THE LESSER CZAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11507, 1 October 1915, Page 1

THE LESSER CZAR.

MASTER-KEY TO THE , I BALKANS. ' i i ; :; FERDINAND OF BULGARIA. ("Daily Mail.") i Behind the scenes of Balkan politics 5 matters iaro moving. But in what J direction? What policies, what decip -sions, will merge from the pressure and • oounter-presiure of tho belligerent Po\v- - ers in that region of r>assionate r and fiercely conflicting aims? j The answer lies in Bulgaria. There, j in Sofia, is the master-key to the whole tangled problem. And if in Sofia, tnen also in Oxar Ferdinand's hands. AIL I ; Europe is brusquely courting him. All! Europe realise; that it rests with him ' to speak the decisive word. The chief 5 hero of the Balkan Revolution of 1912, the chief victim of its miserable sequel j in 1913, " the lesser Czar " finds him- ? self to-day, beyond ail hope and prevision, the pivot of a drama that , transcends by far anything that eveni i his convulsive and theatrical career has , ever knowu. Three years ago we were all pondering a problem that at once invited' ' speculation and eluded it. Whose braim conceived the Balkan League? Who was it who saw that the hour had struck, that the general European idea 1 of the fighting strength of Turkey wad [ mistaken, and that with a determined and united push the Ottoman Powetf ' could be toppled over? Who was the unknown Bismarck of the BalkansP We all remember how the Bulgarians 1 fought and how they triumphed, with what dash and organising power, with ' what splendid qualities of hardihood, I discipline, self-sacrifice and consuming] , patriotism. And we all remember the ( tragic aftermath ; how in a fatal mo- | ment Ferdinand, grasping at too much, lost nearly everything; how tho leagus | he had created well-nigh destroyed him ; ' how his crowning success proved to be , his undoing, and how at the sword's point he was forced to sign a bitter 1 and humiliating peace. GENIUS FOR INTRIGUE. Small wonder he now wants to make sure of his ground before taking a single step. Small wonder that, allur- ' ed on the one hand by the chance to ; retrieve all and more than all he was compelled to surrender, and restrained 1 on the other by the disastrous consequences of one false move, he hesitates, Hatches, waits, plays off one 'group of Powers against the other, and slowly aunes his way to tho perfect barscii i. It is a game he loves. The genius tor intrigue is in his Coburg blood. tiis mother, the Princess C'kincn..me, " the daughter of Louis Philippe, and . one of the ablest women of her d.:y, . with all her father's shrewdness au:i a good deal more charm nnd gent rod ty - than he ever possessid, dedicated her son almost from boyhocd to the study < of statecraft. She was determined that , her youngest and best-loved boy , shou'd be something more than ore of the hapless group of Highnesses, and that he should not lead a futile life as a mere officer in the Austro-Himgarian army. She meant that he should be a King. To that end she trained him with a woman's faith in the thousand-:o-oue cnance. t Certainly nothing in the early 'eighties could have seemed more unlikely than that Ferdinand would ever be called upon to show his capacity for rulcrsh;p. There were no thrones going a-begging. Europe seemed imperturbab y tranquil. But suddenly Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria, was kidnapped, the Principality was left without, a ruler, Europe was scoured for a successor, and Ferdinand's chance had come. He offered himself for what was at the time the most thankless task in the whole world of diplomacy, and journeying in secret down the Danube entered Scfia in August, 1887, in his twenty-sixth year. No one would have vaiueci his crown at six months' purchase. He had all Europe against him; Bulgaria was in a state ot chaos, and its real ru'er was Stajnbouloff, the rough, curt and remorseless son of an innkeeper, the pre- | cise opposite of the cultured, halfFrench, half-Austrian aristocrat, with his elaborate perfumed manners, who had mounted the throne. Hut the Bulgarian people had accepted h : m as their Prince, and for one Power, Great Britain, that was enough. Lord Salisbury warned all whom it might concern that Bulgaria was not to be interfered with in settling her own affairs in her own way. His solitary voice saved the Prince and possibly also the peace of Europe. REIGNING AGAINST REASON, j Against all reason and probability | Ferdinand has reigned ever since, j Pretty nearly everything on which his I heart was set he has achieved in the j teeth of incredible obstacles. He be- | gan as an unrecognised Prince; he is to-day a full-fledged King. He began as a mere figure-head and puppet under Stambouloif s sway; for twenty years and more he has been the absolute ruler of the State. He found a hostile Russia and he forced its approbation. He found Bulgaria the political shuttlecock of the Near East; ne won for her, if only for a moment, the undoubted primacy of the JtSalkans. He found her a vassal and tributary principality ; he has raised her to the dignity of a sovereign and independent State. He found her in a condition of ! partial subjection to the Turks; he not only freed" her, but in 1912 he van- : quished the Turks in battle. I No Balkan State, indeed, has so j | amply justified the wisdom of liberation [ from* the Ottoman yoke. Under Fer- ! diuand's auspices, and very largely ! owing to his inspiration and prescience I | and his power of hard and intelligent i work, railways and schools have cov- | ercd Bulgaria, bringing with them | great prosperity, and the army is the ' admiration of the world, i Here clearlv is no do-nothing King | hut one with the real stuff of leaderi ship in him And Ferdinand, rej member, is not yet iifty-iive. High as | hr- has climbed," he may climb higher ; still. The simple and democratic peasj nnts ov; 1 ]- who in he: rules ate grateful. , as they well iniiihf lie. for what he has : aclrered, submit themselves to his : guidance, mid in the past two years I have yielded -.o him the supreme tribute ! of their confidence hv clinging to him i through a nark and dillicult liour. i At once an artist and' a grand seig- j i neur, consummately skilled in the study !of human nature, especially on its | weaker side, with gifts of irgratiation I that he rarely deigns to exercise, a | man of many'moods and many strataj p; "lis. a botanist and a bird-stuff or by j inclination, a disciple of Machiavelh Shv trade. King Ferdinand stands out |OS one of the mc.st gi f ted and amI biguous figure* on the Near Eastern j 1 Mage. j