flr. 
 
 V
 
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 in
 
 ALEXANDER II. CZAR OK RUSSIA.
 
 ABDUL-HAMID II. 
 
 SULTAN OF TURKEY.
 
 THE 
 
 WAE IN THE EAST. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT 
 
 RUSSIA AND TURKEY, 
 
 WITH A 
 
 REVIEW OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. 
 
 BY PROF. A. J. SCHEM, 
 
 Assistant Superintendent of Public Schools, New York City; Late Professor of Ancient nnd 
 
 Modern Languages in Dickinson College; Editor of a "General Cyclopedia," of the 
 
 " Statistics of the World," of the " American Ecclesiastical Year Book; " 
 
 Associate Editor of the " Cyclopedia of Education," Etc., Etc. 
 
 Illu^tfkted witlj 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 H. S. GOODSPEED & CO., 
 
 NEW YORK, & CINCINNATI, O. 
 
 E. H. JONES, ST. JOHN, N. B. ; J. O. ROBINSON, LONDON, ONT. ; 
 B. R. STURGES, BOSTON ; J. W. GOODSPEED, CHICAGO.
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by 
 
 H. 8. GOODSPEED 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 THE author of this work has made the Eastern Question for 
 nearly twenty years a subject of constant and special study. As a 
 member of the editorial staff of the New York Tribune, and 
 contributor to other daily and weekly papers of New York, he has 
 had many occasions to discuss it editorially in its various aspects, 
 and as editor of and contributor to several cyclopaedias and other 
 publications, he has made himself familiar with the entire literature 
 on this subject. A large amount of information had in this way 
 been accumulated when the new Eastern war began. The general 
 interest which the civilized world takes in this new effort to solve 
 the Eastern Question, appeared to him a suitable occasion to com- 
 bine the results of his former studies with a history of the Eastern 
 war, into a comprehensive work on the Eastern Question and the 
 Eastern war. 
 
 While every part of the subject embraced within the scope of 
 this work may be supposed to enlist the attention of our readers, 
 the interest of all undoubtedly culminates in the history of the 
 Russo-Turkish war. This great conflict in the East ranks with the 
 Civil war in our own country, and the Franco-German war, among 
 the most memorable wars which the present generation has wit- 
 nessed or is likely to witness. A compendium of such a war, it is 
 therefore believed, will be a welcome volume in the library of many 
 households. This work gives due prominence to the more interest- 
 ing features of the conflict. It gives an account of every battle, 
 using in the description of the more important battles, graphic 
 
 (3) 
 
 2045634
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 accounts of eye-witnesses. Its biographical notices of distinguished 
 Kussian and Turkish generals are very full, and embrace almost 
 every name that is mentioned in the progress of the war as a 
 glance at the pages of the book will show. A distinguished artist, 
 who has resided in both Turkey and Russia, and who is familiar 
 with the customs and manners of the different races who inhabit 
 these countries, as well as with the places and fortifications in both, 
 has designed many of the illustrations which embellish this book. 
 
 The narrative of the war is preceded by a historical outline 
 of the Eastern Question; a brief sketch of the past and present 
 condition of both Kussia and Turkey, and a history of the Bosnian 
 insurrection of 1875, and the Servian war of 1876. Conjointly, 
 these chapters contain information most needed for understanding 
 the development of the Eastern Question prior to 1876, and enable 
 the reader to conceive a clear idea of the causes, importance, and 
 aim of the war. 
 
 The peace which has been concluded between Russia and Turkey 
 can not possibly end the Eastern Question, but is more likely to be 
 the beginning of a series of new questions and conflicts of which it 
 is impossible to predict, or even to guess, the duration or the end. 
 Even now, while this book is going to press, and while the ink with 
 which the Treaty of San Stefano was signed is hardly yet dry, the 
 air is full of the noise of conflicting demands and of rumors of wars, 
 in which all the principal nations of Europe are in danger of being 
 involved. The so-called peace has brought only dissatisfaction. 
 The demand for its modification in the interests of other powers 
 than Russia went up even before its terms were fully known. Even 
 the former tributary States of Turkey, which, having gained their 
 independence, might have been supposed to have received the 
 greatest benefits from the treaty, find that they have reason to feel 
 wronged, or to believe that their rights and interests have not been 
 properly regarded ; the claims of one State, which deserved as high 
 consideration as those of any of the others, and which enjoyed a 
 wide and warm sympathy in Western and Southern Europe, have
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 5 
 
 been ignored. Two powerful nations, which had great interests at 
 stake in the adjustment of the affairs of Turkey, find themselves, 
 under the new arrangements, dictated by Russia in the presence of 
 a situation which they can not tolerate. Their claims are acknowl- 
 edged to have more or less of justice by their neighboring powers, 
 and even by Germany, which has been regarded as the adviser of 
 Russia, and its supporter, in a moral sense. The same dispatches 
 which report the diplomatic remonstrances of these powers and the 
 replies, the propositions and counter-propositions which are circu- 
 lating among the Courts of Europe, bring accounts of their measures 
 to support their claims by force, if they should adjudge that neces- 
 sary or expedient. In the meantime Russia keeps its armies in 
 front of Constantinople, and England approaches it with its war- 
 vessels, either party being determined not to retire till the questions 
 at dispute have been settled. 
 
 The parties to the new controversy have great resources and 
 powers of endurance, and are nearly evenly balanced. They have 
 also great schemes at heart, and vital interests at stake, all of which 
 are involved in the present dispute. The contest, if they should 
 come to blows, will be long and desperate. It will, in its turn, 
 cause new questions to be brought up, and may lead to new con- 
 flicts, involving as principals parties which hold only a secondary 
 place in the present discussions ; for a protracted war on the borders 
 of Turkey can not fail to arouse the diversified nationalities of 
 Austria to an effort to realize their aspirations. 
 
 It is therefore evident that the Russo-Turkish war of IST'T-'TS 
 was only a single incident in a long chain of events ; that the ques- 
 tions which seemed most immediately involved in it, were only as 
 the single threads of an entangled net of international complications 
 and issues, of which the unraveling has hardly yet begun. It is 
 impossible to understand adequately either the events of the war or 
 the questions without having first acquired some comprehension of 
 the events and complications and issues to which they are' related, 
 and of which they are essentially a part. The effort is made to
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 give such a comprehension, not only in the introductory historical 
 chapters which lead up to the war, but further in the chapters fol- 
 lowing the narrative of the war. 
 
 In these chapters are treated the important issues connected with 
 the Eastern Question, which yet await their solution ; the decline 
 of the Ottoman power, and the deterioration of the Turkish race, 
 which promise to produce for it further losses of territory and con- 
 tinued enf eeblement ; the physical and moral condition of the 
 Christian nationalities of Turkey, and their probable capacity to 
 build up self-supporting States to take the place of the Turks ; the 
 prospective growth of Russia, and the aims and tendencies of Pan- 
 slavism ; the dangers which the co-existence of so many discordant 
 races involves, not only for Turkey, but also for Austria ; the con- 
 flicting interests of the two greatest Empires of the world, the 
 British and the Russian, in Asia. Finally, a suggestion is attempted 
 of a method in -which a final solution of the Eastern and all other 
 international complications may be reached in the general recogni- 
 tion of the principle of self-government by nationalities. 
 
 As the Eastern Question is by far the most important of all the 
 international complications which keep the Old World in an un- 
 settled condition ; and as for many years to come it can hardly fail 
 to constitute a conspicuous and interesting element in the history of 
 Turkey, Russia, Austria, England, and many other States of Europe, 
 Asia, and Africa, a full statement of all issues involved in it will 
 conserve, it is hoped, for this work some value as a reliable guide 
 through the continuing difficulties of the Eastern Question, even 
 when the interest in the bloody war shall have begun to subside. 
 
 A. J. S.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PACTS 
 
 PREFACE 3 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION AND THE EASTERN WABS. 
 
 The War of 1877-'78 one of the most important Wars of the Nineteenth Century 
 Vastness of the territory involved Great Issues at stake Eastern Europe on 
 the eve of a Radical Transformation 21 
 
 FIKST BOOK. 
 
 TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND THE EASTERN QUESTION 
 PRIOR TO 187T. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A HISTORICAL OUTLINE OP THE EASTERN QUESTION. 
 
 The Crusades Conquest of Eastern Europe by the Turks The Turks Threatening 
 the Christian Nations of Europe Emperor Maximilian's Plan of a General 
 Coalition against the Turks Decay of Turkey and Rise of the Russian Empire 
 Aspirations of the Christian Races of Turkey for the Recovery of their Inde- 
 pendence -History of the Russian Policy in the East The Interest of Austria 
 and England in the Eastern Question International Treaties and Joint Action 
 of the Christian Powers The Great Crisis 27 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF RUSSIA. 
 
 Origin of the Russians The Republic of Novgorod Occupation of Russia by the 
 Mongol Tartars Rise of the Principality of Moscow Ivan the Great, the First 
 Prince who called Himself Czar Ivan the Terrible Michael Romanoff Peter 
 the Great Anna Elizabeth Catherine the Great Alexander I. Nicholas I. 
 
 Alexander II 52 
 
 (7)
 
 8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 
 
 The Races of Russia Backwardness of Civilization Abolition of Serfdom Public 
 Instruction Russia the only State in Europe without a Representative Form 
 of Government The Policy of Russianization Religious Intolerance Agricul- 
 tural Resources Scarcity of Large Towns The Village Commune The Pro- 
 vincial Assembly The Russian Church and the Dissenters The Army, Navy, 
 and Finances of Russia 63 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF TURKEY. 
 
 Origin of the Turks The Seljukian Empire Rise of the Ottoman Turks Conquest 
 of Constantinople Growth of the Turkish Empire in Europe, Asia, and Africa 
 Turkish Policy with regard to Conquered Nations Climax of the Ottoman 
 Power under Solyman Spell of Turkish Bravery Broken Struggle of the Sub- 
 jected Races for Independence The Sick Man 91 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PRESENT CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE AND THE OSMANLI TURKS. 
 
 The Ruling Nationality in Turkey Distribution of Races What Prevents the As- 
 similation of the Ottomans with the More Civilized Nations Abortive At- 
 tempts at Reform Religious Toleration Work of Protestant and Catholic 
 Missionaries The Educational Condition of Turkey Agricultural and Mineral 
 Resources Tenure of Land The Army and Navy Desperate Condition of the 
 Finances 101 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE TRIBUTARY STATES AND THE SUBJECT PEOPLES OF TURKEY. 
 
 Rumania Union of the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia into one State 
 Education, Literature, Army, and Finances Characteristics of the People, 
 their Dress and Manner of Living Servia Its History and Present Condi- 
 tion The Omladina The Servian Church Dress, Customs, and Domestic 
 Usages Bosnia and Herzegovina The Bulgarians They Regain the Auton- 
 omy of their National Church Progress of Education Circassian Colonies in 
 Bulgaria Montenegro Sketch of its History The Albanians The Miridites 
 The Greeks of Turkey The Districts in which they Predominate Their Con- 
 trol of Turkish Commerce Greeks in Asia Minor Crete The Armenians 
 Maronites Druses Egypt Its Advance toward Independence The Suez 
 Canal and other Works of Improvement Tripoli and Tunis 127 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND THE WARS OF 1876. 
 
 Complaints of the Christian Subjects of European Turkey The Insurrection in 
 Herzegovina and Bosnia Efforts to Suppress it The Great Powers seek to 
 Prevent its Spreading Futile Efforts of Diplomacy Schemes of Reform The 
 Andrassy au,l Berlin Notes The Massacre of Consuls at Salonica, and the Bul- 
 garian Atrocities Views and Reports of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Baring, and Eu-
 
 CONTENTS. g 
 
 gene Schuyler on the Massacres in Bulgaria Servia and Montenegro make War 
 upon Turkey Details of the Campaign Defeat of the Servians An Armistice 
 Granted Conference of the Powers at Constantinople Lord Salisbury, the 
 British, and Count Chaudordy, the French, Rrepresentative at the Conference 
 The Turkish Constitution Plan of the Conference for the Settlement of Diffi- 
 culties It is Rejected by Turkey The Protocol It is Rejected Conclusion of 
 Peace between Turkey and Servia The Turkish Parliament 100 
 
 SECOND BOOK. 
 
 THE EASTERN WAR OF 1S77-1878. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE RUSSIA^ DECLARATION OP WAR. 
 
 The Russian War Manifesto Frince GortchakofFs Circular The Turkish Reply 
 The Army of the Pruth, its Composition and Commanders Total Strength of 
 the Russian Armies Crossing of the Pruth Occupation of Galatz and Braila 
 Convention between Russia and Rumania Turkish Protest Declaration of Ru- 
 manian Independence Strength of the Rumanian Army The Seat of War 
 The Defenses of Turkey The Danube and its Fortresses The Turkish Quadri- 
 lateral The Country beyond the Balkans Strength and Condition of the Turk- 
 ish Forces Operations on the Danube 211 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE AND THE BALKANS. 
 
 Passage of the Danube at Galatz Bombardment of Rustchuk The Russians Cross 
 at Sistova Inactivity of the Turks Proclamation of the Czar to the Bulgarians 
 Capture of Braila and of Tirnova The Balkan Passes Gourko Crosses the 
 Balkans Capture of the Shipka Pass Advance of Gourko into Rumelia The 
 Russians Capture Lovatz Storming of Nicopolis 235 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE IN ARMENIA. 
 
 Sketch of the Field of the Armenian Campaign Its History First Advance of the 
 Russians Capture of Bayazid Capture of Ardahan Gen. Melikoff before Ears 
 Gen. Tergukassoff at Zeidekan The Turks everywhere Retreating before the 
 Russians 255 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN REVERSE IN ARMENIA. 
 
 The Situation in Armenia at the middle of June Battle of Zeidekan An unex- 
 pected change in the Fortunes of War Defeat of General Tergukassoff at Deli- 
 baba and of General Melikoff at Zewin Retreat of the Russians General Ter- 
 gukassoff reaches Igdir, and marches to the relief of the Russian garrison at 
 Bayazid Horrible condition of that place The Siege of Ears abandoned The 
 Russians again iu Russian Territory , 272
 
 10 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BATTLES AROUND PLEVNA. 
 
 Change in the Fortunes of the Russians Removal of Abdul Kerim Appointment 
 of Mehemet All fo the Supreme Command Plevna, its Situation Arrival of 
 Osman Pasha Battle of July 19th Defeat of the Russians Osman Captures 
 Lovatz Battle of Karabunar Retreat of General Gourko Battle of Eski Sagra 
 Second Defeat of the Russians at Plevna, July 3lst Retreat of the Russians 
 from the Lorn Operations in the Dobrudja Bombardment of Kustendje 
 Struggles in the Shipka Pass Battle of Karasan Repulse of a Turkish Attack 
 on Pelisat Skobeleff Recaptures Lovatz Battle of Kechlova Third Defeat of 
 the Russians before Plevna Capture of the Grivitza Redoubt Bravery of the 
 Rumanian Troopu 285 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE FALL OF PLEVNA. 
 
 Renewed fighting in the Shipka Pass Defeat of Mehemet Ali at Tcherkovna Me- 
 hemet Ali replaced by Suleiman in the Supreme Command Formation of the 
 Army of Orkhanie Reinforcements and Ammunition for Plevna Battle of 
 Gorni Dabnik Capture of Telis Battle of Radomirze The investment of 
 Plevna complete Capture of the Green Hill Formation of the Army of 
 Sophia Capture of Teteven and Vratza The Rumanians take Rahova Cap- 
 ture of Pravetz and Etropol Turks evacuate Orkhanie and retreat beyond 
 the Balkans Suleiman's advance on the Lorn Capture of Elena by the Turks 
 End of the Turkish Advance The fall of Plevna 315 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA. 
 
 A Summer's rest in Asia Position of the Armies The Russians again approach 
 Kara Battles of Kisil Tepe, Yagni, and Aladja Dagh Retreat of Mukhtar 
 Pasha Advance of Gen. Tergukassoff on the Southern line Battle of Deve 
 Uoyun, before Erzerum Capture of Kara 339 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 THE OPERATIONS BEFORE BATUM AND IN THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 Batum Its Importance as a Port The Russians Undertake its Investment The 
 Turkish Expedition to Sukhum Kileh, and their Effort to Excite an Insurrec- 
 tion of the Caucasian Tribes Insignificant Results of the MoTement 360 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 The Close of the Campaign on the Lorn Servia enters upon the Scene of War- 
 Capture of Ak Palanka and Pirot by the Servians Gourko Crosses the Etro- 
 pol Balkan Battles of Taskesen and Kamarli Capture of Sophia, the Trojan 
 Pass, the Shipka Pass, and Philippopolis Suleiman Pasha Defeated and 
 Forced into the Rhodope Mountains Capture of Adrianople Suleiman's 
 March to the Sea The Russians Occupy Tcholuk and Tchataldjn, and Push 
 their Lines along the North Shore of the Sea of Marmora-Final Operations
 
 CONTENTS. n 
 
 of the Servians Surrender of Widin The Czarevitch Occupies Raegrad, Os- 
 man Bazar, and Rustchuk Gen. Zimmermann Assumes the Offensive Cap- 
 ture of Bazardjik 369 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MONTENEGRO AND THE GREEK PROVINCES. 
 
 Negotiations between Turkey and Montenegro broken off The Turkish Armies 
 Operating against Montenegro The Montenegrin Forces Operations in the 
 South AH Saib Repulsed Suleiman Captures Kristatch, the Duga Pass, and 
 Relieves Nicsic Incapacity of the Montenegrin Leaders Suleiman Captures 
 Ostrok, and marches through Montenegro to join Ali Saib in the South 
 Suleiman and his Army sent to Rumelia Prince Nicholas takes Nicsic and 
 other Points in the Herzegovina Cessation of Hostilities The Montenegrins 
 Capture Spizza and Antivari Operations against Scutari interrupted by the 
 Armistice Operations in the Greek Provinces and in Crete Short participa- 
 tion of Greece in the War 379 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 NAVAL OPERATIONS. 
 
 Russian Fleet on the Black Sea Russian Fortifications on the Black Sea Expe- 
 dition of the " Constantino" Destruction of Turkish vessels Expedition to 
 the Mouths of the Danube Capture of a Turkish Mail Steamer with a valua- 
 ble Cargo Torpedoes Their use in the present "War 386 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE WAR. 
 
 How the Declaration of War was received in Europe England and -Austria Cor- 
 respondence between the British and Russian Governments Mr. Gladstone's 
 Resolutions The British Fleet in Besika Bay The Vote of Credit in the 
 British Parliament Agitations in Austria-Hungary The War Feeling in 
 Servia Prince Milan's Visit to the Czar The Excitement in Greece The 
 Mouths of the Danube The Salonica Murderers 888 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 INNER HISTORY OF TURKEY DURING THE WAR. 
 
 The Feeling at Constantinople at the Beginning of the War Discontent over the 
 Management of Affairs by the Government The Holy War and the Flair of the 
 Prophet-The Turkish Parliament Ministerial Changes The Sultan still talk- 
 ing of Reform* Rise and Growth of the Party of Peace The Second Session 
 of Parliament The Government Censured Boldness and Independence of the 
 Deputies The Sultan Dissolves the Chamber with Signs of Displeasure Fur- 
 ther Ministerial Changes How the Porte Supported the War 413; 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ARMISTICE AND PEACE. 
 
 Early Measures Relating to Peace What Russia would have Demanded in June, 
 1877 German Prognostications Growth of the Peace Party in Turkey The 
 Porte issues a Circular Appeal to the Powers for Mediation The Powers De-
 
 I2 CONTENTS. 
 
 cllne to Interfere, but England brings about a direct Negotiation between the 
 Belligerents Turkish Commissioners appointed, with full powers to Treat 
 The Armistice and the Conditions of Peace The Treaty Signed and Ratified 
 Its Conditions 42* 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE ATROCITIES OF THE "WAR. 
 
 The Expectation that Outrages would be Committed It was not Disappointed 
 The Kurds in Southern Armenia American Missionaries in Danger The Mas- 
 sacre at Bayazid No one Punished for it Charges of Outrages bj r Russians in 
 Armenia They are not Confirmed Statements of English Witnesses on the 
 Conduct of the Russians Gen. Melikoff's Statement Proclamation by Mnkh- 
 tar Pasha Enforcing Principles of Humanity Russian Severities in Abkhasia 
 The Rivalry of Massacres in Bulgaria Attacks on Neutral Property and Hos- 
 pitals at Widin and Rustchuk The Manufacture of Atrocities Official State- 
 ments by the Turks against Russians and Bulgarians The Mob at Nicopolis 
 The Bulgarians at Offandlik Destruction at Sistova Wounded Women 
 and Children at Rasgrad and Sliumla Bulgarian Excesses at Eski Sagra 
 The Turks Recapture the Town and Obliterate it The Russians Exculpated 
 from the Charge of Committing Outrages upon Non-combatants What the 
 Turks Ascribed to the Russians Testimony of Mr. Archibald Forbes Report 
 of Lieut.-Col. Wellesley How the Bulgarians Regarded the Case A few 
 Bright Spots in the Picture Turkish Atrocities far in Excess of Anything 
 which the Bulgarians did Destruction of Yeni Sagra Trial and Punishment 
 of the Bulgarians- Wholesale Executions Remonstrances of Foreign Gov- 
 ernments Cruelty of Turkish Soldiers toward Armed Foes The Geshoffs 
 Destitution in the Ravaged Districts Movements for Relief Conduct of the 
 Montenegrins 439 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE PHILANTHROPY OF THE WAR. 
 
 Progress of Humane Principles The Geneva Convention The Russian Soldiers' Aid 
 Societies The Empress and Ladies of Rank The Turkish Aid Societies The 
 British Aid Societies Queen Victoria Lady Strangford Baroness Burdett- 
 Coutts American Societies Union of Nations for the Relief of Distress 468 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 Interest in the Personalities of the War Sovereigns : The Czar and the Imperial 
 Family of Russia Sultans : Abdul Hamid, Abdul Aziz, and Murad V. 
 Ismail Pasha, Prince Charles I., P|jnce Milan IV., Prince Nicholas, the Em- 
 perors William and Francis Joseph, Queen Victoria, President MacMahon, 
 King Humbert Statesmen : Prince Gortchakoff, Gen. Ignatieff, Count Shu- 
 valoff, Prince Bismarck, Count Andrassy, Earl Beaconsfield, Earl Derby, Mr. 
 Layard, Lord Loftus, Sir H. Elliot Midhat, Edhem, Savfet, Aarifi, Server, Hus- 
 sein Avni, Redif, Mahmoud Damad and Ahmed Vefik, Pashas Ohannes 
 Tchamith Russian Generals : Nepokoitchitzky, Todleben, Radetzky, Zimmer- 
 mann, Baron Krudener, Gourko, Skobeleff, Shilder-Slmldner, Prince Sha- 
 chovsky, Dragomiroff, Prince Imeretinski, Tchernayeff, Loris Melikoff, Ter- 
 gukassoff, Dewell, Heimann, Oklobjio Turkish Generals : Abdul Kerim, Me- 
 hemet Ali, Suleiman, Osman, Hobart, Mukhtar, Ghazi Mehemed, Feizi, Taver, 
 Shevket, Rauf, Fuad, Dervish, Pashas ;.. . 485
 
 CONTENTS. 13 
 
 THIRD BOOK. 
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION AT THE CLOSE OF THE 
 WAR AN OUTLOOK INTO THE FUTURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY 
 
 The Turkish Power in Europe destroyed by the War The Turks can not retain 
 their hold upon the Autonomous Provinces Discontent sure to spread to the 
 other Provinces How Bulgaria separates the Capital from the Provinces 
 Probable Destiny of Bosnia and the Greek Provinces What will become of the 
 Turks Principles of Decay essential in the Turkish System The Koran a 
 Barrier to all Progress The Mohammedan System in Conflict with Popular 
 Government The Turk can not be Europeanized Fatalism Low Condition 
 of Education in Turkey Amusing Illustrations The Turkish Language an 
 Obstacle to Scientific Instruction Christian Schools They tend to build up 
 the Christian Nationalities at the Expense of the Turkish System Debasing 
 Effect of Polygamy The Conscription depleting the Country of its Moslem 
 Youth Sanitary Deficiencies Decline of Turkish Population Growing Im- 
 portance and Influence of the Christians Decadence of the Turkish Official 
 Aristocracy Condition of Asia Minor Account by a French Traveler Picture 
 by an American Missionary Testimony of other Authors to the Ruin of the 
 Country The African Dependencies of Turkey Egypt, Tunis, Tripoli Frailty 
 of the Tenure by which they are held The Bedouins The Ultimate Fate of 
 Turkey 545 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 
 
 I. BULGARIANS AND GREEKS. 
 
 The Nationalities that are to Rule Turkey The Bulgarians, Greeks, Rumanians, 
 Servians Latent Traits of the Bulgarians The Ancient Bulgarians Relations 
 of Bulgaria and the East-Roman Empire The Bogomils The Second Bulgarian 
 Kingdom ; its Culmination and its Speedy Fall Four Centuries and a half of 
 Oppression and Darkness The most Wretched People in Europe at the Begin- 
 ning of this Century The Marvelous Awakening and Speedy Advance The 
 First Printed Bulgarian Book Beginning of a Movement for Education The 
 First Popular Schools What has been Accomplished in Fifty Years News- 
 papers Books School-books and Literary Works The Ecclesiastical Strug- 
 gle and the Victory of the Bulgarians The Capacity of the People Proved 
 Opinions of Intelligent Travelers Kanitz and Von Hellwald They are Des- 
 tined to Become a Leading Nation of the Earth The Claims of the Greeks 
 Tftieir Noble Ancestry What the World Owes to Greek Learning The Greeks 
 the Ancient Settlers of Turkey The Modern Greeks not Hellenized Slavs The 
 West Responsible for the Conquest of the Greeks Tenacity of the" Grecian 
 Character Greece During and Since the Revolution Reasonableness of the De- 
 mands of Greece for Territorial Expansion Attitude of Greece in 1876-'77 
 Advance into Thessaly in February, 1878 A Mistake The Adjustment of 
 Grecian Interests more Practicable than in case of any other Nationality of Tur- 
 key Attitude of the Greeks toward the Slavs Foreign Views on the Expan- 
 sion of Greece Earl Derby's Expression 573
 
 I4 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 
 
 H. RUMANIANS AND SEKVIANS. 
 
 The Dacia of the Romans Character of the Ancient Daciane The Roman Conquest 
 and Colonization "Withdrawal of the Romans Successive Tribes of Northern 
 Barbarians Occupy the Country The Bulgarians and the East-Roman Empire 
 The Kingdoms of Wallachia and Moldavia They become Tributary, and 
 finally Subject to Turkey They become semi-independent and are afterward 
 united as Rumania The Rumanians and the Romans The Wallachian, or 
 Rumanian Language The Culture of the Language Wallachia in 1835 
 Count Von Moltke's Impressions Marks of Improvement and Progress- 
 Agriculture and Manufactures Jealousy of Foreigners The Nationalities in 
 Rumania Distribution of the Rumanians in Surrounding Countries The 
 Mistakes which the Rumanians have committed The Better Qualities of 
 the People The Hopeful Prospects of the Country The Servian Nationality 
 Its Numbers and Distribution Education in Servia and Montenegro Unity 
 of Language The Communal Organization of Servian Society The National 
 Movement and the Omladina Capacity of the Servians to form a nation 594 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PANSLAVIC HOPES AND TENDENCIES. 
 
 The Result of the War encouraging the Panslavists Original Object of the Slavo- 
 phile Party of Russia Opposition to the Reforms introduced by Peter .the Great 
 They sought to Expel European Civilization and introduce a new Civilization 
 of Russian, or Orthodox Slavic Development Personal History of the Found- 
 ers and Builders of the Party The Aksakoffs, father and sons Their Social 
 Circle at Moscow Literary Efforts of the Elder Aksakoff in behalf of the Cause 
 Stephanovitch Chomiakofi, the real Founder of the Party His Travels and 
 the Views he acquired The Kircyevskis Influence of these three over the 
 Aksakoffs Constantino Aksakoff's Eccentric Protests against French Fashions 
 He revives Obsolete Customs The Group propose the Russian Mir, or Vil- 
 lage Commune, as the Basis of the new Organization of Society Ivan Aksa- 
 koff and his Journal Katkoff and the Party of Young Russia Panslavic 
 Movements in Austria The Slavic Committees of Russia Their work in the 
 Herzegovinian Insurrection A Pro-Servian Excitement stirred Up The Gov- 
 ernment drawn into the Movement The Czar commits Himself at Moscow 
 Silence imposed during the Constantinople Conference Actiyity resumed 
 Prince Tcherkassky Aksakoff declares the Union in accord with the Czar 
 Slavic Meeting at Warsaw G09 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PERIL OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 The immediate Concern of Austria in the Integrity of Turkey Austro-Hungarian 
 Interests alone Regarded The Heterogeneous and Discordant Populations of 
 the Empire-Kingdom Decline of Austrian Predominance in Germany The 
 Compromise with Hungary Troubles arising out of the Diversities of National 
 and Race Interests The Czechs and the Poles Discontent of the non-Magyar 
 Nationalities of Hungary Centrifugal Tendencies in the Empire and Kingdom 
 Hostile Designs of the Panslavists The Magyars Friends of Turkey and Ene- 
 mies of Russia Any Change in the Eastern Situation Dangerous to Austria
 
 CONTENTS. 15 
 
 Hungary Views of Hungarian Statesmen Gen. Klapka Louis Kossuth Jeal- 
 ousy of the Visit of Signor Crispi, and his Proposition for a Confederation of 
 Slavic States and the Enlargement of Greece Pro-Russian Influences at the 
 Court of Vienna . 638 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 
 
 Fear of Russia entertained by the Powers Early advances of Russia toward Con- 
 stantinople Frederick the Great on the Threatening Power cf Russia Will of 
 Peter the Great British Interests in the East Russia and England Rivals in 
 Asia Russian Conquest Dangerous to the British Tenure of India Kashgar 
 and Russia Afghanistan, its Importance to British Interests Russian Influence 
 in Persia The Blundering Diplomacy of the English Government Condemned 
 Position of the English Parties on the Question Counter-arguments of the anti- 
 Russians and the anti-Turks Views of the British Cabinet and Conservative 
 Statesmen The Positions assumed by the Liberal Statesmen Moderated tone 
 of the English Journals Why England and Russia should not Quarrel They 
 are the Destined Rulers of Asia What Benefits they have Conferred upon it 
 What they may yet Accomplish for its Civilization and Prosperity 640 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE NATIONALITY PRINCIPLE AND THE FINAL ISSUE OF THE EASTERN 
 
 QUESTION. 
 
 The End of the War brings New Complications New Conflicting Interests How 
 shall they be Settled ? The Influences which Control the Adjustment of 
 State Lines Dynastic Considerations The Principle of Nationalities Its His- 
 tory Italian and German Unity The Nationality Principle in Austria Its 
 Application to European Turkey Indications that it will gain Strength It 
 affords the Best Guide to a Final Adjustment 663 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 COMPLICATIONS ARISING AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 
 Leaning of the Turks toward the Russians Austrian Note to Russia on the Treaty 
 of Peace British Objections to the Treaty The British Fleet passes into the 
 Sea of Marmora Austria Issues an Invitation for an International Conference 
 Prince Bismarck's Declaration in the German Parliament Russia's Opposi- 
 tion to the Conference England Demands the Submission of the entire Treaty- 
 Threatened Rupture between Russia and England Ignatieff Visits Vienna 
 British Circular to the Powers The British Reserves Called Out Intimate Re- 
 lations of the Russians and Turks. . . . 673 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 THE WILL OF PETER THE GREAT 682 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 THE TREATY OF SAN STEFANO. . , 686
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 ALEXANDER II., CZAR OF RUSSIA 1 
 ABDUL HAMID II., SULTAN Of TUB- 
 KEY 2 
 
 A COFFEE HOUSE IN CONSTANTINOPLB 21 
 
 A GATE IN CONSTANTINOPLE 22 
 
 KILID BAHK ON THE EUROPEAN SHORB 3t 
 TCHANAK KALESI ON THE ASIATIC 
 
 SHORE 32 
 
 MIDHAT PASHA 41 
 
 PRINCE GORTCHAKOFF 42 
 
 THE MONUMENT ERECTED AT NOV- 
 GOROD 53 
 
 TYPES OF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS 54 
 
 RUSSIAN PEASANTS 62 
 
 ODESSA 71 
 
 A COSSACK 72 
 
 COSSACK SOLDIERS 81 
 
 RUSSIAN SOLDIERS 82 
 
 THE CIRCASSIAN CHIEFTAIN SHAMYL. 89 
 
 REDIF PASHA 89 
 
 CIRCASSIANS 90 
 
 A WALLACHIAN 99 
 
 A GROUP OF TURKS 100 
 
 TYPES OF ASIA MINOR AND ARME- 
 NIA 112 
 
 BASHI-BAZOUKS 121 
 
 KURDS 122 
 
 CHARLES I., PRINCE OF RUMANIA 131 
 
 MILAN, PRINCE OF SERVIA 132 
 
 BULGARIANS ~ . 141 
 
 NICHOLAS I. , PRINCE OF MONTENEGRO 142 
 
 MONTENEGRINS 151 
 
 GREEKS 152 
 
 S VETOZAR MlLETITCH 167 
 
 LCKA PETKOVITCH 167 
 
 SERVIAN SOLDIERS 168 
 
 ADVANCE SENTINELS 173 
 
 MR. EUGENE SCHUYLER 179 
 
 MR. WALTER BARING. . . . 1 80 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 ABDUL Aziz, LATE SULTAN OP TUR- 
 KEY 187 
 
 ABDUL Aziz ON HIS WAY TO PRISON. . 188 
 
 GENERAL TCHERNA YEFF 195 
 
 GENERAL ALIMPITCH 195 
 
 TURKISH SPIES BROUGHT INTO THE 
 
 SERVIAN CAMP 196 
 
 THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY 203 
 
 EDHEM PASHA 204 
 
 THE GRAND DUKE NICHOLAS 219 
 
 EVENING PRAYER AT KISHINEV 220 
 
 CIRCASSIAN CAVALRY PASSING 
 
 THROUGH A TURKISH TOWN 235 
 
 A RECONNOISSANCE IN THE DOBRUDJA 239 
 
 BRIDGE AT SISTOVA 240 
 
 GENERAL GOURKO 249 
 
 THE ROAD TO THE SHIPKA PASS 250 
 
 THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER II. EN THE 
 NEVSKI PROSPEKT, ST. PETERS- 
 BURG 255 
 
 THE GRAND DUKE MICHAEL 259 
 
 CITADEL AT TIFLIS 200 
 
 THE DEFILE OF DARIEL 260 
 
 BAYAZID 269 
 
 THE BATTLE OF TAHIR 270 
 
 CITY AND FORT OF KARS 279 
 
 ABDUL KERIM 289 
 
 GENERAL SKOBELEFF 290 
 
 SULEIMAN PASHA'S ATTACK ON THE 
 RUSSIAN POSITION IN THE SHDTKA 
 
 PASS 299 
 
 PRINCE HASSAN 300 
 
 LIEUT.-GEN. RADETSKY 300 
 
 RUSSIAN INFANTRY GOING INTO AC- 
 TION 309 
 
 STORMING OF THE GRIVITZA REDOUBT 
 
 BY THE RUMANIANS 310 
 
 THE BULGARIAN LEGION DEFENDING 
 
 A LUNETTE IN THE SHIPKA PASS . . 319 
 (17)
 
 18 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 A CAVALRY FIGHT NEAR PLEVNA. . . . 320 
 
 OSMAN PASHA 329 
 
 THE BATTLE OF PLEVNA 330 
 
 THE MEETING BETWEEN OSMAN 
 PASHA, THE GRAND DUKE NICHO- 
 LAS, AND PRINCE CHARLES. . 837 
 
 OSMAN PASHA BROUGHT BEFORE THE 
 
 CZAB AT PLEVNA 838 
 
 THE DEFEAT OF THE TURKS BEFORE 
 
 KARS 347 
 
 ACHMED MUKHTAR PASHA 348 
 
 GENERAL MELIKOFF 348 
 
 THE RUSSIANS STORMING KAKS 357 
 
 THE LAST SHOT IN THE DEFENSE OF 
 
 KARS 358 
 
 DEBVISH PASHA 367 
 
 MAHMOUD DAMAD PASHA 367 
 
 HOBART PASHA. 368 
 
 HASSAN PASHA 368 
 
 A TURKISH BATTERY OVERTAKEN BY 
 
 A STORM IN THE BALKANS 377 
 
 A CAVALRY FIGHT DURING SULEI- 
 MAN'S RETREAT 878 
 
 RUSSIAN TORPEDO-BOATS ENGAGING 
 
 THE BATTERIES NEAR SILISTRIA. . . 389 
 
 A RUSSIAN BATTERY 390 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA 899 
 
 GLADSTONE 400 
 
 PAGE. 
 THE HANGING OF CHRISTIANS BY THE 
 
 TURKS IN THE STREETS OF PHILIP- 
 
 POPOLIS 437 
 
 HEADS OF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS 438 
 
 MADAME CAMARA AND A WOUNDED 
 
 CHILD 457 
 
 WOUNDED TURKS RETURNING FROM 
 
 THE BATTLE OF KASANLIK 458 
 
 LOADING AN AMBULANCE 469 
 
 DEATH OF Aziz PASHA 470 
 
 A TURKISH SURGEON AND FIELD 
 
 EQUIPAGE 470 
 
 MUBAD V 483 
 
 ALEXANDER, HEIR- APPARENT TO THE 
 
 RUSSIAN THRONE 484 
 
 WILHELM, EMPEROR OF GERMANY . . . 497 
 
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA 498 
 
 BISMARCK . . 509 
 
 DISRAELI 510 
 
 SAVFET PASHA 517 
 
 A TURKISH SOLDIER PRAYING BY THE 
 
 GRAVE OF A DEAD COMRADE 518 
 
 GENERAL TODLEBEN 535 
 
 SULEIMAN PASHA 536 
 
 UP A TREE 574 
 
 MARSHAL MACMAHON, PRESIDENT OF 
 
 FRANCE... . 009 
 
 LIST OF MAPS AND PLANS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 MAP SHOWING THE GROWTH OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 61 
 
 MAP SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PRINCIPAL RACES AND RELIGIONS OF 
 
 TURKEY , Ill 
 
 MAP SHOWING THE Ol-JSRATIONS IN SERVIA, BOSNIA, HERZEGOVINA, AND MONTB- 
 
 NEGRO 172 
 
 MAP SHOWING THE IMPORTANT PASSES OF THE BALKANS 229 
 
 PLAN OF WIDIN WITH KALAFAT 230 
 
 PLAN OF THE FORTIFICATIONS AROUND PLEVNA 230 
 
 MAP SHOWING THE CAMPAIGN ON THE DANUBE AND IN THE BALKANS 234 
 
 MAP SHOWING THE CAMPAIGNS IN ASIA 254 
 
 MAP OF KAKS AND ENVIRONS.. 280 
 
 MAP SHOWING THE NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA t 573 
 
 MAP SHOWING THE OPERATIONS FROM THE BALKANS TO CONSTANTINOPLE ... .608
 
 A COFFEE-HOUSE IN CONSTANTINOPLE.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION AND THE EASTERN WARS. 
 
 The War of 1877-'78 one of the most important Wars of the Nineteenth Century Vast- 
 ness of the territory involved Great Issues at stake Eastern Europe on the eve of 
 a Radical Transformation. 
 
 A WAR between two countries so extensive and so powerful as 
 Russia and Turkey will never fail to enlist the profound interest of 
 the civilized world, and to fill a conspicuous place in the history of 
 the century. Russia and Turkey are among the largest empires of 
 the earth. In point of extent, Russia is the second, and Turkey the 
 sixth; in point of population, Russia the third and Turkey the 
 fourth among all the States. Their aggregate population exceeds one 
 hundred and twenty millions, or nearly one-tenth of the human 
 race ; their united area fully occupies one-fifth of the entire surface 
 of the land. Thus in every Russo-Turkish conflict the world again 
 witnesses the horrors of war on a larger scale, and these horrors 
 must be expected to be all the more frightful, as the Turks and 
 even large portions of the Russian troops have not yet experienced 
 that influence of the Christian religion and of the civilization of the 
 nineteenth century which fortunately distinguishes to some extent 
 .the wars in Western Europe and in North America from those of 
 former times and of other countries. 
 
 The Eastern war of 1877- 3 78 has enlisted an even more general 
 and more profound interest than its predecessors. For two years its 
 outbreak had been anxiously looked forward to, because it was 
 thought that it might lead to results of more than ordinary impor- 
 tance, and might take its place among the more memorable wars in 
 the history of the human race. The power of the Turks has long 
 been on the wane, and the opinion has been widely spread that they 
 would not be able to retain much longer their hold of their Chris- 
 tian provinces. The rising in 1875 and 1876 of all the tribes of 
 
 (21)
 
 22 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the Servian nationality appeared to be fraught with the most serious 
 danger to the Turks, and awakened the full measure of that sympa- 
 thy which is accorded to the struggle of any oppressed people for 
 independence. When Russia, in 1877, took up arms in support of 
 its Slavic brethren, it was commonly expected that the time for a 
 radical change in the territorial division of Eastern Europe was 
 near at hand. A decided defeat of the Turks, it was thought, might 
 involve their entire expulsion from Europe, and a reconstruction 
 of their European dominions. In any permanent change of this 
 kind, however, other great powers are directly concerned. Austria 
 can not be indifferent to the final fate of the Slavic tribes of Turkey ; 
 England can not but be anxious about tl^e final fate of Constantinople 
 and the Suez Canal; both Austria and England have very good 
 reason to watch with suspicion any further aggrandizement of 
 Russia ; and no one believes that any lasting change in the map of 
 Europe can be effected without the consent of the powerful German 
 Empire, and its great statesman, Prince Bismarck. The movements 
 of English, Austrian, and German diplomacy have therefore been 
 watched by public opinion with almost as great eagerness as the 
 progress of the war, and the changing prospects of a still further 
 extension of the seat of war have largely added to the general interest 
 which has been taken in it. 
 
 A peculiar interest attaches to this war in its religious aspect. 
 The civilized world has fortunately learned to discard religion from 
 politics, and the legislation of the United States, which grants equal 
 rights and equal protection to persons of all religions, is duly appre- 
 ciated and more and more adopted by the States of Europe and 
 America. The Turks might have received the full benefit of this 
 progress of religious toleration, and the fact that the Mohammedan 
 religion forms a broad line of distinction between them and the 
 civilized world might have been ignored, if the Government had 
 been just toward its Christian subjects. This, however, has not 
 been the case. The shameful oppression of the Christian provinces, 
 after having lasted for centuries, has not yet ceased. Mohammedan 
 fanaticism has again reflected itself in the horrible Bulgarian 
 atrocities, and the war against Russia had hardly begun when the 
 Turkish Government manifested the design of proclaiming a holy 
 war of all Mohammedans against the Christian enemy. Such acts 
 could not but arouse a strong feeling of antipathy against the 
 Mohammedan Turks throughout the Christian world. They re-
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION AND WARS. 23 
 
 called to the Christian nations the past wars between the Cross and 
 the Crescent, and their final result, the complete victory of progress- 
 ive Christianity, which is now the religion of almost every civilized 
 country, over the decrepit Islam, which for centuries has been losing 
 ground wherever it came into contact with Christians. The exam- 
 ples of Spain, of Hungary, of large Slavic territories, and of Greece, 
 all of which have fully emancipated themselves from Mohammedan 
 rule, and of Servia and Rumania, which have at least achieved an 
 actual independence, were looked upon as proofs that a Mohamme- 
 dan government can not and should not conduct the developing 
 civilization of a Christian race, and that the Christian tribes which 
 are still kept down by Turkish rule, are fairly and fully entitled to 
 a liberation from the shackles which thus far have obstructed their 
 progress. The warlike spirit which animated the Crusader against 
 the infidel conquerors of the Holy Land may no longer exist in the 
 present generation, but just in proportion as the Turks choose to 
 remind the Christians of their triumphs in former religious wars, 
 they will revive in millions of minds the sorrow for the Mohamme- 
 dan conquest of the sacred places hallowed by the history of the 
 Old and ISTew Testaments, and will swell the already powerful 
 current of an anti-Turkish public sentiment. Even those who 
 dread a further advance of Russia, more than the continuance of 
 Turkish rule, have demanded and will demand satisfactory guaran- 
 tees for the freedom of the Christian provinces from any further 
 oppression by a Mohammedan government. 
 
 The fact that the Turks not only belong to an alien religion, but 
 that they are an alien race in Europe, has greatly added to the 
 hereditary hatred with which the conquered tribes and the neigh- 
 boring nations have looked upon them. Bat this difference of race 
 has received a much greater significance in the light of modern 
 science. The progress of comparative philology which has shown 
 the degree of kinship existing between all the principal languages 
 of the world, has revealed the remarkable fact that from the days 
 of the Persian Empire one family of nations, speaking languages 
 nearly akin to each other, have run far ahead of all other nations in 
 power* and civilization. The Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, in 
 the past, and all the Teutonic, Romanic, and Slavic nations of the 
 present, are members of this family, which has been variously 
 designated by linguists as the Aryan, Indo-Germanic or Indo-Euro- 
 pean. In its irrepressible progress, this family of nations has now
 
 24 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 obtained control of the government of nearly all Europe, America, 
 Australia, and the larger portion of Asia, and it is still steadily 
 advancing. The Turks do not belong to it, but to an entirely dif- 
 ferent race, which in the progress of civilization has thus far greatly 
 lagged behind, and, on account of its obvious inferiority, has been 
 steadily losing ground for centuries. The inference has been drawn 
 from this historical argument that the Turks have not only been 
 unsuccessful in the past, but that as an inferior race they will also 
 be constitutionally unfit in future to raise the countries over which 
 they rule to a level with the Aryan nations of Europe and America. 
 The Eastern wars from 1875 to 1878, and the inner history of 
 Turkey during this time, have therefore been scrutinized with close 
 attention by thousands of eager observers, to whom they appear as 
 a new test of a theory which, if true, is certainly of a very grave 
 importance for the welfare of millions of men, and which undoubt- 
 edly may claim, in the face of the history of the last two thousand 
 years, a very thorough investigation.
 
 FIRST BOOK. 
 
 TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND THE EASTERN 
 QUESTION PRIOR TO 1877.
 
 FIRST BOOK. 
 
 TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND THE EASTERN QUES- 
 TION PRIOR TO 1877. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. 
 
 The Crusades Conquest of Eastern Europe hy the Turks The Turks Threatening the 
 Christian Nations of Europe Emperor Maximilian's Plan of a General Coalition 
 against the Turks Decay of Turkey and Rise of the Russian Empire Aspirations 
 of the Christian Races of Turkey for the Recovery of their Independence History 
 of the Russian Policy in the East The Interest of Austria and England in the East- 
 ern Question International Treaties and Joint Action of the Christian Powers The 
 Great Crisis. 
 
 THE Eastern Question, or the question as to the destiny of South- 
 eastern Europe, has for many centuries been a prolific source of 
 great excitement and of bloody war. It has presented itself to the 
 people of Europe and of the civilized world, uuder greatly varying 
 aspects, but it has rarely lost its interesting character, and recently 
 it has become once more the most exciting feature in the inter- 
 national complications of the world. 
 
 The fate of the East became a subject of anxious concern for all 
 Christian nations of Europe, when the followers of Mohammed began 
 to conquer in Asia the places hallowed by the life and death of 
 Christ. The conquest of the Holy Land from the Infidels was truly 
 for the Christian people of Europe an Eastern Question, though it 
 was not called by that name, and no Eastern war has ever awakened 
 a greater enthusiasm, or finds even at the present day a larger num- 
 ber of attentive readers than the crusades. These religious wars 
 have turned out to be a great promoter of civilization, and have 
 largely contributed to the ascendency which the Christian nations of 
 
 (*7)
 
 28 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Europe and America now enjoy over all others ; but in a military 
 point of view they resulted in a complete failure. Not only were 
 no lasting conquests made by the Christians, and not only were the 
 Eastern States established by them very short-lived, but the final 
 withdrawal of the Christians from Asia was followed by the inva- 
 sion of Eastern Europe by the Mohammedans, by the decay of the 
 East-Roman Empire, and finally, in 1453, by the fall of Constanti- 
 nople. 
 
 Then the Eastern Question assumed for the nations of Europe a 
 new shape. The conquest of Constantinople had only increased the 
 greed of the Mohammedans for more land, and Austria, Hungary, 
 Poland, and Russia had long to suffer from the impetuous invasions 
 of the Turks. The Turkish wars of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and sev- 
 enteenth centuries, though not so famous as the crusades of the mid- 
 dle ages, and the great Eastern wars of more recent times, still live in 
 the recollections of the nations which suffered from them, and the 
 people still sing many popular songs celebrating the great heroes 
 who saved large portions of Europe from falling under Turkish rule. 
 The Eastern Question for the monarchs of that age consisted in de- 
 vising plans of defense from the horrors attending and following 
 Turkish invasions. Sometimes bold plans were formed for not only 
 repelling the Turks, but for expelling them altogether from Europe. 
 Such a plan, among others, was devised by the Emperor Maximilian 
 I., the last imperial representative of medieval chivalry. It pro- 
 vided for a joint war, not only of the Christian nations of Europe, 
 but of Persians and Tartars, which was to last for three years. It 
 was to begin in 1518 simultaneously in Africa and in Hungary. In 
 Africa, the Emperor of Germany and the king of Portugal, aided 
 by the French fleet, were to liberate the princes of the Northern 
 States from Turkish rule and to enlist them in the common alliance. 
 In Hungary, the king of Poland, at the head of his own troops, and 
 of Hungarian, Bohemian, Moravian, Silesian, Austrian, Bavarian, and 
 other auxiliaries, was to conquer the border provinces of European 
 Turkey. In 1519, the kings of Poland and France were to unite 
 their forces in Bosnia, conquer Adrianople and Philippopolis, and 
 plunder Greece, in order to raise the money for paying the Walla- 
 chian and Tartar auxiliaries. In Africa, the kings of England and 
 Denmark, and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, supported 
 by a Muscovite army, were to fight a decisive battle near Algiers, 
 and conquer the Nile. In the third year of the war, the victorious
 
 OUTLINE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. 29 
 
 army of Africa was to join the kings of France and Poland, and to 
 put an end to the Turkish Empire by the conquest of Constantinople. 
 A new census was to be taken in all the countries of Christendom, 
 in order to distribute among them, pro rata of the population, a new 
 Turkish tax, which was to meet the expenses of the war. After the 
 destruction of the Turkish Empire, the king of Persia was to be re- 
 warded for his help by one-half of Asia Minor, Caramania, and Ar- 
 menia, while the other half of Asia Minor, Egypt, and Syria were 
 to be given to the Austrian nation. It is not known how the Ern- 
 peror intended to divide the European dominions of the Sultan ; 
 probably the want of agreement about the Turkish inheritance was 
 as great in the sixteenth as in the nineteenth century. At all events 
 the plan was not carried out at all, and the Turks remained, for 
 many more years, a terror for the Austrian and other neighboring 
 nations. 
 
 At last the time came when the Turks ceased to be a terror to the 
 nations of Europe. Their empire began to decline with the death 
 of Solyman, in 1566. Several great defeats destroyed the spell of 
 their military fame and furnished the welcome proof that they were 
 not invincible. Moreover, it soon became apparent that the great 
 progress of military science in Central and Western Europe was large- 
 ly improving the efficiency of the Christian armies, while the reign 
 of several weak Ottoman rulers reflected itself in the declining dis- 
 cipline of the Turkish troops. Though the Turks continued to meet 
 with a few successes, their wars began to assume less of an aggressive 
 and more of a defensive character. Their territorial losses began to 
 exceed their gains, and no important addition of territory was made 
 to the Empire after the beginning of the eighteenth century. But 
 the most momentous among all the causes of Turkish decline was 
 the rise of Russian power. The Russians were among those nations 
 of Northern Europe which had had to struggle against the advanc- 
 ing Turks for their very existence. Thus the Russian and the 
 Turkish Governments became hereditary enemies, and this enmity 
 became all the more intense, after Peter the Great, about the end 
 of the seventeenth century, had raised Russia to a level with the 
 most powerful countries of Europe. The policy of Russia, with re- 
 spect to Turkey, was from that time unmistakably more aggressive. 
 The Czars were anxious, not only to avenge the Turkish aggressions 
 of the past, but to extend their dominions at the expense of the 
 Turks. Throughout the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries,
 
 30 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the two countries have been in an almost chronic state of enmity 
 and war, and as during all this time Russia has been steadily advanc- 
 ing in extent and in power, and Turkey has been just as steadily 
 progressing in its decay, it has more and more become the general 
 belief that if the two powers should be left fighting out this hered- 
 itary war single-handed, the Turks would finally be at the mercy of 
 the Russians. This result appeared all the more inevitable, as Rus- 
 sia had not only a steadily increasing preponderance of power in 
 every new war, but was, moreover, aided by the outspoken sympathy 
 of the Christian population of European Turkey. In proportion as 
 the Ottoman Government became weaker, the demands of the Chris- 
 tian population for liberation from Turkish oppression became more 
 outspoken. Thus the Christians of European Turkey and the Rus- 
 sians became natural allies, because they had at least one common in- 
 terest, the weakening of the Turkish Government. The Christians 
 of Turkey hailed every Russian victory as a forerunner of their own 
 independence, and looked upon the Russians as their natural and 
 most powerful patrons. The Russians, on the other hand, could not 
 be blind to the great access of strength which such a patronage would 
 give them in every* new war against the Turks. Accordingly, when 
 in 1774 the Turkish Government was compelled to conclude the 
 fatal treaty of Kainardji, one of the articles of peace, which was in- 
 sisted upon by Russia and conceded by Turkey, was the establish- 
 ment of a Russian protectorate over the Danubian principalities, and 
 a right of Russian guardianship over the Greek churches of Turkey. 
 A treaty so humiliating for the Turks, of course stimulated the as- 
 pirations of the Christians for freedom, and these aspirations were 
 greatly strengthened by the greater acts of cruelty and oppression in 
 which the Turkish Governors of Christian provinces thought they 
 could indulge in view of the growing weakness of the Imperial Gov- 
 ernment at Constantinople. Finally the aspirations of the Chris- 
 tians found vent in the wars of independence, which began early in 
 the present century, and resulted in the entire freedom of Greece, 
 and the actual independence of Servia, the latter obtaining full self- 
 government, and having only, like Rumania, to pay a tribute to the 
 Turk. If other provinces were less successful, repeated insurrec- 
 tions in Bosnia, Albania, Bulgaria, and Crete at least reminded the 
 Turks that their rule in these provinces was not less detested, that 
 in any new war against the Russians the sympathies of the Chris- 
 tians w r ould be with the enemies of Turkey, and that any opportunity
 
 OUTLINE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. 33 
 
 for establishing the independence of the Christian provinces would 
 be eagerly seized. 
 
 The Christian powers of Europe have often deemed it their duty 
 to support the demands of the Turkish Christians. The peace of 
 Carlovitz, in 1699, compelled the Sultan, for the iirst time, to treat 
 with the European powers in accordance with the received rules of 
 international law, and thus gave to the Turks, much against their 
 own will, a place in the family of European States. In virtue of 
 this position the Christian powers have frequently found an oppor- 
 tunity to force their diplomatic advice upon the Porte in behalf of 
 the oppressed races ; and, once at least, in the case of the Greeks, 
 they have actually co-operated in the establishment of an independ- 
 ent State. More recently, the appointment of Christian Governors 
 for the Christian provinces, and the conferring of some kind of 
 provincial autonomy, was demanded of the Porte, and the whole 
 of Europe, including all governments and all political parties, 
 supported the Christian races in demanding it. But even if this 
 concession had been made, it would not have sufficed to convert 
 the Christians into contented, peaceful subjects. Their desire has 
 long been overwhelmingly for the expulsion of the Turks from 
 Europe, and in this demand they have been openly supported by 
 the outspoken sympathy of many millions in the European coun- 
 tries. Every prospect of an entire expulsion of the Turks from 
 Europe, and the erection of one or several independent Christian 
 States in the place of European Turkey, would be hailed by many 
 thousands with boundless enthusiasm. The popularity of this pro- 
 ject might long ago have hastened its execution, if all the men of 
 influence and of intelligence among its patrons were not aware of 
 the great difficulty of determining beforehand what is to be substi- 
 tuted for the destroyed Turkish Empire in Europe. The Christian 
 races of Turkey themselves have troubled themselves very little 
 about this question. The friends of independence in each province 
 have mostly been so absorbed with plans for achieving their own 
 freedom, that hardly any of them appear to have given much 
 thought to what should become of the whole of the European 
 dominions of the Sultan. Garibaldi, who takes an ardent interest 
 in the liberation of the Christian tribes, and has repeatedly oifered 
 his services for achieving it, has proposed the erection of a republi- 
 can confederation of all the races after the model of Switzerland, al- 
 lowing each nationality a provincial autonomy. This view has some
 
 34 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 friends, but there is not at present, and will not be for many years to 
 come, the slightest prospect of its success, for the Christians of Tur- 
 key have no republican sentiments, and the monarchs of Europe can 
 not be expected to favor it. It is, however, taken for granted that 
 whenever the power of the Turks in Europe should actually come 
 to an end, a conference of the great powers would assemble and 
 arrange the future form of government. While Greeks, Albanians, 
 and Bulgarians live almost exclusively under Turkish rule, and may 
 therefore be enabled, by a dissolution of the Turkish Empire alone, 
 to recover their independence as a nationality, it is different with 
 the Servians and the Rumanians. Millions of people of the same 
 descent, and still speaking the same language, belong to the Austrian 
 Empire partly to Austria proper and partly to Hungary. Both 
 nationalities are sufficiently numerous to constitute States of con- 
 siderable size if ever it should become possible to unite in a 
 political union all the people speaking the same language. Now 
 this project has not only been broached, but it has found influential 
 adherents, both in Turkey and in Austria. The example of the 
 kingdom of Italy, which has not only absorbed the petty States 
 ruled by native princes, but has even succeeded in wresting from 
 the powerful Austrian Empire the large and flourishing provinces 
 of Lombardy and Yenetia, has greatly encouraged the enthusiasts 
 to believe in the restoration of a united Servian and a united 
 Rumanian nationality. It is evident that any attempt to carry out 
 this visionary scheme is an act of open hostility against Austria. 
 Every progress, which a tendency in this direction should make 
 among Austrian subjects, would threaten the Austrian Empire with 
 a territorial loss such as was inflicted upon it by the Italians. There 
 have been Austrian statesmen who, in view of the impending decay 
 of the Turkish Empire, have indulged the hope that Austria might 
 risk patronizing the nationality movements among the Servians and 
 the Rumanians, with a view of making the two reconstructed 
 nations integral parts of the polyglot Austrian Empire. The exe- 
 cution of such a project would, however, revolutionize the entire 
 policy of the house of Austria. It would equally offend the two 
 ruling races, the Germans and the Hungarians, whose leading 
 principle is to strengthen the preponderance which they already 
 possess by the gradual absorption of the smaller Slavic tribes. In 
 whatever light, therefore, this nationality movement, which some 
 enthusiasts have started among the Rumanians and Servians, may
 
 OUTLINE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. 35 
 
 be viewed, it has given to the Austrian Empire an entirely novel 
 interest in the fate of the Servian and Rumanian nationalities, and 
 it has thus still more complicated the difficult Eastern Question. 
 
 The same is the case with another movement of recent date the 
 so-called Panslavism. As the word indicates, this means some kind 
 of union between all the sections of the Slavic race. Some Slavs 
 have viewed it as a merely literary union among all speaking Slavic 
 languages, but more commonly it is regarded as a political move- 
 ment, and in this sense it has made, and is making, a great stir in 
 Europe. Though the Panslavists disagree in many respects among 
 themselves, they are all agreed that all people speaking Slavic lan- 
 guages should live under Slavic rule, and that the direct rule of 
 Germans, Magyars, and Turks over Slavic tribes should come to an 
 end. The first Panslavic agitators were revolutionists, who wished 
 to overthrow, not only the rule of Germany, Austria, Hungary, and 
 Turkey over their Slavic subjects, but even the rule of the Russian 
 Emperors, and unite all the Slavs in one vast republican government. 
 One of the most prominent leaders of this movement, Bakunin, is 
 well known in the United States, which he visited after his escape 
 from Siberia. At present this party, though not extinct, has com- 
 paratively little influence upon the march of events. Among the 
 Panslavists who now take a conspicuous part in the politics of the 
 East-European States we may distinguish three sections. The one 
 contents itself in Austria, Hungary, and Germany, with the demand 
 that the Slavic populations be placed under Slavic administrations, 
 with a legal protection of the Slavic tongue as the mother tongue 
 of the provinces and districts in which it prevails. The German 
 Reichstag often hears these demands from the leaders of the Poles ; 
 the Austrian Reichsrath from the leaders of the Czechs, Poles, and 
 other Slavs ; the Hungarian Diet, from the leaders of the Servians. 
 A second party of Panslavists is frank enough to aim directly at the 
 overthrow of the non-Slavic Governments which rule over Slavic 
 populations, and at a reconstruction of a number of independent 
 Slavic Empires which are to be closely united for mutual protection 
 among themselves, and with the giant representative of Slavism, 
 Russia. The third party regards as the easiest road to the realization 
 of the Panslavic schemes the union of all the scattered Slavs with 
 Russia. Many German, Hungarian, and Turkish statesmen and 
 writers agree in charging the Russian Government with employing 
 paid emissaries to spread Panslavic views of this latter kind in
 
 36 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Austrian and Turkish provinces. At all events, Panslavic agitations 
 have made a mark in the history of all the States of Eastern Europe. 
 In European Turkey, not only the Servian nationality, embracing 
 the Bosnians, Herzegovinians, and Montenegrins, but the Bulgarians, 
 speak Slavic languages, and are therefore accounted as members of 
 the Slavic world. Among both, Russian Panslavists have been hard 
 at work, and the impressions made by them are visible in the history 
 of late events. Midhat Pasha, when Governor-General of the vilayet 
 of the Danube, had several Panslavic agitators executed, and openly 
 accused them of being Russian agents. In Austria, and especially 
 in Hungary, the progress of this Panslavic agitation has long been 
 anxiously watched, and the feelings of sympathy which the horrors 
 of Turkish rule do not fail to call forth, even in Austria, are to a 
 large extent neutralized or entirely overcome by the fear of a grow- 
 ing Russian preponderance. 
 
 The Panslavic idea offers advantages to Russia so great and so ob- 
 vious that Russian statesmen can not be expected to overlook them, 
 whatever reserve the regard for international relations and duties 
 may outwardly impose upon them. But whatever the relations of 
 the Government of Russia to the Panslavic agitations may have been, 
 the policy which she had steadfastly pursued, in her wars against 
 Turkey, has been thoroughly Russian, not Slavic or Panslavic. Her 
 chief aim in weakening Turkey has always been to build up a strong 
 Russian Empire. Since Peter the Great all the Emperors appear to 
 have followed a definite plan in their struggle for aggrandizement. 
 In order to raise her people above the level of merely agricultural 
 nations, and develop their commerce and industries, Russia, with 
 unwavering steadiness, has endeavored to gain a firm footing on the 
 Black Sea. This aim has gradually been reached by the conquests 
 of the eighteenth century, and Russian vessels can now, from the 
 Black Sea, proceed to the Mediterranean. But one great drawback 
 remained. The connection with the Mediterranean can at any time 
 be interrupted by the closing of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, 
 which are controlled by the Turks. Therefore, the conquest and oc- 
 cupation of Constantinople would be an immense advantage for 
 Russia, for it would fully carry out the intentions of Peter the Great, 
 and complete the work which the founder of Russian greatness be- 
 gan. It can hardly be doubted that the Russian statesmen who have 
 desired, for more than a century, the possession of Constantinople, 
 have been guided chiefly by this consideration, though other reasons
 
 OUTLINE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. 37 
 
 may have co-operated to make the desire as strong and as wide- 
 spread as it is at present among the Russian people. When the 
 Turks had destroyed the East-Roman Empire, the Czar of Russia 
 became, in the place of the Emperors of the East- Roman Empire, 
 the protector of the Greek Church; he appeared as their natural 
 successor, and it is not surprising that at the outbreak of every new- 
 war against the Turks, the Russian peasantry should hope, with fe- 
 verish anxiety, for the news that the Czar had made his entrance in- 
 to the city of Constantinople, which they call Czargrad, or city of the 
 Czar, and that mass should once more be celebrated in the great 
 church of St. Sophia, now the chief of the Mohammedan mosques. 
 It is also known that one of the great empresses of Russia, Catharine 
 II., conceived the plan of reviving the Byzantine Empire, and that 
 one of her grandsons had to learn for that purpose the modern Greek 
 language. But the chief consideration for the Russian statesmen 
 and emperors during the last two centuries has been the desire to 
 get full control of a sea coast, as an indispensable necessity for de- 
 veloping fully all the resources of the vast empire. 
 
 As the intentions of Russia, with regard to Turkey, have long 
 been, and will be in future, of prime importance for the final solu- 
 tion of the Eastern Question, it will be interesting to hear the views 
 of a distinguished Russian writer. Professor Martens, of the Uni- 
 versity of St. Petersburg, has made the history of the relations be- 
 tween Russia and Turkey a special study, has published, for the first 
 time, a number of official documents relating to it, and has reviewed 
 the whole subject in a treatise which is, at all events, a valuable con- 
 tribution to the history of the Eastern Question. The design of the 
 article is to show that the views generally entertained of the aims and 
 policy of Russia with reference to Turkey have been mistaken. It 
 sets forth that within the present century, at least, Russia, so far 
 from seeking to destroy the Turkish Empire, has insisted upon its 
 being maintained ; and that while it has held it a supreme duty to 
 protect the Christian subjects of the Porte, it has always endeavored 
 to accomplish the object through the united action of the powers, 
 always hesitating to act alone till the attempt to secure co-operation 
 had failed. The article deserves attention, both on account of the 
 new views it gives of Russian history and policy in the East, and be- 
 cause its positions are supported by citations from documents which 
 are now for the first time made known to the public. 
 
 Prof. Martens' first endeavor is to show from the public declara-
 
 38 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 tions of Russian statesmen that ever since the pacification of Europe, 
 after the wars of Napoleon made concert possible, it has sought to 
 exercise its right only in concert with the powers, and has steadily 
 endeavored to secure the permanent well-being of the Christians of 
 Turkey by placing them under the collective protection of Christian 
 Europe. In 1815, at the time of the meeting of the Congress of 
 Vienna, the Russian Government addressed a note to the allies, 
 urging them to extend the obligations of the law of nations over 
 Turkey, and particularly to exact of the Porte a correction of the 
 practice of reducing prisoners of war to slavery. The invitation 
 was not heeded, and the affairs of Turkey were not considered in 
 the Congress. At the beginning of the Greek insurrection, in 1821, 
 Russia sought to interest the powers in behalf of the revolted Greeks. 
 In one of the notes on the subject the Government, referring to the 
 possibility of its being impelled to act, said that the Russian armies 
 would march, not to extend the frontiers of the Empire, or to gain 
 a preponderance for which it had no ambition, but to restore peace, 
 confirm the equilibrium of Europe, and secure to the countries of 
 European Turkey the benefits of a happy and inoffensive political 
 existence. In 1825 the Government, in a circular note on the same 
 subject, declared that "in associating ourselves with our allies, we 
 adopt a measure of which the first effect is that no event can be 
 turned to our exclusive profit, or can disturb the equilibrium of 
 Europe ; on the contrary, all the results will be common, and all the 
 intervening powers will participate in a just and even proportion." 
 
 At the negotiation of the treaty of Adrianople, Russia proposed 
 conditions intended to secure the peace of Europe for several years. 
 After the constituting of the kingdom of Greece, it continued to seek 
 to secure for the Christian populations the protection of the powers, 
 sometimes by friendly overtures to the Porte, sometimes by invok- 
 ing the concert of the powers. While the preliminaries for the 
 treaty of Paris were under negotiation in Yienna in 1855 and 1856, 
 the powers insisted that Russia should give up its claim to the right 
 of protecting the Christian subjects. Russia interposed no objection 
 to the demand, as appears by the protocol of the 15th of March, 
 1855, save to exact the condition that the religious rights of the 
 Christian populations should be placed under the protection of all 
 the contracting powers. Again, on the 5th of January, 1856, the 
 Russian Cabinet declared that the Emperor desired to raise his voice, 
 in common with the other European powers, in favor of his co-
 
 OUTLINE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. 39 
 
 religionists, and to be associated with them in deliberations having 
 for their object to assure to the Christian subjects of the Sultan their 
 religious and political rights ; and in March following, in signifying 
 the adhesion of his Government to this- policy, Prince Gortchakoff 
 declared in the Conference that it was convinced that nothing was 
 better fitted to facilitate the government of his Empire by the Sul- 
 tan than for him to do what he could to add to the happiness and 
 satisfaction of his Christian subjects. 
 
 While Turkey and some of the other contracting powers have 
 held that the treaty of Paris prohibited interference with the in- 
 ternal affairs of the Turkish provinces, Russia holds that the prohi- 
 bition is based upon the promise of reforms which was given by 
 Turkey in the publication of the Hatti-Humayun, and that its ob- 
 ligation is dependent upon the due and efficient execution of these 
 reforms ; and it insists that the other parties to the treaty acted upon 
 the same view, when, on the occasion of the Mussulman outbreaks 
 in Syria in 1860, they permitted French troops to be despatched to 
 the province to restore order, and the Porte accepted the interven- 
 tion as " a manifestation of the sympathies of the allied powers." 
 Again, on the occasion of the Cretan insurrection, in 1866, Russia 
 endeavored to induce the Porte to adopt measures for the improve- 
 ment of the condition of the people of the island, but was not 
 supported by the powers, and its efforts were fruitless. In a de- 
 spatch of the 12th of May, 1869, Prince Gortchakoff again laid 
 down the doctrine, which the Russian Government had never ceased 
 to insist upon, that the collective authority of the great powers, in 
 order to be effective, should be exercised collectively, and that a 
 combined action afforded the best means of introducing improve- 
 ments in the condition of the Christians, to be carried out through 
 the agency of the Porte. A number of facts which have only re- 
 cently been brought to light, tend, according to Prof. Martens, to 
 show that the Russian Government has become convinced that the 
 continuance of the Turkish Empire on the Bosphorus affords the 
 conditions least disadvantageous to the commercial and political in- 
 terests of Russia, and that its later policy has been governed by this 
 conviction. In the war of 1828, when the Russian armies had 
 reached Adrianople, and the complete downfall of the Turkish 
 Empire seemed imminent, the Czar Nicholas appointed a commission 
 to consider what should be done in the expected contingency. 
 Count ISTesselrode laid before this commis&ion, on the 4th of Sep-
 
 40 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 tember, 1829, a memorandum, frankly setting forth the view of the 
 Russian Government, in which he said : " We have always considered 
 that the preservation of the Ottoman Empire would be more useful 
 than injurious to the true interests of Russia, and that any condi- 
 tion that could be substituted for it would only balance for us the 
 advantage of having a weak State for a neighbor ; " but, if the fall 
 of the Turkish Empire was inevitable, or the rule of Turkey should 
 be replaced by a new combination, then Russia should invite its 
 allies " to deliberate in common with it on this great question. To 
 desire to solve it without their participation, while their strongest 
 interests were involved in it, would be to affront their honor, and 
 charge ourselves with a too great responsibility." The commission 
 had also to consider a memoir by Councillor Dashkoff, a distin- 
 guished specialist, the burden of which was to show that Russia 
 needed no new acquisitions of territory. This paper sets forth that 
 the present Russia should occupy itself with securing its frontiers 
 and developing its resources, rather than in seeking after new lands. 
 A policy involving the destruction of the Turkish Empire must be 
 regarded as against the true interests of Russia. It was not denied, 
 that in times past, Russia had entertained designs of conquest 
 against Turkey, but those times were forever at an end, and the 
 Russia of the eighteenth was not the Russia of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury. A plan was also laid before the commission which had been 
 proposed by the Count Capo d'Istria, for the reconstruction of the 
 Balkan peninsula and its division into five States, according to the 
 nationalities and the race affinities of the people, with governors 
 chosen from five European princely houses of the second rank to 
 rule over them, which should form a confederacy to be represented 
 by a Congress meeting annually in Constantinople, which, with an 
 enlarged territory, was to be constituted a free city. "Without tak- 
 ing formal action on this plan, which it is known, however, was not 
 acceptable to them, the commission concluded as the result of their 
 deliberations : 1. That the advantages afforded by maintaining the 
 Ottoman Empire outweighed the inconveniences occasioned by it ; 
 2. That the fall of Turkey would be against the true interests of 
 Russia ; 3. That it would therefore be wise to prevent such an event, 
 and for that purpose to make use of every opportunity to conclude 
 an honorable peace. 
 
 When the existence of the -Ottoman Empire was again put in peril 
 between 1830 and 1840, by the operations of Mehemet Ali, pasha
 
 MIDHAT PASHA.
 
 PRINCE GORTCHAKOFF.
 
 OUTLINE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. 43 
 
 of Egypt, Russia concluded a defensive alliance with the Porte, sent 
 a fleet and an army corps to Constantinople, and at a later period 
 acted in co-operation with England, Austria, and Prussia, to defend 
 the Empire against its dangerous enemy. The Russian policy at 
 that time was defined in a note from Count Nesselrode to the Czar, 
 June 7", 1833, in which he said : " Our system in regard to the 
 East has had for its principal tendency to give a greater consistency 
 to certain parts of the Turkish Empire." 
 
 When the condition of Turkish affairs had reached its worst, and 
 there seemed no possibility of preserving the Empire, the Czar sought 
 a consultation with the Austrian Government, as the power which 
 had the most direct interest in the affairs of the Balkan peninsula. 
 At an interview with the Austrian Ambassador, on the 8th of Febru- 
 ary, 1833, after describing the sad situation of the Porte, with its 
 internal disorders complicating the dangers from without, and ex- 
 pressing his willingness to come to its help if that was desired, he 
 added, " but that is all that I can do. I can not give life to a dead 
 body, and the Turkish Empire is dead; but," he continued, "if it 
 falls, I do not want any of its remains, I have no need of them." In 
 the same year the treaty of Miinchengratz was concluded between 
 Russia and Austria, in which the two powers mutually engaged 
 themselves to persevere in the policy of maintaining the existence 
 of the Ottoman Empire under the actual dynasty, and to consecrate 
 to that end, " in a perfect accord," every means of influence and ac- 
 tion in their power. In contemplation, however, of the possible ex- 
 tinction of the Turkish Empire, a secret article was added to the 
 treaty providing that the two powers should act in concert and in a 
 perfect spirit of solidarity in reference to everything that concerned 
 the establishment of the new order of things which it would be 
 necessary to arrange. In 1839, Mehemet Ali again rose against his 
 suzerain and put Constantinople in peril. England and France now 
 appeared as the champions of Turkey, both being actuated by sus- 
 picions of the designs of Russia. Under these circumstances the 
 Czar repeatedly instructed his representatives at London, Paris, and 
 Vienna to use all their influence to confine the conflict between 
 Turkey and Egypt to as narrow limits as possible, so that it should 
 not compromise the general peace of Europe. At the same time he^ 
 sought to induce the Cabinet of Vienna to make the convention of" 
 Miinchengratz the basis of the policy on which the two powers 
 should continue to act together. The Government instructed its 
 3
 
 44 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Ambassador at Vienna to represent that the Czar was then, as be- 
 fore, firmly resolved to employ every means in his power to main- 
 tain the existence of the Ottoman Empire under the actual dynasty ; 
 to oppose every combination which could attack the independence 
 of the authority of the Sultan ; to accept no order of affairs which 
 might imperil the actual existence of the Ottoman Empire; and, 
 finally, to agree with Austria upon the most efficacious measures to 
 be adopted in common, between the two imperial courts, to prevent 
 the dangers which a sudden change in the existence of the Ottoman 
 Empire might bring to those parts of their estates which bordered 
 on Turkey. The Czar, it is explained, thus decided to take the side 
 of the Sultan, not because of any particular friendship to him, but 
 because he was convinced that if the Turkish Empire was destroyed, 
 Mehemet Ali would be able to build up a new living State, danger- 
 ous to Russia. The Czar at this time declined to join in a call for a 
 conference of the great powers, because it was convinced that France 
 and England were seeking objects opposed to Russian interests, or 
 in other words, that they did not wish to secure the repose of the 
 East, as much as to fetter the Eussian power. The Russian Gov- 
 ernment proposed to Austria, in 1843, to communicate confidentially 
 to the powers the terms of the convention of Miinchengratz, which 
 provided for the maintenance of the Turkish power in Europe, 
 hoping thereby to dissipate the prejudices and suspicions prevalent 
 in England against Russia. The Austrian Minister would not agree 
 to make it known, and the convention remained a secret until it 
 was very recently revealed. It is doubtful if publication, even 
 at the time it was suggested, would have had any influence upon 
 English feeling, which had already begun to become an element of 
 party division. The prevailing opinion that Russia opposed the 
 closing of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus to ships of war is con- 
 tradicted by Prof. Martens, who cites from the Imperial archives 
 evidence that no power contended with as much energy for the clos- 
 ing of the straits as Russia. The Government repeatedly instructed 
 its representatives, while the negotiations were going on, to insist 
 upon this point, and the Czar Nicholas is said to have declared cate- 
 gorically that the security of the Turkish Empire, and of the Rus- 
 sian possessions on the Black Sea, could not be guaranteed unless it 
 was carried. On this point, Russia was opposed to the Austrian 
 Cabinet, who sought to separate this question from that of the in- 
 tegrity of Turkey.
 
 OUTLINE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. 45 
 
 The Russian Ambassador made explanations of the views of his 
 Government to Lord Palrnerston, which, while they did not remove 
 the jealousy and apprehension of the Russian purposes entertained by 
 the British Government and people, led the Premier to declare that 
 both England and Russia had often had cause to regret that the duty 
 of solving the Eastern Question had not been given to them alone. 
 The Czar gave his full assent to a note intended to influence the 
 domestic policy of the Turkish Government, which was drawn up 
 by Prince Metternich, the Austrian Prime Minister, in 1841. In 
 this paper it was announced that the intrinsic defects of the Turk- 
 ish system, growing out of the want of homogenity of the people 
 and the weakness of the Government, were aggravated and intensi- 
 fied by the efforts to introduce reforms in the European fashion, 
 which the Sultans were endeavoring to carry out " without any other 
 support than a profound ignorance and an immense mass of illu- 
 sions." The document contained the strange doctrine that " States 
 in decay are, as a rule, less able to govern themselves under happy 
 circumstances than in misfortune, which has become for them a 
 normal condition, a species of second nature," and gave the advice 
 that the Turks should establish their Government upon respect for 
 their own religious institutions, consult and act upon the emergen- 
 cies of the moment, and " remain Turks. Accord to your Christian 
 subjects the most complete protection; exercise toward them a 
 genuine tolerance ; do not suffer Pashas and subalterns to molest 
 them ; do not meddle in their religious affairs, but be their sovereign 
 protector in all their privileges ; keep all the promises that you made 
 in the edict of Gulhane." Russia repeated substantially the same 
 advice in a note addressed to the Porte about a month later. It was 
 mistaken advice ; but the fact exists that the two powers held the 
 views it embodies at the time it was given. Prof. Martens, at the con- 
 clusion of his review, sums up the principles of Russian policy in the 
 East to be : 1. Russia has always considered the fate of the Christian 
 subjects of the Porte a matter of common concern to all the European 
 powers ; 2. In case the great powers reach no common understanding, 
 that one of them, whose interests are drawn most directly into sym- 
 pathy by disturbances in the East, has the moral and judicial right 
 to intervene in the internal affairs of Turkey ; and, 3. The prime 
 and real object of Russian policy in respect to the Ottoman Empire 
 has been nothing else than the improvement of the condition of the 
 Christian populations without distinction of race and faith.
 
 46 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The growth of Russia, at the expense of Turkey, and the plans of 
 further aggrandizement, which are commonly attributed to it, have 
 nowhere aroused so great jealousy and so bitter enmity as among 
 some of the leading statesmen of England. Russia and England 
 are at present the two great Empires of the world. If we say that 
 the Emperor of Russia and the Queen each rule over a territory of 
 more than 8,000,000 square miles, or more than double the extent 
 of the United States, and that the Empire next to them in point of 
 size has less than 4,000,000 square miles, it will be seen how far 
 both, in this respect, have run ahead of the remainder of the world. 
 A position like this is well adapted to engender feelings of rivalry 
 and jealousy. Both Empires are still continuing to annex new terri- 
 tory, and in the race for the highest place among the States, neither 
 would like to be greatly distanced by the other. ( In Asia the borders 
 of the two Empires now almost meet, and many British statesmen 
 have long been haunted by the fear that the disappearance of this 
 small neutral zone, which still separates British India from the 
 latest Russian conquest, may soon be followed by a collision of the 
 two great Empires. In such a case Russia would have the great mil- 
 itary advantage over England that all the parts of the Russian Em 
 pire are a compact whole, and that nets of railroads may enable the 
 Government to bring within a short time vast bodies of troops to 
 any point. India, on the other hand, is separated by an immense 
 distance from England, and it will take a much longer time to obtain 
 reinforcements from England. The route to India has of late been 
 greatly shortened by the construction of the Suez Canal, and an alli- 
 ance with the power in whose dominions lies the canal, is therefore 
 of obvious advantage to England. Formerly the importance for 
 England of Constantinople, in case of a war with Russia, was fre- 
 quently discussed, as the shortest land route between England and 
 India would lead through Germany, Austria, and Turkey. Since 
 the construction of the Suez Canal, Constantinople is no longer so 
 much talked of ; but it is urged that as Turkey is the irreconcilable 
 enemy of Russia, it is the manifest interest of England to maintain 
 the Turkish power as much as possible, as in the present state of 
 international relations, England can at any time compel the alliance 
 of the Turks. All this reasoning, it .will be seen, depends upon the 
 supposition that there may be at some future time some tremendous 
 war between Russia and England ; that in this war, Turkey can not 
 help siding with England, and that therefore England must keep
 
 OUTLINE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. 47 
 
 Turkey as powerful as possible, and that she must, as much as pos- 
 sible, prevent any further aggrandizement of Russia. It is, however, 
 only the statesmen of one party, the Tories, who hold these anti- 
 Russian views. The other great party in England, the Liberals, are 
 decidedly unfavorable and hostile to Tiirkey. They insist that in 
 any speculation on the future, the utter rottenness of the Turkish 
 Empire can not be overlooked ; that it would be unworthy of En- 
 gland to disregard the terrible wrongs of the Christian provinces and 
 their just claims to independence ; that the fears of an impending 
 conflict between Russia and England are greatly exaggerated ; that 
 wise statesmanship may remove the danger of a very serious compli- 
 cation, and that with regard to Turkey, an alliance between England 
 and Russia might furnish at once the best solution of the Eastern 
 Question by putting an end to the rule of the Turks over Christian 
 provinces and Christian races. The controversy of the great politi- 
 cal parties of England on this question has been carried on with 
 great bitterness, and the Eastern Question has thus been in England 
 for years the subject of the most venomous parliamentary war. The 
 attitude of the ruling party of England with regard to any new com- 
 plication between Russia and Turkey is a matter of grave impor- 
 tance ; the changing ascendency of the two parties makes the great 
 solution of the Eastern Question all the more obscure. In 1853, the 
 anti-Russian party engaged with Turkey, France, and Sardinia in 
 the Crimean war, which resulted in the defeat and humiliation of 
 Russia. When the Bosnian insurrection of 1875 inaugurated the 
 new Eastern war, the anti-Russian party was again in power, and 
 great apprehensions were therefore again felt that this war might 
 assume very large dimensions. 
 
 It is evident that the powers most directly and immediately inter- 
 ested in the solution of the Eastern Question the Christian races 
 of Turkey, Austria, Russia, and England widely and radically dif- 
 fer in their views. The Christian races agree in the demand of an 
 entire expulsion of the Turks from Europe, and of the substitution 
 for the Turkish dominion in Europe of a number of independent 
 States, based upon the nationality principle. The real designs of 
 the Russian policy are, to a large extent, shrouded in mystery ; but 
 it is fully admitted by Russia, that she wants a greater development 
 of her naval strength and, therefore, free naval communication with 
 the Mediterranean. The views of the Russian Government with 
 regard to the Turkish rule in Europe have undergone many changes ;
 
 48 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 but the unchanging element in them is the desire of Russia to see 
 the Balkan peninsula, if not in her own possession, at least occupied 
 by weak and impotent States. The attention of England is mo- 
 nopolized by the question whether Russia plans any movements which 
 might endanger the British interests in the East. Austria is chiefly 
 concerned in preventing the establishment of powerful States on 
 her southern border, which might increase the dissatisfaction of 
 the Slavic and Rumanian population of Austria. None of the 
 other States of Europe has so direct and immediate an interest in 
 Turkish affairs as the powers just mentioned. France has taken 
 the Catholic subjects of Turkey under her special protection, and 
 was formerly very active in the affairs of the East, but has been 
 compelled by its own internal condition, since 1870, to refrain from 
 conspicuous participation relating to them. In general, the European 
 States can not be supposed to be favorably disposed toward an ex- 
 tension of Russian rule in South-eastern Europe; for, even the 
 present extent of the Russian Empire is believed by most of them 
 to involve great dangers for the future. But in case of general wars 
 arising out of complications in the East, some States may always 
 expect to derive greater advantages from an alliance with Russia, 
 than from joining an anti-Russian combination. Thus, the German 
 Government has been for many years on intimate terms with the 
 Government of Russia, and maj be expected to aid Russia, at least 
 indirectly, in her Eastern policy, as long as she can rely on a similar 
 aid from Russia in case of new complications with France. Even 
 the Emperor of Austria attributed so great importance to friendly 
 relations with the Czar of Russia, that he formed, in 1872, an agree- 
 ment with the Emperors of Russia and Germany, which has been 
 known as the Tri-Imperial Alliance, or the Alliance of the Three 
 Emperors, and by which it was stipulated that they should act in 
 common in international complications, and that neither should take 
 an important step without first consulting the others. 
 
 The progressing decay of Turkey on the one hand, and the diverg- 
 ing views of the great powers of Europe, in regard to the future of 
 the Balkan peninsula, on the other, naturally awakened an immediate 
 interest of all Europe in any Turkish war, and generally led to the, 
 at least diplomatic, interference of other governments. When the 
 intervention of England and her allies had ended the Turkish- 
 Egyptian conflict, the treaties of 1840 and 1841 formally admitted 
 Turkey into the political system of European States. The attempt
 
 OUTLINE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. 49 
 
 of Russia to extort from the Porte in the Crimean war (1853-1855) 
 certain guarantees of the rights of the Greek Christians in Turkey, 
 induced England, France, and Sardinia to take sides with Turkey, 
 on the ground that the very existence of Turkey and the equilibrium 
 of power in Europe were endangered by Russia. The Treaty of 
 Paris (1856), while it expressly denied the right of the powers to 
 interfere in the domestic concerns of the Empire, defined the priv- 
 ileges of the tributary States, and made the powers guarantees of their 
 preservation, and referring to concessions which the Porte had 
 promised to the people of the provinces still subject, by implication 
 gave the powers the right to exert a moral influence in favor of their 
 being carried into effect. On the other side, the treaty worked to pre- 
 vent Russia or any other State acting singly from constituting itself the 
 especial guardian of the rights and interests of the Christian sub- 
 jects, and made the same a matter of general European concern. 
 The first occasion on which the provisions of the treaty afterward 
 came up for discussion, was on the occasion of the massacre of 
 Christians in Syria, in 1860, when a French corps was sent, with the 
 unwilling consent of the Porte, to restore order. It would have 
 remained in Syria after the emergency which justified its presence 
 had passed, had it not been for the force of the objections which 
 were set up under the Paris treaty. The next occasion was during 
 the Cretan insurrection in 1866, when an intervention which would 
 have been a clear violation of Turkish sovereignty and of the 
 Treaty of Paris, seemed imminent for a considerable time, and was 
 barely prevented. In 1870, Russia, taking advantage of a time 
 when one of the parties to the Treaty of Paris could not make 
 effectual opposition, and the others were not prepared to resist its 
 demand by force, insisted upon an essential modification of some of 
 the provisions of the treaty, and obtained them at the London con- 
 ference a few months afterward. A few comparatively unimpor- 
 tant points touching the Eastern Question were brought forward in 
 the transactions of the three succeeding years. The agitation of the 
 demands of the Bulgarians for ecclesiastical autonomy, which was 
 settled in 1872, prompted some of the powers to make representa- 
 tions of their views to the Porte, but their offices were not accepted. 
 In 1873, the Russian Government, after a correspondence, the 
 friendliness of which has been especially remarked upon, obtained 
 from the Porte the grant to Russian subjects residing in Turkey, of 
 considerable privileges and immunities in addition to those which
 
 50 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 they had before enjoyed. In 1873, the Porte complained of Ru- 
 mania for encroaching upon the rights of the Sultan by concluding 
 treaties with foreign powers without consulting with its suzerain. 
 In the course of the correspondence which ensued, the Austrian, 
 Russian, and other Governments informed the Porte that they could 
 not suffer the important interests which they had upon the Danube 
 to be interfered with by exaggerated pretensions of suzerainty on 
 the Bosphorus, and that they intended to carry on their negotiations 
 directly with the Rumanian Government. The Turkish Govern- 
 ment replied that the Treaty of Paris must be maintained ; but that 
 if Rumania would submit its case, and the provisions of its treaties, 
 to the Porte, arrangements could be made satisfactory to the parties. 
 About this time, also, the Rumanian Government attracted attention 
 by holding military maneuvers of a character which seemed more 
 befitting an independent State than a principality which owed alle- 
 giance to a superior government. A correspondence took place be- 
 tween Turkey and Montenegro in 1874, respecting some murders 
 committed by Turks upon Montenegrins at Podgoritza, in which 
 Russia and Germany sought to promote intervention, but the Porte 
 refused to tolerate it, and the affair was finally settled between the 
 two parties immediately concerned. 
 
 Finally, the Herzegovinian insurrection, breaking out in 1875, 
 threatened to bring up the whole Eastern Question in all of its com- 
 plications, and actually produced that result in the end. The suc- 
 cessive steps that were taken to ensure the speedy suppression of the 
 insurrection, to prevent its spread, to keep the other provinces from 
 participating in the movement, and to induce Turkey to satisfy the 
 public sentiment of Europe, and their failure, are recorded in the 
 pages that follow. The moral aid of Great Britain, as the power 
 supposed to be most influential with the Turkish Government, was 
 invoked in behalf of the reasonable requests of the Christians, and 
 was given, in the British signature to the Andrassy note ; but when 
 the British Government was asked to go further and sanction a 
 threat of force by signing the Berlin note, it declined ; for it was 
 determined not to consent to a new European war upon Turkey un- 
 der any pretext. After the failure of the conference proposed by 
 England, and of the protocol, Russia professed to consider that it 
 had fulfilled all the conditions of the Tri-Imperial Alliance, and could 
 be no longer held bound by the restrictions of the Treaty of Paris, 
 and decided to go to war upon its own responsibility.
 
 OUTLINE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION. ^ 
 
 "We have now reviewed all the different elements which constitute 
 the Eastern Question the hatred of the Turks by the Christian prov- 
 inces and the anxious hope of the latter for deliverance from Turk- 
 ish rule ; the sympathy of Russia with the Christians of Turkey, 
 and her desire for the crippling of Turkey, and for her own aggran- 
 dizement ; the distrust with which Austrian and Hungarian states- 
 men look upon the movements going on among the Slavs; the 
 jealousy of the ruling British statesmen against the designs of Rus- 
 sia. In the entire history of the Eastern Question during the nine- 
 teenth century it has been assumed as granted that the Turks alone 
 would not be able to arrest the progressing decay of their Empire. 
 The parties concerned have regarded Turkey as " the sick man " 
 whose consumptive life has been with difficulty prolonged by arti- 
 ficial means. The implacable enemies of the Turks have repre- 
 sented all the reforms that have been attempted by them, as mean- 
 ingless and insincere ; her patrons have had to admit that they were 
 insufficient to avert the impending danger. When the Eastern Ques- 
 tion, in 1875, once more began to expand into another Eastern war, 
 it was the common opinion that without aid from England or Aus- 
 tria it would be extremely difficult, and perhaps impossible, for Tur- 
 key to resist the combined onset of her own Christian subjects and 
 of the Russians. 
 
 Before we enter into a narrative of this war, a brief historical 
 sketch of the belligerent powers and their present condition will 
 be needed to understand fully the great events on the scene of hos- 
 tilities.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF RUSSIA. 
 
 Origin of the Russians The Republic of Novgorod Occupation of Russia by the Mon- 
 gol Tartars Rise of the Principality of Moscow Ivan the Great, the First Prince 
 who called Himself Czar Ivan the Terrible Michael Romanoff Peter the Great 
 Anna Elizabeth Catherine the Great Alexander I. Nicholas I. Alexander II. 
 
 THE Russian Empire has attained its present vast extent and 
 power by a career of aggression and conquest which it has carried 
 on almost uninterruptedly since the fifteenth century. Russia first 
 came into notice as a State in the ninth century. The country 
 known as Sarmatia to the ancients, had been occupied by different 
 tribes, the principal of which were Slavs and Finns, while the 
 Scythians dwelt in the south-east, around the Caspian Sea. Nov- 
 gorod, the oldest of the Russian towns, often called " the Mother 
 of the Russian cities," was a nourishing republic in the ninth 
 century, inhabited by Slavs, and surrounded by Finnic settlements. 
 It became involved in dissensions, and the Slavs, with some of the 
 Finnic tribes, invited Rurik, a chief of the Varangian tribe called 
 Rus, to come and assist them and reign over them. Rurik came 
 about the year 862, with two of his brothers, both of whom died 
 shortly afterward, put down the dissensions, and made himself 
 master of the country. The sovereign authority remained in the 
 hands of his descendants for nearly two hundred years. The name 
 of the tribe Rus. to which Rurik belonged, is perpetuated in the 
 present name of the Empire. The story of Rurik, which is sup- 
 posed to embody the history of the foundation of the Empire, is 
 symbolized in a monument of original and peculiar design, which 
 was erected in the principal square of Novgorod in 1862, in com- 
 memoration of the thousandth anniversary of that event. 
 
 Oleg, who succeeded Rurik as regent, annexed the principality 
 of Kiev, designing to make the city of that name the capital of the 
 State, and made war upon the Khazars, who lived between the 
 Dnieper and the Caspian Sea. Sviatoslav, 957 to 972, continued 
 the wars against the Khazars, attacked the Bulgarians and other 
 
 tribes as far as the Black Sea, and extended the borders of the State 
 (52)
 
 MONUMENT ERECTED AT NOVGOROD 
 
 COMMEMORATING THE IODOTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF RUSSIA. 55 
 
 to the Sea of Azov. Upon the death of this prince, the territory 
 was divided among his sons, and continued to be divided, with the 
 exception of short intervals of union, till the nation became in effect 
 a kind of a confederacy, of which the different members were rivals 
 to each other, and in dissension. Losses of territory were suffered 
 from the aggressions of the Lithuanians, Poles, Teutonic Knights, and 
 other rival States, till finally, in 1237, the country was overrun, and 
 the greater part of it taken possession of and made tributary by the 
 Mongol Tartars, followers of Genghis Khan. The city of Novgorod 
 maintained its independence during the greater part of the two and 
 a half centuries of the Tartar occupation, but with smaller extraneous 
 territory and diminishing influence. One of its sovereigns, Alex- 
 ander Nevskoi, 1247 to 1263, distinguished himself by victories over 
 the Swedes, Livonians, and Lithuanians. This little State remained, 
 during its whole existence, really a republic, its prince, or executive, 
 possessing merely such authority as was freely granted to him by 
 the people. " The supreme power," says "Wallace, in his " Russia," 
 " resided not in the prince, but in the assembly of the citizens called 
 together in the market-place by the sound of the great bell." This 
 assembly made laws " for the prince as well as for the people," 
 entered into alliances, imposed taxes, and performed all the other 
 functions of government, including the election of magistrates and 
 the judgment and deposition of them when it thought fit. It was 
 its attachment for their old institutions, and its unwillingness to 
 accept despotism instead of them, that brought upon Novgorod the 
 savage destruction inflicted upon it in the sixteenth century by Ivan 
 the Terrible. 
 
 The principality of Moscow from which Russia was for a long 
 time known abroad as Muscovy rose into prominence during the 
 fourteenth century, and began to absorb the other Russian States. 
 Ivan I., 1328 to 1340, united with it the principality of Tver. Deme- 
 trius was engaged in hard conflicts with the Mongols. Yasili II., 
 1389 to 1425, incorporated Nijni Novgorod, and Suzdal, and Yasili 
 III., 1425 to 1462, added Halicz, Mozhaisk, and Berovsk. The 
 principality of Moscow, as thus formed, at the accession of Ivan III., 
 the Great, in 1462, was the nucleus around which has grown the 
 present Empire. It occupied a territory of nearly seven hundred 
 miles in length from north to south, and two hundred miles in 
 breadth from east to west, situated between the 51st and 61st de- 
 grees of north latitude, with the cities of Nijni Novgorod, and Tver
 
 56 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 nearly marking its extreme eastern and western limits. Ivan the 
 Great, 1462 to 1505, delivered the land entirely from the Tartars, 
 made the Khan of Kazan tributary, annexed Novgorod, Perm, Pskov, 
 and several other Russian principalities, and carried the Russian arms 
 into Siberia, in 1499, but was defeated in a war with Livonia by the 
 Teutonic Knights in 1501. Ivan was a haughty prince, the first of 
 the rulers of Russia to assume the title of Czar, and laid great stress, 
 in his intercourse with the other sovereigns of Europe, on his equality 
 with them. He built the Kremlin at Moscow, introduced improved 
 arms, began to develop the mines of precious metals, and introduced 
 Russia to foreign intercourse. His successor, Vasili IV., 1505 to 
 1533, by the final incorporation of Pskov, in 1510, completed the ex- 
 tinction of the semi-independent principalities into which the Em- 
 pire had been divided, and made the Tartars of Kazan tributary. 
 At the close of his reign, Russia extended from near the fiftieth de- 
 gree of north latitude to the Arctic Ocean, and from the Ural Moun- 
 tains to the eastern borders of Finland, Livonia, and Lithuania. 
 Ivan IY., the Terrible, 1533 to 1584, who united with the most 
 heinous crimes some splendid virtues, and was at once a scourge and 
 a benefactor to Russia, reconquered Kazan, subdued Astrakhan, and 
 united the country of the Don with the Empire. Siberia was con- 
 quered during his reign by a Cossack freebooter, Yarmak Timofey- 
 eff. As an offset to his victories, he was forced to cede Livonia to 
 the Swedes. So marked a mixture of good and evil as was this sov- 
 ereign has seldom appeared in history. His temper was so violent, 
 his cruelties were so excessive, that he might well have been called 
 mad, and he was totally unscrupulous in many matters of morals. 
 He ordered the city of Novgorod destroyed, and its inhabitants 
 butchered, in a fit. of rage, on account of the discontent it had mani- 
 fested against his despotic rule, so that from the most flourishing 
 city and commercial mart of the North, it became an obscure village, 
 above which it has never since risen. On the other hand, he deliv- 
 ered Russia from the last traces of Tartar rule, made conquests over 
 the Mohammedans, opened the country to foreign trade, introduced 
 printing, instituted clerical reforms, assembled a Parliament, and 
 drew up a code of laws, worthy to be well spoken of. Michael 
 Romanoff, the founder of the present reigning dynasty, extended the 
 Siberian conquests nearly to the Pacific, arid his son Alexis restored 
 or annexed to the Empire, Tchernigov, Smolensk, Kiev, and the 
 Ukraine.
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF RUSSIA. 
 
 57 
 
 At the accession of Peter the Great in 1689, the Russian Empire 
 had attained the dimensions of a great realm, and presented a shape 
 approaching that which it exhibits at the present time. Its Euro- 
 pean possessions had been extended to the Caspian Sea and the Cau- 
 casus Mountains, and it had acquired territory in Asia extending 
 from the fiftieth degree of north latitude to the Arctic Ocean, and 
 covering one hundred degrees of longitude. Peter devoted his at- 
 tention principally to the development of the material resources and 
 the improvement of the civilization of his country. The story of 
 his journeys in Europe, and his working disguised in ship-yards, 
 and inspecting the armaments and workshops of different nations, in 
 order to become personally acquainted with the arts which had made 
 them strong, and introduce them to his own country, has been told 
 very often, and is known to every reader. To him, more than to 
 any of his predecessors or all of them together, is due the wonderful 
 progress which Russia has made, and the position it has attained 
 among the nations. He added to the territory of the Empire, In- 
 gria, part of Karelia, Esthonia, and Livonia from Sweden, Dagh- 
 estan and other territories on the Caspian Sea, from Persia, and the 
 towns of Baku and Derbent. The Persian acquisitions were lost 
 under Anna, 1730 to 1740, but in recompense she made the Kirghiz 
 tributary, completed the incorporation of Siberia to Behring's Straits, 
 and added the Aleutian Islands. Elizabeth, 1741 to 1762, gained some 
 districts of Finland. At the close of her reign, the extreme western 
 boundary of the Empire was the Baltic Sea, its extreme eastern 
 point was near the coast of North America, and it stretched through 
 more than one hundred and sixty degrees of longitude. Catherine 
 the Great, whose reign from 1762 to 1796 was a long .and splendid 
 one of unprincipled conquest, added nearly two hundred and twenty- 
 five thousand square miles of territory to the Empire, including the 
 country of the Kirghiz, Courland, the Crimea, Azov, and Russian 
 Poland. To this sovereign is ascribed the origin of the policy which 
 has been imputed to Russia, of systematic aggression against Turkey, 
 for the sake of acquiring Constantinople, and establishing a new 
 Christian Empire of the East. 
 
 Alexander I., 1801 to 1825, was distinguished for his conspicuous 
 participation in the wars against Napoleon, in the course of which 
 the boundaries of the States of Europe were changed very often. 
 Russia gained and lost, along with the rest of the States which were 
 engaged in these wars, but permanently lost little. At the end of
 
 58 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the reign of Alexander, it had gained all the provinces of Georgia, 
 the district of Bialystock, Finland, the Aland Islands, a part of 
 Bothnia, and the peninsula of Alaska, in North America. Alexan- 
 der, with the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, formed 
 the Holy Alliance, under the operation of which the aspirations of 
 the people for freedom, awakened by the career of Napoleon, were 
 trampled down, and the States of continental Europe were placed 
 and kept for a whole generation under the rule of petty sovereigns 
 who were mostly foreign to them, and whom they hated, but were 
 prevented by the powers of the Alliance from removing. 
 
 The reign of Nicholas, 1825 to 1855, was severe and prosperous 
 at the beginning, but ended in misfortune. Until the occurrence of 
 the war in the Crimea, Russia shared with Austria the predominance 
 in the councils of the European States, and was the object of anxious 
 regard and dread on the part of the other great powers. The rule 
 of this Czar was aggressive and domineering toward other nations, 
 and intensely despotic toward his own people. He instituted the 
 cruel policy which has resulted in crushing out entirely the nation- 
 ality of Poland, and abolishing its separate administration. In pur- 
 suance of this policy, he banished tens of thousands of Poles to 
 Siberia, and gave the appearance of reality to the purpose he is said 
 to have expressed of making a Siberia, that is a waste, of Poland, 
 and a Poland, that is a well populated country, of Siberia. Not only 
 were Poles sent to Siberia ; men from all parts of the Empire, ac- 
 cused of every kind of offense, but chiefly of those of a political 
 character, were consigned to that inhospitable region as to a prison, 
 until the dread of being sent to this place of exile became a com- 
 mon misery to all distinguished Russians. Nicholas co-operated 
 with Austria in repressing the popular uprisings of 1848, and in en- 
 deavoring to perpetuate the system of autocracy which had been 
 imposed upon Europe by the Holy Alliance. He lent efficient aid 
 in the cruel suppression of the Hungarian revolution, and to this is 
 owing in part the present attitude of the Hungarians of unwaver- 
 ing and intense hostility to every Russian interest and every friend 
 of Russia, and their disposition to favor the Turks. Under this 
 sovereign, Russia suffered the most disastrous defeats it has encoun- 
 tered since its conquest by the Tartars, in the Crimean war, when 
 France, England, and Sardinia assisted the Porte in repelling its at- 
 tacks upon the Turkish sovereignty. Russia lost in this war a part 
 of its territory in Bessarabia and around the mouths of the Danube,
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF RUSSIA. 
 
 59 
 
 and was obliged to submit to restrictions upon its privileges in the 
 Black Sea, to forego all its claims to the right to interfere in behalf 
 of the Christian subjects of Turkey, and to see its predominance 
 in the councils of Europe disappear, to be replaced first by that of 
 France, later by that of Germany. It is worthy of remark that the 
 efforts of Nicholas to repress the progress of popular development 
 have all failed, and that the condition of Europe is, to-day, the reverse 
 of what he would have had it. Hungary is free and self -governed. 
 Austria has suffered the introduction of popular institutions, and 
 eveiy State in Europe enjoys a constitutional government, except 
 Russia. The additions to Russian power made by Nicholas were 
 the gain of Erivan and Nakhitchevan, and of the exclusive con- 
 trol of the Caspian Sea. 
 
 The reign of the present Emperor Alexander II. has been one of 
 the most prosperous and liberal in Russian history. Previous great 
 Czars have sought chiefly the development of the material resources 
 and the moral and physical strength of the State as a political unit. 
 Alexander's policy has been aimed at the culture and the ameliora- 
 tion of the condition of the people. The emancipation of the serfs, 
 is one of the noblest acts of humanity on record. Except for the 
 wars with the Turkomans of Central Asia, which, like our wars with 
 the Indians and the wars of the British in India, have been rather 
 wars of necessity than of conquest, his reign has been one of peac3, 
 and under it the country has made great advances in the arts and 
 sciences. It has been marred by continued cruelties in Poland, 
 by the despotic efforts to repress the local languages of the prov- 
 inces, and by religious persecutions, which seem to be still pursued 
 as a part of the settled policy of the Imperial Administration to 
 make the population of the Empire a unit in religion, language, and 
 customs. The present reign has been distinguished also by the devel- 
 opment of the Panslavic idea in the steady cultivation of the doctrine 
 of the unity of the Slavic race, and by efforts to create a public 
 opinion in all the Slavic States in and out of Russia in favor of the 
 separation of the people of that race from political associations with 
 other races, and their organization into distinct States to be ruled or 
 protected by Russia. Alexander has added to the Russian Empire 
 the territories of the Khanates of Central Asia, and the region of 
 the Amoor River in extreme Eastern Asia ; but has, on the other 
 hand, ceded by sale to the United States the territory of Alaska in 
 North America.
 
 6o 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The following tables exhibit at a view the steady growth of Russia 
 ill territory and population : 
 
 English 
 Square Miles. 
 
 In 1462 the Czardom of Muscovy contained about 382,700 
 
 In 1505 Russia contained about 510,300 
 
 In 1584 
 In 1650 
 In 1689 
 In 1730 
 In 1775 
 In 1868 
 In 1877 
 
 1,530,800 
 5,038,800 
 5,953,000 
 6,888,500 
 7,122,300 
 7,866,500 
 8,391,800 
 
 The population of the Empire in 1722, when the first census was 
 taken, was fourteen millions ; in 1742 it was sixteen millions ; in 
 1762, nineteen millions; in 1782, twenty-eight millions; in 1796, 
 thirty-six millions; in 1812, forty-one millions; in 1815, forty-five 
 millions ; in 1835, sixty millions ; in 1851, sixty-eight millions : in 
 1858, seventy-seven millions ; in 1875, 86,486,000.
 
 
 RUSSIAN PEASANTS.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 
 
 The Races of Russia Backwardness of Civilization Abolition of Serfdom Public In- 
 struction Russia the only State in Europe without a Representative Form of Gov- 
 ernment The Policy of Russianizatioh Religious Intolerance Agricultural Re- 
 sources Scarcity of Large Towns The Village Commune The Provincial Assem- 
 blyThe Russian Church and the Dissenters The Army, Navy, and Finances of 
 Russia. 
 
 THE dominant population in Russia is of the Slavic race. Four- 
 fifths of the entire population of the Empire belong to this race, 
 and it predominates in a large majority of the provincial govern- 
 ments. To it belong the Great, Little, and White Russians, 
 inhabiting Russia proper, and numbering forty-nine millions, the 
 Bulgarians, Servians, and other Slavic people living in different 
 parts of the Empire, and the Slavs of Poland and Lithuania, who 
 number some seven millions. The Slavs are, for the most part, 
 attached to the orthodox Greek Church, but the Poles are Roman 
 Catholic. Next to the Slavs in importance and influence are the 
 Finns, numbering 3,038,000, and the Lithuanians, numbering 
 2,343,000. Jews are found in the commercial centers, most largely 
 in Poland, to the number of 2,800,000, and Armenians and Greeks 
 in the southern Asiatic and European parts of the Empire in lesser 
 numbers. Russians form the predominant race in Siberia, but there 
 are many Mongol tribes in that region, mostly Pagans or Buddhists 
 in religion. The rest of Asiatic Russia, from the southern borders of 
 Siberia down to the Persian frontier, is inhabited by the Mohamme- 
 dan Tartars, Turkomans, and Caucasians, all more or less dissatisfied 
 with Russian rule, but kept in subjection partly by interest, partly 
 by force. The Slavs and Finns are loyal to the Empire, but the 
 Poles and Mohammedans can not be relied upon. 
 
 Russia, as well as Turkey, is behind the most advanced nations 
 in civilization. Russia has only emerged from barbarism within the 
 past two hundred years, and although it has within that period 
 established several centers of the highest civilization, is still obliged 
 to see a large part of its rural population lingering in a state of 
 primitive simplicity as to knowledge and the arts. The Russians 
 4 ' (63)
 
 64 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 are of the same religion, the Christian, and the same great race, the 
 Indo-Germanic, or Aryan, with the most advanced nations of the 
 world, and may readily sympathize and co-operate with them in all 
 general movements. Since the days of Peter the Great, they have 
 striven to emulate other nations, and have thus been drawn into 
 the atmosphere of civilization. Having risen by its vast strength 
 to the rank of one of the Great Powers of the world, and to be 
 associated on equal terms with the leaders of civilization, while it 
 still remained far behind in culture, Russia has felt itself instinct- 
 ively and peremptorily compelled to try to make itself equal in all 
 respects to its neighbors. "With this object it has made all possible 
 efforts to promote the intellectual and social advancement of its 
 people. Rulers, the higher classes, and the people, have all joined 
 in the efforts according to their capacity and degree of understand- 
 ing of its object, and great progress has been made. Serfdom has 
 been abolished, a great social reorganization has been undertaken, 
 education has been promoted, and a literature has been developed, 
 respectable and voluminous enough to receive the attention and the 
 praises of foreign critics. 
 
 The abolition of serfdom was an event in the progress of the Em- 
 pire quite as important, and destined to have as influential a bearing 
 on the civilization of the country as the abolition of slavery in the 
 United States. It was effected by a decree of the Czar Alexander 
 II., issued on the 3d of March, 1861, and was a measure carried out 
 solely in the interest of civilization. It was applied to the whole 
 Empire, and elevated to freedom twenty-two million serfs belong- 
 ing to private owners, and a still larger number belonging to the 
 crown, making free in all 44.225,075 men and women, or more than 
 one-half the population of the Empire, who had before been attached 
 to the soil as a part of the real estate. Provision was made at the 
 same time for the assignment of a portion of land to the emanci- 
 pated serfs ; and in order that the great act might be accomplished 
 without injustice, a plan was devised for the reimbursement of the 
 former owners for their loss in estate. The serf was held to pay 
 twenty per cent, of his capital value directly to the holder to whom 
 he had been attached ; while the Government advanced the remain- 
 ing eighty per cent, within five years, to be repaid by the freedman 
 in forty-nine years. All of the arrangements for abolition were 
 completed at the end of July, 1865, when serfdom may be said to 
 have technically ceased to exist in Russia. It appears, however, by
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 65 
 
 a report recently published in the Golos, of St. Petersburg, that 
 there are still two million serfs in the country whose emancipation 
 has not been effected, either in consequence of the high price of the 
 land or of their own unwillingness to accept the new state of things. 
 
 The system of Public Instruction has been gradually developed, 
 and although it is still imperfectly and insufficiently applied, has 
 been greatly improved within a few years. The schools are not all 
 under one head of administration, as is the case in most other coun- 
 tries ; but each ministry has a number of special schools under its 
 own control, while some are conducted by the clergy, thus prevent- 
 ing full unity in organization. Primary instruction is regulated by 
 the law of 1874, which provided for the establishment and conduct 
 of four classes of schools : primary schools under the direction of the 
 clergy ; similar schools, both public and private, under the direction of 
 the Minister of Public Instruction ; elementary schools, supported by 
 the communes and under the control of other ministries ; and Sunday- 
 schools. The usual elementary branches are taught in these schools, 
 and the use of the Russian language is obligatory. District or circle 
 schools are established in the center of every circle for the children 
 of the merchants, trades-people, and other inhabitants of the cities, 
 in which some degree of academic instruction is afforded, and teach- 
 ers' institutes have been established in connection with them. The 
 Empire except Finland, which has its own administration; the 
 Caucasus, which is administered by its Governor ; and Central Asia 
 is divided for school purposes into nine districts, in which the pro- 
 vision of schools and the attendance are very unequal. The average 
 of the whole is about one school for every 3,100, and one pupil for 
 every eighty inhabitants. Secondary instruction is afforded in 455 
 gymnasia of various grades and under different administrations, 
 which were attended in 1877 by 87,775 pupils ; and instruction in 
 special branches is furnished by upward of three hundred theologi- 
 cal, military, naval, technical, and other schools. The eight univer- 
 sities had in 1875 five hundred and sixty-nine instructors and 6,408 
 students. A beginning has been made for introducing compulsory 
 education at St. Petersburg. 
 
 The Press is held under a strict censorship, the direction of which 
 is in the office of the Minister of the Interior, with special censor- 
 commissions or single censors in the principal cities. Under the 
 rules of this office the publication is forbidden of articles against the 
 dogmas of the orthodox Church, against the form of government or
 
 66 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the person of the Czar or any member of his family, and of slanders 
 upon any private person. The publication of any information con- 
 cerning the Imperial family is forbidden until permission has been 
 granted. The censorship applies to books and music as well as to 
 newspapers. Of late years the severity of the censorship has under- 
 gone a practical relaxation, so that journals have been allowed con- 
 siderable freedom in the discussion of political and social topics, so 
 long as they do not criticise the pet schemes of the Government. 
 The Press laws have been enforced with constant rigor against the 
 papers in the Baltic provinces and Poland, which have spoken too 
 freely against the Russianizing measures of the Government ; and 
 several papers in different parts of the Empire were suspended in 
 1875 for their indiscreet utterances. In the year 1873, 409 periodi- 
 cals were published in Russia, of which twenty-two received a sup- 
 port from the Government. Literary activity has only recently been 
 largely developsd in Russia. It has, however, already become quite 
 vigorous; books are rapidly multiplying, and a high standard of 
 merit has been reached, insuring to Russian works favorable atten- 
 tion in the most cultivated literary circles. The most prominent 
 works are of fiction, which have a marked, distinctive character, of 
 science, and of Oriental philology, in which Russian scholarship has 
 made a very creditable mark. 
 
 In point of political administration and religious liberty, Russia is 
 behind every other civilized nation. Alone among the important 
 European States, it has not yet attained a representative govern- 
 ment. The Czar exercises the authority as well as bears the title of 
 an autocrat, and governs the Empire through boards of his own ap- 
 pointment, which carry out his will. It has been the policy of the 
 Government to allow conquered or annexed provinces to preserve 
 for a time their old institutions. The Grand Duchy of Finland 
 keeps its ancient Constitution, reserved to it by a special grant. In 
 other conquered provinces, administrative independence has been 
 gradually taken away. Thus Poland had a separate Government till 
 1864, when it was placed under the rule of a Council of State, and 
 is now, under a new regulation, governed directly from St. Peters- 
 burg. A beginning was made several years ago, for the organization 
 of Provincial Legislatures, but they have never attained any real 
 efficiency. The Empire is divided into General Governments, or 
 viceroyalties, governments, and districts, besides a number of prov- 
 inces which, on account of the thinness of their population, have not
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 67 
 
 been organized into regular governments. The Governors-General, 
 or Viceroys, are appointed by the Emperor, and represent him, and 
 have supreme control of all affairs, and the direction of all under- 
 officers. Even the judgments of the courts are subject to their revi- 
 sion. Each general governor has to assist him a civil governor and 
 council, who, however, have no independent functions. Only in 
 local parish and district affairs has any one but the Czar authority. 
 Here, for a paradox, we have popular government in its simplest and 
 purest form. The whole country is divided into communities which 
 are called Jfir, and these are formed into Valosti, or districts of 
 about two thousand inhabitants each. The communes and districts 
 elect their own officers and assemblies, which discuss and decide all 
 questions relating to such affairs as the division of the field, the 
 arrangement of tenancies, the distribution of taxes, accounts, recruit- 
 ing, the admission of new members, complaints to the Czar, and the 
 like. The communal assemblies meet three times a year. The peo- 
 ple of the villages also choose tribunals which have jurisdiction of 
 small offenses and disputes relating to property below a certain 
 amount. 
 
 Some of the most remarkable manifestations of Russian ideas and 
 policy have been seen in the measures of the Government for the 
 Russian ization of the non-Russian people, in political system, relig- 
 ion, and language. The gradual abolition of the institutions of Po- 
 land has been mentioned. A similar process has been adopted in 
 other parts of the Empire. Great stress has been laid upon securing 
 the universal use of the Russian language. Compulsion has been 
 employed to make it the language of the schools and the Church, 
 and to banish other languages from the books and the newspapers. 
 The idea of making a single languags current, and generally under- 
 stood throughout the Empire, is in accordance with a general ten- 
 dency of our times ; but to resort to force, and infringe upon domes- 
 tic rights, as has been done in Poland and the Baltic provinces, is 
 certainly not consistent with even a moderate degree of civilization. 
 It may be a benefit to confer upon the barbarous tribes of the East 
 a language of civilization and literature, but the attempt to force it 
 upon an unwilling people, already in possession of such cultured 
 languages as the Polish and German, is reprehensible. 
 
 Both Russia and Turkey are countries of vast natural resources, 
 which are as yet almost wholly undeveloped. Agriculture is the 
 leading pursuit in either Empire. In Russia it must always be the
 
 68 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 main reliance of the mass of the population ; and in comparison with 
 the extent of agricultural development which the land is destined to 
 receive, other industries will be of less importance. The capabilities 
 of the land of Russia for agriculture are, however, by no means com- 
 mensurate with the extent of the territory. A large part of the soil 
 must be forever untillable. The northern slope, extending from the 
 Ural-Baltic table-land to the Arctic Ocean, lies under a climate which 
 imposes rigorous limits upon the amount and variety of production ; 
 a large part of it is occupied by swamps, or the tundras, and the ex- 
 treme northern border is frozen during nearly the whole year. The 
 middle zone, between the Ural-Baltic and the Ural-Carpathian table- 
 lands, is occupied in the western part by extensive forests of fir and 
 large tracts of fodder grass, but in the east contains great swamps. 
 The soil of this district is very fertile, and capable of productive cul- 
 tivation. Much of Asiatic Russia, as in the steppes of Turkistan and 
 the Caspian, is desert, chilled by Arctic winds during most of the year, 
 and scorched by a burning sun during the rest. In Southern Russia 
 lie the great wheat-fields which have made this Empire the third 
 principal grain-producing nation on the earth, only the United States 
 and France exceeding it in production.* 
 
 Besides wheat, the leading agricultural products of Russia are 
 rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, and millet, which are consumed in the 
 country, and hemp and flax, which form considerable items in the 
 export trade. The cultivation of the sugar-beet, and the manufac- 
 ture of beet sugar, make a considerable figure in the table of pro- 
 ductions. Tobacco, Indian-corn, and vines in the Crimea and 
 Bessarabia, and along the river Don, and garden products form 
 
 * The amount of grain production of the three States we have named, was, according 
 to the reports published by the English Board of Trade at the beginning of 1877 : For 
 the United States, 1874, 308,000,000 bushels ; for France, 1873, 230,000,000 bushels ; and 
 for Russia, 1872, 158,000,000 bushels. The grain trade of Russia, however, does not seem 
 to be increasing, but rather diminishing, under the pressure of competition from the 
 United States, Canada, South America, and India. A few years ago, England drew from 
 Russia a far larger supply of grain than from any other country. Suddenly, in 1874, ac- 
 cording to a statement made in England, the exports of the United States made a great 
 bound forward, and every year since, they have more and more exceeded the Russian, 
 until in the agricultural year ending with the harvest of 1876, the United States and Can- 
 ada sent to England nearly one-half its whole foreign imports, while Russia sent it only 
 one-seventh. "In fact," it is stated, "while the Russian imports have fallen one-third, 
 American have trebled since 1872." The cultivation of wheat is very imperfect in Russia, 
 as the same returns from which we have quoted state that the average crop is only five 
 and a half bushels, while in the United States it is twelve and one-half bushels, to the 
 acre. Tho chief point of export for Russian wheat is at Odessa, on the Black Sea.
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 69 
 
 smaller, but by no means unimportant items. The wooded districts 
 give large supplies of timber firs in the North ; oaks, limes, ashes, 
 and maples in the South, which are floated down the rivers to the 
 more scantily-timbered districts. 
 
 The grass-covered plains afford excellent facilities for raising live- 
 stock. Horses are abundant and of excellent quality, good animals 
 for general service being obtained from the Cossacks, Kalmucks, and 
 Kirghiz, strong and hardy horses from Yiatka, Kazan, and Finland, 
 while a more highly-bred class are raised in the breeding-stables 
 encouraged by the Government. A census report records the num. 
 ber of horses in the whole Empire' at about eighteen million head. 
 Of other live-stock, Russia contains about twenty-one million head 
 of cattle, forty-five million sheep, and nine million pigs. 
 
 The Government has taken pains to encourage manufacturing in- 
 dustry, and has gained a good measure of success. The more im- 
 portant manufactures are those of textile fabrics of wool, linen, 
 hemp, and cotton, and of leather. Many minerals and metals are 
 found in the country, and a large industry is employed in the min- 
 ing and manufacture of coal, coal-oil, iron, copper, bronze, zinc, and 
 other metal and metallic products in smaller quantities. The Govern- 
 ment endeavors to foster the industries and encourage the production 
 of the country in every way, but the high rates of taxation which 
 other exigencies demand are a great drawback to enterprise. 
 
 The great rivers are valuable aids to commerce. To them the 
 Government has added a system of railroads, of which 12,945 miles- 
 had been constructed on the 1st of January, 1877, and about 1,324' 
 miles more were under way. The length of telegraph lines on the 
 1st of January, 1876, was 58,675 miles, and the number of post- 
 offices was 3,415. Foreign commerce and the coasting trade are 
 carried on by a fleet of twenty-five hundred and twelve sea-going 
 vessels, and the rivers of the Empire bear three hundred and eighty- 
 five steamers. A peculiar feature in the distribution of population 
 is the small number of large towns. In the whole of European 
 Russia proper this term excluding Finland, the Baltic provinces, 
 Lithuania, Poland, and the Caucasus, which are countries annexed 
 and not socially Russian there are only one hundred and twenty- 
 seven towns of more than ten thousand, twenty-five of more than 
 25,000, and eleven of more than 50,000 inhabitants ; and only one- 
 tenth part of the entire population are dwellers in towns, while in 
 England more than one-half the inhabitants live in towns.
 
 70 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The peculiar feature of tlie Russian social organization is the 
 Tillage Commune, or Mir. This institution has primarily to do 
 with the allotment of the land among the inhabitants who are en- 
 titled to share in its use, but its functions have been extended to 
 embrace nearly all the concerns of the local life. The lands of the 
 Commune are held in common by all of its inhabitants, each family 
 of whom has a fixed, inalienable right to a home and its proportion- 
 ate share of the privilege of tillage and pasturage. If the amount 
 of land is more than sufficient for the wants of the village, as is the 
 case in many communes, these rights are practically unlimited. If 
 there is no excess of land, the rights of each family are defined, 
 and whoever wishes to enjoy more than his share, must pay for the 
 privilege. Besides superintending the division of the land, the 
 Commune is charged with the duty of assessing the taxes and trans- 
 mitting the moneys received from this source to the Central Bureau. 
 Each Commune is charged with an amount of taxes proportioned to 
 the number of its male inhabitants as they appear in the official 
 lists, and in its turn distributes the charge among the persons en- 
 titled to share in the communal privileges. The lists for the whole 
 Empire are revised at irregular intervals, when the Commune makes 
 a new division of the lands and a new assessment of the taxes. As 
 important changes may often take place in the relations of the 
 families between the periods of revision, which have averaged fif- 
 teen years, the Communal Assemblies are sometimes called upon at 
 shorter periods to make adjustments of distribution in favor of 
 equity, and each Commune does this in its own way. The affairs of 
 the Commune are administered by the Village Assembly, of which 
 all the heads of households are members. The authority of this 
 body having never been legally defined, has become extended so as 
 to cover nearly all the details of the village life and some personal 
 matters. According to Mr. D. Mackenzie Wallace, in his " Russia," 
 " It fixes the time for making the hay, and the day for commencing 
 the plowing of the fallow- field ; it decrees what measures shall bo 
 employed against those who do not punctually pay their taxes ; it, 
 decides whether a new member shall be admitted into the Com- 
 mune, and whether an old member shall be allowed to change his 
 domicile ; it gives or withholds permission to erect new buildings 
 on the Communal land ; it prepares and signs all contracts which 
 the Commune makes with one of its own members or with a stran- 
 ger ; it interferes, whenever it thinks necessary, in the domestic
 
 A COSSACK.
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 
 
 73 
 
 affairs of its members." It elects the village officers, and allots the 
 lands. In illustration of its authority in matters more particularly 
 personal, Mr. Wallace says : " If a peasant becomes a drunkard, 
 or takes some equally efficient means to become insolvent, every 
 family in the village has a right to complain, not merely in the in- 
 terests of public morality, but from selfish motives, because all the 
 families are collectively responsible for his taxes. For the same 
 reason, no peasant can permanently leave the village without the 
 consent of the Commune, and this consent will not be granted until 
 the applicant gives satisfactory security for the fulfillment of all his 
 actual and future liabilities. If a peasant wishes to go away for a 
 short time, in order to work elsewhere, he must obtain a written 
 permission, which serves him as a passport during his absence ; and 
 he may be recalled at any moment by a Communal decree. In 
 reality he is rarely recalled so long as he sends home regularly the 
 full amount of his taxes." 
 
 The Commune is supplemented by the Zemstvo, or District 
 Assembly, a body which was created about ten years ago by an 
 Imperial Ukase, to have the charge of those public wants which 
 it is beyond the reach of the Communal Assembly to provide for. 
 It has the care of the repairs of the roads and bridges, of the pro- 
 vision of means of conveyance for public officers, of educational 
 and sanitary affairs, looks after the condition of the crops, provides 
 against the danger of scarcity, etc. It consists of an assembly of 
 deputies, who are elected every three years by the landed proprie- 
 tors, communes, and municipal corporations, and which meets every 
 year, and of a permanent executive bureau elected by the assembly 
 from among its members. Nobles and peasants are chosen to this 
 body, and meet in it on a footing of equality, and without apparent 
 antagonism; the nobles, however, being the more conspicuous on 
 account of their superior education and experience. The Provincial 
 Assembly is a body whose members are chosen by the several dis- 
 trict assemblies of the province, to take cognizance of those matters 
 which concern more than one district. 
 
 These bodies are denied all political functions, so much so that, 
 according to Wallace, the Government, very soon after it created 
 them, " showed that it would not allow the assemblies to exert even 
 a moral pressure by means of petitions and political agitation. As 
 soon as the Zemstvo of St. Petersburg gave evidence of a desire to 
 play a political part, the assembly was at once closed by Imperial
 
 74 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 command, and several of the leading members were banished for a 
 time from the capital." 
 
 The Eussian Church is a branch of the Oriental Greek Church, 
 and is in communion with the four Patriarchates of Constantinople, 
 Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria. Its concerns were formerly 
 regulated, like those of the other Eastern Churches, by a Patriarch, 
 who resided at Moscow. The Patriarchate was allowed to die out in 
 the reign of Peter the Great, and its place was supplied by an 
 ecclesiastical council or synod, whose members were appointed by 
 the Emperor. This body, the "Holy Synod," is the nominal 
 governing body of the Church. It is a permanent college, or 
 senate, of prominent dignitaries of the Church, who are nominated 
 by the Czar, and are removable at his pleasure. Its acts are sub- 
 ject to the revision of the Czar, and take effect, when they are 
 promulgated, as acts of the Government, rather than of the Church. 
 The Czar appoints to every office in the Church, leaving to the 
 bishops and prelates only the privilege of proposing candidates. 
 He does not, however, assume to decide theological or dogmatic 
 questions, but allows the synod to exercise its full discretion on 
 such points. The duty of deciding and passing judgment in case 
 of new heresies, likewise rests with the synod, but the judgment 
 having been given, the Czar must command its execution before it 
 can be carried into effect. If the questions at issue are critical, the 
 opinions of the four patriarchs are sought, and in extreme cases a 
 council may be called, the final result being, however, in every case 
 dependent on the Czar to give it force. Each province, or govern- 
 ment, forms a diocese administered by the bishop, assisted by a 
 council, which, like the Holy Synod, has no independent authority, 
 but simply represents the bishop. The ecclesiastical administration 
 is in the hands of the "Black Clergy," or monks, while the parish 
 priests, or "White Clergy," a poor, uneducated, little considered 
 class, do most of the hard work, but do not share in the higher 
 honors of the Church. 
 
 The Raskolnik, Dissenters, or Nonconformists, form a large body. 
 They were separated from the Church in the latter part of the 
 seventeenth century. Believing that the Church was departing 
 from the primitive faith and introducing innovations in doctrine, 
 the first Nonconformists refused to follow it, and assumed an atti- 
 tude of protest against the innovations. They were excommuni- 
 cated and subjected to persecutions, which continued till they were
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 75 
 
 relaxed by Catherine the Great, since whose time they have been 
 tolerated. They have been divided on the question of the recog- 
 nition of the Old Church as a true Church, into " Old Ritualists " 
 and Bezpopoftsi, or "Priestless people." The Old Ritualists accept 
 their episcopal and priestly succession from the Old Church, but the 
 " Priestless people," believing that that Church has destroyed itself 
 by its departure from the faith, and has lost all authority, refuse 
 to accept the sacraments and other rites, on the ground that there 
 is no longer any priesthood. They have been split into a great 
 variety of sects. 
 
 The Old Ritualists are not really very far removed from the 
 orthodox Church, differing only in a few particulars of doctrine, 
 which are regarded, now that the heat of controversy has passed, 
 as of minor importance. The Government has adopted a policy of 
 conciliatory measures to induce them to return, having among other 
 things offered them special churches in which they could indulge 
 their particular preferences of ritual, on condition of accepting the 
 regularly consecrated priests, and submitting to ecclesiastical juris- 
 diction, but has not met with much success. The " Priestless 
 people" were treated with severity until the accession of the 
 present Czar. He has adopted toward them a milder policy, under 
 the influence of which they have become less fanatical and exclusive, 
 but show no signs of returning to the State Church. 
 
 There are also in Russia numerous sects called heretical. Two of 
 them, the Molokans and the Stundists, seem to be allied in faith to 
 some of the evangelical bodies of Protestantism, the Molokans being 
 likened by "Wallace to the Presbyterians, while the Stundists are 
 generally spoken of as the Russian representatives of the Baptists. 
 Besides these there are a variety of sects, professing all shades of 
 doctrine, from those which accept the Scriptures as the basis of be- 
 lief and the inspiration of their leading members as authentic means 
 of interpreting them, to those which regard nervous excitement as a 
 manifestation of religion, and practice rites which do not admit of 
 description. Little is really known concerning many of these sects. 
 The accounts of them which have reached the public have been gen- 
 erally furnished by strangers or persons prejudiced against them, 
 who are not above exaggerating their more offensive peculiarities. 
 They have been for many years under the observation of the police, 
 and the Government has at times instituted severe measures to sup- 
 press them.
 
 76 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The Old Ritualists and Priestless people are estimated to number 
 about seven millions of adherents ; and the Molokans, Stundists, and 
 " fantastical sects " about three millions more. " If these numbers 
 be correct," says Wallace, " the sectarians constitute about an eighth 
 of the whole population of the Empire. They count in their ranks 
 none of the nobles, none of the so-called enlightened class ; but they 
 include in their number the third and wealthiest part of the mer- 
 chant class, the majority of the Don Cossacks, and all of the Cos- 
 sacks of the TJral ! " According to the official statistics of the Rus- 
 sian Government, the aggregate number of all sectarians is only 
 about 1,200,000, an estimate which nearly all foreign writers on Rus- 
 sia agree in considering as too low. The Roman Catholic Church 
 has in the Russian Empire a population of about seven and a half 
 millions, who live almost exclusively in the provinces formerly be- 
 longing to Poland, and belong almost wholly to the Polish and 
 Lithuanian nationalities. There were formerly in these provinces 
 several millions of Uniats, or members of the Greek Church, who 
 had united with Rome, but had been permitted to retain some rites 
 and disciplinary laws of the Greek Church. These Uniats have been 
 induced by the Russian Government to rescind their connection 
 with Rome, and to re-unite with the Russian Church. The last 
 remnant, the diocese of Chelm, in the kingdom of Poland, took this 
 step in 1876 and 1877. Protestantism is the dominant religion in 
 Finland, in the Baltic provinces, and the German settlements which 
 are scattered through the south of Russia. The entire population 
 connected with it is about 2,600,000, exclusive of the Grand Duchy 
 of Finland, which is also almost wholly Protestant. The Jews are 
 very numerous, especially in the provinces formerly belonging to 
 Poland ; they number about 2,800,000. The number of Moham- 
 medans has been greatly increased by the enlargement of the Rus- 
 sian rule in Central Asia, where the bulk of the population belongs 
 to the Islam ; their total number in Russia now exceeds 7,000,000. 
 The number of Pagans has been reduced to about 500,000, and con- 
 tinues to decrease. Excepting the case of the Uniats which has just 
 been referred to, the Russian Church has made but little progress 
 among Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Mohammedans, but an in- 
 creasing number of the members of these religions are entering the 
 service of the National Government, an indication that'the national 
 unification of the Empire is making more rapid progress than the 
 religious. Russia is frequently charged with being extremely intol-
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 
 
 77 
 
 erant in matters of religion. It is said that the State Government 
 regards it as a crime to apostatize from the Greek Church to any 
 other, and that any one who has once joined the Greek Church is 
 not allowed to leave it again. The policy of the Russian Govern- 
 ment with regard to the Baptists, which has often been mentioned 
 in the religious journals of the United States, attracted the attention 
 of the Evangelical Alliance, and caused a deputation from this body 
 to be sent to St. Petersburg. The emigration of the Mennonites of 
 Southern Russia to the United States was occasioned by a viola- 
 tion of their conscientious scruples by Russian laws, and the non- 
 fulfillment of the pledges of the Government to respect them. With 
 regard to these and other charges of intolerance, it must, however, 
 be mentioned that some of them are declared by prominent Russians 
 to be absolutely false, and that most of the Russian writers, includ- 
 ing representative men of the Russian Church,* declare in favor of 
 the principle of religious toleration. 
 
 The Russian armies are recruited in accordance with the military 
 law of 1871, by an annual conscription, to which all able-bodied men 
 of twenty-one years old and over are liable. Substitutes are not 
 allowed, but special facilities are afforded to young men who have 
 gained a certain degree of education, to become officers or pass over 
 to the reserve. The period of service is fifteen years, six of which 
 are spent in the active army and six in the reserve. All able-bodied 
 men are liable to be called out in time of war to serve in the militia. 
 In 1877, the Russian army was computed to number 28,645 officers, 
 662,073 combatants, and 97,380 non-coinbatants on a peace foot- 
 ing, and 44,894 officers, 1,626,780 combatants, and 169,080 non- 
 combatants on a war footing. Besides its regular force, the Gov- 
 ernment commands a large supply of irregular troops, the most im- 
 portant of which are the Cossacks, who own their land in common, 
 and are exempt from taxes, but are bound to perf orm military serv- 
 ice, in lieu of the liability to taxation. They serve fifteen years in 
 the active army and seven years in the reserve. The total en umber 
 of irregular troops on a peace footing is 1,740 officers, 33,827 com- 
 batants, and 1,512 non-combatants. On a war footing there are 
 3,505 officers, 131,290 combatants, and 5,698 non-combatants. 
 
 * A defense of the Russian Church against the charge of intolerance, by a Russian 
 writer, is given in the New York Churchman, April 7, 1877. This writer, in particular, 
 denies that real punishment has ever been inflicted upon persons who left the State 
 Church, and that the right of propagating religious doctrines is exclusively possessed by 
 the State Church.
 
 78 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The administration of the army is lodged with the War Minister, 
 who is responsible only to the Czar. Its organization is complete, 
 its equipment good, and its discipline efficient. Military institutes 
 of different grades are provided for the instruction of the officers, 
 as preparatory, middle, and higher schools, and special schools for 
 the instruction of under-officers. 
 
 The military affairs of Finland are administered on a separate 
 system from those of Russia. The province is expected to furnish 
 a certain number of men on the demand of the Emperor as Grand 
 Duke of Finland. 
 
 The Russian navy consisted in 1876 of the Baltic fleet, 77 vessels ; 
 the Black Sea -fleet, nine vessels ; the Caspian Sea fleet, eleven 
 serviceable vessels; the Siberian fleet, eleven vessels; the "White 
 Sea squadron, three vessels ; and the Sea of Aral flotilla, twenty-six 
 serviceable vessels. These vessels are manned by about 1,490 
 officers and 11,600 seamen. The iron-clad fleet consisted of 29 ves- 
 sels, having a total tonnage of 74,793 tons, carrying 184 guns. The 
 most powerful of the iron-clads is the " Peter the Great," a mastless 
 turret-ship carrying four 35-ton Krupp guns. A fleet of vessels of 
 a new kind, called Popoffkas, or circular monitors, is in process of 
 construction after designs by Admiral Popoff. They are intended 
 for defense, as floating fortresses, and will not have a speed of more 
 than eight or nine miles an hour. The sailors of the navy are en- 
 listed for nine years, seven of which must be spent in active service 
 and two in the reserve. 
 
 The finances of the Empire are in a wretched condition. The 
 aggressive policy of Russia involving the necessity of maintaining a 
 large standing army and navy, has proved to be an expensive one. 
 Most of the railroads have been constructed by the Government 
 through regions in which the commercial traffic would not begin to pay 
 for the expense, and the system has required the borrowing of large 
 sums of money. Two-thirds of the expenditure of the Empire, or 
 about tfye whole amount of the revenue from direct and indirect 
 taxation, is applied to the army and navy, and the payment of the 
 interest on the public debt. According to the budget estimates, 
 the amount of the revenues for 1876 was 81,448,320; and of 
 expenditures 79,443,630, showing a small balance on the credit 
 side of the account. Between 1822 and 1876, the Government 
 borrowed upward of one hundred and thirty-five million pounds 
 sterling to meet deficits in the annual accounts and provide capi-
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. jg 
 
 tal for the construction of railroads; and the estimated amount 
 of the public debt of the Empire on the first of January, 1876, was 
 250,962,000, or upward of twelve hundred million dollars. Be- 
 sides this, the country had a legal-tender currency of 113,044,783, 
 standing at from ten to fifteen per cent, discount. A sinking fund 
 has been formed, and the financial condition has been improving for 
 several years. But every war imposes new and difficult burdens 
 upon the financial bureau; and it is evident that Russia could 
 not endure a great long war without suffering a critical strain on 
 its credit. 
 
 A few of the provinces and peoples of Russia have been brought 
 into especial notice in connection with the war, and deserve a more 
 particular account. 
 
 The Cossacks have received more attention from travelers than 
 any other class of Russians, and are more often mentioned, since 
 they make themselves more conspicuous in the campaign and in 
 battle than any other Russian soldiers. The name Cossack is said 
 to be Turkish in origin, and to signify robber. However true the 
 application may have been in the beginning, the Cossacks are now 
 rather brave, daring soldiers, and accomplished and effective scouts 
 than robbers, although even now no legitimate booty ever comes 
 amiss to them. The Cossacks were a number of free tribes who 
 inhabited the country of the Ukraine and the valleys of the 
 Dnieper, Don, Yolga, and Ural Rivers, who were able to preserve 
 a measure of independence during the period when Russia and 
 Poland and Turkey were contending for dominion over the region, 
 and who, when they submitted to the Russians, were permitted to 
 preserve most of their customs and privileges, on condition of their 
 serving in the Russian armies. They are allied to the Russians 
 and Tartars in origin, and are most probably the descendants of 
 refugees who fled from Russia during the twelfth and succeeding 
 centuries, to escape the oppression of the landed lords, and of those 
 who were afterward driven away by the cruelties of Ivan the 
 Terrible (1533 to 1584). Communities were formed of the fugi- 
 tives, of which one of the chief bonds of connection was that all 
 the members, of whatever tribe they might be, should profess the 
 orthodox religion and speak the Russian language. In the latter 
 part of the sixteenth century, the Cossack bands on the Don formed 
 a union for the defense of the Christians against the Turks and 
 Tartars, and built a number of rallying stations or winter camps
 
 8o THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 along the Don, which are now represented in the peculiar Cossack 
 villages of that region. Colonies of Cossacks have been established 
 by the Russian Government for purposes of settlement and defense 
 in the Ural, and parts of the Caucasus, and in Central Asia, where 
 they prove useful pioneers of civilization, and good agents for the 
 preservation of order as against the unruly native populations and 
 predatory bands. They have language and religion in common 
 with the Russians, but are quite different from them in customs, 
 manner of life, and character. Though professing Christianity, 
 they are not at all particular in religious matters. The Cossacks of 
 the Upper Don pursue agricultural occupations; their houses are 
 surrounded by fruit gardens, and their women take delight in the 
 cultivation of flowers. The whitewashed houses of their villages, 
 just visible through the trees, present a very attractive appearance. 
 The interior of the houses corresponds with the outside, and is 
 scrupulously clean, and contains comforts and conveniences in pro- 
 portion to the wealth of the owner. The Cossacks of the Lower 
 Don live by fishing, raising horses, mining for salt, metals, and 
 coal, and vine-culture. They are gayer and more extravagant than 
 their northern countrymen, and are fond of display. As a whole, 
 the Cossacks are free, roving in disposition, fond of wild adventure, 
 are quick in movement, and fight with great vigor, but without 
 much regularity or system. As soldiers, they form to the Russian 
 service some such an arm as the Bashi-Bazouks form to the Turkish 
 service, but a comparison with the Bashi-Bazouks is unjust to them ; 
 they are better disciplined than the Bashi-Bazouks, have principle, 
 and are not naturally cruel. When not in fight they are genial and 
 pleasant companions, and are well spoken of by travelers who have 
 had intercourse with them. Mr. Bryce, an English traveler who 
 recently ascended Mount Ararat, and who was accompanied by 
 Cossacks during his whole journey, describes them as "merry, 
 simple, good-natured fellows.'' His verdict is sustained by the 
 majority of the travelers who have had intercourse with them away 
 from the battle-field. In home life they are jovial, and exceedingly 
 fond of their families, and will play with their children for hours 
 with an enjoyment equal to that of the children. The uniform of 
 the Cossack soldier is very picturesque. The upper garment con- 
 sists of the Circassian tunic, or chekmen, fastened down the breast 
 with frogs, with cartridge-cases on the right and left. Beneath this 
 is the bechmet, a kind of long waistcoat, reaching down below the
 
 COSSACKS.
 
 RUSSIAN SOLDIERS.
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 83 
 
 tunic, and which is of silk when the Cossack is in full dress. The 
 head-dress is the papakka, a cap made of sheepskin. The several 
 regiments are distinguished from one another by the color of the 
 ftechmet and shoulder-straps, the top of the papakka and the colors 
 of the cartridge-cases being also of the same hue. To protect him 
 from the rain the Cossack carries a large mantle, called a ~bourka, 
 made of a peculiar kind of cloth manufactured in the mountains, 
 which is said to be light, warm, impervious to moisture, and ever- 
 lasting in wear. By night this ~bourka^ which possesses also the 
 invaluable property of driving away all insects and vermin, serves 
 as a bed, and when not in use is rolled up and strapped on behind 
 the saddle. The ~bocldik, a cap made of the same kind of cloth, is 
 the complement of the bourka, and is provided with two long tails, 
 which when it rains the Cossack twists round his neck. In bivouac 
 also the J>ocJdik is worn as a night-cap. The arms carried by the 
 Cossacks are the schacJika, or long mountain sword, with no guard 
 to the hilt ; the kmdial, or short dagger, two pistols stuck into a 
 waist-belt, and a Berdan rifle without a bayonet. The horse furni- 
 ture consists of a light saddle, somewhat resembling in appearance 
 the Arabian pattern, but without the high wooden cant peculiar to 
 this latter. The framework is covered with a skin of soft and ex- 
 ceedingly supple leather ; the two girths are broad but thin leather 
 bands, each about nine inches in width, and are attached to the 
 saddle at a considerable interval apart. A thick woolen rug is 
 placed below the saddle, while, finally, a leather cushion, stuffed 
 with horse-hair, secured on the top of the saddle by a third girth 
 similar to the two already described, forms the seat for the rider. 
 The bridle has only a single rein, the horse moving generally with 
 his head down and his neck stretched straight out. The horses 
 themselves are small, usually about fourteen hands in height, but 
 they are well-proportioned, robust, and able to get through much 
 hard work without knocking up. 
 
 The province called Bessarabia includes the country lying between 
 the Pruth and Dniester Rivers. It is named after a tribe called the 
 Bessers, who invaded it in the seventh century. It formerly be- 
 longed to Moldavia, but was given to Russia in 1812. So much of 
 the territory as included the mouths of the Danube was given back 
 to Turkey by the Treaty of Paris, in 1856, the powers insisting that 
 Russia should surrender the control of every part of that important 
 stream. Three-quarters of the population are Moldavians, or 
 5
 
 84 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Rumanians, and are naturally inclined to favor incorporation with 
 Rumania whenever it is made an independent State. On the other 
 hand, Russia has never been satisfied with its surrender of the south- 
 western section, and claims the right to restore it to the territory of 
 the Empire. 
 
 The name of the Caucasus is given to the whole region between 
 the Black and Caspian Seas, which is occupied by the Caucasus 
 Mountains and their outlying spurs. The Caucasus range of mount- 
 ains begins on the north shore of the Black Sea, and stretches in a 
 south-westerly direction for about seven hundred miles. It is divided, 
 according to Mr. Douglas Freshfield, who has carefully examined its 
 geography, near Tiflis into two branches, so as to give the whole 
 range the shape of the letter Y, the two arms of which stretch from 
 the point of division to the Caspian Sea. The southern branch is 
 the longest and highest; but the northern branch has also some 
 very high peaks, and marks the boundary line between the two 
 divisions of the province, Ciscaucasia and Transcaucasia. It is a 
 region of very ancient historical, and more ancient mythological, 
 interest. The Prometheus of the old Greek fables was chained to 
 a rock on one of its mountains ; Medea, whose fate in connection 
 with the expedition of Jason for the golden fleece has been com- 
 memorated in classical tragedy, had her home within its bounds. 
 It figures also as a land of enchantment in the stories of the "Ara- 
 bian Nights " and other legends of the Saracens. Its tribes, men of 
 great vigor, having an indomitable spirit, maintained their inde- 
 pendence against all attempts to conquer them till the present cen- 
 tury, when Russia, having obtained a foothold in Georgia, in the 
 year 1800, gradually extended its control until the whole region was 
 subjugated on the surrender of Shamyl in 1859. The spirit of the 
 inhabitants was not subdued, however, and after 1863 nearly half a 
 million of them, refusing to submit to Russian rule, left the country 
 and settled upon homesteads which were offered to them by their 
 co-religionists in Turkey. Again in the war of 1877, the independ- 
 ent spirit of the Mohammedan tribes, supported by such helps and 
 encouragement as the Turks found opportunity to afford them, kept 
 the country in so restless a condition that, although no formidable 
 insurrection was actually developed, considerable forces had to be 
 detailed from the Russian armies to keep order, and the movements 
 of the invading columns were embarrassed by the apprehension of 
 danger in the rear. The Caucasian district is inhabited by several
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. 85 
 
 tribes, Mohammedan, Christian, and Pagan, of whom the Moham- 
 medans have been so reduced by emigration and other causes, as to 
 number now only about one-third of the whole. The majority of 
 the population have learned to be contented under Russian rule, 
 and are loyal to the Government. Even the Mohammedans, until 
 excited by the events of the war and the appeals of the Turks, had 
 not for many years shown any spirit of resistance. Ciscaucasia, or 
 the country lying on the northern side of the Caucasus, is inhabited 
 by the Tchetchentzes, Ossetes, and Tcherkess, or Circassians. The 
 Tchetchentzes, a Mohammedan tribe, numbering about 150,000 
 persons, dwell in the Terek Valley, and between the Caspian and 
 Yladikavkar, and are considered the tribe the least to be relied 
 upon. They were the last of the Caucasians to submit to the Rus- 
 sians, having adhered to Shamyl during the war of final conquest 
 till he was compelled to surrender. Their tribes are not connected 
 by any bond of union, and they are given by travelers a bad char- 
 acter, being described as untrustworthy and mischievous, though 
 daring, given to irregular and guerrilla warfare, and incapable of 
 maintaining a steady campaign. The Ossetes, who dwell west of the 
 Tchetchentzes, and inhabit the country around the Pass of Yladi- 
 kavkar, are a tribe of 65,000 persons, of whom 50,000 are nominally 
 Christians, of a quite opposite character from their neighbors. They 
 are regarded by many ethnologists as belonging to the Indo-Ger- 
 manic race, and have maintained peaceful relations with the Rus- 
 sians for more than a century. West of the Ossetes are the Tcher- 
 kess, or Circassians, who are divided into three branches, the Kabas- 
 dans, the Tcherkess proper, or Adighei, and the Adhaz, or Abkha- 
 sians. The Kabardans are Mohammedans, and were formerly the 
 most influential of the Circassian tribes, and were the first to accept 
 Russian rule. They, as well as their neighbors the Ossetes, took no 
 part in the war led by Shamyl, but have been constantly loyal to 
 Russia. The Karatchai, who live near the sources of the Kuban, 
 took the Russian side in the last revolt, and are regarded as peace- 
 able. The Adighei, or Tcherkess, as the Russians call them, or Cir- 
 cassians proper, have been most hostile to the Russians, but the ma- 
 jority of the race have emigrated to Turkey, and are represented in 
 its army with an unenviable notoriety by the Tcherkess bands, whose 
 name has become associated with all that is disorderly and barbarous 
 in military life. West of the Adighei, and on the southern slopes of 
 the mountains, and around the Black Sea coasts, live, the Svanetians,
 
 86 , THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 a small, disaffected tribe, and the Abkhasians, a much larger tribe, 
 who gained considerable importance in the summer campaign of 
 18Y7. The Abkhasians possess a separate history, dating back sev- 
 eral centuries, and speak a different language from the other tribes, 
 are brave, and somewhat unruly. They formerly professed Chris- 
 tianity, which was introduced among them in the sixth century, and 
 were attached to the Greek Church, but many of the leading fami- 
 lies afterward embraced Mohammedanism. The multitude have 
 practically lapsed into heathenism, so that little remains of the old 
 Christianity except a few superstitious rites and some ruins of 
 churches. In 1863 and 1864:, after the great Circassian emigration, 
 the Russians proposed to them that they should again embrace the 
 Christian faith, as a condition of their remaining on their lands. 
 Thousands of them took advantage of the offer and were baptized 
 in crowds, " with a kind of switch dipped into a tub of water, by a 
 priest on the balcony of a house, while the procession passed below." 
 This conversion was without sincerity, and had little effect in attach- 
 ing the people to Russia. 
 
 The contentment of the upper classes with Russian rule was 
 severely tested several years ago, by the abolition of the privileges 
 of the Caucasian nobility, which was particularly hard on the Abkhasi- 
 ans. Formerly a complete system of vassalage existed. The land 
 was allotted among a very large number of princes and nobles, each 
 of whom possessed twenty or thirty houses, with numbers of depend- 
 ents, over whom he exercised absolute sway. This system was 
 abolished about 1871, when the nobles were deprived of all rights 
 over the people, and their lands were divided, without any compen- 
 sation being given to them, among .the peasants to cultivate. Not- 
 withstanding, this measure was a real reform akin to the abolition 
 of serfage in Russia, and a benefit to the country. Many of the de- 
 prived nobles were indignant at the loss they had suffered, and were 
 made ready for revolt. Upon a superficial view, the district should 
 have afforded an excellent field upon which to direct the efforts to 
 excite an insurrection, which the Turks attempted. Transcaucasia, 
 or that part of the Caucasus which lies south of the mountains, is 
 described by Mr. Bryce, in his " Transcaucasia and Ararat," as being 
 on the whole " a fairly contented and peaceable part of the Czar's 
 dominions," in which " there does not exist nearly so much bitter- 
 ness of feeling among the subjects as there is toward ourselves [the
 
 CONDITION OF RUSSIA. g/ 
 
 British] in India." The important province of Daghestan lies in the 
 fork of the mountain range. The Lesghians, as the inhabitants are 
 called, are a steady, industrious people, engaged in the culture of the 
 soil, and the manufacture of iron and weapons, are partly Mohamme- 
 dan and partly Christian, and have some literary culture. They opposed 
 the Russian encroachments steadily, and with regular warfare, but 
 having been overcome, submitted manfully, and have given them- 
 selves to peaceful pursuits. Shamyl, the great Caucasian leader in 
 the last war with Russia, whose history is as full of romance as that 
 of any hero whose exploits have been recorded in story, was a native 
 of this province. The southern part of the district was formerly in- 
 cluded in the kingdom of Georgia, which has been named Grusia 
 since its annexation to Russia. The people are mostly Christians, 
 are loyal to the Russian Government, and are of the higher class of 
 Eastern populations. At Baku, on the Caspian Sea, in the midst of 
 a region abounding in naphtha wells, are situated a seat of the fire- 
 worshipers, and temples in which the holy fires are kept perpetually 
 burning. 
 
 The Caucasians have a traditional celebrity for physical beauty, 
 and their women have been sought out for centuries by wealthy 
 Mussulmans to be made favorite wives and the chief attractions of 
 their harems. The people of many of their tribes undoubtedly 
 present a very fine bodily aspect. The Tcherkess, with all their 
 moral deficiencies, are a very handsome people, with fine forms, 
 small hands and feet, broad shoulders, aquiline noses, bright eyes, 
 pure black beards, elastic gait, proud bearing, and picturesque dress. 
 The weapons of the richer braves are highly ornamented with gold 
 and silver and precious stones. The women wear a clear blue silken 
 shirt, embroidered with gold and silver, and gathered at the waist 
 with a costly belt, veil themselves in a white veil covering them from 
 head to foot, and practice tight-lacing from childhood. The custom 
 of " blood revenge " is characteristic of the people. The feud is 
 transmitted from generation to generation, and is permanently ter- 
 minated only by stealing a child of the hostile family, taking care of 
 him until he has grown up, and then restoring him to his father,, 
 when the bitterest enmity is changed into the warmest friendship.. 
 This custom is mitigated by the power of Circassian hospitality,, 
 which permits one to be entertained even by his fiercest enemy, and 
 to be quite secure so long as he is his guest. The boys are taught,
 
 88 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 war-like exercises and dexterity, and are instructed in theft, with the 
 full knowledge that they will be punished if they are caught stealing. 
 Georgia and Russian Armenia, which form the extreme southern 
 part of the Transcaucasian Province, contain about 280,000 Armeni- 
 ans. They are separated, only by an arbitrary territorial line, from 
 the Armenians of Turkey, with whom they have common manners 
 and characteristics, and the same religion.
 
 CIRCASSIANS.
 
 CHAPTEK IY. 
 i 
 
 HI8TOEICAL SKETCH OF TURKEY. 
 
 Origin of the Turks The Seljukian Empire Rise of the Ottoman Turks Conquest of 
 Constantinople Growth of the Turkish Empire in Europe, Asia, and Africa Turkish 
 Policy with regard to Conquered Nations Climax of the Ottoman Power under 
 Solyman Spell of Turkish Bravery Broken Struggle of the Subjected Races for 
 Independence The Sick Man. 
 
 THE Turks came from those regions of Central Asia that have fur- 
 nished the majority of the stocks which have successively occupied 
 different parts of Europe and Western Asia, from the Aryan in- 
 vasion down to the present time. They emigrated to the neighbor- 
 hood of the Aral and Caspian Seas early in the Christian era, and 
 were first mentioned in connection with western history in the sixth 
 century, as forming an alliance with the Roman Emperor Justin 
 II. They came under Mohammedan influence during the tenth cen- 
 tury. In the eleventh century they advanced into Persia, subjugated 
 the best districts of that country, and from there spread over Syria 
 and the greater part of Asia Minor. Their principal chief, who be- 
 came paramount, was Seljuk, from whom they received the name of 
 Seljukian Turks. The Seljukian Empire attained its greatest extent 
 and prosperity under Melek, the grandson of Seljuk, when it in- 
 cluded, besides the districts already named, Armenia, Georgia, and 
 Lower Egypt. After Melek's death it was divided up into smaller 
 States, which became rivals, were encroached upon by the Ottoman 
 Turks, and were finally extinguished in the thirteenth century by the 
 irruption of the Moguls, under Genghis Khan. About the begin- 
 ning of the thirteenth century, a band of Oghuze Turks emigrated 
 from the main body in Khorasan, Persia, to the mountains of Ar- 
 menia, whence a part of it removed and settled near Angora, still 
 acknowledging the suzerainty of one of the Seljukian Sultans. A 
 Sultan of this part of the band, Othman, or Osman, having made 
 considerable conquests from the Greek Empire, established his inde- 
 pendence in 1299, and founded the State which has since been known 
 as the Turkish, or Ottoman Empire. The present dominant race of 
 Turks are called Ottomans after him. Under Orchan, the successor 
 
 (91)
 
 92 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 of Othman, all of Western Asia was occupied, and Gallipoli, the 
 first of the acquisitions of the Turks in Europe, fell into their hands 
 in 1357. From this point the Ottomans gradually advanced in Eu- 
 rope, slowly at first, more rapidly as they gained strength. They 
 took Adrianople, the most important European position of the Greek 
 Empire, in 1361, Philippopolis shortly afterward, defeated the Ser- 
 vians and Hungarians in 1365, then conquered several towns on the 
 Thracian coast, and Nissa, a point which plays an important part 
 in the wars of the present, made Servia and Bulgaria tributary to 
 them in 1375, and Wallachia in 1391, exacted a tribute from the 
 Roman Emperor himself, and captured the most important fortresses 
 on the Danube in 1394. Their most formidable antagonists during 
 this period were the Hungarians, with whom they fought many 
 bloody battles. This brave people have, for several centuries, borne 
 the credit of having at this time saved Western Europe from being 
 overrun, like the East. Murad II., from 1421 to 1451, reduced Sa- 
 lonica and important positions in Greece. Finally, Mohammed II., 
 the successor of Murad, captured Constantinople after a short siege, 
 on the 29th of May, 1453, the Emperor Constantine being slain 
 in the final assault, and the Ottomans gained the seat and throne 
 of the Roman Empire. 
 
 Had Europe been united to resist the advance of the Turks, this 
 great disaster might have been avoided, and the invaders have been 
 driven back into Asia. But the princes and rulers of the petty 
 States outside the line of immediate danger were too busy with 
 their own little jealousies to give proper attention to a peril which 
 menaced the whole; so the Ottomans were allowed to establish 
 themselves almost without molestation. All Europe was thrown 
 into a panic by the conquest of Constantinople. Terror ruled every- 
 where ; but nearly every State seemed to be in a quarrel either be- 
 tween its own factions or with some of its neighbors, and the Turks 
 were allowed to complete the conquests they had made, and to add 
 the rest of Greece, Bosnia, Albania, Herzegovina, and the States in 
 Asia which were not already in their own possession. The States 
 further west, so far from helping their fellow-Christians against the 
 invader or sympathizing with them, were willing to form alliances 
 with the Turks if that would help them to gain an advantage over 
 a rival. The Ottoman Empire reached its greatest extent under 
 Solyman,the Magnificent, and Selim II., his successor, when it ex- 
 tended on the east to the Tigris and Euphrates, included Egypt and
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF TURKEY. 
 
 93 
 
 the Barbarj States, Arabia, Rhodes, and Cyprus, and took in a lar to e 
 part of Hungary on the west. A series of wars for the conquest 
 of Hungary was begun during the reign of Solyman, in 1521. The 
 young King of Hungary was killed on the battle-field of Mohacs 
 in 1526, and immediately three aspirants for the crown began their 
 rivalries for the succession instead of resisting the invader, so that 
 the Turks had every advantage on their side. In 1529, Buda, the 
 principal Hungarian fortress, was occupied, and the Turks ap- 
 proached Yienna without resistance, and were prevented from cap- 
 turing it only by disorders within their own ranks. A peace was 
 concluded in 1533, by which Ferdinand of Austria, as King of 
 Hungary, was obliged to pay tribute for that State. He refusing to 
 continue the tribute, the war broke out again in 1541, and Ferdi- 
 nand was compelled after six years of war to purchase peace by the 
 surrender of the Hungarian territory as far as Stuhlweissenburg, 
 Buda, and Gran, and the payment of an annual gift of fifty thou- 
 sand ducats for the rest of the kingdom. Solyman renewed the 
 war with Austria in 1551 ; the country was again invaded, and the 
 Turks made incursions into Carinthia and Styria. Ferdinand again 
 bought a truce in 1562, by which the Turks were left in possession 
 of their conquests, and he gave up his claims over Transylvania, 
 and submitted to the payment of a yearly tribute of thirty thousand 
 ducats. Solyman made war again upon Maximilian, the successor 
 of Ferdinand, and again carried all his points in the truce of 1567". 
 
 These wars occurred during the wars of the sixteenth century 
 between France and Germany. The French king, desiring to see 
 the Hapsburgs crippled, threw their influence on the side of the 
 Turks, and even entered into alliances with them ; and when the 
 Emperor Charles Y., as King of Spain, endeavored to subjugate 
 Algiers and Tunis, the French lent a part of their fleet to assist the 
 Turks. In return, the French were granted commercial privileges 
 in Turkish waters which were denied to other nations, and gained a 
 small degree of influence at the Ottoman court. War broke out 
 between Turkey and Yenice in 1570, the end of which was the 
 surrender of the island of Cyprus to the Turks, and the payment 
 of an indemnity by the Yenetians. In this war, France was again 
 friendly to the Turks. 
 
 Circumstances brought Turkey and Poland into close relations 
 during a part of the sixteenth century. Poland leaned on Turkey 
 for protection against the growing power of Russia. Turkey was
 
 94 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 glad to detach all the neighboring States it could from alliances with 
 Austria. The result was that the Porte for a time exerted an in- 
 fluence in Polish affairs extending even to the nomination of the 
 king. The alliance was gradually broken up by the operation of 
 other natural causes, and in the following century it was the King 
 of Poland who saved the West a second time from being overrun 
 by the Moslems. Another war between Turkey and Austria, be- 
 ginning in 1593, in which the Turks advanced to Komorn, the ex- 
 treme limit of their previous advances, ended in 1606 with the 
 Treaty of Sitnatorok, in which Austria bought a release from the 
 tribute it had paid for Hungary, and the frontier districts were more 
 clearly defined. In a war with Venice, which began in 1645, the 
 Turks gained the city and castle of Candia after their fleet had been 
 vanquished twice. A war with Austria which followed, ended in 
 the peace of Yasvar, or St. Gotthard, renewing the peace of Sit- 
 natorok. Poland was next engaged in war with the Turks, and the 
 king, Michael Caribert, concluded a disgraceful peace after a single 
 defeat. His successor, John Sobieski, refusing to be bound by the 
 terms Michael had granted, renewed the war and gained better ones. 
 This king did signal service to the West a few years afterward, 
 when the Turks, again at war with Austria, having marched up to 
 the walls of Vienna, and being about to capture that capital, he 
 came to its relief, defeated the invaders, conclusively, and saved the 
 city and Austria, September 12, 1683. In the next year, Austria, 
 Poland, and Yenice concluded a " holy alliance " against the Porte, 
 and attacked its possessions in Hungary, Dalmatia, and the Morea, 
 and on the Dniester defeated the Turks in several great battles, 
 took some of their most important border forts, and after a war of 
 about sixteen years' duration, concluded in 1699 the peace of Carlo- 
 vitz, the most creditable treaty which any Christian power had yet 
 made with Turkey. It was the first treaty in which the payment 
 of a tribute in some form to the Porte was not stipulated for, and 
 was also the first in which neutral Christian powers acted as media- 
 tors, England and Holland having given their services in that 
 capacity to promote the conclusion of an honorable peace. 
 
 Russia began to be prominent in the wars against Turkey early 
 in the eighteenth century. Previous to this time some border wars 
 had occurred between the two powers, which grew out of the depre- 
 dations of the Tartars and Cossacks, but they were insignificant in 
 comparison with the wars with Austria, Poland, and Yenice. The
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF TURKEY. nc 
 
 war beginning in 1710, in which the Czar twice bought his security 
 against yielding a disgraceful peace by bribing the Grand Vizier, is 
 noteworthy as having led indirectly to the wars with Yen ice and 
 Austria (1714 to 1718), in which the Austrian Prince Eugene gained 
 the brilliant victory of Peterwardein (1716), and in consequence of 
 which a new adjustment of boundaries was made at the Treaty of 
 Passarovitz, to the disadvantage of Turkey. A war with Russia 
 and Austria (1736 to 1739) resulted, after the peace of Belgrade, in 
 gains of territory for Russia, and losses for Austria. 
 
 In 1768, the Turks interfered in behalf of the Catholic party of 
 Poland, to check the growth of Russian influence in that kingdom. 
 The war which ensued was a disastrous one for them, and ended in 
 their losing the Crimea, and yielding to Russia Kertch, Jenikala, 
 and Azov, the free navigation of the Black Sea and the Sea of Mar- 
 mora, and other important commercial privileges, and paying an in- 
 demnity. The Crimea was finally occupied by the Russians in 
 1783. The Turks nearly lost Constantinople in this war, and it was 
 saved to them only by the interference of England and Prussia. 
 
 This occasion marks the introduction of the policy of making the 
 affairs of Turkey a subject of European concern, and also the origin 
 of the British doctrine that the integrity of Turkey must be main- 
 tained. During a part of the period of the French Revolution, the 
 attitude of parties was curiously reversed, and the Porte was engaged 
 in a defensive alliance with Russia and England against the aggres- 
 sions of the French in the East. The alliance ceased in 1802 upon 
 the conclusion of the peace of Amiens between France, Turkey, and 
 England. 
 
