Mr. O'Conor to the Marquess of Salisbury.-(Received September 6.) Sophia, September 2, 1889. MY LORD, WITH reference to previous correspondence, I have the honour to report to your Lordship that M. Stamboloff states that he continues to receive very disquieting news respecting the various military measures of the Servian Government with a view to placing their army on a war footing. He regards the calling out of the whole reserve forces of the country, the purchase of provisions and forage, the reorganization of the transport service, the repairing of the roads leading to the Bulgarian frontier, coupled with the violent articles of the Servian press against this country, as so many indications that Servia is certainly preparing for war, and that she is probably being urged to engage in hostile action against Bulgaria. He has referred on several occasions to the disquieting news he continually received on this subject from Servia, and on each occasion I have endeavoured to assure him that his fears were not shared by those who were scarcely less interested in the maintenance of peace and good relations between the two neighbouring countries; and I have sought to impress upon him the extreme importance of not aggravating the situation by responsive military measures which would be interpreted in Servia as aggressive, while at the same time pointing out that it was difficult to believe that a nation seriously meditating war would adopt the military system now being introduced into Servia. M. Stamboloff says he is convinced that Servia had intended to attack them if they had declared their independence on the 14th ultimo, and that the Servians counted upon success by throwing an overwhelming force into Bulgaria and seizing the capital before there was time to mobilize the Bulgarian army. The Marquess of Salisbury. I have, &c., N. R. O'CONOR. Mr. O'Conor to the Marquess of Salisbury.-(Received September 6.) Sophia, September 2, 1889. MY LORD, WITH reference to my immediately preceding despatch, I have the honour to inform your Lordship that M. Stamboloff told me yesterday that M. Body, the Acting Servian Agent, had called upon him and had made the following communication under instructions from his Government : The Servian Government gives the Bulgarian Government the most formal and categorical assurances that the reports lately circulated of hostile or aggressive intentions towards Bulgaria are unfounded; that the calling up of the Reserves and other military measures are being taken solely with a view to the reorganization of a national militia in accordance with the Ministerial programme; and that if the Bulgarians think it advisable to mobilize their army such a step is certainly not necessary as far as Servia is concerned, and must be directed against some other Power. M. Stamboloff informed M. Body that he received with satis faction the assurances conveyed to him on behalf of the Servian Government. I have, &c., The Marquess of Salisbury. N. R. O'CONOR. Mr. F. R. St. John to the Marquess of Salisbury.-(Received MY LORD, September 6.) Belgrade, September 3, 1889. Ar the weekly reception on Saturday last I expressed my regrets to General Gruitch, the President of the Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs, at the Serbo-Bulgarian newspaper war which is now waged between the two countries, who, if they understood their true interests, would rather endeavour to impress Europe with the fact of perfect agreement and consequent ability to work out their destiny and independence; and I warned his Excellency of the great odium which, in the present temper of Europe, would be surely incurred by that country which should first disturb the public peace. General Gruitch replied that he was well aware how vital a point for the prosperity of Servia was the preservation of the most friendly relations with Bulgaria and other Balkan States, and that an assurance in such sense had only a few hours before been dispatched to Sophia. I have, &c., The Marquess of Salisbury. F. R. ST. JOHN. Mr. F. R. St. John to the Marquess of Salisbury.— (Received MY LORD, September 6.) Belgrade, September 3, 1889. THE long-expected reply from the ex-Queen to the offer made to her from hence, with the ex-King's concurrence, that she should have access to the Palace in Belgrade if her visits to the young King took place at stated times and for limited periods, has not yet been received here, and I was informed to-day by the SecretaryGeneral of the Department for Foreign Affairs that probably none would be received, Queen Nathalie having repeatedly written to her private friends at Belgrade that she should make use of her rights. as a Servian subject to come when she chose, to stay as long as it suited her, and to purchase or build a house here should residence in the Palace be denied to her. The Marquess of Salisbury. I have, &c., F. R. ST. JOHN. Mr. F. R. St. John to the Marquess of Salisbury.