The five centuries of Turkish domination, during which all the arts and
most of the crafts were neglected in the Balkan Peninsula, killed
nearly completely the ancient civilisations of the Greeks, the Serbs, and the Bulgars. But a few traces of the old culture survive to this day
as mournful and tattered relics of the greatness of those departed Empires. The old Bulgarian Empire, combining a Slav with a
Turconian element; the old Serbian Empire, almost purely Slav but
influenced a little by Italian and Grecian influence, evolved in the days
of its greatness the beginnings of a national literature and national architecture. In Serbia particularly was there a strong and promising growth of humane culture, and the greatest of the Serbian rulers,
Stephen Dushan (14th century), whose death before the walls of
[163]
Constantinople at the beginning of the Turkish invasions gave up the
Balkan Peninsula to the Crescent, left as one monument to his name
a well-reasoned code of laws. He was throughout his reign a sincere
friend of learning. In Bulgaria during the 10th century, under the Czar
Simeon, there was a brief efflorescence of learning. Montenegro,
which alone of the Balkan States kept its head unbowed before the Turk, was a busy centre of literary effort in the 16th century. Under the stress of constant war, however, the arts of peace died down
almost completely in the Balkans until the Liberation of the peoples in
the 19th century. During the interval, however, the peasants in their homes kept up some little knowledge of the traditions of their
forefathers' greatness. Legends were passed down from father to son
in chants set to a rough music. In these chants, too, were recorded the deeds of heroism which marked the ever-recurring revolts against
the Turk.
What survives to-day from this period of oppression is a very
characteristic national music, melancholy usually, as might be
expected, but of arresting sweetness; and an art of peasant-applied decoration, which recalls the earlier and
[164]
more primitive forms of Byzantine Art. Balkan tapestries, Balkan
carpets, Balkan embroideries, woven or stitched by the peasant
women, have a note of barbaric boldness in design and colour which
distinguishes them at once from the peasant work of other countries.
This applied art in decoration is wisely fostered by the various
governments, and there is liberal encouragement also given to
modern art. Especially is this the case in Bulgaria. The impression I have got from seeing picture collections in the Balkans is that the local artists have learned foreign methods without adding any
national bent of their own, and contrive to give a native character to their pictures only when they make the choice of some particularly horrible subject. Yet there should come a vigorous art as well as a vigorous literature one day from these Balkan States. There the
mysticism, the melancholy, the transcendentalism of the Slav is
mixed with the fatalism of the Turk, and the vivacity of the Greek and
the Roumanian in the national types. Byzantine traditions, Slav
traditions, classic Greek traditions, Roman traditions mingle to
influence this composite character, the two former predominating, but
the two latter
[165]
having a very definite power. It should be rich soil for talent, even for
genius.
Interesting opportunities were given in the Southern Slav Art
Exhibitions of 1904 and 1906 (the first at Belgrade, the second at Sofia) to note the trend of art in the Balkans. At those Exhibitions Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, and Slavonian arts were represented.
The Croatian pictures—I follow a trustworthy guide in stating this—
showed a high degree of technical skill, not distinguishable from
Austrian art in character: the Slavonian pictures were also technically
good, but of a more impressionist character: the Serbian pictures
imitated in technique the Old Masters, but took their subjects almost
exclusively from Serbian history: the Bulgarian pictures had no
national characteristic in style, but usually sought to be transcriptions
of some form of Bulgarian life of the day.
Summing up the art position in the Balkans, it can be fairly said that
before the outbreak of the last great war very good progress had
been made for the few years since the Liberation from the Turks. A wise policy for the future would be to encourage as much as possible
the peasant arts and crafts which are distinctive, and not to seek to impose too much of modern art education, which may stifle national influences and inflict a sterile sameness.