 Turkey and Russia were again engaged in war in 1806. At first 
 the Turks were supported by the French, and Russia by England. 
 Both these alliances were broken up before the end of the war. The 
 Emperor Napoleon of France engaged in secret plots with the Czar 
 Alexander, for the dismemberment and division of Turkey, and En- 
 gland concluded the peace of Dardanelles with the Porte. The peace 
 of Bucharest, concluded in May, 1812, made the river Pruth the 
 boundary between Russia and Turkey, established the freedom of 
 the Lower Danube to the trade of both countries, and assured to Ser- 
 via the position as a semi-independent tributary State, for which it 
 had been striving since 1804. 
 
 The revolution in Greece began in 1821. The campaigns of the 
 Turks were accompanied with barbarities, which, like those perpe- 
 trated nearly fifty years later in Bulgaria, excited general abhorrence,
 
 96 . THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 while the bravery of the Greeks aroused for them the sympathy of 
 the Western peoples. The powers tried to put an end to the war by 
 negotiation, without taking an active part in it. Their overtures 
 were rejected by the Porte, and England, France, and Russia sent 
 their fleets to the Mediterranean to prevent further hostilities. The 
 Western fleets met those of Turkey arid Egypt in the Port of Nava- 
 rino in 1827, became engaged with them, and entirely destroyed 
 them. Russia declared war against Turkey in 182B, but concluded 
 with it the peace of Adrianople in the next year. The independence 
 of Greece was established and confirmed, and its boundaries were de- 
 fined by the London protocol of 1830. 
 
 The downfall of the Turkish Empire had been looked upon for 
 several years as a certain event of the future. Napoleon and the 
 Czar had discussed it as early as 1807. In 1833, Sir Archibald Ali- 
 son wrote in the Quarterly Review, that " the Ottoman power has, 
 within these twenty years, rapidly and irrecoverably declined." It 
 had suffered by internal dissensions as well as by foreign wars. The 
 Viceroy of Egypt had given it much trouble by his efforts to secure 
 independence, and had gained a degree of strength which, together 
 with his steady pursuit of the idea of a sovereignty of his own, made 
 him a very insecure vassal ; and the Turkish court, to save itself 
 from destruction, had been obliged to plot and execute the murder 
 of the Janizaries, which, while it removed a pressing danger, also de- 
 prived the Empire of a strong military arm. For the last fifty years, 
 European diplomacy with reference to Turkey has consisted chiefly 
 of endeavors on one side to find opportunities and occasions for de- 
 stroying it, and efforts on the other to maintain it ; and its continued 
 existence during that period has been mainly due to the jealousy en- 
 tertained by England, France, and Austria against Russia and against 
 each other. 
 
 In 1831, Russia assisted the Porte in suppressing a rebellion of 
 Mehemet Ali, the Pasha of Egypt. This vassal rebelled again in 
 1839, and was supported by France. England, Austria, Prussia, and 
 Russia came to the help of the Porte and engaged in a quadruple 
 alliance in 1840, to protect the integrity of the Turkish Empire. 
 Among the results of these proceedings was the negotiation of a 
 treaty permanently closing the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles 
 against all foreign vessels of war, so long as the Porte should enjoy 
 peace. The Crimean war, the last of the great wars of Turkey 
 previous to that of 1877, originated in a dispute between the Greek 
 and Latin Churches at Jerusalem, regarding the right to the control
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF TURKEY. gy 
 
 and use of the " Holy places " of that city. Louis Napoleon of 
 France is accused of having instigated and promoted the controversy. 
 He supported the Latin priests. The Czar Nicholas of Russia took 
 up the cause of the Greeks, and pressed it with a demand to be 
 recognized as the protector of all the Greek Christians under Otto- 
 man rule, which was very offensive to Turkey. During the discus- 
 sions of the subject among the powers in 1853, Turkey was spoken 
 of as the " sick man " who must soon die and leave his estate to be 
 administered upon. The Czar proposed to the British Envoy at St. 
 Petersburg a division of the estate, in which, the Danubian princi- 
 palities (Moldavia and Wallachia), Servia, and Bulgaria, should be- 
 come independent States under Russian protection, and England 
 should receive Egypt and Candia. England refused to countenance 
 this scheme. The Czar then made a formal demand upon Turkey 
 to make an engagement " to secure forever to the Orthodox Church 
 and its clergy all the rights and immunities which they had already 
 enjoyed, and those of which they were possessed from ancient times." 
 The Porte refused to make such an engagement, and diplomatic re- 
 lations between the two powers were suspended in May, 1853. The 
 Russians entered Moldavia in July, 1853, and declared war in the 
 next November, the Sultan having declared war on the 5th of 
 October. 
 
 England, France, Austria, and Prussia united to support the 
 Porte against the Russian demands, and through their representa- 
 tives adopted a protocol at Yienna in April, 1854, which affirmed 
 the duty of maintaining the territorial integrity of the Ottoman 
 Empire, and of also securing, by every means compatible with the 
 independence and sovereignty of the Sultan, the civil and religious 
 rights of his Christian subjects. France and England supported 
 Turkey with their arms, and Sardinia joined these allies at the 
 beginning of 1855. The war was signalized by the brilliant vic- 
 tories of the allies at the battles of the Alma, Balaklava, and 
 Inkerman, and the capture and destruction of the fortress of 
 Sevastopol, in the Crimea, offset by the single victory of the 
 Russians in the capture of Kars, in Armenia. Negotiations for 
 peace were begun, which resulted in the conclusion of the Treaty 
 of Paris on the 27th of April, 1856. Seven powers were parties to 
 this treaty, viz. : Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, 
 Sardinia, and Turkey. The treaty recognized Turkey as one of 
 the powers of the European system, standing before the public 
 law and in diplomatic negotiations on an equal footing with all the
 
 98 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 other powers ; engaged the contracting powers to respect the inde- 
 pendence and integrity of the Ottoman Empire, and to make every 
 assault upon the same a question of common interest ; and stipulated 
 that in case of a difference arising between the Porte and any of 
 the powers threatening the continuance of their good relations, the 
 other powers should be given an opportunity to mediate before 
 resort to arms should be had. It recited the fact that the Sultan 
 had issued a new firman (the Hatti-Humayun), designed to improve 
 the condition of his subjects without distinction as to religion or 
 race, and had of his own accord communicated the same to the con- 
 tracting parties, and declared it to be clearly understood that this 
 act could not in any case give the said powers the right to interfere, 
 either collectively or separately, in the relations of His Majesty the 
 Sultan with his subjects, nor in the internal administration of his 
 Empire. The treaty declared the Black Sea neutral and open to 
 the commerce of all nations ; re-established the rule which excluded 
 the vessels of foreign powers from the Dardanelles and the Bos- 
 phorus so long as Turkey remained at peace, and prohibited both 
 Russia and Turkey from keeping vessels of war in the Black Sea, 
 except such a number as they should both agree to be necessary as 
 a police. It confirmed the position of Servia, Moldavia, and Walla- 
 chia in the condition of semi-independence which they had gained, 
 with the full enjoyment of all the privileges and immunities which 
 they had acquired, pledged the Porte to preserve them all, and the 
 other contracting powers to guarantee their preservation. 
 
 In 1860 France intervened to protect the Christians from a vio- 
 lent persecution which had broken out against them in Syria, but 
 was prevented by England from occupying that country. In 1866, 
 an insurrection broke out in the island of Candia, or Crete, which 
 the Turkish Government suppressed after a long effort, marked by 
 many cruelties, but without interference from any of the powers. 
 In 18TO, Russia took advantage of the powerless condition of 
 France, caused by its entanglement in the war with Germany, to 
 declare that it would be no longer bound by the limitations im- 
 posed by the Treaty of Paris upon the size of its fieet in the Black 
 Sea, and proceeded to increase the number of its vessels in those 
 waters. In 1876, in the course of the diplomatic correspondence 
 concerning the Bosnian insurrection and the Servian war, it declared 
 that the Treaty of Paris had been broken, and was no longer binding 
 upon it.
 
 A WALLACHIAN.
 
 CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 PRESENT CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE AND THE OSMANLI TURKS. 
 
 The Ruling Nationality in Turkey Distribution of Races What Prevents the Assimila- 
 tion of the Ottomans with the More Civilized Nations Abortive Attempts at Re- 
 form Religious Toleration Work of Protestant and Catholic Missionaries The 
 Educational Condition of Turkey Agricultural and Mineral Resources Tenure of 
 Land The Army and Navy Desperate Condition of the Finances. 
 
 * 
 
 THE Turkish Empire ranks in point of extent and population 
 among the largest States of the world. It is only surpassed by the 
 British, Russian, and Chinese Empires in both respects, and by the 
 United States and Brazil in point of population. But it occupies a 
 very different position if we compare its internal condition with that 
 of other States. In this respect it is greatly inferior to any other 
 country of Europe. The Turkish Government has shown itself 
 utterly unfit to establish an efficient administration. Turkey has 
 come to be known as the " sick man," and the continuance of its 
 existence depends wholly on the disposition toward it of the great 
 powers of Europe. 
 
 The ruling nationality in Turkey, the Ottoman, or Osmanli Turks, 
 belong to the Turanian race. The only other nationality of Europe 
 which belongs to the same race are the Hungarians, or Magyars. 
 But while the latter have for nearly a thousand years been identified 
 with the other nations of Europe in religion, have constantly received 
 large admixtures of the Aryan race, to which the remainder of Eu- 
 rope belongs, and have succeeded in obtaining a high degree of cult- 
 ure and political capacity, the Turks have during the whole period 
 of four hundred years during which they have lived in Eastern Eu- 
 rope, remained foreign and hostile to the Aryan nations of Europe, 
 and present to-day the most remarkable example of that backward- 
 ness in progress and civilization which characterizes almost the 
 entire Turanian race. Still greater is the breach which the religion 
 of the Turks constitutes between them and the remainder of Europe. 
 They have been during all these four hundred years the only sover- 
 eign nation of Europe which professes the Mohammedan religion. 
 
 (101)
 
 102 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The Mohammedan States, without any exception, have long been 
 in a state of decline and decay. The inferiority of their culture to 
 that of the Christian nations is still more marked than the inferiority 
 of the Turanian race to , the Aryan. Thus both by race and relig- 
 ious affinity the Turks belong to a system of States which is con- 
 stantly receding before the advance of a superior civilization, and it 
 is only natural that public opinion in the more civilized States has 
 accustomed itself to look upon them as a people who are not only 
 strangers and foreigners in Europe, but who should give way to 
 nations which in every respect are their superiors. 
 
 The Ottomans, or Osmanli Turks, predominate very largely in 
 the Asiatic part of the Empire, but in the European part they form 
 only one-eighth of the whole population. Affiliated with them are 
 the Arabs, whom they conquered, and whose religion they have 
 embraced. The Arabs number less than one million of the sixteen 
 millions of the population of Asiatic Turkey, but they constitute 
 the whole of the settled population (aside from the African races 
 proper) of the African dependencies. Next in importance in Asiatic 
 Turkey are the Armenian, Greek, Syrian, and Chaldean Christians, 
 the Turkomans, near relatives of the Turks, Kurds, and Druses. 
 The Slavic races constitute one-half the population of European 
 Turkey. They number about four millions and are four times as 
 numerous as the Turks. After them come a million Turks, 900,000 
 Greeks, 820,000 Albanians, 200,000 Armenians, 70,000 Jews, and 
 11,000 Tartars. The actual proportion of Mohammedans is, how- 
 ever, larger than appears from these figures ; for a considerable num- 
 ber of the Slavic people, particularly in Bosnia, have professed the 
 Mohammedan faith, and about two-thirds of the Albanians are of 
 that religion ; so that the Mohammedans number about one-third of 
 the whole. 
 
 A curious fact in relation to the different races which people Eu- 
 ropean Turkey is the irregular manner in which they are distributed 
 and mingled. " No locality," says Baker, in his " Turkey," " can be 
 found where the population is exclusively of the same nationality, 
 but a rival race crops up here and there and jostles its neighbors. 
 We find, for instance, a quarter where the majority of the popula- 
 tion is Bulgarian, but among them in considerable numbers are 
 Turks, Greeks, Circassians, and Gypsies. In another quarter the 
 majority are Albanians, but they again have to bear the friction of 
 Bulgarians, Wallachs, Greeks, and Turks; and so on all over the
 
 CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 
 
 103 
 
 country. Each of these nations has its own language, religion, and 
 customs ; and it therefore follows that the difficulty of governing 
 the mass lies in a direct ratio to the number of races represented in 
 it ; and when it is borne in mind that in Europe alone no less than 
 eight distinct nationalities, each with a considerable population, and 
 several others of smaller degree can claim the rights of Turkish 
 subjects, some idea may be formed of the obstacles in the path of 
 good government in Turkey." Mr. Baker illustrates the difficulty 
 which the Government experiences in dealing with this variety of 
 races by supposing the embarrassments which England would en- 
 counter if it had fifteen Irelands to manage instead of one. 
 
 The Turks, according to the latest review of the distribution of 
 population as given in No. 7 of Peterman's Miitheilungen, for 
 1876, are to be found as a compact population only in the Yilayet 
 of the Danube and the sanjaks of Rustchuk, Tultcha, and Yarna. 
 They are less numerous in the Ehodope Mountains. On the shores 
 of the JEgean Sea and the Sea of Marmora and on the south-east 
 shore of the Black Sea, they are greatly outnumbered by the Greeks, 
 especially in the direction of Constantinople. The Bulgarians oc- 
 cupy the country south of the Danube, their southern boundary 
 being a line passing through the towns of ISTissa, Prisrend, Ochrida, 
 Kastoria, Magostos, Salonica, Adrianople, and Burgas, on the Black 
 Sea. They are also scattered in various districts of Albania, Wal- 
 lachia, and the Dobrudja. The Servians (including Bosnians, 
 Herzegovinians, and Montenegrins) occupy the space between the 
 Bulgarian Morava, the Save, and the Dalmatian frontier as far as 
 Albania. On the right bank of the Morava, their villages are inter- 
 spersed with Rumanian settlements. The Albanians inhabit the 
 country south of Montenegro down to the frontier of the Greek 
 kingdom. Other races in European Turkey are the Zinzars, nearly 
 related to the Rumanians, most of whom live among the Albanians 
 in Epirus and Thessaly ; the Armenians in the Turkish towns ; the 
 Magyars, or Hungarians ; the Nogai Tartars in the Dobrudja; the 
 Gypsies in Rumania, Albania, and Bulgaria ; the Jews, Russians, 
 Arabs, Poles, and Germans. The last three races are, however, but 
 scantily represented. 
 
 The greatest drawback to the assimilation of Turks with Euro- 
 peans is polygamy, which imposes upon the people social ideas and 
 customs opposite to those which prevail in the "West, Under the 
 practice of polygamy, and more by its influence than by any other
 
 104 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 assignable cause,* the Turks, once the formidable conquerors of the 
 fairest part of the world particularly those of the wealthier classes, 
 whose opportunities to enjoy a plurality of wives have been the 
 best have sunk into a kind of indolent stupor and listlessness. 
 Lassitude characterizes their actions in private and public. The 
 whole country bears evidence of the indifference and lack of energy 
 which seem to have become one of the inherited qualities of the 
 Ottomans, and to be growing more obvious with each generation. 
 It is generally admitted that the stock of the Imperial family is worn 
 out, so that there is not one in the whole list of eligible candidates 
 for Sultan who is really competent for the position. The other 
 families of high station are not much better off. With a few ex- 
 ceptions, the really competent higher officers of the nation are men 
 who have risen from a low origin, or are foreigners, whose Otto- 
 manized names are the only things about them that are Turkish. 
 
 Another influence which keeps Turkey apart from the western 
 nations of Europe is found in the fanaticism and lack of intelligence 
 of the Mussulmans of the remote provinces, who oppose every effort 
 of the Government to carry out reforms, and defeat it unless it is 
 supported by a stronger force than can be afforded. Assimilation 
 is further hindered by the imbecility and corruptibility of the pro- 
 vincial administrators, who, remote from the seat of Government, 
 and holding their positions by a tenure regulated rather by the 
 caprice of the court than by any consideration of their fidelity, 
 think more of filling their purses and having an easy time than of 
 governing well. 
 
 The Porte has made several attempts to introduce constitutional 
 reforms into the Empire ; they have not been supported by efficient 
 measures to execute them, and have been left inoperative, and the 
 misrule they were to abolish has hardly been disturbed by them. 
 Observing and remembering these successive failures to accomplish 
 any salutary object, the people of Europe have acquired the habit 
 of regarding any Turkish promise to do away with an evil or to 
 improve administration anywhere as a nullity. Yet some improve- 
 ment has been realized from these efforts. 
 
 The first promise of general reform was made by Sultan Mah- 
 moud II., in November, 1839, in a document which was called the 
 Hatti-Sherif of Gulhane. Sixteen years passed, in which noth- 
 
 *The direct influence of polygamy upon the deterioration of the Turkish people is 
 treated of fully in another chapter.
 
 CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. IO 5 
 
 ing was done to carry out the provisions of this charter, when it was 
 renewed and extended by Sultan Abdul Medjid in the charter called 
 the Hatti-Humayun, promulgated in February, 1856. The renewal 
 of the charter was mentioned in the Treaty of Paris as the consider- 
 ation on which the powers admitted Turkey to the company of 
 European States, and guaranteed to it its rights as an independent 
 and inviolable power. The charter thus renewed, professed to 
 secure liberty of worship and equality of rights to the Christian 
 inhabitants of Turkey, and promised that the laws should be codi- 
 fied, the administration of justice reformed, that the collection of 
 the taxes should be regulated, and that banks, public institutions, 
 and public improvements should be established or prosecuted. More 
 than twenty years longer elapsed, during which the charter was not 
 carried out, although an immediate execution of its provisions was 
 repeatedly promised whenever and wherever manifestations of local 
 dissatisfaction became formidable, when it was again renewed, with 
 additional features, all in favor of liberty and liberality, in the Con- 
 stitution of December, 1876. This constitution copies the best 
 features of the fundamental law of the most enlightened govern- 
 ments, and would, if faithfully executed, make Turkey one of the 
 freest States. It has, moreover, gone, in part, into actual operation, 
 and the experiment of applying it has been begun with an earnest- 
 ness which should have obtained for it a fairer trial than Turkey has 
 been allowed to give it. 
 
 The first Turkish Parliament has been chosen, and has actually 
 sat and deliberated under the new Constitution. It is a respectable 
 body in point of ability and culture. Among its members are 
 cultivated scholars and statesmen of enlightened views and far- 
 sightedness, who are capable of giving credit to any legislative 
 body on the earth. Whatever may be its shortcomings, it is a real 
 Parliament, representing its constituencies, and is a beginning. 
 Russia has not yet had a Parliament, or taken steps to call one. 
 The Grand Duchy of Finland has one, it is true, but it is an insti- 
 tution which the country possessed before it was incorporated with 
 Russia, and which has been preserved to it, in distinction from the 
 usage which has prevailed in other parts of the Empire, by especial 
 concession. 
 
 Turkey has made great advances in the direction of religious 
 liberty. From being one of the most intolerant of despotisms, it 
 has become, so far as governmental declarations can make it, one of
 
 106 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the most tolerant of States. The equal right of Mussulman and 
 non-Mussulman subjects has been repeatedly declared, with every 
 variation of language and particulars. Only in respect to the lia- 
 bility to conscription has a distinction been made, and the distinction 
 has in this case been based on obvious considerations of policy. 
 This distinction was practically abolished in 1876, when the Gov- 
 ernment gave notice that it would accept, and did accept, Christian 
 volunteers; and under the new policy Christian corps have been 
 actually organized among the Turkish defensive forces. The en- 
 rollment of Christians for military service equally with Mohamme- 
 dans has, furthermore, been definitely and permanently provided 
 for in the new Constitution of 1876. 
 
 Non-Mohammedans are eligible and have been frequently ap- 
 pointed to offices of high trust and profit. They may be found in 
 stations near to the household of the Sultan, and in close connection 
 with the cabinet. The appointment of Christian Governors or 
 responsible administrators in the provinces is far from being an 
 extraordinary occurrence ; and in the Parliament which met in 
 1877, all the religions of the Empire were fairly represented. 
 Thus, among the deputies returned from Constantinople at the 
 election of the second of March, were five Turks, four Christians, 
 and one Jew ; and of the Christians, one was a Greek, one was a 
 Roman Catholic Armenian, and two were Gregorian Armenians. 
 
 Christians and Jews form their societies and congregations, build 
 churches and synagogues, and worship with entire freedom, so far 
 as the Government is concerned, throughout the Empire. Their 
 ecclesiastical organizations and administrations are respected and 
 upheld by the Jaws, the jurisdiction of their tribunals as to internal 
 affairs, and their discipline are respected ; and no obstacle is opposed 
 to the exercise of his legitimate authority over his own people by 
 any bishop, priest, rabbi, or pastor, be he Greek, Armenian, Roman 
 Catholic, Jew, or Protestant. Christians are, however, not pro- 
 tected from popular outbreaks or oppression by local officers, and 
 this is the text of most of their complaints of grievance. It shows 
 that the Government is inefficient and badly administered. It is 
 worthy of remark that the Jews make stronger complaints of worse 
 treatment which they endure at the hands of the professed Chris- 
 tians of Rumania. 
 
 The work of the Missionary Societies is countenanced by the Gov- 
 ernment, and receives as much protection as the Porte affords to any
 
 CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. IQJ 
 
 of its subjects. The operations of American Societies in particular 
 have been very successful. Armenia, Asia Minor, and the regions 
 around Constantinople are dotted with the churches of the American 
 Board, and Syria with those of the Presbyterian Board. The Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church has a smaller mission work in Bulgaria, the 
 United Presbyterian Church one in Syria, and the United Presbyte- 
 rian Mission in Egypt has been very prosperous, and has become quite 
 important. Flourishing schools for boys and girls, young men and 
 young women, are connected with these missions at important points, 
 and are recognized as valuable auxiliaries to the education of the 
 people. Robert College, of the American Board, at Constantinople, 
 is a well-established institution in high repute, enjoying the confi- 
 dence of the people and the Government. It has a faculty of Ameri- 
 can teachers of recognized scholarship, and competent Armenian, 
 Bulgarian, French, Greek, and Turkish professors, and is well at- 
 tended, the- majority of the students being Bulgarians. 
 
 tThe Syrian Protestant College at Beyrut, which grew out of the 
 Presbyterian Mission in that city, is another institution which is as- 
 suming prominence. It has literary and medical departments, an 
 astronomical observatory, and a faculty of excellent instructors, who 
 are for the most part graduates of the Union Theological Seminary 
 in New York City. It is surrounded by other schools of the Pres- 
 byterian Mission, with two English schools and the school of the 
 Kaiserswerth Deaconesses. The colleges of the American Board 
 at Harpoot and Aintab, and the schools of the United Presbyterians 
 at Osiout, Egypt, are younger institutions which promise well. 
 Besides the higher institutions, nearly every Mission station has its 
 primary or academic school, well attended and appreciated. The 
 Missionary Societies have built up, in connection with their Missions, 
 extensive publishing enterprises. The American Board issues from 
 its presses, books, tracts, and papers in the various languages which 
 are spoken in the Empire. The works in Armenian, published by 
 this Society, which are numerous and meritorious, deserve especial 
 commendation. The Presbyterian presses at Beyrut sent forth in 
 1876 thirty-eight thousand, four hundred and fifty volumes, com- 
 prising 13,786,980 pages of Bibles, tracts, and other books, including 
 a series of text-books and a number of juvenile works. 
 
 The missionaries of these Societies often bear witness, in their 
 communications to the Home Boards, to the respectful treatment 
 which they receive from the Government, and the general harmony
 
 IOS THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 of the relations which exist between them and the responsible offi- 
 cers with whom they have to deal. The Rev. Dr. E. E. Bliss, of 
 Constantinople, in a paper which he has recently published* on the 
 " Indirect Results of Missionary Labor in Northern Turkey," says, 
 speaking of the battle which has been going on, for some twenty -five 
 or thirty years past, on questions of religious liberty : " The world 
 knows, too, or should know, that although the victory has not been 
 so completely and finally on the side of liberty as has been desired, 
 or as has, sometimes, in the joy of notable success in special issues, 
 been claimed, yet religious liberty is to-day enjoyed in a remark- 
 able degree compared with what was the case thirty or forty years 
 ago." The presence, the teaching, and the steadfast maintenance 
 of their principles by the missionaries, he adds, " have had a very 
 great influence, not only in directing the attention both of Govern- 
 ment officials and of the mass of the people to the question at issue, 
 but in spreading enlightened and just views, and in securing right ac- 
 tion in regard to it." The Rev. Mr. Fuller, of the American Board, 
 writing from Aintab, March 22, 1877, f says : " The Government 
 is now nervously anxious not only about the safety, but even the 
 opinion of foreigners, and they are very prompt to render us any aid 
 we ask. We have nothing to fear while the present Government 
 stands, except it be from some vicious or fanatical person planning 
 secret mischief, or from some suddenly excited and reckless mob. 
 The Moslems always seem friendly to us, and great numbers call on 
 us, and show marked tokens of respect, yet in these times some sud- 
 den passion may outweigh it all." 
 
 Another letter from a missionary of the same Society, of Decem- 
 ber 29, 1876, speaks of an annual celebration having just been held 
 by the Protestants of Turkey, in commemoration of the issuing of 
 the firman granting them religious toleration. Dr. Bliss published 
 in the Missionary Herald for February, 1877, an article on the 
 "Attitude of the Missionaries in Turkey," which shows how they 
 have gained and hold the respect and confidence of the Moslem offi- 
 cials, simply by adherence to the principle of abstinence from all in- 
 terference in political affairs. A prejudice once existed against them 
 founded on the suspicion that they were political agents, but this has 
 long since disappeared, and men now " recognize the fact that the 
 doctrines preached by the missionaries will, through their stimulat- 
 
 * t Missionary Herald, 1877.
 
 CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. IO9 
 
 ing and elevating power, at length exert an influence in the domain 
 of politics ; but they admit the distinction between the legitimate 
 influence of religious doctrine and political propagandism." The 
 missionaries had not, however, hesitated to denounce acts of oppres- 
 sion coming under their observation, by whomsoever committed ; 
 they had remonstrated with Turkish officials and ecclesiastical rulers 
 in such cases ; had brought wrong acts to the notice of the Govern- 
 ment, and had even, in important cases, appealed to European and 
 American public opinion and the friendly offices of foreign Govern- 
 ments, but had done such things openly and above-board, and avoided 
 incurring prejudice. During the exciting events of 1875 and 1876, 
 while holding aloof from political schemes, the missionaries in Bul- 
 garia endeavored to discharge all the duties of Christian philanthropy ; 
 they advised the people against any attempt at insurrection, and as 
 soon after the massacres took place, as it became safe, they visited the 
 principal places in the ravaged district. They afterward did all in 
 their power to make known to the Turkish Government and the 
 Christian public, the greatness of the ravages committed, and at the 
 time of writing were administering succor to the suffering survivors. 
 These acts were done with the full knowledge of the Turkish au- 
 thorities, but exposed the missionaries to no suspicion of sinister 
 designs. 
 
 The Rev. N". G. Clark, Secretary of the American Board, at the 
 close of June, 1877, published in the papers a statement concerning 
 the condition of the missionaries at Erzerum, Armenia, who were 
 almost in the center of the military operations in Asia, to the effect 
 that the Turkish authorities were everywhere, so far as was known, 
 considerate and obliging; that while the missionaries had been 
 given the largest liberty to go or stay, they had so far decided to 
 stay ; and that they had been able to prosecute their work, in spite 
 of the unsettled condition of affairs, with but little interruption, and 
 with a larger measure of success than in any former year ; and that 
 they had " not expressed a tithe of the anxiety shown by their 
 friends at home." 
 
 The missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church are also con- 
 ducting a large number of schools, some of which are in a flourishing; 
 condition. The funds are supplied by foreign missionary bodies,, 
 by the Congregation of the Propaganda, and the French Govern- 
 ment, which contributes 40,000 francs a year. The Austrian Gov- 
 ernment has been the great protector of the Armenian Catholics..
 
 1 10 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Their colleges and schools are ably conducted by the celebrated 
 Order of the Mekhitarists, who give instruction in Armenian, 
 French, and Turkish, and have furnished some of the best Turkish 
 scholars among the Christians in the Government service. In the 
 great towns are Propaganda colleges, on the French system, in 
 which French is the chief language for instruction. 
 
 An edition of the Bible was printed in Arabic by the American 
 Bible Society in 1846, and is widely circulated in the East, and a 
 Roman Catholic translation, in high Arabic, is in process of publi- 
 cation from the Jesuit Press at Beyrut. 
 
 The tolerance which permits this development of missionary 
 enterprise is of recent origin, for it is only about thirty years since 
 beheading was the punishment prescribed by law for a Mussulman 
 who changed his religion. 
 
 The Turks have been brought, by their contact with the Western 
 people, to appreciate the advantages of European civilization, and 
 observe the superior strength it gives. They have striven to imitate 
 it, and to adopt outwardly some of its more obvious features. They 
 have, further, been forced, by the pressure of the Western powers 
 in behalf of their Christian subjects, to adopt, as we have seen, 
 certain reforms in law and methods of administration, tending to 
 make their system of government seem more liberal. These changes 
 are as yet mostly superficial, and mark the adoption of the forms of 
 which they are imitations, rather than of the principles which inspire 
 European civilization, yet they are encouraging. They show that 
 the Turks may be taught to try to assimilate with the Western 
 people; and it will be hardly possible to maintain such liberal 
 amendments as the Porte has made in its laws and usages, without 
 
 o l 
 
 in time imbibing some of the spirit with which similar legal and 
 political principles have been applied in other countries. If the 
 Turks are still behind in the application of constitutional freedom, 
 we must remember that it is not yet thirty years since the majority 
 of the States of Europe which now talk so earnestly of forcing this 
 boon upon the subjects of the Porte, exchanged the irresponsible 
 government of an absolute king for that of a Parliament and 
 ministry responsible to the people; and if Christians are badly 
 treated in Turkey, that it is a still shorter period since Protestants 
 were subject to intolerant legislation in several Catholic States, and 
 Catholics suffered from intolerant laws in several Protestant States. 
 The schools of Turkey are practically left in the charge of the
 
 XLP J /i owing tJie c&tlrilmfrat tf tAe fr+ey?fii/ycr/Itct4)Cda,Tict 
 
 
 
 tvnprtrtrieJi <tf t.'t/itycfii urc Mit/n-ft/rtf Mtu.-*' <i-itd Hit -nanua ff '/,/if, Vifmieti irrir m. n'fate a''"" 
 jiff p r tef>jKa'nt,"*ecntM U> '/ t i*'< "'' f >d,t;' ,,/> ufOtifMrn^ ?;,, /<. ff,, M m7w 
 WfVitctytf 3/ct,nn.6e m-e dagooo /'/iruftom antityerfae Jffi.Xtttnmcea.rni:
 
 TYPES OF ASIA MINOR AND ARMENIA. 
 
 T. BANDIT OR BRAVO OF AIDIN. 2. TURK OF TREBIZOND. 3. TURKISH NOBLEMAN OF ERZERUM.
 
 CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. u$ 
 
 several religious denominations. Besides the schools of the Mis- 
 sionary Societies, to which we have already referred, schools are 
 conducted by French and Italian Roman Catholic missionaries, the 
 Greek and Armenian churches, and the Jews. The Medresses, or 
 colleges attached to the Mohammedan Mosques, afford instruction in 
 the Turkish language, Arabic and Persian, the Koran, and Com- 
 mentaries upon it, and teach, though in a very defective manner, 
 theology, law, philosophy, rhetoric, morals, history, and geography. 
 Primary schools have long been established in most of the towns. 
 An effort was made in the educational law of 1869 to provide a 
 general system of instruction, but like most of the promising 
 schemes of the Government, it has been of little effect for want of 
 execution. It made education obligatory for boys of between six 
 and eleven, and for girls of between six and ten years of age, and 
 required every village and every ward of a town to have at least 
 one primary school. For secondary schools, it provided that every 
 town of more than one thousand houses should have a preparatory 
 school, with a three years' course of instruction, and that' the chief 
 town of every province should have a lyceum, with a six years' 
 course. It directed that separate schools be established for Moham- 
 medans and for Christians wherever the population was sufficient 
 to warrant it, with instruction to be given in the Koran or the 
 Christian religion, according to the faith of the pupils, as a part of 
 the regular course. It also made provision for normal schools. 
 The school system was placed under the control of the Imperial 
 
 Council of Education, and it was directed that the school authorities 
 
 . ' 
 
 in the provinces and departments be composed in equal numbers 
 of Mohammedans and persons of other religious belief. According 
 to the latest accounts, there were in Constantinople 454 primary 
 schools of all denominations, with 33,000 pupils, and in all Turkey 
 95 superior primary schools, with about 7,600 pupils. A university, 
 with faculties of literature, law, and natural science and mathe- 
 matics, was opened at Constantinople in 1870, and the capital and 
 its vicinity are provided with several special and technical schools. 
 Among these is the School of Administration, established in 1862, a 
 lay institution, which educates Mussulmans for appointments as 
 governors, or magistrates, of small districts. 
 
 The literature of Turkey dates from the beginning of the Os- 
 manli dynasty, and had assumed form before Constantinople was 
 captured. It is founded on Arabic and Persian models, and, al-
 
 1 14 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 though it is respectable in quantity, it holds a very inferior place in 
 a comparative history of the literature of the world. Its most flour- 
 ishing period was in the sixteenth century. Literature and science 
 have received increased attention within the last generation, and 
 Turkey has many men of letters who are well known and well 
 esteemed abroad. Several scientific and literary societies have been 
 established at Constantinople, and publish journals and magazines 
 of merit. The publication of a " Universal Cyclopedia,'' in sixteen 
 volumes, in Arabic, based in part upon " Appleton's New American 
 Cyclopedia," has been begun at Beyrut by Mr. B. Bistanys, a con- 
 vert of the Presbyterian Mission at that place. 
 
 All parts of Turkey enjoy a climate and a capacity for agricultural 
 development not excelled by those of any country. Egypt, Syria, 
 and Asia Minor were the most fruitful countries of ancient times, 
 and surpassed any countries of Europe in wealth. They have grown 
 poor through misgovernment and the neglect to which it leads. 
 The European parts of the Empire are not so well situated, for their 
 climate is less favorable ; but the soil is good, and the land is capable 
 of a culture at least approaching that of the best parts of Europe. 
 Husbandry is in a state of primitive simplicity, the tillage is rude 
 and imperfect, and the taxes, or rather the tax-gatherers, are oppres- 
 sive,' so that the farmers are hardly able to earn more than a bare 
 subsistence. The forests produce timber of fir, pine, beech, oak, 
 lime, and ash ; the fields, millet, rice, cotton, rye, barley, and Indian 
 corn ; the orchards, the best fruits of the temperate zone. Asiatic 
 Turkey produces all the grains of a southern climate, cedars, cy- 
 presses, and oaks on the mountains ; sycamores and mulberries on 
 the lower hills, and olives, figs, citrons, oranges, and pomegranates 
 in the plains. The figs, olives, and vine products of Asiatic Turkey 
 and the prunes and rose extracts of European Turkey, form impor- 
 tant articles in the commerce of the world. Mines of various metals 
 are numerous in both Turkeys, and were worked in ancient times 
 with profit. At present they yield but little, and that is got in large 
 part by working over the debris which the ancients have left. The 
 country was once better watered than it is at present, and supported 
 large herds of cattle. It is now, in consequence of the removal of 
 the trees, as is generally supposed, subject to scorching droughts, 
 but the pasturage is good in the valleys. Manufactures are not nu- 
 merous or extensive, but the Turks make certain preparations and 
 fine articles of value, in which they defy competition and command
 
 CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. n$ 
 
 the markets of the world. There are no official statistics of the for- 
 eign commerce of the Empire, but it is quite important, and is said to 
 be increasing. The exports are estimated at about ten million pounds 
 sterling. They consist chiefly of grain products, wool, goats' hair, 
 drugs, dye-stuffs, fruit products, perfumery, and fancy articles. 
 
 A railway system was begun in 1865, of which on the first of 
 January, 1876, 1,137 miles were open 965 miles in European, 172 
 miles in Asiatic Turkey. The telegraph lines have a total length of 
 17,618 miles. The post-office is in its infancy, and is as yet mostly 
 in the hands of foreigners. There are only four hundred and thirty 
 post-offices in the whole Empire. 
 
 Russia is a primitive country, which is passing through the first 
 stages of its development. Turkey is a country once highly civil- 
 ized, rich, and progressive, which has fallen into decay. In this 
 respect the promise of the future is with Russia. 
 
 The lands of Turkey are divided into Yakuf, or Church prop- 
 erty, private lands and domain lands. The Vdkuf property con- 
 sists of that which actually belongs to the ecclesiastical establish- 
 ments, and of that which lapses to the ecclesiastical boards in default 
 of direct heirs to the owner. The law affords easy means of prevent- 
 ing the lapse of estates of the latter class, by permitting sales to per- 
 sons who have direct heirs, and by affording facilities for the con- 
 version of Yakuf into fee-simple titles. Private property, called 
 Mulkh, is held by a tenure equivalent to our freehold tenure, by a 
 title acquired directly from the Government, and registered in the 
 owner's name. A law recently enacted permits the owner of a 
 mulkh selling it to reserve a perpetual charge upon it, which is called 
 a Gedik, and is, in effect, a sort of mortgage. The domain lands are 
 Mirij or lands appropriated to the State Treasury, unoccupied or 
 waste lands, escheated or forfeited lands, the domains and lands as- 
 signed to the Sultan, his family, and various offices and officers, and 
 the military fiefs. The tenure of the last has been abolished, and 
 nearly all the lands formerly held by it have passed to the Govern- 
 ment. Under recent enactments, the transfer of landed property is 
 simple and expeditious ; the evidence of it can be made by the 
 registry as secure as in any other country, and the purchaser can in 
 most cases, where he finds the title complicated, receive a fresh one 
 from the Government. Previous to 1867, foreigners purchasing 
 land in Turkey had to hold it in the name of some Ottoman subject, 
 but a law passed in that year gave them the right to hold in their
 
 1 16 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 own names. The proprietors of estates are usually non-resident, 
 and cultivate their lands through tenants, to whom they are let 
 usually on the metayer system, or on shares. The tenant often be- 
 comes indebted to his landlord for borrowed money. As he is never 
 able to pay the debt, and the landlord can not afford to discharge 
 him and lose the capital represented by the debt, he becomes prac- 
 tically a fixture on the estate, and goes with it to a new purchaser, 
 who is expected to take over the debts. The tenant is thus in the 
 position of being able to compel the landlord to support him, 
 whether he be a profitable occupant of the land or not. As the 
 landlord has in addition to supply grazing for ten animals for each 
 tenant, the advantages would seem to be on the side of the latter ; 
 yet very few of the rayahs, or tenants, are well-off. 
 
 The taxes in Turkey are of several kinds. First, is the tithe, or 
 tax of one-tenth on all the agricultural produce of the country. 
 The collection of the tithes is farmed out, or sold annually to the 
 highest bidder. The first purchaser of the privilege will often sell 
 his right to others at a profit, and they may sell again at a profit. 
 The Government receives comparatively little revenue from this 
 source, while the farmers of the tithes are enriched. The amount 
 of the tithes is not oppressive, but the people deem it a grievance 
 that worthless speculators should thrive so well at their expense 
 with so little profit to the country. They are, moreover, subjected 
 to inconveniences and delays and hinderances growing out of the 
 method in which the tithes are collected, by means of which they 
 are likely to suffer considerable losses. The Verghi, which is 
 known by different names in different districts, is fixed at a certain 
 amount for every province, and is imposed in various forms, some- 
 times as a property-tax, sometimes as an income-tax, sometimes as a 
 house or a capitation-tax. The Bedel is a tax paid by non-Mussul- 
 man subjects of the Porte in consideration of their exemption from 
 military service. The principle on which it is levied is not uniform, 
 but generally has some reference to the population of the district. 
 The Sayme and another tax paid in butter and cheese are assessed 
 upon goats, sheep, cattle, and swine. 
 
 The customs duties are levied in accordance with a tariff on cer- 
 tain articles of merchandise, and include, in all cases, an additional 
 charge of eight per cent, on imports and one of one per cent, on 
 exports. A duty of eight per cent, was formerly levied on articles
 
 CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. j jy 
 
 of native produce .passing from one port of the country to another, 
 but it has been abolished. 
 
 The Turkish army is recruited by conscription, for which until 
 recently only Mohammedans were liable, Christians having been 
 admitted to the army only since 1876. The whole, even of the Mo- 
 hammedan population, is, however, not available for ordinary serv- 
 ice. About a million, constituting the population of Constantino- 
 ple and other cities, escape on one ground of privilege or another ; 
 about three millions, constituting the no mad tribes, are not amenable 
 to conscription ; the Mussulmans in Crete can not be spared from the 
 island for fear of risings of the Greeks. It is estimated that by 
 reason of the various exemptions, about one-third of the Mohamme- 
 dans escape the conscription, leaving only about twelve millions as the 
 total population from whom the draft must be made. The military 
 forces are divided into three classes of troops, called the active army 
 or Nizam, the reserve or Redif, and the sedentary army or Musta- 
 phiz. Soldiers in the active army, after four years of service, may 
 return to their homes and are free to marry, but are still liable to be 
 called to their regiments for two years' longer service. After six 
 years they pass to the reserve, where they serve three years in the 
 first ban, and three years in the second ban. The soldiers of the re- 
 serve are called out to drill for one month in every year. After 
 twelve years of service in the active army and the reserve, the sol- 
 dier passes to the sedentary army, where he is enrolled for eight 
 years longer, but is called out only in case of war. According to the 
 estimates of 1876, the active army, or Nizam, consisted of 210,000 men, 
 of whom 150,000 were in actual service and 60,000 were furloughed ; 
 the reserve, or E-edif, of 192,000 men, of whom half were in the 
 first and half in the second ban ; and the sedentary army, of about 
 300,000 men, giving in all a force of 702,000 men. The actual 
 available force of the Empire was, however, probably not more than 
 about 460,000 men. For the purposes of the reserve force, the 
 military population are divided into one hundred and twenty bat- 
 talion districts, in each of which a battalion of each ban is organized, 
 giving in all two hundred and forty battalions. Soldiers drafted in- 
 to the active army may be relieved by payment of a commutation. 
 The active army is organized, including the corps of Yemen, in 
 Arabia, into seven corps, into which the additional forces from the 
 reserve are embodied when they are drawn upon.
 
 118 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 In addition to its regular forces, the Government has organized 
 irregular troops, called Bashi-Bazouks, contingents from the Circas- 
 sians settled in Turkey, and Tartars from the Crimea, Spahi-squad- 
 roiis, Kurds, and Bedouins, all of which are under the loosest 
 discipline. The Bashi-Bazouks are recruited principally in the 
 Asiatic and African provinces. In times of war they form a con- 
 siderable part of the effective force, being attracted to the army by 
 the prospect of booty. In the last war with Russia they numbered 
 8,000 foot and 16,000 horse. Having 110 settled home, they are 
 genuine vagabonds. The conspicuous part which they have played 
 in the present war, justifies the insertion of the following descrip- 
 tion of them by one of the correspondents from the seat of war : 
 " The Bashi-Bazouk is commonly ill-mounted ; very few of them, 
 except recruits from Syria, riding horses that show any trace of blood. 
 Their horses are always kept bridled, even when eating their food. 
 The saddles are of one pattern, but the bridles are as various as their 
 owners' tastes. Some riders prefer halters. The men are from all 
 parts of the Turkish Empire Kurds, Albanians, and Arnauts pre- 
 dominating among them. Their clothing may be rich or may be rags. 
 It may be also of shades of dinginess, or every variety of vivid 
 colors. An enormous shawl or girdle around the waist is universal. 
 They have the merited reputation of being the greatest pillagers in 
 the world, and this girdle is the hiding-place and receptacle of their 
 booty. Their bodies have sometimes been found with gold to the 
 value of a thousand or eighteen hundred dollars hidden in its folds. 
 They are not hard to discipline as to military maneuvers, but they 
 baffle every attempt to put any restraint upon them after they break 
 ranks. During the Crimean war no punishment would keep them 
 from insulting, striking, and wantonly bayoneting English soldiers 
 whom they met in public places. Their bitterest hatred is for Rus- 
 sians ; their sweetest hope the plunder of Moscow. Their officers 
 can animate them to fury with that word, which is received by 
 shouts (with their hands upon the pistols in their belts), of the Arab 
 word for " Let us hope it Inshallah ! " Their arms are rude and 
 various. They depend upon the Government they serve for a dis- 
 tribution of lances and carbines, but every man carries his own yat- 
 taghan, and has two, three, or four enormous pistols." 
 
 The Spahis, though likewise free and irregular, form a more re- 
 spectable order, and consider them selves a kind of aristocracy among 
 the troops of this class. They are mostly recruited from the older
 
 CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. ng 
 
 Mohammedan families of Bosnia, Turkish Croatia, and Bulgaria. 
 They have a picturesque appearance, but will not submit to dis- 
 cipline, nor are they fit to operate in a regular campaign against 
 a disciplined army. They are employed chiefly in guerrilla service 
 in the mountain districts, or anywhere that personal daring is of 
 more value than subjection to rule and the command of an officer. 
 
 The Bedouins and Kurds are free at home, acknowledging only a 
 nominal allegiance to the Empire, and a close allegiance only to their 
 own chiefs. They are likewise free in the army ; contented to stay 
 so long as they are allowed to fight and plunder without restraint, 
 but ready to fold their tents and march away whenever any attempt 
 is made to exercise discipline over them. 
 
 The Turkish navy consisted, at the end of 1875, of twenty iron- 
 clad ships and seventy other steamers, with four steam transports. 
 Three of the iron-clads were considered vessels of extraordinary size 
 and strength. The navy is manned by thirty thousand soldiers and 
 four thousand marines, recruited by conscription or voluntary enlist- 
 ment, who serve for eight years. 
 
 The Sultan has the right to call upon Egypt and Tunis for con- 
 tingents of troops. The Egyptian army consists of about twenty 
 thousand men of various branches of the service, and the navy of 
 two frigates, two corvettes, three large yachts, and four gun-boats. 
 The army of Tunis consists of 4,600 regular and 11,500 irregular 
 troops, and its navy of three small armed vessels, one transport, and 
 two monitors in course of construction. 
 
 The financial condition of Turkey is really desperate. For nearly 
 thirty years the expenditures of the Government have exceeded the 
 revenues by between thirty-five and forty millions of dollars. Loan 
 after loan has been borrowed, defaults have been made in payment 
 of interest, and the credit of the Government is at the lowest stage. 
 The foreign debt is represented by fourteen loans, contracted be- 
 tween 1854 and 1874, amounting in the aggregate to 184,981,783 
 pounds sterling, and the internal and floating debt is variously esti- 
 mated at from nine million to thirty million pounds sterling, or five 
 times as many dollars. The Turkish Government in effect an- 
 nounced its bankruptcy in October, 1875, when it gave notice that 
 the payments of interest upon the debt would be reduced for five 
 years to one-half the stipulated amount. It confessed in the decree 
 which conveyed this notice that it had been in the habit of making 
 new loans to pay the coupons on the old ones, but could do this no
 
 120 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 longer. It had, therefore, to make a temporary reduction of inter- 
 est, on the plan of paying "one-half wholly in cash, and providing for 
 the other half by the issue of fresh securities bearing five per cent, 
 interest, payable simultaneously with the cash half of the original 
 coupon falling due. If at the expiration of five years the bonds 
 representing the second half of the coupons should not have been 
 redeemed, the payment of them would be further delayed until the 
 foreign loan following next in order for redemption should be ex- 
 tinguished. Default was made in the payment of the cash interest 
 promised under this arrangement, and a further announcement was 
 made in July, 1876, that no payments would be made until the in- 
 ternal affairs of the Empire had been settled. The Government 
 was out of money, and, of course, could not borrow. It provided 
 for its wants by an issue of paper money. The first issue was fixed 
 at three million Turkish pounds, but in four months more than 
 twice that amount had been put into circulation. 
 
 The character and bearing of the views of the Turkish leaders of 
 opinion have undergone considerable modifications' within the pres- 
 ent century. The Turks of the old school, bigoted, fixedly attached 
 to the old ways, and who would tolerate no change whatever, dis- 
 appeared as a force in the State when the Janizaries Were abolished 
 in 1826. A few of this stamp remain, but not enough to form a 
 party. The change in the conditions of the Empire and in its rela- 
 tions to other States have brought a new class of men to the front, 
 who seek to meet the emergencies of the times with new views and 
 new ways of management. They are still, however, steadily at- 
 tached to the past, and still seek to adhere to the old traditions and 
 usages, only consenting to change or adapt them so much as may be 
 necessary for the preservation of the State in its integrity and inde- 
 pendence. The prominent Turks of the present day are classified 
 into two parties, called respectively the Old Turks and the Young 
 Turks. The Old Turkish party seeks to restore as much as is possi- 
 ble of the old patriarchal condition of -the East, and to maintain it 
 with all the means at command. Among its objects it seeks te pre- 
 serve the ancient usages and regulations with reference to women, 
 and has so far succeeded in preventing any alterations in them. It 
 insists especially on avoiding all entanglements with foreigners, even 
 to the extent of setting limitations upon the trade with foreign coun- 
 tries. With this object and on this point it has shown considerable 
 worldly wisdom it advocates and supports those measures, which will
 
 BASHI-BAZOUKS.
 
 KURDS.
 
 CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. ^3 
 
 content the Christian populations ; for it has been learned by expe- 
 rience that every oppression of the Christians leads directly to a 
 complication with some one or other of the European powers. One 
 of the most prominent members of the Old Turkish party was the 
 late Grand Vizier, AH Pasha, who was dispatched to Crete at the 
 time of the insurrection there in 1867, and addressed a memorandum 
 to the Porte recommending reforms, which is pointed to as contain- 
 ing one of the best expositions of the principles of his party. In 
 this paper he showed that the principles of the Treaty of Paris, 
 which were supposed to have prevented all danger of foreign inter- 
 ference in the affairs of the Empire, had ceased to be effective and 
 could no longer protect it. A new doctrine of government had been 
 set up and acted upon, which recognized the rights of peoples to be 
 arranged under governments according to their race and national 
 affinities, which would be used to the disadvantage of Turkey and 
 for the advancement of the designs of Russia. 
 
 The Russian Government had not given up its designs upon the 
 East ; it would not now carry them out by war, for it had found a 
 better way ; it would excite discontent among the Christian popula- 
 tion of the principalities, and while assuring the other powers that 
 it was seeking to promote the welfare of its fellow-Christians, would 
 seek to dismember Turkey by the operation of internal dissension. 
 If such a condition as the one which then prevailed in Crete were 
 produced, and continued, the powers would sympathize with the 
 professions of Russia, while Turkey would be entirely isolated, and 
 would be compelled " to hold those persons who are most necessary 
 and most useful for the reproduction and agriculture of the nation 
 under arms, and to appropriate its entire income to this object, so 
 that not a penny would be left us for the culture of the land, nor a 
 minute for working out good laws for the weal of the State and the 
 nation ; and thus our enemy would hasten the attainment of his de- 
 structive purpose; for it is evident that the Mohammedan popu- 
 lation, which alone furnishes troops, could not long endure this, 
 condition ; that the treasury could quite as little bear to have all its 
 income turned to unproductive ends, and that the host of ten mil- 
 lions of subjects, who heartily desired to rise and be free, would not 
 remain long in obedience and subjection." 
 
 A remedy for these difficulties and dangers could be found if the 
 Government would grant to its non-Mohammedan subjects an en- 
 largement of their opportunities for culture, of their spherej of 
 7
 
 124 THE WAR IN THE 
 
 action, and of their privileges, so that they could find at home what 
 they now had to seek abroad, and that they should " not see any- 
 thing to envy in the situation of the subjects of foreign States, and 
 should learn to regard themselves no longer as subjugated by an 
 Ismaelitish State, but as servants and subjects of a superior mon- 
 archy, which protected all alike." Three specific measures were 
 proposed as likely to produce this result directly ; that all the 
 offices and public positions in the State be thrown open to all alike, 
 so that Christians should find all the bars to promotion removed 
 from before them ; that schools be established and thoroughly organ- 
 ized, in which the children of Mohammedans and Christians should 
 be instructed together, and Greeks should no longer have to send 
 their children to Greece, and Bulgarians to Russia, to learn princi- 
 ples of hostility to the Ottoman Empire; and that mixed civil 
 courts be established, with a code for the trial of all mixed suits. 
 " In fine," said this remarkable memorandum, " the fusion of all 
 our subjects, except as to purely religious affairs, is the only means 
 by which we can overcome the jealousy between our different 
 populations and avoid the dangers that threaten us." 
 
 The representatives of the Old Turkish party are, with few ex- 
 ceptions, men of high character and standing. The " Young Turk- 
 ish " party is composed of young men who have been educated 
 abroad or under European teachers, and have cast off the religious 
 prejudices and authority of their fathers, and who have acquired 
 enough of the superficialities of French culture to unsettle them in 
 their old principles without their having imbibed any of the funda- 
 mental principles of European knowledge and life. The serious 
 idea on which the party rests is that the prosperity of the Empire 
 and the operation of the measures which are necessary to restore it 
 to a sound condition are hindered by the too rigorous traditional 
 constructions which are placed upon the religious law, and it has 
 sought to obtain from the doctors authoritative determinations and 
 modifications of the law better adapted to the present exigencies. 
 Some of the Young Turks have regarded the reigning dynasty as an 
 insurmountable barrier to the regeneration of the Empire. The 
 party arose about twelve or fifteen years ago, in an opposition to the 
 administration of Ali Pasha, at a period when the Government was 
 contracting large loans and spending extravagantly, and after the 
 hopes which had been awakened upon the accession of Abdul Med- 
 jid had been dispelled. The increasing number of appointments
 
 CONDITION OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 125 
 
 of Christians to offices in the service of the State especially excited 
 its animadversion, and gave occasion to the publication, in the 
 journals which were started in Young Turkish interests, of numer- 
 ous articles breathing the most intense hostility to the Christians 
 and sounding the praises of the Ottoman Empire, its power and its 
 glories. Equally with the " Old Turks," the " Young Turks" shun 
 entanglements with Europe, and seek to prevent the introduction of 
 European notions ; but they go about their work in a different man- 
 ner and with a different spirit. 
 
 The party has never been very numerous, and its life has been 
 rather social than political, its political objects only occasionally rising 
 to the surface. Its representative men are described as being 
 polished and prepossessing in their manners and appearance, but 
 many of them crafty, untrustworthy, and without the sense of per- 
 sonal honor or principle. The leaders have once or twice come 
 under the displeasure of the Government for excess in their mani- 
 festations, and have been subjected to voluntary or involuntary 
 exile. All of them who were under punishment were pardoned by 
 Abdul Hamid, and allowed to return to the capital, where, all the 
 political questions about which they had contended having been 
 settled, it was thought they would not be likely to do harm, but 
 might be of service in exciting the fanaticism of the people against 
 the foreign enemy. Both parties participated in the deposition of 
 the Sultan Abdul Aziz. Of the leaders in that movement, Midhat 
 Pasha and Zia Bey were ranked as Young Turks. Hussein Avni 
 Pasha and Mehemet Kushdi Pasha as Old Turks. The principal 
 advisers of the Sultan Murad were Young Turks, and to them is 
 due the promulgation of the Constitution of Midhat Pasha. The 
 Government which succeeded that of Midhat Pasha was under Old 
 Turkish influences. The most prominent upholders of the consti- 
 tutional principle in Midhat Pasha's cabinet were sent away after its 
 accession, one to be Governor of Syria, one to retirement, one to 
 prison, and Midhat himself to exile. 
 
 The Turks in Europe are of a mixed race, and present a variety of 
 physical traits according to the nationality whose blood they share, 
 hardly any of which can be considered distinctive. Generally they are 
 characterized by a strange expression of the eyes, lankness of the 
 limbs, and in the cities by colorlessness of the skin. The Asiatic 
 Turks have well-shapen heads, black or brown hair, fine forms, and 
 a calm, placid expression of countenance. Both Asiatics and Euro-
 
 126 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 peans are eminently pious, and observe strictly all the requisitions of 
 the Mohammedan ritual with regard to worship, prayer, fasts, alms, 
 and other acts of ceremonial and worship. They set a high value upon 
 the privilege of pilgrimage, and hold the Koran in such respect as 
 to ascribe the working of wonders to the mere reading of it. Their 
 other characteristics will be revealed in the course of our history. 
 
 The style of dress in Turkey has been greatly modified by the 
 adoption of European fashions. The old Turkish turban was a 
 woolen cloth wound around the fez, and was worn green by Moham- 
 medans, black or blue by Christians and Jews. The cloth is now 
 dispensed with, and the fez is generally worn alone. The trousers 
 were distinguished by their excessive fullness. The upper part of 
 the body was dressed in a vest or jacket called the Anteri, and the 
 Dolman, or Chekman, with pendant, slitten sleeves, which was gen- 
 erally red and embroidered with braidings of golden yellow silk. 
 Over all was worn the Benish, or cloth coat. In the harem the 
 Turk wore a dressing-gown with a long robe (the Rusk) over it, 
 with socks and morocco shoes, or half boots. In modern times, 
 the Turks in the higher ranks around Constantinople will be 
 found dressed in a correct European costume, except that they ad- 
 here to the picturesque and pleasant fez, instead of adopting the 
 European tall hat. The women wear a red or yellow shirt, reach- 
 ing to the knees, under which are worn full and gathered trou- 
 sers, a long overdress which is gathered at the waist by a shawl, 
 woolen hose and slippers. On their heads they wear a fez or little 
 cap, and on the street a white cloth, the Yashmak, which covering 
 the head leaves the eyes free ; further, the whole face is concealed 
 by an ugly mantle called the Fereye. 
 
 Turkish houses present a blank wall to the street, with no window 
 or other opening except the entrance- way. This leads to a court- 
 yard, which is really the front of the house. The rooms are built 
 around it, in such a way as to leave the women's quarters in a seclud- 
 ed position and separated from the rest of the house. The court-yard 
 is beautified, and the house furnished with comforts and luxuries 
 according to the means of the owner ; there may be none, or they 
 may be as they generally are with wealthy Turks in excess. The 
 street appearance of the house gives no clue to what is inside of it. 
 The roughest and most forbidding mud wall in appearance may be 
 the shell of a palace, exhibiting the highest degree of splendor in- 
 side, or the interior may be nearly as rude and meagre as the outside.
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 THE TRIBUTARY STATES AND THE SUBJECT PEOPLES OF TURKEY. 
 
 Rumania Union of the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia into one State Edu- 
 cation, Literature, Army, and Finances Characteristics of the People, their Dress 
 and Manner of Living Servia Its History and Present Condition The Omladina 
 The Servian Church Dress, Customs, and Domestic Usages Bosnia and Herzego- 
 vina The Bulgarians They Regain the Autonomy of their National Church Prog- 
 ress of Education Circassian Colonies in Bulgaria Montenegro Sketch of its 
 History The Albanians The Miridites The Greeks of Turkey The Districts in 
 which they Predominate Their Control of Turkish Commerce Greeks in Asia 
 Minor Crete The Armenians Maronites Druses Egypt Its Advance toward 
 Independence The Suez Canal and other Works of Improvement Tripoli and 
 Tunis. 
 
 THE European tributary States of Turkey at the beginning of 
 18TT were Rumania and Servia. The principality of Rumania is 
 composed of the former provinces or principalities of Moldavia and 
 Wallachia. It has an area of 45,642 square miles, and a population 
 of 3,864,848. The principality lies entirely north of the Danube, 
 and presents an irregular figure, whose shape may be compared to 
 that of a piece of a quarter of an apple with the core taken out. 
 The sharp curve of the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvanian 
 Highlands entering from the north and west to the center of the 
 figure the State would present were its shape symmetrical, may 
 represent the line formed by cutting out the core. Wallachia, the 
 southern province of the principality, lies between the Danube and 
 the Transylvanian Highlands, touching Servia on the west, and pre- 
 sents its greatest length from east to west. Moldavia, lying between 
 the Carpathians and the river Pruth, presents its greatest length from 
 north to south, touching on the north the country which was once 
 Poland. A narrow strip of country, extending north and east from 
 the Danube and Pruth, gives the principality a small frontage on the 
 Black Sea. The mountains on the north and west separate Rumania 
 from Austria-Hungary, and the Pruth separates it from Russia, but 
 neither mountains nor river separate Rumanians from Rumanians ; 
 for a large proportion of the population in Austrian Transylvania 
 and Bukowina, and Russian Bessarabia are of this stock. 
 
 (x*7)
 
 128 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The inhabitants of the predominant race are commonly called 
 Wallachs, or more recently Rumanians. They are a mixed people, 
 combining the blood of the ancient Dacians, a branch of the Thra- 
 cian stock, with that of the Roman colonists, who were settled in 
 the province of Dacia after its conquest by Trajan, mingled with 
 that of the various races and tribes which have overrun the country 
 from the days of the Roman dominion down to the present time. 
 By the treaties of Adrianople and Paris, the two principalities of 
 Moldavia and Wallachia, commonly called the Danubian principali- 
 ties, acquired a condition of semi-independence, by which they 
 gained control of their own internal administrations, while they paid 
 a tribute to Turkey. In 1859, they effected a substantial union by 
 choosing the same person as Hospodar, or Prince. 
 
 The union has been gradually made closer, and has been recog- 
 nized by the Great Powers and by Turkey. The government of 
 the principality is a constitutional monarchy, with representative 
 chambers and a responsible ministry. The present prince is Charles 
 of Hohenzollerii-Sigmaringen, who has assumed the title of Charles 
 I. The people speak a language more like the Latin than any 
 other modern tongue, and have some physical and mental character- 
 istics which they may have derived from the ancient Romans, along 
 with the language and name of that people. They are generally 
 attached to the Greek Church, and are farmers, practicing the 
 rudest methods in agriculture. Education is in a low state. A 
 compulsory school law exists, but the schools are few and thinly 
 attended. In 18T5 there were four thousand teachers and fifty-five 
 thousand pupils in all the schools, and the higher education was 
 represented by twenty-two high-schools of different grades, a larger 
 number of theological, technical, and private schools, and the two 
 Universities of Bucharest and Jassy. The Wallachs have a small 
 literature, the oldest specimen of which is a historical fragment of 
 the date of 1495. The following century produced some theological 
 literature, but the Bible was not translated into their language till 
 1643. Recently a number of learned and poetical works have been 
 produced, some of the latter of which have been considerably ad- 
 mired. Political discussions have been active during the present 
 century, leading to the establishment of several newspapers, and 
 the production of minor works of a political character. The prin- 
 cipality has a number of contemporary poets and writers of ro- 
 mances, who, however, have not commanded any great fame abroad.
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS. 129 
 
 The Rumanian army consists of 22,463 infantry and 12,184 cavalry. 
 The revenues of the principality in 1876 were 97,894,4-27 francs, its 
 expenditures were 97,891,427 francs, and its debt on Jan. 1, 187T, 
 was 515,841,278 francs, or about one hundred million dollars. 
 
 The typical Rumanian is a man of slender stature and symmetri- 
 cal shape, and has a brown oval face, not unhandsome, and often 
 with noble features. His eyes are dark and expressive. His 
 mouth is well cut, filled with showy white teeth, and shaded with 
 a mustache. The full beard is seldom worn, being in this, as in the 
 other principalities, peculiar to the priests. The man takes much 
 pride in his long hair, hanging down over his shoulders. The 
 hands and feet are small and neatly formed. The women are quite 
 handsome. 
 
 K. E. Fraiizos says of them in his " Half Asia" *: " The Ruma- 
 nian girl reaches her full bodily development in her thirteenth or 
 fourteenth, at most in her fifteenth year ; and she presents often 
 a handsome, elegant figure. The Roman type, although partly 
 obliterated by marriages with the Slavs, is manifested in the well- 
 developed nose, in the fine and sharply-defined mouth, in the black, 
 shining hair, in the peculiar, but not unpleasant, bronze tint of the 
 countenance. If you observe her in her gala-dress, with her 
 chemisette of linen, adorned with artistic embroidery, with the 
 national frock cut out of a single piece, which, fastened by a girdle 
 at her waist, swells over her hips in thick folds, and falls to her 
 ankles, with the light, tunic-like, generally blue mantle; if you 
 listen to her conversation, which will remind you in almost every 
 word of the speech of ancient Rome it will not require the exer- 
 cise of much imagination to think that you are in the presence of a 
 Roman peasant-girl of the time of Cicero." 
 
 The men wear over linen breeches, a white, wide-sleeved shirt, 
 open at the breast, and falling nearly to the knees. It is confined 
 at the waist by a broad leathern band, in which are worn the knife, 
 pipe, flint and steel, tobacco-pouch and wallet. Over the shoulders 
 is worn a jacket of sheepskin, with the wool outside ; a longer cloak, , 
 also of sheepskin, is worn in many places in the winter. Sandals, 
 similar to those of the Romans, are worn on the feet in pleasant 
 weather, but in wet weather their place is supplied by boots reach- 
 ing up to the knee. A broad-brimmed straw hat is worn on the^ 
 head in summer, a sheepskin cap in winter. On festive occasions,, 
 
 * "Halb Asien," Leipsic, 1876.
 
 130 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the well-to-do Wallach completes his costume by a doublet fanci- 
 fully embroidered, which lends to his dress a decidedly Romanesque 
 appearance. 
 
 The houses of the Wallachian peasants are wooden buildings, 
 thatched with straw, often only of a single story, but where there 
 are two stories, with the upper story surrounded with a veranda. 
 In poorly-wooded districts the dwellings are often dug out of the 
 ground, and covered with an earthen roof. In the regions exposed 
 to the overflow of the Danube, the houses often consist of rude 
 timber huts, placed upon four stakes, so as to be lifted above the 
 reach of the floods. 
 
 The aristocracy of Rumania are called Boyars. They are the 
 modern representatives of the ancient aristocracy of the land, and 
 date, according to one authority,* from the time when every one 
 who bore a weapon had a right to rank himself in that class. The 
 name originated among the descendants of the Roman colonists in 
 the eighth and ninth centuries, when the warrior who went into 
 battle with a scythe-chariot, drawn by oxen, was designated as a 
 bovis herus, or Boyar, the same as those who went with horses 
 were called cavalli heri, or cavaliers. Others derive the title from 
 Bulgar, Bulgarian.f Among the original privileges of a Boyar was 
 exemption from taxes. The title and its privileges were personal, 
 and did not descend. At a later period the title was given to the 
 holders of certain offices, and once given was continued for life, 
 even though the term of official service were but one year. Under 
 Turkish rule it became a matter of sale. Under the present Gov- 
 ernment it is given, according to a regular system, as a symbol of 
 rank and office. The Boyars are now of two ranks, the great and 
 small Boyars. The total number of Boyar families of both ranks 
 in the two provinces forming the principality was 6,000 in 1865. 
 The Boyars live like other European aristocracy, so far as their 
 means permit them, and copy French fashions and French manners 
 to such an extent that they have made Jassy and Bucharest "the 
 city of pleasure," to be among the gayest capitals of Europe. 
 
 The principality of Servia is the relic of what was a considerable 
 State in the middle ages, but which became subject to the Turks 
 after the battle of Kosovo, in 1389. The Servians proved to be 
 discontented subjects, and gave the Turks much trouble. They 
 
 * Hellwald and Beck "Die Heutige Turkei," I., 132. 
 t Frauzos, AUgemelne Zeitung, Oct. 24, 25, and 26, 1877.
 
 CHARLES I. PRINCE OF RUMANIA.
 
 L 
 
 MILAN -PRINCE OK SERV1A.
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS, ^3 
 
 gained a condition of semi-independence in 1811, and have retained 
 it, except for a short interval during the wars of Napoleon, to the 
 present time. The maintenance of all the privileges which had been 
 gained by both Servia and Rumania was guaranteed by the great 
 powers in the Treaty of Paris in 1856, but Turkey retained the right 
 to keep garrisons in certain of the Servian forts. The principality 
 has been ruled by the families of the Karageorgevitch and Obreno- 
 vitch, between whom a bitter rivalry exists. The present ruler is 
 Prince Milan Obrenovitch IV., who was enthroned in 1868. The Gov- 
 ernment is a constitutional monarchy, with a representative chamber, 
 called the Skupstchina, and a responsible ministry. 
 
 Servia has an area of about 16,600 square miles, and a population of 
 1,320,000. It has made great advances in civilization within the last 
 ten years, particularly in the building of roads and in education. 
 Until 1876 it had no debt, but a balance in the treasury. In that 
 year it borrowed a small loan to enable it to carry on the war against 
 Turkey. Its standing army consists of four thousand men, and its en- 
 tire military strength is rated at about seventy thousand men. Educa- 
 tion is provided for in a public school system, under the control of the 
 Minister of Education, which embraces primary schools, academical 
 and collegiate schools, a normal school, a high-school at Belgrade, and 
 special and professional schools. The Servians have a literature in 
 which they take pride. Their old literature, which is in the old 
 Slavic or Church language, dates back to the eleventh century, and 
 is rich in songs and ballads. Their modern literature is also quite 
 copious and creditable, and dates from the eighteenth century. The 
 secret society called the Omladina was originally formed for the 
 purpose of cultivating the national literature, but it has been con- 
 verted into a political organization, and is the most steady and influ- 
 ential promoter of the agitations for securing the complete independ- 
 ence of the country. 
 
 The Greek Church is established, but religious freedom prevails 
 under the restriction that no one is permitted to leave the Holy 
 Orthodox Church to join another. The religious and spiritual life 
 is wholly under the influence of the cloisters, from which the Metro- 
 politan and the Bishops are appointed. The Archbishop of Bel- 
 grade is head of the Church, is independent of the Patriarch of Con- 
 stantinople, and has under him the three bishops of Shabatz, Ushitza, 
 and Negotin, who with 'him constitute the National Synod. The 
 clergy consist of seven hundred worldly priests, and one hundred and
 
 134 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 twenty priests in the cloisters. The number of cloisters was forty-one 
 in 1875 ; but by an order passed in that year they are to be reduced 
 to five. 
 
 The Servians have sharply-defined faces and robust bodies, are 
 rather large than small in stature, broad-shouldered, but seldom gross. 
 They have well-proportioned heads, with rather high crowns, well- 
 shaped foreheads, somewhat prominent cheek-bones, medium-sized 
 noses, which are generally straight, but sometimes repressed, and 
 are very often finely developed. Their hair is generally blonde or 
 brown, and luxuriant in growth. The men commonly wear their 
 hair cut short, long hair and the full-beard being left to the priest- 
 hood. The people in the cities sometimes wear side- whiskers, but 
 the peasant wears only a mustache. The ladies in the towns set a 
 high value on black hair, and are not loath to use dyes to get it. 
 
 The women are of medium size, and have regular features without 
 being handsome, although very fine, faultless faces are often met 
 with in the cities. The women are, as a rule, better-looking than 
 their sisters in Montenegro, but the men lack the lightness and elas- 
 ticity of movement which characterize the warlike mountaineers. 
 The dress of the Servians varies greatly in different districts, and 
 often in different neighborhoods. In the country, garments of fold- 
 ed white linen, a colored belt and brown or light- colored woolen 
 outside coats, are worn extensively by both sexes. The Servian 
 peasant wears, in summer, large breeches reaching in full folds to 
 the ankles, over which is a woolen shirt open at the breast, and held 
 in at the waist by a red cloth belt. Over the belt he wears a brown 
 leathern girdle, in which he carries a pistol or two, a brass gun-stick, 
 a dagger and a handkerchief, and a cartridge-box. On his right 
 side hang a short knife in a leather sheath, a flint and steel, and an 
 oil-box. If the man is going away to any distance, he puts on a 
 short, striped vest, and over it a thick, braided woolen jacket, and 
 completes his armor by adding a long Albanian flint-lock, or a more 
 modern improved gun, if he has one. On his head he wears a low, 
 red fez, with or without a tassel, and on his feet dark, knit hose and 
 sandals of untanned leather. 
 
 In Western Servia, the peasants commonly wear wide, slit breeches 
 of brown cloth, which are narrowed like gaiters just below the knees. 
 In the south, some Albanian fashions are adopted, such as the band- 
 age of white cloth around the fez, the short brown or black jacket, 
 with slitten sleeves, and the broad red cloak for rainy weather. The
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS. 135 
 
 sheepskin cap of the Bulgarians is worn in the south-east, and Ru- 
 manian fashions prevail in the east. 
 
 The dress of the merchants and official people in the cities, when 
 it has not been modified by European styles, is very rich. The 
 breeches are cut in the Turkish fashion, of blue cloth, and embroi- 
 dered with black braid. The red vest is richly braided with gold- 
 thread, the winter coat is bordered with fur, and a variously-striped 
 shawl, several yards in length, woven of yarn, cashmere, or silk, is 
 worn as a girdle. The arms and other articles of dress and ornament 
 are enriched in a corresponding degree. 
 
 The principal variations in the costumes of the women are in the 
 head-dresses. Flowers, pieces of gold or silver, to which the women 
 of the cities add a small fez, arranged in a great variety of ways, 
 form the principal parts of the head-dresses of girls. The women 
 wear diadems, helmets, or similar designs, which are trimmed with 
 metallic pieces, feathers, or other ornaments, and are crowned, in the 
 cities, with a fez surrounded with a switch of hair. The costume of 
 the peasant women is in other respects very simple. The most im- 
 portant article is the shirt, of home-made stuff, reaching from the 
 neck to the ankles, and embroidered with wool in front and on the 
 arms and sleeves. Two striped aprons, worn in front and behind a 
 belt, and often a short jacket open in front, with the shirt, make up 
 the home dress. The overdress, which is seldom worn in the house, . 
 is a sleeveless coat of white cloth, varied with stripes, rosettes, and 
 other designs. The feet are clothed with colored stockings and san- 
 dals. The picturesqueness of the costume is enhanced not only by 
 the fanciful head-dress, but also by the many other ornaments which 
 women know how to use with effect. 
 
 The women of the cities combine the Oriental and "Western fash- 
 ions in their dress. An embroidered shirt and neckerchief cover the 
 bust, and are revealed, with the accompanying nosegay or golden pin, 
 through the open front of the sack. A heavy brocade sash is thrown 
 around the waist, and hangs with richly-ornamented ends in front of 
 the colored silken dress, which is made in the European style. An 
 embroidered pocket-handkerchief, a fan, a bouquet, wide bracelets, 
 a necklace of pearls or gold, and the usual rings, complete a picture, 
 whose beauty is, however, sadly marred by the senseless fashion of 
 dyeing the hair and staining the eyebrows and lips. 
 
 The Servian country-houses are structures of timber- work, or consist 
 of a lower story of stone and an upper story of wood, surmounted
 
 I3 6 THE WAR IN THE EAST, 
 
 often with a very high roof of thatch or tiles. They are rather 
 scantily furnished in the interior, where the weapons of the head of 
 the family occupy the place of honor among the household ornaments. 
 The windows are seldom furnished with glass, but paper in wooden 
 frames is made to supply its place. On the larger estates the house 
 of the head of the family, which serves also as the dwelling of the 
 unmarried members of the household, is surrounded by the smaller 
 houses of the married members. These consist generally only of a 
 bed-room, the main hall affording living-room and dining-room for 
 the whole family. The whole group of buildings, including also the 
 granaries of basket-work set up on stakes, is surrounded by a fence 
 of pickets. The Servian character is distinguished by strong family 
 affection, patriotism, and love of freedom, and an inclination to mys- 
 ticism. The family life is conducted after the patriarchal style. The 
 head of the household presides over the whole circle of relatives and 
 dependents, adjusts their differences, regulates their labors, superin- 
 tends the division of the proceeds, and cares for all as for himself. 
 When he dies his son takes his place, or if he declines the responsi- 
 bility, some one else is chosen in his stead. All the members of the 
 household are united by common interest, and when any one goes 
 away from the estate he is entitled to receive a commutation propor- 
 tioned to the amount he has contributed by his services to the gen- 
 eral weal. While the condition of the women is subordinate, the 
 depth of the affection which exists between brother and sister, and 
 the esteem in which it is held, form one of the most peculiar and 
 creditable traits of the Servian character. So firmly-seated and 
 widely-extended and recognized is it, that out of it has grown the 
 strongest sanction that a Servian can give to his pledge or his word 
 " As true as my brother (or my sister) lives." Akin to it is the bond 
 of brotherhood or sisterhood which two young men or young women 
 may take for each other, which is often sanctioned by open and for- 
 rnal ceremonies, and is held for life. 
 
 The Servians have the qualities of good soldiers, but are withal 
 patient and peaceful, honorable, enduring, and firm. They are not 
 easily cheated, and are not inclined to cheat. If they believe a thing 
 to be right, they will adhere to it, and will suffer legal restraint 
 rather than yield. They are proud, and avoid menial occupations 
 and mechanical trades, but are fond of military and official life, and 
 readily enter mercantile callings. Their merchants enjoy a wide 
 field of trade. They have houses in Bucharest, Trieste, Pesth, and
 
 TURKE Y'S TRIE UTAR Y STA TES AND SUB JECTS. 137 
 
 Vienna, and visit all the larger fairs of Southern Hungary with their 
 goods, which consist rather of raw materials than of manufactured 
 articles. 
 
 Bosnia and Bulgaria are former independent kingdoms, which 
 have been subjugated by Turkey, and are ruled as Turkish prov- 
 inces or vilayets, by Governors appointed by the Porte. The major- 
 ity of the people of Bosnia are attached to the Greek Church, but 
 the Roman Catholic population is large, and the wealthier classes 
 and landowners are generally Mohammedans. The kingdom of 
 Bosnia survived that of Servia nearly a hundred years, although it 
 had become tributary to Turkey, but was finally overthrown in 1463. 
 The King and a number of the Waywodes were put to death, over 
 two hundred thousand of the inhabitants of both sexes were sent 
 into slavery in Asia Minor, and thirty thousand of the young men 
 were enrolled in the corps of the Janizaries. The people, of whom 
 the mass remained true to the Greek faith, were despoiled of their 
 lands, which were divided among the Mohammedans. An opportu- 
 nity was given, however, to the native landowners to save their 
 estates by professing the Mohammedan religion, and many of them 
 did so. These proprietors were the ancestors of the Mohammedan 
 Bosnians, the begs, or landowners, or agas, if their estates are very 
 large, of the present day, who are only in a few instances Turks, 
 but are generally Slavs of the same race with the Christian Bosnians. 
 Bosnia occupies an isolated position with reference to the rest of 
 Turkey. The Christian States of Servia, jutting in from the north 
 and Montenegro from the south-west, almost cut it off from the 
 other provinces, leaving only the narrow sanjak of Novi-Bazar as 
 a connecting link. The Servian language is spoken through most 
 of the province, but the Turkish, as the official language, is some- 
 what affected by the more pretentious begs. The country is mount- 
 ainous, with broad, fertile valleys. About four-tenths of the land is 
 considered tillable, and this part is productive of remunerative crops, 
 the best known of which are the " Turkish prunes ; " yet the re- 
 sources of the country, which are capable of an extensive develop- 
 ment, are almost entirely unimproved. There are but few high- 
 ways worthy of the name. The principal means of communication 
 are by bridle-paths, with causeways over the swamps that are almost 
 as dangerous as the morasses themselves, and dilapidated bridges 
 over the streams that /offer little choice above fording the waters. 
 The country was, before its conquest, provided with good roads, the
 
 138 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 remains of which may be found in various quarters, and a few of 
 the ancient "Roman bridges are still in use. A single railroad has 
 been built from Banialuka to Rasnice, and four telegraph lines have 
 been completed. 
 
 Bosnia contains several cities of moderate size, the principal of 
 which is the capital, Bosna Serai or Serayevo, a handsomely-situated 
 and well-appearing town of 45,000 inhabitants, with about two hun- 
 dred minarets and mosques and considerable trade. 
 
 The Mohammedan Bosnians live together only in the larger towns, 
 where they are engaged in trade, and control most of the commerce 
 of the province. The landowners live scattered about on their 
 estates, in the broader valleys. The Christians live in the smaller 
 villages, and in the higher and less fruitful valleys, and on the table- 
 lands. The Bosnians are of fine stature and physical appearance, 
 with handsome, expressive features, are pious, brave, and hospitable. 
 Bishop Strossmayer characterizes the Mussulman landowners as a 
 fine and generous body of men, brave, high-spirited, and resentful 
 against wrong ; but truthful, honest, and never, like the Turk, cruel 
 in their vengeance. The costume of the Bosnians is like that of the 
 Morlaks, a Slavic tribe living in the maritime districts of Austro- 
 Hungary, and is marked by variety in color, material, and fashion. 
 Polygamy has never gained prevalence among the begs. The women 
 go veiled in public, but enjoy at home a freedom and privilege greater 
 than those of the Turkish women. The young women are allowed 
 to receive attentions from the young men, and the young man who 
 contemplates marriage is permitted to spend the evening with his 
 betrothed, while she sits concealed from his view by a wall or 
 shutter. It is related of the Bosnian women by a Turkish historian 
 that when the first captives were taken to the Turkish court at 
 Brussa, before the capture of Constantinople, they appeared to the 
 chiefs like living genii from Paradise. 
 
 The education of the people is limited, and science and literature 
 have made but little progress among them. In the few schools 
 which have been established by the Greeks, Turks, and Bosnians 
 themselves, instruction is hardly given beyond reading and writing. 
 The Mohammedans have schools for boys, but not for girls. They 
 have also higher Koran schools in connection with their more impor- 
 tant mosques, and the Roman Catholics have schools at the Francis- 
 can monasteries. It is estimated by good authorities that only one 
 per cent, of the population can read, hardly any one can write, and
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS. 139 
 
 there is not a printing-office in the province. Although the Bos- 
 nians have no literature of their own, they have a share in the pop- 
 ular songs, tales, and fables, in which the Servian folk-lore is pecul- 
 iarly rich. 
 
 The Bosnians are discontented, unquiet subjects, and have given 
 trouble by frequent insurrections. Even the Mohammedan begs 
 have not cast aside the ties of country and race. "They have 
 never," says Mr. Malcolm MacCall, in his work on " The Eastern 
 Question," " forgotten their Christian ancestry; and in many a Mus- 
 sulman household among the valleys of Bosnia and on the slopes of 
 the Balkans are fondly cherished traditions and memorials of the 
 faith which their forefathers bartered in exchange for the rights of 
 
 freemen The Slav Mussulmans are fanatical, no doubt, but 
 
 it is the fanaticism of caste rather than of religion. Of Islam, in its 
 theological and religious aspect, they know little and care less. Let 
 the Slav Mussulmans of Bosnia and Bulgaria," he adds, " be con- 
 vinced that the abolition of the Turkish rule does not mean the abo- 
 lition of their hereditary rights, and they will view the exit of the 
 Ottomans not with equanimity merely, but with warm approval." 
 
 The unhappy disposition of the people is chiefly owing to the 
 backward state of the country and the inconveniences under which 
 it suffers. Prof. Gottfried Kinkel, of Basel, in his lecture on " The 
 Christian Subjects of Turkey in Bosnia and Herzegovina," shows 
 that they are chiefly due to the unjust distribution of the land, in 
 which the actual tiller is not permitted to enjoy any interest of pro- 
 prietorship. This author expresses the belief that quiet can never 
 be restored to the country until the present system is swept away, 
 and a new distribution is made among the actual inhabitants, who 
 are also the heirs of the former rightful owners of the soil. 
 
 Herzegovina is geographically, ethnographically, and historically 
 connected with Bosnia. It is more mountainous than Bosnia, and 
 has a smaller relative area of tillable soil, the amount being three- 
 tenths for Herzegovina to four-tenths for Bosnia. In the fifteenth 
 century Herzegovina was known as the Bosnian Province of Kosat- 
 china. The Prince Stefan Kosatcha, who ruled the province dur- 
 ing the reign of the Bosnian King Tomer Ostojiksh Christitch, asked 
 and obtained from the German Emperor, Frederick III., the title 
 and rank of Duke. From that time the province has borne its 
 present name, Herzegovina, derived from the Hungarian word 
 Herczeg (German, Herzog), Duke. Under Turkish rule it has been
 
 140 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 at times, as now, a separate vilayet, and at other times a part of the 
 vilayet of Bosnia. The capital and principal city of Herzegovina 
 is Mostar, a town of 15,000 inhabitants, on the Narenta Elver, 
 founded in 1440. 
 
 The dress of the Bosnian rayah is similar in cut to that of the 
 Turk of the same rank, but the Bosnian is not permitted to wear 
 bright red. He wears a fez, which is often wrapped with a dark red 
 cloth ; a brown doublet, full breeches of white or dark blue felted 
 goods reaching to the knees, a blue or dark red sash, and sandals. 
 He can not carry arms without paying a tax and getting a license 
 therefor, so that his chibouk, or Turkish pipe, and his tobacco-pouch 
 constitute the only ornaments he has corresponding to the glittering 
 pistols and daggers of his Servian and Montenegrin neighbors. 
 
 The women wear a costume which is after the fashion of either 
 the Servians, Morlaks, or Turks. In the latter case it consists of 
 a fez, a colored jacket with sleeves open before, exposing an under 
 bodice which partly covers the opened shirt ; trousers of dark stuff 
 reaching to the ankles, and stockingless feet, with slippers or low- 
 cut shoes. The rayah lives in a house of wood and mud or of stone, 
 according as either material is more abundant in the neighborhood ; 
 sleeps in his clothes, and does not forget to be obsequious to the 
 Mussulman. 
 
 The Bulgarians are not confined to the province marked Bulgaria 
 on the maps, but form the bulk of the rural population of the 
 country from Western Macedonia to the Black Sea, and from the 
 Danube to the Sea of Marmora. They are of the Ugro-Finnish 
 race, and came down in the days of the Roman Empire from the 
 regions of the Yolga, whence their name, and took possession of 
 the region which they still occupy. This region being inhabited by 
 a Slavic people, the Bulgarians mingled with the natives and as- 
 similated with them, adopting their customs and the essential 
 features of their language, while they still retained the physiog- 
 nomy of their own race. Bulgaria formed a kingdom of consider- 
 able importance in the middle ages, but was subdued by the Hun- 
 garians in the middle of the fourteenth century, and finally by the 
 Turks in 1392. The Bulgarian Church gradually fell under the in- 
 fluence of the Greeks, who are the dominant race of the districts 
 lying south of the Bulgarian region. The Greek clergy finally 
 gained the control of the ecclesiastical organization and ritual, and 
 sought to banish the Bulgarian language from the churches and
 
 BULGARIANS.
 
 NICHOLAS I. -PRINCE OF MONTENEGRO.
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS. 143 
 
 schools, and to substitute their own ritual in worship. Their efforts 
 aroused a spirit of discontent and opposition to which the Bulgarians 
 had long been strangers, and led to the organization of a movement 
 about thirty years ago for the restoration of the National Church and 
 the establishment of a national system of popular education. In 
 1870, the Sultan issued a firman re-establishing the Bulgarian 
 Church upon its ancient foundations, and conceding to it a complete 
 organization of native ecclesiastical administration, courts, and 
 ritual, which produced a happy effect on the disposition and con- 
 dition of the people. The new rule gave them a set of officers of 
 their own, who would have much to do with the management of 
 local affairs, and also furnished them, in their priests and bishops, 
 an agency of their own faith and nationality in whom they could 
 confide, and who would sympathize with them, through whom to 
 communicate with the heads of the province and of the Empire. 
 
 The reorganization of the schools, although it was a part of the 
 same movement, in effect preceded that of the Church. Permission 
 was obtained from the Government for the establishment of schools 
 distinct from those of the Greeks in some of the district towns. 
 Slavic books were printed and imported from abroad, and the re- 
 vival of education became very rapid, so that there were in 1870, in 
 the sanjak of Philippopolis, 337 schools of four grades, with 385 
 teachers and 16,500 pupils, and a special training-school for teachers 
 at Philippopolis. The teachers receive salaries ranging from $350 
 to $700 per annum ; education is free, the schools being supported 
 by subscriptions and the proceeds of bequests made for that pur- 
 pose, and appropriations from the ecclesiastical revenues. Efforts 
 have been made to induce the Ottoman Government to establish a 
 special board of instruction for Bulgaria, but so far without success.. 
 
 The popular schools are supplemented by the excellent schools of 
 the American missions at Philippopolis and Eski Sagra, and by Robert 
 College at Constantinople, which is largely attended by Bulgarian' 
 youth seeking a higher education. The Bulgarian ladies have also 
 made efforts for the advancement of education among their own 
 sex, which have been rewarded with a measure of success. 
 
 Literary enterprise is not very active among the Bulgarians. One 
 of the most important of their journals is the Macedonia, the 
 organ of the National party. The people are represented as anxious 
 to receive education, and the Bulgarian students at Eobert College 
 are said to take the lead in scholarship. 
 8
 
 144 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The most serious cause of complaint which the Bulgarians have 
 recently had to make against the Turkish Government has arisen 
 from the enforced settlement of the Circassians among them. The 
 Porte, in providing for the Mussulman refugees from the Caucasus 
 who sought its protection in 1864, after the Russians had suhdued 
 that country, settled one hundred and twenty thousand Circassians 
 in Bulgaria, scattering them among the Bulgarian people in such a 
 manner as to split up the most compact Bulgarian masses into weaker 
 communities and thus injure their force and influence. Land was 
 seized for the colonists, and the Bulgarians were compelled to assist 
 them in building houses and settling themselves. In addition to 
 this original sway, the Circassians have proved very troublesome 
 neighbors, have destroyed the security of persons and property in 
 their neighborhood, and have become, as a writer who has recently 
 described the situation in the province* says, a thorn in the flesh of 
 the Bulgarians, " against whom they have to put up iron bars and 
 keep numerous fierce dogs, precautions which do not always avail." 
 
 The Bulgarians have generally been quiet subjects, and have sub- 
 mitted for several centuries to political and ecclesiastical oppressions 
 with such patience as to have acquired a reputation for servility and 
 lack of energy which they do not deserve ; with a patience, too, 
 which contrasts strangely with the outburst of frenzy to which they 
 gave way in the summer of 187T, and makes that phenomenon all 
 the more remarkable. They labor industriously when they work, 
 yet do not get along as well as they should, for they faithfully keep 
 all the feasts and fasts ordered by their religion, which, with the 
 Sundays, take up about one hundred and eighty days, or half the 
 year. Nevertheless, the Bulgarian settlements of the better class 
 bear evidence of considerable thrift and comfort. The Bulgarians 
 live in simple style, are fond of brilliant costumes of which every 
 village has its own colors and are addicted to ceremony, especially 
 at weddings and funerals. They are fond of dancing, and have a 
 bagpipe and music like those of Scotland. An equality is acknowl- 
 edged in their families between man and wife and the other mem- 
 bers of the household, which is quite foreign to the Slavs of the 
 neighboring provinces. Frequently, according to Kanitz, the woman 
 shows herself, by her superior ability and energy, to be qualified to 
 be the effective head of the house. The Bulgarians in the cities of 
 the Danube are engaged in mercantile occupations or shop-keeping, 
 
 * Mr. Archibald Forbes, in the Nineteenth Century, November, 1877.
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS. 145 
 
 or follow handicrafts. Very few of them practice in the profes- 
 sions or fill official positions ; many enter the sendee of the Church 
 as priests or monks. Those who live in the highlands or towns of 
 the Balkans raise cattle or prosecute industries ; the people of the 
 plains are farmers. The manufacture of the attar of roses is largely 
 carried on south of the Balkans, and the milder climate of these 
 regions make it favorable to the production of silk, tobacco, wine, 
 fruits, and other profitable crops. 
 
 The Bulgarians have made considerable progress during the last 
 ten years in enterprise, education, and all that tends to better their 
 condition. It is, however, far less than the progress which Servia 
 has made, and not as great as that which Rumania has made. 
 
 The Montenegrins are the most warlike people of the Slavic race. 
 Turkey claims a sovereignty over their principality, but has never 
 been able to exercise it, except for very brief periods, for four hun- 
 dred years. The people are in a state of chronic warfare against the 
 Turks, and have more often beaten them than been beaten by them ; 
 and although less than two hundred thousand in number, and pos- 
 sessing only 1,700 square miles of territory, they have maintained 
 their independence with a heroism that has won for them the admi- 
 ration of the world. The principality of Montenegro, Tchernagora, 
 or the Black Mountain, was founded in 1484, when Scutari, having 
 been taken on the south, and the Herzegovinians on the north having 
 submitted to the Ottomans, Ivan Tchernoyevitch, with his followers, 
 rather than give up their independence, abandoned the plain country 
 and retired to the rocks and mountains. A monastery was built at 
 Cettigne, to be the center of the new commonwealth, and a printing- 
 press was set up in it, only twenty-eight years after the first printed 
 book had been made, and before Oxford or Cambridge or Edin- 
 burgh had a press. Here the fundamental law of the State was 
 adopted, which included, according to Gladstone, the conditions 
 " that in time of war against the Turk no son of Tchernagora could 
 quit the field without the order of his chief ; that a runaway should 
 be forever disgraced and banished from his people ; that he should 
 be dressed in woman's clothes and presented with a distaff ; and 
 that the women, striking him with their distaffs, should hunt the 
 coward away from the sanctuary of freedom." 
 
 Ivan died in 1490, and was succeeded by his son George, who, 
 upon his retirement in 1516, assigned the sovereignty of the* prin- 
 cipality to the metropolitan or bishop. From his accession, " a
 
 146 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 long series of twenty prelates," says Gladstone, "like Moses, or 
 Joshua, or Barak, or the son of Jesse, taught in the sanctuary, pre- 
 sided in the councils, and fought in the front of the battle." 
 Several of these prince-bishops were admirable statesmen, a fact 
 which is well shown by the success with which they maintained the 
 independence of the country against foreign foes whose armed 
 detachments outnumbered its entire population, as well as against 
 domestic traitors, and by the attachment and confidence with which 
 the population always rallied around them. The bishop was assisted 
 by a civil governor, who attended to secular affairs until the present 
 century, when the office was abolished. A code of laws was pro- 
 mulgated, and a complete system of judicial administration was estab- 
 lished about the beginning of the present century. Prince Danilo, 
 who succeeded to the sovereignty in 1851, wishing to marry, avoided 
 consecration as a bishop, and effected a permanent separation be- 
 tween the ecclesiastical and the civil authority. His administration 
 was very successful. He published a statute-book in 1855, main- 
 tained the neutrality of the country during the Crimean war, though 
 at the cost of internal commotion, and conducted a successful cam- 
 paign against the Turks in 1858, after having refused a proposition 
 made to him by the Western Powers in 1857 to acknowledge the 
 suzerainty of the Porte in return for some advantage promised to 
 the State. 
 
 The independence of the country was acknowledged by the 
 powers in 1858, and its. representative was admitted to the com- 
 mission which sat at Constantinople in 1859, for the adjustment of 
 boundaries, but in the face of the protests of the Porte. Prince 
 Danilo was assassinated in 1860, and was succeeded by the present 
 Prince Nikita, or Nicholas. The Montenegrins are stalwart, active 
 men, of unsurpassed braver)'- ; their dress is picturesque, and bristles 
 with arms, for they go prepared for conflict. They speak the 
 Servian language, and are attached to the orthodox Greek Church, 
 but are not as devout as warlike. They maintained, until very 
 recently, several peculiar customs of a primitive society, fche most 
 remarkable of which was that of the bond of brotherhood, by 
 which two champions pledged themselves to stand by each other, 
 with the condition that if either were hopelessly disabled in battle, 
 the other should cut off his head to save it from capture and out- 
 rage by the enemy. The principality contains 374 villages and 
 hamlets, a church for each, several cloisters, some of which are not
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS. 147 
 
 used, and seventy-two schools. Cettignc, the capital, is a town of 
 five hundred inhabitants, picturesquely situated at the foot of a 
 steep mountain. Montenegro has no standing army, but the twenty 
 thousand men are all soldiers by habit, ready for duty at a moment's 
 notice, and the women are little behind them in bravery and capa- 
 bility of defending themselves and their homes. 
 
 The Montenegrins have maintained their wars against the Turks 
 for about four centuries, and have never suffered themselves to be 
 overcome. Gladstone remarks in his paper on Montenegro in The 
 Nineteenth Century, that the Turks never venture to attack the 
 principality with an equal force, but aim to bring against it double 
 the number of men that it can muster ; and he gives several striking 
 illustrations from past and present wars of the pertinacity with 
 which the Montenegrins have maintained their position. In 1712, 
 the Turks brought a force of not less than fifty thousand men, 
 which Prince Danilo met with 12,000 men, and routed with a loss 
 to the Turks of 20,000, to the Montenegrins of only 318 men. In 
 1768, the Turks again invaded Montenegro with an army variously 
 rated at 67,000, 100,000, and 180,000 men. The Montenegrins 
 met them with ten to twelve thousand men, killed twenty thousand 
 Turks with three thousand horses, and captured "an incredible 
 booty of colors, arms, ammunition, and baggage." The brilliant 
 character of the Montenegrin victories of 1876 is admirably set 
 forth by Gladstone in the following summary : 
 
 " On July 28, the men of Tchernagora encountered Mukhtar Pasha, 
 and for once with superior force. Four thousand Turks were killed, 
 but only seventy men of Montenegro. Osman Pasha was taken ; 
 Selim was among the slain. At Medun, on August 14, 20,000 
 Turks were defeated by 5,000 of these heroic warriors, and 4,700 
 slain. On September 6, five battalions of Montenegro defeated 
 Dervish Pasha in his movement upon Piperi, and slew 3,000 of 
 his men. On October 7, Mukhtar Pasha, with 18,000 men, drove 
 three Montenegrin battalions back upon Mirotinsko Dolove. Here 
 they were raised, by a junction with Vukovitch, to a strength of 
 6,000 men. Thus reinforced, they swept down upon Mukhtar, and 
 after an action of sixteen hours, drove him back to Kloluk, leaving 
 1,500 dead behind him. On October 10, Dervish Pasha effected 
 an advance from the south, until he found himself attacked simul- 
 taneously at various points, and had to retreat, with a loss of 2,000 
 men. On October 20, Medun was taken, and the Ottoman General
 
 148 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 fled to Scutari, leaving garrisons in Spuz and Podgoritza. The 
 armistice arrested this course of disasters, when the southern army 
 (Dervish) had been reduced from 45,000 to 22,000, and the north- 
 ern (Mukhtar) from 35,000 to 18,000." 
 
 An illustration of the practical respect which the great powers 
 show for Montenegro was given during the wars of 1875 and 1876, 
 when, until July of the latter year, Austria permitted the Turks 
 to use its port of Klek for landing their troops, because the comity 
 of nations allowed them thus to assist a friendly State in quelling 
 an insurrection in one of its provinces; but when Montenegro 
 declared war against Turkey in July, 1876, the port was closed 
 against the Turks, because, as the Austrian Government presented 
 the case, Montenegro was a sovereign State, engaged in regular 
 warfare, and standing on an equal footing with Turkey, and Austria, 
 as a neutral, could not assist either belligerent. 
 
 The Montenegrins, whether they be tall, portly figures, as is the 
 prevailing type, short and thick-set, or slender, as some are, are 
 robust and active, possessing all the qualities of the best physical 
 manhood. They have, for the most part, brown or black hair, which 
 is cut short in front and left long behind, and dark, fiery eyes. Oc- 
 casionally a blonde is found, with blue eyes. The beard is generally 
 worn only in the mustache, though recently whiskers have come into 
 fashion, but the chin is shaved. The men have fine, expressive, 
 weather-bronzed countenances, but the women's faces wear the 
 marks of hard work, care, and fatigue. Handsome women are as 
 rare as fine, hearty-looking men are numerous. The whole training 
 of the men is directed to making them strong, active, and enduring 
 as warriors. 
 
 The Montenegrin costume is very picturesque. The cap is in the 
 shape of a low cylinder hat, without a brim, the sides of which are 
 of black silk or gauze, the black color having been adopted as a 
 symbol of mourning for the subjection of the Servian nation. The 
 top of the cap is red, and ornamented with a golden star, to which is 
 added a semicircle or rainbow, symbolizing the hope of the ultimate 
 restoration of Servian nationality, and the initials of the name of 
 the reigning prince. To a red waistcoat, embroidered with black 
 or gold, is added the gunj, a long, folded, white cloak, and in case 
 of a well-to-do Montenegrin, the jelek, a sleeveless doublet, which 
 with numerous black, red, and golden ornaments, is often made to 
 cost a very high price. The dagger, pistol, and other weapons are
 
 TURKS Y'S TRIE UTAR Y STA TES AND SUB JECTS. 149 
 
 carried in a red belt, which is bordered with a silver-worked bind- 
 ing. The plaited full blue breeches reach to the knee, where they 
 are attached by an ornamental band to a kind of gaiter, or to an 
 embroidered white stocking. The feet are protected by sandals of 
 untanned leather, which are wrapped around with a network of 
 thongs so as to facilitate the task of climbing the rocks. Both men 
 and women wear over the shoulders a long fringed shawl, called 
 the struka, which is used as a protection against rain and cold, and 
 as a covering at night. Frequent washing does not agree with the 
 Montenegrin's idea of heroism ; consequently he is said to be far 
 from clean, and his linen heroically dirty. An English writer, who 
 estimates the value of a complete Montenegrin suit at 20, or one 
 hundred dollars, says that when he expressed his surprise that the 
 men could afford such a sum, he was told that a dress would last a 
 life-time. 
 
 The women of the poorer classes wear a long shirt fastened with 
 a belt, a woolen apron, and the struka, or shawl. Those in better 
 circumstances wear a vest, open in front, with sleeves, a sleeveless 
 jacket of blue or violet silk embroidered with gold braid, a silver 
 belt, a silk apron, and a black hood. The young women wear, in- 
 stead of the sleeveless vest, a bodice and a cap, which is destitute of 
 the stellar ornament and semicircle, and dispense with the belt. 
 
 The Montenegrin looks upon war war against the Turks as his 
 proper calling. During intervals of peace he is a hunter in the 
 old time he would have been a highwayman and leaves all labor 
 and mechanical work to the women and to foreigners. Under the 
 enlightened rule of the later princes it has begun to be considered 
 respectable to engage in a few kinds of business. If he has not the 
 means to live a gentleman's life during peaceful times, the Montene- 
 grin will go abroad and earn his bread ; but he will return home at 
 the first sign of war and enlist under the banner of his nation. 
 Nothing but extreme necessity will induce him to emigrate per- 
 manently from his beloved country. 
 
 The houses of the Montenegrins are built on the mountain sides, 
 or cliffs, both for safety and so as to encroach as little as possible on 
 the soil fit for cultivation. The houses of the poorer classes are of 
 rough stones, laid without mortar, and seldom of more than one; 
 story. The houses of the middle classes are of two stories, with the^ 
 stable and store-rooms below and the living rooms above. The^ 
 houses of the well-to-do classes are of a better order ; and, lastly,,
 
 150 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the kula, or tower, the place of refuge for the neighborhood, where 
 all the families can retire in case of invasion, is a peculiar feature 
 of Montenegrin life, which takes us back to the warlike days of the 
 middle ages. A hereditary aristocracy exists in the country, embrac- 
 ing two ranks, the Waywodes and the Serdars, or Cavaliers. The 
 family life is quite the opposite to that which prevails in Servia. 
 Here the household is contracted to the narrowest circle of blood- 
 relatives, and is destitute of that community of interest which 
 beautifies Servian life. The land goes generally to the youngest son, 
 because he stays longest in the family, while the eldest seeks a home 
 elsewhere, receiving, as his share of the inheritance, only his father's 
 arms. The condition of the women is lower than in Servia ; they 
 have the burden of labor and of the maintenance of the household, 
 and are contented to bear it as part of the order of things, while 
 their manly relatives fulfill their destiny in fighting the Turks. 
 
 The first school was established in Cettigne in 1834. There are 
 now in the principality seventy-one institutions, a seminary for 
 priests and teachers, and a girls' high-school. Education is free, and 
 the State supplies books and other requisites. 
 
 The Albanians, Arnauts, or Shkipetars, who inhabit the Adriatic 
 province south of Montenegro, are of the old Illyrian or Thracian 
 stock, and have given Turkey some of its greatest men and best 
 soldiers. They are divided into a number of tribes, most of which 
 may be referred to two stocks the Geg in the north, and the 
 Toskari in the south and center of the country. The majority of the 
 people are Mohammedans. That part of them who are of Greek or 
 Slavic descent are, for the most part, attached to the Greek Church ; 
 and the Roman Catholics are numerously represented. The Roman 
 Catholics of one district, who are called Miridites, were in insurrec- 
 tion in the spring of 1877, but soon yielded to the force that was 
 sent to quiet them. 
 
 The Albanians are, as a rule, a handsome, noble-looking race of 
 men, of medium height or tall, strong, well-formed, rather slender 
 than stout, with a proud, theatrical bearing. Their heads are long-, 
 their foreheads broad, their noses lengthened and straight. Their 
 method of dressing the hair is peculiar. A wide border is clean 
 shaven all around the head, so that only a small tuft remains on the 
 crown ; this is twisted into a loose switch, is turned up under the 
 fez, and so lies on the back of the neck as a sort of chignon. Often 
 the whole front of the head is shaven from ear to ear, and the remain-
 
 MONTENEGRINS.
 
 GREEKS.
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS. 153 
 
 ing hair is allowed to fall down over the back. The beard is trim- 
 med to a mustache. A little, but not important difference is observed 
 in the dress of the Northern and Southern Albanians. The fez is 
 worn everywhere. The fustanella of Epirus, a plaited skirt of white 
 cloth reaching to the knees, is about equally in vogue with the 
 sailor's breeches of blue cotton of the North. The brown sailor's 
 cloak, or capota, of wool mixed with goats' hair, is likewise gener- 
 ally worn. A cloak of white woolen, without collar or sleeves, and 
 leaving the breast and body exposed, called the flokate, is worn in 
 Toskeria, or Southern Albania, by young and old, at all seasons. It 
 is evidently designed to represent the sheepskin ; its white texture 
 is plentifully besprinkled with red threads corresponding to the 
 stains of blood, and triangular pieces are attached to the upper part 
 of the arm-holes, which, reaching to the middle of the arms, suggest 
 the skins of the sheeps' fore-legs. This garment is worn close to 
 the, body down to the waist, whence it hangs in full folds. Some 
 other tribes wear a white woolen coat without a collar, open in front 
 and reaching to the middle of the thighs, fastened at the waist by a 
 belt ; in other districts, short breeches and gaiters prevail, the latter 
 being highly ornamented, and calling to mind the Cothurni of the 
 ancients. The Albanians are fond of all kinds of dress ornaments, 
 and indulge in them lavishly. The dress of the women is very 
 similar to that of the Montenegrin women. 
 
 In thought and feeling the Albanians are barbarians ; they set a 
 light value on human life, and are ready to kill for a slight offense ; 
 and every murder calls the custom of " blood vengeance " into exer- 
 cise, when the assassin and all that are his have to flee, and the fam- 
 ily of the murdered man pursue him till the law of vengeance is satis- 
 fied, after which friendship may be renewed with solemn ceremonies. 
 Their favorite occupation is war ; they were formerly enlisted in the 
 armies of several of the principal States of Western Europe, but are 
 now found mostly in the Turkish armies.. The family life is charac- 
 terized by community of goods and the subordination of the women, 
 whose condition is little above servitude. They perform all the labors 
 and are so accustomed to their situation as to consider any deference 
 paid to themselves as unworthy of a man. They often accompany 
 their husbands to the battle-field, where they take care of the wound- 
 ed, and sometimes take up arms themselves. There are many Al- 
 banian legends of heroic women. Girls are considered marriageable' 
 when twelve years old. The marriage is a matter of sale, and the
 
 154 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 price of a wife averages about one hundred piasters. A modification 
 of the custom of marriage by capture, or of stealing the bride and 
 carrying her off by force, still prevails among some of the mountain 
 tribes of the North. . 
 
 The Albanians in the mountain districts live in two-story stone 
 houses, in which the living-rooms are in the upper story, the stable, 
 etc., in the lower. A tower is often attached, which is reached from 
 the house by a kind of draw-bridge. This feature, as well as the 
 whole style of the buildings, suggests the time when the houses were 
 fortifications. The habitations in the agricultural districts consist of 
 a hedged enclosure, containing several small buildings, one of which 
 is used for the dwelling, the others for cattle and store-houses. The 
 Albanian language includes several dialects, which seem to be mix- 
 tures of various tongues, representing all the races which have ever 
 inhabited or ruled the country. It is written by the Northern tribes 
 in Koman, by the Southern tribes in Greek characters. 
 
 All of the Grecian States and Islands formerly belonged to Turkey. 
 The kingdom of Greece, consisting of the Morea, most of ancient 
 Hellas, the island of Negropont, or Euboea, with the Sporades lying 
 near it, and the Cyclades, gained its independence in 182T. The 
 Ionian Islands were added by cession from Great Britain, in 1864. 
 The area of the kingdom is 19,353 square miles, and its population 
 in 1870 was 1,457,894. The little State has made considerable ad- 
 vancement since it became free, both material and in the arts, but 
 its small size and scanty population prevent the development of great 
 statesmanship or enterprise. The Greek population of Turkey are 
 scattered through the districts representing the ancient States of 
 Thessaly, Epirus, and Macedonia, in Southern Rurnelia, along the 
 northern, western, and southern coasts of Asia Minor, and upon the 
 islands of the Eastern Mediterranean, including the large islands of 
 Cyprus and Candia, or Crete. The northern line of the regions in 
 which the modern Greek language is spoken in Turkey, in Europe, 
 starts at Philates on the Adriatic, opposite the island of Corfu, ex- 
 tends through Yanina,- Konitza, Kastoria, and across the Lower War- 
 dar, near Salonica ; thence through the middle of Eumelia to Agath- 
 opolis, or Akhteboli, on the Black Sea. The Greeks are a trading peo- 
 ple, and are most numerous in the towns and commercial centers and 
 along the sea coasts, leaving the rural parts of the interior to be iu- 
 ' habited mainly by Bulgarians. They have a genius for political in- 
 trigue, and before the kingdom of Greece was separated from Turkey,
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS. 155 
 
 exercised a powerful influence on the Porte. Although much less 
 numerous than the Bulgarians in Rumelia, they have enjoyed so 
 much prominence over them, and have so exercised the mastery of 
 
 the Bulgarian Church and schools, as to give rise to exaggerated ideas 
 of their numbers. According to Baker, there is a marked difference 
 in customs and social ways, between the Greek settlers in the towns 
 of the Black Sea coast and those of the Macedonian frontier, the 
 former being more Oriental than the latter, and not so advanced in 
 civilization, while in neither district is the manner of living of the 
 people high, or even comfortable according to Western ideas. The 
 Greeks of the Black Sea coast make but little complaint of Turkish 
 mismanagement, while in Macedonia it is a common topic of conver- 
 sation, and the popular mind is still embittered by the remembrance 
 of the atrocities committed during the Grecian war of independence. 
 Yet Baker relates, in his " Turkey," that even during the excitement 
 attendant upon the Herzegovinian insurrection, the Christians of Sa- 
 lonica gave an amateur concert for the benefit of the Turkish wound- 
 ed, which was attended by the Turkish Governor-General and his 
 staff, with other Turks, the proceeds of which were three hundred 
 pounds sterling. 
 
 The Greeks also form an important part of the population of the 
 sea coasts of Asia Minor. Being a trading and sea-faring people, 
 they congregate at the commercial towns and the shipping points 
 throughout the Levant. They share with the Armenians in the gen- 
 eral trade of the country, but so far, at least, as the Turkish popula- 
 tions are concerned, they control that which depends on the sea. 
 Before the Turkish conquest, Asia Minor was a Grecian country. 
 As this region was occupied by the Moslems some centuries before 
 Constantinople fell into their hands, the mass of the Greek popula- 
 tion removed to Europe. For several centuries, Asia Minor has 
 been, except as to its commercial towns, an almost purely Turkish 
 country. Since, however, the Empire has entered into more general 
 relations with Western Europe, and its trade has been developed, 
 
 .the Greeks have increased in numbers and been more conspicuous, 
 and at present their influence is growing very fast. 
 
 The island of Crete (now commonly called Candia) has attracted 
 more attention in recent years than any other of the Greek provinces 
 of Turkey. It lies in the Mediterranean Sea, south-east of Greece, 
 and is the central and largest of the series of islands which, stretch- 
 ing from the southern points of Greece to the south-western angle of
 
 156 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Asia Minor, seem to enclose the Archipelago, or ^Egean Sea. It is 
 about one hundred and fifty miles long, and from six to thirty-five 
 miles wide, and presents a mass of mountains, the highest of which, 
 Mount Ida, near the center of the island, is 7,674 feet in height. The 
 island is extraordinarily rich in associations with the most ancient 
 mythology and classical traditions of the Greek race. The inhabit- 
 ants, who number about one hundred and sixty thousand, are reck- 
 oned to be three-quarters Christians and one-quarter Mohammedans. 
 In many points of government the Cretans have less to complain of 
 than the people of some of the other provinces ; the taxes are not 
 heavy ; no military service or poll-tax is required of them, and local 
 liberty is to a great extent secured. Nevertheless, a bitter jealousy pre- 
 vails between the Christians and Mohammedans ; and though all avow- 
 edly possess equal rights and privileges, the Mohammedans receive the 
 practical favor of the Government, and are enabled, or are supposed 
 to be enabled, to domineer over their fellow-subjects. Discontent 
 has prevailed very widely throughout the island for many years, and 
 culminated in the insurrection of 1866, which came very near pre- 
 cipitating a new crisis in the Eastern Question, and which the Gov- 
 ernment put down only after a long contest and with great difficulty. 
 The Government has endeavored to pacify the people by making 
 them a few concessions and giving them Christian Governors ; but 
 the affairs of t':e island have continued to be very disturbed. The 
 danger of a new outbreak seemed very imminent throughout the 
 wars from 1875 to 1877, so that much of the attention of the Gov- 
 ernment was directed toward devising means to preserve order, and 
 a force had to be spared from the active army to be ready to repress 
 any disturbance, should one break out. 
 
 The Greeks of Turkey preserve, in only a slightly modified de- 
 gree, all the predominant traits of their ancestors. The modern 
 Greek language is quite as nearly like the ancient Greek as are any 
 of the languages of Latin Europe, the German, or the Russian lan- 
 guage, to the tongues from which they are descended. The social 
 customs, folk lore, superstitions, manners, art-tastes, utensils of 
 domestic and agricultural use, and dress of the present Greeks 
 bear a striking resemblance to those of the ancients. A systematic 
 effort has been making in the Kingdom of Greece since the revolu- 
 tion to restore as much of the ancient classical life as is consistent 
 with modern conditions, with a suec ess that is remarkable, and is 
 almost complete with respect to the language.
 
 TURKE Y'S TRIE U TAR Y STA TES AND SUB JECTS. \ 5 7 
 
 The red cap of the modern Greek preserves the sailor's cap which 
 is painted in the same color on the ancient vases, and the Phrygian 
 cap of old is worn by the shepherds of Arcadia. Greek brides 
 wear a stomacher formed of silver pieces sewed together, which 
 recalls the silver breast-plate of Minerva. The ear-rings, necklaces, 
 and bracelets of the women are like thosa of the ancients, and they 
 sprinkle their hair with gold-powder and stain the tips of their fin- 
 gers with red, just as they did in the days of Homer. The ancient 
 Phrygian dress, which the Greek colonists adopted in early days, is 
 still worn in Asia Minor, by both Turks and Greeks. Even the 
 turban, which till recently has been held as a distinctive mark of a 
 Turk, is not Turkish, but is a gift of the Asiatic Greeks to their 
 conquerors. 
 
 According to Kohl, in his "People of Europe," the Grecian 
 Palikar, or countryman, wears a colored vest, open before and em- 
 broidered on the edges, and over that a short jacket of the same 
 material, richly embroidered, while from his shoulders hangs a 
 colored, embroidered over-garment, with open, free-flowing sleeves. 
 A broad belt, colored and ornamented, is buckled around his waist, 
 in which he carries his pistols and dagger. From his waist depends 
 to below his knees a white linen skirt, folded into numerous narrow 
 plaits, which is called ihefustanella. The fustanella of the island- 
 ers is often blue. The legs from the knees down are covered with 
 white hose, or with tight, colored gaiters adorned with embroidery or 
 tassels, the feet with red, pointed shoes. A coarse, brown, hooded 
 cloak embroidered with blue, covering the whole upper part of the 
 body, completes the costume. The dress of the women is different 
 in different places. It generally consists of a woolen frock, reach- 
 ing from the neck to the feet, which is girdled at the waist with a 
 broad, shawl-like cloth. A shorter over-garment completes the cos- 
 tume. The fez is worn by both sexes. 
 
 Colonies of Circassians have been settled around the Black Sea 
 since 1864, when the Russians having conquered the Caucasus, forced 
 the former inhabitants of that region to remove from their homes. 
 A part of these people, who refused to accept the lands on the 
 steppes which were offered them by Russia, were given homes and a 
 refuge on the soil of Turkey. They are supposed-to number at this 
 time about two hundred thousand souls in European Turkey, where 
 they are settled principally along the Black Sea coast. They are 
 strict Mohammedans, live in the simplest style in obscure villages,
 
 158 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 cultivate the soil in a careless manner, are courteous and hospitable 
 in an eminent degree, and, like the ancient Spartans, are proud of 
 their skill as thieves. Their women are brought up to be sold to 
 foreign harems, and look forward, says Baker,* " to entry into that 
 life as a young lady in England does to ' coming out.' " Their 
 families being represented in the household of the high officers and 
 wealthy people at Constantinople, they have influence at court and 
 know how to use it, both for their own advancement and for protec- 
 tion against the consequences of their depredations and disorderly 
 conduct. 
 
 The Armenians are the descendants of the people who once 
 owned and ruled the whole of Armenia, those parts which are in- 
 cluded in Russian and Persian Armenia, as well as the Turkish prov- 
 inces. They have an ancient and honorable history, of which 
 traces are found in connection with the records of the most flourish- 
 ing periods of the Assyrian and Egyptian Empires. In the thou- 
 sand years around the beginning of the Christian era, they played an 
 important part in the affairs of the Eastern nations. They now 
 form an integral part of the population of the three Armenias, 
 so much so as to give them the character of a Christian district, 
 surrounded by Mohammedan tribes, but are probably more numer- 
 ous at the present day in other parts of their three sovereign States 
 than in the home of their fathers. Their present total number is 
 variously estimated at from 3,000,000 to 6,000,000, and it is thought 
 that there are about two and a quarter millions of them in the Turk- 
 ish Empire alone. 
 
 The Armenians claim that they were the first to embrace Chris- 
 tianity as a nation, and the claim seems to be well established by 
 the evidence cited by the historian, St. Martin. " About the year 
 276," says Dean Milman, " Christianity was the religion of the king, 
 the nobles, and the people of Armenia." This was thirty years 
 before the accession of Constantino made Christianity fashionable 
 in the Roman Empire. Ever since that period the Armenians have 
 been known as Christians, and have formed a distinct branch of the 
 Christian Church, next among the Oriental Churches in importance 
 after the Greek Church. The services of the Church are still per- 
 formed in the ancient Armenian language, a tongue which the 
 people fondly believe to have been the original speech of the 
 human race. Nine orders of clergy are recognized, the chief of 
 
 *" Turkey, "p. 101.
 
 TURKE Y'S TRIE UTAR Y STA TES AND SUB JECTS. 1 59 
 
 which is the Catholicos, or Patriarch. The principal convent of the 
 Church is at Etchmiadzin, in the Russian province of Erivan, and 
 the patriarch who resides there is recognized as the head of the 
 whole Church, everywhere except in a small district on Lake Yan, 
 which has a patriarch with rival claims to supremacy. Other patri- 
 archs reside at Jerusalem and Constantinople. The Patriarch of 
 Constantinople is the civil head of all the Armenians in Turkey, 
 and is practically independent of the Catholicos at Etchmiadzin, but 
 recognizes an inferiority in rank to him. The Patriarch of Etch- 
 miadzin has immediate jurisdiction of all the Armenians in Russia 
 and Turkey. He is elected by the synod, subject to the approval 
 of the Czar. 
 
 The remains of the ancient prosperity and supremacy of Chris- 
 tianity in Armenia are found all over the country in the shape 
 of the ruins of churches and other ecclesiastical buildings. The 
 numerous changes and conquests to which the country has been 
 subjected have, however, driven the majority of its proper in- 
 habitants away, so that the Armenians are now widely scattered. 
 Wherever they go, however, they carry with them the love of their 
 country, and cherish their religion and literature. Wherever they 
 are found, too, they generally form a respectable part of the popu- 
 lation. They are the merchants of all the interior towns of Turkey 
 and in Persia, and parts of Russia and South-eastern Europe share 
 with the Greeks the trade of the great commercial towns, and have 
 extensive business relations at home and abroad. They often also 
 attain official positions, where they prove to be at least as efficient 
 and faithful as native Turks and Russians ; and it is worthy of 
 note that General Melikoff, the active commander of the Russian 
 forces in Armenia, and General Tergukasoff, who proved himself 
 probably one of the most skillful general officers in, the Russian 
 army, are both Armenians. 
 
 The Armenians have a literature of considerable antiquity, which 
 they prize. They have also made much literary progress recently, 
 and had, at the close of the year 1871, thirteen newspapers, pub- 
 lished at Constantinople. They have received much attention from 
 American Missionary Societies, which have built up flourishing 
 missions and- schools among them at Van, Bitlis, _and Erzerum, in 
 Armenia, and at several points in Asia Minor. 
 
 A branch of the Armenian Church, called the United Armenians, 
 acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope. They are noted for the
 
 160 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 flourishing schools which have been established by the celebrated Or- 
 der of the Mekhitarists, and which have educated some of the best 
 Turkish scholars among the Christians in the Government service. 
 
 The mountains of the south-eastern coast of the Black Sea are 
 inhabited by a people of the Grusian or Georgian stock called the 
 Lasis. They are described by Kasbek* as a people of prepossessing 
 appearance, remarkably neat in their clothing, of considerable in- 
 tellectual development, and as living in much comfort. 
 
 The houses of the common people throughout Armenia are 
 generally earth huts, partly dug out of the sides of the hills, partly 
 consisting of adjoining outside structures of timber, covered wiih a 
 roof of sod. It is a feature of the regions in which this style of 
 building prevails, that while to one looking over the country from 
 certain positions, it will appear quite uninhabited, one coming into it 
 from other directions will find the same spots full of houses and peo- 
 ple. The more wealthy inhabitants live in houses of a better style. 
 
 The Maronites are a sect of Christians in Syria, who acknowledge 
 the authority of the Pope. They number about one hundred and 
 forty thousand persons, are generally farmers, poor, honest, and 
 hospitable. They are governed by a patriarch, whose election is 
 subject to the confirmation of the Pope and bishops. Their priests 
 are allowed to marry, and number about twelve hundred. They 
 have four hundred churches, and about one-half of the two hundred 
 convents of the Lebanon district, in which are from 20,000 to 
 25,000 monks. They have also nunneries, which are built at a 
 distance from the convents, and have no intercourse with them 
 except on the occasion of administering the sacraments. The 
 Maronites speak the Arabic language, and have selections from the 
 Bible and other sacred books in their tongue. These people were 
 united in the former part of the last century as to civil and political 
 government into a community with the Druses. The two sects 
 afterward became separated frpm each other and alienated, and 
 finally hostile. A personal quarrel between Maronites and Druses, 
 in 1859, became the occasion of a war of extermination by the 
 Druses upon the Maronites, which led to the outbreaks of 1860 in 
 Syria, and brought an interference and settlement by foreign 
 powers. Since that time a special Governor has been provided for 
 the Lebanon district. 
 
 The Druses are a people of a peculiar race and religion, numbering 
 
 * Colonel Kasbek, " Three Months in Turkish Grusia."
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS. 161 
 
 in all about seventy thousand persons, who live in the mountains of 
 Syria. They have religious books and methods of worship, which 
 they are not willing to expose to strangers, so that a complete ac- 
 count of their doctrine and usages is hard to obtain. Their govern- 
 ment is partly feudal. They are warlike and courageous, a people 
 of simple and primitive habits, who earn their subsistence by culti- 
 vating the soil and working at mechanical trades. The women oc- 
 cupy a comparatively high position, in which their rights are recog- 
 nized and protected; their occupations are weaving and spinning. 
 The man is the husband of one wife. The villages of the Druses 
 are usually built in mountain passes, where they rise in terraces up 
 the sides of the hills. These people form a considerable part of the 
 population, and exercise much influence in the towns at the foot of 
 Mount Hermon. 
 
 The Kurds are a race of Mohammedans who inhabit the large ter- 
 ritory called Kurdistan, which, lying south of Armenia, is mostly 
 included in Turkey, but partly in Persia. Their numbers are vari- 
 ously estimated at from eight hundred thousand to three million 
 persons. About one hundred thousand of them are Christians of 
 the i^estorian Church. They have a light complexion, an animated 
 physiognomy, sharp, delicate features, and neat frames ; are good 
 horsemen, skilled in the use of arms, and fond of plunder, although 
 hospitable. They are partly settled and partly nomadic. Their 
 houses are of stone, often furnished with a kind of tower ; besides 
 their homes, they have retreats in the fastnesses of the mount- 
 ains, to which they retire when danger is present in the coun- 
 try. They are divided into numerous tribes, which are often at 
 war with each other, and some of which, especially those in Per- 
 sia, are very wild. They acknowledge the general authority of the 
 Sultan, but will not submit to a close government. Women have 
 a higher position among them than among either the Turks or the 
 Persians. They do not veil themselves, except among the higher 
 classes, and are treated with comparative respect and deference.. 
 The Kurdish costume is like that of the Turks. The men wear a 
 cloak of black goats' hair and a red cap wound with a silk shawl 
 which falls over the shoulders. Travelers give varying accounts of 
 the character of the Kurds, according to the degree of culture or the 
 friendly or hostile moods of the tribes which they meet. The Kurd- 
 ish irregular troops in Armenia have given a very disgraceful ac- 
 count of themselves in the present war. 
 9
 
 1 62 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The most important African tributary of Turkey is Egypt. Egypt 
 proper contains an area of 212,607 square miles, and a population of 
 about five and a quarter million persons. Nubia, which is politi- 
 cally a part of Egypt, though ethnographically distinct, contains a 
 population of about two and one-half millions more. The Khedive 
 has made large additions to the dominions of the country by con- 
 quests along the Upper Nile nearly to the equator, which swell the 
 extent of the territory subject to Egypt to a total of 869,389 square 
 miles, and the population to 16,922,000. Egypt is the most ancient 
 country in the world of which the history survives, the records in- 
 scribed upon its monuments extending back to a period which is 
 reckoned, according to the various methods of computing chronology, 
 at from three thousand to five thousand years before Christ, and far 
 antedating all other existing records, except the books of Moses, 
 and, perhaps, one or two documents recently exhumed from Nine- 
 veh. It was conquered by the Persians 525 B.C., then by Alexander 
 the Great, then by the Romans, 30 B.C. Under the Roman Empire 
 it became an important Christian State, and Alexandria was a noted 
 seat of theological learning and institutions. It was conquered by 
 the Saracens, A.D. 683, and by the Turks in 1517". It has advanced 
 gradually toward independence since Mehemet Ali became Viceroy 
 in 1806. The Khedive is absolute sovereign, subject to the chiefly 
 nominal allegiance which he owes to the Porte, and governs with 
 the assistance of a Council of State, of four military and four civil 
 dignitaries. The revenue of the country was calculated in the offi- 
 cial budget of 1874 at about $49,559,850. It maintains a separate 
 army and navy from those of Turkey. Its commerce is large, but 
 consists, to some extent, of goods carried in transit. The exports 
 for 1873 amounted to $72,500,000, and the imports to $30,000,000. 
 The total debt of the Yiceroyalty as fixed by Messrs. Goschen and 
 Joubert, representing the English and French creditors in 1875-'76, 
 is 76,000,000, or $380,000,000: This large amount of indebtedness 
 has been incurred through extravagance in constructing internal 
 improvements and building up business enterprises which, although 
 they promise to contribute to the future prosperity and resources of 
 the country, impose at present a heavy load upon the Government 
 and the people. The principal work of improvement is the Suez 
 Canal, which has been cut across the Isthmus of Suez, and connects 
 the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The total length of the canal is 
 ninety-two miles ; it has capacity for vessels drawing twenty-five feet
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS. 163 
 
 nine inches of water, and was built at a total cost of $94,393,645. 
 More than thirteen hundred miles of railway have been built in 
 Egypt proper ; the telegraph wires extend over 5,500 miles, and 
 other lines of railway and telegraph are contemplated, which will be 
 pushed into the heart of Africa. A system of irrigation canals has 
 been constructed, which involved the removal of sixty-five per cent, 
 more material than the Suez Canal. Great harbor works have been 
 begun at Alexandria, which will cost when completed more than ten 
 millions of dollars. In addition to these public works, the Khedive has 
 built sugar refineries and cotton manufactories and numerous palaces 
 and public buildings. Besides the University at Cairo, and the schools 
 connected with the Mosques, which have a reputation co-extensive 
 with the Mohammedan world, but which are not much above the 
 level of other Mohammedan schools, Egypt has a number of schools 
 formed partly after the European model, which are of a better grade 
 and better attended than the similar schools in Turkey. Among 
 them are several special and technical schools ; two girls' schools, 
 formed by the wives of the Khedive; elementary schools, and a 
 school for the blind. Several excellent schools, an academy, and a 
 theological school, the two latter at Sioot, in Upper Egypt, have 
 been established in connection with the Missions of the United Pres- 
 byterian Church of North America. Several schools have been also 
 established by the Roman Catholics, the Greek, Italian, German, 
 and French residents. As a whole, Egypt offers better facilities for 
 education than any other predominantly Mohammedan State. 
 
 The leading races inhabiting Egypt are the Arabs and the Copts. 
 The Arabs are by far the most numerous race, numbering between 
 four and four and one-half millions. The Arabs of the better class 
 in the cities are a courteous people, strict Mohammedans, and fair 
 representatives of the East, as pictured in the "Arabian Nights," 
 many of the scenes of which are laid in Cairo. The rural Arabs, 
 called Fellaheen, or Fellahs, form the chief part of the peasantry, 
 or working people of the country, and are among the most miser- 
 ably situated people on the earth. Their life is one of the meanest 
 drudgery, by which they gain a bare subsistence. They are subject 
 to all sorts of oppression and extortion from the local oflScers, who 
 being instructed to return a certain amount of revenue to the Gov- 
 ernment, collect the amount and their own commissions by force. 
 Flogging with the bastinado to compel the payment of taxes is a 
 regular feature of Egyptian peasant life. It has come down from
 
 164 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 time immemorial, and is more a custom than a sign of real oppres- 
 sion. The Fellah, though he may be perfectly able, prides himself 
 upon refusing to pay the taxes, until he has compelled the collector 
 to administer a certain number of blows to him, and would be 
 ashamed to yield too easily. With all their misery, the Fellahs are 
 a fine, muscular race, well-proportioned, "with fine oval faces, 
 bright, deep-set, black eyes, straight, thick noses, large, but well- 
 formed mouths, full lips, beautiful teeth, broad shoulders, and well- 
 shaped limbs," and are " the most patient, the most home-loving, 
 and withal' the merriest race in the world."* The women have 
 much beauty when young, but wither rapidly after they have passed 
 their teens. Girls are considered marriageable at from twelve to 
 eighteen years of age. The condition of the peasantry appears to 
 be the same now that it was five thousand years ago, and seems to 
 have undergone no change during the whole history of the country, 
 through all its various dynasties. 
 
 The Copts are descendants of the Ancient Egyptians, and until 
 recently spoke a language whose derivation from that of the ancient 
 inhabitants was shown both in its structure and in the form of its 
 written characters. They are Christians, and form a distinct branch 
 of the Christian Church, the Coptic Church. This Church is Mono- 
 physite in doctrine, that is, it ascribes but one nature to Christ, and 
 is similar in its general doctrines and practices to the Abyssinian 
 Church. It is governed by a Patriarch, chosen by itself, and bishops, 
 and possesses an independent translation of the Bible in the Coptic 
 language. The Copts associate readily with the Mohammedans, 
 from whom they are distinguished chiefly by wearing a black turban, 
 and have adopted many Mohammedan customs. As a consequence, 
 they intermarry freely with Mohammedans, and conversions to Is- 
 lamism are easily made, and frequent among them. Thus the purity 
 of their stock has been impaired, and it is probable that a consider- 
 able part of the race is represented among the population who are 
 classed as Arabs. 
 
 The Egyptian Government has employed European and American 
 officers of tested ability in various branches of administrative and 
 practical work, with great advantage to the interests of the country. 
 Some of its native officers have received a good European education. 
 The Minister of War, who is the third son of the Khedive, has 
 
 * McCoan, " Egypt as It Is," (London, 1877).
 
 TURKEY'S TRIBUTARY STATES AND SUBJECTS. 165 
 
 completed a university course, and received tlie degree of D.C.L. 
 from the University of Oxford, in England. 
 
 Tripoli and Barca, with Fezzan, constitute a province lying west 
 of Egypt, and between it and Tunis. The area of the province is 
 about 344,400 square miles, or considerably more than that of the 
 German Empire, but the population will hardly reach a million, of 
 whom all but a few thousand Christians and Jews are Mohammedans. 
 Although the country consists largely of desert, it could easily sup- 
 port a much greater population. A fraction of the province, called 
 Cyoenaica, contained in ancient times as many inhabitants as the 
 whole now has. Tripoli is wholly subject to Turkey. 
 
 Tunis, the farthest west of the African provinces of Turkey, lies 
 northwest of Tripoli, between that province and Algeria. It has an 
 area of about 45,000 square miles, and a population of between 
 1,200,000 and 2,000,000. The Bey holds his title as a fief of the 
 Sultan, without whose authority he can not declare war, conclude 
 peace, or cede territory, whose name must appear on all the coinage, 
 and to whom he is obliged to pay a tribute, and to furnish a contin- 
 gent of troops when demanded. Practically, except as to the ac- 
 knowledgment of the Sultan's authority, the payment of the tribute 
 and furnishing the contingent, he is independent. The climate of 
 the country is good, the soil is fertile and productive, and trade in 
 a considerable variety of products is active and profitable. The 
 exports in 1876 were valued at $3,292,000, and the imports at 
 $2,274,000. A large part of the trade, as well as of that of Tripoli, 
 is by caravans with the interior of Africa, whence are brought 
 senna, gums, ostrich feathers, gold, and ivory. Forty miles of rail- 
 way are in operation within the province, and French telegraph lines 
 have been extended to various parts of the country, connecting it 
 with Algeria and Europe.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND THE WARS OF 1876. 
 
 Complaints of the Christian Subjects of European Turkey The Insurrection in Her- 
 zegovina and Bosnia Efforts to Suppress it The Great Powers seek to Prevent its 
 Spreading Futile Efforts of Diplomacy Schemes of Reform The Andrassy and 
 Berlin Notes The Massacre of Consuls at Salonica, and the Bulgarian Atrocities- 
 Views and Reports of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Baring, and Eugene Schuyler on the Mas- 
 sacres in Bulgaria Servia and Montenegro make War upon Turkey Details of the 
 Campaign Defeat of the Servians An Armistice Granted Conference of the Pow- 
 ers at Constantinople Lord Salisbury, the British, and Count Chaudordy, the French, 
 Representative at the Conference The Turkish Constitution Plan of the Confer- 
 ence for the Settlement of Difficulties It is Rejected by Turkey The Protocol It 
 is Rejected Conclusion of Peace between Turkey and Servia The Turkish Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 CHRISTIAN tenants in the European provinces of Turkey have fre- 
 quently complained of oppressions inflicted upon them by the Mus- 
 sulman landowners, under whom they hold, and their grievances 
 have often been the occasion of local disturbances. Such complaints 
 were more than usually numerous in Herzegovina and Northern Al- 
 bania in the spring of 1875. Many Christian families at this time 
 fled to Montenegro for security against the hard treatment they were 
 receiving. In the middle of July, the people of two small villages 
 on the Narenta River, near Nevesigne, offered resistance to the col- 
 lection of taxes. The Turkish troops undertook to quell the dis- 
 turbance, but the insurgents defeated them after a fight of fifteen 
 hours, and occupied their position. This success having been gained, 
 others were encouraged to join in the resistance ; the revolt spread to 
 the neighboring towns, and finally involved all of Southern Herze- 
 govina, to the borders of Montenegro. Every advantage gained over 
 the Turks helped to increase the number of the insurgents. The 
 families and cattle of the people were sent to Montenegro and Dal- 
 matia, while the able-bodied men joined the military bands. The 
 bags, or landowners, likewise formed their dependents into bands to 
 oppose the insurgents, arid an irregular war of outrage ^id plunder 
 ensued. The Turkish Government tried to quiet the disturbance by 
 
 sending a commission to inquire into the grievance of the people 
 (166)

 
 
 SERVIAN SOLDIERS.
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 169 
 
 and offer redress, but without success. It then sent a force of troops, 
 which were dispatched by sea and landed, with the permission of 
 the Austrian Government, at the Austrian seaport of Klek, and 
 marched the short remaining distance to the scene of the insurrec- 
 tion. On the 6th of August the insurgents surrounded the Turkish 
 fort at Trebigne, and cut it off from its supplies. The first troops 
 landed at Klek were sent to the relief of this place, which they ef- 
 fected, defeating and dispersing the insurgents on the 20th of Au- 
 gust, and clearing the way to Mostar. 
 
 In the meantime, the insurrection had spread to Bosnia. It broke 
 out at Banialuka, in the northern part of that Yilayet, on the 16th 
 of August. Some mounted Turks had ridden through this town and 
 killed a number of Christian workmen while quietly attending to 
 their business. The complaints of the friends of the murdered men 
 before the magistrates not having been attended to, an excitement 
 arose over the affair, which led to an open conflict between the Mo- 
 hammedans and Christians in the streets of the town. The Chris- 
 tians were beaten, and fled to the nearest towns for safety. Bands 
 of Bosnians were immediately formed for resistance at various 
 points. Their proceedings were, however, for several months con- 
 ducted without any energy, and with no fixed plan. 
 
 Immediately on the occurrence of the outbreak in Herzegovina, 
 the Governments of Germany, Austria, and .Russia, after consulta- 
 tion with each other, notified Turkey that she must suppress the 
 insurrection at once ; when the movement extended to Bosnia, they 
 offered their friendly offices to the Porte, stipulating, however, that 
 concessions to the wants of the Christian population would be essen- 
 tial to an effective pacification. The Porte at first declined this 
 offer ; but France and Italy afterward joined in it, and on the 22d 
 of September the Ambassadors of the five powers proposed that the 
 Consuls of their respective Governments should go into the insurgent 
 districts and confer directly with the chiefs of the insurrection 
 respecting a cessation of hostilities. The Porte assented to this 
 proposition, and named Server Pasha as its representative to attend 
 the conference. The meeting was to be held at Mostar, on the 3d 
 of September. The Consuls of the five Western Powers and the: 
 Turkish representative attended punctually, but not an insurgent 
 was present. The chiefs had previously held a consultation on the 
 27th of August, at the cloister of Kosierovo, and had resolved upon 
 a better organization of the insurrection, and had decided, as to the
 
 I/O 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 proposals of the Consuls, that they would listen to them, but avoid 
 giving any definite answer to them. 
 
 The chiefs who participated in this council were Liubibratish, 
 who was at that time the recognized head of the movement ; Lazar 
 Sotchitza, Luka Petkovitch, Bozevitch (an Albanian), and Peko 
 Paulovitch (a Montenegrin), who subsequently displaced Liubibratish 
 as leader. The Consuls having failed to bring the insurgents to a 
 conference, next agreed to separate into groups and visit the chiefs 
 at their places of resort. One group consisting of the Consuls of 
 Russia, France, and England was to go to Nevesigne, while the 
 other group consisting of the Consuls of Germany, Austria-Hun- 
 gary, and Italy should go to Trebigne, the Turkish agent attach- 
 ing himself to either group as circumstances should demand. Sev- 
 eral conferences were held without result. The insurgents insisted 
 upon a suspension of hostilities, arid refused to take part in any con- 
 ference in which a representative of Turkey participated. At the 
 end of September the Consuls returned to Mostar, where they were 
 instructed to remain and await the development of events. Server 
 Pasha was instructed by the Porte to receive courteously all the 
 communications which they might make to him, but to enter into 
 no engagements which might commit his Government. Through 
 September and the succeeding months of the fall, till the closing 
 in of the winter, the insurgents harassed the Turkish troops con- 
 tinually, attacking them at difficult points along the paths of the 
 mountains and forests, surprising their convoys and capturing or 
 destroying their provisions and animals. A brilliant surprise in- 
 flicted upon the Turks by Peko and Liubibratish with two thousand 
 insurgents at Prapatnitza in the latter part of September was fol- 
 lowed by a considerable addition to the strength of the insurrection 
 from Bosnia. 
 
 Another event of a different character added to its force. The 
 Turks had promised immunity to those who had participated in the 
 insurrection who should return to their homes. A number of 
 refugees, relying upon the assurances thus given, returned early in 
 October from Dalmatia and Montenegro to Papovopolie, where they 
 were arrested as rebels and executed. 
 
 On the 1st of October the Turks had in the insurrectionary dis- 
 tricts and on the borders of Servia nearly 100,000 men, of whom 
 16,000 regular troops were in Herzegovina, while the insurrection- 
 ary forces numbered not more than between 10,000 and 14,000 men.
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. iji 
 
 Nevertheless, the movements of the insurgents were nearly always 
 successful. The country was a difficult one and strange to the 
 Turks, while the Herzegovinians were familiar with its ways and 
 managed their movements with skill. 
 
 On the llth of October Shevket Pasha marched from Trebigne 
 with a brigade of Turks against the insurrectionist position on the 
 Zubtchi. He met a force of 2,000 insurgents near Grab on the 13th, 
 defeated them and occupied their position, but was not able to pur- 
 sue them, and returned to Trebigne. At the close of October, 
 Peko Paulovitch and Sotchitza with 5,000 men held the road be- 
 tween Goranitchka and Piva, while 3,000 insurgents at the Duga 
 Pass controlled the communications of the fort at Nicsic. Rauf 
 Pasha, who had been appointed to the command of the troops in 
 Herzegovina, dispatched Shevket Pasha with about 5,000 men to 
 the relief of Goranitchka. This expedition was repulsed in the 
 engagements of the 10th and llth of November, and Rauf Pasha 
 w nt in person to the relief of the fortress. He surprised the in- 
 surgents at the cloister of Piva, and accomplished his purpose. The 
 relief of Nicsic next engaged attention. It was effected at the cost 
 of hard fighting by a combined operation, in which Rauf Pasha 
 marched up through the south end of the Duga Pass while Selim 
 Pasha pressed down from the north end. "Winter set in about the 
 middle of December, and all important military movements were 
 suspended. 
 
 Political discussions in Servia centered around the questions which 
 grew out of the relations of the country to Turkey. The party of 
 Young Servia kept up a constant agitation for the union of the 
 Serbs and their kindred stems for war against Turkey, and the 
 erection of a great Servian Kingdom, and was very strong, both in 
 the Skupstchina and among the people. Prince Milan recognized 
 the weakness of his country as compared with a great power like 
 Turkey, and believed that the policy advised by the Young Servians 
 would be disastrous and destructive of the best interests of the 
 State, if not of its existence. He therefore favored a policy of 
 peace. His career was made very uncomfortable by the hostility 
 to his views of the agitators for war among the people, in the 
 Skupstchina, and even in his cabinet, and. was troubled by move- 
 ments to displace him and set up another prince, supposed to be 
 more ready to yield to the views of the war party. At the breaking 
 out of the Herzegovinian insurrection in July, 1875, the conservative
 
 1 72 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ministry of Stephanovitch was in power, but could not command a 
 majority in the Skupstcbina. The prince dissolved the Assembly. 
 The new elections resulted adversely to the ministry, and they 
 offered their resignations on the 16th of August. Prince Milan 
 requested them to remain in office until the Assembly should meet. 
 The Skupstchina was opened at Kraguyevatz on the 28th of 
 August, with a majority decidedly hostile to the ministry. A new 
 ministry was appointed from the national party, with Ristitch at 
 its head. Prince Milan delivered an address to the Assembly on the 
 10th of September, in which he described the situation of Servia in 
 the existing trouble as a hard one, and complained of the moving 
 of Turkish troops on the frontiers, but expressed the hope that good 
 results would follow the conferences of the Porte with the Western 
 Powers. A circular, issued by the ministry to the provincial 
 officers, ordered them to prevent all acts which might disturb the 
 friendly relations of Servia with the Porte. The Skupstchina voted 
 a reply to the address of the Prince, promising him all the means 
 necessary to protect the liberties of the people and the security of 
 the country, and speaking of the possibility of war as something to 
 be contemplated only in case it should be necessary for the national 
 defense. On the 28th of September, the Skupstchina, in secret 
 session, granted the ministry a credit for making precautionary 
 military preparations. The next day the Skupstchina was ad- 
 journed by the Prince to Belgrade. The ministry were very ab- 
 ruptly dismissed a few days afterward. Prince Milan, meeting 
 the members of his cabinet in the ministerial chamber, complained 
 that they were inciting the country to war, and desired that they 
 should be more prudent. Minister Ristitch replied, that if the 
 policy of the cabinet was not satisfactory to the Prince, the members 
 would be obliged to tender their resignations. On the next day, 
 October 4th, the Prince came into the palace of the Skupstchina, 
 accompanied only by an adjutant. After exchanging a few words 
 with the ministers, he went alone into the hall of the Skupstchina. 
 The ministers followed him. Milan was received by the chamber 
 with a deep silence, in the midst of w r hich he arose and announced 
 that his ministers had given him their resignations, and he had 
 accepted them. Upon this announcement, the ministers retired 
 from the hall. Milan continued, that having no ministers through 
 whom to communicate with the Skupstchina, he was obliged to 
 address it in person. He then asked the deputies, " Have you con-
 
 ADVANCE SENTINELS.
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 173 
 
 fidence in me ? " The astonished members of the Assembly, after 
 some hesitation, replied, "Yes." The Prince then asked, " Are you 
 for war ? " The deputies responded at once, with enthusiasm, " Yes, 
 yes ! " The Prince replied that he did not desire war, and declared 
 that in view of the situation of the country and the respect due to 
 the views of the great powers, he could not wish for it. His re- 
 marks were received coldly, and the session of the chamber was 
 adjourned. Three days afterward, Prince Milan invited all the 
 deputies to his palace, and calling their names from the list of 
 members of the Skupstchina, put to each singly the question, 
 "Who is for war, who not?" The members, thus appealed to 
 on their individual responsibility, were not as ready for war as they 
 had been in the chamber, and only twelve of them answered in the 
 affirmative, while the rest expressed themselves as opposed to war. 
 The Prince then asked, in the same manner, " "Who is in favor of 
 our giving support to the insurrectionists ? " and the majority like- 
 wise voted against this line of action. A new ministry was ap- 
 pointed on the 9th of October, under the direction of Kalievitch, 
 former President of the Skupstchina. It represented the same 
 political views as the former Ristitch ministry, but its members 
 were personally more agreeable to the Prince. Kalievitch intro- 
 duced his cabinet to the Skupstchina on the 10th, with an address, 
 which embodied a warning against indulging a self-confidence, 
 which the difficulties of the situation and the slender resources of 
 Servia would not justify, but admitted the duty of guarding the 
 honor and interests of the country and preparing for the future ; and 
 uttered the hope that the ministry, supported by the Skuptschina, 
 would be able to say to the Prince : " You have trusted us, and we 
 have not deceived you. Servia and the Servian cause have received 
 from us all that in these times we have been able to give them." 
 This address, and the measures of reform which the minister out- 
 lined, particularly those looking to the improvement of the de- 
 fenses of the country, were received with acclamations. The 
 Skupstchina adjourned on the 30th of October. 
 
 The Turkish Government adopted energetic military measures to 
 prevent the further spread of the Herzegovinian insurrection. Be- 
 sides the forces which were kept in constant activity in Herzegovina, 
 and added to as often as was necessary, it stationed large detach- 
 ments throughout Bosnia, and put a formidable corps of observation 
 along the Servian frontier. The presence of this latter body added
 
 174 THE IV AR IN THE EAST. 
 
 to the warlike excitement in Servia, helped to protract it, in- 
 creased the difficulties which Prince Milan had to encounter in pre- 
 serving his policy of peace, and called for the presence of bodies of 
 Servian troops on the other side of the line. These troops on both 
 sides were withdrawn in November. 
 
 The Porte tried also to satisfy the insurrectionists by measures of 
 conciliation. It made many pleasant promises and offered several 
 fair-seeming schemes of reform, but these offerings failed to pro- 
 duce any perceptible effect ; they rather received the contempt of 
 the insurgents, because they had become habituated to regard it as 
 an established custom with the Porte to make promises which it 
 would fail to see executed. 
 
 On the first of September the Sultan issued a firman to the Gov- 
 ernors-General of the provinces, admonishing them to see that the 
 laws were fully and promptly executed, and ordering the impartial 
 trial of all offenders, so that all the subjects of the Porte without 
 distinction might enjoy the greatest security and justice. On the 
 second of October an Trade" was issued providing for the relief of 
 the poorer farmers from one-fourth of the tithes which had been 
 recently imposed, and from the arrears of taxes up to the financial 
 year 1873-'74:. It also projected a scheme for the representation 
 of the people in the government of the vilayets by a General As- 
 sembly of deputies from every district, which should meet once a 
 year to discuss concerns of public interest, and should have consider- 
 ation of matters relating to the imposition of taxes and the appro- 
 priation of the revenues. Deputations from these annual assemblies, 
 consisting of persons selected by the Sultan for that purpose, should 
 go from time to time to Constantinople to present directly to the 
 Porte the wishes of the people. 
 
 On the fourteenth of December the Sultan issued an Irade insti- 
 tuting reforms not only for Herzegovina and Bosnia, but for the 
 whole Empire. It contained provisions relating to the election of 
 judges and administrative officers by all subjects of the Porte with- 
 out distinction ; for the transfer of lawsuits to the civil courts, and 
 measures to prevent arbitrary collection of taxes ; to reform the titles 
 to real estate, and restrict the exaction of services for public works ; 
 it assured to the people of all religions, and the heads of all relig- 
 ious organizations, the right to the free exercise of their respective 
 religions and ecclesiastical functions ; guaranteed privileges for 
 the foundation of schools, and declared all public offices open to
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 175 
 
 non-Mohammedan subjects ; graduated the amount of the fee for 
 exemption from military duty, and secured the right of holding 
 real estate to all non-Mohammedan subjects, together with respect 
 for testamentary provisions. 
 
 The three Imperial powers Russia, Austria, and Germany, who 
 had long since formed a convention and agreed to act in concert in 
 affairs relating to Turkey had become very anxious to prevent 
 a reopening of the Eastern Question, which was now threatened 
 by the progress of the Herzegovinian insurrection and the grow- 
 ing excitement in the tributary States. They agreed, there- 
 fore, that a note, formally expressing their views as to what meas- 
 ures were necessary for the pacification of the Turkish Empire, and 
 for the security of civilization, should be formally drawn up in their 
 name and presented to the Porte. The framing of this note was 
 entrusted to the Austrian Prime Minister, Count Andrassy. Hence 
 it is commonly known as the Andrassy note. 
 
 The Andrassy note, which is a very long and elaborate document, 
 began by relating the efforts which the European Governments had 
 made for the restoration of peace in the disaffected districts, and the 
 pains which they had taken at the same time to avoid the appear- 
 ance of an interference in Turkish affairs. It referred to the re- 
 forms promised in the Irades of the 2d of October and the 14th of 
 December, as embodying good principles, but as requiring effective 
 administration to render them of practical value, and declared that 
 they would be useless until the country should have been first paci- 
 fied. It then detailed the complaints of the Christian inhabitants 
 of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and named the measures which it was 
 necessary to make of effect in those provinces before the hope of a 
 valid peace could be realized, viz : (1). Complete freedom of relig- 
 ion ; (2). Abolition of the farming of the taxes ; (3). A law guaran- 
 teeing that the revenue from the direct taxes of Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina should be applied for the good of the provinces under the 
 control of boards constituted in the sense of the firman of Decem- 
 ber 14th ; (4). The creation of a special commission, composed in 
 equal numbers of Christians and Mohammedans, to superintend the 
 execution of the reforms proposed by the powers as well as those 
 which had been promised by the Porte ; (5). The improvement of 
 the agrarial condition of the rural population. The note reminded 
 the Turkish Government that it had not succeeded in putting down 
 the insurrection by arms, and expressed the general conviction en-
 
 176 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 tertained by Christians that the coming spring would reinforce it ; 
 that Bulgaria and Crete would increase the movement, and Servia 
 and Montenegro would be drawn into it. The task of the powers 
 who wished to preserve the general peace had become difficult under 
 these complications. They could not secure peace by enjoining the 
 governments of the principalities, or by pointing to the promises of 
 the Porte, for these promises had been broken so often that nobody 
 would longer regard them ; but if they could point to indisputable, 
 practical reforms, in actual operation, their task would be greatly 
 simplified. 
 
 The Andrassy note was completed early in November, 1875, 
 was communicated to all of the great Western Powers, and received 
 their approval. It was not, however, formally delivered to the Turk- 
 ish Government for several weeks, Reshid Pasha, the Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs, asking indulgence under various pretexts. The 
 threatening attitude of Servia and Montenegro was pleaded as offer- 
 ing an impediment to the action demanded in the note ; this was re- 
 moved by the withdrawal of the forces of both sides, from the Ser- 
 vian frontiers. Then the Irade of the 14th of December provided 
 for the introduction of some of the reforms indicated, and the note 
 had to be revised and changed to meet the new situation thus created, 
 and again approved by all the powers ; so that it was not till the 
 31st of January, 1876, that Count Zichy, the Austrian Ambassador 
 at Constantinople, was able finally to place it in the hands of Reshid 
 Pasha. The Ambassadors of England, Germany, France, Italy, and 
 Russia informed the Turkish Minister that their Governments sup- 
 ported the Austrian propositions in all of their points. A few days 
 afterward the Ambassadors were informed that a new firman insti- 
 tuting reforms, was in preparation for Bosnia and Herzegovina. 
 This document appeared on the llth, and ordered the immediate in- 
 stitution in the insurgent districts of complete liberty of worship ; 
 reform in the system of taxation ; the sale of waste lands to needy 
 inhabitants on easy terms of payment; the institution of mixed 
 commissions in the capitals of Bosnia and Herzegovina to insure the 
 prompt execution of reforms ; and an increase in the sums applied 
 to works of public utility in proportions to be fixed by the mixed 
 commissions. It also offered a general amnesty to all disaffected in- 
 habitants who would return within four weeks to their obedience. 
 The Government further promised to have the houses and churches 
 of the returning refugees, which had been destroyed, rebuilt, and to
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 177 
 
 help those who should return to a new start in business. The answer 
 of the Porte to the Andrassy note was delivered to Count Zichy on 
 the 20th of February. It promised to give immediate attention to 
 the introduction of the measures suggested by the powers as to four 
 of the points, and as soon as possible as to the other. The position 
 of the Turkish Government on this subject was also fully explained 
 in a circular note which it addressed to its Ambassadors at the Euro- 
 pean Courts, calling their attention to the provisions of the Trade of 
 the llth, as embodying most of the principles declared in the An- 
 drassy note. The application of the direct taxes to meet the require- 
 ments of the provinces, demanded by the powers, was mentioned as 
 involving the difficulty that it could not be brought into harmony with 
 the general system of administering the Turkish finances, but the 
 Government would endeavor to make a satisfactory adjustment of 
 that point also. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1876, Mukhtar Pasha succeeded Raiif 
 Pasha, as commander of the Turkish forces in Herzegovina, and, 
 established his headquarters at Trebigne. The winter's rest was dis- 
 turbed only by a few unimportant engagements, when the insurgents 
 attacked the provision-trains of the Turks, or surprised their detach- 
 ments as they struggled along the rough bridle-paths which serve as 
 substitutes for roads in that poorly improved region. Some acces- 
 sions of Montenegrins came to the insurgents at Zubtchi and Ban- 
 yani, about the middle of January. Liubibratish was displaced from 
 the leadership of the insurrection, and the position was formally 
 assumed by Peko Paulovitch. This officer undertook to give a mili- 
 tary organization to the insurgent forces. He arranged his force 
 into detachments, over each of which he placed a chief, who should 
 be responsible for the strict execution of his orders. Attached to 
 his personal staff were the Archimandite Melentitch Perovitch and 
 the Catholic Cure Don Juan Musich. His subaltern commanders 
 were Milcevitch, Tripko Kikatovitch, Sava Angelijtch, Stolan Babitch, 
 Luka Petkovitch, and Maksim Bacevitch. The band of Lazar So- 
 tchitza continued independent. 
 
 The most noteworthy of the engagements during the winter was a 
 sharp action which took place at Muratovizza on the 16th of March, 
 when five battalions of Turks, going to provision the fortress of 
 Goransko, were attacked by 1,150 insurgents under Peko Paulovitch, 
 defeated, and pursued with considerable loss. 
 
 During the winter another attempt was made by the European
 
 178 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Consuls, who had remained at Mostar ever since the failure of their 
 summer conferences, to negotiate with the insurgents for a suspen- 
 sion of hostilities. By advice of their Governments, they invited the 
 Herzegovinian leaders, February 9th, to confer for a restoration of 
 peace on the basis of the propositions of the Andrassy note. But the 
 insurgents had lost all faith in diplomatic negotiations as well as in 
 Turkish promises of reforms, as means of bettering the condition of 
 their country, and refused to consider these terms. The leaders met 
 at the Suttorina, February 26th, and issued a manifesto declaring 
 their views on the subject. No reforms, they said, would be of any 
 effect, for the Mohammedans would baffle every attempt that could 
 be made in that direction, and would revolt if an effective effort were 
 made ; they sought freedom and independence ; for these they would 
 fight, not negotiate, and would not lay down their arms till they were 
 gained, and Herzegovina was granted independence. 
 
 Baron Kodich, Governor of Dalmatia, on behalf of the Austrian 
 Government, visited both the Turks and the insurgents in the inter- 
 ests of peace. The Turks were ready to consider the subject of a sus- 
 pension of hostilities, if the provisioning of the garrison at Nicsic 
 was secured. The insurgents firmly maintained the position they 
 had assumed. Deputations of refugees declared that they would re- 
 sist to the last, and that their families should starve in other coun- 
 tries rather than be again subjected to abuse at home ; and the chiefs 
 themselves communicated their ultimatum in the beginning of April. 
 They demanded that all the Turkish troops in Herzegovina should 
 be concentrated at six specified posts ; that the Christians and insur- 
 gents should be allowed to keep their arms till the Mohammedans 
 were disarmed ; that provisions should be furnished the people to 
 last them till the next harvest ; that the collection of the taxes should 
 be suspended for three years ; that the Christians should have one- 
 third of the lands held by the rayahs on lease, awarded to them ; mat 
 the reforms proposed in the Andrassy note should be immediately and 
 fully carried out in the peaceful parts of the country, so that it could 
 be seen how the Mohammedans would act with reference to them ; 
 and that a commission of the European powers should be established 
 to watch the introduction of the reforms. An informal suspension 
 of hostilities ensued from the 28th of March to the 10th of April. 
 
 At the opening of the campaign in the spring of 1876, the in- 
 surgents were able to enter the field with a force recruited from the 
 Slavic peoples abroad, improved in organization, and well armed.
 
 MR. EUGENE SCHUYLER.
 
 MR. WALTER BARING.
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. jgi 
 
 The Turks had, including the garrisons of the forts, about 22,000 
 men fit for action. The insurgents had cut off the communication 
 of ISTicsic with Montenegro whence it had heen provisioned during 
 the winter, and the supplies of its garrison had run out. Mukhtar 
 Pasha tried twice to relieve it, and succeeded on the second attempt, 
 only after four days of hard fighting and with heavy losses. The 
 other garrisons were supplied with less trouble, for the insurgents 
 had given all their attention to Nicsic, and that port was provisioned 
 again in June without resistance. 
 
 The Servian Government during the earlier months of 1876 
 maintained an attitude of quiet observation, in the midst of popular 
 agitations in favor of war. The ministry favored a peaceful policy ; 
 the Skupstchina was inclined toward war. As measures of pre- 
 caution, a sum was voted for the equipment of the army, and 
 a levy of men fit for service was ordered. The expressions of 
 Prince Milan to the Austrian representative at Belgrade, were, how- 
 ever, of a peaceful term. The public excitement continued to 
 grow. The capital was illuminated on the 14th of March in honor 
 of the Herzegovinian victory at Muratovizza. Liubibratish, the 
 former leader of the insurgents, had organized a force of various 
 nationalities in aid of the insurrection, which was captured in 
 March by Austrian oificers on the territory of Dalmatia. With it 
 was captured the Fraulein Ma'rkus, a Dutch lady, who, inspired with 
 enthusiasm for the Slavic cause, had given it money and was now 
 giving it her personal assistance. On her release she went to 
 Belgrade and was received there with an ovation. A few days 
 afterward (April 9th) a warlike demonstration was given by the 
 Omladina in the shape of a charivari to the Austrian representative 
 at Belgrade, for which the Austrian Government demanded and 
 received an apology. Finally, the Prince was forced, in May, to 
 appoint a new ministry more in sympathy with the public feeling. 
 This ministry was called after two of its most prominent members, 
 the Ristitch-Gruiteh Ministry. 
 
 The massacre of the French and German Consuls by a Moham- 
 medan mob at Salonica on the 7th of May greatly increased the 
 excitement among the Christian population of Turkey, and led ta 
 renewed protests by the Great Powers. The riot at Salonica was 
 occasioned by the appearance at the railway station of a young 
 Bulgarian girl whom Emin Effendi, a prominent Turk of the town> 
 had procured for his harem. The mother of the girl had followed
 
 1 82 THE WAR IN THE EAST. ' 
 
 her on the same train without either knowing that they were so 
 near. Their surprise and demonstrations on meeting each other 
 attracted the attention of the crowd, which was mostly composed 
 of Christians, and the cry was raised that the girl had been forced 
 to become a Mohammedan and enter Emiri Effendi's harem. In the 
 tumult which ensued, an empty carnage belonging to the American 
 Consul, which was standing by the station, was seized by the Chris- 
 tians, and the girl was put into it and carried off to a place of safety. 
 The Mohammedans were indignant, and the streets were filled all 
 the afternoon and the next morning with crowds calling for ven- 
 geance for the insult that had been offered to Islam. The French 
 Consul, apprehending riot, went, accompanied by the German Con- 
 sul, who was his brother-in-law, to call upon Emin Effendi to induce 
 him to use his influence to restore order. The Effendi was at the 
 Mosque, and the Consuls sought him there. Their appearance in 
 the sacred place excited the mob to ferocity. The higher Turks 
 tried to protect them without avail. They were fallen upon and 
 savagely murdered. The Western Governments took the matter 
 up immediately and demanded satisfaction for the outrage, and sup- 
 ported their demand by the dispatch of war vessels to the spot. 
 The most prominent participants in the murders were punished, 
 and an indemnify was paid to the families of the murdered Consuls. 
 
 Attention had by this time become painfully directed to the un- 
 happy situation of the Bulgarian people. Manifestations of their 
 discontent appeared in February, in the shape of demands for relief 
 from the burdens imposed upon landholders, supported in a few 
 places by the organization of bands of insurgents. Military forces, 
 composed partly of regular troops, but mostly of Circassians and 
 Bashi-Bazouks, were dispatched to the province to repress these 
 manifestations. The irresponsible irregular soldiery, who are sub- 
 ject to only the loosest discipline, began a career of plunder, out- 
 rage, and destruction, which has few, if any, parallels in the annals 
 of civilized warfare. They made no distinction between orderly 
 and disorderly inhabitants, spared no age nor either sex, but exer- 
 cised violence upon all according to their caprice. The stories that 
 were told of the rapine, murders, burning of houses and villages, 
 outrages upon women, and abductions of girls, were almost incredi- 
 ble, and were so considered and not believed at first, but they have 
 been confirmed in their worst details by unimpeachable testimony. 
 
 These atrocities excited universal astonishment and horror when
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 183 
 
 their full extent and nature had been made known. Mr. W. E. 
 Gladstone, late Premier of the British Cabinet, was prompted by 
 them to write a pamphlet full of burning denunciation of the ad- 
 ministration in power in Great Britain, for its attempt to palliate 
 the enormity of the offenses and its toleration of the Turkish Gov- 
 ernment, which, knowing that they had been committed, had not 
 taken efficient measures to bring the perpetrators of them to justice. 
 In this pamphlet, he pronounced them "the basest and blackest 
 outrages upon record within the present century, if not within the 
 memory of man," and characterized them as " crimes and outrages 
 so vast in scale as to exceed all modern example, and so unutterably 
 vile as well as fierce in character, that it pains the power of heart to 
 conceive, and of tongue and pen adequately to describe them." 
 
 Mr. Gladstone's denunciations are justified by the testimony of 
 responsible persons who visited the scenes of the outrages, ques- 
 tioned the friends of the victims, and looked upon the wasted 
 villages. Among these persons were missionaries of the American 
 Board, the correspondent of the London Daily JVews, and Mr. 
 Eugene Schuyler, United States Secretary of Legation at Constan- 
 tinople. A strip of country south of the Balkan Mountains, about 
 thirty miles wide and one hundred miles long, was wholly or par- 
 tially desolated, and in this district seventy towns were given up 
 to massacre, plunder, and fire. The number of persons who were 
 murdered, in most cases with fiendish brutality, was estimated by 
 Mr. Baring, an agent sent by the British Minister at Constantinople, 
 to make inquiry on the subject, at twelve thousand, and by Mr. 
 Eugene Schuyler at fifteen thousand at " the lowest." 
 
 Four days were spent in ravaging Panijurishta, or Otliikloi, 
 which was regarded as the focus of the insurrection. The town was 
 filled with inhabitants of the neighboring towns, whose houses had 
 been already destroyed, and who had taken refuge here. Twenty- 
 nine hundred people were slain, of whom two thousand were 
 refugees from the other towns, and nine hundred were inhabitants 
 of Panijurishta. About one-third of the place was destroyed. The 
 churches were desecrated in every manner that sacrilegious in- 
 genuity could suggest. An old blind man, who had earned the 
 good-will of the whole town, was shut up in his house and burned ; 
 another man was deprived of his eyes ; and a third was first mu- 
 tilated upon the altar, then covered with petroleum, and burned. 
 " The sinners," says a correspondent of the Cologne Gazette, relating
 
 1 84 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the story of the outrage, " whom Dante places in hell along with 
 his old teacher, Buenetto Latini, were true saints, as compared with 
 the Turkish hordes of Panijurishta." Similar scenes were enacted, 
 with such differences in details as might be occasioned by differences 
 in the size and situation of the towns, through the whole of the 
 ravaged district. The culminating outrages were committed at 
 Batak, a town of about nine thousand inhabitants, situated in the 
 Rhodope Mountains, about nine hours' journey south of Tatar- 
 Bazardjik. It was one of the most prosperous and enterprising 
 towns of the region, and was engaged in extensive manufacturing 
 industries. The Bashi-Bazouks came to this place on the 12th of 
 May, and spent five days in their work of devastation. Mr. 
 Djorbajik, a chief officer of the town, was impaled on a spit, and 
 roasted alive ; women were stripped, deprived of their jewels, out- 
 raged, and all were killed. Finally the town was burned and 
 utterly destroyed, and its inhabitants given to wholesale massacre, 
 which only twelve hundred succeeded in escaping. 
 
