has set in already in great severity. What will become of them during this winter God only knows. Soldiers have now been withdrawn from Tamzara at the earnest entreaty of a few remaining Armenians, as they would rather be killed than yield up their wives and daughters to outrage.

"On November 26, an Armenian was killed by a Turk in a café in Kara-Hissar. Soldiers were sent for at once, but they failed to find the murderer. The new Mutessarif is a good man, a man of great energy and determination. He has worked wonders, and with a handful of raw soldiers on his arrival (say 400) held the town and kept in check 5,000 assassins. But his officers, his assistants, his soldiers, zaptiehs, etc., with but few exceptions, are all athirst for plunder and bloodshed."

The difficulties of the Ottoman Empire with regard to Armenia were increased by insurrections in Macedonia and in Crete. The Macedonian rising originated in the kidnapping of a Wallachian girl, which caused a dispute between the Turks and Christians at Kruscova in the beginning of June. This precipitated the outbreak, which had been for some time in preparation by Macedonian refugees in Bulgaria and Servia. There was much fighting between the insurgents and the Turkish troops during the month of June; and, as the insurgent bands were all organised on Bulgarian territory, strong representations were made to the Bulgarian Government both by the Porte and the other European Powers on the subject.

In consequence of these representations rigorous measures were taken by the Bulgarian authorities against the Macedonian committees at Sofia, and by the end of July the insurrection collapsed. In Crete there were some sanguinary conflicts in July and November, but the risings were suppressed by the troops.

The Bulgarian National Assembly (Sobranye) closed its sittings on January 1, and passed, among other Government bills, one increasing the ad valorem duties on imports by from 8 to 10 per cent., and imposing a new excise tax on spirits, sugar, petroleum, coffee, beer, matches, tea, perfumery, and other articles.

The Bulgarian finances, both national and municipal, had been left by the Stambouloff régime in great disorder. The Government announced that if the proposed loan of 500,000 francs was not granted to the city of Sofia, the Bulgarian capital would be compelled to declare itself bankrupt; and other towns were said to be in hardly a better position. Again, the national exchequer had to refund 45,500,000 francs to the foreign loan fund, devoted to the construction of railways and harbours and other productive works. The whole of this sum had been employed to cover the yearly deficiencies and non-productive extraordinary expenses of the general government. Adding to this the acknowledged yearly deficits, it was found that the exchequer was about 55,000,000 francs

short, although there was rather more than that amount standing on the other side of the account in unpaid taxes.

The principle adopted in the new budget was to remit the land taxes, in order to assist the distressed agriculturists, and to make up the deficiency by raising the indirect taxes.

That M. Stambouloff-notwithstanding the immense services he had rendered to Bulgaria-had ceased to be a power in the country was shown by the result of the supplementary elections which took place at the beginning of February. At these elections the Ministerialists obtained eighteen seats out of twenty, M. Stambouloff being among the defeated candidates. The Russophiles, headed by M. Zankoff, now began a propaganda for the purpose of bringing about a reconciliation with Russia; and the Sobranye, on reassembling after the Christmas holidays, decided that a Commission of Inquiry should be appointed to investigate the acts of M. Stambouloff's Government. Reports were current that the ex-Premier's life was in danger, and he had armed men in his house to protect him. In June he applied for passports to enable him to go abroad for his health; but the application was refused by the Government, on the ground that the commission required that he should be present in Sofia during the course of the proceedings. In July a Bulgarian deputation, with Archbishop Clement at their head, proceeded to St. Petersburg, ostensibly to lay a wreath on the tomb of the Emperor Alexander III. The Archbishop on this occasion delivered an address, in which he dilated on the debt of gratitude which the Bulgarian people owed to the Russian imperial house and the Russian nation, who had liberated them from the Turkish rule. They were received by Prince Lobanoff, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and afterwards by the Czar.

