SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE.

CONFIDENTIAL.

Sir. A. Peel to Earl Curzon.—(Received June27.)

(No.228.)

My Lord, Sofia, June21, 1921

WITH reference to my telegram No. 82 of the 18th instant, I have the honour to inform your Lordship that, as I learnt that, to escape the cares of political life and the difficulties resulting from the Cabinet crisis yet unsolved, M. Stamboulisky had for the time being found a haven in the solitude and mountainous seclusion of the Monastery of Rila, and that it was doubtful whether he would return soon to Sofia, I decided that the information I had received in respect of secret negotiations between the Kemalists and the agents of the Soviet Russian Government and the Thraco-Bulgarian and Macedonian Committees was too serious to allow of any delay.

I therefore asked to be received by the King, a request which His Majesty was pleased at once to accord, and in the course of this interview I brought to the attention of His Majesty the circumstances of these proceedings, although I did not enter into particulars, as it might have led to the discovery of the sources from which they had been derived. His countenance at once became extremely grave, as he quite understood that if any serious risings or disorders were to take place in Thrace the means whereby they would have been fomented would not escape scrutiny and the responsibility of his Government would immediately become involved. He said that he was in amazement, and that he would not hesitate to communicate at once with M. Stamboulisky and give him the earliest intimation of what I had brought to his notice.

Although it is frequently alleged that the King shrinks from asserting his authority, it must be remembered that he took a very decided line last year when it was reported that Jafar Tayar was attempting to win for his cause the support of Bulgarian komitajis and officers of the Bulgarian army, and that he motored to the frontier accompanied by the chief of the staff in order to verify for himself the truth of these reports and to exert his personal influence with a view to preventing his subjects from taking any part in the rising.