October 9, 1915. 
LAND AND WATER 
donia having its counterpart in the competition 
between France and Germany for Alsace and 
Lorraine. 
From the outset the struggle for Constanti- 
nople ought to have been treated as one of the 
determining factors of the European war. But 
despite the obvious importance of this bridge be- 
tween Europe and Asia, the goal remained remote, 
its outlines faint, and the effort to reach it lacking 
in system and vigour. The key to Constantine's 
city and all that that stands for was known to lie 
in Bulgaria. But Bulgaria, or say, rather, the 
Austro- German prince who governs that State, 
had made it over to the Central Empires before 
our diplomatists moved a pen in the matter. 
Entente diplomacy, far from exhibiting listless- 
ness, as has been alleged against it, set to work 
with extraordinary enterprise and insistence. 
The only stricture that might fairly be passed 
upon its action is that it ignored or belittled the 
circumstance that Bulgaria was already bound 
body and soul to Germany and Austria, and that 
the technical organisation of Entente action was 
much too clumsy. 
DIPLOMATIC INTRIG.\C1ES. 
Four Great Powers entered into conversation 
with the four or five Balkan States, so that nine 
Foreign Secretaries and about sixty Ministers 
Plenipotentiary were thereupon engaged in 
interchanging views. Each of these conscien- 
tious representatives exerted himself to the best 
of his abilities, made proposals, drafted plans, 
sent telegrams, and possibly thwarted schemes 
contrary to his own. How much paper was in 
this way covered with writing and how much 
valuable time was consumed in preliminaries be- 
fore any formula could be accepted by all con- 
cerned may be left to the imagination of the 
reader. Months passed in this elaborate effort to 
get Bulgaria to outline her demands and to move 
Serbia to accord them. And all that expenditure 
of time and labour was made in the single-minded 
belief that Bulgaria's statement was true and that 
her freedom of choice which it presupposed really 
existed. 
The writer of these lines, for convincing 
reasons, wa.s unable to share that belief. The 
grounds on which he based his scepticism it was 
deemed advisable in the interests of the nation to 
hold back. It may, however, be remarked that his 
conviction was founded on evidence, not on hear- 
say, for he knew that the postulate on which the 
diplomatic stnicture of the Entente was being 
built up hung in the air. It was palpable to him 
that Bulgaria, or, rather, Ferdinand and his 
Premier, were anxious to lull the misgivings of the 
Entente and to cover with the cloak of neutrality 
aggressive designs against Serbia and her power- 
ful protectors. Their plan was specious and 
partly vicarious. It was to confess frankly 
Bulgaria's profound dissatisfaction with the 
Treaty of Bucharest which deprived her of Mace- 
donia ; to admit her resentment against Serbia and 
to proclaim her determination to win back, at all 
costs, the forfeited provinces. But this open- 
hearted confession was wisely tempered by a 
seemingly honest promise to forego the desire for 
revenge and to restore vitality to the Balkan 
League if only the fruits of the Balkan War were 
restored to her. As a piece of pleading the pre- 
sentment of the facts, the reasonableness of the 
claims, and the willingness, once these were 
allowed, to work for the common weal, took the 
minds of the simple captive. And of simplicity 
there is no lack. 
After that " straightforward avowal " it 
was for the Entente Powers to make the next 
move. And that could only be the transmission of 
Serbia's abandonment of Macedonia to Bulgaria. 
Nothing less would be accepted. And that Serbia 
would persist in refusing it, even though her very 
existence depended on the sacrifice, was taken for 
granted by every Bulgarian politician. For 
Pashitch, the Serbian Premier, had said as much. 
The Serbian Press had reiterated the refusal in 
every key. And the military party, wiiich is re- 
puted to be the most powerful in the country, 
would not even discuss the suggested surrender. 
King Ferdinand and his fellow-workers could 
therefore watch with delight the twofold spec- 
tacle : On the one hand Serbia squabbling with 
her own friends and writhing under their charge 
that she was destroying the Balkan League and 
endangering the success of the Allies, and, on the 
other, the Entente Powers setting out on a wild- 
goose chase. To Ferdinand, who plumes himself 
on being a consummate actor, this situation must 
have appeared superlatively amusing. 
But the diplomatists of the Entente, beset 
though they were by forces that seemed irre- 
sistible, persevered in their exertions and carried 
their point. Serbia, heroic in her voluntary sacri- 
fice as in her terrible martyrdom, accepted the 
situation and gave up Macedonia. Now at last, 
thought the Entente Governments, the problem is 
solved and all misgivings dispelled. Bulgaria will 
at last range herself with the civilising States; the 
Balkan League will be recalled to life and Con- 
stantinople wrested from the Turks. But Bulgaria 
was profoundly troubled instead of being highly 
pleased with the result of the Powers' endeavours. 
She could now no longer lurk and weave un- 
avowed plans in the safe retreat of justifiable 
neutrality, the terms she had asked for were 
obtained and the announcement must be followed 
by acceptance, which was impossible, or else by re- 
jection and the consequences tliat might flow from 
tiiat. While the Entente Powers were pressing 
their case at Sofia, Ferdinand signed the order for 
general mobilisation and rang up the curtain on a 
new act, to which others besides himself will 
materially contribute. 
MOBILISATION. 
Mobilisation was resorted to when the game 
of neutralitv could be prolonged no further. The 
expedient being supremely dangerous by its 
nature, associations, and consequences, the wire- 
pullers of Sofia sought to allay suspicion by term- 
ing it " armed neutrality," asseverating that 
Bulgaria was actuated by pacific aims and dis- 
claiming aggressive designs against Serbia or the 
Entente. For the first care of Sofia and Berlin 
was to tranquillise Roumania and Greece. The 
game was being played by two partners. Ger- 
many had already spread far and wide the terri- 
fying tale that she was about to hack her wav 
through Serbia and to pass thence through 
Bulgaria into Turkey. The attitude of the brave 
Bulgars would then be shaped by dire necessity. 
They would loyally cling to their neutrality and 
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