Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Serbo-Bulgarian relations
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
40 RUSSIAN-BULGARIAN RELATIONS [chap. iv.
cause at the time of the movement which founded the
Bulgarian National Church. The Bulgarian nation—
" Bulgar-meleti"—makes its appearance, as it were, in
the political world of the Balkans, with the
representative of Russia as godfather. In the meantime Prince
Michael Obrenovitch had been assassinated, and during
the minority of Prince Milan, Serbian policy was
suffering from the want of a respectable and respected
Government.
III. Balkan troubles begin in 1875 with the
Herze-govinian insurrection, secretly supported, if not actually
fomented, by Austria. The Emperor Alexander II.
and Russian public opinion wish to obliterate
completely the recollection of the Crimean campaign, to
cover Russian arms with new glory, and especially to
resume the illustrious part of Defenders of the Christian
Faith in the East. The influence of the aged Prince
Gortchakoff, who opposes these projects, is definitely on
the wane, and the Emperor frames his own policy—
allowing for that of his Chancellor—with his
Ambassadors : Ignatieff in Constantinople; Count Peter
Schuvaloff in London; and M. Novikoff in Vienna.
Disorders break out in Bulgaria followed by massacres,
horrible as ever, but this time exaggerated rather than
suppressed by the Press and European diplomacy. A
palace revolution in Constantinople, and a heated
struggle for influence between the Embassies of Russia
and Great Britain. Serbo-Turkish War, and enormous
enthusiasm in Russia for the Serbian cause, which is
completely mistaken for the whole Slav cause.
IV. Conference at Reichstadt, at which, in order to
guarantee the neutrality, or even under certain
conditions the co-operation, of Austria in a war in the East
which we feel to be imminent, we consent beforehand to
the Austrian occupation of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and
even of the sanjak of Novibazar; in other words we
leave Serbia herself within the sphere of
Austro-Hungarian influence. Hence the absolute necessity for
our policy to found a new autonomous Slav State in the
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
