Baština (Jan 2013)
The fight of William Denton for the Christian's position improvement in the Balkan, and Osman's empire at the beginning of the second half of the 19th century
Abstract
William Denton (1815-1888), the priest of Anglican's Church, vicar of the Church of St. Vartolomey in London, came in the spring of 1862 in Serbia with the aim to be acquainted with this country little known to the British's. As the priest, he was especially interested in the position of the Orthodox Church not only in Serbia, but within the whole Osman's Empire as well. As the Englishman, he was struck by the situation in Serbian towns in which Turkish garnizones had been situated. A cordial reception during the sightseeing resulted in letters sending to his family in Great Britain. Those letters were collected and published in his book after his way back home. Little after his leaving of Serbia, there was bombing of Belgrade, which gave him the incentive to dedicate the whole chapter to that event. Nevertheless, more than Turkish bombing, he was upset with the attitude of the British government which had supported Turkey. The personification of such policy was Henry Bulwer, British deputy in Tsar Grad, and mediator in negotiations between Serbia and Osman's Empire in 1862, who was called 'Physicus of Turkish Empire' due to his commitment for Turkey and its survival. In order to reveal the British policy and indicate difficult position of Christians throughout of Osman's Empire Denton published in 1863 the book Christians in Turkey. The presented data accompanied by the testimony of British consuls from many places of Osman's Empire raised the interest not only in Britain, but out of it as well. The book was translated into German language, and published the same year in Budapest, and the next, 1864; it was translated into Serbian language and published in Novi Sad. In the next 1865 year, the book Servia and Servians was translated into German language, so that thanks to Denton a great part of Europe was able to be acquainted with the real condition and position of the Orthodox Christians and Serbian people in Osman's Empire and out of it.
