Long as Serbia and her allies

To cut it was to deprive those armies of reinforcements, munitions, and other supplies coming from the south. Furthermore, possession of the Morava-Maritza trench would never be secure so long as Serbia and her allies held the Yardar depression, for at any moment they might launch a bolt along this natural groove which would sever the Orient Railway at Nish and thus undo all that had been accomplished through the new alliance with Bulgaria. For the Teuton-Bulgar forces the capture of the combined Morava and Yardar valleys was a single military problem. Let us examine the physiographic features which serve as natural defenses of this important trench.

The Northern Defenses. The Morava valley is widely open to the north and is there bounded on both sides by comparatively low hills. An enemy securing a foothold in the rolling country to the east or west could enter from either of these directions as well as from the north, just as the Orient Railway coming from Belgrade enters the valley from the west, twenty-five miles above its mouth. Hence an effective barrier against attack from the north must cover more than the actual breadth of the northern entrance to the valley. Such a barrier is provided by the natural moat of the Save and Danube Rivers which protects the entire northern frontier of Serbia; and by the hills south of the moat which, as one progresses southward, rise into a wild, mountainous highland.

South of Mitrovitza

The Save is a late-mature river swinging in great meanders across a broad, marshy flood-plain. The extensive swamp-lands on either side of the river are difficult to traverse at any time, while the flood waters which spread over the lowland in spring and autumn often make the barrier quite impassable except at Mitrovitza (not to be confused with the Mitrovitza near the Kosovo Polye referred to farther on). South of Mitrovitza and west of Shabatz the marshy peninsula between the Drina and the Save is called the Matchva and is famous for its inhospitable character. In volume the Save is of sufficient size to constitute an obstacle against invasion, but for purposes of navigation it suffers from its overlong meandering course and from frequent shifting of channels and sand-bars. At no point is the stream fordable, and at Belgrade alone is it crossed by a bridge.

Any appearance of population or improvement of any kind

On the two following days we had a most disagreeable and fatiguing journey to perform, as the country was wretched and scarcely exhibited any appearance of population or improvement of any kind. The hills were covered with brushwood, and the rains had made such deep ruts in the roads that in many places we had much difficulty in getting over them. We met with nothing curious or interesting, except on the second day we overtook a Turkish guard consisting of an Agha and about twenty janissaries. They had with them an unfortunate Greek as a prisoner: he was tied by his legs under the horse’s belly, and his hands were tied behind his back.

On inquiry we were informed that this man was one of the relations of the late Governor of Scio who had been beheaded some time before at Constantinople. This poor prisoner was going then to suffer a similar fate. He appeared much dejected and seldom spoke to those about him. While I most sincerely sympathized with this unhappy victim, I felt a glow of exultation which I could not suppress, when I reflected on the preeminence of that most excellent constitution which we enjoy as British subjects, by which our lives and properties are so well secured. We continued with this escort for upwards of three hours, when we found that our mules were not equal to the fine horses of the Pasha, and that we could not accompany them at the rate they travelled, though it did not exceed four miles an hour.

Foot travellers

We stopt under the shade of a beautiful hanging rock, covered with arbutus, where we refreshed ourselves, at the same [time] allowing our horses to pasture around us. We were met here by some foot-travellers who informed us that in all likelihood we should be attacked before we reached the place of our destination, which was at about twelve miles’ distance. They said that there was a number of deserters from the Grand Vizier’s army, who had encamped in this part of the country; that they robbed and massacred every traveller they met and had already assassinated many people. I concealed my apprehensions as well as I could, for fear of alarming our janissaries.

Husband had a considerable employment

During our repast she gave me a short account of her history. Her husband had a considerable employment at Court, and was then in attendance upon his Majesty at Versailles. I had dismissed my carriage that I might have some pretence for lengthening my visit, which I procrastinated till three o’clock in the morning, when I left her, highly pleased with my evening’s entertainment, and not without having previously obtained her permission to pay my respects the following day.

