Public men of to-day
An International Series edited by S. H. Jeyes
M. Stambuloff
by Ardern Hulme Beaman
With Six Portraits
Frederick Warne & Co.
New York 1895
3, Cooper Union
William Brendon & Son, Printers, Plymouth.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. Young days.
Stambuloff's family — He is apprenticed to a tailor — Joins the Tirnovo revolutionary committee — Goes to Odessa as scholar of the Empress — Studies for the Priesthood — Is ejected from the University — Returns to Bulgaria — Travels as a pedlar — Forms revolutionary committees — Attempts to raise revolt at Esky Zagra — Is hunted out of Bulgaria — Starvation at Bucharest — Second attempt at revolt — Benkovsky at Panagurishté — Christo Karamenko the Voivode — An adventurous drive — The siege of Drénovo Monastery — Stambuloff crosses the Danube under sentry fire, disguised as a gardener — Joins the Russian staff during the Servian War — The Russo-Turkish War . . . . . . . 17–37
CHAPTER II. Entrance upon public life.
Stambuloff is elected Deputy for Tirnovo — Begins organising revolutionary bands in Macedonia — His opinion of the Macedonians — The First and Second Chambers — Election of Prince Alexander — Stambuloff sets up in practice as a lawyer — Four Cabinets in one year — Zankoff as Premier, and Stambuloff Vice-President of the Chamber — Zankoff falls by Russian intrigues — The Septennate — M. Hitrovo and the Liberals — Stambuloff's telegram to Hitrovo — Zankoff turns his coat and becomes Russophil — Russian proposals to M. Stambuloff to get rid of the Prince — Stambuloff in bed, and his visitors — Machiavelli on revolutions — The state of affairs in Eastern Roumelia . . . . . . . 38–54
CHAPTER III. The union.
Karavéloff and Stambuloff as Premier and President of the Chamber — The Declaration of the Union at Chirpan — Shameful treatment of Gavril Pasha — Indecision of the Prince — Stambuloff's advice carries the day — The Prince's Proclamation — The address to the Czar — M. Koyander refuses to forward it — Stambuloff at the telegraph office — Servian feeling at the Union — M. Garashanin on the situation — The "Ambassadorial Declaration" — Prince Alexander writes to King Milan — A model despatch — The first meeting of the Conference at Constantinople . . . . . . . 55-74
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CHAPTER IV. The Servian war.
Prince Alexander and the Czar — Withdrawal of Russian officers from the Bulgarian Army — Declaration of war by Servia — Received by the Prince at Philippopolis — Hurried return to Sofia — Stambuloff is sent with a disagreeable message into camp at Slivnitza — He fights as a private in Colonel Nicolaieff's brigade — The Bulgarians enter Nish — Austria in front and Russia behind — The forced Armistice — The Commission of Military Attaches — Negotiations at Constantinople — A brief Treaty of Peace is signed at Bucharest . . . . . . . 75–86
CHAPTER V. The "coup d'état."
Bendereff slaps his elbow — The intercepted letter — A woman's caprice — " Where is Prince Alexander?" — The Zankoffists in the mud — Clement's Provisional Government of twelve hours — Stambuloff's Manifesto — Panoff dissolves Clement's Cabinet — Prince Alexander's return — Stambuloff's sleep, and the consequences — The Telegram to the Czar, and its answer — Punica Jides of Russian Agents — Prince Alexander's final departure . . . . . . . 87–106
CHAPTER VI. The regency.
General Kaulbars arrives — His twelve pieces of advice — Stambuloff insists on a Candidate for the Throne — Kaulbars addresses the crowd — He makes an electoral tour — A revolt at Bourgas — Prince Valdemar is offered the Throne — General Kaulbars leaves Bulgaria, with all the Russian Consular officials — The Plot of the Yunkers — The Silistria revolt — The Rustchuk revolt — Execution of Panoff — Ministerial plot against the Regents — The Throne is offered to King Charles of Roumania — How Prince Ferdinand was found — His election by the Assembly — He lands at Sistoff . . . . . . . 107–128
CHAPTER VII. Prince Ferdinand.
