YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY PRINTED BY SI'OTTIbWGuDii AND CO., NEW^l'liCET fcQUARE LONDON PEINOE ALEXANDEE OF BATTENBBEG REMINISCENCES OP HIS REIGN IN BULGARIA FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES A. KOCH COURT CHAPLAIN TO HIS KOYAL HIGHNESS LONDON WHITTAKER & CO., PATERNOSTER SQUARE, E.C. 1887 JxHisi In compliance with current copyright law, Northern Archival Copy produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39. 48-1984 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. 1991 PEEFACE. Few modern princes have attracted more attention and en listed greater sympathy in England than Prince Alexander of Battenberg. A record of the leading incidents of his reign in Bulgaria will therefore doubtless be read with interest by the English public. A perusal of these pages must carry with it the con viction that, if ever a ruler deserved well of his subjects, it was Prince Alexander. He sacrificed everything for his people, and he certainly exercised judiciously the power he had acquired. Beset at all times by unscrupulous and selfish ministers who stood under Russian influence and were bribed with Russian roubles, he nobly abstained from per secuting or oppressing them. If he erred at all, it was from leniency ; for he certainly received provocation enough to excuse, if not to justify, great severity on his part. No sovereign was ever surrounded by a more despicable set of so-called supporters than Prince Alexander. They are de picted in these pages in their true colours, and the student of Bulgarian history, as well as the newspaper-reader who has been interested in the progress of the Bulgarian vi PREFACE. Question, will thereby be enabled to estimate what parts they are likely to play, if any of them should again appear on the scene. The period covered by these Memoirs, from 1879 to 1886, was pregnant with events of grave importance not only to Bulgaria, but to the whole of Europe, and it is not to be wondered at that the Powers keenly watched the course things took in that small Balkan Principality. The Author hopes that his pages will help to clear away much of the artificial mist which shrouded the movements of the Czar, the Sultan, the Prince himself, and the English Government of the day in the Eastern Question. The conduct of Russia, unworthy of a great Power, in forcing the Prince to vacate his throne, and other dis creditable deeds on Russia's part, are here put on record. Let English readers judge for themselves whether their confidence in the Prince, and their sympathy with him and his people, have been misplaced. The translation of this work was kindly undertaken by J. F. Davis, D.Lit., but finding that his other duties would not allow of his completing it in a given time, he resigned a considerable portion of it to Miss H. F. Powell and Miss P. C. Evans. The index has been prepared by Mr. Th. Preston, F.R.H.S. CONTENTS. CHAPTER r.lQk Preface v I. My Journey to Sofia (1879) ... . 1 II. Accession of the Prince (1879) . . 15 III. The Prince at Home (1879) . . . . 30 IV. Visit to St. Petersburg (1880) . . . . 38 V. Return of the Prince to Sofia. The Second National Assembly (1880) ... . . 43 VI. Summer Residence in the Monastery of Kilo (1880) 00 VII. Second Session of the Second National Assembly (1880-81) u3 VIII. The Abrogation of the Constitution (1881) . . 73 IX. Russian Management— Kaulbars and Soboleff in Bulgaria (1882-83) . • • . . Ill X. Coalition Ministry. Russian Counterplots (1883-84) 1.J7 XI. Karaveloff's Second Ministry to the Philippopolis Coup d'i'.tat (1884-85; ... .200 viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER 1>AGE XII. The Prince at Var.va (1885) . .... 210 XIII. The Revolution in Philippopolis. and the Servo- Bulgarian War (1885) . . 232 XIV. After the War (1886) . . .249 XV. The Abduction of the Prince, Return and Abdica tion (1886) . ... 256 Index . . . . . . 281 ILLUSTRATIONS. Portrait of Prince Alexander Frontispiece Sandrowo, near Varna . to face p. 216 The Prince's Study o^j The Prince's Palace at Sofia . . to face ». 256 PEINCE ALEXANDEE OF BATTENBEEG. CHAPTER I. MY JOURNEY TO SOFIA. On the evening of December 17, 1879, I arrived at Bu charest on my journey to Sofia. How I was to get on from that place no one could inform me. I was advised to drive to Giurgevo, to see how I could continue my journey. The ice on the Danube was said to be breaking up, and to cross the river on foot was perhaps impossible, at any rate very dangerous. As I wanted to be hi Sofia at Christmas at the latest, I could not risk losing any time, and drove the next morning to Giurgevo, where I learnt at the railway station that some Turks had just come over in a boat from Rustchuk, and that I might, perhaps, be able to cross the Danube with them. I drove accordingly in a droschky to the port of Smarda, and found the Turks there. These people represented to me how difficult the passage through the floating ice was, and that only for a good round sum could they take me with them. I agreed to pay them forty francs. But before I could embark in the boat, I was obliged to tramp across an arm of the Danube on the solid ice as far as an outlying island, and, arriving there, to wade more than half a mile through snow ankle- is 2 PRINCE ALEXANDER. deep. At length I reached the spot, but how we were to pro ceed further was not clear to me. Before me I saw slowly floating clown the stream great pieces of ice, the whole, apparently, forming a compact mass, and only in a few places was the water visible. In spite of this, I confided myself to the care of my Turks, and had every reason to be satisfied with them. With rare ingenuity they managed to detect the water channels between the huge icefloes, which were at first invisible to my eyes, and by the force of their oars, which they planted on the floes, we advanced rapidly. If a barrier of ice at any time obstructed then- open course, they shifted the centre of gravity to the hinder part of the boat which they drove on the floe, and broke up the latter by rocking to and fro. After about three-quarters of an hour the difficult task was accomplished, and Rustchuk was reached. As we had been observed from afar, drosch- kies were standing on the bank, and these soon brought me into the town. Half frozen as I was, in consequence of the icy wind which blew on the Danube, I sought the first hotel that lay on my road. The landlord was a Gali- cian Jew who spoke German ; he placed a warm, comfort able room at my disposal. The necessity of inquiring how I could best get to Sofia soon drove me out again into the street. With trouble and difficulty — for I was not well acquainted with Bulgarian— I managed to ascertain that I could best reach the end of my journey by travelling post. 1 went consequently to the post office and for three hundred francs hired two sledges, which, by changing horses every three hours, were to convey me to Sofia in five days. I fixed my departure for the following day at nine o'clock. The town of Rustchuk, with which in these perambula tions I made acquaintance, had, although the houses were MY JOURNEY TO SOFIA. 