Page:Nicolae Iorga - My American lectures.djvu/169



In recent times the qualification « Balkan State » has too often been applied to Roumania. In a recent book, a notable French journalist, Monsieur Maurice Pernot, has connected, in an expose on the present situation in South-Eastern Europe, Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Roumania. For the Italians, too, « Balcania » is the new name given to all provinces appertaining to the old Byzantine Empire whether on the right or left bank of the Danube, but it seems to me that the definition is erroneous whether geographically or historically intended.

In my endeavour to rectify this false impression, I have no thought of pouring unjust scorn upon the rich and beautiful regions of the Balkan peninsula, whose inhabitants, now masters of independent and progressive states, have earned the highest praise for their long endurance under the Turkish yoke, for their valiant defence of the Christian faith, and for their infinite love for the ill-starred cradle of their race. But between them all, Hellenic or Slavonic foundations and the Roumanian State, great differences are recognisable.

The Balkans were a possession of the Byzantine Emperors. Later, Slavonic rulers, Bulgarian and Serbian were merely their imitators. The system of government, not centralised, but composed of isolated units in constant touch with a central power, preserved the ancient imperial