BULGARIA. 



79 



junction lines should be completed, the Servian 

 line, which was already finished, could not be 

 opened to Salonica, because the Conference a 

 Quatre had decided that both railroads were to 

 be opened for traffic simultaneously, in order 

 that neither of them should have the commer- 

 cial advantage of first getting into operation. 

 When the delegates of the Sobranje visited 

 England, in the latter part of 1886, they opened 

 negotiations with a financial group for a loan 

 of 25,000,000 francs, to be issued at 94, bear- 

 ing interest at 6 per cent. English capitalists 

 would not take the risk of lending to a Gov- 

 ernment which Russia refused to recognize, 

 and in Mny, 1887, signified their final refusal. 

 An Austrian bank offered to lend the sum at 6 

 per cent, with issue at 90, but this was consid- 

 ered usurious by the Bulgarians, who could 

 have borrowed at 5 per cent, with issue at par 

 before the deposition of Prince Alexander. 



Mission of Riza Bey. The mediatory negotia- 

 tions of the Porte were transferred to Sofia in 

 order that they might be governed by a better 

 knowledge of the conditions in Bulgaria. Riza 

 Bey, the Turkish commissioner, arrived just 

 before the suppression of the insurrection. He 

 advised the Bulgarian Government to refrain 

 from retaliatory measures in order to preserve 

 the good- will of the powers and avoid further 

 bloodshed. He gave offense to the Govern- 

 ment by proposing that an international com- 

 mission should investigate the charges of cru- 

 elty to prisoners. The ministry refusad to 

 discuss longer the admission of Zankoffists 

 into the regency and the Cabinet. M. de Neli- 

 doff, in a confidential communication to the 

 Porte, proposed that a Turkish army corps 

 should occupy Eastern Roumelia, but the 

 Turkish Government refused to proceed to 

 such a measure. A proposition to appoint a 

 regent and send a Russian and a Turkish com- 

 missioner to Bulgaria was likewise not enter- 

 tained. Riza Bey's report was favorable to 

 the regency. The Porte on May 21 sent a cir- 

 cular to the powers urging them to nominate 

 one or two candidates for the post of prince, 

 in order to put an end to the crisis. Informal 

 proposals were made by Russia for a simulta- 

 neous intervention of the Turks in Eastern 

 Roumelia and of the Russians in Bulgaria, but 

 these overtures were repelled by the Turkish 

 Government. When all efforts failed to in- 

 duce Russia to abandon her obstructive atti- 

 tude, or to bring about concerted action of the 

 other powers in opposition to Russia, the Bul- 

 garians were impelled to solve their difficulties 

 by independent action. When the question 

 of the election of a prince arose there were 

 unequivocal manifestations all over the coun- 

 try in favor of the re-election of the Batten- 

 berg prince. There, was much popular dis- 

 satisfaction with the Government, not alone 

 on the part of the Opposition, the members of 

 which had been arrested and grossly mis- 

 handled by the police officials during the recent 

 crisis, but even in the Patriotic party. There 



was jealousy between Radoslavoff, the Prime 

 Minister and nominal leader of the party in 

 power, and Stambuloff, who, with the support 

 of his colleagues, Mutkuroff and Zukoff, thesuc- 

 sessor to Karaveloff, actually governed the 

 country. Radoslavoff and Colonel Nicolaieff, 

 the War Minister, were strong partisans of 

 Prince Alexander. The regents toward the 

 end of May decided, with the concurrence of 

 a part of the ministry, on proposing Prince 

 Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha for the 

 throne, but the military party threatened to 

 proclaim Alexander as sovereign, and were 

 only restained by that prince himself who con- 

 jured his friends not to persist in a policy that 

 would bring ruin to Bulgaria. He did not, how- 

 ever, at once renounce his candidature, but pro- 

 posed that Aleko Pasha or Goltz Pasha should 

 be chosen regent, and thus keep the place open 

 for him. The feeling in favor of his restora- 

 tion grew stronger, and the army was only 

 appeased by assurances that it was in the end 

 inevitable. Quarrels between the members of 

 the Government and the feverish political con- 

 dition of the country at last constrained the 

 regency to summon the Great Sobranje. 



The Election of a Prince. The Great Assembly 

 was convoked for July 3. The members of the 

 Government had been in communication with 

 various possible candidates for the throne. The 

 Bulgarian delegates to the courts of Europe 

 had eight months before asked Prince Alexan- 

 der of Coburg if he would accept, and he then 

 made it conditional on the approval of Russia 

 and Germany. Prince Oscar, of Sweden, was 

 tendered the place in like manner, but by the 

 command of his father declined. Prince Wal- 

 demar, of Denmark, was still spoken of, and 

 Aleko Pasha was a candidate. Stambulcff 

 was opposed to the recall of Alexander, and 

 when compelled to yield to the popular senti- 

 ment was ready to acquiesce in a formal vote 

 in favor of the late prince, but expected him 

 to decline. Radoslavoff and the Radicals de- 

 sired that Alexander should be elected, and 

 that a new provisional government, with a 

 single regent, should be formed until the favor- 

 able moment arrived for him to return. They 

 had, for the event of his refusal, another can- 

 didate in the person of Prince Bernard, of 

 Saxe-Weimar, while the regents had settled on 

 the Coburg Prince. Besides Prince Bernard, 

 Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern and Prince 

 Ferdinand of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderberg- 

 Gliicksberg were mentioned as nominees of 

 Prince Alexander, whose election would not 

 preclude his ultimate return. Stambuloff wrote 

 a firm letter to Alexander, in which he submit- 

 ted that it was necessary for the country to 

 know what hopes could be built on the prince, 

 who replied that his weak state of health would 

 not permit his immediate acceptance, and that 

 so long as he was opposed by the two most 

 powerful men in Europe, meaning the Czar 

 and Prince Bismarck, his restoration would 

 bring disaster and loss of independence to Bui- 



