the Russian authorities kept him under guard, and that,
too, despite an order of the Czar empowering him to "continue his
journey exactly as he might please." Far from this, he was detained for
some little time, and then was suffered to depart by train only in a
northerly direction. He ultimately entered Austrian territory by way of
Lemberg in Galicia, on August 27. The aim of the St. Petersburg
Government evidently was to give full time for the conspirators at Sofia
to consolidate their power[213].

[Footnote 213: A. von Huhn, _op. cit._ chap. iv.]

Meanwhile, by military display, the distribution of money, and a _Te
Deum_ at the Cathedral for "liberation from Prince Battenberg," the
mutineers sought to persuade the men of Sofia that peace and prosperity
would infallibly result from the returning favour of the Czar. The
populace accepted the first tokens of his good-will and awaited
developments. These were not promising for the mutineers. The British
Consul at Philippopolis, Captain Jones, on hearing of the affair,
hurried to the commander of the garrison, General Mutkuroff, and
besought him to crush the plotters[214]. The General speedily enlisted
his own troops and those in garrison elsewhere on the side of the
Prince, with the result that a large part of the army refused to take
the oath of allegiance to the new Russophil Ministry, composed of
trimmers like Bishop Clement and Zankoff. Karaveloff also cast in his
influence against them.

[Footnote 214: See Mr. Minchin's account in the _Morning Advertiser_ for
September 23, 1886.]

Above all, Stambuloff worked furiously for the Prince; and when a mitred
Vicar of Bray held the seals of office and enjoyed the official counsels
of traitors and place-hunters, not all the prayers of the Greek Church
and the gold of Russian agents could long avail to support the
Government against the attacks of that strong-willed, clean-handed
patriot. Shame at the disgrace thus brought on his people doubled his
powers; and, with the aid of all that was best in the public life of
Bulgaria, he succeeded in sweeping Clement and his Comus rout back to
their mummeries and their underground plots. So speedy was the reverse
of fortune that the new Provisional Government succeeded in thwarting
the despatch of a Russian special Commissioner, General Dolgorukoff,
through whom Alexander III. sought to bestow the promised blessings on
that "much-tried" Principality.

The voice of Bulgaria now