TWO RULERS OF BULGARIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 286, 27 November 1908, Page 3

TWO RULERS OF BULGARIA.

(tty Charles Lowe, in the London Daily Chronicle.) 'l'lie union of the two Bulgaria* in 1885 proved the undoing of Alexander of liattenburg in the following year. | What will be the effect of the present j proclamation 0 f prince Alexander's | "(iraud Hulg-ariii" as ail independent I kiugilom under the sceptre of his sue- ; lessor. iVnliiiand of Saxe-ColmrgV I X had opportunities of forming a personal impression of both Princes, ami I the contrast between them was immense. To begin with, the former was I very " sympethisdi," as tile Hermans I S ? 3 'V" e '', one wll ° vxciu ' a 1,10 llkilljr ! 1 cilm e i» contact with him - i I «hile the other was not. in 187!) 1 enjoyed the honour of a chat with Prince Alexander at Potsdam, where he was serving Wie his brother, Prince ileiirv'J i the (jardes-dn-Corps—just before luft foil Eivadia to confer with Jiis ! 'I , n Xi ", iacr ll -' wlm l'» l > »>viteJ

him to (ill the throne of the Uulgaria 11,r' 71 rf . Treilt - >r of Berlin - 1 thought I had.mover seen a liner-looking i oung man—frank, fresh, soldierly, un assuming, yet princely. J cmn!'? 'if* ''."'l. 1 Silw hil " ffa3 in tile ..•and State ballroom of the Kremlin, at Moscow, on tlifc oc((asion of i,i» eousin s coronation, in 1883, and even I n that large and brilliant assemblage ■> louml the Wreat White Tsar, the Prime

o iiulgana stood out among his fellow- [ B utsts like -Saul among the people—his countenance, will, its dark and almost Onental east, bearing more resemblance lo the warlike. V,sages of the picturesque luranian ehieis from Central Asia than tvn t l lli ! X f ( ' n " l,ai, ' o<l sollliera of lhl ' t pe of Skobelell. Jiut by this time* s ude of deep seriousness had clothed the fiatiiies ot the handsome liulgarian I nm-e, for the irtm of ]iis (lestji ° J alieady begun t o sink into his soul, as e was now-conscious of having become .iisiikeClt™i; ,I,cdalcou3in ' Bdc^ :

f p . 0 ™ f 0 fl et as the satrap of Russia, he had shown an independ-ence-a devotion to the interests of his Bulgarian subjects which provoked the deepest resentment of his cousin Al°vander 111. ' Ilis liist few years of rule had been I.tt e better than a perfect hell upon caitli for Juni, .by reason of the Russian intrigues to make him a tool instead oi a ruler, and lie was willing, to make any sacrifice almost, consistent with his self-respect and his duty to his subjects, to become reconciled to his Imperial cousin. On his way home from attending the wedding of his brother, Henry, to our Princess Beatrice, in 1885 he stopped at Vienna, and begged Count hJilnoky to pave the way for a reconciliation with the Tsar. Francis Joseph invited him to the manoeuvres at Pilseu, after which the Prince repaired to Franzensbad, where 11. de Giers was taking the waters. The latter promised to do all he could to promote the wisli-ed-for reconciliation, but presently the breach between the two Alexanders was widened to an irreparable extent On leaving Franzensbad the Prince went to Varna, and here lie was waited upon by two secret emissaries from ■ 1 hilippopolis, the capital of Eastern Roumelia, with the news that the re-? volution which had long been in secret 1 preparation throughout tli e Turkish province was on the point of breaking : rot—its object being " personal union " 1 rt'itlx Bulgaria. At Franzensbad the ' Prince had given M, de Giers the most <

