Stambuloff's views — His nephew Kiriloff expelled from the Army - A schoolmaster beaten and set to sweep out the police-station — The Government always says it does not know — "When I was Premier a bee could not start from Varna without my knowing it" — The Prince and Russia — A dangerous game — Dr. Stoiloff's opinion — He does not believe in the stories of persecution — Is confident about the elections — Character of Stambuloff — He was his own worst enemy.
POSTSCRIPT. — The premeditation of the murder — The Government morally responsible — The assassination — Guntcho is arrested — The police look on — Stambuloff's hands amputated — His death — The accusation of the Svoboda against the Government — Stambuloff's last letter.
I HAVE endeavoured, in the preceding pages, to present a faithful picture of the events of the last few years by recording the facts, as they occurred, without further comment than necessary to make their bearing on the story clear. In order that the public may, however, hear Stambuloff's own version, I will reproduce, from notes, his account of the situation, and add to it the defence of the Government, leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions.
Stambuloff loquitur. — " The Stoiloff Government, on its accession to power, issued a circular, in which it promised to adhere to the Constitution and the Law, to reduce the Army and Taxation, and to effect a reconciliation with Russia. The great reproach brought against me has
228
always been that I used my power unconstitutionally and arbitrarily. I admit this fully. I used publicly to say in the Chamber, that I intended to proceed to some necessary measure, not provided for by the Constitution, but justified by the circumstances of the case. But all my arbitrary acts were performed for the good of the country, and generally in the face of some great national danger. The Stoiloff Cabinet, however, violates the Constitution every day, and tramples upon all the legal rights of its political enemies. It has taken eight millions off the dimes, but it has added eighteen by the accise ; and as for the reconciliation with Russia, it has not yet been accomplished. They have proclaimed an amnesty for political criminals, but none for those who hunted down the traitors. The Liberals are, in fact, being prosecuted by the very men they brought to justice. This would be comprehensible if the Prince and I had been turned out by the Russians, but I can find no plausible excuse for it now.
" The interior and exterior policy of the Government has weakened it in the eyes of the nation, and of Europe, and if Russophilism has come to life again, it is only thanks to a few traitors. It is with a bleeding heart that I see the Russian propaganda carried on by Bulgarian officials, and no word spoken from the Palace to stem a current which will one day sweep away Prince Ferdinand. If the persecution were limited to civilians it would be bad enough, but it has spread to the Army. Since my tall, three hundred of our best and most patriotic officers have been put on the retired list. My relative, Lieutenant Kiriloff, paid me two visits, and for this he was expelled the Army, and has gone to Geneva to study law. Colonel Kutintcheff, one of my best friends from childhood, used occasionally to come and see me. He was quickly transferred to Slivno, and when he returned to Sofia, on fifteen days' leave, to fetch his wife, and paid me a visit, he was at once bidden to quit the capital in twenty-four hours. The reason given to him was, that he had been seen "at Stambuloff's house." A special set was made against school teachers. The masters, seeing themselves dismissed
229
wholesale, began forming societies for self-protection, and this was construed into political conspiracy. Last Easter, at Dubnitza, the teacher, Dimitri Leshkinoff, criticised some act of the Government. The Bailli came at eleven o'clock at night, and took him to the guardhouse. Here is the account of his sufferings, published in the Svoboda, signed by himself and several witnesses. He was thrashed till his back was as soft as his stomach, as we say in Bulgarian, and those who saw his condition afterwards said that "flies crawled up the small of their backs " when they looked at him. On the Sunday he was compelled to sweep out the guard-house, and clean the latrines. He sent his complaint to the Palace, but no notice was taken of it. The Government simply says it has no knowledge of these barbarities, and therefore they must be invented by us. When I was Premier, a bee could not start from Varna without my knowing it !
" As for my campaign in the Svoboda, it may be wrong, but it is the only weapon I have left to me. Through it I have raised public opinion, not only in Bulgaria, but all over Europe. It is the way in which the European journals spoke of me which damaged me most of all in the eyes of the Prince, who hates to hear the world talking more about me than about him. Some French sheet described him as 'grelottant dans l'ombre de son Premier,' and there appeared the pamphlet called the Zaun-Konig — the fable of the eagle who soared higher than all other birds, but when he could rise no more, a wren fluttered off his back and flew a few yards higher still.