 This place was visited by the correspondent of the London Daily 
 News, with Mr. Schuyler, on the 18th of August, three months 
 after the massacre took place. The correspondent describes the 
 scene as of the most horrible character. Approaching the town the 
 party found skulls, of which the writer of the account counted one 
 hundred from the saddle, all of women and children. " We en- 
 tered the town," he continues, "on every side were skulls and 
 skeletons charred among the ruins, or lying entire where they fell 
 in their clothing. There were skeletons of girls and women with 
 long brown hair hanging to the skulls. We approached the church. 
 There these remains were more frequent, until the ground was 
 literally covered with skeletons, skulls, and putrefying bodies in 
 clothing. Between the church and the school there were heaps. . . 
 . . The whole church-yard, for three feet deep, was festering with 
 
 dead bodies partly covered I saw many hands, heads, and 
 
 feet of children of three years of age, and girls with heads cov- 
 ered with beautiful hair. The church was still new There 
 
 were three thousand bodies in the church-yard and church 
 
 In the school, a fine building, two hundred women and children 
 had been burned alive. All over the town there were the same 
 scenes." The skulls were all separated from the bodies, showing 
 that the women and girls had been beheaded. 
 
 Similar outrages, but less heinous, were committed north of the
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 185 
 
 Balkans, near Timova and Gabrova, where it was estimated that 
 three thousand Bulgarians were murdered. An attempt was made 
 to palliate the outrages on the ground that previous atrocities had 
 been committed by Bulgarians. This is contradicted by Mr. Schuy- 
 ler, who says in his report: "I have carefully investigated this 
 point, and arn unable to find that the Bulgarians committed any 
 atrocities, or any act which deserves that name. -I have vainly 
 tried to obtain from the Turkish officials a list of such outrages. 
 .... ~No Turkish women or children were killed in cold blood. 
 No Mussulman women were violated. No purely Turkish village 
 was attacked or burned. No Mussulman's home was pillaged. No 
 mosque was desecrated or destroyed." 
 
 Mr. Walter Baring was sent to Adrianople in July, to investigate 
 the truth of the reports of the insurrection and outrages, and ascer- 
 tain their exact extent. His report, which was published on the 
 19th of September, is doubtless as favorable to the Turks as adher- 
 ence to the truth would allow it to be, but it in no way mitigates 
 the horror excited by the accounts from which we have just quoted, 
 Mr. Baring confirmed the assertion that a real insurrection had been 
 planned, and stated that the schoolmasters, many of whom had been 
 educated in Russia and were Pan-Slavists, and the priests were the 
 leading movers in it. A meeting of eighty agitators had been held 
 at Otlukoi on the 31st of March, at which the general rising was 
 appointed for the 13th of May. Their plan was to destroy as much 
 of the railroad as possible ; burn Adrianople, Philippopolis, Sofia, 
 Tatar-Bazardjik, and several other places, and occupy others ; attack 
 the Turkish and mixed villages, and kill all Mussulmans who resisted 
 and take their property, and to force all the Bulgarians into the in- 
 surrection. None of this was done, for the movement was sup- 
 pressed, and the massacres were perpetrated before the time ap- 
 pointed for the plans to be carried into effect. "No sooner," says 
 Mr. Baring, " did the regular troops appear on the scene than the 
 insurrection was at an end, and much bloodshed and useless destruc- 
 tion of property would have been spared had they only been des- 
 patched somewhat earlier." After describing the scene at Batak in 
 nearly the same terms as were used by the correspondent of the 
 London Daily News, Mr. Baring expressed the belief that the 
 Turkish authorities were not aware, before he visited the place, of 
 the horrors that had been committed there ; for the town was re- 
 mote and difficult of access, and no one had gone there " who was
 
 1 86 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 likely to give the authorities a faithful account of what he saw." 
 Finally, in summing up the evidence, Mr. Baring was constrained 
 to say that " the manner in which the rising was suppressed was in- 
 human in the last degree, fifty innocent persons suffering for every 
 guilty one." The total number of Mussulmans killed during the 
 whole disturbance was about 163. 
 
 A commission was despatched by the Turkish Government to 
 visit the scene of the outrages and investigate their character. It 
 succeeded in making an estimate of the magnitude of the crimes so 
 moderate as to appear ridiculous by the side of the verified accounts 
 of the English and American observers. Tribunals were instituted 
 for the trial of the Bulgarian agitators, numbers of whom were 
 executed. Some of the Bashi-Bazouks and others who participated 
 in the outrage were executed ; but Shevket Pasha, who had com- 
 mand of the district, was continued in high command through the 
 whole of 187T, and Achraet Agha, who commanded the troops at 
 Batak, received the order of the Medjidie. With all its efforts at 
 explanation and its pretenses to do justice, the Porte failed to re- 
 move the evil impression which the cruelties made upon the world, 
 and was not able to disconnect itself fully from the responsibility 
 for them. 
 
 The situation in the disaffected provinces had grown no better, 
 but rather worse. The three great powers who had taken the lead 
 in action with reference to Turkish affairs, decided that a new rep- 
 resentation should be made to the Porte. The Prime Ministers of 
 Russia, Germany, and Austria met at Berlin on the 12th and 13th 
 of May, and agreed upon the memorandum which is known as the 
 Berlin note. This paper set forth that the Porte by accepting the 
 Andrassy note had pledged itself to Europe to carry out its sugges- 
 tions, and that the powers had a right to demand the fulfillment of 
 its pledge. The Sultan had done nothing in this direction, and the 
 massacre at Salonica was attributable to his weakness. An armistice 
 of two months should at once be concluded with the insurgents, at 
 the end of which, if the object sought by the powers were not 
 gained, it would be necessary to consider what effective measures 
 should be taken in the interests of a general peace, and to prevent 
 the development of further difficulties. The note was promptly ap- 
 proved by France and Italy. Great Britain declined to give its 
 sanction, on account of objections to the clause respecting " effective 
 measures."
 
 ABDUL-AZIZ-LATE SULTAN OF TURKEY.
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 189 
 
 The massacre at Salonica was followed by a change in the minis- 
 try at Constantinople. The ostensible head of the new cabinet was 
 Rushdi Pasha, appointed Grand Yizier, but it was largely under the 
 influence of Midhat Pasha, one of the most eminent and able of 
 the Mussulman statesmen, who took a place in the council without a 
 portfolio. Before the end of May the ministry co-operating with 
 the Softas, or students of Mohammedan theology, procured the de- 
 position of Sultan Abdul Aziz. Alleging that the faculties of the 
 Sultan had become disordered, so that he was not only not fit to en- 
 gage in public business, but that his continued rule threatened ruin 
 to the Empire and the Mussulman cause, the conspirators obtained 
 from the Sheik-ul-Islam, the supreme authority in Mohammedan 
 law, a decision that it was lawful to depose him. Armed with this 
 decision, the ministers arrested the Sultan, and took him a prisoner 
 to the Palace of Top Kapu, and afterward to the Palace of Tcher- 
 agan. Murad Effendi, the eldest son of the late Sultan Abdul 
 Medjid, and nephew of the deposed Sultan, the legal heir to the 
 throne, was installed Sultan under the title of Murad Y., on the 
 30th of May. On the morning of the 4th of June, Abdul Aziz 
 was found dead in his chamber in the Palace of Tcheragan. A 
 council of nineteen physicians of different nationalities was called 
 to hold an inquest over him. They decided, unanimously, that he 
 had killed himself by cutting his veins with a pair of scissors. 
 
 The probability of war between Servia and Turkey became eveiy 
 day more strong. The Ristitch-Gruitch ministry were in favor of 
 war, but they hesitated to take the decisive steps, because they saw 
 that the country was not sufficiently prepared for it, and that it lacked 
 the means of making speedy preparations. A decree for the issue of 
 a loan of twelve million francs was issued on the 24th of May. The 
 Kussian General Tchernayeff was appointed a general in the Servian 
 army, with the understanding that he would be the commander-in- 
 chief . On the 26th of May an alliance was concluded with Montene- 
 gro. On the 9th of June the Porte asked what these and other war- 
 like movements meant. The Servians replied that they desired to 
 preserve peace, and had no design of disturbing the integrity of the 
 Porte. They agreed to send a messenger to Constantinople to con- 
 sult with the Porte concerning the demands of the situation. On 
 the 29th of June, the Servian agent in Constantinople presented to- 
 the Porte a demand which Servia and Montenegro had agreed to 
 make, that Turkey should entrust the pacification of Bosnia and the
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Herzegovina to those States, in consideration for which Servia should 
 receive Bosnia and Montenegro, and Herzegovina, they agreeing to 
 render homage and pay tribute to the Porte for those districts, as 
 Servia already did for her own territory. This demand was, of 
 course, refused. Prince Milan went to join the army on the 29th 
 of June. He issued a proclamation to the people, in which he said 
 that he had intended to send an Ambassador to Constantinople to seek 
 .an understanding with the Porte, but that that power had showed, in 
 every way, that it did not wish for an understanding. It had sent 
 troops upon troops to the frontier prepared to enter Servia at any 
 time. Servia must avert this danger, and itself enter the insurgent 
 provinces to restore peace and order. It would respect the religion 
 and integrity of Turkey. On the 2d of July the country was de- 
 clared in a state of siege. 
 
 The Prince of Montenegro also raised the banner of war, and 
 placed himself at the head of his troops for an active campaign on 
 the 2d of July. Montenegro had not taken an open active part 
 against Turkey, during the whole insurrectionary movement, until 
 the alliance with Servia was negotiated in May. The Herzegovinian 
 insurrection had excited a lively sympathy in Montenegro, and the 
 Turks had accused that State of giving it help and encouragement. 
 Nevertheless, the Turks relied upon the Montenegrins to provision 
 their garrison at Nicsic, during the winter of 1S75- V T6, and it was pro- 
 visioned by them from day to day, until its communications were cut 
 off by the insurgents. Early in 1876, the Turkish Yali of Herze- 
 govina had made a vain attempt to induce the Prince of Montenegro 
 to take arms against the insurgents. The Montenegrin declaration 
 of war was based upon the allegations that the Turks had quite block- 
 aded the southern frontier of Montenegro, that they had shown hos- 
 tility to the State, had interrupted its trade, and kept it continually 
 uneasy ; and that it was impossible for them to carry out the reforms 
 which they had promised to introduce in Herzegovina. 
 
 When the war was declared, the .Turks had available, for opera- 
 tions against Servia and Montenegro, a force of about one hundred 
 thousand men. About twenty thousand men were in Herzegovina, 
 north of Montenegro, under Mukhtar Pasha, and between four and 
 five thousand men were posted south of Montenegro. On the Dan- 
 ube were about fifty thousand men, commanded by Eyub Pasha, and 
 including the divisions of Osman Pasha and Fazyl Pasha. Between 
 fourteen and fifteen thousand men were in North-western and South-
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 191 
 
 western Bosnia. Besides all these forces, there were about thirty 
 thousand men about Philippopolis, commanded by Abdul Keriui 
 Pasha, who had been sent up against the Bulgarian insurgents. 
 Large additions were made to these forces, for which even the 
 remote Asiatic corps were drawn upon, as soon as war was de- 
 clared 
 
 The Servian forces were posted in four bodies : The army of the 
 Drina, twenty thousand men, under General Alimpitch ; the army 
 of the Ibar, about twenty thousand men, under General Zach ; the 
 southern army, which was their principal force, about forty-five 
 thousand men, under General Tchernayeff; and the army of the 
 Timok, twenty thousand men, under General Lieshanin. 
 
 The Servian divisions all moved immediately after war was de- 
 clared. Gen. Lieshanin crossed the Timok with six thousand men 
 on the 2d of July, intending to advance against Widin. He was re- 
 pulsed near Karaul with serious losses, and obliged to return. On 
 the next day Osman Pasha crossed into Servia, and forced the Servians 
 to abandon their fortifications on the right bank of the Timok, but 
 was not able to pursue his advantage. 
 
 On the morning of the 3d of July, Gen. Alimpitch crossed the 
 Drina with fifteen battalions, and marched with three columns upon 
 Bielina. He captured the fortifications, but was driven out of the 
 town after having entered it, and compelled to retreat in disorder. 
 He returned to his original position, strengthened his defenses, and 
 pushed forward from day to day, until, finally, after the evacuation 
 of Little Zvornick by the Turks, he gained possession of both banks 
 of the Drina. Gen. Zach crossed the frontier near Javor, on a rough 
 road, very difficult for artillery, to advance upon Sienitza. He met 
 a Turkish force under Mehemet All Pasha, July 6th, was repulsed 
 and obliged to retreat. He was wounded in the engagement, became 
 discouraged in consequence of his defeat, fell sick, and was relieved 
 by Col. Tcholak Antitch. 
 
 Gen. Tchernayeff, of the army of the South, having ordered Col. 
 Milan Ivanovitch to make a demonstration against Nissa as a feint, 
 marched himself, with the larger part of his army, against Ak P#l- 
 anka, which point, with Pirot, he captured on the 6th of July. He 
 had expected to excite a rising among the Bulgarians and receive 
 reinforcements from them. He was disappointed in this, and on the 
 10th of July evacuated Ak Palanka and Pirot, an'd returned to Ser- 
 via. The remainder of July was occupied with movements and
 
 192 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 skirmishes which were unimportant in their nature and had no im- 
 portant results. 
 
 The Montenegrins entered upon their campaign with vigor. The 
 larger part of their little army was massed on the northern frontier, 
 ready to inarch into Herzegovina and co-operate with the insurgents 
 there. A small force was kept near the southern boundary of the 
 State to hold in check the Turkish garrisons in the neighboring 
 towns of Albania. The first operations wore directed against 
 Gatchko and the columns of Selim Pasha. On the llth of July a 
 sharp engagement took place between a part of their force and a 
 command of Selim Pasha's ; on the same day Prince Nicholas occu- 
 pied Stolatz, and another force drove a Turkish command near Kick. 
 The Montenegrins were successful in engagements with Selim Pasha 
 on the 16th and ITth of July, but on the 18th they were attacked 
 by Mukhtar Pasha, with a stronger force, and defeated. Mukhtar 
 Pasha, following them to cut off their retreat, was surprised by them 
 shortly after leaving the cloister of Plana on the 28th. The Bashi- 
 Bazouks were struck with panic and ran away, and some of the 
 regular forces shared their disorder. The Montenegrins, perceiving 
 this, fell upon the Turks with vigor, cut them up severely, and cap- 
 tured Osman Pasha, the commander of one of their columns. 
 Mukhtar Pasha retreated to Trebigne, and called for reinforcements. 
 On the 2d of September he again crossed the Montenegrin frontier 
 and intrenched himself at Saslap, where a Montenegrin force stood 
 opposed to him, but no important engagement took place. 
 
 In the south the Montenegrins had blockaded Medun. Mahmoud 
 Pasha attacked them on the 15th of August and was routed. He 
 was court-martialled and superseded by Dervish Pasha, who, on the 
 6th of September, made an attempt against Rogatzi, on the north 
 bank of the Moratcha. The Montenegrins fell upon his force from 
 their superior positions on the rocks, and routed it with a terrible 
 loss. Another attempt, September llth, against the heights of 
 Welie Brdo, on the right bank of the Zeta, likewise met with dis- 
 aster. 
 
 Toward the end of July the Turks began a combined operation 
 against the line of the Timok, in which were engaged the command 
 of Achmet Eyub Pasha, supported by the divisions of Suleiman 
 Pasha and Osman Pasha. The principal objective points on this 
 line were Gurgussovatz and Saitchar, with their dependent posts. 
 
 On the 28th of July, Osman Pasha made a demonstration against
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 193 
 
 the advanced posts of Gen. Lieshanin, and forced him to retreat 
 to Saitchar. As this place could not long hold out against an earnest 
 attack, it was ordered to be evacuated. The inhabitants removed all 
 of their effects, and left the neighborhood. Gen. Lieshanin retired 
 \vith his forces to the west, and left Saitchar to be occupied by Os- 
 man Pasha on the 6th of August. 
 
 In co-operation with this movement, Hafiz Pasha attacked the 
 Servians at Gramada, and compelled them to withdraw to Gurgus- 
 sovatz, while Suleiman Pasha, crossing into Servia near Pandiralo, 
 obliged Gen. Horvatovitch to abandon his posts on the border and 
 concentrate his force at Tresibaba, south of Gurgussovatz. The two 
 Turkish columns were now joined. Achmet Eyub Pasha took com- 
 mand in person, attacked Tresibaba, drove Horvatovitch into Gur- 
 gussovatz, and compelled him to evacuate that place also on the 6th 
 of August. 
 
 These movements had been made with the view of advancing upon 
 Alexinatz, the ultimate object of the Turkish campaign from Widin. 
 But the Turks had hardly possessed themselves of the two chief 
 points on the line of the Timok than their plans were changed, and 
 it was decided that the advance against Alexinatz should be made 
 from Nissa, on the southern, or Bulgarian Morava. Accordingly, 
 Gurgussovatz and Saitchar were evacuated, and by the 20th of August, 
 Horvatovitch was again in possession of all the posts he had occu- 
 pied near the former place. 
 
 The Turks, having concentrated their forces at Nissa, with Abdul 
 Kerim Pasha in command, began their attacks against Alexinatz on 
 the 19th of August. Six days of hard fighting ensued, till the 24th, 
 which have collectively received the name of the battle of Alexinatz. 
 The Servians fought with vigor, and held all their essential positions. 
 The Turks, having failed to carry their point, and having learned 
 that Horvatovitch was corning up from Gurgussovatz to attack their 
 right flank, fell back exhausted, on the morning of the 25th, upon 
 Katun. The Servian loss in these battles was 1,613 killed and 
 wounded ; that of the Turks was considerably greater, but is not ex- 
 actly known. 
 
 Abdul Kerim Pasha again changed his plans, and determined to 
 gather his army on the left bank of the Morava, extending it further 
 to the west, and going around Alexinatz and Deligrad, to descend 
 the valley on that side. He proceeded to attempt this movement on 
 the 28th of August. Tchernayeff was surprised on the 1st of Sep-
 
 194 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 teinber, and an engagement ensued by which the Servians were com- 
 pelled to retreat in disorder. The Servians would have been placed 
 in great peril, but the Turks, suffering from a shortness of supplies, 
 were obliged to remain quiet while Tchernayeff reorganized his 
 forces. Unimportant engagements occurred on the 7th, 10th, llth, 
 and 13th of September. On the 16th, hostilities were suspended 
 for ten days by the operation of an armistice. 
 
 While the military movements were in progress, changes of much 
 importance had taken place in the Turkish Government, and the 
 condition and relations of the belligerent parties had been made the 
 subject of new negotiations with the Great Powers. The reign of 
 Murad Y. as Sultan was brief and inglorious. The deposition and 
 death of Sultan Abdul Aziz had been followed on the 15th of June 
 by the murder of Hussein Avni, Minister of War, and Reshid 
 Pasha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, while at a cabinet council, to- 
 gether with the Grand Admiral and a retainer of one of the minis- 
 ters, by the assassin Hassan Bey, who was seeking to gratify a per- 
 sonal animosity. In less than three months, Murad proved to be 
 physically and mentally incompetent. He fell into fits of melan- 
 choly and stupor, and was declared incurable. The Sheik-ul-Islam 
 was again consulted, and decided that it was lawful to depose him. 
 He was accordingly deposed on the last day of August. Abdul 
 Hamid, a younger brother of Murad's, the next in the order of suc- 
 cession, was named as the new Sultan, and was girded with the 
 sword of Othman on the 7th of September. He issued an Imperial 
 JIat, or decree, on the 9th of September, confirming the former min- 
 isters and higher officers in their positions, and making the promises 
 of reforms which are customary with the new Sultans of Turkey. 
 Abdul Kerim Pasha having gone to the field to take the command 
 of the army, Halil Redif Pasha was appointed 'Minister of War in 
 his place, and Savfet Pasha was appointed Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs in place of the assassinated Reshid Pasha. 
 
 The Servian Government about this time narrowly escaped being 
 placed in an embarrassing position through the indiscreet action of 
 Gen. Tchernayeff and his officers, who, at a festival given at Deligrad 
 on the 16th of September, proclaimed Prince Milan King of Servia. 
 That more than an after-dinner compliment was intended was assured 
 by the formal publication of the proclamation on the next day to the 
 army, and the reading of an address to King Milan L, Obrenovitch, 
 as " in the name of the heroic Servian people." A deputation was
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 197 
 
 sent up from the army to communicate the proceedings to Milan, 
 and to invite him to accept the honor which they had tendered to 
 him. The act was disquieting to the neighboring powers, and might 
 have been made a serious obstacle to the progress of the negotiations, 
 but that Prince Milan disavowed all complicity with it, and caused 
 the deputation from the army to be sent back before it had reached 
 the capital. 
 
 Skirmishing had been going on through September between the 
 Turks and Servians on the Morava and around Alexinatz. It had 
 hardly been interrupted by the nominal suspension of hostilities 
 between the 16th and 25th. The first important engagement was 
 the battle of Weliki Shiliegovatz, on the 19th of October, one of the 
 results of which was that the Turks got a better position as against 
 the Servians. It was followed on the 23d by another movement, by 
 which the Turks gained positions on the Djunis stream, enabling 
 them to divide the Servian army. The Servians were again de- 
 feated on the 29th of October in the battle of Trubarevo. General 
 Horvatovitch was driven back upon Krushevatz, and General 
 Tchernayeff was compelled to retreat to Deligrad and abandon Alexi- 
 natz. On the next day the Turks fired upon Alexinatz, and were 
 not answered. On the 31st they fired upon it again, and, receiving 
 no reply, entered the place, to find it empty of men and provisions. 
 
 The Servian army was in a desperate condition. It had suffered 
 many defeats and had been compelled to abandon the strongest for- 
 tified position of the country. It had also been disturbed by inter- 
 nal dissensions and quarrels between its Russian and Servian ele- 
 ments, and was so demoralized that it was nearly broken up. The 
 Servian cause seemed certain to be lost, when Russia saved it on 
 the evening of the last day of October, by presenting to the Porte 
 an ultimatum demanding immediate assent to the armistice. 
 
 Quite different was the situation at this time in Montenegro. The 
 suspension of hostilities had been well observed here. On the 9th 
 of October, Mukhtar Pasha made an attack on the Montenegrins, but 
 they turned upon him, drove him out of his intrenchments, and sent 
 him into Turkish territory. The Turks were also defeated in lighter 
 engagements at Liubigne and Bilek. On the southern border of the 
 State, Dervish Pasha undertook to invade the country along the 
 Zeta. He had advanced a short distance when he was attacked at 
 Zagarash, October 16th, and decisively defeated. Fort Medun ca- 
 pitulated on the 21si: of October, and not only was Montenegro free
 
 1 98 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 from the presence of the Turks, but the Montenegrins had gained 
 positions on Turkish territory. 
 
 The progress of events in the Balkan peninsula was observed 
 with interest by the people of all Europe. The Russians sympa- 
 thized deeply in the struggles of their Slavic brethren, and gave 
 them moral and material aid, so that especially in the latter part of 
 the campaign the Servian army was considerably reinforced by 
 Russian recruits, and largely under the command of Russians as 
 officers. The Government took no pains to repress these manifes- 
 tations, but rather encouraged them by public utterances in favor of 
 the Slavic cause, and by making preparations which indicated that 
 war in their behalf was not improbable. In its diplomatic commu- 
 nications it spoke more freely of righting the wrongs of the Slavic 
 people, less of the necessity of preserving peace. The English 
 people were powerfully moved by the reports of the outrages which 
 had been committed in Bosnia and Bulgaria by the unrestrained 
 Turkish soldiery, and made, through the press and public meetings, 
 demonstrative protests against the conciliatory course of their Gov- 
 ernment. The British Government, committed to its traditional 
 policy of preserving the integrity of the Turkish Empire, and oppos- 
 ing whatever might look like aggressive movements by Russia, was 
 slow to support the other powers in their demands upon the Ottoman 
 Government for guarantees of the reforms which it could not be 
 denied were necessary, and was often credited with having suggested 
 to the Porte the ingenious counter -propositions with which it 
 answered every successive demand of the powers and evaded imme- 
 diate decisive action. The other powers professed to regard the 
 questions at issue solely from the point of their own interests, and 
 to favor what would most readily restore and preserve peace, but 
 declined to commit themselves in advance as to what their course 
 would be should matters come to a breach. 
 
 While the summer campaigns were going on in Servia, the powers 
 were trying, at both Belgrade and Constantinople, to arrange a settle- 
 ment. The Servians averred that they were fighting for Slavic 
 freedom, and would accept no other solution. The Porte pleaded 
 that it was preparing, as fast as possible, a scheme for reforms and 
 self-government that would embrace the whole Empire, and could 
 not be hurried. Finally, on the 14th of September, Savfet Pasha 
 communicated the terms on which the Ottoman Government would 
 make peace. They were : That the Prince of Servia should pay
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 199 
 
 homage to the Sultan ; that four fortresses which had been given 
 up to him in 1867 should be again occupied by the Turks ; that the 
 Servian militia should be abolished, and the number of troops 
 allowed for the preservation of order in the interior of the princi- 
 pality limited ; that Servia should return to their homes all the 
 refugees from other provinces within its territory and destroy the 
 fortresses which it had recently built ; that the amount of tribute 
 paid by Servia should be increased so as to cover the interest on a 
 war indemnity ; that the Turkish Government should be allowed to 
 build and operate a railway from Belgrade to Nissa, and that the 
 relations with Montenegro should be the same -as before the war. 
 The powers replied on the 23d, ignoring all the points of the Turkish 
 position, asking self-government for Bosnia and Herzegovina, a sea- 
 port to be given to Montenegro, an improved organization for 
 Bulgaria, with a Christian governor to be appointed by the Porte, 
 and as to Servia, a restoration of the status quo, except that an in- 
 demnity might be charged for the damage occasioned by the war. 
 An informal suspension of hostilities was obtained from the 16th to 
 the 25th of September. 
 
 On the 7th of October the representatives of the powers called 
 for an armistice of six weeks. The Porte responded with a proposi- 
 tion for an armistice of six months, and at the same time communi- 
 cated the draft of a Constitution which had been prepared for the 
 whole Empire, embodying the principles and more important pro- 
 visions of the most liberal constitutions of European States, together 
 with laws which had been framed for the better organization of the 
 civil administrations and courts of justice, and for the more equitable 
 collection of taxes in the provinces. 
 
 General Ignatieff, the Russian Ambassador at the Porte, had re- 
 turned to Constantinople after an absence of several weeks, and 
 renewed the demand of his Government for a concession of the 
 autonomy of the provinces and the introduction of the promised 
 reforms, and for an armistice, during which the reforms should be 
 carried into execution. While he was waiting for the answer of the 
 Sultan, the Turkish victories at Trubarevo had placed the Servian 
 army in imminent peril. He was then instructed by his Government 
 to present the Russian ultimatum. He had an interview with 
 Savfet Pasha on the afternoon of the 31st of October, at which he 
 stated that the rising in Servia and Montenegro had excited in the 
 Russian nation a lively, enthusiastic interest. The Czar, who shared
 
 200 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 in the sympathies of his people for the Christian inhabitants of the 
 Balkan peninsula, had endeavored with the other powers to restore 
 peace and order. They were all agreed that the States involved in 
 the complications should be restored to as good a condition as the} 7 
 enjoyed before the war, and that continued bloodshed was useless. 
 The Czar could not suffer any longer pr^tractioti of the negotiations 
 respecting an armistice ; therefore he had decided to. withdraw his 
 entire embassy from Constantinople, if within forty-eight hours 
 from this time an unconditional armistice of from six weeks to two 
 months, embracing all the combatants, and involving an entire sus- 
 pension of military operations, were not in operation. Having 
 delivered the note, General Ignatieff made ostensible preparations 
 to leave Constantinople. The next day (November 1st) he re- 
 ceived the answer of Savfet Pasha conveying the unconditional 
 agreement of the Porte to an armistice of two months, beginning 
 with that day. On the 4th of November, Earl Derby, in behalf of 
 the British Government, issued a circular note calling for a confer- 
 ence of all the great powers, at which the Porte should also be rep- 
 resented, to meet at Constantinople. The circular proposed as a 
 "basis for the deliberations of the conference : the independence and 
 territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire ; a declaration that the 
 powers will not seek for any territorial advantages, exclusive influ- 
 ence, or special concessions ; the basis of pacification to be the terms 
 which had been proposed to the Porte on the 21st of September, 
 including the restoration of the status quo in Servia and Mon- 
 tenegro, and the undertaking by the Porte in a protocol to be 
 signed at Constantinople with the representatives of the mediating 
 powers, to grant to Bosnia and Herzegovina a system of local or ad- 
 ministrative autonomy, with guarantees of a similar kind to be pro- 
 vided against maladministration in Bulgaria ; the reforms already 
 agreed to by the Porte in February, 1876, to be included in the ad- 
 ministrative arrangements for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and, so far 
 as they might be applicable, for Bulgaria. The powers all gave 
 their assent to the proposition for a conference, Turkey responding 
 last, with hesitation, and only at the pressing request of England, 
 on the 18th of November. Lord Derby had proposed that each 
 power should send a special Ambassador to attend the conference, in 
 addition to its regular representative at the Porte. Austria sent 
 Baron Calice to act as the associate of its Ambassador, Count Zichy ; 
 France, Count Chaudordy, to support Count Bourgoing ; England,
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 2 OI 
 
 the Marquis of Salisbury, to act with Sir Henry Elliot, and Turkey 
 recalled Edhem Pasha from Berlin to assist its Foreign Minister, 
 Savfet Pasha. Of these special envoys, the Marquis of Salisbury 
 was a distinguished statesman and publicist of England, a writer of 
 considerable fame. He had been Secretary of State for India in 
 the third Cabinet of Lord Derby, 1866 to 1867, and had at the time 
 of his appointment on this mission held the same position in the 
 Cabinet of Mr. Disraeli (or Earl Beacomsfield) since 1874. He was 
 known to take a warm interest in the welfare of the Christian sub- 
 jects of Turkey, being associated with Earl Derby as one of the 
 members of the cabinet who opposed the tendency of their chief to 
 regard the question from the Turkish point of view ; and in con- 
 nection with this mission, he visited several of the continental 
 courts to consult with their ministers regarding the measures which 
 it would be possible to take in the interests of peace and humanity. 
 
 Count Chaudordy, the French envoy, had been in the French dip- 
 lomatic service a large part of the time since 1850. In 1870, as 
 representative of the Foreign Office at Tours, he published several 
 circulars in answer to the notes of Count Bismarck, and repelled the 
 charges made by the German Chancellor that the French had been, 
 guilty of violations of the Convention of Geneva. He was chosen 
 a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1871, and took his seat 
 on the Right. At the time of his appointment to Constantinople^ 
 he was Ambassador to Madrid. 
 
 A preliminary conference was opened on the 12th of December, 
 of the representatives of all the powers except Turkey, to arrange 
 a programme of the conditions which it should be judged necessary 
 to require for the protection of the Christians of the Balkan 
 provinces. This conference adjourned on the 21st, having agreed 
 to demand the restoration of the status quo. as to Servia and Mon^- 
 tenegro, with the addition of the cession of Little Zvornik by Turkey 
 to Servia, and the rectification of the boundaries of Montenegro, by 
 giving to it those angles of Herzegovina which project into its ter- 
 ritory about Trebigne and Nicsic ; a considerable extension of ; Bul- 
 garia to the west and south, and the division of the territory thus 
 enlarged into two Yilayets, with local self-government, under a 
 Governor- General for the two provinces, to be appointed by the 
 Porte with the approval of the powers, a provincial- assembly, 
 militia, police force, and gendarmerie, composed of Christians 
 and Mussulmans; the union of Bosnia and Herzegovina into one
 
 202 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 province, with similar privileges of administration ; and the institu- 
 tion of an international commission, to be appointed by the guaran- 
 teeing powers, to watch over the introduction of the reforms, and 
 be supported by a foreign gendarmerie. 
 
 The conference proper was opened on the 23d of December, Sav- 
 f et Pasha, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, presiding. The Turks 
 had prepared a dramatic incident to add effect to their part of the 
 proceedings. As soon as the preliminary formalities of the opening 
 of the conference were over, salvos of artillery were heard. The 
 President explained that this demonstration was in honor of the 
 adoption of the new Constitution, the proclamation of which placed 
 Turkey on that day in the rank of Constitutional States. This Con- 
 stitution was the work of Midhat Pasha, who had, a short time 
 before, succeeded Rushdi Pasha as Grand Vizier, and was promul- 
 gated as the fundamental law of the whole Empire. It embodied 
 the leading principles of the most liberal constitutions of "Western 
 Europe. Proclaiming the Empire indivisible with the Sultan as 
 Caliph and sovereign supreme and inviolable, it declared the in- 
 violability of personal freedom, property, and the domicile, the 
 freedom of religious worship, while Mohammedanism should be the 
 religion of the State, the equality of all subjects before the law, and 
 their right to speedy and impartial justice, the freedom of the press 
 and instruction, while primary instruction should be made obliga- 
 tory. It made the ministry responsible, and established a legislative 
 Assembly, to consist of Senators appointed by the Sultan for life, 
 and a Chamber of Deputies, whose members should be chosen by 
 the people by secret ballot, in the proportion of one deputy for 
 every fifty thousand inhabitants, and should serve for four years ; 
 the deputies to be free in their votes and unrestricted in the ex- 
 pression of their opinions ; the Legislature to be in session every 
 year from November till March. It established elective provincial 
 assemblies, to legislate for the provinces, cantonal and municipal 
 councils, made regulations for the courts, consisting of a High Court, 
 for the trial of official offenders, a court of cassation or accounts, 
 and ordinary courts, and secured the independence of the judges. 
 The Constitution was declared unalterable, except by a vote of two- 
 thirds of both chambers, with the approval of the Sultan. 
 
 On the 28th of December, the armistice was extended till the 
 1st of March. The terms agreed upon in the preliminary confer- 
 ence were rejected by the Porte as involving violations of the Con-
 
 THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY.
 
 EDHEM PASHA.
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 205 
 
 stitution just adopted, and being incompatible with the sovereignty 
 of the Empire. 
 
 A new proposition was presented to Turkey, in which the cession 
 of Little Zvornik to Servia, and the points in reference to the addi- 
 tions to Montenegro were modified so as to meet the expressed 
 views of the Porte. The plan for the reorganization of Bulgaria 
 was wholly changed. The demand for a reserve of the power of 
 approval of the appointment of the provincial governors was limited 
 to five years of operation, and the scheme for a commission to watch 
 over the introduction of the reforms was modified so as to make the 
 commission a mixed one. The plenipotentiaries declared that if 
 these propositions were rejected, they would leave Constantinople. 
 On the 20th of January, 1878, Savfet Pasha read a note* in the 
 conference, announcing that Turkey declined to accede to the 
 propositions, and giving the reasons for its action. The conference 
 was then declared closed. The special Ambassadors shortly after- 
 ward withdrew from Constantinople. 
 
 On the 25th of January, Savfet Pasha issued a circular, explain- 
 ing that the Porte had rejected the proposals made at the con- 
 ference, first because they were part of a programme which had 
 been settled beforehand at a conference from which Turkey was 
 excluded; and, second, because in making them the plenipoten- 
 tiaries had entirely lost sight of one of the fundamental conditions 
 of the conference non-intervention in the affairs of the Turkish 
 Empire, and had demanded conditions such as no Government could 
 accept which wished to preserve its independence, and that, too, 
 when a Constitution had been granted, assuring to the whole Empire 
 privileges which the powers demanded for certain provinces only. 
 
 On the 31st of January, Prince Gortchakoff, Chancellor of the 
 Russian Empire, issued a circular note reciting the failure of all the 
 attempts to pacify Turkey and of the conference, and inquiring 
 what the powers intended to do next. 
 
 On the 5th of February, Midhat Pasha, the Turkish Grand 
 Yizier, was dismissed ; Edhem Pasha was appointed in his place, 
 and a new cabinet was formed. The act was a general surprise, 
 and was variously accounted for. An official circular stated that it 
 was because the Yizier had failed to oppose plans against the pre- 
 rogatives of the Sultan and the public tranquillity which it was his 
 duty to prevent. 
 
 In March, the Russian Government invited the powers to agree to
 
 206 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 a protocol to be signed by them and Turkey, pledging the execu- 
 tion of the reforms demanded and promised, failing the realization 
 of which, within a reasonable time, the powers should come to an 
 understanding as to what should be done. This was agreed to by 
 the other powers, and the protocol was signed March 31st by the 
 representatives of England, Russia, France, Germany, Austria, and 
 Italy. In this paper the Porte was invited to conclude the pacifica- 
 tion of the principalities " by replacing its armies on a peace footing, 
 excepting the number of troops indispensable for maintaining order, 
 and by putting in hand, with the least possible delay, the reforms 
 necessary for the tranquillity and well-being of the provinces, the con- 
 dition of which was discussed at the conference;" the readiness of 
 the Porte to realize an important part of the reforms was recognized ; 
 a proposition was made to watch over the manner in which they 
 should be carried into effect ; and the intention was reserved, if the 
 condition of the Christian provinces were not improved, to consider 
 what further steps would be necessary. The protocol was presented 
 to the Porte for its signature April 3d, and was immediately rejected, 
 with decision. In a note conveying its rejection formally, the Turk- 
 ish Government said it could not see how it had deserved so ill of 
 justice and civilization as to see itself placed in a humiliating posi- 
 tion without example in the world. " The Treaty of Paris," reads 
 the note, " gave an explicit sanction to the principle of non-inter- 
 vention. This treaty, which binds together the powers who partici- 
 pate in it, as well as Turkey, can not be abolished by a protocol 
 
 in which Turkey, has no share Turkey feels that she is 
 
 now contending for her existence," but " strong in the justice of her 
 cause, and trusting in God, she determines to ignore what has been de- 
 cided without her and against her ; resolved to retain in the world the 
 place which Providence has destined for her in this regard, she will not 
 cease to encounter the attacks directed against her, with the general 
 principles of public right and the authority of a great European act, 
 which pledges the honor of the powers that signed the protocol of 
 the 31st of March, a document which, in her eyes, has no legal claim 
 to exact compliance." This note was presented to the Russian Gov- 
 ernment on the 12th of April. On the 24th of the same month Rus- 
 sia declared war against Turkey. Before proceeding to narrate the 
 action of the Russian Government, it is necessary to mention a few 
 other events, which had a bearing upon the situation and attitude of 
 Turkey.
 
 INSURRECTION OF 1875, AND WARS OF 1876. 207 
 
 Negotiations for peace were begun in January between Turkey 
 and Servia and Montenegro, independently of the action of the pow- 
 ers. Peace was concluded with Servia on the 27th of February, on 
 the basis of the maintenance of the status quo ante Vellum, the grant- 
 ing of an amnesty, and the evacuation of Servian territory by the 
 Turkish troops within twelve days. Servia agreed to erect no more 
 fortifications, to hoist the Ottoman flag by the side of that of Servia 
 on the existing forts, and to prevent armed bands from crossing the 
 frontier. The terms were approved by the Great Skupstchina, at a 
 session called especially to consider them, on the 28th of March. The 
 Montenegrins demanded a rectification of their frontier, with additions 
 to their territory, the cession of the seaport of Spizza, the free navi- 
 gation of the Lake of Scutari and the river Bayana, the restoration 
 of the Herzegoviuian refugees to their homes, and a new modus 
 vivendi with Turkey. The Porte declined to accede to these de- 
 mands. They were modified, and the negotiations were resumed, to 
 be broken off finally on the refusal of Turkey to cede Nicsic to Mon- 
 tenegro. 
 
 The insurrectionary movements in Bosnia were renewed early in 
 the spring, when bands of insurgents appeared in several quarters, 
 and a number of skirmishes took place. The most prominent of the 
 new leaders was Col. Despotovitch, a Servian by birth, who had 
 served in the Russian Imperial Guard and the Servian army. 
 
 The first Turkish Parliament under the new Constitution was 
 opened March 19th, by the Sultan in person. The Sultan, in the 
 " Speech from the Throne," said of the conference : " The disagree- 
 ment between my Government and the powers rests rather in the 
 form and method of application than in the substance of the ques- 
 tion. All my efforts will be devoted toward bringing to perfection 
 the progress which has already been realized in the situation of the 
 Empire, and in all the branches of its administration. But I consider 
 it to be one of my most important duties to remove any cause which 
 may be detrimental to the dignity and independence of my Empire. 
 I leave to time the task of proving the sincerity of my intentions of 
 reconciliation." The reply to this address was discussed in the 
 Chamber of Deputies in secret session, when, it is said, the speakers 
 were unanimous in favor of rejecting absolutely all foreign interven- 
 tion in the internal affairs of Turkey.
 
 SECOND BOOK. 
 
 THE EASTERN WAR OP 1877-1878.
 
 SECOND BOOK. 
 
 THE EASTERN WAR OF 1877-1878. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN DECLARATION OF WAR. 
 
 The Russian War Manifesto Prince GortchakofTs Circular The Turkish Reply The 
 Army of the Pruth, its Composition and Commanders Total Strength of the Russian 
 Armies Crossing of the Pruth Occupation of Galatz and Braila Convention be- 
 tween Russia and Rumania Turkish Protest Declaration of Rumanian Independ- 
 ence Strength of the Rumanian Army The Seat of War The Defenses of Turkey 
 The Danube and its Fortresses The Turkish Quadrilateral The Country beyond 
 the Balkans Strength and Condition of the Turkish Forces Operations on the 
 Danube. 
 
 THE prompt and determined rejection by the Ottoman Porte of 
 the London protocol as being a violation of the independence of 
 Turkey, left little, if any, hope for the preservation of peace. 
 Though it was not immediately followed by a declaration of war on 
 the part of Russia, warlike movements began at once. The Russian 
 army in Bessarabia rapidly advanced toward the Pruth, and the 
 Turks were hastening the erection of works in front of Kalafat, with 
 a view, it was thought, to cross to the Rumanian side. When, on 
 April 20th, the Emperor of Russia left for Kishenev, it was generally 
 understood that his arrival at the headquarters of the Russian army 
 would be immediately followed by a declaration of war. Having 
 reached Kishenev, the Czar, on April 23d, reviewed his troops on the 
 banks of the Pruth, and on the following day he issued the anxiously 
 awaited manifesto to his army, which informed the world that peace 
 was at last broken, and that the two great countries of Eastern 
 Europe were in a state of war. Few public documents of the 
 
 (211)
 
 212 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 nineteenth century have been read with a more intense interest, and 
 however much views differed on the justice of the cause for which 
 the Emperor pleaded, it was felt on all sides that this manifesto 
 would rank among the most notable addresses issued since the days 
 of the French Revolution. The manifesto is as follows : 
 
 " Our faithful and beloved subjects know the strong interest we 
 have constantly felt in the destinies of the oppressed Christian popu- 
 lation of Turkey. Our desire to ameliorate and assure their lot has 
 been shared by the whole Russian nation, which now shows itself 
 ready to bear fresh sacrifices to alleviate the position of the Chris- 
 tians in the Balkan peninsula. 
 
 " The blood and property of our faithful subjects have always 
 been dear to us, and our whole reign attests our constant solici- 
 tude to preserve to Russia the benefits of peace. This solicitude 
 never failed to actuate us during the deplorable events which oc- 
 curred in Herzegovina, Bosnia and Bulgaria. Our object before all 
 was to effect amelioration in the position of the Christians in the 
 East by means of pacific negotiations ; and in concert with the great 
 European Powers, our allies and friends, for two years we have made 
 incessant efforts to induce the Porte to effect such reforms as would 
 protect the Christians in Bosnia, Herzegovina and Bulgaria from 
 the arbitrary measures of local authorities. The accomplishment of 
 these reforms was absolutely stipulated- by anterior engagements con- 
 tracted by the Porte toward the whole of Europe. 
 
 " Our efforts, supported by diplomatic representations made in 
 common by the other Governments, have not, however, attained 
 their object. The Porte has remained unshaken in its formal refusal 
 of any effective guarantee for the security of its Christian subjects, 
 and has rejected the conclusions of the Constantinople conference. 
 Wishing to essay every possible means of conciliation in order to 
 persuade the Porte, we proposed to the other Cabinets to draw up a 
 special protocol, comprising the most essential conditions of the Con- 
 stantinople conference, and to invite the Turkish Government to ad- 
 here to this international act, which states the extreme limits of our 
 peaceful demands. But our expectation was not fulfilled. The 
 Porte did not defer to this unanimous wish of Christian Europe, 
 and did not adhere to the conclusions of the protocol. 
 
 " Having exhausted pacific efforts, we are compelled by the 
 haughty obstinacy of the Porte to proceed to more decisive acts, feel-
 
 THE RUSSIAN DECLARATION OF WAR. 
 
 213 
 
 ing that our equity and our own dignity enjoin it. By her refusal, 
 Turkey places us under the necessity of having recourse to arms. 
 
 "Profoundly convinced of the justice of our cause, and humbly 
 committing ourselves to the grace and the help of the Most High, we 
 make known to our faithful subjects that the moment foreseen 
 when we pronounced words to which all Russia responded with com- 
 plete unanimity has now arrived. We expressed the intention to 
 act independently when we deemed it necessary, and when Russia's 
 honor should demand it. In now invoking the blessing of God upon 
 our valiant armies, we give them the order to cross the Turkish 
 frontier. 
 
 " ALEXANDEB." 
 
 On the same day, Prince Gortchakoff addressed a circular to the 
 Russian Ambassadors at Foreign Courts, in which he undertook to 
 justify the action of Russia as a legitimate and necessary consequence 
 of the Porte's refusal to accept the London protocol. The Russian 
 Chancellor has long been admired as a writer of diplomatic notes, 
 many of which are regarded as masterpieces of this kind of literature, 
 and it was therefore to be expected that the circular in which he was 
 to explain the causes of what every one thought would turn out one 
 of the most memorable wars in the world's history, would be worthy 
 of his reputation. The consummate ability of this document was 
 indeed admitted on all sides,, even by those who did not believe in 
 the soundness of its reasoning. Like the Emperor's manifesto, it is 
 an indispensable part of any history of this war, and we therefore 
 give it here entire. It is as follows : 
 
 * 
 
 " Since the beginning of the Eastern crisis the Imperial Cabinet 
 lias exhausted all the means in its power in order to bring about, by 
 the co-operation of the Great Powers of Europe, a lasting peace with 
 Turkey. All the proposals successively made to the Porte as a re- 
 sult of the understanding arrived at between the Cabinets of Europe, 
 have been met by it with obstinate resistance. The protocol signed 
 in London on the 19th (31st) of March in this year has been the last 
 expression of the united wishes of Europe. The Imperial Cabinet 
 had suggested it as a last effort of conciliation. It had made known 
 by a declaration bearing the same date, and accompanying the pro- 
 tocol, the conditions which, if loyally and sincerely accepted, and 
 executed by the Ottoman Government, might bring about the re-es-
 
 214 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 tablisliment and consolidation of peace. The Porte has just answered 
 this declaration by a new refusal. This contingency had not been 
 foreseen in the protocol of London. In formulating the wishes and 
 decisions of Europe, the protocol had confined itself to a stipulation 
 that in case the Great Powers should be deceived in their hope of 
 seeing the Porte energetically adopt the measures destined to im- 
 prove the condition of the Christian populations measures unani- 
 mously recognized as indispensable to the tranquillity of Europe 
 they reserved to themselves the right of consulting together as to the 
 means most suitable for insuring the well-being of these populations 
 and the interests of general peace. 
 
 " Thus the Cabinets had taken thought of the contingency that 
 the Porte should not fulfill the promises which it had made, but not 
 that the Porte should reject the demands of Europe. At the same 
 time the declaration made by Lord Derby, after the signing of the 
 protocol, had established the fact that as the British Government had 
 only consented to sign the protocol with a view to the interests of 
 the general peace, it was to be understood at the outset that, in case 
 this object should not be attained especially the reciprocal disarma- 
 ment and peace between Turkey and Russia the protocol should be 
 considered as null and void. The refusal of the Porte, and the motives 
 on which this refusal is founded, leave no ground for hoping that 
 she will now defer to the wishes and advice of Europe, and afford no 
 guarantee for the adoption of reforms, suggested for the improve- 
 ment of the condition of the Christian subjects of the Porte. Peace 
 with Montenegro is thus rendered impossible, and it is impossible, 
 also, to complete the conditions which would bring about disarma- 
 ment and pacification. In these circumstances, all prospect of suc- 
 cessful attempts at conciliation is at an end. There remains no other 
 alternative than either to prolong a state of things which the powers 
 have declared incompatible with their interests, and with those of 
 Europe in general, or to try and obtain by force what the unanimous 
 attempts of the Cabinets have failed to obtain from the Porte by 
 persuasion. Our august master has resolved himself to undertake 
 the work, which His Majesty had invited the Great Powers to un- 
 dertake in common with him. His Majesty has therefore ordered 
 his armies to cross the frontier of Turkey. In taking upon himself 
 this task, our august master fulfills a duty which is imposed upon hirn 
 by the interests of Russia, whose peaceful development is seriously 
 impeded by the permanent disorder of the East. His Imperial
 
 THE RUSSIAN DECLARATION OF WAR. 
 
 215 
 
 Majesty is persuaded that in taking this step he is consulting at the 
 same time the views and the interests of Europe." 
 
 Prince Gortchakoff also wrote to Teviik Bey, the Turkish Am- 
 bassador at St. Petersburg, notifying him of the assumption of hos- 
 tilities by Russia : 
 
 " The earnest negotiations between the Imperial Government and 
 the Porte for a desirable pacification of the East not having led to 
 the desired accord, His Majesty, my august master, sees himself 
 compelled, to his regret, to have recourse to force of arms. Be, 
 therefore, so kind as to inform your Government that from to-day 
 Russia considers herself in a state of war with the Porte." 
 
 The note also stated that Turkish subjects residing in Russia had 
 the option of leaving the country or remaining, and that in the latter 
 case they would enjoy the full protection of the laws. The Ambas- 
 sador having been offered passports for himself and the members of 
 his embassy, took leave of the Russian Government in a courteous 
 note, and the rupture of diplomatic relations between the two 
 countries was completed. The Turkish Government immediately 
 published a reply to the Russian declaration of war. After review- 
 ing the part played by Russia during the insurrection of 1875, and 
 , the war of 1876, the Porte appealed in this document to the media- 
 tion of the powers on the strength of the eighth article of the Treaty 
 of Paris in the following terms : 
 
 "The Sublime Porte falls back on Article 8 of the Treaty of 
 Paris, which is in these terms : ' Should there arise between the 
 Sublime Porte and one or more of the other Signatary Powers any 
 misunderstanding threatening the maintenance of their relations, the 
 Sublime Porte and each of the powers, before having recourse to 
 the employment of force, will give the other contracting parties an 
 opportunity of preventing this extremity by their mediatory action.' 
 Although it is not the Ottoman Government which threatens to 
 
 o 
 
 take the initiative of aggression, and although, consequently, it was 
 by rights the part of the Russian Government to appeal to these 
 stipulations of the Treaty of Paris, this Imperial Government, in 
 order to avoid all misunderstanding, applies to the Signatary Powers 
 of that treaty for them to use their good offices in the grave cir- 
 cumstances in which it is placed, by applying the Article before 
 mentioned, and thus putting an end to the dangerous tension affe3t-
 
 2i6 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ing the relations of the two States by means cf such mediatory 
 action in conformity with right and treaty. Apart from all treaty 
 stipulation, the action of the powers would even be justified on the 
 ground on which, according to the declaration of her Charge d' Af- 
 faires at Constantinople, Russia desires to found her present military 
 action, in alleging the refusal of the Porte to agree to the proposals 
 made to it by all the powers, and to the document signed by them, 
 and by pointing out that her conduct thus conforms as well with 
 the provisions of Article 8 of the Treaty of Paris as with the motives 
 for the rupture assigned by Russia. The Sublime Porte expresses 
 the conviction that the friendly powers, true to the feeling of benevo- 
 lent interest which they have never ceased to manifest to the Otto- 
 man Empire, will seize this opportunity to arrest the breaking out 
 of a great war, thus sparing these countries the painful extremities 
 with which they are threatened, and Europe herself the trouble and 
 danger resulting from a conflict between two States a conflict of 
 which the Sublime Porte can justly repudiate the entire responsi- 
 bility." 
 
 Although the outbreak of a new Eastern war had for years been 
 regarded as probable, and during the last two weeks as unavoidable 
 and immediate, a profound impression was produced by the official 
 declaration. It was fully and generally understood that momentous 
 results might follow its issue. Attention was called by many lead- 
 ing newspapers of Europe, to the remarkable silence of the Imperial 
 manifesto as to the suspected intentions of Russia to annex, if vic- 
 torious, considerable portions of Turkish territory. But few persons 
 were found in the countries of Christendom who expressed a warm 
 and unreserved sympathy with the Turks. The bitterest enemies 
 of Russia did not deny that the Turkish Government had contracted 
 great guilt by the failure to improve the wretched condition of its 
 Christian subjects, and that the stubborn refusal of the Porte to lis- 
 ten to the advice of the Great Powers of Europe was foolhardy and 
 reckless. The enthusiastic sympathy which the Mohammedan world 
 expressed with the hazardous step of its foremost representative was, 
 of course, of no practical avail, and was apt to hurt the Turks more 
 than to benefit them, because it might be expected to produce a 
 strong reaction in the Christian countries. Russia met with the 
 wildest applause from all the Slavic nations except the Poles, and if 
 any further proof had been needed that the much-talked-of Pan-Slavic
 
 THE RUSSIAN DECLARATION OF WAR. 2 I7 
 
 agitations had not been altogether devoid of consequences, it was 
 now furnished by the comment of the Slavic press on the Eastern 
 war. In the Christian countries outside of the Slavic world, public 
 opinion was greatly divided. Strong anti-Turkish sentiments were 
 expressed by those who were deeply convinced of the prime impor- 
 tance of restoring the ascendency of the Christian religion in the 
 East, as the first condition of its political and social regeneration ; 
 by those who believed in a special mission of the Eastern Church, 
 for aiding in the reunion of the Christian Church ; by those 
 who had been waiting upon the fall of the Ottoman Empire 
 as a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy ; by many liberals, especially in 
 England, who believed, with Mr. Gladstone, that the Turks were 
 irremediably cruel and oppressive, and that England ought not to 
 hold out to them any hope of material or moral aid ; by radicals, like 
 Garibaldi, who demanded the expulsion of the Turks to make room 
 for the introduction of self-government. Strong anti-Russian senti- 
 ments, on the other hand, were uttered by those who, in the rapid 
 aggrandizement of Russia, saw a danger for its more highly cultiva- 
 ted neighbors, and for all Europe. Ah 1 parties, however, agreed in 
 picturing in the most sombre colors the horrors which the world 
 must be prepared to witness in the coming war. 
 
 The obstinate refusal by the Porte of all the demands of the Con- 
 stantinople conference and the London protocol had been partly 
 inspired by the firm belief of the Turkish statesmen, that if war 
 was once declared between Russia and Turkey, England would be 
 forced by her own interest to take part in it on the side of Turkey. 
 This hope was not fulfilled. In the answer to the Russian note 
 which was on July 1st addressed to Lord Loftus, the British Ambas- 
 sador in St. Petersburg, Earl Derby, the British Secretary of State 
 for Foreign Affairs, strongly disapproved the action of Russia, and 
 especially entered a solemn protest against the assumption that it 
 was acting with the concurrence of Europe, and in the interest of 
 other powers, but he confined himself to this declaration and abstained 
 from any intimation of an active participation in the war, at pres- 
 ent or in future. In the violent debates which the declaration 
 of war called forth in the English Parliament, the ministers qualified 
 their policy as one of neutrality, and even deemed it expedient to 
 defend themselves from the imputation of being indifferent to the 
 ill-treatment of the Christians in Turkey. The other Governments
 
 2i8 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 of Europe, as well as that of the United States, promptly issued offi- 
 cial declarations of neutrality. 
 
 In Russia, the events of 1875 and 1876 had produced great ex- 
 citement. This was aided and increased by Pan-Slavic agents 
 throughout the Empire. It was well-known that Pan-Slavic com- 
 mittees had collected moneys and provisions in Russia for the Ser- 
 vian cause, while large numbers of Russians had entered the service 
 under General Tchernayeff. In the middle of November, 1876, the 
 Czar had ordered the mobilization of the greater part of the Euro- 
 pean army, as well as of the entire army of the Caucasus, and, con- 
 sequently, two large armies were concentrated by Russia on its Turk- 
 ish borders. 
 
 The army of the South, or of the Pruth, was placed under the 
 command of the Grand Duke Nicholas, a brother of the Emperor, 
 with its headquarters at Kishenev, and was concentrated on both 
 banks of the Lower Dniester, and between this river and the Pruth. 
 General Nepokoitchitzky was appointed chief of the staff, which was 
 very numerous, and was increased by the addition of a fully-equip- 
 ped bureau for the administration of the Slavic provinces south of 
 the Danube, which were to be captured. The powers, military and 
 political, of the Commander-in-chief were very great, and in order 
 to make him as much as possible independent of interference from 
 St. Petersburg, he was authorized to decide for himself as to the 
 strategical movements to be executed ; to appoint governors for the 
 provinces which should be occupied ; to make promotions in the 
 army up to the grade of lieutenant-general, and to grant certain 
 decorations. This army was composed of four corps : the eighth, 
 under Lieutenant-Gen eral Radetzky ; the ninth, under Lieutenant- 
 General Baron Kriidener ; the eleventh, under Lieutenant-General 
 Prince Shachovsky ; and the twelfth, under Lieutenant-General Van- 
 novsky, and included eight divisions of infantry, of two brigades, 
 or four regiments each ; four divisions of cavalry, each consisting 
 of four regiments and a brigade of mounted artillery ; and eight 
 brigades of field artillery. 
 
 Besides this force, a second army was formed for the defense of 
 the coasts of the Black Sea, and was placed under the special com- 
 mand of Lieutenant-General Semeka, with its headquarters at 
 Odessa. It was composed of two corps : the seventh, under Lieu- 
 tenant-General Ganyetzky II., and the tenth corps under Lieutenant-
 
 GRAND DUKE NICHOLAS.
 
 EVENING PRAYER IN A CANTONMENT OF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS 
 AT KISHINEV.
 
 THE RUSSIAN DECLARATION OF WAR. 221 
 
 General Prince Voronsoff. The strength of the two armies in men, 
 horses, and guns, was : 
 
 Men. Horses. Guru. 
 
 Army of operation (four corps), . . . 144,000 32,800 433 
 
 Second army (two corps), 72,000 16,400 216 
 
 216,000 49,200 648 
 
 The following additional troops were also available :' the third and 
 fourth brigades of chasseurs, under Major-General Dobrovalsky, and 
 Major-General Zviazinsky, respectively ; the Bulgarian militia, Ma- 
 jor-General Stolyetoff, composed of Bulgarian refugees in Rumania ; 
 the combined Cossack division, Lieutenant-General Skobeleff ; nine 
 Cossack regiments of the second class ; the Don-Cossack batteries, 
 No. 8-11, and .No. 15 ; two mountain batteries of 8 guns each ; the 
 third brigade of sappers ; the third and fourth battalions of pon- 
 tooners; a park of siege artillery, consisting of 400 guns; two 
 companies of marines with 24: torpedo-boats in parts all ready to be 
 put together ; two squadrons of field gendarmes ; fourteen trans- 
 port divisions of 350 wagons each ; a reserve depot of 12,000 horses ; 
 and the .escort of the Grand Duke commanding, consisting of the 
 first sotnie of Guard Cossacks of Terek ; the first sotnie of Guard 
 Cossacks of Kuban, and two companies of Plastuni (Kuban Cos- 
 sacks on foot). 
 
 Forty-eight hours before the declaration of war, small Russian de- 
 tachments had crossed the Pruth and occupied several important 
 positions in Rumania, including the railroad station at Jassy, and 
 the railroad bridge over the Sereth at Barboschi. It was all the 
 more important to secure this bridge and protect it by batteries, as 
 it was to be supposed that the enemy would make every effort to 
 destroy it. Its importance lay in the fact that it was the sole means 
 of communication by railroad, between the two sides of the river, 
 over which the greater part of the army of operation had to be 
 brought in order to assume the offensive along the whole line of the 
 Danube. The Turks, however, made no attempt to destroy the 
 railroads of Rumania, not even the Barboschi bridge. It was sup- 
 posed that their policy on this point was governed by a desire to 
 give to Rumania no pretext for forming an alliance with Russia* 
 
 Immediately upon the declaration of war the Russian troops be- 
 gan to cross the Pruth in two wings or columns. The left .wing was- 
 composed of the eleventh and seventh corps. The llth corps had 
 been stationed shortly before the outbreak of the war at Kubai, in
 
 222 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the extreme south-western corner of Bessarabia. Beginning its 
 march on April 24rth it reached Galatz and Braila on May 4th. The 
 advanced guard of these corps had been in these towns as early as 
 April 25th. Reni was also occupied. The 7th corps marched from 
 Tatar Bunar on Kilia and Ismail, the last troops reaching these 
 places on May 5th. The right wing, which was composed of the 8th, 
 9th, and 12th corps, and to which the headquarters of the Grand 
 Duke Nicholas had been attached, inarched on the line Kishenev, 
 Byrlat, Tekutch, Buseo, Bucharest. The headquarters were located 
 on May 6th at Jassy, and on May 15th at Ployeshti. 
 
 Rumania had remained neutral during the wars of 1875 and 1876, 
 and had attracted but little attention from the outside world. But as 
 the probability of a Russo-Turkish war increased, and Russia began to 
 mass her forces on the Rumanian border, its position became a very 
 doubtful one, lying as it did directly between the two belligerent pow- 
 ers. The progress of events forced it to take sides with one party or 
 the other, and on April 16, 1877, Prince Charles concluded a conven- 
 tion with Russia, in which he assured to the Russians a free passage, 
 and the treatment due a friendly army. The Czar, on the other hand, 
 bound himself to respect the rights of Rumania. According to an 
 additional convention, the Russians were allowed to use Rumanian 
 roads, railways, rivers, and telegraphs. The resources of the coun- 
 try were placed at their disposal for the supply of the army. The 
 Rumanian authorities were to assist in erecting camps and forward- 
 ing baggage. Russian military trains and telegrams were to have 
 the precedence of ordinary traffic. The Russians were empowered 
 to complete unfinished railroads, and the necessary ground for this 
 purpose was to be ceded to them. The chief of the Russian Mili- 
 tary Traffic Department was empowered, subject to the approval of 
 the Rumanian Minister of Works, to dismiss Rumanian railway offi- 
 cials. The Russians were allowed to establish military stations and 
 hospitals anywhere except in Bucharest. Rumania would, if re- 
 quired, provide material for the construction of boats, ships, and 
 bridges. Articles intended for the Russian army would be admitted 
 into Rumania, duty free. The Rumanian authorities would assist in 
 capturing Russian deserters. All the expenses incurred through the 
 passage of the Russians were to be paid in cash within two months. 
 An explanatory report annexed to the convention said Russia was 
 obliged to intervene in Turkey because Mussulman fanaticism and 
 the weakness of the Turkish Government allowed no hope of reform,
 
 THE RUSSIAN DECLARATION OF WAR. 223 
 
 and as Russia desired to respect the inviolability of Rumania, the 
 present convention was concluded. 
 
 When the existence of this convention became known, in the latter 
 part of April, the Turkish Government informed the Rumanian 
 agent at Constantinople, that in view of the above convention, and 
 the entrance of Russian troops into Rumanian territory, the Forte 
 no longer regarded the Prince and the Rumanian authorities as free 
 agents, but considered that they were in the power of the enemy, 
 and could therefore hold no more official communication with them. 
 Rumanian subjects in Turkey were at the same time placed under 
 the direct jurisdiction of the Turkish authorities. In consequence 
 of this action the Rumanian agent retired from Constantinople. The 
 Porte also addressed a note respecting the attitude of Rumania to 
 the powers, in which it accused Prince Charles of having ^betrayed 
 the interests of his country, and the confidence of his suzerain, be- 
 sides disappointing the hopes cherished by Europe when it estab- 
 lished the united principalities." 
 
 Such faithlessness could not, according to the note, be too strongly 
 condemned. On May 21st an order of the day was unanimously 
 adopted in both the Rumanian Chambers, declaring the independ- 
 ence of the principality, and recognizing the existence of a state of 
 war between Rumania and Turkey. Prime Minister Cogalniceano 
 addressed a note to the powers on the 3d of June, notifying them of 
 the new attitude of the country. The Turkish Government, in a 
 note of June 5, protested against the Rumanian declaration of inde- 
 pendence, and asserted that " it intended to preserve its rights with- 
 out regard to the actions or the words of the rebellious Government 
 of Moldavia-~Wallachia, and it reserved for itself the right to use such 
 measures against the principalities as seemed proper in its estimation." 
 The strength of the Rumanian army was variously estimated. The 
 most probable estimate was that which placed it at 38,000 infantry, 
 8,200 cavalry, and 120 field guns. On May 10th Prince Charles pub- 
 lished a decree, assuming the chief command of his troops, and ap- 
 pointing as his chief of staff, General Slaniceano; as commander of 
 the first corps, Gen. Lupu ; and of the second corps, Gen. Radovici. 
 
 Early in May three more corps were added to the Russian army 
 of operation, viz.: the fourth corps, from Minsk, under the command 
 of Lieutenant-General Zotoff ; the thirteenth corps, from Shitomir, 
 under Lieutenant-General Hahn; and the fourteenth corps, from 
 Kiev, under Lieutenant-General Zimmerman. Besides these troops,
 
 224 THE WAR IN THE 
 
 there were a large number of separate regiments of Cossacks, pio- 
 neers, engineers, and others ; and the marine equipage included twen- 
 ty-four small screw-steamers, which were taken along in parts and 
 put together on the Danube. Taken all in all, the army of the 
 Danube was composed as follows : 
 
 Men. Cannon. 
 
 16 Infantry Divisions 254,784 768 
 
 2 Brigades of Sharpshooters 7,632 
 
 9* Cavalry Divisions 38,711 114 
 
 7 Separate Regiments of Don Cossacks 4,900 
 
 6 Separate Batteries of Don Cossacks ? 36 
 
 Total 305,0^7 918 
 
 The engineers, the marine detachments, the siege artillery, and 
 various other detachments were not included in these numbers. 
 Counting them at 20,000 men, we would have a total of 325,000 
 men. Allowing 75,000 men for the sick and wounded, there would 
 still remain 250,000 men, with 170,000 rifles, 23,000 sabres, and 918 
 cannon. This army was increased by the Rumanian and Bulgarian 
 contingents to 200,000 rifles, 27,000 sabres, and 1,038 field-guns. 
 
 The valley of the Danube, which had again become the seat of 
 war between Russia and Turkey, has been the scene of many bat- 
 tles. The Emperor Trajan for several years carried on war against 
 the Dacians, who lived between the Theiss, the Pruth, and the 
 Danube, occupying the territory of the present Rumania and 
 Transylvania. In the year 103 he conquered the Dacians com- 
 pletely, and made their country a Roman province. He did not, 
 however, take possession of what is now called the Dobruclja, 
 recognizing its poverty and sterility as well as its uselessness in a 
 strategical point of view. But in order to protect the rich and 
 fertile country south of the Danube against invasions, he erected a 
 triple wall of earth at the point where the solid ground between 
 the Danube and the Black Sea was narrowest. Since that time the 
 Danube has been the scene of many wars between the different 
 nations living upon it. In the war of 1854 Trajan's wall played a 
 very important part. The Turks, in the beginning of the war, 
 abandoned the Dobrudja, but hiade a halt at the wall, where they 
 inflicted two severe defeats on the Russians on April 10th at Kostelli, 
 and on April 22d at Tchernavoda. 
 
 The river Danube forms the northern boundary of Turkey proper 
 from the Iron Gate, in the Carpathian Mountains, to its mouths at 
 the Black Sea, a distance of 584 miles measured along the navigable
 
 THE RUSSIAN DECLARATION OF WAR. . 225 
 
 channel. The river, at the outbreak of the war, presented a for- 
 midable defense for Turkey. General McClellan, in the North 
 American Review, speaking of it, says : " Below the Iron Gate the 
 Danube, except when divided by islands into several arms, is no- 
 where less than nine hundred paces in width, often more than 
 double that. In places it is from seventy to eighty feet deep, often 
 shallower, but always a deep river, nowhere fordable. There is 
 only one place, at Tultcha, where a sandbar reduces its depth so 
 much as to render a pile bridge practicable; at all other points 
 bridges must be supported upon boats. The current averages about 
 two and one-half miles per hour. As a rule the right, or Turkish 
 bank commands the left bank, which is often marshy to the water's 
 edge. The points suitable for crossing large bodies of troops are 
 few, and are generally covered by fortifications on the Turkish 
 bank." 
 
 Turkey, besides completely commanding the Black Sea with her 
 navy, had a fleet of seventeen gun-boats on the Danube. The 
 smaller boats were lightly armored, so as to resist the shot from 
 lield cannon, but the larger vessels were strongly plated to resist 
 the heavy fortification guns which the Russians transported by their 
 long land route, the only one open to them. Besides this fleet, the 
 Turks had three monitors with movable turrets. Along the Turk- 
 ish shore there was a line of strong fortresses, which in 1828 and 
 1853 had resisted the attacks of the Russians, and between them 
 was a chain of smaller forts, capable of holding back, for a short 
 time, any force which the enemy could throw across the river. 
 
 The fortresses on this line were indicated as follows, commencing 
 at the west : Ada-Kale, on a rocky island of about eight hundred 
 acres, situated in the middle of the river, where the channel is 
 bounded on each side by nearly perpendicular rocks two thousand 
 feet high, and utterly inaccessible to an enemy with even the 
 smallest cannon. This fortress is above the cataract of the Iron 
 Gate, and is so placed as to be able to prevent the passage of any 
 gun-boat down the river, or of any land force along the only road 
 the " Trajan Way " which is an admirably built modern Macadam 
 road, over the same ground upon which the Roman Emperor built 
 a military road in A.D. T8. The next fortress is Widin, one hun- 
 dred miles below Ada-Kale, on the right bank, opposite Kalafat, a 
 Rumanian fortress. 
 
 Widin, which is one of the most important posts on the river, is
 
 226 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 built on hills, and has a population of about thirty thousand. 
 It was very strongly fortified with works containing from two hun- 
 dred to three hundred cannon. Kalafat, immediately opposite, was 
 also strongly fortified, as were besides two high hills beyond the 
 town. The Turks certainly missed a grand opportunity in not 
 occupying Kalafat and the hills surrounding it, and using it as a 
 bridge-head. This could have been done the more easily as the 
 Rumanian troops had retired from it on the 26th of April, -and 
 from that date up to May 4th, when they again entered it, it remained 
 entirely unprotected. The fortresses next in order are Lorn, Ra- 
 hova, Nicopolis, and Sistova, dividing about equally the distance 
 between Widin and Rustchuk. Rustchuk is, like Widin, one of 
 the strongest points on the river, and formed, with Silistria, Varna, 
 and Shumla, what was known as the celebrated Turkish quad- 
 rilateral. It has been the scene of numerous sieges, and has been 
 destroyed and rebuilt several times. The town of Giurgevo, op- 
 posite to it, was built in the early part of the present century, as a 
 bridge-head for Rustchuk. A correspondent of the London News, 
 who passed down the river on April 25th, wrote, that for a distance 
 of three miles along the margin of the stream from far above the 
 town to the bluff far below it the bank was thickly studded with 
 earthwork batteries, some looking due across the river, some facing 
 up-stream, others fronting down-stream, so that the cannon mounted 
 behind the massive parapets could sweep with front and flanking 
 fire the whole broad bosom of the Danube so thoroughly that a row- 
 boat could not run the gauntlet of their iron hail-storm. But the 
 brink of the river was not the only locality that was thus protected. 
 Behind the low bluff along the bank an undulating plateau, about 
 two miles broad, extended backward to a continuous rising ground 
 having a series of knolls upon its surface. On each of these knolls 
 was an intrenched work. So far as the correspondent could see 
 with his glass from the river, the ridge above was "a great in- 
 trenched camp, with an elaborate earthwork redoubt on each flank, 
 and another in the center." The fortifications thus consisted of 
 three lines, all of which "are extremely formidable." The next 
 fort is Turtukai, half way between Rustchuk and Silistria. 
 
 Silistria, the second fortress of the quadrilateral, is one of the 
 strongest fortified towns in the East. It is a very ancient city, and 
 in the vicinity are the remains of fortifications which were erected dur- 
 ing the Byzantine Empire. In 971 the Emperor routed the Russians
 
 THE RUSSIAN DECLARATION OF WAR. 
 
 227 
 
 under Sviatoslav. In 1773 it was again besieged by the Eussians, 
 and still again in 1779, when they suffered severe losses. In 1810 it 
 capitulated the first and only time but one in history. -In 1828 
 another siege was laid and continued several months, the Russians 
 at last retiring. In 1829, however, it was reduced, and held as a 
 pledge for the payment of an indemnity by the Porte. When new 
 troubles with Russia were apparent in 184:9-'50, the fortifications 
 were greatly strengthened by the addition of twelve detached forts, 
 of which, the one on the hill commanding the town, is said to be one 
 of the best military works of the time. In April, 1854, it was invested 
 by an army of 50,000 Russians, which was afterward increased to 
 70,000, and a siege begun which- continued until near the 1st of 
 July. A bombardment was kept up for three weeks, midnight at- 
 tacks were made, 30,000 men attempted to gain the town, but all 
 without success. The Russians retired and retreated across the river. 
 It is recorded that 50,000 shot and shell were thrown upon the town, 
 while the Russians lost 12,000 men and had 20,000 laid up in hos- 
 pitals. Below Silistria are Tchernavoda, Hirsova, Matchin, Isaktcha, 
 and Tultcha. On the Rumanian side are Braila, Galatz, Reni, and 
 Ismail. Of these forts, Braila, Matchin, and Tultcha are especially 
 important, as they command the Dobrudja. Another place of im- 
 portance to the Dobrudja is the small port of Kustendji on the Black 
 Sea. 
 
 The second line of the Turkish defense was the Balkan range of 
 mountains, which rises to a height varying from 5,000 feet in the west 
 to 2,000 feet in the eastern extremity. The distance from the Danube 
 to the top of the Balkans is about fifty or sixty miles, across a rough 
 and broken country. The declivities of the mountains themselves 
 are covered with forests. The climate is very cold and bleak. The 
 best pass through the mountains is from Tirnova to Slivno. Besides 
 the few passes known to and defended by the Turks, there are quite 
 a number of secret passes known to the Bulgarians only. The most 
 important fortresses at the northern base of the Balkans are Shurnla 
 and Yarna, the former considered one of the strongest points in Tur- 
 key, at which a number of roads converge. Varna is a port on the; 
 Black Sea, also strongly fortified, and connected by railroad with: 
 Rustchuk. Beyond the Balkan range the country slopes gradually 
 down to the Sea of Marmora. A railroad connects Adrianople with 
 Constantinople, a distance of seventy miles. The land approaches to 
 Constantinople are protected by a range of steep hills, extending from
 
 228 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Kara Bournu on the Black Sea, to Silivri on the Sea of Marmora. 
 Here it was that Attila was stopped and hurled back in his victori- 
 ous career. 
 
 Very little was known of the strength and the disposition of the 
 Turkish forces at the beginning of the war, as nothing like an ordre 
 de ~bataille exists in the Turkish army. According to all reports, 
 however, the army of the Danube, inclusive of the garrisons, and ex- 
 clusive of the troops stationed at Nissa, did not exceed 200,000 men. 
 From this number the troops assigned to garrisons should be deducted : 
 for Widin 15,000 men, for Rustchuk and Silistria each 12,000 men, 
 for Varna 15,000 men, for Shurnla 20,000 men, and for the other 
 smaller fortresses 30,000 men, making together 104,000, which would 
 leave for the army of operation hardly more than 90,000 or 100,000 
 men. Included in this number were 20,000 irregular troops. In 
 May, the Sultan ordered a draft of 200,000 men, in which, for the 
 first time, the Christians and the inhabitants of Constantinople were 
 to be included. Large concentrations of troops had taken place only 
 around Widin, Rustchuk, and Shumla, while a corps of 20,000 men 
 was said to have been stationed in the Dobrudja. At the outbreak 
 of the war considerable movements of troops took place from Widin 
 and the Dobrudja, toward the center, in the direction of Rustchuk and 
 Silistria, while at the same time the reserves, which had been sta- 
 tioned at Adrianople and Sophia, as well as a part of those at Con- 
 stantinople, were moved across the Balkans. After these move- 
 ments of troops had been completed the strength of the forces sta- 
 tioned at Shumla and forward of it, on the line of Rustchuk, Silistria, 
 and Sistova, was estimated at about 128 battalions, 600 men each, 
 20 squadrons and 116 field-guns, inclusive of the garrisons of the 
 fortresses of the Danube. The Dobrudja corps, inclusive of the gar- 
 rison of Varna, was estimated at the highest at 39 battalions, 8 squad- 
 rons, and 42 guns, while the troops concentrated around Widin were 
 estimated at 60 battalions, 16 squadrons, and 150 guns, making in all 
 227" battalions, 44 squadrons, and 338 field-guns. The Preussische 
 Militdr Wochenblatt (Military Weekly), in its issue of May 23d, gave 
 the same numbers, estimating the strength of battalions as varying be- 
 tween 300 and 1,000 men, and that of squadrons at 150. It summed 
 up the entire force, inclusive of garrisons, at 159,000 infantry, 6,600 
 cavalry, and 338 guns. To this must be added about 20,000 Circas- 
 sians and an unknown number of irregulars. The regular infantry 
 were all armed with breech-loaders, and the artillery consisted of
 
 around? 
 
 PL EVNA . 
 
 "7 Ojniaii PtM/ta. ,
 
 THE RUSSIAN DECLARATION OF WAR. 231 
 
 Krupp cannon, the most of which were said to have been paid for 
 by Abdul Hamid from his private purse. The commander of the 
 entire Turkish forces in Europe was Abdul Kerim Pasha, and the 
 chief of his general staff, the Ferik Aziz Pasha. The commander of 
 the army of the Danube was the Mushir Achmet Eyub Pasha ; in 
 the Dobrudja, Ali Pasha ; in Yarna, Blum Pasha ; in Rustchuk, 
 Tahir Pasha ; in Silistria, the Ferik Selaini ; and in Widin, the 
 Mushir Osman Pasha. 
 
 Besides the above, the Russian Tnvalide and the Preussiche Mili- 
 tar Wochenblatt estimated that the following troops were in Euro- 
 pean Turkey in the middle of May : 6 battalions, 4 squadrons, 12 
 guns around Nissa, as a corps of observation against the mobilized 
 Servian army ; Mushir Zamik Pasha with 36 battalions, 20 squadrons, 
 and 42 guns, as a general reserve in Constantinople, of which, how- 
 ever, a considerable number were sent to the coast of Caucasia ; 
 Mushir Suleiman Pasha with 37 battalions and 54 field and moun- 
 tain cannon in Herzegovina, with his headquarters in Trebigne; 
 Veli Pasha with 26 battalions, 1 squadron, and 36 guns, together, 
 18,000 men, in Bosnia, with his headquarters at Serayevo ; Ali Saib 
 with 25 battalions and 42 field and mountain guns, 18,000 men, in 
 Albania against Montenegro and the Miridites, with his headquarters 
 at Scutari ; Achmet Pasha with 25 battalions, 4 squadrons, 30 guns, 
 on the boundary of Greece; Mehemet Ali with 14 battalions, 2 
 squadrons, and 18 guns, in Rascia, between the southern boundary 
 of Servia and the eastern boundary of Montenegro ; 16 battalions 
 and 18 guns on the islands of the JEgean Sea, principally in Crete, 
 where the Mushir Rauf was in command. The army in Europe then 
 numbered in all about 412 very unequal battalions and 75 squadrons, 
 making together 290,000 men and 12,000 horses, and 590 field and 
 mountain guns, with a few field and mountain batteries. Of the 
 irregular troops, only 12,000 Arnauts in Rascia and Albania, and 
 20,000 Circassians with the army of the Danube, could be counted 
 on as reliable. 
 
 As soon as the Russians had secured the shores of the Danube 
 from Kilia to Braila, they began to erect shore batteries and earth- 
 works along the whole line, those at Barboschi, Braila, and Galatz 
 being armed with heavy guns brought for this purpose from Kish 
 enev. At the same time torpedoes were placed by the Russians 
 opposite Reni, in order completely to blockade the passage of the 
 stream at this bend. On May 3d, two monitors, stationed at Matchin,
 
 232 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 began to bombard the Russian positions at Braila. The firing contin- 
 ued on the 5th and 6th, and was answered by the Russians at iirst 
 with their field artillery, and as their heavy siege guns began to 
 arrive, with them also. The Turks afterward also bombarded 
 Galatz, but with little effect. On May llth a Russian battery 
 above Braila had the good fortune to blow up the " Luf ti DjelH," a 
 Turkish monitor, which ha4 two turrets, and was one of the largest 
 on the river. It was destroyed by a shell from a Russian mortar 
 going down the funnel into the engine-room, exploding and com- 
 municating the destruction to the powder magazine. The loss of 
 the Turks was 150 men, the entire crew, and 5 guns. 
 
 Artillery duels took place also at various other points, particularly 
 between Reni and Isaktcha, without, however, doing any serious 
 damage to either side. 
 
 The Turks began to bombard several Rumanian towns from their 
 positions opposite. Thus, on May 8th, Kalafat was bombarded from 
 Widin, Oltenitza from Turtukai, and on the same day a Rumanian 
 coast guard at Giurgevo was attacked by a Turkish monitor. A 
 party of Bashi-Bazouks landed at Piketi, near the mouth of the 
 Shyl, and burned several Rumanian merchantmen, but were driven 
 back by Rumanian cavalry. 
 
 The Rumanian troops, in consequence of the undecided position 
 of the Government, were, on the first day of the war, withdrawn 
 from Kalafat and Giurgevo, but early in May they again took pos- 
 session of these places, so that on the 8th they were able to answer 
 the Turkish fire from Widin and other points. 
 
 A greater activity became perceptible in the movements of the 
 Russian troops on the Rumanian railroads after the 10th of May. 
 On the 14rth, the headquarters of the commander-in-chief were re- 
 moved from Jassy to Ployeshti, where the Grand Duke was re- 
 ceived by Prince Charles of Rumania. A report which had 
 been in circulation of the formation of a Bulgarian legion, three 
 thousand strong, in Bessarabia, and its march to join the Imperial 
 forces, received apparent confirmation from the appearance of a Bul- 
 garian company of honor drawn up at the railroad station during the 
 ceremonies of reception. On the 15th, the Grand Duke visited the 
 Prince, and held a conference with him at Bucharest. 
 
 A daring feat against the Turkish iron-clads was performed on the 
 25th of May. The situation of the largest of the Turkish monitors 
 having been ascertained, a party of Russians under the command of
 
 THE RUSSIAN DECLARATION OF WAR. 233 
 
 Lieut. Dubashoff, and accompanied by a Rumanian officer, set out 
 in the night toward the spot. A correspondent of the Leipsic 
 Gartenlaube, who accompanied the Russians as far as the river bank, 
 and witnessed the action while awaiting their return, thus describes 
 what followed : 
 
 " Suddenly a shot was heard and then a second. The light of the 
 second showed to me for an instant a Turkish guard on board the 
 monitor. Now a shot was heard from the Rumanian shore. Five 
 minutes afterward I again heard the paddling of wheels in the 
 water, and soon one of the little steamers landed. One of the 
 officers held one end of the wire, which I had before seen fastened 
 to the torpedo. 
 
 " ' Everything worked capitally,' an officer said. ' We took the 
 monitor in the rear, while the others came in front. We reached 
 the keel unnoticed,' and pointing to a dripping artillery-man, ' our 
 diver there adjusted the thing in the right place. Those fellows 
 must sleep very hard. They really had only one man on guard. 
 He it was who challenged the other boat in Turkish. Our Ruma- 
 nian friend, who really speaks Turkish very well, took the part of an 
 officer belonging to the fleet, who was returning from Matchin 
 rather tipsy, and told the guard not to make any fuss about it. 
 When the steamer moved off, the Turk began to tire, but then, of 
 course, it was too late. Here are the others.' .... After a while 
 the officer holding the wire, asked : ' Is it time ? ' The engineer 
 
 answered with a nod ' Back, back all ! ' some one cried 
 
 out, and we all rushed up the bank, where the battery was stand- 
 ing. Then there was an explosion so terrible that even now it 
 seems to resound in my ears. After a short interval, another and 
 
 then still another and louder explosion, and that was all The 
 
 monitor had been literally blown into shreds by the terrible effect 
 of the torpedoes filled with dynamite." 
 
 The Emperor Alexander arrived in Ployeshti on the 6th of June, 
 accompanied by his sons, the Grand Dukes Alexander, Vladimir, 
 and Sergius, as well as by his military staff and his diplomatic and 
 political chancery. 
 
 From this time until the crossing of the Danube no action of any 
 importance took place, although artillery duels were kept up almost 
 constantly between the batteries on the opposite shores. The Rus- 
 sians continued their advance rather slowly during May and June, 
 considering their first spurt to the Danube. Their tardiness was
 
 234 THE WAR IN THE EAST - 
 
 chiefly owing to the impassable condition of the Rumanian roads, 
 which, in consequence of incessant rains, had become almost bottom- 
 less, while the Danube, at as late a date as the beginning of June, 
 was sixteen feet above its normal height. But all preparations for 
 crossing were made. Four Russian pontoon-parks were sent by rail 
 from Galatz to Bucharest and thence to the Danube. Wooden ves- 
 sels were constructed at Slatina and Galatz, and after they had 
 been brought by rail to Slatina on the Aluta, were all moved 
 down the Aluta to Turtm-Magurelli, on the left bank of the Danube 
 opposite Mcopolis. Torpedo boats were brought from Galatz to 
 Slatina and to Fratesti near Giurgevo, in order to blockade the 
 river, as soon as the crossing was possible, while gun-boats were 
 brought up in parts to be put together and employed in scouting 
 duty.
 
 CIRCASSIAN CAVALRY PASSING THROUGH A TURKISH TOWN.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE AND THE BALKANS. 
 
 Passage of the Danube at Galatz Bombardment of Rustchuck The Russians Cross at 
 Sistova Inactivity of the Turks Proclamation of the Czar to the Bulgarians Capt- 
 ure of Braila and of Tirnova The Balkan Passes Gourko Crosses the Balkans 
 Capture of the Shipka Pass Advance of Gourko into Rumelia The Russians Capt- 
 ure Lovatz Storming of Nicopolis. 
 
 As the passage of the Danube was delayed from day to day, the 
 Czar became impatient, and ordered the passage from Galatz and 
 Braila to take place within three days, directing that everything be 
 in readiness by that time, as he intended to be present to witness 
 the passage. General Zimmermann, commanding at those points, 
 pleaded for delay, and the Emperor reluctantly yielded. The 
 passage was finally effected on June 23d. It was described as follows 
 by the correspondent of the New York Herald : 
 
 " The programme was adroitly planned and carried out. It had 
 been ascertained by Russian spies that the Turkish forces at 
 Matchin were in no condition to oppose a crossing, if made in 
 force, and that only straggling bands of Bashi-Bazouks were to be 
 met among the low lands along the river. Accordingly before 
 dawn a few barge loads of Cossacks were sent across from Galatz 
 to Ghiacet. The crossing was assisted by small steamers, which 
 performed the journeys with the barges as rapidly as possible. In 
 this manner a sufficient number of these brave horsemen were soon 
 across and mounted. They remained close to the river, having 
 their sentries out to give notice of an approach of the enemy. The 
 guns in the forts at Galatz fully covered the cavalry, and the gun- 
 ners stood ready to serve their pieces at a signal from the Cossacks. 
 So far as can be learned, the building of the bridge at Galatz par- 
 takes of the nature of a feint, because the great body of troops 
 crossed into the Dobrudja at Braila. 
 
 " Meanwhile the same movement had been made at Braila. The 
 barges at this place were not so large as at Galatz, and many valu- 
 able Cossack ponies either fell or leaped from them into the river, 
 
 (*35)
 
 236 THE WAR IN THE EAST, 
 
 but they were mostly saved by being lassoed and thus towed to the 
 shore. In some instances the horses swam ashore at the call of 
 their masters, who remained on the barges. After considerable 
 delay several hundred men were landed and formed on a grassy 
 slope about a quarter of a mile from the river, the intervening land 
 being so marshy that the horses were led over it with great difficulty. 
 All being ready at both points, the telegraph was put in requisition 
 from Braila, and a simultaneous movement took place, the Cossacks 
 advancing with great rapidity into the Dobrudja. The force landed 
 at Braila had by far the more difficult task, for they were compelled 
 to extend their line to the utmost, while the detachment from 
 Galatz advanced along the main road and larger paths, outside of 
 which it would be impossible for an enemy to approach or to flank 
 them, because of the marshy condition of the country. In less 
 than two hours the two lines of horsemen had formed a junction, 
 the distance between Galatz and Braila, measured on the inside of 
 the bend in the river, being only eighteen miles. Thus was formed 
 a cordon of Cossacks between the river's bank and the enemy. The 
 prominent part which the Cossack was thus made to play in the first 
 real aggressive movement into the enemy's territory in Europe is 
 worth noticing. It fully justifies all that has been written about 
 the important service which he, as a horseman, is likely to render to 
 Russia in the war. This brings the Cossack squarely to the front, 
 and makes of him what the Uhlan was to the troops of Prussia, 
 ' Teclaireur par excellence? Under cover of this Cossack cordon, 
 the pontoons were towed into position, and the bridges at the two 
 points were soon laid, every plank being ready and every man hav- 
 ing a particular service to perform. The Galatz bridge was much 
 more easily built than the one at Braila, because at the latter place, 
 on the Dobrudja side, the long stretch of swamp land before referred 
 to had to be planked for the passage of the artillery. The foot 
 soldiers did not wait for this event, however. No sooner had the 
 last plank been laid in the main structure than the men already 
 drawn up in battalions were ordered to prepare for the crossing. 
 Eight thousand men and two batteries of artillery then passed over 
 as rapidly as possible, eacji battalion forming directly it had reached 
 the dry ground. By the time the guns were ready to be brought 
 over, preparations for landing them across the marsh were finished. 
 The enemy in the shape of scattered, irregular cavalry, had shown 
 themselves at various points, and when the main body of troops
 
 PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE AND THE BALKANS. 237 
 
 had formed and the batteries had been placed, the Cossacks were 
 ordered forward to drive back the videttes. An advance was then 
 made toward Matchin, the object being to attack at once, before the 
 place could be reinforced. The Turks were found posted on a 
 range of hills to the north-westward of the town. The batteries on 
 these hills opened on the invading Russian troops, and a strong de- 
 tachment of irregulars sallied out to meet their inveterate foes, the 
 Cossacks. They did not risk a closs encounter, however, and a few 
 shells from the Russian battery posted on the assailed flank dispersed 
 the Bashi-Bazouks and caused their inglorious retreat under cover 
 of the batteries on the hills. Without delay the Russians were 
 ordered to advance and charge the batteries. After a severe hand- 
 to-hand fight the outlying fortifications were captured and the guns 
 turned upon the fleeing Turks. 
 
 u The second assault followed as soon as the men could be re- 
 formed, and, with the aid of the newly-acquired field-pieces, the 
 heights were carried by storm. These most desperate struggles, in 
 which the fighting was in many instances hand to hand, continued 
 until late in the afternoon. Driven from their intrenched position 
 the Turks fell back on Matchin. Nightfall of Friday settled down 
 over the hills and valleys, and the victorious invaders deemed it 
 wiser to rest on the successes of the day than to attempt to follow 
 up the retfeat of the Turks. But the Russians bivouacked for the 
 night in the deserted camp. The camp fires burned brightly and 
 could be seen, doubtless, from the village of Matchin, distant only 
 two and a half to three miles. During the night the utmost activity 
 prevailed in the camp, and it was soon generally known that Mat- 
 chin was to be attacked on the morrow. It was impossible to ascer- 
 tain the losses, but from their exposed position it is probable the 
 Russians lost more men than the Turks. Prisoners captured place 
 the number of the Turkish garrison at 6,000 men, but it is believed 
 that this estimate is too large. The Turkish force probably num- 
 bered 5,000, including the irregular cavalry. On yesterday (Satur- 
 day, June 24th) morning the battle was renewed. During the night 
 the Turks had made great efforts to strengthen some earthworks 
 which were in front of the eastern or most feasible approach to the 
 village, but after a few shells had been thrown into the intrench- 
 ments and the town the Turks evacuated the former. The Russians 
 advanced and occupied the town only to find that it had been aban- 
 doned by the main body of the Turkish troops during the darkness.
 
 238 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Therefore by six o'clock on Saturday morning the Russians held the 
 key to the Dobrudja." 
 
 The Russian left wing at the time of the crossing comprised divi- 
 sions of the 4th, 13th, and 14th corps. These corps had been originally 
 concentrated in Bessarabia, and were sent to the front to relieve the 
 Yth and llth corps as soon as the reserve corps of 50,000 men had 
 been mobilized for the defense of Odessa, the Crimea, and the 
 northern coast of the Black Sea. The troops that first crossed the 
 Danube belonged to the 14th corps. In the following week, con- 
 siderable activity was manifested throughout the Russian lines. 
 Large bodies of troops were moved down from Slatina to the 
 Danube, where they took up positions between Turnu-Magurelli and 
 Simnitza. At the same time the artillery fire was resumed by the 
 whole Russian line. The fiercest fire was at Rustchuck, where it 
 was commenced on June 24th, and as the Herald correspondent de- 
 scribed it : " It soon seemed as if every Russian gun was fired sim- 
 ultaneously, for the earth fairly trembled with the roar of the artil- 
 lery and the shells flew over the doomed city with an awful and 
 indescribable sound." The Turkish batteries promptly replied to 
 the fire. The Russian fire, which seemed to have for its particular 
 object the center of the city, caused great devastation. Mosques 
 were destroyed and even hospitals and the foreign consulates were 
 demolished. The house of the British Consul fared decidedly the 
 worst, so that at last, in order to save his house from total destruc- 
 tion, the Consul raised the American flag, but even that expedient 
 was without avail. On Monday the entire population left the city 
 and fled to the interior. The town was completely destroyed by the 
 terrible fire, although the fortifications remained practically intact. 
 The Turks in reply partly destroyed Giurgevo, into which, it was 
 stated, they threw 1,500 shells within two days. At Nicopolis also 
 the firing was very severe. On Monday, June 25th, the Russians 
 occupied Hirsova. Having observed that everything was very quiet 
 there, a party of Cossacks first crossed the Danube near Kalarash 
 unopposed, advanced cautiously toward Hirsova and found it had 
 been evacuated. On Tuesday, June 26th, the Russians succeeded 
 in crossing from Simnitza to Sistova. This crossing, of great im- 
 portance, as it opened the way for the hosts assembled along the 
 Aluta, is described as follows by the correspondent of the London 
 Daily News : 
 
 " With the darkness General Dragomiroff began his dispositions.
 
 A COSSACK RECONNOISSANCE IN THE DOBRUDJA.
 
 PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE AND THE BALKANS. 
 
 241 
 
 The first work was to plant in made emplacements a row of field- 
 guns all along the edge of the flats to sweep with fire the opposite 
 banks. This was while his infantry was being marched over the 
 flats down into the cover of the willow wood. The darkness and 
 the obstructions were both so great that all was not ready till the 
 first glimmer of gcay dawn. There was no bridge, but a number 
 of river boats, capable of holding from fifteen to forty men each. 
 These were dragged on carriages through the mud and launched in 
 the darkness from under the spreading boughs of the willow trees. 
 The troops embarked and pushed across as the craft arrived. Drag- 
 omiroff stood on the slimy margin to bid his gallant fellows God- 
 speed. He would fain have shown the way, for, although a scien- 
 tific soldier, it was his duty to remain till later. The grateful task 
 devolved on Major-General Yolchine, whose brigade consisted of the 
 regiments of Yalinsk and Minsk, the Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth of 
 the line. The boats put off singly, rowing across for the little cove, 
 and later the little steam-tug was brought into requisition. 
 
 " For once the Turks had not spent the night watches in heavy 
 sleep. Their few cannon at once opened fire on the boats, on the 
 hidden masses among the willows and on the columns marching 
 across the flat. !N^or was this all. From the slopes above the cove 
 there came at the boats a smart infantry fire. The Turkish riflemen 
 were holding the landing place. Yolchine has not gained experience 
 and credit in Caucasian warfare for nothing. His boat was leading. 
 The Turkish riflemen were in position about fifty yards from the 
 shore. He landed his handful and bade them lie down in the mud. 
 One or two were down previously with Turkish bullets. He opened 
 a skirmishing fire to cover the landing boats that followed. One by 
 one these landed their freights, who followed the example of the 
 first boat load. 
 
 "At length enough had accumulated. Young Skobeleff was there,, 
 a host in himself. Yolchine bade his men fix bayonets, stand up 
 and follow their officers. There was a rush and a cheer that rang 
 louder in the gray dawn than the Turkish volley that answered it.. 
 That volley was not fired in vain, but the Turks did not wait for 
 cold steel. Yolchine's skirmishers followed them doggedly soma 
 distance up the slope, but for the time could not press on far from, 
 the base. Busily, yet slowly, the craft moved to and fro from shore 
 to shore. The Russian guns had at once opened, when the Turkish 
 fire showed that there was no surprise ; but, however heavy a fire 
 
 13
 
 242 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 may be, it will not all at once crush another fire. The Turkish shells 
 kept falling in the water, whistling through the willows, and burst- 
 ing among the columns on the flat. One shell from a inonntain 
 gun fell into a boat containing two guns, their gunners, and the com- 
 mandant of the battery. The boat was swamped at once, and all on 
 board perished. This was the only serious casualty, but numerous 
 Russian soldiers were falling on both sides of the river. Neverthe- 
 less the work wa9 going steadily on, and when, soon after seven 
 o'clock, I went to meet Prince Mirsky on the high ground before 
 Simnitza, the report was that already the whole brigade of Yolchine 
 had reached the other side, that a Russian battery was there, and 
 that Dragomiroff himself had crossed. We stood for some time sur- 
 veying the scene. 
 
 " Cast your eye down there to your left front athwart the flats, and 
 note the masses of troops waiting there or marching on toward the 
 cover of the willows. See the long row of guns in action there by 
 the water's edge, covered by the battalions of infantry, in this case 
 a mischievous conventionality, owing to the exposure, for the Tur- 
 kish cannon will not just yet be wholly silenced. Note how deftly 
 the Russian shells pitch into that earthwork on the verge of Sistova. 
 But the gallant gunners stubbornly fight their guns under the rain 
 of fire, and when one gun is quiet another gives tongue. And what 
 a mark ! Half an army corps out there on the flat, with no speck of 
 cover save that patch of willows down there. Hark to the crackle 
 of musketry fire on the wooded slopes rising out from the cove. No 
 wonder Yolchine's skirmishers are moving, for that Turkish battery 
 on the sky line is dropping shells with fell swiftness among the wil- 
 low trees. Sistova seems stark empty. It might be a city of the 
 dead. But the Turkish gunners cling to their posts and their guns 
 with wonderful stanchness, amid clouds of dust thrown up by the 
 shells which burst around them. Nor are the single pieces among 
 the trees wholly quiet. Shells are dropping among the troops on 
 the flat and the ambulance men are hurrying about with brancards 
 or plodding toward the military surgery with heavy, blood-sodden 
 burdens. You may watch the shells drop into the water, starring 
 its surface as they fall as if it had been glass. What a wonder that 
 one and all should miss those clumsy, heavy-laden craft which stud 
 the water so thickly. A shell in one of these boats would produce 
 fearful results among the closely-packed freight. Not less fell 
 havoc would it work among the soldiers further on, massed there 
 under the shelter of the clay bank.
 
 PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE AND THE BALKANS. 
 
 243 
 
 " One realizes how great would have been the Russian loss if the 
 Turks had been in any great force in the Sistova position, and how, 
 after all, the Commander-in-chief might have been forced to take a 
 denial, accepting the inevitable. But as the affair stands, the whole 
 thing might have been a spectacle specially got up for the gratifica- 
 tion of Simnitza enjoying the effect from the platform high-ground 
 overhanging the flats. The laughter and bustle there are in strange 
 contrast with the apparent absence of human life in Sistova, opposite. 
 But then, Sistova was a victim lashed to the stake. Those on Sim- 
 nitza Bluff knew their skins were safe. 
 
 "Prince Mirski has received his reports and final instructions. 
 He gives word to his division to move down on to the flats, to be in 
 readiness to cross. Previously, their march finished, they had been 
 resting on the grassy uplands behind Simnitza. As we leave the 
 plateau the cry rises that a Turkish monitor is coming down the 
 Danube. Sure enough, near the head of the island is visible what 
 seems to be a large vessel with two funnels moving slowly down the 
 stream. Now the ferryboats may look out. Now is the oppor- 
 tunity for some dashing torpedo practice. But the Russian oflicers 
 evince no alarm rather, indeed, satisfaction. The fact is, as we 
 presently discern with the glass, that seeming monitor is really two 
 large lighters lashed together, which the Russians are drifting down 
 to assist in transporting the troops. No person is visible on board, 
 yet some one must be steering, and the course held is a bold one. 
 Slowly the lighters forge ahead past the very mouths of the Turkish 
 cannon in the Sistova battery, and are barely noticed by a couple of 
 shells. They bring to at the Rumanian shore higher up than the 
 crossing place, and wait there for their freight. Prince Mirski takes 
 his stand at the pontoon bridge to watch his division file past and 
 greet the regiments as they pass him. 
 
 " But in front of the Ninth division comes a regiment of the brig- 
 ade of riflemen formed specially for this war, and attached to no army 
 corps. This brigade is armed with Berdan rifles, and comprises the 
 finest marksmen of the whole army. Prince Mirski's division is 
 made up of four historic regiments which suffered most heavily in 
 Sebastopol during the great siege. They are the regiments of 
 Yeletsk, of Sefsk, of Orloff, and of Brianski, the Thirty-third, 
 Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, and Thirty-sixth of the Russian line. 
 Yery gallantly they marched down the steep slope and across the 
 bridge on to the swampy flats. Soon there greets them the scarcely
 
 244 THE WAR IN THE 
 
 enlivening spectacle, the surgery of the second line, where the more 
 serious cases were being dealt with before forwarding them to the 
 house hospitals in Simnitza. As we passed, about twenty shattered 
 creatures were lying there on blood-stained stretchers waiting 
 their turn at the hands of the doctors. More than one I noticed re- 
 quired no further treatment than to be consigned to a soldier's 
 grave. Beyond the first swamp we met a fine young officer of the 
 Guards carried on a stretcher with a shattered leg. But the plucky 
 youngster raised himself jauntily on his elbow to salute the general, 
 and wrote a telegram in my note-book to acquaint his friends that 
 he was not much hurt. A little further on, as we were passing the 
 rear of the guns, the Grand Duke Nicholas the younger, son of the 
 Commander-in-chief, rode off from the battery to greet our general. 
 The members of the Imperial family of Russia do not spare them- 
 selves when other subjects of the Czar are exposing themselves on 
 the battle-field. In Russia it is not the fashion that lofty station 
 gives exemption from the more dangerous tasks of patriotism. The 
 young Grand Duke had been across the Danube and was in high 
 spirits at the success of the enterprise. 
 
 " Going still forward toward the willows we all but stuck, horses 
 and all, in the deep, holding mud. It w r as admirable to see the 
 energy with which the heavily-laden soldiers of the infantry column 
 battled on doggedly through obstruction. I should have said earlier 
 that the troops were in complete marching order, and that for this 
 day they had discarded their cool, white clothing, and were crossing 
 in heavy blue clothing. Two reasons were assigned for this. One, 
 the greater warmth to the wounded in case of lying exposed to the 
 night chills. The other, that white clothing was too conspicuous. 
 The latter reason is rubbish. Blue on the light ground of the Danube 
 sand is more conspicuous than white. Everywhere, British scarlet 
 is more conspicuous than any other. The true fighting color is the 
 dingy kharki of our Indian irregulars. 
 
 " And what of the Turkish monitor ? She had been hemmed in 
 by a cordon of torpedoes within the side channel to the south of the 
 island of East Yardim. Although she was purling and blowing 
 furiously in her circumscribed area, a Russian battery moving down 
 the river bank on the Rumanian side, shelled her into a melancholy 
 victim of the acknowledged supremacy of the newest war machine. 
 So the resistance terminated, and what followed is mere routine work. 
 Iron pontoons began casually to make their appearance both from up-
 
 PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE AND THE BALKANS. 
 
 245 
 
 stream and down-stream, and accumulated about the crossing places, be- 
 ing used for the time as ferryboats. A complete pontoon is in reserve 
 at Simnitza, and will be on the water's edge to-night and be laid to- 
 morrow. Probably there will be two bridges, for this is the crossing 
 place of the main column, and will be the great Russian thorough- 
 fare to and from Turkey. Simultaneously with the pontoon boats 
 appeared on the scene the Emperor's brother, the Grand Duke 
 Nicholas, with Gen. Nepokoitchitzky, and spoiled my prospects of 
 dinner by requisitioning the whole hotel. The Emperor did not 
 turn up. 
 
 " It is useless to waste more words. The crossing has been effected 
 by a coup de main with marvelous skill and finesse. Until the last 
 moment no hint was given. The foreign attaches were all abroad. 
 The Emperor and suite were ostentatiously at Turnu-Magurelli, 
 and yet further to promote the delusion, the-Nicopolis position was 
 assiduously bombarded the day before. The successful effort has 
 probably cost only 1,000 men killed and wounded." 
 
 With this crossing effected, the Russians had made a great step 
 forward. Throughout Europe, and particularly in England, the 
 achievement created considerable excitement. Speaking of its im- 
 portance, the London Times said : 
 
 " Since the days when an Emperor capitulated at Sedan, and a 
 great army went into captivity from Metz, no event has created so 
 intense an excitement as the passage of the Danube in force by the 
 Russian army. In all the wars that have raged in the revolutionary 
 period, which extends from 1848 to the present time, there has been 
 no movement more colossal, more dramatic, and at the same time 
 more closely affecting the interests of Europe and the future course 
 of history." 
 
 The Russians, being now fully in the enemy's country, found the 
 Turks chiefly massed on their left wing, in the garrisons occupying 
 the fortresses of the quadrilateral. Away beyond their right wing 
 was Osman Pasha with his garrison at Widin, who might at any time, 
 however, move up into a more threatening proximity to them. They 
 had to consider, before advancing in force, the necessity of protecting 
 their wings, especially the left, where the Turks were very strong, 
 and of guarding their communications over the river. Apparently, 
 a division of their force so as to carry out both purposes would be a 
 hazardous operation, and leave both columns too weak to perform 
 their work efficiently. Yet the temptations to go forward were very
 
 246 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 strong. Directly before them lay the road to Adrianople and Con- 
 stantinople, the thought of which is associated with so many dreams 
 of glory to the Russian mind. From Sistova they might march to 
 the Yantra, and along its borders to Biela, whence three roads diverge 
 to Rustchuk, Tirnova, and Plevna ; thence up the valley of the Yan- 
 tra to the larger city of Tirnova, the ancient capital of the Bulgarian 
 Czars, the meeting-place of the roads of Western Bulgaria, which is 
 connected with Shumla by a road, and is the starting-point of two 
 passes over the Balkans ; further up the Yantra valley-road lay the 
 towns of Drenova and Gabrova, from the latter of which places a 
 good road leads, by way of Selvi and Lovatz, to West Bulgaria. 
 From Gabrova also rises the mountain pass which leads over Shipka 
 to Kasanlik in the Tundja valley, whence Adrianople may be reached 
 either by marching down the Tundja, or by the shorter, more direct 
 road through Eski Sagra and Kharskoi. The latter road has the ad- 
 vantage for a hostile force, that the railways from Yamboli to Khars- 
 koi and from Adrianople to Philippopolis can be most quickly 
 reached by it. The Russians received unexpected help in carrying 
 out the bold policy which they concluded to adopt, from the unac- 
 countable supineness of the Turkish generals. 
 
 Immediately after the crossing of the river, the Czar issued a proc- 
 lamation to the Bulgarians, in which he promised to the Christians 
 complete protection against all violence. Russia, he said, was ful- 
 filling its sacred mission to protect the rights of the diiferent nation- 
 alities, and to pacify all races and worshipers. The Mussulmans 
 also were promised protection and justice ; only the well-known au- 
 thors of the atrocities which had been committed would be severely 
 punished. 
 
 At the same time that the crossing from Simnitza took place, the 
 Russians made a serious demonstration at Turnu-Magurelli, a little 
 higher up the stream, which might have been turned into a real at- 
 tack, had a fair chance offered. The Russian forces were so distrib- 
 uted in the neighboring villages that they could fall with ease upon 
 Simnitza or Turnu-Magurelli, and the last moment it was uncertain 
 which place would be chosen. On June 28th, the Emperor and the 
 Grand Duke Nicholas took up their headquarters at Simnitza, and a 
 few days afterward at Tsarevitza, near Sistova. 
 
 The Turks remained completely inactive during the month of 
 July, Abdul Kerim insisting that he had a plan which would event- 
 ually result in the total defeat of the Russians. This inactivity at
 
 PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE AND THE BALKANS. 247 
 
 one time seemed to threaten the Turkish army with the loss of the 
 campaign, without a single battle being fought. It permitted the 
 Russians to establish themselves in sufficient strength, to secure a 
 fortified crossing-place, Sistova, to isolate the fortresses of Rust- 
 chuk and Silistria, and to secure the passes of the Central Balkans. 
 In these operations they were universally successful, meeting with 
 but little opposition, as will be seen from a detailed account. The 
 advanced guard of the army coming from Simnitza having secured 
 the massive bridge over the Tantra, at Biela, on July 1st, a cavalry 
 detachment under General Gourko, after a short engagement with 
 about 3,000 Turks, captured Tirnova on July Yth, which place was 
 strongly garrisoned by a large detachment of infantry. During the 
 following days the main army secured a strong position along the 
 line of the Yantra, with its front toward Osman Bazar and Ras- 
 grad, while to secure its rear, detachments of Cossacks scoured the 
 country to the west as far as Lovatz and Plevna. At the same time 
 preparations were made for the operations against the passes of the 
 Central Balkans by General Gourko, after he had previously occu- 
 pied Gabrova, where most of the roads north of the Balkans crossed 
 each other. 
 
 The Balkan Mountains, which the Russians Lad now reached, 
 formed the second line of defense for the Turks. They are for the 
 most part impassable, being crossed by only a few known passes, 
 which were all held and strongly fortified by the Turks. Besides 
 these passes, however, there are a number of bridle-paths and secret 
 passes, known only to the Bulgarians. The passes may be properly 
 divided into two groups, radiating respectively from Shumla in the 
 east, and Tirnova in the west. The Tirnova group comprises the 
 Shipka Pass and the Tvarditza Pass. iChe Shipka Pass is reached 
 from Tirnova by a road running through Gabrova, and is at its sum- 
 mit 4,500 feet above the sea. From this pass there is a beautiful view 
 on the valley below, where the town of Kasanlik lies, almost hidden 
 by the numerous rose gardens, from which is drawn the material for 
 the attar of roses, which is manufactured here. The Tvarditza Pass 
 is reached from Tirnova by a road through the valley of the Saltar 
 to Elena, whence a path goes over the mountains to the village of" 
 Tvarditza into the valley of the Tundja, and along the left bank of" 
 this river to the town of Kasanlik. It is about 4,000 feet high. A 
 little beyond Tvarditza the Balkans branch off into three separate ; 
 ranges, the Kutchuk or Little Mountains, the Stara Planina or Old
 
 248 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Mountains, and the Ernineh Dagh, running to Cape Emineh ; and 
 through these run the various passes belonging to the Shumla group. 
 In the hollow between the Kutchuk and the Stara Planiua branches 
 of the Balkans, surrounded on every side by the steep hills, lies the 
 town of Kasan, called by the Bulgarians Kotel (kettle), from the 
 peculiar shape of the gorge enclosing it. Through this gorge passes 
 the road from Osman Bazar, crossing on its way the Binar and Kut- 
 chuk ranges. West of Kasan lies the famous pass of Demir Kapu 
 or Iron Gate, a narrow and gloomy defile of unusual strength. The 
 chain may also be crossed from Kasan by another route, running south- 
 eastward through the narrow defile of Kotlenski Buaz, and entering 
 the town of Karnabad from the west. The latter place is, moreover, 
 accessible by another pass, the Dobrot Pass. This, although the most 
 direct approach from Shumla, can be reached only by taking or mask- 
 ing that fortress, which completely commands the road leading to it. 
 This pass is 2,000 feet high. The road leading to Aidos over the 
 Nadir-Derbent Pass, starts from Pravadi on the Yarna Railroad. 
 The first part of the line of march is the most difficult of the east- 
 ern routes. By this pass Gen. Rudiger, in 1829, crossed the Balkans, 
 while his colleague, Gen. Roth, avoided the mountains by taking the 
 shore road from Yarna to Missivri. Besides these is the Topolnitza 
 Pass in the Western Balkans, near Etropol, which has more than 
 once played an important part in the history of media? val Europe. 
 
 On July 12th, General Gourko set out from Tiruova to cross the 
 Balkans. Instead, however, of choosing the Shipka Pass, he 
 marched from Tirnova on the road to Slivno, and then a little 
 beyond Elena turned to the south, crossing the Balkans on one of 
 those small bridle-paths known only to the native Bulgarians. The 
 passage, owing to the difficulties of the country, was a very difficult 
 one. A correspondent of the London Times, who accompanied the 
 expedition, spoke of it as follows : 
 
 " Two passes, well known, lead through the mountains in this 
 direction, the one by Gabrova, the other by Elena. We are at- 
 tempting to pass between them along such a path as guides take a 
 tourist who wishes to ascend a mountain where there is no road. 
 Sometimes in a valley there is a good cart track for a mile or so, 
 then the way lies along the bed of a stream ; but two squadrons of 
 Cossacks, and another of Cossacks turned into mounted sappers, 
 have reached the top of the pass, and made such alterations as 
 render it practicable for guns, practicable after a fashion, but very
 
 GENERAL GOURKO.
 
 THE ROAD TO THE SHIPKA PASS.
 
 PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE AND THE BALKANS. 
 
 251 
 
 difficult Yet all the while the Cossack improvised sappers 
 
 are hard at work preparing the road for the artillery. It is a mere 
 mountain path, leading partly across or along streams, partly around 
 hill-sides, sometimes hanging many feet above the stream, and 
 sloping dangerously toward it. General Rauch is there in front, and 
 
 the men are doing their best For the artillery, especially for 
 
 the last battery, because the others had cut up the road, the day's 
 work was terrible ; nearly all the drivers were pressing their horses 
 and laying on their whips with true Russian good-will, the gunners 
 pushing and pulling. Never did horses work harder ; yet the guns 
 hung behind, for it is doubtful whether guns were ever taken along 
 such roads before at such a pace." 
 
 On the 14th he reached Hainkoi on the southern slope of the 
 Balkans. Small detatchments of the enemy which were met here 
 were repulsed, as well as on the following days at various other 
 points. On the 17th the enemy was also driven from Kasanlik, and 
 the village of Shipka, lying to the north, was taken after a short 
 engagement. On the same day Prince Mirski, with the Orloff in- 
 fantry regiment and the 30th Don Cossacks, attacked the Shipka 
 Pass from the north, coming from Gabrova. The Turks were well 
 intrenched here, with fourteen tabors of infantry and eight guns, 
 and after having been driven from their more advanced positions 
 at the point of the bayonet, they made, for a time, a desperate 
 resistance, the Russians losing over two hundred dead and wounded. 
 But fearing to be surrounded both from the north and the south, 
 they withdrew on the 19th, leaving their artillery in the hands of 
 the Russians. During his march in the valley of the Tundja, 
 General Gourko had sent a cavalry detachment to the south, which 
 cut the telegraph wires at Yeni Sagra. Detachments of Cossacks 
 also made their appearance at Yamboli. Two days before the cap- 
 ture of the Shipka Pass, a detachment of troops under General 
 Sherebkoff occupied Lovatz, which was of great importance in se- 
 curing the right wing of the Balkan positions. 
 
 The Russians had gained possession of the line of the Yantra 
 from Sistova to Gabrova, and had immediately prepared for the 
 march over the Balkans. In order to secure their line, they must 
 gain a considerable extent of territory on their right and left, and 
 form for themselves a secure, broad basis of operations, which ex- 
 tending as far to the east as the Turkish line of Rustchuk, Rasgrad 
 and Shumla, should include the river Lorn in its scope, and should
 
 252 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 stretch westwardly over the Osma Valley to the river Yid. In the 
 west, lay on the Osma the important towns of ISTicopolis, Bulgareni, 
 Lovatz, Trojan, Selvi, east of Trojan, Plevna further west on the 
 river Yid. If they were masters of this territory extending from 
 the Yid to the Lorn, they would have a solid position against the 
 quadrilateral, and any force which might come out from it would 
 also be secure against attack from Widin, Nissa, and Sophia on the 
 west, and would be able to guard their troops in the Balkans 
 against an attempt to cut them off. 
 
 The first point of attack was Kicopolis. This is a very ancient 
 and important fortress, and was the scene of the defeat of the 
 French and Hungarian army by Sultan Bayazid, in 1396. It threat- 
 ened Sistova and the right wing of the Russians, and its capture 
 was indispensable to the success of a further advance. The move- 
 ment had been made against it even before the successes of General 
 Gourko in the Balkans, and the position, with its garrison of six 
 thousand men, had surrendered to the Russians on the 15th. The 
 correspondent of the oSTew York Herald gives the following account 
 of the operations previous to the surrender : 
 
 " A crossing at Nicopolis possesses many advantages over that at 
 Sistova. The river's current is not as strong, and a number of 
 small islands fronting Turnu-Magurelli are very favorably located 
 for bridging purposes. In reality Nicopolis was the selected point 
 for the original crossing of the Danube, but circumstances and the 
 Turks forced the adoption of the Sistova line. The batteries at 
 Turnu-Magurelli had reduced Nicopolis to ruins ; but the two hills 
 on which the town was built completely sheltered the Turkish forces 
 from the Russian fire. Therefore, it became necessary to attack 
 the town and position from the Bulgarian side of the river. For 
 this purpose a considerable force of infantry was massed west of 
 Sistova, and during the concentration these troops served to cover 
 the crossing. "VYhen the two corps had established themselves in 
 the direction of Biela and Tirnova the covering body was prepared 
 to move on Nicopolis. But, in the meantime, the Turks were 
 strengthening their position and preparing to defeat the clearly 
 apparent object of their enemy. All the indications, therefore, 
 pointed to a bloody struggle for the possession of JSTicopolis, and, to 
 speak truly, neither side seemed over-anxious to begin it. The 
 threatened failure of the Sistova bridge and the frequent interrup-
 
 PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE AND THE BALKANS. 253 
 
 tions of traffic, necessitated by the repairs, forced the Russians to 
 make the attack. 
 
 " The extensive swamp and lake west of Sistova interfered con- 
 siderably with the Russian advance, although it afforded a decided 
 protection against Turkish attack from that side. The Cossacks had 
 been skirmishing and scouting for more than two days in the direc- 
 tion of Plevna and Nicopolis, and their operations and activity 
 masked the preparations of the attacking column very effectually. 
 Finally the order for the Russian advance was given, and after an 
 arduous march around the lake and toward N icopolis, the contend- 
 ing forces came into collision. The Turks had taken the precaution 
 to cover their position by double lines of pickets, supported, at in- 
 tervals, by several companies of picked troops. This was to guard 
 against the raids of the Cossacks, whose enterprise has impressed 
 itself thoroughly upon the Turkish mind. These lines of pickets 
 made what might be termed a formal show of resistance, and slowly 
 retired on the main body. As soon as the Russians came within 
 effective range of the Turkish position they were met by a severe 
 artillery fire, which, however, did not check their advance, and to 
 which they replied with a still more formidable fire. The Turks 
 being posted on a commanding position had a considerable advan- 
 tage, and, as the Russians approached, frightful gaps were made in 
 their ranks by the Turkish artillery. With surprising valor, how- 
 ever, they continued to approach the heights, and as soon as they 
 came within rifle range they opened a terrible fire on the Turks. 
 For half an hour this musketry duel continued with unabated vigor. 
 The Russians, in the meantime, developed their front, so as to ap- 
 proach their left in the direction of the Osma River. This was a 
 movement which threatened the Turkish line of retreat to the south- 
 westward and westward. About midday on Sunday the order for 
 the assault was given, and the whole Russian line, supported by 
 several batteries of artillery, advantageously posted, stormed the 
 heights occupied by the Turks. During this awful climb, in the 
 face of a deadly fire, the Russians suffered terribly ; while the Turks, 
 stubbornly defending their position, sustained equal losses. But the 
 onset was so impetuous that the Turks could not withstand it and 
 were driven headlong over the crest of the hills toward Nicopolis, 
 followed by the Cossacks and detachments of light infantry." 
 
 The Russians, who were commanded by Baron Kriidener, fought
 
 254 THE WAR IN THE EAST - 
 
 with great bravery, according to all accounts. The entire Turkish 
 garrison, consisting of 6,000 men, with Hassan and Achmed Pashas, 
 surrendered to the victors, together with two monitors and forty 
 cannon. 
 
 The capture of ISTicopolis gave to the Russian army, for the first 
 time, a secure foothold on the right bank of the Danube. A bridge 
 was not constructed at this point, but a regular communication with 
 Turnu-Magurelli, on the Rumanian bank, was established by boats. 
 The advance of the Russian columns which, since the beginning of 
 July, and the occupation of the Yantra bridge at Biela, had been 
 directed against the western front of the quadrilateral, and against 
 the passes of the central Balkans, could now proceed more smoothly. 
 Active preparations were made to take Rustchuk. The Twelfth 
 and Thirteenth corps, under the command of the Czarevitch, were 
 detailed to invest this fortress. In the middle of July the advance 
 guard had reached the heights on the left bank of the Black Lorn, 
 and had repulsed several advances of the garrison under Eshreff 
 Pasha. But as these troops were not deemed sufficient, the Eleventh 
 division of the Eleventh corps and a part of the Eleventh cavalry 
 division were added, so that at the close of July the army of the 
 Czarevitch consisted of fully two and two-third corps, which enabled 
 him to extend the crescent-shaped position of his lines south of 
 Rustchuk, beyond Kadikoi to the railroad station, Yetova, thus in- 
 terrupting the communication by rail between Rustchuk and Shurala. 
 But even these forces did not suffice to complete the investment of 
 Rustchuk from the land, for it was absolutely necessary to send 
 several brigades up the Lorn into the neighborhood of Osman Bazar, 
 for the Turks had drawn a large number of the troops stationed at 
 Varna and Shumla to Rasgrad, and had strongly fortified themselves 
 at that place. The 50,000 men under Achmet Eyub Pasha, which 
 were gathered at this point, formed the real army of operation, of 
 which two brigades were advanced as far as Eski Djuma and Osman 
 Bazar, while Turkish outposts extended as far as Yenikoi. The re- 
 mainder of July was filled up with unimportant engagements of the 
 outposts and a bombardment of Rustchuk from Giurgevo, frequently 
 interrupted by long pauses.
 
 THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER II. IN THE NEVSKI PROSPEKT, 
 ST. PETERSBURG.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE IN ARMENIA. 
 
 Sketch of the Field of the Armenian Campaign Its History First Advance of the 
 Russians Capture of Bayazid Capture of Ardahan Gen. Melikoff before Kars 
 Gen. Tergukassoff at Zeidekan The Turks everywhere Retreating before the 
 Russians. 
 
 THE district which was the scene of operations in Asia is a coun- 
 try possessing considerable historical interest, and has been the scene 
 of important expeditions and fierce wars during several thousand 
 years. Extending from the Caucasus Mountains to Lake Yan, and 
 from the eastern boundary of Turkey to Erzerum, it includes the 
 ancient Colchis, the objective point of the Argonautic Expedition, 
 the first commercial enterprise mentioned in Grecian history, and 
 the central part of the former kingdom of Armenia. The head- 
 waters of the Euphrates and Araxes are within or near its borders ; 
 and on its eastern edge, between Russian Erivan and Turkish 
 Bayazid, almost directly in the line of march of the Russian left 
 wing, stands the mountain called Ararat. The expeditions of Cy- 
 rus and Darius marched through Armenia when they went to give 
 to the Scythians of the region between the Don and the Danube, 
 the present Little Russia, an impression of the power of the 
 Persian Empire. Later in Persian history, the famous retreat of 
 the ten thousand Greeks, the story of which, related by its leader, is 
 still one of the most cherished treasures of classical literature, was 
 conducted by Xenophon after the disastrous defeat at Cunaxa, up 
 the Tigris to the shores of Lake Yan, whence it proceeded north- 
 westwardly, most probably by way of the site of what is now Erze- 
 rura, which was then occupied by several wealthy villages Hassan 
 Kaleh, Zewin, Bard ess, Olti, and Gymnias, supposed now to be Ardan- 
 utch places whose names will appear frequently in the course of 
 the present history to Trebizond, on the Black Sea. The battles 
 which decided the fate of Armenia during the wars of Alexander 
 the Great, were fought around it, but not within it ; but the region 
 
 (55)
 
 256 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 again appears as a field of battles during the wars of the Romans 
 with Mithridates, King of Pontus, when Tigranes, who had made 
 a considerable kingdom of the Greater Armenia, or Armenia east of 
 the Euphrates, provoked an invasion of the Romans, by giving sup- 
 port to their foe. Armenia remained independent, and upon the 
 rise of the Parthian Empire, became an object of contention 
 between that power and the Romans. The Emperor Trajan 
 took possession of the country A.D. 115, and made it a Roman prov- 
 ince, but his successor, Hadrian, restored it to its sovereign and to 
 independence. The kingdom was overcome by Sapor, King of Per- 
 sia, in the middle of the third century of the Christian Era, but re- 
 covered its independence under Tiridates, twenty-seven years after- 
 ward. It was made tributary to Persia on the death of this king, 
 A.D. 342, and became a Persian province a few years afterward. The 
 heroic and protracted resistance which was made by Artogerana, a 
 fortress situated near the head-waters of the Tigris, and the last 
 place in Armenia that surrendered to the Persian King, is a fitting 
 parallel to the famous defense which was made by Kars against the 
 siege by the Russians in 1854. Early in the fifth century the coun- 
 try was divided between the Persians and the Romans, upon the 
 conclusion of a truce between those nations. The Romans sup- 
 ported Arsaces, the successor of the regular line of sovereigns, as 
 king of their part. Upon the death of Arsaces, the district was re- 
 duced to the condition of a subject province. Thirty years afterward 
 the Persians substituted a provincial governor for the king whom 
 they had allowed to reign over their part of the territory, and the 
 kingdom of Armenia was extinguished after having enjoyed a pre- 
 carious existence of more than five hundred and sixty years, during the 
 most of which time it had been a coveted object of contention be- 
 tween the two great rival powers of the world. In the eleventh 
 century Armenia, sharing the fate of Persia and the Asiatic posses- 
 sions of the Eastern Empire, fell into the hands of the Turks. The 
 western part has remained bound with Turkey; the eastern part 
 formed a portion of the new Persian Empire till 1828, when all of 
 the Persian territory north of the Araxes was ceded to Russia. 
 
 The countiy is extremely rugged, being crossed by nearly parallel 
 mountain chains rising to from 8,000 to 12,000 or more feet in 
 height. The mountains contain difficult passes through which are 
 carried the few roads which the nature of the country allows to be 
 constructed, and of which the capacities for defense make them
 
 THE R U SSI AN AD VANCE IN ARMENIA. 257 
 
 dreaded by an invading force. The valleys are watered by the source 
 of rivers which find their way into the Persian Gulf and the Black 
 and Caspian Seas, and afford a soil which admits of excellent culti- 
 vation, extending often to a considerable height up the mountain. 
 They are also the sites of numerous towns, many of which are quite 
 important and flourishing. The climate is one of extremes. The 
 winters, owing to the height of the mountains, are long and severe, 
 while the heat during the short summer in many places rises to a 
 point exceeding any temperature that is experienced in the United 
 States. The snow, even in the southern parts of the district, re- 
 mains on the mountain tops till July or August. The backward- 
 ness of the spring occasioned by the protracted stay of the large 
 snow-masses, makes extensive military operations impracticable till 
 late in the season. The earlier Russian campaign of 1877 was 
 further impeded by unusually heavy masses of snow and severe rains, 
 which made most of the roads nearly impassable. Then, when the 
 summer comes, the heat and drought are so extreme as to weaken the 
 strength of men not accustomed to the climate, and seriously im- 
 pair the force of the army. 
 
 The headquarters of the Russian operations were at Tiflis, the 
 capital of the province of Georgia, the political and military center 
 of Transcaucasian Russia. This city is in communication with 
 European Russia by means of a military road leading to the pass of 
 Yladikavkas, about ninety miles north in the Caucasus Mountains, 
 whence a connection exists by a railroad five hundred miles in 
 length to Rostov on the river Don. This road might be entirely 
 closed by an enemy at the pass of Vladikavkas, or Dariel, a magnifi- 
 cent gorge, which is described as resembling in some of its feat- 
 ures the Yosernite Valley of California, over which the road passes 
 at a height of eight thousand feet above the sea. Another road ex- 
 tends from Tiflis north-westwardly to Kutais in the Rion Valley, and 
 along the coast by Sukhum-Kaleh to Anapa Kertch. The road be- 
 tween Tiflis and Kutais is a railway, which is continued to Poti, on 
 the sea. This route, although it is well guarded, was impracticable 
 in the present war, because it reaches no good harbors, and is ex- 
 posed to the attacks of the Turkish fleets which have command of 
 the eastern waters of the Black Sea, in such landing-places as are 
 accessible to it, and because the region through which it passes is in- 
 habited by the untrustworthy tribe of the Abkhasians. 
 
 Russian operations were attended with disadvantage, growing out
 
 258 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 of the superior marine facilities enjoyed by the Turks. Aside from 
 their possessing a large excess of naval force over the Russians, the 
 only good port near the theater of war Batuin was in their hands 
 Its harbor affords a secure anchorage for vessels of any draught of 
 water ; it can be reached by two routes from Tiflis, and would afford 
 an easy route of communication by the valley of the Tchoruk River 
 with the Russian posts in Turkish Armenia. Of the two posts be- 
 longing to Russia, Poti, at the mouth of the Rion River, is inaccessi- 
 ble to large vessels, and Sukhum-Kaleh, further north, is extremely 
 unhealthy, and is cut off from the interior by hills and numerous 
 streams. Hence the Russians attached importance to their opera-' 
 tions against Batum, which were directed not more to capturing it 
 for themselves than to preventing the Turks from using it to their 
 annoyance. 
 
 Batum should have already belonged to Russia instead of to 
 Turkey, and would have been given to it at the peace of Adrianople 
 in 1828, but for a blunder of a clerk which has hardly a parallel in 
 history. It was arranged in the preliminaries to the treaty that the 
 Tchoruk River should be made the boundary between the two coun- 
 tries, and Batum thus be thrown into Russia ; but the clerk who 
 made the final draft of the treaty, by the mistake of a single letter, 
 named the Tcholuk River, an insignificant stream, instead, and thus 
 threw the boundary 7 several miles north-west of Batum. When the 
 error was discovered, it was too late to correct it. 
 
 The Turkish territory was defended by a system of four strong 
 fortress towns, so arranged as to form what military writers call a 
 quadrilateral. These were, Batum, already mentioned ; Trebizond, 
 an important port on the Black Sea, about 100 miles west of Batum ; 
 Kars, which is near the Russian boundary, facing the great Russian 
 fortress at Alexandropol ; and Erzerum, the capital of the province. 
 The space included between these forts gave room for the operations 
 of a large army of defense, while of the two eastern forts, which 
 the Russians would have to carry, one, Kars, was counted as among 
 the strongest fortresses in the world, and the other, Batum, proved 
 capable of resisting the strongest attacks which the Russians could 
 make upon it during the whole summer of 1877. The other out- 
 lying forts, Ardahan and Bayazid, were considered as subsidiary to 
 the greater forts, and of inferior importance. Ardahan was con- 
 sidered a work of superior strength, while Bayazid was so weak that 
 it yielded readily to every serious attack that was made upon it.
 
 THE GRAND DUKE MICHAEL.
 
 CITADEL OF TIFLIS. 
 
 THE DEFILE OF DARIEL IX ARMENIA.
 
 THE R U SSI AN AD VANCE IN ARMENIA. 26 1 
 
 The Russian plan of campaign contemplated a simultaneous move- 
 ment toward Erzerum, by three columns moving from near the 
 northern and southern extremities and the center of the boundary- 
 line between Russia and Turkey, while a fourth auxiliary column, 
 under General Oklobjio, was stationed in the valley of the Rion River 
 to watch Batum and co-operate in the movements which were to 
 be undertaken against that port. 
 
 The force with which the operations were begun consisted of 
 seven divisions of infantry, which had not yet been organized as a 
 corps, but were banded together as the army of the Caucasus. It 
 numbered, including the battalions which had to be left to keep 
 watch over the native population of the Caucasus, 180,000 infantry 
 and 45,000 cavalry ; or, deducting these detachments, about 140,000 
 infantry and riflemen with their artillery, 12,000 cavalry, and 372 
 field-guns available for offensive operations. The force was 
 strengthened by the levy of irregular mounted troops among the 
 Caucasians, and by the addition of the Caucasian siege-batteries, with 
 several battalions of artillery from the fortresses. The whole was 
 under the command of the Grand Duke Michael, Governor of the 
 Caucasus. The direction of the advance and operations in the field 
 was intrusted to General Loris MelikofL The center, under the 
 personal command of General Melikoff, was posted at the fortress 
 of Alexandropol (called Gumri by the Turks), close upon the border, 
 about one hundred miles south-west, or one hundred and forty-four 
 miles by road from Tiflis, with which city it is connected by tele- 
 graph. It consisted of the Caucasian Grenadiers and the Thirty- 
 ninth division of infantry, the Caucasian dragoons, and the Terek 
 Cossack division of four regiments and two mounted batteries, with 
 volunteer cavalry, and numbered about 45,000 men. 
 
 The right wing, under the command of General Dewell, was 
 stationed at the fortress of Akhalzikh, also near the boundary, about 
 156 miles north-west of Alexandropol, toward the Black Sea, about 
 100 miles due west, and 119 miles by road from Tiflis. A support- 
 ing and connecting detachment was placed at Fort Akhalkalaki,. 
 about half way between Akhalzikh and Alexandropol. 
 
 The left wing, called also the Erivan column, consisting of the 
 Thirty-eighth division of infantry, with cavalry, under the command 
 of General Tergnkassoff, was assembled in front of the city of 
 Erivan, which lies in the mountains south-east of Alexandropol, and. 
 about 150 miles south-west of Tiflis. 
 14
 
 262 THE WAR IN THE EAST, 
 
 The three columns presented a front of nearly 220 miles, facing 
 the boundary-line, and were separated from each other by distances 
 of about sixty-two miles and 156 miles respectively as well as by 
 high mountains. 
 
 The Turkish line of defense covered the whole frontier from Baya- 
 zid to the Black Sea, but was removed some miles back from it. It 
 extended from the port of Batum, on the Black Sea, to Ardahan, 
 on the left bank of the river Kur, thence southward to Kars, after 
 which it bent around, following the frontier to Bayazid. It de- 
 pended, for its natural bulwark, upon the confused mass of rocky 
 mountains with which the country is occupied. The second line of 
 defense passed through Trebizond, on the Black Sea, Erzerum, and 
 Yan, but the troops destined to protect it were nearly all concen- 
 trated at Erzerum, so that they might be rapidly directed against the 
 advancing Russians, should they break through the first lines. 
 
 The Turks had to occupy these lines and oppose the Russian ad- 
 vance, a force which was estimated at about 70,000 men, with 200 
 pieces of field-artillery. Of this force about 18,000 men were 
 stationed at Kars and in front of that city ; 7,000 men were stationed 
 on the road from Erzerum to Bayazid ; about 8,000 men were near 
 Ardahan, on the road from Erzerum to Akhalzikh ; about 20,000 
 men were at Batum, and about the same number were around 
 Erzerum. The whole force was under the command of Ahmed 
 Mukhtar Pasha. * 
 
 Of the routes to be followed by the three advancing columns of 
 the Russians, the shortest and least difficult was that given to the 
 center. On the other hand, the advance might expect to encounter 
 the mass of the Turkish army on this road, and to have its progress 
 impeded also by the interposition of the important and remarkably 
 strong fortress of Kars. The nature of the valley of Kars is, how- 
 ever, such as to permit an army to go around that fortress on either 
 side, pressing forward, as the Russians actually did. Beyond Kars 
 another obstacle presented itself in the range of the Soghanli 
 Dagh, a line of hills rising about fourteen hundred feet above the 
 level of the surrounding country, and nearly eight thousand feet 
 above the sea, and stretching obliquely for a distance of thirty-seven 
 miles between Kars and Erzerum. The two passes over this range 
 are capable of an energetic and obstinate defense, and are seldom 
 free from snow before the middle of July. 
 
 The route of the right wing from Akhalzikh by way of Ardahan
 
 THE R U SSI AN AD VANCE IN ARMENIA. 263 
 
 and Olti to Erzerum, is a little longer (188 miles) than that followed 
 by the center, and presents but little difficulty till the fortified city 
 of Ardahan is reached. From this point the road to Erzerum is 
 more difficult, but that to Kars is comparatively easy. 
 
 The third line of march, that pursued by the left wing, was the 
 longest of the three. The principal obstacles to be apprehended 
 were the citadel of Bayazid, which proved to be easily overcome, 
 and the passes of the mountains between the Upper Euphrates and 
 the A raxes, among which the first campaign, as it proved, was des- 
 tined to receive its fatal blow. The road from Bayazid to Erzerum 
 is a part of the great caravan road upon which the trade between 
 Trebizond and Persia is conducted, and is one of the most important 
 roads in the East. 
 
 The forward movement was begun by the three columns simulta- 
 neously, on the 24th of April. The center pressed forward directly 
 toward Kars, thirty-eight miles from its starting-point at Alexandro- 
 pol, with the purpose of investing that fortress and then advancing 
 toward Erzerum, one hundred and seventy-five miles further south- 
 west. The two wings were expected to assist in this movement, the 
 right wing by disabling the fortress of Ardahan, and then by a flank 
 movement from the north against the Turkish force opposed to the 
 center, supporting that column in its effort to cross the Soghanli 
 Dagh, the mountain range lying between Kars and Erzerum ; 
 while the left wing was to march from Erivan southward to Baya- 
 zid, and having carried that point, to turn toward the north-west 
 and force its way to Erzerum. 
 
 Erzerum, the objective point of the campaign, is the capital of the 
 province of the same name, and is the most important road-station 
 in Turkish Armenia. It has a population variously estimated at be- 
 tween thirty thousand and fifty thousand ; is situated in a mountain- 
 ous country, on a plateau some seven thousand feet above the level 
 of the sea, at the point where all the roads from Constantinople to 
 the east converge, and whence they again diverge as they continue 
 their way eastward. It is, therefore, a town of considerable commer- 
 cial importance. It is estimated that at least $1,500,000 worth of 
 English goods find their way to this place every year. The city is 
 described by travelers as presenting a beautiful and imposing ap- 
 pearance at a distance, but being squalid and filthy within. It is a 
 prominent missionary station of the American Board. The old for- 
 tifications of Erzerum had been allowed to fall into decay till they
 
 264 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 had become substantially of no worth, but they had been renewed 
 previous to the beginning of the Russian operations, so that at this 
 time they made the town one of the most formidable positions in 
 the whole Empire, and competent to resist a long attack before it 
 could be forced to surrender. 
 
 The central column on the 28th of April reached Zaim, a village 
 in the valley of the Kars Tchai, without having met any serious 
 opposition. A reconnoitering force was sent forward under Major- 
 General Prince Tchavtchavadze, which went around both sides of 
 the fortifications of Kars and destroyed several miles of the telegraph 
 line to Erzerum. On the next day the detachment encountered a 
 column of eight Turkish battalions, and on the following day had 
 another skirmish at Yisinkoi, south-east of the fortifications of Kars. 
 It was joined at that point by a division of Caucasian Grenadiers, 
 which Gen. Melikoff in person had led up to its support by the way 
 of Chaliph Oglu. Gen. Melikoff opened fire from his batteries upon 
 the Turkish detachment which had taken up a position under cover 
 of the advanced works of Kars, and disabled one of the enemy's 
 guns. He returned on the 1st of May to his camp at Zaim, having 
 lost during the artillery engagement one man killed and five 
 wounded, and carrying with him more than one hundred prisoners. 
 The enemy, leaving a strong garrison at Kars, retired to Bardess in 
 the direction of Erzerum, in a position where they could hold the 
 passes of the Soghanli Dagh. 
 
 Gen. Tergukassoff, with the left wing, appeared before Bayazid on 
 the morning of the 30th of April. The town, which was deficiently 
 fortified, was occupied by only about thirteen hundred male inhabit- 
 ants, with a garrison of seventeen hundred soldiers, who, upon the 
 approach of the Russian advance guard, fell back into the Ala Dagh 
 Mountains, leaving behind a considerable supply of munitions. The 
 town and citadel were occupied by the Russians. A scouting party, 
 under Count Grabbe, was despatched from Culpi on the Araxes to 
 Kagisman, where that river is crossed by the road leading from Kara 
 Kilissa to Kars, and there meeting, on the 6th of May, a regiment of 
 dragoons sent down from Kars by Gen. Melikoff, opened a communi- 
 cation with the center. . 
 
 A tentative attack was made upon the works of Kars on the 3d of 
 May, which w r as repulsed by the Turks. The Russians had, how- 
 ever, decided that it would not be necessary for them to delay to 
 capture this place, but that the purpose of neutralizing its efficiency
 
 THE RUSSIAN AD VANCE IN ARMENIA. 265 
 
 as an obstacle to their advance could be gained by leaving behind a 
 part of their force to invest it and subject it to a continued bom- 
 bardment, while the rest of the column pushed forward. 
 
 Kars is a city of about twelve thousand inhabitants, lying in a 
 bend of the Kars-Tchai or Kars River, which running to the north 
 here, afterward turns to the north-east, then to the east, and finally 
 to the south east, taking a nearly semicircular form, and empties into 
 the Arpa Tchai at the boundary between Turkey and Russia. The 
 city is surrounded with a double-walled line of fortifications, "with 
 five bastions. A citadel of stone several stories high, and accessible 
 only from the city, stands upon a hill overlooking the town. The 
 citadel is connected with the river by an underground passage of 
 three hundred steps. In addition to this, the position is guarded by 
 nine other forts, with casemates and bomb-proofs, which are con- 
 nected with each other by intermediate redoubts. One of these 
 forts, which stands north-west of the city, on a steep bald summit, 
 contained most of the provisions and ammunition stores, and over- 
 looks all the surrounding buildings. Still higher are the forts Kara 
 Dagh Tabia and Arab Tabia, standing on the Kara Dagh (Black 
 Mountain), east of Kars, and supported by redoubts, which were re- 
 garded by Hussein Avni Pasha as the most formidable obstacles to 
 the advance of the Russians in Asiatic Turkey, and are the actual 
 key to the place. A line of forts or redoubts begins opposite the 
 Kara Dagh across the river, and runs south-westwardly to opposite 
 the citadel, including the forts Teesdale, Thompson, Zohrab, Church- 
 hill, and Lake, the whole system being known as the Ingliz Tabias, 
 or the English forts. Of these, Fort Lake is the strongest, and 
 shares with Kara Dagh the importance of a key to the position. 
 Nineteen hundred yards west of Fort Lake are the heights of Tah- 
 masp, also supplied with a line of forts, which command Fort Lake 
 with heavy guns. The Turkish army occupied an intrenched camp 
 south-east of the city, protected at the extreme east by Fort Hafiz 
 Pasha, facing the Kara Dagh forts on the opposite side of the road 
 to Alexandropol. 
 
 According to the local traditions, Kars was a city of some impor- 
 tance and the capital of a province during the reign of Tiridates, King 
 of Armenia A.D. 259. The citadel was built by the Sultan Mu- 
 rad III., of Turkey, in 1580, and was used by him in the wars with 
 Persia, which resulted in the acquisition ten years later of Georgia 
 and Tabriz. It was subjected to a f ormidable, but unsuccessful attack
 
 266 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 by Nadir, Shah of Persia in 1795. The remains of the Shah's en- 
 campment, which is said to have contained ninety thousand men, are 
 still pointed out. The fortress was besieged by the Russians in 1807, 
 when it withstood three successive attacks, but was taken by storm 
 by the Russians in 1828. to be given up again two years afterward 
 on the conclusion of the peace of Adrianople. 
 
 The town was captured a second time by the Russians during the 
 Crimean war in November, 1854, after a siege of more than five 
 months, in which the garrison, led by Gen. Williams, of the British 
 army, made one of the most desperate and brilliant defenses recorded 
 in history. Even then, the fortifications proved superior to all the 
 efforts of the Russians to reduce them by force, and the surrender 
 of the place was induced only by the complete exhaustion of its stores 
 and the starvation of its defenders. The city was restored to the 
 Turks upon the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris. A large part of 
 the fortifications which have made the position so formidable were 
 constructed by the English engineers at this time, hence the name 
 " Ingliz," or English, which is applied to some of the forts. 
 
 Kars is less than thirty miles distant from Alexandropol, and its 
 minarets are visible from that place. The little semicircle of coun- 
 try included in the bend of the Kars Tchai and Arpa Tchai Rivers, 
 which has for its diameter the line extending from Kars to Ani, de- 
 serves a special study. It includes the greater number of the points 
 which were covered by the operations of Gen. Melikoff's center, be- 
 tween the time of the capture of Ardahan, May 17th, and the battle 
 of the Aladja Dagh, October 15th, and which will be often men- 
 tioned in the course of this history. A clear understanding of their 
 relative positions will contribute much to the comprehension of the 
 different movements, particularly of the autumnal campaign. 
 
 A reconnoitering force of Russians under Major-General Shere- 
 metieff was intercepted by a body of Turkish cavalry in the Valley 
 of Bardyk, on the 8th of May, and obliged to cut its way through. 
 Shortly after this, the Russian reconnoissances were extended to 
 Kizil Kilissa, more than half-way from Kars to the Turkish position 
 at Bardess. A hand-to-hand fight took place on the 16th of May 
 between a Russian detachment under Major-General Komaroff and 
 a force of one thousand Turkish dragoons, in which the Turks were 
 repulsed, leaving sixty-four dead on the field, the Russians losing 
 twenty-one killed and fifty- nine wounded. 
 
 General Melikoff, leaving General Komaroff with a corps of
 
 THE R U SSI AN AD VANCE IN ARMENIA. 267 
 
 observation before Kars, had marched on the 12th of May with the 
 major part of his force to the support of General Dewell and the 
 right wing in the operations against Ardahan, taking a position at 
 Tchevorhan, nine miles south-east of the fortress. General Dewell 
 had already attended to the erection of batteries for the attack, a 
 work of no easy character, for the heights on which they had to be 
 placed were all commanded by the guns of the Turkish forts. 
 General MelikofE, having built a bridge across the river Kur during 
 the night between the 15th and 16th, opened fire upon the fortifica- 
 tions, the result of which was that all the Turkish guns were dis- 
 mounted, their barracks were destroyed, and two of their outworks 
 were captured. On the next day, May 17th, the fortress and town 
 were captured by assault. General Melikoff, in his dispatch to the 
 Grand Duke Michael, describing the character and extent of his 
 victory, said : " The outworks of Ardahan, its fortifications, citadel, 
 sixty guns, immense stores of provisions and ammunition, and the 
 camp formerly occupied by fourteen lines of Turks, lie at the feet 
 of the Czar. On May 17th the admirable fire of the artillery be- 
 tween three and six o'clock in the afternoon made a breach in the 
 walls. At six o'clock the Erivan, Tiflis, and Baku regiments 
 and the sappers advanced to the assault. The enemy could not 
 withstand the onslaught and fled, leaving a great number dead. At 
 nine o'clock our troops traversed the whole town and fortifications, 
 the band playing the National Anthem." 
 
 The Russians reported their loss to be fifty-one killed and one 
 hundred and eighty-four wounded. The loss of the Turks must 
 have been very severe, as the Russian commander at Ardahan 
 reported on the 21st of May that he had buried 1,184 men and was 
 not yet done. The inhabitants of the town placed it at 3,000 men. 
 The Turks, who numbered 10,000 men, retreated in different direc- 
 tions, a part of the garrison going toward Ardanutch, on the 
 Tchoruk River, on the road to Batum, and a part toward Olti, on 
 the road to Erzerum. 
 
 Hassan Sabri Pasha, the Turkish commander at Ardahan, was. 
 accused of having sold the place to the Russians for the sum of 
 thirty thousand pounds sterling, and was arrested and held to trial.. 
 The case was referred, with a number of others, to a court martial., 
 which met at Constantinople on the 25th of August. 
 
 The capture of Ardahan was attended with important advantages, 
 to the Russians. With it the Turks lost their only fortress on the
 
 268 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 river Kur, and one of the essential links in the line of communica- 
 tion between their positions among the head-waters of the Kur 
 and their coast-depot at Batum. Only through Ardahan could 
 an expedition from Batum reach the flank of the Russian columns 
 advancing toward Erzerum. Since it had become a Russian fort, 
 and the only crossing of the Kur was in Russian hands, the im- 
 munity of the north flank of their columns was assured ; so that 
 they would be able to employ more troops in the field, for a much 
 smaller force would be needed to garrison the place than to besiege 
 it. It gave them, moreover, a fortified point of support for the 
 continued advance of their right wing toward Erzerum, besides 
 furnishing them with a considerable number of guns, which the 
 Turks had left in the works, available for siege operations against 
 Kars. 
 
 The purpose for which General Dewell's command had been 
 organized as a separate column of the army of invasion was accom- 
 plished by the capture of Ardahan. Its union with General 
 Melikoff's center was the logical and necessary consequence of that 
 success. The union having been completed, the operations against 
 Erzerum were resumed by the combined force. General Melikoff 
 returned to his headquarters at Zaim, where he was joined by 
 General Dewell with the columns of the former right wing, while 
 Ardahan and its environs were held by Major-General Komaroff . 
 A detachment of General Dewell's force was sent in pursuit of the 
 Turkish troops which had retreated on the road to Batum, and went 
 as far as Ardanutch, where they found the enemy lying in their 
 front at Artvin. A body of cavalry, which was despatched upon 
 the road to Erzerum, reached the neighborhood of Olti, about half 
 way to the capital, without meeting resistance, but found that the 
 enemy held that place. A sortie was made from the garrison of 
 Kars on the 25th of May, which resulted in an engagement at 
 Magardshich, with the Cossack division under General Melikoff. 
 A part of the Cossacks dismounted and fought well on foot. The 
 Turks were repulsed, leaving forty dead on the field, while the Rus- 
 sians lost only one man killed and six wounded. 
 
 On the 29th of May, General Melikoff, in making his final ar- 
 rangements for the investment of Kars, arrived at Hadji Kalil, 
 nine miles south-east of the city. Here he learned that a body of 
 four thousand Circassian cavalry, under Moussa Pasha, had come 
 down the Soghanli and had encamped at Beg Mahmed, about nine
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE IN ARMENIA. 
 
 271 
 
 miles south-west of Kars. A surprise was planned against them, to 
 be executed during the night. A division of cavalry, a regiment of 
 foot, and sixteen guns were sent forward under Prince Tchavtchavadzo 
 to Ardost The enemy was attacked in his bivouac from three 
 sides soon after midnight, and after a long conflict was put to flight. 
 The Russians lost seven killed and thirty wounded, while the Cir- 
 cassians left on the field eighty-three dead and several trophies 
 guns, ammunition wagons, and standards which fell into the hands 
 of the Russians. This victory was regarded by the Russians as of 
 considerable importance, inasmuch as it was a decisive repulse of 
 the first offensive efforts of the Turks, and in effect destroyed the 
 best part of the Turkish cavalry, which was already dispropor- 
 tionately weak. The Turks reported that the whole force was 
 slaughtered, but this was an exaggeration, as most of the horsemen 
 escaped. But it was not entirely false, for the body was really 
 destroyed as a soldiery. According to subsequent reports from 
 Erzerum, very few of the men returned to service, by far the 
 greater part of them being scattered in flight or going back to their 
 homes. Olti was occupied without resistance on the 8th of June. 
 
 On the 8th of May Lieutenant-General Tergukassoff, with the 
 left wing of the Russian army of advance, or the Erivari column, as 
 it was called, occupied Diadin, a town of seven thousand male in- 
 habitants, mostly Mohammedan Kurds, about sixty miles west of 
 Bayazid, and on the llth he reached the Armenian cloister of Surp 
 Ohanes, or St. Johannes, where he established a station of sup- 
 plies and of support for his advance, which was sent out toward 
 Kara Kilissa, at the crossing of the eastern branch of the Euphrates 
 by the caravan road. A number of guerrilla bands of Kurds and 
 Bashi-Bazouks had been assembled at Lake Van to harass the rear 
 and flanks of the Russian force, and an expedition of cavalry was 
 dispatched to suppress them. Tt penetrated to the lake and scat- 
 tered the bands, one of the divisions having encountered a band at 
 Ardish, on the north shore of the lake itself. 
 
 On the 4th of June General Tergukassoff advanced to Kara 
 Kilissa, the Turks having fallen back to the mountain-pass of 
 Toprak Kaleh. ' On the 10th, he occupied Zeidekan, about eighty 
 miles east of Erzerum, and the Turks retired to Koprikoi, about 
 forty miles toward Erzerum.
 
 CHAPTEK IY. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN REVERSE IN ARMENIA. 
 
 The Situation in Armenia at the middle of June Battle of Zcidekan An unexpected 
 change iu the Fortunes of War Defeat of General Tergukassoff at Delibaba and of 
 General Melikoff at Zewin Retreat of the Russians General Tergukassoff reaches 
 Igdir, and marches to the relief of the Russian garrison at Bayazid Horrible condi- 
 tion of that place The Siege of Ears abandoned The Russians again in Russian 
 Territory. 
 
 So far the advance of the Russians had been attended with unin- 
 terrupted success. It had not been rapid, for it had been impeded 
 by the nature of the country, and by the necessity of taking or 
 neutralizing the fortresses of Ardahan and Kars. The invading 
 array, moreover, lacked a sufficiency of numbers to make it as effi- 
 cient as it should be in marching into a hostile country. A consider- 
 able part of the force had to be detached to man the supporting 
 posts along the lines of communication, to garrison Ardahan, and 
 to maintain the investment of Kars, leaving the body which was 
 destined to operate in the field none too large to cope with the Turk- 
 ish army. Nevertheless, the Russian front had been pushed forward 
 to near Kara Kilissa and Olti, beyond Kars. Cossack scouts had pene- 
 trated to Ispir, far beyond Olti and north-west of Erzerurn, where 
 their presence suggested danger to the communications between 
 Erzerum and its supply-post of Trebizond, and the Russian lines of 
 communication were well kept up. The Turks had been expected 
 to make a despSrate defense in the Soghanli Dagh, but so far had 
 steadily retreated as the Russians moved forward. Their line had 
 been drawn back from Ardahan, Kars, and Bayazid, to Olti, Zewin, 
 and Kara Kilissa, and in the first days of June the headquarters of the 
 center had been retired to Koprikoi, about forty miles east of Er- 
 zerum, the point of union of the roads leading from Kars through 
 the Soghanli with the caravan road from Bayazid, while the left 
 wing was stationed near Kisil Kilissa, and the right wing occupied 
 the passes of Delibaba and Toprak Kaleh as its extreme outposts. 
 Military critics thought that a speedy collapse of the Turkish resist- 
 ance was assured, and it was generally and confidently expected that 
 the campaign would result in the whole of Armenia falling into the
 
 THE R U SSI AN RE VERSE IN ARMENIA. 273 
 
 hands of the Russians. The Russians anticipated this as the end of 
 their advance, for they went prepared to organize civil administration 
 in the conquered territory, and had actually established governments 
 intended to be permanent in the districts which they had gained. 
 
 Mukhtar Pasha, finding that the Russians were not in great force 
 at Olti, pushed forward his troops against their position there, in 
 such a manner as to threaten to cut off the advanced guard of the 
 right wing from the main body. The Russians, to avoid such a dis- 
 aster, retreated to Pennek, and Olti was again occupied by the 
 Turks on the 9th of June. The Russians concentrated their forces 
 in greater strength around Kars, and the bombardment was for a 
 few days conducted with extraordinary vigor. 
 
 Encouraged by his success at Olti, the Turkish Commander-in- 
 chief ordered up three more battalions and six hundred cavalry to 
 strengthen Mohammed Pasha at Delibaba, and ordered Mohammed, 
 with seventeen battalions, two field batteries and one mountain bat- 
 tery, to drive the Russians of the left wing out of Zeidekan. These 
 orders were carelessly executed, so that Mohammed Pasha reached the 
 place of attack with less than his full force, to find the Russians 
 prepared to attack him. The Russians were in a strong position on 
 the heights of Tahir, above Zeidekan, having between them and the 
 Turkish front a high ridge completely commanding the Turkish 
 position, which was skirted by a deep ravine. This ridge and ravine 
 afforded important points of advantage, the possession of which 
 proved to be the turning point of the engagement. The Turks 
 could have occupied them at the beginning of the battle, but Mo- 
 hammed Pasha was convinced that the Russians were in small force, 
 and neglected to improve his opportunities. Artillery skirmishes 
 took place between the two armies on the 15th of June. The attack 
 was opened by the Russians at five o'clock on the morning of June 
 16th, with a fire which increased in vigor and accuracy as the hours 
 advanced, and which was received by the Turkish soldiers with 
 steadiness and replied to with gallantry. At a quarter past nine the 
 Russians, notwithstanding the brave resistance of the Turks, had by 
 their overwhelming force of artillery, driven the Turkish guns out 
 of action. By noon they were in possession of the ridge held by 
 the Ottoman troops and of every gun they had, had turned their 
 position and got around to their rear, and the Turkish army was 
 routed. The Russians followed up the Turkish infantry, who had 
 exhausted their ammunition, to the pass of Delibaba, capturing
 
 274 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 about one thousand prisoners, while another body of cavalry, with 
 horse artillery, moving around by another road, effectually prevented 
 all communication between Mukhtar Pasha and the remnants of the 
 right wing, and captured a battalion and battery of Turks which 
 were encamped on one of the streams. 
 
 The arrangements of the Turkish forces were, according to the 
 correspondent of the London Times, faulty in the extreme. The 
 army was suffering from an insufficiency of rations and a lack of 
 supplies ; was without medical staff or hospital arrangements, and 
 was scantily furnished with ammunition. The officers were in- 
 competent and careless, and despised the enemy, Mohammed Pasha, 
 it is said, believing that the Russians would not dare to attack him. 
 On the other hand, the same correspondent speaks in the highest 
 terms of the bearing of the Turkish rank and file. " Untrained men," 
 he says, " ignorant of the use of their weapons, and for the most 
 part agriculturists, fresh from the plough, they were yet unused to 
 the hard school of war. Cold and hungry, badly clad and badly 
 shod, uncared-for and unnoticed, they stood their ground right 
 nobly under a murderous fire from the sixteen sixteen-pounder Rus- 
 sian guns playing on their front under a hailstorm of rifle bullets 
 from the battalions that had turned their flank, and it was not until 
 their ammunition had failed, and the Cossacks were riding them 
 
 down, that they turned and broke The rank and file of the 
 
 Turkish army are men of whom any nation might be proud." The 
 Turkish loss is not stated. It was very heavy, and was aggravated 
 by the disorder into which the whole line was thrown on its flight. 
 
 The Turks retreated to Delibaba, and the Russians took posses- 
 sion of the pass through which they had retired, and fortified it. 
 Mukhtar Pasha telegraphed to Rashid Pasha, of his left wing, which 
 was occupying the Olti road, to join him with nine of the twelve 
 battalions forming that wing. He quitted his headquarters at Zewin 
 on the night of the 17th, for Delibaba, to take command of the right 
 wing in Perun. On the following day he received reinforcements 
 by the arrival of Chalim Pasha, which raised the strength of his 
 force to nineteen battalions, four cavalry regiments, and three bat- 
 teries. The Russians, under General Tergukassoff, in the Delibaba 
 Pass, who had been reinforced from the center, numbered 20,000 
 men, with five batteries. On the 20th the Turks began to move 
 forward, and cavalry skirmishing between the outposts took place at 
 Khaliage, near the entrance to the pass. On the 21st, Mukhtar
 
 THE RUSSIAN REVERSE IN ARMENIA. 2 ?$ 
 
 Pasha gave battle in the pass itself. The attack was begun at six 
 o'clock in the morning, and the fighting lasted, with varying for- 
 tune, till eight o'clock in the evening, when the Turks bivouacked 
 in positions slightly in advance of those held by them on the previous 
 day. The Turkish commander at first dislodged the Russians from 
 their positions, but they returned and drove away their assailants. 
 Several charges of Russian infantry and cavalry followed, by which 
 the Turkish front was, for a time, staggered, but the Turks finally 
 rallied, and compelled the Russians to fall back with heavy loss. 
 
 The correspondent of the London /Standard, who was with the 
 Turkish army, gives the following graphic account of this day's en- 
 gagement : 
 
 " On the morning of the 21st of June the battle began with an 
 artillery fire on both sides, but soon Mukhtar Pasha proceeded to 
 the attack. The battalions from Erzerum and Erzengan, who 
 counted many a gray head among their ranks, had the distinction 
 granted to them of opening the attack. "With indescribable heroism, 
 though scarcely 1,400 strong, they advanced up the heights occupied 
 by the Russians. Exposed to a perfect hailstorm of shells and 
 musketry from the front and right fiank of the enemy, they suffered 
 frightful losses, but never for one moment wavered. Soon, how- 
 ever, it was perceived that the positions of the Turkish guns were 
 very unfavorable for replying to the Russian cannon, and that they 
 afforded a very insufficient protection against the enemy's fire directed 
 toward the right flank. The two battalions which had suffered so 
 severely were, therefore, withdrawn, while Mukhtar Pasha himself 
 sought out fresh positions for the guns and superintended their 
 transport. A brisk attack of cavalry, led by Shamyl Pasha, in the 
 valley of the brook, covered the movements of the infantry and 
 artillery. The latter, from their new positions, kept up a more 
 effective fire than hitherto ; they soon dismounted a Russian gun 
 and covered a fresh attack of the infantry. Yisibly the Turkish 
 lines advanced, when suddenly the Russians rushed down from their 
 mountains and again and again tried to storm the Turkish position. 
 One after the other their attacks were repulsed ; the Turks aimed 
 splendidly, and the ranks of the storming parties were rapidly 
 thinned. While this was going on, the cavalry regiments on both 
 sides fought with varying success. At length night put an end to 
 the combat. It was a fearful night. The number of the wounded 
 on the Turkish side was very great, and of ambulances, etc., there
 
 276 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 were next to none. An icy wind swept over the plateau ; the men 
 had nothing to eat ; for many miles around there was not a tree or a 
 shrub that might serve as fuel ; and, what was worst of all, the artil- 
 lery, which had, it is true, been almost constantly at work, com- 
 plained of a want of ammunition. Not without anxiety did the 
 Marshal, as he told me himself only a few hours ago, look forward 
 to the morrow." 
 
 The battle was renewed on the next day with an attack by Mukh- 
 tar Pasha upon the Russians, who still occupied the eastern end of 
 the pass. The Russians replied with a violent attack, which was re- 
 pulsed with great difficulty; but the battle soon turned against 
 them, and by the close of the day they had been driven from their 
 positions, and were in full retreat. The Turks pursued them as far 
 as Zeidekan, and thus regained all the positions which they had lost 
 in the battle of the 16th at that place. The fighting on the two 
 days lasted thirty-three hours, and cost the Turks 2,500 killed and 
 wounded, and the Russians a much larger number. According to 
 the correspondent of the London Standard, the Turkish force 
 actually participating in this battle numbered only six thousand 
 men. 
 
 Gen. Tergukassoff telegraphed respecting this engagement, that the 
 Russian column under his command " was attacked on the 21st near 
 Daiare by the Turks with twenty battalions, twelve guns, and 4,500 
 horse. The fighting lasted ten hours, and the Turks were eventually 
 repulsed, but the Russian losses were very considerable. The Russian 
 troops fought on a line of five versts with great gallantry against 
 overwhelming numbers. The Russian artillery was admirably 
 served. On the following day some skirmishes occurred, and 
 subsequently the Turks were allowed to collect the corpses of the 
 men in the Russian positions." 
 
 Gen. Heimann was despatched from the center to support Gen. 
 Tergukassoff and effect a junction with him if that were practicable ; 
 and on the 20th of June, Gen. Melikoff left his camp at Mazra, be- 
 fore Kars, to follow him. The intention was to release General 
 Tergukassoff from his embarrassing position, inflict defeat upon 
 Mukhtar Pasha, and advance upon Erzerum if possible. General 
 Melikoff having overtaken Gen. Heimann, it was determined to 
 make a movement of the cavalry on the right flank of the enemy, 
 while the infantry should push along to Zewin. 
 
 On the 25th of June, Gen. Melikoff, with the Russian center
 
 THE RUSSIAN REVERSE IN ARMENIA. 
 
 277 
 
 attacked the Turkish camp at Zewin. This position was very 
 strongly posted among the mountains of the Soghanli Dagh, near 
 the point where the road from Erzerum to Kars crosses that range. 
 It was surrounded by high mountains, and itself occupied a lower 
 mountain, on the summit of which was a redoubt armed with four 
 Krupp guns which formed its center. The Turkish force, of seven 
 thousand infantry, supported by two cannon, was posted in sheltered 
 trenches around the redoubt, and their reserves, three thousand men 
 with two guns, were stationed on the higher mountains back of the 
 camp. They were commanded by Ismail Pasha, the Kurd, Gov- 
 ernor of Erzerum, assisted by Feizi Pasha. The Russians, with ten 
 battalions of infantry and twenty-one guns, had taken a position dur- 
 ing the night of the 24rth on the mountain opposite the camp, which 
 was higher and less steep than the one in its rear. 
 