I became now her constant cicisbeo, and her husband was so much engaged in his attendance at Court, that he had the civility never once to interrupt us. I thought myself the happiest young fellow in Paris or London. One day, however, I found her buried in thought and overwhelmed with the most unfeigned sorrow ; nor could I at first prevail on her to disclose to her bosom friend the cause of her uneasiness. After repeated entreaties she confessed to me that the preceding night, having supped at the Duke de —, she had been induced to play, and had lost, besides her ready money, one thousand louis-d’ors on her parole ; which, if she did not pay in the course of the day, would not only dishonour her in the great world, but would be the subject of eternal animosity and reproach between herself and her husband.

I was so struck with her grief and the plausibility of her story, that swift as an eagle I flew to my Hotel and laid at her feet every sol I had in my possession, which at that time did not exceed £700. Quite overpowered with my generosity, she thanked me in the most courteous manner, and whatever I could do and say, she would not accept more than £500, saying that with the help of that sum she should be able to make up the whole before evening.

I was never better satisfied with myself, in my life, than when I returned to my Hotel, £500 minus in pocket; but with the consciousness of having rescued an amiable young woman of fashion from shame and ruin wooden workmanship byzantium. I was so intoxicated with her charms and her fondness for me, that if she had asked two thousand guineas I should not have rested a moment till I had raised that sum.

I do not know how much longer this infatuation would have lasted, if my creditors had not pressed me very much to proceed to England. I therefore left my charmer with all the anguish and throbbings of a young and inexperienced lover, fully determined to return to her as soon as my affairs should be settled in London.

But I suppose she was glad the farce was over; for by what I felt and experienced in the sequel, it could not remain much longer concealed that she was nothing better than an intriguante.

Endeavoured to get my bills discounted

As soon as I arrived in London, I endeavoured to get my bills discounted ; but without effect. I had not been many days in the capital, when one evening a stranger entered my room and delivered to me the following letter :—

“Sir,

“ I am now the miserable inhabitant of a Convent, into which I have been forced by my friends: were it not for the expectation of regaining my liberty, I should convince them that I prefer death to a confinement so repugnant to my temper and disposition. From what I have heard of your character I have conceived the flattering hope that you will exert your utmost endeavours to deliver me from this captivity. As a proof of my gratitude I shall be happy to lay myself and fortune at your feet.

“The person who will deliver you this letter is the husband of my nurse, who is still with me; they are both in my interest; and you may place an implicit confidence in him.

“ Signed, C—: P—

Captain Hugh Moore

At Gibraltar he met another friend and countryman, Captain Hugh Moore, who was then about to return to England on leave. Whaley however prevailed upon him to alter his plans, and he consented to join the expedition.1 Captain Wilson was prevented from continuing the journey beyond Smyrna owing to a rheumatic attack.2 Whaley and Moore left Smyrna for St. Jean d’Acre on the 3rd of February, 1789, on board the Heureuse Marie, and reached Jerusalem on the 28th of the same month. They arrived again in Dublin in June or stipulation by Whaley himself, or by Capt. Moore, his fellow-traveller; and, as a fact, the greater portion of the trip was accomplished on shipboard.

The fiction as to playing ball against the walls of Jerusalem seems also to have been the outcome of exaggeration, although Whaley’s brother-in-law, Lord Cloncurry, repeats the story in the traditional form. —See Personal Recollections. In Hook’s Gurney Married, vol. i., p. 14b, ed. 1838, occurs the sentence: “I should as soon think of walking to Jerusalem, as Parson Whalley did in my father’s time.” T. Crofton Croker, in his Memoirs of Joseph Holt, General of the Irish Rebels in 1798, appends a long note in reference to Buck Whaley’s performances, which I include in the Appendix.

