Maney Publishing

The British Traveller in the Balkans: The Abuses of Ottoman Administration in the Slavonic Provinces Author(s): Barbara Jelavich Source: The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 33, No. 81 (Jun., 1955), pp. 396-413 Published by: Maney Publishing on behalf of Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4204663 Accessed: 21/09/2009 09:20
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The

British Balkans:

Traveller the Administration Abuses

in

the

of

Ottoman Slavonic

in

the

Provinces JELAVICH

BARBARA

of the relatively Among the most interesting few sources for the study of the social history of the peoples of the Balkan peninsula are the numerous works of British travellers who journeyed into the region in or instruction.1 search of pleasure As works of literature only a few, as Kinglake's in some way to Eothen, excel, but all contribute a of life under Ottoman travel books rule. However, present picture as a whole, and those on the Near East in particular, must be used warily as raw material for the writing of history. The British traveller of the 19th century, to whose works this study will be confined, was, such in general, not content to be the passive recorder of the events which in a century when strong prejudice and passed before him. Writing controversial the political opinion dominated scene, he usually chose the cause which he intended to champion before he entered upon his of the century the defence of the Russian was the major theme; imperialism thereafter the plight of the subject nationalities tended to engage the writer's sympathies. the even the Moslem rulers Throughout century found their advocates, whom David was probably among Urquhart the most influential. the British traveller was perhaps not the best person to Moreover, form a cool judgment on conditions under Moslem rule. He left a and expanding the leading nation of the day, to flourishing country, enter a world where change since the Middle Ages had usually been for the worse. The impression of stagnation and decay, the apparent blind refusal to better conditions, struck him all the more forcefully. Ottoman he met precisely the political conditions Empire he had learned to abhor: irresponsible, government, despotic economic and religious The physical intolerance. anarchy appear? ance of the country was also all the more wretched by comparison. which Even the seasoned traveller was often dismayed the dilapidation of the primitive accommodation by the dirtiness and available. Travel In the travels. Balkan For instance, area against in the middle

1 For a and bibliography of travel books on the Near East see F. W. Hasluck, Christianity Islam underthe Sultans,Oxford, 1929, I, xxi-lxiv, and, Shirley Howard Weber, Voyages and Travelsin theNear East madeduringtheXIX Century, Princeton, 1952.

THE through

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of the name and no roads worthy cul? The and real entailed linguistic developed waterways hardship. of tural barriers which separated the traveller from the inhabitants the countries which he visited prevented a deeper him from acquiring of the events which he observed. when in Therefore, understanding a country is the following unrelieved of apparently gloom pages a picture it must be remembered that it is based on the observations painted, in the of Western nations of representatives of the most advanced most backward do not described area. The conditions European but the view is through Western glasses. thereby lose their validity, such these books may be read with profit. On deficiencies, Despite one question in particular, that of the principal failings of the Otto? in its dealings man government with the subject areas and the chief their rulers, the criticisms directed against by the Balkan peoples and show remarkable various accounts present extensive agreement From these it is possible to gain some idea of the actual information. administrative system and its relations with working of the Ottoman those under its control, as seen from a West European point of view. stories The opinions and which they the the authors by expressed of The told had more than a literary entanglement significance. in the East Near and the Great Britain in the diplomatic struggles of events in the area of the public in the development The audience. assured the writer of an influential, politically-minded of the position of the Christian in a view of Ottoman life, particularly and British opinion Moslem state, given in these books influenced In the following the actions of the government. pages an ultimately close interest the general con? will be made to summarise impressions attempt on that aspect of life in the of the travellers veyed by the writings Ottoman empire which was of greatest interest to the contemporary lands and Albania will reader. Only the Christian, Slavonic-speaking a description of be considered; no attempt will be made to include or Rumanian districts. of Ottoman rule can most readily be discussed the inferior status under three general headings: first and foremost, to the the Christian Turkish adminis? second, assigned population; trative system and its methods and third, the economic of action; that by the of the subject lands. It must be remembered development in a of state the was Ottoman 19th century decay. Although empire conditions The chief abuses inhabited provinces by nonoutlying of the most unfavourable side the regime, peoples and corruption conditions similar of maladministration virtually existed in the Moslem and Turkish national sections. In fact, it was that of subordinate that only in the first category, personal position, the Christian was in a situation entirely different from, and decidedly Moslem showed the administration of the in the Greek

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it was to, that of his Moslem fellow-countrymen.2 Certainly, this grievance which was most deeply felt. Since the basis of the Ottoman not national, Empire was religious,

no particular matter what

from advancement no barred an individual prejudice his race or previous social station, if he were a Moslem. Thus the Slavonic his religion, rise Christian, could, by abandoning to whatever his entitled and in abilities him share the position privi? on the principle that 'the bended leges of the ruling group. However, be struck off', he who remained a Christian was even to prosper in commercial but he pursuits, was relegated to a distinctly inferior social status. The assurance felt of the vast superiority of his faith to all others con? by the Moslem tinued relatively undiminished from the days of Ottoman supremacy down to the 19th century, decline of Ottoman despite the appalling on a local level the Moslem and Chris? power. Therefore, although tian peasant lived in physical circumstances of remarkable similarity allowed to live and and suffered government, from proportionately the Moslem community extortionate taxation and inept held aloof from their Christian as of a lower caste. With time head shall not

