A VIRGIN FORTRESS.* MR. HERBERT having held a commission in
the Turkish Army during a period of active service—his pay being too often considerably in arrears—is, as might naturally be ex- pected, and even to some extent excused, a pronounced Tarcophile, and his undisguised partiality for the Ottoman domination in Europe must prevent dispassionate readers, while giving full credence to his facts, from accepting some of his opinions, at least as long as Constantinople and Armenia retain their places in our maps, and the shrieks of slaughtered women and children are still ringing in our ears. Indeed, neither from his book nor from any other work— and we have read no little on this subject—have we been able to perceive that the average Turk possesses any virtue whatever save the ferocious valour of a beast of prey and a blind, unreasoning loyalty thoroughly irrespective of the con- duct of his ruler, and these are doubtless traceable to his fatalistic creed. We regret also to be compelled to notice an earnest and vigorous passage on p. 60, from which it would seem that the author is not favourable to the propagation of Christianity, and rather prefers the moral tone of Islamism, having apparently touched pitch, with the usual consequences. We would remind him, too, that as courtesy is a reciprocal debt between man and man, it should also be observed between nation and nation, and that a Monarch or statesman, however much we may disapprove of his political conduct, should not, like the ex-King Milan of Servia, be spoken of in language which we can only designate as scurrility. As few English- men read any language but their own they are too apt to suppose the same of other nations, but this may prove a serious mistake, as our author is evidently aware, when he too
• The Chronicles of a Virgin Fortrese. By W. V. Herbert. London : Osgood, Nollvaine, mud Co.
truly affirms that our daily Press—and he might have added our platforms—have been, and will be, the cause of much ill- feeling between the States of Europe, and may eventually provoke disastrous wars. Were it not for his Islamitic prejudices and his having Russian intrigues on the brain, he might have made a really interesting book, as he evidently possesses mach industry and accuracy, power of acute observation, a keen sympathy with eminent men irrespective of race, and tells his tale in the concise and straightforward manner which might be expected from a British officer who, we would wish, had never served under the Crescent.
The city of Widdin, which Mr. Herbert has selected as his typical "Virgin Fortress," is situated on a bend of the Danube, in the north - western corner of Bul- garia, and thus forms a connecting-link between Islam- ism and Christianity, between Oriental Turkey and semi- Orientalised Roumania, Servia, and Hungary. Though a spirit of commercial industry exists here in a much greater degree than in any other city of European Turkey, yet the population has never exceeded thirteen thousand, the majority being Bulgarian Christians, the Turks ranking next, and there is a considerable number of Jews. If it be true—and we are compelled to credit our author's statement borne out as it is by other writers—that very many Bulgarian and Roumanian landholders are in the habit of mortgaging to the Jewish moneylenders not only their crops bat their children, and that thus victims are procured for Turkish harems, we cannot wonder at the deep hatred of the Israelites which is so strong in the Danubian regions. Certainly by the law of ancient Rome—and there is much of a Latin element in this population—a father could sell his offspring into slavery ; but it is to be hoped that the Governments will prohibit this infamous traffic, and that Sultans and Pashas will have to seek for their slaves elsewhere than among "the golden-haired lilies of Frangistan." The city occupies a naturally strong position, the broad Danube forming one side of an ellipse, while on the other it is protected by a semi- circle of wide and deep swamps, which Mr. Herbert thinks were the work of the prehistoric inhabitants for strategic purposes. Bat, though formidable to an assailant, they are by no means conducive to the health of the in- dwellers, producing malarial fever, ague, and dysentery; leprosy, too, is common, while plague and cholera pay occasional visits, all being aggravated by the total absence of sanitary arrangements and the more than Oriental uncleanliness of the people. The author considers that the strength of Widdin was much increased when in 1854 the Turks occupied the Roumanian village of Calafat nearly opposite, and holds that a well-constructed fortress astride on a river ought, all the other requisite appliances for defence being at hand, to be deemed impregnable. We do not clearly compre- hend the reasons that have led him to this conclusion; but as he has evidently studied his profession attentively and writes like a well-trained soldier, we accept his view. Cuilibet in sua arte eredendum est.
