At the end of June I went to Kiel by the royal orders a few weeks after
I had received the honorary degree of Doctor at Oxford, an honor no
German Ambassador since Herr von Bunsen had received. On board the
Meteor we received the news of the death of the Archduke, the heir to
the throne. His Majesty complained that his attempts to win the noble
Archduke over to his ideas were thereby rendered fruitless. How far
plans for an active policy against Serbia had already been made at
Konopischt I am not in a position to judge. As I was not informed about
intentions and events in Vienna I attached no further importance to the
matter. I could only observe that the feeling of relief outweighed the
other feelings of the Austrian aristocrats. One of the guests on board
the Meteor was the Austrian Count Felix Thun. In spite of glorious
weather seasickness had kept him to his cabin. After receiving the news
he became well. Shock or joy had cured him.
On reaching Berlin I visited the Chancellor, and said I considered the
situation of our foreign policy very satisfactory, as we were on better
terms with England than we had been for a long time. In France a
pacifist Government was at the helm. Herr von Bethmann Hollweg did not
seem to share my optimism, and complained of the Russian armaments. I
tried to calm him, and pointed out especially that Russia had absolutely
no interest in attacking us, and that such an attack would not receive
Anglo-French support, as both countries, England and France, desired
peace. Then I called on Dr. Zimmermann, who represented von Jagow, and
learned from him that Russia was about to mobilize 900,000 new troops.
From his manner of speaking he was evidently annoyed with Russia, who
was everywhere in our way. There was also the question of the
difficulties of commercial politics. Of course, I was not told that
General von Moltke was working eagerly for war. But I learned that Herr
von Tschirschky had received a rebuff for having reported that he had
advised moderation in Vienna toward Serbia.