whom counterpart, they regarded such as the custom that many of the early outward forms of servitude, a Christian must dismount when riding past a Moslem, had fallen into disuse, but in scattered areas many of these remained in force.3 The prohibition to Christians to carry arms, for example, was more a measure of social prestige than of assuring the maintenance of civil order. The feeling of the individual Moslem is well illustrated by one account in which the author on meeting a troop of Christian merchants outside Salonika turned his horse aside that they might pass. ... for this weakness [I was] reproved by my Turks. 'Ride straight on,' said they, 'as if you saw no one before you; for although it is right and proper to show civility, you don't know our Giaours; both the Greeks and Bulgarians, especially the latter, are well enough to deal with as long as you keep them in their places; but it is not with them as with the Franks; if you give them a button, they wish to take your whole gar? ment; and he that lowers himself too much to them will assuredly have cause to repent it'.4 The expected, felt towards hostility to those who came the Christian as might be extended, from foreign lands. All accounts testify

2 Warington W. Smyth, A Tear with the Turks, or, Sketches and of Travel in the European Asiatic Dominionsof theSultan, London, 1854, pp. 97-8. 3 Edmund Travels in Spencer, EuropeanTurkeyin 1850, through Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia,Thrace,Albania,andEpirus,etc., London, 1851, I, 244-5. 4 For the of the Christian in Smyth, pp. 209-10. relation to the Moslem see also position G. F. Abbott, The Tale of a Tour in Macedonia,London, 1903, pp. 198-201, and James in Baker, Turkey Europe,London, 1877, pp. 70-1.

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to learn foreign languages and of the Moslem to the unwillingness his consequent unfortunate on Christian dependence interpreters.5 The stoning of travellers in the streets of Constantinople and in the towns of the provinces was a not infrequent occurrence.6 It is interesting to note that in the 19th century there appear to have been no concerted to about conversions to Islam. attempts bring for a few instances the connected with Except relatively kidnapping of Christian not carried out from an excess of girls, acts obviously the Christians their faith did so who abandoned zeal,7 only religious with the hope of bettering their position in the world and not because of outside This situation was in marked contrast to that pressure. which existed century engaged Thornton wrote, in proposing his in it confidence between the various Christian sects who throughout the in the most bitter and violent factional warfare. As the Moslem 'he performs an act of charity believes

plying Excluded from participation in the functions of the ruling body, the Christians within the empire formed a compact political body of their own. The overwhelming of the Slavonic Christian majority inhabitants under Ottoman rule belonged to the Orthodox church. In the village the local church organisation was the centre of the It supervised whatever facilities educational community. existed, certain legal questions and looked after the welfare of those its jurisdiction. In this sphere the position of the individual Christian was dependent on the level of church administration in his own district, which was, generally often quite as bad as the speaking, under civil government. The splitting of society into these two major factions, the dominant Moslem minority and the subject Christian majority, meant that each within itself. Considering the close village or rural area was divided in which Christian and Moslem associated proximity they lived, little. Moreover, the Christian from experience and tradition had to the Moslem characteristics which precluded assigned friendship. He expected to meet tyranny, and prejudice. are brutality Typical the words of a guide who explained he must wear tattered and why worn clothing when leaving free Serbia for the Ottoman lands. 6 C. B. Elliott, Travelsin the ThreeGreatEmpiresof Austria, Russia and Turkey,London, 1838,1,454-5; George Keppel, Narrative of a JourneyacrosstheBalcan, London, 1831,1, 345, and R. Walsh, Narrative to England,London, 1828, pp. 151-2. of a Journey from Constantinople 6 andthe Turk,or, PowersandProspects in theLevant,London, Eyre Evans Crowe, The Greek Painterin Albania, Illyria, etc.t 1853, pp. 183-4, anc*Edward Lear, Journals of a Landscape London, 1851, p. 67. 7 Abbott, pp. 171-2, and, G. Arbuthnot, Herzegovina,or, OmerPacha and the Christian Rebels,London, 1862, pp. 212-13. * Thomas Thornton, The PresentStateof Turkey,London, 1809, II, 150-1. Moslem handled

faith to the acceptance of the uninitiated; but his is too firm for any vanity to be gratified by multi? its adherents'.8

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Ah, Gospodin! rags excite no envy in Turkey. My gaudy braided jacket and crimson shalwar might do well for Belgrade; but were I to travel with them among the haughty Arnouts of Bosnia and Albania, I should be certainly half murdered, or at least every article of my dress cut to shreds with their poniards; for, remember, Gospodin, if Georgy is a free man in Servia, he is a rayah when he crosses the Turkish frontier. Here he may wear the costume of the lordly Arnout, the crimson shalwar and belt full of pistols, but there he must appear in the humble garments of the despised rayah!9 Moreover, by the 19th century the Moslem had lost the prestige of a conqueror. he still held his dominant Although by force position of admiration of arms, he excited no feelings or respect from the An individual, such as the notorious Ali Pasha of subject peoples. Janina, might inspire fear achievement and the extent average spectacle. general: Turks10 never stride: when at leisure they creep; when pressed for time they saunter; when they think, or wish others to think, that in their veins circulates the sacred blood of the Caliph, then they waddle. But they can no more stride than fly.11 The failure development In prestige. improvements to Christian typical The picture to play a significant role in the economic of his country also contributed to the decline of his an age of industrial and commercial the expansion within the Ottoman empire were due almost entirely or foreign Sir enterprise. in the following account. Charles Trevelyan gave a of the Moslem of his by the enormity he perpetrated, but the and his retinue a sorry governor presented provincial As a traveller through Macedonia wrote of the Moslems in and gain fame of the atrocities

