Description: The Black Sheep of the Balkans by Leland Buxton With an Introduction by Aubrey Herbert This is the scarce 1920 First Edition “The Bulgarians, though believed to be of Turanian origin, have been so completely Slavised that they may now be regarded as a branch of the Southern Slavs, with whom they must eventually throw in their lot. So efficient have they shown themselves to be, during the last fifty years, in almost every field except those of propaganda and diplomacy, that many people besides themselves have thought them entitled to become the leading power in the Balkans. This was always an idle dream. Even if they had obtained possession of Macedonia it could never have become a permanent reality, for they are less numerous than the Serbs, the Roumanians, or the Greeks. But a Southern Slav Federation, including an autonomous Bulgaria and an autonomous Macedonia with ports on the Aegean, would be an effective barrier against any Central European Imperialism on the north and against Hellenic Imperialism on the south, thus insuring Slav predominance in the Balkans. It is unwise to express any opinion, favourable or otherwise, of the Bulgarians, for any one who does so is suspected of being a dupe either of the Bulgarians themselves or of their enemies. To some people the Bulgar is so objectionable and inhuman that they become almost frenzied in their attempts to describe him; to others he appears to combine the virtues of Don Quixote, St. Anthony, and the Admirable Crichton. Impartial writers, however, usually describe him as industrious, practical, tenacious, patient, courageous, honest and truthful; but silent, unexpansive, grasping, and obstinate. He compels admiration rather than affection, but Englishmen generally find him, in spite of his impenetrable reserve, less irritating than some of his neighbours.” Front cover and spine Further images of this book are shown below Publisher and place of publication Dimensions in inches (to the nearest quarter-inch) London: Nisbet & Co. Ltd 4¾ inches wide x 7½ inches tall Edition Length 1920 First Edition 191 pages Condition of covers Internal condition Original teal cloth lined and blocked in black. The covers are rubbed and dull, with some variation in colour and evidence of old staining, which is particularly noticeably on the rear cover. The spine has faded and is quite dull. The spine ends and corners are bumped and slightly frayed. There are some indentations along the edges of the boards, including a small notch in the centre of the top and bottom edges (front and rear) where it appears the book may, at once time, have been bound with twine. The end-papers are browned and discoloured and the folding map at the end is torn at the stub and also along one fold. The text is generally clean throughout on tanned paper. However, liquid (tea, coffee?) has been spilt on page 41, badly staining the page (including a portion of text) and, slightly less obviously, part of the fore-edge of the text block (please see the images below). The edge of the text block is also dust-stained and lightly foxed. There is some separation between the inner gatherings and a few corners are creased. Dust-jacket present? Other comments No Buxton's polemic is now quite scarce and this would have been a very clean example had it not been for the stain to page 41; nevertheless, the condition otherwise remains good, with dull and slightly stained covers and the inevitable tanning to the paper. Illustrations, maps, etc Contents No illustrations are called for; there is a folding map at the end which is torn at the stub and also along one fold (please see the final image below). Please see below for details Post & shipping information Payment options The packed weight is approximately 500 grams. Full shipping/postage information is provided in a panel at the end of this listing. Payment options : UK buyers: cheque (in GBP), debit card, credit card (Visa, MasterCard but not Amex), PayPal International buyers: credit card (Visa, MasterCard but not Amex), PayPal Full payment information is provided in a panel at the end of this listing. The Black Sheep of the Balkans Contents Preface Introduction I. The Orthodox Church in the Balkans II. Bulgaria III. The Greeks IV. “Vae Victis” V. “Audi alteram partem” VI. Who shall have Salonica ? Appendix A Appendix B Index The Black Sheep of the Balkans Preface THE result of the war has been a signal triumph for the Gladstonian Turcophobes who demanded the destruction of the Ottoman Empire; seldom, indeed, has an agitation been crowned with such sweeping success. These Gladstonians were, above all things, anti-Turk ; they supported especially the Bulgarians and the Armenians, not because they imagined, as is sometimes supposed, that these peoples were " idealists," but because they knew them to be the most implacable enemies of the Turk ; on the same principle they would now be the chief supporters of Greece if any motive for weakening Turkey remained. After being reproached for many years by the Conservative Press as dupes and sentimentalists, they suddenly found their policy adopted by the Governments of Great Britain, France, and Russia, and it has now been carried out with a thoroughness almost exceeding their wildest dreams in the past. Whether their policy was the right one or not is another matter; so far as it was founded on a belief that the Turks were less tolerant than the Eastern Christians, it was certainly founded on a