BULGARIA. 



Ill 



In practice, the Ceylon Buddhist among 

 the masses is both better and worse than his 

 creed. Better because, instead of a di>tant 

 Nirvana, or a series of births, lie has before 

 him the next birtli only, which he thinks will 

 be in heaven if he is good, in hell if he is bad ; 

 because he calls on God in times of di- 

 and has a sort of faith in the one creator, 

 whom his priests would teach him to deny. 

 Worse because his real refuge is neither 

 Buddha nor his hooks, nor his order, but dev- 

 ils and devil-priests and charms and astrology 

 and every form of groveling superstition. 



Bl LGARIA. a principality in eastern Europe 

 that was set apart from the Turkish Empire 

 and given an independent government by the 

 Treaty of Berlin, signed July 13, 1878. East- 

 ern Roumelia was at the same time consti- 

 tuted an autonomous province of Turkey, re- 

 maining under the direct political and military 

 authority of the Sultan. The governor-general 

 was to be nominated for the term of five years 

 by the Sultan, who must select a Christian, 

 and submit his choice to the approval of all 

 the treaty powers. The Sultan was given the 

 right, which he has never exercised, to erect 

 fortifications on the land and sea frontiers 

 of Eastern Roumelia, and to maintain Otto- 

 man troops there. The Roumelians were to 

 preserve internal order by means of a gen- 

 darmerie, assisted by a local militia, but, in 

 case of a disturbance of the peace within or 

 without, the governor-general could call in 

 Turkish troops. The treaty arrangements 

 were overturned by a revolution that oc- 

 curred on Sept. 17, 1885, when the governor- 

 general was deposed, and the union of East- 

 ern Roumelia with Bulgaria was proclaimed. 

 Prince Alexander of Bulgaria assumed the ad- 

 ministration of the province, and the Eastern 

 Roumelians and Bulgarians joined in repelling 

 the Servian invasion, for which the union of 

 the two provinces gave occasion. The signa- 

 tory powers held a conference in Constantino- 

 ple, and as the result of their deliberations the 

 Sultan issued a firman on April 6, 1886, in 

 which he recognized the change in the status 

 quo by confiding the government to Prince 

 Alexander and by agreeing to a modification 

 of the organic statute, at the same time re- 

 claiming certain districts of Kirjali and twenty 

 villages in Rhoupchous or the Rhodope, which 

 are peopled almost entirely by Mussulmans. 

 A commission was appointed to revise the or- 

 ganic statute in order to bring it into harmony 

 with the changed conditions, chiefly by trans- 

 ferring the administration of the customs to 

 the Bulgarian Government and amending the 

 Turkish tribute. The proceedings of this Tur- 

 co-Bulgarian commission were not completed, 

 owing to the revolution of Aug. 20, 1886, 

 which resulted in the abdication of Prince Al- 

 exander. The annual tribute to Turkey, which 

 was fixed by the organic statute at 245,000 

 pounds Turkish, the Provincial Assembly arbi- 

 trarily reduced to 185,000 pounds, including 



the customs equivalent, and after the revolu- 

 tion of September. 1885, no part of it was paid 

 till 1888. Bulgaria has undertaken to pay 

 the debt of Eastern Roumelia to the Porte, 

 which at the beginning of 1880 amounted to 

 '''2 Turkish pounds, according to the 

 modified estimate of the Provincial Assembly, 

 and to 1,082,542 Turkish pounds, if the origi- 

 nal sum is maintained. 



The council of ministers was composed in 

 1888 as follows: Prime Minister and M: 

 of the Interior, Stambuloff; Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs and of Public "Worship. I>r. Stran- 

 sky; Minister of Finance, Natchevieh ; Minister 

 of War, Colonel Mutknroff ; Minister of Jus- 

 tice. Stoiloff ; Minister of Public Instruction, 

 Zivkoff. This ministry was constituted from 

 elements of both the Liberal and Conservative 

 parties on Aug. 31, 1887, after Prince Ferdi- 

 nand's assumption of authority. It contained 

 the three regents, Stambuloff. Mutkuroff, and 

 Zivkoff. who had exercised the powers of gov- 

 ernment during the latter period of the inter- 

 regnum, Zivkoff having succeeded Karaveloff 

 alter the latter's arrest for complicity in the 

 military insurrection of February. 1887. 



The present Prince of Bulgaria is Ferdinand, 

 Duke of Saxe-Coburg, the younge>t son of Au- 

 gustus, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and the 

 Princess Clementine, of Bourbon - Orleans, 

 daughter of Louis Philippe, King of the 

 French. Ferdinand, born Feb. 26, 1861. was 

 elected prince by the unanimous vote of the 

 National Assembly on July 7, 1887, in succes- 

 sion to Prince Alexander, who abdicated on 

 Sept. 7, 1886. He assumed the government 

 on Aug. 8, 1887. The treaty powers have not 

 ratified his election, and none of them have 

 yet formally recognized his government. 



The National Assembly of Bulgaria under 

 the Constitution of 1S79 consists of a single 

 chamber, the members of which are elected 

 by universal suffrage, in the proportion of one 

 to every ten thousand inhabitants, for three 

 years. The prince may dissolve the Asse;nbly. 

 but must order new elections within four 

 months. 



Commerce. The people of both provinces 

 pursue agriculture almost exclusively, and 

 grain is the chief product and article of ex- 

 port. Sheep are kept in large numbers, and 

 there is a considerable household manufacture 

 of woolen cloth and braid in Eastern Rou- 

 melia. There is an export trade in timber 

 from the mountains. Wine and raki, tobacco, 

 and silk cocoons are among the other products 

 of this province. The imports of Bulgaria for 



.ere valued at 46,351.280 leii or fr 

 and the exports at 48.867.237 leii. In 

 the trade of Eastern Roumelia is included from 

 the 1st of November in the returns, which 

 give the imports as 88.843.517 leii. and t! 

 ports as 42,017,984 leii. In 188(5 the value of 

 imports was 01,687,169 leii, and of exports 

 -.679 leii. The imports from Austria- 

 Hungary were 16.481,598 leii in value; from 