Turk is not a producer. He never appears as a proprietor or or partner in a banking or mercantile firm. manager of a manufactory, To keep a coffeehouse, or some of the commonest kinds of retail shops, seems to be the limit of his capacity in this respect; and this he does in such a lazy, sleepy way?spending most of his time in gossiping, and in the sales of real property regis? smoking, drinking coffee?that, tered by the Cadi, the transfer is almost always from Mohammedan to Christian hands.12 9 Spencer, I, 30. 10 In the quotations in the following pages the term 'Turk' is used freely by the authors to denote a Moslem, no matter what his nationality. 11Abbott, p. 121. See also Andrew Archibald Paton, The Bulgarian, the Turk and the German,London, 1855, pp. 39-40, and Arthur J. Evans, Illyrian Letters,London, 1878, pp. 126-7. 12 Sir Charles Trevelyan, FromPesth to Brindisi, beingNotes of a Tourin theAutumn of i86g from Pesth to Belgrade,Constantinople, Athens,Corfu,BrindisiandNaples, London, 1876, p. 42. See also Crowe, pp. 184-5, anc^Henry Holland, Travelsin theIonianIsles, Albania, Thessaly\ Macedonia, etc., duringthe Years1812 and 1813, London, 1819, II, 53-4.

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and Moslem of the duality held by both Christian and cultural worlds was not measurably religious respective in the empire affected reforms initiated under by the numerous that he was a secondThe feeling of the Christian foreign pressure. in a basically alien state-structure was the principal class citizen cor? harboured by the Christian rayah. The incompetence, grievance conviction of their of many aspects of Ottoman rule led to local ruptness and barbarity the revolts and crystallised but these same Porte, against opinion of the suc? methods were often carried over into the administration cession failure engage states the without causing of the Ottoman the overthrow Empire in any way of the government. The or to secure the loyalty of its subjects on the Balkan power

of the mass sympathies assured the of control of the area, once Ottoman loss peninsula was broken and foreign support was withdrawn.

the secondary in the Ottoman of the Christian Although position in reflected was the he received treatment the adminis? under empire trative system of the country, the principal the abuses here affected a Moslem to lesser the of the also, although degree. By beginning in the Balkan had 19th century provincial government peninsula in of the path the central government followed and had degenerated of corruption into a condition and chaos.13 All important offices were once a year in Constantinople. Since tenure of office sold, generally was usually short, each official tried to extort as much as possible and as quickly as possible from those under his control. The main purpose of office-holding had thus become not public service, but the accumu? lation of enough wealth to (1) repay the original sum expended to the to to aside maintain the official position, (2) acquire put money in his old age or when he fell into disfavour, and (3) to enable him to live in a fitting style while in office. In addition, sums usually had to be transmitted to Constantinople to ensure influence there. The precarious situation in which each official found himself in relation to the central government his conduct of greatly hampered He could be deposed and his possessions at will. confiscated Since the improvement of roads and waterways, the maintenance of a fair judicial the a establishment of system, trustworthy police and the honest administration of a prosperous and happy province could in no way advance the position of a local governor in the eyes of the Porte, could. kind he naturally concentrated his energies on the activities which He engaged in petty quarrels and skirmishes with others of his and was forced to involve himself in constant to prointrigues business.

13 For a description of the administrative system see Abbott, pp. 209-10; Arbuthnot, pp. 37-8, 73-4; Henry C. Barkley, Betweenthe Danube and the Black Sea, or, Five Tearsin Bulgaria, London, 1876, pp. 94-5; G. Muir Mackenzie and A. P. Irby, Travels in the SlavonicProvincesof Turkey-in-Europe, London, 1866, pp. 255-9; Spencer, II, 384-6, and Thornton, I, 153-67.

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tect his own position. He knew that his value to the government was almost solely in terms of the taxes which the area under his measured jurisdiction and their collection became one of his chief pre? yielded, Here in the his vulnerable Christian, occupations. relatively position, The of tax methods collection suffered together proportionately. with the failure of the police and judicial fairly system to function were of the Christian the chief complaints the Ottoman against administrative system. The question of the taxation of the non-Moslem subjects of the Ottoman a remained the constant source throughout century empire of irritation and received a great deal of attention from the agents of the great powers and the European it is press. Unfortunately, to obtain an accurate difficult of the tax structure general picture from the books of the travellers. Conditions the differed throughout tax collector used his own methods. and every the country, Naturally Balkan like every other tax-payer, considered himself illChristian, he was often able to conceal his assets successfully. used, but, certainly, Tax evasion carried no moral stigma in the Ottoman The empire. of opinion general consensus among the writers whose works we are was that the taxes in themselves were not particularly considering with those in other states, but the compared were ruinous to the government and the tax? alike.14 The Balkan Christian three taxes: a payer paid principal tithe on his produce, a property tax on his personal and possessions the products of home industry, and the haratch, which was levied on all male Christians in place of the military service required of the The amounts Moslem. owed under each category varied sharply from year to year and from district to district. In addition, the methods was subject to numerous other minor payments and to in contributions time of in other unusual circumstances. war or special The obligation to render service on roads and public works and to horses and teams when called upon to do so were particularly provide Heavy as the total burden of these contributions were, they would not have been unbearable had they been collected under an even moderately efficient Here as in other fields of local system. confusion ruled. If the principal aim of the Ottoman government in the provinces was to assure the prompt and full paygovernment 14 On taxation see Abbott, pp. 146-8, 232-7; Baker, pp. 433-52, 465; Barkley, pp. 280282; M. Valentine Chirol, 'Twixt Greekand Turk, or, Jottings during a Journey through and Thessaly,Macedonia, Epirus,in theAutumn of 1880, Edinburgh and London, 1881, pp. 5354; Keppel, I, 273-7; William Martin Leake, Travelsin Northern Greece, London, 1835, III, 251-2; Mackenzie and Irby, pp. 20-1, 666-8; Robert Jasper More, Underthe Balkans. Notes of a Visit to theDistrict of Philippopolis in 1876, London, 1877, p. 125; S. G. B. St Clair and Charles A. Brophy, A Residence in Bulgaria, London, 1869, pp. 174-85; Spencer, I, in the Highlandsof 248-53; Thornton, II, 13-32, and, Henry Fanshawe Tozer, Researches Turkey,London, 1869, I, 162-3. disliked. Christian harsh or unjust when of collection

