240 



REVIE\N OF REVIEWS. 



THE PRINCE IS PROVIDED. 

 In this emergency one man stood like 

 a rock between Bulgaria and the Rus- 

 sian. It was Stambuloff, the innkeeper's 

 son. Rude and violent, a man who com- 



POMP AND CEREMONY. 

 But if we are to understand Ferdi- 

 nand we must distinguish between pub- 

 lic results and private motives. It may 

 be that no other instrument could have 



bined a sincere patriotism with uncouth accomplished what this purely artificial 



manners and a genius for statesman- monarch has accomplished for Bul- 



ship, he had been largely responsible garia. The determination to "arrive" 



for throwing otf the yoke of Turkey, himself has helped Bulgaria to arrive 



and now fought with equal passion to also. Between him and his people 



resist Russian aggression. It was he there is an immeasiirable gulf fixed. A 



who had sent out the commission to solid, somewhat dour, but very virile 



find a prince — the commission that now race, the Bulgarians have no point of 



sat forlorn and unsuccessful in the contact in temperament or sympathies 



Viennese beer garden. Enter Major with their Sovereign. He has had to 



Laabe. He learned their business — conquer them, as he had to conquer the 



knew their business, indeed, for was he 

 not the advance agent of the Prince-in- 

 search-of-a-throne? "Why, gentlemen, 

 there is just the man you want," said he, 

 pointing to a young officer in the white 

 tunic and gold-laced kepi of Austrian 

 Hussars who was sitting near by — how 

 accidentally one can only guess. " He 



Powers and Stambuloff. They, a 

 simple, undemonstrative people, were 

 revolted by the vanity of their prince. 

 While his neighbour, Nicholas of Mon- 

 tenegro, sat at his door and was acces- 

 sible to any peasant, Ferdinand as- 

 sumed the pose and habits of the grand 

 monarque. Within a few days of his 



is Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, arrival he had refused to see the repre- 

 grandson of Louis Philippe, a cousin sentatives of England. Austria and 



of every crowned head in Europe, a 

 favourite of the Emperor of Austria 

 and the Tsar, and a man of wealth." 



THE MAN. 

 The boat that a year before had 

 brought the dethronedAlexander up the 

 Danube took Ferdinand down. No 

 Prince ever entered upon a more pre- 

 carious enterprise than his. Unrecog- 

 nised by the Powers without, faced by 

 a masterful Minister within, he seemed 

 the princeling of an hour — a momentary 

 incident in Bulgaria's troubled story. 

 At the end of twenty-five years his 

 throne is secure, his country is stable 

 and prosperous, he is smiled on by the 

 Powers, his princeship has become a 

 kingship, he stands at the head of a 

 triumphant army, he may emerge from 



Italy because they did not appear in his 

 presence in uniform. No King in 

 Europe is hedged round with more 

 pomp and ceremony than Ferdinand, 

 travels in more regal style, assumes a 

 more Olympian air, cultivates so extra- 

 vagant an etiquette. Even his little son 

 cannot ride abroad without a cavalcade 

 and an ecclesiastical dignitar)' in at- 

 tendance. His relative, the Comtesse 

 dc Paris, once said of him that he cared 

 for nothing except titles and orders, 

 and the industry with which for years 

 he canvassed the Courts of Europe for 

 a crown gives colour to the saying. 



A SUCCESSFUL SCHEMER. 



But vain though he is, his ambition 



soars beyond titles. Like Charles the 



First, he will be " a King indeed." and 



the war the Emperor of the Balkans as not a mockery of a king. He will stoop 



the King of Prussia emerged from the 

 war of 1 870 the Emperor of Germany. 

 It is the triumph of a subtle diplomacy, 

 motived by one dominating passion — 

 personal ambition. There are those 

 who, in their enthusiasm for Bulgaria, 

 find in Ferdinand the chivalrous hero 

 who has wrought the miracle. The suc- 

 cess of his policy blinds their judgment 

 of the man. 



low to conquer, it is true. Neither his 

 faith, nor his dignity, nor loyalty to 

 those who have served him will stand 

 in the way of his path to power. When 

 he found that Russia remained obdu- 

 rate, even though Stambuloff had been 

 removed, he bartered his faith and his 

 word to win her smiles. He himself 

 is a Roman Catholic, and when he mar- 

 ried his first wife, Princess Marie Louise 



