The Washington herald., 1913-02-09
GOSSIP ON INTERNA TIONAL
SUBJECTS OF GREAT INTEREST

The statement that Queen Victoria was
largely responsible for King Ferdinand
being sent TO rule Bulgaria is ridiculous,
The delegates sent all over Europe in
quest of a successor to the Kidnapped
Prince Alexander OF Battenberg. found
their stumbling block in N. de Freycinet
a subtle and ready statesman. He saw
in the visit Of these delegates a means
for making up to Gar Alexander the
Third, 10 secure his good will later on
and, Immediately. his help in Egypt
against Lord Cromer Cat that time Sir
Evelyn BaringD. NJ. de Freycinet had
given trouble to Sir Evelyn. and. l be-
lfeve, to Lord Northbrook, over the
'caisse de la dette' Ohe mixed trib-
unals), and the statements of a news
paper. lie BOsphore Egyptian. As for,
eign minister OF France. he treated the
delegates with scorn, refused to receive
them even privately. and gave a hostile
cue TO the papers in touch with his min
istry.
The obstacles in London were Queer
Victoria, as relative and patron of the
Battenbergs. and Lord Salisbury. who
wanted to secure the neutrality of Russia
in Cairo. Lord Salisbury spared no saT-
casm on Bulgaria. Ferdinand and THE
wise men from the East" who had
sought the help OF French republicans
to place a grandson of Louis Philippe OF
all others. at the head OF the Danubian
state! Prince Ferdinand. an old pupil OF
Bishop Dupanloups school at OIivet, near
Orleans. had led a fanciful and somewhat
sybaritish life at Vienna and EbenthaL
He longed for opportunities for the ex-
ercise of his higher abilities" So did his
mother. The delegates had seen him and
carried away an impression that his IL
lustrious mother did not overrate his
endowments.
Princess Clementine knew Of Queen
Victoria's devotion to the kidnapped
prince and his whole family. and :he
hope 10 Which she chung that the great
wrong done by Russia be righted. When
she took a fancy to some one. her feel
ings easily boiled over and this weak
ness Cor virtue? grew with age Prin-
cess CIementine exerted her diplomatic
gifts, not at once with success to re-
concile the Queen TO the necessity OF
ending the Bulgarian interregnum. She
lauded Prince Alexander, his handsome
person and all his works. She lavished
encomiums on his brothers But the
Gar could not endure to bear any OF
them named.
The Cars jealousy and dislike OF
Prince Alexander dated almost from the
nursery. The prince. great favorite
of Alexander II. and the Empress, who
was a Princess Of Hesse-Darmstadt used
TO he held up as model to the young
Grand Duke Alexander. heir to the
Romanoff throne. The prince deserved
all the good opinions that were enter
tanned of him. but the future car only
saw that every word spoken in praise
OF young Battenberg implied a reffeC-
ton on his own shortcomings real or
imaginary. Battenberg was dinned into
his ears day and night. and became his
nightmare. He never got over it.
The Due d'Aumale spoke of his sister.
Ferdinand's mother. as "Clementine de
Medici." But, unlike Catherine de
Medici, her means never We're unworthy
Of great mind and a good conscience.
Women Of strong brain are never vain,
if my experience be a true teacher. So
free from vanity was Princess Clemen-
tine that she dsliked credit being given
TO her in any public way for all she did
for Bulgaria. And she did a great deal,
indeed. She had her penetrating, Yet
beautifully benevolent eye on everything
in Bulgaria, but never fused or meddled,
and undertook in her missions abroad as
strenuous work as a foreign office mes
senger. Her tact was fautless. She one
time wished to send a token of regard
to an Irish friend. 4 costly present
would not have been good taste. Still,
she disliked making a trumpery souvenir
gift. Accordingly. she sent Mellerio, at
Paris, an order to make a brooch con-
tanning three good-sized pearls. set In
the form of a shamrock. with 4 jeweled
.4aIlr liUer
complished French gentleman who is
now chamberlain to King Ferdinand. de-
livered the brooch with a cabinet photo
Of the prince and a charming message
from the mother.
The BuIgarians are unlike the other
Slavs. They rather resemble the Ulster
farmers and tradesmen round Caledon,
near Belfast In religion they are TO
Greek Orthodoxy as PTesbyterians are TO
the Anglican or the Catholic Church.
Outsiders might not see the difference.
But dissent is dissent, and it always
leads to wider divergence than those who
began II ever foresaw. The women are
too hard-worked as agricultural laborers'
but have managed not to spoil their
fingers for fancy needle-work and lace
makings Princess Clementine, dreading
| industrialism. urged her son to en-
courage agriculture in preference to
manufacture.
A clever statesman once called the Bull
garian nation the Japanese CT the Bal
kans" No more correct and felcitous
comparison could have been made The
same elasticity of spirit the same excel
lence of swift political aptitude. the same
extraordinary rapidity of adaptation
characterize both.
II Is no exaggeration TO say that per-
hans no other city in Europe has
shown, in the last few years. greater
and more intelligent activity OF i'm
provement than Sofia For hundreds
of years everything there was neglect
ed. The soil. for many miles around
was barren. The peasants lived n
fear and detection. The wide extent
of land was like desert, with GYPSY