Mr. Herdliska to Mr. Hay.
Vienna, August 25, 1900.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the morning of the 23d of August, 1900, of Acting Secretary Adee’s open cablegram of date the 22d of August, 1900, reading as follows:1
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Immediately on the receipt of the foregoing cablegram I personally communicated the contents thereof to Count Lützow, second chief of section in the foreign office (second assistant secretary), in charge of the foreign office in the absence of Count Goluchowski at Ischl with the Emperor, at the same time leaving with him a note containing a copy, to which I added:
In having the honor to acquaint your excellency of the foregoing, I beg, in accordance with the instruction contained therein, that your excellency will be good enough (should similar communications have been received by the Imperial and Royal Government) to advise me, as early as may be convenient, of the reply of your excellency to them, in order that I may be enabled to meet the wishes of my Government in this matter, as expressed, with the least possible delay.
In expressing his thanks for the information imparted, Count Lützow informed me that the Imperial and Royal Government had, in fact, received similar communications, but had not answered the first, and it was his opinion that no attention would be paid to the second either; nevertheless, he did not wish me to accept this as the answer of the foreign office, it being his purpose to communicate the contents of the cablegram to Count Goluchowski for reply, which, when received, he would at once transmit to me. This morning I received from him a letter dated yesterday, the 24th of August, 1900, stating that he had just seen Count Goluchowski and was able to confirm what he had told me on the day before, namely, that they would not answer Li Hung Chang’s last telegram any more than they did the preceding one. I cabled you the contents of this letter to-day, the 25th of August, 1900, in an open telegram reading as follows:
Referring to your cablegram of 22d instant, respecting Li Hung Chang’s overtures, Austro-Hungarian foreign minister replies that he has received similar communications, but does not intend to answer them.
Herdliska.
I have the honor to be, etc.,
- Printed, ante.↩