The Outgoing Turk

RHODES - SOLIMAN'S MOSQUE o F t . L CourJeK J3pu|q)jOog am :X q P unoa THE OUTGOING TURK THE OUTGOING TURK IMPRESSIONS OF A JOURNEY THROUGH THE WESTERN BALKANS BY H. C. THOMSON AUTHOR OF " THE CHITRAI. CAMPAIGN WITH SEVENTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY THE AUTHOR AND OTHERS AND THREE MAPS LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1897 All rights resoled SRLfl JJRC 5138310 The Sultan Selim inscribed upon the door of his Palace at Adrianople, these words : " O ye, who come here for judgment ; if justice be not done to you, 1 absolve you from your allegiance to me." " A cruel tyranny, bathed in the blood of their Emperors on every succession; a heap of vassals and slaves ; no nobles, no gentlemen, no freemen, no inheritance of land, no stirp of ancient families ; a people ' is that re- that without natural affection, and, as the Scripture saith, ' not the desires without or care towards gardeth of women ,- and piety their children, without morality, without letters, arts, or sciences ; that can scarce measure an acre of land or an hour of the day ; base and sluttish in buildings, diets, and the like ; and, in a word, a very reproach of human society ; and yet this nation hath made the garden of the world a wilderness, for that, as is truly said concerning the Turks, where Ottoman's horse sets his foot people will come up very thin." FRANCIS BACON. PREFACE " I HAVE called this book The Outgoing Turk," " using "Turk" not in the sense of Mahommedan," " " but in that of Osmanli official for in Bosnia and ; the Hercegovina a third of the people are still Ma- hommedans, protected in all their rights, and with full liberty to worship without insult and without re- straint. These Provinces have not been annexed by Austria. They have only been occupied by her for the enforcement of order. Nominally they still form part of Turkey, and are under the sovereignty of but the the Sultan ; Pashas, and Turkish officials, "one and all, bag and baggage," have been cleared out, and the government is entirely in Austrian hands. There are many who would have preferred the formation of a tributary State like Bulgaria, but the conditions were not parallel. In Bulgaria there were comparatively few Mahommedans, and hardly any Catholics, whereas in Bosnia and the Herce- viii PREFACE govina almost one half of the population was Moslem, and of the Christians a considerable pro- portion were Roman Catholics. The people were not to fit for liberty. They could never have united form one nation, and to them the gift of liberty would have been but a prolonging of misery. What they were in immediate need of was a strong, firm government, such as Austria has given them. The proclamation announcing the occupation undertook that all the people in the land should enjoy equal rights before the law, and that they should be protected in life, in belief, in property, and in estate. This undertaking Austria has kept. She has estab- lished peace where there was never-ending strife. She has evolved government and order out of and chaos and under her rule all races and anarchy ; all religions are not only tolerated but protected. A Catholic country herself an ardently Catholic country she is making no attempt to favour the Catholics at the expense of either the Turks, or of the Orthodox Christians. She supports and sub- scribes to the maintenance of them all, though she has treated the Turks with rather more consideration than the others, not only from reasons of political expediency, but from a wise and generous desire to soften the pain of submission, and the bitter sting of defeat. What Herr v. Kallay, who for the last ten years PREFACE ix has been virtually the Dictator of the two Provinces, has done to develop their resources, and to stimulate their paralysed energies into fresh life, has been dwelt other writers and is too well fully upon by ; known to require further comment. What I have attempted to describe is rather the of the Government those details which machinery ; attract so little attention, but upon which a suc- cessful administration so greatly depends. I travelled last summer through Bosnia and the Hercegovina, by carriage and post-cart, more than eight hundred miles, not along the main lines of communication, but through the outlying moun- tainous districts, far removed from the line of rail, and seldom visited, except by officials during their periodic tours of inspection. The people have been disarmed, and owing to that, and to the excellent system of gendarmerie, perfect security prevails throughout the land. The peasants, it is true, are and backward that is to be after poor ; only expected, the centuries of have had to endure oppression they ; but every effort is being made to improve their condition, and to lighten their lot. Everywhere I went I found that the resolute