affair
between the two Alexanders. Great Britain also was at that time too
hampered by domestic and colonial difficulties to be able to do more
than offer good wishes.

Thus the weakness or the weariness of the States friendly to Bulgaria
left the Czar a free hand in the personal feud on which he set such
store. Accordingly, on September 7, the Prince left Bulgaria amidst the
lamentations of that usually stolid people and the sympathy of manly
hearts throughout the world. At Buda-Pesth and London there were
ominous signs that the Czar must not push his triumph further. Herr
Tisza at the end of the month assured the Hungarian deputies that, if
the Sultan did not choose to restore the old order of things in Southern
Bulgaria, no other Power had the right to intervene there by force of
arms. Lord Salisbury, also, at the Lord Mayor's banquet, on November 9,
inveighed with startling frankness against the "officers debauched by
foreign gold," who had betrayed their Prince. He further stated that all
interest in foreign affairs centred in Bulgaria, and expressed the
belief that the freedom of that State would be assured.

These speeches were certainly intended as a warning to Russia and a
protest against her action in Bulgaria. After the departure of Prince
Alexander, the Czar hit upon the device of restoring order to that
"much-tried" country through the instrumentality of General Kaulbars, a
brother of the General who had sought to kidnap Prince Alexander three
years before. It is known that the despatch of the younger Kaulbars was
distasteful to the more pacific and Germanophil chancellor, de Giers,
who is said to have worked against the success of his mission. Such at
least is the version given by his private enemies, Katkoff and de
Cyon[217]. Kaulbars soon succeeded in adding to the reputation of his
family. On reaching Sofia, on September 25, he ordered the liberation of
the military plotters still under arrest, and the adjournment of the
forthcoming elections for the Sobranje; otherwise Russia would not
regard them as legal. The Bulgarian Regents, Stambuloff at their head,
stoutly opposed these demands and fixed the elections for October the
10th; whereupon Kaulbars treated the men of Sofia, and thereafter of all
the chief towns, to displays of bullying rhetoric, which succeeded in
blotting out all memories of Russian exploits of nine years before[218].

[Footnote 217: Elie de Cyon, _Histoire de l'Entente franco-russ