It is doubtful whether on this occasion the British public
will be stirred to any warmth of sympathy for the Bulgarian predicament. Even if Bulgaria's " complete neutrality " merges into co-belligerency it is questionable whether this time she will find Bourchiers and Buxtons to share her self-pity or to credit her plea of injured inno- cence. Bulgaria owes her very existence to Russia, and her debts to British and American liberalism are heavy and of long standing. Yet on two separate occasions during the last thirty years Bulgaria has adhered to the cause of our enemies, and the memories of Glad- stone or the influence of Robert College have proved but slender strands. On each of these occasions the Bulgarians have seized upon the territories of their neighbours with brutality and greed; so long as their allies appeared to be victorious they were delightedly and unanimously loyal to them; but as soon as the first breath of coming defeat is sharp upon the morning air the Bulgarians again become conscious of their former allegiances and start immediately to assure us that the simple peasant heart of Bulgaria was always on the side of Mother Russia, and that not for one moment did these harmless helpless people forget the ties which bound them to the western democracies. Once again will they seek to convince us that unknowing and unwilling they were herded into the ranks of our enemies owing to the machinations of such astute tyrants as Ferdinand and Boris. If, however, they desire to gain the shattered confidence of the British and American peoples they must surrender the loot which they have grabbed from their neighbour% and make reparation for the rape of the Greek and Yugoslav territories which they have seized and administered with such brutality. Until then we can only regard them with the confirmed suspicion which their conduct has aroused.
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