It is useless for them to pretend that they do
not want to attack us, and are quite content to see us wasting our strength by accumulating a large force at Salonika. They know well how dangerous that force may be. They, and especially the Bulgarians, cannot but look forward with dread to the time when the Allies will be in a position to issue from the Salonika lines, like Wellington from Torres Vedras, and strike a blow which may not only crush Bulgaria, but cut the German communications with Turkey, or force the Germans, though men can ill be spared from other parts of their huge line, to bring up fresh armies to guard those communications. The capture of Cettigne by the inglorious methods adopted by Austria is a very poor answer indeed to the failure of the Central Powers to pluck the Salonika thorn out of their flesh.