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of the maximum were was those least

the methods sums from the subject Christians, the desired result. The tithe, likely to achieve

and Christian alike, was particularly paid by Moslem subject to abuse. This tax was farmed and sold to the highest bidder each year. An individual of the tithes of a could buy the collection to other and resell it in sections thereby speculators, province a profit at once. These tax-farmers could in turn sub-divide realising The government lost in each of these transactions. their portions. are illustrated in The profits which could be made by the tax-farmer the following account: . . . the dime and beylik [the taxes on cereals and domestic animals] of our village was sold in 1867 f?r 400 Turkish lire, and the purchaser made, by the grain alone, 950 lire, a clear profit of 137} per cent., and in this instance the farmer was a Turk, and therefore probably less than a Greek would have been. The farmer of taxes of 'business-like' Baltchik cleared more than 4,000 1. in the same year, but we are unable to state the sum he paid for his bargain. Counting the gains of the tax district (other localities being farmer of a village in the grain-producing still more advantageous to him) at only cent, per cent., and those of the respective purchasers of the Pashalik and district at 50 per cent, each, we obtain the gross sum of 200 per cent., which reduces the sum paid to Government to one-third of that paid by the peasants; startling as this calculation may be, it is to our knowledge not exaggerated, but might be raised still higher without exaggeration.15

It is important to remember, as is mentioned in the above quota? that the tax-farmers often were themselves Christians and that tion, in their dealings with those of their own faith they were every bit as as any Moslem administrator. unscrupulous his original with regaining investment and primarily the tax-farmer was not making as much as possible in addition, worried the interests either of the state or of the about protecting Moreover, tax-payer. through the years certain customs had arisen in connection with the collection of taxes which were extremely waste? with of the tithe, a tax usually taken in cut his grain after an appraisal of its value had been made, but he could not transport it home until the taxcollector had taken his share. Since the latter was often two to three weeks late, the harvested crop was left to the mercy of the weather and the birds. The loss thus caused has been estimated at 6 to 8 per could The situation was also an ideal one for extortion. The taxcollector could refuse to allow the peasant to take his produce unless he paid whatever was demanded in excess of the correct assessment. Fraudulent and were also sometimes measures weights employed. 15St Clair and Brophy, fn., p. 178. 16Ibid., p. 179. cent.16 ful. For instance, kind, the peasant in the collection Concerned

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The police the tax-payer had little protection. Against these practices in the stood with the tax-farmer and the central administration attempt taxation the burden of the maximum. In certain industries was was so heavy that production under these methods a meeting Abbott describes with a former vineyard-owner, crippled. who 'with tears in his eyes' said that 'after having been despoiled three times by the brigands he and thirty times by the tax-collectors, to collect was at last obliged to give up his vines entirely and reside in the town, relying on his skill in fur-coat making for subsistence'.17 The natural consequence of the activities of the tax-collector and the local official were thus the impoverishment of potentially wealthy areas and the subsequent loss to the government of possible sources of Since higher production on the farm or in the workshop revenue. meant only an increase in taxation, the individual was discouraged from improving his lands or bettering of life. In such an his conditions neither Christian nor Moslem could prosper, but the atmosphere Christian the more. The in a suffered Moslem was better always position to protect his interests and to fight against obvious extortion. The Christian was forced to fall back upon the only methods he could use; he avoided payment by every means possible. The agents of the tax-farmers were bribed and government were regulations with zeal. These activities were at least partly successful, and the Ottoman lost through inept administration. government the fact that numerous accounts Despite testify to the occurrence of atrocities in connection with the collection of taxes, it is difficult to judge the extent to which force and violence characterised the nor? mal routine. The published accounts from ?ll sources emphasise again extreme cases. The traveller and the diplomatic agent heard what had shocked the local population, not necessarily what had occurred under ordinary circumstances. The following is among the account more horrifying. For the peasant who did not agree to pay the sum asked by the tax-collector, . . . there are other paraphernalia of torture worthy of the vaults of the A village will occasionally band together to defend them? Inquisition. selves from these extortioners. Thereupon the tithe-farmer applies to the civil power, protesting that if he does not get the full amount from the The Zapvillage, he will be unable in his turn to pay the Government. tiehs, the factotums of the Turkish officials, are immediately quartered on the villagers, and live on them, insult their wives and ill-treat their children. With the aid of these gentry all kinds of personal tortures are In the heat of summer men are stripped applied to the recalcitrant. naked and tied to a tree smeared over with honey or other sweet-stuff, and left to the tender mercies of the insect world. For winter extortion 17 Abbott, pp. 146-7. resisted

