re Sabbath in the
Foreign Office and personally conducted the correspondence that was
calculated to bring the dispute to a peaceful conclusion. He did not
reckon, however, with a Germany determined upon war, a Germany whose
manufacturers, ship-owners and Junkers had combined with its militarists
to achieve "Germany's place in the sun" even though the world would be
stained in the blood of the most frightful war this earth has ever
known. Realization of this fact did not come to Sir Edward Grey until
his negotiations with Germany and with Austria-Hungary had proceeded for
some time. His first suggestion was that the dispute between Russia and
Austria be committed to the arbitration of Great Britain, France, Italy
and Germany. Russia accepted this but Germany and Austria rejected it.
Russia had previously suggested that the dispute be settled by a
conference between the diplomatic heads at Vienna and Petrograd. This
also was refused by Austria.

Sir Edward Grey renewed his efforts on Monday, July 27th, with an
invitation to Germany to present suggestions of its own, looking toward
a settlement. This note was never answered. Germany took the position
that its proposition to compel Russia to stand aside while Austria
punished Serbia had been rejected by England and France and it had
nothing further to propose.

During all this period of negotiation the German Foreign Office, to all
outward appearances at least, had been acting independently of the
Kaiser, who was in Norway on a vacation trip. He returned to Potsdam on
the night of Sunday, July 26th. On Monday morning the Czar of Russia
received a personal message from the Kaiser, urging Russia to stand
aside that Serbia might be punished. The Czar immediately replied with
the suggestion that the whole matter be submitted to The Hague. No reply
of any kind was ever made to this proposal by Germany.

[Illustration: THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION IN 1815 (Map: Baltic Sea on the
North, Adriatic Sea on the South, Eastern France and Belgium on the
West, Poland on the East.)]

All suggestions and negotiations looking forward to peace were brought
to a tragic end on the following day, Tuesday, July 28th, when Austria
declared war on Serbia, having speedily mobilized troops at strategic
points on the Serbian border. Russian mobilization, which had been
proceeding only in a tentative way, on the Austrian border, now became
general, and on July 30th, mobilization of the entire Russi