of their demands. 
 
 They imposed on him three conditions : first, the undis- 
 turbed maintenance of the existing state of things in their 
 province without any reform ; secondly, the nomiuation of 
 the Vizier of Bosnia from among the natives of the pro- 
 vince, whereby their independence would have been more 
 firmly secui^ed ; thirdly, the immediate elevation of Hussein 
 Kapetan to that dignity. 
 
 Tatars hurried to and fro between the two camps : the 
 Grand Vizier had no alternative. Whether he had full 
 powers or not, whether he purposed to keep or to break his 
 word, as he durst not let the foe advance, he was forced to 
 yield to his demands. He therefore granted the Bosnians 
 the conditions for which they stipulated. 
 
 The latter committed grievous mistakes. In the first 
 place, they forgot their old friend Scodra Pacha, who had so 
 long served as the bulwark of their liberties, and who was 
 compelled by his position to protect them ; but besides this, 
 they did not even wait until the new immunities were con- 
 firmed by firman, but began their march back, as though the 
 Grand Vizier's promises were alone sufficient. 
 
 Their doing so was also in a great measure the work of the 
 Grand Vizier. His Tatars were not only the medium of 
 
344 HORRIBLE CRUELTIES OP THE GRAND VIZIER. 
 
 general correspondence between the two parties, but carrie. 
 private messages also to one or other of the Bosnian grandees. 
 They represented, for instance, to the Kapetan of Tusla, that 
 it was certainly just that a Bosnian chief should be raised to 
 the dignity of a Vizier ; but that undoubtedly that honour 
 did not become so young and untried a man as Hussein, but 
 should rather be bestowed on an older and more sensible man, 
 like Tusla Kapetan himself. The old man fell into the trap. 
 Without consulting the other leaders, he and his people 
 openly quitted the camp. Ali Yidaitch saw in that act the 
 beginning of endless disunion, and would have pursued and 
 brought him back, had not Hussein prevented it. The result 
 was that the Bosnians, who had already become overween- 
 ingly confident in the strength of the province, contented 
 themselves with what they obtained, and began their march 
 homewards. 
 
 The Grand Vizier now had his hands free to deal with 
 Mustapha, whom he attacked both by force and fraud : the 
 usual perfidies were not omitted, and at last he succeeded 
 in subduing him. Mustapha surrendered. The Ottomans 
 appear of late years to have become more humane in some 
 respects, and have begun to spare the lives even of open rebels. 
 Mustapha is said to be still living somewhere in exile. But 
 the cruelties inflicted on his people were horrible ; it makes 
 one shudder to record them. Projectile machines were 
 erected, and the prisoners being placed upon them were flung 
 against a wooden frame-work studded with great iron hooks ; 
 and wherever the body of the unfortunate victim was caught 
 by them, there it hung, until he perished by the terrible, tor- 
 turing and protracted death. The crime of these men was, 
 that they had remained faithftd to the Pacha, to whom they 
 were attached by a thousand ties, and had not, like many 
 others, deserted him. 
 
 This dreaded and powerful chieftain being thus destroyed, 
 as the Albanian Beys had been before, the Grand Vizier Res- 
 chid, after so prosperous a conclusion of his enterprise, was not 
 restrained by any consideration. He went with his army to 
 Kossovo, and pitched his camp at Vutschitern, thence to 
 watch Servia as well as Albania and Montenegro, and above 
 all Bosnia. 
 
 In Bosnia, Hussein Kapetan had assumed the rank of a 
 
DISSENSION AMONG THE KAPETANS. 345 
 
 "Vizier at Traunik, where he had established a court, and 
 nominated his Kiaia, his Divan Effendi, his Khasnadar, and 
 other court functionaries. He imagined he had attained the 
 summit of his ambition, and styled himself Witesod JBosna, 
 Hero of Bosnia. 
 
 This, however, provoked the envy of the other chiefs : 
 immediately after they had achieved the victory discord 
 appeared among them. 
 
 One of the most powerful Kapetans, Ali Aga of Stolatz, 
 had always taken part with the Sultan. "When he succeeded 
 in ridding himself of his enemy, he was indebted to the 
 aid of the Rayahs ; and therefore granted them leave to 
 carry the weapons they had taken from his Moslem foes. 
 The Vizier who was taken prisoner by the Bosnians in 
 1831, and escaped from them, found refuge with Ali Aga 
 before he passed over into Austria. He was often attacked 
 by the other chieftains, but his castle of Stolatz in Herze- 
 govina was so impregnably situated on a cliff, and his flayahs 
 were so brave, that his enemies were never able to subdue 
 him. During the enterprises of the Bosnians he kept himself 
 proudly aloof. 
 
 We have seen how Mahmoud Yidaitch maintained his 
 ground in Svomik onl^ by the help of Hussein. But his 
 gratitude for that service was not so deep as his anxiety 
 when he knew that his former antagonist Ali was so much 
 in the confidence of that Chief. Mahmoud had promised to 
 come to Kossovo ; but nevertheless he did not make his ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 Hassan Aga, of Petsch, was in open rebellion against the 
 Sultan, but even he would have nothing to do with Hussein. 
 Tusla Kapetan, as we have seen, made pretensions to the 
 highest dignity. 
 
 Moreover, there were others not absolutely swayed by 
 ambition or personal enmity, who yet were moved by con- 
 siderations of increasing urgency; for there is in Turkey, a 
 feeling m favour of legitimacy. The aged Agas of Sarayevo 
 doubted not that the concessions obtained at Kossovo would 
 be ratified ; but as this remained undone, and even the firman 
 requisite to confirm Husseiu in his rank never arrived, they 
 became uneasy. Resolved, as they were, to hold fast by their 
 traditional rights, they yet thought that so prolonged an 
 
346 DEFEAT OF HUSSEIN, 
 
 insurrection against their lawful sovereign, and tlie exercise of 
 a power not conferred by him, could lead to no good results. 
 
 Gladly did the Grand Vizier see these scruj^les and dis- 
 sensions prevailing. He did not consider himself bound by 
 his promises, and now that dissensions daily increased be- 
 tween these Kapetans, Beys and A gas, whose interests were 
 identical, and who might have offered invincible resistance 
 had they remained united and maintained in power that man 
 whom they themselves had raised to it, he did not hesitate 
 to nominate another Vizier of Bosnia, named Kara Mahmoud ; 
 who marched thither with 30,000 men ; viz., 18,000 Alba- 
 nians and 12,000 regular troops. 
 
 Had Hussein but felt secure in his own territory he would 
 have had nothing to fear; for he might have met the enemy in 
 the mountains, and there conquered him with little difficulty ; 
 but matters were already at such a pass, that whenever he 
 should march he had reason to fear an insurrection in his rear. 
 Although we cannot call him bloodthirsty, he had already 
 thought himself under the necessity of executing some Agas 
 in Sarayevo. 
 
 The consequence was that he could only send a few thou- 
 sand men against the enemy,, under commanders of tried 
 fidelity. 
 
 But even these he would have done better to retain ; for 
 they were his bravest men. They marched on Kossovo, eight 
 hundred strong, under Alaibey Todorovitch, and laid siege to 
 the town of Baniska. They soon found themselves attacked 
 by fifteen thousand men, against whom they long and gal- 
 lantly defended themselves ; but the numerical superiority of 
 the foe was too great, and finally all who remained alive 
 were forced to surrender ; and they were marched off to 
 Constan tinople. 
 
 The Musselim of Priyepolje, Hadji Mui Aga, formerly 
 only a tradesman, but now a brave chieftain and one of the 
 most decided partizans of Hussein and of the old system, had 
 posted himself on the bridge of the Lim with a tolerably 
 strong force and a few cannon. After a short resistance he, 
 too, was compelled to yield to superior numbers. His 
 captors set him upon an ass, with his face turned towards the 
 tail, and led him in that posture through the town of which 
 he had bben the governor. "■ Is there no Turk here/' he 
 
SUCCESS OP KARA MAHMOUD. 247 
 
 cried, "to shoot me, and free me from this indignity ?" They 
 answered him, " There is no Turk here ; you Bosnians are 
 the only real Turks.'* 
 
 Thus Kara Mahmoud advanced with his army down the 
 mountains toward Sarayevo without encountering further 
 opposition. 
 
 Hussein was now at last aroused to activity; but not 
 venturing to remove more than five leagues from the city, he 
 awaited the foe at Mount Wites, having with him about 
 20,000 men. He had also summoned the E-ayahs to arms, 
 and those of his own district of Gradatchatz had obeyed 
 the call in considerable numbers. But when it came to 
 actual fighting they did not evince much alacrity ; for what- 
 ever might be the issue, they saw no prospect of a de- 
 cisive amelioration of their condition; in fact they had 
 more to fear from the victory of the Bosnian aristocracy 
 than from that of the Sultan. The usual dissensions mani- 
 fested themselves among the Mahomedans ; and of the 20,000 
 hardly 3000 fought with any spirit. Kara Mahmoud got 
 possession of the place. But his victory was not so lightly 
 won after all. 
 
 Hussein attacked him once more before the walls of Sara- 
 yevo, and fought with extraordinary valour ; so, too, did Ali 
 Pacha Vidaitch, who had eight horses killed under him on 
 that day. Had there been but twenty such leaders on the 
 Bosnian side, the Grand Vizier's army would have been 
 destroyed. But the majority remained spectators of the 
 battle, awaited the issue, and would not contribute towards 
 deciding it. Nevertheless Kara Mahmoud sustained extra- 
 ordinary losses, and at one time he even thought of retreat- 
 ing ; but just at the moment Ali Aga, of Stolatz, appeared 
 on the field of battle with his Herzegovinian Rayahs, took 
 the Bosnians in flank, and decided their defeat. 
 
 Further resistance was out of the question. Each of the 
 Kapetans and Beys thought only of reaching his own home, 
 hoping that in their strongholds they should be able to make 
 fresh terms with the Yizier, and the Agas of the town had 
 no means of saving their property but by a speedy surrender. 
 Hussein saw that he could not hold his ground, and foimd 
 himself compelled to adopt the only course which remains for 
 the defeated chiefs of those countries : he crossed the Aus- 
 
348 ATTACK ON MONTENEGRO. 
 
 trian frontier. The faithful Ali Pacha Vidaitch, the Mollah of 
 Sarayevo, who always adhered to his party, Krupa Kapetan, 
 and about two hundred others, accompanied him, 
 
 Kara Mahmoud marched into Sarayevo ; and it must be 
 acknowledged to his credit that he kept his forces under 
 good discipline ; on this occasion there was not a trace of 
 those atrocities which commonly attend a conquest. But, as 
 may be supposed, he scorned the idea of having to take up 
 his residence in Traunik, as former Viziers had done ; and 
 erected for himself a konack and barracks for his soldiers on 
 the Goritza, a quarter of a league from Sarayevo. 
 
 Vainly had the Kapetans flattered themselves with hopes 
 of capitulating upon favourable conditions; he compelled 
 them by force to surrender one after the other ; and dealt with 
 them upon the broad ground that they had taken part with 
 Husseiuj without troubling himself to inquire how far they 
 had sided with him Hassan Aga, of Fetch, as well as the 
 others, was sent, in the first instance, to the Grand Vizier's 
 camp, and thence to Constantinople. The places of the here- 
 ditary chiefs were- everywhere filled by Musselims, function- 
 aries of the Vizier. 
 
 Ali Aga, of Stolatz, was alone excepted, as was just. He 
 was nominated Pacha of Herzegovina. 
 
 Attack on Montenegro. 
 
 Thus was Bosnia, again, brought under subjection to the 
 Sultan, and the new reforms began to be introduced there. 
 
 Meanwhile the Grand Vizier already contemplated another 
 enterprise. 
 
 As often as the Turkish power has become in some degree 
 consolidated in those regions, it has always been directed 
 against the Montenegrins, whose freedom in their mountains 
 under a Christian ruler appears insufierable in the eyes of 
 the Osmanlis. How often have those brave peasants had to 
 fight with Ali Pacha, of Yanina ? The elder Scodra Pacha, 
 the father of Mustapha, fell in battle with him. No sooner 
 was Jelaludin become the ruler of Bosnia than he attacked 
 them. Keschid, too, thought to crown his successful enter- 
 prises by the subjection of that unconquered mountain race. 
 
 On this occasion he seemed to be favoured by opportunity. 
 
RESISTANCE OF THE MONTENEGRINS. 349 
 
 The old Vladika Petrovitcli, mentioned in so many books of 
 travels, and renowned all over Europe, died at an advanced 
 age, in the year 1830, bequeathing his authority to his 
 nephew : and it was now a question whether the latter would 
 be as capable of maintaining it as his predecessor. 
 
 Immediately after Mustapha's subjection, Reschid sent the 
 new Vladika a summons to submit. It contained, as usual, 
 threats, mingled with promises. The Prince was enjoined to 
 appear before the Grand Vizier ; when he would be sent to 
 Constantinople, with favourable recommendations, and there 
 receive the berat of a Prince, in like manner as the Servian 
 ruler. If he refused he was threatened with utter destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 But the Vladika was not to be daunted by threats, or tempted 
 by such promises. The chief of the Montenegrins had long 
 enjoyed greater independence than the Servian prince ; and 
 he needed no berat, so long as his people were able to defend 
 their freedom ; if they ceased to have that power, no berat 
 could protect him. He did not think it necessary to make a 
 formal reply. The Montenegrins were astonished at the 
 Grand Vizier's presumption, and laughed at it. 
 
 The Osmardis now had recourse to arms. Namik Ali, the 
 new Pacha of Scutari, sent to the Montenegrin defiles, by 
 order of the Grand Vizier, seven thousand men : the Pacha's 
 son commanded. 
 
 The Montenegrins were feeding their flocks, without ap- 
 prehension, in the mountains ; nor had they taken any precau- 
 tions in consequence of the threats addressed to them. The 
 Turks marched unexpectedly into their territory, and found 
 the first village they came to — Martinitch — nearly deserted. 
 
 There were not more than twenty-four men there, but 
 even these few at once seized their weapons. Ten of them 
 were killed, the rest wounded, some houses were already in 
 flames, those who were already disabled were taken prisoners, 
 and that village, at least, seemed lost when the rest of the 
 inhabitants rushed down from the mountains. The alarm 
 had spread from cliff to clifi', and the people of the neighbour- 
 ing villages hurried to the scene. Radoven Puljew, a dreaded 
 cliieftain of that district, led a hundred men from Bernitza ; 
 a scarcely inferior number came from Latche and Brajovitchi, 
 making together a small force indeed, but su£Sciently strong. 
 
350 REPEATED SUCCESSES BY THE MONTENEGRI 
 
 when aided by the nature of the ground, to engage in a mur- 
 derous struggle. The Pacha of Scutari had fallen because 
 his Albanians deserted him ; the Bosnians had been conquered 
 in consequence of their own dissensions. Incomparably 
 smaller as was the force of the Montenegrins in general, and 
 more particularly in these few villages, yet they all were 
 united as one man. Treachery was not to be thought of 
 amongst them. Once more they succeeded in repulsing the 
 Turks ; the latter carrying off their prisoners, whilst the 
 Montenegrins on their side exhibited fifty Turkish heads. 
 
 To have repelled the foe was not enough for that brave 
 people ; they thirsted for revenge. One of their most im- 
 portant tribes, the Kutchi, attacked the Turkish villages 
 of Tusi, and did not return until they had sacked and 
 burned it. 
 
 Nor did Namik Ali remain quietly under his defeat. War 
 was waged along the whole frontier. The Turks attacked 
 many villages in other quarters ; but were on all occasions 
 repulsed. 
 
 We may calculate that a succession of such wars has been 
 now going on, at least since the year 1604. There was even 
 then a Pacha of Scutari, who, because the usual present had 
 been refused him, advanced to Gliescopolje, and laid waste 
 some districts. They killed his kiaia, and a number of 
 his men, and successfully resisted the invasion of their 
 territory ; how often have they had to do so in the course of 
 centuries ! How often have they erected altars in their ' 
 entrenchments : the priest who knelt before them to offer up 
 prayers, needing to be girt with the sword, that in case of 
 attack he might spring to his feet ready for defence. How 
 often will they have to do this in times to come !* 
 
 The Grand Vizier would then have directed a general and 
 powerful attack upon them, had not the Egyptian war 
 broken out : the Sultan hoping that as he had subdued his 
 European provinces, he should be able to maintain his hold on 
 Asia, sent Peschid and his victorious army against Ibrahim. 
 
 ♦ The prediction has been fulfilled recently, and may be again. 
 
RETURN OF THE REFUGEES. 351 
 
 The Refugees. 
 
 The Grand Yizier, before he went to Asia, desired to ward 
 off the danger which threatened the tranquillity of Bosnia from 
 the refugees who had escaped into the Austrian territory. 
 The inhabitants of Sarayevo had once more risen in insurrec- 
 tion, and attacked Kara Mahmoud, on the Goritza. He held 
 his ground, however, and only the more strictly imposed his 
 commands upon them. It might easily happen in the ab- 
 sence of the Grand Vizier and his army, that the return of 
 the exiles would occasion a renewed and more successful 
 attempt. 
 
 For this reason Reschid, before his departure, invited all 
 the refugees to return. Prince Milosch acted as his envoy 
 to them. The Grand Vizier promised them security for 
 their persons and property : that is to say, for as much of the 
 latter as they had with them ; and that the whole Turkish em- 
 pire should be open to them, with the exception of their own 
 province. Of all men the Moslems can least endure exile from 
 their native land : in a foreign country they miss every ele- 
 ment of their accustomed life ; however, a great majority ac- 
 cepted the offer : even men so deeply compromised as the 
 young Krdshali leader, Kara Teisia, who was guilty of the 
 plundering of Sophia, took their chance, and again crossed the 
 frontier. 
 
 Only a few were excepted from this amnesty, namely, the 
 chief leaders, Hussein Kapetan, and his immediate compa- 
 nions ; and these only because a firman from the Sultan him- 
 self was requisite in their case. That fii-man at last arrived 
 in Kemlin ; Hussein, who had resided in Esseck, "v\dth the 
 rank of a Vizier, and under a lenient surveillance, was sent by 
 the Austrian government to Semlin to receive the Sultan's 
 offer. 
 
 With a retinue of a hundred men, surrounded by his 
 faithful followers, Hussein appeared there in the beginning 
 of October, 1832, and made his entry into Semlin with 
 Oriental pomp. He rode an Arabian steed, covered with 
 a saddle-cloth embroidered with gold and silver, holding 
 an umbrella in his hand. When he dismounted, his trusty 
 adherents, Ali Pacha Vidaitch and Krupa Kapetan, who had 
 
35^ HUSSEIN CROSSES OVER TO BELGRADE. 
 
 never ceased to treat him as a Vizier, supported him on either 
 side, and in this manner repaired to the Austrian command- 
 ant. There they read the firman. Its contents were not 
 very consolatory. The safety of their lives was guaranteed 
 to them, but they were bound to repair forthwith to Constan- 
 tinople, where their place of abode should be assigned to them. 
 Hussein's followers were less discouraged than himself. Ali 
 Pacha remembered that he had formerly been a faithful ser- 
 vant of the Sultan, and hoped to gain consideration as one 
 who might become so again. For Hussein the case was very 
 hard. The Austrian government would not sufier him to 
 remain near the frontier : but gave him his choice between a 
 residence in Comorn, on the island of Schiitt, or a return to 
 Turkey, and allowed him only twenty-four hours to decide. 
 Hussein was deeply dejected. He lamented that he had ever 
 left Bosnia, and wished it had been his fate to die in battle. 
 But being pressed for his decision, he gave it at last, and 
 crossed over to Belgrade. 
 
 Since that time, order has been strictly maintained in 
 Bosnia. The Christians, at least, have less to complain of 
 with regard to the administration of justice. On the other 
 hand, the taxes have greatly increased, and the trading classes 
 complain bitterly on that score. 
 
 There are some ten thousand disciplined troops in the 
 country, and they exercise before the Mosques to the deep 
 regret of the Bosnians of the old way of thinking. 
 
 Many of the refugee Kapetans have already returned ; and 
 so strong is the aristocratic element, that in many instances 
 they have been appointed Musselims in their old districts. 
 Ali Pacha Vidaitch has received the pardon he expected, and 
 has already returned to Bosnia. But no one knows where 
 Hussein lives or what has become of him. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 GENERAL REMAEKS. 
 
 Such has been hitherto the course of the movements in 
 Bosnia. It is not to be supposed that they are completely 
 suppressed, or that a more durable condition of things has 
 been established in their place. We shall yet see them pass- 
 ing through many new phases. 
 
 But considered in general, there is something in them analo- 
 gous with the phenomena observable in om- own Western world. 
 
 The constitution was that of an aristocratic republic, such 
 as has been developed among other Slavonian people, the Poles 
 for instance ; and v/as at various times essayed by the Hun- 
 garians, the neighbours of the Bosnians. For the require- 
 ments of a warlike, feud-loving, independent aristocracy, the 
 relation in wliich they had placed themselves towards the 
 Porte was not ill contrived, for they enjoyed the shelter of 
 the empire to which they belonged ; they had nothing to 
 fear from any neighbour ; and through their sovereign they 
 were under the protection of the Powers of Europe. At the 
 same time, they rendered no more obedience to the Sultan 
 than they pleased ; in their own province they exercised an 
 authority but slightly limited ; and it was Yviih. difficulty they 
 could be induced to afford the empire the benefit of their 
 service, even in its pressing need : they combined security 
 with independence. 
 
 We have seen how the sovereign, finding this state of 
 things intolerable, sought to alter it ; and to what conflicts 
 his efforts led. Out of those commotions there has cer- 
 tainly been evolved a state of feeling unlike what we expe- 
 rience in this part of Europe, and bearing the impress of 
 another world. 
 
 What a strange medley of valour and deception, obedience 
 and sudden revolt, wariness and blind confidence, boldness 
 of purpose and resolute desj^air ! 
 
 Force is exerted to its utmost limit; and when that is 
 reached, he who finds himself undermost, with a stronger 
 above him, submits to a destiny he cannot change. 
 
 2a 
 
354 THE CUNNING OF THE TURKS. 
 
 Each man's feelings are centered in himself alcne. Suh- 
 missiveness there may be in those countries, so long as power 
 or money commands it ; but on true allegiance can no one 
 reckon. A league between a number of chiefs, co-equal in 
 rio-hts, a voluntary subordination of independent men under 
 one leader, will not hold good even in the moment of danger. 
 No one takes accoimt of a remote ally ; the next moment 
 and the present is all-in-all to every man ; he thinks only 
 of liimsclf. 
 
 Two acquirements are especially cultivated : skill in arms, 
 for personal protection in danger which presents itself in the 
 shape of petty warfare, and, perhaps, in a certain connection 
 therewith of secrecy, dissimulation, and craft ; for individual 
 prowess has by nature but a confined scope action. Neither 
 industry nor study occupies the mind of a Turk ; of litera- 
 ture and art he knows nothing ; for real education he has no 
 taste : his talents serve only to the achievement of that 
 highest Turkish accomplishment, dissimulation. He is not 
 so unimpassioned as his calm, composed, unchanging aspect 
 would denote; that outward quiet often conceals an im- 
 petuous spirit of desire. The Grand Vizier, Eeschid Pacha, 
 possessed this power of dissimulation in the highest degree : 
 he had contrived to wear not only a calm demeanour, but even 
 one so frank and open as to inspire confidence ; he appeared 
 a good-natured man, who had no covert designs to conceal : 
 but all this was consummate art. The Albanian Beys, 
 whom he invited in 1830, did not trust him : they brought 
 with them armed retainers ; but his unconstrained manner 
 put them off their guard; they visited him, and whilst 
 tal?:ing cofiee they were shot do^\ll by concealed Arnauts. 
 
 For, after long forbearance, as soon as the Turk has his foe 
 within his grasp, hideous, revolting cruelty forthv/ith follows. 
 
 Against rebels to his authority, the Sultan usually has 
 this advantage, that he delegates his i)ower only to one man, 
 whose existence depends on his dealing adroitly with them : 
 whereas the rebels — for seldom is a single one strong enough 
 to resist — are wont to consider their several interests, and 
 fall off from each other. There arc always deserters and 
 traitors ; no victory occurs without treachery : both custom 
 and religion then authorize extreme acts of violence. Human 
 life is accounted of no value ; the footsteps of the dominant 
 
MILITARY REFORMS. 355 
 
 power are marked with blood ; it never occurs to any one to 
 complain ; to do so would be to murmur against God : in the 
 author of his misfortune, the victim is bound to revere the 
 instrument of eternal Providence. 
 
 This whole system of things has, after all, its origin in the 
 national religion ; Ave find it in like manner in all Maho- 
 medan countries. 
 
 I know not whether I deceive mj^self in thinking that in 
 the midst of these unrestrained imjoulses, I yet discover in 
 the Bosnians some other elements : not only in the simpli- 
 city and the patriarchal customs of their private life, such as 
 Islamism everywhere favours ; but I view in the midst of the 
 unceasing changes they have witnessed, a feeling of confidence 
 in the preservation of their nationality, associated with remi- 
 niscences of their ancient grandeur, when they acknowledged 
 in the Sultan the possessor of Czarship, a legitimate sovereign; 
 and which impels them, more than at any former period, to 
 maintain the nationality of their province, or at the least 
 to secure for themselves an existence protected by the laws. 
 In the midst of faithlessnes, there is yet fidelity, as in 
 Vidaitch's league of brotherhood with Hussein : out of the 
 thousand disintegrating movements there is now and then a 
 grand feeling of unity developed. 
 
 Amidst these movements, the history of the empire itself 
 has made an important progress. 
 
 The fact is manifest : through the Sultan's conflict with his 
 aristocracy the whole Moslem system is tottering to its fall. 
 
 Many at first persuaded themselves that the Ottoman 
 Empire would find increased strength in its new soldiery; 
 but those who had a nearer view of afiairs, and who saw the 
 pride and the awkwardness with which the exercises were 
 performed, the jealousy with which all foreign officers were 
 excluded from command and the incurable incapacity of the 
 native officers, could not but, from the first, entertain a 
 dilTerent oj^inion. In the campaign of 1828 the Prussian 
 officers found that of all the Turkish troops, those who had 
 been disciplined were the worst : they had lost the good 
 qualities possessed by the others, and had acquired none of 
 their own. Hence they have sufiered the greatest defeats in 
 Europe and Asia, and have twice placed the throne in ex» 
 treme jeopardy. Though they put dov/n the Bosnian and 
 
356 DECLINE OF THE TURKISH CAVALRY. 
 
 Albanian rebels, that result, as we have seen, is to be attri- 
 buted not so much to tlieir valour as to the craft of the 
 Vizier, the want of steadfastness in the Bosnian Kapetans, 
 and the faithlessness of the Albanians.* 
 
 * " For ages, the finest cavalry seen in Europe was indisputably that 
 of the Turks. In great part, both men and horses were brought over from 
 the Asiatic provinces of the empii"e, and the rest of the men and horses 
 were principally of Asiatic descent. The horses, though not large 
 (seldom much exceeding fourteen hands), were nimble, spirited, and yet 
 docile, and so trained and bitted as to be perfectly under conti-ol : the 
 hollow saddle was rather heavy, but all the rest of the appointments were 
 light: the soldier rode in the broad short stirrup to which he and his ances- 
 tors had always been accustomed, and on which the rider had a firm and 
 (to them) natural seat, out of which it was most difficult to throw him : 
 his scimitar was light and sharp, and in addition to it he generally carried 
 in his girdle that shorter, slightly-curved weapon called the yataghan, 
 with an edge Uke a razor. Some of the Spahis carried long lances or 
 spears ; but these were always thrown aside, as useless, in the melee 
 of battle. Their tactics were few and simple. If they could not get in 
 the small end of one wedge, they tried another and another wedge ; if 
 they penetrated the hostile line, they dealt death around them, their 
 sharp weapons usually inflicting mortal wounds or lopping off limbs. If 
 the enemy gave v^ay, they spread out like a fun, and while some pressed 
 on the front, others turned the fianks and got into the rear. Occasion- 
 ally, to gain time, the Turks mounted some of their infantry en croupe 
 behind their Spahis. Thus, early in the battle of Ryminik, when they 
 had to contend with Marshal Suwarow and some Austrians, a body of 
 6000 Janissaries jumped up behind an equal number of Turkish horse- 
 men, and were carried at full speed to occupy a commanding eminence, of 
 which the Austrians were also desirous of taking possession. But we have 
 seen, even in our own day, this effective and really brilliant cavahy 
 reduced, by the spirit of imitation and ill-understood reform, to a condi- 
 tion beneath contempt. The late Sultan Mahmoud must needs have his 
 cavalry disciplined alia Franca, or in Christian fashion ; and he imported 
 a number of French, Italian, and German non-commissioned officers, to 
 teach his men to ride with long stirrups, and to form, dress, and look like 
 Europeans. To the disgust and even dismay of his Maliomcdan subjects, 
 he buttoned them up in close jackets and put them into tight pantaloons. 
 With a most perverse determination, the system has been continued and 
 extended these last twelve years, under his son and successor, the present 
 Sultan Abdul-Medjid ; and it may now safely be said that the Turkish 
 cavalry is the very worst in the world. The men, always accustomed to 
 sit cross-legged, and to keep their knees near the abdomen, cannot be 
 taught to ride with the long stirrup a la Francaise. They are always 
 rolling ofi", and get frequently ruptured ; they are armed with the lance, 
 and have seldom any other weapon except an ill-made, blunt, awkward 
 sabre. Their horses are now wretched rosses; the good breeds have 
 
EFFECTS OP THE SULTAN's REFOKMS. 357 
 
 But if tlie reforms are not profitable in a military point 
 of view, in many other respects they are positively dangerous. 
 They are contrary to their ordinary habits and are opposed 
 to their- national faith, which is for the most part bound up 
 with outward observances, and most intimately l^lended with 
 custom ; they weaken, nay destroy, the moral elements on 
 which reiDose the social and the political existence of the 
 land ; they strip the Sultan of that religious reverence on 
 which, in the minds of his subjects, his authority is based. 
 
 At the same time, let us not omit to say that the subject 
 has yet another aspect. The destructive operations of the 
 new system chiefly affect the Moslems and their relations 
 among themselves ; for the Rayahs, on the contrary, it is 
 highly advantageous. 
 
 When, in 1690, — nearly a century and a half ago, — the 
 phrase Nisame Jeclid, '•'• the new order of things," was re- 
 vived by Selim after a long interval, it signified not so much 
 a new military institution as the amelioration of the Rayah's 
 condition ; the desig-n was even then conceived of freeing 
 the Christian subjects from the thousand oppressions imposed 
 upon them by the tyranny of their Moslem rulers, and sub- 
 jecting them only to a single direct tax, whereby their cir- 
 cumstances would have been infinitely improved.'"' 
 
 died out ; and the imperial centralizing tyranny— masked under the names 
 of reform and civilization — which has been raging with more or less 
 intensity these last fifty years, has not left on the surface of the empire a 
 man of hereditary rank and wealth, or any private country gentleman, 
 with the means of restoring the lost breeds, or of supplying such good 
 light cavalry horses as existed in abundance at the commencement of the 
 present century. The Karasman Oglus, the Paswan Oglus, and all the 
 great Asiatic feudatories, together with the hereditary Spahi chiefs of 
 Ruraelia, who kept up the principal studs, are all gone. Mounted as 
 they are, armed as they are, and riding as they do, instead of dealing 
 with European horsemen after the summary fashion of the good old 
 Turks, any English hussar ought to be able to dispose in a minute of half 
 a dozen ot Abdul-Medjid's troopers, trained alia Franca, though he (the 
 hussar) were armed only with a stout walking-stick. Add to these effects 
 of ill-considered European imitation (which has scarcely better succeeded 
 apphed to the Turkish infantry), the decline, or rather utter extinction of 
 all religious fervour and all national feeling, and it will be understood 
 how well prepared is the army of the Ottoman empire to resist an attack, 
 let it com.e whence it may or when it may." — " Cavalry, its History and 
 Tactics." By Captain L. E. Nolan. London, 1853. 
 
 * Hammer: " Osmanische Geschichte,'' vi. 551. 
 
358 rO\7ER AND PRIVILEGES OF CHRISTIANS. 
 
 Altlioiigli that meaning was not afterwards attacTied to the 
 phrase, its realization has ncverthelesss been the principal 
 result of the innovations effected. 
 
 These are intrinsically of an administrative character ; and 
 as they aim at an extinction of Mahomedan privileges, also 
 include a suppression of arbitrary acts. The custom of regu- 
 larly paying an army necessitates financial institutions, which 
 cannot be worked without a special habit of forbearance 
 towards the tax paj^ers. The most prosperous and well 
 administered districts were formerly those whose revenues, 
 were destined immediately for the Porte ; in these the farming 
 of the taxes ceased, and all the pro'vinces of the empire were 
 placed on a similar footing by the plans of the Griind Yizier 
 Reschid. 
 
 Another circumstance is conducinc;- towards the same 
 result. 
 
 The preponderance of the Moslem population has hitherto 
 depended on their privilege to carry arms ; but in the course 
 of the last movements arms have been put into the hands 
 of the Rayahs. The Grand Vizier prevailed over the Pacha 
 of Scutari chiefly through treachery : for but few serious en- 
 gagements took place ; and in those I find that Christian 
 tribes behaved best. In Bosnia, the two most eminent 
 chieftains, Hussein of Gradatchatz and Ali Aga of Stolatz, 
 mutually opposed as they were in other respects, were yet 
 alike in this : both rose and maintained themselves chiefly 
 by protecting and arming the Christian population. 
 
 To comprehend the scope of this remark, we have but to 
 recollect that the emancipation of Servia and of Greece began 
 from the same point. It was permitted to a Christian popu- 
 lation to take up arms ; and when an attempt was made 
 again to deprive them of those arms, they stood on their 
 defence. Their success in that struggle led them to freedom. 
 
 This feeling of self-reliance which the Ptayahs have thus 
 acquired in the other provinces also, will never again depart 
 from them ; and already they have in all parts arrived at a 
 gi'eatly improved condition. 
 
 The Bosnian Kapetans have been constrained to grant 
 them many immunities ; under the new order of things also 
 the Christians enjoy much more security, and are much less 
 burthened, than under the old. In Herzegovina, where from 
 
OPINIONS OF SLx\DE AND URQUHART. 359 
 
 a very remote period there have been free Christian commu- 
 nities living under favoui' of special concessions from the 
 Sultan, they must now rather have gained the ascendancy 
 since their friend Ali Aga, whom they helped to render 
 powerful, has been raised to the rank of Pacha. In E-umelia 
 and Bulgaria, Keschid has granted extraordinary alleviations 
 to the Christians, and a stop has been put to the arbitrary 
 acts of the Moslems. Many of the petty vexatious distinc- 
 tions betv/een the respective members of the two faiths have 
 been abolished ; the rural municipalities to which have been 
 assigned the duty of apportioning and collecting the amount 
 of taxation due by them collectively, and of conducting their 
 ordinary affairs through elected officers, are augmenting day 
 by day. Urquhart found the memory of that Grand Vizier 
 held in grateful veneration ; and he is of oj)inion that Bou- 
 melia was more ably managed by him than was Greece by 
 Capodistrias. 
 
 I mentioned in the beginning the contrast between the 
 two most recent English travellers ; and I think I may ven- 
 ture to assert, without fear of error, that a yet more general 
 view may be taken of the subject. 
 
 Slade condemns the Sultan's reforms ; for he finds under 
 the former state of things a freedom such as was often to be 
 sought for in vain throughout Europe : an exemption from 
 tithes and oppressive dues, from irksome surveillance of the 
 police, and from compulsory service in war : and that every 
 man was eligible to attain to the highest offices of the State.* 
 His opinion is, that the Sultan should have engrafted his 
 reforms upon the old institutions, resting on a superior hie- 
 rarchy, hereditary nobility, and provincial magistracy; instead 
 of which, by destroying this system, he only thought of in- 
 creasing his ov/n personal influence, and thus, more than his 
 five predecessors altogether, he accelerated the ruin of his 
 empire, 
 
 Urquliart, on the contrary, approves of Mahmoud's under- 
 
 * He goes so far as to compare the Janissaries with a Chamber of 
 Deputies, because they could easily compel the Sovereign to dismiss his 
 ministers. "The Janissaries of Constantinople somewhat resembled a 
 Chamber of Deputies, for they often compelled the Sovereign to change 
 his ministers ; and any talented factious member among them who had the 
 art of inflaming men's passions, was sure to obtain a good employment, 
 in order to appease him." Is this said in jest or earnest ? 
 
360 ADVANCES OP THE CHRISTIAN POPULATION. 
 
 takings. " Three things," he exclaims, " has the Sultan 
 accomplished, which all his predecessors, since Mahomet the 
 Fourth, have desired : the suppression of the Janissaries, the 
 extirpation of the Dere-beys, and the subjugation of Albania. 
 He can be no ordinary man under whom such things as 
 these have been achieved." In the destruction of the pride of 
 the Osmanli, which alone could render a regular adminis- 
 tration and the practical application of existing resources 
 possible, he sees rather a guarantee for the future welfare 
 of the empire than a cause for its decay. 
 
 We see plainly that the discrepancy between our travellers 
 arises from the difference of their points of view. 
 
 Slade takes his view from the midst of the privileged 
 classes, and finds that their accustomed habits and their 
 manner of life have undergone a change. In this he is un- 
 questionably right ; for that the cohesive force of the Otto- 
 man Empire has been incalculably weakened, is beyond doubt. 
 XJrquhart's attention is directed chiefly to the subject classes, 
 the Kayahs. He is of opinion that their .condition is much 
 improved, and offers now great and extended resources. 
 Though he manifestly assigns too early a date to what he 
 calls their municipal system, yet the result he has arrived at 
 from his own observation is not to be denied. 
 
 If we forbear for a while from forming any conclusion as 
 to the duration or fall of the empire ; if we seek only to 
 comprehend the result that has occurred, then it is manifest 
 that these two consequences — both alike undeniable — coin- 
 cide and may be reciprocally deduced from each other : they 
 both merit equal consideration : the Moslem strength is 
 weakened ; the Christian population is advancing. This has 
 been chiefly developed during the last ten years. Two great 
 Christian populations have already attained the blessing of 
 freedom. Greece has reached an independent existence under 
 the influential protection of the European powers. Servia 
 has become free through its internal progress, for step by step 
 it is continually liberating itself from Ottoman influences ; 
 and whilst it has been greatly extending its boundaries, new 
 poj^ulations have been summoned to the enjoyment of equal 
 independence. Furthermore, the subject races in all tlie 
 other European provinces have been roused by the late move- 
 ments to assert similar claims. An impulse only seems want- 
 
WAR WITH MAHOMET ALL 361 
 
 ing to make a Christian Bosnia and a Christian Bulgaria 
 come forth by the side of their Mahomedan namesakes. I 
 look upon this rapid decline of the Moslems, this elevation of 
 the Christians, this antagonism of the two creeds, as the gTand 
 process now in course of completion in the European portions 
 of the Ottoman Empire. 
 
 Paradoxical as it may seem, I am inclined to say that the 
 question, whether the Ottoman Empire shall continue to 
 subsist, or whether it shall perish, is, for the present, almost 
 independent of that process ; for the solution of the question 
 depends upon wholly different considerations. 
 
 It appears certain that the Ottoman Empire, under its 
 present circumstances, will for some length of time be inca- 
 pable of measuring its strength with that of any other Euro- 
 pean power. If the reforms continue, it will be long ere they 
 can be made to coalesce with the customs of the land ; the 
 administrative improvements, too, will be of more benetit to 
 the Bayahs than to the court, imless the latter can check the 
 avarice and corruption of its functionaries, and put a stop to 
 the pernicious system of the sale of offices, and to the loans 
 by means of which the Armenian bankers exercise so great 
 an influence over the Pachalics. But should a reaction 
 against these reforms again manifest itself, and be successful, 
 the empire would then fall to pieces. Neither in the one 
 case nor the other will the Osmanli again venture to think 
 of provoking the hostilities of any European pov/er. 
 
 Their existence is, therefore, dependent on the political 
 views of the great Powers. This has long been the case ; but 
 it is even more so now than ever. 
 
 This guarantee is truly of a most singular kind, proceed- 
 ing not so much from their common agreement as from their 
 conflicting interests and mutual jealousies, while, perhaps, 
 from that very cause, it is only the more certain. 
 
 It seemed for a moment as though the policy of the Great 
 Powers on Oriental afiairs would formally separate in two 
 different directions. 
 
 The two chief reformers, the Sultan and his Egyptian 
 vassal, at length became involved in war vnth. each other ; and 
 in the danger in which the Sultan suddenly foimd himself 
 placed by Mahomet AU's superior abilities, he turned to 
 
362 RUSSIA AND TUHKEY. 
 
 England, his old idly. It was plainly the interest of England 
 to take him under her protection. But the foreign policy of 
 the modern Whigs is incomprehensible : having other ques- 
 tions on their hands, though of inferior importance, and being 
 occupied with other subjects, they let the matter rest. The 
 Sultan had, therefore, no choice. Threatened in his very 
 existence by his vassal, and repulsed by his old allies, he threw 
 himself into the arms of Kussia, obtained decisive aid from 
 that power in the most critical moment, and concluded a 
 treaty wth her against similar contingencies in future. 
 
 Then at last England seemed to become aware what it 
 was she had neglected; it seemed as though the Whigs 
 would now set themselves in good earnest to oppose the 
 development of the new relations entered into between 
 Russia and Turkey ; perhaps they now really believed 
 English interests to be endangered, or that they were afraid 
 of the opposition they Avould thereby encounter on the 
 opening of parliament. The French took part with them : 
 the animated declaration they put forth is known. Both 
 ministerial parties evinced much zeal on the question. 
 
 The controversy which thus arose had a double import : 
 first it concerned the relation of the Sultan towards Bussia, 
 and next towards Mahomed Ali. 
 
 As to the former, the English and the French professed a 
 lively solicitude for the self-subsistence of Turkey. 
 
 But no one who does not willingly suffer himself to be the 
 dupe of preconceived and vulgar prejudices can admit that 
 Bussia cherishes serious designs upon Turkey. Considering 
 the manifold inherent wants of her own immense territory, 
 the problematical task which she would undertake, by the 
 acquisition of new provinces, would be almost impracticable. 
 For the population of those provinces, accustomed to old im- 
 munities, given to insurrection from traditionary usage, wild 
 and intractable, and often fanatical in their Mahomedanism, 
 would be very difficult to control. Moreover, they could 
 easily offer a stouter resistance than Europe supposes ; and 
 were the Sultan in accord with his people, an armed opposi- 
 tion, not easy to overcome, would sj^eedily be organized. But 
 such are not by any means the weightiest considerations; 
 for these consist in the general interconnexion of European 
 afildrs. It might have been that Catherine the Second 
 
INTERESTS OP ENGLAND AND RUSSIA IDENTICAL. 363 
 
 tliouglit of the conquest of Constantinople ; but how much 
 have the times changed since then ? An isolated Eastern 
 interest exists no longer : a,ll questions run into each other, 
 and form as it were but one ; and a sound policy forbids an 
 enterprise that would cause incalculable complication, set 
 Europe in agitation from one end to the other, and in return 
 would yield but dubious advantages, such as the Russian. 
 EmjDire could well dispense with. What Kussia had need of, 
 what was necessary for the development of her provinces on 
 the Black Sea, she obtained by the last peace. 
 
 Now this being self-apparent, and confirmed by definite 
 declarations — the two maritime powers, moreover, being no 
 longer uneasy on the subject — the only question is, whether 
 the position in which the Sultan stands towards Mahomed 
 Ali does not threaten a speedy renewal of these difficulties. 
 
 I cannot believe that it will, because the interests of the 
 English and the French are mutually opposed in this re- 
 spect. 
 
 The French would not be disinclined to support Mohammed 
 Ali. In the first place they are by nature fond of commo- 
 tion and revolution, and Mahomed, besides, has long been 
 under their influence : how confidently, for instance, did 
 Admiral E-oussin anticipate his compliance, as soon as France 
 should express her wishes. The English, on the other hand, 
 are no friends to that Pacha : he is too powerful for them, 
 too revolutionary ; they would never look complacently on 
 the progress of a conqueror in Asia, at whose name nations 
 might rally, and who might easily come into direct or in- 
 direct contact with their East Indian possessions. 
 
 Some politicians of the positive school in France, for some 
 such there are still, even there, are inclined to think that an 
 alliance with the rising Egyptian power might serve as a 
 support against the naval superiority of England ; and the 
 expedition of Algiers is supposed to have been devised with 
 that view : — and the English still more clearly perceive that 
 their influence in the East is more secure under Mahmoud 
 than it would be under Mahomed Ali. 
 
 It is a curious fact, that at the moment when England 
 and Russia seemed to difier on the Eastern question, it could 
 not be denied that with respect to the immediate subject 
 of the quarrel, their interests were identical ; for from the 
 
364 CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF TURKEY. 
 
 nature of things they are both interested in the preservation 
 of the Sultan's Empire. 
 
 And whilst the Sultan is under such twofold powerful jDro- 
 tection, he has little to fear from any new enterprises on the 
 part of Mahomed Ali, even were they made with still 
 stronger forces. Decidedly the French will not support him ; 
 for if their league with England endure, the latter will have 
 influence enough to oppose any policy contrary to her wishes 
 and requirements ; and should it be dissolved, England is 
 powerful enough to counteract any operations of her neigh- 
 bour. 
 
 Add to this, the pacific views of the two great German 
 powers, which they act upon in order to bring about an 
 issue consistent with their natural tendency. 
 
 We may, therefore, fairly conclude that the interests of 
 the European states — so long as no general war breaks out on 
 other grounds — will for some time to come have the effect 
 they have hitherto had : namely, to uphold the Ottoman 
 Empire. 
 
 Under their protection, the progress which has thus begun 
 in that state, will continue. 
 
 If we consider this state of things — the dependence of 
 Turkey on the convenience and good pleasure of the Euro- 
 pean Powers — in connection with the internal process we 
 have noticed as at work in the empire, we shall rise, not from 
 a fanciful view, but with a clear and unobstructed percep- 
 tion of current facts, to the contemplation of a universal 
 historic j^rinciple. 
 
 The vitality of the human race is at this day centered in the 
 nations of the Roman and Germanic stocks, and in those 
 which they have incorporated and assimilated vath them- 
 selves. However manifold may be our internal discords, 
 however various and often hostile our tendencies, we yet con- 
 stitute one whole in contrast v/ith the rest of the world.'"' 
 Once there flourished other nations, — great ethnological 
 groups, — animated by other principles, and concerned in the 
 adoption, progress, and significant development of internal in- 
 
 * The warlike HattischerifF of December 13, iS27, regards the Franks 
 collectively as enemies; it yet calls to mind the tradition "that the unbe- 
 lievers constitute only one single nation." 
 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAHOMED AND MAIIMOUD. oG5 
 
 scitntions ; now it can scarcely be said that any sucli remain. 
 With what threatening power did Islamism confront the 
 West! It is not very long since that the roving Tartars 
 swept through Poland as far as the German frontiers, and 
 that the Ottomans possessed Hungary and laid siege to 
 Vienna. How far behind us have \yq now left all such 
 dangers ! 
 
 If we inquire into the causes of the internal decline of the 
 Turkish Empire, and regard them under their most general 
 manifestation, we must affirm that it is owing to the fact 
 that the empire is opposed to another section of the world 
 immeasurably superior to itself in power. That other section 
 could crush it to atoms in a moment ; and while suffering 
 it to exist for reasons of its o^vn, yet, by a secret necessity, 
 it exerts upon it an indirect and irresistible influence. 
 
 The Ottoman Empire is overpowered and penetrated in all 
 directions by the Christian system. We do not mean by 
 that expression the Christian religion ; nor would the words 
 culture, civilization, fully convey our idea ; but it is being- 
 enlightened by the genius of the YT'est : by that spirit which 
 transforms nations into disciplined armies, that traces roads, 
 cuts canals, covers all the seas with fleets and converts them 
 into its own property, which fills remote continents with 
 colonies, that has taken possession of the domains of know- 
 ledge and cultivates them with unflagging industry ; which 
 maintains order and law among men, in spite of the diversi- 
 ties of their passions. We see this spirit makmg prodigious 
 progress. It has won America from the crude forces of 
 nature and of intractable tribes, and has thoroughly trans- 
 formed it ; by various paths it is penetrating the remotest 
 parts of Asia, and only China* still remains closed against 
 it ; it surrounds Africa on all her coasts : unceasing, multi- 
 form, inapproachable, irresistibly supplied with arms and 
 science, it vanquishes the world. Within the last ten 
 years it has made 2:)rodigious advances in the Ottoman Em- 
 pire : it has created sources of diffiision for itself in Greece 
 and Servia, Egypt and Constantinople. 
 
 There is a diflerence betv/een Mahomed and Mahmoud. 
 The Pacha's innovations are more Oriental, more thoroughly 
 
 * This exception no longer e.\ist3, since China is being revolutionized 
 by Christian intluences. 
 
366 ON THE DECREASE OF THE 
 
 oppressive ; whilst tlie Sultan is forced to consider Ms 
 Christian subjects, and to allow scope for their free will. 
 In this respect it would be a misfortune were Mahomed 
 Ali to extend his power over the European provinces. But 
 this difierence infers no essential opposition ; for in the main 
 they tend towards the same end : instruments of that 
 superior tendency of the world which overrules their incli- 
 nations and purposes and all their strife. The spirit of 
 Mahomedan polity has not been true to itself ; its complexion 
 is growing wan ; the genius of the West is overpowering it. 
 
 Happen what may, we can venture confidently to assert 
 that this onward progress cannot be checked ; amidst the 
 thousandfold divergent efforts of mankind it will, in one way 
 or another, pursue its unalterable course. 
 
 Note on Page 316. 
 
 On the Decrease of the Christian Population in 
 Turkey. — In the provinces of the Ottoman Empire, it is, as 
 we have already stated, exceedingly difficult to trace out the 
 apostacy of a great part of the Christian population to 
 Mohamedanism. 
 
 Travellers have collected only cursory notices on the 
 subject : and local information is not to be expected.* 
 
 With regard, however, to the history of the East, there is 
 a source of information as yet not adverted to in the reports 
 delivered by Pomish Nuncios, or visitors, to the Pope or the 
 Propaganda. The attention of the writers must necessarily 
 have been fixed upon the progress of apostacy from Chris- 
 tianity, and diffusion of Mahomedanism. 
 
 I have had the opportunity at Pome of looking into some 
 
 * What may be expected even from works that treat expressly on 
 those countries, may be seen from the example of Johann Gerhard. He 
 wrote a book not wanting in merit: " Spicilegium observationum his- 
 torico-geographicarum de Bosnise regno 1737." He has also given in it 
 a chapter on the inhabitants, p. 134 ; but had so few data respecting 
 them, that he was under the necessity of filling up his space with meagre 
 notices of the Uskoks. 
 
CHRISTIAN POPULATION IN TURKEY. 367 
 
 of these reports ; and, as we have now come to speak of the 
 matter, will state the facts that may be deduced from them. 
 They relate j^rincipally to Albania, and commence from 
 the close of the sixteenth century. 
 
 1. " Relatione del Padre D. Alessandro Comuleo, Arci- 
 prete di S. Hieronymo di E,oma, sopra le Cose del Turco." 
 Bibl. Barberiana, nr. 3392. 
 
 In the year 1594, Clement VIII sent the Archpriest 
 Comuleo to Transylvania, Moscow, and Poland, to prepare the 
 way for a Turkish war. It appears that this priest ventured 
 even into Turkey ; at least we find the above-named relation 
 under his hand, immediately after the instructions given him 
 by the Pope. It is but slight ; however, the author promises 
 more detailed information, whenever the Pope shall desirs 
 it. The peculiarity of the report we actually possess con- 
 sists chiefly in an enumeration of the Christian popula- 
 tions of the Ottoman Empire capable of bearing arms. He 
 reckons 140,000 fighting men in Albania and Macedonia; 
 100,000 in Herzegovina, Sclavonia, and Croatia ; as many in 
 Servia ; 200,000 in Bosnia : all Latin or Greek Christians, 
 mortal foes to their Mahomedan rulers. I know not how 
 far the author is justified in this computation by precise in- 
 telligence; but I think it was communicated to him by 
 natives. 
 
 2. " Relatione della visita fatta da me, Marino Bizzi, Arci- 
 vescovo d'Antivari, nelle parti della Turchia, Albania, 
 e Servia, aUa sta di Nro. Sgre. P. Paolo V." 1610. Bibl. 
 Barberina, nr. 11 GO. 75 folios. 
 