Prince Ferdinand's position — Its contested legality — Formation of Stambuloff Ministry — The Elections — The Esky Zagra band — The Bourgas expedition — Nabôkoff is shot by peasants — Count Ignatieff's complicity — Turkey's protest against Prince Ferdinand — Lord Salisbury's and Count Kalnoky's views — Stambuloff marries — The Oriental Railway — The Capture of Messrs. Binder and Landler by brigands — Extermination of brigandage by Stambuloff . . . . . . . 129–146
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CHAPTER VIII. The church and the Panitza plot.
Split in the Ministry — Resignation of Stoiloff and Natchevitch — Stambuloff and the Conservatives — Intriguing Churchmen — Three Bishops expelled from Sofia — A seditious petition to the Exarch — A reconciliation patched up — Princess Ferdinand and Princess Marie Louise of Parma — A question of Religion — Stambuloff deals with the constitutional difficulty — Disaffection of Major Panitza — Another Russian conspiracy — Discovery of the Plot, and arrest of Panitza — His trial and condemnation — The death warrant signed by the Prince — M. Stambuloff's marriage . . . . . . . 147–167
CHAPTER IX. The Beltcheff and Vulkovitch murders.
The system of political assassination — Stambuloff and Beltcheff — "Run, Beltcheff, run!" — The scene in the Cathedral — Horror at the crime — The assassins — A tough cypher — The warning to Dr. Vulkovitch — His murder — Stambuloff goes to Constantinople — His reception by the Sultan — Triumphant majority at the elections — The opening of the quarrel with the Prince — Stambuloff reporting to the Prince — The undated resignation — An insolent officer — How he was punished — The Prince and Petkoff — In the Red Saloon — Stambuloff's revenge . . . . . . . 168–189
CHAPTER X. The fall of Stambuloff.
Appointment of Savoff Minister of War — His conjugal griefs — He accuses Slavkoff — Stambuloff obtains an Iradé for Macedonian Bishops — Popular delight at this victory — Stambuloff resigns again — The Prince refuses to accept — The challenge from Savoff — The protocol of the seconds — Savoff's letter to the Prince — "The act of a churl" — Stambuloff sends his resignation by letter to the Prince — National demonstrations against his leaving office — The mob assisted by the soldiers — The Princely Rescript — Stambuloff goes to the Palace — The rabble spit upon him — Stambuloff's house in a state of siege — The interview in the Frankfurter Zeitung — Stambuloff's great mistake . . . . . . . 190–208
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CHAPTER XI. The persecution
Stambuloff summoned to Court — He is bailed out — The attack upon him by the police — Costa Pavloff — Wholesale dismissal of the Stambuloff partisans in" Government employ — Maltreatment of electors at Slivno — "You are drunkards and vagabonds" — The Svoboda — Stoiloff and Petroff make an electoral tour — The "enlightened" Chamber — The method of legislation — The Parliamentary Commission — The sequester — Its illegality — Petkoff and his fortune — The Pension Law — The accusations against Stambuloff — Their absurdity — Stambuloff must not write in red ink — Assassins at tea with the Minister for Foreign Affairs — An execution for taxes on Stambuloff's furniture — His visit to the Club . . . . . . . 209–226
CHAPTER XII. Conclusion.
Stambuloff's views — His nephew Kiriloff expelled from the Army — A schoolmaster beaten, and set to sweep out the police-station — The Government always says it does not know — "When I was Premier, a bee could not start from Varna without my knowing it" — The Prince and Russia — A dangerous game — Dr. Stoiloff's opinion — He does not believe in the stories of persecution — Is confident about the elections — Character of Stambuloff — He was his own worst enemy . . . . . . . 227–234
POSTSCRIPT. — The premeditation of the murder — The Government morally responsible — The assassination — Guntcho is arrested — The police look on — Stambuloff's hands amputated — His death — The accusation of the Svoboda against the Government — Stambuloff's last letter . . . . . . . 234–240