o
position to fight a great power like Austria-Hungary, and yet,
weakened as they were, they could not submit to such a demand as this.
They agreed to all the Austrian demands except the one concerning the
Austrian judges in Serbian courts. They appealed to the other powers
to see that justice was done them.

Russia growled ominously at Austria, whereupon Germany sent a sharp
warning to Russia that this was none of her affair, and that Austria
and Serbia must be left to fight it out. In the meantime, Serbia
offered to lay the matter before the court of arbitration at the
Hague. (In 1899, at the invitation of the czar of Russia,
representatives of all the great powers of Europe met at the Hague to
found a lasting court which should decide disputes between nations
fairly, and try to do away with wars, to as great an extent as
possible. The court has several times been successful in averting
trouble.)

Great Britain proposed that the dispute between Austria and Serbia
should be judged by a court composed of representatives of France,
England, Italy, and Germany. Austria's reply to the proposals of
England and Serbia was a notice to the latter country that she had
just forty-eight hours in which to give in completely to the Austrian
demands. In the mean-time, Mr. Sazanoff, the Russian minister of
foreign affairs, was vainly pleading with England to declare what she
would do in case the Triple Alliance started a war with France and
Russia.

Kings and ministers telegraphed frantically, trying to prevent the
threatened conflict. The story was sent out by Germany that Russia was
gathering her troops, mobilizing them, as it is called. As Russia has
so much more territory to draw from than any other country, and as her
railroads are not many and are poorly served, it was figured that it
would be six weeks before the Russian army would be ready to fight
anybody. Germany, on the other hand, with her wonderful system of
government-owned railroads, and the machine-like organization of her
army, could launch her forces across the frontier at two days' notice.
As soon as the Germans began to hear that the Russians were mobilizing
their troops against Austria, Germany set in motion the rapid
machinery for gathering her own army. She sent a sharp message to
Russia, warning the latter that she must instantly stop mobilizing or
Germany would declare war. Next the Germans asked France what she
intended to do in case Germany and Austria