Count Berchtold expressed the hope that the difficulties which had
arisen over the Turco-Italian peace negotiations would prove transient. Apart from the satisfaction that Austria-Hungary would feel at the termination of war between an allied and a friendly Power, that consummation was to be desired as likely to hasten the settlement of the Turkish internal crisis. Count Berchtold summed up the situation in a passage the gravity of which cannot be over- looked :— " as you will see from the foregoing account, the present situa- tion is by no means of a tranquillizing nature, despite the agree- ment of the Great Powers in their efforts to maintain peace. The continual play of lightning in the Balkans betrays a heightened electric tension of the political atmosphere without being able to illumine the darkness of unsolved problems. Diplomacy keeps watch to prevent threatened conflicts and to extinguish the dangers of. a Balkan conflagration. Our geographical position places us near to the hot soil (of the Balkans), and great interests of the Monarchy are at stake. Only if we also are armed on land and sea Can we contemplate the future with a quiet mind."
His conversations with German statesmen at Berlin and at Buchlau with Herr von Bethma.nn-Hollweg had convinced him of the complete identity of the views of Germany and Austria- Hungary, "especially as regards the conservative principles which guide their policy in the Near East"
