Bulgarian civil courts

The Metropolitan was tried and convicted by the civil courts, and sentenced to enforced confinement in a monastery, or, in other words, to imprisonment Last February, an appeal was made to the Superior Court to quash the conviction on the ground of non-jurisdiction. The appeal was dismissed, and the Metropolitan was left imprisoned for a few weeks, after which he was released on a pardon being granted him by the Prince.

Bishops complain

The priesthood, almost without an exception, are taken from the peasant class. Under the present regime a school has been established for the purpose of educating the lads who are designed for Holy Orders. The experiment has not proved very successful, and the Bishops complain that they find great and increasing difficulty in filling up the ranks of the clergy. I believe this is mainly due to the fact that, under the public school system, the scholars acquire an education which induces them to prefer the pursuits of civil life to those of the Church. I am told, too, that the post of Pope, as the village priests are called, has become much less attractive than it used to be owing to the changed conditions of the country. In the Turkish days the Pope was usually given the privilege of keeping the village liquor store.

This is now altered, and the Popes, therefore, are neither so well-to-do nor so influential in position as they were formerly. Moreover, in Bulgaria, as in most other countries where the Greek Faith is the national religion, the priesthood is almost always recruited from the lower ranks of the community. Ritual, as I have said, is more important than dogma; to intone well is a gift of more value to a parish priest than to possess the power of preaching.

The high aspirations which, in other lands, lead men to become ministers of the sanctuary in the hope of saving souls, can hardly find much scope in a church where the possession of a fine figure and a flowing beard are indispensable requisites for high ecclesiastical preferment The ranks of the priesthood are, therefore, naturally filled up by the sons of the poorer peasants, to whom the small stipend of their cure secures an income, on which they can marry, have families, and lead a life of what, to them, seems comfort In fact, the Bulgarian clergy bear a considerable resemblance to what I think the Irish priesthood would be, if they were allowed to marry and were paid by the State.

As things are, the village Popes, during the greater part of the year, lead the lives of ordinary Bulgarian peasants; and it is only on Sundays, feast-days, and special occasions that their clerical functions differentiate them from their neighbors. Thus, while their spiritual authority is weak, their social influence is very great in a community mainly composed of small peasant proprietors of their own class and race and creed* So long, therefore, as the general policy of the Government is in accordance with the traditions, aspirations, and prejudices of the Bulgarian people, it can count confidently on the support of the national priesthood.

Youth has its frivolity, old age its senility

Grandfather’s oldest son, Blagoye, Arsen’s father, is the third member of the home council. The rest of the family listens and obeys. The three elders sometimes leave the house intentionally, to give the children a chance to play to their heart’s desire, the women to talk as much as they might please and the men to smoke freely. The moment, however, one of the “big three” steps into the house, every one becomes quiet and busy.

Grandpa, being an old man, would frequently behave like a child. At times he would lose his temper for the least trifle, then he would rage, scold, and, in his excitement, strike at the nearest one. Again, he would be gentle, generous, play with the youngsters, give them coppers. Then again, for no reason in the world, he would begin to cry: “I am left alone in this world like a withered tree on a mountain.”

Youth has its frivolity, old age its senility.

The day following Arsen’s adventure, Blagoye came to Radoyka with a serious mien, saying, “Auntie! Arsen, God forgive us, is crazy about Burmas’ devil of a girl.”

“Arsen? Is that the boy who was a major last summer?”

“That’s the one.”

“Did you say Burmas’ dare-devil?”

“Yes ”

“Anoka?”

“The same.”

“She is no good for our house.”

“No, no! I think so too. But Arsen, the Lord forgive us our sins, is deeply in love with her. Velinka tells me he behaved badly last night.”

“How! What did he do?”

“Please don’t say anything to grandpa.”

“Never.”

“Velinka told me he was drunk, and that he threatened to kill Philip Marichich, because, you know—this fellow is after Anoka.”

“What do you say?” Grandma meditated a while, then said, “I’ll take the matter to grandpa and see what he says.”

“Please don’t mention a thing about last night, you know.”

“God forbid!”