[166]
A BULGARIAN FARM
Balkan industry varies greatly with the height of the country, as well as with the racial type. The mountaineers are usually lacking in
steady industry: the peoples of the plain are usually exceptionally hard workers. Very many emigrants from the Balkans go to the
United States to work there in the mines, and on works of railway construction, for a term of years. The Bulgarian will come back from
the United States with £300 saved up, and settle down in his native village as farmer or trader. The Serbian will come back with £200
saved up, but with a wider knowledge of United States life, and he will
settle down as pastoralist or farmer, but not as trader. The Albanian or Montenegrin will come back with little or no money, but with a wonderful armoury of silver-adorned weapons and much other
personal decoration. So graced, the mountaineer will have no
difficulty in marrying the girl of his choice, and she will do most of the
work that is needed thereafter, whilst he attends to the hunting and the fighting. The Greek and the Roumanian go abroad, preferably as
traders, and afterwards elect to
[167]
stay abroad, though it is to be recorded in proof of modern Greek patriotism that in 1912 there was a steady flow of Greeks from all parts of the world coming back to their native land to fight in the army.
Considered industrially the Bulgarian is the best type in the Balkans.
He is a steady, tireless worker on the soil; takes to factory life amiably; and has in a very strongly marked degree "the road-making
talent."
A very valuable index to national character is provided by a people's
roads. The most successful Imperial governors, the Romans, were
also builders of the finest roads the world has known. The British people have been good road-builders as well as good Empire-makers; the French people, too, and every other people who at any time have done big enduring work in the government of the world. If a
nation is not a good road-building nation it will not go far: and the converse is probably true. On this road-building test the Bulgarians have a prosperous future indicated, for they are very pertinacious and
skilful road-builders. During the 1912 war I noticed that despite all other pre-occupations they were pushing roads forward at every
possible
[168]
opportunity. The Turks going back to Adrianople and Kirk Kilisse
found a great number of roads built or building—the first serious
efforts in that direction since the downfall of the Roman Empire.
The Bulgarian's chief occupation is agriculture. The system of land tenures is that of peasant ownership. There are no large estates and
very few non-occupying landlords. The chief crops are wheat, barley,
maize, rice (around Philippopolis), tobacco, and roses. The tobacco is
of as good quality, almost, as that of Turkey. The Bulgarian
Government encourages the culture of tobacco by distributing seed,
free of cost, among the planters, by setting a bounty on the export tariff, and by authorising the Bulgarian National Bank to consent to loans on the surety of certificates granted to the planters until they are able to dispose of their crops advantageously.
Tobacco culture is carried on chiefly in the south and in the provinces
of Silistria and Kustendil. The area of the plantations is estimated at 3000 hectares. The province of Haskovo has the greatest yield; then
follows Philippopolis, with 300,000 kilograms; Kustendil and Silistria, 210,000 kilograms. According to
[169]
approximate calculations based on various statistics, three-fourths of
the tobacco crop of Bulgaria is consumed by the inhabitants and only
a quarter is exported.
The rose crop is next in importance after tobacco. The roses are used
exclusively for the distilling of attar of roses. The rose gardens are limited to 148 parishes of the provinces of Philippopolis and Stara Zagora, and occupy a total area of 5094 hectares. The quantity and quality of the attar depend very much on the weather at the time of bloom and gathering. The roses most cultivated in Bulgaria are the red rose ( Rosa damascena) and the white rose ( Rosa alba). The best gardens are at Kazanlik, Karlovo, Klissoura, and Stara Zagora. The
distilling of the attar is now a Government monopoly. The cultivation
of beetroot has been introduced recently and is confined to the
province of Sofia. The sugar refinery near Sofia utilises the whole crop for local consumption.
It is interesting to note in connection with Balkan agriculture that as far back as 1863 the much-abused Turk had actually adopted the
very modern idea of an agricultural Credit Foncier system in the Balkans! In that year Midhat
[170]
Pasha, Governor of the Danubian Vilayet, prepared a scheme for the
creation of banks, to assist the rural population. The scheme having
been approved by the Turkish Government, several of these banks
were established. The peasants were allowed to repay in kind the
loans which were advanced to them, the banks themselves selling
the agricultural products. With the object of increasing the capital of the banks, a special tax was introduced obliging the farmers to hand
every year to these institutions part of their produce in kind.