misapprehension. The Turks were inefficient, corrupt, and often brutal, but their Imperial system was based — at any rate until the advent to power of the Young Turks — on the official recognition of the various churches and on the granting to those churches of a large amount of autonomy. The fanaticism of the Turk is of a mild variety compared with that of most of the Christians, and the Gladstonians should read — as a fair example of tolerance as understood by the Orthodox Church — Miss Durham's experiences recorded in her terrible book, The Struggle for Scutari. Her verdict that the Orthodox Church " now holds the world's record for religious savagery" may be a slight exaggeration, but, with regard to the alleged moral superiority of the Christians of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, the present writer, after considerable experience in that part of the world, confesses to disillusionment. It is only fair to add that both the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant missions are civilising factors in the Near East, and that a distinctly higher standard of conduct prevails among those communities which have embraced either Catholicism or some form of Protestantism than among the adherents of the Greek or other Eastern Churches. The best way to study the politics of semi-civilised countries is to compare the views of impartial travellers. From residents in these countries we can obtain much valuable information, but we are unlikely to hear unprejudiced opinions, for the simple reason that nearly all residents have become extreme if unconscious partisans. I cannot claim to be an exception to this rule, for, though I have only lived for four years in Egypt, I have acquired prejudices which would make it almost impossible for me to write fairly and impartially about the Egyptian Nationalists. With regard to the Bulgars and Serbs, on the other hand, I can at least claim to be unprejudiced — apart from one's natural preference for a people who fought gallantly throughout the war as our allies — and the fact that I have usually found individual Greeks more congenial than individual Bulgarians has not, I hope, blinded me to the value of those qualities which the Bulgarians as a nation possess, and in which the Greeks as a nation are deficient. Although I have travelled in Thrace, Macedonia, Albania, and all the Balkan States, and have served in a branch of Military Intelligence in the Near East which was closely connected with Greek affairs, I have not lived long enough in any of these States to have become a partisan, and my views on Balkan affairs, therefore, would probably be obnoxious to all parties in the Balkans. For that very reason my views may possibly be worthy of consideration. It is certain, at any rate, that opinions on Balkan politics which are entirely pleasing to any one race must be biassed and unreliable, for there are usually two sides to a question, and that is precisely what none of the peoples concerned can ever realise. Those who wish to promote a lasting settlement in the Balkans must abandon the pleasing fiction that the people in that part of the world who happened to be among our enemies are essentially more barbarous — or less Anglophil — than the peoples who happened to be our allies. The chief hope of peace in the Balkans— after another century or two — lies in the splendid educational work of the Americans and the saner outlook acquired by the Balkan emigrants returning from the States ; but it is surely not too much to hope that the British partisans of Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Albania will some day endeavour to discourage the Balkan hate-mongers rather than incite them to more hate, and to moderate rather than stimulate the boundless ambitions of their protégés. If I venture to criticise more severely than some writers do the conduct of the Greeks in recent years, it is not because I do not sympathise with the legitimate aspirations of that remarkably gifted race; but I am unable to believe that their best interests, or the interests of international peace, are being served by the excessive flattery and the suppressio veri which often characterise the utterances of extreme Philhellenes. Flattery goes to the heads of some people like wine, and the Balkan nations themselves are far less to blame for their extravagances than many of their partisans. Far-sighted friends of Bolshevism welcomed the Peace Treaty with Bulgaria, for it has greatly increased the forces making for anarchy, out of which Bolshevism is calculated to arise. It is not so much a question of Bulgaria "going Bolshevik " — still less of attacking her neighbours — as of the support likely to be given to any movement in the Near East for the overthrow of established institutions. It is to be feared that Bulgaria-unless the present settlement is revised, or the League of Nations effectively protects the BuJgar populations in Macedonia, Thrace, and the Dobrudja will continue to be a source of unrest, for her Government has never been able to control the Macedonian refugees; and the obstinate Bulgars and Macedo-Bulgars, driven out of their homes in Greek, Serbian and Roumanian territory, will do their utmost to promote discontent, not only in Bulgaria, but also in the disaffected parts of the neighbouring countries. Many of them have been highly trained as guerilla fighters in the struggle against the Turks, and they will be ready to offer their services to any