SUNDAY, JULY 26, 1914

_Austria-Hungary._ The Austro-Hungarian Ambassador at St.
Petersburg, Count Szapary, telegraphed to Count Berchtold, Secretary
for Foreign Affairs in Vienna, that Count Pourtales the German
Ambassador, upon hearing reports of measures for Russian
mobilization, had called the attention of M. Sazonof, the Russian
Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the fact that nowadays mobilization
was a highly dangerous form of diplomatic pressure.

"For, in that event, the purely military consideration of the
question by the general staffs would find expression, and if that
button were once touched in Germany, the situation would get out
of control.

"M. Sazonof assured the German Ambassador on his word of honor
that the reports on the subject were incorrect; that up to that
time not a single horse and not a single reservist had been
called up, and that all the measures that were being taken were
merely measures of preparation in the military districts of Kiev,
Odessa, and perhaps Kazan and Moscow."

M. Suchomlinoff, Russian Minister for War, had immediately after
this, summoned Major von Eggeling, German Military Attache and
confirmed M. Sazonof's assurance in detail. As reported by the
major, he said:

"For the present merely preparatory measures would be taken, not
a horse would be taken, not a reservist called up. If Austria
crossed the Serbian frontier, the military districts of Kiev,
Odessa, Moscow, and Kazan, which face Austria, would be
mobilized. In no circumstances will mobilization take place on
the German front, Warsaw, Vilna, and St. Petersburg. Peace with
Germany is earnestly desired.... I gave the Minister for War to
understand that his friendly intentions would be appreciated by
us, but that we should also consider mobilization against Austria
to be in itself extremely threatening."

_Russia._ M. Sazonof, Minister for Foreign Affairs, telegraphed the
Ambassador at Rome to persuade the Italian Government to act in the
interests of peace by bringing influence to bear on her ally,
Austria-Hungary, and by opposing the view that the dispute with
Serbia could be localized. Russia cannot possibly avoid coming to
the help of Serbia. M. Kasansky, Acting Consul at Prague,
telegraphed that Austro-Hungarian mobilization had been ordered. M.
Sazonof reported to M. Schebeko, Ambassador at Vienna, an inter