Part 6 (1/2)
CHAPTER V
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 a.s.surance 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 partic.i.p.ated 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 antic.i.p.ate 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 a.s.sisted the perpetrators of the Serajevo crime by facilitating their pa.s.sage 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 Sat.u.r.day 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.