yet kindly rule of Baron Appel and Baron Kutschera had produced a whole- some effect. The people feel that their complaints will be patiently listened to, and that justice will not be denied them. Moslem and Christian are begin- x PREFACE to ning to mix with each other on equal terms ; toleration and learn a mutual respect, and a mutual ; as their embittered feuds die out, the free inter- mingling of all its peoples to which the land has been so long a stranger, and without which pro- gress is impossible, will become more permanent and more intimate. But wise and humane as the rule of Austria has been, the people are neverthe- less discontented : the Turks because they have been deprived of power, the Catholics because they have been given less than they expected, and the Serbs because they desire independence. However well a people may be governed, so long as they do not govern themselves there will always be found some to whom a perilous liberty seems preferable to a prosperous servitude. The Orthodox, too, are suspicious of any interference in church affairs, and have resented bitterly a recent order that a government official shall be present at all church councils. They regard it as an attempt to secularise their church, and it has in consequence been productive of intense dissatisfaction. The Greeks in Cyprus have the same sensitive jealousy of. interference in church matters. This question of. religion underlies everything, and makes it almost impossible for an occupation by any Power that is not Orthodox to ever become acceptable to an Orthodox population. I have used the expression, "through the Wes- PREFACE xi tern Balkans," to describe my journey, because the people, alike in Bosnia, in the Hercegovina, in Dalmatia and in Montenegro, call their hills, not as we do on our maps, the Junian, Illyrian or Dinaric Alps, but simply, "The Balkans," the Turkish word for forest-covered mountains. To write words from another language in such a way as to convey any idea of their pronunciation is a difficult matter and I have it best to ; thought adhere to the recognised Croat spelling, but for the benefit of those who may wish to know how the words really sound, I have given a list of geographical names with their phonetic equivalents. I have to express my grateful thanks to Miss Irby for the invaluable help she has given me, and for the photograph of Serajevo in Turkish times, taken from a water colour drawing in her possession. I am also indebted to Captain v. Roth of the Austrian Cavalry, whom I accompanied on one of his official tours, and who has a wide knowledge of the country, and of the customs of the people, for much useful information, and for kindly allowing me to use some of his photographs to supplement those I took myself. Where I have had occasion to quote from the I Koran, have made use of Sale's translation ; and for the details of certain Mahommedan ceremonies xii PREFACE I have had recourse to the Rev. T. P. Hughes' Notes on Miihammedanism. About Bosnia itself, the people and their ways, there is little to tell that has not already been fully told by Mr. Arthur Evans. The main object I have had in view has been to show how great a transformation can be effected by twenty years of resolute Christian government in a country in the terrible condition Mr. Evans has so eloquently described. The pity of it is, that, but for the selfish jealousies of the Powers, what has been done in Bosnia mio-hto have been also done in Macedonia. H. C. T. TABLE OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES USED IN THIS BOOK Croat spelling. Phonetic Croat spelling. Phonetic equivalent. equivalent. Banjaluka .... Banialuka. Jajce Yaitze. Bihac Bihatch. Jezero Yezero. Bjelasnica .... Bielashnitza. Konjica Konyitza. Bjelina Bielina. Metkovic .... Metkovitch. Blagaj Blagay. Marica Maritza. Bocae Bochatz. Miljaka .... Milyachka Brcka Brchka. Orasje Orashye. Bugojno .... Bugoyno. Prjedor Priedor. Carcija Charchiga. Ripac Ripach. Doboj ..... Doboy. Rogelj Rogegl. Gacko Gatzko. Samac Shamatz. Gornji-Seher . Gorni-Shahr. Serajevo .... Serayevo. Gradacac Gradashatz. Sokolac Sokolatz. Hadzici Hadzhichi. Trebinje .... Trebinye. Hercegovina Hertzegovina. Treskavica . Treskavitza. Ilidze Ilidzhi. Zenica . Zenitza. Jablanica .... Yablanitza. Croat letter. Approximate sound. c . tch c . ch c . tz j Y G gl as in Italian. s sh z . zjh CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE STATE OF BOSNIA BEFORE THE OCCUPATION ITS PRESENT CONDITION AS COMPARED WITH OTHER PARTS OF EUROPEAN TURKEY JOURNEY THROUGH RUMELIA IN 1895 I CHAPTER II PERFECT TRANQUILLITY OF BOSNIA AND THE HERCEGOVINA UNDER AUSTRIAN RULE STATISTICS OF CRIMES OF VIOLENCE COLONEL CVJETICANIN AND THE GEND- ARME CORPS DEATH OF BARONESS APPEL CHANGED FEELING OF THE PEOPLE , II CHAPTER

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