"True to her unvarying policy, Austria no sooner heard of the Customs Convention than she set to work to destroy it, claiming that it damaged her commercial interests. By her unjust attempts at coercion, plain and undisguised, Austria brought into being a political bond between Bulgaria and Servia which was not in existence at the time of the signature of the Customs Convention. … "In the past Servia has fallen more and more completely under the domination of Austria; her geographical position and her internal troubles made her an easy prey for Vienna, and had it not been for the desire of Russia to share the dainty morsel, Servia would in all probability have gone ere this to join the Servian provinces of Bosnia and Hersegovina as an integral part of the Austrian Empire. Her commerce is almost solely with Austria or Hungary, and her finances are under the control of a French-Austrian syndicate. It might therefore well seem incredible that the small State, bound thus hand and foot to the oppressor, should dare to oppose her desire for liberty to the Austrian desire for gain, political, commercial, or financial. But just as under the Turkish rule the Servians began to fight for freedom in small bands, so the Customs Convention with Bulgaria represents the first blow for economic and political freedom. … While the Convention represents an effort on Servia’s part to free herself from the thrall of Austria, it was not directed against that country. It seeks rather to open up new markets and new means of export, for which there was sufficient reason in the fact that there was no increase in the export of Servian goods to Austria during the last few years, some of which even showed a decrease. Commercial development demanded that new markets should be sought and a new route via Bulgaria to the Black Sea ports be opened up. …