"It is for this offence that M. Mihaileano suffered the penalty of death by the decree of a secret tribunal, and at the hands of assassins sent out to do their deadly work by political intriguers who sit in safety at Sofia. The most serious aspect of the matter, however, is the careless and almost contemptuous attitude of the Bulgarian Government. The reign of terror at Sofia and the too successful attempts to extend it to Rumania have provoked remonstrances not only from the government at Bukharest, but from some of the Great Powers, including Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy. … There is only too much reason to fear, even now, that both the Bulgarian Government and the ruler of the Principality are afraid to break with the terrorists of Sofia. {48} Political assassination is unfortunately among the traditions of the Bulgarian State, but it has never been practised with such frequency and impunity as under the rule of Prince Ferdinand. … His own conduct as a ruler, coupled with the lamentable decline of the spirit of Bulgarian independence, which seemed to be vigorous and unflinching before the kidnapping of Prince Alexander, has steadily lowered his position. The Bulgarian agitation—to a large extent a sham one—for the 'redemption,' as it is called, of Macedonia is a safety-valve that relieves Prince Ferdinand and those who surround him from much unpleasant criticism. … "The situation in the Balkans is in many respects disquieting. The Bulgarian agitation for the absorption of Macedonia is not discouraged in high quarters. The hostility of the Sofia conspirators to the Koutzo-Wallachs, the Rumanians of Macedonia, is due to the fact that the latter, being a small minority of the population, are ready to take their chance of equal treatment under Turkish rule, subject to the supervision of Europe, rather than to be swallowed up in an enlarged Bulgaria, dominated by the passions that now prevail in the Principality and that have been cultivated for obvious reasons. Russia, it is believed, has no wish to see Bulgarian aspirations realized, and would much rather keep the Principality in a state of expectant dependence. Servia and Greece would be as much embarrassed as Rumania by the success of the Bulgarian propaganda, and Austria-Hungary would regard it as a grave menace. Of course the Turkish government could not be expected to acquiesce in what would, in fact, be its knell of doom. … In Greece, the insubordination in certain sections of the army is a symptom not very alarming in itself, but unpleasantly significant of latent discontent. In Turkey, of course, the recrudescence of the fanaticism which periodically breaks out in the massacres of the Armenians cannot be overlooked. A more unfortunate time could not be chosen for endeavouring to reopen the Eastern question by