BULGARIA BEGINS TO DOUBT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 5, 1 October 1918, Page 9

BULGARIA BEGINS TO DOUBT

NATIONAL FEELING AS REFLECTED IN THE PRESS

(By Lieutonant E. R. Wakefield.)

It inqy bo amusing and not uninstruotivo to illustrate by a few, quotations from their Press, how ■ deeprooted and' impregnable ia the affec-. tion Bulgaria feels for her allies.' They have between them' secured a very precarious and contentious, amount of spoil. About this they bicker incessantly. Did .they only realise it they are disputing about mere visions, .for the tenure of one and all of them will be short. In two years' time theae discussions will mako ironical reading, Bulgaria's desires to include, tho Dobrudja. .and most of greek Macedonia,' especially the tobacco country betwoen the Struma and tin Metsa: But Turkey is claiming a (substantial rectification, of the frontier in tho Maritza-Adrianople area. Bulgaria was given a sort of. promise about the Dobrudja whioli has not been, and does not seem likely to be, kept. She is also angry because Germany will not declare, war on Greece.. Sho suspects that Germany does notlook kindly oir her- Macedonian ambitions. Altogether, she'feels.'nervous and disillusioned.

Hero area few reminders.of Turkey. "Of late," says the "Mir," "the Turks have begun again discussing the regulations between , Turkey, and. Bulgaria,. Rr4 this .time, in a more licentious andc.rrogant,manner.. . In connection 1 with Radqslavoff's resigation;. .they ' writo' aliout thoso relations, and areinsist:ing more and.more oiii the .restitution■ of the territory; about Adrianqpk'.. •' It\ ■is necessary that Germany should fur-* iiish explanations.": ••. •: ■ ',' Here, is a delicate little home thrust. -'The Ottoman .Empire," .Bays the .'"Kambana," • "has sustained '■ gr,oat losses, it must be compensated... We ■are Riire that-in spito of the , defeatsi the Turks sustained .on all their Asiatic' fronts,'-the yiotories of the Germans, Bulgarians, and l Austro-Hungarians in Europe will return to Turkey most of > her lost provinces. And this "willbe dono'in spitoof the Heroetratus-like ixirt.'whwn the Turkish Press seems to liavo assutiied towards Bulgaria and the Alliance. We warn the. Turks to be cartful. , .' .:

Oh another occasion the ,"Mi# J .becomes facetious. "When tho young j.Turk..aspirations -do not .affect.us direcjtly wo. may follow their evolution, jvsmiling,iri our sleeve.: The Constnnti- • nojple 'Ati' asks for Egypt, Central i; Asia, the Crimea, tho -.Dodecanese, Tripoli, Tunis; it wants—what more does I,there remain for..it to ask for? Tho Empire of Suleiman will soon be restored if these - doairen aro conceded. . But when Turkish publicists, after Bulgaria lias saved Turkey from complete ruin, put forth claims on Bulgarian territory, we cannot restrain our indignation nor control our anger.. We deeply regret that some of our German contemporaries encourage the. Young Turks in this wrong path. It must bo understood that-tho possession of the Struma and Metsa, as well as of tho other bank of the Mnritza is a nues- | tion of primary importance- for- us. I Tho question'of"Greece is. also disturbing thorn. "Wo need not discuss about the past," says the "Dnovnik," "because it cannot return; but wo lire bound to ask: Are tbero any- military or other considerations for whicTi Greece must bo humoured ? Undoubtedly between Bulgaria and Germany no 'deep differences' (quoted from a German paper) should exist, but thoso would not exist at all if wo make every thing clear." , ■

The "Preporets".is very- annoyed 'because.' Germany pretends that just as Bulgaria is not at war with the U.S.A.' sp she is not at war with Greece. "How unsuccessful the comparison is may be gauged from the fact that tho Germans consider the • Macedonian front under their, command and that German troops man it in part. Obviously thera is no relation between words and facts."

There is .'plenty more of this sort of thing; perhaps it is beet summed up by a remark of the "Mir," "It is to be hoped that at least the treaties coii.eluded • voluntarily' between the allies are not mere scraps of paper. Othervise the alliances , 'themselves would be •worthless:" Bub , they .are,'if only the."Mir" recognised the'fact. Thero will -be no division of the -loot ns a result of theso thieves' ■' bargains Probably few people in this'country, realised how strong was Bulgarian feeling, against.their allies.- Such language would be impossible between the Entente. The disillusionment of Bulgaria . hns • certainly 'begun, but she has still much to learn.