insurrectionary movement in Jugoslavia, Asia Minor, or elsewhere, and will snap their fingers, if necessary, at the Bulgarian Government. Serbia and Greece, moreover, have been weakened by the annexation of large hostile populations, and will be proportionately lacking m stability when their inevitable internal troubles become acute. After having received a "coupon" from the Prime Minister and Mr. Bonar Law at the last General Election, it may perhaps seem ungracious for the writer to suggest that the policy of the British delegates at the Peace Conference was hardly worthy of the best traditions of British statesmanship. If Mr. Lloyd George, however, had acted at Paris in the spirit of the declarations which he made shortly before the opening of the election campaign on the subject of a Peace of Justice, there would have been no occasion to make any such suggestion. The Black Sheep of the Balkans Introduction By The Hon. Aubrey Herbert, M.P. MANY years ago Mr. Leland Buxton and I determined, if we could, to go to the city of Sanaa, the capital of the Yemen. We eluded the Turkish obstacles to our journey and rode from Hodeidah, across the low-lying, scorching Teheimah. We passed through the fabled valleys of Arabia Felix, where the wind is scented and there is a glory of sunshine, flowers, and song-birds, to the terraced heights of Menakha, and there received hospitality of Dimitri the Greek; then on and over the crest of the mountain range. We spent a bitter night nine thousand feet above the sea, where the cold that nearly killed us, in our tropical khaki, did not affect the legions of fleas, the relies of an invading army, that inhabited the sand. We stayed in Sanaa, the city of grey and black houses with alabaster windows and fretted balconies, of running water and fertile gardens. Later we sailed down the Persian Gulf and endured the boredom of shipwreck on the pearl islands. It is, I think, owing to these memories, and not to any qualifications of mine, that my friend has asked me to write an introduction to his book, and it is these memories, and no sense of my own capacity, that have induced me to attempt the task. In the Balkans, where nearly all are partisan, dispassionate criticism of any book that deals with the mosaic of the populations is not to be expected. Unfortunately, Balkan quarrels have no natural frontiers. From Athens and Belgrade they echo to London and to Paris. Mr. Buxton's book will be criticised in some quarters in this country, not on its merits, nor on the grounds of its accuracy or inaccuracy, but in regard to the spirit in which it is written. Mr. Buxton is anxious to bury the hatchet. He wishes for peace, and believes that justice is the raw material of peace. Justice and the principle, if such it can be called, of Vae Victis measured their strength against each other at Paris, and Vae Victis won, triumphantly. The victory was as complete as the use was thorough that was made of it. An expert on liberty, like Mills, would be required to-day to distinguish the difference between German and Allied victory treaties. To many ruthlessness is the true sign of patriotism, and to such this book will not appeal. Optimists who look forward to the possibility of a tranquil life for themselves and others, hoping to remedy or eliminate some of the more crude mistakes of the Great Three, will appreciate this book. To the casual observer it was ignorance, rather than turpitude, that influenced the decisions of the Autocrats of Paris. Time has another glory besides calming contending kings; it can turn ignorance into knowledge. Those who are anxious to learn new facts about the distracted Peninsula, the troubles of which were the occasion, if not the cause, of Great Britain entering the war, will be grateful to Mr. Buxton. He has had a wide experience of the East; he has seen it as a traveller and a student, and through the official eyes of authority. He speaks plainly and moderately. His view, which is shared by almost all Englishmen who have held responsible positions in the Near East, is that neither side in the Balkans was completely in the right or entirely in the wrong. Whatever may be urged against their Governments, there is something to be said on behalf of every Balkan peasantry. It is only some States, however, who have the opportunity of putting their case before the British public. Other peasant States, like Bulgaria (and I may say I have no Bulgarian friends), have no means of making themselves heard. They are punished rather because they are dumb than because they are guilty, and, later, the punishment which fell immediately upon them recoils indirectly upon its authors. Caesar insisted that his wife was above suspicion, but he did not make this claim on behalf of all his minor allies. The British Government would do well to remember the example of that great man. Vengeance is not as securely and necessarily enthroned in the Balkans as the rest of Europe believes. There is nothing in the Balkan air or in the Balkan blood that makes decent life impossible. If European gendarmerie, controlled by impartial officers of Powers that are not directly interested in the Balkans, were again to be instituted, peace and order would follow in the regions over which they presided. The Albanians in Italy and America, the Bulgars, the Serbs, and the Montenegrins in the United States, make peaceful and orderly citizens, while the reputation of the Greek colonies of Manchester and Liverpool is