WaybackWire

BERLIN, Friday.—Germany was not consulted on the Austrian note before it was delivered, but she approves the step and will stand by Austria-Hungary if any other Power intervenes.

The German Government made its position plain in a statement issued to-day: “Austria drafted the Servian Note without consulting Germany, which holds aloof unless another Power intervenes. In that case she will fulfil her duty towards her ally.”

Officials here say the situation would become gravest if France and Russia attempted to interfere. Should Russia take part against Austria, the Associated Press learns, Germany is prepared to draw the sword on behalf of her ally.

The foreign office says that if war comes Germany will do everything possible to localise the conflict and confine it to Austria and Servia.

Precautions are already being taken. German officers absent from their commands have been ordered to prepare to rejoin them at once, and Austrian reservists living in Berlin have been told to hold themselves ready to return to their regiments at the shortest notice.

ST PETERSBURG, Friday.—Russia will at once ask Austria-Hungary to prolong the time-limit given to Servia, so that the diplomacy of Europe may have time to act, Reuter’s Agency understands. If Austria refuses, extreme measures on Russia’s part may be expected.

The decision follows an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet, which sat for four hours to-day on the foreign situation.

President Poincare has sailed from Kronstadt for Stockholm after a banquet with the Tsar aboard the French battleship France, at which the most cordial toasts were exchanged. After talks between M. Sazonoff and M. Viviani a joint statement was issued. It says the visit gave the two Governments the opportunity of stating “the perfect unanimity of their views on various problems, which the solicitude of general peace and the European equilibrium imposes on the Powers, especially in the East.”

In the capital itself the strikes that marred the President’s visit have taken a darker turn. “The disturbances in Russia are now plainly revolutionary,” Reuter reports. Strikers have cut the telegraphs, overturned vans, raised barricades and a red flag and stoned the police and troops, who were compelled to fire. Five are known to have been killed and eight wounded.

BERLIN, Friday.—The Berlin papers say the note comes as “a startling, glaring lightning flash”. The Berliner Zeitung writes: “Our hearts are standing still and a terrible crash which will shake the world is awaited.”

The Lokal-Anzeiger has no doubts: “The Austrian note was harsh but just. Servia must comply with the demands made or perish.”

In India the Bombay Chronicle, writing before the terms were known, doubts whether the Servian Government had any hand in the plot against the Archduke, though it holds that the conspiracy was widespread and hatched in Belgrade. Its warning is for Europe: “But behind Servia stands Russia, and though Russian opinion is, of course, indignant at the murders, it will, it is to be feared, speedily become restive if Austria undertakes repressive measures that can be represented as persecution.”