As the annals of Widdin necessarily involve some acquaint- ance with the history of Bulgaria and the adjacent territories, Mr. Herbert has given us a succinct and clear narrative, which we regret our limits do not suffer us to follow. About the end of the first century Trajan conquered the Trans-Danubian countries as far as the Pruth, and checked for a time the- " Conjurato descendens Dacus ab Istro,"
planting many colonies of his veterans, who introduced the Latin tongue and the Roman name. Adrian abandoned the northern province, and Bononia, as the Romans named the town which was gradually arising around their castra stativa in the remote bend of the Danube, remained obscure and undisturbed until the middle of the seventh century, when it was rent from the Byzantine Empire by the Sclavonians, who occupied all the regions between the Hwmus and the Car- pathians, and from the Euxine to the Adriatic. These new occupants, however, soon came to terms with the Romano- Hellenic Emperors, and even submitted to pay tribute, probably in consequence of the stubborn resistance of Bononia, which now, under the corrupted form Budyn, takes rank, for
the first time, as an important stronghold. But half-a-century later new conquerors appeared in the Bulgars or Volgars from the banks of the Volga, a Finno-Ugrian branch of the Mongolian race, whose occupation somewhat resembles the Norman Conquest of our own land. The invaders being, though warlike, in a minority, soon discerned the wisdom of conciliating their predecessors, intermarried with them, adopted their manners and dress, and even abandoned their own language for the Sclavonian, so that the Romano- Sclavonian province of Mwsia retains no trace of a Mongolian conquest saw the name of Bulgaria. But the united nation proved a troublesome neighbour to the corrupt and effete Em- pire of Byzantium, though converted to Christianity by Cyril, who also gave them the alphabetic characters which, with the Servians and Russians, they use to this day. The same year (A.D. 864) beheld the foundation of the first Bulgarian Monarchy by Michael Boris, to last not quite a century, though during this period Macedonia, Albania, and part of Servia were annexed. Years of anarchy succeeded, and the Byzantine ruler overran the whole country, capturing Widdin after a protracted siege, to lose it again the same year, and recover it subsequently. For one hundred and seventy years Bulgaria was as much enslaved as the other possessions of the worthless Empire of the East, but was liberated in 1186 by three valiant brothers, who, with its earlier Princes, Symeon and Samuel, form the Bulgarian portrait-gallery of heroes. Widdin had been ceded to Servia, but only for a few years ; in it, however, arose the dynasty of the Shismanides, who ruled until the final overthrow of the Bulgarian nationality in 1393. The arrival in Europe of Mr. Herbert's good friends, the gentle, tolerant, and merciful Turks, does not appear to have been prolific of advantage to the cause of morality and civilisation, and was certainly not appreciated by contem- poraries. Every man of even moderate literary acquirements knows what sentiments were held on this subject by the wisest and noblest of European intellects, from Chaucer and Dante down to Filicaja and Wailer; and the work of Sir Paul Rycant, written from personal observation as late as 1700, will be found somewhat inconsistent with philo-Turkish opinions. When, we may thererefore ask, did the Turk reform ? Did he, like the villain in the German play, "lean for five minutes against the wall and grow virtuous " ? There is a cant of justice and impartiality as much as of any other good quality.
On the fatal field of Kossovo the combined forces of the entire Balkan Peninsula were annihilated, Widdin submitted soon after, to be made with Belgrade the base of operations against Hungary and Austria, and for four centuries the malignant tyranny of the Moslem darkened the annals and blighted the prosperity of the entire land from the Borysthenes to Tnarus :— " Then rose the grated harem to enclose The loveliest maidens of the Christian line, Then, menials to their misbelieving foes, Europe's young nobles held forbidden wine."