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it is found convenient to bind people to stakes and leave them bare? footed to be frost-bitten; or at other times they are shoved into a pigsty and cold water poured on them. A favourite plan is to drive a party of rayahs up a tree or into a chamber and then smoke them with green wood. Instances are recorded of Bosniac peasants being left buried up to their heads in earth, and left to repent at leisure.18 such actions as these the Christian could turn for protec? Against tion to no official body. Both the police and the courts were organised under systems detrimental to the interests of the non-Moslem groups and suffered from the faults of inefficiency and corruption to common the entire administrative The local system of the Balkan peninsula. The individual police were particularly badly managed.19 policeman, the zctptiek, was underpaid and like the soldier often found his pay months in arrears.20 Since he suffered from the practices of those tried to transfer the burden to those below higher up, he naturally him. From a wage which has been estimated at between ?1 7^. and a he was to maintain his family himself and month, ?2 15s. expected and to provide for a horse. One legitimate means existed to sup? this of the sum. lawless of state the Because plement countryside, had to be accompanied usually by an for this if the em? service, particularly guard. payment was a was often liberal. The more usual ployer foreigner, means, of supplementing a meagre income was by squeezing the however, local population or by collusion with brigands. Many methods could armed The be employed to gain extra goods or equipment, in a particularly Christian If a zaptieh wanted a horse, he could quarter him? village. self at the house of the owner of a desirable animal, who could then be discovered 'to be in league with the brigands'. the horse Usually hands quickly. It is not to be wondered that the police changed usually had the best animals.21 Housing could be obtained by similar Moslem villages were usually avoided since the inhabitants could make their complaints heard. In a Christian area the police could select the most comfortable rooms available and demand that their unwilling hosts should provide the best their stores of food could afford. One traveller describes the plight of a village priest in Bulgaria who received many such visits. When they [the police] take their departure they usually carry off any additional live stock they take a fancy to for future use, occasionally * borrow' cookery utensils and clothing into the bargain, but never 18Arthur Bosnia and theHerzegovina on Foot, London, 1876, pp. 257-8. J. Evans, Through See also Abbott, 235-6. 19 On the police see ibid., pp. 208-9; Arbuthnot, pp. 82-3; Baker, pp. 257-8; and Barkley, p. 14. 20 Abbott tells of one official who regularly delayed paying the police under his jurisdic? 21 tion so that he could lend the money at interest (cf. pp. 208-9). Barkley, p. 14. methods. travellers and merchants

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of paying either for what they have eaten or taken. Out of eighty of the priest's geese only fifteen then remained, the rest having been thus requisitioned, besides which he has been relieved of much of his more portable property, including his horse, for which he gave 1,000 piastres.22 as a custodian of local the zaptieh could not be regarded Certainly, and irresponsibility character? law and order. Moreover, inefficiency ised his actions. The following story is an illustration: On one occasion a zaptieh was sent to a distant village to arrest a Before he arrived at his journey's end, however, he had wrong-doer. his Christian forgotten the offender's family name, but he remembered name. When he reached the village the zaptieh arrested every man in the place whose first name corresponded with that of the man who was 4wanted', and taking the whole lot to the konak, said, 'See, I have brought you all; you can now select out of them the man you want'.23 of the failure of the local administration Perhaps the best example and the police to fulfil their functions of properly was the prevalence the Balkan but in brigandage throughout peninsula particularly As has been mentioned, was necessarily Macedonia.24 done travelling in the company of armed guards; the merchant and the traveller had The vast stretches to fear for both life and property. the traveller were partly territory which so impressed the state of internal anarchy. As one writer testifies: of unoccupied occasioned by

The villages are at least ten miles apart. . . . Nowhere in Turkey are isolated houses to be found; for the good reason that, if there were, the owners would have their throats cut within a week.25 were made up not only of those who could be a profession in any country, such but also of those expected who had been driven from their homes by war, famine or political The local population was usually extremely oppression. sympathetic to the outlaws, because the individual felt that he too could always unbearable. with a 'go to the hills' if his life became Brigandage cast was difficult to stamp out, and the Moslem authorities patriotic to follow they too co-operated its plunder. Despite harmed ruler and ruled alike. Highways were popularity brigandage made unsafe and commerce hindered. bloodconsequently Cruelty, 22 More, 23 Ibid., pp. 80-1. See also pp. 123-4. p. 123. 24 On brigandage see Abbott, pp. 95, 113-14, 145-6, 158-9, 260; Baker, pp. 129, 237-8; Provinces Barkley, pp. 13-14, 157-8, 244-59; Lord Broughton, Travelsin Albaniaandother of Turkeyin i8og and 1810, London, 1858, I, 140-3; Chirol, pp. 80-3, 87-9; E. F. Knight, Albania, A Narrativeof RecentTravel,London, 1880, p. 271; More, pp. 137-8; St Clair and Brophy, pp. 115-31; Thornton, II, 66; D. Urquhart, The Spirit of theEast, London, 1838, II, 152-69, 197-8; and Mary Adelaide Walker, ThroughMacedoniato the AlbanianLakes, 25 London, 1864, pp. 246-8. Barkley, p. 19. with of the were to deal with the situation. powerless a share the bands and received Often The robber bands

