1. Young days
2. Entrance upon public life
3. The union
4. The Servian war
5. The "coup d'état"
6. The regency
Stambuloff's family — He is apprenticed to a tailor — Joins the Tirnovo revolutionary committee — Goes to Odessa as scholar of the Empress — Studies for the Priesthood — Is ejected from the University — Returns to Bulgaria — Travels as a pedlar — Forms revolutionary committees — Attempts to raise revolt at Esky Zagra — Is hunted out of Bulgaria — Starvation at Bucharest — Second attempt at revolt — Benkovsky at Panagurishté — Christo Karamenko the Voivode — An adventurous drive — The siege of Drénovo Monastery — Stambuloff crosses the Danube under sentry fire disguised as a gardener — Joins the Russian staff during the Servian War — The Russo-Turkish War.
ON the northern slope of the Balkans, some twenty kilometres from the Hain Pass, lies the town of Tirnovo. At the time of the Turkish domination it was little more than a big village, but it has since risen to the position of a thriving town. It was there that Stepan Stambuloff was born on the 31st January, 1854. His father kept a small hotel, and earned a scanty, but honest, livelihood, sufficient to keep and, in a measure, to educate his three children. M. Stambuloff's brother has never left Tirnovo, nor mixed in any way in the strife of parties. Devoting himself to business he has amassed a small fortune, and continues to live the retiring life of a well-to-do merchant. His sister married Major, afterwards General, Mutkûroff, of whom more will be heard later on.
17
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Stepan was sent at an early age to the communal school, and remained there until 1868, when it was closed by Midhat Pasha, who, under his new scheme, was planning the absorption of all Bulgarian schools by those of the Turkish system. By this measure young Stambuloff was thrown upon his father's hands, who, unwilling to keep him idle at home, apprenticed him to a tailor. The first seeds of revolt had, however, already been sown in his mind. Amongst the visitors to the hotel was a certain Captain Nicola, of Silistria, who was secretly plotting an insurrection against the Turkish authorities.
This adventurer succeeded in collecting a band of desperate men, and crossed the Balkans by the Shipka Pass. He was, however, met at Gabrovo by the Turks, and killed, whilst his band was dispersed. M. Stambuloff's father was arrested on a charge of complicity, and of harbouring the rebel, but for want of proofs was released, having, as a matter of fact, had nothing whatever to do with the plot.
Meanwhile, Stambuloff was only working in a very half-hearted fashion at his board. The master tailor, after the habit of his kind, was fond of the bottle, and day after day would close his establishment by the simple device of folding-to the double shutter, which opened on to the street, and betake himself to the beer-house. His apprentice profited by these holidays to pursue his studies. As the school was no longer in existence, he frequented a M. Shishmânoff, a master who had arrived with a great reputation fresh from Paris. This man preached the solid advantages of learning, and of a good education, with such eloquence that Stambuloff resolved definitely
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to abandon tailoring and place himself under his tuition. Shishmânoff also persuaded Midhat Pasha to allow him to open a temporary school until the new scheme should be in working order, and obtained even a subsidy of 10,000 piastres to start with. His father was at first inclined to resent young Stambuloff's desertion from trade, and threatened to turn him out of doors if he left the tailor, but finally he consented, and gave in to the already masterful will of his son.
In 1866, the Cretan insurrection broke out, and greatly moved the restless spirits in Bulgaria. Many went over and joined the Cretans, whilst other leaders commenced organising bands in Roumania, who were to cross the frontier, and fall upon the Turks when the proper moment arrived. Unfortunately for themselves they appear to have had very mistaken ideas of their opportunities, and almost invariably met with prompt defeat and execution by the Turks. In 1867, a Philip Totiú led in a band, which was annihilated by the troops, and the prisoners, together with the gory heads of the slain, were brought into Tirnovo. In 1868 a larger band of about 150 men, under Hadji Dmitri and Karâdja, crossed the Danube near Sistov, and advanced upon Tirnovo, where they encountered the Turks. The result was seen next morning in a row of thirty trunkless heads arranged in line over the portals of the Konak. These and similar occurrences fairly fired the indignation of young Stambuloff, who swore an oath that he would never rest until he had freed his nation from the rule of the Ottoman Porte. A first revolutionary committee was formed in Tirnovo itself, under the direction of a bookbinder, and
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by affiliating himself Stambuloff took his initial step in rebellion. They were, however, as yet, too weak and too inexperienced to do much, and contented themselves with holding private meetings, and elaborating great plans for the future. It was about this time, in 1869, that Shishmânoff's school subsidy was cut off, and he continued merely to give lessons privately in his own house to the most assiduous and devoted of his pupils.
Needless to say that Stambuloff was found among the still faithful, and when the yearly examination was held, he was one of the leading scholars. As fate would have it, the Dragoman of the Russian Consulate at Varna, a M. Nicola Daskaloff, happened to be in Tirnovo at the time of the examination, and by invitation was present. The sight of him inspired Stambuloff and a few of his comrades with a bold idea, and the young Bulgarians waited to see the Russian Dragoman, and diffidently put forward a query if it would not be possible for them to obtain a better education in Russia than was possible under the Turks? M. Daskaloff encouraged them in their hopes, and bade them draw up a petition to be forwarded to the Asiatic Department of St. Petersburg. This was in the month of June, 1869, and in the autumn of 1870, to their inexpressible delight, the petitioners received an answer to the effect that they were admitted to the Odessa University, as scholars on the Foundation of the Empress of Russia. The two years spent in Odessa only served to increase the determination and the capacities of the Bulgarian students for the task they had set before them. Stambuloff spent his probation in studying for the priesthood, but the unruly bent of his
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nature found far more congenial converse in the society of the Nihilists than in that of his spiritual teachers. At that period the Odessa University was a perfect hotbed of Nihilism, and, out of 200 scholars, there were perhaps not more than thirty or forty free from the taint. All the Bulgarians, panting for freedom, and intoxicated with the breadth and grandeur of the new ideas, threw themselves into the arms of the Russian Nihilists. Stambuloff, at the age of eighteen, was elected librarian of the party, whose President was Kovalsky, afterwards killed in a revolt. They met in cellars, and all manner of precautions were taken, but they failed to escape the infallible eye and the merciless hand of the Secret Police. A sudden raid was made upon the University, and the Nihilists were arrested en bloc. Short work was made of the Russians, and the Bulgarians, as Turkish subjects, were given twenty-four hours in which to quit Russian soil. Stambuloff was despatched to Galatz, on the Danube, from whence he continued his journey to Bucharest. There he found the headquarters of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Party, with a strong Central Committee under Luben Karavéloff (uncle of the famous Minister) and Boteff. He at once entered into the closest relations with them, and stated his readiness to act under their orders. Accordingly he was sent back again to Bulgaria, where he was as yet unsuspected ; the news of his Odessa escapades and of his Bucharest intrigues not having reached his native town. Returning with all the prestige of the Odessa University about him, he was offered by the Turks a post as schoolmaster, at a hundred liras a year, but he declined to hamper himself
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with any fixed occupation, and commenced without delay to re-unite the fragments of the revolutionary faction, which had been very roughly treated by the Turks during his absence. The two leaders had both come to untimely ends. Vassili Levsky, whose statue now stands in Sofia, at the head of the street named after him, had finally been caught by the Turks and hanged outside the present capital. He had succeeded for many months in evading pursuit, and in inflicting considerable annoyance and loss upon the Turks, and when at length he was captured there was despair in the hearts of the outlaws. [*] Angel Kontcheff, another resolute rebel, had put an end to himself, at Rustchuk, to avoid falling into the clutches of his enemies, and so many failures, punished with such swift and inexorable severity, had broken the courage of the patriots. It was indeed almost equivalent to certain death to be caught conspiring or in arms against the Porte, and Stambuloff found himself at first almost alone. After a short search, though, he discovered, at Tirnovo, Pope Mattei, a priest who had been intimate with all Levsky's plans and system of propaganda, and who was able to give the emissary from Bucharest much valuable information as to the districts where he would still find relics of Levsky's Sub-Committees, and men
*. Levsky's memory is always revered as one of the heroes of the first stage in Bulgaria's struggle for independence, and in many a peasant's cottage is to be seen a quaint coloured engraving of the patriot-martyr standing upon a barrel under a gibbet, whilst two Turks astride on the cross-beam are adjusting the cord round his neck ; a priest stands on one side, and a soldier with fixed bayonet on the other. In the background is Mount Vitosh, and underneath an inscription, Vassili Levsky. Hanged at Sofia) 6th Feb. 1873.
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devoted to the cause. Stambuloff, armed with the authority of the Central Committee, instantly set about re-constituting and re-organizing the old Sub-Committees, and forming new ones. He started on his mission on foot, but at the village of Belocherkovo the party presented him with a fine Arab horse. In order to avert suspicion from the real objects of his wanderings he pretended to be a book-pedlar, and having purchased a pair of saddlebags, and filled them with popular literature, he applied for and obtained a licence as a hawker. He then made an extensive tour, beginning at Sivlivo. From thence he went to Lovtcha, where he found a valuable ally in the person of M. Lukânoff (now awaiting his trial at Sofia on an accusation of torturing the Beltcheff murderers). From Lovtcha to Philippopolis, and Tatar Bazardjik, back to Philippopolis, and so to Kezanlik, Gabrovo, Drenovo, and back to Tirnovo. At all these places he exhibited his mandate from Bucharest, formed Sub-Committees, who gave him full powers to represent them at headquarters, and in the course of six weeks he had under his supervision about forty of these secret societies. With their professions of adherence in his pockets, Stambuloff returned to Roumania, and gave an account of the success of his mission as far as it went. It was decided to do nothing rashly, but to prepare to strike at the first favourable opportunity. The Central Committee gave Stambuloff practically unlimited authority, and sent him back to Bulgaria, at the age of twenty, as their representative. Before starting, he purchased forty revolvers, and instructed a candle-seller named Goroff to smuggle them across the Danube at Giurgevo. Owing to the
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weight of his parcels, however, Goroff was detected, and foolishly confessed that the revolvers belonged to a certain Stambuloff, of Tirnovo. This contretemps made it impossible for the young leader to enter Tirnovo openly. Consequently he crossed the Balkans to Esky Zagra, and procured a passport for himself as a native of that town. After spending a few days there he proceeded to Hermanly, where he found Radi Ivânoff (now occupying a high position in Sofia) as station-master, and Zachary Stoyânoff as pointsman.
The Turks had meanwhile traced Stambuloff's entry into Bulgaria, and were searching for him very actively. He was forced, therefore, to lie hidden at Hermanly, living under a woodstack for most of a month, and protected by his two friends. The story of this period of the struggles of the rebels for independence is charmingly told by Zachary Stoyânoff, in his book of reminiscences. The friendship between him and Stambuloff never cooled to the day of his death, and he was one of the most active colleagues in the movement from that day onward. When the coast was clear, Stambuloff passed on to Adrianople, where he stayed at the house of another conspirator, Ikonômoff, who facilitated his passage to Constantinople. On reaching the capital, he went up to Buyukdereh, and was presented to General Ignatieff, the Russian Ambassador, by Christo, the well-known Cavass of the Sofia Palace to-day. General Ignatieff received him well, encouraged him to persevere, and sent him on to Odessa with a Russian passport. It is worthy of remark that, after having been expelled from Russia as a Nihilist and a Turkish subject, he should have been
25
able, two years later, to re-enter the empire with a Russian passport delivered to him by the Ambassador.
Without delaying in Odessa, he hurried on to Bucharest, to report himself to his chiefs. It was in 1875 that he entered Bucharest for the second time. There he found that a split had taken place at the top of the tree. Luben Karavéloff, with the older members, was for a Fabian policy, whilst Boteff, with the younger and more ardent spirits, was for a vigorous pushing of the "committee" system, to be followed by immediate action. It is easy to guess with which side young Stambuloff threw in his lot, and he founded a revolutionary newspaper, together with Boteff, called the Znameh, or Standard. He also toured through Roumania, recruiting for the cause, when the insurrection broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This aroused the wildest hopes amongst the Bulgarian revolutionaries, who resolved not to let slip so good a chance. The choice of an emissary, who should have the whole management and responsibility of the campaign, fell at once upon young Stambuloff. He was given full powers, and told to pick out a favourable spot, where the flag of revolt might be unfurled. He chose Esky Zagra, and started for Galatz, where, through the influence of the committee, he obtained a French passport, and embarked on an Austrian-Lloyd boat for Constantinople. On board the same steamer were Benkovsky and Stoyan Zaimoff, with whom Stambuloff conceived the audacious plan of his rising. [*] He left
*. Another version is that the plan, including the burning of Constantinople, emanated from the Central Bucharest Committee, and that Stambuloff was merely commissioned to execute it.
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them behind at Constantinople, with instructions that as soon as the insurrection broke out at Esky Zagra, they were to set fire to Stamboul. They actually made considerable preparations to this end, but the course of events hindered them from putting their scheme into action.
Meanwhile Stambuloff went by train to Tirnovo-Semen, and thence on foot to Esky Zagra, which place he reached in the late autumn, in September. On arriving, he sent word to his trusty lieutenants, Zachary Stoyânoff and Radi Ivânoff, to join him from Hermanly. The reports sent in from the various committees represented five thousand men as being ready to rise, and from Tirnovo alone two thousand were promised over and above the first total. Out of these supposed seven thousand, Stambuloff reckoned upon at least one thousand answering the summons, and with that thousand he was prepared to run the risk. He saw, though, that there was not by any means the enthusiasm he would have liked to meet with, and that however patriotic his countrymen might be at heart, the terror of the Turk was heavy upon their arms and feet. Having come to Esky Zagra to raise a revolt, it was not in Stambuloff's nature to be discouraged from making the attempt. The night of the 6th/18th September was fixed, and the places of rendezvous were two cemeteries on the outskirts of the town — Shadir Moghileh and the Latin Cemetery. The plan was, that the assembled conspirators were to attack and burn the town of Esky Zagra. Stambuloff, then twenty-one years of age, led a little band of thirty armed men out to Shadir Moghileh at sundown, and there they waited the arrival of the
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hundreds and the thousands who had sworn to support them. The night was dark and stormy, and the thirty waited through its long hours till dawn began to break. The bitter truth was then evident: they were betrayed, and could not return to Esky Zagra. Their only resource was hiding and flight. They retired to a small forest a few miles out of town, where they rested during the 7th. The Turkish soldiery, however, were on the trail, and they fled to the village of Hain, from whence, on the third day, they crossed the Hain Pass of the Balkans — all that was left of them, for several had fallen on the way. [*] The weather was intensely cold, and they soon fell short of provisions. They were only saved from starvation by hunting down a small herd of roe-deer in the soft snow. They dared not shoot, and had to run them to a standstill. After enduring almost intolerable hardships for ten or twelve days, they decided to disperse and make the best of their way, each wherever he pleased.
The last night was a melancholy one for Stepan Stambuloff. Although it was against the rules, they had lighted a fire to keep warm, caring little in their wretchedness what fate might befall them. Most of his comrades blamed him for precipitating matters, and for striking before the hour was ripe. Seated on a carpet of zdravitza (a sort of heather) by the dying embers, amidst the dreary waste of snow, he pondered over
*. Two brothers had taken refuge in a cottage, which was surrounded by the Turks. When all their ammunition was exhausted, the younger brother wished to surrender, but the elder stabbed him to the heart, and then set fire to the room, and perished in the flames.
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his past life, so short and yet so filled with stirring memories, and he himself told me that it was then that he had his first disillusion, and shed his first tears over the faithlessness of his men and the frailty of their promises. He went further, and swore deeply to himself that never more would he expose his life for the sake of a nation who deserted him in his hour of need. How often he broke that oath history tells ; indeed, by next morning he had regained some of his old confidence. As the sun rose it looked on a pitiful spectacle. The faithful few, without money, food, or refuge, were met probably for the last time. They piled their rifles and their flag, the flag of so many hopes, in a cave, and rolled a stone to the mouth of it. Then they re-swore their vows, and with prayers on their lips, and despair in their hearts, the Bulgarian patriots wrung hands, and at the Lâzofsky Pass went silently each his own way.
Stambuloff made for Tirnovo, where, to his infinite astonishment, he found everything quiet, and the Turkish authorities ignorant even of the futile attempt at Esky Zagra. From Tirnovo he went to Sistov, where he was hospitably received by a Madame Zenoff, whose brother-in-law took him across the Danube, and he landed for the third time in Roumania. His reception, however, was a cruel one in Bucharest. His failure was imputed to him as the worst of crimes, and he was practically outlawed by his compatriots. When he sat down to a table the rest would rise and leave it, and he was made to drink the uttermost dregs of the bitterness of defeat. Having next to no money with him, he was soon brought to the verge of actual starvation. He was saved, however, by the
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advent of a friend, who brought him a hundred liras; but when these were spent, he was again for three days without food of any sort. At last a compatriot had pity on him, and sent him to Giurgevo, with a present of ten francs. At Giurgevo, he put up at a house named " La Caserne," and by degrees he got together about fifty kindred souls. He now began, at last, to receive money and help from Bulgaria, and the tide seemed to be turning. At "La Caserne" the irreclaimable conspirator sketched out a new scheme. For revolutionary purposes he divided the whole of Bulgaria into four districts, Tirnovo, Slivno, Vratza and Sofia, and Tatar Bazardjik with Philippopolis, and the environs.
The Feast of Sts. Cyril and Method, the nth of May, was the day fixed for the rising. On the 6th February Stambuloff crossed the Danube once more, but this time it was not an easy task. He was condemned to death for the Esky Zagra episode, and his portrait and description was in the hands of every Turkish post. Furthermore, the Danube was beginning to break up, and the floes were beginning to drift under nearly a foot of water over their surfaces. It was, however, necessary to get into Bulgaria, and it would be almost impossible to do so later, in a boat. The desperate attempt was made on the evening of the sixth, [*] as I have said. Stambuloff, with his friend,
*. I was frequently surprised, in enquiring various details from M. Stambuloff, at the extraordinary accuracy of his memory, especially for dates, which I invariably found to be correct in comparison with documents, Blue Books, etc. On my expressing curiosity as to how he could recollect such a date as this, he replied that there "are some dates which last as long as memory itself. The date of a day or night, when you expected every moment to be your last, is not easily effaced. And the joy of escaping from some imminent deadly peril is to me incomparable to any ordinary sweet or delight. I have had that joy several times, but I never felt it more keenly than when I left the ice for dry land that night."