 The Archbishop of Antivari had a special vocation to 
 travel through those countries, since he claimed the primacy 
 of the kingdom of Servia, and even thought he had a right 
 to the formal possession of Herzegovina. 
 
 He did not penetrate into the Bosno-Servian mountains ; 
 but sent for a priest from Pristina, who gave him informa- 
 tion as to the condition of the Christians in those jDarts. 
 The Bishop of Sophia likewise visited him, and related to him 
 particulars respecting his own diocese. 
 
 Many Catholic Christians were still found everywhere. 
 The Bishop even boasted of the conversion of some members 
 of the Greek Church. 
 
 But their numbers were, by comparison, greater in Albania. 
 
368 ox THE DECREASE OP THE 
 
 IMarino Bizzi reckons that of 400;000 inliabitants — wlio 
 could have imagined it ? — 350,000 were Catholics. To ten 
 Christians he finds one Turk. He cannot sufficiently extol 
 the devotion of these people ; for even before they enter the 
 church, the)'' repeat a prayer at the door. In witnessing 
 their processions, in which they separate into two choirs, 
 triumphantly chaunting " Christe eleison ! Kyrie eleison ! " 
 his enthusiasm is called forth. The memory of their national 
 hero, Scanderbeg, is still preserved amongst them. In later 
 times, it appears that only short songs are to be found among 
 the Albanians, resembling the Greek more than the Servian 
 ballads ; but in those days they celebrated the deeds of Scan- 
 derbeg in long heroic lays. 
 
 With all this devotion, and this consciousness of nation- 
 ality, it was yet clear to Marino Bizzi that there was much 
 reason to apprehend apostacy. The priests were exceedingly 
 ignorant : they no longer understood the Latin masses they 
 read ; they neglected to administer the sacraments of the 
 Catholic Church, especially extreme unction ; they tolerated 
 marriages within the forbidden degrees; and were wholly 
 incapable of imparting instruction. 
 
 The defection to Mahomedanism had then already begun. 
 The Albanians were of opinion that men must obey the 
 n.der of the land to vdiom God had once given it ; and they 
 did not conceal the fact that their only object was to obtain 
 an alleviation from tlieir burdens; it was enough, they thought, 
 if they remained Christians at heart, whilst they outwardly 
 conformed to the observances of Mahomedanism. Thus it 
 occurred, that often the men became Mahomedans whilst the 
 women remained Christians ; and under those circumstances, 
 it often happened that an over-zealous monk excluded the 
 women from Church communion, which was the cause of 
 their going over to Islamism. The Bishoj) himself informs 
 us that he at one time was the guest of a Spahi, whose 
 father had lately become a Turk ; he having apostatized "on 
 account of worldly considerations." Another time, he 
 lodged with a Moslem who had bought his wife for a few 
 piastres from her father, and she was still a Christian. Chris- 
 tians and Turks intermarried without much public scandal ; 
 and frequently whole villages apostatized; to escape the poll- 
 tax. 
 
CHRISTIAN POPULATION IN TUIIKEY, 3G9 
 
 In the Slavonian districts, sometimes all the heads of 
 ilimilies had adopted Islamism ; theii' wives and cliildren still 
 remaining Christians. 
 
 " It is the general opinion," exclaims Marino Bizzi, '- that 
 if Christianity does not soon receive assistance in Albania 
 and Servia, it vv^ill be extinguished in ten years." 
 
 But this prediction was not so rapidly fulfilled ; as other 
 documents jDrove. ^ 
 
 3. '• Scritture di Alessandro Macedonio," 1618. (Archivio 
 Yenetiano.) 
 
 In the course of my researches on the relations between 
 the Venetians and the Neapolitan Yicero}^ Ossuna, I lighted 
 on these papers in the despatches of Spinelli of July 22, 1618, 
 and Januaiy, 1618, M. v., i. e., 1619. 
 
 They are memorials from a settler abroad, who sought to 
 move Christian Sovereigns and Princes — among others, the 
 Yiceroy himself — to an enterprize against the Turks. 
 
 Though he thus gives us some reason to suspect that ho 
 may have exaggerated the facility of such an enterprize, his 
 data are nevertheless worthy of notice. 
 
 He finds in Macedonia, in which he includes Bulgaria and 
 ♦Servia, " free inhabitants, who have never submitted to the 
 Turks, and who live under laws framed by themselves. 
 There are a hundred Christians to one Turk. The Al- 
 banians are trained to arms from their infancy ; and there 
 are more men fit for war there than in any other Christian 
 state. Their barbarous ruler has never had the courage to 
 deprive them of their weapons, much less their children, as 
 in other provinces ; nor has he been able to supersede the 
 true faith with his false religion.. A close union subsists 
 among the princijDal famiKes ; and each of these can bring 
 some fifty men into the field, who choose— apparently from 
 among the brethren of the chief families — the bravest for 
 their leaders, to whom they plight themselves for life or 
 death. In Servia and Bulgaria the people are very hand- 
 some, of tall stature, and skilful in the use of weapons, 
 although at present they are only allowed to carry long 
 staves ; they are religious, upright, trusty, stedfast, and full 
 of eager desire to expel the enemy from their territory." 
 
 In Albania, he estimated that there were a hundred Chris- 
 tians to one Turk : in Herzegovina he found very few 
 
370 DECREASE OF CHRISTIAN POPULATION IN TURKEY. 
 
 Turks ; and in Bosnia their number less than that of the 
 CJiristians. 
 
 We cannot reject everything he says ; nevertheless he 
 puts the fair side rather prominently forward. Even he can- 
 not deny that many had already apostatized to Mahomed- 
 anism ; but he appears to have believed that the renegades 
 would return to Christianity. 
 
 4. " luformatione di Era Bonaventura di S. Antonio," 
 1632; 
 
 5. " Summario della relatione della visita d' Albania fatta 
 da Don Marco Crisio," 1651; both in the Chigi Library 
 at Rome. G. iii. 94. 
 
 6. '•' Notizie universali dello stato di Albania e' dell' ope- 
 rato da Monsr. Zmaievich, arcivescovo di Antivari, visi- 
 tatoro apostolico di Albania, esaminate nelle congrega- 
 tioni general! della propaganda fede di 3 Debr. 1703 — 
 12 Febr. 1704." Bibl. Barb. 
 
 What Bizzi had feared as imminent, happened gradually at 
 a subsequent period. 
 
 During the seventeenth century the change to INIaho- 
 medanism went on v/ith great rapidity. 
 
 I have already, in the book on Servia, mentioned the 
 traveller Mintealbano, who went about the year 1625 from 
 Eagusa by way of Eotsha to Novipasar, and observed the 
 curious blending in families of Christians and Turks. This 
 implies only that some members had already apostatised, 
 while others had not. Already he found natives holding 
 the rank of Sandshaks and Beys. 
 
 The abovenamed ecclesiastical reports give us facts con 
 cerning Albania,. 
 
 Era Bonaventura complains that in many parishes there 
 had been no clergyman for twenty years. Don Marco Crisio 
 finds even the bishoprics vacant, and the apostacy of the 
 male sex very considerable. 
 
 In fact, the great revolution had already taken i)lace ; and 
 it must have been effected in the first half of the seventeenth 
 century. Bizzi had reckoned 350,000 Catholics in Albania. 
 Don Marco Crisio finds their numbers decreased nearly to 
 50,000. 
 
 Now, even though we assume that the numbers given by 
 tho former are too great, and those by the latter too small, 
 
GENERAL KE:\IxVr.KS. 371 
 
 it is still manifest tliat the decrease was excessive and 
 unparalleled. 
 
 Since then it has gone on constantly ; we can trace it, 
 by the help of an account of the date of 1671, and the re- 
 port of Archbishop Zmaievitch, very accurately. 
 
 In the year 1651 the archbishopric of Durazzo had 
 already sustained great losses, but it still numbered 14,000 
 souls ; in the year 1671 the decrease was as yet hardly dis- 
 cernible; there were still 13,650 Catholics; in the year 
 1703 they had dwindled dov/n to little more than 8,000. A 
 very pernicious influence is imputed to the negligence of the 
 Archbishop of Galata. 
 
 The bishopric of Sappa, in 1651, had still 124,000 souls; 
 in 1671 only 9,230, who, in 1703, had further decreased to 
 7,971. In Scutari, in 1671, they still reckoned 20,270 Ca- 
 tholics; two and thirty years later, in 1703, only 12,700. 
 
 Other circumstances may have contributed to this result, 
 but the chief cause was the apostacy which resulted from 
 political oppression. 
 
 Zmaievitch himself relates an instance in which two thou- 
 sand souls went over to Islamism to avoid a heavy tribute 
 that was about to be imposed upon a district. 
 
 Even so near to our own times, when every one believed 
 the Turkish Empire to be already in fiill process of decay, 
 was this change accomplished. 
 
 Perhaps it is reserved for our e2:)och to witness a re-actiop 
 against this grievous result. 
 
TIE SLAVE PEOVINCES OF TUEKEY. 
 
 CHIEFLY FROM THE FRENCH OP 
 
 CYPEIEN ROBEET, 
 
 Professor of Slave Literature in the College of France, 
 
 WITH ADDITIONS FROM OTHER SOURCES. 
 
THE SLAVE PEOVINCES OE TTJEKEY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE INSURRECTIONS IN TURKEY IN 1849-50-51. 
 
 A MOMENT of supreme crisis has arrived for the Ottoman 
 Empire. Its conduct towards its ex-Rayahs is about to de- 
 cide the question v/liether it is capable of opening up for 
 itself a new career of glory, or whether it will sit supine 
 and dwindle away under its faded laurels. All eyes can see 
 more and more clearly the increasing progress in the East 
 of the Christian sj)ii^it and of the Christian nationalities, 
 which are daily escaping more and more from the enfeebled 
 grasp of Islamism. Hence the Divan thinks it is for its own 
 interest to rely on the Christians as much as on the Osmanlis 
 themselves, and in some sort even more. All the last re- 
 forms are in favour of the Christians : the new Stamboul 
 seems desnous of marching in the stejDS of Byzantium. The 
 hellenism of the Constantines was sustained in its decline 
 only by the sympathies of the West ; the means of winning 
 those sympathies, consisted, as at this day, in social reform, 
 or the abolition of the schism which parts the East from the 
 West. In our time the Othman caliphs promise and try to 
 Europeanize themselves, just as the Paleogi promised the 
 councils of the West that they would Latinize their empire. 
 
 This policy of expediency is good with a view to adjourn- 
 ing the catastrophe, but it cannot regenerate. Rechid Pacha, 
 who has pursued it on the Bosj)horus with a sort of despe- 
 rate pertinacity for so many years, is not the man to shape 
 the destinies of the future. His system of assimilating 
 Turks and Christians is becoming more and more manifestly 
 
O t raVALRY BETWEEN THE OSMANLIS AND SLAVES. 
 
 impossible. Twice as numerous as the Osmanlis, the Slave 
 ex-Rayahs will not forget their nationality. Were they 
 willing to do so, Russia would be there to hinder them ; 
 Russia, whose eye is bent upon them as that of an eagle on 
 its prey. The Russian emissaries on the Danube are inces- 
 sant in their efforts to rekindle the antipathy of the Slaves 
 towards their conquerors ; they seduce their primates by 
 promises, and bestow on their popes liturgies, containing 
 j)rayers for the orthodox Tsar and his family, prayers which 
 are chanted in all the churches of Turkey. Religion, there- 
 fore, still more than lanQ:uao;e, will maintain amone" the Slave 
 subjects of the Porte the invincible instinct of a nationality 
 distinct from that of the Ottomans. 
 
 The eternal rivalry between these two races of men ac- 
 counts for the desperate revolts of the Turks upon the occa- 
 sion of every fresh effort to bring them into coalition Avith 
 their former serfs. Thence the permanent effervescence in 
 Anatolia and Syria, and those conspiracies to massacre the 
 Christians in the towns of Asia, as at Aleppo, where the 
 iron will of the celebrated General Bem was alone able to 
 restore order. Mohammedan Asia is separating morally 
 more and more from that infidel Turkey in Europe ; and the 
 conflict seems on the eve of being renewed between the 
 Cabinet of Constantinople and the successor of Mohammed 
 Ali, the Viceroy of Egypt, Abbas, the fanatical enemy of 
 the European reform. In this situation the Sultan could 
 not do better than rely still more on the Christian forces of 
 his empire, which alone can insure his triumph over insur- 
 gent old Islamism. 
 
 Among the Christians the predominance belongs to Slaves, 
 — to the Bulgarians and Serbs. Those two peoples, if united, 
 could easily raise a formidable army. The Bulgarians alone 
 number more than four millions, established from the mouths 
 of the Danube to Mount Athos in Thessaly, whilst in the 
 direction of the Bosphorus their countless flocks overspread 
 the pastures of Rumelia, up to the walls of Adrianople. In 
 another direction the Serbs, extending from Belgrade into 
 the heart of Albania, occupy in Bosnia, Herzegovina and 
 Montenegro, mountains strategically the easiest to defend in 
 all Europe. Unfortunately the Turkish conquest has esta- 
 blished in Bulgaria, and still more in Bosnia, a sort of feudaJ 
 
TYPvAXNY OF THE FEUDAL ARISTOCRACY. 377 
 
 nobility, composed of renegade Slaves, called by their Chris- 
 tian brethren Poturitsi (Turkicised). Each of these lords 
 inflicts upon the poor Rayahs, from his Icoula, or fortified 
 castle, all the depredations of the tyrants of the middle ages. 
 
 Among the Bulgarians, it is true, anarchy is less deeply 
 rooted than i.i Bosnia. The aristocracy of the renegades has 
 not obtained the same growth among them. Moreover, the 
 more centralized character of their country allows of more 
 unity in national development ; they are also better edu- 
 cated. The number of high schools is increasing among 
 them in an astonishing rate, notwithstanding their penury. 
 Their domestic industry, and the jDroduce of their soil, con- 
 stitute the most indispensable element of life for Turkey m. 
 Europe. Their late Vizier, old Hussein of Yidin, who go- 
 verned them for more than a quarter of a century, almost 
 without interruption, literally fattened on their sweat. Like 
 the Pacha of Egypt he was a consummate adept in all kinds 
 of monopoly. This Mohammed Ali of the Danube, spread^ 
 like a net, over all Bulgaria his superintendents and factors, 
 who bought up all manufactured goods, and every standing 
 crop, even before it was ripe. But, whilst the Bulgarians 
 denounced their Vizier's avarice, they owned that they sold 
 to him at still higher rates than to strangers. This was the 
 reason why Hussein enjoyed the fruits of his monopolies in 
 peace for so many years : his court had all the splendour of 
 a king's. 
 
 In Bosnia we find nothing of the kind ; there deeper 
 wounds require more energetic remedies ; and there, accord- 
 ingly, the Vizier Tahir had a very different lot from that of 
 old Hussein. Being commissioned by the Sultan utterly to 
 crush the aristocracy of the renegade Beys, Tahir was under 
 the necessity of acting with extreme severity. Hence he- 
 was looked up to as a guardian angel by the Bayahs, whose 
 quarrel he espoused on all occasions. One of his last acts 
 was the abolition of every kind of forced labour, and the re- 
 duction of the countless duties payable by the Bosnian pea- 
 sant, to a single tax, which was never to exceed the third of 
 his crop ; and the quota is determined in every village, not 
 as before, by the Spahi, but by the primates and the elders of 
 the place. In all the pachaliks subject to him, Tahir, the 
 uncompromising foe to the old regime, caused the bastinado 
 
378 INSURRECTIONS IN BOSNIA. 
 
 to be administered, witliout mercy, to the proud Spaliis, who 
 refused compliance with the new imperial j)rescriptions and 
 reforms. Accordingly Ave find him thus extolled in 1848, 
 in Gai's "Illyrian Journal," the organ of the Serb and 
 Yugo-Slave interests : — 
 
 "All the Christians of Bosnia are now receiving a new 
 life. Why cannot their unfortunate forefathers come to life 
 again? They would see how just the Government of Bosnia 
 is become, and that all the vexations of serfdom have ceased 
 at once, as though they had never existed. May Providence 
 bestow on Abdul-Medjid many a Vizier like the glorious 
 Ttihir Pacha, and the stock of Othman will soon flourish 
 again !" 
 
 The Bulgarians and Serbs of Turkey were in the situa- 
 tion we have just sketched, when the Austrian revolution of 
 1848 broke out, followed by the terrible Hungarian war. 
 The two dying lions of Travnik and Yidin were no longer 
 vigorous enough to keep down the spirit then aroused. 
 Hussein and Tahir felt their courage sink before the Bul- 
 garian Christians and the Bosnian Spahis. The former 
 voluntarily yielded his place to the rash Zia Pacha; the 
 latter, by too tardy an indulgence, inspired the mountain 
 Beys with the most extravagant pretensions, and they imme- 
 diately flew to arms. At that moment the Magyar insur- 
 gents were achieving grand triumphs over the Austrian 
 arms. Their songs of victory resounding all along the Bos- 
 nian frontier set the young men of that province on fire to 
 fight for independence. It was before that frontier (in Ser- 
 bian hraina) that the first insurrectionary flag was raised in 
 Bosnia in 1849. The grievances alleged were the same as 
 always : the cruelty of the Turkish Pachas, the extortions 
 of the agents of the exchequer, and the avarice of the old 
 Vizier, who heaped together in his cellars at Travnik the 
 gold and the spoils of the country. But, by a singular ano- 
 maly, instead of making common cause with the Magyar in- 
 surgents, they declared themselves friends to the Yelatchitch, 
 and consequently to the Austrian cause, by demanding their 
 incorporation with some great Slave state, no matter what, 
 provided they did not remain subject to the Turks. The 
 fact is, these insurgents acted unconsciously as the tools of 
 an Austro-Bussian intrigue. 
 
THE EFFECT OF AUSTRO-EUSSIAN INTRIGUE. 379 
 
 This was in July, 1849. The Aiistrians, beaten at all 
 points, and driven disgracefully out of Hungary, had called 
 in the Eussians. The army of Paskievitch itself was in 
 danger of being destroyed. Yelatchitch and his Croats had 
 suffered frightful routs. Knitchanin alone, with some thou- 
 sands of Serb volunteers, still held the Turkish frontier 
 securely against the Magyars. All the Ottoman youth were 
 eager to join the glorious General Bem, in order to wash out 
 the affronts of 1829, in Muscovite blood. The Sultan him- 
 self made no secret either of his admiration or his sympathies 
 for the Hungaro-Polish heroes. In this state of affairs the 
 Ban Yelatchitch, who had for a long time been in corre- 
 spondence on behalf of Austria with the leaders of the mal- 
 contents in Bosnia and Turkish Croatia, redoubled his 
 intrigues among the Spahis beyond the Save, and by dint of 
 fine promises, impelled them to open revolt. To propagate 
 civil war in Turkey was evidently the best means of hinder- 
 ing the Sultan and his Pachas from affording aid to the 
 Polo-Hungarian insurrection. Furthermore, the men who 
 were thus stirred up against the Porte, belonged to the same 
 race, and spoke the same language, as those unhappy Serbs 
 of Hungary who were so odiously, so cruelly treated by 
 their Magyar lords. It was, therefore, a clever stroke to 
 rouse the Slaves of the Balkan against their Tm^kish masters, 
 in the name of the liberal and republican principle, while, at 
 the same time, the Hungarian Slaves were set on against the 
 democratised aristocracy of Hungary, in the name of the 
 monarchical and conservtitive principle. The result was, 
 that the Slave Spahis of Turkey, in rising against the Porte, 
 could not declare in favour of the Magyars, for in that case 
 they would have had against them their own Payahs, who 
 made common cause with the confederate Serbs of Hungary 
 and Servia. They deemed it prudent, therefore, to affect a 
 lively sympathy for the Austro-SIave cause, in order thereby 
 to win over to their side seven or eight millions of their 
 brethren in Turkey. Confidently expecting to see all the 
 Payahs hasten to their aid, they proclaimed the Slave Con- 
 federation ; sent and solicited the alliance of the Montene- 
 grins and the Prince of Servia, and went so far as to inscribe 
 on their banners the name of Ban Yelatchitch, whom many 
 of them wanted to beg from Austria to be their sovereign 
 
380 FORMATION OF A SLAVE CONGRESS. 
 
 It was under such auspices that the Bosnians made ready 
 for war. Their preparations were such that in the nahia 
 of Svomik alone the Turkish police discovered as many as 
 eighteen pieces of cannon, newly cast, hidden in the forests. 
 When they thought themselves sufficiently armed, they 
 elected for their general in Turkish Croatia, Ali Kieditch, 
 who called himself Yelatchitch's cousin, because he was Spain 
 of the village from which the ancestors of the Austrian 
 hero had sprung. The first act of Ali Kieditch was to go 
 and blockade the citadel of Bihatch, the centre of operations 
 for the Albanian garrisons, which for centuries had been 
 oppressing those Slave countries as conquered territories. 
 Roused by that news, the old lion of Travnik, Tahir Pacha, 
 hastened to raise the blockade of Bihatch ; but, being obliged 
 to thread all the vast labyrinth of defiles in mountainous 
 Bosnia, he found himself opposed by the whole armed popu- 
 lation. Checked at every step of his march, he was at last 
 constrained to fall back upon his capital, with the remains 
 of his broken army. 
 
 The position of the rebels was magnificent ; they had suc- 
 ceeded in rallying to their side all the population, without 
 distinction of religion. The six hundred thousand renegades 
 of Bosnia were now completely united with their brethren, 
 who had remained Christians. They had thousands of adhe- 
 rents in Macedonia and Bulgaria. From the Austrian 
 frontier to the Black Sea every Slave heart was warm in 
 their cause. Accordingly, at the request of Tahir himself, 
 the Porte consented to treat with the leaders of this 
 national movement, who were invited to send their plenipo- 
 tentiaries to Travnik, where they were to form a sort of 
 Slave Congress, composed of all the Slave representatives of 
 Turkey, whether Mussulman or Christian. This was a coun- 
 terpart of the movement at Prague and at Agram. But at 
 Travnik, as at Prague, the deputies, when once assembled, 
 could no longer agree in anything. The old rivalries between 
 tribe and tribe, Mussulman and Christian, revived. From 
 the moment the proceedings were opened, the purpose which 
 the rebels had at heart, which was that of resistance to 
 all reform, and the maintenance of the old privileges, mani- 
 fested itself in a more and more unfavourable light. 
 
 The insurgents were wholly disappointed in their ho23es of 
 
ITS FAILUrvE. 381 
 
 the alli;ince of Servio. on which they had most counted. That 
 principality, tlie existence of which as a separate and free 
 state dates from 1800, after the successful issue of its long 
 struggle felt its hereditary hatred to the Turks transformed 
 into sympathy. More harslily treated by Milosch than it 
 had been by the harshest Pacha, it owed its relief from the 
 yoke of that tyrant to the co-operation of the Porte, which 
 had powerfully aided it in 1838 and 1839 in effecting its 
 constitutional revolution. Since that time the cabinet of 
 Belgrade had always acted in accordance with the Divan. 
 Under its government of elders Servia seemed to cherish no 
 other longing than for repose. The era of 1848 roused it 
 from its slumbers, and it seemed disposed seriously to take 
 in hand the cause of the oppressed Slaves. Thousands of its 
 yunalcs had already followed the heroic Ivnitchain towards 
 the Theiss to succour the Serbs of Hungaiy. There seemed 
 reason to believe that the principality was likewise disposed 
 to furnish an auxiliary army to the cause of the Bosnian and 
 Bulgarian Slaves. Belgrade, the ivhite and free city, was 
 become the luminous point towards which the sons of the 
 Balkan turned their gaze. If Belgrade caUs in the Bussians, 
 all Slave Turkey will follow its example. If BelgTade, on 
 the other hand, ventures to declare itself the centre of a 
 grand association of peo])les, under the twofold patronage of 
 Yienna and of Constantinople, then autocracy will find the 
 ground sapped beneath it. This idea of federation seems to 
 have been for twenty years that of Youtchiteh and Petro- 
 nievitch, the two most popular men in Servia. It is also in 
 another point of view the idea of the reigning prince, Alex- 
 ander Georgevitch. This prince, who is not appointed for 
 seven years, like the hospodars of Yalacliia and Moldavia, 
 but is elected for life, owes his high position solely to the 
 predilection of the Servian people and the friendshij:) of the 
 Sultan. He knows that Bussia has done all in her power 
 to invalidate his election, that the Porte has recognized him, 
 and that his whole future destiny dei:»ends on that of Turkey. 
 For these reasons he will never be led into any course of pro- 
 ceeding capable of endangering the security of his suzerain. 
 
 The part taken by the Austro- Russian agents in the 
 Bosnian and Bulgarian movement was too evident to be 
 overlooked or regarded without distrust by Prince Alexander. 
 
SoJ INTPJGUES OF RUSSIAN AGENTS. 
 
 Besides^ even at Belgrade Kussia no longer dissembled lier 
 2:>rojects. Danilevski, the Tsar's consul, had roused the in- 
 dignation of the whole nation by his perfidious intrigues 
 to make it rise against the Sidtan. So strong had this 
 feeling become that the Emperor Nicholas had thought it 
 necessary to recal his unlucky agent ; and had sent in his 
 stead M, Levshine, a man, no doubt, more adroit in his dis- 
 simulation. But Levshine, too, deceived by the aj)parent 
 apathy of the Servians, very soon threw off the mask. At 
 the close of the year 1849, having for a while won the good 
 will of the warlike Youtchitch, be began to give magnificent 
 dinners to the senators of the principality, at which toasts 
 were drunk to the Dictator of the JVorld, to the New Servian 
 Kingdom, which will reunite all the Yugo-Slaves under the 
 eternal patronage of tlie house of Bomanof The two brothers 
 Simitch applauded these imprudent sallies; and Petronie- 
 vitch, their colleague in the ministry, in consequence of his 
 indecision of character, remained neutral. Elias Garashanine 
 alone protested courageously in the name of the national 
 j^arty, and his influence sufficed to turn all the youth of the 
 country against Levshine. No aspirant for public functions 
 in Servia durst have frequented the saloons of the Russian 
 consul. For by virtue of a law which has now been ten 
 years in force, no one can be a public functionary in Servia 
 without breaking off every tie whether of citizenship or pro- 
 tection with the agents of foreign j^owers. This law, directed 
 both against Austria and Russia, hinders those two powers 
 from inundating Servia, as they did in the times of the 
 Obrenovitch, Avith functionaries educated by them, v/ho were 
 their own subjects, and v/ho, once installed in office, became 
 so many agents hostile to the national cause. That state of 
 things exists no longer. The intrigues of the foreigner have 
 lost their prestige in Servia. The proof of this is, that in 
 the height of the agitation excited by Levshine, Hassan, the 
 old Pacha of the citadel of Belgrade, having died in 1850, 
 the Porte did not hesitate to commit to Prince Alexander 
 the provisional command of the fortress and its garrison. 
 
 From all this it may be inferred that it was becoming 
 difficult for the insurgent Slaves to obtain effective aid from 
 Servia. In vain did the Mussulmans of Bosnia use every 
 cifort with their Christian brethren of Bulgaria and Mace- 
 
PEEVALENCE OF CIVIL WAR. 383 
 
 donia to engage tliem in a struggle for independence against 
 the Ottoman race. Tliey were everywhere referred by way 
 of answer to the example of Servia. As for the Montene- 
 grins, they did still worse. Profiting by the absence of the 
 Spaliis from their own domains, they overran Herzegovina 
 and the Bosnian frontiers with their plundering bands. The 
 Onskoks of the valley of Vassoievitch advanced in the direc- 
 tion of Sarayevo. Wretched and ragged as they look, being 
 armed with carbines three yards long which they never 
 discharge in vain, these Slave sharpshooters are terrible 
 enemies. Accordingly the Porte, seeing the rebels thus 
 caught between the cross fires of its Nizam and of the 
 Ouskoks, ordered the Vizier to stand on the defensive, and 
 to dismiss the Slave diet convoked at Travnik. It was clear, 
 in fact, that anarchy was likely to bring about, even more 
 rapidly than arms, the re-establishment of the crescent in 
 the insurgent provinces. But meanwhile the members of 
 the Bosnian diet abruptly dismissed Tahir, went off and pro- 
 l^agated their indignation and their desire of vengeance in 
 all the nahias ; and the spring of 1850 saw the war renewed 
 with stiU more ardour than the preceding year. Old Tahir 
 being no longer equal to the work on hand, the Divan 
 recalled from Bucharest the vanquisher of the Albanians, 
 the inflexible Omer Pacha, who hastening from Macedonia 
 with a choice army, traversed Prist ina and Kossovo, and 
 leaving masses of insurgents behind him, plunged into the 
 heart of Bosnia. 
 
 This was the moment for which the Russian spies were on 
 the watch, and which they had themselves laboriously pre- 
 pared. They had" launched the Slave against the Turk, and 
 then the Christian Slave against the Mussulman Slave ; while 
 at the same time the Asiatic Turk — the Turk pur sang — 
 was struggling throughout Anatolia against the reformed and 
 European Turk; the fire of civil war was, therefore, everywhere. 
 To enable Russia to intervene with its army, which was then 
 stationed roimd Bucharest and along the left bank of Danube, 
 nothing more was requisite than a slight pretext, which the 
 Bulgarian peasants were called upon to afford. The arrival 
 of the heroic victims of PTuuga-ry, the presence of Kossuth 
 and Dembinski at Yidin, had already strongly contributed 
 to superexcite the minds of the Bulgarians. That people 
 
SB4 RISINGS AGAINST THE MUSSULMAN SPAHIS. 
 
 still remembered well tlieir imfortmiate revolt of 1841, in 
 whicli the gangs of Albanians let loose upon them had 
 seemed to have sworn their extermination. Twenty thou- 
 sand of those insurgents had then taken refuge with their 
 goods and their flocks in Servia, whence they had nevei 
 ceased to waft the fiery breath of vengeance over their country. 
 Since that period the Bulgai^ians had lain under martial law 
 such as it is in Turkey, and in their impatience of such a 
 yoke they listened eagerly to the Prussian missionaries, who 
 ■every day announced in some new manner the inevitable 
 emancipation of the East by the orthodox emperor. 
 
 Especially conspicuous among the Muscovite agents on 
 the Lower Danube, was old Milosch Obrenovitch, who 
 longed to see his son, the ex-jmnce Michael, j)laced by 
 Russia, as he himself had been, on any terms, upon any 
 2-)etty throne, Buls^arian or Yalachian, Slave or anti-Slave, it 
 mattered not. The ducats of the old tyrant, scattered pro- 
 fusely along with Russian rubles, easily produced in the 
 pachalik of Yidin a rising of peasants, the purport of which 
 was to demand of the Sultan a Christian prince for their 
 sovereign. The focus of the explosion was the convent of 
 Rakovitsa, the venerated object of numerous pilgrimages, and 
 the monks of which, instigated doubtless by the Holy Synod 
 and by St. Petersburg, kmdied by their sermons the fana- 
 ticism of the simple believers of the Balkan. The excite- 
 ment became so great that in June, 1850, they resolved to 
 rise, not so much, however,, against the garrisons of tho 
 fortresses as against the subachis and the spahis, or Turkish 
 landowners of their province. Without any other arms than 
 their scythes and iron-bound staves they began to overrun 
 the villages, in which they killed a certain number of Turkish 
 landlords with their people ; and by dint of extorting black 
 mail from the rich they succeeded in procuring money, with 
 which they hoped to buy powder and guns. 
 
 On the 8th of June the three Ncihias of Yidin, Beli- 
 gradchitch and Yerkovats were on foot, and their men 
 proceeded in dense masses to attack the fortress of Beli- 
 gradchitch ; but being repulsed on two successive days by 
 cannon, they had to forego their insensate enterprise. They 
 then retired into three entrenched camps, in which they 
 awaited the enemy, who did not hesitate to follow them 
 
OMER PACIIA, GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF TURKEY. 385 
 
 thitlier. Uniting cunning with daring, the Turks of Yidin 
 opened negotiations with the insurgents, who were four times 
 more numerous than themselves, and under favour of a false 
 armistice they stole into the camp of those imfortunate 
 men, on whom they committed a frightful massacre. Two 
 liundred and twelve Bulgarians perished on that occasion. 
 It was still worse in the Polomska Nahia, which had also 
 risen in insurrection, and where the Turks having in like 
 manner surprised the camp of Ylasinovats on the banks of 
 the Lorn, strewed it with five hundred Bulgarian corpses. 
 
 Victors in every encounter the Mussulman Spahis began 
 to visit on horseback the villages, more than two hundred 
 in number, which had taken part in the insurrection. The 
 devastation that ensued was worthy of the most barbarous 
 times. Neither sex nor age was spared. All the young were 
 carried off as slaves to the vulture nests of the Spahis of the 
 Balkan. In vain did Reehid Pacha enjoin milder measures ; 
 neither he nor the Sultan could check those bloodthirsty 
 tigers. There needed to that end the unexpected arrival of 
 the redoubtable Omer Pacha at Nish. He fell among them 
 like a thunderbolt, and all was silence. The Bulgarians 
 ceased to flee, the Spahis to pursue ; and what was more, 
 the Russian army of Yalachia halted at the moment it was 
 about to cross the Danube. That terrible Omer, the queller 
 of so many revolts, had, at Bucharest, had an opportunity for 
 making his qualities felt by the Ptussian generals ; and they 
 were completely disconcerted by his sudden arrival at Nish 
 when they thought he was hemmed in by the insurgent 
 Serbs in the gorges of Bosnia, without the means of making 
 his way through them. The Russian troops paused, awaiting 
 fresh orders from St. Petersburg; orders came, and the whole 
 scheme was quashed. Cleverly as the Russian plot had been 
 laid, it was completely baffled by the rapidity of Omer 
 Pacha's movements. Nominated Rumili-Valessi (governor- 
 general of all European Turkey) the victor used his dictatorial 
 power in Bulgaria with admirable moderation. In order to 
 deprive Russia of all pretext for intervention, he proclaimed 
 a general and unrestricted amnesty. Riza Pacha, sent as 
 commissioner by the Porte to the defeated rebels, received 
 their complaints and their demands. When interrogated, 
 they did not attempt to conceal all the intrigues which 
 
 2c 
 
386 DEMANDS OF THE BULGARIANS. 
 
 Kiissla liad pmctisecl among them through the medium of 
 old Milosch. As for their griefs, they propounded them 
 with the same frankness. They declared themselves ready 
 to die rather than continue to yield up their women and 
 children to the lust of the Spahis, who would not suffer any 
 of the reforms proclaimed at Stamboul to come into opera- 
 tion in their lands. The peasants' dues and taxes had 
 increased tenfold since they had become payable in cash, 
 because the subachis valued grain and other produce at the 
 market prices in Constantinople, which are ten times higher 
 than the prices in Bulgaria. The Bulgarians petitioned in 
 consequence that they might be allowed to pay as at former 
 times in kind ; and that the taxes imposed on them should 
 be proportioned to each man's estate and means, with fixed 
 terms of payment announced beforehand. They asked for 
 a national clergy that could speak their own language, 
 instead of their Greek bishops and priests, who did not know 
 a word of Bulgarian, and seemed to understand no other 
 language than that of ducats. In order to guard the honour 
 of their families and the virtue of their daughters, they 
 desired that they might be authorized to wear a handjar and 
 j^istols in their girdle like the Turks. Lastly, in order to 
 insure the enforcement of all the reforms decreed by the 
 Sultan, they wished that the Divrji should subject to strict 
 control every one of the local a.uthorities, against whom the 
 peasant could not publicly prefer a complaint without danger 
 to his life. 
 
 E,iza Pacha and the Rumili-Valessi Omer having declared 
 all these demands to be perfectly reasonable, the Bulgarians 
 went back to their fields with the hope of receiving speedy 
 satisfaction. This result had only cost Omer the trouble 
 of appearing. But what instruments had he employed to 
 secure to the Porte so complete a triumph, and so promptly 
 to reduce the exasperated Bulgarians to obedience and 
 quiet ? It would be a great mistake to suppose that Turkey 
 extricated herself by her own strength from the abyss which 
 the Austro-Russian propaganda had opened for her through 
 the simultaneous revolt of the Bosnians and Bulgarians. 
 Backed by impracticable mountains, the two insurrections 
 would probably have endured to this day but for the Slave 
 allies of the Porte. 
 
MAGYAR AND POLISH REGUGEE OFFICERS. 38T 
 
 Those allies were of two classes : tlie native Serbs and the 
 Polish refugees. It was manifestly the principality of Servia 
 that played the leading part in the Bulgarian question. From 
 the beginning of the movement masses of insurgents marched 
 to the Servian frontier, calling for arms and cartridges in 
 exchange for chinking ducats. But the frontier remained 
 hermetically sealed against the passage of the least jjouslika. 
 All the cries for aid uttered by the Bulgarians remained 
 unanswered ; and they were very soon disheartened by the 
 decisive refusal of Prince Alexander to co-operate in an 
 absurd war, which would inevitably have led to a European 
 conflagration. The Bulgarians then found themselves obliged 
 to accept the mediation offered them by the cabinet of Bel- 
 grade, the effect of which v*^as the immediate disarming of a 
 gi'eat 2">art of the combatants, who were granted a sure 
 refuge in the principaHty. Thereupon Omer Pacha could 
 with dignity offer advantageous conditions and a complete 
 pardon to the vanquished. 
 
 But could the Rumili-Yalessi have shown himself at once 
 so confident and so generous, if he had not possessed, along 
 with the support of Servia, the not less important support of 
 the Magyar and the Polish engineer officers ? The Servian 
 journals reckon at six hundred the number of those refugees 
 who were enrolled as instructors in Omer s army. A nearly 
 equal number were still at Shumla in the heart of Bulgaria. 
 They were solicited in a thousand ways by the insurgents to 
 put themselves at their head. Had they done so, the re- 
 bellion, led by experienced officers, might have been able to 
 await in the Balkan the arrival of the negociators or of the 
 Muscovite bayo-nets. The refugees of Shumla, in spite of 
 their extreme destitution, had the good sense to refuse all 
 co-operation in that disastrous enterprise, and the peasants, 
 totally uri]3rovided with officers, were in a fortnight com- 
 pelled to disperse in all directions. The Polish refugees thus 
 nobly repaid a noble hospitality. 
 
 It only remained to \>^<iiij the Bosnians. Omer returned 
 to Bosnia as rapidly and as secretly as he had quitted it, and 
 fell like a thunderbolt into the midst of its capital Sarayevo, 
 whence the Beys, who were most compromised, fled in terror 
 to the Save in various disguises. At that moment the old 
 Vizier Tahir, who was still fighting, expired under fatig-ues 
 
 2c2 
 
388 IMPROVEMENT IN CONDITION OF THE RAYAHS. 
 
 too great for liis age. The strenuous Omer immediately took 
 his place. Full of confidence in the strategic superiority of 
 his Polish officers, he did not hesitate to attack the arrogant 
 feudal aristocracy of Bosnia with all his forces. After some 
 skirmishes the insurgents dispersed, and their officers, left 
 without soldiers, had to seek refuge in Servia and Austria. 
 Every part of the countiy, including even the long-revolted 
 Kraina, submitted ; and Kieditch, the conqueror of Bihatch, 
 himself humbly repaired as a hostage to the camp of Omer 
 Pacha. 
 
 Master of the whole of Bosnia, Omer convoked all its 
 Agas, Musselims and Beys to Sarayevo, and there caused to 
 be read in their presence the new imperial firmans, which 
 put the Rayahs almost on a footing of equality with the 
 Spahis, and subjected all the Bosnians, Mussulman and 
 Christian alike, to conscription and military service beyond 
 their own frontier, from which they had previously been 
 exempt by virtue of their ancient privileges. The citadel of 
 the Travnik ceased to be the seat of the authorities. The 
 governor- general, the supreme tribunal, and the foreign 
 consulates, were transferred to the great Sarayevo, which, 
 despoiled of its republican franchises, no longer forms a State 
 within the State, and now obeys the common law of the 
 empire. That law has had for commentator Omer Pacha 
 himself, who, being a Croat by birth and speaking the Slavo- 
 Bosnian dialect perfectly, went about the country explaining 
 to the assembled people all the advantages that would accrue 
 to them from laws thenceforth equal for all. By way of 
 immediate application of his own harangues, Omer levied 
 from all the Christian and Mussulman families alike the 
 military recruits and the taxes which no Spahi had paid 
 before that day. 
 
 Backed against its lofty mountains and the Austrian mili- 
 tary cordons, Bosnia had remained the most backward pro- 
 vince of Turkey, the refuge of the most cruel fanaticism and 
 the densest prejudices. There the Christians had still to 
 celel)rate their worship in caverns and forests, as in the times 
 of tlie Pagan persecutions ; and when they had bought with 
 their gold from a Pacha the right of building a poor chapel, 
 the Spahis often came there to dishonour their wives, and set 
 the chapel on fire after having made it the scene of their 
 
DIPLOMATIC MOVEMENTS OF RUSSIA. 389 
 
 orgies. These abominations will not be repeated ; an admi- 
 nistration wholly new, wholly European, created by Omer 
 I^aclia, has begim its functions. 
 
 Such were the events which marked the end of the year 
 ISoO and the beginning of 1851 in Turkey. Always master 
 of himself, Omer used clemency as much as he could. The 
 excesses of the Albanian bands were severely chastised by 
 him ; and he neglected nothing to sweep the vanquished coun- 
 tries clear of those hordes. Omer felt assured that Bosnia 
 and its appendages, when once brought well under subjec- 
 tion, could, without difficulty, reinforce the Ottoman army 
 by sixty thousand Slave mountaineers, admirable soldiers in 
 a war of partizans. As for the most obstinately rebellious 
 Beys, they were pursued without remission by the Nizam, 
 and tracked like wild beasts to the hearts of the forests and 
 to the snowy summits of the Balkan, whence they were 
 conveyed in chains to Constantinople, and transported by 
 sea to Egypt and the regency of Tripoli. 
 
 It may easily be conceived that such severity drove to 
 despair the old feudal dynasties of Bosnia, who rather than 
 accept the reform chose to quit the castles of their fathers, 
 to seek a heroic death in Herzegovina. The Yizier of that 
 country, old Ali Rizvan Begovitch, who was himself a foe 
 to the new regime, opened all his fortresses to them, and 
 prepared to shut himself up for life in his castle of Stolats. 
 The year 18-51 was on the point of witnessing a still more 
 bloody and terrible tragedy than its predecessor ; but fortu- 
 nately the Christian Kayahs were all in favour of reform and 
 its champion Omer ; they themselves opened the gates of the 
 citadels to the Nizam ; and thereby rendered the continua- 
 tion of the war impossible. 
 
 During this time Bussia was playing her diplomatic game 
 on the Bosphorus. The question of the Hungaro-Polish 
 refugees served as pretext for threats urged with increasing 
 force by M. de Titof, and for the enormous preparations for 
 war which were made in aU the ports of the Black Sea. In 
 reality, the demand for the extradition of the refugees from 
 Hungaiy was meant to throw dust in the eyes of Europe. 
 Substantially, the action of Russia was entirely subordinated 
 to the issue of the two insurrections in Bosnia and Bulgaria, 
 which had been stirred up by that same power, though on 
 
S90 EFFECTS OF THE SERVIAN IXSURRECTIONS. 
 
 diametrically opposite principles : both were expected to be 
 ended by Muscovite arbitration, and to furnish a parallel for 
 the fable of the Oyster and the Litigants. The good sense of 
 the Slave Christians baffled these machinations by declaring 
 for the Sultan and his reforms. Thus the present cabinet of 
 Stamboul has all the old Mussulmans against it, and for it 
 are the Christians who are becoming more and more the 
 principal support of the empire. 
 
 Regarded in their consequences, the events we have nar- 
 rated have brought about considerable changes in the situa- 
 tion of the Slaves of Turkey. Bulgaria has not had reason 
 to complain of its victors. Its communes, its schools and its 
 churches have received larsje ameliorations. The Bulsjarians 
 are now admitted to bear testimony, and their oath before 
 the tribunals is of the same weight as that of the Turks. The 
 Porte has released them from all their labour-dues and others 
 to the Spahis, v/ho will henceforth have to pay the peasant 
 for all the services he shall consent to render them. With 
 regard to change of religion, the Porte enacts that every Bul- 
 garian who desires to become a Mussulman must be put for 
 three days into the hands of his bishop, who shall do his best 
 to instruct him. At the end of the three days, if the candi- 
 date for circumcision persists, he may then repair to the 
 mosque. Lastly, the Bulgarians will henceforth have even in 
 Stamboul their national church, and their official defender in 
 a diplomatist of their own race, Prince Bogoridis. 
 
 Servia owes to the insurrections of 1849-51 an incontest- 
 able increase of political solidity. Its military condition 
 is become respectable ; it has now cannon foundries, and 
 schools of artillery and engineering. The ten thousand 
 muskets of large bore sent by the Tsar to the principality, 
 and received with general gladness at Belgrade towards the 
 end of 1849, have only served to arm better the representa- 
 tives of Danubian Slavedom. Another recompense of the 
 friendship of the Seiwians for the Sultan has been the open- 
 ing of a commercial route between this principality and 
 the Adriatic, which will liberate the Slaves of Turkey from 
 the commercial monoply of Austria, by affording them 
 another maritime opening b'^sides Fiume and Triest. Another 
 enterprise, less easy, but to which England shows equal 
 favour, is the construction of a railroad between Bushtschuk 
 
CONSCRIPTION AND ITS DANGERS. 391 
 
 and Yarna to connect Upper Bulgaria, Valacliia and Servia 
 witli each other and with the Black Sea ; so that all the pro- 
 duce of the principalities may be delivered at very reduced 
 prices at the European mart of the Bosphorus. 
 
 The last and greatest in the list of ameliorations brought 
 about by the last events, is, the introduction of the Christian 
 youth into the ranks of the Nizam. When Turkey saw her 
 independence and her integrity threatened in 1850 by the 
 Austro-Bussian coalition, she felt it necessary to quadruple 
 her military effective in presence of that pressing danger, and 
 wisely had recourse to the Christians of her empire. Now 
 the accomplishment of such an act marks an immense revo- 
 lution in the ideas of the East. How great is the difference 
 between this powerful means of resistance and those which 
 Mahmoud was constrained to adopt against the Greek in- 
 surrection, and against the Bussian invasion of 1828 and 
 1829. 
 
 Unfortunately these levies of Christians have, hitherto, 
 always taken place with violence, after the manner of the 
 Hussian recridtings in Boland, and the incorporation of the 
 Tanquished Italians and Magyars in the Austrian armies. It 
 is not thus that the morale of anarmy can be raised and secured 
 against reverses. Moreover, we should deceive ourselves if we 
 expected from this measure, in Turkey, the results of passive 
 obedience wliich it offers — till the next change comes — in 
 B-ussia and in Austria, thanks to an iron discipline. The 
 East has not yet arrived at that point ; the Orientals will 
 not submit to such constraint as our civilized men of Europe. 
 Among them, if the conscription is not to people the forests 
 and mountains with refractory fugitives, and to produce 
 violent insurrections as it has done in Bosnia, it must be 
 effected in the name of a domestic interest and of the glory 
 of the race. In the first century of the empire of Othman, 
 when it dismayed Europe by the splendour of its victories, 
 the army and the administration were filled with Christians, 
 but nationally organized. The mixture of men of all races 
 in the Turkish regiments of these days will have the incon- 
 venience of inducing continual brawls between comrades : 
 each people ought to have in the camp, as in the country, its 
 colours, its flag, and non-commissioned ofiicers to command 
 it in its own language. Thus organized by nationalities, the 
 
392 DESIRABLENESS OF A NATIONAL LANDWEHR. 
 
 different bodies of troops would become animated by so much 
 the more lively a sense of military honour. 
 
 The secret, then, for creating an imposing army in Turkey 
 would be to make each people interested in it on its own ac- 
 count ; and, above all, to organize among the warlike tribes of 
 the mountains, a landwehr, like the Prussian, Nowhere has the 
 old principle, that every citizen is his country's soldier, sur- 
 vived in more force than in the East. If the young men of 
 each piovince and commune were organized as national 
 guards, mohilisalle at need, they would, in case of invasion, 
 furnish the governors of the Ottoman citadels with expedi- 
 tionary corps, admirably adapted for harassing the enemy, 
 cutting off his supplies, and destroying him in detail. Left 
 in their own provinces, in all time of peace, these civic forces 
 should be called out, as in Prussia and Switzerland, at the 
 first sound of war, and placed at the disposal of the central 
 military authority. Such a recruiting system would, in any 
 case, be better than that of the press-gangs that now go 
 about the towns and villages, carrying off all the able-bodied 
 young men they meet. 
 
 Let us even admit, for argument's sake, that the present 
 method of proceeding may create a solid military power, what 
 then ? As the Slaves constitute the majority of the inhabit- 
 ants of European Turkey, they will, also, form the majority 
 in the army. Once trained and disciplined, they will desire 
 to enforce their rights. The question of nationality will 
 then be practically revived in its fullest extent ; and the 
 empire will be destroyed, or reorganized, on the basis of 
 federalism. Federalism has undoubtedly every chance of 
 success in its favour. Since 1848 the parts played by 
 Turkey and Pussia respectively, have been completely re- 
 versed. The Turk has ceased to be the oppressor, the Pussian 
 to be the protector of the Christians in the East. The 
 Sultan is become the sole support of the Serbs as of the 
 Poumani against the Muscovite aggressions. No Moldo- 
 Valachian would now be mad enougTi to go to St. Peters- 
 burg and complain of the Porte, All the true patriots of 
 the three principalities agree in their endeavours to make 
 their respective countries resume their ancient attachment 
 to the Cabinet of the Posphorus by the bonds of a common 
 destiny. The Pulgarians feel, too, that their nationality has 
 
CHRISTIAN AND MUSSULMAN INFLUENCE. 393 
 
 no more dangerous enemies tlian those veiy instigators of 
 revolt, who come to them from St. Petersburg with their 
 pockets full of lying proclamations. 
 
 The aspirations of all these peoples towards a political 
 existence will not die out. In attempting to trample them 
 down, Turkey would prepare her own inevitable ruin ; in 
 satisfying them she would for ages secure to herself enthu- 
 siastic auxiliaries. The Russian pro^Daganda would then be 
 demolished for ever ; then Serbs and Bulgarians would joy- 
 fully cross the mediating river, so to speak, which parts 
 without dissociating them from the Moldo-Valachians, in 
 order to march with them to the defence of the common 
 frontiers of the great Oriental federation. The principle of 
 jDolitical equality between nations, as between individuals^, 
 will develop a new life in all the races of Turkey. Even 
 should the emancipated Christians obtain the larger share 
 of influence in the empire, in proportion with their acti- 
 vity and their numbers, Turkey would not the less be 
 secured for ever from attacks from without ; she would defy 
 the Muscovite, and have no longer any fear of being effaced 
 from the map. By uniting with the Christian genius, the 
 Mussulman genius may drive back Muscovite centralization 
 to its Steppes; but only on condition that she ojDposes to it, 
 from the Danube to Egypt, a federation of peoples, founded 
 on principles directly contrary to those of Tsarism. Then 
 would that classic region, the most beautiful in the w^orld, 
 and so long the most sterile, then would that privileged 
 land, the cradle of philosophy, of Islamism and of the Gospel, 
 at last behold those ancient rivals embrace each other under 
 the shadow of a civilization truly hallowed, because it would 
 be truly universal. 
 
394 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE MONTENEGRINS. 
 
 MoxTENEGF.o, or Tsernogora,* lias for nearly a century 
 formed an independent state, which, though apparently very 
 feeble, is, in reality, almost invincible, since it commands the 
 sympathy of several millions of Serb Rayahs, to whom its 
 territory is alwaj^s open as an asylum. The long range of 
 the Black Moimtain, commanding Dalmatia, Herzegovina, 
 and all the north of Albania, stretches out in front of Italy 
 as the outer ramparts of the Serbian people. By it they com- 
 municate with Europe ; round its glorious summits, rally 
 all the Greco-Slave rebels. The heroic struggles of which 
 it is constantly the scene, inspire a whole people, who, though 
 conquered and dismembered, remain still untamed, and who 
 now believe the hour of their deliverance to be at hand. 
 
