Comments, Notes and Reviews. 141
the contrary. A shade of pathetic and
almost tragic sadness was cast
over the proceedings of the of the
meeting; by the fact that only a few
short hours before the wires across the
wide waters had flashed the
news that General Roberts with the
British troops had occupied Pre-
toria, meaning that it was the beginning
of the end, for the plucky, but
all too rash, Dutch descendants in the
African republic, and that
England's star of empire was more than
ever in the ascendancy. Thus
revolve like a kaleidoscope the scenes
of history.
VATRALSKY'S TRIBUTE TO MACGAHAN.
Januarius Aloysius MacGahan was born
June 4, 1844, on a farm
three miles from New Lexington, Perry
county, Ohio. His father was
a native of County Derry, Ireland, and
his mother of mixed Irish and
German stock. When MacGahan was six
years old his father died and
the boy had a serious struggle with the
world throughout his youth
and early manhood. He was phenomenally
bright and intellectual, and
in spite of the exacting labors on the
farm, which he had to perform
in behalf of himself and his widowed
mother, he nevertheless acquired
by diligent reading and study a certain
kind of valuable education. He
absorbed all the books in the
neighborhood and what little the country
pedagogue knew, when in 1861 he applied
for the position of school
teacher in his district and was refused
because of his youth and inexper-
ience. He thereupon moved his mother's
family to Huntington,
Indiana, where he taught school for
three years, thence moving on
to St. Louis, where he began his
remarkable career as a writer and
correspondent. In December, 1868, he
went to Europe for the purpose
of perfecting himself in the foreign
languages. At the beginning of the
France- Prussian conflict he was
employed by the New York Herald
to accompany the French army and report
the course of the war. Mr.
MacGahan's ability, daring courage and
graphic descriptive powers at
once placed him in the fore rank of
modern war correspondents. His
letters were in demand by the leading
English and American journals
and he did specially bold and brilliant
work for the London News. It
was said by a contemporary writer that
"His experiences, in variety,
during the few years of foreign life,
were not probably ever equaled
by any journalist, and never did one
accomplish so much, excepting
Stanley." He witnessed the ravages
of the Commune in Paris (1870)
when he was arrested and condemned to
death, his execution being pre-
vented only through the influence of the
United States Minister Wash-
burn. He accompanied General Sherman and
party through Europe in
1871-2. In 1873, alone, he made a
perilous journey through Asia to
Khiva. In the same year he
circumnavigated the Mediterranean in a
warship and visited Cuba, Key West and
traveled extensively through
142 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
the United States. It 1874 he was with the troops of Don Carlos in the Civil War in Spain. During this service he became a prisoner of the Republican soldiers, who took him for a Carlist and would have put him to death but for the intervention of the United States minister. In 1875 he accompanied the Pandora expedition to the Arctic seas. In 1876 occurred his memorable experience with the Turkish army and his jour- ney through Bulgaria, followed the next year by his visit to St. Peters- |
|
burg and subsequent accompaniment of the Russian army to Bulgaria, where he was everywhere "hailed a liberator and deliverer." Archibald Forbes, the great English war correspondent, who rode by his side, says: "The grateful and affectionate demonstrations of the people of Bulgaria towards MacGahan surpassed anything of the kind he ever saw or imagined, for the grateful people ran after him as he rode through the streets of the towns and villages of that country, kissing |
Comments, Notes and Reviews. 143
his boots, saddle, bridle, and even the
little pet horse that he rode."
Of MacGahan's services to the cause of
humanity Mr. Forbes has this
to say: "MacGahan's work in the
exposure of the Turkish atrocities
in Bulgaria, which he carried out so
thoroughly and effectively in 1876.
produced very remarkable results.
Regarded simply in its literary
merits, there is nothing I know of to
excel it in vividness, in pathos, in
burning earnestness, in a glow of
conviction that fires from the heart
to the heart. His letters stirred Mr.
