Europeanization of the Bulgarian city

The Bulgarians in the cities “present a

very different appearance in many respects from those we saw in other parts of

the empire. Physically, they appear to be superior, and in customs altogether

different, dressing more like the people of Western Europe.” The Europeanization

of the Bulgarian city ports on the Danube had, by the middle of the

century, progressed far enough to be noticed by almost all of the travelers.

William Henry Seward, the American

statesman and secretary of state, in his travels around the world passed

through Bulgaria also. In his travel account there are some scanty references

to Bulgaria. When he arrived in Varna, he noted the importance of the city as a

port and railroad center.

Commenting on Ruse, Seward said that the

city had “the appearance of much activity” and presented “less and oriental

than European aspect Minarets are less frequent and spires of Christian

churches take their place.” According to the American politician, Ottoman rule

in Europe “has been prolonged chiefly by means of her European allies, a

hundred years.”

However, Seward believed that Bulgaria was

“practically independent of the Turkish Empire” and that Ottoman rule “will

ultimately disappear from Europe,” because “it is only too palpable that the

closer the approach which the Turkish Empire may make toward the ideas and

principles of the West, the more its European provinces will be emboldened to

shake off its sway altogether .”

Independent church

Henry Day, an American lawyer, noted in his

travel account the progress made by the Bulgarians in their struggle for an independent

church. The Bulgarians, he wrote, “have at length resisted

(Greek control of their churches) and determined to have native priests and

have driven out the foreign Greek priests.”

Henry Field, in a very popular travel

account, expressed his indignation of the atrocities committed by the Turks in

Bulgaria. He wrote that “Circassians and Bashi Bazouks were marched” into

Bulgaria and commenced “a series of massacres that have thrilled Europe with

horror” and “laid waste with fire and slaughter” the “peaceful country.”

These massacres were due to the fact that

the Turk had “not changed his nature in the four hundred years that he has

lived or rather camped in Europe.” The only way to put an end to such

tragedies, he suggested, was for the great powers to enforce large-scale

reforms supported by an armed force stationed in the Ottoman Empire.