Page:The guilt of William Hohenzollern.djvu/189

Rh also, Vienna seems to pay no attention to our advice.

"Please speak plainly to Count Berchtold at once with all emphasis and great seriousness."

To this German pressure Austria offered a passive resistance. This at last brought Bethmann-Hollweg to desperation. On July 30th, at 9 p.m., he sent a telegram (No. 200) to Tschirschky:

"If Vienna, as is to be assumed from the telephone conversation of your Excellency with Herr von Stumm, refuses any intervention, in particular Grey's proposals, it is hardly possible any longer to shift the guilt of the European conflagration, which is breaking out, on to Russia. His Majesty has, at the Tsar's request, undertaken intervention in Vienna, because he could not refuse to do so without arousing the irrefutable suspicion that we want the war. The success of this intervention is, however, rendered difficult by the fact that Russia has mobilized against Austria. We have mentioned this to-day to England, adding that we have already raised in a friendly way in St. Petersburg and Paris the question of stopping Russian and French military measures, and could only take a new step in this direction through an Ultimatum, which would mean war. We have therefore suggested to Sir Edward Grey that he should, for his part, work earnestly in Paris and St. Petersburg in this sense, and have just received his assurance to that effect through Lichnowsky. If England's efforts succeed while Vienna refuses everything, Vienna will show that she wants a war at all costs,