Gladstone into a convulsive par-
oxism of burning revolt against the
barbarities they described. They
moved England to its very depths, and
men travelling in railway car-
riages were to be noticed with flushed
faces and moistened eyes as they
read them. Lord Beaconsfield tried to
whistle down the wind the
awful significance of the disclosures
made in those wonderful letters.
The master of jeers, jibed at, as
'coffee-house babble', the revelations
that were making the nations to throb
with indignant passion. A
British official, Mr. Walter Baring, was
sent into Bulgaria on the track
of the two Americans, MacGahan and
Schuyler, with the intent to dis-
parage their testimony by the results of
cold official investigation. But
lo! Baring, official as he was,
nevertheless was an honest man with eyes
and a heart; and he who had been sent
out on the mission to curse
MacGahan, blessed him instead
altogether, for he more than confirmed
the latter's figures and pictures of
murder, brutality and atrocity. It is
not too much to say that this Ohio boy,
who worked on a farm in his
youth and picked up his education
anyhow, changed the face of Eastern
Europe. When he began to write of the
Bulgarian atrocities, the Turk
swayed direct rule to the banks of the
Danube, and his suzerainty
stretched to the Carpathians. Now
Roumania owns no more the suze-
rainty, Servia is an independent
kingdom, Bulgaria is tributary but in
name, and Roumelia is governed, not for
the Turks, but for the Roume-
lians. All this reform is the direct and
immediate outcome of the Russo-
Turkish war.
"But what brought about the
Russo-Turkish war? What forced the
Czar, reluctant as he was and inadequately
prepared, to cross the
Danube and wage with varying fortune the
war that brought his legions
finally to the very gates of Stamboul?
The passionate, irresistible
pressure of the Pan-Slavist section of
his subjects, burning with ungov-
ernable fury against the ruthless Turk,
because of his cruelty on those
brother Slavs of Bulgaria and Roumelia;
and the man who told the
world and those Russian Slavs of those
horrors-the man whose voice
rang out clear through the
nations with its burden of wrongs and shame
and deviltry, was no illustrious
statesman, no famed literateur, but just
this young American from off the little
farm in Perry county, Ohio."
MacGahan was preparing to attend and
write up the International
Congress at Berlin, when, declining to
abandon a sick friend at Con-
stantinople, he was himself attacked
with the malignant fever that had
prostrated his friend, and died after a
few days' illness, June 9, 1878.
144 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
In the year 1884, his remains at Constantinople were disinterred and brought by the United States steamer "Powhatan" to this country. In New York city the remains lay in state for a day in the city hall, where thousands paid tribute to the honored dead. The remains were subse- quently brought to Columbus, Ohio, where again for a day they lay in state in the rotunda of the capitol building. His funeral was held Sep- tember 12, 1884, at New Lexington, Ohio. The religious exercises were conducted at St. Rose Church by Bishop John A. Watterson, who delivered an eloquent address upon the "Power and Responsibility of the Newspaper Press." The body was borne to the grave, in the little cemetery just outside of the village, attended by thousands of interested spectators, and some sixty distinguished journalists, representing all parts of the state. At the grave, after military honors, and the usual religious rites an eulogy on the life and character of J. A. MacGahan was pronounced by E. S. Colborn, a poem was read by Col. William A. Taylor and an address delivered by Hon. Silas H. Wright, on "The Office of a Newspaper Correspondent." Great interest is freshly awakened in the life and memory of Mac- Gahan by the visit to his grave, on May 19, 1900, of Stoyan Krstoff Vatralsky, a native of Bulgaria, a great admirer of MacGahan and |
|
|
Comments, Notes and Reviews. 145
ington Court House, Mr. Vatralsky
addressed the people of Mac-
Gahan's native county in the following
brief and inexpressive words:
"I do not come here in an official
capacity; yet, in coming thus to
honor the dust of MacGahan, I am a
representative of the Bulgarian
people. We Bulgarians sincerely cherish
in the grateful niche of our
memory the name of Januarius Aloysius
MacGahan as one of the liber-
ators of our country.
