“karolyi.” to the Prussian government, April 2, 1866

Austrian note to the Prussian government.

On the 31st ultimo Count Karolyi, the Austrian minister in Berlin, delivered to Count von Bismarck a note, of which the following is said to be a correct copy:

“It has come to the knowledge of the imperial government that, in order not to assume the responsibility of having raised apprehensions for the preservation of peace, the Prussian government has accused the court of Vienna of harboring hostile intentions, and has even gone so far as to hint at the eventuality of an armed aggression on the part of Austria against Prussia. Although the unfounded nature of such an assertion is notorious and generally recognized throughout Europe, the Austrian government feels it incumbent upon it to protest against an inculpation in flagrant opposition to the evidence of facts.

“The undersigned, consequently, has been instructed to declare categorically to Count von Bismarck that nothing could be further removed from the intentions of his imperial Majesty than an offensive action directed against Prussia. Such an intention is formally precluded by the feelings of friendship towards the King, as well as the Prussian nation, of which the Emperor has so often given proof, both by word and deed; but the Emperor, moreover, does not forget the duties which Austria and Prussia solemnly accepted in signing the German federal pact. His imperial Majesty, for bis part, is firmly determined not to place himself in contradiction with the stipulations of article eleven of the federal pact, which prohibits the members of the confederation from endeavoring to redress their grievances by force.

“The undersigned, while requesting the president of the council to submit the present note to his august sovereign, is instructed to express the desire that the Prusian cabinet may repel, without ambiguity, and as clearly as the undersigned has done himself, in the name of his government, all suspicion of a wish to violate the peace. By doing this the Prussian cabinet would restore that general confidence in the maintenance of the peace of Germany which ought never to have been shaken.