high to the point of renown. What, then, is it that has produced and continued the blood-stained record of the Peninsula ? Partly, no doubt, the conflict of religions, but mainly the policy, at first initiated by Turkey, but latterly copied and improved upon by the European Powers, of " divide et impera." It did not take Europe long to discover that, when peasant States fall out, financiers come by their own. After the Crimean War Great Britain remained for long in splendid or in selfish isolation. Her statesmen believed that if she kept herself free of entangling alliances she would also be free of alien quarrels. When this policy changed and our various ententes had been concluded, we still hoped that, by giving the Balkans a wide berth, we should suffer no damage if that barrel of gunpowder exploded. Yet when the murder at Sarajevo occurred Great Britain, which had no dynastic or supremely serious commercial relations with the Peninsula, was more deeply and immediately affected than Italy, though the latter was united to the Balkans by these and other bonds. Here it may not be out of place to examine, in a few sentences, the position and policy of the Great Powers in the Balkans. The Great Powers have acted in the way that appeared most advantageous to themselves. This is human, but its selfishness has fallen hardly on the Balkan peoples, and in the end the Great Powers have overreached themselves. There are few now who would not agree, in the light of subsequent events, that the policy of destroying the Treaty of San Stefano has been a tragedy to all concerned. French policy has been sustained by the ubiquity of the French tongue and by the past liberalism of French ideas. It cannot, unfortunately, be claimed that France has distinguished herself by generous actions from the other Great Powers. Her object has been exploitation pure and simple, and this Remains even more true to-day than before the war, when French investors had not incurred the losses they have since suffered through the bankruptcy of Russia. France, herself ardently nationalistic rather than patriotic, has favoured interests rather than aspirations in the Balkans; an agnostic State that persecuted religion within her own borders, farther East she still maintains her anomalous claim to be one of the protectors of Eastern Christianity, and pursues a policy of veiled clericalism. Her main influence has been in Greece and Serbia. To both of these countries she has rendered great services, but they, in their turn, have paid her, at least adequately. Austria and Germany took divergent views of the future of the Peninsula. Austria could afford to flatter and pet Montenegro, though her bureaucracy hated Serbia, which blocked her road to Salonica. She had the power of veto on Serbian trade in the north, and she did not hesitate to use it. Her propaganda in Albania was largely religious. Germany, on the other hand, had not the same bitter feeling towards the Southern Slavs, and occupied herself in establishing good relations with the rulers of Bulgaria, while her eyes were fixed on Turkey and the Bagdad Railway. Of all national policies the Italian, perhaps, is the most difficult to summarise, for it has passed through many phases and has differed constantly in its qualities. Sometimes Italian policy has been spacious, lofty, pro-consular ; at other times narrow and vice-consular. She has built places of Carrara marble, and again, gerrymandered huts. But, in spite of her financiers and imperialists, Italy is gentle, even in aggression. Though Russian policy in the Balkans is, for the moment, a thing of the past, its outstanding characteristics should not be forgotten. Russia was united by blood with the Southern Slavs, and the causes of Montenegro and of Serbia became her causes, as the interests of schoolboys are the interests of their masters. She tempered her affection with discipline, and the flick of her knout punished the most distant disobedience of her small henchmen. Those who had the courage to assert their independence suffered in the end. It is significant that to-day her responsible statesmen, who are refugees in England or France, lay claim to Constantinople in the name of the chaos that is Russia. Great Britain's policy, though it varied from time to time, owing to the natural and inevitable partiality of British officials on the spot for various races, was mainly directed to keeping the peace. It may be said, without smugness, that the part which Great Britain played was, at least, not ignoble, and that occasionally she contributed some fine pages to history. After her guardianship of the Ionian Islands, which she had put in order, she voluntarily surrendered them to their native country. Under Sir Edward Grey, she attempted to prevent the mutilation of Bulgaria and the partition of Albania, and her policy has not been dictated by finance. The fruit of the unscrupulous greed of the Great Powers ripened slowly, but is mature to-day. The Balkans have lost all belief in the honesty and rectitude of Europe, and retain only a shaken confidence in Great Britain. In 1913, when the Balkan War broke out, the Great Powers warned Turkey not to mobilise, affirming that the Balkan Confederation would not be permitted to attack. The Balkan Confederation attacked. The Great Powers proclaimed that, even if Turkey were beaten, the Balkan States were not to win territory. The Balkan States won territory beyond their wildest dreams, and kept it. When