"MacGahan and Eugene Schuyler,
another true American, were
Bulgaria's first friends, and at the
time she needed them most. They
not only accomplished a great work
themselves, at an opportune time,
but furthermore set in motion forces and
influences that made other
men's work more effective, thus
rendering the achievement of her lib-
eration possible. Had it not been for
these American writers, their
graphic and realistic exposure of
Bulgaria's wounds and tears to the
world, there would have been no
Gladstonian thunder; no European
consternation; no Russo-Turkish war; no
free Bulgaria. It was the
American pen that drove the Russian
sword to action.
"Although he died at the early age
of thirty-four, MacGahan's life
was far from being either brief or in
vain. Measured not by years but
by achievements, he lived a long life.
Long enough to set history to the
task of writing his name among the
world's illustrious; among the great
journalists, philanthropists and
liberators of whole races. And I venture
to predict that in the future his merits
shall be more universally, more
adequately recognized than hitherto.
Bulgaria and Ohio must and will
yet do what becomes them as enlightened
states. Some of you, as I
hope, shall live to see a suitable
memorial marking his resting place.
Yet even now MacGahan has a prouder
monument than most historic
heroes-his monument is independent
Bulgaria. His name illumines
the pages of Bulgarian history, and his
cherished name is graven deep
in the heart of a rising race; and there
it shall endure forever."
After this meeting Mr. Vatralsky visited
the burial place of the great
American Journalist and after strewing
flowers upon the unmarked
grave, laid the following original ode
upon the mound:
TO JANUARIUS ALOYSIUS MACGAHAN.
A pilgrim from the ends of earth I come
To kneel devoutly at your lowly tomb;
To own our debt, we never can repay;
To sigh my gratitude, thank God and pray;
To bless your name, and bless your name-
For this I came.
No marble shaft denotes your resting
place;
Yet God has raised memorial to your
work
Of grateful hearts that stir a rising
race,
No longer subject to the fiendish Turk.
Vol. IX-10.
146 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Your years, though few, to shield the weak you spent; Your life, though brief, accomplished its intent: All diplomatic shylocks, bloody Turks, despite, 'Twas not in vain the Lord gave you a pen to write; Your Pen was followed by the Russian Sword, Driven by force that you yourself called forth; So came the dauntless warriors of the North, And bondsmen were to freedom sweet restored.
Though still unmarked your verdant bed, rest you content: Bulgaria is free-behold your monument! Stoyan Krstoff Vatralsky. |
|
In a personal conversation with the writer, Mr. Vatralsky spoke in the most touching and pathetic terms of MacGahan, whom he declared was regarded in the country of Bulgaria in the same light as is Wash- ington by the American, Lincoln by the Afro-American and Kosciusko by Poland. It is the aim and ambition of Mr. Vatralsky to inaugurate a movement that will bring about a fitting monument over the remains of MacGahan. He proposes to arouse the interest of his countrymen in this project and since his visit to New Lexington, he presented his plans to President McKinley at Washington, and as the result of that conference he writes: "I came to Washington for the purpose of interesting President McKinley in the MacGahan monument project; but, as was to be |
Comments, Notes and Reviews. 147
expected of so enlightened and so public
spirited a man, who is as proud
of his native state as she is proud of
him; who glories in her distin-
guished sons in whose galaxy he
constitutes so conspicuous a member, I
found him only too glad to co-operate
with any wise movement to that
laudable end. He furthermore called my
attention to one of his speeches
(delivered at the banquet of the Ohio
Republican League at Columbus,
February 12, 1892), which contains the
following superb passage:
"'In journalism she (Ohio) has been
conspicuous. The Bulgarian
liberator, as he is called, whose fame
as correspondent is international,
whose life was a chivalrous romance,
whose pen was weighted with
power and might, the heroic MacGahan,
was a Buckeye boy. His
body, transferred from the ancient seat
of Eastern empire, now rests
among the rugged hills of his native
county of Perry, where he spent
his boyhood.'