 Comprehending the importance of securing the good will 
 of the warlike Montenegrins, Napoleon caused them to be 
 visited by Colonel Vialla de Sommiere, who, having been 
 governor of the province of Cattaro from 1807 to 1813, was 
 supposed to be thoroughly familiar with those regions. The 
 narrative of his journey, which he afterwards published, is 
 the most complete work on the Montenegrins as yet extant 
 in France. So imperfectly, however, had this French 
 governor made himself acquainted with the Slaves, that he 
 constantly mistook those of Montenegro for Hellenes, and 
 their language for a dialect of Greek. His work, though not 
 quite destitute of interest, abounds with errors. The bold- 
 ness with wliich he aCects to give precise statistical details 
 can only mislead the reader. Thus he assigns to Monte- 
 
 * Montenegro is the Venetian translation of the native name, Tserno- 
 gora, which means Black Mountain. Wilkinson supposes the epithet to 
 have been derived from the dark appearance of the trees and bushes with 
 which the mountain was more thickly clothed in former times than at 
 present : but a better explanation will be found in Chapter III. The 
 position of Montenegro, according to Wilkinson, is between 42° 10' and 
 42° 56' N. latitude, and 18° 41' and 20° 22' E. longitude, inclnding the 
 Kusha or Kutska, which is the most easterly district, but which has 
 recently separated itself from Montenegro. 
 
MONTENEGRIN STATISTICS. 395 
 
 negro, which ho can only have visited very partially, an ex- 
 tent of 418 square miles, and a population of 53,168 souls, 
 whilst the inhabitants themselves have never known the 
 real extent of their country. When questioned on the sub- 
 ject they state that it takes three days to traverse Monte- 
 negro, nearly in all directions. It is still more difficult to 
 determine the exact amount of the population; for those 
 warlike mountaineers give themselves little concern about 
 the numbers of their women and non-combatants, and reckon 
 their men only by the number of guns they can bring into 
 action against the enemy. 
 
 In the seventeenth century, according to the Venetian re- 
 ports, this small people consisted of from 50,000 to 30,000 souls 
 at most. It numbered about 50,000 when it began its con- 
 flict with the French, then masters of Dalmatia. Twenty 
 years later, it was said to have risen to 75,000 ; lastly, the 
 Grlitsa, the official almanack of Tsetinie, declared, in 1835, 
 that the country contained 100,000 inhabitants. Considering 
 the accessions of territory made by Montenegro, we may, 
 without exaggeration, set down 120,000 souls as the present 
 minimum of this free population. We know more certainly 
 the number of its warriors ; the contingent of the four 
 Qialiias (departments) is fixed at 9,000 firelocks, that is to 
 say, 3,500 for Katounska, 2,000 for Eietchka, 1,000 for Lie- 
 shanska, and 2.500 for Tsernitsa Nahia. To these con- 
 tingents we must add that of the Bercla, a name given to 
 the seven mountains adjacent to the Montenegrin territory. 
 These mountains do not form a part of Tsernogora, but the 
 tribes that inhabit them are confederated with the republic. 
 The aggregate population of the seven herda is, perhaps, 
 equal to that of the four naJiias together. Hence, though the 
 Grlitsa of 1835 reckoned only 15,000 fighting men, the Dal- 
 matian Gazette, of Zara, in mentioning the forces of Tserno- 
 gora, in December, 1838, did not hesitate to set them down 
 at 19,500. Too few, it will be said, to defend a country! 
 But let a single bullet strike the rocks of the frontiers, and 
 forth will come arms and fusils from all quarters : old men, 
 children, women even, will rise against you ; you will have 
 as many fierce foes as there are souls in the mountain. Tser- 
 nogora is not a reguktrly constituted people ; it is a camp of 
 insurgents, who seek their subsistence in war, and their 
 
396 RELIGIOUS PRACTICES. 
 
 enjoyments in vengeance. That country has remained to this 
 day so isolated from all the conditions of civil society in the 
 East, that right of citizenship is there granted inditFerently 
 to men of all religions, to the great scandal of the other Serbs. 
 Itoman Catholics are very numerous there, and Turks have 
 oven been admitted, and have formed a distinct tribe, who 
 fight as brethren by the side of the Christians, whilst con- 
 tinuing to believe in the Koran, and to have their mosque. 
 
 The western neighbom\s of the Montenegrins, nevertheless, 
 attribute to them the grossest superstitions. The Monte- 
 3iegrin, they say, thinks himself free to do what he pleases, 
 provided he pays tithes to the monks, and shares the plunder 
 of his tclietas (forays) with the monasteries. Among the Chris- 
 tians of the East, on the contrary, he passes for a freethinker. 
 Absorbed in political life, wholly devoted to their projects of 
 war and territorial conquest, the republicans of Tsernogora 
 concern themselves little about heaven. Their convents are 
 much poorer than those of the rest of Turkey ; and whereas 
 among the other Serbs a man, who should not take the 
 communion at least once a year, would be pointed at as 
 a giaour, among the Tsernogorki the number of those who 
 never communicate, greatly exceeds that of the zealous 
 Christians. The mountaineers are, nevertheless, far from 
 despising the sacred mysteries ; if they abstain from certain 
 religious practices it is only in obedience to the Church, 
 which forbids every mountaineer who is possessed by a feel- 
 ing of hatred to approach the sacraments, and imposes the 
 duty of public expiation as soon as vengeance has been 
 wreaked. Thus a murderer is excluded from the commu- 
 nion for the space of twenty years. The Montenegrin comes 
 at last to find that prescribed state of penitence convenient 
 enough for a man of his adventurous way of life, and prefers 
 it to the less free and easy life of the true followers of the 
 Church. Most of these warriors have forgotten even the 
 Lord's Prayer, and all belonging to Christianity, except the 
 fasts and the sign of the cross ; but in proportion as their 
 religious ignorance increases, their knowledge of military and 
 political life expands. 
 
 Every tribe, however, has one church, sometimes more 
 than one ; besides which there are four or five monasteries, 
 the chief of which arc those of Ostrog and Moratcha. In 
 
PATRIARCHAL MODE OF LIFE. 397 
 
 all Tsemogora there are not above fifteen or twenty monks, 
 aided by about two hundred popes ; the monastery of Tse- 
 tinie is even occupied by a single priest. These ecclesiastics 
 lead a very austere life, and are distinguished from the 
 Greek caloyers only by their head dress, which is the red fez, 
 surrounded by a silk handkerchief, in the form of a turban. 
 Tlie Vladika himself, the religious and political chief of 
 the land, dresses like other monks ; hence he is called in 
 Turkey " the black caloyer." 
 
 Perhaps on no point of the globe does there exist such 
 complete equality as in Tsernogora ; but the principle of 
 equality, as understood and practised by the Slaves, does not 
 menace the rights and the existence of the family, as do the 
 theories founded in France upon the same principle. Every 
 Serb, whilst enjoying his own independence, continues to 
 be devoted to the interest of all ; scarcely ever does he 
 separate from his relations. Families are consequently so 
 numerous that one alone is often sufficient to form a village 
 of several hundred houses, the inhabitants of which, all re- 
 lated and bearing the same name, are distingiiished from 
 each other only by their Christian names. At the head of 
 every family is an elected chief, who directs it. This patri- 
 archal life produces the closest community of interest and 
 feeling among relations, and one of them cannot be wronged 
 without the rest immediately take part with him. Hence 
 hereditary vengeances and wars between families, exagge- 
 rated consequences of an eminently conservative principle. 
 The mischief caused by these wars has happily not been 
 without compensation ; they have strengthened in the Mon- 
 tenegrin the sense of his personal dignity ; they have taught 
 him to regard every quarrel with his countrymen as a great 
 calamity ; in the heat of his passion he is heard exclaiming : 
 JSfe ou krv, hog ti i sveti lovan ! " In the name of God and 
 St. John let us not come to blows !" A law passed by the 
 Vladika Peter I. indicates the savage pride of these men. A 
 Tsernogorki, it enacts, who kicks one of his countrymen, 
 or strikes him with his tchibouk, may be killed by the 
 insuilted person as lawfully as a robber taken in the fact. 
 If the insulted person restrains his A^i^ath, the offender must 
 pay him a fine of fifty ducats, and the like sum to the 
 stareshns of the tribunal. 
 
398 UNIVERSAL WARLIKE TENDENCIES. 
 
 It is, perhaps, superfluous to say that there are no beggars 
 in Tsernogora. In times of dearth, which are but too fre- 
 quent, the indigent go boldly to the rich and ask for a loan, 
 whether of food or of money, promising to repay it at a stated 
 time ; or they pawn their handsome weapons. The shops of 
 Budva and Cattaro are full of arms that have been thus 
 deposited and not reclaimed. 
 
 War against the Mussulmans is the almost daily task of 
 these mountaineers ; old men and children rush to it with 
 enthusiasm, as to martyrdom. Cripples, even, have them- 
 selves carried to the redoubt ; lying down behind a rock 
 they load and fire upon the enemy. So murderous is this 
 warfare, that it always ends by sweeping oiF the majority of 
 those who take part in it. Death elsewhere than on the 
 field of battle is regarded by these warriors as the worst of 
 calamities; the relations of one v/ho has died a natural death 
 say that he has been killed by " God, the old slayer" — od 
 hoga, starog hrvnika. The worst insult that can be ad- 
 dressed to a Montenegrin is conveyed in these simple words : 
 " I know your people ; all your ancestors died in their 
 beds." 
 
 The monks themselves go armed, fight, and withstand the 
 assaults of the Mussulmans in their monasteries. The popes, 
 still more secularized than the monks, have rejected the long 
 beards and the black cap, which they must wear in other 
 Serb countries ; they shave their chins and half their heads, 
 like the fighting men, and are not distinguished from 
 their flock by any peculiar costume. Present at all fights, 
 they even take part in the feuds between families ; but, as 
 the Church forbids her ministers to shed blood, they prefer, 
 like our feudal bishops of yore, to excite the combatants or to 
 knock down the enemy with blunt instead of cutting weapons. 
 In war every one buys and carries his own victuals and 
 ammunition. The powder magazines, kept in reserve by 
 the Vladika, are opened to the people only in case of urgent 
 need. The Tsernogorki are accused of being prompted to 
 arms only by the love of pillage. The poorer of them, no 
 doubt, often make forays on Turkish ground, to procure 
 cattle and money ; but the wealthy engage in their expedi- 
 tions from no other motive than that of acquiring glory in 
 serving their countiy. 
 
ENERGETIC CHAKACTES OF THE WOMEN. 39D 
 
 Tlie manners of tlie women are strongly marked by the 
 impress of the social state in which they live. Assiduous 
 companions of warriors, they recognize their own likeness 
 in the portraiture of the following ballad : 
 
 The Tserxogoeka. 
 " A HAiDOUK laments, and cries on the mountain, * Poor Stanisha^ 
 woe to me that I have let you fall without ransom !'* Stanisha's wife 
 hears these cries from the valley of Tsousa, and understands that her hus- 
 band has fallen. Instantly she springs forward, gun in hand, the high-hearted 
 Christian woman ! and climbs the green paths down which were marching 
 the murderers of her husband, led by Tchenghitcli Aga. The moment 
 she espied Tchenghitcli Aga, she fired at him, and laid him dead. The 
 other Turks, dismayed at the boldness of that heroic woman, ran away, 
 ?.nd left her to cut off their leader's head, which she carried to her village. 
 Soon afterwards, Fati, the widow of Tchenghitch, wrote a letter to the 
 widow of Stanisha : ' Christian wife, you have plucked out my two eyes, 
 in killing my Tchenghitch Aga; if, then, you are a true Tsernogorka, 
 you will come alone to-morrow to the frontier, whither I will likewise 
 come alone, that we may measure our strength, and see which of us two 
 was the better wife.' The Christian lakes off her woman's clothes, puts 
 on the dress and the arms taken from Tchenghitch, grasps his yatagan, 
 his two pistols, and his splendid djevardane [fusil], mounts the Aga's 
 fine courser, and sets off across the paths of the Tsousa, crying out before 
 each rock, *If there is a Tsernogorki brother hidden here, let him not 
 kill me, mistaking me for a Turk, for I am a child of the Tsernogora.* 
 But on arriving at the frontier, she sees that the disloyal botda [Mussul- 
 man woman] had brought her djever [kinsman] with her, who, mounted 
 on a great black horse, charged furiously at the young Christian woman. 
 She awaited him without fear, pierced his heart with a well-aimed ball, 
 and then cut off his head : then, overtaking the boula in her flight, she 
 brought her bound to Tsousa, where she made her her servant, compelling 
 her to sing Stanisha's orphans to sleep in their cradle. And after having 
 thus had her in her service for fifteen years, she set the boula free, and 
 sent her back to her own people." 
 
 The astonishing energy of the women of Tsernogora is for 
 their warlike husbands an additional reason for heaping toil 
 upon them. They are seen stepping out nimbly, under enor- 
 mous burthens, along the verge of precipices j often as if 
 
 * That is to say, without revenge. 
 
400 HOSPITALITY. 
 
 tliey did not feel the weight they cany, they hold their 
 spindles in their luiiuls, and chat together as they spin. If 
 they meet a glavar (head of a family), or some distinguished 
 person of their own sex, they never fail to kiss that person's 
 hand, bowing very low at the same time. In spite of this 
 state oi humiliation, woman is not morally the sport of man 
 in Tsernogora, as she too often is in civilized countries. 
 There she is really inviolable ; hence she trusts herself fear- 
 lessly even to a stranger, fully assured that she is safe from 
 any dishonourable treatment at his hands ; in fact, if he dared 
 to attempt her chastity, the death of the one or the other 
 would certainly ensue. A Tsernogorka has no idea of love 
 without marriage, or the murder of the seducer. The 
 popular ballads testify that formerly the warriors of that 
 country deemed it an honourable act to baptise and marry 
 Turkish women ; it is not so now ; a Tsernogorki regards 
 a Mussulman woman, even though converted, as too degraded 
 to become his consort. Nevertheless, in the midst of the 
 greatest mutual exasperation, the women of the two peoples 
 are treated as neutrals, and ipay pass without danger from 
 the one country to the other. 
 
 Next to woman the being most sacred in the eyes of the 
 Montenegrins is the traveller. Throughout the whole 
 country hospitality is exercised with exquisite cordiality. 
 If you ask for a glass of water as you ride by a peasant's 
 dwelling, he will supply your want with alacrity, and will 
 bring you wine if he has any. It is true that at the cabin 
 doors the big and terrible mastiffs that frightened Colonel 
 Vialla thirty years ago, have lost nothing of their savage 
 vigilance ; but enter, and the inmates will contend for the 
 honour of serving you ; the cushions, if your host possesses 
 any, will be stretched for you on the wooden bench which 
 surrounds the hearth ; the master of the cabin, seated before 
 you on a stone, Avill himself present to you the coffee, the hard 
 eggs, the castradina (smoked meat prepared in the Servian 
 manner), and the native wine, the whole on a wooden tray, 
 which serves for a table. If, after the first zdravitsa 
 (toasts) he holds out his hand to you, it is a sign that 
 he vows to defend you thenceforth to the death, though it 
 were against an army. At your departure the cnly recom- 
 pense he desires is a discharge of your fire-arm', as a fare- 
 
MONTENEGRIN WARFARE. 401 
 
 well salute, and a public indication that you are satisfied 
 with him. 
 
 The Tsernogorki, like all Orientals, have retained the 
 ancient and barbarous usage of planting the heads of their 
 enemies on pikes. As the Pachas reward every soldier who 
 brings them a head, so likewise the Serbian vo'ievodes (ge- 
 nerals) bestow decorations in that case on their yunalcs 
 (braves). The old popular songs often mention the tche- 
 lenkas or silvered pkimes on a warrior's cap, the number of 
 which indicates that of the enemies he had decapitated. 
 
 [Thus far we have followed Cyprien Robert. The follow- 
 ing account of Montenegrin warfare is given by M. Bro- 
 nievski, an officer in the Russian fleet, under Admiral 
 Siniavin, who took part, both by sea and land, in the cam- 
 paign against the French in 1806-7.] 
 
 Inhabiting mountains which present, at every step, passes, 
 where a handful of brave men may arrest the progress of an 
 army, they are not afraid of a surprise, particularly as they 
 have on their frontier a constant guard;* and the whole 
 of their force may be collected within twenty-four hours, on 
 the threatened point. When the enemy is in great force the 
 Montenegrins burn their villages, devastate their fields, and 
 after having enticed him into the mountains, they surround 
 Lim and attack him in the most desperate manner. When 
 the country is in danger, the Montenegrins forget all per- 
 sonal feelings of private advantage and enmity ; they obey 
 the orders of their chief, and like gallant republicans, they 
 consider it a happiness and a grace of God, to die in battle. 
 It is in such a case that they appear as real warriors ; but, 
 beyond the limits of their country, they are savage barba- 
 rians, w^ho destroy everything with fire and sword. 
 
 Their ideas about war are entirely different from those 
 adopted by civilized nations. They cut off the lieads of 
 
 * " So scrupulously do they resent any approach towards their frontier, 
 that no Turk can come within musket shot without being fired at; though 
 his innocent Intentions might not aspire to anything beyond a visit to his 
 own fields. The consequence is, that those near the frontier are tilled by 
 Christians, who are not amenable to powder and ball; and the appearance 
 of a Tnrk is considered by the Montenegrins a sure indication of intended 
 hostility." — Wilkinson's Dalmatia and Montenegro, 
 
 2d 
 
402 MONTENEGRINS ON THE MARCH. 
 
 those enemies wliom they take with arms in their hands, 
 and spare only those who surrender before the battle. The 
 property they take from the enemy is considered by them as 
 their own, and as a reward of courage. They literally defend 
 themselves to the last extremity ; a Montenegrin never 
 craves for mercy, and whenever one of them is severely 
 wounded, and it is imj)ossible to save him from the enemy, 
 his own comrades cut off his head. When at the attack of 
 Clobuk a little detachment of our troops was obliged to re- 
 treat, an oflB.cer of stout make, and no longer young, fell on 
 the ground from exhaustion. A Montenegrin perceiving it, 
 ran immediately to him, and having dra%vn his yatagan, said : 
 ^ You are very hrave, and must ivish that I sliould cut off your 
 liead : say a prayer and make tlie sign of tlie cross.' The 
 officer, horrified at the proposition, made an efibrt to rise, 
 and rejoined his comrades, with the help of the friendly 
 Montenegrin. They consider all those taken by the enemy 
 ".s killed. They carry out of the battle their wounded 
 comrades on their shoulders; and, be it said to their 
 honour, they acted in the same manner by our officers and 
 soldiers. 
 
 Like the Circassians, they are constantly making forays 
 in small parties for the plunder of cattle, and consider such 
 expeditions as feats of chivalry. . . . Arms, a small loaf 
 of bread, a cheese, some garlic, a little brandy, an old gar- 
 ment, and two pairs of sandals made of raw hide, form all the 
 equipment, of the Montenegrins. On their march they do 
 not seek any shelter from rain or cold. In rainy weather, 
 the Montenegrin wraps his head with the strooka, lies down 
 on the ground and sleeps very comfortably. Three or four 
 hours of rej)ose are quite sufficient for his rest, and the 
 remainder of his time is occupied in constant exertion. 
 
 It is impossible to retain them in reserve ; and it seems 
 they cannot calmly bear the view of the enemy. When they 
 have expended all their cartouches, they humbly request 
 every officer they meet with to give t*hem some ; and as soon 
 as they receive them they run headlong into the further line. 
 . . . When there is no enemy in sight they sing and 
 dance, and go on pillaging, in which we must give them the 
 credit of being perfect masters ; although they are not 
 acquainted with the high-sounding names of contribution^ 
 
TACTICS OP THE MONTENEGRINS. 403 
 
 requisition, forced loans, &c. They call pillage simply pillage, 
 and have no liesitation in confessing it. 
 
 Their usual mode of fighting is as follows : If they are in 
 great force, they conceal themselves in ra.vines, and send out 
 only a small number of shooters, who, by retreating, lead the 
 enemy into the ambush ; here, after having surrounded him, 
 they attack him, usually preferring on such occasions swords 
 to lire arms ; because they rely on their personal strength 
 and bravery, in which they generally have the advantage over 
 their enemies. When their numbers are inferior, they choose 
 some advantageous position on high rocks ; where pronounc- 
 ing every kind of abuse against their enemies, they challenge 
 them to combat.* Their attacks are mostly made dui'ingthe 
 night, because their principal system is surprise. 
 
 However small their force may be, they always try to wear 
 out the enemy by constantly harassing him. The best 
 French voltigeurs on the advanced posts were always 
 destroyed by them ; and the enemy's generals found it more 
 advantageous to remain under the cover of their cannon, of 
 wliich the Montenegrins were not at all fond. However, 
 they soon became accustomed to them, and supported by our 
 rifies, they bravely mounted the batteries. 
 
 The tactics of the Montenesfrins are confined to beinsj 
 skilful marksmen. A stone, a hole, a tree offer them a cover 
 from the enemy. Firing usually from a prostrate position on 
 the ground, they are not easily hit, whilst their rapid and 
 sure shots carry destruction into the closed ranks of a regu- 
 lar army. They have besides a very practised eye forjudg- 
 ing of distance ; they thoroughly understand how to take 
 advantage of the ground, and as they usually fight retreating, 
 the French, who took it for a sign of fear, consttintly fell into 
 their ambushes; as for themselves, they are so wary, that the 
 most skilful manoeuvres cannot deceive them. 
 
 Their extraordinary boldness frequently triumphed over the 
 skill of the experienced bands of the French. Attacking the 
 columns of the enemy in front and flank, and acting se- 
 parately, without any other system than the inspirations of 
 
 * '• Many a reproachful speech, made at the siege of Troy, might be 
 adopted by a modern poet in describing the contests of the Montenegrins 
 and the Turks." — Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, 
 
 2d2 
 
404 MOUNTAIN WARFARE. 
 
 personal courage, they were not afraid of the terrible batta- 
 lion fire of the French infantry. 
 
 The Montenegrins cannot withstand regular troops beyond 
 their mountains, because destroying everything with fire and 
 sword, they cannot long keep the field ; and the advantage 
 of their courage in assisting our troops, and the fruits of 
 the victory, were lost by their want of order. During the 
 siege of llagusa it was never possible to know how many of 
 them were actually under arms, because they were constantly 
 going to their homes with spoil, whilst others joined the 
 army in their place, and after a few days of indefatigable 
 exertion, returned to the mountains to carry away some insig- 
 nificant trifle. 
 
 It is impossible to undertake any distant expedition, and 
 consequently, to accomplish any thing of importance with 
 them. In one respect they have a great advantage over regu- 
 lar troops by their great skill in mountain warfare, although 
 they are completely ignorant of the military art. In the first 
 place, they are very lightly dressed, are exceedingly good 
 marksmen, and reload with much more rapidity than regular 
 soldiers. . . . The Montenegrins dispersed and deliberately 
 firing from a lying position on the closed ranks of the enemy, 
 are not afraid to attack columns composed of 1000 men with 
 numbers not exceeding 100 or 150. In a pitched battle their 
 movements can be ascertained only by the direction of their 
 standards. They have certain signal cries which are uttered 
 when they are to join in a compact body, for attacking the 
 weaker points of the enemy. As soon as such a signal is 
 given, they rush furiously onwards, break into the squares, 
 and, at all events, create a great deal of disorder in the 
 enemy's ranks. It was a terrible spectacle to see the Monte- 
 negrins rushing forwards, with heads of slaughtered enemies 
 suspended from their necks and shoulders, and uttering- 
 savage yells. They can be employed by a regular army 
 with great advantage, for fighting on the advanced posts, for 
 seizmg the enemy's convoys, destroying his magazines, &c. 
 
 The Russian commander-in-chief had much difiiculty in 
 persuading them not to cut ofi* the heads of their prisoners. 
 He finally succeeded, not only in this (chiefly by paying 
 them a ducat for every prisoner), but what was more difficult, 
 in persuading them, with the assistance of the Yiadika, to 
 
TSEKNOGORA. 405 
 
 embark for an expedition on board ship ; a thing which 
 they had never done before. . . . Notwithstanding they 
 were treated with the greatest kindness, they proved very 
 troublesome guests. . . . When at last the ship approached 
 the entrance of Bocca di Cattaro, and they caught sight of 
 their own black mountains, they uttered joyous acclamations 
 and began to sing and dance. On taking leave, they affec- 
 tionately embraced the Captain and the officers, and invited 
 those to whom they had taken a liking to pay them a visit. 
 But when the sailors told them they could not leave the ship 
 without the permission of their superiors, they were much 
 astonished, and said, '^ If you like to do a thing, what right 
 has another to forbid you ? " 
 
 [We resume our extracts from Cyprien Robert.] 
 It is not impossible that Tsernogora may one day become 
 one of the principal political centres of the great peninsula, 
 if it succeeds in obtaining a seaport, and in reuniting the 
 Albanians to the Serb race. It is, therefore, desirable to know 
 the country inhabited by a peoj)le animated by an ambition so 
 active. Two very different routes lead the traveller into the 
 Black Mountain. If you come from Cattaro and the west, 
 you will see only a desert traversed by precipices down which 
 roll the stones you displace at every step, with here and 
 there a meagre goat browsing on the scanty herbage sus- 
 pended from the grey rocks. If, on the contrary, you come 
 from Novi Bazar and the east, you enter Tsernogora through 
 the most charming landscapes, by vallejs fertilized by a 
 Si thousand streams, and flanked by superb forests. But by 
 whatever point you enter the mountain, you may travel there 
 day and night with less danger than in certain civilized 
 countries of EurojDe, provided always you are accompanied 
 by a native. Though he be g-uarded only by a woman, the 
 stranger may travel without fear ; he will even be the better 
 defended against the attacks of the Haiduks, in consequence 
 of the respect in which the weaker sex is held by those 
 eastern representatives of chivalry.''^ Hence it often happens 
 
 * The analogy is not exact; for chivalry regarded woman as a superior 
 being — in theory at least — which is quite the reverse of both theory and 
 practice in Montenegro. The almost servile condition of women in Mon- 
 tenegro, and the neutrality accorded to them by belligerents, find their 
 precise parallel in Corsica, another land of interminable private war. It 
 
406 THE BLACK MOUNTAIN. 
 
 that foreigners are handed over by their guides to the care of 
 some female relation, who is to escort them to a point agreed 
 on. Stieghitz, a German, who published an account of his 
 visit to Montenegro,"^' was thus escorted, some years ago, by 
 a young female cousin of the Yladika. 
 
 The Black INIountain is, like every Oriental land, so identi- 
 fied with its inhabitants, that it has no other local names 
 than those of the plemas, or tribes that occupy its different 
 plateaux. Formerly comprised in the duchy and province 
 of Zeta or Zenta (an apellation now limited to the valley of 
 the Moratcha, from Jabliak to Podgoritsa) ; the country now 
 called Tsernagora, is situated between Albania, Bosnia, Her- 
 tzegovina, and Austrian Dalmatia. The Moratcha and the 
 Paskola, which fall into the lake of Skadar (Scutari), form its 
 eastern frontier. To the west its natural limit would be the 
 coast of the Adriatic, from Antivari to Ragusa ; but the Con- 
 gress of Vienna determined otherwise, and the Tsernogorki, 
 who from many points of their frontier could almost throw 
 stones into the sea, have not a single maritime opening. 
 
 The natural ramparts of the country are, to the west the 
 range of the Sella Gora, five or six thousand feet high, to 
 the east and north the Ostrog, to the south the Sutorman. 
 These ranges send out spurs, which intersect the interior of 
 the country in all directions. The national ballads relate 
 that, when God was engaged in sowing the surface of the 
 earth with mountains, he let fall his bag of rocks on Tserno- 
 gora, and the granite blocks rolled from it in all directions, 
 and covered the country. There is but a single plain in 
 Montenegro, that of Tsetinie, which is but four leagues long 
 by half a league wide. It is girt by a belt of rocks, and was 
 not long ago the bed of a lake. The only great river of the 
 country is the Tsemoyevitch, which descending from the 
 Maratovitch mountains al)ove Dobro, flows by Tsetinie into 
 the lake of Skadar. At the point where the Tsemoyevitch 
 ceases to be navigable for boats ascending the stream, a 
 market is held every week in a narrow bazaar, which is much 
 frequented, even by the Serbs of Austria and Turkey. The 
 
 is probable that in both countties the inviolability of women, like that of 
 heralds elsewhere, obtained universal acceptance for sake of its obvious 
 convenience, and for that alone. 
 
 * Eim Besuch auf Montenegro, Stuttgard, 1S41. 
 
DEARTH OF WATER. 407 
 
 Tsemoyevitch, in its very unequal coui'se, sometimes spreads 
 over fine livadas (meadows), sometimes is lost beneath 
 reeds, or is compressed between overhanging rocks, that seem 
 as if they would bar its passage. On its banks was once the 
 strong fortress of Rieka, which withstood the whole force of 
 an Ottoman army ; but scarcely a vestige of it now remains. 
 The ruins of Obod, situated on a mountain near the mouth of 
 the river, have been better preserved. In the rock at the 
 foot of that dilapidated fortress, there is a vast mysterious 
 cavern, where tradition says that the heroic Ivo, the father 
 of the Tsernagorki, sleeps on the bosoms of the Vilas,* who 
 watch over him, and will wake him one day, when God shall 
 have resolved to restore Cattaro and the Blue Sea to his 
 dear Montenegrins. Then the immortal hero will once more 
 march at the head of his people, to drive out the Schwabi 
 (the dumb Germans) from the coasts usurped from the Slaves. 
 Besides the Tsernoyevitcha Rieka, there is in Tsernogora 
 another riyer, the Tsernitsa, which is ascended by boats as 
 far as the village of Yihra, where there is a very ancient 
 bazaar. It was here that the first insurrection of the Rayahs 
 of the mountain broke out against the Turks, who came to 
 collect the tithe of maize, and alleged that the bushel mea- 
 sures were too small. The incensed Rayahs broke the 
 bushels on the heads of the Turks, crying out : '•' This is the 
 way the Tsernogorki will henceforth measure their tithes." 
 The temperature of these villages is so mild that the ancient 
 Slaves called the whole region Jupa, the land without snow, 
 or the land of the sun, and its inhabitants were styled Ju- 
 pans, lords of the south. But a warm climate is often fatal; 
 several districts lack springs, and the women of certain vil- 
 lages are forced to walk a whole day in summer to procure 
 water for their households. In Montenegro, as in Arabia, 
 tribes are known to fight for the possesion of a spring. In. 
 many parts the herdsmen are obliged to lead their flocks to 
 the lofty summits, where the snow remains in the hollows of 
 the rocks. They melt a portion of it every day to water 
 their cattle. Whilst the herdsman is thus kindling fire on 
 the glaciers, the olive, the fig, and the pomegranate, are 
 gTowing some leagues below him in the valleys that know no 
 winter. 
 
 * Christian nymphs, protectresses of the Servian people. 
 
408 TSERNOGORA PROPER. 
 
 Montenegro contains neither towns nor fortresses, hardly 
 even villages ; for what are there so called are but the sites, 
 often very broken, occupied by a brotherhood (hratstvo) 
 that is to say, the aggregate of several households, forming a 
 community, all the members of which look upon each other 
 as kinsmen. The Montenegrins generally build with stone, 
 contrary to the practice of the Danubian serbs, whose huts are 
 of logs or planks. Far from scattering their dwellings over 
 a wide space like the other Serbians, the Montenegrins group 
 them as much as possible on steep rocks and leave only space 
 ■enough for a narrow path between the houses, which are 
 almost all furnished with loopholes for defence. In the konlas, 
 towers one story high, the basement serves to shelter cattle. 
 The Black Mountain abounds in goats and sheep ; but oxen 
 are scarce and horses still more so. Certain vallej^s yield a 
 wine which would be excellent but for the acrid flavour it 
 acquires in the skins in which it is kept. Trunks of trees 
 hollowed out by the natives serve as hives for countless 
 swarms of bees that produce excellent honey. The chief food 
 of the mountainers consists of vegetables, milk^ maize, and 
 barley-meal, and potatoes, the cultivation of which, now 
 general, was one of the innovations of the Vladika, Peter I. 
 The country possesses no means of communication that 
 deserves the name of a road. Napoleon, when master of 
 Dalmatia, proposed to the Tsernogorki, through Marshal 
 Marmont, to construct a great road for them at his own 
 cost, from Cattaro to Nikshitsha ; but they constantly refused 
 the imperial offers, and not without good reasons. 
 
 Tsernogora proper is divided into four ncihias or depart- 
 ments, named Tsernitsa or Tsermnitsa, Lieshanska, Rietchka, 
 and Katounska Nahia. The latter department, which extends 
 from Mount Lovtchen, near Cattaro, to Nikshitja, constitutes 
 by itself nearly the half of Tsernogora. Formerly uninha- 
 bited, it derives its name from the Albanian word katoun 
 (a shepherd's summer tent.) It now comprises nine plemes 
 or tribes, occupying as many districts. The Germans called 
 these districts counties, and gave the name of counts to the 
 Jcnezes or chiefs for the most part hereditary, who preside 
 over the councils of the tribes. The nine plemes of Katounska 
 l^ahia are the Niegoushi, the Tsetini, the Bielitses, the Tche- 
 litch, the Komani, the Pleshiotses, the Tsousi, the Ozrinitch, 
 
 & 
 
NIEGOUSHI. 409 
 
 and the Zagartchans. As tliese tribes inhabit the poorest 
 and worst districts of Tsernogora, they are much disposed to 
 pillage, and the most terrible brigands of Turkey issue from 
 their territories to this day. In this department stands the 
 fortress of Tsetinie, which commands a large plain, and 
 serves as a forum for this people of herdsmen and soldiers ; 
 whilst the national diets are held on the plain, the senate sits 
 on the mountain near the person of the Yladika. Not far 
 from Tsetinie is Niegoushi ( Gnegost), the only village in the 
 whole country which has the appearance of a European city, 
 and in which reside the most illustrious families of the Re- 
 public, the Petrovitch, brothers, uncles, and cousins of the 
 Yladika, the Bogdanovitch, the Yaktchitch, the Prorokovitch, 
 whose present head, the ferocious Lazo, nephew of a pope of 
 the same name, shot by the French in 1809, is dreaded far 
 and near by the Turks. Niegoushi is the Moscow of this 
 Bussia in miniature : the humble abode of the fiithers of the 
 dynasty is preserved there with reverence, like the house of 
 the first Romanofs on the banks of the Moskva. The house of 
 the Petrovitch is but one story high, and differs in no respect 
 from those of the other inhabitants, except in being a little 
 larger. Another JconaTc was built of the same dimensions ; 
 this edifice, of which only the site remains, was inhabited a few 
 years ago by the family of the civil governors, who for more 
 than a centuiy disputed possession of the temporal power 
 with the Yladika. Despoiled of all its property, this family 
 is not without a home. 
 
 The large villages of Tchevo, Tsousa, and Yelestovo, re- 
 nowned in national song, are seated in valleys which resist 
 all cultivation. The little basin of Stanievitch that sur- 
 rounds the Convent of St. IMichael the Archangel, formerly 
 the residence of the Ylaidka, and which yields excellent fruit 
 and wine, is the only fertile part of the Katounska Nahia. 
 The adjoining nahia of Tsernitsa, which stretches along Lake 
 Skadar towards Budva, and Antivari, is on the contrary the 
 richest portion of Montenegro. In some valleys cultivation 
 has attained a degree of perfection which would be remark- 
 able even in France ; there are delightful gardens rising 
 in terraces on the mountain side, and vineyards alternating 
 with rich plantations of olives, figs, and pomegranates, 
 which are kept in order by men armed to the teeth. The 
 
410 LIECHANSKI. 
 
 Tsernista Naliia comprises seven tribes : the Podgores, 
 Glouliides, Bertcliels, Bolievitch, Limliani, Sotoiiitch, and 
 Doupili. The nahia of Gkibitine or Reitchka Nahia, 
 the central part of Tsernogora, numbers five tribes : the 
 Loiibotins, Kozieri, Tseklins, Dobarski, and Gradjani. This 
 Nahia has no other wealth than its river, the Tshernoyevitch, 
 which abounds with trout and other fish, which are sent;, 
 dried and smoked, to Dalmatia and Italy. There is also 
 caught there at certain periods a fish called ouklieva in 
 Serbian, scoranza in Italian ; it is a species of mullet, of the 
 size of a sardine. At the approach of winter the ouklievas 
 descend towards Lake Skadar in such compact masses that 
 the surface of the water acquires from them a peculiar tint. 
 They chiefly frequent parts of the Lake called okos, Avhere 
 there are circular eddies caused by springs which issue from 
 the bottom. The water of the springs being warmer than 
 that of the surface, the ouklievas are sometimes found there 
 in such quantities that an oar plunged into one of these fish- 
 banks stands upright. The Plemes on the borders of the 
 lake are almost exclusive proprietors of the okos ; and in 
 autumn they have only to drop a net into them and draw it 
 up forthwith full of ouklievas. The smallest are taken to 
 the shallowest and most weedy parts of the lake, where 
 they they are kept confined in such crowds that they can 
 scarcely move : by this means they are made to fatten rapidly 
 and increase their roes, which are converted into a iioutargue, 
 not much inferior to that of Prevesa. Liechanski or Liesko- 
 j)olie Nahia, the fom^tli and last department, extends along 
 the Moratcha, in front of Podgoritsa. It is much the 
 smallest of the four, much more arid than Reitchka Nahia, 
 and contains but three tribes, the Dragovina, Bouroni, and 
 Gradats, who complete the twenty-four plemes composing 
 the Tsernogorki people properly so called. 
 
 The Republic comprises, moreover, a great number of 
 confederate districts, and is year by year augmenting the 
 number of its allies. The large territory of Grahovo has. 
 been separated almost entirely from Turkey since 1840 ; and 
 possibly, at no very distant day, not only Hertzegovina, but 
 also the Pachalik of Skadar (Scutari) will be incorpoiated 
 with Tsernogora. 
 
411 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MONTENEGRO. 
 
 The history of the Black Mountain forms a long epopoea, 
 which began three centuries ago, and to which every new 
 war adds a glorious page. This epopoea as yet subsists only 
 in the rudimentary form of the piesmas or popular ballads of 
 Tsernogora, which, like those of the ancient rhapsodists, are 
 often composed by the heroes whom they celebrate. They 
 are quite unconnected with each other, and are not poetry in 
 the sense which we now attach to the word, but rather 
 historical monuments. Collectively they are a faithful pic- 
 ture of a social state, of which no other country in Europe 
 can convey an idea ; and were it only for this reason, these 
 rude songs are deserving of close study. 
 
 One day, perhaps, the Montenegrin piesmas may be trans- 
 formed, under the hand of a great poet, into an Iliad and an 
 ^neid together ; for they celebrate both the triumphs of 
 a race of heroes really equal by its exploits to the primitive 
 races, and the efforts of its warriors to re-construct a de- 
 stroyed city and an eftaced empire. Like the companions of 
 -^neas, who, flying from the flames of Troy, roamed about 
 in search of a place to rebuild Ilium, the proscribed Serbs, 
 who escaped from the carnage of Kossovo,* erected a city of 
 refuge ; only, more fortunate than the Trojans, they were 
 not forced to lay its foundations on a foreign soil ; they had 
 not to quit their native land. The most surprising analogies 
 exist, too, between this state of the citizens of Tsernogora 
 and that of the first republicans of E-ome. The one and the 
 other city were composed of brigands, children of the she 
 wolf, hard of heart, violent in their lusts ; but these brigands. 
 or haidouks, on the Cattaro as on the Tiber, rose to the con- 
 dition of ousholcs. The ouslcok presents one of the earliest 
 social types recorded in history : he is the exile who has 
 again found a country, the vanquished or condemned out- 
 cast who has cleared at a bound the trench of the camp of 
 
 * The great battle in which the Servian Empire was destroyed hy 
 Sultan Amurath. 
 
412 MONTENEGRIN HISTORY. 
 
 asylum, and is again a freeman among his brethren.* The 
 founders of Rome are the tirst well-defined specimens of the 
 ouskok we meet with in antiquity. It was not for a trivial 
 ofience that Komulus punished his brother with death ; for 
 by leaping out of the nascent city across the trench, Remus 
 signified that he had passed over to the enemy, to the 
 established and self-styled legitimate order of society, by 
 •which the vanquished who have revolted against it have 
 always been regarded as ouskoks and blacks. Thus does the 
 modern history of Montenegro throw light on the old 
 myth of the beginnings of Rome. As the slave or subject in 
 Etruria fled to Rome, so the rayah, pursued by his tyrants, 
 flees from rock to rock till he reaches Tsernogora, which is 
 the surest asylum for all the outlaws of the Greco-Slave 
 peninsula. All sorts of men, not excepting persecuted Turks, 
 take refuge in Montenegro, as is proved by the Albanian 
 lays. Young men even of our brilliant Europe have been 
 known to retire to the Black mountain. Weary of the 
 slavery imposed by a civilization which has wandered away 
 from its mark, they go there to live as free men, obeying 
 only a power of their own choice, without other laws than 
 their own sense of justice. Hereditary vengeances between 
 families also people Tsernogora with Dalmatians pursued by 
 Austria. Though reputed brigands, most of them are very 
 honest men, whose attachment to the habits of their fathers, 
 prohibited by their new masters, leaves them no alternative 
 but to emigrate, or live in their forests without a roof like 
 beasts. 
 
 In this way was the Tsernogorki people formed in course 
 of time. The only elements of its history are, as we have 
 said, the piesmas. We will analyse these curious documents 
 with the help of the general collection which the Yladika 
 caused to be published in 1837, and of the Grlista, in which 
 new piesmas have been inserted since that date. 
 
 The primitive epoch of Montenegrin history extends from 
 1400 to 1750. The piesmas and the traditions of that epoch, 
 which have come down to us, show that in the fifteenth cen- 
 tury Montenegro was still without a permanent population, 
 and was only visited by the Serbian herdsmen during the 
 
 * Thence the word ousJioJc, which means literally **one who has leaped 
 
WAR WITH THE TURKS. 413 
 
 fine season. The brave men who escaped from Kossovo, and 
 Strashimir Ivo, surnamed Tserndi (JBlacJc), that is to say, 
 the outlaw, the rebel, came and peopled those desert rocks. 
 The descendants of Ivo Tsernoi and his companions gave 
 the name of Tsernogora to the mountain saved by that hero 
 from the yoke of the conquerors. The river which traverses 
 the free country of the " blacks," and wliich was previously 
 called Obod, received in like manner the name of Tserno'ie- 
 vitch. 
 
 With a view to strengthen still more the many family ties 
 that already imited the Latin Albanians with the Greco- 
 Serbs, Ivo took for his second wife Maria, daughter of John 
 Kastriote, the father of Seanderbeg. Thus allied to the 
 highest families in Albania, he fought the Osmanlis in con- 
 cert with his relations. Already he had completely routed 
 the terrible Mahomet II. in his own mountain defiles in the 
 famous battle of Keinovska (1450), in which his brother and 
 colleague George fell in the moment of victory. In 1478, 
 Mahomet again appeared at the foot of the mountain, burn- 
 ing to avenge his disgrace, and pressed forward in person to 
 the siege of Skadar, which was defended by the Venetians 
 imder Antonio Loredano, Then Ivo Tsernoi rendered emi- 
 nent services to Venice by the diversions he effected in 
 Albania. The crescent, however, prevailed; the Turks 
 having conquered Hertzegovina, pressed black Ivo more 
 closely, and forced him to go to Venice in quest of succour. 
 That republic had just concluded a treaty of peace and com- 
 merce with Sultan Bajazet ; it could only ofier empty conso- 
 lations to the few, and the Blach returned to his mountain, 
 to bury himself there with the brave men who had put him 
 at their head. Immediately after his arrival, he himself 
 burned the citadel of Jabliak,* which he had with difficulty 
 reconquered from the Turks, transported its monks and its 
 relics to Tsetinie, and there, in a position fortified by nature, 
 erected the church and the fortress which serve to this day 
 as the capital of the country. Lastly, it was unanimously 
 decreed in a general assembly of those unflinching warriors, 
 that any man who should, without express orders, abandon 
 
 * The first letter of this name is pronounced like the French /, or 
 like the s in derision. It might be represented in English by the com- 
 bination zh 
 
414 IVO THE BLACK. 
 
 tlie post intmsted to his valour, should be despoiled of his 
 arms, dressed in the garb of a girl, and handed over to the 
 women, who should lead him about as a laugliing-stock 
 through the whole country, with spindles and a distaff by his 
 side. The dread of such a humiliation rendered all treason 
 impossible among those free men : Tsernogora became power- 
 ful, and the glory of the Montenegrin people spread widely. 
 Ivo married his two daughters to celebrated princes, the one 
 to the Yalachian hospodar E-adoul, the other to the despot 
 George Brankovitch. The latter princess is still venerated 
 as a saint by the Serbs, under the name of Ma'ika Andjelka 
 (Mother Angelia). 
 
 The great Venice had courted the alliance of Ivo : from 
 that moment the Tsernogorki never ceased to serve all 
 northern Italy as a bulwark against the Turks, who, having 
 become masters of Bosnia and Albania since the death of 
 Scanderbeg, would certainly have put an end to the republic 
 of St. Mark but for the Slave corsairs and haiduks that 
 lined the eastern coast of the Adriatic. 
 
 The memory of Ivo the Black, better knov/n by his 
 Turkish name of Ivan Beg, survives as freshly in the moun- 
 tain as if he had died but yesterday. Springs, ruins, caverns 
 are called after his name Ivan Begova, and it is hoped that he 
 will re-appear one day as a celestial liberator, a political Mes- 
 siah. The love of the people reverted to that great man the 
 more ardently as his successors proved unworthy of him. The 
 chiefs of Tsernogora ended by accepting palaces and dig- 
 nities at Venice, and were no longer capable of commanding 
 an untamed^ race. Old Ivo himself had unconsciously 
 hastened this prompt decay, by marrying his only son to a 
 Latin bride, — an offence against Oriental customs which, as 
 tradition relates, was punished in a terrible manner by 
 heaven. The Oolden Book of St. Mark, in which the name 
 of the puissant Ivo was inscribed, in 1474, among the nobles 
 of Venice, attested in its pages, some years afterwards, the 
 marriage of Ivo's only son with a Venetian, whom it stated 
 to belong to the family of Erizzo, whilst the Serbs say she 
 was the daughter of the brave Mocenigo. The latter, after 
 having, with the aid of Ivo the Black, delivered Skadar 
 from its Turkish beseigers, had become doge, and would 
 willingly have contracted a family alliance with his political 
 
niSTORICAL LAYS. 415 
 
 all)'. The picsmas call the son of Ivo indifferently George, 
 Maxim e, or Stanisha, We will here cite some fragments of 
 tliese historical lays : 
 
 The Tsernoyevitch Ivo writes a lettei* to tlie Doge of great Venice : 
 ** Hearken to me, Doge! as they say that thou hast in thy house the most 
 beautiful of roses, so there is in my house the handsomest of pinks. 
 Doge, let us unite the rose with the pink." The Venetian Doge replies 
 in flattering terms ; Ivo repairs to his court, taking with him three loads 
 of gold, in order to woo the fair Latin in his son's name. When he had 
 lavished all his gold, the Latins agreed with him that the wedding should 
 take place at the next vintage. Ivo, who was wise, uttered foolish words 
 at his departure : '' Friend and Doge," said he, " thou shalt soon see me 
 again, with six hundred choice companions ; and if there is among them 
 a single one who is handsomer than my son Stanisha, give me neither 
 dower nor bride." The delighted Doge pressed his hand, and presented 
 him with the apple of gold ;* Ivo returned to his states. 
 
 He was approaching his castle of Jabliak, when from the Jcoula, with 
 its elegant balconies, and its glazed windows glittering in the sun, his 
 faithful consort perceived him. Instantly she flies to meet him on the 
 Livada, covers the hem of his mantle with kisses, presses his terrible 
 weapons to her heart, carries them with her own hands into the castle, 
 and has a silver chair placed for the hero. The winter passed off" cheer- 
 fully ; but in the spring, Stanisha was seized with the small pox, which 
 pitted his face all over. When the old man assembled his six hundred 
 Svati [boon companions], at the approach of autumn, it was easy for 
 liim, alas ! to find among them a Yunak handsomer than his son. Then 
 his forehead was gathered into wrinkles, and the Hack moustaches that 
 reached his shoulders grew limp. 
 
 His wife, having learned the cause of his grief, upbraided him with 
 the pride that had made him wish to ally himself with the superb Latins. 
 Stung by her reproaches, Ivo burned with wrath ; he would hear no 
 more of the wedding, and sent the Svati away. Several years elapsed : 
 suddenly came a ship with a message from the Doge : the letter fell 
 on Ivo's knees. It said: " When thou enclosest a meadow with hedges, 
 thou mowest it, or thou leavest it to another, that the snows of winter 
 may not spoil its flourishing grass. When one asks for a fair one in 
 marriage, and obtains her, one should come and fetch her, or write to 
 her that she is free to form a new engagement." 
 
 * Among the Slavo-Greek people, the apple is to this day the symbol 
 of wedlock and beauty, as in the time of Helen and the shepherd Paris. 
 
4l6 HISTORICAL LAYS 
 
 Jealous of keeping his word, Ivo determines at last to go to Venice ; 
 he assembles all his noble brethren in arms from Dulcigno and from 
 Aiitivari, the Drekalovitch, the Koutchi, and the Bratonojitch, the falcons 
 of Podgoritsa and Bielopavlitch, the Vassoyevitch, and all the young men 
 as far as to the green Lira. He sees to it that the Yunaks come each in 
 the costume peculiar to his tribe, and that all are dressed as sumptuously 
 as possible. He is resolved, he says, that the Latins shall be in ecstasies- 
 when they behold the magnificence of the Serbs. They have many fine 
 things, those noble Latins ! they know how to work metals with skill, 
 and to weave precious stuffs : but they lack what is more worthy of 
 envy ; they have not the lofty brow and the commanding look of the 
 Tsernogorki. 
 
 Seeing the six hundred Svati assembled, Ivo relates to them the 
 imprudent promise he had made to the Doge, and the punishment inflicted 
 on him by Heaven, in the person of his son, smitten with small pox. 
 " What say you, brothers ? ' ' said he, ' ' shall we put one of you in place 
 of Stanisha during the journey, and leave him, on our return, half the 
 presents whi(;h will be made to him as the real bridegroom * " All the 
 Svati approved of this stratagem, and the young Voievode of Dulcigno^ 
 Obrenovo Djuro, having been declared the handsomest in the assembly, 
 was requested to accept the feigned part. Djuro refused for a long time^ 
 and was only prevailed on to consent by the most sumptuous gifts. Then 
 the Svati embarked, crowned with flowers; and were saluted on their 
 departure by the whole artillery of the Black Mountain, and by the twa 
 enormous cannons named Kernio and Selen/co, which have not their 
 match in the seven Frank kingdoms, nor among the Turks. The mere 
 report of these pieces makes coursers bend the knee, and knocks down 
 many a hero: 
 
 Arrived at Venice, the Tsernogorki stop at the ducal palace. The 
 wedding festivities last a whole week, at the end of which Ivo exclaims z. 
 ''Friend Doge, we must back to our mountains." The Doge then rising, 
 asks his guests where is the bridegi-oom Stanisha; they all point to 
 Djuro. The Doge then gives Djuro the kiss, and the golden apple of 
 wedlock. The Doge's two sons then advance, bringing two damasked 
 fusils of the value of a thousand ducats ; they ask where is Stanisha, 
 and all the Svati show them Djuro. The two Venetians embrace him as 
 their brother-in-law, and deliver their presents to him. After them come 
 the Doge's two sisters-in-law, bringing two shirts of the finest linen, all 
 wrought with gold ; they ask which is the bridegroom, and all the Svati 
 point with their fingers to Djuro. Satisfied with their stratagem, Ivo 
 and the Tsernogorki took their way back to their country." 
 
HISTORICAL LAYS. 417 
 
 The piesmas do not agree as to the last part of this story. 
 Those of Montenegro relate that Stanisha, after having 
 received his bride, demanded of the Albanian Voievode his 
 share of the presents as agreed upon, and that the haughty 
 Djuro obstinately refused to fulfil the promise he had given. 
 The ballads of the Danube, on the contrary, are directed 
 against Stanisha in favour of the Albanian Slave, whom they 
 call Milosh. These piesmas, sung by Serbs of less warlike 
 temper, and consequently less hardened towards women, 
 dwell more on the bride. They pourtray the Latin virgin 
 entreating Stanisha to insist that Djuro shall give up all the 
 presents. 
 
