6. The former Serbian Chargé d'Affaires at Berlin, Bogitshevich, tells in his book, _Causes of the War_, published in 1919, of the following statement which Cambon, the then French ambassador at Berlin, made to him on the 26th or 27th of July, 1914: "If Germany wishes matters to come to a war, she will have England also against her. The English fleet will take Hamburg. We shall thoroughly beat the Germans." Bogitshevich states that this talk made him sure that the war had been decided upon at the time of the meeting of Poincaré with the Russian Tsar at St. Petersburg, if not sooner. RUSSIAN CROWN COUNCIL 7. Another Russian of high rank, a member of the Duma and a good friend of Sazonoff, told me later about the secret Crown Council held, with the Tsar presiding, in February, 1914; moreover, I obtained corroboration, from other Russian sources mentioned in my _Historical Tables_, of the following: At this Crown Council Sazonoff made an address wherein he suggested to the Tsar to seize Constantinople, which, since the Triple Alliance would not acquiesce in it, would cause a war against Germany and Austria. He added that Italy would break away from these two, in the natural course of events; that France was to be trusted absolutely and England probably. The Tsar had agreed, it was said, and given orders to take the necessary preliminary steps. The Russian Finance Minister, Count Kokovzeff, wrote to the Tsar advising against this course--I was informed of this by Count Mirbach after the peace of Brest-Litovsk--recommending a firm union with Germany and warning against war, which, he said, would be unfavorable to Russia and lead to revolution and the fall of the dynasty. The Tsar did not follow this advice, but pushed on toward war. The same gentleman told me this: _Two_ days after the outbreak of war he had been invited by Sazonoff to breakfast. The latter came up to him, beaming with joy, and, rubbing his hands together, asked: "Come now, my dear Baron, you must admit that I have chosen the moment for war excellently, haven't I?" When the Baron, rather worried, asked him what stand England would take, the Minister smote his pocket, and, with a sly wink, whispered: "I have something in my pocket which, within the next few weeks, will bring joy to all Russia and astound the entire world; I have received the English promise that England will go with Russia against Germany!"