BULGARIA. 



8T 



Ea-tern Roumolia. which was made an autonomous 

 province of Turkey at the same time, revolted with 

 tin.- aid of Bul-urinns of the principality and was 

 annexed to Bulgaria in 1S85. The legislative power 

 i> voted in the Soliranje. a single Chamber in which, 

 under the constitutional amendment of 31 ay, 1893, 

 there is 1 representative for every 20.000 of the 

 population, elected by universal male suffrage. 



The reigning prince is Ferdinand, born Feb. 26, 

 1861, the youngest son of the late Prince August 

 of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Princess Clementine of 

 Bourbon-Orleans. He was elected by the vote of 

 the Great Sobranje in 188? after the abdication of 

 Prince Alexander of Battenberg, but his election 

 was not sanctioned by the Porte on the advice of 

 the powers, as stipulated in the Treaty of Berlin. 



The Cabinet of ministers in the beginning of 1896 

 consisted of the following members: President of 

 the Council and Minister of the Interior, Dr. C. 

 StoilolT: Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Public 

 Worship. G. D. Xachevich ; Minister of Finance, 

 Ivan E. Gueshoff ; Minister of Public Instruction, C. 

 Yelichkoff : Minister of War. Col. R. Petroff; Min- 

 ister of Roads and Communications. J. Madgaroff. 

 The Ministries of Justice and of Commerce and 

 Agriculture were then vacant. 



Area and Population. The area of Bulgaria 

 proper is 24.360 square miles, and that of Eastern 

 Roumelia 13,500 square miles. The total popula- 

 tion at the census of Jan. 1, 1893. was 3.309,816. of 

 which number 992,386 lived in Eastern Roumelia. 

 Of the total. 2.504.336 were Bulgars. 569.728 Turks, 

 60,018 Greeks, 51,754 gypsies, 27.531 Jews, 3,620 

 Germans, and 1,379 Russians. The adherents of 

 the Orthodox Greek Church numbered 2,605,905 : 

 Mohammedans, 643.242; Roman Catholics, 22,617. 

 The number of marriages in 1893 was 31.640 ; births, 

 141,320; deaths. 92,100; excess of births, 49.220. 

 Out of 275.756 boys of school age, 129.777 were in 

 school in 1893, and out of 261,968 girls, 42,206 were 

 receiving instruction. Only 19 per cent, of the pop- 

 ulation can read and write.' Elementary instruction 

 is free and by law compulsory. Sofia, the capital, 

 has 47.000 inhabitants. 



Finances. The revenue for 1895 was estimated 

 at 89,849.425 lei, or francs, of which sum 35,471.000 

 lei came from direct. 35.032.000 lei from customs 

 and internal taxes. 7.293.400 lei from railroads, 

 3.958,000 lei from tolls. 4,613.375 lei from invest- 

 ments. 546.750 lei from fines, and 2,934.800 lei from 

 other sources. The budget estimate of expenditure 

 was 89.830,969 lei, of which 19.220,272 lei are for the 

 expenses of the debt. 5.260.255 lei for finance ad- 

 ministration, 7.960.208 lei for interior administra- 

 tion. 9.349,842 lei for public instruction, 22,474,708 

 lei for war. 3.198,347 lei for foreign affairs, 4.584.- 

 476 lei for justice. 3.896.704 lei for commerce and 

 agriculture, 11.907,581 lei for public works and 

 ways of communication, and 217,776 lei for other 

 expenses. 



The debts of Bulgaria, not reckoning the tribute 

 due as its share of the Turkish debt, which has 

 never been appraised, nor has anything been paid 

 on account of it. consists of a first loan of 10.000,000 

 francs, one of 46,000.000 francs raised in 1886 to pay 

 for the Varna-Rustc-huk Railroad, one of 30.000,000 

 francs raised in 1889. and 72.000,000 francs received 

 of the loan of 142.000,000 authorized in 1892. 



The Army. The military force consists of 39,- 

 320 officers and men. Every Bulgarian is liable to 

 conscription. The war strength is 175,000 men. 

 The army is organized in 3 divisions of 2 brigades. 

 There are 288 field guns and 36 mountain guns. 

 The infantry is armed with the Mannlicher rifle. 



