9 OCTOBER 1915, Page 2

The correspondent tests this political horoscope, and finds it justified

at every turn. Fear, cunning, and inordinate ambition are the chief characteristics of the King of Bulgaria. He loves to pose as a roi incompri , but has moments of cynical self-revelation. Hie best adviser was his mother, Princess 016mentine of Coburg, daughter of Louis Philippe, and with her death his better self disappeared. His ability is undoubted, and he has succeeded in making his Ministers his tools and accomplices, for he is a wonderful collector, not merely of ornithological and entomological specimens, but of compromising documents. Unloved and unlovable, he has yet, in virtue of a tenacity which offsets his physical cowardice, not only held but strengthened, his hold on his throne in the twenty-eight year's since he was elected by the National Assembly. • The Naval Correspondent of the Times has an interesting article in Tuesday's issue on the vulnerability of Bulgaria by sea. The water communications to her coasts both in the Aegean and the Black Sea are controlled by the fleets of 4he Allies ; her naval force is insufficient to prevent a landing ; and neither Varna nor Burgas has any modern or formidable fortifications, though we see it stated elsewhere that efforts have been made of late to remedy these deficiencies. The only harbour of importance in Macedonia is Dedeagatch, which is connected by rail both with Salonika and Constantinople through Adrianople. Turning to Greece, the correspondent observes that her Navy is one of the very few which before the present war had had experience of modern war and played its part effectively in the conflict with Turkey in 1912-13. Since then the Greek Navy has been strengthened by the purchase of two 13,000-ton ironclads and a light cruiser from the United States.