l. But the Emperor, in the remote
fiords of Norway, was all the time posted up in the secret designs of
the Vienna Cabinet. The approaching ultimatum to Serbia was telegraphed
to him direct by his Ambassador in Vienna, Herr von Tschirsky, a very
active worker, who strenuously advocated a policy of hostility towards
Russia, and from the first moment had wanted war.

[Sidenote: The Kaiser decides.]

We may assume that the Emperor, if his mind was not already made up at
Kiel, came to a decision during his Norwegian cruise. His departure for
the north had been merely a snare, a device for throwing Europe and the
Triple Entente off the scent, and for lulling them into a false
security. While the world imagined that he was merely seeking to soothe
his nerves and recruit his strength with the salt sea breezes, he was
biding his time for a dramatic reappearance on the stage of events,
allowing the introductory scenes to be played in his absence.

III

During the first half of July, my colleagues and I at Berlin did not
live in a fool's paradise. As the deceptive calm caused by Vienna's
silence was prolonged, a latent, ill-defined uneasiness took hold of us
more and more. Yet we were far from anticipating that in the space of a
few days we should be driven into the midst of a diplomatic maelstrom,
in which, after a week of intense anguish, we should look on, mute and
helpless, at the shipwreck of European peace and of all our hopes.

[Sidenote: Austria's ultimatum to Serbia.]

The ultimatum, sent in the form of a Note by Baron von Giesl to the
Serbian Cabinet on July 23, was not disclosed by the Berlin newspapers
until the following day, in their morning editions. This bolt from the
blue proved more alarming than anything we had dared to imagine. The
shock was so unexpected that certain journals, losing their composure,
seemed to regard the Vienna Cabinet's arraignment as having overshot the
mark. "Austria-Hungary," said the _Vossische Zeitung_, "will have to
justify the grave charges that she makes against the Serbian Government
and people by publishing the results of the preliminary investigations
at Serajevo."

[Sidenote: Russia would defend Serbia.]

My own conviction, shared by several of my colleagues, was that the
Austrian and Hungarian statesmen could not have brought themselves to
risk such a blow at the Balkan kingdom, without having consulted their
colleagues at Berlin and ascertained that the Emperor Willi