r on behalf of that country
would never be sanctioned by British public opinion.--(British
"White Paper" No. 6.)

The British Ambassador thereupon asked the question whether Russia was
thinking of eventually declaring war on Austria. The following was the
answer:

M. Sazonof said that he himself thought that Russian mobilization
would at any rate have to be carried out; but a council of
Ministers was being held this afternoon to consider the whole
question....

The dispatch continues:

French Ambassador and M. Sazonof both continue to press me for a
declaration of complete solidarity of his Majesty's Government with
French and Russian Governments.... (British "White Paper" No. 6.)

This shows plainly that the Russian mobilization must have been planned
even before July 24, for otherwise M. Sazonof could not have spoken of
the necessity of carrying it through.

It is furthermore very remarkable that the Russian Minister on this
early day spoke of the mobilization in general and not of the partial
mobilization against Austria-Hungary.

Finally we find that the British Government was fully informed at the
very latest on July 24--it may have had before it previous documents,
but they are not contained in the "White Paper"--concerning Russian
mobilization and thereby the development of Russian and French politics
that had to be anticipated.

Russian Aggression.

Had there been any doubts concerning these matters on the part of the
British Government, the continual urging of Russian and French
diplomatists must have made things plain. Russia's aggressive
policy, and not the Austrian declaration of war on Servia, which did not
come until five days later, led to the European war. Servia meant so
little to England, although England traditionally poses as a protector
of small nations, that the British Ambassador in St. Petersburg was able
to describe England's interest in the kingdom on the Save as "nil." Only
later, after the beginning of the war, England warmed up to Servia, and
in the aforementioned speech Mr. Lloyd George found the most hearty
tones in speaking of the heroic fight of this "little nation," although
he was obliged to admit simultaneously that its' history is not
untainted.

On the day following that conversation, on July 25, the British
Ambassador had another talk with M. Sasonof, during the course of which
he felt obliged to express to the Russian Gove