Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8020, 6 August 1887, Page 4

The propcealof Russia that Prince Smeritinsky should bo appointed sole regent of Bulgaria shows that the Court of St. Petersburg is at its old game of trying to gain its purpose by exhausting the patience of all who are desirous of see<ing the Balkan difficulty satisfactorily disposed of. By declining every proposal which does not harmonise with their ulterior views it ia hoped that either the other Powers will get tired of tho business, and allow the Czar to take his own course, or that the Bulgarians will be provoked to take such action as will meet the disapproval of these Powers, and justify the intervention which Rusaia is so anxious to make. It ia possible, however, and indeed very probable, that this device of procrastination may be overdone. The plea of illegality which has been urged by Russia against the Regency and the Sobranje, has received no countenance from the other Powers, and they cannot fail to perceive that the protracted delay which, owing to Russian obstruction, has taken place in the appointment of a Prince over Bulgaria is constructively a grave violation of the Berlin Treaty. That treaty gives no one Power the right of wilful and perverse oppositio to Ihe election of a Prince which the people in the exercise of their undoubted privilege may make. According to the Treaty of Berlin, " the Prince of Bulgaria shall be freely elected by the population and confirmed by the Sublime Porte, with the consent of the Powers." The sullen withholding of its consent by any one Power, such as Prussia persists in, is obviously inimical to free election, amounts in fact to dictation, and is therefore an invasion of the popular right secured by the treaty in question. What Russia has long made up her mind to is that the Bulgarian people shall elect only tho Prince whom she has nominated, and the Bulgarians have also made up their minds not to submit to such a usurpation of their rights. They have therefore now determined to put the question to the test by calling upon the Porte to perform the function which the Constitution imposes on it, namely, that of confirming the election they have made. This the Porte is bound to do before the consent of the Powers can legally be given or refused. In seeking to obtain the concurrence of the Powers before giving her confirmation, the Porte is not only abdicating its functions, but also, in the circumstances, conceding to Russia the right of dictatorship. To this inversion of order the Bulgarian Government have taken formal exception, and officially intimated to the Porte that, failing an early decision on the matter of the election of Prince Ferdinand, they will regard the Porte's silence as bearing the usual construction, and that Bulgaria will then proceed to settle matters herself. This must soon bring matters to a crisis one way or another. If the Porte confirm the election the consent of all the Powers pxcept Rusaia may be reckoned on, and Russia's refusal will be disregarded. But if the Porte decline or delay to exercise its right of confirmation, then the Bulgarians will of their own motion act as they think will be best for the good of their country. In a word, they will declare their independence, and either proceed to implement their election of Prince Ferdinand, or declare a Republic. In all probability the latter alternative will be forced upon them ; for, by all accounts, it is very unlikely that Prince Ferdinand will muster courage enough to accept the throne without the confirmation of the Porte and the consent of the Powers, and face all the risks involved in the situation. For soma time past, indeed ever sinca Prince Alexander's in i: mation that ho would not accept the throne, even if re-elected, the minds of the people all through Bulgaria and Roumelia have been steadily gravitating towards the consummation referred to, namely, declaring their independence of the Porte, and proclaiming a Republic. This, therefore, is tho course they may now be expected to take if the Porte proves unequal to the occasion which has just arisen. In that event it is certain that Macedonia, or the greater portion thereof, will throw off the yoke of Turkey and cast in its lot with a United Bulgaria. The gravest complications would then once more arise in all parts of Europe. Russia and Turkey might be disposed to combine for the suppression of the new Republic, but that would be the signal for a general war, in which despotism would be obliged to yield to the demand for liberty.