CORRESPONDENCE.
THE RIGHTS OF RACIAL MINORITIES IN THE BALKANS.
[To 11113 EDITOR 07 THE "SPECTATOR."] Sia,—A fortnight ago I attempted to prove that the Balkan problem cannot be solved solely on the basis of nationality, and that equally vital considerations of geography, economic interests, and the political balance of power are involved. At that time there was a widespread tendency to regard Macedonia as a purely Bulgarian province, and to ignore the fact that the possession of the Vardar valley is a matter of life and death to Servia. To-day events are hastening towards the opposite extreme ; and there is an equally marked tendency to ride roughshod over the principle of nationality and the rights and wishes of the native population, and to carve out the new frontier by the sword alone. Bulgaria, who, overrated alike by the outside world and by herself, believed a Balkan hegemony to be within her grasp, is threatened with the loss not only of territory which is indisputably Bulgar (such as 1CoCana, ntip, Strumnica), but also of important districts which are admittedly non-Bulgar, but whose possession is essential to Bulgaria's economic future (notably Seres, Kavala, and Drama). It is the duty of the Powers to insist upon a just compromise between the two extremes, the more so as they are in part responsible for the new situation. Sir Edward Grey's skilful steering in the Albanian question preserved the Concert of Europe and averted a general conflagration, but that, it must be remembered, is the very reason why the Balkan nations are at each other's throats to-day. Servia, Greece, and Roumania were amply justified in asserting the principle of a Balkan balance of power, but they cannot be allowed to dispel the danger of a Bulgarian hegemony by crushing Bulgaria to the earth. Despite the horrible atrocities committed by her troops, Bulgaria is fully entitled to retain Thrace and Eastern Macedonia, and once peace has been restored we may confidently expect the same rapid economic revival and growth of culture as East Roumelia has shown since 1886. That the Bulgarians are not naturally intolerant in normal times is best shown by their treatment of the large Turkish population in North-East Bulgaria, and it is perfectly possible to provide adequate guarantees for the national existence of the Greek population along the coast. A settlement which left Seres, Kavala, and Drama in the hands of Greece could never be permanent, for Bulgaria's economic interests demand a free outlet to the 2Egean, and this means not only Dedeagatch as the port of Adrianople and East Roumelia, but also Kavala as the port of West Bulgaria, connected with Sofia by a railway down the valley of the Struma. To rob Bulgaria of this port is simply to sow the seeds of future war.
Meanwhile, what is the position of the West Macedonian territory in dispute between Bulgaria and her late Allies— comprising Ochrida, Monastir, Prilep, Veles, Doiran, and Salonica? If a genuine plebiscite could be taken among the native population—an obvious impossibility—it is probable that a great majority of all the rival nationalities would pronounce in favour of Macedonian autonomy. Such, at any rate, was the strong impression left upon me during a visit to Macedonia last May and June. But no possible solution has any prospect of satisfying everybody ; no matter which may be adopted, its permanence will depend mainly on the tact and capacity of the new administration. The Macedonian peasant, as the result of Turkish misrule and the brutal terrorism of rival bands and committees, is pre-eminently a realist, with an eye to the main chance and a belief in the survival of the fittest. Anyone who solves the land question and suppresses brigandage and blackmail will soon have the Christian peasantry on his side. Except in a few towns national feeling such as is known in Central Europe cannot be said to exist in Macedonia ; and it is by no means uncommon to find three members of the same family who describe themselves as Greek, Bulgar, and Serb respectively. Nationality is a party question, and is often decided by motives of fear or gain ; many parents accept money in return for sending their children to the Bulgar, the Serb, or the Vlach school rather than to its rivals. The country has belonged to every race in turn — the autocbthonous Albanians, the Bulgarians of Tsar Simeon, the Greeks of Byzantium, and the Epirote Despotate, the Vlachs of Megala Blachia, the Serbs of Stephen Dushan. If latest possession be a claim, it was the Serbs from whom the victorious Ottomans conquered it in the fourteenth century ; but an argument of this kind would justify the recovery of Bordeaux and Calais by the English, of Riga and Reval by the Swedes. The Bulgar contention that Macedonia is and always was a Bulgarian province will not bear historic investigation; the rival Serb contention that Macedonia is really Servian, and that the Exarchists are merely Bulgarized Serbs, is a patent absurdity (except in the districts of Skoplje, Tetovo, and Dibra, where it is true). In reality, Macedonia is a racial No Man's Land, and the Macedonian Slav is neither Bulgar nor Serb, but a cross between the two, just as his dialect occupies a middle position between the two languages, and can be understood with equal ease (or with equal difficulty) by a Bulgarian from Varna or a Servian from Semendria.
