ia would gradually become part of the
Russian Empire. There can be no doubt that Russia thought so too.
All her later actions point to that fact. The only mistake, and this
was shared by all who participated in the Treaty of Berlin alike,
was the assumption that Bulgaria herself would allow this to be
done. It only developed later what a stiff-necked people the Bulgars
could be.

Bulgaria, as Prince Bismarck expressed it, had been put into the
saddle. Her next task was to learn to ride. Under the rule of the
Turks there had been no opportunity to acquire political or
administrative experience; all the public offices had been filled by
Turks or Greeks. All the natural leaders of the people having been
killed off by Turks and Greeks alike for centuries, the Bulgars that
emerged into independence in 1878 were essentially a nation of
peasants. There were very few of them who could read or write; there
were no printed Bulgarian books. Small wonder if all Europe and
Russia thought that these people would not be able to govern
themselves.

Until the Government of the new little nation could be organized and
a ruler chosen, a Russian prince was left in the country, with a
Russian army to support him to maintain order. And he acted indeed
as though he were governing a Russian province. He gave the
Bulgarians a taste of what real Russian authority might be like, and
they did not like it. This was Russia's first mistake in her
capacity as guide through the first difficulties of self-government.

Eventually, however, a General Assembly was called, a constitution
drafted and the first ruler was selected. The choice fell on Prince
Alexander of Battenberg, a nephew of the Russian Czar Alexander II.
At the time of his election he was only twenty-two years of age, and
lived as a simple military officer in the barracks of Potsdam in
Germany. It is said that he asked the advice of Bismarck, when his
election first became known to him, as to whether he should accept,
and that Bismarck replied, "at least, a reign in Bulgaria will
always be a pleasant reminiscence." Bismarck was one of those who
had drafted the Treaty of Berlin and had no faith in the stability
of any possible government the Bulgars could organize for
themselves. On July 9, 1879, Prince Alexander took the oath to the
constitution at Tirnovo. A week later the Russian army of occupation
evacuated the country.

But if the Russian soldiers had left the country there were s