TWO BOOKS ON BULGARIA.* BY virtue of the exceptional ability
of their author, his thorough military training, previous knowledge of the country, and intimate acquaintance with most of the leading actors in the Balkan drama, Von Huhn's contributions to the recent political history of Bulgaria are far superior to all other works on the subject. The present volume is even more brilliant and enter- taining than the first, and, at any rate, deserved to be put before the English public in as attractive a shape as its predecessor. However, the translation, which is of more importance than the type and binding, it hardly up to the level of the admirable version of the War of Independence, has been executed in a very workmanlike fashion by Captain Beaufort, and, except for one or two trilling angularities, reproduces faithfully enough the author's alert and—for a German— exceptionally vivacious style. Von Huhn is credited, on the testimony of envious colleagues, with a marvellous capacity for rapid work. We have been assured on good authority that the work before us was almost entirely written in ten days. But there are no traces of haste in the composition or construction of this volume, a fact which is probably due to the intellectual habit of the author, who has apparently no difficulty in con- densing his abundant materials on the spot. His former work on the Servo-Bulgarian War testified to the enterprise of his journalistic employers,—the proprietors of the Cologne Gazette. The present volume is an evidence of their political inde- pendence, as it is an open secret that the frankness with which Von Huhn expressed himself in regard to the attitude of Germany was so strongly resented in Government circles, that a semi-official newspaper—at Prince Bismarck's own instigation, so it is hinted—despatched a representative post-haste to Bulgaria, in order to neutralise the dis- turbing effect of correspondence so damaging to a cordial understanding with Russia. What the result of this step may have been we cannot say, but it is hard to believe that any official apologist could obliterate the impression produced on impartial readers by a writer who unites earnestness with ample knowledge, and whose indignation is never of the sentimental order. We have spoken above of his style, which is of rare excellence, and will add that he is gifted with a sense of caustic humour which renders some of his chapters, notably those relating to the exploits of General Kaulbars, intensely diverting. He has watched with painful interest the struggles of a small nation "defending itself with all its might against what a Bulgarian patriot, with tears in his eyes, once called
• (L) The Kidnapping of Prince Alexander of Batteuterg, his Return to Bulgaria. and Subsequent Abdication. By A. von Huhn. Translated by Captain F. Beaufort, B.A. London : Edward Stanford.—(2.) Priers Alexander of Battenberg Reminis- cences of his Reign in Bulgaria. From Authentic Sources. By A. Koch, Court ChaplaW. London Whittaker and Co,
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