William III

I Hugh Moore, Whaley’s travelling-companion on the journey to Jerusalem and back, of Eglantine House and Mount Panther, co. Down, Captain in the 5th Dragoon Guards, was a descendant of a very old Scotch family, the Muires of Rowallane in Ayrshire, his first ancestor in Ireland being a colonel in the army of William III., who obtained a grant of land in Ulster. He was the eldest son of Mr. John Moore of Clough, and Deborah, daughter of Mr. Robert Isaac of Holywood. He raised, and was Colonel of, the Eglantine Yeomanry during the Irish Rebellion of 1798, at which time he served as A.D.C. to General Needham. He married a daughter of Mr. Robert Armitage of Kensington, and died 29th July, 1848, aged 86.—See Knox’s History of County Down and Burke’s Landed Gentry (Moore of Rowallane).

Attention to Christianity

But I have here been directing your attention to Christianity, with no other view than to illustrate, by the contrast, the condition of the Mahometan Turks. Their religion is not far from embodying the very dream of the Judaizing zealots of the Apostolic age. On the one hand there is in it the profession of a universal empire, and an empire by conquest; nay, military success seems to be considered the special note of its divine origin. On the other hand, I believe it is a received notion with them, that their religion is not even intended for the north of the earth, for some reasons connected with its ceremonial ; nor is there in it any public recognition, such as intercessory prayer, of the duty of converting infidels.

Mahometan missions and missionaries

Certainly, the idea of Mahometan missions and missionaries, except as an army in the field may be considered as such, is never suggested to us by Eastern historian or traveller, as entering into their religious system. Though the Caliphate, then, may be transferred from Saracen to Turk, Mahometanism is essentially a consecration of the principle of nationalism; and thereby is as congenial to the barbarian, as Christianity is congenial to man civilized. The less a man knows, the more conceited he is of his proficiency; and, the more barbarous is a nation, the more imposing and peremptory are its claims.

Such was the spirit of the religion of the Tartars, whatever was the nature of its tenets in detail. It deified the Tartar race; Zingis Khan was “ the son of God, mild and venerable” ; and “ God was great and exalted over all, and immortal, but Zingis Khan was sole lord upon the earth”. Such, too, is the strength of the Greekschism, which there only flourishes where it can fasten on barbarism, and extol the prerogatives of an elect nation. The Czar is the divinely-appointed source of religious power; his country is “Holy Russia”; and the high office committed to him and to it, is to extend what it considers the orthodox faith. The Osmanlis are not behind Tartar or Russ in pretending to a divine mission; the Sultan, in his treaties wdth Christian powers, calls himself “ Refuge of Sovereigns, Distributor of Crowns to the Kings of the earth, Master of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and Shadow of God upon earth”.

The cultivation of his spiritual part

To view things as they are, we must bear in mind, that, true as it is, that only a supernatural grace can raise man towards the integrity of his nature, yet it is possible, without the cultivation of his spiritual part, which contemplates objects subtle, distant, delicate of apprehension, and slow of operation, nay even with an actual contempt of faith and devotion, in comparison of objects tangible and present, possible it is, I say, to combine in some sort the other faculties of man into one, and to progress forward, with the substitution of natural religion for faith, and a refined expediency or propriety for true morality, just as with practice a man might manage to run without an arm or without sight, and as organic defects are sometimes supplied by the preternatural action of other functions.

This is in fact what is commonly understood by civilization, and it is the sense in which the word must be used here; not the perfection at which nature aims, and requires, and cannot of itself reach; but its perfection, being what it is, and remaining what it is, with its powers of ratiocination, judgment, sagacity, and imagination fully exercised, and the affections and passions under sufficient control.