 '* I cannot/* she cries to Stanisha, weeping for vexation, I cannot 
 surrender that marvellous tunic of gold, embroidered by my own hands, 
 under which I dreamed of caressing my spouse, and which nearly cost me 
 both my eyes, by working at it night and day for three years. Though a 
 thousand broken shafts of lances should form thy bier, my Stanisha, thou 
 must fight to recover it ; or if thou dare not, I will turn my courser's 
 bridle, and hurry him to the sea-shore. There I will pluck a leaf of 
 aloes J I will scratch my face with its thorns, and drawing blood from my 
 cheeks, I will write with that blood a letter which my falcon will carry 
 swiftly to great Venice, whence my faithful Latins will hasten to avenge 
 me.'* At these words of the daughter of Venice, Stanisha can no longer 
 control himself; with his whip of three lashes he smites his black courser, 
 which bounds like a tiger, and having come up with Djuro, the Tserno- 
 gorki pierces him with his javelin through the middle of the forehead. 
 The handsome Voievode falls dead at the foot of the mountain. 
 
 "Petrified with horror, all the Svati stared at each other for a while; 
 at last their blood began to boil, and they exchanged pledges — terrible 
 pledges — which were not now those of friendship, but of fury and death. 
 All day the chiefs of the tribes fought one against the other, until their 
 ammunition was spent, and night had added its darkness to the bloody 
 reek of the field of battle. The few survivors walk up to their knees in 
 the blood of the dead. See with what difficulty an old man advances ! 
 That hero, so changed in appearance, is the Tsernoyevitch Ivo ; in his 
 irremediable woe, he invokes the Lord : '* Send me a wind from the 
 mountain, and disperse this horrible fog, that I may see which of my 
 people has survived." Moved by his prayer, God sent a blast of wind 
 that swept the air, and Ivo could see the whole plain covered afar 
 with horses and riders cut to pieces. The old man went about from one 
 heap of slain to another, looking for his son. 
 
 2fi 
 
418 HISTORICAL LAYS. 
 
 Yoan, one of Ivo's nephews, who lay dying, saw him pass, and oo")- 
 lecting his strength, raised himself on his elbow, and cried out : " Hallo I 
 uncle Ivo; how proudly thou passest, without asking thy nephew if the 
 wounds he has received for thee are deep. What makes thee so disdain- 
 ful ? — is it the presents of the fair Latin?" Ivo turns back at these 
 words, and bursting into tears, asks the Tsernogorki Yoan how his son 
 Stanisha died. "He is alive," replied Yoane; "he is fleeing towards 
 Jabliak on his swift steed, and the repudiated daughter of Venice is going 
 back a virgin to her father," 
 
 All the piesmas relate that Stanisha, after killing his 
 rival, turned Mussulman, to escape the vengeance of the 
 Slaves of Albania. Obren Vouk, Bey of Dulcigno, the rela- 
 tion and avenger of the handsome voievode, likewise em- 
 braced Islamism, in order to save the heritage of his fathers 
 from the lands of the renegade. The two leaders having 
 served the Sultan for seven years, received each of them a 
 hereditary Pachalic ; Obren Beg received that of Doukagine, 
 near Ipek, where his descendants, the Mahmoud-Bougovitch, 
 have always remained powerful ; Stanisha was installed at 
 Skadar, where his posterity did not cease to reign until 
 1833, when the rebel Mustapha, the last Pacha of that 
 family, known under the name of Boushatli, was exiled by 
 the Porte. The descendants of Stanisha received that sur- 
 name from Boushati, a village where they took refuge, after 
 being routed near Lieshkopolie, by the Christians of the 
 mountain, whom they attempted to subdue. The inhabit- 
 ants of Skadar and the Montenegrins are not yet reconciled, 
 and to this day they take each others heads in memory of the 
 handsome Djuro. The conduct of the Ivo and Stanisha was 
 the first cause of all the catastrophes which have afflicted 
 Tsemogora since that time. The history of the mountain 
 turns wholly on a principle, essentially Oriental and antique, 
 which is best expressed in the French word solidarite. Ac- 
 cording to that principle every race is naturally immortal 
 and sovereign, and cannot fall save through the fault of rene- 
 gades, who are faithless to their hereditary duties. Thu'^ 
 the chosen and privileged race of the Tsernogorki was split 
 in two like Israel by apostacy : Montenegro remained the 
 asylum of the heroes who were true to the laws of the 
 family ; Skadar, the Samaria of that people, received the 
 con of another David, who immediately turned his arm.s 
 
HISTORICAL LAYS. 419 
 
 against his own race. It is true that, according to the 
 Oriental belief that heroes are demi-gods, and cannot die, 
 the warriors of Tsernogora will successfully resist the rene- 
 gades of Albania ; but the solidarity of blood weighs heavily 
 upon them ; their glorious immortality is for them but an 
 incessant martyrdom ; they have daily to expiate the faults 
 of their adopted father, the Tsernoyevitch Ivo, and the fatal 
 wedding of Stanisha with a Latin bride. According to the 
 ideas of the sensuous East, a sovereign prince cannot choose 
 a wife out of his own nation, for a dynasty ought to remain 
 the purest blood, and as it were the essence of the nationa- 
 lity, which it is considered to embody in itself, as children 
 are embodied in their father. To marry a foreigner is to 
 break the laws of a patriarchal society ; hence the modern 
 Sultans, like the ancient Kings of Persia, the ancient Rus- 
 sian Tsars and the last Serb Krals, the ancestors of the Tser- 
 noyevitch, marry only girls chosen in their own empire. 
 
 The dynasty of Ivo the Black did not long survive the 
 apostacy of Stanisha. Its last representative, George, hav- 
 ing again married a Venetian, that princess inspired the 
 mountaineer chief with disgust for his barbarian country. 
 George quitted Tsernogora to go and live quietly amidst the 
 luxury and the enjoyments of Venice ; and the Black Moun- 
 tain, torn by intestine discords, and having only the ana- 
 themas of its Bishop or Vladika, named German, to oppose 
 to the invaders, fell under the yoke of the Osmanlis. The re- 
 negade companions of Stanisha, returning to the mountain, 
 took the fortress of Obod, and possessed themselves of the 
 commercial outlets of their Christian brethren, who thus 
 lived aa rayahs imtil the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. The Tsernogorki still speak with indignation of the 
 time when their country paid the Porte a haratch (poll-tax), 
 which was destined only to defray the cost of the Sultan's 
 slippers. When they rose in 1604 against Ali Bey, Pacha 
 of Skadar, whom they beat and drove away wounded from 
 their defiles, their victory only resulted in procuring for 
 them a less precarious existence, the right of remaining in 
 arms to the number of 8,027 fighting men, to defend their 
 93 villages, and to be dependent directly on the Sultan, who 
 recognised their military chief under the title of spahi, and 
 their ecclesiastical chief under that of vladiJca. In this 
 
 2e2 
 
420 HISTORICAL LAYS. 
 
 condition they were found in 1606 by Mariano Bolizza, pa- 
 trician of Cattaro, who was appointed to fix the frontiers 
 between Turkey and the Signory of Venice. 
 
 At last the Venetians having gone to war with the Porte, 
 stirred up the Tsernogorki against the common enemy. 
 Vissarion, the seventh Vladika after German, flattered him- 
 self that he had secured for his mountain a faithful ally in 
 the proud republic which then began its continental con- 
 quests over the Turks, and was powerfully seconded 
 by the diversions effected by the Montenegrins. Thus in 
 1627 the latter beat the Turks, who were marching to the 
 relief of Castel Novo, and forced that town to surrender to 
 the Venetian besiegers. On their own territory meanwhile 
 the mountaineers had no asylum left but their forests ; Soli- 
 man, Pacha of Skadar, had forced their defiles, burned their 
 villages, and destroyed Tsetinie. Though on his way back 
 to Skadar he had been met at Podgoritsa, and completely 
 routed by the Klementi and the Koutchi, then masters of 
 the fort of Spouje, a great })art of his army, which he had 
 left in Tsernogora, kept its ground there in the defiles. 
 These garrisons, backed by the Boushatli, continued to levy 
 the haratch until the famous year 1703, in which begins the 
 Hegyra of the Tsernogorki. The Vladika Danilo Petrovitch 
 Niegoushi, who had just returned from Hungary, where he 
 had been consecrated Metropolitan by the Serb patriarch, 
 Arsenius III., determined his countrymen to dispatch, in 
 one night, aU the Mussulmans in their mountain who should 
 refuse baptism ; which was punctually done. The ballad 
 which commemorates this event deserves to be known, were 
 it only for the motives it alleges in excuse for the atrocious 
 deed. It is entitled " /Sye OsLohod'' (entirely emancipated). 
 
 The rayahs of the Zenta have, by dint of presents, obtained from the 
 Pacha of bloody Skadar, permission to build a church. When the little 
 building was finished, Pope Yove appeared before the elders of the tribes 
 assembled in sobor, and said to them : " Our church is built, but it is no 
 better than a profane cavern until it shall have been blessed : let, us there- 
 fore, procure a safe conduct by money from the Pacha, in order that the 
 Tsernogorki bishop may come and consecrate it." The Pacha delivers 
 the safe conduct for the black caloyer, and the deputies of the Zenta hasten 
 to convey it to the vladika of Tsetiuie. Danilo Petrovitch, on reading the 
 
HISTOHTCAL LAYS. 421 
 
 document, shook his h^ad and said : — " No promise is sacred among the 
 Turks ; but lor the sake of our holy faith I will go, though it be my tate 
 not to return." He has his best horse saddled and departs. The perfi- 
 dious Mussulmans let him bless the church ; then they seize him and 
 march him with his hands tied behind him to Podgoritsa. At that news 
 the whole Zenta, plain and mountain, rose up and went to the accursed 
 Skadar to implore Omer Pacha, who fixed the bishop's ransom at 3,000 
 gold ducats. To complete that sum along with the tribes of the Zenta, 
 the Tsernogortskihad to sell all the sacred vessels of Tsetinie. 
 
 The Vladika wis set free. The mountaineers could not contain their 
 transports of joy at seeing the return of their dazzling sun ; but Danilo, 
 who had long mourned over the spiritual conquests of the Turks who were 
 quartered in Tsernogora, and who foresaw the apostacy of his people, 
 called on the assembled tribes to agree together on a day on which the 
 Turks should be attacked and massacred all over the country. Most of 
 the glavars were silent at that proposal ; the five brothers Martinovitch 
 offered, themselves alone, to execute the plot. The night before Christmas 
 Day was chosen for the massacre which was to take place in memory of 
 the victims of Kossovo. 
 
 The time fixed for the holy vigil arrives ; the brothers Martinovitch 
 light their consecrated tapers, pray earnestly to the newborn God, drink 
 each a cup of wine to the glory of Christ, and seizing their blessed maces, 
 set out in the dark. Wherever there were Turks the five executioners 
 appeared; all who refused baptism were massacred without pity; those 
 who embraced the cross were presented as brothers to the Vladika. The 
 people assembled at Tsetinie hailed the dawn of Christmas with songs of 
 gladness ; for the first time since the battle of Kossovo they could ex- 
 claim, " Tsernogora is free ! " 
 
 Thus were the tribes of the Katounska Nahia restored to 
 independence. The deliverance of the neighbouring districts 
 remained to be effected. Then began that daring warfare 
 which has been prolonged to our own day, and in which it has 
 often happened that Turkish prisoners were contemptuously 
 exchanged for pigs. The commonwealth of Tsernogora gra- 
 dually acquired a more solid consistency. The isolated 
 existence of pastoral nomades was exchanged for the pa- 
 triarchal life. The Serb pirates, whom Austria had so 
 successfully employed against Venice during the seventeenth 
 century, and who are immortalized under the name of 
 Ouskoks, had at last been completely defeated by the doge 
 Giovanni Bembo, and forced to seek refuge under the shelter 
 
4T2 HISTORICAL LAYS. 
 
 of the Black Mountain, at Nikshitcha, and at Piperi. 
 Drobniak, likewise, had received in 1694 other Ouskoks, 
 driven by the Turks out of Albania. All these refugee? 
 establislied themselves in villages or brotherhoods, and in. 
 ]>lemes or tribes, under the presidence of a superior pleme, 
 that of the Niegoushi. The latter were Serbs of Mount 
 Niegosh in Hertsegovina, who having emigrated e7i masse, 
 had continued to form one great family, governed by pecu- 
 liar laws. The military patriarch who ruled it in concert 
 with the bishop or vladika, commanded a tribe much more 
 considerable than all the rest ; accordingly, he soon exercised 
 virtually supreme power in the little republic, and trans- 
 mitted it to his descendants, in whose hands it has always 
 remained, subject, in certain respects, to the laws of election. 
 Thus the chief of the Niegoushi might, in concert with the 
 elders of his tribe, choose the most deserving of his kinsmen 
 to be his successor, without regard to the principle of primo- 
 geniture. 
 
 The Christmas eve of 1703 had liberated Montenegro ; 
 but the result of that tragic night remained unknown to 
 Europe. It was Peter the Great who, having declared war 
 in 1711 against the Sultan, revealed to the world the exist- 
 ence of this new people. Peter had endeavoured to raise all 
 the Christians of the East against the Turks ; the Tsemo- 
 gorki alone responded to his apj^eal. An historical lay 
 vigorously pourtrays the enthusiasm with which this popular 
 insurrection was hailed in Montenegro. The lay opens with 
 the Tsar's letter, which the Muscovite envoy, Milo Kado- 
 vitch reads at Tsetinie, in a grand sobor of all the glavars of 
 the mountain. The Russian Emperor, after recounting the 
 victories he had gained over the King of Sweden, the battle 
 of Pultava, the treason and death of Mazeppa, ends by 
 saying :— 
 
 " The Turk is now attacking me with all his forces to revenge Charles 
 XII. and to please the potentates of Europe ; but I hope in Almighty 
 God, and I trust in the Serb nation, especially in the stout arms of the 
 Tsernogorki yunaks, who will certainly help me to deliver the Christian 
 world, to raise up again the orthodox temples, and to exalt the name of 
 the Slaves. Warriors of the Black Mountain, you are of the same blood 
 as the Russians, of the same faith, the same language, and, besides, are you 
 HOC, like the Russians, men without fear ? It matters little, then, that you 
 
HISTORICAL LAYS. 423 
 
 speak the same language in order to figlit side by side with them. 
 Uprouse you, such as you are, heroes worthy of the ancient times, and 
 remain that terrible people which is never at peace with the Turks." 
 
 At these words of the Slave Tsar, of the great Christian Emperor, 
 all present brandish their sabres, and run to their fusils. There is but 
 one cry among them : ' Let us march against the Turks ; and the sooner, 
 the gladder we shall be.* ... In Bosnia and in Hertsegovina the 
 Turks are defeated and blockaded in their fortresses. Mussulman towns 
 and villages are burned in all directions ; not a river, not a stream, but is 
 tinged with infidel blood. But these rejoicings lasted but two months ; 
 they were changed for the Serbs into calamities, in consequence of the 
 sudden peace which the Tsar Peter was forced to conclude with the Porte. 
 The Tsernogorki were seized with huge despair. Nevertheless they still 
 kept the field, showing themselves even then what they are to-day, drink- 
 ing wine and fighting the Turk. And as long as one of them shall remain 
 alive they will defend themselves against all foes whosoever they be, Turks 
 or others. O ! it is no shadow, the Tsernogorki freedom. No other 
 ihan God could quell it, and who knows but God himself would tire 
 of such an enterprise ? " 
 
 Anotlier piesma completes the narrative of the war in 
 these words : 
 
 Victorious over the Muscovites, Stamboul was giving itself up to joy, 
 when suddenly there apj)eared within its walls a Turkish warrior from the 
 bloody ffvad of Onogoshto. With tears he recounted to the Imperial 
 Divan the affronts inflicted on proud Bosnia by the blacks of Tsernogora, 
 the burning of towns, the pillage of the open country, the desolation 
 spread everywhere. Shocked at these pictures, the Sultan intrusted fifty 
 thousand men to his ablest Seraskier, Akhmet Pacha, and ordered him to 
 go and exterminate the rebels. The treaty concluded on the Pruth had 
 put the Turkish Tsar at peace with all Europe ; he had no enemies left 
 but the Tsernogorki; how should they singly withstand the great 
 empire ? 
 
 Having arrived on the plain of Podgoritsa with his fifty thousand 
 soldiers, the Imperial Seraskier wrote to the Vladika Danilo: " Send me 
 z little haratch, and for hostages the three yunaks Popovitch of Tchevo, 
 Merval of Velestovo, and the falcon INIandoushitch. If thou dost not, I 
 will set fire to the whole country from the Moratcha to the salt lake [the 
 Adriatic] ; 1 will take thee alive, and will torture thy life out." When he 
 read this letter the Vladika wept sorely ; he wrote in haste to all the chiefs 
 of the rugged mountain, and summoned them to Tsetinie. The Diet 
 
424 HISTORICAL LAYS. 
 
 being assembled, some said, "Let us give theharatch," others, " Let us 
 give stones rather." "Comrades, give what you please,^' cried Mitchuno- 
 vitch ; "as for me I will not give up my brethren as hostages, unless they 
 carry off my head with them." Finally the Diet resolved that they would 
 die to the last man for the holy faith and for sweet liberty rather than 
 surrender to the tyrants. All present then swore never to send the Turks 
 any other tribute than the fire of their fusils. 
 
 During this time the Vladika was invoking the propitious Vila of 
 Mount Koumo. *' Genius of our mountains," cried the bishop, " teach 
 me how we shall conquer so many foes ! " And the good Vila revealed to 
 him the means of destroying the army of the infidels. Three Tserno- 
 gorki were chosen to go to the frontier and reconnoitre the enemy ; 
 these were the Yurashkovitch, Yanko and Bogdane, and the great 
 Raslaptchevitch, Vouko. The three brave men, shouldering their guns, 
 went down the Valley of Tsetinie, rapidly traversed two nahias, and 
 reached Kokota at sunset. There they halted to eat their bread ; then 
 swimming the Moratcha in the dark they entered the Pacha's camp. 
 They walked all night long through the camp without coming to the end 
 of it. At last Vouko inquired, " How many Turks are there on this 
 frontier ?" Those who could tell would not, and those who would could 
 not. There were fully a hundred thousand, including the irregular levies 
 of peasants from all the adjacent provinces as far as Bulgaria. Then 
 said Vouko to his two companions, " Go back and tell our chiefs what 
 you have seen, and give yourself no concern about me ; I will remain 
 here to serve you." 
 
 The Yurashkovitch returned to Tsetinie. " We found the enemy so 
 numerous," said they to the Knezes, " that had we been all three turned 
 into salt we should not have been enough to salt their soup. But," they 
 added, in order to mislead the timid as to the greatness of the danger, 
 " their army is only a pack of one-legged, one-handed cripples." Com- 
 forted by this report, the warriors of all the plains assembled at Tsetinie, 
 piously heard mass, received their dear Vladika's benediction, and sprinkled 
 with holy water, marched in three divisions under three Voievodes. The 
 first division was to draw the Turks after them by pretending flight ; the 
 second was to pounce down upon them from the mountains; the third, 
 which was the main body, was to await them in battle array in the valley. 
 These three divisions remained posted for three days on the banks of the 
 Vlahinia ; at the setting of the third sun the Osmanlis appeared below 
 Vrania. The pretended deserter Vouko guided their countless bands; 
 suddenly he began to sing out : " Rest here, Turkish heroes ; let your 
 coursers loose along the Vlahinia; pitch your camp for the night, for you 
 
HISTORICAL LAYS. 425 
 
 will find no more fresh water from here to Tsetinie." The Turkish army 
 halted, posted its sentinels, and went to sleep. 
 
 Suddenly down from the mountains comes a dense cloud of black 
 warriors on that sleeping camp, and rains death upon it. Abandoning 
 their sumptuous tents the beys fled through the paths, but found them 
 beset by ambushed Tsernogorki. A horrible carnage was made of the 
 fugitives ; above the precipices of Mount Perjnik the fire of the Tserno- 
 gortski devours whatever the abyss does not swallow. For three whole 
 days the superb army of the masters is pursued by rebels, by vile haiduks. 
 O ! it was a fine sight to see how the Serb sabres flashed, how they clove 
 the heads of the foe, and how the very rocks flew in splinters when they 
 came in their way ! Thus it was that in July 1712, Tsernogora covered 
 itself with glory and was filled with the richest booty. O brother Serbs, 
 and all you who have free hearts in your bosoms, rejoice, for the ancient 
 liberty will not perish so long as we possess our little Black Mountain." 
 
 The victors gave the name of Tsarev Laz (descent of the 
 Emperor), to the place in which the Seraskier's army had been 
 destroyed. In consequence of this battle many villages and 
 whole districts were taken from the Turks, and the fortress 
 of Rieka, which they were besieging, remained in the hands 
 of the Montenegrins. Furious at these reverses, the pure 
 Tsar (the Sultan) made strenuous preparations for another 
 expedition ; and two years afterwards a hundred thousand 
 men marched against Tsernogora, under Douman Kiuprili, 
 who deceitfully offered the mountaineers most honourable 
 terms of peace. Deluded by his promises, they sent thirty- 
 seven of their principal glavars into his camp. These were 
 immediately seized and hung ; and the mountain, thus de- 
 prived of its most intelligent chiefs by the perfidious Pacha, 
 was forthwith stormed. The national piesma which narrates 
 this event, concludes thus : 
 
 To avenge the Seraskier and the fifty thousand Turks destroyed in 
 the Serb forests and defiles, and to heal the wounds of the Sultan's heart, 
 Kiuprili did not leave a single altar or a single house standing in all 
 Tsernogora. The yunaks, surprised without ammunition, were forced to 
 yield when their powder failed. The youngest entrenched themselves on 
 the summits of the mountains ; the rest fled to Cattaro, in the Venetian 
 territory, fully beheving that the Doge, to whom their long wars had 
 been so useful, would not give them up to the Turks. Vain hope ! The 
 Venetians let the Osmanlis invade their territory and there put the 
 
426 iirsTomcAL lays. 
 
 victims to the sword. But what was the Doge's reward for becoming the 
 friend of the Turks ? He had all his eastern provinces taken from him 
 by them. That was what "Venice got for betraying the Serbs. 
 
 These last lines of the Montenegrin ballad characterise a 
 sad period in the history of Venice, whose policy had be- 
 come exclusively commercial, and who then learned what a 
 nation gains by abandoning its allies. Free in his move- 
 ments, through the possession of the Black Mountain, the 
 Turk overcame, without resistance, all the Venetian pro- 
 vinces of the Greco-Slave peninsula, from Bosnia to the 
 isthmus of Corinth. The Queen of the Adriatic perceived 
 somewhat late that her prosperity depended on her intimate 
 union with the maritime Serbs, and she again began to sup- 
 port the Montenegrins, who, having remained masters ol 
 the most inaccessible parts of their mountain, swooped down 
 continually thence on the Turks in the valleys. In 1716 
 they even succeeded in driving out of the country the 
 two Pachas of Hertsegovina and Bosnia, who had invaded 
 it with their armies. It is true they dishonoured their vic- 
 tory by immolating seventy-seven prisoners to the memory 
 of the thirty-seven chiefs treacherously executed by Kiu- 
 prili. In 1718 a Montenegrin force of five thousand five 
 hundred men marched to the succour of the Venetians who 
 were blockaded in Antivari and Dulcigno, and delivered 
 them, by beating the Vizier of Albania. A letter of thanks 
 from the Senate of Venice to the Vladika Danilo, comme- 
 morates this exploit of the black warriors. In 1727 again 
 they gained a splendid victory over Tchenghitch Bekir, who 
 escaped from them with difiiculty to fall some years later by 
 the hands of other Slaves, at the battle of Otchakof 
 
 Nevertheless, all traces of Kiuprili's frightful ravages were 
 not yet effaced. Several great tribes were still reduced 
 almost to nothing. That of the Ozrinitch, according to 
 the piesma, entitled The Vengeance of Tchevo, was reduced 
 to forty men, when its voievode, Nicholas Tomash, was 
 beset in Tchevo by thousands of Turks, led by the Bey Lou- 
 bovitch, and the governor of the fort of Klobuk. The 
 valiant voievode withstood the attacks of the Turks, and 
 gave the Montenegrin army time to rescue him. 
 
 Whilst the fight was going on in the plain, and the fire of the fusils was 
 filling the air from earth to sky, Tomash and his men on the rock of Tchevo 
 
HISTORICAL LAYS. 427 
 
 prayed to God to blow aside the clouds of smoke that they might discern 
 which of the two armies was gaining the day. At last they saw their 
 Tsernogorki brethren mounting up towards them, after having cut off 
 the heads of more than a thousand Turks, and bringing with them no less 
 a number of prisoners in chains. " Thanks be to thee O God ! " cried 
 Tomash, "that we so well avenge our fathers massacred by Kiuprili. 
 And mayst thou grant in thy heaven the joys of a triumph without end to 
 those who die in defence of Tsernogora I " 
 
 CHAPTER TV. 
 MONTENEGRO IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 The existence of tlie Montenegrins, so long precarious, 
 was beginning to acquire stability ; the prolonged conflict 
 between the Black Mountain and the Porte was attracting 
 the attention of civilized Europe ; blessings were showered 
 on the heroic mountaineers by their Christian neighbours, 
 and the second half of the eighteenth century was destined 
 to be for them but a long series of victories. They had, 
 however, to pass through a final period of suffering. Eight 
 Pachas under the Vizier Mehemet Begovitch, kept the Black 
 Mountain blockaded for seven years, beginning from 1739. 
 But by bold sorties against the numerous entrenched camps 
 of the Turks, the Montenegrins gradually weakened their 
 enemies, and finally put them completely to the rout. In 
 the savage intoxication of victory they burned alive seventy 
 of their most illustrious prisoners in a stable. This deplo- 
 rable exploit has not been made the theme of any ballad. A 
 nobler recollection attaches itself to the day of the 25th of 
 November, 1756, the events of which are recorded in an ad- 
 mirable piesma, with all the exactness of the most authentic 
 military bulletin.* 
 
 The Vizier of Bosnia writes a letter to the black caloyer Vassili 
 Petrovitch ; he salutes him and says : " Black Monk, send me the haratch 
 
 * Second volume of the Grlitsa, 1838. 
 
428 VICTORY OVER THE TURKS. 
 
 of the mountain with a tribute of twelve of the hancbomest girls, all 
 aged from twelve to fifteen; otherwise I swear by the one God I will 
 ravage your country, and carry away all its males, young and old, into 
 slavery.'* The Vladika communicates this letter to the Glavars of the 
 tribes, and declares to them that if they submit, he will separate from them 
 as dishonoured men. The reply of the Glavars was : " We will all lose 
 our heads rather than live in shame, though slavery were to prolong our 
 lives by a century." Fortified by the unanimity of his people, the Vladika 
 replies to the Vizier of Bosnia: " How canst thou, renegade, eater of 
 Hertsegovina plums, demand the haratch of the sons of the free moun- 
 tain ? The tribute we will send thee will be a stone from our soil, and 
 instead of twelve virgins thou shalt receive twelve pig's tails with which 
 thou mayst adorn thy turban, in order to make thee remember that girls 
 are reared in Tsernogora neither for Turks nor renegades, and that rather 
 than give up a single one of them, we would all perfer to die palsied, 
 blind, and without hands. If thou wilt attack us, come on. We hope 
 thou wilt leave thy head amongst us, and that it will roll in our valleys, 
 where so many Turkish sculls lie strewn." 
 
 On receiving this reply the Pacha stamped the ground in a fury, 
 seized his beard with his hands, and shouted for all his captains. They 
 hurried to him with forty-five thousand soldiers, and led by the Vizier's 
 kiaia (lieutenant) they advanced to sweep the Black Mountain with fire 
 and sword. The Tsemogorki awaited them, entrenched in the defile of 
 Brod, under the white fortress of Onogoshto. There the two armies 
 saluted each other with fusillades for fourteen days without interruption. 
 
 Suddenly our young heroes lament; they have no more lead or powder. 
 Passing along before the foot of their entrenchments which no longer 
 vomit fire, the Turks go and burn the villages. But God sent us unlooked 
 for aid : in spite of the strict prohibitions of the Doge of Venice, a com- 
 passionate stranger came and sold us several thousand cartridges in one 
 night. The sons of Tsernogora fell to dancing and singing for joy at the 
 sight. As soon as the dawn appeared, they made the sign of the cross, 
 and threw themselves upon the camp of the Turks, like wolves on a white 
 flock. They put them to the rout, and pursued them until night over 
 mountain and dale. The Kiaia himself fled wounded to his Vizier, to 
 tell him how many fair Tsernogorkas he brought with him." 
 
 Venice, though belonging to the Latin Church, always 
 possessed great influence in Montenegro, until, in 1767, the 
 "Russians supplanted the Venetians in the affections of the 
 mountaineers : a Slave adventurer, whom some believe to have 
 
THE PRETENDER—TSAR PETER III. 429 
 
 been an Austrian deserter, having under the name of Stiepan 
 Mali (Little Stephen) taken service with a mountaineer of 
 Maini, near Boudva, contrived to make his master believe 
 that he was no other than the Tsar Peter III.* in person. 
 Stephen soon passed over into Montenegro, where he made 
 some partisans, thanks to the indolence of the Yladika Sava, 
 who, after studying at St. Petersburg, had become the suc- 
 cessor of the intrepid Vassili. Finally, the Montenegrins 
 were so cajoled as to choose the pretended Tsar for their 
 political chief The Serb patriarch of Ipek sent to offer him 
 his services, with a present of a very handsome horse. It is 
 true that on hearing of this the Turks expelled that prelate, 
 who was forced to seek refuge with his adoptive sovereign ; 
 but the rayahs only showed the more attachment to the 
 im230stor, and there were sanguinary riots in his favour 
 even on the Venetian territory, particularly at Kisano. 
 The troops of the Doge, several thousand strong, having 
 blockaded that little town, were beaten by the inhabitants 
 and were forced to retreat, leaving several hundred dead. 
 Venice, it is said, sent to entreat the Court of Kussia to dis- 
 abuse the Montenegrins respecting the false Tsar ; and 
 Prince Dolgorouki was sent with that view to the Black 
 Mountain, where he declared to all the glavars assembled 
 in sohor at Tsetinie, that the real Peter III. was dead, and 
 that his tomb was to be seen in Russia. Stephen was then 
 arrested by order of the Vladika Sava, and given up to Dol- 
 gorouki ; but the Russian envoy having shut up his prisoner 
 in a room above his own, the cunning Stephen cried out to 
 the Montenegrins, " You see that the Prince himself recog- 
 nises me for his superior, since he does not dare to lodge me 
 below him." Convinced by this reasoning, the Montenegrins 
 rescued the prisoner, and Prince Dolgoroiiki had to quit the 
 country in more haste than he had entered it. 
 
 The Turks then took the field, at the instigation, it is be- 
 lieved, of the Venetians. Three armies, commanded by the 
 Viziers of Albania, Bosnia, and Macedonia, simultaneously 
 invaded Montenegro by way of Glouhido, Nikshitcha, and 
 
 * Who had been strangled in 1762 by order of the Empress Catherine. 
 Six other impostors arose about this time, the last of whom, the Cossack 
 Pugatshef, maintained himself in Russia against the forces of Catherine 
 from 1773 to 1775, when he was taken and put to death. 
 
430 THE TURKS INVADE MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Podgoritsa. The conflicts that ensued were partial, but ob- 
 stinate. After two months of daily skirmishing, the Mon- 
 tenegrins had exhausted all their ammunition, and could not 
 procure a fresh supply ; for ungrateful Venice, thenceforth 
 interested in their destruction, and wishing to extend her 
 commerce over their ruins, had lined all her frontier with a 
 cordon of troops, and would not let either provisions or am- 
 munition enter the mountain. The Osmanlis were thus 
 enabled to ravage several valleys, and burn a great number 
 of villages. Yet, notwithstanding the considerable forces 
 they had assembled, they could not penetrate as far as 
 Tsetinie, and were obliged to retreat at the approach of 
 winter. A piesma, entitled Bogovanie (God's work) recounts 
 this glorious campaign of 1768 : 
 
 The "Venetian Doge writes to the Tsar of white Stamboul ; he 
 salutes him amicably and says : " Pure Sultan, thou kuowest that on those 
 rocks of Tsernogora the whole people starts up at the mere name of the 
 Russian emperor, as children would do for their father. Let us together 
 destroy those rebels, and let no trace of them remain. I will rouse my Dal- 
 matians and my brave Croat volunteers, and I will post them on the frontier, 
 so that the bands which escape thy scimetar may not escape my sword." 
 Forthwith the Osmanli Tsar assembles his Albanians, his Bosnians, and 
 his Rumeliotes, in all a hundred and twenty thousand horse and foot, who 
 with their Viziers at their head march towards the Black Mountain and 
 invade it on three sides at once, whilst the Venetians cover their frontier 
 with troops. 
 
 Hemmed in on all sides, the Tseraogorki invoke God on high, and 
 resolve in a general assembly that they must not think of life, but of dying 
 gloriously for the faith and for dear liberty ; then to the number of ten 
 thousand against a hundred and twenty thousand enemies, they set off in 
 different bodies for the several points attacked. The march of the Turks 
 was flanked by conflagrations, and they advanced far into the country ; 
 but there death awaited them, for they know not how to hide between 
 rocks and trees like our warriors. Vainly they cried to our men : * Souls 
 of mice, Tsernogorki, get up, and let us see you in the plain ! Where 
 are you running to, like rats, through the brambles?" Shots were fired 
 from the brambles for all that, and struck down the enemy unawares. 
 
 The Turk however continues to fight for nine weeks, and our poor 
 haiduks have no more powder or lead. They are on the verge of destruc- 
 tion when the Tsernogorki fortune, the good fortune sent by God, comes 
 to hand : on the 1st of November heavy rain fails from the clouds and 
 
VICTORY CF THE MONTEXECrJXS. 431 
 
 lasts till the following day, accompanied by thunder and lightning, that 
 destroy the camp of the Doge of Venice near Boudva, and rend to pieces 
 the tents of the Pacha of Skadar. In the midst of the disorder the 
 mountaineers rush in and seize the ill- guarded ammunition. Thenceforth 
 well supplied, they defy the three Viziers, who, hopeless of maintaining 
 their position during the winter in the mountain, evacuate it, and leave 
 all the paths strewn with dead bodies. Thus does the true God help those 
 who pray to him : believe, therefore, in Christ, dear probatim, believe in 
 the God whom the Tsernogorki adore, the God from whom they receive 
 gladness, courage, and health. 
 
 Stej^hen, for whom the mountaineers had won this glorious 
 victory, played but an insignificant part during the war, and 
 lost all credit through his unwarlike supineness. Neverthe- 
 less, he had governed Tsernogora for four years with such 
 sway that he had caused two mountaineers to be shot for 
 robbery, which the "Vladika himself would not have ventured 
 to do ; and he had left a purse and a silver mounted pistol 
 exposed for several weeks on a rock upon the road to Cat- 
 taro, and no one had dared to touch them. Having lost his 
 sight by an explosion, Stephen retired into a monastery, 
 where he is said to have been assassinated as he slept, by a 
 spy of the Pacha of Scutari. This sing-ular episode in the 
 history of the Montenegrins served at least to exalt their 
 hopes to a high degree ; the thought that a banished Emp6iX)r 
 had chosen to become a member of their commonwealth, con- 
 firmed them in the belief that they were worthy to found an 
 empire. The end of the eighteenth century revealed them 
 to the Greco-Slave world as conquerors, or rather as eman- 
 cipators ; with their aid a part of Hertsegovina and the Al- 
 banian districts of the north-east ceased to submit to the 
 haratch. 
 
 The great powers of Europe had at last perceived that the 
 Black Mountain was worthy of their notice ; and, thence- 
 forth, under the specious pretext of affording it aid, they 
 sought only to absorb it. This was the policy of Austria 
 and Krssia especially ; but Peter Petrovitch, the Vladika 
 who then governed the Tsernogorki, cleverly took advantage 
 of the mutual rivalry of those powers. In 1777 he had 
 himself consecrated as Metropolitan, under the auspices of 
 the Austrians at Karlovitch, in Syrmia ; and then he went 
 to the court of the Tsar, who made him an honorary mem- 
 
432 INDEPENDENCE OP THE MONTENEGRINS. 
 
 ber of the great synod of E-ussia. Thus alternately ingrati- 
 ating himself with the two protecting empires, Peter set the 
 example of that adroit policy which his successors have 
 pursued to this day. 
 
 Peter took advantage of the anarchy in the Ottoman 
 j)rovinces to cut off from the Pachalic of Scutari a great 
 number of districts, which have since been confederated with 
 Montenegro, under the name of the Berda ; but this was not 
 eflected without bloody battles, the last of which, that of 
 Kix)ussa, for a long while freed Montenegro from the Alba- 
 nian invasions. The Yladika behaved with admirable ability 
 in that battle, and long afterwards the pious elders of Tsetinie 
 applied to him the verse of the Bible on the defeat of the 
 Midianites by Gideon, after which " the country was in quiet- 
 ness forty years." The Gideon of the Black Mountain caused 
 the head of his rival, the Vizier of Albania, to be embalmed 
 and exposed in his audience hall at Stanievitch, whence it 
 was afterwards transferred to Tsetinie. Like the head on 
 which was laid the first stone of the Temple of Jupiter at 
 Rome, that head of the Bouchatli became, as it were, the 
 base of the Tsernogorki capitol. The signal victory of 
 Kroussa opened a new era for the Montenegrins, whose in- 
 independence was thenceforth confirmed in the eyes of 
 Europe, aud recognized by the Sultan himself, who ceased 
 from that time forth to demand from them payment of the 
 haratch. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF THE MONTENEGRINS. 
 
 The Erench Republic, after its victories over the Turks in 
 Egypt, was hailed with enthusiasm by all the Greco-Slaves ; 
 but all was changed when Napoleon went so far as to enter 
 into alliance with the Sultan. It was then easy for Russia 
 to make Montenegro a focus of intrigue and reaction against 
 the French rule in the old Venetian jDrovinces. A long war 
 
PALL OP VENICE. 433 
 
 ensued in those provinces between the French garrison 
 and the Tsernogorki. who, though generally defeated, never 
 gave way without having fought bravely. The first of the 
 piesnias, which comprise this long drama, is entitled the 
 "Fall of Venice." 
 
 Two mighty men are disputing for the crown of the Doge of Venice; 
 the one is the Caesar of Vienna, the other is the Krai Bonaparte. The 
 young Krai writes to the Csesar ; " If thou wilt not give up Venice to me, 
 I will go with my French and burn all thy villages and take thy castles and 
 thy white capital ; I will enter thy own divan on horseback and change 
 thy palace into a hospital. I will drive thee out of the German land ; 
 Prague the golden, and thy city of Milan, shall become my prey ; I will 
 wrest from thee Istria, Dalmatia, and Cattaro, and will return and take 
 my royal repose in Venice. 
 
 The Caesar on receipt of this letter assembles his lords and lays it 
 before them ;.. all are struck with consternation, all talk of submission, 
 the archdukes alone protest, and resistance is resolved on. At this news 
 the Krai Bonaparte exclaims, *' Poor Caesar of Vienna, thou art bold 
 enough then to engage in strife with France ; be it so !" — And away he 
 goes with his Frenchmen, burns towns and villages, and traverses all the 
 provinces in spite of the valiant Kutusov, who had come from Moscow 
 to help the Caesar of the Germans. And neither the Caesar nor Kutusov 
 dared to stop the way against Bonaparte, who entered without striking a 
 blow into Vienna, where he cracked no end of jokes upon the poor Caesar. 
 Then he marched to Milan, which being defended by a Slave general, 
 Philip Voukassovitch, only surrendered after three days. Master of 
 Milan, he carried his arras all over Italy, and came, as he had promised, 
 to take his royal repose in Venice." 
 
 "Then," says the Grlitsa (vol.. ii. 1836), in an official 
 article, "the French, by the treaty of Campo Formio, gave 
 up the Bocche di Cattaro, to the empire of Austria, for- 
 getting that when Cattaro voluntarily gave itself to the 
 Venetians in 1410, it did so upon the express condition that 
 if ever Venice should cease to be able to protect them, the 
 inhabitants of the Bocche should resume their former free- 
 dom, without its being lawful to cede them to another power. 
 It was not, therefore, without grief they saw themselves 
 adjudged, contrary to all justice, to the Roman Emperor; 
 and their principal knezes resolved to send a deputation to the 
 Vladika of the Tsernogorki to ask his advice and succour." 
 
 2p 
 
434 FRENCH INFLUENCE. 
 
 From that moment the Vladika was regarded by a great 
 portion of the maritime Serbs as their natural protector, and 
 his influence among them increased in proportion as that of 
 E-agusa declined. Before the French invasion that celebrated 
 republic was so venerated throughout all the peninsula, that 
 the Slaves of Turkey themselves used to carry their disputes 
 for decision before its tribunals. Its aristocracy, purely 
 civil, solely occupied with parliamentary proceedings, recog- 
 nizing only legal order, and asserting no feudal or military 
 pretensions whatever, were the most paternal aristocracy in 
 Europe. That little state, always tranquil, presented the 
 most striking contrast with the stirring and warlike republic 
 of Montenegro. When the French entered Ragusa, there had 
 not been one capital sentence pronounced there for five and 
 twenty years. When it was necessary to pass a sentence of 
 death the republic put on mourning; an executioner was 
 brought in from Turkey, and immediately after the execu- 
 tion he was paid and sent away, without being allowed even 
 to remain for the rest of the day in that city of peace. The 
 Montenegrin forays, and the vengeances which the Latin 
 Serbs felt themselves obliged to take in consequence, were 
 the only things that disturbed the profound tranquillity of 
 the country. 
 
 With the French began a new era for the Latin Serbs : 
 the sound maxims of the old republics gave place to dema- 
 gogue notions imported from Paris ; many a piesma deplores 
 the excesses to which the Serb jacohins gave themselves up 
 at that time. Those of Cattaro are represented in one of 
 these lays, as writing thus to Bonaparte : 
 
 " O thou who art our father and our mother, hasten hither if thou 
 wouldst not have the Schwabi give us up to the Russians or the English ; 
 we long for thee." 
 
 French influence was not, however, to be established at 
 Cattaro without hard struggles ; other yunaks were writing 
 at the same time to Admiral Siniavin then at white Corfu : 
 
 " It is now four centuries since the Serbs lost their Tsar at Kossovo ; 
 from that time forth all our illustrious families lived in Primorea,* under 
 the shadow of the Doge of Venice, who behaved admirably towards us ; 
 
 * This name designates all the mountain countries in which Serbian is 
 spoken. 
 
CAMPAIGN OF 1806. 435 
 
 no father could be tenderer towards his children. We were then miserably 
 sold to that hard Caesar of Vienna, who oppressed us for nine years ; and 
 now the Jacobins want to sell us again to their friend Bonaparte. But 
 come, glorious Siniavin, and protect us ; thou shalt be the father of our 
 sons." 
 
 The piesmas add that the Russian admiral, on receipt of 
 the letter, sailed with his fleet and took possession of the 
 Bocche di Cattaro. Official history agrees pretty nearly 
 with the popular songs; it relates that Cattaro was, b-^- 
 virtue of the treaty of Presburg, to be given up to France, 
 but that the inhabitants, with the connivance of the Aus- 
 trians, surrendered the place to the Russian cruizers of 
 Corfu, whom they regarded as less formidable masters than 
 the French of Italy, in consequence of the remoteness of 
 Russia from Cattaro. It was then that the Montenegrins, 
 aided by a Muscovite force, opened their campaign of 1806 
 with an attack upon General Lauriston, and the French in 
 Ragusa. They laid siege simultaneously to Ragusa and Cat- 
 taro twenty thousand strong. They claimed the latter town 
 as having belonged to the Serbian kingdom until 1343, and 
 as forming one of the most ancient apanages of their Vla- 
 dika. As for Ragusa they proposed to make it their own 
 by right of conquest. The Russian fleet, which bombarded 
 the place by sea, had landed three thousand men to aid the 
 mountaineers, and the siege was warmly pressed, when 
 General Molitor came from Zara with the whole disposable 
 force of the French in Dalmatia, amounting only to sixteen 
 hundred men. With that small body he proceeded to re- 
 lieve Ragusa from the presence of its thii'teen thousand 
 besiegers. He charged the dispersed plemes of the Montene- 
 grins with the bayonet, and drove them back on the Rus- 
 sians, who, in their turn, gave way. The fugitives abandoned 
 their artillery and their camp, and made their escape on 
 board the fleet. This victory, which seems fabulous, secui^ed 
 the French in the possession of the Bocche di Cattaro. Dis- 
 abled from continuing the war on a grand scale, the moun- 
 taineers revenged themselves by isolated forays, in one of 
 which they beheaded General Delgorgues, who had fallen alive 
 into their hands. One of Marmont's adjutants, named Gaiet, 
 shared the general's fate. Finally, they lost so many men 
 in the aflair of Castel Novo, in 1807, that they could no 
 
 2r2 
 
436 CATTARO DEMANDED FROM THE FRENCH. 
 
 longer keep the field, and concluded with the French, to 
 whom the treaty of Tilsit had given Cattaro, a peace which 
 was earnesty desired, and which was not disturbed until 
 1813. In that year the Montenegrins again demanded back 
 their town of Cattaro, and not obtaining it, they marched to 
 reconquer it. A long piesma relates the course of this cam- 
 paign : we will quote only the leading traits : 
 
 The Vladika Peter writes to Niegouchi, to the gouvernadour* Vouk 
 Radonitch : " Halo ! hearken to me, gourvernadour Vouk, assemble thy 
 Niegouchi, and with them all the Tseklitch, and march at their head to 
 Cattaro to besiege the brave French there, and bar the roads and stairs 
 leading to the citadel in such wise that no one may be able to get in. 
 Meanwhile I will go from Tsetinie to Maina, and will take the town of 
 Boudva with my people." When Vouk had read this finely penned letter 
 he leaped for joy, assembled a strong body of men, mounted his horse, 
 and set off for Cattaro. On reaching the torrent of Gorajda he pitched 
 his tent on the bank, caused the heights to be occupied, and so cut off 
 Cattaro from the fort of Troitsa. The Vladika meanwhile descends with 
 his people towards Maina where all the Primortsi (maritime Serbs) 
 flock to meet him, and proclaim the free annexation of their province to 
 the Black Mountain. 
 
 At dawn next day the Vladika rises, convokes all his Tsernogorki and 
 Primortsi brethren, and asks does any of them know a means of deli- 
 vering Boudva, which shall spare the blood of the Serbs and of the brave 
 French. Thereupon Peter Djurashkovitch gets upon his legs, kisses the 
 Vladika's hand, and says to him in a respectful tone: " Hospodar, here is 
 the way to get possession of Boudva with the least possible bloodshed. 
 There are in that town as many Serb pandours as French soldiers ; let us 
 write to the chief of those Pandours, the Kerstitchevitch Vouko, and bid 
 him pick a quarrel with the foreign garrison, and whilst the quarrel is 
 afoot, we will approach the unguarded ramparts." The Vladika follows 
 this advice and writes to the chief of the Pandours, promising him a large 
 reward on the part of Russia. 
 
 The Kerstitchevitch assembles his brethren, and reads them the letter 
 he has received. The Pandours reply : ** It would be ill done in us to 
 betray the post intrusted to our good faith." They refuse to take part in 
 their chief's design ; but he remains firm. " Being all Serbs," he says, 
 *• we must all act in accordance with our holy Vladika." At last the chief 
 succeeds in gaining over a portion of his men. They begin by ridding 
 
 * Civil governor, invested with the executive power of the republic. 
 
VICTORY OVER THE FRENCH. 437 
 
 themselves of such of their countrymen as are most attached to France ; 
 then falling on the French they kill such as refuse to yield, tie the rest two 
 and two, and open at day break the gates of white Boudva. Mounted 
 on his great horse and light as a grey falcon, the Vladika entered the place 
 and returned thanks to God. 
 
 The Governadour Vouk encamped on the Gorajda, learning the cap- 
 ture of Boudva, said to his people : ** We cannot live on shame ; let us 
 get up at dawn and go storm the fort of Troxtsa." From the ramparts of 
 Cattaro the mighty French general perceives the movement of the Serbs, 
 and cries out : " Glory to the Supreme Being who lets us see at last how 
 the goats of Tsernogora escalade the imperial fortresses ! " Then turning 
 to his staff, " Which of you," said he, " will go and succour Troitsa ? " 
 Captain Campaniole replies, *' General, give me three hundred soldiers, 
 and I will go and set fire to the tails of all those mountain rats, twenty of 
 whom shall be reserved and brought alive to thee." 
 
 Campaniole sets off with his braves ; but whilst the eagle is mounting 
 towards Troitsa, the Tsemogorki steal along in his rear to cut off his 
 retreat, spread along his flanks under cover of the rocks, and completely 
 surround him. The entrapped hero struggles and strives like a lion ; at 
 last he forms a square battalion, and marches back down the mountain. 
 He had nearly reached Vernets when a bullet stretched that terrible eagle 
 on the grass. Another bullet struck the Kneze Shaliar, who followed the 
 French ; a third brought down the standard bearer : he was dead before he 
 touched the ground. A hundred grenadiers fell like brave men, covered 
 with wounds and pursued by those mountain rats to the foot of the ram- 
 parts. At that sight the fifty French who defended Troitsa surrendered, 
 and the victors destroyed the fortress after having carried off the four 
 green cannons, the fine French cannons, that served to give joyous salvos 
 to the Vladika, when he came with his army to join that of the Gouver- 
 nadour Vouk. 
 
 The official bulletin* on the taking of Boudva and Troitsa, 
 adds some details to those given in the piesma. It assigns 
 the date of the 11th September, to the capture of Boudva, 
 in which fifty-seven French were made prisoners ; and that 
 of the 1 2th of the same month to the storming and capture 
 of Troitsa, after an ineflfectual sally of the gaiTison of Cat- 
 taro, which was driven back into the town, leaving, besides 
 its dead, thirty-six prisoners in the hands of the Monte- 
 negrins ; but this bulletiu admits that the fort of Troitsa, hav- 
 
 * Grlitsa, vol. iv, 1838. 
 
438 DEATH OF VLADIKA PETER. 
 
 ing been mined by the French, blew up an hour after it was 
 stormed by the mountaineers. As for Cattaro, General 
 Gautier, sustained a siege there for several months, but sur- 
 rendered in December to the English, who restored Cattaro 
 to the Montenegrins in accordance with a treaty entered into 
 by them with the Yladika. In the spring of the following 
 year (1814) the Montenegrins lost that precious acquisition 
 by the formal transfer which the Emperor Alexander made 
 of it to the Austrians. By order of the ' Caesar of Vienna,' 
 General Miloutinovitch marched from Ragusa to expel the 
 Vladika from the Bocche di Cattaro. The popular ballads 
 maintain a sullen silence on this sad event ; whereas, the 
 Latin Serbs of Ragusa have composed long and jocular 
 descants on the discomfiture of the holy Vladika, and the 
 evacuation of Cattaro. They acknowledge, however, the 
 bravery with which the black warriors defended the place, 
 against Miloutinovitch and his Austrians, having fired their 
 last cartridge before they retired. 
 
 Peter returned sadly to his mountain, and applied himself 
 to heal the wounds of his people in peace, until the year 1820, 
 when the cruel Jelaludin, Vizier of Bosnia, descended the 
 valley of the Moratcha with a strong army, to subdue the 
 Montenegrins. The latter drew him into their defiles, and 
 proved to the Porte, by their complete triumph over him, 
 that if they had been forced to yield to European strategy, 
 they still retained their full superiority over the irregular 
 forces of Islam. The rout of the Bosnian Vizier, who 
 soon afterwards killed himself for shame, reduced the Mus- 
 sulman warfare against the Black Mountain, to a mere suc- 
 cession of skirmishes of no historical importance. 
 
 On the 18th of October, 1830, the great Vladika Peter, 
 who might almost be styled the Louis XIV of Tsernogora, 
 died at the age of eighty, after a reign of half a century. 
 That obscure antagonist of Napoleon on the Adriatic, con- 
 tributed more than any of his predecessors towards the con- 
 solidation of his country. His bravery, and the invincible 
 energy of his will, in no respect diminished the extraordinary 
 gentleness of his disposition ; he had the gift of persuasion 
 and eloquence in such a degree, that a word from him was 
 enough to obtain the most costly sacrifices on the part of the 
 Montenegrins. His power was unlimited, and he commanded 
 
NEW VLADIKA APPOINTED. 439 
 
 even the gouvernadour, though the latter was nominally his 
 equal, and sat face to face with him. So simple and austere 
 were his habits of life, that in his last illness he had not even 
 a fire in the poor cell that served him for a bed-room. After 
 this chief of a heroic people had expired, all the plemes 
 gathered round his remains to kiss his hand for the last 
 time ; and in compliance with the wish expressed in his will, 
 a truce of six months with all enemies at home and abroad 
 was vowed over his tomb. Four years afterwards, upon the 
 opening of the coffin of Peter I, the inhabitants of Tsetinie 
 having found his body in perfect preservation, cried out, 
 " A miracle ! " The great man was declared a saint : his 
 bones were laid on an altar, which has subsequently been 
 visited by many pilgrims from all the Serb provinces. 
 