For over a generation past Bulgaria has devoted all her energies to propaganda among the Christians of Macedonia, and till only a few years ago her only competitor was the Greek. Though the Serbs have had two bishoprics of their own in Turkey since 1895, it is no exaggeration to say that even for a decade after that date (so absorbed was Servia in her internal brawls) a Macedonian Slav who had enough Slav feeling to resent the Graecizing tendencies of the Patriarchate had no choice but to become an adherent of the Bulgarian Exarchate. Just as the komitadjis represent the sinister side of the movement, so the network of schools spread by Bulgaria over Macedonia gives them a high moral claim to consideration (last year the Bulgars had 1,060 ordin- ary and 72 superior primary schools, with 1,776 teachers, in the three vilayets of Monastir, Uskub (Skoplje), and Salonica). Leaving aside all questions of racial origin, we may safely admit—in the complete absence of all reliable statistics—that a clear majority of the Macedonian population describes itself as Bulgarian, and that of this majority that section which lives in the towns is heart and soul for the Bulgarian cause. But it must be remembered that many thousands who became Bulgarian because it was worth their while will as readily become Serb or Greek or Albanian, according to the turn of fortune's wheel, and that Macedonia also contains a very strong minority (Turks, Greeks, Vlachs, Serbs, Albanians, and Jews), the first four of whom are keenly opposed to the idea of annexation to Bulgaria. In the town of Monastir itself, out of a population of roughly sixty thousand, only fifteen thousand are Bulgars ; the remainder is composed of twenty-five thousand Moslems (Turks and Albanians), twelve thousand Graecized Vlachs, two thousand Vlachs of Roumanian sentiments, and six thousand Jews. In a country which includes such varied elements as Orthodox Turks speaking Greek and Turkish, Patriarchist Slays of the Greek party, self-styled Albanians who speak no language but Serb, Vlachs who call themselves Greeks, but cannot speak Greek, Bulgars who celebrate the purely Serb custom of the " slava," Albanianized Croat Catholics who now call themselves Serbs—in such a country, race, like religion, is a mere garment to hide human nakedness, and the principle of nationality would prove but a quack remedy. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that race and religion, in the true sense of the words, are non-existent in the Macedonia of to-day. " C'est un peuple empoisonne "—such is the melancholy verdict of a singularly able Macedonian on Christians and Moslems alike in his native province.
A century will not suffice to erase the demoralizing effects of Turkish rule ; meanwhile Mac,edonia's most crying need is that whoever holds her shall put an end to the intolerable methods of rival komitadjis and scrupulously avoid all racial favouritism. To imitate Magyar or Young Turk attempts at forcible assimilation is merely to court disaster and to foster the growth of the very tendencies which it must be the aim of every State to check. It is to be hoped that the Powers, if they should eventually be forced to interfere in the Balkan settlement, will insist upon the only possible remedy for racial rivalries—namely, that each of the rival States of the Peninsula should grant (not merely on paper, as in Hungary, but under really effective guarantees) a charter of equal rights to every racial or religious minority within its borders. The cardinal point of such a charter would be the unrestricted right to maintain and to erect churches and schools, to prescribe the language of liturgy or instruction in them, and to appoint priests and teachers. Such concessions have an awkward habit of remaining on paper ; but in this case there would be some real prospect of their execution, since every minority would enjoy the support of stronger kinsmen across the frontier, and fanatics would be deterred from persecution by the risk of reprisals against their own co-nationals. Above all, such a charter, by assuring the immediate future of the Bulgarian schools in Macedonia, would supply Bulgaria with an honourable means of retreat from an untenable position.—I am, Sir, &c., Scorns VIATOR.
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