3 mostly small and one-storied, a European air about it. Only the Turkish quarters, with their houses surrounded by mud walls, their unpaved streets, their minarets and mosques, their fountains and veiled women, reminded one of the East. The konak,1 built only a short time since, lay hi ruins ; it had been a prominent target for the Russian shells. Apart from this only some mills outside the town showed any traces of the war. On the following morning at nine o'clock punctually my sledge stood before the door of the hotel. But how great was my disillusion when I saw this conveyance, which was to bring me on my journey ! By the word sledge I had represented to myself some sort of European article that we call a sleigh ; instead of that there stood before me a strong goods chest, without a cover, on wooden runners. There was no seat fixed anywhere, either for me or the driver. But the people in those regions know how to get out of a difficulty. They placed one of my trunks in the chest, laid hay upon it, and begged me to step in. Whether I liked it or not, I was obliged to follow, and my driver, an unctuous individual hi a sheepskin coat glistening with grease, seated himself on the bottom of the chest, which had no front, and let his feet hang down to the ground. Off we went at a tearing gallop, so that I, on my loosely placed seat, sometimes found myself on the driver's back, sometimes sideways and crossways in the chest, and was obliged to exercise all my skill to keep myself firm on my backless seat. From time to time we stopped at a han in order to warm our limbs, which were frozen quite stiff by the terrible cold, so rapidly did we advance. A Bulgarian han is nothing but a space enclosed by mud walls without windows. In 1 Local Government building. 4 PRINCE ALEXANDER. one comer of it burns a meagre, open fire, kept up by wood still damp which has just been hastily gathered. As it happened to be a season of fasting, there was nothing to eat in the place, and only vodka and water to drink. The region, monotonous in itself, had become still more dreary on account of the snow, and only from Bjela on wards, where the road crosses the Jantra by a bridge of some interest, did it acquire any charm. The night soon began to fall and veiled the beauties of the landscape, whicli, further on, when I approached Tirnovo, caused me constant delight. I did not arrive at Tirnovo until twelve o'clock at night. There I meant to sleep in order to continue my journey early in the morning. My driver took me to the best inn in the old coronation town. I obtained there, it is true, a small room for my sole use, but the bed consisted of a miserable wooden frame upon which a linen sheet was laid, and the stove, in which I had a fire made immediately, emitted no warmth. On the following morning I tried hard to get on, but I reckoned without the post. The Bulgarian postmaster explained to me by signs that he had no horses and that I must wait till some came. As I was hi a hurry, I betook myself to the prefect of the town, and begged him — happily he understood and spoke French well — to assist me. He at once sent a gendarme to the post, and gave me, besides, a circular letter to the various postmasters containing in structions to forward my journey, if there were the least possibility of doing so, without delay. Scarcely had I left him and reached my hotel, when the sledge which was to take me on was already standing there. But, alas ! it was now eleven o'clock. The drive this day owing to the beauties of the landscape was magnificent. The skv was MY JOURNEY TO SOFIA. 5 bright and clear, the air pure, but the cold terrible, and only slightly modified by the rays of the sun. Towards evening the mountain-tops glowed with such beauty as I had seen only in Switzerland. At seven o'clock I arrived at Sevlievo. In order not to be obliged to pass through such another night of torment as at Tirnovo, I begged the postmaster to allow me to spend the night at the post-house. The obliging man willingly agreed. I had a spacious room assigned to me, in which there was a curious article made of sheet- iron, standing on three slender iron legs. It professed to be a stove, and, in fact, later on it did honour to its name. On my asking for something to eat, my hospitable post master led me into his house to his wife — a handsome, portly person, who, in her Bulgarian costume, was cooking at a large hearth, and smilingly took my order for a boiled fowl. By the time I came home again, my room was com fortably warm, and a bed — that is, what is there so named — stood ready. When I observed that the warmth of the room was being again gradually dissipated, and discovered that two-thirds of the windows were pasted over with paper, I deemed it preferable to get into bed. The following day — it was Sunday — on hearing the peculiar hammering on a wooden board, that still does duty for our peal of bells in many parts of the East, I waited, first of all, till the people went to church, then I set out again in my sledge. The weather had changed. It rained and snowed pell-mell, and the wind lashed the sleet straight into my face, so that I sat very uncomfortably on my trunk, and could only protect myself by covering my head entirely. I saw very little of the country. Not until the road descended towards Loftscha and wound along the river 6 PRINCE ALEXANDER. Osem did the storm subside ; but my attention was with drawn from the prospect by a circumstance which made me very nervous. My horses were rushmg madly along at full gallop, and yet the spot was not far off where the road had to turn off at right angles to the neighbouring bridge. Acquainted by former and similar turnings of the road with the danger my tottering seat was exposed to at such spots, I foresaw an accident. Happily I discovered at the point towards which my sledge had to glide, a tree with branches ready to help me. It happened as I anticipated. My sledge capsized ; but I had, beforehand, seized a branch, from which I let myself down to the ground unhurt, and con tinued my way on foot to the neighbouring post-station, leaving my driver, of whose safety I had assured myself, to put to rights his somewhat disarranged sledge. To the post master my accident seemed nothing extraordmary — at least he treated the driver as if nothing had happened. From Loftscha I then went on to Plevna, where I arrived about seven o'clock in the evening. As I had got through the last night so well at the post- house, I attempted to make a similar arrangement at Plevna, but did not make myself understood. I was obliged, there fore, to set out with the postmaster and seek an hotel. After I had knocked in vain at various places, a room hi the " Odessa" hotel was at last procured for me. I was very hungry, for I had eaten nothing the whole day — I had really forgotten to provide myself at Rustchuk with pro visions for this journey. In the hotel my gesticulations were not understood, and so, night as it was, I was still obliged to look for a restaurant. I found one too, quite near ; but the repulsive shining grease that lay on every object, the dirty serviettes and tablecloths, the smell of mutton-fat which pervaded the entire apartment, drove me MY JOURNEY TO. SOFIA. 