 The battle began with a skirmish of cavalry, after which the Rus- 
 sian batteries opened fire upon the Turkish redoubt and its supporting 
 infantry. " Fifteen Russian guns," says the correspondent of the Lon- 
 don Standard, " fired incessantly at the little redoubt armed with four 
 cannon, which commanded the whole field of battle from its excellent 
 position, and within an hour over fifty shells fell in the redoubt, but 
 the men never flinched for a moment." The Turkish fire, he adds, 
 was quite equal to the Russians', at least four times superior to them in 
 numbers ; " and the artillery fight had absolutely no result." Soon 
 after noon the Russians made an attempt to storm the redoubt. Their 
 infantry were sent forward to climb the mountain under cover of an 
 incessant fire from their batteries. The ascent was extremely steep. 
 The Russians were met by an accurate fire from the redoubt and 
 the Turkish infantry, which thinned their ranks fearfully, but 
 steadily reinforced, they pressed 011, returning to the advance 
 after each successive repulse. At last their attacks on the center 
 were slackened. An effort was made against the Turkish right 
 wing, but it was continued but a little while, and by nightfall the 
 Russians were in retreat. 
 
 The Russian official telegrams gave the following account of this 
 engagement : 
 
 " On the 25th of June Gen. Loris Melikoff attacked the Turks in 
 their fortified camp at Zewin, the fight lasting from two o'clock 
 P.M. till night. Our troops dislodged the enemy from his advanced 
 position, but to avoid the fire of the Turkish forts, returned to their 
 own positions in the night. The valor of our troops was truly
 
 278 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 heroic ; owing, however, to our numerical inferiority, we have buf- 
 fered considerable loss. The enemy had twenty-three battalions in 
 a strongly fortified position. We had three officers killed, twenty- 
 four officers wounded, and 850 soldiers disabled." 
 
 The nominal commander of the Turkish forces, Kurd Ismail 
 Pasha, took no active part in the engagement, but spent his time in 
 his tent praying, while the operations which led to decisive victory 
 were directed by his second, or assistant in command, General Kohl- 
 man, chief of staff to Mukhtar Pasha, a Hungarian officer, who was 
 called Feizy Pasha by the Turks. " JSTot only," says the correspond- 
 ent of the London Times, " did this gallant old officer superintend 
 all arrangements, personally visiting every battalion and shelter- 
 trench, but once or twice early in the day, when the Russians, press- 
 ing close up to the intrenchments, caused the Turks to waver, in one 
 instance, indeed, to retire somewhat rapidly, he led them himself 
 forward, revived their drooping spirits, inspired them with fresh 
 courage, and so won the day for his adopted Government." The 
 Russian forces, after the battle of Zewin, retreated to their camp be- 
 fore Kars. 
 
 The battles of Delibaba and Zewin, in which the Russian left and 
 center successively suffered defeat, were decisive of the fate of the 
 campaign in Armenia. The Russians made no further attempts at 
 offensive operations, but devoted their attention to protecting their 
 forces against further disaster, and withdrawing them to safer posi- 
 tions. Their failure was ascribed to the division of the force into 
 too many bodies, neither of which was sufficient for effective opera- 
 tions, while all were exposed to the attack and defeat in detail which 
 actually took place. Had not the Turks been nearly as weak as they 
 were, they would have been now in a perilous position, and in dan- 
 ger of being cut up by attacks upon their flanks and rear. As it 
 was, the Turks were in no condition to pursue them, and their armies, 
 with the exception of the garrison at Bayazid, succeeded in retiring 
 without suffering material damage. 
 
 The Russian official dispatches gave the following explanations of 
 their defeats : " General Loris Melikoff having reached the Araxes 
 Valley by way of Kars and Kagisman, was marching west in the di- 
 rection of Erzerum, when the Turks occupying the fortified posi- 
 tion of Zewin menaced his right flank. To prevent an attack in 
 front and rear, General Melikoff, before proceeding further west, had 
 to turn north and attack Zewin. The attempt failed, and General
 
 THE R U SSI AN RE VERSE IN ARMENIA. 28 1 
 
 Melikoff fell back to the Araxes Y alley, where he heard that the 
 southern column under Lieutenant- General Tergukassoff, which was 
 to have met him there previous to the joint march on Erzerum, was 
 likewise defeated near Delibaba, and had retreated. Lieutenant-Gen- 
 eral Tergukassoff is seemingly determined to retrace his steps to the 
 frontier and rescue Bayazid, while General Melikoff, according to the 
 latest intelligence, intended to take up a position in the Araxes Val- 
 ley and hold the road to Kars against the victorious force from 
 Zewin." 
 
 The Grand Duke Michael arrived at Kars in the beginning of 
 June, and established his headquarters with the investing force. 
 The Russian camp before this fortress was situated north of the city, 
 and on the east side of the Kars Tchai River, occupying a series ' of 
 hills lying between Kars and Marza, about six or seven miles dis- 
 tant. The headquarters of the Grand Duke's staff were in advance, 
 near the summit of a hill, at an elevation of six thousand feet above 
 the level of the sea, from which every movement could be watched. 
 Opposite the camp were two groups of lofty hills, separated by a 
 deep gorge through which the river flows, and surmounted by three 
 of the principal Turkish fortresses, Fort Arab in the center, Fort 
 Kara Dagh at the left, and Fort Mukhlis at the right, on the oppo- 
 site side of the gorge of the river. On the left of the town which 
 lay behind Kara Dagh, was another fort, Hafiz Pasha, on low ground. 
 On the left of the whole fortress a plain extended as far as the mount- 
 ains, nearly two miles from the town. The grassy plain around the 
 town was diversified by knolls, which afforded excellent positions 
 for the Russian batteries and the concealment of troops. The Rus- 
 sians had seventy-four guns and mortars in position, the nearest of 
 which were two miles from the fort. Of all the forts, Fort Arab 
 and Fort Kara Dagh were the most formidable, and it was against 
 these two that the Russian fire was chiefly directed. The siege afforded 
 but few scenes of especial interest. The same events were repeated 
 day after day, consisting of the opening of the fire by the Russians 
 at five or six o'clock in the morning, the response by the Turks after 
 a few hours, after which the cannonading was incessant till night 
 put an end to the day's work. The Russians fired the more frequent- 
 ly, but the firing of the Turks was very accurate. "There is no- 
 doubt," said a newspaper correspondent who was in the Russian 
 camp, " that the Turks have splendid guns, and that they know how 
 to direct them." 
 15
 
 282 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The Russians made several attempts to carry particular positions 
 bj storm, which were always repulsed, and the garrison made sorties 
 which were without result till Sunday, July 18th, when, the Rus- 
 sians having been weakened and partly disorganized by their recent 
 defeats at Delibaba and Zewin, they reopened communications with 
 Mukhtar Pasha. On the 4th of July, General Melikoff announced 
 in a dispatch issued at Alexandropol that the siege of Kars had been 
 suspended in order to place the besieging troops in a position to 
 move with greater readiness against Mukhtar Pasha's advance, 
 which had been pushed to within twenty miles of the city ; that the 
 siege artillery had been sent to Kuruk Dara and Alexandropol ; the 
 greater part of the cavalry had been concentrated at Chalifaghlie 
 to protect communications, and the infantry had been stationed 
 at Zaim . 
 
 On the following Sunday, July 8th, the Turkish force having 
 been advanced to Wahiran Kaleh, eight miles south of Kars, 
 Mukhtar Pasha, accompanied by Sir Arnold Kemball, the Com- 
 missioner of Observation appointed by the British Government to 
 accompany the Turkish army, rode into the city and went over the 
 batteries at Kara Dagh Tabia, where the bombardment had been 
 heaviest, without being molested. The Russian headquarters were 
 then at Zaim. 
 
 General Tergukassoff, after having been defeated in the battle of 
 Delibaba, withdrew his forces in good order and began a retreat 
 toward the Russian frontier. He was continuously followed by 
 Ismail Pasha, and threatened on his left by Faik Pasha, who had 
 collected a host of Kurds for the investment of the Russian garrison 
 at Bayazid, but neither officer made any serious efforts to intercept 
 his movement. An attack was made upon him at Kara Kilissa, 
 and one of more importance at Ipek, which, however, had no effect 
 in disarranging his plans. He afterward turned suddenly from the 
 direct road, quite throwing his antagonists at bay, and proceeded to 
 Igdir, in the Russian territory north of Bayazid. His march was 
 delayed by the crowd of Christian fugitives who sought his protec- 
 tion flying from the Bashi-Bazouks and Kurds, who were swarm- 
 ing through the districts occupied by the Russians, and committing 
 their characteristic outrages. Yet his movements were so rapid 
 that the possibility of his arrival at Igdir at the time he was reported 
 to have reached that place was doubted until a confirmatory dis- 
 patch was received. His stay at Igdir was short, for he only waited
 
 THE RUSSIAN REVERSE IN ARMENIA. 283 
 
 long enough to lay in stores of provisions and war materials, and 
 hastened away to relieve the Russian garrison at Bayazid, which was 
 already beleaguered by a horde of 13,000 Turks and Kurds, and was 
 in destitution and distress. Bayazid had been captured from the 
 Turks at the beginning of the campaign, and had been left in charge 
 of a garrison, while General Tergukassoff advanced with the main 
 part of his column toward Erzerum. It was exposed to incursions 
 from the Kurds, who were swarming around Lake Van, and the 
 garrison had been cut off from the main army for about a month. 
 On the 19th of June, a part of the garrison, consisting of two bat- 
 talions and about one thousand Cossacks, moved out of the post and 
 were attacked and defeated by the Turks. The Cossack cavalry, who 
 attempted to cover the retreat, were surrounded and compelled to sur- 
 render, after which, a dispute arising between some of the Cossacks 
 and the Kurds, they were massacred. The Turks held possession of 
 the town, while the garrison were confined to the citadel. Their situa- 
 tion was painful in the extreme. The defenses of the fort were 
 weak, the stores of provisions were nearly exhausted, and the men 
 were worn out by the constant watchfulness and efforts which they 
 were obliged to exert to avoid surprise by their powerful foe ; worst 
 of all, there was no water inside of the citadel, and they were 
 obliged to fetch it from outside the works in the face of the enemy. 
 General Tergukassoff, making a march of remarkable speed, reached 
 Bayazid on the 9th of July. After a cannonade of several hours, 
 the Russians made a fierce onslaught, advancing their whole line 
 with a well-directed and sustained fire, under which the Turks were 
 compelled to fall back. As soon as the regulars yielded, the Kurds 
 broke and fled in every direction, and the Russians marched into 
 the town. Several prisoners, four cannon, and a large quantity of 
 ammunition and provisions were captured. The town was in ruins, 
 and the atmosphere was so infected from dead bodies in a state of 
 decomposition " a testimony of Turkish atrocities," the Russian 
 commander alleged that he considered it impossible to prolong the 
 sojourn of his troops there. The garrison were in a deplorable con- 
 dition, and physically unable to fight. The Turks were receiving 
 reinforcements, and General Tergukassoff wished to complete the 
 movement to join the main body of troops at Zaim ; therefore, hav- 
 ing secured the safety of the garrison, he evacuated the citadel, and 
 it was immediately occupied by the Turks. 
 
 The statements of General Tergukassoff as to the condition in
 
 284 THE WAR IN THE EAST > 
 
 which he found the town are confirmed by the testimony of two 
 British officers who visited the place after it was restored to the 
 Turks. They represented that the whole town was in ruins, and 
 filled with the bodies of Christian citizens whom the Turks had 
 ruthlessly slaughtered, and that the Russian soldiers were employed 
 for six days in burying the dead citizens. 
 
 The gallantry of General Tergukassoff was warmly commended 
 by the correspondent of the London Times, who was with the Turk- 
 ish army, who pronounced him the only Russian who had " shown 
 any pretension to generalship." This writer characterized the man- 
 ner in which he had handled his troops at Tahir, or Zeidekan, the 
 stubborn resistance which he had offered at Delibaba, the in- 
 cidents of his conduct during his retreat, and " finally his dashing 
 flank march from Igdir to Bayazid, and the relief of that place in 
 front of two Turkish corps, both superior to him in numbers," as 
 stamping him as a general of the first class.
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE BATTLES AROUND PLEVNA. 
 
 Change in the Fortunes of the Russians Removal of Abdul Kerim Appointment of 
 Mehemet Ali to the Supreme Command Plevna, its Situation Arrival of Osinan 
 Pasha Battle of July 19th Defeat of the Russians Osman Captures Lovatz Battle 
 of Karabunar Retreat of General Gourko Battle of Eski Sagra Second Defeat of 
 the Russians at Plevna, July 31st Retreat of the Russians from the Lorn Opera- 
 tions in the Dobrudja Bombardment of Kustendje Struggles in the Shipka Pass 
 Battle of Karasan Repulse of a Turkish Attack on Pelisat Skobeleff Recaptures 
 Lovatz Battle of Kechlova Third Defeat of the Russians before Plevna Capture 
 of the Grivitza Redoubt Bravery of the Rumanian Troops. 
 
 OUR last chapter on the operations in Europe left General Gourko 
 across the Balkans, and the Kussians in possession of Nicopolis. 
 Hitherto, all had gone most prosperously with the Russians. Their 
 advance had been pushed without meeting any resistance that could 
 delay or embarrass their movements, and it seemed very probable 
 that they would soon have all of Bulgaria north of the Balkans in 
 their possession. A sudden change now took place in their for- 
 tunes, in consequence of which they were compelled to withdraw 
 from much of the country they had won, and to begin over again 
 the hard work of the campaign. 
 
 At about this time, Abdul Kerim was removed from the com- 
 mand of the Turkish forces and sent to Constantinople to be 
 courtmartialed, and Mehemet Ali, who had been transferred from 
 Montenegro to the Danube, was appointed commander in his place. 
 Osman Pasha, finding that he was too late to accomplish anything 
 upon the Danube against the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, 
 and judging that the Russians would attempt to follow the road 
 leading from Sistova, Rustchuk, and Biela, toward Sophia, changed 
 the direction of his inarch to one leading south-eastward, and taking 
 with him the troops he had gathered from Widin and Nissa, occu- 
 pied Plevna. 
 
 This point, which was destined henceforth to play a part of 
 paramount importance in the campaign, had not before been recog- 
 nized as possessing any great strategical advantages. Plevna was 
 
 (285)
 
 286 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 an open town of about eighteen thousand inhabitants, principally 
 Bulgarians, situated on the southern side of the Grivitza Elver, 
 one of the affluents of the Yid, a little less than four miles from the 
 junction of the two streams. It is traversed by a small stream 
 which, coming down from Bogot in the south, empties here into the 
 Grivitza. Lying low in the valley, it is surrounded by a hilly, fer- 
 tile, well-tilled district, with vineyards and cornfields on the ridges, 
 and is an important market town for the region. Its location and 
 the relations of its roads made it a point at which troops could be 
 easily concentrated, which was what the Turks needed at this time 
 in this part of their field of operations. From Plevna roads diverge 
 in all directions, to Sistova and Eustchuk, to Nicopolis, to Biela, to 
 Lovatz, to Sophia. The main road from Sistova to Sophia runs 
 through the town and over one of the ridges to the east of it ; and 
 herein lay the strategical advantage of the place at this moment. 
 Whoever held it in force commanded the flank of the Eussian army, 
 and was able to block their onward march. Osman Pasha, having 
 occupied the place, and perceived its peculiar advantages in the 
 present situation, immediately began to concentrate in it all the 
 troops within his control, and to surround it with a system of strong 
 works. The wisdom of his operation was justified by the fact that 
 he had the main force of the Eussian army engaged before Plevna 
 for several months, and that however successful they might be else- 
 where, they could make no permanent impression upon the integrity 
 of the Turkish defense until they had carried this position. 
 
 The Eussiaus, under Gen. Shilder-Shuldner, of Baron Kriidener's 
 corps, entered Plevna on the 19th of July, with the intention of 
 driving the Turks out. The Eussian general was negligent as to 
 his precautions. He grossly underestimated the strength of the 
 Turks, and having let his corps be weakened by sending one detach- 
 ment to protect the bridge at Simnitza and another to transport the 
 provisions taken at Nicopolis, and having left a garrison in that city, 
 he set out with the remainder to attack Osman in his selected strong- 
 
 O 
 
 hold. Owing to the character of the topography of the place, the 
 Eussians were not able to perceive the full strength of the Turkish 
 position until they were almost upon it. Consequently, they were 
 surprised and thrown back with a heavy loss, given, according to the 
 most careful estimates, at sixty-six officers and 2,771 men killed, 
 wounded, or taken prisoners, or more than one-third of the whole
 
 THE BATTLES AROUND PLEVNA. 287 
 
 force. Reinforcements came to the Russians on the next day, but 
 their officers would not risk a renewal of the attack. 
 
 After this defeat it was necessary to strengthen Lovatz. It was 
 done, but not sufficiently, for on July 26th Osman Pasha drove the 
 Russians from the place after a severe fight. At the same time, 
 Baron Kriidener improved his own position considerably by with- 
 drawing the garrison of Nicopolis, who were replaced by a Rumanian 
 division under General Manu, the first Rumanian troops to cross the 
 river, while he also received considerable reinforcements from the 
 main army. 
 
 South of the Balkans, Suleiman Pasha, who had arrived from, 
 Montenegro with the greater part of his army, effected a junction 
 with Rauf Pasha, and was appointed Commander-in-chief of the 
 army of Rumelia, with 60,000 men under his command. On July 
 26th he was encountered by Gen. Gourko at Karabunar, south-west 
 of Yeni Sagra, and having been defeated, retreated upon Adrian- 
 ople. After the Russian disasters at Plevna, it was, however, 
 deemed important that Gen. Gourko should secure the passes held 
 by him, and for this purpose he was ordered back. He immediately 
 retired to the Shipka Pass, followed closely by Suleiman Pasha, who 
 inflicted a defeat upon him at Eski Sagra, on July 31st. 
 
 On July 30th, General Kriidener, by order of the Grand Duke 
 commanding, again attacked Plevna. His force, which had been 
 doubled since his recent defeat, consisted of four infantry divisions, 
 three cavalry brigades, and 1YO guns, composed of his own, the Ninth 
 army corps, with the exception of the Nineteenth infantry regiment, 
 which had been sent to Nicopolis as garrison, the Thirtieth infantry 
 division of the Fourth army corps, the Thirty- second infantry divis- 
 ion, with four squadrons of cavalry of the Eleventh corps, and the 
 brigade of Caucasian Cossacks of Gen. Skobeleff. Grand Duke 
 Nicholas had, on July 21st, ordered the Thirtieth division of the 
 Fourth corps, which had just crossed the Danube, to march to Plevna 
 instead of to Tirnova, and to be placed at the disposal of General 
 Kriidener. The Eleventh army corps, which was said to have 
 reached Osman Bazar, and in that case would have formed the right 
 wing of the army operating against Rasgrad-Shumla, was also 
 ordered to send at once the Thirty-second division with four 
 squadrons of cavalry to the Osma, to form the left wing of the force 
 operating against Plevna. Prince Shachovsky, the commander of
 
 288 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the corps, led this column in person, and reached the Osma after 
 a six days' march. General Kriidener, to whom the chief command 
 of the operations against Plevna had been entrusted, had originally 
 concentrated his own corps at Bryslam, between Plevna and Nicop- 
 olis, and bad afterward moved almost the entire corps to the south, 
 taking a position up the road from Biela to Plevna, with his head- 
 quarters at Tirstenik, about eighteen miles east of Plevna, leaving 
 only one brigade of the Ninth cavalry division, with some mounted 
 batteries, at Bryslam to secure his right flank and the road to Nicop- 
 olis. The Daily News correspondent described the battle as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 " The night between the 30th and 31st was very wet, and troops 
 did not begin to march forward before six, instead of four. The 
 number of infantry combatants was actually about 32,000, with 160 
 field cannon and three brigades of cavalry. Baron Kriidener was 
 on the right with the whole of the Thirty-first division in his fight- 
 ing line, and three regiments of the Fifth division in reserve at 
 Karajac Burgarsky. He was to attack in two columns, a brigade in 
 each. On the left was Shachovsky, with a brigade of the Thirty- 
 second division and a brigade of the Thirtieth division in fighting 
 line. Another brigade of the Thirtieth division was in reserve at 
 Pelisat. The Turkish position was convex, somewhat in horse-shoe 
 shape, but more pointed. Baron Kriidener was to attack the Turkish 
 left flank from Grivitza toward the river Yid. Shachovsky was 
 to assail their right from Radisevo, also toward the river Yid. On 
 the left flank of the attack stood Skobeleff, with a brigade of Cos- 
 sacks, a battalion of infantry, and a battery, to cope with the Turkish 
 troops on the line from Plevna to Lovatz, and hindering them from 
 interfering with the development of Shachovsky's attack. On the 
 right flank stood Lascardff, with two cavalry regiments to guard 
 Kriidener from a counter attack. The morning was gloomy, which 
 the Russians regarded as a favorable omen. The troops cheered 
 vigorously as they passed the General. Physically, there are no 
 finer men in the world. In the pink of hard condition, and march- 
 ing without packs, carrying only great-coat, haversack with rations, 
 and ammunition, they seemed fit to go anywhere or do anything. 
 Shachovsky's right column marched over Pelisat and Sgalievica. The 
 left column headed straight for Radisevo. The artillery pushed 
 forward from the first, and worked independently. Marching for- 
 ward, we found the cavalry foreposts on the sky line above Pelisat,
 
 ABDUL KERIM.
 
 GENERAL SKOBELEFF.
 
 THE BA TTLES ARO UND PLE VNA. 291 
 
 and on the sloping downs the infantry deployed as they advanced, 
 as the Russian practice is on open ground. The formation was in 
 column of double companies, with rifle companies in front of each 
 battalion. Kriidener, on the right, opened the action at 9:30, 
 bringing a battery into fire from the ridge on the Turkish earthwork 
 above the village. At first it seemed as if the Turks were surprised. 
 It was some time ere they replied, but then they did so vigorously, 
 and gave quite as good as they got from Kriidener. The objective 
 of Prince Shachovsky, with whom I rode, was, in the first instance, 
 Radisevo, and it behoved us, therefore, to bear away to the left. 
 The village of Radisevo lies in a deep valley behind the southern 
 wave or ridge of the Turkish position, and there is another ridge 
 behind this valley. On that ridge our cannon, placed by Col. 
 Bishovsky, chief of Prince Shachovsky 'a staff, was firing in line on 
 the Turkish guns .on the ridge beyond the valley with fine effect. 
 The infantry went down into the valley under this covering fire, and 
 I accompanied the column. We carried Radisevo with a trivial 
 skirmish, for in the village there was only a handful of Bashi- 
 Bazouks, who, standing their ground, were promptly bayonetted. 
 The infantry remained under cover of the village. I returned up 
 the slope to our batteries. These, firing with great rapidity and 
 accuracy, soon compelled the Turkish cannon to quit the opposite 
 height. During the last spurt of their firing, Prince Shachovsky 
 rode along the rear of our batteries from the right to the left, under 
 a fire which killed two horses in our little group. Our cannon, 
 playing on the Turkish guns on the opposite ridge, quelled their fire 
 after about half an hour's cannonade, and it was then for our bat- 
 teries to cross the valley passing through Radisevo and come into 
 action in the position vacated by the Turkish guns ; and following 
 them, our infantry also descended into the hollow, and lay down in 
 the glades about the village and on the steep slope behind our guns 
 in action." 
 
 The second period of the battle commenced at 2 : 30 : 
 " Two brigades of infantry were in the Radisevo Yalley, behind 
 the guns of Gen. Tcherkoffs brigade the Thirty-second division on 
 the right, the First brigade of the Thirtieth division on the left. The 
 leading battalions were ordered to rise up and advance over the 
 ridge to attack. The order was hailed with glad cheers, for the in- 
 fantrymen had been chafing at their inaction, and the battalions, 
 with a swift, swinging step, streamed forward through the glen and
 
 292 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 up the steep slope behind, marching in company columns, the rifle 
 companies leading. The artillery had heralded this movement with 
 increased rapidity of fire, which was maintained to cover and aid the 
 infantrymen when the latter had crossed the crest and were descend- 
 ing the slope and crossing the intervening valley to the assault of 
 the Turkish position. Just before reaching the crest, the battalion 
 deployed into line at the double, and crossed it in this formation, 
 breaking to pass through the intervals between the guns. Presently, 
 all along the face of the advancing infantrymen burst forth flaring 
 volleys of musketry fire. The jagged lines spring onward through 
 the maize fields, gradually assuming a concave shape. The Turkish 
 position is neared. The roll of rifle fire is incessant, yet dominated by 
 the fiercer and louder turmoil of the artillery above. The ammuni- 
 tion wagons gallop up to the cannon with fresh fuel for the fire. 
 The guns redouble the energy of their firing. The crackle of the 
 musketry fire rises into a sharp peal. The clamor of the hurrahs 
 of the fighting men comes back to us on the breeze, making the 
 blood tingle with the excitement of the fray. A village is blazing 
 on the left. The fell fury of the battle has entered on its maddest 
 paroxysm. The supports that had remained beliind, lying just un- 
 der the crest of the slope, are pushed forward over the brow of the 
 hill. The wounded begin to trickle back over the ridge. We can see 
 the dead and the more severely wounded lying where they fall on the 
 stubbles and amid the maize. The living wave of fighting men is 
 pouring over them ever on and on. The gallant gunners to the 
 right and to the left of us stand to their work with a will. On the 
 shell-swept ridge the Turkish cannon fire begins to waver. In that 
 earthwork over against us more supports stream down with a louder 
 cheer into the Russian fighting line. Suddenly the disconnected 
 men are together. We can discern the officers signaling for the 
 concentration by the waving of their swords. The distance is about 
 one hundred yards. There is a wild rush, headed by the Colonel of 
 one of the regiments of the Thirty-second division. The Turks in the 
 sheltered trench hold their ground, and fire steadily, and with terri- 
 ble effect, into the advancing forces. The Colonel's horse goes down, 
 but the Colonel is on his feet in a second, and, waving his sword, 
 leads his men forward on foot. But only for a few paces. He stag- 
 gers and falls. I heard afterward he was killed. We can hear the 
 sound of wrath, half howl, half yell, with w r hich his men, bayonets 
 at the charge, rush to avenge him. They are over the parapet and
 
 THE BA TTLES ARO UND PLE VNA. 293 
 
 shelter trench, and in among the Turks like an avalanche. Not 
 many Turks get a chance to run away from the gleaming bayo- 
 nets, swayed by muscular Kussian arms. The outer edge of the first 
 position is won. This time the Turks did not wait for the bayonet 
 points, but with one final volley abandoned the work. "We watched 
 their huddled mass in the gardens and vineyard behind the position, 
 cramming the narrow track between the trees to gain the shelter of 
 their batteries in the rear of the second position. So fell the first 
 position of the Turks. Kriidener was clearly jammed. The Turks 
 were fighting furiously, and were in unexpected force on the broad 
 central ridge of theirs as well as against Kriidener. The first posi- 
 tion, in natural as in artificial strength, was child's play to the grim 
 starkness of the second on that isolated mamelon there with the bat- 
 teries on the swell behind it. But Shachovsky determined to go for 
 it, and his troops were not the men to balk him. The first rush, 
 however, was out of them. Many must have been blown. They 
 hung a good deal in the advance, exposing themselves recklessly, 
 and falling fast, but not progressing with much speed. It is a dan- 
 gerous time when troops sullenly stand still and doggedly fire when 
 the stationary fit is on them. Shachovsky kept his finger well on the 
 throbbing pulse of the battle. Just in the nick of time half his reserve 
 brigades were thrown into the fight, while the other half took part 
 in the attack on our left flank. The new blood tells at once. There 
 is a move forward, and no more standing and craning over the fence. 
 The Turks in the flank earthwork are reinforced. I can see some 
 Russian officers on horseback standing coolly behind the bank of the 
 vineyard that serves as a parapet, observing the addition to the 
 Turkish force. They ride off and speedily return. I can hardly say 
 how it all happens, but all of a sudden the white smoke spurts forth, 
 and swarms of dark-clothed men are scrambling on. There is evi- 
 dently a short, but sharp struggle. Then one sees a swarm of men 
 flying across the green of the vineyard. But they don't go far, and 
 prowl around the western and northern faces of the work, rendering 
 its occupation very precarious. The Turkish cannon from behind 
 drops shells into it with singular precision. As a matter of fact, the 
 Russians occupied this, the second position of the Turks, but never 
 held it. It was all but empty for a long time, and continuous fight- 
 ing took place about its flanks. About six the Turks pressed for- 
 ward a heavy mass of infantry for its recapture. Shachovsky took 
 a bold step, sending two batteries down into the first position he had
 
 294 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 taken to keep them in check. But the Turks were not to be denied, 
 and, in spite of the most determined fighting of the Russians, had 
 reoccupied their second position before seven. The First brigade of 
 the Thirty-fifth division had early inclined to the left, where the 
 towers and houses of Plevna were visible. It was rash, for the 
 brigade was exposing its right flank to the Turkish cannon astride 
 of the ridge, but the goal of Plevna was a keen temptation. There 
 was no thoroughfare, however. They would not give up, and they 
 could not succeed. They charged again and again, and when they 
 could charge no more from sheer fatigue, they stood and died, for 
 they would not retire. The reserves came up, but only to swell the 
 slaughter. And then the ammunition failed, for the carts had been 
 left far behind, and all hope failed the most sanguine. Two com- 
 panies of Russian infantry did indeed work round the right flank of 
 the Turkish works and dodge into the town of Plevna, but it was 
 like entering the mouth of hell. On the heights all round, the can- 
 non smoke spurted out, and the vineyard in the rear of the town 
 was alive with Turks. They left after a very short visit, and now all 
 hope of success anywhere was dead, nor did a chance offer to make the 
 best of defeat. Shachovsky had not a man left to cover the retreat. 
 The Turks struck without stint. They had the upper-hand for 
 once, and were determined to show that they knew how to make 
 the most of it. They advanced in swarms through the dusk on 
 their original first position, and captured three Russian cannon be- 
 fore the batteries could be withdrawn. The Turkish shells began 
 once more to whistle over the ridge above Radisevo and fall into the 
 village behind, now crammed with wounded. The streams of 
 wounded wending their painful way over the ridge were incessant. 
 The badly wounded mostly lay where they fell. Later, in the 
 darkness, a baleful sort of Krankentraeger swarmed over the battle- 
 field in the shape of Bashi-Bazouks, who spared not. Lingering 
 there on the ridge till the moon rose, the staff could hear from down 
 below on the still night air the cries of pain, the entreaties for mer- 
 cy, and the yells of bloodthirsty fanatical triumph. It was indeed 
 an hour to wring the sternest heart. We stayed there to learn, if it 
 might be, what troops were coming out of the Valley of the Shadow 
 of Death below. Were there, indeed, any at all to come ? It did 
 not seem to be the case. The Turks had our range before dark, 
 and we could watch the flash of flame over against us, and then
 
 THE BATTLES AROUND PLEVNA. 
 
 295 
 
 listen to the scream of the shell as it tore by us. The sound of rifle 
 bullets was incessant, and the escort and the retreating wounded 
 were struck. A detachment at length began to come straggling up, 
 but it will give an idea of the disorganization to say that when a 
 company was told off to cover somewhat the wounded in Radisevo, 
 it had to be made up of the men of several regiments." 
 
 The battle was now over, and the Russian defeat complete. The 
 correspondent adds : 
 
 " About 9 o'clock the staff quitted the ridge, leaving it littered 
 with groaning men, and moving gently lest we should tread on the 
 prostrate wounded. We lost our way as we had lost our army. "We 
 could find no rest for the soles of our feet by reason of the alarms of 
 the Bashi-Bazouks swarming in among the scattered and retiring Rus- 
 sians. At length, at one in the morning, having been in the saddle 
 since six on the previous morning, we turned into a stubble-field, and 
 making beds of the reaped gram, correspondent and Cossack alike 
 rested under the stars. But we are not even then allowed to rest. 
 Before four an alarm carne that the Bashi-Bazouks were upon us, and 
 we had to rouse and tramp away. The only protection of the chief of 
 what in the morning was a fine army was now a handful of wearied 
 Cossacks. About the Bashi-Bazouks there is worse to tell. At night 
 they worked round into Radisevo, and, falling upon the wounded 
 there, butchered them without mercy. Kriidener sent word in the 
 morning that he had lost severely, and could make no headway, and 
 had resolved to fall back on the line of the river Osma, which falls 
 into the Danube near Nicopolis. There had been talk, his troops 
 being fresh, of renewing the attack to-day (31st) with his co-operation, 
 but it is a plain statement of fact that we have no troops to attack 
 with. The most moderate estimate is that we have lost two regi- 
 ments, say 5,000 men, out of our three brigades, a ghastly number, 
 beating Eylau or Friedland. This takes no account of Kriidener's 
 losses. We, too, retire on the Osma River, above Bulgareni, and 
 to the best of our weak strength, cover the bridge at Sistova. One 
 can not, at this moment of hurried confusion, realize all the possible 
 results of this stroke, so rashly courted. Not a Russian soldier stands 
 between Tirnova and the victorious Turkish army in Lovatz and 
 Plevna. Only a weak division of the Eleventh corps stands between 
 Tirnova and the Shumla army. I look on Shachovsky's force as 
 wrecked as no longer for this campaign to be counted for a fight-
 
 296 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ing integer. It is not ten days since the Thirtieth division crossed 
 the Danube in the pride of superb condition. Now what of it is 
 left is demoralized and shattered." 
 
 This description of the battle of Plevna was written by Mr. Archi- 
 bald Forbes, of the London Daily News, who spent more than twenty 
 hours in the saddle under fire. Riding with the retreating Russians, 
 he wrote off-hand, his dispatch, which was considered by the London 
 critics the most brilliant war dispatch ever sent to any newspaper. 
 The Russian authorities paid Mr. Forbes the compliment of using 
 his dispatch as the official account of the battle throughout the Em- 
 pire. 
 
 Osman Pasha did not leave his position at Plevna after his vic- 
 tory. The effect which a pursuit, even to the Osma only, might 
 have produced upon the Russians, was shown by the panic which was 
 occasioned in their ranks by a report that the Turks were in their 
 rear. The immediate consequence of their defeat was that the corps 
 of Gen. Gourko, the important point of Tirnova, and even the con- 
 nections in the rear of the army operating against Rasgrad-Shumla 
 were threatened. It became necessary to withdraw the left wing of 
 the latter force, so that in the beginning of August, the communica- 
 tions of the Turks between Rustchuk and Shumla were restored, and 
 their field troops centered around Rustchuk advanced as far as Pisan- 
 zi on the Lorn. The Russian headquarters, which had been for some 
 time at Tirnova, were moved back to Biela on the 31st of July, and 
 the Czar retired to Tsarevitza on the Danube. The mobilization of 
 the Imperial Guards, consisting of three divisions of infantry and 
 two of cavalry, and of several other bodies of troops, was ordered, 
 and a ukase, dated July 22d, was promulgated for the mobilization 
 of 185,46V men of the Opoltchenie or Landwehr. 
 
 In the Dobrudja, after the crossing of the Danube, the Russians 
 had comparatively easy work. The opposition made by the Turks 
 was very weak ; everywhere they retreated before the advancing 
 Russians without risking an engagement. The Russians continued 
 their forward movement as far as Trajan's wall, occupying the cities 
 of Kustendji, Medjidie, and Tchernavoda. Detachments of Cossacks 
 penetrated even south of the wall, but were forced to retire before a 
 body of Egyptians. Gen. Zimmermann, however, continued to hold 
 the wall of Trajan, without assuming the offensive in any direction, 
 merely concentrating his troops toward the Danube. On July 31st, 
 a Turkish fleet, consisting of seven ships, appeared before Kustendji,
 
 THE -BA TTLES ARO UND PLE VNA. 297 
 
 and shelled the place for two hours, after which it anchored for a 
 few days in the harbor, without making any attempt at landing. 
 The few Cossacks stationed at the port remained quiet during the 
 whole period of the presence of the ships. 
 
 After the battle of Plevna of July 30th and 31st, comparative 
 quiet reigned for a time on the scene of action. On August 7th, 
 the Turks repulsed an attack of the Russians on Lovatz. Osman 
 Pasha sent his cavalry on reconnoissances as far as Nicopolis. On 
 their other front, that turned toward Rustchuk, Rasgrad, and 
 Shumla, the Russians evacuated the whole country east of the Kara 
 Lorn or Black Lorn, while their right wing was withdrawn from 
 Osman Bazar to Kesrova on the road to Tirnova. The Russian 
 position in the middle of August was virtually as follows : The right 
 wing, consisting of three army corps, was situated with its front on 
 the line of Plevna-Lovatz, on both banks of the Osrna, leaning on 
 the right on Nicppolis, which was garrisoned by the fourth Ruma- 
 nian division. The center, consisting of one army corps, fronting 
 toward the south and stationed upon the line Tirnova, Gabrova, and 
 Elena, was expected to support General Gourko, who, returning 
 from his dash across the Balkans, was fortifying himself in the 
 Shipka Pass. The left wing, consisting of two army corps, fronted 
 on the line of Shumla, Rasgrad, and Rustchuk, and was stationed 
 along the Kara Lorn. According to the most trustworthy reports, 
 the Russians were opposed at this time by the following forces : Me- 
 hemet Ali Pasha, with 70,000 regulars and 30,000 irregulars, in and 
 around Rasgrad, and 12,000 men at Osman Bazar ; Suleiman Pasha, 
 on the southern slope of the central Balkans, with 15,000 regulars 
 and 5,000 irregulars ; Osman Pasha, at Plevna and Lovatz, with 
 30,000 regulars and 10,000 irregulars, making altogether 127,000 men 
 and 45,000 irregulars. In addition to these, Prince Hassan of Egypt 
 had 15,000 men in the Dobrudja, north of Yarna ; Said Pasha had 
 25,000 men in Silistria and Turtukai ; 14,000 men were stationed 
 around Nissa and Sophia, and 12,000 men in and around Widin, and 
 about 7,000 irregulars were distributed with the four last-named 
 forces. Not including the army of Rustchuk, whose strength was 
 unknown, the Turkish army in Bulgaria at this time amounted to 
 about 193,000 men and 52,000 irregulars. But in the beginning of 
 August some change had taken place in the disposition of these 
 troops, as the forces in Nissa and Sophia had been directed to join 
 Osman Pasha at Plevna. It seems more than doubtful, however.
 
 298 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 that these troops should have increased his force to 70,000 men, as 
 he stated himself. The only reinforcements which the Turks re- 
 ceived in Bulgaria during the month of August were several thou- 
 sand regulars, transported by vessels from the Caucasus to Varna, 
 and several thousand men (ten thousand, according to Turkish re- 
 ports), which were sent from Philippopolis to Suleiman Pasha. The 
 operations during August consisted mainly in a fierce struggle for 
 the Shipka Pass. In turning their attention chiefly to this pass, and 
 in leaving the task of storming it to their center only, while their 
 right and left wings, both of them stronger than the center, were 
 left idle, the Turks gave to the hard-pushed Russians what they 
 needed more than all else, time. Every day gained brought the re- 
 inforcements nearer, which were on the march from Poland, the 
 shores of the Black Sea, and from St. Petersburg. Even before the 
 Shipka Pass was attacked, it seemed for a while as if Suleiman Pasha 
 would cross the mountains to the east of it, while leaving a consider- 
 able force at Kasanlik. On the 15th, several Turkish detachments 
 started from the village Hainkoi to cross the mountains by the Hain- 
 koi Pass, the same pass which General Gourko had used. They 
 were, however, stopped by the 39th infantry regiment, and left the 
 pass on the 17th. The Russians had not expected to see the Shipka 
 Pass attacked from the front. All the orders issued by the Grand 
 Duke commander, clearly showed that he anticipated attacks from 
 the Plevna-Lovatz position on the one hand, and from Rasgrad and 
 Osmaii Bazar on the other, at the same time. Suleiman Pasha was 
 expected, by turning the Shipka Pass on the east, to join hands with 
 Mehemet Ali's army, advancing from Osman Bazar. It was reason- 
 ably supposed that by a simultaneous advance of the different Turk- 
 ish forces north of the Balkans, the pass would fall into their hands 
 without a great struggle. But the Turks disappointed all reasonable 
 expectations, and while the two Turkish wings remained almost in- 
 active, the center, under Suleiman Pasha, advanced to the attack of 
 the Shipka Pass. After having occupied the village of Shipka on 
 the 19th, he assailed the fortified positions to the north of it on the 
 21st. The Russians, not suspecting the intention of the enemy, had 
 left but a small garrison in the pass, consisting of the Bulgarian 
 Legion and an infantry regiment of the 9th division. The Russian 
 position, however, was very strong. The correspondent of the Lon- 
 don Times described it as follows : 
 
 ' The Russian position is extremely strongin fact, if it were
 
 i&U
 
 THE BATTLES AROUND PLEVNA. 
 
 301 
 
 properly defended it might be held against overwhelming numbers. 
 But the Russians have either not had time, or do not intend to hold 
 the pass, for they have only fifteen guns in position, and these, I imag- 
 ine, from the broken pieces of shell that I have seen, are ordinary 
 field-pieces. The position of these guns is almost inaccessible from 
 the southern side, or where the Turks are attacking, as one-half of 
 them are placed on a kind of buttress of rock, commanding the 
 road, and the remainder are divided into three small earthworks 
 that enfilade the approach to the base of this rock, and also sweep 
 the broad glacis of green turf which flanks the road on both sides. 
 For 500 yards on all sides of the Russian position there is no kind 
 of shelter, and the only way in which these works can be carried is 
 by assault." 
 
 The entire Russian force, in all probability, did not exceed 4,000 
 men. They nevertheless repulsed the numerous attacks of the 
 Turks, made with great force and energy. On the same day Osman 
 Pasha made a feint from Lovatz on Selvi, in order to prevent assist- 
 ance being sent from that point to the pass. On the 22d the Turks 
 took the Russians on the flank, so that on the 23d the brave garrison 
 found itself in very close quarters, having been compelled to give 
 up some of the ground held, and having suffered considerable loss. 
 At this critical moment the Russians received considerable rein- 
 forcements, and General Radetzky himself hastened on from Tir- 
 nova to assume the command, so that on the evening of the 24th 
 the Russians had regained all their lost positions. The losses on 
 both sides were very great ; but while Suleiman continued to send 
 fresh troops to the front, the Russians also received considerable re- 
 inforcements from Tirnova on the 25th and the following days, so 
 that although the struggle was renewed from time to time, General 
 Radetzky, at the close of the month, was in complete possession of 
 the pass. The correspondent of the London Times gives the fol- 
 lowing description of the Russian position and the operations in the 
 
 " General Radetzky occupies the positions held so manfully dur- 
 ing the twelve days in which the Moslem host daslied themselves so 
 bravely, but fruitlessly against his intrenched lines. His advanced 
 center holds Mount St. Nicholas, the highest point in the Shipka 
 Pass ; his right and left flanks rest upon two crests, which stand a 
 little to the northward of that point. His line forms a very obtuse 
 
 angle, the vertex of which is cut off by the central position at 
 16
 
 302 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Mount St. Nicholas. To his extreme right and left are ridges ex- 
 tending parallel to the Russian wings, and running northward nearly 
 to the Gabrova road, the only line of communication of the Russian 
 troops. The Turks, having vastly superior numbers, extended their 
 flanks down these last-mentioned ridges, and nearly enveloped the 
 Russian positions, so nearly accomplishing this result, that they 
 swept the Gabrova road in many places with musketry fire. Noth- 
 ing but absolute want of generalship on the part of the Turkish 
 commander prevented this double flank movement being so extended 
 as completely to cut off the Russians from both food and water be- 
 fore the arrival of General Radetzky with his timely reinforcements. 
 "When Radetzky came up on the 23d of August he at once charged 
 the Turkish positions on his flanks, and carried them, in this way 
 overcoming to a great extent the difficulty of providing his men 
 with food and water. Between the two lines held by the opposing 
 forces are deep valleys, which might almost be called ravines, and 
 the Russian troops had to go up and down the steep sides of these 
 ravines to reach their enemies. 
 
 "The Russians now hold the crest formerly occupied by the 
 Turks on their right wing, while the latter have fallen back to the 
 next ridge, where they keep up a desultory fire with the Russian 
 pickets. In the rear of Mount St. Nicholas is a second peak about 
 half a mile from it, which forms a second center, so to speak, both 
 of them, however, running into the line of heights held by the two 
 wings of the Russian army in the Shipka Pass. Strong batteries 
 have been constructed upon all the Russian heights, and they are 
 practically impregnable. 
 
 " A General officer told me to-day, that during the twelve days' 
 operations in the Shipka Pass the Turks made one hundred and 
 four distinct aggressive movements. From this some idea may be 
 formed of the enormous losses which they must have suffered. 
 They made every assault with the most desperate courage, and were 
 compelled to move up precipitous hill-sides, defended on the sum- 
 mits by intrenchments." 
 
 The fighting throughout was of the most sanguinary character, 
 the Russians particularly performing deeds of valor, which were 
 described as truly wonderful by eye-witnesses. The correspondent 
 of the London News, in describing the fighting, said : 
 
 " Occasionally, at some point the Russians would be hurled clean 
 back out of the wood altogether. I could mark the Turks follow-
 
 THE BATTLES AROUND PLEVNA. 
 
 303 
 
 ing them eagerly to its edge, lying down while pouring out a galling 
 fire. The troops who were charged with making this front attack 
 merely succeeded in preventing the Turkish efforts to work round 
 to the Russian rear. It was therefore decided at noon to deliver a 
 counter flank movement. Two battalions, executing this move- 
 ment, had to advance under a tremendous fire from Turkish mount- 
 ain guns. The fighting on the Turkish front and flank lasted for 
 a full hour, but at last the Turks were seen withdrawing their bat- 
 tery of mountain guns near the right flank, which was a sure sign 
 that danger menaced it if it stayed longer. Their left battery fol- 
 lowed their example, which showed the Russians gained the ridge 
 on the Turkish left also. There remained but the central peak of 
 the Turkish positions. That carried, the ridge would be ours, and 
 our right flank would be set free from the dangerous pressure on it." 
 
 Owing to the inactivity of Osman Pasha, who did not undertake 
 anything beyond the feint on Selvi, General Radetzky was enabled 
 to bring up nearly his entire army corps to the defense of the posi- 
 tion, while the Second infantry division was ordered from the lower 
 Yantra to the pass. This division went to Selvi, where it replaced 
 the Ninth, which had hurried on to the scene of action. Mehemet 
 Ali on the Rasgrad and Eski Djuma line did as little as Osman Pasha 
 to assist Suleiman Pasha. There were indeed engagements, on 
 August 22d, at Karakoi, on the Upper Kara Lorn, and on August 
 23d, at Kisilar and Yaslar, between the troops of Mehemet Ali and 
 the Thirteenth Russian army corps; but these actions were only 
 casual ones, not forming parts of any preconcerted plan. 
 
 Rustchuk was bombarded during August from both sides, from 
 Giurgevo and from the Bulgarian side of the river, but little im- 
 pression was made. A weak movement from Rustchuk against 
 Dolob, five miles from the fortress on the Lorn, was easily repulsed 
 by the Russians. The last days of August saw a resumption of hos- 
 tilities along the entire line. On August 30th, both of the Turkish 
 armies on either side of the Russians assumed the offensive. On the 
 left wing of the Russian army, commanded by the Czarevitch, a battle 
 was fought at Karasan, twenty-five miles north-west of Osman Bazar, 
 which resulted in a victory for the Turks. Three Turkish divisions, 
 including the Egyptian division under Prince Hassan, which had 
 been ordered up from the Dobrudja, advanced on both banks of the 
 Kara Lorn and drove back the Russian troops, four thousand men 
 with ten guns, after severe fighting, with heavy losses on both sides.
 
 304 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 At the same time sorties of the garrison of Rustchuk compelled the 
 Twelfth army corps to remain at the Lower Lorn. The correspond- 
 ent of the London Times gives the following description of the 
 battle : 
 
 " Early this morning Nedjib Pasha advanced from Adakoi, near 
 Rasgrad, with three brigades, two batteries of artillery, two squad- 
 rons of cavalry, and one brigade of infantry reserve. Mehemet 
 Ali and Prince Hassan took up a position with their staff on a high 
 hill immediately north of Yenikoi, which commands an uninter- 
 rupted view from Rasgrad to beyond Osman Bazar. The Russians 
 from their batteries behind Sadana opened fire about nine o'clock 
 on the advancing Turks. Nedjib steadily advanced, and entered 
 the burning village of Sadana by half-past eleven o'clock. The re- 
 treating Russians were hotly pressed. They retired precipitately 
 to Karasan, where they made a vigorous stand. Savfet Pasha 
 created a diversion by attacking Haidarkoi. The Russians had a 
 battery of three guns to their right, near Haidarkoi. They made 
 splendid practice at the advancing Turks and Egyptians, but these 
 cleverly opened out and advanced to the right and left of the vil- 
 lage in a really workmanlike style. The engagement now became 
 general, and extended over some fifteen miles. A heavy and con- 
 tinued roll of fire of skirmishers was heard along all the ridges from 
 Basisler to near Sadana. By four o'clock Karasan was in flames. 
 The Russians gradually gave way, and the Turks redoubled the 
 energy of their attack. At five o'clock the enemy were scampering 
 out of Haidarkoi, and horses were trotting up to take the guns out 
 of the battery. The Turkish battery was making splendid practice, 
 and fired just as the guns were taken off. One gun was struck with 
 the last shell. The Turks cheered, and dashed through the blazing 
 village and away to the left to Popkoi like a pack of hounds. The 
 Russian camps were hastily cleared out, two guns covering their 
 retreat and making excellent practice. But the Turks and Egyp- 
 tians still scampered over the ground in fine style. The Russians 
 were now in full retreat in every direction, and by sunset the Turks 
 had proved for the second time, not only capable of meeting the 
 Russians in the open, but also of driving them from their strongly- 
 intrenched positions." 
 
 On the Russian right wing, fronting toward Plevna, General 
 Zotoff repulsed a Turkish attack on Pelisat on August 31st. The 
 battle is described by the Daily News correspondent as follows :
 
 THE BA TTLES ARO UND PLE VNA. 305 
 
 " Osman Pasha's attack on the Russian positions at Pelisat and 
 vdcinity was one of the most hardly-fought battles of the war. The 
 Turks, early in the fight, captured a Russian redoubt, one mile in 
 front of Pelisat. In the course of one hour this redoubt was taken 
 by the Turks, retaken by the Russians, and taken again by the 
 Turks. The Russian left wing was driven back on Pelisat, in front 
 of which trenches had been dug and were lined with troops. The 
 Turks advanced as though determined to drive our left out of 
 Pelisat and turn it. The Turks began to descend the hill in that 
 direction, not with a rush, but leisurely, and without firing ; not in 
 masses or lines, but scattered and diffused. They came down about 
 half way in this manner, the Russian artillery tearing up the groups 
 all the time in the most savage manner. The Russian infantry fire, 
 which had fov the last five minutes been very heavy about Zgalince, 
 now began to roll along the hill-crest in our direction, and the 
 Turks, who were just coming into range, began to drop rapidly. 
 The Turkish advance now veered to the left, and went at the Rus- 
 sian trenches on the crest of the hills between Pelisat and Zgalince 
 with a shout, opening fire at the same time. The Turks descended 
 into a little hollow and were lost to sight for a time, while the Rus- 
 sian trenches flamed and smoked, and a storm of balls was poured 
 into the advancing Turks. This must have lasted fifteen or twenty 
 minutes, during which time fearful loss of life must have occurred. 
 Then we saw the Turks begin to withdraw, carrying off their 
 wounded. The Turks had no sooner withdrawn from the Russian 
 fire than they formed and advanced again. Many dead bodies of 
 Turks were found within ten feet of the Russian trenches. The 
 little slope, on the crest of which the trenches were situated, was 
 literally covered with dead. I counted seven on a space of not 
 more than ten feet square. The battle here was terrible, but the 
 Turks were again repulsed. It will hardly be believed that they 
 went at it again, and yet they did so. It seemed madness, because 
 we could see that the Russian fire never slackened an instant, and 
 that the Russian line never wavered, while reserves were waiting 
 behind ready to fall in at the least sign of wavering. This scene 
 of carnage was again repeated, but only lasted a moment. The 
 Turks, completely broken, withdrew sullenly, firing, and carrying 
 off their wounded and many of their dead. They fell back on the 
 redoubt which they had first taken, apparently with the intention 
 of holding it, but they were not allowed to remain long there.
 
 306 . THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Another attack on the Russian center had been equally as unsuc- 
 cessful as that on the Russian trenches on the left. The Russians 
 pursued the retreating Turks with a murderous fire. Then six 
 companies went at them with bayonet and swept them out of the 
 redoubt like a whirlwind. At four o'clock the Turks were in re- 
 treat everywhere, and the Russians occupied the whole of their first 
 position, besides pursuing the Turks a short distance with cavalry. 
 The Russians were about twenty thousand strong. Their loss is 
 estimated at five hundred, and the Turkish loss at two thousand 
 killed and wounded." 
 
 On September 3d, Gen. Skobeleff, by a brilliant stroke, recaptured 
 Lovatz, which had been in Osman Pasha's hands for five weeks. 
 The battle was described by eye-witnesses as very severe, and the 
 losses on both sides were very great. The loss of Lovatz interrupted 
 the direct communication between Osman Pasha and Suleiman Pasha, 
 while it enabled the Russians gradually to surround Osman Pasha's 
 position at Plevna, and to cut off all his communications. 
 
 On August 31st, Mehemet All's headquarters were at Yenikoi, on 
 the Lorn, while on the same day the Russians held the left bank of 
 the river as far south as Gagova. Mehemet Ali quietly holding his 
 positions on the Lorn, concentrated all his forces on its right bank 
 toward Tenikoi, while on the left bank the Thirteenth Russian corps 
 was stationed on the line of Ablava and Kechlova, near Biela. The 
 Twelfth corps remained before Rustchuk, on the Lower Lorn. Some 
 detachments of this corps had an engagement at Kadikoi with troops 
 from Rustchuk, in which the Turks were forced to retreat. In the 
 meantime, Mehemet Ali, remaining in his posts on the Lorn, and 
 witKout pursuing the advantage he had gained, ordered Achmet 
 Eyub Pasha to advance from his position at Rasgrad. On Sept. 6th, 
 Eyub Pasha attacked the Russian positions at Kechlova. The Turk- 
 ish forces were greatly superior to the Russians in point of numbers 
 and were constantly receiving accessions. The Russians fought with 
 great bravery, but were finally compelled to retreat beyond the Lorn. 
 The correspondent of the London Standard, at Shunila, stated that 
 the battle was a very fierce one, and lasted fully ten hours. On the 
 7th, the Turks took Kadikoi and forced the Russians to cross to the 
 left bank of the Lorn at this point also, so that the entire right bank 
 was cleared of Russians. On the 8th, Mehemet Ali crossed the river 
 with three divisions, and began to advance slowly toward the 
 Yantra.
 
 THE BATTLES AROUND PLEVNA. 
 
 307 
 
 Osman Pasha, in the meanwhile, had transformed his position 
 around Plevna into a fortress of unusual strength, against which sin- 
 gle attacks were of no use, and which could only be reduced by a 
 long and protracted siege. The correspondent of the Daily News, 
 in speaking of the situation, said : , "It is obvious that the fortifica- 
 tions have been much strengthened since the last battle. The longer 
 one looks at the place, the more thoroughly does one feel the tough- 
 ness of the Russian task. The position must be attacked as a whole 
 and taken as a whole. If the northern ridge were taken and occu- 
 pied, the position of the central swell would not be materially im- 
 paired. Suppose that a lodgment was effected on the central swell, 
 that lodgment would be commanded by the northern ridge and the 
 redoubts on the south of the town. All that is wanted to make the 
 Turkish position virtually impregnable is the fortification of the ridge 
 in front of Radisevo." 
 
 The Russians assigned to operate before Plevna had also not been 
 idle, but had received considerable reinforcements, including three 
 Rumanian divisions. The combined Russian and Rumanian forces 
 were placed under the command of Prince Charles of Rumania. 
 
 A series of battles was begun around Plevna on the 7th of Septem- 
 ber, which lasted for a week, and were not exceeded in sanguinary 
 character by any of the fierce conflicts which had taken place for the 
 Shipka Pass. The Russians began the attack with a furious can- 
 nonade. This was kept up until the llth, when the Russians pro- 
 ceeded to storm the Turkish positions. An idea of the fighting may 
 be gained from the account of the correspondent of the Daily JVews, 
 of the operations on the 8th : 
 
 " When the cannonade recommenced this morning it was not easy 
 at first to recognize that the Russians had gained any advantage the 
 day before. The parapet of the G-rivitza redoubt had been a good 
 deal jagged by Russian shells, but under cover of the night all its 
 defects had been made good, and it looked as trim as if never a shot 
 had been fired at it. But the Russians had, during the night, gained 
 a large slice of ground in the direction of Grivitza, and a battery of 
 siege guns had been built on an elevation within easy range of the 
 redoubt. At sunrise that battery came into action in rear of the ad 1 -- 
 vanced battery, and sent its fire sweeping down into the redoubt,, 
 which could not reply to the siege battery, the range being too long ; 
 so it pounded away at the field batteries on the ridge, but the prae* 
 tice was not good, and few casualties occurred. The Russian siege
 
 308 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 battery made admirable practice at the Grivitza redoubt, which is the 
 key to the position, and instead of spreading their fire, the .Russians 
 should have concentrated upon it the whole weight of the bombard- 
 ment. As it is, they may bombard it for a week and after all not 
 succeed in taking it. The assault was intended to begin yesterday 
 afternoon at 5 o'clock, but owing to delays the troops were not in 
 position by the appointed time. Everywhere now the infantry is in 
 position waiting for the word. 
 
 " Toward noon the Russian infantry pushed forward in skirmish- 
 ing order, driving back the outlying Turks ; the artillery followed 
 and came into action at short range. The Turkish return fire, chiefly 
 directed at the Russian first line of artillery, was very heavy, but lit- 
 tle harm was done. Further on the left, to the crest of the range 
 beyond Radisevo, which was one array of field batteries, the firing 
 was very heavy, the Turkish shells doing great damage among the 
 gunners, and falling behind among the infantry on the reverse slope 
 and in Radisevo. At three o'clock the Russians advanced toward the 
 Turkish positions, and continued to fire somewhat slackly. The fire 
 must have reached into Plevna." 
 
 On the 9th, the Turks undertook a sortie against the Russian left 
 wing, but were forced to retreat with considerable loss. The Ru- 
 manians then advanced close up to the redoubts of the enemy. In 
 the evening the Russian siege batteries were brought into a more 
 favorable position. 
 
 The morning of the llth, the day intended for the assault, broke 
 with rain, which settled down into a dense mist, through which ob- 
 jects were invisible at a distance of one hundred yards. The Daily 
 News correspondent gives the following description of the battle, 
 as witnessed by him from the heights in front of Radisevo : 
 
 " About ten A.M. the fog lifted somewhat, and at that time the Gri- 
 vitza redoubt was still alive, although its fire could not be called brisk. 
 To our left, near the Lovatz and Plevna road, there were occasional 
 intermittent bursts of infantry fire. Soon after ten o'clock occurred 
 an ominous lull in the firing. Of this the Turks jauntily took ad- 
 vantage to come out from behind the parapets and stroll about the 
 glacis with the utmost nonchalance. Then the fog came down again, 
 veiling everything and hiding everything. At eleven precisely a 
 furious musketry fire suddenly burst out on our left from the Rus- 
 sians pushing their way out of the gap through the passes of the 
 Lovatz-Plevna road and against the redoubt on the summit of an iso-
 
 
 
 STORMING OF THE GRIVITZA REDOUBT BY THE ROUMANIANS.
 
 THE BA TTLES ARO UND PLE VNA. 3 ! l 
 
 lated mamelon, south-east of the town of Plevna. The Turks, so far 
 as could be judged from the sound, seemed to be in great measure 
 reserving their fire until the Russians came to close quarters with 
 them, as everything was invisible at a distance of twenty yards. This 
 also applies to their artillery fire, although the Russian batteries con- 
 tinued furiously to shell the Turkish positions. 
 
 " About noon the fog lifted somewhat, but fell again. During the 
 interval the cannon in the Turkish second position could be seen 
 firing hard in the direction of the hostile musketry fire. After the fog 
 again fell, one thing became certain from the sound of the firing, 
 that the infantry fighting had a tendency to retrograde from the 
 Turkish front, moving further to the left and nearer to the fighting 
 just above the western edge of the village of Radisevo. Exactly 
 along the space held by Prince Shachovsky's staff as the foremost 
 line on the night of the 30th of July, I found several batteries of 
 Russian field artillery in steady action against the first and second 
 Turkish position on the central swell, a little to the right and rear 
 of the infantry still engaged in desultory fighting. The commander 
 of a battery told us, with an assumption of indifference, that the fight- 
 ing which was dying out was merely f orepost work to clear the way 
 for a grand assault against the redoubt on the isolated mamelon, 
 which was to be made in the afternoon, but with a glass I could dis- 
 cern on the slopes leading up to the mamelon Russian dead and 
 wounded lying about sadly thick. Successive bodies of Turks were 
 streaming down the slope of the mamelon against the huddled mass 
 of Russians, retiring seemingly on the shelter trenches athwart the 
 mouth of the road ravine, and ascending the slopes to our immediate 
 right. It was also clear that Gen. Skobeleff had attacked the re- 
 doubt and covered way due east from the isolated mamelon. Yet 
 further to the left on the extreme westward of Radisevo ridge skir- 
 mishing was going on, but the Turks presented an obstinate front, and 
 fired steadily from shelter trenches. This was at two o'clock, and for 
 nearly two hours little forepost affairs of no consequence went on." 
 
 The operations in other parts of the field were described as fol- 
 lows by the London Times : 
 
 " At 12 : 50 P.M. one brigade of Gen. Zotoff's corps, supported by 
 another, attacked the center redoubt on the south side, one and a 
 half miles from Radisevo. The attack was repulsed by a rifle fire, 
 after lasting ninety minutes. It was renewed again at 4: P.M. Twelve 
 battalions of Russians advanced with the most splendid and devoted
 
 3 I2 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 bravery, right up to the ditch, carrying scaling ladders. They sur- 
 rounded the redoubt on three sides, and hung on to it magnificently. 
 At 4 : 45 o'clock they were actually in the redoubt, but nothing 
 mortal could face the fire from the repeating-rifles. They were 
 destroyed by hundreds at a few paces. At 4 : 52 the survivors fell 
 slowly back. The Rumanians at the same time, under the personal 
 observation of the Emperor, three times assaulted the most salient 
 central redoubt lower down than Grivitza, but were always beaten 
 back. Their scaling-ladder parties were killed on the counterscaip 
 of the ditch to the last officer and man. At 5 P.M. the assault had 
 been repulsed along the whole line, and very few reserves remained 
 in hand. News was brought the Czar at daybreak on Wednesday 
 that at 7 o'clock on Tuesday evening two fresh Russian brigades had 
 carried the redoubt where the Rumanians had been repulsed in the 
 afternoon, and after sustaining a counter attack from the Turks, 
 followed them up and took the next redoubt also. 
 
 " The first redoubt which was captured partially, commands the 
 rest, and can, with a little spade-work, be converted into a means of 
 approaching all the rest in turn. A great failure was therefore 
 remedied at the eleventh hour. The Archangel regiment achieved 
 the greatest feat. Col. Schmetler, an Aide-de-camp of the Emperor, 
 was shot dead as he planted the colors on the parapet with his own 
 hand. I estimated the forces engaged at about 57,000 on the 
 Russo-Rumanian side, against from 50,000 to 70,000 Turks. The 
 valor of the Russian troops is the only thing to be praised, as the 
 attack was unskillfully directed, and the waste of life unnecessary. 
 The Turks were very skillfully handled. They must have lost some 
 men in their two sallies in the open ; otherwise they were completely 
 covered and lay close till the moment of assault." 
 
 From this report it appears that the Russians again committed the 
 blunder which lost for them the first battle of Plevna, and the same 
 charges were made as to the inefficiency of the leaders. 
 
 On the morning of the 12th, no further direct attacks were under- 
 taken by the Russians, but a continuous bombardment of the fortifi- 
 cations as well as of the town was kept up. The Turks did not 
 respond to this fire very strongly ; but in the afternoon they under- 
 took, on their part, a series of attacks on the Russian left wing, 
 which threatened them in the rear. Five times Gen. Skobeleff 
 repulsed these attacks, but at the sixth attack he was forced to 
 evacuate the two redoubts on the Lovatz road captured the day
 
 THE BA TTLES ARO UND PLE VNA. 3 x 3 
 
 before, so that only the redoubt at Grivitza remained in the hands 
 of the Russians. 
 
 The correspondent of the London Times, in speaking of this 
 position, said : 
 
 " On the evening of the llth, after the Russians had failed three 
 times in attempting to take the redoubt at the western extremity of 
 the Plevna valley, Skobeleff succeeded in driving the Turks out of 
 the double redoubt, and established himself in their place. This 
 work is situated between the Sophia and Lovatz roads, and was cap- 
 tured by Skobeleff from the westward. He immediately asked for 
 reinforcements, and continued to do so in vain until the evening of 
 the 12th, when the shattered remains of a regiment which had suf- 
 fered severely the day before, were sent to him. Shortly afterward 
 two other battalions were sent, but this style of reinforcement was 
 like a drop in the ocean ; and the Turks becoming aware of the fact 
 that Skobeleff had not been properly supported, made a detour round 
 the hill and assaulted the redoubt with an overwhelming force of 
 infantry. Five times they were hurled back by Skobeleff 's men, 
 but the sixth assault was too much for the overburdened garrison, 
 and the Turks recaptured the redoubt and still continue to hold it." 
 
 The blunders committed by both armies were severely commented 
 on by all eye-witnesses, all of whom agreed that bravely as the 
 soldiers on both sides fought, the mistakes of their generals nullified 
 all the advantages gained. The London Times said, on this subject, 
 that " The blunders of both Turks and Russians in this campaign 
 are unequaled in the history of warfare. A success by either side is 
 certain to be followed by some suicidal attempt which more than 
 neutralizes all that has been previously gained with heavy expendi- 
 ture of blood." 
 
 The Rumanian troops, on this occasion, were under fire for the 
 first tune during the war. Much had been said against them, and it 
 was generally expected that they would fail to deport themselves 
 well while under fire. The result, however, proved the opposite to 
 be the case. All who witnessed the terrible struggle for the Grivitza 
 redoubt, which was held by the Rumanians, agree that they behaved 
 with the utmost gallantry. The correspondent of the London Times 
 speaks as follows of their conduct during the battle : 
 
 " The great redoubt was defended entirely by Rumanian infantry, 
 who held the work with the most desperate courage and tenacity, re- 
 ceiving therefor the eulogies of the Russian Emperor and all the
 
 314 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 foreign spectators of their valor Should the Russians succeed 
 
 in taking Plevna, they will owe no trivial part of their victory to 
 the co-operation of their Rumanian allies." 
 
 The losses on both sides were very great. The Grand Duke 
 Nicholas, in an official despatch, stated the Eussian loss in killed 
 and wounded to be 300 officers and 12,500 men, and the Rumanian 
 loss at 60 officers and 3,000 men. The Turks did not lose as many 
 men as the Russians, during the first days, as they were not so ex- 
 posed, but during the attacks on the redoubts, their loss was reported 
 to be fully equal to that of the Russians.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE FALL OF PLEVNA. 
 
 Renewed fighting in the Shipka Pass Defeat of Mehemet All at Tcherkovna Mehemet 
 All replaced by Suleiman in the Supreme Command Formation of the Army of 
 Orkhanie Reinforcements and Ammunition for Plevna Battle of Gorni Dabnik 
 Capture of Telis Battle of Radomirze The investment of Plevna complete Cap- 
 ture of the Green Hill Formation of the Army of Sophia Capture of Teteven 
 and Vratza The Rumanians take Rahova Capture of Pravetz and Etropol Turks 
 evacuate Orkhanie and retreat beyond the Balkans Suleiman's advance on the 
 Lorn Capture of Elena by the Turks End of the Turkish Advance The fall of 
 Plevna. 
 
 SULEIMAN PASHA having nearly exhausted his forces in the last 
 days of August in a vain struggle for the Shipka Pass, and the 
 Eighth Russian army corps, under Gen. Radetzky, having maintained 
 all its positions, the Turkish general spent the first few weeks of 
 September in reorganizing his forces. He did not, however, receive 
 reinforcements of any account. While Radetzky was completing 
 his fortifications and his roads, Suleiman Pasha was actively en- 
 gaged in constructing war batteries, and in bringing up heavy guns. 
 The first half of the month, therefore, passed without any engage- 
 ment of consequence, but was occupied with cannonades and skir- 
 mishes. But in the night, from the 16th to the 17th, the Turks sud- 
 denly attacked the Russians along the entire line. The correspond- 
 ent of the London Times, writing on September 17th, described the 
 attack as follows : 
 
 " At length the eventful day for which we have been so patiently 
 waiting has arrived, and for once rumor proved correct, so far as 
 that the attempt to capture the Russian positions would be by a 
 night attack. For the last three days sure signs had been observ- 
 able that some movement of importance was imminent, not the 
 least of which being the provision made for the expected wounded, 
 as to whom the English and Austrian ambulances appear to have 
 worked a revolution with regard to their treatment in this army. 
 Last night the preparations were complete, and at about ten o'clock 
 eight battalions, numbering 3,000 men, marched noiselessly and 
 passed headquarters to form the central attacking column, under 
 
 (315)
 
 3 i6 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Salih Pasha, while an equal force, commanded by Veisel Pasha, 
 ascended the western heights, and some 2,000 men were sent to the 
 eastward, where Brigadier Redjib Pasha has for some time been es- 
 tablished. The night was favorable. The assigned positions were 
 taken without the enemy having the slightest intimation of any- 
 thing unusual being about to occur Shortly before four 
 
 o'clock on Monday morning, the general, on whom devolved the 
 duty of leading the attack on the center and chief position Fort 
 St. Nicholas, a huge rock which towers on high above the point 
 where the Shipka road attains its greatest elevation taking advan- 
 tage of the darkness of the hour, quitted his well-selected cover, and 
 advanced his men up the green slope at the base of the rock, and, 
 proceeding further, was soon established upon its steep and rugged 
 face without firing a shot. Arrived here, however, the alarm was 
 quickly given, and the rock soon became alive with vivid flashes of 
 rifle firing. This continued for the space of half an hour, at the ex- 
 piration of which the fire became lessened, giving assurance that 
 the position, formidable as it is, was won at the commencement of 
 the attack. I was at headquarters on the plain, at the mouth of the 
 Pass, when it was announced that a telegram had been received from 
 the eastern battery that Fort St. Nicholas had actually been taken. 
 The rapidity with which this seems to have been done astonished 
 Suleiman Pasha, who was upon the point of telegraphing the wel- 
 come news to Constantinople, when he reflected upon it and made 
 use of the wire to inquire if there could be any misconception. The 
 answer was reassuring, and the cessation of the fire seemed to con- 
 firm the truth of the message. At this moment, however, the Turk- 
 ish artillery opened upon the rearward portion of the fort, and this 
 proved, unfortunately, that Suleiman's doubts were too well founded. 
 His mortar batteries were firing heavily also, and the rattle of mus- 
 ketry became incessant. Dawn had just lifted the curtain of 
 darkness, and every moment of increasing light extinguished, as it 
 were, the flash of the rifle. Not alone in the center, but to the east- 
 ward and westward, the din of battle could now be heard, echoed and 
 re-echoed in the mountain spaces where the combat was progress- 
 ing Arrived at last at the top, the exertion was amply 
 
 repaid, and the reason of the error above referred to became easy to 
 understand. Seen from the plain, the rock might readily be sup- 
 posed just before daylight to have been captured, for its summit is, 
 perhaps, a hundred yards deep, and is broken up into jagged and
 
 THE FALL OF PLEVNA. 
 
 317 
 
 storm-torn ravines. About half-way along is a cleft, and the Turk- 
 ish troops could be seen firing with the utmost energy across at the 
 Russians, hidden under whatever cover there was to be met with 
 upon their side of it, while their own numerously intrenched men 
 were picking off their exposed assailants most mercilessly. The 
 eastern battery was pouring its shells in among the enfiladed 
 trenches, but their guns on the western side were unable to play 
 with so great effect on account of the closeness of the combatants to 
 each other. All this time I looked anxiously, but in vain, for the 
 attacks which it must have been intended that the battalions told off 
 for the purpose on either side should have long ago carried out. 
 Fighting was to be heard going on in the valleys covered from view 
 by the intervening ridges of the mountains, but this was of a desul- 
 tory nature, and soon ceased almost entirely, and one's attention be- 
 came rivetted by the events passing immediately before the eye. 
 The Turkish center was evidently admirably and bravely led by 
 Salih Pasha's second in command. He poured up his men with the 
 utmost rapidity, and their fire was as incessant as their exposure to 
 that of the enemy from their thickly-lined trenches was great. That 
 the Turkish fire was effective was shown by the sight of the wounded 
 who were being conveyed from the stoutly-defended side of the cleft. 
 The eastern battery was hotly replied to all the time by the Turkish 
 guns on the Shipka road, and their having fuse shells gave some 
 compensation for the losses which their side sustained from the cor- 
 rectness of aim of the Turkish artillerymen. The delay in the fur- 
 ther advance of the Turkish center was becoming extraordinary, the 
 numbers opposed to it being very inferior numerically. No reserves 
 appeared to be sent forward on the Russian side. Something had 
 evidently gone out of gear, as the best-contrived plan will sometimes 
 do, and the fighting had endured, it must be remembered, since 
 dawn. About a quarter to eleven, however, a startling change oc- 
 curred. A dark mass of men was to be seen advancing from the 
 direction of Gabrova along the high-road through the pass. This 
 unlooked-for apparition quickly determined whatever hesitation the 
 gallant Turkish leader of the center might have entertained, for he saw 
 himself in danger of being surrounded by fresh masses of the enemy. 
 It proved to be some 1,600 Russian Chasseurs, who had been sent 
 forward as speedily as possible on the alarm of the attack arriving. 
 The order to retire was at once sounded, and down again came the 
 now disheartened troops, with the cup of victory dashed from their
 
 3 i8 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 lips. Fortunately, however, the enemy did not follow, and, as re- 
 gards the reinforcements, they were even yet too far distant to at- 
 tempt pursuit, excepting to a much less extent than could have been 
 expected. Down the hill pell-mell the center men came, passing on 
 their way their own side trenches nearest the rock. The troops 
 which held the trenches in question deserve the highest praise for 
 not having joined in the panic for panic soon it became as the 
 alarm spread among the now easily-excited soldiery. Had the Rus- 
 sians followed up their advantage and merely made a show of pur- 
 suit, the consequences must have been disastrous, as it is not by any 
 means improbable that the army nearest the unfortunate center 
 would have caught the contagion. Happily, the result was avoided, 
 and the beaten soldier, who had been so near the goal, was able to 
 rally his men, and kept every one from descending and spreading 
 terror among the rest." 
 
 The Russian loss was stated at 31 officers and 1,000 soldiers 
 killed and wounded, while, according to the Russian report, not less 
 than 3,000 Turkish corpses covered the rocks on the hill. Every- 
 thing now remained quiet up to the close of September. With the 
 close of the month, Suleiman Pasha, who had taken Meheniet Ali's 
 place, was replaced by Rauf Pasha. 
 
 The Czarevitch, after having abandoned the line of the Lorn 
 River in the beginning of September, not being pushed by Mehemet 
 Ali, was enabled to occupy strong positions on the Yantra, where 
 he could wait for reinforcements. On the 20th of September he 
 occupied a line extending from Tcherkovna, about twelve miles south- 
 east of Biela, to Pyrgos, on the Danube, presenting a front fully 
 twenty -four miles long. His army, which had originally consisted 
 of the Twelfth and Thirteenth corps, had been reinforced with 
 parts of the Eleventh, and probably the entire Second corps. On 
 the 21st of September Mehemet Ali attacked the Czarevitch on his 
 extreme right at Tcherkovna, and here encountered his first check. 
 The Russians were posted on both sides of a road connecting Tcher- 
 kovna, Yerboka, and Cairkoi, partly on a ridge and partly on the 
 slope of the heights which rise on the left bank of the Jordan, a 
 small brook flowing into one of the tributaries of the Banicka Lorn, 
 which empties into the Kara Lorn. The Turks were posted on the 
 other side of the Jordan, occupying the heights on the right flank, 
 at a distance of only three kilometres, or not quite two miles, from
 
 THE BULGARIAN LEGION DEFENDING THE LUNETTE IN THE SHIPKA PASS.

 
 THE FALL OF PLEVNA. 
 
 321 
 
 the Russian position. The battle is described as follows by the 
 correspondent of the London Times : 
 
 " The favorable weather which has suddenly set in made it pos- 
 sible for Mehemet AH to carry out the reconuoissance which it had 
 been arranged to make yesterday of the Russian position near Tcher- 
 kovna, where the Russians had taken up a strong position in con- 
 siderable force, with their main strength on the left wing. This 
 was protected by a wood extending from the top to the middle of 
 the declivity lining the left bank of the Jordan brook. The inter- 
 vening ground is pretty steep, does not afford the slightest cover, 
 and makes the task of attacking exceedingly difficult. The Turkish 
 arrangements were made in such a way as to allow them to begin 
 the advance at about twelve o'clock. Ten battalions of Hassan 
 Pasha's corps were appointed to this task ; a brigade remained in 
 reserve and never came into action at all At one o'clock the 
 Turkish batteries on both sides of the road to the north of Tcher- 
 kovna opened fire on the Russian intrenchments situated on the 
 ridges to the south-east of Verboka. The Russians at once replied, 
 at first with eight guns from that position. At about half -past one, 
 eight more guns were moved up to the same heights, and then began 
 a rather furious artillery engagement. At two o'clock a body of Rus- 
 sian infantry advanced, under cover of a wood, against the left wing 
 of the Turks, but encountered only one battalion, which kept its ground 
 till two other battalions, under the command of Riza Pasha, attacked 
 the enemy's flank and drove them to a favorable position in the 
 rear, where they made a stand. From the rear of the Russian in- 
 fantry half a battery opened fire upon the Turkish troops, and this 
 lasted about thirty minutes, when a Turkish battery, likewise from 
 behind their own men, gave voice, and attracted the enemy's fire. 
 
 " After, however, the Russians had received strong reinforcements 
 in that direction, the Turks, on their part, directed nine Egyptian 
 battalions against the Russian right wing, but these did not enter 
 into action. For this reason the Turkish left wing could not gain 
 any ground. From the Turkish center and right wing then three 
 battalions advanced, the center force, under the command of Sifat 
 Pasha, against the heights to the east of Yerboka, and the right 
 wing against the wood to the north of the village. Then there 
 gradually began a furious infantry battle, which grew in intensity, 
 until at about six o'clock it reached its highest pitch. The center
 
 322 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 column advanced as far as Verboka, and after having been ordered 
 four times in vain to retire, had to be led out of the fire by the 
 divisional commander in person. It was apparently not the inten- 
 tion of Mehemet Ali to gain ground in the center. Not less heroic- 
 ally did the battalions on the Turkish right wing fight. At half-past 
 eight in the evening firing ceased, and the Turks returned to their 
 former positions." 
 
 After this defeat, Mehemet Ali, on the 24th of September, began to 
 retreat on his entire line beyond the Lorn, and completely stopped 
 the forward movement begun four weeks previously. He gave as 
 a reason for this unexpected resolution that he had become con- 
 vinced of the numerical superiority of his enemy. It was also 
 known that he was seriously hindered in his operations by the con- 
 tinual disobedience to his orders displayed by his subordinates, 
 Achmet Eyub Pasha and Prince Hassan of Egypt. This retreat 
 was seized upon in Constantinople as a pretext for his removal, and 
 while he was sent to the Servian frontier, Suleiman Pasha was ap- 
 pointed in his place. His want of success, however, was due more 
 to the fact that the other commanders failed to co-operate with him, 
 than to any fault of his own. Osman Pasha, instead of making use 
 of the favorable opportunity presented to him after the second Rus- 
 sian defeat at Plevna to pursue the completely demoralized Russians 
 to the Danube, remained quietly in Plevna, and permitted himself 
 to be surrounded again. All later efforts of Mehemet Ali to ap- 
 proach him from Osman Bazar by way of Tirnova and to establish 
 a communication with him, were left unnoticed by Osman Pasha. 
 Suleiman, also, seemed to show but little inclination to render 
 Mehemet Ali any aid. After the Russians had retreated from 
 Rumelia to the Shipka Pass, Mehemet Ali had desired that Sulei- 
 man, after leaving a corps of observation before the Shipka Pass, 
 should cross the Balkans with his army, and that having joined 
 their forces, they should then defeat the Russian forces at the foot 
 of the Balkans, and then establish communication with Osman. 
 This plan seemed certainly to be the most correct and most feasible 
 one. A decided Turkish success in Bulgaria would make a Russian 
 advance in Rumelia impossible. Suleiman, however, instead of act- 
 ing upon the plan of the commander-in-chief, undertook those at- 
 tacks on the Russian positions in the Shipka Pass, in which he sac- 
 rificed fully 10,000 of the best Turkish troops, and which, according 
 to the best military authorities, were entirely senseless.
 
 THE FALL OF PLE VNA. 
 
 323 
 
 In the middle of September a corps made up of troops from 
 "Widin, Sophia, and Nissa was gathering at Orkhanie, on the road 
 from Sophia and Plevna, under the command of Shevket Pasha. 
 Although Russian and Rumanian cavalry were on this road, Hifzi 
 Pasha succeeded, on September 23d, in reaching Plevna with rein- 
 forcements amounting to 20 battalions, one regiment of cavalry and 
 two batteries, in all 12,000 men, together with a large train of pro- 
 visions. Later on, -the Rumanian cavalry on the west began to be 
 more active, and managed, at the close of September, to capture a 
 train of ammunition of eighty wagons, while a detachment of Rus- 
 sian cavalry destroyed a provision train, capturing 1,000 head of 
 cattle. The blockade on the west of Plevna was by no means as 
 yet complete. This was proven by the fact that on October 
 10th Shevket Pasha again brought a train of provisions and am- 
 munition safely into the town, and on the llth had a conference 
 with Osman Pasha there. In order to secure the road to Ork- 
 hanie, which is said to be one of the best roads in Turkey, Shevket 
 Pasha's troops, about 12,000 strong, occupied its most important 
 points and defiles, among them Gorni Dabnik, Telis, and Lukovitza. 
 
 As long as the investment of Plevna could not be effectually car- 
 ried out on the west, and Osman Pasha therefore remained in con- 
 nection with his friends in Orkhanie and Sophia, the Russians could 
 not expect to reduce the post. The guards which arrived at the 
 headquarters of the Czar, near Gorni Studen, were placed under 
 the command of General Gourko, together with two other cavalry 
 divisions and one infantry brigade, and this officer was then en- 
 trusted with the task of breaking the connection between Plevna 
 and Orkhanie. On October 9th, the guards were about seven miles 
 north-west of Lovatz. Owing to the bad condition of the roads 
 they advanced very slowly, and did not take a position opposite to 
 the positions of Hifzi at Gorni Dabnik and Telis until October 23d. 
 The Russian cavalry west of Plevna during this period had a few 
 skirmishes with the enemy, none of which were of any importance. 
 On the morning of the 24th, General Gourko attacked Gorni Dab- 
 nik, and after a very fierce conflict, not only took the Turkish posi- 
 tion, which was commanded by Hifzi Pasha, but also captured 3,000 
 prisoners, four guns, and a whole cavalry regiment. His own loss 
 was stated at 2,500 men. Simultaneously with this attack a heavy 
 cannonade was opened along the entire line east of Plevna, and dem- 
 onstrations were made so as to give the impression of an intended
 
 324 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 assault, and prevent Osman Pasha sending assistance to Hifzi Pasha. 
 Whatever the reason may have been, Osman did not attack Gourko, 
 although the battle took place but nine miles from Plevna, and the 
 Russian right flank was very much exposed. The Russians were re- 
 pulsed at Telis on this day, but this place also surrendered four days 
 later. On October 31st, Osman Pasha evacuated Dolni Dabnik, at 
 the crossing of the Dabnitza creek and the road from Sophia to 
 Plevna, and the Russians were enabled thereby to advance their 
 lines seven miles closer to Plevna. Shevket Pasha, who was stand- 
 ing at Radomirze, retreated upon being informed of these events. 
 On October 31st, he again advanced against Radomirze, but was de- 
 feated after a battle lasting several hours. From this time on the 
 investment of Plevna was complete. 
 
 Osman Pasha had surrounded his position with a number of en- 
 closed works and redoubts, so formidable as to forbid the attempt to 
 capture them by assault, a fact which the Russians and Rumanians 
 had learned to their cost during the battles of early September ; 
 and it only remained to maintain the investment till the Turkish 
 army should be forced by necessity to surrender. The most impor- 
 tant of these works was the Grivitza redoubt, constructed north of 
 the village of Grivitza, which was captured by the Rumanians on 
 the 30th of August. Southward of the Grivitza redoubt was the 
 Radisevo redoubt, commanding the approaches from the south- 
 eastward and eastward on the south side of the Sophia-Sistova road. 
 On the northern front of the position was Fort Bukova. The fol- 
 lowing description of the Russian and Turkish works was given by 
 a correspondent who was with the Russian army at a late period of 
 the siege : 
 
 " Starting from a point on the Plevna-Biela road, about 1,000 
 yards west of Grivitza, we are on the other line of works and right 
 under the guns of the three Turkish redoubts, connected by galler- 
 ies and infantry trenches, defending the approach to Plevna by the 
 chaussee, the only means of reaching the town from the east, north- 
 east, or south-east, as the rivulet on the map running from Tutchen- 
 itza through Plevna courses through an impassable ravine, with per- 
 pendicular sides of rock. The line then runs south-west about a 
 thousand yards west of Radisevo, and so on in the same direction 
 until it reaches the ravine above mentioned. On the western side 
 of this ravine we start from the point where the Lovatz road bends 
 to the eastward, thence westward between Brestovatz and Kirshine
 
 THE FALL OF PLEVNA. 
 
 325 
 
 to a point 2,000 yards from the Lovatz road ; tlience north-west be- 
 tween Blagivas and Olcagas to the river Vid. Crossing the Yid we 
 go due north to a point in front and east of Etropol, thence north- 
 east to the Yid, just beyond Oponetz, and from this place we pass 
 north of Bukova, and south-easterly to the starting-point en the 
 Grivitza chaussee. From the Grivitza ridge round to the position 
 between Brestovatz and Kirshine the Russian lines are higher than 
 the Turkish. From this point to the Yid the latter are higher, but 
 in a very slight degree, while from the Yid round to the Grivitza 
 ridge again the Turkish intrenchmeuts are generally more elevated. 
 There are between twenty and twenty-five closed redoubts on the 
 Moslem line, with innumerable rifle trenches, batteries, and covered 
 ways. The allied lines have been gradually advanced nearer and 
 nearer to those of the Turks, and with each advance a new line of 
 intrenchments has been constructed, so that all the intervening 
 spaces between the first and the present allied lines is bristling with 
 parapets. There is no place on the line where close siege operations 
 have been carried on, excepting at the Grivitza redoubt, where the 
 Rumanians have sapped up to the neighboring Turkish earthwork. 
 The lines are within close rifle range at other parts of the circum- 
 vallation, and the gradual exhaustion of Osman Pasha's supplies is 
 thus awaited. The line of circumvallation around Plevna is fully 
 thirty miles in length, but the conformation of the ground is such 
 that it is not necessary to have the divisions in actual contact at all 
 points. The guns of the allies are mounted generally en barbette ; 
 those of the Turks are all in embrasures. The Rumanian earthworks 
 present a more technically correct appearance than those of the Rus- 
 sians, the lines and slopes of the former conforming strictly to the 
 drawings laid down in works on military engineering. Their para- 
 pets also have a much higher command than those of the Muscovites. 
 Enough spade work has been done around Plevna to build many 
 miles of railway embankment, and iron enough thrown away to 
 furnish the rails." 
 
 On the 9th of November Skobeleff captured the Green Hills, a 
 mountain south of Plevna, after having occupied Brestovatz on the 
 5th. 
 
 To the west of Plevna the Russians continued to advance rapidly. 
 During the month of November Mehemet Ali collected an army at 
 Sophia, which, together with the army stationed at Orkhanie, under 
 Shakir Pasha, who had succeeded Shevket Pasha, seemed in the be-
 
 326 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ginning to threaten the Russians, and to offer a chance for the relief 
 of Plevna. The principal events, west of Plevna, during the month 
 of November, were as follows : 
 
 On Nov. 1st, one brigade of the Third infantry division took the 
 city of Teteven by storm. This city is situated about fifty miles 
 south-west of Plevna, and is of considerable importance, as it is con- 
 nected with Slatitza by a pass across the Balkans. On Nov. 9th, a 
 detached cavalry corps, consisting of three regiments of guards, under 
 the command of Gen. Leonoff, attacked and captured Yratza, situ- 
 ated on the road from Sophia to Rahova, and a place of considerable 
 importance, in that it afforded facilities for threatening the commu- 
 nications of Sophia and Widin. An important advantage was gained 
 on the Danube by the capture of Rahova by the Rumanians on Nov. 
 22d, after a battle reported to have continued for three days. But 
 the main object of the Russian operations was to capture Orkhanie, 
 and then make a demonstration against Sophia. In order to accom- 
 plish these objects it was necessary, in the first place, to take the two 
 important positions of Pravetz and Etropol. For this purpose the 
 Russians, on Nov. 21st and 22d, left Yablonitza, the furthest of their 
 advanced points on the Plevna-Orkhanie road, in two columns, under 
 Gen. Count Shuvaloff and Gen. Rauch, for Pravetz, which was taken 
 on Nov. 23d. During the entire engagement the detachment at 
 Yratza made a pretended demonstration against Orkhanie, and two 
 Russian infantry divisions a similar one against Etropol, in order to 
 keep the Turkish forces at those points engaged. Etropol was also 
 taken on the 24th. These successes decreased still more the ability 
 of Mehemet Ali to relieve Plevna. After the capture of Pravetz, 
 the Turks abandoned Novatchin, Skrivena, and Orkhanie, and on 
 the 29th they also evacuated Yraktchesh. Gen. Ellis immediately 
 started in pursuit, and on Dec. 1st, occupied strong positions in the 
 mountains opposite to Arab Konak. 
 
 Before proceeding to describe the fall of Plevna, it will be well to 
 see what Suleiman Pasha had done to relieve Osman Pasha. 
 Suleiman's forces, composing the army of Shumla, and consisting 
 almost entirely of trained veterans, was far better qualified to come 
 to the relief of Osman, than the raw recruits of which, for the most 
 part, the armies of Orkhanie and Sophia were composed. During 
 the month of October, Suleiman kept entirely on the defensive, 
 while his opponent, the Czarevitch, undertook several reconnois- 
 sances. During one of these, Prince Sergius of Leuchtenberg was
 
 THE FALL OF PLEVNA. 
 
 327 
 
 killed, the only member of the Russian Imperial family that had 
 fallen during the war. During the early part of November both 
 armies on the Lorn kept comparatively quiet. Finally, on Nov. 19th, 
 Suleiman proceeded to take the offensive, and made a demonstration 
 from Kadikoi against the extreme left of the Czarevitch's army. On 
 the 19th, the troops stationed at Kadikoi crossed the Lorn in three 
 columns at Bassarbova, Krasna, and Yovan Chiftlik. They forced 
 the Russian outposts, standing at Pyrgos, to retreat, then destroyed 
 Pyrgos, but were subsequently forced back beyond the Lorn. On 
 the 26th, Suleiman again crossed the Lorn, near Kadikoi, and 
 attacked the Russian positions at Metchka and Tirstenik, but was 
 again repulsed on all points. Shortly after these events, Suleiman 
 moved his headquarters to Osman Bazar, and gathered a considerable 
 army. The strength of this force is not known, although its left 
 wing, which was the strongest, was estimated by the Russians at 
 from 30,000 to 40,000 men. The estimate may have been exagger- 
 ated, but the forces collected at this point were certainly of con- 
 siderable strength. On Dec. 3d, the army of Suleiman began to ad- 
 vance in three columns. The left column, comprising the greater 
 part of the force, advanced against Elena and Slataritza ; the center 
 marched from Osman Bazar on the main road against Kesrova, and 
 the right wing moved from Sarnasuflar to Popkoi. The movements 
 against Kesrova and Popkoi were of a demonstrative character only, 
 and that against Popkoi in particular was conducted with a very 
 weak force. The main column, under Fuad Pasha, on the morning 
 of the 4th surprised the Russian advanced positions at Bebrova and 
 Marian, and forced detachments which held them to retreat in much 
 disorder. The reinforcements which were immediately sent from 
 Elena, were unable to change the situation, and were also forced to 
 retreat with considerable losses. The strength of the Turks and the 
 disorder among the Russians seemed to be so great, that Prince 
 Mirsky, the Russian commander, found himself unable to hold his 
 positions, and had to evacuate even Elena. Three miles west of 
 Elena, at Jakovitza, he made a stand, and gathered the remnants of 
 his army. The Turks did not advance beyond Elena, although a 
 column belonging to their left wing penetrated beyond Bebrova to/ 
 Slataritza. On the 5th, the Turks kept up a cannonade, but did not 
 attack the Russians directly, and Gen. Dellingshausen, commanding 
 the Eleventh army corps, was enabled to bring up reinforcements. 
 He arrived at Jakovitza on the morning of the 6th. Immediately
 
 328 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 upon his arrival the Turks proceeded to attack the position, but 
 were repulsed. Suleiman did not repeat the attack, and desisted from 
 his attempt to advance upon Tirnova, although he continued to 
 hold Elena for a short time. 
 
 The operations against Plevna came to an end on December 10th, 
 the one hundred and forty-fourth day after the first arrival of 
 Osman Pasha, forty-five days after its complete investment, and 
 two months after the arrival of the last supply train. On that day 
 Osman Pasha attempted a sortie to the west, but after a fierce con- 
 test was forced to surrender. This final contest was described as 
 follows by General Todleben, in his official report to the Grand 
 Duke Nicholas, on the investment and capture of Plevna, as pub- 
 lished in the Invalide Russe : 
 
 " Already, during the night, the patrols of cavalry reported a 
 great concentration of Turkish troops upon the Vid. The attack of 
 the Turks commenced about half-past seven in the morning. Our 
 advanced line fell back before them. Major-General Daniloff, of 
 the staff of the Emperor, and commanding the Third division of 
 Grenadiers, ordered the Second battery of the Third brigade of 
 artillery, which occupied the battery in position No. 3, to open fire, 
 and the Tenth regiment of Grenadiers of Little Russia to march in 
 the direction of Kopany-Moguila. The Second brigade, with its 
 batteries, was also sent from Gorni Netropol. 
 
 " While these orders were being executed, there was already light 
 enough to see the Turkish troops which had concentrated in front 
 of us during the night, and which were followed by a train line 
 of wagons of all kinds. The Turks, having opened fire from their 
 guns planted upon the heights near the bridge, and along the Yid 
 to some distance below the bridge, rapidly deployed their forces, 
 taking advantage of the fog which covered the plain on both sides 
 of the river, and of a long strip of high ground which was in front 
 of the bridge, and which sheltered the numerous troops massed 
 there during the night. 
 
 " The attack of the enemy upon the trenches occupied by the 
 Third division of Grenadiers was characterized by an extraordinary 
 impetuosity. Forward marched the thick lines of skirmishers, im- 
 mediately followed by deployed battalions, behind which came the 
 reserves. The artillery followed the skirmishers, advancing rapidly, 
 stopping occasionally to throw us a shell, and then hastening to re- 
 join the skirmishers.
 
 OSMAN PASHA.
 
 THE FALL OF PLEVNA. 
 
 33* 
 
 " In spite of the rapidity of the fire from our guns, and in spite 
 of the fire of the infantry posted in the intrenchments, the Turks 
 traversed in less than three-quarters of an hour the distance which 
 separated them from our position, and reached our line of defense 
 which was occupied near battery No. 3 by a portion of the troops 
 of the Third division of Grenadiers. The enemy, penetrating into 
 the interstices of the intrenchments, after having killed all those 
 who were defending them, found but a few survivors, who, being 
 too feeble to resist the attack, commenced to fall back. When the 
 trenches of work No. 3 had been occupied by the enemy, and the 
 greater portion of the men of the Second battery had been sabred 
 at their guns, the survivors could only succeed in getting out of this 
 earthwork two guns, carrying away the breech-screws of the six 
 other pieces, 
 
 " Then, at half-past eight o'clock in the morning, the troops occu- 
 pying the central position the Second battalion, with the second 
 and third companies of skirmishers having lost a large number of 
 men and many officers, commenced to fall back upon Kopany- 
 Moguila, and upon the left lunette. The Third battery of the 
 Third brigade of Grenadiers, artillery, which occupied work No. 4, 
 was able to hold out some time longer, throwing grape upon the 
 Turks ; but, finding themselves threatened by a flank movement 
 upon the right, they abandoned the position, and were only able to 
 carry away six guns, the horses of the two others having been 
 killed. 
 
 " The Tenth regiment of Grenadiers of Little Russia, having 
 arrived upon the field of battle while the regiment of Siberia was 
 engaged with the enemy, was formed in companies and advanced 
 by the interstice between lunette four and Kopany-Moguila. Hav- 
 ing rallied the regiment of Siberia, the Little Russians checked the 
 advance of the enemy, but this cost them heavy losses. In a few 
 moments three commanders of battalions and one-half of the cap- 
 tains were placed hors du combat. 
 
 " The furious attack of the enemy became more and more threat- 
 ening. The First brigade of the Third division of Grenadiers was 
 exhausted by the efforts it made to defend the lunettes. Eight of 
 our guns had faUen into the hands of the enemy, and the Second 
 brigade of the Third division of Grenadiers had not yet arrived to 
 the support of the First. It arrived, however, toward ten o'clock 
 in the morning, and at the same moment the news was received
 
 332 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 that the Eighth regiment Grenadiers of Moscow and the Seventh 
 of the Grenadiers of Samogitia, of the Second division of Grena- 
 diers, were approaching the positions defended by the Third 
 division. The arrival of these reinforcements secured for us a 
 favorable issue of the struggle, and rendered it impossible for the 
 enemy to succeed in his attempt to break through. A loud hurrah, 
 which burst forth at about half-past ten o'clock, told us that the 
 Second brigade of the Third division of Grenadiers had just at- 
 tacked our trenches, which were then occupied by the Turks. Hav- 
 ing dislodged the enemy from the two lunettes, the Grenadiers of 
 Astrakhan and Phanagoria, sustained by those of Siberia and Little 
 Russia, continued to advance rapidly, without paying any attention 
 to the losses which they sustained by the murderous fire of the 
 Turks, whom they dislodged and drove from the trenches at the 
 point of the bayonet. Our guns, which had fallen into their hands, 
 were retaken, and the Grenadiers of Astrakhan captured, in a hand- 
 to-hand fight, seven Turkish guns and one standard. Two bat- 
 talions of the Eighteenth regiment of Yologda operated upon the 
 Turkish flank with the aid of a Rumanian battery. At the moment 
 of the attack of the Second brigade of the Third division of Gren- 
 adiers, the Seventh regiment of Grenadiers of Samogitia, under 
 the orders of Lieutenant-General Svetchine, commander of the 
 Second division of Grenadiers, deployed in the interstice between 
 Gorni and Dolni JSetropol. Attacking the enemy with the bayonet, 
 the Grenadiers of Samogitia chased the Turks from their intreuch- 
 ments without firing a single shot, and having put them to flight, 
 captured three guns. 
 
 "After having again occupied the advance lines, our troops 
 halted for a moment. It was nearly noon when the Turks com- 
 menced slowly to retreat upon the Yid, while they continued to 
 direct upon us a well-sustained fire. The guns taken from the 
 Turks, not having been disabled by their artillerymen, were turned 
 against them and served by infantry soldiers. At the same time all 
 the batteries of the Third brigade of artillery, having been brought 
 forward and placed in position upon the same line with our in- 
 fantry, opened upon the enemy a terrible fire with case-shot, which 
 changed the retreat of the Turks into a rout. They became massed 
 into disordered groups near the bridge of the Yid pell-mell with the 
 wagons, of which there were a great number upon the roadside. In 
 the face of this complete disorganization of his army and his im-
 
 THE FALL OF PLEVNA. 
 
 333 
 
 mense losses, Osman Pasha could no longer even think of renewing 
 his attempt to pierce through, especially as the troops of the other 
 sectors of investment had advanced, and as the arrival of the Six- 
 teenth division of infantry made his complete defeat a certainty. 
 
 " Soon our troops commenced the attack along the whole line. 
 The division of General Daniloff advanced in front, sustained upon 
 the left flank, in the neighborhood of Gorni Netropol, by the First 
 brigade of the Fifth division of infantry, and upon the right by 
 the Second brigade of the Second division of Grenadiers. The 
 First brigade of the Second division of Grenadiers coming out 
 of the trenches, proceeded to turn the left flank of the Turks. 
 Moreover, the Second battalion of the Fifth Grenadiers of Kiev, 
 and a battalion of the Sixth Grenadiers of Taurida, were marched 
 toward the Yid, which they forded to occupy the heights on the 
 right bank. The Grenadiers having crossed the river, with the 
 water up to their waists, scaled the heights of Blasevats, and threw 
 themselves upon the redoubt which crowned those heights, and the 
 garrison of which surrendered without firing a shot. The brigades 
 of the Third division of the Guard, and of the Sixteenth division 
 of infantry of the line, which were sent, according to the orders 
 which I had given the day before, to support the corps of Gen- 
 eral Ganyetzky, did not participate in the battle. 
 
 " "While the Second and Third divisions of Grenadiers heroically 
 repulsed the attack of the whole Turkish army, the other troops of 
 the army of investment, under the command of Lieutenant-Generals 
 Zotoff, Baron Kriidener and Kataley, and Major-General Shnitnikoff 
 and General Cernat, who commanded the Rumanian corps, advanced 
 upon the Turkish fortifications fronting the east and south. The great- 
 er portion of these works had already been evacuated, and the troops 
 occupied the town of Plevna in presence of your Imperial Highness. 
 
 " After having entered the place, the troops, with your Imperial 
 Highness at their head, received the order to continue to advance in 
 the direction of the Yid, upon the rear of the enemy, and they con- 
 centrated little by little upon the heights to the west of Plevna, near 
 the Sophia road. 
 
 "The Rumanian troops, with whom was his Highness Prince 
 Charles, from that morning met with resistance at the redoubt of 
 Oponetz, which the enemy still occupied. After a short struggle, 
 the garrisons of these works threw down their arms, and the Ruma- 
 nians captured their guns and 2,000 prisoners.
 
 334 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 " Gen. Kataley having remained upon the right bank of the Yid 
 with the remainder of the Third division of infantry of the Guard, 
 perceiving the retreat of the Turks in the direction of the river, re- 
 solved to capture the redoubt facing the Yolhynie mountain, in order 
 to cut off all chances of retreat by the enemy upon the fortified 
 camp. At 11 : 30 o'clock the Red redoubt was occupied without 
 resistance, and soon afterward the redoubt of Mohammed Tobia sur- 
 rendered after a short resistance. Toward one o'clock, after a short 
 fusillade, the Black redoubt and that of the Sugarloaf were also 
 taken. In these redoubts the soldiers of the Guard made prisoners 
 of one Pasha, 120 officers, and 3,734 men, with four guns. On their 
 side they had three men killed and fifteen wounded. 
 
 " Enclosed by superior forces, the Turks could no longer continue 
 the fight, and consequently they sent a flag of truce, and the chief 
 of the staff of the Turkish army, who presented himself to General 
 Ganyetzky and told him that Osman Pasha was wounded, and de- 
 sired to know the conditions of capitulation. Gen. Ganyetzky de- 
 manded an unconditional surrender of the entire army. Osman 
 Pasha consented, and Gen. Ganyetzky went personally to his brave 
 and wounded adversary. 
 
 " There surrendered during that memorable day of the 28th of 
 November (December 10th, new style), 10 Pashas, 130 superior offi- 
 cers, 2,000 subaltern officers, 40,000 soldiers and gunners, and 1,200 
 cavalry. We took 77 guns and an immense quantity of munitions, 
 especially cartridges. The enemy lost during the battle nearly 
 6,000 men. 
 
 " On our side the Second and Third divisions of Grenadiers suf- 
 fered the following losses : Killed, two superior officers, seven sub- 
 altern officers, and 409 men ; wounded, one general, three superior 
 officers, 47 subaltern officers, and 1,263 men. 
 
 " The First brigade of the Fifth division of infantiy had one offi- 
 cer and 47 men wounded. 
 
 Speaking of Osman's reception by the Russians, the Daily News' 
 correspondent says : 
 
 " Grand Duke Nicholas rode up to Osman's carriage, and for 
 some seconds the two chiefs gazed into each other's faces without 
 the utterance of a word. Then the Grand Duke stretched out his 
 hand, shook the hand of Osman heartily, and said : ' I compliment 
 you on your defense of Plevna. It is one of the most splendid
 
 THE FALL OF PLEVNA. 
 
 335 
 
 military feats in history.' Osman smiled sadly, rose painfully to 
 his feet in spite of his wound, and said something which I could not 
 hear. He then reseated himself. The Russian officers all cried 
 ' Bravo ! ' ' Bravo ! ' repeatedly, and all saluted respectfully. 
 There was not one among them who did not gaze on the hero of 
 Plevna with the greatest admiration and sympathy. Prince Charles 
 of Rumania, who had arrived, rode up, and repeated, unwittingly, 
 almost every word of the Grand Duke, and likewise shook hands 
 with Osman, who again rose and bowed, this time in grim silence. 
 He wore a loose blue cloak, with no apparent mark on it to desig- 
 nate his rank, and a red fez. He is a large, strongly-built man. 
 The lower part of his face is covered with a short, black beard, with- 
 out a streak of gray, and he has a large Roman nose and black eyes. 
 ' It is a grand face,' exclaimed Colonel Gaillard, the French military 
 attache. * I was almost afraid of seeing him, lest my expectation 
 should be disappointed ; but he more than fulfills my ideal. It is 
 the face of a great military chieftain.' Said young Skobeleff : ' I 
 am glad to have seen him. Osman Ghazi he is, and Osman the 
 victorious he will remain, in spite of his surrender.' " 
 
 Osman had certainly done all that could be required of him. 
 Coming from a direction to which the Russians had neglected to 
 pay any attention, he had occupied the town of Plevna almost be- 
 fore the Russians knew that he was on the way. He had inflicted 
 three severe defeats upon the Russians, had changed an open town into 
 a fortress^ proving himself in this respect fully a match for Todleben, 
 and had kept up communication for a long time with Sophia and 
 Widin, whence he drew his supplies. It was not until the latter part 
 of October, when the Russian Guards and Grenadiers arrived at the 
 seat of war, that the Russians began to operate with success. Osman 
 was now completely cut off from the outside world, and General 
 Todleben's plan of reducing the garrison by starvation, could be 
 carried into effect. It was Osman's work that the army of invasion 
 was brought to a standstill for over four months. He had engaged 
 an army three and four times as large as his own in a direction 
 entirely aside of the main line of invasion, and thus gained for his 
 Government time to raise new armies, and to complete the works of 
 fortification. By his defense of Plevna he had raised the military 
 reputation of Turkey, which had begun to wane in consequence of 
 the continued Turkish reverses. He had also inflicted a loss upon
 
 cj-6 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 %J +J 
 
 the Russians and Rumanians, amounting to not less than 30,000 to 
 35,000 killed and wounded, the killed in all probability not amount- 
 ing to less than 15,000. 
 
 The suffering among the Turks in Plevna was described as very 
 great by all accounts. The special correspondent of the Daily 
 News, with General Gourko, who visited Plevna immediately after 
 its surrender, states that the awful misery and wretchedness found 
 within the narrow limits of that place could not be pictured even by 
 those who had become familiar with the varied incidents of the 
 siege. Such ghastly horrors have hardly been paralleled since the 
 days of the plague, in past centuries. "When Osman Pasha at- 
 tempted his sortie, he made no provision for the sick and wounded 
 in the place, of whom there were thousands, and the Russians did 
 not at first attend to them. It was not until the morning of the 
 third day that something was done. The dead were then separated 
 from the living, with which they were crowded in small, unventilated, 
 pestilential rooms, and food was given to those who were still alive. 
 Many, however, died while eating it, the effort being too great for 
 their waning strength. The removal of the dead was at once com- 
 menced, and was still going on, but with most inadequate means, 
 only three ox-carts and a score or so of men being employed. The 
 brutality with which the work was being performed is described as 
 terrible to witness. The correspondent blames the Russians for 
 being unprepared to deal with the sick and wounded, whom they 
 knew beforehand they would find in Plevna, and says that a month 
 before the place fell proper officers should have been appointed to 
 prepare everything for the care of the surrendered troops. 
 
 On December llth, the day after the surrender of Plevna, the 
 Czar paid a visit to the town, riding through the streets, and lunched 
 in a small house, where Osman Pasha was presented to him. The 
 scene is thus described by an eye-witness : " When Osman Pasha 
 was brought before the Emperor, he was carried by a Cossack officer 
 and one of his attendants. On passing through the yard to the 
 house in which the Czar was lunching in Plevna, many of the staff 
 who were breakfasting, rose from their tables and saluted the brave 
 General, crying, ' Bravo ! bravo ! Osman.' The Pasha acknowledged 
 the compliment by nodding and smiling." The Czar shook hands 
 with the captive General, and told him that, in consideration of his 
 brave defense of Plevna, he had given orders that his sword should 
 be returned to him, and that he could wear it.
 
 THE MEETING BETWEEN OSMAN PASHA, THE GRAND DUKE NICHOLAS, 
 AND PRINCE CHARLES OF RUMANIA.
 
 CHAPTEK YII. 
 
 THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA. 
 
 A Summer's rest in Asia Position of the Armies The Russians again approach Kara 
 Battles of Kisil Tepe, Tagni, and Aladj a Dagh Retreat of Mukhtar Pasha Ad- 
 vance of Gen. Tergukassoff on the Southern line Battle of Deve Boyun, before 
 Erzcrum Capture of Kars. 
 
 FOR several weeks after the retreat of the Russian armies from 
 their advanced positions in Turkish Armenia, no events happened 
 that changed the strategical situation. During July all of the 
 Russian columns retired to near the positions from which they had 
 set out in April, and there waited for reinforcements, from 
 the boundary line between Russian and Turkish Territory to 
 Orzugeti, near Poti and Fort St. Nicholas ; Gen. Loris Melikoff in 
 front of Alexandropol, and facing Kars and the army of Mukhtar 
 Pasha ; and Gen. Tergukassofi in the neighborhood of Igdir, where he 
 confronted the Turkish right wing, which now held Bayazid. The 
 enemy likewise did little to disturb the mid-summer quiet, their 
 most noteworthy movement being an attempt to retake Ardahan, 
 which Gen. Komaroff held fast against them. In the meantime they 
 diligently improved the opportunity afforded them to re-provision 
 Kars and strengthen the fortifications of Bayazid. Mukhtar Pasha 
 established his headquarters at Sabatan, one of the ancient 
 capitals of Armenia, while his army, numbering forty battalions, was 
 encamped in fortified positions on the northern slopes of the 
 Aladja Mountains, near Yisinkoi. A few skirmishes took place 
 between the centers in July. About the middle of the month the 
 Russians crossed the frontier to a point near their old camp at 
 Zaim, whence they attacked the Turks. Reinforcements began to 
 arrive in the latter days of July, during which the Russians continued 
 their reconnoissances in front of the Turkish positions, which, how- 
 ever, led to no important results. At the beginning of August, 
 Gen. Melikoff moved his line around, so as to extend his left to near 
 the ruins of Ani, another of the ancient capitals of the country, on 
 the Arpa Tchai River, about twelve miles south-east of Kars, and 
 threatened the Turkish right, while his center was established opposite 
 
 (339)
 
 340 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the Turkish headquarters, and his right at Kurukdara, about six 
 miles north of his center. The central camp at Bash Kadiklar 
 was situated in the plain, near one of the roads from Kars to 
 Alexandropol, and was the scene, in the Crimean war, of an im- 
 portant battle, in which the Russians defeated the considerably 
 superior forces of the Turks. To the south and south-west of it lay 
 the camp of Mukhtar Pasha, spread along the flanks of the mount- 
 ains. Nearly half way to the Turkish position were three extinct 
 craters, which were occupied by the Russian troops, and still closer to 
 the mountains was another eminence, which had been strongly 
 fortified by the Turks. One of the intervening hills was Kisil Tepe, 
 which later in the month was the object of a hardly-contested bat- 
 tle. A reconnoissance in force was made by the Russians against 
 Kars on the 18th of August, the object of the demonstration being, 
 according to the Russian accounts, to divert attention from some 
 contemplated movements of Gen. Tergukassoff. An engagement of 
 several hours' duration took place, at the end of which the Russians 
 withdrew, in accordance, as they professed, with their previously 
 arranged plans. The fighting was renewed on the next day, and 
 was sustained with spirit on both sides until dusk, when the Rus- 
 sians fell back in good order. 
 
 On the 25th of August the Turks made an attack on the Russians 
 for the purpose of gaining possession of the heights of Kisil Tepe. 
 This position was an important one to either army, standing directly 
 in front of the Russian camp at Kadiklar, and forming an excellent 
 point from which to direct offensive operations against the Turkish 
 camp on the opposite side of it. Notwithstanding its value was well 
 known, the Russians had had possession of it for a month without 
 making any effort to fortify it. On the 24th of August, Gen. Heli- 
 kofi's force was weakened by the dispatch of Gen. Dewell with a 
 part of the command to the assistance of Gen. Tergukassoff, and in 
 consequence the strength of the advance guard on Kisil Tepe was 
 reduced. An artillery force was ordered to go to the support of the 
 guard, but the artillerists delayed moving till morning. At about 
 three o'clock on the morning of the 25th, a band of Circassian 
 cavalry advanced up the hill, and were challenged by the Russian 
 sentinels. This force, it was reported in the Russian camp, was 
 commanded by a woman, the daughter of an Arab Sheik, who was 
 killed in the battle. The Circassians, who had obtained the Rus- 
 sian watchword, answered correctly in Russian to the challenge of
 
 THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA. 
 
 341 
 
 the sentinels. While the Russians were hesitating whether to fire, 
 the Circassians opened their ranks and exposed a force of Turkish 
 infantry and artillery which had been concealed, and at the same 
 time an active fusillade was directed upon the guard. In half an 
 hour the hill was in possession of the Turks, and they were put- 
 ting their guns into position. At daybreak the Turks opened a 
 sudden fire upon the Russian camp, to the great surprise of its oc- 
 cupants. Gen. Tchavtchavadze was sent to retake the hill; he 
 was wounded, and Gen. Sheremetyeff took the command in his 
 place. He was finally compelled to retire from a position of ad- 
 vantage that he had gained, when the whole army was led to the 
 assault. The battle raged fiercely during the afternoon. The Turks 
 made several efforts to take the Russian camp at Kurukdara, a few 
 miles north of the point of battle, but were defeated on each oc- 
 casion. The tents at this camp had, however, all been taken up, 
 and everything had been made ready for immediate removal, which, 
 fortunately for the Russians, did not become necessary. The Turks 
 kept the hill which they had gained, but were not able to drive the 
 Russians from any other of their positions. They claimed to have 
 captured a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition. The Rus- 
 sians acknowledged a loss of 1,007 men. The affair was very 
 Creditable to the Turks, as it showed their ability to fight well on 
 the offensive, and in the open country, as well as behind earth- 
 works. On the day following the battle of Kisil Tepe, August 26th, 
 the Grand Duke Michael arrived at the Russian camp and took 
 command in person, leaving to Gen. Melikoff the execution of his 
 orders. On the 30th of August the Turkish quarters were pushed 
 forward close up to the positions which the Russians had occupied. 
 
 Gen. Tergukassoff, although he had received reinforcements which 
 swelled his command to 25,000 men, remained during August in 
 the position near Igdir, which he had taken immediately after his 
 retreat from Armenia, where he for a long time kept himself on the 
 defensive. His forces were so posted that he was able to command 
 most of the important roads of the region, particularly those lead- 
 ing from Bayazid and Erivan to Alexandropol, and the roads which* 
 diverge eastwardly from the Erivan-Bayazid road and converge in. 
 this neighborhood. His army presented a line of about ten miles 
 in length, intrenched upon the high plain of Igdir, with the Araxes 
 River about a day's march in his rear, and lay close upon the north- 
 ern foot of the boundary-hills between Russia and Turkey. His 
 18
 
 342 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 adversary, Ismail Pasha, the Kurd, with about 47 battalions, 50 
 guns, and 12,000 irregular Kurdish cavalry, occupied positions 
 opposite to him, also on Russian territory, grouped around the 
 passes through which the roads from Bayazid and Diadin to Igdir 
 cross the boundary-hills, while his reserves occupied the heights of 
 Tchingili, close upon the border. The Turks made several attacks 
 upon the Russian lines during August and September, which were 
 not attended by any noteworthy results. An attack was made upon 
 the whole Russian line on the 5th of August, which was continued 
 in skirmishes for several days. The affair was followed by a slight 
 change in the positions of both armies, Gen. Tergukassoff drawing 
 back a part of his line, and Ismail making movements indicating 
 an intention to concentrate his forces in the direction of the narrow 
 defile of Mysye. The Turks resumed the offensive toward the end 
 of the month, when a number of skirmishes took place, all in Rus- 
 sian territory, in which the assailants were generally defeated. An 
 attack upon both the advance guard and the right wing of the Rus- 
 sians on the 18th of September, was defeated. Another attack was 
 made on the 27th against the Russian right wing, commanded by 
 Gen. Dewell. 
 
 The impression was allowed to go out at the beginning of the 
 second campaign by the Russians, that the Erivan column was about 
 to resume the offensive in connection with that from Alexandropol, 
 and the fact that Gen. Dewell had been sent down to join Gen. 
 Tergukassoff, and had to be recalled after the battle of Kisil Tepe, 
 strengthened this belief. If such a purpose was entertained by the 
 Russians, it was given up after the battle of Kisil Tepe. The sub- 
 sequent movements of that campaign indicate that it was not de- 
 signed that Gen. Tergukassoff should advance at once, but that the 
 purpose was to keep him at Igdir with a threatening force, so as to 
 keep Ismail Pasha and his Kurds employed, and guard the left flank 
 of the Alexandropol column from attack by them while it executed 
 the real object of the campaign in the direct movement against Kars 
 and the main army of Mukhtar Pasha. In harmony with this plan, 
 a large part of Gen. TergukassofPs force was withdrawn from him 
 when it was needed to strengthen the Alexandropol column for the 
 important work it was to perform in October. The persistent 
 attacks of Ismail Pasha, which were nearly always made against 
 Tergukassoff's right wing, had for their object to break his commu- 
 nication with Gen. Melikoff 's division. Gen. Melikoff received the
 
 THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA. 343 
 
 full complement of the reinforcements which he was expecting toward 
 the end of September, and was ready by the 1st of October to begin 
 offensive operations in earnest. The weather was still favorable, 
 but the season was fast approaching when active operations could 
 not be prosecuted. The contemplated movements must be begun 
 without delay, if the .Russians would secure any advantages in 
 Armenia before the close of the year. 
 
 The Turkish line was stretched out to a length greatly out of 
 proportion to the strength of its force. It extended from the 
 Yagni hills on the Alexandropol-Kars road, south-eastwardly over 
 the Aladja Dagh, twenty miles to the Arpa Tchai River, which at 
 this point forms the boundary line between Turkey and Russia. A 
 triangular group of posts stretched out six miles in front of the 
 main line occupied the heights of Hadjiveli, Sabatan, and Kisil 
 Tepe. The last of these points proved to be particularly exposed to 
 the attacks of the Russians, demanded the services of a detachment of 
 troops which could be of no advantage to the main work of defense, 
 and in effect weakened the Turkish lines and increased their dan- 
 gers. This line was intended to cover all the ways by which Kars 
 could be reached by the invading force. Its important points were 
 the Yagni hills, the Olya Tepe, and the Aladja Dagh. The Yagni 
 hills are the Little Yagni Tepe and the Yagni Tepe, standing on 
 either side of the Alexandropol-Kars road, the first rising some 
 seven or eight hundred feet above the surrounding hills, and about 
 6,760 feet above the sea, and the latter being much higher. These 
 hills were occupied by the left of the Turks, and their possession 
 gave the control of the road. The Olya Tepe lies between the 
 Yagni hills and the Aladja Dagh, rising about one thousand feet 
 above the neighboring hills, and, with the Great Yagni, covers the 
 road to the important point of Visinkoi, which was the real key to 
 the Turkish position. The Aladja Dagh is a large range about 
 eighteen miles south-east of Kars, its eastern declivities sloping 
 down to the Arpa Tchai below Ani. Its northern slopes were 
 dotted with the tents of Mukhtar Pasha's army. The Russians 
 saw that if they could gain possession of the Yagni hills, they would 
 not only completely disarrange the Turkish left wing, but would also 
 be able to establish themselves in the valley through which the 
 Yisinkoi road runs, and be in a position whence they might hope to 
 succeed in separating the right wing from Kars. It was accordingly 
 decided to make a combined movement for the purpose of attacking
 
 344 THE WAR I N THE EAST. 
 
 these hills and flanking the Turkish right wing. It was arranged 
 that while the right and center attacked the enemy in front, and 
 forced its way through between the Great Yagni and Olya Tepe, 
 another body should attempt an advance in the rear of the Aladja 
 Dagh. 
 
 The attack was begun on Tuesday morning, the 2d of October, 
 with an assault upon the Great Yagni. The Turks seem to have 
 been taken by surprise, and the battalion with which they held the 
 hill was cut to pieces or captured after an obstinate resistance. The 
 time during which this body engaged the attention of the Russians 
 was well improved by the rest of the Turkish force in preparation to 
 make a more effective resistance, so that the Russians found that 
 they had still a day of hard fighting and even disaster before them. 
 The Little Yagni was found to be so strongly fortified that an attempt 
 to assault it was considered premature. Repeated assaults were made 
 on either side, in which, while the Russians held the ground they 
 had already obtained, they were not able to make any further ad- 
 vances. They fortified themselves in the positions they had occu- 
 pied, and bivouacked at night on the Great Yagni. A feint attack 
 was made on the same day on the hill of Kisil Tepe, and was re- 
 pulsed. The flank movement against the Turkish right, which was 
 made in connection with these attacks, was undertaken with a force 
 less than half of what had been contemplated in the original plan of 
 the battle. Marching from the Arpa Tchai near Ani, the flanking 
 force attempted to get between the Turks on the Aladja Dagh and 
 Ears. The movement came very near succeeding, and the Russians 
 had at onetime actually put themselves in the desired position, where 
 they were met by Hussein Hami Pasha with three brigades, and driven 
 back to the Arpa Tchai. On Friday, the 5th of October, the Rus- 
 sians evacuated their positions at the Great Yagni, and fell back to 
 Karajal, in the immediate vicinity of their old headquarters at Kur- 
 ukdara. The losses of both parties in these three days' engagements 
 were severe. The Turks acknowledged a loss of about 2,500 men. 
 
 The plan of the Russian operations was revealed by this move- 
 ment a ad those which followed it, to be, not so much to defeat the 
 Turks in pitched battles, as to take advantage of their exposed posi- 
 tions, annoy them at their weaker points, and involve them in daily 
 engagements so as to wear their force away slowly, but surely, and 
 reduce them to so weak a condition that ultimately they should find 
 it impossible to offer further serious resistance. They were helped by
 
 THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA. 345 
 
 the exigencies of the Turks in Europe, which made it necessary to 
 dispatch a part of Mukhtar Pasha's forces to the assistance of their 
 hard-pressed armies in Bulgaria. 
 
 Mukhtar Pasha perceived that the holding of his more advanced 
 and exposed positions was disadvantageous to him, and undertook to 
 put his forces into a more compact shape. During the night of the 
 8th of October, he abandoned the Kisil Tepe and the other positions 
 which he held in front of his main line, and readjusted his forces, so 
 that on the next morning the Little Yagni hill was held by a brig- 
 ade, and Yisinkoi by a division, while the commander-in-chief, with 
 the main army, consisting of thirty-three battalions, occupied the 
 slopes of the Aladja Dagh above Kharkana, with a detached post on 
 the Olya Tepe, connecting Yisinkoi with the main camp. On the 
 9th, the Russians advanced, and occupied Kisil Tepe, Sabatan, Had- 
 jiveli, and the eastern slopes of the Great Yagni. They made artil- 
 lery attacks on the Turks during the next two days, resulting in 
 severe losses on both sides. "The Turkish camp now (October 
 12th)," says an English correspondent who wrote from Erzerum a 
 few days afterward, " had the appearance of being besieged ; their 
 whole front, extending from the Little Yagni to the Aladja Dagh, 
 was defended by almost continuous shelter trenches, batteries being 
 thrown up in the most favorable situations, while opposite them, in 
 the plain below, lay the vast army of the Czar, outnumbering them 
 two to one, and bringing four guns to bear on each piece the Turks 
 could produce." 
 
 On Sunday, October 14th, the Russian left having been extended 
 to the banks of the Arpa Tchai, beyond Ani, a division under Gen. 
 Lazareff moved south of the Aladja Dagh, drove the Turks from the 
 Orlok heights upon Yisinkoi and Kars, and occupied Orlok, thus 
 completely turning Mukhtar's right. On the morning of Monday, 
 the 15th, a heavy cannonade was directed against Olya Tepe, which 
 was the key to the Turkish position. In the afternoon Gen. Hei- 
 mann, with about 10,000 infantry, carried Olya Tepe by assault, cut- 
 ting the Turkish army in two. 
 
 While this was going on, the Little Yagni, held by Mehemet 
 Pasha with ten battalions, four siege and six field pieces, was hotly 
 contested. All day long the Russians endeavored to get a footing on 
 the hill, but were thrown back. At night, however, fhe Turkish 
 ammunition having failed, and the Russians having surrounded 
 them, Mehemet Pasha, to avoid the necessity, which he foresaw
 
 346 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 would be forced upon him in the morning, of surrendering, 
 abandoned his guns, having first dismounted them and removed the 
 breech pieces, and cut his way through to Kars. 
 
 The defense of the Olya Tepe is described from the Turkish side 
 as having been most gallant, but the losses of the four battalions 
 upon which it fell were most severe. " The Russian artillery was 
 as accurate as it was heavy, the shells, fitted with time fuses, burst- 
 ing over the crest with terrible precision. Mukhtar, dreading the 
 loss of this hill, the connecting link between Visinkoi and the 
 Aladja Dagh, detached five battalions to its support. Three des- 
 perate attacks had been repulsed, and yet the garrison showed no 
 signs of flinching. These five battalions moved out in column ; one 
 at last extended, and sending half a battalion to the right, the re- 
 maining half reached the top in safety, when the rest of the column 
 moved slowly up. From some unexplained cause a panic seized 
 these men, and they turned and broke, then re-formed, and slowly 
 retired. Their conduct was simply inexplicable ; an eye-witness 
 assures me they never returned a shot to the heavy fire which the 
 Russians poured into them, but marched slowly and sullenly off, ut- 
 terly regardless of the hail of bullets rattling about them, knocking 
 over man after man." The panic spread, " position after position 
 was abandoned as soon as threatened, and a scene of the wildest con- 
 fusion ensued, crowds of unarmed fugitives rushing wildly along 
 the road to Kars, while others strove madly to reach the Aladja 
 Dagh. Mukhtar Pasha showed the greatest gallantry, but his ex- 
 ample, his orders, were of no avail. Officers were menaced by their 
 men, and they soon joined in the general rout." 
 
 The three divisions constituting the Turkish right wing had in the 
 meantime been surrounded and attacked, and driven from their forti- 
 fied camp with great loss. Omer Pasha, with 2,000 cavalry, surrender- 
 ed early in the day, and by eight o'clock in the evening of Monday, 
 the remainder of this part of the army, with seven Pashas, thirty-two 
 guns, and twenty battalions, had laid down their arms. The Rus- 
 sians claimed that during the whole battle they captured 18,000 men 
 and 40 cannon, and gave their own loss at the Aladja Dagh at 1,441 
 men. Their loss in the other parts of the field was not stated. The 
 Turks claimed that their battalions numbered only between three and 
 four hundred men each, and that their loss, consequently, by the sur- 
 render of their left wing, was only about 9,000 men. With these men 
 they lost also their ammunition and commissariat stores, camp bag-
 
 THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA. 340 
 
 gage, animals, and hospitals. The Commander-in-chief escaped with 
 difficulty to Kara. 
 
 Mukhtar Pasha succeeded in collecting a force of about 14,000 
 men, remnants of 40 battalions. With 4,000 men and five mountain 
 guns he fell hack to Bardess, and afterward to Koprikoi, leaving 
 Hussein Ilatni Pasha, with 10,000 men, to defend Kars. This force 
 was not considered sufficient to hold one-quarter of the defenses, 
 and the commander acknowledged that the men were cowed and 
 worn out, that he could not hope to hold the fortress unless succor 
 should arrive soon, and that he feared that it would be carried at 
 the first assault. 
 
 The uncertain fortunes of war are curiously illustrated by the 
 fact that just previous to the opening of the campaign which led to 
 this disastrous defeat of the Turks, Mukhtar Pasha, as well as his 
 fellow-general, Osman Pasha, in Europe, had received from the Sul- 
 tan, in acknowledgment of his services and victories in the summer 
 campaign, the title of Ghazi, or the conqueror, the highest honor 
 which can be given to a Turkish general, and one that is rarely con- 
 ferred ; and that on the morning of the day the Russian attack was 
 began on his position, he held a review of troops, at which he dis- 
 tributed to the men who had most distinguished themselves in the 
 battle at Kisil Tepe, the decorations which had been forwarded to 
 them by the Sultan. He himself received, besides his proud title, 
 a sword set with brilliants, a pair of handsome Arab chargers, and 
 the cross of the first class of the Osmanlieh set in brilliants. 
 
 Koprikoi, the position to which Mukhtar Pasha retired after his 
 defeat at Aladja Dagh, being situated at the junction of several 
 roads, was formerly considered a position of importance for the de- 
 fense of Erzerum, and was selected for the purpose by Sir Fen wick 
 Williams in 1855 ; the remains of the earthworks which he threw 
 up then still remain, and formed the foundation of the works which 
 were used by the Turks. The value of the position has, however, 
 diminished since the use of rifled arms has become general, since it 
 is commanded by hills from which it is easily reached by long-range 
 arms. 
 
 Ismail Pasha, on the 17th of October, after hearing of the defeat 
 of Mukhtar Pasha at the Aladja Dagh, moved from his position 
 near Igdir and marched to join the comrnander-in-chief on the road 
 to Erzerum. He was followed by Gen. Tergukassoff, but was not 
 seriously molested by him, and joined Mukhtar Pasha at Koprikoi
 
 350 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 on the 27th. The Russians were moving in force upon the Turkish 
 position, and threatened to flank it. Mukhtar Pasha, finding that it 
 was becoming untenable, burned his stores at Kara Kilissa, and 
 began a retreat. The backward movement was executed in good 
 order to Hassan Kaleh. The Turkish rear guard having halted at 
 that place, the Russians came down upon it and effected a surprise, 
 by means of which two Turkish battalions were taken prisoners. 
 The correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph was among the 
 captured, but he was released by Gen. Heimann, after having had 
 everything except his horses stolen from him by the Cossacks. The 
 Turks halted upon the heights of Deve Boyun, in front of Erzerum, 
 and prepared to make a stand for the defense of their capital. Feizi 
 Pasha the Hungarian Gen. Kohlman who had been left in com- 
 mand at Erzerum, had anticipated that this would be the result of 
 the movements that were going on, and had already prepared to 
 give the army a good position on the heights. He had drafted every 
 able-bodied man in the city to work on the intrenchments, haul up 
 guns, and man the batteries. 
 
 The Deve Boyun, or Camel's Neck, is the crest of a range 
 of mountains some two thousand feet higher than the plain 
 below, over which the road from Koprikoi passes about six miles 
 east of Erzerum. It had been selected as a defensive position by 
 Sir Fenwick Williams in 1855, and Hassan Pasha, the governor of 
 the city, and Gen. Kohlman, had spent much labor upon it since 
 July, 1877", in building earthworks, so that it was considered in a 
 good condition to resist an attacking force. 
 
 The Russians, Generals Heimann and Tergukassoff, having effected 
 a junction, advanced against the left of the Turkish lines on the 
 heights of Deve Boyun, on the morning of the 5th of November. 
 The Turks awaited the assault in their intrenchments. The Rus- 
 sians came up, and were repulsed. They returned with repeated 
 assaults, but were again and again repulsed, and finally retired at 
 about eleven o'clock in the morning. 
 
 Soon after noon the attention of the Turks was directed to the 
 appearance of a body of Russian cavalry manceuvering in the plain 
 as if about to make an assault upon the Turkish center. The idea 
 of a cavalry attack against such a position was preposterous, and 
 the Turks were very much puzzled by the demonstration. It was a 
 feint, designed to draw the Turks into an ambuscade. During the 
 previous night the Russians had taken nearly all their infantry and
 
 THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA. 
 
 351 
 
 noiselessly, in the darkness, posted them in the ravines and recesses 
 of the hills. It was a movement that had to be executed with great 
 skill, for the Turks could have defeated it in a very short time upon 
 the slightest warning that it was going on, but no one among them 
 had any knowledge of it. The cavalry came nearly up to the base 
 of the hill, presenting an imposing aspect. They kept on till 
 the Turkish general decided it was time to meet them, and dis- 
 patched eight battalions of infantry to attack them. Although 
 the cavalry could plainly see the operations of the Turks, they paid 
 no attention to them. The Turks went down the hill till they got 
 within range of the Russians, and fired upon them. Their shots 
 began to take effect, when, says a correspondent who was an eye- 
 witness of the engagement : 
 
 " In a moment everything is changed. From many places on 
 the hill-sides, where but a moment ago there was nothing to be 
 seen but the bare ground, start up dense files of Russian infantry. 
 The hills are covered with them their shouts echo from side to 
 side. In an instant they are pouring fearful volleys at murderously 
 short distances on both flanks of the unsuspecting, unprepared Turks. 
 Too confident, too anxious to punish the over-daring of the Russian 
 cavalry, Mukhtar's men have advanced so far down in the valley 
 that there is no longer left the possibility of recovery. The narrow- 
 ness of the road, the closeness of the overwhelming fire, the advan- 
 tageous positions secured by the enemy above all, the suddenness 
 of the attack, unman and paralyze them." 
 
 Mukhtar Pasha, seeing the trap into which he had fallen, endeav- 
 ored to retrieve his mistake. Placing himself at the head of two 
 battalions, he threw himself into the advanced shelter-trenches, and 
 tried to check the Russian movement. But it was too late. The 
 division under Ismail Pasha, the Kurd, turned and ran. Feizi 
 Pasha endeavored to stop their flight, but in vain. They were com- 
 pletely panic-stricken, and ran every way, bewildered, and unable 
 to make any resistance. The Russians advanced up the hill, reached 
 the intrenchments as soon as the Turks themselves, and occupied 
 the positions as fast as they reached them. The Turks were driven 
 over the crest of the hill in utter confusion, abandoning everything, 
 while the Russians pushed their advance with unabated vigor. All 
 was done with amazing speed and ease. It was fully noon when 
 the Russians gave the first warning of their presence, and at two 
 o'clock in the afternoon the Turkish army was in full flight. Not a
 
 352 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 gun was fired at the Russians as they advanced up the hill, but the 
 Turkish gunners cut the traces of their artillery, mounted their 
 horses, and galloped away. The infantry struggled as well as they 
 could, but they too had at last to join in the retreat. 
 
 The narrow roadway from Deve Boyun to Erzerum was blocked 
 by a dense crowd of fugitives, who would have been annihilated, 
 had not Feizi and Mehemet Pashas both foreign officers, and 
 no Turks taken a stand with their brigades, and poured such a 
 fire upon the advancing columns of the Russians as checked their 
 pursuit. The demoralized soldiers, says another correspondent, who 
 was also an eye-witness of the scene, entered Erzerum unpursued 
 by the foe, who really might have followed them up and gained pos- 
 session of the capital without striking another blow. All through 
 the night the crowds of fugitives continued to pour into the city. 
 Many merely passed through and deserted to their homes ; others, 
 worn out with fatigue, cold, and exposure, threw themselves down 
 in the streets, and, in spite of the pouring rain which was falling, 
 slept, with no cover but the clothes they had on. Feizi Pasha en- 
 tered the place, having succeeded in drawing off his men unper- 
 ceived ; Mehemet Pasha, his fellow officer, had to fight his way 
 back. The Russians advanced to the crest of the Deve Boyun, 
 where they took up a strong position overlooking Erzerum, and 
 began to throw up redoubts. A number of the Mohammedan citi- 
 zens fled from the city during the evening. 
 
 On the 6th the head civil authorities of the town presented petitions 
 to Mukhtar Pasha, asking him to surrender the place in order to 
 avoid the destruction attendant upon an investment and bombard- 
 ment. The General replied that he would have to apply to the 
 Sultan for permission to carry out such a request. Immediately 
 afterward a summons came from the Russians demanding a surren- 
 der. Mukhtar again replied that he must consult the Sultan, and 
 asked for three days' grace to telegraph to Constantinople for in- 
 structions. He afterward answered the Russians that the Sultan had 
 directed him to hold the place to the last man and the last cartridge, 
 and he should do so. On the 7th, Gen. Heimann sent him word 
 that three days' grace would be given him, after which the bombard- 
 ment would begin. A council of war was held, at which several 
 officers of the city, members of the Chamber of Deputies, priests, 
 and Mohammedan residents attended, and it was resolved to defend 
 the place to the last extremity. The Russians had, in the meantime,
 
 THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA. 
 
 353 
 
 erected works commanding the road from the Deve Boyun and the 
 whole town. 
 
 On the next two days public criers went about the streets an- 
 nouncing that inhabitants wishing to leave the city must do so 
 before the hour fixed for the bombardment to begin. 
 
 On Monday, Nov. 9th, the Russians made an attack on another of 
 the Turkish fortified positions around Erzerum, Fort Azizie, situ- 
 ated south-east of the town. The Turks were surprised for the 
 moment, and the Russians gained a temporary occupation of the 
 position ; but the Turks soon rallied, and turning upon their assail- 
 ants, attacked them with vigor, and drove them out at the point of the 
 bayonet, after a hard hand-to-hand contest. The Russians retreated 
 to the Deve Boyun, closely followed by the Turks, leaving a large 
 number of killed and wounded in the intrenchments, but carrying 
 off, as they claimed, a considerable number of Turks as prisoners. 
 
 The Russians now proceeded to prepare for the investment of Erze- 
 rum, beginning with the strengthening of their intrenchments on the 
 Deve Boyun, and gradually extending their lines around the north 
 of the city. Before the close of the month the snow had fallen to 
 the depth of three feet on the mountains. The Russians held their 
 posts on the Deve Boyun while their troops were quartered in the 
 neighboring villages, and improved the favorable weather that was 
 given them, in movements looking to the cutting of the communi- 
 cations with the city. 
 
 "While Generals Hermann and Tergukassoff were occupied with 
 their preparations for the siege of Erzerum, Gen. Melikoff, with the 
 Grand Duke Michael, was pressing the investment of Kars. An 
 attack upon the fortifications, with the view of carrying them by 
 assault, was arranged for the 14th of November. It rained heavily 
 at that time, and the attack had to be postponed. Frosty weather 
 set in on the 16th, and it was decided to make the attack on the 17th. 
 It curiously happened that no newspaper correspondents were present 
 at the battle, so that the only accounts of it, from eye-witnesses, that 
 have been published, are given by members of the Russian army. 
 The troops were divided into five columns, the whole being under 
 the command of Gen. Lazareff. The night was calm and frosty, 
 cloudless, and with a full moon. The troops advanced noiselessly, 
 in a silence that was broken only by the occasional firing from the 
 siege batteries, continued as it had been all day. " Before us," says 
 one of the Russian correspondents, " lay the plain, stretching away
 
 354 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 forward to the lowest of the enemy's works, but we could nowhere 
 detect the storming columns, so silently did they advance." The 
 account is continued by another Russian correspondent : 
 
 " Shortly after nine o'clock were heard a few musket-shots, which 
 showed that the outposts were reached. Then thundered the cannon, 
 and the fight began. The storming columns met with such a terrific 
 fire that nothing was heard but a continuous roll of big guns and 
 musketry. All the forts were suddenly, as it were, girded about 
 with a belt of fire, in some places with several belts one above the 
 other. The Kara Dagh heights were literally covered with flame, and 
 looked like a great bonfire. Every soldier of the garrison fired 
 hundreds of shots. All the big guns, it seems, were in action. From 
 a distance it appeared impossible to remain for a moment under 
 such a fire, but through it silently, without firing, unwaveringly, 
 advanced the storming columns. "When near the fortifications they 
 rushed forward with a 'hurrah.' The artillery fire ceases. Our 
 soldiers jump over the ' wolf-holes ' down into the ditch and begin 
 to scale the parapets. The storming ladders, twenty-one feet in 
 length, are too short, but the brave fellows climb and clamber all the 
 same, clinging to each other, digging their bayonets into the parapet, 
 giving each other a lift, and ever forward. Now they are on the 
 top; the gates are blown open with dynamite; Fort Kanly the 
 Terrible can no longer resist. Count Grabbe is in front with his 
 volunteers, and falls with two bullets in his breast. After him 
 comes Colonel Belinski, at the head of the regiment, and he, too, 
 falls under bullets and bayonets. But that does not stop the for- 
 ward movement. The garrison wavers, takes to flight, and our troops 
 enter. Kanly is ours ; and those of the defenders who shut them- 
 selves up in the casemates are obliged to capitulate. Soon fall, in 
 like manner, Suvarri and Hafiz. An advance is then made on the 
 citadel. At all points the Turks offer a desperate resistance. 
 Toward morning the Kutais regiment takes the Kara Dagh and Arab 
 Tabia, and soon afterward the citadel falls into our hands." 
 
 As soon as the Kara Dagh and Arab Tabia were taken, the Turks 
 determined to abandon the town. They went out, about eight o'clock 
 on the morning of the 18th, toward Olti and Erzerum. They were 
 fired upon by the artillery of Gen. Hoop's forces, which were stationed 
 in this direction, and were intercepted by a body of cavalry sent in 
 pursuit of them, and surrendered. The number of prisoners was 
 12,000.
 
 THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA. 355 
 
 The correctness of this account is attested by the concurrence of 
 witnesses, and by all the known circumstances, but it still remains a 
 remarkable fact, hard to be explained, how twenty-four Russian 
 battalions could march in five columns on a perfectly clear moon- 
 light, winter night over the level space of two and one-half miles, 
 which intervened between their positions and the forts, without 
 being observed by a single Turkish sentinel. The movement was 
 one of great audacity on the part of the Russians, and its success 
 shows extreme negligence on the part of the Turks. The Turks 
 charged treachery upon one of their Pashas, but he could hardly 
 have infected all the sentinels of all the forts. 
 
 A grand religious service was held in the Russian camp on the 20th 
 in honor of the victory, and the Grand Duke conveyed to the officers 
 and soldiers the thanks of the Emperor and Commander-in-chief for 
 their gallantry. 
 
 The whole interest of the war in Asia after the capture of Kars 
 centered around Erzerum, where, however, the depth of the snow 
 and the severity of the weather forbade all continuous active move- 
 ments. While the Russians were strengthening their lines of invest- 
 ment as the weather permitted them to adjust their positions, the 
 Turks were endeavoring to collect forces and preparing to offer as 
 obstinate a defense as possible. Feizi Pasha was stationed at Bai- 
 burt, where he was to endeavor to organize the mountaineers of 
 Lazistan into regiments. Kurd Ismail Pasha was dispatched to 
 Erzengan, where large stores of provisions had been concentrated 
 from the market towns of Asia Minor, and announced his intention 
 of returning shortly at the head of 40,000 men. A communication 
 with provision-trains was kept up with this place, so that at the be- 
 ginning of December a sufficient supply was said to exist in Erze- 
 rum to enable the place to stand a six months' siege. Nevertheless, 
 the poorer inhabitants were already suffering great privations on 
 account of the famine price of food. Mukhtar Pasha declared 
 that he had no thought of surrendering, but that his sole idea was 
 to hold out as long as possible, giving his lieutenants time to organ- 
 ize a fresh army, with which he would begin operations again in the 
 spring. Still, he was forced to confess that not only were his pres- 
 ent forces numerically weak, but their moral condition was bad, and 
 that he had only four battalions which he could trust in action. He 
 had, however, entire confidence in the towns-people, and believed 
 that with their aid he would be able to repel any assaults made upon
 
 356 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the city. Much sickness was prevailing both at Erzerum and at 
 Kars. The hospitals at the former place were filled with soldiers, 
 so that the Governor of the town was obliged to appropriate eighty 
 additional houses to hospital uses. 
 
 On the llth of December, the British Consul, Mr. Zohrab, 
 received orders to leave Erzerum, and take with him the archives 
 of the Consulate. His departure was felt to be a great loss by the 
 citizens of the place, for he had made himself useful and beloved 
 by many acts of kindness and humanity. Among other acts, he 
 had organized a committee, composed of Mohammedans and Chris- 
 tians, to inquire into and alleviate all cases of distress among the 
 poor of the city, and had rendered valuable aid to all sanitary agents 
 and to strangers who visited the place. A few days after the de- 
 parture of the British Consul, a movement was made threatening 
 the city from the north, but it failed. The Russian lines were 
 pushed further forward, and the place was almost invested on 
 the 25th. 
 
 At the close of December, Mukhtar Pasha, in obedience to orders 
 from his Government, retired from Erzerum, leaving Ismail Kurd 
 Pasha as commander of the troops in his place. The reason of 
 the removal of Mukhtar was not given. It was reported on the one 
 hand that he was recalled to account for the disasters which the 
 Turkish forces had suffered in Armenia under his command, while 
 other reports assumed that he would be assigned to a command in 
 Europe. He was, actually, after his arrival in Constantinople, placed 
 in command of a body of the troops which were stationed in the 
 works at Tchataldja for the defense of the capital. The change of 
 commanders was not to the advantage of the Turkish cause at 
 Erzerum. Mukhtar Pasha, though not a brilliant general, nor one 
 of extraordinary ability, had proved himself throughout the cam- 
 paign a faithful, competent officer ; had gained the confidence of 
 his followers and the respect of his enemies. He had been in turns 
 a victor and a sufferer by defeat, without stain upon his honor ; and 
 he was believed to be clear of complicity with the atrocities com- 
 mitted by the Kurds, which, like those of the Bashi-Bazouks in 
 Europe, disgraced the Turkish cause in Asia. His successor was a 
 bigoted Mussulman, a man who was accustomed to spend his time 
 in prayers, while he left the duties of planning and acting to his 
 lieutenants, who had entered the campaign without reputation for 
 generalship, and had acquired none in its course. The Russians
 
 THE LAST SHOT IN THE DEFENCE OF KARS.
 
 THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA. 359 
 
 had so well invested the city at the time of Mukhtar's recall that it 
 was reported that he had to escape from the city in disguise as one 
 of the suite of a European Consul there ; that he was stopped by 
 the Cossacks, and was only let go on the Consul producing his 
 credentials. 
 
 Ilidja was occupied by the Russians during the first week in Jan- 
 uary, and the investment of Erzerum was complete. The Russians 
 had, by the middle of the month, concentrated about 20,000 men on 
 the plains, and occupied a space of forty-two miles, stretching from 
 Hinsk, on the north, as far as Pirnakabar, on the west. On the 
 12th of January, a Turkish officer, bearing a white flag, passed 
 through the Russian lines, entered Erzerum, and delivered to Ismail 
 Pasha a telegram from Constantinople, announcing the opening of 
 negotiations for a suspension of hostilities. The Russians, neverthe- 
 less, continued to concentrate their troops. The close investment of 
 the city was continued without material changes, or the happening 
 of any striking event, until the signing of the preliminaries of 
 peace. 
 
 A Russian commission had been at work in anticipation of secur- 
 ing a permanent acquisition of territory in Asia, at the conclusion 
 of the war, for the organization of the conquered parts of Armenia, 
 and finished its labors early in February. The male population of 
 the territory, including the not yet conquered districts of Erzerum, 
 Yan, and Batum, was found to amount to 610,744, including 
 180,188 Armenians, 207,049 Kurds, 189,250 Turks, 25,098 Kistl- 
 bashas, and 2,000 Tartars. The commission provided for the divis- 
 ion of Armenia into two governments, and the six districts of 
 Tchaldir, Bayazid, Yan, Mush, Erivan, and Ears, from the whole 
 of which it was anticipated the Government would receive a net 
 revenue of 3,000,000 rubles.
 
 CHAPTER Yin. 
 
 THE OPERATIONS BEFORE BATUM AND IN THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 Batum Its Importance as a Port The Russians Undertake its Investment The Turk- 
 ish Expedition to Sukhum Kaleh, and their Effort to Excite an Insurrection of the 
 Caucasian Tribes Insignificant Results of the Movement. 
 
 WHILE the Russians were pushing their main campaign in Ar- 
 menia, important subsidiary movements were prosecuted by both 
 sides on the coast of the Black Sea and in the Caucasus. The Rus- 
 sians were attempting offensive operations against Batum, the most 
 important port held by the Turks in this region, and the only really 
 good port on the coast, and the Turks were directing expeditions to 
 points on the Caucasian shores further north, to stir up and assist 
 insurrections among the Mohammedan tribes, with a view to the de- 
 struction of the Russian line of communication over the Caucasus 
 Mountains. 
 
 The shores of the Black Sea, between the Turkish fortified ports 
 of Batum and Trebizond, a distance of about one hundred and 
 twelve miles, are destitute of roads, rocky, and impassable. The 
 ground rises in a distance of a little more than twenty miles from the 
 coast into the Barchel Mountains. As the Turks were masters of 
 the sea, they might have inflicted great damage upon the Russians 
 by harassing their right wing and cutting its communications, if they 
 had had good points from which to send detachments of troops 
 against them. The only point, however, offering a practicable 
 basis for such operations was Batum, which presented a combination 
 of advantages for military movements against the line of Russian 
 invasion. It has an excellent and convenient harbor, is connected 
 by good roads with Tiflis and Akhaltzikh, the base of the Russian 
 right wing, and communicates directly with the country to the south, 
 by the river Tchoruk, which is navigable to Artvin, and by a road 
 running up the valley of the river. The Turks actually made 
 much use of Batum as a station for their troops and a rendezvous 
 
 for their fleets, whence expeditions were fitted and sent against the 
 (360)
 
 THE OPERA TIONS BEFORE BA TUM. 361 
 
 Caucasian coasts, and they kept there a force of between eighteen 
 and twenty-four thousand men. It was important to the Russians 
 that they should either capture this port, or keep its garrison so 
 engaged that it would not be able to operate against General Meli- 
 koff's right wing. 
 
 The duty of taking care of Batum was assigned to the Bion corps, 
 Gen. Oklobjio commanding. On the 1 1th of May, this officer, hav- 
 ing established himself in the position of Mucha Estate, made an attack 
 upon the heights of Tchatzubani, on the left bank of the river Kin- 
 trisi, a river which empties into the sea just south of the boundary 
 line. A severe fight ensued, in which the Russians failed to carry 
 the point they aimed at, although they claimed to have maintained 
 the positions they had assumed, with a loss of 128 killed and 
 wounded. The Turks represented the affair as a great victory for 
 them, and rated the Russian loss at 4,000. An attack was next 
 attempted upon Batum from the sea. The Russian steamer " Con- 
 stantine " left Sebastopol on the 12th of May with four torpedo 
 boats, which were sent forward into the harbor to be attached to the 
 Turkish ships and destroy them. The movements of the torpedo 
 boats were observed from the shore, the alarm was given, and the 
 boats had to be withdrawn without accomplishing their object. The 
 fighting on the land side was renewed on the 23d, and again on the 
 28th, when the Turks were driven from the heights of Sameba, on 
 the left bank of the Kintrisi. An expedition was dispatched up 
 the river and secured the submission of the inhabitants, the roads 
 were repaired, and Russian batteries were established at Sameba. 
 The situation was not materially changed for several weeks, al- 
 though new movements were attempted and skirmishes took place 
 nearly every day till the latter part of June, when a new com- 
 mander, Dervish Pasha, was appointed for the Turkish forces, 
 and greater energy was infused into their movements. On the 
 23d of June, the new commander reported that he had compelled 
 the Russians to withdraw their batteries, and retreat, with a loss of 
 1,500 killed and wounded. The heights of Sameba and Khatzuba- 
 ni were recaptured by the Turks, and the Grand Duke Michael 
 announced about the 1st of July that General Oklobjio had found it 
 advisable " to concentrate his forces in a more advantageous posi- 
 tion." Gen. Oklobjio withdrew his headquarters to Mucha Estate, 
 in the vicinity of the frontier. The engagements which ended in 
 this result were fought with great gallantry on both sides, the Rus- 
 19
 
 362 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 sians defending the positions which they successively lost, with 
 brave persistency, and losing many high officers in the conflicts, 
 while the Turks suffered such losses that they were not able to fol- 
 low up their victory with that degree of energy which they had 
 hoped to exhibit. 
 
 During the interval between the two campaigns in Armenia, the 
 forces of Gen. Oklobjio were stationed in the small district lying 
 between the boundary of Turkey and Russia and Orzugeti, near 
 Poti and Fort St. Nicholas. No new operations were undertaken 
 in this field for several months. Ardanutch, which had already 
 been taken and abandoned by the Russians, was again taken by a 
 detachment under Gen. Komaroff, who was co-operating with Gen. 
 Oklobjio, on the 17th of November. The bombardment of Batum 
 was resumed early in November. On the night of the 27th of the 
 same month, Dervish Pasha, the Turkish commander, suddenly 
 abandoned his position at Khatzubani, leaving in it merely an insig- 
 nificant force, and the post was occupied on the following day by 
 the Russians, who, after driving out the small remaining garrison, 
 found themselves in possession of the Ottoman camp with huts for 
 10,000 men, and some stores of provision and ammunition. In the 
 latter part of December, the Russians were continuing an intermit- 
 tent fire upon the Turkish lines without effect. The situation con- 
 tinued without material change till the end of January. Gen. 
 Oklobjio did not make any progress against the intrenchments of 
 Dervish Pasha. The co-operating column of Gen. Komaroff at 
 Ardanutch, on the 13th and 22d, defeated a division of the enemy 
 which stood between him and Batum at Artvin. The Russian 
 steamer " Constantine" approached the Turkish fleet at Batum on the 
 26th and sent out a torpedo-boat, which succeeded in blowing up 
 one of the vessels. The remaining vessels of the fleet then took on 
 board a part of the garrison of the fortress, with Dervish Pasha, to 
 transport them to Constantinople. Learning this, Gen. Oklobjio 
 undertook to storm the Turkish positions on the 30th, but was 
 driven back after he had crossed the Kintrisi. River, with consider- 
 able loss. 
 
 The Turks, in forming their plans at the beginning of the cam- 
 paign, had placed considerable dependence on the expectation that 
 an insurrection would be excited among the Mohammedan tribes of 
 the Caucasus. Taking it for granted that the sympathies of these 
 people would be with them as Moslems, and that they were discon-
 
 THE OPERA TIONS BEFORE BA TUM. 363 
 
 tented under Kussian rule, they hoped to promote an insurrection, 
 and make it so formidable that the attention of the Russians and a 
 considerable part of their armies would be diverted from the active 
 prosecution of the invasion. Besides, as the only lines of commu- 
 nication between the Kussian army of the Caucasus and the Euro- 
 pean bases of supply traversed the Caucasian country, and were 
 beset with difficult mountain passes and narrow defiles, they antici- 
 pated that if a general insurrection could be excited they would be 
 able so to embarrass the Russians as, possibly, entirely to defeat 
 their movements and break up their campaign. A revolt in the 
 Terek district would seriously impede the operations of the railroad 
 from Tiflis to Rostov, and would, in case the insurgents should be 
 able to control the Pass of Yladikavkas, entirely blockade it. A 
 general movement of the tribes along the Black Sea, aided by the 
 naval superiority of the Turks in its waters, would make the coast 
 road the only other means of communication available to the Rus- 
 sians impracticable. This road, running along the narrow levels 
 between the spurs of the mountains and the sea-shore, and inter- 
 sected by numerous difficult rivers and mountain streams, is exposed 
 through much of its length to the direct fire of men-of-war, as well 
 as to attacks from hostile bodies posted on the hills or valleys above. 
 The country is one in which an insurrection would be extremely 
 difficult, even impracticable, to deal with, being thickly wooded, 
 and the only roads being bridle-paths, which do not exist on any 
 map, but are perfectly well known to the natives. It was in this 
 region that the Turks made, at the very beginning of the war, and 
 continued for many months, a deliberate and energetic effort to 
 kindle an insurrection of the whole people. Signs of revolt also 
 appeared in other parts of the Caucasus, and a rising took place 
 among the Tchetchentzes, immediately after the declaration of war, 
 in consequence of which a state of siege had been proclaimed in the 
 Terek province. 
 
 Admiral Hassan Pasha sailed from Batum, near the end of April, 
 with a squadron of five vessels. Proceeding along the coast the fleet 
 cannonaded some of the Russian forts near the mouth of the Rion 
 River, and on the 12th of May reached Fort Godauty, and landed 
 there about one thousand Circassians, who were joined by a portion 
 of the inhabitants of the district. On the 14th the squadron 
 reached Sukhum-Kaleh, a town of about sixteen hundred inhabitants, 
 on the north-eastern coast of the Black Sea, the only port, though a
 
 364 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 poor one, of the Caucasus north of Poti, and in the midst of the 
 Abkhasian country. The first bombardment of the fortifications 
 was followed by an attempt to land, which was defeated with con- 
 siderable loss to the assailants. The bombardment was continued 
 till the town and fort were nearly destroyed, when the position was 
 stormed and captured, the Russians retreating. The Russians at- 
 tempted to retake the place on the 18th, but were repulsed. The 
 spirit of revolt spread quite rapidly among the Abkhasians for a 
 short time after the Turkish movement was begun. One of the 
 sons of Shamyl, Ghazi Mehrned Pasha, went with the Turks to join 
 the rising tribes, under the expectation that his name would arouse 
 a great excitement among them. His influence was thwarted, how- 
 ever, by the adherence of his brother to the Russians, as an officer 
 in their army, who also was sent to the Caucasus to encourage the 
 loyalty of the tribes. The Turks prosecuted their movements with 
 such energy, that by the first of June they had the control of the 
 shore of the whole Abkhasian coast. A council of war held at Con- 
 stantinople resolved to treat the movements in this region as of 
 paramount importance, and decided to send reinforcements to assist 
 them, and a large quantity of rifles to distribute among the tribes. 
 Fazli Pasha was sent out with a force of ten thousand men. The 
 Russian counter movements were prompt ; the revolt in the Terek 
 district was quickly put down ; measures were immediately taken 
 to prevent the Abkhasian revolt from extending into the interior 
 from the sea-coast. The district was put under the command of 
 General Alkhasoff, and troops were thrown into it from the region 
 of the Kuban and the east, and the insurrectionary movement was 
 confined to an unimportant stretch of the coast, extending, according 
 to the admissions of the Turks, not more than forty miles into the 
 interior. The Turks continued their attacks at various points along 
 the sea-coast, where the Russians did not consider it worth while, 
 since it was useless, in view of the advantages which the enemy en- 
 joyed from their naval superiority, to offer them any serious opposi- 
 tion. The control of the interior was still entirely with the Rus- 
 sians, who had also set limits to the revolt both in the north and 
 the south. At the beginning of July they claimed that the insur- 
 rection was virtually suppressed, while the Turks still held the 
 positions which they had captured, and the whole Caucasian popula- 
 tion were still very uneasy. The Russian statements, however, 
 received a striking confirmation less than a month later, when the
 
 THE OPERA TIONS BEFORE BA TUM. 365 
 
 Turkish Government resolved to abandon the Caucasian expedition, 
 to evacuate the captured positions on the Abkhasian coast, and to re- 
 move to Turkish territory all of the population who had com- 
 promised themselves with their Government by taking part in the 
 insurrection. Admiral Hobart Pasha, the commander of the Turk- 
 ish fleet in the Black Sea, was commissioned to superintend the 
 transportation of the refugees. The Abkhasians eagerly availed 
 themselves of the offer of the Turks to remove them, and came in 
 throngs from all directions to the points of embarkation, and the 
 vessels were employed for several days in conveying them and their 
 cattle to Trebizond. The number who sought to emigrate was given 
 at fifty thousand, with one hundred and fifty thousand head of cattle. 
 By the end of August all who presented themselves for removal 
 had been taken away, only four hundred having, according to the 
 Turkish accounts, fallen into the hands of the Russians. Suk- 
 hurn-Kaleh was finally abandoned by the Turks on the first of 
 September, after an unprofitable occupancy by them of about four 
 months, and was entered by the Russians under General Alkhasoff 
 on the same day. A general proclamation was issued by the Rus- 
 sians summoning the insurgent Abkhasians to submit and lay down 
 their arms, under severe penalties in the event of their refusal. A 
 number of those who had participated in the insurrection were 
 exiled to Siberia. 
 
 Notwithstanding the manifest failure of the attempts of the Turks 
 to excite a general insurrection, the whole region of the Caucasus 
 was in a disturbed condition during the whole period of the summer 
 campaign. An insurrection broke out in Daghestan, in the eastern 
 side of the province, in June, where a raid was made by Turkish 
 irregulars, and they succeeded in destroying parts of the Tim's Rail- 
 way, and the insurgents received the assistance of a number of 
 young Circassian officers, who had been trained in the Russian mili- 
 tary schools. A second insurrection broke out in the Terek district 
 in July, in consequence of which it was considered necessary to 
 hold a force in reserve to support the troops regularly stationed! 
 there. 
 
 Another revolt broke out in the central districts of Daghestan im 
 September, and gradually extended. Bodies of the insurgents,, 
 represented to number about 4,000, were met by the Russians on 
 the 30th of September and the 3d of October, and were defeated.. 
 The revolt was completely suppressed by the middle of December.
 
 366 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Those outbreaks caused the Russians some trouble in the earlier 
 campaign, and required the detachment of Considerable bodies of 
 troops to meet them. After the failure of the first Armenian cam- 
 paign, engineers were dispatched to explore the routes by the Cas- 
 pian Sea, with a view to the construction of new roads for the 
 transportation of supplies that should avoid the passes of the 
 Caucasus. A few weeks later, the slowness of the Russians to move 
 in opening their second campaign, was excused by the statement 
 that their forces had been weakened by the necessity of detailing 
 detachments to assist the troops in the Caucasus. Very little was 
 heard of the insurrections after the second campaign was fairly 
 opened.
 
 "\
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 ON TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 The Close of the Campaign on the Lorn Servia enters upon the Scene of War Capture 
 of Ak Palanka and Pirot by the Servians Gourko Crosses the Etropol Balkan 
 Battles of Taskesen and Kamarli Capture of Sophia, the Trojan Pass, the Shipka 
 Pass, and Philippopolis Suleiman Pasha Defeated and Forced into the Rhodope 
 Mountains Capture of Adrianople Suleiman's March to the Sea The Russians 
 Occupy Tcholuk and Tchataldja, and Push their Lines along the North Shore of 
 the Sea of Marmora Final Operations of the Servians Surrender of Widin The 
 Czarevitch Occupies Rasgrad, Osman Bazar, and Rustchuk Gen. Zimmermann 
 Assumes the Offensive Capture of Bazardjik. 
 
 SULEIMAN PASHA undertook, on December 12th, another attack on 
 the extreme left of the Czarevitch's army stationed at Metchka and 
 Tirstenik. The Twelfth army corps, under the Grand Duke Yladi- 
 mir, was stationed here. Suleiman attacked these positions five 
 times, and was proceeding to the sixth attack when the Russians 
 received reinforcements from the Thirteenth corps and forced him 
 to retreat. His losses during this retreat were considerable, amount- 
 ing, according to the best estimates, to at least 2,000 men. Two 
 da} r s later, on the 14th, he withdrew his troops from Elena, and on 
 the 15th the extreme right of the Czarevitch's army had again occu- 
 pied this place and Slataritza. This put an end to all operations on 
 the Lorn on the part of the Turks. 
 
 The fall of Plevna was the occasion of the re-entrance of Servia 
 into the war. This principality, which had received such easy 
 terms from Turkey, when it concluded the treaty of peace in Feb- 
 ruary, had been the ssene of considerable political excitement 
 throughout the year. A strong party had clamored loudly for 
 renewing the war, and on several occasions it had seemed as if Servia 
 would again take the field. When the Russians entered Rumania, 
 Prince Milan paid a visit to the Czar at Ployeshti, where he met 
 with a very friendly reception, although it was reported at the time 
 that he was advised by the Russians not to resume hostilities against 
 Turkey. Now, when Plevna had fallen, and the Turkish power 
 seemed to have been effectually broken, Prince Milan embraced the 
 
 (369)
 
 370 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 opportunity again to declare war. In his declaration, issued on 
 December 12th, after denouncing Turkish cruelty and barbarity, he 
 continued : 
 
 "Although Servia behaves toward Turkey most honorably, the 
 Porte begins preparing new perils for our country, besides con- 
 cocting secret conspiracies against our internal security. The 
 Ottoman Foreign Minister threatens us openly with innumerable 
 kinds of injury, without being formally at war with Servia. Servi- 
 ans ! When the Porte assumes against us such a threatening tone, 
 at a moment when it is pressed by an army of the strongest power, 
 it is evident that we can not permit the occasion to pass by without 
 trying once more to secure our future. The struggle with our foe 
 of many centuries was not finished with last year's war ; it would 
 be inglorious, unprofitable for us doing peaceable work, not to try 
 within the boundaries of our strength to remove threatening dangers 
 
 for the Servian nation and not to fulfill our national task 
 
 Great works, like the one undertaken by us last year, can not remain 
 
 half accomplished If last year the enemy had superior forces 
 
 to bring against the Servian principality, to-day entering the field 
 we find on our side the victorious Russian army, our heroic Mon- 
 tenegrin brethren, our brave Rumanian neighbors. We take up 
 
 arms to-day for the holy national Christian cause Let us 
 
 now fulfill the great national task which the old heroes of Takova 
 so gloriously began, and which we renewed last year. Let us move 
 forward alongside of the victorious banner of the Czar, the Libera- 
 tor, with Christian faith in God Almighty, the Protector of right, 
 and success is sure, in the name of the liberator of our oppressed 
 brethren, our country's welfare, Servia's independence, and its 
 heroic people. It is God's will." 
 
 The Servians had at this time four armies ready to take the 
 field those on the Drina, on the Javor, on the Morava, and on the 
 Timok Rivers. While the army of the Drina was intended for 
 defensive purposes only, the armies of the Morava, and of the 
 Timok, occupied Mramor, Ak Palanka, and Pirot, invested Nissa, 
 and proceeded toward Sophia. Nissa su rendered on January 1 0, 
 1878, when the Servians took 8,000 prisoners, 90 cannon, and 
 12,000 guns. 
 