" By his declaration that Bulgaria cannot exist without Russia, by his open court paid to Russia, in order to obtain a reconciliation at all risks, and by his resuscitation of the Russian ghost, the Prince has forfeited the confidence of Bulgaria and of Europe. Unless he changes his present hermaphrodite exterior policy, and compels his Government to cease making persecution their ruling principle, I would not give a sou for his throne. He is simply playing into the hands of Russia. I believe he knows this danger, and counts upon the Aripy to support him. Unfortunately, our officers are all
230
politicians, and have tasted the forbidden fruit. There are also close and indissoluble ties, which the Prince does not take sufficiently into account, between the Army and the Nation. The possibilities of a civil war are, however, so horrible to me, that I prefer to carry this subject no further.
" In my opinion, the existence of Bulgaria, apart from Prince Ferdinand, depends very largely — too largely at present — upon her external policy, especially upon her relations with Turkey and Roumania. It was always my aim to inspire confidence in these two, but the action of the present Government is not calculated to do so. Any disturbance here would quickly spread throughout the Balkans, and we are sitting upon a volcano just at present In the same way, anything going wrong in Turkey echoes through the Peninsula, and the greatest caution ought to be exercised by all of us to prevent any breach of the peace. I am certain that if ever Russia occupied Varna and Bourgas, Austria would cross the Save and take Belgrade. The interests of all the Balkan States, and of Turkey, are identical, and this was always the very backbone of my policy."
Dr. Stoiloff loquitier. — "Stambuloff complains bitterly of what he is pleased to term persecution, but I deny in toto that we are persecuting. He ought to think himself lucky to get off so easily. What has been done to him, after all ? A Commission has been instituted to enquire into his acts. If it finds that he has committed crimes, he will have to answer for them. That is not persecution. As for the sequester on his property, I do not approve of it myself, and refused to sign the protocol of the Commission recommending it. But it is not such a very terrible weapon to use. All the lesser miseries he wails over, I know nothing about. As for the telegrams and letters in the Svoboda, I cannot treat them as evidence. I do not believe that there is the slightest foundation for nine-tenths of them ; and as for the rest, well, the victims probably brought their woes on themselves. Stambuloff pretends that the whole country is against us, and that we are ruling by terrorism. I have
231
travelled all over Bulgaria lately, and saw none of the horrors he describes in his Svoboda, and had no complaints made to me, as I should have had if they were true. If these things happen, I can only repeat they are not within my cognisance. As for the conspirators, brigands, and assassins who, you say, are ' strolling about and smoking with M. Natchevitch,' there has been a political amnesty, and anybody who likes can come to Sofia. In the particular case of Naoum Teufectchieff, there is a question as to whether he is a Turkish or a Bulgarian subject. Until that is settled we cannot hand him over to the Ottoman Government, or try him ourselves. Therefore he is at liberty on bail.
"I quite agree with the Prince that our only chance of salvation is a reconciliation with Russia, and I have hopes of achieving it. Our present situation is that of the leper of Europe, and is quite intolerable.
"As for our prospects in the coming elections, I am quite tranquil about them. We shall have a good majority, for the whole of Bulgaria is sick to death of the Liberals, and the disgraceful way in which they are behaving, especially in their paper, the Svoboda.
"All that is respectable in the country is on our side, and we are resolved firmly not to let ourselves be frightened out of our path. The Prince is daily gaining ground both here and in Europe, and we can afford to listen with indifference to the yelping of the Liberal pack."
Which of the two is right, time will show. Their views and statements are so diametrically opposite, that there is no fitting them together. Since I left Sofia, the Bulgarian Government has presented a note to the Porte respecting certain indemnities, and reiterating a request for the execution of the Iradé giving two more Bulgarian Bishops to Macedonia. This note was very badly received, and M. Dimitroff, the Bulgarian Diplomatic Agent, left Constantinople next day. Simultaneously with this
232
diplomatic quarrel, disturbances began in Macedonia, and at the date of my writing these lines, [*] it looks as if the outbreak of hostilities between the Turkish troops and the peasant population of Macedonia were about to open up a question similar to the Armenian one.
