On July 24 Sir Edward Grey also had asked the German Ambassador to use
his good influences at Vienna to secure an extension of time. To this
most reasonable request the answer and action of the German Government
was disingenuous in the extreme. They agreed to "pass on" the
suggestion, but the German Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs added
that as the Austrian Prime Minister was away from Vienna there would be
delay and difficulty in getting the time limit extended, and

"he admitted quite freely that the Austro-Hungarian Government
_wished to give the Servians a lesson and that they meant to
take military action. He also admitted that the Servian
Government could not swallow certain of the Austro-Hungarian
demands_."

He added that Germany did not want a general war and "he would do all in
his power to prevent such a calamity."

[English "White Paper," Nos. 11 and 18.]

Immediately on the issuance of the ultimatum the Austrian Foreign
Minister, Count Berchtold, had most inopportunely taken himself to
Ischl, where he remained until after the expiration of the time limit.
Access to him proved difficult, and the Russian Chargé at Vienna, having
lodged a pacific protest with the Acting Foreign Minister in order to
take no chances, telegraphed it to Berchtold at Ischl. Nevertheless,
Berchtold's apparently designed absence from the capital was Germany's
excuse for its failure to get the time limit extended.

If Germany made any communication to Austria in the interests of peace