Nonetheless this can be, the spirit of monetary enterprise is starting to make approach in Rustschuk. Simply earlier than I arrived there the annual assembly of a neighborhood insurance coverage firm had been held. The corporate in query was based right here three or 4 years in the past for insuring towards fires; the hearth insurance coverage enterprise succeeded so effectively that the corporate deemed it advisable to start out a life assurance department, and for this objective has lately issued 5 thousand shares of £four every, which had been subscribed for by the inhabitants of the city at a premium of twelve and sixpence a share, the quantity of shares issued being subscribed 3 times over.
The revenue on final yr’s enterprise was £10,000, out of which a dividend of 12 per cent was declared, and the sum of £1000 was carried to the reserve fund. Commerce in Rustschuk has flourished significantly below the brand new rigime. The city has develop into the marketplace for the large plains mendacity between the Danube and the northern slopes of the Balkans. Grain is the chief article of export, Manchester items and British coals the chief articles of import This being the case, it’s unusual that there needs to be no English retailers within the place. The commerce between England and Bulgaria, which was once the chief international commerce within the Principality, is carried on from the ports of Rustschuk, Varna, and Bourgas.
However in no one among these locations is there an English agency of any consequence. The enterprise is completed by way of Greek and Jew homes. Nonetheless, as long as the retailers of Rustschuk purchase English items and constitution English vessels, I don’t suppose it makes a lot distinction to the English producers and merchants whether or not they take care of their very own fellow-countrymen or with foreigners.
Rustschuk is best off than Sofia
Rustschuk, I ought to say, from a social viewpoint, is best off than Sofia, although the place is about as uninteresting as any civilized metropolis effectively may very well be. Rustschuk, furthermore, possesses the benefit over Sofia that the representatives of international Powers, who right here, as at Sofia, type the chief social component, are usually not hampered by the presence of a Courtroom, with which most of them are usually not allowed to enter into social relations. Then, too, there are a sure variety of well-to-do and well-educated retailers residing within the business capital of Bulgaria, whereas no such class exists within the political metropolis.
The local weather of Rustschuk is infinitely hotter than that of the excessive plateaus south of the Balkans ; and although there is no such thing as a circle of lofty hills engirdling Rustschuk, but their absence is atoned for by the presence of the Danube rolling on the toes of the cliff upon which the fashionable city is constructed Owing to its place, there may be hardly a home within the new quarter from which you can’t command a view of the river ; and I’m not shocked if foreigners, who’ve resided at Rustschuk, purchase an attachment to the place, which Sofia doesn’t, I believe, possess the facility of inspiring.
Furthermore, the river- port of Bulgaria has the appeal of being inside simple attain of Bucharest The situation of Bulgaria could also be, as I maintain, sounder, easier, extra virile, and fuller of future promise than that of Roumania; nonetheless, nonetheless exalted a view it’s possible you’ll take of the duties of life and of its mission, there may be to bizarre, unregenerate human nature a sure satisfaction in being inside easy accessibility of Vainness Honest.
In a few hours you may transport your self from Rustschuk to a metropolis the place there are good-looking retailers, luxurious eating places, theatres, book-stalls, promenades, and well-dressed ladies, and the place each try is made to fulfill to the complete the needs of the world and the flesh, to not point out the satan. Even when your sober judgment bids you favor the primitive simplicity of Bulgarian life, it’s a consolation to really feel, as you do at Rustchuk, that if the flamboyant seizes you, the luxuries of the West lie shut at hand.
Historical Ottoman 