J. D. BourchierAuthor(s): Harold WilliamsSource: The Slavonic Review, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jun., 1922), pp. 227-228Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4201602 .

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OBITUARY. 227

of character and ways of life which are now disappearing or have already vanished. Sometimes he is not unlike Hardy in his choice and treatment of a subject, and, like him, he preferred in his later years to express himself in poetry; on the other hand, his stories, with their simple language and love of country for almost their only philosophy, can be understood and appreciated by even the humblest of his compatriots. It is difficult to find a parallel to Vazov's position. Very rarely has a new country in the first half century of its independent existence produced a writer whose pre-eminence has at once been recognised by his own countrymen, and it is still more rare that such a writer, though possibly on the strength of a single book, should be accorded high rank abroad wherever his work is known.

ELLINOR GROGAN.

J. D. BOURCHIER. JAMES DAVID BOURCHIER, who died in Sofia on December 30, I920, was not only an outstanding figure in British journalism, he was one of the makers of the modern history of the Balkans. An Eton master, with strong classical interests, he suddenly found himself in i888 in Roumania and Bulgaria as special correspondent of The Times, and from that time on his heart was in the Balkan struggle. The Balkan states were free, but the pressure of Turkey, accentuated by the- rivalries of the Powers in Constantinople, was still strong. Each little state was groping amid the new problems of independence; they were watchful and jealous of each other, they were vexed not only by domestic troubles but by the conflicting movements of international policy. In these circumstances Bourchier, as a clear-headed and warm-hearted Englishman, soon gained an exceptional position. He had to play not a passive, but a very active part. He travelled incessantly, consulted with and advised rulers and politicians, conciliated rivals, shared in the develop- ment of policy. His political interests were to him no abstract intellectual sport. They were reinforced by ethnographical and archaeological enthusiasms which gave breadth and glow to all his constructive effort.

As a classical scholar he took a keen interest in Greece, but in the whirl of Balkan passions Bourchier could hardly be expected to retain a cold impartiality, though he was decidedly impartial when he found it necessary to point out to any Balkan ruler

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228 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

that he was doing wrong. He had a preference, however, among the peoples, and that preference was for Bulgaria. Something practical and stubborn in the Bulgarian character appealed to him, as giving more promise of stability and steady progress than the qualities he noted in the neighbouring peoples. He became distinctively the friend of Bulgaria, a critical but kind and most helpful friend. He had endless disappointments and met with obstacles that were hard to surmount. It was very largely through his agency that Bulgaria took the lead in the formation of that Balkan League which lived just long enough to carry through a successful war against Turkey in I9I2. That was the crowning achievement of his career. After the war the old rivalries broke out more violently than ever, and when the Great War came Bourchier had the bitterness of seeing the country he most deeply cared for taking the side of the enemy.

He returned to Bulgaria after the war, since that land was still home for him, and he hoped to see the wounds healed and what he held to be a great wrong gradually repaired. To Bulgaria he was a living conscience, and the Bulgarian people have frankly recognised that to have won such a man as he was both an honour and an obligation. The affection of that big-hearted man for the Bulgarian people was a continual testimony to a worth too often clouded by evil guidance. Bourchier is buried in the Monastery of Rilo, where he longed to rest. His name is held in reverence by the people to whom he gave of his best.

HAROLD WILLIAMS.

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