[The next passages, which had formerly been suppressed by the
Swedish Government, appeared in the Politiken of Stockholm on
March 26:]
At the same time (1913) the Balkan Conference met in London, and I had
the opportunity of meeting the leading men of the Balkan States. The
most important personage among them was M. Venizelos. He was anything
but anti-German, and particularly prized the Order of the Red Eagle,
which he even wore at the French Embassy. With his winning amiability
and savoir faire he could always win sympathy.
Next to him a great rôle was played by Daneff, the then Bulgarian Prime
Minister and Count Berchtold's confidant. He gave the impression of
being a capable and energetic man, and even the influence of his friends
at Vienna and Budapest, at which he sometimes laughed, was attributable
to the fact that he had let himself be drawn into the second Balkan war
and had declined Russian intervention.
M. Take Jonescu was often in London, too, and visited me regularly. I
had known him since the time when I was Secretary at Bucharest. He was
also one of Herr von Kiderlen-Wächter's friends. His aim in London was
to secure concessions for Rumania by negotiations with M. Daneff. In
this he was supported by the most capable Rumanian Minister, M. Misu.
That these negotiations were stranded by the Bulgarian opposition is
known. Count Berchtold--and naturally we with him--was entirely on the
side of Bulgaria; otherwise we should have succeeded by pressure on M.
Daneff in obtaining the desired satisfaction for the Rumanians and have
bound Rumania to us, as she was by Austria's attitude in the second
Balkan war, while afterward she was estranged from the Central Powers.