Radoyka went to grandpa

Radoyka went to grandpa and told him the story; he was obviously worried. After a silence he looked at the old woman and said: “You know, my dear sister-in-law, it is just as you say. But I have head our old people say that it does no good to break young people’s hearts and disregard their desires. I believe our community has some eighty souls.”

“By far more.”

“Thank God! Why, then, shouldn’t Anoka be able to adjust herself and become one of us?”

“God bless your words.”

Several days later Anoka said to one of her friends, “I knew every-thing would turn out favorably! I am the prettiest girl in the nine villages hereabout!” She took a mirror from a little box under her blouse and began to primp her curly hair.

After becoming one of the members of the zadruga Jedanich, she remained the same spoiled girl as of old. She was always vain and obstinate; she would never do what was required of her, being always ready with a retort:

“I didn’t do this in my father’s house in bulgaria!”

“Why should I knead dough for a whole army? One loaf of bread is sufficient for me and my Arsen!”

Source: https://ensaristanbul.com/at-the-well-part-3/

Foreign resident in Bulgaria

By these provisions, a foreign resident in
Bulgaria, as in all Turkish provinces, is not liable to pay any
internal tax beyond the house duty, and escapes scot free from the other home
taxes to which the natives are subjected. For instance, every Bulgarian who
carries on a trade or profession, or keeps a shop, has to obtain a license for
the privilege. The charges for these licenses are very low and might easily be
raised without injustice to the individual and without injury to the progress
of trade. But under the Capitulations, no foreigner can be compelled to take
out a license for the purpose of carrying on his trade; and there-fore the
obvious result of materially increasing the charge for licenses would be to
place the native trader at a disadvantage as compared with foreigners, and to
transfer native trade into the hands of strangers. In the same way, the
internal excise duties cannot be augmented, as when once goods belonging to a
foreigner have been introduced into the country, after paying the import duty
at the frontier, no further tax can—in virtue of the Capitulations—be imposed
upon them. On fiscal as well as moral grounds, it would be most desirable to
raise the excise duty on spirits. But if this were done, the practical result
would be to ruin the native manufacturers and vendors of spirituous liquors,
and to hand the liquor trade over to foreigners.

Town municipalities

Again, the income of the town
municipalities is mainly derived from the octroi duties; and
it is impossible to carry out many local improvements, urgently required in the
towns, without further funds. But, by the Capitulations, octroi duties cannot
be levied on foreign goods on entrance into any town within the country to a
higher extent than two per cent, of the value of the article taxed. Thus, the
Capitulations practically bar the way to any equitable redistribution of
Bulgarian taxation. The plain truth is that here, as in every civilized state,
the whole system of the Capitulations has become a barbarous anomaly. When the
Capitulations were originally framed, they were intended to protect foreigners
against oppression at the hands of the Turk. Nowadays, owing to the changes in
the relative positions of the Rayah and the Turk, they have become instruments
of oppression against the natives, whether they happen to be Mahommedans or
Christians.

Bulgarian Settlements

The succeeding structural hubs of Bulgarian settlements originated from this center. One of them was situated directly to the south in the region of present day Armenia. The other one was to the north leans of the Caspian Black Sea region, to the north of the central flows of the Volga River, along the valley of the Pechora River, stretching towards the Arctic Ocean. The densely populated Bulgarian area in the Middle Volga basin is dated archaeologically to the mid-8th century. Here are some excerpts from descriptions of those earliest settlements:

“He (Valarshak) came down to the green meadows near the Shara region, which was called Bezlesen or Upper Basean by the ancient people. Later, because of the Bulgarian Vhndur Buigarcolonista who had settled there, it was called after the name of their leader, Vanand…

Caucasus Mountain

In the days of Arshak, there was great turmoil in the range of the great mountain of Caucasus, in the country of the Bulgarians; many of them separated and came to our country and settled under the Kol [Koh] in the fertile land where grain was in abundance for a long time”

From History of Armenia by Movses Horenatsi. Selected Sources on Bulgarian History, Vol. 2, TANGRA Tanagra Publishing House, Sofia, 2004.

