Excerpt from The Growth of Freedom in the Balkan Peninsula: Notes of a Traveller in Montenegro, Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, and GreeceIN this book I have endeavoured to give the national point Of view of Montenegrins, Serbs, Bulgarians, and Greeks. I have treated the Eastern Question, not as it affects English interests, but as it affects the interests of the small independent States of the Balkans. This is, properly speaking, no work on the Eastern Question, which is the grandiloquent title for the selfish interests of the Great Powers in the small States Of the Peninsula, but a work on the views and habits of the people Of those countries. By the courteous permission Of the Editors of the Times and the Morning Advertiser, the letters, which I wrote for their columns, form the ground work Of the present book. Those letters have been remodelled and in great measure rewritten, While the chapters, which refer to the social life of the Bulgarian, have not appeared before.Arm-chair readers little know the trouble authors have with their titles. The Free Balkans might have been a more taking title, but would have conveyed a false impression to the reader. The Balkans are not free. There is more freedom on the Peninsula than existed fifty years ago. This is the utmost that can be said. I have, therefore, entitled my book, The Growth of Freedom, and hope that the Serb and Bul garian statesmen of the future may be permitted by the Great Powers to make the bounds Of Freedom wider yet.It is impossible for me within the limits Of a preface adequately to discharge my debt of gratitude to all, who have been hospitable and kind to me upon my travels. I can only name those who have placed me under special Obliga tions. I shall never forget the kindness of my friend Mr. William Kirby Green Envoy Extraordinary at Morocco), of Captain Jones, V.C., and Sir Frank Lascelles. I gratefully remember the hospitality of Mr. Freeman and Mr. Merlin.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.