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FERDINAND’S TELEGRAM
173
without the previous consent of the Skupchtina. If, as
was much to be hoped, the Skupchtina gave an
affirmative answer, then the Royal Government would
hasten to send its delegates to St. Petersburg. M.
Pachitch was convinced of the necessity of accepting
the Russian proposition immediately, and without any
discussion ; but amongst a section of the Skupchtina he
met with serious opposition, and days were spent in
discussions and negotiations with influential members
of this assembly, for, before submitting such a
proposition to the Skupchtina, Pachitch wished to be
assured that it would pass without opposition.
At last, after two or three days spent in waiting and
in taking active steps, I received the Bulgarian answer
in the form of a draft of the King’s telegram to His
Majesty the Emperor. In it the Bulgarian point of
view on the Macedonian question was expressed, not
without dignity, and in a somewhat explicit manner.
I knew later that the King’s telegram, thus drawn
up, had aroused displeasure in St. Petersburg. In our
country every one was so accustomed, when addressing
the Monarch, to using a semi-biblical, semi-servile
language, taken from the litanies of the Church, that
a similar style was expected of the Slav and Orthodox
clientele of the Great Empire and the "White Tsar"
when addressing him. I never could enter into this
style of thing, and so I found nothing to criticise in
King Ferdinand’s telegram, except perhaps its
unnecessary length. Hence, it was thus drawn up and
dispatched to St. Petersburg.
I was profoundly astonished when, a few months
later, and after the Bulgarian shipwreck, King Ferdinand
began to circulate the report that his telegram to the
Emperor had been suggested to him by me, with the
perfidious design of exciting the displeasure of the Tsar
and of Russian public opinion against the Bulgarians,
and against their King! This fantastic explanation was,
however, believed by the editorial staff of the Retch (the
organ of the juniors), and thus presented to the Russian
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