88 



BULGARIA. 



shut out the Prince from practical participation 

 in the public business. Yet he was anxious to 

 avoid a rupture with the man who was popular- 

 ly regarded as the savior of Bulgaria, and who 

 controlled an enormous majority by the methods 

 of influencing popular elections used in coun- 

 tries win-re popular self-government is in its 

 infancy; and so were StarabulofTs colleagues, 

 upon whom he imposed his will in most financial 

 ami economical questions. Nachevich had re- 

 ,1 from the Ministry of Finance, and able 

 and trustworthy politicians were unwilling to 

 take Cabinet posts. Under the one-man power 

 of this astute and imperious politician the class 

 of men who were intrusted with office or legis- 

 lative influence deteriorated and rank corruption 

 showed itself, for which Stambuloff was deemed 

 responsible, as Bratiano had been in Roumania. 

 In the absence of an Opposition party in the 

 Chamber, an independent press was supported 

 by those who disapproved his methods, and this 

 hi' endeavored to crush by imposing restrictions 

 on the liberty of printing. The- principal news- 

 paper received aid and encouragement from the 

 Prince, who was alive to the dangers attending 

 the government of a country by a single party, 

 without the check of a regular Opposition. He 

 created enemies in the army by interfering in 

 military matters. The necessity of a defender 

 against Russian encroachments or Panslavistic 

 revolution had ceased, for the Czar had desisted 

 from his menacing attitude, the machinations of 

 the Slav committees had ceased, and the relig- 

 ious and grateful devotion of Bulgarian farmers 

 to the Czar, who was the head of their religion 

 and their emancipator from the Turkish yoke, 

 was no longer fanned by agitation into a* dan- 

 gerous political force. 



In the early part of 1894 the Government in- 

 curred criticism by its seeming apathy in regard 

 to the action of the Porte in closing Bulgarian 

 ^liools in Macedonia. They were closed in con- 

 .-eqiience of the rivalry of the Greeks, who, like 

 the Servians, endeavor to further their Nation- 

 alist propaganda by controlling education in 

 Macedonia, and who had the legal power to take 

 possession of the schools outside the established 

 Bulgarian bishoprics. In this matter Stambu- 

 loff achieved a new diplomatic triumph when 

 the Sultan granted berats, which before had 

 been refused, for two new Bulgarian bishoprics, 

 Nevrokop and Kuprili, and gave the Bulgarian 

 exarch permission to establish a school in the 

 capital, thus placing Bulgarian schools on the 

 same footing as the (Jtvrk. Already there had 

 bi-rn otablMietl by the exarch, with funds 

 supplied by the Bulgarian Government and by 

 private persons, :j 12 Bulgarian schools in Salo- 

 niea and Serres, with H,92(> pupils; and in the 

 vilayet of Kosovo a great number had been 

 opened since the appoint ment of a Bulgarian 

 bishop of Uskub in 1890. The causes that have 

 long made probable the eventual downfall of 

 Stambiiloir were still operative, notwithstand- 

 ing this diplomatic success. The I'rim-e felt 

 >tn>ng enough to claim his share in the Govern- 

 ment after the birth of a son had insured the 

 life of the dynasty. lie felt aggrieved because 

 Stambuloff and his colleagues had not pressed 

 his claims for recognition by the European 

 powers, and was no longer willing to identify 



the fortunes of his dynasty with the fate of a 

 particular party dominated by one masterful 

 politician. A domestic scandal precipitated a 

 crisis. Moved by suspicions that were declared 

 by two military officers whom Stambuloff con- 

 sulted to lack sufficient grounds, the Minister of 

 War sent a challenge to his chief, an-d when it 

 was declined he offered his resignation. The 

 Prince was then absent from the country, and 

 Stambuloff, acting as regent, accepted it* with- 

 out notifying Ferdinand, who, hastening back, 

 found fault with the haste of the Premier. 

 Stambuloff thereupon offered his resignation. 

 No action was taken ; and on the outburst of 

 popular enthusiasm which occurred when the 

 Sultan withdrew the edict concerning Mace- 

 donian schools the Prince consented to Col. 

 Savoff's being not only deprived of his portfolio 

 but dismissed from the army. He selected as 

 Savoff's successor Col. Petroff, the Chief of 

 Staff, against the wishes of Stambuloff, and de- 

 prived the latter of all control over the arrny 

 and consequent power to maintain his position 

 by force. After a stormy interview the Prince, 

 on May 29, accepted Stambuloff 's resignation. 

 There had been violent demonstrations in Philip- 

 popolis and other places for and against Stam- 

 buloff ; and on May 80 a riot was provoked in 

 the capital by his partisans, who were dispersed 

 by the military. Grekoff, who at first was in- 

 trusted with the formation of a new Cabinet, 

 could get none of the Opposition to join him. 

 Stoiloff, a former Minister of Justice, who had 

 negotiated with Prince Ferdinand for the ac- 

 ceptance of the Bulgarian throne, but who had 

 kept aloof from active politics for several years, 

 succeeded in forming a ministry from the' Con- 

 servative and Radical parties. * It was consti- 

 tuted in June as follows : President of the Coun- 

 cil and Minister of the Interior, Stoiloff : Min- 

 ister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Public 

 Works ad interim, Nachevich ; Minister of Fi- 

 nance, Gueshoff ; Minister of Justice and Minis- 

 ter of Public Instruction ad interim, Rados- 

 lavoff ; Minister of War, Col. Petroff; Minister 

 of Commerce and Agriculture, Tontcheff. 



Riotous demonstrations, attended with blood- 

 shed, continued to occur in Sofia, where the 

 students especially were furious because the 

 police shielded Stambuloff's partisans who dis- 

 turbed the peace. On May 31 anti-Stambuloff 

 riots occurred in Varna, Philippopolis, and other 

 towns. There was a fight between the military 

 and the gendarmerie, who were joined by two 

 mutinous battalions in an attempt to upset the 

 Government in Stambuloff's interest. He and 

 all the retiring ministers were kept under guard 

 in their houses till the excitement died out. 

 The new Government pardoned Archbishop 

 Clement, and liberated over threescore journal- 

 ists and others who had been confined in prison. 

 An amnesty was proclaimed on Aug. 15 for 

 prisoners and exiles sentenced for political of- 

 fenses, in accordance with which many refugees 

 returned to Bulgaria, but Dragan Zankoff and 

 Peter Karaveloff were not pardoned. Stambu- 

 loff,. in reply to various strictures upon his mo- 

 lives and character, gave an interview to a 

 German newspaper correspondent, in which he 

 spoke disparagingly of the Prince. For this he 

 was arraigned in court on a charge of libel, and 