7 back again to my hotel. Thither my landlord had, mean while, sent for a man who spoke German. This person was a thoroughly decrepit creature of Transylvanian origin. He had been, as he told me, a scullion in Bucharest, and had come during the war to Bulgaria. Here he lived with a Hungarian woman who had a husband and children in Turnu Mogurelli, in Roumania. With the help of this man I obtained what was to be had in the hotel — they were, I believe, some remnants of the war period— smoked salmon, a bottle of excellent imported Pancsova beer, beefsteak cooked on the spit, and, to wind up, Turkish coffee. The food was excellent, my room warm — the contingent danger of being stifled by carbonic acid gas was averted by the torn paper window-panes — the bed tolerable; I accordingly slept this night at Plevna exceedingly well. The next morning at nine o'clock I drove on to Jablonica, past Telisch and Lukovica, whence the road ascends the mountain by a gentle gradient. It might be about five o'clock when I arrived there. The journey, owing to the warm sunshine, had been pleasant, and so I determined to drive on, if possible, in order to reach Orchanie perhaps the same night. Before that I intended to sup and take a rest. I stepped therefore into a han which was situated opposite the post-station, and which seemed to me better than the other hans. The floor was of wood ; a few petroleum lamps lighted the apartment, and a comfortable warmth streamed through the room. I drank a cup of Turkish coffee and asked for water, but received vodka. And when I pointed to a very large glass to make my wish for water more intelligible, the landlord, without ceremony, poured out of a big tin water ing-pot this large glass also full of vodka. He seems to have taken me for a Russian. At this moment the post- 8 PRINCE ALEXANDER. master came and invited me to his own house. There I found the table covered with a greasy cloth, and beside a thin round cake of bread lay rough towels as serviettes. When I had taken my seat, a pleasant, tidy girl came and brought two glasses oitschai (tea), whereupon the "director," as he called himself, summoned up all his German and said to me, " Kommt eins Tschai," and I replied, " Gut, gut." This German word he understood just at a pinch, although in this case wrongly, for he ordered a second glass of tea to be brought for me, which was only a second swill ing of the tin can. Then came a peculiar, black-looking, dry, tough piece of meat. My host remarked, " Bastar-ma gut," and accordingly I set to. But since then, I have never again felt the desire to taste this peculiar Bulgarian dish, " sun-dried mutton." The man had, however, given me what he had, and I was heartily grateful to him for his good will. Soon afterwards I took my leave of him, and drove on in the dark night to Osikovo, where the postal staff on my arrival already lay in deep sleep, and only by violent knocking at the doors could they be awakened. In place of a sledge I now obtained a light cart for my luggage, because beyond Osikovo the road skirts along precipices down which, at night, the sledge might easily have slipped. I myself was obliged to get on horseback, which in the excessive cold was by no means pleasant, and all the less so, as I bad not made the least preparation in my dress for riding, and the horse carried a Cossack saddle upon which, as if upon the hump of a camel, I towered high above the horse. When I arrived at half-past three in the morning at Orchanie, I was so stiff with cold that I could not dismount from tlie saddle. My driver was obliged to help me, and I had still to knock for five minutes at the post-station to waken the sleeping postmaster. He came at last with MY JOURNEY TO SOFIA. g half-closed eyes, like a somnambulist, took me by the hand into his icy-cold room, pointed out to me a bundle of clothes lying in the corner as my sleeping place, and then, after he had satisfied this benevolent impulse, laid himself down hi his bed once more, and was not again to be awaked. What was to be done '? I was obliged, tired as I was, to dispose myself upon these old clothes as best I could, without venturing to think what other sort of crea tures might, perhaps, be sharing my resting-place. In spite of all weariness I awoke, however, before day, and went out to find a warm room, and perchance a cup of coffee. My demands on the necessaries of hfe had already become trifling enough, and I would have put up with the most insignificant han, but I found a respectable restaurant with a clean little room and a warm stove. There I took up my quarters until I could travel further. At nine o'clock my sledge stood ready, and I stepped in with peculiar pleasure, in the consciousness that this was the last day of my journey. The Arabakonak pass was soon surmounted, and, indeed, without any great accident ; for the fact that my sledge once hung quite half over the precipice on one of the winding paths not provided with curb-stones, I could scarcely regard any longer as a singular incident. Somewhere about two o'clock I arrived at Taschkesen at the foot of the Balkans. Bright and clear were traced before me on the blue sky Mount Vitosch and its con tinuation, the Liiliin range ; behind them the Rilodag, lying in masses ; in the rear the Balkan chain. A magnifi cent mountain district surrounding the great plain of Sofia ! Yet I could not for long give myself up to wondering con templation of the scene ; I continued my journey to Sofia, and at five o'clock I had arrived at the last station. Only three hours more and I was at mv goal. But even now I io PRINCE ALEXANDER. was compelled to stop. The postmaster explained to me that he had no horses and could not send me on till six hours later. I was obliged, therefore, to give in and wait. At length, at nine o'clock— I had beaten him down to two hours— I was able to enter upon my further journey in a miserable springless cart. At twelve o'clock at night I reached Sofia, and found lodgings in the " Hotel Europa." Sofia was still at that time a dirty Turkish town, and the hotels miserable hans. The little room which received me was cramped, yet it had a stove, which, at the time, was my first requisite. I could also make myself understood again in words, for the landlord was an Italian, and his servant was a countrywoman of mine, a Swabian from the Black Forest, who, like a female Templar, had intended to proceed to Jerusalem, but had stayed here. The next morning I first of all took a walk to get my bearings hi the town. I found narrow, angular lanes with low, small houses, generally one-storied ; hi the chief business quarters these were mostly supplied with open shops on the ground floor. Here and there a dilapidated minaret towered towards the sky, and close by an ancient