I have quoted all these newspaper extracts because they seem to me absolutely indicative of the sentiment that prevailed in Germany just before the war broke out, whether that sentiment be based on correct impressions or not. We have the Russian side of it in an article written by Professor Maxim Kowaleski, for the _Frankfurter Zeitung_: “In Russia people believe that Germany and Austria are arming against Russia, in Germany and Austria they take for granted that the opposite is the case.” [Illustration] [Illustration: General von Heeringen] [Illustration: General von Eichhorn] [Illustration: General von Bülow] [Illustration: General von Prittwitz] To the unprejudiced observer it looks very much as though Servia, thinking her hour had come and feeling sure of Russia’s support, had instigated the murder of the heir to the Austrian throne with the deliberate intention of starting a great conflagration. The preliminary inquiry into the matter, which was carried on very deliberately by Austria, with no sensational charges or accusations, revealed a great plot reaching to the very steps of the Servian throne. Around that throne, as the world well knows, were the men who had deliberately murdered their own previous king and queen and who had been rewarded with high positions for their share in that dark transaction. It was proved to Austria’s satisfaction—and she had so much to lose by a war of aggression that no ulterior motive could have influenced her—that the royal Servian arsenal had provided the weapons of death and that a high official in the army had been directly concerned. Servia’s attitude during the preliminary investigation had been provocative. Then Austria hurled her ultimatum. It was an unheard-of ultimatum—that much an Austrian friend acknowledged to me at the time. But, he added, the whole situation was equally unheard of. In Germany, except in the ranks of the social democrats, who glory in having no national sentiments, Austria’s act met with the most complete approval. Truth to tell, no one had expected such firmness and decision. The seriousness of the matter was not for a moment overlooked. In my own immediate neighborhood and, I imagine, from end to end of Germany, the first impulse on hearing the news was to sing national hymns. One heard them throughout that whole night—especially the solemn “_Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser_” and “_Deutschland, Deutschland über alles_.” There was a resigned feeling, too, a feeling that Servia had been such a menace since 1908 that the time had come when something must be done. My Austrian friend believed that the powers would sympathize with his country’s desire to chastise a band of assassins; that the Russian czar especially would never take sides with regicides; that England would see fair play.