The twenty-fifth anniversary of the accession of Prince Ferdinand of
Bulgaria was celebrated on Thursday, and the Times for that day contained an interesting résumé of his reign. During the earlier part of it the difficulties which he had to face must have seemed almost insurmountable. It was chiefly owing to Stamboloff, who acted as Regent after the abdication of Prince Alexander, that the throne was offered to Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, who was then only twenty-six years old. Stamboloff was violently anti- Russian in his policy, and the young Prince had consequently to meet the hostility of Russia and the disapproval of all the other Great Powers. There was also much opposition to him in Bulgaria itself, but this was quickly suppressed by the ruthlessly severe measures taken by Stamboloff. Prince Ferdinand soon realized, however, that the position of Bulgaria would never be secure until the hostility of Russia was placated ; and the resignation of Stamboloff in 1894 and his subsequent assassination proved to be the somewhat sinister turning-point in Prince Ferdinand's reign. His caution and sagacity both then and in the more recent Turkish crisis have been rewarded by the extraordinary progress in Bulgaria upon which King Ferdinand can now look back. Her com- mercial development has been enormous, while her army is now unquestionably second only to Turkey's in the Near East, and for this her able ruler must be given the greater part of the credit.
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