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the Voivode Christo Karamenko, were dressed as Turkish gardeners, with the usual broad red sashes. Unwinding these, and knotting them together, they tied one end to the guide in front, and the other to the waist of the Voivode, Stambuloff being placed in the middle. The water was bitterly, icily cold, and the passage hazardous in the extreme; but the adventurous trio effected it safely in about an hour. On the opposite bank they were met by the Dragoman of the Russian Consulate, who conveyed them, in a cart, to the house of a fine old lady, known as Baba Tonka Obre't'ena'a, both of whose sons joined the rebels, and paid the usual price later on. [*]
After a day or two at Rustchuk, Stambuloff decided to go to Tirnovo, taking Christo Karamenko with him. They first thought of riding, but finally preferred the " Shirket," a sort of local post service. The journey was a very risky one, as both of the travellers were pretty well known, but they disguised themselves, and bought a cask of brandy to "make the horses go faster," by intoxicating the driver. Karamenko feigned illness, and wrapped himself up in bundles of shawls, and Stambuloff pretended to be his nephew. They reckoned on reaching Tirnovo in nine hours, and set off at nightfall. The brandy, unfortunately, was too strong, or the driver's head too weak, and after going a few miles he rolled off his
*. A third son, M. Kola Obretenoff, is now Prefect of Rustchuk.
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box into the mud; Stambuloff then had to take the reins. Anybody who has tried to drive Balkan ponies knows how loth they are to obey an unfamiliar hand, and this obstinacy on the part of the horses, joined to ignorance of the road, so delayed the refugees that it took them twelve hours to reach Biela, which was only half-way. Not without difficulty they managed to elude the police, who would inevitably have recognised Karamenko, had they not been persuaded to refrain from disturbing the slumbers of a sick man, and taking fresh horses and another driver they continued their route, reaching the outskirts of Tirnovo about three o'clock the following afternoon. As they dared not enter the town, they astonished the " Shirket " coachman by saying that they would go to the Monastery, which stood hard by, in order to obtain the necessary care and comforts for the invalid. Luckily for them his suspicions were not aroused, and he allowed them to leave unmolested. The fugitives made for the forests which surround Tirnovo, and there they stayed for two days, entering the town themselves by night, and being visited during the day by their partisans. Amongst these was Benkovsky, who, upon the failure of the Esky Zagra plot, had come on from Constantinople. He had already assumed rather a leading position, and begged Stambuloff to use him as an "Apostle" — the title given to the revolutionaries in whom the chiefs reposed their confidence, and vested in a large measure their authority. At first Stambuloff hesitated, as he knew comparatively little of Benkovsky, but yielding to his solicitations, he sent the new man to Panagurishté. There Benkovsky soon proved himself
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superior in resource and energy to all the others put together. [*]
The conspirators still adhered to the original date of the nth May, fixed at Rustchuk, and Gorni Orékhovitsa, a few kilometres from Tirnovo, was pitched upon as the headquarters for the Central Committee for all Bulgaria. Orékhovitsa was occupied by Stambuloff, with about two thousand men in the village, and lurking amongst the forests in the neighbourhood, but the Turks got wind of something unusual, and marched four battalions of troops through Orékhovitsa and on to Sistov. The sight of the soldiery took half the courage out of the rebels, and, whilst they were hesitating, news reached them that Benkovsky had been forced by the Turks to defend himself at Panagurishté, and thus for the second time the revolt had begun before preparations were completed. Most conflicting rumours came from Benkovsky's district, but it was clear that there was no longer any possibility of delaying the movement. Christo Karamenko advanced upon the Monastery of Drénovo, which he took and fortified, and Stambuloff was marching to join him when he met the Turks in force laying siege to Christo. He therefore retreated for a few miles to
*. Amongst the Volunteers was a certain Slavkoff, who was nearly seven feet high, and big in proportion. Stambuloff refused to enrol him, saying that he was too conspicuous, and if once he were suspected he would be too easy to trace, besides compromising others. Nevertheless, Slavkoff continued to mix in the intrigues, and as Stambuloff would not keep him at Tirnovo, he went to the Vratza district. Here he was promptly arrested as soon as he arrived, which undoubtedly saved his life, as he had not yet had time to commit any very serious offence.
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watch the progress of events. On the night of the 1st May, a terrific snow and hail storm came on, accompanied with thunder and lightning. Under cover of the elements, Karamenko, with his two hundred, made a sortie, and, with fifty of his men, cut his way through the Turks, and effected a junction with Stambuloff, leaving one hundred and fifty dead behind. The skulls of these desperate rebels may be seen to-day in the Monastery of Drénovo. Shortly after this, Stambuloff's scouts arrested five men armed with rifles, who declared that they were the relics of the Panagurishté band. They presented a pitiful appearance, being mere skin and bone, and in the last stage of exhaustion. They said that it was on the 20th April that they were attacked by the Turks, that they had fought for four days, but in the end were utterly routed and cut down. Benkovsky himself had been caught by the troops at Ichtiman, and shot. His two lieutenants, Voloff and Ikonomoff, had actually reached the Danube, when the pursuit drew so close that they were compelled to jump into a half-rotten boat, which foundered in the middle of the swollen stream, and they were both drowned. [*]
Thus the next venture of the patriots had met with no better luck than the first one ; indeed, the consequences were more disastrous. The Turkish authorities were now
*. For further details of the guerilla warfare carried on by Stambuloff and Zachary Stoyânoff, who were the popular leaders from the commencement, the student should refer to the latter's volumes of memoirs, which are as full of dramatic interest as any work of fiction.
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thoroughly on the alert, and determined to put down the slightest revolutionary movement most mercilessly. The Bulgarians themselves were discouraged, and would no longer shelter the refugees, and the patriots repeatedly found themselves betrayed by their own countrymen. Zachary Stoyânoff, in his account of these times, declares that in no single instance was one of the outlaws betrayed to the police or to the troops by a Turk, though they were often obliged to have recourse to Mussulman peasants for food and shelter. On the contrary, the Turk, if forced to do so, would provide as best he could for his guests, but would generally refuse payment for service unwillingly rendered, and scorned to betray them ; whereas it is sad to relate that cases were not few in which Bulgarians gave the information which led to seizure and death.
It would be superfluous to enlarge upon this period of Bulgarian history. Enough has been said to show the leading part already taken, at the early age of twenty-one, by Stambuloff, whose imperious spirit and indomitable courage and energy seem to have marked him from the first as the natural champion of Bulgarian independence. The extraordinary influence and power of command over the most unruly material which he has shown throughout his career first manifested itself in his contests with the Turks. Often thrown over by his self-elected chiefs, abandoned by his subordinates, and with apparently not a vestige of hope left to him, he never wavered in his purpose, but pursued his ends with the persistency and patience of a sleuth-hound.
The situation in which he now found himself was
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one of the most critical in his life. For the moment there was nothing more to be done in Bulgaria, and he cast about him for the means of escaping with his head on his shoulders. After several adventures he reached Sistov, on the Danube. There he noticed Turkish sentries every hundred yards or so along the shores. Choosing the best spot he could, he arranged for a boat with four rowers to come over from the Roumanian side and fetch him. The stroke oar was to have a white handkerchief bound round his fez. The refugees — there were four of them, dressed as Turks — lounged about in eager expectation of the arrival of the boat. The shades of night were already falling before it stole out into mid-stream, and it was not until it was within a few yards that the white handkerchief was distinguishable. Till then the refugees had not dared to make a move towards the water's edge. They now tumbled helter-skelter over the bows in spite of the shouts of the Turkish picket, and bending to the oars, the crew were soon well on their way back, when the sentries opened fire upon them. In the uncertain light, however, no harm was done, and for the fourth time Stambuloff reached the hospitable soil of Roumania.
In Bucharest he found the greatest excitement aroused by the outbreak of the Turko-Servian War. Volunteers were flocking in to the Servian camp, and Stambuloff at once enlisted as Secretary to General Kishevsky, in which capacity he saw some of the fighting of that brief campaign.
Amongst other projects, was one for an attack on
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Tultcha, at the mouth of the Danube. The Russian Government were to furnish four ships for the Bulgarian refugees to man, and the Russian Generals, Fadèëff and Kishevsky, were to have commanded. Stambuloff went to Odessa to arrange for this mad scheme with General Gortchakoff, the Commandant of the town, and he agreed to give the steamers. The Emperor Alexander II., however, nipped their hopes in the bud, by telling his two Generals that it was no business of theirs to lead such an expedition, which was nothing more than taking lambs to slaughter, and was sure to end in disaster.
The Servian War was shortly followed by the Russo-Turkish War.
The Bulgarians formed two Committees at Bucharest — the Old Committee under Georgieff, and the New Committee under Kyriak (the uncle of Dragan) Zankoff. This Young Committee, on which sat Stambuloff, issued a circular, enjoining upon all members and affiliés of subcommittees to disband and enlist forthwith in the Russian contingent for Bulgarian emigrants, which was being formed at Ploeshty. This circular, for which Stambuloff was held responsible, nearly led to a rupture between him and General Skobéleff, owing to a distorted German translation of it, which was printed by the Old Committee. The general result was that all the old system of Committees, which had cost so much labour and bloodshed, was broken up, and the band were amalgamated as volunteers in the Russian Army. It must not however be forgotten that it was through them that the attention of Europe was first called to the condition of the Christian population of Bulgaria, and the massacres
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which led to the war were the vengeance of Turkey on the Committees and their helpers. [*]
*. The massacres of Batak were probably no worse than those which took place at Panagurishté, Tatar Bazardjik, and elsewhere, but the village being out of the way, perhaps less pains were taken to conceal the corpses and other traces. At Batak the insurgents had been induced to come in by a promise of pardon and were then put to the sword. When the Turkish High Commissioner arrived, and saw what had happened, he remarked to Tussoon Bey, "How much has Russia paid you for this work? Do you know that this is the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire?"
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CHAPTER II. ENTRANCE UPON PUBLIC LIFE.
Stambuloff is elected Deputy for Tirnovo — Begins organising revolutionary bands in Macedonia — His opinion of the Macedonians — The First and Second Chambers — Election of Prince Alexander — Stambuloff sets up in practice as a lawyer — Four Cabinets in one year — Zankoff as Premier, and Stambuloff Vice-President of the Chamber — Zankoff falls by Russian intrigues — The Septennate — M. Hitrovo and the Liberals — Stambuloff's telegram to Hitrovo — Zankoff turns his coat and becomes Russophil — Russian proposals to M. Stambuloff to get rid of the Prince — Stambuloff in bed and his visitors — Machiavelli on revolutions — The state of affairs in Eastern Roumelia.
IN the preceding short review of the troublous times which paved the way for Bulgarian independence, the leading part played by Stambuloff and his immediate friends and followers stands out in bold relief.
The revolt at Esky Zagra in 1875, at Tirnovo, at Panagurishté, and finally that at Koprishtitza, which provoked the massacres, were all the work of the Young Bulgarian Party, acting entirely upon their own initiative and responsibility. The popular idea, that the Party was encouraged morally and supported financially by Russia, is a mistaken one. Up to the commencement of the Servian War, the Bulgarians had not received one copeck from Russia. Their Committees and their Bands were formed and maintained out of their own resources, and the successive revolts were planned and raised without the knowledge of Russia.
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Later on it is true that the Slav Committees in Petersburg, Moscow, and Odessa, seeing their opportunity, assisted the struggling patriots very heartily, but it was not until the hand of the Russian Government had been forced by the clamour of Europe, and especially by the cry raised by English philanthropists in London.
I will pass briefly over the war, whose incidents have been often and well described elsewhere. As is known to every schoolboy, it terminated by the appearance of the British Fleet before the Dardanelles, and the signature of the Treaty of San Stefano, by which instrument Eastern Roumelia was treated as an integral part of Bulgaria ; and naturally Stambuloff was elected deputy for his native town of Tirnovo. The Roumelians, overjoyed at their new-found liberty, got up an address to the Emperor of Russia, expressing their unbounded gratitude for their deliverance; and Stambuloff, with some of his fellow-deputies, was chosen to convey this giant address, to which were appended more than 250,000 signatures from every town and village in Bulgaria and Macedonia, through Adrianople to San Stefano.
Before they reached the camp, however, they received the news that the Treaty had been denounced, and that a Conference had been summoned to meet in Berlin. The Conference resulted in the celebrated Treaty which left Macedonia and Roumelia under Turkish rule. This, as may be imagined, was a crushing and cruel blow to the hopes of the unhappy inhabitants, many of whom declared that they would never again submit to the dominion of the Crescent.
Amongst the most active malcontents Stambuloff
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quickly took a foremost position, and began his old system of forming Committees, a business in which he was now proficient beyond rivalry. He directed his attention principally to Macedonia, and after a few months spent as a schoolmaster, he was chosen by a number of Committees to go into Macedonia as their representative. This was in November, 1878.
Just within the borders of that province he established a species of small duchy, or kingdom, where he reigned in conjunction with the Metropolitan Michael (who is at the present moment Bishop of Philippopolis), and they never tired of organizing and sending out armed bands to overrun the country. But the Turkish gendarmerie and regulars slowly and relentlessly exterminated one band after another, and a great discontent arose, much of which was directed against Stambuloff himself. He also grew to dislike the Macedonians on account of their treachery, and want of any real sense of patriotism and honour, never feeling sure when he lay down at night whether he would rise next morning, and being aware that almost any Macedonian, if he found the chance, would murder him in order to secure the reward on his head. This life could not last very long, and though in after years Stambuloff worked hard for Macedonia, he always retained a strong contempt and antipathy for the people of whom he had had so unpleasant an experience. He was delighted to be recalled in the early summer of 1879 to take his seat in the Chamber which was meeting at Tirnovo, one of its main objects being to protest against the Treaty of Berlin.
This Chamber consisted of two classes of Deputies, the
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one chosen by the people, the other nominated by Prince Dondukoff Korsâkoff, the Russian High Commissioner. He was then busy in drawing up the Bulgarian Constitution, but he refused to permit Deputies from Roumelia or Macedonia to have any voice in the matter, and this first Chamber was really nothing more than a fiction. It was quickly dissolved in favour of a second one, which unanimously elected Prince Alexander of Battenberg as Prince of Bulgaria, and decreed the elections for the Legislative Chamber. During this short year of 1879 Bulgaria was born again, and endowed with all the institutions of a full-fledged State, without having in reality any men with the slightest knowledge or experience for the posts they were called upon to fill. The Turkish Mehkemehs, or Courts, were abolished, and a new set of Tribunals established with a new Code, based, it is true, upon the old Ottoman one, and judges and lawyers sprang into existence with no qualifications beyond inborn sharpness. This was Stambuloff's opportunity. Having a ready tongue and a wide popularity, he at once began to practise as a lawyer. During the elections many of his friends fell into trouble for disturbing the peace, and he offered to defend them before the Tribunals. He met with great success, and decided to follow seriously a profession which promised to be extremely lucrative. Setting up at Tirnovo, his practice soon extended, and from that date until he assumed the Regency he was known as the cleverest and most acute lawyer in Bulgaria. This did not prevent him from taking part in political life, but for several years he kept comparatively quiet, and simply occupied his place as Deputy for
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Tirnovo. There were already two distinct parties in Bulgaria, the Liberals and Conservatives, the former being especially a Bulgarian or Patriotic Party, and the latter very Russian in its proclivities. It is needless to say that Stambuloff belonged to the Liberals.
Prince Alexander having come to Bulgaria as a Russian nominee, enjoying the full favour and confidence of the Czar, very naturally chose his first Cabinet from the Conservatives. M. Bourmoff was elected Premier, with MM. Natchévitch and Grékoff as Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Interior. Under this Cabinet the first elections for the Legislative Chamber were held quite freely, without force or pressure being brought to bear upon the electors. The result was that, out of one hundred and sixty seats, the Liberals gained one hundred and thirty, and their first motion in the Chamber was one of want of confidence. They also, however, committed the mistake of angering the Prince by addressing him in their answer to the Speech from the Throne, as Serene Highness instead of Royal Highness, and he, being thoroughly disgusted with the whole Chamber, immediately dissolved it. At the same time he changed his Ministry and formed a new Cabinet, with the Metropolitan Clement as Premier. It may seem strange to our notions that in the present century a prelate should be a Prime Minister under a Constitutional regime,, but in Bulgaria, from first to last, the clergy were active factors in politics, and Clement was more of a statesman than a priest. His sympathies then were and have always remained with the Russians, and the choice of the Prince was a perfectly legitimate one. MM. Grékoff and
---
The countess Hartenau
(Widow of the late Prince Alexander).
The late Prince Alexander.
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Natchévitch remained, as did also General Barantzoff, the Russian Minister of War. The second elections were held, but they resulted in an even greater majority for the Liberals, and unless the Constitution was to become a dead letter, it was necessary to listen to the voice of the nation, and form a Liberal Ministry. With great reluctance, Prince Alexander found himself forced to call upon Dragan Zankoff, then a prominent Liberal and Russophobe, to construct the Cabinet. The second Legislative Chamber, convoked in the spring of 1880, elected Stambuloff as Vice-President. As may easily be imagined, the Prince and the Russian Party were at continual strife with the Minister and the Chamber, and feelings ran high. Stambuloff seems, nevertheless, to have managed at this period to preserve in a large degree the friendship and confidence of both sides. It was on the advent of the Liberals to power that the hopes of Eastern Roumelia were raised again, and deputations began to flock in, begging Bulgaria to accept a union. In support of their request, they affirmed that they were ready to furnish from fifty to a hundred thousand armed fighting men, the rifles being provided from the stock given by General Skobéleff to his so-called Gymnastic Societies. [*]
As Stambuloff was considered by far the best authority on such subjects, Prince Alexander sent for him, and asked for his advice. I note this because the question
*. These societies were established all over Eastern Roumelia by General Skobéleff for the purpose of drill and general instruction in military service, and a large consignment of arms, the exact quantity of which was never accurately known, was presented by him to the Societies.
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has often been raised of how far the Prince was cognizant of the Roumelian movement, and it is clear that he knew of its existence even from the first. Stambuloff, with the bitter experience of the past still fresh in his memory, declared that he must go to the spot and convince himself of the actual state of preparation for such a step, before he would venture to give an opinion. Accordingly he and M. Givkoff (since Minister of Finance at Sofia) were sent by the Prince as Bulgarian delegates to a mass meeting held at Slivno by the agitators for a Union. What they saw there, however, did not satisfy them that the plot was ripe, and they returned to report in that sense, in consequence of which the matter dropped for the moment, as far as Sofia was concerned.
