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1912] SPHERES OF INFLUENCE 53
General Staffs. The demarcation of the boundary-line
gave rise to endless discussions; each elevation, each
village, each stream was bitterly disputed, and to solve
the question they sought now the interposition of the
Russian Ministers, now the topographical authority of
our military agents. Each side wished to mark the
frontier by a curved line, curving outwards as far as
possible into the future territory of the competitor;
but by dint of arguing, a remarkably straight line was
arrived at—and this in spite of the very uneven surface
configuration of Macedonia—the result—well-known in
physics—of two equal efforts working in an inverse
sense!
On the Bulgarian side it was M. Gueshov and M.
Todorov who were the most amenable and the most
willing to arrive at a sincere agreement, whereas M.
Danev and the military, as was moreover to be expected,
displayed inflexible obstinacy. So far as the principal
representative of Serbian interests—the Serbian Minister
in Sofia, M. Spalai’kovitch (later on Minister in St.
Petersburg)—was concerned, his vehement nationalism was
tempered by the sincere desire to cause Slav solidarity
to triumph on this question. Very hasty and very
impressionable, M. Spalai’kovitch had always been
distinguished by his straightforwardness and sincerity, as
well as by his keen intelligence : on the whole it was
the quintessence of the Serbian nature ; the bonds of
friendship which I kept up with him often enabled me
to have a soothing and restraining influence on him.
Throughout the conferences—more especially during
the first three months—King Ferdinand affected to hold
himself aloof from them and to give a free hand to his
Ministers. He only mentioned the subject to me two or
three times. The first time was at the end of November,
at the wedding of my eldest daughter, to which the
Court and the Diplomatic Corps came. That day, in a
brief aside, the King told me of the satisfaction he felt
about the Serbo-Bulgarian negotiations; but he
suggested a few doubts as to the sincerity of the Serbians. I
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