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.

Alexander III. and his Chancellor, de Giers, had also tied their hands
in Balkan affairs by a treaty which they framed with Austria and
Germany, and signed and ratified at the meeting of the three Emperors at
Skiernewice (September 1884--see Chapter XII.). The most important of
its provisions from our present standpoint was that by which, in the
event of two of the three Empires disagreeing on Balkan questions, the
casting vote rested with the third Power. This gave to Bismarck the same
role of arbiter which he had played at the Berlin Congress.

But in the years 1885 and 1886, the Czar and his agents committed a
series of blunders, by the side of which their earlier actions seemed
statesmanlike. The welfare of the Bulgarian people demanded an early
reversal of the policy decided on at the Congress of Berlin (1878),
whereby the southern Bulgarians were divided from their northern
brethren in order that the Sultan might have the right to hold the
Balkan passes in time of war. That is to say, the Powers, especially
Great Britain and Austria, set aside the claims of a strong racial
instinct for purely military reasons. The breakdown of this artificial
arrangement was confidently predicted at the time; and Russian agents at
first took the lead in preparing for the future union. Skobeleff,
Katkoff, and the Panslavonic societies of Russia encouraged the
formation of "gymnas