The Emperor of Austria delivered a speech from the Throne
to the delegations on Tuesday, and Count Berchtold made a statement to the Hungarian Foreign Affairs Committee. The tone of both was pessimistic. The Emperor, after alluding to the stability and pacific intentions of the Triple Alliance, spoke of "the troubled situation in the Near East," an admis- sion unprecedented in such speeches in this context, and is said to have remarked to the President of the delegations that "conditions were now difficult." Count Berchtold reviewed the course of events which had led to his proposal for an interchange of ideas on the Balkan situation, which had been approved of by all the Powers, and observed that Russia in particular was, like Austria, earnestly endeavouring to ensure the maintenance of the peace. The interest of Austria, he declared, was not bound up with this or that Turkish party, but with the maintenance of the territorial integrity and with the internal consolidation of the Ottoman Empire, and honest efforts on the part of Turkish statesmen to conciliate the legitimate claims of the various peoples of Rumelia with the exigencies of Ottoman State organization would always receive Austria's moral support.
