Thomas J. Clayton who visited many
countries passed through Bulgaria also. Going from Varna to Ruse and then on to
Romania
Clayton was “surprised” to discover that both Bulgaria and
Romania were “such fertile countries.” He wrote that he “never saw better
pasture lands or wheat fields” anywhere else in the world. These lands reminded
him of the prairie lands of Illinois. He was also surprised to find that there
were no farm houses like in America. The lands, he stated, were “tilled by
peasants who live in miserable little huts, or in villagesOur route lay through
a spur of the Balkan Mountains and was very picturesque very beautiful and
entertainingThe scenery of these mountains is soft and has a soothing rather
than a stirring influence upon the beholder.” The author believed that if peace
prevailed in these parts of the world, Bulgaria and Romania “will soon become
rich and prosperous.”
There are few more accounts by Americans on
Bulgaria. However, they are not much more different than those presented. Many
a time what Americans said about the Bulgarians or for that matter about other
peoples, reflected on their own personal character or how they valued American
culture and way of life. The descriptions presented by these travelers on a
variety of topics, like national character and even the history of Bulgaria are
hardly scientific or correct accounts.
Bulgarian personality
Almost all of these travelers present
nothing but clichés. They did not have the necessary expertise to carefully
analyze the Bulgarian
personality, their ethnic typicalness in terms of common
national cultural values. The frame of reference these travelers used was
founded on their perspective of American history and culture as the
repositories of values of liberty, freedom, democracy, justice, religion,
discipline, industry and progress.
Almost all of the authors sympathized with
the plight of the Bulgarian people under Ottoman domination. They all condemned
the alien system of despotism and many a time showed their preference for
republicanism. The Ottoman system did not permit the development of the
individual, the arts and crafts as well as agriculture and industry. The
authors were aware that the Ottoman state was in its stages of disintegration.
Those who visited Bulgaria before 1878 believed that the Bulgarians would
become free and those who travelled after the liberation of the country praised
the attempts of the Bulgarians to preserve their independence.
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