Page:The guilt of William Hohenzollern.djvu/114

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110
The Guilt of William Hohenzollern

the slightest, and that it was as great a surprise to her as to the other Powers.

Thus Jagow telegraphed to the German Minister in Stockholm on July 23rd, 2 p.m.:

"According to all appearances, Austria-Hungary, who feels her existence threatened by the Greater Serbia agitation, has made very serious demands in Belgrade. These are not known to us; we regard them as Austria-Hungary's internal affair, in which we have no right to interfere."

On July 24th Zimmermann telegraphed to the Ambassadors in Paris, London and Petrograd:

"In local diplomatic circles opinion prevails that we instigated Austria-Hungary to send sharp Note to Serbia, and also helped to frame it. Rumoui appears to emanate from Cambon. If necessary, please counter him there. We exercised no influence whatsoever on the contents of the Note, and had just as little opportunity as other Powers of taking up any attitude in regard to it before publication."

In these edifying instructions only one statement is correct : that Cambon from the very outset did, indeed, smell a rat.

On July 24th he reported on an interview with Jagow:

"I asked him whether the Berlin Cabinet had really known nothing whatever of the Austrian demands before they were transmitted to Belgrade. When he affirmed this statement, I told