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i io
i io THE BALKAN WAR, 1912 [chap. ix.
before the resumption of hostilities, Spalaikovitch had
come one day to tell me that he had made the following
suggestion to Belgrade: the Serbian Government
should warn the Bulgarian Government that, having
no longer an}* interest in the continuation of the war,
Serbia would only consent to leave her troops and her
guns before Adrianople in return for supplementary
compensations in Macedonia. I must confess that this
suggestion pleased me enormously: such a warning
from the Serbian Government might force the
Bulgarians to make the necessary concessions, and thus
hasten the conclusion of peace. I foresaw already that
the prolongation of the war might become fatal to
Bulgaria first, and then to the Slav cause in general.
Such a prolongation would constitute a menace to
the peace of Europe. In the course of about six weeks,
the Balkan Allies, astounding Europe by the rapidity
of their successes, had managed—incredibile dictu—to
drive the Turks definitely out of Europe, with the
exception of Constantinople and a restricted hinterland
of the Straits. It was imperative to confirm these
results without delay: more especially because, during
the short space of time that the armistice had lasted,
Germany and Austria had pulled themselves together
and had presented, almost in the form of an ultimatum,
their demands, which were so unfair to Serbia and to
Montenegro. How would it be, then, if war broke out
afresh, and if the differences already existing in the
heart of the Balkan Alliance were to become more acute
and more palpable? No, it was high time to confirm
the results obtained, in comparison with which the
differences of the Allies appeared to me to take a
secondary place.
It was by virtue of these considerations that I
approved so thoroughly of Spalalkovitch’s idea, and I
awaited his answer from Belgrade with great
impatience. A few da}’s later my worthy Serbian
colleague, in a very unhappy frame of mind, came to
call on me: M. Pachitch did not approve of his idea
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