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DIPLOMATIC REMINISCENCES
CHAPTER I
my appointment to sofia
I was on leave in St. Petersburg in January, 1911, when
the news arrived there, first of the serious illness, and
then of the death, of M. Sementovsky, Russian Minister
in Sofia.
Having been for more than six years Counsellor to
the Embassy in Paris, I had an indisputable right to
promotion, and having spent seventeen years as secretary
in Sofia, Constantinople and Belgrade, my professional
antecedents seemed to entitle me to one of the Balkan
posts. My appointment was talked of all over the town
and at the Foreign Office. I therefore was not surprised
when a few days after M. Sementovsky’s death, M.
Sazonoff, who had only been Minister for Foreign Affairs
for three months, sent for me, and informed me that my
appointment to Sofia had just received the Emperor’s
approval, and that I was to prepare to take up my post
almost immediately.
I had been acquainted with M. Sazonoff for some
time, but it was only in Paris that I enjoyed the privilege
of seeing him frequently and of discussing political
affairs with him. In June, 1904, we had both been raised
on the same day to the dignity of Counsellors : he to the
Embassy in London and I to the Embassy in Paris. M.
Sazonoff remained in London three years; in 1907 he
was appointed Minister to the Holy See, and in 1909
assistant to the Minister in St. Petersburg. During his
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