84 



BULGARIA. 



prefect of police, who refused to act, caused the 

 arrest of Maj. Panitza, Lieut. Rizoff, Arnaon- 

 doff, a hotel-keeper. Kalobkoff, and others of the 

 band. The extent of the conspiracy can be con- 

 jectured from the number of removals from of- 

 fice that took place and from the number of 

 military officers who were dismissed from their 

 posts, including the commanders of the garri- 

 sons at Sofia, Shumla, Widdin, Slivno, and Rust- 

 chuk. In May the accused persons, viz., the 

 officers Constantino Panitza, Alexander Rizoff, 

 Dimitri Taleff, Christopher Chaffdaroff, Nich- 

 olas Nojaroff, Dimitri Stamenoff, Ivan Stefanoff, 

 and Capts. Molloff and Kissirioff; the citizens 

 of Sofia Theodore Arnaondoff, Demeter Rizoff, 

 Stephen Matheeff, and Pantaley Kessinoff ; and 

 the Russian subject Porfiry Kalobkoff, were 

 tried by a military court. Of the civilians Ma- 

 theeff was a prominent lawyer who held rela- 

 tions with the Zankoffists and Rizoff. a brother 

 of Lieut. Rizoff, was a young journalist who had 

 served a sentence of a' year's imprisonment for 

 scurrilously attacking Prince Ferdinand in the 

 Christ o-Bolef newspaper that was supported 

 from the fund handled by Panitza. The trial 

 began on May 15, and lasted two weeks. Alex- 

 ander Rizoff' and others of the accused officers 

 made full confessions. Panitza pleaded not 

 guilty, and yet confessed to the gravest charges 

 in the indictment, denying only that he held a 

 correspondence with Russian diplomatists, and 

 asserting that Col. Kissoff was the ringleader in 

 the conspiracy. The court-martial found Pa- 

 nitza and eight of the persons arraigned with 

 him guilty. He was condemned to be shot, Ka- 

 loboff to "nine years of imprisonment, and the 

 rest to terms varying from five months to six 

 years. Panitza's sentence was accompanied by 

 a recommendation that the punishment be com- 

 muted to fifteen years' imprisonment with hard 

 labor. The military court of cassation con- 

 firmed the sentence, even though it found that 

 the preliminary examination had been irreg- 

 ularly conducted. Prince Ferdinand at first de- 

 clined to sign the order for the execution of 

 Maj. Panitza, and only signed it in the end, just 

 as he was leaving for Vienna, because the minis- 

 ters threatened to resign. Co). Kissoff and Dr. 

 Mirkoff were dismissed from the service, and all 

 those who were acquitted were expelled from 

 the country. Dr. Stransky, who considered the 

 trial a mistake, as it called the attention of for- 

 eign countries to the weakness of the Coburg 

 Government, resigned the portfolio of Foreign 

 Affairs, and the ex-ministers Stoiloff and Grc- 

 koff uttered the opinion that the Prince could 

 not constitutionally neglect to carry out the 

 court's recommendation to mercy. Panitza was 

 shot on June 28. Baron Wangenheim, the Ger- 

 man agent at Sofia, acting in behalf of the Rus- 

 sian Government, demanded the surrender of 

 Kalobkoff under the capitulations, and Stambu- 

 loff complied in deference to Germany, at the 

 same time denying that cases of felony come 

 within the capitulations. 



Ministerial Changes. At the time of the 

 execution of Panitza the ministry consisted of 

 only four members. Dr. Stransky had left the 

 Cabinet, partly because he had given offense to 

 the Austrian diplomatic agent and was not liked 

 by the Prince, and partly because he disapproved 



the arrest and .prosecution of the conspirators. 

 Sallabetcheff. the Minister of Finance, had been 

 forced out by Stambuloff, who suspected him t 

 of aiming at the premiership. Gontcheff, the 

 Minister of Justice, wanted to resign with Dr. 

 Stransky, and was dissuaded with difficulty. 



The Question of Recognition. After the 

 discovery of the Panitza plot. Stambuloff raised 

 the question of the formal recognition of Prince 

 Alexander, and made overtures to the Porte 

 looking to the establishment of an entente cor- 

 diale between Turkey and the vassal princi- 

 pality. In the latter period of Prince Alexan- 

 der's reign, when the relations between Russia 

 and Bulgaria had become strained, the idea began 

 to be entertained in Bulgaria of establishing in- 

 timate friendly relations with Turkey and using 

 the suzerainty of the Sultan as a rampart against 

 Russian aggressive designs. The mutual distrust 

 between the Bulgarian people and their old op- 

 pressors formed an obstacle when their outward 

 relations were favorable, and the idea seemed 

 stranded when old antipathies were reawakened 

 by the annexation of Eastern Roumelia to the 

 principality in 1885. The Porte with a bad 

 grace consented to a personal union, and the 

 Bulgarians retaliated by ceasing to pay the East- 

 ern Roumelian tribute. Two years later Stam- 

 buloff induced the National Assembly to renew 

 the payment of the tribute, having been per- 

 suaded by the representations of the Turkish 

 bondholders that this act would lead to cordial 

 relations with the Porte and lead to the legaliza- 

 tion of Prince Ferdinand's position by the Eu- 

 ropean powers. Instead of attaining* this ob- 

 ject, he placed a weapon in the hands of the 

 Zankoffists, who pointed to the needless sacrifice 

 of money, which they held up as a new proof 

 that a Bulgarian Government without Russian 

 support is impotent and doomed to speedy ex- 

 tinction. 



When the inherent weakness of the despotic 

 rule that the Austrian and British diplomacy 

 had upheld because it held Russian designs in 

 check was revealed by the Panitza affair, Stam- 

 buloff sought to rectify his position by a diplo- 

 matic move that puzzled his patrons by its au- 

 dacity. In February Dr. Vulkovich reopened 

 the question of the recognition of Prince Fer- 

 dinand at Constantinople in an informal confer- 

 ence with the Vizier. While the Porte consulted 

 the representatives of the great powers in Con- 

 stantinople, Dr. Stransky, the Bulgarian Minister 

 for Foreign Affairs, sounded the powers inde- 

 pendently, and met with encouragement in no 

 quarter. The Italian Government professed itself 

 willing to recognize the Prince, but declared the 

 moment inopportune. The British Government 

 conveyed a strong caution against making a rash 

 move, hinting that the present rulers of Bulgaria 

 were in too precarious a position to claim Euro- 

 pean support in an adventurous policy. The 

 Austro-Hungarian Government warned the Bul- 

 garian minister that he would forfeit the sympa- 

 thy that had supported him hitherto if he took an 

 imprudent step. The confidential cornmunic'a- 

 tions of the Bulgarian Government conveyed not 

 a simple request but a menace, and this was that 

 if the powers having an interest in preventing 

 Bulgaria from becoming a Russian dependency 

 refused to strengthen his tottering position by 



