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78 SERBO-BULGARIAN TREATY [chap. vi.
difficulties which latterly the Laender Bank was always
raising for the King were apparently mainly actuated
by the displeasure felt by the Austrians at the present
Bulgarian policy; ergo, it entered into our calculations
to liberate King Ferdinand from all pecuniary obligation
to Vienna, and thus to acquire fresh claims on his sincere
gratitude.
I answered Todorov by saying that while refusing to
enter into these latter arguments, I would at once fulfil
the King’s wish and would forward his request to St.
Petersburg and second it. I did this in a special and
very confidential letter to M. Neratoff, who was still
managing the Foreign Office. Amongst other things I
said that such a loan must most certainly not be
considered a means of buying Ferdinand ; that I
remembered perfectly, during my stay in Belgrade, how
our Government, on the entreaties of my chief,
M. Persiant, had paid King Milan, who had just
abdicated, a million francs on condition that he left
the country for ever and never interfered again in
the home or foreign policy of Serbia. Milan took the
money and left for Paris, but when the last few
thousand francs had been lost in gambling or spent
on women, he returned quite naturally to Belgrade, as
being the only place where he could exist decently, but
where his presence soon caused fresh trouble. And it
was we who were blamed by public opinion for having
given money to a father to enable him to desert his son
—a minor ! So I wrote to Neratoff that I wished frankly
to warn the Ministry against the erroneous idea that one
could buy Ferdinand with those two millions. It was not
money that would secure to us a lasting influence in
Bulgaria, but systematic and laborious work. Nevertheless,
the moment the King was obliged to beg such a favour
of us, I considered that we ought to grant it frankly,
simply, and without any humiliating conditions. Such a
course of action would bind Ferdinand up to a point,
and in any case would make our relations with him
more intimate. M. Neratoff promptly replied that he
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