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originally

the path of the thief, even if he were marked injustice a political and the guilty refugee. He injured the innocent to the unrest of Balkan life. equally and contributed The courts, like the police and the offices of the local administra? and offered Christian evidence little protection to those of in was admissible

tion, were Moslem-dominated other faiths.26 For instance,

but not in civil cases, and even in the former the word of a criminal, Moslem outweighed that of many Christians. The penalty for perjury, for a was for a extreme Christian. Under such circum? Moslem, light stances it was profitable for a Moslem to bring charges a against even if his grounds were flimsy. The action Christian, prosperous cost him nothing, if he lost the Christian winner paid the because, it, court costs. When the courts dealt with the case of a Moslem against a The results of the action of a Moslem, they were usually competent. Christian a are Moslem in the following shown account: against A Bulgarian, one of the most prosperous men in Ochrida, had a sum of money borrowed from him by a Turk who did not repay it, so at length he made interest with the mudir to get his debtor put into prison. At the end of a few days, however, he let him out, only fixing a future time for payment; but this indulgence was vain; for the son of the Turk resolved that his father's imprisonment by a rayah should be bloodily He watched a moment when the merchant was taking his avenged. siesta under a tree, and then crept up to him and discharged a gun into his body. A few weeks later the merchant died of the wound; yet the murderer remained at large.27 The failure the provinces the safety of cluded by his protection him assistance. of the local administration to ensure law and order in and to control corruption was extremely to dangerous the Ottoman The Christian ex? inhabitant, Empire. from the ruling circles and unable to obtain religion from his legal government, turned to those who offered Throughout Roman Catholic

the century the great powers and the and even Protestant churches Orthodox, competed in bestowing their patronage on the Balkan The nationalities. themselves in local affairs presence of foreign consuls who interested and who investigated the assur? alleged atrocities gave the Christian ance that he had powerful support.28 In a sense the corruption of the Ottoman system was a double tragedy for the Balkan peoples. Not only did they suffer the burden of the abuses, but they received an education in civil responsibility that would have been better avoided. Most of the travel accounts testify to the prevalence of graft in Christian civil and ecclesiastical bodies. 28 On the operation of the courts see Arbuthnot, pp. 211-12; Evans, Bosnia and Herze? govina,p. 255; Keppel, I, 267, and Thornton, I, 188-213. 27 Mackenzie and Irby, pp. 75-6. See also Walker, pp. 208-11. 28 Baker, p. 514, and St Clair and Brophy, pp. 252-93.

408 Such practices of public life. acquired despotic Ottoman The side

THE had with

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been accepted as the normal attributes decrees of resistance government against and to the inhabitants and the arbitrary tendency by in from lessons learned action those were also by power The habit rule. appearance of the Balkan the traveller towns, far more farms than and country? the details he

physical

naturally impressed learned of the relationship between Moslem and Christian or between the officials and those under them. The beauty of the Balkan land? and forests, the very remoteness the mountains scape, particularly and inaccessibility for the artist of the country, had great attractions and the writer. Viewed from a distance like and romantic appearance: the towns assumed a dream?

a Turkish city has a charm of its own whatever its situation, and ... looked at from what point you please. True to the pastoral instincts of his ancestors, the Turk ever seeks to absorb the prosaic town into the poetry of nature; he multiplies spires to atone for roofs, and wherever he builds a house he plants a tree.29 From closer at hand, however, became less pleasing. The average in the interior, was often squalid towns had an air of stagnation and the sultan's horse hath trod, the of human the picture habitation Balkan village or farm, especially and wretched. Even the larger The decay. popular saying 'where earth yieldeth save thorns nought their reaction writers to characterise

and thistles' was used by many to what they saw.30 The lack of any great public works or buildings was remarked upon; the impressive ruins visited dated from mediaeval or ancient times.31 Almost alone the mosque and the minaret marked the Ottoman conditions conquest. he met: One writer thus dramatically described

the

Where are the monuments of the power and the energy of the mighty people who laid the Christian empire of the East in the dust? Where are the proofs that they have for four centuries held dominion over one of the most beautiful and fertile countries in our hemisphere? Where!? the undrained marsh, the sand-choked river, the grass-grown market place, the deserted field, the crumbling fortress, the broken arch; these re-echo, Where!32 on existing structures, when Another traveller temporary. explains: Repair done, was often slipshod and

The Turk, next to erecting a new building, hates nothing more than repairing an old one. Laissez-faire is his motto, and he acts up to it with included?is from Allah, shocking consistency. Everything?ruination 29 Mackenzie and 30 Irby, p. 5. Spencer, II, 10231 32 Abbott, p. 225, and Evans, IllyrianLetters,p. 125. Spencer, I, 2.

