THE ULTIMATUM TO SERVIA
To convince any reasonable man that this Austrian ultimatum to Servia
was brutal in its tone and unreasonable in its demands, and that the
reply of Servia was as complete an acquiescence as Servia could make
without a fatal compromise of its sovereignty and self-respect, it is
only necessary to print in parallel columns the demands of Austria and
the reply of Servia.
AUSTRIA'S ULTIMATUM TO SERVIA
"To achieve this end the Imperial and Royal Government sees
itself compelled to demand from the Royal Servian 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 this criminal and
terrorist propaganda.
"In order to give a formal character to this undertaking the
Royal Servian Government shall publish on the front page of
its '_Official Journal_' of the 26th July, the following
declaration:
"'The Royal Government of Servia condemns the propaganda
directed against Austria-Hungary--_i.e._, the general
tendency of which the final aim is to detach from the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy territories belonging to it, and
it sincerely deplores the fatal consequence of these
criminal proceedings.
"'The Royal Government regrets that Servian officers
and functionaries 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 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 formally to warn
officers and functionaries, and the whole population of the
kingdom, that henceforward it will proceed with the
utmost rigor against persons who may be guilty of such
machinations, which it will use all its efforts to
anticipate and suppress.'
"This declaration shall simultaneously be communicated to
the Royal Army as an order of the day by His Majesty the
King and shall be published in the '_Official Bulletin_' of
the Army.
"'The Royal Servian Government further undertakes:
"1. To suppress any publication which incites to hatred and
contempt of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the general
tendency of which is directed against its territorial
integrity;
"2. To dissolve immediately the society styled Narodna
Odbrana, to confiscate all its means of propaganda, and to
proceed in the same manner against other societies and their
branches in Servia which engage in propaganda against the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The Royal Government shall take
the necessary measures to prevent the societies dissolved
from continuing their activity under another name and form;
"3. To eliminate without delay from public instruction in
Servia, both as regards the teaching body and also as
regards the methods of instruction, everything that serves,
or might serve, to foment the propaganda against
Austria-Hungary:
"4. To remove from the military service, and from the
administration in general, all officers and functionaries
guilty of propaganda against the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
whose names and deeds the Austro-Hungarian Government
reserves to itself the right of communicating to the Royal
Government;
"5. To accept the collaboration in Servia of representatives
of the Austro-Hungarian Government in the suppression of the
subversive movement directed against the territorial
integrity of the Monarchy;
"6. To take judicial proceedings against accessories to the
plot of the 28th June who are on Servian territory.
Delegates of the Austro-Hungarian Government will take part
in the investigation relating thereto;
"7. To proceed without delay to the arrest of Major Voija
Tankositch and of the individual named Milan Ciganovitch, a
Servian State employe, who have been compromised by the
results of the magisterial enquiry at Serajevo;
"8. To prevent by effective measures the cooperation of the
Servian authorities in the illicit traffic in arms and
explosives across the frontier, to dismiss and punish
severely the officials of the frontier service at Schabatz
and Loznica guilty of having assisted the perpetrators of
the Serajevo crime by facilitating their passage across the
frontier;
"9. To furnish the Imperial and Royal Government with
explanations regarding the unjustifiable utterances of high
Servian officials, both in Servia and abroad, who,
notwithstanding their official position, did not hesitate
after the crime of the 28th June to express themselves in
interviews in terms of hostility to the Austro-Hungarian
Government; and finally,
"10. To notify the Imperial and Royal Government without
delay of the execution of the measures comprised under the
preceding heads.
"The Austro-Hungarian Government expects the reply of the
Royal Government at the latest by six o'clock on Saturday
evening, the 25th July."
"The Royal Servian Government is of the opinion that it is
mutually advantageous not to hinder the settlement of this
question, and therefore, in case the Austro-Hungarian
Government should not consider itself satisfied with this
answer, it is ready as always to accept a peaceful solution,
either by referring the decision of this question to the
international tribunal at The Hague, or by leaving it to the
great Powers who cooperated in the preparation of the
explanation given by the Servian Government on the 17th-31st
March, 1909."
THE SERVIAN REPLY
"The Royal Government has received the notification of the
Austro-Hungarian Government of the 10th inst., and is
convinced that its answer will remove every misunderstanding
that threatens to disturb the pleasant neighborly relations
between the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the Servian
Kingdom.
