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KING FERDINAND [chap. ii.
time to put on my gloves : I have to shake hands with
my charming subjects, and I never risk that with a bare
hand." "Madame, I am going to take you into the
great hall, where the ilite of Sofia is assembled; you
will see dreadful faces ! Do not be alarmed !" These
are the kind of things that I myself have heard him say.
And he did so repeatedly.)
But Prince and subjects were agreed on other points
than those of personal relations and sympathies. In
politics, the Bulgarians considered Ferdinand an
admirable tool for their national aspirations; his personal
ambition, his intelligence, his great cunning, his
parentage and connections, were all great natural assets to the
Bulgarian cause. On his side the Prince knew that 011
questions of foreign policy, he could always rely on
Bulgarian patriotism, stubbornness and artfulness, and
that in the event of war, officers and men would fight
with ferocious and even brutal courage, and would
display that tenacity, endurance and voluntary
submission to iron discipline which would make the
Bulgarian army one of the finest in the world.
Since the downfall and assassination of Stamboulov,
and the reconciliation with Russia, the Prince had been
able to breathe more freely and to feel that he was at
last master of the country. But dangers and difficulties
still existed. Party quarrels, and passionate national
aspirations exploited first by one side and then by the
other; the flagrant incompatibility between a decadent
prince of Franco-Austrian origin and a people composed
of "peasants of the Danube"; Macedonia in a perpetual
state of ferment and hurling at Sofia her riff-raff who
were past-masters in the art of conspiracy—all
combined to keep alive the Prince’s fears and to sharpen his
instinct for intrigue. Ferdinand by his very nature
belonged to those men who, in order to compass their
ends, are far more inclined to bring into play the vices
than the virtues of those around them. His reign served
to develop this tendency. He loved to stir up
irreconcilable rivalries, he excelled in the art of keeping the fear of
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