One night not long after the dismissal of the Russian advisers two Russian generals, Skobeleff and Kaulbars, arrived at the palace and demanded an audience of the prince. The sentry refused them admittance, and when they attempted to force their way past him the soldier drew his side arm and threatened to strike them down. The guard was called; a carriage which stood at the palace gates and from which the two Russian generals had alighted was searched, and evidence was discovered that the prince was to have been kidnapped to the Danube, thence over into Russia. Proclamations announcing Alexander's expulsion from Bulgaria, and the formation of a provisional government under the two leading conspirators, proved conclusively the complicity of Russia. Thanks to the support that he received from the Bulgarian officers about him, Alexander was saved and the plot was exposed to Russia's humiliation. Also, it showed the Bulgars to what measures Russia would resort to force her will upon them. CHAPTER XIV WAR WITH SERBIA Meanwhile down in Eastern Rumelia the bitter disappointment caused by the separation of the two Bulgarias by the Treaty of Berlin had increased. On the morning of September 18, 1885, as Gavril Pasha, the Turkish governor, was quietly sipping his coffee in his home in Philippopolis a group of Bulgarian officers rushed in and took him prisoner. The pasha yielded to superior force; without the shedding of a drop of blood the revolutionists took possession. Union with Bulgaria was proclaimed. Prince Alexander, fearing the international complications that might follow, hesitated, but his Bulgarian advisers insisted, so on September 20 he issued a proclamation announcing himself as "Prince of North and South Bulgaria." Naturally, in the commotion among the diplomats which followed, it might be supposed that those who had drafted the Treaty of Berlin would insist on its being observed, and that Russia would welcome the Greater Bulgaria she had planned at San Stefano. But just the contrary happened. England, now under the guidance of Gladstone, threatened a naval demonstration before the Dardanelles if Turkey interfered. Russia, on her part, was furious; she pressed Turkey to march an army up into south Bulgaria. Turkey, however, had no desire to be interviewed by the British ships.