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126 ground; she has taken her measures, and these cannot now, as it were, be made a subject for discussion."

Tschirschky further quotes Berchtold :

""Austria will make no claims on Serbian territory.""

This prompts William to exclaim :

""Donkey! She must take the Sandjak, or the Serbians will get to the Adriatic.""

Berchtold:

""Austria desires no displacement of the balance of power in the Balkans.""

William:

""But that must and will come of itself. Austria must have the preponderance of power in the Balkans, in regard to the other smaller nations, and she must have it at Russia's expense, or there will be no peace.""

At the close of the report he adds the comment:

""Weak.""

He chafed under the necessity of restraining himself, at least outwardly—as required by the role assigned to Germany.