One hundred years ago
IT WILL be extremely difficult for the Great Sobranje to discover a possible candidate for the Bulgarian throne. Half of those suggested in the newspap- ers are prohibited by the third clause of the Treaty of Berlin, which shuts out all members of the reigning families of the Great Powers. Most other Princes would be vetoed by one or other of the Powers which signed the Treaty of Berlin; while one or two more, includ- ing Prince Waldemar of Denmark, are unwilling to accept a dangerous and thankless post. There is, unfortunately, no great native Bulgarian, and no man within the Balkans whom the Deputies would choose, unless it be the Prince of Montenegro, whom, it is asserted, Au- stria would oppose with all her power. Under these circumstances, a Republic is talked of; but a Republic could hardly manage foreign affairs, and would be disliked, as well as disregarded, by the military Monarchies. That experiment was tied at Cracow, with this only result, — that the three Imperial Pow- ers declared it as a nest of sedition, and handed it over to the Austrian Emperor to keep quiet. Cracow has hardly been heard of since.
The Spectator, 16 October 1886
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