The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-10
THE MORNING NEWS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10. 1897
PRINCE FERDINAND, FELON.
THAT Is WHAT EMPEROR FRANCIS
JOSEPH DECLARES HE Is.

and other Grimes.
Ex-Attache in Chicago Chronicle.
New York, oct. IA considerable num-
Der of the rulers of modern Europe have
managed TO achieve regulations that can
only be described as extremely unsavory.
! But not one of them since. the beginning
of the century has 10 such a degree for
feited the respect of all honest men as
Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria.
Ordinary people in the old world. no
matter whether subject TO monarchical or
republican rule. are disposed to be indul-
gent toward the shortcomings of royalty,
retaining perhaps unconsciously and in
| voluntarily, some inherited vesuges of
that medieval belief OF their ancestors
to the effect that "the king can do no
wrong" Among those who are, figura-
| lively speaking. borne on the steps of
the throne" there Is a species of caste
and to an endeavor to conceal, gloss over
and close the eyes to one another faults.
| Even to Milan of Servia are still accord
| ed royal honors at most of the courts of
Europe. in spite of his disreputable past.
But the line has been drawn at Ferdi-
nand ofsBulgaria, and one by one the
| gates of every palace are being closed
against him. Emperor Francis Joseph
! stigmatizing him without any hesitation
as a downright felon. while the present
czar, to win whose favor he Inundated
himself with abject subservency, has de-
| clined this year to permit him to come to
| ST. Petersburg. There is but one ruler
| beneath whose roof Ferdinand is still re-
| i n1erh nnf al
| a sovereign prince, but merely as an hon
| ored vassal-namely, the sultan. That IS
| why Ferdinand has just purchased a por-
| ton of the Island of Prinkipo, in the So
| called Marmora sea, within view OF Con-
| stantinople, and has given orders for the
erection there of a summer palace where
| he announces his intention OF spending
| two or three months each year.
| How thoroughly Ferdinand realizes his
| position with regard to civilized Europe,
| and the extent to which he has forfeited
! forever his good name, not only as Chris
| tian prince, but also as gentleman, may
be gathered from remarks made by his
prime minister and evil genius, the jetta-
tore Stoloff They were in response TO the
| expressions of natural surprise that were
called forth by the actions OF his master
| when last at Constantnople in donning
the uniform of a Turkish pacha, with a
tarbouch or fez on his head and above all
| in STOPPING low to kiss the sultans hand,
an act of homage without parallel on the
part of Christian prince to Mohamme-
! dan sovereign since the days Of the cru
| sades when those of the latter VINO hau
been captured were compelled thus 10
! abase themselves before they could recover
| their freedom Stoiloff declared without
hesitation that the prince had knocked IN
| vain at the doors of the emperor OF Aus
tria and of the Gar of Russia, and that,
| inasmuch as both in turn had closed their
ssafa
| to seek support abroad in order to avert a
revolution in Bulgaria, the prince had had
| no alternative but to turn his face in the
| direction of Constantinope, and TO take
| his place beneath the protection OF the
victorious sultan as the iatters Vassal.
Stoiloff went on TO state that 1t was upon
| Abdul Hamed that all Ferdinands hopes
were placed. that the prince preferred TO
| kiss the sultan's hand rather than to bow
| before the ministers OF European powers,
| and concluded by pointing out as an EVIL
| dence of the close relations existing De
tween Ferdinand and Abdul Hamed the
| significant fact that the Ottoman ana Bull
garian troops hitherto massed along the
| Turkish-Bulgarian frontier had now all
| been withdrawn.
Ferdinand's reign which until two years
| ago, thanks to his clever manipulation Oh
| the European press and to the lavish nos
pitality which he displayed to special cor
respondents, had been portrayed as an
unmitigated blessing to the Bulgarian
people, has, on the contrary. been one
| long and uninterrupted succession of brok-
en- pledges dishonesty, scandal and, above
| all of administrative violence and murder
that are without parallel in any European
country save Turkey. Indeed, the princes
very acceptance of the Bulgarian crown
| was signalized by a particularly gross
breach of faith When the throne was
first rendered to Ferdinand by Stambu-
! loft after being offered in vain to almost
! every other prince in Europe, he OF MS
! own accord drove to the Russian embas-
| sy and asked the late Prince Lobanof,
who was Muscovite ambassador at Vienna
at the time, to telegraph to Emperor Alex
| ander and ask whether his majesty would
sanction his acceptance of the sovereignty
| thus paced at his disposal. There was no
| absolute necessity for Ferdinand's doing
this and his action in the matter was a
! piece of courtesy and respect toward the
! czar, which the latter received with feel
! ings of manifest qualification.
The following night Ferdinand was din
| ing at the Russian embassy when Alex
| ander's reply was received. 1t was to the
! effect that the car was deeply touched
! by the conduct of the prince that he en-
| treated him for the present to decline the
| proffered crown and that If the prince
would oblige him in that matter he would
| make it his business to look after his
! WelIare ana fortune LOT the remainder OF
| his life as if he had been his own son.
| Ferdinand expressed himself much NOV
! ed by the paterna kindness of the car,
! and then and there sat down at the table
in Lobanoffs library and wrote on the
| spur of the moment a letter to his maj
| esty, thanking him warmly and vountar-
! lily pledging his most sacred word of
| honor as a prince and a gentleman that
| under no circumstances would he accept
! the throne of Bulgaria unless he received
| the cars consent. Yet forty-eight hours
! later. without a word of explanation either
! to the Russian ambassador or to Alex
ander, Prince Ferdinand had secretly left
! Sofia, and, although he was but a mere
| half-pay lieutenant of hussars in the Aus
TRAN service. and had never seen any
| campaigning in his life, he made his entry
into Sofia arrayed in the gaudy uniform
! of a Bulgarian general. a uniform which
had been made by a Viennese tailor and
which, as subsequently was discovered, he
had tried on and fitted the very night of
his dinner at the Russian embassy, and
barely an hour after having penned his
/ letter to the car.
/