When it was realised that these banks were of great service to the rural population, to which they advanced money at 12 per cent
interest—instead of 30-100 per cent, as the usurers generally did—
the Turkish Government extended the reform to the whole Turkish
Empire, and obliged the peasants to create similar banks in all the district centres. According to their statutes one-third of the net profits
of these banks was destined for works of public utility, such as
bridges, roads, fountains, schools, etc., while the remaining two-thirds
went to increase the capital of the banks.
During the Russo-Turkish war several of
[171]
these banks lost their funds, the functionaries of the Turkish
Government having carried away all the cash, as well as the
securities and other property belonging to the banks' clients. After the
war the debtors refused to pay, and only part of the property of the banks was restored, by means of the issue of new bonds. For that unfortunate end the war is rather to be blamed than the Turk. This Credit Foncier system is pretty clear proof that the Turkish power was not always cruel and rapacious, since so sensible a reform was set on foot in one of the Christian provinces under the Sublime Porte.
Apart from the industries of the soil, Bulgaria has a small mining population and an increasing factory population. The Protective tariff
is used freely to encourage young industries, and there is an effort just now to set up cotton-spinning as a national enterprise.
Serbia had a mixed pastoral and agricultural population up to the
outbreak of the war of 1912, with pig-raising as the greatest of the national industries. By the Treaty of Bucharest she has, however,
acquired much new territory, and is now probably predominantly an
agricultural country. She has, too, great mineral
[172]
resources at present, but they are little developed, and fine forests which only need an improvement of the means of communication to
be commercially a big asset. The Serbian is not so steadily devoted to his work as the Bulgarian: his is the pastoral as opposed to the agricultural character. Nevertheless he has a reasonable faculty of
industry. As is the case in Bulgaria the bulk of the land is held by peasant proprietors. These are organised into communes very much
on the Russian system. It is an interesting fact that though in Serbia
there is almost the same degree as in Bulgaria of seclusion of the women of the nation, a Serbian woman may be the head of the
village commune, and, as such, exercise a very real authority.
Both in Bulgaria and Serbia the rights of the commune are very
jealously safeguarded. The central government must take no part in
the administration of the communes, or maintain any agents of its
own to interfere with their affairs. The commune forms the basis of the State fabric and enjoys a complete autonomy. It is the smallest unit in the administrative organisation of the country. Every district is
subdivided into communes, which are either
[173]
urban or rural. The commune is a corporation. Every subject must
belong to a commune and figure in its registers, the laws not
tolerating the state of vagrancy. The members of the Commune
Council are elected by universal suffrage, in the same way and
subject to the same precautions as the members of the National
Assembly. In passing it may be observed that theoretically the
governments of the Balkan States are free democracies. Practically
they are oligarchies tempered by assassination, which is still a
favoured political weapon.
The Serbian has not much of the commercial faculty: and people of other nations manage very many of the businesses in Serbia.
The Montenegrin is willing to be a worker if it does not interfere with
his manly amusements of warfare. His occupations are pastoral and
agricultural pursuits and the chase. The Albanian is not content to be
a worker at all under any conditions. His occupations are dancing and
swaggering whilst his womenfolk carry on the bulk of the primitive pastoral and agricultural work.
It is not possible to hope for much industrial or commercial progress
in Albania. But in Serbia
[174]
and Bulgaria there are rich opportunities for enterprise and capital provided that an era of peace could be reckoned upon. It is the
uncertainty on that point that will stand in the way of future Balkan development. When after the Treaty of London the Balkan League fell
to pieces there was incurred, in addition to other sacrifices, a serious
loss of confidence on the part of European capital.
[175]