Meanwhile, on July 15, as M. Stambouloff was returning to his house in the evening from the Union Club, he was attacked by four persons armed with revolvers and knives, and he died of his wounds three days after. This terrible event, for which a certain amount of responsibility was cast upon the Government, and upon Prince Ferdinand himself, was predicted by M. Stambouloff in the following curious conversation which took place at the beginning of the year between him and a correspondent of the Cologne Gazette :

"I cannot help thinking that something serious is in the air. Everything takes time. I hear from my friends that things have reached a head. If I must fall, my friends will not desert my wife and the children. I do not grudge my enemies that triumph. In influential circles care will be taken that telegrams are sent from all Bulgaria' denouncing the murderers, but expressing in the liveliest terms the satisfaction of the people' at being freed for ever from the tyrant' and the adulterer.' When we were planning the first rising against the Turks in 1876, every Bulgarian knew about it. The Turks alone lived on placidly till we had cut off the first dozen heads. When the attempt on

my life to which Beltscheff fell a victim-was being planned, all Sofia knew of it. The Chief of Police and his people alone remained in blissful ignorance. To-day, too, numbers of people are aware of the impending attempt on my life, and my friends --and friends I have, thank God, everywhere-are more shrewd than the Turks and the police. I cannot give you names, but my information is to be trusted. The former Chief of Police, Ilija Lukanoff a man of honour and great ability, who is sincerely devoted to me, and who has even to-day very extensive connections with all home circles-came to me yesterday. He was quite excited-this grave, reserved man. He wished to go

to the Prince to acquaint him with everything. Ilija,' I said to him, 'it would be the stupidest thing you could do. Don't you see that the murderers have the strongest support?'

"Have you, then, absolutely certain proofs of a conspiracy against you? Who are believed to be mixed up in it?"

"We know for an absolute fact that in Netschbunar-a suburb of Sofia-there is a band which is being drilled in the use of arms. This is ostensibly for Macedonia; and the Government, which never knows what to do, lets things go on. We know, however, that these people-Beltscheff's murderers are among themhave taken an oath to murder me, in order to avenge Panitza and the four men who were hanged after the Beltscheff trial. That the Prince is also on the list is really curious. He had Panitza shot in order to leave for Carlsbad on the same day. The gang of which I have been speaking consists of Rosareff Halu, Arnaut, Tufektschieff, and some others. Tufektschieff has been sentenced at Constantinople to fifteen years' hard labour for the murder of Dr. Vulkovitch. Nevertheless, he goes about here in safety. Nebil Bey, the Turkish Vakouf Commissioner, asked for his surrender, but Natchevitch entreated him not to press it, since it would cause bad blood against Turkey, and fan the Macedonian rising. Velikoff and the other culprits are now at the head of affairs. Stoiloff is nowhere obeyed. Why, therefore, should not the tyrant, the vampire, the adulterer, be assassinated?"

The assassination was more regretted in other countries than in Bulgaria itself, for M. Stambouloff had made many bitter enemies by the severity of his rule when he was in office; and there is no doubt that the act was prompted by a feeling of vengeance for the execution of Major Panitza in 1890. Disgraceful scenes took place at the ex-Premier's funeral-a crowd having gathered to hoot the funeral procession, which could only be kept back by calling in the troops.

In August shocking accounts appeared in the Philippopolis papers of outrages committed by Bulgarian police on Mussulmans in Eastern Roumelia, which, though denied by the Bulgarian Government, were afterwards confirmed from various independent sources. The Mahomedan village of Dospad was destroyed by dynamite, many of the inhabitants perishing in the

flames, and three Mussulman children were cut to pieces by the incendiaries, who, it was said, had previously been reviewed by a Bulgarian officer.