 Immediately after the death of Peter I, one of his nephews, 
 whom he had designated to succeed him, was unanimously 
 hailed by the whole people as their Vladika, by the name of 
 Peter II. As he was not yet in orders, Mustapha, son of 
 the famous Kara Mahmoud, and last Pacha of the Boushatli 
 family, allowed the bishop of Prisren to go to the Mountain, 
 and ordain the new Regent, who did not go to St. Petersburg 
 to be consecrated a bishop until 1833. The danger which 
 menaced the independence of Montenegro compelled Peter 
 to remain at home until that year. The Grand Vizier, 
 Reschid Pacha, who had forced the rebel Mustapha to 
 capitulate in Scutari, was thinking of conquering Mon- 
 tenegro as he had conquered Albania, by sowing discord 
 among the inhabitants ; but he knew not how unassailable 
 are the constancy and public spirit of that people. In vain 
 he lavished gold ; in vain he offered the Vladika, in the name 
 of the Sultan, a berat of hereditary investiture like that of 
 the Prince of Servia, Milosh. The Vladika, who felt himself 
 already in a better position than that of the protected and 
 tributary princes of the Danube, replied that he had no need 
 of a berat so long as his fellow-citizens were willing to defend 
 him; and that should they ever be unwilling to do so, a 
 berat would be of no use to him. This sublime reply on the 
 part of the head of a dynasty enchanted the Tsemogorki. 
 The Petrovitch family, which, since its bloody vespers of 
 1703 until 1832, had never ceased to produce heroic priests, 
 apostles alike of patriotism and religion, that family of M»- 
 
440 BATTLE OF MARTINITCH. 
 
 chabees was now invested by the people with boundless con- 
 fidence. It was under these circumstances that Peter II., who 
 had become dictator at the age of twenty, awaited the Grand 
 Vizier's army, which was disciplined in the European manner 
 and inured to war by its victories over the insurgent Al- 
 banians. But notwithstanding the superiority of his forces, 
 the Grand Vizier was not without fear : and in order to feel 
 his way, he sent forward his advanced guard, composed of 
 7000 young tahiiki (regular soldiers), under Namik Halil, 
 the new Pacha of Scutari. This corps contrived to conceal 
 its march so well, that it arrived unexpectedly on the enemy's 
 frontier, and got possession of the defile of Martinitch which 
 it found undefended. A piesma gives the following account 
 of the battle which was fought in April, 1832, and ended in 
 the rout of the imperial Nizam. 
 
 On the frontier the young popadia of the fair village of Martinitch, 
 the eaglet of Pope Radovitch, has had a dream. She has seen in a vision 
 a dense cloud come from bloody Skadar, pass over Podgoritsa and Spouje, 
 and discharge on the celo of Martinitch its long resounding thunder, and 
 its brilliant lightning, that scorched the eyes of herself and her eight 
 sisters-in-law. But a mighty wind blew from the church on the moun- 
 tain, then another wind blew from Jupina, and a third from Slatina, and 
 all three drove back the dark cloud to the plain of Spouje. She tells this 
 dream to her husband, who at once foreseeing a speedy attack by the 
 Mussulmans of the Spouje, gets up and makes ready his glittering 
 carbine. 
 
 It was still night when the Turks rushed torch in hand into the un- 
 fortunate village. Pope Radovitch fought at the head of his parishioners, 
 to cover the flight of the women, until he was mangled and laid low by 
 chained balls. *' Ho ! nephews," cries the husband of the dreaming popa- 
 dia, " Where are you, Stepho and Gabriel ? I am wounded, sore wounded 
 and beyond cure, in defending our homes against the incendiaries; but I 
 die content for I have sold my life dear. Yet carry off my body, my poor 
 nephews, that the Turks may not cut off and profane my head, and warn 
 all our chivalry* of the invasion, that they may not be exterminated." 
 Up came Stepho and Gabriel with thirty shepherds, surprised the scattered 
 Turks, cut off thirty of their heads, and drove them out of the village 
 back to Namik Halil. 
 
 Meanwhile Namik draws up three thousand Taktiki in order of battle, 
 
 * Literally Yunakery^ the whole body of the Moutegrin men of valour. 
 
IIADOVITCH BROUGHT TO TRIAL. 441 
 
 and begins to batter the koulas of Martinitch with his artillery. But the 
 alarm has been given, and reinforcements arrive : Radovan Pouliev, the 
 Capetan of Bernitsa, comes with his men ; the Berdjani of Piperi and 
 Bielopavlitch come, eight hundred strong, and attack in front the three 
 thousand Taktiki and all the rest of the Turkish army. Namik Halilwas 
 not lucky, for he was trampled by horses, and pursued up to the gates of 
 Spouje, behind which alone his life was safe. A hundred and sixty four 
 Turks were killed, and three hundred wounded. He may go now, may 
 Pacha Namik Hamil, and pay his court to the pure Tsar of Stamboul, 
 who had given him the command of his fine Nizam that he might change 
 calves into lions. Serb falcons, how well you put the Imperial Pachas 
 back into the right road with your carbines, for fear they should stray and 
 lose themselves with their men in the deep forests ! How you make them 
 collect a plentiful haratch, until tired at last of their too frequent visit?, 
 you cut off their heads : which God be thanked, will always happen, so 
 long as there are carbines and brave hearts in the free black mountain ! 
 
 The Grand Vizier was preparing to revenge the discomfi- 
 ture of the Nizam by marching in person against the Monte- 
 negrins, when he was ordered to Syria to oppose the son of 
 the Viceroy of Egypt. On the restoration of peace, the 
 Vladika promptly availed himself of the popularity he had 
 acquired for the consolidation of his power. He had the 
 boldness to bring the gouvernadour Radovitch to trial, on the 
 charge of favouring Austria, a power hostile to MontenegTO, 
 and aspiring, in concert with it, to absolute power. The 
 old man was declared a traitor, and condemned to banish- 
 ment with all his family ; his property was confiscated, the 
 house of his fathers at Niegoushi was reduced to ashes, and 
 he went to Cattaro, where his family continues to be main- 
 tained by Austria since his death. The post of civil governor 
 remained unoccupied. A moment had sufficed for the accom- 
 plishment of this great measure ; but the Vladika would 
 hardly have carried the affair through so easily but for the 
 assassination of the governor's younger brother, the most 
 heroic and the most beloved of the Radovitch. Having made 
 himself secure at home, Peter II. went to Vienna where he 
 was ill received by M. de Metternich, in consequence of 
 which he went to Russia to obtain episcopal consecration. 
 
 The party of the civil governor raised their heads again 
 during the absence of Peter II., and chose for their leaders 
 the family of the Voukotitch of Tchevo, from whom the 
 
4:42 GREAT INFLUENCE OF PETER II. 
 
 Kadovitch had inherited or purchased the office. The last 
 representative of the Voukotitch had been sent to Russia by 
 the late Vladika, to recover the large inheritance of his kins- 
 man, General Ivo Podgoritsanin, a Serbian hero celebrated in 
 the piesmas. Having secured the property, "Voukotitch left 
 it invested in Russia, and returned to Montenegro, where he 
 gave out that he had been sent by Russia to reform the laws 
 of the country. The senate believed him, and elected him for 
 its president, giving the vice-presidency to his nephew and 
 fellow-traveller Voukitchevitch, who was immediately be- 
 trothed to a sister of the Yladika. But the young man having 
 soon afterwards returned to Russia, fell in love there with 
 a fair Muscovite, whom he married and brought to Cattaro ; 
 and this so incensed the Montenegrins that they drove the 
 faithless man with contempt out of their territory. The 
 Vladika, who had meanwhile returned, made the uncle share 
 the disgrace incurred by the nephew, and the two russophiles 
 were forced in 1834 to seek refuge in the country of their 
 predilection. 
 
 Then it was that Peter II. began really to reign. He had 
 not yet ventured to appear as a reformer ; to secure a favour- 
 able reception for his plans of regeneration he took care to 
 present them under the tutelary name of the deceased Vladika, 
 the good genius of Montenegro, whose sacred wishes should 
 be religiously fulfilled. At last, boldly seizing the helm of 
 the state, he governed only in his own name, and invested 
 himself with an authority to which no previous Vladika had 
 dared to aspire. To show what a mighty influence Peter II. 
 had rapidly acquired, it is enough to state in what manner 
 he hindered a new war with the Sultan in 1835. A troop of 
 bold yunaks of Tsernitsa Nahia having surprised the fortress of 
 Spouje by night, massacred the Turkish garrison, and carried 
 off one cannon. Some months afterwards, under pretext of 
 avengiag the burning of their maize crops by the Turks, some 
 parties of koutclii surprised the citadel of Jabliak, planted 
 their standards there in the name of its first possessor, the 
 Tsernoyevitch Ivo, and took measures for establishing them- 
 selves there permanently. A long piesma, published in the 
 Grlitsa of 1836, strenuously extols this daring deed. 
 
 The importance of Jabliak, and its excellent position on 
 the lake of Skadar, seemed to make it imperative on the 
 
WAR WITH AUSTRIA. 443 
 
 Montenegrins not to let it out of their hands. Peter II. 
 thought otherwise ; he threatened his countrymen with ex- 
 communication if they persisted in retaining their conquest, 
 and Jabliak was evacuated. The Vladika then concluded an 
 eternal peace with the Pacha of Podgoritsa ; but, before the 
 year was out war had akeady been renewed by a fresh foray 
 of the Turks of that town against the inhabitants of the 
 Berda, from whom they carried off several thousand sheep, 
 killing fifteen of the shepherds. A feud immediately ensued 
 between the despoiled and the spoilers. The Vladika affected 
 not to be aware of these reprisals, which were considered 
 only as private feuds, of which the respective governments 
 of Tsetinie and Stamboul were not to take any notice. In 
 thus isolating itself from the quarrels of the tribes, and con- 
 cealing its real weakness under the veil of neutrality, the 
 government of Montenegro gradually accustomed the Turks 
 to regard it as a legitimate power. 
 
 This policy, however applicable in the East, could not be 
 suitably maintained towards a European state. The Yladika 
 was, therefore, constrained to quit his sanctuary when his 
 countrymen resolved, in August, 1838, to recommence against 
 the Austrians the warfare they had before waged with the 
 French of the empire, in order to secure a maritime point 
 imjustly refused to Montenegro by the Congress of Yienna. 
 Among the districts formerly dependent on the Mountain, 
 and now known as Austrian Albania, are the Maini, the 
 Pashtrovitch, and the peninsula of Loustitsa. The salt- 
 works in these districts, which belonged to the old chiefs of 
 Montenegro, were destroyed by the Venetians in 1650, and 
 their place taken by those of Kisano, whence the moun- 
 taineers now derive their supplies, so that they are dependent 
 on Austria for one of the necessaries of life. The canton of 
 Pastrovitch, to which belongs the convent of Lastva, situated 
 in a plain admirably cultivated and famous for its olives 
 and its exquisite fruit, occupies almost the whole coast from 
 Boudva to Antivari. Its inhabitants had acquired celebrity 
 and much wealth as mariners ; they were military allies of 
 Venice, paid her no taxes, chose their own leaders both for 
 peace and war, and had in the castle of St. Stephen, on a 
 small island, their own government, consisting of twelve 
 vlastels or plenipotentiaries and six stareshins. Held in 
 
444 TOWN OF GOMILA ATTACKED. 
 
 great esteem by the Venetians, these proud allies, like the 
 Franks in the Roman Empire, were entitled by a special law 
 to marry the daughters of the first families in the republic. 
 When the present arbitrary demarcations were imposed on 
 Europe, Austria obtained this noble tribe, which, decimated 
 and reduced to 3000 souls, still remains divided into twelve 
 families, and retains its thirty-seven villages on the coast. 
 For some years past, however, their extreme penury has 
 compelled them from time to time to sell to the Montene- 
 grins many pastures, which the latter have transformed into 
 cultivated fields, and settling amongst them, have built 
 houses and established their own way of life there. To put 
 an end to the sanguinary disorders thence arising, the 
 Austrians wished to eject the Montenegrins from the lands 
 of Pashtrovitch, at the same time offering to indemnify them 
 for the loss of their property. Negotiations took place to 
 that effect ; the Vladika assented to the expropriation : but 
 when the Austrian engineers began their survey, for the pur- 
 pose of marking out the new frontier, the Montenegrins were 
 enraged at the sight of foreigners measuring their fields, and 
 on the 2nd of August they fell upon the Austrian surveyors, 
 who were obliged to escape in haste from the plateau of 
 Troitsa. 
 
 The mountaineers then attacked the fortified tower of 
 Gomila, in which Captain Spanner stood fast with his light- 
 company. Next day four or five thousand fighting men of 
 the Tsemitsa Nahia marched out through the pass of Outerg, 
 which faces Austria, and furiously attacked the koula, and 
 the imperial post of Vidrak. Being beaten back at every 
 assault, they at last hit upon the device of placing a woman 
 at the head of their ranks. A woman is in the eyes of the 
 Serbs a sacred bekig, on whom they would not dare to fire 
 under any circumstances : but the Schwabi, who are not 
 restrained by any such fanatical respect for woman, shot the 
 unfortunate creature. The act excited such horror among 
 the assailants, that for eight and twenty hours they never 
 desisted from the most furious attempts to storm the entrench- 
 ments. An Austrian reinforcement which came to the relief 
 of the besieged, was repulsed with loss. Nevertheless, the 
 garrison of the koula, though numbering but twenty-seven 
 men, made a desperate resistance, until at last several imperial 
 
THE AUSTRIANS DEFEATED. 445 
 
 companies, arriving from different quarters, fell simultaneously 
 on the Montenegrins, and compelled them to quit the koula, in 
 order to make head against those new enemies. The conflict 
 was terrible, and the issue long doubtf al ; the boys and the 
 old men heaved pieces of rock from the mountain side on 
 the enemy, that hit their mark as if aimed from mortars. 
 Night alone separated the combatants ; the Austrians had 
 fought like heroes ; the company of Lieutenant Rossbach, a 
 veteran who had lost an eye at the battle of Aspern, espe- 
 cially distinguished itself by its gallant bayonet charges. 
 
 Some days passed in preparations for a general engagement, 
 which took place on the 6th of Aug-ust. A thousand Dalma- 
 tian peasants, more accustomed than the troops of the line to 
 mountain warfare, were annexed to the imperial troops, and 
 guided them into the defiles of the Pashtrovitch, whence the 
 Montenegrin army retreated, with the intention of decoying 
 the Austrians into more perilous defiles. The latter fell into 
 the snare : the Montenegrins assailed them on all sides with 
 tremendous yells, forced them to retire in disorder, and pur- 
 sued them to the point from which they had advanced. Just 
 then the Austrian division of Gomila came fresh into the 
 fight, and fell upon the wearied victors. The Montenegrins 
 were compelled to retire to their escarped positions, but not 
 till they had sustained a fight of several hours with the fresh 
 troops. The Austrians pretend that they lost only eight 
 soldiers, and one officer in this battle, and had only fourteen 
 wounded, a statement which seems impossible, considering 
 the length and the violence of the action.* The loss of the 
 Montengrins was never known, for they wrested all theii^ dead 
 with fanatical courage from the hands of the enemy. 
 
 The Vladika, however, alarmed at the possible results of a 
 war, into which his people had rushed singly against all the 
 forces of Austria, pronounced sentence of excommunication 
 against all who should continue hostilities, and the pious 
 mountaineers instantly desisted, but took care to carry off 
 with them to Tsetinie the heads of the Austrian grenadiers 
 
 * Every one knows how, in the late Hungarian war, Prince Windis- 
 chgratz marched from victory to victory — until at last he was marched 
 cut of the country. His bulletin of battle after battle gave one man 
 killed as the loss on the Austrian side. 
 
446 PEACE WITH AUSTRIA. 
 
 they had killed, and to plant them on the posts of the palanka 
 where they are still to be seen. 
 
 The wari'iors having done their work, that of the poets 
 began ; they did justice to the gallantry of Lieutenant Ross- 
 bach, " The great one-eyed Voievode," and to his men, 
 "dauntless wolves," who were worthy to fight with the 
 braves of Tsernegora. " But death to their chiefs. Death 
 to those impious despisers of all human rights, who would 
 rob their neighbour of his heritage, of the house in which his 
 children were bom, and which God has commanded him to 
 defend, as the future cradle of his children's children ! Hap- 
 pily the volleys that rained by night from our mountain like 
 shooting stars, and the swift strokes of our swords, drove 
 back those violators of women, those masters of the castles of 
 the green coast and the sea, which they have usurped from 
 the sons of the Tsernoyevitch Ivo." The only thing the 
 yunaks regretted was that they could not continue a war of 
 haiduks in Dalmatia against Austria, in concert with their 
 maritime brethren the Morlacchi. They thought that in the 
 end that power would have grown tired of the contest, and 
 have yielded them those few leagues of coast south of Budva, 
 from which it derives no advantage, and which would suffice 
 to bestow a European existence on Montenegro. 
 
 Far from making such concessions, the cabinet of Vienna 
 took advantage of the pacific disposition of Peter II, to piu'- 
 chase from him the convents of Stanievitch and Podmaini, 
 private property of the Vladika ; which were sold, with all 
 their dependencies, in 1839, without the consent of the 
 people. Stanievitch is within two leagues of Boudva, and had 
 been the residence of the Yladikas for nearly two years, until 
 Peter I quitted it during his war with the French, in conse- 
 quence of its too great proximity to their garrison in Boudva. 
 Austria next demanded a regular delineation of the frontiers, 
 which was efiected in March 1840, under the auspices of 
 Bussia, which was chosen as umpire by both parties. The 
 treaty of peace which was signed on this occasion was of 
 great diplomatic importance, since it brought Montenegro, for 
 the first time, under the common law of Europe. Convinced 
 at last of the advantage of a reconciliation, at least in appear- 
 ance, with the Schwabi, the Montenegrins allowed their 
 
DEATH OP PETER II. 447 
 
 Vladika to erect a gallows in front of Boudva, on which was 
 to be hung whoever ventured thenceforth to make a raid 
 upon Austrian soil. 
 
 As soon as he had made peace with Austria, the Vladika 
 directed all the energies of his warlike people against tht 
 Turks of Hertsegovina and Albania ; but their triumphs ii 
 several successive campaigns brought them little or no terri- 
 torial advantages. The possession of the large island of 
 Vranina, which fell into their hands in 1838, seemed likely 
 to lead to the conquest of the whole district round the lake 
 of Scutari j but they lost it again in 1846. The Albanians, 
 finding the Vladika fully engaged at that time in a war with 
 Hertsegovina, and unprepared for their hostility, during a 
 truce, took possession of the island. In vain did the Monte- 
 negrins object to their treachery : the Turks fortified it ; and 
 when attacked by the Vladika in the autumn of the same 
 year, it was found to be too strong for a coup-de-main, and it 
 still continues in the hands of the Albanians.* 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PRESENT STATE AND PROSPECTS OF MONTENEGRO. 
 
 Peter II., the reformer of Montenegro, died last year, and 
 was succeeded by his nephew, Prince Daniel, who, like him- 
 self, had been educated in St. Petersburg. The late Vladika 
 was a man of superior talents and acquirements. He read 
 much, spoke several lang-uages, was distinguished as a Serb 
 poet, and united in his person the qualities of a good soldier 
 and an able diplomatist. He was probably the only bishop 
 of his day, who could hit with a rifle-ball a lemon thrown 
 into the air by one of his attendants, a feat which added not 
 a little to the confidence he enjoyed among his troops. His 
 appearance, too, was greatly in his favour, and his majestic 
 
 * Wilkinson. 
 
448 HEREDITAKY VENGEANCE ABOLISHED, 
 
 height, of about six feet eight inches, might well command 
 the respect of a primitive and warlike race. Above all, he 
 was an enthusiastic lover of his country. " Our neighbours," 
 said he to Sir Gardner Wilkinson, "have stigmatised the Mon- 
 tenegrins as robbers and assassins ; but I am determined that 
 they shall not be so, and will show that they are as capable 
 of improvement and civilization as any other people." And 
 he succeeded so well, that he was able to abolish the right of 
 krvina, or hereditary vengeance, to punish theft, and almost 
 entirely to suppress the pagan practice of abduction {otmitsa). 
 He would also gladly have put an end to the barbarous 
 practice of cutting off the heads of enemies on the field of 
 battle, or of prisoners slaughtered in cold blood, and exposing 
 them on stakes as trophies of victory ; " but," he observed to 
 his English visitor, " you, who have long known the Turks, 
 will understand how impossible it is for us to be the first to 
 abandon it, or to propose that it should be abolished ; they 
 would inevitably attribute our humane intentions to lear, 
 and, in their usual way, requite us with increased vexations. 
 Our making any proposition of the kind would almost be 
 tantamount to an invitation to invade our territory ; and 
 I must continue to regret what I cannot venture, ior our own 
 security, to discontinue." 
 
 But laudable to all appearance as were the changes intro- 
 duced by the late Vladika, Cyprien Robert thinks it just 
 possible that they may be ultimately fatal to Montenegro. 
 Unfortunately, he says, from the moment the Black Moun- 
 tain ceases to be freer than its neighbours, it will be undone. 
 The Greco-Slave peninsula is a land of helots in a perma- 
 nent state of revolt, and Montenegro is a country of ouskoks^ 
 a camp of refuge ; it cannot renounce that precious privilege 
 without, at the same time, losing all its advantages. The love 
 of civilization, which now possesses the Montenegrin leader^,, 
 might be pernicious to their country, if it impelled them, to 
 introduce the Frank polity, and all the restrictions upon 
 individual freedom which are deemed essential to the mainte- 
 nance of order in European states. Nevertheless a more regu- 
 lar administration of some sort was absolutely necessary for 
 Montenegro, a fact of which Peter I was aware : but though 
 he made some partial efforts in that direction, the task of 
 practically developing his views devolved on his successor. 
 
A SENATE ESTABLISHED. 449 
 
 The first step taken by the late Vh^dika towards the intro- 
 duction of his civilising schemes, was the establishment in 
 1831 of a senate, invested with supreme legislative and judi- 
 cial authority, and consisting of sixteen principal chiefs of 
 the nation. An inferior tribunal, composed of 135 persons, 
 called gTiardians, was also instituted for the decision of minor 
 affairs, for making reports to the senate concerning those of 
 more importance, and for the execution of the orders and 
 decrees of the Senate itself. There was also formed a small 
 body of government guards, composed of thirty Perianitchi 
 (so called from the feather, pero, which they wear in their 
 caps), who are selected from the principal families of the 
 country, and who, on condition of doing duty properly armed, 
 dressed, and mounted, receive ten dollars a-year for the keep 
 of a horse. The salary of the senators is £8 English money, 
 besides an allowance of flour ; that of the g-uardians is £6 
 without any other addition. The other persons in authority 
 are the Archimandrite, the Secretary of State, the Chan- 
 cellor, the Captain of the Perianitchi^ and forty Cajjtains or 
 Pretors, who are provincial judges. 
 
 The Senate-house (Soviet) is an oblong stone building, of 
 one story, covered with thatch : it has two doors, one of 
 which leads to an apartment used as a stable for oxen and 
 donkeys, the other conducts to two separate apartments ; 
 that on the left is filled with bedsteads covered with straw, 
 for the use of the senators, whose rifles hang about the walls ; 
 that on the right is the state-room ; a stone bench runs 
 along one of its walls, and in the midst there is a fire-place, 
 round which the deliberations of the Supreme Council are 
 generally held, and the dinners of its members cooked. When 
 the Vladika is present, he usually occupies a seat on the 
 stone bench, covered with a rug ; the senators sit near him 
 on the same bench ; whilst those who cannot find room 
 there, as well as litigant parties, occupy low wooden stools, 
 or stones, round the fire-place, and carry on their delibera- 
 tions, smoking their pipes. Whenever anything is to be 
 committed to writing, the secretary of the Vladika is called 
 in, and he either composes the necessary document in the 
 convent, or writes in the assembly, after the Turkish fashion^, 
 on liis knees.* 
 
 * Krasinski, Montenegro and the Slavonians of Turkey. 
 
 2a 
 
450 TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 
 
 There are eight hundred National Guards distributed in the 
 different provinces, where they do the duty of a police force, 
 the most perilous part of which is the arrest of murderers. 
 If the man they are in search of shuts himself up in his house, 
 they cannot break in upon him, for Eastern usage absolutely 
 forbids such a violation of the sanctity of the home. The 
 late Vladika, however, cut the gordian knot of this difficulty, 
 by enacting that the culprit's house should be set on fire 
 over his head, leaving it to his option to remain there and 
 be burnt to death, or to escape with no more property than 
 he carries on his person. Dead in law, and despoiled of his 
 land and his cattle, which are bestowed on the relation of 
 his victim, the murderer seeks a refuge among the Turks, 
 unless he is received by some tribe of confederate Ouskoks. 
 This, it must be owned, is a barbarous kind of justice, since 
 it reduces the children of the criminal to beggary ; but it is 
 confined in its application to the more powerful culprits only, 
 who hope, with the help of their friends and retainers, to 
 defeat or baffle the blockading force. The property of ordi- 
 dinary criminals, who abscond to the forests, is not confis- 
 cated. When a man is condemned to death by the Senate, 
 the sentence is executed by a number of persons chosen, one or 
 two, from each tribe. He is placed before them, unbound, at 
 a distance of forty paces ; they all fire together ; and, if he 
 falls, his fiimily cannot tell who killed him, and, therefore, 
 do not consider themselves bound to revenge his death. If 
 he is wounded, he is, nevertheless, considered to have under- 
 gone his sentence, and is not to be further molested. 
 
 Fines are now established for every offence, and whoever, 
 wounds another in a quarrel is arrested ; and his arms being 
 taken from him are kept as a deposit until the fine is paid. 
 Half the sum goes to the Vladika ; the rest is divided be- 
 tween the senators and the officers of Government. And in 
 order to show that the Vladika and the laws are in earnest, 
 a prison has been set up at Tsetinie, where culprits are im- 
 mured, without the advantages of being fed at the Govern- 
 ment expense ; and everyone depends during his confinement, 
 for his bread and water, on his family or friends.""'" 
 
 It was easier to make the Montenegrins accept a regular 
 form of Government than its inevitable attendant, taxatioif 
 * Sir G. Wilkinson. 
 
IMPOSITION OF TAXES. 451 
 
 It was no light matter to overcome ^"the um^easonable im- 
 patience of taxation" felt by a people who had been used for 
 ages to levy imposts from their enemies, without ever paying 
 any to their leaders. " We fight the Turks/' they said, '' be- 
 cause we will not pay the haratch ; we might as well be 
 Eayahs if we are to be taxed after all." The Vladika, how- 
 ever, was firm ; each house or family was taxed to the amount 
 of only four shillings a year, and the right of controlling the 
 expenditure of their money being insured to the people, they 
 consented to pay. Two refractory kuezes having been shot, 
 by way of example, in 1840, no resistance has been made 
 since that time to the collection of the taxes, the total of 
 which now amounts to 28,000 or 30,000 florins yearly. The 
 whole revenue of the country, including 4,700/. given by 
 Kussia, is under 8,000/. 
 
 It vv^ould be difiicuit for foreigTiers to come to any definite 
 conclusion for or against these reforms, which too directly affect 
 the most vital interests of the country, to be fairly judged 
 from without. Only it is to be desired that the individual 
 existence of the tribes may not be too abruptly crushed. It 
 is only by a natural, that is to say, a very slow gradation, 
 that the Montenegrin can rise to the level of civilization, 
 without losing the rich elements of freedom and patriotism 
 vrhich have hitherto sustained him. Among the means 
 of regeneration the most fruitful would, doubtless, be the 
 establishment of elementary village schools, like that which 
 Peter II. founded at Tsetinie, in order that the cleverest 
 youths might, at least, learn to read and write. The only 
 schools in the country are those of the popes, who usually 
 take one or two pupils, who serve them as menials, and 
 whom they teach to decipher the old Sclavonic missals. 
 Schools would be more surely effectual than gendarmes to^ 
 v/ards the extinction of prejudices; but the course of teach- 
 ing should be kept free from European influence of every 
 kind, and be based only on the national ideas and usages. 
 To send youths abroad for their education would be to incur 
 the risk of having them carry home with them the habits 
 of Europe, and tastes and inclinations incompatible with 
 the poverty and the military life of the Montenegrins. Ex- 
 perience has abeady proved that persons thus educated 
 always become disgusted with their country; they choose 
 
 2g2 
 
452 FUTURE CONDITION OP THE MONTENEGRINS. 
 
 rather to be shopkeepers' assistants in Cattaro, than to live 
 as free men in the mountains. 
 
 But it will be asked, has Montenegro indeed a more exalted 
 future before it ? How shall we answer this question ? Eastern 
 Europe has already had several celebrated republics, formed 
 like that of Montenegro, out of a gathering of Ouskoks, and 
 all have disappeared, from that of the Zaporogs of the 
 Ukraine, immolated by Catherine the Second, to the Suliotes 
 of Albania, whom we have seen fall so gloriously in our own 
 day. Will the Ouskoks of Montenegro come to the same 
 end as their predecessors? Several reasons induce us to 
 hope better for them. They are backed by a numerous 
 nation, which has every inducement to support them, at 
 least until its own fortunes are re-established. Was not an- 
 cient Sparta itself a nest of brigands, organised in the midst 
 of the classic world ? Was it not the Montenegro of Greece ? 
 And yet that Black Mountain of the Hellenes was the last 
 state that remained standing, and was able to defend itself 
 when all the rest had ceased to exist. The German jour- 
 nalists, jealous of everj^hing Sclavonian, conspire to repre- 
 sent Montenegro to Europe as a Russian colony, and its 
 Yladika, as an imperial natchalnik ; and they adduce, as an 
 unanswerable proof of this assertion, the annual subsidy of 
 4,700Z., paid by the Russian consul of Ragusa to the Vladika. 
 But that payment dates from the time when Peter I. joined 
 with the Russians against the French in Dalmatia, and is 
 only a stipulated indemnity for the losses which the Monte- 
 negrin archbishop, or rather his see, sustained, when the 
 French Government deprived it of its suffragan bishoiDrics 
 in Dalmatia. This subsidy is, therefore, a debt contracted 
 by Russia, which it ought to pay, even should its creditor 
 become hostile to it. 
 
 That the Yladika Peter I. enjoined the people in his will 
 never to fail in gratitude to Russia ; that Peter II. sent his 
 two nephews in 1840 to Russia ; that cargoes of Russian 
 wheat are often sent from Odessa to Montenegro, and that 
 the icones and sacred vessels of Tsetinie are presents from the 
 Tsar ; all this proves nothing against the patriotism of the 
 Tsernogorki. Can any one reasonably blame them for loving 
 the Tsar, when that monarch is the only one who aids them ? 
 Do them some good and they will love you as they love their 
 
THE FRIENDSHIP OF RUSSIA. 453 
 
 northern benefactor. Again, it is objected that no services 
 would secure their afiections for nations differing from them 
 in religion; but this assertion is contradicted by history. 
 The attachment they now profess towards the schismatic Tsar, 
 they had previously displayed towards the Catholic Csesar of 
 Vienna, when Austria, not Russia, took the lead in the East. 
 The Latin republic of Venice likewise possessed the full 
 friendship of the Montenegrins, who thus proved to the 
 world that they are wrongly accused of making religion para- 
 mount over political interests. 
 
 The support which the Russian cabinet affords to Servia 
 and Montenegro does not argue a belief that the inhabitants 
 of those countries will voluntarily put themselves under its 
 dominion. The Montenegrins are very useful to it even in a 
 state of independence. Though Russia should occuj^y Con- 
 stantinople, she could not expect to possess all Turkey in 
 Europe as far as the Adriatic ; it will always therefore be a 
 matter of great moment for her that there exist on that sea 
 an independent state which may paralyze the movements of 
 Austria and hold back the German race from overspreading 
 the Peninsula. The mere existence of the Montenegrins, 
 even though they were not well inclined towards Russia, is 
 still advantageous to that power by the diversion thereby 
 caused among its natural rivals. The Tsar, therefore, must 
 always oppose the destruction of the Montenegrin state. 
 That would moreover be a very difficult enterjirise even for 
 a European army, which would find there neither quarters 
 nor food for man or beast, nor in most of the valleys even 
 water; whilst its lightest artillery, even that carried on 
 horseback, would compel it to halt almost at every step. 
 
 Austria is the only continental power that could have any 
 motive for attempting such a war. She is always alarmed 
 about Cattaro, which the Montenegrins claim as their joatri- 
 mony, though it has not been in their possession since 1443. 
 Certainly it must be a galling thing for the Montenegrins to 
 behold the sea everywhere bathing the foot of their moun- 
 tain, and yet not be able to reach it, especially when that sea 
 is the Adriatic, whose delightful coast produces the fig and 
 the orange, the vine and the olive. The admirable port of 
 Cattaro, with three vast basins which communicate together 
 by channels easy to defend, and which are so deep that the 
 
454 ENMITY OF THE AUSTRIANS. 
 
 largest line of battle ships can float in tliem close to shore, 
 would be filled with merchant vessels if it was in the hands 
 of an independent people. But Austria, in pursuance of the 
 policy by which she persists in having a German head while 
 almost her whole body is Slavonic, has sacrificed Kagnsa and 
 Cattaro to the unsafe port of Trieste, and several of her finest 
 provinces are left neglected. If we trace the sinuous Austro- 
 Turkish frontier, which with all its windings measures 230 
 leagiies, whilst the straight line would be but ninety, v/e can- 
 not but commiserate nations thus arbitrarily delimited like 
 herds of cattle. The Montenegrin country is within a gim- 
 shot of the sea near Cattaro ; but a long and severe quarantine 
 virtually magnifies that distance into several hundred leagues. 
 Yet the sea is the only commercial outlet of the mountain. 
 We may, therefore, well conceive that the mountaineers can- 
 not look with pleasure on such a position of things, and that 
 in order to escape from it they would be almost as ready to 
 attack the Austrians as the Turks. ' Austria has, therefore, 
 reason to watch with a jealous eye this people, who, once 
 master of any maritime point whatever, Avould immediately 
 become formidable to the commerce of Trieste. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE BULGARIANS. 
 
 The representatives of the ancient Bulgarian nation, who 
 now number four and a half millions, are dispersed over 
 that wide territory which extends from the Danube below 
 Kladovo, and from the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmora, 
 and the ^gean, into Albania and modern Greece. Their 
 race far outspreads the official limits of Bulgaria, to which 
 geographers persist in assigning for boundaries, Thrace, 
 Macedonia, and Albania, three provinces which now abound 
 with Bulgarians. In Macedonia they form the bulk of the 
 
BULGAEIA. . 455 
 
 population, for Serb and Bulgarian are spoken there in all 
 the districts of the south-west, from the line of mountains 
 situated between Kailari, Shatitsa, Ostrovo, and Yerria, to 
 the valleys of Niansta and Vodena ; southward only of that 
 line the Macedonian peasant is a Greek. A short strip of 
 the ^gean coast belongs exclusively to Bulgarian families, 
 who there occupy the small towns of Buyuk-Betchik, Bazar 
 Djedid, and Sidero Kaiesh. The great town of Salonica has 
 a mixed Bulgarian and Greek population. In the pastoral 
 wilderness of Thrace, formerly occupied only by Turkish 
 herdsmen, Bulgarian agriculturists are constantly establish- 
 ing themselves, and even close to Constantinople others of the 
 race form the majority of the inhabilants of Indjig, a small 
 manufacturing to^vn. There are whole districts in Eastern 
 Albania where the only current language is Bulgarian. In 
 Livadia, and even in the Morea, where the natives, concen- 
 trated in the towns and on the coasts, have long abandoned 
 the valleys to emigrants from the mountains, the Bulgarian 
 displays the characteristic tendency of the Slaves, to colonise 
 the land, in contra,st with the maritime inclinations of the 
 Greek. In short, the Bulgarian is the most numerous and 
 widely spread of all the races in Turkey in Europe, not 
 excepting even the Greeks. 
 
 Why then is the name of Bulgaria restricted to so small a 
 territory ? Because it was a part of the crafty policy of the 
 Turkish conquerors to break down the distinct nationalities 
 of the vanquished, and entangle them indistinguishably, 
 by means of arbitrary changes in their territorial limits. The 
 Turks did with their empire what the Tsar is now doing in 
 Poland ; that vast country, which comprised so many pro- 
 vinces, has been so reduced, by dint of mutilations^ as to be 
 in the eyes of the Russians only a giihernie or province. 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that all the districts in 
 v/hich Bulgarian is spoken tend to form one united body : 
 several of them have interests so closely imited with those of 
 the Hellenes, that no attempt to disunite them could be jDru- 
 dently made. A large portion of the rayahs of Thrace, for 
 instance, will always attach themselves to the Greeks of 
 Constantinople. Even under the Lower Empire, when the 
 Bulgarians had a powerful kingdom of their OAvn, those of 
 Thrace had connected themselves with the masters of the 
 
456 THE TWO BULGARIANS. 
 
 Bosphoriis, paid them tribute, and were comprised under the 
 generic name of Bomei (Rumeliotes), common to all the 
 Greeks. 
 
 The Bulgarians are easily induced to emigrate : they are 
 found in many remote districts, such as Servia and Walachia, 
 completely separated from their mother country. Notwith- 
 standing this, they manifest a great repugnance to coalesce 
 with and be absorded into another nation. When the Rus- 
 sians recrossed the Danube, after their campaign of 1829, they 
 took with them nearly thirty thousand of the Bulgarian 
 rayahs, who had most reason to apprehend the vengeance of 
 the Turks, and assigned them fertile lands along the Dnieper. 
 The Russians themselves confess that these Slaves could not 
 acquiesce under the Muscovite regime, and by degrees they 
 all returned to Turkey. 
 
 We may distinguish two Bulgarias — the one north of the 
 Balkan, the other south of that line ; the former inclined 
 towards the Danube, the latter towards the sea of Marmora, 
 and the northern part of the ^gean. The northern Bulga- 
 rians speak a dialect akin to the Russian ; they have retained 
 much more of the Tatar habits than their southern bre- 
 thren, and have consequently furnished far more adepts to 
 Islam. They are less hospitable to strangers, more cringing 
 towards the master caste ; they speak with such volubility 
 that their jerking utterance is almost unintelligible. The 
 language of the southern Bulgarians, in which there is a 
 strong admixture of Serb and Greek idioms, is on the other 
 hand very smooth and harmonious. The difference between 
 the people of these two regions is observable even in the 
 children : those of the south approach the stranger with a 
 snc^ile ; those of the north run away from him, and the word 
 stranger, {stranii tclielovek), is in their mouths an insult.* 
 
 * *' The Bulgarians are not, strictly speaking, Sclavonians but Tartars 
 Sclavonized. They are of cognate origin with the Turks, and only lost 
 their own language in the tenth century, when their conversion to Chris- 
 tianity induced that of the neighbouring Christian tribes ; and they are 
 neither so tall nor so fair as the Serbs and Bosnians. About one half 
 of them are now Mahometans, each religion numbering nearly 2,000,000. 
 They occupy a vast territory, consisting of the southern portion of the 
 Danubian plain, stretching from the great river to the Balkan, and the 
 broad plateau bounded on the east by the Sea of Marmora, on the south 
 by the iEgean, and on the west by the Despoil mountains, formerly 
 
THE REGIONS OF BULGARIA. 457 
 
 It is a mistake, therefore, to regard Bulgaria as constitu- 
 ting only one gTeat province ; it has been divided by nature 
 into five or six distinct regions, each of which has to this day 
 a chief to^vn of from thirty to fifty thousand inhabitants. 
 These regions are the Zagora or transbalkan Bulgaria, with a 
 mixed population of Mussulmans and Christians, the former 
 predominating in numbers ; the capital is Philipopoli or 
 Philibeh ; — the Dohroiija, the Bulgarian coast of the Black 
 Sea, occupied by nomade hordes of Nogai Tatars, emigrants 
 from the Crimea ; the capital is Yarna ; — Danubian Bul- 
 garia, capital, Widin ; — UiDper Bulgaria, in the centre, where, 
 surrounded by inaccessible mountains, stands the ancient 
 and holy city of Sophia, which is to its o^vn nation what 
 Moscow is to Russia : — lastly, Macedonian Bulgaria, which 
 has Seres for its ca.pital, and abuts on the Bay of Contessa 
 and Mount Athos. Thus Bulgaria debouches on two seas ; 
 through Yarna it is in commercial relation with Russia and 
 Asia ; through Seres and Salonica, with Greece and all the 
 ports of southern Europe. 
 
 No part of the Ottoman Empire is so populous as Bulgaria; 
 it abounds in villages which are seldom seen by the traveller, 
 for they lie far off the main roads. The progress of agricul- 
 ture, by clearing the fj^ce of the country, has doubtless ren- 
 dered it less capable of defence by the inhabitants, and a war 
 of partizans could not be so successfully waged there as in 
 the Serb and Greek provinces. Bulgaria, however, bristles 
 with mountains, the defiles of which would become impas- 
 sable if only the inhabitants were unanimous in closing them 
 against the enemy. The chief of these mountains, which 
 form the ancient chain of Rhodope, rise more perpendicularly 
 than the steepest peaks of the Alps. Ancient Greece regarded 
 them as the highest summits in the world. They are tra- 
 
 Mount Rhodope, which separates Thrace from Macedonia. Extensive 
 crops of wheat, maize, and cotton cover the rich alluvial soil on the low 
 grounds, and vineyards clothe the slopes of the hills, whose higher levels 
 are thickly wooded. Rice is also grown to the south of the Balkan, and 
 numerous gardens and orchards attest the improvement of husbandry by 
 the industrious inhabitants on both sides of the mountain range ; for the 
 hoe and plough form the delight of the Bulgarian, who diifers as much in 
 this respect from the Serb and Bosniac, as he does in his pacific and some- 
 what stolid intellect." — The Frontier Lands of the Christian and the 
 Turk. London, 1853. 
 
458 FERTILITY OF BULGARIA. 
 
 versed by seven narrow passes, all of wliich were known to 
 the ancients : the principal are Trajan's Gate, near Isladi ; 
 the Iron Gate before Ternovo, in the highest part of 
 the chain ; and that of Shumla, beyond Aidos. These are 
 the tnie gates of Stambonl ; and thus the safety of the 
 Turkish capital depends, on the land side, on the good plea- 
 sure of the shepherds of the Balkan. 
 
 In spite of its numerous mountains, and the snows that 
 lie upon them in winter, Bulgaria is one of the most fertile 
 coimtries in Europe. The mountains are clothed with 
 humus up to their summits. Between their vertical and 
 cloud-capped peaks lie meadows, the path to which lies 
 through forests of cherry, plumb, and walnut trees, of ma- 
 jestic foliage, and filbert trees as large as oaks. The metallic 
 wealth of these mountains is attested by the spangles of 
 silver and gold swept down by the torrents. But the only 
 notable branches of industry among the Bulgarians are the 
 manufacture of coarse cloths and of otto of roses ; the 
 Armenians, however, have contrived to secure a monopoly of 
 the latter, and thus to defraud the Bulgarians of the large 
 profit they ought to derive from that lucrative article. 
 
 Struck only by the agricultural activity of the Bulgarian, 
 and forgetting the extortions under which he groans, some 
 English tourists have represented that part of the empire 
 as an earthly paradise, flowhig with milk and honey. The 
 reality is very difierent. Nothing is more like a group of 
 savages' huts than a celo or Bulgarian village. Always 
 remote from the high road, or from the waste space to which 
 that name is given, and consequently invisible to most travel- 
 lers, the celo usually stands in a meadow along the border 
 of a stream, which serves it for a ditch and natural defence. 
 These villages are very numerous, succeeding each other 
 almost from league to league. Each consists of four or five 
 courts or groujos of houses, separated from each other by 
 grass-grown spaces. The courts, surrounded by a thick hedge, 
 are like so many islands in a sea of verdure. The huts com- 
 posing one of them are almost always ten or twelve in number, 
 and are either formed of wattles, so as to resemble great 
 baskets, or are sunk in the ground and covered with a conical 
 roof of thatch or of branches of trees. Each species of crea- 
 ture has its own separate abode in this ark of the wilderness; 
 
PEACEFULNESS OF ITS INHABITANTS. 459 
 
 tlicre are huts for the poultry, for the sheep, for the pigs, for 
 the oxen, and for the horses ; and in the midst the proprietor 
 occupies a cabin, which serves him for cellar, granary, kitclien, 
 and bedroom. The family sleep on skins spread on the 
 ground round the hearth, which is a circular hole sunk in the 
 middle of the room. Little more than the roof of these dark 
 dwellings rises above the ground. You descend into them 
 by a short flight of steps, and the doors are so low that you 
 must stoop as you enter them. Nevertheless, these poor 
 huts are as clean and as neatly arranged inside as they can 
 be made l^y the indefatigable hala (Bulgarian housewife) to 
 whom employment is so necessary that she plies her spindle 
 even whilst cooking or carrj^ing her goods to market. The 
 melancholy stork usually perches upon these conical huts, as 
 upon the chimney of the Polish joeasant, standing on his 
 long shanks, and brooding over his big nest for whole days 
 without giving token of his existence by the least move- 
 ment or the least cry ; this sacred bird of the East is one 
 of the most striking symbols of Asiatic civilization. 
 
 Formidable as were the Bulgarians in early mediseval 
 times through their warlike tendencies, their wealth and 
 their commercial activity, when the ambitious Tatar race 
 occupied the national throne, they are now perhaps the least 
 luxurious and the most pacific peojDle in Em^ope. All who 
 know the Bulgarian are unanimous in praise of his peaceful 
 virtues, his good natured readiness to oblige, his assiduity in 
 labour, and his extreme frugality. He never acts without de- 
 liberation, but once his mind is made up he displays in all his 
 enterprises a prodigious perseverance, which, seconded by his 
 athletic strength, makes him encounter the greatest dangers 
 coolly and without boasting. Though he is the most oppres- 
 sed of the five people of the Peninsula, penury has not made 
 him vile ; still as of yore his bearing is manly, his figure tall 
 and comely, his honour invincible ; you may safely entrust 
 to him any sum of money without witnesses ; he will carry 
 it safely to its destination. He is accused of trembling 
 before the Turk ; he does not tremble, but when all resist- 
 ance is impossible, he submits in silence, iSke any reasonable 
 man. 
 
 The Bulgarian women are gentle, compassionate, and labo- 
 
460 TATAK OKIGIN. 
 
 rioiis. Tlie motherly and sisterly care tliey bestow on tlie 
 stranger-guest in their cabins, is really affecting. Their de- 
 meanour towards him is marked with the perfect confidence 
 of innocence, for their virtue has no need of the precautions 
 which are elsewhere necessary. He sleeps on the same floor 
 vdth the mother, the wife, and the daughters of the house- 
 hold. They are, next to the Greeks, the handsomest women 
 in European Turkey, and are especially remarkable for 
 the length and luxuriance of their hair, with which they 
 could literally cover themselves as with a garment ; it often 
 sweeps the ground below their feet. The young girls let 
 their tresses flow loosely, and their only head-dress is a 
 wreath of flowers, or a single rose. Those whose charms are 
 on the wane, adorn themselves with necklaces and bracelets 
 of glass beads, a girdle of copper gilt, and an ugly head-piece, 
 in the form of a helmet, festooned with strings of piastres, 
 paras, and ancient medals dug up in the fields. 
 
 The Bulgarian retains many traits of his Tatar origin, 
 such as the shaven head with one thick tuft on the crown, 
 which he divides into two tresses. Like the son of the 
 Steppes, be is inseparable from his horse. In the country 
 parts every Bulgarian — the very poorest not excepted — is 
 mounted, and never goes even a few hundred yards from his 
 cabin, except on horseback. Skulls of horses or buffaloes, 
 are planted on stakes in front of his dwelling, as a symbol 
 apparently of a prosperous condition. The Bulgarian and 
 the Turk, though living in the same country, clothe them- 
 selves quite differently. The Turk came from the south, 
 and he wears loose garments of linen or cotton ; the Bulga- 
 rian on the contrary, being a son of the north, is always 
 warmly clad, even in summer. His costume is the same as 
 that of his ancestors on the cold plateaux of northern Asia. 
 His short capote, with or without sleeves, the thick bands 
 with which he swathes his legs, his trowsers, his tunic and 
 his broad belt, are all woollen. 
 
 The frugality of this people is inconceivable, and they 
 enjoy a singular vigour of temperament. A Bulgarian, on a 
 journey, will live for three weeks on the stock of bread and the 
 bottle of raki he has taken with him, and he will carry home 
 the whole of his earnings without expending a para. On his 
 
SIMPLICITY OF HABITS. 461 
 
 caravan expeditions he sometimes indulges tKe spirit of 
 luxury so far as to add to his provisions some pieces of meat 
 dried slowly in the sun, till they become as hard as a stone 
 without losing their nutritive juices. Meat preserved in 
 this way may he kept for a quarter of a century, without 
 undergoing any change. At home the usual diet of the Bul- 
 garian, as of the Greek, consists of dairy produce, pulse, 
 olives, and mai2;e bread ; his ordinary drink is water, with 
 which, too, he cures all his disorders ; wine he reserves for 
 holidays. Such is his indifference to all the comforts of life 
 that he does not even think of protecting himself in winter 
 from the intense cold, or in summer, from the overpowering 
 heat. Families are to be seen sleeping outside their cabins, 
 exposed to the cold winds of the autumn mornings, on the 
 carpets that served them for beds among the flowers of May ! 
 
 The simplicity of the Bulgarian's habits exempts him from 
 many of the maladies to which the dominant caste are 
 victims. The plague spares the Bulgarian Christians who 
 take precautions against it, while it carries off the Mussul- 
 man fataKsts. Every great plague takes from Turkey nearly 
 a million of inhabitants. That of 1838 was fatal in Bulgaria 
 alone to 86,000 persons, nearly all Turks ; of that number of 
 victims the cities of Sophia and Philipoj)oli contributed 
 29,000. Selvi, a town of 8,000 inhabitants, lost its whole 
 population. The niral Bulgarians, like the Hebrews during 
 the seven plagties of Egypt, enjoyed uninterrupted good 
 health throughout that fatal period. 
 
 In general the peasant of the Balkans supplies all his own 
 wants ; like the Serb and the Russian muzhik he is inde- 
 pendent of all external aid, except that of the priest, before 
 whom he always falls on his knees. "Do not look that 
 way, brother ! Do you not see it is a Mussulman temple ? " 
 said a haha, who beheld me with indignation contemplating 
 a mosque. To mark the simplicity of these people, I will only 
 mention one fact. During the first months of my sojourn 
 amongst them, my answer to their constant question whence 
 I came, was: "From Frankistan (Europe)." — "You are 
 happy, brother," they exclaimed ; " there are none but Bul- 
 garians in your country." — " Bulgarians ! I never saw a single 
 one there." — " What ! no Bulgarians in the country of the 
 
402 BULGARIAN COLONIES. 
 
 ."Franks ! And what are you — are you not a Bulgarian ?" — 
 " Not at all." When I said this, they hung their heads 
 sadly, and uttered not a word. It was not until after many 
 repetitions of this dialogue I becar.'^ aware that, to their 
 minds, the name of Bulgarian is sign rKant of all the Chris- 
 tian nations in contradistinction to thuse of Islam. 
 
 CH4PTEII YIII. 
 
 SURVEY OF THE FIVE PROVINCES OF BULGARIA. 
 