The Government meanwhile was being carried on in a quarrelsome manner. General Barantzoff had been replaced by General Ernroth as War Minister, and the latter was in open disagreement with his Premier, Zankoff. There were many radical reasons for this, but the overt pretext was a question concerning the Danube Commission. The Bulgarians had sent a delegate, and Dragan Zankoff, in the presence of General Ernroth, informed the Austrian Minister that he had instructed his delegate to work in harmony with and support his colleague from Vienna. Events proved either that no such instructions had ever been given, or that the Bulgarian delegate snapped his fingers at them, as he systematically opposed the Austrian. General Ernroth and the Austrian Minister thereupon accused Zankoff of bad faith, and used their influence with Prince Alexander so successfully that Zankoff was driven out of office, and
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the Premiership was given to Karavéloff, this being the fourth Cabinet formed in the course of one year. At this period Zankoff was a rabid Russophobe, and it was now that he made his famous declaration that he wanted " neither Russia's honey, nor her sting."
In the beginning of 1881 Prince Alexander had estranged the sympathies of the Bulgarians to an alarming degree, by his open dislike of the Liberal or National Party. In fact so far had he gone in expressing his mistrust and contempt of those who were undoubtedly the representatives of the popular will at that time, that it was evidently impossible for them to work together. He saw all the faults of the Liberals and judged them by too high a standard, according to which they fell lamentably short of his ideal of statesmen. His fancy was that he was far better able to govern Bulgaria by himself than any of the comparatively untutored Deputies and Ministers who were perpetually putting stumbling-blocks in his way. Accordingly he decided at one fell swoop to do away with the Opposition, and in conjunction with MM. Stoïloff and Natchévitch he planned the Coup d'état of the 27 th April, 1881, by which he suspended the Constitution, turned out the Ministry, and named the Russian, General Ernroth, as his Premier. Arrangements were made for a Great Sobranje, or National Assembly, which, upon meeting, was to approve and confirm the election of Alexander as Prince of Bulgaria, and to confer upon him the power of governing irresponsibly by himself for the space of seven years. This project met with a stubborn resistance from the Liberals, but the elections were no longer free. At every electoral urn was stationed a
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Russian Commissary — an officer in uniform, who interrogated each elector with the query, "Are you for the Prince, or against him?" He then examined the bulletin, and, if unfavourable, tore it up, and substituted one bearing the name of the Government candidate. These officers were styled popularly "Kniajevsky Kommissâry," or, "The Commissioners of the Prince." Just before the elections Prince Alexander made an electoral tour in company with M. Hitrovo, the Russian Minister, and in its course he frequently passed under arches inscribed, " Long live the Constitution," which he was suspending, and received hundreds of petitions against his project, but he refused to entertain any opposition. There were only three towns in which the "Commissary" failed in his mission. At Plevna he was beaten, and narrowly escaped being burnt alive; at Nikopolis he was thrown into the Danube, and at Tirnovo he was compelled to look quietly on at the election of the Opposition candidate. The result was, that of the Liberals, only Slaveykoff, Karavéloff, Sarâpoff, and Zankoff were elected, these being the only candidates freely balloted for. The result may be foreseen. The National Assembly, packed with nominees elected by force, met at Sistoff, and in July, 1881, passed the project of the Septennate in less than ten minutes, without opposition.
The Prince had refused to visit Tirnovo on his tour, and so M. Hitrovo came alone to that town. On reaching his quarters he summoned all the notables, and enquired of them their reasons for opposing the seven-years' project. In the name of them all, Stambuloff
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answered that they feared the Prince would scarcely govern as well as his more experienced Ministers, and also that they were not without doubts as to the treatment he might be keeping in store for the Liberals. To this M. Hitrovo answered, " You need not be -afraid, for it is not the Prince who will govern, but I, and you know that the Russians are friends to the Liberals."
Stambuloff retorted, "If the Prince chafes under the will of a whole nation, how do you expect he will obey your single dictation ? "
To which M. Hitrovo, scowling, answered, "Young man, you speak too freely."
Again Stambuloff declared that as M. Hitrovo had asked them a plain question they had given him the plainest of answers, but that if he did not wish to hear them they had better leave, which they did; with a Parthian shaft from Stambuloff as the door closed, "Time will show whether I am right." [*]
However, the Septennate having been voted, Prince Alexander found himself, as he fondly hoped, a free, not to say autocratic, ruler in his adopted country. His first act was to hold some private little elections for a " Small Assembly " of forty members, whose sole duty and raison d'être was to be the voting of the Budget. He also named a Council of State for elaborating Laws and Reforms, in the place of his old obstreperous Chamber, but I cannot
*. A year later M. Hitrovo quarrelled with the Prince, and left Bulgaria. As he reached the frontier a telegram was handed to him from Stambuloff which read us follows : "Gelaiyim Vam schastlivoie pût: spomnite nash razgavor fe Tirnove : otchen skoro opravdalsa." "A pleasant voyage to you. Remember our talk at Tirnovo : it has come true pretty quickly."
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find that its labours ever produced anything lasting. On the other hand, the whole of Bulgaria began to seethe and boil under the surface, and not liking the aspect of affairs, the Prince applied to Russia to send him two Generals " to' uphold his prestige," which just then was at a dangerously low ebb. The Czar, Alexander III., answered this appeal by despatching General Soboleff to act as Minister-President and of the Interior, and General Kaulbars for War, adding also General Tioharoff as Minister of Justice. The Prince and Bulgaria were thus furnished and saddled with a thoroughly Russian administration, and Alexander was not long in finding out that even the Liberals were less objectionable. The Russian Ministers bluntly declared that they received their orders only from the Czar, whereas, as a matter of fact, they took no orders from anybody, but acted just as they pleased. One thing they soon made plain, namely, that they did not mean to take any orders from the Prince, and a silent but bitter struggle soon began between him and them. Knowing the enmity of the Liberals towards Alexander the Russian Ministers tried to enter into negotiations with Stambuloff, who was now the acknowledged chief of his party, to get rid of him. Stambuloff, however, declined to enter into their plans, saying that though the Prince had committed a grave error, not to call it by a harsher name, in suspending the Constitution, his departure would leave Bulgaria a mere province of Russia, which was the last thing the Liberals desired, or would tolerate. Being repulsed in this quarter, the Russians turned to the army, but Stambuloff was beforehand with them, and prevailed upon most of the
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young Bulgarian officers secretly to swear that they would punish any attempt to tamper with the regiments, by killing their foreign superiors. He also took care that this should be known to the Ministry, who temporarily ceased their intrigue in consequence. None the less they continued the high-handed method of government they had established, almost ignoring the authority of the Prince, who daily was made to feel that his power was diminishing. He had abolished the Constitution in order to govern by himself, instead of which he had merely transferred the reins from the National Party to a clique of St. Petersburg officers, and his endeavours to have a voice in the direction of the State were met by threats of dethronement. He was not one, however, tamely to submit to such treatment, and a breach was soon opened between him and his Imperial patron the Czar, who looked with the greatest disfavour upon his ambitions after thorough independence. This breach was never closed but went on widening from this date until the abdication.
It was when smarting under the revelation of Russian treachery that Prince Alexander was induced to promise a restoration of the Constitution. This was effected unostentatiously by the Little Chamber quietly voting an address begging him to return to the old order of things. The Prince consented on the spot, and signed the proclamation without the Ministry having an inkling of what was going on. When they were apprised of it they resigned en masse, in a white rage, to the infinite delight of the Prince and the general satisfaction of the nation. Dragan Zankoff was elected Premier, and General Cantacuzene took the place of General Kaulbars as
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Minister of War. The elections brought in another Liberal majority, but a split arose in the Party on the question of the Presidency of the Chamber. Zankoff wished Stambuloff to have the place, but a large section were in favour of Karavéloff. The Chamber was convoked in 1884, at Tirnovo, and Stambuloff, who did not wish to be a cause of strife, contrived to reconcile Zankoff and Karavéloff, who were old private enemies. The reconciliation, unfortunately, was short-lived, and before the day fixed for the election of the President they had quarrelled again. The election resulted in the victory of Karavéloff, upon which Zankoff at once handed in his resignation. Stambuloff used every effort to persuade him to remain at his post, pointing out the bad effect on the Party his defection would produce, but it was of no avail. Karavéloff was called by the Prince to form a Cabinet, and Stambuloff was elected President of the Chamber without a contest. The result of this incident was that Zankoff, from hatred of Karavéloff, joined the Opposition, and the Opposition threw itself into the arms of Russia. Up to then Zankoff had been the greatest of Russophobes, but he now turned into a Russophil. The rôle played by Zankoff in the history of Bulgaria, is one of many sides, but he seldom possessed any great weight or influence. The Bulgarians like his simple homely ways and speech, but he has always proved himself to be a self-seeker, and was never really respected. His Russophilism arose, not from conviction, but because, having no hopes from the Government, he was obliged to accept Russian roubles to keep himself from want. Taking their wages, he did his best to serve them, but it must not be thought that he
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was ever actuated by any fixed political idea, or by any other motive than that of earning his living in the best way he could. He was much encouraged by M. Koyander, who had replaced M. Hitrovo as Russian Political Agent, and a regular Russian party was now formed, both in the Chamber and throughout the country. The year 1884 passed without any incidents of importance, but it was nearly fatal to Stambuloff. On the occasion of the opening of the Chamber he caught cold, and for four or five months lay at death's door in the Hotel Bulgarie, in Sofia, which stands opposite the Palace. Amongst his visitors, one day, came Prince Alexander. They had never yet met on friendly terms, and the Prince probably thought this a good opportunity of making his peace with the turbulent Liberal leader. In the kindliest manner, he enquired after Stambuloff's health, asked him if he might send him delicacies, fruit, and old wine from his cellars, and if he wished any of his expenses defrayed during his illness. The stubborn nature of the sick man, however, revolted even against such royal advances, and he answered that he had money enough of his own to pay for all he needed, both tone and word being almost insulting. The Prince flushed scarlet with vexation, and, turning on his heel, left the room without a word. On re-entering his palace, he was heard to remark, " Should it please God to take to Himself any of my Bulgarian subjects, He might choose my President, who never does me aught but ill." [*] In telling me this
*. Eight or nine years afterwards, when he was at Gratz, Prince Alexander related this story, with the remark that it was curious that he should have prayed God to take the man who, two years later, was destined to restore his throne to him.
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anecdote Stambuloff said that his own conduct was quite inexcusable, but that, at that period, the Prince was not yet fully converted from Russophilism. "I did not like him myself," said he, " but I supported him from beginning to end, because I saw that his personal beauty and chivalrous character were qualities likely to win the hearts of the Bulgarians, and that when we should be able to gain him over to us, he would be a famous leader for our nation." During the winter of 1884 Stambuloff lay ill, but in the spring of 1885 he felt somewhat better. One morning, M. Koyander, accompanied by Prince Cantacuzene, came to see him. After the usual polite enquiries they remarked, " We have heard from St. Petersburg that Prince Alexander is trying to negotiate a marriage with the Princess Victoria, daughter of the Empress Frederick. Our Government cannot permit this match, and has charged us to tell both you and M. Karavéloff that the Prince must be got rid of before he can ally himself with the German family regnant."
Stambuloff was lying in bed reading Machiavelli's Commentaries on Livy, and, curiously enough, just as his visitors entered he had fallen upon the passage where it is said that one or two out of every hundred revolutions may be expected to succeed. Turning on his side, he answered that he was not well enough to decide such a matter then, but, primâ facie, it appeared to him that the Russian Government was wrong to object to a marriage which would lend to the Prince the additional support of Germany. From the Bulgarian point of view, on the contrary, it was highly desirable, and he honestly told
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them that he was delighted at the news which afflicted them. " I may add, gentlemen, that I shall report your proposal to the Prince ; and perhaps you will allow me to read you a few lines of Machiavelli, appropriate to the occasion." After he had done so, Stambuloff concluded, " I have planned and headed three revolutions, all of which came to nothing, and I am not at all anxious to begin another. Good morning, gentlemen."
As may be guessed, this was the last visit paid by M. Koyander to the invalid, who at once sent for Karavéloff, told him what the Russians had said, and charged him to inform Prince Alexander, whose sentiments towards his former friends were not improved by learning their persistent endeavours to get rid of him.
As soon as Stambuloff was able to move he went to his native town of Tirnovo, where he remained up to the outbreak of the Roumelian revolution.
Before entering upon a consideration of this movement, which changed the whole political face of the Balkan Peninsula, and whose effects are not yet complete, it may be worth while, in as few words as possible, to sketch the situation in Eastern Roumelia before the outbreak.
The first Governor-General appointed under the Organic Statute, was Aleko Pasha, who was friendly to the Liberals or Nationalist Party. His method of government, however, did not please Russia, who succeeded in obtaining his dismissal and the appointment of their own candidate, M. Chrestovitch, or Gavril Pasha, as he was usually called, who had been Secretary-General to Aleko Pasha. With the turn of the tide, the Liberal element was promptly swept out of every post of importance, and the Russian
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faction carefully eliminated every man who fell under suspicion of not being a cordial Slavophil. This naturally led to a very bitter feeling, and no secret whatever was made of a plot being on foot to turn out M. Chrestovitch and his Russian clique. The difficulty was to find a watchword. That of the union of the two Bulgarias had always been a favourite one, but if anything it belonged rather to the Russians, as the Liberals had feared to use it too freely on account of the danger of thereby offending the susceptibilities of the Porte. The Russians had no scruples on this head and it was in some measure on the Union as a war-cry that they had come into power. I believe that there is not much doubt but that M. Chrestovitch and his party were themselves preparing for the Union, but they had no idea of bringing off the coup till the following year. The Liberals, seeing all the instruments ready to their hand, resolved to play a bold game and take the lead out of the grasp of their opponents, not by making a party watchword of the Union, but by simply declaring it as an accomplished fact, and deposing M. Chrestovitch by sudden force. It was the act of desperate men, but as often happens, it succeeded beyond their hopes, as will be seen in the sequel.
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Karavéloff and Stambuloff as Premier and President of the Chamber — The Declaration of the Union at Chirpan — Shameful treatment of Gavril Pasha — Indecision of the Prince — Stambuloff's advice carries the day — The Prince's Proclamation — The address to the Czar — M. Koyander refuses to forward it — Stambuloff at the telegraph office — Servian feeling at the Union — M. Garashanin on the situation — The "Ambassadorial Declaration" — Prince Alexander writes to King Milan — A model despatch — The first meeting of the Conference at Constantinople
IN the month of September, 1885, Karavéloff came to Tirnovo, on a tour, and on the morning of the 6th/18th went out for a drive with Stambuloff. A gendarme stopped the carriage, and handed in a telegram from Philippopolis, announcing the success of the revolution and the proclamation of the Prince as sovereign of North and South Bulgaria. Karavéloff was furious, and accused Stambuloff of having precipitated matters, but was met by the answer that the commencement of a plot depended upon the conspirators, but that the exact moment of putting it into execution did not always. The weight of evidence goes to prove that though both the Prince, Stambuloff, Karavéloff, and other leading men in Sofia, were perfectly well aware of what was being planned in Eastern Roumelia, none of them expected the coup to come off before the end of October, when the elections were to be held. The Army had not yet been prepared by them for the Union, and the premature explosion was
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equally disagreeable to them all, with this difference, that Stambuloff was the first to perceive the necessity of acknowledging and profiting by the accomplished fact whilst the others were hesitating whether or no to disavow the revolutionary party. It appeared afterwards that the original date fixed for the rising was the 26th September, but various accidents conspired to advance it. Gavril Pasha, early in the month, had paid a visit to Constantinople where he had met with too flattering a reception to please the Liberals, and the day after his return a disturbance broke out at Panagurishté which was, however, repressed without difficulty. On the 15 th, though, Gavril Pasha began to suspect that something very serious was brewing, and summoning Drigalsky Pasha, his Commandant of Militia, proposed to arrest Majors Nicolaieff and Mutkûroff. This was easier to advise than to perform, and the rebels, hearing of the intentions of the Government, resolved to wait no longer but to raise the standard of insurrection at once. On the evening of Wednesday, the 15 th, riots occurred at Bazardjik and Konâreh, and the Prefect of Philippopolis, who went to the latter village, was arrested by the inhabitants. On Thursday, the union of the two Bulgarias was proclaimed at the hamlet of Chirpan, and only the next day at Philippopolis itself, the reason for this probably being the wish to distract the attention of the authorities. In the small hours of Friday morning Major Nicolaieff at the head of his regiment marched through the streets of the capital, firing volleys to arouse the populace, and was met in the Square by Drigalsky Pasha and his troops, who had been secretly suborned beforehand. The unfortunate
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Drigalsky was immediately arrested, and Nicolaieff proclaimed himself Chief of the Army. Another considerable body of insurgents now arrived from Konâreh, and Philippopolis was entirely in their power. The sun was rising as Major Nicolaieff led the way to the Government House and read the following manifesto, which had been printed in readiness and was already being distributed broadcast : —
" Brothers ! The hour of our Union has struck. The foreign government which has oppressed Roumelia for six years is overthrown. In its place is proclaimed her union with the Principality of Bulgaria, under the sceptre of the Bulgarian Prince, Alexander I.
" Citizens ! You are called upon in the name of your country, for the glory and might of Bulgaria, to hasten to the aid of the sacred cause, and to uphold it by a strict maintenance of the public peace. Remember that he who should allow himself to commit any act of violence or robbery, especially on foreigners, whom all are to protect as their own brethren, will be severely punished.
" Officers and Soldiers ! Sons of Bulgaria ! The Secret Committee summons you to hold your heads high beneath the proud Lion of Bulgaria, and in presence of the might of Christendom. Against whom and for whom are you now fighting ? Remember, Sons of Bulgaria, that you are degraded by serving under the Crescent, the flag of those who have persecuted us for five centuries !
" Shepherds of the flock ! Ye who have protected and guarded Bulgaria for five hundred years, lift up the Cross of the Saviour, and bless our holy cause — our Union.
" Until civilized Europe shall have recognised our sacred national cause, and the troops of Alexander I. have occupied Thrace, a Provisional Government has been formed to dispose of all resources, and to administer the Province. To it must all submit.
" May God help us, and Forward !
" By order of the Secret Committee."
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The Provisional Government, which was formed on the spot, consisted of Dr. Stransky, editor of the newspaper the Borba, as President, and a dozen members the most prominent of whom were Majors Nicolaieff and Mutkûroff.
