to the Hague Conference. [!—W.] I rely on your wisdom and friendship.
"Your loving,
"Nicky."[Thanks likewise. W.]
Thereupon Bethmann-Hollweg at once telegraphed to the Ambassador in St. Petersburg :
"I beg your Excellency to explain the alleged discrepancy between your language and His Majesty's telegrams at once in a conversation with M. Sasonow. The idea of the Hague Conference will of course be quite out of the question in this case."
In view of this aversion from the direct way to peace, there remained only the indirect way, that of pressure on the heavy-handed and narrow-minded Austrians, in whom war had already let loose all their military instincts. In the night of July 29th-3oth Berlin was no longer endeavouring so anxiously, as on the 28th, to avoid the impression "as if we wished to hold back Austria" (Cf. page 257).
On July 30th, at 3 a.m., the Ambassador in Vienna was given Lichnowsky's telegram with Grey's warning and the following amplifications:
"If Austria refuses any intervention, we are thus faced with a conflagration, in which England would go against us, and, according to all indications, Italy and Rumania not with us, and we two would have to face four Great Powers. The heavy end of the fighting would, through England's hostility,
