FERDINAND’S LAMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 140, 18 May 1925, Page 11

FERDINAND’S LAMENT.

DESERTED BY EVERYONE

“DOG ALONE FAITHFUL.”

Ever since his abdication ex-King Ferdinand of Bulgaria has lived "an isolated life at Coburg, where he has hitlierto preserved absolute silence on the past, and has refrained from any attempt to justify his action in bringing Bulgaria into the great war on the side of the Central Powers. Considerable interest, therefore, attaches to an interview which he has at last given to a representative of the Sofia newspaper Nezavisiniost. At the outset of tho conversation His Majesty paid a warm tribute to the present conduct of Bulgaria’s foreign affairs by M. Kalfoff, and he agreed that there could be no question of any violation 'of the peace treaties affecting Bulgaria, though much could be done to defend Bulgaria’s interests within their limits. Ferdinand vigorously defended his policy in joining tho Central Powers in the jßreat War, 'declaring that tho Czar had failed to comprehend the sufferings of the Bulgarian people , and their aspirations for unity, and while British diplomacy was more sympathetic, it could not impose its views on Russia. Bulgaria was, therefore, obliged to range herself on the side which offered some prospect of tho fulfilment of her hopes and aspirations. In acting as he had "done he had in view no personal aims, but solely the supreme interests of the country, the ideal he had dreamed of, the unity of *the Bulgarian nation.

The fallen monarch was now. he said with much bitterness, deserted by all. The only living creature that had remained faithful to him was 'his dog.