After reading this proclamation, which was received with frenzied applause, three of the leading insurgents, MM. Zachary Stoyânoff, Zedaroff, and Andonoff, were deputed to inform Gavril Pasha of what had happened and to request him to leave Philippopolis, where his further presence was not desirable. Here followed a discreditable piece of buffoonery, as the wretched Pasha was forced to take his seat in an open carriage, in which was already seated a peasant-girl decked in ribbons and holding a naked sword. He turned pale when he saw the insult prepared for him but was compelled to submit, and in this ridiculous fashion was paraded past the Russian Consulate which hoisted its flag as the procession moved by, and through the whole town, amidst the laughter and jeers of the mob. He was then taken to Konâreh, and shortly afterwards to Sofia. [*]
The Provisional Government immediately telegraphed to the Prince at his palace of Sandrovo, near Bourgas, and His Highness started straightway for Tirnovo, telegraphing to Karavéloff and Stambuloff to await him there.
He arrived on the 19th, and a consultation was held. Karavéloff was still in two minds as to which course
*. Those who can read Russian may be recommended the pamphlet of E. Lvoff, entitled The Roumelian Revolution, for a minute and detailed description of the events of these few days.
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it would be expedient to pursue, but Stambuloff urged the Prince to seize the opportunity.
Alexander feared that if he accepted the invitation of the insurgents, besides incurring the certain heavy displeasure of the Porte, he would probably have most, if not all, of the Powers against him. The only one which he fancied might in reality approve him was Russia, and at that time he certainly had ground for a hope which turned out so utterly unfounded. On the other hand, should he refuse he was likely to offend the whole Bulgarian nation.
Stambuloff was most decided in his advice. "Sire," he said, " the Union is made — the revolt is an accomplished fact, past recall, and the time for hesitation is gone by. Two roads lie before your Highness : the one to Philippopolis, and as far further as God may lead ; the other to Sistoff, the Danube, and Darmstadt. I counsel you to take the crown the nation offers you."
After a short reflection Alexander answered, " I choose the road to Philippopolis ; and if God loves Bulgaria, may He protect me and her."
Before leaving Tirnovo, Alexander issued his royal proclamation, as follows :
"We, Alexander I., by the grace of God and the will of the Nation, Prince of the Two Bulgarias of the North and South.
"We inform our well-beloved people that on the 18th of this month the population of the province called Eastern Roumelia, after deposing the Government which up to now ruled there, and after forming a Provisional Government, declared the Union of the Province of Eastern Roumelia with the Principality of Bulgaria, and unanimously elected me as their Prince.
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" With due consideration for the weal of the Bulgarian race, and for its earnest desire to see the two Bulgarias made one, and in view of the accomplishment of the national destiny, I recognise the Union, and agree henceforth to be and to be styled Prince of North and South Bulgaria.
" In accepting the government of this province, I declare that the life, property, and honour of all its peaceable inhabitants shall be safeguarded and guaranteed.
"All necessary measures have been taken for the maintenance of the public peace, and any who trouble it will be proceeded against with the utmost severity.
" I trust that my beloved people on both sides of the Balkans, who have welcomed this great event with such enthusiastic joy, will assist me to consolidate the sacred work — the Union of the Two Bulgarias — and will be ready for any sacrifice and any effort in order to guarantee the union and independence of our dear country.
" May God help us in this, our great and indispensable undertaking.
" Given at the ancient capital of Tirnovo,
"the 8th/2oth September, 1885,
(Signed) "Alexander."
On that day, the party started for Philippopolis. Two carriages, escorted by forty mounted policemen, carried the destinies of Bulgaria. In the front one rode the Prince and his Premier, Karavéloff, and in the second Stambuloff. All three were fully alive to the momentousness of the step they were taking. The future was filled with a thousand menaces and they had but a vague idea of what the issue might be. By the publication of the proclamation, they had taken an irrevocable plunge. It was certain that the Porte would at once appeal to the Powers against so flagrant a violation of the Treaty of
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Berlin. Beyond that, no eye could see. Would Turkey meet with the support of all, or any of the signatories ? Would Russia approve or disapprove of an Union completed without consulting her, and effected by the overthrow of her nominee ? Would they be left alone to cope with the Sultan, or would some Power be found to hold out a friendly hand to them in their desperate need ?
Seldom, if ever, had so apparently hopeless a struggle been undertaken by a new-born State, as yet a baby in political strife. For at this period, Bulgaria was only vaguely known to the civilised world as a place where atrocities had been perpetrated, but she was not viewed as a factor in European diplomacy, or considered as anything more than a nondescript mushroom creation of the Treaty. Everybody knows the satirical remark of Prince Bismarck to Prince Alexander upon his acceptance of the throne — " It will be an interesting reminiscence for Your Highness." Up till then Bulgaria had never been taken au sérieux, and now she was striking a blow destined to call the whole attention of Europe upon her. Before the 18th September, Bulgaria was a quantity unknown, and unsuspected except to a very few : from that date she took her place among the pieces on the chessboard with a definite value. The Prince and Karavéloff were unfamiliar with such a situation, but Stambuloff was quite in his element, and as he climbed the slopes of the Balkans behind them, he must have felt that he was driving before him the life or death of his country. At the various stages on their route, notably at Shipka and Kezanlik, they met with magnificent ovations, and a display of patriotic enthusiasm which
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augured well for the venture. On the 21st they reached Philippopolis.
Here they found affairs in a state of great uncertainty. The Russian Consulate kept a neutral attitude, but the military attaché, Colonel Chichagoff, immediately waited upon the Prince, and remained in close attendance upon him for some days. It was hurriedly decided to convoke the Chamber, to mobilise the troops, and to send a deputation to implore the countenance of the Czar, who was then at Copenhagen. Meanwhile, in Sofia, M. Koyander had received a telegram from the Emperor strongly disapproving the Union, ordering Prince Cantacuzene, the Minister for War, to resign his functions, and to remain merely as military attaché to the Agency, and forbidding all Russian officers in the Bulgarian army to take part in the movement. This news was sedulously spread, and created a most painful impression amongst the Bulgarians, who saw their fondest hopes rudely shattered at the outset. The Opposition immediately began to organise, and prepared a meeting, at which it was intended to propose the dethronement of the Prince. This move was countered, however, by the proclamation of a state of siege, and Major Nikiforoff, a young Bulgarian officer of artillery, 28 years of age, was named Minister of War. The rupture with Russia was now open, and it was clear that by withdrawing her officers, she expected to paralyse the army, which, at that date, had only two Bulgarian field officers in North Bulgaria, who had ever even commanded a company. Prince Alexander, who had hitherto been regarded as a creature of Russia, leapt at a bound into popularity, and from this
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time forth placed his sole reliance upon the people he governed, and they, exulting in having at length won over their Prince, were ready for any sacrifice that he might demand from them.
The Chamber was convoked for the 22nd, and on the 23rd M. Karavéloff read the Speech from the Throne, recapitulating recent events, and he added that in this the Prince had acted with the full consent of his Ministers. An extraordinary credit of five million francs, for mobilisation, was passed without discussion.
An address was also voted to the Czar, begging His Majesty to reconsider his decision in the matter of his officers, and not to abandon Bulgaria in her need.
Nine leading members of the House, amongst whom were Stambuloff and Zankoff, were deputed to carry this address to M. Koyander, and request him to transmit it by telegraph to the Czar. Having sent to know when they could be received, the hour of eleven next morning was fixed. Upon entering the Russian Agency the deputation found M. Koyander and Prince Cantacuzene, in full uniform, surrounded by the consular staff, but when Stambuloff stepped forward to read the address, M. Koyander bluntly told him to be silent, as he refused to receive it.
The feelings of the Bulgarians may be imagined. Stambuloff, with tears of rage in his eyes, exclaimed : " By your refusal to accept the address of the Bulgarian nation, you turn us out of your Agency, but remember my words, the day will come when you will throw open both your doors and nobody will enter."
Prince Cantacuzene, who was a friend of Stambuloff,
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tried to calm him, embraced him, and addressed him in affectionate terms, but Koyander laughed contemptuously. The deputation left hurriedly, and Stambuloff drove to the telegraph office, where he gave instructions that no message from M. Koyander was to be forwarded for twenty-four hours, and meanwhile wired the address himself to the Czar at Copenhagen. On the 24th an answer was received, maintaining the prohibition, and adding that, after the sacrifices Russia had made for Bulgaria, she had a right to be consulted prior to the taking of any vital measures.
The Chamber met again in the afternoon, and on a speech from Stambuloff, passed a credit of ten million francs in case of war, which was now looked upon as inevitable, and also a Law of Requisition, enabling the Government to seize and use whatever it might need. The Budget for 1886 was voted en bloc, in anticipation, and a delegation, with the Archbishop Clement at the head, was chosen to go and intercede with the Emperor of Russia in person.
While Bulgaria was thus straining every nerve to put herself in a posture of defence, the Porte and the Powers were actively exchanging notes, the key to all of them being the same, namely, the prevention of the movement spreading into Macedonia, and the preservation of the peace.
Prince Alexander had given a formal assurance to Europe that he would use his best endeavours to avoid bloodshed, but that the existing state of doubt was full of dangers, and if it continued much longer he would be compelled to disarm the excited Mussulman population.
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The Powers had been so taken by surprise, that for the first few days they scarcely could fix upon a course to pursue; but, on the 26th, Russia came forward with a proposal for "an informal Conference of the Ambassadors of the Great Powers, at Constantinople, in order to come to an understanding as to the identical language to be held to the Porte, and the Prince of Bulgaria, in the name of Europe, in order to avoid a conflict and effusion of blood, and to gain time for consideration."
Sir William White was the British representative at this Conference, and the following instructions were sent to him on the 27th of September. They are remarkable as showing how England carried through the two Conferences the points she had fixed upon before the first meeting of the first one :
"The general tenour of the advice which you are empowered to offer on the part of Her Majesty's Government should be that the Sultan should abstain from military intervention in Eastern Roumelia, provided always that no violence is used against His Majesty's Mussulman subjects in that province. You should also recommend that the change to be made in the provisions of the Treaty of Berlin should be limited to the appointment of Prince Alexander to be Governor-General for life of Eastern Roumelia. It may not be found possible to obtain the necessary unanimity of assent to this arrangement, but it is that which Her Majesty's representative should use his best efforts to secure. You should resist any proposals for the Prince's deposition.
(Signed) " Salisbury."
Thus early it was apparent that Bulgaria would receive some measure of support, but probably she owed her salvation from an immediate attack by Turkey to the
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well-known fears of the Sultan for his personal safety. There were only some 30,000 Turkish troops in the Vilayet of Adrianople, and to send the forty or fifty thousand picked men who perpetually guard the capital, would have left the Palace at the mercy of those conspirators, whose supposed existence is an ever present terror to His Majesty. Not having taken action upon the first news of the outbreak, it became far more difficult to do so when once the Powers had commenced to work upon the question as a diplomatic one. The danger from Turkey, therefore, grew gradually less as the days passed by, and the Bulgarians saw with delight that they were not likely to be molested by their Suzerain, provided they kept the promises of loyalty, which they made in profusion. On the other hand, their neighbours, the Greeks and Serbs, were in a condition of boiling fury at the sudden aggrandisement of Bulgaria. As nothing came of the Greek agitation, it may be passed over in silence, although at one time it threatened the greatest perils. Such strong representations were, however, made by the Powers, that any nation which should break the peace by advancing into Macedonia would incur the combined reprobation of all the Great Powers, that Greece reluctantly held her hand.
The Serbs, on the contrary, were deaf to all remonstrances. Their view of the situation, as given by M. Garashanin to the Representatives of the Powers, and also to myself in private conversation, was as follows :
" Servia could not possibly look on with indifference to a sudden doubling of the size and power of Bulgaria. She had done her best to fulfil her part of the Treaty of
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Berlin, and it had been no easy task for her, exhausted as she was by the wars which had preceded the signature of that instrument. On the other hand, Turkey had done very little on behalf of Macedonia and Armenia, and Bulgaria had neither built her railways, nor dismantled her Danube forts. Nevertheless, these two were now about to change the Berlin Treaty in favour of Bulgaria, and Servia could not and would not stand any such arrangement detrimental to her own interests."
He further quoted to me the Turkish proverb, " The naked man jumps the farthest," meaning that Servia was in such desperate case that she had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
Referring to Blue Books, I find that M. Garashanin used almost the same words as I have in my notes to Mr. Wyndham, who met him with the obvious retort that if the Treaty of Berlin was infringed, it was the business of the signatories, and not certainly that of Servia, to protect it, and if Prince Alexander was encroaching upon the rights of his Suzerain, it was for the latter to chastise his vassal.
Anybody who knows M. Garashanin and King Milan will, however, understand how futile were the best of arguments poured into their unwilling ears.
On the 21st the King returned suddenly to Belgrade (on the same day that Prince Alexander entered Philippopolis), and held a Cabinet Council the same night at which it was decided to mobilise the Army and Militia, and to convoke an extraordinary session of the Skuptchina, at Nish, on the 2nd October.
At the opening of this session King Milan made a speech, insisting upon the necessity of restoring the
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status quo ante in the Balkans, and appealing to the patriotism of the Deputies to vote all the supplies which should be asked for. The Skuptchink acted in the same fashion as the Bulgarian Sobranieh had done, and after sanctioning all the projects presented to it, dissolved on the 4th October. It was on this date that Sir F. Lascelles, who had been away on leave, and had returned to Sofia, went on to Philippopolis and joined Prince Alexander, giving the first overt sign of English friendliness to the cause of the Union, a sign which excited the vexation of Russia more than any other Power, and called forth lively remonstrances from the St. Petersburg Foreign Office. These had no effect, and from that time forth Sir F. Lascelles continued by the side of Prince Alexander. Meanwhile, the Ambassadors at Constantinople had finally, after much phrase-paring, succeeded in producing the following declaration, which was presented to the Sultan, Prince Alexander, and the Courts of Greece and Servia :
" The Signatory Powers of the Treaty of Berlin, appreciating the great wisdom and the sentiments of moderation of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, have deigned to receive favourably the request for assistance which the Ottoman Government has addressed to them, with a view to putting an end to the troubles agitating Eastern Roumelia.
" They condemn all violation of existing Treaties, and entirely disapprove of the proceedings which have taken place in the province in question.
"They will hold responsible those in power on either side of the Balkans for any act tending to propagate the agitation in the neighbouring provinces.
" They invite the leaders of the Bulgarian forces, in the interest of peace, not to concentrate troops on the
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Roumelian frontier, and to suspend their armaments, warning the Bulgarian populations against hasty and ill-considered action, of which they would have to suffer the consequences without hope of any foreign assistance."
At first glance this "Ambassadorial Declaration" may appear rather a ridiculus mus, but it was not arrived at until after much dispute, not only amongst the Ambassadors, but at every capital in Europe, England invariably resisting all attempts to interpolate words implicating personal blame on Prince Alexander, or hinting at a restoration of the status quo ante. The real sense of the declaration amounted merely to an expression of regret at the violation of the Treaty of Berlin, coupled with an appreciation of the kindly manner in which it had been taken by the Porte, which was equivalent to saying that a continuance of its attitude would be most pleasing to them. The warning addressed to Bulgaria, and the other little States, was a natural corollary.
It was, however, evident that this document could never be considered as the last word of Europe, and as soon as it had been handed in the Powers began an exchange of views as to the advisability of summoning an International Congress — formal this time, to go more deeply into the question.
The note of the Ambassadors having been duly communicated to all concerned was received with polite thanks, but neither Greece nor Servia paid much attention to its peaceful recommendations. Prince Alexander, seeing the hostile attitude of Servia, resolved to write a friendly letter to "his brother," King Milan, begging him to restrain the warlike spirit which was
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abroad, and notified his intention of doing so to the Court at Belgrade. The letter was to be carried by M. Grékoff, and M. Garashanin, on hearing of the mission, expressed his warmest thanks and satisfaction for this mark of amity. Thereupon M. Grékoff started with the letter, and Prince Alexander on the 18th October telegraphed to King Milan to advise him of the fact. He was no less surprised than annoyed to receive an immediate answer from the King declining to see M. Grékoff or accept the letter. The Prince had left Sofia, and reached Radomir on his way back to Philippopolis when the news of this insult was brought to him, and he instantly turned back to the capital, fancying that the refusal to read his letter would probably be quickly followed by a declaration of war. Nothing, however, came of this freak of King Milan's, and on the 26th the Prince agreed to the advice of his ministers to re-visit Philippopolis. This advice was based upon the growing discontent in Roumelia, whose population did not believe in the probability of Servia's attacking Bulgaria, but looked upon the military preparations in the neighbourhood of Sofia as a mere pretext for the withdrawal of troops, and for the absence of the Prince himself from Eastern Roumelia, just at the time when they imagined the Porte might be authorised by the Powers to use force to re-establish the status quo ante.
They also complained that no measures had as yet been taken for completing the administrative union between the two Bulgarias, which was true, but the reason for this was that the whole energies of the Government were being directed to one point, namely,
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the organisation of the Army, which, by the departure of its Russian officers, had been thrown into a state of temporary disorder. Besides the mere filling up of the cadres, there was also an immensity of work going on in the matter of calling out and arming the Reserves and Militia, and all administrative questions were put away into the background. Nevertheless, the Opposition were not slow to take advantage of these circumstances to proclaim that Prince Alexander was abandoning his Roumeliote subjects, and it therefore became absolutely necessary for him to show himself at Philippopolis.
Upon his arrival, he at once placed the various departments under their respective ministers at Sofia, and the Provisional Government was dissolved. In this simple but business-like manner the administrative union was accomplished, though of course a thousand details remained for future elaboration. On the 31st October deputations from all the districts of Eastern Roumelia called upon the Prince, and expressed their unbounded confidence in him and their determination to maintain the Union. The Prince replied, regretting that the Power to which they had looked the most for assistance had abandoned them. Other Powers, however, especially England, had shown themselves favourably disposed, and it would be necessary to await the decision of the Conference, but if required he would defend the Union by all means in his power. [*]
The day following, the Marquis of Salisbury addressed to Sir W. White his preliminary instructions for the forthcoming Conference, and though they are too lengthy
*. Blue Book, Turkey, No. 1, 1886, p. 195.
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to reproduce in full, yet some extracts from this most statesmanlike and model despatch [*] will help to a clear understanding of the position taken up by England towards Bulgaria and the Porte.
" In undertaking to join with the other Powers in seeking for a solution of existing difficulties which should be substantially on the basis of the Treaty of Berlin, H.M's Government do not understand themselves to be bound to recommend adherence to the exact letter of that Treaty.
"They rather contemplate the adoption of arrangements which shall conduce to the security of the main objects of the Treaty, and be in accordance with its general spirit; and they wish to attain that end with as little disturbance as possible of its precise provisions. It has, however, been intimated to them that the Turkish Government look to an entire and exact reestablishment of the state of things sanctioned by the Treaty of Berlin, that they are supported by some of the other Powers in this view, and that the Conference has been summoned with the hope, on the part of some of the signatories of the Treaty, that it will give its sanction to such diplomatic or material measures as may be necessary for insuring that end.
