BULGARIA. 



Great Britain, 15,829,805 leii; from Turkey, 

 12,899,346 leii. The exports to Turkey were 

 valued at 16,958,508 leii; to France, 9,327,- 

 563 leii ; to Great Britain, 4,585,685 leii. The 

 share of Eastern Roumelia in the total imports 

 was 15,860,000 leii, and in the exports 11,186,- 

 Y50 leii. 



Finances. The budget for 1887 makes the 

 revenue 47,218,266 leii or francs, and the ex- 

 penditure 47,374,414 leii. The estimates for 

 1888 fix the receipts at 53,708,046 leii, and 

 the disbursements, at 69,047,770 leii. The chief 

 branches of expenditure are : War, 23,223,340 

 leii; Interior. 7,513,694 leii ; the debt, 6,373,438 

 leii; Finance Department, 5,763, 112 leii; Public 

 Works, 5,114,484 leii. In December, 1887, the 

 Sobranje authorized a loan of 50,000,000 leii, 

 of which 19,000,000 leii were to be applied to 

 the construction of the Zaribrod-Sofia-Vakarel 

 railroad, the same sum to the purchase of the 

 Varna line, 2,000,000 leii to discharging the 

 debts of Prince Alexander, and the remainder 

 to army equipments. The Government was 

 not successlul in placing this loan. It under- 

 took to pay 140,000 Turkish liras as the amount 

 of the Eastern Roumelian tribute to the Porte, 

 with 21,000 liras per annum on account of 

 arrears, and in 1888 made the first payments. 

 The quota of the Turkish debt to be borne by 

 the principality of Bulgaria was left to be 

 settled by agreement between the signatories 

 of the Berlin Treaty, but the powers have not 

 yet fixed any sum. 



The Bulgarian Government in the latter part 

 of 1887 reduced the tariff on goods coming from 

 Turkey, and entered into an understanding 

 with the Porte, which made a like concession. 

 In 1888 the Turkish Government, in its desire 

 to please Russia, adopted various harassing 

 regulations, refusing to recognize Bulgarian 

 postage-stamps or Bulgarian passports, and 

 levying a duty of 8 per cent, on imports from 

 Bulgaria. Bulgaria retaliated in May by plac- 

 ing the same duty on Turkish goods, until 

 finally Turkey reduced its duty to 1 per cent. 

 An order of the Bulgarian Government doub- 

 ling the duty on Russian spirits in July pro- 

 voked a remonstrance from the German consul 

 at Sofia, who has charge of Russian interests 

 until diplomatic intercourse with Russia shall 

 be resumed. 



The, Army. Universal obligatory military serv- 

 ice has been adopted. The army consists of 

 12 regiments of infantry, 3 of cavalry, 3 of 

 artillery, with 24 field-guns and 2 mountain- 

 guns, and 7 companies of pioneers. The peace 

 effective is 29,000 men, and the war strength 

 100,000 men. The South Bulgarian contingent 

 in time of war is 26,000 men. The infantry, 

 who are well drilled, are armed with Martini 

 rifles. The Government, in 1888, purchased 

 15,000,000 cartridges in Belgium, prosecuted 

 works of fortification at Varna, Bourgas, and 

 other points, and prepared vigorously for war, 

 which, Prince Ferdinand predicted in a speech 

 that made a sensation throughout Europe in 



the opening months of the year, was near at 

 hand, and would find him ready to die for 

 Bulgarian liberty. 



Area and Population. The area of the princi- 

 pality of Bulgaria is 24,360 square miles, and 

 its population, according to a census that was 

 taken in 1881, is 2,007,919, consisting of 1,027,- 

 803 males and 980,116 females. En stern Rou- 

 melia or South Bulgaria, as it has been official- 

 ly called by the Bulgarians since the union, 

 has an area of 13,500 square miles, and con- 

 tained on Jan. 13, 1885, when the last census 

 was taken, 975,050 inhabitants. The Chris- 

 tian Bulgarians numbered 681,734; Turks and 

 Moslem Bulgarians, 200,498 ; Greeks, 53,028 ; 

 gypsies, 27,190; Jews, 6,982; Armenian?, 

 1,865; foreigners, 3,733. The retrocession to 

 Turkey of the canton of Kirjali, and of twenty 

 Mussulman villages of the Rhodope in accord- 

 ance with the Turco-Bulgarian arrangement of 

 April 6, 1886, that was concluded on the rec- 

 ommendation of the Constantinople confer- 

 ence, reduced the Mussulman population by 

 40,000, and emigration has diminished further 

 the number of Mohammedans. The capital of 

 United Bulgaria is Sofia, Philippopolis, the 

 former seat of the Eastern Roumelian Govern- 

 ment having been reduced to a prefecture. 

 Sofia has 20,501 inhabitants; Philippopolis, 

 33,442; Rustchuk, 26,163; Varna, 24,555; 

 Shumla, 23,093. 



The Diplomatic Situation. In October, 1887, 

 M. Nelidoff, the Russian ambassador at Con- 

 stantinople, suggested to the Porte that the 

 Sultan should order Prince Ferdinand to leave 

 Bulgaria, and that Russian and Turkish com- 

 missioners should be sent to govern the princi- 

 pality for four months, choosing a new Cabinet, 

 dissolving the Chamber, and ordering the elec- 

 tion, at the end of three months, of a new as- 

 sembly, to which should be submitted the 

 choice of two candidates that Russia would 

 nominate for prince. The incident of the 

 forged documents supervened (see AUSTRIA- 

 HUNGARY), and after the explanations between 

 the Czar and Bismarck the German Government 

 repeated its declarations regarding the illegality 

 of Prince Ferdinand's position and its acqui- 

 escence in the restoration by peaceable and 

 diplomatic means of Russia's influence in Bul- 

 garia as it existed before the dismissal of the 

 Russian Minister of War and the Russian officers 

 of the Bulgarian army. Germany supported 

 the Russian demand that the Sultan should de- 

 clare Ferdinand a usurper, but Austria would 

 not join in any declaration on the subject. 



Revolutionary Raid at Bourgas. Russian diplo- 

 matic activity was accompanied, as usual, by 

 an attempt to incite insurrection in Bulgaria. 

 Capt. Nabokoff, a Russian, who had been con- 

 demned to death for participation in the re- 

 bellion that had been effected at Bourgas in 

 1886 under cover of two Russian gunboats, 

 but who had been set free on being claimed as 

 a Russian subject, was the leader of the new 

 attempt, and behind him was the chief of the 



