ly to the mountains for safety, and lead a
wretched existence by rapine and murder. Some left Turkey to settle in
Russia and Austria, in search of that liberty and protection which was
denied them at home.

The Turkish peasants are not insensible to the degradation in which they
are languishing. But accustomed, in suffering and privation, to find
consolation in fatalism--which teaches implicit acquiescence in and
obedience to the will of Allah--they drag out their days in passive
submission. Seditions are almost always excited by unbelievers, who feel
their wrongs more deeply. The devout Turkish peasant seeks no better
fortune than the means wherewith to build a little cabin, with windows
and doors religiously closed to vulgar eyes. He finds comfort in the
words of his holy book: 'He is the happiest of mortals to whom God has
given contentment.' He performs his daily labor, makes his prostrations,
smokes his chibouk, and lives oblivious of care. He is far from being
indifferent to reforms, but is loth to take the initiative in political
innovations and social wars. His heart is with the cause, but here also
he is resigned: 'God is great--His will be done.' This same spirit of
resignation and submission to the divine will, from being a virtue
becomes his greatest curse.

The Servians, a hardy and vigorous race, who pride themselves on their
victories over the Moslems, stand in the van of the reform movement. By
the new constitution given to Servia in 1838, there exists no longer any
distinction of classes. All pay taxes, in proportion to the value of
their property, to the municipal and general government. All the
peasants are proprietors, and all the proprietors are peasants. The
Servians and Albanians have never refused foreign aid. They gave a kind
welcome to the legions that Nicholas sent across the Pruth, and worked
in concert with the brave warriors of the north, in the hope of gaining
a nationality and a recognized name.

The moral condition of the Bulgarians does not differ essentially from
that of the Servians; but there is a wide difference in their political
organization. The Bulgarians are yet only peasants, unprotected against
the violence and exactions of the sultan. They are more enterprising
than the Servians, and, could they enjoy an equitable legislation, would
soon vie with them in wealth and prosperity. They envy the national and
democratic institutions of the Servians, who are related to them by
b