Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-10-24
EgsaE.ySrf
IL 80
Has Shown Himself
to Be a Man Of
Nerve and Fit to
Be the Leader Of
His People.

whether or no Prince Ferdinand or
SAKE Coburg- Gotha would be &C
ceptable as q candidate for ruler. The
answer was, entirely so.
The prince, OF course, was the young
lieutenant of tho beer garden
When he was consulted he surprised
everybody by accepting the offer with
out Il moments hesitation. Prince
Ferdinand was a notabisity In Vienna
and an especial faNorite of the en-
peror, who made much OF him at court
functions and liked to have him at the
palace. He was twenty-seven years OF
age at the time and ready for any adj
venture The Bulgarian offer appealed
irresistibly TO him and to his taste for
political intrigue. The old emperor
tried to diSsuade him and was furious
over his persistency, but Ferdinand
was firm and WAS made prince ruler of
Bulgaria at the ancient capital. rir-
nOu0.
Bulgaria In Luck.
For once Bulgaria had met with rare
good fortune. Her new ruler was one
OF the richest princes In Europe. and
his aged mother, Princess Clementine.
daughter of Louis Philippe. was a wo-
man OF colossal fortune. Bulgaria was
impoverished, the result Of her recent
revolution and political misdoing of
ali sorts. III. spite OF her poverty the
prjHcipality voted Ferdinand a salary
Of $250O00 a year. which he promptly
returned TO the treasury until the
( country became prosperous. With his
own private resources he proceeded
ut once TO put the prncipality on Il
sound financial footing and with his
[ l,at IF -
! Clementihe he undertook public i'm
( provement on generous scale, The
Buigars realized from the, first that
they had drawn a prize and We're
I properly apprcciatire, Ferdinand has
+ never given them cause to regret that
opporttinc visit TO the Vienna beer
\ garden.
ffe is n schcmer aud an active one.
( That OF itself endears him to his pco-
pic. especially when his personal ann
hilton is 50 inseparable from the as-
1 srandizement Of the principality. He
has never made a secret OF his ntcn-
ton to restore Bulgaria TO it, old time
4 dimensions, and he is perfectly willing
1t should exceed that convenient limit,
Because he believed that he could
I achieve his ultimate design Of becom-
ing sovereign OF a really worth while
state through Russian cooperation he
cultivated the car With a zeal that led
y him into political extravaganza, the
climax Of which was the conversion.
of his young heir, Prince Boris. TO the
orthodox Russian church. Failing To
4 accomplish his purpose even through
this transparent lnaneuYer. which must
have been peculiarly distastetul to a
man whose affiliations and traditions
had always been Roman Catholic.
Ferdinand did what he could TO repair
his apostasy and TO conciliate his Ger
man relatives by wedding the anliable
and mature F,lcanorc OF Reuss, His
FIRST Wife, the mother Of his two sons
and two daughters, was the Bourbon
Princess Louise Of Parma, who died
r after six years Of married life in Bull
gara.
The new car OF the Bulgars has
proved himself to he Il man of deeds
first by securing and maintaining a
firm hold on the affections Of a race 50
different from his own: again by .
coup d'ctat which promises to result
greatly to the advantage of his people
c. 3. SANDERSoN.