In 1689 Widdin surrendered to the Margrave of Baden, to be recovered the following year through the instrumentality of the infamous Hungarian rebel, Tekely, and thus lost its claim to be termed a "Virgin Fortress," which, indeed, cannot be said with strict accuracy of any city with which we are acquainted. In 1797 it became prominent through the revolt of its Governor, Paswan Ogloa, who compelled the Sultan to grant him virtual independence. Though he conducted his insurrectionary campaigns with all the coldblooded ruthless- ness of a Turk, yet he ruled his pashalik with justice, benevo- lence, and zeal for useful reforms. This episode has been admirably narrated, and in his chapters on the topography of Widdin and its vicinity Mr. Herbert, though somewhat too minute, has shown that he possesses the industry of an ex- plorer and the sound judgment of a trained soldier. The reader will also be interested in the career of Michael Lattas, the Croatian renegade, who, after years of obscure drudgery, blazed up as Omar Pasha, Commander-in-Chief of the Turkish Army during the Crimean War, and victor of Oltenitza.
As regards internal tranquillity and some advance in material prosperity, Widdin has been more fortunate than most cities of the Ottoman Empire, its military importance as a frontier town having constrained the Central Government to treat it with some degree of moderation, its Pashas for over a century having been men of prudence and often of benevolence, and the heterogeneous nature of its population tending to promote reciprocal forbearance and toleration even as a matter of
business; for the position of the Christian races in Turkey seems to us to resemble that of a limb which for years has been confined by ligatures until numbness, inability to use it, and even chronic paralysis supervene. We are, therefore, unable to concur in Mr. Herbert's views as to the popu- larity of Islamite domination over Christian people. That religious or political differences should not impair private relations of business or friendship is a wise and bene- ficent rule, but there are and must be exceptions, and we fear that the Mussulman and the Christian will not easily be brought to live together in amity. In 1876 the Bulgarian Revolution burst forth, but we cannot strain our credulity so far as to hold with our author that it was caused altogether by Servian and Russian instigation. That these nations would desire the overthrow of the Turkish Power is very probable, and perhaps excusable, but an agricultural peasantry will not take up arms cn masse unless they have, or think they have, substantial grievances to resist. Mr. Herbert tells us that the Bulgarians were the aggressors ; let him, then, tell us, why they took up arms ? We sincerely applaud his sketch of the "qualities indispensable to a. successful rabble-mover," which we will not wrong him by quoting from p. 142, though it should be committed to memory by every one who values the stability of our institu- tions. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877 led at first to a useless artillery duel between Widdin and Calafat, which soon ceased ; and in mid-winter the Roumanian army commenced siege operations, while the Servians crossed the Timok and occupied the border townships. The siege—if it deserves to. be so called—lasted forty-five days, during which there was no attempt at an assault, but much shelling and conflicts in the outlying villages, with considerable destruction of life and property The fall of Plevna and the repeated defeats of the Turkish armies by the Russians, Servians, and Montenegrins, led to an armistice, and ultimately to the independence of Bulgaria, and Widdin fell into the hands of those whom— pace Mr. Herbert—we must deem the rightful and just owners.
As regards the style of this book, the best we can say of it is that it is plain and intelligible, but not very attractive. Occasionally there is an attempt at rhetorical vigour, not always in the best taste, and sometimes becoming turgid and bombastic. Too frequently, on the other band, the language is low and fiat, savouring much of drawing-room jargon or of the slang of the mess-table. Much matter has been intro- duced not at all connected with the fortunes of the "Virgin Fortress," but in the eyes of the laborious student this will be no drawback, information being an estimable boon even when imparted somewhat irregularlf.
Dissenting as we do from some of Mr. Herbert's opinions, we still conscientiously and gladly recommend his work to students of the military art, and also such civilians—we fear they are but few—as may deem it expedient to know some- thing of battles and sieges before they presume to talk or write about them.
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