Epictetus or Antoninus

Such was it, in its higher excellences, in heathen Greece and Rome, where the perception of moral principles, possessed by the cultivated and accomplished intellect, by the mind of Plato or Isocrates, of Cleanthes, Seneca, Epictetus, or Antoninus, rivalled in outward pretensions the inspired teaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles. Such is it at tlie present day, not only in its reception of the elements of religion and morals (when Christianity is in the midst of it as an inexhaustible storehouse for natural reason to borrow from), but especially in a province peculiar to these times, viz., in science and art, in physics, in politics, in economics, and mechanics. And great as are its attainments at present, still, as I have said, we are far from being able to discern even in the distance the limit of its advancement and of its perfectibility.

From thence to Yerona

Rice arrives at maturity to a great extent in the marshy districts; and an incomparable system of irrigation, diffused over the whole, conveys the waters of the Alps to every field, and in some places to every ridge, in the grass lands. It is in these rich meadows, stretching round Lodi, and from thence to Yerona, that the celebrated Parmesan cheese, known over all Europe for the richness of its flavour, is made. The vine and the olive thrive in the sunny slopes which ascend from the plain to the ridges of the

Alps; and a woody zone of never-failing beauty lies between the desolation of the mountain and the fertility of the plain”.

After speaking of what nature really does

Such is his language concerning the cultivation at present bestowed upon the great plain of Italy; but after all it is upon the third or mountainous region of the country, where art has to supply the deficiencies of nature, that he bestows his most enthusiastic praises. After speaking of what nature really does for it in the way of vegetation and fruits, he continues: “ An admirable terrace-cultivation, where art and industry have combined to overcome the obstacles of nature, has every where converted the slopes, naturally sterile and arid, into a succession of gardens, loaded with the choicest vegetable productions.

A delicious climate there brings the finest fruits to maturity; the grapes hang in festoons from tree to tree; the song of the nightingale is heard in every grove; all nature seems to rejoice in the paradise which the industry of men has created. To this incomparable system of horticulture, which appears to have been unknown to the ancient Romans, and to have been introduced into Europe by the warriors who returned from the Crusades, the riches and smiling aspect of Tuscany and the mountain-region of Italy are chiefly to be ascribed; for nothing can be more desolate by nature than the waterless declivities, in general almost destitute of soil, on which it has been formed.

Sufficient for a social change

First of all, we may say that the very region into which they came, tended to their civilization. .Of course the peculiarities of soil, climate, and country are not by themselves sufficient for a social change; else the Turcomans would have the best right to civilization; yet, when other influences are present too, it is far from being without important effect. You may recollect that I have spoken more than once of the separation of a portion of the Huns, from the main body, when they were emigrating from Tartary into Europe. These turned off sharp to the South immediately on descending the high table land; and, crossing the Jaxartes, found themselves in a fertile and attractive country, between the Aral and their old country, where they settled.

It is a peculiarity of Asia that its regions are either very hot or very cold. It has the highest mountains in the world, bleak table lands, vast spaces of burning desert, tracts stretched out beneath the tropical sun. Siberia goes for a proverb for cold: India is a proverb for heat. It is not adequately supplied with rivers, and it has little of inland sea. In these respects it stands in singular contrast with Europe Jugoslavia. If then the tribes, which inhabit a cold country, have, generally speaking, more energy than those which are relaxed by the heat, it follows, that you will have in Asia two descriptions of people brought together in extreme, sometimes in sudden, contrariety with each other, the strong and the weak. Here then, as some philosophers have argued, you have the secret of the despotisms and the vast empires of which Asia has been the seat; for it always possesses those who are naturally fitted to be tyrants, and those whose nature it is to tremble and obey.

Intellectual nature

But we may take another, perhaps a broader, view of the phenomenon. The sacred writer says: “Give me neither riches nor beggary”: and, as the extremes of abundance and of want are prejudicial to our moral well-being, so they seem to be prejudicial to our intellectual nature also. Mental cultivation is best carried on in temperate regions. In the north men are commonly too cold, in the south too hot, to think, read, write, and act. Science, literature, and art refuse to germinate in the frost, and are burnt up by the sun.

