[As voted on Nov. 12, (25,) 1914.]
Your Majesty: The national representation considers it an agreeable
duty to express its satisfaction for the statements addressed to it
and to offer its collaboration to the Tsar and the Government for the
safeguard of the dear interests of the fatherland.
Your Majesty!
The breaking out of the terrible war which today oppresses and
exhausts the nations has stopped the peaceful activity in which the
Bulgarian Nation and your Government were engaged for the regeneration
of the national forces and the creation of new resources for the
prosperity of the country and the healing of the wounds of the long
and heroic war which the nation, with unflinching self-sacrifice, has
waged in the past year.
Your Majesty!
In the face of the momentous and far-reaching events now taking place
in Europe and around Bulgaria, the national representation has noted
with delight that the Government, having at heart the future of the
country when it declared the neutrality of Bulgaria, is maintaining
this attitude strictly and loyally, as the international necessities
and the most vital interests of the country demand.
Your Majesty!
The national representation has learned with joy that, thanks to this
attitude, the Government of your Majesty has preserved good and
friendly relations with all the great powers and has improved our
relations with our neighbors, which good relations are so necessary
for Bulgaria after the crisis of the last year, and during the events
of which we are the witnesses.
Your Majesty!
The great events that are shaking Europe are apt to call for our
attention, but, in spite of this, they will not stop us in the way of
the peaceful development of our culture, to which Bulgaria after the
war devoted her energies.
We will carefully examine and heartily approve of all the measures
which the Government may take for the progress of the country and will
give them our support.
Long live his Majesty the Tsar!
Long live her Majesty the Tsarina!
Long live his Royal Highness the Crown Prince!
_Following is the allocution of Tsar Ferdinand I., on Dec. 2, (15,)
1914, to the Delegation of the Sobranje, which brought to him the
Bulgarian Parliament's answer to the speech from the throne._
Gentlemen: It has always been agreeable to me to meet the
representatives of the National Parliament and exchange with them
ideas on the situation and the administration of the country. In the
present year, however, during the development of the events around us
this contact with the representatives of the people is not without
some importance for the Chief of the State.
I desire to hear from you, gentlemen, what are the concerns of the
nation and to partake of them with you. The thought that I am
nourishing, and my hope is, that, thanks to the stability and the
wisdom of the Bulgarians, the country will emerge from the new trials
untouched and without being threatened in the future.
I am really proud in duly acknowledging the virtues of the Bulgarian
people. When, in 1912, this people, moved by a single impulse, arose
and crushed a strong opponent by a force and ardor unsurpassed till
now, the whole world recognized its military virtues. But the
Bulgarian Nation has also displayed unique virtues in its reverses by
valiantly enduring the blows of misfortune.
This nation will warmly undertake its mission in order to achieve its
destiny, when it will win more respect on the part of foreigners than
it won by its victory; and the hearts of its sons, so devoted to the
fatherland, will be warmed anew.
Today, when the whole of Europe is burning and the conflagration is
approaching us, when all the nations around us are moving and making
ready for action, the Bulgarian Nation, duly appreciating the
situation, has established its attitude with an equanimity and a
reserve which constitute the undeniable proofs of its wisdom and its
political maturity.
The eyes of the Czar and of the people are turned toward you. In the
advices that you are giving, in the opinions that you express, I
observe your care for the national prosperity and your resolution to
sacrifice everything on the altar of the fatherland and for the
interests of the nation. This sets me at rest and inspires me with the
hope that in the future also complete harmony will prevail between the
nation and the Crown, and that from this harmony we shall draw the
necessary strength for the assurance of the future of Bulgaria.
May God watch over the fortunes of our fatherland and may He crown
with success our common efforts.