 We left Gen. Gourko in the latter part of November on the 
 heights of the Baba Konak Pass. The Turkish army occupied at 
 this time a position at the south end of this pass at Arab Konak and
 
 ON TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 371 
 
 Kamarli, and here repulsed several artillery and infantry attacks 
 made by Gen. Gourko during the early part of December. The 
 surrender of Plevna enabled the Russians to send considerable re- 
 inforcements to Gourko. 
 
 On December 28th he crossed the Etropol Balkan, a feat which 
 was attended with great suffering and loss of life to the Russians, 
 and then advanced upon Sophia. Several changes had taken place at 
 this point during December. Mehemet Ali had been removed from 
 the command, and Shakir Pasha appointed in his place, and the 
 latter officer was also removed within a week to make place for 
 Nedjib Pasha. On December 30th and 31st, Gourko defeated the 
 Turks in two severe battles at Taskesen and Kamarli. The Turks were 
 completely routed and scattered, a small body forcing its way to 
 Slatitza, while the greater part of the remainder were taken prison- 
 ers. This victory opened the way for the Russians to Sophia, which 
 they occupied on January 3d without meeting with any resistance. 
 Further east, Gen. Dandeville, commanding the 3d cavalry division 
 of the Guards, had occupied Slatitza on January 2d, and advanced 
 as far as Kosnitza, where the Prohod Pass leads into the valley of 
 the Derbent River. This pass, however, could not be taken as long 
 as the Trojan Pass, leading from Trojan into this valley, was in the 
 hands of the Turks. The Trojan Pass was finally taken on January 
 7th, by General KarzofF, under the greatest difficulties, a large number 
 of his men perishing from the cold. On the 8th, Gen. Radetzky, com- 
 manding in the Shipka Pass, attacked the Turkish positions in that 
 pass so suddenly that he captured the entire Turkish army under 
 Ressel Pasha. In his telegram to the Czar, who had returned to 
 St. Petersburg after the fall of Plevna, the Grand Duke Nicholas 
 said : 
 
 "I am happy to congratulate your Majesty upon a brilliant 
 victory gained this day. Gen. Radetzky has, after desperate fight- 
 ing, captured the whole Turkish army defending the Shipka Pass, 
 consisting of 41 battalions, 10 batteries, and one regiment of cavalry. 
 Prince Mirsky has occupied Kasanlik. Gen. Skobeleff holds 
 Shipka." 
 
 This estimate of the Turkish army was in all probability exag- 
 gerated. The latest estimates received of the strength of the 
 Moslem forces defending the southern end of the Shipka Pass placed 
 the number at 10,000. This victory gave the entire line of the 
 Balkans, from Servia to the line of Osmau Bazar to Selvi, into the
 
 3/2 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 hands of the Russians, and enabled them to move their reinforce- 
 ments direct from Sistova to Tirnova, and thence across the Balkans 
 to Rumelia. In Rumelia, Suleiman, who had moved the greater 
 part of his troops from the Lorn across the Balkans after the sur- 
 render of Plevna, had gathered a considerable army at Adrianople. 
 In the first days of January, Suleiman was put in command of the 
 forces at Philippopolis, and Mehemet Ali was for a second time 
 during the war appointed to the supreme command. 
 
 Gen. Gourko, after having taken Sophia, left the place in the hands 
 of a garrison, and pushed on with the greater part of his army 
 toward Philippopolis. He met with but very little resistance until he 
 had passed Tartar Bazardjik, when a little beyond this city he en- 
 countered, on January 14th, the first serious opposition. The fight- 
 ing was continued during the following days, the contending forces 
 continually approaching Philippopolis, and on the 16th, Gourko 
 entered this town. On the same day he was joined here by SkobelefF s 
 cavalry, which had been sent him by Gen. Radetzky. On the 16th, 
 Gen. Strukoff, who had been sent out by General Radetzky, occupied 
 Hermann', and then continued to advance upon Adrianople, where 
 he expected to join Gourko's army. During this time, the left wing 
 of the Russian army was advancing on Adrianople, having occupied, 
 also on the 16th, Slivno, Kasan, and Yamboli. One regiment of this 
 column had left the main column at Slivno, and marched upon. 
 Karnabad on the Black Sea. 
 
 After Gen. Gourko had entered Philippopolis, he sent his right 
 wing, under Count Shuvaloff, against Dermendere, where Fuad 
 Pasha had occupied - a strong position; his left wing, under Gen. 
 Dandeville, was to cross the Maritza at Teni Mahal a, advance 
 against Stanimaki, and threaten the Turkish line of retreat; his 
 extreme left was to advance on the road to Adrianople with the 
 three-fold object of pursuing the Turks, who had retreated in this 
 direction, of blocking the direct road to Constantinople, and of 
 effecting a junction with Radetzky's troops advancing on Adriano- 
 ple. In a series of fierce engagements, extending to the 18th, 
 Suleiman's army was forced into the Rhodope Mountains, while a 
 smaller part effected its retreat to Adrianople. This city was 
 evacuated on the 19th, and on the following day Gen. Strukoff, 
 commanding the advance guard of Radetzky's army, took possession 
 of it. Adrianople, which, up to the capture of Constantinople in 
 1453, was the capital of the Turks, and which even in the 17th
 
 ON TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 373 
 
 century was the residence of the Sultans Mohammed IY. and 
 Solyman II. } is to-day nothing hut an immense collection of wooden 
 huts. The streets are filthy and narrow, and it is only with great 
 difficulty that one can ascend to the higher quarters of the city. But 
 few of the great buildings of former times have been preserved. 
 Among these few there are besides, several caravanserles, which, 
 however, have been diverted from their original purpose, and now 
 serve as warehouses, three large mosques, which are situated in 
 close proximity to each other in the middle of the city. The oldest 
 of these, established by Murad I., is not accessible to the unfaithful, 
 as it is the receptacle of the Kaaba relics brought home by 
 pilgrims to Mecca. Near to the " Muradyeh," is the " mosque of 
 the three minarets," so-called because each of these minarets differ 
 in shape, height, and style from the other. The third mosque, that 
 of Seliin II., is a magnificent building. It is the masterpiece of the 
 great Ottoman builder, Sinan, who made it the finest house of 
 worship in Turkey. ' 
 
 Suleiman, after a most disastrous retreat through the Rhodope 
 Mountains, and after lying encamped for over a week on the sea- 
 shore, was embarked with his entire army at Kavala for Constan- 
 tinople. The correspondent of the London Times gives the follow- 
 ing description of the condition of the army : " The army was found 
 in a miserable plight ; no tents, nor the slightest shelter for the men 
 even at night. The poor fellows were stretched along the beach, 
 seeking as best they could to keep themselves alive upon the scanty 
 ration of a biscuit a day. Suleiman's headquarters were established 
 in a ruined fort, a considerable distance from the shore, and here he 
 was found by the Commodore, intent, it would seem, only upon his 
 own escape, without one thought of the devoted army which had 
 been reduced to such miserable straits through his incapacity and 
 obstinacy, to call it by no worse a name. If ever a man was hated 
 and detested, Suleiman Pasha is by all those who have lately served 
 under his command. He is roundly accused of being the cause of 
 all their disasters ; not a single voice in the army is heard in his 
 favor, and charges of cruelty, neglect, and a criminal waste of op- 
 portunities are laid to his door, which, if substantiated in the case 
 of a General in another country, would lead to his death by order 
 
 of court-martial Th3 true story of this disastrous retreat 
 
 will, perhaps, never be known ; a few of the details which I have 
 gathered here suffice to brand Suleiman as a traitorous and cruel
 
 374 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 coward, who recklessly exposed the lives of his best men in the 
 jealous desire to rid himself of generals who were his more than 
 rivals in renown. Suleiman deserted his sick and wounded, and 
 lost all his guns ; and among other worse acts of which he is ac- 
 cused, is that of having burned a hospital at Philippopolis contain- 
 ing one hundred and eighty wounded." 
 
 The Russians continued to advance steadily on their whole line 
 toward Constantinople, and occupied the most important positions 
 on their way without meeting with any opposition. 
 
 Negotiations for an armistice were begun soon after the fall of 
 Adrianople, and were brought to a successful conclusion on January 
 31st. During the whole of the negotiations the Russians continued 
 their advance upon Constantinople. When the armistice was con- 
 cluded they had advanced as far as Tchorlu, within a short distance 
 of Tchataldja, which were the central and most important points of 
 the defenses of the capital. Tchataldja had been fortified during 1877, 
 under the direction of Blum Pasha, a Prussian by birth, who had 
 erected fifteen strong redoubts at this point. A considerable army 
 had been gathered here under the command of Mukhtar Pasha. 
 Even the armistice did not check the Russians in their career, as will 
 be seen from the following telegrams from Mr. Layard to Earl Derby. 
 
 On February 5th he telegraphed : " Although armistice has been 
 concluded, the Russians are pushing on to Constantinople. Not- 
 withstanding the protest of the Turkish commander, the Turkish 
 troops were compelled by General Strukoff to evacuate Silivria last 
 night, and the protest of the Turkish commander was refused. The 
 Russian General declared that according to his orders it was abso- 
 lutely necessary that he should occupy Tchataldja to-day." And on 
 the following day he telegraphed: "The Russians have occupied 
 Tchataldja in considerable force. The Russian General insisted 
 upon the abandonment, by the Turks, of the Tchekmedje lines as 
 one of the conditions of the armistice, and the Turks have been 
 compelled altogether to retire from them, leaving Constantinople 
 quite undefended." The Russians continued to move their troops 
 through Tchorlu, Tchataldja, and then along the coast of the Sea 
 of Marmora to Eregli and Rodosto. On February 24th, San 
 Stefano, a suburb of Constantinople, situated on the Sea of Mar- 
 mora, and but ten miles from the capital, was occupied by the 
 Russians. On the Bosporus they advanced as far as Bujukdere, but 
 did not enter this town.
 
 ON TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 375 
 
 The Servians endeavored to secure, while hostilities were still in 
 progress, as much of Old Servia as possible. One column, that 
 of the Javor, operated along the southern border, occupying most 
 of the important points up to Novi Varosh, while another col- 
 umn, starting from Nissa, proceeded southward, and occupied 
 Vranya and Prishtina. The Servians were, however, not very well 
 received in Old Servia, the inhabitants of which are, for the most 
 part, Bulgarians, and do not entertain very friendly feelings for the 
 Servians. A correspondent describes the manner in which the Ser- 
 vians proceeded in towns conquered by them, as follows : 
 
 " Wherever Servian troops and officials appear, the inhabitants of 
 the villages and towns are called together to be sworn in collectively 
 as Servian subjects. Their modus procedendi deserves particular at- 
 tention. As soon as a village has been taken, the Servian commander 
 orders the inhabitants to appear in the town hall. Here they are 
 received by the priest in full vestments, with the cross and the Bible 
 in his hands, who announces to them, in very few words, that the 
 Servian Prince Milan Obrenovitch IY. has set out to liberate the 
 ancestral lands of the Servians from foreign rule. All the inhabitants 
 of these lands would be from this time on citizens of Servia, enjoying 
 equal rights, and it was expected that they would be loyal subjects 
 of the Prince. They should, therefore, now take the oath of alle- 
 giance. After this ceremony had been gone through with, the priest 
 kissed all the new Servians, while the military commandant embraced 
 only the notables. The community then offered their presents, con- 
 sisting chiefly of provisions, while the commandant gave to the elder 
 a handful of ducats, which were regarded as a present of the new 
 ruler." "Widin, which had been invested by a force consisting of 
 Rumanians and Servians, surrendered on Feb. 23d. The Ottomans 
 marched out with arms and baggage before the Rumanian army, 
 which then entered the fortress. The town had suffered much from 
 the bombardment. The Christian and Rumanian inhabitants, num- 
 bering, with the fugitives from Plevna and the environs of Widin, 
 not fewer than 70,000, gave the victors an enthusiastic reception. A 
 few days before the armistice was concluded a deputation of leading 
 inhabitants begged the governor to put a stop to useless conflict. 
 
 After Suleiman Pasha had left Bulgaria with the greater part of 
 his army, the remainder gradually retreated on the one hand to Rust- 
 chuk, and on the other to Shumla. On Jan. 24th, the Czarevitch 
 finally crossed the Lorn, occupied Osman Bazar on the 27th, and
 
 376 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Rasgrad on the 28th, and then proceeded to invest Rustehuk and 
 Shumla. Rustchuk was evacuated by the Turks on February 20th. 
 Gen. Zimmennann, in the Dobrudja, after advancing as far as 
 Trajan's "Wall up to the middle of June, stopped there, and kept en- 
 tirely on the defensive, with the exception of an occasional cavalry 
 reconnoissance in the direction of Varna. On Jan. 20, 1878, after 
 a period of inactivity of over six months, he suddenly left his posi- 
 tion at Medjidie and advanced against Bazardjik, where a force of 
 about 10,000 were stationed. On the 22d, the Russian advance 
 guard engaged the Turkish outposts at Cair Harman, and occupied 
 this place. On the 26th, after a short engagement, Bazardjik itself 
 was taken. The Turkish army, composed mainly of the Egyptian 
 contingent, escaped to Yarna.
 
 A TURKISH BATTERY OVERTAKEN BY A STORM IN THE BALKANS. 

 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 MONTENEGRO AND THE GREEK PROVINCES. 
 
 Negotiations between Turkey and Montenegro broken off The Turkish Armies Operat- 
 ing against Montenegro The Montenegrin Forces Operations in the South Ali 
 Saib Repulsed Suleiman Captures Kristatch, the Duga Pass, and Relieves Nicsic 
 Incapacity of the Montenegrin Leaders Suleiman Captures Ostrok, and marches 
 through Montenegro to join Ali Saib in the South Suleiman and his Army sent 
 to Rumelia Prince Nicholas takes Nicsic and other Points in the Herzegovina 
 Cessation of Hostilities The Montenegrins Capture Spizza and Antivari Opera- 
 tions against Scutari interrupted by the Armistice Operations in the Greek Prov- 
 inces and in Crete Short participation of Greece in the War. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY upon the departure of the Montenegrin delegates 
 from Constantinople, April 13th, Prince Nicholas addressed a note 
 to the powers, in which he accused the Turks of having broken off 
 negotiations because Montenegro demanded that refugees from Her- 
 zegovina should be restored to their homes and the Kutchi prisoners 
 liberated. The Prince declared that alone, without allies, but rely- 
 ing on the abnegation of his subjects, he would, as in former times, 
 desperately defend his territory against superior forces, hoping that 
 if he were defeated, Christian Europe would save the women and 
 the. children. 
 
 At the same time the Montenegrins again began blockading Nicsic, 
 which had been regularly provisioned during the negotiations, and 
 also showed considerable activity at various other points. But the 
 Turkish army, owing to disease within its ranks, did not resume hos- 
 tilities until the beginning of June. At that time a forward move- 
 ment was made by the Turks from three different sides. On the 
 southern border, Ali Saib advanced from Spuz up the valley of the 
 Zeta with 30,000 men. In Herzegovina Suleiman Pasha was ad- 
 vancing with 10,000 men, while Mehemet Ali Pasha, who com- 
 manded the troops in Hascia, was to advance from the north-east 
 with 53,000 men. But while the latter commander was to act on 
 his own responsibility, the other two generals were to advance, the 
 one from the north and the other from the south, and after joining 
 their forces at Danilograd, proceed to conquer the country. Opposed 
 
 (379)
 
 380 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 to these forces the Montenegrins had about 25,000 men at the northern 
 end of Duga Pass. Vukovitch invested Kristatch and the fort Goran- 
 sko. Another part of the northern corps of the Montenegrins was 
 at Presyeka and Osdrenitchi and invested ISTicsic. A third part was 
 gathered around Kolashin to oppose Meheraet Ali. In the south 
 the main corps was stationed at Martinitza under the command of 
 Petrovitch. The most difficult work was that allotted to Suleiman 
 Pasha, whose main object was necessarily to relieve and provision 
 first Kristatch and Goransko, and then Nicsic, and afterward march 
 on to join Ali Saib. The distance from Nicsic to Spuz is twenty 
 miles, while the width of Montenegro on this line is but fifteen miles. 
 From the boundary to Danilograd, Suleiman Pasha had but twelve 
 miles, and Ali Saib about four miles to march, so that if the two 
 Turkish generals had once reached the boundary, they ought to have 
 met within one day, provided they did not encounter any opposition. 
 
 In the south, Ah' Saib, after a few engagements, advanced, on 
 June 6th, from Spuz against the main position of Petrovitch at 
 Martinitza, but was repulsed after a long and severe engagement, 
 and retreated to Spuz. From here he attempted, on the 7th, to 
 march up the valley of the Moratcha, and to attack Petrovitch's flank, 
 but finding him prepared, again retreated to Turkish territory. 
 Petrovitch now took the offensive, and in the following days drove 
 Ali Saib beyond Spuz, before which place he then encamped with- 
 out formally investing it. He continued, however, to bombard 
 Spuz, and to hold Ali Sail) in check until the middle of June, when 
 the events in the north made it impossible for him to retain this 
 position. 
 
 In the north, Suleiman divided his troops into two columns, and 
 marched them against Goransko and Kristatch, at the entrance to the 
 Duga Pass. At the latter point the corps of Gen. Vukovitch had 
 erected fortifications, which the Turks attacked. At first they were 
 repulsed, but afterward succeeded in forcing Gen. Yukovitch to 
 retire to his second line of defense. The engagement was very 
 sanguinary, the loss of the Turks being over 3,000 men, while that 
 of the Montenegrins was also very large. 
 
 At Goransko the Montenegrins were more successful. General 
 Sotchitza repulsed the Turks under Ali Pasha, who then retreated 
 to Muratovizza. The third Turkish column, which invaded Monte- 
 negro in the district of Vassovitch, the extreme north-eastern corner 
 of the principality, under the command of Mehemet Ali, was chiefly
 
 MONTENEGRO AND THE GREEK PROVINCES. 381 
 
 intended to harass the Montenegrins, and draw their attention from 
 the other points. 
 
 The first task of Suleiman Pasha, after dislodging the Monte- 
 negrins from Kristatch, was to relieve the garrison and provision the 
 fort of Goransko, or Piva, as the Turks call it. With a view to this, 
 he made a demonstration in the direction of Presyeka, whither the 
 Montenegrins had retired, and strengthened the column under Ali 
 Pasha, likewise making for Goransko. Thus reinforced, the column 
 advanced and provisioned the fort. *>, 
 
 Suleiman Pasha then again took up his operations against Nicsic. 
 After two days' fighting, lasting almost from morning till night, he dis- 
 lodged the Montenegrins from their positions in the Duga Pass, and 
 forced them to retire to Lakovo, toward Banyani. The Montenegrin 
 force arrayed against Nicsic also left the plain, and Prince Nicholas 
 transferred his headquarters from Planinitza, near Nicsic, back to 
 Ostrok, on the heights in Montenegrin territory. The battle was 
 very severe, and cost thousands of men on both sides. Nicsic was 
 soon after relieved. 
 
 The battle of Kristatch proved the incapacity of Gen. Yukovitch 
 as d military leader. Both armies were exhausted after the battle, 
 and that of Suleiman Pasha had no communication. The Montene- 
 grins lost no positions, and might have maintained Kristatch against 
 any further direct attack, or by following up the battle by an attack 
 in full force with the six fresh battalions received a day or two later, 
 might have forced Suleiman Pasha back on Gatchko, he being less 
 able to sustain a renewal of the struggle than the Montenegrins. 
 The interval of inaction which followed sufficiently proves this. In 
 falling back on Presyeka, Yukovitch acted under exaggerated im- 
 pressions of the strength of the Turkish force and apprehensions 
 which had no proper basis. At Presyeka he made the graver mis- 
 take of spreading his army along a thin line of four miles, the bat- 
 talions being often without any means of intercommunication or 
 supports, and concealed from one another, and in great part from their 
 commander, by dense forests, owing to which he could not follow 
 the operations. Some battalions received no orders at all. During 
 the fighting which preceded the revictualling of Nicsic, the Turkish 
 attack was concentrated on the right wing, two battalions of which, 
 after a desperate fight of two hours, partly hand-to-hand, were driven 
 in, and there being no supports, the rest of the wing was cut off and 
 obliged to fall back. For two days many of the men had no food.
 
 382 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 What made the blunder worse was that Yukovitch had decided not 
 to oppose the further advance of Suleiman Pasha before the attack 
 was made; but, instead of immediately removing his troops and 
 providing for the defense of Plauinitza, the Montenegrin General 
 waited till the Turks had entered Nicsic, when he was compelled to 
 make a circuitous march of two days to reach the Prince, while the 
 Turks, having rested two days, were in front of Planinitza, before a 
 sufficient Montenegrin force had arrived to fortify and hold it. The 
 defense of this strong position being thus impracticable, Prince 
 Nicholas fell back, followed by the Turks. 
 
 Suleiman Pasha continued to advance very slowly, the road being 
 obstinately contested by the Montenegrins. But, bravely as the 
 Montenegrin soldiers fought, the utter incapacity of their leaders lost 
 for them all the advantages gained by their bravery. It was a matter 
 of great wonder at the time that the Russians did not provide Prince 
 Nicholas with capable officers. For, although according to consular 
 reports, in the middle of June, Suleiman Pasha had 22,000 regulars 
 *and from 5,000 to 8,000 irregulars, against whom the Prince could 
 only oppose 8,000 to 10,000, and the entire Turkish forces operating 
 against Montenegro amounted to 60,000 men, the odds were no 
 greater than those against which the Montenegrins had frequently 
 successfully contended. 
 
 On June 17th, Suleiman Pasha attacked Ostrok. This place, at 
 which Prince Nicholas had taken up his headquarters, is a convent, 
 built in a spacious cavern on the side of a cliff, which rises 400 feet 
 above it. It was always the great stronghold and powder magazine 
 of the Montenegrins, and is considered nearly impregnable, having 
 been defended in 1Y68 by thirty men against 30,000 Turks. The 
 convent was burned on June 20th. The fighting continued until 
 the evening of the 21st. On the 22d, the Montenegrins remained 
 quiet, and the Turks, improving this opportunity, gathered their 
 forces on the heights between Ostrok and Gradatz. On the 23d, 
 the Turks continued their march to the south, gaining but little 
 ground, and continually harassed by Montenegrin detachments. 
 Petrovitch, on June 22d, left his positions before Spuz in order to 
 advance against Suleiman Pasha. Ali Saib, leaving his main force 
 at Spuz, sent only an advanced guard after him. On June 23d, 
 Suleiman Pasha began to descend from the heights of Ostrok into 
 the valley of Gradatz, being continually attacked even by detach- 
 ments from Petrovitch's main body. On the 24th, his advanced
 
 MONTENEGRO AND THE GREEK PROVINCES. 383 
 
 guard finally met detachments of Ali Saib's troops at Gradatz. 
 During the eight days, from June 17th to 24th, he had advanced at 
 the most nine miles, and had lost, according to his own statements, 
 631 dead and 864 wounded ; altogether, 1,495 men out of about 12,000 
 combatants. The loss of the Montenegrins is not known, but it can, 
 not have been nearly as much as that of the Turks. On the other 
 hand, it is generally believed that Suleiman Pasha lost many more 
 men than he stated, and in fact than he could have known. The 
 proposed march to Cettigne was now abandoned after the experience 
 gained, and the two Pashas gathered their troops in the plains of 
 Spuz and Podgoritza, and set to work to prepare them for embark- 
 ation at Antivari, to go to a more important seat of war. 
 
 Mehemet Ali undertook but one expedition. He sent his Bashi- 
 Bazouks into the north-eastern part of Montenegro, where they 
 devastated the country in a manner peculiar to them. 
 
 After the departure of the Turkish troops, Prince Nicholas again 
 took the offensive and invested Nicsic. On July 22d and 23d sev- 
 eral outlying works of this city were taken, and on September 8th, 
 Nicsic itself surrendered, after a Turkish corps under Hafiz Pasha, 
 which had been sent to relieve it, had been defeated. The fall of 
 Nicsic was followed by that of Presyeka on the 16th, of Bilek on 
 the 17th, and of the four forts in the Duga Pass on the 18th of 
 September. Montenegro thus came into possession of a part of 
 Herzegovina, on whose final maintenance the Montenegrins could 
 count all the more readily, as their conquests were only in the inte- 
 rior, and as Austria therefore did not raise any objections to' their 
 holding them. For over a month there was now a cessation of hos- 
 tilities, during which the Montenegrin troops were dismissed to their 
 homes for the ostensible object of gathering their crops. The few 
 regular Turkish troops which had remained behind, were stationed 
 in Northern Albania, under Ali Saib. In the beginning of Novem- 
 ber, the Montenegrins again resumed operations, stormed several of 
 the outlying works of Antivari on the 12th ; captured the fortress 
 of Spizza on the 16th; and having taken the town of Antivari 
 shortly afterward, proceeded to a siege of the citadel. It was ex- 
 pected that Ali Saib, who was at Scutari, would come to the relief 
 of the garrison, as he was ordered to do by the Sultan. But he de- 
 clared himself unable to perform this task, and the Montenegrins 
 forced a surrender of the citadel on the 10th of January. The gar- 
 rison at the time of the surrender consisted of 1,500 men under the
 
 384 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 command of Saban Bey and Selim Bey, while the civil population 
 of the town numbered 2,600. The Montenegrins found here large 
 quantities of arms and ammunition, comprising eighty barrels of 
 powder, 'fifteen large cannon, and many small arms, all of which 
 they could make good use of. As the Montenegrins were short of 
 provisions, they were forced to dismiss the prisoners, the majority 
 of whom were Albanians from the neighboring towns, to their 
 homes. On January 19th, the Montenegrins attacked the fortified 
 heights above Dulcigno, and carried them after a long and bloody 
 fight, notwithstanding the severe firing which they suffered from a 
 Turkish iron-clad in the road. One whole battalion of Turkish reg- 
 ulars were taken prisoners. The same evening the town was 
 stormed, and the garrison of the citadel, including several hundred 
 Bashi-Bazouks, being driven out, took refuge on board the fleet. 
 The Montenegrins then proceeded to invest Scutari. For this pur- 
 pose they planted batteries commanding the river Boyana, thus cutting 
 off the place from the sea, and successively occupied all the Turkish 
 inland fortresses on the Lake of Scutari. Another Montenegrin force 
 occupied the line of the Sieveno River, effecting an interruption of 
 communications between Podgoritza and Scutari. They were, how- 
 ever, prevented from proceeding any further against Scutari by the 
 conclusion of the armistice. 
 
 The Greek provinces of Turkey, comprising Thessaly, Epirus, 
 and the island of Crete, were the scene of great excitement during 
 the war of 1877-'78. In Crete the National Assembly demanded 
 reforms of the Turkish Government, which were, however, not 
 granted. The island, on the contrary, was completely blockaded by 
 the Turkish fleet, while irregular troops were stationed at various 
 points, ready to suppress any attempt at a rising. A revolutionary 
 committee had established itself in the interior of the mountains, 
 which were inaccessible to the Turkish troops, and gathered around 
 itself large numbers of the discontented inhabitants. In February, 
 1878, the revolutionary government proclaimed their annexation to 
 Greece. In Thessaly the condition of the people was a truly miser- 
 able one. Large bodies of irregular troops, together with bands of 
 robbers, plundered the country, and the Turkish authorities were rep- 
 resented as unable and unwilling to protect the population. A body 
 of insurgents under a leader named Kastakis established itself in the 
 mountains. No actions of any importance occurred, however, until 
 on February 2, 1878, the Greek army crossed the frontier. The
 
 MONTENEGRO AND THE GREEK PROVINCES. 385 
 
 action of the Greek Government in permitting this step was ex- 
 plained by the following official declaration, published on Feb. 1st : 
 
 " The Hellenic Government, moved by the sufferings in the 
 Greek provinces of Turkey, has given orders for an army of 12,000 
 men to cross the frontier to-morrow morning, and occupy Thessaly, 
 Epirus, and Macedonia, for the purpose of maintaining public order 
 and preventing massacres of Christians." 
 
 On the following morning, a corps of 10,000 Greek troops and 
 many thousand volunteers, under the command of General Soutzo, 
 crossed the frontier into Thessaly. The Turkish troops, on the ap- 
 proach of the Greek army, delivered up the keys of their barracks 
 to the Greek commander, and withdrew to Domoco. The insur- 
 gents, who co-operated with the Greeks, occupied Rendina. The 
 Turks lost no time in threatening their new adversary on his most 
 vulnerable side the sea. The Turkish fleet under Hobart Pasha 
 was ordered to the Piraeus, and the news of its approach caused a 
 great panic in the Greek capital and throughout the kingdom, more 
 especially as there were only 500 troops in Athens, and only a small 
 English gunboat in the Piraeus. The Government, however, at the 
 request of the representatives of the powers, recalled its troops soon 
 afterward. On February 14th, M. Kumunduros, the Minister Presi- 
 dent, stated in the Chamber of Deputies, that the powers, having 
 represented to Greece that if she continued her course of action 
 alone, after the armistice was signed, she would forfeit their protec- 
 tion, but if she suspended her military action, she might be assured 
 of their support, the Government thought it was their duty to recall 
 the army. This step caused much popular indignation among the 
 Greeks, which was considerably augmented when great numbers of 
 Christians from the villages in Thessaly evacuated by the Hellenic 
 troops sought refuge in Greece, in consequence of the murders and 
 savage aggression which were committed by the Bashi-Bazouks. 
 The insurrection continued after the withdrawal of the Greek troops,, 
 although no actions of any importance occurred.
 
 CHAPTEK XI. 
 
 NAVAL OPERATIONS. 
 
 Russian Fleet on the Black Sea Russian Fortifications on the Black Sea Expedition of 
 the " Constantine " Destruction of Turkish vessels Expedition to the mouths of 
 the Danube Capture of a Turkish Mail Steamer with a valuable cargo Torpedoes 
 Their use in the present War. 
 
 AT the beginning of the war the Russian forces in the Black Sea 
 consisted of two monitors, called " Popoffkas," four medium- 
 sized screw corvettes, twelve smaller steamers, and an unknown 
 number of smaller vessels for transport and packet service. As will 
 be seen from this statement, Russia did not have a single man-of-war 
 on the Black Sea, her whole force in its waters being intended for 
 defensive purposes only. The twelve steamers mentioned above had 
 been bought from the Russian Society for steam navigation and 
 commerce, and with the exception of three, which had been built 
 recently, were all old vessels. The schooners and packet boats, 
 among which was included the Imperial pleasure yacht " Livadia," 
 were small screw steamers of wood or iron, carrying two four- 
 pounders each. These vessels were not formed into squadrons; 
 they were assigned to duty more with a view of aiding the local 
 coast defense. The most important points of this are the fortifica- 
 tions in the bay of Kherson, consisting of the two opposite forts of 
 Oksakoff and Kieburn. Between Oksakoff and Odessa, the coast is 
 inaccessible ; from the latter point to Akkerman, it is defended by 
 strong fortifications, while the shore is lined with torpedoes. The 
 weakest point between Nikolayeff and Odessa is the peninsula of 
 Perekop, where there is an old wall which was erected by the Tar- 
 tars, at the time of their rule over the Crimea, and which greatly 
 resembles Trajan's Wall in the Dobrudja. It was formerly used as 
 a defense against invasions, and at the beginning of the war of 1877" 
 was again intended to serve this purpose. The entire south side of 
 the Crimea is strongly fortified ; earthworks have been erected at 
 
 Sebastopol. Temporary fortifications have also been erected at 
 (386)
 
 NAVAL OPERATIONS. 387 
 
 Sudak, near Feodosia. The entrance to the Sea of Asov is closed by 
 the works of Kertch, which consist of the batteries of Yeni Kaleh, 
 and the forts on the western point of the opposite peninsula of 
 Taraan. 
 
 The activity of the Russian fleet on the Black Sea gave proof of 
 great daring and bravery on the part of the Russian seamen. Even 
 the first undertaking showed that they were not willing to relin- 
 quish all aggressive movements and to confine themselves to a defense 
 of the coast. On the evening of May 12th, the steamer " Constan- 
 tine " left Sebastopol for Batum ; after having proceeded for some 
 distance, it stopped, and sent out four torpedo-boats, which suc- 
 ceeded in applying a torpedo under a Turkish frigate. The tor- 
 pedo did not ignite, and the alarm which was given compelled the 
 Russian boats to seek safety in flight. On the morning of the 15th, 
 the "Constantine" arrived with two of the torpedo-boats in Sebastopol, 
 while the two others succeeded in reaching the harbor of Poti. An en- 
 gagement which the Russian steamer " Yesta " had with a Turkish 
 iron-clad at Kustendje on July 23d, resulted less fortunately for the 
 Russians. The engagement lasted five hours, during which the rud- 
 der of the " Yesta " was destroyed, while she received two damaging 
 holes in the hull. It was owing only to the fact that a Russian bomb 
 exploded in the turret of the monitor, that the latter desisted from 
 continuing the engagement, and that the Russian steamer could re- 
 turn to Sebastopol. On July 21st, the steamer "Argonaut" had 
 reconnoitered the Kilia mouth of the Danube, and had encountered 
 three Turkish iron-clads and ten merchantmen. A short engage- 
 ment ensued, and in the evening the " Argonaut " returned safely to 
 Oksakoff. 
 
 The expeditions undertaken by the steamers " Elborus " and " Con- 
 stantine," from July 30th to August 4th, were of greater importance 
 than the previous expeditions, as showing the assurance with which 
 the Russians went to work in these undertakings. The " Elborus " re- 
 turned from a cruise to the coasts of Rumelia and Anatolia after 
 having sunk a Turkish brig. The " Constantine " had, in the night 
 from August 3d to 4th, advanced as far as the entrance of the Bos- 
 porus, and at Kilia, near the European side of the strait, blew up 
 by means of torpedoes a Turkish sailing vessel laden with grain, and 
 destroyed three other Turkish vessels carrying petroleum. On August 
 8th, a flotilla consisting of five larger vessels and four torpedo -sloops 
 set out from Odessa under the protection of the two Popoft'kas, the
 
 388 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 steamer " Vladimir," and two torpedo-cutters, to which were after- 
 ward added the steamers " Elborus " and " Argonaut " and the yacht 
 " Livadia," and after a successful voyage, reached the Kilia mouth of 
 the Danube, which it entered under the very eyes of a fleet of Turk- 
 ish iron-clads stationed at the Sulina mouth. The object of this 
 successful expedition was to reinforce the Russian fleet in the Lower 
 Danube, and to supply it with the material for torpedoes. 
 
 On October 8th, another Russian flotilla, consisting of floating 
 batteries and armored gun-boats, attacked the Turkish men-of-war 
 lying before Sulina, and not only forced the entrance into the 
 Danube, but also compelled the Turkish vessels to retreat to Yarna, 
 where Hassan Pasha was stationed with several iron-clads. 
 
 The only other action of importance on the Black Sea was the 
 capture of the mail-steamer " Mersine " by two Russian vessels. The 
 " Mersine," which is described as a fine ship, and which had been 
 but newly repaired, had on board a very valuable cargo, a large 
 quantity of silver ore, on its way to the mint at Constantinople. 
 There were also on board all the private papers and effects of Mukh- 
 tar Pasha ; all the Government dispatches and orders which had 
 been received from time to time, and it was by the merest chance 
 that Mukhtar himself was not on the vessel. Beyond an occasional 
 bombardment of Russian towns on the Black Sea by Hobart Pasha's 
 squadron, nothing of any importance occurred up to the conclusion 
 of the armistice. 
 
 The Russians had a powerful weapon for their naval operations 
 in the torpedoes which they employed. These instruments, as used 
 in naval warfare, are of two kinds, stationary or defensive, and lo- 
 comotive or offensive. The stationary torpedoes are sunk and 
 arranged so as to keep at a fixed distance below the surface of the 
 water. They are usually ignited by electric action. They were used 
 by the Russians to great advantage during the Crimean war, while 
 during the present war, it was said that the shores of the Black Sea 
 were lined with them. The knowledge of which fact was probably 
 the cause of the reluctance of the Porte to countenance the project 
 of attacking the Russian towns on the Black Sea, which Hobart 
 Pasha is understood to have urged. 
 
 While the stationary torpedo was not called into use during the war 
 of 1877 to 1878, tb.3 locomotive torpeao played a prominent part. 
 The Turkish monitor destroyed on the Danube was attacked by tor- 
 peio-boats, while an unsuccessful attempt against other Turkish ves-
 
 RUSSIAN TORPEDO BOATS ENGAGING THE BATTERIES NEAR SILISTRIA.
 
 NAVAL OPERATIONS. 
 
 391 
 
 sels was made by a boat carrying a torpedo affixed to a long pole. 
 At the extremity of the pole is fixed a metal case, made water-tight, 
 containing a sufficient charge of gunpowder or other explosive, while 
 from a battery on board electric wires are stretched along the pole to 
 the fuse of the machine. At the right moment the pole is launched 
 forward, and at the same time thrust beneath the water. Upon the 
 torpedo's touching the object, the operator in the boat presses down 
 the key, the electric circuit is closed, and the charge exploded. 
 
 Various methods to protect vessels from torpedoes have been 
 tried. Hobart Pasha surrounded his vessels off the mouth of the 
 river Danube with a circle of boats and connecting -chains, and 
 thereby secured them against a resolute attack. Crinoline frames 
 have also been use<3, by which the locomotive torpedo is arrested 
 before striking the vessel, while English authorities recommend a 
 flexible wire matting, which, yielding when struck, checks gradually 
 and not suddenly the force of the explosive engine. 
 
 The " fish," or " Whitehead torpedo," invented only recently by 
 Mr. Whitehead, an English gentleman, is a cigar-shaped hull of iron 
 or steel, containing a powerful charge, and a small locomotive engine 
 worked by compressed air. When used, it is thrust out through a 
 tube from the ship's side, and the engine being set in motion, it 
 proceeds for several hundred yards beneath the surface, at a speed 
 said to be as high as twenty miles an hour, till it strikes the vessel 
 aimed at, when it explodes by concussion. These torpedoes have 
 given eminent satisfaction, and a number of them were ordered by 
 the Russians.
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE WAB. 
 
 How the Declaration of War was received in Europe England and Austria Correspond- 
 ence between the British and Russian Governments Mr. Gladstone's Resolutions 
 The British Fleet in Besika Bay The Vote of Credit in the British Parliament- 
 Agitations in Austria-Hungary The War Feeling in Servia Prince Milan's Visit to 
 the Czar The Excitement in Greece The Mouths of the Danube The Salonica 
 Murderers. 
 
 THE declaration of war intensified the anxiety which prevailed 
 throughout Europe. The efforts which the powers had strenuously 
 made during the past two years to preserve peace and prevent a 
 rising of the Eastern Question, were defeated ; and this dreaded 
 question, with all of its contingencies and unknown perils, was again 
 before the world, and would have to be met without evasion. A 
 course of events was begun, of which no statesmanship could see 
 the end, and which no power, perhaps not even all the nations com- 
 bined, would be able to control. Of all the powers, Austria and 
 England were most concerned ; for they foresaw that in case of 
 Russian victory, which all agreed must be the possible ending of the 
 war, interests which they held near and precious would be put in 
 doubt, and harm would ultimately come to the integrity of their 
 dominions or to their prestige ; and the greatest uneasiness prevailed 
 in these countries, both in government circles and among the people, 
 during the whole course of the war, despite the official proclamations 
 of neutrality which were promptly issued, and despite the often- 
 repeated declarations of their ministers of adhesion to the attitude of 
 neutrality which they had assumed in the beginning. These decla- 
 rations, however, were never absolute, but were always qualified by 
 the reservation that the policy of neutrality would be observed only 
 as long as British or Austrian interests were not endangered ; and 
 they received a curious commentary in the movements which were 
 quietly instituted under the eye of the Government, in England at 
 least, looking to preparation to be ready for action when the time 
 (392)
 
 DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE WAR. 
 
 393 
 
 for decision should come. In Austria, the Hungarian party, and in 
 England, the extreme wing of the Conservative party, urged active 
 demonstrations against the Turks; and their efforts were barely 
 kept in check by the more prudent policy of the Yiennese Cabinet 
 and the sturdy opposition of the English Liberals to every act which 
 could bear the appearance of favoring the continuance of Turkish 
 oppression of Christian peoples. 
 
 The first expression of the British Government upon the questions 
 at issue after the declaration of war was given in a communication 
 of Earl Derby, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to Lord 
 Loftus, British Ambassador at St. Petersburg, communicating the 
 reply of the Government to the Russian circular announcing the 
 commencement of hostilities. The dispatch stated that her Maj- 
 esty's Government had received the announcement made by the 
 Russian Government with deep regret, and could not accept the 
 statements and conclusions with which Prince Gortchakoff had ac- 
 companied it, as justifying the resolutions taken. " The protocol," 
 the dispatch continued, " to which her Majesty's Government, at 
 the instance of that of Russia, recently became parties, required 
 from the Sultan no fresh guarantees for the reform of his adminis- 
 tration. With a view of enabling Russia the better to abstain from 
 isolated action, it affirmed the interest taken in common by the 
 powers in the condition of the Christian populations of Turkey. It 
 went on to declare that the powers would watch carefully the 
 manner in which the promises of the Ottoman Government were 
 carried into effect ; and that should their hopes be once more disap- 
 pointed, they reserved to themselves the right to consider in com- 
 mon the means which they might deem best fitted to secure the 
 well-being of thq Christian populations and the interests of the 
 general peace. 
 
 " To these declarations of the intentions of the powers, the consent 
 of the Porte was not asked or required. The Porte, no doubt, has 
 thought fit unfortunately, in the opinion of her Majesty's Gov- 
 ernment to protest against the expressions in question as implying 
 an encroachment on the Sultan's sovereignty and independence. 
 But while so doing, and while declaring that they can not consider 
 the protocol as having any binding character on Turkey, the Turk- 
 ish Government have again affirmed their intention of carrying into 
 execution the reforms already promised. 
 
 " Her Majesty's Government can not therefore admit, as is con-
 
 394 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 tended by Prince Gortchakoff, that the answer of the Porte removed 
 all hope of deference on its part to the wishes and advice of Europe, 
 and all security for the application of the suggested reforms. Nor 
 are they of opinion that the terms of the note necessarily precluded 
 the possibility of the conclusion of peace with Montenegro, or of 
 the arrangement of mutual disarmament. Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment still believes that, with patience and moderation on both sides, 
 these objects might not have improbably been attained. 
 
 "Prince Gortchakoff, however, asserts that all opening is now 
 closed for attempts at conciliation ; that the Emperor has resolved 
 to undertake the task of obtaining, by coercion, that which the 
 unanimous efforts of all the powers have failed to obtain from the 
 Porte by persuasion ; and he expresses his Imperial Majesty's con- 
 viction that this step is in accordance with the sentiments and in- 
 terests of Europe. 
 
 " It can not be expected that her Majesty's Government should 
 agree in this view. .They have not concealed their feeling that the 
 presence of large Kussiau forces on the frontiers of Turkey, menac- 
 ing its safety, rendering disarmament impossible, and exciting a 
 feeling of apprehension and fanaticism among the Mussulman popu- 
 lation, constituted a material obstacle to internal pacification and 
 reform. They can not believe that the entrance of those armies on 
 Turkish soil will alleviate the difficulty or improve the condition of 
 the Christian population throughout the Sultan's dominions. 
 
 " But the course on which the Russian Government has entered 
 involves graver and more serious considerations. It is in contra- 
 vention of the stipulation of the Treaty of Paris of March 30, 
 1856, by which Russia and the other signatory powers engaged, 
 each on its own part, to respect the independence and the territorial 
 integrity of the Ottoman Empire. In the Conference of London of 
 1871, at the close of which the above stipulation, with others, was 
 again confirmed, the Russian Plenipotentiary, in common with 
 those of the other powers, signed a declaration, affirming it to be 
 ' an essential principle of the law of nations that no power can 
 liberate itself from the engagements of a treaty, nor modify the 
 stipulations thereof, unless with the consent of the contracting par- 
 ties by means of an amicable arrangement.' 
 
 " In taking action against Turkey on his own part, and having 
 recourse to arms without further consultation with his allies, the 
 Emperor of Russia has separated himself from the European coil-
 
 DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE WAR. 395 
 
 cert hitherto maintained, and has at the same time departed from 
 the rule to which he himself had solemnly recorded his consent. 
 
 " It is impossible to foresee the consequences of such an act. Her 
 Majesty's Government would willingly have refrained from making 
 any observations in regard to it ; but, as Prince Gortchakoff seems 
 to assume, in a declaration addressed to all the Governments of Eu- 
 rope, that Russia is acting in the interest of Great Britain and that 
 of the other powers, they feel bound to state, in a manner equally 
 formal and public, that the decision of the Russian Government is 
 not one which can have their concurrence or approval." 
 
 To this note the Russian Government made no formal reply ; but 
 a statement was published by the Russian news agency, which was 
 considered as its informal reply. This dispatch remarked that there 
 would be no Russian rejoinder, for " to send one would be to carry 
 on a controversy, when it was a question of making history." En- 
 gland's apprehensions of future complications were, so far as Russia 
 was concerned, utterly unfounded ; but the powers which seriously 
 desired to re-establish an understanding and a guarantee of general 
 peace must seek a new basis more in conformity with circumstances, 
 without further dwelling on mistaken views of past results, which 
 are the best refutation of the English dispatch. 
 
 As respects the Treaty of 1871, appealed to in this dispatch, it 
 might be asked if the Porte was not the first to break the engage- 
 ment of the preceding Treaty of 1856. If the English Cabinet 
 maintained that the Porte was not bound by it, then that treaty would 
 only have served to guarantee the Porte's entire impunity. All the 
 documents of that period proved, on the contrary, that the Christian 
 powers did not mean to defend a regime oppressive for Christians. 
 They simply decided against the exclusive protection of Russia. 
 They substituted for it the common protection of Europe. The 
 rights and duties attaching thereto they have often exercised. 
 
 The article cited instances of intervention which had taken place 
 since the treaty went into effect, such as the Andrassy note, the 
 Berlin memorandum, and others, and added : 
 
 " Results have proved that these platonic interventions led to 
 nothing. If the English Cabinet regards the Treaty of 1856 as 
 important, that interpretation will hardly be accepted by Europe, 
 or even by the English nation, especially not by the Russian Gov- 
 ernment or nation. In the interest of this treaty the common 
 action and pressure of Europe should have been exerted. Russia
 
 396 THE WAR IN THE EAST, 
 
 has done everything for this purpose. Her efforts were fruitless. 
 It only remained for Russia to execute alone the duty which the 
 other cabinets, agreeing with her in principle, hesitated to assume 
 in practice. The Imperial Cabinet is justified in affirming that it 
 is acting in conformity with the sentiments and interests of Europe. 
 The English Cabinet can not extricate itself from this dilemma 
 
 ZD 
 
 except by proclaiming that England is the first Mussulman power 
 in the world, and that she consequently wishes for the maintenance 
 of Turkish dominion over Christians, even at the cost of their exter- 
 mination. We hold the English nation in too great esteem to be- 
 lieve it would sanction such a policy." 
 
 On the 6th of May Earl Derby addressed to Count Shuvaloff, 
 the Russian Ambassador, who was about leaving for St. Petersburg, 
 a note on the position of England toward the belligerents. After 
 stating that the British Government had from the first warned the 
 Turkish Government that it must not look to them for assistance, 
 and that they were determined to carry impartially into effect the 
 policy thus announced, so long as Turkish interests alone were in- 
 volved, the note continued : 
 
 ft Should the war now in progress unfortunately spread, interests 
 may be imperilled which they (the British Government) are equally 
 bound and determined to defend ; and it is desirable that they should 
 make it clear, as far as at the outset can be done, what the most 
 prominent of those interests are. Foremost among them is the 
 necessity of keeping open, uninjured and uninterrupted, the com- 
 munication between Europe and the East by the Suez Canal. An 
 attempt to blockade or otherwise to interfere with the canal or its 
 approaches, would be regarded by them as a menace to India, and 
 as a grave injury to the commerce of the world. On both these 
 grounds any such step which they hope and fully believe there is 
 no intention on the part of either belligerent to take would be 
 inconsistent with the maintenance by them of passive neutrality." 
 
 Speaking of the ultimate fate of Constantinople, the note con- 
 tinued : 
 
 " The vast importance of Constantinople, whether in a military, 
 a political, or commercial point of view, is too well understood to 
 require explanation. It is, therefore, scarcely necessary to point out 
 that her Majesty's Government are not prepared to witness with 
 indifference the passing into other hands than those of its present 
 possessors, of a capital holding so peculiar and important a position.
 
 DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE WAR. 397 
 
 The existing arrangements made under European sanction, which 
 regulate the navigation of the Bosporus and Dardanelles, appear 
 to them wise and salutary, and there would be, in their judgment, 
 serious objections to their alteration in any material particular." 
 
 Other points were referred to in the note as involving interests 
 which the course of the war might show it to be necessary to pro- 
 tect, the principal of which was the Persian Gulf. These state- 
 ments were intended to indicate the limits within which the British 
 Government hoped that the war might be restrained, or, at least, 
 the limits which, so far as the present circumstances would per- 
 mit the formation of a definite opinion, would confine its policy ot 
 abstention and neutrality. 
 
 The Russian Government replied to this note May 18th, express- 
 ing an appreciation of the " frankness of explanations the object 
 of which was to clear up the misunderstandings between the two 
 Governments," and continuing with an exposition, " in the same 
 frankness and with the same clearness," of its own views, both 
 upon the points mentioned by Lord Derby, and upon those which 
 touched the interests which the Czar on his side considered it his 
 duty to protect. On the points named in Earl Derby's dispatch, 
 the note said : " The Imperial Cabinet will neither blockade, nor 
 interrupt, nor in any way menace the navigation of the Suez Canal. 
 I consider the canal an international work, important to the com- 
 merce of the whole world, which should remain free from every 
 attack. Egypt is a part of the Ottoman Empire, and its contingents 
 figure in the Turkish army. Russia might, therefore, consider her- 
 self as at war with Egypt. Nevertheless, the Imperial Cabinet does 
 not overlook either the European interests engaged in the country, 
 or those of England in particular. They will not bring Egypt 
 within the radius of her operations. As far as concerns Constan- 
 tinople, without being able to prejudge the course or issue of the 
 war, the Imperial Cabinet repeats that the acquisition of that capi- 
 tal is excluded from the views of his Majesty the Emperor. They 
 recognize that in any case the future of Constantinople is a question 
 of common interest, which can not be settled otherwise than by a 
 general understanding, and that if the possession of that city were 
 to be put in question, it could not be allowed to belong to any of 
 the European powers. As regards the Straits, although their two 
 shores belong to the same sovereign, they form the only outlet of 
 two great seas, in v.'hich all the world has interests. It is, therefore,
 
 398 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 important, in the interests of peace and of the general balance of 
 power, that this question should be settled by a common agreement 
 on equitable and efficiently guaranteed bases." As to British inter- 
 ests in the Persian Gulf and the route to India, the Imperial Gov- 
 ernment declared that it would not extend the war further than was 
 required by the clearly declared purpose for which the Emperor had 
 been obliged to take up arms, and would regard British interests so 
 long as England should remain neutral. It expected, in turn, that 
 the English Government would equally regard the interests which 
 Russia sought to promote in the war, and for which it was making 
 great sacrifices ; which interests involved the necessity of putting 
 an end to the deplorable condition of the Christians under Turkish 
 rule, and to the periodical crises which it provoked. This object 
 could not be attained till the Christian populations of Turkey are 
 placed in a situation in which their existence and their security shall 
 be effectively guaranteed against the intolerable abuses of the Turk- 
 ish administration. This interest, vital for Russia, was in contradic- 
 tion to none of the interests of Europe, which suffered, in its turn, 
 from the precarious condition of the East. The Imperial Cabinet 
 had desired to pursue its object with the concurrence of the powers ; 
 but, obliged to pursue it alone, his Imperial Majesty was resolved 
 not to lay down arms till he had completely, securely, effectively 
 realized it. 
 
 On the 30th of April Mr. Gladstone gave notice in the House of 
 Commons of the introduction of five resolutions recording the dis- 
 satisfaction of the House at the conduct of the Ottoman Govern- 
 ment regarding the dispatch of the British Government on the 
 Bulgarian atrocities ; declaring that until such conduct should be 
 essentially changed and substantial guarantees for future good 
 government given, the Porte would have lost all claim to the moral 
 and material support of the British Crown ; advising that British 
 influence be used to secure local liberties and practical self-govern- 
 ment for the disturbed provinces, so as to secure them from op- 
 pression without imposing on them any other foreign dominion ; 
 advising that it should also be addressed to promoting the concert of 
 the European Powers in exacting from the Porte, by their united 
 authority, such changes as might be effectual for the purposes of 
 humanity, for defense against intrigue, and for securing the peace of 
 Europe ; and asking that an address to the crown embodying the 
 substance of the resolutions might be prepared and presented. The
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA.
 
 GLADSTONE.
 
 DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE WAR. 401 
 
 debate on 4he resolutions began on the 7th of May, and was con- 
 tinued during the week till the 14th, when the first one was rejected 
 by a vote of 354 to 223, after which the others were withdrawn. 
 Mr. Gladstone failed to receive the full support of his Liberal col- 
 leagues on this occasion, a meeting of the Liberal members having 
 resolved that in view of the overshadowing importance of British 
 interests in the East, it would not be advisable to go as far in their 
 declarations of hostility to Turkey as he would have them. He 
 was, nevertheless, supported by an influential portion of the press, 
 and had a large and devoted following among the people. Among 
 others who gave expressions of their sympathy with his views, was 
 the brilliant historian and pamphleteer, Thomas Carlyle, who said 
 in a letter published in the London Times : 
 
 "As to 'British interests,' there is none visible or conceivable to 
 me, except taking strict charge of our route to India by the Suez 
 and Egypt ; and, for the rest, resolutely steering- altogether clear of 
 any copartnery with the Turk in regard to this or any other ' Brit- 
 ish interest ' whatever. It should be felt by England as a real 
 ignominy to be connected with such a Turk at all. Nay, if we 
 still had, as, in fact, all ought to have, a wish to save him from per- 
 dition and annihilation in God's world, the one future for him that 
 has any hope in it is even now that of being conquered by the 
 Russians and gradually schooled and drilled into a peaceable attempt 
 at learning to be himself governed. The newspaper outcry against 
 Russia is no more respectable to me than the howling of Bedlam, 
 proceeding, as it does, from the deepest ignorance, egotism, and 
 paltry national jealousy." 
 
 The British Mediterranean squadron returned to Besika Bay on 
 the 3d of July ; after an absence from that port of about six months. 
 This station, which has been frequently mentioned in connection 
 with the later transactions of Great Britain with the Porte, is a 
 small bay in the coast of Asia Minor nearly opposite the island of 
 Tenedos, and under the plains of the Troad. It is very near the 
 entrance to the Dardanelles, and is the nearest harbor to Constanti- 
 nople which an armed vessel can approach without entering the 
 straits and thereby violating the Treaty of Paris. The fleet had 
 been ordered to the Bay in 1876, and kept there for several montha 
 during the hostile operations of the year, for the purpose, as was 
 generally believed at the time, of signifying to the Czar that he 
 would have to count with England in case of any aggression upon' 
 
 21
 
 402 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the Sultan's rights or, as was stated by Earl Derby some time 
 afterward, to protect the Europeans and the native Christians of 
 Constantinople in case of any outbreak of Mussulman fanaticism. 
 When Lord Salisbury arrived at Constantinople at the time of the 
 conference, in December, 1876, he found that the Turks were pos- 
 sessed with a fixed idea that, do what they might, England 
 Would never allow them to be attacked ; and the fleet was 
 withdrawn at that time, and transferred to the Piraeus (the 
 harbor of Athens) at his request, not so much, as it was said, 
 to mark the displeasure of the British Government at the 
 obstinacy of the Turks, as to convey to them, by unmistakable signs, 
 that they had nothing to expect from England in case they should 
 be involved in a war with Kussia. The return of the fleet at this 
 time was regarded as designed to convey an intimation to Russia that 
 England would not quietly see it proceed too far in its aggressions. 
 Considerable reinforcements were sent to the squadron during the 
 following weeks, while large numbers of troops were concentrated at 
 Malta, and the impression grew that England was preparing to take 
 a part in the war. In the face of these active preparations the 
 ministers declared in both Houses of Parliament that their intentions 
 were still peaceful, and stated that the fleet had been ordered to re- 
 turn to Besika Bay for convenience of communication with the 
 Government at home, and the Ambassador at Constantinople, and in 
 no way with the intention of making a menace, and that the move- 
 ments of troops had been ordered simply because it had been found 
 desirable, in view of the disturbed condition of Europe, to bring up 
 the garrisons in the Mediterranean to their full strength. On the 
 10th of August, just before the prorogation of Parliament, the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer declined to say whether the Govern- 
 ment would regard the temporary occupation of Constantinople by 
 the Russians as so far inconsistent with British interests as to dis- 
 turb the friendly relations of Great Britain with Russia. On the 
 next day, in reply to a request made by Mr. Fawcett for a pledge 
 from the Government, that if during the recess, they felt it neces- 
 sary to depart from their attitude of neutrality, they would call 
 Parliament together before taking any decisive step, the Chancellor 
 said that the Government were fully aware of their constitutional 
 obligations, and determined to act up to them. 
 
 The new session of Parliament for 1878 was called to meet on the 
 17th of January, three weeks before the usual time of opening the
 
 DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE WAR. 
 
 403 
 
 session. Russian success had become an established fact, and the 
 friends of Turkey were known to be in great anxiety. Speculation 
 was rife concerning the objects of the Ministry in hastening the ses- 
 sion, and apprehensions were expressed by many members of the 
 anti-Turkish party that they would commit the country to some act 
 that would compromise it with Russia, and ask Parliament, in the 
 hoat of the temporary excitement, to sanction it. The Queen stated 
 in her speech that, in view of the successes of the Russian arms in 
 Europe and Asia, the Turkish Government had sought her friendly 
 offices in the interests of peace ; that she had exercised them ; that 
 through them communications had taken place between the Govern- 
 ments of Russia and Turkey, and that a favorable conclusion was 
 hoped for. Nevertheless, should hostilities unfortunately be pro- 
 longed, some unexpected occurrence might render it necessary for 
 the Government to adopt measures of precaution, and the liberality 
 of Parliament was appealed to, to supply the means which might be 
 required for that purpose. The Ministry asked a supplemental vote 
 of credit of 6,000,000 for military and naval services. The meas- 
 ure was opposed by a fraction of the Liberals, but the rapid advance 
 of the Russians toward Constantinople had had the effect of consol- 
 idating the public opinion of the country in favor of giving the 
 Government a firm support, and placing it in a position to assume 
 a vigorous attitude, if necessary, and the vote was passed in the 
 House of Commons on the 8th of February, by the decisive vote of 
 328 to 124. 
 
 A Ministerial Council, held at;, Constantinople on the 10th of 
 June, to consider the case of the Suez Canal, decided not to con- 
 sider it as wholly neutral, but to reserve a full right over this part 
 of the territory of the Empire not less than over any other, and par- 
 ticularly the right of preventing Russian ships from using the arti- 
 ficial water-way. It agreed, however, by stationing a naval force 
 at the entrance of the canal, to insure the freedom of navigation, 
 and prevent the canal from becoming the theater of any conflict. 
 
 The declarations of the Austro-Hungarian Government were 
 more reserved than those of Great Britain. It seemed to be acting 
 under hesitating councils, and to be watching the course of events 
 before deciding what position to assume. The Ministers made iden- 
 tical replies *- interpellations in both, the Chambers at Yienna and 
 Pesth, on the 4th of May, to the effect that the Government was 
 not tied by any kind of engagement, but had reserved the fullest
 
 404 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 freedom, of action, and that "Austria-Hungary maintains an atti- 
 tude of benevolent interest in the Christian subjects of the Porte, 
 and, while observing strict neutrality, reserves the right to protect 
 its own interests, or intervene with efforts for the cessation or local- 
 izing of the conflict. The Ministers recognize the Empire's intimate 
 connection with, and interest in, the affairs of European Turkey, but 
 deem a resort to warlike measures for their protection unnecessary, 
 in view of the attitude of the other powers and the cordial support 
 the Government can command from the representatives of the 
 people whenever action becomes necessary." The Slavic and Mag- 
 yar populations, however, gave full expression to their sympathies 
 the former for Russia and the latter for Turkey and the Empire 
 was kept in a state of agitation during the whole period of the con- 
 tinuance of hostilities. The Magyars sought, by interpellations in 
 the Chambers, to commit the Government, and by pamphlets and 
 speeches to commit the people, to an attitude of definite hostility to 
 Russia. The Croats, on the other hand, took advantage of a visit 
 of the Archduke Albert to Agram, in May, to make a demonstra- 
 tion of sympathy with Russia, and the Czechic National Party in 
 Bohemia entered into communication with the Pan-Slavists ; but 
 their enthusiasm was unexpectedly dampened when Aksakoff, the 
 Pan-Slavic leader, invited them to leave the Roman Catholic and 
 unite with the Greek Church. After this, the Archbishop of 
 Prague forbade the clergy participating in the Slavic demonstra- 
 tions. 
 
 The influence of the Austrian Government upon the course of 
 Russia was again perceived when, just after the Russian troops had 
 crossed the Danube, the Czar declined to accept the active assist- 
 ance of Rumania. On the 26th of June, Mr. Tisza, President of 
 the Hungarian Council, had declared that the monarchy was 
 resolved not to tolerate the seizure of a neighboring territory by a 
 foreign power, and had answered attacks which had been made 
 upon the Government by stating that the army was completely 
 equipped and ready to undertake a campaign, and that the Govern- 
 ment could, for that reason, calmly and securely look events in the 
 face, knowing that it was at liberty to act according to its judg- 
 ment, and prepared to act as soon as occasion should arise. One 
 month later, the fact was learned that Russia had accepted the co- 
 operation of the Rumanian troops ; the introduction of a Russian 
 civil administration into Bulgaria was held to signify an intention
 
 DIPLOMA TIC HISTOR Y OF THE WAR. 405 
 
 to occupy the province permanently ; and rumors began to prevail 
 that Servia would after all enter the contest. A Cabinet Council 
 was held at Yienna, at which the subjects of mobilizing several 
 divisions of the army, and of occupying Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
 were discussed. No resolution was taken, but Count Andrassy was 
 invested with full powers. A few days afterward, the Emperors of 
 Austria and Germany met in consultation at Ischl. The interview 
 was said to have been one of formalities and courtesies, in which a 
 few questions respecting the trade relations of the two countries 
 were spoken of, but nothing of importance was said concerning the 
 Eastern Question ; but it was followed by a marked change in the 
 tone of the Austrian journals a sudden subsidence of the excite- 
 ment tinder which they had discussed the events of the day. The 
 time and circumstances of the interview, and the quiet in Austria 
 which followed it, all gave color to the impression which pre- 
 vailed, that a concert existed between Austria and Germany an 
 impression which was confirmed by events which happened later. 
 The semi-official papers of Berlin and Yieuna professed to regard 
 the interview as a demonstration of the continued existence of the 
 alliance of the three Emperors. 
 
 Servia had just come out from a disastrous war with Turkey, at 
 the conclusion of which it had secured terms of peace, which were, 
 considering the relative situation of the belligerents, unexampled in 
 their liberality. A sense of propriety and prudence, under these cir- 
 cumstances, should have counseled the observance of a scrupulous 
 neutrality ; but the same party which had forced the principality 
 into a war in 1876, began its agitations as soon as the Russian decla- 
 ration of war was issued, to plunge it into the new struggle. Sim- 
 ilar measures of pressure were brought to bear to those which were 
 applied successfully in 1876. Bills were posted on the walls of 
 Belgrade threatening Prince Milan with dethronement if he did not 
 renew hostilities. The Government was forced, in view of this 
 pressure, as well as by the possibility that a contingency might 
 arise which would make some action necessary, to adopt measures 
 of precaution and preparation. Still, the Ministers insisted that 
 their intention was to preserve peace. Servia was fortunately pre- 
 vented, by influences other than those originating within its own 
 borders influences which even its war-party could not ignore 
 from participating in the war at this stage. 
 
 In the latter part of May, the intention of Prince Milan was
 
 406 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 made known to seek an interview with the Czar. The news caused 
 profound dissatisfaction in the Cabinet at Vienna, which objected, 
 for reasons connected with the internal peace of the Empire, to 
 Servia taking any part in the war. The feelings of the Austrian 
 Government were promptly communicated to the Czar and Prince 
 Milan. There were sufficient obstacles of etiquette in the way of 
 the Prince's making the proposed visit before the objections of 
 Austria were made known ; these added to them. In the first place, 
 it was difficult for a vassal of the Sultan to visit the armed enemy 
 of the latter without giving offense to his suzerain ; in the second 
 place, the Prince, who could by no means claim an equality or even 
 an approach to it, in rank with the Czar, could not visit him with- 
 out having first gained his permission, and this proved not easily 
 obtained. These difficulties were, however, removed by skillful 
 diplomacy, and on the 12th of June the Servian Premier announced 
 to the agents of the Foreign Powers at Belgrade that the Prince, 
 with three of his generals, would visit the Czar at Ployeshti, explain- 
 ing also that his Highness had notified the Porte of his intended 
 step in such a way as it was hoped would prevent any misunder- 
 standing or irritation. At the same time that the Prince received 
 permission to visit the Czar, the announcement was made that 
 Russia had intimated, far more positively than it had done before, 
 that it was its will that Servia should keep aloof from the war. The 
 visit of Milan was made the means of removing any doubts which 
 Servia might still have had of what was expected of it. The Prince 
 was received kindly, although the interview was confined, so far as 
 the world has learned, to formalities, and he returned to Servia 
 apparently well satisfied. At the opening of the Skupstchina, on 
 the 1st day of July, he expressed the belief that the sacrifices made 
 by Servia in the war against Turkey had not been in vain. When, 
 after consulting with the great national Skupstchina, he had con- 
 cluded a peace with the Porte, he had told his people that the care 
 of the Christians of the East was now in more vigorous hands than 
 those of Servia, and the war could be interrupted without peril to 
 the cause which had drawn the country into it. Events had quickly 
 confirmed his words, and the victorious standards of the Czar- 
 liberator, at the head of his heroic army, were waving not far from 
 the boundary. During his visit to Ployeshti, he had received satis- 
 factory assurances from the Czar, who had promised him that he 
 would always have a regard for Servian interests. The Skupstchina
 
 DIPLOMA TIC HISTOR Y OF THE WAR. 407 
 
 should proceed with, the greatest caution, as the interests of Servia 
 would be imperilled by every wrong step. 
 
 New signs of warlike activity were manifested in Servia during 
 September. A ministerial council was held during the first week 
 of the month, presided over by Prince Milan, the result of which 
 was reported to be a resolution to engage in the war. No declara- 
 tion of war was made as yet, but renewed energy was exercised in 
 preparation. An order was issued by the Minister of War on the 
 5th, commanding all militia-men of the first class to be at their 
 depots on the 13th, while those of the second class should hold 
 themselves in readiness to march. This threatening attitude of the 
 principality called out remonstrances from the diplomatic corps, the 
 English and German agents pointing out that if Servia took up arms 
 against the Porte, the guaranteeing powers would be placed in a 
 difficult position, and dwelling with stress on the gravity of the con- 
 sequences which would ensue to Servia itself in the event of defeat, 
 since the Turks would not be inclined to treat its vassal with the 
 same indulgence as it had exercised in 1876. 
 
 An interview took place between the Chancellors of Austria 
 and Germany, Count Andrassy and Prince Bismarck, at Salzburg, 
 on the 19th of September, the character and results of which were 
 not made public. A few days afterward the Austrian and Hun- 
 garian Premiers made important declarations in their respective 
 chambers. Mr. Tisza, in the Hungarian Chamber, on the 27th, 
 stated that there was no reason to change the policy of neu- 
 trality, to which it was due at this time that the interests of 
 the monarchy were not threatened in any way by the European 
 complications. He did not believe that this policy was contrary to 
 the wishes of the Hungarian people, and he declared the charge 
 that the neutrality had been observed in a manner favorable to 
 Russia, unfounded. What the Government desired was to protect 
 the interests of the country, in a peaceable manner as long as pos- 
 sible, but to protect them at all hazards. If Servia should break 
 the peace, Austro-Hungary would not prevent Turkey from pro- 
 ceeding against it. The triple alliance imposed no particular obli- 
 gations upon the powers concerned, either in the Eastern or in any 
 other question. The whole of this so-called alliance consisted in> 
 this, that the three Emperors and their Governments agreed, in the 
 interest of European peace, to come to an understanding on any 
 question that might arise. This understanding had prevailed for
 
 4 o8 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 several years since 1873 ; and even at this time the fact that the 
 war had not become a European one must, in part at least, be 
 attributed to the friendly relations of the three powers. The fact 
 that one of these three Governments, against the opinion of the two 
 others, had begun a war, created no obligation concerning the 
 Eastern Question as regarded either of these two other powers, and 
 none certainly as regarded the Austro-Hungarian Government. " On 
 our side," M. Tisza added, " it has been declared from the beginning 
 that, whatever the issue of the war may be, nothing shah 1 be done 
 of which we disapprove." 
 
 In the latter part of September a secret project for helping the 
 Turks was discovered in Transylvania, that part of the Austro- 
 Hungariau monarchy lying furthest east, and bordering on Rumania. 
 Its object was reported to be the formation of a Hungarian legion 
 of five thousand men, who were to meet at a certain point in the 
 mountains forming the frontier between the two countries, with a 
 view of making an irruption into Rumania. Several hundred 
 stands of arms, with a considerable quantity of ammunition and 
 other articles, were seized in various places close to the Rumanian 
 frontier. Many arrests were made, and a large number of promi- 
 nent Hungarians were implicated in the affair. Among them was 
 General Klapka, a distinguished participant in the revolution of 
 1848, who, however, denied all complicity in the plot, and declared 
 that he would have discountenanced the formation of a Hungarian 
 legion had he known of it, because he considered that it would be 
 useless to Turkey, and could only result in divisions among the 
 Hungarians. 
 
 A note was sent by the Turkish to the Servian Government, about 
 the beginning of October, demanding explanations regarding its 
 purpose in arming and in entering into negotiations with Russia and 
 Rumania, and more particularly regarding the presence of the Rus- 
 sian Consul-General at Belgrade, who had arrived there during 
 September. The Porte declared it would be obliged to send a spe- 
 cial commissioner to Belgrade, to inquire whether its sovereign 
 rights were not being tampered with. In answer to this note, M. 
 Christitch, the Servian Envoy at Constantinople, on October 30th 
 communicated a dispatch to the effect that the attitude of Servia 
 did not justify the complaints of the Porte ; that its military 
 measures were designed solely to protect its frontier; and that 
 Servia hoped for the maintenance of good relations with Turkey.
 
 DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE WAR. 409 
 
 Prince Milan made an address to the troops in Belgrade on the 2d 
 of December, in which he thanked the army for the exertions it had 
 made in the war of 1876, which war had led to the Turko-Russian 
 struggle, and would lead to the liberation of the Christians in the 
 Turkish Empire ; pointed out that the chance for Servia was now 
 much better than it had been in the previous year, for the country 
 was better prepared and had the support of a powerful ally ; and 
 assured the troops that he himself would share in the fatigues of the 
 campaign. This speech removed all the doubts which may have 
 previously existed as to the intentions of the Government to enter 
 into the war, and no surprise was felt when the declaration of war 
 was published on Dec. 14th. 
 
 In Greece, the Russian declaration of war called forth, on May 
 6th, an anti-Turkish demonstration. A number of students, num- 
 bering from 1,500 to 2,000, proceeded to the house of the Prime 
 Minister, calling for an immediate declaration of war. The minister 
 answered that circumstances did not make war necessary, and recom- 
 mended calmness and prudence. A similar demonstration occurred 
 on May 28th, when a crowd, estimated at from 5,000 to 10,000 per- 
 sons, filled the square before the palace and demanded from the king 
 strong and warlike measures. The crowd, however, soon dispersed 
 when the king told them that he still had the welfare of the nation 
 at heart. These popular demonstrations found a response when the 
 chamber assembled on May 26th. The ministry under Deligeorgis 
 was forced to resign, and several new cabinets were formed success- 
 ively, to fall to pieces almost immediately, until finally a coalition 
 ministry was organized under Admiral Canaris, one of the revolu- 
 tionary heroes of Greece. The appointment of this ministry was 
 received with mistrust in Constantinople, so that Savfet Pasha, the 
 Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, thought it advisable to question 
 the Greek Ambassador with regard to the intentions of the new cabi- 
 net. The Ambassador, denying all hostile intentions, assured the 
 Porte that the armaments undertaken by Greece were for defensive 
 purposes only. With regard to the fear entertained by the Porte, 
 that Greece would favor a rising in Thessaly, he declared that his 
 Government would under all circumstances act openly, and should it 
 decide upon war, it would be an open war. The new ministry never- 
 theless actively pushed forward the completion of the armaments. 
 The standing army was filled up to its full complement of 27,000, 
 and was stationed in four large fortified camps. At the same time
 
 4 io THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 bodies of volunteers were formed, which contained, besides native 
 Greeks, a large number of Greek subjects of Turkey. 
 
 A difficulty arose in the latter part of June which threatened, for 
 a time, to bring Greece and Turkey into actual collision. The Greek 
 Government, on the 28th of the month, seized a quantity of ammuni- 
 tion at Corfu while it was on board an Austro-Hungarian steamer in 
 transit to Turkey. The Austrian Government promptly protested 
 against the proceeding; the Turkish Government also protest sd, and 
 threatened to send a vessel to Corfu to demand a return of the arms. 
 The Greek Government endeavored to explain its action by profess- 
 ing that it had been taken to defend the neutrality of the island, but 
 was not able to maintain its position. The trouble was finally ad- 
 justed by shipping the ammunition on board a neutral vessel to 
 Trieste, to be detained there till the end of the war. In the begin- 
 ning of July a proclamation of the Central Revolutionary Committee 
 of Athens was circulated in Epirus and Thessaly, calling upon the 
 Greeks to rise for independence, and assuring them of the help of 
 " 80,000 warriors " from Greece itself. The fruits of this appeal ap- 
 peared later in the war when the provinces in which it was circulated 
 actually revolted, and induced the kingdom of Greece to a step which 
 came near involving it in serious embarrassments. On the 12th of 
 September, the Greek Government, having been called upon by 
 Earl Derby, at the request of the Porte, to give a pledge that it 
 would not make war against Turkey, replied that it would not re- 
 nounce its privileges as an independent State by making such a 
 pledge, and that the condition and danger of Hellenism in Turkey 
 rendered it now more than ever necessary that the nation should 
 have that liberty of action which was essential to independence. 
 
 The hostile attitude of Greece caused Server Pasha, the Turkish 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs, to send a note, in the beginning of Octo- 
 ber, to the Turkish Ambassador in London. This note was submit- 
 ted to Lord Derby, who acquainted the Greek Government with its 
 contents, adding that Greece would do better to turn her attention to 
 her internal development, and to the removal of the financial diffi- 
 culties under which she was laboring. The Turkish note formulated 
 five complaints. First, that the warlike preparations made for some 
 months past by the Greek Government, and the dispatch of numer- 
 ous detachments of troops to the camps along the frontier, are cal- 
 culated to disturb the friendly relations between Turkey and Greece. 
 Secondly, the enlistment of numerous Greek volunteers in Turkey,
 
 DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE WAR. 4II 
 
 openly carried on by agents, adds to the difficulties of the Imperial 
 Government. Thirdly, ever since the beginning of the present war, 
 the Greek press, which claims to represent the views of the Govern- 
 ment, has preached a crusade against Turkey, which was not only 
 tolerated, but apparently inspired by the Greek Government. Fourth, 
 revolutionary committees existing for years in Greece, have now 
 organized agencies in the Turkish provinces. These committees 
 show the greatest activity in the frontier districts, and are plainly 
 patronized by the Greek Government. Fifth, the revolutionary agi- 
 tation of the committees not seeming sufficient, armed bands are 
 organized in Greece and thrown into Epirus and Thessaly, without 
 in the least being prevented by the Hellenic authorities. In answer 
 to this note, M. Tricoupi sent a note to the Greek Charge d' Affaires 
 in London, contesting the accuracy of these statements and making 
 Turkey alone responsible for all. " If Turkey," the note said, " has 
 any cause of complaint, she ought not to address herself to England, 
 but directly to Greece." 
 
 The popular excitement in favor of war continued to increase as 
 the progress of the Russian arms became more decided, but the Gov- 
 ernment maintained a practical neutrality till, almost simultaneously 
 with the conclusion of the armistice, it was induced to send its troops 
 across the border, only to repent of its action immediately, and re- 
 trace its ill-considered step at the earliest possible moment. 
 
 During the month of July, the Russians closed the Sulina mouth 
 of the Danube by sinking vessels and then throwing rocks and sand 
 on them, thus making the Sulina channel impassable for large vessels. 
 This course produced considerable dissatisfaction, particularly in 
 England. This caused Prince Gortchakoff to issue a special note 
 early in August, in which he promised that all obstructions placed in 
 the river would be removed at the close of the war. With regard 
 to the British complaints, he said that after the Czar had promised 
 not to attack Egypt, he might have assumed that the British Gov- 
 ernment would do their utmost to prevent the Khedive from partici- 
 pating in the war. In the recent fighting in the Balkans, however, 
 the Russians had found themselves opposed to Egyptian troops. If 
 England, therefore, did not desire to see its Egyptian interests im- 
 perilled, it should use its influence with the Khedive to restrain him 
 from steps which Russia might be forced to resent. 
 
 The murder of the French and German Consuls at Salonica, in 
 18T6, led to a joint action of the French and German Governments
 
 4 I2 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 in September, 1877. Strange to say, the men concerned in the 
 assassination of the Consuls, who, upon the representations of the 
 two powers, had been sentenced to imprisonment, were suddenly re- 
 leased after having served a little over half a year. This led to 
 notes of remonstrance from the two powers as stated. But before 
 these notes were delivered, the Porte had sent orders to Salonica 
 that the men should be put back into prison. Their release furnished 
 a curious specimen of the fashion in which a Turkish official occa- 
 sionally understands his duty. The prisoners, who had been kept at 
 Widin, had to be removed, and at the time of the bombardment, 
 were taken back to Salonica, where the Governor, on the plea that 
 he had not been told what he was to do with them, first set them 
 free, and then telegraphed for instructions. It perhaps never 
 occurred to him that it might be as well to telegraph to his Govern- 
 ment before taking steps which would scarcely be very palatable to 
 Germany and France, and was certainly not consistent with the 
 usual course of justice.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 INNER HISTORY OF TURKEY DURING THE WAR. 
 
 The Feeling at Constantinople at the Beginning of the "War Discontent over the Man- 
 agement of Affairs by the Government The Holy War and the Flag of the Prophet 
 The Turkish Parliament Ministerial Changes The Sultan still talking of Reforms 
 Rise and Growth of the Party of Peace The Second Session of Parliament The 
 Government Censured Boldness and Independence of the Deputies The Sultan 
 Dissolves the Chamber with Signs of Displeasure Further Ministerial Changes 
 How the Porte Supported the War. 
 
 IT was clear from, the very beginning of the war that the Porte 
 would have to make use of all its resources in order to carry it on 
 successfully. The opinion which had gained some currency abroad, 
 that the Christians at the capital would either favor the Russian 
 attack, or would affect neutrality, or at most give the Government 
 only a half-hearted support, were not confirmed ; and the declara- 
 tion of war produced an apparent unity of sentiment among all 
 classes of the population of Constantinople, of whatever religion, in 
 favor of maintaining the integrity of the Empire to the last. In the 
 Chamber of Deputies, several Christian members protested against 
 the pretext put forward by Russia, that it had declared war for the 
 protection of the Christian population of the Empire, and are said to 
 have averred that they did not desire the protection of Russia, and 
 that the Christian subjects of the Sultan were ready to take part iu 
 the defense of the country. The Greek Patriarch provided a form 
 of prayer to be used in the churches for the Sultan and for the suc- 
 cess of his Majesty's arms in the war ; and the Armenian Patriarchs 
 gave his Majesty assurances of their sympathy and the support of 
 their people. A decree was issued in May making the Christian 
 population liable to the conscription equally with others who had 
 been long held to service in the army, and was received by the 
 Christians without any signs of dissatisfaction. The duty and 
 privilege of serving in the army were extended not only to the 
 Christians. The non-Mussulman youth of the capital, who had from 
 ancient times enjoyed exemption from military duty, were also 
 brought under liability, and other measures were adopted showing 
 
 (413)
 
 414 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 a design to render the whole manhood of the country available, if 
 necessary, for its defense. A measure was sanctioned for the issue 
 of a forced loan of five million Turkish pounds, and an effort was 
 made to raise an additional loan in England. 
 
 It was foreseen in the Cabinet of the Sultan that the war might 
 probably result in a conflict that would involve the very existence of 
 the Empire and of Mussulman rule, and that it was, therefore, 
 important to appeal to the piety of the believers, and to excite their 
 devotion, by impressing them that their faith was at stake, and by 
 surrounding the cause with all the prestige it could command ; yet it 
 would not be well to arouse their religious zeal to too great an extent 
 lest conflicts be produced between the Mussulman and the Christian 
 population, and embarrassments engendered with the other Christian 
 powers. 
 
 On the 25th of April, or the day after the declaration of war, the 
 Sultan addressed the Turkish army, saying : " The fatherland is in 
 danger. It is my duty to take in my hand the banner of the Caliph- 
 ate and go into the midst of my soldiers to sacrifice, if necessary, 
 my life for the independence of the Empire and the honor and life 
 of our women and children." 
 
 The important question was submitted to the Sheik-ul-Islam, the 
 Mohammedan high-priest, whose decisions on Mohammedan law are 
 final, whether a Holy war should be declared. A Jehad, or Holy 
 war, is a momentous affair for a Mussulman, and involves the 
 gravest duties. It is declared against a nation which is an enemy of 
 Islam, and sometimes against a prince who issues a decree directly 
 contradicting the statutes of the Koran. It may be declared if the 
 smallest precept of the Koran is in danger. When it is declared, it 
 becomes a religious point of honor with the Mohammedan to ap- 
 prove himself as an Islamite, with arms in his hand ; the Prince 
 must place himself at the head of the faithful and lead them ; all 
 the faithful who are over thirteen years of age must take the sword 
 and go to battle, while those who are not able to go must perform the 
 work for their brethren in the field, and support them ; and the 
 leader of the fighting faithful may appropriate all the property of 
 the nation, even that belonging to the mosques, to the prosecution 
 of the war. As a reward for their participation, the faithful who 
 engage in the Holy war, may take and keep whatever valuables 
 they may find in the land of the enemy, and those among them 
 who fall in battle are promised an immediate entrance into Paradise
 
 HISTORY OF TURKEY DURING THE WAR. 415 
 
 as Jehid, or martyrs. If they return victorious, they bear the title 
 of Ghazi, or victors, while their sons may call themselves Ghazi 
 Zade, or the sons of the victors, and they have a right to demand a 
 pension from the State. According to the original idea, the Jehad, 
 when once declared, must not cease till the enemy is wholly over- 
 thrown, or, if he is an unbeliever, is converted to Islam, although 
 a brief armistice was tolerated. The numerous treaties which Tur- 
 key has been obliged to make with Christian States have, however, 
 made this regulation a dead letter. The question concerning the 
 Holy war was submitted, and the answer was returned in the follow- 
 ing form : 
 
 " Question: If, after the Commander of the Faithful whose 
 Caliphate may God prolong to the day of the judgment has conclud- 
 ed a solemn treaty with the ruler of an unbelieving country, the Sover- 
 eign of such country makes unendurable and unacceptable demands 
 which lessen the glory of Islam and degrade the Mohammedan 
 nation, and, in order to impose these demands upon Mussulmans, in- 
 sultingly makes preparations for war, transgresses the boundaries of 
 Mohammedan States and devastates the same, and thus breaks the 
 solemn treaty : in such a case, as soon as it is plain that the Mussul- 
 mans possess the necessary strength and resources for the contest, 
 and that the contest on behalf of the Faith is meritorious, is it the 
 duty of the Protector of the Faith, the Sultan of the Mussulmans 
 to whom may the Almighty God grant victory to send the con- 
 quering troops of Islam against that country, and, in confidence in 
 God the Supreme Ruler, to undertake the War of Faith for the 
 glory of Islam against the said country and people ? It is an answer 
 that is sought. 
 
 " Answer : Yes, God knows that it is so. 
 
 " Thus writes the poor Hassan Kairullah, unto whom may God 
 be merciful ! " 
 
 Assurances were published that the declaration of the Holy war 
 was not aimed against the Christian subjects of the Porte, but only 
 against the common enemy of all Turks, the Russians. In the lat- 
 ter part of July, the powers. having made remonstrances against the 
 adoption of measures likely to excite the Mussulmans against the 
 Christians, a charge by the Sheik-ul- Islam was read in the mosques 
 recommending calmness and resignation, and the avoidance of all acts 
 of hostility toward Christians. At about the same time that the ques- 
 tion concerning the Holy war was submitted to him, the Sheik-ul-
 
 416 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Islam was asked whether the Sultan could at that stage of the war 
 assume the title of Ghazi, or conqueror. He replied that it would 
 be better to wait till the war was closed, and the unbelievers were 
 fully vanquished. A state of siege was proclaimed shortly afterward. 
 
 The question of raising the banner of the Caliphate was again 
 raised in July, and the fact brought out a remonstrance from the 
 powers against the adoption of measures which would further in- 
 flame the fanaticism of the Mussulmans, and increase the danger of 
 the powers having to interfere to prevent an indiscriminate war 
 upon Christians. This banner, the flag of the Prophet, is one of 
 the most sacred objects to the Moslem, and the unfurling of it is the 
 most solemn and the final act of instituting the Holy war. It is also 
 called " the Heavenly Standard," and in the Turkish language 
 Bairak. Its color is green, and it is believed to have been the ban- 
 ner of the Prophet Mohammed, delivered to him by the angel 
 Gabriel, through the medium of Ayesha, as an indubitable token of 
 victory over their enemies. It was formerly laid up in the Treasury 
 of the Sultan of Constantinople, but is now kept in the mosque 
 at Eycob, where the new Sultans on the day of their coronation gird 
 on the sabre of the Caliphate. In case of any serious struggle, a relig- 
 ious duty compels the Sultan to give orders to the " Mollahs," or 
 Mohammedan clergy, to display the Prophet's standard before the 
 people and army, and proclaim " Al-Jehad," or the Holy war, by 
 exhorting the Moslems to be faithful to their religion and defend 
 their kingdom. " This is the Prophet's banner," the Sheik-ul-Islam 
 exclaims ; " this is the standard of the Caliphate ; it is set up before 
 you and displayed over your heads, olv time believers, to announce 
 to you that your religion is threatened, your Caliphate in danger, 
 and your life, wives, children, and property exposed to be the prey 
 of your cruel enemies ! Any Moslem, therefore, who refuses to take 
 his arms and follow this holy Bairak is an infidel, and must, there- 
 fore, suffer condemnation." 
 
 It has always been held in extreme respect, and the unfurling of 
 it has been efficient to settle all questions as t > the duty of obe- 
 dience, except in one instance, happening in 1658, when an insur- 
 rectionary chieftain turned his back to it, and continued his resist- 
 ance. It has been shown many times that the so-called flag of the 
 Prophet was not the genuine flag used by Mohammed, which was 
 black, but without disturbing the faith of the Mussulmans in its 
 sanctity. The most generally accepted account of the origin of this
 
 HISTORY OF TURKEY DURING THE WAR. 
 
 417 
 
 particular flag is that wheii the Prophet was dying, Ayesha, his fa- 
 vorite wife, tore down the green purdah from the door of the death 
 chamber, and, giving it to the assembled chiefs, bade them make it 
 the flag of future victory. The Moslems, therefore, call this green 
 banner " Bairak-un-nabi," as being used as the standard of the king- 
 dom and the religion of Mohammed. 
 
 Discontent arose early in Parliament and among the people over 
 the inefficiency of the proceedings of the Government, which reached 
 a culmination after the capture of Ardahan, in Armenia. It was 
 generally understood that the Sultan, as is nearly always the case at 
 the Turkish court, was governed by a small faction of adherents 
 who were styled the Palace clique, and who looked upon all meas- 
 ures that were proposed more with an eye to their personal designs 
 and their advancement, than to the good of the country. The 
 Chambers were brought into frequent conflict with Red if Pasha, 
 the Minister of War, and Mahmoud Damad, the Sultan's brother-in- 
 law, who was considered the real controller of the councils of the 
 Government. Even before actual hostilities began, the tardiness 
 of the Serdar Ekrem in going to the seat of war, became the sub- 
 ject of remark and comment in the Assembly, and opportunities for 
 animadversion arose often enough afterward, and were not lost. 
 Complaints from the army reaching the members of the Assembly, 
 gave them excuses for exposing mismanagement and incapacity, 
 and the system of favoritism and nepotism which continued to flour- 
 ish. The Chambers were visited on the 25th of May by a deputa- 
 tion of Softas, or theological students in the mosques, making de- 
 mands for changes in the administration and the methods of carry- 
 ing on the Government. The opportunity was embraced by some of 
 the deputies to make direct attacks upon the Seraskier, Redif Pasha, 
 as Minister of War, and to speak plainly of the incapacity of the 
 Cabinet, asking that men of well-known and approved capacity 
 should be elevated to power. These demonstrations and expressions 
 were understood at the time to be made in contemplation of the 
 recall of Midhat Pasha, and it was believed that this minister was 
 actually about to be reinstated in his former position. If the Sultan 
 ever had such an intention, it was defeated by the machinations of 
 Midhat's enemies, who had the ear of his Majesty through Mah- 
 moud Damad, and retained their influence over him throughout the- 
 war. A few days after the visit of the Softas to the Chambers,, the 
 Government announced the discovery of a conspiracy which aimed at
 
 41 8 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the deposition of the Sultan and the removal of the whole reigning 
 dynasty. Several of the Softas who had participated in the demon- 
 stration were arrested, and five of them were banished. At the 
 beginning of July, Redif Pasha was ordered to join the Commander- 
 in-chief at Shumla, ostensibly to inquire into the causes of the inac- 
 tivity of the army, but really, it was currently thought, to get him 
 away from the capital. At about the same time the ministers were 
 ordered to sleep in Stamboul, so as to be able to meet together in 
 council, should an emergency arise. 
 
 The Parliament, having fulfilled its constitutional duty of being 
 in session for three months, was adjourned, by order of the Sultan, 
 on the 28th of June. It had not accomplished much, although it 
 had perhaps done all that could have been expected of a body so 
 novel to the country and to its theory of government, but it had 
 shown vigor and activity in discussion, and a public spirit and bold- 
 ness in the expression of opinions, that were decidedly creditable to it 
 as a body and to its members. A correspondent of the ]STew York 
 Tribune, writing from its sessions, thus describes its distinctive 
 traits : 
 
 " The Assembly is doing much more in the way of independent 
 discussion than was expected, but the division between Moslems and 
 Christians is probably going to prevent any serious advantage aris- 
 ing from the institution of Parliament. Nevertheless, it is pleasant 
 to find men who can stand up in the Assembly and tell the Govern- 
 ment that its law of the press may more fitly be entitled a penal 
 code, and who can rally about them a majority sufficient to vote 
 down the obnoxious clauses of the law, one after the other. It is 
 pleasant, also, in this country, where so long a silence has been en- 
 forced, to see a man get up and face the Finance Minister in the 
 Assembly, and charge home upon his employes corruption, and 
 carry the whole Assembly with him in the charge ; or to see an- 
 other man oppose the greed and selfishness of the Pashas, who call 
 upon the people to support the treasury in this war crisis, and give 
 nothing from their own luxury." 
 
 The correspondent likened the appearance of the Assembly to 
 that of a school-room, with straight rows of desks and benches, 
 " exactly modeled after the American school desks of fifteen years 
 ago," running across the room, while the members were so like 
 school boys under the rule of the teacher, who sat upon the platform 
 in the front, that there seemed nothing incongruous in the arrange-
 
 HISTORY OF TURKEY DURING THE WAR. 419 
 
 merit. The President exercised his functions with decision and 
 tenacity, so that it required great nerve to insist on the yeas and 
 nays after he had said that a measure had been adopted by the 
 House. " And even after a hard-fought battle and victory, the 
 President is sure to bring up the defeated bill again, with the re- 
 mark that the Ministry have made explanations in committee, and 
 the committee has now a report to make, the result being that the 
 bill is reported upon favorably by the committee and adopted with- 
 out a ballot, before any slow-moving intellect has risen to the height 
 of calling for the yeas and nays again." 
 
 The excitement and dissatisfaction at Constantinople were still 
 further increased after the passage of the Balkans by Gen. Gourko, 
 and both the Commander-in-chief and the Ministry fell victims to 
 the general discontent. Savfet Pasha was replaced as Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs by Aarifi Pasha, and Mahmoud Damad became 
 Minister of War, in place of Redif Pasha. The same "Palace 
 clique" remained in power, but with a new face turned toward the 
 public. The newspapers called attention to the fact that the enemy 
 were at the gates of Constantinople, and urged the inhabitants to 
 constitute volunteer battalions ; and the works on the fortifications 
 were carried on with great activity. Ten days later, Aarifi Pasha 
 retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was succeeded by 
 Server Pasha. The recall of Midhat Pasha was still talked of, but 
 Mahmoud Damad, who ruled the Court, would not permit his rival 
 to return. 
 
 Early in August, the Porte conveyed an intimation to the 
 powers, through a confidential interview between the President of 
 the Council of State with Count Zichy, the Austrian Ambassador, 
 that " the Ottoman Government, in spite of late successes in arms, 
 was firmly convinced that the war was really a misfortune for the 
 whole world, that it would lead to no real result on either side, and 
 that the Sultan would be happy to see it end in a peace honorable 
 to both belligerents. If Russia only demanded autonomy for Bul- 
 garia under several Christian governors, the Porte would agree to 
 make peace." A very guarded intimation had been made shortly 
 before by the Russian journal Golos, that Russia was ready to enter 
 into negotiations for peace, and that the terms of Russia would not 
 be found oppressive ; yet no steps seem to have been made to bring 
 the parties together, and the war was allowed to go on. During 
 August, a new loan for 5,000,000 nominal was put upon the mar-
 
 420 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ket, the mobilization of the landsturm in Rumelia and Anatolia 
 was ordered, for which all the population should be enrolled, with 
 the intention of forming a camp of 70,000 men for the defense of 
 the capital, and a new forced loan was commanded. Near the close 
 of the month, Mahmoud Damad was removed from the office of 
 Minister of War, because he was supposed to be responsible, by 
 having ordered the movement which led to it, for the reckless sacri- 
 fice of life in the attempt of Suleiman Pasha to recover the Shipka 
 Pass. He was succeeded by Mustapha Pasha, and Savfet Pasha 
 was appointed Minister of Justice in place of Hassim Pasha, who 
 was nominated President of the Senate. 
 
 On the 5th of October, the Sultan, on the occasion of his cere- 
 monial visit to the mosque, reviewed a body of the local militia, 
 and made an address to them, in which he expressed the hope that 
 after the conclusion of a glorious peace they would show the same 
 aptitude and zeal that they had exhibited in devotion to the defense 
 of the country, in assisting him "to carry through the reforms on 
 which the prosperity of the country and the welfare of the people 
 depend." This was favorably received, as an assurance that the 
 Sultan had still at heart the reforms in which he had embarked 
 when he was interrupted by the war. A few days afterward, the 
 Sultan received two members of the British Parliament, when he 
 expressed himself extremely desirous of carrying out the reforms 
 and improvements he had begun, but regretted that he had preju- 
 dices of long standing to deal with, and that it was impossible, 
 without danger, to proceed otherwise than gradually ; but he was 
 fully resolved to form a basis for further reforms. He was specially 
 anxious for such measures as would insure the equality of all his 
 subjects. The Parliament would, of course, require time to develop 
 itself, and to show real, practical results ; but, nevertheless, he felt 
 quite sure that the freedom of discussion permitted to the members, 
 and the publication of their speeches and of the measures they 
 passed, would gradually accustom the people to take a more active 
 interest than now in the affairs of the Empire. He hoped that, 
 eventually, the laws would be firmly administered, and the promised 
 reforms resolutely carried out. 
 
 Reports of the existence of a peace party at Constantinople, 
 strong enough to attract attention, and of the existence of political 
 conspiracy, seeking the restoration of Murad as Sultan, were fol- 
 lowed in November by notices of the meeting of Ministerial Coun-
 
 HISTORY OF TURKEY DURING THE WAR. 
 
 421 
 
 cils, at which the determination to continue the war seemed as 
 strong as ever. After the fall of Kars, Mahmoud Dam ad, who was 
 supposed to be in sympathy with the movement for peace, was 
 removed from the direction of military affairs, the war council was 
 abolished, full powers were conferred on the Seraskier, Mustapha 
 Pasha, and a new resolution seemed to have been taken to carry on 
 the war with energy. Two weeks later, Mustapha was removed, 
 and Rauf Pasha was appointed Minister of War in his place. This 
 was considered to indicate a restoration of the ascendency of Mah- 
 moud Damad. The ascendency of the pacific policy in the councils 
 of the Government seemed clear enough about the middle of Decem- 
 ber, when the Turkish Government addressed a circular to the 
 powers, suggesting mediation ; but a week later, when the Sultan 
 reviewed a large force of infantry about to proceed to the seat of 
 war, the war party appeared to be predominant. These vacillations 
 were very natural in the desperate condition of affairs which existed 
 at the time, when to yield, after the terrible succession of defeats 
 which the Turkish armies had suffered, seemed to involve the sur- 
 render of the larger part of the Empire in Europe, a part of that in 
 Asia, and all of Ottoman pride. Yet, without armies, without 
 money, without friends, almost without fortified positions, and with 
 the Russians pressing all around, what was to be done? All doubts 
 were finally set at rest on the 8th of January, when the Sultan, the 
 Ministerial Council, and the Parliament united in asking for an 
 armistice. 
 
 The Parliament met in its second session, December 13th. In 
 the speech from the throne, the Sultan, after referring to the events 
 of the year, and the extension of the liability to military service to 
 the Christians, spoke of the new Constitution, and the reforms 
 which he had undertaken, in regard to which he said : " The salva- 
 tion of the Empire depends entirely upon the complete and sincere 
 carrying out of the Constitution. Our greatest wish has been to see 
 all classes of our subjects enjoy the benefits of a complete equality 
 and our country profit by the progress of modern civilization ; the 
 reform introduced into the finances, the fulfillment of all our engage- 
 ments, the distribution, in accordance with the principles of politi- 
 cal economy, of the taxes and dues ; the collection of the revenue 
 in such a manner as not to injure the interests of the population ; 
 the revision of our judicial system in conformity with the require- 
 ments of the time, in order to insure the impartial administration of
 
 4 22 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 justice by our tribunals ; the reform respecting the property of the 
 Vakufs with a view to facilitate the acquisition of landed property ; 
 the formation of communes, and the specification of their powers 
 as an essential basis for the administrative fabric ; and lastly, the re- 
 organization of the Gendarmerie. But the war has postponed the 
 fulfillment of these wishes. Furthermore, the calamities of the war 
 have exceeded all limits ; a numerous population, non-combatant and 
 inoffensive women and children, whose life and honor ought accord- 
 ing to the usages of war to have been respected, have been sub- 
 jected to cruel treatment, revolting to humanity. I am pleased to 
 hope that in the future nothing will prevent the truth in that respect 
 from coming to light. We believe that we have given you a mani- 
 fest proof of our firm intention to persist in the path of progress, 
 by directing our attention to internal reforms, even at a time when 
 the Government is engaged in a great war. It is by means of 
 complete liberty of discussion that one can arrive at the truth in 
 legislative and political questions, and thus protect the public inter- 
 est. The Constitution renders this a duty on your part, and I do 
 not think I have to give you any other order or encouragement in 
 this respect." 
 
 The members of the Chamber in discussing the address spoke very 
 plainly about the inefficiency which had been shown by the officers 
 charged with the conduct of the war ; and the house decided on the 
 2d of January, by a vote of fifty to thirty, to retain, in the reply to 
 the address of the throne, a passage averring that the Government 
 had riot done its duty. A considerable advance in the independence 
 and apparent capacity of the deputies was observed at the present 
 session. A division of parties began to appear; the opposition 
 were remarkably bold in their denunciations of the faction in power, 
 some of them not sparing the Sultan himself. It was a subject of 
 especial remark that among those who had rendered themselves con- 
 spicuous were men from the provinces from Smyrna, Janina, Alep- 
 po, Syria, Anatolia, and Adrianople and not from the capital ; 
 " and yet they displayed an amount of political insight which could 
 scarcely have been expected of them." At a later stage in the pro- 
 ceedings the ministers were called personally into the Chamber and 
 made to give an account of their administration in answer to search- 
 ing questions. 
 
 These proceedings were very unacceptable to the ruling faction in 
 the Turkish cabinet, which used every exertion to induce the Sultan
 
 HISTORY OF TURKEY DURING THE WAR. 
 
 423 
 
 to get lid of the too free-spoken deputies. The Sultan accordingly 
 ordered the dissolution of the Parliament on the 20th of February, 
 and directed that certain of the deputies who had played a promi- 
 nent part in exposing the abuses of the administration should be 
 sent back to their homes. 
 
 An important change in the Ottoman Government took place 
 about the 5th of February, when the office of Grand Vizier was 
 abolished, and a new Ministry was organized under European forms 
 and designations, the constitution of which was as follows : 
 
 " Ahmed Yefik Eifendi, President of the Council of Ministers 
 and Minister of the Interior ; Server Pasha, Minister of Foreign Af- 
 fairs ; Rauf Pasha, Minister of War ; Said Pasha, Minister of 
 Marine; Kiani Pasha, Minister of Finance; Namyk Pasha, Grand 
 Master of the Artillery: Ohannes Tchamith Effendi, Minister of 
 Public Works and Commerce ; and Savfet Pasha, President of the 
 Council of State." 
 
 This measure was understood to indicate a further step in carry- 
 ing out the reforms which had been promised. 
 
 The question was often suggested during the war, how Turkey, 
 confessedly bankrupt at the beginning of the operations, could find 
 means for carrying them on so long and so well. Notwithstanding 
 the total destitution of money, the armies were kept in good condi- 
 tion and tolerably well supplied until a part of the force was disabled 
 by the severities of winter and the rest was destroyed by capture. 
 The explanation is found in the fact that the Turkish army and 
 officers had learned to do without money. Official salaries were 
 seldom paid till from five to fifteen months after they were due ; they 
 were liable to charges amounting to about twenty-five per cent, of 
 their nominal value, and were further reduced fifty per cent, on the 
 12th of July. Thus the Government was not, in fact, paying salaries 
 to its officers, and the army was expected to live off the country, 
 without need for money. As the Government was not pretending 
 to pay its foreign debt, and the army was taking care of itself, all 
 of its actual income was available for the purchase of such supplies 
 as it needed from abroad, which had to be paid for in cash. This 
 method of management would answer so long as the weather was. 
 pleasant, but the need of the army for a better method of provision! 
 became imperative when winter closed, and the pressure of necessity/ 
 became one of the forces to compel a surrender.
 
 CHAPTEK XIY. 
 
 ARMISTICE AND PEACE. 
 
 Early Measures relating to Peace What Russia would have Demanded in June, 1877 
 German Prognostications Growth of the Peace Party in Turkey The Porte issues a 
 Circular Appeal to the Powers for Mediation The Powers Decline to Interfere, but 
 England brings about a direct Negotiation between the Belligerents Turkish Com- 
 missioners appointed, with full powers to Treat The Armistice and the Conditions 
 of Peace The Treaty Signed and Ratified Its Conditions. 
 
 THE war had hardly begun before speculations were set afloat in 
 both official and unofficial circles concerning the terms upon which 
 peace might be made. Rumors were in circulation in the Russian 
 army, in Berlin, and in Yienna, in the latter part of May, relative 
 to the possibility of a peace being negotiated even before the Rus- 
 sians should cross the Danube. The existence of a peace party at 
 Constantinople was assumed even at that early date, and the Grand 
 Vizier, Edhem Pasha, was mentioned as a functionary who main- 
 tained intimate relations with the Court of Berlin, and through 
 whom overtures of mediation might be made by Germany. It was 
 suggested that the fall of Ardahan and the retreat of the Turks on 
 Erzerum, together with the impression made upon the Sultan by 
 the menacing attitude of the Chambers and the population of the 
 capital, had already furnished an opportunity for German mediation ; 
 and it was intimated that the Sultan would not be unwilling to 
 listen to overtures for a settlement, as affording means by which he 
 could escape from the embarrassing situation in which he was placed 
 at that time. The semi-official Journal de St. Petersburg dismissed 
 these rumors by saying that diplomacy had better not pronounce in 
 favor of any definite plan for the termination of the war until 
 decisive events had occurred on the battle-field. The terms of peace, 
 it said, must depend upon the course of the war. 
 
 Russian diplomacy in private, however, was doing at almost that 
 very time what its organ before the public advised should not be 
 done ; for before the sheet which contained these words had had 
 (424)
 
 ARMISTICE AND PEACE. 425 
 
 time to become an old newspaper, Count Shuvaloff, Russian Ambas- 
 sador to England, held a confidential interview with Earl Derby in 
 London on the 8th of June, at which he explained to him the terms 
 which Russia would exact under different conditions of success of 
 its arms, and among them included almost the identical terms which 
 it did exact after its complete success in January, 1878. Egypt and 
 the Suez Canal would be left alone, as Prince Gortchakoff had 
 promised ; Constantinople would not be occupied permanently ; a 
 new settlement of the regulations for the Straits would be demanded 
 of the powers ; it was not for the interest of Russia to trouble En- 
 gland in its Indian possessions, or, consequently, in its communica- 
 tions with them. If the Porte should sue for peace before the Rus- 
 sian armies crossed the Balkans, the Emperor would agree not to 
 pass that line. In this case the terms of peace would be the 
 autonomy of Bulgaria as a vassal province under the guarantee of 
 Europe, the Turkish troops and officials to be removed from it, the 
 fortresses to be disarmed and razed, and self-government to be estab- 
 lished within it, with a national militia; the powers to agree to 
 assure to that part of Bulgaria which is to the south of the Balkans, 
 as well as to .the other Christian provinces of Turkey, the best pos- 
 sible guarantees for a regular administration. Montenegro and 
 Servia should receive an increase of territory, to be determined upon 
 by common agreement, and Bosnia and Herzegovina should be 
 provided with such institutions as should be judged compatible 
 with their internal state and calculated to guarantee them a good 
 indigenous administration. 
 
 It was admitted to be right to give Austria-Hungary a preponder- 
 ating voice in the future organization of these provinces. Russia 
 would, however, reserve the right of stipulating for certain special 
 advantages as compensation for the costs of war, which would not 
 exceed the restoration of the portion of Bessarabia ceded in 1856 
 and the cession of Batum, with adjacent territory. In this case, 
 Rumania could be compensated by the proclamation of its independ- 
 ence, or by the annexation of a portion of the Dobrudja, and 
 Austria-Hungary would not be opposed in seeking its own security 
 and compensation for the extension of Russia by adding to its do- 
 minions territory in Bosnia and partly in Herzegovina. If the Turkish 
 Government should refuse to accept these terms, Russia would be 
 obliged to pursue the war until the Porte was compelled to agree to 
 peace, and in this case the terms of the Imperial Cabinet might be
 
 426 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 altered. These views were communicated to the British Govern- 
 ment, not to be used to influence the Porte in favor of peace, for 
 there was no probability that it would accept them till it had 
 learned by experience how weak it was, but that the neutrality of 
 England might be insured by giving it some actual evidence of the 
 moderation of Russia's demands. A minute of these propositions 
 was communicated to Count Andrassy and Prince Bismarck, as 
 representatives of the Austrian and German Governments. At a 
 subsequent interview, the Russian Ambassador informed Earl Derby 
 that his Government had decided that the separation of Bulgaria 
 into two provinces would be impracticable, for " local information 
 proved that Bulgaria must remain a single province, otherwise the 
 most laborious and intelligent part of the Bulgarian population, and 
 notably that which had most suffered from Turkish maladministra- 
 tion, would remain excluded from the autonomous institutions," 
 and that the proposed terms of peace would be modified in accord- 
 ance with this view. Earl Derby furnished Mr. Layard, the British 
 Minister at Constantinople, with a report of Count Shuvaloff's dec- 
 larations, leaving it to his discretion whether or not he should com- 
 municate the Russian propositions to the Ottoman Government. 
 Mr. Layard decided that it would be useless to try to induce the 
 Porte to consider such terms ; and the fact that such communica- 
 tions had taken place remained a secret in the four Cabinets till 
 February, 1878, when the matter was made public in a British Par- 
 liamentary document. 
 
 "While the conversations of Count Shuvaloff and Earl Derby were 
 going on, the Berlin Ministerial Post, said, June 9th, that the an- 
 nounced determination of the Russian Government to annex nothing 
 resolved itself into the intention to govern and direct all. "Were 
 Russia to annex Bulgaria, Austria would lay her hand on Bosnia 
 and Servia ; Greece and England would protect their interests by 
 similar measures ; Rumania would be accorded a fresh guarantee ; 
 while Armenia, if embodied with the Russian Empire, might bring 
 on a rupture with Great Britain. To avoid these unpleasant results, 
 the Russian Government had resolved to maintain the integrity of 
 Turkey, but so to remodel Turkey as to place it under the absolute 
 control of the St. Petersburg authorities. The plan was favored 
 by the vacillating conduct of the British Cabinet, disposing Turkey 
 to settle with Russia, no matter how much the interests of the other 
 powers might be injured by the act.
 
 ARMISTICE AND PEACE. 427 
 
 The development of a sentiment in favor of peace in Constanti- 
 nople began to be noticed a little later. The Sultan and his advisers 
 were disheartened by the rapid advance of the Russians toward the 
 Balkans, the incapacity of their generals, and the want of men and 
 money, and notes were sent to the representatives of the powers 
 calling attention to the danger threatened to Europe by the Russian 
 advance. Subsequently the generals reported the military situation 
 and prospects improved, and public sentiment became more warlike. 
 The intimation of the Sultan to the Austrian Ambassador, at the 
 beginning of August, that he was willing to make peace on the basis 
 of the Andrassy note, came at about the same time that the Russian 
 papers were representing the readiness of their Government to enter 
 into negotiations, but no advantage was taken of a coincidence which 
 seemed to afford a rare opportunity to stop the further progress of 
 the war. 
 
 The party of peace at Constantinople evidently grew stronger 
 during the fall, and exercised a perceptible influence over the de- 
 liberations of the Cabinet long before its intentions were declared ; 
 and new weight was added to its force as reverse after reverse fell 
 upon the Turkish arms. On the 12th of December, the Porte issued 
 a circular appeal to the powers, in which, after referring to the 
 origin of the war with a profession that it had not provoked it, but 
 had done everything to avoid it, and after reciting the measures of 
 reform which it had voluntarily instituted for the whole Empire, it 
 said : " If any doubt could still survive as to the religious fulfillment 
 of the new Constitution and of the reforms that we have promised 
 in the Conference of Constantinople, this doubt should disappear in 
 the presence of the formal and solemn declaration of the sincerity 
 of our resolutions. We proffer in this regard a guarantee of which 
 we invite Europe to take note. The true and only cause of hinderances 
 which might slacken our efforts in this path would be found in the 
 continuation of a state of war. Such a situation is not only dis- 
 astrous with reference to reforms, but equally calamitous in regard 
 to the general prosperity of the country." Recalling the fact that 
 the desire for conquest had been expressly disavowed by Russia, the 
 circular inquired, with what object, then, should the armies prolong 
 desolation and ruin for their respective countries ? and concluded : 
 " We, on our part, think that the moment has come when both 
 belligerents might accept peace without forfeit to their dignity, and 
 when Europe might usefully interpose its good offices. As for the
 
 428 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Imperial Government, it is ready to ask this, not that the country 
 has reached the end of its resources. There are no sacrifices which 
 the entire Ottoman nation is not willing to face to maintain the in- 
 dependence and integrity of the Fatherland. But the duty of the 
 Imperial Government is to avert, if possible, any further effusion of 
 blood. It is, therefore, in the name of humanity that we make this 
 appeal to the sentiments of justice in the Great Powers, and that we 
 hope they will be inclined to receive our advances favorably." 
 
 The note was generally regarded by the powers as affording an in- 
 sufficient basis for mediation. Germany refused to act upon it. 
 Austria could not recognize in it a direct appeal for mediation, but 
 regarded it as only an indirect effort to ascertain the dispositions of 
 the powers. The British Cabinet, while acknowledging that it 
 scarcely afforded the basis of a successful mediation, thought it might 
 serve as a starting-point for mediation, and should be confidentially, 
 if not officially, communicated to the Russian Government, but 
 finally answered that it could not undertake to mediate, the views of 
 the other powers on the subject being too divergent. The Italian 
 and French Governments did not wish to take the initiative. So the 
 appeal was not communicated to the Russian Government. The En- 
 glish Cabinet, however, upon the invitation of the Sultan, undertook 
 to ask the Russian Government confidentially on what terms it would 
 consent to make peace. The Russian Government replied that the 
 decisions and acts of the Imperial policy were still guided by the two 
 paramount considerations of putting an end to the constantly recur- 
 ring disturbances, and avoiding complications by respecting the in- 
 terests of third parties, but that all intervention would be refused. 
 If the Turks desired an armistice, they must apply directly to the 
 Russian Commander-in-chief, and the terms of peace must be dis- 
 cussed between the belligerents alone. 
 
 The English Government advised the Porte to treat with the 
 Russians on their own terms. Server Pasha and JSTamyk Pasha were 
 appointed, January 13th, to go to the Russian headquarters at Kasan- 
 lik and negotiate with the Grand Duke Nicholas for an armistice, 
 and concerning the preliminaries of peace. The plenipotentaries 
 reached Kasanlik, and the negotiations were begun on the 20th. On 
 the 23d, the Turkish Government telegraphed to the plenipotenti- 
 aries giving them its orders and full powers to accept whatever terms 
 the Russians offered. So eager did the Government seem to put an 
 end to its troubles that it was said that the Grand Yizier could not
 
 ARMISTICE AND PEACE. 429 
 
 admit that any delay or procrastination in the matter, on the part of 
 the Turkish plenipotentiaries, was possible. The progress of the 
 negotiations were inexplicably delayed from day to day, although the 
 Russians knew well what they were to demand, and the Turks were 
 ready to grant anything that was asked of them, so that it was the 
 31st of January before the armistice and the preliminaries of peace 
 were signed, and the 8th of February before they were officially 
 published. In the meantime, the place of the negotiations was 
 changed, by the continued advance of the Russian armies, to 
 Adrianople, the most important place in Turkey after Constanti- 
 nople. As communicated by Mr. Layard to the British Govern- 
 ment, the armistice contained ten articles. It was concluded 
 between Russia, Servia, Rumania, and Turkey,, and was given by 
 Mr. Layard as follows : 
 
 " 1. A notice of three days must be given before a resumption of 
 hostilities takes place. The armistice is to be communicated to 
 Montenegro by Russia. 
 
 " 2. Restoration of the guns and territory taken after the signa- 
 ture. 
 
 " 3. Gives the details of line of demarkation and neutral zone for 
 Turkey, Russia, and Servia, placing in Russian hands almost all of 
 Bulgaria, Rumelia, and Thrace up to the lines of Constantinople and 
 Gallipoli. Fortifications are not to be retained on the neutral 
 territory, and no new ones are to be raised there. A joint com- 
 mission will determine the line of demarkation for Servia and 
 Montenegro. The Russians to occupy Burgas and Midia, on the 
 Black Sea, in order to obtain supplies, but no war material. 
 
 "4. Armies beyond the line of demarkation to be withdrawn 
 within three days of signature of armistice. 
 
 "5. The Turks may remove arms, etc., to places and by routes 
 defined, on evacuating the fortifications mentioned in Article 3. If 
 they can not be removed, an inventory of them is to be taken. The 
 evacuation is to be complete within seven days after the receipt of 
 orders by the commanders. 
 
 " 6. Sulina is to be evacuated within three days by the Turkish 
 troops and ships of war, unless prevented by ice. The Russians 
 will remove the obstacles in the Danube, and will superintend the 
 navigation of the river. 
 
 " 7. The railways to continue to work under certain conditions. 
 
 " 8. Turkish authorities to remain in certain places.
 
 43^ 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 i: 9. Black Sea blockade to be raised. 
 
 " 10. Wounded Turkish soldiers to remain under the care of 
 Russia." 
 
 The armistice commenced at 7 P.M. on the 31st of January. 
 
 The Russian and Turkish commanders on the spot were authorized 
 to settle matters relating to the armistice in Armenia. 
 
 The preliminaries of peace, as published in the Journal of St. 
 Petersburg on the 8th of February, were : 
 
 "If the Turks demand peace or an armistice at the outposts, his 
 Imperial Highness the Commander-in-chief shall inform them that 
 hostilities can not be suspended unless the following bases shall have 
 been previously accepted : 
 
 " 1. Bulgaria, within the limits determined by the majority of the 
 population of Bulgaria, which limits shall in no case be less than 
 those indicated by the Constantinople Conference, shall be formed 
 into an autonomous tributary principality, with a national Christian 
 Government and a native militia. The Ottoman army shall no 
 longer remain there, except at certain points to be settled by mutual 
 agreement. 
 
 " 2. The independence of Montenegro shall be recognized. An 
 increase of territory, equal to that which the fortune of war has 
 placed in its hands, shall be secured to it. The definite frontier 
 shall be arranged hereafter. 
 
 " 3. The independence of Rumania and Servia shall be recognized. 
 An adequate territorial indemnity shall be secured to the first, and 
 a rectification of frontier to the second. 
 
 " 4:. Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be granted an autonomous 
 administration, with adequate guarantees. Analogous reforms shall 
 be introduced into the other Christian provinces of Turkey in 
 Europe. 
 
 " 5. The Porte shall undertake to indemnify Russia for the ex- 
 penses of the war and the losses which she has had to bear. The 
 nature of this indemnity, whether pecuniary, territorial, or other- 
 wise, shall be settled hereafter. His Majesty the Sultan shall come 
 to an understanding with his Majesty the Emperor of Russia for the 
 protection of the rights and interests of Russia in the Straits' of the 
 Bosporus and the Dardanelles. 
 
 " As proof of the acceptance of these essential bases, Ottoman 
 plenipotentiaries shall proceed immediately to Odessa or Sebastopol, 
 to negotiate there preliminaries of peace with the Russian plenipo-
 
 ARMISTICE AND PEACE. 
 
 431 
 
 tentiaries. As soon as the acceptance of these preliminary condi- 
 tions shall be officially notified to the Commanders-in-chief of the 
 Imperial armies, armistice conditions shall be negotiated at the two 
 theaters of war, and hostilities may be provisionally suspended. 
 The two Commanders-in-chief shall have power to complete the 
 above conditions by indicating certain strategical points and for- 
 tresses as a material guarantee of the acceptance of our armistice 
 conditions by the Sublime Porte and of its entrance on the path of 
 peace negotiations." 
 
 The conditions, it was explained, had been drawn up before the 
 rapid advance of the Russians south of the Balkans. The altered 
 position of affairs rendered it unnecessary for the plenipotentiaries 
 to go to Odessa or Sebastopol to carry on the negotiations for peace, 
 which would now take place at Adrianople. 
 
 The negotiations for the final adjustment of the terms of peace 
 proceeded slowly, as they were interrupted by the occurrence of 
 differences on many points of detail, in which the Turkish plenipo- 
 tentiaries asked concessions of the Russians. Among the questions 
 which gave rise to discussion were the extent that should be given 
 the new principality of Bulgaria, the amount of the indemnity that 
 should be paid by Turkey, some points concerning the surrender of 
 Turkish iron-clads to Russia, and the demand for the removal of 
 the Mohammedan officers and troops from Bulgaria. A clause 
 hypothecating the Egyptian tribute and certain other revenues as 
 security for the indemnity to be paid to Russia, was objected to as 
 infringing upon the vested rights of foreign creditors. Modifications 
 were granted on most of these points. In the meantime, although an 
 armistice existed in name, it was effective to prevent active move- 
 ments of the Turks only, for the Russians continued to advance 
 steadily, while the Turks offered no resistance, nor apparently any 
 protest, till the Russian headquarters were established at San 
 Stefano, within ten miles of Constantinople, and, in fact, a suburb of 
 the capital, and the negotiations were carried on during the last 
 days at that place. The preliminary treaty was finally signed on 
 the 2d of March, and the fact was announced to the soldiers at San 
 Stefano on the following day (Sunday). The plenipotentiaries im- 
 mediately entered upon the discussion of the details of the several 
 points of the treaty which had been agreed to en ~bloc or as a whole. 
 On the Yth of March, Rauf Pasha was appointed to accompany 
 Gen. Ignatieff to St. Petersburg to exchange the ratifications of
 
 432 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the treaty. The ratifications were exchanged ten days afterward, 
 March 17th, and the treaty itself was published on the 21st of 
 March. Its principal provisions are as follows :* 
 
 The opening articles relate to Montenegro, Servia, Rumania, and 
 Bulgaria. Montenegro and Servia are declared independent. Mon- 
 tenegro is given Antivari, and Servia is given Nissa, the valley of 
 the Drina, and Little Zvornik. The questions between Montenegro 
 and the Porte are to be settled through Austria and Russia. The 
 Mohammedans of Servia are allowed to retain their personal prop- 
 erty. A Turkish-Servian Commission shall determine within two 
 years questions respecting real estate, and within three years 
 those respecting the property of the State and of the Church 
 (Yakuf). Rumania is made independent. The question concern- 
 ing a war indemnity shall be arranged by a special treaty between 
 Rumania and Turkey. Rumanian subjects shall have the same 
 rights in Turkey as those of other powers. The final bounda- 
 ries of Bulgaria shall be determined by a Russo-Turkish Com- 
 mission previous to the evacuation of Rumelia, and shall follow the 
 following lines : On the west the New and Old Servian frontiers ; 
 the boundary line starts from Yranya, crosses the Kara Dagh Moun- 
 tain, the Kara Drina River, the Grammes Mountain, passes by Kas- 
 toria and around Saionica, and follows the river Karasu as far as 
 Yenidje, on the ^Egean Sea ; south-west of Kavala the boundary 
 runs along the coast to Dedeagatch, thence northward as far as 
 Tchirmen. It winds round Adrianople at a distance of two and a 
 half hours' march, passes through Kirk Kilissa, joins Luleh Burgas, 
 and reaches in a straight line to Hekim Tabiassi, on the Euxine. 
 It runs along the coast as far as Mangalia, includes Varna, bears off 
 to the west, and terminates at Rassova on the Danube. 
 
 The Prince of Bulgaria shall be chosen by a free vote of the peo- 
 ple, confirmed by the Porte, and approved by the powers. No 
 member of any dynasty of the Great Powers shall be eligible. The 
 National Assembly shall be convoked at Tirnova or Philippopolis, 
 to consider the future organization of the country, which shall be 
 analogous to that of the Danubian principalities as established in 
 1830, which shall be arranged before the choice of the prince, under 
 the superintendence of a Russian, and in the presence of a Turkish 
 commissioner. The introduction of the new government shall be 
 intrusted for two years to a Russian commissioner. After one year, 
 
 * The text of the treaty ia given in Appendix II.
 
 ARMISTICE AND PEACE. 
 
 433 
 
 the plenipotentiaries of other powers may participate, if it is con- 
 sidered necessary. The Turkish army having left Bulgaria, all the 
 fortresses shall be razed at the cost of the communities. Till a 
 national militia can be formed, Bulgaria shall be occupied for two 
 years by the Russians, with six divisions of infantry and two divis- 
 ions of cavalry, in all 50,000 men, which shall be maintained at the 
 cost of the Bulgarians. The amount of tribute to be paid by Bulgaria 
 shall be settled by Turkey, Russia, and the other powers. Bulgaria 
 shall assume the obligations of Turkey in reference to the Rustchuk- 
 Varna Railroad Company, after an agreement has been reached be- 
 tween the Porte, Bulgaria, and the company. Arrangements con- 
 cerning the other railway lines are reserved. 
 
 The Porte shall have the right to construct a road for the trans- 
 port of troops and war material to the provinces lying beyond Bul- 
 garia. This road will go from Salonica up the valley of the Yardar 
 and to Pristina. The regulation of postal and telegraphic connec- 
 tions shall be intrusted to a special commission. 
 
 The same provisions are made in respect to the rights of Moham- 
 medans possessing property in Bulgaria as are applied to Servia. 
 
 The Danubian fortresses shall be razed ; the building of forts on 
 the Danube and its navigation by vessels of war are forbidden. 
 Only customs and police vessels are permitted. The privileges of 
 the International Danube Commission are continued in force. The 
 Porte shall re-establish the navigation of the Sulina mouth, and 
 allow indemnification for private losses. 
 
 Reforms shall immediately be introduced into Bosnia and the 
 Herzegovina, the same as were demanded at the first sitting of the 
 Conference at Constantinople, with the assent of Austria and Rus- 
 sia. Arrears of taxes are not to be claimed. The revenue until 
 1880 is to be applied to indemnify the sufferers by the insurrection, 
 and to provide for local needs. 
 
 The application of the ordinance of 1868 is renewed to Crete. 
 Similar ordinances shall be made for Epirus, Thessaly, and other 
 parts of European Turkey. A special commission shall arrange the 
 particulars of this ordinance, which shall be submitted to the ap- 
 proval of the Porte, and applied under the supervision of Russia. 
 
 Armenia shall be given reforms according to local needs, and shall 
 be protected against the Kurds and Circassians. A complete and 
 general amnesty shall be declared. 
 
 The Porte shall take into earnest consideration the views of the 
 23
 
 434 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 mediatory powers in regard to the possession of the citj of Khotur, 
 and shall carry out the work of the demarkation of the Turco-Per- 
 sian boundaries. 
 
 The indemnity to be paid by Turkey to Russia is fixed at 1,410 
 millions of rubles, of which 900 millions shall be charged to the 
 costs of the war, 400 millions to the account of damages to trade, 
 100 millions to the insurrection in the Caucasus, 10 millions for the 
 damages to Russian subjects and, property in Turkey. 
 
 In consideration of the stringent financial condition of the Turk- 
 ish Empire, and in accordance with the desire of the Sultan, the 
 Czar of Russia is satisfied to be offered in payment, together with 
 the sanjak of Tultcha (which may be exchanged for Bessarabia), 
 Ardahan, Kars, Bayazid, and the Armenian territory to the Soghanli 
 Dagh. 
 
 Turkey undertakes to settle, in a conciliatory spirit, all actions 
 between Russian and Turkish subjects, and to execute immediately 
 all legal judgments already delivered. 
 
 The privileges of the monks of Mount Athos are preserved to 
 them. 
 
 The return of the Russian troops from Turkish territory shall be 
 completed within three months. A part of the troops shall be em- 
 barked at the ports of the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora, and 
 at Trebizond. 
 
 The Russians shall administer the Turkish territory till the return 
 of their troops. 
 
 The Porte promises not to proceed against Ottoman subjects who 
 have had relations with the Russians. 
 
 A discharge of prisoners shall take place after the ratification of 
 the treaty. 
 
 Ratifications shall take place within not more than fourteen days. 
 The formal conclusion of peace is reserved, but in any case these 
 preliminaries shall be binding for Russia and Turkey. 
 
 According to an estimate based upon returns made some time 
 before the recent war, which makes the total population of the new 
 Bulgaria 3,822,000, the inhabitants of the principality are classified 
 as 2,372,000 Bulgarians, 819,000 Turks and Tartars, 220,000 Alba- 
 nians, 101,000 Greeks, 65,000 Circassians, and 15,000 Rumanians, 
 besides gypsies, Jews, and others. 
 
 The accession of territory to Servia is equal to 4,100 square miles,
 
 ARMISTICE AND PEACE. 
 
 435 
 
 with 246,000 inhabitants, of whom 92,000 are Mohammedans. That 
 part of the new territory which lies around Nissa is inhabited by 
 Bulgarians ; further west Albanians extend up to the frontiers of 
 Old Servia ; and many of the inhabitants of the remainder of the 
 new territory, though Servians or Bosnians, are Mohammedans 
 Servia, as newly constituted, will have an area of 18,590 square 
 miles, with 1,598,522 inhabitants, among whom are 150,000 Bulga- 
 rians, 160,000 Rumanians, and 92,000 Mohammedans. 
 
 Montenegro is increased by the districts of G-atchko and Nicsic 
 in the north ; Spuz and Podgoritza in the east ; and a seaboard on 
 the Adriatic. These territories have an extent of 1,450 square miles, 
 with 45,000 inhabitants, of whom 15,000 are Mohammedans and 
 about 10,000 Albanians. The principality will now have 3,150 
 square miles, with 241,000 inhabitants. 
 
 The Dobrudja, or the sanjak of Tultcha, which is ceded to Rus- 
 sia, to be exchanged for Bessarabia, comprises 4,990 square miles, 
 and has 194,000 inhabitants, of whom 109,000 are Mohammedans. 
 The part of Bessarabia for which it is proposed to exchange it has 
 4, TOO square miles and 18,000 inhabitants. 
 
 The whole amount of the cessions made by Turkey is Y4,580 
 square miles, with 4,306,000 inhabitants, of whom 933,000 are 
 Turks and 1,646,000 are Mohammedans. The political divisions of 
 what has hitherto been known as Turkey in Europe, will, in future, 
 be according to this estimate, as follows : 
 
 Area in 
 Square miles. 
 
 f Rumania 46,798 
 
 I Dobrudia (Russia) 4,990 
 
 Independent, j gervia ^^ 
 
 [Montenegro 3,150 
 
 Tributary .... Bulgaria . 
 
 64,040 
 
 ("Metropolitan Provinces... 5,470 
 
 Greek Provinces 19,950 
 
 Turkish 1 Albania 24,830 
 
 Bosnia 29,950 
 
 (.Crete 3,320 
 
 158,080 
 
 Population. 
 
 4,850,000 
 194,000 
 
 1,598,522 
 241,000 
 
 3,822,000 
 
 991,000 
 1,274,000 
 1,693,000 
 1,122,000 
 
 275,000 
 
 9,661,000 
 
 Moham- 
 medant. 
 
 109,000 
 92,500 
 15,000 
 
 1,430,000 
 
 584,000 
 
 336,000 
 
 1,065,000 
 
 576,000 
 
 40,000 
 
 4,247,500' 
 
 Turkey in Europe has been reduced to 83,510 square miles, and' 
 5,355,000 inhabitants, of whom 2,601,000 are Mohammedans. Of
 
 436 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the inhabitants, 1,645,000 are Albanians, 1,142,000 are Servians 
 (Bosnians and Croats), 1,359,000 are Greeks, but only 834,500 are 
 Turks. 
 
 In Asia, Turkey has surrendered about 10,000 square miles, with 
 270,000 inhabitants, and there remain to her 714,000 square miles, 
 and about 16,000,000 inhabitants, of whom less than 7,000,000 are 
 Turks.
 
 THE HANGING OF CHRISTIANS BY THE TURKS IN THE STREETS 
 OF PHILIPPOPOLIS.
 
 
 HEADS OF RUSSIAN WOUNDED.
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 THE ATROCITIES OF THE WAR. 
 
 The Expectation that Outrages would be Committed It was not Disappointed The 
 Kurds in Southern Armenia American Missionaries in Danger The Massacre at 
 Bayazid No one Punished for it Charges of Outrages by Russians in Armenia They 
 are not Confirmed Statements of English Witnesses on the Conduct of the Rus- 
 sians Gen. Melikoff's Statement Proclamation by Mukhtar Pasha Enforcing Prin- 
 ciples of Humanity Russian Severities in Abkhasia The Rivalry of Massacres in 
 Bulgaria Attacks on Neutral Property and Hospitals at Widin and Rustchuk The 
 Manufacture of Atrocities Official Statements by the Turks against Russians and 
 Bulgarians The Mob at Nicopolis The Bulgarians at Offandlik Destruction at 
 Sistova Wounded Women and Children at Rasgrad and Shumla Bulgarian Ex- 
 cesses at Eski Sagra The Turks Recapture the Town and Obliterate it The Rus- 
 sians Exculpated from the Charge of Committing Outrages upon Non-combatants 
 What the Turks Ascribed to the Russians Testimony of Mr. Archibald Forbes 
 Report of Lieut. -Col. Wellesley How the Bulgarians Regarded the Case A few 
 Bright Spots in the Picture Turkish Atrocities far in Excess of Anything which 
 the Bulgarians did Destruction of Teni Sagra Trial and Punishment of the Bul- 
 garians Wholesale Executions Remonstrances of Foreign Governments Cruelty 
 of Turkish Soldiers toward Armed Foes The Geshoffs Destitution in the Ravaged 
 Districts Movements for Relief Conduct of the Montenegrins. 
 
 THE remembrance of the hideous deeds which were perpetrated by 
 the Turkish irregular troops in Bulgaria, in the summer of 1876, 
 gave reasonable grounds for the expectation that the far more im- 
 portant campaigns of 1877 would be distinguished by the enactment 
 of similar scenes on. a more extended scale, even though the perpe- 
 tration of outrages in a more atrocious degree were not possible. 
 The conduct of the Turks in the matter of the Bulgarian outrages 
 had given no reason to hope that either their Government or their 
 officers would exert any serious efforts to repress the cruelties of their 
 barbarous adherents. The few executions which the administration 
 in Bulgaria had made a show of making of obscure murderers, in- 
 spired no confidence in the determination of the Porte to stop bar- 
 barous acts by its soldiery, while high officers, who had abetted out- 
 rages, escaped arrest. Shevket Pasha, their commander in Bulgaria, 
 whose duty it had been to put an end to the outrages while they 
 
 (439)
 
 440 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 were in progress, but had made no effort to do so, not only remained 
 in favor, but after a brief retirement was again brought forward and 
 intrusted with responsible commands during the campaign of 1877. 
 The truth was, the Turkish Government could not afford to adopt a 
 determined course toward its irregulars. It was fighting for exist- 
 ence, with a scarcity of means and men, and depended largely upon 
 these wild adventurers to keep the ranks of its armies full. Severe 
 discipline against them would have involved the danger of alienating 
 them from their fidelity, and perhaps have provoked them to de- 
 Bertion or mutiny. It was not expected, on the other hand, that the 
 course of the Russians would be humane, according to the views 
 that prevail among the more cultivated nations of the West. The 
 Russian Government itself is not humane ; its most liberal measures 
 have been characterized in their execution by a severity and disre- 
 gard of personal rights, repugnant to modern ideas ; and it has, 
 within a few years, carried into effect measures that were intolerant 
 in themselves, in a manner that may be characterized as barbarous. 
 The peasants, of whom its regular forces are composed, have enjoyed 
 no education in the humanities, and its irregular troops are hardly less 
 unruly and rash and cruel than the Bashi-Bazouks and Kurds of the 
 Turks. The world was ready to hear, without surprise, of at least 
 extreme carelessness or indifference with regard to the laws of war 
 on the part of the Russian soldiers, and the exercise of severity by 
 their officers. 
 
 The worst apprehensions were justified in the event. The long 
 list of murders, burnings, and devastations committed on both sides 
 during the campaign of 1877, finds a parallel if it does find it 
 only in the accounts of the slaughters and spoliations that accom- 
 panied the campaigns of such barbarian "scourges of the human 
 race" as Tamerlane and Genghis Khan. The first accounts of 
 depredations came from Lower Armenia, in the country around 
 Lake Yan. While the Turkish armies were concentrated around 
 Erzerum, to resist the advancing armies of Generals Tergukassoff 
 and Melikoff, the Kurds flocked up from the south, and did their 
 own will in the region. They were organized into bodies of troops 
 and placed under the general command of Faik and Ismail Pashas, 
 but were not restrained, and soon the district of Bashkalleh, compris- 
 ing some twenty Christian villages, was deserted in consequence of 
 their depredations. The inhabitants fled, many of them escaping to 
 Persia, where they arrived in a starving condition. The mission-
 
 THE ATROCITIES OF THE WAR. 441 
 
 aries of the American Board, which has an important station at Van, 
 were compelled to place their families, for safety, upon an island in 
 the lake. One of the missionaries, having received a sunstroke, had 
 to be taken to the town for medical aid, and the party who had him 
 in charge would have been dispatched incontinently by the Kurds, 
 had not the Pasha, a friend of the missionaries, given them the pro- 
 tection of a strong guard. The Christian charges of the missionaries 
 were subjected to the grossest treatment ; their crops were carried 
 away, their cattle killed, their villages burned, their women and even 
 their children violated. Ten Christians who fled for safety into the 
 church at TJtch Kilissa, were murdered. The region of Bitlis, where 
 the missionaries have another station, was reduced to anarchy by the 
 presence of the Kurds, so that the inhabitants of the city were able to 
 remain in their own houses only by keeping armed and demonstrating 
 their ability to defend themselves. After the defeat of the Russians 
 at Delibaba, the irregulars swarmed into the Alashgerd district, where 
 they are said to have massacred the populations of whole villages, and 
 to have compelled three thousand Christian families to seek the pro- 
 tection of Gen. Tergukassoff's army, which was afforded them, 
 although the Russians themselves were harassed in their retreat by 
 the enemy, and were hastening to reach then* own territory. 
 
 The culmination of Kurdish atrocities took place at Bayazid, 
 where, after the engagement of the 19th of June, when nine hun- 
 dred Cossack cavalry surrendered and were immediately murdered, 
 the Kurds rushed into the town and literally put it to the sword. 
 " The scene that ensued," says a correspondent of the London 
 Times, who wrote from the Turkish camp near Kars, " was one of 
 unparalleled horror. The town contained 165 Christian families, 
 and all of the men, women, and children were ruthlessly put to the 
 sword. A Turkish officer who visited the town a few days subse- 
 quently states that there was not a single inhabitant left ; all had 
 fled, and, including the Russian prisoners, upwards of 2,400 people 
 had been killed. In every house he entered, small groups of dead 
 were lying shockingly mutilated, and in the most revolting and in- 
 decent positions. Captain M'Calmont, who visited the place shortly 
 after the Russian relief, states that it is entirely deserted, and a mere 
 heap of ruins ; also, that soldiers were employed for six days in 
 burying the dead, the number of whom it was impossible to esti- 
 mate. On hearing of this massacre, Mukhtar Pasha at once sent 
 down orders to have the Kurds disbanded and disarmed, and their
 
 442 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ringleaders shot. They, however, anticipated the first of these in- 
 structions by throwing down their arms and deserting en masse on 
 the approach of Tergukassoff's column on the 10th of July." In 
 one church 200 bodies were found, and scarcely a house existed in 
 which there were not two or more corpses. Faik Pasha, a Lieuten- 
 ant-General, at the head of six battalions of soldiers, " never moved 
 a file into the town to check these bloodthirsty scoundrels in their 
 work of slaughter." 
 
 Sir Arnold Kemball, the British Commissioner at the headquar- 
 ters of the Turkish Commander-in-chief, on hearing of the massacre, 
 immediately sent Captain M'Calmont as a messenger to Ismail 
 Pasha, the commandant of the regular troops in the district of Baya- 
 zid, to represent to him the horror which the news of the affair 
 would excite in the civilized world, and the injury which would ac- 
 crue to Turkey in consequence of the perpetration of such acts, and 
 to impress upon him the necessity of adequately punishing the lead- 
 ers in the outrage. He made similar representations to Mukhtar 
 Pasha, the Turkish Commander-in-chief, who expressed his full con- 
 currence in the demand for the punishment of the Bayazid criminals, 
 and promised to suspend Faik Pasha, the commander of the Kurds, and 
 have him brought before a court-martial for not preventing the outrage. 
 Faik Pasha was continued in command, notwithstanding this prom- 
 ise. A court-martial was indeed cons ituted later in the season for 
 his trial, along with other offending Turkish officers ; but he was 
 arraigned, not for the inhumanities which he had permitted, but for 
 inefficiency in not having prevented the relief of Bayazid by Gen. 
 Tergukassoff. The Sheik Ulaledin, the reputed instigator of the 
 massacre, was in September still in the camp of Kurd Ismail Pasha, 
 " an honored guest." It was stated in August that 10,000 Christians 
 had escaped into Persian territory. 
 
 The difficulties experienced by the Turkish generals in dealing 
 with these offenders of the " Irregulars," are illustrated by the result 
 of the execution of a Circassian by Mukhtar Pasha a few days be- 
 fore the Bayazid massacre, for shooting a villager, whose lamb he 
 had stolen. The chief of the band to which the criminal belonged 
 threatened that if he were hanged, he would retire to his home with 
 his whole tribe, and the body of 1,100 men did actually desert on the 
 day after the execution. 
 
 The Turks, in their turn, freely charged the Russians with viola- 
 tions of the laws of war during their campaign in Armenia. The
 
 THE ATROCITIES OF THE WAR. 
 
 443 
 
 principal accusations were summed up in a circular which was 
 addressed by the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs to the repre- 
 sentatives of the Porte abroad, which recited that the Russians had 
 carried off all the property of the Sheik Evlia Yusuf , near Bayazid, 
 and made all his family prisoners ; that they had summoned a party 
 of Kurds, including five or six chiefs, to the palace of the Armenian 
 bishop near Utch Kilissa, and had there massacred them ; that 
 Toprak Kaleh and several villages, in fact all of the villages through 
 which the Russians passed in their retreat, had been destroyed ; that 
 a great number of the inhabitants of these localities, Mussulmans and 
 Christians, had been maltreated and carried off ; that all the prop- 
 erty of twelve tribes had been seized by the enemy ; that two nota- 
 bles of tribes in a village of Kara Kilissa and forty old men, with 
 women and children, who had taken refuge in the mountains, with 
 a number of other inoffensive persons, had fallen into the hands 
 of the Russians, and been put to death one after another; and 
 that some Mussulmans of one of the towns who had made their 
 submission to the Russians, had been sent to Siberia, and the re- 
 mainder, without distinction of age or sex, had been ruthlessly mas- 
 sacred. During the siege of Kars, on the 5th of July, the Turkish 
 commandant at Kars sent a messenger under a flag of truce to the 
 Russian lines on some matter connected with hospital duty; ac- 
 cording to one account to claim some dead and wounded on the 
 field, according to another to warn the Russians that they were 
 firing into the hospital. The flag was not respected, but the Rus- 
 sians directed their fire upon the messenger and killed him. 
 
 The accusations against the Russian officers, so far as they charge 
 the perpetration of outrages in Armenia, were not substantiated. 
 Most of them were contradicted by the representatives of the British 
 Government and the English press who were attached to the Turk- 
 ish army. The cases specified in the Turkish official statement, 
 even if they were correctly described in the report, can not be 
 classed in the same category as the massacre at Bayazid, or the 
 depredations committed by the Kurds around Yan and Bitlis, and 
 in the plain of Alashgerd. That the Russians committed any real 
 atrocities is specifically and unequivocally denied by Englishmen of 
 high station, whose positions guaranteed their general impartiality, 
 and whose association with the Turks made it impossible that they 
 could be in collusion or sympathy with the Russians. The single act 
 of firing on the flag of truce at Kars was clearly established ; but the
 
 444 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 fact appears in connection with the evidence in this case, that a few 
 days before that event, the Turks had killed a Russian doctor who 
 carried the Geneva cross above his head and wore a white badge on 
 his arm, and that a Turkish sergeant had gone about Kars boasting 
 that " he had killed the Russian doctor by cutting off his head as 
 he would that of a sheep." For the rest, an English telegram from 
 Kars at the beginning of August stated that the stories were utterly 
 untrue ; that the Russians throughout had behaved well ; and that 
 the Turkish regulars had also behaved well, but the irregulars, Kurds 
 and Circassians had been guilty of atrocities past belief, despite the 
 most laudable efforts of Mukhtar Pasha to restrain them. A cor- 
 respondent wrote from the headquarters of the Fourth Turkish 
 army corps, Camp Kirk Bunar, July 6th : " I have now for the last 
 week been following in the wake of the retiring Russian army, and 
 can see no traces nor hear any reports of any such misdeeds. On 
 the contrary, they appear to have behaved with the greatest moder- 
 ation, and paid for everything they consumed. It is true that there 
 is a great scarcity of grain in the villages through which they passed, 
 but this is accounted for by their large force of cavalry requiring 
 enormous supplies of this commodity. Fowls, sheep, goats, and 
 cattle are as plentiful in the district recently occupied by the Rus- 
 sians as in that in rear of the late Turkish positions. And while all 
 over the Passin plain there were signs of misrule and piratical vio- 
 lence, and loud complaints of outrages perpetrated on the Christian 
 populations, outrages of which it is not well to speak, here all is 
 peace and plenty." In another letter the same correspondent again 
 makes special mention of the quantities of live stock and poultry 
 throughout the district which the Russians had occupied, and adds : 
 " The corn is now full in ear, and shows plainly that the Russian 
 troops carefully avoided trampling down the crops, while the abun- 
 dance of rouble notes, for which the villagers refuse to take less 
 than their full value, is sufficient evidence that Loris MelikoiFs 
 army possesses sufficient discipline to respect the property of harm- 
 less villagers, and that his men pay for all they take. Very differ- 
 ent is the sight when we approach Christian villages. These are 
 considered fair fields for pillage by the irregular horsemen of the 
 Turkish army, and I regret to say that these disgraceful proceedings 
 are not checked in any way by the officers of the army." 
 
 Near the spot where these letters were written was the village of 
 Beg Mehined, where the Russians had inflicted the great surprise
 
 THE A TROCITIES OF THE WAR. 44$ 
 
 upon four thousand Circassian cavalry on the 29th of May. A part 
 of the Circassians had returned to the village " when the coast was 
 clear," and accusing the Christian inhabitants of having given in- 
 formation to the enemy, massacred thirty-one men in cold blood. 
 When the correspondent with the army passed through the village, 
 " the place was completely deserted, doors of granaries burst open, 
 the contents spilt over the road," and the soldiers were busy gather- 
 ing the grain and straw and whatever they could lay their hands 
 upon. 
 
 The British Consul at Erzerum, reported officially to Lord Derby 
 that the conduct of the Russian troops toward the inhabitants had 
 been humane and just, alike to Mussulmans and Christians. 
 Severity, he admitted, had sometimes been employed, but only 
 when villagers had provoked it by trying to escape from the villages 
 after having been told that by remaining in their homes and attend- 
 ing to their labors they would be protected and cared for. The 
 Consul further stated that he had read with surprise the protest en- 
 tered by the Porte against the Russians for atrocities committed in 
 Asia Minor, and was inclined to believe that the Turks desired to 
 publish as atrocities the hanging and shooting, by order of Russian 
 commanders, of several Kurds who were executed for committing 
 the worst of crimes. 
 
 A correspondent of the London Times, writing from Erzerum 
 on the 31st of August, stated that he had been unable to get any 
 confirmation of Ismail Pasha's reports of Russian atrocities in the 
 Alashgerd plain. Both Mohammedans and Armenians maintained 
 that they had been treated with consideration and kindness by Ter- 
 gukassoifs column, and that it was not until after the Russians had 
 fallen back from Zeidekan, that they were exposed to the cruelties 
 spoken of by Ismail Kurd Pasha, and that " these acts were one and 
 all committed by Kurds, and not by Russians." 
 
 The Russian side of the case was represented in the following 
 language in a statement made by Gen. Melikoff to a correspondent 
 early in July : 
 
 " "Warfare here is very different from what it is in Europe. 
 Among our enemy we have, no doubt, many who are thoroughly 
 civilized. But there are also Kurds and Bashi-Bazouks, and, as a 
 general rule, we can not trust to the humanity of our foes. Now, 
 this has crippled my actions very materially. Had we been at war 
 with civilized people, I would have written a letter to inform the
 
 446 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 authorities that I had left so many hundred wounded in such and 
 such a village, and requested that their persons should be respected. 
 But here it would be madness to trust to them in that way, and so I 
 was obliged to retreat. Otherwise, I assure you, I should have ad- 
 vanced, and by this time would have been before Erzerum. In this 
 way the Turks have a great advantage over us, which is totally 
 one-sided ; for we, on the contrary, take as great care of Turkish 
 wounded prisoners as of our own men. For example, at Ardahan 
 we found an hospital with 800 Turks. They were totally destitute 
 of medical appliances ; and although my stores of bandages and 
 medicines were insufficient for my own uses, I gave orders that 
 everything should be divided impartially between the two nationali- 
 ties. So that you see we are always fighting at a disadvantage, even 
 when we are equal in numbers." 
 
 After his victories in the summer, Mukhtar Pasha issued a proc- 
 lamation to the soldiers and irregulars of the army operating on 
 the frontiers of Yan and Bayazid, in anticipation of their crossing 
 the frontiers, on the subject of the behavior they ought to practice 
 toward the enemy and the people of the country. He expected 
 every one " to comport himself with mildness toward the oppressed 
 inhabitants of the country of Erivan " (the Russian province), and 
 exhorted the soldiers, in conformity to their " good sentiments and 
 traditional generosity," " to abstain from every act having for its 
 object to satisfy the passions." He instructed them that they should 
 never causelessly take the life of a human being ; should take care 
 never to cause any injury to those who should ask mercy at their 
 hands, to prisoners, or to deserters, unless they should commit acts 
 which would render their destruction necessary, but should conduct 
 the wounded among them to the hospitals ; that they should respect 
 the property, the honor, and the houses of the inhabitants ; should 
 abstain from every blameable action which is forbidden by the Holy 
 law and the rules of generosity, and from every kind of disorder 
 as the setting on fire and destruction of stations, of straw and hay 
 and should be careful not to exceed the bounds of the law in carry- 
 ing off booty. By their obeying these exhortations, he hoped their 
 names would embellish the future history of Caucasia, and that by 
 teaching with good examples civilization and humanity, they would 
 " bring the torch of justice into those regions now covered with 
 darkness." 
 
 Accusations that the Russians had perpetrated acts of severity in
 
 THE A TROCITIES OF THE WAR. 
 
 447 
 
 repressing the Abkhasian insurrection, were made in a document 
 which was published in July, under the signature of a Turkish chief 
 of staff, the essential points of which may be summarized as follows : 
 That the Russians had burnt all the villages in the country ; that 
 they had fired upon the hospitals established at Otcheratchiri ; that 
 they had left the Turkish dead unburied, and eventually burnt them ; . 
 and that they had no prisoners, having killed all the wounded whom 
 they took. The truth of these charges was admitted by implication. 
 They were not denied, but were explained. The villages were 
 burnt ; as to the firing upon the hospitals, it was suggested that the 
 proper steps had not been taken to make the position of the hospi- 
 tals known to the Russians ; the Turkish dead lay between the two 
 armies on the other side of a river from the Russians ; they were 
 not buried by either side, and, becoming offensive, the Russians 
 placed dry wood over the corpses, and they were burned ; and, 
 lastly, it was the rule to take no Abkhazians prisoners, but to shoot 
 or bayonet them as rebels. 
 
 Mr. Layard, the British Minister at Constantinople, wrote to the 
 British Foreign Office, July 10th, that the accounts of the shocking 
 treatment by the Russian authorities and troops of many villages in 
 Circassia, on the approach of the Turkish forces, Came from so many 
 independent sources, that their general truth could scarcely be called 
 in question. It does not appear, however, that these offenses were 
 of a nature different from those specified above, which come under 
 the head rather of barbarous severities to rebellious subjects than of 
 wanton atrocities. 
 
 The war in Europe was accompanied during the summer of 1877 
 by a series of massacres and reprisals in which the scenes of 1876 
 were re-enacted by Moslems on one side, and Bulgarians on the 
 other, till the fairest parts of Bulgaria south of the Balkans were 
 made an uninhabited waste. Charges of disregard of the laws of 
 war and of the sanctity of hospitals and the property of neutrals 
 were also brought, in several instances, against the Russians and 
 their allies with such directness and force of testimony that they 
 could not be escaped. 
 
 On the 27th of May, the Rumanian batteries at Kalafat directed 
 their fire at the principal Turkish hospital in Widin, although its 
 position was pointed out by the flag of the Red Crescent. Several 
 sick and wounded soldiers were killed or injured. During the bom- 
 bardment of Rustchuk, in the latter part of June, the Russian bat-
 
 448 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 teries were aimed directly upon the French and English Consulates, 
 the latter of which was destroyed, and upon the hospitals. When 
 the attack was begun on the British Consulate, the Consul thought 
 that the Russians did not see his flag, and put up a larger one, but 
 the building was a wreck in half an hour afterward, and all of the 
 furniture was broken up. This was continued for two or three days. 
 The actuality of the damage done to neutral property is attested by 
 pictures which were taken of the destroyed buildings and published 
 in the illustrated papers. The Turks, in return, made a vigorous 
 fire upon Giurgevo, and' destroyed the town, not sparing the 
 hospitals. 
 
 From the beginning of July, stories of atrocities committed in 
 Bulgaria by the followers of either side now by Christians on Mo- 
 hammedans, now by Mohammedans on Christians were narrated 
 with great volubility, and filled all the papers. Many of them were 
 sheer fabrications or enormous exaggerations. It was stated, on un- 
 doubted authority, that the manufacture of reports of atrocities had 
 become a distinct business within the lines of both parties, and the 
 stories were palmed off upon whatever correspondents could be in- 
 duced to send them, or were forged and sent off in the names of 
 correspondents without their knowledge. Many of these stories 
 were taken up by the English newspapers and repeated and com- 
 mented upon without discrimination or extenuation, for partisan 
 purposes. But after ample allowance is made for the tales that failed 
 to be substantiated, or were disproved, the record of fully authenti- 
 cated instances of wanton destruction and murder must constitute 
 one of the darkest chapters in the history of savage lust and ven- 
 geance. The first accusations were brought against the Russians 
 and Bulgarians ; and it is proved by an accumulation of indisputable 
 testimony that the Bulgarians took advantage of the presence and 
 protection of the Russian troops while they occupied the country 
 south of the Balkans to make reprisals on their Mussulman neigh- 
 bors for the insults they had had to endure from them, and to avenge 
 themselves for the jnassacres of 1876. 
 
 An official statement made by the Turkish Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs on the 22d of July, recited, as established facts, that a 
 mosque where the inhabitants of the village of Tiamsikoi had taken 
 refuge upon the occupation of Tirnova by the Russians and Bulga- 
 rians was burned, with all of the refugees within it ; and that twelve 
 unarmed Mussulmans, inhabitants of the village of Soukoulan, near
 
 THE A TROCITIES OF THE WAR. 449 
 
 Eski Sagra, having surrendered to the Russians, seven of them were 
 massacred with axes by the Bulgarians, and three others by the Cos- 
 sacks; and added the result of an estimate which had been made as 
 exact as possible of the number of houses destroyed by fire, and of 
 the Mussulman inhabitants killed by the Russians and Bulgarians in 
 the villages which, to the date of the dispatch, had suffered by the 
 invasion, as follows : 
 
 " First At Batak, a village exclusively Mohammedan, in the dis- 
 trict of Sistova, 100 houses were burned ; 200 men and 300 women 
 perished ; total, 500 victims. It is believed that seven inhabitants 
 survived. 
 
 " Second At Balovan, a Mussulman village in the district of Tir- 
 nova, 250 houses were burned; TOO men and 1,200 women per- 
 ished in all, 1,900 victims. One person only, it is believed, escaped 
 from the massacre. 
 
 " Third At Caba-Bonnas, 100 houses were burned ; 200 men and 
 300 women perished; total, 500 victims. Two persons escaped 
 alive. 
 
 "Fourth At Kestambol, 150 houses were burned ; 300 men and 
 600 women perished ; total, 900 victims. 
 
 " Fifth At Chems, a mixed village, 60 Mussulman houses were 
 destroyed; 120 men and 200 women perished; total, 320 victims. 
 One person only escaped. 
 
 "Sixth At Tundja, a mixed village, 100 houses were destroyed; 
 250 men and 400 women perished ; total, 650 victims. Only three 
 survivors." 
 
 A statement followed, asserting that 820 houses had been set on 
 fire in seven villages, which had been abandoned by the inhabitants 
 before the enemy's arrival. On the 24th, the Governor-General of 
 the vilayet of the Danube telegraphed that on the preceding Sun- 
 day some Russians and Bulgarians had massacred every inhabitant, 
 except three women and two men, of the village of Yenikoi, eight 
 hours distant from Osman Bazar, and that they had killed five per- 
 sons in the village of Kost, nine hours distant from the same city. 
 Another official circular asserted that the Russians and Bulgarians 
 had burned all the men and a part of the women of the village of 
 Herste ; that seventy Mussulmans and the Imam of Dalioka had 
 been shut up by the Bulgarians and Cossacks in a granary, and 
 burned ; forty other Mussulmans of the same village had been mas- 
 sacred, the women outraged, and the greater part of them then led,
 
 450 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 with their children, to the outskirts of the village, and assassinated ; 
 and that, after all the Mussulmans of Eski Sagra, Kasanlik, and the 
 neighboring villages had been, disarmed, the Bulgarians, having 
 their arms, massacred 400 Mussulmans of Maglis, in the district of 
 Kasanlik. Other official circulars described numerous outrages, 
 which were alleged to have been committed by Bulgarians in the 
 district of Kasanlik, and that they had disarmed all the Mussulmans 
 of a number of villages in the neighborhood of Kasanlik, and, " af cer 
 shutting them all up men, women, and children in a mosque, 
 they tied them together by the arms, by means of their belts, and 
 then stabbed them to death." Later dispatches, issued from time to 
 time, gave accounts of murders and pillaging at Tirnova, Sistova, 
 and numerous other places, which had been occupied by the Kus- 
 sians. 
 
 A large number of the Turkish stories of outrages, said to have 
 been committed by their adversaries, stand unproved; many of 
 them appear to be exaggerations of acts of heated violence ; some 
 of them have been contradicted and disproved ; but many of them 
 have been circumstantially confirmed. A correspondent of the 
 Neue Freie Presae of Yienna, a journal friendly to the Russians, 
 describes the massacre at Batak, which is mentioned in the Turkish 
 official dispatches, as having occurred just after a street fight, in 
 which the Bulgarian inhabitants were driven out by the Moslems. 
 Half an hour afterward, the Cossacks entered the town, and began 
 an onslaught on the Turkish population. According to the testi- 
 mony of eye-witnesses, who escaped the massacre, even the Bul- 
 garian women urged on the slaughter, and took part in it. This 
 Batak is not the village where the massacre of 1876 occurred, but 
 is in another district. The same correspondent described the Bul- 
 garian women at Diskot as leading the mob of murderers, collecting 
 the bodies of the murdered Turkish women and girls, and piling 
 them in front of the house of the Mudir, and dancing npon them. 
 
 Upon the capture of Nicopolis, the mob rushed through the 
 streets, murdering all the men who resisted, arid committing barbar- 
 ities on the women and children. In one quarter of the city, where 
 the more fanatical Moslems dwelt, not a house was left without 
 damage, and hardly a citizen could be found who had not been mal- 
 treated. On the day following the capture, the town was plun- 
 dered. 
 
 A correspondent of the London Times visited the village of
 
 THE A TROCITIES OF THE WAR, 45 r 
 
 Offandlik, near Kasanlik, and saw evidences that a massacre had 
 been committed, in the shape of the body of a beautiful yonng 
 woman, who had been murdered and cast away, and in the remains 
 of women and children which had been thrown into a well. The 
 people who remained in the place said that the Bulgarians, with a 
 few Cossacks, had visited the place after the retreat of the regular 
 Russian army, had taken the men outside of the village and shot 
 them, had collected the women and children in one of the large 
 houses, where they outraged them repeatedly, and had " continued 
 pillaging and burning, and occasionally killing anybody they 
 found." On his way back to the Turkish camp, the correspondent 
 " came across upward of 120 dead Turks, who had all been mas- 
 sacred by bayonet or sword, or shot suddenly. They were lying 
 in groups, in one place forty, in another fifty, and two or three 
 smaller parties/' Among them were one woman and several old 
 men. 
 
 The work of destruction at Sistova after its capture was thorough- 
 ly done. The correspondent of the London Times wrote : " When 
 I entered the Turkish quarter of the town (which has been deserted) 
 I found that the pillagers had been there. Turkish books and manu- 
 scripts littered the streets ; the Moslem houses and shops were minus 
 doors and windows, and their interiors were empty. I visited a 
 mosque, and found little Bulgarian children gathering firewood from 
 the mass of splinters and woodwork which covered the floor. Upon in- 
 quiry, I found that the Russian soldiers and Bulgarian residents were 
 about equally responsible for these l vandalisms.' " The correspond- 
 ent of the New York Times, who also visited the place, gave a further 
 description of the desolation : 
 
 " I have been all through the original Turkish quarter, where the 
 Pasha's Konak and the palace of a wealthy Osmanli, with its high 
 walls and grated windows, have been occupied by the Russian au- 
 thorities. Every other house lies open to inspection, for the Bul- 
 garians finished the work of destruction commenced by the Musco- 
 vite soldiery. It was natural enough, too ; the latter came in with, 
 their blood up from the fight, and the rayahs, as liberated slaves,, 
 sought to vent their fury upon their former masters. The negroes-- 
 did it at San Domingo, and there is no negro fresh from the shores, 
 of the Congo whom I would insult by comparing him socially or in> 
 tellectually with a home-bred Bulgarian. There were some horrid 
 scenes, they tell me, in Sistova on the morrow of the assault, and for 
 24
 
 452 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 days after, and Turks were hunted out of their hiding-places and shot 
 down like dogs, and rape and murder and pillage, and every foul deed 
 which lust and brutality could imagine, was perpetrated, under the 
 eyes of the Russian officers, until there was nothing left wherewith 
 to reproach the Osmanli for last summer's atrocities, except, it may 
 be, the number of the victims. When human victims were want- 
 ing to their vengeance they wreaked it upon ir. animate things ; every 
 house, from cellar to roof, has been gutted; chimney-places and 
 walls have been demolished, floors torn up in search of concealed 
 treasure. Handfuls of wool, bundles of rags of every sort and color, 
 the accumulations of generations of Osmanli for the stuffing of their 
 traditional divans, are scattered about the rooms like a thick carpet, 
 or lie in heaps in the streets and gardens, where even the fruit trees 
 have been chopped and hacked simply because they were once dear 
 to the Moslem." 
 
 On the 17th of July seventeen victims were collected in the hos- 
 pital at Rasgrad, all bearing evidence of wounds inflicted by Rus- 
 sian soldiery. The correspondent who saw them, and who tells the 
 story, says that with what degree of thoroughness the injuries upon 
 these poor people were inflicted, " may be gathered from the fact 
 that the seventeen victims showed a total of thirty-six wounds. Of 
 these, for example, a little girl of six years bore four. It would, 
 therefore, appear that the murderers went to work in cold blood, and 
 were not content with killing er wounding at the first stroke. These 
 seventeen victims of Russian barbarity belonged to a band of fugi- 
 tives from Ablava, who, on the 30th of June, were hurrying away 
 to Rustchuk in a train of forty wagons, having received intimation 
 of the atrocities which the advancing Russians were perpetrating in 
 other places. The hostile horsemen had overtaken the fugitives on 
 their way, and straightway began the human slaughter. Thirty-five 
 poor people were killed on the spot, and the seventeen wounded 
 creatures here are part of those who escaped with a little remnant of 
 life." The wounds were from sabre strokes, lance-thrusts, and pistol 
 shots. 
 
 At about the same time the hospital at Shumla contained forty 
 wounded persons, among whom were old women and children, and 
 even sucking babes, one of the last bearing six wounds. On the 21st 
 of July, the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs published officially 
 a statement, which h id been drawn up and signed by all the news- 
 paper correspondents at Shumla, embracing the representatives of
 
 THE ATROCITIES OF THE WAR. 453 
 
 seventeen leading papers of Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, 
 England, Scotland, and the United States, reciting that " they de- 
 clare that they have with their own eyes seen and have interrogated, 
 both at Rasgrad and at Shumla, women, children, and old men 
 wounded by lance and sword-thrusts, not to speak of injuries from 
 firearms, which might be attributed to the accidents of legitimate 
 war. These victims give horrible accounts of the treatment the ".Rus- 
 sian troops, and sometimes even the Bulgarians, inflict on the fugi- 
 tive Mussulmans. According to their declarations the entire Mus- 
 sulman population of several villages have been massacred. Every 
 day there are fresh arrivals of wounded. The undersigned declare 
 that women and children are the most numerous among the victims, 
 and that they bear lance wounds." 
 
 According to a report made by Lieut.-Col. Wellesley, British Mili- 
 tary Attache at the Russian headquarters, the Russian officers ac- 
 counted for the condition of these creatures by stating that some 
 Russian cavalry had come across what they considered to be a Turk- 
 ish convoy leaving Rustchuk, and summoned it to surrender. The 
 Turks replied by firing on the cavalry, and women and children 
 might easily have been wounded in the skirmish which ensued, for 
 the supposed convoy proved to be a caravan of Turkish peasants 
 leaving Rustchuk with their household goods. The Emperor had 
 given orders to have the affair investigated. 
 
 One of the correspondents wjio signed the circular at Shumla, after- 
 ward caused it to be published that one of the wounded women had 
 confessed to him, that the attack upon them was made by Bulgarians, 
 not by Cossacks, but that they had been told to say that it was by 
 the latter. 
 
 The occupation of Eski Sagra by the Russians on the 22d of July 
 was hailed by the Bulgarian population with wild enthusiasm. They 
 took the management of affairs into their own hands, organized a 
 provincial government, and proceeded forthwith to make reprisals on 
 the Turks for all the wrongs they had suffered during centuries of 
 misgovernment. A court-martial was instituted, before which ob- 
 noxious Turks were tried and condemned. Six were hanged and 
 four shot in one day, and executions followed on the succeeding 
 days, until, it is said, " At last the Turks were taken out of the city 
 and killed by any Bulgarian who chose to do so, without form or 
 trial," until the slaughter was stopped by an order prohibiting sum- 
 mary executions. The sale of food to the Turks was prohibited,
 
 454 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 and the houses and shops of the Moslems were pillaged by the rab- 
 ble. This state of affairs continued for eleven days, during which, 
 according to the Turkish accounts, 1,100 Mussulmans were put to 
 death, till the attack was made on the Russian positions before the 
 town on the 31st of July, when panic and confusion set in among 
 the Bulgarian citizens. The utmost terror took the place of the ex- 
 ultation which they had felt, and the whole population, or all who 
 could get away, fled incontinently from the city. The Bulgarian 
 volunteers who were fighting in the lines outside, having orders to 
 defend the town, bravely resisted the advance of the Turks, falling 
 back step by step, and continued to fight in the streets until they 
 were overpowered. The Turkish citizens did not wait till their 
 army had entered the place, but anticipating that event, came out 
 from their hiding-places and proceeded to attack the Bulgarian 
 houses. Pillaging and massacre prevailed through the day and 
 night. All Bulgarian men were killed at sight, while as a rule, 
 women and children were spared. On the next day, Suleiman 
 Pasha, the Turkish commander, ordered all the Moslems and Jews 
 to leave the place, taking with them their property. He then set fire 
 to the town, and it was completely destroyed. 
 
