ons of
the statements made in interviews by its officials in Servia
and foreign countries after the crime, and which, according
to the Austro-Hungarian Government, were anti-Austrian, as
soon as the said Government indicates where these statements
were made, and provides proofs that such statements were
actually made by the said officials. The Royal Government
will itself take steps to collect the necessary proofs and
means of transmission for this purpose.

"10. The Royal Government will, in so far as this has not
already occurred in this Note, inform the Austro-Hungarian
Government of the taking of the measures concerning the
foregoing matters, as soon as such measures have been
ordered and carried out.

It increases the ineffaceable discredit of this brutal ultimatum when
we consider the relative size of the two nations. Austria has a
population of over 50,000,000 and Servia about 4,000,000. Moreover,
Servia had just emerged from two terrible conflicts, from which it
was still bleeding to exhaustion. Austria's ultimatum was that of a
Goliath to David, and, up to the hour that this book goes to press,
the result has not been different from that famous conflict.

Germany itself had already given to Servia an intimation of its
intended fate. It had anticipated the Austrian ultimatum by some
pointed suggestions to Servia on its own account, for in the letter
already quoted from Sir M. de Bunsen to Sir Edward Grey, we learn that
the German Secretary of State told the British Ambassador before the
ultimatum was issued that he

on several occasions, in conversation with the Servian
Minister, emphasized the extreme importance that
Austro-Servian relations should be put on a proper
footing.[14]

[Footnote 14: In English _White Paper_, No. 2.]

This pointed intimation from Germany, thus preceding the formal
ultimatum from Austria, naturally gave Servia a quick appreciation
that within the short space allowed by the ultimatum, it must either
acquiesce in grossly unreasonable demands or perish as an independent
nation.

To appreciate fully the brutality of this ultimatum let us imagine a
precise analogy.

The relations of France and Germany--leaving aside the important
difference of relative size--are not unlike the relations that existed
between Servia and Austria. In 1908, Austria had forcibly annexed
Bosnia and Herzegovina, both