In judging Stambuloff's life, the Western critic must take into consideration the surroundings amongst which he was bred and lived. If he ruled roughly, it was a rough people he had to deal with. He was a young man, in almost absolute power over a young nation. At the age when most of our youths are wielding the oar and the cricket bat, he was a leader in the forlorn struggle of Bulgaria against Turkey. Taught in the hard school of want and adversity, his nature was rugged as the mountains which were his youthful home and refuge. He was blamed, when in power, for behaving with unnecessary rigour towards his opponents, but politics in Bulgaria are not what they are in Western Europe. Political passions are so fierce, that every party looks upon the other as an actual physical foe, to be dealt with in a manner to cripple and disable it for ever. In Stambuloff, we see the strong man defending his house. Amidst plots and conspiracies, surrounded by uncertain friends and open enemies, he was often obliged to strike swiftly. And when he struck, his hand was undoubtedly heavy. The best justification of his policy is to be found in the fact that his adversaries, who came in upon a condemnation of it, are following it as closely as they can.
Since he fell, he has been reproached with his campaign against the Prince. There can scarcely be two opinions
*. 30th June, 1895.
233
on this subject, but the greatest sufferer has not been Prince Ferdinand. As a keen and competent observer, one who most strongly disapproved of Stambuloff's later acts, remarked to me —
" Son œuvre fut si colossale que personne autre que luimême pourrait la détruire. Eh ! bien, il le fait avec ses propres mains."
When he quitted the Presidential chair, Stambuloff could proudly remember how he had consolidated the Union; held the country single-handed against the kidnappers of Prince Alexander; ruled it as Regent in the teeth of Russia ; driven out the Russian Commissioners and Consuls ; brought in a new Prince, and kept him on the throne through a series of plots and dangers from within and without ; reconciled the Church and State, and drawn close the ties between Bulgaria and her Suzerain, the Sultan.
All Europe recognised his magnificent services, and he stood on a pedestal so high that none of his adversaries could reach his feet. By his desperate thirst for revenge, though, he came down from his high place, and put himself, if not on a level, at least within reach of his foes. His best friends besought him to suffer in silence, and to show himself as strong in patience as he had been in power. But Stambuloff could not endure, and he did for himself what his worst enemies could not have done for him. And they, watching with secret pleasure how, with his own hands, he was tearing off his armour, kept goading him on with little pricks in his captivity, and refusing, like modern Pharaohs, to let him go. What is now taking place in Sofia is a melancholy and degrading
234
spectacle. It is a sordid smirch on one of the fairest pages a man could ever show for his life, and a blot of black ingratitude on the history of Bulgaria.
June 30th, 1895.
The ink was scarcely dry upon the proofs of the preceding pages when the civilised world was shocked by the news of the assassination of Stambuloff. It may be doubted if any crime of modern times, not even excepting the outrage on the Czar Alexander II., raised such an universal feeling of horror, loathing, and contempt for its authors. In the one case the assassins were a few desperate, hunted Nihilists, tracked by the police like wolves, hiding in caves and cellars, and working under a fanatical creed which converted them for the time being into temporary madmen. In the other we see hired 'bravos,' whose character was well known to the authorities, whose hands were steeped in blood of former victims, and who openly boasted that they were kept to kill Stambuloff. A man, sick to death, begged for leave to quit the town where he could not take a step without being followed by those who were sworn and paid to make an end to him, and it was refused. The Foreign Diplomatic Agents repeatedly pointed out to the Government that if anything happened to Stambuloff, the whole responsibility would fall upon them. This responsibility they deliberately undertook. By the refusal to grant Stambuloff his passport, they signed Stambuloff's death-warrant as surely as if they had led him out to execution. They knew it, he knew it, and very man, woman, and child in Sofia knew it. The question was simply one of time. He might die of his
235
