BULGARIA. 



97 



.ike littli- interest in politics, and only 



a>k their (Jo\ eminent to avoid war, to make the 



I n in I. -ii .if tn \ittii in light, and to exercise its police 



: - as liiilc as possible. The political rest- 



I, -.|l<-> ill ISllL'arhl i> confined tn tin- IlllllliTni;s 



class of professional politicians who depend on 

 public omco for their livelihoo<l, and who are 

 willing to become the tools of Panslavist intrigues, 

 and t<> foment agitation against the men in 

 r in the hope of succeeding them. All the 

 leaders have hem Nationalists when in otli.-c. 

 Zankoff, the originator of the policy of Bulga- 

 ria fort lie Bulgarians, allied himself with Rus- 

 sian conspirators and planned the abduction of 

 Prince Alexander in order to oust Karaveloff. 

 The latter, to avoid an open rupture with Russia, 

 schemed to get rid of Alexander while keeping 

 the reins of power in his own hand. Stambulofl 

 then took the loud in the Nationalist cause, and 

 successfully carried through a counter-revolution. 

 The Zankovists, the revolutionary Russophil 

 partv. were proscribed, and the active agents in 

 the kidnapping and other military conspiracies 

 became pensioners on the -Russian Slav Com- 

 mittee, ready to engage in fresh insurrectionary 

 plots. Karaveloff and his followers were toler- 

 ated, but suspected, by Stambuloff and the party 

 in power. From StambulofFs party branched 

 off a new opposition party, called the Radoslay- 

 ists. from their leader, Radoslavof, who are in 

 accord with the Starnbulovists in wishing to 

 maintain Bulgarian independence, but condemn 

 the tyrannical and unconstitutional methods em- 

 ployed by the Prime Minister tcr crush his adver- 

 saries. After the general election, in which the 

 Zankovists and other opposition parties were 

 prevented by official interference from manifest- 

 ing their actual strength, the country enjoyed 

 many months of tranquillity. Shortly before the 

 beginning of 1891, a young but eminent finan- 

 cier, Beltcheff, was appointed to the vacant 

 Ministry of Finance. The Russian Government 

 having complained, through the German consul- 

 general, of the hospitality given in Bulgaria to 

 Kussian refugees and Nihriists, the Bulgarian 

 Government expelled a number of persons, 

 among whom were some that were known to bo 

 Russian spies, who, to conceal their purposes, 

 had pretended to be Nihilists. . In the case of 

 two suspicious individuals who were expelled, 

 the St. Petersburg Cabinet raised a protest. 

 Threats of vengeance against Stambuloff for 

 the execution of Major JPanitza, and incipient 

 plots against the life of Prince Ferdinand were 

 concealed from the public. About a month 

 before the expiration of the Prince's commission 

 as Governor of Eastern Roumelia, the appoint- 

 ment of his predecessor, to whose rights ne was 

 tacitly allowed to succeed, having been for the 

 constitutional period of five years, dating from 

 April 0, 1886, rumors were heard of an intended 

 insurrection on the borders of Servia and Rou- 

 mania. Major Bendereff and Capt. Grueff, the 

 kidnappers of Prince Alexander, were seen in 

 Bucharest and Servian towns in the company of 

 political fugitives and adventurers. On March 

 27 three political assassins ftred at the Prime 

 Minister and his friend, Minister Beltcheff, as 

 they were walking together on the street, and 

 the latter was killed, while his chief, who was 

 VOL, xxxj 7 A 



the intended victim, escaped. Among the hun- 

 dreds of persons who were arrested in the next 

 few days were Karaveloff and other political 

 opponents of Stambuloff. Many were released, 

 but several of the leaders of the Russophil party 

 were detained in custody. Bulgarian refugees 

 ami hired Montenegrins and Macedonians nad 

 been armed with revolvers and Bcrdan rifles, and 

 wen- ready, on the assassination of the Prime 

 Minister, to cross the Servian frontier and begin 

 a guerilla war. Two secret deposits of arms and 

 many documents, pointing to a widely ramified 

 conspiracy, were discovered by the police in 

 Sofia. The murdered minister was succeeded by 

 Natchevich, a distinguished financier. When 

 the time came for the Porte to appoint a gov- 

 ernor of Eastern Roumelia, it let the date pass 

 without making a sign, thereby tacitly accepting 

 the union of the two Bulgarian and the perma- 

 nent rule of the Prince over the autonomous 

 province. The request of the Turkish agent 

 in Sofia for an audience with Prince Ferdinand, 

 and the reception of Dr. Vulkovich and M. 

 Natchevich by the Sultan, were clear manifes- 

 tations of the friendly disposition of the Turkish 

 Government and a recognition of the loyal 

 attitude of the Bulgarian authorities in regard 

 to Macedonian disturbances. In August, the 

 Turkish authorities in Macedonia were instructed 

 to allow the Bulgarians in Macedonia to exercise 

 freely their religious ceremonies and manage 

 the tuition in their schools without reference to 

 the Greek patriarchate. The refusal of the Ser- 

 vian Government to deliver up Rizof, a Bulgarian 

 journalist suspected of having instigated the 

 Beltcheff murder, who was afterward allowed 

 free passage through Ronmania into Russia, and 

 the continued presence of dangerous characters 

 on the frontier, caused the Bulgarian Govern- 

 ment to push on the fortifications at' Slivnitza 

 and the Dragoman Pass, to call out reserve regi- 

 ments, and to concentrate troops on the frontier. 

 The Servians responded by massing troops on 

 their side, and prepared to manoeuvre 65,000 

 men along the frontier in the autumn. This 

 caused the Turkish Government to urge Servia 

 to withdraw her troops, and in consequence of 

 this invitation both tne Servian and the Bulga- 

 rian governments desisted from the threatening 

 demonstrations. When the new Turkish Cabinet, 

 by objecting to the emission of silver coins bear- 

 ing Prince Ferdinand's effigy, and to the con- 

 struction of the Uskub-Kustendil strategic rail- 

 road, showed Russophil tendencies, the liritish. 

 Austrian, and Italian governments instructed 

 their diplomatic agents at Sofia to be less re- 

 served in their intercourse with Prince Ferdinand. 

 Dissensions arose between the Prime Minister 

 and the Minister of Justice, owing to illegal 

 methods pursued by officials in investigating 

 the Beltcheff murder and the interference of M. 

 Stambuloff with judicial nroceedings against 

 one of his partisans. On Oct. 2, M. Tontcheff 

 resigned, and M. Grekoff, the Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, added the portfolio of Justice to his 

 own. The latter minister, on going to Constan- 

 tinople to present anew a request for the formal 

 recognition of Prince Ferdinand, instead of re- 

 ceiving from the Sultan the usual temporizing 

 reply, met with a decided rebuff. 



