snia, Albania, Epirus, and the
Pashaliks of Rutschuk and Widdin, all which were as independent as
themselves, but were reconquered by the Turks, no European power having
extended to them the safeguard of a guarantee.

Whether the protection accorded to Servia has worked beneficially is for
my readers to judge. The abstract question of the advantages thus
conferred admits of debate, and for my own part I believe the present
miserable state of the province to be mainly owing to the European
guarantee. She was not sufficiently enlightened to profit by the
advantages presented to her, and the honourable self-reliance which was
the result of a successful resistance to the Turkish arms has given
place to a feeling of indolent security. Nor is this the worst. A
principal feature in a country under guarantee is the total want of
responsibility in those vested with administrative power. Upon this the
Servian rulers presume to a preeminent degree, and indulge in many acts
of presumption which would be impossible were they not fully alive to
the fact that the conflicting interests of the guaranteeing powers,
added to their own insignificance (which perhaps they overlook), exempt
them from any fear of chastisement.

The principle of supporting the independence of a province forming a
component geographical part of an empire, must have but one result, that
of weakening the mother state, without, as experience has shown,
ameliorating the condition of the province. Independently, therefore, of
the drain upon the Turkish finances, for the maintenance of troops from
time to time on the Servian frontier, to counteract revolutionary
propaganda, her influence throughout her Slavish provinces is much
weakened. Although in a position as anomalous as it must be unpalatable,
the Ottoman Government deserves credit for abstaining so entirely from
any species of interference in the internal affairs of the country; for
be it remembered that the province is still tributary to the Porte. The
hattischeriff of 1834, by which, on the evacuation of the country, the
Sultan retained the right of garrisoning the fortresses, has never been
strictly adhered to, and may at some future period lead to
complications. Belgrade is secure from any efforts which may be made
against it, but the other forts are hardly worthy of the name, and were
only used as a place of refuge in case of attack. The Servians now
complain of the infringement of the hattischeriff, and