Now it so happened that the region in which this party of Huns settled themselves was one of the fairest and most fruitful in Asia. It is bounded by deserts, it is in parts encroached on by deserts; but, viewed in its length and breadth, in its produce and its position, it seems a country equal, or superior, to any which that vast continent, as at present known, can show. Its lower portion is the extensive territory of Khorasan, the ancient Bactria; going northwards across the Oxus, we come into a spacious tract, stretching to the Aral and to the Jaxartes, and measuring a square of 600 miles. It was called in ancient times Sogdiana; in the history of the middle ages Transoxiana, or “ beyond the Oxus”; by the Eastern writers Maver-ul-nere, or Mawer-al-nahar, which is said to have the same meaning: and it is now known by the name Bukharia. To these may be added a third province, at the bottom of the Aral, between the mouth of the Oxus and the Caspian, called Kharasm. This then was the region in which the Huns in question took up their abode.

Favourable to his vanity

But another version, less favourable to his vanity and his hopes, was suggested by one of his courtiers, and it ran thus : “ Unless you can fly like a bird, or burrow like a mouse, or swim the marshes like a frog, you cannot escape our arrows”. “Whichever interpretation was the true one, it needed no message from the enemy to perceive the truth of the sentiment expressed in this unpleasant interpretation. Darius yielded to imperative necessity, and hastened his escape from the formidable situation in which he had placed himself, and through great good fortune succeeded in effecting it. He crossed the sea just in time; for the Scythians came down in pursuit, as far as the coast, and returned home laden with booty.

This is pretty much all that is definitely recorded in history of the ancient Tartars. Alexander, in a later age, came into conflict ’with them in the region called Sogdiana, which lies at the foot of that high plateau of central and eastern Asia, which I have designated as their proper home. But he was too prudent to be entangled in extended expeditions against them, and having made trial of their formidable strength, and made some demonstrations of the superiority of his own, he left them in possession of their wildernesses.

An ignorant man as silence

RULE XXXYI.

Nothing is so good for an ignorant man as silence; and if he was sensible of this, he would not be ignorant. When you possess not perfection and excellence, you had better keep your tongue within

your teeth. The tongue brings men into disgrace. The nut without a kernel is of light weight. A stupid man was training an ass, and spent all his time upon it. Somebody said, “0 blockhead, what art thou endeavouring to do? for this foolish attempt expect reprehension from the censorious. Brutes will not acquire speech from thee; learn thou silence from them.” Whosoever doth not reflect before he giveth an answer, will generally speak improperly. Either arrange your words as a man of sense, or else sit quiet like a brute.

RULE XXXVII.

Whenever you argue with another wiser than yourself, in order that others may admire your wisdom, they will discover your ignorance. When one manages a discourse better than yourself, although you may be fully informed, yet do not start objections.

RULE XXXVIII.

Whosoever associates with the wicked, will not see good. If an angel should keep company with a demon, he would learn terror, perfidy, and deceit. You cannot learn virtue from the wicked; the wolf practises not the tanner’s art.

Publish not men’s secret faults, for by disgracing them you make yourself of no repute.

RULE XL.

Whosoever acquired knowledge and did not practise it, resembleth him who ploughed but did not sow.

RULE XLI.

Obedience is not truly performed by the body of him whose heart is dissatisfied. The shell without a kernel, is not fit for store.

RULE XLII.

Not every one that is ready to dispute is quick in transacting business. A form may appear handsome under a sheet, but remove it and you find it a grand-mother.

RULE XLIII.

If every night was a night of power, many of such nights would be disregarded. If every stone was a Budukshan ruby, the ruby and the pebble would be of equal value.

It is not every graceful form that contains a good disposition: for virtue is in the mind, not in the appearance. You may know in one day from a man’s manner, to what degree of knowledge he has attained. However, be not secure against his mind; neit her be proud of your discovery, for a malignant spirit is not to be detected in many years.