The Government candidate for the Presidency of the Assembly was M. Slavkoff, who had occupied the post of First Vice-President in last year's Assembly. He is a prominent member of the National party, and a staunch supporter of M. Stamboloff. Owing to the personal influence of M. Stamboloff his election was carried, in a House of 238 Members, by a majority of 90; his opponent, M. Stoïloff, receiving 73 votes from the various groups of the Opposition. The Government candidates for the posts of Vice-Presidents were M. Petkoff, the Mayor of Sophia, and M. Andonoff, a wellknown politician in Eastern Roumelia at the time of the proclamation of the Union. M. Petkoff was elected by a large majority, but the House was inclined to be recalcitrant about the latter; and though the majority voted fairly compactly in the end, they showed a certain amount of discontent, which was probably the result of a more general dissatisfaction at the conduct of certain officials in the provinces, whose abuse of authority is affecting M. Stamboloff's popularity. It is, however, a noteworthy fact that this is the first time since 1878 that the National Assembly has held three regular Sessions without some political event or Ministerial crisis terminating abruptly the term for which the Assembly is elected. The Address in answer to the Speech from the Throne was adopted to-day. In the course of the discussion on the Address this afternoon a member of the Zankoffist party proposed that the House should express its desire for a reconciliation with Russia, whereupon M. Stamboloff rose and described in vivid and trenchant language his view of the policy which Russia had followed with regard to this country since the year 1878, and which had been fraught with peril and danger to the country's existence. "Nevertheless," he said, "we are ready to do all that is possible to bring about a reconciliation with Russia, and I shall be happy when this is effected. As a statesman occupied in public life for fifteen years, I do not wish to see Bulgaria on bad relations with any Power, and especially with Russia; but no sacrifice we could make would be suflicient to bring about this reconciliation. The Bulgarians would be obliged to disown themselves, to relinquish all they have wou, to sacrifice their political existence, and this the Bulgarians will never do. I would prefer to see our country fall in the struggle rather than succumb basely." M. Stamboloff's speech appears to have made a deep impression on the Chamber, and to have been received with cheers by the immense majority of the members, and I shall not fail to furnish your Lordship with the text in a few days. I would draw your Lordship's attention to the following allusion in the Address to the question of recognition : "We consider it a sacred duty, your Royal Highness, to express the great pleasure which the nation has in recognizing the fact that the cause for which it has made so many sacrifices has obtained the sympathies of the civilized world, and has called forth the praises, solemnly declared, of one of the mightiest and wisest Monarchs, as also of the most famous European statesmen. "Deeply appreciating these encouraging symptoms, we firmly believe that eventually, after the proofs of the agreement and firmness which the Bulgarian Sovereign and nation have shown till now, the national accomplished fact will receive the necessary international sanction which it so fully deserves. For obtaining this, we are pleased to think that our Suzerain, relying on the rights which she enjoys under the International Treaties, will make the first step towards the recognition of the elect of the nation, by which she will gain the sympathies and consolidate the bonds which exist between her and the Bulgarian nation." I have, &c., The Marquess of Salisbury. N. R. O'CONOR. Mr. Baring to the Marquess of Salisbury.-(Received November 21.) Cettinjé, November 14, 1889. MY LORD, WITH reference to Mr. Lamb's despatch of the 23rd September last, in which he reported on the emigration of distressed Montenegrins into Servia, I have the honour to state that this emigration, which is organized by the Government, still continues. It is officially stated that 1,200 families, or about 6,400 individuals, are leaving the country, but many people declare that the emigrants number at least 10,000. The official statement may very possibly be correct as far as those emigrants are concerned who are leaving the country under the direct auspices of the Government, but there is little doubt that many families have emigrated independently without Government aid or sanction. The emigrants are dispatched in batches of 1,200 to 1,500 to Berana, whence they proceed to the Servian frontier by way of Bjelopolje and Sjenitza, and M. Bakich, the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, has been sent to Berana to receive them, and to arrange for their onward march through Old Servia. I believe the Servian Government stipulated that all the emigrants should not arrive in a body. The weather has been favourable, and it is expected that the last batch will leave the Montenegrin frontier in a very few days. The Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. Gavro Vukovich, informed me the other day that the Porte had acted in a most friendly way towards Montenegro with respect to this emigration, and had granted every possible facility. He added that the Austrian Government had suggested that a certain proportion of the emigrants might pass through the occupied provinces, but that on account of the absence of good roads in the eastern part of Bosnia, the proposal was declined. M. Vukovich, however, fully acknowledged the courtesy of the Austrian authorities. His language respecting the action of Austria does not tally with what I heard almost immediately on my return from England. I was informed that the Montenegrin Government had approached the authorities in the occupied provinces on the subject of the emigration, but that the latter had proposed conditions which practically amounted to a refusal to allow the emigrants to pass. On my inquiring of my informant what these conditions were, I was told that the Austrian authorities required that (1) the emigrants