Prince Ferdinand, in his speech at the opening of the National Assembly on October 31, referred to the visit of the deputation under Archbishop Clement to St. Petersburg, and spoke of their reception by the Russian Government and the people as encouraging the hope that better relations would be established between the Bulgarians and their "liberator." Among the conditions laid down by Russia was, it was said, the re-baptism of the young Prince Boris in the orthodox faith, and Prince Ferdinand expressed a desire that this should be done, though both his family and his wife were strongly opposed to it, and the Pope had threatened to excommunicate him if he took a step so hostile to the interests of the Roman Catholic Church. Nothing, however, had been done by the end of the year to carry out the Prince's intention.

In Servia the Cristitch Ministry, appointed after the reinstatement of the Constitution of 1869, had to resign in consequence of its inability to provide for the payment of the July coupons of the State debt (July 4), and a Progressist Cabinet, under M. Novakovitch, was, for the first time during the past eight years, constituted in its place. The new Ministry was notoriously friendly to Austria, and had but little following in the country, the majority of the people being Radicals and friends of Russia; but it attempted to disarm opposition by granting an amnesty to some Radicals who had been found guilty at the beginning of the year of having conspired against the reigning dynasty. It was chiefly occupied during the year in endeavouring to establish the finances of the country on a more solid basis; and King Alexander, in opening the National Assembly on November 27, was able to state that a guarantee had been virtually secured for the regular payment of the interest of the debt and its amortisation, as well as for the unification and conversion of the principal loans.

In Roumania the principal event of the year was the opening at Tchernavoda of a railway bridge over the Danube, by which Bucharest was directly connected with the Black Sea (Sept. 26). The King, who was present on this occasion, observed that Roumania had now no longer to fear any impediments to its prosperous development. The Roumanian fortifications, one of the greatest works of the kind in Europe, were nearly completed. The forts which encircle Bucharest, and also those near the Moldau, had received their armaments. The infantry as well as the cavalry were in à highly efficient state. The army was provided with one of the best systems of repeating rifles of small calibre. The railway system was now connected with the Black Sea harbour of Constanza, and, in addition to the three existing through lines from Roumania to Austria-Hungary, two further strategic lines through the passes

of Transylvania were to be constructed, by an agreement between the two Governments, as quickly as possible-two lines which had been proposed so long as twenty years ago. Before Roumania had joined the Triple Alliance by treaties and conventions with Austria, these lines were in both countries regarded as rather dangerous additions to the existing means of sending an army into neighbouring territory, while now they were represented as necessary junctions between the two allied countries.

A change of Ministry took place at Bucharest on October 25. M. Catargi and his coalition Cabinet of Yunimists and Conservatives (see "Annual Register," 1891, p. 332), finding it impossible to carry on the Government in consequence of the violent opposition of the National Liberals to its agrarian reforms, resigned, and M. Demeter Stourdza, the Liberal leader, was appointed to succeed him. M. Stourdza and his colleagues in the Ministry had, while they were in Opposition, taken a prominent part in the Irredentist movement in favour of the Roumanians in Hungary, but he had always shown himself a devoted adherent of the Triple Alliance, and there was no reason to believe that as a minister he would allow his national prepossessions to interfere with the foreign policy of the State.

In Greece much commotion was produced by the sudden resignation on January 22 of M. Tricoupis, the Premier, though he had a large majority at his back in the Chamber. The Opposition had held meetings all over the country against the proposed new taxes, and when one of these meetings was being held at Athens, the troops and the police were directed by M. Tricoupis to disperse it. The Crown Prince, however, as head of the army, ordered them to allow the meeting to proceed, upon which the Premier resigned. On January 24 a provisional Ministry was formed under M. Nicholas Delyannis, and the Greek Parliament was then dissolved. The general election, which took place at the end of April, resulted in a crushing defeat for M. Tricoupis and his party. The ex-Premier himself lost his seat, and only thirteen of his supporters were returned. M. Tricoupis then declared his intention to retire from political life-a decision which caused universal regret, notwithstanding the unpopularity of his system of taxation. The provisional Ministry having then resigned, a permanent Cabinet was formed on June 10, with M. Theodore Delyannis, the leader of the late Opposition, at its head.