We are very often told that the Russians display exceptional tact in their dealings with subject races. However this may be, they certainly showed a singular lack of tact in their relations with Prince Alexander and his subjects. The men who came to the front in Bulgaria after the Revolution were almost without exception credited with strong pro-Russian proclivities. As a written language, Bulgarian is almost identical with Russian; as a spoken language, it so closely resembles Russian that educated men in both countries have little or no difficulty in understanding each other. As there is practically no Bulgarian literature, Russian books, up to the period of which I write, supplied the mental culture of the Bulgers; all these books inculcated the doctrine that the welfare and progress of Bulgaria, as of other Sclav countries, were indissolubly connected with the advance and grandeur of the mighty Sclav Empire of the North. Yet, notwithstanding all these advantages, the Russians had no sooner got a firm footing in Bulgaria, than they contrived to give mortal offence to the very men who, when their country had recovered her independence, looked forward to playing a prominent part in her development. Both in the civil and in the military administration, the ideas, aspirations, and prejudices of the Bulgarians were either ignored or treated with contempt.
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Dependency of Russia
Their national pride was outraged ; and their eyes were rudely opened to the discovery, that in the opinion of their liberators Bulgaria was henceforward to be a mere dependency of Russia, and that her interests and aspirations were to be subordinated in every respect to the policy of the Russian Empire, Thus it came to pass that Prince Alexander, who on his accession was regarded as a stranger, a foreigner, and a puppet of Russia, soon became the chosen representative of Bulgarian independence. His fine presence, his pleasant, open manner, and his power of ingratiating himself, were not long in winning personal popularity for the Prince amidst his new subjects; but, after all, the main cause of his influence lay in the accident that he embodied the dislike of a singularly independent and stiff-necked race, proud of their historic past and sanguine of future greatness, to be treated by their Russian protectors as an inferior and subject people. To speak truth, the Bulgarians were not long in finding out that they had replaced King Log by King Stork; and, on finding this, they bitterly resented the new servitude which had been imposed upon them.
The Ministers, whose nomination had been forced upon the Prince on his accession, obeyed blindly the orders they received from St. Petersburg; and after the death of the Czar, Alexander II., these orders became more peremptory and more offensive than ever. From and after this time there was open conflict between the native element, represented by Prince Alexander, and the Russian party in Bulgaria; and there can be little doubt that from this period the deposition of the Prince was determined upon at St. Petersburg.
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