 Every Oriental people has its sacred river, which forms 
 the central line of the country it occupies. Thus the Bulga- 
 rian colonies slowly followed the course of the Maritsa, the 
 most considerable river of European Turkey, the longest, 
 with the exception of the Macedonian Yardar, and one which, 
 falling into the ^gean sea, indicates to the nation its natural 
 alliances and outports. Let us proceed first towards the 
 Maritsa. We set out from Constantinople with no other escort 
 than a Bulgarian guide, and put ourselves at the mercy of 
 the haiduks, who beset the defiles. Ten Jcavasses (Turkish 
 police soldiers) could not be a more efficient prot«ction 
 among those generous brigands than a single guide of their 
 own race. At six leagues from the capital we come to the 
 little town of Kambourgas, and pass a bridge of remarkable 
 length, thrown over an arm of the sea. Almost all the 
 towns of the coast present similar monuments, last relics of 
 the ancient Byzantine wealth ; originally constructed of 
 granite, or sometimes of white marble, they are repaired with 
 wood when they fall. Such is the history of all Turkish 
 renovations. Six leagTies further on is the small port of 
 Silivria, with a purely Christian population of three or four 
 thousand, many of whom are Bulgarians. Thus, within a 
 few leagues of Stamboul, the ear begins to be greeted by the 
 
PROVINCE OF ZAGORA. 463 
 
 soft rich accents of the Slavonian tongnc. There is still 
 standing a part of the old citadel of Silivria, a quadrangular 
 battlemented building, with ramparts of stone and large red 
 bricks. It is inhabited by Jews. A league further anti- 
 quaries grope for the remains of the wall erected by the 
 Emperor Anastasius, against the incursions of the ancient 
 Bulgarians, Rodosto, mth its forty thousand inhabitants, 
 and Callipoli, with its thirty thousand, are wholly Greek 
 towns ; but in Karakioi and Ruskioi we again meet with Bul- 
 garians. At last we come to the gulph of Enos, into which 
 the Hebrus disembogues itself through marshes, from which 
 it seems to have derived its modern name of Maritsa. 
 
 Let us now ascend the course of this river, which will con- 
 duct us into the heart of Bulgaria, to its sacred mountain, 
 the Rilo. At the fortress of Dimotica, famous of yore in the 
 wars between the Greeks and Bulgarians, begins the ancient 
 province of Zagora, where the Bulgarians established them- 
 selves in the ninth century, and which extends all across. 
 Thrace, skirting the southern base of the Balkan, from the 
 Black Sea to the gTilph of Kavala, opposite Mount Athos. 
 In this region was accomplished the incorporation of the 
 tribes of Thrace with the first Slave tribes, the union of 
 Scythia with Greece ; it has deep mysteries to reveal to his- 
 torical science, and yet it is, perhaps, the least explored part 
 of Europe. 
 
 I rejoiced to tread at last this terra incognita, as Mal- 
 tebrun calls it, towards which I had long been attracted by 
 an ardent desire to study the origins of Slavonism. But 
 how useless it is to seek there for monuments. The Turks 
 have swept it clean of all the treasures of Slave archeology, 
 literature, and national history. I ride over desert plateaux, 
 with nothing to arrest my attention but the beauty of the 
 landscape. One might fancy himself in the heart of Arabia 
 when traversing the portions of Eumelia in which the 
 Tiu'kish race predominates. To secure wide pastures, and a 
 more open space for their courses on horseback, the Osmanlis 
 have felled all the trees; and the minarets of the mosques are 
 the only objects that stand in relief against the naked moun- 
 tain sicles. The only human monuments visible are tombs, 
 of which there are two kinds : the sepulchral chapels of the 
 conquerors, and the tiunuli of the ancient Bulgarian chiefs, 
 
4G4 SEPULCHRAL MOUNDS. 
 
 sometimes crowned with modern Ottoman sepulchres, like 
 those of the valley of Gomela Voda, between Selinigrad and 
 Tern. These conical mounds occur in jirodigious numbers in 
 the plains ; the Turk calls them tepeh, the Bulgarian liunka 
 (abode of the Hun). Their height is from ten to fifty feet. 
 Their exact resemblance to those on the banks of the Yolga, 
 and to the Pelasgic tumuli of the Troad and Asia Minor, 
 clearly exemplifies the fact, that all nations have at the same 
 stage of social development the same artistic conceptions. 
 At Bazarjik and at Philibeh, in the valley of Samokov, 
 there are a great number of these mysterious monuments, 
 and in many places they stretch along the road in pretty 
 regular lines. There are twenty-four of them round Sophia, 
 and others near Eski Sagra and Shumla, in the valleys of 
 Doubnitsa and of the Rilo.* If you ask the Bulgarians who 
 raised those mounds, they answer, " Our fathers' hands." — 
 " For what purpose ?" — " God knows." This is the rejjly of 
 €very Bulgarian peasant, who, knowing nothing, does not 
 <3are to know even what relates to his own country. The 
 Turks, more ambitious, though not less ignorant, allege that 
 these mounds are posts of observation, on which were set up 
 the horsetail standards of their camps. Thus the victor 
 seeks to rob the vanquished even of the memory of their 
 fathers' tombs. 
 
 I searched through all Bulgaria for traces of the lion 
 orowned with gold, the armorial bearing of its kings, but 
 could find no vestige of it either in the old churches, or on 
 the gates or walls of^the towns, so thorough has been the 
 work of destruction in those regions. Even where the Bul- 
 garian cultivates the land it yet seems a desert, not indeed 
 of sand as in Asia, but a desert of verdure, a poetic desert, 
 in which one would wilKngly pass years among those simple 
 men, studying their ways, contemplating their antique 
 dances, and living with them that primitive life which has 
 disappeared from the rest of Europe. The traveller, how- 
 ever, who is fond of comfort, will do well to avoid these 
 wildernesses, and remain in the towns, where he will find 
 
 * These are not to be confounded with other hillocks from four to six 
 feet high, which are also common in Rumelia, and are always placed in 
 pairs on either side of the road at regular intervals of a good quarter of a 
 league. They served instead of milestones. 
 
MOSLEM HOTELS. 4^65 
 
 everything in abundance and exceedingly cheap : coffee-houses, 
 warm baths, fruits, liqueurs, and all sorts of comestibles, in- 
 cluding those sacred viands of Islam slowly confectioned in 
 sugar and honey, which an angel revealed to Abraham. A 
 multitude of other fine things are to be had at the tclicn'sliia, 
 as the natives call the bazaar, from the Slavon word tcliarshit, 
 to enchant, thereby indicating the impression made upon 
 them by that temple of the arts of luxury. But the mo- 
 ment the traveller turns his back on the towns he is again 
 reduced to fare on cooked olives, dates, raisins, and water 
 melons ; wine and raki are the only things never wanting 
 in the hut of any Bulgarian. 
 
 The distance by the most direct road from Stamboul to 
 Philibeh, the chief town of Zagora, is eighty leagues. The 
 whole way lies through one vast prairie, peopled almost 
 solely by cattle, and dotted at intervals with wells for water- 
 ing them and with the huts of theii' keepers. In the midst 
 of the prairie towers the great Edreneh (Adrianople), the 
 capital of this pastoral people. [Jntil that populous city is 
 passed, almost the only representatives of the Bulgarian 
 nation met with on the banks of its river are herdsmen and 
 mehandji, so called inn-keepers who rent their miserable 
 cabins of the Spahis; but a few leagues higher up the 
 Maritsa Slave villages begin to show themselves. Here 
 and there you still meet with imperial caravanserais with 
 ranges of wooden stalls against their walls. These form the 
 small tradhig towns called varosTiitsa in Bulgaria. These 
 gigantic monuments of past splendour are almost all alike. 
 In the centre is the mosque surrounded with several square 
 courts adorned with Moorish arches, and with fountains 
 playing in their midst. Behind these courts and opening on 
 them are small rooms in which all travellers, giaours and 
 believers, are lodged gratuitously. Of these sumptuous 
 Moslem hotels the most considerable between Edreneh and 
 Philibeh is that of Musta Pacha ; its mosque, of recent con- 
 struction, raised ujDon a terrace ascended by flights of steps, 
 and supported by light arches and open galleries, is a chef- 
 d'oeuvre of grace and good taste. The Maritsa washes its 
 walls. Six leagues further on we strike that river again 
 before the caravanserai of Ismenli. The stable of that edi- 
 fice is m itself a monument. It is built of red bricks ; its 
 
 2h 
 
46G PHILIBEH. 
 
 pointed roof rises to a remarkable height, and along the 
 whole length run two upper galleries flanked with cells, from 
 which the camel drivers can look down on their beasts rest- 
 ing below. At both ends of the building are three very 
 large circular windows with Greek arabesques, a striking 
 feature of the ancient basilic transferred to a Moslem edifice. 
 
 Near Philibeh the plain begins to show a few groups of 
 trees, and the Bulgarian husbandman takes the place of the 
 Turkish herdsman on the banks of the river. The increasing 
 numbers of that laborious j)opulation is particularly indi- 
 cated to the traveller by the continuous diminution in the 
 cost of the necesaries of life. 
 
 On entering Philibeh, the capital of Zagora, one is struck 
 by the magnificence of its situation both in a j)icturesque 
 and a commercial point of view. It rises in the form of an 
 amphitheatre from the bank of the Maritsa, which washes 
 the new quarters, to the old town which surrounds the grad 
 or fortress built by the Byzantines on a steep rock. Frag- 
 ments of Greek walls are still discernible in the grad ; and in 
 the lower town, too, it is not uncommon to see handsome 
 capitals placed for mounting-blocks at the gates of the 
 khans. The tcharshia, enclosed with gates, is just as in all 
 Bulgarian towns a labyrinth of streets covered over with 
 planks, with openings which admit a feeble light upon the 
 ranges of shops in which thousands of Christian and Turk 
 merchants are packed together. The play of fountains gives 
 some freshness to the air of these otherwise ill-ventilated 
 streets. There are also small mosques adorned on the out- 
 side with painted palms, where the Moslems pray at the five 
 stated hours of the day. The Turkish cathedral or Mosque 
 of Friday,* built in the form of a Greek cross, is probably an 
 old church which the victors have surrounded with a great 
 peristyle in the oriental fashion. The nation^ of the Pauli- 
 anists occupy exclusively a large quarter of the town. The 
 Jews, in like manner, have their separate quarter, near that 
 of the Greeks and its humble cathedral. These Jews, who 
 like most of those in Turkey, are from Spain, are handsome 
 
 * Friday is the Mohammedan Sabbath. 
 
 f* The term applied in the country to a religious community. The 
 Paulianists are Bulgarians who have become united to the Church of 
 Romo^ but retain some vestiges of the Greek ritual. 
 
BAZAKDJIK. 46f 
 
 men with very fair complexions and long black beards ; their 
 women are remarkable for their beauty, which is set off by the 
 somewhat quaint magnificence of their apparel. The various 
 races assembled in Philibeh have not only their distinct 
 quarters but their respective costumes and colours. Even' 
 the colouring of the houses is conventional. Until lately none 
 but the houses of the Turks could be coloured red : those of 
 the rayahs were to be of a dull and sombre tint like the 
 destinies of their owners. Gray garments are still the appa- 
 nage of the Bulgarian ; while the Turkish dandies, who 
 abound in Philibeh, now exult in their frock coats and white 
 trousers, below which they display through their open shoes 
 the naked feet of the Tatar. 
 
 Philibeh has not more than 40^000 inhabitants, notwith- 
 standing its thriving woollen manufactures and its transit 
 trade, which is so active as to have called forth an insti- 
 tution as yet unknown to any other town of European 
 Turkey ; namely, a regular communication mth Edreneh 
 and Bazardjik by carriages, without springs, alas ! and in 
 which one must sit cross-legged. The Greek tsintars are, 
 perhaps, more numerous than the Bulgarians in Philibeh, 
 and their language is taught in all the Christian schools. 
 The Greeks are well aware of the commercial capabilities of 
 the place, which will become the chief point of departure for 
 the exports of Bulgaria as soon as the Maritsa shall h?.ve been 
 rendered navigable as far as Enos. Unfortunately the river 
 is obstructed by sandbanks so as to be navigable at present 
 only by flat-bottomed boats. Moreover, the long sweep made 
 by its waters round the base of Mount Bhodope is a great 
 disadvantage for Philibeh, though but for that bend the 
 river of the Bulgarians would not pass by Adrianople nor 
 receive into it the principal torrents of Thrace, the Arda 
 {Ilarpessus), the Usundsha, and the Tcherna. 
 
 The Turks are still numerous enough in Philibeh, and the 
 town is always classed as belonging to the Ottoman districts; 
 but Bazardjik, eight leagues further on in the Balkan, is 
 purely Bulgarian. Between it and Philibeh lies a long 
 .sandy plain, an exact image of the Tatar Steppes, without 
 human habitations, and roamed over by herds of horses that 
 browse on its scanty herbage. Bazardjik is a very commer- 
 cial town of ten or twelve thousand inhabitants. They were 
 
 2h2 
 
468 THE BALKAN. 
 
 the first rayahs who obtained by dint of gold from Sultan 
 Mahmoiid a firman authorising them to build a new church 
 in contravention of the Jaws of Islamism. It is a large and 
 handsome building in the style of the primitive basilics, 
 and it stands in a square enclosure, the high walls of which 
 conceal it from the eyes of the Pachas who might be irritated 
 by such a sight. Its erection has been followed by that of 
 several others in different parts of Bulgaria. 
 
 Above Bazardjik begins the Balkan. Two principal gates 
 afford i^assage through those natural ramparts : Trajan's 
 Gate, and the Iron Gate, the one leading to Sophia and the 
 Danubian valleys, the other to Varna and the Black Sea 
 by Kasanlik and Shumla. These passes mark the northern 
 limits of the Zagora, which has no precise limits on the south, 
 and extends in that direction almost daily ; its agricultural 
 population inimdating the Mussulman part of Bumelia, 
 where the indolent Spahi, too proud to till the rich soil,, 
 farms it out to them at low rates. Nor is it only in tlie 
 rural districts that the Christian Slaves are encroaching on 
 the Ottoman race ; the Turkish towns of Thrace, are gTadu- 
 ally filling with Bulgarians. In Slivno, the ancient Selym- 
 nia, they make 4000 of the 12,000 inhabitants j they swarm 
 as workmen in the factories of Eski Sagra, a city of 20,000 
 souls ; they throng the markets of Kirk-Kilisseh (the forty 
 churches), a confused mass of ruined houses, whither they 
 bring their butter and cheese, which the German Jews of 
 that ancient town buy up to sell at Constantinople. The 
 whole district of Kasanlik, which might be called the land 
 of roses, the plain is so covered with them, is cultivated 
 chiefly by Bulgarians, They are also found mixed with the 
 Turks in all the valleys adjacent to the great port of Bourgas, 
 and thence they spread, if not as farmers at least as labourers 
 along the low chain of the Strandja, an offshoot from 
 Hoemus, which separates the interior plateau of Thrace 
 from the coasts of the Black Sea and seminates in the forests 
 of Belgrade. 
 
 Near Aidos is the most convenient passage for crossing 
 the Balkan and reaching maritime and northern Bulgaria. 
 The town of Aidos, formerly renowned for its warm baths, 
 but now fallen from its old prosperity, stands in a delightful 
 basin, surrounded on thi-ee sides by mountains so abrunt 
 
SHUMLA.. 469 
 
 that there appears no possibility of ascending them ; it is 
 only when we reach the foot of that rampart that we sud- 
 denly see opening as if by magic a deep gorge, down which 
 plunges the toiTent of Buyuk Kamentsi (the rocky river). 
 A tortuous path leads along the side of the boiling stream 
 through one of the strongest defiles in Europe. Its two 
 walls are perpendicular, leave but a narrow strip of sky 
 visible between them, and are crowned with pine trees, which 
 seen from below look like blades of grass. The path through 
 the ravine seems at first to descend towards the bowels of 
 the earth, and then it rises by degrees until it reaches the 
 pretty plateau of Lopenitsa, where there is a khan marking 
 the halfway ascent of this Bulgarian Mont Cenis. All 
 around are Alpine cataracts and moss-covered rocks ; snow 
 is never found there in summer ; but en revanche you run 
 the risk of encountering avalanches of stones. 
 
 Beyond Lopenitsa the path begins to descend, and again 
 accompanies the foaming Buyuk Kamentsi, which had been 
 lost in the caverns of the mountains, and now emerges from 
 its subterranean channel. The defile, nine leagues long, 
 abuts upon another Balkan still more vertical and inacces- 
 sible than the first. Nevertheless it was crossed by the 
 army of Nicholas, and long before it by that of Darius. All 
 trace of the Persians is effaced, whilst the Russian trenches 
 with which all these gorges are beset, remain as imposing 
 testimonies of the daring of the modern Normans. The 
 towns also bear marks of their horrible ravages : Hirsova, 
 for instance, is reduced to thirty houses, and the port of 
 Kostendshe to forty inhabitants. 
 
 Whilst still in the heart of the mountains you suddenly 
 •descry at your feet the great town of Shiimla, and the vast 
 plain which stretches thence to the Black Sea and to Mol- 
 davia, or rather which has no limits, for it is ah-eady the 
 beginning of the Steppes. At Shumla rests in a suberb 
 mausoleum the last Grand Vizier who was victorious over 
 the Russians, the celebrated Hassan Pacha, who died during 
 the wars with the Empress Catherine. With all the advan- 
 tages of its charming and formidable position, which connects 
 all the Danubian routes together as a central point, Shumla 
 ■was fifty years ago but an insignificant place ; it now con- 
 tains 60,000 inhabitants. The gracl, the varosh, and the 
 
470 VARNA, 
 
 paJanJca of Shumla are only built of wood. Tlie citadel alone 
 was flanked in 1836 with walls of cut stone, and was fur- 
 nished by the Prussian engineers with casemates, glacis, and 
 gates. They also erected two very large barracks at the 
 foot of the rock, whence the water of numerous fountains 
 flows into the highest apartments.* 
 
 The qrad is occupied only by Turks to the number of 
 more than 30,000. It is full of rich mosques with leaden 
 cupolas that shine like silver. The varosh contains 5000 
 or 6000 Bulgarians ; the rest of the population consists of 
 Armenians, Greeks and Jews ; each nation has its streets 
 and its places of worship apart from the rest. In all the 
 campaigns against Austria and Russia, Shumla has served as 
 an entrenched camp for the Turks, who are invincible when 
 they tight under a redoubt. Here they routed the army of 
 Homanzof in 1774. Shumla is still the principal fortress of 
 European Turkey, and the key of Stamboul on the north. 
 Unfortunately the palanka with its immense labyrinth of 
 batteries and fortifications in earth work, is girt by such 
 extensive contravallations that it would require a garrison 
 of 50,000 men to defend them in a siege. 
 
 The fortress of Varna, eighteen leagues from Shumla, 
 though much less imposing, is, perhaps, better secured against 
 the chances of a siege, in consequence of the steepness of its 
 position Avhich is not commanded from any quarter ; but it 
 has not been completely repaired since it was ruined by the 
 Turkish bombs in 1829. Its new and extensive barracks 
 are still |)rotected only by wooden parapets. The Turks 
 know well that this place is not of the same strategic im- 
 portance as Shumla : that its capture does not infer the free 
 passage of the Balkans, and can serve at most to cover the 
 retreat of the enemy. The sole and inalienable advantage 
 of Varna consists in its being the principal seaport of the 
 Bulgarians. Sheltered from the winds of the north and the 
 east, its vast deep roadstead is so safe that vessels never have 
 any difficulty in entering it even in winter. The largest 
 vessels can moor there in from ten to fifteen fathoms, in the 
 cove of Sokhanlik, whilst shallow vessels find moorings of 
 five fathoms southward of the town. The great defect of 
 this natural harbour is that it has too wide an inlet, which 
 * Shumla has been elaborately fortified this year by Omer Pacha. 
 
THE DANUBE. 411 
 
 cannot be closed or effectually defended against an enemy's 
 fleet. But the Bulgarians do not aspire to fight by sea ; and 
 if they only recovered the humblest political existence, they 
 would possess a fruitful source of wealth in this mercantile 
 port so near Constantinople, Trebizond, and Odessa, No 
 one can walk through the dockyards of Yarna without 
 admiring the dexterity of this people in their new maritime 
 avocations. 
 
 Since it was sacked by the Russians, Yarna has been but a 
 jumble of 8000 huts, giving shelter to barely 25,000 inhabi- 
 tants. All the wealthy Bulgarians have been forced to quit 
 the place, after being fleeced by those whom they had called 
 their liberators, Russia would not suffer Yarna to rival 
 Odessa ; consequently this fine coast was the most severely 
 ravaged part of all Bulgaria. 
 
 North of Yarna extends the vast marshy plain known by 
 the name of Dobroudja. It is a steppe with low hills, with- 
 out trees, but covered with grass which is sometimes so high 
 that the traveller might be lost in it. The Dobroudji, a sort 
 of Bulgarian Cossacks, always on horseback and spending 
 their whole lives in the pastures, have given their name to 
 these coasts. They are the least pure-blooded of all the 
 Bulgarian tribes, having mingled their race with that of the 
 Nogai Tatars, who reigned in those regions imtil the eight- 
 eenth century. 
 
 Two roads rim from Yarna to the Danube, the one towards 
 Silistria or Wallachia, the other along the Black Sea towards 
 Moldavia. On this latter road, near Kavarna, between 
 Tcherna Yoda and Kostendche, are some remains of the wall 
 and ditch constructed by Trajan across the isthmus, south of 
 the lakes of Kara Sou. The rocky chain of the Babadag 
 crosses these marshy lakes, and by forcing the Danube out of 
 its southern course towards the Pruth, renders its embou- 
 chure tributary to the Russians. After passing that chain 
 we come to Matchin, and then to Mokrova, the point of 
 embarkation for Galats. There slumbers, like a vast lake, 
 the only river in Europe which rivals the gigantic streams of 
 Asia and America. From this point it divides and creeps 
 along through the sands, till it empties itself into the sea, like 
 the Nile, by seven mouths, none of which, unfortunately, are 
 deep enough for large vessels. The Sulina branch itself, 
 
472 
 
 TERNOVO. 
 
 having but a depth of twelve feet on the bar, is inaccessible 
 for ships of war. 
 
 Nowhere in the world, perhaps, is there a frontier so 
 strongly marked as that which separates the Bulgarians from 
 the Moldo-Wallachians. The large and numerous islands of 
 the Danube are completely uninhabited, in accordance with 
 express stipulations made in treaties. The whole space 
 between Shumla and Sulina might be compared to those 
 vast savannahs of America, which are destined to serve as 
 battle-fields for savage tribes, who never meet there but with 
 arms in their hands. 
 
 The choking up of the Danube with sand, and the devasta- 
 tion of the Dobroudja, force the Bulgarian traffic to pursue a 
 land route. It is through the most perilous defiles of the 
 Balkan that the caravans convey the produce of Asia to the 
 Danubian Bazaars of Silistria, Bushtchuk, Nikopoli and 
 Widin, whence they pass into Germany. These four prin- 
 cipal towns of Danubian Bulgaria were profusely fortified 
 before the last campaign of the Russians ; dismantled by 
 them they are now but slowly rearing again their belts of 
 wall after the European system. Nikopoli alone, perched on 
 a lofty isolated rock, remains in the same state as before the 
 war. Bushtchuk, with its immense falanka, seated like Niko- 
 poli on a mountain, seems formidable only at a distance. This 
 great town contains from 15,000 to 18,000 cabins, 7000 of 
 which are occupied by Bulgarians, Armenians and Jews ; it 
 has numerous manufactories of woollens, muslins, and morocco 
 leather. Giurgevo, which stretches along the other bank in 
 the Wallachian marshes, is an important market for its pro- 
 ductions. 
 
 The Bulgarians of the Danube who people the towms of 
 which we have just spoken, have but faintly retained the 
 original features of the national character. To find the true 
 Bulgarian again we must strike into the mountains of the 
 Pachalic of Widin, and follow the old road which leads from 
 the ruined fort of Tchistov on the Danube to Ternovo. 
 
 That celebrated city is reduced to 10,000 inhabitants. It 
 is situated on the slope of a mountain, amid vineyards, 
 lindens, and wild fig-trees ; it is washed by the Yantra, and 
 commanded by a steep cone, between which and the city the 
 only means of commmiication is an isthmus of rocks, so 
 
wiDiN. 473 
 
 narrow as only to afford space for an aqueduct and a small 
 road. Surrounded by verdant abyses, Ternovo resembles 
 Kiov, the holy city of the early Russians, in its delightful 
 scenery : and Ternovo is the holy city of the Bulgarians ; 
 their last kings or krals resided within its walls. Unfortu- 
 nately nothing remains of their palace, nor has the cathedral 
 of the patriarchs had a better fate. The present metropolitan 
 church can hardly be compared with a \illage chapel ; the 
 numerous convents on the adjacent hills are but miserable 
 groups of cabins. Hardly so much as the memory remains 
 of the powerful Ternovo of the middle ages, whose merchants 
 and monks carried commerce and civihzation into the heart 
 of Muscovy. Nevertheless, until it has a successor on the 
 Danube or the Maritsa, this city will remain an object of 
 superstitious reverence for the poor Bulgarians. They make 
 pilgrimages to it, and their songs still celebrate the Svefa 
 Horata (sacred mountain), witliin whose mysterious forests 
 abide propitious genii and the shades of the ancient kings. 
 
 The great city of Widin has supplanted Ternovo as the 
 capital of Danubian Bulgaria. Its fetid bazaar, and its streets 
 strewn with putrid cai'cases round which the vultures swarm, 
 tell plainly that the majority of its 20,000 inhabitants are 
 Mussulmans. Its citadel, which has always been of gTeat 
 importance for the empii^e of the East, has become tolerably 
 strong, since its repairs according to the European system. 
 It was lately the residence of the terrible Hussein, Pacha- 
 Vizier, that is to say, supreme chief of all the Pachas of 
 Bulgaria. The Turks are in the majority in this district, 
 and husbandmen are accordingly kept aloof; cattle and their 
 wild keepers alone have possession of the plain and the hills 
 between Widin and ISTissa. The large village of Belgi-adjik, 
 hung like an eyrie in the midst of frightful precipices, is half 
 way between those two towns. On the right the impetuous 
 Timok rolls towards the Danube, and scoops out a deep 
 ravine which separates Bulgaria from Servia. 
 
 All along this frontier, and extending into Albania, are 
 seen karaouls, or large square huts like watch towers. They 
 are erected on hills, and in each of them are stationed eight 
 Tui'kish police soldiers, who live with their wives on the 
 produce of the surrounding lands, and whose business it is to 
 guard the roads. There is a very striking analogy between 
 
474 TSARIBROD. 
 
 these posts and the Cossack stations of the Polish and 
 Caucasian lines. In Bulgaria, as in the Russian provinces, 
 the establishment of these military lines proves the violent 
 occupation of a conquered, but not completely subdued 
 country. 
 
 From the half Serb city of Nisha a drome, or so called 
 high road, leads to Sophia, and into central Bulgaria, the high 
 balkans of which province are the refuge of haiduks. The 
 way over the first of these balkans lies through gorges, where 
 nothing is seen but heaps of shattered rocks and dark forests, 
 in which two horses could hardly march abreast. The pass 
 is guarded by the citadel of Ak-palanka, that is to say the 
 white or impregnable fortress. On the outside it exhibits 
 one of the most perfect types of the Byzantine castle : it is a 
 quadrangular structure built with large cut stones, flanked 
 with eight very lofty round towers, and with square battle- 
 mented ramparts. The single gate is defended by two rusty 
 cannons, and the interior is nothing but a filthy maze of 
 lanes winding between gardens enclosed with boards and huts, 
 in which it is vain to look for doors or windows. There is 
 not a creature to be seen in the streets of Ak-palanka ; but 
 the stench of the air gives sufficient evidence of the presence 
 of Mussulman habitations. Such is the dismal state of isola- 
 tion in which the masters of Bulgaria pass their lives. Upon 
 the banks of the torrent which flows at the foot of the hill, 
 stand mortuary chapels of Turkish heroes or saints. They 
 are small square chambers, in which a lamp is suspended over 
 the tomb, which is of wood and Avithout ornament, like those 
 of the Tatars and Muscovites ; sometimes two chandeliers 
 flank the platform of the tomb ; and it is furnished with a 
 vase, intended for the ablutions of the pilgxim or the iman 
 who comes there to pray. The grated windows of the sepul- 
 chi-e looks on the highway, and a fountain usually issues from 
 the walls to refresh the traveller. 
 
 Le?tving on our left, in the mountains, the famous citadel 
 of Pirot, or Jarkoi', and the town beneath it, containing from 
 6,000 to 8,000 inhabitants, we arrive at the village of 
 Tsaribrod, through a long valley full of meadows, vineyards, 
 and maize fields, and surrounded with arid rocks. The valley 
 gradually enlarges, and the two chains of mountains break up 
 into isolated cones with naked summits. The khans, frequent 
 
SOPHIA. 475 
 
 enougL. in tlie first part of this road, become less so as we 
 approach Sophia. Vast plateaux, consisting of the ricliest 
 soil, serve only for pasture grounds. Contrary, however, to 
 the usual habits of Turkish towns, the five or six leagues of 
 country around Sophia are devoted to the cultivation of 
 wheat and other crops. We must except, however, a league's 
 breadth immediately round the town, which remains a perfect 
 desert ; not a tree, not a hedge breaks the drear monotony of 
 this naked plain ; only on the horizon a circle of balkans 
 rears its gTanite cones, with the Vitch towering above all. 
 Out of that majestic solitude which environs every Turkish 
 encampment, the countless cupolas and minarets of the city 
 shoot up suddenly as if by magic. From the point where the 
 traveller first catches sight of Sophia, it is still an hour's 
 journey to the city ; and all the way he sees nothing on 
 either hand but ranges of tombs and funeral columns with 
 turbans for capitals. Tliis stillness and loneliness in the 
 approaches to a great city chill the soul, and make one think 
 of the desolate Jerusalem of the prophets. 
 
 Here then is the sorry capital of a Christian nation that 
 has been four hundred years enslaved. Even in its present 
 degTadation and wretchedness, Sophia is one of the first cities 
 in Turkey. Before the last plague it numbered 50,000 
 inhabitants, not including the garrison. The entrance to it 
 is by a low dilapidated vv^ooden gate, and by a little Turkish 
 bridge over the Isker, an affluent of the Danube, which runs 
 in a very deep and almost dry rocky bed. If the Bulgarian 
 kings held their court at Ternovo, the nation held theirs at 
 Sophia, and majestic ruins remain to tell the fact. The 
 remains of the old entrepot for the goods conveyed by the Bul- 
 garian caravans from Asia into Europe are as imposing as 
 those of a Roman amphitheatre. They consist of a vast 
 square, flanked by three superb ranges of vaulted galleries, 
 placed one over the other. The upper arch has in part broken 
 down, but the others, built of large masses of granite, are 
 entire. Against this gi'and mart of the old oriental com- 
 merce, lean the wooden walls of the tcharshia, or modern 
 bazaar. Three-fourths of the shops in this large quarter are 
 occupied by Bulgarians, the rest by Armenians or Turks. 
 There are also many rich Jews in Sophia. 
 
 Though built of unbumt bricks, the houses of the Bulga- 
 
476 THE MOSQUE OF SOPHIA. 
 
 rians of Sophia denote a certain degree of opulence. Each 
 is detached, and surrounded by a garden ; the windows are 
 barred like those of the Mussulman houses. Since the town 
 lias ceased to be the residence of the hegler-beg (prince of 
 princes), or governor-general, its fortifications are falling to 
 ruin, its pallisades rotting, and its dit(5hes gradually filling 
 up ; but its commerce continues to flourish. 
 
 Like every great oriental city, Sophia has retained seven 
 privileged churches, which are served by fifteen or sixteen 
 papas; not to mention the monks of more than twenty mon- 
 asteries in the adjacent mountains. The catliedral is but a 
 half-sunken crypt in a garden. The long-beared priests may 
 be seen in a tchardak or circular pavilion near it, squatting 
 on carpets after their offices, and smoking tchibouks like 
 Turks. Below the sacred hill stands the rustic palace of the 
 archbishop, looking like the humble dwelling of a parish 
 priest. 
 
 The grand mosque of Sophia is really majestic both within 
 and without, and may boldly be classed among the few 
 cliefs d^oeuvre of oriental art which the traveller ought to 
 visit. It is a Greek edifice, formerly devoted to Christian 
 worship, and is called the Sophia, the name commonly given 
 to Greeco-Slave cathedrals. The early Bulgarians so much ad- 
 mired this building, that they gave its name to the city in which 
 it stands, and which had previously borne that of Sardica or 
 ■Serdica.* The Bulgarians also call this city Triaditsa, a name 
 which seems to be equivalent to that of Sophia : the Greco- 
 Slave cathedrals in the middle ages having often been con- 
 secrated to the divine triad. As I was quitting the grand 
 mosque, a Bulgarian came up to me and said, "That was once 
 our church !" " And it will be so again," I replied, " Da 
 hoq ddi " (God grant), said the man, at the same time hurry- 
 ing ofi*, for he saw a brilliant Turkish officer coming up on a 
 horse caparisoned with gold. The proud spahi held an enor- 
 mous umbrella over his head to screen him from the rays of 
 the sun, after the manner of the degenerate dandies of the 
 Ottoman race. Near the mosque are some stately ruins, per- 
 haps those of a Bulgarian palace, converted by the victors into 
 
 * The name is pei'haps derived from the Slavon serdce, lieart, or 
 centre of the country, if it is true that in the times of Alexander and 
 Caesar the Illyrians of these mountains were already Proto-Slaves. 
 
MONASTERY OF SAINT PARASKEVIA. 477 
 
 their grand caravanserai. Over its gigantic portal are still 
 to be seen globes^ roses, stars, branches with their fruit, and 
 an escutcheon bearing three apples united. 
 
 Intersected in all directions by precipitous chains, over- 
 topped by the famous Mount Bilo, the province of Sophia 
 may be considered the natural fortress of Bulgaria. The 
 llomans clearly perceived that this point might become one 
 of the principal barriers of the West against the East, and they 
 covered it with fortifications, the chief remnant of which is 
 Trajan's gate (Kapoulou Derbend), on the confines of Zagora, 
 near Ishtiman, between Sophia and Philibeh. Ousref Pacha 
 demolished it in 1835. Amidst these mountains are found 
 Kostendil, a ruined town with remains of towers, Samokov, 
 with its iron works, and Doubnitsa with its old fortress, 
 which is reputed to be impregnable, and serves as a place of 
 refuge for the Turks of the province when the rayahs revolt. 
 The present governor of this miserable fort is a Europeanised 
 bey, whose rural konak resembles an Italian villa. The innu- 
 merable Turkish cemeteries, and the tombs of the pachas, 
 surmounted with marble columns, which fill these wild and 
 lonely defiles, tell plainly how much Mussulman blood has 
 there been shed, and how little the Osmanli beys can boast 
 of enjoying the delights of peace in such quarters. The roads 
 are flanked with deserted iron and lead mines, and enormous 
 heaps of ore lie along the beds of the torrents. The village 
 of Krapets, between Sophia and Doubnitsa, is completely 
 surrounded with iron ore, hardly concealed by the turf. The 
 good people of this poor village sadly narrated to me, a 
 Bulgarian of the west, who had come to visit my eastern 
 brethren, a deplorable instance of Turkish cruelty, in the pil- 
 lage of the monastery of Saint Paraskevia, which crowned the 
 neighbouring moimtain, and whence flows a stream whose 
 miraculous water used to cure all diseases. They still go in 
 secret to the ruins of the monastery, light candles by night 
 on the spot where the altar stood, and drink from their 
 patron's well ; but the water has lost its virtue since its pro- 
 fanation. 
 
 In like manner almost all the torrents in Bulgaria have at 
 their soiuxe a monastery, a hermitage hidden amid the 
 rocks, the patron saint of which is their tutelary genius. In 
 the higher balkans ruins of monastic arcades are often seen 
 
478 SERES. 
 
 overliaTigiiig the little lake, whence flows the stream that 
 fertilizes the valley. One is siiprised at the zeal displayed 
 by the poorest communes in maintaining a number of small 
 stone bridges over these torrents, even in the wildest soli- 
 tudes. But as the rains of autumn or spring set in, all the 
 roads and the bridges disappear under vast sheets of water. 
 "Woe to the traveller who is abroad during these periodical 
 deluges. He must sometimes ride in the valleys for whole 
 hours with water up to his saddle. 
 
 All the defiles of central Bulgaria abut on basins, watered 
 by the streams of the Struma and the Kara Sou. These 
 basins, within which lie the best cultivated lands of all Turkey 
 in Europe, constitute the fifth and last Bulgarian province, now 
 included in Macedonia, of which it forms the eastern part. 
 We must be particular in distinguishing the part of Mace- 
 donia in which the Bulgarian Slaves dwell, from that to the 
 north-west, which is inhabited by the Slaves of Serb origin. 
 The pastoral Serb tribes are, moreover, separated from the 
 Bulgarian husbandmen of eastern Macedonia, by the Greek 
 populations that occupy the central and maritime parts of 
 that great country. The agricultural Bulgarians, to the 
 number of two or three hundred thousand, people the banks 
 of the Kara Sou and the Struma, to where they empty them- 
 selves opposite the islands of Thasos and Samoth, race into 
 that same Archipelago into which falls the Maritsa. Their 
 chief town is Seres, the Serra of the ancient Greeks, a manu- 
 facturing town of about fifteen thousand inhabitants. Seres 
 communicates with Sophia, by a road which is kept in sur- 
 prisingly good condition, notwithstanding the ravages of the 
 Struma, which it skirts in many places. If this small river 
 were rendered navigable, and if the lake of Takinos or 
 Orfano, through which it empties itself into the bay of Con- 
 tessa, were converted into a little harbour for the export 
 trade of Bulgarian Macedonia, those magnificent lands would 
 soon be quadrupled in value. 
 
 So long as no effort is made to turn to account the natural 
 wealth of this province, the population will have to submit 
 to the hard consequences inevitably attendant on extreme 
 destitution and total want of money.* Its tribes of reapers 
 
 * " Whatever quantity of grain a peasant may grow, he cannot avail 
 himself of more than his family consumes, the expense of transport being 
 
BULGARIA. 479 
 
 svill be forced every year to spread over Kumelia, and gather 
 the harvests there for the poorest pittance; its shepherds 
 will have to hire out their brawny arms for thirty sous a 
 month, and sell their best sheep for a few piastres ; and, 
 whilst the ignorance of the people remains as it is, the monks 
 of Mount Athos will continue to reign over it in a manner the 
 most exclusive, and contrary to all reason. What we here 
 say of Bulgarian Macedonia is applicable, with some slight 
 modifications, to the four other provinces. Suffering under 
 the same wants, they need the same remedies. 
 
 CHAPTER IX.* 
 SOCIAL CONDITION OF BULGARIA.— THE HAIDUKS. 
 
 The ingenuous nature of the Bulgarian character has 
 proved disastrous to the nation, which has fallen more com- 
 pletely than any of the other four Greco-Slave peoples under 
 the law of the victor. Turkish domination reached its cul- 
 minating point in Bulgaria. Like those puissant lords of 
 the middle ages, who sometimes possessed castles all over the 
 kingdom of which they were the grand dignitaries, and could 
 travel from one frontier to the other without ever sleeping 
 from under their own roofs, so the proud Ottomans esta- 
 blished their lines of caravanserais in all directions, through- 
 greater than the value of grain at a shipping port, and no home market of 
 any activity being possible, where almost everyone groivs his own corn. 
 There have even been instances of fine crops being set on fire in the fields 
 of Bulgaria, to clear the ground for sowing, as the practice of storing 
 wheat in holes dug for the purpose, which is prevalent here, offers no 
 species of security." — The Frontier Lands of the Christian and the 
 Turk, vol. ii. p. 411. 
 
 * The contents of this Chapter, originally published in 1844, represent 
 the state of things which existed previously to the insurrections of 1849- 
 51, and which was modified in consequence of those movements, as related 
 in Chapter I. 
 
480 TYRANNY OP THE SPAHIS. 
 
 out the provinces of subjugated Bulgaria. To this day there 
 is hardly a Bulgarian commune without its Turkish Spahi or 
 lord, who is usually an absentee, and leaves the management 
 of his spahalik to a steward, who collects the tithes on corn, 
 wine, fruit, and cattle, and exacts every year three days 
 o'ohot (duty labour), for cutting and carrying the Spahi' s 
 crops to the town. The master of the spahalik, without 
 being noble, for nobility is prohibited by the Koran, never- 
 theless transmits his rights to his posterity, on the sole con- 
 dition of mounting and going to the wars at the first summons 
 of the Sultan. He seldom makes his appearance in his spa- 
 halik except in autumn, the season when the Turks, like the 
 ancient Byzantines, retire to the country ; he then takes up 
 his abode in his white koida, a square wooden turret several 
 stories high, with overhanging galleries, and a pavilion open 
 on all sides, and affording an extensive view over the country. 
 The easy temper of the Bulgarians often encourages the 
 Spahis to inflict upon them the most odious vexations, some- 
 times even to carry off their women by force to make them 
 their own concubines. In certain districts, such as that of 
 Sophia, which is the freest in Bulgaria, in consequence of the 
 vicinity of the Serbs, the peasants succeeded by their last re- 
 volts in obtaining the abolition of the tithes, and the removal 
 of the Spahis ; but then they fell under the yoke of the 
 subachis, officers of the Pachas, who, covering the country 
 with a net work of military posts, come down in armed force 
 upon the peasants, levy taxes from them, and compel them 
 to do service, labour in the fortifications, and elsewhere. 
 Yet such is the moderation of the Bulgarians, that in 1840 
 they all spoke well of Seid, the Pacha of Sophia. The Pacha, 
 they said, has only one fault ; he takes from us all the 
 money he can ; but he makes all his functionaries respect 
 our honour and our women. 
 
 The Bulgarian's dues to the Spahi are quite distinct from 
 those which he must pay to the Tsar, as he calls the Sultan. 
 The latter are of two kinds, the one personal, the other inci- 
 dent to property. Every Bulgarian pays a poll-tax, varying 
 from fifteen to twenty piastres a head : but as each commune 
 apportions among its members the amount payable by it col- 
 lectively, the rich often pay as much as a hundred piastres 
 for liaratch (poll-tax), and the poor are sometimes wholly ex- 
 
EDUCATION. 481 
 
 empt from it. The reverse is the case with the porese (land- 
 tax), which has been fixed once for all in the old cadasters 
 of the Empire ; and whereas some lands continually dimi- 
 nish and others increase in value, whilst the tax upon them 
 remains unchanged, a poor family may have to pay a thou- 
 sand piastres a year for lands that scarcely yield so much 
 net revenue. No species of property escapes taxation ; if 
 tlie Bulgarian have but a wife he must pay for the usufru,ct 
 of that sole possession. 
 
 But all these regular charges seem light in comparison 
 with the unforeseen claims for labour on the public works, 
 which every Pacha has a right to exact, and which usually 
 cost every peasant more than thirty days' work in the year. A 
 still worse vexation is the gazdalik, or obligation to provide 
 lodging and food for all the guests (gazda) who travel with 
 firmans, or on the Sultan's service. The head man of every 
 village is boimd to supply these requisites at the cost of the 
 commune. 
 
 There is little to be said of the Bulgarian schools. All 
 over the East education is in the hands of the clergy, and 
 they are everywhere almost as ignorant as the people. The 
 Turks, however, offer no impediment to the establishment of 
 new schools. Every episcopal see in Bulgaria has its own, 
 which usually adjoins the cathedral. In each of them a 
 monk, assisted by some deacons, teaches the children writing, 
 arithmetic, the catechism, and psalmody. Several of these 
 schools, for instance those of Sophia and Kirk Kilisse, have 
 adopted the system of mutual instruction. Business is con- 
 ducted in them ^vith great order. There is something mili- 
 tary and at the same time monastic in the manner in which 
 the children file in and out, with measured steps, and chant- 
 ing Slavonic prayers. Thus does the Christian of the East 
 become accustomed, from childhood, to confound together 
 sacred and profane things, ecclesiastical and secular habits. 
 Ottoman Macchiavelism strives with all its might to keep up 
 this confusion which is so much to its own advantage ; for 
 by securing the support of the higher clergy by means of 
 privileges and favours, the Porte enthrals, through priestly 
 influence, whole peoples whom it could no longer control, 
 if once they had learned to distinguish more clearly between 
 civil and spiritual things. Regarding the clero-y merely as 
 
 2i 
 
482 THE BULGARIAN HIERARCHY. 
 
 government tools, the Turks sell the dignities of the church 
 to tlie highest bidder ; and the purchasers think of nothing 
 but how they may reimburse themselves by squeezing as much 
 money as possible out of their flocks. The prelate who has 
 bought his see forces the papas to buy his benefice ; and the 
 latter, if he has money enough, may be a pluralist to any 
 extent he pleases. He may hold fifteen or twenty parishes 
 as ^o many fat fields, the harvest of which is for him alone, 
 and where no one can be baptised, married, or buried but by 
 him. A certain sum, more or less, is paid the priest for each 
 of these ceremonies, twenty piastres for a marriage, from 
 twenty to fifty for a funeral ; everything has its price, even 
 to holy Avater and confession. 
 
 Bulgaria numbers four archbishoprics, Ternovo, Sophia, 
 Silistria, and Varna, and sixteen bishoprics, the chief of 
 which are Philibeh, Kostendil, Seres, Verrhea, Lovits, Sar- 
 nokov, Kastoria, Kupreli, and Skopia. Those of Oshrida 
 and y idin have been abolished by the Porte. The Bulgarian 
 hierarchy had formerly at its head a primate who acted as 
 patriarch, and who, though deriving his investiture from the 
 patriarch of Constantinople, was, in all other respects, jier- 
 fectly independent. Even under the Turks, in 14G3, he was 
 still styled Patriarch of Ternovo and of all the Bulgarias. 
 After a while the Sultan thought it a safer })lan to have all 
 those remote churches ruled by creatures of the Greek 
 Patriarch, whom he kept under his own hand, and in con- 
 stant fear of the bowstring. This rebgious centralization 
 succeeded, and saved the Turks the trouble of efiecting a 
 political centralization. Ever since then there have been 
 only Greek bishops in Bulgaria, indifierent to the wants and 
 interests of the localities into which they come only to 
 enrich themselves quickly, that they may go back and live 
 among their own people. The majority of these prelates do 
 not even know the language of the country. The inhabitants 
 of So]:)hia, however, remark with some degree of prl-de, and 
 as an innovation of good augury, that the jDresent young 
 Meti'opolitan of that see knows Bulgarian. 
 
 The enlightened men of the country clearly perceive that 
 the clergy of Bulgaria, as at present constituted, are the 
 greatest obstacle to its emancipation ; it is scarcely possible 
 that a Bulgarian nationality can arise until there is a national 
 
THE TURKS* CONTEMPT FOR CHRISTIANITY. 483 
 
 clergy. It may be said in answer to this, tliat all the inferior 
 clergy and the monks are natives ; true ; but the episcopal 
 thunders are ready to fall upon every Bulgarian priest who 
 ventures to manifest his patriotism too plainly. Besides the 
 Porte has won over to it the majority of these priests, by 
 granting them a multitude of exemptions, of which a revo- 
 lution — even a national revolution— would deprive them. 
 Thus does the selfishness of a few thousand privileged persons 
 retain four millions and a half in slavery, 
 
 Nearly all the Christians of the East are in the same posi- 
 tion as the Bulgarians ; with a few honourable exceptions 
 they have no greater enemies of their nationality than their 
 monks, who batten at their ease on the oppression of the 
 people, and share with the Turk the wealth -wi-ung from the 
 Rayah. Hence the first step towards regeneration must be 
 a reform of the clergy and the suppression of the shameful 
 simonies of which that body is itself the victim, for the 
 existing abuses em^ich only the bishops or the principal 
 monasteries, and are of very little advantage to the humble 
 priests. The scandalous trafiic in the sacraments is not suffi- 
 cient to enable the parish priests to support their families, 
 and they are obliged to eke out their scanty incomes by 
 working in the fields like peasants or by other hand labour. 
 In spite of tliis humiliation and his incredible ignorance, the 
 ' papas is obeyed with blind submission by the Bulgarian : 
 on the days he proclaims as fast days you might travel a 
 hundred leagues in the rural districts without being able to 
 purchase a glass of milk though you ofiered gold for it. 
 
 The Mussulmans never disguise the contempt with which 
 they regard the Christian religion. In the places inhabited 
 by Turks, the congregations in church take place as secretly 
 as possible, for the spahis often take a cruel delight in break- 
 ing-in, and disturbing the service. In order to pray in more 
 freedom on the great festivals, especially on St. George's Day, 
 the majority of the population retire to some sequestered 
 and not easily accessible monastery in the mountains, and 
 remain for thi-ee days encamped under its walls. The village 
 churches are for the most part wretched barns or obscui'e 
 crypts. Old beils, cast before the Turkish conquest, are 
 hidden in these dim retreats, and are only shown to friendly 
 travellers. The Christians are absolutely forbidden to repair 
 
 9 7 o 
 
484 IIAIDUKS— MOUNTAIN BRIGANDS. 
 
 any convent or church that threatens to tumble down, with- 
 out huyurdis, or permits from the Divan, which cost exor- 
 bitant sums. When they cannot pay them, the E-ayahs 
 repair their temple in secret, choosing rather to incur the 
 risk of the most atrocious punishments than to suffer them 
 to fall to pieces. 
 
 The Bulgarians have lost, one after the other, the charters 
 and privileges which the Porte had granted them in order to 
 facilitate its seizure of the country ; they are, therefore, quite 
 at the mercy of the Pachas and the governors of fortresses ; 
 and hence their condition may vary greatly for better or 
 worse from one pachalik to another. The Bulgarians of 
 Bumelia are at present almost on a footing of equality with 
 the Turks with whom they are mingled. They no longer 
 dismount humbly from their saddles when an Ottoman 
 passes — not though he were a Pacha. In consequence of 
 their vicinity to Stamboul, they are wealthier than the rest 
 of their countrymen ; but their fiscal burthens are moi-e 
 severe, for the open country they inhabit makes it less easy 
 for them than for their brethren in the mountains to evade 
 the scrutiny of the tax-gatherer. To this, no doubt, is 
 owing their generally grave and gloomy deportment ; they 
 seldom salute the traveller, or wish him good luck (dobar 
 stchast), as does the Bulgarian of Macedonia, whose open 
 countenance bespeaks his freedom from anxiety. 
 
 On the plateaux of the Balkan, between Seres and Sophia, 
 Philibeh and Ternovo, the condition of the Bulgarians is 
 very different ; nowhere do they enjoy more complete inde- 
 pendence. In those highlands, of which he is the sole in- 
 habitant, the Bulgarian does pretty much as he pleases ; he 
 even sets up crosses on the roadsides, a religious manifesta- 
 tion which would be severely punished in the plain, and he 
 covers the public fountains with Christian emblems and 
 inscriptions, in his own language. There only he exhibits 
 all the characteristics of the primitive mountaineer : vivacity, 
 high spirit, exalted love of his race, a passion for the mar- 
 vellous and for the heroic life. There behind his rocks the 
 Bulgarian feels himself backed by a terrible force, that of 
 the haiduks. There are few families of which some mem- 
 bers are not haiduks or mountain brigands. The father of 
 a family will tell you coolly, " the Pacha plundered me, and I 
 
KIRADSHIAS, OR CARRIERS. 485 
 
 sent my son to the haiduks." As soon as a family has 
 several of its members thus disposed of, extortion keeps aloof 
 from it, and the Turks themselves beware of molesting it, 
 for it might avenge itself. These haiduks are divided into 
 more or less numerous bands, under captams, who like 
 certain barons in the times of feudal anarchy, beset the 
 2^asses, attack the Turkish caravans and the Armenian tax- 
 gatherers, and make those leeches of their country disgorge. 
 Prodigious feats of strength and courage are related of them, 
 which would seem fabulous were they not so frequent : two 
 or three haiduks will sometimes disperse a Pacha's whole 
 train. The unoffensive traveller has seldom reason to fear 
 ill-treatment at their hands ; in becoming brigands the 
 haiduks only obey the voice of nature, which cries to them 
 to avenge the wi'ongs of their people, and they think they 
 are fulfilling a duty. 
 
 Whenever the Bulgarian peasant knows that he is in the 
 Jtieighbourhood of these unseen protectors he holds his head 
 erect before his oppressors. "When by mischance I had taken 
 a Mussulman guide with me on my visit to those districts, I 
 could never find anything to buy at the mehanas (eating- 
 Jiouses) ; I was obliged to send the Turk out of the way and 
 say to the host : Give me some dinner, brother ; I am a, 
 Bulgarian myself. Thereupon he set before me whatever he 
 liad. 
 
 The heroic career of the haiduk often ends with an otmitsa 
 or abduction of a young girl, whom he marries clandestinely, 
 the bond being tied by a papas, who is kidnapped at the 
 same time for that purpose. If he wishes, after his marriage, 
 to become again a peaceful member of society, he must pay 
 a considerable sum to the Turkish authorities ; if he has not 
 made money enough to defray that cost, he resumes his 
 adventurous life, to which he almost always falls a martyr. 
 
