The Press. Monday September 27, 1915. The Next Move In Bulgaria.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15394, 27 September 1915, Page 6

The Press. Monday September 27, 1915. The Next Move In Bulgaria.

Iu view of tho German attack on North-eastern Serbia,' and the threatened inarch, with leave or without, by way of Vidni, Bielogradohik, and Sofia to Constantiuople, it is difficult to see H'hat hopo of preserving her neutrality .. was"loft Bulgaria, unless oho mobilised. ,Her present attitude as defined by Dr. ftadoslavoff in {he cablegram in today's issue, is consistent with the attitude she has maintained since war : broke out. Over and over again sho lias mado it clear that her o|ic paramount aim is to secure the cancellation • of tho. Treaty of Bucharest, and by recovering her nationals from Serbia, 'Greece, and Roumania, realise her ambition for a united Bulgaria. "With ' ' Roumania, sho appears to have aiready come to terms over tho Dobrudja. That her claims on Serbia and Greece wero regarded as not unreasonable, is evidenced by the fact that Entcnto diplomacy has busied itself of lato in the - effort to secure them. As recently as - September 19th wo learnt from Paris that 31. Fasitch, tho Serbian Prime , "Miftister, had informed a representative of th© "Petit Parision," that Serbia had at last given her consent to the . concessions suggested by tho Allies. Yet it has nowhere been suggested by thf» spokesmen of Bulgaria that her " mobilisation is in any way intended to relieve pressure on Serbia, or is to bo , considered as other than self-regard-ing. In Greece, too, w<» know that popular opinion, reinforced by the policy of tho lato Gounaris Cabinet, has run strongly counter to yielding to xjlnjgaria's demands. M. Vonizelos, pursuing his policy of "hermetical silfcneo," has let fall no hint of whether his _ former policy of concessions still holds good, or whether, or how far, ho had won over the King and tho Opposition. .'Party to the surrender of Ka valla, which, on tho faco of it, seems inevitable. To a certain extent the position it-complicated by the full mobilisation iiow ordered of the Greek forces, for it

mobilisation lias l>cen dictated, not, by general considerations, but by recent Bulgarian action. Tho appeal of tho President of the Slav Committee at Moscow certainly seems to suggest a general atmosphere of mistrust, thought it is possible to over-estimate the importance of that appeal, which may <juiti> easily be the outcome of the irresponsible impuUe of a self-appointed Mtatesmnn. On tho whole, tho outlook, v.o ;iri' incline;] to think, is still distinctly favourable to the Allies. There is :ts yet nothing to show that Bulgaria meditates the. desperate stop of throwing in her lot with tho Central Powers, and r*o making herself for all time tho Judas of the Slavs. That Ferdinand, aiul some of his immediate Mipjvorter.s are naturally inclined to take that step may bo granted, but it docs not in the least follow that they regard it as either politic or possible. It is not so very long ago since William the braggart was pluming himself on hu personal responsibility ior the offensive Treaty of Bucharest. That fact is not likely to be forgotten by Bulgaria at large, even if it has boon dropped out of sight for amoment. Alliance with Germany would mean perpetual enmity to Itussia. But "gratitude to Bussia," a* wo arc assured by those moat closely familiar with Bulgarian life, "is ineradicable "among the peasants, whose fathers " fought alongside tho Russian armies

" in 1877.'' llnssia, after all, in spiteof her Serbian leanings in the rocent crisis, is the traditional saviour of Bulgaria, and on the base of the statue of tlio Great Tsar-Liberator in Sofia, Bulgarian peasant and Hussion soldier stand sido by hide. Popular opinion is not a negligible quantity in Bulgaria, whatever it may be in Roumania. Even supposing that tho whole weight of Dr. Radoslavofl's administration were thrown into the scalcs on behalf of the Central Towers, tho King could not count on carrying the nation with him if he abandoned neutrality and attacked the Allies. As tho Messrs Buxton, whoso opinions were formed on the epot, soy in their recent "War and the Bal- " leans," tho moit weighty political personages of Bulgaria are to bo found to. day not in tho ranks of the Government, but in'the solid opposition bloc. Their leader, 31., Gueshoff, one of the men specially named in the Moscow appeal. was ono of the chief authors of tho Balkan Allianco in 1912, and they number among them many others, such as Dr. Daneff and If. Mahnoff, who have been prime ministers in their day. "Within the last fortnight we have heard of theso men expressing to the King their emphatic protest both against a continued policy neutrality and against, a Germanophil policy. But even in responsible Ministerial circles there hasbeenno inclination shown to commit the country to Germany. This is made apparent by a passage from a Sofia journal of: July 20th quoted in tho last issuo to hand of the "Near | "East." Tho passage, which is highly ; significant, if only for the parallel with recent history in Italy, which it suggests, runs, as follows: —"It seem that " Prineo Hohenlohe has not been quite <r satisfied with the results ho attained "at Sofia, as it Became nocessary to "meet the vice-president of the Cham- ' ber, and to announce through him " how great is the German sympathy " for Bulgaria. Prince Buelow acted in | the same way at ltome, when he dis- " covered that he was not achieving "much success in responsible quarters." All of this, wo think, goes to show that it is altogether too early to despair of Bulgaria. Even in the eleventh hour she may be found on the sido of tho Allies.-