—(Received (Extract.) September 9.) Belgrade, September 4, 1889. REFERRING to my despatch of yesterday's date, in which I recorded the substance of a conversation some days previously with the Servian President of the Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs on the existing newspaper war with Bulgaria, and on the very great importance that Servia should, in her own interest, endeavour to cultivate the most friendly relations with her neighbours generally, and Bulgaria in particular, I have the honour to subjoin a summary of a leading and manifestly ministerially-inspired article which appeared yesterday in the "Correspondance Balcanique," a reputed Government organ recently started at Belgrade in the French and German languages, probably in opposition to the "Pester Lloyd," on which every one in Servia unacquainted with this vernacular has hitherto been compelled to rely for local information, which was not infrequently accompanied by disparaging comments : "We are informed," says the article in question, "that the alarming rumours recently circulated in the press of the military preparations of the Balkan States have led to friendly assurances between M. Stamboloff and the Servian Agent at Sophia, and that this interchange of ideas was marked by that cordiality and friendship which habitually characterize the relations between these two coterminous and kindred countries. "M. Body, the Diplomatic Agent of Servia, made it clear to the Bulgarian Minister that the calling out of the Reserves in Servia was nothing more than what an existing Law on military organization required, as explained by the Servian Minister of the Interior in hist recent Circular, and that, as the Servian Cabinet cherishes the hope of remaining on the most friendly footing with all Balkan States, the Government of Bulgaria need not, unless for other reasons, mobilize a single soldier. "M. Stamboloff received these explanations of our Agent with the most lively satisfaction, and hastened, on his side, to give the assurance that the Government of Bulgaria does not contemplate departing in the remotest manner from that pacific policy which it has traced out for itself, not only in regard to Servia, but every other country, and that certain orders for arms and war material were only given with a view to satisfying normal requirements. "We take note with satisfaction of the favourable impression produced by this interchange of loyal and sincere assurances between the two Governments, and we doubt not that these will lead to a strengthening of the existing bonds of union between the two countries, as well as to the removal, for the future, of all possibility of misunderstanding." The Marquess of Salisbury. F. R. ST. JOHN. SIR, The Marquess of Salisbury to Mr. F. R. St. John. Foreign Office, September 10, 1889. YOUR despatch of the 3rd instant, in which you report a con. versation with General Gruitch on the 30th ultimo, has been received at this Office; and I have to state to you that I approve the language which you held to his Excellency as to the necessity of maintaining peaceable relations with Bulgaria. F. R. St. John, Esq. I am, &c., SALISBURY. Mr. O'Conor to the Marquess of Salisbury.—(Received by telegraph, MY LORD, September 11.) Sophia, September 11, 1889. I HAVE the honour to report to your Lordship that a few days ago a printed manifesto was issued by a group of members of the Zankoffist party, reminding Bulgarians that to-day being the " Fête Onomastique" of the Liberator Czar Alexander the Second, it behoved them to solemnize the occasion by Church services throughout the country; moreover, the Municipality of Samara in Russia having the intention to unveil on that day a memorial statue to the memory of the late Czar, one of the groups on which repre sented "Bulgaria" in the chains of slavery praying to Heaven for deliverance, and thus impersonating the idea of the liberation of all Slavs," it was a sacred duty for all the Municipalities of Bulgaria to send congratulatory messages to the Mayor of Samara, especially as that town had at the commencement of the late Russo-Turkish war presented the Bulgarian Legionaries with a flag, still preserved in the Palace at Sophia. This Proclamation, signed by a certain P. Stanchoff, was widely circulated, and would no doubt have produced a manifestation, but that the Government decided upon taking prompt measures to prevent such an occurrence. Accordingly, the ten leaders of the movement were last night arrested and detained in custody until this afternoon, when, there being no longer any reason to apprehend disturbances, they were released. Notwithstanding these steps on the part of the Government, I understand that a number of Zankoffists formed a procession, which proceeded to the Russian memorial obelisk situated at the entrance to the town, where they deposited a wreath of flowers. This was, however, at once removed by the police, who had followed the procession, and no further incident took place. The Marquess of Salisbury. I have, &c., N. R. O'CONOR. SIR, The Marquess of Salisbury to Mr. O'Conor. Foreign Office, September 12, 1889. IN your despatch of the 2nd instant you state that M. Stamboloff has referred on several occasions to the military preparations in Servia, and that you have constantly endeavoured to reassure his Excellency by pointing out to him that his fears are not shared by other interested parties, and that the very nature of the new military system in Servia renders it improbable that serious operations are contemplated. I approve the language which you have employed and the efforts you have made to deter the Bulgarian Government from taking any action which might appear aggressive towards Servia. N. R. O'Conor, Esq. I am, &c., SALISBURY. Mr. O'Conor to the Marquess of Salisbury.-(Received September 16.) Sophia, September 12, 1889. MY LORD, So much excitement has been caused throughout the country by the hurried calling up of the Reserves, reported in my despatch of the 6th instant, that I do not like to pass over in complete silence the various rumours which reach me from Philippopoli, or are current here. From Philippopoli I hear that the extraordinary haste and energy with which the mobilization was effected at a particularly inconvenient season, the purchase of horses in large numbers and at high prices, the calling out of civilian doctors as military surgeons, the getting ready of ambulances, and the general lavish expenditure of mone |