ccess, and as
a result that country on July 25th, and before the expiration of the
ultimatum, made a reply to Austria which astonished the world with its
spirit of conciliation and for a short time gave rise to optimistic
hopes of peace.

At some sacrifice of its self-respect as a sovereign State, it
accepted substantially the demands of Austria, with a few minor
reservations, which it expressed its willingness to refer either to
arbitration at The Hague Tribunal or to a conference of the
Powers.[24]

[Footnote 24: English _White Paper_, No. 39.]

Neither Germany nor Austria seriously contended that the reply was not
on its face a substantial acquiescence in the extreme Austrian
demands. They contented themselves with impeaching the sincerity of
the assurances, calling the concessions "shams." Unless Austria, in
asking assurances from Servia, were content to accept them as made in
good faith and allow their sincerity to be determined by future deeds,
why should the ultimatum, calling for such assurances, have been made?
If Germany and Austria had accepted Servia's reply as sufficient, and
Servia had subsequently failed to fulfill its promises in the utmost
good faith, there would have been little sympathy for Servia, and no
general war. Russia and England pledged their influence to compel
Servia, if necessary, to meet fully any reasonable demand of Austria.
The principal outstanding question, which Servia agreed to arbitrate
or leave to the Powers, was the participation of Austrian officials in
the Servian courts. This did not present a difficult problem.
Austria's professed desire for an impartial investigation could have
been easily attained by having the Powers appoint a commission of
neutral jurists to make such investigation.

In any event, Austria could have accepted the very substantial
concessions of Servia and without prejudice to its rights proceeded to
The Hague Tribunal or to a concert of the Powers as to the few and
comparatively simple open points. When one recalls the infinite
treasure of property and life, which would thus have been saved the
world, had Germany and Austria accepted this reasonable and pacific
course, one can only exclaim, "_But oh, the pity of it!_"

It is significant that while the entire official German press gave
ample space to the Austrian ultimatum and rejoiced in Austria's
energetic attitude, it withheld from the German people any adequate
information as to the conciliatory