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greatly curtailed as compared with those of the Treaty of San Stefano,
shrinking from an area as great almost as the Bulgarian Empire of
Simeon down to a broad band of territory running between Eastern
Roumelia and Roumania.
A Blind Beggar Woman
But the Bulgars kept the Treaty of San Stefano rather than the
Treaty of Berlin before their eyes as their national charter. Almost
from the first there were encroachments upon the provisions of the
Treaty of Berlin. Its limitations of Bulgarian sovereignty were ignored
little by little. Eastern Roumelia was united to Bulgaria proper by a
bold and well-timed stroke. Another occasion was sought to get rid
of the tribute to Turkey, and from a Prince, subject to a suzerain, the
ruler of Bulgaria became a Czar, responsible to none but his subjects.
Finally, when the war of 1912 against Turkey was entered upon to
liberate further Christian provinces from the rule of the Turk, the
Bulgarian people, if not the Bulgarian rulers, had clearly before their
eyes the vision of the Bulgaria of the San Stefano Treaty. At one time
it seemed as if that fond hope would be realised. But misfortunes
and mistakes intervened, and as a final result of that and succeeding
wars Bulgaria has been left with a comparatively small accession of
territory, and is not much better off than she was in 1912.
It is not my purpose to attempt any detailed history of Bulgaria. I
have designed, rather, an indication in broad outline of her national
growth as a basis for, and an introduction to, an intimate picture
of the country as it is to-day. All that is needed, then, to add to this
chapter regarding the Liberation of Bulgaria, is that after the Treaty
of Berlin had been ratified, the first task that faced the principality of
Bulgaria was to make it clear to Russia that, whilst she was grateful
for the aid which had enabled her to become independent, she
aspired to a real independence, and did not wish to exchange one
master for another. The task was difficult, and caused some early
trouble for the revived nation.
The first Prince chosen to be monarch of Bulgaria was Prince
Alexander of Battenberg, a brave soldier but an indifferent statesman.
He offended in turn both the Bulgarian patriots who wished him
to lead their country to a complete freedom, and the Russians
who would have her kept under a kind of tutelage to the “Little
Father.” Still Bulgaria, in his reign, made notable advances towards
her national ideals. In 1885, obedient to the earnest wish of its
inhabitants, Eastern Roumelia was incorporated with Bulgaria as a
united principality, and that much of the Treaty of Berlin torn up.
Turkey, whose rights were chiefly affected, decided not to make
war upon this issue. The Great Powers, other than Russia, which
had insisted, in the first instance, on the separation of Bulgaria into
Bulgaria Proper and Eastern Roumelia because they feared that
Bulgaria would be a mere appanage of Russia and would in actual
effect bring the Russian frontier so much nearer to Constantinople,
were now fairly reassured on that point. They not only made no
protest, but they prevented Greece from doing so. There remained