slight chance of a peaceful settlement in
Central Macedonia. That chance disappeared when the Powers in the
resumed Peace Conference at London persisted in ruling the Serbs and
Montenegrins out of Albania, a decision obviously dictated by the
longings of Austria and Italy to gain that land at a convenient
opportunity. This blow to Servia's aspirations aroused passionate
resentment both there and in Russia. Finally the Serbs gave way, and
claimed a far larger part of Macedonia than had been mapped out in their
agreement with Bulgaria prior to the war. Hence arose strifes between
their forces, in which the Greeks also sided against the Bulgars.
Meanwhile, the London Conference of the Powers and the Balkan States
framed terms of peace, which were largely due to the influence of Sir
Edward Grey[541].

[Footnote 541: See _Times_ of May 30, 1913; Rankin, _op. cit._ p. 517.]

They may be disregarded here; for they were soon disregarded by all the
Balkan States. Seeking to steal a march upon their rivals, the Bulgar
forces (it is said on the instigation of their King and his unofficial
advisers) made a sudden and treacherous attack. Now, the dour, pushing
Bulgars are the most unpopular race in the Peninsula. Therefore not only
Serbs and Greeks, but also Roumanians and Turks turned savagely upon
them[542]. Overwhelmed on all sides, Bulgaria sued for peace; and again
the Great Powers had to revise terms that they had declared to be final.
Ultimately, on August 10, 1913, the Peace of Bukharest was signed. It
imposed the present boundaries of the Balkan States, and left them
furious but helpless to resist a policy known to have been dictated
largely from Vienna and Berlin. In May 1914 a warm friend of the Balkan
peoples thus described its effects: "No permanent solution of the Balkan
Question has been arrived at. The ethnographical questions have been
ignored. A portion of each race has been handed over to be ruled by
another which it detests. Servia has acquired a population which is
mostly Bulgar and Albanian, though of the latter she has massacred and
expelled many thousands. Bulgars have been captured by Greeks, Greeks by
Bulgars, Albanians by Greeks, and not one of these races has as yet
shown signs of being capable to rule another justly. The seeds have been
sown of hatreds that will grow and bear fruit[543]." Especially
lamentable were the recovery of the Adrianople district by the Turks and
the unprovoked seizure of the pu