disease, or the murderers might find a favourable opportunity. What hurried the catastrophe may or may not be known some day, but it will probably turn out that a notorious Russophil leader, then on a visit to Petersburg, had been told by the Russophil Bulgarians there, and the Slav Committees, that so long as Stambuloff lived there was no hope of a reconciliation with Russia. Hereupon a message may have been sent to Sofia, that what had to be done were best done quickly. The day before the murder the 'Mir,' the Government organ, published an article saying that the only thing to do with Stambuloff was to "tear his flesh from his bones." The order was too literally fulfilled. There was, indeed no chance of escape from his fate. It was well known that the refusal to grant the passport was sanctioned by the Prince, under pretext that His Highness did not wish Stambuloff to be touring about Europe, talking against him. It was, however, interpreted far differently in Bulgaria. There everybody knew that a band of professional cut-throats were being kept for no other purpose than to clear off the great impediment in the way of the Russophils. They knew, too, that the death of Stambuloff was the best means of pleasing the Prince and the Government, and under such circumstances the task was an easy one for the conspirators to carry out. As, latterly, the only exercise Stambuloff ever took was between his home and the Union Club, down the Rakovsky Street, it was certain that the murder would take place there. He has often remarked to me, himself that he would be killed in those three or four hundred yards, and events have shown that his presentiment was only too true. It happened in this wise :
On the 15th of July, at ten minutes to eight in the
236
evening, Stambuloff and Petkoff left the Union Club, where they had been spending an hour or two. A carriage had been waiting at the corner ever since their arrival, and the coachman, who was not one of those usually stationed at this spot, said that he had come to take them home. The trusty Guntcho mounted the box, and they drove off. As they passed the house of Guzeleff, three men sprang out into the roadway. The foremost was armed with a revolver, the other two with the formidable knives called 'yatagans.' Stambuloff and Petkoff leaped down on the opposite side, and the driver instantly whipped up his horses and disappeared, but not before Guntcho had also managed to descend, both he and Petkoff being thrown violently to the ground in doing so. Stambuloff had hardly gone six paces before his assailants were upon him, three to one. Probably from not wishing to raise an unnecessary alarm, the revolver was not used. As Stambuloff was feeling for his own pistol, he received a slash across the wrist which nearly severed his right hand. He then raised both arms to protect his head from the savage cuts aimed at it. His right arm was broken in several places, and the flesh and muscle ripped to the bone. He soon fell, and on the road the assassins continued hacking at his defenceless form until Guntcho had picked himself up, and rushed to the rescue. Firing a shot from his revolver, he put the three to flight, and started in pursuit, when Captain Morfoff, the same who had led the rabble on the 30th May, with three gendarmes who were present on the scene, immediately arrested Guntcho, and gave the murderers time to escape. The one wounded by Guntcho, for he seems to have hit his mark, ran down
237
Mutkûroff Street and Krakra Street. As he was bleeding from the face, a hue and cry was raised, and he was followed past the British Agency, where the two sentinels declined to respond to the shout of the pursuers to arrest him, although he passed within ten paces of them. Once beyond the Agency, he was in open country, and soon gained the slopes of Mount Vitosh. As soon as Petkoff recovered from his heavy fall he went for assistance, the mutilated body of Stambuloff was carried to his house, and he was laid upon a table in the front room. His wife was out at the time, and when she returned, the sight which met her was indeed a terrible one. Both of her husband's hands and arms were sliced to ribbons, one eye was nearly cut out, and fifteen gaping wounds criss-crossed his forehead and temples. Doctors Sterlin and Hakânoff were quickly in attendance, and decided that an immediate amputation of both limbs was necessary, and it was at once performed. His constitution was already enfeebled by disease, and by a course of waters ; and the great loss of blood, first from the wounds, and then from the surgeon's knife, left little chance of recovery. Nevertheless, the day passed without any alarming symptoms, and it was only on the night of the 17th that high fever set in, and the mind, which had been clear hitherto, began to wander. At twenty-five minutes past three a.m., on the eighteenth, Stambuloff died, surrounded by his family and friends, and mourned by half the world.
It is not worth while to detail the first steps taken towards discovering the murderers, as this volume will probably appear in print long before the trial is commenced, if proper trial there ever be. There is some possibility of a
238
wretched scapegoat being found, but the really guilty parties, the accomplices before and after the fact, will never be brought to the bar.
The next day the 'Svoboda' published the following :
" Who are the murderers of Stambuloff? Who took the life of such a man as Bulgaria will never see again ?