Commerce. The Bulgarians are agriculturists, 

 raising wheat for export and considerable quantities 

 of wine, tobacco, and silk. They export also wool, 



tallow, butter, cheese, hides, live stock, flax, timber, 

 and attar The total value of the imports 



in 1894 was 9!),22!).19:! lei. and of exports 72>50,675 

 lei. Textile goods wen- imported to the value of 

 30.339.975 lei ; groceries, 10.423,800 lei ; metals, 

 s.::-J-,>.i>-,>5 lei: machinery. 5.831.SOO lei: leather. 

 5.5(12.100 lei: wood manufactures. 5.244,100 lei. 

 The exports of grain wen- 5."i.N?1.3oO lei in value; 

 sheep and pigs. G.I 27.450 lei. Of the imports 35.- 

 105,785 lei came from Austria, 20,173,236 lei from 

 Great Britain. 12.?s->.!Mi? lei from Turkey. 12.096.553 

 lei from Germany. 4.!)4i.?22 lei from Russia. 3.740.- 

 464 lei from France, 2,828,296 lei from Roumania. 

 2,694,645 lei from Italy, and the rest from Belgium, 

 Servia. Switzerland, Greece, the United States, and 

 other countries. Of the exports, 26,794,851 lei went 

 to Turkey, 12,302,795 lei to Great Britain, 11.951.- 

 960 lei to Germany, 8,720,453 lei to France, and the 

 rest to Belgium, Roumania, Italy, Greece, Servia, 

 and other countries. 



Communications. There were 520 miles of rail- 

 road in Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia in 1895, 

 connecting Sofia with the Turkish railway system 

 and with the Servian line that joins the Austro- 

 Hungarian system. The telegraphs belonging to 

 the state had a total length of 2,953 miles. The 

 mails carried 15,219,773 letters, newspapers, etc.. in 

 1893, in which year the receipts from posts and tele- 

 graphs were 2,448,950 francs, and expenses 2,577,575 

 francs. 



Conversion of Prince Boris. The heir to the 

 throne is Boris, the elder of the two sons born to 

 Prince Ferdinand by Princess Marie Louise de 

 Bourbon, eldest daughter of the Duke of Parma. 

 Before the birth of the Prince Stambuloff had in- 

 duced the subservient Sobranje to alter the Consti- 

 tution so as to allow the heir apparent, as well as 

 the reigning Prince, to belong to the Roman Catho- 

 lic Church, into which communion Boris was duly 

 baptized. Since the fall of Stambuloff Ferdinand 

 .and his Government have cut loose from, the Aus- 

 trian and English influences that controlled his 

 policy, and have made various advances toward a 

 reconciliation with the Czar. The chief obstacle in 

 the way of his recognition by the Emperor of Rus- 

 sia and' the consequent regularization of his status 

 by the Porte, to which all the treaty powers except 

 R'ussia had given tacit assent, was that act severing 

 the dynasty for two generations from the Orthodox 

 Church. Prince Ferdinand therefore decided to 

 make a sacrifice of his religious and family feelings 

 and have his son received into the Greek Orthodox 

 communion in order to pave the way to a better 

 understanding with the Czar and at the same time 

 gratify the national pride of the Bulgarian people. 

 After having sought unavailingly the permission of 

 the Pope of Rome, he issued a manifesto on Jan. 29 

 announcing that the rite of confirmation would be 

 administered to the heir apparent according to the 

 usages of the National Orthodox Church on Feb. 

 14. On that date the Bulgarian exarch performed 

 the ceremony, the Czar standing by proxy as spon- 

 sor for the "child. French, German, and Russian 

 representatives were present, while the Austro- 

 Hungarian. British, and Italian representatives, 

 who heretofore have invariably attended official 

 ceremonies in the Bulgarian capital, when their 

 colleagues stayed away, were now the absent ones. 



Recognition of Prince Ferdinand. The pow- 

 ers of Europe have ever been willing to accord to 

 Prince Ferdinand since his election by the Sobranje 

 on July 7, 1887. the recognition that he has sought 

 as vainly as his predecessor. Prince Alexander. If 

 none of the signatory powers of the Treaty of Berlin 

 has volunteered to sanction the Prince's election, it 

 has been solely because it was known beforehand 

 that Russia would refuse to join them. It was fully 



