e King of Montenegro, and as regards Austro-Hungarian
relations . . . in pursuance of what was intended King Nikola was
given some energetic counsel to pursue a quiet line of conduct, and
not to let himself in for any adventures." Serbia now was on very
friendly terms with the Greeks and helping them to kill Bulgar
komitadjis in Macedonia. Montenegro, feeling secure in her
arrangements with Bulgaria, was induced to declare alliance with
Serbia. The Bulgar-Greek alliance, the hardest to make, was finally
negotiated.

These things were all secret, but the air was tense with them. We
were told we should know definitely if it were peace or war when
King Nikola returned from Petersburg in February. Prince Danilo at
the same time went to Sofia. We were told to be ready for war in
April. Gavrilovitch, who was Serb Minister at Cetinje, came to
Scutari with young M. Cambon, a significant combination, and was
visibly relieved when I told him I was doing all I could to keep
peace in the mountains Serbia, as we know now, was acting strictly
as Russia's tool, as shown by official documents, and Russia wished
to postpone the Balkan crash till she was ready. But having made the
Balkan Alliance, it took the bit in its teeth. Daily I saw
Montenegro shoving towards war, and the Turks steadily fortifying
Scutari.

On March 10th Petar Plamenatz was suddenly transferred to
Constantinople, and replaced by Jovan Jovitchevitch, who naively
said he had been instructed to ask me for maps and information.
Petar went to Constantinople, as he afterwards boasted, for the
express purpose of declaring war. "Ma guerre a moi!" he called it.
"Car c'est moi qui l'a fait."

At the last moment, when war was seething, Hadji Avdil, Minister of
the Interior, started with a Reform Commission through Turkey. But
he only precipitated the end. A narrow-minded man, filled with
inordinate conceit of his own importance, he passed with difficulty
through Kosovo vilayet and arrived in Scutari on March 10th. Instead
of pacifying the excited Maltsors, he refused to meet them on any
terms which they considered safe. And he left matters far worse than
he found them. That he, too, expected war was evident, for he
appointed the military commandant Hussein Riza as Vali.

The Albanians of Kosovo again rose in revolt. Ise Boletin again led
them. They triumphed everywhere, and this time entered Uskub, where
their conduct was admitted to have been exemplary by the Foreign