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and who dares oppose Allah's will, or who can stay His hand? So, when a building falls into decay, it is first piously suffered to go from bad to The materials are utilised for other worse, and then it is abandoned. purposes, as they are wanted. In like manner, when the spade acciden? tally turns up some ancient statue or inscription, it is allowed to remain exposed for some time, and then, if too big to be used en bloc, it is broken in pieces and used in lieu of bricks.33 of transportation was not an easy one for the visitor problem For those who enjoyed Balkan travel riding on horseback, was ideal. Although the of the end was by century Constantinople with Western joined line, travel away Europe by a major railway from this route remained River transport was extremely primitive. to solve. also impracticable. Austrian steamers of the Vardar great waterways The horse and the mule were the Danube, but the navigated and the Maritza remained unopened.34 the period the backbone of throughout was not The

and communication.35 Travel by such means transportation as is witnessed the always pleasant, by following report:

The want of any direct communication between the various provinces by means of roads, is the first difficulty with which the traveller has to contend; a horsepath is the only substitute, everywhere in the mountains execrable. It is true, we occasionally meet with something resembling a no doubt paved road, about two feet in width, of great antiquity, originally constructed for the use of the pack-horse, that being the only means of transporting the traveller must merchandise; consequently, on his skill as an equestrian, and truly a ride depend for his conveyance across the mountains of European Turkey may be deemed a neckbreaking exploit. At one time, we are compelled to follow the windings of the bed of a dried-up torrent, at another to ascend the dizzy height of a yawning abyss, or dive into the depths of a gloomy defile, where a false step would be sufficient to plunge horse and rider into eternity.36 Even over the plains ter they became almost the roads impassable. were in poor condition and in win? notes that in Thrace,

Walsh

The road which leads through these plains is nothing more than a beaten path over the grass, every one pursuing that which he prefers. In summer it is of a limited breadth, but in winter, when the rain sets in, the usual path is impassable, and every traveller seeks a new one beside the former; so that, in some places the road is three or four hundred yards wide.37 33 Abbott, 34 p. 74. Spencer, II, 407, and Tozer, I, p. 382. 35 A rough cart, the araba,was also widely used by the local population for the trans? port of persons and goods, particularly on the plains. Its use, however, was not favoured by the traveller. Barkley, pp. 9-10; A. W. Kinglake, Eothen, London, 1948, pp. 19-21, and Walsh, p. 2. 36 Spencer, I, 5-6. On the condition of the roads see also Baker, pp. 332-3; James and Eslamiah, London, 1876, II, 148-51; and St Creagh, Overthe Bordersof Christendom 37 Walsh, Clair and Brophy, pp. 24-30. pp. 124-5.

410 responsibility on the local officials. The

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fell for the upkeep of the roads and waterways and the Porte the interest shown lack of The by officials resulted in the conditions of the provincial corrupt practices Some the Balkans. described above, which were typical throughout traveller. the lot of the made to improve efforts were occasionally to build a of the government the attempt described One account The day was set for the from Salonika to Monastir. were held, but the road never ceremonies impressive which beset the tourist Too often the inconveniences a over the Maritza told of offered a profit to someone. bridge Keppel of the ice. A ferry was put which was carried away by the breaking a small sum to the governor, into operation which and, yielded those to who of the new used the inconvenience arrangement despite 'Route Imperiale' inauguration, materialised.38 it, the bridge was never replaced.39 and communication The lack of proper means of transport all of Balkan life. Completely effect on spheres far-reaching the peasant continued from all outside sources of knowledge, the agricultural ing his surplus methods of his ancestors.40 With no means had a

cut off to use

of market?

and fearing the tax-collector and the greedy produce official, he farmed his land to support his family and to pay the dues demanded remained by church and state. His house and implements crude and his living conditions low. No incentive existed to spur him to greater efforts and larger production. garian farmer why he did not improve answer: 'What would gave the common good for anything or the Government Barkley asked a Bul? the breed of his horses, he be the use of it? If they were When

the Government would take them for the troops, officials and the police would walk off with them for their private use'.41 The same feeling existed towards the im? of and house if farm. The he feared that provement peasant appeared he would be taxed so heavily that he would be reduced prosperous to a worse condition than before. of the most obvious results of the imposition of heavy fiscal on agriculture was the under-population and under-development of the entire region. Land was plentiful throughout European of course, in the highlands. The existence of vast Turkey, except, tracts of excellent but totally neglected the Euro? acreage astonished who was accustomed to seeing the small holdings of pean visitor, Western When visiting Albania, one writer was struck by, Europe. One burdens the almost totally uninhabited of the country. Scarcely a appearance village is to be seen within three or four hours of each other; even the 38 Tozer, I, 39 Keppel, I, 150. 148. 40 More, 21; Baker, pp. 453-^85,and St Clair and Brophy, pp. 151-8. p. 41 Barkely, p. 31. See also Mackenzie and Irby, p. 391. Walsh (pp. 123-4) gives a description of the unhappy fate which overtook a Moslem who had improved his lands and prospered to such an extent that he aroused the cupidity of his superiors.

