File No. 763.72119/477
In this connection it is proper to observe that although I presented
to the Prime Minister the answer of the Entente powers (in English)
immediately upon receipt, with the statement that the French text
would be handed him as soon as received from Paris, the text however
has never been received—the present note of the Bulgarian Prime
Minister being based, as will be seen, upon the note of the Spanish
Minister.
[Enclosure—Translation]
The Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs
(
Radoslavoff) to the American Consul General at Sofia
(
Murphy)
No. 71
On the 14th of this month, the Royal Government had the honor to
receive, through the obliging medium of his excellency the
Spanish Minister at Sofia, the reply of the Entente to the note
of December 12 last, by which Bulgaria and its allies declared
themselves ready to open negotiations of peace.
Like its allies, the Government of His Majesty made it a duty to
seriously study this reply. There was drawn from it the
certainty that the form as well as the contents of the
communication of the adverse powers forbid a direct reply.
Nevertheless, careful of its obligations towards humanity and
its own people; desirous also of better disengaging itself from
the responsibilities of a prolongation of hostilities imposed on
itself and its allies, by the attitude of the common enemy, this
Government is bound to acquaint the neutral powers with its
point of view on the situation created.
The adversaries of Bulgaria refused to take into account the
proposition of the four allied powers dated December 12, under
the pretext that it lacked sincerity and had no bearing. They
saw in it rather a manoeuvre of war—executed with a view of
effecting the evolution of the campaign—only an offer of peace,
a manoeuvre having for its object the clouding the public
opinion of their own countries, seeking also to mislead, indeed
even to intimidate, the public opinion of neutral countries.
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Provoked and drawn into the present war by neighbors whose only
dream since the beginning has been of its dismemberment,
submitting to the judgment of history the fixing of the initial
responsibilities, in perfect accord with its allies, Bulgaria
protests to-day with all its force against a like interpretation
of the motifs which determined the proposition of peace of the
12th December.
The eagerness which the four allied powers have shown in replying
to the invitation of the President of the United States of
America and the note of the Government of the Swiss Confederacy,
is the best proof of the sincerity of their proposition. The
Royal Government firmly hopes that its point of view will be
shared by the neutral governments, who will acknowledge with it
that it is only after an exchange of ideas proposed by the
allied powers that the Entente would be able to pronounce by
actual knowledge on the real intent of the offer of peace of
December 12.
Bulgaria and its allies have made a loyal attempt to put an end
to the war and to pave the way for an understanding between the
belligerents. The Royal Government is assured that it depends
solely on its adversaries to enter the path that leads to peace;
but the enemy Governments have refused. The responsibility for a
further effusion of blood therefore will rest upon them.
Confident of their rights and in perfect communion with their
people, the four allied powers are forced to continue the fight
until there comes a peace which will guarantee to them the
honor, the existence and the free development of their peoples,
and which will assure at the same time to the states of the
European continent the benevolent possibility of cooperating, in
mutual esteem and on a footing of perfect equality, in the
solution of the great problems of civilization.
Dr. V.
Radoslavoff
Sofia
, January 20,
1917.
