Italy, and Great Britain--who were not directly interested in
the Servian question, should work together both in St. Petersburg and
Vienna simultaneously to get both Austria-Hungary and Russia to suspend
military operations while the four powers endeavored to arrange a
settlement.

After I had heard that Austria-Hungary had broken off diplomatic
relations with Servia I made, by telegraph yesterday afternoon, the
following proposal, as a practical method of applying the views that I
had already expressed:

I instructed his Majesty's Ambassadors in Paris, Berlin, and Rome to ask
the Governments to which they were accredited whether they would be
willing to arrange that the French, German, and Italian Ambassadors in
London should meet me in a conference to be held in London immediately
to endeavor to find a means of arranging the present difficulties. At
the same time I instructed his Majesty's Ambassadors to ask those
Governments to authorize their representatives in Vienna, St.
Petersburg, and Belgrade to inform the Governments there of the proposed
conference and to ask them to suspend all active military operations
pending the result of the conference.

To that I have not yet received complete replies, and it is of course a
proposal in which the co-operation of all four powers is essential. In a
crisis so grave as this the efforts of one power alone to preserve the
peace must be quite ineffective.

The time allowed in this matter has been so short that I have had to
take the risk of making a proposal without the usual preliminary steps
of trying to ascertain whether it would be well received. But, where
matters are so grave and the time so short, the risk of proposing
something that is unwelcome or ineffective cannot be avoided. I cannot
but feel, however, assuming that the text of the Servian reply as
published this morning in the press is accurate, as I believe it to be,
that it should at least provide a basis on which a friendly and
impartial group of powers, including powers who are equally in the
confidence of Austria-Hungary and of Russia, should be able to arrange a
settlement that would be generally acceptable.

It must be obvious to any person who reflects upon the situation that
the moment the dispute ceases to be one between Austria-Hungary and
Servia and becomes one in which another great power is involved, it can
but end in the greatest catastrophe that has ever befallen the Continent
of Europe at on