Still farther west, four other cultural historical zones have been confirmed. The lands, which the settling Bulgarians turned into their new homeland, are consistent with the distinctive Bulgarian environment in the post Kubrat period of Old Great

Bulgarian Kan Asparuh

Bulgaria, the Bulgarians of Kan Asparuh, the heir of the ancient rulers’ dynasty of Dulo, conquered the lands to the south of the Dnepar River and in the east part of the Balkan Peninsula between Lower Danube, the Balkan Range and the Black Sea. They transferred the center of the state to Lower Moesia and established the so-called Danube Bulgaria. It was the one, which made real the most essential achievements during the later development of the Bulgarian civilization.

The large literary source Deeds of St Dimitar Solunski, speaks of the settling of Bulgarians in the region of the “Keramisia Field” (present Bitola Field) in the 670s, i.e. in present day Republic of Macedonia. The Panonian Bulgarians lived and fortified themselves in the plains of present day Hungary, along the Tisa River and in the Carpathian foothills. Bulgarian warriors and their families settled in the Italian Peninsula between the mountains and the sea, to the east of the Apennines and along the Adriatic coast in the region of Benevento. In a short period, they turned the area from a desolate to a blessed land.

Source: https://istanbulgaria.info/bulgarian-settlements/

Few teachers

In the towns there are a few teachers who give private instruction in foreign languages; but there may fairly be said to be no private schools. It follows that the whole education of the country is practically provided by the State schools. Americans are proud, and very justly proud, of their common school system; but as the United States have grown in wealth, and as the social distinctions which accompany wealth have developed in the Republic of the West, the children of well-to-do Americans are brought up more and more in private schools. Probably the same change will occur in Bulgaria when the same causes begin to operate. For the present, however, and for many years to come, the whole population of Bulgaria must be educated in the State schools.

The children of professional men, tradesmen, and peasants receive exactly the same education, in the same schools, and pass their jeers of learning sitting on the same benches, studying the same lessons, and playing the same games. This system must tend to perpetuate the absolute equality between all classes which now prevails in Bulgaria to a far greater extent than in the United States, or indeed in any civilized community I have ever heard of, either in the Old World or the New.

Travelling in America

Some years ago, when I was travelling in America, I was always invited, by any acquaintances I might have in the towns I visited, to visit their cemetery and their common school. Happily the sort of ghoulish taste for graveyards, which is so universal amidst the Transatlantic branch of the Anglo-Saxon race, does not prevail in Bulgaria; and I fancy that the popular Bulgarian sentiment on the subject of burial-grounds very closely resembles that of the Moslem, namely, that a cemetery is a resort for the dead and not for the living. Anyhow in Bulgaria I never found myself expected to visit the cemeteries, but I was everywhere solicited to visit the educational establishments.

The public schools of Philippopolis, of which I saw most, are reckoned some of the best in Bulgaria; and if, as I was assured by competent judges, they are fair specimens of the general run of the high schools throughout the country, the Bulgarians are certainly to be congratulated on the success of their scholastic experiment. The boys* school is located in a very spacious, handsome building, which was built for the purpose at a cost of some 20,000, and which, in respect of class-rooms, galleries, and lecture-halls, is admirably adapted for the objects of an educational institution. The whole building was scrupulously clean; the rooms were well ventilated, cheerful, and commodious.

There are six classes in the school, and each pupil is expected to rise from a lower to an upper class during each year of his sexennial curriculum. If he fails to qualify himself for the class next above his own during two successive years he is dismissed from the school as incapable of learning. The hours of study are from eight in the morning to midday, and from two to four in the afternoon. If, however, the parents can show valid cause for requiring the services of their children at home, the pupils are excused from afternoon attendance. The summer holidays are so arranged as to cover the period of the harvest, and thus to enable the boys to assist in the chief farming operations of the year.

Two schools of agriculture

The State supports two schools of agriculture, one at Sadovo and one at Roustchouk. Model farms adjoin both schools, which were founded in 1883. Their aim is to train agriculturists and agricultural inspectors. Another State school at Pleven is open to young men who wish to take up fruitgrowing and viticulture. Five other elementary schools serve to propagate essential practical knowledge among the rural population. Several others will shortly be opened. In this case, the action of the Government is admirably seconded by private initiative. For the last ten years the National Society of Agriculture has constantly been effecting improvements in our agriculture. It publishes an excellent review, which appears fortnightly, beside a great number of books treating practical subjects in a popular style.

