The Bulgarian Principality has this week been en fete, owing
to the formal opening of the new line which places Constan- tinople in direct railway communication with the rest of Europe. On Sunday, the first regular train passed through Pesth and Sofia, arriving at the Turkish capital on Wednesday. The fact that the Bulgarians have completed their share of the work during the time they have been under the ban of Russia, and so deprived of external financial aid, is rightly regarded by them with great pride. The making of the Pailway is also looked upon at Sofia as a blow to Russia, whose policy has always been to prevent the direct connection of Constan- tinople with the European railway system. The journey to London by the new route will, it is calculated, occupy three and a half days. Though the new line runs through some of the most beautiful scenery in Europe, and allows the possessor of a berth in a sleeping-car to travel from Paris to Constanti- nople without changing carriages, it has some not unimportant drawbacks, chief among which may be regarded the liability to seizure by brigands. The line, too, after Philippopolis, is a series of most exasperating zigzags, which make it a hundred kilometres longer than the old post-road. The contractor was paid by the mile, and surveyed his route accordingly.
