, 180, 292, also p. 335. Russian agents came to
Stambuloff in the summer of 1885 to say that "Prince Alexander must be
got rid of before he can ally himself with the German family regnant."
Stambuloff informed the Prince of this. See _Stambuloff_, by A.H.
Beaman, p. 52.]

Meanwhile, if we may credit the despatches above referred to, the
Russian Government was seeking to drag Bulgaria into fratricidal strife
with Roumania over some trifling disputes about the new border near
Silistria. That quarrel, if well managed, promised to be materially
advantageous to Russia and mentally soothing to her ruler. It would
weaken the Danubian States and help to bring them back to the heel of
their former protector. Further, seeing that the behaviour of King
Charles to his Russian benefactors was no less "ungrateful" than that of
Prince Alexander, it would be a fit Nemesis for these _ingrats_ to be
set by the ears. Accordingly, in the month of August 1885, orders were
issued to Russian agents to fan the border dispute; and on August 12/30
the Director of the Asiatic Department at St. Petersburg wrote the
following instructions to the Russian Consul-General at Rustchuk:--

You remember that the union [of the two Bulgarias] must not
take place until after the abdication of Prince Alexander.
However, the ill-advised and hostile attitude of King Charles
of Roumania [to Russia] obliges the imperial government to
postpone for some time the projected union of Eastern
Roumelia to the Principality, as well as the abdication and
expulsion of the Prince of Bulgaria. In the session of the
Council of [Russian] Ministers held yesterday it was decided
to beg the Emperor to call Prince Alexander to Copenhagen or
to St. Petersburg in order to inform him that, according to
the will of His Majesty, Bulgaria must defend by armed force
her rights over the points hereinbefore mentioned[195].

[Footnote 195: R. Leonoff, _op. cit._ pp. 81-84.]

The despatch then states that Russia will keep Turkey quiet and will
eventually make war on Roumania; also, that if Bulgaria triumphs over
Roumania, the latter will pay her in territory or money, or in both.
Possibly, however, the whole scheme may have been devised to serve as a
decoy to bring Prince Alexander within the power of his imperial
patrons, who, in that case, would probably have detained and
dethroned him.

Further light was thrown on the tortu