Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VII. Rasputin
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
1912] GENERAL JILINSKY 75
head of the General Headquarters Staff) and endeavour
to find out whether he is really in favour of this
convention or not. I am under the impression that the
matter is being settled at General Headquarters,
although the preliminaries are the work of our former
military agent in Bulgaria—Colonel Leontieff—and
although, as you say yourself, Lieutenant-Colonel
Romanowski endorses his predecessor’s point of view."
On the appointed day, I went to see General
Jilinsky, with whom I had never discussed important
matters. At my first allusion to the convention, the
General became irritable.
" But why should it be necessary for us to conclude
a military convention with Bulgaria when one already
exists? Have you been told nothing of the convention
concluded by me personally in 1902 ? It is here in this
drawer, but of course I cannot read it to you as it
is a most secret convention ; but you had better make
inquiries about it at the Foreign Office, and perhaps
you will be initiated into the circumstances relating to
the conclusion and terms of this arrangement."
" I read the convention, General, when I was appointed
Russian Minister to Bulgaria, and I re-read it to-day at
the Foreign Office before coming to you. I know it by
heart, and consequently I realise that it has a fixed object
and that the point was directed almost exclusively at
Turkey and Rumania. When Rumania had concluded
a special convention with Austria-Hungary, we thought
it expedient to conclude one with Bulgaria, promising
her effectual help in the event of her being attacked by
Turkey aided by Rumania. But now the political
situation has completely changed; it is no longer a
question of the possibility of an alliance—certainly not
an offensive one—between Turkey and Rumania; on
the contrary, we have to deal with the Serbo-Bulgarian
alliance, which brings quite different elements into the
question. . . ."
" All this is quite likely," interrupted the General;
"but so long as the convention of which I spoke, and
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