the fatal quarrel between the Christian Allies occurred Turkey was admonished that, if she took Adrianople, she would be expelled. She took Adrianople, and she stayed there. The Great Powers agreed with the statement of Sir Edward Grey that Albania had the same right to independence as any other Balkan people, but, under Russian and French pressure, the Great Powers deprived her of her market towns and of her fertile plains. They gave her an independence that was only a name since the possibilities of economic life were denied to her. In the European War the Allies maintained that they were fighting for the liberty of the small peoples of Europe. At the end of that European War great regions of Bulgarian territory were handed over to the Allies, while Italy still occupies the purely Greek islands. Montenegro has been annexed to Serbia without the possibility of self-determination, and dragon's teeth have been sown by the cession of the Dobrudja to Roumania. The logical consequences of these palpable betrayals is d'Annunzio's action at Fiume, and the Turkish insurrection in Asia Minor following on the Greek landing at Smyrna. It would not be fair to the Great Three to say that they have deliberately created a new Balkan war in the near future, for it is apparent that they had no idea of what they were doing. " There is a little place called Teschen," said Mr. Lloyd George, "of which no one has probably heard." " Is Bulgaria a kingdom or a republic ? " asked M. Clemenceau, when he was announcing the fate that the liberators of the small nations proposed benevolently to impose upon that country. General Botha, admittedly one of the most sincere men there, is said to have referred to the Paris Conference as a " thieves' kitchen." This phrase, if he used it, may or may not have been a fair description, but the Conference has created so intolerable a muddle in the East that the greatness of the evil may be its own antidote. Mr. Wilson, however his actions may have contradicted his words, has conjured up the vision of peace in the League of Nations. Even if the Peace Treaties had fallen far behind the promises and ideals which the Allied statesmen had held out to a tortured world, they might still have stood, and the League of Nations would have remained as impotent in peace as was the Pope in war. But this has not happened. The treaties are not only bad, but so bad that they will not work. As some wit has said, the peace that has been concluded has in it the seeds of a just and durable war, and the League of Nations remains the only hope of better things. It is far beyond the ambition of this introduction to attempt to trace the immediate parentage or the remoter pedigree of recent wars. It would probably be generally conceded that the peace imposed upon France after the Franco-Prussian War went a long way to beget the war of 1914. It would, I suppose, be also generally admitted that the Treaty of Berlin of 1878, which put back a growing Christian community under the corrupt Government of Constantinople, made the Balkan League, which owed its actual birth to the inspiring personality of M. Venizelos. The results of the second Balkan War are more controversial, but many of those who have lived in the Near East believe that, if other terms had been given to Bulgaria, her German king would not have been able to force her into the war against the Allies!. The German treaty of Brest-Litovsk was, again, drawn up on the lines of Vae Victis. It mobilised the resources of Russia against Russia herself, and, whatever the ultimate issue might have been, it must have produced another war. Two treaties alone in the last fifty years have made allies, and not enemies, of those who were beaten in the field :—Bismarck's lenient treaty to Austria in 1866 induced her to volunteer for Germany's war in 1914 ; our peace with the South African Republics gave us the supreme advantage of their co-operation. The Peace Treaty of 1919 has all the characteristics of the majority of the treaties of the last century, and is fruitful of future strife. In the Paris Conference little, if any, difference has been made in the Near East between the autocrats who initiated the war, the rulers who inherited it, or the conscripts who were bound to the chariot-wheels of the State. It may be easy for the moment for a man to pay his debts with another man's goods, but this is no real liquidation, and trouble must follow. Paris can to-day take provinces from Bulgaria as Germany once took Alsace-Lorraine from France. Paris has it in its power to partition Albania as Poland once was partitioned; but we shall not be able to make Bulgaria forget, or to suppress the Albanian race. Mr. Buxton has chosen as a title for his book The Black Sheep of the Balkans. In the Balkans white sheep are the exception, but Mr. Buxton makes it clear that bad reputations in that part of the world are largely due to hostile propaganda. The Montenegrins probably hold the record in history as a small people who, through centuries of fighting, have held their own against incomparably superior forces. The Albanians, armed with the weapons of the Middle Ages, divided by religion, and united only in their individual love of freedom and their individual and national hatred of subjection to the foreigner, held their own. The Southern Slav nobility bought their freedom at the price of conversion to Islam, and the memory of Serbian nationality and gallantry only survived through the