"All this is beautifully true, as
only the eloquent lips of William
McKinley can utter it. But it is not to
the credit of any of us that the
grave of this Ohio youth, whose name and
achievements have added
glory to the name American, lustre to
journalistic enterprise and dignity
to the race of man, should remain still
unmarked. His native state is
justly proud of him as one of her most
distinguished sons, and Bulgaria
is sincerely grateful to him as one of
her greatest benefactors; it would
be in accordance with public sentiment,
therefore, as well as a befitting
and handsome recognition of MacGahan's
high merits, should Ohio and
Bulgaria, assisted by the press, whose
profession the hero adorned.
unite their talent and material
contributions in erecting him a becoming
memorial."
The editor of the Quarterly has arranged
with Mr. Vatralsky for
the publication, in a future number, of
a complete account from his
pen of the services which MacGahan
rendered to the cause of humanity,
a work which aroused the world to action
over the Turkish atrocities,
which instigated the Russo-Turkish war
and resulted in the independence
of Bulgaria.
BOOK REVIEWS.
"RECOLLECTIONS OF A LIFE
TIME." Roeliff Brinkerhoff; pp. 448,
illustrated. The Robert Clark Company,
Cincinnati, Ohio.
Few books of so purely a personal nature
as this of General Brink-
erhoff's have been issued lately that
contain so much of interest to the
ordinary reader. General Brinkerhoff in
the most unpretentious manner,
but in a very delightful, easy and
fluent style, has recounted the story of
his life, which spans the period of the
last three quarters of the present
eventful century. Not only is the book
most entertainingly written, but
it is replete with wise and lightful
comments upon events and persons
and with profitable philosophical
thoughts upon life in its various
Comments, Notes and Reviews. 141
the contrary. A shade of pathetic and
almost tragic sadness was cast
over the proceedings of the of the
meeting; by the fact that only a few
short hours before the wires across the
wide waters had flashed the
news that General Roberts with the
British troops had occupied Pre-
toria, meaning that it was the beginning
of the end, for the plucky, but
all too rash, Dutch descendants in the
African republic, and that
England's star of empire was more than
ever in the ascendancy. Thus
revolve like a kaleidoscope the scenes
of history.
VATRALSKY'S TRIBUTE TO MACGAHAN.
Januarius Aloysius MacGahan was born
June 4, 1844, on a farm
three miles from New Lexington, Perry
county, Ohio. His father was
a native of County Derry, Ireland, and
his mother of mixed Irish and
German stock. When MacGahan was six
years old his father died and
the boy had a serious struggle with the
world throughout his youth
and early manhood. He was phenomenally
bright and intellectual, and
in spite of the exacting labors on the
farm, which he had to perform
in behalf of himself and his widowed
mother, he nevertheless acquired
by diligent reading and study a certain
kind of valuable education. He
absorbed all the books in the
neighborhood and what little the country
pedagogue knew, when in 1861 he applied
for the position of school
teacher in his district and was refused
because of his youth and inexper-
ience. He thereupon moved his mother's
family to Huntington,
Indiana, where he taught school for
three years, thence moving on
to St. Louis, where he began his
remarkable career as a writer and
correspondent. In December, 1868, he
went to Europe for the purpose
of perfecting himself in the foreign
languages. At the beginning of the
France- Prussian conflict he was
employed by the New York Herald
to accompany the French army and report
the course of the war. Mr.
MacGahan's ability, daring courage and
graphic descriptive powers at
once placed him in the fore rank of
modern war correspondents. His
letters were in demand by the leading
English and American journals
and he did specially bold and brilliant
work for the London News. It
was said by a contemporary writer that
"His experiences, in variety,
during the few years of foreign life,
were not probably ever equaled
by any journalist, and never did one
accomplish so much, excepting
Stanley." He witnessed the ravages
of the Commune in Paris (1870)
when he was arrested and condemned to
death, his execution being pre-
vented only through the influence of the
United States Minister Wash-
burn. He accompanied General Sherman and
party through Europe in
1871-2. In 1873, alone, he made a
perilous journey through Asia to
Khiva. In the same year he
circumnavigated the Mediterranean in a
warship and visited Cuba, Key West and
traveled extensively through