 Nearly all of the outrages committed on the Russian side were 
 perpetrated by Bulgarians. Some of them, as in the case of the 
 women in the hospitals at Rasgrad and Shumla, were traced appar- 
 ently, but not conclusively, to the Russian cavalry and Cossacks. 
 There seem to be a few plausible grounds for the assertion which was 
 made, that the Russians countenanced, if they did not encourage, the 
 pillaging which took place in some of the larger towns, as at Sistova 
 and Eski Sagra. The Russian higher officers disclaimed all responsi- 
 bility for the more atrocious acts of massacre and mutilation, and pro- 
 fessed on all occasions an anxiety to repress them, and to inflict rig- 
 orous punishment upon any of their soldieiy, against whom acts 
 contrary to the usages of civilized war could be proved. 
 
 The Turks had a theory upon which they made the Russians re- 
 sponsible for all, even the worst acts, even when they were commit- 
 ted, as were several of the massacres, by Bulgarians, far from their 
 lines. They charged that the whole process of instigating riot, pil- 
 lage, and massacre was conducted systematically by the Russians, 
 after a regularly formed plan. On the arrival of a column into 
 a village, notice would be given that the safety of the Mussulman 
 population would be guaranteed. As soon as the headquarters of
 
 THE ATROCITIES OF THE WAR. 455 
 
 the commanding officer were established, the Mussulman inhabitants, 
 consisting chiefly of women and children for all the able-bodied 
 men were in the army would be gathered in a distant quarter, un- 
 der guard, while the houses were searched for concealed arms and 
 stowaways. Then the regular troops would be withdrawn, the 
 commanders washing their hands of future consequences, and a few 
 hours afterward, the massacres by Cossacks and Bulgarians would 
 commence. The foreigners and newspaper correspondents having 
 been all the time with the regular force, would see nothing of the 
 disorderly proceedings which followed the withdrawal of the troops, 
 and would neither be able to bear witness to them nor to contradict 
 the Russian denials, but would always be able to say that the Rus- 
 sian regular troops were not guilty of disorders. 
 
 Admitting that the Russian treatment of hostile populations was 
 severe, and that their prisoners were not as well cared for as they 
 might have been under better circumstances of provision and trans- 
 portation, the fact remains that a careful examination of all the in- 
 cidents of the war has failed to bring home to them a single sub- 
 stantiated instance of atrocity against them, and hardly one of cruelty 
 which may not find some sort of an excuse in the circumstances of 
 the case. The character which is given of their treatment of the 
 Turks, by correspondents in Asia, is confirmed by the accounts of 
 correspondents in Europe. Except as to the case of the wounded 
 women at Rasgrad and Shumla, no charge of outrage made against 
 the Cossacks has been substantiated with proof sufficient to give it 
 even probability. Mr. Archibald Forbes, who accompanied the 
 Russians in their campaigns north of the Balkans, as correspondent 
 of the London Daily News, published in the Nineteenth, Century 
 for November, 18T7, a careful review of the question of atrocities, 
 in which he strenuously denied that the Russian soldiery were ever 
 guilty of them. " On soul and conscience," he said, " I believe the 
 allegations thereof to be utterly false. Of all events which occurred 
 south of the Balkans, I have merely hearsay knowledge. ' Atrocities ' 
 in plenty were, however, charged against the Russians north of the 
 Balkans, and respecting these I can speak from a wide range of 
 personal experience. The Turks resident in the towns and villages 
 of Bulgaria were peremptorily enjoined, by commands from Constan- 
 tinople, to quit their homes and retire before the advancing Russians. 
 In the great majority of cases they did so, and their evacuation was 
 accomplished before the first Russian reached the vicinage of their
 
 456 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 abodes. This was so at Sistova, at Batak, and at many other places 
 where murder and rapine were systematically and lyingly averred 
 against the Russian soldiers. The Turks who anywhere chose to 
 
 remain were unmolested, without exception, so far as I know 
 
 Constantly accompanying Cossacks and other Russian cavalry in 
 reconnoissances in front of the Rustchuk army, I never noticed any 
 disposition to be cruel. I do not aver, remember, that atrocities 
 were not committed on fugitive Turks ; but not by the Russians. 
 North of the Balkans, at least, Cossack lances and Russian sabres 
 wrought no barbarity on defenseless men, women, and children." 
 
 The views of Mr. Forbes on this subject are corroborated by a 
 report which Lieutenant-Colonel Wellesley, a special attache of the 
 British Government at the Russian headquarters in Bulgaria, made 
 to Earl Derby on the 6th of August, to the effect that the result of 
 his inquiries among Russians and Englishmen, had led him " to the 
 honest and firm conclusion, that the statements of Russian cruelties 
 are entirely without foundation." Yet he believed that the present 
 war was one in which little quarter was given or expected on either 
 side. He had heard of incendiarism and plunder by Bulgarians, but 
 believed that the Russians tried to check them, and he had known 
 cases where Turkish peasants had actually applied for a Cossack 
 guard to protect them from Bulgarian attack. 
 
 The Bulgarian population, usually so peaceful and submissive 
 that it had become a reproach to them, seem to have been excited to 
 frenzy by the presence of the Russians among them, and the belief 
 that they were finally delivered from the Mohammedan oppression 
 under which they had suffered. In their simplicity and ignorance 
 they thought the conquest of the country from the Turks was finally 
 effected as soon as the Russian lines had reached their homes, and all 
 that they had to do was to possess and exercise their newly-gained 
 liberties. They were too short-sighted to comprehend that it was 
 possible for the tide of battle to turn, the Russians be driven away, 
 and the Turks be restored to mastery over them. "With the ardor 
 that is characteristic of such peoples, under similar circumstances, 
 they gave themselves up to unrestrained, because unaccustomed, 
 license ; with only the single thought of the wrongs they had suffered 
 from the Turks, they set out to take vengeance, and make to them- 
 selves restitution for them. They sincerely thought that in pillaging 
 the Turkish homes, they were only getting back what was their own, 
 for they were accustomed to reply, when spoken to on the subject,
 
 ;; s||y! ""'". 
 
 MADAME CAMARA AND A WOUNDED CHILD.
 
 WOUNDED TURKS RETURNING FROM THE BATTLE OF KASANLIK.
 
 THE A TROCITIES OF THE WAR. 459 
 
 that all that the Turks had, had been stolen or wrested from them, 
 and that they were fairly entitled to the whole of it. 
 
 The dark story of Bulgarian excesses is relieved by a few acts 
 showing the assertion of the spirit of justice amid the temptations 
 to rapine and revenge. At Tirnova, the people took a pride in 
 trying to show that they were superior in civilization to the Turks. 
 Their behavior to the Turks was good, aad the pillaging soon ceased. 
 A committee was formed under the Archimandrite to watch over 
 Turkish property, and special constables were appointed from among 
 the young men of the town to help them in this work. A mixed 
 commission of seven Bulgarians and three Turks was appointed at 
 Kasanlik, who, sitting on the same bench together, harmoniously 
 and impartially adjudged the cases which were brought before them 
 solely in the interests of good order. The executions which took 
 place in that city were in ace rdance with sentences inflicted by 
 this commission. The missionaries of the American Board at Eski 
 Sagra remained in the city through the whole conflict ; during its 
 occupation by the Russians and its recapture by the Turks; be- 
 friended the suffering of both sides, and received the respect and 
 protection of both. At one time they gave shelter to some Turks 
 who were fleeing from the Bulgarian mob, and fed some of their 
 Moslem neighbors while the edict against selling food to Mussul- 
 mans was in force. When it came the turn of the Turk to pillage 
 and destroy, these Moslems formed a guard around the missionaries, 
 defended them against an attack by the Circassians, and finally in- 
 duced the governor of the city to provide them with a guard of 
 regular soldiers. At Sistova the Kadi, who was the only Turk that 
 remained in the town, was treated with respect, and his house was 
 not molested. 
 
 The worst atrocities charged against Bulgarians were eclipsed, in 
 magnitude and heinousness, as well as in number, by the excesses 
 in which the Turks indulged. Terrible as are the stories which are 
 told of their march of devastation through Lower Bulgaria or 
 Rmnelia, there is no lack of proof of the worst charges that are 
 laid against them. The total destruction of Eski Sagra, which has 
 been already recorded, is but a specimen of the fate which overtook 
 many of the once flourishing cities and villages of the country of 
 the rose gardens. On the 14th of July, a band of Bashi-Bazouks 
 entered the town of Yeni Sagra and warned the Moslem population 
 that the Russians were within a short distance. The Moslems all
 
 460 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 fled, and some of them reaching Constantinople the next day, re- 
 ported that the Russians were driving out and massacring the 
 people, although no evidence has been produced that anj Russians 
 were actually near the place. The Bashi-Bazouks camped during 
 the night near the railway station, and on the next day entered the 
 town, plundered the bazars, set fire to the place, and began a scene 
 of slaughter which lasted twenty-four hours. How many were 
 killed can not be exactly ascertained, for they were left to lie where 
 they fell, in their private gardens, in their houses, in the fields, and 
 of those who fled it is not known how many succeeded in escaping. 
 The place was visited three days after the massacre by an English 
 correspondent, accompanied by an officer of the English Diplomatic 
 service, whose search showed that not a single house or shop had 
 escaped pillage. "It seems incredible," the correspondent says, 
 " how they could have ransacked the place so completely in go short 
 a time." The writer, after giving a description in detail of the 
 murdered bodies and hideous sights that he saw, all of which 
 formed conclusive evidence to him that there had been " a foul 
 massacre of Bulgarians at Yeni Sagra," closed his account by stating 
 that he had not mentioned a thing that he had not personally seen, 
 and that he could substantiate every detail by witnesses of un- 
 doubted integrity. 
 
 Kavarna is a town on the Black Sea, near Varna, inhabited by 
 four or five hundred families, mostly Greeks, of more than usual 
 intelligence. In addition to its regular population, many of the in- 
 habitants of the surrounding country had come into it for refuge 
 against depredations. The Circassians attacked the town on the 
 21st of July, and were met by a vigorous resistance. A proposition 
 was made to the inhabitants to give a ransom of sixty thousand 
 piasters or abandon the place, in consideration of which they should 
 be spared. While this was under discussion, a part of the Circas- 
 sians entered the town and began a course of plunder and murder 
 which continued for more than twelve hours. The Turkish Gov- 
 ernor at Yarna was appealed to while the massacre was going on, to 
 send a force to save the people, and promised to do so, but at the 
 same time attempted to excuse the massacre by saying that the 
 Christians at Kavarna ought to have quitted their homes rather 
 than repel the aggression by force of arms. Two vessels with troops 
 were sent, which reached the place too late, the Christians assert, to 
 stop the massacre. The Turkish official report claims that the ves-
 
 THE ATROCITIES OF THE WAR. 461 
 
 sels arrived in good time, that no such extensive massacres occurred 
 as were reported, and that the whole number of persons killed 
 among the plunderers, the troops, and the inhabitants, was only 
 thirty. The Greek estimate of the number of victims was several 
 hundred. The women and children and wounded, numbering in 
 all, according to the Turkish official report, two thousand five hun- 
 dred, were taken care of on the Turkish war vessels. 
 
 Sopot and Carlova were beautiful towns of about 10,000 and 
 20,000 inhabitants respectively, finely situated in a country of abun- 
 dant pasturage, and inhabited by a thrifty and well-to-do popula- 
 tion. Every building stood in a well-kept garden, and the gardens, 
 as well as the whole towns, were watered by means of artificial 
 canals leading down from the mountain streams. At Carlova was 
 the center of the native cloth manufacturing of the country. The 
 Russians came into Sopot, accompanied by Bulgarians, and disarmed 
 the Mussulman population, a few of whom were killed in street 
 rows. Then the Russians retired and the Turks returned, bringing 
 with them Bashi-Bazouks and Circassians, and the customary in- 
 discriminate slaughter of the inhabitants was set up. The com- 
 mander of the plundering force ordered them to desist from their 
 wicked work, whereupon, it is said, they turned against him and 
 locked him up. Having done all the da mage, possible at Sopot, 
 the irregulars went to Carlova, which was saved from complete 
 destruction by the arrival of regular troops, but not till a great 
 many of the inhabitants had been killed. The whole district in 
 which these towns were situated was visited, a few weeks after the 
 massacres, by an English committee of relief, who bore provisions 
 and aid to the desolated inhabitants. They reported that a fearful 
 degree of suffering existed in consequence of the destruction which 
 had been effected. At a village near Carlova was a camp of ten 
 thousand Turkish refugees, who had no means of support whatever, 
 and would again have none after the supplies given them by the 
 committee were exhausted. One of the commission wrote to the 
 New York Times of Carlova, that except that the houses were all 
 standing, " the place was hardly worth calling a town any longer. 
 There were no men left in it, and there was not a house or shop 
 which had not been utterly wrecked within." The women showed 
 the blood-stains on the walls and floors which marked the spot of 
 the murder of their male relatives. The attention of another of
 
 462 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the party was attracted to the faces of a number of children at the 
 wooden bars of a window carefully fastened against intruders. 
 
 " At our inquiry if anybody was within, given in Turkish, the 
 spaces between the bars became instantly blank. Calling up our 
 dragoman, who spoke Bulgarian, we told him to speak gently, and 
 the little noses reappeared. ' How many of you are there ? ' we in- 
 quired. ' Ten,' was the faint reply, in a childish treble. ' How long 
 have you been shut up here ? ' ' Nearly forty days.' ' But why do 
 you stay in there ? ' ' Oh, do not ask us ! they are killing every- 
 body. "Where is our father ? ' from a dozen little throats at once." 
 
 The father of these children, as well as the husband of a woman who 
 made anxious inquiry respecting his fate, had probably been taken to 
 Philippopolis and hung. " The desolation of desolation," says one 
 of the members of this commission, " was reached at Sopot. I am 
 used to the phrases, ' razed to the ground,' ' utterly destroyed,' ' sav- 
 agery,' and ' utter vandalism,' but what is there left to give the 
 reader a faint idea of what has happened to Sopot ? Scarcely one 
 stone adheres to another. How men unhelped by the devil could 
 have done the mere mechanical part of the work is a mystery. With 
 scarcely an exception that we could make out, every Bulgarian 
 house has been reduced to a heap of stones, bricks, and tiles." An- 
 other of the commission says that several of the houses at this place 
 
 / 
 
 were left standing, but describes Kalofer, another town in the im- 
 mediate neighborhood, as an " utterly and irretrievably complete 
 ruin," " without a single roof remaining or a single whole wall left 
 standing." Six hundred ajnd forty Bulgarian women and children 
 were found in a state of starvation at Sopot. Such are the accounts 
 given by members of a committee which was organized to give 
 relief, not to Bulgarian, but to Turkish sufferers. Both the mem- 
 bers of the committee and the suffering women, spoke in high terms 
 of the conduct of the Turkish regulars, who, one of the women 
 said, had been as brothers to them. 
 
 Similar descriptions were given by men who visited the country 
 and saw for themselves the things of which they tell of village 
 after village, " actually by the hundred," as one writer has it, till the 
 reiteration of horrors and the use of the most expressive terms to 
 denote utter devastation and fiendish atrocity becomes monotonous. 
 The country people and the witnesses themselves became so accus- 
 tomed to scenes of outrage that, to use the language of one of the
 
 THE A TROCITIES OF THE WAR. 463 
 
 latter, " What had shocked one's nerves a few weeks before, was 
 now looked upon almost with indifference." 
 
 The Turkish Government inflicted rigorous punishment upon all 
 the men who were implicated in the outrages committed by Bulga- 
 rians. A series of executions, which may be well characterized as 
 wholesale, followed the recovery of the territory south of the Bal- 
 kans from Russia ; and the policy of severity was continued even 
 after the circumstances of the political and military situation had 
 ceased to justify it. It was even carried into undisturbed districts 
 where no revolt had been attempted, so that, it was said, no Bulga- 
 rian Christian, however innocent, was safe. A reign of terror pre- 
 vailed through all the country from Adrianople to the Balkans, and 
 the " Terror in Bulgaria " became the name by which the situation 
 throughout the province was designated. A correspondent wrote 
 from Adrianople near the 6nd of August, of executions going on at 
 the rate of thirty in one day, and stating that the spectacle had 
 grown so familiar on the streets that a hanging excited " no more 
 popular attention than would be created by the merest trifle of 
 street interest in London and New York." A few days after this 
 the statement was made in a private letter from the same place, that 
 the most substantial and respectable men were selected there, and 
 their property was confiscated ; that eighty of the chief inhabitants 
 of Carlova had been hanged there, they being those whose conscious- 
 ness of innocence had kept them from running away. Some of the 
 incidents connected with the executions showed a peculiar heartless- 
 ness and indifference to public opinion on the part of the officers. 
 
 Ahmed Yefik Pasha, one of the most intelligent and cultivated of 
 the Turkish statesmen, and a man of literary reputation, was appointed 
 Governor of Adrianople late in August, and hopes were entertained 
 that his administration would be signalized by a relaxation of 
 the severity of Turkish justice. The executions were, however, 
 continued, but with more order and greater regard for the forms of 
 ]aw. The German Ambassador spoke to the Sultan in September 
 about the excessive number of the executions, and the length of 
 time they had continued, and was answered that the insurgents had 
 been tried and sentenced by duly appointed and capable officers, 
 and that only those were executed who had been guilty of offenses 
 against the common law. 
 
 A petition was presented to the Sultan in August, signed by 
 three thousand Bulgarians, including the Archbishop and Bishops
 
 464 THE WAR IN THE EAST, 
 
 of Adrianople, imploring the clemency of his Majesty, and promis- 
 ing to remain in future faithful subjects of the Porte. 
 
 The stories of these many violations of the usages of war and of 
 the canons of humanity attracted the attention of the Governments 
 of Europe. The correspondence which ensued upon the subject 
 gave the Turkish Government an opportunity to make its excuses 
 for the sad condition which was acknowledged to exist, and gave 
 publicity to the results of such inquiry as it was possible for foreign 
 agents to make as to the location of the responsibility for the 
 atrocities. On the 10th of July, Mr. Layard, the British Ambas- 
 sador, reported to his Government that the Sultan and his ministers 
 had expressed the fear that when the cruel treatment to which the 
 Mussulman populations had been exposed became known, it would be 
 very difficult to repress the feelings of indignation and revenge 
 which it would cause among their fellow-believers. In regard to 
 the reports of Turkish misdeeds, Mr. Layard believed that the 
 Turkish Government had been obliged to withdraw its troops and 
 police from the provinces to strengthen its forces in the field, and 
 the Circassians, Tartars, Kurds, and other wild tribes had taken ad- 
 vantage of this state of things to plunder and rob. On the 25th of 
 July, in sending a number of stories of outrage, he desired it to be 
 clearly understood that he in no way vouched for their truth, and 
 thought that many of them were greatly exaggerated. Partisan 
 prejudice on both sides rendered it impossible to get trustworthy ac- 
 counts. On the 1st of August, he wrote that lawlessness was en- 
 couraged by the state of anarchy into which the country had been 
 thrown in consequence of the war, and that the measures taken by 
 the Porte to remove the inhabitants and cattle of certain districts 
 had added to the evil. The German Government, in the latter part 
 of August, moved by official reports made to it of Turkish cruelties 
 to the Russian wounded and prisoners, addressed a note to the 
 Porte, reminding it of the provisions of the Geneva Convention. 
 Other powers, Austria and Italy, were invited to co-operate with 
 the German Government in its representations, and did so, assuring 
 the Porte, however, in their notes, that their course was not taken in 
 any spirit hostile to Turkey, but solely in the interests of humanity. 
 These powers also professed their readiness to address a similar 
 protest to the Russian Government against any proved violation of 
 the convention by that nation. A few days afterward, the British 
 Government was notified by the Turkish Grand Vizier that orders
 
 THE ATROCITIES OF THE WAR. 465 
 
 had been given for the distribution among the Turkish troops of 
 a Turkish translation of the Geneva Convention, in order that the 
 violation of some of its rules, which was alleged to have taken place, 
 and which it was admitted might in some instances have occurred 
 through ignorance of the convention, might not be repeated. The 
 Grand Vizier gave assurances that he would issue instructions that 
 every possible measure should be taken to prevent excesses on the 
 part of the Circassians and other irregular troops. 
 
 The weight of evidence tends to exculpate the Turkish Govern- 
 ment from the charge of deliberately countenancing the outrages 
 that were complained of. It was a party to the Geneva Conven- 
 tion, and intended in good faith, in its feeble way, to adhere to its 
 provisions, but the same intrinsic weakness which infects every de- 
 partment of its administration deprived it and its regular officers in 
 the field of all power of restraining the excesses of its irregular 
 troops. The regular Turkish soldiery are likewise exculpated by 
 general testimony from all connection with outrages upon unarmed 
 populations. The officers are almost universally spoken of as gentle- 
 men, observing the usages and acknowledging the obligations of 
 civilization, and the soldiers as, in the main, kind-hearted and 
 humane ; and instances were not infrequent in which the poor Bul- 
 garians, suffering under the infliction of a Bashi-Bazouk or Circas- 
 sian raid, appealed confidently to the regulars for protection, and 
 received it. The cruelty of the Turkish soldiery to their armed 
 foes whom they had disabled or taken prisoners is well-established. 
 The dead bodies of Russian soldiers were found in large numbers on 
 numerous battle-fields, as at the Shipka Pass, at Telis, where an en- 
 gagement took place on the 24th of October, stripped and mutilated ; 
 and not a few instances are related in which the disabled Russians 
 taken prisoners were left unattended to rather than kept to be in the 
 way and to consume the scanty stores of provisions of the Turkish 
 commissariat. 
 
 The case of the Geshoffs, Manchester merchants at Philippopolis, 
 excited much interest in England. Though native Bulgarians, they 
 were accomplished gentlemen, of the best social and financial stand- 
 ing at home and abroad. They had been educated at an English 
 college, and were said to be in speech and ideas, " as British" as if 
 they had been born " and brought up in England." They were ar- 
 rested in August, ostensibly upon a charge that a man just before 
 his execution had denounced them by name as guilty of treason.
 
 466 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The British Vice-Consul at Philippopolis was instructed not to in- 
 terfere for them. Their case was, however, taken up by the Ameri- 
 can Legation. An appointment as Yice-Consul of the United 
 States was secured for one of them, but the Turkish Government 
 refused to recognize it, because it was made after they had been ar- 
 rested. A day was appointed for their execution in September, but 
 the act was delayed. The intercessions of their foreign friends were 
 finally of effect, for orders were given in November to treat them- 
 selves and their families kindly ; they were afterward taken to Con- 
 stantinople. 
 
 A terrible amount of destitution was produced throughout the 
 country in consequence of the rivalry of murder and destruction 
 that prevailed. In Bulgarian and Mohammedan districts alike, whole 
 stretches of country, with the villages they had once contained, were 
 converted into a complete waste. The people who escaped mas- 
 sacre fled to the large towns for refuge, or were picked up by the 
 regular soldiery and gathered into camps, where they suffered great 
 privations, being destitute of food and clothing, and wholly depend- 
 ent for the means of existence upon such aid as was sent them from 
 abroad. Mr. Layard, in a dispatch to the British Foreign Office, 
 dated August 21st, described the number of fugitives as daily in- 
 creasing. They were " wandering over the face of the country in 
 the most terrible misery, having saved nothing, scarcely even their 
 clothes." " Disease was appearing among them, and when the cold 
 weather set in, their sufferings would be dreadful and the loss of life 
 great. Mr. Young, of the Red Cross Association, had found, in 
 one spot, without shelter and food, about 2,000 Mussulman women 
 and children, many of whom were wounded. Another agent had 
 reported crowds of these fugitives in East Bulgaria, bivouacking 
 over the country, having found 15,000 families at Eski-Djuma alone, 
 in the utmost want. Some five thousand were at Rodesto, nearly 
 13,000 at Adrianople, some seven or eight thousand at Philippopolis, 
 many thousand at Constantinople, while vessels or trains were con- 
 stantly running with hundreds more at different points. There was 
 scarcely a town in the east of Rurnelia, Mr. Layard said, which was 
 not crowded with fugitives, and the total number could not be 
 estimated. 
 
 Subscriptions were taken and organizations formed in the more 
 fortunate commercial towns and abroad for the relief of the desti- 
 tute. The Turks, in the country and at Constantinople, co-operated
 
 THE ATROCITIES OF THE WAR. 467 
 
 in these efforts, " making no distinction between Mohammedans and 
 Christians." The Sultan opened one of his palaces to the fugitives, 
 and many of them were received into private houses at Constanti- 
 nople. 
 
 Charges were made that the Montenegrins were cruel to the 
 prisoners whom they captured, and murdered them. They had a 
 basis of truth, in that during the four hundred years that Monte- 
 negro has been at war with Turkey, it had been the policy of the 
 Montenegrins to surround themselves with all the horrors as to their 
 enemies that they could create, in part compensation for the dis- 
 parity in numbers between them and the Turks. In accordance 
 with this policy, it had been their custom to take no prisoners, but 
 to behead all the Turks whom they captured. This custom has 
 been greatly mitigated under the influence of an improved civiliza- 
 tion, so that during the recent wars the Montenegrins have generally 
 taken prisoners and treated them as did other civilized people. Still 
 there were many who indulged the old practice, and much that was 
 alleged regarding the murder of prisoners was admitted to be true. 
 Nevertheless, hundreds of Turkish prisoners were kept in the 
 country, in perfect security to themselves and with good feeling 
 prevailing between them and the people, and were well cared for. 
 It was the boast of the Montenegrins that they never harmed a 
 woman or a child of their enemies.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE PHILANTHROPY OF THE WAB. 
 
 Progress of Humane Principles The Geneva Convention The Russian Soldiers Aid 
 Societies The Empress and Ladies of Rank The Turkish Aid Societies The British 
 Aid Societies QueenVictoria Lady Strangf ord Baroness Burdett-Coutts American 
 Societies Union of Nations for the Relief of Distress. 
 
 AMONG the worst of the evils of war in olden times was the suf- 
 fering which was inflicted upon the sick and wounded of the 
 armies. Not only was the treatment which a disabled prisoner 
 would receive at the hands of the enemy a matter of great doubt, 
 but the provisions existing within the armies for the care of their 
 own sick and wounded were extremely defective. The intensity of 
 this evil has been greatly mitigated with the advance of civilization 
 and the growth of comity among nations ; and the subject of im- 
 proving the provisions for the care and comfort of invalid soldiery, 
 aud for insuring their security in the hands of an enemy, have 
 received especial attention within the last twenty-five years. The 
 manner of life of an army, and the circumstances under which war 
 is necessarily conducted, make the best provisions that can be devised 
 terribly inadequate. The resources of the army administration and 
 of the Governments behind it have generally been found wholly 
 insufficient to meet the cases to which they were to be applied ; nnd 
 it has been found convenient in all nations, as the ideas of the 
 amount of attention which should be given to this branch of the 
 service have been enlarged, to supplement the official work with the 
 resources of private benevolence. The later wars have seen the 
 whole people of the belligerent nations interesting themselves in 
 various ways in measures to prepare and forward to the field of 
 action all articles and provisions which could be of use in saving 
 suffering and promoting the comfort of the soldiers, and in dis- 
 patching agents to attend to their wants. The Sanitary and Chris- 
 tian Commissions in the United States during the civil war 
 (468)
 
 
 LOADING AN AMBULANCE.
 
 DEATH OF AZIZ PASHA 
 
 A TURKISH SURGEON AND FIELD EQUIPAGE.
 
 THE PHILANTHROPY OF THE WAR. 471 
 
 showed how efficient this voluntary work might be made. The 
 spirit which impels to such effort has so spread that during the 
 Russo-Turkish war the Sanitary and Aid Societies received sym- 
 pathy and help from all the leading nations of civilization. 
 
 The most important step which has ever been taken to relieve suf- 
 fering and establish humanity in war, was in the adoption of the Ge- 
 neva Convention, a code providing for the neutrality of hospitals and 
 the care of the wounded in 1864. It was suggested by Henry Dunant, 
 who, having witnessed the sad suffering on the battle-field of Sol- 
 ferino, devoted himself to the search of a remedy against the 
 recurrence of similar scenes. Representatives of several European 
 Governments met at Geneva, upon the invitation of the Swiss Gov- 
 ernment, and adopted regulations providing that the places where 
 wounds were dressed and the hospitals should be regarded as neutral ; 
 further, that all persons engaged in the care of the sick should be 
 free from molestation as long as they were attending to their duties 
 of taking np or attending to the wounded on the battle-field, and 
 .that when this work was over, they should be allowed to return 
 in safety to their own lines. Houses in which wounded were 
 placed should be spared from the allotment of troops and the exac- 
 tion of contributions, and the inhabitants of the country should be 
 invited to participate in the care of the wounded, and assured of 
 respect to their neutrality while doing so. A flag bearing a red 
 cross to accompany the national flag was established as the sign by 
 which the neutral places and buildings should be covered, and per- 
 sons engaged in the humane work were required to distinguish 
 themselves by wearing a white band with the red cross upon their 
 arms. Several additional articles were adopted in 1868, and the 
 provisions of the Convention were extended to cover warfare by 
 sea. All the principal States of Europe, including Russia and 
 Turkey, have accepted the provisions of the Convention, and it was 
 generally regarded and enforced among the regular troops in the- 
 wars of 1876 and 1877". The Turks substituted on their neutral 
 flags a red crescent for the red cross of the Christian nations, in 
 deference to their religion, of which the crescent is the symbol, as 
 the cross is of the Christian religion. 
 
 In 1874, delegates from all the European powers met at Brussels 
 
 on the proposition of the Emperor Alexander of Russia, with the 
 
 intention of extending the principles of the Geneva Convention to 
 
 the population of belligerent countries, to the organization of vol- 
 
 25
 
 4/2 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 unteers and reserve troops, and even to the arras and missiles em- 
 ployed, but the negotiations brought no results. 
 
 The sanitary wants of the Montenegrins and Servians during their 
 wars of 1876 were carefully attended to by their Russian sympathiz- 
 ers. Large amounts of supplies were raised in Russia, and sent to 
 the seat of war under the auspices of the Slavic committees, and 
 German and Russian doctors were employed to attend to the sick 
 and wounded. Spacious hospitals were established in Montenegro 
 and near the scenes of the Herzegovinian insurrection. In the dis- 
 tricts of Herzegovina and Bosnia, remote from these hospitals, how- 
 ever, the fate of the wounded insurgents was a hard one, as no pro- 
 visions whatever existed for their care. The arrangements of the 
 Montenegrins and Servians themselves, as well as of the Turks, 
 were very defective. The Servian service was, however, much im- 
 proved during the course of the campaign under the care of Baron 
 Mundy, an Austrian officer and Professor of Military Sanitary 
 Science in the University of Vienna, who came to Belgrade at 
 the end of July, 1876, and took charge of this branch of the work. 
 
 During the war of 1877, the belligerents did much in the line of 
 sanitary measures. Public and private letters from Russia declared 
 the Empress and the Russian ladies were as diligent in efforts to re- 
 lieve the sick and wounded of the army, as the Emperor in prepara- 
 tions to carry on the war. 
 
 At the opening of hostilities, the Red Cross Society was installed 
 in a building near Fort Nicholas. There everything that human 
 ingenuity could suggest or invent for the sick and wounded, was at 
 hand, ready to be forwarded as soon as needed. 
 
 The officers of the Russian Red Cross Society were women of high 
 rank, Madame Narishkina, born the Princess of Kourakini, Countess 
 Shuvaloff all ladies of fortune working as if life depended on 
 their success. From mansion to cottage the work went on the whole 
 day long ; ladies offered their jewels, and they were rich in jewels ; 
 funds rolled in from all sides, the peasants urging the acceptance of 
 their mites. 
 
 When the battles began, from every direction the report came 
 that the Russians treated their Turkish prisoners with kindness. 
 Among the prisoners at one time were four Turkish and two Ger- 
 man doctors. The Turkish doctors were released, and the two Ger- 
 mans put in charge of the Turks, with the same pay the Porte 
 offered.
 
 THE PHILANTHROP Y OF THE WAR. 473 
 
 The Russian troops carried the Bulgarian children of Eski Sagra, 
 Yeni Sagra, and Kasanlik, some on gun-carriages and some in their 
 arms, to save them from the Turks ; others drove along a cow to 
 feed the little ones with milk, and at Shipka they prepared a big 
 cauldron of soup, which was ladled out and given to the starving 
 fugitives. 
 
 On the Shipka Pass, in spite of the horrible mutilations of Rus- 
 sian prisoners by the Turks, Turkish prisoners in the hands of Rus- 
 sians were spared, and their wounds carefully attended to. At first 
 the Turks looked afraid ; they could not believe the Russians less 
 barbarous than themselves. On a certain day, a cart drove up with 
 two wounded Bashi-Bazouks. The Grand Duke at once gave orders 
 to have them furnished with bread and wine from his own quarters, 
 and as there was no room in the hospitals, they were sent to a neigh- 
 boring village. Hundreds of fugitives were met who were loud in 
 praise of Russian kindness. All who could travel had free passes 
 to their homes, and were furnished with five days' provisions. 
 
 The field and transfer hospitals were located at Simnitza, Fratesti, 
 and Turnu-Magurelli ; the latter was described as " one vast hospital," 
 but was very unfavorably located in a district abounding in marshes 
 and stagnant pools. The Government hospitals were very imperfect 
 concerns, on account of the incompetency and inexperience of their 
 attendants, and their ignorance of sanitary science and the elements 
 of practical military surgery, although they were earnest and faithful 
 enough. The amateur establishments and volunteer ambulances 
 were pronounced better than Government provisions. Near the 
 town were the buildings of the Red Cross of Rumania, directed by 
 Dr. Severance ; on the public square the hospital of Independence, 
 able to receive but fifty patients, and presided over by Mademoiselle 
 Marie Rossetti ; further on, the tents of the ladies of Jassy, super- 
 intended by the Princesses Nathalie, Soutzo, and Ghika. Next was 
 the Government Military Hospital, and then the admirable ambulance 
 of the Jews of Moldavia. Mademoiselle Rossetti, assisted by the 
 wives of the Ministers of War and Justice, secured the services of 
 two leading physicians of the capital, also half a dozen young men 
 who had just completed their medical studies in Paris. The hos- 
 pital at Gorni-Studen, one of the best, could accommodate 2,000 
 patients, yet one week's fighting gave 10,000 wounded. 
 
 According to a foreign medical officer who visited them officially, 
 the Rumanian field hospitals were very defective. He wrote of them :
 
 474 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 " There is an insufficiency of surgeons, who are generally incom- 
 petent from want of experience, and utterly deficient in executive 
 ability, in the Rumanian field hospitals. Every one is either ignorant 
 of the first principles of field hygiene, or culpably negligent in not 
 enforcing proper police regulations. Dirt, disorder, and confusion 
 everywhere ; order nowhere. There is material enough, if properly 
 administered, for the immediate wants of 250 to 300 wounded, but 
 from first to last I have met with but two men who knew or did 
 their duty. No one can form an idea of the sufferings of the 
 wounded, for whom there is no other conveyance from the field to 
 the rear than bullock carts without springs, and the stretchers are 
 reeking with filth. Excuses may be made for much of this, from 
 the fact that the Rumanians have had no experience in warfare, are 
 deficient in means, and have been forced into a fight for which they 
 are to-day unprepared. The parties charged with the execution 
 meet the exigencies of the moment with doubt and indecision, where 
 the safety of the soldier demands promptness and decision." The 
 Russian field hospitals were not much better, except as regarded the 
 surgeons, who were more numerous, and some of whom were men 
 of talent and experience. 
 
 The chief center of the Russian organization for the relief of sick 
 and wounded, was at Kiev, on the Dnieper. Here was the regular 
 military hospital and the second Red Cross Society, with Prince- 
 Demidoff at its head. 
 
 At Kolrocheni, opposite the Prince's summer palace, was the large 
 hospital, capable of receiving one thousand patients, and near it a 
 number of frame buildings to supplement its accommodations. The 
 nurses merited and received great commendation. The soldiers 
 called them the little sisters, as they went quietly about, dressed in 
 neat, brown serge, with long, white aprons, the red cross embroidered 
 on the breast, and white handkerchiefs pinned over their heads, 
 giving medicines, showing pictures, reading, or pouring out a cup of 
 tea. 
 
 Nine Russian cities pledged themselves to construct and support 
 hospitals which should contain 1,280 beds. 
 
 Among the noteworthy generosities of patriotic Russians, that of a 
 village blacksmith, in Southern Russia, deserves praise. He offered 
 to shoe, free of charge, all cavalry horses that passed his door, and as 
 Cossacks were daily passing through the village, his gift was no mean 
 one. A merchant of Odessa gave 250,000 cigars and cigarettes, and
 
 THE PHILANTHROP Y OF THE WAR. 
 
 475 
 
 another, 400,000, to the sick and wounded. A merchant of Yoronez 
 gave ten tons of tobacco to the army, and another sent liberal sup- 
 plies of food and luxuries to five thousand Cossacks who were en- 
 camped near Rustchuk. 
 
 Turning to Turkey, we find she had not been idle in philanthropy ; 
 she had her Red Crescent Society, which did noble work. The Sultan 
 took great interest in the work of the societies, and offered a room in 
 the palace as a mesting-place for the committee, in order that they 
 might be under his special protection. He examined the models of 
 ambulance wagons, and rejected one with only two wheels, saying 
 if he were wounded he would wish to be carried in a vehicle with 
 four wheels, and he did not see why any soldier in his army should 
 not be treated as well as himself. 
 
 The Sultan himself subscribed 2,500 to the Red Crescent Society ; 
 his Turkish subjects, following his lead, contributed more than 
 16,000. Sub- committees were formed in all the principal towns of 
 the provinces. These committees were composed of representatives 
 of the Ottoman Bank and the medical officers of health. They pre- 
 pared and distributed large supplies of stores, also country wagons 
 with mattresses, and a surgeon for each army. Besides large hos- 
 pitals at Rustchuk and Yarna, they fitted up one at Anatolie Kavak, 
 on the Bosporus, and another on the Dardanelles. A very favorable 
 account was given of the hospital at Yarna by a correspondent of the 
 Edinburgh Scotsman who visited it. It was under the management 
 of the Stafford House Committee. " The building," says the corre- 
 spondent, " is the most appropriate that could have been chosen in 
 this desirable locality. It is of stone, has plenty of windows, and its 
 ventilation has been improved by wooden shafts (with partitions to 
 facilitate up and down draught) passing through the roof. I was 
 gratified to remark that there was no display of luxury. On the 
 contrary, the utmost frugality prevails. The resident surgeon's 
 room, on the left of the entrance, is uncarpeted, and its sole furniture 
 consists of a small deal table, a truckle bed covered with a rough 
 horsecloth, and a most penurious-looking washstand. Opposite is the 
 operating room, and behind is the pharmacy, well-stocked with 
 drugs, most of which, for want of time, had to be procured from 
 Constantinople. Passing on, we come to a spacious kitchen with 
 the usual native kitchen-range for charcoal fires, and a large wash- 
 house provided with every requisite. There are two wards, one con- 
 taining thirty-five beds and the other fourteen. The first is unex-
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ceptionable. It is quite a pleasure to get out of the sun into its cool, 
 pure atmosphere. The beds are ranged on raised floors on each side 
 of an earthen path, and their dainty white coverlets look quite 
 tempting to one who has been obliged, as I have, to camp out or 
 sleep on the filthy floors of native coffee-houses in the interior. 
 Beside each bed is a small table, furnished with a decanter and 
 glasses." The hospital contained another ward, and a loft with stores 
 and an abundance of all fixtures and appliances, disinfectants, and 
 arrangements for ventilation. 
 
 At Kars there were nine doctors with the army ; at Ardahan, five ; 
 one with the battalion of Molla Suleiman, and eleven in the hospital 
 at Erzerum. In the Scutari hospital, the doctors visiting it found 
 1,300 sick and wounded Turks and two Russian prisoners, all well 
 attended. Much difficulty was felt in caring for the wounded Turks 
 on account of their aversion to amputation. Most of them preferred 
 to die whole to living mutilated. Their surgeons sympathized with 
 this feeling, which had a religious foundation, so that in many of the 
 purely Turkish hospitals numerous deaths occurred in cases in which 
 life could have been saved with proper attention or under European 
 surgeons. Much of the neglect which was charged against the Turk- 
 ish management arose from their doctrine of fatality, and from their 
 superstitious objections to maiming the body. The Turkish soldiers, 
 however, proved hardy patients, and many of them recovered under 
 circumstances in which death would have seemed certain to a 
 European. 
 
 At Smyrna, where 1,500 Bulgarian refugees arrived, the authori- 
 ties did all in their power to relieve their distress. At Constantinople, 
 the Sultan placed one of his palaces (Beylerbey) at the disposal of 
 the authorities for the reception of fugitives of all classes, and ordered 
 that other buildings should be prepared for their accommodation. 
 Many were taken into private houses, and some Turks, with Ahmed 
 Yefik Pasha, exerted themselves to procure clothing for them before 
 cold weather set in. The throngs of fugitives severely taxed the 
 resources of the authorities to supply their needs, and although all 
 the available buildings were given up for their accommodation, and 
 much aid was afforded by private munificence, so great were their 
 numbers and so destitute was their condition that a vast amount of 
 suffering was inevitable. A similar state of affairs existed at Adri- 
 anople, where 2,500 fugitives were congregated in August, and the 
 garrison and 2,000 wounded soldiers had to be cared for. A cor-
 
 THE PHILANTHROP Y OF THE WAR. 477 
 
 respondent wrote from this place August 8th : " The wounded sol- 
 diers are being far better attended than I could have expected. Great 
 difficulty was at first entertained of being able to have them, but 
 that is now not so much felt as the want of surgeons. The military 
 hospital, which I visited yesterday and found clean and well-venti- 
 lated, contains about 600 men. The civil hospital some two hundred 
 more ; while the rest are distributed about the town in what are 
 called boujeklik, or large wooden buildings for storing silk cocoons, 
 which seem designed by Providence for hospitals, so admirably 
 suited are they to this purpose. Besides this, to their credit it must 
 be recorded, the Sisters of the Assumption have undertaken to house 
 and nurse between sixty and seventy wounded soldiers at some houses 
 in different suburbs." 
 
 While the war was stained with the horrible atrocities which we 
 have related in another place, and the Turkish officers sometimes, as 
 did Osrnan Pasha at Plevna, excusing himself under the plea of 
 necessity, allowed their prisoners to be exposed to suffering and 
 almost certain death, the Turkish regular officers and soldiers gen- 
 erally showed the traits of civilized humanity in their bearing toward 
 their wounded enemies. In one instance, a Russian soldier said, " My 
 mate was wounded ; two Turks found him, washed his wound and 
 bandaged it, then put him on his way. They wanted to take away 
 his rifle, but when he declared his life would not be safe without it, 
 they allowed him to keep it and charged him to keep out of the way 
 of the Circassians, as they might do him harm." At Shurnla, the 
 Turkish officers placed fezzes and Turkish cloaks on Russian wound- 
 ed lying on the field, to prevent their irregulars murdering them 
 during the night. 
 
 Next to the belligerents, England did much in the line of relief. 
 The English Minister, Mr. Layard, and his wife, took great interest 
 in the sanitary work. The English efforts were directed through two- 
 leading societies. The Stafford House Committee worked all through, 
 the Servian war, but during the Russo-Turkish war confined itself,, 
 till the middle of June, to sending out stores to be administered by 
 Ahmed Yefik Pasha, President of the House of Representatives. It: 
 then appointed a special commissioner, under whom surgeons were 
 engaged in England and assigned to fields of duty in Europe and 
 Asia, and local surgeons, principally Greek and Armenian, were- 
 employed. A wagon transport line was organized for communica- 
 tion with the Balkans, and the head of the Yamboli Tirnova Rail-
 
 478 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 way ; stores were forwarded to Erzerum, and numerous hospitals were 
 established at suitable places. The society entered into relations 
 with the Red Cresent, the National Ottoman Society for the Belief 
 of the Sick and Wounded, under which it received protection and 
 enjoyed all the privileges of the Geneva Convention. The British 
 National Society for aid to Sick and "Wounded, dispatched a ship 
 with surgeons, who were sent where their services were most needed. 
 Some of its surgeons rendered valuable services during the earlier 
 operations south of the Balkans, and their attentions to the poor 
 wounded women and children are described as having been incessant, 
 " while they sacrificed every thought of personal comfort and rest to 
 alleviate their sufferings." All of the societies, as well as the ladies' 
 committees, worked together, with the sole object of relieving suffer- 
 ing, regardless of creed or nationality, and sinking everything like 
 petty competition among themselves. 
 
 In Therapia, a place of fashionable resort, and where the English 
 Minister's palace is, the ladies, mostly English residents, won much 
 praise for their admirable work for the soldiers, contributing large 
 sums of money, preparing bandages, beds, sheets, and all such neces- 
 saries, and uniting their work with other aid societies in the vicinity. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Layard were invited to dinner by the Sultan, who 
 received them with great distinction at his table. Mrs. Layard was 
 presented by his Majesty with a magnificent set of diamonds, in 
 recognition of the generous offerings of the English people for the 
 Turkish wounded. In August, Mr. Layard received from the Baron- 
 ess Burdett-Coutts, who represented the contributors to the Turkish 
 Relief Fund, 4,000, to relieve Turkish women and children, and 
 afterward 200 for suffering soldiers. 
 
 At Adrianople the Stafford House Committee made great exer- 
 tions, opening two military hospitals for two hundred and sixty 
 patients, and in one day dressing the wounds of one hundred and 
 eighty soldiers. One surgeon took charge of fugitive women and 
 children who were Turks, Bulgarians, and Jews. 
 
 The Central Bulgarian Relief Committee, Sir H. Eliot, President, 
 sent 300 for Bulgarian relief, and offered to supply medicines to 
 any surgeon who would give his services to the work, and funds to 
 provide food for urgent need. 
 
 Queen Yictoria and the Princess Beatrice spent much time mak- 
 ing lint for the wounded of both sides, and forwarded a large num- 
 ber of bandages to Mrs. Layard for distribution.
 
 THE PHILANTHROPY OF THE WAR. 479 
 
 Two of the physicians sent out at the expense of Lord Blantyre, 
 Drs. Oasson and Featherstonehaugh, were able to show, under their 
 charge, a well-ordered hospital, and through the liberality of Mrs. 
 Layard, Lady Kernball, and other English ladies in Constantinople, 
 they were able to provide themselves with many comforts unknown 
 in Turkish hospitals. They worked nobly among the wounded, 
 greatly aided by American missionaries. 
 
 At Adrianople a small hospital was organized and conducted by 
 an English lady, Mrs. Camara ; she was the only person of her 
 position who dared remain in the city. Hearing of the dreadful 
 massacre, she opened a large house for Turkish women and children, 
 wounded or not wounded, receiving rations from Government for 
 them. 
 
 A Greek gentleman gave some large silk cocoon stores to be used 
 as hospitals for wounded women and children. It was stated the 
 fugitives in Adrianople numbered twenty-five thousand five hundred, 
 besides soldiers. The military hospitals contained six hundred men, 
 the civil hospital two hundred, and the wooden buildings were filled 
 also. In the suburbs the Sisters of the Assumption offered to house 
 and nurse sixty or seventy wounded soldiers. 
 
 A large supply of stores was forwarded to Erzerum under Lieut. 
 M. Drummond, R. N. All stores and supplies were handed over to 
 the Red Crescent Society, which took the expense of working them. 
 
 Sometimes the Turkish officials were jealous of foreign interfer- 
 ence, and would not allow members of the Soldiers' Aid Societies 
 to carry out their work, but in many places the English surgeons 
 were met with gratitude and co-operation. 
 
 Much good work was done at Adrianople, Philippopolis, Eski 
 Sagra, Kasanlik, and Shipka. Even when ordered to return, the 
 English surgeons gave into the hands of the chief Turkish surgeon 
 the medicines, bandages, stretchers, soups, and appliances they 
 brought. "What civilized nations call Turkish cruelty, the Turk 
 counts far-sighted wisdom. When the doctors wished to amputate 
 limbs, the Pashas told them they had special orders to prevent it. 
 " If they die now they will go to Paradise ; if you save their lives the 
 Sultan will have to pay them a pension for forty years, and Turkey 
 is not rich enough to afford that." Mr. Layard, the British Am- 
 bassador, when he made an appeal to England for aid, said, " The 
 Turkish Government is doing its best, but its action is almost para- 
 lyzed by the magnitude of the misery it has to deal with."
 
 480 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 At Bucharest the English opened hospitals, and received for them 
 ample stores. The Rumanian hospitals were finely fitted up, and 
 the patients well attended. The Hospital of the Princess of 
 Rumania had fifty-six patients, all bad cases, selected by her High- 
 ness on account of the severity of their wounds. The Princess 
 attended the wounded in person, clad in common working dress, 
 and cheered the poor fellows by kind words and attention. General 
 Richter, the President of the Russian Red Cross Society, sent mes- 
 sages of thanks to the English people and their societies for their 
 generous sympathy and aid to Russian wounded. 
 
 In September large funds were sent from England to Mr. Layard 
 for distribution among the Turkish sufferers by the war. The 
 Turkish Government placed one hundred and forty wagons, six 
 pack horses, and an escort of ten horsemen, at the disposal of those 
 who took in charge the sanitary and relief measures. The poor 
 Bulgarian and Turkish sufferers were exceedingly grateful, saying, 
 " Our children shall always call English people blessed." The four 
 military hospitals at Eski Djurna were most complete with the help 
 of the English societies. 
 
 Lady Strangford's name is a synonym for benevolence. She is a 
 member of a rich and noble family in England, her husband having 
 been once British Ambassador to Turkey, but she left her home to 
 organize the Red Cross service in that country. She was employed 
 during the whole year in equipping hospitals and training others 
 for the care of the wounded. Among the principal of the hospitals 
 which she established was the one at Sophia, where she organized 
 a corps of women and trained them, simply to show the Turks 
 how to do. 
 
 The Baroness Burdett-Coutts was very active and efficient in her 
 exertions for the relief of sufferers, and received a public acknowl- 
 edgment from the Sultan. 
 
 The extent which the organization of the benevolent work 
 reached as the war advanced is shown by a letter written from Con- 
 stantinople in October, which, speaking of the Red Crescent Society, 
 says : 
 
 " It is astonishing what amount of money and hospital articles it 
 has sent out to Turkey, the ambulances it has built, the many sur- 
 geons it has in its employ, and the great number of disciplined 
 agents it has under its orders.
 
 THE PHILANTHROPY OF THE WAR. 481 
 
 " Every steamer from England brings stores of preserved meats, 
 of liquors, of lint, and material for the transport of the wounded, 
 such as spring-beds, ambulances, etc. Every division of the Turk- 
 ish army has some of the Red Crescent personnel with complete 
 field-apparatus, stationed near it when in camp and following it 
 when it marches to battle. Yesterday six baggage vans of the so- 
 ciety, with ambulance furnishings, went up to Philippopolis by the 
 Adrianople Railway. Before she left here for the seat of hostilities, 
 Lady Strangford had hospital accommodations provided at the royal 
 palaces according to the Red Cross system and under its superin- 
 tendence. The palaces of Beylerbey and Tcheragan, two of the 
 finest imperial residences on the Bosporus, are now turned into 
 hospitals, and they, as well as the great barracks at Scutari and on 
 the heights of Bellevue, are crammed with patients under treatment. 
 The headquarters of Lady Strangford are at Adrianople, where a 
 vast hospital has been prepared, which now holds within its walls 
 over two thousand. From this point she is enabled to communicate 
 with the temporary and permanent hospitals in the rear of the 
 armies and on the line of the roads to the Balkans and Servia. You 
 can form an idea of the amount of suffering needing relief when I 
 say that the battles in the Shipka Pass alone furnished over two 
 thousand patients in two weeks." 
 
 In New York two American Societies were organized, the Society 
 of the Red Cross, to aid Russians, and the Society of the Crescent 
 and the Cross, to aid both Russians and Turks. The Red Cross So- 
 ciety was given up. The Cross and Crescent held a ball which 
 yielded $600, and with other moneys contributed, $10,000 was 
 raised ; half of the sum was sent to Constantinople and half to St. 
 Petersburg, through the American Legations at the two cities. Mrs. 
 Marshal O. Roberts gave a musical reception at her house, the proceeds 
 of which went for the benefit of the sufferers in the Eastern war. 
 The American missionaries in Turkey were often mentioned as giv- 
 ing valuable aid to those who suffered in the war. 
 
 The French people exhibited their sympathy with the enterprises 
 for relief by the organization of numerous societies in the various 
 parts of the republic to aid it. 
 
 The Jews of Europe and the United States took a warm interest 
 in the philanthropic work, particularly in behalf of their co-religion- 
 ists, large numbers of whom were exposed to much suffering.
 
 482 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Committees were formed in all their principal societies, and liberal 
 contributions and supplies of stores and provisions were made and 
 forwarded from all quarters. 
 
 Thus this war, which was marked in some points by atrocities of 
 unusual heinousuess, showing to what excesses the unrestrained 
 passions of man may lead him, brought about in other points the 
 co-operation of all nations in works of humanity and for the relief 
 of distress. The cruelties of the belligerents and the outrages com- 
 mitted by their irresponsible followers are another lesson against the 
 evils of war. The union of mankind in works of relief, and the 
 extent of the relief and provisions which were afforded and dis- 
 tributed without distinction or prejudice, the combination of dif- 
 ferent races and religions for common humanity which was exhibited, 
 mark an important step in the progress of civilization and humane 
 principles, which may be referred to in future times as one of the 
 most creditable characteristics of the century.
 
 MURAD V.
 
 ALEXANDER, . 
 
 HEIR APPARENT TO THE RUSSIAN THRONE.
 
 CHAPTER XYII. 
 
 THE ACTOBS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 Interest in the Personalities of the War Sovereigns : The Czar and the Imperial Family 
 of Russia Sultans: Abdul Hamid, Abdul Aziz, and Murad V. Ismail Pasha, 
 Prince Charles I., Prince Milan IV., Prince Nicholas, the Emperors William and 
 Francis Joseph, Queen Victoria, President MacMahon, King Humbert Statesmen : 
 Prince Gortchakoff, Gen. Ignatieff, Count Shuvaloff, Prince Bismarck, Count An- 
 drassy, Earl Beaconsfleld, Earl Derby, Mr. Layard, Lord Loftns, Sir H. Eliot Mid- 
 hat, Edhem, Savf et, Aarifl, Server, Hussein Avni, Redif, Mahmoud Damad and Ahmed 
 Vefik, Pashas Ohannes Tchamith Russian Generals : Nepokoitchitzky, Todleben, 
 Radetzky, Zimmermann, Baron Krudener, Gourko, Skobeleff, Shilder-Shuldner, 
 Prince Shachovsky, Dragomiroff, Prince Imeretinski, Tchernayeff, Loris Melikoff, 
 Tergukassoff, Dewell, Ileimann, Oklobjio Turkish Generals : Abdul Kerim, Me- 
 hemet Ali, Suleiman, Osman, Hobart, Mukhtar, Ghazi Mehemed, Feizi, Yaver, 
 Shevket, Rauf , Fuad, Dervish, Pashas. 
 
 THE troubles in Turkey and its dependencies have now engaged 
 a large share of the attention of the Governments and people of 
 the principal States of Europe for three years. The negotiations 
 and actions relating to them have brought into prominence as par- 
 ticipants many men, some of whose names were before familiar to 
 the public, while of others little or nothing was known, in the United 
 States at least, till they were mentioned in the current dispatches. 
 The personal interest is always strong in matters of history, and the 
 course of events is often largely shaped by personal character and 
 motives. For these reasons, and because the knowledge of 
 personal character and motives is often of material assistance in ex- 
 plaining why certain turns are given to public affairs, it seems ap- 
 propriate to give sketches of the lives and characters of the most 
 prominent actors in the war, and its discussions, so far at least as 
 they relate to those points. The sketches that follow are begun 
 with accounts of the ruling families of the nationalities which were 
 immediately engaged in the war, after which notices are given of 
 the rulers of the States which participated in its discussions, then of 
 the leading statesmen of the several nations, and of the Generals of 
 the Russian and Turkish armies.
 
 486 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Alexander II., the Autocrat of Russia, is one of the best known 
 rnonarchs of our age. When he acceded to the throne, Russia had 
 long been one of the great powers of the globe ; during his reign, 
 which has now extended over more than twenty years, it has con- 
 siderably grown in extent, increased in population, and advanced 
 in civilization. At the present time the power of Russia is greater 
 than it has been at any previous period of its history, and according 
 to all appearances, it has not yet reached its climax. Alexander 
 was born April 29 (old style, IT), 1818, and succeeded his father, 
 the Emperor Nicholas, March 2, 1855. According to the wish of 
 his father, who had been surnamed the Iron Czar, his education, 
 like that of all the Russian princes, was to have an essentially mili- 
 tary character, but Alexander's disposition was found not to be 
 warlike, and under the guidance of gifted teachers, especially the 
 poet Shukovski, the development of his mind received a quite dif- 
 ferent direction. Even during the reign of Nicholas he was 
 anxious to keep as much as possible aloof from the war department, 
 and to become thoroughly initiated into the administrative and dip- 
 lomatic affairs of the Empire. He was repeatedly intrusted, during 
 the absence of Nicholas from Russia, with the responsible duties of 
 Regent of the Empire, and in 1848 he was sent by his father on a 
 special mission to Berlin, Yienna, and other European capitals. As 
 he ascended the throne in the midst of the Crimean war, he could 
 not well change at once the policy of his father, but as soon as 
 peace had been concluded, March 10, 1856, he hastened to Moscow 
 to proclaim to the country and to the world the reformatory ideas 
 which were to characterize his reign, and which aimed chiefly at a 
 development of all the material and intellectual resources of his 
 country. Rarely has the beginning of a new reign been hailed by 
 a large people with greater enthusiasm. The Imperial promise that, 
 " by the combined efforts of the Government and the people, 1 ' the 
 public administration should be improved, and that justice and mercy 
 should reign in the courts of law, was received as an indication that 
 the Emperor contemplated to substitute for the autocratic form 
 of government an approach toward the freer and more civilized 
 institutions of Central and Western Europe. Many acts in the first 
 years of Alexander's reign appeared as a vigorous inauguration of a 
 reformatory policy. Several ministers published reports on their 
 departments which officially acquainted the entire people with facts 
 which formerly had been treated as State secrets. The number of
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 487 
 
 students at the Russian universities was no longer restricted ; the 
 difficulty of obtaining passports for traveling abroad was removed ; 
 the rigor of the press laws was relaxed ; and the numerous news- 
 papers and periodicals which were founded were allowed to publish 
 crushing philippics against administrative tyranny, and the habitual 
 peculations of the officials. An enthusiastic and even fantastic ex- 
 pectation of sweeping reforms and a radical regeneration of the 
 Empire, and an impetuous desire to aid in the introduction of the 
 new era, and to profit by it, spread through all classes of the popula- 
 tion. "When a law was issued for the creation of limited liability 
 companies, no less than forty-seven companies of this kind were 
 formed in the space of two years, with a combined capital of 358 
 millions of rubles, a fact full of significance, if we consider that 
 from the founding of the first joint stock company in 1Y99 
 down to 1 853, or during an entire half century previous to the com- 
 mencement of the present reign, only twenty-six companies had 
 been formed, and their united capital amounted only to 32 millions 
 of rubles. The construction of a vast net of railways which were 
 to traverse the Empire in all directions was planned and begun im- 
 mediately after the accession of Alexander. Preparatory steps were 
 also taken for a reorganization of the army, and the introduction of 
 a system of public education comprising all degrees, from the 
 lowest primary school to the university. But all these reforms were 
 eclipsed by the abolition of serfage, a glorious act, which makes 
 Alexander the second founder of Russia's greatness, and will assign 
 to his reign a conspicuous place in the history of civilization. While 
 these and other acts have gained for Alexander the deserved en- 
 comiums of the civilized world, he has justly been blamed for the 
 barbaric severity with which his Government suppressed the Polish 
 insurrection in 1863. Two attempts against the life of the Emperor, 
 which were made in 1866 and 1867, the one in St. Petersburg by a 
 member of the Russian sect of the Socialists, the other during a 
 visit to Paris by a fanatical Pole, greatly diminished his reformatory 
 zeal. The leaders of the anti-reformatory party made Alexander 
 believe that the natural tendency of the reforms was the spreading 
 of wild, communistic theories, and of a spirit of general insubordi- 
 nation and anarchy, and they must have made a deep impression 
 upon the Emperor's mind, for it is a fact generally conceded by 
 modern writers on Russia, that the policy of the Russian Govern- 
 ment from that time has been less progressive. This is especially
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 apparent in the determined opposition which the Government made 
 to the many and urgent demands for the introduction of a constitu- 
 tional form of government. In some departments, however, the 
 work of progress has steadily been going on. The army was a 
 second time thoroughly reorganized, and improvements highly com- 
 mendable were made in the department of education, supplying 
 Russia with a national system of schools which is superior to that of 
 many older countries of Europe, and promises to elevate the people 
 ere long to a level with the best educated nations of the globe. 
 Alexander has generally shown himself of a mild, humane disposi- 
 tion, without being subject to a weak sentimentalism. Having the 
 good fortune of finding at the beginning of his reign a statesman 
 of eminent ability, Prince Gortchakoff, he has with unwavering 
 confidence intrusted to his Chancellor during his entire reign the 
 supreme direction of the Russian foreign policy. There are not 
 manv traces of the Emperor demanding compliance with favorite 
 views of his own. Only in regard to the maintenance of the most 
 intimate relations with Germany has he on many occasions given 
 so emphatic utterance to his personal feelings that they may be sup- 
 posed to have guided the foreign policy of the Empire. 
 
 The Emperor was married in 1841 to Maria, daughter of the 
 Grand Duke Ludwig II. of Hesse, and his domestic life is believed 
 to have been very happy. His oldest son, Nicholas, was born in 
 1843, and died in 1865, having shortly before been betrothed to 
 Princess Dagmar of Denmark, daughter of King Christian IX. and 
 sister of the Princess of Wales and of the King of Greece. After 
 the death of Nicholas, Princess Dagmar married the second son of 
 the Emperor Alexander, who is now heir-apparent to the throne, or, 
 as he is called in Russia, Czarevitch. The offspring of this union 
 are two sons and one daughter Grand Duke Nicholas, born May 
 18, 1868, and Grand Duke George, born May 10, 1871, and Grand 
 Duchess Xenia, born April 18, 1875. The Czarevitch has given 
 but few indications of his future policy ; he is generally represented 
 as not sharing altogether his father's views as to the continuance of 
 intimate relations between Russia and Germany, and of being in 
 much more outspoken sympathy with the most advanced section 
 of the Pan-Slavists. He is Adjutant-General of the Emperor, Gene- 
 ral of the Infantry and of the Cavalry, Commanding General of the 
 Guard, and Hetman of all the Cossack troops. 
 
 Besides the Czarevitch, the Emperor has four sons, namely :
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 489 
 
 1. Grand Duke Vladimir, born April 22, 1847, and married August 
 27, 1874, to the Duchess Maria of Mecklenburg ; 2. Grand Duke 
 Alexis, born January 14, 1850, and well-known by his travels in the 
 United States ; 3. Grand Duke Sergius, born May 11, 1857 ; and 
 4. Grand Duke Paul, born October 3, 1860. The only daughter of 
 the Emperor, Grand Duchess Maria, born October 17, 1853, was 
 married January 23, 1874, to Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the sec- 
 ond son of Queen Victoria of England, and heir-apparent to the 
 throne of Saxe Coburg-Gotha. 
 
 The Emperor has three brothers, the Grand Dukes Constantine, 
 Nicholas, and Michael. The elder, Constantine, born September 21, 
 1827, is Grand Admiral of the Russian navy and President of the 
 Imperial Council. He was married September 11, 1848, to Alex- 
 andra, daughter of the late Duke Joseph of Saxe Alteuburg, and 
 has from this marriage four sons and two daughters. One of his 
 daughters, Olga, is married to the King of Greece. Grand Duke 
 Constantine takes a special interest in the affairs of the Church of 
 Russia, and warmly patronizes the Society for Ecclesiastical Enlight- 
 enment, which endeavors to cultivate a better acquaintance with the 
 churches of Central and Western Europe, and thereby to raise the 
 Russian Church to a higher level. 
 
 The second brother, Grand Duke Nicholas, born August 8, 1831, 
 holds the most influential position in the Russian army. He bears 
 the title of a General of Engineers and Adjutant-General, and is 
 President of the Supreme Council for the organization and instruc- 
 tion of the army. Having early shown a predilection for military 
 studies, he received in his youth the most careful instruction in mili- 
 tary science, and since his promotion to the high position he now 
 holds, he had given his undivided attention to a thorough reorgani- 
 zation of the Russian army. On the approach of the present war, 
 the Grand Duke proposed to the Emperor that the State should take 
 charge of ah 1 the families which might be deprived by the war of 
 their supporters. The request was granted by the Emperor, and has 
 of course gained for the Grand Duke an immense popularity with 
 the Russian army. He was appointed Commander-in-chief of the 
 European army, and his departure for the South, on December 1, 
 1876, was made the occasion for a most enthusiastic ovation. 
 
 The youngest brother of the Emperor, Grand Duke Michael, was 
 appointed Commander-in-chief of the army of operations in Asia. 
 Grand Duke Michael was born on October 25, 1832, and received a 
 26
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 military education similar to that of his brothers. Like them, he 
 has long been invested with the highest military dignities. He is 
 General of the Artillery, Quartermaster-General, Imperial Adjutant- 
 General, and chief of eight Russian and several foreign regiments. 
 He has been married since August 28, 1857, with Princess Caecilia 
 of Baden (now called Olga Feodorovna), and has six children, five 
 Bons, Nicholas, Michael, George, Alexander, and Sergius, and one 
 daughter, Anastasia. On February 26, 1873, the Grand Duke was 
 appointed Governor-General of the Caucasus, an office with which 
 the chief command of the troops is connected. The residence of 
 the Grand Duke and his family in Tiflis has impressed upon this 
 Asiatic city the character of European civilization. Though always 
 very active in the discharge of his military duties, the Grand Duke 
 has taken a special interest in promoting European civilization in 
 the Asiatic dominions of Russia, and is regarded as a patron of 
 science and art. When the telegraphic dispatch from Kishenev, 
 which ordered him to cross the Turkish frontier, was received in 
 Tiflis, the Grand Duke was already on his way to Alexandropol. 
 The order was sent after him, and as everything had been fully pre- 
 pared, could be immediately carried out. The Grand Duke was 
 accompanied to the army by his eldest son Nicholas, born in 1859, 
 and, therefore, now nineteen years of age. 
 
 The only sister of the Emperor, Grand Duchess Olga, born Sep- 
 tember 11, 1822, is married to the King of Wurtemberg. 
 
 When the war against Turkey had been declared, the Czar, the 
 Czarevitch, and all the adult members of the Imperial family, joined 
 the advancing armies, the chief commanders of which, as has already 
 been stated, were the two brothers of the Emperor. 
 
 Abdul Hamid II., the present ruler of Turkey, is the second son 
 of the late Sultan, Abdul Medjid, and the thirty-fourth Sultan of 
 the Ottoman Empire. He was born Sept. 22, 1842, and succeeded 
 his brother, Murad Y., August 31, 1876. Little was known of him 
 up to the time when the revolutionary movements in Constantinople 
 unexpectedly elevated him to the throne. His mother having died 
 young, he was adopted by the second wife of his father, herself 
 childless, who is very wealthy, and has made him heir to all her 
 property. It is said that his initiation into the depravities of harem 
 life was unusually early and complete, but that his vigorous consti- 
 tution withstood the excesses that undermined his brother's health. 
 His education, like that of his brother Murad, was partly conducted
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 491 
 
 by Edhem Pasha, who, in February, 1877, was appointed by him 
 Grand Yizier. In 1867, he, with his brother Murad, accompanied 
 his uncle, Sultan Abdul-Aziz, to the Paris Exhibition, and from this 
 journey he derived a great fondness for the study of geography, 
 which has ever since constituted his favorite pastime. Although he 
 has always shown himself a staunch adherent of the Mohammedan 
 creed, and was, therefore, supposed to sympathize as Sultan with the 
 " Old Turkish " rather than the " Young Turkish " party, he has 
 introduced French customs and demeanor into the daily life of those 
 by whom he is intimately surrounded. Before he was called to the 
 throne, he resided with his wife and two children, a boy of six years 
 and a girl of three years, in a small palace which he had inherited 
 from his father. Abdul-Hamid has been placed upon the throne 
 during the greatest crisis through which the Ottoman Empire has 
 yet passed. Though supposed to sympathize with the Old Turks, 
 he followed during the first months of his reign the wise counsels of 
 Turkey's greatest statesman, Midhat Pasha ; and while intimidated 
 by the urgent demands of the Constantinople Conference, even gave 
 his assent to Midhat Pasha's bold draft of a Turkish Constitution. 
 But only a few weeks later the sudden discharge, from the most 
 despicable motives, of Midhat Pasha, gave to the world an unmis- 
 takable proof of the utter incapacity and worthlessness of the young 
 Sultan. His conduct throughout the war has confirmed the unfavor- 
 able opinion which has quite generally been formed of his character. 
 While the Russian Czar, his sons, brothers, and nephews, are taking 
 an active part in the campaign, and on many occasions have personally 
 shared the dangers and privations of the war, Abdul-Hamid has not 
 left his harem for a single day, and what has become known of his 
 words and deeds, has only exerted a chilling influence upon the de- 
 moralized Turkish army. "When, therefore, a report spread in July, 
 1877, that Abdul-Hamid, being tired of the cares of government, 
 intended to resign in favor of his cousin, Izzedin Pasha, the eldest 
 son of Abdul Aziz, it found ready credence. 
 
 Abdul Aziz, who ruled over the Ottoman Empire when the insur- 
 rection of 1875 began, was the thirty-second Sultan. He was born 
 Feb. 9, 1830, and succeeded his brother, Abdul Medjid, June 25, 
 1861. His early life and the first years of his reign awakened a 
 general hope that he would inaugurate an era of reform, and possi- 
 bly regenerate the decaying Empire. These hopes were, however, 
 doomed to disappointment, and the Empire during his reign rapidly
 
 492 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 advanced on the road to ruin and dissolution. Turkey had at this 
 time many statesmen of more than ordinary ability, who were 
 anxious to arrest the progressive decay of the Empire, and to place 
 the country on a level with the civilized nations of Europe and 
 America. But their advice was not heeded ; and the Sultan, indif- 
 ferent about the financial ruin of the country, and the dangers which 
 threatened its very existence, wasted the greater part of the loans by 
 which some of his ministers hoped to restore the national credit, for 
 the most trivial purposes. The feeble hold which the Ottoman Porte 
 had had for some time of its Christian dependencies, was still fur- 
 ther weakened by still further concessions which were extorted 
 by the Rumanians and Servians. In Rumania, the election of 
 Prince Charles of Hohenzollern secured the permanent conver- 
 sion of this country from an elective into a hereditary monarchy, 
 and was an important approach toward its entire independence. 
 In Servia, the Turkish garrison had to be withdrawn from the 
 fortress of Belgrade, and complete political autonomy to be 
 granted. The ruler of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, succeeded in obtaining 
 the higher title of Khedive, nearly all the prerogatives of an inde- 
 pendent sovereign and a change of the law of succession in Egypt, 
 so as to make it conform to that prevailing in all the Christian 
 States of Europe. When the insurrection in Herzegovina, in 1875, 
 involved the Empire in new and immediate dangers, the Sultan, al- 
 though only forty-five years of age, bore in his body and mind the 
 marks of utter senile infirmity. The insatiable avarice which 
 prompted him to appropriate, even in the most imperilled condition 
 of the country, all the money that could be raised for personal pur- 
 poses, would have hastened the downfall of the Empire, had not two 
 of the greatest Turkish statesmen, Hussein Avni Pasha and Mid- 
 hat Pasha, brought his reign to a sudden end, by proclaiming 
 Murad V., the son of the late Sultan Abdul Medjid, and nephew of 
 Abdul Aziz, and by forcibly dethroning Abdul Aziz. The de- 
 throned Sultan survived his fate only for a few weeks, and his sud- 
 den death was declared by the testimony of a number of physicians 
 to have been caused by suicide. 
 
 Sultan Murad V., the eldest son of the late Sultan Abdul Medjid, 
 and elder brother of the present Sultan, Abdul Hamid, occupied the 
 throne of the Ottoman Empire for a few weeks only. He was born 
 September 21, 1840, and was educated together with his brother, 
 Abdul Hamid. During their stay in France, Murad gave himself
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 493 
 
 np to dissipations which seriously undermined his health. Having 
 returned to Constantinople, he continued his excesses, and shattered 
 his entire system by intemperate habits. After the accession of his 
 uncle, Abdul Aziz, to the throne in 1861, he was treated very 
 harshly, and shut out from all public affairs, as his uncle was anxious 
 to change the law of succession, and to leave the throne to his own son, 
 Izzedin, in the place of Murad, who, according to the Turkish law, 
 was the heir-apparent, because he was the next oldest male member 
 of the Imperial family born in the Imperial harem. Upon the de- 
 thronement of his uncle by a palace revolution, on May 30, 1876, Mu- 
 rad was called to the throne, and the first instance in Turkish history 
 was proclaimed as " Emperor by the grace of God and the will of the 
 nation." Soon, however, it became evident that the condition, both 
 of his mind and his bodily health, made him utterly unfit for being 
 the head of the State in these troubled times. In consequence, his 
 brother, Abdul Hamid, was appointed Regent on July 29th, and on 
 August 31st, Murad was dethroned, and Abdul Hamid proclaimed 
 Sultan in his place. According to a letter from a person of rank in 
 the Turkish capital, published in the London Times of June 15th, 
 Murad looked upon his brother as a usurper, and declared that some 
 day he would have to ask an account of him. He also declared him- 
 self strongly in favor of peace, as the country had the misfortune of 
 no longer possessing a good administration. The letter in the Times 
 produced a great sensation, and the Turkish Government deemed it 
 necessary to publish an official denial of all the assertions contained 
 in it. 
 
 Ismail Pasha, the ruler of Egypt, is the second son of the great 
 warrior, Ibrahim Pasha, and grandson of Mehemet Ah', the first 
 Viceroy of Egypt. He was born in 1830, and received his education 
 in Paris. He acceded to the Government of Egypt in 1863, after 
 the death of his uncle, Said Pasha. His reign abounds in important 
 events. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, which was attended 
 by the Empress of France, the Emperor of Austria, the Crown Prince 
 of Prussia, and the representatives of the principal newspapers in 
 Europe and America, foreshadowed a new era of power and inde- 
 pendence for a country which had been so famous in the history of 
 the ancient world. Ismail had contemplated from the beginning of 
 his reign the severance of all connection with Turkey, and though 
 want of sympathy of the great powers of Europe with this project 
 caused him to desist from an open war of independence, he has
 
 494 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 gradually obtained important concessions from the Porte. By con- 
 ferring upon him the higher title of Khedive, and by changing the law 
 of succession so as to make it, in accordance with the laws obtaining 
 in Christian Europe, hereditary in the direct line of Ismail, the 
 Porte herself smoothed the way for the future independence of 
 Egypt. A still more efficient preparation for this event may be 
 found in the annexation of large tracts of land west and south of 
 Egypt, especially of the entire kingdom of Darfoor. Even now 
 the Khedive of Egypt rules over a country which, in point of extent, 
 is the seventh among the large countries of the globe, and none of 
 the others certainly has a better prospect of further territorial progress 
 under an energetic ruler. By the convocation of an assembly of nota- 
 bles, a beginning was made in 1866 of introducing parliamentary 
 government. Numerous Europeans and Americans were employed 
 in the civil and military service of Egypt, and promoted to the 
 highest offices, and it can hardly be doubted that the Khedive 
 would have succeeded in establishing the entire independence of 
 Egypt, had it not been for the utterly disordered condition of his 
 finances. It has been a matter of surprise that the embarrassed po- 
 sition of Turkey in 1877 did not induce the Khedive to declare his 
 own independence ; that he even, the only one of the vassals of Tur- 
 key, came to the aid of the Sultan by sending an auxiliary force to 
 the seat of war. But it must be remembered that the Khedive can 
 not change his relations to Turkey without having the support, or at 
 least the sympathy, of England, and that England at present finds it 
 her interest to patronize Turkey. 
 
 Prince Charles I. of Rumania, the second son of Prince Charles 
 Anthony of Hohenzollern, was born April 20, 1839. His father 
 was a sovereign prince of Germany, until 1849, when he ceded the 
 sovereignty over the little principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen 
 to the kindred royal house of Prussia. His son Charles was, in April, 
 1866, elected, almost unanimously, Prince of Rumania by a popular 
 vote of the country. The election was accepted by the young Prince 
 after a short hesitation, and on May 22d, he entered the capital of 
 the country, Bucharest, where he was enthusiastically received by 
 the people. The task of Prince Charles was extremely difficult, for 
 the condition of the people was in many respects wretched. Hardly 
 anything had been done for the education of the people ; the state 
 of the finances was most deplorable, and the bitter strife of opposing 
 political parties appeared to make a stable government almost im-
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 495 
 
 possible. It is generally conceded that the principality has made 
 great progress during the reign of Prince Charles. The education 
 and financial condition of the country have greatly improved, and 
 the aim which all the political parties of Rumania have invariably 
 kept in view, has steadily been approached. The Prince of Ruma- 
 nia, in common with the unanimous opinion of the leaders of all the 
 political parties, has always conformed the foreign policy of the prin- 
 cipality to this aim. Since the beginning of the troubles in 1875, he 
 has alternately been ready to join the insurrection against the Porte, 
 or to proclaim his neutrality, according as the interest of the princi- 
 pality appeared to demand it. After the declaration of war by Rus- 
 sia, the long-awaited time for proclaiming the independence of Ru- 
 mania appeared to have come. Rumania declared war against Tur- 
 key, and Prince Charles thus became the first sovereign of an inde- 
 pendent Rumanian State. 
 
 Milan IY. Obrenovitch, Prince of Servia, was born Sept. 18, 1854, 
 and is the fourth Prince of Servia from the house Obrenovitch. His 
 father died soon after his birth, and his mother, a Wallachian Princess, 
 after conducting his education for some time herself, sent him to 
 Paris, into the institution of Professor Huet. He remained there 
 until the fourteenth year of his age, when he was elected Prince of 
 Servia, to succeed his assassinated grand uncle, Michael III. A regency 
 consisting of three distinguished statesmen carried on the Govern- 
 ment in his name until August 22, 1872, when Milan assumed him- 
 self the reins of government. An immense crowd, greater than had 
 ever been seen there before, assembled in Belgrade to witness the 
 coronation festivities. On this, as on every subsequent occasion, the 
 people of Servia did not conceal their ardent hope that the young 
 Prince would succeed in wholly severing the connection of Servia 
 with Turkey, and re-establish an independent Servian Empire. The 
 insurrection of the oppressed Christians in Bosnia in 1875, appeared 
 to afford the right opportunity for the realization of these hopes. In< 
 1876, Servia declared war against Turkey, and the Servian army,, 
 which was commanded by the Russian General Tchernayeff, pro^ 
 claimed Milan King of Servia ; but the disapprobation of this step> 
 by the great powers of Europe, compelled Milan to decline the offered, 
 dignity, and even the proclamation of the independence of Servia. The- 
 Servian war ended in a complete victory of the Turks, and the confi- 
 dence of a large portion of the Servian people in Milan was conse- 
 quently shaken. There were rumors of conspiracies against Milan, aim-
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ing at either placing Prince Karageorgevitch, the representative of a 
 rival family, and the reputed author of the assassination of Prince 
 Michael III., upon the Servian throne, or of uniting Servia with 
 Montenegro under the rule of Prince Nicholas of the latter country. 
 The treaty of peace which concluded the war between Russia and 
 Turkey recognized the independence of Servia, and thus made Prince 
 Milan the first sovereign of the restored Servian State. 
 
 Prince Nicholas of Montenegro is one of the most popular and 
 idolized princes of the present age. He was born on September 25, 
 1841, and received his first instruction at Cettigne, under the per- 
 sonal inspection of his predecessor, Prince Danilo. Subsequently, 
 he continued his studies in Trieste, and in 1855 Danilo sent him to 
 Paris, where he entered the military academy. In the spring after 
 the assassination of Prince Danilo, he was proclaimed Prince of Mon- 
 tenegro. In the autumn of 1860 he married the beautiful daughter 
 of the Waywode Yukovitch, Milena, by whom he has one son, Dan- 
 ilo, born in 1871, and six daughters. The assassinated Prince Mich- 
 ael of Servia was godfather to the first three children, and the Em- 
 peror Alexander to the others. Nicholas has made several journeys 
 through Europe, and has been received with marked distinction at 
 the Courts of Austria, Germany, Russia, and Italy. In Russia he 
 was even treated as a member of the Imperial family. Prince Nich- 
 olas is a very accomplished scholar. He speaks the Servian, French, 
 Italian, German, and Russian languages, and has distinguished him- 
 self as a poet. The best known among his poems, "Onamo, Ona~ 
 mo, sa T>rda ona" (Yonder, yonder, behind that Mountain), is full 
 of patriotic fire, and expresses the longing of the Servian nationality 
 for deliverance and reunion. It has become a favorite song of the 
 Servian race, not only in Montenegro, but in Servia, Bosnia, and the 
 Servian provinces of Austria. Prince Nicholas is greatly beloved by 
 his own people. He takes part in all the pleasures of his subjects, 
 mixing in the athletic sports, casting the stone, pitching quoits, laugh- 
 ing, frolicking, quizzing ; one morning firing at a mark, another sit- 
 ting as umpire in a quoit match of his guard, passing the evenings 
 at games of dexterity with his staff and his guests, in all cases taking 
 his part of the consequences of the game in perfect good humor, and 
 from his sheer herculean physical force always getting the best in 
 the rough games. " I have seen him weep," writes a correspondent, 
 " in the midst of all his guards as a poor old mother came with the 
 cap of her only son (killed at Rogami) in her hand, to salute her
 
 WILHELM, EMPEKOR OF GERMANY.
 
 THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA.
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST, 
 
 499 
 
 Prince in the high-street, not to ask for charity, but for sympathy. 
 He turned to me to tell me her story, but he could hardly speak for 
 emotion." 
 
 The Emperor William of Germany has risen during the last 
 twelve years from the position of the head of the smallest of the 
 so-called Great Powers to be the leading sovereign of Europe. He 
 gained the first step toward the increase of his kingdom in 1866, 
 when he wrested from Austria the supremacy of influence in Ger- 
 many, and made Prussia the head of the North German Confedera- 
 tion. The war with France in 1870-'71 was followed by the union 
 of the German States for national purposes into the German Em- 
 pire, and the proclamation of "William as Emperor. This position, 
 combined with the prestige which he won through the excellence of 
 his civil administration and the skillful handling of the German 
 armies, has given him and his State an influence which no other 
 power, has yet ventured to question. He has been for many years 
 the confidential friend and trusted adviser of the Czar of Russia, 
 who is his nephew. As a member of the Tri-Imperial Alliance, he 
 has had much to do with the consultations and discussions which 
 have taken place in regard to Eastern affairs, and is credited with 
 having often used his influence to smooth away the differences that 
 have arisen between Russia and her rivals Austria and Great 
 Britain. The ties of relationship and personal friendship have 
 caused him to sympathize with the Czar, and so to manage his me- 
 diations as to disarrange as little as possible the plans of the Rus- 
 sians. 
 
 The Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria-Hungary, although he 
 represents the State which, next to the belligerents, has the most 
 direct and intense interest in the settlement of the questions of the 
 war, has taken but little active part in the movements relating to it. 
 A weak sovereign of a State that is in a decline, his reign has been 
 unfortunate. He came into power after the close of the revolution- 
 ary movements of 1848, when his uncle, the Emperor Ferdinand, 
 having been proved incompetent to meet requirements of his posi- 
 tion, abdicated, to give way to a younger man, who, it was hoped, 
 would be able to meet the new situation with greater vigor. He 
 brought only common abilities to face duties which required extra- 
 ordinary ones. A few years after his accession, he was obliged to 
 give up some of the best provinces of the Empire in Italy ; the war 
 with Prussia in 1866 resulted in depriving Austria of its influence
 
 500 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 in Germany. Austria was then obliged, in order to preserve 
 its existence, to arrange a compromise and divide its sovereignty 
 with the strongest of its disaffected nationalities, the Hungarians ; 
 and it has since been distracted by the conflicting claims of its other 
 rival nationalities. The Emperor has taken but little part in the 
 adjustment of these troubles, but has left them all, as well as the 
 negotiations with relation to Turkish affairs, involving matters 
 relating immediately to the internal condition of the Empire, wholly 
 to his chancellors. He is supposed to be rather more in sympathy 
 Math the German party, which is not strongly hostile to Russia, than 
 with the Hungarian party, which is intensely Turkish and anti- 
 Russian. 
 
 The Queen of England has less actual influence over the public 
 affairs of the nation than the head of any existing State. Hence, 
 the views of Queen Victoria are really of less importance than those 
 of her ministers, of the members of Parliament, upon whom the 
 ministers depend for official existence, or even than those of prom- 
 inent citizens. The Queen is personally allied to the German 
 Emperor by the marriage of one of her daughters, and with the 
 Czar by the marriage of her second son, and might be expected to 
 be influenced somewhat by the consideration of these facts ; on the 
 other hand, she can not forget that the integrity of her new title of 
 Empress of India is thought by many leaders of the dominant 
 party of her nation to be seriously imperilled by the success of the 
 Russians and the defeat of the Turks. Prince Albert, the late hus- 
 band of the Queen, was a strong friend of Turkey during the 
 Crimean war ; and her Majesty, so far as she has expressed herself, 
 has been supposed to incline to the same side. 
 
 Marshal Marie-Edme-Patrice-Maurice de MacMahon, Duke of 
 Magenta, and President of the French Republic, is of Irish descent, 
 and was born in 1808. He entered the military service of France 
 in 1825, and has served his country in many important military and 
 official positions. He distinguished himself during the Crimean 
 war in the storming of the Malakoff at Sebastopol on the 8th of 
 September, 1855. He served with success in the Italian campaign 
 of 1859, where he received his ducal title. He was appointed 
 Governor of Algeria in 1862, but his administration was a failure. 
 He was a prominent commander of French troops in the war with 
 Prussia in 1870, in which he suffered several defeats, culminating 
 in the surrender of the army and the collapse of the French power
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 501 
 
 at Sedan on the 2d of September. He was wounded iii the action 
 at this place, and was obliged to retire from command, so that he 
 escaped the mortification of personally signing the capitulation. He 
 afterward successfully conducted the siege of Paris against the Com- 
 mune. He was elected President of the Republic to succeed M. 
 Thiers on his resignation in May, 1873. In November of the same 
 year the term of his office as President was definitely fixed at seven 
 years. The French Government was represented during the nego- 
 tiations of 1875 and 1876, and was one of the signataries of the 
 Andrassy note and the Berlin memorandum. During the most of 
 1877, the attention of President MacMahon and the French people 
 was engrossed with the settlement of questions of internal politics, 
 and no interference was attempted in Eastern affairs. President 
 MacMahon is devoted to the interests of France, and his views on 
 Eastern topics are governed wholly by the consideration of those 
 interests. Relating chiefly to Syria, the interests have not been 
 directly affected by anything that has yet taken place. 
 
 The present King of Italy, having been upon the throne only a 
 few weeks, has had very little to do, officially, with the discussions 
 to which Turkish affairs have given rise. He became king in Jan- 
 uary, 1878, upon the death of his father, lung Yictor Emmanuel. 
 The late king, as King of Sardinia, participated in the Crimean war 
 as the ally of France, Great Britain, and Turkey, against Russia. 
 In the recent controversy, he gave his signature to the Andrassy 
 note and the Berlin memorandum, but afterward, when Russia and 
 Turkey went to war, committed his Government to a policy of un- 
 conditioned neutrality. The visit made by Signer Crispi in the fall 
 of 1877 to the continental courts was supposed to be semi-official in 
 its character, and to involve the presentation of the views of the 
 King upon the Eastern as well as upon other questions ; but nothing 
 is publicly known of its nature further than that Crispi proposed 
 an enlargement of Greece and the formation of a Slavic con- 
 federacy. King Humbert was trained in a period of iconoclastic 
 revolution and of the advancement of liberal ideas. He is regarded 
 as even more progressive and liberal than his father, whose reforms 
 were so radical, vigorous, and bold as to astonish the whole world. 
 He is strongly attached by personal friendship to the Crown Prince 
 of Germany, and his views and policy with reference to the affairs 
 of the East may be in a considerable degree affected by his sym- 
 pathy with Germany. In his address at the opening of the Italian
 
 502 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Parliament, March 7th, he stated that he had unhesitatingly assented 
 to the Conference of the powers, desiring to secure a durable peace 
 for Europe, and expressed the belief that the impartiality of his 
 government would give greater value to its counsels, while the re- 
 cent history of the country would afford " a convincing argument 
 for supporting the solutions most in conformity with justice and 
 the rights of humanity." The views of King Humbert with regard 
 to the final settlement are liable to be affected by the desires and 
 movements of Austria. That Empire still possesses some Italian 
 cities and provinces in which the Italian population is in the ma- 
 jority or considerable. Humbert would therefore be disposed to 
 join any anti- Austrian combination, or if any of the Turkish ter- 
 ritory were annexed to that Empire, to demand compensation for 
 Italy in the cession of some of the Italian possessions of Austria. 
 
 The Chancellor of Russia, Prince Alexander Michailovitch Gort- 
 chakoff, is universally recognized as one of the greatest statesmen of 
 the nineteenth century. He was born on July 16, 1798, and was 
 appointed Russian Minister a few weeks before the conclusion of 
 the Treaty of Paris, April 29, 1856. Both in point of age and of 
 duration of office he excels all other statesmen in Europe. He is 
 seventeen years older than Prince Bismarck, and twenty-five years 
 older than Count Andrassy, and was intrusted with the heavy re- 
 sponsibility of steering the politics of one of the great world-empires 
 six years before Bismarck, and fifteen years before Andrassy. Soon 
 after entering upon his office, he defined his political programme 
 by the celebrated word, " La Russie se recueiMe " (Russia collects 
 herself), and during twenty-one years he has aimed with singular 
 steadiness of purpose at carrying through this programme, and at 
 accomplishing the work in which his country had failed during the 
 Crimean war. The chief features of this policy were the greatest 
 possible reserve in all international complications and the introduc- 
 tion of such reforms as would tend toward developing the immense 
 resources of the Empire. Thus Russia is indebted to him for the 
 long peace she has enjoyed since the Paris Treaty of 1856, and for 
 reforms like the abolition of serfdom, two thorough reorganizations 
 of the army, and the construction of an extensive railroad net. The 
 abolition of serfdom in particular was not merely a philanthropic 
 measure, but, by preparing a universal liability to military service, 
 it was still more intended, by the sagacious statesman, as a means of 
 strengthening the military power of the Empire. During the war
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 503 
 
 between Austria and France, in 1859, Russia observed a complete 
 neutrality. She had no sympathy with either of the belligerent 
 powers, one of which, France, had been, during the Crimean war, 
 her open enemy, while the other had " surprised her by ingratitudes." 
 A few years later Gortchakoff had an opportunity to give a con- 
 spicuous proof of his statesmanship. Some of the European powers 
 showed a disposition to meddle with the Polish question, and Austria, 
 France, and England addressed identical notes to Russia. The answer 
 of Gortchakoff to these notes was so firm and energetic that it put 
 an immediate end to the diplomatic complications. Austria had 
 even to bear with the blunt remark that it would do better to check 
 the dangerous tendencies in its Polish provinces by measures ap- 
 propriate both for its own interests and for its international relations. 
 This defiant attitude toward Austria was maintained for several 
 years, and Gortchakoff, on one occasion, gave vent to his anti- 
 Austrian feelings by the contemptuous remark : " Austria is not a 
 State, it is only a Government." On the other hand, Gortchakoff 
 established the most intimate relations between Russia and Prussia. 
 Though not taking an active part in the Franco-German war of 1870, 
 the Russian Government made an unreserved display of its sympa- 
 thy with Prussia, and thereby made it impossible for Austria to 
 avail herself of the troubles of Prussia. This friendly relation con- 
 tinued without the slightest disturbance until and through the great 
 Eastern war, and proved of great advantage to Russia. Only four 
 days after the capitulation of Metz, Gortchakoff wrote the celebrated 
 circular dispatch concerning the Pontus question, in which he in- 
 formed the surprised statesmen of Europe that Russia could no 
 longer abide by that article of the Paris Treaty which excluded the 
 Russian flag from the Black Sea. The Cabinets of Yienna and Lon- 
 don were very reluctant to consent to this unauthorized and one-sided 
 repeal of an article of an international treaty ; but France being 
 powerless, and Germany on the side of Russia, they saw that further 
 opposition on their part would be resultless, and yielded to the de- 
 mand of Russia. In 1872, Gortchakoff differed from all the Euro- 
 pean Courts by refusing to acknowledge the Spanish Government of 
 Marshal Serrano, and the views expressed by him on the probable 
 short-livedness of that Government were soon proved to be correct 
 by the course of events. More recently he was reported to have 
 said that he did not mean to be extinguished like a light. He has 
 risked the boldest step of his long diplomatic career, and while the
 
 504 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 opinions of the civilized world on the justness of this step widely 
 differ, the consummate skill with which it has been taken and car- 
 ried through, has elicited admiration on all sides. The very numer- 
 ous notes and circulars which have been issued by Prince Gortcha- 
 koff during his long diplomatic career are counted among ths most 
 remarkable productions of modern diplomacy. One of the most 
 notable documents, in a literary point of view, is a letter addressed 
 in 1876 to Count Shuvaloff, in which he ironically criticised the 
 " political mythology" which still tries to palm off the " old woman's 
 story " (vieillerie) of the testament of Peter the Great for authentic 
 history. 
 
 By far the ablest among the diplomatic agents of Russia at foreign 
 Courts is General Nicholas Paulovitch Ignatieff, the Russian Am- 
 bassador at Constantinople from 1864 to the beginning of the Eastern 
 war. He not only outshone in Constantinople all the Ambassadors 
 of other powers, but he is undoubtedly one of the great diplomatists 
 of the nineteenth century, and public opinion has long designated 
 him as the only Russian statesman who will be able to fill the place 
 of the aged Gortchakoff when it shall become vacant. Ignatieff was 
 born in 1832, and is descended from a family which belongs to the 
 numerous lower nobility of Russia, and which has given to the State 
 a number of high dignitaries. He was educated for the army at one 
 of the military academies, and became a Colonel at the early age of 
 twenty-four. "While connected as a military attache with the Rus- 
 sian embassies in London and Paris, he greatly distinguished himself 
 at the conclusion of peace between Russia and the Western Powers. 
 In recognition of these services, his Government appointed him in 
 1858 Major-General. The signal success with which his first diplo- 
 matic activity had met, induced him to devote himself wholly to this 
 career. He conceived the plan of enlarging the territory and con- 
 solidating the power of Russia in Asia, while in European questions 
 the programme of Gortchakoff to recover gradually and to wait was 
 consistently carried out. The wonderful increase of the Russian 
 dominions in Asia during the last twenty-five years is chiefly the 
 work of Ignatieff. In 1858 a treaty was concluded between Russia 
 and China, by which the Amoor country, a territory as large as Italy, 
 and abounding in rich harbors, was ceded to Russia. At first the 
 Governor of Eastern Siberia was credited with this remarkable feat 
 of Russian strategy which surprised all Europe, but subsequently it 
 became known that Ignatieff was the real author of it. After con-
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 505 
 
 eluding favorable commercial treaties with Bokhara and Khiva, Ig- 
 natieff was, in 1859, appointed Russian Ambassador in Peking, where 
 during the four years of his stay he achieved wonders of diplomatic 
 success. He inspired the Chinese with the belief that in Russia they 
 would find a friend against England and France, and while the two 
 latter powers extorted, by a bloody and expensive war, some com- 
 mercial advantages, Ignatieff obtained the cession of a large territory 
 of the extent of France, and the right of free trade along the entire 
 frontier. The Chinese ambassadorship was, however, regarded by 
 him as a stepping-stone for the great mission of his life, and to that 
 end he acquired so perfect a knowledge of the Turkish language 
 that subsequently at Constantinople he was the only one among the 
 foreign ambassadors who could treat with the Sultan without any 
 interpreter. During the Polish insurrection he was, for a short time, 
 recalled to assist Prince Gortchakoff with his advice, being appointed 
 at the same time Adjutant-General of the Emperor, and Director of 
 the Asiatic Department in St. Petersburg. On July 26, 1864, Ig- 
 natieff was appointed Extraordinary Ambassador and Minister Pleni- 
 potentiary at Constantinople. His labors in this position fill some 
 of the most interesting pages of the history of the last decade. He 
 knew how to make Russia dreaded by all Turkish statesmen, some 
 of whom even became his pliant tools. By showing an outspoken 
 sympathy with the Pan-Slavist movement, he gradually accustomed 
 the Slavic Christians of Turkey, the Turks, and the whole of Europe, 
 to regard Russia in the light of a natural protector of the Slavs of 
 Turkey. When he entered upon his office in Constantinople, Turkey 
 appeared to be gaining slowly, but steadily, in strength. When the 
 war was declared in 1877, it was said, with much truth, that by the 
 machinations of Ignatieff the Turkish Empire had been undermined. 
 He is described as being about the middle height, thin in person, 
 with the strongly-marked Slavonic type of thick lips, broad face, 
 long, thin mustache, and small, piercing gray eyes, through which, 
 at times, passes a glare of ferocity. His wife takes a very active 
 part in her husband's affairs, and it is said that not only no dispatches 
 ever left Constantinople for St. Petersburg without first having 
 been submitted to her approval, but that she has been the initiator 
 of many of the General's most successful political inspirations. 
 
 Next to Gortchakoff and Ignatieff, Count Peter Andreyevitch 
 Shuvaloff is regarded as the most noted Russian diplomatist. He 
 is the scion of one of the oldest and most celebrated families of Rus-
 
 5o6 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 sian nobility, and was born in 1828 at St. Petersburg, where his 
 father was administrator of the Imperial palaces. Like Ignatieff, 
 he received a military education, and was rapidly promoted to the 
 highest rank, though, like Ignatieff, he never took an active part in 
 any Russian campaign. In his early life he had little practical 
 experience in diplomacy, as he was only for some time connected as 
 military attache* to the Russian Embassy in Paris. In 1865, he was 
 appointed Governor-General of the Baltic provinces. One year 
 later, a plot against the life of the Czar, which the chief of the secret 
 .police was unable to discover, led to the elevation of Count Shu- 
 valoff to this office, for which, on a former occasion, he had shown 
 a special aptitude. He had scarcely been twenty-four hours in 
 office, when he had fully cleared np the mystery of the plot, and 
 found out that the perpetrator of the attempt was not, as had at 
 first been believed, a Pole, but an adherent of the sect of Russian 
 socialists which is known by the name of Nihilists. For eight 
 years he remained at the head of this very influential, but also very 
 burdensome office, and so great was the power wielded by him that 
 the people gave him the nickname of Peter IY. When, finally, 
 regard for his health compelled him, in 1873, to resign, he was 
 intrusted with an extraordinary diplomatic mission to the English 
 Court. He was instructed to calm the excitement of the English 
 over the advance of the Russians in Central Asia. He was sup- 
 posed to be specially fitted for this mission, as, in direct opposition 
 to Ignatieff, he was regarded as a decided adherent of a peace 
 policy and of the development of the resources of the Empire, and 
 as unfavorable to the acquisition of any new territories. He had 
 never manifested any sympathy with the Pan-Slavists, but was 
 looked upon as their opponent. By promising, in the name of Rus- 
 sia, that Russian troops would not advance beyond the Oxus, and 
 that Afghanistan would be respected as inviolable territory, he suc- 
 ceeded in re-establishing friendly relations between Russia and 
 England. In order to strengthen the good understanding between 
 the two Courts, he brought about a marriage between Maria, the 
 only daughter of the Russian Emperor, and the second son of Queen 
 Yictoria, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and heir-apparent to the Ger- 
 man Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The Czar rewarded these serv- 
 ices by appointing Shuvaloff, in October, 1874, as Envoy at the 
 British Court, in the place of the aged Brunnow, who retired. 
 Since the beginning of the present complications in the East, he has
 
 BISMARCK.
 
 DISRAELI.
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 509 
 
 been less successful. Diplomatic marriages have generally proved 
 to have little or no influence on the policy of the great European 
 Court, and the one between the Duke of Edinburgh and the Rus- 
 sian Grand Duchess proved no exception. The Tory Cabinet openly 
 took sides with the Turks, and all that Shuvaloff could hope to 
 accomplish was to prevent English sympathy with Turkey from 
 drifting into an open war with Russia. Like few Russian states- 
 men, Count Shuvaloff enjoys the special confidence of the Czar, a 
 signal proof of which was given to him when he was instructed 
 to solve the mesalliance between the Grand Duke Alexis and Miss 
 Shukoosky. 
 
 Prince Carl Otto Yon Bismarck-Schoenhausen, the Chancellor of 
 the German Empire, has won the reputation of being the ablest of 
 living statesmen. His astuteness and obstinacy, complementing the 
 patriotic ambition of his master, the Emperor "William, have con- 
 tributed much to the success which has attended the scheme for 
 uniting and establishing the power of the German Empire. He has 
 represented his nation in the principal negotiations which have 
 taken place in relation to the war, with the same skill and ability 
 which he has exhibited in other fields of political and diplomatic 
 activity. His movements and utterances have been anxiously 
 watched by all the other parties interested in the struggle, both 
 because they were those of the one statesman who thoroughly 
 understood himself and his policy, and because they were supposed 
 to indicate the designs of that power which could at any time turn 
 the balance of the scale. 
 
 Count Julius Andrassy, Chancellor of the Austrian Empire, is a 
 Hungarian, the son of the distinguished scientific and social econo- 
 mist, Count Charles Andrassy. He entered public life as a member 
 of the Diet from his native town in 1847; gave all his influence to 
 the Hungarian revolution in 1848 ; was an agent for the revolution- 
 ists to the Porte in 1849 ; and was in exile in France and England 
 after the defeat of the revolution until he was enabled, by the 
 amnesty of 1857, to return to his native country. He was elected 
 to the Hungarian Diet in 1860 ; on the reorganization of the Aus- 
 trian Empire, in 1867, he was appointed Prime Minister of Hun- 
 gary, and was unanimously elected from Pesth to the Hungarian 
 Chamber of Representatives in 1869. He succeeded Count Yon 
 Beust the ablest Minister Austria has had since Metternich as 
 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1871. He has had a prominent 
 27
 
 510 THE WAR IN THE EAST, 
 
 share in all the negotiations which have taken place respecting 
 Eastern afl'airs, and has had his name inseparably associated with 
 them through the authorship of the famous "Andrassy Note" of 
 1875, which first combined, in a single paper, a formal statement 
 of the grievances of the Christian populations of European Turkey, 
 with the united demand of the powers that effectual measures be 
 taken to redress them. His position during 1877 was one of great 
 delicacy, but he conducted himself with much skill under the pres- 
 sure of discordant counsels, preserved the neutrality of the Empire, 
 maintained its honor, and escaped reproach. 
 
 Earl Beaconsfield, the Premier of the British Cabinet, was born 
 Benjamin Disraeli in 1805. He acquired distinction as an author at 
 an early age. He was first elected to the House of Commons in 
 1841 ; was Chancellor of the Exchequer under three administra- 
 tions of the late Lord Derby, and was Premier during 1868. He 
 was again appointed Premier on the final resignation of Mr. Glad- 
 stone in 1874, and has continued in that position to the present time. 
 His wife was made Viscountess of Beaconsfield in 1868, and he 
 himself was made Earl Beaconsfield in 1876. His course in the dis- 
 cussions of the Eastern Question has been signalized by a strong 
 partisanship for the Turks, and has invoked the bitter criticisms of 
 the Liberal party. The fact that he is of Jewish origin, has been 
 used by the more extreme Liberal partisans as the basis of insinua- 
 tions that his policy has been governed by a stronger regard for the 
 welfare of the Jews than of the Christians. 
 
 Earl Derby, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, was 
 born in 1826, and was first elected to the House of Commons in 
 1848, shortly after his graduation from Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 He had an honorable career in the House of Commons and in several 
 public offices, in which he was known as Mr. Henry Stanley, till he 
 succeeded to the Earldom of Derby in 1869. In 1874, Mr. Disraeli 
 made him Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In this capacity, 
 he has had charge of the diplomatic correspondence w r ith foreign 
 Governments, and his name has been frequently mentioned and ap- 
 pealed to in the discussion of British interests. He has steadfastly 
 upheld the attitude of neutrality which was assumed by his Govern- 
 ment at the beginning of the war, and has been regarded as a mod- 
 erate, but not positive friend of Turkey. He has headed the party 
 in the Cabinet which has opposed and counteracted the tendency of 
 the Premier to commit the country to some embarrassing position.
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 5 1 1 
 
 As is generally the case with men who stand between two opposite 
 factions, his course has not given satisfaction to either party. He 
 has gained great literary distinction by his most successful translation 
 of Homer. 
 
 The Right Honorable Austin Henry Layard, British Minister to 
 the Sublime Porte, was born in 1817. Yielding to scholarly tastes, 
 he started on an extensive course of travels in 1839, embracing, 
 among other countries, a large part of the Turkish Empire, and 
 studied the Arabic and Persian languages. He gained much distinc- 
 tion by his excavations and discoveries among the ruins of Nineveh, 
 which were begun in 1845, and by his efforts to introduce the results 
 of Assyrian studies to the public. He has filled various diplomatic 
 stations connected with Eastern politics, and as a member of Parlia- 
 ment has given much attention to questions of a similar character. 
 He was a close observer on the field of the Crimean war, and after- 
 ward spent some time in India during the mutiny of 1857-'58, 
 endeavoring to ascertain its cause. He was a member of Mr. Glad- 
 stone's Cabinet for about a year, after which he was appointed Min- 
 ister to Spain in 1869. He succeeded Sir Henry Elliot as Ambas- 
 sador to the Sublime Porte at the beginning of 1877. His 
 correspondence with his Government shows him to be strongly 
 Turkish in his sympathies. 
 
 Lord Augustus Loftus, British Minister at St. Petersburg, was 
 born in 1817, and has been employed in the diplomatic service .of 
 his Government since 1837. He was appointed to the Court of St. 
 Petersburg in 1871. 
 
 Sir Henry Elliot, late British Ambassador to the Sublime Porte, 
 was born in 1817, and has been engaged in the service of the 
 Foreign Office since 1840. He was appointed Ambassador to 
 Turkey in 1867, and retired from that office soon after the Confer- 
 ence of December, 1876. 
 
 The greatest among the living statesmen of Turkey is undoubt- 
 edly Midhat Pasha, the father of the new Turkish Constitution. 
 He was born in 1822, at Constantinople, where his father was a 
 kadi. His employment in the public service began at the early age 
 of twelve ; and when only nineteen years old he accompanied Faik 
 Effendi to Syria as his secretary. After occupying, in succession, a 
 number of different positions, he was sent during the Crimean war 
 to put down brigandage on the eastern coast of Rumania, an errand 
 which he accomplished with complete success. A like success at-
 
 512 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 tended him in 1857, when he was sent to pacify Bulgaria, and to 
 inquire into the conduct of the ex-governors of Rustchuk and Widin. 
 He afterward obtained a short leave of absence, during which he 
 visited London, Paris, and the other capitals of Europe, and made 
 himself thoroughly familiar with the institutions and civilization of 
 some of the leading European States. In 1860 he was made a 
 Pasha, with the rank of a Yizier, being named Governor of Nissa, 
 to which were subsequently added the districts of Uskub and Pris- 
 rend. In 1865 he was appointed Governor-General of the eyalet 
 of the Danube (Bulgaria), and in 1869 Governor-General of the 
 eyalet of Bagdad. He subsequently became a member and Presi- 
 dent of the Council of Justice, and was for a short time Grand 
 Yizier. On his resumption of the Presidency of the Council, he 
 brought about the dethronement of Abdul Aziz, and shortly after- 
 ward escaped from the assassin of Hussein Avni Pasha. Midhat 
 Pasha remained President of the Council of State during the reign 
 of Murad Y., and retained this position after the fall of Murad, 
 during the first months of the reign of the present Sultan, Abdul 
 Hamid. On June 1, 1876, Midhat published the draft of a Consti- 
 tution which he proposed to introduce as the fundamental law of the 
 Empire. This document produced a great sensation throughout 
 Europe, and Midhat prides himself upon it as the great achieve- 
 ment of his eventful life. He had been known in Constantinople 
 for five or six years as the advocate of a constitutional form of gov- 
 ernment, and his position on this subject had been several times the 
 cause of his fall. When finally the approval of the plan by Abdul 
 Hamid had been secured, the promulgation itself was postponed by 
 the Servian war. After Midhat Pasha, on Dec. 21, 1876, had again 
 become Grand Yizier, he hastened to promulgate the Constitution 
 on Dec. 23d, as an offset against the demands of the Constantinople 
 Conference, which he was unwilling to accept. The character of 
 Midhat was a guarantee to his own countrymen and to the civilized 
 world, that the Constitution was not intended by him as a blind for 
 misleading the European statesmen, who were unanimous in de- 
 manding a reform of the Turkish administration, but as the real 
 beginning of a new era in Turkish history. He began to carry out 
 its principles with unflinching energy. His orders had a military 
 ring. They never contained the time-honored phrase, "And may 
 God's grace incline your heart to obey this order,' 1 but by sharp, 
 clear commands he endeavored to convince the officials that he was
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 513 
 
 in earnest in demanding prompt obedience. A clerk in the Porte 
 who did not know how to write, and who had obtained a $2,000 
 clerkship for presenting a pretty Circassian slave to a former minis- 
 ter, was summarily dismissed. Midhat showed the same firmness 
 in his relations to the Sultan. Abdul Hamid wished to overdraw 
 his allowance, and the Minister of Finance, Galib Pasha, hesitated, 
 but Midhat resolutely declared that the Sultan must observe the 
 new laws and keep his finances within the prescribed limits, and 
 when Galib Pasha, nevertheless, yielded to repeated demands, and 
 sent the Sultan several millions of dollars, he was immediately re- 
 moved from his office by Midhat. This firmness soon led to the fall 
 of the Grand Yizier. The Sultan, who, like so many of his prede- 
 cessors, showed a greater concern about his private finances than 
 about the dangerous crisis of the Empire, listened to the insinua- 
 tions of his brother-in-law, Mahmoud Damad Pasha, who hated 
 Midhat from simple jealousy, and succeeded in creating a jealousy 
 toward him in the mind of the Sultan. On February 5th the great 
 statesman was summoned into the presence of the Sultan to be de- 
 posed. The circumstances attending the fall of Midhat are a curious 
 illustration of the rottenness of Turkish administration. A steamer 
 was in waiting with steam up, and Midhat Pasha had hardly arrived 
 at the palace when soldiers appeared, and he was rather ostenta- 
 tiously arrested and sent out to the steamer without being allowed 
 to go to his house again. Even the money necessary to defray his 
 expenses on landing in Italy was given to him at the palace, because 
 he insisted on returning to his house for a little pocket-money. Be- 
 fore it was known among the people that Midhat Pasha had fallen, 
 the steamer which took him to Brindisi was already out at sea. In 
 England, where Midhat took up his residence, he received marked 
 proofs of esteem. He observed great reserve in his remarks on the 
 condition of Turkey, but expressed his firm conviction that already 
 a national sentiment was showing itself in which Christians and 
 Jews, as well as Mohammedans, took part. The greatness of the 
 loss which Turkey suffered by his exile has been forcibly demon- 
 strated by the disgraceful inefficiency of the Turkish Government 
 during the war. All classes of the population became more and 
 more impatient in the demand for his return, and no doubt was enter- 
 tained that the Sultan would find himself compelled by the pressure 
 of the people to recall the exiled statesman, who was now regarded 
 as the only man who could save the country.
 
 5 14 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Midhat Pasha is the chief representative of the so-called Young 
 Turkish party, which, while anxious to preserve the integrity of the 
 Ottoman Empire, desires to regenerate it by introducing the insti- 
 tutions of Western Europe. While Grand Vizier, he earnestly en- 
 joined upon the governments of the provinces to promote a good 
 understanding between the different religions and races, and was 
 indefatigable in encouraging every germ of progress, whether among 
 Mohammedans or among Christians. For counteracting and thwart- 
 ing the machinations of Ignatieff, he may be said to have done more 
 than all the other Turkish statesmen together. Among the many 
 examples which are related of the energy he displayed in this respect, 
 an incident in his administration of Bulgaria is of special interest. 
 Having carefully watched the secret movements of the Pan-Slavists 
 in Bulgaria, he had several of the chief agitators, whom he thought 
 to be Russian emissaries, arrested. Ignatieff at once interceded in 
 behalf of the prisoners, and the timid Grand Vizier of that time, 
 Ali Pasha, instructed Midhat by telegraph not to proceed any 
 further against them, but to send a full report of their case to Con- 
 stantinople. Midhat laconically replied by telegraph, " To-day, two 
 culprits convicted, sentenced, and executed. Report will be sent." 
 The threatening remonstrances of Ignatieff induced the Grand 
 Vizier to send a second more urgent telegram, to which Midhat, 
 with undisturbed laconism, replied : " Two other culprits sentenced 
 and executed. Report follows by mail." Frightened at the rage 
 of Ignatieff, Ali Pasha telegraphed to Midhat, " I forbid you to 
 take any other step, upon penalty of deposition and severe punish- 
 ment. I expect telegraphic report." To which Midhat replied, 
 " Report sent by courier ; the explanation will be found satisfactory. 
 Quiet has been restored. The four last culprits will be executed 
 immediately." During its whole history, the Turkish Empire has 
 had few, if any, statesmen so enlightened and so energetic as Midhat 
 Pasha ; but the number of his intelligent followers among the Young 
 Turks has been small. Midhat Pasha converses fluently in French, 
 but does not speak English at all. He is of middle height ; his short 
 beard and whiskers are quite gray, although he is only fifty-five years 
 of age. He dresses in the European style, except that he wears a 
 red fez. He impresses those with whom he converses as an eager 
 and active man, full of good humor, but as a man also of the most 
 determined resolution. 
 
 Edhem Pasha, who, in February, 1877, succeeded Midhat Pasha
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 515 
 
 as Grand Vizier, is less known than his predecessor. He was born 
 in 1823 at Ohio, of Circassian parents. While still a boy he was 
 sold as a slave to the well-known Turkish statesman, Khosrev 
 Pasha, in whose house at Constantinople he for some time per- 
 formed servile duties. His master, who soon perceived the extra- 
 ordinary ability of his young slave, not only gave him his liberty, 
 but sent him, together with four other Circassian boys, to be edu- 
 cated in Paris. Here he remained at school from 1832 to 1835, 
 and then at the request of his patron, studied mining for four years, 
 during which period he traveled in France, Germany, and Switzer- 
 land. He returned to Constantinople in 1839, and was at once 
 appointed a captain on the general staff. In this capacity he was 
 chiefly employed in topographical work, and showed such skill that 
 he was rapidly advanced to the rank of colonel. In 1849, he was 
 appointed aide-de-camp to the Sultan, and after being promoted to 
 the rank of general, he successively became chamberlain of the Sul- 
 tan's palace and member of the Council of State. After the dis- 
 missal of Ali Pasha, Edhem became Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 and he subsequently represented his country at various European 
 Courts, including that of Berlin, whence he was called at the close 
 of 18T6 to take the post of second Plenipotentiary of the Porte at 
 the Conference. While chamberlain of the Sultan's palace, Edhem 
 instructed Abdul Medjid in the French language, and became the 
 tutor of the Sultan's children, in particular of Murad and Abdul 
 Hamid. Like Midhat, he is an outspoken opponent of the Russian 
 claims, but at the same time he is represented as a stauncher advo- 
 cate of all the Mohammedan interests. 
 
 Savfet Pasha, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was born in 1816. 
 He belongs to the oldest school of Turkish statesmen. He was in- 
 troduced into the diplomatic career by Ali Pasha, and became the 
 friend of Reshid and Fuad Pashas. He entered the service of the 
 Government at an early age, and was at first employed as a trans- 
 lator. Subsequently he was for some time translator of the Sultan 
 Abdul Medjid, and later he was an influential member of the Coun- 
 cil of the Empire. During the Crimean war he was commissary of 
 he Danubian principalities, and in 1858 he presided over the com- 
 nission which had to revise the affairs of Moldavia and Wallachia. 
 In 1865 and 1866, Savfet represented the Sublime Porte at the* 
 Court of the Tuileries, where he was held in high esteem. After 
 his return from Paris, he became in succession Minister of Com-
 
 516 THE WAR IN THE EAST, 
 
 merce and Public Works, Minister of Justice, Minister of Public 
 Instruction, and several times Minister of Foreign Affairs. He 
 specially distinguished himself as a Minister of Public Instruction 
 by founding the lyceum of Galata Sera'i, the university and the 
 archaeological museum of Constantinople, and a number of gratuitous 
 schools in the capital as well as in the provinces. As Turkish 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs, he had to preside over the International 
 Conference of Constantinople, which met in December, 1876, for 
 the purpose of finding, if possible, a peaceable solution of the Eastern 
 Question. Upon him also devolved the more difficult task of de- 
 clining, in the name of the Porte, nearly all the propositions 
 emanating from the Conference as irreconcilable with the dignity 
 of the country. The circular by which Savfet Pasha, in February, 
 1877, communicated to the diplomatic agents of Turkey the news 
 of the proclamation of the new Turkish Constitution, produced con- 
 siderable sensation. While in this remarkable document he laid, 
 on the one hand, great stress upon the active part which the Sheik- 
 ul-Islam himself had taken in drawing up the Constitution, he 
 called, on the other hand, attention to the fact that the new Constitu- 
 tion was based upon the principles of freedom and equality that are 
 found in the most liberal constitutions of Europe, and that it could 
 therefore be expected to satisfy fully the wants of those provinces 
 which had of late attracted the special attention of Europe. 
 
 Aarifi Pasha, who succeeded Savfet Pasha as Turkish Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs in July, 1877, is a fine scholar, being acquainted 
 with the French and German languages, and is considered an able 
 statesman. He was interpreter to the late Sultan Abdul Medjid ; 
 was appointed Ambassador to Austria in 1872 ; was recalled in 1873 ; 
 was made Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1874, and Minister of 
 Education and Justice in 1876 ; was again appointed Ambassador to 
 Yienna in 1877, but was recalled in July of that year to succeed 
 Savfet Pasha as Minister of Foreign Affairs, but was himself re- 
 moved within ten days. He gained a literary reputation by trans- 
 lating Michaud's " History of the Crusades." 
 
 Server Pasha, one of the negotiators of the Treaty of Peace, has 
 had considerable experience in public affairs, and especially in the 
 Foreign department, of which he was Under-Secretary of State 
 during the last years of Ali Pasha's life. Upon the latter's death, 
 Server became Foreign Minister in Mahmoud Nedim's first cabinet, 
 and subsequently went as Ambassador to Paris. In the last days
 
 SAVFET PASHA.
 
 A TURKISH SOLDIER PRAYING BY THE GRAVE OF A COMRADE.
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 519 
 
 of July, 1877, lie succeeded Aarifi Pasha as Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs, and in January, 1878, was sent to the Russian headquarters 
 to negotiate the Treaty of Peace. 
 
 Hussein Avni Pasha, who, with Midhat Pasha, took a leading 
 part in the dethronement of Abdul Aziz and the elevation to the 
 throne of Murad Y., was born in 1 819 in the sanjak of Sparta. 
 He was graduated from the military school in Constantinople in 
 18i2, distinguished himself in the Crimean war, and was, in 1856, 
 the Turkish delegate to the commission which was appointed to 
 regulate the Persian frontier. Soon after, he was appointed director 
 of the military school of Constantinople, and chief of the general 
 staff of the army. In the war with Montenegro he was commander 
 of a division, and after the insurrection in Candia he was appointed 
 to the chief command of the Turkish troops in that island. He 
 early gained the entire confidence of the two great statesmen who 
 directed the affairs of the Empire during the first years of the reign 
 of Abdul Aziz, Fuad Pasha and Ali Pasha especially of the 
 former. In 1869, he was appointed Minister of War, which posi- 
 tion he held until the death of Ali Pasha, in 1871, when he was 
 removed by Mahmoud Nedim Pasha, the new Grand Vizier, who 
 even sent him into exile on a charge of misappropriation of public 
 moneys. When Midhat Pasha became Grand Vizier, in 1872, he 
 was permitted to return, and, under Essad Pasha, he became Minis- 
 ter of the Navy, and afterward of War. In 1874, he reached the 
 goal of his ambition, the Grand Vizierate, but in this position he 
 was unsuccessful, and when he was dismissed, in 1875, the Empire 
 was in a much more wretched condition than when he entered upon 
 his office. The position of a Governor-General of Smyrna, to 
 which he was appointed, he soon resigned, in order to visit France 
 and England. In July, 1875, he was called back to Constantinople, 
 as the Grand Vizier, Essad Pasha, had urged upon the Sultan the 
 necessity of calling the ablest statesman of the Empire into the 
 Ministry. Soon after his arrival, in August, the new Ministry was 
 formed, under Mahmond Nedim Pasha. Hussein received the De- 
 partment of War, while his enemy, Midhat Pasha, became Min- 
 ister of Justice. In consequence of an irreconcilable difference 
 of opinion between him and the Grand Vizier, as to the policy to 
 be pursued, he was removed from his seat in the Cabinet in Octo- 
 ber, 1875, and appointed Governor-General of Brussa. The over- 
 throw of the administration of Mahmoud Nedim Pasha, on May 1 1th,
 
 520 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 and the appointment of Mehemed Rushdi as Grand Yizier, led to 
 his reappointment as Seraskier, or Minister of War. In order to 
 secure his reappointment, he found it necessary to ally himself with 
 the party of the Young Turkey, though he had never sympathized 
 with them before. The affiliation with this party also compelled 
 him, after becoming Minister of War, to take part in the movement 
 for dethroning Abdul Aziz, although the chief leader of this move- 
 ment was his great enemy, Midhat Pasha. He was even the prin- 
 cipal actor in the proclamation of Murad V., the new Sultan. As 
 lie was known to be decidedly opposed to Midhat's plan to give 
 to Turkey a Constitution, the breach between the two statesmen 
 would undoubtedly soon have widened; but only a few weeks 
 after the dethronement of Abdul Aziz, Hussein was assassinated by 
 Hassan Bey, the adjutant of the oldest son of Abdul Aziz. 
 
 Redif Pasha, the Turkish Minister of War in 1877, was long 
 commander of the Sixth corps, and subsequently became chief of 
 the Imperial Guard of Constantinople. He distinguished himself 
 in the Syria campaigns, and gained the reputation of being, next to 
 Abdul Kerim, one of the ablest generals of the Turkish army. 
 When it was deemed necessary that Abdul Kerim, who had been 
 designated to be the successor of the assassinated Hussein Avni 
 Pasha as Minister of War, should go to the front, and assume the 
 chief command of the European army, Redif Pasha was selected as 
 his successor in the Cabinet. 
 
 Mahmoud Damad Pasha, Palace-Marshal, and a brother-in-law of 
 the Sultan, is best known as the person who brought about the fall 
 of Midhat Pasha. This he did by creating a jealousy in the mind 
 of the Sultan, to whom he has constant access, against his Minister. 
 He is a son of Fethi Ahmed Pasha, who was a brother-in-law of 
 the Sultan Abdul Medjid, and director of the Artillery and Fortifi- 
 cation Bureau. He was for several years President of a section of 
 the State Council, and was in 1872 appointed to the Ministry of 
 Commerce, an office in which he proved so incapable, and blun- 
 dered so much, as to bring down all the foreign ambassadors against 
 him, and caused the Russian Embassy to declare that Russia would 
 not regard the Turkish trade laws so long as the administration 
 of them was in his hands. He was removed from this office, but 
 was reappointed to it in 18T5, and again in 1876, by Sultan Murad 
 Y. Sultan Abdul Hamid whose sister, the Princess Jemile, he 
 married in 1858 appointed him to the same office in the artillery
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 521 
 
 department which his father held. His peculiar relationship with 
 the Sultan, combined with his capacities for intrigue, has given him 
 a position of great influence at the Court, and he has been regarded 
 as the real director of the affairs of the Turkish Empire, so far as 
 they were directed from the capital, during 18TT. 
 
 The President of the first Turkish Chamber of Deputies, Ahmed 
 Vefik Pasha, is regarded as the greatest Turkish scholar of the 
 present time. There are few names more popularly known in Con- 
 stantinople than that of the " Recluse of the Hissar," as he has been 
 called, and there is no official man in Turkey who has been more 
 often and longer in disgrace. In turns Ambassador in Persia, mem- 
 ber of Council of State, Minister of Public Instruction, Ambassador 
 in Paris, and again member of the Council of State, and more than 
 once candidate for the office of Grand Yizier, he has always ended 
 by going back to his Tali in Hissar, to dig and plant in his garden 
 on the hill-side, and to indulge in his taste for reading and study. 
 His friends and the popular voice attribute his ill success to his in- 
 tegrity. His adversaries complain of him as an intractable, quarrel- 
 some man, and as an enthusiast, sincere, but quite impracticable. 
 But there is no difference between friends and adversaries in recog- 
 nizing the purity of his character and the grasp of his mind. He 
 has always been known as an uncompromising adversary of foreign 
 interference, for which he was erroneously set down as a fanatical 
 " Old Turk." Ahmed Yefik Pasha speaks and writes English and 
 French with facility, has considerable acquaintance with the classics, 
 and is well versed in many branches of science. His high principle 
 and unbending character have gained him much respect among his 
 countrymen, and his love of justice has passed into a proverb. Among 
 his writings is a translation into Turkish of Moliere's plays. He was 
 also among the representatives of Turkey at the Orientalists Con- 
 gress at St. Petersburg. 
 
 Ohannes Tchamith Effendi, who, in February, 1877, was appointed 
 Minister of Commerce and Agriculture, belongs to one of the most 
 respected of the Armeno-Catholic families of Constantinople. He is 
 considered one of the most capable and industrious of the public func- 
 tionaries of the Porte. He speaks and writes French with remark- 
 able facility, has some reputation as a historian and political econo- 
 mist, and has published a book in the Turkish language on logic. 
 
 The history of the last great wars in Europe has called the atten- 
 tion of the world to an appreciation of the importance which ingeni-
 
 522 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 'ous plans of a campaign has for the issue of the war. As these plans 
 are the work of the staff, the heavy responsibility of the chiefs of 
 the staff and the great part they have in the results of the war, comes 
 to be better understood. The chief of the Russian army on the 
 Danube, Arthur Adamovitch Nepokoitchitzky, k looked upon as one 
 of the most gifted Russian generals now living, and sometimes even 
 been designated by his admirers as the Russian Moltke. He was born 
 on Dec. 8, 1813, and is the son of a marshal of the nobility in the Gov- 
 ernment of Minsk. He began his military career in 1832 as officer 
 in a body-guard regiment. The first campaigns in which he took 
 part were those against the people of the Caucasus, in which he 
 greatly distinguished himself, and won the special favor of the Czar. 
 When the Russians, in 1849, invaded Hungary, he was appointed 
 General, and justified the great expectations which were entertained 
 with regard to him, by the occupation of Kroiistadt and Hermann- 
 stadt and the great victory of Temesvar, which was followed by the 
 entire submission of the Magyars. During the war between the Rus- 
 sians and the Turks in 1853, and in the following years, he not only 
 sustained his military reputation, but greatly added to it by many 
 brilliant exploits. His name is honorably connected with the passage 
 of the Pruth by the Russian troops, with the advance of the Russians 
 against the Turkish fortifications on the Danube, near Braila, with 
 the capture of the town of Matchin, and with the siege of Silistria, 
 when Nepokoitchitzky, while reconnoitering in the neighborhood of 
 the fortress, repulsed a desperate sortie of the Turks. Subsequently 
 he fought in the Crimea against the allied armies of England, France, 
 and Turkey. In 1859 he was appointed President of the War Codi- 
 fication Committee, and in 1868 he was promoted to the rank of 
 General of the Infantry. 
 
 Todleben, General Franz Eduard, Chief of the Russian Engineer 
 Corps, and one of the most distinguished engineers in the world, was 
 born in 1818, at Mitau, and entered the engineer corps in 1838. 
 He gained the distinction which he deservedly enjoys by the plan- 
 ning and construction of the fortifications of Sebastopol, which, he 
 made confessedly one of the strongest fortresses in the world. The 
 length and determination of the resistance which the Russians were 
 enabled to offer from this position to the assaults and siege attacks 
 of the allied forces engaged against them in the Crimean war, were 
 made possible by the sufficiency and excellence of the works which 
 he built. Since 1860, he has held the position of technical aide to
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 523 
 
 the Grand Duke Nicholas. His principal services in the present 
 war were rendered in connection with the planning and execution 
 of the siege works around Plevna. 
 
 Radetzky, General Feodor Feodorovitch, commander of the main 
 division of the Russian army of the Danube, was born in July, 1820, 
 at Kazan, of a family who are distantly related to the Austrian 
 Marshal Radetzky. Having completed his studies at the Engineers' 
 and General Staff Academies, he was assigned to a command of en- 
 gineers at Warsaw in 1839, and afterward in Grusia. The greater 
 part of his military life has been spent in the Caucasus, where he 
 distinguished himself in several brilliant actions and successful cam- 
 paigns. He was appointed a Major-General in 1860, and a Lieuten- 
 ant-General in 1868. In 1876 he was appointed to the command 
 of the Eighth army corps, with which he effected the crossing of the 
 Danube at Simnitza, in June, 1877, five days after Zimmermann had 
 crossed the same river at Braila, and participated with great credit 
 in the battles of the Shipka Pass. 
 
 Zimmermann, General Apollo Ernestovitch, the commander of the 
 corps of the Lower Danube, or the " Dobrudja Corps," at the begin- 
 ning of the war, is of German descent, and was born in Livonia in 
 1825. He first entered the military service of the King of Wurtem- 
 berg. Having finished his studies at the Military Academy, he was 
 attached to the Russian General Staff, and was assigned to duty in 
 the Governments of Archangel and Olonitz. He took active part in 
 the Hungarian campaign of 1849, and served in the Caucasus from 
 1851 to 1854, where he was promoted to be a Lieutenant-Colonel. 
 In the Crimean war, he had, at first, the command of one of the 
 corps which were operating in Asia, was called to the Crimea at a 
 later period, where he was attached to the garrison of Sebastopol till 
 that post was captured, and was wounded during the bombardment. 
 In 1860, having become a Colonel, he participated in the campaign 
 against Khokand, and was made a Major-General. He took part in 
 the suppression of the Polish insurrection in 1862, and was made a 
 Lieutenant-Gen eral in 1868, and was assigned the command of the 
 corps with which he effected the crossing of the Danube at Braila 
 in the night of the 21st and 22d of June, it being the first division 
 of the Russian army whicli entered the European territory of 
 Turkey. 
 
 Krudener, General Baron Nicholas Paulovitch, " the hero of Nic- 
 opolis," as he was called early in the war, is the oldest of the Russians
 
 524 THE WAR IN THE EAST, 
 
 in the field. He was bom in 1811 in Esthonia. Having studied in 
 the School of Engineers and the Imperial Military Academy, he 
 entered the General Staff in 1836. He was made a Major-General 
 in 1859, and as commander of the Yolhynian Life Guards, he took 
 part in the suppression of the Polish insurrection of 1862. He was 
 appointed in 1876 to the command of the corps which he led in the 
 war of 1877. Success attended him at the beginning of the war. 
 His capture of Nicopolis on the 15th of July, with 6,000 men and 
 two Pashas as prisoners, was a brilliant achievement, and brought 
 him praise ; but the fame he thus gained was dissipated by the dis- 
 aster which he suffered at the second battle of Plevna, on the 30th 
 of July, when he was driven back with the loss of 7,000 men. He 
 afterward excused himself for his failure by showing that he had 
 made the attack under the express orders of the Commander-in- 
 chief. He said that he had estimated the forces of Osman Pasha at 
 50,000 men, and had so reported it to headquarters, but was told 
 that the Turks had only 27,000 men, and ordered to go on and 
 attack the position. The result was what he had foreseen and tried 
 to avoid. 
 
 Gourko, General Joseph Yladimirovitch, the daring Russian cav- 
 alry chief, was born of an old Russian family in November, 1828. 
 He was appointed a cornet in the Life Guard-Hussars in 1846, after- 
 ward went through the course of the School of the General Staff, 
 and was appointed a Captain in 1852 in a regiment with which he 
 served through the whole Crimean war. He was promoted in suc- 
 cession to be Captain of Horse, Commander of the Imperial Squadron 
 in the regiment, of the Czar, in 1860 Wing-Adjutant of the Czar, and 
 in 1861 Colonel. In 1862 he was appointed a member of the com- 
 mission on the emancipation of the serfs, a cause which he actively 
 promoted. He was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant-General, and 
 made commander of the Second division of the cavalry-guard in 1876. 
 He engaged in the campaign in Bulgaria in advance of his division, 
 having been placed at the head of an " advance-guard corps," whose 
 duty it was to press forward before the army, without regard to the 
 operations of the main force, as far and as fast as possible, and spread 
 alarm through the Turkish population. He performed this duty 
 with great energy. On the 27th of June he was still on the Danube ; 
 ten days later he had captured Tirnova, the old capital of Bulgaria, 
 and found the way open to the Balkans ; on the 14th of July he had, 
 to the surprise of all who were observing the movements of the war,
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 525 
 
 passed the Balkans, accomplishing in one week what former Gener- 
 als had thought themselves entitled to credit for doing in two years. 
 He continued to advance into the heart of the mountain region, with 
 wonderful moral effect upon Europe and Turkey, till the exigencies 
 of the Russian army compelled his recall. His special corps was dis- 
 solved, and he returned to his old command to get it in readiness to 
 take part in the ensuing campaigns. For his services in penetrating 
 the Balkans, he was made an Adjutant-General. Gen. Gourko's repu- 
 tation increased as the war advanced, and when it closed, it was con- 
 sidered that he had shown himself the bravest and most skillful of 
 all the Russian generals. 
 
 Skobeleff, Michael Demetrivitch, although an officer of most dis- 
 tinguished service, is the youngest General, not only in the Russian, 
 but also of all the European armies, having been born in 1845, and 
 being now consequently only thirty-two years of age. He became 
 an officer in the Russian army in 1863, and ha performed his prin- 
 cipal services in Central Asia. He was the most active and efficient 
 leader in the campaign against the Khanate of Khokand, which re- 
 sulted in the conquest of the country in 1875, and its annexation to 
 the Russian Empire. He received the appointment of a General in 
 recompense for services in this campaign. After the submission of 
 the Khan of Khokand had been secured, he led the expedition 
 which, in the summer of 1876, cleared the valley of Ferghana of the 
 adherents of the pretenders, Abdurrahman and Pulad, and secured 
 peace to the whole of the new acquisition. He served as military 
 Governor and Commander-in-chief of the Province of Ferghana, as 
 the late Khanate of Khokand was called after its annexation to 
 Russia, till March, 1877, when he was ordered to join the Grand 
 Duke Nicholas, commander of the Russian troops in Europe. His 
 name has been mentioned repeatedly since the entrance of the Rus- 
 sian army into Turkish territory, and always with honor, as that of 
 a daring, brilliant, and generally successful officer. At Simnitza, he 
 led a reconnoitering squad of ten Cossacks which crossed the 
 Danube to reconnoiter the opposite shore on the evening before the 
 general crossing by the main force was to take place. At the second 
 battle of Plevna, July 30th, he made the final attack on the Turkish 
 position to cover the retreat of Prince Shachovsky after the day 
 was lost. He was named as " the hero of the day " in the Russian 
 official bulletins of the battle of Lovatz, September 3d, which was 
 largely through his services the first success, after many reverses,
 
 526 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 which the Russians had gained for more than six weeks. He also 
 acquitted himself with credit in the battles at Plevna, September 
 llth and 12th, the loss of which on the latter day, after a success on 
 the former day, was ascribed by English correspondents to his not 
 having been properly supported. The Russian papers find fault 
 with General Skobeleff as being too much addicted to the " American 
 method " of fighting, and too reckless of the lives of his men. He 
 is described as " a tall, handsome man, with a lithe, slender, active 
 figure, a clear blue eye, a large, prominent, well-shaped nose, and a 
 face young enough for a second-lieutenant." At the end of the 
 war, General Skobeleff had gained universal admiration as one of 
 the most gallant of the Russian generals. 
 
 Shildner-Shuldner, General Jurij Ivanovitch, the Russian officer 
 who suffered the repulse at the first battle of Plevna, was born in 
 1816, of a noble family of the Government of Vitebsk. He was 
 trained in the " Nobles' Regiment " of that day, the present Constan- 
 tine Military School, and was afterward appointed instructor in the 
 regulations of the service to the late and the present Czarevitch. 
 After serving for twenty years as commander of the battalion of 
 infantry instruction, he was appointed in 1860 to the command of a 
 regiment in Poland, and was actively engaged in the suppression of 
 the insurrection. He was made a Major-General and chief of a 
 military district in Poland in 1864, and a Lieutenant-General in 1873. 
 In the present war, a part of his division, which was attached to 
 General Kriidener's corps, had to sustain the first shock of Osman 
 Pasha's force at Plevna on the 20th of July. It was driven back 
 with the loss of 2,771 men, or one-third of its strength, and the 
 disaster led to the loss of the day and the failure of the first Rus- 
 sian campaign in Bulgaria. 
 
 Shachovsky, Prince Alexis Ivanovitch, the commander of the 
 Russian left wing at the second battle of Plevna, was born in 1812, 
 and is a lineal descendant of Rurik, the founder and first sovereign 
 of the Russian nation. He entered the military service in 1837, but 
 did not become an officer till 1842, and it was not till after he had 
 served for twelve years in the Caucasus that he became a Colonel. 
 He was not engaged in the Crimean war. He was made a Major- 
 General in the suite of the Czar in 1860, and a Lieutenant-General 
 in 1868. In 1876 he was assigned to the command of the llth 
 army corps. His corps was completely cut up at the second battle 
 of Plevna, July 30th, and was afterward dissolved. He still
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 527 
 
 remained nominally a corps commander, but was without a com- 
 mand. 
 
 General Dragomiroff, a Russian officer who was wounded in the 
 Shipka Pass, was born in 1830 in the Government of Tchernigov, 
 and entered the active army from the military school as an officer in 
 1849. He accompanied the Sardinian army as a Russian military 
 plenipotentiary during the Italian war of 1849 till the battle of Sol- 
 ferino. He afterward served as Professor of Tactics at the 
 Nicholas Academy from 1860 to 1869, during which period he spent 
 two months with the Prussian army during the Austro-Prussian war 
 of 1866 as a military attache*, and embodied the results of his ob- 
 servations there in a special report to his Government. In 1868, he 
 was made a Major-General and chief of staff of the military dis- 
 trict of Kiev, in 1872 a Major-General of the suite of the Czar, and 
 in 1873, commander of the 14th division. 
 
 Imeretinski, Prince Alexander Constantinovitch, a young Russian 
 General of promise, is of an Asiatic princely stock, being a descend- 
 ant of the kings of Imeretia, the ancient Colchis. His father bore 
 the title of Czarevitch of Imeretia. He was born in 1837, and re- 
 ceived his first training in the Page-corps. When eighteen years 
 old, he entered the military service as an ensign. He served in the 
 Caucasus from 1856 to 1859, when he returned to Russia and com- 
 pleted his military education. He joined the general staff as a Cap- 
 tain in 1862 ; took part in the suppression of the Polish insurrection, 
 and for his services in that campaign was promoted to the rank of 
 Colonel and Adjutant in the Imperial suite. In 1869, he was 
 made Major-General and chief of staff of the Warsaw military dis- 
 trict. He was not engaged in the field at the beginning of the 
 campaign of 1877, but was assigned to the command of a division of 
 the reinforcements which were sent down to the army of the Danube 
 in August. He had the good fortune to be associated with General 
 Skobeleff in the capture of Lovatz on the 4th of September, and to 
 have his name made known with honor in connection with this 
 event through all Europe. It is well-said in regard to his service 
 on this occasion, that it is no great achievement to defeat 7,000 of 
 the enemy with 20,000 men ; but it is something to know when to* 
 bring the 20,000 against the 7,000, and to do it at the right time.. 
 Prince Imeretinski was also associated with General Skobeleff in his* 
 success at Plevna on the llth, and his defeat at the same place on 
 
 the 12th of September. 
 28
 
 5 28 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 One of the most enthusiastic Panslavists among the Russian 
 generals is Michel Gregoryevitch Tchernayeff, to whom the Gov- 
 ernment of Servia in 1876 intrusted the chief command of the 
 Servian army. He was born in 1828, and is descended from a 
 family belonging to the old Russian nobility. After finishing his 
 studies in the military academy of Mcolayev, he was in 1853 at- 
 tached to the corps of infantry which began the military operations 
 on the Danube. From that time Tchernayeff took an active part in 
 all the Russian campaigns on the Danube near Sebastopol, in the 
 Caucasus, and in Central Asia. His advancement in the army was 
 very rapid, and in 1864:, at the age of only thirty, he attained the 
 rank of Major-General. In the following year he was appointed 
 Governor-General of the province of Toorkistan, which had been 
 conquered by him for Russia. On June 20, 1876, he was placed 
 on the retired list, and soon after he offered his services to the 
 Servian Government, which intrusted to him the chief command of 
 the army. 
 
 Loris-Melikoff, General Michael Tarielovitch, commander of the 
 Russian array of operations in Armenia, is an Armenian by descent, 
 the son of a Grusian gentleman, a merchant of Tiflis, where he was 
 born January 1, 1826. He received his military education at St. 
 Petersburg, and entered the army in 1843. Four years later he became 
 adjutant of Prince Yoronzoff, military governor of the Caucasus. He 
 took part with honor in the campaign against the Tchetchentzes in 
 1847 ; he was engaged as a Major in the campaign against Shamyl in 
 1851, and, at the head of one thousand Cossacks, inflicted a severe 
 defeat upon that chieftain. He distinguished himself during the Cri- 
 mean war in the campaigns around Kars, and was appointed governor 
 of that fortress after its capture in 1855. He was made a Lieutenant- 
 General in 1863, and a General of Cavalry in 1875. He speaks 
 fluently Turkish, Persian, Armenian, and Grusian. A few months 
 before the declaration of war, he entered into communications with 
 the Kurds and Karapaches in order to engage them on the Russian 
 side, with a slight degree of success. He spoke with them in their 
 native language, and showed himself quite familiar with their 
 usages and views. In order to show his confidence in them, he 
 took a number of their chiefs into his body-guard. It is said that 
 these wild sons of the country never abused the trust he reposed in 
 them. 
 
 Tergukassoff, General Arsas Artemyevitch, commander of the
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 529 
 
 " Erivan Corps '' of the Russian army of invasion in Armenia, 
 was born in 1819, the son of an Armenian priest, in the Govern- 
 ment of Tiiiis. He was appointed an ensign in the Engineer corps 
 in 1837, and has served continuously since 1841 in the Caucasus. 
 He was made a General in 1865, and a Lieutenant-General and 
 commander of a division of infantry in 1876. He has so far 
 proved himself the most capable of the Russian commanders in 
 Asia. 
 
 Dewell, General Feodor Danilovitch, commander of a division in 
 the army of the Caucasus, was born in 1818, received his education in 
 the higher school of engineers (now the Nicholas Engineer-school), 
 and entered the service in the cuirassiers of the body-guard of the 
 Czarevitch. He was transferred to the sapper-battalion of the army 
 of the Caucasus in 1842, and has since that time served continuously 
 in the Caucasus. He distinguished himself frequently in the wars 
 against the mountaineers, gained a wide and honorable fame, and 
 made himself formidable to the enemies of Russia by his deeds of 
 heroic bravery. In 1856, he was a colonel of engineers in Kara, 
 which the Russians had then captured from the Turks. Afterward 
 he was commander of the regiment of infantry which had the 
 honor of capturing the Circassian chieftain Shamyl. He was made 
 a Major-General in 1865 and a Lieutenant-General in 1876. At the 
 opening of the war in 1877 he was assigned to the command of the 
 column of the army of invasion which had to march from Akhaltzikh 
 to Ardahan. In capturing the latter city, he achieved the second 
 notable Russian success of the campaign. 
 
 Heimann, General Basili Alexandrovitch, of the Russian army of 
 the Caucasus, an officer who distinguished himself in the capture of 
 Ardahan in May, 1877, was born at Grodno in 1823. He is of Ger- 
 man descent. He entered the Nizhni Novgorod regiment as a 
 "Tounker'' in 1839, and was transferred in 1842 to the Army of 
 the Caucasus, with which he has ever since been connected. He 
 became an officer in 1844, and in the next year distinguished him- 
 self in several brilliant engagements with the hostile Caucasian 
 tribes, in one of which he was wounded and narrowly escaped being 
 taken prisoner. He was in active service during all the campaigns 
 till the Caucasian war was ended by the surrender of Shamyl in 
 1859, when he had risen to be a Colonel. In 1863 he escorted 
 Prince Albert of Prussia during his journey through the Caucasus^ 
 for which service the Prince recommended him to the Czar, and he
 
 530 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 received the appointment of Major-General. In 1872 he was ap- 
 pointed Lieutenant-General and commander of a division, in which 
 capacity he served under General Loris-Melikoff in the campaign of 
 1877 in Armenia. For his services at Ardahan, he received the 
 gift of an elegant golden sword adorned with brilliants. He was 
 less fortunate at Zewin, where his division, supported by the forces 
 brought by General Melikoff to his assistance, suffered a crushing 
 defeat from the Turks. 
 
 Oklobjio, General Ivan Dimitrievitch, commander of the " Rion 
 corps" of the Russian army of the Caucasus, is, according to some 
 accounts, a Dalmatian, according to others, a Montenegrin. He was 
 born in 1821, received his earlier training in the Austrian Military 
 Institutes, and afterward completed a course, with honor, in the 
 faculty of law of the University of Padua. He entered the Russian 
 military service in 1846 as a Second Lieutenant in the Yagers of 
 Prince Voronzoff, which was then in the Caucasus. He was en- 
 gaged in the war against the Caucasians, but was present at the 
 siege of Silistria in 1854. He was wounded several times during 
 his Caucasian campaigns ; and in a battle with the Turks in 1853, he 
 became entirely deaf in one ear, and had his head so disfigured 
 that with the consent of the Czar he afterward wore a cap instead 
 of a helmet. He is a good fighting soldier, but he is not regarded 
 in Russia as having very high military talent. 
 
 Abdul Kerim Pasha, who was appointed Serdar Ekrem or 
 Generalissimo of the Turkish army in the beginning of the war, was 
 for a long time looked upon as the ablest of the Turkish generals. 
 He is a Turk of the old school, and his subordinates are fond of 
 extolling the straightforwardness of his character. He was born in 
 1807, and received his military education in Vienna, where he went 
 as a young officer. He has ever since retained a great predilection 
 for the German language, which he speaks tolerably well, and 
 especially for German newspapers and military works, which he reads 
 regularly. He has held the rank of Mushir for more than twenty- 
 five years. He served at first in Mesopotamia, near Diarbekr, and 
 Erzerum. In the Crimean war he commanded the Anatolian army 
 near Erzerum and Kars, but as the statesmen in Constantinople with- 
 held from him the necessary supplies, he could not be successful. 
 He took part in the campaign against Montenegro under Omer 
 Pasha (1862), and during the Cretan insurrection he commanded the 
 corps of observation in Thessaly. After that he was a minister on
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 53! 
 
 several occasions, either Minister of the Police or Minister of War. 
 The latter position he held upon the outbreak of the war with Rus- 
 sia. In the war with Servia he held the chief command of the 
 Turkish army, and upon the outbreak of the war with Russia, re- 
 signed his position as Minister of War in order to assume the supreme 
 command of the Turkish forces in Europe. After the successful 
 and rapid advance of the Russians beyond the Balkans he was re- 
 moved on July 23, 1877, and was sent to the island of Lemnos. He 
 is to be tried by a court-martial after the conclusion of peace. The 
 immediate instigator of his removal was Prince Hassan of Egypt, 
 who, having come to the conclusion that Abdul Kerim was follow- 
 ing no definite plan, complained to the Sultan. Namyk Pasha was 
 sent to investigate the charges made, and when he corroborated 
 Prince Hassan's statements, Abdul Kerim was removed from the 
 command. 
 
 Mehemet AH Pasha, the Commander-in-chief of the Turkish 
 forces in Bulgaria after the removal of Abdul Kerim Pasha, is a 
 Prussian, having been born in Magdeburg, November 18, 182Y. His 
 original name was Julius Detriot, and his father was a staff-trump- 
 eter in a regiment of Brandenburg. The boy was placed in a house 
 of business at Magdeburg, but becoming dissatisfied with the dull 
 routine of his life there, ran away, when in his fifteenth year, and 
 embarked as ship-boy on board a merchant vessel at Rostok, which 
 was about to sail for the Levant. The youth was no better satisfied 
 with life on the ship than he had been with that of the business- 
 house. One day, while the vessel on which he had shipped was 
 lying in the Bosporus, he observed a caique, conveying a Turkish 
 officer. He jumped overboard, and swam toward the caique. The 
 officer, who proved to be Ali Pasha, afterward Grand Yizier, heard 
 his story, became interested in him, and took him under his pro- 
 tection. At the very outset of his career in Ali Pasha's household, 
 he expressed his intention of changing his religion, but was advised 
 to reflect before taking such a step. The Chaplain of the Prussian 
 Embassy was even called in to remonstrate with him against this step, 
 but he persisted, and was at length admitted to the new religion, with 
 the new name of Mehemet Ali. Two years later he was sent to the 
 military school, where he distinguished himself as one of the fore- 
 most scholars. Having completed the course of the school in 1853, 
 he was offered a position as assistant in the institution, but declined 
 it, preferring a more active life in the campaigns of the Crimean
 
 532 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 war. He received a commission as Lieutenant, and went to the field 
 on the Danube, where he first came under fire at Silistria. In 1857, 
 he was a Captain at Shumla, came under the notice of Omer Pasha, 
 and was appointed to a position on his staff, in which capacity he 
 served through the Crimean war, and later in campaigns in Monte- 
 negro, Arabia, and Bosnia. He became a Colonel in 1863, and a 
 General, with the title of Pasha, in 1865. He served with distinction 
 during the insurrection in Crete, and again on the Montenegrin 
 frontier. In 1873, he was appointed to the chief command of the 
 forces in Thessaly, with the duty of suppressing brigandage, which 
 he discharged with great ability and creditable success. Toward the 
 close of 1875, he was appointed commander at Novi Bazar, in 
 Bosnia, and was afterward engaged in operations in Servia. While 
 his abilities have been well-known and acknowledged, he was, until 
 he was appointed to the chief commandership in 1877, kept back in 
 secondary places, under the jealous and foolish policy of the Turkish 
 politicians, which leads them to prefer, even for the most important 
 posts, a second-rate native Mussulman to a first-rate officer of foreign 
 birth. After commanding the forces in Bulgaria for a few weeks, 
 he was superseded by Suleiman Pasha. 
 
 Suleiman Pasha, who attracted considerable attention by the im- 
 petuosity displayed by him in the operations against Montenegro 
 and in the Shipka Pass, was born in 1838, in a small town of 
 Thrace. Like his father, he devoted himself to religious pursuits. 
 He received his education in some of the best medressehs of Con- 
 stantinople, and pursued his studies with such diligence that the 
 Ulemas gave him the title of Hafuz expounder of the Koran. 
 The Crimean war found him in the army, where he rose to be adju- 
 tant to Omer Pasha. Upon the conclusion of peace, he entered the 
 military school of Constantinople, left it in 1860, and in 1862 took 
 part in the campaign against Montenegro. When the insurrection 
 broke out in Crete, he went there as the commander of a battalion 
 in the Imperial Guards, and displayed such bravery that he was 
 given the command of a division, although he only held the rank 
 of Major. Even here he showed a predilection for operating 
 wherever the most difficulties presented themselves. Upon his 
 return to Constantinople, he was appointed professor in the military 
 school, was sent to Yemen when the revolt broke out there, and re- 
 turned with the rank of Colonel. A year later, he was a Brigadier- 
 General and sub-director of the War School, and when, a few months
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 
 
 533 
 
 later, Ghalib Pasha died, Suleiman was appointed its first director 
 in his place. This position he held uninterruptedly until the out- 
 break of the Servian war in 1876. In this position he did much to 
 reorganize the entire system of military instruction. In the Servian 
 war of 18T6, he commanded the First division of the army of Nissa, 
 with the rank of Ferik, or Lieutenant-General. During the short 
 interval of peace that followed, he was a member of the commission 
 that drew up the Turkish Constitution. In 1877, he was appointed 
 Mushir, or Field-Marshal, and was assigned to the command in the 
 Herzegovina. The campaign against Montenegro forms the most 
 brilliant episode of his life. " For the first time in the history of 
 Turkey," the Turkish papers said, " did Turkish troops set foot on 
 the heights of Ostrok." He was afterward appointed to the com- 
 mand of the forces in Rumelia, and was then ordered to replace 
 Mehemet Ali on the Lorn. After the fall of Plevna, he again went 
 to Rumelia, where he was completely defeated by Gen. Gourko. 
 He was said to have been unpopular, both with his soldiers and 
 officers, on account of the strictness of his discipline. It is said, 
 also, that he was very jealous of his fellow-officers, so that he does 
 not like to co-operate with them. He is described as being, in 
 appearance, much more like an Engh'shman or a North German 
 than a Turk, being tall and well-grown, with light blue eyes, and a 
 flowing red beard, exceedingly particular in his dress, and fond of 
 displaying all the pomp arid ceremonial of his station. 
 
 Osman Pasha, the defender of Plevna, attracted public attention 
 to a greater degree than any of the other Turkish generals who par- 
 ticipated in the war. His defense of Plevna ranks among the most 
 brilliant operations of the kind, while, by his selection and fortifica- 
 tion of this place, he displayed an ingenuity and skill which gave to 
 him a high rank among great generals. When he gained his first 
 successes at Plevna, and his identity was in doubt, it was stated at 
 one time that he was Marshal Bazaine, the defender of Metz, and 
 again that he was an American officer by the name of Crawford ; 
 but both of these stories are without foundation. Osman Pasha is a 
 full-blooded Turk, having been born in Tokat, in Asia Minor, in 
 1836. He began his studies under the care of his brother, the late 
 Hussein Effendi, Professor of Arabic in the Preparatory School at 
 Constantinople. 11 e studied at the military school, where he dis- 
 tinguished himself by his excellent scholarship, and whence he came 
 out the first in standing, at the final examinations, as a Lieutenant.
 
 534 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 He entered the army in 1853, and at the beginning of the Crimean 
 war was appointed a staff officer, and sent to Shumla. After the 
 close of the Crimean campaigns, he entered the Imperial Guard at 
 Constantinople as a Captain, and was shortly afterward promoted to 
 be commandant of a battalion of the Imperial Guard. "With bis 
 battalion, he was sent to Crete, to assist in suppressing the insurrec- 
 tion which had broken out in that island. Ho was present in every 
 movement of the campaign, and returned to the capital a Colonel. 
 He was subsequently appointed Brigadier-General, General of Divi- 
 sion, and Chief of Staff of the Fourth army corps, in which capacity 
 he commanded a division at Widin. In reward for his eminent 
 services in the war against Servia, he was raised to the rank of 
 Mushir, or Marshal. In every position in which he has been 
 placed, Osman Pasha has distinguished himself by his ability and 
 efficiency. 
 
 Among the many foreigners who have entered the Turkish serv- 
 ice, none probably has deserved so well of the decaying Empire as 
 the English Captain Augustus Charles Hobart, now called Hobart 
 Pasha, the Admiral of the Turkish fleet. Hobart Pasha is the third 
 son of the Earl of Buckinghamshire, and was born April 1, 1822. 
 He entered the British navy in 1835, distinguished himself in the 
 Crimean war, and rose to the rank of Captain. Thirsting for an ad- 
 venturous life, Captain Hobart quitted the active service in the En- 
 glish navy, which, however, continued his name in the list of retired 
 officers. During the civil war in the United States, he commanded 
 a swift blockade runner, the " Don," which cruised along the coast of 
 North Carolina, and kept up maritime communications with the 
 Southern States in spite of the Federal blockading squadron. He 
 assumed the name of Captain Roberts, and under this name subse- 
 quently published an account of his experience, but during the war 
 very few people knew the daring dealer in contraband as the son of 
 the Earl of Buckinghamshire. A few years later, Admiral Farragut 
 met Captain Hobart in London, and in the course of conversation 
 remarked that he had great trouble with one English blockade run- 
 ner named Roberts, and that he had always regretted his inability to 
 overhaul him. When assured that Capt. Hobart and Capt. Roberts 
 were one and the same person, the Admiral was very much amused. 
 In the account which Hobart himself gave of his experience as a 
 blockade runner, he stated that he made about 1,000 on each vent- 
 ure, and that he learned fay his success that no coast of much extent
 
 GENERAL TODLEBEN.
 
 V 
 
 SULEIMAN PASHA.
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 537 
 
 could be successfully blockaded. In 1867, he was invited by the 
 Turkish Government, which had just awakened to the urgent neces- 
 sity of reorganizing its demoralized navy, to assume the difficult task. 
 Great pecuniary inducements and the dignity which belongs to the 
 rank of a Pasha were tendered to him, and he concluded to accept 
 this offer. The English admiralty was greatly displeased with this step, 
 and warned him that by entering the Turkish service he would forfeit 
 his professional rights at home. Captain Hobart's first commission 
 in the Turkish navy was that of Rear- Admiral. During the Cretan in- 
 surrection he was commander of the fleet which was to enforce the 
 blockade of Crete against the Greeks. He was completely successful in 
 this attempt, and even compelled the Government of Greece to surren- 
 der the transport " Enosis," which had taken Greek volunteers to Tur- 
 key. In reward for these services, the Turkish Government appointed 
 Hobart Pasha, in the latter days of 1869, Yice-Admiral, and early in 
 the following March he was made an Admiral, and Inspector-General 
 of the entire Turkish navy. When the English admiralty asked for 
 explanation of the active part he had taken in the suppression of the 
 Cretan insurrection, Hobart prayed that if his name should be taken 
 from the active list, he might remain as a retired officer. The re- 
 quest, however, was not complied with, and on March 19, 1868, his 
 name was removed altogether. Not long afterward he applied for a 
 reinstatement, and the subject was postponed. In 1869, a Liberal 
 Ministry was installed, and the request was renewed, only to be 
 promptly refused. In 1874, however, a Conservative Ministry hav- 
 ing succeeded the Liberal one, Captain Hobart renewed his appeal, 
 reciting in eloquent phrases the disgrace attending his dismissal, and 
 reminding the Ministry of the encomiums he had earned by organiz- 
 ing the Turkish navy. The Earl of Derby supported this application 
 " as a matter of Imperial policy," considering it to be of material 
 advantage that Admiral Hobart Pasha should occupy the position he 
 held in Turkey. The Lords of the Admiralty, therefore, consented 
 to allow the Hon. Augustus Hobart to be reinstated in his former 
 rank as a Captain in the Royal Navy, placing him on the retired list, 
 with the half pay, 400 a year, and with the opportunity of rising 
 by seniority to the rank of Retired Admiral. At the beginning of the 
 war of 1877, Hobart Pasha attracted attention by his bold and suc- 
 cessful exploit of running down the Danube, past the Russian bat- 
 teries, with the Turkish dispatch-boat " Rethymo." 
 
 Achmed Mukhtar Pasha, the Commander-in-chief of the Turkish
 
 538 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 troops in Asia Minor, is believed to be a son of the late Sultan Ab- 
 dul-Aziz. He is one of the few pupils of the Constantinople Mili- 
 tary School who are famous for military acquirements at home, and 
 successively rose to be a Professor and Governor of the institution in 
 which he was educated. He is still a young man, but his advance- 
 ment in the Turkish army has been very rapid. He began his mili- 
 tary career in 1862, as an officer of the general staff in the war 
 against Montenegro. Later he fought in Yemen, Arabia, under the 
 command of Redif Pasha, against the rebellious Bedouins, and dur- 
 ing this campaign he attained the rank of a Brigadier-General. 
 "When Redif Pasha was recalled to Constantinople, Mukhtar Pasha 
 became Vali (governor) of Yemen and commander of the troops 
 of this vilayet, with the rank of a Yizier. From Yemen he was 
 recalled in order to be appointed Governor-General of Bosnia and 
 Herzegovina, where Dervish Pasha had been entirely usuccess- 
 ful in his efforts to subdue the insurrection. At first he gained a 
 few successes, but his defeat in the Duga Pass seriously injured his 
 military reputation. Against the small number of the Montene- 
 grins he was equally unsuccessful. To the chief command of the 
 Asiatic army he was appointed at the special request of the Minis- 
 ter of War, Redif Pasha, who refused to assume this position be- 
 cause he feared that a protracted absence from Constantinople would 
 be equivalent to a loss of his power and influence. The opening 
 of the Asiatic campaign strengthened the widespread mistrust in 
 Mukhtar's military ability, and the loss of Ardahan was followed 
 by a general clamor for his removal. Mukhtar Pasha has a kindly 
 expression, and large, dark Oriental eyes. 
 
 Ghazi Mehmed, Chief of the Circassian Free Corps in Asia, is a son 
 of the celebrated Circassian chieftain Shamyl, the leader of the 
 Circassians in their last war against Russia. He was taken a pris- 
 oner with his father by the Russians, and was brought up under the 
 supervision of the Court of St. Petersburg. His brother entered 
 the Russian army, but he would not accustom himself to European 
 relations, and used every opportunity to form for himself connec- 
 tions with the East. With the permission of the Czar he went to 
 Constantinople ; thence he entered into communication with the 
 Circassians of Upper Armenia who lived under Turkish rule. Upon 
 the outbreak of the war in 1877 he avowed himself a Mussulman, 
 and an enemy of Russia, raised a free-corps, and was sent by the 
 Porte to Trebizond. He accompanied the Turkish expedition to
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. . 539 
 
 Sukhum Kaleh and Abkhasia, and exerted himself actively to excite 
 a general insurrection of the Mohammedan tribes. He bears a 
 striking resemblance to his father. 
 
 Feizi Pasha, Chief of Staff to Mukhtar Pasha, and the most 
 accomplished and skillful of the Turkish generals in Asia, is a Hun- 
 garian by birth, whose proper name is Kohlman. He came to Tur- 
 key about thirty years ago, and owes his Pashalic to the late Sultan 
 Abdul- Aziz, who was struck by his behavior at a sham fight a few 
 years ago, and promoted him. He won renown in the defense of 
 Kars, under Sir Fenwick "Williams, in 1855. In the present war, 
 he is credited with the completion of the defensive works around 
 Batum, Ardahan, Ears, and Erzerum ; with the able management 
 as nominally second, though really chief in command, at the battle 
 of Zewin, by means of which that engagement resulted in a grand 
 Turkish victory ; and by his preparation of the Deve Boyun in front 
 of Erzerum for occupation by the retreating Turkish army, and his 
 gallant conduct in the engagement of the 5th of November on that 
 hill. Owing to the Turkish jealousy of foreign officers, he has been 
 kept in a secondary position, much below that which his merits should 
 have commanded for him, and was retired to one still more subor- 
 dinate during the interval between the summer and fall campaigns. 
 The success of Mukhtar Pasha during the summer campaign is be- 
 lieved to have been mostly owing to his counsels, and the belief is 
 confirmed by the fact that after his retirement Mukhtar's good for- 
 tune deserted him. Feizi Pasha has not become wholly a Turk, 
 for he retains many European ways in his family life. 
 
 ISTedjib Pasha, also called Medjid Pasha, is about forty years old. 
 He is a Turk by birth, but a European by education and by his 
 mode of living. Contrary to the customs of his race, he married a 
 Christian lady of Banialuka, in Bosnia, and since then has always 
 lived in accordance with the manners of Western civilization. He 
 was educated in the military school of Brussels, and spent several 
 years in France, England, and Italy. In 1875 he commanded a 
 brigade in the Herzegovina under Dervish Pasha. Returning to 
 Constantinople in the early part of 1876, he joined in the conspiracy 
 to overthrow Abdul Aziz, and was promoted by Murad Y. to the rank 
 of Lieutenant-General. During the war with Servia, he was Chief 
 of Staff to Abdul Kerim, and upon the outbreak of the present war 
 was appointed to the command of the First division of the Army of 
 the Danube, with which he inflicted several defeats on the Russians.
 
 540 THE WAR IN THE EAST, 
 
 Taver Pasha, a Circassian by birth, is a graduate of the Military 
 School of Constantinople, and is considered to be the most accom- 
 plished infantry commander in the Turkish army. He particularly 
 signalized himself at the head of the chasseurs in the sorties which 
 marked the siege of Silistria in 1854. He was appointed Minister 
 of War by Abdul Aziz in 1871, and acquitted himself of his functions 
 with rare honesty and zeal. After the passage of the Danube by 
 the Russians, he was sent to aid in directing the defensive opera- 
 tions on the Turkish side of the Danube. Yaver Pasha is one of 
 the handsomest men living, and, like his Circassian compatriots, is 
 brave and adventurous even to rashness. He is noted for the sin- 
 gular mildness of his disposition, and his unwillingness to prosecute 
 recalcitrant giaurs, without which he would probably long since 
 have been appointed to the command in chief of one of the armies 
 of the Empire. 
 
 Shevket Pasha is the Turkish officer who is charged with the 
 responsibility for the outrages which were committed in Bulgaria in 
 1876. He had the command of the forces whose members com- 
 mitted the outrages, and should have prevented them, but made no 
 effort to do so. It is told of him that three years ago he was a 
 lieutenant, serving in the Herzegovina under Edhem Pasha. His 
 commander, having a taste for drawing, sometimes made portraits 
 of his officers, which he would send to Constantinople for the enter- 
 tainment of the Sultan. Among these portraits was that of Shevket 
 Pasha. Abdul Aziz, being struck with its appearance, directed the 
 picture to be placed in his private gallery, and each time that he 
 passed before it ordered the promotion of the original to a higher 
 rank. Shevket Pasha's complicity with the Bulgarian outrages did 
 not lose him the favor of the Porte. He was removed to a more 
 obscure field of action for a short time, but was brought back to 
 Bulgaria during the summer of 1877, and placed in a higher position 
 than he had before occupied. 
 
 Rauf Pasha, who occupied various positions during the war, was 
 born in 1838. He was nominally Minister of the Navy, but since 
 July, 1877, he was employed on the seat of war. He served as 
 Minister of War for a short time in October, 1877, and was ap- 
 pointed to the same office in the reorganized Cabinet of February 
 5, 1878. 
 
