Prince Alexander may not have been aware of these schemes in their full extent, but he and his friends certainly felt the meshes closing around them.  There were only two courses open, either completely to submit to the Czar (which, for the Prince, implied abdication) or to rely on the Bulgarian people.  The Prince took the course which would have been taken by every man worthy of the name.  It is, however, almost certain that he did not foresee the events at Philippopolis.  He gave his word to a German officer, Major von Huhn, that he had not in the least degree expected the unionist movement to take so speedy and decisive a step forward as it did in the middle of September.  The Prince, in fact, had been on a tour throughout Europe, and expressed the same opinion to the Russian Chancellor, de Giers, at Franzensbad.

But by this time everything was ready at Philippopolis.  As the men of Eastern Roumelia were all of one mind in this matter, it was the easiest of tasks to surprise the Sultan’s representative, Gavril Pasha, to surround his office with soldiers, and to request him to leave the province (September 18).  A carriage was ready to conduct him towards Sofia.  In it sat a gaily dressed peasant girl holding a drawn sword.  Gavril turned red with rage at this insult, but he mounted the vehicle, and was driven through the town and thence towards the Balkans.

Such was the departure of the last official of the Sultan from the land which the Turks had often drenched with blood; such was the revenge of the southern Bulgarians for the atrocities of 1876.  Not a drop of blood was shed; and Major von Huhn, who soon arrived at Philippopolis, found Greeks and Turks living contentedly under the new government.  The word “revolution” is in such cases a misnomer.  South Bulgaria merely returned to its natural state[196].  But nothing will convince diplomatists that events can happen without the pulling of wires by themselves or their rivals.  In this instance they found that Prince Alexander had made the revolution.

[Footnote 196:  The Struggle of the Bulgarians for National Independence, by Major A. von Huhn, chap. ii.  See, too, Parl.  Papers, Turkey, No. 1 (1886), p. 83.]

At first, however, the Prince doubted whether he should accept the crown of a Greater Bulgaria which the men of Philippopolis now enthusiastically offered to him.  Stambuloff strongly urged him to accept, even if he thereby still further enraged the Czar:  “Sire,” he said, “two roads lie before you:  the one to Philippopolis and as far beyond as God may lead; the other to Sistova and Darmstadt.  I counsel you to take the crown the nation offers you.”  On the 20th the Prince announced his acceptance of the crown of a united Bulgaria.  As he said to the British Consul at Philippopolis, he would have been a “sharper” (filou) not to side with his people[197].

[Footnote 197:  Stambuloff, by A.H.  Beaman, chap. iii.; Parl.  Papers, ibid. p. 81.]