Even now the scales did not fall from the eyes of the Emperor Alexander III.  Bismarck was once questioned by the faithful Busch as to the character of that potentate.  The German Boswell remarked that he had heard Alexander III. described as “stupid, exceedingly stupid”; whereupon the Chancellor replied:  “In a general way that is saying too much[191].”  Leaving to posterity the task of deciding that question, we may here point out that Muscovite policy in the years 1878-85 achieved a truly remarkable feat in uniting all the liberated races of the Balkan Peninsula against their liberators.  By the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, Russia had alienated the Roumanians, Servians, and Greeks; so that when the Princes of those two Slav Principalities decided to take the kingly title (as they did in the spring of 1881 and 1882 respectively), it was after visits to Berlin and Vienna, whereby they tacitly signified their friendliness to the Central Powers.

[Footnote 191:  Bismarck:  Some Secret Pages of his History, by Dr. M. Busch (Note of January 5, 1886), vol. iii. p. 150 (English edition).]

In the case of Servia this went to the length of alliance.  On June 25, 1881, the Foreign Minister, M. Mijatovich, concluded with Austria-Hungary a secret convention, whereby Servia agreed to discourage any movement among the Slavs of Bosnia, while the Dual Monarchy promised to refrain from any action detrimental to Servian hopes for what is known as old Servia.  The agreement was for eight years; but it was not renewed in 1889[192].  The fact, however, that such a compact could be framed within three years of the Berlin Congress, shows how keen was the resentment of the Servian Government at the neglect of its interests by Russia, both there and at San Stefano.

[Footnote 192:  The treaty has not been published; for this general description of it I am indebted to the kindness of M. Mijatovich himself.]

The gulf between Bulgaria and Russia widened more slowly, but with the striking sequel that will be seen.  The Dondukoffs, Soboleffs, and Kaulbars first awakened and then estranged the formerly passive and docile race for whose aggrandisement Russia had incurred the resentment of the neighbouring peoples.  Under Muscovite tutelage the “ignorant Bulgarian peasants” were developing a strong civic and political instinct.  Further, the Czar’s attacks, now on the Prince, and then on the popular party, served to bind these formerly discordant elements into an alliance.  Stambuloff, the very embodiment of young Bulgaria in tenacity of purpose and love of freedom, was now the President of the Sobranje, or National Assembly, and he warmly supported Prince Alexander so long as he withstood Russian pretensions.  At the outset the strifes at Sofia had resembled a triangular duel, and the Russian agents could readily have disposed of the third combatant had they sided either with the Prince or with the Liberals.  By browbeating both they simplified the situation to the benefit both of the Prince and of the nascent liberties of Bulgaria.