his note was received in the Rumanian capital,
Prince Hohenlohe-Langenburg, whose wife was a sister of the Queen of
Rumania, arrived in Bucharest and tried to induce King Ferdinand to
come to terms with Austria, or at least to allow the transportation of
war munitions through the country to the Turks, who were then running
short of ammunition. The king refused this concession. How important
it would have been, had it been granted, may be judged from the many
efforts the Germans had made to smuggle material down to Turkey. In
one case the baggage of a German courier traveling to Constantinople
had been X-rayed and rifle ammunition had been found. Again, cases of
beer had been opened and found to contain artillery shells.

Rumania, however, could not yet make up her mind which was going to be
the winner. She accepted neither of the Austrian proposals, and
protracted making any definite answer as long as possible.

There was another reason why Rumania wished to continue her neutrality
until the following winter, at least. The harvesting of her great
wheat crops would begin soon, and this wheat could, as had been done
the previous year, be sold to the Germans and Austrians at big prices,
the blockade of the British fleet having already produced a pressing
shortage in foodstuffs. And then, her conscience being uneasy
regarding her robbery of territory from Bulgaria, she must also be
quite certain how Bulgaria was going to turn.

Having failed at Bucharest, the German agent, Prince
Hohenlohe-Langenburg, moved on to Sofia. At that moment King Ferdinand
of Bulgaria was endeavoring to get Turkey to sign a treaty, for which
negotiations had been going on secretly for some months, by which
Bulgaria was to obtain all the Turkish land on the west side of the
Maritza River, and so free the Bulgarian railroad to Dedeagatch from
Turkish interference. On July 23 this treaty was finally signed, and
Bulgaria acquired a full right of way along the line.

Bulgaria was now frankly asking bids for her support from both sides.
In an interview which the Premier, Radoslavov, granted to the
correspondent of a Budapest newspaper on August 3, 1915, and who
remarked to the premier that it was at least strange for a nation to
carry on such negotiations simultaneously with two groups of powers,
he replied:

"It is these negotiations which give us the chance to make a decision.
Our country seeks only her own advantages and wishes to realize her
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