" Her Majesty's Government do not at all contend that the Sultan has not a perfect right, according to the strict letter of the Treaty, to take military measures for restoring the state of things as it existed three months ago. . . . . . But totally different questions come into view when it is proposed that any action of this kind on the Sultan's part shall take place under the direct sanction of the Great Powers represented in the Conference. The European Powers would not be justified in giving to the supposed action of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, the support of their authority or assistance, unless they were satisfied, not only of its legality, but of its general expediency and wisdom. . . . . . The
*. Blue Book, Turkey, No. I, 1886, p. 197.
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question which they are bound to determine before giving advice to the Porte on this matter, is whether the restoration of the status quo ante is in itself desirable under the circumstances.
" The argument in its favour, which appears to have weighed with some of the Powers, is that it will be a signal instance of homage paid to Treaty Law, and that it will impress upon the Balkan States generally, a great veneration for the Treaty of Berlin.
" That this would be a most desirable end to achieve, no one can dispute. The only question is, whether this really would be the impression left upon the minds of the population of the Peninsula, by the prevention of any Union of Bulgaria with Eastern Roumelia. If the present attempt to set aside one provision of the Treaty should miscarry, they will no doubt reflect seriously upon the causes to which that miscarriage is due. They are hardly likely, however, to attribute it entirely to the veneration in which Treaty Law in the Balkan Peninsula is held by the Powers of Europe. Present inhabitants of the Peninsula have lived through many phases of Treaty arrangement in that region, and have seen those arrangements set aside again and again, not by negotiation, but by force. It is needless to recapitulate the events which led to the establishment of the kingdoms of Greece, Roumania, and Servia, or of the principalities of Bulgaria and Montenegro. The origin of these States was in no case the result of a scrupulous observance of Treaties, and the people of the Peninsula will, therefore, hardly attribute the failure of the Roumelians, if they should fail, to the fact that they have violated a Treaty. It is evident that they will have to seek the origin of the miscarriage in some other cause. . . . . . In authorising you, therefore, to take part in the Conference, which has been summoned by the Porte, Her Majesty's Government must guard themselves from expressing any approval of a simple return to the state of things which existed at the commencement of last September. If such a proposal is made, you will not give to it your sanction without previous reference to me.
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" It will be necessary also to receive with great caution any proposal for summoning Prince Alexander to withdraw from Eastern Roumelia, unless some intention is indicated of considering the wishes which the Eastern Roumelians have expressed. Such a demand would hardly be of any practical value for the purposes of those who make it, unless it contains, in a more or less disguised form, a threat of the use of force in case it should be disobeyed. As Her Majesty's Government are not prepared to take the responsibility of advising the Turkish Government to use force for the purpose of restoring the former state of things, they would not willingly join in taking steps which would naturally lead to such a policy."
The Conference met on the 5th of November, and at short intervals during the following weeks, and the cause of the Union was defended with consummate patience and skill by Sir William White. In the midst of its deliberations, the aspect of affairs was largely modified by the outbreak of hostilities between Servia and Bulgaria. This carries us one stage further in the history of the Principality.
Little mention has been made lately of Stambuloff, but in order to grasp subsequent events, and to follow the fortunes of Bulgaria, it is necessary to continue the thread of the story as briefly as may be, even when his personality is momentarily in the shade.
It must not be thought, however, that during the months of September and October, the President of the Chamber was idle. He was steadily consolidating his party, and extending his own influence both amongst its members and with the Prince and his entourage, and as soon as occasion required, he was seen to the front.
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Prince Alexander and the Czar — Withdrawal of Russian officers from the Bulgarian Army — Declaration of war by Servia — Received by the Prince at Philippopolis — Hurried return to Sofia — Stambuloff is sent with a disagreeable message into camp at Slivnitza — He fights as a private in Colonel Nicolaieff's brigade — The Bulgarians enter Nish — Austria in front and Russia behind — The forced Armistice — The Commission of Military Attachés — Negotiations at Constantinople — A brief Treaty of Peace is signed at Bucharest.
IN order to understand the perilous position of Bulgaria, one must bear in mind the following facts : On the day that the Conference met, November 5th, Prince Alexander's name was struck off the roll of the Russian army, and the 13th Battalion of Rifles in the Russian service ceased to bear his name. In other words, the rupture between the Bulgarian people and the Russian agents was confirmed by a definite casting-off of the Prince by his patron, the Czar. [*]
*. When the deputation was received at Copenhagen, the Czar used the following words textually : "O razyedenenié e rétchi buit ne modjet : no pokâ û Vass núinshe pravitelstvo ne jdîte ot meniâ nitchevo, nitchevo, nitchevo " — " There can be no question whatever of dissolving the Union, but as long as you keep your present Government, expect from me nothing, nothing, nothing !" Upon hearing this answer, Stambuloff repaired to M. Koyander, and enquired what was meant by "present Government," as, if the term applied to Karavéloff as Premier, or to him as President of the Chamber, they were both ready to resign. M. Koyander replied that it meant Prince Alexander ; and as long as he remained in Bulgaria, Russia would do nothing to help her.
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The Conference had a large majority in favour of the restitution of the status quo ante, and the Porte's proposals for the immediate withdrawal of the Prince from Eastern Roumelia and the appointment of another Governor-General was supported by three or four of the Great Powers, with Russia at the head, and only England really opposing it. Not content with using every effort at Constantinople, the Turkish Representative in London, Musurus Pasha, was urging Lord Salisbury to give way, [*] and it was England alone which, during the critical fortnight before the war, preserved the union.
The army was untried, and officered by young lieutenants who had replaced the Russian instructors, whilst the whole administrative machine was out of gear through the sudden addition to its responsibilities of the Eastern Roumelian departments. It certainly looked as if Bulgaria must fall an easy prey to any onslaught, and the temptation to attack them at so opportune a moment was irresistible to King Milan and M. Garashanin.
It was on the 14th of November that the Servian
*. On the 12th November, Musurus Pasha called upon Lord Salisbury, and after reading the protocols of the Conference, begged him to address such advice to the Prince as should induce him to submit to the Porte, and return to Sofia. The Pasha several times repeated that unless the Prince gave in, the penalty would be the loss of his position as Ruler of Bulgaria. Lord Salisbury answered that he would much regret such a result, though he did not see how it was going to be brought about ; but that if Turkey lent herself to this policy, she was making herself the instrument of those who desired the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and that H.M.'s Government could not assume the responsibility of concurring in it. — Blue Book, Turkey, No. I, 1886, p. 214.
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Government declared war by an open telegram, couched in the following terms :
" The Commander of the First Division and the Frontier Authorities announce simultaneously that to-day, the 13th of November, at half-past seven in the morning, the Bulgarian troops attacked the positions held by the 1st Regiment of Infantry on Servian territory, in the neighbourhood of Vlassina. The Royal Government consider this unprovoked aggression as a declaration of war. I request you to notify in my name to M. Tsanoff, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, that Servia, in accepting the consequences of this attack, considers herself at war with the Principality of Bulgaria from Saturday, 6 a.m., the 14th November."
This telegram was addressed by M. Garashanin to M. Rangabé, who was in charge of Servian interests in Sofia. I have forborne to detail the multifarious pretexts sought by Servia previously in order to pick a quarrel, and as regards the substance of the preceding despatch, will merely add that it was instantly denied that any Bulgarian troops had crossed the frontier. The state of feeling was, however, so strained, and Servia was so resolutely determined upon war, that it was inevitable. It would have been absurd for Bulgaria to wish for a conflict under the circumstances, and there can be little, if any, doubt that the pretence alleged by Servia was false.
The Prince, at this date, was living in the Konak at Philippopolis with his brother Joseph, and both Karavéloff and Stambuloff were in the habit of daily lunching and dining with him. On the evening of the 14th, after dinner, the two Bulgarian statesmen, with the Prince's young brother, adjourned to the telegraph room, where they sat
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down to a game of cards. Towards three o'clock in the morning the machine began to tick and the clerk read off the telegram quoted above. They immediately roused the Prince, and consulted as to the most pressing measures to be taken. Major Vinâroff was instructed to draw up a manifesto to the army, and Stambuloff one to the nation. Shortly after daylight prayer was held in the cathedral, and Prince Alexander started for the front, being accompanied by Karavéloff as far as Sofia, Stambuloff staying behind to complete arrangements in Philippopolis until the evening, when he, with Dr. Stransky, followed.
I do not propose to give an account of the campaign, which has been ably described in previous works, but shall confine myself to jotting down the principal events in their sequence.
Upon his arrival at Sofia, Stambuloff was met by Karavéloff, who informed him that Tsaribrod had been taken by the Serbs, and that the Bulgarians were in retreat. The truth was that the Serbs, being numerically far stronger, and having concentrated their forces beforehand on a fixed plan, had beaten in the Bulgarian frontier defence, and were advancing full of confidence. The situation was critical in the extreme, and it was of vital importance to hold every inch of ground until reinforcements could be brought up from the south. These were coming up hourly in gallant fashion, two men often riding on one horse, and the infantry making forced marches of great length, several regiments from Belovo having come in — seventy kilometres — to Sofia, within twenty-four hours.
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On the 17th a message came from Slivnitza, saying that the army was in great straits for provisions and ammunition, and was very inferior in numbers to the invaders.
A council was held at 2 a.m., at which it was decided that the Prince might return to Sofia if he judged fit, but that the position was to be held by the army at all hazards, and Stambuloff was deputed to carry the resolution to the Prince. He found His Highness sitting on a litter of straw in his tent, which was surrounded with wounded and dead, over which a priest was performing the last rites. Prince Alexander received the decision of his Council very ill, being vexed, in the first instance, that they should offer themselves to dictate the movements of the Army, and secondly, at the suggestion that he should quit the camp, a step he scouted the idea of taking.
On the 19th the Bulgarians gained their first advantage, and were, moreover, strongly reinforced. The fighting continued for several days more with small intermission, and ended, as everybody knows, in the utter defeat and rout of the Servian Army, which was pursued through Pirot to Nish. Stambuloff, whose pugnacious disposition revelled in conflict, entered as a volunteer in Colonel Nicolaieff's brigade, and fought throughout the campaign as a private. During this period he was in frequent contact with Prince Alexander and the old misunderstanding between them was buried for ever. From the conclusion of the war to the day of his quitting Bulgaria Prince Alexander looked almost exclusively to Stambuloff for advice and support, and the ties which bound them were not those of master
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and servant so much as an affectionate respect on each side for the qualities of the other.
Whilst the Bulgars and the Serbs were engaged in earnest battle at Slivnitza, Tsaribrod, Pirot, and Nish, the Conference of Ambassadors at Constantinople was carrying on a series of engagements hardly less exciting, if more peaceable in form, over the white surface of Protocols.
By hurrying up every available man to the Servian frontier, Prince Alexander had, probably quite unwittingly, taken away one of the principal arms from those who were in favour of a restitution of the status quo ante. England was now able to say that the Prince had withdrawn with his troops from Eastern Roumelia, and there was no longer any need to fear complications arising from their presence. By pertinaciously adhering to her original line, she succeeded in delaying any decision adverse to the Union until the brilliant victories of the Bulgarian Army had given the Prince quite a new standing in the eyes of the Powers.
When war was declared, all Europe expected to see the Servian Army occupy Sofia within a fortnight, but when, in about that space of time, it was to all intents and purposes annihilated, and the Bulgarians were marching on to Belgrade without the slightest chance of meeting with any serious opposition, [*] both Russia and Austria thought it time to interfere.
Count Khevenhuller accordingly entered the camp, and peremptorily told Prince Alexander that if he went any further, he would find himself with Austrians, instead of
*. The Servian troops had only one round of ammunition, per man, left when Austria forbade the Bulgarian advance.
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Servians, in front of him, and a Russian force behind him. In the face of such a declaration, there was nothing to be done but to submit, and a short armistice was proclaimed. The Conference wished to arrange a long armistice preparatory to the signature of peace, but Prince Alexander refused to sign one as long as any Servian troops remained on Bulgarian territory. A long and tedious wrangle over this question went on all through December, and finally the Powers decided to appoint a Military Commission to arbitrate on the results of the war, and decide the respective advantages and losses to be gained and borne by both parties. This Commission was formed of the various military attachés to the Court at Vienna, amongst whom were General Kaulbars, for Russia, and Colonel Keith Fraser, for England. They met at Pirot, and drew up the conditions of the armistice in five articles, with a preamble to the effect that they recognised the advantages gained by the Bulgarian Army.
Article i. stated that the armistice concluded at Pirot on that day, the 21st December, should last until the 1st March, 1886.
Article ii. provided for the evacuation by belligerent troops of the territory respectively occupied by them, the Servians to evacuate first, and such evacuation to be complete by the 25 th December, whilst the evacuation by the Bulgarians was to be completed two days later.
Article iii. provided for a neutral zone of three kilometres along the frontier.
Article iv. treated of the return of prisoners.
Article v. provided for the immediate appointment of
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delegates charged with negotiations for the conclusion of peace.
It will be seen that Bulgaria received no compensation, and no reward for her brilliant little campaign, but it nevertheless secured to her a large measure of sympathy and respect, and was indirectly the cause of the closing of the famous Conference, which died a natural death whilst the armistice negotiations were in progress. The last meeting was held on November 25th, when the Turkish delegates made a desperate effort to carry their list of resolutions, but were stoutly resisted by Sir William White. [*]
Seeing that it had no chance of obtaining the unanimous consent of the Representatives so long as the British refused his adhesion, the Turkish Government tried one of the ruses which enter so largely into the essence of Eastern diplomacy. It drew up a copy of the Turkish resolutions as proposed at the Conference, and adding that they had been approved by the Representatives of certain of the Powers, invited the population of Eastern Roumelia to submit to these. This document was despatched, with some hurry and secrecy, by two special delegates to Philippopolis. The Russian, Austrian, and Italian Governments instructed their Consuls in that city to act as delegates, together with the two Turkish
*. M. De Giers, in Petersburg, observed to Sir Robert Morier, in the course of conversation, that after this meeting the Representatives had adjourned, " formally till Saturday, but really sine die. J his result had been brought about by Sir William White having demanded the suppression of Articles 3 and 4 of the Turkish Resolutions, and that of all reference to the Treaty of Berlin." Blue Book, Turkey, No. I. 1886, p. 371.
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emissaries, for the choosing of a Governor-General, or other points in the programme, and it looked almost as if the trick were going to succeed, and the resolutions were to be foisted upon Roumelia as the result of the Conference, which they were not. England, however, instantly entered a most energetic protest, and the Roumelians themselves received the delegates very coolly. The Russian Consul-General proposed that an official reception should be given to them, intimating that Turkish troops would surely occupy the province, should the wishes of the Sultan not be complied with. The representative members of the meeting in which he held this language, declared that they would resist a Turkish army if necessary, and would prefer to return to the status quo ante rather than submit to Russian influence ; and carried a resolution begging the Consular body to use their influence to obtain the recall of the delegates, whom they looked upon as Russian agents.
The Prefect of Philippopolis, on the grounds that a state of siege existed, prevented the Ottoman emissaries from publishing or otherwise distributing their proclamation, and the attempt ended in fiasco, but it is worth quoting as a specimen of the kind of attacks Bulgaria was being subjected to by the Porte and Russia.
The Bulgarians by this time fancied that they could, perhaps, come to terms with the Porte by themselves, and in January despatched M. Tsanoff, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to Constantinople, to treat with Said Pasha. The result was that, on the 1 st February, the bases of a Turco-Bulgarian agreement were decided upon, almost identical with those mentioned by the Marquis of
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Salisbury in his first despatch of November, 1885. The only point on which there seemed to be a likelihood of dissension was the provision for a five-yearly renewal of the Firman appointing the Prince as Governor-General of Eastern Roumelia. Another Conference was called, and the same tactics were pursued by all parties respectively. Prince Alexander, however, refused altogether the quinquennial Firman, and his attitude on this point caused considerable embarrassment. Finally, however, he agreed, out of deference to the Powers, to accept an agreement, which was, in effect, a compromise, simply naming him Governor-General, " according to Article xvii. of the Treaty of Berlin," not for life, as he wished, nor for five years as the Porte had proposed. A Special Commission was to be named by the Sultan and the Prince, to revise and modify, where necessary, the Organic Statute, taking into consideration the needs of the people, and the interests of the Ottoman Treasury.
In other respects all the provisions of the Treaty of Berlin were to remain in force.
The Special Commission was to work for four months, and lay the results of its labours before a Conference of the Powers, which would then discuss and give their formal sanction to the revised Statute.
Before this had been carried through peace had been signed at Bucharest, on the 3rd March, in the briefest possible manner, between Bulgaria and Servia. Neither party would agree to the insertion of any phrase hinting that amicable relations had been restored, and a cat-and-dog Treaty was framed in one Article as follows : —
"Peace is re-established from this date between the Kingdom of Servia and the Principality of Bulgaria."
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By the beginning of the summer of 1886 Bulgaria seemed in a fair way to conquer all her difficulties, and had it not been for the implacable animosity of Russia, there is no saying how far she would have succeeded. The first incident in this connection was the discovery of a plot, at Bourgas, hatched by a Russian officer, a Captain Nabôkoff, aided by some Montenegrins, for abducting the Prince if possible, or in the event of resistance, for killing him. The accusation was strenuously denied, both by the Captain and by the Russian Foreign Office, which seemed inclined at one moment to make a diplomatic question of it, but the Bulgarians having released their prisoners, and handed them over to the Russian Consulate, the matter was allowed to drop. Viewed in the light of subsequent events, there can be little doubt that the plot existed; in fact, the one aim and object of Russia was to get rid of Prince Alexander, who, from being a passive tool in her hands, now showed far too much independence to please her. Meanwhile, the Special Commission had begun its labours for the re-organization of Eastern Roumelia, and the first National Assembly with Roumelian Deputies had met at Sofia. The elections had not been carried without some disorder, giving fresh grounds for Russian complaints, which culminated in strong indignation at the Speech from the Throne at the opening of the Assembly. In this speech the Prince congratulated the Deputies on the Union, and made no mention of the Treaty of Berlin, of the Commission for the Revision of the Statute, and, most heinous of all omissions, no traditional expression of gratitude to Russia. This
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speech was blamed all over Europe, and Russia took advantage of the indiscretion to urge once more upon the various Cabinets the necessity of reducing the growing spirit of independence shown by Prince Alexander, to some sort of obedience to the dictates of the Powers.
