TO-DAY'S ANNIVERSARY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 235, 28 June 1919, Page 7

TO-DAY'S ANNIVERSARY

THE ASSASSINATIONS AT SEB-AJEVO To-day is,thA fifth anniversary of the assassination ot the Archduke Pranz Eeidinand of Austria and his wile, at Serajevo. ,1c was this crime, alleged to have been committed by a Serbian and plotted in Serbian territory, that tired the train trliieli produced the world conflagration in July and August, 1914. _It is clear now that the murder of tho A'i'chduke was' merely the pretext for and not the cause of tiie great war. Prince Liciino'ivsky, who was Uerinan Ambassador .in Loudon, in 1911,-made this plain in h;s tamous' memorandum. After describing the efforts of Sir Edward Grey a'.ri the other Allied statesmen to maintain peace, he . said: "The impression jrew stronger and stronger that ire (:ho uerman-:) wanted war imder any circumstances. It was impossible to interpret our attitude, on a question which d:d not directly concern us, in any' other way. The urgent requests and the definite assurances of M. Sazonolf. followed by the Tsar's positively .humble telegrams; the repeated proposals of Sir Edward Grey, the warnings of the Marquis San Giuliano and Signor Bollati, my urgent counsels —all were .of no avail. Berlin persisted; Serbia must be massacred. ...'-I I had to support in London a policy the heresy ot which 1. recognised. That brought down vengeance lipuu me, because it was a sin against the Holy Ghost."

■Thi! facts about the assassination at Serajevo have never been made cle-ar to the world. The Austrian-;, after the outbreak of war, tried and executed certain persons Mr the murder of the Archduke, but by that time impartial consideration of the evidence had become impossible. .