The Days of a Man 1914 



the Archduke's plans for a triple monarchy and his 

 marriage outside court circles awakened strong 

 resentment in Vienna and Budapest, while on the 

 other hand he and his spouse found favor with the 

 Kaiser, who ennobled the lady. In any event, the 

 affair at Sarajevo offered a better military opening 

 than a pretext to be framed in Alsace. 



The case But the current statement that Serbia started the 

 of Serbia war cannot b e supported. The crime was committed 

 by an Austrian subject and in Austrian territory. I 

 know of no evidence to show complicity in the plot 

 on the part of the Serbian government or the Serbian 

 people. That a Serbo-Bosnian secret society was 

 implicated is very likely; doubtless also Serbians 

 generally continued to resent the seizure of Bosnia 

 and Herzegovina in 1908 and the judicial murders 

 achieved or attempted in Croatia. 



The fate of the Archduke was only an incident, and 

 appeals to greed, patriotism, and revenge were all 



to view the fine display of bloom. But combining business with pleasure, as 

 the three friends walked in the garden they considered a new plan for a Triple 

 Monarchy. This involved the relinquishment of German Austria by the Arch- 

 duke, who then should make good his transfer by combined war on Russia to 

 secure Poland and Serbia. Two great empires would thus run parallel from the 

 North and Baltic seas to the Adriatic and ^Egaean, that of Franz Ferdinand 

 consisting of Poland, Hungary, and Jugoslavia, the latter of which would com- 

 prise Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, Serbia, and most of Macedonia. 



According to rumor the conference was overheard, and by means of agents 

 provocateurs and Bosnian fanatics, certain Austro-Hungarian noblemen then 

 compassed the death of the Archduke, feared and hated (as already implied) 

 io the court circles of both capitals. Replying to a request for more information, 

 Mr. Steed writes me as follows: 



"The article on 'The Pact of Konopischt* stands as I wrote it. My article 

 was in the nature of explanatory comment on information that reached me 

 from a quarter that I am still not at liberty to name. It was, however, the only 

 quarter that was likely to know, even in outline, what passed at Konopischt. 

 But I could not and cannot go bail for it. All I could do, and did, when it 

 reached me was to explain the circumstances that rendered even so startling 

 a story not inherently improbable." 