In the middle of all these conflicts and discussions came the Coup d'état, which upset the whole course of events in a most theatrical and unexpected fashion.
During the period between the war and the Coup d'état, which I have just sketched as rapidly as possible, Stambuloff contented himself with his practice as a lawyer, and took small part in public life beyond fulfilling his duties as President of the Chamber.
We shall, however, soon find him assuming a commanding position, from which he was only ousted last year.
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Bendereff slaps his elbow — The intercepted letter — A woman's caprice — "Where is Prince Alexander?" — The Zankoffists in the mud — Clement's Provisional Government of twelve hours — Stambuloff's Manifesto — Panoff dissolves Clement's Cabinet — Prince Alexander's return — Stambuloff's sleep, and the consequences — The telegram to the Czar, and its answer — Punicafides of Russian Agents — Prince Alexander's final departure.
TO seek the motives which rendered it possible for the conspirators to kidnap Prince Alexander, and by which they were actuated in the first instance, it is necessary to go back to the camp at Slivniza. On the 18th November, Captain Bendereff had been strictly ordered by the Prince to act solely upon the defensive, but, seeing what he considered a favourable opportunity, he attacked one of the flanks and defeated them entirely, returning to his position much elated, and proud of his success. In the evening the officers were all assembled at " Headquarters," which was a miserable tavern, and were drinking and conversing over the day's fight. The scene which followed was recounted to me by an eyewitness. Major Petroff, the Chief of the Staff, reproached Bendereff with having disobeyed orders, adding that the Prince was very angry with him. Bendereff, flushed with wine and victory, retorted insolently, slapping his elbow
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with a well-known Bulgarian gesture of contempt, "The Prince knows no more about tactics than my arm." Just before the words were uttered the Prince himself had joined the group, and was silently looking on. He made no remark, but turned away, and went back to his tent. But when the campaign was over, and rewards were being distributed, he refused to decorate Bendereff with the Order for Valour, or to promote him from Captain to Major, as was done in the case of Petroff, Panoff, Grueff, and many others. This naturally aroused the bitter resentment of the slighted officer, who was always popularly considered as one of the most prominent heroes of the Servian campaign. He vowed vengeance, and at once entered into relations with Russia. Another measure, which alienated many of the more independent and ambitious spirits in the army, was the promulgation of an order taking away the power of promotion and reward from the department of the Minister of War, and vesting it in the person of the Prince and the Head of his Staff, Major Petroff, whose nepotism soon became a byword.
The malcontents rapidly increased in numbers, and in them the Russian Party found the willing and capable instruments which they had hitherto sought in vain. It is, however, not proved that official Russia had any cognisance of the plot, though, from the frequent overtures previously made by M. Koyander and others, the conspirators were sure of having the most complete approval from St. Petersburg if they succeeded.
It is curious to note on what small accidents the success or failure of such plans often rests, and the
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following facts are a striking illustration of this. Stambuloff was at Tirnovo all the summer, and on the 15th August he went to Rustchuk with the intention of making a prolonged tour in Europe for the benefit of his health. Had he carried out his intention, the future course of events would probably have been altogether different, but no sooner had he arrived than he received a telegram from a client, saying his case was coming on before the court on the 19th, and begging Stambuloff to come back and defend him. He therefore returned to Tirnovo, but he never defended his friend, as the court adjourned to the 23rd, and before then the Coup d'état had occurred. Whilst waiting in Tirnovo he received advice from one of his partisans, whose name I withhold, that he had seen a letter of serious import, and would like to talk to Stambuloff about it. Stambuloff told him to come at once, but he delayed until the 22nd. The letter was written by Velitchkoff, now Minister of Finance, to Madjâroff, present Minister of Ways and Communications. Velitchkoff was in Sofia, and Madjâroff was at Philippopolis, living next door to a warm Liberal. The letter detailed the plot for the abduction of the Prince, and was too compromising to be entrusted to the post. It was therefore sent by private hand. The messenger, who was strange to Philippopolis, went to the wrong house, and the door was opened by its mistress. He enquired if M. Madjâroff were at home. The lady replied that he was not, and asked him what he wanted. He foolishly said that he was the bearer of a letter from M. Velitchkoff, which he was to deliver personally. Madame —— carelessly said, "Oh! you can give it to
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me," and took it. She at once opened, read it, and communicated its tenour to the friend above-mentioned, her husband being away on service. She refused, however, to show him the letter for a day or two, and on this feminine caprice depended the abduction, since had Stambuloff perused the letter three days earlier he would have been able to defeat the plot. As it was, everything seemed to favour the scheme, which, it must be admitted, was laid with consummate skill. On the night of the 20th August, the Prince was surrounded in his palace, and forced, with revolvers pointed at his brow, to sign what purported to be his abdication.
On the morning of the 21st, before it was light, he was driven off to the Danube, where his own yacht was in waiting, hurried on board, and all steam was got up. It was a race for life for the conspirators, as should they fail in reaching Russian territory with the kidnapped Prince before the news of his whereabouts was known, it was almost certain they would be stopped. Orders were in fact given, too late, by the Roumanians to fire upon the yacht, but it had already passed. The excitement all over Europe was intense, and for two or three days nobody knew where the unfortunate Prince had been taken, the Bulgarians having, with tolerable success, cut off all communication, postal and telegraphic, with the outer world.
Meanwhile, the Principality was in a state of tumult, not easy to imagine, still less to describe.
It was on the 21st that Stambuloff received a telegram to the effect that the Prince was deposed, and giving
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a list of the members of a Provisional Government, amongst which were the names of Stambuloff himself, Stoiloff, and Grékoff. Refusing to believe the news, he replied, asking if it were serious, and summoning Karavéloff to the other end of the wire — it being the common habit in Bulgaria for the telegraph to be used, in emergencies, almost like a telephone. A reply came to the effect that Karavéloff was under arrest, upon which Stambuloff replied to Zankoff, who was at the other end, that he "recognized no Provisional Government, and would have neither part nor share in the doings of traitors, on whose accursed shoulders should rest the whole responsibility." Leaving Stambuloff for a moment to his reflections, we must turn to Sofia. As soon as the Prince was safely out of the town, the conspirators, by means of forged orders from the Minister of War, made themselves masters of the artillery, and as day was breaking, the rebels fired volleys in the air, to rouse the inhabitants. Zankoff, with a mob of his partizans, delivered a harangue before the Russian Agency, and M. Bogdânoff, in response, appeared at his window with the Metropolitan Clement, and made a speech, assuring them of Russian sympathy. This was listened to by the Zankoffists kneeling in the mud, and was supplemented next day by the placarding of the following telegram from St. Petersburg :
"As before, Russia will be actuated by heartfelt goodwill for the Bulgarians. The Imperial Government has no thoughts of an occupation, and will ever give their support to those Bulgarians who strive to maintain order and quiet in the country, so that its future well-being may be secured."
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Whether Russia considered that the party who had effected the disgraceful Coup d'etat answered the description of the Bulgarians, to whom it would " ever give support," is not clear, but Zankoff and his crew evidently took it in this sense, and it was perfectly clear that Russia had not a word of blame for the conspiracy.
Being now in full possession of the town, the military seemed anxious to shift the onus of what had occurred, and still more so of what might soon happen, on to a Provisional Government. Telegrams had already been despatched all over the Principality, with the forged signatures of Karavéloff, Nikiforoff, Minister of War, and Stambuloff, but Karavéloff declined to join any new Government, and was confined to his house by a guard. The new Ministry was then formed as follows : —
President of the Council . . The Metropolitan Clement.
Minister of Interior . . . Dragan Zankoff.
,, Foreign Affairs . Ch. Stoyanoff.
,, War . . . Major Nikiforoff.
Minister of Finance . . . Th. Bourmoff.
,, Justice . . . Radoslavoff.
,, Education . . Velitchkoff.
Commander-in-Chief of the Army Major Grueff,
who was head of the Military School and ringleader, together with Bendereff, in the plot which had just succeeded.
Over these names was published the following proclamation :
" To the Bulgarian Nation !
"To-day, at 2 o'clock a.m., Prince Alexander of Battenberg abdicated for ever the throne of Bulgaria, owing to his firm conviction that a continuation of his reign would only bring about the ruin of the Bulgarian
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people. In view of this event a Provisional Government has been formed, which, in assuming the direction of affairs until the meeting of the National Assembly, guarantees the life and honour of Bulgarians as well as foreigners, being convinced that the inhabitants of Bulgaria, without distinction of religion, race, or political opinions, will second our efforts in maintaining order.
"The Bulgarian people may be well assured that His Imperial Majesty the Czar, the Protector of Bulgaria, will not cease to afford his powerful aid and protection to our country. Long live the Bulgarian Nation ! Vivat ! "
This proclamation had not had time to reach Tirnovo before Stambuloff had launched his counter to it by telegram. Directly he had the first intimation of the Coup d'état, he called a meeting of his partisans, amongst whom was his old friend Slaveikoff. In fiery words he declared that there was not an hour to lose, and that an abyss was yawning before Bulgaria. He recapitulated all the trials the country had gone through in order to obtain their Prince, and the devotion Alexander had shown to his adopted people. Was all this to end in handing over Bulgaria to Russia, and were Bulgarians traitorously to perform what all Europe had in vain attempted? At least there was one who would never lend his name to such disgrace, and he called upon all true patriots to rally round him. His speech was greeted with acclamation, and a general meeting of the inhabitants was called. Here a tumultuous scene ensued, all shouting that they wished for Prince Alexander, and looked to Stambuloff to bring him back. Accordingly he sounded the officers, with the exception of Captain Boneff, whom he knew to be on the other side, and found them all ready to declare against the Provisional Government.
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He then drew up his counter-proclamation, as follows :
"In the name of Alexander I., Prince of Bulgaria, and of the National Assembly, I declare to be outlaws the Members of the Provisional Government, at the head of which is Clement, and anyone who obeys the orders of that Government shall be tried and punished by military law. I appoint Lieut.-Colonel Mutkûroff to be Commander-in-Chief of all the Bulgarian forces, and I order all the authorities of the country, both civil and military, to submit without attempting opposition. I appeal to the heroic people of Bulgaria to defend the throne and the country against the traitors who have tried to dethrone our heroic and well-beloved Prince. May God Almighty give us strength for the nation to defend its honour and rights, and the glory of our country and of our Prince, elected by itself. Bulgaria for ever !
" Long live the Prince of Bulgaria, Alexander I. !
(Signed)
" Stambuloff,
" President of the National Assembly.
" Mutkuroff,
" Lieut.-Colonel, Commander-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Forces."
This proclamation was telegraphed simultaneously to Philippopolis, where Colonel Mutkûroff commanded, and to Sofia, Stambuloff having taken forcible possession of the telegraph station at Tirnovo, in spite of Captain Boneff. At Philippopolis the whole of the troops were easily won over to the good cause. There was a moment of hesitation; but our Consul-General, Captain Jones, V.C., lost no time in calling upon Mutkûroff, and making a most forcible appeal to his honour not to take the oath of allegiance to traitors, but to stand by his Prince, soon persuaded him to declare against the Provisional Government. Mutkûroff promptly installed himself in the Philippopolis telegraph office, and soon learnt that
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Tirnovo, Plevna, and Haskeui had decided for the Prince ; and further, that the Slivnitza Brigade had seized their disloyal officers, and were marching upon Sofia to demand the release of Major Popoff, their Commandant, who had been imprisoned by the conspirators. In Sofia, Major Panoff, Commandant-General of Artillery, an officer of tried energy and decision of character, recovered his command, and seized the Sofia telegraph, putting himself in immediate communication with Stambuloff at Tirnovo, where the small telegraph station became temporarily the seat of government. Their great anxiety was to avoid bloodshed between the troops ; but it soon became apparent that the whole organisation of the conspiracy was broken up.
As soon as he spoke to Panoff, Stambuloff ordered him very concisely to " Dissolve the Provisional Government, and hold the town for the Prince as Commandant," which laconic instruction, with the help of Major Popoff, and a detachment of his ist Regiment which had arrived from Slivnitza, he fulfilled with commendable alacrity. In this truly extraordinary fashion was a reigning Prince kidnapped out of his own palace, the whole of Bulgaria nominally placed under a Provisional Government in undisputed possession of the capital, and that same Government overthrown, without a single drop of blood being shed, or the slightest disorder taking place. The various proclamations by Stambuloff and his decisive assumption of power were stigmatized as unconstitutional, and may, perhaps, be considered as the first of many similar arbitrary measures taken by him, but, as President of the National Assembly, he
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declared himself the only legal representative of authority left in the land, and nothing but admiration can be felt for the firm and uncompromising loyalty he showed, as well as for the pure unselfishness of his actions, which were prompted by the cleanest patriotism, untainted with the least desire for self-glorification.
Having turned out the famous Provisional Government, a Regency was declared, consisting of Karavéloff, Stambuloff, and Nikiforoff, with Radoslavoff as Minister of Interior, and Stoiloff of Foreign Affairs, to last until they could find and bring back the Prince. Stambuloff consented to this only under reserves, as regarded Karavéloff, but his whole attention was directed firstly to discovering the whereabouts of Prince Alexander. An amusing exchange of telegrams, which would have been comical, had not the issues at stake been so grave, was now going on all over Europe, and it finally transpired that the Prince had been landed at Reni, on Russian territory, and forwarded by the Russian authorities to the frontier at Lemberg, where he was set at liberty. On learning this, Stambuloff despatched a telegram to His Highness, of which no copy seems to have been kept, saying that the whole of Bulgaria was longing for his return, and entreating him to come and take back the crown, which he, Stambuloff, was holding for him. The Prince resolved, without hesitation, to accept, and passing through Vienna, where he was joined by Natchevitch, now Minister for Foreign Affairs, steamed down the Danube to Rustchuk. The promptness of his reply to the appeal relieved Stambuloff's mind of a great weight, as Russia had already signified her intention of sending
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Prince Dolgorouky as Imperial Commissioner, and it became a race as to which should arrive first. Had Prince Alexander delayed, and Prince Dolgorouky anticipated him, the return would have been beset with manifold difficulties and dangers, if it would not have become impossible. By the arrival of Prince Alexander, though, the presence of an Imperial Commissioner became unnecessary, at least from a Bulgarian point of view. [*]
The feelings of M. Stambuloff as the yacht steamed up to the Rustchuk landing-stage must have been indeed enviable, and the meeting between him and the Prince was affecting in the extreme, for it was Stambuloff, and he alone, who had saved for Prince Alexander what was dearer than his life — his honour — and had brought him back triumphantly to the palace from which he had been so ignominiously spirited away by a band of half-drunken cadets. In a few emotional sentences Stambuloff welcomed him back, told him that he had merely held the throne for him in his absence, and now begged to be allowed to retire for a while into private life, and enjoy a rest much needed, leaving him with a Cabinet ready formed, under Radoslâvoff. The Prince replied that no words could express, and no acts repay, the debt he and Bulgaria owed to Stambuloff, and he asked him to remain with him for a little longer at least. Such a request, at such
*. Already, on the 26th, Stambuloff had been called up to the telegraph by M. Bogdânoff to listen to a message from the Emperor, stating his intention to send Prince Dolgorouky, and had replied that he declined to hold any communication with an associate of traitors, and, moreover, ordered the telegraph clerk to turn M. Bogdânoff out of the office, which he proceeded to do forthwith.
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a moment, was hard to refuse, and Stambuloff agreed to accompany the Prince as far as Sofia. Amongst the crowd on the shore assembled to greet the Prince, stood the Russian Consul, M. Shatokhin, in full uniform. This mark of attention flattered the exile immensely, and roused again a feeble hope that he might yet reconcile himself with the Czar. In the course of a short conversation with Stambuloff, he even expressed his pleasure at the prospect of having Prince Dolgorouky sent as Imperial Commissioner, but was met with a blunt reply that there was no longer any need for Russian Commissioners in Bulgaria.
Then Stambuloff held a brief consultation with Radoslâvoff, Natchevitch, and others, and, scarcely having slept for five days and nights, withdrew to his own apartments to rest with a happy sense of having accomplished his task. And he slept a heavy, unbroken slumber for fourteen hours, during which an irrevocable error was committed in secret by the Prince.
For whilst the watch-dog slept, Shatokhin, in his uniform, called upon Prince Alexander, and induced him to write and despatch a telegram to the Czar, so worded as to lay him open to the crushing rejoinder which followed. What hidden motives can have dictated this colossal blunder no man can tell. It was probably a sense of its enormity which prompted him to conceal the fact of its having been written, even from Stambuloff. I give the text of it in full : —
" Sire, having resumed the government of my country, I venture to offer your Imperial Majesty my most respectful thanks for the action of your Imperial Majesty's representative
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at Rustchuk, who showed the Bulgarian people, by his official presence at my reception, that the Imperial Government could not approve the revolutionary act of which I was the victim.
"At the same time, I beg permission to express to your Imperial Majesty my deep gratitude for the mission of General Prince Dolgorouky, Envoy Extraordinary of your Imperial Majesty, for my first act in resuming my legitimate authority, is to announce to your Imperial Majesty my firm intention to spare no sacrifice, in order to aid your Imperial Majesty's magnanimous intention to terminate the present grave crisis through which Bulgaria is passing.
" I beg your Imperial Majesty to authorise Prince Dolgorouky to come to a direct understanding with me, as soon as possible, and I shall be happy to be able to give your Imperial Majesty decisive proof of my unalterable devotion to your august person. The principle of Monarchy has compelled me to re - establish a legal government in Bulgaria and Roumelia. Russia gave me my crown : I am ready to return it into the hands of her Sovereign."
The most plausible explanation of this humiliating prayer for protection, addressed to the very Power which had been the active agent in the shameful drama of which, as Prince Alexander said, he had been the victim, is that his nerves were unstrung by what he had gone through, and that he had already made up his mind to abdicate the Throne, unless he could obtain Russian recognition. It was in sheer desperation, therefore, that he must have resolved upon a last appeal to his implacable foe, backed by a decision, should it fail, to give up the unequal struggle. In writing it he must have been in woful ignorance of the light in which he was regarded in Russia, or he could never have debased himself
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so far as to court the insult he might have known would be inflicted upon him by the reply. [*]
The presence of Shatokhin in uniform could have been nothing more than a trap laid in order to inspire false hopes, and the incident is only a shade less degrading to Russia than to Prince Alexander.