heroism of a few chieftains in the mountains. The peasantry of Bulgaria were for centuries nameless, more oppressed than the serfs of Russia, because their masters were aliens in blood and religion ; but, though they lost their consciousness of nationality, they clung stubbornly to their creed. The writer of this introduction has had little sympathy with the Bulgars in the past, but only the wilfully blind can fail to see the stubbornness, the dour strength, and the determination for progress of this people. To ignore these facts by depriving them of territory that is admittedly Bulgar is to create future bloodshed. The Greek is the most difficult inhabitant of the Near East to explain to those who are not travellers. The Bulgarians, the Serbians, the Albanians, and the Roumanians have all, respectively, with certain reservations, a national temperament and a homogeneous character, but the Greek is not one man—he is many. There is the Greek of Athens, who to-day, as two thousand years ago, seeks some new thing ; the rhetoric, where one man speaks in periods while the rest listen, in the Athenian cafes of to-day, is a tradition of the Agora ; there is the Greek of Old Greece, industrious and very often honest, who inherits the memories, but not the traditions, of his forefathers ; the Hellenised Albanian immigrant, who has inherited the courage without the memories of his ancestors; the Greek colonist of Asia Minor, sturdy, laborious, and sometimes hospitable ; and the physically splendid Greek of the Cretan mountains, indomitable and cruel. Generally speaking, it may be said that the Greek is restless and tenacious. He lives very largely in the past; and when he has made money in England, Australia, or America, he contributes munificently to his own Motherland, but he shows no desire to return and live in Greece. The Greek, in fact, is a better man outside Greece, whether he lives in Manchester or at Aivali, than he is in Greece itself. The temptation to give himself up to sterile politics in his own country is too strong for him. It can hardly be denied that, of all the Balkan peoples, the Greeks have come by their present possessions by comparatively easy ways. Serbia had her martyrdom, and has been rewarded by gifts that may prove to be embarrassing ; but Greece had M. Venizelos, certainly one of the greatest men of this generation. He has added possessions to her that are not likely to outlast his lifetime. It would be presumptuous to claim to speak for any but oneself, but I believe, that many Englishmen would agree that a settlement of the Balkans could have been achieved if justice and a few principles had governed the decisions of the Paris Conference. If the question of Fiume had been dealt with before a national frenzy in Italy had been worked up, the present situation could not have occurred. The Italian flag could, surely, have flown in Fiume if, at the beginning, Fiume had been declared an open port. Mr. Buxton and I are not in complete agreement with regard to Salonica; though its population is mixed, there are many travellers, like myself, who believe that it should be Greek, provided it is constituted an open port. Constantinople is not only Turkish, but, rightly or wrongly, is regarded as the capital of Islam, and the solution there would be on the same lines as in the case of the two previous ports. Sir Edward Grey admitted that the Albanians had the same right to national independence as any other Balkan race, and all that is required is a renewed guarantee of their freedom as, a hundred years ago, the liberties of Greece were guaranteed. Serbia has her own internal difficulties, which time will solve. She has advanced from being one of the poorest in Europe to the possibility of becoming a great and a rich kingdom, and can afford to be generous to her less fortunate neighbours. She has her outlet on the sea to the north-west, and the pretence that she requires a port in Albania is idle, since her commerce has never been across the Albanian mountains. She is in a position to allow Albanian territory to remain Albanian and to postpone her claims to Macedonia. That unhappy country has the right to be looked upon as a wounded neutral. All the combatants have fought across her and about her and added to her misery. The settlement, if it were only an interim settlement, that seems most desirable would be to constitute of Macedonia an autonomous State under the governorship of an American, if the United States could be induced to undertake the responsibility. If this is not possible, another governor from some neutral State — for all valour and wisdom have not been confined to the belligerents in this war — could be found. Bulgaria might be made to pay the penalty for allowing her ruler to throw her into war by indemnities and the complete frustration of her ambitions, without being deprived of land and ports that are essential to her life. M. Venizelos, however, has agreed to the League of Nations controlling the ports of Dedeagatch and Kavala, and this is a valuable concession. Greece has trebled her territory, and has, in some cases, the right to increase it still further; the Greek islands are inhabited by practically one race (with the exception of Cyprus) that desires union with the mother-country. The refusal to allow these islanders to decide their own fate cannot be maintained. But as things are — though boundaries are still to be defined — the present Hellenic State is an artificial