The Great Turk and His Lost Provinces 55 



posing than can be found in any city of 

 46,000 population in the United States, 

 and it is the center of social life. Dur- 

 ing the reign of Prince Alexander, a 

 military barracks, public printing office, 

 a technical school, a riding academy, and 

 other creditable government buildings 

 were erected. Several mosques have 

 been converted into prisons, markets, 

 warehouses, and arsenals. The largest, 

 only a stone's throw from the palace, is 

 now being fitted up for a national mu- 

 seum. There are two hotels with com- 

 fortable rooms and excellent tables; 

 electric street cars run in every direc- 

 tion; the streets, public buildings, and 

 houses of the rich are lighted with elec- 

 tricity, and other features of modern 

 civilization are quite as advanced as may 

 be found in any other city of Europe. 



In the older quarters of the city are 

 seen long rows of ancient wooden houses 

 with latticed windows, and by that sign 

 one may know the residence of a Turk, 

 who thus shields the women of his fam- 

 ily from the public gaze; but there are 

 now comparatively few Moslems in Bul- 

 garia, and they are leaving rapidly. 



The Berlin conference told the people 

 of Bulgaria that they might choose their 

 own prince, and the National Assembly 

 selected Prince Alexander of Hesse, a 

 nephew of the Czar of Russia, a grand- 

 nephew of Kaiser Wilhelm the Great, 

 and a brother-in-law of Queen Victoria's 

 daughter Beatrice. He was a great fa- 

 vorite with everybody — brave, unselfish, 

 patriotic, and ambitious to promote the 

 welfare of the people, but too honest and 

 candid to cope with the conspirators by 

 whom he was surrounded. Russia was 

 disappointed because the other powers 

 had deprived her of the fruit of her vic- 

 tory over the Turks, and determined to 

 obtain control of Bulgaria by intrigue. 

 Anxious to preserve its independence, 

 Alexander refused to comply with the 

 Russian demands, encouraged the dem- 

 ocratic spirit of the people, and assumed 

 the leadership of the anti-Russian party. 



The Russians retaliated by one of the 

 most scandalous conspiracies since the 

 days of the robber barons. The Prince 

 of Bulgaria was kidnapped in his own 

 palace by his own officers, driven over 

 the mountains, and placed upon a Rus- 

 sian yacht in the Danube. European 

 sentiment compelled his restoration and 

 the Czar evaded responsibility, but not 

 one of the Russian officials engaged in 

 the plot was ever even reprimanded. 



Alexander was enthusiastically wel- 

 comed by the people, but, with charac- 

 teristic frankness telegraphed the Czar 

 that he had received his crown from 

 Russia and was ready to surrender it 

 whenever demanded. The Czar com- 

 pelled Alexander to abdicate, but not 

 until after he had given him a pledge 

 that the Bulgarians would be permitted 

 to manage their own affairs without in- 

 terference — a pledge that has been daily 

 violated. 



Alexander's successor and the present 

 Prince of Bulgaria is Ferdinand of Saxe- 

 Coburg and Gotha, a grandson of Louis 

 Philippe of France, and a cousin of 

 nearly every crowned head in Europe. 

 Ferdinand is the opposite of Alexander 

 in character, motives, and ambitions. 

 He is selfish, fond of display, of ex- 

 travagant habits, and the gratification 

 of his own vanity is of greater impor- 

 tance to him than the progress and wel- 

 fare of his people. For the first two or 

 three years he got on without friction, 

 but his queen, Marie Eouise of Bourbon, 

 yearned for the social recognition of the 

 court at St Petersburg and was ambi- 

 tious for her children. Through her 

 influence he yielded to the demands of 

 the Czar, and the active ruler of Bul- 

 garia has since been the diplomatic 

 agent of Russia at Sofia, now Mr Bakh- 

 meteff , a diplomatist of great talent and 

 long experience, who is well known in 

 Washington, having married the daugh- 

 ter of the late General Edward F. Beale. 



Stefan Stambuloff was the greatest 

 man the Balkan States ever produced, 