should give up their arms; (2) that during their transit across Bosnia they should be subject to the laws in force in the occupied provinces; (3) that they should be allowed fuel and water, but should not be permitted to purchase provisions. The first two conditions appear to me so just and reasonable that it is difficult to understand how any one could raise an objection to them. The third condition, if ever made at all, is less easy to understand, but the authorities in Bosnia may have had local reasons for insisting on it with which we here are unacquainted. The distress in many districts of Montenegro has this year undoubtedly been acute, and many of the peasants had the choice between emigration and starvation. I do not think Prince Nicholas has sent his surplus population to Servia from purely political motives, but at the same time I doubt whether the Obrenovitch Dynasty is exactly to be congratulated on this sudden increase of its subjects. Montenegrins when out of their own country are apt to be turbulent, unruly, and ready for mischief, and any party of disorder in Servia will now have ready to hand a force of tough hardy mountaineers, accustomed to the use of arms, and quite prepared to create disturbance whenever and wherever they may be called upon to do so. I have, &c., The Marquess of Salisbury. WALTER BARING. Mr. Baring to the Marquess of Salisbury.—(Received November 25.) MY LORD, Cettinje, November 15, 1859. I REGRET to have to report that during the last five or six months affairs on the Turco-Montenegrin frontier have shown a tendency to relapsing into their old unsatisfactory condition. For some time after the signature of the Agreement drawn up by the late Voivode Radonich and Djevad Pasha, Montenegrins and Albanians kept the peace. The former were the first to break it, by the atrocious murder of two inoffensive Mussulmans on the Lake of Scutari. The perpetrators of this outrage were, as I reported at the time, promptly executed, but ever since that time there has been considerable and increasing bitterness between the Montenegrins. and their neighbours. It would be tedious and of little use to report to your Lordship every outrage that takes place in these unsettled countries, and I will only state that the last act of violence I have heard of was committed by Montenegrins of Vassojevich, who crossed the frontier and carried off 300 sheep from Seltchi, killing two men. The Headman of the tribe to which these men belonged sent over into Montenegro and endeavoured to obtain satisfaction from the Captain of the district, but I understand that the latter replied that the question must be referred to the Prince. I am told by persons who are acquainted with the frontier districts that now that winter is coming on it is more than likely that there may be a cessation of these outrages, but they fear that in the spring they may be renewed. The wild mountaineers, Montenegrin and Albanian, if left to themselves, will always find plenty to quarrel about, and it will require much firmness on the part of the Governments concerned to keep them quiet. The contention of the Montenegrin Government is that it both can and will punish those of its subjects who are guilty of outrages, but then there must be complete reciprocity, and it cannot execute a Montenegrin who has killed an Albanian, while an Albanian who has committed a murder on this side of the frontier is allowed to go scot-free. When the enormous difficulties with which the Scutari authorities have to contend are pointed out to a Montenegrin official, he replies, perhaps justly enough, that that is no affair of his; it is for the Governor-General of Scutari to keep order in his own province, and he must be held responsible for the lawless acts of the inhabitants. I am far from wishing to attach too much importance to these frontier disputes, but I have thought it my duty to point out that the state of affairs in the border provinces is less satisfactory than it was a year or eighteen months ago. I have, &c., The Marquess of Salisbury. WALTER BARING. Mr. F. R. St. John to the Marquess of Salisbury.—(Received MY LORD, Belgrade, November 30, 1889. I HAVE the honour to report that, according to a statement in the semi-official Servian newspaper "Correspondance Balcanique," just received, it appears that the last batch of Montenegrin emigrants to Servia, numbering 1,500, left Cettinjé yesterday, and will arrive at the Servian frontier to-morrow, thus bringing up the number of those who have quitted Montenegro for Servia to 6,360 individuals. Notwithstanding the exceptional mildness of the season, there exist, I hear, great misery and not a few cases of famine fever among the immigrants, whose position will, unless the Servian Government have, contrary to general expectation, taken adequate measures of relief, become deplorable in the extreme when real winter weather sets in. I have, &c., The Marquess of Salisbury. F. R. ST. JOHN. Mr. O'Conor to the Marquess of Salisbury.—(Received December 7.) MY LORD, Sophia, November 29, 1889. I HAVE the honour to inclose herewith to your Lordship an article from the semi-official newspaper "Svobodá" with regard to the discussion which has recently been carried on in the foreign press with regard to the supposed agreement arrived at between the Czar and Prince Bismarck with respect to Bulgaria. The views expressed in this article are in accordance with those of M. Stamboloff at the present moment. The Marquess of Salisbury. I have, &c., N. R. O'CONOR (Inclosure.)-Extract from the "Svobodá" of November, 1889. (Translation.) AFTER alluding to the various reports current as to the entry of Turkey into the Triple Alliance, and latterly to the alleged promise of the German Emperor to send to Turkey fresh German officers, both civil and military, as well as a proposal to appoint an International Commission for the Dardanelles, the writer concludes : "Be this as it may, what we know is that the Austrians wil again best the Russians, as on former occasions. The rumour that Austria will in future give up Bulgaria and the Prince is rubbish. Such reports may be spread to please Russia, or through ignorance of politics, but they have nothing in common with the active ten |