BULGARIA. 



87 



mous principality by the Treaty of Berlin, signed 

 July 13, 1878. Ferdinand, youngest son of Prince 

 August of Saxe-Coburg, and Princess Clementine 

 of Bourbon-Orleans, born Feb. 26, 1861, was 

 elected Prince of Bulgaria by the National As- 

 sembly on July 7, 1887, and married Maria Louisa 

 of Bourbon, Princess of Parma, on April 20, 1893, 

 who bore him, on Jan. 30, 1894, an heir, who was 

 christened Boris and made Prince of Tirnova. 

 The Constitution was amended on May 27, 1893, 

 to enable the reigning prince and his heir to re- 

 main Roman Catholics, though their successors 

 must be of the Greek Orthodox faith. The legis- 

 lative power is vested in the Sobranje, a single 

 Chamber of 162 members, elected by direct uni- 

 versal suffrage for five years. When a Grand 

 Sobranje is convoked to revise 'the fundamental 

 laws, double the number of deputies are chosen. 

 Ferdinand I assumed the reins of Government on 

 August 14, 1887, without having received the 

 regular confirmation of the Sublime Porte, which 

 has not yet regularized his status for want of the 

 assent of the signatory great powers. The min- 

 istry at the beginning of 1894 was composed as 

 follows : President of the Council and Minister 

 of the Interior, S. Stambuloff ; Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs and of Public Worship, I). Grekoff ; 

 Minister of Finance, J. Sallabacheff ; Minister of 

 Justice, P. Slavkoff; Minister of War, Lieut- 

 Col. M. Savoff. 



Area and Population. The area of Bulgaria 

 as limited by the Treaty of Berlin is 24,360 

 square miles. In 1885 Eastern Roumelia, which 

 was created an autonomous province of Turkey 

 by the same instrument, was united to the prin- 

 cipality by a revolution, augmenting its area by 

 13,500 square miles. By the census of Jan. 1, 

 1893, the population of South Bulgaria, as East- 

 ern Roumelia has been called since the union, 

 was found to be 992,386, and that of both Bul- 

 garias 3,305,458, composed of 1,688,688 males and 

 1,616,770 females. Sofia, the national capital, 

 has 30,428 inhabitants, and Philippopolis, the 

 capital of Eastern Roumelia. has 33,442. Edu- 

 cation is obligatory, as well as military service, 

 and 3.844 elementary schools are maintained by 

 the aid of grants from the state. 



Finances. The budget for 1893 makes the 

 revenue 89,369.334 lei or francs, of which 41,- 

 381.000 were derived from direct and 19,182,000 

 from indirect taxes, and the rest from prop- 

 erty and other sources. The expenditure was 

 made to balance the revenue, the principal items 

 being 14,140,291 lei for the public debt, 10,- 

 030.209 for the interior, 10,007,962 for public 

 works, 23,247.271 for war, 9.922,511 for public in- 

 struction, 8,171,023 for finance, and 5,601,052 for 

 justice. The debt consists of loans amounting 

 to 80,000.000 francs raised in 1887 and 1889, one 

 of 26,000,000 francs raised in 1893 in Germany to 

 build harbors at Burgas and Varna and connect 

 them with the trunk railway, a small sum of 21,- 

 700.000 still due to Russia on account of the 

 military occupation in the war of independence, 

 an annuity of 118,040 pounds Turkish, being the 

 contribution of Eastern Roumelia to the Porte, 

 which has been assumed by the Bulgarian Gov- 

 ernment, and 21,000 pounds Turkish, being 

 arrears of the same. The share of the old Turk- 

 ish debt to be borne by Bulgaria has never been 

 fixed by the signatory powers as the treaty stipu- 



lated that it should be. The budget for 1894 

 provides for the expenditure of 102,270,982 lei, 

 wnile the revenue is calculated at 101,077,383 lei! 



The Army and Navy. Bulgaria maintains 

 about 35,800 officers and men under arms, with 

 cadres representing a total war strength of 175,- 

 000, with 288 field and 36 mountain guns. The 

 army is organized in 3 divisions of 2 brigades 

 each. There are 4 armed steamers in commis- 

 sion, and two armor-plated gunboats for service 

 in the Danube are being built in Italy. 



Commerce and Production. Bulgaria is 

 essentially an agricultural country, of small pro- 

 prietors enjoying practical equality of wealth 

 and social conditions. Capitalists are few, and 

 pauperism is unknown. The cultivated area 

 in 1892 was 9,770,700 acres, of which 5,359,900 

 acres were under the plow, 770,600 acres of 

 meadow, 237,120 acres in vineyards, 111,120 acres 

 in gardens, etc. " The area not brought under 

 cultivation was 14,750,450 acres, of which only 

 1,099,150 acres jare irreclaimable. Although a 

 large part of the natural resources are yet unde- 

 veloped, both the people and the Government 

 are so jealous of their independence of all foreign 

 influence or control that outside capital and en- 

 terprise are excluded. The foreign trade has 

 nearly doubled in the past six years. The total 

 value of the imports for 1893 was 90,806,000 lei, 

 and of the exports 91,464,000 lei. Large quan- 

 tities of wheat, as well as wine, flax, silk, to- 

 bacco, and attar of roses, are produced for ex- 

 port ; also live animals are raised beyond the 

 needs of the people and are exported, with wool, 

 tallow, butter, cheese, etc. There were 7,060.300 

 sheep, 1,453,500 goats, and 441,000 hogs in 1892. 

 The export of timber is considerable, there be- 

 ing 3,291,000 acres under forest. The chief im- 

 ports are textile fabrics, me'tal goods, leather, 

 furniture, and groceries. The total value of the 

 imports in 1892 was 77,303,007 lei, and of the 

 exports 74,640,354 lei. The export of grain 

 amounted to 57,943,176 lei, most of it going to 

 Great Britain, Germany, Austria, and Turkey. 

 The export of live animals was valued at 6,756,- 

 391 lei. The carrying trade is mainly done in 

 Austro-Hungarian vessels. 



Communications. There are 520 miles of 

 railroads in operation. The receipts for 1892 

 were estimated at 4,750.000 and expenses at 

 5,347,000 lei. The Government has 2,953 miles 

 of telegraph lines. The number of dispatches 

 wired in 1892 was 1,056,610. The number of let- 

 ters, newspapers, etc., carried in the mails was 

 11,422,000. 



Retirement of Stambuloff. Bulgaria has 

 made great material progress and preserved its 

 political independence under the despotic gov- 

 ernment of Stambuloff, who retained his power 

 because he was regarded as indispensable by 

 Austrian and British statesmen and by Prince 

 Ferdinand and most of the anti-Russian patriots, 

 but not without multiplying by his high-handed 

 acts his already numerous enemies. Stambuloff 

 has been at the head of affairs as Regent or 

 Prime Minister since he formed a provisional 

 government at Tirnova in 1886, after the kid- 

 napping of Prince Alexander. After Prince 

 Ferdinand grew familiar with the language and 

 people of Bulgaria he brooked with less patience 

 the dictatorial ways of the Premier, who still 