After spending a day in Rustchuk in feasting and rejoicing, the party set off for Tirnovo in carriages, Stambuloff riding with the Prince, and the whole journey being a triumphal procession such as probably will never be seen again, every stoppage in the route being the signal for frenzied demonstrations of delight in honour of the recovered Sovereign, who, in addition to the victor's laurels, was now wearing in the eyes of his people a martyr's crown. During these days he seemed somewhat to revive in spirits, and to take a more hopeful view, being cheered by the demonstrations of devotion on all sides. A rude awakening, however, was in store from
*. In a conversation with Sir Robert Morier, at St. Petersburg, who was endeavouring to plead the cause of Prince Alexander, M. de Giers said that " no idea could easily be formed of the intensity of the hatred animating every class of the Russian nation, from the highest to the lowest, against the Prince. "That unfortunate young man," he continued, "has become in the eyes of the Russian people the incarnation and embodiment of everything which most deeply stirs the national indignation. He represents, in the first place, the untold ingratitude of the Bulgarians towards their deliverers, and reminds them of the losses of blood and treasure incurred in a war which yielded no other results than disappointments. In the second place he reminds them of all the humiliations submitted to in the Constantinople Conference, and since. Lastly, he represents the hopes and desires of Russia's enemies Never, therefore, could there be peace between him and the Russian people."
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any dreams he may have cherished. Whilst sitting at table at Novi Zagora, a telegram was delivered to him, and as he read it his face blanched. He rose immediately, beckoning to Stambuloff to follow him into an adjoining room, and there, with tears flowing, he repeated the answer of the Czar. This was the sledge-hammer retort to his petition :
" Have received Your Highness' telegram. Cannot approve your return to Bulgaria, foreseeing disastrous consequences to country already so severely tried. The mission of Prince Dolgorouky is no longer desirable. I shall refrain from all interference with the sad state to which Bulgaria has been brought, as long as you remain there. Your Highness will judge what is your proper course. I reserve my decision as to my future action, which will be in conformity with the obligations imposed on me by the venerated memory of my father, the interests of Russia, and the peace of the East.
(Signed) " Alexander." [*]
The hearing of such words came like a thunderbolt upon Stambuloff, who enquired what telegram was referred to in the opening line. The Prince then confessed his thoughtless action, and admitted to the full the enormity of his fault. At the same time he declared that it was quite impossible for him to think any more of remaining in Bulgaria. Stambuloff, although he could not fail to see the difficulty of the situation, refused to listen to any idea of abdication, and insisted upon Prince Alexander's continuance on his path. The Prince
*. This telegram was a fitting close to the part played by Russia towards Prince Alexander, a part which in history must always remain the greatest blot upon the memory of Alexander the Peacemaker.
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passively allowed himself to be overcome so far as to agree to go on to Sofia, but all the joy and triumph had vanished, and the reception at Sofia, where the contents of the fatal telegram had preceded them, though touching and hearty, entirely lacked anything like enthusiasm.
The first thing Stambuloff did upon his arrival in Sofia was to call Karavéloff severely to account. Various facts which had leaked out seemed to leave small doubt but that he had had knowledge of the plot, and if he had declined to openly join the Provisional Government, it was only from natural caution, and a mistrust as to the assured success of the Coup. Stambuloff demanded of him how he could have allowed the Prince to be stolen away " from under his nose, as it were," and refused to accept Karavéloff's excuse, that it was through no fault of his. The interview closed by Stambuloff's remark, " Either you are a traitor, or unfit to be trusted with the Government. Our old friendship ceases from to-day. We may be forced to work together, but I no longer can consider you as one of my party." His efforts to induce Prince Alexander to remain were met with a melancholy persistency in the resolve already taken. The Prince declared that his confidence had been shaken past remedy in the Army, which, it was true, now seemed to be loyal, but which might at any moment turn against him once more. It was the Liberals, who had systematically opposed him, who had restored to him his throne, and the Conservatives had gone over to Russia. Finally the telegram from the Czar had put the finishing-stroke to his hopes, and he would go : — perhaps then Russia might have for Bulgaria the pity which she refused to him.
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Stambuloff used every imaginable argument to convince his Sovereign, urging upon him that he and the Liberals had risked their all to bring him back, and if he left them now he would be exposing them to the gravest perils. Both humanity and honour called upon him not to desert, but to share the fate of his friends and his people.
Nothing prevailed however, and seeing persuasion useless, Stambuloff decided to try what threats would effect. The Prince having summoned a meeting of the Diplomatic Corps and leading Bulgarians, and declared his fixed resolve to resign, Stambuloff categorically informed him that he would not be allowed to leave. He enquired on what grounds he would be detained, or on what grounds he would be permitted to depart. The answer given was that the only condition on which permission could be granted was that a formal engagement should be entered into by Russia, that within the delay prescribed by the Constitution, Bulgaria should be allowed to elect another Prince. Thereupon Alexander visited MM. Bogdânoff and Kartzoff, and obtained from them a verbal promise to this effect. In fact, they were probably prepared to promise anything and everything, verbally or in writing, in order to get rid of him. With their promise in his ears, the Prince came back relieved, if not rejoicing, to Stambuloff. He, however, objected that a verbal promise from Bogdânoff meant nothing, but the Prince indignantly denied the possibility of Russia's going back from her word, given solemnly by her accredited Agents under such circumstances, and refused, point-blank, to demand any written document. With this assurance Stambuloff had to make believe to be content, although he was far
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from being so in reality, but he, too, felt that the strain had arrived at breaking point, and after the Prince had publicly announced his intention to resign, he had better do so. Another meeting of officers and notables was held on the 6th September, and it was decided to let him go, the departure being fixed for the 8th. On the 7th he published a manifesto announcing his abdication, and appointing a Regency composed of Stambuloff, Karavéloff, and Colonel Mutkûroff. Before accepting the post Stambuloff summoned his fellow Regents, and all the heads of parties, to meet him in the Assembly Room, and there he took their sacred word of honour to support the Regency loyally up till the time of the election of a new Prince.
Then came the last scene of the drama. In the Palace were drawn up all the Corps Diplomatique, with their ladies, the officers of the higher grades, and the Bulgarian notables with their wives. At half-past eleven Prince Alexander, dressed in full uniform, came into the audience chamber. The appearance of the fine soldierly figure, and kindly handsome face, which all knew and loved so well, was the signal for a complete silence. Then, in a pathetic and dignified speech, the Prince explained the motives which had led him to take the step he had taken. He said that he had returned to Bulgaria so that he might leave it in the light of day, instead of being dragged, like a malefactor, through the streets by dead of night, and also that he might leave as a friend, rather than as an enemy, of his country. His action was a proof of his sincere desire for the real welfare of the country, and showed his personal
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disinterestedness. He had devoted himself entirely to the interests of Bulgaria during the seven years he had been in the country, and if he had not succeeded, his failure was, perhaps, due partly to his youth and inexperience, and partly to the ignorance of those whom he had to call to his assistance in governing. He sincerely hoped that his successor might be more fortunate. Whoever he might be, he would meet with very great difficulties, and he certainly could not devote himself more completely to the interests of Bulgaria than he had done. " It was the Protocol of Constantinople that had broken his back, and had given the Opposition an opportunity of working against him, by the fact of his having been appointed a Turkish functionary. He had used all his efforts to oppose this measure, but it was not possible for one man alone to stand against Europe." [*] He then took formal leave of most of those present, and withdrew. At four o'clock, a smaller private reception was held for his intimate friends. The scene was one which those who saw will never forget. A heart of stone could not have resisted unmoved the spectacle of the farewells between the beloved and persecuted Prince, and the leaders of his people, whom he was leaving. The Prince passed through this trying ordeal with truly royal grace and dignity, and his was, perhaps, the only dry eye in the room.
Outside, a long line of carriages was drawn up, many of the notables wishing to accompany the royal traveller for some distance on his road across the Balkans. In the first carriage he took his seat with Stambuloff, and they
*. Blue Book, Turkey, No. I, 1887, p. 149.
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drove through the town, and far out on the Lom Palanka road, through a living hedge of weeping men and women. A more moving scene can scarcely be pictured. As they reached the summit of Yeni-Khan, from whence the last view of Sofia is to be obtained, the Prince turned and bid farewell to his capital, adding, " I shall never look upon you again."
By degrees, though, as they advanced on their way, his spirits rose, for he felt himself free once more from the crushing cares and responsibilities of State, and free for ever this time, and before they reached Lom Palanka he was quite gay. Stambuloff accompanied him on the yacht as far as Turn-Severin, and then took his last leave of the master he had served so well, and returned to take up the burden which had been too heavy for Alexander of Battenberg.
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General Kaulbars arrives — His twelve pieces of advice — Stambuloff insists on a Candidate for the Throne — Kaulbars addresses the crowd — He makes an electoral tour — A revolt at Bourgas — Prince Valdemar is offered the Throne — General Kaulbars leaves Bulgaria with all the Russian Consular Officials — The plot of the Yunkers — The Silistria revolt — The Rustchuk revolt — Execution of Panoff — Ministerial plot against the Regents — The Throne is offered to King Charles of Roumania — How Prince Ferdinand was found — His election by the Assembly — He lands at Sistoff.
STAMBULOFF'S reflections, as he drove back across the Balkans, cannot have been otherwise than gloomy. The entire work of the past few years would have to be done over again, and in the face of the undisguised enmity of Russia, with a partially disaffected army, an opposition sure of Russian support, and a Co-Regent whom he more than suspected of treachery. Since the day when the little band of outlaws hid their tattered flags and arms in a cave, the future of Bulgaria had rarely looked so dark. During the past ten years the son of the Tirnovo hotel-keeper had passed through more varied experiences than fall to the lot of most men in a lifetime, and now at the age of thirty-two he was in the proud position of Regent. He has often spoken to me of that solitary journey from Lom to Sofia, and
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assured me that, far from feeling any exultation, he was almost inclined to resign the honours, together with the dangers, of his position, and retire to his beloved Tirnovo. It was only from a sense of the highest patriotism, and from a conviction that, if he flinched at this crisis, Russia would find nobody else to stand in her way, that he persuaded himself to enter upon what he foresaw would be an endless struggle. As soon as he got back to Sofia he called upon MM. Kartzoff and Neklûdoff, who had been newly sent out to take the place of Bogdânoff, to enquire of them if they would formally ratify the promises made by them to Prince Alexander. They denied that they had ever given any assurances whatever to the Prince concerning Russia's consent to the election of a successor, and declared that if Alexander had represented them as having done so, he had deceived the Regents. On the contrary, Russia did not consider that Bulgaria was yet ripe, or sufficiently calmed down from recent excitements, to proceed with such an election. Stambuloff passionately retorted that he had foreseen at the time some such mala fides, and that he was certain that the assurance had been given to the Prince. So they parted with high words, and the gulf grew wider. Directly after this, it was announced that the Emperor was sending a Special Commissioner to assist the Bulgarians in the election of a Prince. The mission seemed scarcely to agree with the assertions of Neklûdoff, but the Regents were accustomed to contradictory words and acts from Russia, and awaited the arrival of the new Commissioner with curiosity and impatience. The official chosen was General Kaulbars, Military Attaché at Vienna,
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and he arrived at Lom Palanka on the 25th September, 1886. Scarcely had he set foot on Bulgarian soil when he composed a series of twelve pieces of "advice" to Bulgaria, which he published in the form of a circular, addressed to the Russian Consuls and Vice Consuls. The three principal points in this document were that the elections were to be postponed for two months (whereas the Constitution provided that they should be held within one month after the vacation of the throne), that the state of siege should be raised, and that all officers and other prisoners implicated in the recent plot should be liberated. The reasons alleged for these demands were, firstly, that the country must quiet down before it could hold elections ; secondly, that in order to allow it to do so, the state of siege must be raised ; and thirdly, the prisoners being accused of a party crime could not be properly or justly tried by their political adversaries.
The Regents took no notice of this "advice," but it clearly showed them what they might expect from the new Commissioner.
As soon as he arrived in Sofia, he embodied these three points in an official note to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Natchevitch, with a preface that he had been instructed to do so by the Emperor. He also openly boasted that he would soon put an end to the Regency, which he at once attacked, on the ground that neither Stambuloff nor Mutkûroff were properly qualified for the post of Regent, according to the Constitution, which declared the Regents must be men who had either held portfolios, or sat in the High Court of Appeal. His contention was technically sound, but as the Regents
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had already been acknowledged by the Chamber, it was rather late to object to them ; and, furthermore, his own letters of credit were addressed to the Regency, thereby admitting its legality. In effect, he soon abandoned his objection, and himself was the first to call upon Stambuloff, who, though one of three Regents, was recognised as being virtually alone, Colonel Mutkûroff having his hands full with the Army, and Karavéloff being utterly discredited since the Commission of Enquiry into the Coup d'état, which had so clearly proved his guilty knowledge, that there was already a question of trying him, together with his colleagues, Major Nikiforoff, former Minister of War, and Tsanoff, Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Stambuloff began by asking him who Russia's candidate might be, as the first thing to be done was to place a Prince on the throne, and he understood that Kaulbars had come specially to aid them towards this end. The General replied that he had no candidate, but that before talking about a new Prince the state of siege must be raised, and the imprisoned officers must be released. Stambuloff said that since Prince Alexander himself had said he wished no vengeance to be taken, he had no particular objection, in principle, to the General's proposals ; but he must have a candidate, and that quickly. Kaulbars could only repeat that, as yet, he was without instructions. In a day or two Stambuloff returned his visit, and a week later Kaulbars called a second time, saying that he had good news from Russia. Stambuloff was in hopes he was going to propose a Prince, and was disappointed when he was shown a telegram saying the Emperor had no desire to touch the Bulgarian Constitution. He
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simply said that nobody had any right to touch the Constitution, which had been signed, at Tirnovo, collectively by the Representatives of all the Great Powers. This show of independence shocked General Kaulbars, for whom the will and even the name of the Czar was a sacred thing, and when Stambuloff returned to the charge on the question of a Prince, he rather sulkily declared that Russia had no candidate. Stambuloff then emphatically blurted out that it was perfectly evident that if they waited for Russia to give them a candidate they would never have another Prince, as Kaulbars clearly did not wish to see the throne occupied. This being so, they would find one for themselves. Having convinced himself that he could do nothing with the Regent, General Kaulbars began to enter into negotiations with Zankoff [*] and the remaining Russophils.
This party was not so strong as it tried to make the world believe, for the masses were heartily sick of the bullying to which they were systematically subjected, and expected to be thankful for, and when it became generally known that General Kaulbars was, in the name of Russia, using every effort to defer the elections, mass meetings were held in all the towns, and even villages, where resolutions were passed, demanding the fixing of a date forthwith.
At Sofia some five or six thousand assembled in the
*. An amusing interview took place about this time between Sir Frank Lascelles and Zankoff, who, to the great astonishment of our Diplomatic Agent, presented himself uninvited one morning, and began the conversation by saying the thanks of Bulgaria were due to Sir Frank, for having supported the Prince in the line he had taken, since it had led to his expulsion from the country, which was a great blessing.
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Square, on October 3rd, and violent speeches were made against the meddling of Russia in Bulgaria's internal affairs. In the middle of the proceedings, to the amazement of the crowd, General Kaulbars appeared, pushed his way to the front, and commenced to address the meeting in Russian. He said the Czar loved Bulgaria, and went on with the usual commonplaces ; but when he touched upon the postponement of the elections, and the mob understood what he was saying, his voice was drowned in cries of "Long live the Constitution !" "Down with Russia!" and he was forced to beat a hasty retreat. His presence at this mob meeting, if it showed an utter disregard of diplomatic usage, at least proved his personal courage, for it was an open incitement to violence against his person, and it is certain that had any been used, Russia would have seized upon it as a pretext, although it may be doubted if, by his own action, he had not forfeited for the time being the usual diplomatic immunities. The next day he started on his famous electoral tour. The truth was that he had been met at every step by disillusions. The original Russian contention had been that the only obstacle in the way of a reconciliation between the two countries was the person of Prince Alexander of Battenberg. He having disappeared, General Kaulbars found that the populace of Sofia was evidently hostile to him, and therefore he was reduced to trying to prove that even if the Government and the Bulgarians of the capital would not hear of Russian control, still the mass of the nation was in favour of submission to Russia. His tour, unfortunately, demonstrated quite the contrary.
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On the eve of his departure Stambuloff visited him, and tried to dissuade him from a proceeding so little in keeping with his dignity as the representative of the Emperor. Flying into a passion, the General replied that he was acting under the direct orders of the Czar. The proclamations for elections on the 10th October having already been issued, Kaulbars enquired whether they intended, in the Grand Sobranieh, to put forward the candidature of Prince Alexander, or any of his family? Stambuloff frankly answered that the Bulgarians had no thought of such a proposal, and he asked him, for the last time, if Prince Valdemar of Denmark was the Russian nominee ? General Kaulbars replied that he must maintain his former answer, that he had no instructions to propose one candidate or another, but that he was considerably relieved by Stambuloff's statement that there was no idea of bringing back Prince Alexander. Taking advantage of this sentiment, Stambuloff again urged upon him not to undertake his tour, being seriously alarmed lest, in the present state of popular feeling, some harm should come to him. The General, however, who knew no personal fear, and was obstinate past description, would not listen to any arguments, and started forthwith. As might have been expected, his journey was a succession of disappointments. At almost every stoppage he was hissed and hooted, and at Shumla and Varna the police and troops had to be called in to protect him from violence. It was only at Vratza and Biela Slatina that he prevailed upon the inhabitants to abstain from voting, and sending representatives to the Grand Sobranieh. Out of eighty arrondissements, these were the only two which did
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not elect members. The elections resulted in an overwhelming majority for the National party, with Stambuloff at its head, the Zankoffists only securing six seats. At Sofia, Karavéloff only received twenty-seven votes, and his name was formally struck off the lists of the National party. The impotent rage of General Kaulbars at this result vented itself in a series of protests and threats, of which the Government took meagre notice. Amongst other measures, two Russian warships were sent to Varna, and remained there for some time, but as Stambuloff gave the strictest orders that no sort of provocation was to be offered either to the ships or the Consulate, and that, if necessary, troops should even be allowed to land unopposed, they finally steamed away. The officers of the army were also approached with alternate promise and menace to the effect that, when Russia occupied the country, those who aided her cause would be promoted, whilst those who opposed it would be sent to Siberia. The most weak-minded lent a half-willing ear to these tales, but the tougher spirits rejected them utterly. At this stage a conspiracy broke out at Bourgas, headed by the notorious Captain Nabôkoff, who suborned a portion of the garrison, arrested the Prefect, and proclaimed himself master of the town. Stambuloff at once ordered Captain Panitza to proceed thither, with full powers to suppress the revolt, but before he could arrive upon the scene the loyal troops had already gained the upper hand, reinstated the Prefect, and taken prisoner Nabôkoff, who was summarily condemned to death. Upon the violent remonstrances of General Kaulbars, however, and in order to avoid complications, this arch
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conspirator was handed over to his Consul, and shipped back to Odessa.