cupola surmounted a mosque. In the streets was a lively, interesting throng of people of all the Balkan races ; first and foremost, there were the Bul garian men and women in then national costume. The men, bare-breasted in the bitter cold, had around then shoulders a lambskin coat with the wool mside ; on then legs closely fitting breeches made of Bulgarian woollen home-spun ; on their feet, swathed in bands, low sandals with pomted toes curled upwards ; and wore on their heads wide, brown, sheepskin caps. The women wore a long, white, high-fitting smock, embroidered with colours on the shoulders, sleeves, and lower edge, over which a double apron was fastened, and over that hung a black, coarse, woollen mantle reaching to MY JOURNEY TO SOFIA. u the knees. The legs were covered with long, richly em broidered stockings like those of the men. The young girls had fixed in their hair bright-red, artificial flowers and green twigs ; their head, neck and shoulders, bosom and hips were hung with silver and gold coins like scales. Here and there was to be seen joking with the blushing maidens, a young Bulgarian swain, who had wound a leather strap around the upper part of the thigh down to the knee as a sign, as I allowed myself to fancy, that he was an eligible bachelor and felt an inclination to enter into the bonds of matrimony. Close by were moving the turbaned Turk in his familiar costume, and the Spanish Jew, who was only distinguishable from the Turk by his bright-red hair and beard and his characteristic features ; the powerful Monte negrin with his richly embroidered Turkish uniform, the Arnaut with his fustanella,1 the Macedonian Bulgar whose long tight-fitting coat of white wool, trimmed with black twisted lace and held together by a girdle, reached down below the knees ; and the brown gipsy, covered with parti coloured rags. Yet it was easy to see that the European was beginning to supplant the national costume. The town matrons preferred to dress in skirts and bodices, and it was only by the parti- coloured silk kerchief which was worn instead of a hat, veiling the head and encircling the coiffure, that a Bulgarian woman could still be recognised. It was remarkable how few beautiful figures and faces I saw among the women. They were mostly small, plump figures, with broad, pear-shaped heads and coarse features, but of a healthy, rosy complexion. The men were different. The young were smewy, sturdy fellows with fresh faces ; the old had a shrewd, almost crafty, and yet, at the same time, ' A plaited skirt of white cotton reaching from the waist to the knees, and worn by modern Greeks. 12 PRINCE ALEXANDER. good-natured expression on their faces, bristling with a white stubby beard. It was a richly coloured, attractive street scene, and I allowed it to detain me longer than I ought. For when I betook myself to the Palace to present myself to the Prince, he had already ridden out on an official inspection. I made use of the time till his return to look around me a little in the Palace. It was still at that time the old Turkish kmiak, a four-cornered brick building, without any architectural adornment, and consisted of one story with ground floor. A roomy but low entrance hall led to a wooden double staircase, which, from the first landing, led up in a wide single flight to the story above. Immediately opposite the head of the staircase, a broad, lofty apartment, with out doors, separated from the corridor by heavy Turkish carpets, and furnished completely in Turkish style, was arranged as a kind of waiting-room. Right and left of the staircase ran passages by which one gained access to the rooms. On the left were the study, reception room, and bedchamber of the Prince, and on the right the dining- room and the state apartments. All was clean and unpre tentious. The government in possession had undertaken to put the Palace hi order for the Prince, and had entrusted a Russian colonel with the commission. But when the Prince arrived, he found plastered ceilings threatening to fall in, so that he was obliged to erect in his bedroom a wooden scaffold over the bed to protect himself from the falling plaster. Even in the audience chamber the furniture consisted of wooden frames stuffed with hay, over which rugs were thrown ; white muslin curtains at the windows, which had no cornices, and the appointments of the dinner- table were of electro-plate. Instead of solid serviceable tables, there were card-tables, which were scrawled all over MY JOURNEY TO SOFIA. 13 with chalk marks, betraying why the furnishing of the Palace had been so wretchedly performed. The furnishing, as carried out by the court marshal, Baron von Riedesel, under the instructions of the Prince, was tastefully and suitably maintained in oriental style. When the Prince came back from the inspection I was summoned to an audience. I had never yet seen the Prince, so I may surely be excused if I entered his presence with nervous uncertainty. I was one day in his antechamber, just when a Russian colonel of artillery reported himself for a first audience. He had been appointed by the then Russian War Minister in order to alienate this division of the troops from the Prince, and accordingly had his head full of prejudices. With gloomy and dubious looks he entered the Prince's presence, but he came back beaming. He joy fully seized my hand, shook it warmly and said, " Je suis tout a fait sous son charme." I might say the same of myself. I was from the first moment " sous son charme." I found a young man in the first bloom of youth, of tall, imposing military figure. The fine features had an expres sion of energy. His eye looked now decisive, now almost dreamy, but always kindly. He was delighted to know that I had come, he felt so glad to have someone about him with whom he could exchange ideas. The Russian intrigues had embittered his rule. It is true the Czar Alexander was well-disposed towards him, and he stood in the very best relations with the official representative of Russia, the Consul- General Davidoff, and could depend on him implicitly; but the War Minister Parenzoff, Colonel Schepeleff, whom the Czar had given him as a military adviser to assist him, and others, placed themselves at every step in his way, exercising an influence not only hi the military, but even in the political department, and r4 PRINCE ALEXANDER. strengthening and fortifying by their instigations the parties of the opposition. He had already been obliged, on that account, to dissolve the Chamber, and it was to be feared that the approaching elections would be strongly influenced in favour of the views of the opposition by the instrumentality of the Russian officers. The commander of the Russian troops occupying the country, Prince Dondukoff Korsakoff, had declared at his departure that all the mines had been so laid by him that the little German Prince would not be able to rule for half a year, and the opposition factions had already passed the watchword, " Away with the Prince ! " How base were the means employed against him and