Page:Russian Realities and Problems - ed. James Duff (1917).djvu/22

 1881, renewed in 1889, between Austria and King Milan, according to which Serbia was made a tool of Austria in her push to Salonica, Austria formally promising her aid in the extension of Serbia in the direction of the Vardar valley, on condition that they were not to extend either to the Sanjak of Novy Bazar, a passage between Serbia and Montenegro, which Austria kept to herself according to the treaty of Berlin of 1878, or to the Dalmatian shore on the Adriatic. Still later, as recently as 1913, I personally heard from Ferdinand, the King of Bulgaria, the expression of his view that Serbia was to remain under Austrian sway. He even told me that he impressed this opinion upon Alexander, the Serbian heir-apparent. That was also the reason why Russia considered herself unconcerned in Macedonia: Macedonia was the sphere of the Austrian push, and as late as 1897 Russia agreed with Austria to preserve the status quo in Macedonia, and continued obstinately to defend it down to 1904 in spite of British demands for a serious reform in that wretched country.

We can state exactly when the traditional policy of Russia gave place to a new and an opposite line. It was at the time when Russia had finally altered her international course and had drifted into the channel of the entente with England. It was in the years 1907–1908. In August, 1907, a treaty with England had been concluded on Asiatic questions, and in May, 1908, there was an interview between the Tsar and King Edward VII. These two years, 1907 and 1908, represent the period of transition when the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Izvolsky, after having found new