Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria and his Prime Minister, M. Stambouloff,
have both been received by the Austrian Emperor in long audiences, to the great indignation of all Russians, who regard this ant of courtesy as equivalent to a formal admission of the legality of Prince Ferdinand's title. There is some reason in this view, too, for Austrian etiquette is strict, and though the Prince might have been received merely as a Coburg betrothed to a connection of the Hapsburg family, his Minister undoubtedly would not have been. M. Stam- bouloff, in a conversation with the Times' representative at Vienna, openly speaks of Bulgaria as protected by Austria, and therefore as safe from Russian attack, except by a sudden and risky maritime descent on Bourgas. He therefore con- siders the Principality as safe from foreign invasion, and the marriage of its Prince as sure to lead to the establishment of a dynasty. That is quite possible, as we have argued elsewhere; but it must not be forgotten that the Prince is very sickly, and that M. Stambouloff himself is a little too necessary to Bulgaria. All men, the experienced say, can be replaced ; and certainly Prince Bismarck disappeared with very few ripples in the water; but a successor to M. Stambouloff in Eastern Europe might be very hard to find. No character is more scarce than that of the thoroughly patriotic tyrant, who is at the same time a competent man.