the Government by his opponents may be proved by the fact, that they had attached a private wire to the Govern ment telegraphs, in order to control all the incoming and outgoing despatches of the Government. In Widin and its neighbourhood, matters had already culminated in an open insurrection against the measures of the Government, and he had been obliged to send an officer thither to restore peace. He longed to get away from these eternal intrigues back to his old position, in which he had lived so pleasantly and enjoyed such stimulating intercourse. After a few personal remarks this audience came to an end. In such a position matters stood on my arrival in Sofia. What had happened to bring about such a crisis hi the affairs of Bulgaria and its Prince '? ¦5 CHAPTER II. ACCESSION OF THE PEINCE. Ax the time of the Russian occupation of Bulgaria, Prince Dondukoff Korsakoff was the Russian Governor-General of the country. He had been commissioned by the Czar to arrange its administration. His friends and the writers in the pay of the Russians lauded him as a man of genius, who, with almost magical rapidity, had transformed Bulgaria into an organised state. A detailed consideration of the case must essentially modify this j udgment . Dondukoff in all his regulations proceeded solely on the model of Potemkin ; his aim was, in his final report, to dazzle the Czar with the brilliant result. Everything that he did was calculated only with a view to effect. He had created all the institutions necessary to a state, but how they were to be set in motion, and whether it was in any case practicable, did not trouble him. When the Prince arrived the army had been very much neglected ; it lacked coats, boots, beds and barracks. The Czech military band, which had to play to him at table, was the only thing that was good. The National Bank could not prosper, so foolish were the rules which Dondukoff had made for it. When the Prince in the year 1880 complained to him about these unfortunate regula tions, the latter laughingly replied, " Vous etes tres-naif d'avoir pris cette institution au serieux." In his final report to the Czar, he asserted that during if, PRINCE ALEXANDER. his administration a saving of eight million francs ' had been made. But when the first Bulgarian minister of finance took over the exchequer, not a single centime of these millions was to be found. Even the constitution which he gave to Bulgaria, and over which he allowed the National Assembly to exercise discretionary power, was only show ; for when the Metropolitan Simeon of Varna, at the head of some representatives of the conservative party, asked him how he had ventured to give so liberal a constitution to a country only recently freed from the Turks, the would- be wit replied to the reverend prelate in these frivolous words : " Vous savez, les constitutions sont comme des filles qui ne demandent qu'a etre violees." The best illustration of Dondukoff' s activity is afforded by the pavement of a street in Sofia, which is, at the same time, the sole evidence that exists to-day of his work in Bulgaria. For half a year it was in very good repair ; now it is so bad, uneven and unserviceable, that whoever can avoids the street. I have already intimated above that Dondukoff by the order of his Government had to elaborate a constitution " in order," as Soboleff (p. -2) blurts it out, " not to hand over Bulgaria to the unrestricted administration of the German Prince." Now that was, of course, no very light piece of work for a Russian. He adopted accordingly the outline of a well- tested code — in fact, the Servian Constitution. His scheme contained peculiar regulations for the constitution of the Chamber, and the formation of a State Council as the Superior Court of Appeal for all branches of the administra tion, and as a deliberative authority for all bills to be intro duced in the Chamber. It was laid for examination before a meeting called together fur this purpose, and composed of 1 Soboleff (Th-r erstc Fdnt von Bitliaricn, Leipzig, lssii. p. S4) mentions even fourteen millions, ACCESSION OF THE PRINCE. 17 the notables of the north and south, constituting a Bulgarian National Assembly. The very first sittings of this Assembly, which was opened on February 23, 1879, at Tirnovo, showed that a purely democratic, uncompromising spirit, fostered by Don dukoff and aiming at a United Bulgaria, animated it. At first it even seemed as if the Assembly desired to decline altogether to discuss the formation of a constitution. These Hotspurs opined that they should make no promise, but only protest against the dismemberment of Bulgaria by Europe, and then quietly separate. Reason, however, soon gained the upper hand, and after an admonition from the Czar, Alexander II., it was resolved to proceed to business. A commission of fifteen was ap pointed to examine Dondukoff's Constitution, which consisted of one hundred and seventy clauses. This commission, whicli was animated by a conservative spirit, made very judicious suggestions for the improvement of Dondukoff's scheme, but they could not, unfortunately, get them adopted in the Assembly. On the question of the State Council there was a division of opinion. This was the natal hour of the Bulgarian parties. The State Council party called itself Conservative, the opposing party Liberal. Men like Stoiloff, Grekoff, Burmoff, Balabanoff, Natschovitch, Yulkovitch and others were for the State Council ; the remainder, headed by Karaveloff, to whom the untrustworthy, temporising Zankoff, in spite of his attitude in the commission, had attached himself, were opposed to it. The latter party obtained the majority, and this institution, so necessary for the life of the State, was struck out of the scheme. In the following sittings it was resolved that the Chamber (Sobranje) should consist merely of deputies directly chosen c l8 PRINCE ALEXANDER. by the people by secret voting — one deputy for every ten thousand inhabitants ; every Bulgarian subject at twenty- one should possess the right of voting, and at thirty, if he could read and write, should be eligible for election. Every deputy should have the privilege of introducing legislative proposals in the Chamber, if he was supported by a fourth of the members. The press was to be free, and the right of holding meetings to be subject to no restrictions of any kind ; and other things besides— in fact, whatever pertained to a purely democratic rcr/ime. In spite of this, a prince was to be chosen as the head of the State, to whom the executive power and the supervision of its component parts should belong, and who was to enjoy the right of appointing ministers, and of exercising the supreme command over the armed forces in the country. By his assent alone, could the measures resulting from the deliberations of the Chamber attain the force of laws ; by him the Chamber was to be summoned yearly at stated periods between October 15 and December 15, and, in special cases also, special sittings appointed. On April 29, the Hessian Prince Alexander of Batten- berg, proposed by Russia in the first place, but at the same time welcomed by all the other Powers, was elected as Prince of Bulgaria, whereupon the National Assemblv ad journed, after they had chosen a deputation of six repre sentatives to greet their ruler. Prince Alexander was, at the time when this news arrived in Berlin, at the Russian Ambassador's at a dinner which the latter gave to cele brate the Czar's birthday. Only hesitatingly and with an inward struggle.', did he declare himself ready to proceed to Livadia to his imperial uncle. There, too, he buldly told the Czar that he had not received his father's consent to accept the Bulgarian throne, on account of the Constitution ACCESSION OF THE PRINCE. 