The Bulgarian elections have resulted in the return of an
overwhelming majority for the Government. Out of 292 seats, the Government has obtained 260; and the Opposition of all sorts, only 32, MM. Radoslavoff, Karaveloff and Zankoff all losing their elections. But though the anti-Russian and National Party have thus gained complete command of the Scrbranje, it is to be feared that the result will not be accepted as a final declaration of the will of the Bulgarian people. The number of abstentions was so enormous, that those voting only numbered a third of the total register. This fact, and the 'fierce rioting, during which some thirty persons were killed and as many more wounded, have, of coarse, been seized upon by those hostile to the cause of Bulgarian independence, and declared to show that the elections are not to be regarded as representing the feeling of the people. The Journal de St. Petersbo erg sneers at the elections as illegal, and at the victory of the Government as won only by force, and declares that " this simulacrum of an election will not advance one step the -solution of the Bulgarian problem." No doubt the elections will not materially strengthen the Government ; but, after all, it is not at the ballotboxes that Bulgarian independence will be won. It depends rather on the dogged resolution of the National Party.
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