" Who lifted the yatagan against him ? They are officially unknown, but all Bulgaria knows them. For the last seven months we have repeatedly and openly declared that the Government was keeping the assassins of Beltcheff and Vulkovitch to murder Stambuloff. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Natchevitch, has given some of these men posts under Government, and daily receives them in his house.
" Who has now killed Stambuloff?
" Whoever struck the blow, the moral murderers are the Prince and his Government who refused to let him leave Sofia, and so gave an opportunity to their assassins. The blood of Bulgaria's finest patriot cries aloud for vengeance. Two days ago the official journal, the 'Mir,' called upon its friends to tear the flesh from the bones of Stambuloff and Petkoff. Its orders have been executed.
" Rejoice therefore, ye who are a disgrace to Bulgaria, criminals under an official cloak! You have cut off the right hand which so often saved Bulgaria and the Prince's crown. Be merry ! for you have removed the barrier which prevented you from selling your country.
" But will you ever know peace again ? Never, a thousand times over, never !
" Wherever you are, in your goings out and your comings in, the blood of Stambuloff will be with you; in your homes, amongst your families, in church and in office, the shadow of Stambuloff will follow you, and will leave you in this world nevermore."
The accusation here brought is no new one. The 'Svoboda' has printed similar challenges over and over
239
again, defying the Government to prosecute it, and so give it a chance of proving its words in a Court of Law.
With Stambuloff disappears the only real adversary capable of holding the country against the Russophils. The most prominent member of the Nationalist Party left is Radoslâvoff, who may make an effort, together with Petkoff, and possibly some of the Army, to rally and effect a stand against Russia. It is, however, a thankless task to prophesy about Bulgaria. Further than this, I prefer not to look into the dark and stormy future which opens beyond Stambuloff's grave.
I could not more fittingly conclude this study than by translating the last letter I received from Stambuloff, only a few days before his right hand was cut off. It is probably the last private one he ever wrote and signed, and I give it almost in full. The reader will notice that amidst all his personal worries, his mental struggles, and physical sufferings, his one predominant idea, the single love of his life, was Bulgaria. For Bulgaria he lived, and for her he died a martyr-patriot.
Here is his letter :
" Sofia, 8th July, 1895.
" My Dear Friend,
"As you know, the Deputation, with the Metropolitan Clement at its head, has reached Petersburg to place a wreath on the grave of the Emperor Alexander III., and, at the same time, to propose conditions for the perdition of Bulgaria. The Prince is delighted that the Deputation has been received, and believes that through it he will obtain his recognition. He is ready to make any concessions, if only the Czar will consent to recognise him. And so the independence and freedom of our poor fatherland finds itself in deadly peril, through the wretched Russophilism of our Government.
240
"I never thought we should descend to such depths. But what can we do when they 1 salt the salt' ? The nation is not guilty in the slightest of this base truckling; its leaders alone are responsible. From Macedonia we have little news yet, although several bands of from 10 to 75 men have crossed the frontier. Here in Sofia a large band of about 400 is being organised, but is not yet ready to start.
"Please let me know what people are saying and thinking in Constantinople. Surely it cannot be possible that the Great Powers will permit our Government to sell Bulgaria to the Russians? And supposing that Russia were to recognise the Prince, would Turkey do so too? And how about Austria and the Triple Alliance?
" The Prince is now entirely under the influence of his Russophil Ministers — Velitchkoff, Madjâroff, and Gueshoff. Before long he means to get rid of Stoiloff, Petroff, and Natchevitch. Yesterday His Highness returned from Varna, bringing with him S tant chef, our newly-named Minister to Bucharest. He wishes to appoint him Minister of Foreign Affairs. It only wanted this Court lacquey in office to complete the picture ! Yours sincerely,
(Signed) " Stamboloff '
Perchance these words — this voice from the dead, appealing to Europe to save Bulgaria from the dragon's jaws — may find additional force from the fact that the hand that penned them was lopped from the arm which had held the lists so long, by the assassin's knife, and that the true patriot's heart which dictated them shed all its rich blood in the Cause on behalf of which they speak. Perhaps dead Stambuloff may yet strike one more blow for the Bulgaria he loved so well.
Constantinople, July 19th, 1895.