19 which Dondukoff had given the Bulgarians and which his father considered useless. But the Czar urgently begged the Prince to accept the throne, and not to aid in casting a slur upon the name of Russia by a refusal, and so make it appear as if everything that Russia had undertaken for that people was in utter confusion. He spoke to him in a warm and paternal manner, saying that he loved him as his own son, and would constantly aid him in every difficulty to which the Constitution might give rise. Moreover, in the Constitution there was to be inserted a clause which would deal with the changes to be made, and render it practicable.1 The Prince thereupon accepted the throne, and declared he would ever justify the confidence which the Czar placed in him. From Livadia the Prince returned home, then made the round of the European Courts and Governments to pre sent himself, and landed finally, on July 7, at Varna, on Bulgarian soil. Thence he proceeded past Rustchuk and Tirnovo where he, on July 9, took the oath to the Con stitution 2 before the National Assembly, which had again met, and then continued his journey to the capital — Sofia. Even on this journey the Liberal party, which had heard of the Prince's objections to the Constitution of Tirnovo, made demonstrations of all sorts. Little children and their schoolmasters made speeches and drank to the prosperity of the Constitution, and on various triumphal arches, which were erected at the entrance of all the villages, were inscribed the words, "Long live the Tirnovo Con stitution." In Russia the Press immediately manifested 1 This was done by the addition ot§ l(i7-l(>9. The form of the oath ran—" I swear, in the name of God Almighty, to maintain the Constitution and laws of the Principality sacred and inviolable, and to have ever before me in all the transactions of my government the happiness and well-being of the country. So truly help me God." c 2 20 PRINCE ALEXANDER. much ill-humour, because the Prince had not sufficiently recognised the merits of their country in the freeing of Bul garia. Those were sinister omens which at the very outset indicated a storm. Arriving in Sofia on July 13, the young and indefatig able Prince at once energetically assumed the reins of Government, and proceeded first of all to form a ministry. As he did not possess the requisite knowledge of individuals, he applied to the then Russian Consul-General, Davidoff. The latter named to him Burmoff, Natschovitch, Athanaso- vitch, Stoiloff, Grekoff, and Dragan Zankoff as the fittest and most capable men. Zankoff, however, was not willing to join the same Ministry with Grekoff, because the latter in a public sitting of the Organising Assembly had, on account of his want of principle, called him a ''gipsy," and so nothing else remained to the Prince but to form the following ministry: President and Minister of the Interior. Burmoff; Minister of Justice, Grekoff; of Foreign Affairs, Balabanoff ; of Finance, Natschovitch; of Education, Athanasovitch ; of War, Parenzoff. Davidoff, whose suggestions were prompted by good-will to the Prince, had indicated the best and most pacific Bul garians that he knew. All the men named had belonged to the above-mentioned commission of fifteen appointed to examine Dondukoff's scheme for the Constitution, and each and all had constantly and boldly expressed their Conserva tive opinions. Some of them may be reckoned, even to day, among the most prominent Bulgarian statesmen and most ardent patriots ; others had, it is true, destroved their power of exercising any influence upon their countrymen by tlieir weakness of character and political vacillation. The President, Burmoff, who had received his education at the Russian theological college at Kieff, had been, before ACCESSION OF THE PRINCE. 21 he became a Bulgarian minister, an inferior Russian official, and finally, director of the Russian hospital in Constanti nople. He had brought himself into notice as the editor of a periodical — " Bulgarski Knjijici " — which appeared in Con stantinople between 1855 and 1860. Before he was attracted by offers from Russia he was an honest man, but always narrow-minded and weak in character, and in consequence entirely under the influence of his colleague Balabanoff. The latter was also a former student at a Russian theologi cal college, and had sought to widen his mental horizon by visiting Constantinople, Athens, Munich, where Dollinger especially attracted him, and France, where he attempted to scrape together in a short time a superficial legal educa tion. He had returned, however, to his native country as a conceited, muddle-headed, ambitious man. In spite of this, he knew how to conceal at first these defective aspects of his character beneath a polished manner, so that it was no wonder that he was accepted by the Prince when the attention of his Highness had been directed towards him. Not until later was his true character brought to light, and shown to be exceedingly untrustworthy and malicious. No other Bulgarian statesman, and notably one holding originally such ultra-conservative opinions, has, as soon as he was instigated by Russia, so loudly raised his voice against the Prince — of course, only when he could do it from a secure retreat. When the troops of Eastern Roumelia marched into Sofia after the abduction of the Prince, and Mutkuroff ordered a search to be made for Bala banoff in order to arrest him, he kept himself concealed in a cask for days together till the danger was over ; and some days later he, who was among the first to shout for joy at the expulsion of the Prince, cried with a loud voice, when urged to it by a thrust in the ribs from a Sofia citizen, "Long 22 PRINCE ALEXANDER. live Prince Alexander ! " By nationality Balabanoff, like Dragan Zankoff, belongs, as may be easily recognised by his restless, black, piercing eyes and the characteristic shape of his head, to the Zinzars or Kutzovlachs scattered among the Bulgarians. Natschovitch is a very able, industrious, intelligent man and a thoroughgoing patriot, one of the few steady men of character that the Bulgarians possess. He ac quired great repute in the Servo-Turkish war of 1876 by the formation of the Bulgarian volunteer brigade. His friend Grekoff is likewise a very intelligent man, and an able jurist of the French