 Another kind of adventurers is to be met with in Bul- 
 garia. These are the kiradshias or carriers, who convey goods 
 for merchants through all the provinces, and after delivering 
 their consignments in Syria, in the Caucasus, or elsewhere, 
 take a new load, which their camels or their little Balkan 
 horses bring home to Europe. These men are remarkable 
 for their uniailing honesty -, their long journeys supply them 
 
486 OMER PASVAN. 
 
 with inexhaustible matter for interesting conversation, and 
 they are looked up to as the oracles of their villages ; but 
 unfortunately the habit of living much among strangers has 
 greatly impaired the strength of their national feelings. The 
 influence of the haiduks is confined to a narrow circle ; the 
 higher clergy hold mth the Turks, and the kiradshias are 
 neutral : the rest of the population, therefore, without leaders, 
 without arms, and not even privileged to carry knives, must 
 resign themselves to endure the exactions and oppressions 
 of the Spabis and the Pachas. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE EFFORTS AND ASPIRATIONS OF THE BULGARIANS 
 AFTER INDEPENDENCE, SINCE THE END OF THE LAST 
 CENTURY. 
 
 The spirit of independence, as yet far from mature in 
 Bulgaria, has been gradually gathering strength there since 
 1789, the grand era of the European nations, Austria and 
 Russia had formed a coalition against the Sultan, whose 
 weakness induced him to have recourse to a war of partizans 
 against his enemies, and to cover his frontiers with free 
 companies. Distinguished among the Bulgarian warriors 
 was the son of a Bosnian haiduk, named Pas van, who had 
 been impaled at Pristina, after having, for a long time, 
 ravaged Slavonic Turkey, sparing nothing, if the popular tra- 
 ditions are to be believed, but the convents of the Francis- 
 cans and the envoys of the Pope. His son, Omer Pasvan, 
 like himself, half Mussulman, half Christian, having collected 
 bands of Bulgarian volunteers, harassed the Austrian posts 
 of Servia, and received in reward of his exploits the small 
 fiefs of Kerdsheh and Berza, in the Balkans. Having sub- 
 sequently been raised to the rank of l^airaktar, or standard- 
 bearer, of Vidin, Omer Pasvan, irritated by his insolence and 
 his pomp Milek, the Pacha of that city, who made several 
 
THE KERDSHALIS. 487 
 
 unsuccessful attempts to have him assassinated. At last the 
 new bairaktar having dared publicly to blaspheme the 
 Koran and its expounders, the ulemas of Widin roused 
 against him the pious Moslems, who besieged his konak and 
 set it on fire. Omer was taken with arms in his hands and 
 delivered over to the executioner ; but his son, Omer Pasvan 
 Oglou, escaped, and fled to the ouskoks of Bosnia, from them 
 to the revolted Djegues of Albania, and subsequently he and 
 his haiduks took service imder MaAT^ogenis, the hospodar of 
 Yalachia. Like his father, Pasvan Oglou distinguished liim- 
 self in the war against Austria and Russia by his incursions, 
 which extended np to the walls of Temesvar and Hermand- 
 stadt. In 1791, it is said, he entered into friendshijD with 
 Tserni George, the hero of Servia. The Greeks, who love 
 the marvellous, relate that the two great haiduks, after 
 taking the communion together, pledged themselves to each 
 other in a chui'ch, by the vlaiu or pohratstvo, (the oath of 
 brotherhood.) 
 
 Having retired, in 1792, to his fief of Kerdshe, Pasvan 
 Oglou there organized the famous bands of the Kerdshalis, 
 which were swelled by deserters from the corps of the Janis- 
 saries. To put an end to the frightful ravages of Kerdshalis, 
 the Sultan declared their cMeffermanlia (excommunicated); 
 a price was set upon his head, and it was only by means of 
 a disguise that he escaped the assassins sent against him by 
 the Porte. One of his slaves perished in his place, and the 
 head, mistaken for that of Pasvan, was exposed before the 
 gates of the Seraglio. But whilst Stamboul was rejoicing 
 over the death of the leader of the brigands, news arrived 
 that the supposed dead man had marched at the head of ten 
 thousand Janissaries, into Yidin, where he had hanged all 
 who had been implicated in his father's death, and that 
 having no means of subsistence but through victory, he had 
 invaded the domains of the neighbouring Pachas. The 
 latter, being blockaded and despoiled by Pasvan's merce- 
 naries, privately incited the Rayahs to take up arms against 
 the Kerdshalis. Then for the first time after a lethargy of 
 three centuries, the Bulgarians became conscious of their 
 strength ; but this premature awakening did not avail them ; 
 lacking intelligent leaders, they acted without union, and 
 anarchy continued. The country was occupied by two 
 
488 ATTEMPTS TO SUPPRESS THE KEKDSHALIS. 
 
 different bodies of armed men, the Mussulman Kerdshalls 
 and the haiduks, who were for the most part Christian. The 
 towns which put themselves under the protection of the 
 haiduks, in order to resist Pasvan, were often severely 
 mulcted by their protectors when they had failed in their 
 attack on some fortress of the Kerdshalis, on the pillage of 
 which they had reckoned for the means of subsistence. 
 During the ten years the haiduks remained masters of the 
 low country, they never could organize any regular 2:overn- 
 ment, and yet all the towns, excepting the fortresses, were open 
 to them. Even the great Adrianople durst not resist them ; 
 they entered it freely, sometimes to the number of 15,000. 
 The townspeople had then to find and roast forthwith, in the 
 public thoroughfares, hundreds of oxen, to regale their wild 
 guests, who, after they had had their fill, went off again to 
 the gorges and forests of the Balkans, 
 
 Ili-treated alike by both parties the townspeople looked 
 upon both Kerdshalis and Haiduks with the same scornful 
 aversion, and called them indiscriminately naked hoys 
 {golatj'i). There were nevertheless some brave hearts, some 
 genuine patriots among those Greco-Slave sans-culottes ; but 
 how was it possible to organise the chaos around them ? 
 Pasvan Oglou alone could have done so, had he not been 
 induced by his ambition to throw the reins to the Kerd- 
 shalis instead of holding them in check. The flourishing 
 city of Yoskopolis, peopled by 50,000 Greco-Slaves, and 
 situated in the mountains that separate Bulgaria from 
 Epu-us, was reduced by the exactions of those brigands to 
 the condition of a poor village. The Vizier Pasmandshia, 
 who was sent with the imperial army to blockade them m 
 Vidin was beaten, and his camp was pillaged. The famous 
 Ali Pacha of Yanina, then surnamed for his victories over 
 the Greeks, the Lion of Islamism, joined at the Sultan's 
 request the forty pachas of Asia and Europe, who were be- 
 sieging Pasvan under the command of the CajDitan Pacha 
 Kutchuk Hussein ; but the imperial army concentrated in 
 Bulgaria, having been hastily transferred to Syria and Egypt 
 to act against the French, the bandits of the Balkan had 
 no longer anything to fear. They were seen marching like 
 princes dressed in cloth of gold and silver ; their handsome 
 Tatar horses were groomed by their concubines, who fol- 
 
INSURRECTION OF THE JANISSARIES. 489 
 
 lowed tliem to the field dressed in man's apparel. Every 
 troop had its hoidouk haslii or captain, who received orders 
 from a himhashi (colonel). The most celebrated of those 
 wild heroes were Hadji Manov, Deli Kadriya, Kara Feisiya, 
 and Gushants Ali. Having through their instrumentality 
 become master of the Danube, which no boat descended 
 without paying him tribute, Pasvan pro eeded to extend his 
 power over Servia, which was then govt rned by Mustapha, 
 a most popular Pacha, who is surnamed in the Slave ballads 
 SerhsltCi oneiJca, " the mother of the Serbs." Pasvan Ogiou 
 entered Servia in person, and sent his advanced guard to 
 blockade Belgrade. Mustapha, surprised without an army, 
 was forced to sun^ender, and was murdered. Pasvan became 
 master of Servia, and gave it up to his terrible Janissaries, 
 who perpetrated incredible atrocities, and finally rendered 
 themselves independent of Pasvan, under four elected chiefs 
 styled dahis or deys. 
 
 The whole moral force of these bands consisted in the 
 principle they represented, which was the maintenance of the 
 old spirit and practices of Islamism against the Sultan's 
 innovations. Selim was then beginning that fatal reform 
 after the European model under which the Ottoman Empire 
 has ever since been slowly wasting away. The Janissaries 
 "were in insurrection all over Turkey, and engaged in inces- 
 sant conflicts with the nizam djedid or new forces, disciplined 
 in the Frank manner. The more the Sultan favoured the 
 giaour institutions, the more rancorous the Janissaries became 
 against the Sultan and against those brothers of the giaours, 
 the Rayahs ; until at last they resolved on entirely exter- 
 minating the latter. The Janissaries of Servia began the 
 work in 1804; but haidukism, which had failed in Bul- 
 garia, became fully established in Servia, and saved the 
 Christian populations. The brigands, who peopled the 
 caverns of the Serb and Bulgarian mountains, awoke at last 
 to a nobler sense of their destiny. One of them, the famous 
 Yeliko, a Serb brought up in Vidin, began in Tserna Reka 
 the national war both against Pasvan Oglou and the dahis. 
 Unfortunately the Bulgarians, too pacific by nature, or 
 overawed, perhaps, by the able Pasvan, did not partake in 
 the generous impulse, and their haiduks were constrained 
 to emigrate into Servia. There the captains of all the Serb 
 
490 MOLLA PACHA. 
 
 bands, convince ^1 of the necessity of acting in concert, nnani- 
 mously chose Tserni George for their commander-in-chief, 
 beat the Janissaries on all hands, and drove them back to 
 Belgrade, -which they besieged. The starved out dahis made 
 their escape, carrying off four great boatloads of treasure, 
 hoping to find an asylum with their suzerain Pasvan. The 
 haiduks pursued them by land along the Danube, till the 
 fugitives entered Orsova, when the haiduks compelled the 
 Turkish commandant to give up the tyrants. Milenko, a 
 haiduk captain, went with his soldiers into the fortress, cut 
 off the heads of the four dahis, and carried them back to the 
 camp where they were stuck up on the lances. 
 
 The remnants of the Kerdshalis, now reduced to a handful 
 of men, returned in the following year to Yidin, after 
 escaping countless perils, and the Bulgarians of the Danube, 
 seeing their old oppressors reappear in so wretched a plight, 
 repented too late that they had not taken a more active part 
 in the war of emancipation. Their remorse was the keener 
 for as much as the Porte, hopeless of reducing Pasvan, had at 
 last recognized him as the legitimate Yizier of Bulgaria. 
 
 The wars of the Russians on the Danube in 1810 and 1811 
 completed the disorganization of Islamism. Discord broke 
 out in the Turkish Empire and spread to the garrisons of 
 Bulgaria, some of which favoured while others opposed Mah- 
 moud's reforms. The citadel of Bushtchuk was the focus of 
 the intrigues of the reformist party ; and Yidin was the 
 asylum of all the Janissaries attached to the old order of 
 things. Pasvan's successor, who had been his molla or secre- 
 tary, and who is known in the country by no other name 
 than that of Molla Pacha, felt the necessity of securing to 
 himself a support against the innovators of the divan, and 
 therefore offered, in 1811, his alliance to the rebels of Servia. 
 It was the wish of the new prince of the Bulgarians, that the 
 two countries should form a confederation for mutual defence 
 against all adversaries ; but the molla was a Mussulman, and 
 the Servians were unwilling to support him. Moreover, an 
 imperious circumstance soon forbade the prolongation of the 
 conferences. Napoleon having declared war against the Tsar, 
 the latter hastened to make peace with the Sultan. By the 
 the treaty of Bukarest (28th May, 1812), Eussia obtained 
 the mouths of the Danube and Bessarabia as far as the Pruth ; 
 
BOTZAPJS. 491 
 
 but it was stipulated that Servia and Bulgaria should return 
 under the Ottoman yoke. To obtain the accession of those 
 two countries, it was necessary to cajole them with fine 
 promises, and of these Russia was not sparing. The Servians, 
 thinking it became them to rely on the Tsar more than on 
 the Molla of Yidin, broke off all alliance with the Bulgarians, 
 and both were thenceforth left defenceless to the vengeance 
 of the Osmanlis, who put thousands of victims to death. 
 
 Molla Pacha was soon afterwards recalled. The vizierate 
 of Bulgaria w^as given to Hussein Pacha, who, taking his 
 predecessor for his model, monopolized the commerce of the 
 Danube, and farmed out the fisheries and the right of navi- 
 gating the river. A special circumstance determined the 
 Servian Prince Milosch to conclude an alliance with the new 
 Vizier. Vidin and Belgrade are attached to each other by 
 many close ties, as Servia is to Bulgaria. Both posts com- 
 mand the Danube, and the one cannot be occupied in peace 
 v/hilst the other is resolved on war. Prince Milosch, aspiring 
 to a peaceful independence, felt that he could not attain to 
 it so long as he had not the support of the Bulgarian balkans. 
 Too weak and too crafty to seize Yidin openly, as the parti- 
 zans of Pasvan Oglou had seized Belgrade, he took the molla 
 for his model, signed a treaty of confederation with the 
 cruel Hussein Pacha, and became not only his friend, but, as 
 it were, his adopted brother. Hussein Pacha was then amass- 
 ing out of the plunder of the Rayahs those treasures which, 
 until 1843, made his court one of the most sumptuous in the 
 East. 
 
 The Bulgarian haiduks did not reappear until the noise 
 of the Greek insurrection of 1821 reached their caverns. 
 Suddenly aroused from their slumbers, they inundated Mace- 
 donia ; whole battalions of those independent warriors were 
 seen in the Morea, and it was they who, by a final assault, 
 took the Acropolis of Athens. Botchar, one of these Slaves, 
 who was born in the Yorina, and had emigrated to Mount 
 Sulion, has become famous throughout Europe, under the 
 Greek name of Botzaris. 
 
 That heroic war ended in the battle of Navarino. Then 
 the Russians, seeing Turkey exhausted, began a new cam- 
 paign in the Balkan, under Eield-Marshal Wittgenstein, in 
 the summer of 1828. The fortune of war inclined at first to 
 
492 DIEBITCH. 
 
 neither side ; but happily for Mahmoud, the sudden setting 
 in of bad weather forced the Russians to raise the siege of 
 Shumla and Silistria and to recross the Danube, leaving 
 behind an immense quantity of materials of war, and strew- 
 ing all the roads with their dead. The impassibility of the 
 Bulgarians had many a time disconcerted the invading army. 
 It is true they offered solemn thanks in their churches, for 
 every victory won by the Russians over their tyrants ; they 
 even addressed them as their deliverers, but they refused to 
 fight in their ranks. It would only have been a change of 
 yokes, and their instincts prompted them to await the issue 
 of the war, in order to turn it to good account for them- 
 selves. 
 
 In 1829, Diebitch, who had superseded Wittgenstein in 
 the command of the Russian forces, brilliantly avenged the 
 preceding discomfiture, beat Reschid's strong army in the 
 defiles of Kulevtcha, forced it to shut itself up in Shumla, took 
 Silistria by capitulation, and, leaving the Grand Vizier with 
 the elite of the Ottomans behind him at Shumla, crossed the 
 mountains at three different points. Aides, Karnabat, Mis- 
 sivria, and Bourgas, surrendered ; Slivno was carried by 
 storm on the 11th of August, and eight days afterwards the 
 Russians were in Adrianople, the whole population of which 
 welcomed them with shouts of joy. It seemed even that the 
 Turks sympathised on this occasion with the victors more 
 than the Bulgarians themselves. They were sick of all the 
 foolish innovations of their giaour Sultan ; they almost pre- 
 ferred a real giaour to that Mussulman innovator ; and as 
 Diebitch's proclamations guaranteed to all the most entire 
 religious freedom, along with perfect security for person and 
 property, the action of Mussulman fanaticism was paralysed. 
 The unexpected manifestations of sympathy which the people 
 bestowed on the Russians forced the Porte to capitulate. 
 Moreover, Khosref Pacha had just discovered a plot that 
 might have seriously imperilled the security of the empire ; six 
 hundred members of the conspiracy had already been put to 
 death ; its purpose was to murder all the Sultan's family 
 with the rest of the impious, in order to restore genuine 
 Islamism ; perhaps even the conspirators reckoned on the 
 support of the padishah of the north for the success of their 
 enterprise. 
 
sultan's visit to BULGARIA. 493 
 
 So complete a demoralization of the Ottomans exalted tlie 
 hopes of the Bulgarians to the highest pitch. A few years 
 after this war a vast association was privily formed in Bul- 
 garia through the instrumentality of the didaskaloi, men of 
 letters and village schoolmasters. This Bulgarian hetairia, of 
 which Europe was not cognizant, held its mysterious delibera- 
 tions in the convents and forests adjoining Ternovo, whither 
 the conspirators repaired from all parts, under pretext of 
 celebrating the festivals of the Fanagia (the Virgin Mary) 
 
 In the spring of 1837 the Padishah had a mind to visit 
 his fortresses in Bulgaria. After having examined the 
 aug-uries and consulted the astrologers, he set out with his 
 court. Wherever he went he strove to testify an equal 
 affection for the Bulgarians and the Osmanlis, and he elo- 
 quently harangued both parties on the necessity of living 
 in concord and union. The poor Bulgarians tried to respond 
 to this official tenderness by manifestations which were hardly 
 more sincere. The Greek merchants came out from the 
 towns to meet the Sultan with branches of laurel, and the 
 Armenians with wax candles, shouting Mashallah ! God save 
 him ! The Bulgarian villagers prostrated themselves in the 
 dust before the tcliorhadshia, the lord of their lives ; but, as 
 if by way of bitter derision, they suffered from excessive 
 corvees beyond all former examj^le. They were hunted down 
 and driven in flocks, like cattle, to the fortresses, to complete 
 in all haste, before Mahmoud's arrival, the works which the 
 avarice of the Pachas had postponed until then. At this 
 moment the hetairia of Ternovo had just matured its plans, 
 when old Hadji Yordan, of the village of Elena, near Ter- 
 novo, wished to initiate into the conspiracy one of his rela- 
 tions who lived in the same village. The latter, before signing 
 his name, asked to see the list of the conspirators, and as 
 soon as he had read it he went and informed the Pacha, who 
 communicated the denunciation to the Sultan. A Bulgarian 
 of Sophia, who was protomastor or Jcalfabasliia (first engineer), 
 in the fortresses of Bulgaria, where he employed and paid 
 with funds out of the imperial treasury two thousand Bayahs, 
 the nucleus of the insurrectional army, died on the gallows 
 with old Hadji Yordan and lovanitsa, a rich merchant of 
 Ternovo. The traitor who denounced them was rewarded 
 by the Porte. One of the most zealous hetairistS; Antonio, 
 
494 THE SIEGE OF JAEKOI. 
 
 of tsinfsar origin, didaskalos of Temovo and anther of a 
 Greco-Bulgarian Grammar, was condemned to the galleys 
 and sent to the bagnio at Constantinople, where the Russian 
 ambassador subsequently obtained his pardon. A Bulgarian 
 in the service of that embassy had contributed not a little to 
 inflame the minds of his countrymen, by promising the 
 support of the Tsar ; he, too, was seized, but he escaped and 
 took refuge in the house of the Russian ambassador, which 
 the Turks durst not violate. The rest of the conspirators 
 were put to the torture by their Turkish judges, and many of 
 them died in consequence. When cpaestioned, thse unfortu- 
 nate men denounced Hilarion, the octogenarian metropolitan 
 of Temovo, as one of their accomplices : he protested in 
 dismay, cursed them, and went so far as to call for their 
 death. It is not probable that the old Fanariote should have 
 taken pait in a plot laid by the young generation of the 
 country ; it would rather seem that the prisoners wished to 
 delude the judges and enable the true patriots to escape by 
 denouncmg the foreign jirelates. 
 
 The cruelties inflicted on the prisoners but imperfectly 
 accomplished their purpose. In the same year (1838) a 
 teiTible insurrection and the siege of Jarkoi revealed the 
 existence of a new plot. Remote as it is from Sophia, the 
 fortress of Jarkoi is one of the keys of the Bulgarian capital. 
 It was on a sudden surrounded by nearly 20,000 men, assem- 
 bled from two or three hundred villages, who, whilst j)roclaim- 
 ing themselves the Sultan's most faithful subjects, made 
 known to the garrison of Jarkoi that the blockade would not 
 be raised until fixed laws should have been substituted for 
 the existing arbitraiy usages with respect to corvees and 
 taxes. A kneze or Servian captain of that frontier joined 
 the beseigers with a troop of his countrymen, and promised 
 them, on the part of Milosch, arms, powder and cannons. 
 In reality, Milosch, who had to found a feudatory dynasty, 
 was far from contemplating any step which would have com- 
 promised him with regard to his suzerain. When he heard, 
 therefore, what the kneze had done, he had him seized in the 
 very camp of the Bulgarians, and empaled ; and then he sent 
 as his representative to Jarkoi, A^T:'am Petronievitch, the 
 Servian minister for foreign affairs, who, by lavish promises, 
 induced the beseigers to retire. The revolted Bulgarians 
 
BULGARIANS OF THE ZAGOKA. 495 
 
 sent their delegates with Petronievitch in order to arrange 
 the promised constitution ; but all the delegates could obtain 
 was some unimportant modifications in the social state of the 
 Bulgarians. The stareshines were not to be so dependent on 
 the Tui'ks as before. Every commune, moreover, was to be 
 at liberty to choose and pay its own stareshine, who was to 
 have two assistants able to read, and a municipal seal ; and all 
 suits between Rayahs were to be tried in the first instance 
 by those magistrates. 
 
 These concessions were but a hire ; the Bulgarians might 
 have obtained much more if they had not trusted to Milosch. 
 By its intervention on this occasion the Servian court 
 cleverly secured the Sultan's gratitude, Avithout offending the 
 Bulgarians whose patron it became. The latter indulged a 
 childish delight at having at last forced their inexorable 
 tp^ants to a first capitulation ; but it was not long before 
 they discovered the w*orthlessness of these conventions. The 
 Turkish beys had a thousand indirect means of interfering in 
 the aflairs of the communes, imposing on them stareshines of 
 their own choice, or taking vengeance if they were rejected j 
 and the Bulgarians soon found themselves enslaved as before. 
 Nevertheless, this insurrection, in which they had seen the 
 brilliant imperial subashis fly before them, has left a deep 
 impression on their minds. Jarkoi is become their rallying- 
 word. Since that time, when the Bulgarian, usually so sus- 
 picious, wishes to mark his confidence in the stranger who 
 has gained his friendship, he never fails to relate to him some 
 particular of the siege of that town. 
 
 The Bulgarians of the Zagora, whose communal existence 
 is entirely destroyed, and whose stareshines are but mere 
 Maias (lieutenants) of the Turks, were thmking of repeating 
 the Jarkoi movement, when Mahmoud died in 1839. At the 
 same time the stir among the Macedonian haiduks, who 
 appeared by hundreds in the defiles, indicated that a bloody 
 explosion was imminent in the valleys of the Struma. It 
 was under such auspices that the new Sultan, Abdul Medjid, 
 or rather his Grand Yizier, hoping to conjure the storm, 
 published the unlucky hatti-sherif of Gulhaneh, which satis- 
 fied none of the real wa,nts of those countries, and aroused all 
 the passions of their inhabitants. The popular prophecies of 
 the Greco-Slaves for the year 40 had not yet produced their 
 
496 REVOLT AT KIRK KILISSEH. 
 
 effect ; tlie Bulgarians were all on the watch. In April of the 
 following year, on the day of the forty martyrs, one of the 
 principal feast-days of the Bulgarians, the breaking down of 
 the great bridge over the Maritsa, at Adrianople, which 
 caused the death of seventy-two persons, appeared to all a 
 manifestation of the divine will which commanded war. 
 Christians and Turks soon exchanged threats, and in most of 
 the towns the Rayahs and their oppressors began to erect 
 barricades against each other. 
 
 The country was agitated in all directions by the remains, 
 of the hetairia of Ternovo, and by the secret action of the 
 pliilortliodox, who devoted themselves thenceforth to the pro- 
 pagation of those doctrines of political mysticism, which 
 are peculiar to the Hellenes. Twelve priests, who were 
 looked uj)on as the apostles of the celestial and regenerative 
 Sophia, went about the Greco-Slave provinces, summoning 
 the Bayahs to combine and force the Turks to restore to 
 them the Church of St. Sophia, in Stamboul. Thus did all 
 those various jDeoples unite for one common religious purpose. 
 When the revolt of Candia and of the Thessalians had broken 
 out, the Bulgarians followed that lead. Their first move- 
 ments began at Kirk Kilisseh, in Bumelia, one of the places 
 where their financial oppressions are sorest ; but not daring 
 to keep the plain, they contented themselves with occupying 
 the mountain defiles. All communication was cut oflf between 
 the capital and the northern fortresses ; the whole country 
 beyond Adrianople was under the guardianship of the hai- 
 duks, who undertook to discharge the functions of a police, 
 and admirably they were pierformed by that despised popu- 
 lace. Travellers, and the couriers of foreign powers, con- 
 tinued to traverse the Balkan in all directions, under the 
 escort of the haiduks, as if all around was profound peace. 
 Yet frightful scenes were taking place in the country, and the 
 strife between the Turks and the Rayahs was already marked 
 by terrible episodes. 
 
 An event of quite an antique character was the immediate 
 cause of the breaking put of hostilities. The National Ga- 
 zette and the Official Gazette of the Serbs, published long 
 and curious details on this subject. According to those 
 journals, which are printed in the Serb language, the one at 
 Buda; the other at Belgrade, the Bulgarian insurrection was 
 
MILOIE AND GAVRA. 497 
 
 determined, like the Trojan war, and the revolt of Rome 
 ao-ainst the Tarquins, by violence done to a woman. The 
 Helen, or Liicretia of the Bulgarians, was named Agapia. 
 The nephew of the Pacha of Nisha, smitten by her beauty, 
 had her seized and carried off from the midst of a kolo, and 
 strove to force her to become a Mussulman, that he might 
 marry her. As she resisted all means of persuasion, she was 
 subjected to tortures, which she endured with fortitude. 
 Baffled in their attempts to pervert her faith, her judges re- 
 solved to rob her of her virginity. That threat, it a2:>pears, 
 was successful ; the girl submitted to be made a Turk ; and, 
 when her father and his whole family came to ransom her 
 from the Pacha's hands, they were told that she was no 
 longer a Christian. On their refusing to believe this, she 
 was produced, and threw herself in tears into the arms of her 
 soiTowing relations. The kavasses soon put an end to the 
 afflicting scene, and rudely drove the poor family away. The 
 young Bulgarian was shut up in a kouJa, near the town, 
 along with many other rnomas (girls) reseryed for the same 
 fate, namely, to be married to Mussulmans after their apos- 
 tacy. 
 
 These deplorable scenes took place in the spring of 1841, a 
 season of festivity among all the Slaves ; but the dances had 
 ceased on the green sward of the Balkans, and nothing was 
 thought of but vengeance. The Bulgarian peasants rose up 
 for the deliverance of their momas, and marched, armed with 
 scythes, under two leaders, Miloie and Gavra ; the former 
 of whom had in early youth been one of the haiduks, com- 
 manded by Tserni George ; the latter was said to be a pope 
 of Leskovats. Some months before the insurrection these 
 two men had gone several times to Servia to complain of the 
 Turks, and had entreated the senator, Mileta Badoikovitch, 
 chief of the quarantine and governor of the circle of Alex- 
 inats, and Mladene Voukomanovitch, captain of the frontier, 
 to intercede for them. After setting forth the intolerable 
 sufferings of the Ptayahs, which the hatti-sherif of Gulhaneh 
 had only aggravated, they confessed themselves fallen from 
 the valour of their ancestors, and asked aid of the Servians 
 towards beginning their war of deliverance. All the Ser- 
 vians dared to do was to give them six hundred okas (about 
 1,400 pounds) of powder, and some arms, with which the two 
 
 2k 
 
498 EEVOLT OF THE BULGARIANS. 
 
 Bulgarian heroes prepared for the struggle. But first they 
 sent delegates to Stamboul in the name and with the ap- 
 proval of their countrymen, to implore from their dear Sultan 
 a mitigation of the miseries inflicted on them by the Spahis 
 and the imperial tax-gathers. The delegates were seized at 
 Philibeh, and carried back in chains to the governor of Nisha, 
 who would have put them to death, had not their country- 
 men purchased their pardon of the covetous Mustapha. That 
 Pacha wrote a letter to the Divan, and caused it to be 
 signed by the bishop and clergy of Nisha, in which he repre- 
 sented the revolt of the peasants as a mere outbreak of 
 turbulence, for which there were no reasonable motives. 
 Nevertheless, so crying were the acts of injustice perpetrated 
 by the Mussulman leaders, that the Turkish merchants them- 
 selves took the part of the Christians, and even went to de- 
 mand justice for them of Mustapha, who dismissed them in a 
 rage. 
 
 The Bulgarians were entrenched in the defile of Kotna 
 Bogaz, where the Bishop of Nicha and his priests repaired to 
 them and endeavoured, but in vain, to recal them to obe- 
 dience. The rebels of the Pachalik of Yidin, driven out by 
 Hussein's superior forces, having joined their brethren of 
 Nisha, Jarkoi, and Vrania, the insurrection became serious. 
 Mustapha began to tremble, and most humbly intreated the 
 Prince of Servia to interfere for him with the rayahs. Prince 
 Mikhail hastily convoked the national senate ; and though 
 in secret it was favourable to the insurgents, the Servian 
 government disregarded the voice of the nation, and con- 
 cluded that the strictest neutrality should be observed. 
 Mikhail accordingly issued a threatening proclamation against 
 all such of liis subjects as should take any part in the Bul- 
 garian revolt, and he lined his frontier with troops, in order 
 to cut ofi" all communication with the rebels. During this 
 time the irregular troops of the pachas burned more than 
 a hundred and fifty villages between Sophia and Nisha, 
 empaling the men, dishonouring the women, and then throw- 
 ing them into the flames of their burning houses, or carrying 
 them off as slaves. The Bulgarians fled from all parts to the 
 mountains, crying, Shumo ! To the forest ! Let us turn 
 haiduks! Two thousand mounted men pursued them to 
 their fastnesses ; but the haiduks showed themselves worthy 
 
DEATH OF SriLOIE. 499 
 
 of their ancestors, and only some thirty of all the proud spahis 
 escaped out of their hands. The victors drove the Turks out 
 of Derbend and Corvingrad, and having surprised the fort oi 
 Ak-Palanka, which was guarded only by six thousand 
 Arnauts, they got possession of two cannons, and occupied 
 that defile, which opened to them a passage towards Sophia 
 and Constantinople. Miloie then beset Nisha with more 
 than ten thousand peasants, the same who had before block- 
 aded Jarkoi, and who, armed with no other weapons than 
 clubs, coulters, and axes, again demanded for their country a 
 better constitution than that of Gulhaneh. But the Bul- 
 garian monk Kepa, who was sent to Belgrade to solicit the 
 intervention of the European consuls on behalf of his nation, 
 and especially that of France, brought back news that he had 
 everywhere been ill-received, and that all Europe, not even 
 excepting France, discountenanced the Bulgarians. 
 
 At the same time, six thousand Albanians, led by Yakoub 
 Pacha, and some nizam regiments under Hussein of Vidin, 
 advanced by forced marches to relieve the citadel of Nisha. 
 They found the insui'gents entrenched on the Morava, at the 
 village of Leskovats. After many bloody skirmishes, the 
 Bulgarians, though ill-armed, at last risked a general action, 
 and after a desperate fight dispersed, leaving three hundred 
 dead, and a multitude of wounded on the field of battle. 
 Miloie, who covered the retreat, was surrounded within a 
 leagTie of Nisha, and had only time to throw himself into the 
 koula of Kamenitsa, near the village of Matievats. Though 
 the koula was not fortified, the Turks did not venture to 
 storm it, but sent to ISTisha for ten cannons, which after 
 twenty-four hours' firing completely demolished it. Miloie, 
 covered with wounds, and hopeless of escaping from the 
 Turks, killed himself with a pistol shot, to spare his five or six 
 still uninjured comrades the trouble of defending him ; and 
 the latter cut their way through the besiegers, and escaped to 
 the forests. 
 
 Brief as was the duration of this war, it had already 
 caused such a scarcity in the fortresses of Bulgaria, that 
 the price of bread rose in them to three piastres the oka ; 
 had it lasted a little longer, all the towns would have been 
 compelled, by famine, to capitulate. But the haiduks, who 
 alone could continue the war, had no longer a leader ; they 
 
500 PEACE RESTORED. 
 
 soon became disorganized, and the boldest of tliem passed 
 into Macedonia, where they joined the Greek klephts. 
 
 The Porte did not fail to take advantage of the tacit dis- 
 approval with which the haiduks were regarded. It began 
 by dismissing the governor of Nisha, who had committed 
 atrocious razzias in his sorties, and it took great pains to 
 clear itself from the odium of these deeds in the eyes of the 
 European Courts, without, however, going the length of ran- 
 soming the Bulgarians, who had been carried off in shoals 
 and sold in Albania. It then sent its commissioner Teifik 
 Bey into the Pashalik of Sophia, to inquire, it said, into the 
 griefs of the insurgents, and to rectify them. Those griefs 
 could be easily stated : the insurgents wanted stareshines 
 chosen from out the nation, regular taxes, the abolition of 
 arbitrary exactions, and the expulsion of the Armenian 
 farmers of the revenue, who robbed the country in the name 
 of the Pachas ; they also wanted bishops who at least under- 
 stood their language. Unfortimately the Porte called cor- 
 ruption to its aid ; the example of defection was set by some 
 dastards v/ho received its gold; and the majority of the 
 nation was discouraged by the official condemnation passed 
 ujDon it by the Kussian agents and all the consuls. Some 
 literary dreamers still looked to France, and would have its 
 mediation solicited, but the best informed treated this sug- 
 gestion as folly, and with too good reason. The Servian 
 Cabinet alone, resuming the part it had played in 1838, 
 wrote to the Divan, protesting against Mustapha's atrocious 
 cruelties, and put itself forward as the protector of the van- 
 quished, between seven and eight thousand of whom took 
 refuge in the Servian quarantine establishment of Alexinats, 
 whilst others retired into Moldavia and Valachia. An 
 attempt was made soon after by a party of the latter, num- 
 bering six hundred, or as some say fifteen hundred men, to 
 recross the Danube at Braila ; but they were intercepted and 
 routed by a body of Valachian troops, and "order reigned" 
 once more in Bulgaria. How it was afterwards again dis- 
 turbed, has been related in Chapter I. 
 
 THE EXD. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 Al)bas, viceroy of Egypt, 376 
 Abdication of Milosch, 270 
 Abdul Medjid, Sultan, 495 
 Abdula Mark, insurrection of, 225 
 Abdurabim, Vizier, 32S ; policy of, 
 
 330 ; defeat of, 333 
 A.cbmet, 67 
 Acre, Pacba of, 56 
 Address of tbe Servians to the 
 
 Grand Signior, 75, 76 
 Adem, Pacba of Bosnia, 205 
 Administration of Albania, 389 
 of Bosnia, 387, 388 
 
 4-i9 
 
 — of Servia,219,222, 
 224, 225, 241 ; under Miloscb, 
 246, 2r.l?i, 257-270 ; under Mi- 
 chael, 274, 279, 280, 294 
 
 Administrators, appointment of, 
 159, 257 
 
 Adrianople, revolt of, 97 ; peace 
 of, 246 ; occupation of, by the 
 Eussians, 336, 492 ; locality of, 
 465 
 
 Adriatic, communication of Scrvia 
 with the, 390 
 
 Adventurers, Bulgarian, 485 
 
 Affairs, Servian, settlement of, 233 
 
 of Greece, 238 
 
 Afis, Pacha, 98, 99 ; death of, 100 
 
 Aga Hassan, Pacha, 73 
 
 Agapia, abduction of, 497 
 
 Agents, Russian, intrigues of the 
 282, 284 
 
 Agriculture of Bulgaria, 458, 468, 
 
 478 
 Aidos, 468, 469 ; surrender of, 
 
 492 
 Akjerman, conference at, 235 
 Ak-palanka, 474 ; siege of, 499 
 Albania, 316; population of, 369 ; 
 
 government of, under Omer 
 
 Pacha, 389 ; conquests of Eeschid 
 
 Pacha in, 439, 440 
 Austrian, 443 
 
 Albanians, incursions of the, 200 ; 
 
 conversion of, to Islamism, 316; 
 
 authority of the, 321 ; character 
 
 of, 341, 369; religion of, 368; 
 
 early history of, 413 ; possessions 
 
 of, in Montenegro, 447 
 Aleppo, revolt of, 376 
 Alexa Nenadovitsch, 70; death 
 
 of, 77 
 Alexander Kara Georgevitscb, 285 ; 
 
 election of, 286, 289 ; power of, 
 
 293 
 Georgevitscb, Prince of 
 
 Servia, 381, 387 
 Ali, Aga Sertschesma. 208 
 
 of Stolatz, 345, 358 
 
 - Pacha, 324 ; defeat of, 338 ; 
 alliance of, with Hussein, 343 ; 
 valour of, 347 
 
 of Yanina, 488 
 
 - Rizan Begovitch, 389 
 Alliance, Holy, the, 216 
 
 of Napoleon with the 
 
 Sultan, 432 
 
 of Russia with Turkey, 
 
502 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Alliance of Venice with Tserno- 
 
 gora, 414 
 Allies, Montenegrin, 452 
 
 Prussian, 60 
 
 Servian, 5, 17, 86, 87, 93 
 
 Turkish, 135, 330, 361, 
 
 362 
 
 Amnesty, granted to the Bosnians, 
 351, 352; to the Servians, 169; 
 proclaimed by Omer Pacha, 385 
 
 Amurath Sultan, 411, n 
 
 Anarchy in Bosnia, 358 
 
 in Bulgaria, 377 
 
 Andreossy, embassy of, 171, 176 
 Apostacy of the Turks, 368, 370 
 Arabia, revolutions in, 321 
 Aranda, 65 
 
 Archbishops, Servian, 7 
 Archbishoprics, Bulgarian, 482 
 Archimandrites, 449 
 Architecture, Servian, 12, 277 
 Aristocracy, Bosnian, 318 ; subjec- 
 tion of the, 388 
 
 feudal, 377 
 
 of Ragusa, 434 
 
 Army, Bosnian, 105 
 
 Egyptian, 236 
 
 of the Grand Vizier, 182 
 
 Mahometan, 237 
 
 of Othman, 391 
 
 • Russian, 171 ; defeat of, on 
 
 the Danube, 385 
 
 Servian, 81, 85,102; main- 
 tenance of, 102, 119 ; command- 
 ers of the, 155 
 
 ■ Turkish, 62, 64, 237; in 
 
 Servia, 190, 191, 206 ; under 
 Omer Pacha, 387, 389 ; Chris- 
 tians enlisted in the, 391 
 Arseni Czernovitch, 22 
 
 Lomo, 197, 198 
 
 Artillery, Servian, 201 
 
 Turkish, 63 
 
 Aschin Beg, 197 
 
 Asia Minor, Protectorate of, 321 ; 
 
 separation of, from Turkey, 376 
 Assemblies, political, 94, 123, 224 
 Assemblv, general, of Servia, 121, 
 
 156, 159 
 
 Assembly, national, of Belgrade, 
 213, 214 
 
 Assessment of Servia, 31 
 
 Athens, 58 
 
 Austerlitz, battle of, 135 
 
 Austria, union of, with Russia 
 against the Turks, 58, 288 ; re- 
 lation of, to Servia, 93 ; alliance 
 of, with France, 150; revolutions 
 in, 378 ; policy of, 431 ; relation 
 of, to Montenegro, 441, 453 ; 
 possessions of, in Montenegro, 
 443 ; war with, ih. 
 
 Austrians, defeat of the, in Hun- 
 gary, 379 ; in Montenegro, 444, 
 445 
 
 Austro-Russian intrigue, 378, 379, 
 386 ; Turkish resistance to the, 
 391 
 
 Ayans, 321 
 
 B 
 
 Babadag Mountains, 471 
 
 Bagdad, Pacha of, 56 
 
 Bairaktar, 322 
 
 Balance of power in Europe, 59 
 
 Balkan, passage of the Russians 
 over the, 336, 469 ; Slaves of 
 the, 379 ; Bulgarian territory on 
 the, 457, 468 ; passes of the, 
 468, 474 
 
 Ballads of the Danube, 417 
 
 of the Montenegrins, 399, 
 
 411 ; see also " Piesmas" 
 
 Ban Yelatchitch, 379 
 
 Banditti of Turkey, 32 
 
 Bania, battle of, 148 ; voivode of, 
 
 161 
 Bank of Constantinople, 30 
 Barbarians, Montenegrin, 401 
 Battle of Austerlitz, 135 
 
 of Carpenissa, 335 
 
 of Clobuk, 402 
 
 of Keinovska, 413 
 
 of Kossova, 16, 54, 342, 
 
 343, 411 
 
 of Kroussa. 432 
 
INDEX. 
 
 503 
 
 Battle of Losnitza, 153 
 
 oiMartinitch, 440 
 
 of Mount Wites, 347 
 
 of Navarino, 491 
 
 of Nisha, 499 
 
 of Poscharevaz, 203, 204 
 
 of Schabaz, 107 
 
 of Sarayevo, 333 
 
 of Vidrak, 444 
 
 of Warwarin, 1 52 
 
 Battles of the Montenegrins, 403, 
 
 404 
 
 Bazaars, 465, 473 
 
 Bazardjik, 467, 468 
 
 Bekir, 89; troops of, 102 
 
 Bekjares, commander of the, 186, 
 189 
 
 Bektashi, 322 
 
 Belgrade, Paehalic of, 28 ; Janis- 
 saries of, 66, 73 ; restoration of, 
 to the Turks, 67 ; siege of, 85-88, 
 489 ; arrival of Russian troops 
 at, 160 ; occupation of, by the 
 Turks, 185 ; Pacha of, 190, 328 ; 
 entry of Milosch into, 270 ; 
 theatre of, 278 ; position of, 314. 
 
 Bem, General, 376, 379 
 
 Berate, granted to Milosch, 247 
 
 Berda, 432, 443 
 
 Beys of Albania, 354 
 
 of Bosnia, 318 ; flight of the, 
 
 387, 389 
 
 Bihatch, blockade of, 380 
 
 Bishops, Catholic, 316 
 
 Greek, 30, 31 ; election 
 
 of, 243 
 
 Black Mountain, 394, 405 ; inha- 
 bitants of the, 427 ; Ptussian 
 policy towards the, 431 
 
 Sea, Bulgarian coast on the, 
 
 457 
 
 Bonneval, 62 
 
 Borstlaw, Stephen, 4 
 
 Bosnia, 17,19; independence of, 
 57; insurrections in, 91, 115, 
 331, 338 ; districts of, 120, 338 ; 
 siege of, 144, 153; Pacha of, 
 205, 314 ; political condition of, 
 313, 317, 318; government of. 
 
 318, 323; attempted subjection 
 of, by Mahmoud II., 327, 328 ; 
 surrender of, 330 ; position of, 
 in 1829, 336; subjection of, 
 348, 352; population of, 370; 
 feudalism in, 376, 377; con- 
 quest of, by Omer Pacha, 388, 
 
 Bosnians, surrender of, to the 
 Turks, 20 ; incursions of the, 
 102, 103; defeat of the, 205; 
 religion of the, 316 ; national 
 independence of the, 318; revolt 
 of, against the Turks, 332-4, 342; 
 present position of, with regard 
 to the Porte, 353, 355 
 
 Bosphorous, position of Russia on 
 the, 389 ; seats of commerce on 
 the, 390, 391; cabinet of the, 
 392 
 
 Botzaris, 491 
 
 Boudva, capture of, 437 
 
 Boundaries of P'^lgaria, 454, 456 
 
 Servian, settlement of^ 
 
 244, 245 
 
 of Tsernagora, 406, 440 
 
 of Zagora, 468 
 
 Bourgas, surrender of, 492 
 
 Boushati, the, 418, 432 ; Pacha of, 
 439 
 
 Bowring, Dr., on Servian poetry, 
 55, 71 
 
 Bozzaris, 335 
 
 Brankovitch, George, 17, 19; wife 
 of, 415 
 
 Brigands, 409, 452; of Bulgaria, 
 460, 485, 487, 488 
 
 Bronievski, M., records of Monte- 
 negro, b}', 401 
 
 Brotherhood, bonds of, 36, 37, 355 
 
 Bulgaria, dominion of the Porte 
 in 287 ; surrender of, to Mah- 
 moud II., 237 ; feudalism in, 
 376, 377; population of, 454; 
 ecclesiastical rule in, 482 ; ports 
 of, 455, 470, 471 ; territory of, 
 454, 471 ; divisions of, 456; re- 
 gions of, 457 ; fertility of, 458, 
 478; provinces of, 462, 463, 
 478; towns of, 467, 469, 470, 
 
m 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 476; traffic of, 472; rivers of, 
 462, 472, 473, 478; mines of, 
 477; social condition of, 479, 
 495; Turkish rule in, 480-2; 
 present position of, 484 ; Vizier 
 of, 490, 491 
 
 Danubian, 456, 472, 473 
 
 Latin, 456 
 
 Northern, 456, 467 
 
 Transbalkan, 457 
 
 Upper, 456 
 
 Bulgarians, 281, 454; religion of 
 the, 316 ; character of the, 369, 
 456,459; importance of the, 376, 
 revolt of, 383-5; improved con- 
 dition of, 390 ; their estimation 
 of the Russians, 392, 393 ; dis- 
 tricts inhabited by, 455 ; origin 
 of, 456, w; homes of the, 458, 
 461 ; customs of, 460, 461 ; dress 
 of, 467; preponderance of, 468; 
 present position of the, 484 ; in- 
 surrections of the, 494, 496, 497; 
 defeat of, 498 
 of Eumelia, 484 
 
 Burunty, Turkish, 200 
 
 Caliph, powers of the, 29 
 
 Callipoli, 463 
 
 Camp of Losnitza, 155 
 
 Campaign of, 1806,435; of 1809 
 and 1810,144; Russian procla- 
 mation on the opening of the, 
 151; close of the, 154; of 1811, 
 166 
 
 Russian, 239; of 1829, 
 
 456; of 1828, 491 
 
 Campo Formio, treaty of, 433 
 
 Cannon, manufacture of, 121 n 
 
 Cantacuzenus, John, 9, 1 
 
 Canton of Pashtrovitch, 443, 444 
 
 Caravansaricus, 477 
 
 Carpenissa, battle of, 335 
 
 Cars, Servian, 201 
 
 Cathedral Turkish, 406 
 
 of Sophia, 476 
 
 Catholics, appoximation of, to tho 
 Greeks, 317; preponderance of, 
 in Turkey, 368 
 
 Cattaro, 405 ; siege of, 435, 437, 
 438; surrender of, 433, 435; 
 locality of, 453 
 
 Cavalry, Servian, see "Momkes" 
 
 Turkish, 356 7^ 
 
 Cemeteries, Turkish, 477 
 
 Ceremonies, religious, 39 
 
 Chancellor of Montenegro, 449 
 
 Chancery, courts of, 211, presi- 
 dent of the, 214; powers of, 224 
 
 Charter of Servian laws, 258, 259 
 
 of 1838, 265; results of 
 
 the, 292, 295 
 
 Chiefs Servian, 79; assembly of, 
 81 ; election of, 246 
 
 of Tsernogora, 414 
 
 Chimney -tax, 31 ; abolition of the, 
 243 
 
 China, revolutions in, 365 n 
 
 Chivalry eastern, 405 
 
 Chodscha, the, 221 
 
 Christian system, 365 
 
 Christians, position of, in Servia,, 
 33,34 ; in Bulgaria, 483; Conver- 
 sion of, to Islamism, 315 ; powers 
 and privileges of, 306, 358 ;, 
 decrease of, in Turkey, 367, 
 370 ; persecutions of the, 388 ; 
 appomtmcnt of, to military posi- 
 tions, 391 ; influence of, 393 
 in Bulgaria, 457 
 
 Christianity, introduction of, in 
 Servia, 3, 6 ; influence of, in the 
 formation of character, 25; prin- 
 ciples of, as represented by the 
 Servians, 175-177 
 
 Christmas, religious observance of, 
 44 
 
 Church, national, 40, 243 
 
 Western, aversion of the 
 
 Servians to the, 6, 7 
 
 Churches, substitutes for, 39 ; erec- 
 tion of. 243 
 
 Churschid Ali, conquests of, 151; 
 negotiations of Milosch withj, 
 208; 209 
 
INDEX. 
 
 505 
 
 Citadel of Belgrade, 113 
 Cities of Bulgaria, 473 
 Civilization of Montenegro, 448 
 
 of Servia, 249, 277 
 
 Clement XIV., 65 
 Clementi, the, 315 
 Clergy, Bulgarian, 482, 483 
 
 Servian, 243, 277 
 
 Climate of Tsernogora, 407 
 Clobuk, battle of, 402 
 Cloisters, 39, 40 
 
 Coast guard of Montenegro, 401 n 
 Code, jS'apoleon. 250 
 
 Servian, 251, 258 
 
 Coin, Servian, 11, 278 
 Colonies, Bulgarians. 462 
 Commander-in-Chief of the Eus- 
 
 sians, 404 
 
 of the Ser- 
 vians, 157, 159, 216, 269 
 
 Commerce of Bosnia, 319 
 
 of Bulgaria, 472 
 
 of the Principalities, 
 
 391 
 of Servia, 12, 70, 305; 
 
 attempted monopoly of, 252, 
 
 260, 491 
 Commissarv, Turkish, in Servia, 
 
 276, 280" 
 Commonwealth, Servian, 223, 294 
 
 of Tsernogora, 421 
 
 Communities, Servian, 37, 38 
 Confederation of Montenegro, 432 
 
 of Slaves, 379 
 
 Conference of Akjerman, 235, 244 
 
 of Constantinople, 245 
 
 Congress of Vienna, 207, 443 
 of Slaves, formation of 
 
 the, 380 
 Conquests of the Russians over the 
 
 Turks, 492 
 
 Servian, 11 
 
 Turkish, 148, 426 
 
 Conscription, 391 
 
 Conspiracy, against Michael, 279, 
 
 281 ; against Milosch, 254, 256, 
 262; against the Porte, 492, 
 493 ; in the Servian camp, 156, 
 158 
 
 Constantinople, 21, 24; commer- 
 cial institutions of, 30 ; vidcttes 
 of, 62 ; negotiations at, 94, 99, 
 109; French influence in, 134 ; 
 English fleet at, 137 ; reception 
 of Servian delegates at, 221; 
 conference held at, 245 ; route 
 to Bulgaria, from 462 
 
 Constitution, ecclesiastical, of Ser- 
 via, 7, 22, 24 
 
 political, of Servia, 
 
 257, 259 
 Consul, English, in Servia, 263 
 
 Russian, influence of, io 
 
 Servia, 184 
 Convention of Akjerman, 235 
 Council, organization of the, 300 
 
 of Elders, 241 
 
 of State, 257 
 
 Couriers, Turkish, 252 
 Courtiers, Servian, 253, 254 
 Court of Appeal, 303, 304 
 
 of First Instance, 303, 304 
 
 IS'ational or Supreme, 224,. 
 
 267, 268, 294; proceedings of 
 the, 277 
 Courts of Jurisdiction, 122, 124, 
 159,211, 223 
 
 of Justice, 224, 267, 268, 
 
 294, 303 
 
 Corsica, 405, 406 n. 
 
 Cossacks, Bulgarian, 473 
 
 Crete, dominion of the Porte in, 
 
 287 
 Criminals, treatment of, 450 
 Croatia, 319 
 
 Croats, defeat of the, 379 
 Customs, Mongolic, 293 
 
 Servian, 37, 41-3, 317 
 
 Cyprien, Robert, 401, 405 ; on the 
 
 position of Montenegro, 443 
 
 Dahis, 66, 73 ; revolt against the,. 
 75 ; threatened by the Sultan, 
 76 ; attacked by the Rayahs, 
 82 ; flight of, 87 
 
506 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Dalmatia, 135, 136 ; commerce of, 
 319 
 
 Daniel, Prince, 447 
 
 Danube, progress of the Turks on 
 the, 182, 325 ; defeat of Russian 
 troops on the 385 ; course of the, 
 471 ; branches of the, ib. 
 
