till
plenty of Russians left in Bulgaria. The president of the council,
the minister of war, the chief of police, the governor of Sofia, the
capital, and 300 superior officers in the Bulgarian army that was
presently organized, were all Russians. The Russian agent, M.
Hitrovo, cleverly worked on the national dread of Austria, and
tried to play the part of a British political resident at the court
of an Indian prince.

This continued until 1883, when suddenly Prince Alexander dismissed
all his Russian advisers, and Bulgarians were established in their
places. Naturally, Russia was enraged. By this time Alexander's
uncle, the Czar of Russia, had died, and Czar Alexander III, his
cousin, was now ruler of Russia.

One night not long after the dismissal of the Russian advisers two
Russian generals, Skobeleff and Kaulbars, arrived at the palace and
demanded an audience of the prince. The sentry refused them
admittance, and when they attempted to force their way past him the
soldier drew his side arm and threatened to strike them down. The
guard was called; a carriage which stood at the palace gates and
from which the two Russian generals had alighted was searched, and
evidence was discovered that the prince was to have been kidnapped
to the Danube, thence over into Russia. Proclamations announcing
Alexander's expulsion from Bulgaria, and the formation of a
provisional government under the two leading conspirators, proved
conclusively the complicity of Russia. Thanks to the support that he
received from the Bulgarian officers about him, Alexander was saved
and the plot was exposed to Russia's humiliation. Also, it showed
the Bulgars to what measures Russia would resort to force her will
upon them.

CHAPTER XIV

WAR WITH SERBIA

Meanwhile down in Eastern Rumelia the bitter disappointment caused
by the separation of the two Bulgarias by the Treaty of Berlin had
increased. On the morning of September 18, 1885, as Gavril Pasha,
the Turkish governor, was quietly sipping his coffee in his home in
Philippopolis a group of Bulgarian officers rushed in and took him
prisoner. The pasha yielded to superior force; without the shedding
of a drop of blood the revolutionists took possession. Union with
Bulgaria was proclaimed. Prince Alexander, fearing the international
complications that might follow, hesitated, but his Bulgarian
advisers insisted, so on September 20 he issued a proclamation
announcing himself as "Prince of