754 



TURKEY. 



agents intrigued in every way to stir up dis- 

 content, and to bring about the fall of the 

 prince. Before the arrival of the Turkish dele- 

 gates, it was related that the Roumeliot women 

 entered the Assembly with clubs and beat the 

 deputies, demanding that they should give 

 them back their husbands. The Turkish em- 

 issaries reported that these stories were false. 

 The Roumeliot soldiers, at the close of the cam- 

 paign against the Servians, begged the prince not 

 to desert their cause and renounce the union. 

 The Russian diplomatists urged the Turkish 

 Government to intervene and re-establish the 

 former government in Philippopolis, yet were 

 anxious to place limitations on the military ac- 

 tion of Turkey. The English defended the 

 right of Turkey to act independently, and ex- 

 erted their influence to induce the Porte to 

 recognize the Bulgarian union. The proposal 

 of a personal union and the appointment of 

 Prince Alexander to the governorship of East- 

 ern Roumelia was from England. The con- 

 ference separated when Austria-Hungary in- 

 tervened diplomatically in the war between 

 Bulgaria and Servia, without having come to 

 any practical conclusion. It was not formally 

 dissolved, but adjourned with the understand- 

 ing that it would meet again whenever there 

 was a prospect that the question would be ad- 

 vanced by a renewal of the deliberations. The 

 Turkish envoys in Eastern Roumelia were re- 

 ceived kindly, but were impressed with the 

 hopelessness of restoring the old order of 

 things. One went as the Turkish representa- 

 tive at Sofia and the other returned to Con- 

 stantinople. The success of the Bulgarian arms 

 wrought a change in the diplomatic situation. 

 The reasons on which Russia based her oppo- 

 sition to the union were dispelled by the ear- 

 nestness and valor displayed by the Bulgarians 

 and Roumeliots. The Russian Government 

 was no longer able to hold out against the cur- 

 rent of popular sympathy for the Bulgarians in 

 Russia. The change in Russian sentiment was 

 reflected in the other Continental cabinets 

 that followed the lead of Russia in the Bulga- 

 rian question. The plans of the Turkish Gov- 

 ernment were altered accordingly. Instead of 

 sending Djevdet Pasha as the representative of 

 the sovereign authority of the Sultan in East- 

 ern Roumelia, the Porte dispatched Madjid 

 Pasha as an intermediary to negotiate an ar- 

 rangement with Prince Alexander. The Prince 

 of Bulgaria, not perceiving the difference at 

 first, refused to receive the Turkish envoy, but 

 when the character of his office and the pur- 

 pose of his mission were understood, Alexander 

 readily entered into the negotiations. The 

 prince was offered the governor - generalship 

 under the conditions laid down in the Berlin 

 Treaty, and upon his accepting it he was regu- 

 larly nominated by the Sultan. He was con- 

 sidered to have purged himself of contuma- 

 cy, and placed himself in a correct attitude by 

 his declarations of submission and allegiance 

 to the Sultan, and by the recall of Bulgarian 



troops from Roumelia. Great Britain, the 

 power which, deserted by France and entirely 

 isolated, had broken up the conference and 

 provoked the anger of the Continental league 

 that pretended to control by mutual agreement 

 between the three empires the destinies of the 

 Balkan lands, was now, as in the Berlin Con- 

 ference, the master of the situation. By guard- 

 ing the interests of Turkey, and standing up 

 for the independence of Bulgaria, she regained 

 her lost influence in Constantinople, and won 

 a victory over Russia as important and far- 

 reaching in its effects as when she dictated the 

 terms of the Treaty of Berlin. The negotia- 

 tions between the Bulgarian and Turkish Gov- 

 ernments resulted in an agreement more favor- 

 able to Bulgarian and Turkish interests, and 

 more hostile to Russia, than anything proposed 

 at the conference. The Czar, in order to re- 

 cover the affection of the Bulgarian people, 

 issued a manifesto praising their gallantry. 

 The Russian Government made preparations 

 to give military assistance to Bulgaria, in con- 

 sequence of Austria's promise of aid to Servia. 

 Austria and Russia are supposed to have made 

 a secret agreement before the Servian war, 

 whereby Russia would be permitted to occupy 

 Bulgaria in case the Servians carried the war 

 into Bulgarian territory, and Austria to send 

 an army corps into Servia if the Bulgarian 

 forces crossed the frontier. When Turkey in- 

 tervened in the war, the Russian Cabinet sent a 

 note to Said Pasha, the Turkish Prime Minis- 

 ter, protesting against such action. The men- 

 aces of Greece threatened to prolong the crisis 

 and prevent a settlement on the terms advo- 

 cated by Great Britain, which were that Ser- 

 via should simply accept the Bulgarian union. 

 Greece received no encouragement, though 

 France gave a platonic support to her preten- 

 sions to the whole of the territory awarded to 

 her by the Berlin Treaty. Finally, Great Brit- 

 ain threatened to intervene if Greece attacked 

 Turkey, and a British squadron was sent to 

 hold guard over the Greek fleet in the Pi- 

 ra3us. 



The agreement finally reached between the 

 Bulgarian Government and the Porte confirms 

 the appointment of Prince Alexander as per- 

 manent Governor-General of Eastern Ron- 

 melia, and establishes a military alliance be- 

 tween Turkey and Bulgaria. Prince Alexander 

 will hold the office of governor on the bases 

 of the Treaty of Berlin, so long as he preserves 

 a correct and faithful attitude toward his sov- 

 ereign, and devotes his efforts to the mainte- 

 nance of order and security in the province, and 

 to the well-being of the Roumeliot people. In 

 case of a foreign invasion of Bulgaria or East- 

 ern Roumelia, Ottoman troops will be sent to 

 operate with the Roumelian or Bulgarian troops 

 for the defense of those territories under the 

 command of the prince. If other provinces of 

 European Turkey are attacked, the prince will 

 send troops to act under the orders of the Ot- 

 toman generals. The Russian Government 