school. He is descended from a Bulgarian, or rather, as his name indicates, Greek family settled in Bessarabia, and on that account excited from the first the opposition of the genuine Bulgarians. By the latter, the Bessarabian Bulgarians, who are mostly very well educated — the Bulgarian high school in Bolgrad is much esteemed in that district — are designated skakalci, that is, " grasshoppers," because they move about from place to place. Grekoff has always proved himself to be an upright, energetic man, who only carelessly inflicts a wound with his far too keenly whetted tongue. Unhappily, he is afflicted with intolerable dislike to writing in the work of his department ; innumerable complaints were sent in against him during his ministry on account of business that re mained unsettled. Athanasovitch is an insignificant but honest man, who, before he became minister, was professor of gynecologv at Bucharest. As a somewhat privileged member there belonged to the Ministry, in the capacity of Minister of War. a Russian, General Parenzoff. He was much too young i about 36 years old) for his responsible position, and especially, was so ACCESSION OF THE PRINCE. 23 insignificant from a military point of view, that he had scarcely stuff enough in him for a captain ; he was, more over, entirely wanting in tact. At an officers' dinner given by the Prince hi the Palace, the General, as soon as he felt the effects of the wine, made a speech in which he said something to this effect : " The Prince is in fact a thoroughly nice fellow ; not until now have I recognised this, and there fore allow the officers in future to address him as ' His Highness.' " According to the constitution which Dondukoff had fashioned first of all to suit himself, the Prince was only to enjoy the title " Serenity " (Svetlost), and the first Chamber in their constitutional purism had never addressed Prince Alexander in any other way, in spite of the fact that Europe had given him the title "Highness." By this astounding- want of tact on the part of his Minister of War, the Prince was compelled on the morrow, to direct the officers in an order of the day to address him as " His Serenity " till the Chamber gave him his due title of " Highness." On another occasion the Prince was driving to visit the military en campment at the foot of the Vitosch, a few kilometres beyond the town, when suddenly Parenzoff, rather intoxicated, climbed up the carriage behind, and there he stuck fast, violently gesticulating and shouting " hurrah." When it was seen that all attempts to detach him from the carriage, to which he clung in monkey fashion, were in vain, the Prince gave the order to return to the town, through which he drove up to the Palace accompanied by Parenzoff, who never ceased bawling and shouting "hurrah." What was still worse, Parenzoff looked upon himself as the representative of the Dondukoff party, hostile to the Prince, and with all his might agitated by means of his officers, even among the civil population ; he was of course 24 PRINCE ALEXANDER. well aware of what Dondukoff had said : " I have laid all the mines in such a way that the little German Prince won't be able to rule six months." He himself might be, perhaps, too inapt to achieve greater results, but his ally, the artillery colonel Tiimmler, supplied by his cunning and unscrupulous choice of means what was lacking in Parenzoff. It was these political intrigues that finally made it impossible for him to remain in Bulgaria. Besides the ministers there stood another person in the foreground, the Russian colonel Schepeleff, the Czar's aide- de-camp. He had been appointed by the Czar to the post of a Russian military attache, as an adviser to the Prince. He was a very clever, accomplished man and a pleasant social companion, but, unfortunately, he too very soon revealed himself in his true colours, not as an agent of the Czar, but as the tool of the Russian War- Minister, Miljutin, and of the anti-German party, and made common cause with the adversaries of the Prince. The first Ministry that the Prince had formed consisted therefore, in the great majority of cases, of well-disposed, able men, though for the most part somewhat infirm of purpose. It was a gloomy sign for the future that the members of this Ministry had not the majoritv in the Assembly— a state of things that had already been clearly foreshadowed in the meeting of notables at Tirnovo. The next task of this Ministry was to carry into effect the elections to the Chamber, which, according to the Con stitution, were to take place the same year between the middle of October and the middle of December. The result turned out to be a crushing majority for the Liberal Party — 150 against 30. In such States as stand on the threshold of their development, the savages— if the expression maybe allowed— will, by the very nature of the case, alwavs have ACCESSION OF THE PRINCE. 25 an ascendency over the more docile, and must, in their direct election of representatives, if no compulsion be exer cised, necessarily obtain a majority. On November 2, the Prince opened the first Chamber in a speech from the throne, in which he announced various legislative measures of pressing necessity ; he pointed out that the condition of the finances of the State was unsatis factory, and finally besought the deputies to lay aside all party disputes, and in their deliberations to be guided only by considerations relating to the matter in hand. " I count upon your patriotism and your good sense. Europe has fixed its eye on the first legislative assembly of Bulgaria, and in accordance with its actions will judge how far the Bulgarian nation is capable of making use of the rights vouchsafed to it. Your wise, peaceful labours will redound to the honour of the whole nation. I take the liberty of advising you and beseeching you not to lose time in fruit less discussions, but to begin as soon as possible to deliberate on the legislative proposals and the budget, which are the chief tasks assigned to you. You will thereby justify the confidence of your electors, and deserve the acknowledgment of the civilised world." As might have been foreseen, these words made little impression. Scarcely had the Prince left the Chamber than tumultuous cries were raised, among which the only distinguishable one was, " Away with the ministry ! " The ministers present made vain attempts to get a hearing. After the deputies had cried themselves hoarse enough, they proceeded to the election of the officials of the Chamber, by which the most violent agitator Karaveloff became president, and then began at once to discuss a vote of want of con fidence in the Ministry and an address to the Prince. In the address, which was drawn up amidst much blustering 26 PRINCE ALEXANDER. and mutual abuse, it was asserted, " The Ministry, instead of removing the difficulties at present existing, has, on the contrary, only aggravated them by its unconstitutional measures, and in this way has drawn upon itself the distrust of the nation ; a great part of