"The Royal Government is certain that in dealing with the
great neighboring monarchy these protests have under no
pretexts been renewed which formerly were made both in the
Skupshtina and in explanations and negotiations of
responsible representatives of the State, and which, through
the declaration of the Servian Government of March 18, 1909,
were settled; furthermore, that since that time none of the
various successive Governments of the kingdom, nor any of
its officers, has made an attempt to change the political
and legal conditions set up in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
Royal Government is certain that the Austro-Hungarian
Government has made no representations of any kind along
this line except in the case of a textbook concerning which
the Austro-Hungarian Government received an entirely
satisfactory reply. Servia, during the Balkan crisis, gave
evidence in numerous cases of her pacific and temperate
policies, and it will be thanks to Servia alone and the
sacrifices that she alone made in the interest of European
peace if that peace continue.
"The Royal Government cannot be held responsible for
utterances of a private character such as newspaper articles
and the peaceful work of societies, utterances which are
quite ordinary in almost all countries, and which are not
generally under State control, especially since the Royal
Government, in the solution of a great number of questions
that came up between Servia and Austria-Hungary, showed much
consideration as a result of which most of these questions
were settled in the best interests of the progress of the
two neighboring countries.
"The Royal Government was therefore painfully surprised to
hear the contention that Servian subjects had taken part in
the preparations for the murder committed in Serajevo. It
had hoped to be invited to cooperate in the investigations
following this crime, and was prepared, in order to prove
the entire correctness of its acts, to proceed against all
persons concerning whom it had received information.
"In conformity with the wish of the Austro-Hungarian
Government, the Royal Government is prepared to turn over to
the court, regardless of station or rank, any Servian
subject concerning whose participation in the crime at
Serajevo proofs may be given to it. The Government pledges
itself especially to publish on the first page of the
official organ of July 26th the following declaration:
"'The Royal Servian Government condemns every propaganda
that may be directed against Austria-Hungary; that is to
say, all efforts designed ultimately to sever territory from
the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and it regrets sincerely the
sad consequences of these criminal machinations.'
"The Royal Government regrets that, in accordance with
advices from the Austro-Hungarian Government, certain
Servian officers and functionaries are taking an active part
in the present propaganda, and that they have thereby
jeopardized the pleasant neighborly relations to the
maintenance of which the Royal Government was formally
pledged by the declaration of March 31, 1909.
"The Government (what follows here is similar to the text
demanded).
"The Royal Government further pledges itself:
"1. To introduce a provision in the press law on the
occasion of the next regular session of the Skupshtina,
according to which instigations to hatred and contempt of
the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, as well as any publication
directed in general against the territorial integrity of
Austria-Hungary, shall be punished severely.
"The Government pledges itself, on the occasion of the
coming revision of the Constitution, to add to Article XXII.
a clause permitting the confiscation of publications, the
confiscation of which, under the present Article XXII. of
the Constitution, would be impossible.
"2. The Government possesses no proof--and the Note of the
Austro-Hungarian Government provides it with none--that the
'Narodna Odbrana' Society and other similar associations
have up to the present committed any criminal acts through
any of their members. Nevertheless, the Royal Government
will accept the demand of the Austro-Hungarian Government
and dissolve the Narodna Odbrana Society, as well as all
societies that may work against Austria-Hungary.
"3. The Royal Servian Government agrees to eliminate
forthwith from public education in Servia everything that
might help the propaganda against Austria-Hungary, provided
that the Austro-Hungarian Government gives it actual proof
of this propaganda.
"4. The Royal Government is also ready to discharge from
military and civil service such officers--provided it is
proved against them by legal investigation--who have
implicated themselves in acts directed against the
territorial integrity of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy; the
Government expects that, for the purpose of instituting
proceedings, the Austro-Hungarian Government will impart the
names of these officers and employes and the acts of which
they are accused.
"5. The Royal Servian Government must confess that it is
not quite clear as to the sense and scope of the desire
of the Austro-Hungarian Government to the effect that the
Royal Servian Government bind itself to allow the
cooperation within its territory of representatives of the
Austro-Hungarian Government, but it nevertheless declares
itself willing to permit such cooperation as might be in
conformity with international law and criminal procedure,
as well as with friendly neighborly relations.
"6. The Royal Government naturally holds itself bound to
institute an investigation against all such persons as were
concerned in the plot of June 15th-28th, or are supposed to
have been concerned in it, and are on Servian soil. As to
the cooperation of special delegates of the Austro-Hungarian
Government in this investigation, the Servian Government
cannot accept such cooperation, since this would be a
violation of the laws and criminal procedure. However, in
individual cases, information as to the progress of the
investigation might be given to the Austro-Hungarian
delegates.