proposition. Greece has been given territory in Asia Minor, where she will find it hard to hold her own; territory in Bulgaria, and the Bulgarians are not a people who readily consent to surrender property that they deem their own; territory in southern Albania, and the Albanians are not remarkable for their docility. This burden of responsibility must largely fall upon our shoulders. It is for these reasons, and because it throws light upon a situation that is going to affect British interests, that it is to be hoped that Mr. Buxton's book will be widely read. Please note: to avoid opening the book out, with the risk of damaging the spine, some of the pages were slightly raised on the inner edge when being scanned, which has resulted in some blurring to the text and a shadow on the inside edge of the final images. Colour reproduction is shown as accurately as possible but please be aware that some colours are difficult to scan and may result in a slight variation from the colour shown below to the actual colour. In line with eBay guidelines on picture sizes, some of the illustrations may be shown enlarged for greater detail and clarity. The end-papers are browned and discoloured: The folding map at the end is torn at the stub and also along one fold. U.K. buyers: To estimate the “packed weight” each book is first weighed and then an additional amount of 150 grams is added to allow for the packaging material (all books are securely wrapped and posted in a cardboard book-mailer). The weight of the book and packaging is then rounded up to the nearest hundred grams to arrive at the postage figure. I make no charge for packaging materials and do not seek to profit from postage and packaging. Postage can be combined for multiple purchases. 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For destinations not shown or other requirements, please contact me before buying. Due to the extreme length of time now taken for deliveries, surface mail is no longer a viable option and I am unable to offer it even in the case of heavy items. I am afraid that I cannot make any exceptions to this rule. Payment options for international buyers: Payment can be made by: credit card (Visa or MasterCard, but not Amex) or PayPal. I can also accept a cheque in GBP [British Pounds Sterling] but only if drawn on a major British bank. Regretfully, due to extremely high conversion charges, I CANNOT accept foreign currency : all payments must be made in GBP [British Pounds Sterling]. This can be accomplished easily using a credit card, which I am able to accept as I have a separate, well-established business, or PayPal. Please contact me with your name and address and payment details within seven days of the end of the listing; otherwise I reserve the right to cancel the sale and re-list the item. Finally, this should be an enjoyable experience for both the buyer and seller and I hope you will find me very easy to deal with. If you have a question or query about any aspect (shipping, payment, delivery options and so on), please do not hesitate to contact me. Prospective international buyers should ensure that they are able to provide credit card details or pay by PayPal within 7 days from the end of the listing (or inform me that they will be sending a cheque in GBP drawn on a major British bank). Thank you. (please note that the book shown is for illustrative purposes only and forms no part of this listing) Book dimensions are given in inches, to the nearest quarter-inch, in the format width x height. Please note that, to differentiate them from soft-covers and paperbacks, modern hardbacks are still invariably described as being ‘cloth’ when they are, in fact, predominantly bound in paper-covered boards pressed to resemble cloth. Fine Books for Fine Minds I value your custom (and my feedback rating) but I am also a bibliophile : I want books to arrive in the same condition in which they were dispatched. For this reason, all books are securely wrapped in tissue and a protective covering and are then posted in a cardboard container. If any book is significantly not as described, I will offer a full refund. Unless the size of the book precludes this, hardback books with a dust-jacket are usually provided with a clear film protective cover, while hardback books without a dust-jacket are usually provided with a rigid clear cover. The Royal Mail, in my experience, offers an excellent service, but things can occasionally go wrong. However, I believe it is my responsibility to guarantee delivery. If any book is lost or damaged in transit, I will offer a full refund. Thank you for looking. Please also view my other listings for a range of interesting books and feel free to contact me if you require any additional information Design and content © Geoffrey Miller
Price: 125 GBP
Location: Flamborough, Bridlington
End Time: 2024-09-08T09:56:15.000Z
Shipping Cost: 26.88 GBP
Product Images
Item Specifics
Return postage will be paid by: Buyer
Returns Accepted: Returns Accepted
After receiving the item, your buyer should cancel the purchase within: 30 days
Return policy details: If any book is significantly not as described, I will offer a full refund, including return postage. All books are securely wrapped and posted in a cardboard container.
Binding: Hardback
Place of Publication: London
Non-Fiction Subject: History & Military
Language: English
Special Attributes: 1st Edition
Author: Leland Buxton
Publisher: Nisbet & Co. Ltd
Year Printed: 1920