Finally, we may mention that the programme
of Pedagogica School and seminaries includes a course of agriculture for
priests and village schoolmasters.

MINES, QUARRIES, AND HOT SPRINGS

THE mines of Bulgaria, which seem to have
played an important part in ancient times, were until lately completely
abandoned. The researches of the last few years have brought to light old
mines, dating from Roman times, and considerable quantities of slag, the
remains of former workings. Ancient galleries and pits have been found in the
following localities: at Bakarlik and RossenBair, in the vicinity of the
villages Dulgerly, Karatepe, Racovdol and Karakeuny, in the department of
Bourgas; at Bakardjik, close by the village Eris Mahale, in the district of
Sliven; in the western part of the Balkans, near the villages of Sgorirad and
Lutadjik, in the neighbourhood of the village Tchiprovitzi, department of
Vratza, and near the village of Zabel, district of Tm. All these places were
formerly mining centres, where copper, lead, and zinc ores used to be worked.
It appears also that some of these lodes known to the Romans had been worked
again by the Saxons in the fourteenth century. The reasons for their
abandonment have not been explained, but are probably due, in part at least, to
the imperfections of the old systems of working. Some of these old mines, for
instance, the concessions “ Iconomoff ” and “ Troude ” in the department of
Bourgas, and Placalnitza Medna Planina, in the department of Vratza, have
lately resumed working, and copper veins have been discovered that repay the
labour.

Under Turkish dominion the Bulgarian mining
industry had almost ceased to exist, except at Samokov, where from time
immemorial iron had been obtained in a primitive fashion. The iron was obtained
from the magnetite coming from the natural disaggregation of the syenites from
the mountain of Vitosha. This mineral was smelted in charcoal furnaces, much after
the style of the Catalan furnaces. The industry survived until the RussoTurkish
war, but, during the years following, the opening of new means of communication
and the development of foreign mines brought about a rapid fall in the market
price of iron. Also the new economic conditions resulting from the independence
of Bulgaria caused a decline in the industry which had formerly been the pride
of the Turkish empire and now has a merely historical interest.

EXPORT OF BULGARIA

The following tables show the amount
exported to different countries in the years 1903, 1901, 1897, and 1894.

EXPORT OF COARSE CLOTHS

                Kilofr.    1993 „

Frt.         Kilogr.   19U.

Fn.

Austria                 354         29,360   5,603     15,704

Roumania          
2,111    4,780     5,167     25,794

Servia                   18,515   43,035   19,649   49,207

Turkey                
25,035  56,824   31,730   82,619

                               897.                       94.

Austria                
6,977    24,135   6,820     25,488

Roumania           8,880     25,182   4,849     14,124

Servia                   17,161   56,618   16,584   65,894

Turkey                 29,147   103,563                69,450   283,949

            EXPORT OF
SERGES   

                               903.                       X90X.

Austria                 —           —           698         2,100

Roumania           1,200     2,130     1,390     4,478

Servia                   7,898     26,670   4,941     19,053

Turkey                
320,412               1,603,060            380,618                1,532,322

                               897.                       894.

Austria                 —           —           87           436

Roumania           839         3,497     9,659     27,583

Servia                   1,646     7,234     2,075     9,360

Turkey                 233,162                906,896                227,200                998,122

EXPORT OF CLOTHS AND DYED STUFFS

                               1893.                     1901.

Austria                                 —           —           10           60

Romania              90           1,134     43           374

Servia                   6,636     45,565   92,774   75,478

Turkey                 23           357         225         870

                               1897.                     1894.

Austria                
—          —           —           —

Romania              —           —           1,084     2,911

Servia                  
9,458    59,220   4,674     29,024

Turkey                 73           1,215     18           312

It will be seen that our principal markets
are Turkey, Romania, Servia, and Austria. The latter competes with us, with no
great success, in the manufacture of machine made carpets, imitating our handloom
tapestries, which are mostly sent to Turkey.

But the bulk of the produce is sold in the
country, the exports amounting to two or three million francs per annum, while
the sales at home are about eight million.