 Fuad Pasha is considered the best cavalry general of the Turkish 
 army. He is a Circassian by birth, but was brought up in Con-
 
 THE ACTORS IN THE CONTEST. 54! 
 
 etantinople, and received an excellent education. He has brought 
 his cavalry division to a high standard of perfection. He com- 
 manded the right wing of Suleiman's army, which made the ad- 
 vance on Elena in the beginning of December, and with it captured 
 that town on the 4th. 
 
 Dervish Pasha, the commander of the Turkish forces at Batum, 
 is a Bulgarian by birth, who has apostatized from Christianity to 
 Islamism, and was born in 1817. He first became known in a cam- 
 paign in the Cassan Dagh against the Kurds. He was appointed 
 War Minister in 1873, and afterward became Minister of the Marine. 
 At a later period he was assigned to the command of the forces in 
 Albania, with which he conducted, in 1876, an unsuccessful and 
 disastrous campaign against Montenegro. He was superseded in 
 his command by Mehemet Ali, and was shortly afterward, after the 
 massacre of the 6th of May, 1876, appointed Governor of Salonica. 
 In June, 1877, he was transferred from this position to assume the 
 command at Batum, and the direction of operations in Northern 
 Anatolia. His campaigns in this district were very successful, he 
 having, in July, 1877, compelled the Russians to abandon, one after 
 another, the important positions which they had occupied around 
 Batum, and to retire to the frontier.
 
 THIRD BOOK. 
 
 THE 
 
 EASTERN QUESTION AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 
 -AN OUTLOOK INTO THE FUTURE.
 
 THIRD BOOK. 
 
 THE 
 
 EASTERN QUESTION AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 
 -AN OUTLOOK INTO THE FUTURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 
 
 The Turkish Power in Europe destroyed by the War The Turks can not retain their 
 hold upon the Autonomous Provinces Discontent sure to spread to the other Prov- 
 incesHow Bulgaria separates the Capital from the Provinces Probable Destiny 
 of Bosnia and the Greek Provinces What will become of the Turks Principles of 
 Decay essential in the Turkish System The Koran a Barrier to all Progress The 
 Mohammedan System in Conflict with Popular Government The Turk can not 
 be Europeanized Fatalism Low Condition of Education hi Turkey Amusing 
 Illustrations The Turkish Language an Obstacle to Scientific Instruction Christian 
 Schools They tend to build up the Christian Nationalities at the Expense of the 
 Turkish System Debasing Effect of Polygamy The Conscription depleting the 
 Country of its Moslem Youth Sanitary Deficiencies Decline of Turkish Popula- 
 tion Growing Importance and Influence of the Christians Decadence of the Turkish 
 Official Aristocracy Condition of Asia Minor Account by a French Traveler Pic- 
 ture by an American Missionary Testimony of other Authors to the Ruin of the 
 Country The African Dependencies of Turkey Egypt, Tunis, Tripoli Frailty of 
 the Tenure by which they are held The Bedouins The Ultimate Fate of Turkey. 
 
 THE war of 18T7-"T8, although it has not expelled the Turks from 
 Europe, has destroyed their power there forever. It has inflicted a 
 greater blow upon their dominion than was given by the achieve- 
 ment of the independence of Greece, and the erection into semi- 
 independence of Servia and Rumania. It has made the independence; 
 of the last two States complete, and has established in their former- 
 position of semi-independence, a new principality Bulgaria which, 
 having equal natural advantages and a population equally enterpris- 
 ing and capable, has before it a promise of a career of at least as. 
 29 (545)
 
 546 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 rapid advance toward full independence as they enjoyed at the time of 
 the conclusion of the peace of Paris. It is a district which already 
 contained the most prosperous agricultural and manufacturing indus- 
 tries in the Empire, and which only needed a good government and 
 the steady protection of its people, to become its richest and happiest 
 province. However much diplomatists may seek in their treaties 
 and their agreements with each other to restrain the natural course 
 of events in order to preserve the balance of power in Europe, how- 
 ever much they may quarrel over some particular provisions of the 
 treaty of peace, and however much they may endeavor, in order to 
 serve their own ends or defeat their rivals, to preserve the integrity 
 of what is left of European Turkey, the Turks have ceased to con- 
 trol its nationalities ; and the semblance of control which is yet 
 allowed to remain to them can not be permanent, but must pass 
 away. The Treaty of Paris, with its provisions carefully framed to 
 perpetuate the power of Turkey as it was, and render attempts to 
 assail it impossible, has been gradually worn away by the friction of 
 national and religious rights, till it was discovered to be ready to 
 collapse under a determined assault as suddenly as the Turkish power 
 collapsed after the surrender of Plevna ; and any new instrument 
 which may be framed by the powers will as surely be worn away 
 under a similar friction, and become void. The Turks found it ex- 
 tremely difficult to manage their Christian provinces under their old 
 system of appointing Turkish and Mohammedan administrators over 
 them ; they will find it impossible to do so after the provinces have 
 been given governors of their own people and have become accus- 
 tomed to having the administration of their affairs lodged in their 
 own hands. Bulgaria, with autonomy, and fortified with the prepara- 
 tions for self-government, which it has already been able to make 
 under the most adverse circumstances, will soon find means to rid 
 itself of the last remnant of Turkish power. It has already, as we 
 shall show further along, won a harder fight against the Fanariote 
 Greeks, and popular ignorance, and lassitude than the one now be- 
 fore it is likely to be ; and it has the example of Servia and Ruma- 
 nia to encourage it. The happy fate which has now befallen it, 
 with the inspiration of ever-successful Montenegro, can only serve 
 to increase the discontent in the other provinces, one of which, 
 Bosnia, may be regarded as the birth-place of the late war, while 
 the others are inhabited chiefly by Greeks, who are among the 
 most enterprising of peoples, are always determined to possess as
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 547 
 
 good gifts as their neighbors enjoy, and are quite as averse to for- 
 eign rule as are any Slavic nationalties. 
 
 A glance at the map will show how great is the loss in territory 
 to Turkey by the recent changes. A careful examination of the 
 map of the distribution of the races and religions of Turkey, which 
 is given in this work, will make it manifest that this is far from be- 
 ing the most serious of the breaches that have been made in its 
 power. The new autonomous principality of Bulgaria takes more 
 than one-third of what is left of the European part of the Empire 
 after Servia and En mania are removed from direct Turkish rule ; 
 and this part includes nearly all the compact settlements of Turks. 
 The Turks, it will be noticed, are congregated in the largest masses 
 in the Dobrudja and North-eastern Bulgaria, which are lost to Tur- 
 key, and in the vilayet of Adrianople, where the greater part of 
 them fall within Bulgaria. To Turkey fall only the smaller set- 
 tlements in the south-west sandwiched between compact masses of 
 Greeks and Bulgarians, those around Constantinople, and the scat- 
 tered Turkish settlements between the capital and the Bulgarian 
 part of the vilayet of Adrianople. The rest of the territory is in- 
 habited entirely by Greeks, Albanians, or Servians. This is not all. 
 The new Bulgaria splits the European Empire completely in two. 
 Leaving a very small territory around Constantinople, it wholly cuts 
 off Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Albania from land communi- 
 cation, and leaves Bosnia practically inaccessible and quite at the 
 mercy of Servia and Montenegro. The situation and extent of the 
 principality deprive the Turks of every means of counteracting the 
 gravitation of their Greek provinces toward Greece, and render it 
 almost certain that Bosnia will be presssd into union with Servia or 
 the new Slavic nation which may be formed in Austria-Hungary, or 
 absorbed in the Austrian Empire. Even if the Turks were the 
 most civilized and influential of the nationalities on the Balkan 
 peninsula, it would be difficult for them to retain their sover- 
 eignty there. As the opposite is the case ; as they are the least civil- 
 ized, the least active, and the least liked, a long continuance of their 
 rule seems impossible ; and as we have seen, the situation and con- 
 formation of the Bulgarian principality can only act to hasten the 
 time of their removal. It is generally hazardous and unwise to pre- 
 dict the future of any nation ; there are so many circumstances that 
 may suddenly change the aspect of its affairs ; and the possibility 
 must always be taken into account that great reforms may be in-
 
 548 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 stituted to arrest a downward tendency, and the occurrence of great 
 crises may operate to awaken the slumbering energies of the people 
 and excite a revival of their national life ; but it is certain that there 
 is very much in the condition and character of the Turks which 
 makes the reduction of their Empire to very small limits, or even 
 their total destruction, highly probable. 
 
 The principle of decay is contained in the very foundation of 
 the Turkish system. The whole political and social fabric of a 
 Mohammedan State is built upon the Koran. The Koran is not 
 only the religious book, or Bible ; it is also, and as much, the law 
 book and the school book for every true Mussulman. It is regarded 
 as containing everything that is necessary as a rule of life in the 
 individual or the State. Whatever is not in the Koran, is hrfld 
 to be useless if it does not disagree with it false, if it is incon- 
 sistent with it ; in either case is liable to be rejected. While we 
 may admit that the gift of the Koran, imperfect as it was, was a 
 boon to the barbarous peoples upon whom it was at first conferred, 
 in that it imposed restraints upon those who had acknowledged 
 none before, and principles upon those who had known no princi- 
 ple, the gift was also a harmful one, in that it fixed a mark beyond 
 which improvement would not be permitted to go, and would not 
 be possible. " The great evils of the old Oriental system," says Mr. 
 E. A. Freeman, in his " History and Conquests of the Saracens," 
 " were despotism, polygamy, absence of law. None of these has 
 Mohammedanism removed. It has, indeed, partially alleviated 
 them, but, by the very fact of alleviating, it has sanctioned and 
 stereotyped them." These few words contain, as in a nut-shell, the 
 whole story of Turkish misrule, and of the failure of attempts at 
 reform, and the evils under which the Empire is suffering at this 
 day. 
 
 By the law and doctrine of the Koran, the State is regarded as 
 a theocracy. Its theory is, that the State exists by the direct will 
 of God ; that it is governed in His service, and in accordance with 
 His foreordained decrees, and it leaves no place for the inclusion of 
 the good and prosperity of the people and the consultation of their 
 desires, which are now fundamental features of the Constitution of 
 most Western Governments. It also precludes the introduction of 
 any genuine and general system of consulting the will of the people 
 in directing the Government, for that would be at once to set up 
 another authority in contradiction to the one by which the head of
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 
 
 549 
 
 the State holds his right to rule. On this point, Mr. Freeman again 
 says: "The legitimate Mohammedan despot either claims to be 
 himself the Caliph, or representative of the Prophet, or to act as the 
 
 lieutenant of one who does His will is, indeed, bridled by 
 
 the precepts of the Koran and the expositions of its commentators, 
 but the existence of this check effectually precludes the existence of 
 any other ; consequently, Mohammedanism has done really little or 
 nothing for the political improvement of the Eastern world. No 
 Mohammedan nation has attained, or ever can attain, to Constitu- 
 tional freedom, while the same man is Pope and Caesar, while the 
 same volume is Bible and statute book; there is no choice but des- 
 potism or anarchy. The individual Caliph, or Sultan, may be got 
 rid of when his yoke has became insupportable ; but the institution 
 of an irresponsible Caliph, or Sultan, can only be got rid of when 
 the creed of Mohammed is got rid of also." This, although it was 
 written twenty years ago, presents as accurate a picture of the 
 Turkish nation in 1877 as if it had been said in the full light of the 
 dethronement of two Sultans in the same year, and of the failure 
 of the effort to satisfy the complaints of the people by the introduc- 
 tion of Constitutional government. 
 
 The Mohammedan system in Turkey at last finds itself in full 
 conflict with the demand of the age for government by the people, 
 for the people a demand which has revolutionized every other 
 State in Europe except Russia. It can not make a genuine submis- 
 sion to the demand without ceasing to be itself. No compromise is 
 possible. A complete surrender must be made by one side or the 
 other. In the light of the history of the last thirty years, it is im- 
 possible to doubt which side will prevail. 
 
 The theocratic system was well adapted for the purposes which 
 the earlier Mohammedan leaders had to carry out, and was undoubt- 
 edly a real source of strength while those purposes were prosecuted. 
 The mission of early Mohammedanism was to overcome the nations, 
 and convert them to the faith revealed to the Prophet. It made an 
 army of the believers, who were kept constantly at war, going for- 
 ward from one conquest to another. All their wars were holy wars. 
 The teachings of the Koran were skillfully adapted to inflame their 
 fanatic zeal, to make them brave, enduring, inflexible, devoted. It 
 forbade them the enjoyments of a settled life, and gave them those 
 which appertained to the camp. It took from them what made the 
 present life agreeable, and promised them instead the richest
 
 550 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 rewards in the life to come, for self-denying devotion. To destroy 
 what few of the attractions of home-life the Orientals knew, the 
 Koran was made to speak everywhere slightingly of woman. As 
 the pursuits of knowledge and art were not compatible with the 
 warlike condition, painting and sculpture were condemned as inven- 
 tions of the devil, music and poetry as trifling. Hatred was instilled 
 against unbelievers who refused to be converted, who were further 
 made lawful subjects for murder or spoil. The reservation that the 
 conquered infidels should be permitted to purchase immunity by the 
 payment of a ransom, while it did not abate the zeal of the faithful, 
 inflamed their cupidity. Lastly, the doctrine of fatality, teaching 
 that all events are predestinated by God, and are inevitable, was 
 invented to make the soldiers reckless and insensible to danger. 
 " Thus," says Dr. Carl Griibler, in his '' Mohammedanism, Pan- 
 slavism, and Byzantism," " was everything taken away from the 
 believer, and nothing left to him but the duties to obey, to fight, 
 and to die. Mohammedanism is an iron-hearted, narrow, and strict 
 sold i e r s'-religion. " 
 
 "While the Mohammedans continued to lead a soldier-life, these 
 regulations had their fullest sway, and were a real bond of union 
 among them and a source of strength. They were, however, un- 
 fitted for any other life. "When the tribes ceased to war, and began 
 to settle, they were no longer active, or could act only in a perverted 
 manner; and the whole system, of which they were an essential 
 part, was subject to a decay, which has become more manifest as 
 time has removed the nation further from the conditions to which 
 they were adapted. 
 
 In the present century they have operated among the most power- 
 ful agencies for undermining the political and social life of the 
 Ottomans. They can not originate a progressive civilization, but they 
 may and do operate as a block to the introduction of any other civiliza- 
 tion. As Mr. Freeman has well expressed it : " A Mohammedan native 
 accepts a certain amount of truth, receives a certain amount of civili- 
 zation, practices a certain amount of toleration. But all these are so 
 many obstacles to the acceptance of truth, civilization, and tolera- 
 tion in their perfect shape. The Moslem has just enough of all on 
 which to rest and pride himself, and no longer feels his own defi- 
 ciencies." As the principles of Mohammedanism are opposed to all 
 the ideas on which European culture rests, they forbid the success- 
 ful introduction of such culture among the Turks while they remain
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 55! 
 
 Mohammedan. It is impossible to conceive of a nation as free or 
 enlightened according to Western views of freedom and enlighten- 
 ment, whose ruler, though he be a fool or an idiot as well as a de- 
 bauchee, is invested with sanctity ; which has no family life, which 
 despises art and attaches no value to knowledge, and whose fatalism 
 forbids all kinds of enterprise and every earnest, persistent effort to 
 improve its condition, and which despises its neighbors in their 
 strength while it cherishes its weaknesses with pride. It is therefore 
 just what might have been expected from the nature of things that 
 every effort to engraft European principles npon Moslem life has 
 either totally failed, or has resulted in the creation of a ridiculous 
 travesty. The French traveler, M. Auguste Choisy, after having 
 carefully observed the Turks at home, both in Constantinople and 
 in Asia, remarks that it is a mistake to believe that their capital has 
 become a European city. " The Old Turk may wear the garments 
 of reform, but he has only changed his clothes, and this same Turk 
 who dresses as you do and speaks your words, no more shares your 
 feelings, your tastes, or your ideas, than a contemporary of Solyman 
 or Mohammed II." Another writer compares Ottoman culture to 
 a building which has been begun at the roof without a proper foun- 
 dation, and Turkey clothed in European garments to a pretentious 
 peasant girl who has dressed herself in fine feathers and gloves, 
 while she knows nothing about stockings and pocket-handkerchiefs. 
 The views of these writers are corroborated by the general testimony 
 of writers on Turkey and correspondents from the chief towns of 
 the Empire. 
 
 The doctrine of fatalism has proved a rigid barrier to progress, 
 and has prevented the development of everything like energy or 
 enterprise. It teaches that as everything has been foreordained of 
 God, nothing can be avoided, nothing can be hastened ; then why 
 struggle, why plan, why build for the future ? Let everything go ; 
 it is God's will. In rare consistency with his professed faith, the 
 Turk does let everything go. Indolence is a universal characteristic 
 of the race. Indifference to ruin and the progress of destructive 
 agencies prevails everywhere. Foresight is rarely found. The 
 peasant tills enough ground to afford him probably a bare living, and 
 if the crops fail, he dies of hunger. The result in either event is 
 accepted as the decree of fate. This doctrine, which was good, as 
 we have shown, in war time, and in which lies in part the secret of 
 the wonderful bravery and endurance of the Turkish soldiers, be-
 
 552 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 comes a fatal one under other circumstances. One can not doubt, 
 says Mr. Freeman, that it "had a wonderful effect in animating the 
 spirits of the first Saracens ; but its ultimate effect has been perni- 
 cious to the last degree. When the first heat of enthusiasm is over, 
 this same doctrine leads to quite opposite results. It becomes a 
 mere excuse for stupid and listless idleness ; submission to the divine 
 will is held to render all human exertion superfluous. Nothing in 
 the world is so energetic as a Mohammedan nation in its youth ; 
 nothing is so utterly feeble as a Mohammedan nation in its old age." 
 The blighting influences of the Koran are strikingly exemplified 
 in the low condition of education in Turkey. A liberal, thorough 
 education is incompatible with the principles of Islam. The Koran 
 is the universal text-book ; it is the only text-book in most of the 
 schools ; and is the standard in all the people's schools, to which the 
 teaching must conform. It is full of errors on matters of fact, but 
 they must be taught without attempting to correct them, for it is 
 impious to contradict what is in the Holy Book. More often, how- 
 ever, the teaching amounts to nothing. The instruction is quite 
 mechanical, and consists chiefly in learning to read the characters, to 
 recite the phrases of the Koran in an approved style, and to write a 
 fair hand. As the book is in the Arabic language, which the chil- 
 dren never comprehend and the teacher seldom understands, no 
 ideas whatever are conveyed. A pupil may learn to repeat the 
 whole Koran by heart without being able to give, or comprehending 
 himself, the meaning of a single text. Further than this he may 
 learn what principles of Moslem duty and outward behavior the 
 fanatic teacher may be able to impart, prominent among which is 
 contempt for all unbelievers. In some schools instruction is given 
 in the four primary rules of arithmetic and in geography ; but in 
 the latter branch the teacher has to guard carefully against affording 
 too much information, lest he come in conflict with the extremely 
 absurd doctrines of the Koran respecting the shape and extent of the 
 earth and the structure of the universe. Better schools have been 
 provided in a few places ; but they are only special schools, to which 
 a limited number of privileged persons have access, and are, in no 
 sense, popular schools, and can not contribute materially to the 
 general education of the country. The Government has been com- 
 pelled, by the pressure of the necessity of educating competent 
 officers, to establish a number of schools of a high order to which 
 foreign teachers have been called, but these are exceptional institu-
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 
 
 553 
 
 tions, and stand out in striking contrast with the character of the 
 national schools. !No general improvement in the standard of edu- 
 cation is likely to be made while the mosques remain the centers of 
 the higher instruction and the national schools are subordinated to 
 Mohammedanism ; for real instruction would destroy the authority 
 of the Church. A ministry of instruction has been in existence 
 since 184T, and has made some efforts to raise the standard of edu- 
 cation, but has accomplished nothing worthy of remark beyond 
 securing a registry of scholars. The most earnest desires of the en- 
 lightened men, who have sought to introduce better systems into the 
 schools, have been baffled by the conservative and bigoted prejudices 
 of men from whom, judging by the positions they held, better things 
 might have been expected. Some amusing anecdotes, illustrating 
 this fact, are given in the book " Stamboul and Modern Turkdom." 
 
 The Department of Instruction, several years ago, appointed a 
 commission to prepare a series of text-books on Ancient, Mediaeval, 
 and Modern History. The preparation of the works was given to a 
 Christian, who, in due time, submitted the work on Ancient History 
 to the inspection of his Mohammedan fellow commissioners. It was 
 "rejected, because it told of a certain Cyrus, who had been King of 
 Persia, of whom the Mohammedan histories made no mention. 
 When he was referred to the mentions of Cyrus made in the Bible, 
 and existing on inscribed monuments standing within the territory 
 of Turkey, the Mussulman president of the commission declared the 
 Bible records had been falsified by the Jews and Christians, and the 
 monumental inscriptions were an invention, and he would have none 
 of this Cyrus. The History has not since been heard of. At another 
 time the Sultan ordered a translation of a certain historical work 
 made for the use of the schools. The Minister of Instruction 
 objected to the book, when it was submitted to him, because it 
 failed to relate that Abraham was condemned to be burned by Nim- 
 rod, as was related in some of the Mohammedan fables, and, because 
 in giving the story of the building of Solomon's temple, it omitted 
 to tell that the temple was built by Genii at Solomon's command. 
 "I think,' said the Minister, "that such a book is not fit for our 
 schools, and that we had better use the ' Lives of the Saints' instead 
 of it." The book was printed, because the Sultan had ordered it, 
 but it has never been introduced into the schools. 
 
 The office of a court-astrologer is still maintained at the capital. 
 The present incumbent was, till the middle of March, 1877, Presi-
 
 554 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 deiit of the Council of Instruction, and was afterward a Senator 
 It is his business to calculate the lucky hours and moments for 
 Court festivals, and to publish an almanac every year with general 
 instructions of a similar character. The distinguished astronomer, Dr. 
 Peters, whose more recent discoveries have reflected enduring honor 
 on American science, visited Constantinople in 1850, with recom- 
 mendations from A. Yon Humboldt and other distinguished scholars, 
 but was dismissed, it is said, because he could not compete with this 
 functionary. A disastrous explosion took place in the arsenal on the 
 day that he was introduced by the Prussian Ambassador to the 
 Grand Vizier, Reshid Pasha. "This Prankish astronomer," said 
 the Grand Vizier, " either knew beforehand that this event would 
 take place, and in that case he is a great villain ; or he did not know 
 it, in which case he is an ignorant fellow ; we can not have anything 
 to do with him anyhow."* 
 
 Other obstacles are offered to the progress of modern knowledge 
 by the character of the Turkish written language, which is ill adapted 
 to the inculcation of new ideas. The characters are syllabic, each 
 one representing combinations of consonanted sounds, without 
 reference to the vowels. The same combination of characters may* 
 represent several words of widely different meanings, which can not 
 well be distinguished without knowledge of the context, or some 
 previous general knowledge of the subject. Such a system is, in the 
 nature of things, useless for teaching subjects totally foreign to the 
 genius of the people. 
 
 While the Mohammedan Turks are thus without education, or the 
 means of acquiring it, the situation of the Christian populations is 
 far different. Servia has established an efficient system of schools 
 according to the modern standard ; Rumania is but little behind it 
 in the creation of educational advantages ; and in all the Turkish 
 provinces of Europe the Christians have been very active, and have 
 accomplished wonderful things considering the disadvantages under 
 which they have labored. The Greeks have been particularly ener- 
 getic in this enterprise, having established good schools even before 
 the Greek Revolution, and having now multiplied them in every 
 part of the Empire, where they are numerous. The Catholic Ar- 
 menians, sending their young men to European institutions to be 
 educated, have raised themselves to a rank among the most intelli- 
 
 * " Stambul und das Moderne Tiirkenthum." Leipsic, 1877.
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 555 
 
 gent communities of the Empire. The Gregorian Armenians, and 
 the Jews, have also made a great advance within the last ten years. 
 The revival of education among the Bulgarians is noticed in another 
 place. Numerous schools, high-schools and colleges, quite equal in 
 their plans and methods to the best European standards for similar 
 schools, are maintained by both Roman Catholic and Protestant 
 missionaries in Europe, Asia Minor, and Armenia. All of these 
 movements are, it is true, for the advantage of Turkey, but it is the 
 advantage of non-Mohammedan Turkey that they promote; and 
 just in the measure that they build up the character and strengthen 
 the intelligence of this part of the people, in the same measure do 
 they threaten ruin to the Mussulman system. 
 
 The superiority of the non-Mussulman schools has not escaped 
 the attention of the more intelligent Turks. The Bassiret, a lead- 
 ing newspaper of Constantinople, published an article on the subject 
 in 1873, which, after complimenting the Greeks and Armenians on 
 their enterprise in maintaining schools and the quality of their in- 
 struction, cited in illustration of the latter that the pupils of one of 
 these schools could readily compute problems and bank accounts 
 involving millions with the utmost accuracy, while a Mussulman 
 tradesman could not calculate a transaction of ten piasters without 
 the help of his beans. It admitted that in the face of this difference 
 in knowledge, the Turks would not be able to compete with the 
 Greeks and Armenians, and proposed as a remedy for such a con- 
 tingency, that the Government should institute an inspection of the 
 Greek and Armenian schools, in order, of course, though the pur- 
 pose was not avowed, to reduce them to the level of the Turkish 
 schools. 
 
 Polygamy is one of the most active causes for Turkish decline. 
 It is not peculiar to the Turkish people, nor even to Mohammedans, 
 but has existed among the Asiatic peoples from the earliest period of 
 their history. Even before the time of Mohammed, it had become so 
 interwoven with the national and social life of many of those na- 
 tions as to have become one of the central principles around which 
 their institutions were formed. Mohammed could not have abolished 
 it if he had tried ; he could hardly have controlled it. He regulated 
 it, but was far from establishing it. It was only a coincidence that 
 the nations in which his faith took root were polygamous nations ; 
 but it is one of the results of this coincidence that the most con- 
 spicuously polygamous nations of the present are the Mohammedan
 
 556 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ones. Polygamy and the vices which it generates will leave more 
 or less disastrous effects, both moral and physical, upon the soundest 
 and best organized constitutions. These effects will be less manifest 
 upon an active, energetic race, whose life is all out of doors, and 
 who are engaged in constant aggression, as were the Turks of old, 
 because they are neutralized by the predominance of the habits and 
 influences which go to build up manly strength. But they show 
 themselves immediately among a people who have settled down to 
 sedentary life, and have thereby fully exposed themselves to all 
 enervating and destructive influences; and with such people they 
 show themselves with steadily-increasing force. While the nomadic 
 Turks and the Bedouins are still hardy and aggressive, their lazier 
 and more comfortable neighbors among the wealthier classes of 
 Turkey and Persia have nearly reached the end of their manly race. 
 Polygamy has the mark of barbarism in its origin. The American 
 political catch-word, which describes it as a twin relic of barbarism 
 with slavery, is full of truth. Polygamy is a real symbol of slavery, 
 for wherever it prevails in the East, the woman is bought, and may 
 be the slave of the man until he raises her to the condition of wife- 
 hood. In many Mohammedan countries, as in Circassia before it 
 fell into the hands of the Russians, the training of girls was regarded 
 merely as preparing them for the market, in anticipation of the day 
 when they were to be sought by some rich lord, or taken to some 
 capital to be delivered to the highest bidder. The whole system of 
 the harem is opposed to the idea of a spiritual relation between man 
 and wife, which is the foundation of marriage in Western countries, 
 and reduces the relation to a sensual one, established simply for the 
 gratification of lust and the propagation of offspring. 
 
 Some of the most direct evil results flow from this view of the 
 relation. It gives prominence to the play of the animal qualities, 
 and depresses, in a corresponding degree, the moral and aesthetic 
 qualities. With blunted spiritual conceptions, the polygamist gives 
 himself up to a course of indulgences which exhaust his constitution. 
 He transmits his weakness to his children, who also inherit, in an 
 aggravated degree, the propensities whose cultivation has caused it, 
 and thus the degradation is accelerated from generation to genera- 
 tion until the race is exhausted and dies out. The evil is intensified 
 by the custom of early marriages, under which the Turkish youth 
 are often permitted to begin the process which undermines their 
 constitutions when hardly more than mere children. It is a charac-
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY, 557 
 
 teristic of Turkish history that few of the great families endure for 
 more than a few generations, but that they have to be replaced 
 from the more vigorous ranks. 
 
 The moral effects of polygamy are as plain and direct as the 
 physical. The man does not know how to bestow an exclusive 
 love ; the woman has no hope of receiving such love. The oppor- 
 tunity for the culture of the nobler faculties, which is one of the 
 richest gifts of Western marriages, is hopelessly lost to both. Home 
 life there is none. The life of the harem is idle and listless. The 
 wife is one of several who are rivals, and whose rivalry leads them 
 all to nurse the less noble faculties at the expense of the nobler ones, 
 and to substitute craft and tricks for true affection and faithful 
 wifeliness. She is liable at any time to be supplanted by a new 
 favorite. Divorce is easy, accomplished almost with a word. No 
 inducement is offered for training women for a higher life, for no 
 opportunity is given them to enter such a life. Hence the educa- 
 tion of women is not thought to be of much importance. The 
 mother becomes such without having received the slightest quali- 
 fication for training her children, and the children emerge into 
 youth without having received any discipline or preparation to 
 adapt them to a manly calling. Thus that period which in Europe 
 is regarded as most precious, and is employed in instilling the .prin- 
 ciples in which the future conduct is to be based, and for laying the 
 foundation of a solid education, is in Turkey spent in vacuity or 
 under the evil influences of harem-attendants. The effects of polyg- 
 amy reach far beyond the families in which it is an individual 
 feature. While the proportion of the sexes remains even approxi- 
 mately equal, unusual marital privileges can not be accorded to one 
 man without reducing, in a corresponding degree, the privileges of 
 his fellows. Hence it must always be that a large part of the male 
 population are forever deprived of the hope of marriage ; and this 
 part is likely to be of the most robust, for it will be of the poorer 
 people, whose ranks have been least subjected to the debasing in- 
 fluences of the practice. The practice of importing wives from 
 abroad hardly lessens the evil, for the newly-bought women go to 
 swell the already well-supplied harems, and not to the households 
 of the enforced bachelors. A steady decrease of population is 
 directly incurred by this condition. Since a monogamous house- 
 hold ordinarily furnishes the State with four children, the harem 
 ought to afford four times as many children as it has wives ; but no
 
 558 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 such rule prevails. Generally, the larger the harem, the smaller, 
 relatively, is the number of the children. The late Sultan, Abdul 
 Medjid, with five hundred wives and concubines, had only thirteen 
 children, and his brother, with half as many in his harem, had five 
 children. 
 
 The severe jealousy with which women are guarded in the East, 
 and the restrictions which are imposed on them, leading to the 
 adoption of practices which are regarded by civilized nations with 
 abhorrence, must be accredited to the necessities of the institution of 
 polygamy. The disabilities which it imposes extend even to the 
 Christian women of Asiatic Turkey, who are compelled, by the force 
 of custom and Mohammedan ideas, to submit to regulations which are 
 foreign to the teachings of their faith. 
 
 The damaging effects of polygamy upon the constitution are direct- 
 ly exemplified in the feebleness and mortality of the Turkish children. 
 The proportion of children who are diseased from their birth is ex- 
 traordinarily large; extraordinarily large also is the proportion of 
 early deaths. Sixty per cent, of the children in the Turkish districts 
 die before they are five years old. The practices which operate to 
 cause the death of children or to prevent their birth prevail in Turk- 
 ish families to an alarming extent. The Koran does not prohibit 
 abortion, and the Turkish laws which aim to prevent it, are ineffect- 
 ive, partly on account of their indefiniteness, partly through the 
 complicity of the officers upon whom their execution depends in the 
 offense, but most of all by reason of the privileges of the harem, 
 which make an investigation substantially impossible. The au- 
 thor of " Stamboul and Modern Turkdom " says that " what appears 
 in Christian societies only as an isolated offense, is in Islam a social 
 custom, and abortion has assumed, among the Turkish population, 
 such colossal proportions that the Government, alarmed at the deso- 
 lating consequences of the evil, has for many years endeavored in 
 vain to find an efficient remedy for it." The same author quotes 
 an estimate from a Turkish newspaper, to the effect that about four 
 thousand cases of abortion occur in Constantinople every year, in 
 which the result is fatal to ninety-five per cent, of the children and 
 two-thirds of the mothers. 
 
 The Koran limited the number of a Mussulman's wives to four, 
 and affixed other regulations to marriage which still remain in the 
 text, but have been so modified by interpretations and new condi- 
 tions as to be of little effect. Practically, the number of a Moslem's
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 559 
 
 wives and concubines is limited by his ability to support them. 
 Wealthy Turks have as many as they want, while the poorer ones 
 have to be contented with one apiece, or none. The degree of ener- 
 vation and demoralization corresponds very closely with the size of 
 the harem. The Turks of the wealthy classes are thoroughly indolent 
 and sensual, while those of the lower classes are more sober and ro- 
 bust. The poorer Turks have saved the Ottoman race from the ex- 
 haustion with which it has long been threatened. As the higher 
 families have died out, their places have been filled from the ranks. 
 Every position and function in the Empire short of the Sultanate 
 has been filled repeatedly by men of the masses, who have brought 
 to the offices the virility which higher-bom officers could not sup- 
 ply. The Imperial family, whose polygamy has been most excessive, 
 has nearly run out, so that it is widely recognized that there is not a 
 person of ordinary capacity among the heirs to the throne. Mah- 
 moud II. was the last of the Sultans who was a man of respectable 
 ability, and it has been asserted, with much show of truth, that the 
 removal of the effete reigning family will be an essential condition 
 precedent to the taking of any measures to be effective for the regen- 
 eration of the Turkish State. 
 
 Another cause which is ever active to weaken the hold of the ruling 
 race in Turkey, is the conscription for the army, which has been con- 
 fined to the Mohammedan part of the population. It removes the Turk- 
 ish youth at the most vigorous period of their life, while it leaves the 
 Christians secure in their homes, to follow their ordinary callings and 
 raise their families. It is a cause which in the manner of its opera- 
 tion is peculiar to Turkey, for in all other countries the armies are 
 recruited from the whole population ; while here, the very wars 
 which the nation is obliged to wage for its existence, contribute the 
 more rapidly to its destruction by giving the hostile elements within 
 its own borders unusual opportunities to increase at the expense of 
 its vital forces. It is only within a h'ttle more than the last year 
 that the Government has been obliged to supply a waste that had 
 become otherwise irreparable, to make provision for the general en- 
 listment of Christians in its armies. 
 
 The total want of knowledge of sanitary science, and the conse- 
 quent lack of intelligent sanitary regulations, must be counted among 
 the notable factors that contribute to the depletion of the country. 
 Intelligent physicians are scarce ; the people know nothing of the 
 laws of health ; and the best sanitary regulations, whenever they are
 
 560 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 attempted, are easily evaded through the corruptibility of the officers. 
 The country is consequently exposed, almost without defense, to the 
 ravages of all forms of disease, and experience has taught often, that 
 it is impossible to stay the progress of an epidemic when it has been 
 introduced into a Turkish city, till it has run its course. The Em- 
 pire has been repeatedly devastated by plague and cholera, and is no 
 better defended against them now than it was in the most primitive 
 times. 
 
 The testimonies to the steady decline of the Turkish population 
 are so numerous that the repetition of them would be tedious. The 
 fact is obvious and generally admitted. The author of the book 
 " Stamboul and Modern Turkdom " says that the fact that the popu- 
 lation is diminishing at an increasing rate, can not be denied, although 
 it has been contradicted. The steady recession of the Ottoman ele- 
 ment before the Greeks and Bulgarians in Rumelia, is said to be in- 
 contestible. The officers of the railroads have noticed that the Turk- 
 ish towns are declining, and Bulgarians are taking the place of the 
 former Moslem inhabitants. The ruined minarets of deserted 
 mosques in such towns as Nissa, Widin, Lorn, Florentine, Rustchuk, 
 and others, are pointed to as evidence that the Mohammedan popula- 
 tion is dying out ; and although there is as yet no important place in 
 Old Servia, Bosnia, and Bulgaria, in which Islam is not represented by 
 at least a few adherents, the number of such is constantly becoming 
 less.* While the Turkish households in these provinces seldom con- 
 tain more than two children each, Greek and Slavic families often 
 have from five to ten children. The Bassiret, the organ of the Old 
 Turkish party in Constantinople, said, in April, 1875, in an article 
 on this subject : " The decrease of the population is visible, and has 
 already reached such proportions that not only the defensive strength 
 and taxable resources of the country, but also the credit of the State 
 abroad, yes, even its existence, is threatened." 
 
 The Mussulmans recede before the non-Mussulmans wherever the 
 two come in contact. All of the enterprise, all of the progressive 
 force that exist in the Empire are the results of Christian or 
 Jewish energy. Even before the Greek Revolution, the commercial 
 and naval fleets of Turkey were manned by Greeks and commanded 
 by Greek officers. The maritime commerce of the East is still con- 
 trolled by Greeks, and all the important trade of the commercial 
 
 * Die heiitige Turkti, (The Turkey of To-day). By Fr. Von Hellwald and L. C. Beck, 
 Leipzig.
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 561 
 
 ports is managed by Greek and Armenian merchants. The ex- 
 perience of the French traveler, Choisy, who went to Constantino- 
 ple from Trieste in a ship of Turkish nationality, but manned by 
 Greek and Dalmatian sailors, is the rule at most Turkish ports. 
 The Christian populations are most numerous all along the sea- 
 coasts, wherever any enterprise exists or any progress is visible. 
 This is most conspicuously true of the towns of the Macedonian and 
 Thracian coasts, but the non-Musulmans are also a power at 
 Alexandria and even at Constantinople, while Smyrna and Bey rut 
 have come largely under foreign influences, and several recent 
 writers speak of the whole west coast of Asia Minor as steadily 
 undergoing a Grecianizing process. In Napoleon Bonaparte's time 
 the Sultan Mahmoud II., when asked to make an unacceptable peace 
 with Russia, boasted that Rumelia alone could furnish him enough 
 troops with which to give an answer to seven kings. It is doubtful 
 if Rumelia now, under the depopulation of the Turkish race and 
 the growth of European strength could afford enough troops to put 
 down a determined insurrection of its own Greeks and Bulgarians. 
 The city of Brussa, the very home of the Turks, the original capital 
 of the nation, the place to which the Sultan will flee if he is ever 
 driven from Constantinople, is, according to M. Choisy, only half 
 Turkish. Its industries, its spinning establishments and looms, 
 which are quite important, " are in the hands of Europeans, chiefly 
 English." Throughout the Empire, all those things which point to 
 progress, which give strength, which promise a future, are in the 
 hands of races opposed to Islam, while the Moslems possess the 
 traits and influences which lead, to decay and ultimate extinction. 
 
 Even the chief offices of the Empire are no longer controlled by 
 Turks. Says the author of " Stamboul and Modern Turkdom " : 
 " While the level of the intellectual cultivation of the Turks was 
 sinking deeper from year to year, the force necessary for the ad- 
 ministration of the State was likewise in constant depreciation, so 
 that the Government had to avail itself of European vigor, and re- 
 cruit the personality of its offices from among the Christian popula- 
 tions ; and thus the number of Christian officers has increased every 
 year since Sultan Abdul Medjid." The design was at first to em- 
 ploy such persons in routine work, without giving them positions- of 
 responsibility and influence ; but this has been abandoned under the 
 pressure of necessity. Now, there are a large number of Christian 
 officers employed in every ministry ; and in some bureau, as in 
 30
 
 562 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 those of Customs and Foreign Affairs, the Christians have numerically 
 half the appointments, and an overwhelming majority of those 
 which require capacity. In all the provinces where the Christians 
 form a considerable fraction of the population, are Christian higher 
 officers. Within ten years an Armenian has been Minister of 
 Public Works ; in 1S77 an Armenian was Minister of Trade ; Greek 
 under-secretaries were employed in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs 
 and Instruction, an Armenian in the Ministry of Justice ; the under- 
 Governors in Crete and Epirus, and the Governor-General of the 
 Archipelago, were Greeks ; and the Governors of the Lebanon since 
 1860 have been Catholics. The same work from which we have just 
 quoted proceeds, in illustration of the growing sterility of the 
 Turkish official aristocracy, to show how, with only a few excep- 
 tions, those persons in high positions who have distinguished them- 
 selves by their intelligence, talents, and capacity, are not of the 
 " Stamboul race," as follows : " The father of Ahmed Vefik Pasha 
 was a Jew converted to Islam, his mother a Greek ; Grand Yizier 
 Edhem Pasha is a Greek, who fell into the hands of the Turks when 
 a boy, at the catastrophe of Scio in 1822 ; Subhi Pasha is of Morean 
 or Peloponnessian stock, and is the son of a Greek woman ; Miinif 
 Effendi, Minister of Instruction, is an Arab from Aintab ; the de- 
 ceased Grand Yizier, Meheraed Pasha, was of Cypriote descent ; 
 the ex-Grand Vizier, Mehemed Rushdi Pasha, was from Sinope ; 
 Midhat Pasha, from Widin ; the family of the Khedive of Egypt 
 from Kavala in Macedonia. 
 
 A book has been published in Constantinople since the beginning 
 of the present year, called " The Cause of the Misfortunes,"* which 
 gives, from a Turkish point of view, a sad picture of the condition 
 of the Empire and its decay within the last twenty years. The au- 
 thor, Ahmed Midhat Effendi, is attached to the Young Turkish 
 party. He was too young at the time the leaders of the party were 
 sent into exile in 1867, to receive the attention of the Government, 
 but when Midhat Pasha succeeded Mahmoud Nedim Pasha as Grand 
 Yizier, in 1872, he started a paper, the first number of which con- 
 tained an article prescribing what the new Grand Yizier ought to do 
 to retrieve the errors of his predecessor, which was expressed in so 
 pointed a style that the journal was promptly suppressed. He is 
 
 * UesB-i Inkylab ; first part ; from the Crimean war to the accession of Sultan Abdul 
 Hamid II. By Ahmed Midhat Effendi ; Constantinople, 1295 A.D. 1878.
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 563 
 
 now principal editor of the Tdkwirn-i WaTcaje, or State Gazette. 
 He regards the rule of Abdul Aziz as having been extremely disas- 
 trous to Turkey, and the period as having been one of decided de- 
 cline, and makes some startling exposures of the demoralization 
 which prevailed in different departments of the public service. The 
 Sultan himself was, in temperament and in regard to all points of 
 ceremonial, a typical Oriental despot, a representative of a class of 
 characters which it was thought had disappeared under the contact 
 of European influences, even from Turkey. He allowed no relaxa- 
 tion in his presence or as toward him of the honors amounting to de- 
 votion, which were due to him as Caliph of Islam and Padishah of the 
 Ottoman Empire. Every one who approached him was required to 
 bow to the ground forty times ; no one was permitted to look him in 
 the face. He would not allow any one but himself to be called Aziz ; 
 and if he had to sign the appointment or removal of an officer who 
 was named Aziz, he would have the name changed in the decree to 
 Izzet or something else. All documents, even those which related 
 to the most insignificant affairs, must be profuse in expression of 
 praises of him, and the invocation of blessings upon him, otherwise 
 they would receive no attention. An example of the quality of the 
 administration of affairs during this period is given in the recital of 
 the fact that when the bonds for the consolidated loan were printed 
 in Paris, a considerable number of them were issued bearing dupli- 
 cates of the same number. The matter could not be concealed, and 
 the officers charged with the printing were arrested. No further 
 steps were taken to punish them, and the only inconvenience they 
 ever suffered was that they were subjected to a short sequestration 
 in their houses. 
 
 The futility of any hopes that may be entertained that the regen- 
 eration of the Turks can be accomplished through any efforts of 
 their own, is exemplified by the narrow-minded views and the big- 
 oted partisanship of this work, which, written by one of the most 
 active members of the party of reform to ascertain and define the 
 causes of the evils with which the Empire is afflicted, might be ex- 
 pected to embody their most advanced views respecting the future 
 of their nation. Yet the work, while it is full of high-sounding 
 phrases respecting the freedom and equality of all the people, with- 
 out distinction of faith, abounds also in expressions and peculiarities 
 of phraseology which show that 110 substantial significance is intended 
 by these beautiful words, and that the Young Turks still intend to
 
 564 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 look upon their Christian fellow-citizens as blemishes on an otherwise 
 beautiful body, and to give them nothing real if they can help it. 
 It lauds polygamy as the most glorious privilege of Islam, and while 
 it condemns the trade in negro slaves, it upholds the traffic in white 
 girls for Moslem harerns as one of the precious treasures and a pal- 
 ladium of the Empire. If this is the best programme that the men 
 of new ideas have to propose for their country, how little have we to 
 expect from those who still avow their attachment to all the old ways. 
 The best examples from which to judge the condition and char- 
 acter of the Ottomans may be drawn from Asia Minor, where they 
 still live in their purity, and are isolated from foreign contact. 
 There they have not been contaminated by modern ideas, have not 
 been affected in any way by the pressure and competition of Euro- 
 peans, which has forced an unnatural and spasmodic semblance of 
 activity upon the Turks at Constantinople. Whatever traits they 
 may show in that country are the fruits of their own nature and the 
 workings of their system, which have been going on for six hundred 
 years without being hastened or hindered by any external influences. 
 Several accounts have been recently given of this region by travel- 
 ers and residents, all of which corroborate each other. Among 
 them is a very interesting picture by a French engineer, M. Auguste 
 Choisy, who traveled through Asia Minor to study the ruins with 
 which it is dotted, contained in his book " L'Asie Minenre et les 
 Turks en 1875 " (Asia Minor and the Turks in 1875). We have 
 every reason to consider his observations impartial, for his errand 
 had no reference to politics or religion, and the French, not hav- 
 ing for many years taken any active part in the discussions of the 
 Eastern Question, are not warped by the partisan prepossessions 
 which infect the views of the English, Germans, and Russians. 
 His account is a sad one of ruin, desolation, indolence, thriftless- 
 ness, and poverty. The country, which was formerly one of the 
 most prosperous and flourishing in the world, is wholly destitute ol 
 roads ; trade hardly exists, and what little there is, is prosecuted by 
 barter ; and the people are given up to lassitude and indifference, 
 try to mend nothing, and accept misfortune, decay, and ruin as 
 part of the natural course of events which it is useless to oppose. 
 The evidences of a diminishing population prevail widely. Where 
 a few years ago were prosperous cities, are now to be seen only 
 clusters of miserable huts ; offices are venal, the administration of 
 justice is corrupt. An important lawsuit was the topic of conver-
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 565 
 
 sation at one of the khans, or inns, where the traveler stopped, and 
 the drift of the inquiries was as to which of the parties would be 
 able to give the most bakshish. " It is a business to be a witness, 
 a speculation to be a judge/' The people view such spoliations as 
 a matter of course, and give their bakshish without complaining. 
 In a district that was infested with robbers, to M. Choisy's inquiry 
 why the people did not call for military assistance, the answer was 
 returned that it was enough for them to have the robbers to deal with 
 without being also exposed to plunder by the soldiery. At another 
 place the people were suffering from a scarcity of fuel, while only a 
 few miles away wood was abundant. This would have been reme- 
 died in any country enjoying respectable facilities for trade and 
 moderately passable roads, but here and the same is the case in 
 nearly every part of the Turkish Empire every mountain ridge 
 forms an impassable barrier, on one side of which famine may pre- 
 vail, with no means of relieving it out of the abundance which may 
 be existing on the other side. The Turks are characterized by this 
 author as thoroughly indifferent beings, who vegetate from day to 
 day in perfect carelessness, bring all manner of evil upon them- 
 selves by their negligence, and then when the culmination of the 
 misfortunes they have induced comes upon them, will exclaim, " It 
 is the will of Allah, so it is written." They comprehend nothing 
 of the thirst for knowledge, the spirit of progress, the struggles for 
 improvement characteristic of the "Western people, and have no 
 appreciation of the value of time, but will delay and dally, though 
 an emergency of life may be pending. They may be stirred up to 
 exertions, and made to work with great activity and pains for a 
 short time, but such spells are spasmodic witji them and anomalous, 
 and are soon over, when they subside into their former indolence. 
 They are ready to make promises, and even to plan enterprises, but 
 their promises go unfulfilled and their enterprises are never carried 
 out, because their normal apathy overcomes them again before any- 
 thing is done. 
 
 Another picture, quite similar in its outlines, is given by the Rev. 
 Dr. Edward Rigg, a well-known missionary of the American Board 
 at Sivas, in Asia Minor, in an article upon this especial subject, 
 which he contributed to the Presbyterian Quarterly and Prince- 
 ton Review for July, 1876. No foreigner probably has had a better 
 opportunity to make himself acquainted with the internal condition 
 of this part of the Empire, for Dr. Rigg has lived at Sivas for many
 
 566 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 years, engaged in an occupation which brings him into friendly con- 
 tact with all classes of the people. He describes, first, the material 
 interests of the country as in a state of decay. This was illustrated 
 in fact by the absolute prostration of that part of the land which 
 had been recently visited by famine at the time his article was writ- 
 ten, and which the mismanagement of the official administration 
 rather aggravated than remedied. Trade, he says, is prostrate. 
 Every one is in debt, so universally and so much, that it has become, 
 in a measure, the habit to regard debt as a natural condition. The 
 obligations bearing twelve per cent, interest, most of the people 
 stagger for life under the oppressive burden, have no hope of re- 
 lieving themselves from it, and generally never think of trying to 
 do so. The system of fixed prices is unknown outside of the capi- 
 tal. An absolute want of confidence prevails in all business trans- 
 actions. Deceit and falsehood are current everywhere to such an 
 extent that every one is a habitual liar ; artfulness is taught even in 
 the family, and the detection of a falsehood involves only the shame of 
 having managed so awkwardly as to be found out. Nothing is ever 
 committed to writing if it can possibly be avoided, and ignorance of 
 the first principles of mercantile science characterizes the entire 
 people. 
 
 Indolence and unskillfulness mark all agricultural and industrial 
 operations. The old crooked stick is still used to stir the ground 
 instead of the plow ; threshing-machines have been introduced, but 
 find no favor, the people preferring to follow the old way of tread- 
 ing out the grain with oxen, even though a better way may be 
 within their reach. The crops are still confined to the one or two 
 kinds of grain that have been cultivated from time immemorial, 
 and farmers limit their tillage to the fields their fathers dug ; while 
 the climate and soil would permit the addition of a great variety of 
 productions to the crops, and rich fields are within the reach of al- 
 most every one, which he could easily add to his cultivated estate and 
 till, if he would. While mineral resources of unknown extent and 
 variety exist, no effort is made to develop them. Iron is brought 
 from Europe at great expense for transportation, to be worked up 
 in a blacksmith-shop which may be standing right over an iron mine. 
 A fine mine of copper exists at Harpoot, from which the ore is 
 hauled two hundred miles to Forcat to be smelted, because the fur- 
 nace happens to be there, and no one has thought to put up a furnace 
 at Harpoot, although no reason exists why it should not be done.
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 567 
 
 This inertness among the people is promoted by the incapacity 
 and weakness of the Government. The reforms which the Sultans 
 have promised seem not to have reached Asia Minor at all, and the 
 attempts of the Government at reform and retrenchment, says Dr. 
 Rigg, " would be ludicrous in the extreme were it not for the mel- 
 ancholy light which they cast on the threatening chasm, on whose 
 brink the country stands." The most hopeless weakness and cor- 
 ruption are shown in the local and provincial governments. Justice 
 is never administered simply for justice's sake. " It is impossible to 
 convey to the mind of any one who has not actually seen it, any idea 
 of the utter prostitution of the very name of government in the pro- 
 vincial towns, or the bold effrontery with which the highest officers 
 will shift their ground from one untenable falsehood to another in 
 dodging the performance of the plainest duties." The incapacity of 
 the officers was strikingly exemplified in the case of the famine al- 
 ready referred to. At first the existence of famine was denied, in 
 the face of the multitudes that were perishing ; then, when denial 
 could no longer avail, the time was spent in making out a formal 
 statement of the case, and haggling about the manner in which the 
 aid given should be distributed. "When aid was at last sent to the 
 country from foreign lands, those who sent and distributed it, in- 
 stead of being thanked, were charged with bad motives and called 
 hard names by the jealous officials. Even the mixed tribunals of 
 Mohammedans and Christians which the Government has introduced, 
 afford no practical relief from misgovernment, for even the Chris- 
 tian members of them " are, almost without exception, induced by 
 cupidity, fear, lack of self-respect, and general unfitness for self- 
 government, to retain their seats and salaries by yielding passive 
 assent to all the machinations of their Turkish associates, and with 
 closed eyes and placid countenances, affix their seals to all papers 
 offered them." 
 
 The contemplation of social and religious conditions yields a simi- 
 lar disheartening result. "Habits transmitted from a nomadic, 
 tent-dwelling ancestry, cause the people to dwell huddled together 
 in narrow quarters, where filth, disease, and vice grow uncontrol- 
 lable. Poverty and ignorance so rivet the chains of those habits,, 
 that even improved circumstances in these respects fail to correct 
 them. The present age undoubtedly sees a wonderful waking up- 
 and reaching forth toward education ; but even this is only a smalll 
 movement as compared with the mass of the people."
 
 568 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Dr. Rigg ascribes the origin of all those evils to the creed of 
 Mohammed, which has demoralized even the Christians of the 
 country by teaching them to lie and cheat under the guise of right- 
 eously evading oppression and tyranny. It is, he says, the source of 
 every woe, which palsies every effort at reform throughout the 
 Empire, and forbids the hope of Turkey ever taking its stand 
 among the civilized nations. 
 
 These accounts are confirmed by the testimony of other travelers 
 who have recently visi-ted Turkey. The German Baron Yon 
 Schweiger-Lerchenfeld, in his book, "Unter dem Halbmonde" 
 (Under the Crescent), published in 1876, which embodies the 
 results of his personal observations in many provinces, describes 
 the condition of affairs everywhere prevailing as giving testimony 
 of "frightful certainty" of the rapid decay of the Empire, of 
 general stagnation, of the total demoralization of the Government 
 and all of its organs, of the absolute unfitness of the ruling race. 
 Mr. James Bryce, who has recently published an account of his 
 travels through Causasia to Mount Ararat, and his return by way 
 of Poti, on the Black Sea, and steamer, says of the Turkish Pontic 
 coasts* : " There is hardly a sail on the sea, hardly a village on the 
 shores, hardly a road by which commerce can pass into the interior. 
 You ask the cause, and receive from every one the same answer : 
 misgovernment, or, rather, no government; the existence of a 
 power which does nothing for its subjects, but stands in the 
 way when there is a chance of their doing something for them- 
 selves." 
 
 Capt. Burnaby, the author of that popular book, "A Eide to 
 Khiva,'' and no friend to the Russians, has lately traveled through 
 Asiatic Turkey, and published an account of his observations in a 
 book entitled "A Ride Through Asia Minor." In this work, he 
 says that the vast resources of the country are almost entirely 
 neglected. There are mines, and no one works them ; there are 
 soils where almost every product wanted by civilized man might 
 be grown in abundance, but nobody cultivates them. There are 
 no means of communication between place and place. The taxa- 
 tion is very heavy ; the Courts of law, if not closed to the Chris- 
 tians, are yet of little protection to them ; the Government does 
 little or nothing for the people, and what may be squeezed out of 
 
 * Transcaucasia and Ararat. London, 1877.
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 569 
 
 the provinces is sent to Constantinople ; but the Government is not 
 oppressively tyrannical. 
 
 The attachment of the African dependencies to Turkey has been 
 weakened, till it is now only of the most slender character. 
 Formerly, the direct rule of the Empire extended over the whole 
 northern coast of Africa, except the States of Fez and Morocco ; 
 now, Algiers has become a French province, Egypt and Tunis have 
 cast off all but a nominal allegiance, and the only parts of the once 
 extensive Turkish dominions which remain wholly loyal are Fezzan 
 and Tripoli. Egypt, the most important dependency of the whole 
 Empire, has been almost completely withdrawn, except in name, 
 from Turkish dominion, and is at present halting between inde- 
 pendence and subjection to British influences. Twice, during the 
 present century, the integrity almost the existence of the Empire 
 was threatened by the rebellion of the Yiceroy, Mehemet Ali. The 
 present Yiceroy has been able to gain from the Sultan the title of 
 Khedive, or hereditary Prince, and has, by a special decree from 
 the Porte, had the order of succession changed in favor of his eldest 
 son, as against the claims of his brother, who is the regular heir 
 under the Mohammedan law. He is ambitious for independence, 
 and has pursued a policy looking toward it during his whole reign. 
 While he still continues to pay a tribute to the Porte, and has 
 responded with a contingent to its call for troops, he has been 
 engaged in great national enterprises, and in wars for conquest, 
 without reference to his suzerain. With extensive works of inter- 
 nal improvement, with manufacturing establishments scattered all 
 over the land, with Courts after the European model sitting at 
 Cairo and Alexandria, he has advanced considerably toward pro- 
 viding the machinery and some of the requisites for an independent 
 administration and a self-existing State. His great conquests in the 
 interior of Africa have given his territories the dimensions of a 
 great State. Thus Egypt has grown, at the expense of the authority 
 of the Sovereign Empire, and is watching for a favorable moment 
 to throw off its allegiance entirely. Nevertheless, Egypt is in no 
 condition for independence. The fatal diseases of Mohammedanism 
 have impaired its vitality, and, while it has experienced a marvel- 
 ous development in some points, it has been subjected to cor- 
 responding exhaustion in others. The domestic enterprises of the 
 Khedive have imposed fearful burdens upon the people, who can 
 not endure the weight of taxation and labor that are laid upon
 
 5/0 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 them, and his wars are depleting the country of its best men, of 
 whom it has not too many to spare. The same enterprises have 
 imposed a debt upon the State far beyond its ability to sustain it, 
 in consideration of which the Suez Canal has substantially passed 
 into the hands of the English, and nearly all the productive re- 
 sources of the country have been mortgaged to English and French 
 creditors. The improvements remain to Egypt, and the spirit of 
 enterprise which has been awakened which will be kept up by 
 foreign speculators but all of its available resources are in foreign 
 hands. The English look upon Egypt as, next to India, their near- 
 est special interest, and are determined to have a potent voice in 
 the decision of its fate. Whether Turkey keeps a part of its Euro- 
 pean provinces, or loses them all, Egypt is destined soon to pass out 
 of its hands. Its most probable fate will be to become an English 
 protectorate. 
 
 The Porte will not be able to retain Tunis long after it shall have 
 lost Egypt. The relation of this dependency, which is at present, 
 except as to the payment of a tribute and the furnishing of a small 
 contingent in war, chiefly nominal, is not likely to be maintained 
 long after the Porte has been seriously weakened and the more 
 powerful intervening State has fallen away. 
 
 Tripoli is still governed by a Viceroy appointed immediately by 
 the Porte, and who is as subject to the orders of the central Govern- 
 ment as one of its provincial officers at Constantinople. It is a 
 small State, in respect to population, and will count for very little 
 in any question aifecting the destinies of the Empire. 
 
 The Bedouins of Syria and Mesopotamia and the settled Arabs 
 of Northern and Western Arabia form a large proportion of the 
 Turkish subjects in Asia. They are held to their allegiance by the 
 tradition of the Sultan's great power. When this tradition is broken 
 by a decisive defeat, they will be no longer to be depended upon. 
 The Bedouins dream already, it is said, of a great Bedouin Empire, 
 which is to be set up in Syria after the Turks have been defeated 
 by the Kussians, and the Russians have in turn been driven away 
 by the Bedouin hosts.* In the Sherif of Mecca they have a prince 
 of the family of Mohammed, which the Sultan is not, who can set up 
 claims to their allegiance superior to those of the Sultan. 
 
 * Rev. Dr. D. H. Jessup, Missionary at Beyrut, in Foreign Missionary (Presbyterian 
 Board of Missions) for April, 1877.
 
 THE DOOM OF TURKEY. 57! 
 
 The review of the condition of the Turkish Empire in the light 
 of the events which are now taking place, clearly indicates that all 
 of the European provinces will, at no distant period, be converted 
 into European, Christian States ; that Constantinople will again be- 
 come a European city ; that the African dependencies will pass into 
 the condition either of independent States or of European depend- 
 encies ; that Armenia will become Russian ; that the Arabs will 
 fall away soon after Turkey has been sensibly weakened and attempt 
 an independent sovereignty of their own ; and that the Turks will 
 l)e driven to their home in Asia Minor, where, hemmed in on one 
 side by the Russians, and on another by the future owners of Syria, 
 and crowded by the enterprising Greeks on the sea-coast, they will 
 live out what remains to them of national life, an insignificant State, 
 without power to molest any one seriously and exposed to a process 
 of gradual wearing away by the pressure and friction of the enter- 
 prising States which will surround them. 
 
 The London Times recently expressed the opinion that the re- 
 sult of the war, by causing the Turks to give up their hostile Euro- 
 pean Provinces, while they receive a tribute from them, and by 
 concentrating the Mussulmans around Constantinople and in Asia 
 Minor, will be to enable them to " create a new Ottoman power ten 
 times stronger than if it were spread over a vast, badly-organized, and 
 hostile territory. This might be the case were the Turks capable 
 of becoming a progressive nation, or of being regenerated. The 
 facts which we have cited show, however, that all the essential 
 qualities of the Turkish character and religion, and the features 
 which are at the roots of their life and social condition, are against 
 any such transformation taking place. "While they remain Turks 
 they must continue to go down ; and the revival of their race can 
 be effected only at the expense of casting away everything that dis- 
 tinguishes them from other races.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 
 I. BULGARIANS AND GREEKS. 
 
 The Nationalities that are to Rule Turkey The Bulgarians, Greeks, Rumanians, Ser- 
 vians Latent Traits of the Bulgarians The Ancient Bulgarians Relations of Bul- 
 garia and the East Roman Empire The Bogomils The Second Bulgarian Kingdom ; 
 its Culmination and its Speedy Fall Four Centuries and a half of Oppression and 
 Darkness The most Wretched People in Europe at the Beginning of this Century 
 The Marvelous Awakening and Speedy Advance The First Printed Bulgarian Book 
 Beginning of a Movement for Education The First Popular Schools What has 
 been Accomplished in Fifty Years Newspapers Books School-books and Liter- 
 ary Works The Ecclesiastical Struggle and the Victory of the Bulgarians The 
 Capacity of the People Proved Opinions of Intelligent Travelers Kanitz and Von 
 Hellwald They are Destined to Become a Leading Nation of the Earth The Claims 
 of the Greeks Their Noble Ancestry What the World Owes to Greek Learning 
 The Greeks the Ancient Settlers of Turkey The Modern Greeks not Hellenized Slavs 
 The West Responsible for the Conquest of the Greeks Tenacity of the Grecian 
 Character Greece During and Since the Revolution Reasonableness of the Demands 
 of Greece for Territorial Expansion Attitude of Greece in 1876-'77 Advance into 
 Thessaly in February, 1878 A Mistake The Adjustment of Grecian Interests more 
 Practicable than in case of any other Nationality of Turkey Attitude of the Greeks 
 toward the Slavs Foreign Views on the Expansion of Greece Earl Derby's Ex- 
 pression. 
 
 WHEN Turkish, rule has come to an end, other nationalities will 
 soon supplant the Turks in the possession and places of influence 
 and as the predominant races of the country which they inhabit. 
 The principal difficulty in the settlement of the Eastern Question 
 so far has been to determine who should take the place of the 
 Moslems as the rulers of their European provinces. This difficulty 
 is now likely to be removed in time, in a natural way, and by the 
 operation of natural forces which will eventually work out their 
 own solution, whether the powers are willing to agree to it or not. 
 The treaty of peace has already put the Balkan peninsula into the 
 hands of the nationalities, which form the masses of its population. 
 The question that now remains to be solved is not whether or even 
 how soon these nationalities will come into complete possession of their 
 inheritance, but how it shall be divided among them. A study of the 
 map of nationalities and religions will give the reader a fair idea 
 of the general course that must be followed by the lines of division ; 
 (572)
 
 UP A TREE.
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 575 
 
 a course which, except as to the Turks, has been fairly regarded in 
 adjusting the boundaries of the new Bulgaria. 
 
 An objection which has always, heretofore been opposed with 
 force against the division of Turkey among its nationalities and 
 their erection into separate powers, has been that they were, and 
 would continue to be for a long time, too weak and too backward in 
 the arts of civilization to be self-sustaining States, and would neces- 
 sarily, therefore, exist in dependence upon some strong power and 
 .be its puppets; and that this power, whatever it might be, would 
 be more dangerous to the peace of Europe than Turkey had been. 
 The new States themselves only can give the answer to this objec- 
 tion by developing and exhibiting their capacity for independent 
 government. "We may even now form an estimate of the extent to 
 which they may be able to do this, and of the speed with which 
 they are likely to accomplish it, by a study of the character of the 
 nationalities, and of the account which they have given, and are giv- 
 ing, of themselves. This we may do by an examination of what 
 they achieved in the past, before the Turks crushed them, and of 
 the efforts which they have put forth in our own day for their 
 national generation. 
 
 Four nationalities compete to share the control of the Balkan 
 peninsula the Bulgarians, the Greeks, the Servians, and the Ru- 
 manians. The Bulgarians and Servians belong to the Slavic race; 
 the Greeks and Rumanians form each a distinct race. The desires of 
 the Bulgarians and Greeks for territorial autonomy and independ- 
 ence could be satisfied without interf ering with the interests of any 
 European States. The claims of the Rumanians and Servians, on 
 the other hand, involve the readjustment of boundaries, would 
 require, if they were fully conceded, a considerable reduction of the 
 territories of the Austrian Empire, and would threaten a dissolution 
 of the Empire itself, with the overthrow of Magyar supremacy in 
 the South. 
 
 The new principality of Bulgaria, as established by the treaty of 
 San Stefano, will include more than half of the territory of Euro- 
 pean Turkey, aside from Servia and Rumania, and will contain about 
 74,400 square miles, an extent about equal to that of the States of 
 Ohio and Indiana, and from 5,000,000 to 5,500,000 inhabitants. 
 Of the rest of Turkey, 59,500 square miles are in Bosnia, Albania, 
 and the Grecian provinces, and 8,500 square miles around Constanti- 
 nople.
 
 576 THE WAR IN THE EAST, 
 
 TLe Bulgarian boundaries have been skillfully stretched out by 
 the Russian diplomats, so as to include nearly eveiy part of the 
 country hi which there is any considerable proportion of Bulgarians, 
 and have been fixed in the South, often in disregard of the claims 
 of the Greek nationality, so as to embrace an ample stretch of coast 
 and commodious harbor privileges on the ^Egean Sea. The Bul- 
 garians constitute about four-fifths of the population in the western 
 part of the territory ; the Turks are settled in nearly equal numbers 
 with the Bulgarians in the eastern part ; three-fifths of the people 
 in the Macedonian districts are of Albanian or Illyrian origin, and 
 parts of the sea- coast are wholly settled by Greeks. 
 
 The Bulgarians appear in the present times under unfavorable 
 lights, and show to superficial observers but little promise of the 
 brilliant future which their friends predict is in store for them. The 
 majority of travelers give very unfavorable accounts of them, and 
 only a few have had the penetration to discover, or the courage to 
 declare, that under the mask of stolid stupidity, indolence, and half 
 barbarism which Turkish oppression and Greek repression have 
 caused them to wear for centuries, are hidden traits and faculties, 
 which, if given a fair opportunity to develop themselves, would 
 shortly place them among the foremost of the Slavic races. The 
 Bulgarian peasants did much, it is true, during the war, by the atro- 
 cities of which they were guilty, to discredit themselves and to lend 
 an air of confirmation to the most that has been said against them. 
 Those acts, however, in all their wickedness, were in reality the 
 natural workings of a reaction against the long oppressions under 
 which they had suffered with a patience which has itself helped to 
 condemn them, and were the symptoms of a morbid condition for 
 which the Bulgarian nation had itself already applied the remedies, 
 and from which it would probably have freed itself in a few years if 
 there had been no war. 
 
 That this nation has in it the elements out of which it may yet 
 work a noble development of itself, is made probable against all ap- 
 pearances, by the recollection of the character of the ancestry whom 
 it boasts, arid is confirmed by the view of the measures which the 
 people have already taken to improve their condition. The ancient 
 Bulgarians were a conquering people. They came down from the 
 North like the other barbarian races which revolutionized Europe 
 during the first thousand years of the Christian era, and were, by all 
 accounts, the peers of the best of them. Having established them-
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA, 577 
 
 selves in the region which they made their kingdom, their stock be- 
 came intermingled with Slavic blood till they became in effect a 
 Slavic race, but more warlike and more fierce than the other Slavs. 
 The nation constituted an important and powerful kingdom for about 
 three hundred years, till in the earlier part of the eleventh century 
 it fell under the dominion of the Emperors at Constantinople. Dur- 
 ing this period it was converted to Christianity, in the latter part of 
 the ninth century ; and some literary activity was developed among 
 the priests, who translated the Bible and a few of the classical authors 
 into the Old Slavonic tongue, while the language of the people, the 
 real Bulgarian language, had not yet been reduced to writing. At 
 one time, the kingdom having been divided, the Emperor Nicephorus 
 called in the Russians to help him conquer the eastern part to the 
 Danube. The conquest having been achieved, the Russians settled 
 upon the Balkans and turned their arms against the Empire. The 
 Emperor called upon the Bulgarians to help him, and the Russians were 
 expelled. The western kingdom maintained its independent exist- 
 ence for forty years after the eastern one was subjected, in constant 
 war with the Empire. At one time fifteen thousand Bulgarians are 
 said to have been taken prisoners and blinded by the Greeks, except 
 that about a hundred were left with one eye to lead their fellows back 
 to their homes. The shock of the sight of his mutilated heroes killed 
 the King, Samuel, and the whole kingdom then fell into the hands of 
 the Greeks. The story of this atrocity is still told among the Bul- 
 garian people, and helps to keep up the hatred of the Greeks, which 
 is one of the distinctive features of their national life. 
 
 Previous to this time the country had fallen largely under the 
 influence of the Bogomils, a heretical sect corresponding to the 
 Cathari and Albigenses of Western. Europe. Their doctrines were 
 well suited to the disposition of the people. They set store upon a 
 certain degree of education ; and the popular language of the Bul- 
 garians being still unwritten, the Bogomils applied an alphabet to 
 it, adapted it to literary uses, and gave the people the first books 
 that they could comprehend. These books consisted principally of 
 Biblical and classical stories, and stories from the " Arabian Nights," 
 translated and modified so as to suit the popular tastes, with a few 
 original works. The translations found their way into the neigh- 
 boring countries, and through them, it is said, the Bosnians, Croats, 
 "Wallachs, and Russians received their first knowledge of the pro- 
 ductions of ancient Eastern literature.
 
 578 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The kingdom of Bulgaria again became independent in 1186. 
 Under the Czar Joannes II., from 1218 to 1241, its boundaries 
 touched the three seas, the Adriatic, the ^Egean, and the Black 
 Seas, and its capital, Tirnova, was distinguished for its wealth and 
 splendor. The virtues and independent spirit of the people had, 
 however, been weakened by the unhealthy influences of foreign rule 
 and association, and the State was distracted by the unintermitting 
 quarrels between the adherents of the Orthodox Church and the 
 Bogomils, often rising to bloody conflicts, in which one party or the 
 other would not infrequently call in aid from abroad. Under the 
 influence of this demoralization and dissension the State rapidly 
 declined after the death of Joannes, until, after the defeat of the 
 Servians in the battle of Kosovo, in 1389, it fell an easy prey to the 
 Turkish conquerors. 
 
 A barbarism which endured more than four centuries, and has as 
 yet only begun to disappear, now settled upon the people. The 
 Boyars embraced Mohammedanism to save their estates; the 
 Bogomils were likewise won over to Islam through the influence 
 of a heretical Mohammedan sect which had some sympathy with 
 them in doctrine. With the Boyars, the people lost their leaders ; 
 with the Bogomils they lost the bond which had held them in fel- 
 lowship. Their Church was made subject to the Patriarchate of 
 Constantinople, and was delivered in effect to the control of the 
 Fanariote Greeks (or the Greeks of Constantinople, called Fanariotc 
 after the quarter (Fanar) of the city which they inhabited), who 
 were enemies of their nationality. " Seldom, in the course of his- 
 tory," says a recent writer,* " have one people acted toward another 
 more execrably than did the Greeks in Turkey to their Bulgarian 
 fellow-believers." They obtained concessions of privileges from the 
 Porte, and used them in every possible way for the repression of 
 the Bulgarian nationality. The priestly offices were filled by Greeks 
 or renegade Bulgarians, or were made matters of bargain and sale, 
 so that the author from whom we have already quoted is impelled 
 to say, with a semblance of truth, that although " many unworthy 
 priestly castes have ruled on the earth, none have been more so than 
 the Greek priests of the Bulgarians. Their unscrupulousness, their 
 greediness, can not be described in words." They made a determined 
 attack upon all the motives of the national spirit, endeavored to do- 
 
 * B. C. Franzos, in the Allgemeine Zeitung, October, 1877.
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 579 
 
 stroy all the books and manuscripts which existed either in the Old 
 Slavonic or in the popular tongue, and established a system of op- 
 pression and plunder, which carried on even into the present century, 
 left the Bulgarians little else than their bare life, but utterly failed 
 to destroy their national feeling. 
 
 The collections of the songs of the people current during this 
 period which have been recently published bear evidences of the 
 feelings which they entertained toward both their Turkish and 
 Grecian oppressors, in many printed allusions to them and to the 
 indignities which the people had to endure from them. Some of 
 the braver men, refusing to submit to these oppressions, took refuge 
 in the mountains, where they were known as Haiducs, and whence 
 they kept up an unceasing guerrilla warfare against Turks and 
 Greeks. They have been called robbers, but as they were accus- 
 tomed to discriminate between friends and enemies, and always 
 spared and often protected their own people, they are better en- 
 titled to be ranked with the heroic defenders of Montenegro. 
 
 At the beginning of the present century, no people in Europe 
 were in a more wretched condition than the Bulgarians. Their 
 nationality was regarded as a stigma. The people in the towns 
 were Grecianized ; and whenever any one rose to a position in which 
 he had an ambition to appear respectable and figure in society, it 
 was the fashion for him to give his name a Greek form. The na- 
 tive language was regarded as a barbaric tongue, and its use was 
 confined to countrymen and dwellers in small towns. Nothing was 
 written in it, even the commercial and private correspondence being 
 carried on in Greek, or if the Bulgarian language was used, it was 
 written in Greek characters. The services of the churches were 
 performed exclusively in Greek. A Russian traveler, Gregorovitch, , 
 who visited Ochrida, the ancient seat of the Bulgarian Church,, 
 could not find there any one who could read Slavic. 
 
 The people who remained true to their nationality were isolated! 
 from each other ; they had no means of knowing how large a proportion; 
 of the population they formed, or how their countrymen who lived 
 outside of their own neighborhood felt. Deprived of civilizing in- 
 fluences they necessarily sunk lower. The priests, upon whom alone- 
 they could depend for instruction, were either hostile or ignorant, 
 like themselves. In many districts the people grew up without any 
 knowledge of religion or worship, and became the victims of error.- 
 and brutalizing influences.
 
 580 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The awakening from this condition has been marvelous, almost 
 miraculous ; the results that have followed it have been rapid and 
 extensive almost without example. 
 
 A Bulgarian priest at Mount Athos, in 1762, composed a small 
 Slovene - Bulgarian History, of which several copies were made 
 and circulated. Stoico Yladislavoff, who afterward became Sopro- 
 nius, Bishop of Braca, saw one of the copies, and was induced 
 to devote himself to the cultivation of his mother-tongue. He 
 translated a number of popular works from the Greek, and in 1806 
 published a book of Bulgarian Prayers, which was the first book 
 ever printed in the modern Bulgarian language. The Greek war 
 of independence, the revolt of the Hetarists in Wallachia, and the 
 invasion of the country by the Russians in the war of 1828, all con- 
 tributed their share toward rousing the national spirit. 
 
 There were a few Bulgarian merchants and bankers at Bucharest, 
 originating from the lower classes, who were not ashamed of their 
 nationality, but were pained at the low esteem in which it was held. 
 They decided to do what they could to improve it. They formed a 
 society whose double object was to send Bulgarian youth to Vienna 
 to be instructed, and to arouse a thirst for education among their 
 countrymen at home. The association was well provided with 
 means, and brought forth noticeable fruits in a short time. Its 
 young students returned from school thoroughly imbued with 
 national ideas. A Bulgarian primer containing reading lessons and 
 pictures of an instructive character had been published in 1824. 
 Some of the students supplemented it with works of a more ad- 
 vanced character, and others returned to their homes as teachers. 
 The production of other books followed, in all of which adaptation 
 to the need of the people for instruction was the first quality 
 sought. It is remarkable and creditable to the character of the 
 Bulgarians, and is, perhaps, one of the secrets of the success that has 
 attended their literary and educational efforts, that the first books 
 which* appeared, besides school-books, were grammars, dictionaries, 
 cyclopedias, and histories. " We must not," said one of the leaders 
 of this period, " write what will merely please, we must write what 
 is useful. Schools ! by that sign only can we conquer ! " The first 
 people's school was opened at Gabrova in 1835. The Fanariote 
 priests opposed it. and tried to induce the Pasha to forbid it, but he 
 replied, " Learning is no sin." The second school was opened at 
 Sistova in 1836, the third at Koprovitchtica in 1837. Fifty-three
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 581 
 
 primary schools had been established in 1845, besides the Central 
 Lyceum at Philippopolis. In 1873 there were in the province of 
 Philippopolis, with a total Bulgarian Christian population of 390,000 
 souls, three hundred and seventy high, preparatory, elementary, and 
 girls' schools, with 402 teachers, and 13,885 boys and 2,615 girls as 
 pupils. Instruction is given free of cost, in all the branches of an 
 ordinary common school education. Statistics are not accessible for 
 the other provinces. 
 
 The growth of Bulgarian journalism corresponds fairly with the 
 development of the schools. The first Bulgarian periodical was a 
 monthly, started in 1844, at Smyrna ; the first political journal was 
 published at Leipzig in 1846. A daily paper was founded at Con- 
 stantinople in 1849, which was for ten years the principal organ of 
 the people, and fought bravely for them in the battle against the 
 Greek ecclesiasticism. In 1876, fifty-one newspapers in the Bul- 
 garian language had been started. Many of them had only a brief 
 existence, but fourteen of them remained in 1875, including four 
 political journals in Constantinople, official papers at Rustchuk, 
 Salonica, and Adrianople, two literary, one theological, and three 
 technical papers, and the political organ of the emigrants at Bucha- 
 rest. All but the political journals have been suspended since the 
 war begun. The larger journals were well edited, with matter 
 chosen to suit the tastes of their readers, who formed, as a whole, an 
 interested and appreciative class ; they were very patriotic, and ex- 
 erted a great influence. 
 
 Literary works other than school-books began to appear about 
 1840. In 1876, about five hundred such works had been published, 
 some of them in editions numbering three or four thousand copies. 
 About half the number are translations, among which are mentioned 
 the poems of Bulwer and Byron, a part of Shakespeare, English 
 governess-stories, sensational novels, German and French classical 
 works, Russian and Polish books. .The original works are lyric 
 poems, describing the popular life or deeds from the national history, 
 or reflecting the national aspirations, and generally of a character 
 promising a hopeful future for this kind of literary effort, and 
 dramas, of which about forty have been published since 1870. A 
 few novels have been published, the best known of which are the 
 stories of Karaveloff and the historical novels of Bishop Drumoff ; 
 history is represented by four writers of reputation, and philological 
 research by the works of three authors.
 
 582 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Considering what is the condition of the country, the Bulgarian 
 authors enjoy a large clientage and are liberally supported. The 
 people have a taste for reading, and gratify it ; and the Bulgarian 
 patriot, it is said, considers it a sacred duty to buy books. 
 
 The turning-point in the national development of the Bulgarians 
 was reached when they gained from the Porte, against the strenu- 
 ous opposition of the Fanariote Greeks and of all the Fanariote 
 influences, the freedom of their Church. The struggle which ended 
 in this result was a long and severe one, and was well fitted to test 
 the capacity for endurance of many a people who stand higher in 
 the world's estimation. That the Bulgarians achieved so complete 
 a victory as they have done, is not the least of the evidences which 
 they have given of their capacity to constitute an independent and 
 strong State. It was perceived, at the beginning of the efforts for 
 improvement, that the most earnest and wisely-directed exertions 
 of patriotic endeavor would fail to accomplish the object that was 
 sought, while the Church was ruled by a hostile, anti-Bulgarian 
 hierarchy, and the people were under the influence, in their homes 
 and their closest relations, of a priesthood who would employ every 
 means in their power to baifle the aims of the reformers. Accord- 
 ingly, the emancipation of the Church was made one of the most 
 essential and important objects of the new movement. In 1833, 
 the people of Samokov and Skopie asked for the appointment of 
 Bulgarian bishops, instead of the unworthy Greeks who had been 
 removed from their sees., but other Greeks were sent them in their 
 stead. In 1840, a Bulgarian, who had been appointed Bishop of 
 Widin, died while he was gone to Constantinople, it is said, of 
 poison. Ten years later, the attention of the Government was 
 directed to the Bulgarian grievance by means of an insurrection 
 which broke out near Widin, and the Patriarch was requested to 
 consecrate a Bulgarian bishop. He consecrated one, but left him 
 without a diocese. When the Porte called a National Assembly to 
 consider the question of reforms in 1858, the ecclesiastics took care 
 that no Bulgarians should obtain seats in the body, and the demand 
 of the people for a voice in the appointment of their ecclesiastics 
 was denied, because the Church, the ecclesiastics answered, recog- 
 nized no difference of nationalities. At one time during the strug- 
 gle, the Bulgarians sought a union with the Roman Catholic 
 Church. The union was very nearly effected, by the help of Napo- 
 leon III. of France, in 1854, when England and Russia interfered,
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 583 
 
 and stopped the negotiations. A general movement was instituted 
 against the Fanariote ecclesiastics in 1860. The bishops were 
 driven out from several cities, native bishops were provisionally 
 appointed in their places, the Bulgarian language was introduced 
 into the schools, and the Bulgarian congregation at Constantinople 
 showed its approval of the revolutionary acts by refusing to recog- 
 nize the election of a new Patriarch, which took place at about that 
 time. The prayer for the Patriarch ceased to be repeated in the 
 churches, his name was hooted at when it was mentioned, and the 
 name of the Sultan was substituted in its place. The Government 
 sought to gain from the Patriarch concessions to the demands of the 
 people, but assent was twice refused to its propositions. It then 
 acted on its own account, and a firman was granted on the 28th of 
 February, 1870, constituting the Bulgarian Church an independent 
 Exarchate. A pastoral letter, full of extravagant, but sincere, ex- 
 pressions of gratitude to the Sultan, announced the victory to the 
 people. Bishop Anthrin, of Widin, was chosen Exarch in 1872. 
 His journey to Constantinople to be consecrated was like a triumphal 
 march. 
 
 Some authors have ascribed to Russia a larger share in the regen- 
 eration of Bulgaria than it deserves. The contributions of Russia 
 to this work have been indirect, and have been given chiefly in the 
 shape of the presence of military forces, and in such encouragement 
 as the Panslavist agitations may have afforded in the awakening 
 in the hearts of despondent Bulgarians the hope that their people 
 might participate in the regeneration of the Slavic races, and in 
 inspiring them with the motive to prepare themselves for the bright 
 destiny that was painted for them. The Russians, during the cam- 
 paign of 1828, made fair promises to the Bulgarians of the aid and 
 support which they would give them, which were rudely broken 
 when the peace of Adrianople was concluded, a few weeks after- 
 ward, without making any provisions for them. The Bulgarians 
 were deceived by these promises into compromising themselves, by 
 engaging in movements for resistance to the Turks, only to be told 
 by Gen. Diebitch that he could do nothing of what he had under- 
 taken to do for them, and to discover that they would have to settle 
 with the Turks in the best way they could. So, again, they were 
 misled by the persuasions of Russian agitators into the insurrec- 
 tionary attempts of 1876, and, by the appearance of a Russian army, 
 into the disastrous outbreaks of 1877, to repent of their mistakes in
 
 584 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 mourning and suffering. All the active, real work of their regen- 
 eration has been done by themselves, and Franzos asserts that not a 
 single Great Russian has had any direct part in it. 
 
 The value of the service which Russia has rendered the Bulgarians 
 in delivering them from Turkish despotism can not be overesti- 
 mated. It is the first real service that, with all its pretensions, it 
 has ever performed for them. The best conclusion it can now make 
 of its work will be to leave them alone to work out their own de- 
 velopment in their own way and through their own resources. 
 That Russian influence will not be beneficial to the best interests of 
 the Bulgarians is shown by the history of past dealings of Russia 
 with them, which have been marked by manifestations of a policy 
 to denationalize Bulgaria, to discourage the national features of its 
 literature, and to make the people Russian. This was exemplified 
 several years ago, when the Russians, having induced a colony of 
 Bulgarians to settle in Bessarabia, suppressed the use of their 
 language in the schools, substituting the Russian language for it, 
 and forbade the publication of a Bulgarian newspaper. The restric- 
 tions upon the national life of the settlers were not removed till the 
 colony, by the operation of the Treaty of Paris, passed under the 
 rule of Rumania, when the Bulgarian language was restored. The 
 jealousy of the powers, which is ever watchful to prevent the exten- 
 sion of direct Russian power, and the strength of the newly-awakened 
 national feelings of the Bulgarians, are probably too strong to permit 
 such a policy being attempted with any hope of success in the new 
 principality. 
 
 A great impulse was given to the material progress of Bulgaria 
 under the administration of Midhat Pasha. During this brief and 
 exceptional period of good government, the province enjoyed such 
 order as it had never known before, improvements were made, en- 
 terprise was stimulated, industries were established, and a promise 
 of prosperity appeared which was unexampled in the history of 
 European Turkey. This improvement was quickened by the growth 
 of the rejuvenated national spirit, and was aided by the settled habits 
 of the people, who are almost universally spoken of as industrious 
 and thrifty, with no inclination to drunkenness or wasteful vices, 
 and prudent in their investments; so that the province became 
 the richest and the most productive of revenues of any of the 
 European possessions of Turkey. The succeeding administrations, 
 although they were misconducted after the old fashion, did not de-
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 585 
 
 prive the people of the advantages they had gained, or abate their 
 progress, so that it was said that the Russian soldiers were astonished 
 when they entered the country they were called upon to deliver, to 
 find that its people were better off, in many respects, than they were 
 in their own homes. 
 
 The Bulgarians have proved themselves worthy of the advantages 
 they have gained. That they have fairly won their literary culture 
 is shown by the number of their newspapers and books, which would 
 not be published if they did not find readers and purchasers, not 
 less than by the prosperity of their schools. In the schools they 
 bear the most favorable reputation. The Protestant missionaries 
 describe them as their best scholars, and as a people of extraordinary 
 natural abilities. Kanitz speaks in the highest terms of their desire 
 for education and practical sense, as shown by the fact that they will 
 seek knowledge, without religious prejudice, wherever it may be 
 got. He found those who had been instructed abroad to be people 
 of unusual intelligence. He considers them superior to the Servians 
 in qualifications for engineering and the industrial arts. Their rose- 
 gardens in Rumelia, from which the attar of roses of the world's 
 markets is derived, are among the most profitable agricultural fields 
 of that province ; their industrial villages in the Balkans were among 
 the most prosperous as well as the most beautiful towns of the Em- 
 pire. Two of them, which have been destroyed by the Turks, Car- 
 lova and Sopot, are described by a war correspondent as places which 
 each member of a company who visited them after their destruction 
 declared he would have chosen as a residence next after his own home. 
 Kanitz says that we must look among them for the future industrial 
 population of Turkey. Yon Hellwald and Beck, in their "Die 
 Heutigue Tiirkei " (The Turkey of To-day), say that they are " the 
 most intelligent, and in a literary sense, the most cultivated people 
 of European Turkey, in whose spiritual development they are 
 certainly destined to take a great part." 
 
 A people who can be described in such language, who are capable 
 of manifesting such energy, and of doing so much for themselves 
 as our record shows, can not be consigned to an ignoble future. 
 The qualities they have developed, the advances they have made, in- 
 dicate that with freedom they would become one of the leading 
 nations of the East. Their progress has been suddenly and rudely 
 interrupted, their country made desolate by war, and they have been 
 put back materially many years. Their national aspirations, their
 
 586 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 desire for improvements, and their spirit of progress, however, re- 
 main to them, and will command consideration in whatever adjust- 
 ment may be made bearing on the future of the Empire. 
 
 The Greeks constitute the most vigorous, the most enterprising, 
 and the most cultivated nationality of the Turkish Empire, and 
 must always command a first place in the consideration of questions 
 relating to its future. They claim a hearing by reason of their 
 numbers, influence, and social standing ; by reason of their pro- 
 gressive spirit ; of the obligations which the Great Powers have 
 incurred toward the kingdom of Greece, and of what they are 
 capable of doing for the regeneration and civilization of the de- 
 caying Turkish provinces. They can also appeal to history, can 
 call to mind the obligations which civilization owes to their race, 
 and can show that they are the rightful heirs to the greater part of 
 the provinces which the Turk has so wretchedly misgoverned since 
 the Western Powers permitted him to subjugate them. 
 
 No nationality in the world has a prouder record than the ances- 
 tors of the Greeks. Civilization and liberty grew up among them 
 and flourished to a degree that has never been excelled in any other 
 nation till the present century. No equals have ever been found 
 to their best works of literature and art. They originated the 
 training and the methods of study which have given the impulse 
 to all modern progress in learning and discovery ; so that there is 
 hardly a good gift which the world enjoys to-day to which they 
 have not directly or indirectly contributed. They transmitted their 
 civilization and learning to the Romans, and the Romans distrib- 
 uted it over their world. While Western Europe lost its knowledge 
 in the Middle Ages, the Greeks preserved theirs at Constantinople ; 
 and the scattering of Greeks over Europe consequent upon the con- 
 quests of the Turks, is mentioned by the historians as one of the 
 prime motives to the revival of learning in the fifteenth and six- 
 teenth centuries. 
 
 The Greeks were the first civilized people who settled in the 
 European parts of Turkey ; and they are the first civilized people 
 who lived within the historical period in a part of its Asiatic terri- 
 tory. Their first exploration of the Black Sea and opening of it to 
 navigation, lies back of history in the mythological period. Con- 
 stantinople was a Greek city, known as Byzantium, hundreds of 
 years before Constantine rebuilt it and renamed it, having been 
 founded in the seventh century before Christ. The western prov-
 
 NEW STA TES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA, 5 87 
 
 inces of European Turkey are called in current books and writings 
 by the names Thessaly, Epirus, and Macedonia, which were given 
 them by their early Greek inhabitants. In most of these ancient 
 Greek possessions the people of that nationality still form the major 
 part of the population, and are the leaders of enterprise. A Ger- 
 man author, Fallmerayer, has undertaken to show that the modern 
 Greeks are not the genuine descendants of the ancient people, but 
 are of a mixed Illyrian and Slavic stock, who have settled in the 
 Grecian countries and become Hellenized. His view is contradicted 
 by all the features of modern Greek life, which resemble in a strik- 
 ing degree those of the ancient Greeks, and give the most positive 
 testimony in favor of the theory of a direct legitimate descent. It 
 is true that some parts of the Grecian countries have been largely 
 colonized by Slavs, and that traces of their settlement have been 
 left in some of the local names and in a few Slavic traits which 
 survive. But, even in these instances, it is the Greeks who have 
 absorbed the Slavs. The type is predominantly Greek, and the 
 Slavic features which have been retained are only those survivals of 
 casual peculiarities which seem always to remain when one people 
 have been for a long time associated with another, as historical me- 
 mentoes of the contact. 
 
 The West owes a reparation to the Greeks and to Christianity for 
 allowing them to be driven out of Constantinople. The Turks might 
 have been repelled and driven back into Asia on several occasions 
 had the Western States combined to assist the Emperors; but the 
 selfish interests and religious jealousies of professedly Christian States 
 kept them aloof, and they coldly witnessed the expulsion of their 
 fellow-believers and the planting of an anti-Christian standard in 
 what had been the stronghold of the faith. So strongly did re- 
 ligious differences make themselves felt, that Greek merchants visit- 
 ing the Latin countries, were accustomed, it is said, to disguise 
 themselves as Turks in order to secure for themselves better treat- 
 ment than they could have received as Eastern Christians. The 
 piratical expeditions which were, fitted out by the Christian knights 
 of those days against the infidel, found their most profitable victims 
 in the Greek towns, which were regarded as legitimate spoil because 
 they belonged to the country of the enemy. On the other hand, 
 Greeks, as Christians, had to suffer in Mohammedan countries for 
 the indignities which the Moors endured in Spain.* 
 
 * W. E. Gladstone, the " Hellenic Factor."
 
 588 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The Greeks, in common with the other conquered peoples, suf- 
 fered severely by the exaction of the tribute of children out of which 
 the Janissaries were formed, which depleted their manly vitality to 
 the lowest degree compatible with continued existence. When the 
 tribute ceased, the people being allowed to enjoy their natural in- 
 crease, immediately began to gain in strength and determination. 
 
 The Greeks exhibited the qualities of a brave maDhood in an emi- 
 nent degree in their Revolution. " It was," says Finlay, who has 
 written its history, u a revolution of the people, in which they ex- 
 hibited a tenacity and valor not less than that of the American colo- 
 nists in their famous revolt." Mr. Gladstone describes the revolution- 
 ists as of " a race, to whom as yet, except in the Black Mountain (or 
 Montenegro), no equals in valor have appeared among the enslaved 
 populations of the East." The people fought alone, too, for they 
 had but few leaders and only the assistance of individuals from 
 abroad. 
 
 The people of Greece have done remarkably well since they gained 
 their independence, especially when we consider how small is the 
 State in which they have to work, and remember that it has been 
 only about fifteen years since they have had a Government that has 
 been able to give them any real help. The cause of good govern- 
 ment has advanced steadily, having been promoted rather than hin- 
 dered by the peaceful revolutions of 1843 and 1862 ; respect for the 
 laws is becoming the habit of the people, and the kingdom enjoys a 
 steady growth of population and wealth, the population having in- 
 creased from 650,000 in 1834 to 1,238,000 in 1870, and the revenue 
 from $1,375,000 in 1833 to $3,849,000 in 1873. 
 
 Equally great has been the spiritual advancement of the Greeks. 
 The effort to restore the spirit of the past, to cultivate its literature 
 and revive its language, has been responded to in a manner that 
 shows that the people appreciate their high ancestry, and intend to 
 try to make themselves worthy of it. Strenuous efforts have been 
 made for the advancement of education, not only within the King- 
 dom itself, but in all the Grecian districts of the Turkish Empire. 
 While, in 1830, there were within the Kingdom only seventy-one 
 schools, with 6,721 scholars, there were, in 187-1, 1,227 primary 
 schools, with 81,449 scholars, besides nearly 200 secondary schools, 
 a university at Athens, and several theological schools which are 
 under the special care of the clergy. The numerous schools, both 
 primary and higher schools, established by the Greeks in Mace-
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 589 
 
 donia, Thessaly, and Epims at all points where there is a consider- 
 able Greek population are mentioned favorably by travelers, and 
 are generally spoken of as among the best schools in the Empire. 
 Seminaries for teachers, furnishing instruction quite equal to that 
 given in the best normal schools of Europe, have recently been 
 established in Macedonia, whose pupils are already teaching in the 
 elementary schools of the provinces, greatly to the improvement of 
 the standard of education among them. The result is that the 
 Greeks in the Turkish provinces, as well as in the Kingdom, are 
 far advanced in literary culture beyond any of their Slavic neigh- 
 bors, and are already well prepared to maintain an independent 
 sovereignty. 
 
 The energies of the Greek nation are cramped by the smallness 
 of its territory, which is not large enough to give it either the popu- 
 lation or the revenues of a really sovereign State. The reasonable- 
 ness of its demands for expansion is generally conceded, but, as 
 they would involve an entire readjustment of the Eastern Question, 
 it has heretofore been impracticable to grant them. Since such a 
 readjustment has been forced by the course of events, it will not be 
 possible to evade answering them, whatever efforts may be exerted 
 by some of the powers to preserve the Turkish boundaries as the 
 treaty of San Stefano arranged them. They can be answered with 
 less embarrassment than those of any other nationality. Tho dis- 
 tricts that Greece may claim are clearly marked out, and there is 
 little occasion for dispute as to the precise boundaries. Thessaly, 
 Epirus, and Southern Macedonia and the islands the predominantly 
 Greek districts of Turkey are removed from the rivalry of the 
 Great Powers, which makes it so difficult to gratify the full desires 
 of Bosnia, Servia, Rumania, and Bulgaria. No power could pre- 
 sent any claim or interest adverse to the complete fulfillment of the 
 wishes of Greece. 
 
 The expanded Kingdom would be extended over a people who 
 desire its rule, and would prefer it to any other. They participated 
 in the Revolution, and were disappointed when they were shut out 
 from the State to which it gave birth. They have been interested 
 in the progress of the country, have sympathized with every move- 
 ment which concerned it, and have shared its intellectual advance- 
 ment. 
 
 The Greeks watched the wars of 1876 and 1877 with interest and 
 sympathy, without taking active part in them. They were re-
 
 590 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 strained by a sense of the intrinsic weakness of their State, and dis- 
 couraged by the advice of the friendly powers, particularly of 
 England. Nevertheless, the Government was active in preparation, 
 so as to be in a condition to take advantage of any opportunity 
 which might arise for action with safety, and the people in the 
 provinces kept bands under organization, ready to break out into 
 insurrection at an auspicious moment. A camp of instruction was 
 established at Thebes, under the immediate supervision of the King. 
 The committee at Athens, formed in 1867 to assist the insurgents 
 in Crete, was expanded into the "Pan-Hellenic Committee," and 
 sent emissaries into all parts of Turkey, to prepare their countrymen 
 for a general rising, and superintended the organization of skeleton 
 bands in all the provinces, to serve as the nucleus of an effective 
 force, to be filled up when the signal for the contemplated rising 
 should be given. It was intended in 1876 that the rising should 
 take place as soon as the Servians should gain any considerable 
 victory over the Turks, and the Servians were given assurances to 
 that effect, but their defeat prevented the fulfillment of this intention. 
 
 Although the Grecian people continued agitated during the whole 
 of the war, it was not till the close of January, 1878, that the Gov- 
 ernment decided upon any action. Then, moved by the pressure 
 of popular clamor, and the peril to which the Thessalian insurrec- 
 tionists were exposed from the barbarity of the Turkish irregulars, 
 it sent its troops over the border, to discover immediately that it 
 had committed a great mistake, since the conclusion of the armistice 
 with Russia had left the Turks free to send their whole force against 
 the offending State. The Government then appealed to the repre- 
 sentatives of the powers for an assurance of protection, which was 
 given, with the promise that the Greek question would be submitted 
 to the conference of the powers about to be assembled. 
 
 The Slavic population in these provinces who would prefer some 
 other Government than a Greek one, is comparatively small. The 
 Greeks number in all European Turkey about 1,120,000 souls, or thir- 
 teen per cent, of the whole population ; but in the Greek provinces, in 
 the parts of Southern Rumelia which are excluded from the new 
 Bulgaria, and in the islands of the Archipelago, they include nearly 
 all the inhabitants, so that their valid claim includes all that is left 
 of European Turkey south of Albania and the boundaries of the 
 new Bulgaria. They are also fast occupying the seaports and coasts 
 of Asia Minor, from which the Turks are steadily retiring before
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 591 
 
 their steady increase ; and no doubt can exist that a vigorous Greek 
 kingdom in Europe would soon find a legitimate field of expansion 
 in replanting the wastes of those once wealthy regions, furnishing 
 an enterprising population of tradesmen and farmers to replace the 
 indolent and imbecile Turks, substituting good government for Otto- 
 man misrule, and restoring to civilization those provinces of the 
 East which the ancient Greeks covered with the splendor of their 
 best achievements in literature and the arts. The Greeks have a 
 capacity for assimilating and absorbing other peoples, which has been 
 approved in hundreds of instances in the course of their history, and 
 which is now manifesting itself upon the Slavic peoples wherever 
 the two races come in contact in Turkey. The Greek language is 
 spreading at the expense of other languages, as in Albania and in 
 some of the Slavic districts, where it is extensively spoken. The 
 Greeks are able also to exert a great influence through their power 
 in the Greek Church, which embraces all the nationalities of Eastern 
 Europe, the Patriarch and all the heads of the Church at Constan- 
 tinople, having always been and still being of Grecian nationality. 
 The fierceness of the ecclesiastical struggle which lately prevailed in 
 Bulgaria affords the strongest possible testimony to the aggressive- 
 ness of the Grecian character, its tenacity in pursuing its purposes, 
 and the difficulty with which its influence is overcome. All of these 
 qualities will serve them well in moulding the people into a com- 
 pact political and social organization. 
 
 The hostility which is alleged to exist between the Greeks and 
 Slavs is more apparent than real. Their interests are diverse, but 
 not opposed. Each seeks the freedom of its own nationality, but 
 has no possible interest in opposing the success of the other ; only 
 naturally, neither is willing that either should prevail at the expense 
 of the other. The attitude of the Greeks toward the Servian 
 nation in its last struggle for independence was clearly defined and 
 defended by Mr. Contostavlos, the Grecian Minister of Foreign Af- 
 fairs, in an address which he delivered in the National Chamber of 
 Deputies in November, 1876. He said that the Greeks had no 
 hostility to that people, since they, like the Servians, were Christian, 
 and their whole people were formerly, as some of them were still, 
 subject, like the Servians, to the Ottoman yoke and liable to the 
 same oppressions; but the question was not one of sympathy, but 
 of action, and in this the policy of good sense rather than that of 
 sentiment ought to be followed.
 
 592 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The justice of the Grecian claims is generally recognized. Even 
 those who are most exclusively devoted to the advancement of Slavic 
 interests do not dispute them. "While not much attention has ap- 
 parently been given them officially, they have been quite widely 
 discussed in an informal manner, and have received favorable at- 
 tention. 
 
 Signor Crispi, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, 
 visited several of the Continental capitals during October, 1877, on 
 what was generally supposed to be a serai-official mission on behalf 
 of his Government. At Pesth, he declared to a number of deputies 
 that Italy was not willing that Russia should solve the Eastern 
 Question alone, but thought that in case of a Russian victory the 
 powers should join in the settlement. In such an event, he would 
 propose the formation of a confederation of the South Slavic coun- 
 tries and the extension of Greece to the Balkans as an adjustment 
 that would prevent a renewal of the war. 
 
 The expansion of Greece would doubtless be supported with real 
 enthusiasm by a large proportion of the English people, who have 
 always manifested a strong sympathy with the struggles of the gal- 
 lant nation, and consider themselves in a certain sense its natural 
 protectors. Mr. Gladstone is a prominent advocate of the plan, and 
 presented a strong argument in favor of it in November, 1876, in 
 his article on " The Hellenic Factor in the Eastern Problem," from 
 which we have quoted several facts. A foretaste of the spirit with 
 which the people at large would receive the official agitation of the 
 question was given in the loud applause with which a large audience 
 at Bristol greeted the Liberal leader, Mr. Forster, in November, 1877, 
 when referring to the announcements of Earl Derby and Earl Bea- 
 consfield that " Her Majesty's Government is not prepared to wit- 
 ness with indifference the passage into other hands than those of its 
 present possessors of a capital holding so peculiar and commanding 
 a position as Constantinople." He said : " "Well, no Englishman could 
 view it with indifference. If the war should end with the defeat of 
 the Turks, I should not look with indifference, but with very great 
 pleasure, on the possession of Constantinople by the Greeks." 
 
 When, on the occasion of the awkward situation occasioned by the 
 advance of the Grecian troops into Thessaly simultaneously with the 
 conclusion of the armistice, a deputation of Greek residents in Lon- 
 don waited on Earl Derby on the 5th of February, his lordship said 
 that his sympathies had always been with the Greek race, and read
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 
 
 593 
 
 in illustration of his position a dispatch of July 6, 1877", which de- 
 clared that England always looked to the welfare of Greece. He 
 further said that he would endeavor to obtain guarantees for the 
 good government of Turkey's Hellenic provinces, and would en- 
 deavor at the conference to prevent the predominance of Slavs 
 over Greeks. 
 
 The incorporation of the Greek provinces into an independent 
 State would be an act of justice which Europe owes in a certain 
 sense; would give respectable dimensions and stability, without 
 making it formidable to a kingdom which is now insignificant; 
 would contribute immensely to the material prosperity of the prov- 
 inces affected, and to the advancement of civilization in the East ; 
 would furnish one of the easiest and safest solutions of the problem 
 of the disposition of Constantinople, and is practicable and open to 
 no reasonable objection.
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 THE NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 
 H. EUMANIANS AND SERVIANS. 
 
 The Dacia of the Romans Character of the Ancient Dacians The Roman Conquest and 
 Colonization Withdrawal of the Romans Successive Tribes of Northern Barbarians 
 Occupy the Country The Bulgarians and the East Roman Empire The Kingdoms 
 of Wallachia and Moldavia They become Tributary, and finally Subject to Turkey 
 They become semi-independent and are afterward united as Rumania The Ru- 
 manians and the Romans The Wallachian, or Rumanian Language The Culture 
 of the Language Wallachia in 1835 Count Von Moltke's Impressions Marks of 
 Improvement and Progress Agricultxire and Manufactures Jealousy of Foreigners 
 The Nationalities ip Rumania Distribution of the Rumanians in Surrounding 
 Countries The Mistakes which the Rumanians have committed The Better 
 Qualities of the People The Hopeful Prospects of the Country The Servian Na- 
 tionality Its Numbers and Distribution Education in Servia and Montenegro 
 Unity of Language The Communal Organization of Servian Society The National 
 Movement and the Omladina Capacity of the Servians to form a nation. 
 
 THE country of the Rumanians was known to the ancients as 
 Dacia. It first came under notice in the time of Alexander the 
 Great, who made war upon the Getae, the dwellers on the banks of 
 the Danube. Gibbon describes the Dacians of five centuries after- 
 ward as " the most warlike of men, who during the reign of Domi- 
 tian had insulted with impunity the majesty of Rome." The treaty 
 which this Emperor was obliged to conclude with them, A.D. 81, is 
 distinguished as marking the first occasion on which " Imperial 
 Rome consented to purchase peace of an enemy." The Emperor 
 Trajan conquered the country after a war of five years, in which 
 " Decebalus, the Dacian King, approved himself a rival not un- 
 worthy " of his antagonist, and made it a Roman province, A.D. 107. 
 It remained for one hundred and sixty-seven years a prosperous 
 Roman colony. The Imperial rule was beneficial here as every- 
 where. The people were incorporated into Roman citizenship ; they 
 affiliated with the Roman settlers. The soldiers built roads and 
 bridges and public works, and the country was happier than it ever 
 had been before or ever has been since. The Roman dominion, 
 though short, made a wonderfully deep impression on the manners 
 (594)
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 595 
 
 and customs of the people and their language, which has never been 
 effaced. 
 
 The Goths appeared in the country in the third century, and at 
 length became so numerous and troublesome that the Emperor Au- 
 relian withdrew his legions and gave up the province. A part of 
 the settlers emigrated to adjoining provinces, a part remained. First 
 the Yisigoths held it, then the Ostrogoths ; the latter were replaced 
 by the A'lani and Huns, then by the Avari, then by the Bulgarians, 
 during whose rule, A.D. 861, Christianity was introduced by Metho- 
 dius. From the time of the conquest of the Bulgarian kingdom by 
 the Emperor Yasili in 1018, till 1186, the country formed a part of 
 the East-Roman Empire. The second Bulgarian kingdom, founded 
 in the latter year, included Rumania during a part of its existence. 
 An independent kingdom was founded in Wallachia in 1241. An- 
 other kingdom was founded in Moldavia in 1354. The Wallachian 
 kingdom became tributary to Turkey in 1391, and was made a 
 Turkish province in 1688, governed at first by native Hospodars, 
 but after 1716 by Fanariote (so the Greeks of Constantinople were 
 called) Greek governors named by the Porte. Stephen YL, the 
 Great, of Moldavia (1456-1504), was a prince of considerable dis- 
 tinction. He repelled the Tartars who invaded the land for the first 
 time, waged war against the Hungarians and Poles, conquered Bu- 
 kowina and Wallachia to the borders of Servia, but was unfortunate 
 in a war against the Turks. His son, Bogdan II. (1504-1526), 
 acknowledged the suzerainty of the Turkish Sultan, and Moldavia 
 has, since his reign, been a vassal-State of Turkey, and shared the 
 fate of its fellow province, Wallachia. During the last one hundred 
 years, Rumania has been a battle-ground between Turkey and Rus- 
 sia and Austria. Its provinces have been occupied by the armies o 
 all three powers, and have been prominent subjects of the negotia- 
 tions between them. Austria has gained Bukowina, Russia the dis- 
 tricts east of the Pruth from Moldavia. The Treaty of Paris, in 
 1856, gave to Moldavia and Wallachia the condition of semi-inde- 
 pendence under the suzerainty of the Porte and the protection of 
 the powers, under which they achieved a union in 1859, despite the 
 object n of the Sultan, into the principality of Rumania, and from 
 which the united principality, supported by the moral force of a 
 Russian alliance, rose to independence in May, 1877. 
 
 It would be hard to define exactly what the Rumanians are. 
 Judging from their history, they are among the most mixed of 
 32
 
 596 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 races. Their country has been occupied, since the Romans left it, 
 by a half-dozen barbarous tribes, ending with the Slavs, most of 
 which came more numerously than the Romans, and some of which 
 held it much longer than they did. Yet during all their fluctuations 
 it has been the pride of the people to call themselves Romans Ru- 
 mani and to speak a Roman language. Their most marked feat- 
 ures are Roman, and of all modern languages the Italian is most 
 like theirs. In this persistence to the Roman type, they present a 
 curious contrast to the Bulgarians, so tenacious in other respects of 
 their national life, for while the Bulgarians became Slavic under 
 Slavic influences, they have escaped foreign impressions. 
 
 Some writers have urged that the Wallachian or Rumanian lan- 
 guage is a Slavic tongue, and have been able to cite a considerable 
 number of Slavic words in support of their view. It likewise con- 
 tains German, and Greek, and Magyar, and other words of foreign 
 origin. It could hardly fail to present many evidences of admix- 
 ture, after such a number of different races have occupied the coun- 
 try. The body of the language is, however, unquestionably Latin, 
 and its resemblance to the Italian can hardly fail to strike one who 
 is acquainted with the latter at the first sight. Its alphabet, how- 
 ever, is of Slavic origin. It was reduced to writing in the fifteenth 
 century, and given the characters called Cyrillic, because they were 
 invented by Cyril, which are similar to those of the modern Russian. 
 The Cyrillic alphabet continued in use until 1847, when it gave 
 way to an alphabet composed entirely of Roman characters. The 
 Slavic language was encouraged by the clergy during the period of 
 Slavic predominance, but in 1643 Prince George Rakoczky ordered 
 the archbishop to preach to the Rumanians in their own language. 
 Greek became the fashionable language under the Greek governors 
 appointed by the Porte, while the Rumanian continued to be spoken 
 by the people, and has only supplanted the Greek among the higher 
 classes within the present century, The first Rumanian books 
 appeared about the middle of the seventeenth century, in the shape 
 of translations of the Church books and sacred writings. The 
 growth of the native literature has been slow, and has been exhib- 
 ited principally in the field of lyric poetry. 
 
 A movement for the restoration of the ancient speech was begun 
 in 1815, and has been prosecuted with vigor. The change from the 
 Cyrillic to the Roman alphabet has not been entirely settled yet, so 
 that the spelling is still quite uncertain. Many foreign terms have
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 597 
 
 been cast out and replaced by words chosen from the ancient Latin 
 or modern Italian. The Rumanian Academy was established in 
 1871 for the purpose of regulating the language and settling the 
 orthography. It is preparing a grammar and a dictionary which 
 will become the standards of the nation, and proposes as the result 
 of its efforts to restore in its purity a speech which those who use it 
 boast is the oldest of the languages now spoken, which were derived 
 originally and directly from that of the Romans. 
 
 The Rumanians are passionately fond of poetry, and their list of 
 writers of songs and romances is quite numerous. The language, 
 being soft and musical, is well adapted to the lighter styles of verse. 
 They have but little as yet to show in prose or in works of learning, 
 but offer the names of three prominent historians and two gram- 
 matists, besides several writers who have translated works from 
 other languages. For dramatic works they are likewise indebted to 
 translations. Their three principal journals are published at Bu- 
 charest, Jassy, and Galatz. 
 
 Count Yon Moltke, the great German General, traveled through 
 "Wallachia in 1835, and recorded a very unfavorable impression of 
 the condition of the country. It had then been only partly extricated 
 from Turkish despotism, having been for five years under a kind 
 of double dependence upon Turkey and Russia, and the Count re- 
 garded it particularly with reference to its prospects for future 
 development. The appearance of the land, he said, bore fearful 
 evidence of a long servitude. The cities lay half in ruins, or were 
 of earthen houses, the villages were hidden in the valleys as if the 
 people had sought protection in poverty and concealment, and were 
 without gardens, fruit trees, or churches, and " one might say with- 
 out houses, for the latter are sunk in the ground and covered only 
 with a roof of boughs." One might, at that time, travel whole 
 days without seeing a farmstead, a mill, an inn, an avenue, a 
 bridge, or a castle. The land was destitute of trees ; the Boyars 
 lived in the towns, where were all the churches, of which the rural 
 parts of the country had none. The "Wallachs had a fine appear- 
 ance, but the Turkish yoke had completely debased them, and 
 accustomed to make the least suffice for themselves, they knew 
 nothing of the wants of other nations, dreaded want less than labor, 
 the constraint of civilization more than the misery of barbarism. 
 " From the present generation," said Yon Moltke, " little is to be 
 expected."
 
 598 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 To-day finds the country with an awakened national spirit, en- 
 joying a government under a wise Prince of one of the ablest houses 
 of Europe, whose effectiveness is well shown by the honorable 
 record which its soldiers made for themselves before Plevna. The 
 people, their more enlightened leaders at least, are occupied with 
 schemes for the improvement of the country, for the spread of 
 education, the encouragement of literature, the development of na- 
 tional industries, and the construction of works of improvement. 
 
 Education has made considerable progress within twenty years, 
 but much remains to be done. The law contemplates a school in 
 every town of more than fifty families. The provision of the 
 schools, though still deficient, is likely to become ample in a short 
 time under the operation of the compulsory law which was passed 
 in 1864:. Some of the higher schools are of excellent character, but 
 the tendency to superficiality and the preference of the showy to 
 the substantial, which many of the private schools exhibit, displays 
 one of the weak points of the people, a point which is still further 
 displayed in the devotion to Parisian fashions and gayeties, and the 
 copying of the frivolities of Parisian life, which are among the most 
 marked characteristics of their capitals. 
 
 Rumania is predominantly an agricultural countiy. It enjoys a 
 climate and a soil favorable to the most profitable culture, but has 
 neither the capital nor the adaptability of its people to engage 
 largely in manufactures. The Rumanians do not incline to indus- 
 trial arts. They leave common trades to foreigners and gypsies, 
 and themselves, when educated, seek the learned professions, which 
 are consequently, especially that of the law, overcrowded. The 
 Government has made efforts to build up and encourage manufac- 
 turing enterprises, with only a small degree of success, and this 
 branch of national growth has been, so far, marked rather by what 
 has been tried and failed than by what has been accomplished. The 
 railroad enterprises which had been undertaken suffered a great shock 
 by the defalcation of Dr. Strousberg, but they have been continued, 
 and the country is now better supplied with railroads than any other 
 part of the Turkish dominions. 
 
 One of the drawbacks to the progress of the people is their 
 jealousy of foreigners. It is shown in their laws, which exclude 
 foreigners from all official and public functions, and make natural- 
 ization difficult. It is particularly shown in the persecutions to 
 which the Jews are exposed, and which occupy the multitude to
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA, 599 
 
 such an extent that a native of the country told Carl Braun, the 
 traveler, that the Jewish Question was the only one the populace 
 really cared about. A country which is wholly dependent upon 
 foreigners and their capital for the development of industrial enter- 
 prises can not expect to receive the benefits which it requires and 
 should derive from them while it is thus intolerant of them. 
 
 More than four-fifths (4,293,000 out of 5,073,000) of the popula- 
 tion are Rumanians. They are called Wallachs by the Germans, but 
 themselves acknowledge no name but the one, Rumani, that points 
 out their Roman origin. Next to them are the Jews, 400,000, 
 whom they hate, because, as one of the national newspapers says, 
 they do not cease to be a caste and become one with the people of 
 the country. Next in order are Gypsies (200,000), Russians and 
 Slavs, Austrians, Hungarians, and a dozen other nationalities, num- 
 bering each less than ten thousand. A peculiar feature in the 
 distribution of the population for a Turkish country is the small 
 number of Turks, who, together with the Tartars, do not number 
 more than 2,700; and it is remarked that the Turks have never 
 ventured to make a settlement in any large numbers north of the 
 Danube. By religions, 4,529,000 belong to the Greek Church, 
 114,200 to. the Roman Catholic Church, and 13,800 are Protestants. 
 But the Rumanians are not all in the present Rumania. They are 
 diffused over the whole of the former Dacia, occupy half the 
 Austrian province of Bukowina, where they number more than two 
 hundred thousand, form more than half (1,206,900) the population 
 of Transylvania, and number more than a million in Hungary 
 proper, more than 2,685,600 in all Austria and Hungary, and are 
 largely represented in the Dobrudja and in other parts of Turkey. 
 They also form a large proportion of the population of Russian Bes- 
 sarabia. 
 
 Rumania thus has the population of a considerable State. It is 
 not an unhomogeneous population when compared with that of 
 Austria and Hungary, although it contains diverse and some an- 
 tagonistic elements, for the Rumanians so outnumber all the others 
 as to be able to have their way with but little friction. It has also 
 an established government, which has created many of the agencies 
 and some of the resources of an independent State ; and it was sub- 
 stantially independent before the war began. 
 
 The Rumanians believe, the same as the Slavs and the Greeks 
 believe of their nationalities, that the future of the East belongs to
 
 6oo THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 them. It can not be said that the prospect of their realizing this 
 belief is as good as those of some of their neighbors. "With the 
 same opportunities, they have not made as much progress as the 
 Servians. They have not equalled the Bulgarians in stolid tenacity 
 of purpose, and have fallen short of the preference that that people 
 have displayed for the solid in education over the superficial ; and 
 they have not the activity and versatility of the Greeks. They 
 have made mistakes at the start of the race, which Carl Braun has 
 described by comparing them to one who prefers the appearance to 
 the reality, or to one who adorns the top of a pyramid, instead of 
 repairing its base. This writer, criticising their course and tenden- 
 cies with some severity, says that efforts should begin at the bottom, 
 rather than at the top ; that they should be less political and more 
 administrative and for amelioration ; that the State should hold 
 itself not exclusive, but receptive, of foreigners ; that it should be 
 concerned more for the Sergeant than for the General, for the vil- 
 lage schoolmaster than for the academical teacher ; should not seek 
 the acquisition of territory, but, first of all, the improvement of the 
 circumstances of the interior ; should not indulge in a vain pursuit 
 after the grandeur of the Romans and the wit of the French, but 
 should cultivate public spirit and rural industry. 
 
 It would not be fair, however, to apply to the people of the whole 
 country these descriptions of the fashionable life of the capitals, 
 whose vain notions and faults have been gained mostly through the 
 limited intercourse which they have held with Western society, of 
 which, like most copyists, they have imitated the most frivolous 
 features, omitting the solid traits and the refinements. The moral 
 tone of Bucharest was higher than it is before this took place. The 
 traits of the national character, says a recent writer, have become 
 gradually effaced among the residents of the capital, and "the 
 Bucharest dandies are in no sense representatives of the Rumanian 
 people." The true representatives are to be found among the high- 
 landers of the Carpathians, " who continue to adhere to the ancestral 
 worship and traditions, and who are probably capable of indefinite 
 development." "At present, the character of the peasants is in an 
 embryo condition. Its prominent features are a disinclination to 
 
 exertion and a dislike to cold water Their want of energy 
 
 and of ambition are attributable, to a great extent, to the untoward 
 circumstances in which they have found themselves for generations. 
 The change of masters within forty years Wallachia has had
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 6oi 
 
 seventy Princes has not relieved the peasant from the burdens 
 imposed upon him, not merely by the invading foreigner, but also 
 by the upper classes of his own country. He plods on in a hopeless 
 kind of fashion, for he is liable at any time to have his wretched 
 belongings seized, and he is aware that the benefits of his labor 
 will, in any case, be reaped by others."* 
 
 A fair judgment of the prospects of the country, weighing both 
 sides, is given by Carl Braun in his " Turkish Journey,"f who says : 
 " It is a country of extraordinary richness, to whose growth and 
 development nothing is wanting but the provision of the necessary 
 capital, and the requisite number of industrious and intelligent 
 men. Both, capital and men, will be furnished when Rumania 
 and the time when this is done can be determined by itself enters 
 the family of European States and peoples as a full member. For 
 this, it must be understood that the State shall assure the freest pos- 
 sible circulation of men and goods, shall give up its idiosyncrasies 
 against foreigners as an offering to the genius of culture and civiliza- 
 tion, and shall take part in international rivalries and the division 
 of labor. The native population is gifted, and adapted to culture 
 down to the lowest grades, but it needs the spur of competition and 
 the firm support of a general, gratuitous, compulsory popular edu- 
 cation of a solid character." Rudolf Henke, who is the author of 
 a special work on Rumania,;}: the first that has appeared, says: 
 " Rumania is a land of the future, which will be able to reach its 
 full bloom as soon as the hinderances which now stand in its way are 
 removed. From a small, obscure beginning, it has advanced to be 
 a respectable State of the middle rank, and, averaging its qualities, 
 stands, in respect to size, population, finances, and civilization, as 
 about the twelfth or fourteenth of the twenty-three States of 
 Europe. In spite of its having been till now a vassal-State of Tur- 
 key, it has reached the same grade of culture, if it has not attained 
 a higher one, as Spain, Portugal, and Greece, to say nothing of 
 Turkey, and but little lower than Italy, Russia, and the non-Ger- 
 man provinces of Austria." This picture is somewhat over-colored,, 
 but it represents the view of a man who has probably given the; 
 
 * Pall Mall Gazette. Review of Florence K. Berger's " Winter in the City of Pleasure."' 
 
 March, 1877. 
 
 t "Eiue TiYrkische Reise," von Carl Braun. Weisbaden, Stuttgart, 1876. 
 
 \ " Rumanien ; Land und Volk, etc." Geschildert von Rudolf Henke. Leipsic, 1877. .
 
 632 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 condition of the country more special attention than any other 
 author. 
 
 The mind of the people, and especially of the young men, has 
 suffered, in the abnormal condition of the country, for the lack 01 
 healthy stimulus. Full independence will introduce national objects 
 and motives for political activity, giving serious objects to be sought, 
 and positions of honor and responsibility to be struggled for, and a 
 regeneration of the nation and a development and strengthening 
 of the better qualities of the people can hardly fail to take place 
 under its influence. 
 
 The principality has much to expect from its chief, who, a near 
 relative of the Emperor of Germany, and trained in the traditions 
 and usages of a princely house which is distinguished for its far- 
 sighted intelligence and administrative ability, has devoted himself 
 to the interests of the country, and will spare no labors to remedy 
 its defects and increase its advantages and resources. The much 
 that he has already done in reforms and measures for consolidating 
 the character and strength of the nation, warrant the belief that he 
 will accomplish much more now that he is relieved of the impedi- 
 ment of vassalage to a barbarian master. Under his skillful guidance, 
 the people, encouraged by their newly-won liberty, and who are 
 earnestly seeking a genuine national development, may be expected 
 to adopt an enlightened course, and start upon the career which 
 nature has indicated that they should adopt. While Bulgaria 
 promises to excel in manufactures and special industries, and Greece 
 in trade, Rumania is marked to become a great farming State, while 
 the intellectual tendencies and aesthetic tastes of the people promise 
 for them a national character not unlike that of the French. 
 
 The Servians constitute nearly the entire populations of the princi- 
 palities of Montenegro and Servia, as well as of the Turkish provinces 
 of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus the whole north-west of European 
 Turkey is inhabited by people speaking one language, though 
 politically they are designated by different names. Crossing the 
 northern and north-western frontier of Turkey, we find large portions 
 of Austrian territory occupied by the same people. They constitute 
 95 per cent, of the population in the former kingdom of Croatia and 
 Slavonia ; 90 per cent, in Dalmatia, and 80 per cent, in the former 
 military frontier. Thus the Servian language is spoken by a com- 
 pact population, numbering more than 6,000,000 persons, and occu- 
 pying a territory of about 69,000 square miles, or of an extent
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 603 
 
 equalling the aggregate area of the States of New York, New Jersey, 
 Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. If we add to this 
 the land of the nearly kindred tribes of the Slovens (also called 
 Sloventzi or Winds), who are the predominating race in the Austrian 
 crownland of Carniola, and in large portions of Styria, Carinthia, and 
 the Littoral, and who are in profound sympathy with the movements 
 among the Servians and the Oroatians, we obtain for this people an 
 aggregate area of nearly 80,000 square miles, and a population of 
 about seven and one-half millions. For more than a thousand years 
 they are known to have lived in the countries which they still hold. 
 They have been unsuccessful in their struggles against the more 
 powerful and more progressive nations by which they are surrounded ; 
 the independence of their national Empire has been destroyed by 
 the Turks, Magyars, and Germany ; they have hardly been touched 
 by the wonderful progress of civilization and literature which marks 
 the last century of the history of Central and "Western Europe ; and 
 some portion of their territory belongs to the most illiterate countries 
 of Europe. But in spite of their ignorance, and in spite of all 
 oppressions, they have clung, with wonderful tenacity, to their 
 language. The Austrians, and more recently the Hungarians, have 
 tried to Germanize and Magyarize the Servian tribes of the Austrian 
 Empire by giving them better schools and a higher class of literature ; 
 but these efforts, while awakening among them a thirst for literary 
 culture, have, at the same time, greatly strengthened their devotion 
 to their own native language and their desire to develop a national 
 literature. The revolutionary year, 1848, greatly favored their 
 national tendencies. The Government of Yienna, for a time, needed 
 the aid of the Croatians against the Hungarians, and deemed it wise 
 policy to favor as much as possible the aspirations of the Croatian 
 nationalists. 
 
 In Turkey, the Servian race has been greatly benefited by the 
 actual independence which the principality of Servia has been able 
 to re-establish. The Government of this little country has shown 
 a laudable zeal for promoting education and endeavoring to raise it 
 to a level with the most advanced countries. Fifty years ago, Servia 
 had no public primary school. Now a complete system of public 
 education has been established, and for its management a special 
 Ministry of Education has been organized. Education is compul- 
 sory, and is free to all, in the highest as well as in the lowest schools. 
 In 1874, there were 517 public schools, with 23,278 pupils. In
 
 604 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 comparison with the other States of Europe, this result is still very 
 unsatisfactory, for it shows that Servia has, as yet, only 17 pupils to 
 every 1,000 inhabitants, while Switzerland has 155, and the German 
 Empire, 153, and it is still inferior to eveiy Christian country of 
 Europe except Russia, which has only 14 pupils to 1,000 inhabitants. 
 But the enforcement of the compulsory attendance law can hardly 
 fail soon to raise it higher in the scale of European nations. In 
 1830, the first gymnasium was established, and now the principality 
 has two complete gymnasia and five progymnasia, with an aggregate 
 attendance of 2,000 students. The course of the Servian gymnasia 
 embraces seven classes, which are instructed in religion, the Servian, 
 Latin, French, and German languages, history, geography, mathe- 
 mathics, natural history, physics, drawing, and gymnastic exercises. 
 A normal school has been in successful operation since 1872. Tho 
 high-school in Belgrade contains three faculties, and has about 200 
 students. The little principality of Montenegro has of late made 
 similar efforts to organize a complete system of public instruction. 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina have hitherto been in a most deplorable 
 condition, but they may now be expected to enter into a lively com 
 petition with the people of Servia and Montenegro, with whom they 
 are so intimately connected by the strongest bonds of affinity and 
 sympathy. 
 
 The Servians of all the different denominations in Austria and 
 Turkey Servians, Bosnians, Herzegovinians, Montenegrins, Croa- 
 tians, Slavonians, Dalmatians, Slovenes are only now awakening 
 to the full significance of the fact, that the common language they 
 speak makes them joint members of one nationality. Like many 
 other nationalities, they have been, and still are, divided by religious 
 differences. Almost the entire population of the principalities of 
 Servia and Montenegro, the majority of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
 belong to the Greek Church, while the Austrian Servians are more 
 equally divided between the Greek and Roman Catholic Church. 
 A considerable number of the Bosnians are also Roman Catholics, 
 and a large portion of the wealthier classes of Bosnians have even 
 become Mohammedans. The Servians of the Greek Church, like 
 the other Slavs of that faith, have been drawn more and more into 
 close relations with Russia, while those of the Roman Catholic 
 Church have begun to show a stronger dislike to Russia than to 
 Turkey. The Catholic Bosnians kept aloof from the insurrectionary 
 movements of 18Y6, and it was reported that several young priests
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 605 
 
 who had betrayed some sympathy with the national cause, had been 
 sent out of the country by their superiors. The Mohammedans, 
 whose social prerogatives are so closely interwoven with the Turkish 
 rule, are of course the most fanatical opponents of any aspiration for 
 the independence and political progress of the Servian nationality. 
 But even these Mohammedans have preserved the use of their 
 Servian language to the present day. Yea, being the richest class 
 in the Servian nationality, they speak their language with a greater 
 purity than the Christians of Bosnia. 
 
 The social organization among the Servians is peculiar. It was 
 originally based in all Slavic nations upon the principle of the Com- 
 munity, as is strikingly exemplified in one form by the Russian Mir. 
 The same principle in another shape underlies the Zadruga, or 
 household association of the Southern Slavs, which, as we have 
 described it in a previous chapter, is the characteristic family organi- 
 zation of the Servians. The organization has undergone modifications 
 and a decline among the Austrian Slavs, and has been compelled by 
 the stress of circumstances to give way to a form of individual life 
 among the Montenegrins, and in the towns, and it has been assailed 
 by recent legislation, but it still prevails among the agricultural 
 population of Servia. The several families who form the house- 
 hold, who may be supposed to have already some bond of con- 
 nection, as blood relationship or inherited association, are united 
 into free associations, which bear different names in the different 
 countries, and in which each member subordinates his private inter- 
 ests to that of the community, without being absorbed in it. A head 
 is chosen by the community, who is a president, not a ruler, but 
 whose consent is required for undertakings of more than ordinary 
 importance. The people are strongly attached to this communal or- 
 ganization, and many of their proverbs show how entirely it has be- 
 come a part of their ideal of life. " In Herzegovina, it is claimed 
 that poverty never arrives until after the dissolution of the commu- 
 nities." "Nothing can be more beautiful," says Yankovitch and 
 Gruitch, in their " Les Slaves du Sud," " than to live in a Servian 
 family, nothing more interesting than to see and be acquainted with 
 it. Thirty, sixty persons live together and kbor in common. That 
 mass obeys a single will, concentrated in its head. But it obeys with 
 pleasure and with confidence, for the members of the household are 
 not there by any constraint ; the only bond which holds them is a 
 moral tie, since they know that they are rendering obedience to a
 
 606 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 wisdom which is furthest sighted of them all ; " and these authors 
 add to their praise of the institution : " The Servian people are free 
 from absurd notions. There has never been a proletariat among us." 
 The dissolution of the community is always looked upon as a 
 calamity.* 
 
 The fact that all the Servian tribes speak one language, and the 
 hope that they may all co-operate in the building up of one common 
 national literature, have given a powerful impulse to the idea of 
 establishing as close a union as circumstances will allow, of all the 
 people speaking the Servian language. Youthful enthusiasts have 
 even intoxicated themselves with the dream of the restoration of a 
 Servian Empire, which, from the extent of its area and the number 
 of its population, might fill a respectable place among the States of 
 Europe, being in both respects superior to Sweden, Norway, Den- 
 mark, Belgium, Portugal, and Switzerland. This idea has found 
 zealous and enthusiastic leaders in the Young Servians studying at the 
 European Universities, who, from a study of the modern history of Eu- 
 rope, have imbibed a belief in a reconstruction of the map of Europe 
 on the basis of the nationality principle. They mean to profit by the 
 wonderful success of the sagacious Italian and German statesmen, 
 who, by a skillful use of this principle, have consolidated the dis- 
 jointed members of powerful nations into great Empires. The young 
 Servian enthusiasts who hope to follow in the footsteps of Cavour and 
 Bismarck have their center in a society called Omladina, the primary 
 and ostensible project of which is to cultivate Servian literature, 
 while it regards as its remoter and final goal, the foundation of a 
 general Servian Empire. The influence of this society is easily 
 traceable in the spirit of the young Servian literature, and in the 
 management of all the Servian institutions of learning. The issue 
 of the war has greatly strengthened the hopes of the Servian nation- 
 alists. The power of the Turks to arrest the steady rise of the Ser- 
 vian people and to prevent the resurrection of a Servian Empire, has 
 been broken. Servia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Herzegovina will 
 co-operate in smoothing the road for a future union. "What direc- 
 tion this road will take, may as yet be unknown, but we can not won- 
 der if enthusiastic Servians now more firmly believe than ever, that 
 the aspirations of a large nation will, in the course of time, call forth 
 
 * Countess Dora D'Istria, article on " The condition of women among the Southern 
 Slavs," in the Penn Monthly for January, 1878.
 
 NEW STATES OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA. 607 
 
 the ingenious statesman who will reintroduce it as a sovereign mem- 
 ber into the family of civilized nations. It is certainly a significant 
 fact, that in Hungary the Catholic and Greek Servians are now fully 
 united in the straggle for maintaining the national character of their 
 schools, and in cultivating a common literature, and the leaders of 
 the national movement firmly hope, that as soon as the Mohammedan 
 Bosnians clearly see the impossibility of expecting any further aid 
 from the decrepit Turks, they may be found as ready to fall in with 
 the national movement as their forefathers were in adopting the 
 Islam. 
 
 The Servian nation includes the people who, after the Greeks, 
 have made the greatest advancement in civilization and the improve- 
 ment of their country of any of the populations of the Ottoman Em- 
 pire. It also includes, in the Bosnians, those who are most backward. 
 It is represented in the Montenegrins by the bravest people in the 
 world. It has been more steadily faithful than any of the other sub- 
 ject peoples of Turkey, to the traditions of its former national life. 
 The Montenegrins have never been subdued ; the people of the prin- 
 cipality of Servia have kept up a continual disturbance against Turk- 
 ish rule, have advanced steadily toward independence since the begin- 
 ning of this century, have let no consideration prevent their striking 
 for it whenever they had opportunity, and have at last gained it ; 
 and the Bosnians, notwithstanding the influence the Mussulman 
 begs may have tried to exert over their countrymen, have always 
 been unruly and started the insurrection which led to the important 
 results the world is now witnessing. These facts, constituting prom- 
 inent features in the history of the race, furnish a sufficient answer 
 to the question, whether the Servians are fit to maintain an inde- 
 pendent existence. The training in the subordination of their own 
 will and interests to those of the community which they have re- 
 ceived under the institution of the Zadruga, admirably qualifies them 
 to become thoroughly loyal to any Government of their choice, and 
 public-spirited citizens. 
 
 The importance and influence of the new Servia will depend large- 
 ly upon the extent which is given to it. The present State, even if 
 it include all that the Servians now claim, is too small to admit of 
 the best national development. If it should be given all the Ser- 
 vians of Turkey, it would form a State equal to any of the others to 
 be set up on the Balkan peninsula. If it should acquire the kindred 
 tribes of Austria, it would constitute a mighty Empire. The dis-
 
 6o3 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 cussion of these alternatives involves the consideration of questions 
 in which other important States have a strong interest ; and if it 
 should be brought up in form may produce another complication of 
 the Eastern Question which will be hardly less difficult to resolve 
 than that which attends the disposition of the remains of Turkey. 
 
 Another nationality of the Balkan peninsula, the Albanian, has 
 not been prominent in the recent discussions, and has made no con- 
 certed manifestation of its desires. It is distinct in its origin from 
 all other nationalities by which it is surrounded, and belongs to the 
 oldest Aryan race of Eastern Europe, its Illyrian ancestors having 
 antedated the Greeks in their settlement. Although the Albanians 
 have been preserved distinct through all the revolutions of the past, 
 and have at times made themselves conspicuous, they seem now, by 
 means of the difference of religions, and the introduction of foreign 
 languages and influence, to be gradually losing their national bonds, 
 and to be showing a tendency to affiliate with the people around 
 them. A large portion of them are now using the Greek language ; 
 and in many other ways the effects of Grecian and Italian associa- 
 tions appear to be modifying their habits. Their most probable 
 destiny is not to become a separate State, but to be attached to some 
 of the other States. A portion of them may unite their fortunes 
 with the Greeks, with whom they have already had much to do, and 
 among whose most famous heroes appear such Albanian names as 
 Bozzaris and Canaris. The annexation of a part of Albania to 
 Italy has also been mentioned as one of the possible results of the 
 changes now going on ; and the Montenegrins will always be ready 
 to appropriate a share of the territory on the north, a part of which 
 they still covet.
 
 
 MARSHAL MACMAHON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PANSLAVIO HOPES AND TENDENCIES. 
 
 The Result of the War encouraging the Panslavists Original Object of the Slavophile 
 Party of Russia Opposition to the Reforms introduced by Peter the Great They 
 sought to expel European Civilization and introduce a new Civilization of Russian, 
 or Orthodox Slavic Development Personal History of the Founders and Builders of 
 the Party The Aksakoffs, father and sons Their Social Circle at Moscow Literary 
 Efforts of the Elder Aksakoff in behalf of the Cause Stephanovitch Chomiakoflf, the 
 real Founder of the Party His Travels and the Views he acquired The Kireyevskis 
 Influence of these three over the Aksakoffs Constantino Aksakoff's Eccentric Pro- 
 tests against French Fashions He revives Obsolete Customs The Group propose the 
 Russian Mir, or Village Commune, as the Basis of the new Organization of Society- 
 Ivan Aksakoff and his Journal Katkoff and the Party of Young Russia Panslavic 
 Movements in Austria The Slavic Committees of Russia Their work in the Her- 
 zegovitiian Insurrection A Pro-Servian Excitement stirred "Up The Government 
 drawn into the Movement The Czar commits Himself at Moscow Silence imposed 
 during the Constantinople Conference Activity resumed Prince Tcherkassky Aksa- 
 koff declares the Union in accord with the Czar Slavic Meeting at Warsaw. 
 
 THE result of the war has radically changed the position of the 
 two Slavic nationalities of Turkey. Formerly crushed by an alien 
 despotism and the victims of relentless efforts to quench all their 
 national feelings and baffle their national efforts 3 they are now 
 dominant and the possessors of a beautiful, promising country, 
 offering substantial advantages for promoting their material, intel- 
 lectual, and social growth. The hand of the oppressor being re- 
 moved and they enjoying the good wishes of the world, they have 
 now every motive and encouragement to work out their own ad- 
 vancement; they have also the additional encouragement that their 
 efforts will be watched with a peculiar interest by a family of 
 kindred peoples who have made their cause their own, and who see 
 in their triumph the presage of a glorious triumph for the race to 
 which they belong. The victory now achieved can not fail to give 
 a powerful impulse to the aspirations of the whole Slavic race. 
 These aspirations will lend further force to the operations of the 
 powerful party which aims to elevate the Slavic subjects of all non- 
 Slavic Governments to the same commanding position as has been 
 gained for them in Turkey, and will in their turn be stimulated by 
 
 (609)
 
 6io THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 its efforts. The Panslavists have been referred to before in this 
 work ; but as they are now likely to be more active and prominent 
 than ever, and as their designs are of a character that threatens the 
 peace of one of the most powerful States of Europe, and are likely 
 to present another extremely difficult question for diplomatists to 
 solve, it becomes proper to inquire what they are doing, and what is 
 their aim. 
 
 The name of Panslavism is applied in general to the move- 
 ment which has been in progress for several years under the 
 auspices of an active band of agitators for the national union or the 
 independence and alliance of all the Slavic peoples who now live 
 under different Governments. It affects to disregard all claims of 
 those Governments, if they are non-Slavic, to the allegiance of their 
 subjects ; makes light of national prejudices, and even hopes to 
 overcome the obstacles presented by differences in religion, which 
 are more formidable. The movement is chiefly the growth of the 
 nineteenth century ; it received a strong stimulus through the efforts 
 of the Slovak Johann Kollar to promote a literary union of the 
 Slavs, which was warmly received by the Czechs, and was first intro- 
 duced prominently to the world at the Slavic Congress which was 
 held at Prague in 1848. 
 
 It has, however, received its strongest support from the Russian 
 party known as the Slavophiles, and is now most prominently 
 represented and most urgently advanced by them. This party, 
 which originated naturally in the reaction against the changes which 
 were forced upon the nation rather than introduced into it by Peter 
 the Great, and against the ascendency of foreigners, foreign ways 
 and views, and foreign influence in the councils of the nation, cor- 
 responds closely with the party which exists in nearly all nations to 
 cultivate the predominantly national feeling and keep alive the af- 
 fection for national customs, literature, and peculiarities ; but it is more 
 pronounced in its views and measures in Russia than in most other 
 European countries, because Russian conditions, customs, and society 
 differ more greatly from those of Western nations than those of the 
 latter differ among each other, and because the process of assimila- 
 tion begun by Peter the Great has hardly yet worked below the 
 surface in a very limited circle of Russian life. 
 
 This party, which has existed since the last century, was active 
 during the reign of the Czar Nicholas, but as under the military 
 system of that Emperor no scope was allowed for political discussion,
 
 PAN SLA VIC HOPES AND TENDENCIES. 6ll 
 
 it had to confine its operations to literary efforts. The close of the 
 Crimean war, with disaster to Russia, caused a new field to be 
 opened to it, which was made all the more available by the prefer- 
 ence of the new Czar Alexander for political over military methods 
 and measures, and by the character of the measures which he under- 
 took. It co-operated heartily in the emancipation of the serfs, and 
 found in the proceedings which were taken for the Russianization of 
 the Baltic (German) provinces the development of a policy exactly 
 agreeing in principle' with the line of action which it had marked 
 out for itself. During the war of 1877, it held itself ready to take 
 advantage of either event, of disaster or victory to the Russian 
 arms. In case Russia were defeated, and the nation had " to retire 
 upon itself," new concessions would have to be made to popular de- 
 mands, as had been done after the Crimean war. It would support 
 the demands,: and secure concessions which would promote the ob- 
 jects of its existence. In case of victory, it would have abundant 
 opportunities for action and the exercise of its influence in the dis- 
 cussions that would follow in regard to the relations of the freed 
 South Slavic nationalities. 
 
 Traces of the power and activity of the sentiment on which the 
 Slavophile party is founded that of reaction against the reforms of 
 Peter the Great may be found throughout the history of the 
 eighteenth century, although they do not appear in such close con- 
 nection as to constitute a visible chain of events. The quiet, but 
 constant and formidable opposition of the sects of the " Old Be- 
 lievers " to the State Church ; the Strelitz insurrections ; the Dol- 
 goruki conspiracy of 1730 ; the expulsion of German statesmen and 
 marshals under the Empress Elizabeth ; the intrigues of Lomonosoff 
 against the German members of the St. Petersburg Academy of 
 Sciences; the Pugatsheff outbreak; the removal of Barclay and 
 Benningsen from the chief command of the army in 1812 ; the De- 
 kabrist insurrection of 1825, which bore in some respects against 
 "West-European ideas, may all be referred to as forerunners of the 
 great revolution which has spread during the last forty years in the 
 bosom of Russian cultivated society, and has come to light under 
 the reign of Alexander II. This revolution is not the work of any 
 particular men, nor the result of a deliberate plan, but is the prod- 
 uct of a combination of circumstances. There are a few men,, 
 however, who have been more prominently identified with the 
 movement, and have contributed conspicuously to give shape and 
 33
 
 612 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 direction to the thoughts and acts of their compatriots, whose 
 character and history it is necessary to know in order to understand 
 thoroughly the aims and mode of action of the party. For the ac- 
 count of these men and the history of the growth of the movement, 
 we are indebted to a carefully prepared sketch published in the All- 
 gemeine Zeitung in 1877. In nearly all countries, the popular senti- 
 ment finds its best expression and representation in the popular 
 romantic poetry, from which it often receives also its strongest 
 guidance. It is so in Russia; and the Slavophile party has been 
 largely built up around and by means of the literature of this school, 
 and has found its most influential directors in the ranks of the 
 men who cultivate this literature. 
 
 Among the men most prominently known in connection with this 
 party are the three Aksakoffs, the father and two sons. The elder 
 Aksakoff, Sergius Timofeyevitch, was one of the well-to-do nobles 
 of the middle class, and was born at Ufa in 1791, to the possession 
 of important estates in the Government of Orenburg. He held an 
 appointment on the Land Commission of 1804, and was employed 
 at a later date in the Bureau of the Censorship. In all his public 
 positions he was distinguished for capacity and independence of 
 thought. Like all active Russians of his time, he fell under the in- 
 fluence of the French and German literature of the eighteenth 
 century, and by their help raised himself above the crudeness of his 
 ancestors. He translated some of the representative works of 
 French literature, wrote for the paper of the party of reform, took 
 part in the discussions of the day with those who advocated an ad- 
 vanced training, and in all of these engagements combined a patri- 
 otic, Russian tone of thought with irrepressible enthusiasm for cos- 
 mopolitan culture. His saloon was for many years the rendezvous 
 of writers, poets, and publicists of the most diversified views, whose 
 influence was manifested very perceptibly upon the sons, who grew 
 up in the presence of such meetings, as well as upon the father 
 himself. 
 
 These sons, of whom Constantine was born in 1817, and his 
 brother Ivan was a few years younger, had been students at the 
 High School in Moscow, where they had come in contact with the 
 philosophy of the Germans Elegel and Schelling, and had become 
 inspired with the mystic romanticism which was at that time making 
 the circuit of the world. Controversies arose in time among the 
 band to which the brothers were attached, respecting the relation of
 
 PAN SLA VIC HOPES AND TENDENCIES. 613 
 
 knowledge to faith, and of nationality to humanity, which resulted 
 in bitterness and a separation into two groups. The Aksakoffs and 
 their friends, Chomiakoff, Yuri Samarin, Peter and Ivan Kireyevski, 
 formed a compact circle, out of which, in course of time, grew the 
 Slavophile party. The watchword of this party was return to the 
 Russian folk-life as it was before Peter the Great ; in the name of 
 which they demanded a departure from the heathenish western cult- 
 ure introduced by the great reformer, the study of the theology of 
 the Slavic .and Byzantine fathers, a transference of the political 
 balance to the rural population who were uncontaminated by the 
 false Western learning, and the destruction of all foreign, particu- 
 larly German, influences. These objects were decidedly contrary to 
 the views which had been held by the elder Aksakoff and his asso- 
 ciates ; nevertheless, the zeal and decision of the sons quite carried 
 the father away, and he became an active participant in their move- 
 ments. His home became a meeting-place for the followers of the 
 school, and he himself hastened to spread the views he had newly 
 adopted by means of his writings. At the request of his sons, he 
 composed poetical descriptions of the impressions of his childhood- 
 life, in the time of Catherine II. on the banks of the Ufa, in a 
 region then newly won from the Kirghiz, far from any possible influ- 
 ences of European culture. These sketches, which were published in 
 book-form as "Russian Family Chronicles," made a great im- 
 pression, all in favor of the new party, are a standard work witli the 
 party, and rank among the most precious pieces of Russian litera- 
 ture. Sergius Timofeyevitch died in May, 1859. 
 
 The original impulse of the movement which led to the formation 
 of the new party had been given by Alexis Stephanovitch Chomiakoff. 
 He was the son of a wealthy Muscovite, and was born in the city of 
 Moscow in 1804. He had spent his youth in a regiment of the 
 horse-guards, had participated in the Turkish campaigns of 1828 
 and 1829, had afterward traveled through the greater part of Eu- 
 rope, and then returned when thirty years old to his native city. 
 His travels had been made during a time of general reaction and 
 depression, and had given him a bad impression of the condition of 
 the Western nations. He reached the conviction that the civiliza- 
 tion of these lands, which was the expression of the Roman Catholic 
 Church, the Roman law, and feudalism, had passed its zenith and 
 was in a decline, and about to yield to a new one originating with 
 the orthodox Slavic and Russian races. To the rationalism, the
 
 614 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 alienation, and the spiritual pride of the West, he opposed the 
 trusting humility of the Russian nationality and the assumed inward 
 life of the Oriental ecclesiasticism, to the senility and weariness of 
 Roman and German Europe the unbroken youthfulness of the Slavic 
 race, from which he expected a new birth of the whole of that quar- 
 ter of the world. This miracle was to be worked out by a return 
 to the primitive Christianity of the Eastern Church. Together with 
 his associates he engaged in the study of the Byzantine fathers, whom 
 he considered an inexhaustible fountain of wisdom. His first writ- 
 ings were of a purely theological nature, and sought to show that 
 Roman Catholicism and Protestantism were inwardly hollow, and 
 had become unfit to give intellectual and spiritual standing to West- 
 ern life, and that a religious renewal was needed to deliver Euro- 
 pean civilization from destruction. 
 
 A further development was given these ideas by Ivan Kireyevski, 
 a brilliant journalist, who entered with zest into discussions of the 
 destructive influence of the reforms which Peter the Great and his 
 German helpers had introduced into the country, alleging that they 
 were destroying what remained of the old popular freedom, were 
 estranging the higher classes from the masses of the nation, were 
 substituting officialism for self-government, and were carrying Rus- 
 sia into the danger of being involved in the bankruptcy with which 
 West-European life was threatened. 
 
 The propagation of these views, which Chomiakoff, Ivan Kireyev- 
 ski, and his brother Peter made the work of their life, was at first 
 conducted by social means, and was confined to a select circle of the 
 higher society of Moscow. ChomiakofF had great conversational 
 powers, and a skill in argument and repartee which made him popu- 
 lar even with those who opposed his views, and as he was also in 
 high esteem as a poet, he occupied a prominent position in the 
 ancient capital ; so his views had acquired more or less of currency, 
 even before they attracted the attention of the academical circle iii 
 which the Aksakoff sons and their companions moved. Constan- 
 tine Aksakoff embraced his views, and immediately went to advo- 
 cating them and carrying them into execution, so far as his personal 
 habits were concerned, with the recklessness and ardor of youth. 
 He threw away his fashionable hat on the public street, at the re- 
 mark of a friend, who suggested, during an evening walk, that the 
 wearing of French fashions was the sign of a shameful dependence 
 on the West, and at the same time took a vow, which he kept liter-
 
 PAN SLA VIC HOPES AND TENDENCIES. 615 
 
 ally, that he would thereafter wear clothes peculiar to his country. 
 After that he wore, whether in the street or in the parlor, the sleeve- 
 less jacket and high boots of the peasants. To the astonishment of 
 all who heard him, he expressed to the venerable Prince Galitzin, 
 the Governor-General of the province, the wish that he might live 
 to see the day when his Highness would not be ashamed of the dress 
 of the Russian people. The use of the French language was avoided 
 by himself and his friends ; he transformed the appearance and furnish- 
 ing of his father's house ; he sought to restore the characters used in 
 writing before the time of Peter, and made use of every occasion 
 to illustrate his doctrines practically, by forming connections with 
 the people of the lower classes, even going with Peter Kireyevski, 
 one Easter Monday, to the doors of one of the churches, to engage 
 in the disputations there between the Orthodox and Old Believers' 
 sects, according to a custom which had been disused for a hundred 
 years by people of the upper classes. 
 
 Two journals, the Moskwityanin and the Mujuk, were estab- 
 lished to advocate the views of the new party. Particular impor- 
 tance was attached by the writers of the party to the reviving of 
 the relations of the Russians with the Slavic peoples outside of 
 Russia, and to the study of the profane and ecclesiastical history of 
 their country. They were never wearied with depicting ideals of 
 the conditions existing before Peter, of denouncing his reforms as 
 an apostasy from the holy traditions of the fathers, of repelling the 
 intrigues of the hated Germans against freedom, and of painting in 
 glowing colors the future of the Slavic world restored to its pristine 
 purity, and prevailing over the ruins of the Roman-German civili- 
 zation. 
 
 At a later date, they indicated the undivided community of the 
 Russian village-system (the Mir) as the fundamental principle of 
 Russian life, and devised the doctrine that Russia was destined to 
 be called, with the help of the new form of civilization peculiar to 
 itself, to deliver the world, free all the bound on earth, and usher in 
 the Slavic millennium. They likewise dwelt on the importance of 
 restoring the old popular usage of the Artel, a kind of trades-union 
 or guild, and on the deep significance of the sectarian life of the 
 Old Believers as a genuine popular protest against the ecclesiastical 
 pretensions an-d foreign influence of Peter, and aimed, finally, to 
 remove all traces of the reforms which had been introduced during 
 the last one hundred and fifty years. " The Petersburg period of
 
 6l6 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 our history," said one of their articles, " has brought .Russia out of 
 the simplicity of its national development, and has introduced it to a 
 State-life in which its own people have no part. But while the higher 
 classes have devoted themselves to the service of the Western idols, 
 the people have remained true to their native sanctuaries ; this peo- 
 ple must be established again in the soil of which it has been robbed, 
 and be made again the peculiar agents of our development if we 
 would be made whole. This can take place only if we return to 
 the foundations of our culture which have been deserted. Single 
 acquisitions of West-European civilization may have their value for 
 us, but we must completely and forever reject the false fundamental 
 principle of that civilization. That false principle is that of indi- 
 vidualism." The article further held up the Russian community as 
 the proper contradiction and denial of that principle, and praised it 
 as resting on the genuine Christian principle of humility and self- 
 denial. 
 
 N Chomiakoff and Constantine Aksakoff died in 1860 the Kireyevski 
 brothers and Dimitri Yaluyeif had died a few months before them 
 making, with the elder Aksakoff, six of the founders of the party 
 who had died within a few years. Of those who were left, the most 
 prominent were A. Kosheleff and Yuri Samarin. With them were 
 associated Ivan Aksakoff, Constantino's younger brother, Prince 
 Tcherkassky, the Aide during the war of the Grand Duke Nicholas 
 and Civil Governor of Bulgaria, Lamanski, the elder Pogodin, and 
 Danilevski. Ivan Aksakoff established a weekly journal, the Dien 
 (the Day), toward the end of 1861, which he committed to the prin- 
 ciple last advocated by his brother, of the adoption of the village 
 commune as the corner-stone of the Russian political life. He also 
 accepted some points of the programme of the Western Liberals (or 
 those of St. Petersburg), and urged them with such skill and force 
 that his journal soon surpassed its contemporaries in warmth and 
 force of a'dvocacy. By the spring of 1862, the Slavophile organ had 
 come to be regarded as one of the most progressive journals of the 
 whole Russian press, and the fact was consigned to oblivion that the 
 founders of its policy had been regarded by their " Europeanized " 
 opponents as reactionists and champions of the old Russian political 
 and ecclesiastical systems ; in fact, the political demands of Ivan 
 Aksakoff and his friends differed only in name from the liberal 
 measures sought by the Young Russian party. What was asked for 
 at St. Petersburg, in the name of the nineteenth century, was urged
 
 PAN SLA VIC HOPES AND TENDENCIES. 617 
 
 at Moscow as the inevitable accompaniment of the adoption of 
 orthodox and national principles. "Western phrases "were employed 
 at St. Petersburg, Old Russian expressions at Moscow, to cover 
 what, when analyzed, were found to be substantially the same 
 specific objects. That the Dien laid especial stress upon the con- 
 nection of Russia with the other Slavic nations, that it appeared 
 more hostile to the Germans than other journals, that it advocated 
 the general extension of the world-delivering communal tenure of 
 property and the consequent abolition of rank, were deemed partic- 
 ular merits by the excited writers of both capitals ; even its Churchly 
 zeal caused no shock, for in this it urged primarily the deliverance 
 of the lower spiritual orders from the dominion of the arrogant 
 bishops and monks. The higher clergy or monks were looked upon 
 as Grecian, not Russian an importation from Constantinople and, 
 therefore, as proper objects for the animadversion of a Slavophile 
 organ. 
 
 The insurrection which broke out in Poland and Lithuania was a 
 source of embarrassment to the Slavophiles and their organs. It 
 was difficult to find a way of dealing with it which would not in- 
 volve the violation of some of their principles. The Government 
 party need not hesitate to suppress the insurrection ; the Western 
 Radicals, not being troubled with Old Russian doctrines, could give 
 their sympathies, without question, to a people struggling for some 
 of the principles of self-government; but to the Slavophiles was 
 presented the spectacle of a Slavic people, with whom they should 
 sympathize, struggling to preserve, among other things, the suprem- 
 acy of the Roman Catholic faith, which it was one of their main 
 objects to put down. On the one hand, Russia had no right to con- 
 strain the Polish people, and the Roman Catholics of Old Poland 
 could never be true citizens of an Orthodox Russia ; on the other 
 hand, the freedom of the Poles would involve the Polanization and 
 conversion to Roman Catholicism of the "White Russians and; 
 Lithuanians, who would be subjected to their influence. 
 
 The solution of this dilemma was given by the Moscow Gazette^ 
 a journal which had been recently founded by Katkoff and Leon- 
 tieff. It demanded a stern suppression of the rebellion, and the; 
 forcible deliverance of Lithuania and White Russia from Polish- 
 and Roman Catholic influences. The Slavophiles fell in with this 
 line of policy, and proposed, in addition, the extirpation of the: 
 Roman Catholic Church, and the forcible subjection of the two-
 
 6l8 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 provinces to Orthodox ecclesiastical supremacy and a communal 
 division of the lands. 
 
 From this time, an accord was established between the Slavophiles 
 and the party of Russian centralization, which was led by Katkoff, 
 and represented by his Moscow Gazette. The parties differed as to 
 some points of policy : thus, Katkoff advocated the Russianization 
 of the Polish Roman Catholic Church, rather than its abolition ; he 
 had entertained European views on questions of property and in- 
 struction, and had no thought of the extension of the communal 
 system ; but those differences have not prevented their working har- 
 moniously together under the pressure of questions demanding more 
 immediate attention. On the question of the Baltic provinces, 
 which followed that of Poland and Lithuania, both parties were 
 perfectly agreed. The same measures which the Centralists de- 
 manded, in the name of the unity of the State, were urged by the 
 Slavophiles, as called for by reason of the Slavic origin of the Let- 
 tish people, and the conversion of a few thousand of them to the 
 Greek Church. Both agreed, also, that the Prussian victories of 
 1866 were fraught with danger to Russia, and that the only sure 
 allies the country could have should be sought in the United States. 
 
 Aksakoff has gradually gained in influence within the United 
 party. The Moscow Gazette began to lose in popularity, on account 
 of its advocacy of the classical system of education, which was out 
 of favor, and for other reasons; then Aksakoff established a new 
 journal, the Moskwa, in 1867, and took a stand for the policy of 
 protection ; finally, by his marriage with a lady of the Imperial 
 Court, he obtained a prominent position in society, in Court circles, 
 and in close relations with the Czarevitch. Leontieff died in 1875, 
 and Katkoff suffered by bad health so that he lost much of his 
 former activity. All of these events worked for the interest of 
 Aksakofi. Finally, on the death of Pogodin, the Slavic committee 
 at Moscow made him their President, and the Chief of a widely- 
 ramified and highly influential society, which, under his direction, 
 has exercised an influence over the course of Russian foreign 
 policy far exceeding anything that he had ever ventured to antici- 
 pate. 
 
 The Slavic committees of Moscow and St. Petersburg, whose 
 organization has now been repeated in numerous provincial cities, 
 originated in 185T. The Curator of the High School at Moscow, 
 Counselor Bachmetieff, in that year founded a society for pro-
 
 PANSLAVIC HOPES AND TENDENCIES. 619 
 
 moting tlie education of the Slavic people of other countries 
 (especially of Ruthenian Galicia and Bulgaria), which should have 
 for its purpose to furnish the means for pursuing academic studies, 
 to supply books and other educational requisites to destitute Slavic 
 communities, and promote the study of Slavic history and literature. 
 The society became very popular, so popular that the Grand Duke 
 Constantine and other people of prominence were induced to join 
 it. Political objects were not thought of at first, but, after a time, 
 Pogodin took the place of Bachmetieff as the head of the committee 
 at Moscow ; Lamanski gained the control of the committee at St. 
 Petersburg; the breaking out of the Polish insurrection turned 
 attention to political affairs ; political aims quite overshadowed the 
 original objects of the society, and it was turned into an agency for 
 the propagation of Panslavism. The attention of the committees 
 was not directed to the Turkish, but rather to the Eastern-Austrian 
 Slavic lands, particularly to Bohemia and the Ruthenian part of 
 Galicia, where the national feeling has been very active since 1863. 
 A lively business has been done in circulating Russian books, news- 
 papers, church-furnishings, and pictures in these countries, in which 
 numerous young priests, teachers, writers, and officers have assisted. 
 
 The principal objects sought by the committees were to effect an 
 organization for the spread of a Russian propaganda in the Slavic 
 foreign States, the establishment and maintenance of steady rela- 
 tions between the Northern and Southern leaders, and to make it 
 possible to work in any given case with machinery already adjusted 
 and in efficient operation. 
 
 Only two non-Slavic States in Europe, Prussia and Austria, now 
 have any considerable proportion of Slavs among their subjects. 
 They are, therefore, the particular States whose interests ar"e un- 
 favorably affected by the Panslavic movement. They are, how- 
 ever, affected in very different degrees. Those of Prussia are 
 hardly affected at all, at present the kingdom finding security 
 against Panslavic agitations in two facts. First, it. is the interest 
 of the Czar, as the whole course of the war has shown, to cultivate 
 the friendship and support of the Emperor of Germany, who is also 
 King of Prussia, and for that reason he would not tolerate any 
 action originating within his own dominions or inspired from there 
 which would give the Emperor any apprehension, or cause him to 
 suspect his own good faith ; second, the Slavic subjects of Prussia 
 are chiefly Poles, who as Roman Catholics have no sympathy for
 
 620 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 the Greek Church, but an aversion toward it, and who on account 
 of national grudges hate Russia, and everything that is Russian, with 
 the utmost intensity. Austria, on the other hand, has a very large 
 Slavic population, a considerable portion of which is attached to the 
 Greek Church, and is already affected with Panslavistic ideas. The 
 Slavophiles have a promising field for their propagandism among 
 these people, and have already made themselves dangerous to the 
 peace of the Empire. 
 
 The Czechs of Austria, notwithstanding the predominance of 
 Roman Catholics among them, have for many years exhibited a 
 warm interest in the Panslavistic movements, hoping by their aid 
 to achieve their own independence. They have caused the Gov- 
 ernment considerable anxiety by their persistence in seeking au- 
 tonomy and their refusal to acknowledge that they had any common 
 concern in public affairs with the other nationality. "Within the 
 last year, the Roman Catholic priests have taken alarm at some of 
 the religious aspects of the movement, and have forbidden their 
 flocks to participate in the demonstrations, but the warning has 
 been given too late to permit the expectation that it will be 
 effective to restrain an agitation which has become so extensive and 
 gained so much momentum as that for Bohemian autonomy. 
 
 A report made in 1878, by Mr. Griinwald, an administrative officer 
 of the county of Sohler, in Hungary, makes a formidable exhibition 
 of the progress which Panslavism has made in ten counties of 
 Northern Hungary, where is gathered a population of 1,800,000 
 Slavic inhabitants, consisting partly of Greek-Church Ruthenians 
 and partly of Roman Catholic Slovaks. Aided by the similarity of 
 faith, language, and liturgy, the Russian propaganda has made ex- 
 tensive progress, and gained a firm foothold among the Ruthenians. 
 The churches and schools are liberally pensioned by the Russians, 
 and their designs are therefore materially assisted by the priests and 
 teachers. The Hungarian Government has endeavored to counter- 
 act the evils produced by this condition, by exercising its authority 
 in the appointment of the bishops, but its bishops find their posi- 
 tions the reverse of easy, and their authority very restricted. 
 
 The priests and teachers are also the leaders of the agitation 
 among the Slovaks. Of 703 Roman Catholic priests in the ten 
 counties which form the subject of the report, 268 belonged to the 
 Panslavic party, and 99 of the 178 Lutheran pastors ; and they 
 were of the extreme wing of the party, the Lutherans being par-
 
 r AN SLA VIC HOPES AND TENDENCIES. 621 
 
 ticularly zealous. A Slavic national casino and a Slavic printing- 
 office have been established at the capital of the county of Thurocz ; 
 the Panslavists appear to be masters of the place, and the post- 
 master is an agent of the Panslavic committee, and was reported to 
 exercise his functions in such a manner as to keep the movements 
 of the Government officials constantly under the inspection of their 
 propaganda. Numerous attractive papers are published by the com- 
 mittee, some of which were distributed gratuitously, and two gym- 
 nasia were described as " real hatching-places of Panslavism." The 
 story that Russian money is circulated liberally in Hungary is pro- 
 nounced to be no creation of the fancy, for the books of the post- 
 master before spoken of contain accounts of monthly remittances 
 from Russia. This report gives the confirmation of an official 
 declaration to the boasts which the Panslavists have made of the 
 extent of their operations in the Austrian Empire, and to the prog- 
 ress which their cause has made among the people. What has 
 taken place in the ten counties of Northern Hungary has been going 
 on, with such differences in methods and degree as circumstances 
 would produce, in other centers of Slavic population in the 
 Austrian Empire, till the whole political structure of the State is 
 exposed to a constant danger of a breaking out of a contention of 
 race interests. 
 
 The Slavic committees of Russia were secretly very active dur- 
 ing the Bosnian and Herzegovinian insurrections, and were in reality 
 their main support during the winter of 1875 and 1876, and until war 
 was declared by Servia and Montenegro. Seeing that Herzegovina, 
 both on account of the character of the country and by reason of its 
 nearness to Montenegro, offered the most promising field of opera- 
 tions, they gave their principal assistance to the insurrectionists in 
 that district. Their deputies were stationed at Ragusa and Cettigne 
 in the latter part of 1875, when the movements of the insurgents 
 had come to a stand-still, and the insurrection broke out very soon 
 afterward, although it was in the middle of the winter, with re- 
 newed violence. The rendezvous of the plotters was at the house 
 of Colonel Monteverde, afterward chief of staff to General Tcher- 
 nayeff in Servia, at Ragusa ; their funds were distributed through 
 the banking-house of the Messrs. Boscovitch, at Ragusa, and the. 
 most effective agent of the committees was Mr. Jonin, Russian 
 Consul-General at the same place. The money with which the in- 
 surrection was supported was collected under the guise of taking
 
 622 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 care of the poorrayahs and fugitives in Dalmatia, Montenegro, and 
 Servia, and the wounded ; but the real destination of the money 
 may be judged from the remark made by M. Vassiltchikoff, Di- 
 rector of the Hospital at Cettigne, to the writer from whom we 
 derive the history of this proceeding : * "In order to tend the 
 wounded, one must first procure them to tend. That will cost us 
 half our money ; the other half we will scrupulously employ in 
 healing them." 
 
