[R 3104/42/92]

Sir R. H. Campbell to Mr. Eden.—(Received May28.)

Belgrade, May 25,1936.

Sir,

I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith an interesting memorandum by Mr. Balfour on the ideal of in integral Yugoslavia. It is in some sort a sequel to that written by Sir Nevile Henderson in 1934 and forwarded under cover of his despatch No. 40 of the 1st March of that year.

2. I share Mr. Balfour's conclusion that many things must happen before this aim can be realized.

I have, &c.

R.H. CAMPBELL.

The Ideal of an Integral Yugoslavia.

IN October 1935 Yugoslav susceptibilities were offended by the Bulgarian Government having insinuated that the authorities of this country had connived at a plot on the part of Colonel Veltcheff to dethrone King Boris. Although this insinuation was subsequently explained away, a suspicion apparently persisted in Bulgaria that the Yugoslav Government had aided and abetted the colonel in his designs. In particular, it was alleged that he had been helped across the frontier by Yugoslav officers, and had received support in this country from protagonists of the ideal of an integral, Yugoslavia.

• 2. Bulgaria's attitude towards Yugoslavia plays but a minor part in the preoccupations of the latter's rulers, who are confronted in the field of foreign affairs with other, and for them far more important, current problems. Since, however, the incident under reference is related to an aspect of Balkan politics, which is not very apparent on the surface, it would seem of interest to comment upon it in greater detail.

• 3. In the first place, it will be recollected that Colonel Veltcheff, who was the moving spirit of the anti-Macedonian and pro-Yugoslav Government which came into power as a result of the coup d’Etatat Sofia of May 1934 and held office until the beginning of 1935, arrived at Belgrade in the late autumn of last year from Paris, where he had been living in exile. The Yugoslav Government were embarrassed at his presence, but saw no reason to expel him as his passport was in order and M. Kazassoff, the Bulgarian Minister at Belgrade, gave a personal guarantee of his good behaviour.