explicit assurances that he would do ! nothing to promote such a result, and what, therefore, was he now to do? "For two hours," he said to a German friend, " I thought it over. . , . I said to myself that, if I refused, there would be nothing left for me but to renounce my crown and to leave the country immediately, for it was inconceivable that I could remain Prince of Bulgaria aitei; a refusal. I should, therefore, have fallen, and not precisely with much glory. On the other haul, I could not disguise from myself that I should also run a serious risk of losing my crown in case I accepted, and that, in fact, the prospects 011 both sides were decidedly unfavourable. However . . I knew my country . . and foresaw that in addition to the revolt, there would be a civil war between Bulgarians and Mohammedans. I alone was in a position to keep the movement within peaceful bounds, an.l to prevent it leading to excesses. Without me, anarchy would bo rampant; witli me, peace and order were secured. Tliat is why I accepted." 'l'rinee Alexander thus placed himself at the head of a movement which iie himself had not initiated, but which he found it impossible to resist. Strange to say, it provoked no armed opposition ou lilt* part of the Turks, but only from the Servians, who all'ected to see in this union of the two lltilgaiins a danger to the balance of power in the Balkans, and the answer of Prime Alev «nsl;-C was the three-day butlle of Slivwhich sent the malevolent sub-jec-ix of King Milan packing home to thoT pigs. rHiere followed the recognition by the forte and the l'owcrs of the " personal union "of the two Bulgaria*. And Prince Alexander made his triumphal entry into Sofia at the head of the victorious troops—the idol of his subjects, but at the same time an object of tlic deepest detestation to his Imperial coinin of liussiu, who accused him of perfidy, and never censed from his rancour until his Batlunberg kinsman had been kidnapped, and ultimately forced to lay down the crown which had only been one of thorns, redeemed by the laurels of Klivnitza.

Alexander's successor was a very di ferent kind of man. Oil my way bae from Constantinople in 18Sii, whither had gone to describe tlk- (lenmin Em pprors visit to Abdul Humid, 1 had p.' opportunity of seeing and judging Print' Ferdinand at Sofia. J was not ini pressed by bis personality, which \va not that oi a soldier, but rather feminine Intriguer, like liis mother, tli Princess Clementine, \vliom Hsmarcl ;ravely suspected to liave been at til' xittom of the famous "Bulgarian de ipatches," which had been forged t< treed dispeaee between Germany iui< iussia. When llrst Prince Ferdinand arrivei ,t Sofia it was said that he made hi: ntry with a canary-bird in one, handn allusion to his ornithological fad—--,id a packet of disinfecting powder .1 he other; but, anyhow, his habits am nstinets were not those of a soldtev le struck me as having a strong ele nent of the " ewig weibliche" in hi; oil)position, and as being more tlie so v if liis mother than his father —a trj( lourbon,' witli the ancestral tendency tc earn nothing and forget nothing, ai: nachronism and an anomaly in a T' cas ' nt community like Bulgaria. The only wonder is that lie should liave worn his crown so long. Heleatedly has he 'proved himself to be nsiucere and even perfidious—witness or one thing, liis breach of promise In lis father-in-law, the Duke of Parmx cspeeting the religious upbringing of lis children, while in 1801 he declared: 'We are honestly carrying out the irovisious of the Treaty of Berlin, i ule the country oil behalf of the, 'l«v--lerial Caliph.' I am the faithful vassal f the Porte, and mean to remain so. •onslantinopie is our main support, and conduct and steadiness cannot but nerease the trust reposed in us." A Jiouvbon by maternal descent, •riiice Ferdinand lias been hawking the 'ourts of Europe, for the last tea years u the .interest of his promotion from he rank of a vassal Prince to that of .11 independent King, like, that of 'harles of Roumania. The llolienzolleni Mince attained to that status by virile of his splendid valour at the head f his brave lioumaniaiis in front of 'leviiii; but it remains lobe seen whethr the Powers will as readily accord jnglv rank to Prince Ferdinand.