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khans are many hours apart; and more than half the land?I quite three-quarters?lies utterly waste and uncultivated.42

The Slav, for whom remained the chief occupation, agriculture life of the empire, which played but a minor role in the commercial was dominated What trade by the Greek, the Jew and the Armenian. and industry did exist in the Slavonic suffered severely provinces from the corruption and inefficiency of the government. The lack of adequate isolation means of transportation and communication resulted in the of the population. No means existed by which the local far? mer could bring his surplus produce to a larger market area. The existence of brigandage on a wide scale and the failure of the police to assure protection to Christian property made difficult the accumu? lation of capital for large enterprises. before the law and Inequality

the methods of tax-collection also contributed to this end. The industrial of the Balkan lands, even on a small development was not the of scale, largely stifled, only because previously handicaps but also because of the Ottoman customs described, regulations which favoured the foreigner. The European trader paid only upon the country, but the local merchant was taxed in every entering province through which he passed.43 The entrance of cheap Austrian, British and German cloth and crockery, in the wares, particularly market caused considerable distress among local craftsmen.44 the great mineral wealth of the region was not thoroughly Moreover, realised in the 19th century. The exploitation of even obvious sources of wealth, such as the extensive forests, could not be carried through because of the uncertain status of even the foreign promoter when government.45 account has dealt exclusively with the Although preceding abuses of Ottoman in the Balkans and has therefore administration tended to emphasise the darker side of the picture of Balkan life, it the not be assumed that all travellers were so pessimistic or that blamed Porte the alone for the bad conditions which they they observed.46 the Despite the fact that the decided majority considered Christian as the innocent of Moslem victim and cruelty, tyranny some writers either favoured the continuance of Turkish rule or con? demned both sides in equal measure. The apathy and the willingness to accept seemingly intolerable conditions on the part of both Moslem and Christian was frequently commented upon. And 42 Viscountess Strangford, The Eastern Shores of the Adriatic in 1863, London, 1864, andMal ta, London, 1837, I>342* pp. 10-11. See also Adolphus Slade, Turkey,Greece 43 Keppel, I, 259-60. 44 Abbott, p. 220. 46 pp. 38-9, and Evans, IllyrianLetters,pp. 125-6. 48Arbuthnot, For a generally favourable view of the Moslem see Arbuthnot, Baker, Smyth, St Clair and Brophy and Urquhart. must dealing with the Ottoman Balkan

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If you express your surprise at this to a Slavon Rayah, or a Greek he will tell you that a fine Rayah, however wealthy and intelligent, house and a costly exterior excites the cupidity of his greedy tyrant, the Turk; if to the Osmanli grandee, after many a 'Mashalla!' he will reply: and public buildings to enrich 'Why spend our money in improvements an unbelieving Giaour?' Both are superstitious, both are fatalists? Christian and Moslem?firmly believing that the day is not far distant, when the one must be transferred to the rule of a Christian Sovereign, and the other retreat into Asia.47 The existence of a contradictory does not lessen however, opinion, the general impression given by the works of the British traveller in the Balkans. It is that which is to be gained from a reading of the quotations previously given. Even the works of David Urquhart, per? of the continuance advocate of Turkish rule, bear haps the strongest out this view. The description of his capture by bandits in Greece and the report he gives of the activities of a Moslem provincial governor are not indicative of the ability of the Ottoman to ad? government minister subject peoples. The works of Baker, St Clair and Brophy, who are also highly critical of the Christian population, present similar anecdotes which reflect upon the capacity of the Moslem rulers. In general, the traveller followed the pattern of the newspaper He was principally in and faithfully interested correspondent. what struck most him in his travels. In the Balkans reported forcibly it was the wild beauty and grandeur of the landscape and the recur? rent atrocities in the relations of the people dwelling therein. Whether or not his reports present a fair picture cannot be determined. The could be verified, that is, the against which his statements of diplomatic are all in writings agents and foreign correspondents, the same vein. The authors are not interested in the normal primarily flow of human life, but in what is 'news'. The novel and the essay, tell so much about life and thought in other parts of Europe, were for all practical non-existent in the lands under Otto? purposes man rule. The writings of those who lived through the period are often tainted with the passion of too violent nationalism. All of these writers contributed in one way or another to strengthen the popular in Western of life under Moslem rule. The conception Europe of the travel is books therefore this: what political importance just described was what was as true. The they generally accepted felt British after the Crimean when animosity by public opinion war, Russia appeared to be less of a threat to Constantinople, was built up and solidified The best illustration of the impor? by such evidence. tance of such writings on opinion and policy is offered by the preface ' Spencer, I, 141. which accounts

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to the 1877 edition of G. Muir Macken? by W. E. Gladstone zie's and A. P. Irby's Travels in the Slavonic Provinces of Turkey-infirst noted the new opportunities Europe. Here Gladstone open to the to learn more about the question which had previously statesman that of 'how far the Porte fulfilled or defeated the neglected, main purpose for which every government the wel? exists?namely, fare of those beneath its rule'. After praising the earlier edition of the life under Ottoman rule in the comparatively book, which described been 1860's, Gladstone tranquil life of the Christian under that even concluded Ottoman rule, in times of peace the

. . . was a life never knowing real security or peace, except when the Government and its agents were happily out of view. A life which never had any of the benefits of law, save when the agents of the law were absent. A life in which no object, that was valued, could be exposed. A life which left to the Christian nothing, except what his Mohammedan master did not chance to want. A life in which wife and daughter, the sources of the sweetest were the standing consolation, appointed occasions of the sharpest anxiety. A life debased by cringing, poisoned by shorn of the freedom which is the indis? fear, destructive of manhood, pensable condition of all nobleness in man, and shorn too of every hope, except such as might lie in an escape from it to some foreign land; or in the dream of a future redemption, which we may think to be now probably at hand, when acute suffering has been substituted for dull chronic pain, and when a people, too long patient, seems to be at length in vindicating its own rights, to vindicate the insulted laws determined, of the Most High.48 48 Mackenzie and Provinces Irby, Travelsin theSlavonic of Turkey-in-Europe, London, 1877, pp. xiii-xiv.