 Declarations of war, 137, 490 
 
 Defection of Kara George, 184, 185 
 
 Delegates, Bulgarian, to Stamboul, 
 498, 
 
 Servian, to Constanti- 
 nople, 221-3 
 
 Deli-Achmet, 67 ; death of, 220 
 
 Deligrade, fortress of, 108 
 
 Demands of the Servians in their 
 treaty with the Turks, 222 
 
 Democracy, 97 
 
 Departments of Montenegro, see 
 " Nahias" 
 
 oflScial, in Servia, dis- 
 tribution of, 294 
 
 Dependencies of Montenegro, 443 
 
 Deputies, Servian, 98, 105; libera- 
 tion of, 235 ; reception of, at 
 Yienna, 207 ; at Belgrade, 210 
 
 Despotism, 251, 252 
 
 Diebitch, successes of, 492 
 
 Diet of, 1835, 257 ; of 1839, 273 ; 
 of 1842, 286; functions of the, 
 122 ; resolutions of the, 159, 
 236, 247; conduct of the, 286 
 
 Diets, attempted discontinuance 
 
 of, 255 
 under Kara George, 255, 285 
 
 under Milosch, 285 
 
 Diplomacy, Eussian, 389, 453 
 Dissensions, religious, 19; effects 
 
 of, 21 
 
 civil, 155 
 
 of the Gospodars, 157, 
 
 163 
 Districts of Bulgaria, 457 
 
 Slavonian, 369 
 
 of Servia, 306 
 
 Divan reform in the, 65; treaties 
 rejected by. 111 ; negotiations 
 of, with France, 136 ; with 
 Servia, 211 ; with Greece, 238 
 
 Divisions, territorial, of Servia, 79 
 of Bulgaria, 
 
 456 
 Dmitri, 214 
 
 Dobratscha, Johan, 200, 213 
 Dobrinjaz, Peter, 146 ; exile of, 
 
 162 
 Stephen, insurrection 
 
 of, 225 
 Dobrouja, 457 ; plain of, 471 
 Domusarabe, see " Csars" 
 Doubnitsa, 477 
 Drina, the, 115 
 Ducat, Servian, 278 
 Dushan, Stephen, 9-11 ; laws of, 
 
 13, 38 71. ; death of, 15 
 Dynasty of Ivo, 419 
 
 E 
 
 Eagle's Field, rendezvous of Bos- 
 nian troops on, 332 
 
 Easter, observance of, in Servia, 
 37 
 
 Eastern question, remarks general 
 on the, 353-364 
 
 Economy, political, of Servia, 31 
 
 Edreneh, 465 
 
 Education, national, importance of, 
 250, 277 ; effects of, 451 
 
 in Bulgaria, 481 
 
 Effendi Musa, 276 
 
 Egean Sea, Bulgarian possessions 
 on the, 455 
 
 Egypt, 57 ; invasion of, by Napo- 
 leon, 134 ; govcrnriient of, 321 ; 
 wars in, 350 ; viceroy of, 236, 
 376 ; intercourse of, with the 
 Morea, 238 ; conquest of, 326 
 
 Emancipation of Bulgaria, 482, 
 490 
 
 of Montenegro, 431 
 
 of Servia, from 
 
 Turkish rule, 244, 277, 293 ; re- 
 sults of, 297 
 of the Tsernofforki, 
 
 420 w,; 422 
 Embassy to Constantinople, 222 
 
INDEX. 
 
 507 
 
 Embassy to Russia, 93 
 Empire, Oerman, proferred alliance 
 of the Servians with the, 5 
 
 Greek, relation of the 
 
 Servians to the, 3, 4 
 
 Ottoman division of the, 
 
 27, 56 ; condition of, in the be- 
 ginning of the 19th century, 96 ; 
 negotiations of, with France, 
 134, 135; triumphs of, 188; 
 reform of the, 311, 320-322; 
 population of, 314; insurrections 
 in the, 340 ; present position of, 
 360, 361 ; districts of, 457 
 
 Roman, influence of the, 
 
 14 
 
 Russian, 2, 4 
 
 Servian, 16 ; districts of 
 
 the, 411 n. 
 
 Turkish, political system 
 
 of the, 26, 98 ; boundaries of 
 the, 94 ; militars'' regeneration of, 
 139; religious influence on the, 
 315; changes in the, 321 ; de- 
 cline of the, 365 ; discords in 
 the, 490 
 
 Engagement, military,between Tur- 
 key and Russia on the Danube, 
 239 
 Engineering, Servian, 390 
 England, fleet of, before Constanti- 
 nople, 137 ; negotiations of, with 
 Turkey, 362; interest of, identi- 
 cal with Russia, 363 
 Epirus, revolt of, 324 ; subjugation 
 
 of, 325 
 Erfurt, treaty of, 142,167 
 Europe, ethnological division of, 
 
 364 
 Exchange, Turkish, 30 
 Exile of Milosch, 270, 271 
 Expeditions of Kara George, 145- 
 154 
 
 against Ali Pacha, 324 
 
 to Algiers, cause of 
 
 the, 363 
 Ex-Rayahs, 37G 
 
 Factions of the Gospodars, 160 
 Falcon Castle, see " Sokol " 
 Fall of Servian liberty, 14, 24, 78; 
 cause of the, 187 
 
 of Venice, 433 
 
 Fanaticism, effects of, 296 
 Feasts of the Bulgarians, 496 
 Federalism, prospects of, in 
 
 East, 392 
 Festival of Kralize, 41 
 
 of Christmas, 44 
 
 of St. Barnabas, 43 
 
 of St. George, 41 
 
 of St. John, 42 
 
 Festivals of the Slaves, 497 
 Servian, 37, 41, 44 
 
 the 
 
 Fiefs, 64 
 
 Fire-arms, Bosnia 313 
 
 given hj Russia to the 
 
 Servians, 390 
 
 Firman, Turkish, 210, 240 ; speci- 
 fications of, 219 
 
 granted to the 
 
 Servians in 1838, 299-308 
 Fish of Montenegro, 410 
 Fleet, English, 137 
 
 Turkish, 63 
 
 Forays of the Montenegrins, 402 
 of the Turks, 443 
 
 Fortifications, Servian, 12 
 Fortresses, Bosnian, 17 
 
 Servian, 96, 211, 219 
 
 Turkish, 62, 63 
 
 Foscarini, 65 n 
 
 France, revolutions in, 134; alli- 
 of, with Turkey, 136 ; with 
 Russia, 141 ; wars of, with Rus- 
 sia, 167, 401 
 Fraternity, Montenegrin, 397 
 French, alliance of the, with Maho- 
 med Ali, 363 ; wars of the, 403, 
 434, 437 
 Frontiers, Austrian, 454 
 
 Bulgarian, 472 
 
 of Montenegro, 446 
 
 Servian, 146, 147 
 
 Fugitives, Servian, 201, 279 
 Turkish, 114 
 
508 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 Galats, 471 
 
 Gazette, national, of the Serl)S, 496 
 
 Germany, relation of, to Servia, 
 59; to Austria, 453, 454; de- 
 signs of Napoleon upon, 142; 
 position of, with regard to Mon- 
 tenegro, 453 
 
 Giurgevo, 472 
 
 Giuscha Vulitschevitsch, 101, 102 
 
 Gjurovitsch, 227 
 
 Gomila, attack on, 444 
 
 Gospodars, 120 ; dissensions of 
 the, 157; factions of the, ICO- 
 164; defeat of, 187 
 
 Government of Bosnia, 318, 319, 
 323 
 
 of Bulgaria, 482 
 
 of Egypt, 321 
 
 of Montenegro, 443 ; 
 
 449, 450 
 
 of Pastrovitch, 443 
 of Servia, 2,3, 6, IJ 
 
 under the Turkish rUiie, 74, 118; 
 recognition of, 165; establish- 
 ment of, 177, 178; administra- 
 tion, of, 253, 257, 266 ; interfer- 
 ence of the Porte in the, 274 ; 
 changes in the, 275 ; under 
 Milosch, 264, 271 ; under Mi- 
 chael, 274, 276, 278 
 
 provisional, of Servia, 
 
 272, 285 
 
 Turkish, 252, 261 
 
 Gradatshatz, Kapaten of, 338 
 
 Grahovo, territory of, 410 
 
 Grand Signior, 29 ; addresses of 
 the Servians to the, 75 ; his esti- 
 mation of Milosch, 234 ; war of, 
 vrith his vassals, 321 
 
 Greco-Slaves, 448, 476 ; character 
 of the, 488 ; prophecies of the, 
 495 
 
 Greece, relation of, to Servia, 3, 4 
 to Russia, 138 ; Ottoman autho 
 rity in, 236 : affairs of, 238 
 expedition of Mustapha against, 
 335 ; emancipation of, 358 ; in 
 dependence of, 360 
 
 Greek Bishops, 24 ; dioceses of, 
 316 
 
 Church, schisms of the, 6 
 
 Slaves, 327 n, 328 n. 
 
 Greeks, invasion of Servia by the, 
 
 4 ; conflicts of, with the Latins, 
 8 ; risings of the, against the 
 Turks, 58, 233, 234, 238. 321 
 
 Grlitsa of Tsetinie, 395, 412, 433; 
 437 n. ; 442 
 
 Guard, national, 392 ; of ]iIonte= 
 negro, 449, 450 
 
 Guschanz, Ali, 89 ; defeat of, 113 
 
 Gusle, the, 48 
 
 Gustavus III, 65 
 
 H 
 
 Hadji Beg, 104, 106 
 
 Mustafa Pacha, 70; death 
 
 of, 72 
 
 Mustapha Vizier, 327 
 
 Nicola, 182 
 
 Prodan, insurrection of, 192 
 
 title of, 314 
 
 Haiduks of Bulgaria, 462, 484 ; 
 
 lives of the, 485 ; heroes of, 489 ; 
 
 incursions of the, 490, 495, 499; 
 
 defeat of, 500 
 of Macedonia, 495 
 
 Haradsch, 117; mode of levying, 
 225; see also "Taxes" 
 
 Hassan Pacha, 469 
 
 Hattischeriff, 235 ; violation of, 
 238 ; renewal of, 240 
 
 granted to Milosch 
 
 by the Porte, 247, 253, 299- 
 307 ; terms of the, 276 
 
 He^ryra of the Tsernogorki, 420 
 
 Hellenes, 455; doctrines of the, 
 496 
 
 Here ego vina, insurrection of, 146; 
 Pacha of, 348, 389 ; population 
 of, 369 ; surrender of, 389 ; pro- 
 bable incorporation of, 410 
 
 Hetairiay, Bulgarian, 493 
 
 Hetf-yria, origin of the, 216; dis- 
 turbances of the, 226 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ;09 
 
 Hierarchy, Bulgarian, 48 2 
 History, contcmporarj^, of the 
 Montenegrins, 432 
 
 of Montenegro, 411, 412 ; 
 
 poetical records of, 417-427, 
 433, 437 
 
 Moslem, 330 
 
 ■ Ottoman, 315 
 
 Servian, 52 
 
 of Venice, 426, 433 
 
 Holy Alliance, the, 216 
 Homes of the Servians, 35 
 
 of the Tsernogorki, 409 
 
 Hostilities, Servian, 144 
 
 Turkish, 98, 99, 111, 
 
 173 
 
 Hungary, alliance of, with Austria, 
 21 ; Ottoman power in, 365 ; 
 wars in, 378 ; Russian dominion 
 in, 389 ; refugees of, 383, 389 
 
 Hunyad, John, 17, 19 ; record of, 
 55 
 
 Hussein, Pacha of Vidin, 377 ; re- 
 signation of, 378; residence of, 
 473 ; court of, 491 
 
 Kapetan, 338, 339 ; titles 
 
 assumed by, 345 : defeat of, 346 ; 
 return of, 351, 352 
 
 Ibrahim Pacha, 102 ; arrival of, at 
 Nisch, 105; peace proposed by, 
 109 ; wars of, 325 
 Imnosts, Servian, 119, 124, 211 
 
 — Turkish, 27, 29, 31, 191 
 
 Incursions of Bandits, 488, 489 
 of the Bosnians, 102, 
 
 103, 205 
 
 of the Bulgarians, 486 
 
 of the Turks, 349, 429- 
 
 431 
 Independence, Bulgarian, 461 ; 
 
 efforts after, 486 
 Montenegrin, 349, 
 
 432 
 
 fall of. 
 
 — Servian, 11, 60; 
 17, 24 ; attempted 
 
 recovery of, 78-87, 135, 293; 
 progress of, 169, 170,232; re- 
 storation of, 248, 249 
 Institutions, civil, 37, 122, 159 
 
 commercial, 30 
 
 Giaour, 489 
 
 literary, 277 
 
 of Milosch, 223 
 
 political, 13, 26, 121, 
 
 482, 23 
 
 religious, 6, 7, 315, 
 
 Servian, 37 
 
 Turkish, 25, 37 
 
 Insurgents, execution of, 193 
 Insurrection of 1815, 197; spread 
 
 of the, 201 ; of 1849 and 51, 
 
 376 ; effects of the, 390 
 of the Kneses, 225, 
 
 226, 229, 231 
 Insurrections in Bosnia, 91, 115, 
 
 331, 334, 338, 342; in 1849, 
 
 378,379, 380,387 
 in Bulgaria, 383, 480, 
 
 493, 495, 498, 499 ; causes of the, 
 
 497 ; termination of, 387 
 
 in Greece, 324, 491 
 
 of the Heyducs, SO, 
 
 491 
 
 489 
 
 - of the Janissaries, 
 
 in Macedonia, 495 
 
 of the Montenegrins, 
 
 419, 420, 426, 444, 445 
 
 - of the Nahias, 384, 
 
 385 
 
 pire, 340 
 
 496 
 
 in the Ottoman Em- 
 
 of the Rayahs, 407 
 in Sarayevo, 333,351, 
 
 of the Slave provinces. 
 
 in Servia, 75, 79, 80, 
 
 92 ; elTects of the. 291, 390, 391 
 in Turkey in the years 
 
 1849-50-51, 375 
 Intervention of Foreign Powers in 
 relation to Servia, 60 
 
510 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Intrigues, Russian, 379. 3S2, 389; 
 frustration of 385, 491 
 
 Invasion of Bulgaria, 487 
 
 of Montenegro, 429, 431, 
 
 434 
 
 • of Servia, by the Greeks, 
 
 4 ; by the JMongols, 8 ; by the 
 Hungarians, 10; by the Turks, 
 16, 19, 104, 146, 175, 179; by 
 the Austrians, 23 
 
 Ipek, 12, 23 ; battle of, 343 ; Pacha 
 of, 418 
 
 Islamism, progress of, 23, 238, 316, 
 317 ; conflicts of, 25 ; character- 
 istics of, 26, 355; supremacy of, 
 33, 296. 315 ; principles of, 175 ; 
 power of, 365; disorganization 
 of 490 
 
 in Albania, 316 
 
 in Bulgaria, 316, 456 
 
 Islands of the Danube, 472 
 
 Ismanli, 465 
 
 Italy, defence of,, against Turkey, 
 414 
 
 Itschko, Peter, 109, 211, 241 
 
 Ivan Beg, see " Ivo " 
 
 Ivo, Tsernoi, 413, 414; dynasty of, 
 419 ; citadel of, 442 
 
 Jabliak, destruction of, 413; im- 
 portance of, 442 
 
 Jadar, seige of, 104 
 
 Janina, Pacha of, 56 
 
 Janissaries, 27 ; influence of, 29 ; 
 64, 97, 140, 320 ; destruction of 
 the, 86, 237; by Mahmoud II., 
 326 
 
 of Belgrade, QQ, 71, 
 
 73 ; reformation of, 86, 140, 141 
 
 of Bosnia, 319 
 
 Constantinople, 359 n. 
 
 Janko, Katitsch, 79 
 J ark 01, 474 ; seige of, ^J4 
 Jassy, peace of, 61 
 Jelaludin Pacha, 322; recall of, 
 323 ; defeat and death of, 325 
 
 Jcphrcm, 261, 268 ; power of, 272; 
 
 fears of, 279 
 Jews of Bulgaria, 466, 467, 475 
 Joseph, Emperor, 58, 65 
 Journal, Illyrian, 378 
 
 Serbian, 496 
 
 Judges, Servian, 267 
 Jurisdiction of Servia, 122, 124, 
 
 219, 223, 257 
 Justice, courts of, 223, 224, 303 
 
 Kabadahis, appointment of, 73 
 
 Kadi, office of, 31 ; abolition of, 
 191 
 
 Kainardji, peace of, 320 
 
 Kambourgas, 462 
 
 Kamenitza, seige of 147 
 
 Kapetans, 318 ; subjection of the, 
 330, 348; dissensions of, 345, 
 346 
 
 Kara, George, 79 ; election of, 81 ; 
 attempted assassination of, 89 n; 
 conquest of, 95, 100, 107, 112; 
 influence of, 120, 125; history 
 of, 129, 133 n ; character of, 106, 
 132, 184; expeditions of, 145; 
 conspiracy against, 156, 158; 
 policy of, 159, 160; power of, 
 164: flight of, 185, 187; im- 
 prisonment of, 188 ; return of, 
 216; death of, 217; secretary of, 
 228 ; son of, 286 
 
 Georgevitsh, Prince, 287 
 
 Mahmoud, 346, 347 
 
 Karakioi, 463 
 Karanovaz, siege of, 95 
 Karaouls, 473 
 
 Karnabat, surrender of, 492 
 Katitsch, 106 
 Katounska, 408, 421 
 Keinovska, battle of, 413 
 Kerdshalis, 487 ; defeat of the, 490 
 Kiaja, 199, 203 
 
 Kieditch, subjection of, 388 
 Kila, fortress of, 62 
 
IlfDEX. 
 
 511 
 
 Kings of Servia, 5, 6, 9, 12, 40 ; 
 see also " Krales " 
 
 Kiov, 473 
 
 Kiurtschia, 91 
 
 Klodova, destruction of, 181 
 
 Kmetes, predictions of the, 187 
 
 Knes, Grand, of Servia, 70, 218, 
 219. 
 
 Ivan, 104, 145 
 
 Sima, 144, 186, 187 
 
 Kneses, 28, 29 ; privileges of the, 
 40 ; powers of, 211 ; insurrec- 
 tions of the, 226 
 
 Knias, 241, 247, 257; opposition 
 to the, 268 ; recognition of, by 
 the Porte, 287 
 
 Kolubara, the, 201 
 
 Konak, or palace, 254, 256 
 
 Konda, heroism of, 112 
 
 Koran, 27, 29 
 
 Kossova, battle of, 16, 342, 411 n. 
 
 Kossuth, arrival of, at Vidin, 383 
 
 Kostendil, 477 
 
 Kragujevaz, 203, 257 ; removal of 
 the government to, 275 
 
 Kraina, 28 ; conquest of, 151 ; sub- 
 jection of, 388 
 
 Krales, Servian, 7 
 
 Bulgarian, 473 
 
 Krdschalies, 68, 69 
 
 Kroussa, battle of, 432 
 
 Kruschevatz, siege of, 59 
 
 Kulin, Kapetan, 104, 108 
 
 Lands, division of, in the Ottoman 
 Empire, 27; in Servia, 254; 
 tenure of, 74 
 Land-tax, 29, 481 
 Landwehr, national, 392 
 Lasaritza, 53 
 Lastva, 443 
 Latin Church, 6 
 
 Serbs, 434 
 
 Latins, importance of the, 17 
 Laws, Bosnian, 388 
 
 of marriage, 419 
 
 Laws, Montenegrin, 450 
 
 of Napoleon, 250 
 
 Servian, 13, 249, 251, 257, 
 
 283, 303-308 ; compilation of, 
 261 ; results of the, 292 
 Lawyers, Servian, 305 
 Lays, Historical, 415-442 
 Legislature, Servian, see " Senate" 
 Leopold, Emperor, 22, 23 
 Liechanska, 408; tribes of, 410 
 Lieskopolie. See " Liechanski " 
 Livadia, revolt of, 324 
 Ljubiza, princess, 270, 279 
 Lopenitsa, 469 
 Losnitza, 152, 153, 155, 183 
 Loustitsa, 443 
 
 M 
 
 Macedonia, 369, 462; slave dis- 
 tricts of, 478 
 
 Magistrates, Servian, 30 ; appoint- 
 ment of, 124, 224 
 
 of Belgrade, 73 
 
 Magyars, 378, 387 
 
 Mahmoud, Sultan, policy of, 237, 
 322, 332, 366; expeditions of, 
 324, 350 ; provinces subjected 
 by, 325; reforms of, 339, 341; 
 troops of, 355, 356 n; achiev- 
 ments of, 363 ; defeat of, 413 
 
 Mahomed Ali, wars of, 326, 361 ; 
 alliance of, with the French, 
 363 ; comparison of, with Sul- 
 tan Mahmoud, 365, 366; suc- 
 cessor of, 376 
 
 Mahomedanism in Servia, 20, 23 ; 
 in Bosnia, 314, 316 ; spread of^ 
 370 
 
 Mahomedans, 49, 316 
 
 Maini, the, 443 
 
 Mainotes, 315 
 
 Mamelukes, 321 
 
 Manufactories, Bosnian, 313 
 
 Bulgarian, 472 
 
 Maraschli Ali, 209, 212 ; death oi 
 232 
 
 Maratovitch, mountains of, 406 
 
512 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Marino, Bizzi, 368, 3G9 
 
 Mai-itsa, the, 402, 463, 4oG; bridges 
 
 of the, 496 
 .Marko, records of, 53 
 Marriage, laws of, 37, 33, 419, 
 
 445 
 Massacre of the Bul2;arians, 385 
 
 of Belgrade, 114 
 
 of the Janissaries, 237 
 
 of the Mussulmans, 420 
 
 of the Servians, 76, 77 
 
 Matchin, 471 
 
 Matshwa, insurrections in, 104, 
 
 278 
 Mehemet Ali, 236 
 
 Kapetan, 91, 108 
 
 Meho Orugdsehitsch, 145 
 Members of Council, 300, 301 
 
 of Courts, 304 
 
 of the Divan, 65 
 
 of Parliament, 123 
 
 Meternich. M. de, 441 
 Michael, Prince, 273-276; suc- 
 cesses of, 282; fall of, 285-287, 
 policy of, 498 
 
 Migliaska, the, 319 
 Milan Obrenovitsch, 95, 197, 272 
 Milenko, 120; exile of, 162 
 Miloe, 126; retreat of, 147; cha- 
 racter of, 187 
 Miloie, Djark, 228, 230, 499 
 Milosav, Petrovitsch, 121 ??. ; 
 
 wealth of, 255 
 Milosch Stoitschevitsch, 106, 108 
 
 Obrenovitsch, 188, 190; 
 
 wife of, 191, 270; escape of, 
 195; character of, 203, 205, 
 253; victories of, 200, 205; 
 power of, 213, 225, 226, 232, 
 248 ; titles of, 218, 241, 246 ; 
 policy of, 223, 224 ; despotism 
 of. 251, 252; fall of, 259, 262, 
 267; causes of the, 271, 285; 
 abdication of, 270 ; recall of, 
 275; family of, 279, 285; re- 
 cords of, 327, 328 n. ; treaties of, 
 342 ; intrigues of, 385 
 Milutin, 180, 255 
 Mines of Bulgaria, 477 
 
 Ministers, Servian, 287, 301-3 
 
 Ministry, formation of a, 159, 257, 
 266 
 
 Mintealbano, on " the provinces," 
 370 
 
 Mladin, influence of, 126; character 
 of, 187 
 
 Mokrava, 471 
 
 Moldavia, 93 ; government of, 128 ; 
 designs of Napoleon upon, 142 ; 
 Eussians in, 168 ; connection of, 
 with Bulgaria, 471 
 
 Moler, Peter, 214,215 
 
 Mollah, oflice of, 319 
 
 Pacha, 173, 322; policy 
 
 of, 490 
 
 Jlomkes, 119; payment of, 128 
 
 Monarchs, Servian, 164 
 
 Monarchy, establishment of, 187| 
 222 ; recognition of, by Eng- 
 land, 264 
 
 Monasteries of Bulgaria, 477 
 of Montenegro, 396 
 
 Mongols, 8 
 
 Monks, 39, 322, 393 
 
 Monomachus, Constantino, 4 
 
 Monopolies, commercial, 252, 260 
 
 Montenegrins, 315; subjection of, 
 324, 325 ; engagements of, with 
 the Turks, 348 ; successes of, 
 350, 427, 431; incursions of 
 the, 349 ; history of, 394, 411- 
 448; characteristics of the 396- 
 398, 400-402; homes of the, 
 408 ; tribes of, 350, 406, 409, 
 410 ; independence of the, 349, 
 432; wealth of, 443; civiliza- 
 tion of, 448 ; alliance of, with 
 Kussia, 453; future condition 
 of, 452 
 
 Montenegro, 23 ; union of, with 
 Servia, 146; invasion of, by the 
 Turks, 348, 429; derivation of 
 the name, 394 n; population 
 of, 395 ; fertility of, 409, 443 ; 
 history of, 411, 412 ; emancipa- 
 tion of, 422, 431 ; position of in 
 the year 1800, 427 ; government 
 of, 443; districts of, ih. ; fron- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ^13 
 
 tiers of, 446 ; present state of, 
 
 447 ; republic of, 452 ; political 
 
 importance of, 453 ; locality of, 
 
 454 
 "Monuments, Bulgarian, 464 
 •loratcha, battle of, 325, 396; 
 
 valley of, 406 
 Morava, 182 
 
 Upper, 200 
 
 Morea, the, 238; subjection of, 
 
 325 
 Moslem system, 355, 357 
 
 hotels, 465 
 
 Moslems, characteristics of, 351 ; 
 
 mosques of the, 466 
 Mosque of Musta Pacha, 465 
 
 of Sophia, 476 
 
 Mount Eilo, 477 
 
 Mountaineers, wars of the, 444 ; 
 
 characteristics of the, 484 
 Mountains of Bulgaria, 457, 458, 
 
 469, 471, 475, 477 
 
 of Salla Gora, 406 
 
 Mussellim of Bosnia, 319 
 of Servia, 191 ; powers 
 
 of the, 211, 219 ; abolition of, 
 
 341 
 Mussulman Spahis, 385 ; influ- 
 ence of, 393 ; massacre of, 420 
 
 in Bulgaria, 457, 473 
 
 Mustapha, or Scodra Pacha, 335 ; 
 
 revolt of, 330 ; surrender of, 344, 
 
 exile of, 418 
 
 N 
 
 Nahias, 395, 408, 410; revolt in 
 the, 384 
 
 Nahies, 269; powers of the, 290 
 
 Napoleon Buonaparte, 134 , 137; 
 alliance of, with the Turks, 138 ; 
 policy of, 141, 142; treaties of, 
 167 ; laws of, 250 ; negotiations 
 of, with the Montenegrins, 394 
 
 Navarino, battle of, 491 
 
 Navy, Turkish, improvement of, 
 62, 63 
 
 Negotiations, of Austria, 414 
 
 Negotiations with Constantinople, 
 94, 96, 109, 221, 235 
 
 preliminary, 207 
 
 with Russia, 93, 234, 
 
 331 
 
 Negotin, siege of, 180, 181 
 
 Nemanja, 6 
 
 Nenandovitch, Alexa, 70, 77 
 
 Jacob, 80 ; wars of, 
 
 95; negotiations of, 105; suc- 
 cessor of, 144 ; policy of, 160 
 
 Nicephorus, Gregoras, 9 
 
 Nicholas, Emperor, 288, 382 
 
 Niegoushi, 409 
 
 Niktschitsch, Bishop, 215 
 
 Nikopoli, 472 
 
 Nisch, 105; surrender of, 147; 
 conference of, 172 
 
 Nisha, city of, 474 : siege of, 499 
 
 Nizam, ranks of the, 391 
 
 Imperial, defeat of the, 440 
 
 Novi Bazar, 405 
 Novipasar, taking of, 146 
 Nuri, the historiographer, 65 
 
 Oaths, Servian, 43 
 
 Obod, ruins of, 407 ; fortress of, 
 419 
 
 Obren Vouk, 418 
 
 Beg, 418 
 
 Obrenovitsches, 279 ; fall of the, 
 285 ; claims of, 291 
 
 Odjack, the 323 
 
 Officers, public, 305 ; degradation 
 of, 252, 253 
 
 Oligarchy, Bosnian, 323 
 
 Omer Pacha, 383 ; Governor-Gen- 
 eral of Turkey 385 ; army of, 
 387 ; victories of, 387, 388 
 
 Pasvan, 486 
 
 Opposition, leaders of the 268, 
 281 ; policy of the, 272 
 
 Ortas, military, 27 
 
 Orlovopolje, 332 
 
 Osman Passvan Oglu 68 
 
 Dshora, 103 
 
514 
 
 IXDEX. 
 
 Osmanlis, 10, 14, 239, 419 
 Ostrog, 396, 406 
 Ostruchniza, 94; battle of, 102 
 Otham Turks, history of, 321 ; 
 
 army of, 391 
 Ouskoks, 411 ; origin of the il2n; 
 
 defeat of, 421 ; republic, 452 
 
 Pacha of Acre, 56 
 
 Afis, 98, 100 
 
 Aga Hassan, 73 
 
 of Belgrade, 190 
 
 of Bosnia, 205 
 
 Pachalics, 56, 335, 361 
 
 Pachas, 29 ; election of, 31, 64 
 
 contests of, 149, 190 
 Parliament, Servian, 13 ; members 
 
 of, 123; formation of the, 159 
 Pashtrovitch, 443 
 Paskola, the, 406 
 Passarovitz, peace of, 21 
 Passvan Oglu, revolt of, 68, 72, 
 
 487, 489 
 Patarene, spread of the, 19 
 Patriarchs, Servian, 13,23, 24 
 Patriarchate, Bosnian, 319 
 
 Servian, 30 
 
 Peace, negotiations, for 109, 208 ; 
 
 conditions of, 110, 220; enforced 
 
 by the Russians, 239, 240 
 
 of Adrianople, 246 
 
 of Bucharest, 164, 208, 219 
 
 Peasantry, Bulgarian, 461 ; revolt 
 
 of the, 497 
 
 Servian, 35 ; reactions 
 
 of the, 78, 80, 228, 268; inde- 
 pendence of, 254 ; rights of, 290 
 Perianitchi, see " Guard National " 
 Peter the Great, 331 ; wars of, 422 
 
 the II., Vladika of Monte- 
 negro, 439, 442, 447, 448 
 
 the Impostor, 24, 429, 431 
 
 Petronievitsch, Abraham, 265, 268 ; 
 
 power of, 272; despotism of, 289, 
 291 
 
 Petrovitch, George, see " Kara 
 
 George " 
 
 Peter, 349,409 ; deatli 
 
 52, 53?z, 56n, 
 
 of, 439 
 Pezka, battle of, 106 
 Philibeh, 465, 467 
 Philippopolis, encampment of, 337 
 Philippovitsch, Dr., 122, 123, 126 
 Piesmas, 411 ; extracts from the, 
 
 415, 416-427 
 Pillage, 403, 430 
 Pirot, 474 
 Plague, the, 46, 47 
 Poetry, Servian, 48, 
 Poets of Bosnia, 49 
 
 of Montenegro, 446 
 
 Poland, 7 ; refugees of, 387 ; Rus- 
 sian policy towards, 455 
 Police, Bulgarian, 473 
 Poll-tax, 27, 28 ; abolition of the, 
 243 ; effects of, 368 ; in Bulgaria, 
 48 ; appropriation of the, 419 
 Polomska, insurrection in, 385 
 Pombal, 65 
 
 Popes of Montenegro, 398 
 Popetschiteli, appointment of, 266 
 Population, Christian, 358, 360; 
 decrease of, in Turkey, 367. 370 
 
 of Albania, 369 
 
 of Bulgaria, 454, 456 
 
 of Montenegro, 395 
 
 of Philibeh. 467 
 
 of Pirot, 474 
 
 of Uushtchuk, 472 
 
 ofShumla, 469 
 
 of Sophia, 475 
 
 of Tsernovo, 472 
 
 of Turkey, 367, 368 
 
 of Varna, 471 
 
 of Widdin, 472 
 278 ; modes of levy- 
 ; opposition to the, 
 229; increase of, 278 
 Porte, negotiations of the. with the 
 French, 155; with the Servians, 
 210 ; with the Russians, 234 , 
 opposition of, to the Servian 
 Government. 259. 260, 263, 274 ; 
 dominion of. iuServia, 287, 288; 
 
 Poresa, 191, 
 ing, 225 
 
INDEX. 
 
 515 
 
 influence of, in Bosnia, 319, 320; 
 slave allies of the, 386, 387 ; con- 
 spiracy against the, 492 ; rule 
 in Bulgaria, 500 
 
 Poscharevaz, 85 ; capture of, 203 
 
 Power, balance of, 59 
 
 Powers, European, relation of, with 
 Tukey, 136, 139, 364; treaty 
 between the, 247 ; estrangement 
 of, 263 ; influence of, in Greece, 
 360 ; rejection of Bulgaria by 
 the, 499 
 
 Pretors, Montenegrin, 449 
 
 Princes, of Montenegro, 447 
 
 Servian, 17, 19 ; heredi- 
 tary, 246, 247, 272, 273, 287; 
 power of, 266, 291, 293 
 
 Principalities, government of the, 
 288 ; commerce of, 391 ; posi- 
 tion of, 392 
 Proclamation of Abdurahim, 329 
 Proclamations, Russian, 154 
 
 Servian, 176, 177 
 
 Turkish, 238, 239 
 
 Prorokovitch, the, 409 
 Provinces, subjection of the, 323, 
 
 325, 327 ; position of, 360, 361 ; 
 revolt of the, 342, 343, 384, 385 ; 
 railroads in the, 390, 391 
 Bulgarian, 462, 463, 478 
 
 R 
 
 Races, Slavonian, 3 
 Raditschevitsch, Stephen, 277 
 Eadovitch, trial of, 441 
 Ragusa, 11; siege of, 404, 435; 
 ♦ republic of, 434 
 Railroads, construction of, through 
 
 the Principalities, 390, 391 
 Raitsch, 202 
 Ranko, 72 
 Ratkovitsch, 227 
 Rayahs, 22, 27, 32; hostilities 
 
 against the, 98, 100 ; condition 
 
 of the, 357, 388 ; insurrections 
 
 of the, 407 
 Reforms, military and political, 96, 
 
 97 ; in Bosnia, 322, 339, 389 ; 
 in Turkey, 61, 62, 238, 341, 355, 
 489; effects of, 332, 337, 355, 
 357, 489 ; in Servia, 294, 296 ; 
 in Montenegro, 448, 451 
 Refugees, Bosnian, 351 ; Hunga- 
 rian, 383, 389; Magyar, 387; 
 Polish, 387, 389 ; Servian, 276, 
 279 
 Republics of the East, 410, 452 
 Reschid, 344 ; attack of, on Mon- 
 tenegro, 348, 349, 439 ; depar- 
 ture of, for Asia, 350 ; for Syria, 
 441 ; character of, 354 ; policy 
 of, 375 ; troops of, 440 
 Revenues, Turkish, 29, 30 
 Revolts of the Kneses, 226, 227; 
 of the peasantr}^ 228; of Sara- 
 yevo, 332, 333 ; Turkish, 376 
 Revolutions, in Austria, 378 ; in 
 Arabia, 321 ; in Bosnia, 115 ; in 
 Bulgaria, 480, 494, 495; in 
 China, 365 n, 
 
 in France, 134 ; in 
 
 Greece, 233; in Servia, 196, 
 199, 201; results of the, 292. 
 293 
 
 Rieka, 407 ; siege of, 425 
 
 Rietchka, 408 ; tribes of, 410 
 
 Rilo Mount, 477 
 
 Risanvo, blockade of, 429 
 
 Riva, fortress of, 62 
 
 Rivers of Bulgaria, 462, 472, 473 ; 
 of Servia, 103 
 
 Riza Pacha, embassy of, 385, 386 
 
 Rodosto, 463 
 
 Rome, early history of, 411, 412 
 
 Roumelia, conquest of, 11 ; go- 
 vernment of, 359 
 
 Route to Bulgaria, 462 ; from Bul- 
 garia to Moldavia and Wallachia, 
 471 
 
 Russia, origin of the empire, 2 ; 
 conquest by the Mongols, 7 ; re- 
 lation of, to Servia, 93, 94, 110, 
 127, 136, 137, 143, 149, 167, 
 264; aim of France upon, 62; 
 wars of, with France, 167 ; wiLh 
 Turkey, 239 ; disputes of, with 
 2 L 2 
 
5ie 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Turkey, 219, 234, 288 ; disunion 
 of, with the Western powers, 
 263 ; alliance of, with Turkey, 
 362 ; policy of, 376, 383, 431 ; 
 intrigues of, 384, 385, 432, 491 ; 
 diplomatic movements of, 389 ; 
 present relation of, to the princi- 
 palities, 392 ; position of, with 
 regard to Montenegro, 452, 453 ; 
 traces of, in Bulgaria, 469, 471 
 
 Salash, battle of, 104 
 
 Salonica, 455 
 
 Salt, commercial value of, 260 
 
 Saltworks of Albania, 443 
 
 Sarayevo, 316, 318 ; political im- 
 portance of, 319 ; revolt of, 333, 
 351, 387 
 
 Save, victory of the, 109 
 
 Schabaz, siege of, 84, 85; battle 
 of, 107; fall of, 114; garrison 
 of, 188 
 
 Schivkovitsch, Stephen, 99; cha- 
 racter of, 161 
 
 Schools of Bulgaria. 481 
 
 Servian, 48, 124, 243, 277, 
 
 390 
 
 of Tsetinie, 451 
 
 Schumadia, 79, 84 
 
 Schwabi. 446 
 
 Scodra Pacha, 334 ; the elder, 348 
 
 Scutari, 285, 335, 341; lake of, 
 
 406 ; Pachalic of, 410 
 Scythia, union of, with Greece, 463 
 Selim, 61 ; contemporaries of, 65 ; 
 
 negotiations of, 97 ; deposition 
 
 of, 140 ; death of, 322 ; reforms 
 
 attempted by, 489 
 Semlin, 269 
 Senate, constitution of the, 123, 
 
 224; resolutions of the, 159; 
 
 rights of, 225, 265 ; supremacy 
 
 of the, 267 
 
 of Montenegro, 449 
 
 Senators, 125; flight of the, 187 ; 
 
 execution of, 194 ; duties ot, 
 
 266 ; nomination of, 268 
 
 Senators of Montenegro, 449 
 Sepulchres, Ottoman, 464 
 Serbs, territory of the, 376, 394 
 
 of Hungary, 379 
 
 Latin, 434 
 
 Seres, 478 
 
 Servia, locality of, 2, 4 ; govern- 
 ment of, 3 ; invasion of, by the 
 Greeks, 4 ; alliance of, with Ger- 
 many, 6, 59; independence of, 
 10, 11, 17, 24, 60, 169, 170, 
 232 ; transition state of, 13 ; 
 subjugation of, by the Turks, 16, 
 17, 19, 22, 24, 60; Turkish in- 
 stitutions in, 26; condition of, 
 in the 18th century, 33, 78, 89 ; 
 territorial divisions of, 21, 79, 
 214 ; districts of, 95 ; relation of, 
 to the general state of Europe, 
 134 ; union of, with Montenegro, 
 147 ; with Eussia, 167 ; fall of, 
 183, 187; national institutions 
 of, 211 ; emancipation of, 242, 
 292, 355, 360; boundaries of, 
 244, 245; relative position of, 
 to Bosnia, 329; position of, in 
 the years 1848 and 1849, 381, 
 387 ; effects of insurrections in, 
 390 ; communication of, with 
 Bulgaria, 391 ; conquest of, by 
 Pasvan, 489 ; position of, in the 
 Bulgarian insurrection, 498 
 
 Servians, early independence of, 7, 
 9, 11, 90 ; condition of, in the 
 16th century, 21; in the 18th 
 century, 34 ; customs and habits 
 of the, 35, 44 ; revolts of, 83, 
 103 ; victories of the, 153 ; strug- 
 gles of, 315; character of, 369. 
 
 Shumla, 387, 469, 470, 472 
 
 Shupanes, grand, 5 
 
 Siege of Belgrade, 85-88, 112, 113, 
 490 ; of Cattaro, 435, 437, 438 ; 
 of Deligrade, 108, 109 ; of Jar- 
 koii, 494 ; of Karanovaz, 95 ; of 
 Kruschevatz, 59 ; of Kamenitza, 
 147 ; of Negotin, 180, 181 ; of 
 Nisha, 499; of Poscharevaz, 
 204; of Eagusa, 404, 435; of 
 Uschize, 95 ; of Vienna, 365 
 
INDEX. 
 
 517 
 
 Silistria, 472 
 
 Silivria, 462, 463 
 
 Sjenitza, ruins of, 146 
 
 Skada, 406, 410, 413 ; Paclia of, 
 
 418, 420 
 Skupschtina, 257; powers of the, 
 
 285, 286, see also " Diet " 
 Slade, travels of, 311, 312 n. 
 
 on the Sultan's reforms, 359 
 
 Slave allies, 386, 387, 414 
 
 Christians, power and im- 
 portance of the, 390, 463 
 
 confederation, 379 
 
 congress, 380 
 
 corsairs, 414 
 
 districts, 478 ; insurrections 
 
 in the, 496 
 
 provinces, 275, 396 
 
 soldiers, 389 
 
 Slavedom, Danubian, 390 
 
 Slaves, nationality of, 376, 392; 
 
 present condition of, 390 ; pro- 
 portion of, 392 ; refuge of, 448 
 
 of the Balkan, 379 ; of 
 
 Bulgaria, 456, 478 ; Hungary, 
 379 
 
 Slavonism, 463 
 
 Sokol, 95 
 
 Soliman Pacha, 90 ; death of, 114 
 
 of Skoplje, 190, 191 
 
 Sommi&re, Colonel Vialla de, 394 
 
 Songs, Servian, 41, 42, 49, 50, 145 
 
 Sophia, 475, 477 ; Pacha of, 480 
 
 Spahis, 28, 32, 33 ; murder of the, 
 
 67 ; expulsion of, 75, 201 ; 
 
 rights of the, 219; claims of, 
 
 242 ; risings against the, 384 
 
 of Bosnia, 3, 18 ; atrocities 
 
 of the, 385 ; tyranny of, 480 
 
 Turkish, 356 w 
 
 of the Balkan, 385 
 
 Spahalies, 480 
 
 Sparta, 452 
 
 Stamboul, cabinet of, 390; situa- 
 tion of, 458 
 
 Stanievitch, annexation of, to 
 Austria, 446 
 
 Stanisha, history of, 417, 418 
 
 State, Servian, political existence 
 
 of the, 165; recognition of, 165; 
 constitution of the, 178 
 
 Statistics, Montenegrin, 395, 403 
 
 Stieghitz, travels of, 406 
 
 Subasches, appointment of, 73, 74 ; 
 destruction of, 80 
 
 Sulina, 471, 472 
 
 Sultan, commands of the, 33; pow- 
 ers of the, 57 ; titles of the, 
 134 
 
 Abdul Medjid, 495 
 
 Amurath, 411 7^ 
 
 Mahmoud IL, views of. 
 
 236 ; wars of, against Ali Pacha, 
 
 324 ; policy of, 326, 328 
 Sutorman, mountain range of, 406 
 Svornick, 316; situation, 329 
 Swine, commercial importance of, 
 
 70, 79, 252 
 Swine-dealers, 228 
 Swords, Bosnian manufacture of, 
 
 313 
 Syria, invasion of 134; dominion 
 
 of the Porte in 287 
 
 Tactics, military, 16, 403, 404 
 Tahir, Vizier of Bosnia, 377, 387 
 Tartars, conquests of the, 365 
 of Bulgaria, 457 
 
 Taxes, modes of levying, 27-29 ; 
 settlement of, 246, 266 ; reduc- 
 tion of, 377 ; imposition of, 457 
 
 Bulgarian, 480, 481 
 
 Montenegrin, 451 
 
 Tchevo, 409 
 
 Tenure, laws of, 74 
 
 Ternovo, 472, 473; hetairi of, 
 496 
 
 Thrace, 454 ; union of, with 
 Greece, 455, 463 
 
 Tilsit, peace of, 141, 167; treaty 
 of, 436 
 
 Timariots, 318 
 
 Toptschider, negotiations at, 221 
 
 Town Courts, appointment of, 224 
 
518 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Towns, Bulgarian, 464, 465, 476 
 
 sacked by the Kussians, 
 
 471 
 
 Traditions, Montengrin, 406, 407; 
 Servian, 53-55; Turkisli, 364 w 
 
 Traunik, 339 
 
 Treaties with Austria, 167, 446, 
 447; with Greece, 239, 240; 
 with Russia, 167, 169, 362 ; with 
 Turkey, 110, 169, 170 n, 172, 
 210, 241 
 
 Treaty of Adrianople, 240, 244; 
 of Bucharest, 164, 208, 221, 
 222, 234, 236, 490 ; of Campo 
 Formio, 433 ; of Erfurt, 142 ; 
 of Presburg, 435 ; of Tilsit, 436 
 
 Troitsa, capture of, 437 
 
 Tsaribrod, 474 
 
 Tscharapitsches, movements of the, 
 231 
 
 Tsemitsa, 408, 409 
 
 Tsemogora, 394 «; political im- 
 portance of,405 ; locality of, 406- 
 41 ; rivers of, 407, 410 ; fall of, 
 419; inhabitants of, 399; Vladi- 
 kas of, 349, 397, 409, 438, 439 
 
 Proper, 408 
 
 Tsernogorki, 396 ; characteristics 
 of the, 398, 399 ; customs of the, 
 401; origin of the, 412; divi- 
 sions of, 418 
 
 Tsernoyeviich, the, 406, 407; fer- 
 tility of, 410 
 
 Tsetinie, 395; monastery of, 397 ; 
 plain of, 406; fortress of, 409, 
 413 ; prison of, 450 ; schools of, 
 451 
 
 Tsousa, 409 
 
 Turkey, annals of, 15; military 
 tactics of, 16 ; laws of, 27 : 
 revenue of, 29 ; dependencies 
 of, 57 ; conquest of, 91 ; relation 
 of, to France, 134, 135 ; to the 
 European powers, 137; designs 
 of Napoleon on, 142; alliance 
 of, with Russia, 169, 362 ; po- 
 pulation of, 367, 369 ; civil wars 
 in, 379; relation of, to the 
 Principalities; 392; position of. 
 
 with regard to Montenegro, 
 453; policy of, 455; Governor- 
 general of, 385 ; dominion of, in 
 Bulgaria, 479 
 
 Turks, expulsion of, from Servian 
 villages, 81, 96; from Belgrade, 
 117; desertion of, by the 
 French, 141; massacre, 114; 
 incursions of, into Servia, 147, 
 180-185; into Montenegro, 
 349 ; dominion of, in Sei'via, 
 186-195; in Bulgaria, 479; 
 successes of the, 491 
 
 Urquhart, travels of, 311, 312; 
 opinions of, on Turkish reforms, 
 341 ; on the government of Ru- 
 melia, 359 
 
 Uschize, 7 ; revolt of, 89 ; siege, 
 95 ; surrender of, 96, 115 ; gar- 
 rison of, 189 
 
 Uskub, Pachas of, 285 
 
 Ustav, duties of the, 293, 294 
 
 Uzkoks, 65 
 
 Valachia, see " Walachia " 
 
 Valjevo, 202 
 
 Vampire, belief in the, 45, 46 
 
 Varna, battle of, 18 ; fortress of, 
 470, 471 
 
 Vasso Tscharapitsch, 79 
 
 Velestova, 409 
 
 Veliko, 80; the Heyduc, 116; 
 bravery of, 148, 180 ; restoration 
 of, 161 ; character of, 179 ; death 
 of, 181 ; consequences of the, 
 185 
 
 Venice, 413 ; wars of, 420 ; history 
 of, 426 ; influence of, 428 ; ne- 
 gotiations of, 429 ; fall of, 433 
 
 Viceroys, 236, 376 
 
 Vidin, Pacha of, 56 ; insurrection 
 in, 384 ; union of, with Belgrade, 
 491 
 
 Vidrak, battle of, 444 
 
 Vienna, congress of, 207; siege of, 
 365 
 
INDEX. 
 
 519 
 
 Vili, the, 42; influence of, 47; 
 
 gifts of the, 145 
 Village court, 224 
 Villages of Bulgaria, 458, 459, 
 
 483 
 
 Servian, 35, 39 
 
 Vishmitsch, Philip, 49 
 
 Visoko, revolt of, 332, 333 
 
 Vissarion, 420 
 
 Vitch, the, 475 
 
 Vizier, Grand, operations of the, 
 
 340 ; policy of, 343 ; attacks of, 
 
 on the Montenegrins, 349 
 Viziers, great council of, 237 
 of Bosnia, 318, 320, 323, 
 
 325, 328, 346, 377 
 
 of Bulgaria, 377, 490, 491 
 
 Vladika, Peter Petrovitch, 349, 
 397, 409, 438 
 
 Peter II., 439 
 
 Voinitza, 316 
 
 Voivodes, or Servian Palatines, 9, 
 11, 15,119, 160 
 
 Voskopolis, 488 
 
 Voukotitch, the, 442 
 
 Vranina, 447 
 
 Vuitza, 213 ; treachery of, 217 
 
 Vule Ilitsch, 145 
 
 Vulitschevitsch, 227, 228 
 
 Vutschitern, encampment of, 344 
 
 Vutschitsch, successes of, 23 ; his- 
 tory of, 261, 262 ; appointment 
 of, to the Senate, 268 ; rebellion 
 of, 269, 280, 281 ; power of, 272, 
 284 ; policy of, 283, 287 ; titles 
 assumed by, 284 ; deposition of, 
 289-291 
 
 W 
 
 Wahabis, the. 321 
 
 Wallachia, 93; government of, 
 128 ; designs of Napoleon upon, 
 142 ; seizure of, by the Russians, 
 168 ; insurrection in, 226 ; ex- 
 ports of, 260 ; connexion of, with 
 Bulgaria, 391, 471 
 
 War, declaration of, by the Porte, 
 137; by Napoleon, 490 
 
 chariots, 201 
 
 of liberation, 102 
 
 predatory, 200 
 
 signals, 404 
 
 Warriors, Bulgarian, 486; Monte- 
 negrin, 395, 398, 399, 401 ; Ser- 
 vian, 102, 119 
 
 Wars, civil, 282, 283 ; prevalence 
 of, 383 
 
 between France and Russia, 
 
 167, 490 
 
 of the Bosnians, 342-447 
 
 of the Bulgarians, 488, 489; 
 
 in Macedonia, 491; against the 
 Turks, 498, 499 
 
 in Greece, 335 
 
 in Hungary, 378 
 
 of the Montenegrins against 
 
 Turkey, 349, 350, 413, 420, 421, 
 425, 447 ; against the French, 
 403, 435 ; with the Austrians, 
 444, 445 
 
 of the Servians, 10, 16, 75, 
 
 83-85, 99, 100, 106, 116, i 151, 
 174,175; expenses of the, 94; 
 consequences of 186 
 
 of Sultan Mahmoud II., 326; 
 
 against the Russians ; 330, 334 w, 
 336, 492 ; against the Bosnians, 
 342-348 ; against the ]\Iontene- 
 grins, 349; in Egypt, 350, 351 
 
 of the year 1805, 135; of 
 
 1850, 389 
 
 Wheat, cultivation of, in Bulgaria. 
 478, 479« 
 
 Widin, 472, 473. ^ee also "Vidin" 
 
 Wilkinson on Montenegro, 394w, 
 448, 450 ; on Albania, 447 
 
 Windischgratz, victories of, 445» 
 
 Wittgenstein, Field Marshal, 491 
 
 Women of Corsica, 405 ; of Monte- 
 negro, 399, 400, 405 n ; Serbian 
 444 
 
 Wuk Stephanovitsch Karadshitch, 
 312 ; ballads of, 325 
 
520 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Yaktchitch, the, 409 
 Yanuina, Pacha of, 348 
 Yantra, the, 472 
 Yelatchitch, 378 ; defeat of, 379 
 Ypsilanti, followers of, 234 
 Yunaks of Tsernitsa, 442 
 
 Z 
 
 Zagora, 457 ; locality of, 463, 468 
 Zeta, duchy of, 400; rayahs of, 
 
 420 
 Zenta, see " Zeta" 
 Zia Pacha, 373 
 
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