Travels in Southeastern Europe

The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.

THE STORY OF THE PEOPLE. 6I all the wits of all the diplomatists have availed to remedy matters. Slowly and steadily the fabric has crumbled and is crumbling. It has now reached a point when no repair is possible, for there is not one inch that is sound in the whole rotten mediaeval structure. On paper Turkish laws seem fair enough, but, so far as I can learn, not one of them is honestly administered. As for the treaties, conventions, and promises to reform that have been drawn up and ratified, they have only been made to be broken. No lesson has taught the Turk. He has continued working on the old lines, and has never retrieved a single one of his losses. Had the Albanians at this period produced a second Skenderbeg, their independence would have been assured. Both the North and the South rose in revolt, but their want of unity brought disaster. They did not rise together, and Reshid Pasha, with a large army, gained a victory over the South before the North was ready. He then offered to make terms, and invited the heads of the noble Tosk families to a banquet of reconciliation at Monastir. They came, and during the feast were surrounded by Turkish troops and slaughtered almost to a man. The South was now hopelessly crippled; Turkish Governors were appointed in the chief towns, and the South lost all its independence. The Northern revolt was nearer success. Albanian troops occupied Sofia and the heights round Monastir, but Mustafa Bushatli proved an incompetent leader. He fled back to Skodra, was pursued thither by the
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About this Item

Title
The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.
Author
Durham, Mary Edith, 1863-1944.
Canvas
Page 61
Publication
London :: Nelson,
[1905]
Subject terms
Eastern question (Balkan)
Balkan Peninsula -- Description and travel.

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001
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"The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham." In the digital collection Travels in Southeastern Europe. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 1, 2025.
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