the blame attaching to the wretched, unsatisfactory condition of the finances is due to the miserable fiscal policy of the present Ministry." The Prince damped the elation of the Chamber by refusing to accept this document, as he thought he could not fail to recognise in it merely the handiwork of part}' passion, and of the ambition of a few restless, aspiring men. But he only adopted this extreme measure after the failure of an attempt, made by Karaveloff with his sanction, to get the address modified in the Chamber. The Prince, who was loth to give up the belief that the Chamber would yet moderate its tone, caused on various occasions the most prominent men of the Liberal Party to be interrogated as to their wishes, but he always received the answer, " We want other ministers." Being, however, unwilling to have his constitutional right of appointing the ministers wrested from his grasp in the very first sitting of the Chamber, and unacquainted, besides, with any suitable men for ministerial posts on the side of the Liberal Party, against which Davidoff had also warned him, there remained nothing else for him to do but to dissolve this Chamber. This measure may be censured, since every statesman knows that a dissolution of the Chamber is alwavs a miniature revolution, which only promises success when the desired result is a certainty. In any other case the exact contrary of what was desired may easily arise ; the opponent becomes embittered, takes up arms, and only exerts his strength still more. But, on the other hand also, it is not difficult to understand the energetic decision of a voun" ACCESSION OF THE PRINCE. 27 Prince, full of the strength and courage of youth, to hold honourably the post he had only lately assumed. To him had just been entrusted the task of developing in every way a nation in the most elementary condition, and he was inspired with the noblest purpose of making his people truly happy; but he saw that the part of the nation entirely wanting in political sentiment, sound common sense and the necessary moderation, was gaining the upper hand, and that, without intending or suspecting such a result, it was labouring to stop its own development and progress. Per haps he thought too, that by the exercise of this extreme measure of dissolving the Chamber, he might bring the opposing faction to its senses. Three years later he would not, of course, have taken this step, for by that time he had become acquainted with the fact that among the Bulgarians, and in their party disputes, money is a great factor ; that to secure a minister's post with the pay attached to it and to pocket high salaries, form the pivot of domestic politics. Well, he had determined, once for all, to dissolve the Chamber, and the experienced statesman, Consul-General Davidoff, had advised him to do so. The old Ministry remained, at first, as it was ; it was only made, by secessions and additions, more neutral. Burmoff and Balabanoff, who had in these critical days acted with woeful cowardice, and the insignificant Athanasovitch, seceded. In the place of Burmoff, the presidency was under taken by Bishop Clement of Tirnovo as Minister of Educa tion. Clement was reckoned among the Liberals, but his distinctive character, if he had any at all, was that of a mediator. His fame was at that time still unsullied ; he was blamed only for his great indolence and want of vigour. He had been formerly a man of great promise, and had made a name for himself in Bulgaria as the author of two 28 PRINCE ALEXANDER. Bulgarian dramas, " The Unhappy Family " and " Ivanka," but he is at bottom, although a Bulgarian, a thorough Russian in temperament, with all the faults, yet without the good qualities, of that nation. By his rather disreput able private life he has forfeited all respect ; he is, more over, avaricious and therefore corruptible, and in the highest degree untrustworthy. Besides the Bishop, the Prince took yet another person, Ikonomoff, into the Ministry. The latter, also, was regarded as a Liberal, and had brought himself into notice as a teacher, by the publication of a reader and a Bulgarian grammar. None of these men had yet had time to show their true character and their merits or demerits. Not until succeed ing years has Ikonomoff shown himself to be an individual entirely destitute of character, with all the defects of semi- education — selfishness and conceit — clinging to him, and whose absorbing passion for gambling renders him acces sible to every form of bribery. It is characteristic of his want of principles that he, at a later period, as President of the State Council, assailed his own measures, and as soon as he observed that the Russians were opposed to this institution because it worked well, he wrote a pamphlet against it, in which he represented the councillors, whose President he was, as entirely unnecessary and super fluous. The chief difficulty, of course, the Prince had to contend with was, emphatically, that in Bulgaria hardly any man wa^ to be found whose name was definitely associated with any programme, and who had not already climbed or descended all the rungs of the political ladder, and had been, more over, for only two days together, of one and the same opinion. The men true to their convictions are so few that they may be counted on one's fingers. ACCESSION OF THE PRINCE. 29 The task which the Prince set before this Ministry was to conduct the elections for a new Chamber, so that he might be in a position to ascertain the real sentiments of the people. In such a position affairs stood at the moment when, as I have mentioned above, I saw the Prince for the first time ; the situation consequently was, to say the least, of a thoroughly dispiriting nature. The Bulgarians were en gaged in violent party quarrels among themselves, and in a reckless struggle against the Government, in which even the person of the Prince was not spared. The Prince was regarded — so unconstitutional were the ideas of all these statesmen — as personally responsible for everything that happened. He was the target in all the struggles against the Ministry in spite of the constitutional clause : " The person of the Prince is sacred and inviolable." Besides, there were the Russians, who had taken possession of the greatest part of the officers' posts in the army, and who, instead of being an element of order, stirred up the fire. And to crown all, a great anti-Russian party already existed, which agitated against the Russian civil servants and officers as foreigners in the country, who pocketed the high salaries they received from the state treasury. PRINCE ALEXANDER. CHAPTER III. THE PKINCE AT H01IE. Befoee breakfast I became acquainted with the various gentlemen of the Court — Court-Marshal Baron von Riede- sel, a Hessian, and formerly a fellow-officer of the Prince's regiment, who had followed him to Bulgaria ; private secretary Menges, whose father occupied the same post under the father of the Prince ; Baron Corvin, aide-de camp, who had formerly served with the Prince in the Garde