t against that war Mr. Venizelos strove resolutely to
the end. And when in despite of all his efforts war came, he was
justified in saying, as he did say to the national parliament, that
the Greeks had the right to present themselves before the civilized
world with head erect because this new war which was bathing with
blood the Balkan Peninsula had not been provoked by Greece or
brought about by the demand of Greece to receive satisfaction for
all her ethnological claims. And this position in which he had
placed his country was, he proudly declared, a "moral capital" of
the greatest value.

BULGARIA BEGINS HOSTILITIES

Bulgaria's belated acceptance of Russian arbitration was not
destined to establish peace. Yet Dr. Daneff, the prime minister, who
received me on June 27 and talked freely of the Balkan situation
(perhaps the more freely because in this conversation it transpired
that we had been fellow students together at the University of
Heidelberg), decided on June 28 not to go to war with the Allies.
Yet that very evening at eight o'clock, unknown to Dr. Daneff, an
order in cipher and marked "very urgent" was issued by General
Savoff to the commander of the fourth army directing him on the
following evening to attack the Servians "most vigorously along the
whole front." On the following afternoon, the 29th, General Savoff
issued another order to the army commanders giving further
instructions for attacks on the Servians and Greeks, including an
attack on Saloniki, stating that these attacks were taking place
"without any official declaration of war," and that they were
undertaken in order to accustom the Bulgarian army to regard their
former allies as enemies, to hasten the activities of the Russian
government, to compel the former allies to be more conciliatory, and
to secure new territories for Bulgaria! Who was responsible for this
deplorable lack of harmony between the civil government and the
military authorities has not yet been officially disclosed. Did
General Savoff act on his own responsibility? Or is there any truth
in the charge that King Ferdinand after a long consultation with the
Austro-Hungarian Minister instructed the General to issue the order?
Dr. Daneff knew nothing of it, and though he made every effort to
stop the resulting hostilities, the dogs of war had been let loose
and could not now be torn from one another's throats.

There had been sporadic fighting in Macedonia between the Allies