eak.

[Sidenote: Russia and Germany hasten preparations.]

[Sidenote: Austria mobilizes.]

From the 30th, Russia and Germany--as an inevitable sequel to the
conversations of the 29th--went forward actively with their military
preparations. What was the exact nature of these preludes to the German
mobilization? It was impossible to gain any precise notion at Berlin.
The capital was rife with various rumors that augured ill for the
future. We heard tell of regiments moving from the northern provinces
towards the Rhine. We learnt that reservists had been instructed to keep
themselves in readiness for marching orders. At the same time, postal
communication with Belgium and France had been cut off. At the
Wilhelmstrasse, the position was described to me as follows: "Austria
will reply to Russia's partial mobilization with a general mobilization
of her army. It is to be feared that Russia will then mobilize her
entire forces, which will compel Germany to do the same." As it turned
out, a general mobilization was indeed proclaimed in Austria on the
night of the 30th.

Nevertheless, the peace _pourparlers_ went on between Vienna and St.
Petersburg on the 30th and 31st, although on the latter date Russia, as
Berlin expected, in answer both to the Austrian and the German
preparations, had mobilized her entire forces. Even on the 31st these
discussions seemed to have some chance of attaining their object.
Austria was now more accurately gauging the peril into which her own
blind self-confidence and the counsels of her ally were leading her, and
was pausing on the brink of the abyss. The Vienna Cabinet even consented
to talk over the gist of its Note to Serbia, and M. Sazonoff at once
sent an encouraging reply.

It was desirable, he stated, that representatives of all the Great
Powers should confer in London under the direction of the British
Government.

Was a faint glimmer of peace, after all, dawning above the horizon?
Would an understanding be reached, at the eleventh hour, among the only
States really concerned with the Serbian question? We had reckoned
without our host. The German Emperor willed otherwise. Suddenly, at the
instance of the General Staff, and after a meeting of the Federal
Council, as prescribed by the constitution, he issued the decree of
_Kriegsgefahrzustand_ (Imminence-of-War). This is the first phase of a
general mobilization--a sort of martial law, substituting the military
for the civil authoritie