The Coronation ceremony took place in the Church of the Forty Martyrs, and afterwards Ferdinand walked to the Hissar, or castle of the old Czars of Bulgaria. No more perilous riding for him that day! And there, in the hall where Czar Simeon and the rest of them used to feast—and plan to gouge out the eyes of the Byzantine Greeks—he read the following bombastic proclamation:—
“By the will of our never-to-be-forgotten Liberator and the great kindred Russian nation, aided by our good friends and neighbours the subjects of the King of Rumania, by the Bulgarian heroes on February 18, 1878, chains of slavery were broken by which for so many centuries Bulgaria, once a great and glorious Power, was bound. From that time till to-day, for full thirty years, the Bulgarian nation, preserving the memory of those who had laboured for its freedom and inspired by their tradition, has worked incessantly for the development of its beautiful country, and under my guidance and that of the departed Prince Alexander, has made it a nation fit to take an equal place in the family of civilized peoples, and endowed with gifts of cultural and economic progress.
“While proceeding on this path nothing should arrest the progress of Bulgaria, nothing should hinder her success. Such is the desire of the nation, such its will.
“Let that desire be fulfilled! The Bulgarian nation and its chief can have but one sentiment, one desire.
“Practically independent, the nation was impeded in its normal and peaceful development by certain illusions and formal limitations, which resulted in a coldness of relations between Turkey and Bulgaria. I and the nation desire to rejoice in the political development of Turkey. Turkey and Bulgaria, free and independent of each other, may exist under conditions which will allow them to strengthen their friendly relations and to devote themselves to peaceful internal development.
“Inspired by the sacred purpose of satisfying national requirements and fulfilling the national desire, I proclaim, with the blessing of the Almighty, Bulgaria—united since September 6, 1885—an independent kingdom. Together with the nation I firmly believe that this act will meet with the approbation of the Great Powers.”
Then Ferdinand gave the signal and the beauty chorus obliged once more with the national dances. At last he was Czar of the Bulgarians.
It must have been disheartening to such a whole-souled friend of liberty and progress to find “the great kindred Russian nation” was very angry at his duplicity, and accused him of an arrangement with Austria. This he denied most emphatically, as I have told, and in an amazing Press interview explained what a misunderstood man he was. He said:—
“The mission which I am fulfilling here in the Balkans must be thoroughly understood. I have devoted myself entirely to the people which I adopted twenty-two years ago. It possesses wonderful virtues. It is sober, hard-working, proud, jealous of its independence and freedom. A nation from which is recruited the admirable and large army that you have seen, and which cheerfully bears the military burdens imposed upon it by necessity, is one of the strong nations, with a fine future before it.
“But the Bulgarian, after so many years of servitude, barely liberated as he is from the Mussulman yoke, still remains concentrated in himself. He has not learned to look outside his country. All his universe is contained between his mountains, the Black Sea, and the Danube. It is I who do duty for him as the watchman, who is incessantly scanning the distant horizon. It is I who pick up for him rumours from abroad, who communicate his aspirations, his desires, and legitimate claims to the foreigner. I am like the lung which breathes the outside air for him, and which assimilates for him the refreshing breezes which come from the rest of the world. Owing, above all, to its Sovereign, Bulgaria does not remain isolated and shut up in herself, and she constitutes a portion of the European family.”