BULGARIA. 



81 



sian occupation, which is to be paid off by 1896, 

 and a loan of 50,000,000 lei contracted in 1887. 

 In addition to these obligations Bulgaria has en- 

 gaged to pay 130,000 Turkish liras per annum as 

 the Eastern Rournelian contribution. The Bul- 

 garian tribute and share in the public debt of 

 Turkey have not been fixed by the signatory 

 powers as provided in the Treaty of Berlin, and 

 the debt is not counted among the liabilities of 

 the country. The Russian debt was to be paid 

 off in semi-annual installments of 400,000 rubles. 

 For two years they were regularly paid, and 

 after that the matter remained in abeyance till 

 March, 1890, when the Russian Government de- 

 manded and received the nine half-yearly in- 

 stallments then overdue. After an experimental 

 attempt to collect a land tax, the Government 

 returned in 1889 to the old system of tithes with 

 great profit to the treasury, as an abundant har- 

 vest was contemporaneous with a rise in the 

 price of wheat to figures never reached before, 

 owing to the direct railroad communications 

 with western Europe. The budget for 1890 

 shows a deficit of 8,544,150 lei, which will un- 

 doubtedly be made good out of arrears of taxes 

 still outstanding, economies in expenditure, or 

 receipts in excess of the estimates. The revenue is 

 almost invariably underestimated. In the twelve 

 budgets voted since Bulgaria has had a separate 

 government there is a nominal total deficit, yet 

 in every instance the receipts either balanced the 

 expenditure or showed a surplus. 



Commerce and Production. Of the total 

 area of the two Bulgarias about one fourth is 

 cultivated, four fifths of the cultivated land be- 

 ing devoted to wheat. The amount of the trade 

 with various foreign countries in 1888 is shown 

 in the following table, which gives the values in 

 lei or francs : 



The chief article of export is wheat. The ex- 

 port of grain from South Bulgaria alone in 1888 

 was valued at 11,650,000 francs, and that of attar 

 of roses at 2,625,000 francs. Other exports are 

 wool, cheese, skins, butter, and prunes. The 

 largest imports are cotton, iron, wine and spirits, 

 timber, sugar, salt, and petroleum. 



There were 256 vessels, mainly Austrian, of 

 274,261 tons, entered at the port of Varna, and 

 553, of 101,657 tons, cleared in 1888. 



Railroads. There were 432 miles of railroad 

 in the entire principality in 1889, with connec- 

 tions with the Turkish railroads and with the 

 general European system through Servia. The 

 new line from Jamboli to Bourgas, 68 miles, was 

 opened on May 26, 1890, Lines between Roman 

 VOL. xxx. 6 A 



and Tirnova, 175 kilometres, and between Tir- 

 nova and Kapidshan, 160 kilometres, are ex- 

 pected to be completed by May 1, 1891. 

 The Post-Office and Telegraphs. There 



were 2,750 miles of telegraph lines in 1888, all 

 belonging to the Government. The number of 

 messages transmitted during that year was 620,- 

 692. The number of letters, papers, and other 

 articles sent was 5,506,822. 



The Army. The army is organized in 3 di- 

 visions of 2 brigades. The peace effective is 

 about 32,000 officers and men, which can be 

 trebled in case of war. The fleet consists of 3 war 

 vessels, 10 small gunboats, and 2 torpedo boats. 

 The infantry have been armed with the Mann- 

 licher repeating rifle, and the artillery is provided 

 with 280 guns of large caliber. The Servians, 

 since the abdication of King Milan, have main- 

 tained a menacing attitude toward Bulgaria, and 

 both countries have proceeded to fortify the 

 frontier and have held troops in readiness. In 

 September, 1889, the Bulgarian Prime Minister, 

 expecting an outbreak of hostilities, obtained an 

 emergency credit from the Sobranje of 5,000,000 

 lei, and half the Bulgarian army was called to 

 arms. The Bulgarian fortifications on the plain 

 of Slivnitza are in a more advanced stage than 

 the Servian works at Pirot, Saitchar, Negotin, 

 and in the Timok valley, which are being com- 

 pleted according to the recommendations of 

 officers of the Russian general staff, who visited 

 the ground in the beginning of April, 1890. To 

 the forts already built the Bulgarians intend to 

 add steel revolving turrets like those adopted 

 for the defense of Bucharest. The Bulgarians 

 could mobilize 75,000 troops at once, and are 

 financially in a much better position than the 

 Servians for carrying on war, but they have no 

 officers of experience and ability, as all those 

 who commanded in the late war have for politi- 

 cal reasons been disgraced, banished, or shot. 



Diplomatic Disputes. As Austrian influ- 

 ence vanished from Servia and declined in Rou- 

 mania, the Austrian Government began to sup- 

 port more openly the Bulgarians in their resist- 

 ance to Russian domination, and Russian diplo- 

 macy took the attitude of opposition to the same 

 claims and wishes of the Bulgarians that former- 

 ly it seconded. In the autumn of 1889 Count 

 Kalnoky nearly induced the Porte to recognize 

 the union of the two Bulgarias and the Govern- 

 ment of Prince Ferdinand. In thwarting this 

 design the Russian Government showed more 

 consistency than the Vienna Foreign Office. A 

 loan of 30,000,000 lei that was taken by the Aus- 

 trian Lander Bank, with the countenance of the 

 Austro-Hungarian authorities, was placed on the 

 market in Vienna, Pesth, and Trieste in January, 

 1890, and was subscribed six times over, not- 

 withstanding the warning by which previous 

 loans had been defeated that when Russia be- 

 came predominant in Bulgaria every act of 

 Prince Ferdinand's Government would be re- 

 pudiated. On this occasion, departing from 

 the official reserve that it had maintained in 

 Bulgarian affairs for three years, the Russian 

 Government, in a note to its diplomatic repre- 

 sentatives abroad, protested against the loan as 

 an infraction of the Treaty of Berlin because it 

 pledged the receipts of one of the Eastern Rou- 

 melian railroads. Egged on by Russia, the Porte 



