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io 6
INTRIGUES AT SOFIA [chap.viii.
Metropolitan of Tirnova, the following note
predominated : " You, sir, have enhanced Your own prestige, won
the attention of the Powers, raised Bulgaria to the rank
of a sovereign State, and assumed for Yourself the title
of King; but You must remember that during these
twenty-five years You have not furthered by a single
degree the real aims of Bulgaria, those which had been
fixed by the Tsar-Liberator in the treaty of San Stefano ! "
Russia and the Tsar-Liberator were repeatedly
mentioned in the speeches.
After the banquet served in the municipal theatre,
the King drew me aside and had a long talk with me.
He complained of his difficult position, assured me of
his sincere desire to avoid a collision with Turkey, but
at the same time alluded to the patriotic agitation which
had seized on the whole of Bulgaria and which would
only settle down in a peaceful manner if the rights
and the autonomy of the Bulgarians of Macedonia and
Thrace were truly and effectually realised.
"You have heard the speeches which have just been
made, and you have probably grasped their true
meaning. Hence you can judge the difficulty of my position.
Nevertheless I mean to act up to the last moment with
the idea of preserving peace. I beg you to transmit this
to St. Petersburg, and at the same time to entreat them
earnestly to come to my assistance."
This was my last interview with the King before
the Bulgarian mobilisation. Of course, I informed M.
Sazonoff of the purport of it, and added that, according
to my own opinion, events could still be checked by
energetic action respecting the Porte, but that in a few
weeks it would be too late.
I was inordinately astonished, and up to now I cannot
understand that, in spite of my warnings, our Foreign
Secretary could remain so calm about Bulgaria and
Serbia. When the mobilisation was announced, we like
all the other European Cabinets were aghast, and we
proceeded to heap on Sofia, Belgrade, Athens and Cetigne
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