The inhabitants who used to wear coarse
cloths, woven at home, are taking to buying readymade clothes. This is another
cause of the decline of house industries. In point of view of quality, the
ceaseless efforts of the manufacturers to improve their wares have met with
every success; Bulgarian cloths and stuffs are in no way inferior to the
foreign article. The import, therefore, was likely to decrease, and it has done
so, as may be seen from the following statistics :

Imports.                                              1890190

Coarse cloths                                    27,228  130,617                45,100

Serges                 
                               14,404   47,094   100,822

Undyed stuffs and cloths             22,754  13,459   4,372

Dyed                                                    1,404,098            1,538,212             1,204,565

Shawls                                                 254,578                224,254                144,034

The limited scope of this work does not
allow us to treat in full the other industries which have been started in the country,
thanks to the constant efforts of the Government, and which are all prospering.
We can best give some idea of them by means of statistics of the factories of
the Principality. The factories in question are those which employ no less than
twenty hands, and whose capitals are over 25,0 francs.

LANDED PROPERTY AND AGRICULTURE

With a total area of 9,570,450 hectares,
the Principality of Bulgaria contains:

(1)          2,156,701*05
hectares of inhabited area, roads, rivers, etc.; in all 22*54 per cent, of the
total area.

(2)          2,867,870*79
hectares of forest; 29*96 of the total area.

(3)          2,975,386*21
hectares of arable land; 31*09 p.c. of the total area.

(4)          352,404*36
hectares of meadow land; 3*68p.c. of the total area.

(5)          124,680*08
hectares of gardens, orchards, rose gardens and vineyards; 1*30 p.c. of the
total area.

(6)          123,207*64
hectares of marshes, reed beds, islands, thickets, and salt marshes ; 1*29 p.c.
of the total area.

(7)          970,199*87
hectares of pasture land, 10*14 p.c. of the total area.

We see from these figures that the total
area of ground susceptible of cultivation is 4,422,670*52 hectares, or 46*21
p.c. of the area of the country. Governmental statistics prove that the greater
part of the arable land and of that suited to any kind of culture comes more
and more under cultivation. About the year 1892 2,623,312 hectares were being
cultivated, that is 59*30 p.c. About the year 1897 these figures rose to
3,452,470*65 hectares, 78 p.c. The remaining 22 p.c. is pasture land.

As regards ownership, the total area of the
Principality is divided into:

(1)          Private
property: 3,977,55772 hectares, or 41*56 p.c. of the total area.

(2)          Parish
property: 2,291,156*50 hectares, or 23*94 p.c. of the total area.

(3)          Inhabited
area, rivers, roads : 2,156,701*05 hectares, or 22*54 p.c. °f the total area.

(4)          State
property : 1,015,903*23 hectares, or IO*6I p.c. of the total area.

(5)          Property
belonging to churches, schools, monasteries, etc.: 29,131*50 hectares, or 1*35
p.c. of the total area.

Total: 9,570,450 hectares.

Inhabited area

So that, without counting the inhabited
area, rivers, roads, etc., the area that can be turned to account is
7,413,748*95 hectares, 3»977»5577a °f which belong to private owners;
3,428,466*9 hectares belong to 546,084 proprietors who live on their own land;
599,090*8 hectares belong to 253,504 proprietors who do not live on those
lands.

The following table gives details relating
to the distribution of the property of the former class:

                Number
of Proprietors.                Area of
each property.  Total area of the
properties of each class.

1             65,870                   up to     5 ddcar.               157,227*2
d4c.

2             37,256   from      5
to        10           99           278,367*9
..

3             59,735                   10 to     20           99           895,795’6

4             54,841   •9           20
to     30           99           1,373,820*1 „

5             49,637   99           30
to     40           99           1,735,5i5 5 ..

6             44,093   99           40
to     50           99           1,982,240*6 „

7             85,177   99           50
to     75           99           5,254.165*9 „

8             53,4*8  99           75
to     100         »»          4,618,268*4 „

9             53,oi8    99           100
to   150         99           6,419,925 »

zo           21,108   99           150
to   200         99           3,621,738*7 „

IT            14,112   f»            200
to   300         99           3,390,952*9 „