Next came Zanoff, the uncompromising Radical, who said, “I had sworn I would never set foot in your palace. If I have come to-day it is because the interests of the country, higher than my private principles, have obliged me to do so. What I have to say Your Majesty can read in this paper which I present in the name of my party.” He then presented a memorandum similar in content to that of the Agrarians. The King read this too and continued to keep silent.
Gueschoff, Prime Minister during the first Balkan war, followed:—
“Your Majesty, I, too, declare myself to be fully in agreement with what Stambulivski has already said. However hard his words may have seemed, they nevertheless express in their simple, uncultivated frankness, unacquainted with the formalities of etiquette, our common thoughts. We, all of us representatives of the Opposition, consider the present policy contrary to the sentiments and interests of the country, for, by spurring it on to make common cause with Germany, it brings it into hostility with mighty Russia, who was our liberator, and the adventure into which the country will be hurled will cost it its future. We disapprove in the most absolute manner of this policy, and we, too, request that the Sobranje be summoned and that a Ministry may be formed having the co-operation of all parties.”
Dr. Daneff, who succeeded Guesehoff, but resigned when the attack on Serbia and Greece failed, spoke in the same strain.
Having heard them all the King replied:—
“I have listened to your threatenings, and I will refer them to the Prime Minister, that he may take cognizance of them and know what to decide.”
There was an awkward pause, which Ferdinand attempted to fill by passing some remarks about the crops to Stambulivski. But the attention of the giant farmer was riveted on something more than agriculture.
“This,” he said, “is not the moment to talk of these things. I say again to Your Majesty, that the country will not have a policy of adventure such as cost it so dear in 1913. This policy is, moreover, yours. Before 1913 we believed you a great diplomatist, but we have seen what your diplomacy brought us. You have taken advantage of all the holes in the Constitution to get the direction of the country in your own hands. Your ministers count for nothing; you alone are the author of this policy, and you alone will have the responsibility of it.”
“The policy I have decided to follow,” the King frigidly replied, “is the one which I consider the best and the most advantageous for the country.”
“It is a policy which can only lead to disaster,” replied the farmer, “which will bring about new catastrophes, and will compromise not only the future of the country, but of your own dynasty, and which may cost you your head!”