"7. On the very evening on which your Note arrived the Royal
Government caused the arrest of Major Voislar Tankosic.
But, regarding Milan Ciganovic, who is a subject of the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and who was employed until June
15th (as candidate) in the Department of Railroads it has
not been possible to arrest this man up till now, for which
reason a warrant has been issued against him.
"The Austro-Hungarian Government is requested, in order that
the investigation may be made as soon as possible, to make
known in the specified form what grounds of suspicion exist,
and the proofs of guilt collected at the investigation in
Serajevo.
"8. The Servian Government will increase the severity and
scope of its measures against the smuggling of arms and
explosives.
"It goes without saying that it will at once start an
investigation and mete out severe punishment to the frontier
officials of the Sabac-Loznica line who failed in their duty
and allowed those responsible for the crime to cross the
frontier.
"9. The Royal Government is willing to give explanations 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 of them Slav countries, and when Servia
had emerged from the Balko-Turkish War with signal credit to itself,
it was again Austria that had intervened and deprived it of the fruit
of its victories by denying it access to the sea.
Similarly, by the Treaty of Frankfort, Germany had forcibly annexed
Alsace and Lorraine from France. As there existed in Servia voluntary
organizations of men, which ceaselessly agitated for the recovery of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, so in France similar patriotic organizations
have for the last forty years continuously agitated for a war which
would lead to the ultimate recovery of Alsace and Lorraine. The statue
of Strassburg in the Place de la Concorde has been covered with the
emblems of mourning from the time that Bismarck wrung from Jules Favre
the cession of the Rhine territory. If Austria's grievance against
Servia were just, Germany has an equal and similar grievance against
France.
Under these circumstances let us suppose that on the occasion of the
visit of the German Crown Prince to Strassburg, that an Alsatian
citizen of German nationality, having strong French sympathies, had
assassinated the Crown Prince, and that France had formally disclaimed
any complicity in the assassination and expressed its sympathy and
regret.
_Mutatis mutandis_, let us suppose that Germany had thereupon issued
to France the same ultimatum that Austria issued to Servia, requiring
France to acknowledge moral responsibility for a crime, which it
steadily disavowed. The ultimatum to France in that event would have
included a peremptory demand that the government of France, a proud
and self-respecting country, should publish in the _Official Journal_,
and communicate as an "order of the day" to the army of France, a
statement that the French Government formally denounced all attempts
to recover Alsace and Lorraine; that it regretted the participation of
French officers in the murder of the German Crown Prince; that it
engaged to suppress in the Press of France any expressions of hatred
or contempt for Germany; that it would dissolve all patriotic
societies that have for their object the recovery of the "lost
provinces"; that it would eliminate from the public schools of France
all instruction which served to foment feeling against Germany; that
it would remove from its army all officers who had joined in the
agitation against Germany; that it would accept in the courts of
France the participation of German officials in determining who were
guilty, either of the Strassburg murder or of the propaganda for the
recovery of Alsace and Lorraine; that it would further proceed to
arrest and punish certain French officers, whom the German Government
charged with participating in the offensive propaganda, and that
it would furnish the German Government with full explanations and
information in reference to its execution of these peremptory demands.
Let us suppose that such an ultimatum having been sent, that France
had been given forty-eight hours to comply with conditions which were
obviously fatal to its self-respect and forever destructive of its
prestige as a great Power.
Can it be questioned what the reply of France or the judgment of the
world would be in such a quarrel?
_Every fair-minded man would say without hesitation that such an
ultimatum would be an unprecedented outrage upon the fine proprieties
of civilized life._
The only difference between the two cases is the fact that in the case
of Germany and France the power issuing the ultimatum would be less
than double the size of that nation which it sought to coerce, while
in the case of Austria and Servia, the aggressor was twelve times as
powerful as the power whose moral prestige and political independence
it sought to destroy.
In view of the nature of these demands, the assurance which Austria
subsequently gave Russia, that she would do nothing to lessen the
territory of Servia, goes for nothing. From the standpoint of Servia,
it would have been far better to lose a part of its territory and keep
its independence and self-respect as to the remainder, than to retain
all its existing land area, and by submitting to the ultimatum become
virtually a vassal state of Austria. Certainly if Servia had
acquiesced fully in Austria's demands without any qualification or
reservation (as for the sake of peace it almost did), then Austria
would have enjoyed a moral protectorate over all of Servia's
territory, and its ultimate fate might have been that of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, which Austria first governed as a protectorate, and later
forcibly annexed.