conduct which the
presence of the Turk compelled. Europe was touched by the anguish of
these Christians and did not inquire too closely as to the proportion
of the virtues, often called the Christian virtues, which they
cultivated. And it was undoubtedly a fact that their treatment left a
great deal to be desired. The peasant was obliged to pay direct
imposts in cash. There were taxes on landed property, on cattle, on
sheep and on fruit-trees, tithes on every species of harvest and a
poll-tax to which only Christians were liable, amounting to ten
shillings per annum for every male. To complete the exactions with a
touch of irony, there was also an education-tax and a heavy road-tax
for the upkeep of the indescribable highways. These taxes were not
collected by Government officials, but were farmed out to the highest
bidder, and so flagrant were the abuses of this system that it was not
unusual for the villagers to cut down their fruit-trees in order to
avoid the tax upon them, for the tax-farmer, against whom an appeal
would be worse than useless, was wont to appear with gendarmes and
estimate, according to his fancy, the amount of any crop.[78] Another
tax very frequently imposed upon the helpless peasant was the tribute
to some Albanian chief, who in return undertook to protect the
village. And if the village was outside the Albanian sphere of
influence it was usually obliged to have its own resident brigands,
who might or might not be Albanians. Generally speaking, those
villages were the least to be envied which were on the borders of
Albanian territory: cattle were lifted, crops of corn or hay were
carried off before they could be garnered, young men and old men were
kidnapped and held to ransom; sometimes, says Mr. Brailsford, they
were fettered and driven to the fields at sunrise with the cattle and
were forced to work there until evening. Most of the villages in
Macedonia were owned by a Turkish bey to whom the peasant was obliged
to give a clear half of the harvest, besides a certain amount of
labour on the bey's private farm and in his mill, as well as hewing
wood for him and transporting his produce to the market without
payment. It is not surprising that the Macedonian Slavs, whose labour
brought them such inadequate reward, sank into very slothful habits.
Thus at Monastir in 1914-1915, when the population had the choice of
taking flour from the Serbian Government or else the British Consul's
bread, which c