Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1913. THE BALKAN PEOPLE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 19 February 1913, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1913. THE BALKAN PEOPLE.

THE whole world lias been deeply impressed by Balkan patriotism. A clear idea of the international feeling which inspires both Bulgarians and Servians can be gathered from the personal observations which' Mr J. Howard Whitehouse, M.P., records in the January "Nineteenth Century and After." Of the two capitals. Sofia and Belgrade, he remarks that "they are cities of simple, hardy, strong people, building up a national life amid incredibly difficult conditions, and working out .their destiny j with patience and courage never excelled." In Sofia he was presented with the spectacle of an entirely united people, facing the most extreme forms of individual and national suffering, not for greed or revenge or any unworthy object, but for the right of their kindred to' live, for the right of a civilised people to be emancipated from a barbarism and. a tyranny which havo brought upon them suffering not exceeded in the history of the world. .

There could be no doubt about'the national character of the movement which produced the war. The heroism of the soldiers found its fitting complement in the' self-sacrifice and devotion shown in every section of the nation, but in a. preeminent degree by its women. During the war a large part of the life of the city was being carried on by the women, just as in the fields throughout the country the women and children had taken the place of the men. The wounded, as far as possible, were brought to the capital, where, the women, in eluding those of the highest rank, spent their days from early morning until late atnight- nursing in the hospitals. In a ti'uly Spartan manner the Government issued an edict that the names of none oi the men who were wounded or killed should be published, and this order w is rigidly adhered to in Bulgaria. Its object was to prevent, private grief from interfering with the discharge of publ:,duty. A visitor to Sofia could not fr>;l to be struck with the wonderful feata which the Bulgarians have performed in time of peace, quite as much as by their gallant feats of arms. To Mr Whitehouse it seemed almost incredible that i little more than thirty years ago the town was under Turkish domination, misgoverned, and squalid. "This well-o'-dered town, built between two ranges of mountains, with a great and vigorous life, the centre of a healthy people, arduously earning their lfvmg for the most part by the cultivation of the soil," is, he says, "in itself a justification, of the independence of the nation, of its r>ast claims, and present endeavours .... the adoption o'f a system of popular education upon which is spent a greater proportion of the national resources than is spent, for instance, in Great Britain —these are at once the expression of the national spirit and its triumphant vindication."'

The' Bulgarians arn an undemonstrative people, sparing of speech, with no love for pageants. In the hour of victory they sounded no note of exultation. Government and people, too. were wholly at one, Ministers were calm and dauntless. and the Sobranye, which re-assem-bled after the armistice was concluded, proceeded at once, without demonstration. excitement,, or passion, on the part of its own members or the general public, to consider the immediate financial and administrative questions which demanded its attention. As further evidence of the solidarity of the nation Mr Whitehouse mentions that th'e whole of the civil servants gave two-thirds of i their salaries as a. contribution towards ! the cost of the war. In Belgrade a like i spirit prevailed, though the traveller's first impression on arriving there would be that he was in the centre of a nation of peasants, too hard at work struggling foi* existence to have had time foT the gentler amenities of life. The same unity of purpose ruled there as in Sofia, though, owing to temperamental differences, there was more direct -expression of popular emotions in Belgrade. The Servian women showed the same resourcefulness and self-sacrifice as their Bulgarian sisters. At Mr Whitehouse'.s hotel three of the waiters were Serbs who 1 had just returned to Belgrade after some yearsj' absence. Two of them held profitable posts in London jtlie other owned a thriving business in New York. ' The three men had voluntarily, and without I summons, sacrificed billets and business, and hastened to serve their country. They had reported themselves on arrival, and whilst waiting to be sent with the Second Reserve to the front, had taken posts as waiters. \ This incident is evidently typical of the patriotic ardour with which both peoples are inspired.