Note 1169 — Chapter XVII

L.j., 1906, pp. 183 ff.; Radowitz to F. O., March 8, 1906, G.P., XXI, 261 ff., Nos. 7076 ff., Nicolson to Grey, March 8 and 9, 1906, B.D., III, 288, No. 331; 289 ff., No. 334. Visconti Venosta, informed at the last minute of the proposed Austrian mediation, refused angrily to co-operate in it. Why he did so is difficult to see. He claimed that the Austrian project was not in keeping with the German view which he represented. This, however, seems a poor excuse, for he had approved the project when it was first suggested. It seems more likely that Visconti Venosta was seeking to avoid taking the Austro-German side publicly against France. The Austrian government was more alarmed at his refusal than was the German government, which consoled itself with the fact that the Italian delegate was performing useful work under cover. See Wedel to F. O., March 9 and 11, 1906, G.P., XXI, 269, No. 7083; 271 f., No. 7087; Monts to F. O., March 7, 1906, ibid., 257, No. 7070; Radowitz to F. O., March 11, 1906, ibid., 272 and note, No. 7088.