was not the man to let himself long be the catspaw of Russia, and now invited the Powers to name one or two candidates for the throne of Bulgaria.  Stambuloff worked hard for the election of Prince Ferdinand; and on July 7, 1887, he was unanimously elected by the Sobranje.  Alone among the Great Powers, Russia protested against his election and threw many difficulties in his path.  In order to please the Czar, the Sultan added his protest; but this act was soon seen to be merely a move in the diplomatic game.

Limits of space, however, preclude the possibility of noting later events in the history of Bulgaria, such as the coolness that clouded the relations of the Prince to Stambuloff, the murder of the latter, and the final recognition of the Prince by the Russian Government after the “conversion” of his little son, Boris, to the Greek Church (Feb. 1896).  In this curious way was fulfilled the prophetic advice given by Bismarck to the Prince not long after his acceptance of the crown of Bulgaria:  “Play the dead (faire mort). . . .  Let yourself be driven gently by the stream, and keep yourself, as hitherto, above water.  Your greatest ally is time—­force of habit.  Avoid everything that might irritate your enemies.  Unless you give them provocation, they cannot do you much harm, and in course of time the world will become accustomed to see you on the throne of Bulgaria[219].”

[Footnote 219:  Personal Reminiscences of Prince Bismarck, by S. Whitman, p. 179.]

Time has worked on behalf of Bulgaria, and has helped to strengthen this Benjamin of the European family.  Among the events which have made the chief States of to-day, none are more remarkable than those which endowed a population of downtrodden peasants with a passionate desire for national existence.  Thanks to the liberating armies of Russia, to the prowess of Bulgarians themselves, to the inspiring personality of Prince Alexander and the stubborn tenacity of Stambuloff, the young State gained a firm grip on life.  But other and stranger influences were at work compelling that people to act for itself; these are to be found in the perverse conduct of Alexander III. and of his agents.  The policy of Russia towards Bulgaria may be characterised by a remark made by Sir Robert Morier to Sir M. Grant Duff in 1888:  “Russia is a great bicephalic creature, having one head European, and the other Asiatic, but with the persistent habit of turning its European face to the East, and its Asiatic face to the West[220].”  Asiatic methods, put in force against Slavised Tartars, have certainly played no small part in the upbuilding of this youngest of the European States.

[Footnote 220:  Sir M. Grant Duff, Notes from a Diary (1886-88), vol. ii. p. 139.]