Page:The guilt of William Hohenzollern.djvu/129

Rh day many a "Majesty" would "make himself scarce" in a very different fashion!

"Telegram:

"The Ministerial Council is, however, unable to come to a decision."

William :

"The haughty Slavs!""

At the conclusion of the telegram he observes:

""How hollow appears the whole of this so-called Great-Serbian State business! Thus it is with all Slavonic States. Just stamp on the rabble!""

Such was the language of the Peace Kaiser immediately before the outbreak of the war.

Far from being unfavourably impressed by the brusqueness of Austria, he condemned even the outward appearance of a conciliatory spirit, even a gesture of politeness, on the part of his ally.

On July 24th Tschirschky telegraphed from Vienna: ""To show Russia his disposition to be reasonable, Count Berchtold sent this morning for the Russian Chargé d' Affaires.""

To which William remarked on July 26th:

"Quite unnecessary! Looks weak and apologetic; which is quite the wrong impression to give to Russia/and must be avoided. Austria is on firm