I ROOSEVELDT AND THE PLUMBER. When he throws oil' the cares of ollice f, and romps with his children President lUooseveldt becomes for the time being l a prank-playing big boy. .Moreover, he • can enjoy a joke turned against him- . self. Once, while Waiting his sister, .Mr , | Rousevcldt entered the room alter ; I everyone else was at the luncheon table, j He was laughing heartily. " 1 have just played a mad prank on [ tilt; pluuibc!,'' he declared. Then he reI luted how lie had gone tu file bath-room lo wash his hands, when he heard what j seemed Lo lie stealthy foot-steps coining down the hull. The boys had played number of jokes on him, and he immediately surmised that they were about to spring a new one. lie a u a virag in water ; then, with the dripping cloth in his hand, he waited the attack. The steps came nearer and nearer, then stopped, and someone tried to open til'! - door, which the President was holding I shut. Suddenly he threw the door wide ( open, simultaneously swinging the wci cloth over his bead and shouting glee- 1 fully, '"l've got you ijoiv!" The wash- e rag landed, not on the, head of one of r the boys, as he had anticipated, but square across the face of n start!id plumber. Mr ltooseveldt apologised |iroi'lisely, explained the circumstances, and then descended to the dining room, shaking with laughter.

I'EERAGES THAT MAY DIE OUT. It is a singular fact that not one of our three Canadian peerages has a male heir to continue it. Lord Mount Stephen, though he has been twice married, has no children. Lord StratliI cona's title will one day descend to /lis daughter, Mrs Howard, who in that case add another to the small and selict company of British peeresses in their own right ; while the other Canadian peerage, that of Macdonald of liarnclill'e, is now held by the widow of the late Lord Macdonald, and as yet no provision has been made for its inheritance by her only daughter. There are nearly a. dozen ladies who

are peeresses in their own right, most of them without male heirs, while two more la (lies w ilj be added to the number when Lord Wolseley and Lord Roberts die. The foijmer has no sou, but his viscounty was conferred with special remainder to (his daughter, and with remainder again to her male issue, so that in that way the title may be perpetuated, while in the case of Lord Roberts, who lost his only son in the South African war, the earldom has also been conferred with special remainder to his daughter. Among the peers whose titles will, under present circumstances, cease wiUi their death might be mentioned Lord Milner, who has no heir, anil Lord Llandaff, who, as Mr Henry Matthews, 'lied the office of Home Secretary from 1880 to 1892.

Lord James of Hereford, an Attorney General of the seventies, has no relative who can succeed to his title, neither had Lord Shand, a Scotch judge of great eminence, who died four vea°s ago. Another famous light of the'legal world whose title lapsed with his death was Lord Brampton, who. as Si." Henry Hawkins, established the reputation of being the first criminal lawyer of his day.

Lord Northcliffe, formerly Sir Alfred Harmsworth, has no heir to succeed liini. Lord Kitchener remains a bachelor, and his brother is therefore heir to the title, while Lord Welby, VIIO was Permanent Secretary of the Treasury .from 1885 to 1894, has no heir to the title conferred for conspicuous service to the State.

| Glass bottles were made by tile Romans as far back as the year 70 A.D. Their manufacture m England, however was not begun till 1558. Manhattan, Xew York, is the most densely populated island in the world. It has n population of over 99,000 persons to the square mile. About 1,040,000 dog licenses were taken out in England alone last year, while 250,000 exemption certificates were granted to shepherds and farmers. The fiigatc bird, whose wings spread out from ten to twelve feet, can fly at the rate of 100 miles an hour. Belgian breeders must keep a record of all cattle raised by them, each animal having a registered trade number engraved on a ring fastened to its ear. The stormy petrel, although so small, has Immense wing power. It breasts the. storms of every sea, and has been observed 2,000 miles from land. Red lights can .be seen at a greater distance than green. Switzerland makes about £12,000,000 a year out of its tourists.

of fiibraltar is honeycombed with 711 miles of tunliellliiy. Over 25.01)1) .sailing vessel- of move than fifty tons lire now on tln> oceans Tlx' number of bricks useil in the Scwrn ' tniiiiei is computed to tie 77,DD0.f1l to. A Japanese swonl used by one of th'? Emperors about 800 B.C.' is still in existence.