BULGARIA. 



Ill 



The Minister of "War reported that 6,000,000 

 livres Turkish would be required to keep the 

 army in the field six months. A loan of 

 2,000,000 was negotiated with an English 

 syndicate that had before applied in vain for 

 railroad concessions. On Oct. 31 the Seras- 

 kier issued an order to stop all further mobili- 

 zation. The official report made to the Sultan 

 stated that Turkey possesses under arms 430,- 

 000 men, all well equipped, armed, and clothed. 



Attitude of the Great Powers. Both Russia and 

 Austria seemed to be taken by surprise at the 

 Bulgarian revolution. The Russian people 

 manifested great exultation, but the feeling 

 was damped by the disapproval shown by the 

 St. Petersburg authorities. All the cabinets 

 were impressed with the necessity of bringing 

 the matter before the European Areopagus, 

 and of preventing the spread of the disturbance 

 over a larger area by the speedy interposition 

 of the powers. Russia was in favor of an im- 

 mediate conference, but wished the proposal 

 to emanate from the Porte, as in propriety it 

 should. It soon became apparent that the 

 views taken of the Bulgarian events by the 

 different cabinets were too divergent to admit 

 of a rapid decision. Russia desired to recog- 

 nize the accomplished fact of the union and to 

 condone the revolutionary exercise of the Bul- 

 garian popular will, but to depose Prince Alex- 

 ander as a contumacious violator of the treaty. 

 The Austrian Government was inclined at first 

 to favor this solution, deeming that Prince 

 Alexander had treacherously broken a promise 

 recently given to M. de Giers, at Franzensbad, 

 that he would answer for the tranquillity of 

 Bulgaria. Count Kalnoky and the Emperor 

 judged him more leniently when they learned 

 that he had taken his decision hastily, and that 

 Minister Karaveloff had presented to him the 

 alternative of heading the popular movement 

 or of abdicating. The Berlin Government ex- 

 pressed stern disapproval of the course of the 

 Prince of Bulgaria. The Western powers were 

 less disposed than the two central European 

 empires to acquiesce in a scheme to further 

 Russia's designs on Bulgaria and facilitate her 

 advance to the Dardanelles; a circumstance 

 that seemed to indicate that in the conclaves 

 of the triple alliance a delimitation of the 

 Russian and Austro -Hungarian spheres of in- 

 terests in the Balkan Peninsula had been 

 reached. The plan for a conference was 

 abandoned, at the suggestion of Prince Bis- 

 marck, in favor of a preliminary meeting of 

 the ambassadors at Constantinople for an ex- 

 change of views. The informal conference of 

 the powers held its first meeting on Oct. 4. 



The first act of the conference was to send a 

 message to the Sultan, saying that the powers 

 condemned the violation of the treaty by the 

 Prince of Bulgaria, and that they commended 

 the pacific attitude observed by the Porte. On 

 Oct. 15 the ambassadors sent a collective note 

 to the Bulgarian Government, warning Bulga- 

 ria to refrain from hostility, and declaring 



that she would be held responsible in case 

 peace should be disturbed through her men- 

 acing attitude. The final outcome of their de- 

 liberations was a memorandum presented to 

 the Porte on Oct. 13, in which they said that 

 more time would be necessary to obtain a 

 complete European understanding. They ad- 

 vised the Porte to continue its peaceful policy, 

 though they recognized the prerogative of 

 the Sultan to send troops into Eastern Rou- 

 melia. 



This reply of the powers to the original 

 Turkish note was answered two days after it 

 was communicated to the Porte. The Turkish 

 Government expressed itself as equally desir- 

 ous with the powers to avert bloodshed, and 

 engaged not to undertake military coercion un- 

 til the powers should try to re-esta,blish the 

 status quo ante, yet it would be impossible to 

 delay active proceedings long, owing to the 

 heavy military expenditure. 



In the conference Russia urged the deposi- 

 tion of Prince Alexander and the recognition 

 of the union as & fait accompli. When she 

 found no support for the first proposition, she 

 joined Turkey in demanding the restoration of 

 the status quo ante. Germany and the other 

 powers accepted the Russian idea in princi- 

 ple, for the purpose of debarring Servia and 

 Greece from raising claims for compensation. 

 England was in favor of a formal restoration 

 of the status quo ante, but of conceding the 

 union under conditions that would deprive 

 the act of the character of a condonation. 

 France sided with this view; while Italy stood 

 by the triple alliance. Austria insisted on giv- 

 ing compensation to Servia out of Bulgarian 

 territory. The Western powers were willing 

 to agree to a rectification of the Bulgaro-Servian 

 frontier, but Russia set her face against the 

 smallest cession of Bulgarian soil, and Germany 

 supported Russia in order to preserve the triple 

 alliance. The other powers objected to com- 

 pensating Servia with a slice of Turkish terri- 

 tory, a solution that was also repugnant to 

 Austrian desires. As Russia stood firm in her 

 contention for the restoration of the status quo 

 ante, Austria, following the lead of Germany, 

 consented tcsthis proposal for the sake of pre- 

 serving the Kremsier compact, though the in- 

 terests of the German powers in the recognition 

 of the fait accompli were direct, and those of 

 the Western powers, who subserved their in- 

 terest in effectively opposing the abrogation of 

 the union, were principally sentimental. A 

 compromise in favor with the other powers 

 was the personal union of Bulgaria and East- 

 ern Roumelia, Prince Alexander succeeding 

 Gavril Pasha as Governor-General. The Ser- 

 vians denounced this project as a deception, and 

 the Roumeliotes raised their voice against the 

 restoration of the organic statute. The satisfac- 

 tion proposed to be rendered to Turkey by 

 Bulgaria was the settlement and regular pay- 

 ment of the tribute, hitherto evaded, and the 

 assumption of the debt and contributions due 



