which could be collected concerning this has been transmitted to the Austro-Hungarian Government." 20

The trial of the assassins brought out evidence which, Austria asserts, proved that the plot to murder the Archduke had been formed in Belgrade; that the "arms and explosives with which the murderers were provided has [had] been given them by Serbian officers"; and that “the passage into Bosnia of the criminals and their arms was organized and carried out by the chiefs of the Serbian frontier service." 21 In support of these charges Austria gives extracts from the records of the trial of the assassins. These documents report the confessions of the murderers and these confessions as thus reported confirm the Austrian allegation.22

20 S. B. B., 5, 30. 21 A. R. B., 7.

22 A. R. B., 19, enclosure 8.

CHAPTER IV

THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN NOTE TO SERBIA

ON July 23, 1914, Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to the Serbian minister for foreign affairs, demanding an answer in forty-eight hours. The Austrian minister was to add verbally that he was instructed to leave Belgrade at the expiration of the "time-limit in the event that within that period" he had not received an "unconditional and favorable response from the Royal Serbian Government.” 1

The Entente powers were taken by surprise when they learned the contents of the note. According to the English ambassador at Vienna, the Austro-Hungarian Government had maintained the strictest silence during the time just preceding the delivery of the note at Belgrade, and the representatives of Italy, Russia, and France, as well as himself, were kept in ignorance by the Austro-Hungarian Government as to what demands would be made on Serbia. The Russian ambassador was so completely in the dark as to Austria's plans 1 A. R. B., 7; R. O. B., 1.

i

that he had left Vienna about the 20th of July for a two weeks' vacation. The French ambassador on July 22 received from the Austro-Hungarian foreign office the impression that "the note which was being drawn up would be found to contain nothing with which a selfrespecting state need hesitate to comply." 2

The note addressed to Serbia starts out by reminding Serbia of her promise of March 31, 1909, henceforth to regard the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a fait accompli and to renounce her attitude of protest and opposition and "to live in [the] future on good neighborly terms" with Austria-Hungary. This pledge, it is charged, has not been kept; on the contrary, "the history of recent years, and in particular the painful events of the 28th June last, have shown the existence of a subversive movement with the object of detaching a part of the territories of Austria-Hungary from the Monarchy. The movement, which had its birth under the eye of the Serbian Government, has gone so far as to make itself manifest on both sides of the Serbian frontier in the shape of acts of terrorism and a series of outrages and murders...

"The Royal Serbian Government has done nothing to repress these movements. It has permitted the criminal machinations of various 2 B. W. P., 161.

Monarchy and has tolerated unrestrain guage on the part of the press, the gl tion of the perpetrators of outrages, a participation of officers and functiona subversive agitation. It has permitted wholesome propaganda in public instr In short, it has permitted all manifestati a nature to incite the Serbian populat hatred of the Monarchy and contempt of stitutions." It is also contended that th fessions of the assassins on trial for the m of the Archduke prove the complicity o bian officials in the crime of Sarajevo.3 The note continues as follows:

This culpable tolerance of the Royal Serbia ernment had not ceased at the moment whe events of the 28th June last proved its fatal quences to the whole world.

It results from the depositions and confessi the criminal perpetrators of the outrage of the June that the Sarajevo assassinations were plan Belgrade, that the arms and explosives with the murderers were provided had been given to by Serbian officers and functionaries belonging Narodna Odbrana, and finally that the passage Bosnia of the criminals and their arms was orga and carried out by the Chiefs of the Serbian fr service.

The above mentioned results of the preliminar vestigation do not permit the Austro-Hungarian ernment to pursue any longer the attitude o

3 See p. 51.

pectant forbearance which it has maintained for years in the face of machinations hatched in Belgrade, and thence propagated in the territories of the Monarchy. The results, on the contrary, impose upon it the duty of putting an end to the intrigues which form a perpetual menace to the tranquillity of the Monarchy.

To achieve this end, the Imperial and Royal Government finds itself compelled to demand from the Royal Serbian Government a formal assurance that it condemns this dangerous propaganda against the Monarchy-in other words, the whole series of tendencies, the ultimate aim of which is to detach from the Monarchy territories belonging to it—and that it undertakes to suppress by every means at its disposal this criminal and terrorist propaganda.

In order to give a solemn character to this undertaking the Royal Serbian Government shall publish on the front page of its "journal official," of the 26th of July [13th July] the following declaration :

The Royal Government of Serbia condemns the propaganda directed against AustriaHungary, of which the final aim is to detach from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy territories belonging to it, and it sincerely deplores the fatal consequences of these criminal proceedings.

The Royal Government regrets that Serbian officers and functionaries have participated in the above-mentioned propaganda and thus compromised the good neighborly relations to which the Royal Government was solemnly pledged by its declaration of the 31st of March, 1909.

The Royal Government, which disapproves and repudiates all idea of interfering or attempting to interfere with the destinies of the inhabitants of any part whatsoever of Austria-Hungary, considers it its duty for