A Ministerial crisis of importance is reported from Bulgaria. M.
Stambouloff, the Premier, is believed to be the only man who can govern the Principality in defiance of Russia, and he has resigned. The cause is the sentence on Major Popoff, which Prince Ferdinand wishes to "revise "—that is, to com- mute—while M. Stambouloff desires that it should be carried out. M. Stambouloff is blamed in the matter by men who usually defend him, and, as far as we can see through a mist of contradictory statements, the truth is something like this. Major Popoff did neglect, grossly neglect, the duty of keeping his accounts straight, but he did not steal the £280 which had disappeared. The court-martial, however, which may or may not have been packed, found that he did steal the missing money. M. Stambouloff, who distrusts Major Popoff's fidelity, desires to take advantage of the Court's sentence to keep the Major in prison ; but the Prince thinks of his Army, and knowing the effect of suspected sentences upon discipline, wishes to use his constitutional right of quashing military sentences. It is alleged that he has no such right ; but an Army could not be governed without it, and it is most improbable that Bulgaria is an exception to a universal precedent.
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