Meanwhile the Grand Sobranieh had met, and provisionally elected Prince Valdemar, of Denmark, in spite of the declaration of General Kaulbars, that the elections having been held without the consent of Russia, they were illegal; consequently the Chamber itself was illegally constituted, and any decisions it might take would, de facto, be nuls et non avenus. How far such a simple declaration had the force of invalidating the elections, and the acts of the Chamber, which otherwise had been perfectly legally convoked, is open to question ; but it was on this ground that Russia refused to recognise its deliberations, and on this ground alone that she has persistently refused, ever since, to acknowledge the election of Prince Ferdinand.
In voting for Prince Valdemar, the Assembly hoped to force the hand of Russia to recognise a relative of the Emperor. They plainly did not know the character of Alexander, the Peacemaker. A telegram was sent to Prince Valdemar's father, acquainting him of the decision of the Assembly ; and reckoning in a great degree upon the support of the Empress, who, it was known, would have liked her brother to occupy the throne, they awaited the answer, not without some hope. In two days' time it came, saying that, not having the approval of the Czar, Prince Valdemar must decline the honour. With no other candidate to the front, the Assembly was bound to dissolve, but before doing so, they elected a Commission, consisting of MM. Grékoff, Stoiloff, and Kaltcheff, who were entrusted with the duty of visiting the various
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European Courts in search of a Prince, and begging for the support of each in their endeavours. After this the Assembly dissolved, and Stambuloff, with Natchevitch and several other leading men, left Tirnovo to visit the Danube towns, where a certain amount of disaffection, especially amongst the garrisons, was rumoured to exist.
Whilst they were travelling, an incident occurred at Philippopolis, the Cavass of the Russian Consulate having been, as it was alleged, assaulted by the police. General Kaulbars, in his best style, instantly demanded full satisfaction, including the dismissal of the Prefect and of the Commandant of Police. Stambuloff replied, from Rustchuk, that he must first verify the facts, and if, after enquiry, the accusation was proved, he was ready to give an indemnity. After sending this answer, he started for Lom Palanka, having sent orders to Philippopolis for a searching examination into the case. General Kaulbars, however, was not content with the reply, and telegraphed that if the whole satisfaction he had demanded were not given in twenty-four hours, he would leave Bulgaria. Owing, however, to a tremendous storm, succeeded by a heavy fog, the travellers were delayed on the road, and Kaulbars' ultimatum was only handed to Stambuloff after the delay had expired. The General had, nevertheless, been as good as his word, and when the time had passed, he, with all the Russian Consular officers in the Principality, departed en masse. The accident of a fog thus rendered yeoman service, and Stambuloff on learning the Russian exodus felt that the country had been thereby delivered from a dangerous element, since the whole of the Czar's
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officials had been ceaselessly employed in fostering sedition from the day of their arrival.
To go back for a week or two. When the Russian ships were before Varna, in the month of October, Stambuloff telegraphed to Zankoff that he did not care to fight Russia alone, and he would resign if they would form a new Regency, consisting of the heads of the three Parties — the Zankoffists, the Nationalists, and the Conservatives. Zankoff answered, " Hand in your resignation first, and give over the power to Kaulbars." This, however, was too complete a surrender, and Stambuloff therefore called upon the Assembly to elect a new Regent in the room of Karavéloff, who had resigned when he found his position no longer tenable. The Assembly thereupon accepted the resignation of Karavéloff, and elected, on Stambuloff's proposal, M. Givkoff, who, with Stambuloff and Mutkûroff took up residence at Sofia, after the dissolution of the Assembly, at the " Hôtel Bulgarie." The next six months were spent by Stambuloff seated, as it were, upon a volcano.
At Constantinople Zankoff was using every means to overturn the Regency, and was promising the Grand Vizier to come to a thorough agreement with Russia if only Turkey would accept his programme, the first article of which was the suppression of the Regency, and the formation of a Zankoff Ministry, assisted by Russian officers. [*]
*. This may be a fitting place to sketch the career of Zankoff. In the beginning he was one of the most prominent champions of Bulgarian independence, and was the most vigorous opponent of Prince Alexander, up to 1883, in his attempts to modify and change the Constitution. In that year, however, the Prince called him to office, to take the place-of the dismissed Russian Cabinet, and he at once expressed his readiness to fall in with any alterations which His Highness might choose to make. Karavéloff, who was gradually assuming the leadership of the more advanced Liberals, and who enjoyed the usual support given indiscriminately by Russia to any Party which was in opposition, took advantage of this change of front in Zankoff to attack him, and finally succeeded in turning him out. As a natural consequence, Russian countenance was now transferred to Zankoff, who was full of wrath against Karavéloff and Stambuloff, and from this date (1884) never ceased actively conspiring against the Nationalist Party. His rôle in the events immediately succeeding the Coup d'état alienated many sympathies from him, and by the proposals just quoted, made to Turkey, he threw off all pretence of patriotism, and was never more seriously regarded as aught else but a salaried Russian agitator.
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In Bulgaria plot succeeded plot, and he scarcely knew on whom he could rely. It was almost a single-handed fight, and he was enabled to carry it on only by adroitly profiting by the weakness and disorganisation of his adversaries, and by the exercise of sleepless watchfulness and untiring energy. It would require a small volume to go into the details of each of the separate conspiracies discovered and defeated in turn, but a rapid sketch of some of them will give an idea of the perils of the situation of Regent.
Almost as soon as the three Regents had taken up their residence in the Hotel, on the 23rd November, whilst sitting at lunch together, a soldier asked to see Givkoff. This man had formerly been a schoolmaster at Varna, when Givkoff was Inspector of Schools for that district. He was now a " yunker " in the Military School. He said that the " yunkers," who had already distinguished themselves by the kidnapping of Prince Alexander, had arranged to surround the Hotel on the 25th, and massacre the Regency. He had escaped by a window from the school, and procuring a suit of civilian
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clothes, had come, for the sake of old kindness shewn to him by Givkoff, to give him timely warning. The plot was the more dangerous, as it was organised by a band of young desperadoes who had already the necessary experience. The ringleaders were Major Panoff, who had behaved well on the former occasion, and the Commandant of the School, Hessapdjieff. The Regents at once summoned Major Popoff, Commandant of Sofia, and Colonel Nikolaieff, Minister of War. It was rapidly decided that the ist Regiment was to surround the School at one o'clock next morning, and to seize all the arms and munitions, making the " yunkers " prisoners. Stambuloff asked to be allowed to arrest Panoff himself, and towards midnight went to his private residence. There he was told that Panoff was at the Military School, and he sent the orderly to fetch him instantly. As the plot was not to be executed for two or three days, and the conspirators had no idea they were betrayed, Panoff unsuspectingly obeyed the summons of the Regent. Stambuloff encouraged him to talk and drink, and kept him at home till four a.m., when he returned to his own house. At six Panoff arrived, and broke into his room in a state of the greatest excitement, crying, " What have you done to me ? "
" I have saved you from being a traitor, for the sake of our boyhood's friendship," was the answer; "but you cannot any longer remain in the army, for I am not the only one who knows of your shame." And his name was immediately struck off the rolls. We shall meet him again before long.
On the 29th February, 1887, came a telegram that the
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garrison of Silistria had revolted, and information poured in from all sides that a general rising was in preparation along the Danube. The conspirators were in active communication with ex-Captains Grueff and Bendereff, and with the Russian Agency at Bucharest, which, under M. Hitrovo, had become the headquarters of the revolutionists, and it was apparent that prompt measures would have to be taken.
At Silistria, the telegraph clerk, whilst sending messages under compulsion to the Russian conspirators in Bucharest, contrived to wire off a message to Rustchuk, giving the Prefect news of what had happened. A battalion was at once despatched to the scene from Rustchuk, and another, with cavalry, from Varna, but before this force reached Silistria, the troops themselves had seized and shot their revolted leader, Captain Chrestoff, and this was the only blood shed. The abortive attempt, however, served to arouse the vigilance of the Government, which was tolerably well prepared for the 3rd March, the anniversary of the Treaty of San Stefano, which had been chosen by the Russian leaders of the revolutionists as an appropriate day to raise their standards. Rustchuk was the spot fixed upon, as being most conveniently situated for communications with Bucharest, and at three o'clock in the morning, the regiment of sappers sallied forth from their barracks and occupied the Prefecture, which stands over against the infantry barracks. They were commanded by Captain Ouzûnoff, the gallant defender of Widdin, during the Servian War, who, like so many of his fellow-officers, had allowed himself to be corrupted by the insidious advances of Russia. They summoned
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the infantry to surrender, but the latter, though very few in number, refused, and opened fire from their windows upon the sappers.
The rebels had begun operations by cutting all the town telegraph wires, but the Prefect had succeeded in sending a message to Sofia from the railway station, and believed that if he could hold the town for a day, relief would come. He, therefore, called for volunteers, who responded gallantly, and putting a gunsmith's shop to the sack, the civilians engaged in a pitched battle with the sappers. [*] They were encouraged by the stout resistance made by Captain Vulkoff, in the infantry barracks, and gradually the sappers found themselves getting the worst of the fight between two fires, [†]
*. At Sofia, the first inkling of what was going on, was gathered from the fact that when the telegraph called Rustchuk at ten o'clock in the morning, no answer was returned. The Regents then went to the station and commenced telegraphing in all directions, particularly to Roumania, for information, and it was only at four in the afternoon that they heard that fighting was still going on, whereupon they despatched urgent orders for troops to hurry up from Razgrad, Plevna, and Tirnovo.
†. Several most exciting incidents occurred during that afternoon. Not the least so was the meeting of the brothers Mateef. One of them was a captain in the rebel pioneers, the other was the Rustchuk station-master. Twice they met face to face, and twice they stayed their hands. Afterwards, when the sappers were dispersed, Captain Mateef, in full uniform with his heavy boots on, threw himself into the Danube, which was running in flood and covered with drifting ice, and performed the almost incredible feat of swimming across to the island which lies over against Rustchuk. As he clambered up among the osiers he was shot from the bank. Stambuloff was struck with admiration when he heard the story, and declared that if Mateef had escaped he would have granted him a free pardon for his gallant swim.
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In the afternoon they gave way altogether, and fled precipitately for the Danube, in order to try to reach the Roumanian shore ; knowing well the fate in store for them, if captured. The boats were instantly subjected to a heavy fire from the victorious townspeople, and the steamer, Golubchik, started in pursuit. Amongst the prisoners were found ex-Major Panoff and a civilian, who, making sure of the victory of the sappers, had embarked from Giurgevo in a rowing boat, and were caught before they found out their mistake. Captain Bendereff was more lucky, and effected his escape, at least so it was reported. The National Guard from Razgrad arrived in the evening, and it shows the spirit of the people that they refused to believe the telegrams which reached Razgrad saying there was no need of their presence, and insisted on seeing for themselves. The manner in which the populace behaved on this occasion was an immense encouragement to the Regency, and they felt that every successive failure in revolt only strengthened their hold on the national sympathies.
As a consequence of the Rustchuk revolt the nine ringleaders, amongst whom was the ill-fated Panoff, were shot, and at Sofia several prominent suspects were thrown into prison, under suspicion of having been concerned in the general plot. Karavéloff, Nikiforoff, Tsanoff, and Zankoffs son-in-law, Ludskânoff, were all implicated. As soon as they were confined, Mesdames Karavéloff and Ludskânoff petitioned the foreign Agents to intercede on behalf of their husbands, who, they alleged, were being tortured and subjected to hard-usage. Stambuloff was most indignant at this charge, and ordered the fullest
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enquiry to be made, which resulted in the publication of an official report, signed by the prisoners themselves, denying in toto that they had suffered any maltreatment. About a fortnight later they were all released, and the Regents made a tour through Roumelia, where they found no traces of the disaffection which had existed in the north. In April, Stambuloff was attacked again by his old enemy, pneumonia, but having received private news from Sofia that Colonel Nikolaieff, Minister of War, and Radoslâvoff, President of the Council, were plotting to turn out the Regency, ill as he was, he started full speed from Silistria, where he was laid up, reaching the already historical " Hôtel de Bulgarie " at the end of May. Here he found that, monstrous as it had appeared to him, the accusation was well-founded. There had been many pourparlers going on for the re-election of Prince Alexander, and the idea of the conspirators, who were impatient at the manner in which Stambuloff was allowing himself to be influenced by the prudent counsels of the Powers, seems to have been to overturn the Regency, and declare for Alexander. There are no documents on this subject, but from what I gathered, both from Stambuloff himself, and other actors in the event, what happened was as follows.
On the first of June, Stambuloff invited several officers and friends to dinner, and afterwards sent for Mutkûroff, under the pretence that his mother was ill. A carriage was in readiness outside to take him to Philippopolis, and Stambuloff instructed him to make all speed, and assure himself of the loyalty of the Eastern Roumelian troops. Mutkûroff having been safely despatched, the company
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was kept up carousing till three in the morning, when the third Regent, Givkoff, started for Lorn and Rustchuk to raise the army of the Danube. The next day, on a plea of headache, Stambuloff refused to receive the Ministers, but the third morning, when a telegram in cypher from Mutkûroff had reached him, saying that the whole army of the South was in his hands, he convoked a council. When they had met, he told them that he was alone to speak to them, because one of his colleagues was at Philippopolis, and the other at Lom, whither they had gone in order to make sure of the preservation of peace and order. Radoslâvoff declared this was a lie, as he had seen Mutkûroff's hat in the hall. " Mutkûroff has more than one hat," replied Stambuloff. Nikolaieff broke out into oaths, and swore that he would court-martial Mutkûroff for leaving Sofia without permission from himself, as War Minister. He was, however, sternly rebuked by Stambuloff, who advised him to do nothing rash, adding significantly, " or I will show you that I am strong enough now, as before, to deal with traitors."
For State reasons, however, Stambuloff did not take any further steps, contenting himself with the little lesson he had given the Ministry. But he had also learnt one himself, and it was daily becoming more and more clear that they must elect a Prince. The Porte had, through Gadban Effendi, proposed the Prince of Mingrelia, but his was a candidature which Stambuloff would not hear of. [*]
*. The answer Stambuloff made was, that he was not the sort of Prince they wanted, because he was a Caucasian, and probably a Circassian ; and by the Treaty of Berlin, Circassians were not tolerated in Bulgaria. The real reason was, that he was considered as a mere puppet of Russia.
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Later on, the throne was offered to King Charles, of Roumania, through the intermediary of the Russian Consul at Rustchuk, and his was a candidature which, Stambuloff considered would fulfil every requirement of the situation, if His Majesty could only be prevailed upon to agree to it. He has never, to the present day, ceased regretting that King Charles was prevented, by consideration for the Powers, from accepting a position which would have lent double strength to both nations, and might have become the nucleus of a Balkan Confederation.
Having failed, however, all round, and seeing that his quondam friends and supporters were continually plotting against him and that the country could not hope to exist much longer without a Prince, he fixed the elections for the Grand National Assembly to elect one, in spite of the amicable remonstrances of all the Great Powers, and the maintenance by Russia of her original strong formal protest. The choice had already fallen upon Prince Ferdinand of Coburg, in this wise. When the three Bulgarian delegates reached Vienna, one of them, M. Kaltcheff, went to spend the evening at Ronacher's well-known circus. Here, at one of the marble-topped tables, he met a fellow countryman, a M. Kovâtcheff, who asked to introduce a retired officer to him, a certain Major Laaba. The Major, after the consumption of several bocks, remarked, " I hear you are in search of a Prince for Bulgaria. I have just the man for you." Kaltcheff, who is a simpleminded gentleman, was delighted at the chance, without reflecting upon the somewhat incongruous manner
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in which it was presented to him. So pleased was he, that though it was past two in the morning when he reached his hotel, he woke up MM. Grékoff and Stoiloff to tell them the good news. They laughed at him, and told him he might go alone to the Coburg Palace if he liked, but that they would certainly not accompany him. Nothing daunted, however, even after a night's meditation, M. Kaltcheff called upon the Prince next morning, and carried back an invitation to his colleagues. Seeing that it was serious, all three made their proposal, which the Prince accepted under the reserve that he should first be approved by all the Powers. This was in reality equivalent to a declining of the honour, and for a time no more was thought by the Bulgarians of Prince Ferdinand, although he appears to have begun his preparations from that moment. Later on, though, M. Mateef was sent to sound His Highness again on the subject, and, although Prince Ferdinand did not abandon his first position, Stambuloff decided to force his decision, in one sense or the other, by electing him.
The first business before the Assembly was to consider the resignation of the Regents and Ministry. It naturally refused to accept that of the Regents, and equally of course, the tainted Ministry was dismissed, and a new one formed under Dr. Stoiloff. The next act was the election of Prince Ferdinand, which was notified to him by telegram. He wired a reply, repeating that he would be proud to assume the sceptre if the Porte and Powers would recognise him. It was palpably absurd to hope for any such recognition, and a deputation
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Prince Ferdinand.
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was sent to carry to His Highness the Act of the Assembly, in the hopes that they might persuade him to came back with them. He acknowledged the receipt of the Act in much the same terms as he had done the telegram. This did not suit Stambuloff, who, after some delay, decided to send Natchevitch on a confidential mission to Coburg Palace.
His instructions were categoric, either to bring back Prince Ferdinand, or a renouncement in writing of the Throne, as Bulgaria could not wait; and if the Prince could not or would not take the crown as it was offered, they must look elsewhere for somebody else who would.
The result of Natchevitch's arguments was that they started together from Vienna on the 10th of August, and steaming down the Danube, reached Turn Severin three or four days later. Here he was met in mid-stream by the Regents, who went on board his steamer, the Orient, and the new Prince landed at Sistoff amidst the acclamations of the people.
Before leaving Vienna he had written letters to the Emperor and to Count Kalnoky, both of whom had tried to dissuade him from the adventure, as they persisted in regarding it. In these letters he declared his firm resolve to devote his whole existence to Bulgaria, and expressed a hope that any irregularity that might exist in the method of convocation of the Chamber which had elected him, might be overlooked or forgiven in later years. This seemed a reasonable enough aspiration, but events have proved that it was not destined to be realised. At least, in accepting the Throne under
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such circumstances, Prince Ferdinand gave a proof of considerable personal courage and devotion, for which the nation were, and expressed themselves, deeply sensible. If he had Europe against him, he certainly had all Bulgaria with him, when he took the oath before the Grand Assembly, at Tirnovo, on August 14th, 1887.