The Government and the diplomatic corps had been for some time at
Ni[vs], the second largest town, whose Turkish character is
disappearing. But the population in the direst Turkish times were less
exposed to epidemics than the thousands of unwilling residents who
thronged the little, painted houses and the wide, cobbled streets in
1915. It was at Ni[vs] that the negotiations were conducted with
Bulgaria, and in July an aged gentleman from Budapest came with the
offer of a separate peace. This gentleman, a stockbroker of Slav
origin, was imbued with patriotic motives, for he was assured that
Germany would win the War. It was an undertaking in those days for a
man in his seventy-sixth year to travel, by way of Roumania and
Bulgaria, to Ni[vs]; but as he had connections in Serbia he was
resolved to see them, and he travelled at his own expense, although
the German Consul-General at Buda-Pest, acting apparently for the
Deutsche Bank, had spoken of 18 million crowns for distribution among
the politicians at Ni[vs] and five millions for the old stockbroker
himself. His suggestion was that Serbia should make certain small
modifications in the Bucharest Treaty in favour of the Bulgars, that
Albania should be hers up to and including Durazzo, that she should be
joined to Montenegro, and that her debts to the Entente should be
shouldered by Germany, which would likewise give a considerable loan,
and requested merely the permission to send German troops down the
Danube. "My dear boy," said a Minister, an old friend of his, "go back
at once, or they'll lock you up in a mad-house." And when the poor old
gentleman got back he found himself compelled to start a lawsuit
against the Germans, since they were unwilling to pay his costs. The
Consul-General at Pest disowned all knowledge of him, but the broker
called in the police as witnesses; for they had summoned him, on more
than one occasion, to explain why he was so much in the Consul's
company. The German Government said also that he was a perfect
stranger to them; but finally they settled with him for a sum which is
believed to have been 35,000 crowns.