 Ivan Aksakoff was appointed Chief of the committee at Moscow, 
 in place of Pogodin, in the spring of 1876. The declaration of war 
 against Turkey by Servia and Montenegro, three months later, ga-ve 
 the Slavophiles an opportunity for actual work that they had never 
 enjoyed before. That the Czar and numerous high officers, includ- 
 ing the Chief of Police, were abroad, was a favorable circumstance 
 for them. They appreciated the situation, and took advantage of 
 it ; and during the summer of 1876, the two committees spread 
 their nets over the whole Empire, and soon had all Russia entangled 
 in their meshes. They gave the initiation to the numerous festivals 
 and charitable associations by which the interest of the nation in the 
 Servian war was awakened and kept up, life was infused into the 
 volunteer movement, sanitary supplies were collected for Belgrade 
 and provisions for Bosnia. In consequence of this activity, the 
 Czar was met, when he returned from Germany, with a cry for war 
 which he could not well ignore. The agents of the committee 
 stationed at Belgrade, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, superintended 
 at the former place the distribution of the collected gifts, and at the 
 other places looked out for a continuance of the supply. The recruit- 
 ing and fitting out of volunteers was attended to in Russia, the 
 assignment of the recruits and the adjustment of their relations with 
 the native officers, in Servia, all under the auspices of the society. 
 
 The press was engaged in the service of the committees. Provision 
 was made for the furnishing of correspondence and articles in behalf 
 of the movement ; the interest of the clergy, of prominent women, 
 young men, and young women, was engaged, and sympathy with 
 the cause of the Servian brothers was made popular in all grades of 
 society, and, above all, fashionable. Men of good military standing 
 were enlisted among the volunteers ; women of the rank of the 
 Princess Shachovsky engaged 'in work for the care of the sick; 
 
 * Macmttlari's Magazine, November, 1877. This writer professes to write from personal 
 observations and acquaintance.
 
 PAN SLA VIC HOPES AND TENDENCIES. 623 
 
 counselors interested themselves in the conduct of the sanitary- 
 trains ; excursions, fairs, concerts were projected in all parts of the 
 Empire, and returned liberal sums to the treasury of the society ; 
 the contribution-box was presented at every dinner and large meet- 
 ing ; the cause was introduced at every church service and festival 
 and school-meeting ; the officers of the Government observed the 
 activity with respect to the volunteers, without showing anxiety, 
 believing that it afforded a safety-valve for the unquiet spirits of 
 the Empire. It proved, however, to be the source of complications, 
 for, at the very height of its activity, the Government was compelled, 
 by the collapse of the war and the critical situation of the volunteers, 
 to come out from its position in the background and take the lead 
 of the movement. 
 
 In the circles around the Czar and the central offices, opinions 
 were greatly divided. The women, the younger officers, and the 
 priests made no secret of their enthusiasm for the Servian cause ; 
 the higher dignitaries, the men of the counting-houses, the Germans, 
 and the Conservatives of the old school held aloof from it. They 
 made use of the defeat of the Servian army, of Tchernayeffs un- 
 authorized proclamation of a Servian kingdom, and of other events 
 of the war, which involved danger to Russian honor, as arguments 
 with which, nursing the Czar's aversion to all things that savored of 
 conspiracy or disorder, they hoped to prevent his giving sympathy to 
 the movement. The war party maintained that the nation had 
 already gone too far in the support of the Bosnian and Servian com- 
 plaints, to stop without harm to Russian influence in foreign 
 diplomacy. A strong word from the Czar and a significant flourish 
 of the sword would be potent to compel the Porte to make uncon- 
 ditional concessions, would lead to a triumph of Imperial influence, 
 and would serve to restrain the excesses of the national movement. 
 There was force in the views of both parties, and the Czar sought a 
 middle course, when on the llth of November, 1876, he made that 
 address at Moscow, in which, after condemning the course of Servia 
 in the severest and most unequivocal language, he declared that 
 Russia must fulfill the 'pledges to the Slavic peoples which Servia 
 had made. The order for the mobilization of the army was issued, 
 which all Europe regarded as foreshadowing a declaration of war, 
 and at the same time enlistments for Servia were forbidden, the 
 returning volunteers were received with tokens of displeasure at the 
 course they had taken, Tchernayeff was forbidden to return to
 
 624 THE WAR IN THE EAST - 
 
 Russia for some time, and the agitations, which had been publicly 
 permitted for five months, were suddenly quieted. The pro-Servian 
 enthusiasm of the past summer was afterward mentioned in courtly 
 circles, with a shrug of the shoulders and a smile, as a " folly." 
 
 Aksakoff and his associates showed themselves equal to the diffi- 
 culties of the situation. They received warnings and notices from 
 the Press-administration, that during the course of the conference at 
 Constantinople, communications concerning the agitations in favor 
 of war, and particularly publications of the transactions of the Slavic 
 committees, were forbidden. They well understood the change that 
 had taken place in the views and decisions of the Sovereign ; but 
 they did not deviate from the policy which they had hitherto 
 followed with so much advantage. 
 
 They construed the speech of the Czar into a promise to answer 
 the wishes of the people, and bring them to a true fulfillment. 
 Aksakoff, with great skill in sophistical interpretation, declared that 
 the divine Czar had done no more than give legal expression to the 
 voice of his people, and had expressed the firm determination 
 of Russia to continue on the road it had already traveled. Only 
 short-sighted fools could doubt what the Government would eventu- 
 ally do, and what it owed in respect to external affairs. As soon as 
 the first indignation of the Government had passed away, the com- 
 mittee silently resumed its interrupted labors. What could not be 
 spoken in public places was said, without hesitation, in the conver- 
 sation of parlors. Pains were taken to secure an acceptable com- 
 prehension of the situation, and to combat the " unjust judgment" 
 which had overtaken the Servian champions and their comrades, in 
 consequence of a single mishap. The course of events at Constanti- 
 nople worked admirably into their hands by seeming to confirm all 
 that they had said about the duplicity of Western diplomacy and 
 the obstinacy of the Porte, so that they even gained ground among 
 their former opponents. It became known in the beginning of De- 
 cember that the attention of his Majesty had been directed to Prince 
 Tcherkassky, Aksakoff 's most trusted associate, with a view of making 
 use of Jiis administrative ability. A little while afterward, the 
 Prince visited the headquarters of the active army at Kishenev, 
 and his friends at Moscow and St. Petersburg felt that he had 
 gained his end. His appointment as civil aide to the future Com- 
 mander-in-chief of Bulgaria spoke volumes, and care was taken that 
 the news, and its significance, should be spread into the quarters 
 where the best use could be made of it.
 
 PANS LA VIC HOPES AND TENDENCIES. 62$ 
 
 "When, at the beginning of the new year, the conference had 
 proved a failure, and it was evident that the policy of the Govern- 
 ment would be changed, but before the censorial prohibition had 
 been removed, the Moscow Gazette published an address which 
 Aksakoff had made at a meeting of the Moscow committee. This 
 address denounced the attempt to effect a diplomatic mediation 
 between Kussia and the West as treachery, and reproached the 
 wavering counselors of the Czar that " they were wandering in 
 darkness, that they had taken the false lights of European ideas as 
 their guide, were wandering in diplomacy, and had accepted, without 
 rebuking them, affronts which had brought blushes to the face of 
 the mortified nation. The blood of our slain brothers," he continued, 
 " is not yet avenged, but is treated, as if it were the blood of Hot- 
 tentots, with shame and scorn." After a strong exhortation to 
 resistance against the " treachery which has spun its webs in Russia," 
 he closed with the assertion that " we have behind us the people, 
 before us the words which the Czar has spoken from the heights of 
 the Kremlin." The number of the Moscow Gazette which contained 
 this speech was confiscated. But thousands of copies of the speech 
 escaped the censorship, and were circulated all over the Empire. 
 
 Two months later Aksakoff made another speech before the com- 
 mittee. He was able to announce the complete and public triumph 
 of the cause to which he had unequivocally devoted himself in the 
 darkest hour. War was declared, the Slavic committee had been 
 converted, with the approval of the sovereign, into a Slavic Benev- 
 olent Union, to which its President was able to announce that the 
 time for mere private activity was over, that the labors which had 
 been begun by the committee could now be continued in the full 
 light of day, and that his Majesty the Czar had been pleased to 
 intrust to the civil aid of the command er-in-chief the duty of keep- 
 ing up a direct intercourse with the Union. A delegate of the Union 
 would accompany his Highness to the scene of the war, and he, the 
 President, would take care that the great work should be maintained 
 at the height of the standard of its national significance. 
 
 An enthusiastic meeting of the Russian Club at Warsaw, on tho 
 23d of May, 1877, was addressed by Professor Mkitsky, Professor 
 of Russian History at the University of Warsaw, who spoke of 
 Slavism as the new factor which had appeared on the historical 
 scene. Slavic solidarity had now come forth as a colossal power, 
 controlling millions. The Slavs appeared before the eyes of aston-
 
 626 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 islied Europe as one family, animated with one thought, one 
 feeling, one will. The whole Slavic world, with Prague at its head, 
 encompassed the holy Russia, which had gained, so to speak, mil- 
 lions of new sons. It had undertaken a new historical labor the 
 freeing of the Slavs and had inscribed " the Slavic cause " upon 
 its banners. Another speaker said that the Sagas related that in 
 the old times three brothers, Czech, Lech, and Rus, had come from 
 the Danube to the North and separated ; " God grant that they may 
 meet again on the Danube." Speeches harmonious with the others 
 were made with reference to the Slavs in Germany and Bohemia. 
 
 On the 8th of November, 1877, Aksakoff made a noteworthy 
 address before the Slavic committee at Moscow, in which he 
 regarded the war from a national Russian point of view, and paid 
 as little regard to the interests and aspirations of the West of 
 Europe as to those of Turkey. He ascribed the poor success which 
 had attended the Russian operations in the war to the errors of the 
 leaders of the nation, or the " elder brothers," who had committed 
 " the deadly sin which is the root of all our social evils ; the sin of 
 forgetting Russian nationality." The processes of the organic life of 
 the people could be perceived only by a few, who had raised them- 
 selves by thought and education above the ordinary level. The 
 Russian common people had little historic knowledge and no 
 abstract conceptions about the mission of Russia in the Slavonic 
 world ; but they had historical instinct, and they clearly perceived 
 one thing, that the war was caused neither by the caprice of an 
 autocratic Czar nor by unintelligible political considerations. Free 
 from all ambition and all desire of military glory, they accepted the 
 war as a moral duty imposed by Providence. "The Russian 
 nation," he said, " looks upon this war, not as the outcome of the 
 absolute will of the Czar, but as its own cause a sacred, inevitable 
 work, a war for the Orthodox religion and the whole Slavic brother- 
 hood. The popular movement of 1876 made the war inevitable. 
 That which the national conscience pronounced to be an undoubted 
 moral duty was at the same time the historical mission of Russia 
 as the head and representative of the Orthodox and Slavic world, 
 which has not yet been entirely created, and awaits its future de- 
 velopment in history. All the importance of Russia in the world is 
 based on her national and religious individuality, which has grown 
 up from her internal strength and her spiritual elements, differing 
 entirely from the elements of Western Europe ; it depends, in a
 
 PANSLA VIC HOPES AND TENDENCIES. 627 
 
 word, on her Orthodoxy and her Slavism. Russia will never be able 
 to attain her complete development until she brings about the 
 victory of these spiritual elements in their original dwelling-places, 
 or, at least, until she restores to complete legal equality the peoples 
 related to her by blood and feeling. If Russia does not liberate the 
 Orthodox East from the Turkish yoke and from the physical and 
 intellectual encroachments of the West, she will become an organism 
 with a defective circulation, condemned to remain forever a cripple. 
 The war was therefore as much an imperative necessity for her as 
 the defense of her own existence, or as the natural progress of her 
 development, of her growth, as the stream of her historical 
 
 shaping Diplomacy, that genuine figure of want of character 
 
 and of national indifferentism with an unfeeling heart, which shuns 
 men, began its activity in favor of the enemies of Russia and 
 wholly against us. Europe was quick to believe the report of the 
 unwillingness and unreadiness of Russia to make war, and stretched 
 us upon the rack of diplomatic concessions. Turkey is fighting to the 
 death for her religion and her race, while our diplomatists and 
 conservatives tell us that the war is only one for humanity and 
 civilization, not one for religion and race. But if it is not a war 
 for religion and race, it is an absurdity. Though conservatives may 
 be horrified at the ideas of Slavism and Orthodoxy, it is in those 
 ideas that our strength lies, and they alone can lead us to victory. 
 Any misunderstanding on this point is dangerous. Away with the 
 senseless and colorless device of the interests of Europe ! ' Russia 
 could not retreat or stop,' though all Europe should place itself as 
 a wall in our path. Retreat would be treachery toward the suffer- 
 ing Slavs, treason to an historical mission, and the beginning of 
 death. Let us accept new burdens and make new sacrifices. The 
 historical path of the nation has been and is still surrounded and 
 obstructed by many obstacles and many trials ; but with the help 
 of God it has overcome them in the past, is overcoming them, in, 
 the present, and will overcome them in the future." 
 34
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE PERIL OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 The immediate Concern of Austria in the Integrity of Turkey Austro-Hungarian In- 
 terests alone Regarded The Heterogeneous and Discordant Populations of the 
 Empire-KingdomDecline of Austrian Predominance in Germany The Compro- 
 mise with Hungary Troubles arising out of the Diversities of National and Race 
 Interests The Czechs and the Poles Discontent of the non-Magyar Nationalities 
 of Hungary Centrifugal Tendencies in the Empire and Kingdom Hostile Designs 
 of the Panslavists The Magyars Friends of Turkey and Enemies of Russia Any 
 Change in the Eastern Situation Dangerous to Austria Hungary Views of Hun- 
 garian Statesmen Gen. Klapka Louis Kossuth Jealousy of the Visit of Signer 
 Crispi, and his Proposition for a Confederation of Slavic States and the Enlarge- 
 ment of Greece Pro-Russian Influences at the Court of Vienna. 
 
 have alluded, in the two preceding chapters, to the manner 
 in which the tranquillity of the Austrian Empire is imperilled by 
 the national aspirations of Rumania and Servia on the one hand, 
 and by the agitations of the Panslavists on the other. It is the 
 opinion of those who are best acquainted with the affairs of Eastern 
 Europe, that the internal condition of this Empire will give rise to 
 the next complications which will occur in the East after the ques- 
 tions relating to Turkey are settled ; nay, more, that the settlement 
 of the Turkish Question will have an immediate and important in- 
 fluence upon the aspect of those affairs. In view of all these facts, 
 it seems necessary for an adequate understanding of the bearings of 
 the Eastern Question, and the position of affairs in reference to it, 
 to give a more particular account of the relations of Austria to the 
 late dependencies of Turkey, of the manner in which they are 
 affected by the adjustments now going on, and of the views of 
 prominent statesmen of the Empire on the subject. 
 
 The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is more immediately and deeply 
 concerned in affairs relating to Turkey, and the adjustment of the 
 Eastern Question, than any other State. Even England and Russia 
 must give place to it in the extent to which their interests are in- 
 volved, for their interests in Turkey are external, and relate, at the 
 
 most, to colonial matters and the routes of trade ; while, with Aus- 
 
 (628)
 
 THE PERIL OF AUSTRIA. 629 
 
 tria, the internal social conditions, and the integrity of the most 
 essential parts of the Empire, are affected bj whatever takes place 
 in the European provinces of Turkey. The Empire is BO surrounded 
 by Russian and Turkish territory, and has so many populations 
 which are affiliated by race, religion, or language, or all of them, 
 with contiguous populations in those States, that no movement can 
 take place in either which will not be reflected in some of the prov- 
 inces of Austria and Hungary. 
 
 So closely and predominantly are the Austro- Hungarian interests 
 interwoven with the Russo-Turkish issues that the minds of the 
 statesmen of the Empire, in considering the Eastern Question, are 
 occupied with them to the exclusion of all the other questions of 
 popular and national rights, of religious privileges, and of humanity, 
 with which the discussions in all other countries are diversified. 
 These questions are important, they admit, and deserve consideration 
 by those whose position permits them to regard them, but they can 
 only look to their own preservation. The text of all the official 
 Austrian and Hungarian declarations since the complications began 
 which led to the war, has been the same. The Imperial-royal Gov- 
 ernment (imperial as to Austria, royal as to Hungary) must be con- 
 trolled in its course, not by the consideration of Turkish interests, 
 or of Slavic interests, or of Christian interests, but of Austro-Hun- 
 garian interests. These interests were thought to demand the full 
 maintenance of the territorial integrity of Turkey, but for quite dif- 
 ferent reasons from those which actuated English statesmen in seek- 
 ing the same end. 
 
 Austria is, with the exception of Russia, the most heterogeneous 
 as to its population, of all the European States ; but while in Russia 
 one race has an overwhelming preponderance, Austria enjoys no 
 such advantage. In its population several races of opposite sympa- 
 thies are nearly evenly balanced. Besides Austria proper, and the 
 provinces which have been cut off from other kingdoms, the Empire- 
 Kingdom embodies the remains of such once important kingdoms as 
 Bohemia, a part of Poland, and Hungary. The people of these 
 kingdoms have no sympathy with each other, and one of them, 
 Hungary, is worse divided against itself than is the Empire as a 
 whole. 
 
 The Austrian Empire began in effect to go to pieces in 1859, when 
 it lost its Italian provinces. Until 1866, Austria considered itself a 
 German State, and the leader of Germany. The victories of Prus-
 
 630 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 sia in that year forced it to retire from active participation in Ger- 
 man affairs, and to endeavor to build itself up as an East-European 
 State. Its first step, and a wise one, was to reconcile the Hunga- 
 rians. Through the " Ausgleich " or compromise, of which the Baron 
 Von Beust was the principal author, it restored to Hungary, in 1867, 
 the substance of its former constitutional privileges, recognizing it 
 as an integral and at the same time independent part of the monarchy, 
 of which the Emperor of Austria was separately crowned the king, 
 with a distinct title. The kingdom was given a separate Diet and a 
 special ministry of its own, a representation in the General Imperial 
 Ministry, and a joint board of the two divisions of the Empire was 
 constituted to meet annually and arrange certain matters common to 
 both. In the division of the Empire, Croatia, Transylvania, Slavo- 
 nia, and the military frontier were attached to Hungary, and Croa- 
 tia was given a local autonomy. The other provinces were attached 
 to Austria, or the Cis-Leithan division, as it is sometimes called. 
 The result of this arrangement was to convert the Hungarians from 
 discontented subjects to strong supporters of the Empire. The Cro- 
 atians have seemed on the whole satisfied with it ; but the Czechs, 
 or Bohemians and Moravians, and the Poles, have never accepted it, 
 but have been made only more eager to secure like privileges for 
 themselves. Cis-Leithean Austria contains in round numbers about 
 7,000,000 Germans, 5,000,000 Czechs, 2,500,000 each of Poles and 
 Ruthenians, 2,000,000 Slovenians, 587,500 Italians (mostly in the 
 Tyrol and Dalmatia), 207,900 Rumanians in Bukowina ; Hungary 
 contains about 5,500,000 Magyars, 2,000,000 each of Germans and 
 Czechs, 2,500,000 Rumanians in Transylvania, and about an equal 
 number of Croats and Servians. As a whole, the Empire contains 
 9,000,000 Germans, 5,700,000 Magyars, 16,258,300 Slavs of all 
 names, 2,700,000 Rumanians, and Italians, who though they num- 
 ber less than 600,000, form a province. All of these people but the 
 Magyars and Germans have sympathies averse to the present system 
 of government. 
 
 The diversity of nationalities is the primary cause of all the 
 losses which the Empire has suffered, and is the source of all the 
 intestine commotions which still afflict it. The Czechs in Bohemia 
 have stood in firm opposition to the Government ever since the 
 compromise with Hungary was effected, and have agitated actively 
 for a like recognition of their nationality. They remember the 
 glories of the ancient kingdom of Bohemia, and express indignation
 
 THE PERIL OF A US TRIA. 63 1 
 
 that it has been extinguished and put under the hands of Germans 
 and Magyars, and have many times refused to be represented in the 
 Reichsrath. In 1873, the Austrian Government, fearing that the 
 Slavic factionists might manage to secure so large a representation 
 in the Reichsrath as to endanger the Constitution, secured an amend- 
 ment to the electoral law providing for the election of deputies im- 
 mediately by the people instead of through the provincial Diets, 
 which were so imbued with hostility to the Government that it was 
 felt they could not be trusted. In the next year, the Czechs pre- 
 sented to the Emperor, on the occasion of his visiting Bohemia, pe- 
 titions for the decentralization of the Empire and the restoration of 
 Bohemian autonomy, some of which were so strongly worded that 
 it was deemed prudent not to take public notice of them. The 
 Galicians, or Poles, manifest a similar spirit, but in a less demon- 
 strative manner. Their immediate aim is to secure the autonomy 
 of their province, and use the advantage thus gained to form a 
 nucleus around which to rebuild a Polish Empire. They have an 
 intense hostility toward Russia. 
 
 The discontent in Hungary is also very great. A convention of 
 Croats, Slavonians, Rumanians, Slovaks, and Ruthenians, which was 
 held at Temesvar in 1868, adopted a programme favoring a confeder- 
 ation according to nationalities, protested against the union of Tran- 
 sylvania with Hungary, and adopted a resolution approving the 
 efforts to upset the compromise of 1867, because its provisions were 
 fatal to the national rights of the non-Magyar races. The Rumanians 
 also held a separate conference, the resolutions of which advocated 
 abstention from the elections because the claims of the Rumanian 
 nation had been disregarded by the Reichstag at Pesth. 
 
 The Slavs of both divisions of the Empire, notwithstanding their 
 disagreement in many respects, have all united in demanding the 
 recognition of their several idioms as the language of instruction in 
 the districts where they prevail ; the Croatian s, Servians, and Slovens, 
 as well as all the other tribes of Austria, have now a complete 
 system of national instruction, embracing elementary schools for 
 every town and village ; a large number of gymnasia, progymnasia, 
 real and special schools. A complete university has been established at 
 Agram, which has been organized after the model of the German 
 universities. Compulsory school laws have been adopted in Austria 
 proper and Hungary, the effect of which will be to raise the Slavic 
 peoples to the level of the more advanced Teutonic nations, at least
 
 632 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 so far as the universality of education is concerned. The educational 
 system will also, so long as the Slavic languages are recognized, con- 
 tribute to the strengthening of their national feelings, and enlarge 
 their capacity and opportunity to make them manifest. 
 
 The security of the Empire and kingdom is thus endangered by 
 centrifugal tendencies which are powerful in every part. In case it 
 should be divided, there would be but little difficulty in deciding 
 upon the fate of its component nationalities. The Germans desire 
 to have a part again in the affairs of the German Empire, and to bo 
 one with the great German people, and are already not a little dis- 
 satisfied that they are set off away in the East with a number of 
 nationalities with which they have no common interest. If they 
 were sure they could continue to rule the nation, the case might be 
 different, but they are not sure of it. They have had to divide 
 their powers with the Hungarians, only to see other nationalities 
 coming up to claim their share in the division. They labor under 
 the constant apprehension that they will sometime become only a 
 unit among the other constituents of the State, and this apprehen- 
 sion keeps them desirous of asserting their German relationship 
 while there is yet time. The Czechs and Poles, as we have seen, 
 aspire to a separate existence, or a predominant influence. The 
 Rumanians hope to be made a part of the Rumanian nation. The 
 Croats and Servians in the Banat and the military frontier dream 
 of becoming part of the renewed Servia and of seeing united 
 Servia and Bosnia with themselves formed into a Servian or Croatian 
 Empire. South Tyrol and Trieste are gravitating to Italy. Over 
 all the Slavic nationalities, moreover, hovers the great Panslavic 
 scheme threatening to absorb them and unite them in a grand Slavic 
 Empire, which Russian agents are industriously propagating through- 
 out the country. Some of the Slavs, it is true, are averse to this 
 plan in the exact form in which the Russian agents urge it, because 
 it is allied with the Greek Church, while they are Roman Catholic, 
 and it interferes with their desire to restore their own kingdoms, but 
 they are, nevertheless, seeking a Slavic independence, and are al- 
 ways ready to assail the Austrian and Hungarian regimes. 
 
 We have shown in the previous chapter how the general aims 
 and policy of the Panslavists are detrimental to the integrity of 
 the Austrian Empire, and have cited examples of the character and 
 extent of their operations among its Slavic populations. The fact 
 of their entertaining a settled design of dismembering this Empire,
 
 THE PERIL OF AUSTRIA. 633 
 
 as the State which stands most in the way of the realization of their 
 schemes, is confessed and made prominent in the work on " The 
 Military Strength of Eussia," published by the Russian General 
 Rostislav Fadaieff, a Panslavist, in 1869. According to his re- 
 markably frank exposition of the designs of his party, it is the duty 
 of Russia not only to extend its territory in Europe, but also to 
 make allies of the kindred tribes and peoples of the Orthodox faith 
 outside of the Empire, and confirm their attachment by the closest 
 relations. One State, Austria, is an obstacle to the consummation 
 of this object. Austria, therefore, must be considered Russia's 
 natural, nearest, and most dangerous enemy. The condition of 
 enmity exists especially in respect to the Eastern Question, which, 
 according to General Fadaieff , is a living question for Austria as well 
 as for Russia, except that it affects them in an opposite direction. 
 General Fadaieff then delineates the strategical and political situation 
 of Austria in reference to the Eastern Question, showing how easily 
 and sensibly Austria could affect the Russian interests, and concludes 
 that there is but one means of opposing this wicked power. Russia 
 must take in hand, with decisive will, the cause of all the Slavs and 
 all the Orthodox. " The Greeks and the Rumanians are not nece&- 
 sary for Russia, but they are dear and welcome, because they are of 
 the Orthodox faith. The Polish Question will be ours, if we make 
 it a Slavic Question. "We must make the Poles realize that they 
 are a Slavic people. We must proceed, in a similar manner, toward 
 the other Slavic peoples. Russia must arouse in them the convic- 
 tion that their national leaders have their support and reserves there, 
 that every Slav has there his home." Fadaieff's scheme of recon- 
 struction of the Slavic nationalities contemplated the autonomy of 
 the States, which should, however, constitute together a single Em- 
 pire as before the world, and place the conduct of international and 
 military affairs in the hands of the great Slavic Czar, their common 
 head, while their own particular rulers should belong to branches of 
 the same family. The first step toward the attainment of this ob- 
 ject should be the restoration, within ten years, of Ismail on the 
 Lower Danube and of East Galicia. The later proceedings of the 
 Panslavic leaders form a striking commentary upon the sincerity 
 of these declarations, and do not tend to diminish the alarm; that: 
 the Austrians feel in the face of them. 
 
 A total dissolution of the Austrian Empire would leave the 1 
 Magyars in a sad state, for they would be scattered all over Hun*
 
 634 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 gary among the other nationalities, and deprived of the power of 
 maintaining their existence as a State. 
 
 The apprehension of such a dissolution is real and active among 
 the Austro-Hungarian statesmen, and has guided and governed their 
 Eastern policy for a long time. The Magyars are, moreover, bitter 
 enemies of the Russians and warm friends of the Turks, for reasons 
 peculiarly their own. They are affiliated by race with the Turks, 
 being Turanians of a related stock, and having come, centuries be- 
 fore the Turks appeared, from nearly the same part of the world 
 which was ths birth-place of the latter. They remember also how 
 Russia helped to crush their national movement by force in 1848, 
 and how, after it was crashed, Turkey received and befriended their 
 exiled patriots. For a similar reason they are cool toward the 
 Croatians, because the Croatian ban Jellachich and Croatian soldiers 
 were the principal instrument of its own military force which Aus- 
 tria used to suppress their rebellion. 
 
 No change can be made in the relations of the European depend- 
 encies of Turkey that does not seem to be fraught with great dangers 
 to Austria-Hungary. If Russia annexes any of them, its power will 
 be strengthened to the weakening of Austria, and a fearful impulse 
 will be given to the Panslavic movement. If they are made inde- 
 pendent, or are formed into a confederation, the non-German and 
 non-Magyar provinces of Austria and Hungary will be incited to 
 demand to be joined to them or to be made autonomous States. A 
 proposition to give one of them to Austria, such as has been sug- 
 gested as a possible means of allaying Austrian jealousy, is men- 
 tioned with expressions of dread, because it will only add another 
 Slavic nationality to a State which is already burdened with too 
 many such incongruous elements. The Magyars especially depre- 
 cate such a scheme, because they are already in a minority in Hun- 
 gary, and its operation would be to increase the numerical superiority 
 of the dissatisfied races. 
 
 The effect which the establishment of the autonomy of Bosnia and 
 Herzegovina would probably have upon the tranquillity of the ad- 
 joining Austrian and Hungarian provinces is set forth, in entire har- 
 mony with these views, by an English writer, whose article appeared 
 while the negotiations respecting the fate of the Turkish provinces 
 were still the subject of an active discussion. He said, in the Lon- 
 don Spectator of February 23, 1878 : 
 
 " The principal Slav provinces of Austria border on Bosnia and
 
 THE PERIL OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 Herzegovina ; the population is a difficult one to govern, especially 
 that portion which possesses a quasi- Italian element, and it must be 
 admitted that Austria has been fairly successful. To give an auto- 
 nomical form of government to the two Turkish provinces, to make 
 them practically independent, with an amount of freedom such as it 
 is politic as well as necessary to give to Bulgaria, would no doubt 
 result in an unmixed benefit to the populations ; but it would un- 
 questionably raise a very strong feeling in Croatia and Dalmatia, 
 which would no doubt spread into the adjacent provinces, and put a 
 strong disturbing force into the hands of Italy. From my knowledge 
 of the peoples of these countries, loyal as they are now to the Aus- 
 trian Crown, I do not believe they would long remain so ; and con- 
 stituted as the Empire of Austria is, occasion would never be want- 
 ing for the creation of disturbances which would shake the monarchy 
 itself, if, indeed, any lengthened continuance of them did not dis- 
 solve it. "We should, in fact, be only closing the Eastern Question 
 to open an Austrian-Slavonic Question." 
 
 Thus the Austro-Hungarian nation is placed in a position in which 
 it is liable at any day to have to face the question of what excuse it 
 has for continuing to exist. 
 
 Although the Government has refrained from making official ex- 
 pressions bearing directly upon these points, utterances and acts are 
 not wanting to show that it has had them in view, while the indi- 
 vidual expressions of the journals and of the leading men upon the 
 subject, especially in Hungary, have been very free. Semi-official 
 communications were published in the Hungarian papers in May, 
 18T7, which were intended to appease the agitation for a war with 
 Russia. They conveyed the assurance that the Government would, 
 under no circumstances whatever, approve the union of Servia, Bos- 
 nia, and Herzegovina into a separate State under an Austrian Arch- 
 duke, " as such an arrangement would not afford any guarantee to 
 Hungary against the prejudicial influence likely to be exercised by 
 such a State upon Hungarian interests," and gave, as among the 
 points of Count Andrassy's programme: "The position of Ru- 
 mania is to be regulated only in accordance with our interests. Ser- 
 via is not to annex anything. Ko large Slavic State is to be estab- 
 lished in South-eastern Europe. A Russian protectorate over the 
 Danubian territories is out of the question." The apprehension was 
 often expressed, that if the destruction of the Turkish Empire were 
 allowed, Austria-Hungary would be the next object of attack, and it
 
 636 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 would soon share the fate of its Ottoman neighbor. Gen. Klapka 
 made a speech at an important public meeting in Pressburg, on the 
 13th of August, 1877, in which he said that the conviction had been 
 reached in Hungary that if Russia succeeded in the East, the turn of 
 Hungary would come next. What can we substitute, he asked, for the 
 Turks after they shall have been driven out of Europe ? " Is there 
 a single people in European Turkey which would be in a condition 
 to display one-tenth of the force with which the Turks have defend- 
 ed their cause ? But if, contrary to our hopes and wishes, Turkey is 
 overcome by* Russia, we should ask, what will be the consequence to 
 Hungary and the Austro-Hungarian monarchy ? . . . . After Servia, 
 Rumania, Montenegro, and Bosnia are brought completely under 
 Russian control, and are made to do whatever Russia orders them, 
 and Bulgaria has shared their fate, Russia will be lord of European 
 Turkey and will command the mouths of the Danube. If Constan- 
 tinople is made a free city, it will only be to fall finally into the 
 pocket of Russia. But can we hope that these people, after they 
 have been enabled to gratify their morbid aspirations Rumania for 
 a great Daco-Rumanian kingdom, and Servia for a great Servian 
 kingdom will be satisfied with the country freed from Turkey, and 
 will not seek to possess Rumania, all the Rumanians, and Servia, the 
 so-called Yoyvodina, Batschca, and Slavonia ? While if Turkey pre- 
 vails, it is plain that these people will pursue their development in 
 other and peaceful ways, and Turkey itself will remain our true 
 friend, possessing a power in our favor, the worth of which has been 
 displayed even just now on twenty battle-fields." 
 
 A few days afterward, Louis Kossuth addressed a letter to a pub- 
 lic meeting, in which he advocated efforts to prevent a Russian con- 
 quest, urging that, if they were not made, the Czar would be 
 regarded as the great Panslavist leader; that the aspirations of 
 Panslavism to rule the world would be grouped around the Czar- 
 ism ; that this would be the star to lead the way of the movement, 
 its lord to command it, its Messiah, for whose call it would wait ; its 
 God, whom it would worship, and that out of Panslavism would 
 be developed Pan-Czarism ; but that, if the Czar were sent home 
 without a victory, the charm would be broken, and the Panslavist 
 aspirations would lose their spur. Then the different Slavic nations 
 would seek their salvation, not in the culture of Czarism, which only 
 leads to Russification, and into the fetters of slavery and brutality, but 
 in the upholding and elevation of their own individuality. This,
 
 THE PERIL OF AUSTRIA. 637 
 
 lie said, is the way that leads to the gain of freedom where it does 
 not yet exist, to the upholding and development of it where it is 
 already possessed. The sympathy and help of the Hungarian peo- 
 ple would be with the nationalities in seeking such a career. In a 
 subsequent letter, this statesman one of the bitterest enemies of 
 Austria declared that the life-interests of Hungary lay with that 
 Empire, and advised his countrymen to defend it to the last drop of 
 their blood. The integrity of Turkey, he averred, must be main- 
 tained, at all events, against Russia, the greatest enemy of Europe. 
 He praised his countrymen for having rejected with indignation the 
 immoral and improvident thought of consenting to a division of 
 Turkey with Kussia, and predicted that, " if St. Petersburg and 
 Vienna should divide the fragments of Turkey between them, in 
 less than twenty-five years Russia and Germany and Italy would 
 combine to divide Austria and Hungary among themselves." M. 
 Kossuth repeated these views, at greater length, but without pre- 
 senting any new points of importance, in an article which he pub- 
 lished in the Contemporary Review for December, 1877. 
 
 The visit of Signer Crispi, the President of the Italian Chamber 
 of Deputies (afterward made Minister of the Interior), to Yienna 
 and Pesth, in October, 1877, was regarded with jealousy by the 
 press of both States. It was suspected that he came to sound the 
 Imperial Government as to whether it would be willing to permit 
 Italy to receive a slice of Turkish territory on the Adriatic, and 
 those journals let it be immediately understood that no such acquisi- 
 tion of territory would be tolerated. They saw in it the first step 
 toward the loss of Dalmatia and the Italian city of Fiume, now 
 belonging to Hungary. The suggestion for a confederation of the 
 Slavic States, and the extension of Greece to the Balkans, which 
 Crispi threw out at a banquet of Deputies at Pesth, was criticised 
 with much disfavor. Such a confederation, it was agreed, was, 
 throughout, against the interests of Hungary, and responded only to 
 the wishes of Russia. 
 
 These unfavorable expressions were justified in part by the fact 
 that Mazzini, the distinguished Italian Republican, had expressed 
 the opinion, in his essays on the Eastern Question, written between 
 1857 and 1871, that the maintenance of the Austro-Hungarian and 
 Ottoman Empires, in their present state, was an impossibility, and 
 that their place would be taken by four Slavic States or Confedera-
 
 638 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 tions, and that, when Austria fell, the Southern Tyrol and Istria 
 would naturally become a part of Italy. 
 
 The course of the Government was apparently controlled by a de- 
 termination to adhere to the Tri-Imperial Alliance as long as possi- 
 ble at least, until an Austrian or Hungarian interest was put in 
 imminent danger. A party at the Court of Vienna was often 
 spoken of, which was understood to be under German influences, 
 and to be favorable to a co-operation with Russia in its attack upon 
 the Porte ; and it was accredited with having been able to persuade 
 the Government to such an extent that it inclined to seek a policy 
 between the one indicated and that which was advocated by the 
 Magyar leaders. Although the personal feelings of the Emperor 
 were in actual sympathy with those of the Germans, and although 
 the Government reposed great confidence in the advice of the Ger- 
 man Emperor and his Chancellor during all the trying scenes of the 
 war, its course does not appear to have been changed under any of 
 the conflicting influences which were brought to bear against it, but 
 to have been pursued in adherence to the neutrality which was an- 
 nounced at the beginning of the war. 
 
 An official expression of regard for other interests than those of 
 the Empire, was made at the opening of the Chambers on the 10th 
 of December, when Count Andrassy declared that he was opposed 
 to the idea that, in compliance with external prejudices, the Chris- 
 tian populations of Turkey should be under Turkish rule. This 
 was regarded by some partisans as a concession to the German 
 party at the Court. It was, more probably, a concession to the 
 plainest principles of humanity, which even an Austrian Chancellor, 
 with the fate of the precarious fabric of an unhomogeneous State in 
 his hands, could not always evade. 
 
 The Government made a cautious expression of opinion respecting 
 the bearing of the peace preliminaries proposed by Russia and ac- 
 cepted by Turkey, when on the 19th of February, 1878, the Austrian 
 Minister-President in the Reichstag, and the Hungarian Minister- 
 President in the Diet, stated, in answer to questions, that among the 
 stipulations were some which could not be brought into harmony 
 with the interests of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. This remark 
 did not apply to those stipulations meant to improve the condition 
 of the Christian populations of Turkey, which Austria-Hungary 
 always had at heart as much as any other power, but to those
 
 THE PERIL OF AUSTRIA. 639 
 
 which might produce changes in the relative position of the Euro- 
 pean powers in the East. The Government, however, hoped that it 
 would be possible to smooth over these difficulties, and that a solu- 
 tion would be effected which would lead to a lasting peace, as satis- 
 fying all interested. But, in all circumstances, the Government 
 would regard it as its main task to protect the interests of the mon- 
 archy in every respect and in every direction. The efforts of the 
 Russian diplomats in their intercourse with Austria were for some 
 time after this directed to the devising of measures to conciliate the 
 Austrian interests and remove their objections to the substantial 
 consummation of the Russian scheme.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 
 
 Fear of Russia entertained by the Powers Early advances of Russia toward Constanti- 
 nople Frederick the Great on the Threatening Power of Russia Will of Peter the 
 Great British Interests in the East Russia and England Rivals in Asia Russian 
 Conquest Dangerous to the British Tenure of India Kashgar and Russia Afghan- 
 istan, its Importance to British Interests Russian Influence in Persia The Blunder- 
 ing Diplomacy of the English Government Condemned Position of the English 
 Parties on the Question Counter-arguments of the anti-Russians and the anti- 
 Turks Views of the British Cabinet and Conservative Statesmen The Positions 
 assumed by the Liberal Statesmen Moderated tone of the English Journals Why 
 England and Russia should not Quarrel They are the Destined Rulers of Asia What 
 Benefits they have Conferred upon it What they may yet Accomplish for its Civiliza- 
 tion and Prosperity. 
 
 THE increase of territory and population which accrues to Russia 
 by the peace of San Stefano is not as great as the increase in pres- 
 tige and in indirect influence. The actual increase in territory and 
 population is in fact small, comprising only that part of the Dobrudja 
 which it is proposed to exchange for Rumanian Bessarabia and a 
 small territory in Armenia ; but the increase in prestige and influ- 
 ence is very great. It amounts to the conquest of the chief Mussul- 
 man power, the power to which most of the other Mohammedan 
 nations of the world looked up as their head, and to the establishment 
 of a new State touching both the Mediterranean and Black Seas, over 
 which no pains will be spared to make Russian influence supreme. 
 It establishes a permanent terror among the Mohammedan nations 
 of Asia, which already had reason enough to fear Russia, and plants 
 a thorn in the flesh of all the Mediterranean powers. Most of the 
 European Governments have seemed to feel these facts keenly ; and 
 even the German Government, which has been regarded as the sup- 
 porter of Russia to a certain extent, has repeatedly shown that it 
 was not indifferent to the sudden exaltation its neighbor had re- 
 ceived, and has more than once intimated that there might be a 
 
 limit, beyond which it would not allow it to go without a protest. 
 (.640)
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 641 
 
 The jealousy and fear which the rival powers entertain of Russia 
 are not of recent growth. They have been felt and expressed by 
 the rulers of different nations ever since the Muscovite State became 
 important enough to attract the attention of its neighbors. They 
 have increased as its dominions have been extended on every side, 
 have been fed by every new addition to the territory of the Czars, 
 and have been intensified in the States which have successively been 
 victims of Russia whenever some of their fair provinces have been 
 torn from them. The tendencies of Russia toward Constantinople 
 and the East have been noticed since the very foundatian of the re- 
 public of Novgorod. A Hungarian writer, Mr. Benjamin Yon 
 Kallay, in a pamphlet recently published in Pesth, recalls the facts, 
 hitherto hardly noticed, that an expedition of the comrades of Rurik 
 descended the Dnieper to the Black Sea in the year 866, and devas- 
 tated the country around Constantinople ; that a second expedition 
 under Oleg, attacked Constantinople from the land and the sea in 
 905, the land force having marched through Bessarabia, Rumania, 
 and Bulgaria, and over the Balkans, and that three other attempts 
 were made against the Eastern capital during the tenth and eleventh 
 centuries, and while it was still in the hands of the Christian Em- 
 perors. The series of expeditions was afterward interrupted by the 
 dominance of the Tartars in the present territory of Russia, but the 
 efforts against Constantinople were resumed as soon as the Tartars 
 had been overcome, and Russia had gained liberty to follow its 
 destiny. 
 
 The German Ambassador in Washington, Kurd Yon Schlozer, 
 has shown in an article published in the New York Bellet/ristisches 
 Journal of March 29th, that Frederick the Great of Prussia ex- 
 pressed his apprehension of the danger which would accrue from 
 the growth and ambition of Russia without reserve. In 1769, after 
 he had formed an alliance with the Empress Catharine, he wrote, 
 " Prussia has reason to fear that its ally, become too powerful, may 
 seek some time to impose laws upon it, as it has done to Poland ; " 
 and he wrote to Prince Henry at about the same time : " It (Rus- 
 sia) is a terrible power, which in the course of half a century will 
 make all Europe tremble. Offspring of the Hunns and Gepidse 
 which destroyed the Eastern Empire, they will be able in a little, 
 while to attack the "West, and cause the Austrians to grieve and 
 repent that in their mistaken policy they have called this barbarous 
 nation into Germany and taught it the art of war. ... At present,
 
 642 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 I see no remedy for them, except in forming in the future a league 
 of the great sovereigns to oppose the dangerous torrent." 
 
 The Emperor Napoleon I. also had a keen appreciation of the 
 dangers of Russian aggressions, and made the destruction of Rus 
 sian power a prominent object in his campaigns. To him was at- 
 tributed the prediction, which has often been quoted, that in fifty 
 years Europe would be either Republican or Cossack. The docu- 
 ment called the will of Peter the Great, although it has been proved 
 a forgery, was for some time regarded as genuine, and had a per- 
 ceptible effect in stimulating the fear inspired by Russia. It was 
 supposed to represent the plans of the great Czar for the future ex- 
 tension of the power and influence of the Empire and the eventual 
 conquest of Europe, and to have been left by him as a guide for his 
 successors to follow. The affectation of carelessness which was 
 given to its style, so as to make it appear more like a memorandum 
 than an elaborate document, and the mention of events which oc- 
 curred after the death of Peter so that they should seem to be de- 
 velopments of the policy it outlined, contributed to give it currency. 
 The document is so frequently referred to in the literature relating 
 to the Eastern Question that we give in an appendix a full account 
 of its history. 
 
 The advances of Russia toward the East have appeared more 
 prominent, and have attracted a greater degree of attention within 
 the last half century than the dangers to the "West. In the East, 
 Russia is brought into direct conflict especially with two of the 
 powers, Austria and England. "We have shown in a previous 
 chapter the nature and extent of the bearing which Russian move- 
 ments in Turkey have upon the condition of the Austrian Empire. 
 Great Britain, also, as a leading commercial nation is greatly con- 
 cerned in all that takes place in the Eastern Mediterranean, 
 especially in all that relates to the trade of the coasts and the free- 
 dom of navigation; as a Christian State holding large Mohammedan 
 populations under its rule, it is vitally interested in all that affects 
 the relations of the Christian and Mohammedan nations ; and as the 
 owner of large territories in Asia, toward which the Russian con- 
 quests are steadily advancing, it watches all the movements of 
 Russia and all indications of its policy for the future with a most 
 intense anxiety, which is aggravated by the fact, that these two 
 powers, the greatest on the earth, and the only powers which can ap- 
 proach each other in extent and resources, are stretching their
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA, 643 
 
 efforts to reach the same points, and are rivals for dominion and 
 prestige in a sense and to a degree which surpass all other rivalry 
 among existing nations. Thus, the action of Russia, whether it re- 
 late to Central and Eastern Asia or to Turkey, is scrutinized in 
 England with suspicion, as involving a menace in either case ; and 
 the combination and complication of interests are such, that 
 anxiety concerning one aggravates that concerning the other. 
 Since Russia is always making some movement regarding Turkey 
 or the East, the relations of the two countries are always in a 
 critical condition. The discussion of " British Interests" has been 
 among the more prominent features of the war and the negotiations 
 which have taken place concerning it ; the existence of those 
 interests forms one of the most formidable and permanent obstacles 
 to the satisfactory settlement of the Eastern Question ; and the 
 jealousies and conflicting motives of England and Russia occupied 
 the largest share of the world's attention immediately after the con- 
 clusion of the peace of San Stefano. For these reasons, an expla- 
 nation of the character of the British interests and of the relations 
 into which they have been brought with the transactions and issues 
 of the war is necessary to an adequate understanding of the situa- 
 tion and the course which events are taking. 
 
 Russia and England are opposed to each other on all questions re- 
 lating to the East, because they are rivals for trade and dominion in 
 the East. The trade relations of both powers in Asia have been 
 built up with great expense and are nourished with great care. 
 Dominion is sought by both powers, not, as they profess, on its 
 own account, for both are already embarrassed by the extent of their 
 territories and the lack of homogeneousness of their peoples, but 
 as an incident of trade and a necessary means of protecting com- 
 mercial relations that are already established. The political and 
 commercial relations of either nation are so connected with every 
 part of the land of Asia, that hardly a question can arise with ref- 
 erence to any part of the continent that will not in some way affect 
 the interests of one or the other of them, and often bring them into 
 conflict. As the acquisitions of both powers have been extended 
 within the present century, the boundaries of their territories have 
 steadily approached each other, until now a comparatively narrow 
 neutral zone stands between them, and the time is looked forward 
 to as possibly not far distant when the pioneer armies of the two- 
 States shall meet to dispute about the boundary line. In anticipat- 
 35
 
 644 THE WAR IN THE EAST - 
 
 tion of this period, a brisk diplomatic war lias been carried on for 
 several years between the envoys of the two powers in the States 
 intervening between Russian Asia and British India, with the object 
 of gaining the precedence of influence and advantageous position. 
 
 It is chiefly by reason of these circumstances that the Eastern 
 Question has acquired so much greater importance for England and 
 Russia at this time than it had even during the Crimean war. For 
 it is since the Crimean war that the Russian Empire has been 
 stretched so far toward the East that its continued advance can be 
 regarded as involving a definite threat to the integrity of the British 
 Empire ; and what was then only a vague question of general in- 
 fluence and of events which might take place in a distant future, 
 has become for England an intensely practical problem of the safety 
 of its Indian Empire. The question is all the more momentous for 
 England because its tenure of India is in reality very frail. Its two 
 hundred thousand or more of colonists in India are only as a drop 
 in the bucket, by the side of the two hundred and forty-five millions 
 of the native and Mohammedan population ; and all the armies it 
 could pour into the country would be insufficient to repress an insur- 
 rection of the inhabitants, supported by such able and skilled lead- 
 ers as they possess of both races. The British had a foretaste of the 
 difficulties they would encounter in case of such an insurrection in 
 the mutiny of 185Y, and have since then constantly given their best 
 attention to the provision of measures that would render it impossi- 
 ble for an insurrection to gain headway. The best of such measures 
 would be futile if a powerful neighbor were on the frontier, ready, 
 for the sake of promoting its own interests, to stir up discontent and 
 give assistance to a revolt. Russia, it is feared, might become such 
 a neighbor. 
 
 The Chinese Empire has been sorely disturbed during the last 
 twenty years by insurrections among the Mohammedan populations 
 of its western provinces, who are of a kindred race with the Turks, 
 and the Russians have not scrupled to take advantage of these move- 
 ments to further their own purposes. The Sungarians of Northern 
 Mongolia having risen and expelled the Chinese from the land of 
 Hi and Kuldsha, the Russians came in and occupied the territory, 
 signifying their intention to hold it until the Chinese should be in a 
 condition again to extend their authority over it. With this occu- 
 pation they came into the immediate neighborhood of the new Mo- 
 hammedan State of Kashgar, which the adventurous chieftain Yakub
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 645 
 
 Beg had erected since 1864 within the boundaries of another Chi- 
 nese province. They were thus brought into a suggestive proximity 
 to the North-western Indian States, with which the British in India 
 had been accustomed to cultivate the closest relations next to incor- 
 porating them, into their own dominions. Yakub Beg was at first 
 suspicious of the Russians, who also did not show themselves well 
 inclined toward him. He sought a British alliance, and gave the 
 British ample opportunity to cement a friendship with him, and 
 gain an ally who would have been valuable to prevent the Russians 
 approaching nearer to them in one direction. The British were 
 slow in responding to the overtures of the Kashgarian prince, and 
 when, at last, they sent Sir Douglas Forsyth to Kashgar in 18TO, 
 they qualified his embassy with such restrictions that it had but little 
 practical result. The Russians, in the meantime, had begun to feel 
 their way into the good graces of Yakub Beg, and at length con- 
 cluded treaties with him which gave them an advantageous position 
 for influence, and such commercial facilities as conferred upon them 
 in effect the monopoly of the trade of the country. The result of 
 these maneuvers was irritating to the English, and while they did 
 not fail to award the full meed of blame to their own agents for the 
 failure of their blundering diplomacy, their jealousy and suspicion 
 of Russia were increased. The Chinese Government dispatched a 
 formidable army to restore its authority over the revolted province ; 
 the recent death of Yakub Beg who was a Turkoman of rare genius 
 deprived the State of its chief defense, and exposed it to a speedy 
 occupation by the Chinese ; but it is not yet safe to say that Russia 
 will not make its power felt in the province. 
 
 Within the last fifteen years, Russia has acquired a dominion in 
 Central Asia as large as the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the Em- 
 pire of Germany, and the kingdom of Belgium combined, and has 
 found lines of trade which extend away into the western provinces 
 of the Chinese Empire, and almost y o the borders of British India 
 itself. Its manufacturers and mer&nants control the markets through 
 most of this vast region. Its goods come into competition with 
 those of English make at several points, and have crowded them out 
 from some. It is fixing the settlement of its new territories, estab- 
 lishing civilization, replacing the nomadic and predatory occupations 
 of its former inhabitants with steady industries and enlightened en- 
 terprises, and is preparing the deserts to become the seats of pros- 
 perous States ; but in doing all this it is strengthening itself effectu-
 
 646 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ally at points where it might come in the way of its rival. During 
 the whole course of its conquests in Central Asia, the Russian Gov- 
 ernment has repeatedly given assurances that it meant no aggression ; 
 that it was obliged to take up arms to protect its merchants from the 
 depredations of the Turkomans; but hardly a year has passed with- 
 out its adding new soil to its domains, or posting its troops at some 
 position in advance. Their first movements against the predatory 
 tribes, on the Sea of Aral and the Syr Darya River, being avowedly 
 for the repression of actual robbery and lawless violence, excited 
 little alarm, for they clearly had a case in their favor. The Russians 
 were even permitted to chastise the Khans of Khokand and Bokhara 
 without exciting remark, for these barbarous despots had been guilty 
 of acts which justly called for vengeance. As they began to exercise 
 an influence in the internal affairs of these States, and to take steps 
 which looked like reducing them to a condition of vassalage, inquiry 
 was awakened as to their ultimate designs. Prince Gortchakoff, in 
 1864, issued a dispatch to the powers, which was designed to quiet 
 apprehensions, showing that the extension of the Russian territory 
 had been made under the pressure of imperious necessity, and giving 
 assurances that they would not be continued. Nevertheless, circum- 
 stances pressed to new annexations. The Khan of Khiva was re- 
 duced in 1873, only a small strip of territory being left in his posses- 
 sion, and the Khan of Khokand was conquered, and his whole territory 
 made a Russian province in 1876. The Russian armies exacted the 
 submission of the tribes as far as the borders of Kashgaria, and de- 
 tachments of their troops made their way into districts not far dis- 
 tant from the frontiers of Persia and Afghanistan. 
 
 The disposition of Afghanistan has a very important bearing upon 
 the security of British India. The territory of that State is strategi- 
 cally of great value both to the British and to their rivals, for 
 through it lead the passes by which an army can be conducted from 
 Central Asia to India. The country is practically impregnable to a 
 hostile force, as the British learned to their cost many years ago, so 
 that whoever possesses it, or can gain the friendship of its rulers and 
 people, may have things in his own way, and, in effect, command 
 the gates of India. The English have realized this fact for a long 
 time, and have endeavored to acquire such a footing in the country 
 as would make them safe. First they tried war, but when their 
 armies had been nearly annihilated in the Khyber Pass, after having 
 achieved some successes over the Afghans, they became convinced
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 647 
 
 that a forcible conquest was impossible. They then adopted a peace- 
 ful policy, concluded a treaty with the Amir, Dost Mohammed, and 
 kept him in good hurnor by the payment of subsidies as long as he 
 lived. Upon his death, in 1863, a civil war for the succession broke 
 out among his three sons, in which the English did not take sides, 
 waiting to see which would prevail. The war ended in 1868 in 
 victory for Shere Ali, the present Amir of Cabool, and the English 
 recognized him, and granted him a large annual pension. Subse- 
 quently, the Amir quarreled with his son, Yakub Khan, and counted 
 on the support of the English. He did not receive it. A breach 
 was made between him and the English, of which the Russians took 
 advantage. Their envoy was publicly received at Cabool in 1876, 
 and the British envoy was treated with coolness. During 1877, the 
 subject of declaring a holy war against England was seriously con- 
 sidered in Afghanistan. 
 
 While these events were taking place in Central Asia and 
 Afghanistan, negotiations were conducted for a short time between 
 Great Britain and Russia for the permanent adjustment of their 
 frontier interests and the prevention of future conflicts, by fixing 
 limits beyond which either power should not go. The English pro- 
 posed to make a neutral zone of Afghanistan, whose integrity and 
 independence both powers should respect. The proposition was 
 favorably received at St. Petersburg, but when it came to perfect 
 the arrangement, a difficulty was met in determining what should 
 be regarded as the exact limits of the territory of Afghanistan. The 
 English could give no guarantees that the Afghans would respect 
 the Russian domain, and the Russians, in the absence of such 
 guarantees, were not inclined to commit themselves to regard 
 Afghanistan as inviolable. The negotiations have, therefore, been 
 so far without result, but the hope that some such settlement may 
 be effected, has not been given up, and it is recognized as desirable 
 by both parties. 
 
 The English administration having failed to make a trustworthy 
 ally of the Amir of Cabool, turned its attention to his neighbor on 
 the south, the Khan of Kelat, in Beloochistan. Friendly relations 
 had existed with this chieftain for about twenty years, when they 
 were broken off during the Vice-Royalty of Lord Lytton, in India. 
 After an interruption of about three years, an effort was begun in 
 1876 to restore a good understanding, which has resulted in the con- 
 clusion of a treaty between the Indian Government and Kelat,
 
 648 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 which, in return for the pledge of support and the payment of an 
 annual subsidy, accords to the English a number of valuable privi- 
 leges, including the right to construct internal improvements in the 
 country, to build forts, and to occupy prominent points with troops. 
 Under this arrangement, a detachment of troops has been placed at 
 Quettah, close upon the Afghan frontier, and the place has been put 
 in communication with the world by a telegraph line through the 
 Bolan Pass. 
 
 At present the Russians are understood to have their eyes fixed 
 upon Merv, an important trading post in South-eastern Turkistau, 
 about equally distant from the Afghan and Persian boundary-lines, 
 and an easy march from Herat, in Afghanistan. 
 
 In all their operations in these quarters, the Russians count on the 
 friendliness of Persia, at whose court they have gained a predominant 
 influence at the expense of England, and with which their Govern- 
 ment has commercial, postal, and political alliances. Russia is, in 
 fact, in a position to compel Persia to act substantially as it desires, 
 having already established itself as a formidable neighbor along or 
 near its northern frontiers, both east and west of the Caspian Sea, 
 and being able to threaten an immediate occupation of Tabriz, its 
 northern capital, at any time. Already, Russia has exercised its in- 
 fluence in an important transaction to the discomfiture of English in- 
 terests, in having induced the Shah to annul the concessions which 
 he had made to Baron Reuter, of franchises for building railways in 
 his dominions, and grant the privilege to another company. Under 
 the franchise thus snatched from England, it is proposed to build a 
 road which shall be extended eventually through Kurdistan to Bag- 
 dad, whereby Russia will gain access, if the plan is ever carried out, 
 from a direction whence it was least expected, to the weakest part of 
 the Turkish Empire, and will cut Asia in two with a Russian belt 
 completely separating the eastern from the western part of the con- 
 tinent. 
 
 The bearing of the Russian advances on British interests in the 
 East, is clearly set forth in Mr. Rawlinson's " The British in Asia," 
 published in 1875, which carefully reviews the question in ah 1 its 
 points. Speaking of the movements of the Russians which seemed 
 to indicate a purpose to advance toward Merv, he says that they evi- 
 dently mean mischief. " Political objects of high import could alone 
 justify the movement. These objects necessarily point to Herat, 
 which would lie at the mercy of a European power holding Merv,
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 649 
 
 and whence India would be seriously threatened." Herat, adds Mr. 
 Rawlinson, " possesses natural advantages of quite an exceptional 
 proportion. It is the frontier town between Persia and India. It is 
 connected by high-roads with the capitals of all the surrounding coun- 
 tries, .... lying in an admirable climate, and is situated in the 
 midst of one of the most fertile and populous valleys of Asia. Above 
 all, the city itself is surrounded by earthworks of the most colossal 
 character, dating from prehistoric times, which might be improved 
 and rendered very strong. Russia in possession of Herat would hold 
 a grip on India, would command the military resources of Persia 
 and Afghanistan, and would oblige the English to increase their 
 frontier army by at least twenty thousand fresh men." In another 
 place the same author speaks of Herat as " the pivot of the whole 
 Eastern Question," the key to India. The importance which the 
 British have attached in the past to the freedom of this fortress-town 
 is shown by the fact that their Government sent an expedition to the 
 Persian Gulf in 1838, in order, by effecting a diversion, to compel 
 the Persians to raise the siege of Herat, and later, when the Persian 
 troops occupied the place in 1856, went to war with the Shah to com- 
 pel their withdrawal. 
 
 English writers acknowledge that Russia has gained advantages 
 over their statesmen in negotiations, both with the Asiatics and with 
 the British Government itself, and blame the blundering and halting 
 diplomacy which has permitted such a result. Captain Burnaby, of 
 the British Horse-Guards, represents, in his entertaining book, " A 
 Ride to Khiva," that he found the subject talked about by the Tartars 
 and Turkomans of Khiva, and relates a conversation which he had' 
 with the Khan of Khiva, in which that chief spoke of the Russian 
 advances in the East, and seemed to be a little surprised that the En- 
 glish regarded them with so much unconcern. " "Well," said his High- 
 ness, " the Russians will now advance to Kashgar, then to Bokhara 
 and Balkh, and so on to Merv and Herat ; you will have to fight 
 some day, whether your Government likes it or not." 
 
 A writer in the Pall Mall Gazette, speaking of the alienation of 
 the Amir Shere Ali of Afghanistan from the English and his in-, 
 clination toward the Russians, accounted for them by stating that, 
 it was well-known that that prince had plainly said that the English, 
 would never, under any circumstances, stretch out a hand to help, 
 him in time of difficulty ; that, in spite of the guns and money which, 
 they had given, he had never been able to conclude any definite alii-
 
 650 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 ance with them on which he could rely. They had abandoned Khiva 
 and Bokhara, though " they had talked big about them," and they 
 would leave Yakub Beg of Kashgar to his fate to be crushed out be- 
 tween the .Russians and the Chinese, although they had concluded 
 treaties with him, and had dispatched to him two missions. The 
 Amir, in short, in order to save himself from absorption by that 
 which he conceived to be the stronger of the two real powers in 
 Asia, intended to make terms with Russia as against England. 
 
 A.n American writer, Mr. Eugene Schuyler, who has given careful 
 attention to the subject, and whose book on " Turkistan " presents 
 one of the fairest and most complete histories of the Russian ad- 
 vances in Central Asia, characterizes the attitude of England toward 
 Russia, with regard to the points at issue, as " hardly a dignified 
 one." " There are constant questions, protests, demands for expla- 
 nations, and even threats at least in the newspapers and in Par- 
 liament but nothing ever is done." a It would seem wiser and 
 more dignified," he adds, " instead of subjecting the Russian Foreign 
 Office to constant petty annoyances, to allow the Russians plainly to 
 understand what limits they could not pass in their onward move- 
 ment. A state of mutual suspicion bodes no good to the relations 
 of any Governments." * 
 
 The Eastern relations of England and Russia had a great influence 
 upon the policy of the British Government and the attitude of 
 English parties during the war. Questions bearing upon them 
 formed the topic of most of the discussions with reference to the 
 position which the country should maintain toward the belligerents. 
 When the Liberals sought to rivet public attention upon the dis- 
 tressed condition of the Christian populations of Turkey, or de- 
 manded an imperative expression of opinion by the people and the 
 Government against the atrocities committed by the Turkish irregu- 
 lar troops upon Christian .non-combatants, the Conservatives would 
 make no other answer than that it would never do to encourage 
 Russia in a proceeding which might dismember Turkey, place Con- 
 stantinople in the hands of rivals, or interfere with the communi- 
 cations of the English with their Asiatic possessions. The division 
 of opinion with reference to the question ran very close upon the 
 division lines of the parties. The Conservatives, who were repre- 
 sented by the majority of the Ministry and controlled the Govern- 
 
 * Schuyler's "Turkistan," ii., 269.
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 651 
 
 ment, held it to be the supreme duty to checkmate Russia. The 
 Government maintained an attitude of watchful observation, aiming 
 to be always ready to interfere whenever any practical British in- 
 terest seemed to be put in danger. The Liberals of whom Mr. 
 Gladstone and Lord Hartington were the most prominent were 
 active, without intermission, to prevent any encouragement being held 
 out to Turkey to continue to refuse what they held to be the just 
 demands of Russia and the Christian populations for guarantees for 
 the permanent improvement of the condition of the latter. 
 
 In presenting their views on the merits of the case, the organs of 
 the Conservatives represented that the condition of the Christian 
 populations was only a pretext under which Russia concealed the 
 purpose to carry on a war of aggrandizement. They pointed to the 
 belief which prevailed, to a considerable extent, in other countries 
 than England, and was supported by some plausible evidence, that 
 much of the prevailing discontent was fictitious, and that the mani- 
 festations of it, under cover of which the war was made, were, in the 
 first place, instigated by Russian intrigue, and afterward kept up 
 by the influence of Russian agents in Bulgaria and Bosnia, and even 
 in Servia and Montenegro. Some went further, and expressed the 
 opinion that the warlike movements had been encouraged, not only 
 by powers in sympathy with Russia, who expected to derive ulterior 
 advantages from it, but also by other and jealous powers, who an- 
 ticipated a precipitation of general European questions, in the settle- 
 ment of which they would make some gain. Therefore, they urged, 
 England must aim to avoid unknown dangers in store. 
 
 When in the early summer campaigns it appeared certain that 
 Russia would make a speedy conquest of Armenia, the anti-Russian 
 party endeavored to excite alarm respecting the practical advantages 
 Russia would derive from its victory. It would gain, they said, a 
 rich country, with valuable harbors in the Black Sea, and a friendly 
 Christian population, so situated as to intercept all commercial in- 
 tercourse between Turkey and Persia and Central Asia ; would 
 acquire an immense prestige, inasmuch as the capture and reten- 
 tion of the great Turkish strongholds would "be the occasion of 
 amazement, consternation, and fear, from the head-waters of the 
 Euphrates to the Red Sea, from the Mediterranean to the confines 
 of China ; " would cut off a portion of English trade with Asia, bind 
 Persia in tighter bonds, and confirm its adverse disposition toward 
 the English and the Turks, render the construction of the Euphrates
 
 652 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 Yalley Railway and the opening of a new and friendly route to 
 India by way of the Persian Gulf problematical, and by causing 
 the influence of the English to wither, would insensibly, but surely 
 prejudicially, affect all their relations with the East. Then, having 
 consolidated its Armenian conquests, improved and developed the 
 country, it would, when a new generation of soldiers had grown up, 
 achieve the comparatively easy conquest of Asia Minor, and while 
 it need not disturb the Turks at Constantinople, would permanently 
 cut them off from Syria and Arabia, from Persia and the Tigris 
 Yalley. 
 
 This view of the future was alarming enough, and had the merit 
 of novelty at the time, for attention had till now been principally 
 directed to the prospects and dangers of Russian conquests in 
 Europe, and the capture of Constantinople, and had made com- 
 paratively little account of what was going on in Asia. The view 
 was supported by the appearance of a translation of a pamphlet by 
 the Austrian Baron Kuhn Yon Kuhnenfeld, written in 1858, and 
 first published in 1869, which gave a similar forecast of the prob- 
 able progress of Russia. This author ascribed the Russian move- 
 ments to the desire of securing a seaboard which would give to 
 the Empire greater facilities than could be afforded by a few Black 
 Sea ports, or even by the possession of the whole of an inland con- 
 fined sea, like the Black Sea ; in effect, to secure a Mediterranean 
 or an Ocean seaboard, or both. He predicted that it would operate 
 through Asia, where it would come into conflict with Turkey, with 
 Persia, and in the end, directly or indirectly with England. Europe 
 would be far off, not directly concerned, and would not be likely to 
 interfere. Having moved against Khiva and Bokhara, just as Rus- 
 sia has done, it would annex separate districts of Armenia, seize 
 Persian provinces, bring its full weight to bear upon the Euphrates 
 and Tigris districts and the whole of Persia ; once in possession of 
 Armenia, Syria and Asia Minor would of necessity fall to it, and 
 thus it would advance on one side to the whole eastern coast of the 
 Mediterranean, and on the other to the Persian Gulf. 
 
 A similar course of reasoning was presented by Mr. Layard, 
 British Minister at Constantinople, in a dispatch to the British 
 Foreign Office, dated May 30, 1877. He urged that whatever 
 the designs of Russia might be as to the European provinces, their 
 execution would be modified or prevented by the opposing in- 
 terests of Europe, but that no such restraint would be offered against
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 653 
 
 them in Asia. Then, after sketching the probable course of Russian 
 conquest through Armenia and Asia Minor, and the Euphrates 
 Yalley, he referred to a suspicion which existed that Russia had 
 already made secrst offers to Persia to assist her in acquiring the 
 province of Bagdad in exchange for Ghilan and Mazanderan, be- 
 lieving that it rested on grounds of intrinsic probability, inasmuch 
 as the desire of Persia to possess the province of Bagdad and the 
 shrines of the prophets and martyrs was of very ancient date, and 
 was shared by the whole Persian people, while the possession of the 
 entire coast of the Caspian Sea, and the direct road through a rich 
 and well-inhabited country to Herat and Afghanistan, and ulti- 
 mately to India, was a matter of vast political importance to Russia. 
 " The possession, by Persia, of the province of Bagdad," the dis- 
 patch continued, " would be, as far as England is concerned, its 
 possession by Russia. It must not be forgotten that the possession 
 of Armenia by Russia as regards any designs that she may have 
 upon India, supposing her to entertain them, would be very differ- 
 ent from that of any part of Turkistan or Central Asia. In Ar- 
 menia and the north of Persia she would have a hardy and abundant 
 population, affording her excellent materials for a large army, ready 
 at any time to advance upon our Indian frontier, and resting upon 
 a convenient and sure base of operations, in direct communication, 
 by the Caspian Sea and by Batum, with the heart of the Russian 
 Empire. The moral effect of the conquest of Armenia and the an- 
 nexation of Ghilan and Mazanderan by Russia upon our Moham- 
 medan subjects, and upon the populations of Central Asia, can not 
 be overlooked by a statesman who attaches any value to the reten- 
 tion of India as part of the British Empire." 
 
 When the collapse of the first Bulgarian and Armenian cam- 
 paigns revealed the weakness and inefficiency of the Russian mili- 
 tary organization, the anti-Turkish party were able to reply to these 
 dismal forebodings that the idea that had been entertained of Rus- 
 sian power was a delusion. If, after all its bluster of preparation, 
 and with all the aids it had invoked to its cause, it had not been 
 able to make any headway against an effete and disorganized nation 
 like the Turks, but had been ignominiously thrown back at every 
 point, then it could have no military strength, and could be no 
 match for a well-organized and drilled and effectively-administered 
 nation like England. While the probability, even the certainty, 
 that the Russians would eventually come victors out of the war, was
 
 654 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 admitted, it was held that the victory would not indicate that Rus- 
 sia was any stronger than it now appeared to be, hut only that it 
 had greater powers of endurance than Turkey, and would be only 
 the victory of an intrinsically weak nation over a still weaker one. 
 
 In reply to this, it was urged that military success was not all 
 that was to be feared from Russia, but that it had a faculty of con- 
 quering by diplomacy. Once give it a position of advantage, it 
 would extend its power by negotiation, if not by arms, and as 
 effectively as even with the best successes of arms. The Russian 
 diplomatic transactions during the insurrections in the European 
 provinces, and before the outbreak of the war, had been extraor- 
 dinary successes, and had almost resulted in the dismemberment of 
 the Turkish Empire, without its being necessary to strike a blow 
 directly. Similar results had attended their negotiations elsewhere, 
 and the inference was justified, that " whenever the conclusion of 
 the war with Turkey leaves them opportunity and leisure, the Rus- 
 sians will find no field so promising as the countries between their 
 own provinces and India."* 
 
 The Liberal party considered the subject from a -very different 
 point of view from that of the Conservatives. They regarded 
 chiefly the duty of England, as a Christian State and the leader of 
 civilization, to seek an amelioration of the wrongs which the Chris- 
 tian populations of Turkey were suffering from their enforced deg- 
 radation, from misgovernment, from the failure of the Turkish 
 promises to amend their condition, and from such recent horrible 
 incidents as the atrocities in Bulgaria. They believed that the 
 Turkish Government owed its continued existence in Europe 
 largely to British power and influence, and that it leaned upon 
 England as a prop to support it in refusing even the reasonable de- 
 mands of the powers for guarantees of reforms. They thought that 
 their country was disgraced by tolerating the continuance of abuses 
 for so long a time, and that it would be infamous to tolerate them 
 longer; and they advocated, not participation in the war, but that 
 the Government, informing Turkey that it should not have British 
 support in any contingency, should admonish it effectually to grant 
 the reforms demanded, with guarantees, and remove all pretext for 
 war and Russian encroachment. They believed that if such a de- 
 mand had been made in the beginning, the Turkish Government, 
 
 * Pall Mall Budget, September 18, 1877.
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 655 
 
 seeing that its case was hopeless, would have granted it ; whereas, 
 the British Government, by its drifting policy, had allowed the 
 Turks to delude themselves with vague hopes that England would 
 sometime interfere for them, and had thus encouraged them to be 
 obstinate, and was, therefore, indirectly responsible for the war. 
 The question of trade routes and Eastern Asian relations was not 
 insignificant, but should, in this case, be subordinated to that of 
 duty, which was paramount. They even represented that a correct 
 settlement of the latter question would remove many of the diffi- 
 culties in the way of the satisfactory adjustment of the other one. 
 
 If England, they urged, had firmly, consistently, and honestly sup- 
 ported Russia in its reasonable demands, it would have had influence 
 to prevent unreasonable ones being made. It would have had a 
 measure of control on all the subsequent proceedings so long as it 
 adhered steadfastly and sincerely to the right. If, when Turkey 
 proved contumacious, if such a thing could be supposed, in view of 
 the moral force which a firm attitude would have borne, England 
 had gone forward with Russia to war, or had held entirely aloof 
 from Turkey, it would have been able to restrain the war, to tell 
 Russia when its conquests should stop, and to have a potential voice 
 in fixing the adjustments to be made upon the conclusion of peace. 
 In that case it would have been in a position to secure, without se- 
 rious embarrassment or controversy, the advantages it desired, its 
 trade routes and relations, and, most likely, a permanent adjust- 
 ment of all rivalries and conflicting relations in the East. All of 
 these advantages had been thrown away by imbecility and halting 
 diplomacy, just as the alliances of the Eastern Asiatic Princes had 
 been lost by similar means. The jealousy of Russia had been 
 aroused, Turkey was dissatisfied, and the views of England would 
 count for nothing when the time for settlement came. 
 
 The Liberals made less of the danger to trade, and Eastern influ- 
 ence involved in a Russian occupation of Armenia and Asia Minor, 
 than did the men of the opposite party. Since the Suez Canal had 
 passed into English hands, the overland routes had lost much of 
 their importance. Let them guard Egypt and the integrity of this 
 route, without reference to Turkey, and British commerce might 
 risk the posression of the Black Sea and the eastern coasts by Rus- 
 sia. On the last point they were not widely separated from the Con- 
 servatives, who, foreseeing that the Russian occupation of Armenia 
 was probably only a question of time, advised that especial atten-
 
 656 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 tion should be immediately given toward securing the interests at 
 Suez. 
 
 The view entertained by the British Cabinet of the manner in 
 which English interests might be affected by the policy of the Rus- 
 sians and the success of their arms as against Turkey, was indicated 
 in the dispatch sent by Earl Derby to Prince Gortchakoff on the 6th 
 of May, 1877, just after the beginning of the war, when the unob- 
 structed navigation of the Suez Canal, respect for the integrity of 
 Egypt, the freedom of Constantinople from occupation by other 
 than its present possessors, the maintenance of the existing regula- 
 tions concerning the navigation of the Bosporus and Dardanelles, 
 and the British interests in the Persian Gulf, were mentioned as 
 points which the Government was determined to defend. The re- 
 ply of Prince Gortchakoff to the dispatch, while it disclaimed any 
 intention on the part of Russia at striking immediately at any 
 of the interests named by Earl Derby, was so hedged about with 
 conditions and reservations, that it gave no real assurance that in 
 the course of the war some excuse would not be found for putting 
 some of these objects in peril. 
 
 Six months after Earl Derby's note was written, at the Lord 
 Mayor's banquet in London, November 9th, Earl Beaconsfield, the 
 Premier, repeated the points which the Foreign Secretary had stated, 
 in almost the same words. Her Majesty's Government, he said, had 
 declared their policy at the outset of the war. It was not a policy 
 framed for the occasion, and merely because war had been declared, 
 but was one which had been deeply considered, it was unanimously 
 adopted, and had been unanimously maintained. It was the policy 
 of conditioned neutrality, of a neutrality which must cease if British 
 interests were menaced. The Premier combatted the idea that Tur- 
 key was an effete State, not able to be independent, which was con- 
 tradicted, he said, by the bravery and achievements of the half 
 million of warriors it had put into the field. 
 
 The Liberal statesmen gave free expression to their views on 
 erery suitable occasion. The words of Mr. Gladstone, in particular, 
 were remarkably strong, whether in his public speeches or in the 
 articles which he gave to the public through the Press. Speaking 
 in the House of Commons on the 14th of May, he said that the war 
 might even now be ended within a fortnight if England would con- 
 sent to restore the European concert, and pointed out what a dis- 
 grace it would be to England if the liberty of the Christians were
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 657 
 
 secured by an agreement between Turkey and Russia alone. Speak- 
 ing to the Exeter Liberal Association on the 13th of July, he 
 lamented that England had not been the means of avoiding the war, 
 as it might have been, if it had promoted the concert of Europe in- 
 stead of checking it, if it had contemplated vigorous action instead 
 of idle words. He had no doubt that if the Government had twelve 
 months, or even nine or six months before declared to Turkey that 
 Europe was in earnest and must not be trifled with, the Christians 
 would have been relieved " by a process perfectly safe and effectual," 
 and peace would have been preserved. He was very sorry to say 
 that there were many indications "of a disposition to raise vain 
 alarms about British interests, which are in no danger at all. Let 
 us," he said, " on the other hand, preach the doctrine of British du- 
 ties. Let us recollect what was the undimmed brilliancy of British 
 honor ; let us remember that this question of the East is not for us 
 a new question ; that it is through us that Turkey now enjoys the 
 power she has been so grievously and scandalously misusing, that it 
 is our duty to endeavor to redress the mischief that we may uncon- 
 sciously have done." 
 
 Mr. John Bright, in a speech at Bradford on the 25th of July^ 
 said that England was utterly alone in Europe with respect to the 
 closing of the Bosporus and to any question of danger as con- 
 nected with the closing of the Suez Canal. Among other nations 
 the English demands were felt to be unreasonable and arrogant, and 
 he confessed that he sometimes felt that the English were in danger 
 of a European combination against them, and that they would find 
 themselves " not triumphant, but baffled." 
 
 Lord Hartington, the recognized Parliamentary leader of the 
 Liberals, speaking at Glasgow, Scotland, on the 6th of November, 
 said that to see in the Eastern Question nothing whatever except the 
 question of the security of the route to India, was a totally one-sided 
 and totally inadequate view of the case, because it altogether set 
 aside what was, after all, of the greatest interest to England in the 
 matter, the preservation of peace. The Government had boasted 
 that the policy which they were pursuing was a selfish policy. He 
 was not going to say that a selfish policy was necessarily a wrong 
 one for a British Minister to pursue, but he would maintain that if 
 a Govern merit pursued a selfish policy, it ought to be not only selfish, 
 but intelligent. A policy which looked entirely to British interests, 
 omitting all consideration of the interest of other States, was not
 
 658 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 intelligent ; because, however naturally English people might take 
 this view, it was impossible to expect it would be taken by other 
 nations. 
 
 Lord Northbrook, a former Yiceroy of India, made a decided 
 speech at Winchester on the 9th of November, in which he utterly 
 condemned the idea that Russia could be dangerous to the British 
 dominion in India. It had fallen to his lot, he said, in 1853, when 
 the English were at war with Russia, to be one of those who were 
 directed to inquire whether Russia could affect the British in India, 
 or they could injure Russia in Central Asia. They came to the 
 conclusion that the idea of a Russian attack on India was " perfectly 
 futile." The danger was " a mere bugbear." If this was true in 
 1853, it was much more true now, for the British were much 
 stronger in India than in 1853, the European army having been 
 tripled, and the triangular railway completed. The extension of 
 Russia in Central Asia, he said, was a natural process, like their own 
 extension in India, and was attended on the whole with benefit, a 
 point which was illustrated by the suppression, under Russian 
 pressure, of the atrocious slave trade carried on by the Turkoman 
 tribes. These remarks had the more force, since the policy which 
 Lord Northbrook had pursued as Yiceroy in India, as well as that 
 which Lord Lawrence, another very successful Yiceroy, had fol- 
 lowed, had been in accordance with the views expressed in them. 
 
 Mr. Forster gave a novel view of the case, and one wholly con- 
 tradictory of the fears which the Conservatives had urged that 
 news of Russian victories would rouse all the East against British 
 rule, when he pointed out in his speech at Bristol in November, that 
 the defeat of Europe in Asia by a Mohammedan power would be at 
 least as threatening to British rule in Asia as the occupation of 
 Erzerum by Russia. 
 
 These views, so firmly and ably expressed by men for whom all 
 Englishmen had a sincere respect, had an assuring effect upon the 
 minds of the people at large, and were reflected in a modified tone 
 of the more thoughtful Conservative speakers, and in the appear- 
 ance of articles calculated to assuage apprehension in journals 
 whose affiliations would have justified the expectations of declara- 
 tions from them of the most alarming character. 
 
 The Saturday Review^ a journal which speaks to the more cul- 
 tivated class of English Conservatives, and is read by all the world, 
 in its issue of the 10th of November, when the Russian conquest of
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 659 
 
 / 
 
 Armenia had become a foregone conclusion, brought forward sev- 
 eral considerations as tending to show that the result would not be 
 as injurious to British interests as had been apprehended. It said : 
 " With the exception of Batum, all Eastern Armenia is virtually 
 in the possession of the conquerors, and the acquisition may be per- 
 manently retained if it is thought advisable. None of the Conti- 
 nental Powers have any motive for objecting to trie extension of 
 Russian dominion in Asia, and the alarm which has been expressed 
 by some English writers is not a little fanciful. The possession of 
 the upper valley of a river offers no especial facilities for the 
 acquisition of the territory further down. If the Russians hereafter 
 wish to conquer Bagdad, or the plains between the Euphr%tes and 
 the Tigris, it will matter little whether their base of operations is 
 Alexandropol or Kars. It is not altogether desirable that Russia 
 should occupy the nearest land passage to India, but no practicable 
 route exists at present through the Valley of the Euphrates ; and, in 
 other respects, there is as little strategic connection between Ar- 
 menia and India as between the Pyrenees and Poland. English- 
 men may, for the present, regard with equanimity a Russian annex- 
 ation, which they are in any case powerless to prevent." 
 
 A parallel view, from a stand-point outside of England, was given 
 in the Allgemeine Zeitung, one of the leading papers of Germany, 
 of the 25th of October. It showed that English interests in Ar- 
 menia were really very insignificant ; that the preponderance of 
 their interests in South-eastern Turkey lay in the extreme corner 
 of the Empire, as at Bagdad and Bozra, and a few other points 
 around the Persian Gulf and along the Persian frontier ; and that 
 no English statesman had ever shown, or could show, what was the 
 connection between these points and Armenia or any of the neg- 
 lected Black Sea ports, for no such connection existed. Moreover, 
 British interests had, within ten years, been drawn toward the line 
 between the Nile and the Syro-Pho3nician coasts and the Persian 
 Gulf, while those of Russia were identical with the ancient trade- 
 routes from the Black Sea through Armenia to Northern Persia. 
 These two lines run parallel only in theory. Between them lay 
 the whole Turkish Empire, and all the differences in productions, 
 wants, material and spiritual conditions of the North and the South. 
 The danger to English interests in Armenia was mostly imaginary, 
 for the English had no important interests there. They had no 
 trade through Erzerum or Armenia to India. Of the three hundred 
 36
 
 660 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 steamers which entered the port of Trebizond annually, one-third 
 were Russian and only five bore the English flag ; and of the one 
 thousand vessels which called at three other ports on the same coast, 
 only seven were English. In fact, England had had no relations 
 with this region for ten years. 
 
 Even some of the Conservative statesmen, and men who had rela- 
 tions with the Government, took occasion sometimes to speak, dep- 
 recating agitation. Sir Stafford Northcote, on the 24th of January, 
 1877, said, at a Conservative meeting, that the Government had no 
 unworthy jealousy of Russia, and to say that they had ever abstained 
 frcm anything that they thought would be useful and right, because 
 of such a feeling, was distinctly false, and great harm had been 
 done by the propagation of the idea that they were guided by it. 
 
 The Marquis of Salisbury, Secretary of State for India, who was 
 the special representative of the British Government at the Confer- 
 ence of the powers at Constantinople, in December, 1876, at a ban- 
 quet held on the llth of June, made light of the fears that the Rus- 
 sian advance would involve danger to India, and set out against 
 them the picture of a friend of his, who, he assumed, lived at the 
 Cape of Good Hope, that the same advances were a serious menace 
 to South Africa. 
 
 Earl Derby was visited on the 28th of November, 1 877, by a deputa- 
 tion of three societies, seeking active interference in favor of Turkey. 
 He replied that he could not, for his own part, think that the true 
 line of communication between England and India lay through the 
 Euphrates Valley. He believed that, so long as they had the Suez 
 Canal uninterrupted and unimpeded, they had a communication 
 sufficient for all purposes. Some one having suggested that the 
 Suez Canal would be endangered if the Russians should get Trebi- 
 zond, he answered that that was difficult of proof, and he should 
 have to suspend his judgment upon the point. He thought there 
 was no immediate danger of the Afghans being joined, in case of a 
 revolt, by the Mohammedan population of India. No such co-oper- 
 ation had been given in the war of twenty-five years ago, and he 
 thought it would not be given now. 
 
 As the year drew to a close, a plain division appeared in the Cab- 
 inet, Earl Beaconsfield leading the party which favored the assump- 
 tion of a hostile attitude toward Russia, and Earl Derby and those 
 who agreed with him advocating a continued neutrality and the 
 preservation of peace. This division grew more marked as the cer-
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 66 1 
 
 tainty of the Russian triumph became more apparent ; it continued 
 to widen as the discussions over the attitude which the Government 
 should pursue, in view of the behavior of Russia with reference to 
 the questions involved in its treaty of peace with Turkey, grew 
 more animated, and resulted in the resignation of Earl Derby as 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the 28th of March, 1878. 
 
 The danger of collision between England arid Russia is remote 
 and contingent, and could be easily avoided if the two nations would 
 put aside their jealousy. Those Englishmen who entertain a mor- 
 bid fear of a conflict mistake a possibility for a probability, and are 
 contributing more than any other cause by their passionate expres- 
 sions to increase the danger of it arising. The two nations have no 
 occasion to contend in Asia. Each has more territory than it desires, 
 and feels burdened by the extent and responsibility of its dominions ; 
 and each has work enough to employ it a century in developing the 
 resources and assimilating the peoples of its acquisitions. Both 
 States affirm, with truth, that they have been driven to successive 
 conquests by the necessity of preserving peace on their borders, and 
 of protecting vested interests ; and it follows, that when they shall 
 have extended their dominions so as to join, they will have no oc- 
 casion to quarrel ; for they will have assured the preservation of 
 peace and the protection of vested interests throughout the con- 
 tinent. 
 
 The occupation of the whole of Central Asia by Great Britain 
 and Russia would be of vast benefit to the countries immediately 
 concerned, and would constitute a strong impulse to civilization. 
 Good has followed every conquest that either country has made in 
 these regions. British rule has been a great blessing to India. It 
 has brought that vast and populous country into the family of civil- 
 ized nations ; has delivered its inhabitants from a host of petty 
 tyrannies ; has freed them from the slavery of brutal customs and 
 degrading superstitions, furnishing them instead the opportunity to 
 improve their manhood ; has developed the resources of the country, 
 filling it with railroads and all modern inventions ; has stimulated 
 enterprise and built up commerce, and infused life and promoted 
 growth where everything was still and in decay. It is just, though 
 Severe, and Hindoos and Mohammedans acknowledge its excellence, 
 while they complain of it as a foreign domination. Every neigh- 
 boring State to which it is extended feels an immediate benefit 
 from it, and the adjoining barbarous principalities which have not
 
 662 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 yet received it are taught by what they can observe of its fruits, 
 that there are desirable gifts in the way of law and arts which they 
 have not reached. The world has also learned much that is valuable 
 from India, for which it is indebted largely to British agency in 
 making accessible the treasuries of knowledge which the Empire 
 contains. 
 
 In a similar manner Russia, however much we may deprecate the 
 application of its despotic theories of government to civilized 
 European States, has conferred incalculable good on the barbarous 
 hordes of Central Asia by subjugating them. It has substituted 
 law and order where arbitrary caprice, violence, and robbery pre- 
 vailed. For the first time in their history, the Turkomans know 
 what it is to be governed under an established system, with fixed 
 rules, based upon principles which regard the rights of persons and 
 property. Profitable industries and a settled life are being intro- 
 duced into districts which were formerly ravaged every year by pred- 
 atory nomads. Colonies are being planted to till the waste places 
 and make the desert fruitful. Railroads and telegraphs are built ; 
 plans are on foot for restoring the rivers and canals for irrigation, 
 and measures are contemplated which have in view the conversion 
 of lands which only anarchy has made barren into productive coun- 
 tries. The fact appears through all the works of the few persons 
 who have visited Turkistan, that the Turkomans, while they profess 
 to hate the Russians, appreciate the better order and the promise of 
 future prosperity which they have given them. 
 
 The destinies of Asia seem to have fallen into the hands of these 
 two powers. While they both have so much that they can accomplish 
 for the good of mankind and their own glory in their own especial 
 fields it would be criminal for them to quarrel. While the field of 
 action is so large for each, there is no need that they should quarrel. 
 Those men are the wisest and the nearest to the truth who point out 
 that there is no real occasion for collision between them. If their 
 statesmen shall be able to agree upon a line of division which shall 
 limit the inarch pi the one to the East, of the other to the West, 
 and then go to work in good faith, each to build up their own Em- 
 pire, peace would be assured, civilization extended, and the world at 
 large as well as the people of Asia would receive incalculable benefit. 
 The best statesmen of Russia and England look to this as the end 
 of all their negotiations and suspicions. No good reason exists why 
 it should not be reached very soon.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE NATIONALITY PRINCIPLE AND THE FINAL ISSUE OF THE EASTERN 
 
 QUESTION. 
 
 The End of the War brings New Complications New Conflicting Interests How shall 
 they be Settled ? The Influences which Control the Adjustment of State Lines 
 Dynastic Considerations The Principle of Nationalities Its History Italian and 
 German Unity The Nationality Principle in Austria Its Application to European 
 Turkey Indications that it will gain Strength It affords the Best Guide to a Final 
 Adjustment. 
 
 THE ending of the war has not brought a settlement of the Eastern 
 Question, but has only caused it to be presented in a new aspect, 
 hardly less formidable than those with which the world has hitherto 
 been bewildered. The arrangements of the Treaty of San Stefano 
 are only a first step in a road which promises to be full of difficulties 
 and complications, to engage the attention of the peoples and powers 
 of Europe, and involve them in future misunderstandings, and per- 
 haps wars. The Turks have at last been so nearly driven out of 
 Europe, that it has become evident to all that their final expulsion is 
 only a question of time, and their Empire, which only four hundred 
 years ago was 'the terror of the civilized world, has been put back to 
 a position of inferiority and doomed to a certain gradual extinction. 
 New States have been set up to take a part of its place in Europe, 
 and the candidates are claiming the rest of the portion to be divided 
 out in a few years if not now. This, which has been accomplished, 
 although it is much, is only the beginning of the trouble. To ex- 
 tend the use of that which has been a favorite figure among the Eu- 
 ropean diplomatists, the sick man is dead ; next begins the quarrel- 
 ling over his will. 
 
 We have described in the previous chapters the most important of 
 the conflicting interests and jealousies which impede the permanent 
 settlement of the affairs of the Balkan peninsula. They are partly 
 intrinsic and essential, but some of them are of outside origin, and 
 
 their relation to Turkey is only one of their incidents. This, how- 
 
 (663)
 
 664 THE WAR IN THE EAST - 
 
 ever, does not prevent their being very formidable subjects for con- 
 sideration. The intrinsic and essential interests concern the welfare 
 and relations of the Christian peoples of European Turkey. The 
 four different nationalities to whom the Balkan peninsula seems 
 chiefly to belong, rub against each other at several points, and are so 
 mixed at their boundaries that it is hard to tell, for some distance, 
 on either side of the line, where one begins and the other ends. The 
 Bulgarians and the Servians overlap each other through a consider- 
 able district, so that in the adjustment of their respective territories, 
 which has been made by the Treaty of San Stefano, either nation is 
 aggrieved that a part of the territory which it believes should be 
 given to it, is allotted to the other. The Russians, moreover, have 
 provided so liberally for Bulgaria, as to have given it considerable 
 possessions along the sea-coast which were regarded as more properly 
 belonging to the Greeks. These difficulties, however, which are of 
 not uncommon occurrence among peoples which occupy adjoining 
 territories, would be simple and comparatively easy of settlement, 
 were they not complicated by the outside difficulties which engage 
 the attention of the nations who are to decide upon the adjustment 
 to a much larger degree than the wishes of the provinces. Prominent 
 among these are the jealousy and fear of Russia, which have been 
 aggravated by the easy disposition it has made of Turkey, and by the 
 determination it has manifested to go on in its own course regardless 
 of the .protests of its neighbors. Russia is regarded, particularly by 
 Austria, as the embodiment of Panslavism, and Panslavism is looked 
 upon as a greedy monster, which is going to swallow everything that 
 is Slavic, and a good deal that is not Slavic, if only a trifle of Slavic 
 is mixed with it, and whose progress is sure to produce other Eastern 
 complications indefinitely. As it is threatened on one side by Rus- 
 sia and Panslavism, so Austria is threatened on the other side by the 
 progress of two of the new States Rumania, whose peoples are 
 affiliated with those of its provinces of Bukowina and Transylvania, 
 and Servia, whose people and its own south Slavs have long dreamed 
 of union and independence together. The contest between England 
 and Russia for dominion in the East, if it comes to blows, is likely to 
 be one of portentous magnitude and of indefinite duration. Both pow- 
 ers are too large and their interests are too extensive, for either to 
 yield without an exhausting struggle. The particular point on which 
 the attention of these two nations is now centered Constantinople 
 has been the pivot upon which all the Eastern troubles have, till
 
 THE NA TIONALITY PRINCIPLE. 665 
 
 very recently, hinged ; it is too important a point to be trusted in the 
 hands of any strong power. It has been left with Turkey because 
 Turkey being weak could do no harm with it, and leaving it there 
 saved the trouble of providing a new disposition for it. Europe will 
 not quietly see England and Russia disposing of Constantinople alone ; 
 and the war, or the negotiations, for its control can hardly fail to in- 
 volve the whole world, and lead to incalculable perplexities. Thus 
 the final issue is uncertain, and as far from settlement as ever. It, 
 in fact, admits of no lasting settlement, unless some just, equitable, 
 and impartial basis can be found on which all nations can be forced 
 to agree, as a principle, by a reference to which all the points shall 
 be decided. 
 
 The history of the nineteenth century gives some valuable in- 
 struction respecting the character and strength of the agencies 
 which are likely to be chiefly instrumental in shaping the future of 
 the Eastern complication, and furnishes also a clue to the principle 
 to which the ultimate settlement will have to conform. The cen- 
 tury has been marked by the predominance of two great and often 
 opposing influences operating to control the boundaries and rela- 
 tions of States, one of which, although it seemed all-powerful during 
 the first years of the century, has had to yield to the other wherever 
 the two have come in conflict, and seems now to be gradually being 
 supplanted by the other. The' first of these influences is that of 
 dynastic considerations, under the weight of which the great powers 
 combined to adjust and preserve a balance of control on the con- 
 tinent in such a manner as it was thought would secure their own 
 strength and growth, regardless of the interests of the smaller States 
 and of all other considerations, and would protect them against real 
 or fancied dangers which might arise from the increase of any of 
 them singly, from the rise of new States, or from new combinations 
 of other States. The dynastic considerations have so far, as we 
 ha\ r e seen in the preceding chapters, been the commanding in- 
 fluences which have prevented the solution of the Eastern Question, 
 and under which Turkey has been upheld as a power so long after 
 it had lost its capacity to maintain a real self-existence. Under the 
 influence of these considerations, Europe was parceled out, by the 
 treaties of 1815, among a certain number of ruling families, in total 
 disregard of natural boundary lines or of the rights of the people, 
 in such a manner that of a few selected dynasties none should be 
 strong enough to become a terror to any of the others. Thus, it
 
 666 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 was imagined, the occurrence of new disturbances among the States 
 and the rise of new complications could be postponed for an in- 
 definite period. 
 
 This arrangement, which the diplomats of the Great Powers of 
 the time thought was to be their lasting monument, has been 
 thoroughly destroyed within the last thirty years, by the operation 
 of various causes, the chief of which is the second influence we have 
 mentioned that of the principle of nationalities. This principle 
 impels the dismembered portions of peoples having the same origin 
 and speaking the same language, who have had at some time a 
 common history, and have certain interests in common, to seek each 
 other out, affiliate with each other, and form a political union un der 
 a central government. Under its operation, the map of Europe 
 has undergone important changes since the revolutions of 1848, in 
 connection with which its first marked manifestations were made. 
 It is still a living force, and is destined to produce still further 
 changes in the relations of States. It has been successfully applied 
 to the reorganization of two of the most important countries of 
 Europe Italy and Germany. Italy was disorganized by the over- 
 throw of the Roman Empire, and had been broken into a number 
 of weak commonwealths ever since. The contentions of its rival 
 States and factions had become a European scandal. Its people 
 were despised, and were accredited with all the vices, and hardly 
 any of the virtues. It was reparceled by the Treaty of Vienna 
 into a number of petty States, some of which were contemptible in 
 dimensions, and placed under the control of as many sovereigns, 
 most of whom were also contemptible, and despots besides, and 
 were branches and tools of the house of Austria. Besides the Pope, 
 only one of all the princes which were provided for it was an Italian. 
 This was the king of Sardinia. The contrast of the Italy of 1848 
 with the peninsula which had shone with the glories of ancient 
 Rome was terrible ; and the idea that the country could be regen- 
 erated was regarded as impossible, and the aspirations of the people 
 for national unity, which then began to be heard, were considered 
 fit subjects for ridicule. The sneer, " Italy is a geographical ex- 
 pression," was often repeated, in a tons indicating that the coun- 
 try could never hope to be again anything else. The revolutionary 
 efforts of 1848 gave voice to a call of the people for Italian unity. 
 The call was echoed by the one Italian prince of the peninsula, the 
 king of Sardinia, and was supported by the arm and enthusiasm of
 
 THE NATIONALITY PRINCIPLE. 667 
 
 Garibaldi, and the sagacious counsel of Cavour. Each worked in his 
 own way for the realization of the idea, and with equal effect, 
 Garibaldi inspiring the people, the king extending the welcome 
 protection of the State over them, the minister devising constitu- 
 tional provisions. The Austrians were driven from most of Lom- 
 bardy in 1859 ; four States of the center entered the Union in 1860. 
 Garibaldi won Sicily in the same year ; Yenice and Yerona were 
 gained from Austria in 1866, and the last remaining part of the 
 peninsula was recovered, and Yictor Emmanuel was proclaimed 
 King of all Italy at its eternal capital in 18TO. Under the opera- 
 tion of the principle of nationality, this country, which was hope- 
 lessly divided, despised, and a reproach, within the memory of 
 young men has become a compact nation, enjoying popular self- 
 government, and is now one of the freest and most progressive States 
 of civilization, and one of the acknowledged Great Powers of 
 Europe. 
 
 The German Empire had ceased to be a solid State two hundred 
 years ago. Under the increase of Prussia, and the growing rivalry 
 between that kingdom and Austria, the nation suffered from divis- 
 ions and lost in strength. During the wars of Napoleon, the name 
 of the Empire disappeared. It was succeeded by the German Con- 
 federation, then by the Zollverein (or Customs Union), neither of 
 which had any strong bond of connection, or were able to make the 
 German name felt abroad as it had been felt during the whole of 
 the middle ages. Germany was so happy as to escape the deca- 
 dence of Italy, for its people always preserved their intellectual 
 eminence, and never let go the traditions of their fatherland, but it 
 was wholly without influence. Austria and Prussia were known as 
 bitter rivals, whose conflicts always defeated national aspirations ; 
 besides these powers, were numerous smaller States, some of which 
 were very insignificant, and all of which, despite their wealth and 
 high civilization, counted for nothing in the world's politics. Ar 
 effort was made, during the revolutions of 1848, to bring the thirty- 
 nine States into a closer union, but it was defeated by an adverse 
 combination of circumstances, partly of home, partly of foreign ori- 
 gin. The national principle, however, was strong, and would pre- 
 vail over all obstacles. It was first manifested effectively in the 
 war which resulted in incorporating the German provinces of Den- 
 mark with the Confederation, in 1864. Then Austria and Prussia 
 quarreled in 1866, and the war which ensued resulted in the exclu-
 
 668 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 sion of Austria, and the establishment of Prussia as the leading 
 State of Germany. Prussia united the Northern States with itself 
 into the North German Confederation, and began the building up 
 of a solid Germany. The war with France led to the adhesion of 
 the Southern States to this confederation, and the restoration of the 
 German name to a position of influence. King "William, the vic- 
 torious, was crowned at the capital of France Emperor of Germany, 
 on the 18th of January, 18T1, and the new Empire at once assumed 
 the acknowledged position of the first power in actual strength and 
 influence on the earth. The annexation of Alsace and Lorraine to 
 Germany, which was one of the incidents of this great event, is an- 
 other triumph of the nationality principle, inasmuch as it was the 
 restoration to their normal national relations of two German prov- 
 inces which had long been held by France. 
 
 Besides Italy and Germany, the two European countries which 
 have been most conspicuously agitated by the question of nationali- 
 ties are Austria and Turkey. Nearly all the troubles which Aus- 
 tria suffers, and has suffered since 1848, may be ascribed to the 
 working of this question. It was at the bottom of the Hungarian 
 Revolution in 1848. The Magyars sought the recognition of their 
 nationah'ty, and its elevation to influence in Hungary. They were 
 opposed by the Slavs, who wished to be recognized in the same dis- 
 tricts, and by the Germans, who were not then willing to divide 
 their power. The Compromise of 1867 was a recognition of the 
 national claims of the Magyars, and gave peace to the nation on 
 that quarter. It, however, did not satisfy the Slavs, but rather 
 increased their urgency for recognition, to which the Government 
 yielded by making partial concessions to the Croats. Besides these 
 nationalities, the Czechs, the Poles, the Servians, the Lithuanians, 
 and the Rumanians, all form distinct and sometimes opposing com- 
 munities, whose appetite for recognition has been whetted by what 
 has been done for their neighbors. As Austria has already lost its 
 Italian provinces and its influence in Germany, by the agitation of 
 this question, so it is likely to lose other of its populations, unless it 
 can devise some means of satisfying them all without loosing them 
 from the State a problem which may fitly tax the resources of the 
 ablest minds and the most fertile in expedients. 
 
 Of the aspirations of the four nationalities in Turkey, those of 
 one the Bulgarians have been the .most fully met. They have, 
 in fact, got more than they had reason to expect. The fact can not
 
 THE NATIONALITY PRINCIPLE. 669 
 
 fail, however, to excite the desires of the others to the highest pitch, 
 one of which, the Greek, has as jet obtained nothing, but sees a 
 part of what it claimed gi?en to its rival, the Bulgarians. The 
 Greeks, and the Servians of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are still dis- 
 satisfied, and the Greeks, at least will never give up the struggle 
 till they have gained what they are convinced, now more firmly 
 than ever, is their right. 
 
 The more education advances among these struggling nationalities, 
 the more will the masses begin to participate actively in their efforts 
 for the realization of their national hopes. Those who have the 
 management of educational affairs, will take care, as the regenerators 
 of Bulgaria have done, and as the Greeks are doing, that the instruc- 
 tion given is national in spirit and influence. The literature of all 
 the nationalities, which already, even in the present condition of 
 general ignorance, forms a strong bond between them, is thoroughly 
 impregnated with the national aspirations, and will strengthen the 
 movement for national autonomy just in proportion as the masses 
 of the people are able to read and digest it. As Homer was the 
 bond of the ancient Greeks, as German literature has been a tower 
 of strength in cementing the unity of the German race, as Dante in 
 the middle ages planted, and Manzoni and Gioberti in modern times 
 revived and stimulated the Italian sentiment for unity, and as liter- 
 ature has proved a powerful weapon with the Panslavists, so are the 
 poets and story-tellers of Rumania and Servia and Bulgaria and 
 Modern Greece and they are not few cultivating and diffusing 
 and strengthening similar sentiments among the people to whom 
 they speak. Thus the cohesive force of these nationalities is con- 
 stantly tending to become stronger ; and how tenacious a nationality 
 can be, under the most adverse circumstances, is exemplified in the 
 case of the Poles, upon whom even the alluring temptations of Pan- 
 slavism have as yet exerted no influence. 
 
 None of the nationalities of Turkey or Austria can furnish the 
 constituents for a new Empire on the basis of nationality equal to a 
 united Italy or a united Germany. None of them has a population 
 to compare with that of Italy or of Germany. The Poles num- 
 ber about 11,000,000; the Eumanians, 8,000,000; the Servians, 
 7,500,000 ; the Czechs, 7,000,000 ; the Bulgarians, 5,000,000 ; while 
 Italy has a population of 26,800,000 and Germany one of 42,727,000. 
 Those nationalities which are destined to see their aspirations fulfilled 
 will owe their deliverance or extension, like Bulgaria, to the pro-
 
 670 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 tection or co-operation of one of the larger powers, acting more for 
 selfish interests than for the fulfillment of any abstract principle. 
 But as the popular sympathy of the Italians with the Government 
 of Sardinia aided in the foundation of the Kingdom of Italy ; as 
 Prussia needed the co-operation of the movement for nationality 
 among the Germans for the establishment of the German Empire ; 
 and as the national aspirations of the Christian populations of 
 European Turkey have played a prominent part in the overthrow 
 of Turkish rule in Europe so the aspirations of the nationalities, 
 which still remain dismembered for union and restoration, may be 
 expected to form an important factor in the transformation of South- 
 eastern Europe ; that is to say, in the solution of the Eastern Ques- 
 tions, which are hereafter to be brought to the surface. 
 
 In view of the great uncertainty which even the leading states- 
 men of Europe feel with regard to the future of the Eastern Ques- 
 tion, and in view of the constant shifting of the aspect of affairs 
 and arising of new complications, it would be foolish, as well as use- 
 less, to risk any definite prediction as to the final solution of the 
 problem. It is, however, safe to predict that the course of the ques- 
 tion will always be influenced by the workings of the principle of 
 nationality, combined with dynastic considerations, chiefly of Rus- 
 sia, Austria, and England. Russia and the Panslavists will continue 
 to press for a solution in the interest of the Slavic nations and Rus- 
 sian preponderance ; Austria, while it can not long ignore the rights 
 of its Slavs and possibly of its Rumanians, will seek to postpone a 
 solution, or to make such a compromise of its interests, as it has done 
 in the case of the Magyars and Croats, as will cause the least possible 
 disturbance to the integrity and quiet of its own dominions ; while 
 England may find it the best policy, in order to keep or wrest Con- 
 stantinople from the Russians and make it as nearly neutral as be- 
 tween the Great Powers as possible, to take up the cause of the 
 Greeks and secure for them what remains of Southern European 
 Turkey. A permanent solution can not be hoped for until the 
 rights of all the nationalities are fully acknowledged and as fairly 
 adjusted as the complex circumstances of the case will permit. 
 
 The principle of nationalities is the one which gives, in the organ- 
 ization of States, the fullest gratification to the desires and aspira- 
 tions of the people, and the freest development to their growth and 
 opportunity for the exercise of their energies. Its application in- 
 flicts no fundamental wrongs upon the people, for it unites those
 
 THE NA TIONALITY PRINCIPLE. 67 1 
 
 who have the most reason to wish to be united, and who are most 
 readily attached to each other, and separates them from those who 
 are alien to them in origin and sympathies. Under its operation, the 
 spectacle can no longer be presented of a large people united in po- 
 litical association with those they permanently hate, or of a race pos- 
 sessing manly capacity crushed and oppressed by another of less or 
 only equal civilization, under whose rule it has been forced, and 
 which governs it only to drain its vital forces for the increase of its 
 own strength. It will damage only the artificial constructions of 
 States which have been formed in disregard of it, and whose con- 
 tinued existence as despotisms over subject provinces is a reproach 
 to liberty and a barrier to the progress of civilization ; and will dis- 
 commode only those dynasties of rulers who, imagining that man- 
 kind were made for the emolument and glorification of their houses, 
 have partitioned the earth to suit their own convenience and ambitions. 
 
 The arrangement of States according to the principle of nation- 
 alities can not be, nor is it likely to be, hastily done. The applica- 
 tion of the principle presupposes a condition of civilization and in- 
 telligence on the part of the people who are to enjoy the benefit of it, 
 sufficient to enable them to manage their own affairs so that they shall 
 become useful factors in civilization, and their possession of strength 
 enough to maintain their national existence under all ordinary contin- 
 gencies. A people who from any cause are intrinsically weak, must 
 make terms with some more vigorous power, and abide under its 
 protection. One which persists in keeping in the way of advance- 
 ment, or remains inert and degraded, must expect to remain subor- 
 dinate, and submit to the influence of whatever State takes it in 
 hand, till it proves its capacity to maintain itself ; and it need not 
 expect to emerge from that condition until it asserts itself and forces 
 the recognition of its unity and independence, as the Italians and 
 Germans have done, and the Christian peoples of Turkey are doing. 
 
 The tendency in all the European States is for the people to lay more 
 stress upon the principle of nationality, and for Governments to pay 
 more deference to it. The process which has been so conspicuously 
 manifested in a few of the States, is going on in many of the others, 
 perhaps unconsciously, where it is hardly suspected. Every year wit- 
 nesses new concessions to popular rights which involve some features 
 of this principle. It is intimately associated with the doctrine of 
 popular self-government, and with the American doctrine of local 
 sovereignty.
 
 6/2 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The future changes in the arrangement of the States of Europe 
 may be expected to be made in conformity with this principle, as it 
 is extended and becomes more generally acknowledged. They are 
 not likely to be all violent, or be made more frequently, or on a 
 larger scale, than they are now ; possibly, their operation will be 
 slower than the operation of such changes has been for a thousand 
 years in the past. For as the world becomes more civilized, and 
 constitutional governments become more free, people become better 
 contented with their lot, and less anxious to agitate for changes 
 which are even reasonable. Even this situation, however, implies a 
 recognition of the principle of nationality, for the operation of con- 
 stitutional freedom is to give it scope within the State instead of 
 compelling it to seek a field for its exercise without. The changes 
 that are made, therefore, while they may be fewer, instead of being 
 made to carry out the selfish aims of kings, will be made in obedience 
 to the affiliations and tendencies of the people, and will be, in the 
 most civilized States, more voluntary and less violent. 
 
 Thus, by a slow process of natural separation and reunion, based 
 upon the recognition of national affiliations and the " government of 
 the people by the people for the people," resulting in the adjustment 
 of the boundaries of States by natural lines, a new balance of power 
 will be gradually built up, destined to be as strong and lasting as 
 that which the Congress of Vienna sought to establish was weak 
 and transient. Each State having found its own proper limits and 
 sphere of growth as determined by community of origin, language, 
 and interests, will conform to them, will find its legitimate and 
 most satisfactory field for the exercise of its energies within its own 
 territory, its most prolific springs of power and renown in the build- 
 ing up of its own resources. No State will have reason to fear 
 aggression from its neighbor, for all will be alike busy within them- 
 selves ; and a rivalry among the nations in industry, in the culture 
 of the arts and refinements of civilization, and in promoting the 
 happiness and comfort of their own people will take the place of the 
 ceaseless conflicts of dynasties which have too long interrupted the 
 progress of mankind.
 
 CHAPTER YIIL 
 
 COMPLICATIONS ARISING AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 
 
 Leaning of the Turks toward the Russians Austrian Note to Russia on the Treaty of 
 Peace British Objections to the Treaty The British Fleet passes into the Sea of 
 Marmora Austria Issues an Invitation for an International Conference Prince Bis- 
 marck's Declaration in the German Parliament Russia's Opposition to the Confer- 
 ence England Demands the Submission of the entire Treaty Threatened Rupture 
 between Russia and England Ignatieff Visits Vienna British Circular to the Powers 
 The British Reserves Called Out Intimate Relations of the Russians and Turks. 
 
 THE slow progress of the negotiations between the Russians and 
 Turks was watched from the beginning with concern by all the 
 powers, and with an anxiety which amounted to little less than 
 alarm by Austria and England. It was evident that Russia had 
 Turkey completely at its mercy. The Russian armies continued to 
 advance, apparently irresistibly and without meeting even a show 
 of resistance, notwithstanding it was understood that hostilities were 
 suspended, and conferences had taken the place of battles. Every 
 day they were coming nearer to Constantinople, and approaching 
 positions whence they could command the navigation of the Straits. 
 The danger seemed gradually to rise before the eyes of the watchers, 
 and finally appeared imminent that Russia, in spite of the Treaty of 
 Paris and its own promises often repeated, would seize Constanti- 
 nople and the Straits, and dispose of the whole of European Turkey 
 and its people, before any one could prevent it, and without con- 
 sulting the views or interests of the two powers which imagined 
 themselves immediately concerned. The delay which took place in 
 the negotiations after they were begun was unaccountable, and be- 
 came an object of suspicion, all the more because of the continued 
 progress of the Russians. The British and Austrian Governments 
 took the earliest opportunity to intimate to the Russian Govern- 
 ment and the Porte that they would not recognize conditions of 
 peace in contravention of the terms of the Treaty of Paris in which 
 Europe did not participate. The Russians answered with assuring 
 words, that all points in the treaty which were of European concern 
 
 (673)
 
 674 THE WAR IN THE EA ST - 
 
 would be submitted to a review of the powers, and continued to 
 treat and to occupy points nearer to Constantinople. The Turks 
 seemed to have no longer any will of their own, but to have thrown 
 themselves entirely into the arms of the Russians. Crushed on 
 every battle-field, having seen the British Government witness their 
 utter defeat without moving a step in their favor, they seemed to 
 have undergone one of those revulsions of feeling which often attend 
 extreme disappointment, and turned the cold shoulder upon the old 
 friends who they fancied had deserted them, to make friends of 
 their former enemies and the probability of a Russo-Turkish 
 alliance against England began to be talked of. The excitement 
 was intensified by the rumors which were circulated concerning the 
 points of the treaty which were under discussion. Some of them 
 were so represented as to seem to touch European interests very 
 sharply. The mystery which shrouded the negotiations all through 
 January added to the force of these rumors. 
 
 On the 30th of January, the Austrian Ambassador at St. Peters- 
 burg delivered a note to Prince Gortchakoff, embodying a declaration 
 on behalf of the Austro-PIungarian Government, that it in no way 
 disputed Turkey's right to conclude treaties in its own interest, but 
 must consider the arrangements then under consideration, so far as 
 they might modify the present treaty or touch Austrian interests, 
 as not falling within the right of Turkey until new arrangements 
 had been made with the signatory powers of the Treaty of Paris. 
 At about the same time it was stated that Count Andrassy had taken 
 steps with the object of bringing about a joint action of Europe to 
 prevent a prejudicial policy on the part of Russia, and that Austria- 
 Hungary would take the initiative in assembling a European Con- 
 ference to discuss and determine all the points affecting the common 
 interests of Europe. It was also said that the differences that had 
 arisen between Austria and Russia were of so serious a character that 
 the German Emperor had been obliged to interpose in person, and 
 entreat his two brother Emperors not to break up the Tri-Iinperial 
 Alliance. The Austrian objections to the treaty were unofficially 
 stated in a telegram from Vienna, February 4th, to be, in substance, 
 that the Russian conditions were rather calculated to sow seeds of 
 fresh troubles than promote a real and lasting peace. They destroyed 
 Ottoman power in Europe without substituting anything in its place 
 possessing guarantees of stability. The smaller States would receive 
 just enough to make them wish for more, while Bulgaria, the largest
 
 COMPLICATIONS AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 675 
 
 of them in extent and population, would become little more than a 
 Russian dependency. Restoration to the Czar of Bessarabia, with- 
 out due equivalent to Rumania, would make Russia mistress of the 
 mouths of the Danube. Thus, in the very preliminaries themselves 
 there was much that must lead to discussion between Austria and 
 Russia ; and the same must be the case, though perhaps to a lesser 
 degree, with the other powers. Rumania had announced its claim 
 to take part as a belligerent in the conclusion of peace ; the Servians 
 were disappointed with the rectification of the frontier allowed them 
 by the Russian preliminaries, and insisted upon the possession of 
 Old Servia down to the Lorn ; and the Greeks had committed an 
 act of war. " Thus the Eastern Question had been raised to its full 
 extent." 
 
 Sir Stafford Northcote, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, had 
 made a statement of the British objections in the House of Commons 
 on the 28th of January. The terms, as they had been reported, 
 were very sweeping. The character of the autonomy for Bulgaria was 
 not that agreed upon by the Constantinople Conference. Adminis- 
 trative autonomy was then conceded ; now, there was provided total 
 separation from Turkey, under a Prince. Under the Russian plan, 
 the southern boundary of Bulgaria would be brought almost to the 
 seas, and if the Prince for the new State was to be chosen by the 
 Czar, as was reported with some appearance of authority, a power- 
 ful State would be established in the very heart of Turkey, with a 
 Prince devoted to Russian interests. Regarding tributaries becom- 
 ing independent he would say nothing, but it must raise difficult 
 questions, since it touched other interests. The indemnity condi- 
 tion was very elastic. How Russia might elect to take the indemnity 
 and what territory she might ask were highly important to Europe. 
 European concert was, therefore, necessary. The understanding re- 
 garding the Straits might mean something or nothing, but it was a 
 European an English interest. The conditions were matters upon 
 which no separate understanding between the belligerents could be 
 acknowledged by the powers. " We can not disguise the vast im- 
 portance of the question now raised ; the keystone of South-eastern 
 Europe is being removed." 
 
 On the 8th of February it was announced in the British Parlia- 
 ment, that a part of the English fleet had been ordered to proceed 
 to the Turkish capital for the protection of British residents there. 
 The Russian Government answered this by sending notifications to 
 37
 
 6;6 
 
 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 all the powers that in consideration of what the British Government 
 had done, and of a similar course which it was said the other powers 
 were adopting in the premises, it would be obliged, on its side, "to 
 take into consideration the proper means of protecting those Chris- 
 tians whose life and property might be threatened, and in order to 
 attain this result, to contemplate the entry of a portion of our troops 
 into Constantinople." The Porte, however, refused to permit the 
 English fleet to approach Constantinople, and the Russians had no 
 excuse for occupying the city at that time. 
 
 On the 3d of February, the Austrian Cabinet issued formal invita- 
 tions to the Governments of the signatory powers of the Treaty of 
 Paris, to send representatives to a conference to be held at Vienna. 
 The invitation was accepted by all the powers. Russia objected to 
 the Congress being held at a large capital, and presented a definition 
 of the task of the Conference, reserving some very important ques- 
 tions for the decision of Russia and Turkey, to the exclusion of the 
 signatory powers, among which were the reorganization of Bulgaria, 
 the occupation of that country by Russian troops, and the re-annex- 
 ation of Southern Bessarabia. 
 
 This effort to limit the functions of the Conference, together with 
 the appearance that the Russians would find some pretext for enter- 
 ing Constantinople, threw a cloud for a time upon the prospects of 
 the Conference, and the Austrian Cabinet began to consider the sub- 
 ject of mobilizing its army. A rupture between Austria and Russia 
 and an alliance of the former power with England seemed probable, 
 when Prince Bismarck performed the office of mediator, and inti- 
 mated to Prince Gortchakoff, in the name of the German Govern- 
 ment, that Russia must not strain the situation beyond reasonable 
 bounds. 
 
 Prince Bismarck made a speech in the German Parliament on 
 the 19th of February, in which he defined the policy of the Imperial 
 Government. The interests of Germany were not affected by the 
 preliminaries of peace in such a manner as to oblige it to deviate 
 from its previous attitude. The apprehensions respecting the Dar- 
 danelles were not justified by the actual situation. He did not be- 
 lieve in a European war, as the powers which opposed Russia 
 would have to assume the responsibility of the legacy left by Tur- 
 key. A Russian official communication made it certain that the 
 chief interest of Germany, namely, the freedom of the water-ways, 
 as the Straits of the Dardanelles, for commerce, would be maintained.
 
 COMPLICATIONS AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 6/7 
 
 He believed it was Russia's interest to come to an understanding, and 
 not have the fear of complications with Austria or England con- 
 stantly impending. He denounced the idea of Germany engaging 
 in a war with reference to the Eastern Question, declaring that 
 nothing should induce him to hazard a rupture with any power re- 
 specting questions in which Germany had no direct interest, and re- 
 jected, emphatically, all suggestions that Germany should intervene, 
 declaring that it was willing honorably to mediate, but did not wish 
 to exercise the office of arbiter of Europe. Germany was on the 
 most friendly terms with Russia and Austria, and had not a single 
 interest, except friendly rivalry in trade, antagonistic to England. 
 
 Russia having objected to the meeting of the Conference in 
 Yienna, Baden-Baden was selected as the place of meeting. It 
 was afterward understood, however, that it would meet in Berlin. 
 
 The question arose during the negotiations whether the meeting 
 should take the form of a conference of the representative members 
 of the Cabinets of the several powers, or of a Congress of Plenipo- 
 tentaries appointed especially to attend it. Questions arose respect- 
 ing the admission of the smaller powers Rumania, Servia, and 
 Greece to the Conference. Rumania sought to be represented in 
 order to protest against the retrocession of its Bessarabian territory 
 to Russia, Servia to press its claims for Old Servia which the treaty 
 gave to Bulgaria, Greece because it felt neglected by having had 
 no provision made for it, and wronged by the inclusion of Greek 
 communities in the new principality of Bulgaria. It was suggested 
 that the vassal States should have the privilege of sending delegates 
 to represent their interests, without having a voice in the ultimate 
 decision. 
 
 Formidable differences arose concerning the scope of the Confer- 
 ence. Russia desired to have submitted to it only those points of 
 the treaty which were manifestly of European concern. Great 
 Britain insisted that the whole of the treaty should be submitted, 
 without reservation. Russia professed not to dispute the right of 
 the Conference to decide what clauses of the treaty involved Euro- 
 pean interests, but declined to concede a, priori its right to pass 
 upon all the points. 
 
 France expressed a wish that the Conference, or Congress, be 
 confined in its deliberations to the Eastern Question, fearing that 
 otherwise it might claim the right to sanction all recent territorial 
 changes. It also desired to have all questions concerning the holy
 
 678 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 places excluded, as introducing a needless complication and touch- 
 ing Syria, which France expected to have offered it some day in 
 compensation for England's occupation of Egypt. 
 
 Italy avowed its intention to preserve its neutrality on the East- 
 ern Question, but to exert to the utmost its influence in the Confer- 
 ence to oppose Russian preponderance in Europe, by seeking to ex- 
 tend the Hellenic Kingdom and constituting other Christian nation- 
 alities. 
 
 The demand of England for the submission of the whole agree- 
 ment between Russia and Turkey was based partly on the appre- 
 hension that special and secret arrangements had been entered into 
 independent of the principal treaty, and it would be useless to ex- 
 amine the latter except under a guarantee that it contained all that 
 had been done. Russia, while denying that any secret engagement 
 existed, avoided giving a direct answer to the British demand, but 
 replied that an obligation to submit all the clauses of the treaty was 
 quite unnecessary, as the whole treaty would be known before the 
 Conference met, and the plenipotentiaries could discuss which 
 clauses should be submitted for consideration. The English ob- 
 jected to this, that, by its adoption, the previous question would be 
 raised on every clause of the treaty, except those which Russia 
 brought forward of its own accord. The difference between the 
 two Governments was apparently one of words and diplomatic pres- 
 tige, rather than of essentials, but their experiences of Russian diplo- 
 macy had taught the English that, with those experts in the use 
 of terms of double significance, the most trifling terms of expression 
 may involve great distinctions of hidden meaning. 
 
 While the attempt was making to settle these questions, the time 
 of the meeting of the Conference was put off from the early part of 
 March till the last of that month, then till the middle of April. 
 
 As the differences between England and Russia became more 
 and more evident, the Russians directed their efforts to making 
 terms with Austria. Notwithstanding the opposition of the Hun- 
 garians to having anything to do with the Slavs of Turkey, the 
 Austrian Government had been led to look favorably upon the 
 occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an offset to the extension 
 of Russian influence in Bulgaria, and had been encouraged by Rus- 
 sia in the idea of such occupation. The Austrian Government had 
 also applied to the Chambers for a credit of six millions florins, 
 similar to the credit which the English Government had obtained
 
 COMPLICATIONS AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 679 
 
 from Parliament. General Ignatieff was dispatched by the Russian 
 Government to Yienna toward the end of March, in an effort to 
 remove the Austrian opposition to the schemes of the Czar. This 
 done, England would be isolated, and Russia could venture to defy 
 it. The negotiations failed to secure the desired result. Count 
 Andrassy informed General Ignatieff that the whole tendency of 
 the treaty was in opposition to the interests of Europe, and that no 
 lasting peace could be concluded without the sanction of all the 
 powers. General Ignatieff rejoined that Russia had altogether 
 abandoned the idea of a congress in consequence of the difficulties 
 raised by England. He urged Count Andrassy to state Austria's 
 demand. The C.ount declined, as he still hoped for a congress, but 
 declared that if he had to consider the treaty solely from an Austrian 
 point of view, he would demand far greater concessions than if he 
 had to consider it in relation to the general interests of Europe. 
 Having received this decided rebuff, General Ignatieff returned to 
 St. Petersburg, and the Russian organs stated that his object had 
 been to ascertain just how Austria felt, and that having accom- 
 plished this, the purpose of his mission had been gained. 
 
 It was afterward stated that the Austrian views were regarded as 
 so exorbitant by the Russians that the Chancellory, in order to pre- 
 vent an offensive alliance between Austria and England, was about 
 to make another attempt to come to terms with England. 
 
 The Servian Government, on the last day of March, ordered the 
 immediate remobilization of the whole of its forces. 
 
 The English Government, having decided to call out the reserves, 
 Earl Derby offered his resignation as Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs on the 28th of March, and was succeeded by the Marquis 
 of Salisbury. 
 
 The correspondence between the British and Russian Govern- 
 ments concerning the Conference was published on the 30th of 
 March. From it, it appeared that Austria was the only Government 
 which had expressed an opinion about England's demand for the 
 submission of all the articles of the treaty to the Conference. It 
 thought the reservation of full liberty of action by the powers a 
 sufficient guarantee, and that it was not to the interest of England 
 or Austria to raise difficulties on this point. Prince Gortchakoff 
 had said to Lord Loftus, in a conversation at St. Petersburg, that if 
 the Congress made any modifications in the treaty they would be 
 subject to further arrangements between Russia and Turkey.
 
 680 THE WAR IN THE EAST. 
 
 The British Government issued a circular to the powers, which 
 was published on the 1st day of April, complaining of the terms 
 imposed by Russia on Turkey. Its objections to the details of the 
 treaty, which were clearly given, were intensified by the reservations 
 of Russia relative to their discussion by the Conference. Every 
 material stipulation of the treaty, it said, involved a departure from 
 the treaty of 1856, and by the declarations of 1871, her Majesty's 
 Government could not acquiesce in a withdrawal from the cog- 
 nizance of the powers of articles which were modifications of exist- 
 ing treaties. The combined effect of the stipulations upon the 
 interests of the powers also furnished a reason against the separate 
 discussion of any part of them. By the articles relative to Bulgaria, 
 a strong Slav State would be erected under the auspices and control 
 of Russia, who would thus secure a preponderating influence in the 
 Black and J^gean Seas, and a considerable Greek population would 
 be merged into a Slav community alien to it. The stipulations for 
 the better government of Thessaly and Epirus, in themselves highly 
 commendable, were accompanied by provisions the general effect of 
 which would be to increase the power of Russia to the prejudice of 
 Greece, and every country having interests in the Eastern Mediter- 
 ranean. The territorial severance of Constantinople from its Eu- 
 ropean provinces still left would deprive the Porte of any strength 
 it might receive from them, and expose their inhabitants to serious 
 risk of anarchy. The acquisition of Bessarabia and Batum made 
 Russia dominant over the vicinity of the Black Sea, while the 
 acquisition of the Armenian strongholds enabled it to arrest trade 
 between Europe and Persia. Another combined effect of the treaty 
 was " to depress, almost to the point of entire subjection, the 
 political independence of the Government of Constantinople." The 
 formal jurisdiction of that Government, including the control of the 
 Black Sea Straits, the head of the Persian Gulf, the shores of the 
 Levant, and the immediate neighborhood of the Suez Canal, ex- 
 tended over geographical positions which must, under all circum- 
 stances, be of the deepest interest to Great Britain. It could not 
 be otherwise than a matter of solicitude that the Government to 
 which this jurisdiction belonged should be so closely pressed by the 
 political outposts of a greatly superior power, that its independent 
 action, and even political existence, was almost impossible. These 
 results arose, not so much from the language of any single article of 
 the treaty as from the operation of the instrument as a whole.
 
 COMPLICATIONS AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 68 1 
 
 "While England would willingly have entered a congress in which 
 the stipulations could be examined as a whole, neither British in- 
 terests nor the well-being of the Turkish provinces would be con- 
 sulted by the assembling of a congress restricted by Prince Gortch- 
 akoff's latest reservations. 
 
 On the same day that the circular appeared, the Queen notified 
 Parliament that she was about to call out, for permanent service, 
 the reserve force, and the militia reserve, or so much of them as 
 should be deemed necessary. The order was issued on the next day, 
 commanding the reserves to assemble on or before April 19th. 
 
 While the breach between England and Russia was thus widen- 
 ing, the Czar was drawing the Sultan of Turkey into close relations 
 with him, and apparently forming an alliance of the two powers. 
 On the occasion of the anniversary of the Czar's accession to the throne, 
 March 3d, the Sultan sent him a message of congratulation, " with 
 the desire of renewing our friendly relations." The Czar replied, 
 thanking the Sultan for his congratulations, which he received simul- 
 taneously with the news of the signature of the treaty of peace, and 
 perceived in the coincidence a presage of good and lasting relations 
 between the two. The Grand Duke Nicholas, accompanied by 
 twelve Russian generals, paid a visit of ceremonial to the Sultan, in 
 the Dolmabaghtche Palace, March 26th, where he was received with 
 the utmost courtesy and cordiality by the Sultan, surrounded by his 
 ministers, and Osman Pasha and other Generals. He then went to 
 the Beylerbey Palace, and was there called upon by the Sultan. On 
 the next day he dined with the Sultan, the company including 
 several Russian princes and generals, and Yefik, Savfet, Namyk, 
 Rauf, and Osman Pashas. The Sultan was said to be having 
 presents and an imperial order prepared for the Grand Duke..
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 THE WILL OF PETER THE GREAT. 
 
 THE so-called will of Peter the Great, although it is now generally regarded as a 
 spurious paper, has in the past made a prominent figure in the discussions of European 
 politics, particularly with reference to Kussia and Turkey. It assumes to mark out a 
 policy for the weakening and gradual absorption of the East, and of all the neighboring 
 States of the West, and the ultimate conquest of the whole West by Russia. The paper 
 which assumed to represent such a will, was so ingeniously contrived by interweaving 
 into its text notices of events which had already taken place at the time it was manufac- 
 tured, as to seem to unfold a genuine policy, and make the scheme for conquests in the 
 future appear real and plausible. Its appearance was calculated to create alarm, and 
 it, no doubt, had its influence over the movements and combinations that were made 
 and entered into while its genuineness was believed in. The "will" was first brought 
 into notice in the year 1812, in a French work, entitled Du Progress de la Puissance Susse, 
 depuis son Origins Jmqu'au Commencement du XIX. siecle, by M. L. (Of the Progress 
 of the Russian Power, from its Origin to the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, by 
 M. Lesur), which, according to Sir Robert Wilson, of the English army, was published 
 under the direct oversight of the French Government. The abstract of the paper which 
 follows, was given in this work, prefaced by the words : "I am assured that there exist 
 in the private archives of the Emperors of Russia, secret memoirs, written in the hand 
 of Peter I., in which are exposed without evasion the projects which that Prince had 
 conceived, which he recommended to the attention of his successors, and which many of 
 them have in effect followed with a persistence which may be called religious." 
 
 In 1836, M. Frederick Gaillardet published a work called Memoires of the Chevalier 
 d'Eon, in which he gave what he professed was an exact copy of the will of Peter the 
 Great, foreshadowing substantially the same policy that was indicated hi the abstract 
 of Lesur. It was asserted that d'Eon, while in Russia, had enjoyed the unlimited confi- 
 dence of the Court, and the privilege of making unrestricted researches, and had used 
 them to make the copy of the will of Peter, which he took to France, and gave to the 
 Abbd de Bernis, Minister of Foreign Affairs to Louis XIV. The JMemoires du Chevalier 
 d'Eon is a romance, with but little foundation, in fact, for its incidents ; and it is certain 
 that the will was not known to the public till Lesur published his abstract in 1812. The 
 present received theory of the origin of the document, is that Gaillardet elaborated 
 his version from the abstract given by Lesur, that Lesur wrote his abstract by dictation 
 from Napoleon I., and that Napoleon invented the whole concern. The evidences of the 
 ungenuineness of the paper appear in certain phrases which a Russian would never have 
 used, and the supposition that Lesur did not write or even edit the abstract he gave, is 
 sustained by the fact that he avowed no responsibility or original knowledge of the will, 
 (682)
 
 THE WILL OF PETER THE GREAT. 683 
 
 but merely said that he was assured that it existed ; and by the style in which he gave 
 it which is crude and ill-connected such a style as one might use in dictation, but 
 which a cultivated author, as Lesur was, would never have written. The following is 
 the abstract given by Lesur, translated from the original as literally as the clearness of 
 the sense will permit : 
 
 1. To neglect nothing that will give to the Russian nation European forms and 
 usages ; and with this view, to engage the different courts, and especially the scholars 
 of Europe, whether by speculations of interest, or by the philanthropic principles of 
 philosophy, or by other motives, to assist in this object. 
 
 2. To keep the State continually in order for war, so as to harden the soldier, and 
 hold the nation always in breath and ready to march at the flrst signal. 
 
 3. To stretch by every possible means toward the north, along the Baltic, as well as 
 toward the south, along the Black Sea; and with this object : 
 
 4. To nurse the jealousy of England, Denmark, and Brandenburg against Sweden ; 
 by reason of which those powers will shut their eyes to the aggressions we will commit 
 against that country, and which we will complete by subjugating it. / 
 
 5. To interest the house of Austria in driving the Turk from Europe, and under that 
 pretext, to maintain a permanent army and establish docks on the Black Sea, and con- 
 stantly advancing, to stretch out toward Constantinople. 
 
 6. To keep up anarchy in Poland ; to influence its diets, and especially the elections 
 of its kings ; to take from it on every occasion that shall present itself, and finish by sub- 
 jugating it. 
 
 7. To contract a close alliance with England, and cultivate intimate relations with 
 it, by means of a good treaty of commerce, to permit it even to exercise a kind of mo- 
 nopoly in the interior ; this will insensibly produce a familiarity between the English 
 merchants and sailors and those of our nation, who, on their side, will favor all means 
 of perfecting and aggrandizing the Russian marine, by the aid of which we must aim as 
 soon as possible at the domination in the Baltic and the Black Seas, a capital point, on 
 which depends the success and the acceleration of our plans. 
 
 8. The testator recommends to all of his successors to be penetrated with this truth, 
 that the commerce of the Indies is the commerce of the world, and that whoever has the 
 exclur ive control of it, is the real sovereign of Europe ; consequently no opportunity 
 should be lost to excite wars against Persia, to accelerate its decay, to penetrate to the 
 Persian Gulf, and then attempt to re-establish the ancient commerce of the Levant 
 through Syria. 
 
 9. To engage at every cost, whether by force or by stratagem, in the quarrels of 
 Europe, and especially in those of Germany ; and for this object : 
 
 10. To seek and keep up a constant alliance with Austria ; to flatter that power in 
 its favorite idea of predominance ; to profit by the least ascendency we may gain over it; 
 to engage it in ruinous wars, so as to enfeeble it by degrees ; even to assist it sometimes, 
 and never to desist from secretly making enemies to it throughout Europe, and particu- 
 larly in Germany, by exciting against it the jealousy and mistrust of the princes. 
 
 NOTE. We shall succeed in this the more easily, said Peter, because this proud 
 house has already manifested more than once a disposition to domineer over the ancient 
 States of Europe, and because on every occasion when it shall undertake it, we shall 
 acquire some of the good provinces which border on Hungary ; and we will finish by 
 incorporating Hungary into an empire, as a compensation. 
 
 11. Always to choose among the princesses of Germany wives for the Russian 
 princes, and thus multiply our alliances by relations of family and interest, so as to in- 
 crease our influence in that Empire. 
 
 12. To make use of religious ascendency over the disunited or schismatic Greeks who 
 are found in Hungary, Turkey, and the southern parts of Poland, to attach them to us 
 by all artful ways, so as to be called their protectors, and acquire a title to the sacerdotal 
 supremacy. Under this pretext, and by means of it, Turkey will be subjugated ; and
 
 684 APPENDIX I. 
 
 Poland, uot being able to sustain itself any longer, either by its own forces or by political 
 alliances, will submit itself to the yoke. 
 
 13. Then, every instant will become precious. It will be necessary to prepare in 
 secret all the batteries to strike the grand blow, and make them play with an order, a 
 skill, and a celerity that shall give Europe no time to come to itself. We must begin 
 bj proposing separately, and with great circumspection, first to the Court of Versailles, 
 then to that of Vienna, to divide with one of them the empire of the world, accompany- 
 ing the proposition with the remark, that Russia being already, in fact, sovereign of all 
 the East, and having nothing more to gain except the title, this proposition on its part 
 can not be suspected by them. Doubtless the proposition will not fail to flatter them 
 and to kindle a deadly war between them which would soon become general ; for in view 
 of the extended alliances and relations of these two rival courts and natural enemies, all 
 the other powers in Europe would be compelled, by interest, to take part in the quarrel 
 between them. 
 
 14. In the midst of this general fury, Russia would be asked for aid, sometimes by 
 one, sometimes by the other of the belligerent powers, and, after having hesitated for 
 a long while, so as to give them time to exhaust themselves, it would appear at last to 
 decide for the House of Austria ; and while advancing its troops of the line to the Rhine, 
 it would cause them to be followed immediately by a swarm of Asiatic hordes ; and as 
 the former should advance into Germany, two large fleets should set sail the one from 
 the 8ea of Azov and the other from the port of Archangel charged with bodies of these 
 same hordes, under the convoy of the armed fleets of the Black Sea and the Baltic. The 
 fleets would appear suddenly in the Mediterranean and on the ocean to pour out all 
 these nomadic peoples, ferocious and greedy for booty, and to inundate with them 
 Italy, Spain, and France, of which they would pillage one part of the inhabitants, reduce 
 another to slavery to people with them the deserts of Siberia, and subject the rest to 
 euch a condition that they would not be able to shake off the yoke. These diversions 
 would then give complete latitude to the army of the line to act with the greatest pos- 
 sible vigor and certainty in conquering and subjugating the rest of Europe. 
 
 The version of Gaillardet, since it professes to be a copy of the original document, 
 Is more formal and finished in style, and a little, but only a little, more minute in detail 
 than that of Lesur. It is accompanied with an introduction, giving a general summary 
 of the views of the supposititious testator, which does not appear in Lesur's abstract. 
 This is followed by the fourteen articles, the first twelve of which are the same in sub- 
 stance, differing only slightly in details and arrangement as those of Lesur, and only 
 the last two articles show material variation. The document, as given in the Memoires 
 du Chevalier cTEon, is entitled, " Copy of the plan of European domination, left by Peter 
 the Great to his successors on the throne of Russia, and deposited in the archives of the 
 palace of Peterhoff, near St. Petersburg." The introduction is as follows : "In the 
 name of the Most Holy and Indivisible Trinity, We, Peter, Emperor and Autocrat of all 
 Russia, etc., to all of our descendants and successors on the throne of the Russian nation, 
 the Great God, from whom we hold our existence, having constantly enlightened us 
 with His wisdom and sustained us with His divine support, etc. 
 
 " Here Peter I. avers that, according to his views, which he believes to be those of 
 Providence, he regards the Russian people as called in the future to the general domi- 
 nation of Europe. He founds this belief on the fact that, according to him, the European 
 nations have, for the most part, arrived at an age approaching decadence, to which 
 they are rapidly marching ; whence it follows that they could be easily and indubitably 
 conquered by a young and new people, whenever the latter should have attained all its 
 force and growth. The Russian monarch regards this future invasion of the Western 
 and Eastern countries by the North as a periodic movement decreed in the designs of 
 Providence, which thus regenerated the Roman people through the invasion of the bar- 
 barians. He compares those emigrations of Northern men to the overflow of the Nile, 
 which at certain times fertilizes with its slime the impoverished fields of Egypt. He
 
 THE WILL OF PETER THE GREAT. 685 
 
 adds that Russia, which he found a stream and will leave a river, will become under his 
 successors a great sea destined to fertilize impoverished Europe, which its waves will 
 overflow in spite of all the dykes which feeble hands can oppose to it, if his descendants 
 shall know how to direct its course. It is for this reason that he leaves to them the fol- 
 lowing instructions, and recommends them to their constant attention and observa- 
 tion, as Moses recommended the tables of the law to the Jewish people." Here follow 
 the articles, of which the thirteenth and fourteenth are : 
 
 " 13. Sweden dismembered, Persia vanquished, Poland subjugated, Turkey con- 
 quered, our armies united, the Black Sea and the Baltic guarded by our fleets, we must 
 propose separately and very secretly, first to the Court of Versailles, then to that of 
 Vienna, to share with them the empire of the world. If one of them accepts, which 
 can not fail to be the case, while flattering their ambition and their self-love, to make 
 use of one to crush the other ; then to crush in its turn the one which shall remain, by 
 engaging with it in a contest which can not be doubtful, since Russia will already possess 
 all the East and a large part of Europe." 
 
 " 14. If, which is not probable, both should refuse the offer of Russia, it will be 
 necessary to stimulate quarrels between them and make them exhaust each other. 
 Then, taking advantage of a decisive moment, Russia shall pour her troops, assembled 
 in advance, upon Germany, at the same time that two fleets shall issue the one from 
 the Sea of Azov, the other from the port of Archangel charged with Asiatic hordes, 
 under convoy of the armed fleets of the Black and Baltic Seas. Advancing by the Med- 
 iterranean and the ocean, they shall inundate France on the one side, while Germany 
 is overwhelmed on the other, and these two countries being conquered, the rest of 
 Europe will pass easily and without our striking another blow under the yoke. Thus 
 Europe may, and should, be subjected."
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 THE TREATY OF SAN STEFAUO. 
 
 1. In order to put an end to the perpetual conflicts between Turkey and Montenegro, 
 the frontier dividing both countries will be rectified in the following way : From the 
 Jobrostcha Mountain the frontier will follow the line indicated at the Constantinople 
 Conference to Korito, through Bilek, thence will go to Gatchko, Metochia, Gatchko be- 
 longing to Montenegro, toward the confluence of the Piva and Tara, rejoining the Drina 
 northward to its confluence with the Lim. The Oriental frontier will follow the last- 
 named river to Drijepolie and through Iloskai and Sukhaplanina, leaving to Montene- 
 gro, Bihor, Roshai, taking in Rugowo, Slava, and Gusigue along the mountain ridge, 
 through Shlieb, Saklen, along the north frontier by the mountain tops of Koprivnik, Ba- 
 bavitch, Borvih, to the highest summit of Prokled ; then by the summit of the Biskoshik 
 Scait to Lake Tchicenitlod, dividing it from Tchicenikastrati, it will cross the Lake of 
 Scutari and join the Boyana, whose course it will follow to the sea. Nicsic, Gatchko, Spuz, 
 Podgoritza, Zabliak, and Antivari remain to Montenegro. A European commission, in 
 which the Porte and Montenegro will be represented, will haye to fix the definitive limits 
 of the principality modifying the general outline when found necessary and equitable for 
 the respective interests and tranquillity of both countries, the necessary equivalents being 
 agreed to. The navigation of the Boyana, which always proyoked contests between 
 the Porte and Montenegro, will be the object of special regulation by the same Europeau 
 commission. 
 
 2. The Sublime Porte definitely recognizes the independence of Montenegro. An 
 agreement between the Governments of Russia and Turkey and Montenegro will ulti- 
 mately determine the character and form of the relations between the Porte and Mon- 
 tenegro respecting the agents of Montenegro in Constantinople and other localities of the 
 Ottoman Empire where necessary. The Montenegrins will submit to the Ottoman laws 
 and authorities whenever traveling in Turkey, according to international law and uses. 
 A convention shall be concluded between the Porte and Montenegro regulating the rela- 
 tion of the inhabitants on the confines of both countries, and the military works on the 
 confines at points where an understanding would be impossible, will be decided by Rus- 
 sian and Austrian arbitration. Should disputes or conflicts arise except respecting terri- 
 torial claims, the Porte and Montenegro will leave the settlement to the common 
 arbitration of Russia and Austria. The Montenegrin troops will evacuate the territory 
 not included in the above-mentioned delimitation within ten days after the peace prelimi- 
 naries have been signed. 
 
 3. Serria is recognized as independent. The frontier marked on the annexed map 
 will follow the course of the Drina, leaving Little Zvornik and Zakar to Servia, along 
 the ancient boundary to Decevas, near Storiac, thence along to the river Raska, and 
 along it to Novi Bazar ; thence across the villages Mekigne, Trooviste, to the source of 
 the river, the line will go by Bazar Planita, in the Ibar valley, and follow the rivulet 
 which flows into the river at Ribanic, whence it will follow the rivers Ibar, Pilnitza, and 
 Lab, and the rivulet Balutza, to its source on the Grapatchtitza Planix, thence by the 
 
 (686)
 
 THE TREATY OF SAN STEFANO. 68? 
 
 summits separating the rivers Kriva and Veternitza it will rejoin by the shortest route 
 the last-named river at Mivratzkas, will ascend it, cross the Miovtza Plants: and descend 
 toward the Morava, near the village of Calimanci, thence descend the Morava to the river 
 Messina, near the village of Staikovotzi, remounting the river Lin'oerazda and the rivulet 
 Koukavitza, crossing the Sukhaplanina, following the rivulet Vryls to Nihava, and so 
 on to the village of Kruplatz, whence the line will join l>y the shortest route the ancient 
 Servian frontier south-east of Karasulbare and follow it to the Danube. Ada Kaleh will be 
 evacuated and razed. A Turkish and Servian commission, assisted by a Kussian com- 
 missary, will establish on the spot the definitive line of the frontier in the course of three 
 months, and definitively regulate the questions of the Drina Islands. When the com- 
 mission discusses the question of the Servian and Bulgarian frontiers, a Bulgarian dele- 
 gate will be admitted. 
 
 4. Mussulmans possessing property in the territories annexed to Servia and wishing 
 to settle out of the principality will be allowed to hold such property according to the 
 existing tenure. A Turco-Servian commission, assisted by a Russian commissary, will 
 have to decide the question of sovereignty. In all matters respecting immovable prop- 
 erty involving Mussulman interests the same commission will have to regulate, within 
 three years, the mode of alienation of goods belonging to estates or vakufs, and ques- 
 tions of private interests, until the conclusion of a direct treaty between Turkey and 
 Servia determining the character and form of their common relations. Servian subjects 
 traveling or living in Turkey will be bound by international law. The Servian troops 
 will have to evacuate within fifteen days from the signature of the peace preliminaries 
 the territory above mentioned. 
 
 5. The Sublime Porte recognizes the independence of Rumania, which will present 
 its claim to an indemnity to be discussed between both parties. Until the conclusion of 
 a treaty between Rumania and Turkey, Rumanian subjects will enjoy in Turkey all the 
 rights guaranteed to the subjects of the other European Powers. 
 
 6. Bulgaria is constituted as a tributary Ottoman principality, with a Christian Gov- 
 ernment and a national militia. The definitive boundaries of the principality will be 
 determined by a special Russo-Turkish commission. Before the evacuation of Rumelia 
 by the Russian Imperial army it will take notice of all modifications introduced ou the 
 spot in the general draft ; the nationality of the majority of the inhabitants ; the topo- 
 graphical necessities and practical interests of the local populations. The territorial ex- 
 tension of Bulgaria is fixed in general sketches on a map, which will serve as the basis 
 for the definitive delimitation. From the new Servian frontier the line will follow the 
 occidental boundary of Vranya to the Kara Dagh ridge. Turning westward it will follow 
 the occidental boundaries of the Cazas Koumanovo, Mochani, and Kaldanelk to Mount 
 Karab, thence from the river Velestchitza to its junction with the Blanek Alix, south- 
 ward by the Drina and occidental limits of the Gaza Ochrida toward Mount Linas, and 
 along the occidental limits of the Cazas Gortcha and Starovo to Grammes, and thence by 
 the Kastoria Lake it will rejoin the river Moglenitza, follow it, pass southward to Yan- 
 nitza, continue by Wardars Mouth and Galoko toward Porga and Sarakoi, thence across 
 the middle lake to Tchikguel Shoumas and Karasson, and by the sea-coast to Buruguel. 
 North-westward toward Tchaltepe it will ascend by the Rhodope ridge to Oushovo, as- 
 cend the Kara-Balkans, Eshekkouladji, Tchepelion, Karakolas, and Tchiklar to the 
 river Adla. Thence the frontier will go in the direction of the town of Tchirmen, and, 
 leaving Adrianople southward, will go through the villages of Suguthod, Karahamze, 
 Arnaoutkoi, Akardji, Eadnijie, to the river Tekederessi, following the Tekederesai and 
 Tchoilonderessi rivers to Louleh Burgas, and by the river to the village of Serguen will 
 follow through the mountains forward Hakim Tabiassi to the Black Sea. It will leave 
 the sea-coast near Mangolia, pass along by Tultcha, down to the Danube above Rassova. 
 
 7. The Prince of Bulgaria will be freely elected by the population and confirmed by 
 the Porte with the assent of the European Powers. No member of the reigning dynasties 
 of the Great Powers can be elected Prince of Bulgaria. In case of a vacancy the elec-
 
 688 APPENDIX II. 
 
 tion of a new prince will take place under the same conditions and with the same forms. 
 An assembly of Bulgarian notables will meet in Philippopolis or Tirnova and draw up 
 before the election of the Prince, under the supervision of a Russian commissary in 
 presence of a Turkish commissary, the organization of the future administration. In 
 localities where there are Bulgarians, Turks, Wallachians, Greeks, and others, account 
 will be taken of the rights and interests of each population. The introduction of new 
 regulations nud the supervision of their execution will be intrusted for two years to an 
 Imperial Russian commissary. At the end of the first year after the introduction of the 
 new regulations, and if an understanding between the cabinets be obtained, delegates, 
 if found necessary, will be associated with the Imperial Russian commissary. 
 
 8. The Ottoman army shall no longer remain in Bulgaria. All the old fortresses 
 shall be razed at the expense of the local Government. The Sublime Porte shall have 
 the right to dispose as it pleases of the war material and other articles belonging to the 
 Ottoman Government which may remain in the Danubian fortresses already evacuated 
 by virtue of the armistice of the 31st of January, as well as of any which may be in the 
 fortified towns of Shumla and Varna, until the complete formation of an indigenous 
 militia, sufficient to preserve order, security, and tranquillity, the number of which shall 
 be fixed subsequently by agreement between the Ottoman Government and the Russian 
 Imperial Cabinet. The Russian troops will occupy the country, and lend armed inter- 
 vention to the commissary in case of need. This occupation will also be limited to an 
 approximate period of two years. The Russian effective army of occupation, consisting 
 of six divisions of infantry and two of cavalry, which will remain in Bulgaria after the 
 evacuation of Turkey by the Imperial army, will not exceed fifty thousand men, and 
 shall be maintained at the expense of the country occupied. The Russian troops in 
 Bulgaria will preserve communications with Russia, not only via Rumania, but also 
 through ports on the Black Sea, Varna, and Burgas, where the necessary depots may 
 be organized for the duration of the occupation. 
 
 9. The amount of the annual tribute which Bulgaria shall pay to the Suzerain Court, 
 through the agency of a bank which shall subsequently be designated by the Sublime 
 Porte, will be determined by an agreement between the Russian Government and the 
 Ottoman and other cabinets. At the end of the first year a new organization of the 
 tribute will be established, based upon the mean revenue of the whole of the territory 
 forming part of the principality. Bulgaria will be substituted for the Ottoman Govern- 
 ment in its charges and obligations toward the Rustchuk and Varna Railway Company, 
 after an understanding between the Sublime Porte, the Government of the principality, 
 and the administration of this company. A regulation relative to the other railways 
 passing through the principality is also reserved for an agreement between the Sublime 
 Porte, the Government of Bulgaria, and the administration of the companies interested. 
 
 10. The Sublime Porte shall have the right to make use of the Bulgarian route 
 for the transport by roads to be determined, of its troops, ammunition, and commissariat 
 in the provinces situated beyond the principality and vice versa. In order to avoid diffi- 
 culties and misunderstanding in the exercise of this right, while guaranteeing the mili- 
 tary necessities of the Sublime Porte a special regulation will establish the conditions 
 within the space of three months after the ratification of the present document. By an 
 understanding between the Sublime Porte and the Bulgarian Administration, it is well 
 understood that this right will extend only to the Ottoman regular troops, and that the 
 irregulars Bashi-Bazouks and Circassians will be absolutely excluded from it. The 
 Porte reserves also the right to send through the principalities its mails, and there to 
 keep up a fixed line of communication. The two points will be likewise regulated in 
 the manner and at the time above indicated. 
 
 11. The Mussulman land-owners or others who may fix their personal residence out- 
 side the principality will be able to preserve their landed property by causing it to be 
 administered by others. Turco-Bulgarian commissaries will sit in the principal centers 
 of population, under the superintendence of Russian commissioners, to administer as the
 
 THE TREATY OF SAN STEFANO. 689 
 
 supreme power, for the period of two years, in all questions relative to the verifying of 
 claims to landed property in which the interests of Mussulmans or others shall be 
 involved. Analogous commissions will be intrusted to regulate during two years all 
 affairs relative to the mode of alienation and management, or for the USB on account of 
 the Sublime Porte of the lands of the State and of the Vakufs. At the expiration of 
 two years all lands which shall not have been claimed will be sold by auction, and the 
 product will be devoted to the support of the widows and orphans both of Mussulmans 
 and Christians the sufferers by the late events. Inhabitants of the Bulgarian principal- 
 ity who may travel or remain in other parts of the Ottoman Empire will be subject to the 
 Ottoman laws and authorities. 
 
 12. All the fortresses of the Danube shall be razed. There shall henceforth be no 
 more fortified towns upon the banks of this river, nor ships of war in the waters of the 
 principalities of Rumania, Servia, and Bulgaria, save guard-boats and light vessels 
 intended for the river police and coast-guard services. The rights, obligations, and pre- 
 rogatives of the International Commission of the Lower Danube are maintained intact. 
 
 13. The Sublime Porte undertakes the re-establishment of the navigation of the 
 passage of Sulina, and the compensation of the private individuals whose property may 
 have suffered on account of the war, and from the interruption of navigation of the 
 Danube, assigning for the purposes of this double expense the sum of 500,000 francs out 
 of the moneys due to them by the Danubian Commission. 
 
 14. The European proposals communicated to the Ottoman Plenipotentiaries in the 
 first sitting of the Conference at Constantinople, with the modifications which shall be 
 determined upon by common agreement between the Porte and the Governments of 
 Russia, Austria, and Hungary, shall be immediately introduced into Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina. The arrears of payment will not be exacted, and the current revenues of these 
 provinces up to the 1st of March, 1880, shall be exclusively employed to indemnify the 
 families of refugees and sufferers by recent events, without distinction of race or religion, 
 according to the local needs. The sum which will annually revert afterward to the cen- 
 tral government will be subsequently fixed by a special understanding between Turkey, 
 Russia, Austria, and Hungary. 
 
 15. The Sublime Porte undertakes scrupulously to apply in the island of Crete the 
 regulation put iu force in 1868, while paying regard to the wishes expressed by the indig- 
 enous population. An analogous ordinance adapted to the needs of the localities will 
 be also introduced into Epirus, Thessaly, and other portions of Turkey in Europe, for 
 which there will be a special organization not within the purview of the present docu- 
 ment. Special commission?, in which the indigenous element shall largely participate, 
 shall be commissioned in each province to elaborate the details of the new ordinance. 
 The result of these labors shall be submitted to the examination of the Sublime Porte, 
 which will consult the Russian Government before putting them in execution. 
 
 16. As the evacuation by the Russian troops of the territories in Armenia, which are 
 to be restored to Turkey, might give rise to conflicts and prejudicial complications in 
 the relations of the two countries, the Porte undertakes to effect without further delay 
 the ameliorations and reforms called for by local requirements in the provinces inhabited 
 by Armenians, and to guarantee their security against Kurds and Circassians. 
 
 17. A full amnesty shall be extended to Ottoman subjects compromised in recent 
 events, and all persons now incarcerated by reason of these or sent into exile shall be 
 immediately restored to liberty. 
 
 18 and 19. The Sublime Porte shall take into serious consideration the opinion pro- 
 nounced by the Commissioners of the mediating Powers with regard to the possession 
 of the town of Khotoor, and undertakes to cause the execution of the work of definitive 
 demarkation of the Turco-Persian frontier. The indemnities for the war and the lessen 
 entailed upon Russia, which the Emperor of Russia claims and which the Sublime Porte 
 has undertaken to reimburse, consist of : A. Nine hundred millions of roubles for the 
 expenses of the war. B. Four hundred millions of roubles for damage caused to the
 
 690 APPENDIX II. 
 
 southern sea-coast of the country, to its commerce, exports, industry, and railways. 
 
 C. A hundred millions of roubles for damage caused to the Caucasus by invasion. 
 
 D. Ten millions of roubles for damage (with interest) caused to Russian subjects and 
 institution? in Turkey ; total, 1,410,000,000 of roubles. Taking into consideration the 
 financial embarrassments of Turkey, and in accordance with the desire of the Sultan, the 
 Emperor of Russia consents to exchange the payment of the greater portion of the 
 sums enumerated in the preceding paragraph for the following territorial concessions : 
 A. The sanjak of Tultcha that is, the districts of Kilia, Sulina Mabumdic, Isaktcha, 
 Tultcha, Matchin, Baba Dagh, Hirsova, Kustendje, and Medjidie, as well as the islands 
 of the Danube Delta and the Isle of Serpents. Russia, not desiring to annex this terri- 
 tory or the islands of the Danube Delta, reserves the power to exchange it for the por- 
 tion of Bessarabia alienated by the treaty of 1856, and bounded on the south by the arm 
 of the Kilia and the mouth of the Stary Stamboul. The question of the partition of the 
 waters and fisheries shall be regulated by a Russo-Rumanian commission within the space 
 of a year after the ratification of the treaty of peace. S. Ardahan, Kars, Batum, Bay- 
 azid, and the territory as far as the Soghanli Dagh. Roughly speaking, the frontier, 
 starting from the Black Sea, will follow the ridges of mountains which separate the 
 affluents of the river Hopa from those of the Tchonisk and the chain of mountains by the 
 town of Artvin to the river Tchoruk, near the villages of Ailat and Bechagesthst ; then 
 the frontier will run along the summits of Mounts Derenik, Ghexi, Hortsheyar, and 
 Bedigindagh, by the ridge separating the affluents of the rivers Tortum Tchai, and 
 Tchoruk, and over the heights near Yali Vihim, coming out at the village of Vilim Kilissa 
 on the river Tortum Tchai ; thence it will foil >w the Sirri Dagh chain to the pass of the 
 same name, passing south of the village of Norman. It will then turn south-east and go 
 to Zewin, whence, passing west of the road leading from Zewin to the village of Ardost 
 and Khorassan, it will proceed south over the Soghanli chain as far as the village of 
 Gilitchman ; then by the ridge of Sharian Dagh it will reach a point ten versts south of 
 Hamaur, in the defile of Murad Tchai ; it will then follow the ridge of the Ala Dagh 
 and the summits of the Hori and Tan Dur, and passing south of the valley of BayaziJ, 
 will rejoin the old Turco-Persian frontier south of Lake Gazil Gol. The definitive limits 
 of the territory annexed to Russia, indicated upon the map annexed, shall be fixed by a 
 commission composed of Russian and Ottoman delegates. This commission will take 
 into account, in its labors connected with the topography of the locality, considerations 
 for good administration, and proper conditions for assuring the tranquillity of the coun- 
 try. C. The territories mentioned in paragraphs A and JB are ceded to Russia as an 
 equivalent for the sum of 1,100,000,000 of roubles. As for the rest of the indemnity, with 
 the exception of 10,000,000 of roubles due to Russian interests and institutions in Turkey, 
 or 300,000,000 roubles, the mode of payment of this sum and the guarantee to be given 
 for it are regulated by agreement between the Imperial Government of Russia and that of 
 his Majesty the Sultan. D. Ten millions of roubles, claimed as an indemnity for Rus- 
 sian subjects and institutions in Turkey, shall be paid by degrees, as the claims of the 
 persons interested shall have been examined by the Russian Embassy at Constantinople 
 and transmitted to the Sublime Porte. 
 
 20. The Sublime Porte shall take efficacious measures for the amicable settlement 
 of all the lawsuits of Russian subjects pending for several years, compensate the latter 
 if there be occasion, and cause the judgments delivered to be executed without delay. 
 
 21. Those of the inhabitants of the localities ceded to Russia who may desire to 
 establish their residence outside those territories will be at liberty to depart, selling 
 their landed property. Three years' delay, dating from the ratification of the present 
 document, are granted to them for this purpose. Beyond that period those inhabitants 
 who shall not have left the country or sold their lands will be Russian subjects. Lauded 
 property belonging to the State, or pious establishments situated outside the aforesaid local- 
 ities, are to be sold within the same period of three years, by means which shall be deter- 
 mined by ti Russo-Turkish special commission. The same commission shall be intrusted
 
 THE TREATY OF SAN STEFANO. 691 
 
 to determine the mode of the withdrawal by the Ottoman Government of the war ma- 
 terial, ammunition, provisions, and other articles belonging to the State, which may be 
 in the towns, cities, and localities ceded to Russia and not occupied at present by the 
 Russian troops. 
 
 22. Russian clergymen, pilgrims, and monks traveling or staying in European and 
 Asiatic Turkey shall enjoy the same rights, advantages, and privileges as foreign clergy- 
 men belonging to other nationalities. The right of official protection of the Imperial 
 Embassy and Russian Consuls in Turkey is recognized both with regard to the persons 
 aforementioned and to their possessions. Religious and philanthropic establishments 
 and others, at holy places and elsewhere, of the monks of Mount Athos, of Russian 
 origin, shall be maintained in their former possessions and privileges, and shall continue 
 to enjoy, in the three convents which belong to them, and in their dependencies, the 
 same rights and prerogatives as those assured to the other religious establishments and 
 the Mount Athos convents. 
 
 23. All treaties, conventions, and undertakings previously concluded between the 
 two high contracting parties relative to the commerce, jurisdiction, and position of 
 Russian subjects in Turkey, which have been suppressed by the war, shall bo put in 
 force again, excepting those clauses which will be affected by the present document. 
 The two Governments will be reinstated as regards their mutual relations, for all their 
 undertakings commercial and otherwise in the same situation in which they were 
 placed before the declaration of war. 
 
 24. The Bosporus and Dardanelles will remain open in time of war as in time of 
 peace, to the merchant vessels of neutral States arriving from Russian ports or proceed- 
 ing to those ports. The Sublime Porte undertakes in consequence not to establish 
 henceforth in the ports of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov a fictitious blockade, which 
 shall depart from the spirit of the Declaration of Paris of 1856. 
 
 25. The complete evacuation by the Russian army of European Turkey, with the 
 exception of Bulgaria, shall take place within a period of three months from the defin- 
 itive conclusion of peace between his Majesty the Emperor of Russia and his Majesty 
 the Sultan. In order to save time, and to avoid the prolonged maintenance of Russian 
 troops in Turkey and Rumania, a portion of the Imperial army may proceed to the ports 
 of the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora for embarkation in vessels belonging to the 
 Russian Government, or freighted for the occasion. The evacuation of Asiatic Turkey 
 shall be effected within the space of six months, dating from the definitive conclusion of 
 peace, and the Russian troops shall be at liberty to embark at Trebizond, to return by 
 the Caucasus or by the Crimea. The operations for the evacuation shall commence 
 immediately after the exchange of the ratifications. 
 
 26. As long as the Russian troops remain in the localities which according to the 
 present document will be restored to the Sublime Porte, the administration and order 
 of things shall remain in the same state as since the occupation. The Sublime Porte 
 shall take no part in it during this time, and until the entire departure no Ottoman 
 troops shall enter the localities restored to the Sublime Porte. The latter shall not 
 commence to exercise its authority there until, as each town and province shall have 
 been evacuated by the Russian troops,' the commander of those troops shall have given 
 information to the officer appointed f o.r this purpose by the Sublime Porte. 
 
 27. The Sublime Porte undertakes not to treat rigorously in any way, or allow to be 
 so treated, Ottoman subjects who have been compromised by their relations with the 
 Russian army during the war. In case any persons may wish to depart with their fam- 
 ilies by following the Russian troops, the Ottoman authorities shall not oppose their 
 departure. 
 
 28. Immediately after the ratification of the preliminaries of peace the prisoners of 
 war shall be reciprocally restored through the agency of special commissioners named 
 on each side, who shall proceed for that purpose to Odessa and Sebastopol. The Otto- 
 man Government shall pay all the expenses of the support of the restored prisoners in 
 
 38
 
 692 APPENDIX II. 
 
 eighteen equal installments, within the period of six years, according to the accounts 
 which shall be substantiated by the above-mentioned commissioners. The exchange of 
 prisoners between the Ottoman Government and the Governments of Rumania, Servia, 
 and Montenegro shall take place upon the same bases ; deducting, however, from the 
 account to be drawn up, the number of prisoners restored by the Ottoman Government 
 from the number of prisoners which they will receive in return. 
 
 29. The present document will be ratified by their Majesties, the Emperor of Russia 
 and the Emperor of the Ottomans, and ratifications will be exchanged in fifteen days, or 
 sooner, if possible, at St. Petersburg, or both place and time may be agreed upon, at 
 which the stipulations of the present document may be invested with the solemn forms 
 used in treaties of peace. It remains well understood, however, that the high contract- 
 ing parties consider themselves formally bound by the present document from the 
 moment of its ratification, in faith of which the respective plenipotentiaries have put 
 their hand and seal to the present document. 
 
 Given at San Stefano, February 19 (March 3), 1878. 
 
 COUNT IGNATIEFF. 
 
 SA.VFET. 
 
 NELIDOFF. 
 
 SADOOLAH.

 
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